Palmiers

It's becoming something of a Christmas tradition that I make palmiers, French butterfly cookies, for The Gastronomer's family.  The recipe is from Ina Garten of the Food Network, and even though it is of the semi-homemade variety, with the primary ingredient being store-bought puff pastry, the cookies tend to be a hot commodity.  It's an extremely simple recipe, but the execution is a bit delicate--a ruler comes in handy for rolling the dough out to the proper size and folding it accurately, and the cooking times must be very precise because the palmiers brown rapidly.  I've developed a few tricks and tweaks to Garten's recipe to make them come out perfectly, including cutting the amount of sugar nearly in half, which is essential for pleasing my Vietnamese clientele who like desserts that are "not too sweet".  I also couldn't help noticing that some of Garten's measurements don't add up; for instance, clearly if you cut two 13-inch long logs into 3/8-inch slices, you'll end up with ~69 cookies, not 40-45.  1/2-inch slices are probably closer to what she intended--these are thinner than you might think.  One thing that is cool about this recipe (besides the revelation that if you bake puff pastry on its side, it magically grows into a butterfly) is that the sugar on each sides of the dough acts to both sweeten the cookies and keep the puff pastry from sticking to the counter and rolling pin.

Recipe adopted from Ina Garten.

• 1 1/8 cups granulated sugar
• 1/8 teaspoon kosher salt
• 2 sheets Pepperidge Farm puff pastry, defrosted

Preheat the oven to 450 degrees F. Combine the sugar and kosher salt. Pour about 3/8 cup of the sugar/salt mixture onto a flat surface such as wooden board or clean countertop, and smooth it into an even rectangle slightly larger than a sheet of puff pastry. Unfold one sheet onto the sugar and pour 1/4 cup of the sugar mixture on top, spreading it evenly on the puff pastry.

With a rolling pin, roll the dough until it's 13 by 13-inches square and the sugar is pressed into the puff pastry on top and bottom. Fold the sides of the square towards the center so they 2/3 of the way towards the middle. Fold them again so the two folds meet exactly at the middle of the dough (I like to set a 12" ruler beside the dough for these steps to guide my folds--if you place the ruler so that the 6" mark lies at the center of the dough and the dough extends about 1/2" past each end of the ruler, then the first set of folds should go to about the 3 3/4" mark on one side and to about 8 1/4" on the other side). Then fold one half over the other half as though closing a book. You will have 6 layers.

Slice the dough into 1/2-inch slices and place the slices, cut side up, on baking sheets lined with parchment paper.  Bake the palmiers for 5 to 5.5 minutes, until the bottoms have just begun to brown.  Remove them from the oven and flip them over with a spatula.  At this stage, the puff pastry will have expanded laterally considerably, but the dough will still be malleable.  Reform the cookies back into tight butterfly shapes by gently pushing on the sides (I use a spatula in one hand and a butter knife in the other).  If you do this at the right time, they will retain their shape for the remainder of the cooking process (this step was pioneered by The Gastronomer).  Return the baking sheets to the oven and bake for 4 more minutes, until the tops are golden brown.  Cool for a few minutes on the cookie sheet and then transfer to a baking rack.

While the first batch of cookies is baking, pour an additional 1/4 cup of sugar onto the working surface (you can re-use whatever sugar remains from the previous batch), and set the second sheet of puff pastry on top of it.  Spread the last 1/4 cup of sugar smoothly onto the top of this sheet, and repeat the rolling out, folding, and baking steps from above.  You can re-use the parchment paper for baking--knock off any pieces of burnt sugar first.

Yield: 48-52 cookies
Estimated Start-to-Finish Time: 35 minutes
Actual Start-to-Finish Time: 1 hour 15 minutes

Heart-Shaped Chocolate Caramel Layer Cake

Three years after I first attempted a recipe using our heart-shaped cake ring, I decided it was time to bust it out again for The Gastronomer's anniversary present this year.  I wasn't sure what kind of cake to make, but I figured that pretty much any 8-9 inch layer cake recipe could probably be adapted for the heart-shaped pan.  Fortunately, a few days before showtime, the perfect recipe fell into my lap at the L.A. Times Book Fair.  The Gastronomer and I were unsurprisingly hanging out around the food stage, and we settled in to watch a cooking demo and Q&A by Alex Guarnaschelli.  I was vaguely familiar with her but hadn't really formed much of an opinion during my rare viewings of Iron Chef and Chopped.  Anyway, it turned out that she was HILARIOUS, and impressively able to come up with funny and relevant stories in response to all manner of unscripted audience questions, all while making meatballs and baking an extravagant cake.

The featured cake was this yellow layer cake with chocolate buttercream frosting and caramel topping, which apparently was her favorite childhood birthday cake. Given The Gastronomer's penchant for caramel, I immediately knew that this was the perfect recipe to make into a heart cake.  Fortunately, it was available online from ABC News.

The cake took a long time, partly because I only had one heart-shaped cake ring and thus had to make and bake the batter in two batches, and partly because I was overly cautious at every step (particularly in caramelizing the sugar--this was my first time, and I literally spent 30 minutes with the heat too low and nothing much happening before The Gastronomer came into the kitchen and helped me turn the uneven mixture of candy chunks I had created into an amber caramel sauce).  Nevertheless, it was worth it--the end result was impressive and delicious.  The crunchy candy-like caramel topping was an awesome addition to a traditional layer cake.  Strangely, even though it was basically pure sugar, I thought it balanced out the sweetness of the frosting somehow--usually cakes with this much icing are too much for me.

Recipe courtesy of Alex Guarnaschelli via abcnews.go.com.

For Cake

• 2 cups all-purpose flour 
• 2¼ teaspoons baking powder
• ¾ teaspoon kosher salt
• 16 tablespoons (2 sticks) lightly salted butter, at room temperature, plus more for greasing the pans
• 2 cups sugar
• 6 large eggs
• Grated zest and juice of 1 lemon

For Frosting

• 14 ounces bittersweet chocolate, roughly chopped (about 2¾ cups)
• 1¼ cups sugar
• ½ teaspoon kosher salt
• 2 cups heavy cream
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 12 tablespoons (1½ sticks) lightly salted butter, cut into thin slices

For Caramel Topping

• 1 cup sugar
• 2 teaspoons light corn syrup
• Flaky sea salt, such as Maldon (for garnish) 

Make Cake

Preheat the oven to 350°F. Grease two 8-inch round cake pans (or heart-shaped pans!) with butter.  In a bowl, stir together the flour, baking powder, and salt. In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the butter until smooth, 2 to 3 minutes. Add the sugar and continue beating until the mixture becomes fluffy, 5 to 8 minutes. Add the eggs, one by one, taking care that each one is thoroughly integrated before adding the next. Add the lemon zest and lemon juice and then the flour mixture and mix until fully blended. Do not overmix.

Divide the batter between the prepared cake pans. Bake until the centers are firm and the tip of a small knife emerges clean when it pierces the center of each cake, 30 to 40 minutes. Remove from the oven, unmold the cakes, and allow to cool thoroughly on a rack.

Make Frosting and Frost Cake
 
In a medium bowl, combine the chocolate, sugar, and salt. In a medium saucepan, bring the cream and vanilla to a simmer, about 5 minutes. Pour over the chocolate and stir until all of the chocolate has melted. Gently whisk in the butter slices. Set aside to cool.

