Decidedly un-Delicious

In an effort to find some way to feed Oliver something besides Pediasure I have sought the culinary advice of Jessica Seinfeld, wife of none other than comedian Jerry Seinfeld, and author of Deceptively Delicious, a cookbook made famous by its spinach-laden brownie recipe. The idea is that you can sneak veggies into your kids' food by pureeing it and then mixing hidden veggies into everything from brownies to mac-n-cheese (cauliflower and carrots). I have finally found a use for the Cuisinart coffee grinder dad gave me a few years ago! I have been pureeing like a mad woman.

Some of my successes involve butternut squash (pasta sauce) and sweet potatoes (waffles). But this weekend I went for the real challenge: Beets.


Man, I so want to like beets. They are SO nutritious. They are loaded with antioxidants and other disease-fighting compounds, but YUCK. They just taste so gross!! I made a lovely magenta puree. In a Mason jar it looks like a precious gem, something unearthed by one of the Seven Dwarfs. I should just leave it in the fridge to admire and call it good. On Saturday I tried to mix a little into pancake batter. Ryan encouragingly said that once you add butter and syrup you can hardly taste the beets. Hmm...not exactly a glowing review. But for my breakfast this morning I reached new depths of yuckiness. I tried to mix in some beet puree into my yogurt. It looked like borscht. The picture below gives you an idea, but mine didn't have any beet chunks (the picture below actually IS borscht. Thank you, Internet). I added maple syrup but I couldn't mask the beet-y flavor. Being my father's daughter, I DID eat it. I felt virtuous as I choked down my beet yogurt (I made a parfait with Fiber One cereal...as if it could get any worse!!! Oh, the humanity!) Anyway, this is an experiment that I will not try again.

September Daring Bakers Challenge

This month's Daring Baker's challenge was to make lavash crackers (an Armenian flatbread) and a gluten-free vegan dip. Abby opted out of this month's challenge. She claimed that since she doesn't get to cook as often as she would like, any cooking or baking she gets to this month would NOT include making anything vegan or gluten free.

So, I completed the challenge on my own. I've got to say the crackers were super easy, but kind of underwhelming. Maybe I did them wrong, since I have never tasted lavash as far as I know. Essentially, it's just a rather bland thin cracker. I'm not even going to bother posting the recipe since it was kind of blah. Here's a picture of them though:


So despite their mediocrity, these lavash crackers were just the right vehicle for the AWESOME roasted eggplant dip that I made from the Barefoot Contessa (again, a shout out to my girl Ina Garten). This is so delicious and so healthy! I made it to bring to our friend's house (HI RACHEL!!) when we had the lamb burgers. They made a great easy alternative to hummus. The recipe in the cookbook indicates that you should peel the eggplant. The second time I made this (yes, it was that good!) I left the peel on since that is where the antioxidants are. This dip is good with toasted pitas or veggies. I am partial to cucumber slices.

ROASTED EGGPLANT DIP
1 medium eggplant
2 red bell peppers, seeded
1 red onion, peeled
2 garlic cloves, minced
3 tablespoons good olive oil
1 1/2 teaspoons kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1 tablespoon tomato paste


Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.
Cut the eggplant, bell pepper, and onion into 1-inch cubes. Toss them in a large bowl with the garlic, olive oil, salt, and pepper. Spread them on a baking sheet. Roast for 45 minutes, until the vegetables are lightly browned and soft, tossing once during cooking.
Cool slightly.

Place the vegetables in a food processor fitted with a steel blade, add the tomato paste, and pulse 3 or 4 times to blend. Taste for salt and pepper.

"Home" Cooking

There is a lovely restaurant on Cornelia Street in the West Village, called "Home". It is a charming little place with a deck out back where I had my medical school graduation party.

As a graduation present, someone in my family gave me the cookbook from the restaurant. In his foreward to the book, Calvin Trilling comments on how the restaurant serves up dishes that feel home-y, but are a LITTLE more impressive than what he actually ate at home growing up.

So despite not having actually made this particular chocolate pudding at home, I will post the recipe in the spirit of 'what home might be'. Anna requested it, I think because she is going to make it for my favorite picky eater, the best 2 and a half year-old boy there ever was. I wish I could be in Cackalacky to enjoy it with them. Save some leftovers for me!

