Master Recipes: Sweet

I've had it on my list to write down all these master recipes FOREVER, but kept procrastinating for one reason or another. Why procrastinate something that you actually want to do? Something that you know will be darn useful to you in the future? And that you will probably kick yourself for if you don't to do and then end up forgetting everything in the fog of post-culinary school life?

Humph. Eeenyways, here are all the master recipes that I memorized for my culinary school final practicum. Apologies for the short-hand--goal #1 is to get the recipes down, goal #2 would be to flesh them out...so they, you know, make sense to more people than just...me. (In the meantime, if you feel like making one of these, give me a hollar and I'll flesh out the instructions for you).

All the recipes for savory stuff to come...eventually...I mean VERY SOON

From my noggin to yours:

Pate a Choux
4:1:1:4

4 oz butter (1 stick)
1 c. water
1 c. flour
4 eggs
pinch of salt

Bring butter, water, and pinch of salt to a rolling boil. Off the heat, add the flour all at once and stir until it's like mashed potatoes. Put back on the heat and stir to dry out the paste. It's ready when the paste glistens, there's starch build-up on the bottom of the pan, and the spoon stand straight up.

Dump paste into a bowl and work it until it's cool. Combine the eggs and add them into the paste in four additions. Stir completely each time until the egg is completely absorbed and it's like mashed potatoes again. Read when you see motion in the dough when you hold a bit upside down on the spoon.

Ready to pipe/shape/form. Bake 425-degrees, then lower to 375, prick holes in puff and then 300 to dry out.

Pate Brisee / Pie Crust
3:1:1/2 = 2 crusts (top and bottom)

3 cups flour
1 cup butter
1/2 cup ice water
1 tsp salt

Cut butter into flour until crumbly. Make a trough in the middle, add in a tablespoon of water, fluff with fingers. Repeat until dough is heavy and cool. Smoosh against countertop once or twice to just bring the dough together.

Bakes at 425-degrees, lower to 350-degrees when golden.

Pate Sucree / Sweet Pie Crust
Same as pate brisee, but replace 1/2 cup of flour with sugar, and replace the water with eggs.

Creme Anglaise

1 1/2 c. milk, cream, or half and half
4 yolks
1/2 c. sugar
1 tsp vanilla or other flavorings
pinch of salt

Scald milk. Whisk together yolks, sugar, and salt. Whisk in milk. Return to medium heat and stir until silky, thickened to coat the back of a spoon, and about 170-degrees. Strain over ice bath. Stir in flavorings. Yum.

Ice Cream
Same as creme anglaise. Probably have to double it to fit into the machine.

Creme Patissiere / Pastry Cream

1 1/2 c. milk or half and half (NOT CREAM)
4 yolks
1/2 c. sugar
1/4 cup flour
1 tsp vanilla or other flavorings
pinch of salt

Scald milk. Whisk together yolks, sugar, flour, salt, and flavors. Whisk in milk. Return to heat, stir constantly, and bring to a boil (mixture will start 'plopping' with big bubbles). Strain over ice bath.

Bavarian

1 1/2 c. milk, cream, or half and half
4 yolks
1/2 c. sugar
1 tsp vanilla or other flavorings
pinch of salt
1 1/2 T. gelatin
2 c. heavy cream


Scald milk. Whisk together yolks, sugar, and salt. Whisk in milk. Return to medium heat and stir until silky, thickened to coat the back of a spoon, and about 170-degrees. Strain over ice bath. Stir in flavorings.
Dissolve gelatin in 6 Tablespoons of hot water. Stir into the cream base while it's still warm and stir until it gets thick and is just starting to set. Whip heavy cream to stiff peaks and fold it in before the base is completely set. Pour into molds and refrigerate until firm.

Puff Pastry and Semi-Puff
2:1:2/3

2 cups flour
1 cup butter
2/3 cups ice water
1 tsp salt.

Instructions for full puff later.

For semi-puff, cut butter into flour/salt, but leave in large chunks. Fluff in water as with pate brisee. Form into a square and give it 4 turns.

Genoise
6:1:1:6

6 eggs
1 c. sugar
1 c. flour
6 T. butter--melted
1 tsp flavorings
pinch of salt

Combine eggs and sugar. Put over bain marie (or VERY low heat). Whisk constantly (electric mixer preferred) until mixture is lemon yellow and tripled in volume.

Transfer to a shallow mixing bowl. Fold in flour and salt in three additions. Lighten melted butter with a little batter and then fold it in. Pour into pan gently. (Pan must be greased and floured)

Separated Sponge Cake

Same ingredients as genoise but the butter is optional.