When the frosting is cool, whip the frosting in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a whisk attachment to lighten it, 1 to 2 minutes. Split each cake in half horizontally so you have 4 equal layers. Put the first cake layer on a rack set over a baking sheet, cut side up. Frost the layer and the remaining ones, stacking them neatly and uniformly on top of each other. Frost the entire outside of the cake as well. Refrigerate for at least 30 minutes so it gets cold.

Make Caramel
 
In a large skillet, heat the sugar and corn syrup over medium-low heat until the sugar melts and turns a caramel color. Swirl the sugar gently in the pan as it cooks so it browns evenly. Take the skillet and pour the caramel over the top of the cake, allowing it to drip down the sides and onto the pan below. It is normal that the hot caramel will melt the frosting slightly. Try to pour it in as even and as thin a layer as you can over the cake.  If the caramel cools before pouring, warm it gently over low heat to loosen it again. Allow the caramel topping to cool and harden on top of the cake, at least 5 to 10 minutes before serving, or up to 1 hour. Sprinkle with a pinch of Maldon salt. When ready to slice, use the heel of a knife to crack the caramel top before cutting slices.  Alex Guarnaschelli recommends that the cake shouldn't be refrigerated and should be served at room temperature, but we found that it was also delightful re-heated in the microwave after being stored in the fridge.

Yield: 6 to 8 servings
Estimated Start-to-Finish Time: Not given
Actual Start-to-Finish Time: 3-4 hours

Spicy Baked Pasta with Bacon

Several years ago, The Gastronomer went through a baked pasta phase, during which she came up with a number of fantastic variations on the winning formula of a sturdy pasta baked with a white, cheesy sauce and vegetables.  I've recently renewed the tradition with the version presented below, which is currently far and away The Gastronomer's favorite thing to eat for lunch at work.  Between the prep work, sautéing, sauce-making, baking, and inevitable scrubbing when the béchamel burns on the bottom of the pan [not sure why this keeps happening to me--seems like the only way to avoid it is to not quite let the milk boil...], the recipe takes a decent amount of work, but it's worth it because it will feed your family for a week (at least, it will if your family only has two people like ours does, and one of the people only eats the dish once...).  It strikes a great balance between healthy and rich, with plenty of flavor and spice.

Recipe adapted from "Two Pepper Rigatoni and Cheese" by Cooking Light, accessed via myrecipes.com.

• 16 ounces uncooked whole wheat pasta (rigatoni, penne, or similar)
• 8 ounces bacon (6 strips), sliced into 1/2" pieces
• 1 medium white or brown onion, chopped
• 10-12 ounces fresh spinach
• 8 ounces frozen peas
• 3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
• 3 cups 1% milk
• 1 cup (4 ounces) shredded jalapeno jack cheese 
• 1 cup (4 ounces) shredded sharp cheddar cheese
• 3-4 Thai chilis (or 2 jalapeno peppers), minced
• 3/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 tablespoon butter
• 1 cup Panko breadcrumbs

Preheat oven to 375°.  Cook pasta in salted water until al dente, 1-2 minutes less than stated on package directions. Drain well; place in a large bowl.

Sauté bacon over medium-high heat until cooked through and slightly crisp.  Use a slotted spoon to transfer the bacon to the bowl with the cooked pasta.  Discard most of the bacon grease, saving approximately 1 tablespoon in the skillet for sautéing the onion.  Add the onion and cook over medium heat until it is tender and tastes mild and sweet.  Turn down heat and add spinach in bunches to the pan, stirring until it has cooked down.  Stir in frozen peas.  Transfer contents of skillet to the bowl with the pasta.

Spoon flour into a saucepan. Gradually add milk, stirring with a whisk until smooth. Bring to a boil; cook 2 minutes or until thickened, stirring constantly [as mentioned above, I've found that the milk/flour mixture always burns on the bottom of the pan during this step, even if I stir constantly with a whisk.  This doesn't affect the quality of the sauce, but cleanup is a pain.  Turning off the heat just before the milk boils helps, but I'll keep searching for other remedies.  Maybe our electric stove just adds heat too fast, or maybe it would be better to add butter like in a standard béchamel ...].  Remove milk from heat and add cheeses, stirring until cheeses melt and mixture is smooth. Stir in chilis and salt. Add cheese mixture to pasta, tossing well to coat.  Spoon pasta mixture into a 13 x 9–inch baking dish.

Melt butter in a small bowl. Add Panko breadcrumbs and toss until blended. Sprinkle breadcrumb mixture over pasta mixture. Bake at 375° for 15 minutes or until breadcrumb topping is golden brown.

Yield: 6 to 8 servings
Estimated Start-to-Finish Time: 40 minutes
Actual Start-to-Finish Time: 1 hour 45 minutes
Substitutions: There are many possible modifications one could make to this recipe.  We've tried several different cheese combos  (parmesan, fontina, etc.) with great success and used a number of different vegetables as well.  Most vegetables should be sautéed until they are tender before baking.  Homemade breadcrumbs can be used instead of Panko by following the original Cooking Light recipe.

Mexican Chocolate Tofu Pudding

The Gastronomer emailed me this Mark Bittman recipe a full three years ago; when she requested a special dessert this weekend, I remembered it and decided it was pudding time! It's pretty cool: you start out with a block of soft tofu and some melted chocolate, add a few spices, blend it all up, and after chilling in the refrigerator for a bit, the result is a silky smooth pudding that I would have sworn was made with cream and eggs like this one.  I'm usually not that into chocolate, but I do love desserts with a spicy kick.  A few spoonfuls of pudding made for an extremely satisfying conclusion to my dinner tonight.

For another creative use of tofu, check out this pesto recipe.

Recipe by Mark Bittman, published in The New York Times.

• 3/4 cup sugar
• 1 pound silken tofu
• 8 ounces high-quality bittersweet or semisweet chocolate, melted in a double broiler
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon chili powder / cayenne pepper, or more to taste
• Chocolate shavings (optional)

In a small pot, combine sugar with 3/4 cup water; bring to a boil and cook until sugar is dissolved, stirring occasionally. Cool slightly.  Put all ingredients except for chocolate shavings in a blender and purée until completely smooth, stopping machine to scrape down its sides if necessary. Divide among 4 to 6 ramekins and chill for at least 30 minutes. If you like, garnish with chocolate shavings before serving [I used white chocolate for visual contrast].

Yield: 4 to 8 servings, depending on how much chocolate you can handle in one sitting
Estimated Start-to-Finish Time: 40 minutes (including 30 minutes chilling time)
Actual Start-to-Finish Time: 1 hour (including 30 minutes chilling time).  I spent a significant fraction of this time figuring out how to melt the chocolate.  The second time around it will be a good deal quicker.
Substitutions: I was a bit unsure of what Bittman meant by "chili powder".  The chili powder in our spice cabinet is the type used to make chili (the chunky bean and meat stew)--it contains garlic and several other ingredients in addition to hot peppers.  I thought this would probably be an odd flavor profile to add to a dessert, so I used cayenne pepper instead.  Half a teaspoon made the pudding plenty spicy.

Thai Basil Pesto

I'm stoked to report that The Gastronomer and I have added Thai basil to our potted herb garden this year, and the two small plants I purchased in March are thriving.  In fact, they've been growing so fast that even with a big pot of Ba Ngoai's pho in the house last week, our demand for the fragrant leaves hasn't been able to keep up.  I've grown tired of wasting perfectly good Thai basil when I trim off the parts that are flowering, so I decided it was time to make pesto.  This recipe is a delicious twist on a classic pesto, with fish sauce, sesame oil, peanuts, rice wine vinegar, and red pepper flakes giving it a distinctly Southeast Asian flavor profile.  It was surprisingly spicy for a Cooking Light recipe, I thought.  We enjoyed it with Vietnamese rice vermicelli noodles (bun) and vegetables.

