Foie Gras Vegetal

I was inspired by this recipe from France. It uses silken tofu and chestnuts. I have used silken tofu in dips many times. But this is a very exciting twist on Foie Gras. I translated it with google translate. The ingredients will take a little bit of time to get. But I thought I would share my find.

200 grams of silken tofu

60 grams regular tofu 
100 ml cream of soy
100 g of brown sugar
4 c. chestnuts
40 g of sauteed shiitake mushrooms
3 c. water and dissolved white miso to taste
60 ml of Armagnac
2.5 cc agar agar
1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
1/4 teaspoon of nutmeg ground
1/2 teaspoon of seeds coriander ground
1/8 cc of ground cloves
1/2 teaspoon salt

Preparation: In a food processor crumble the chestnuts and mix with oil, tofu, shiitake and miso. Add spices and salt, mix again. In a saucepan, heat the Armagnac for few minutes. Separately, mix 100 ml of water, the soy cream and agar. Pour over Armagnac and bring to a boil, whisking. Cook for 2 minutes and pour over the first preparation. Mix and divide into bowls, jars or metal circles. Cool Let rest in the fridge Then 1-2 hours. Serve sliced ​​with hot toast, Some fruit, onion confit and figs.

Hazelnut & Fig Biscotti

If you asked me what is your favorite nut I would say hands down a freshly roasted and skinned hazelnut ! However, they are a bit time consuming to do. So what is nice is that Trader Joes sells roasted and skinned hazelnuts. In a pinch they work really well.

This recipe is from Juliene Jones of Vergennes Laundry up in Vermont. I used mission figs in the recipe. I find they are softer then the Calimyrna figs. They are also easier to find in the market. This recipe has a lot of butter in it and is richer then a normal Biscotti recipe. In addition, because of the high nut content I would freeze some for later use.

2 1/2 cups of roughly chopped toasted and skinned hazelnuts
14 ounces of mission figs chopped into small cubes
1 1/2 cups of unsalted butter
1 3/4 cup of sugar
3 1/2 cups of AP Flour
1 tablespoon of baking powder
1 1/2 teaspoons of kosher salt

Cream the butter and sugar in a mixer until smooth. Add your eggs in and mix until well incorporated. Now add your flour and baking powder. Then mix in your nuts and figs. Divide dough into two. On a piece of parchment shape two logs that are two inches thick. Bake each log in a 325 degree preheated oven for 30 minutes. Cool and slice into one inch slices. Bake the slices for 18 minutes more. They will be a lovely light brown!

What is kind of interesting is the Celts thought that hazelnuts would concentrated wisdom and poetic inspiration. There is an ancient tale that nine hazel trees grew around a sacred pool, dropping nuts into the water to be eaten by some salmon (a fish revered by Druids).

When they ate the hazelnuts they absorbed the wisdom.The number of bright spots on the salmon were said to indicate how many nuts they had eaten. I may know how many pounds I have gained by how many of these really good cookies I have eaten.

Sauerkraut or Choucroute

Well it is October and with really fresh cabbage at one dollar a head I thought I would make some sauerkraut. But not just any kind of sauerkraut. I thought I would add some parsnips and some spices. To get started you will need a crock.

Getting a sauerkraut pot can be expensive. The pot is not the expensive part. It is the shipping.. The pot is very heavy. Ace Hardware is the best place to buy them. You can order them online and then pick them up at the store. The company that makes them is an old USA company named the Ohio Stoneware Company. They combined older stoneware companies about fifty years ago. It is an interest story about stoneware in the USA. You can go to their website and read their story.

You can pickle all kinds of vegetables. It takes two to three weeks for them to be pickled. You can only pickle when the temperature is cooler. The crock needs to be in a cool place at 60 to 65 degrees. So a cool basement is the best place. Because of the salt content the product will not spoil. It just becomes this wonderful tang. After the three weeks you will need to can the kraut or refrigerate. I used red cabbage. But you can make the traditional with just plain old green. After this I will be pickling some rutabaga. It is my understanding that it becomes this wonderful rich and sweet condiment.

