Tonight I needed to make dinner quickly, but I wasn't in the mood for breakfast.
Breakfast for dinner is my usual quick fix for the dinner blahs, but tonight I wanted DINNER. And we were hungry. But Rachel Ray's 30 minute meals are not quite my style.
So, enter Linguine Carbonara. Ideally, I would have made my own pasta, but like I said; we were hungry.
Carbonara is an egg based sauce with parmigiano and bacon fat. What could be better than that? According to my six year old, not much. I try to have some sort of fresh pasta on stand-by, so it was store bought tonight, but any dried pasta will do. I also always keep 4 oz packages of thickly sliced bacon in the freezer. It is amazing how much I use it. Technically, you are supposed to use guanciale (cured pork jowl), but why bother when there is bacon?
Many times you might find restaurants using cream in their cabonara, if you can find it at all. Restaurants may steer clear of this recipe because the sauce is egg based. And the sauce is only cooked from addition of pasta and bacon fat. If you are concerned, I recommend Egg Beaters or any other pasteurized egg product.
My recipe is from Ruth Reichl's book, Garlic and Sapphires.
1 # dried pasta
-Boil in salted water 9-10 minutes
-Make sauce while pasta is cooking
1/4-1/2 # thickly sliced bacon
-Cut bacon crosswise into 1/2" wide pieces
-Place in skillet and cook 2 min. or until the fat begins to render
2 cloves, peeled. Leave whole
-Add to skillet
-Cook another 5 min until the edges of bacon get crisp. Do not overcook! It's a texture thing, and you want the bacon to meld with the pasta.
2 eggs
-Break eggs into large bowl intended to serve the pasta in.
-Whisk together
-Grind in some pepper
-Drain pasta
-Place IMMEDIATELY into bowl with eggs
-Mix thoroughly
-Add bacon and a sufficient amount of bacon fat. I usually add all of it, but discard some if you think it's too much.
-Discard garlic gloves (I usually discard them to my plate).
1/2 Cup Parmigiano cheese, plus extra for your table
-Add to pasta
-Toss pasta again
-Serve and eat! It cools quickly.
Enjoy!!
3.22.2011
3.12.2011
sweet dough
So, I was excited when I saw that the Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day book by Jeff Hertzberg and Zoe Francois, also contained recipes for sweet breads (again, as in bread, not the thymus gland). The recipe for challah was so easy to make, it ferments two hours and then sits in the fridge to relax overnight. Wow!
And then it hit me. The sweet dough I make at work, although it takes longer since I'm usually making it with a minimum of 12 pounds of flour to a max of 36 pounds (which eventually leads to 96 pounds of dough), I also let it ferment for two hours before putting it in the walk-in overnight to relax.
It's the same method.
Sometimes, there are no shortcuts.
And now I am left wondering why it took me so long to figure this out.
3.11.2011
Pain grillé français avec le remplissage de Nutella OR Pane tostato francese con il materiale da otturazione di Nutella*
I thought I would give it a "fancy" name, but what I am saying in English is here is French Toast with Nutella filling.
What?
Several nights ago I made French toast with my left over rustic bread, then I spread Nutella (my only vice-ha!) over one slice and then topped it with another to make the best sandwich ever. I served it with a vanilla, cinnamon and cayenne spiced yogurt. Well, what I really made for dinner was a dessert, but once in awhile, why not?
Okay, what is Nutella, you may ask?
1. A spreadable mix of roasted hazelnuts, skim milk and chocolate.
2. Originated in Italy in the 1940's during WWII while chocolate was scarce but hazelnuts were not.
3. Expensive (unless you purchase it from Gordon Foods or Cosco)
4. Regardless of the cost, it is worth it.
5. I am completely addicted, and you should be too.
To tell you the truth, I originally didn't understand what the big deal was. And then I tried it. Then I tried it again. Suddenly, I was going through a small jar once a week. Now I buy the super sized version of this marvelous jar of goodness and try to limit myself to eating it once a day.
Perhaps I need to write an ode. No, that would take valuable time away from consuming my favorite snack...then again, it would give me an excuse to eat more of it...?
Anyway, perhaps you should try some and see what you think while I contemplate my ode. I would recommend you first try some on fresh crusty bread that has been slightly warmed. This is still my favorite way to have Nutella. You may wish to melt some (never place jar in microwave; the seal is metal, and if you have any remaining on the jar, there may be sparks in your oven), then pour it over ice cream. Use it as a filling in crepes. And when you finish the jar, dump in some vanilla yogurt and scrape away anything that was stuck to the sides of the bottle. Seriously.
