Food 52sday Recipe Interpretation: Pudding Chomeur

Posted on February 21, 2012 by onlinepastrychef
Nevermore and Pudding Chomeur 046I took French for 3 years. The first sentence I ever learned to say was “Je vais à la plage.” I have just told you that I am going to the beach.  But it’s a lie. I don’t even really like the beach. I wish my first sentence had been “Je vais à la montagne….”

I never really understood reading and following a map until Mr. Blanton, my high school French teacher, told us to pretend that we were in “une petite voiture” driving along on the lines. And then I got it. And now we all have GPSes, but I am still grateful that I can actually give directions using a map if I have to. Merci, Monsieur Blanton.

But I never learned the word chomeur. I learned words for window and bird and cow and school. Verbs to be, to do, to go. I learned places to work: Usine. Boulangerie. Bibliothèque.  Hôpital. But never the word chomeur.

So when I chose Pudding Chomeur for this week’s Food52sday post, I just thought it was some fancy Canadian dessert. And then I looked it up. And chomeur means unemployed. Friends, pudding chomeur is the Dessert of the Unemployed. Poor man’s pudding.  Continue reading →

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Blogging Ethics: Where I Stand

Posted on February 16, 2012 by onlinepastrychef
jennifer-fieldWhere do I stand? (and why it matters)

About three weeks ago this happened:  Someone with a fan page on facebook posted on my fan page wall saying something along the lines of Hey there.  Have your readers come see my page if they want great recipes for baking.  This hit me Wrong.  It seemed Spammy and kind of obnoxious.  So I walked away for a bit, and then I came back.  I responded to please not spam my page, and a few minutes later, the post was deleted.  And life went on.

Then, last week it happened again.  The same person left more or less the same post on my wall.  This time, I did not walk away. I posted an Annoyed post regarding her post, and then I wandered over to her page and posted that I’d love for her to participate on my page and engage with me and my fans and then we would want to come and see what she is doing. And then I said that otherwise, her post was Spammy and Obnoxious.

Then my fans all validated my grumpiness (thanks for being supportive guys) on my Annoyed Post, and then her fans thought I was petty and then she apologized and, well, it was just uncomfortable and unpleasant for all involved. I deleted my post on her page. And then I posted on my page that I had let my grumpiness bleed over onto my page. Not being a fan of negativity, I was–and still am–very sorry to have perpetuated it.  Most folks who commented said things like “You’re only human,” and “I’d worry about you if you were all sunshine all the time.” And I appreciate that. None of us is perfect. I’m certainly not.

But I just couldn’t stop thinking about this.  I’m not losing sleep, but I have been considering this in the background, kind of like a virus scan running on my computer while I continue to work.  And since I was thinking about the issue, I found Barbara’s (@CreativCulinary‘s) post outlining her take on stealing recipes and giving credit where credit is due for words and photos. Or maybe it found me. Which got me thinking about some of my anthill-poking posts regarding the same issues and concerns.

And then I thought about All I Really Need to Know I Learned in Kindergarten. Continue reading →

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Happy Valentine’s Day: Cocoa Orange Cashew Torte

Posted on February 14, 2012 by onlinepastrychef
orange-shewtella sponge 038As I was lounging on the divan the other day, eating my ‘Shewtella off a spoon and feeling very smug that I was snacking on something closely resembling health food, I got an Idea.  And the idea came in Two Parts.

Part 1: ‘Shewtella would taste lovely spread between layers of orange sponge cake.

Part 2: I think I can whip ‘Shewtella with softened butter to make a buttercream. Then I can have ‘Shewtella on the inside and the outside of my orange sponge cake! Yay!

And since I’m not really one to do a lot of testing, I went for it. I made the sponge cake yesterday, sliced it into four pieces, and wrapped it up.  I made a double batch of less-sweet ‘Shewtella last evening, because I forgot that The Voice was on. Dammit. But at least I was ready for Assembly today. So, a little less dammit.

All I had to do today was make a soaking syrup for the cake, thin out the ‘Shewtella for spreading between the layers and concoct a Tasty Buttercream. So I did. And now I am a little bit Full of Cake.  And I’m smiling, because my ideas turned out to be Very Good Indeed.

Now, for a short digression.  I have never professed to being a very good photographer.  I realize that my photography skills are a bit, um, Lacking.  I am of Two Minds about this fact.  Mind One says that folks will find my food more accessible since it’s not all styled to the nines.  But Mind Two (the less sunshine-y mind) fears that folks won’t even want to try to make some of my food because my pictures don’t show it off to its best advantage.

