It's that time of year again--- where the family gathers to cook for hours and hours, spend 30 minutes stuffing their faces, and groan their way through the remainder of the day. I've always liked Thanksgiving, not just because I can eat beyond capacity and not look like a pig (mob mentality rules here), but because it's the time where I get to try to see if I can make a whole meal come together at the same time.
This year, because there are only seven of us gathering (it's the in-laws' turn for my siblings, which leaves us unmarried ones to keep my parents company), my mom wanted to make a few different dishes. One of her favorites to have is rainbow jello. Now Utah of course is famous for their sometimes bizarre jello dishes, but I promise, this one has no miscellaneous vegetables (though it does one of those other Utah staples-- sour cream). I think you could use light or fat-free sour cream, and sugar free jello, and make this dish 'healthy', but hey--- it's Thanksgiving. Bring on the heavy whipping cream.
Rainbow Jello
a recipe from my mom
various boxes (3 ounce or smaller size) of flavored Jello (I use 7: black cherry, strawberry, orange, lemon, lime, berry blue, and grape)
sour cream -- 1/3 cup for each of flavor of Jello (I got 2 16-oz tubs)
water
whipping cream
powdered sugar to taste
vanilla to taste
The jello takes a LOT of time (but you're not completely busy with it so don't fret about spending 7 hours on a dessert) --- one hour per Jello box. I like to use a 13x9 clear Pyrex casserole dish, because by the time I'm done with the seven layers, it completely fills the dish. I also like to do it in rainbow order, because I tend to be a bit OCD and I like how the colors blend together. This of course is not completely necessary, and you can mix and match as much as you want.
I like to have the following things ready for use: a 1-cup Pyrex measuring cup, a 2- or 4-cup Pyrex measuring cup, a 1/3 cup measuring cup, two spoons, and a spatula. Fill the 1/3 cup with sour cream and set aside. Boil a pan of water (you'll need at least one cup of boiling water for each step). Measure out one cup of the boiling water into the 4-cup Pyrex measuring cup. Dissolve one packet of Jello in the water, and stir until completely dissolved. (I start with the purple and work backwards so I end up with the red on top.) Try to avoid making bubbles. Measure out 1/2 cup of the Jello liquid into the 1-cup Pyrex measuring cup. Put the 1/3 cup sour cream into the 1-cup Pyrex cup and mix until all the sour cream is melted. In the other measuring cup with the remaining Jello liquid, add 2 Tbsp. cold water and mix. Scrape all the bubbles out of the Jello-sour cream mixture, and slowly pour into the serving dish. Remove any remaining bubbles from the jello, and cover with saran wrap. Refrigerate for 30 minutes. When you pull it out, make sure the saran wrap doesn't touch the Jello--- it will remove a chunk of it (I know this from experience). Slowly pour the clear Jello liquid over the now set-up layer. I use a spoon, hovering it very close to the first layer, and pour into the spoon, so the force of pouring it doesn't disturb the layer I just made. I've tried all sorts of methods, and this one works best. Cover, and refrigerate 30 minutes. About 10 minutes before the second layer is done, I'll start boiling the water, and mix the second box of Jello up, separate, and mix in the sour cream, which usually puts me at the right time to add the next layer. Alternate sour cream and clear layers until you're done.
It's best to do this dish the night before you serve it, as the more time you allow it to harden after you're done with it, the better it sets up. Right before serving, whip up a bunch of heavy cream with powdered sugar (granulated sugar makes the whipped cream grainy) and vanilla to taste. Cover the jello with the whipped cream, and serve.
This dish has gotten me a whole lot of compliments, and it really does taste good. Your dish will definitely be the life of the potluck, and outshine the other people who dropped into Smiths/Krogers to buy a coffee cake.
