Nougat Ice Cream

This past summer, during my hiatus from this blog I didn't do much in the way of cooking, but that didn't mean I didn't do ANY cooking, I just didn't do enough interesting things that I felt were worthy of writing about at the time. I did manage to make a few new things; like this ice cream, but then one thing always led to another and I would get busy and forget to post about it. In mid-August, I found myself losing a battle I had been having with myself for years over whether or not to get an ice cream maker, and even looked into ways of making ice cream without one. But then, after seeing an old Martha Stewart rerun dedicated to ice cream, I became fascinated with a little contraption known as the Donvier Ice Cream Maker. Being the bargain hunter that I am, I staked one out on EBAY and after a few days, I found a brand new one, still in the original box, (a sad unwanted wedding present), for a very good price. Once it arrived, I made a batch of vanilla, a batch of strawberry and this nougat ice cream before my schedule got so busy again that I had to put the Donvier away and then that too was forgotten. Earlier this evening I came across this photo while looking for some pictures that I had taken of the golden child over the summer and I decided I would post the recipe now. By the way, this recipe makes some damn good ice cream. Cold, creamy, and sweet with little bits of chewy crunchy thingies in every bite, I think it's the perfect way to satisfy an ice cream craving.

From Epicurious.com

Nougat Ice Cream

Although nougat is made on many Mediterranean islands, the honey-and-nut confection is a real favorite on Minorca.

• 1/2 cup honey (MH5 note: Use a little less honey if you like your ice cream to have less sweetness, I learned the hard way. Also, don't use a really strong flavored honey unless you really like that sort of thing. The honey I chose was a bit too assertive and overpowered the other flavors in the ice cream.)
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 1/4 cup water
• 1 large egg white
• Pinch of salt
• 1 cup chilled whipping cream
• 1/2 cup slivered almonds, lightly toasted, chopped
• 1/4 cup shelled unsalted pistachios, chopped

ETA: Toast the pistachios to enhance the flavor of them too!

Stir 1/2 cup honey, 1/4 cup sugar, and 1/4 cup water in heavy medium saucepan over medium heat until sugar dissolves. Increase heat and boil, without stirring, 1 minute.

Meanwhile, using electric mixer, beat egg white with pinch of salt in medium bowl until soft peaks form. Gradually pour hot syrup over egg white mixture, beating constantly. Continue beating meringue until very stiff, about 4 minutes. Let stand until cool, about 10 minutes.

Beat cream in large bowl until soft peaks form. Fold into honey meringue. Fold in chopped nuts. (Mh5 note: at this point I put the mixture in my ice cream maker and followed the instructions that came with it.) Spoon mixture into 11x7x2-inch glass baking dish. Cover and freeze until firm, about 4 hours. (Can be prepared 1 week ahead. Keep frozen.) Spoon ice cream into bowls and serve.

Makes 8 servings.

Bon Appétit

May 2002

Flavors of the World

Ginger Whipped Cream Frosting

This is a continuation of my previous entries found here and here about the cake I'm making from a recipe I found on Epicurious.com

I'm not dragging this black pearl cake post out on purpose, really, I'm not, but if you would just bear with me for one more day I promise I will love you forever and ever! I fully intended to come home from work and finish the post but I am dog tired, and there are so many pictures and so much to tell that I'm going to need more time to write it. I won't give too much away but I will say this, this was an interesting cake, it pleased many of the locusts I work with therefore I am happy and I can't wait to light a fire and dance around it tell you more.

I never thought to add ginger powder to heavy whipping cream before but this is something I will certainly do again. The whipped cream was surprisingly yummy with just the littlest hint of ginger to give it bite. I would very much like to eat this on top of some very dense ginger cake.

Ginger Whipped Cream Frosting

• 2 cups chilled heavy whipping cream
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons powdered sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger

For whipped cream frosting:

Beat cream in large bowl until soft peaks form. Add sugar, vanilla, and ginger. Beat until stiff peaks form.

