Archive for February, 2012

February 26th, 2012

Moelleux Muffins a la façon Pecan Pie

How to say, "yum" in French? "Miam"!

You can find similar recipes on the web like this one but there are those recipes and then there is this one. By adding sweetened, condensed milk to my recipe and dark, brown sugar instead of light brown and then melting the butter, I got more of a true pecan pie flavour. I then baked the first batch for 20 minutes as a test and baked the second batch for only 15 minutes. The latter batch was more moelleux and as my son would have said when he was five, “more better too!”

Try the version on Tasty Kitchen and then try mine. I would love to hear which you prefer!

RECIPE

1 cup packed dark brown sugar

1/2 cup all purpose, self-rising flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

2/3 cups melted, unsalted butter

1 cup chopped pecans

3 eggs

1/2 cup sweetened condensed milk.

NOTE: For the baking time to be equal to mine, it’s important that you make your moelleux muffins in the same size molds that I used. I used muffin trays of this size

Pre-heat oven to 180°C (350°F)

Melt the butter in a small sauce pan

Combine eggs and brown sugar in separate bowl – mix with hand mixer until creamy and glossy consistency has been reached

In separate bowl mix the flour, pecans and baking powder

Slowly incorporate the dry mix and the melted butter into the eggs/sugar mixture. Add the sweetened, condensed milk to batter and mix well.

Pour into muffin tray.

Bake for 15 minutes if you want a moelleux – I recommend eating the moelleux warm, fresh out of the oven after cooling for 20 minutes, with vanilla icecream topped with a pecan, butterscotch sauce

OR

Bake for 20 minutes if you want a firmer muffin

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February 26th, 2012

When a Southern Woman Lives in France

Macaroni & Cheese pays homage to England and France, Homemade pulled pork cooked all night in ginger beer and my signature pink coleslaw

I wanted to introduce my husband to more dishes typical to the southern US and pulled pork seemed like the next obvious choice. We got up on Saturday morning and went to Les Halles de Lyon to make sure that I found the best cut of pork. Unfortunately it was impossible to buy pork shoulder. The butcher told us that in France, they use the shoulder to make sausages, so we were forced to buy a cut of the butt, close to the hip (whatever that is). My concern was that the meat should shred easily and be pretty marbled. After much convincing from the butcher, we took the bate.

I recommend that you use bone-in pork shoulder or butt if possible. Here is my custom recipe including a video on  how to make a  home-made bbq sauce.

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Recipe:

1 kilo (2.2 lbs) pork shoulder

2 large sweet, red paprikas, sliced (bell pepper for you Americans)

1 large thumb fresh ginger, peeled and cut

4 shallots, peeled and cut

2 garlic cloves, peeled and cut in half

2 cans of Ginger Beer – if you can’t find English Ginger Beer, use American Ginger Ale but the English Ginger Beer has a much better flavour

1/2 cup of your favourite bbq sauce – your still going to make your own!

2 tablespoons olive oil

1/4 cup  brown sugar

1/2 cup apple cider vinegar

Cut up the ginger, garlic, shallots and paprika (red bell pepper). In a frying pan, sweeten the ginger, garlic, shallots and paprika  by sauteeing them in olive oil until soft. Add the pork, fat side down and brown for about 4-5 minutes.

Place the pork in a crock pot, fat side down. Pour the two cans of ginger beer over the pork and add the above mentioned vegetables (ginger, garlic, shallots and paprika)

Cook on low for 4-6 hours depending on your crock pot.

When finished, remove the meat. Shred all of the pork and add the shredded pork back to the liquid (which will smell delicious by now). Allow the shredded pork to soak for about 2 hours (but keep the crock pot OFF)

When ready, follow these instructions (see video)

Reduce the apple cider vinegar by 50% in a sauce pan

Meanwhile, remove all of the shredded pork from the fluid (see video). Set aside.

Place the sauce in the crock pot along with all of the ginger, paprika, shallots and garlic into a blender and blend well.

Add this mixture to the vinegar reduction. Then add the brown sugar and reduce until you have a nice, thick bbq sauce. This requires reducing to about 50% of it’s original volume.