As for the French Toast, I really just made a regular custard base with eggs and vanilla soy milk (heavy cream, 1/2&1/2 or milk work well too, but then add your vanilla). Make sure you have enough eggs for the amount of milk. I go by looks. It needs to be more yellow than off-white. Sprinkle in some cinnamon. Soak your bread, flip it over, soak some more, pull it out, place on a hot skillet, cook until toasty, flip, cook again until toasty, remove, spread on Nutella, place another slice on top, slice into triangles, sprinkle 10x on top, dip into yogurt sauce, and finally, consume. Phew, I need to take a breath. So, did you get all that?
Yogurt Sauce. This was so good. I was a little concerned my 6-year old wouldn't like it since it had some zip to it, but she loved it (unfortunately she doesn't usually share her mother's love for spicy hot food). I was inspired to use flavors of Mexican chocolate. Make sure you measure accurately (I jest).
Vanilla yogurt: 6 oz or whatever
Vietnamese cinnamon: to taste
Cayenne Pepper: to taste, but less than the cinnamon
Mix together.
Like I said, this dinner should have been a dessert, and next time I will serve it as such.
Here, visit http://www.nutellausa.com/index.html for more information AND for a $1.00 coupon.
*And for those who are curious, the first translation is French, the second is Italian. The translations come from a google website specializing in such things.
3.04.2011
Pink eggs
There is a significant reason why I have eggs as my background; I just love them!! When I was pregnant and nursing, I would eat them everyday. I would make them every way possible, but my favorite was turning them pink.
Pink? Yes. When I was a kid, my mother would make what she called steamed eggs instead of serving them sunny-side up or over-easy. And by steaming them, you turn the yolk "skin" pink, but not the entire yolk itself. Of course, my brother and I could never remember to ask for them steamed, so we nicknamed them "pink eggs."
Steamed eggs? Never heard of them except maybe in reference to a Chinese dish? Let's take a step back and look at the different kinds of cooking methods.
Pink? Yes. When I was a kid, my mother would make what she called steamed eggs instead of serving them sunny-side up or over-easy. And by steaming them, you turn the yolk "skin" pink, but not the entire yolk itself. Of course, my brother and I could never remember to ask for them steamed, so we nicknamed them "pink eggs."
Steamed eggs? Never heard of them except maybe in reference to a Chinese dish? Let's take a step back and look at the different kinds of cooking methods.
- Baked
- Shirred (baked in ramekins)
- Quiche (baked in pie/tart shell)
- Sauteed
- Scrambled (sauteed by continuous turning)
- Omelets (left to cook flat, filled & folded)
- Frittatas (open-faced omelet)
- Pan-Fried
- Sunny-side up (not turned)
- Over easy/medium/hard (turned after partially being cooked on one side)
- Basted eggs (cooked over low heat and basted with hot butter or by adding a small amount of water and then covering the pan, therefore, steaming them.
- In Shell (Simmered)
- Soft/Hard boiled
- Poaching
- Coddled (poaching but inside a ceramic container)
Well there you have it, steamed eggs are the same thing as basted eggs (with water).
Sometimes you can get a pink egg by cooking it over easy or by poaching, but by steaming them you will turn them pink every time (unless you overcook them to hard). And why does the exterior wall of the yolk turn pink? Google hasn't helped me at all here. And neither have my cooking books. AND I still don't know enough about food chemistry. But what I can tell you is how to make a steamed (basted) egg.
- Heat pan. Lightly spray nonstick coating.
- Drop in egg, making sure it doesn't break.
- Pour in hot water, making sure only a modedst amount is used (enough to cover bottom of pan).
- Cover (ideally with a glass top).
- Watch until egg turns pink and there isn't any liquid goo (I mean uncooked albumen) around the egg.
- Remove immediately and eat.
3.02.2011
Ever wonder why buttercream tastes like sugared grease? Here is a recipe that doesn't.
Okay, so in my hints and allegations, I refer to Italian buttercream as what changed icing for me, but I haven't given a recipe yet. I now have had a formal request for one. You will find it below, but I must stand on my soapbox first.
