Platinum Chef Challenge 6.5

PCC 6* brought a new element to the game: the host chooses his or her favorite from the entries, and that person becomes the next Ingredient Master/Host. Last time, Cara selected Kate of Paved with Good Intentions, and she chose the following 5 ingredients: lemon, rosemary, leeks, cream, and capers. I jumped right into the challenge (as typically the wheels start turning as soon as I hear the ingredients!), determined to be done early. I made a wonderful looking dish of tilapia cooked in a parchment pouch (a la Alton Brown) that was SO BLAND with some slightly undercooked potatoes.
Exhibit A: But it looks so PRETTY going into the pouch!

...and coming out of said pouch!

... and I even made blue garlic!

So, it was back to the drawing board. I switched things up and went back to my faithful standby - chicken. With a quick search at Cooking Light for a lighter cream sauce (which I halved in my recipe) and a few favorite ingredients in mind, I was on my way! The sauce came out perfect - creamy and I knew I wasn't killing my waistline with it. The olives really made themselves known without overpowering, and played nicely with the rosemary/thyme. We loved it! (And, I was thrilled to use my new olive pitter!)

PCC6.5 Creamy Chicken and Pasta**

~1 Tbsp butter
~3 Tbsp olive oil
~roughly 1/3 cup cornstarch for dredging chicken
~about 2 tsp crushed rosemary
~about 2 tsp crushed thyme
~3 boneless, skinless chicken breasts, sliced into strips
~2 cloves garlic, minced or otherwise pulverized
~1/2 can artichokes (about 5 hearts) quartered
~1 leek, outer leaves removed, sliced down the middle and rinsed, chopped into 1/2 inch pieces
~1/2 cup shiitake mushrooms, sliced
~about 1 Tbsp capers
~roughly 15 Kalamata olives, chopped
~juice of 1/2 lemon
~1/6 cup flour
~1 1/8 cups skim milk
~1/2 cup white wine
~1/4 cup cream cheese (1/3 less fat)
~6 ounces of your favorite pasta, cooked and drained.

1. Heat butter and 2 Tbsp of the olive oil in a large skillet. Combine cornstarch with rosemary, thyme, and some salt and pepper. Dredge chicken strips in cornstarch mixture, shaking off excess before adding to skillet. Brown chicken a few minutes on each side, then remove from pan and keep warm.
2. Add remaining 1 Tbsp olive oil to pan and heat. Add garlic and saute 1-2 minutes. Add artichokes, leeks, mushrooms and lemon juice, saute for a few minutes until vegetables being to soften.
3. Place flour in a small bowl. Add milk and wine, whisking until combined. Add to skillet, scraping loose bits from the bottom. Add olives and capers, simmer about 5 minutes, letting sauce thicken. Add chicken back to pan and allow chicken to cook through, 5-10 minutes.
4. Add cream cheese to skillet, stir to melt and combine. Add cooked pasta, mix thoroughly, and serve!

*So I had last round as #6, and having two #6's will mess me up so I am calling this round 6.5 :-)
**I am well aware of my distinct lack of naming skills.

TWD: Dueling Tarts

This week Mary of Starting From Scratch chose The Most Extraordinary French Lemon Cream Tart, which I will admit to having no interest in. I basically hate anything lemon. Fortunately, I am not alone in this matter and there was an alternative for us lemon haters: Fresh Orange Cream Tart. (See what everyone make here)

I started this undertaking with a fresh outlook. Tarts are new for me. I just bought my first tart pans (6 mini ones) from Williams-Sonoma a week or so ago, so I was excited to break them in.

After making this (no real issues except the cream didn't quite hit 180 degrees), I tried putting a tart together and seeing if it was amenable to slicing and serving. Not so much! I think I patted a little too hard forming the tarts. It still tasted fine, but they didn't come easily out of the tart pans and some spots were a little dense.

With tart failure on my hands, I was wondering WHAT on EARTH I was going to do with the rest of the orange cream. No way would my husband go near it (not much a sweet tooth, that one!) and there was no way I was eating it myself. I decided that cupcakes (my new favorite!) were in order - mostly because they would be easy to share with friends. As not to spoil the tradition of TWD, I'll leave you here with the Fresh Orange Cream Tart as it was meant to be (then go post about the cupcakes!).

