Middle of the Night Awesome Idea: Mango Lassi Genoise

Posted on January 27, 2012 by onlinepastrychef
Mango Lassi Genoise 026I grew up eating straight-up UhMERkin food. Solid. Filling. Nourishing. But not exotic. And honestly, as a kid, exotic would have scared me. But still.  I don’t think I even had “Chinese” food–and by “Chinese,” I mean sweet and sour chicken–until I was in college. I had tacos maybe 14 times over the course of my Formative years, and I had never even gone to Taco Bell until I was moving into my second rental.  How does anyone make it out of college without ever going to Taco Bell? I don’t really know, but I did.

I tell you these things so you will understand Exactly Where I Am Coming From when I say that Indian Food is my Favorite.  I don’t even know how it happened.  I probably have told you before, but my first experience with Indian food was at a restaurant in Charlotte back in 1989-ish.  I was probably 23-24 (I’m bad at math), and I was Trepidatious when some friends suggested Indian for a night out. But I was game, and didn’t want to wuss out by cramming a hastily assembled PB&J into my purse.

When we got there, I looked at the menu and decided that Things Would Be Okay. Aside from all the words I couldn’t pronounce, I found references to a Number of foods that I really, really liked. Lamb? Check. Chicken? Check. Bread? Check. Potatoes? Check. Garlic? Check. Rice? Check. Peas? Check. So, I held my breath and ordered. And then the lovely man (as I think of him now) brought me my food, and I fell in love. Even though the spices could not have been more alien, and even though I didn’t even like yogurt or cucumbers, and even though they had the nerve to serve me some non-starchy Vegetables, all the food felt instantly familiar and comforting.

Mango Lassi Genoise 031But the beverage.  The lassi. The mango lassi. This–this…elixir…transported me.  I had never had a mango. I didn’t like yogurt. But I could not get enough of that silky/creamy/just-sweet-enough lassi.  I mean to tell you that I plowed through the ludicrously overpriced (they always are, but I don’t even care) beverage/dessert/cure-all in about 3.7 seconds. I couldn’t help myself. I still can’t.  I order one. I drink it. It’s gone.  The stuff is like Nestle Quik–I can’t drink it slow cuz it’s Quik! (Doh-doh-dee-oh)

Well, the other evening, I had a Thought. I thought that it would be Keen to make a mango lassi into a cake. I’ve made it into a panna cotta before (highly recommended) for my plated dessert final in culinary school, but I wanted some Cake. So I thunk and thunk about how to do it. First I considered just making a mango pound cake, but I wanted something a bit more special. Then I thought: chiffon cake! But decided against it.  I wanted the dessert to be very light in texture. And kinda fancy. Genoise? Perfect. Light and airy and able to hold some tasty syrup.

more genoise 003 Continue reading →

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Introducing The Mighty Rhino!

Posted on January 24, 2012 by onlinepastrychef
More Mighty Rhinos 013The Beloved was feeling cookie-ish on Sunday, so I told him I’d Come Up With Something on Monday for him to munch on throughout the week. Because I am an Awesome wife. Also, I enjoy cookies. I love it when my self-interest dovetails with my being a Devoted Spouse.

Y’all know I don’t really like to go out and buy a couple of ingredients to make a particular recipe. I’d much rather root around in the cabinets and See what there is to See.  And this is what I found.

ingredients 002I mean, aside from staples like milk, eggs, sugar and flour. So, I set out to create a cookie containing as many of my Finds as possible. Continue reading →

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Sunday Suppers (Monday Edition): Chicken Soup with Kale

Posted on January 23, 2012 by onlinepastrychef
soup! 004Even reconstituted, the soup still turns to Jell-o in the fridge. Nice!

I made some stock the other day. A ton of it.  Probably close to three gallons.  We just recently have been getting rid of our plastic kitchen storage in favor of glass, and I just don’t have enough of the glass containers lying around to just breezily relegate 4-5 of them to the freezer for the next few weeks. So, I did something that I had never thought to do before with stock, although I should have. Duh. I reduced it.  There wasn’t anything in the stock that would get bitter with boiling, so after straining it, I just let it boil. And boil. Until it had reduced by about 2/3, leaving me with a gallon of ridiculously gelatin-rich stock. And a rain cloud in my kitchen.

After cooling the stock pretty quickly, I chilled it in two–only two!–glass containers until it set up like Jell-o. reduced stock 002

See–I’m not even kidding! Jell-o.