Showing posts with label dessert. Show all posts
Showing posts with label dessert. Show all posts
Wednesday, November 24, 2010
Sunday, August 15, 2010
Fresh Cherry Cake --- a Swiss recipe
For some reason, this year has been a boom for cherries. The last month or so, I've seen the prices for cherries drop to a dollar a pound. ONE dollar. Naturally, the prudent financial person I am, I immediately bought 6 pounds of cherries, ate a bunch, and then decided I needed to do something else with them before they wasted away in the fridge. I found this cake recipe in my Swiss cookbook, and because it called for two pounds of pitted cherries, I thought that'd be a good way to use some of the excess I'd purchased. And this time, I actually ended up using them all before the mold demons killed them.
Just a note: When I was making this cake, some of the things it asked me to do seemed really strange. I wasn't quite sure why it asked me to do them, but I decided, what the heck, and voilà! it ended up pretty dang tasty.
Fresh Cherry Cake
from Culinary Art and Traditions of Switzerland
500 grams white bread rolls (I used Wal-mart brand hamburger buns, and 11 1/2 buns was exactly enough)
200 ml milk (my pyrex measuring cup has milliliters, but if you don't have one (which you should!) use a little more than 3/4 cup milk
120 g butter, softened -- 1 full stick. Remember, margarine is nasty. Use real butter for cooking.
200 g sugar (1 cup sugar)
7 egg yolks (keep the egg whites, you'll need them later)
100 g almonds and hazelnuts (whole) -- this equates to about 2/3 cup of nuts. I used a full cup of nuts because, well, I like nuts.
pinch of cinnamon
7 egg whites stiffly whipped
10 g baking powder (2 1/2 tsp)
900 g black cherries, stoned --- I used 2 lb 8 oz of unstoned fruit, and ended up with about 100 grams too many (which I used anyway). I'd say about 2 1/4 lbs of cherries should give you about 2 lbs of stoned cherries.
20 g flour (about 3 Tbsp)
100 g sponge crumbs (I used those little sponge cakes they sell for individual strawberry shortcake servings---I used 4 of them.)
First you soak the bread rolls in the milk for at least 2 hours. I tore up the bread into big chunks, and kinda stirred it around every half hour or so. (This is one of the bizarre things I wondered about, but trust me, it all works out.)
Next I stoned the cherries. I learned the hard way that you should not use a shirt you particularly care for while stoning them unless you really enjoy red flecks all over your best clothes. Also, do not keep works of art in the general vicinity--- the cherry juice splatters. Look under my Cherry Clafouti recipe for directions on stoning cherries --- it's really rather easy once you get the hang of it.
At this time I also crumbled up the sponge cake and decided to toast it so it wouldn't be soggy, it'd be more crumbly. I popped it in the oven at 250 for about 10 minutes. Make sure you watch them, you don't want burned crumbs in your cake, I'm sure it wouldn't enhance the flavor. You'll want to make sure to change the temperature of the oven to 350, in preparation for the baking.
Next, I creamed the butter and sugar, and added the egg yolks, one at a time. When I was separating the whites from the yolks, I just set aside the whites for a little bit, and let the whites warm up to room temperature. Apparently when you whip the whites at room temperature they stiffen better. After creaming the yolks with the sugar and butter, I dumped in the nuts and mixed those in (with the beater). I then mixed the dry ingredients together, and beat those into the batter.
Now came the weird part. I put the big pile of soggy bread into the mixing bowl. I sat there and wondered, how do I mix this in? Just put the mixer right in the middle, and start on slow, but mix it all together until the dough is this kind of thickish pasty stuff. The soggy bread will mix in completely and you won't have weird chunks. After that, the recipe splits. If you are making an actual cake, save about half of the sponge crumbs, if you're just making muffins, dump all the sponge crumbs in and mix them all together. Next, *stir* the pitted cherries into the mix (don't use the beaters anymore, you want to keep these whole).
The dough is going to be pretty thick, but that's what the egg whites are for -- to lighten them up. Whip the room temperature egg whites until they are stiff, and fold them into the dough. I couldn't get them to fold very well, it ended up being a mix between folding and stirring, but the egg whites made the batter a lot more fluid once I got it all stirred/folded in. Now you're ready to bake.
