Besotted Gourmet » Slow Food

Double Thick Pork Chops with Bay Salt & Squashed Purple Potatoes

Jessica — Mon, 29 Mar 2010 02:22:49 +0000

So, first of all… I’m back! From Vegas (yes, again, but this time for work), and from settling into the new job…

So, for this first post since the little Besotted break, I wanted to pay homage to some fantastic holiday gifts I received this year and in years past. From friends who had only known me a couple of months to a couple of decades, they were all perfectly suited for me, and happened to have made their way – in one way or another – into this Pork Chop with Fresh Bay Salt, Crackling, and Squashed Purple Potatoes dish.

First, the dish is adapted from Jamie Oliver’s Jamie’s Kitchen, given to me 3 years ago by my then-new-boss, Di. This was a charming custom that I had not, as of yet, been made acquainted with… a lovely and personal gift given at the end of the year by my boss as a “Thank You” for all of the hard work. In the end, I received what was soon to become one of my favorite cookbooks – both beautiful and hugely functional – and Di received a truck-load of gratitude in the form of late nights and weekend work. A happy win-win situation.

With salt as a main feature in the dish, I forewent the standard kosher salt and opted for the Black Lava Salt, one of a selection of fancy-pants salts given to me this past Chanukka-mas by dear CS. Super-pungent and really impressive-looking, the Black Lava Salt adds a certain special piquant flavor to the dish…

Plus, like the final gift, it’s definitely a conversation starter. I store my fancy-pants salts in the most ME-gift, I may have ever received. They’re part funky (it’s from Anthropologie, which, if you haven’t seen my homage to their aprons, is my second favorite store… right behind Barneys), part culinary , part dorky, and part dry wit…. They’re a selection of numbered spice jars from Anthro, but, what makes them so incredibly cool, is that my darling sisters opted for the sequence “1, 1, 2, 3, 5”. I love the humor, and, for those of you that don’t get it, or didn’t study math in any super-advanced way, scroll to the bottom of the recipe to see the joke… er… it’s not so much a joke, as something that only mathematicians would find humorous, but scroll down anyway.

Double Thick Pork Chop with Bay Salt and Squashed Purple Potatoes

Adapted from Jamie Oliver’s Jamie’s Kitchen

Total Prep Time: 1 Hour 15 Minutes

Ingredients:

For the Pork Chops:

4 Double-Thick Pork Chops (½ pound, each)

Black Lava Salt, Sea Salt, or Kosher Salt

Black Pepper

2 Tbls. Olive Oil

3 Tsp. Thyme Leaves

1 Tsp. Mustard Seed

10 Bay Leaves

For the Squashed Purple Potatoes:

1lb. Purple Potatoes

Black Lava Salt

For the Apple Cider Sauce:

1 Cup Apple Cider

1 Tbls. Whole Grain Mustard

4 Tbls. Crème Fraiche

2 Tbls. Butter

Preparation:

Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil, par-boil the purple potatoes for 15 minutes, drain once finished, and set aside.

After adding the potatoes to the pot, preheat the oven to 400° with the saute pan inside, to heat up along with the oven.

Adding purple potatoes to the mix is more fun!

Score the skin of the pork chops and season with salt and pepper. Drain the par-boiled potatoes. Once the oven has finished pre-heating, remove the saute pan, add the olive oil to it, add the pork chops, thyme, and potatoes to the saute pan and return to the oven for 15 minutes.

While the pork and potatoes are cooking, pulverize the mustard seed, black lava salt, and bay leaves with a mortar and pestle until very fine.

Remove the pork chops from the oven and set on a chopping block and remove the potatoes and thyme to a bowl. Heat the saute pan over medium heat on the stove top.

Drizzle the pork chops with a bit of olive oil and sprinkle with the bay leaf mustard spice. Cook the pork chops, two at a time, in the saute pan for 3-4 minutes on each side.

While the pork chops cook on the stove top, bring the cider and mustard to a boil in a small sauce pan. Allow to boil for 4-5 minutes in order to reduce the quantity by half. Add the crème fraiche, and continue to boil for another 5-7 minutes. Remove from the heat and add the butter. Set aside.

I love, LOVE this stuff!

Once the pork chops have finished cooking, lay each on a plate. Add a side of purple potatoes, mash slightly with a fork, and add a small sprinkling of black lava salt. Drizzle both pork chops and potatoes with the apple cider sauce, serve, and enjoy!

* 1, 1, 2, 3, 5 is Fibonacci’s sequence, where the first two numbers are 0 and 1, and each remaining number is the sum of the previous two. It takes a true dork to appreciate the hilarity and thoughtfulness of this gift.