CHOCOLATE PUDDING
there's always room for chocolate

4 cups heavy cream
5 oz bittersweet chocolate, finely chopped
6 large egg yolks
1/2 cup granuated sugar
1 tsp vanilla
pinch of salt

Preheat oven to 325 degrees.
Bring heavy cream to a simmer in a large saucepan, then remove from heat. Add 1 cup warm milk to chocolate in a large bowl and let stand until melted. Stir until smooth, then add remaining cream.
In a separate bowl, whisk together egg yolks, sugar, vanilla and salt. Gradually whisk in the chocolate and cream mixture. Strain pudding through a fine mesh and skim off the froth.
Pour into 8 6-oz ramekins and place in a bain-marie (use hot water). Cover with alumnimum foil and bake for 50 minutes until edges are set and center is still soft.
Allow to cool to room temperature, and then refrigerate for several hours.
Serve chilled.
I think it would be nice to put chocolate shavings on top. Mmm. Mmm.

Food of Our Father

Our dad, J.P. Ford, MD, was down here checking out the Cackalacky Kitchen this past weekend. In honor of our dad, who may well be our only blog reader, or at least our only reader who has this site "Favorited" (way to go, Dad!) I thought I would post an iconic Ford recipe:

THE UNADILLA POWER BREAKFAST

Unadilla is a small town in upstate New York where my dad has a house. He works in State College, PA for most of the week, so this house is at the present mostly a weekend place. Unadilla is our dad's Shangri-la. Even when he is traveling to France or Montreal, which are close seconds to Unadilla in his book, he is always satisfied that he would still prefer to be in Unadilla than any place else on the planet. Part of its charm is that not much changes. Unadilla is sort of like the town time forgot, and the Unadilla Power Breakfast is likewise a little outside the mainstream. A culinary eddy if you will.

The Unadilla Power Breakfast is the name Abby gave to the gastronomic experience that begins at about 8 or 9 in the morning and continues until around noon, when preparations for the afternoon meal begin. As a note of warning or explanation, our dad loves to eat and there is really nothing that he doesn't eat.

To set the stage, before breakfast Dad will have hopped on his bike or just walked down Main Street to the Great American to pick up the New York Times and any key ingredients that weren't on hand. When he gets home he'll turn on some German opera CD really, really loud. There are no speakers in the dining room where the stereo is so what sounds like a reasonable volume in the dining room is ear splitting in the kitchen.

Phase One--The Classic Unadilla Breakfast

Break up some shredded wheat into a cereal bowl. Drizzle maple syrup over the shredded wheat. Add a handful of frozen blueberries. Pour milk over the berries and shredded wheat (it is advisable to check the date on the milk and do the sniff test if no one has been at the house for a while!). Retreat to the sunroom to read the paper and enjoy the wholesome goodness of a nutritionally sound breakfast.

Phase Two -- The Unadilla Power Breakfast

You realize 20-30 minutes later that you are still hungry and something in the Times made you mad, so you go back into the kitchen to see what you can scrounge up. This is what puts the POWER in the Unadilla Power Breakfast. Out comes the salami or sopresatta, Roquefort and/or Epoisses cheese (the stinkier the better), smoked salmon, capers, cornichons, and Wheat-thins. All washed down with "fizzy water" with lots and lots of ice. You might not know that the best thing to chase blueberries and shredded wheat is a cured meat and stinky cheese bender, but then you would not have experienced a true Unadilla Power Breakfast. This Phase of the meal continues until all the edible provisions (and frankly, often many non-edible provisions) have been consumed.

Then we go outside and pull weeds, lament the damage done to the garden by the woodchucks/deer, and start planning what we'll eat for supper.

Easy Weeknight Dinner

I made a really easy dish of grilled green peppers, pineapples and Aidells chicken teriyaki meatballs. The meatballs were on sale so I thought I'd give them a shot. Man, they were good! We grilled the pineapple and peppers on an indoor griddle and I made a sauce from the pineapple juice (can you tell I used canned pineapple?!?!) some soy sauce, garlic, and Thai sweet chili sauce and thickened it up with some corn starch. I served it over rice. The whole meal took about 15 minutes to make and was really scrumptious.