If you're doing muffins (it'll make around 24-28), just put the batter until it's slightly over the top of the muffin pan. The batter really doesn't rise a whole lot, so if you only fill it halfway full, you'll get these tiny muffins. Bake that at 350 for about 30 minutes, until a toothpick comes out clean. You could use the paper, but I got this really nice muffin tray that is silicon, and I love it, because they just pop out. Let them cool, and enjoy!
If you're making the cake, I'd use an 8-10 inch springform pan, make sure the bottom and sides are fairly well greased. I used butter. Then put the sponge crumbs you saved in the bottom of the pan as a sort of base crust for the cake. pour the batter in to a depth of about 1 1/2 - 2 inches (not super thick or it'll take 3 days to cook), and pop it in the 350 degree oven. The book said it would take 30 minutes to cook, but mine took over an hour--- I just kept checking it with a toothpick until the batter was cooked. Let the cake cool, and then run a knife or what not around the edges, so it doesn't stick (it can stick sometimes). When I made the cake version, I ended up using a little more than half of the batter for the cake; that's when I discovered that the muffins ended up being a bit easier to make and handle. So in theory, you could do both.
These ended up being pretty dang good. The cherries tasted super good, against the delicious baked almonds and hazelnuts--- all in all it tastes like a good European type cake. I think they make really good muffins, and I'd make this recipe again.
Just a note: When I was making this cake, some of the things it asked me to do seemed really strange. I wasn't quite sure why it asked me to do them, but I decided, what the heck, and voilà! it ended up pretty dang tasty.
Fresh Cherry Cake
from Culinary Art and Traditions of Switzerland
500 grams white bread rolls (I used Wal-mart brand hamburger buns, and 11 1/2 buns was exactly enough)
200 ml milk (my pyrex measuring cup has milliliters, but if you don't have one (which you should!) use a little more than 3/4 cup milk
120 g butter, softened -- 1 full stick. Remember, margarine is nasty. Use real butter for cooking.
200 g sugar (1 cup sugar)
7 egg yolks (keep the egg whites, you'll need them later)
100 g almonds and hazelnuts (whole) -- this equates to about 2/3 cup of nuts. I used a full cup of nuts because, well, I like nuts.
pinch of cinnamon
7 egg whites stiffly whipped
10 g baking powder (2 1/2 tsp)
900 g black cherries, stoned --- I used 2 lb 8 oz of unstoned fruit, and ended up with about 100 grams too many (which I used anyway). I'd say about 2 1/4 lbs of cherries should give you about 2 lbs of stoned cherries.
20 g flour (about 3 Tbsp)
100 g sponge crumbs (I used those little sponge cakes they sell for individual strawberry shortcake servings---I used 4 of them.)
First you soak the bread rolls in the milk for at least 2 hours. I tore up the bread into big chunks, and kinda stirred it around every half hour or so. (This is one of the bizarre things I wondered about, but trust me, it all works out.)
Next I stoned the cherries. I learned the hard way that you should not use a shirt you particularly care for while stoning them unless you really enjoy red flecks all over your best clothes. Also, do not keep works of art in the general vicinity--- the cherry juice splatters. Look under my Cherry Clafouti recipe for directions on stoning cherries --- it's really rather easy once you get the hang of it.
At this time I also crumbled up the sponge cake and decided to toast it so it wouldn't be soggy, it'd be more crumbly. I popped it in the oven at 250 for about 10 minutes. Make sure you watch them, you don't want burned crumbs in your cake, I'm sure it wouldn't enhance the flavor. You'll want to make sure to change the temperature of the oven to 350, in preparation for the baking.
Next, I creamed the butter and sugar, and added the egg yolks, one at a time. When I was separating the whites from the yolks, I just set aside the whites for a little bit, and let the whites warm up to room temperature. Apparently when you whip the whites at room temperature they stiffen better. After creaming the yolks with the sugar and butter, I dumped in the nuts and mixed those in (with the beater). I then mixed the dry ingredients together, and beat those into the batter.
Now came the weird part. I put the big pile of soggy bread into the mixing bowl. I sat there and wondered, how do I mix this in? Just put the mixer right in the middle, and start on slow, but mix it all together until the dough is this kind of thickish pasty stuff. The soggy bread will mix in completely and you won't have weird chunks. After that, the recipe splits. If you are making an actual cake, save about half of the sponge crumbs, if you're just making muffins, dump all the sponge crumbs in and mix them all together. Next, *stir* the pitted cherries into the mix (don't use the beaters anymore, you want to keep these whole).