Sweet Potato Gnocchi with Brown Butter Thyme Sauce

Jessica — Thu, 24 Dec 2009 19:24:50 +0000

I’m always curious to know what people shop for in a supermarket and why? What one person considers a staple, another considers a rare occasion treat. I remember being 13 years old, being at a friend’s house, and they had an enormous, family-sized bag of M&Ms in the pantry… 2 hours later, they didn’t, because I had managed to polish off the vast majority of the bag – I was both permanently hungry and had a much faster metabolism as a teenager. Sadly, only one of those things has changed… but I digress…

The reason for my voracious and greedy appetite was the fact that a bag of M&Ms never entered my own pantry. This was a treat and luxury that I could never have dreamed of – candy, open and available at a moment’s notice – and the cunning little imp in me couldn’t pass up the opportunity to over-indulge.

15 years later and I marvel at what others keep in their pantries, and have no doubt that my own shopping habits raise a few eyebrows. I was walking through the grocery store last week, passed a display of Parmesan Cheese, and mindlessly picked one up, as it is a critical staple in my household. It wasn’t until PT looked into my cheese drawer and pointed out that I had 7 different cheeses in there that it occurred to me that I may be deeply strange in this particular respect… possibly in others, but we’re talking about cheese right now.

I have two bricks of Parmesan, an aged Gouda, Mahon, Emmenthaler, Gruyere, and two aged Cheddars. That’s normal, right?

They make a great snack, and they’re awesome when you have to whip up something comforting and cheesy in a pinch, like a Sweet Grilled Cheese, Aglio e Olio, or Sweet Potato Gnocchi, which is just little bundles of amazing deliciousness.

I was a little intimidated when I first decided to make these little orange-jeweled gnocchi, but it turned out to be far easier than some of the more ambitious doughy items I’ve attempted (ahem, pie crust – not easy when you have less than 2 square feet of counter space), and it’s instantly impressive when you tell people that you made your own pasta.

Toss these in a little brown butter with thyme and serve with a big salad or hearty winter vegetables for a delicious mid-week dinner.

Enjoy!

Click here for a printable version of the recipe

Sweet Potato Gnocchi with Brown Butter Thyme Sauce, Serves 4

Adapted from East Village Kitchen

Prep Time: 1 Hour

Total Prep Time: 1 Hour

Ingredients:

For the Gnocchi:

1 1lb. Yam

6oz. Ricotta Cheese

½ Cup Parmesan Cheese, grated

1 Tbls. Brown Sugar

1 Tsp. Salt

1/2 Tsp. Nutmeg

1 1/3 Cup Flour

For the Browned Butter Thyme Sauce:

½ Cup Butter

3 Tsp. Thyme, chopped

Salt & Pepper to taste

Preparation:

Prepare the yam by placing it in a large pot filled with cold salt water; bring the water to boil with the yam inside and allow to boil for 20 minutes.

After 20 minutes, remove the yam and allow to cool until just warm to the touch and set the boiled water aside.

Scrape the yam flesh into a large bowl and add the ricotta cheese, parmesan cheese, nutmeg, salt, brown sugar, combine well with a fork.

Add the flour, ½ cup at a time and blend until the mixture is soft and dough-like.

Turn the dough out onto a well-floured surface, and, slowly rock the dock back and forth between the the bottom of your palms and heels of your hand. You’ll see it slowly start to elongate and become rope-like. As much as possible, focus on any areas of the dough that are remaining thick and try to get the rope’s width as even as possible.

With a sharp knife, cut off 1-inch pieces of the dough and set aside on a lined cookie sheet. I’m boring, and leave my little gnocchi unadorned, but you can feel free to mark with an insignia (fork tines, back of spoon, a personal stamp, etc.)

Bring the pot of yammy water to boil again, add a bit more salt, and toss the gnocchi in in batches – just be sure not to crowd the pot, and cook for 5-6 minutes.

Remove from the pot with a slotted spoon, place in a bowl and cover with tin foil to keep warm.

Meanwhile, get on making your brown butter sauce by heating the butter in a sauté pan over medium heat for 5 minutes, until it starts to bubble and turn brown. Skim some of the bubbles off of the butter and add the thyme (be careful, it will crackle and pop!). Turn the heat down to the lowest setting, just to keep warm while you cook the rest of your gnocchi.

Once all of the gnocchi are cooked, toss in with the brown butter sauce, mix around, plate, serve, and enjoy!