Recipe from Cooking Light via myrecipes.com.

• 2 cups fresh Thai basil leaves
• 3-4 tablespoons dry-roasted peanuts
• 1 tablespoon sugar
• 1 1/2 tablespoons dark sesame oil
• 1 tablespoon fish sauce
• 1 tablespoon rice wine vinegar
• 1 teaspoon crushed red pepper
• 2 garlic cloves

Place all of the ingredients in a food processor; process until smooth.  Toss with noodles and serve immediately, or transfer to a bowl, press plastic wrap onto the surface of the pesto, and store in the refrigerator up to one week.

Yield: 4-6 servings
Estimated Start-to-Finish Time:
Actual Start-to-Finish Time: 45 minutes (mostly trimming the basil, plucking the leaves from the stems, and washing them).
Substitutions: At the suggestion of a commenter on myrecipes.com, I added extra peanuts (the original recipe only called for 2 tablespoons).  After making my way through half a bowl of noodles with the pesto, I decided that it was actually too spicy--I think I'll reduce the red pepper to 1/2-3/4 teaspoon next time.

Tuna with Angel Hair Pasta

The Gastronomer and I have been living a mere 10 minute drive from a Mitsuwa Marketplace for more than three years now, but we didn't start paying it regular visits until last month.  I guess we thought the only worthwhile Mitsuwa was the Torrance location, with its dynamite food court.  Well, it turns out the appeal of Mitsuwas extends beyond ramen and curry.  We've recently been enjoying amazing Sumo citrus fruits, and last week The Gastronomer made inari sushi at home.  In light of these successes, I felt like it was time to finally try out a recipe from our Nobu West cookbook.  Like most cookbooks from fancy restaurants, the Nobu book initially struck me as fairly intimidating, although it was more the shopping than the cooking itself that had me hesitating.  Nobu's recipes tend to be surprisingly simple, so the quality of ingredients is undoubtedly paramount in achieving the desired product.  I don't know much about picking out fish, but I felt like I couldn't go wrong at Mitsuwa.

For this simple twist on a Japanese noodle dish, I picked out two pre-packaged fresh tuna fillets from Spain, on sale for $22.99 per pound.  I've never spent this much for fish in the grocery store before, but it was worth it, as the quality turned out to be comparable to what we would expect from a nice sushi restaurant.  I do believe this was one of The Gastronomer's favorite things that I've ever made.

Recipe adapted from Nobu West by Nobu Matsuhisa and Mark Edwards. 

• 3 ounces angel hair pasta (capelli d'angelo)
• salt
• 5 ounces boneless, skinless fresh tuna
• 1 tablespoon toasted sesame oil
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1 teaspoon chili-garlic sauce [I used Lee Kum Kee brand]
• 1.5 tablespoons soy sauce
• 1/4 bunch of chives, finely snipped

Cook the angel hair pasta in plenty of salted, boiling water until just al dente.  Drain and refresh in cold water, then drain well again.  Following the grain of the tuna, slice it into long strips as thin as you can manage (~1/8 inch).  Combine with the drained pasta in a mixing bowl.  Add the sesame and olive oils and gently mix again.  Add the chili-garlic sauce to the soy sauce and gently mix into the salad, taste, and add a little more salt if required.  Place on a serving dish and sprinkle with the chives.

Yield: 2 servings (Nobu says that this recipe serves 4, but that would be very small portions--I ended up doubling the recipe so that we would have leftovers).
Estimated Start-to-Finish time: Not given
Actual Start-to-Finish time: 35 minutes (could have been about 20 if I had been a bit more confident cutting the fish).
Substitutions:  The original recipe called for 2 tablespoons sesame oil, 2 tablespoons olive oil, 2 tablespoons soy sauce, and 1/2 bunch of chives, but these amounts seemed excessive.  I used the quantities listed above, and The Gastronomer and I felt that the dish was plenty oily and salty.

Mustard Batons

As a prequel to the Savannah banana pie that I served for dessert on The Gastronomer's recent birthday, I prepared a four-course meal from Dorie Greenspan's Around My French Table.  Greenspan's cookbooks are an internet sensation, but I chose her book of French-inspired recipes for this important cooking project mostly because of how much I enjoyed beggar's linguine, the first recipe that The Gastronomer prepared from Around My French Table earlier this year. Mustard batons were an obvious choice for an appetizer because The Gastronomer had just made a large quantity of gourmet mustard from scratch.  Plus there is nothing that makes me feel more at home in the kitchen than a recipe that requires one to make precise measurements with a ruler.  This is also a perfect recipe to serve as a hors d'oeuvre preceding a multi-course meal because the batons can be prepared ahead of time and frozen, then baked at the last minute.

Although the recipe couldn't be simpler, I found forming the batons to be a little tricky because I had to roll the puff pastry very thin in order to make a rectangle of the suggested dimensions. This led to some breakage when folding the dough in half.  It didn't help that my puff pastry sheet had been hanging out in the freezer a year or so too long and had some crusty corners.  However, The Gastronomer believes there is nothing more noble than using up old ingredients rather than letting them go to waste, so I knew she would appreciate my efforts.  I threw away the bad parts and proceeded with a smaller batch of batons, and the results were quite appealing.  The Gastronomer loved them, although how could she have not when they were made with her mustard?

Recipe from Around My French Table by Dorie Greenspan.

• 2 sheets frozen puff pastry (each about 8 1/2 ounces), thawed
• All-purpose flour, for rolling
• 1/2 cup Dijon mustard [or other mustard]
• 1 large egg
• Poppy seeds, for topping (optional)

Position the racks to divide the oven into thirds and preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.  Line two baking sheets with silicone baking mats or parchment paper.  Have a ruler and a pizza cutter (or sharp knife) at hand.

Working with one sheet of pastry at a time, roll the dough out on a lightly floured surface until you have a rectangle that's about 12 x 16 inches.  If necessary, turn the dough so that a short side of the rectangle is closest to you.  Measure the length so that you can find the middle, and spread 1/4 cup of the mustard over the lower half of the dough, stopping about 1/8 inch from the side and bottom edges.  Fold the top portion of the dough over the bottom and cut the pastry from top to bottom into strips about 1 inch wide, then cut the strips crosswise in half (if you prefer, you can leave the strips long).  Carefully transfer the batons to one of the baking sheets and chill or freeze them while you work on the second batch (you can make all the strips to this point and freeze them on baking sheets, then pack them airtight and keep them frozen for up to two months).

Lightly beat the egg with a splash of cold water and brush just the tops of the strips with this glaze.  If you'd like, sprinkle them with poppy seeds.  Bake the batons for 8 minutes.  Rotate the sheet from front to back and top to bottom and bake for another 7 to 8 minutes, or until the strips are puffed and golden brown.  Remove the baking sheets from the oven and let the batons rest for a couple of minutes before serving.

Yield: 40 batons
Estimated Start-to-Finish Time: Not Given
Actual Start-to-Finish Time: 45 minutes
Substitutions: I only made a half a batch (using a single sheet of puff pastry)--I recommend this if you're only serving a small number of people, since the batons are best when they're still warm and crisp from the oven.

