Creme Brulee: Barefoot Bloggers

Mmmmmm, creme brulee.  This used to be my favorite dessert to order at a restaurant.  Then, for the first birthday Zach celebrated after we started dating I got him a creme brulee kit from Williams Sonoma, and I haven't ordered it at a restaurant since.  As a good girlfriend, hoping to get the 'perfect presents' for the first birthday we would have in our relationship (about 7 months long at that point), I had heard him mention wanting to make creme brulee several times in passing.  Well, I know you need a torch for that, and it seemed like he just wanted to play with fire, not unlike most boys.  And, the idea of having to go buy a torch just for the kitchen was a bit strange to me, since my dad is a welder.  If we needed a torch, he just went and got one out of his truck.  Torches were used in our house for tasks that other households would simply use matches for.  Pilot light out?  Dad can get his torch.  Need a candle lit?  Dad can get his torch.  Electric go out and the lanterns need to be lit, Dad got his, well, you get the picture.  But, as I thought more about it I realized, buying a creme brulee kit for my boyfriend meant my boyfriend would make creme brulee, and who would help him eat it?  Oh yes, me!  So, it's now what Zach refers to as the original 'self-serving gift' of our relationship.  :-)

We've always mainly stuck to the recipe that came with the kit from Williams Sonoma.  But, this Ina recipe gave us a chance to try a new one.  It was very yummy.  I added Amaretto instead of the Grand Marnier that the recipe called for.  I just prefer the flavor.  Our usual recipe uses real vanilla beans and steeps the beans in the cream, so this one was a bit simpler, and just as good.  We found a keeper!

Ina's Creme Brulee

Cheese Souffle: Barefoot Bloggers

I made one change to this recipe, the type of cheese.  Neither Zach or I like blue cheese, not at all.  So, I read through the reviews of the recipe, and also looked up an alternate recipe and subsequent reviews for a cheese souffle from one of my other favorite Food Network personalities, Alton Brown.  From these sources I got the idea to change the cheese to Emmanteler.  I gotta say, I did not love this recipe.  I am glad I made it, since souffles are one of those things that you hear about being tough to master, but I didn't think it was hard to make at all, I just did not like the texture for this type of savory flavor.  I will try a chocolate souffle sometime in the future, but probably not a cheese one again.  It just wasn't that appealing to me.

Ina's Blue Cheese Souffle

November/December Cookbook of the Month

So, I've been a bad blogger, a very bad blogger.  November has been a crazy month, and we haven't even hit Thanksgiving yet!  I had two weeks at work where I had to stay each night, and if I stay late, the traffic increases and my evening commute lengthens from just over an hour to almost two hours.  Yeah, not fun.  So, those nights have been devoid of trying any new recipes and filled with leftovers, frozen pizzas and quick non-recipe meals -- quesadillas, rice and beans, nothing good to really blog about.  I like my entries to be something I tried for the first time, or an old favorite, but I like them all to be actual recipes, not general, anyone-can-throw-this-together-kind-of-food.  Also in November was my birthday - yay!  Which also resulted in a string of meals out at restaurants.  I will blog one of those visits soon, to Vintage 50, which was amazing, but back to the point of this post, we haven't been doing too much blog-worthy cooking lately in our kitchen and it's time to fix that.  Of course I say this as we are about to leave town for Thanksgiving, but since we also tend to do a decent amount of cooking at my parent's house, I'll be sure to take any pictures for new entries.

As a result of the craziness of November, I won't be able to get three recipes out of my cookbook of the month choice, partially because of time, and partially because it was so hard to pick just three!  So, I'm making it a double month book and will try for 5 or so between November and December.  I've chosen The Best Light Recipe, by the fine folks at Cook's Illustrated.  I love their extensive testing of recipes to determine what really is the 'best' version of something.  Also, Zach just got me a subscription to the monthly magazine as part of my birthday present, so look for some of their regular recipes too!