All I can do is continue to practice my photography–but never at the expense of rendering the food inedible. Trust me, I will never paint a turkey with iodine so I can take its picture–while Exhorting you to give this a try. It is Marvelously tasty, not too hard to make, and your pictures will probably be so much better than mine.

Here’s how I made mine. Continue reading →

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Food52sday Recipe Inspiration: Pudding Chomeur

Posted on February 14, 2012 by onlinepastrychef

Food52 Cookbook 001No idea what #Food52sday is? Allow me to Elucidate.

Pudding Chomeur? I know, right–I hadn’t heard of it, either. But I’m not from Canada.  I bet that you’ve heard of it if you’re from Canada.  That and nanaimo bars, but that’s another story.  And if I were from Canada, I might just make pudding chomeur The National Dessert.

Pudding chomeur sounds magical, and that’s why I’ve chosen it for my first recipe inspiration from The Food52 Cookbook. Remember last time, The Beloved got to choose and went with the Moroccan Merguez Ragout with Poached Eggs. Fantastic choice. But Miss Jenni needs some dessert!

First, you make a kind of batter/dough and let it sit in the fridge overnight. And then–are you ready?–you pour heavy cream and maple syrup over the dough and let it bake/poach/oogify (OO-jih-fie) in the oven. So it’s kind of like cake dumplings. In maple syrup. And cream. Lord!

I know The Beloved and I will have fun with this recipe–I’ve already got some ideas about how we can put our own spin on it. I do hope that you will play along, too.

Here’s the recipe for Pudding Chomeur.  And here’s author camille‘s page on the great Food52 site. We wouldn’t be doing this series without the site or the book, so thank you so much for the inspiration, guys!

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Sundays Suppers (Monday Edition): Bloggers Are the Best, and A Tale of Two Croques

Posted on February 13, 2012 by onlinepastrychef
Croque MesdamesNews Flash: The Carolinas are a Hotbed of Blogging.  There really are a ton of great people blogging in North and South Carolina. Some of them I know, and I’m sure that there are many I’ve not yet met.  And some of the ones I know know others that I don’t know, and so there is a vast Venn Diagram of bloggers.

About 8 of us had talked about getting together for lunch, and as many things happen, only four could get together on the Set Date.  But that’s okay, because a)things happen as they are supposed to happen and b)we will certainly be doing this again. And again.

So it came to pass that The Beloved and I made the 1 1/2-ish hour drive to Greensboro to meet Rebecca from Chow and Chatter, Lynn from Order in the Kitchen and Ilke from Ilke’s Kitchen at a fairly swanky looking place called Print Works Bistro.

Print Works and Croques 002 Ilke brought along her beloved as well, so we had the boys sit facing each other so the girls could all do Blogging things like giggling and taking pictures of food and laughing and sharing and snickering.  (Turns out Ilke’s beloved has done some brewing, so my Beloved invited him to brew in Charlotte later this month. And he’s coming! Fun!  I’m hoping that Ilke will be able to come as well to hang out with the Brewing Widows, chatting, snacking and drinking wine while the boys brew and do other Manly Things).

Print Works and Croques 007Ilke and her Beloved. I see beer widow-hood in her future!
Print Works and Croques 008Hi, Rebecca and Lynn!

I could go on and on about what a great time we had. About how sincerely sweet and funny Ilke is. About how Rebecca is just as delightful and interactive in real life as she is on social media. About how Lynn is simply hilarious with a self-deprecating sense of humor. But that’s not why I’m here.

I’m here to talk about the food.

Which was good. Not great.  But my meal did give me an Idea, and for that, I thank it. Thank you, meal.

I ordered a Croque Madame. A Croque Madame is kinda like a Croque Monsieur which, like many foods with French names, is not quite as exciting as one might think.  A Croque Monsieur is a grilled ham and cheese sammich.  A Croque Madame is the same sammich topped with a poached egg and often some bechamel sauce.  And Print Works offered a Croque Madame, complete with bechamel and home fries. And who doesn’t like to cut into a beautifully poached egg so that the yolk helps to sauce the dish, right?

Well, they brought her out, and she was Huge. I mean, she was Enormous!  I didn’t exactly whip out a tape measure, but the bread was easily 4″x6″.  For those using the metric system, that qualifies as Big Ass Slices. And she was stuffed with about a 3/4″ stack (2-ish cm) of thinly shaved mild ham. And she had a ton of melted cheese on top–not in the sammich with the ham, mind you. On top.  And the egg–2 eggs!–which I had expected and becham…Wait a minute.  You’re not bechamel sauce. You’re Hollandaise sauce!  Quite the surprise. Not that I don’t love Hollandaise, but it’s mostly egg yolk and butter. On cheese. With egg. Yowza.  The bechamel would’ve made the dish a bit lighter, but probably wouldn’t have done much to relieve the overall Muchness of her.