The dough is going to be pretty thick, but that's what the egg whites are for -- to lighten them up. Whip the room temperature egg whites until they are stiff, and fold them into the dough. I couldn't get them to fold very well, it ended up being a mix between folding and stirring, but the egg whites made the batter a lot more fluid once I got it all stirred/folded in. Now you're ready to bake.
If you're doing muffins (it'll make around 24-28), just put the batter until it's slightly over the top of the muffin pan. The batter really doesn't rise a whole lot, so if you only fill it halfway full, you'll get these tiny muffins. Bake that at 350 for about 30 minutes, until a toothpick comes out clean. You could use the paper, but I got this really nice muffin tray that is silicon, and I love it, because they just pop out. Let them cool, and enjoy!
If you're making the cake, I'd use an 8-10 inch springform pan, make sure the bottom and sides are fairly well greased. I used butter. Then put the sponge crumbs you saved in the bottom of the pan as a sort of base crust for the cake. pour the batter in to a depth of about 1 1/2 - 2 inches (not super thick or it'll take 3 days to cook), and pop it in the 350 degree oven. The book said it would take 30 minutes to cook, but mine took over an hour--- I just kept checking it with a toothpick until the batter was cooked. Let the cake cool, and then run a knife or what not around the edges, so it doesn't stick (it can stick sometimes). When I made the cake version, I ended up using a little more than half of the batter for the cake; that's when I discovered that the muffins ended up being a bit easier to make and handle. So in theory, you could do both.
These ended up being pretty dang good. The cherries tasted super good, against the delicious baked almonds and hazelnuts--- all in all it tastes like a good European type cake. I think they make really good muffins, and I'd make this recipe again.
Saturday, July 24, 2010
Swiss carrot cake
Years ago, when I was a new student at BYU, I really wanted to learn German and move to Switzerland. My ancestors on both sides are Swiss, and I had been enamored with the country since I could remember. I joined a Swiss-American organization, and saw that they had this English version of a cookbook featuring authentic Swiss recipes. I jumped on that immediately. The book arrived--- a very nicely published and illustrated volume. There was one problem: all the measurements were in METRIC. Like I knew what 300 grams of something translated into "real" American measurements would be. I was so disappointed. The cookbook sat unused.
Fast forward a few years. My good friend from Switzerland, Regina, had come to visit me for a few weeks in the states, and we had decided to do an ethnic Swiss dessert selection. I whipped out the scale that I had purchased since college, and Regina went to work. The result? Pure deliciousness. So I decided that when the time arose, I would make it again.
I invited my cousin Michelle and her brood to dinner tomorrow night, and decided to make this carrot cake for dessert. As I didn't want to cook ALL day tomorrow, I made it tonight. The recipe book maintains that the cake is better the next day because the carrots keep the cake moist. I don't know about that, but I do know it's really yummy.
I've attempted to provide *rough* estimates to the American equivalents of the measurements of this recipe. NOTE: I am not responsible for any cooking mishap that results in the use of these equivalents, because I MUCH prefer to measure the ingredients out as outlined in the book. Any serious cook should have a digital scale in the house, with the ability to measure in both ounces and grams.
Carrot Cake, Aargau recipe
from Culinary Art and Traditions of Switzerland
5 eggs, separated (this is the same in both metric and American)
300 grams sugar (this is between 1 1/3 and 1 1/2 cups of sugar)
juice of 1 lemon
zest of 2 lemons, grated
300 grams ground almonds (about 1 2/3 cup *AFTER* they are ground)
300 grams finely grated carrots (between 1 1/3 and 1 1/2 cups *after* they are grated --- I ended up using 4 average sized store-bought carrots)
75 grams corn flour (I'm assuming this is corn meal, and it was right between 1/3 and 1/2 cup in my pyrex cup measure)
a pinch of cinnamon
a pinch of ground cloves
10 grams baking powder (approx. 1 Tbsp)
a pinch of salt
apricot jam (for glazing)
50 ml kirsch --- this measurement will be on your pyrex cup measure as well
fondant icing (I didn't use this)
marzipan carrots (I didn't use this either, but they are really good with it-- Regina spent a couple of hours and made some really awesome looking marzipan carrots with marzipan, red/yellow food coloring, and green food coloring. At this point, the available effort in my body was too low to begin that task. I'd recommend if you are taking this dish to a fancy party, or if you really like marzipan.)