Fresh Orange Cream Tart
1 cup sugar
Grated zest of 3 oranges
Grated zest of 1 lemon
4 large eggs
Scant 3/4 cup fresh blood-orange juice or Valencia orange juice
3 Tablespoons fresh lemon juice
1 1/4 teaspoons unflavored gelatin
1 Tablespoon cold water
2 3/4sticks (11 ounces) unsalted butter, cut into tablespoon-sized pieces, at cool room temperature
1 9-inch tart shell (round or square) made with Sweet Tart Dough (recipe follows) or Sweet Tart Dough with nuts, fully baked and cooled.
3 orange segments, for decoration
1/3 cup quince or apple jelly mixed with 1/2 teaspoon of water, for glazing

Getting Ready: Have an instant-read thermometer, a strainer and a blender (first choice) or food processor at hand. Bring a few inches of water to a simmer in a saucepan.

Put the sugar and orange and lemon zest in a large heatproof bowl that can be set over the pan of simmering water. Off the heat, rub the sugar and zest together between your fingertips until the sugar is moist, grainy and very aromatic. Whisk in the eggs, followed by the orange and lemon juice.

Set the bowl over the pan, and start stirring with the whisk as soon as the mixture feels tepid to the touch. You want to cook the cream until it reaches 180 degrees F. As you whisk—you must whisk constantly to keep the eggs from scrambling—you'll see that the cream will start out light and foamy, then the bubbles will get bigger and then, as it gets closer to 180 degrees F, it will start to thicken and the whisk will leave tracks. Heads up at this point—the tracks mean the cream is almost ready. Don't stop whisking or checking the temperature, and have patience—depending on how much heat you're giving the cream, getting to temp can take as long as 10 minutes.

As soon as it reaches 180 degrees F, remove the cream from the heat and strain it into the container of the blender (or food processor); discard the zest.

Soften the gelatin in the cold water, then dissolve it by heating it for 15 seconds in a microwave oven (or do this in a saucepan over extremely low heat). Add the gelatin to the filling and pulse once just to blend, then let the filling cool to 140 degrees F, about 10 minutes.

Turn the blender to high (or turn on the processor) and, with the machine going, add the butter about 5 pieces at a time. Scrape down the sides of the container as needed as you incorporate the butter. Once the butter is in, keep the machine going—to get the perfect light, airy texture, you must continue to blend the cream for another 3 minutes. If your machine protests and gets a bit too hot, work in 1-minute intervals, giving the machine a little rest between beats.

Pour the cream into a container, press a piece of plastic wrap against the surface to create an airtight seal and refrigerate for at least 4 hours or overnight. (The cream will keep in the fridge for 4 days and, or tightly sealed, in the freezer for up to 2 months; thaw it overnight in the refrigerator.)

When you are ready to assemble the tart, whisk the cream vigorously to loosen it. Spread the cream evenly in the crust. Arrange the orange segments in the center of the tart and prepare the glaze: bring the jelly and water to a boil. Use a pastry brush or pastry feather to lightly spread the jelly over the orange segments and cream. Serve now or refrigerate the tart until needed.

Serving: The tart should be served cold and needs nothing more than dark espresso or champagne.
Storing: While the Orange cream can be made ahead, the tart should be served on the day it is assembled.


Sweet Tart Dough

Makes enough for one 9-inch crust (Or, as I found, 6- 10 cm mini tart pans)

Storing: Well wrapped, the dough can be kept in the refrigerator for up to 5 days or frozen for up to 2 months. While the fully baked crust can be packed airtight and frozen for up to 2 months, I prefer to freeze the unbaked crust in the pan and bake it directly from the freezer—it has a fresher flavor. Just add about 5 minutes to the baking time.

In French, this dough is called pâte sablée because it is buttery, tender and sandy (that's what sablée means). It's much like shortbread, and it's ideal for filling with fruit, custard or chocolate.
The simplest way to make a tart shell with this dough is to press it into the pan. You can roll out the dough, but the high proportion of butter to flour and the inclusion of confectioners' sugar makes it finicky to roll. I always press it into the pan, but if you want to roll it, I suggest you do so between sheets of plastic wrap or wax paper or inside a rolling slipcover (see page 491 of the book).

