GF

No, GF is not a reference to good food.  Forgive my language, but my house is a complete and total goat fuck right now.  There, I said it.

Never mind that we are about to rip out the kitchen.  That’s the subject of another post, but for now, just  know that it’s looming out there and it won’t be pretty. 

At the moment, we are dealing with the destruction of our basement.  Remember those leaks I told you about?  Well, the waterproofing folks are now here, but only after we had to demo all of the sheetrock and even the wall studs down there.  So much for Andy’s room, the bar, the pool table and the media room.  Goners, all of it.  Grrrrrrr.

The good news (for y'all, at least) is that I have been a prisoner in my house for the last two days and there are guys in my basement who are willing to scarf up anything I bake.  This translates into “Okay Liz, you can bake and someone else is around to eat it so you don’t have to have to,  which means you can still hold on to your fantasy of being a skinny cook.”  Yeah, right.

We’ll start with my Chocolate Chip Streusel Snack Cake.  Those guys loved it!  Do you think they will give me a discount? (Or at least stop with the jack hammering, already?)

CHOCOLATE CHIP STREUSEL SNACK CAKE

For the streusel:

½ cup granulated sugar

1/3 cup unbleached, all-purpose flour

½ teaspoon salt

4 tablespoons unsalted chilled butter, diced

Combine sugar, flour and salt in a small bowl.  Cut in the butter with your fingers or with two forks until mixture resembles coarse crumbs.  Set aside.

For the cake:

1 ¼ cups sour cream

1 teaspoon baking soda

2 cups unbleached, all-purpose flour

1 ½ teaspoons baking powder

½ teaspoon salt

6 ½ tablespoons unsalted butter, softened

1 cup granulated sugar

2 eggs (I use extra-large)

2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract

1 tablespoons Kahlua or strong coffee

1 ½ cups semi-sweet chocolate chips

¾ cup chopped pecans (optional)

Preheat oven to 350-degrees.  Grease and flour (or line with parchment) a 9-inch square or round cake pan.

In a small bowl, combine sour cream and baking soda.  Set aside. In another bowl, combine flour, baking powder and salt.  Set this aside also.

In an electric mixer, beat butter and sugar, scraping down several times until mixture is smooth.  Add eggs, one at a time and beat well.  Beat in vanilla and Kahlua.  On low speed, add flour mixture, alternately with sour cream mixture.  Blend well, then stir in chocolate chips and pecans.

Spread evenly in prepared baking pan.  Sprinkle with the reserved streusel.  Bake 40-45 minutes, or until a cake tester comes out clean.  Remove from oven and cool on a rack for 30 minutes, then remove from the pan and cool completely.  Drizzle glaze over top, then cut into pieces and serve.

For the glaze:

¼ cup semisweet chocolate chips

2 tablespoons unsalted butter

1 tablespoon Kahlua or strong coffee

Place all ingredients in a small pan over very low heat.  Stir constantly until chocolate is melted and mixture is smooth.  Drizzle over cake.

Yield:  (1)  9-inch cake (serves 2 hungry construction guys)

I also had girlfriends showing up in the evening so we could plan a wedding shower.  I needed a savory snack to serve with wine (yes, even in the middle of complete chaos, I am still the consummate hostess) but since I couldn't leave the house, I had to make do with whatever I could unearth in my freezer.  Here is the (delicious) result:

CHEATER’S "CHEESE" STRAWS


(These aren't cheese straws, of course, but they are a pretty good quick-and-dirty substitute.)

2 sheets frozen puff pastry, thawed

½ cup Djon mustard

Poppy seeds, for sprinkling

Sea salt flakes, for sprinkling

Prehate oven to 400-degrees.

Place 1 sheet of pastry on a floured pastry board or Silpat (silicone baking sheet).  Roll out slightly and trim edges so that you have an even rectangle.

With the shortest end towards you, brush half of the mustard over the lower half of the pastry sheet, leaving a 1/8-inch border.  Fold the upper half over and press sides to seal.  Use a sharp knife or pastry cutter to cut into (12) 1 ½ -inch strips.  Place on a baking sheet lined with parchment and repeat with remaining pastry sheet and mustard.

Use a brush or your finger to lightly moisten each piece with water.  Sprinkle with poppy seeds and salt.  Bake for 8 – 10 minutes until pastry is golden brown.  Cool slightly, then serve while they are warm and crispy.