THANKFULLY I have a food processor (another must in my kitchen gadget repertoire). I did the almonds first because they wouldn't get as wet as the carrots, so I'd only have to wash the thing once. I just weighed out the 300 grams of almonds (again, LOVE the digital scale) and dumped them in the processor with the knife blade attachment. I turned it on. Don't be alarmed at the sound, the almonds will calm down and be quieter when they are more finely ground. I kept going until it began to coagulate. I don't recommend grinding it that much--- it just started to make a paste which was a bit harder to work with. I'd just grind them down to very fine particles but it's not going to be a true powder.
I then grated the carrots with the cheese grater attachment first, then put them in with the knife blade attachment. They came out perfect --- very small pieces but still pieces, it wasn't a soupy mess. I weighed out 300 grams and set it aside. I then separated the eggs, putting the whites in my mixer (another kitchen appliance I completely LOVE) and set aside for later.
The egg yolks, sugar, lemon juice, and lemon zest are all to be beaten together until it's all the same pale yellow color. I used my AWESOME zester I got for about 10 bucks (I will never use another zester again, it works like velvet). I then dumped the ground almonds and carrots in the mix, and blended those together. I read somewhere that you're supposed to mix all dry ingredients together, so I mixed the corn meal, cinnamon, cloves, baking powder, and salt in a bowl before adding it to the batter. It makes sense to me--- before I started doing that, I'd just dump each dry ingredient in and then beat it. Besides saving a buttload of time, it also means you're not going to get a big mouthful of unmixed cinnamon. or cloves. or worse yet, baking powder. It's just a good idea, I recommend it. Then I beat in the kirsch. I flipped the switch on my mixer, and in a few minutes (with NO effort on my part), I had some really lovely looking egg white foam, which I folded in the batter. It was ready to go into the oven.
The pan I used for this dish is an 8 inch round springform pan. I would recommend this, as it makes it easiest to remove it from the pan, for presentation. The cake really is not supposed to be served from a cake pan --- I suppose you could do it, but it seems SO anti-Swiss to do such a thing to a really beautiful dessert. These aren't terribly expensive, and if you have a friend who bought a few once and then never used them (or got them for wedding gifts), you might luck out like I did and get them for free.
The book claims that baking it at 350 for an hour will produce the cake. Mine was done in 40 minutes. I'd probably just check it with a toothpick and if it comes out clean, it's done. Popped mine out--- and make sure to use a knife to loosen the edges before you remove it from the springform pan, or part of it might cling to it. Just a note--- I can't figure out why mine collapsed in the middle. I'm kinda bummed about it, but it still tastes great. Don't go into a depression spiral because of it--- things aren't supposed to work *all* the time, unless you are Emeril or something. If that is you, you probably should stop reading this blog, and start cooking at high end restaurants and/or start your own TV show.
I just used homemade apricot jam (heated) to glaze the cake (which is a fancy way to say I frosted it with the stuff). I didn't use the fondant--- I wasn't sure what that was supposed to be but I'm guessing from the picture it's not the nasty stuff they put on wedding cakes. I basically just served it as is.
The cake is DELICIOUS. Moist, almondy, the flavors just really pop out. Children don't seem to enjoy it because it's not your typical Betty Crocker cake mix texture--- this one is a bit more dense, but tastes... I dunno... more real. Now that I can operate in metric, I will be making this cake when I want to impress my guests with how international I can be.
Fast forward a few years. My good friend from Switzerland, Regina, had come to visit me for a few weeks in the states, and we had decided to do an ethnic Swiss dessert selection. I whipped out the scale that I had purchased since college, and Regina went to work. The result? Pure deliciousness. So I decided that when the time arose, I would make it again.
