Tomato Kumato

January 4, 2010

Mini Speculoos Cheesecakes

Filed under: Cake Day, Daring Bakers, cheese — Tags: , , — emiglia @ 1:58 am

I swear I saw a stranger from a former life on my crosstown bus tonight.

It was appropriate, I suppose, considering the rest of my evening. It’s always been important to me to have intense people to call upon at all hours of the evening, friends who will force me to think and discuss. It’s always been important, but even moreso now that my daily bread is won by writing. Now, when I can spend hours and hours in front of a computer screen without ever looking up and participating in the world around me.

A writer is only as good as the stories he tells, and a writer’s stories are only as interesting as the life he leads. As a surgeon makes a point of memorizing the major arteries, as a chef makes a point of familiarizing himself with the food choices and trends around him, I must make a point of living my life.

I forget, until I get back here and see him again, see New York through the tinted glasses he eased onto the bridge of my nose nearly five years ago, how much of what I love about New York came from him: the Prep. One night spent the way we used to, the television on as little more than background noise to our long, persistent conversations about nothing at all brings everything back, and as I wander these streets, it’s as though the lights have changed. The director has called “action,” and I see New York the way I used to when we were still in love.

It’s in this New York that I can find the perfection in tiny moments like this, in discovering the poignancy of seeing a face that used to be familiar to me, a name that I’d forgotten I ever knew until I saw him and remembered. He doesn’t remember me… there’s no reason for him to. He was the Golden Boy, a boy I never would have spoken to had it not been for one night at prep school orientation, eight years ago now. I don’t feel old enough to reminisce about eight years ago, but there it is. We got off at the same stop: he walked east, I walked west. I didn’t look back… there was no reason to. But I laughed out loud to myself as I walked up Madison Avenue at night, shivering in the coat I borrowed from my younger self before leaving this evening, as I did so many times it came to be routine so many years ago.

Abbey’s Cheesecake

An oldie but a goodie, this cheesecake recipe comes from a Daring Baker’s challenge from last year, but it’s still my favorite. I sub speculoos for graham crackers and use crème fraîche in place of heavy cream. For mini-cheesecakes, make them in a muffin pan, and bake 20 minutes before resting for an hour.

Crust:
2 cups / 180 g graham cracker crumbs
1 stick / 4 oz butter, melted
2 tbsp. / 24 g sugar
1 tsp. vanilla extract

Cheesecake Filling:
3 sticks of cream cheese, 8 oz each (total of 24 oz) room temperature
1 cup / 210 g sugar
3 large eggs
1 cup / 8 oz heavy cream
1 tbsp. lemon juice
1 tbsp. vanilla extract (or the innards of a vanilla bean)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (Gas Mark 4 = 180C = Moderate heat). Begin to boil a large pot of water for the water bath.

Mix together the crust ingredients and press into your preferred pan. You can press the crust just into the bottom, or up the sides of the pan too - baker’s choice. Set crust aside.

Combine cream cheese and sugar in the bowl of a stand-mixer (or in a large bowl if using a hand-mixer) and cream together until smooth. Add eggs, one at a time, fully incorporating each before adding the next. Make sure to scrape down the bowl in between each egg. Add heavy cream, vanilla, lemon juice, and alcohol and blend until smooth and creamy.

Pour batter into prepared crust and tap the pan on the counter a few times to bring all air bubbles to the surface. Place pan into a larger pan and pour boiling water into the larger pan until halfway up the side of the cheesecake pan. If cheesecake pan is not airtight, cover bottom securely with foil before adding water.

Bake 45 to 55 minutes, until it is almost done - this can be hard to judge, but you’re looking for the cake to hold together, but still have a lot of jiggle to it in the center. You don’t want it to be completely firm at this stage. Close the oven door, turn the heat off, and let rest in the cooling oven for one hour. This lets the cake finish cooking and cool down gently enough so that it won’t crack on the top. After one hour, remove cheesecake from oven and lift carefully out of water bath. Let it finish cooling on the counter, and then cover and put in the fridge to chill. Once fully chilled, it is ready to serve.

