Archive Page 15

Cheese Soufflé

Published September 27, 2007 French , Recipe 5 Comments
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Cheese Souffle

Last night, I was all prepared to make Chicken Cordon Bleu. Because it takes a bit of time, I started by grating the cheese. I then went to get the chicken out of the fridge and realized that it had gone bad. Into the trash that went. So the million dollar question at that point was what to do with about a cup of grated Swiss cheese (well, really Jarlsberg but close enough).

To complicate matters, the Von’s near to our apartment had a grand reopening sale (as far as I can tell all that changed is they put a wood floor under the produce section and now carry a larger amount of alcohol) and had 18 eggs foisted on us for free by the checkout clerk (he actually had them send someone to go back and get us our free eggs). Unfortunately, we didn’t win the Ipod Shuffle like the gentleman ahead of us (when told he had won it, his response was “what is that?”). This meant that we had somewhere in the neighborhood of 30 eggs in the refrigerator. This partially spurred the Cinnamon Pound Cake the day before.

Our initial thoughts drifted towards some sort of scrambled eggs and I started looking through some cookbooks for ideas. In my America’s Test Kitchen Family Cookbook (it was cheap at Costco and isn’t a bad cookbook, despite the name) and I saw a recipe for cheese soufflé.

While I’ve had (and made) dessert soufflés, I’ve never actually had a savory soufflé. I’ve never seen one on a restaurant menu (including when I was in France several years ago). They seem delightfully old fashioned (to me at least).

While I’m sure America’s Test Kitchen has a good recipe for a cheese soufflé (why do I consistently want to capitalize soufflé?), when it comes to classic French recipes (and particularly when making them for the first time), I stick with Julia Child and Mastering the Art of French Cooking, Volume One.

The soufflé was quite tasty and significantly more filling than the lightness suggested by a soufflé would imply. Mine, however, did not rise nearly as much as was promised in the recipe. Either my soufflé mold (yes, I have one; it was on clearance at T.J. Maxx and was a good price, despite it being Emeril branded; you can only tell if you look at the bottom) is larger than 6 cups (I didn’t measure it but it looks like it might be) or it could be the fact that when I finished the soufflé batter, the oven had preheated all the way so it had to sit out longer. I would also probably add some cream of tartar to the egg whites to help stabilize them (it was recommended in the introduction to soufflés if you aren’t beating them in a copper bowl but I forgot about it). The soufflé almost completely collapsed once we started serving it (you’re guess is as good as mine as to how to do it; Julia Child’s instructions were a bit lacking on serving).

Beaten Egg Whites

Cheese Soufflé
Adapted from Mastering the Art of French Cooking, Volume One

3 tbsp butter
3 tbsp flour
1 cup boiling milk
1/2 tsp salt
1/8 tsp pepper
a pinch of cayenne pepper
a pinch of nutmeg
4 egg yolks
5 egg whites
3/4 cup grated Swiss cheese

  1. Preheat oven to 400°F.
  2. Butter a 6 cup soufflé mold (or something similar in shape and size) and sprinkle with 1 tbsp of cheese.
  3. Melt the butter in a sauce pan over medium-high heat. Whisk in the flour and cook for two minutes.
  4. Remove the sauce pan from heat and whisk in the boiling milk. Add the salt, pepper, cayenne pepper, and grated nutmeg.
  5. Over medium-high heat, cook the mixture until thickened (about a minute).
  6. Off heat, whisk the egg yolks into the mixture.
  7. Beat the egg whites until stiff with a pinch of salt. A pinch of cream of tartar will probably allow your soufflé to rise and stay risen better than mine.
  8. Add 1/4 of the egg whites into the sauce pan mixture and mix well. Add all but 1 tbsp of the cheese into the mixture and mix well.
  9. Fold in the remaining egg whites into the mixture.
  10. Carefully pour the soufflé mixture into the prepared soufflé mold. Level the top and sprinkle with cheese.
  11. Put the soufflé in the oven and immediately drop the temperature to 375°F. Bake for 30 to 35 minutes or until the top is well browned and a skewer inserted into the center comes out cleanly.

Serves 2.

