Food for Food's Sake: Smileyfood in Paris!

I am just back from four days in Paris with my mother and sister. I have found all the cliches about French food to be true: Ubiquitious crepes, croissants, and baguesttes; red wine at every meal, a preponderance of nutella, affected waiters. But especially true is this: Eating is something that is done with purpose in Paris. There is no food-as-fuel multitasking nonsense- I didn't see one to-go container or a styrofoam coffee cup. I call this Food for Food's Sake.


Here's my mom and I enjoying a Kir Royale on the Champs d'Elysses. It's champagne with cassis, a currant liquer. Drinking mid-day was somewhat new to me but I managed to adjust.

This was my dessert at the Louvre cafe: currant sorbet with berries and whipped cream. I'm finding that I am not a fan of rich desserts, and this was a perfect hot-day sweet. My family and I had all run out of steam and just couldn't deal with the lines and seat-searching at the cafeteria. It turned out to be a lovely meal. Below is the chocolate pyramid that my sister ordered. It was light and chocolatey and not at all cloying or over-rich.
What in the world is that fruit on top? We couldn't figure it out.
My mother ordered a rhubarb tart that had a surprisingly strong mojito ice. It was almost too beautiful to eat. Almost.
My sister, ever the carnivore, ordered steak, which came covered in butter. No complaints were heard. Actually, she said very little until her plate was empty.

At the Champs d'Elysses we had a lovely salad that was described on the menu as "Small assortment of vegetables." It was actually a large pile of delicious hearts of palm, carrots, corn, olives, green beans, peppers, corn, and lentils. It was fantastic on the hot, humid day!
There were very few candy bars or packages of candy. Bakeries like this, however, were pretty ubiquitous. The pastries were like little pieces of architecture.

This omelette had the most lovely texture: crunchy, chewy, gooey.
At the same meal, my sister ordered a salad with baked goat cheese. It tasted as good as it looks.

One of the more exciting discoveries was a restaurant called La Table d'Erica. I had read about it in my guidebook and was so sad to find that it was closed. But it did allow for some great photo ops. Here's a close-up:

Sweet and Savory Barbecue

Around mid-summer, I start to get tired of the usual barbecue staples. Last weekend in the Berkshires, I made a delicious sweet and savory barbecue which resulted in some fantastic quesadillas. The savory was the usual zucchini and summer squash; we also added peaches and pineapple. The peaches were on their way out when they were in the fridge, but grilled, they tasted delicious grilled- smoky, caramelized, with a deeper flavor. Try it!

Cupcake Bread Pudding

Last night my husband was making pizza dough and he used a package of gelatin instead of a package of yeast.

If you know my husband, this may not surprise you. And you may also be unsurprised to hear that on Sunday he made bread pudding from cupcakes. He's been crazy about bread pudding since he had one made out of Krispy Kremes in Connecticut last year.

Anyway. Remember the July 4th cupcake fail? We made chocolate Guiness cupcakes that kind of fell apart due to their general delicious gooiness. That's what led to his brilliant idea. Because I hate to waste food, we took the broken, decapitated cupcakes and froze them. Then, a few weeks later, he took them out and soaked them in a mixture of milk, eggs, and vanilla and let it all bake. He tells me that he just used a bread pudding recipe and cut down on the sugar. And ultimately, what looked like brownies was actually a super-moist, ultra-rich chocolaty concoction.


Which was perfect for our friends' brunch garden party. It was 2/3 gone before I got my camera.

Cupcake Fail with a Silver Lining

I love cupcakes.

Why don't they love me back?

The picture above is my wedding cake cupcake tower. They were wonderful- lemon with lemon curd filling, chocolate with raspberry filling, and vanilla with chocolate ganache filling. And they were delicious. Thanks to sandcastlematt for the image! And yes, that's Batman and Wonder Woman on top.

However. The following is my Facebook status report upon trying this recipe
for Chocolate Whiskey and Beer Cupcakes from Smitten Kitchen:

"Erica Smiley's Irish cupcakes met with mixed results. Removal from pan proved difficult and there were many casualties. Decapitation frequent and gruesome. Lack of more formal piping bags led to collision of ganache and ziploc. Must work quickly to establish historical precedent for "Erica's Awesome Spatula Cupcakes." Am hoping preponderance of butter, Bailey's and cocoa will smooth things over. Results to follow."