Using long serrated knife, trim rounded tops off cakes to create flat surface. Place 1 cake layer, cut side up, on plate. Brush top with 1/3 cup ginger syrup. Spread half of ganache over top of cake. Place second layer, cut side up, atop first layer. Brush with 1/3 cup syrup; spread with remaining ganache. Top with third cake layer. Brush with remaining syrup. Spread sides and top with whipped cream frosting. Sprinkle top with black sesame seeds. Refrigerate until ganache is set, about 4 hours. Let stand at room temperature 30 minutes before serving. (Can be made 1 day ahead. Keep refrigerated.)

Ginger Syrup

This is a continuation of my previous entry about the cake I'm making from a recipe I found on Epicurious.com

Sunday dawned bright and sunny with the temperature expected to peak at around 40 degrees. We had planned to meet some family members who were visiting for the weekend for dim sum in Chinatown. The plan was to then walk the route and watch a little of the Chinese New Year parade and eventually make our way uptown to see the The Gates exhibit in Central Park (more about that later). So with all that planned for the day, plus the need to get the baby fed, the three of us dressed, and family members gathered, I guess Sunday morning wasn't really the ideal time to make ginger syrup--but I did.

I only needed 10 minutes, maybe 15, but it certainly wasn't such a difficult task that I needed more than that, it turns out ginger syrup is very easy to make. I made sure I timed everything far enough in advance so that while the syrup was cooling on the countertop I could tend to mine and the baby's needs and still be ready to leave right on schedule. I suppose when I pulled out the knife and chopping board and started peeling ginger it must have looked like I was getting involved with something that must have made Tom very nervous, nervous in that way that makes alarms go off in his head and he started to lose it. My recall of the events gets a little blurry here being that it’s already the next day and yesterday morning seems like a lifetime ago but I do have a vague recollection of Tom talking on the cordless while chasing down the partially naked baby and glaring at me over his shoulder. I also have a vague memory of me saying something to the effect of “it’s not a big deal, I just need 10 minutes” “the baby likes to run around in just a diaper” and finally “you’re stifling my creativity damn-it!” Oh well, so much for being more Zen in the kitchen. Everything worked out fine in the end, I really did only need 10 minutes to which Tom was impressed by and even showed interest in what it was that I made, it also helped that the syrup was pretty darn tasty too.

Ginger Syrup

• 1 cup water
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 5 tablespoons matchstick-size strips peeled fresh ginger
• 1 vanilla bean, split lengthwise

For ginger syrup:

Place 1 cup water, sugar, and ginger in small saucepan. Scrape seeds from vanilla bean into pan; add bean. Stir over medium heat until sugar dissolves. Simmer 2 minutes; remove from heat. Let stand at room temperature 1 hour for flavors to blend.

Strain syrup into small bowl. Chop ginger. (Can be prepared 1 day ahead. Cover and refrigerate ginger and syrup separately.)

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The Gates:

When I first heard about the plans that Christo and Jeanne-Claude had for an installation piece in Central Park my reaction was to roll my eyes and sneer. I can’t even tell you why it annoyed me; maybe I was just reacting to it because the concept escaped me and their artistic vision was outside my comfort zone, whatever it was, it wasn’t good. Being an artist myself, I felt bad about my reaction, I felt that in some way I was imposing censorship on them without giving them a fair chance and if I could easily do that to them, then there was more than a good chance that someone could easily do that to me and I certainly wouldn’t want to be written off so easily. My reaction bothered me, it was close-minded and ugly and so with that thought in mind, I insisted that we go and see what it was all about. I’m glad we went, it was a very moving experience. It wasn’t that the gates themselves were such a beautiful thing; but it was what that body of work inspired in me and the people around me that was what made them so very beautiful. There were throngs of people at the park, well into the thousands, probably reaching numbers that are too abstract for me to even comprehend, and they were all there because their curiosity got the better of them and because this was an historic event and they, like me, wanted to understand what Christo and Jeanne-Claude had given to NYC.