And then I scooped it into cupcake papers and froze it.  I ended up with 30 frozen stockcakes, each ready to be reconstituted at 1:3, and they all live happily in the freezer in two gallon-sized zipper bags.

The Beloved brewed in Charlotte this weekend, so I thought it would be Kind of me to make him some dinner last evening, so I broke out 5-6 stockcakes and used them, along with some organic chicken breasts, kale and Other Vegetables, to make a Very Lovely and Filling Soup.

I hesitate to write this as a recipe, because making stock and making soup are really just techniques.

Stock:

  1. Put a bunch of meaty bones in a pot.
  2. Add some aromatics and some acid.
  3. Cover with cold water.
  4. Slowly bring to a low simmer and walk away for several hours.

Soup:

  1. Put what you like and what seems to go well together in a pot.
  2. Add stock and/or water and/or wine and/or Some Other Liquid.
  3. Season to taste.
  4. Simmer everything together for awhile.

See? Told ya.  So, I’m not going to turn it into a Recipe.  I’ll just show you what I put in mine. Oh, I just remembered! As a bonus: Continue reading →

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The Food52 Cookbook: The Regifting

Posted on January 18, 2012 by onlinepastrychef

Share your favorite recipe for a chance to win!

UPDATE:  The contest is now over! Thanks for all of your great recipes shared over on the fb page, and congratulations to Teri McHugh, the winner!!

A couple of weeks ago, I won a copy of The Food52 Cookbook through a giveaway hosted by Heather, @FarmgirlGourmet. (Thank you, Heather)!! Last Friday, it came in the mail, and The Beloved and I spent portions of the weekend Perusing its Pages and curating a short list of 21 recipes that we found particularly inspiring and delicious-sounding.  Not to say that all 140 recipes aren’t great–they all seem to be. For some, though, I didn’t need more than the name of the recipe. From the name, I can put together something Extremely Yummy without having to look at the specific ingredient list. You know the kind of recipe I mean–the ones whose titles are a description of the dish itself: White Fish en Papillote with Citrus on a Bed of Asparagus and Mint Risotto. (No, this is not a recipe in the book, but it could be).

There were a couple of recipes–just a couple–that the winner for that week submitted without ever having tried. I think that is cheating, although the recipes won and obviously deserved to be in the book. But still, I think you should have actually made–or at least tasted–your submission. But then again, I wasn’t an editor and I didn’t make the rules.

At any rate, we have our short list, and now it is time to pass on the book. I hope that the winner curates their own short list and then passes the book along to inspire someone else, but I shan’t hold the winner to that. Besides, this book really is a keeper. The pictures are lovely–I like the Artful presentation of the ingredients for each dish–and the words are nice, too, with a little about each cook and maybe a short back story on the dish as well as Food52 community members’ feedback on the recipes.  The folks who submitted are all passionate cooks, and it certainly shows in their work.  I really have been inspired, and this year I will be doing a series of posts based upon our Short List of Yum. But you don’t want to hear about that right now. You want to know how to win this copy for yourself. Continue reading →

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On Cooking without Eating. And Some Potato Soup.

Posted on January 13, 2012 by onlinepastrychef
potato soup 007Here it is, Day 8 of 10 of The Master Cleanse. I have swallowed no solid food since Thursday evening, January 5. When I started this whole thing, it was an impulsive move. I had been reading about it and Pondering the idea of it and researching it, and then I just said, “What the hell, I have all the stuff I need here.” And I was drinking lemonade the next morning, staring ahead at ten long and unpleasant days.

But you know what? They haven’t been unpleasant at all, actually. Except for that salt water flush. Dear lord, that sucks. Yeah, I’ve had a couple of low energy days. I’ve had some headaches, the odd breakout or three, some aches and pains. And I have been more than a little Snippy. But I figure it’s what has to happen to truly detox after years of eating pretty much whatever the hell I wanted. Plus green smoothies.  And I actually credit those with minimizing the detox symptoms.

Last Friday morning, I Informed The Beloved that I would not be cooking for him–or anyone–for the duration of the cleanse and he’d best remember how to make some ramen. Except for I said it sweetly. Sort of.  And he, being supportive, completely understood and looked at me, worriedly and with Furrowed Brow, and asked, “Do you want me to do this with you?” Sweet, right? And I said, “No, sweetie. You have to work. I don’t think they’ll let you work in the bathroom.” He agreed. So, I fully intended to sit around, drink my lemonade and pound down my water, read, do some work, but stay Far Away from Food until Monday, January 16.