It wasn't until I attended baking classes that I understood that there were significant differences in buttercream. I grew up with either 7-minute icing (that is for another entry) or something that came out of a cardboard container from Betty Crocker. My mother knows how to bake (and she an excellent cook), but baking really has never been her thing, so cakes were only made for birthdays, and even then, sometimes those cakes came from the grocery store bakery.
Do you know what is in the icing of most grocery store bakeries? Well, it isn't butter. Vegetable shortening definitely has its purpose, but it isn't in buttercream. And that is why there is a greasy film in your mouth after you consume many such store bought cakes.
Maybe the best way to understand the differences between buttercream icings is to just list the basic ingredients/method.
American (Simple) Buttercream ('cause we Americans like short cuts): Butter and 10x (powdered) sugar. Some individuals will replace the butter with other fats (see above) for convenience but usually for price. Others may add egg whites or meringue powder (powdered egg whites and other ingredients).
Italian Meringue Buttercream: Butter, granulated sugar, egg whites. Sugar cooked to 240 degrees.
Swiss Meringue Buttercream: Butter, granulated sugar, egg whites. Sugar cooked until dissolved (about 130 degrees)
French Buttercream: Butter, granulated sugar, egg yolks. Sugar cooked to 240 degrees.
As I stated, my favorite is Italian. I know my egg whites are cooked, the texture is light, and flavor is smooth. With Swiss, the concern is that the whites are not necessarily cooked. To get around this, many chefs use pasteurized egg whites or meringue powder. French Buttercream is in its own league by using egg yolks. The result is an incredibly rich and smooth icing (Opera cake, anyone?)
You can make buttercream in advance and just leave it out on the counter. If you are extremely concerned about food safety (I am, but usually just at work), refrigerate it, but make sure to either take it out HOURS in advance and rewhip it, or take 1/4-1/3 of the needed icing and microwave it until very soft (I've even accidentally melted it), and then rewhip it with the colder stuff (This is how we do it at work). If you've made too much, just stick it in a plastic ziplock, flatten it out, and freeze it. I have stacks of different flavors in my freezer the way some people have different kinds of soups. At the same time, if you know you'll be icing again in a week or two, just keep it refrigerated. It will last.
So, I'll get off my soapbox and finally give you the recipe.
Italian Meringue Buttercream:
-Yield: 5 lbs, 5 oz (this makes A LOT)
-All ingredients should be at room temp.
Egg Whites 14 oz (about 14)
-Place in mixing bowl (ideally a stand mixer w/ a whisk)
Granulated Sugar 1 lb, 11 oz divided
-Place 9 oz in bowl near mixer
-Place remaining 1lb, 2 oz in heavy saucepan with enough water to moisten
-Bring to boil
-Add sugar to whites and begin whipping whites when temp reaches 135 degrees
-Take off burner at softball stage* at 240 degrees
-Immediately pour into whites while eggs are whipping by pouring a steady stream b/w the side of the bowl and the beater. Be careful not to hit the beaters (this could cause sugar lumps).
-Continue beating at medium speed until the whites are cool (touch outside of bowl). The idea is not to melt the butter. At this point, congratulate yourself...you've just made Italian meringue. Now for the butter.
Unsalted butter, softened 2 lbs, 12 oz
-Gradually add the butter to the meringue. Do not change to a paddle attachment.
-When it looks curdled or like cottage cheese, don't give yourself a heart attack. This is part of the normal process; the butter just needs to be incorporated into the meringue. Keep beating it.
-When all the butter is incorporated and it is smooth, add flavoring ingredients as desired.
Ideas:
-Vanilla
-Chocolate (10 oz of melted and cooled bittersweet) Make sure you add vanilla too...the flavors complement each other.
-Lemon or other citrus (zest or extract)
-Coffee (Instant espresso powder or brewed coffee, cooled)
-Any liqueur of your choice (think lemon chiffon cake, Chambord icing, raspberry jam filling)
Have fun! But you are on your own when it comes to decorating. If you're really interested cake decorating, you might want to start at your local Joann's store and Wilton. I also recommend any book by Wendy Kromer (the wedding cake designer for Martha Stewart's books). FYI...I am not a big Martha fan, but Wendy is fantastic!! http://wendykromer.com/
*Ever wonder why it's called soft crack or hard ball when it comes to cooking sugar? Perhaps you can guess, but in a later entry, I will tell you how the legendary Escoffier made caramel.