Everything sort of clicked for me a little while after we arrived at the park, while watching all those people flowing through the gates, just the sheer number of them and then all those many miles of gates, it was overwhelming. It was the way the gates wrapped around the park and then the way they mimiced that motion and wrapped around the people in the park. It was while watching the way the sun was hitting the saffron colored cloth; letting its light dance on the fabric playfully, lovingly, making it shimmer. It was the way the gates wound around the park, bending and moving and the way the people bent and moved with them, It was the feeling of being a part of something that was a once in lifetime thing and then it was the feeling that we were there doing something special with our little girl. The Gates were everything and then they were nothing but they meant something to every person there, whether their reaction to it was good or bad, whether they liked it or not. The Gates left an impression, one that is going to last for a very long time even though the gates themslves will be gone in just a very short time. To have been there was to have been a part of that fleeting magic and I think that's what made the installation so moving.

Ellie, Central Park NYC, February 2005 (photo taken by Tom)

Black Pearl Ganache

Sometimes I think I should rename this blog to "bipolar baker girl" or something along those lines. whoosh! The pendulum swings one way and I can go for weeks on end without so much as reading a recipe or chopping an onion, content to let myself and my family eat take-away or frozen leftovers from the last manic bouts in the kitchen. whoosh! The pendulum swings the other way and I’m furiously making lists, gathering ingredients, running to the far reaches of Manhattan for items that are hard to find, then back in the kitchen, making a mess, getting in over my head, doing too much at once, sweating and panicking and making Tom crazy. I suppose I could try to be more organized and methodical in the kitchen, I guess I could try to be much more normal and less adventurous but--that’s just not who I am. SO! What did I find myself doing over the weekend when I should have been doing laundry? Why I was making lists, gathering ingredients, making a mess and getting ready to bake a somewhat involved cake and loving every minute of it, because my friends do the hokey pokey that's what I'm all about. yeah!

The cake I'm making is from a recipe I found on Epicurious.com It doesn't seem to be a very complicated cake but it does have several steps that really should be made ahead of time and NOT left to be done all at once, (like I have been known to do in the past). In an effort not to freak myself or my husband out, and because I think I have finally learned from those past marathon episodes in the kitchen, I am now trying to pace myself by making each step in advance. So far everything is going according to plan and I am very relaxed. But then, this only the first step, there are three more plus the final assembly. ack! breathe Deb, breathe.

MH5 note: This is the first step in a series of steps for Black Pearl Layer Cake a recipe I found on Epicurious.com I will post the other steps and then the full recipe as I go along.

I bought a pound of good quality bulk chocolate and ate it on the way home weighed it in on the fancy schmancy kitchen scale I bought several months ago but have not used until now, doh! I needed six ounces for the recipe and then the rest I crammed into my mouth, no, no NO! The rest I wrapped nicely in cling wrap and am saving for another recipe or even another cake. I found that using a serrated knife to chop chocolate is much easier than using a regular chef's knife and so from this day forward a serrated knife is what I'll use for chopping the chocolaty goodness.

This is the cream, ginger and wasabi just before I stirred it all around and brought it to a boil. My camera didn't white balance on this shot for some reason, but I kind of like the yellowish color of everything, its sooo pretty.

If you are like me and have never had a use for wasabi powder before this recipe and just in case you were wondering what to do with the leftover wasabi powder, might I suggest dumping it on the counter just like I did! c'mon, you know you want to

Pouring the cream/wasabi/ginger mixture over the chopped chocolate took great concentration. Care was taken to make sure that any splashes or spill-overs were (licked up) wiped up accordingly. Luckily there weren't too many accidents with this step or there might not have been any left.

Whisking the cream and chocolate together was fun, I made a little game out of swirling everything around and making patterns, luckily the husband and little girl weren't home so I was able to lick the whisk undisturbed once I was done with it. mmm creamy, gingery, horseradishy chocolate

The black sesame seeds came from my favorite store Kalustyan's This trip to Kalustyan's was an especially interesting one because I eavesdropped on a group of pre-teenaged girls who were there. At first I thought they were with an adult and they were just killing time by touching everything in the store, but after listening to them for a while, it became apparent to me that these girls were there on their own and they were shopping for ingredients for a recipe, AND they were really into it! How cute is that?