Well, the results were gooey, rich, and delicous. I halved the frosting and doubled the whiskey in the ganache. But all I can say is: Use paper liners on these cupcakes, people. Paper liners.

Update: While my cupcake tin did not have a silver lining, this story in fact does. My culinary/coronary daredevil of a husband, who fears nothing high in fat or cholesterol, has taken the cupcake wreckage, placed it in a tupperware, and vowed to make it into bread pudding. Ladies, that's what we call a keeper.

Super Salvage Summer Sundae

First, the bad news. This afternoon, I failed catastrophically at creating a genoise, an Italian sponge cake named after the city of Genoa. Specifically, it was a Green Tea Roll with Red Bean Filling. The recipe came from Chocolate and Zucchini, a wonderful website full of what I now realize are recipes that only lovely French women and Italian pastry chefs can replicate. It involved folding egg whites into a mixture of cornstarch, flour, egg yolks, sugar and matcha. The problem was that this mixture had the consistency of Play-Doh that has been sitting out for an hour. Trying to fold egg whites into this mixture was like trying to fold a cardboard box into a paper crane. I gave up and beat the mixture, resulting in a flat cake that much resembled a whole-wheat spinach wrap. I had a pretty easy time rolling it. I used almond pie filling, and way too much of it. It squished out in unattractive ways.

But now, the good news. While the filling is chunky and cloying and the cake is technically not genoise, with some mango sorbet and tart berries, the roll was a nice, chewy addition. The earthiness of the green tea balanced the slight soapiness of mango. The tartness of the raspberries helped counteract the sweetness of the almond paste. And don't even get me into color theory.

I'm not sure what I'll do with the rest of the roll. There's quite a bit. Wish me better luck with my next project. From now on, if I can't pronounce it, I may pass on it.

There's Nothing Better Than a Long Lunch

During the school year, teachers like me are lucky if they get 20 minutes to eat their food. Then there is the challenge of coming home after a long day and trying to cook something remotely interesting.

Which is why during the summer, as often as I can, I let my cooking take an often unnecessarily long time with needlessly complex recipes. My friend Carolyn is coming for lunch today and I've made a Hakurei Turnip Gratin, Bok Choy and Tofu Dumplings, and a Citrus Salad with Star Anise Syrup.

Hakurei Turnip Gratin
Here is the link to the original recipe.

Melt 1 Tablespoon butter in a non-stick 12 inch skillet.

Wash one bunch of white hakurei turnips well, top and tail them, and slice thinly. Layer the slices in the pan. Sprinkle the sliced turnips with 1 teaspoon dry thyme, 3/4 teaspoon salt, and 1/4 tsp. freshly ground pepper.

Cook for 3 minutes over medium heat, then pour 1/2 cup heavy cream and 1/2 cup vegetable broth over the top. Cover and cook the turnips over medium heat for 20 minutes. Remove the cover and cook to reduce the liquid. When most of the liquid has reduced (about 5-10 minutes), and the sauce is thickened, add 1/2 cup of parmesan cheese. Serve hot!

Grapefruit with Star Anise Syrup

I am crazy for Star Anise lately. Ever since making Chinese tea eggs, I've been on a real kick. This is grapefruit at its most exotic and delicious. This is a very, very easy summer recipe. The only thing that is time-consuming is getting the grapefruits out of their little casings. Just buckle down, roll up your sleeves, make sure you don't have any paper cuts, and peel 'em. If you don't have grapefruit, this would be great with any fruits. You could even jazz up a fruit salad. I'd use oranges, mango, even banana.

To make the syrup, mix equal parts sugar and water (about 1/4 cup) and add 3-5 pieces of star anise. Cook over medium heat for 5-10 minutes, then let stand as long as you'd like- more time=more anise. Let cool and pour over fruit.

