ciocio's Open Salon Blog

Living Life One Recipe at a Time, 33

Sat, 27 Mar 2010 14:03:37 -0400

This week I treated myself to a Chocolate Bliss Cheesecake http://www.kraftrecipes.com/recipes/chocolate-bliss-cheesecake-55885.aspx. It was pretty good, a little dense -- on the scale of all the cheesecakes I've ever made, I'd rank it an 8 out of 10. I always think the best thing about homemade cheesecake is how easy it is to make them. For all my acquaintances and friends who think that it's too hard to make one at home, just try it!

I also just made a batch of Ghanaian Peanut Soup http://www.guamdiner.com/recipe/recipe.php?recipe=113. If you were serving it to guests you might want to strain it but we didn't and it was fine. Being that it's Lent, I substituted canned vegetable broth for the chicken stock and it still tasted rich and delicious so it would be a nice experiment to try it with stock. There are many many versions of this soup on the internet but this was so simple to make and a very very nice light soup.

Have you tried the homemade ice cream yet?

My mother recently came home from a river cruise excursion to Belgium and Holland and brought home all sorts of Belgian chocolates, cheeses, and a big bottle of the Dutch Bols Genever gin. One of the Belgian chocolates was called "diamond chocolates" - expensive but superb. I can't wait to try to genever - I always bought the young gin, in a terra cotta bottle, but this genever was aged for 6 years and the vintner said that it has "six layers of flavor." Stay tuned for the review!

Until the next recipe . . .

Read my previous post:

http://open.salon.com/blog/ciocio/2010/03/18/living_life_one_recipe_at_a_time_32

Living Life One Recipe at a Time, 32

Thu, 18 Mar 2010 22:03:49 -0400

I can't sleep. We worked late tonight and I ate my dinner later than usual and now I can't sleep. So I'm posting, for a friend at work whose son is allergic to eggs, a method for idiot-proof eggless ice cream.

The basic steps are to whip a pint of heavy cream until it just holds stiff peaks. In a separate bowl beat together a 14-oz can of condensed milk with 1 tablespoon of vanilla extract (experiment for a few batches then add more or less according to your taste). Then either blend it together in an ice cream maker or just beat the condensed milk mixture into the whipped cream on very low speed. Transfer the whole mixture to freezing containers and freeze for at least 4 to 6 hours. You might want to stir it every so often.

I used to have a good ice cream maker by Salton, but the freezing disc broke open. An ice cream maker will whip more air into the ice cream, so anything made with an electric mixer will be slightly denser.

Now for the fun part. You can add solid treats, like mini chocolate chips, broken candy pieces, chopped fruit, nuts, etc. - about 1 cup total for each batch. Liquid flavorings should total about 1/2 cup or 4 oz. For instance, when I make chocolate ice cream I like to melt 4 oz of bittersweet chocolate. Any mixture of flavors, like peanut butter and chocolate, or mocha, which is a mixture of chocolate and coffee, should total about 4 oz, but not much more, the texture may become too dense.

Liquid flavorings can be beaten into the condensed milk mixture before blending it with the whipped cream. Solid additives should be stirred in afterward.

I tried a new method for coffee ice cream that I really liked. Take 1/2 cup of good quality coffee beans and grind them coarsely, then let them steep in a pint of heavy cream for at least 30 mins. I usually let it steep overnight in the fridge - stir it occasionally so the coffee grounds don't just rise to the top and sit there. Then strain it well and whip the cream as above. In the meantime, take 1 cup of strong brewed coffee and boil it until it reduces to 1/2 cup. Let the reduced coffee cool to at least room temperature (or chill it along with the cream mixture) and add it to the condensed milk mixture and then proceed. Boiling the coffee down gives it a slightly more syrupy quality and it won't thin out the consistency of the finished product too much.

I like to take recipes for dessert coffees and different beverages, both alcoholic and non-alcoholic, and adapt them for ice cream. I always calculate how much of each drink ingredient I need per 1 cup of non-alcoholic base, whether it's juice or coffee or whatever, then I throw it all together in a saucepan and boil it until it's reduced to 1/2 cup, let it cool and proceed as above. Anything alcoholic usually does have to be boiled down to retain the flavor but lose the proof, otherwise it won't freeze correctly.

For instance, a Cafe Zurich calls for 1/2 cup hot brewed coffee, 1 tbs Amaretto, 1 tbs Cognac, and 1 tsp honey. Double that so that the non-alcoholic component, the brewed coffee, equal 1 cup - so you'll need 2 tbs Amaretto, 2 tbs Cognac, and 2 tsp honey. Boil it down until the whole thing reduces to a total of 1/2 cup.

Once you get the basic techniques down you can experiment with your own flavors and additives. Have fun!

Until the next recipe . . .

Read my previous post:

http://open.salon.com/blog/ciocio/2010/03/11/living_life_one_recipe_at_a_time_31

Living Life One Recipe at a Time, 31

Thu, 11 Mar 2010 20:03:45 -0500

It's been a while since I last posted. It's been crazy busy at work, and life at home is a constant adventure with my elderly dog and my cats. Add to the mix that I've been thinking about going back to graduate school, and the process is its own special kind of nightmare.

For the Asian Lunar New Year, my mother is fond of having a celebratory dinner with a few close friends and some family members. We used to have it at her house, sharing the cooking duties, except for dessert, which was always my exclusive domain. However, lately the house has become supremely cluttered and difficult to get ready for guests, so for the last few years we've been going to our favorite Chinese restaurant http://www.allmenus.com/ny/queens/278863-elite-chef-chinese-restaurant/menu/.

