STIR THE POTS

Humitas

Whenever my wife and I head into a store, the sudden urge to make something down home and familiar grabs us, just like it did yesterday when we were checking out the ethnic food aisle in my mothers neighborhood Stop & Shop.We of course were going past the "Spanish" section, when I noticed a grain mill,(Molino) and my wife was saying how much she wanted to eat humitas! Being holy week you kind of crave those connotative special things that you eat, for me it's a spring lamb. We were set just to prepare our traditional gigot de agneau with some roasted vegetables and potatoes. Now with my wife recruiting me and my mother to labor over the filling of corn husks with masa of fresh ground corn and some fresh cheese with scallions, well it's going to be a long day, but worth it!

Humitas:
Makes about 25 humitas, depending on size of corn husks

8 ears of corn (shelled)
2 cups of Andean corn or corn flour if you can't find a good Latin market in your barrio!
6 eggs separate the yolks and whites
21/2 tsp of baking powder
2 1/2 tsp salt
2 1/2 tsp sugar
2-3 tsp baking powder
80z melted butter
8oz of fresh curd cheese, mozzarella is ok, but look for some latin cheese if possible
1 bag of dried corn husks

Puree or ground the corn in either a molino or a food processor until finely ground. Add butter, egg yolks,baking powder,salt,sugar and cheese.Mix until thoroughly incorporated. Transfer into a large bowl: Meanwhile whip egg whites until soft peaks form, fold in half into the dough mix till almost completely absorbed, finish with the other half.
Assembling Humitas:
overlap two leaves and fill with a 1/2 cup of filling on the lower half of the husks and fold over the sides to meet in the middle and tie off the tops with either string or with a piece of extra husks.
Steaming:
Place the finished humitas in a large steamer and cook for 30 to 45 minutes until firm to touch.
Some of us like our humitas with hot sauce, but to avoid being sneered at or told Yanquis go home, just enjoy it with a good pot of coffee and just sneak some hot sauce like I do!

 

Torta Espanola rapide...or Penlope's

 

 

 

Sometimes I wake up and crave something that reminds me of a moment or even a movie? Like deja vu. It happened to me today before I set off to work, deciding what to have for breakfast. Just a  few weeks ago I had recorded Jamon, Jamon, Luna Biga's movie about some pretty screwy people that swing hams and eat tortas. It stars Javier Bardem and Penelope Cruz. There are some funny and titillatingly food  related scenes, one featuring Penelope's nipples compared to the delicate flavor of Torta Espanola. 

Hmmm...close your eye's and  imagine.

Well, typical for me I was running late for work, and truthfully not looking forward to a busy lunch and dinner service! So to get me going I brewed a coffee (organic, I might add self-righteously! - though it's really really tasty too), when my attention turned to  the fridge in which were living a variety of different levain specimens: a little pineapple, some Greek yogurt.....hmmm it's cold out and I wouldn't mind an egg I thought! I pulled out the veg drawer and there were some onions, a couple of potatoes and garlic, and then it hit me! Yes, Penelope's Torta I thought! Oh, that lucky Javier Bardem, I wonder if she still cooks them for him?

Torta Espanola

Basic recipe, no brainer really!

I sweated the onions, potatoes and garlic with some olive oil. Slowly as not to brown or
burn them, then I seasoned with salt and pepper, a couple pinches of pimenton picante, beat the three eggs and slowly moved in the egg to the center of the pan, trying to make a nice shape. I haphazardly flipped the torta, and let it finish on the otherside and turned off the flame!

Basic ingredients:
1 or two small potatoes small dice about a 1/4 inch square, waxy or even yukon would be sweet!
1 medium onion small dice, I used a red one, no white around, your choice?
1 clove of garlic minced
2-3 Tablespoons olive oil, hey add more if you feel like you got cajones!(It is a Spanish dish!)
pinch or two of Pimenton

3-4 eggs, depends how many people you got over, I use vegetarian and free range eggs!(Criollo)

A saute or cast iron pan, I used my wifes non-stick as I was too lazy to pull out the cast iron!