Separate yolks and whites. Mix yolks and sugar, ribbon until light lemon. Don't need the same volume.

Whip whites until stiff. Fold 1/3 of whites into yolks/sugar. Put remaining whites and the flour on top, and fold it all together. Pour into pan gently.

Meringue

Soft meringue: 2 T sugar per egg white
Hard meringe: 4 T sugar per egg white

Mousseline Buttercream

1 c sugar
1/2 cup water
6 whites or yolks
pinch salt
2 c. butter--room temp
1 T vanilla

Heat sugar and water to softball stage (238-degrees). Meanwhile, beat yolks and salt until thick (or whites until soft-peak). With the beaters on, stream the hot sugar syrup down the side of the bowl. Continue beating until the mixture is cool (bowl is cool to the touch).

At medium speed, beat in the butter one tablespoon at a time. Beat until buttercream holds soft peaks. Add flavorings.

Whew. You're welcome! Next up: master recipes for savory...

Photo of the Week: Take the Cannoli

"Leave the gun. Take the cannolis."

I am too embarrassed to admit how many times that phrase crept into conversation last night or how we still laughed every time someone said it. But them was some miiiighty fine tasting cannolis.

I will say that my first cannoli experience left me with the impression that cannolis are rather a pain in the arse and are best enjoyed when one does not have to make them personally. And by the way, the reason they look a little, well, burnt is because there's cocoa powder and cinnamon in the cannoli dough. Not at all because I might or might not have left them in the fry-o-lator too long. I'm not sayin' anything.

Stupid cannolis.

Photo of the Week: Behold! More Pasta!

Shaking excess flour from cut pasta.

I know! Pasta! It's really just so cool! And I know you're all out there going, "Yes, Emma! I'm with you! Pasta is really just so cool!" Excellent. I knew I liked you.

This here's some spinach pasta--same basic pasta recipe with a pound of steamed spinach cuz it's pretty. And also because it's "good for growing girls and boys." We rolled it out fairly thick (Level 5 on most pasta machines), so it had a nice chew to it. And it slurped up nicely with a Gorgonzola Cream Sauce.

Tagliatelle Verdi Al Gorgonzola
(c) Roberta L. Dowling 2004, CSCA

Pasta Dough
1 lb fresh spinach, de-stemmed, steamed, squeezed dry, and chopped (I'd imagine you could also use frozen grocery store spinach here if you wanted to save your self some steaming)
3 eggs
4 cups of flour

Stir the eggs together with a fork and then stir in the spinach. Make a well in the flour and pour in the egg/spinach mixture. Gradually incorporate the flour into the egg/spinach with a fork until it comes together in a cohesive ball. (Note: You'll probably end up using more flour with this pasta because of the spinach.) Knead until smooth and let rest for a half hour. Roll out and cut into thick noodles.

Sauce
4 oz. butter
1 c. heavy cream
1 lb gorgonzola, rind removed and cut/broken into small chunks.
3/4 c. Grana Padano cheese, grated
1 pinch nutmeg
salt and pepper
chopped parsley for garnish

Melt the butter and add the cream until it simmers. Cook for a few minutes on low heat. Add the Gorgonzola and half of the Grana Padano cheese tot eh cream sauce and stir gently over low heat until thoroughly melted. Add the nutmeg and season with salt and pepper. Cook the pasta in large amount of salted, rapidly boiling water. Drain the pasta and toss with the Gorgonzola sauce. Serve with an extra sprinkle of Grana Padana and some chopped parsley.

Photo of the Week: Making Gnocci

I am finding that I love love love making pasta. Perhaps this is unsurprising given my fondness for all things carbohydrate, but still. Pasta! By hand! How cool is that?! And it's surprisingly simple, if labor intensive. The pasta dough itself comes together pretty quickly. Combine ingredients. Knead knead knead until smooth and uniform and, if you cut into it with a knife, you don't see any air pockets.

And then comes the Shaping of the Pasta--your tortellini, your ravioli, your gnocci. Yes, it's a jolly time...for the first ten minutes or so. You think to yourself, "Oh! Look at that little ball of dough! How much pasta can that cute little ball actually make? This will be a snap." But really there's a whole car-full of clowns in that ball, tell me you.

It's best to get a group of willing and/or unsuspecting volunteers to help you out. With everyone jabbering away, only half focused on the dough in their fingers, it's easy to imagine that you're actually in the Italian country side, the scent of basil drifting through an open window, perhaps a bottle of wine or three brought up from the cellar just for tonight. Words like "soothing" and "community" and "let's move to Italy" drift through your mind.