Guess what happened? I couldn’t.  I couldn’t stay away. First, there was that chicken that had been defrosting that I needed to do something with. Then, there were the leftovers to deal with. And then last night I decided to make some cream of potato soup. Why? Because we had potatoes, and they needed to be used. Continue reading →

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Finding The Balance for The Balanced Pastry Chef

Posted on January 10, 2012 by onlinepastrychef
Balancing ActClick the picture for attribution.  Thanks, DigitalNative for the fantastic photo.

You may or may not have noticed that I changed the name of my blog from Pastry Methods and Techniques to The Balanced Pastry Chef. I changed the name after really coming to understand on a deep personal level that food can heal, and food can kill. Not like the Deadly Oleander–suddenly and with sharp stomach pains–but slowly and insidiously.  And advertisers keep wanting us to buy Killer Food. Dead food.

I really don’t want to sound all scarily heavy and Depressing, but I think there are still people out there who think that, if it’s sold in a grocery store as food, then it must be okay to eat.  And that’s just not true. The more overly processed the food is, the more I feel the need to enclose the word in quotation marks, thusly: “food.”

And that’s where the balance comes in. Because y’all know I’m a Fan of sugary goodness, of gooeyness, of deep, dark, chocolatey love, of caramel. Mmmm…..caramel…. Continue reading →

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Sunday Suppers: Citrus-Fennel Pollen Roasted Chicken

Posted on January 8, 2012 by onlinepastrychef
Citrus Fennel Pollen Roast ChickenFriends, it is a sad, sad day when I have to report that I roasted a beautiful chicken in a cast iron skillet and then didn’t get to eat any of it. Not even a taste. You see, I am doing the Master Cleanse right now, and that means No Food crosses these lips.  I do, however, get to drink a lot of lemonade made with Organic Grade B maple syrup, organic lemons and pure water. And cayenne pepper.  I also get to do some other stuff which I’d rather not discuss right now, but which I am sure will make my insides Bright and Shiny.

Since as you all well know, I am not a planner, I literally just jumped into the cleanse without considering all the Awesome Food that’s in the house right now. In Retrospect, we should’ve eaten down the fridge a bit, but I didn’t want The Beloved to feel deprived. So here we are. And there we were with a chicken that’d been thawing for a couple of days in the bottom of the fridge.  And then there I was, Lemonade Girl, realizing that I had Best cook that guy.  And that’s how I got to watch as The Beloved ate all sorts of yumminess. He said it was every bit as good as I had expected it would be. So, yay. I guess.  But still.

As excited about the chicken as I was–roast him in cast iron atop a Bed of Aromatics with another cast iron pan on top of him for crispy skin–I was even more excited about the Side Dish.  Very toasty Israeli couscous cooked in the pan drippings.  I mean, doesn’t that sound great?  Onions, celery, carrots, lemon slices, salt, pepper and Citrus Fennel Sea Salt, not to mention the happy chicken drippings, all forming a luscious, thickish broth to plump up and cook my toasty couscous. Yes. Continue reading →

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A New Year’s Smackerel

Posted on January 4, 2012 by onlinepastrychef

new years snack 012Hello, friends, and Happy New Year–January 4, to be precise.  I trust your holidays were lovely. Ours were.

The first of the year is the traditional time to Take Stock and set some goals, to close one chapter (or book) and open another.  I have never been a big one for resolutions. I can recall that a friend of a friend used to host a New Year’s Party and as part of the festivities, everyone was asked to write down their resolutions and then share them with everyone else at the party. Further, they would contact all the Party-Goers every quarter to remind them of their resolutions so they could Take Stock and Adjust as Necessary. Really?! Downer, right?  More like a shareholders’ meeting than a party.  Not festive at all.  Decidedly disgruntled, I Refused to participate on the grounds that any resolutions that I Might make were nobody else’s business, and I didn’t need a group of (subdued) revelers to Hold me Accountable.

Let’s just say that that particular tradition faded quietly away.