1-1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup confectioners' sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 stick plus 1 tablespoon (9 tablespoons) very cold (or frozen) unsalted butter, cut into small pieces
1 large egg yolk

~Put the flour, confectioners' sugar and salt in a food processor and pulse a couple of times to combine. Scatter the pieces of butter over the dry ingredients and pulse until the butter is coarsely cut in—you should have some pieces the size of oatmeal flakes and some the size of peas. Stir the yolk, just to break it up, and add it a little at a time, pulsing after each addition. When the egg is in, process in long pulses—about 10 seconds each—until the dough, which will look granular soon after the egg is added, forms clumps and curds. Just before you reach this stage, the sound of the machine working the dough will change—heads up. Turn the dough out onto a work surface and, very lightly and sparingly, knead the dough just to incorporate any dry ingredients that might have escaped mixing.

To press the dough into the pan: Butter a 9-inch fluted tart pan with a removable bottom. Press the dough evenly over the bottom and up the sides of the pan, using all but one little piece of dough, which you should save in the refrigerator to patch any cracks after the crust is baked. Don't be too heavy-handed—press the crust in so that the edges of the pieces cling to one another, but not so hard that the crust loses its crumbly texture. Freeze the crust for at least 30 minutes, preferably longer, before baking.

To partially or fully bake the crust: Center a rack in the oven and preheat the oven to 375 degrees F. Butter the shiny side of a piece of aluminum foil and fit the foil, buttered side down, tightly against the crust. (Since you froze the crust, you can bake it without weights.) Put the tart pan on a baking sheet and bake the crust for 25 minutes. Carefully remove the foil. If the crust has puffed, press it down gently with the back of a spoon. For a partially baked crust, patch the crust if necessary, then transfer the crust to a cooling rack (keep it in its pan).

To fully bake the crust: Bake for another 8 minutes or so, or until it is firm and golden brown. (I dislike lightly baked crusts, so I often keep the crust in the oven just a little longer. If you do that, just make sure to keep a close eye on the crust's progress—it can go from golden to way too dark in a flash.) Transfer the tart pan to a rack and cool the crust to room temperature before filling.

To patch a partially or fully baked crust, if necessary: If there are any cracks in the baked crust, patch them with some of the reserved raw dough as soon as you remove the foil. Slice off a thin piece of the dough, place it over the crack, moisten the edges and very gently smooth the edges into the baked crust. If the tart will not be baked again with its filling, bake for another 2 minutes or so, just to take the rawness off the patch.

Fresh Orange Cream Tart Turned... Orange Cream Cupcakes!

So this week's Tuesdays with Dorie recipe was a Fresh Orange Cream tart. My mini tarts didn't turn out so well, and I needed SOME way to unload this butter laden orange cream. I decided to go for some cupcakes filled with the orange cream, topped with a simple vanilla glaze.

I stumbled upon this recipe for Blood Orange Banana Cake and thought it would be perfect (besides, I have 6 bananas in my freezer and 2 more that were ready to go in, which made it eve more useful for me). Much to my own surprise... these turned out pretty good! The orange in the cake is pretty well hidden behind the banana flavor, so it really got a boost from the orange cream. The light vanilla glaze was the perfect accompaniment!

Blood Orange Banana Cake
1 cup blood orange sections (2 large, peeled)
2 medium bananas
1 cup sugar
1/4 cup butter, very soft
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla
1 2/4 cup all purpose flour
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt

Preheat the oven to 350F and butter and flour a 9-inch cake pan. In a food processor, combine blood orange sections, bananas, sugar and butter and whizz until fairly smooth. Add in egg and vanilla and pulse to combine.

In a large bowl, sift together flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt. Pour in orange mixture and stir just until no lumps remain. Pour into prepared pan. Bake for 30-35 minutes, until a tester comes out dry and the cake springs back when lightly pressed. Allow cake to cool in the pan for 10-15 minutes. Run a knife around the edge and invert the cake onto a platter. Reinvert the cake onto a wire cooling rack and allow to cool completely before frosting. Serves 8-10

I increased the recipe by 1.5, thinking that the original recipe would make 12 cupcakes and I wanted 18. I ended up with 26 cupcakes. :-) Oops! I used the cone method to then fill the cupcakes with orange cream.

Simple Vanilla Glaze
1 cup powdered sugar
2 Tbsp butter
dash of vanilla
skim milk to desired consistency
~Beat together butter, sugar, and vanilla. Slowly add skim milk until you reach your desired consistency.
This was enough for a health glaze on 18 cupcakes.

Yes I am pretty horrible at implementing the cone method. I'll get better. I promise!