May 27, 2009

Daring Bakers: Strudel

Filed under: Daring Bakers — Tags: , , , , , , — emiglia @ 7:31 pm

The May Daring Bakers’ challenge was hosted by Linda of make life sweeter! and Courtney of Coco Cooks. They chose Apple Strudel from the recipe book Kaffeehaus: Exquisite Desserts from the Classic Cafés of Vienna, Budapest and Prague by Rick Rodgers.

I like to work myself up about things. I get really excited, counting down the days until a trip, the start of a new job, the arrival of a friend. And somehow, the things I look forward to are never as exciting as the things that just happen, the things that enter into my life without a plan, without announcing themselves. I like to have a plan, but the best things aren’t planned.

This Daring Bakers challenge was on my list of cooking tasks to accomplish for nearly a month before I rolled out the dough and did it. I planned for two: a pear, caramelized onion and blue cheese strudel and a pear and raspberry strudel for dessert.

The rolling of the dough went off without a hitch; the filling was easy. I baked them with no problem: no burning, no falling apart. Everything went according to plan.

And it just wasn’t that great.

caramelized onion filling

caramelized onion filling

Don’t get me wrong: it was fine. But at the same time, I would have much rather had the ingredients by themselves with maybe a loaf of good French bread for dinner as opposed to stuffed in a strudel dough. I don’t think I’ve ever had apple strudel… if I have, it wasn’t memorable. I’m sure this recipe is great for people who love strudel, but it just wasn’t for me.

The past few months have been made up of waiting, of writing, of thinking. No real plans: a first for me, a first in a long time. But now, out of nowhere, plans are falling at my feet, and I’m scrambling to pick them all up: a month in the Congo, a month back in Paziols, a month in New York. After that, who knows? I have more plans in the back of my head, but for now, I’ll content myself with these three.

I’m trying not to plan too much, trying not to have expectations. I have a handful of blog posts waiting to be posted, just in case, but they may all get scrapped in favor of bigger and better things I find on my adventures over the next few months, in the Congo, where I’ll be living in a hotel and have no idea if my meals will be vegetables out of a can or room service or typical African cuisine. I’ve just found out that I’ll be completely in charge of the Paziols menu this year, and I hope that after full days, I’ll have enough time to tell you all about it.

For now, I’m just taking advantage of my last few days in Paris, a few more bites of cheese, one last bottle of Bordeaux, before we say goodbye for a few months–maybe longer. I hope you all stay along for the ride.

Apple Strudel
Total: 2 hours 15 minutes – 3 hours 30 minutes

15-20 min to make dough
30-90 min to let dough rest/to prepare the filling
20-30 min to roll out and stretch dough
10 min to fill and roll dough
30 min to bake
30 min to cool

Apple strudel
from “Kaffeehaus – Exquisite Desserts from the Classic Cafés of Vienna, Budapest and Prague” by Rick Rodgers

This is the original recipe for the original apple filling. You can also just make the dough portion and add whatever filling you like.

2 tablespoons (30 ml) golden rum
3 tablespoons (45 ml) raisins
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/3 cup plus 1 tablespoon (80 g) sugar
1/2 cup (1 stick / 115 g) unsalted butter, melted, divided
1 1/2 cups (350 ml) fresh bread crumbs
strudel dough (recipe below)
1/2 cup (120 ml, about 60 g) coarsely chopped walnuts
2 pounds (900 g) tart cooking apples, peeled, cored and cut into ¼ inch-thick slices (use apples that hold their shape during baking)

1. Mix the rum and raisins in a bowl. Mix the cinnamon and sugar in another bowl.

2. Heat 3 tablespoons of the butter in a large skillet over medium-high. Add the breadcrumbs and cook whilst stirring until golden and toasted. This will take about 3 minutes. Let it cool completely.

3. Put the rack in the upper third of the oven and preheat the oven to 400°F (200°C). Line a large baking sheet with baking paper (parchment paper). Make the strudel dough as described below. Spread about 3 tablespoons of the remaining melted butter over the dough using your hands (a bristle brush could tear the dough, you could use a special feather pastry brush instead of your hands). Sprinkle the buttered dough with the bread crumbs. Spread the walnuts about 3 inches (8 cm) from the short edge of the dough in a 6-inch-(15cm)-wide strip. Mix the apples with the raisins (including the rum), and the cinnamon sugar. Spread the mixture over the walnuts.