To get started one large head is about 24 cups shredded. This will reduce to about one half after completion. Reduce the amount of salt by percentage based on how many cups of vegetables. So for 24 cups add 1/4 cup plus one tablespoon of best quality salt to the vegetables. Now pound and stir the salt into the vegetables. You will now add your spices. This is very much up to you. I added two tablespoons of roasted whole coriander seeds, one tablespoon of roasted fennel seeds, one teaspoon of red pepper flakes and a few juniper berries.  Place into the crock and cover with lid. Let sit for 18 hours. After this the vegetables will have given out their juices.

Now make a brine of four and one half cups of water and three tablespoons of salt. Heat until the salt has dissolved. Cool and add to the crock. Add your weights. Bubbles will appear as it starts to ferment. This is a good thing. Acid is forming. Check every couple of days that the brine is covering the vegetables and skim off any foam. When the bubbles stop and the tang is there the kraut is done. At this point you will refrigerate or process by canning for 15 minutes.

Have fun by trying all kinds of vegetables or even make kimchi. I will share my adventures with fermentation soon.

Happy Octoberfest !

Double Trouble Cookies

I mentioned in my earlier post about this recipe. The cookies are really delicious and very easy to make. They are a two toned treat made with chocolate and toffee.  As the name suggests they are really double trouble.

 Preheat your oven to 375 degrees. In a mixer place 1/2 cup of room temperature butter with 1/2 cup of vegetable shortening. Mix until blended. Now add 3/4 cup of sugar and 3/4 cup of brown sugar to the mixer and mix until blended. Now add 1 teaspoon of kosher salt, 1/2 teaspoon of baking soda, 2 eggs, 1 teaspoon of vanilla, and 2 3/4 cup of flour. Mix and divide in two.

With one piece of the dough piece add 1 cup of toffee pieces and in the other 2/3 cup of melted dark chocolate and 2/3 cup of dark chocolate chips. (The better the chocolate the better the results.)

With a small scoop place 1/2 of each dough on to a parchment lined cookie sheet. Flatten to 1/4 inch and you have to use parchment because if you do not the toffee will stick to the cookie sheet.

Bake for 13 minutes and let cool before removing from parchment.

Pickled Pimento Peppers

It is getting to the end of the season for really fresh produce. At a farm stand I picked up some fresh red pimentos. They are similar to red peppers, but have a distinctive flavor.
They are marvelous added to all kinds of dishes.  

I removed the seeds and roasted them to add more flavor. To make the brine you will need to place in a sauce pan the following to warm through.

1 cup of sugar
4 smashed cloves of garlic
2 teaspoons of kosher salt
1 teaspoon of herbes de Provence
1/2 teaspoon of freshly cracked black pepper
1/8 teaspoon of saffron
1 teaspoon of Aleppo pepper
1 teaspoon of smoked paprika
1 1/2 cups of water
1 bottle (12 ounces) rice wine vinegar
2 tablespoons of good olive oil

Add you roasted peppers to the brine. Can and seal in boiling water for 10 minutes.

Dark Chocolate Zucchini Bread

Zucchini and more zucchini ! I found out a few secrets to really good zucchini bread. First shred them on the finest shredding disk and toast your walnuts before adding them into the batter. In addition, I really love these mini loaf pans. It is great for portion control and all those lovely chewy corners. Another thing is to preheat your oven twenty five degrees higher and once you throw them in the oven turn down to the baking temperature. You will get the best rise this way. The recipe is adapted from better homes and garden fall baking magazine. They have a really yummy recipe for double trouble cookies. Half toffee and half chocolate chip. The chocolate chip half has a chocolate dough too! It is a really great issue.

3 cups of AP flour
1 tablespoon of baking powder
1 teaspoon of kosher salt
2 extra large eggs
2 1/2 cups of finely shredded zucchini
2 cups of sugar
1 cup of vegetable oil
2 teaspoons vanilla paste
3/4 cup of dark chocolate pieces
1 cup of toasted walnut pieces

Preheat your oven to 375 degrees and then turn down to 350 degrees. Spray your baking pan with baking spray. Now place all the wet ingredients into a mixer and mix well. Now add in all the dry ingredients and mix until incorporated. Place into pans and bake until toothpick comes out clean. Let cool if you can. It is very good with a cup of hot tea.

