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Green Chili and Cheddar Souffle

May 2, 2010 By kellypea

Eggs

One of the things I’ve learned over the years about food is that often, the recipes that have a reputation for being fussy are anything but.   Souffles are a great example of this.  Think of all the times you’ve seen a cook depicted making a souffle that failed to rise, or had fallen because of a loud sound.  Why would the average cook want to waste time and ingredients on something that temperamental?

Honestly, I’ve had more trouble with brownies and biscuits before, but I’ll chalk it up to approaching a common recipe with little or no thought and then blowing it when I least expected to.  The fussy reputation of a souffle keeps me in line, and so I pay attention when I’m making one.

If you’ve never tried one, you should.  They’re perfect for a light meal on a weeknight because you will nearly always have everything you need on hand:  eggs, milk, a bit of flour, and whatever you’d like to flavor it with.  If you’re like me, your cheese drawer is always in need of attention and the combinations are just about limitless.

Just remember — it’s all about the size of the dish.

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Filed Under: Baked, Cheese, Chilis, Eggs, Meatless, Method, Vegetarian Tagged With: , , ,

Clafoutis Two Ways: Seckel Pears and Blueberries

September 12, 2009 By kellypea

Seckel Pear Clafouti

I’ve mentioned before that I have a minor problem with purchasing too much produce when I make my trips to the market. It’s not so much that my eyes are bigger than my stomach, but more a need to have endless possibilities to experiment with when I am ready to cook. This is completely ridiculous, of course. I haven’t had as much time to cook lately, so getting organized for the possibility has stuffed our fridge beyond its limits with bags of arugula and baby spinach left to rest on top of milk cartons, grapes and berries stuffed into the deli drawer, and the vegetable bin so full I can barely close it. Thankfully the long weekend has given me some time to use the ingredients and not a moment too soon because a few items went from being a salad contender to a shoe-in for something baked.

Such was the cute little bunch of seckel pears I couldn’t resist when I saw them at the market. The smallest variety of pear and the only developed in the U.S., they’re very sweet. Like all pears, they’re best picked when mature, but left to ripen off the tree to prevent graininess. Although I enjoy the mild flavor of most pears, I enjoy them while still firm and the seckels I purchased, having sat for days in a plastic bag were well past that point.

Because I usually end up eating pears raw, I haven’t made that many dishes with pears that involve cooking. Something quick and easy was in order, so a clafoutis seemed to be the best choice. Traditionally a French dessert made with cherries, clafoutis is made with a batter somewhat like that of pancake, but with more egg. The consistency of the cooked custard is not unlike that of crepes, or a German pancake and quite good.

Take a look around your kitchen for fruit that has seen better days and experiment a bit to end up with something just as nice on the breakfast table as for dessert.

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Filed Under: Baked, Dessert, Eggs, Fruit, Method, Special Occasion, Tea Time Tagged With: , ,

A Pavlova for Tartelette

April 10, 2009 By kellypea

White TulipsSome of you may know that I was asked to do a guest post for Tartelette.    You know, The Tartelette?

Yes.  I know.

Of course I had a few moments of the puffy ego syndrome after an initial self-indulgent happy dance before I snapped out of it and began to fret about what to make.  Ohhhhhh, the sweet agony of making this particular decision.  I’m a meat and veggie type of person, comfortable with trying a bit of this and a bit of that.  I have a fondness for salad and greens, and a little addiction for the perfect muffin.  But making something special that would look like it belonged up front and center on Tartelette’s site?

Well.  You have no idea the fuss I made over this.  You’d have thought the Queen of England was coming to dinner.  Seriously.  But I had so much fun.  Far more fun than I’d have had if I’d needed to choose a little black dress for an event as swanky as that.

I don’t do little black dresses.  Ever.

But I learned quite a bit making A Pavola for Tartelette — or Helen, who is quite the amazing person if you’re fortunate enough to know her.

I hope you take some time to visit her, read my post,  and decide what you think of my Pavlova — definitely more of a tutu than a little black dress if you ask me.

And no, I don’t do tutus, either.  It just might conjure images of dancing hippos instead of ballerinas.

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Filed Under: Baked, Berries, Cookbooks and Magazines, Dessert, Eggs, Fruit, Gourmet, Lemon, Method, Special Occasion, Strawberries Tagged With: , ,

Broccoli Bacon Cheddar Frittata

March 26, 2009 By kellypea

Broccoli Bacon Cheddar Frittata One of the very nice things about having a close friend is knowing that when she calls early on a Saturday and asks if I want to go somewhere with her, I don’t have to worry too much about things like fixing my hair or making sure I have eyebrows on.  On this particular occasion, it was a tomato festival of sorts and since I’ve been thinking about tomatoes I thought it would be great to avoid planting seeds and just cut to the chase with small plants.

You can call me weak.  It’s quite all right.

Nevertheless, we did drive up to the Quail Botanical Gardens to peek at the booths of herbs and homemade soaps, jams, and of course, tomato plants featured at the Tomatomania event.  I purchased several varieties including a few Super Marzanos and have lovingly planted them all in one huge pot.  Yes, I know there’s a rule about how far apart one should plant tomatoes, but I have limited space and I’m planning on watching like a hawk, making sure they get just the right amount of water and sunlight as any good helicopter parent should.

But this isn’t about tomatoes — yet.  Again.  It’s about broccoli.

My good friend is an avid gardener and is already gathering gorgeous heads of broccoli so of course, she gave me one before we set out on our Saturday morning trek.  The broccoli sat on the kitchen counter the rest of the day and I proudly showed my husband, “Look.  Look what Mrs. B grew in her very own garden.”  To my husband’s credit, he was actually quite impressed as those of us who have never grown broccoli might be and I placed the broccoli back on its towel having decided that I’d make a quiche or frittata in the morning for Sunday breakfast.