Still. There's a lot of pasta to be made. I guarantee there will be a moment when you all fall silent and find yourself hypnotized by the motion of your hands, reaching for the next nub of dough, smooshing it into shape, tossing it onto the floured sheet pan without looking to see where it lands. To hell with uniformity, NEXT NUB! Let's go people, NEXT NUB! But push on, I say! There's good pasta ahead!

Take gnocci, for example. I love the chew of gnocci between your teeth. I love spooning out just one and letting it roll on my tongue for a second before I bite into it. Yes. That's bliss.
Gnocci Di Patate Alla Piemontese
courtesy of CSCA, copyright Roberta L Dowling 2004 (with modifications by EmmaC)

2 lb. 4 oz potatoes (Maine or All-Purpose)--scrubbed, skins left on
Salt and white pepper to taste
1 egg, beaten
7 oz. flour (approximately--you will likely not use this much unless you live in a rain forest, but have there if you need it)

Cover the potatoes with cold water, bring to a boil, and cook until they are soft and can be mashed. Drain and peel them as soon as you can handle them (it's easier to peel them while they're hot). Puree them through a food mill or ricer, or mash them very very very well. Add the salt and pepper and egg. Mix well. Add a little of the flour at a time, gathering the dough into a ball and--when able--kneading until the mixture is soft, smooth, and no longer sticks to your hands. Add additional flour as necessary.

Lob off a chunk of the pasta (somewhere between a golf ball and a tennis ball size) and roll it into a thick pencil-like stick the size of a cigar. Cut into 3/4-inch pieces. Hold a fork (tines down) in your left hand (this is for right-handers; switch if you're a leftie). Place a nub of dough on the back of the tines and press down on the lower half of the nub with your thumb. Using the palm of your hand, Roll the thick, top part of the nub over the flattened part, and roll it off the fork. (See the topmost picture above) You should have a little pill-bug shaped piece of dough (yum!).

Keep the gnocci on a floured sheet pan and (when you're finished shaping aaaaall of them) freeze them until you're ready to cook.

Bring a very large amount of salted water to boil. The more water the better, as a) it will come back to a boil more quickly after you add the pasta and b) it will help the starch disperse so your pasta is chewy without being gummy. The salt just flavors the pasta.

Cook the gnocci in the water for a few minutes until they float to the surface. Remove with a slotted spoon and drain.

Serve with any sauce or simply with some Parmigiano Reggiano cheese and melted butter. Mmmm...butter.

Photo of the Week: Chocolate Cake...Thing-A-Ma-Jigs

I haven't thought of a good name for these puppies yet. Can't quite figure out a name grand enough, nuanced enough to appropriately describe these layers of chocolate genoise, pomegranate whipped cream, and hazelnut dacquoise. Oh, man, they were tasty!

Hazelnut dacquoise, for those who don't know, is a basic meringue (egg whites beaten with sugar) with ground hazelnuts mixed in. I spread them into little rounds to form the flat 'cookies' sandwiched between the whipped cream. I had...oh...two trays or so of cookies left over and may have (MAY have) personally eaten the majority of them.

Any brilliant names come to mind?!

Photo of the Week: Paupiette of Sole with Parmesan Souffles

These bite-sized souffles have been one of my favorite things that I've made so far in culinary school. The base is a thin fillet of sole coiled into a ring and tied with a thin strip of blanched scallion. Around this, we wrapped a "collar" of aluminum foil and spooned the Parmesan souffle on top of the sole. (The collar is used to support the souffle as it rises and is removed right before serving.)

These little guys are fantastically light. The texture of the flaky sole and the creamy souffle play off each other nicely, and the hint of Parmesan brings out the flavor of the sole. In my humble opinion, of course.

Photo of the Week: Phyllo Napoleons

Chef Louise's first instruction for phyllo pastry: "Open the box."

"Maybe there are folks out there who LOVE to make phyllo pastry, she said, but not me." And so, dutiful students that we are, we all opened our boxes.

These napoleons were a lot of fun to make. I used 8 sheets of phyllo pastry and layered them with melted butter (clarified butter, or else you get brown spots), cinnamon, and sugar. I cut out rounds of dough using a cookie cutter and baked them for about 10 minutes at 350-degrees. Then I melted some chocolate and spread a thin layer on one side of the phyllo "cookies." Done!

The mousse filling was 8 oz of finely chopped semi-sweet chocolate and 8 oz of cream. Scald the cream and pour it over the chocolate while the cream is still piping hot. Don't stir it--cover with plastic wrap and let sit for a few minutes. Then when you stir it, the chocolate is already melted and blends evenly into the cream. I also added some espresso powder and Kahlua because I wanted a coffee flavor, but you couldn't really taste the coffee. Often with chocolate and coffee, the coffee ends up just enhancing the chocolate flavor. Who's complaining?