Apple Blackberry Yogurt Custard Pie

This quick and easy pie is my favorite kind of recipe because you can tinker around with it when there's extra stuff in the fridge. Just arrange fruit to fill about half a frozen pie crust, then pour the custard over the fruit and bake for about 40 minutes. The fruit rises and creates beautiful patterns. The original recipe is from the Moosewood cookbook and calls for 2-3 peeled, thinly sliced apples. Here, I've added blackberries.

1 pie crust
About 2 cups fruit for baking (pears, apples, berries)

Custard:
Put the following in a blender and blend until smooth.
4 eggs
1 cup yogurt (plain or flavored, maple is great), lowfat or fat-free is just fine
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 tsp vanilla extract (almond or orange extracts would be great too)
1/3 cup honey or brown sugar
1/2 tsp cinnamon (cardamom or nutmeg would probably be nice too)

Mango Mousse

Mango Mousse

This is the easiest, classiest looking dessert. We recently layered it with the blackberry mousse and graham cracker crumbs for a barbecue party on Memorial Day. Above, we tried to make a mold and then invert it. That didn't work. The raspberries are on it to hide the gooey melted mango mess. So, serve this in a bowl or dole it out into martini glasses before it sets and don't try to make a mango mousse mold. Trust me.

1 can (28 oz) mango pulp
1 container cool whip
one package jello

Mix thawed cool whip and mango pulp. Combine jello and 1/4 cup water and heat until gelatin dissolves. Mix into mango and cool whip mixture and let set 3 hours or overnight for best results.

Passover Menu and Recipes

Stuffed Eggplant:
Adapted from Olive Trees and Honey
2 eggplants (or 8 baseball-sized eggplants)
4 tablespoons olive oil
1 onion, chopped
2 tbsp chopped fresh parsley or other fresh herb
1 cup matza meal
1 tbsp choppped chives or 1 tsp dried oregano and 1/2 tsp dried basil
1tsp kosher salt
1 cup cheese, shredded
1 cup yogurt
2 eggs, beaten
1/4 cup chopped nuts

Preheat oven to 350.
Scoop out cores of eggplant and reserve pulp.
Cook shells in boiling water until tender, about 3-5 minutes. Drain.Chop reserved pulp.
Heat 2 tbsp oil. Add onion and garlic and sautee 5 minutes.
Add rest of oil, eggplant, and herbs and sautee until soft, about 10 minutes
Remove from heat and stir in rest of ingredients: matza, salt, pepper, chives, cheese, egg, nuts.
Place shells in greased pan and spoon in filling.
Bake covered in foil 20 minutes.
Uncover and bake until golden, 10 minutes.

Egg-Lemon Asparagus
Adapted from Olive Trees and Honey
Note: When not Passover, this is delicious over pasta...
1/4 cup olive oil
1 clove garlic, cut in half.
1/2 tsp kosher salt
pepper to taste
1/2 cup water
2 tsp flour
2 eggs, beaten
5 tbsp lemon juice
2 lbs asparagus, trimmed and cut into 2-inch pieces
In a skillet, heat the oil. Add garlic and sautee 1 minute. Add asparagus, salt, and pepper. Discard garlic.
Add water and bring to a boil. Cover and cook at medium low until tender.
Remove asparagus and save cooking liquid.
In a medium bowl, whisk flour, eggs, and lemon juice. Slowly whisk in cooking liquid.
Pour mixture back into the skillet and cook with low heat, stirring constantly, until it starts to thicken. Be careful, or you'll end up with scrambled eggs!
Pour sauce over asparagus and serve immediately.

Note: You can't reheat the sauce- unless you want scrambled eggs!!


Algerian Potato and Herb Terrine
Adapted from Quick and Easy Meals for the Vegetarian
Note: this recipe is really delicious, and it sounds a heck of a lot more complicated than it actually is. We've added, subtracted, and substituted ingredients. As long as the proportions are more or less the same, it's fine.

We've had some issues with the potatos cooking through, so you may want to try slicing them and baking them first to soften them up. Also keep in mind that you need to let this sit and cool and solidify for 2 hours before you can eat it.