Years ago I read a tip, although I forget where or from what magazine, that if you sprayed a little flavorless cooking spray on a measuring spoon or measuring utensil beforehand, then sticky ingredients like honey or corn syrup would slide out more easily, too bad I forgot to do that this time.

After stirring the sesame seed/corn syrup mixture into the chocolate/ginger/wasabi/cream mixture I thought it was hard to tell that they were even in there but they were. You can just sort of make a few of the sesame seeds out in the picture above.

There is nothing that says love better than adding butter to chocolate mixed with heavy cream, am I right or am I right?

I gave everything a final stir with a clean whisk and then ran into the other room and ate all with my fingers covered it with cling wrap and put it aside to rest overnight, hopefully it will make it through the night because well, you know how it is when there’s chocolate around… mmmm chocolate ganache

Black Pearl Ganache

• 6 ounces bittersweet (not unsweetened) or semisweet chocolate, chopped
• 3/4 cup heavy whipping cream
• 1 teaspoon ground ginger
• 1/2 teaspoon wasabi powder*
• 2 tablespoons black sesame seeds*
• 1 tablespoon corn syrup
• 2 tablespoons (1/4 stick) butter, room temperature

For black pearl ganache:

Place chocolate in medium bowl. Bring cream, ginger, and wasabi to boil in small pot. Pour hot cream over chocolate; cover with plastic wrap and let stand 15 minutes. Whisk cream and chocolate until smooth. Mix sesame seeds and corn syrup in small bowl to coat; stir into chocolate mixture. Let cool to lukewarm. Stir in butter. Cover and let stand at room temperature overnight to set.

*Available in the Asian foods section of some supermarkets and at Asian markets.

Whipped up by Deb at 02:35 AM

Molcajete Madness

A molcajete [mohl-kah-HEH-teh] has come to live with us. It comes from far and away and it has chosen to appear to us in the form of a festive pig. It was a gift from my friend Miguel, who asked his brother to bring it back the next time he went to Mexico. Miguel was annoyed that his brother brought back a painted molcajete because the painted ones are usually meant for the tourists (so says Miguel), but I'm kind of thrilled that my pig is painted, it makes him look less serious and much more inviting, maybe he's even happy.

I love the weight and feel of this little pig, I like the rough textured surface. The girl likes the texture too, although she's more interested in mouthing on it rather than just running her chubby little hands over it and touching. I love that it is both functional AND decorative. I may never use it for cooking, but I like the idea that it will always look fabulous anywhere I decide to place it. I have plans on using it though, the whole reason behind Miguel even giving this to me was because I mentioned to him that one day I'd like to own one, and now that I do, there's no way I'm going to miss a chance to use it for some homemade Mexican cooking. It’s time to break out the cookbooks, yay!

How To Season or Prepare Your Molcajete

It is necessary to season the molcajete prior to using it or you'll get grit in your food.

1. Wash and scrub the interior of the molcajete and the tejolote with water and a stiff brush. Let both objects air dry. Now proceed to steps 2 and 3. We like the combination of both methods or you may select one or the other. This process only needs to be completed one time.

2. Put a handful of uncooked rice in the molcajete. Use the tejolote ( the pestle) and grind the rice into the surface of the molcajete (bowl). Discard the pulverized rice. Repeat the process until the pulverized rice is white, rather than gray or ash colored.

3. Add 4 cloves of garlic (peeled), 1 teaspoon of cumin (comino) and 1 teaspoon salt, kosher is good, and a teaspoon of pepper. Grind the mixture evenly around the interior of the molcajete. Remove and discard the mixture. Rinse the molcajete and tejolote with clear water and allow to dry before storing. Note that these ingredients and quantities can be adjusted to your liking and for the size of your molcajete.