Cinnamon Pound Cake

Published September 26, 2007 Cake , Dessert , Recipe 4 Comments
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Cinnamon Pound Cake

Angela has class on Tuesday nights which means I’m home alone (although I don’t have to fight a couple of bungling burglars with improvised comedic devices). My dinner on those nights is usually something Angela doesn’t like but I was feeling a bit lazy last night so just made a sandwich. I did, however, decide to make a surprise for her when she came home.

This recipe has been sitting on our refrigerator door for about 6 months now. We originally picked it up at Penzeys Spices on our first visit to their retail store. I made it last night because I wanted something for breakfast the next day and the recipe card proclaims “This cake is wonderful for dessert but even better for breakfast.” Cake for breakfast? How could I not be all over that? (Of course, I’ve never had cake for breakfast before; never).

In regards to Penzeys, on that first visit I decided to buy cinnamon sticks because freshly grated cinnamon has to make food better, doesn’t it? I’m really not sure if food is better with freshly grated cinnamon, but I do know that it’s a pain to grate a full tablespoon of cinnamon. Here I was looking for any easy surprise to bake for my wife and instead I spend 15 minutes microplaning a cinnamon stick. Of course I decided to do this after I started mixing the cake ingredients. Mis-en-what?

I found some of the typesetting of this recipe to be a bit odd. In the ingredients list, the word cups was capitalized for no particular reason. Also, PURE VANILLA EXTRACT, CINNAMON SUGAR, and CINNAMON were in all-caps. I’m assuming it’s because Penzeys sells products by those names but why not do what every other brand does and specify your brand there (are they fooling anyone?). The way it looks, they’re just yelling at me (that better be PURE VANILLA EXTRACT or else!). My final comment would be that it listed 3 teaspoons of baking powder instead of 1 tablespoon. I have no idea what the purpose of that would be (do many people have tablespoon measuring spoons that don’t fit into their baking powder jar? my oversized plastic ones do).

Cinnamon Pound Cake
Adapted from Penzeys One, volume 1 issue 3, originally by Scott and Jackie Nelson

1 cup butter, softened
2 cups sugar
4 eggs
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
3 cups flour
1 tbsp baking powder
1 cup milk
5 tbsp cinnamon sugar (or 1 tbsp cinnamon mixed with 4 tbsp sugar)

  1. Preheat oven to 300° F.
  2. Grease a loaf pan (the recipe wants you to use a tube pan which I’ve never heard of; it fits perfectly in a loaf pan plus that’s the shape every pound cake I’ve ever seen has been).
  3. Cream the butter.
  4. Add the eggs, sugar, and vanilla extract. Mix well.
  5. In a separate bowl, combine the flour and baking powder (the recipe specifies sifting but I cheated and just mixed them).
  6. Add half the flour to the butter mixture. Mix to combine.
  7. Add the milk to the butter mixture. Mix to combine.
  8. Add the remaining flour to the butter mixture. Mix to combine.
  9. Sprinkle 1/3 of the cinnamon sugar on the bottom of the loaf pan.
  10. Add half of the batter to the loaf pan (really try for half; I failed and it was much closer to 3/4 than half but it still tasted good).
  11. Sprinkle 1/3 of the cinnamon sugar on top of the batter in the loaf pan.
  12. Add the remaining batter to the loaf pan.
  13. Sprinkle the remaining cinnamon sugar on the top of the batter.
  14. Bake for 1 hour and 15 minutes.

Servers 25 to 30 (or just 2, if you’re us)

General Tso’s Chicken or How to Create Pepper Spray in Your Own Kitchen

Published September 25, 2007 Chicken , Chinese , Recipe 2 Comments
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Apparently, if you cook chilies in more oil than necessary, then add liquid, you will create your very own homemade pepper spray. As I was cooking the General Tso’s Chicken, I was suddenly overcome by a combination hacking and sneezing fit (in retrospect it’s not something that I thought would be physiologically possible but I often manage to surprise myself with my own abilities). By the time my wife noticed my predicament, the toxic cloud had drifted the few feet to her and she was overcome. And now I understand how pepper spray works.