You can serve with whatever gets your goat really, I had some fine sourdough I had baked the other night, or try some Chorizo!

Dynamite roll aka Imperial roll or goi cuon

When I go to my favorite Vietmamese restaurant in China town, Nha Trang, I usually order a couple of dynamite rolls,(due to the garlic chive sticking out at the end of the roll!), it's a name my brother coined and it's stuck. They are Goi cuon or Imperial rolls which are the more common name or even summer roll. Whatever you call them or fill them with your bound to be satisfied.

Dynamite rolls

You can't really call this a recipe with lots of measuring, this is sort of free form and hands on, literally and generalized. So make as much mise en place you want or need and just roll with it!

Ingredients: For two hungry people! (make extra for friends and neighbors!)

About a 1/4 lbs. Shrimp, cooked (boiled, perhaps with some lemon grass for flavor as suggested by a fellow blogger!)

A couple of leaves of iceberg lettuce finely chiffonade

1Carrots julienned

1 Small daikon radish julienned

4-5 five leaves each of mint and cilantro leaves

Rice thread noodles, soaked in hot water for ten minutes and drained.I just took a small bunch of threads and cut them in half when I started putting the rolls together!

Rice paper: Two pieces per roll moistened in water and set on a damp towel so they don't stick

(Sauce is based Loosely on Jaden's recipe)

Sauce is made with peanut butter, hoisin sauce, garlic, chili garlic sauce and sugar with water to thin out a bit.

Mince garlic cloves 3-4, heat a sauce pan with about 1 tsp oil and lightly saute till golden. Add in a tblsp. of sugar, 1 tblsp of peanut butter, (I had organic of course!) about 5 tblsp of hoisin sauce and 1 tblsp of chili garlic sauce like my favorite brand,Sriracha. Then add about a quarter cup added to thin sauce out, I brought it too a boil and then cooled it in my window sill!

Rolling:

Have a clean kitchen towel spread out, lay two soaked rice paper down and proceed to layer ingredients at the lower end of the circle of rice paper. You can start with whatever you prefer, when finished with ingredients, roll the paper over the ingredients tightly, but careful not to tear! Fold in both sides and continue rolling until finished at the end of the paper. You can cut them in half or just devour them whole!

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Chocolate, caramel pear tart

I was thinking of using a recipe for chocolate tart from when I worked with my Chef Jean-Michel Bergounoux at Restaurant Raphael for a party coming up. His version was a hazelnut sable with a piped in sort of chocolate hazelnut appareil that is baked until just cooked and finished with a very loose ganache then put back into the oven for a shiny finish, wonderful, no intoxicating flavor! Being somewhat curious and wanting to change rather than reach back for the obvious old favorite I opted to make instead a chocolate dough filled with some dulce de leche and covered with a dark chocolate ganache infused with cayenne pepper and topped with some caramelized pear, sort of a Poire belle Helene slant? The taste was deep chocolate, I used valrhona cocoa powder for the dough and it is a rich flavor indeed! Blind baked for 15 minutes, then when still warm filled with a bit of dulce de leche that I had made from condensed milk boiled in a pot for about 2 hours, not a method preferred by David Lebovitz for fear of exploding cans, but who has time for stirring sugar and milk for hours like my mother in-law used to do in a copper kettle! Finally the ganache was poured and chilled in the fridge till set.

Tart dough:

340g A.P. Flour
113g cocoa
113g Confectioners sugar
225g soft butter
1egg
1 pinch salt

350 F
Dough:
Beat sugar and butter in mixer till airy, add egg mix and scrape sides of the bowl.Continue mixing till egg is fully incorporated add in dry ingredients, mix until dough forms, remove and cover in plastic wrap until chilled for one hour.

Ganache:
340g Heavy cream
2tsp butter
225g chocolate
pinch of chili

Heat cream, add chili and cover chocolate. Give small swirls from center out till chocolate and cream are mixed through finally adding in the butter till incorporated.

Dulce de Leche:
1 can condensed milk
Put can in a deep pot covered in water and bring to boil, lower heat to a gentle rolling boil for 2 hours. Remove let cool for several hours, open can with can opener.