So, I don’t have any resolutions to share with you. I do have some Items to share, however. Continue reading →

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Hammock Week: The Last Week of the Year is Always the Weirdest

Posted on December 28, 2011 by onlinepastrychef
Empty hammockPlease click photo for attribution

I’m not sure why that is.  It’s like there’s this huge build up to Christmas: frantic shopping and decorating and cooking and baking and partying and some worshiping and some more shopping and then some Oh Shit I Forgot Doololly’s Gift and the Final Mad Scramble at the Eleventh Hour.  I don’t know, it’s just a lot of build up to a one, maybe two, day event.  Spurred on by the crazy Target Shopping Lady, we all run around like Mad People making sure to get it all done. And then it is done. (It came just the same). Makes me wonder: should we spend literally 60 times as much time getting ready for a Thing as we spend on the Thing Itself?

And after the Thing is over, we all crash. And we eat. Because on January 1st, we have all sworn to Stop Eating. And between now and then we have a refrigerator, freezer and pantry to clean out people. Don’t just sit there; get busy!

Before we know it, it’s time for New Year’s. Everyone has a different tradition, I guess, but lots of folks dress up and get all Celebrate-y and make sure to find someone to kiss at midnight and they sing and they drink and dance and blow horns and What Not. And most of them haven’t even recovered from Christmas. Some folks don’t even work between the two holidays. Nobody goes to school. Not a lot gets done in the earning/learning department during that weird last week of the year.

The saggy, strange hammock of a week that hangs between the sparkly posts of Christmas and New Year’s.

What have I been doing during Hammock Week?  Let’s see.  I slept a Very Lot on Monday, because I was Exhausted from our Whirlwind Christmas Trip.  I did some writing and cleaning of cat cages.  I bought some glass storage containers, because we are trying to get away from plastics.  [As for the rise of plastics in the first place, I blame Sam Wainwright. (Click that link. Seriously. It's awesome)]. I baked a cake and mailed it off to a dear friend. I sent some folks a few of my new business cards.  We have a friend coming to stay overnight on Thursday, so I expect some Cleaning lies in my future. Ye Olde (Newe) Sleep Number Bed will be arriving on Friday. I eagerly await finding out MY sleep number, as does The Beloved.

Even with some Activity, the whole week feels like a giant Pause. A held breath. The moment when a yo-yo reaches the bottom of the string and just. hangs. there.

It’s as if the whole Christmas-celebrating world grinds to a halt before ringing in a new year that everyone hopes will be better than the one we are leaving behind.  Many folks start the new year on such a hysterical high note that they spend the First Actual Day of that new year in a near-coma. Not an auspicious beginning.  I’ve never really been one to Drink to Excess during celebrations, but even so, as the hammock swoops up to New Year, my intention is to spend January 1st the way that I’d like to spend my year: by giving, by sharing, by being kind.

My wish for all of us is that we find those things that fulfill us and live every day with positive intention, affirming the good in ourselves and others. Without being all Pollyanna-ish, I believe that we can know about the negative stuff going on in the world while still focusing on the good.  We attract what we focus on, and I will focus on the right, the good, the healthy and the tasty.

 

 

 


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Moravian Sugar Cake, or As I Like to Call It: Dear Lord, Get This Out of My House Before I Have to Bring Out the Stretchy Pants!

Posted on December 22, 2011 by onlinepastrychef

Moravian Sugar CakeSee?! I let The Beloved have some this morning before he left for work!

If you follow me on twitter or over on my facebook page, you may have noticed that I’ve been going On a bit about Moravian Sugar Cake.  And, unless you are from central North Carolina (or maybe from the Bethlehem, Pennsylvania area), you have probably never heard of it.

I grew up in Charlotte, which is about an hour and a half or so from Winston-Salem.  And because of that Proximity, I took it for granted that everyone ate Krispy-Kreme Donuts and had Moravian Sugar Cake for Christmas.  See, many tasty things come from Winston.

The Moravians (or more correctly, the members of the Moravian Church) originally settled in central North Carolina from what is now The Czech Republic and Slovakia by way of Bethlehem, Pennsylvania in the mid-ish 1700s.  Old Salem has been restored and is maintained as a living history museum and National Historic Site.  According to our friends at Wikipedia, about 70% of the buildings are original. Which means they’re Old, at least by US standards.

But enough about the history.  As far as Young Me (and Now Me, for that matter) was concerned, the whole Raison d’Etre of the Moravians in Old-Salem was to make Moravian Sugar Cake so I could Eat It.  So, what is it, exactly?  It kind of looks like focaccia, with a dimpled surface. It’s a fairly thin yeast-raised sweet dough that is then positively buried under a pile of butter, sugar and a bit of cinnamon. Continue reading →

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