Maintenance: Simply wash the molcajete and tejolote in warm water after each use. Don't use detergents because the soap and any perfumes may be absorbed into the stone and taint your food.

source: GourmetSleuth

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Guacamole in a Molcajete

• 2 ripe avocados
• 6 tomatillos (little green tomatoes)
• 2 cloves of garlic
• 1 onion
• 2 tablespoons of cilantro
• serrano chili as desired
• salt

Toast the chilis and tomatillos. Grind up the garlic in a molcajete with the salt and chilis. (A molcajete is a rough-surfaced mortar - usually made of volcanic rock - for grinding up spices and vegetables.) Once well ground, add the tomatillos, avocados and grind a little more. To garnish the guacamole, put sliced onion and chopped cilantro on top. Serve immediately.

source: Mexgrocer.com

Basic Pasta Dough

Ellie (3 months) looking on as Mom keeps rolling...rolling...rolling.

And so the weekend, along with The Great Pasta Experiment of 2004 has come and gone. After the initial mishap with the flour wall breaching and the eggs slithering their way onto the floor, and my near breakdown over the mess, the rest of the weekends pasta project went relatively trouble and accident free. That's not to imply in any way that I think I'm an expert on pasta now, (heh, you should have seen how my ravioli went bust after the noodles seperated in the boiling water and all the filling spilled out) actually I'm pretty far from that, but I did manage to settle on a dough recipe that I liked. It's a basic recipe for pasta dough from Simple Italian Food by Mario Batali with a few little tweaks by me.

One of the things I noticed when I began my quest for a basic dough recipe were all the different variations of dough recipes that are out there. Some people add salt, others don't, some folks use 4 eggs other folks use less eggs, some add oil, some don't add oil, some say to add an extra yolk, others say leave it out. That can be confusing enough without the added debate over the type of flour one should use. According to Batali:

" Flours are distinguished by the types of wheat they are derived from. For Italian cooks, the main distinction is between hard and soft wheat. As its name implies, soft wheat flour makes a softer final product because it is high in starch, yet low in protein and gluten. So while soft flour produces soft and light cakes, it does not have the glutinous elasticity necessary to harness yeast's expanding power, so essential to bread making. Soft wheat flour, does however, produce the tender pasta at the heart of Emilia-Romagna's cuisine. Hard wheat flour, conversely, is lower in starch and higher in protein and gluten, producing firm and resilient pasta and superior bread. Durum wheat is high in gluten and is usually ground into semolina, a slightly coarser flour used in pasta production, particularly in the South of Italy. When purchasing flour, look at the nutrition panel for the protein content, which is listed in grams per pound. For fresh pasta, choose flour with 8 to 11 grams of protein and for breads; look for 13 to 15 grams. In Italy double zero (00) is the pasta maker's choice: the 00 refers to it’s sift fineness. Since it's hard to come by here, I like to blend 80 percent cake flour and 20 percent all-purpose flour, but if you want to buy only one type of flour for making fresh pasta which isn't such a tragedy, buy cake flour. Be sure to avoid "self-rising" cake flour.

Now I was very lucky to find "00" flour in my neighborhood, however, I know, and you know, and the old master himself James Beard knew, that this is not such an easy thing to come by for many folks, especially those living outside major metropolitan areas, so in his book, Beard on Pasta, James Beard uses, and instructs the home cook to use all-purpose flour with his recipes. Both James Beard and Mario Batali instruct the home cook not to fret over which flour to use, too much. They both agree that the end result is still worth it, making your own fresh pasta from scratch rocks no matter what flour you use.

After looking at numerous recipes I finally chose Batali's because I liked the way it read on the page, 4 eggs, no salt, some olive oil and the sexy flour, what could be bad about it? My first dough was a little on the dry side, and so when mixing up the second batch I added an extra yolk and an additional teaspoon of olive oil and that made all the difference. The result was a silky smooth dough that was lovely to work with and tasted pretty darn good.

Adapted from Simple Italian Food by Mario Batali (notes in parenthesis are mine)

Basic Pasta Dough

makes 1 pound

"This yields enough fresh pasta to serve four as a first course pasta dish or two as a main course. Divided into 4 portions and rolled to the thinnest setting on a pasta machine, it can be used to make ravioli and other stuffed pastas. Rolled slightly thicker the sheets can be cut into varying widths, as follows: Tagliolini: 1/4 inch, Fettucine: 1/2 inch, Tagliatelle: 3/4 inch, Pappardelle: 1 1/2 inches"

• 3 1/2 to 4 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
• 4 extra large eggs
• 1 extra large egg yolk
• 1 1/2 teaspoons extra-virgin olive oil

Mound 3 1/2 cups of the flour in the center of a large wooden cutting board. Make a well in the middle of the flour and add the eggs and olive oil. (Trust me on this one, use a large bowl and make the well in there) Using a fork, beat together the eggs and oil and begin to incorporate the flour starting with the inner rim of the well.