Linda's Sauce

I have recently began trading weekend culinary adventures with some friends, and when my best friend forwarded her mother's recipe for marinara sauce, I knew I HAD to make it. IMMEDIATELY. I've made homemade sauces before, but those recipes don't hold a candle to this one. It is now and forever my "go-to" marinara sauce.

Linda's Sauce
olive oil
1/2 onion
1 clove of garlic cut in pieces (I grated 3 mega cloves* on my microplane.)
15-20 mini carrots
1-2 celery stalks
1 large (28 oz) can peeled puree tomatoes (Recommended: Pastene Kitchen Ready)
1 small (8 oz) can of tomato sauce (Recommended: Hunts)
2 chicken bullion cubes
2 tsp sugar
little less then 1 tbs each of: parsley, oregano, basil
1 small can of water (use the tomato sauce can), or add more if you want to make it thinner.

~Cover bottom of pot with olive oil. Separate onions pieces and garlic and brown in oil over med heat. Do not burn.

For reasons still unknown to me, I apparently thought you needed to see pictures of this

~Chop carrots and celery very fine (or use food processor). Add to hot oil and brown.
~Once softened, add in peeled puree tomato's, stir, then add tomato sauce, stir, followed by water, stir.
~Add in bullion cubes, stir, sugar, stir, and spices (individually) and stir.
~Simmer on medium for at least one hour.

Double recipe for 4 or more people.

*After my husband tried it, he asked if I put any garlic in, which is a clear sign that I did not use nearly enough. I'll try my hand at roasting garlic and try adding that for more flavor.

Tasty Tools: Warm Asian Noodle Salad

I wasn't sure whether to participate in the Tasty Tools inaugural event. This event was drummed up by Joelen and fellow food lovers on the What's Cooking board. The idea is to select a particular kitchen tool, and ask fellow bloggers (and non-bloggers alike) to submit/share recipes in which they use that tool. For the first time out, Joelen chose the Microplane/Box grater.

Basically *anything* I make would qualify because I "mince" garlic with a microplane (and we use garlic like it's goin' out of style), but I don't do a whole lot of creating my own recipes (yet), so I felt a little silly. However, "KevinsLady"(who is stupendously fabulous, btw, in giving me her blessing to use this here!) on What's Cooking began boasting about a fabulous asian noodle salad recipe earlier this week. It looked good, so I figured, why not? It met the requirements, as I'd be grating not only garlic, but fresh ginger as well!

I hold the garlic on the stem end, to give myself something to hold onto as it gets low. Works great! What you get is almost a garlic paste - a very fine mush of garlic. We LOVE it!

And the ginger...

If this recipe looks even remotely good to you... MAKE IT! You will NOT be sorry! Don't worry about having to buy a whole bottle of sesame seed oil or chili oil... because you will be making this again. And again. I just finished my bowl and I want more!

Warm Asian Noodle Salad
Discovered by: KevinsLady
From: My Recipes.com

Ingredients:
Sauce:
~1/4 cup natural-style peanut butter (Natural-style? I use Skippy)
~1/4 cup low-sodium soy sauce
~1 tablespoon rice vinegar
~1 tablespoon fresh lime juice
~1 1/2 teaspoons dark sesame oil
~1 teaspoon hot chili sauce with garlic (I used chili oil)
~1/2 teaspoon ground ginger (I grated about 1.5 inches of fresh ginger, since I was doubling the recipe)
~1/4 teaspoon salt
~2 garlic cloves, minced

Salad:
~1/2 pound uncooked linguine
~1 1/2 cups shredded carrot
~1/4 pound snow peas, trimmed and halved crosswise
~1 to 2 cups broccoli (I added)
~1 cup (2-inch) strips red bell pepper (I omitted)
~3/4 cup thinly sliced green onions
~3 boneless/skinless chicken breasts, sliced into strips (I added)

Preparation:
To prepare sauce, combine first 9 ingredients (peanut butter through garlic) in a small bowl; stir well with a whisk. (I doubled the sauce, used 1/2 to marinate the chicken strips while I prepared the vegetables)

To prepare salad, cook linguine according to package directions, omitting salt and fat. While cooking pasta, cook the chicken strips in saute pan until cooked through. [To the pasta:] Add carrots, broccoli and snow peas; let stand 2 minutes. Drain in a colander over a bowl, reserving 1/4 cup cooking liquid. Place pasta mixture, bell pepper, and onions in a large bowl.