I invited my cousin Michelle and her brood to dinner tomorrow night, and decided to make this carrot cake for dessert. As I didn't want to cook ALL day tomorrow, I made it tonight. The recipe book maintains that the cake is better the next day because the carrots keep the cake moist. I don't know about that, but I do know it's really yummy.
I've attempted to provide *rough* estimates to the American equivalents of the measurements of this recipe. NOTE: I am not responsible for any cooking mishap that results in the use of these equivalents, because I MUCH prefer to measure the ingredients out as outlined in the book. Any serious cook should have a digital scale in the house, with the ability to measure in both ounces and grams.
Carrot Cake, Aargau recipe
from Culinary Art and Traditions of Switzerland
5 eggs, separated (this is the same in both metric and American)
300 grams sugar (this is between 1 1/3 and 1 1/2 cups of sugar)
juice of 1 lemon
zest of 2 lemons, grated
300 grams ground almonds (about 1 2/3 cup *AFTER* they are ground)
300 grams finely grated carrots (between 1 1/3 and 1 1/2 cups *after* they are grated --- I ended up using 4 average sized store-bought carrots)
75 grams corn flour (I'm assuming this is corn meal, and it was right between 1/3 and 1/2 cup in my pyrex cup measure)
a pinch of cinnamon
a pinch of ground cloves
10 grams baking powder (approx. 1 Tbsp)
a pinch of salt
apricot jam (for glazing)
50 ml kirsch --- this measurement will be on your pyrex cup measure as well
fondant icing (I didn't use this)
marzipan carrots (I didn't use this either, but they are really good with it-- Regina spent a couple of hours and made some really awesome looking marzipan carrots with marzipan, red/yellow food coloring, and green food coloring. At this point, the available effort in my body was too low to begin that task. I'd recommend if you are taking this dish to a fancy party, or if you really like marzipan.)
THANKFULLY I have a food processor (another must in my kitchen gadget repertoire). I did the almonds first because they wouldn't get as wet as the carrots, so I'd only have to wash the thing once. I just weighed out the 300 grams of almonds (again, LOVE the digital scale) and dumped them in the processor with the knife blade attachment. I turned it on. Don't be alarmed at the sound, the almonds will calm down and be quieter when they are more finely ground. I kept going until it began to coagulate. I don't recommend grinding it that much--- it just started to make a paste which was a bit harder to work with. I'd just grind them down to very fine particles but it's not going to be a true powder.
I then grated the carrots with the cheese grater attachment first, then put them in with the knife blade attachment. They came out perfect --- very small pieces but still pieces, it wasn't a soupy mess. I weighed out 300 grams and set it aside. I then separated the eggs, putting the whites in my mixer (another kitchen appliance I completely LOVE) and set aside for later.
The egg yolks, sugar, lemon juice, and lemon zest are all to be beaten together until it's all the same pale yellow color. I used my AWESOME zester I got for about 10 bucks (I will never use another zester again, it works like velvet). I then dumped the ground almonds and carrots in the mix, and blended those together. I read somewhere that you're supposed to mix all dry ingredients together, so I mixed the corn meal, cinnamon, cloves, baking powder, and salt in a bowl before adding it to the batter. It makes sense to me--- before I started doing that, I'd just dump each dry ingredient in and then beat it. Besides saving a buttload of time, it also means you're not going to get a big mouthful of unmixed cinnamon. or cloves. or worse yet, baking powder. It's just a good idea, I recommend it. Then I beat in the kirsch. I flipped the switch on my mixer, and in a few minutes (with NO effort on my part), I had some really lovely looking egg white foam, which I folded in the batter. It was ready to go into the oven.
The pan I used for this dish is an 8 inch round springform pan. I would recommend this, as it makes it easiest to remove it from the pan, for presentation. The cake really is not supposed to be served from a cake pan --- I suppose you could do it, but it seems SO anti-Swiss to do such a thing to a really beautiful dessert. These aren't terribly expensive, and if you have a friend who bought a few once and then never used them (or got them for wedding gifts), you might luck out like I did and get them for free.