Beef Stir Fry with Gochujang

I was checking out my neighborhood Korean grocery store looking for the much talk about Gochujang. Gochujang is a heavenly fermented chile paste. It comes in different heat intensities. I recommend getting the medium heat, because I like adding additional fresh chiles to my dishes. You can add this condiment to any number of things. Talking to a Korean friend would be fun for more ideas. Gochujang is becoming increasingly more popular in Western cooking too. To make the stir fry easy I bought a tray of beef stir fry. You can of course cut up your own. But it is so easy to purchase a prepare one at a store. The following is a list of ingredients:

1 package of beef stir fry
2 bok choy sliced
1 small young zucchini sliced
1 small onion slices
3 cloves of garlic minced
1 package of shiitake mushrooms quartered
1 tablespoon of ginger diced
1 yellow bell pepper sliced
1 tablespoon of Gochujang
1/4 teaspoon of five spice powder
1/4 teaspoon ground coriander
1/2 teaspoon of curry powder
2 tablespoons oyster sauce
2 tablespoons of shaohsing rice wine
2 tablespoons soy sauce
1 tablespoon of brown sugar
1 Fresno chile sliced

3 tablespoons of cornstarch to dust the beef


Begin with heating a pan with peanut oil on high. Place a small amount of beef in a plastic bag and add one tablespoon of corn starch. Shake the sealed bag. Add the beef in batches to a smoking hot pan. Flash fry until lightly brown and remove to a plate. Repeat until all meat is seared. Now added a little more oil and add the onion, mushrooms, bell pepper, bottoms of the bok choy, garlic, ginger and chiles. Lightly brown and make the sauce. To make the sauce, place in a bowl the brown sugar, Gochujang, rice wine, brown sugar, soy sauce and spices. Now your vegetables should be lightly browned. At this time add the zucchini, bok choy tops, beef and sauce. Cook until the zucchini is lightly browned. I hope you had your rice cookers going. I love my rice cooker and I recommend basmati rice. You could also cook up some Asian noodles too. Enjoy the dish it is really delicious.

Cinnamon Sugar Rhubarb Muffins

When I see really fresh thin ruby red rhubarb I cut it up and stick it in the freezer. These muffins are a really delicious use of the frozen rhubarb. When you melt the butter pour it over the frozen rhubarb to defrost the rhubarb. As I mentioned before in my blog freezing rhubarb really helps in the baking processes. This is an easy and very addictive muffin recipe. You can swap out the rhubarb for peaches, apples, berries.....


For the muffins:
2 cups flour
3/4 cup sugar
2-1/2 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. kosher salt
1 cup buttermilk
1 stick of unsalted butter melted
2 large eggs
1 tsp. pure vanilla extract
1-1/2 cups 1/4-inch-diced frozen rhubarb
For the topping:
3 Tbs. granulated sugar
1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon

Preheat your oven to 400°F and line a muffin tin with foil baking cups. I really like foil baking cups.They are so much better than the paper ones.To make the muffins use a mixing bowl to combine the flour, sugar, baking powder, cinnamon, baking soda, and salt and whisk to blend.

In a another bowl mix together the buttermilk, rhubarb and melted butter, eggs, and vanilla until smooth. Lightly stir the wet mixture into the dry ingredients until the batter just comes together.

Divide the batter among the muffin cups, using a large ice cream scoop.

Now in a small bowl, combine the sugar and cinnamon and sprinkle 1/2 tsp. of the cinnamon sugar over each muffin.

Bake the muffins until they’re golden brown for 18 to 22 minutes. Watch the tops of the muffins because the sugar will burn. Cover lightly with foil close to the end of cooking if getting to dark.

For more baking, PBS will be airing the new British Baking Competition in September. I think these muffins would definitely get the heads up!

So Good !