Combine peanut sauce and cooking liquid. Pour over pasta mixture; toss well. Serve warm.

Note: Hot chili sauce with garlic can be found in the Asian section of most large supermarkets.

And, I had to include this. I flipped the cap on my new bottle of chili oil, only to see the white protection seal inside. I unscrewed the cap to peel off the seal, but to my surprise found a bottle cap! I literally laughed out loud when I saw this (it's too cute!), so I thought I'd share:

***I can't believe I am just thinking about this now, but sesame seeds would probably be a great addition in here!***

TWD: Gooey Chocolate Cakes

Another week gone by, another Tuesday arrives. This week's Dorie recipe was Gooey Chocolate Cakes. I'm not big on chocolate, but it looked easy enough and hubby's eyes lit up when I said I'd make some for him with butterscotch chips in the middle. I have 7 ounce ramekins, and filled 3 with this recipe. 13 minutes didn't seem like enough, so I went 2 minutes longer. I know this narration is really boring, but (finally) nothing seemed to go wrong! (Unless you count dropping my top-heavy whisk and getting chocolate all over myself - fun times!)

GAH!! I spoke too soon. I just unmolded my lovely chocolate cakes. If you want runny molten lava -you came to the right place! I'm thinking my walls are a little TOO thin... however, nothing a lil' ice cream (really, check this stuff out!) can't fix! This seriously tastes like an ice cream sundae - heavy on the hot fudge sauce.

Gooey Chocolate Cakes
Baking: From My Home to Yours, by Dorie Greenspan
Chosen by Leigh of Lemon Tartlet
See more TWD bakers here!

1/3 cup all-purpose flour
3 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
¼ teaspoon salt
5 ounces bittersweet chocolate, (4 ounces coarsely chopped, 1 ounce very finely chopped)
1 stick (8 tablespoons) unsalted butter, cut into 8 pieces
2 large eggs, at room temperature
1 large egg yolk, at room temperature
6 tablespoons of sugar

Getting ready:
Center a rack in the oven and preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. butter (or spray – it’s easier) 6 cups of a regular-size muffin pan, preferably a disposable aluminum foil pan, dust the insides with flour and tap out the excess. Put the muffin pan on a baking sheet.

Sift the flour, cocoa and salt together.

Set a heatproof bowl over a saucepan of gently simmering water, put the coarsely chopped chocolate and the butter in the bowl and stir occasionally over the simmering water just until they are melted – you don’t want them to get so hot that the butter separates. Remove the bowl from the pan of water.

In a large bowl, whisk the eggs and yolk until homogenous. Add the sugar and whisk until well blended, about 2 minutes. Add the dry ingredients and, still using the whisk, stir (don’t beat) them into the eggs. Little by little, and using a light hand, stir in the melted chocolate and butter. Divide the batter evenly among the muffin cups and sprinkle the finely chopped chocolate over the batter.

Bake the cakes for 13 minutes. Transfer them, still on the baking sheet, to a rack to cool for 3 minutes. (There is no way to test that these cakes are properly baked, because the inside remains liquid.)

Line a cutting board with a silicone baking mat or parchment or wax paper, and, after the 3-minute rest, unmold the cakes onto the board. Use a wide metal spatula to lift the cakes onto dessert plates.

Pumkpin and Goat Cheese Risotto Balls

I was doing some preliminary googling for Platinum Chef Challenge #7*, and stumbled (no, I don't know how, given the ingredients) across this website with a recipe for pumpkin and goat cheese croquettes with maple mascarpone sauce. I immediately thought about twisting the recipe into risotto balls, since I'd seen them here and had them on my list of things to try.

These were amazing! I was a little light on seasoning, so I've increased that in the final recipe here.

Pumpkin and Goat Cheese Risotto Balls
For the risotto:
~1/2 of 15 ounce can Pumpkin
~1/4 cup minced shallot (prefered, I didn't have it so I used white onion)
~2 Tbsp butter
~drizzle of extra virgin olive oil
~1 cup arborio rice (about 200 grams)
~2 tsp dried sage
~3/4 cup dry white wine
~1 quart low sodium chicken broth
~1/4 cup goat cheese

1. Bring the chicken stock to a boil, then reduce to a simmer.
2. Heat 1 Tbsp of the butter in a saucepan. Add the minced shallot, cook until tender. Add the pumpkin and sage, stir to combine with the shallot.
3. At this point the butter will be gone, push aside the pumpkin and add a drizzle of oil to the pan. Add the rice, coating it with the oil. Toast the rice, while stirring, about 2 minutes, then combine with the pumpkin/shallot mixture.
4. Add the wine, stirring to combine, cook for 2-3 minutes.
5. Add broth, one ladle at a time, stirring constantly with each addition until broth is absorbed. When finished, the rice should be tender, but firm to the bite.
6. Remove from the heat and stir in the goat cheese and remaining 1 Tbsp of butter.

