Paris Mushroom Soup {FFwD}

January 7, 2011 at 6:57 am (Around My French Table, Cooking with wine, Dorie Greenspan, French Fridays With Dorie, Mise en place, Techniques, Uncategorized)
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At French Fridays with Dorie we’re starting off the new year with the perfect recipe for those wintry January days. I love soup, especially when it’s cold outside. I’m not sure why I don’t make it more often, especially since so many soup recipes, like this one from Around My French Table, are so easy to put together.

Preparing to cook included little more than chopping vegetables and measuring out the remaining ingredients. The most time-consuming part was cleaning and slicing the mushrooms. If you really wanted this soup to be almost effortless, you could start with sliced white mushrooms. Starting with whole mushrooms, it still only took me about 15 minutes to get everything ready. With my mise en place completed, it was time to make soup.

I began by sautéing onions and garlic in butter.

Or rather, my sous chef sautéed them.

After the onions and garlic had softened a bit, we added the mushrooms and cooked them down until they gave up their liquid.

We continued cooking the mushrooms until the liquid had mostly evaporated. Then we added white wine and cooked it away, too. Finally, we dropped in rosemary and parsley, then poured in chicken broth.

We brought the broth to a boil, covered the pan, and simmered the soup for about 20 minutes. We — or rather, I, as my sous chef had gone off to play by then — uncovered the pot, moved it off the heat, and broke out the immersion blender to purée the vegetables.

 With the soup ready to go, I prepared the salad, which consisted of mushrooms, scallions, parsley, and chives.

I assembled the salad in the bottom of shallow soup bowls, then ladled the hot soup onto the salad.

I served the soup with a dollop of sour cream. The recipe called for crème fraiche, but the grocery store didn’t have any, and I hadn’t thought ahead to make it. No matter, as the sour cream worked just fine.

This soup was perfect for a chilly winter Sunday supper. My sous chef, who claims not to like mushrooms, even liked it. Actually, that was part of the reason I had her help me cook it. I’ve found that kids are more likely to try — and like — a dish that they have helped prepare.

As for the rest of us, we loved the soup, too. Everyone finished their bowls, and I went back for seconds. The soup was creamy and delicious, and the salad gave it a bit of added flavor and texture.

 This is definitely a recipe I will make again. And it has me thinking I should make homemade soup a regular part of my winter dinner rotation.

25 Comments

English Muffin Bread {BOM} {Recipe}

January 1, 2011 at 8:30 am (Bread Baking, Uncategorized)
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The Facebook Artisan Bread Bakers December BOM (Bread-of-the-Month) was English muffin bread, a simple loaf bread. This bread is easy to mix up and requires only one rise, in the pan.

The recipe was inspired by a recipe on the King Arthur Flour website. Here’s my version:

English Muffin Bread

Ingredients:

• 3 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 tablespoon sugar
• 1 1/2 teaspoons salt
• 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 tablespoon instant yeast
• 1 cup milk
• 1/4 cup water
• 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
• cornmeal, to sprinkle in pan

Directions:

1. Whisk together the flour, sugar, salt, baking soda, and yeast in a large mixing bowl.
2. Combine the milk, water, and oil in a separate, microwave-safe bowl, and heat to between 120°F and 130°F. The liquid should be hotter than lukewarm, but not so hot that it would scald you.
3. Pour the hot liquid over the dry ingredients in the mixing bowl.
4. Beat at high speed for 1 minute, or mix thoroughly with a dough whisk or sturdy spoon. The dough will be very soft.
5. Lightly grease an 8 1/2″ x 4 1/2″ loaf pan, and sprinkle the bottom and sides with cornmeal.
6. Scrape the dough into the pan, leveling it in the pan as much as possible.
7. Cover the pan, and let the dough rise till it’s just barely crowned over the rim of the pan, about 45 minutes to 1 hour. When the dough is almost finished rising, uncover the dough and preheat the oven to 400°F. 
8. Bake the bread for 20 to 22 minutes, until it is golden brown and its interior temperature is 190°F.
9. Remove the bread from the oven, and after 5 minutes turn it out of the pan onto a rack to cool. Let the bread cool completely before slicing.

Makes 1 loaf

This is a simple, delicious bread that is perfect for toast, grilled cheese sandwiches, and French toast

7 Comments

Winter in Cleveland

December 17, 2010 at 11:33 pm (Uncategorized)

Like many northerners, Clevelanders love to complain about the weather. But this week, we saw something that surprised even us.