Yield:  24 pieces

* As far as the cake is concerned, you don't have to use the nuts, but I think the cake is better if you do.  Also, you can substitute any coffee-flavored liqueur for the Kahlua if you don't have any on hand.  If nothing else, use a little strong coffee.  Just don't omit this altogether as it really does give the cake and glaze a better depth of flavor.

*  I always have puff pastry tucked away in my freezer.  You can use it for a multitude of things, from breakfast to dinner and it really comes in handy.  Pick up a box at your local grocery store and heed my advice.  Trust me!

*  Speaking of freezers, you can make the straws ahead of time and store them in the freezer, unbaked.  Just pop them in the oven when you are ready for them.  This, of course, is not necessarily a good idea since it makes them much too available if you are sitting around your house and a sudden urge to blow the diet strikes.

Ha, and in the midst of all this, I’m attempting to get used to bifocals.  Am I allowed to say “goat fuck” one more time?

When Life Gives You Lemons

One of my dearest friends moved to the San Diego area a number of years ago.  When she lived in NYC, we talked often and routinely visited.  We share a number of things in common, like our love of animals, good wine, good food and spin classes.  Unfortunately, given the time difference between the East and West coasts, our phone conversations are much more infrequent than they used to be and neither one of us is interested in catching up on Facebook or Twitter.  There are some things you just don’t want to put out there for public consumption!

There is, however, a bright side to her move and that’s the fact that she has a prolific Meyer lemon tree in her backyard.  Can you imagine?  I would be in pig heaven!  Fortunately for me, she was kind enough to slip a dozen of those bad boys into a box the other day and overnight it to me. 

Now, you already know about my passion for Meyer lemons but in case you missed it, here are the links to my prior posts about them:

http://nevertrustaskinnycook1.blogspot.com/2010/03/i-heart-meyer-lemons.htmlhttp://nevertrustaskinnycook1.blogspot.com/2010/03/i-heart-meyer-lemons.htmlhttp://nevertrustaskinnycook1.blogspot.com/2010/03/meyer-lemons-round-3-meyer-lemon-budino.html

Naturally, when you receive bounty such as this, the only thing to do is make Meyer Lemon Curd.  Why, you ask?  Well, that's because you need to make use of these babies as quickly as possible, but you don't quite know what you want to do with them.  If you make lemon curd, you are left with infinite possibilities.  It's called breathing space.

The lemon curd recipe I use has never failed me and it comes from the late, lamented Cathie Touhy.  Cathie hailed from England and was a beloved caterer and cooking teacher here in Atlanta for many years.  In the early days, she had a company called "Kids in the Kitchen" where she hosted participation cooking classes in her home kitchen for young children (was she crazy, or what?) We held one of Andy's early birthday parties there and shortly thereafter, she and I became good friends.  I still miss her.

Cathie and Andy.  Blurry picture, but it's still worth a thousand words

Her recipes live on.  I never make this without remembering her.  Godspeed, Cathie.

MEYER LEMON CURD  (adapted from Cathie Tuohy)

1 cup unsalted butter, diced
3 tablespoons fresh meyer lemon zest
3/4 cup fresh meyer lemon juice
1 cup granulated sugar
Pinch of salt
3 eggs (I used extra-large)

Melt butter in a large double boiler set over simmering water. In a separate bowl, whisk lemon zest,  lemon juice, sugar and salt and blend well.  Whisk into the melted butter, then add eggs, one at a time.

Continue to cook in double boiler over medium heat, using a wooden spoon to stir constantly.  Cook for about 6 minutes, or until mixture just begins to thicken.  The froth on top will disappear and small wisps of steam will be evident.  Remove from heat immediately.  (Note:  if you are not comfortable with this "eyeball" method, you can use an instant read thermometer.  Curd is done when it reaches 165 - 170-degrees.  Do not cook beyond this as the eggs will coagulate at 180-degrees).

Strain the curd into a small bowl and press a piece of plastic wrap directly onto surface.  Refrigerate until chilled, then use as desired.

Yield:  approximately 1 cup

Alrighty, then.  Now that you have made this lovely stuff, what can you do with it?  Here are a few ideas:

*  Spoon it over toasted, buttered pound cake and eat it for breakfast.  Hit the gym next.  Alternatively, spread it on a piece of toast for a slightly less decadent start to your day.

*  Serve it over pound cake or angel food cake for a simple dessert; especially good when garnished with a sprinkle of fresh berries.  Come to think of it, you could omit the cake and just pair it with berries for a light and lovely ending to any meal.