Slow Roasted Pork Belly With Fava Bean Purée

Having some day's off gave me a chance to fire up the smoker. Pork belly is a cheap cut of meat that requires a long cooking time. You can of course make bacon out of pork belly, but frankly there is such delicious gourmet brands out there that the the time spent is not worth it. However, smoked pork belly is another matter. It is so delicious that you will become addicted. A little goes a long way. I paired the dish with fresh seasonal fava bean purée. The season for fava beans are so fleeting that you have to get them quick. Peeling them is a time consuming affair. After they are peeled little effort is involved. So have patience you will be rewarded for your efforts.

First thing is that you will have to marinade the pork belly. The following is the ingredients.

1/2 cup apple cider vinegar
1/4 cup of good scotch whiskey
1/4 cup of honey
1/4 cup soy sauce
1 tablespoon of mustard
1 1/2 teaspoons of fresh grated ginger
1 minces Fresno chile
1 teaspoon freshly cracked black pepper
1 large garlic clove minces
1 teaspoon of onion powder

Vacuum sealing is best. But if you do not have one just suck out as much air as possible from a heavy duty plastic bag. Marinade overnight in refrigerator.

Drain belly from marinade and place marinade in sauce pan. Boil marinade for a minute or two. You will use this to brush on your belly every thirty minutes.

Fire up your smoker and bring the temperature to 250 degrees. I used apple wood. Alder would also be good. Make sure your water pan is always full. You can even fill the water pan with apple cider. Smoke for three and one half hours. Pork should be about 195 degrees. Make sure to check your smoker every thirty minutes to see if you have enough chips and moisture. At this time you will baste with marinade. Allow the fully cook belly to rest before cutting.

To make the purée you will have to peel your beans. If you have never peeled fava beans it requires a fair amount of time and effort to peel. The first peeling removes the heavy outer shell. Then in salted boiling water place these beans in the water for thirty seconds. Drain and remove the second shell. To make the purée you will place some olive oil in a sauce pan. Place the beans and one minced clove of garlic. Sauté until tender. Place in a food processor with a little bit of stock. Purée. Now add salt, pepper, fresh thyme leaves, smoked paprika and a splash of lemon to your taste. 

Gribiche Sauce and the Swiss Kitchen Witch

Sauce gribiche is traditionally served with cold seafood and meats. It is also superb with steamed or roasted vegetables. The word gribiche is an old Swiss French word meaning witch. The tradition of an ugly witch who scares kids into eating vegetables and stuff. In the Nordic countries you will see a kitchen witch in many homes. I do not think you will need a "Gribiche" to get any one to eat this sauce.

They made a silent movie in the 1920's with the name. It was about a small boy being adopted by a wealthy lady. The little boy becomes bored and gets into all kinds of trouble....

To make the sauce you will need to hard boil an egg and have one cup of fresh herbs. I used basil and this is not traditional. But very good. Traditionally tarragon, chervil and parsley were used. Having none of these on hand I used basil. You will also need some capers and cornichions.


Take the yolk from the one hard boiled egg and pass it through a sieve. Cut the whites into tiny cubes. Mix 11/2 teaspoons of Dijon mustard with 1/8 teaspoon of kosher salt into the egg yolk. Now whisk in drop by drop 1/3 cup of safflower oil and 2 tablespoons of olive oil. Now fold in the egg whites, two tablespoons of capers, 1 tablespoon of minced cornichions and 1 teaspoon of white wine vinegar. Now add in the minced herbs and taste. Adjust for salt and pepper to your liking. The sauce will keep for a week in the refrigerator.

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Madeira Cake and "The Perennial Tea Room"

Wandering early morning in the Pike Place Market is a ritual. In the early morning the market is at its best. The venders  are just setting up and the crowds are not there. In a little nook there is a tea shop called the Perennial Tea Room. I was buying some Keemun tea when I noticed a tea cook book. It was written by Anthony Wild. He is from Yorkshire and the buying agent for his sisters company. The company is Taylor's of Harrogate the famous tea company.

Spending time in the company of East Indians you will come to love high tea. The book has recipes for all the necessities for a high tea. Like Tinker's Cakes, Barm Brack and even Fat Rascals. The Madeira cake looked especially good. It is a sugar crusted cake soaked in lemon syrup. There is not a drop of Madeira in the cake. It was meant to be eaten with a glass of Madeira in the 18th century.