1lb spinach, cooked
3 tbsp chopped fresh sorrel (hard to find, dill or basil with a little extra lemon juice tastes great too)
2 tbsp chopped fresh chervil (optional, really hard to find)
2 tbsp chives or scallions
2 cloves garlic
1 tsp cardamom seeds or 1/2 tsp cardamom
2 cups sour cream
3 eggs, beaten
1 tbsp tomato puree (not necessary)
2 tsp harissa (optional, spicy!)
2 lb potatos in very, very thin slices
4 oz cheese, grated (gruyere is great, cheddar too)

In a large bowl, mix spinach, herbs, garlic, spices, sour cream, eggs, tomato and harissa.
In a loaf pan, alternate layers of this mixture and potatos, ending with mixture on top. Top with shredded cheese.
Cover and bake in a pan 1/2 full of water for 1 1/4 hours. Remove foil and bake 15 more minutes until top is golden. Let stand for 2 hours before turning out.

Cod Baked in a Yogurt Sauce

From The Wednesday Chef
Serves 4 to 6

3 tablespoons vegetable oil
2 medium onions, cut into 1/8-inch slices
2 pounds thick fillets cod
2 cups Greek yogurt
2 tablespoons lemon juice
1 teaspoon sugar
Salt and coarsely ground black pepper
2 teaspoons ground cumin
2 tablespoons ground coriander
¼ teaspoon garam masala
¾ teaspoon cayenne pepper
1 teaspoon grated fresh ginger
3 tablespoons unsalted cold butter, cubed (optional)

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. In a large skillet, heat 2 tablespoons of the oil. When hot, add the onions and cook over medium until translucent, 5 minutes. Season with salt and pepper and transfer to a baking dish just large enough to hold the fish in a single layer. Cut the fish fillets crosswise into 2-by-3-inch pieces and lay them over the onions.

2. In a large bowl, whisk together the yogurt, lemon juice, sugar, 1 ½ teaspoons salt, ¼ teaspoon pepper, cumin, coriander, garam masala, cayenne and ginger. Whisk in the remaining 1 tablespoon oil. Pour sauce over the fish, tucking some under each piece. Cover with foil and bake until the fish is just cooked through, 30 to 40 minutes.

3. Garnish with lemon wedges and a shake of paprika and/or cayenne.

Toffee with Apricots, Chocolate, and Rosemary
Adapted from Cecily Celebrates! Lavender Cashew Toffee (because my mom hates lavender)
This is also a flexible recipe. You can use any kind of chocolate and any dried herb or chopped nuts. Go crazy. Or not. It's also a just good when it's simply toffee and chocolate.

1 stick butter
1 cup sugar
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 cup water
2 tsp rosemary, crushed into small pieces
3/4-1 cup chocolate for melting
Candy thermometer (essential!)

Butter a medium cookie sheet.
Bring butter, sugar, salt and water to a boil.
Put candy thermometer in and stir constantly 15-20 minutes until candy reaches hard crack stage- 300 F. Watch carefully!
At 300 exactly, remove from heat and stir in rosemary. Pour onto baking sheet and let spread. Let it cool.
While cooling, melt chocolate in double boiler or by putting glass bowl over boiling water. Let it cool slightly, then add apricots and spread over toffee.
Let it cool completely in the fridge and then break into pieces and serve. Keeps well in fridge!

Mango, Pear and Coconut Charoset

For this recipe, chop ingredients by hand. Although it is not as easy and throwing everything into the cuisinart, ours got too pasty when we made it with a machine, with a consistency not unlike
chopped liver. But tastier. We initially used cashews, which were too sweet. Use almonds or even walnuts.

1 ripe but not mushy mango
1 ripe and soft pear
1 cup almonds
1 cup shredded coconut
juice of 1 lime
2 tsp tamarind concentrate (can be found in Indian markets- optional, but really nice)
sprinkle of Chinese 5 spice (optional, can substitute ginger)

Chop nuts and fruit and mix all ingredients in a bowl.

Chinese Tea Eggs
I adapted these from this recipe. They come out with a beautiful brown marbling and a subtle but rich taste.