Roasted pear:
4 Pears (peeled and cored)
1/4 cup of sugar
2 Tbsp. butter

Put butter and sugar along with pears into a pan cut side up. Roast for about 10-15 minutes until they begin to caramelize, turning and finishing on the cut side till soft when pierced with a knife, cool.

Assembling:
Roll dough  about a quarter of an inch thick with a rolling pin, fill into tart rings dock and blind bake for about 10 minutes with weights. Remove weights (I used beans and a little aluminum foil) and return to oven until dough is baked through. Add dulce de lechem, about a teaspoon or two full into still war shells. Smooth out filling until even. Cover with ganache set in refrigerator the and cut a sliver of cooled roasted pear on top for garnish.

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Mimi's Carrot cake

Today I am celebrating my mothers birthday, albeit with a painful back condition, a son must pay respect to the women who inspired his becoming a cook! This cake was my sister's recipe and I thought it appropriate to make it for my mom today.
My sister Mimi who passed away some 20 years ago reminds me a lot of my sister in Switzerland. Rachel and Mimi  never met, but I am sure they would of been like twins. The both of them being artistic and shared the love of baking for friends and family. Mimi had this recipe for years and it was a cake we often had at her apartment with coffee and birthdays.
I have had this old recipe card from years gone by that over the years I have used, most recently at work for a customers party.
So today I baked one for my mom and as usual will cover it with my favorite and lighter version of cream cheese frosting, light in texture that is! The frosting is gilded with white chocolate and butter, it's a recipe from the "Cake Bible", I started using it when I worked in the pastry shop at the Drake hotel on 56 St.(Gone now, a relic of the past! It's where I was able to watch Jean-George Vongerichten do food shoots on the weekends while I baked tarts!.)

The way I used to make the recipe was as it is written wet into dry then add in the carrots last with nuts and raisins. After making it the last time I found that the mixing wasn't thorough so this time I started out by beating the sugar, oil and eggs first getting an airy mix, then folding the remaining ingredients. The cake felt lighter and with the leavening agent being baking soda, I think it changed the character of the cakes former self, less heavy or oily.

Mimi's carrot cake

9x9 inch cake pan (non-stick)

350 F for 1 hour bake.

Ingredients:
453g flour (I used whole wheat pastry flour, you could use all purpose too!)
5g salt
453g salt (again use what you like, I mixed granulated brown and white, didn't have enough white!)
8g Baking soda
2g cinnamon (optional)
1tsp cinnamon
4 whole eggs
340g canola oil
2 cups grated carrots
56g chopped pinapple
56g walnuts
56g raisins (black or golden?)

Beat oil and  sugar then add in eggs one at a time. Continue to beat till light and airy.
Sift the dry ingredients. Grate carrots, mix with the pinapple, nuts and raisins.
Fold in the carrot fruit mix and finally the dry ingredients till mixed.
Place in the pan and bake one hour in a 350 F oven till firm.

White chocolate cream cheese frosting:

340g Cream cheese (I used organic Neufchatel, lighter and sounds cooler!)
23g lemon juice
255g white chocolate
170g butter
Whip the cheese till light and airy. Melt white chocolate and add in gradually while beating cream cheese.Add in the softened butter, finish by adding the lemon juice.

 

Quark, slight return.....

Quark? My boss asks as he looks at the menu I offer him for a dinner party.He assumes it's a computer program or some foreign substance he can't pronounce so I educate him to the fact that there is a German cheese that makes a sublime tasting cheesecake instead of the usual cream cheese ! Rather than doing a bread and butter pudding, which although is rather delicious too I have a hankering for my sisters recipe I tasted a couple times. She incorporates seasonal fruits like rhubarb, currants or even raspberries. This version is from Dr. Oeteker's book, though it reminds me a lot of the version my sister makes  I didn't reproduce hers, as she had some processed pudding or custard in it, where will I find that in my pantry? Instead I use the basic stock of pantry items in most classic cheese cakes, eggs, sugar, cheese, starch or flour etc... Though I love a New York style cheese cake, I have a real affinity for  that German style that are lightened  with egg whites, less rich but still satisfying none the less!