Sage Polenta

We planted some sage in our mini herb garden this summer.  We just moved into a new apartment in the middle of August and decided now that we live farther south it would be a decent time to start a pot of herbs.  In Upstate New York we would have only gotten a few weeks before a hard frost would kill the herbs, but in Virginia we're hoping to keep them going until early to mid November.  So, sage was one of the herbs we planted.  Then we were left with tons of sage and not a lot of recipes that use it!  So, this was a result of one of Zach's sage recipe searches.  It was very yummy and a definite keeper recipe!  It would be great as a side dish, or as we used it, in exchange for mashed potatoes as the base of a sauteed sausage, peppers and onions mix.  We left out the roasted corn as we had everything else on hand, and it was fine without it.  Since we used it as a base for the sausage mix I think it was better without it in this purpose, but the roasted corn would be great if you were using the recipe as a straight side dish.

Creamy Polenta with Roasted Corn and Fresh Sage

allrecipes.com

Serves 4
Prep time 20 minutes
Cook time 1 hour

Ingredients

• 2 ears corn
• 3 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 teaspoon finely chopped garlic
• 1/2 yellow onion, diced
• 3 cups water
• 2 cups milk
• 1 cup cornmeal
• salt and pepper to taste
• 3 tablespoons chopped fresh sage leaves
• 1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese

Directions

Grill corn in the husks, or roast in the oven; cut kernels from cob.

In a heavy 4-quart saucepan heat oil over medium heat. Stir in garlic and onions; reduce heat to low and cook until onions are translucent.

Stir in water and milk and bring to a boil over medium-high heat. Slowly stir in cornmeal, whisking thoroughly. Reduce heat to low and simmer for 30 minutes, stirring often to prevent sticking and burning. Season with salt and pepper; simmer 15 minutes more.

When cornmeal is tender, stir in corn, sage and Parmesan cheese. Transfer to a large bowl to serve.

Apple Scones

This is another recipe from the Apple Cookbook.  I've never made scones before and think that these turned out pretty well for my first attempt!  We had Zach's family visiting and I never got to eat one, so I think it's a good sign that they were popular!  The dough was rather wet to work with, so I was a bit nervous, but I think it was a very humid day that caused it.  Hopefully next time I make them I will actually get to taste one!  I actually deviated from the recipe when it came to the cooking method.  It said to cook on a griddle or skillet, but I baked them at 450 for about 20 minutes.  Here's the picture, the scones are on the left :-)

Apple Scones
The Apple Cookbook

Ingredients:

1 1/2 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
1/4 cup sugar
4 tablespoons butter
1 egg
1/4 cup plain yogurt or buttermilk
1 large apple (McIntosh, Golden Delicious are suggested in the book, I used Paula Reds.)

Directions:

• Sift the flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon and nutmeg into a bowl.  Add the sugar and mix.
• Cut in the butter with a pastry blender until the mixture resembles large crumbs.  Make a well in the center.
• Beat the egg and yogurt together in a small bowl.  
• Peel, core and finely chop the apple.  Stir into the yogurt mixture.
• Pour the yogurt mixture into the center of the dry ingredients and, using a fork, stir to form a soft dough.
• On a floured surface, pat the dough into a 1/2 inch thick round and cut into 8 triangles.
• Heat a griddle or heavy skillet over low to medium heat and sprinkle lightly with flour.  Cook the scones triangles for 5 minutes, until they are golden brown on the bottom.  Turn and cook for 4 minutes longer, serve warm.

Southern Biscuits and Sawmill Gravy

These are a great breakfast, or dinner!  I had some leftover buttermilk from a recipe, and what better way to use it than in biscuits.  My dad has a thing for biscuits and has been through several recipes searching for just the right one from his childhood.  He's settled on an imitation of KFC's biscuits from one of those secret restaurant recipes books.  It involves club soda though, and I don't ever have that on hand, and think it's pointless to buy it for half a cup, or whatever amount the recipe needs.  Whenever I want the best version of a recipe I always first look for the Alton Brown version.  Since he's a food science geek as well as a chef I know he's done all the needed research to find the most appropriate method and ingredients to yield the best result.  These biscuits are no exception.