The next morning…

Picture me still semi-delirious and rinsing the coffee pot so that I might soon enjoy my daily jolt.  Picture my son bending over the very slightly wilted head of broccoli, hands in pockets and observing, “Mom.  It appears your broccoli has aphids.”

And he was right.  Hundreds of little green bugs lay perfectly around the broccoli as if someone had told them a pot of hot water was looming in their immediate future and they had all jumped ship — erm — vegetable.  The first thing I thought of was my friend because she’d mentioned they were going to have broccoli soup for dinner the night before and I wondered whether she’d noticed the bugs.  Oh, my.  There were so many tiny bugs.

Upon closer inspection, I noticed there were a variety of bugs, or at least bugs in varying stages of metamorphosis.  Stuck to the sides of the stems were dark rounds somewhat resembling scale. I sprayed the broccoli, picking through all the florettes and holding a fine-meshed strainer beneath to see what I collected.  Then I blanched the floretes, watching even more little bugs swirl in the boiling water before floating to the top.  As usual, a douse in a cold water bath to stop the cooking not only made the broccoli’s color quite vivid, but uncovered a few more critters who managed to make it through the previous attempts to rid the broccoli of their presence.

I was convinced I’d won but had to call my friend to let her know.  Yes, they’d enjoyed the broccoli soup, but no, they hadn’t seen any bugs.  Evidently we were the sole lucky recipients of the protein bonus with the broccoli.

Regardless, we enjoyed a lovely frittata that morning.  Bugs or no bugs.  Just don’t ask me to eat a grass hopper, okay?  Even if it’s deep-fried and has bacon wrapped around it.

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Filed Under: Baked, Breakfast, Eggs, Meat, Method, Pork, Quick & Easy Meal, Vegetables Tagged With: , , , ,

Chocolate Mousse

December 29, 2008 By kellypea

It figures that after a rather extended break from blogging for the holidays, I’d surface to confess that for the first time since joining the Daring Bakers 18 challenges ago, I decided not to participate in the bake fest this month.

I’m feeling quite sheepish about it, too, so I’m not going to bore you with my whining  and excuses.  Instead, I’ll send you to this month’s hosts, Hilda of Saffron and Blueberry and Marion of Il en Faut Peu Pour Etre Heureux to take a gander at the French Yule Log I was to have made — but didn’t.  It is quite the beautiful creation!

Instead, I have a simple, but decadent chocolate mousse that we enjoyed after our Christmas dinner with some sweetened cream and raspberries.  This is my favorite chocolate mousse recipe because it’s very straight forward, so quick to make, and very, very chocolatey.

Ready for chilling...

Mousse au Chocolat
serves 4

7-1/2 oz. dark chocolate
1/2 c. half-n-half
3 egg yolks
5 egg whites
3 T plus 1 tsp. sugar

Coarsely chop chocolate and combine with half-n-half in a small sauce pan over low heat, stirring occasionally until chocolate is completely melted.  Off the heat, beat in the egg yolks one at a time, stirring rapidly with each addition.

In a separate bowl, beat egg whites until stiff peaks form.  Gradually add sugar, beating well after each addition and until whites are stiff and glossy.

Using a whip, add whites to chocolate mixture a third at a time, carefully folding to incorporate and lighten.

Divide mousse into four serving bowls and chill for at least one hour before serving.

Sweetened cream and raspberries finish it off...

Notes:

  • I used bittersweet chocolate but have used semisweet as well.  Trader Joes sells giant bars for a great price, so this dessert is fairly inexpensive.
  • I routinely freeze left over egg whites in small marked baggies.  It comes in handy for recipes like this when more whites than yolks are required.  To thaw, I set them in a cool dish of water, occasionally pressing on the whites in the bag to break them up.  It doesn’t take very long.
  • I doubled this recipe and it generously served 11 with perhaps 2 more servings left over.
  • I found this recipe a few years ago in The Paris Cafe Cookbook by Daniel Young.  It’s a collection of recipes from 50 of the “best” Paris cafes and I haven’t tried one that hasn’t been delicious.

IMG_8352

Filed Under: Chocolate, Dessert, Eggs, French, Holiday Food, Make Ahead Tagged With: , , , , , , , , ,

Flourless Chocolate Almond Spice Cookies

December 19, 2008 By kellypea

Gourmet-cookie-logo
This is my last official 12 Days of Cookies entry, finished a week behind my other cookie-baking buddies:  Andrea of Andrea’s Recipes, Claire of The Barefoot Kitchen, Sandy of At the Baker’s Bench, Courtney of Coco Cooks, Judy of No Fear Entertaining, and Jerry of Cooking by the Seat of My Pants.  And you’d think I’d be completely done with all cookies after this marathon, but I was roped into graciously agreed to baking a few more for a good friend’s party yesterday.

I think it’s fitting that these flourless bites of chocolate and almonds found their way onto her big cookie platter, don’t you?

One of Gourmet’s Favorite Cookies from December 1994, Heart-Shaped Chocolate Almond Spice Cookies, or “Basler Brunsli” are a pleasant shift from the norm both in taste, ingredients, and preparation for me.  The “dough” is predominantly nuts and chocolate with egg whites and sugar.  A food processor makes the prep simple.  IMG_7932

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Filed Under: Baked, Chef's Recipes, Chefs and Bloggers, Chocolate, Cookies, Dessert, Eggs, Gluten-Free, Holiday Food, Method, Nuts Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , , ,
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