Pour the sauce over the pork and enjoy!


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February 25th, 2012

My Signature Pink Coleslaw

Every Southern woman has a signature coleslaw…I think. I’ll post the recipe tomorrow along with my pulled pork (cooked all night long in Ginger beer in a crock pot) and French-American baked macaroni & cheese. For tonight I’m off to bed… I leave you with a little photo of the slaw I just put in the fridge to settle overnight.

Ok, back..but I forgot to measure ingredients again so here are the ingredients for you to make according to your taste:

Purple Cabbage

Green Cabbage

Apples

Celery

Carrots

Dried cranberries

Pecans

Mayo

Creme de Balsamic Blanc – ONLY use white cream of balsamic!

2 tablespoons sugar

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February 25th, 2012

Lemongrass & Ginger Crabcakes with Lime & Ginger Aioli

Crabcakes with Lemongrass and Ginger...recipe to follow

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February 25th, 2012

Chocolate Deliquesce with Cayenne Pepper & Ginger

A gooey, chocolate deliquesce that's truly multidimensional. First you taste the chocolate, then the stem ginger and then arises the sensation of cayenne pepper.

I’ve been wanting to use cayenne pepper in a chocolate dessert for almost two years now. I just never got around to it. It’s obvious to anyone who follows my blog that I think almost anything taste better with ginger, so it’s probably no surprise that I chose stem ginger in syrup to accompany the cayenne. This is truly a multidimensional dessert.

First you taste the chocolate, then the ginger and as you swallow, the sensation of cayenne arises in your palate, slightly warming your tongue. This recipe has a lot more flour than I usually use in a moelleux. A moelleux is slightly less fluid in the center than a fondant but it should always be gooey in the middle with a bit up crunch on the outer top.  As for why I call it a “deliquesce”…

Here’s the recipe:

1/2 cup all purpose, self-rising flour

3/4 cup sugar

1 tsp baking powder

1 cup unsweetened cocoa powder

1 tsp cayenne (two if you’re brave)

1/2 tsp real vanilla either in powder form or scraped from a pod

6 ounces (170 grams) semi-sweet bakers chocolate chips

1 1/3 cup melted, unsalted butter -  If you are in the USA, try to use European butter.  It has a higher fat content than American butters and yields a better moelleux.

Large pinch of salt

Stem ginger in syrup

Pre-heat oven to 180°C (350°F)

NOTE: For the baking time to be equal to mine, it’s important that you make your deliquesce in the same size molds that I used. I used muffin trays of this size

Cut up the stem ginger so that you have about one tsp of ginger per cake (this recipe yields 10 moelleuxs), set aside

Sift flour, cocoa, cayenne, baking powder and a pinch of salt in a mixing bowl

In another bowl, mix the sugar and eggs with an electric mixer for about 3 minutes until smooth and pale. Then add the vanilla.

Fold in 1/3 of the butter and 1/3 of the dry ingredients at a time until all of it is incorporated. Mix well with a hand mixer but do not over mix

Fold in the chocolate chips

If you are not using a silicone muffin tray, you will need to grease your muffin tin

Divide the batter evenly among in each cup, careful to fill each cup only half way at first

Spoon 1 tsp of stem ginger in the center of each cup (after you have filled it half-way with the batter). Then spoon about 1/3 (max!) of the ginger syrup on top of the ginger.

Spoon the rest of the batter on top of each of the cups to completely cover the ginger in the center

Put in the oven with the rack slightly below the center of the oven

Bake for precisely 20 minutes. You may bake for only 18 if you want an even softer center but *never bake for more than 20 minutes*

Makes 10 cakes

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February 9th, 2012

A Perfect, Creamy Polenta

Stuffed and glazed filet mignon de Porc with creamy polenta, candied apples and asparagus

We had friends visiting from London a few weeks ago and I served the same creamy polenta dish that I made at Christmas. Polenta is a cornmeal mush or porridge that originated in Northern Italy as a peasant food. When I served it at dinner, my friend commented how great it taste and noted that to him, polenta normally taste bland and totally uninspiring. I used to feel the same way about what one Southern friend of mine called “yellow grits” (that still makes me laugh).