Dough:

150 g A.P. flour

1/2 teaspoon Baking powder

75 gSugar

2-3 teaspoons Vanilla sugar

pinch of salt

1 Egg

75 g Butter

Filling:

750 g Quark

150 g Sugar

3 tsp lemon juice   

50 g Corn starch

4 eggs seperated

200ml Heavy cream

Mix flour with baking powder,add sugar, vanilla sugar, a dash of salt, egg and  soft butter. Mix these ingredients and knead until you get a soft dough. If it is too sticky, put it in the fridge  until firm.

Take 2/3 of the dough and roll it out on the bottom of a 10 inch spring form pan (diameter 28 cm). Knead 1 tablespoon of flour into the remaining dough and form a rim. Pierce several times with a fork.

Put this into the preheated oven at 200-220°C - 400 F for about 10 minutes.

Meanwhile, mix  Quark with  sugar, lemon juice and  starch. Beat the whites of four eggs, mix the four yolks, beat 200 ml cream into the Quark, folding the egg whites at the end.

Spread the Quark evenly on the pre-baked dough and put into the oven for 70 to 80 minutes at 170°C. 325 F

After the cake is done, it should be left in the oven for about 20 minutes with the door ajar and the heat turned off. Cool on rack.

 

Baselbieter Läckerli

Flavors are reflections of things or places we have visited. One of my frequent flavors have been in Basel Switzerland, that being the Basel Läckerli. This simple confection resembling a glazed roof tile has two versions,one a city the other the countryside.  I learned from my brother in-law who gives me the historic tour of Switzerland and my sister the culinary side. The city of Basel had controlled  Baselland  since the 16th century but when Napoleon visited in 1789 he left lots of ideas like the metric systems, but also  left the Basellanders who were less educated with the feeling of equal parity with the City of Basels gentry and in 1833 there was a division. There was a battle as well and the Basellanders routed the city, my brother in-law even recounted a story of cannibalism! Whatever the case maybe even the cookies look different, like for instance the ones sold at most tourist shops or at the Läckerli Huus in the city of Basel.The country Läckerli are a bit thicker and have a more cake crumb texture than the cities leaner and drier version! There a humble but delicious treat.

Baselbieter Läckerli

375 F oven  Equipment: cookie or sheet pan covered with parchment paper and rolling pin.
4 eggs
500g Sugar
2Tbsp Honey
100g Candied Lemon zest
100g Candied Orange zest
250g Hazelnut flour or ground hazelnuts chopped fine
1tsp Cinnamon
1 ground clove
5g Baking powder
500g A.P. flour

Glaze:
1/2 cup Powdered sugar
1-2 tsp lemon juice
to make a loose glaze

Beat sugar and eggs till fluffy to  the ribbon stage, add honey, zests,hazelnut flour, spices and mix till incorporated.
Combine and sift flour and baking powder.Add flour into mix kneading lightly to gather dough into a ball. Place dough into cookie sheet that is covered with parchment and rolling it evenly until dough fills the pan.
Bake for 15 to 20 minutes till firm and golden brown.
Glaze after the cookie has cooled and let the glaze set. Cut cookies in about 1.5 inch squares and keep them in your cookie jar if you can!

Apple Brustengolo in cast iron

Last week while laboring on some lamb racks an annoying waiter with a penchant for opera, (and they sure are annoying aren't they!) which whenever entering the kitchen asks if anybody speaks English, this to a predominantly Latino crew excluding me and he is Italian! Without even starting with a hello chef, right as if in mid sentence he blurts out and asked me how he could make a crust less apple pie? I rolled my eyes and suggested some flour, a tab of butter as well as some leavening to make a sort of crumble mixture and bake? I hadn't given it much thought, but today I considered apples as the weather though still spring like or even summery had hints of fall, the idea popped in my head of a dessert I had made before, brustengolo. Origins of this dessert are from peasants in Umbria, the ingredients are: apple, pine nuts, and corn flour. I had made this dessert before for an event; a funny thought was a peasant dish for elite New Yorkers! So today I put the two ideas together for a crust less apple tart, with a loose rendition of brustengolo of Mario Batali from his recently departed food network show, Molto Mario! His is in line with a batter as is the classic version, mine on the other hand was more a crumble filling with an egg folded in at the end and baked with the apples in a cast iron pan! I read that pine nuts or walnuts are common as well hazelnuts.In my case I only had almonds available. The cinnamon isn't classic either but I like the flavor.