The book claims that baking it at 350 for an hour will produce the cake. Mine was done in 40 minutes. I'd probably just check it with a toothpick and if it comes out clean, it's done. Popped mine out--- and make sure to use a knife to loosen the edges before you remove it from the springform pan, or part of it might cling to it. Just a note--- I can't figure out why mine collapsed in the middle. I'm kinda bummed about it, but it still tastes great. Don't go into a depression spiral because of it--- things aren't supposed to work *all* the time, unless you are Emeril or something. If that is you, you probably should stop reading this blog, and start cooking at high end restaurants and/or start your own TV show.
I just used homemade apricot jam (heated) to glaze the cake (which is a fancy way to say I frosted it with the stuff). I didn't use the fondant--- I wasn't sure what that was supposed to be but I'm guessing from the picture it's not the nasty stuff they put on wedding cakes. I basically just served it as is.
The cake is DELICIOUS. Moist, almondy, the flavors just really pop out. Children don't seem to enjoy it because it's not your typical Betty Crocker cake mix texture--- this one is a bit more dense, but tastes... I dunno... more real. Now that I can operate in metric, I will be making this cake when I want to impress my guests with how international I can be.
Thursday, July 22, 2010
Clafouti --- Julia Child style
I got a Julia Child recipe book for Christmas. Ok I got THE Julia Child recipe book for Christmas. I immediately set out to try out the hallmark dish of the book (and the movie --- pretty good flick I must add) --- boeuf bourgignonne, and have made it several times since. I also tried the Bavarian Cream... which is well worth the effort. And I'm sure I'll talk about those in later posts when I make them again.
I was leafing through the cookbook the other day with my friend Jamon and we of course had turned to the dessert section (I'm rather partial to sugar). I also had a hunkering for cherries. Jamon had told me he'd had a clafouti and didn't really care for it much... but then again, he told me that about Boeuf Bourgignon, and he'd done a 180 on it after I'd cooked him some. So, after a few weeks of thinking... and thinking... and thinking... about it, I decided to make it. After all, Julia claims that it is a super simple dish. Sometimes the simplest ones are the tastiest.
Clafouti [Cherry Flan]
from Julia Child's Mastering the Art of French Cooking
3 cups pitted black cherries
1 1/4 cups milk
1/3 cup granulated sugar
3 eggs
1 Tb vanilla extract
1/8 tsp salt
1/2 cup flour
Basically you are supposed to blend all the ingredients (except the cherries) in a blender, pour a bit of batter in the bottom of a 7-8 cup pan (I used an 8x8" square pyrex dish), get that a bit cooked, pour the cherries in, shake 1/3 cup granulated sugar over the cherries, and pour the rest of the batter over it. You're then supposed to bake it at 350 for about an hour.
Well, her variation sounded interesting... Clafouti à la Liqueur... in which you soak the cherries in 1/4 cup kirsch (a cherry liqueur) and the 1/3 cup sugar for an hour, then put the rest in, but omitting 1/4 cup of the milk and the 1/3 cup sugar you're supposed to shake on top. (See here for a champion blogger's discussion on kirsch.) I decided to try it.
Pitting the cherries was kinda fun. I didn't feel like spending $10 on a cherry pitter (I'd just bought the kirsch), and after googling some other people's experiences, I just opted to use some scissors to pop them out. I poked a hole in the bottom of the cherry, then pushed the pit out from the top after removing the stem. It actually went really quickly, and though I was sad to see those cherries with holes torn in them, I figured my teeth would thank me for removing the pits. I stirred the kirsch and the sugar together, then poured it over the cherries. I also read somewhere on google (sorry citation police, I have no idea where) that soaking the pits in the kirsch mixture would add a sort of almond undertone to the dessert. I figured, what the heck.
While I soaked it, I made some dinner, relaxed, and started this blog.