Savannah Banana Pie

I'm an experienced baker of cookies, cakes, and the like, but the thought of making a pie has always been a bit intimidating to me.  It took a very special occasion, The Gastonomer's 30th birthday, to inspire me to finally attempt my first pie without my mother's assistance.  I flipped through Maida Heatter's book of Pies and Tarts, pondering my options: peach or berry pie (awesome but out of season), apple pie (delicious and classic, but kind of boring), key lime pie (mmm... but choosing a simple graham cracker crust would be shying away from the true challenges of pie crust baking), ... When I saw this recipe, I knew it was perfect.  It didn't have a flaky crust, but bananas, toffee, and caramel are among The Gastronomer's very favorite things in this world. 

Heatter claims that this pie "has several parts to it--all easy and fun--but they do take time."  Nevertheless, there were definitely some technical steps.  Her directions are extremely detailed and clear, but somehow things still went awry.  I could tell as soon as I started pressing my crumb crust into the pan that it was way too buttery--my hands became very greasy as I worked with it, and when I brought it out of the oven after the recommended 8 minutes of baking, it was bubbling madly.  I think the fresh Amaretto cookies that I bought from Whole Foods might have been to blame; Heatter recommends pre-packaged cookies by Lazzaroni.  This wasn't a disaster--I put it back in the oven for 2-3 more minutes and it seemed like everything was going to work out.

However, I ran into more serious trouble when I tried to carry out Heatter's clever procedure for keeping the crust from sticking to the pan (which involves baking the crust with a layer of aluminum foil under it, then freezing it in the pan and removing the foil while the crust is rock hard).  The excess butter seeped through the foil and froze, cementing the foil to the pie pan and to the crust.  I was far worse off than if I hadn't used foil at all.  After several frantic minutes filled with various desperate schemes to get the pie to come loose, I finally succeeded in heating up the bottom of the pie plate enough that the frozen butter melted and I was able to pry the crust out of the pan with only minimal damage.  I then faced another daunting challenge in scraping the sticky foil off the bottom of the crust--a task I delayed for a few minutes by putting the crust back in the freezer to harden up again.  I ultimately did get the foil off and the crust back in the pan mostly intact, save for a few crumbled spots around the edges, and the rest of the recipe went smoothly (incidentally, I attempted Heatter's aluminum foil trick again the next time I tried making a crumb crust, and it worked great, so I don't hold her at fault--I really just think the cookies I used were a bit different than what she had intended for this recipe).

The pie came together and actually looked pretty good in the end, and The Gastronomer was thrilled to be presented with a "birthday cake" that contained so many of her favorite ingredients.  Unfortunately, the pie had a tragic flaw which, ironically, had nothing to do with the crust.  I had presumed that the caramel filling would thicken and set when the pie was chilled, but this did not happen even after many hours in the refrigerator.  The final product was sadly more like a banana caramel soup than a pie.  The Gastronomer reported that it was delicious on the first and second days.  However, it was far too large (and unhealthy) a pie to finish that fast, and by later in the week the runny filling caused the crust to disintegrate.  While we were left with a soggy mess in the end, I enjoyed my first pie-making experience enough that I returned to Heatter's book to try again (with a different recipe) a few weeks later.

Recipe from Maida Heatter's Pies and Tarts.

For Macaroon Crust

• 8 ounces Amaretti [Maida recommends Amaretti di Saronno by Lazzaroni & Company]
• 3 ounces (3/4 stick) unsalted butter, melted

For Filling

• 1 14-ounce can sweetened condensed milk
• 3 to 4 ripe but not overripe bananas

For Whipped Cream Topping

• About 3 ounces Almond Roca, English toffee candies, or Heath Bars
• 1 1/2 cups whipping cream
• 2 tablespoons confectioners sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 or 2 drops (only) almond extract

Make Macaroon Crust

Adjust a rack to the middle of the oven and preheat oven to 375 degrees.  Break up the macaroons, then process them in the food processor until they become crumbs.  Add the melted butter and process to mix.  Turn a 9-inch glass pie plate upside down on a work surface, and press a 12-inch square of aluminum foil over the back of it, shiny side down.  Turn the pie plate back over and place the shaped foil into the plate.  Press the foil firmly into place in the plate with a potholder or folded towel.  Fold the edges of the foil down over the rim of the plate.

Turn the crumb mixture into the foil-lined plate.  Using your fingertips, distribute the mixture evenly and loosely over the sides first and then the bottom.  Then press the crust firmly and evenly on the sides, pushing it up from the bottom a bit to form a rim slightly higher than the edge of the pie plate.  Be careful that the top of the crust is not too thin.  After pressing the sides and the top edge firmly, press then remaining crumbs evenly and firmly over the bottom.  There should be no loose crumbs.

Bake for 10 minutes.  Then cool to room temperature.  Freeze the crust in the pie plate for at least 1 hour, overnight if possible. It must be frozen solid. Remove from the freezer.  Raise the edges of the foil and carefully lift the foil (with the crust) from the plate.  Gently peel away the foil as follows: Support the bottom of the crust on your left hand and peel away the foil, a bit at a time (do not tear the foil) with your right hand.  As you do so, rotate the crust gently on your left hand.

Supporting the bottom of the crust with a small metal spatula or a table knife, ease it back into the plate very gently in order not to crack it.  It will not crack or crumble if it has been frozen long enough.  [note that at this point I slide the pie crust onto a flat dinner plate instead and put it back in the freezer, because I needed to use my only glass pie plate for the next step.]

Make Filling

Adjust a rack to the middle of the oven and preheat oven to 425 degrees.  Pour the condensed milk into an 8- or 9-inch Pyrex pie plate.  Cover it airtight with aluminum foil, pressing the edges over the rim of the plate to seal.  Place the plate in a large shallow pan.  Pour hot water about 1/2 inch deep into the large pan and back for 1 hour and 20 to 30 minutes.  The condensed milk will bake to a rich caramel color.  During baking, add more water to the large pan if necessary.  Remove the pie plate from the larger pan, then remove the foil covering and set the caramel aside to cool completely.

From 4 to 8 hours before serving, peel the bananas and cut them crosswise into 1/4 inch slices.  Do the cutting over the crust and let the slices fall into the crust.  Flatten the layer of bananas a bit.  With a teaspoon, place small spoonfuls of the cooled caramelized milk all over the bananas (if you place too much in any one spot you will not have enough to go around).  Then, with the back of a spoon, smooth the top a bit to voer the bananas completely.  Refrigerate for 4-8 hours.

Make Whipped Cream Topping and Assemble Pie

Unwrap the candy and on a cutting board cut down on the candy bars with a small sharp knife to slice the candy thin.  Set it aside.

In a small chilled bowl with chilled beaters whip the cream with the sugar and vanilla and almond extracts only until the cream holds a definite shape but not until it is really stiff.  Place the cream by tablespoonfuls in a circle around the rim of the pie--do not cover the middle of the filling.

Sprinkle the candy over the whipped cream.  Refrigerate and serve very cold.

Yield: 8 servings
Estimated Start-to-Finish Time: Not given
Actual Start-to-Finish Time: 8 hours [I usually leave out chilling time in calculating this, but in this case I was cooking several other dishes at the same time, and I really have no idea how much "active time" there was.  In any case, you'll need to start the recipe at least 8 hours before serving it, and making the crust the night before would be ideal].