I decided to experiment with a dessert I saw on Throwdown with Bobby Flay, during a challenge with Junior's in Brooklyn. It was an insane concoction, with the deceptively simple name Devil's Food Cheesecake http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/throwdown-with-bobby-flay/devils-food-cheesecake-recipe/index.html. I didn't follow this recipe, in fact, I didn't know that the recipe was published.

I decided that this dessert could be made pretty much with any layer cake and any cheesecake and any frosting, so long as the flavors were compatible. The Junior's cake has three cake layers but it can be made with a two-layer layer cake too. The assembly is pretty simple: cake layer, frosting, cheesecake, frosting, cake layer, frosting, cake layer, frosting.

Here are some tips that will help your construction of this dessert: first, make sure your cake layers and cheesecake are all in made in the same size pans (I used 9" pans - different manufacturers can have slightly different sizes, but for a homemade dessert, who cares?). Second, line the bottoms of all the baking pans with parchment paper. Third, wrap the completely cooled cake layers tightly in plastic wrap and let them chill along with the cheesecake before assembling. Then, before setting the cake layers down, brush off any excess crumbs. Depending on your frosting recipe, you may want to double or even triple it - Aunt Tom's frosting is for a triple layer cake and I nearly ran out of it before the whole dessert was covered.

Lining the cheesecake or springform pan with parchment paper will allow the bottom crust to release easily. I simply placed the cheesecake top-side down on the bottom layer of cake. The original Junior's recipe doesn't seem to have a crust on the cheesecake, but the contrast in texture is nice to have.

Here are the recipes I used: Our Favorite Devil's Food Cake http://www.recipelink.com/mf/2/24023; Chocolate Royale Cheesecake http://www.kraftrecipes.com/recipes/chocolate-royale-cheesecake-56177.aspx; and Aunt Tom's Italian Cream Cake (just the frosting) http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Aunt-Toms-Italian-Cream-Cake-11985.

Just a note - when pastry recipes call for shortening or margarine, I usually replace them with unsalted butter. Sweetened flaked coconut is replaced by unsweetened dessicated coconut, and, unless I need quite a lot of buttermilk, I find that plain yogurt usually works just fine.

It's an unusual and extravagant dessert that everyone will ooh and aah over.

Until the next recipe . . .

Read my previous post:

http://open.salon.com/blog/ciocio/2010/02/04/living_life_one_recipe_at_a_time_30

Living Life One Recipe at a Time, 30

Thu, 4 Feb 2010 20:02:33 -0500

Once in a while it's nice to make a recipe that's not too challenging, that doesn't have a lot of bold flavors and extroverted layers, something that's just simple and unexciting, but comforting and filling. This week that recipe was Stuffed Shells with Broccoli, a close approximation of which can be found here: http://www.ilovepasta.org/recipes/Stuffed_Shells_Broccoli.html. The recipe that I used called for diced tomatoes, rather than crushed. All of the seasoning is in the cheese stuffing, but the tomatoes themselves were more flavorful than expected so it turned out pretty well. The original recipe also called for 32 jumbo shells, specifically, but the link I provided calls for 24. Quite frankly, I find it irritating to make only part of a box of pasta so I just cooked the whole thing and stuffed them until I ran out of cheese, then froze the rest of the shells in individual 4-oz servings for some future day when I have sauce but no pasta!

There *was* takeout this week, as well, from the Bayside Jackson Hole http://www.jacksonholeburgers.com/default.htm. I always loved going to Jackson Hole but didn't go often enough to do what I really wanted to do, which was to make my way through their menu one sandwich at a time. Takeout food provides a nice solution - once in a while I go and order two or three items from their menu and bring them home. The disadvantage is that the sandwiches heat up unevenly - the bread gets too hot and the fillings don't get hot enough. But the big advantage is that I really can't eat a whole serving of anything from the restaurant at once, so at least at home we can split the sandwiches and platters into two or three servings and enjoy them over a few days.

This week we got the West Coast Vegetarian sandwich, which is a concoction of broccoli, onions, and mushrooms with cheddar, and an English bronco, basically a chicken sandwich on an English muffin. The West Coast was very satisfying and delicious. I've noticed that the Bayside restaurant tends to cook their chicken just a bit past the point of doneness that I like, so it's a little dry for my taste, but the seasoning is very good. All in all it was a nice treat.

So, until the next recipe . . .

Read my previous post:

http://open.salon.com/blog/ciocio/2010/01/30/living_life_one_recipe_at_a_time_29

Living Life One Recipe at a Time, 29

Sat, 30 Jan 2010 19:01:27 -0500

Tonight I tried a recipe from Jacques Pepin's cookbook "Sweet Simplicity" http://www.dianasdesserts.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=cookbooks.sweetSimplicity called Baked Peaches with Almonds. On paper, it didn't look like much, and there were only 6 ingredients (peaches, maple syrup, light brown sugar, butter, almonds, and the sour cream was optional), but it turned out deliciously light and addictive. The almonds gave it crunch and the sour cream gave it some body.

A personal word of counsel - I really prefer yellow freestone peaches over any other kind. Because it's the dead of winter in the Northeast, I was lucky to find any kind of peaches at all, but the only ones available were yellow cling. At least they were yellow! Anyone who read previous posts might remember that I don't really like the white peaches, because their texture is hard yet mushy.

The names "cling" and "freestone" are remarkably self-explanatory and intuitive, but you might not ever have thought about the difference. The pits of "cling" peaches "cling" to the fruit and can be difficult to cut out, whereas the pits of "freestone" peaches sit rather freely in the center of the fruit and can be removed easily. The peaches I used weren't all quite as ripe as they should have been and the pits were really difficult to cut out, but the dessert still turned out well.

Until the next recipe . . .

Read my previous post:

http://open.salon.com/blog/ciocio/2010/01/19/living_life_one_recipe_at_a_time_28