The Cleveland Harbor West Pierhead Lighthouse looked like this:

Yeah, that’s ice. Lots of ice. Completely covering the lighthouse. The wind blew water from the lake onto the lighthouse while temperatures were in the teens for almost two weeks. You’ll note that the cold didn’t deter the birds. Nor did it keep us inside. Sure, we complain about the weather. But it doesn’t slow us down.

So, when you want to complain about your weather, remember, it could be worse. You could live in Cleveland.

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Grissini: Classic Italian Breadsticks (ModBak)

November 20, 2010 at 8:00 am (Around My French Table, Bread Baking, Breads, Dorie Greenspan, Flatbreads, French Fridays With Dorie, Modern Baker Challenge, Nick Malgieri, The Modern Baker, Uncategorized)
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This week’s entry for the Modern Baker Challenge is Grissini, or Italian Breadsticks. These breadsticks are very simple to make, containing only flour, water, salt, olive oil, and active dry yeast. The recipe calls for both warm and cold water — warm to activate the yeast; cold to cool the dough in the food processor.

Because I was using instant yeast, I didn’t have to dissolve it in water first, so I mixed the yeast with the flour, salt, and olive oil in the food processor, then added all cold water. The recipe makes 24 breadsticks, but I didn’t want that many, so I halved the recipe. After mixing the dough, I put it in an oiled container to ferment.

I let the dough proof for about an hour, until it had doubled in volume.

After the dough had fermented, I put it in the refrigerator to chill. The recipe says to refrigerate the dough from one to 24 hours. I wanted to bake the Grissini with dinner the next day, so I left the dough in the fridge for about 22 hours. The next day, I took the dough out of the fridge, pressed it into a rectangle, and cut it into 12 pieces.

I rolled each piece of dough into a roughly 15-inch cylinder and put them on a baking sheet.

I baked the breadsticks in a 325°F oven for about 25 minutes, until they were golden and crispy. I let the Grissini cool on the pan, then put them in a tall glass for serving.

I served the Grissini with Dorie Greenspan’s Potato Gratin. The breadsticks were crisp and light and paired perfectly with a meal. They could easily be spiced up by adding herbs to the dough or by topping them with sesame seeds or cracked pepper. But I liked them the way the were — crisp, crunchy, and delicious.

4 Comments

Pecan Stickiest Buns {ModBak}

November 17, 2010 at 10:41 pm (Artisan Breads Every Day, Modern Baker Challenge, Nick Malgieri, Peter Reinhart, The Modern Baker, Uncategorized)
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The next recipe in the Yeast-Risen Specialties section of the Modern Baker Challenge is Pecan Stickiest Buns. Yes, stickiest. Not sticky. Not stickier. Stickiest. The name alone gives these buns a lot to live up to. And they had some stiff competition. Having recently acquired Artisan Breads Every Day; and having tasted sticky buns baked by Peter Reinhart himself; and having baked Reinhart’s sticky buns, twice; and having grown up in Lancaster County, PA, where sticky buns are standard breakfast fare, well, let’s just say I know sticky buns.

Malgieri’s recipe starts with the sweet dough used in the previous recipe, Bakery Crumb Buns. After mixing the dough and letting it ferment for a few hours, I patted it out, then rolled it into a rectangle. I spread the dough with a filling made of butter, brown sugar, and cinnamon, then sprinkled on chopped pecans.

I rolled the dough into a cylinder and cut it into 15 rolls. Then I put the rolls into a pan that I had spread with a mixture of butter, brown sugar, corn syrup, and pecan halves.

I covered the pan with greased plastic wrap and allowed the dough to proof for two hours.

After the dough had proofed, I baked the rolls at 375°F for 25 minutes, until the rolls were golden brown and firm and the sticky mixture was bubbling up between the rolls.

I let the buns cool for about five minutes in the pan, then turned them out onto a baking sheet.

So, how did these sticky buns stack up? I can safely say they were every bit as good as any I ate growing up in New Holland. As I was eating them, I thought they tasted a lot like the PR sticky buns. I recall at least one of Peter’s recipes having orange flavoring, which Nick’s did not. My wife and I agreed that we would have to taste them side by side to determine which one we liked the best.

As it turns out, Nick wasn’t just bragging when he called these “Stickiest Buns”. And he could have called them “most delicious”, too.