Chinese Tea Eggs - 茶叶蛋 （cháyèdàn)

6-10 eggs
2 tablespoons black tea
1/2 cup soy sauce
2 teaspoons salt
2 teaspoons sugar
4 pieces star anise
1 cinnamon stick
1 teaspoon cracked black peppercorn (optional)
2 to 3 strips orange peel (optional)

Put eggs in a medium-sized pot with enough water to cover the eggs. Bring water to boil, then lower heat to simmer for 3 minutes. Remove eggs from heat and allow them to cool a bit before handling (running them under cold water does the trick quickly.) Take the back of a knife and crack eggs evenly all around.

There's the fabulous brew. Return eggs to the pot and add the rest of the ingredients. Bring liquid to boil again, then simmer for 1 to 3 hours, longer for a more intense flavor and color, adding water if level gets too low. Remove from heat, and put into ice water. Peel when they're at room temperature.

Coconut Jello

I adapted this from this recipe. This was delicious! One problem. The first time I made it, the coconut fat rose to the top of the jello, creating an effect not entirely unlike a french manicure. So this time, I used beaters.

Coconut Gelatin Dessert

1 envelope unflavored gelatine
5 tablespoons sugar
1 cup boiling water
1 cup unsweetened coconut milk, room temperature
1/4 teaspoon almond extract

Mix gelatine and sugar in a bowl, and add boiling water, beating until
dissolved. Then stir in coconut milk and flavoring. Pour into a mold and chill until set, about 3 hours.

Passover Chocolate Nut Apple "Cake"
My mom is famous for this cake, which she adapted from a passover cookbook years ago. It's thick and moist and not too too sweet. The frosting is a new adaptation this year.
6 eggs, separated
1 cup sugar
1 cup chopped walnuts or almonds
1/2 cup matza meal
4 oz semi-sweet chocolate, grated
2 apples, peeled and grated

Frosting: 3 ounces each semi-sweet chocolate and white chocolate, grated finely

Beat egg yolks with sugar until lemon colored and thick. Gently stir in nuts, matza, and apple. Beat egg whites until they form stiff peaks. Fold into other ingredients with a spatula. Pour into 9" springform pan; bake 45 minutes to 1 hour.

To frost, sprinkle chocolate and white chocolate on cake immediately when it comes out of the oven and let melt until shiny. When it looks shiny and soft in a few minutes, take the tip of a knife and drag it across to create swirls in the chocolate. Let harden and let the cake cool COMPLETELY before attempting to remove from pan.

Quinoa and Sweet Potato Cakes with Orange-Cumin Raita
Adapted from this recipe
2 eggs
3 cups cooked quinoa
2 cups peeled grated sweet potato
1/2 cup flour or matza meal
sprinkle of salt and pepper
2 bunches scallions, chopped (optional)

Raita (adapted from Vegetarian Planet):
3/4 cup plain yogurt
1 tsp cumin
1/4 c chopped cucumber (optional)
1 tsp orange zest

Cook quinoa according to directions on box, or use rice cooker. Mix with eggs, spices, scallions, and sweet potatos. Form into patties and fry in olive oil. Mix all ingredients for raita. Serve together.

Mangosteen Clafouti: Sounds like a disease; Tastes like a custard.

When my husband, mother-in-law, and I were traveling in China, she was obsessed with this fruit called a mangosteen. A friend had told her to make sure she ate a mangosteen in China. They're really rare in the states because they only grow in a certain region at a certain specific time. Chances are you haven't eaten one of these. For a long time, they weren't allowed into the US because of the fear of fruit flies. They're still rarely found fresh, but we found cans of mangosteen in a Chinese supermarket this weekend and surprisingly, there was a recipe on the web. The canned sections of mangosteen look rather like garlic, but thankfully they do not taste like it. See what I mean?
Anyway. So we went all over Chengdu looking for someone selling mangosteens. Finally, we found a woman selling them out of her baskets and excitedly ate them. They aren't nearly as exciting as the cross-continental buildup, but they have a pleasant taste and they are truly a bizarre visual hybrid of eggplant, tangerine, and shot putt.

But the dessert. Mangosteen Clafouti sounds like a disease and tastes like custard. It's a wonderful mix of mangosteen, which has a citrus-y peach mild flavor, coconut milk, and eggs. Delicious! Here's a finished product, before we poured more coconut milk on top:

Here's a link to the recipe!