As you expand the well, keep pushing the flour up from the base of the mound to retain the well shape. Do not worry that this initial phase looks messy. The dough will come together when half the flour is incorporated.

Start out by kneading the dough with both hands, using the palms of your hands. (you can probably knead this in a food processor but I prefer doing it by hand. Kneading dough by hand, is a satisfying taskthat I really enjoy doing) Once you have a cohesive e mass, remove the dough from the board and scrape up and discard any leftover crusty bits. Lightly re-flour the board and continue kneading for 6 more minutes. The dough should be elastic and a little sticky. Wrap the dough in plastic, and allow it to rest for 30 minutes at room temperature. Roll or shape as desired.

Note: Do not skip the kneading or resting portions for the dough. They are essential for light pasta.

Lemon Curd

Lovely, luscious, lemony lemon curd. You can run, but you can't hide because if you like all things lemon or even just a few things lemon, then you just won't be able to resist this stuff. You can do so many things with it, it can be used as a filling for cakes or crepes, spread on pancakes or toast, scooped onto a pie or eaten quickly, with your fingers, so that you dont have to share, preferably while hidden in the coat closet to ensure that your precious lemon curd doesn't get stolen from you. with a spoon. Very few things are so simple to make yet pack so much flavor AND can also impress your friends and neighbors without even having to try very hard. Lemon curd is one of my favorite dessert-ish things, having recenty discovered how easy it is to make while making a cake for my reading group some time ago. I'm currently going to use it again as a filling for a new cake, so I thought, why not finally post the recipe I use here.

While surfing online and scanning through a few of my cookbooks, I found that lemon curd follows the same basic recipe except for a few slight variations. Some recipes us more or less butter, the amount of eggs used varies, some use more or less citrus, some people add zest, and some folks don't. Personally, I like to add the zest and sometimes, depending on my mood, I don't even bother straining it to get the zest out, although quite a few cookbooks suggest doing so. I think the zest adds a nice little extra burst of citrus which helps bring out the flavor of the curd.

adapted from Epicurious

Lemon curd

• 1 cup sugar
• 3/4 cup fresh lemon juice
• 3 large eggs
• 1/4 cup (1/2 stick) chilled unsalted butter, cut into 1/2-inch cubes
• Zest of 1 (one) lemon, optional

Zest one lemon into a medium metal bowl. Whisk the first 3 ingredients into that medium metal bowl. Set the bowl over a saucepan of simmering water (do not allow bottom of bowl to touch water). Whisk constantly until thickened and instant-read thermometer inserted into mixture registers 160°F, about 10 minutes. Remove bowl from over water. Add butter; whisk until melted. Transfer 1 cup curd to small bowl for spreading on cake layers. Reserve remaining curd for filling. Press plastic wrap directly onto surface of both curds. Chill overnight. (Can be made 3 days ahead. Keep chilled.)

Cheese Soufflé Tart

It was the crust, it was all about the crust and not about anything else. I made the cheese soufflé tart because I wanted to learn about making the crust, and you know, I did learn, but I didn't think the tart itself was all that outstanding. Oh sure, I was reassured by Tom that it was pretty tasty, but I expected it to be a bit more special than it turned out and I was a little disappointed that it wasn't. The crust, although not my dream crust, turned out better than I expected, so I guess it was all good in the end.