Baked Pear Pie

Jessica — Thu, 03 Dec 2009 03:40:09 +0000

Ufff… Finally home and back to a regular schedule. Thanksgiving down on the Cape and a few relaxing days up in the New Hampshire White Mountains made for a lovely Thanksgiving weekend, which included my final recipe for the Gourmet-only month of November.

I have to say that my intention for this homage to Gourmet was to be just that, a homage, but I feel like I’m griping about it more than praising it. Here’s the thing about Gourmet… it’s spectacular to look at, day-dream about all of the wonderful urban restaurants and cozy, convivial bed and breakfasts that cure their own bacon, but I’ve found it a touch challenging (and disappointing – I’m sorry!) to cook from.

For Thanksgiving, I was excited to make the recipe for Pear Butterscotch Pie featured in the September issue. I may have mentioned this before, but PT and I are the dessert-lovers’ yin and yang… I opt for anything with fruit or a grandmotherly touch (plum tart, bread puddings, strawberry rhubarb pie, pistachio ice cream), whereas PT would prefer sugar-crusted, chocolate-dipped, caramel-swirled just about anything. I thought that this Pear Butterscotch Pie recipe would be a nice compromise.

Honest, my heart was in the right place, but the recipe only called for ½ cup of brown sugar, actually mentioning that it would bubble and boil into butterscotch while the pie baked. Well, I was skeptical, but, this is Gourmet after all – they should know whether or not brown sugar will bubble and boil into butterscotch in their own recipe.

I envisioned gooey ribbons of buttery, sugary butterscotch enveloping baked, spiced pears in a butter crust. Sadly, everything went according to plan except for the butterscotch; the brown sugar sweetened the pears, but there was nothing that even the most forgiving dessert-lover could claim was butterscotch.

It was a lovely pear pie, nonetheless, and I’ve included the recipe here for those of you whose tastes favor the less sugary dessert, but if you’re trying to sweet-talk someone, you’ll do much better with something like the Salted Peanut Butter Toffee Cookies, Toffee-covered Cheesecake, or Celebration Cake with sugarey, chocolatey frosting.

Enjoy!

Click here for a printable version of the recipe

Baked Pear Pie, Serves 8

Adapted from Gourmet

Prep Time: 1 Hour 15 Minutes

Bake & Rest Time: 4 Hours

Total Prep Time: 5 Hours 15 Minutes

Ingredients:

For the filling:

3 Tbls. Flour

1 Tsp. Cinnamon

½ Tsp. Nutmeg

1/8 Tsp. Salt

½ Cup Packed Brown Sugar

5 Pears, Bosc and Anjou mix

1 Tbsp. Lemon Juice

1 Tsp. Pure Vanilla

1 Tbls. Butter, cut into bits

1 Egg, beaten with a splash of water

1 Tbsp. Raw Sugar

For the pie crust:

2 ½ Cups Flour

1 Cup (2 Sticks) Butter, cut into ½ inch pieces and kept very cold in the refrigerator

½ Tsp. Salt

6-10 Tbls. Ice Water

Preparation:

Start out by making the pie crusts, as they’ll need to rest for just over an hour.

In the bowl of a processor, pulse the flour, butter pieces, and salt until the mixture is sandy. Drizzle in 8 Tbls. of the ice water and pulse 3-5 more times.

The dough will still be sandy. Turn it out onto a well-floured surface, apply some pressure to it, and push the dough away from you with the heel of your hand; gather any of the sandy bits, mound on top of the dough, add a couple more tablespoons of the ice water, and apply pressure and push the dough away again. Repeat the process until the dough has all come together (but don’t add any more water).

Divide the dough into two pieces and flatten into discs. Wrap each in plastic wrap and refrigerate for 1 hour.

While the dough is chilling, get on with your pie filling.

Peel, core, and cut the pears into 6 sections and place in a large bowl.

Put a cookie or baking sheet on the middle rack in the oven and preheat the oven to 425°.

Whisk together the cinnamon, flour, nutmeg, salt, and brown sugar until the mixture is uniform in consistency. Cover the pears with the spice mixture and distribute evenly. Sprinkle with the lemon juice and vanilla, mix well, and let sit for 15-30 minutes to soak.

Once the hour is up on the pie crusts, remove one of them from the refrigerator, unwrap, and turn out onto a well-floured surface. Using a rolling pin, roll out to 12-14 inches in diameter and drape into a 9-inch pie dish.

Add the pear filling to the pie crust and dot with the bits of butter.

Roll out the second pie crust according to the same method and drape over the pie filling, allowing the excess to drape over the side. Using kitchen scissors, cut the excess dough that falls beyond ½ inch past the pie plate and set aside.