The secret to good polenta is to never make it with water. I use full-fat milk, heavy cream and a lot of butter. This isn’t a low-fat version!  Polenta is available in different textures with different cooking times. I have found that it’s also much better if yo use the finest polenta you can find and make sure to never use an instant polenta but find a fine, quick cooking one. I’ve  been using Alpino Savioe Polenta Tradition Fine.

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Here is my recipe:

Himalayan Salt, to taste

5 cups full-fat milk 3.5-3.8% fat

1/2  cup heavy cream

2  tablespoons butter

1 cup fine, stone-ground yellow cornmeal

4 ounces (115 grams) cream cheese or mascarpone, at room temperature

More milk and heavy cream, if needed

Finely grated, medium aged, Pecorino cheese – buy one that is not as quite as hard as parmesan

Option 1: you can add saffron

Option 2: you can add white truffle oil and shaved truffles, after cooking and right before serving the polenta.

In a large saucepan, bring 5 cups of salted milk to a gentle boil. Add the butter, cream and salt. Whisking constantly, pour the cornmeal into the water in a steady stream until all is combined. Continue to whisk until you are sure there are no lumps of unincorporated cornmeal. If you are using quick cook polenta, you will need to reduce the heat to very low and stir constantly for about 5-10 minutes depending on the polenta. If you are using a regular cook, medium grain polenta you will need to lower the heat to very low, cover, and cook 20 minutes, uncovering frequently to stir.

Stir the mixture until thick and creamy. Remove from heat if it is bubbling too much. Add the Pecorino and mascarpone (or cream cheese) and serve, garnished with the grated cheese if you want or try one of the options I listed above.

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February 9th, 2012

The Perfect Cheesecake

Sourcream and Speculoos Cheesecake topped with Cognac Cherries (I soaked them in homemade cognac syrup and then reduced the syrup further before serving to spoon over each slice)

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Ingredients:

  • 900 grams Philidelphia ORIGINAL cream cheese
  • 2 cups sour cream (crème fraiche if you’re in France)
  • 1.5 cup sugar
  • 1 tsp  REAL vanilla (powdered not fluid)
  • 5 eggs
  • 50 speculoos cookies or 33 Graham Cracker squares
  • 4 ounces (120 ml) melted (unsalted) butter – equals 1 US stick of butter

Directions

Remove cream cheese from refrigerator and it to warm to room temperature. Preheat oven to

300°F (150°C)  Brush some of the melted butter around a 9 by 3-inch cake pan. Place parchment on the bottom and sides.

In a small bowl, combine crumbled graham or speculoos, the remaining melted butter, and 1 tablespoon of sugar. Press 2/3 of the mixture into the bottom of the parchment-lined pan. If you used Graham Cracker crumbs, place remaining crumbs on a sheet pan and bake both the crust and the remaining mixture for 10 minutes. Cool. Reserve additional crumb mixture for sides. *If you are using Speculoos cookies, do not pre-bake!*

In a mixer with a paddle attachment, beat sour cream for 10 seconds. Add the cream cheese and sugar and mix on low for 30 seconds and then turn up to medium. Scrape the bowl.

In a separate container combine vanilla and eggs. With the mixer on medium, slowly pour the liquid mixture in. When half of it is incorporated, stop and scrape. Continue adding the mixture until the rest of the ingredients are incorporated. Once completely combined, pour into the crust. This is a lot of filling and will fill a normal springform pan almost to the top or over! So pour as much filling in as you can and if you have any remaining filling, you can use it to make mini cheesecakes in a muffin pan.

Lower oven temperature to 250 degrees F (130°C).

Place cheesecake into a preheated water bath, in the oven for 80 minutes.

Turn the oven off and open the door for one minute.

Close the door for one more hour. Remove the cheesecake from the water bath and place in the refrigerator for *at least* 6 hours to completely cool before serving.

When ready to serve, place the entire cake pan into a hot water bath for about 15 seconds. Unmold onto a cake round or serving dish. To slice, place your knife into a hot water bath and wipe dry each time you make a pass through the cake.

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