It wasn't until I attended baking classes that I understood that there were significant differences in buttercream. I grew up with either 7-minute icing (that is for another entry) or something that came out of a cardboard container from Betty Crocker. My mother knows how to bake (and she an excellent cook), but baking really has never been her thing, so cakes were only made for birthdays, and even then, sometimes those cakes came from the grocery store bakery.
Do you know what is in the icing of most grocery store bakeries? Well, it isn't butter. Vegetable shortening definitely has its purpose, but it isn't in buttercream. And that is why there is a greasy film in your mouth after you consume many such store bought cakes.
Maybe the best way to understand the differences between buttercream icings is to just list the basic ingredients/method.
American (Simple) Buttercream ('cause we Americans like short cuts): Butter and 10x (powdered) sugar. Some individuals will replace the butter with other fats (see above) for convenience but usually for price. Others may add egg whites or meringue powder (powdered egg whites and other ingredients).
Italian Meringue Buttercream: Butter, granulated sugar, egg whites. Sugar cooked to 240 degrees.
Swiss Meringue Buttercream: Butter, granulated sugar, egg whites. Sugar cooked until dissolved (about 130 degrees)
French Buttercream: Butter, granulated sugar, egg yolks. Sugar cooked to 240 degrees.
As I stated, my favorite is Italian. I know my egg whites are cooked, the texture is light, and flavor is smooth. With Swiss, the concern is that the whites are not necessarily cooked. To get around this, many chefs use pasteurized egg whites or meringue powder. French Buttercream is in its own league by using egg yolks. The result is an incredibly rich and smooth icing (Opera cake, anyone?)
You can make buttercream in advance and just leave it out on the counter. If you are extremely concerned about food safety (I am, but usually just at work), refrigerate it, but make sure to either take it out HOURS in advance and rewhip it, or take 1/4-1/3 of the needed icing and microwave it until very soft (I've even accidentally melted it), and then rewhip it with the colder stuff (This is how we do it at work). If you've made too much, just stick it in a plastic ziplock, flatten it out, and freeze it. I have stacks of different flavors in my freezer the way some people have different kinds of soups. At the same time, if you know you'll be icing again in a week or two, just keep it refrigerated. It will last.
So, I'll get off my soapbox and finally give you the recipe.
Italian Meringue Buttercream:
-Yield: 5 lbs, 5 oz (this makes A LOT)
-All ingredients should be at room temp.
Egg Whites 14 oz (about 14)
-Place in mixing bowl (ideally a stand mixer w/ a whisk)
Granulated Sugar 1 lb, 11 oz divided
-Place 9 oz in bowl near mixer
-Place remaining 1lb, 2 oz in heavy saucepan with enough water to moisten
-Bring to boil
-Add sugar to whites and begin whipping whites when temp reaches 135 degrees
-Take off burner at softball stage* at 240 degrees
-Immediately pour into whites while eggs are whipping by pouring a steady stream b/w the side of the bowl and the beater. Be careful not to hit the beaters (this could cause sugar lumps).
-Continue beating at medium speed until the whites are cool (touch outside of bowl). The idea is not to melt the butter. At this point, congratulate yourself...you've just made Italian meringue. Now for the butter.
Unsalted butter, softened 2 lbs, 12 oz
-Gradually add the butter to the meringue. Do not change to a paddle attachment.
-When it looks curdled or like cottage cheese, don't give yourself a heart attack. This is part of the normal process; the butter just needs to be incorporated into the meringue. Keep beating it.
-When all the butter is incorporated and it is smooth, add flavoring ingredients as desired.
Ideas:
-Vanilla
-Chocolate (10 oz of melted and cooled bittersweet) Make sure you add vanilla too...the flavors complement each other.
-Lemon or other citrus (zest or extract)
-Coffee (Instant espresso powder or brewed coffee, cooled)
-Any liqueur of your choice (think lemon chiffon cake, Chambord icing, raspberry jam filling)
Have fun! But you are on your own when it comes to decorating. If you're really interested cake decorating, you might want to start at your local Joann's store and Wilton. I also recommend any book by Wendy Kromer (the wedding cake designer for Martha Stewart's books). FYI...I am not a big Martha fan, but Wendy is fantastic!! http://wendykromer.com/
*Ever wonder why it's called soft crack or hard ball when it comes to cooking sugar? Perhaps you can guess, but in a later entry, I will tell you how the legendary Escoffier made caramel.
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