You can save all of it for risotto balls, or reserve 2 cups of risotto and eat the rest. :-) The remainder of the recipe is based on 2 cups of risotto.

For the risotto balls:
~2 cups risotto, chilled
~2 eggs, lighty whisked
~1/2 cup panko (I ended up using breadcrumbs because I was low on panko and wanted it for rolling)
~3 or so ounces of goat cheese, cut into small squares
~additional 1 cup panko or breadcrumbs for rolling
~1 tsp dried sage
~oil for pan frying

1. Combine the risotto, eggs, and 1/2 cup panko. In a separate bowl, combine the 1 cup panko and sage, for rolling.
2. Form a ball in your hand with a scoop of risotto, indent it in the middle and place a piece of goat cheese there. Wrap the risotto around the cheese to close it up into a ball, and roll in the panko/sage mixture. Place on a parchment lined baking sheet (or other tray). (I got about 11 LARGE risotto balls out of this.)
3. Chill in a refrigerator (I'd say at least an hour, I had them in there for over 2 hours).
4. Heat oil in a sautepan (I just used enough to liberally cover the bottom), and fry risotto balls until golden brown on each side. Be careful not to crowd the pan. Drain on papertowels and sprinkle with salt.

For the mascarpone sauce:
~1/2 cup mascarpone
~1/4 cup heavy cream
~1.5 tbsp maple syrup

1. Stir to combine mascarpone, cream, and syrup. This is half the original recipe, and found it to be a good amount for the 11 risotto balls that I made (plus, I only had 1/2 cup of mascarpone left). :-)


*I have it as #7 in my book, and if I make this one #6 I will have two #6s and that bothers me!

TWD: Caramel Topped Flan

In college, I minored in Spanish (actually I had 3 minors, but that's another story). I wanted to finish up the minor before my junior year (to work on the other two), and I got the opportunity to study abroad in Spain over the summer to complete that goal. I spent one month there, studying in Salamanca but traveling much more of the country, and it was nothing short of amazing. On one excursion, we traveled to northern Spain, the part that sticks out over Portugal. It was there that I had my first taste of flan. And really, that's all I had - one taste. I didn't like it! Give me pudding - awesome. Give me jello - great. Give me pudding that wants to be jello? No thanks! (I know, pudding and custard aren't even close, but that's what it looks like!) It's definitely a texture thing for me.

Nevertheless, still guilty after skipping out on last week's recipe, I decided to give flan one more try (plus, caramelizing is fun!). I cut each recipe down by 1/3, and it worked out perfectly for two small ramekins. I'm happy to say that there were no major disasters this time around! I was moderately slopping with the unmolding, but I made these on Easter Sunday when I was also juggling a turkey and all the stuff that goes with it. (No, no ham in our house. My husband won't eat it!)

I must say, even with my dislike for flan, this recipe was so good, even I could see its potential. I *almost* liked it. Which is saying a lot. :-)

Caramel Topped Flan
Baking: From My Home to Yours, by Dorie Greenspan
Chosen by Steph of A Whisk and a Spoon
See more TWD bakers here!

For the Caramel
~1/3 cup sugar
~3 tbsp water
~squirt of fresh lemon juice

For the Flan
~1-1/2 cups heavy cream
~1-1/4 cups whole milk
~3 large eggs
~2 large egg yolks
~1/2 cup sugar
~1 tsp pure vanilla extract

Getting Ready:
Center a rack in the oven and preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Line a roasting pan or a 9-x-13-inch baking pan with a double thickness of paper towels. Fill a tea kettle with water and put it on to boil; when the water boils, turn off the heat. Put a metal 8-x-2-inch round cake pan-not a nonstick one-in the oven to heat while you prepare the caramel.