4. Fold the short end of the dough onto the filling. Lift the tablecloth at the short end of the dough so that the strudel rolls onto itself. Transfer the strudel to the prepared baking sheet by lifting it. Curve it into a horseshoe to fit. Tuck the ends under the strudel. Brush the top with the remaining melted butter.

5. Bake the strudel for about 30 minutes or until it is deep golden brown. Cool for at least 30 minutes before slicing. Use a serrated knife and serve either warm or at room temperature. It is best on the day it is baked.


Strudel dough
from “Kaffeehaus – Exquisite Desserts from the Classic Cafés of Vienna, Budapest and Prague” by Rick Rodgers

1 1/3 cups (200 g) unbleached flour
1/8 teaspoon salt
7 tablespoons (105 ml) water, plus more if needed
2 tablespoons (30 ml) vegetable oil, plus additional for coating the dough
1/2 teaspoon cider vinegar

1. Combine the flour and salt in a stand-mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Mix the water, oil and vinegar in a measuring cup. Add the water/oil mixture to the flour with the mixer on low speed. You will get a soft dough. Make sure it is not too dry, add a little more water if necessary.
Take the dough out of the mixer. Change to the dough hook. Put the dough ball back in the mixer. Let the dough knead on medium until you get a soft dough ball with a somewhat rough surface.

2. Take the dough out of the mixer and continue kneading by hand on an unfloured work surface. Knead for about 2 minutes. Pick up the dough and throw it down hard onto your working surface occasionally.
Shape the dough into a ball and transfer it to a plate. Oil the top of the dough ball lightly. Cover the ball tightly with plastic wrap. Allow to stand for 30-90 minutes (longer is better).

3. It would be best if you have a work area that you can walk around on all sides like a 36 inch (90 cm) round table or a work surface of 23 x 38 inches (60 x 100 cm). Cover your working area with table cloth, dust it with flour and rub it into the fabric. Put your dough ball in the middle and roll it out as much as you can.
Pick the dough up by holding it by an edge. This way the weight of the dough and gravity can help stretching it as it hangs. Using the back of your hands to gently stretch and pull the dough. You can use your forearms to support it.

4. The dough will become too large to hold. Put it on your work surface. Leave the thicker edge of the dough to hang over the edge of the table. Place your hands underneath the dough and stretch and pull the dough thinner using the backs of your hands. Stretch and pull the dough until it’s about 2 feet (60 cm) wide and 3 feet (90 cm) long, it will be tissue-thin by this time. Cut away the thick dough around the edges with scissors. The dough is now ready to be filled.

April 27, 2009

Daring Bakers: Cheesecake

Filed under: Cake Day, Daring Bakers — Tags: , , , — emiglia @ 6:14 pm


The April 2009 challenge is hosted by Jenny from Jenny Bakes. She has chosen Abbey’s Infamous Cheesecake as the challenge.
When I was in my first year of college, I spent a lot of my food budget on Philadelphia cream cheese. I spread it on bagels, on toast, mixed it into my pasta and mashed potatoes and added it to my baked goods. I couldn’t get enough of the stuff.

Moving to France meant giving up on my bagels, not to mention my Philadelphia. But when the Daring Bakers announced that this month’s challenge would be cheesecake, I went searching.

I went to every store I could think of, and the closest thing I came up with was Philadelphia light, imported from Switzerland and extremely expensive. But it had never even crossed my mind to sit this challenge out: I love cheesecake, and so I did a little bit of subsituting.


I was nervous to make a plain cheesecake: on the one hand, there are very strong opinions on cheesecake–opinions that I share–that state that any cheesecake that’s worthwhile can stand on its own. On the other hand, if I wasn’t going to be using the same base ingredient: cream cheese, how could I expect it to turn out right?