Brush the top of the pie crust with the egg wash and sprinkle with half of the sugar.

Combine all of the excess dough and roll out until it is ½ inch thick. Using cookie cutters, cut snowflakes, leaves, candy canes, or any other shape and place them on the pie.

Cut 3 one-inch long pie vents in the top crust and pop into the oven, on top of the cookie/baking sheet for 20 minutes. Open the oven door for 30 seconds, turn the heat down to 375°, and bake for 40-45 more minutes.

Cool for 2-3 hours, cut carefully, serve with whipped cream or ice cream and enjoy!

Lovely Fall Onion Jam

Jessica — Wed, 07 Oct 2009 12:00:30 +0000

There are certain cookbooks in my library that are stained, dog-earred, and otherwise, lovingly mistreated with their overuse. And then there are those that are not. This latter number is far smaller, and there is one reason why 3 or 4 of my cookbooks are rarely opened…. these cookbooks scare me.

They are all derived from famous restaurants around the globe, were all bought in a fuzzy haze of culinary ambition bordering on delusion, and have fantastic, exotic sounding recipes that, as it turns out, are a bit of a pain in the ass to actually make. When a cookbook actually dictates the type of green you must use (lamb’s lettuce, butter lettuce, red perella, perhaps) as opposed to the quotidian “mesclun mix”, you know you’re in trouble.

But, one recent afternoon day, armed with a strong dose of brazen assertiveness, I took my Zuni Cafe Cookbook, the scariest of them all, and decided to try one of Judy Rodgers more modest recipes.

This onion jam is the quintessence of what I consider a Judy Rodgers recipe – its rustic simplicity, incredibly complex flavor, and long, slow simmering time give it that lovely combination of being both simple to prepare but painstaking enough to make you feel truly special and accomplished (and who doesn’t want that?)

The only adjustments I made were to the title and a couple of the cooking times (just increased specificity really). She lumps this onion jam in with a larger meal, but I thought it was so good, that it should really be the focus. Spread it on top of some creamy goat cheese, served on little toasts, and you’ll know what I mean.

Click here for a printable version of the recipe

Lovely Fall Onion Jam, Serves 4-6

Adapted from Zuni Cafe Cookbook

Ingredients:

1lb. Red Onion, Sliced into half moons

1-2 Tbls. Olive Oil

¼ Tsp. Salt

1 Tbls. + 2 Tbls. Honey

1 Bay Leaf

1 Cup Red Wine

3 Tbls. Balsamic Vinegar

Preparation:

Heat the onions, olive oil, and salt in a medium-sized sauce pan over medium-low heat. Cover and let the onions sweat for 25 minutes, stirring occasionally.

After 25 minutes, moisture will start to puddle in the pan and cover. Remove the cover and allow to cook for 15 more minutes.

Try one of the onion slivers; if there is no bitterness, stir in the honey and cook for 5 minutes. If there is bitterness, cover the sauce pan and cook for another 5 minutes before adding the honey.

Add the bay leaf and red wine, and turn the heat up to just under the medium mark to bring the mixture to a low simmer for 10 minutes.

After 10 minutes, drop the temperature down to low and cook for 1 hour, again, stirring occasionally.

The wine gives the onions a gorgeous, glossy purple hue.

After 1 hour, add the balsamic vinegar and cook, still at low heat, for 15 minutes. After 15 minutes, most of the moisture should have been cooked off or absorbed, but there will be a small puddle left. Turn the heat up to medium, stirring constantly, until all of the moisture is absorbed or evaporated, about 5 minutes. Be careful to remove from heat as soon as the moisture is no longer visible.

Allow the onion jam to cool to room temperature and either serve at room temperature or cool further in the refrigerator.

When you do decide to serve, spread over goat cheese covered toasts, serve, and enjoy!

Stuffed Peppers

Jessica — Tue, 22 Sep 2009 00:36:11 +0000

There are certain recipes that, for no very good reason, we keep in the culinary attic – treasures that remind us of good-times gone by, but that we oh-so-rarely trot out. Stuffed peppers are just that type of treasure – a meal that my mother cooked perfectly and frequently that is as unpretentious as it is delicious.

Herbed and spiced meatballs stuffed inside of fresh peppers, blanketed in a light, fresh marinara sauce and baked until bubbly and aromatic. Serve with a big heaping of garlic bread, a big glass of red wine, and lots of napkins (they tend to get messy!) and enjoy a little march down memory lane.