To Make the Caramel:
Stir the sugar, water and lemon juice together in a small heavy-bottomed saucepan. Put the pan over medium-high heat and cook until the sugar becomes an amber-colored caramel, about 5 minutes-remove the pan from the heat at the first whiff of smoke.Remove the cake pan from the oven and, working with oven mitts, pour the caramel into the pan and immediately tilt the pan to spread the caramel evenly over the bottom; set the pan aside.

To Make the Flan:
Bring the cream and milk just to a boil.
Meanwhile, in a 2-quart glass measuring cup or in a bowl, whisk together the eggs, yolks and sugar. Whisk vigorously for a minute or two, and then stir in the vanilla. Still whisking, drizzle in about one quarter of the hot liquid-this will temper, or warm, the eggs so they won't curdle. Whisking all the while, slowly pour in the remainder of the hot cream and milk. Using a large spoon, skim off the bubbles and foam that you worked up.

Ready for the oven!

Put the caramel-lined cake pan in the roasting pan. Pour the custard into the cake pan and slide the setup into the oven. Very carefully pour enough hot water from the kettle into the roasting pan to come halfway up the sides of the cake pan. (Don't worry if this sets the cake pan afloat.) Bake the flan for about 35 minutes, or until the top puffs a bit and is golden here and there. A knife inserted into the center of the flan should come out clean.
Remove the roasting pan from the oven, transfer the cake pan to a cooking rack and run a knife between the flan and the sides of the pan to loosen it. Let the flan cool to room temperature on the rack, then loosely cover and refrigerate for at least 4 hours.

Cooling... amongst the corn muffins

When ready to serve, once more, run a knife between the flan and the pan. Choose a rimmed serving platter, place the platter over the cake pan, quickly flip the platter and pan over and remove the cake pan-the flan will shimmy out and the caramel sauce will coat the custard.
Yield: 6 to 8 Servings

Tuesdays with... Mint Chocolate Cupcakes?

I took one look at this week's Tuesdays with Dorie recipe (Brioche Raisin Snails) and realized that I had enough on my plate this weekend (namely taxes, taxes, and more taxes) so it was a good time to take a week off. I thought, instead, that I would find a simple plain white cupcake recipe with some sort of green filling and frosting to share with friends for St. Patrick's Day. I stumbled upon (hmm, I've been doing a lot of that lately) this recipe for Mint Chocolate Cupcakes. Usually, chocolate doesn't call to me, but MINT chocolate... now we're talkin'!

I must have been channeling Dorie Greenspan anyway on these, because I ended up with some problems, as I typically do when working on the Tuesdays with Dorie recipe. The TWD recipes seem to give me problems simply because they get me to do techniques and make things that I never would otherwise do... so the problems are actually a good thing - I'm learning! For these cupcakes, the first was the amount of batter... supposed to make 24 cupcakes; I ended up with 36 cupcakes (3-6!!). Let's take it batch by batch...

First batch of 12: I was very excited about my little cupcakes. The batter looked heavenly, and I checked in on these babies a few times. I think I should not have done that! By the time the 25 min was up, they had risen, then fallen. I took them out, made sure they were done (they were) and wondered what the heck I'd done wrong. Obvious to me, there was too much batter in the cups. So I moved on to batch #2 with that in mind...

Veritable cupcake disaster area

Second batch of 12: I put less in the cups, which seems to help. They were still tough to get out of the pan, as the top was very fragile, almost like a meringue/macaroon. I went back to the website... sure enough, hers were beautifully risen. I started going through the comments and came to find out that at least I'm not the only one! Others had similar issues, so I read through their brainstorming session.

Escaped with minor damage

~Oven not the right temperature... well I've gone through great pains to get that right, so that's not it.
~Baking powder too old... if so, there's nothing I can do about that now, so what else is there?
~Cupcakes aren't done... I tested, they were done.
~Don't open the door for at least 15 minutes... OOPS.
Since that was really my only saving grace for batch #3, I gave it a shot.

Third batch of 12: I was very careful to add just enough batter to the cups (I was using a 1/8 cup measure, about one heaping scoop each). I put them in the oven and didn't even look at them through the window until 25 min later when they were done. They still weren't as pretty as they should be, but at least they'd be presentable to friends. Given the plight I'd just been through, and the fragile nature of the top, I decided to skip the ganache filling (another project for another day).