Orange-Fennel Salad

The centerpiece of this easy winter salad from Cooking Light's series of recipes with five ingredients or less just might be one of my top five favorite vegetables.  Interestingly, fennel is also an herb and a spice, which perhaps gives it an unfair advantage over its veggie competitors, but I won't count that against it--it's right up there behind corn, carrots, and artichokes and neck and neck with other more obscure flora like upright elephant ears in my personal power rankings.  I find its crispy bulb, dill-like fronds, and licorice-tinged flavor to be positively delightful.  The salad was intended to accompany sauteed snapper but, true to form, we ate it with shrimp instead.

Recipe by Cooking Light, January/February 2010

• 2 oranges
• 1 medium fennel bulb with stalks
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

Peel and section oranges over a bowl, reserving 2 tablespoons juice. Thinly slice fennel bulb; chop 1 teaspoon fronds. Discard stalks. Place orange sections and sliced fennel in a medium bowl. Combine reserved juice, fronds, olive oil, salt, and pepper in a small bowl, stirring with a whisk. Drizzle juice mixture over fennel mixture; toss well to coat.  Serve with your choice of simply prepared seafood.

Yield: 4 servings
Estimated Start-to-Finish Time: Not Given
Actual Start-to-Finish Time: 30 minutes

Roasted Brussels Sprouts with Honey, Lemon, and Thyme Dressing

Growing up, I viewed brussels sprouts in an extremely negative light. They stank up the house when my mom boiled them, and if I was ever brave enough to actually put one in my mouth, I definitely didn't give it a fair chance to impress. However, in the past couple of years I've come around and realized that they can be one of the most delicious vegetables out there. Maybe it was the brussels sprouts with prosciutto breadcrumbs at Pizzeria Mozza, or the brussels sprouts salad at La Grande Orange... It seems like every time I order brussels sprouts at a restaurant they're amazing. The Gastronomer is a fan as well, so I didn't hesitate to choose this recipe as a side dish for one of her birthday meals. I had never made brussels sprouts at home before, but they turned out to be just as good as in restaurants! As far as vegetable dishes go, this one is just about perfect. Simple, sweet, well-balanced, and even, dare I say, addictive?

Recipe from Olives and Oranges by Sara Jenkins and Mindy Fox, reprinted in Food and Wine's Best of the Best Cookbook Recipes (Vol. 12).

• 2.5 pounds brussels sprouts, halved lengthwise
• 3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
• Kosher salt and freshly ground pepper
• 3 tablespoons honey
• 2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
• 1 tablespoon fresh thyme leaves

Preheat the oven to 400°F.  In a large bowl, toss the brussels sprouts with 2 tablespoons of the olive oil and season generously with salt and pepper.  Spread the brussels sprouts on a large rimmed baking sheet and roast for about 30 minutes, tossing halfway through, until brown and tender.

In a medium serving bowl, whisk the honey with the lemon juice, thyme, and the remaining 1 tablespoon of olive oil.  Add the brussels sprouts, toss to coat, and serve.

Yield: 6 servings
Estimated Start-to-Finish Time: Not Given
Actual Start-to-Finish Time: 50 minutes
Substitutions: The original recipe recommended a 30 minute cooking time, but my brussels sprouts were well-browned and plenty tender in about 22 minutes.  The authors note that it is a good idea to try to purchase sprouts of uniform size so that they will all take the same amount of time to cook.

Shrimp Piri Piri with Quick-Preserved Meyer Lemons

I saved the most traumatic cooking experience of the year for December. It had come time to use the fruits from the young dwarf Meyer lemon tree that the Gastronomer and I have been lovingly caring for since March, and I wanted to make something special. I picked out this recipe from among the La Times' "100 things to do with a Meyer lemon". It sounded right up our alley, and yet different than anything I had ever made before. Our little tree only bore 8.3 smallish lemons this year (1 tiny runt lemon = 0.3 smallish lemons), and I would be using 5.3 of them on this evening, so I really wanted it to turn out well. Unfortunately, the instructions for "quick-preserving" the lemon peels got me quite confused. The recipe said to:

"Return the drained peel to the pan, add the reserved juice, salt and sugar and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat and simmer for 10 minutes. Remove from the heat and set aside to cool. Makes about three-eighths cup."

I presumed that this meant that the mixture of the liquid plus peels was supposed to have reduced to a volume of 3/8 cup. This clearly had not happened after 10 minutes. Having previously experienced that most recipes involving reduction underestimate the amount of time it will take, I continued cooking the peels, ultimately leaving them on the stove for a good 30 minutes. It was only then I realized that using the liquid as part of the sauce could not possibly be the right approach--I put 1/4 cup of salt in there for goodness sakes! Perhaps this would have been obvious to someone who had made traditional preserved lemons before, but it obviously wasn't spelled out clearly enough for me. I took the pot off the stove. I had accomplished my original goal of getting rid of most of the liquid, but what was left was a gloopy mess. The quick-preserved peels were worlds away from the ideal texture and far too salty. I did my best to salvage things by straining what liquid I could out of them, but still feared that I had wasted our precious fruits and would soon be ruining a perfectly good pound of shrimp. I cautiously added less than half of the peels to the marinade mixture and carried on.

Thankfully, this story has a happy ending. I couldn't julienne the peels and garnish the dish with them as instructed, but the end product actually tasted really good! Amazing, even. The shrimp were oh so tasty, and the sauce was not ridiculously salty--it seemed that I had guessed right in the amount of preserved peel I added. I hadn't been sure how much I would like the black rice, but it went together perfectly with the shrimp. This is a really great recipe--every bit as good as it sounded on paper--although there were a couple of additional steps that should have been written more clearly. I'm looking forward to trying it again and really getting everything right.

Recipe adapted from Marcus Samuelsson's The Soul of a New Cuisine by the Los Angeles Times.

For Quick-Preserved Meyer Lemon Peels

• 6 Meyer lemons
• 1/4 cup kosher salt
• 1/4 cup sugar

For Shrimp Piri Piri

• 1 cup black rice (Forbidden rice) [when uncooked, this looks similar to wild rice, but they are actually quite different]
  
• 4 red jalapeño chiles, seeded, ribs removed and chopped [after Whole Foods let me down, I surprisingly found these at Ralphs]
  
• 2 green jalapeño chiles, seeded, ribs removed and chopped
• 2 serrano chiles, seeded, ribs removed and chopped
• 2 cloves garlic
• 1/4 cup chopped cilantro, plus additional for garnish
• 1/4 cup chopped Italian parsley
• Juice of 1 Meyer lemon
• 1 recipe quick-preserved Meyer lemon peel, julienned, divided
• 1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons olive oil, divided
• 1 pound medium shrimp, tail-on, peeled and deveined
• 1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
• Additional chopped cilantro for garnish

Make Quick-Preserved Meyer Lemon Peels

Using a vegetable peeler, peel the lemons, trying to keep away from the white pith. (If necessary, scrape excess pith away from the peels with a small knife, but a little bit of pith is unavoidable and won't be a problem). Squeeze the juice from the peeled lemons into a bowl and reserve: You should have about 1 cup. Add water to bring the liquid up to 2 cups; set aside to reserve.

Place the peel and 2 cups of water in a saucepan and bring to a rolling boil. Drain. Repeat this procedure once more. Return the drained peel to the pan, add the reserved juice/water mixture, salt and sugar and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat and simmer for 10 minutes. Remove from the heat and set aside. When cool, the pieces of peel can be scooped out of the liquid with a slotted spoon. You should end up with about 3/8 cup of "preserved" peel.

Make Shrimp Piri Piri

In a medium saucepan with a tight-fitting lid, cook the black rice according to the package instructions (about 30 minutes) and reserve.