Let the chocolate-cream mixture chill in the fridge for an hour or so and then whip it up using an electric mixture. Whip just until you get some body to the mousse. If you over-whip it, the mousse gets grainy (which you can correct by adding more cream. Who's complaining?).

Fill a pastry bag with the mousse and pipe it onto one of the phyllo cookies. Top with another cookie and you've got yourself a nice little treat! I melted some white chocolate and piped it onto the tops of the sandwiches for a little artistic flourish.

There ya go! Midnight snack of champions, I say.

Photo of the Week

Hmm....apparently this whole idea of blogging my experience of being in culinary school is....not so much happening. Oh, I mean, I'm experiencing all right. I'm experiencing all kinds of crazy, bizarre, blog-worthy happenings. But somehow, the part where it actually gets, you know, posted to my blog? Hmm, not happening. Or at least not happening quite as frequently as I oh-so enthusiastically imagined back when I still did things like go to bed before midnight and had pass-times other than cooking. Funny, huh? (For purposes of full disclosure, this fantasy of having all sorts of time for blogging was usually followed by a day dream of being 'found' by someone begging me to write a witty-yet-touching book about my harrowing adventures in culinary school.)

Anywho, I might not be writing very much, but I'm certainly taking tons of photos. Yup, a whole backlog of awesome food shots and chefs-in-training and things on fire (oh yeah!). So I'm thinking that I'm going to start posting a weekly photo or three, just to keep y'all in the loop. I'll let you know when the talent agent starts begging me to be the next Super Star Food Photo Journalist, kay?

And so, without further ado, here is your photo of the day: Gateaux St. Honore. It's a pretty shmancy little number. The base is pate sucre (a.k.a. sweet pie crust). On top of the pie crust is a hollow ring of puff pastry, with several cream puffs strategically perched for an extra dose of decadence. The center of the ring and the cream puffs are filled with pastry cream--in this particular case, a pistachio pastry cream that was so wonderfully creamy and so astoundingly pistachio-y that I could have brushed my teeth with it every day, to hell with cavities. The ring is glued to the pie crust with caramelized sugar and then the puffs are glued to the ring the same way. We used the excess sugar to make the cage in the center of the cake and the decorations for the cream puffs.

The cage and decorations are one of those oh la la! things that are actually super easy to make (shhhh....don't tell!) For the cage, we sprayed the underside of a soup ladle with non-stick cooking spray, then dipped a spoon in the sugar, and gently shook thin ribbons of the sugar over the ladle. You let the ladle cool and then gently ease off the cage. For the decorations, we shook designs onto parchment paper. When the sugar cools and hardens, you can unpeel the parchment paper and...oh la la! shmancy decorations! Easy peasy!

The key in all of this is working with the sugar when it's still warm, but not too hot and not too cool. If you dip a spoon into the pot and shake ribbons over the sugar, the ribbons should hold for just a second before melting back into the sugar. If you don't get ribbons at all, it's too hot. If the ribbons hold for too long, your sugar is probably almost too cool to work with. Once the sugar cools, it hardens into a big mass of teeth-cracking caramel that doesn't re-heat very well.

Ok, just one more picture: Oh, pistachio pastry cream. I do love you. [drool drool drool]

Butternut Squash and Pivotal Life Events

Since this is the first time in six years that I'm going back to school in the fall, you'd think I'd be all aglow with nostalgia over little autumnal details that don't get noticed when September is just another month on the calendar. In point of fact, life has been so non-stop these past few weeks that I've barely had time to do much more than scarf down a powerbar while counting my bags to make sure everybody made it off of the bus together--much less notice the geese squawking to each other on their way south or kiddos off to school with new lunchboxes. Actually, now that I think back on it I was ALWAYS too busy to notice these things while I was ensconced in the studious life. It wasn't until I graduated and started working in the Real World that I suddenly found myself looking up and thinking, "Seasons! Oh WOW! Totally forgot about those."

The one thing I HAVE been doing a lot of is laundry. Cooking is a messy business, my friends. Those pearly white uniforms don't leave much to the imagination. I come home looking like I personally took it upon myself to clean the face and hands of every toddler in Boston using only my apron and coat sleeves, and smelling like...well, like an industrial kitchen. Or perhaps several industrial kitchens.

