Playing Catch Up

Between illness and a number of other things, this poor blog has been neglected. I'm going to try to fill in the gaps, there's going to be one or two nights that are missing because they didn't happen or they were something I've done many times in the past, like the tomato soup with orange and cumin.

[TND] 1.8 Gnocchi

I am a great fan of potatoes and also of pasta, so gnocchi are pretty much the bee's knees for me. They have a reputation for being difficult to make, and I imagine if you actually shape them properly and aren't an ancient Italian matron with ninja-like gnocchi shaping skills, they can be. The dough is simple, but the cooling process takes a while. Lacking a potato ricer, I had some larger lumps than I wanted, but I think I could also stand to mix the potatoes a bit more to avoid the larger lumps, though I didn't find them noticeable in the finished product.

The recipe I used was from the most recent Fine Cooking, and I made two of the sauces they suggested, a sausage and leek tomato sauce and a gorgonzola cream sauce. I modified both the suggested recipes a good bit, and next time I will add both walnuts and dried cranberries to the cream sauce, which I think will make it quite something.

All in all, easier than expected, and they freeze very well. Next week I'll make other fresh pasta, using my shiny new pasta maker.

pumpkin crème brûlée

Having mastered the standard version to my own satisfaction, it's now time to start experimenting. First up is for the other half of the people who made it possible (Steph), who enjoys all things pumpkin, a pumpkin crème brûlée.

I basically used standard pumpkin pie spicing instead of the vanilla, steeped those in the heavy cream, used half brown and half regular sugar, and added about half a cup of pumpkin to the egg and sugar mixture. I'm not sure how it's going to come out, but it smells pretty amazing.

I will be tenting them with aluminum foil in the oven, I think it made for a much nicer custard, since the caramelization is applied after the fact.

crème brûlée

So about a year ago (maybe two?) my mom get me a set of ramekins and a crème brûlée cookbook. I also got a torch (from Steph?), but have yet to actually get it together enough to actually make it. Unknown to me, prior to a month ago, my mom had never had crème brûlée, because she's not generally a fan of custards. She had it at a very nice restaurant near Princeton, and it was apparently quite good. So there was pressure to make it this holiday season.

I used Alton Brown's recipe, mostly because there seemed to be very little variation among the different recipes I checked, even among the ratios of cream to egg to sugar. His had an extra step that basically involves steeping the vanilla pod in the cream for a while, and that appealed to me, so I gave it a shot. It took a few tries to get the right amount of sugar and heat for a nice top, but by the last one I had it down. One thing we did learn is that extra time to cool and set makes for a much better crème brûlée. Two hours was the suggested, I'd recommend at least overnight.

I've made another batch for christmas dessert, we'll see how it turned out, since I now have shiny new ramekins and they'll have had a full 24 hours to cool. I think we might be able to start experimenting with flavors beyond the standard vanilla after this batch.

[TND] 12.18 Balsamic Garlic Pork Loin

I adapted a Rachel Ray recipe for pork tenderloin. Hers had the tenderloins rubbed with balsamic vinegar and then crushed garlic in slits. I used roasted garlic instead, and because I didn't want to leave the house, didn't put fresh thyme and rosemary on it. I used a bit more balsamic vinegar, and then made a glaze from more vinegar, a bit of butter, and the drippings from the pan I roasted the pork in.

I paired it with some roasted potatoes and some salad (with a balsamic vinegarette). I'd like to do something a bit more herbal with the potatoes, I think it would tie together a bit better.

I made some dessert too, an experiment I've been meaning to try for a few weeks now. It's an upside down apple caramel tart. We had some issues making the caramel, as I had a drastically smaller cooking time then was actually required. Gotta let it sit for a long while, until it reduces and then finally caramelizes. We let it go a little too long, and so the final product tasted a bit burnt. I think the second cooking means you can err on the side of not as caramelized. You take peeled apples, slice it in half, then split one of the halves into thirds. A bit of caramel in the bottom of a ramekin, then the half apple, then arrange the thirds on top of it to make a flat area. Add more caramel, and top with puff pastry. I need a better way to cut the puff pastry, it ended up kind of ragged and uneven and not quite the right shape. I also need deeper ramekins. Or smaller apples. But really, I think deeper ramekins is the way to go. Also, it really, really needs vanilla ice cream.

