May 31st, 2009
Hi everyone! Did you miss me? I have been busy recovering from exams, starting my summer job and attending my friend’s wedding. I decided that I needed to take a short break from blogging and not stress about posting or commenting on everyone’s blogs. But now I’m back and about to unveil my summer project…
Do you remember the picture from my last post? The huge stack of cookbooks? It is ok, go back and refresh your memory.
I am quite embarrassed to admit that these cookbooks are the ones in my collection that I have sadly never made something from. I have a tendency to drool over them but then decide for one reason or another to put off making something. Well, not anymore. This summer, I am going to tackle one recipe from each cookbook.
As Mark suggested, I did start at the bottom with The Pastry Queen. It found its way onto my bookshelf via Deborah’s cookbook give-a-way sometime last year. Filled with many delicious baked-goods I was struggling to figure out what to make. Last week I had a few friends over for a movie night. Two of these friends are also from the South so I decided upon Southern Comfort Apple Pie. I am not an apple pie person but this was amazing. The Southern Comfort deepened the flavor of the apples and cinnamon making it really rich. I would recommend serving it over ice cream.
Chef Mark’s Southern Comfort Apple Pie
(adapted from The Pastry Queen)
Topping:
1/2 cup peacans, roasted and chopped
1/3 cup granulated sugar
3 tablespoons packed brown sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/3 cup all purpose flour
1/2 cup chilled unsalted butter
Apple Filling
5-6 tart apples, peeled and sliced
1/2 cup unsalted butter
3 tablespoons ground cinnamon
1 cup sugar
3/4 Southern Comfort
1/2 cup heavy whipping cream
1 pie crust
1. For the Topping: Mix together dry ingrediants. Cut in the butter. Mix in the nuts.
2. Heat oven to 375.
3. For the filling: Melt the butter in a large frying pan over medium-high heat. When the butter starts to foam, add the apples and saute for 5-8 minutes.
4. Sprinkle the sugar and cinnamon over the apples, stirring to combine.
5. Simmer for another minute and remove the apples from the pan, leaving as much of the butter-sugar mixture as possible. Spread the apples out flat on a plate because they will get soggy if heaped.
6. Pour the Southern Comfort into the butter-sugar mizture and simmer over medium heat for at least 5 minutes or until the alcohol has burned off.
7. Pour in the cream and simmer for 5-10 minutes until the mixture becomes pourable caramel.
8. Mix in the apples and pour into the prepared pie crust. Spread the topping over the filling.
9. Bake for 50-60 minutes or until the filling starts to bubble. I put a pan underneath to prevent the sugar boiling over and burning in the oven. Allow to cool and serve at room temperature.
Filed under Apples, Pie | Comments (3)
May 17th, 2009
Exams are over. I’m resting. Then, I plan to dive into these cookbooks and get cooking… I’ll be back soon…
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May 3rd, 2009
Isn’t the view just wonderful? I love the lake. It has finally gotten warm in Chicago. It makes me much happier. A few more hours of studying and then a much needed bike ride by the lake.
As I mentioned before, one of my goals in life was to make a souffle. Many people seem to be intimidated by them because they fall. My theory is that even if they fall, they still taste good. I’ve read a number of tips online about how to make the perfect souffle and, honestly, only a few helped:
1. Follow the recipe (I rarely do this in every other type of cooking but here it is important- at least for the egg ratio and such)
2. Level the ramekins with a knife and using the knife go around the inside of the ramekin (this will help it rise more evenly, which I have found to be the best when making chocolate souffles)
3. Do not open the oven until you are ready to take it out (this is a difficult step but try to stick to it. I have put goat cheese souffles back in that were still raw in the middle and they fell quickly when I took them out. This may just take some experimentation with the cooking time and your oven.)
I make souffles fairly often because I love a goat cheese souffle with a simple salad. I can kick back with a glass of white wine and stare out at the lake…stop daydreaming Ginny and get back to studying…
Goat Cheese-Chive Souffle
(adapted from epicurious)
2 tablespoons butter, room temperature
1 tablespoon Parmesan, grated
1 tablespoon all purpose flour
1/3 cup milk (recipe calls for whole but I used skim and it worked fine)
3 ounces soft fresh goat cheese, very coarsely crumbled
1 tablespoon chives, chopped
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper
1 large egg yolk
2 large egg whites
1. Preheat oven to 350°F.
2. Rub inside of two 1-cup soufflé dishes or ramekins with 1 tablespoons butter. Coat with grated parmesan; tap out excess. Set aside.
3. Melt remaining 1 tablespoon butter in sauce pan.
4. Add flour and cook 2 minutes, whisking constantly.
5. Gradually whisk in milk. Increase heat to medium. Simmer mixture until very thick, stirring constantly, about 3 minutes.
6. Add half of goat cheese and chopped chives. Whisk until melted and smooth.
7. Mix in salt and pepper.
8. Allow mixture to cool for 2 minutes.
9. Whisk egg yolk in medium bowl to blend and stir in the souffle base.
10. Beat whites in large bowl until stiff but not dry. Mix 1/4 of whites into soufflé base to lighten. Fold in remaining whites.
11. Sprinkle the goat cheese into the bottle of the ramekins.
12. Place in 13×9x2-inch metal baking pan. Add enough hot water to pan to come halfway up sides of dishes.
13. Bake soufflés until puffed and golden brown on top and softly set in center, about 20 minutes.
Filed under Eggs, Goat Cheese | Comments (6)