I was a little put off from eating the tart because the crust came out soggy in the middle, something which I don't like in a crust. Had I read the "Tips For Filling Tarts" section of the book before I made the tart I would have seen the tip on sprinkling cheese over a partially baked crust (for a savory tart), apparently the cheese forms a layer when it melts that acts as a barrier between the pastry and the filling thus ensuring a drier crisper middle crust. Funny thing is, I did sprinkle cheese on the crust because the recipe said to, but now I can see that I misread the recipe, thinking the cheese was supposed to be sprinkled on before the dough was partially blind baked. I suspect, but will reserve judgment until I've cooked a bit more from this book (The Baker's Bible edited by Deborah Gray), but I suspect and have noticed that the directions for recipes in this book tend to be a bit on the vague side, I hope that's not the case though. The edge crust did turn out flakey, and dry (that would be dry in a good way) and me thinks that with a little tweaking of butter here and the addition of a little more salt there, and a little more browning when I partially blind bake, I may actually have a recipe for a quick crust I can turn out in a pinch on a day I want to bake but don't feel like doing anything too elaborate. At the very least, I learned how to make a master crust recipe for Pâte Brisée Riche and that's kind of cool.

The soufflé filling was a simple one, consisting of 1/4 stick of butter, a small onion, 1/4 cup plain flour, 1 1/4 cups of milk, 2 seperated eggs eventually using both the yolk and the white, 1 tbsp dijon mustard, 1 1/4 cups grated chedder cheese and a pinch of cayenne. After mixing all the ingredients as per the instructions I poured the mixture into the tart pan and baked for about 30 minutes until the soufflé was puffed and golden. I hate to say this, but there was nothing really special about the soufflé filling that really grabbed me and made me say "WOW, this is good stuff!" . I served it with a salad of baby greens, toasted walnuts, goat cheese and pears, which I had tossed in an orange juice/white wine viniagrette. I could have eaten just crust and salad for dinner and would have been a pretty happy gal, for what it's worth, the tart tasted better the next day, who knows, maybe it just needed time to mellow out a bit.

Partial Blind Baking

One of the requirements of the recipe I am following that uses the Pâte Brisée Riche is to partially bake the crust or as it's referred to in the cookbook, to "blind bake" it, before adding the filling. I have a vague memory of doing this technique at least once before with a crust from a now long forgotten recipe. I do remember that I didn't have pie weights and so I blind baked the crust without anything weighing down the dough and the crust bubbled up and baked unevenly all around, even burning pretty badly in some spots. I remember making a mental shopping list at the time, putting pie weights on it, but then, like many gadget shopping excursions of mine, when I was finally at a store that may have sold them, I didn't remember that I wanted pie weights and so, I never did pick any up. I have since learned that one doesn't really need pie weights at all if one has something as simple as a bag of dried beans in the house!

According to the cookbook The Baker's Bible edited by Deborah Gray:

Blind Baking is a method of preheating a pastry case, either partially or completely, to prevent the pastry from becoming soggy and to ensure the base cooks evenly.

So, after preheating the oven to 400 degrees and after rolling out the dough and carefully fitting it into my tart pan, I then cut out a large piece of wax paper, folded it in half, then cut it into a circle about 3 inches larger than the pan. I inserted the wax paper into the pan, pressing it down so that it mimicked the shape of the pan and then poured a 3/4 full bag of dried beans onto the waxed paper and pressed them down firmly but gently making sure the beans formed a single layer in the pan. see photo above

Bake in a 400 degree oven for 15-20 minutes until the pastry is set and the rim looks dry and golden.

I should have left the crust in the oven for 25 or even 30 minutes because my oven is so off, but, I live and learn. When I removed the crust from the oven and let it cool enough to remove the beans and wax paper I was pleased to see that even though it hadn’t browned as much as I would have liked, it was at least uniform and nothing had burned. I then let the crust cool quite a bit more, then, added the filling and put it back into the oven for it's final baking. I'll write more on how that turned out and my final thoughts on the variation on the master recipe for Pâte Brisée AND how the recipe that used the crust turned out in the next day or so, so if you like, stay tuned.