5 Comments

Lemon Crumb Bars {Bake!}

November 14, 2010 at 12:55 am (Bake!, Dessert, Holiday Baking, Nick Malgieri, Uncategorized)
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The third recipe I made from Nick Malgieri‘s new book, Bake!, was chosen by Kayte for our Twitterbake. As she is a fan of all things lemony, I wasn’t surprised when she chose the Lemon Crumb Bars on page 196.

These bars consist of three parts – dough, custard, and crumb topping – but each one is simple to make, and the whole thing comes together quickly. I started by making the Sweet Pastry Dough on page 14, which is the same dough we used for the Old-fashioned Sweet Potato Tart recipe last week. After mixing up the dough in the food processor, I wrapped it and put it in the refrigerator until baking day.

When it came time to bake, I prepared the pastry dough. I kneaded the dough on a floured board to soften it a bit, then rolled it out to a rectangle slightly larger than the size of the pan. I folded the dough, transferred it to the pan, unfolded it, and pressed it into the pan. Then I put the dough in the refrigerator to chill while I made the crumb topping.

The crumb topping came together very quickly. It consisted of flour, sugar, baking powder, salt, and butter, which were mixed together, then broken into small crumbs.

I baked the crust and crumb mixture until the crust was set and slightly browned and the crumbs were a deeper, golden brown. While they were cooling, I mixed up the lemon custard, which contained eggs, lemon zest, lemon juice, and sugar. I poured the lemon custard into the baked crust, then put it in the oven. After 15 minutes, I took the pan out of the oven and added the crumbs. Then I put it back in the oven to finish baking for five minutes.

After the bars cooled, I removed them from the pan. Unlike most lemon bars, they appeared to be mostly crust and crumb, with very little custard. Once I cut them, I could see the lemon custard layer, but it still appeared much thinner than other lemon bars.

As simple as these bars were to put together, they were absolutely delicious. The pastry layer was slightly sweet and crunchy. The lemon custard was tart and sweet, but not overpowering. And the crumb topping could almost have been a dessert in itself. I would have liked a little more lemon custard, and I think the next time I make them I will double the custard layer.

And, oh yes, I will definitely make them again.

8 Comments

Homemade Almond Paste {Recipe}

November 5, 2010 at 9:39 pm (Bake!, Holiday Baking, Modern Baker Challenge, Nick Malgieri, Techniques, The Modern Baker, Uncategorized)
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A few weeks ago, my friend Kayte and I decided to try a recipe from Nick Malgieri‘s new book, Bake! She chose Orange & Almond Scones.

I had all the ingredients on hand, including almond paste, which I had recently purchased for another recipe. It had taken some searching to find the almond paste, and, as you know if you’ve ever bought it, it was quite expensive. In the process of hunting for it, I had come across a number of recipes for homemade almond paste. After paying nearly $6 for a small can of it, I decided making my own might not be such a bad idea.

The recipes I found mostly fell into two categories: paste made with a sugar syrup, or paste made with egg whites. I’m not at all squeamish about uncooked egg whites, but I did think the recipes made with sugar syrup might last longer, so I decided to try the following recipe:

Almond Paste

Ingredients:

10 oz dried blanched almonds
10 oz powdered sugar
5 oz granulated sugar
1/4 cup corn syrup
1 cup water

Instructions:

Make a sugar syrup by placing the water, sugar, and corn syrup in a saucepan. Stir it to combine. Bring it to a boil and let it boil for a few moments. Let it cool.

Place the almonds in a food processor and process them to a fine powder. Add the powdered sugar. With the food processor running, slowly add the sugar syrup until the mixture forms a paste.

Store the almond paste tightly covered. If you will be storing it for more than a week, store in the refrigerator.

This recipe came together easily, at least until the end. Evidently, when the recipe says, “add the sugar syrup until the mixture forms a paste”, it means to add it just until it forms a paste. I added all the sugar syrup and ended up with something the consistency of tahini paste. Way too thin for almond paste, although the taste wasn’t bad.

I decided to go ahead and try one of the egg white versions to compare. Here’s the recipe I used:

Almond Paste

Ingredients

  • 1-1/2 cups blanched almonds
  • 1-1/2 cups confectioners’ sugar
  • 1 egg white
  • 1-1/2 teaspoons almond extract
  • 1/4 teaspoon salt

Directions

  • Place almonds in a food processor; cover and process until smooth. Add the confectioners’ sugar, egg white, extract and salt; cover and process until smooth.
  • Divide almond paste into 1/2-cup portions; place in airtight containers. Refrigerate for up to 1 month or freeze for up to 3 months. 