The cake is very easy to make. You will need to preheat your oven to 350 degrees.

In a mixer you will place:

1cup plus two tablespoons unsalted butter
1 cup of sugar

Beat until it is light and fluffy. Now add five eggs one at at time. Then sift 2 1/2 cups of cake flour with 1/4 teaspoon kosher salt and two teaspoons baking powder. Gradually add to you batter. Then place the mixed batter into a prepared loaf pan.

Bake for one and one quarter hours. For the syrup heat 4 tablespoon of lemon juice, two tablespoon of sugar and one tablespoon of light corn syrup. Skewer the warm cake all over and pour the warm syrup over the still warm cake in its tin. Chill the cake to form the sugar crust.

I may try the courgette and double ginger cake next. It has been very warm here in Seattle and a lot of us will have plenty of courgettes ! The blossoms are so lovely. They make a nice complement to cheese ravioli with lemon.

Buttermilk Ice Cream with Fresh Blueberry Sauce

Buttermilk reminds me of my grandparents. They liked to drink cold buttermilk. They would talk about milking the cow and making butter during the depression. Everyone suffered back then. My father was a vertigo orphan being passed down from relative to relative. His parents finding work only occasionally.

But for my grandma she remembered the good parts of neighbors coming together and playing cards. My grandfather being Amish was use to going without. For him electric lights and running water were a blessing. After the First World War and looking after the Calvary horses he was happy to have a home with a bed. From my loving Grandparents, I learned that their is such happiness in the simplest of things. Trout fishing and mud pies for one. My mother and my uncle were blessed to have such loving parents. This recipe would be made in a hand crank ice cream maker. Peach ice cream was my families favorite. We would sit on the front porch and take our turns adding salt and ice. One of us would be cranking the maker. So while fresh peaches are not in season this will be equally as good.

2 cups heavy cream

1 cup sugar

¹∕8 teaspoon of kosher salt

1½ teaspoons vanilla extract

6 egg yolks

2 cups buttermilk


Put the cream, half of the sugar, salt and vanilla in a saucepan. Whisk to combine.  Bring the cream to just a boil. While the cream is heating, combine the yolks and remaining sugar in a bowl. Using a whisk, beat until mixture is pale and thick. Once the cream  has come to a slight boil, whisk about one third of the hot cream into the yolks and sugar mixture. Add another one third of the mixture, then return the combined mixture to the saucepan. Using a wooden spoon, stir the mixture constantly over low heat until it thickens slightly and coats the back of the spoon. This mixture must NOT boil or the yolks will overcook.

Pour the mixture through a fine mesh strainer. Whisk in the buttermilk and bring to room temperature. Cover and refrigerate at least 2 hours, or overnight. Whisk mixture again before pouring into the ice cream maker.

 Pour the mixture into the mixing bowl of an ice cream maker and process. Takes about forty minutes.

Blueberry Sauce:

2 cups fresh blueberries

1/3 cup sugar

2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice

1 tablespoon of fresh lemon rind

1/4 teaspoon of cinnamon 

Bring all to a boil in a sauce pan and then refrigerate. Now add to the sauce some Creme de Cassis and serve over ice cream !

Seasonal Preserves From Provence

I am reading a captivating book about the regional traditions of French Cuisine. It was written by none other than Elizabeth David in 1960. France was a simpler time then. Charles De Gaulle was Prime Minister and he was a strong leader. Now times are troubling with a socialist prime minister. No one would have thought in 1960 that you would have a socialist as a prime minister. Such are the sad times economically the country has gone through. Many would like to go back to 1960.



 So for those of you who would I suggest reading her book. You will begin to understand what is at the heart of french regional cooking and Provence has a tradition of really fantastic preserves. It is a family affair where grandmothers and numerous family members argue over a large copper pot steaming and bubbling with fresh seasonal fruits. Cherries are in season and with the winds of Provence spinning in my head I thought I would attempt to make their famous cherry jam.




I made two batches of jam. One with Rainier Cherries and one with Bing Cherries. You can use this recipe for either one. Do not mix the varieties however. You can even make a bitter pie cherry jam using this recipe. You will just need to slowly increase the sugar content to your liking.