Luckily, what I'm doing is a lot more fun than forcing cleanliness on errant preschoolers. Many of you have expressed disbelief that classes can actually last a whole eight hours and have asked me what we do, fer goodness sake, with all that time? The answer? I really don't know. I get to class with the afternoon sun slanting through the big plate-glass windows and glinting crazily off of every stainless-steel surface (that is to say, all the surfaces) and then I look up and it's almost 11:30. Somewhere in there, I've sat through a lecture, prepped and cooked some sort of food-based concoction, sampled said concoction and those of my classmates, and helped clean the kitchen. Then I stumble home smelling of several industrial kitchens and try to remember to take off at least my apron before burrowing beneath the covers.

And this is so wonderful to me. I had a lot of fears before I started, but I'm feeling more and more that this really is exactly where I'm supposed to be right now. In many ways, this feels more like remembering than learning. "Of COURSE that's how you hold a knife." "Riiiiight, beat the sugar stuff until I get ribboning--got it." (Ok, I admit, I'm still a bit shaky on the on the whole emulsification thing. "Emulsa-whatty?")

I also really struggle with not knowing where I'm going. Very scary. You know me--I like my lists and my 5-year plan and my ducks-in-a-row. As much as being in the kitchen feels like home, it's hard for me to really just stay present and recognize that this, right here, is good for me. And it's good for me all by itself, without needing to make it into something more. "Something more" like...oh...how about Pivotal Life Event On Which My Entire Future Hinges. Yeah, like that. No pressure.Heh heh heh...

Eeeeenyways, I've been meaning to share with you this fantastic dinner I made for my good friend B. a while back. It was only when we sat down to eat that I realized that all the major ingredients going into the dinner had been bought at the farmer's market, harvested from friend's gardens, or snipped from my very own porch garden. It was a really good feeling. Like toes wiggling in warm socks good. And it helped that this dinner happened to fall on one of the first truly crisp autumnal nights of the year. We lit some candles, opened a bottle of wine, and dug in.
Butternut Squash Soup

1 butternut squash--peeled, de-seeded, and cut into cubes
8 small potatoes--cut into cubes
1 onion-diced
corn kernels from 4 cobs
3-4 cloves garlic
fresh sage, oregano, and rosemary--chopped fine
2 1/2 c. vegetable broth
1 c. soy/rice/regular milk
1/4 c. white wine

Toss squash and potatoes in a bit of olive oil and roast at 450-degrees for about 45 minutes.

Sautee the onions and garlic until onions are soft. Add white wine and simmer until wine is reduced by half. Add the herbs 3/4 of the roasted squash and potatoes. Add broth and bring to a boil. Once boiling, reduce to a simmer, and simmer for 5 minutes.

In a food processor, puree the solids with just enough broth to make the soup pour-able. (Or if you are in possession of a submersion blender, use that!)

Combine the puree, remaining roasted squash and potatoes, and corn in the pot. Add milk. Salt and pepper to taste.

This is awesome served with a few chunks of goat cheese and a few splashes of tobasco sauce.

I heart my food processor

Beet and Apple Salad

4-5 beets--peeled and sliced
2 apples--sliced and tossed with a few teaspoons of lemon juice (to prevent browning)
1/2 c. walnuts
Parmesan Reggiano
A few handfuls of field greens
2 Tbsp balsamic vinegar
2 tsp Dijon mustard
6 Tbsp good olive oil

Sautee the beets in a bit of olive oil until tender--about 20 minutes, if I remember correctly. (Alternatively, before peeling or slicing the beets, you can roast them in a 450-degree oven wrapped in foil or boil them in water.)

While this is happening, measure out the vinegar and mustard in a cup and whisk until combined. Add the olive oil and whisk until combined. (Hey, guess what, guys?! This is an EMULSION! A temporary one, though, so you may have to re-whisk before serving.)

Put a handful of field greens in a purty dish, layer on the beets, apples, and walnuts. Sprinkle with a tablespoon or so of the dressing and shave Parmesan over the top with a vegetable peeler.

Rosemary Flatbread

One recipe of thin-crust pizza dough--recipe HERE.
Several sprigs of rosemary, leaves removed and chopped coarsely
Kosher salt or sea salt
Good olive oil

When preparing the dough, do not separate into two balls of dough. Spread the dough onto a piece of parchment paper into a roughly rectangular shape about 1/2 inch thick. Cover and let rise for at least fifteen minutes and up to an hour.

Pre-heat oven to 500-degrees.

When ready to bake, brush the top of the dough with olive oil and sprinkle on the rosemary and salt. Use the flat of your hand to gently press the salt and rosemary into the dough--GENTLY! You don't want to deflate the dough too much.

Bake on a sheetpan (or baking stone) until the top is golden and dark brown in places--10-15 minutes. The dough will puff a bit and you might get a few big bubbles. Serve warm or room temperature. This will keep for a few days in a tightly sealed container, and you can re-crisp in a 250-degree oven.