*  Mix it with an equal amount of softly whipped cream.  Bake up some crispy meringue (to which you have added toasted walnuts).  Crumble up the meringue, then layer in a parfait glass with the lemon cream.  FYI, this is also wonderful as a Passover dessert.

*  Use it to make individual lemon meringue tarts.  Blind bake a few tart shells, then fill with the lemon curd.  Make a slightly sweetened meringue, mound over the curd and brown the top by placing under a broiler or using your trusty blowtorch.  We made these when I worked at Star Provisions and they would fly out the door!

Of course you can make this with regular lemons (or limes) with stellar results.

By the way, I think the student has surpassed the teacher(s).  Andy emailed me with detail of a recent dinner he made - pan roasted lamb chops with garlic and rosemary, whipped sweet potatoes with orange zest and chives, panfried baby turnips with mint and Hugh Acheson's baked beans.  Hmm.  Maybe he should be authoring this blog.

True Confessions

I'm an only child.  That meant family dinners with just three of us around the table when I was growing up, so it was always pretty calm, punctuated usually with conversation about what transpired that day.  We were too polite to talk with our mouths full, or interrupt one another.  And heaven forbid if we raised our voices at the table.

Not so with Henry.  He grew up with three siblings (in addition to a slew of others who took up residence in the house from time to time) and their family dinners were loud, raucous affairs.  The first time I was initiated, everyone was gnawing on huge veal chops sporting appendages that looked like dinosaur bones and his sisters were (loudly) comparing notes about their menstrual periods.  I am not kidding.  And when someone asked for a dinner roll, it was pitched to them from the opposite end of the table.  Then they all started yelling arguing about politics.  It was definitely a scene straight from "Annie Hall."

Oh, and his mom was wearing a t-shirt that said, "Beam me up, Scotty.  There's no intelligent life on earth."

All of this probably explains my addiction to the now-canceled :-( television series "Brothers and Sisters."  It gave me a great glimpse into a crazy dysfunctional family and I got to live vicariously through the relationships between the various sibs.  Of course, that's exactly the reason Henry hated to watch it and considered it a soap opera.

Which it clearly was, as evidenced by the fact that they are now airing reruns of it on "The Soap Network" (one of my also-addicted friends clued me in on this).  I recently watched one of the Valentine's Day episodes and cracked up when Justin (who reminds me an awful lot of my son, Eric) wonders aloud "what is it about this holiday that drags estrogen out of men?"

I wouldn't know.  I'm not a Valentine's Day kind of gal, as I have told you before.

http://nevertrustaskinnycook1.blogspot.com/2011/02/v-word.html

We had a non-celebration of it (with like-minded friends) this year and I made a fabulous dinner for the four of us.  I slipped a little with dessert, though.  It involved raspberries.  Red raspberries.  Oops.

RED RASPBERRY GRATIN  (from” Cucina Simpatica”  by Johanne Killeen & George Germon

3 cups mascarpone custard (recipe follows)

4 ½ cups fresh raspberries

Confectioner’s sugar

Preheat oven to 425-degrees.  Place ¼ cup of the custard in each of six shallow ceramic gratin dishes (1-cup capacity).  Divide raspberries among them and sift confectioner’s sugar (to taste) over each one.  Top with remaining custard and sift additional confectioner’s sugar over the top of each one.  Bake for 5 – 7 minutes until custard is just heated through and berries have given off some juice.  Remove gratins from oven and change oven setting to “broil” then brown custards for 1 minute or until tops are golden and bubbling slightly.  Serve immediately.

Serves 6

For the custard:

1 cup whole milk

2 egg yolks (I used extra-large)

½ cup granulated sugar

¼ cup unbleached flour

¾ cup heavy cream

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

½ cup mascarpone

Scald milk in a heavy saucepan and set aside.  In electric mixer fitted with a whisk attachment, beat egg yolks until light and pale in color, about 5 minutes.  Add sugar by tablespoons, beating well after each addition.  Change to a paddle attachment and add flour, beating on low until just incorporated.  Pour hot milk into yolk mixture in a slow stream, beating on low speed until smooth.

Return the mixture back to the saucepan and cook over medium-low heat, stirring constantly until it comes to a boil.  Boil for 2 minutes, remove from heat and transfer to a mixing bowl.  Cool slightly, then refrigerate, covered, for at least 1 hour or until well-chilled.