Well, friends. I had Trained for this brunch. I had only eaten one small piece of cheese All Morning Long, so I was good and hungry when we got to the restaurant. And even with all that training, I was only able to eat half. Half!  Because, did I mention, she was Huge?!  We all decided that my Croque Madame was quite the letdown.  I mean, she could’ve been alluring and voluptuous. But she overshot the mark and just went straight into Divine territory. Not like heavenly. This Divine.

I thought to myself yesterday, as we were pitching the other half–I mean, reheated Hollandaise? And not-completely-cooked egg yolk? Sorry. Divine, meet compost pail–that I could Prolly make a Croque Madame that would have a bit more zing. Something to cut through all the fattiness.  So I did. And it was. Zingier.

Not that it was healthier necessarily. Don’t think that. If you want healthy, don’t make grilled cheese. But, as an occasional treat, it was filling and interesting and definitely hit the spot. Here’s how I made mine. Continue reading →

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An Early Valentine’s Day Present to All of You: ‘Shew-tella. You’re Welcome

Posted on February 10, 2012 by onlinepastrychef
'Shew-tella 027I bought a Big Ass Jar of Nutella at the local warehouse store last weekend. It contains 26 ounces of Nutella.  Or, should I say, it contained 26 ounces of Nutella. Because now it contains Zero Ounces. Because I shoved it in my face. In four sittings.  I’m pretty sure the Big Ass Jar of Nutella is supposed to contain 52 servings.  So, either the jar is Sadly Underestimating the amount people will eat when sitting alone in front of a keyboard or I am a Glutton. Or perhaps it’s a bit of both.

Alas, things are supposed to be Balanced around here. That’s what my shingle says, anyway.  In a vain attempt to Shove closed the barn door as I watched the back end of the horse capering merrily away, I decided that I should probably try to make a Nutella-Like-Item that would actually be a reasonably healthy choice. If I can learn to just put down the @%#*#$ spoon.

I shared with my friends on my fan page that I was considering a homemade version of Nutella, and one friend was all “Keep it away from me!” I thought I was just being a bad influence, and I promised to take her spoon from her should the need Arise. (Then I’d have Two Spoons)!!! But then she said that she was actually allergic to hazelnuts! This is an allergy I’ve never heard of, and it’s one I Do Not want to get to know. I am a Fan of the Filbert. Continue reading →

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Food52sdays Inaugural Recipe Interpretation: Moroccan Merguez Ragout with Poached Eggs

Posted on February 7, 2012 by onlinepastrychef

Moroccan Merguez Ragout with Poached EggsLast week, The Beloved chose Moroccan Merguez Ragout with Poached Eggs as the first Recipe Inspiration for our Food52sdays series. Well, we made it last night. And, Oh Dear Lord, was it good! I mean, honestly one of the Tastiest things either of us has eaten in Quite Some Time.

The Beloved wanted to stick pretty close to the original recipe as we aren’t really familiar with Moroccan flavors, so we did. Mostly. Kind of.  I was going to pick up two of the Key Ingredients, merguez sausage and the Moroccan spice blend ras al hanout, yesterday. But that was before my car decided to die on Friday evening so that it had to be towed to the car hospital.  Where it still is.  So, The Beloved went out Sunday around lunchtime, and first I thought, “I’ll just have him stop and pick some up.” And then I thought, “Heck, I will just Make Do with what is in the house.”

So make do I did.  I looked up merguez sausage on the Hinternets and found a recipe that I Mostly stuck to. (We’d already purchased some ground lamb, so that was good). And I looked up ras al hanout on the Hinternets and found a recipe for that that I mostly stuck to.  And then we were good to go. But before I get to the ‘splainin’ of the recipe, let me ‘splain about ras al hanout.

Seems the term means something along the lines of “top of the shop,” or the Very Best. In this case, the very best spices that the spice guy has in his shop. So, instead of finding someone else’s Best, I looked to my own spice cabinet, and with a List of Spices for Reference, came up with my own Top of the Shop.

By the way, my friend, Awesome Pastry Chef Camille (it’s on her business cards) lives in Paris and works with someone from Algeria, and she Conferred with her colleague as to the meaning of ras al hanout.  Here’s what she reported:

So my colleague tells me it means “head of the shop”. “head” in this context meaning something that is essential- as in, if you want to kill a snake, you don’t cut off its tail, you cut off its head. So in a way, it’s like a mix of the most important things in the shop, its lifeblood. It also carries a connotation of that which is essential to a shop in that every shop, everywhere, must have this- if you were to go to the shop and not find it, it’s because the shop is closed.