In a food processor, combine the chiles, garlic, cilantro, parsley, lemon juice and 1/8 cup of the preserved lemon peel and process until the mixture is a coarse paste. Add 1/2 cup olive oil in a slow stream and reserve. (Makes 1 cup.)

In a large bowl, toss the shrimp in the sauce and allow to marinate, covered and refrigerated, for 30 minutes.

Heat the remaining 2 tablespoons olive oil in a large skillet over high heat until it shimmers, then add the marinated shrimp [I'm not sure what the intention was in the original recipe, but I poured in all of the marinade as well and was glad I did--it made a terrific sauce to pour over the rice at the end]. Toss for 3 to 4 minutes until the shrimp is opaque, taking care not to overcook. Season with kosher salt.

Serve the shrimp over the black rice, garnished with the remaining preserved lemon and a little chopped cilantro.

Yield: 4 servings
Estimated Start-to-Finish Time: 1 hour 20 minutes
Actual Start-to-Finish Time: 2 hours 40 minutes
Substitutions: I went ahead and took the tails off the shrimp before marinating and cooking--this made the end product easier to eat, if perhaps slightly less attractive. I also reduced the amount of olive oil to about 1/3 cup to make the recipe a bit less fatty; this still produced a marinade/sauce with an ideal consistency.

Eat My Blog Charity Bake Sale 2011

For those of you in the Los Angeles area, this Saturday is the fourth iteration of the Eat My Blog bake sale benefiting the LA Regional Food Bank. Over 50 talented bakers and restaurants will be contributing an incredible collection of creative, irresistible desserts; you can check out the menu at http://eatmyblogla.wordpress.com/. If you're in the mood for something a bit less avant-garde, but still gourmet, I'll be bringing some very special chocolate chip cookies. Hope to see you there!

Herbed Carrot Salad

When I was looking for a recipe to try from Flatbreads & Flavors by Jeffrey Alford and Naomi Duguid, the obvious choice would have been to attempt a flatbread. However, for some reason I settled on this selection from the "flavors" portion of the book instead. I think it was the mint--I'm obsessed with herbs. I planned to make this salad as part of a four-course birthday meal for The Gastronomer. When she heard the menu, she asked, "Are you sure you didn't choose that recipe for yourself...?" Indeed, I'm the one who is fond of carrots and the aforementioned mint, so perhaps she had a point. Fortunately, when we sat down to sample the salad, we both LOVED it. I'll definitely be making this one again in short order.

The recipe calls for freshly ground cumin--I'm sure that would make the flavor even bolder, but I used the ground stuff and it still turned out great. I did take advantage of the opportunity to bust out our rarely-used mortar and pestle to muddle the herbs.

Recipe from Flatbreads and Flavors: A Baker's Atlas.

• 1 teaspoon cumin seed [or ~3/4 teaspoon ground cumin]
  
• 3 tablespoons chopped cilantro
  
• 2 tablespoons finely chopped mint
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 3 tablespoons olive oil
• 2 tablespoons red wine vinegar
• pinch of sugar
• 3 tablespoons plain yogurt [I used Trader Joe's nonfat Greek yogurt]
  
• 2 pounds carrots, thinly sliced and steamed until just tender
• Fresh ground black pepper
• Leaf lettuce for serving

You will need a mortar and pestle or spice grinder, a bowl or glass jar with a lid, and a medium-sized bowl.

In a mortar, grind the cumin seed to a coarse powder. Add the cilantro, mint, and salt, and pound and blend well. Transfer to a bowl or glass jar. Add the oil, vinegar, and sugar and mix well. Alternatively, using a spice grinder, grind the cumin seed. Transfer to a bowl or glass jar and stir in the herbs and salt, pressing the herbs with the back of a spoon to crush them. Add the oil, vinegar, and sugar and mix well. Let stand in a cool place, well sealed for up to 24 hours to allow the flavors to blend.

To prepare the salad, stir the yogurt into the dressing. Transfer to a medium-sized bowl, and add the carrots and pepper to taste. Toss to coat the carrots well. The salad can be served immediately or refrigerated for up to two hours; bring to room temperature before serving. To serve, make a bed of leaf lettuce on a medium-sized plate, and mount the carrots onto the lettuce.

Yield: 6 servings
Estimated Start-to-Finish Time: Not given
Actual Start-to-Finish Time: 1 hour (not counting time for the dressing to marinate)
Substitutions: We sauteed/steamed the carrots with a bit of water in a skillet with a lid on it. The original recipe said to steam the carrots for five minutes, but we found that they were still very crispy at this stage. The Gastronomer likes her carrots pretty soft, so we ended up cooking them much longer.

Sweet Potato, Chipotle, and Apple Soup

As noted previously on the blog, for the Gastronomer's 28th birthday present I promised her a set of five extravagant home-cooked meals. A year before I had given her a similar gift and followed through with all five meals; however, this time after meal #2 she decided that she no longer wanted to spend her Saturdays alone while I slaved away in the kitchen on three- and four-course feasts. She requested that I put the meals on hold. I had come up with some awesome menus which featured recipes from a number of never-before-used cookbooks (our collection is growing faster than we can keep up), so I decided to make the dishes one-by-one on different days.

This soup was supposed to be part of a winter-themed menu. Its flavor was awesome--I'm not a big soup eater, but I was really into it. Additionally, it provided a great opportunity to try the immersion blender that we received as a wedding present [Thanks Diana!]. I skipped the step in the original recipe which called for garnishing with deep-fried tortilla strips, but the soup did go well with some yellow corn tortilla chips we had on hand. Tossing in crumbled up chips made it a bit more substantial--otherwise it was pretty ethereal. I had expected a creamy soup and was surprised by how thin it was.

Recipe from Food & Wine 2009 Annual Cookbook.

• 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
• 1/2 medium white onion, finely chopped
• 2 garlic cloves, smashed
• 1 teaspoon finely grated fresh ginger
• 2 Gala apples—peeled, seeded and coarsely chopped
• 1 celery rib, thinly sliced crosswise
• 1 3/4 pounds sweet potatoes, peeled and thinly sliced
• 1 quart chicken stock or low-sodium broth
• 3 cups water
• 1 small canned chipotle in adobo sauce, seeded and minced
• salt and pepper
• 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon sugar
• Corn tortilla chips

In a medium soup pot, heat the oil until shimmering. Add the onion, garlic and ginger and cook over low heat, stirring, until softened, about 7 minutes. Add the apples and celery and cook for 5 minutes. Add the sweet potatoes and cook for 5 minutes. Add the chicken stock and water and bring to a boil. Cover partially and simmer over low heat until the fruit and vegetables are very tender, about 45 minutes. Stir in the chipotle.

Puree the soup in the pot using an immersion blender, or transfer it in batches to a normal blender to puree until smooth. Season with 1/4-1/2 teaspoon salt and 1/4 teaspoon pepper.

In a small bowl, mix the cinnamon and sugar with 1/2 teaspoon of salt. Sprinkle over the individual bowls of soup and garnish with broken tortilla chips.

Yield: 6 servings
Estimated Start-to-Finish Time: 1 hour 20 minutes
Actual Start-to-Finish Time: 1 hour 50 minutes
Substitutions: I bought a 1-inch nub of ginger and used it all--you can't have too much ginger if you ask me. I also threw in an extra garlic clove. As noted above, I skipped the step which involved deep-frying tortilla chips in vegetable oil. It didn't seem worth the hassle.