French cherry jam has brandy in it. For the Rainier Cherries they pare nicely with Disaronno a almond liquor. For the bing I use a combination of Grand Marnier and Courvoisier a cognac.




Pitting cherries is something you do by listening to some wonderful music or watch a interesting TV show. There are some great equipment for cherry pit removal, I used a very simple hand one. You will need two and one half pounds of fresh cherries.

This recipe will make about two pints.

6 1/2 cups of cherries pitted
1 1/4 cups of sugar
1 lemon juiced
1/4 cup of pectin powder
1 airport size bottle of brandy

Bring all the ingredients with the exception of the pectin to a boil and refrigerate over night. Now strain the cherries from the juice and set aside. Boil the juice and add the pectin. Add the cherries and cook until you get the consistent you like. I then pour the jam in canning jars. Process the jars for ten full minutes in boiling water. You will hear the clink and then they are sealed. I love this jam over ice cream, in crepes, and even over cheese cake.

Asparagus is in season too. Pickled asparagus is great with Prosciutto. The French would pair with a lovely French Ham and if times where better white asparagus Aigre-Doux.

Enjoy!

Abigail Johnson Dodge Chiffon Cakes

I was really excited when I read the recipes of Abigail Johnson Dodge in Fine Cooking. Here is someone who has great talent. I made the espresso chocolate marble chiffon cake and was amazed. Inventive and utterly delicious. She has a book coming out and here is a link to her website.

www.abbydodge.com

For the cake:

7 eggs and 1 egg white 

1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa.
(I used dark unsweetened)

2 tablespoons of coffee liqueur

2 tablespoons of instant espresso 

2 1/4 cups cake flour

1 1/2 cups sugar

2 teaspoons of baking powder

1 teaspoon table salt

2/3 cup sour cream

1/3 cup canola oil and 1/3 cup peanut oil  (my change up)

(peanut oil will keep your cake moist longer)

1 teaspoon vanilla paste 

4 ounces of dark chocolate

I skipped the chocolate glaze

Heat your oven to 325 degrees. Separate the eggs and beat the egg whites until soft peaks. Set aside .

Add 5 tablespoons of hot water to the cocoa powder in a small bowl. Stir until it is a thick paste. Set aside. In a mixing bowl place the flour, sugar, baking powder, salt. Mix and then add the sour cream, egg yolks, oil and vanilla paste. You can use extract, but vanilla paste is better. Now separate the batter in two bowls. Two one of the batter add the cocoa paste. The 4 ounces of chocolate grated in a food processor. Now add half of the egg whites and fold gently. To the other batter add the liqueur and espresso powder. (Dissolve the espresso powder in the liquor before adding.) Now fold in the remaining egg whites. In a angel food pan alternate adding in the two batters. Bake for one hour and invert.

Yum !

Roasted Hazelnut Ricotta Pancakes with Blueberries

Ricotta pancakes are very moist and have lots of extra protein. Very little flour is used in making them. They freeze well and make a quick breakfast. Just take them out of the freezer and nuke. Top with fresh berries, maple syrup, honey or jam.This recipe has freshly roasted hazelnuts for added flavor. If you are not a nut person they can certainly be left out.

4 eggs separated
3 tablespoons of sugar
1/2 teaspoon of baking powder
1/4 teaspoon of kosher salt
2/3 cup of flour
1 1/2 cups of ricotta
1 teaspoon of vanilla paste or vanilla
3 tablespoons of freshly roasted hazelnuts chopped

Separate the eggs and whisk the egg whites until they reach soft peaks. In a separate bowl blend all the dry ingredients. To this bowl add the egg yolks, ricotta and vanilla. Now add in your dry ingredients and blend until the batter just comes together. Add in a third of the egg whites. Mix until the batter is lightened. Now gently add in the rest of the egg whites.

Heat a frying pan to medium high. Grease ring molds and place on frying pan. Gently spoon in the batter to fill the molds. Remove molds when the batter is set. Heat the oven to 200 degrees. Flip pancakes and remove to warm oven until all are done.

Top pancakes with butter, berries and syrup. You can also top with jam or fruit curd.