Yield: 1-1/2 cups.

 This was also a quick and easy recipe, and the taste was far superior to the sugar syrup version, owing mostly to the almond extract and salt.

I had never used almond paste before, so I decided to open the can of paste to see how it compared to the homemade versions.

Almond pastes: egg white (top left), sugar syrup (top right), and canned (bottom)

The taste and consistency of the egg white paste was closest to the canned version. I actually liked the homemade version better, as it had the most “almondy” flavor.

I remade the sugar syrup version, this time adding only enough syrup to get it to a similar consistency to the egg white version. I also added salt and almond extract to the recipe, which improved the flavor considerably.

At the end of the day, I prefer the egg white version over the other two. The canned is my second favorite, with the sugar syrup version landing up on the bottom of the list.

Since I can buy slivered blanched almonds at Mr. Bulky’s pretty inexpensively, and it’s really easy to mix up, I doubt that I’ll buy almond paste again.

25 Comments

Cornmeal Buttermilk Waffles {ModBak}

October 31, 2010 at 8:32 pm (Modern Baker Challenge, Nick Malgieri, Quick Bread, The Modern Baker, Uncategorized)
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This is one of those recipes that seems a little strange at first — cornmeal in waffles? — but after you try it, you find yourself going back to it again and again. In fact, I’ve already made this recipe three times. Well, actually I’ve made the batter three times but have only baked the waffles twice. Let me explain.

Back in September, before we got to the Yeast-Risen Specialties section in the Modern Baker Challenge, I was in the mood for waffles. I don’t make waffles very often; in fact, it had been at least a year or two since I had made them at home. I order them out sometimes, but we just don’t do them at home. But I decided to make them one weekend, and I knew there was a waffle recipe coming up in the next section of The Modern Baker, so I thought I would give it a try.

This is a simple recipe, which takes only a little bit of planning, as the batter has to be mixed up the night before you plan to bake the waffles. To make the batter, I mixed yeast into warm milk in a mixing cup. Then I combined flour, cornmeal, sugar, salt, and baking soda in a large bowl. In another bowl, I beat eggs, melted butter, and buttermilk. (I had the buttermilk in the freezer from the last time I made cultured butter. Since I found out that buttermilk can be frozen, I almost always have it on hand.)

I combined the wet and dry ingredients, mixed it well, and put the batter in the refrigerator overnight.

The next morning, I got the batter out of the refrigerator and stirred it down. It had just about doubled in volume and had a sweet, tangy taste. I was the first one up, and I thought I would surprise the rest of the family with fresh, hot waffles when they got up.

I checked the cupboard for the waffle iron but didn’t find it. I figured it must be in the basement, where I store kitchen supplies and equipment that I don’t use very often. I dug around downstairs but couldn’t find it there, either. I went back and forth between the kitchen and basement, looking everywhere I could think of, but I never did find it. So, I didn’t surprise anyone with breakfast that morning. In fact, I ended up throwing away the batter.

Fast forward to last week. I was talking to two of my co-workers at the office. I asked Margy if she had a waffle iron. She did, so I told her if she would bring it in Friday morning, and Mark would bring syrup, I’d supply the waffle batter so we could have breakfast. They were both a little leery of the idea of cornmeal in waffles, but my reputation as a baker and chef meant they would give me the benefit of the doubt and try these waffles.

So that evening, I mixed up another batter, put it in a lidded pitcher, and chilled it overnight. The next day, we set up our waffle station in the kitchen area at work and started baking. The waffles came out very thin, which I think was mostly a function of Margy’s ancient, and very heavy, waffle iron. We all agreed: these were great waffles. The cornmeal gave them just a bit of crunch and a nice, slightly nutty flavor. Mark and Margy told me about their misgivings, but both said these were delicious and very flavorful waffles.

That was Friday. On Saturday the girls and I went to the outlet mall to do some shopping. As always, I snuck away to Le Gourmet Chef “just to browse”. I was wandering the aisles, when this caught my eye:

Now, I know my old waffle iron is around the house somewhere. But this is a Belgian waffle maker. And it’s the kind like they have in hotels that flips over. How cool is that? Needless to say, it found its way into my shopping bag, along with some K-cups, a nutmeg grinder, a set of conventional and odd-sized measuring cups and spoons, and a roasting pan for the Thanksgiving turkey.