[TND] 12.08 Seafood feast

I missed one or two in here, teaching a class from 5 to 6:30pm on Tuesdays has made it difficult to do the dinners every week. I did make turkey noodle soup from the turkey stock from thanksgiving, but I'm not sure that was on Tuesday.

Kuba came down for the weekend, and brought with him a bunch of scallops and some white fish (flounder, possibly some haddock) that he had taken out of the water on his last cruise on the NOAA fisheries research boat. The fish and scallops went directly into the deep freezer, so were about as fresh as it gets without cooking it on the boat. I also had stopped by a Polish bakery nearby, and gotten some fresh kielbasa. So instead of using bacon to wrap the scallops, I sliced the kielbasa thinly, and put the scallops on top of it. I also made a tarragon polenta crust for the top, which I also used on some of the white fish. I wasn't sure how many people I would have, so I got some shrimp on sale and made a quick scampi as well. The scallops were definitely the highlight, sweet, tender and delicious. The kielbasa worked beautifully, since it was subtler than bacon would have been, but still had a nice smoke and spice to it. A lot of it was the quality of both scallop and kielbasa, and I'm not sure I'd recommend it with lesser versions.

I also took the opportunity to overcome a hesitation I had in making risotto. Last time I made it, I used a wok, since it was the only appropriately sized pan I had. This is suboptimal, as you don't get even heating, and thus don't get even texture. This time I used my Caphalon 12" everything pan, which lives up to its name admirably, and it was a different experience. Much better integration, nice texture, much easier than last time. Parmesan and parsley to finish, and it was a nice backdrop to the seafood.

[TND] 11.06 Tomato Soup, Potato Pancakes and Pumpkin Pie

The tomato soup I made is one I make very frequently in the winter, since it's based on canned tomatoes and quite good despite that. Basically put a chopped potato, a quartered yellow onion, 3 cups of water, 2-4 tablespoons of butter, a couple bay leaves, the juice of an orange (save the zest), a tablespoon (or more) of cumin (I like to had ground ginger and a bit of coriander too), a bit of salt and pepper into a big pot. Boil, reduce to a simmer for 15-20 minutes. Add two big (28 oz) cans of peeled tomatoes, the zest from the orange, and bring back to a boil. Let it simmer for at least another 20 min, though it can easily sit and simmer for longer if you need it to. Fish out the bay leaves, blend it with an immersion blender (beware steam/splatter). It can simmer for a while without issue, serve it hot with fresh chives and sour cream. You can supplement the orange with more juice, or even use two oranges, but I don't think I'd use all the zest, in that case. It scales wonderfully, halves or doubles, and is quite lovely on winter nights. The original recipe puts it through a mesh strainer before server, but you lose so much fantastic texture from the tomatoes and potato that I don't recommend this.

Best thing about it is what you can dip into it. I've done grilled buffalo mozarella sandwiches before, but last night we did potato pancakes. There was a recipe in the most recent Fine Cooking, but it relied very heavily on a specific type of food processor with different grating attachments. We grated up a bunch of potatoes, a couple of onions, and mixed them together with salt, pepper, paprika, flour and eggs. Two eggs, two onions for 2.5 lbs of potatoes, maybe half a cup of flour, but it's really just looking for texture. Squeeze out as much liquid as possible, fry, keep warm in the oven. I only have one pan suitable for frying, so it took a long time, but I also made some applesauce to go with them. Surprising to me was that the combination of the potato pancake with applesauce was very nice with the citrusy-spicy tomato soup.

Finally, I made pumpkin pie. I cheated on the crust for lack of time, using the Whole Foods frozen premades, and used the recipe out of the Joy of Cooking with pointers from my Dad. I ended up with excess mixture, which I put into little custard cups and cooked as though they were custard, in a water bath. Water baths suck, I need to work on executing that before I try it with an actual custard. One important note, make sure you stir the pie mixture immediately before pouring into the crusts, or else the spices, particularly the ginger, seems to settle. I also would like to get the appropriate spices from Penzey's, instead of using the McCormick ones, as they really do make or break the pie.