Faux Burgers

Today marks the official end of summer. Summer is usually grilling season, but since it's usually hotter than the surface of the sun on our patio in the late afternoon, we haven't been grilling much. The advent of fall means that we can finally get back out there.

These are two awesome burger recipes that we've enjoyed at our friends' houses. Once it cools down we'll try grilling them at home. They are absurdly delicious.

GOAT CHEESE-STUFFED LAMB BURGERS WITH YOGURT CUCUMBER SAUCE
Source: Raichlen’s Indoor Grilling by Steven Raichlen (Workman,2004)

For the burgers:
1-1/2 pounds ground lamb
1 small onion, finely chopped
1 clove garlic, minced
3 tablespoons chopped fresh mint, or 2 teaspoons dried mint
3 tablespoons finely chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley
1 teaspoon dried oregano (preferably Greek)
1 teaspoon coarse salt (kosher or sea) or more to taste
1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1/2 pound goat cheese

For serving:
4 pita breads
4 rinsed romaine lettuce leaves
4 paper-thin slices red onion (optional)
1 medium-size cucumber, peeled and thinly sliced
1 medium-size ripe tomato, thinly sliced
Yogurt Cucumber Sauce (recipe follows)

Place the ground lamb, chopped onion, garlic, mint, parsley, oregano, salt,
and pepper in a mixing bowl and stir with a wooden spoon to mix. Wet your
hands with cold water and divide the mixture into 4 equal portions.
Working quickly and with a light touch, pat each portion into a thick patty
with a 2-ounce round of goat cheese in the center. (Make sure cheese is
completely covered with meat.) Place the patties on a plate lined with
plastic wrap and refrigerate, covered, until ready to grill.
Set up the grill for direct grilling and preheat to high.

Grill the lamb burgers until cooked through, about 7 minutes per side (about
170 degrees on an instant-read meat thermometer). Remove the burgers and
cover to keep warm.
Place the pita breads on the grill, and lowering the temperature and working
in batches, if necessary, grill until toasted, about 1 minute per side.
Cut a slit in each pita. Place a lettuce leaf inside, followed by a burger, an
onion slice, if using, some cucumber and tomato slices, and a generous
dollop of yogurt sauce. Serve at once.

Yogurt Cucumber Sauce
Makes about 1-1/2 cups
1 medium-size cucumber
1 clove garlic, minced
1/2 teaspoon coarse salt (kosher or sea), or more to taste
1 cup plain whole-milk yogurt
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
1 tablespoon chopped fresh mint, or 1 teaspoon dried mint
Freshly ground black pepper
Peel the cucumber and cut it in half lengthwise. Scrape out the seeds with a
melon baller or spoon. Coarsely grate the cucumber.
Place the garlic and salt in a mixing bowl and mash to a paste with the back
of a spoon. Stir in the grated cucumber, yogurt, olive oil, and mint. Taste
for seasoning, adding more salt, if necessary, and pepper to taste. The sauce
should be highly seasoned.

Oprah's Favorite Turkey Burgers
When Oprah says these "may be the best turkey burgers in the entire world," you gotta believe that she knows what she's talking about!

Ingredients:
1/4 cup thinly sliced scallions
1/2 cup finely chopped celery
3 Granny Smith apples , peeled and diced
1/8 cup canola oil
4 pounds ground turkey breast
2 Tbsp. salt
2 Tbsp. black pepper
2 tsp. Tabasco® chipotle pepper sauce (hello, this stuff is AWESOME!!)
1 lemon , juiced and grated zest
1/2 bunch parsley , finely chopped
1/4 cup Major Grey's Chutney , pureed (try Patak's brand chutney)

Sauté the scallions, celery and apples in the canola oil until tender. Let cool.Place the ground turkey in a large mixing bowl. Add sautéed items and the remaining ingredients. Shape into eight 8-ounce burgers. Refrigerate for 2 hours.Season the turkey burgers with salt and pepper. Place on a preheated, lightly oiled grill. Grill each side for 7 minutes until meat is thoroughly cooked. Let sit for 5 minutes. Serve with remaining chutney rather than ketchup. Yum!