   

Brustengolo for two

2 apples diced (rough, this is peasant food)
3 Tbsp. butter
1/4 cup sugar
2 Tbsp. corn flour
3 Tbsp. A.P. flour
1 tsp. baking powder
2 Tbsp. sliced almonds, or whatever nuts you like?
2-3 Tbsp. golden raisins
1 egg beaten
squeeze of lemon
Pinch of cinnamon, not typical but I like it!

Dice apples, add raisins, drop of lemon and cinnamon. In a separate bowl make a crumble mix with flour, sugar and butter. Combine apple mix to dry ingredients,adding the egg last and folding till just mixed.
I used a 6.5 " cast iron pan that was lightly oiled and baked the brustengolo for about 25-30 minutes.

 

End of my plum!

As you may have guessed I love plums, my sisters orchard is filled with four varieties including those elusive mirabelles,quetsche, and hmmm I don't remember the others? That must be because there also turned into some fierce schnapps! I made some plum crumble which I shared with you all recently, since I still had a little less than a kilo left and they were getting some botritis just sitting there, I made up a almond sable and filled it up with the very mature fruit! When we were harvesting this summer, my brother in law always has some scary looking blemished samples but says that they in fact are the best, full of concentrated sugar he claims...and you know he is right! Being an American who is used to getting anything at anytime in the global food chain, but not always being the seasonal best, it made me consider letting those little black and purple jewels get a bit more ripe in the cold of my fridge!( Actually I forgot about them and in the nick of time was able to save enough of them for what I find a simple but tasty tart!)

Makes 2 10 inch tart
Sable dough:

160g Cake flour
90g almond flour
50g confectioners sugar
150g butter
1egg

In a mixer combine sugar, almond flour,butter and egg till softened.
Add in flour and combine till just mix, refrigerate for 1 hour. Roll out dough in a circle to about a 1/4 thick, place in ring mold cutting off excess.

Finishing tarte:
600g plums
cinnamon
sugar

Cut plums in half and remove pits.Place the plums cut side facing in around the tarte shell until it is full.
Bake in a 440 degree oven until the plums look cooked and release there juices, about 35-40 minutes.Sprinkle the top

 

 

Bakers dozen

As I didn't get much practice in the lamination of dough in school, I have over the years spent some quiet 3 am mornings layering flour and butter to make some good, but mostly crappy renditions of the classics! Until my trip to Bethesda Wales, where Dan Lepard demonstrated under the most precarious conditions, rolling pin was a bottle of red wine and we were left the next day to proof them, we didn't have an egg to finally egg wash the specimens either! So a few weekends ago I sent some samples to a friend to see if he would offer them for his restaurant, this didn't come true but at least I got some practice! Nils that ever busy baker in Aachen is always a step ahead of me and has a great set of pictures of his apple and sultana danish! The recipe are actually Dieter Schorners,a student at FCI took pity on me and offered all the pastry formulas which I took without a wink of an eye! It's a treasure trove!

Chef Dieter Schorner's Danish

70g Fresh yeast

1cup cold milk

340g bread flour

225g cake flour

50g sugar

5g salt

1/4tsp cardamom

50g softened butter

2 eggs

340g roll in butter

Roll detrempe into triangle, chill 30 to 60 min

3 single turns 20-30 min rest between  each fold

batch yields 25 to 30 danish

Various shapes, rolled into pain aux raisin or filled with pastry cream then filled with poached fruits.

Sugar glaze for danish

1lb confectioners sugar with  130-150 g milk

White icing same as  above with only half milk or less.