Pear and Raspberry Crumble

As I mentioned previously, The Gastronomer tends to acquire cookbooks at a faster rate than she can try out the recipes. Last year, I decided to help her out by attempting at least one dish from each of the neglected books. At the time, this task appeared quite feasible, but since then our collection has swelled by a factor or two or three, and it seems that our cooking progress may never catch up. In any case, one of the cookbooks we received was entitled "Ready, Steady, Spaghetti: Cooking for Kids and with Kids." As we are not kids and rarely cook with them, this book was an excellent candidate to gather dust on the bottom bookshelf, but I resolved to find a recipe suitable for adults and give it a whirl.

This crumble caught my eye, as desserts containing raspberries often do. Being from a children's cookbook, the recipe was quite simple and straightforward; fortunately, this is just how a crumble recipe should be. I served it as a fruity, sweet conclusion to the meal that started with smoked mackerel pate and Filipino pork adobo, and it turned out fantastically. The only downside I could foresee from the perspective of cooking with kids is that the most labor-intensive part of the preparation was peeling and cutting the pears: not the most child-friendly kitchen task. Still, it's hard to find a recipe for which kids can really do all the steps independently, and this one is easy and yields a delicious end product.

Recipe from Ready, Steady, Spaghetti: Cooking for Kids and With Kids.

• 6 large pears
• 2 tablespoons sugar
• 3 star anise (optional)
• 1 cup raspberries
• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/2 cup light brown sugar
• 2/3 cup unsalted butter, cut into cubes
• ice cream, to serve

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F. Peel, quarter, and core the pears, then cut each piece in half lengthwise. Put into a large saucepan and sprinkle with the sugar. Add 1 tablespoon of water and the star anise. Cover and bring to a boil.

Cook, covered, over medium-low heat for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally, until the fruit is tender but still holds its shape. Drain the pears and discard the star anise. Transfer to a large ovenproof baking dish or six 1-cup ramekins. Sprinkle the raspberries over the pears.

Combine the flour, sugar, and butter in a bowl. Use your fingertips to rub the butter into the flour, until the mixture resembles coarse bread crumbs. Sprinkle over the fruit, then bake for 20 to 25 minutes, until golden brown. Leave for 5 minutes, then serve with ice cream.

Yield: 6 servings
Estimated Start-to-Finish Time: Not given
Actual Start-to-Finish Time: 1 hour 20 minutes

Filipino Pork Adobo

When I was drawing up the menus for The Gastronomer's 28th birthday meals back in February 2010, this recipe seemed like an ideal introduction to the "complete world of pork." It seemed straightforward and not too intimidating, and it was hard to imagine how it could fail to be delicious. Then last summer I was introduced to the wonderful pork adobo from Los Angeles's first Filipino food truck, The Manila Machine, and I became even more excited to try making Filipino-style adobo myself.

I managed to buy the Boston butt already chopped up as "stew meat", which made the prep a breeze. The adobo was a hit with the birthday girl, and I enjoyed feasting on it for lunch for the remainder of the week.

Recipe from Bruce Aidells's Complete Book of Pork.

• 2 lbs boneless Boston butt, cut into 3-inch chunks
• 1/2 cup rice or white vinegar, or more to taste
• 3/4 cup light soy sauce
• 1/4 Asian fish sauce (I used Squid brand, The Gastronomer's family's favorite)
  
• 2 cups homemade chicken stock or canned low-sodium chicken broth or water
• 2 teaspoons brown sugar, or more to taste
• 2 teaspoons freshly ground black pepper
• 4 bay leaves
• 5 tablespoons chopped garlic
• 2 onions, thinly sliced
• 1 teaspoon Asian hot chili oil, or less/more to taste (I used Sriracha)

Put the pork and all of the remaining ingredients in a casserole or large saucepan and bring to a simmer over medium heat. Cook, uncovered, until the pork is tender, about 1 1/4 hours. Skim and discard the fat from the surface. Taste the broth and add more vinegar, sugar, or chili oil to balance the flavors to your liking. Serve the adobo over jasmine rice.

Yield: 4-6 servings
Estimated Start-to-Finish Time: Not given
Actual Start-to-Finish Time: 1 hour 45 minutes (30 minutes of active time)

Smoked Mackerel Pate with Apple and Lime

A new cookbook for The Gastronomer to review arrives at our doorstep at least once a month; thus over the past couple of years we have acquired a rather impressive recipe library. With such bounty in our bookshelves, it was pretty tough deciding on 15-20 dishes to make for her 2010 birthday present. With the exception of the Susanna Foo trifecta that I prepared for Meal #1, I resolved to go for diversity and make no more than one dish from each cookbook. I also stayed away from my old friend The America's Test Kitchen Family Cookbook--it was time to test myself with less user-friendly recipes.

Indeed, this recipe proved to be a bit of a challenge--making the pate was a breeze, but splitting the pieces of toast in half without breaking them was tricky, as was peeling the lime and separating the wedges without having them fall apart. As it turned out, a whole slice of lime on each toast section was way too much sourness for our tastes anyway, so we ended up eating most of the sections with small pieces of shredded lime that were the unfortunate byproducts of my initial peeling/separation efforts. The pate on its own was delicious--I'll definitely make it again.

Recipe from Appetizers by Shane Osborn.

For Pate

• 5 oz smoked mackerel (skin removed)
  
• 5 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened
• salt and pepper
• juice of 1/2 lime

For Serving

• 2-3 thin slices of white bread
• 1 Granny Smith apple
• 1 lime

Make Pate

Put the fish into a food processor and process briefly to a paste, about 30 seconds. Add the softened butter and process again until smooth, about 30 seconds. Transfer the mixture to a bowl. Season with salt and pepper, and add half of the lime juice, to taste (reserve the rest of the lime juice for the apple).

Make Melba Toasts and Serve

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Heat the broiler (unless you prefer to use the toaster). Toast the bread slices until lightly colored on both sides. Cool slightly, then remove the crusts and cut each slice horizontally in half. Rub with your fingers to remove loose crumbs. Cut into quarters, then halve each toast to make wafer-thin triangles. Place on a baking sheet. Leave in a warm place for 10 minutes to curl, then bake until crisp, about 10 minutes. Let cool.

Peel, halve, and core the apple. Cut into very thin slices and toss in the reserved lime juice to prevent discoloration. Peel the lime, removing all pith, then cut the sections from the membrane. Place a generous spoonful of fish pate on each melba toast triangle and top with an apple slice and a lime section.

Yield: 16 toast sections
Estimated Start-to-Finish Time: Not given
Actual Start-to-Finish Time: 35 minutes
Substitutions: The original recipe called for smoked eel (which alas, I couldn't find) but listed smoked mackerel as an acceptable substitution. I used Blue Hill Bay peppered mackerel from Whole Foods. Since the mackerel was already nicely seasoned, I didn't add any salt or pepper to the pate. The recipe suggested to bake the Melba toasts for 10 minutes, but I burned my first batch, and ultimately found that ~6 minutes was more appropriate with the bread I was using.

Homemade Noodles with Pork from Shanxi

In my first post about The Gastronomer's 2010 birthday meals, I mentioned that I was trying to seek out recipes that would that would push my limits as a cook. Making knife-cut Chinese noodles from scratch certainly qualifies. This recipe definitely has the potential to achieve the ideal Chinese noodle texture, although mine were a bit too square and thick. Next time I'll roll the dough out thinner. The pork mixture is awesome and could be served over fettuccini or linguine if you're not feeling so ambitious. I'm going to try making this one more time to perfect the consistency of the noodles, and then it's going onto the Brightest Stars list for sure!