I had tried a more expensive version of this fromage à tartiner that I found at Monoprix, but I had never tried this version before. Because I didn’t want it to be an expensive mistake if, in fact, making cheesecake without the appropriate cheese turned out to be a mistake, I went with this version and added a container of mascarpone cheese, because really, when in doubt, more cheese is always the way to go.

Before mixing the ingredients together, I tasted the fromage à tartiner: it wasn’t quite as cheesy as Philadelphia is, so I made sure to add the lemon juice as expressed in the recipe.

All good… right? Well… not quite.

The other requisite part of cheesecake is the crust, which is usually made out of graham crackers. Guess what? No graham crackers in France. I decided to use speculoos, a Belgian spice cookie, instead.

To mirror the flavors in the cookie (and to cover up any mistakes I might make), I decided to make two sauces: one was simply strawberries mascerated in sugar with fresh basil, and the other was a chocolate ganache infused with cinnamon and cayenne pepper. Both were tasty, but the strawberries ended up pairing better with the cheesecake. The chocolate, I will save for later adventures.

OK, good. So there’s cheesecake and there’s crust. I’m making mini cheesecakes because I have a fear of large cakes. I put the pan in the oven, wait for it to bake (I baked for about 20 minutes), then wait for it to cool in the oven, then, finally… it’s time to take them out…

*BOOM*

Cheesecake on the floor. Under the oven. On the oven. On my foot. In the vaccuum cleaner tube. I let off a string of words that sent Alex into the living room to hide from me. I would directly quote myself, but sometimes my mom reads this blog, and I do have some shame.

Luckily, the taste didn’t suffer. I served up the two that had been injured the most in the fall (put them out of their misery and whatnot), and as the second batch baked up, we finished off the first. Alex and I decided that French cheese, speculoos, and a death-defying drop from the oven does not a ruined cheesecake make.

Abbey’s Infamous Cheesecake

I’ve included my changes in parentheses next to the original recipe. Please note that the baking instructions are for a full-sized cake. For mini cheesecakes, bake 20 minutes and allow to cool for about half an hour in the oven before finishing cooling on the tabletop and then removing from the pan.
crust:
2 cups / 180 g graham cracker crumbs (I used speculoos)
1 stick / 4 oz butter, melted
2 tbsp. / 24 g sugar (I did not add the extra sugar)
1 tsp. vanilla extract (I did not add the vanilla)

cheesecake:
24 oz. (680 g.) cream cheese (I used 450 g. of fromage à tartiner and 200 g. of mascarpone)
1 cup / 210 g sugar (I used 3/4 cup)
3 large eggs
1 cup / 8 oz heavy cream (I used crème fraîche… it’s cheaper here than liquid cream)
1 tbsp. lemon juice
1 tbsp. vanilla extract (or the innards of a vanilla bean)

DIRECTIONS:
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (Gas Mark 4 = 180C = Moderate heat). Begin to boil a large pot of water for the water bath.

2. Mix together the crust ingredients and press into your preferred pan. You can press the crust just into the bottom, or up the sides of the pan too - baker’s choice. Set crust aside.

3. Combine cream cheese and sugar in the bowl of a stand-mixer (or in a large bowl if using a hand-mixer) and cream together until smooth. Add eggs, one at a time, fully incorporating each before adding the next. Make sure to scrape down the bowl in between each egg. Add heavy cream, vanilla, lemon juice, and alcohol and blend until smooth and creamy.

4. Pour batter into prepared crust and tap the pan on the counter a few times to bring all air bubbles to the surface. Place pan into a larger pan and pour boiling water into the larger pan until halfway up the side of the cheesecake pan. If cheesecake pan is not airtight, cover bottom securely with foil before adding water.

5. Bake 45 to 55 minutes, until it is almost done - this can be hard to judge, but you’re looking for the cake to hold together, but still have a lot of jiggle to it in the center. You don’t want it to be completely firm at this stage. Close the oven door, turn the heat off, and let rest in the cooling oven for one hour. This lets the cake finish cooking and cool down gently enough so that it won’t crack on the top. After one hour, remove cheesecake from oven and lift carefully out of water bath. Let it finish cooling on the counter, and then cover and put in the fridge to chill. Once fully chilled, it is ready to serve.