Whip the heavy cream with the vanilla extract until it holds its shape.  Whisk the chilled yolk mixture until it is smooth  and gently fold in the mascarpone then the whipped cream.  Chill until ready to use (can be made up to 2 days in advance.  This yields approximately 3 cups of custard (enough for 6 gratins).

*  You could actually make this with just about any type of berry - I think it would be delicious with blackberries - but you may need to add more or less confectioner's sugar, depending upon the sweetness of the fruit.  Golden raspberries would work also, just not for Valentine's Day!

*  Watch the custard carefully when you put it back on the heat.  Make sure your burner is on medium-low and stir constantly so it doesn't scorch.  If you do end up with a few browned bits or lumps, you can always strain the custard before chilling.

*  I apologize for the lack of and quality of photos in this post.  I totally forgot to take pictures of the custard-making process and I didn't get any good shots of the finished dessert, either.  So shoot me.

*  Just in case you have any doubts, the friends to whom I served this are very successful restaurateurs here in Atlanta.  One of them made the pronouncement that this was one of the best dessert she'd ever had!

*  By the way, if you can ever get your hands on a copy of "Cucina Simpatica," go for it!  It was first published in 1991 and it has always been one of my very favorite cookbooks.

Just Add Water

This is my basement right now.  Although it never leaked before, that changed dramatically last week after a day of torrential rains. Since we live primarily on the main floor of this house,  it was flooded for 4 days before we discovered it.  Let's just say that a gas mask would have been a good idea before venturing down there.

Ha, and it's about to get worse.  In order to deal with the problem, I found out today that WE HAVE TO TEAR OUT ALL OF THE SHEETROCK.  Oy veh.  This is going to be a l-o-o-o-o-n-g and miserable process.  I hope we can save the carpet, but it's doubtful.  Crap.

I figured I could either start drinking when I found out this morning, or consume chocolate.  I chose the latter.  At least until 5 o'clock.

The good news is that there was actually something good and chocolate-y around here (for a change) to assuage my woes.  That's because I had just baked up a beatiful batch of brownies for a friend's birthday.  I figured she wouldn't miss just one.

Now here's the thing:  my friend maintains a gluten-free diet.  Hey, I'm all in support of that but I am not a gluten-free baker and I didn't have time to figure out how to make a delicious gluten-free birthday cake.  Instead I happened upon this recipe from pastry chef extraordinaire David Lebovitz.  Folks, these are seriously good.  My friend texted me after she tried one and here is what she said,"OMG, you nailed the brownies!  Amazing!  I've had three so far.  I need the recipe, please!"

Here it is.  Don't wait to start a gluten-free diet to try them.

ABSOLUTE BEST BROWNIES (which just happen to be gluten-free), adapted from David Lebovitz's "Ready For Dessert"

6 tablespoons unsalted butter, cut into pieces
8 oz. bittersweet chocolate, broken into pieces
3/4 cup granulated sugar
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
2 eggs, room temperature (I used extra-large)
1 tablespoon cocoa powder
3 tablespoons cornstarch
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup good quality chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350-degrees.  Line a 9-inch square pan with heavy-duty aluminum foil to overhang sides of pan.  Spray pan with nonstick cooking spray or grease with butter.

Place the butter in a medium saucepan and melt over medium heat.  Add the bittersweet chocolate, reduce heat to low and stir until chocolate is melted and mixture is smooth.  Remove from heat and stir in the sugar and vanilla.  Beat in the eggs, one at a time.

Sift the cocoa powder, cornstarch and salt together in a small bowl.  Add to the chocolate mixture.  Using a wooden spoon, beat vigorously for 1 full minute, until the batter loses its graininess and becomes smooth and shiny.  It will pull slightly away from the sides of the saucepan.  Stir in the chocolate chips and scrape into the prepared pan.  Bake for 20 minutes, or until just barely set.  Do not overbake.

Remove from oven and let cool slightly, then refrigerate for at least one hour before removing from pan and cutting into squares. 

Yield:  9 to 12 brownies

*  Don't even think about skipping the "beat for a full minute" step.  It's crucial to the success of this recipe or your brownies will be dry and crumbly.  David describes it as "a life-changing minute."

*  I like to store these in the refrigerator, then take them out to warm up slightly before devouring serving.

Unfortunately, these didn't cure the disaster that is now my basement, but they did help to improve my disposition.  Stay tuned for construction updates!