Eclairs with Procrastination

OK, better late than never. I finally made the eclairs which were the Daring Baker's challenge for August. Abby finished the mini-eclairs that we started together and posted about it in a previous entry.

I also did an orange-chocolate pastry creme. I don't think I put enough orange essence in the pastry creme. It sure SMELLED like orange but one of my tasters said they couldn't taste much orange. I thought the chocolate was a little too dark for my taste. I would have wanted it a bit less intense. Unlike Abby's cute little eclairs with the glaze drizzled just so, mine weren't so pretty. The glaze was fun to do, and I think next time I'd try to be a little bit neater. I wonder what else I could do with chocolate glaze?

For the record, here is the recipe that we from the Daring Bakers. It looks pretty complicated, but I think that's just because we aren't used to making eclairs. Now that I've done it once (or twice counting making the pastry with Abby) I think it would be a lot smoother. It really wasn't that tricky. It's not exactly a last-minute dessert though.

Pierre Hermé’s Chocolate Éclairs
Recipe from Chocolate Desserts by Pierre Hermé
(makes 20-24 Éclairs)

• Cream Puff Dough (see below for recipe), fresh and still warm

1) Preheat your oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C). Divide the oven into thirds by
positioning the racks in the upper and lower half of the oven. Line two baking sheets with
waxed or parchment paper.

2) Fill a large pastry bag fitted with a 2/3 (2cm) plain tip nozzle with the warm cream puff dough.
Pipe the dough onto the baking sheets in long, 4 to 41/2 inches (about 11 cm) chubby fingers.
Leave about 2 inches (5 cm) space in between each dough strip to allow them room to puff.
The dough should give you enough to pipe 20-24 éclairs.

3) Slide both the baking sheets into the oven and bake for 7 minutes. After the 7 minutes, slip the
handle of a wooden spoon into the door to keep in ajar. When the éclairs have been in the
oven for a total of 12 minutes, rotate the sheets top to bottom and front to back. Continue
baking for a further 8 minutes or until the éclairs are puffed, golden and firm. The total baking
time should be approximately 20 minutes.

Notes:
1) The éclairs can be kept in a cool, dry place for several hours before filling.

Assembling the éclairs:

• Chocolate glaze (see below for recipe)
• Chocolate pastry cream (see below for recipe)

1) Slice the éclairs horizontally, using a serrated knife and a gently sawing motion. Set aside the
bottoms and place the tops on a rack over a piece of parchment paper.

2) The glaze should be barely warm to the touch (between 95 – 104 degrees F or 35 – 40
degrees C, as measured on an instant read thermometer). Spread the glaze over the tops of
the éclairs using a metal icing spatula. Allow the tops to set and in the meantime fill the
bottoms with the pastry cream.

3) Pipe or spoon the pastry cream into the bottoms of the éclairs. Make sure you fill the bottoms
with enough cream to mound above the pastry. Place the glazed tops onto the pastry cream
and wriggle gently to settle them.

Notes:
1) If you have chilled your chocolate glaze, reheat by placing it in a bowl over simmering water,
stirring it gently with a wooden spoon. Do not stir too vigorously as you do not want to create
bubbles.

2) The éclairs should be served as soon as they have been filled.

Pierre Hermé’s Cream Puff Dough
(makes 20-24 Éclairs)

• ½ cup (125g) whole milk
• ½ cup (125g) water
• 1 stick (4 ounces; 115g) unsalted butter, cut into 8 pieces
• ¼ teaspoon sugar
• ¼ teaspoon salt
• 1 cup (140g) all-purpose flour
• 5 large eggs, at room temperature

1) In a heavy bottomed medium saucepan, bring the milk, water, butter, sugar and salt to the
boil.

2) Once the mixture is at a rolling boil, add all of the flour at once, reduce the heat to medium
and start to stir the mixture vigorously with a wooden spoon. The dough comes together very
quickly. Do not worry if a slight crust forms at the bottom of the pan, it’s supposed to. You
need to carry on stirring for a further 2-3 minutes to dry the dough. After this time the dough
will be very soft and smooth.