Pâte Brisée Riche (Rich Pie Crust)

The other day I was flipping through one of my cookbooks, trying to plan ahead and, after all this recent holiday excess, looking for some inspiration for a simple Sunday dinner, when I found myself thinking about how I've come so far with my cooking lately. I'm more adventurous, more confident, and much better at executing a recipe than ever before. I've learned to be more patient, and to trust the process of cooking better, and while I still like to experiment and alter recipes, I do a little less of that these days because I'm keener on having less disastrous outcomes, much preferring the more edible ones. This past year, with regards to what I do in the kitchen, and well, with everything in my life really, I have learned much and have a lot to be proud of. I continued to flip through the book, and began to realize that for all my improvement in the kitchen though, I still don't really have a good grasp of the foundations of cooking, or, rather, the "Mother Recipes."

You know what I mean right? Those master recipes that form the jumping off point for which countless other dishes can be combined with or made from? I think sauces fall into this category; certain ones can be considered "Master," like, Béarnaise, Hollandaise, and Béchamel, and from these sauces come other secondary sauces. So, if sauces have "mother" recipes to which all other sauces come from, then, the same can be said of cake recipes and pie crusts too, no? Heck, there are probably countless other recipes, none of which I can think of right now that have "mother" recipes and "master" techniques too, some of which I've probably already used here in my kitchen but was not fully aware that I had. My goal is to be more aware of that from now on.

Wouldn’t it be great to whip up a brunch for friends on a Sunday afternoon and not have to schlep out 3 or 4 cookbooks just to figure out how to make Hollandaise sauce for Eggs Benedict? I love the thought of just casually whipping up egg yolks while carrying on a witty conversation with my guests, entertaining them with humorous anecdotes, holding them captive with my charming personality, fine conversation skills and my enviable ability to cook complicated things without fuss and bother or planning ahead. Some would secretly envy me, but most would admire me, marveling at the ease with which I do things, wondering at how I keep my cute little coordinating outfits splatter free and never seeming to get even one hair out of place no matter how vigorously I whip, slice, dice, chop... hee hee, never mind.

I've never been one to make New Years resolutions, but for this coming year, I think I'd like to set a goal and try to teach myself the "how-to’s". I think the best way for me to go about this is by doing, and so I think I will. Chronicling my experiences here in my journal will help keep me on track, point out any areas for improvement and hopefully, will be fun for you to read, as I actually try mastering the “mothers”.

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The picture above is my first attempt at Pâte Brisée Riche. I'm using it later on this evening in another recipe from the same cookbook so I'll report back on how it turned out. I do have to point out that, normally I only use large eggs for cooking and eating, but due to a late night mishap on Christmas Eve, in which I dropped the last three eggs for a recipe on the floor and had to run frantically through my neighborhood searching for someplace that was open and selling eggs, (thank you all-night Korean deli even though you only sold colossal sized eggs) I used an extra large egg yolk with this recipe.

from The Baker's Bible edited by Edith Gray

Pâte Brisée Riche (Rich Pie Crust)

Richer than basic pie crust, this is excellent for fruit tarts and special occasion pies.

• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 stick cold unsalted butter, cut into small pieces
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 egg yolk beaten with 2 tbsp iced water

makes an 8 0z quantity

This is actually a spin off recipe from the Master recipe for a Pâte Brisée. The master recipe doesn't use the egg yolk as a binder and is also known to call for sugar added to the dough depending on what the final use is for.

1. Into a large bowl, sift the flour, salt, and sugar if using. Sprinkle the pieces of butter and margerine, or shortening over the flour mixture. Using a pastry blender or 2 knives scissor-fashion, (I used my fingers) cut in the fat until the mixture forms coarse crumbs. Do not over-work, as this causes a tough crust.

2. Sprinkle about 2 tablespoons of the water over the flour crumb mixture and toss lightly with a fork. (Remember that you are making Pâte Brisée Riche so use the yolk/water mixture you prepared earlier.) Gather the parts of the pastry that have bound together to one side of the bowl. Add a little more water to any dry crumbs and toss again. (I ended up adding 3 MORE tablespoons of cold water)

3. Gather the pastry into a rough ball and turn onto a sheet of plastic wrap. Lightly press the pastry into a disc shape and flatten slightly. Wrap the pastry tightly and refrigerate for at least 1 hour or overnight.

Whipped up by Deb at 03:30 PM