Southern Biscuits and Sawmill Gravy

Alton Brown, via Food Network, Biscuits and Gravy

Southern Biscuits

Ingredients

2 cups flour

4 teaspoons baking powder

1/4 teaspoon baking soda

3/4 teaspoon salt

2 tablespoons butter

2 tablespoons shortening

1 cup buttermilk, chilled

Directions

Preheat oven to 450 degrees.

In a large mixing bowl, combine flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Using your fingertips, rub butter and shortening into dry ingredients until mixture looks like crumbs. (The faster the better, you don't want the fats to melt.) Make a well in the center and pour in the chilled buttermilk. Stir just until the dough comes together. The dough will be very sticky.

Turn dough onto floured surface, dust top with flour and gently fold dough over on itself 5 or 6 times. Press into a 1-inch thick round. Cut out biscuits with a 2-inch cutter, being sure to push straight down through the dough. Place biscuits on baking sheet so that they just touch. Reform scrap dough, working it as little as possible and continue cutting. (Biscuits from the second pass will not be quite as light as those from the first, but hey, that's life.)

Bake until biscuits are tall and light gold on top, 15 to 20 minutes.

Sawmill Gravy

Ingredients

1 pound bulk breakfast sausage

1/4 cup flour

2 cups milk

Salt and pepper

Directions

Cook sausage in a cast iron skillet. When done, remove sausage from pan and pour off all but 2 tablespoons of fat. Whisk flour into the fat and cook over low heat for 5 minutes. Remove pan from heat and whisk in milk a little at a time. Return to medium-high heat and stir occasionally while the gravy comes to a simmer and thickens. (Be sure to scrape up any brown bits that might be stuck to the bottom of the pan, that's where the flavor is.) Check seasoning, add crumbled sausage and serve over toast or biscuits.

Apple Crumb Pie

This is the second recipe from the October cookbook of the month, Apple Cookbook.  I made it for dinner we had when Zach's parents and brother were in town.  It was very delicious and everyone enjoyed it.  It's the first time I've made an apple pie anything other than the standard two-crust version, and I think it turned out pretty well.  I used a store-bought pie dough (yay for the doughboy!) since I've always failed pretty miserably at any pie dough I've attempted.  And, it's what I grew up on since my mom has always used it.  I figure I can't make it any better, so why end up with an inferior crust just to say I made it myself?  No need to re-invent the wheel.  Plus, it was a busy week for us anyway and it saved me a significant amount of time.  Unfortunately I don't have a picture, we forgot before eating it!  Next time I make it I will add one to the post.

Apple Crumb Pie
from the Apple Cookbook

Ingredients:
pastry for a single 10 inch pie crust
5 large apples (Northern Spy, Fuji are suggested in the book, I used Paula Red.)
1 1/2 cups sour cream
3/4 cup sugar
3/4 cup flour
1 egg
2 teaspoons vanilla
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup butter
1 cup chopped pecans (I omitted these.)

Directions:

• Preheat oven to 450.  Grease a ten inch pie plate.
• Roll out the pastry and fit it in the pie plate.  Flute the edges and refrigerate.
• Peel, core and cut the apples into 1/4 inch slices.  Arrange in chilled pie shell.
• In a small bowl, combine the sour cream, sugar, 1/4 cup of the flour, egg and vanilla.  Beat until smooth and pour over the apple slices.
• Bake for 10 minutes, reduce the oven to 350 and bake for 30 minutes longer.
• Mix the remaining 1/2 cup flour, brown sugar and butter until the mixture is crumbly.  Stir in the pecans and sprinkle over the baked pie.
• Return the pie to the oven and bake 15 minutes longer or until the stopping is golden brown.