I, of course, had to justify buying another waffle iron, so I made another batch of batter Saturday night, and we had waffles for breakfast on Sunday morning.

I was surprised at how light and fluffy these waffles came out compared to the ones we made at work. They puffed up just like you would expect a Belgian waffle to do.

They were as good on Sunday as they had been on Friday. I may not make always make these when I want waffles, but this is definitely a recipe I will make many times in days to come.

They were certainly worth the expense of a new waffle iron – as if I needed an excuse to buy something new for the kitchen.

13 Comments

Cinnamon Breakfast Ring {ModBak}

October 27, 2010 at 8:43 pm (Breads, Modern Baker Challenge, Nick Malgieri, Techniques, The Modern Baker, Uncategorized)
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The third bread in the Yeast-Risen Specialties section of The Modern Baker is Cinnamon Raisin Breakfast Ring.

This recipe starts with a batch of quick brioche dough. After turning the dough out of the food processor, I pressed it out to a square, then rolled it into a rectangle.

I spread the dough with a mixture of butter, cinnamon, and sugar, then sprinkled it with pecans. The recipe also called for raisins, but I omitted them so the girls would eat it.

I rolled the dough from the long end, then curled the dough into a ring on the baking sheet.

It didn’t come out as even as I had hoped, and I had a bit of trouble getting the ends to stay together. But in the end, it looked fine.

I cut slits in the ring from the outside about 3/4 of the way to the center.

Then I twisted each section 1/4 turn, so that the filling was visible.

After letting the shaped dough rise for about two hours, I brushed the surface with an egg wash and sprinkled it with more pecans.

I baked the ring in a 350° F oven for about 25 minutes. It looked and smelled terrific when it came out of the oven.

This was an impressive-looking loaf that would be great to serve to company or for a casual brunch. And it was really delicious — soft, gooey with cinnamon, but not overly so. Definitely a dish to make again and again.

10 Comments

Quick Brioche Braid {ModBak}

October 20, 2010 at 10:20 pm (Around My French Table, Artisan Breads Every Day, Bread Baking, Breads, Dorie Greenspan, Holiday Baking, Modern Baker Challenge, Nick Malgieri, Peter Reinhart, Techniques, The Modern Baker, Uncategorized)
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The first recipe in the third section of The Modern Baker is a bread with which I am quite familiar, having baked three versions from Peter Reinhart’s The Bread Baker’s Apprentice, and one from Dorie Greenspan’s new book, Around My French Table. What differentiates Nick Malgeri‘s brioche recipe from others I’ve made is that it comes together very quickly, is shaped immediately after mixing, and rises only once.

I made this bread twice. The first time I departed from the recipe in two ways. First, I mixed the dough in the stand mixer instead of the food processor.

As you can see, the dough was very wet. After mixing it, I put the dough in bread pans (the second departure from the recipe, which calls for braiding the dough).

Even though it remained slack, the dough baked up nicely, and I was pleased with the look of the resulting brioche.

As far as the taste goes, I would have to say it wasn’t my favorite of the brioches I’ve made. It tasted fine, but wasn’t exceptional. I made Dorie’s brioche at the same time and liked it better.

I made the first batch of brioche before we actually go to this section of the book, and I decided to remake it, this time following the recipe. So, I mixed the dough in the food processor instead of the mixer. I’m still having the issue of liquids leaking out of the food pro when I use it to make dough, but I’m starting to think it’s either something with my Cuisinart or user error, as others don’t seem to have this problem.

After mixing the dough, I shaped the loaf. The dough was much less slack than the first time I made the recipe and was easy to handle. First, I divided the dough into three pieces, rolled each piece into a rope, and then braided the ropes.

I allowed the bread to proof for about two hours, until it doubled in size.

After brushing the loaf with beaten egg, I baked it in a 350° oven for about 40 minutes, until it was well-risen and golden brown.

The bread smelled amazing. And it looked really nice when I sliced it. The big question, of course, was how it would taste.

Although I didn’t have another brioche to compare this one to, this loaf would stack up well against any of the other recipes I have tried. In fact, given how easy this one is to prepare, it may just become my go-to recipe for brioche.

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