Next task to tackle: Buttercream frosting.
Frosting in general is just a bad idea in my kitchen. I never seem to get it right. In the past, I've had problems with funny tasting powdered sugar. So now, any batch of frosting starts with a new bag or box. I decided to make a little less frosting than called for, since I had less cupcakes to frost and didn't plan on using as much as she did. I had just enough to frost 16 cupcakes - perfect for sharing (the remainder are frozen, awaiting some divine inspiration).

I didn't love the buttercream, so I'll have to do some more digging and find some new frosting recipes. The cupcake part was pretty good, even for my non-chocolate loving self. My friends loved them (though I am starting to wonder if they would even tell me if they didn't like something... you know, don't bite the hand that feeds you?). In the hands of others, this is probably a fantastic recipe. Someday I will come back and tackle it again, but in the meantime, I thought you'd enjoy hearing about my cupcake trials and tribulations. :-)

Chocolate Cupcakes
24 regular cupcakes / 350 degree oven
200 gram bar of Valrhona 61% cocao
3 sticks butter
2-1/4 cups sugar
8 eggs
1-1/4 cup flour
1/4 cup cocoa powder, unsweetened
1-1/2 teaspoons baking powder
pinch of salt

1. chop chocolate and transfer into the bowl of a standing mixer.

2. add butter to the chocolate and place the bowl over a pan of simmering water. stir until chocolate melts and butter is combined.

3. remove from heat and stir in sugar. let mixture cool for 10 minutes.

4. beat in an electric mixer for 3 minutes.

5. add one egg at a time, mixing for 30 seconds between each.

6. sift the flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, and a pinch of salt into the mixture and mix until blended.

7. scoop into cupcake cups and bake at 350 F for 25 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.

Chocolate-Mint Ganache
4 ounces bittersweet chocolate
1/2 cup heavy cream
1/4 cup + 1 teaspoon chopped mint leaves
1 tablespoon butter, room temperature

1. chop chocolate and transfer into a heat proof bowl.

2. heat cream and 1/4 cup mint until bubbles form around the edge of the pan, pour cream through strainer, over the chocolate.

3. let sit for 1 minute then stir until combined.

4. add butter and the remaining teaspoon of chopped mint and stir until combined.

5. let cool then transfer to the refrigerator to thicken, 30 minutes to 1 hour.

Mint Buttercream Frosting
1 cup (2 sticks) butter
4-5 cups powdered sugar, sifted
1/4 cup milk
1/8 teaspoon all natural peppermint extract

1. beat butter until creamy, scrape bowl.

2. add 4 cups of sifted powdered sugar, milk, and peppermint extract, beat until combined.

3. add more powdered sugar as needed to get piping consistency.

Note: I tried to keep the mint flavor subtle and not too overpowering. I recommend starting on the light side with 1/8 teaspoon or less and tasting to get the flavor you want.

Assemble
1. stuff the cupcakes with ganache using the cone method (cut out a cone shape from the top, cut off the pointy cone part, stuff the whole with filling, then put the top back on)

2. frost them.

3. top with something green (if you want), like a mint leaf, green candy, or whatever you fancy.

Old Time Vanilla Ice Cream

This is, hands down, the best vanilla ice cream I've ever had! After making the apple pie-cake last week, I was craving some vanilla ice cream. I haven't bought any from the store since breaking out my ice cream maker (gift from the wedding), so I started searching for a low-fat vanilla ice cream. I stumbled upon this during the search, and thought it is by no means low-fat, I decided it was worth a shot. It is definitely a keeper and I can't wait to try some other recipes from this site! **Updated 06/29/08** I have played around with this a bit, to find the right volumes and lower the fat content a bit. This is perfect for a 1.5 quart ice cream maker. Here is the revised version... still great as ever!

Old Time Vanilla Ice Cream
Source: Doc Wilson's Ice Cream

~3 Tablespoons egg beaters
~1/2 can of fat free sweetened condensed milk
~3 Tablespoons white sugar
~3 Tablespoons brown sugar, not packed
~4 ounces heavy whipping cream
~12 ounces fat free half and half
~8 ounces skim milk
~1/8 tsp salt
~1.5 Tablespoons of vanilla extract

~In a large mixing bowl whisk together egg beaters and sweetened condensed milk until thoroughly mixed.
~Then add sugars and mix.
~Add heavy whipping cream, half and half, skim milk, salt and vanilla extract.
~For the very best results (who wants anything less?), let the mix chill in the refrigerator for about four hours which allows the mix to "age" before freezing according to the directions with your ice cream freezer.