Now, I don’t normally cook Chinese food (let alone any Asian cuisine). It’s not that I don’t like it, it’s just that it’s culinarily 180 degrees from my comfort zone. I usually stick to Italian or French dishes, occasionally adding in other European fare or the Americanized versions thereof (thereof is a seriously underrated word in the English language). In my mind, Asian food is something you go out to eat (speaking of which, why are there a dearth of reasonably good Chinese places in Long Beach?)

Chinese and other Asian foods are different from my American (and by extension European) culinary tradition (well don’t I sound pompous; perhaps I should refer to food tradition). The techniques are just significantly different. While thinking about the differences, I realized I’m not even qualified to comment on what the differences are: that is my level of understanding of Asian cuisine. I’ve made a few successful stir fries (and I highly recommend this tutorial) but they were rather Americanized affairs.

Despite this lack of knowledge, I had heard rumors that Revolutionary Chinese Cookbook: Recipes from Hunan Province was a good cookbook. I also have happened to find that the library has an online request system (somehow with regards to libraries I’m stuck in mid-1980’s; I’m still skeptical of using anything that isn’t a real card catalog). Of course the combination of a cookbook to reconnoiter and an automagical book request system meant that I got a copy of the book into my grubby little hands (their much grubbier when I make bread but that’s another story, or would that be blog post?).

Being a good American, I immediately thought that many of the recipes would not be the first on my list to try. I mean, many of them even had vegetables in them. While that’s not really what I thought, I did think that some of the ingredients I had not heard of before and would be a bit harder to come by and that my vegetable-hating wife (well, maybe not all vegetables) would not like them.

So what was probably one of the only recipes in the entire cookbook I had heard of (not counting the spring rolls; is it just me or do spring rolls seem to be entirely too time consuming to actually make? all those who make them have my respect) was General Tso’s Chicken. In the cookbook, two different versions are listed: one from Taiwan (where the dish was invented) and one from Hunan (which is the style in which it is made). Not surprising to me was the fact that it’s virtual unheard of in China (that would be the People’s Republic of, it’s actually found in Taiwan). Contrary to rumors I heard, however, there was actually a General Tso at some point in the past (and I figured he was just made up).

As to the recipe itself, the first item to note is that it is spicy. Very spicy. Now, I can’t claim to like my food flaming hot, but I do like my food a bit spicy. This was a bit spicier than I’d like and my wife gave up eating it after awhile due to its heat. So if you don’t like it hot, add less chilies. In retrospect, seasoning the chicken with salt and pepper before mixing in the marinade would make a better dish (to my Anglo-Saxon mind). The original recipe specified potato flour but it’s not in my pantry, so I substituted corn starch and there didn’t seem to be any ill-effects from it. The recipe also specified Shaioking vinegar which, according to the book, is a dark rice wine vinegar, so I substituted that (which is still a pain to find; I eventually had to go to Little Saigon to find it). My final substitution was replacing peanut oil with canola oil because Costco stopped selling it. While Changsha version is supposed to be closer to American versions of General Tso’s Chicken, it’s really not. There’s a vague resemblance but it’s really a different dish.

General Tso’s Chicken (Changsha Version)
Adapted from Revolutionary Chinese Cookbook: Recipes from Hunan Province

12 oz. chicken (preferably thigh or leg meat)
6 small dried chilies, cut into 3/4″ lengths, seeds removed
3/4 in of fresh ginger, thinly sliced
1 tbsp tomato paste
3 scallions, green parts only, thinly slice
1 tsp sesame oil peanut oil

For the marinade:
2 tsp light soy sauce
1/2 tsp dark soy sauce
1 egg yolk
4 tsp corn starch

For the sauce:
1/2 tsp corn starch
2 tsp sugar
2 tsp black rice vinegar
1/4 tsp dark soy sauce