3) Transfer the dough into a bowl of a mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, or using your
handmixer or if you still have the energy, continue by hand. Add the eggs one at a time,
beating after each egg has been added to incorporate it into the dough.
You will notice that after you have added the first egg, the dough will separate, once again do
not worry. As you keep working the dough, it will come back all together again by the time you
have added the third egg. In the end the dough should be thick and shiny and when lifted it
should fall back into the bowl in a ribbon.

4) The dough should be still warm. It is now ready to be used for the éclairs as directed above.

Notes:
1) Once the dough is made you need to shape it immediately.

2) You can pipe the dough and the freeze it. Simply pipe the dough onto parchment-lined baking
sheets and slide the sheets into the freezer. Once the dough is completely frozen, transfer the
piped shapes into freezer bags. They can be kept in the freezer for up to a month.

Chocolate Pastry Cream
• 2 cups (500g) whole milk
• 4 large egg yolks
• 6 tbsp (75g) sugar
• 3 tablespoons cornstarch, sifted
• 7 oz (200g) bittersweet chocolate, preferably Velrhona Guanaja, melted
• 2½ tbsp (1¼ oz: 40g) unsalted butter, at room temperature

1) In a small saucepan, bring the milk to a boil. In the meantime, combine the yolks, sugar and cornstarch together and whisk in a heavy‐bottomed saucepan.

2) Once the milk has reached a boil, temper the yolks by whisking a couple spoonfuls of the hot milk into the yolk mixture.Continue whisking and slowly pour the rest of the milk into the tempered yolk mixture.

3) Strain the mixture back into the saucepan to remove any egg that may have scrambled. Place the pan over medium heat and whisk vigorously (without stop) until the mixture returns to a boil. Keep whisking vigorously for 1 to 2 more minutes (still over medium heat).Stir in the melted chocolate and then remove the pan from the heat.

4) Scrape the pastry cream into a small bowl and set it in an ice‐water bath to stop the cooking process. Make sure to continue stirring the mixture at this point so that it remains smooth.

5) Once the cream has reached a temperature of 140 F remove from the ice‐water bath and stir in the butter in three or four installments. Return the cream to the ice‐water bath to continue cooling, stirring occasionally, until it has completely cooled. The cream is now ready to use or store in the fridge.

Notes:
1) The pastry cream can be made 2‐3 days in advance and stored in the refrigerator.

2) In order to avoid a skin forming on the pastry cream, cover with plastic wrap pressed onto the cream.

3) Tempering the eggs raises the temperature of the eggs slowly so that they do not scramble.

Chocolate Glaze
(makes 1 cup or 300g)

• 1/3 cup (80g) heavy cream
• 3½ oz (100g) bittersweet chocolate, finely chopped
• 4 tsp (20 g) unsalted butter, cut into 4 pieces, at room temperature
• 7 tbsp (110 g) Chocolate Sauce (recipe below), warm or at room temperature

1)In a small saucepan, bring the heavy cream to a boil. Remove from the heat and slowly begin to add the chocolate, stirring with a wooden spoon or spatula.

2) Stirring gently, stir in the butter, piece by piece followed by the chocolate sauce.

Notes:
1) If the chocolate glaze is too cool (i.e. not liquid enough) you may heat it briefly
 in the microwave or over a double boiler. A double boiler is basically a bowl sitting over (not touching) simmering water.

2) It is best to glaze the eclairs after the glaze is made, but if you are pressed for time, you can make the glaze a couple days ahead of time, store it in the fridge and bring it up to the proper temperature (95 to 104 F) when ready to glaze.

Chocolate Sauce
(makes 1½ cups or 525 g)

• 4½ oz (130 g) bittersweet chocolate, finely chopped
• 1 cup (250 g) water
• ½ cup (125 g) crème fraîche, or heavy cream
• 1/3 cup (70 g) sugar

1) Place all the ingredients into a heavy‐bottomed saucepan and bring to a boil, making sure to stir constantly. Then reduce the heat to low and continue stirring with a wooden spoon until the sauce thickens.

2) It may take 10‐15 minutes for the sauce to thicken, but you will know when it is done when it coats the back of your spoon.

Notes:
1) You can make this sauce ahead of time and store it in the refrigerator for two weeks. Reheat the sauce in a microwave oven or a double boiler before using.
2) This sauce is also great for cakes, ice-cream and tarts.