I dusted off the blender and whipped up the batter. It's a bit on the runny side. I coated the bottom bit and put it in the oven to create the cake bottom (I guess that's what I am supposed to be doing with it) while I extracted the pits from the cherry mix. I think next time I'll either omit the pits, or put them in cheesecloth so they can't wander back up inside the cherries. I thought the batter bit would be done, but it wasn't, so I waited a bit longer. I might have made it too thick, but after maybe 7 minutes it came out pretty firm. I put the cherry syrup mixture on, then poured the rest of the batter, and popped it in the oven.
An hour later... and the clafouti is out of the oven. Don't be alarmed when it falls after you take it out--- Julia assured me that it's supposed to be that way.
VERDICT: *really* good. The cherries still are firm and have that really good crunch to them, and the custard really complements the dish. It's very best eaten right out of the oven. And it was really easy to make... just pit the cherries, and blend the rest of the ingredients together. I might try it without the kirsch, to see if there is a big difference in it, but it tastes REALLY good. I'll be making this again.
I was leafing through the cookbook the other day with my friend Jamon and we of course had turned to the dessert section (I'm rather partial to sugar). I also had a hunkering for cherries. Jamon had told me he'd had a clafouti and didn't really care for it much... but then again, he told me that about Boeuf Bourgignon, and he'd done a 180 on it after I'd cooked him some. So, after a few weeks of thinking... and thinking... and thinking... about it, I decided to make it. After all, Julia claims that it is a super simple dish. Sometimes the simplest ones are the tastiest.
Clafouti [Cherry Flan]
from Julia Child's Mastering the Art of French Cooking
3 cups pitted black cherries
1 1/4 cups milk
1/3 cup granulated sugar
3 eggs
1 Tb vanilla extract
1/8 tsp salt
1/2 cup flour
Basically you are supposed to blend all the ingredients (except the cherries) in a blender, pour a bit of batter in the bottom of a 7-8 cup pan (I used an 8x8" square pyrex dish), get that a bit cooked, pour the cherries in, shake 1/3 cup granulated sugar over the cherries, and pour the rest of the batter over it. You're then supposed to bake it at 350 for about an hour.
Well, her variation sounded interesting... Clafouti à la Liqueur... in which you soak the cherries in 1/4 cup kirsch (a cherry liqueur) and the 1/3 cup sugar for an hour, then put the rest in, but omitting 1/4 cup of the milk and the 1/3 cup sugar you're supposed to shake on top. (See here for a champion blogger's discussion on kirsch.) I decided to try it.
Pitting the cherries was kinda fun. I didn't feel like spending $10 on a cherry pitter (I'd just bought the kirsch), and after googling some other people's experiences, I just opted to use some scissors to pop them out. I poked a hole in the bottom of the cherry, then pushed the pit out from the top after removing the stem. It actually went really quickly, and though I was sad to see those cherries with holes torn in them, I figured my teeth would thank me for removing the pits. I stirred the kirsch and the sugar together, then poured it over the cherries. I also read somewhere on google (sorry citation police, I have no idea where) that soaking the pits in the kirsch mixture would add a sort of almond undertone to the dessert. I figured, what the heck.
While I soaked it, I made some dinner, relaxed, and started this blog.
I dusted off the blender and whipped up the batter. It's a bit on the runny side. I coated the bottom bit and put it in the oven to create the cake bottom (I guess that's what I am supposed to be doing with it) while I extracted the pits from the cherry mix. I think next time I'll either omit the pits, or put them in cheesecloth so they can't wander back up inside the cherries. I thought the batter bit would be done, but it wasn't, so I waited a bit longer. I might have made it too thick, but after maybe 7 minutes it came out pretty firm. I put the cherry syrup mixture on, then poured the rest of the batter, and popped it in the oven.
An hour later... and the clafouti is out of the oven. Don't be alarmed when it falls after you take it out--- Julia assured me that it's supposed to be that way.
VERDICT: *really* good. The cherries still are firm and have that really good crunch to them, and the custard really complements the dish. It's very best eaten right out of the oven. And it was really easy to make... just pit the cherries, and blend the rest of the ingredients together. I might try it without the kirsch, to see if there is a big difference in it, but it tastes REALLY good. I'll be making this again.
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