  1. Cut the chicken into bit-sized pieces. Don’t be like me. Make them actually bite-sized. There’s few things more annoying (this would the textbook definition of hyperbole) than eating food with chopsticks that are too big for one bite.
  2. In a bowl, mix the marinade soy sauce, egg yolk, and chicken. Then mix in the corn starch. The mixture will become very sticky.
  3. In a small bowl, mix the sauce ingredients.
  4. Combine the tomato paste with 1 tbsp of water.
  5. In a wok, add enough oil to come up about 3 to 4 inches (depending on the size of your chicken). Heat oil to between 350° F to 400° F. Deep fry chicken pieces, in several batches, until it is golden brown. Remove chicken to a bowl after deep frying.
  6. Pour all but1 tbsp of oil into a heat proof container. Turn your vent fan onto maximum (you’re about to pepper spray yourself). Turn burner to high. Working quickly, add the dried chilies, then add the garlic, then add the tomato paste. Cook until tomato paste becomes burnt orange. Add the sauce mixture and stand back (this is the pepper spray creation moment). Once the sauce stops boiling with the oil, stir as the sauce thickens.
  7. Once the sauce thickens satisfactorily (you want it relatively thick), add the chicken to the mixture and coat thoroughly.
  8. Off heat, add the scallions and sesame oil.

Serves 2.

Pasta with Corn, Pancetta, and Sage

Published September 24, 2007 Pasta , Recipe Leave a Comment
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Pasta with Corn, Pancetta, and SageAs a big fan of corn, pancetta, and pasta, one would think that combining them would be a no brainer. However, I never thought of it. And why would you? Pasta is Italian and corn is American. And Italian-American food has been relegated to cheap restaurants that those in the know would never eat at (apparently I am not in the know and I’m pretty happy there).

This recipe comes from The Zuni Cafe Cookbook which was helpfully provided to me by our local library (as I’m too poor to purchase it for myself right now). This dish is basically creamed corn with pancetta and a bit of sage mixed with pasta. The sage flavor is not particularly pronounced so increase the amount if you, unlike my wife, like sage a lot. The original recipe called for 5 to 6 small ears of corn but, given that I buy corn priced by the ear, I used 3 large ears instead. There may be a flavor difference but as long as I don’t try it, I’ll be happy with the cheaper version (that was, until recently, my theory with sushi; as long as I don’t know what I’m missing, I’m okay).

Pasta with Corn, Pancetta, and Sage
Adapted from The Zuni Cafe Cookbook

2 1/2 cups fresh corn (about 3 large ears)
1/2 cup butter (1 stick)
3 oz pancetta, cubed
6 sage leaves, diced
1 lb. fresh egg pasta, preferably linguine
salt and pepper
3 tbsp Parmesan cheese

  1. Using a knife, slice the corn kernels off of the ear into a bowl. Then, run the back of the knife at a 45 degree angle to the ear to force out all the starchy liquid. Combine the liquid and the corn.
  2. Boil waiter for the pasta and cook until slightly underdone. Reserve pasta water.
  3. Heat 1 tablespoon of butter over medium heat in a large skillet. Add the pancetta and saute until lightly browned.
  4. Turn off heat, add sage and 1 tablespoon butter. Allow the sage to seep for 1 minute.
  5. Add 6 tablespoons of butter and turn heat to medium. When the butter is melted, add the corn and liquid. Cook until warmed through and the liquid in the pan thickens slightly. Add salt and pepper to taste.
  6. Add cooked pasta to the corn and toss. Finish cooking the pasta with the corn.
  7. Off heat, add Parmesan cheese and retaste for seasoning.

Serves 4.

Bienvenito

Published September 22, 2007 Meta , Uncategorized 1 Comment

At some point I decided that I wanted to start a food blog.  Because what the world really needs right now is another food blog (not, as many people would guess, world peace). And, of course, I’m highly (un)qualified to write one.

However, there does seem to be a dearth of food blogs from our locale (that would be Long Beach, CA).  I found one a few weeks ago but now can’t seem to re-find it (it’s like it disappeared into the ether).  You’d think that a city of 400,000 could at least scrounge up a couple of food bloggers so I wouldn’t have to do it.

As for the name, my wife decided on that and, as with many things in life, it didn’t matter what I thought (of course I didn’t have the faintest idea of a name for a food blog; as long as it wasn’t the typical Cookingwithgastroeats).  Or maybe we should’ve named it that.

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