March 29, 2009

Daring Bakers: Lasagne Verdi al Forno

Filed under: Beef, Carnivorous Main Dishes, Daring Bakers, Pasta, Pork — Tags: , — emiglia @ 3:02 pm

The March 2009 challenge is hosted by Mary of Beans and Caviar, Melinda of Melbourne Larder and Enza of Io Da Grande. They have chosen Lasagne of Emilia-Romagna from The Splendid Table by Lynne Rossetto Kasper as the challenge.

I was so excited that my very first Daring Bakers’ Challenge was something savory: I joined the Daring Bakers because I really do want to challenge myself, but if you take a look at some of the monstrous cakes the Bakers have made in the past, you’ll understand why I was a little bit nervous.

The lasagna was no easy task either: we had to make a ragu, homemade spinach pasta and homemade béchamel.


In the end, I found that all of the tasks were fairly simple. Yes, the ragu has to cook for hours before it’s ready to eat, and yes, the pasta requires a lot of rolling. But I paced myself and made the ragu separately a few days in advance. I had already made béchamel several times for other recipes, so it was quite simple as well.

That just left the pasta recipe, but in the end, I just asked myself why I didn’t make homemade pasta more often.

Especially now that it’s all gone.

I love the flecks of spinach in the homemade pasta!
I made half of the pasta recipe provided but I made all of the ragu and béchamel. I ended up making much thicker layers than were called for in the recipe: I used three layers of pasta and I used up all of the béchamel. Some ragú was left, so I tossed it with the leftover pasta.

They ate all of it.

Alex swooned and started telling people on the phone that I made homemade lasagna “à la main,” and then my friend Matt came over and finished it off.

As for me? I loved it. It’s definitely in the top two lasagne I’ve ever had in my life, and the fact that there were no artificial flavorings and everything was made by hand makes it shoot up to number one in my book.

I’ll definitely be making it again… but this time I’m making a bigger batch.

The recipe is available here.

Please, don’t be scared off by fresh pasta like I was: try this recipe. Your loved ones will thank you for it… with their mouths full.

May 7, 2008

Simple Sandwich

Filed under: Bread, Daring Bakers, Eggs, cheese — Tags: , , , , — emiglia @ 10:51 am

I found this picture lurking from when the Daring Bakers baked baguette back in the winter. This is what I did with mine, besides just eat it plain: slathered with mustard, some good roquefort cheese and slices of hard-boiled egg, this sandwich reigns supreme over most other sandwiches I’ve ever made… could be the homemade baguette, but I’m thinking it has more to do with the quality of the ingredients available here in France: spicy mustard, good flavorful blue cheese and fresh eggs.

Egg and Cheese Sandwich

1/2 baguette
1 hard-boiled egg, sliced
2 tsp. good, spicy mustard
2 oz. good blue cheese like roquefort or gorgonzola

Slice the baguette down the middle and spread both sides with mustard. Add the egg and cheese, and season with a grinding of black pepper if you like. Close sandwich and consume. Smile.

February 29, 2008

Daring Bakers: First Challenge!

Filed under: Bread, Daring Bakers — Tags: , , , — emiglia @ 3:25 pm

Wow… after a lot of difficulty, I’ve finally participated in my first Daring Bakers Challenge… and I loved it!

The challenge this month was for French bread. “Perfect,” thinks I, “I live in France!” Plus, I figure it won’t be too difficult, considering that I’ve made bread before.

I made my little baby bread ball, stuck it in the oven with the light on (thanks for the tip!) And let my kitchen steam up with the smell of bread dough.

Of course, it wasn’t nearly as easy as I thought it would be. The shaping at the end, especially, proved to be rather difficult, as is pretty obvious from my pictures. The tip in the recipe about putting a pan of water and ice in the bottom of the oven to create steam worked wonders for the crust, and the taste was good, which is what counts.

In the end, I definitely learned something, and I’m feeling much more confident in my bread-baking skills. Who knows… maybe bread will become a new part of my regular repertoire?

I’m so glad I participated in this, my first challenge! Be sure to check out the other Daring Bakers’ posts as well!

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