Toasted Coconut Homemade Marshmallows

These are so superior to store-bought, chemical-tasting marshmallows, and the flavor possibilities are endless. I'm planning to experiment with different extracts like peppermint, orange, and almond. While eating these with friends tonight, I thought out loud and came up with homemade marshmallow rice krispies. I shall experiment with this very soon. Orange flavored marshmallow with cocoa krispies mixed in.... Can you imagine?

Ingredients:

• 3 envelopes of unflavored Knox gelatin
• 1/2 cup cold water
• 2 cups granulated sugar
• 2/3 cups corn syrup
• 1/4 cup water
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 Tablespoon vanilla extract
• Confectioners' sugar for dredging

Preparation:

In the bowl of an electric mixer, sprinkle gelatin over 1/2 cup cold water. Soak for 10 minutes.

Combine sugar, corn syrup, and 1/4 cup water in a small saucepan. Bring to a boil and boil hard for 1 minute. Pour boiling syrup into gelatin and mix at high speed. Add the salt and beat for 12 minutes. Add vanilla and incorporate into mixture. Here is an entertaining video about how gooey the marshmellows get as you approach minute 10:



Scrape into a 9 x 9-inch pan lined with oiled plastic wrap and spread evenly. (Note: Lightly oil hands and spatula or bowl scraper). After pouring marshmallow mixture into the pan, take another piece of plastic wrap and press mixture into the pan.

Let mixture sit for a few hours. Remove from pan, dredge the marshmallow slab with confectioners' sugar and cut into 12 equal pieces with scissors (the best tool for the job) or a chef's knife. Dredge each piece of marshmallow in confectioners' sugar.

Yield: 12 large marshmallows

I used this basic recipe, then coated them in toasted coconut. I toasted about 2 cups unsweetened coconut in the oven for about 10 minutes at 350. Then, after oiling the bottom of the pan, I sprinkled in a layer. I spooned in the batter and then sprinkled it on top again. When I cut the pieces apart, I rolled them in more coconut.

Recipe Source: French Laundry Cookbook by Thomas Keller (Artisan)
Reprinted with permission.

Jonah's Birthday Feast: a Photo-Documentary

Jonah's Birthday Feast
Part I:
Selections From the Menu

Just click on the title for the recipe

Ribs, Alton Brown style

Avocado Sushi

Bubbly White Russians

Lavender Cashew Toffee

And the Famous Blue Velvet Cake

How do I Love Thee, Lime Mold?

Cousin Abby's Lime Jello Mold

How do I love thee lime mold? Let me count the ways.
I love the way you counteract the spice
Of my cousin Abby's chili relleno in Tennessee
And put out the flame of indigestion in my soul
I love your heinous shade of green
As lovely as a puff-sleeve bridesmaid dress from 1983.
I love thee thoroughly, for your unexpected sour cream
I love thee purely, as you have no actual food content
I love thee passionately, for the strange looks I get
When I bring you as a hostess gift.

2 3oz packages of lime gelatin (picture above was a layer of lime and a layer of raspberry)
3 c boiling water
1/2 pt sour cream

Dissolve jello in water. When cooled, mix in sour cream with beater. Place in mold and then refrigerate.

Snow Day: Banana Chocolate Morning Bars

http://chocolateandzucchini.com/archives/2008/11/wholesome_banana_chocolate_breakfast_bars.php

These are delicious! I'm sitting with a cup of tea and eating one right now. The recipe says that they are great for breakfast. I say it depends how you define breakfast. Maybe for second breakfast. They're vegan but they don't taste veganny. Also- not obnoxiously sweet. If you want them to be so, I suppose you could add some honey. Next time I make them, I may add marmalade to the mixture. Hmm.

Obamacake!

I made this for my inauguration party. Thanks to everyone who scarfed it down! With friends like you, leftover cake is never a problem. : ) This was pretty easy and came out delicous!

1 box cake mix, prepared

1 package vanilla instant pudding

1 bottle red food coloring (you didn't want to know that's how much there was, did you?)

2 containers frosting

red and blue icing

Add the pudding mix and food coloring along with cake mix ingredients. Bake as directed in two round pans. Cut each into 2 layers and frost. Decorate and celebrate!