Thanks for that, Camille. You rock.

Aside from making the sausage and the spice blend, the meal is quite easy to put together. And put it together you should. And then you should eat it. Here’s how we made ours. Continue reading →

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Sunday Suppers: Sweet and Hot Braised Kale with Poached Eggs, or “You Want Dinner Every Night? Are You High?!”

Posted on February 5, 2012 by onlinepastrychef

Team Sisyphus uniform design - frontThanks to nicomachus for this Fantastic saying. Please click for direct attribution.

You guys remember Sisyphus? He’s the dude in the Greek myth doomed to push a big old boulder up a hill, and just when he’s almost. at. the. top and will be able to Bask in the Glow of his accomplishment, the #$#^%$ boulder rolls to the bottom of the hill, and he has to start all over again. And this happens for eternity.  Poor, poor Sisyphus. His life is one unending, and unfinished, task.

I completely empathize with Sisyphus. Folks who only get one week of vacation instead of two? Whatever. Folks who order 1% in their latte, and the coffee shop only carries 2%? Waa-effin’-waa.  The guy who is crushed because the restaurant is out of the ’98 vintage when everyone knows that was the best one ever? Please.

But Sisyphus I completely understand.  I have Dos Boulders that do that same thing to me.  One is called the Boulder of Laundry.  Or as The Beloved has called it, “The Hell of The L.”  Just when the pile is gone and the last of the L is drying away and I am just about to be all pleased with myself, he’ll wander in and dump more on the place where the pile Used To Be. Except for now it’s there again.

My other boulder, albeit a tastier one? Dinner.  The Beloved expects to eat Every Night.  Sure, I may have whipped up an Extremely Awesome spatchcocked-and-roasted chicken one night. But apparently the next day, the memory of that meal does not sustain him.  He wants food again.  And then he’ll say, “Don’t worry. I can whip up something myself.” But he says it in the wounded-puppy-dog-why-don’t-you-love-me-anymore voice. And then he makes those eyes like that dog in the old Miracle Whip commercial.  And I am forced to Set Aside the bonbons, lever myself off the Chaise and concoct…something.

This meal is the result of one such Sisyphean task.  And, even though I was less-than-inspired, it was Very Good.  So good, in fact, that I figured I’d share it here. Plus, as a bonus, the meal was on the table in Just Under twenty minutes. Not bad. Continue reading →

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How to Torte, Fill and Frost a Cake: Picture and Video Tutorial

Posted on February 2, 2012 by onlinepastrychef

2012-01-27 Mango Lassi GenoiseWell, hello there, friends! Welcome to my happy little tutorial on torting, filling and frosting a cake.  Originally, I was just going to put together a picture tutorial, but then I realized that I hadn’t made a video in awhile.  So this is a special Two-for-One picture and video tutorial! (Wild applause).

All the pictures are of assembling the Mango Lassi Genoise, and the video is of assembling a peanut butter and jelly genoise.  You will see that the steps are pretty universally applicable, whether you want your cake to have 2, 3 or even four or more layers.  I hope you find it helpful, so without further Ado, please enjoy both the pictures and the video. Continue reading →

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Introducing Food52sdays and The Inaugural Inspiration Recipe: Moroccan Merguez Ragout with Poached Eggs

Posted on January 31, 2012 by onlinepastrychef

Food52 Cookbook 001Welcome to Food52sdays!  This is how I think this is gonna work, although we might have to do some tweaking. Suggestions are welcome, by the way. At any rate, The Beloved and I poked through our copy of The Food52 Cookbook (before I regifted it) and came up with a short list of 20-21 recipes that sound particularly yummy/intriguing/interesting, etc.  On the first Tuesday, we will take turns choosing one of these recipes as the Inspiration Recipe. Then, on the following Tuesday, we’ll post our interpretation–whether we decide to follow the recipe to the letter or just let the techniques, flavors and ingredients inform whatever we do decide to make.

If you’d like to play along, and we really hope you will, check out the recipe inspiration for the week and then cook/bake away.  If you have a blog or a facebook/Google+ page, feel free to link to your post in the comments section. If you don’t, just let us know what you did–you can write up a “real” recipe or just describe your results.  You can also post pictures of your creations over on the fan page.

The Beloved chose first, so without further ado, here is his pick for the Inaugural Food52sday! Continue reading →

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