Recipe by Susanna Foo Chinese Cuisine

For Noodles

• 3 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 cup cold water
• 1 tablespoon corn oil

For Topping

• 1 pound boneless lean pork, cut into 1/4-inch dice (this will retain its moisture when cooked better than finely ground meat)
  
• 3 tablespoons soy sauce
• 1 tablespoon corn starch
• 3 tablespoons corn oil
• 1/4 cup finely chopped onion
• 3 garlic cloves, thinly sliced
• 3 tablespoons brandy
• 1 large russet potato, peeled and cut into 1/4-inch dice
• 2 cups chicken stock
• 2 large tomatoes, peeled and diced
• 2 scallions, chopped
• coarse salt
• freshly ground pepper

Make Noodles

Place the flour in a large bowl and make a well in the middle. Pour the water into the well, stirring to incorporate the flour. Turn out onto a lightly floured work surface and knead by hand until smooth, about 5 minutes. Alternately, place the flour in a food processor and, with the motor running, add the water. Process until smooth, about 3 to 5 minutes.

Place the dough in a large bowl and cover with a damp towel, then loosely cover with a piece of plastic wrap and set aside at room temperature for 1 to 2 hours so the gluten in the dough relaxes.

Lightly flour the work surface and roll out the dough into a 1/4-inch-thick rectangle (or slightly thinner--I found that 1/4-inch x 1/4-inch noodles were a bit too thick). Sprinkle the surface of the dough lightly with flour and fold the rectangle in half to form another smaller rectangle. With a sharp knife, cut the dough into 1/4-inch wide strips. Place the noodles on a baking sheet. Sprinkle them lightly with flour and separate them with your hands. Cover with a towel.

Bring a large pot of water to boil, then add the oil and half of the noodles. Cook for 3 to 5 minutes, tasting one noodle to make sure the center is cooked but still firm to the bite. When the noodles are cooked, scoop them out of the water with a Chinese strainer or slotted spoon and place in a colander to finish draining. Repeat with the remaining noodles. Serve immediately.

Make Topping

While the dough is relaxing, begin preparing the topping. Place the diced pork in a large bowl and mix in the soy sauce and the cornstarch. Add 2 tablespoons of the oil, mix well, and marinate for a few minutes at room temperature while preparing the rest of the ingredients.

Heat 1 tablespoon of the oil in a large, heavy saucepan or Dutch oven. Add the onion and garlic and cook over high heat, stirring, until the onion is lightly browned, 2 to 3 minutes.

Add the pork, along with any marinade, and continue to cook, stirring, until the pork is no longer pink. Add the brandy. Cover the pot, turn the heat to medium and cook for about 10 minutes. Add the potato and mix well. Pour in the stock, cover, and cook for 30 minutes, or until the pork and potatoes are completely cooked.

Add the tomatoes and the scallions. Continue to cook, stirring often, for 3 minutes more, or until the sauce is thickened. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Spoon the pork sauce over the freshly cooked pasta and serve along with small bowls filled with any or all of the following optional garnishes: balsamic vinegar, chopped fresh jalapeno peppers, julienned cucumber, chopped fresh basil, chopped fresh cilantro, and julienned leeks.

Yield: 4-6 servings
Estimated Start-to-Finish Time: Not given
Actual Start-to-Finish Time: 3 hours

Cold Marinated Scallops

Susanna Foo Chinese Cuisine is well on its way to becoming the second unofficial cookbook of Stellar Recipes, joining the ever-reliable America's Test Kitchen Family Cookbook. Before serving poached pears for dessert during the first of The Gastronomer's 2010 birthday dinners, I made these scallops as a starter. Despite not being a tomato lover, I found them to be quite delicious, but The Gastronomer later told me she thought they were a bit too oily. Nevertheless, it's a very interesting recipe--I had never cooked with Bloody Mary mix before, and certainly never thought of mixing it with ginger, scallions, etc.

Recipe by Susanna Foo Chinese Cuisine

• 1 pound medium sea scallops
• 1/2 cup corn oil
• 1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
• 1/4 cup diced onion
  
• 1 tablespoon peeled, grated ginger root
• 1/2 cup scallions, white part only, diced (about 3)
• 1 small tomato, diced
• 1/2 cup bottled Bloody Mary mix
• Coarse salt
• Freshly Ground Pepper
• 1/4 julienned basil or cilantro leaves

Wash the scallops and pat dry. Place them in a single layer between sheets of paper towels until they are completely dry.

Heat the oil in a large skillet over high heat. When the oil is hot but not smoking, about 300 degrees F, add the scallops. Cook, turning, until the scallops are just cooked, about 3 minutes. Do not overcook, or they will toughen.

Using a slotted spoon, remove the scallops to a strainer and drain. Place them in a bowl, toss with the lemon juice, and refrigerate.

Remove all but 1 tablespoon of oil from the skillet and lower the heat to medium. Add the onion, gingerroot, and scallions. Cook, stirring, for 2 minutes. Turn off the heat, add the tomato and Bloody Mary mix, and stir to combine. Let the sauce cool.

Just before serving, drain the scallops. Spoon the sauce over them and toss to combine. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Garnish with the julienned basil or cilantro leaves and serve immediately.

Yield: 6 servings
Estimated Start-to-Finish Time: Not given
Actual Start-to-Finish Time: 2 hours

Arugula and Edamame Crostini

One more from the CSA box--The Gastronomer did most of the work preparing this one, but the honor of blogging about it has fallen to me. We don't like arugula enough to use up a whole bunch in salads, so this recipe was a great alternative. The bitterness/bite of the green is actually quite nice in a spread, and I thought the mint garnish was an excellent touch. The recipe doesn't actually use all that much arugula, so we had to make it twice. Not a problem--I enjoyed having the crostini as an appetizer many nights in a row.

Recipe by Gourmet, May 2009, courtesy of Epicurious.

• 1 cup shelled fresh or frozen edamame (soybeans; 3/4 pounds in pods)
• 1/4 cup plus 1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil, divided, plus additional for drizzling
• 1 1/2 cups packed baby arugula (1 1/2 ounces), divided
• 3 tablespoons grated Pecorino Toscano or Parmigiano-Reggiano
• 1/4 teaspoon grated lemon zest
• 1/2 teaspoon fresh lemon juice
• 1 baguette
• 1 garlic clove, halved crosswise
• 16 mint leaves
  

Preheat oven to 350°F with rack in middle.

Cook edamame in boiling water, uncovered, until tender, 3 to 4 minutes, then drain and transfer to an ice bath to stop cooking.

Pulse edamame in a food processor until very coarsely chopped, then transfer half of mixture to a large bowl. Add 1/4 cup oil, 1/2 cup arugula, cheese, lemon zest and juice, 1/2 teaspoon salt, and 1/8 teaspoon pepper to soybeans in processor and purée until smooth. Add to bowl. Coarsely chop remaining cup arugula and gently fold into edamame mixture.

Cut 16 diagonal slices (1/3 inch thick) from baguette and put in a 4-sided sheet pan. Drizzle with remaining tablespoon oil. Bake until pale golden and crisp, 8 to 10 minutes. Rub with cut side of garlic.

Spoon edamame mixture onto baguette toasts, then drizzle with oil and top with mint.

Yield: 8 servings
Estimated Start-to-Finish Time: Not Given
Actual Start-to-Finish Time: 40 minutes