Click here for a printable version of the recipe

Ingredients:

For the Peppers

6 Large Bell Peppers

1lb. Ground Beef

1 Cup Onions

1 Egg

2 Tbls. Parmesan, grated

2 Tbls. Parsley, chopped

2 Tbls. Basil, chopped

1 Tsp. Dried Oregano

1 Cup Dried Breadcrumbs

1 Tbls. Kosher Salt

½ Tsp. Pepper

1 Cup Water

More Salt & Pepper to taste

For the Marinara

1 28oz. Can Whole Peeled Tomatoes,

3 Tbls. Olive Oil

½ Cup Onions, finely chopped

1 Tbls. Garlic, chopped

1 Bay Leaf

1 Tbls. Fresh Oregano, chopped

Salt & Pepper to taste

Preparation:

Get started on the marinara first…. Open the can of tomatoes, drain the juice into a separate bowl, and crush the tomatoes in the can with your hand into chunky pulp. Set aside.

Heat the olive oil in a medium-sized sauce pan over medium-high heat. Once hot, add the onion and cook, stirring constantly for 2 minutes. Add the garlic, and cook for an additional 30 seconds.

Pour in the tomato juice, bring to a boil, and allow to boil down for 5 minutes. Add the pulp from the can, along with a half-can of water, the salt, and pepper, reduce the heat to medium, and allow to simmer for 15 minutes.

Stir in the oregano and allow the sauce to simmer for another 15 minutes.

Meanwhile, get on preparing the rest of the stuffed peppers.

Preheat the oven to 350°.

Prepare the peppers by cutting off the chop and removing the interior ribbing and seeds. Cut a small slice off of the bottom of each pepper, to allow them to stand upright in a glass baking dish. Sprinkle the interiors with salt and pepper and set aside.

Combine the following ingredients in a medium-sized bowl: ground beef, egg, cheese, parsley, basil, oregano, salt, pepper, breadcrumbs, and onion. Stir together lightly with a fork. Pour the water into the bowl, and mush the ingredients together well with your hands until the meat mixture is uniform.

By this point, the marinara should be done. Remove from the heat and remove the bay leaf.

Spoon a small amount of the marinara into the bottom of each pepper. Fill the rest of each pepper with the meat mixture – if there is leftover meat mixture, simply roll into meatballs and place around the peppers in the dish.

Cover the peppers and the meatballs with the remaining marinara, cover tightly with tin foil, and pop into the oven for 1 hour.

Remove the peppers from the oven, remove the tin foil, scoop out 1-2 peppers per person, plate, serve, and enjoy!

Celebration Cake!

Jessica — Thu, 17 Sep 2009 15:10:22 +0000

Some much anticipated and celebration-worthy news flowed into the Besotted kitchen last week, to which, the only appropriate response was a confection that screamed “CELEBRATION!”

Now, normally, when eyeing the dessert section of my cookbooks and magazines, I tend towards the rustic sophisticate desserts – things like modern Apple Tarte Tatin, Honey Cream Peach Pie, Strawberry Rhubarb Pie – basically, anything that is part throw-back, part modern chic, baked into a buttery crust.

But, the problem is, Peach Pie says “lazy, end-of-summer supper”, and I needed this dessert to say “WHOO HOO, you did it!” The only logical solution was to go a big, fat cake, stick a bunch of candles in it, nearly burn down the kitchen with the flames, pour an ENORMOUS glass of milk, and revel in the good news.

This cake came from an ‘Advance Reading Copy’ of Baking in America by Greg Patent. Way back in the day, I used to work for a cookbook catalog company – two of the many perks were being able to spend your idle time perusing their vast cookbook library and to take home any ‘Advance Reading Copies’. This is the pre-publication status of a book, meant for the reader to review the content, but not worry about mundane things, like a table of contents, index, etc. Naturally, that makes the book a tad more difficult to actually use, but the price was right, and, as it turns out, so was the cake!

I was leery of this ‘white cake with chocolate frosting’ recipe, only because they are so often a major disappointment and not worth the calories. Store bought, box-cake, and wedding cake catastrophes have left me thinking of white cake as nothing more than a delivery device for frosting so sugary, you can actually feel the sugar granules gliding over your tongue. Perforated tastelessness with gummy frosting was not what I had in mind for my celebration, but the picture on the front of the cookbook looked so enticing (why are we so easily swayed by such things?!), and the recipe looked very promising, so I decided to give it a go, and it was amazing!

When was the last time that you had homemade white cake? Right, I couldn’t answer either. It seems like such an outdated relic, why would anyone go to the trouble of making white cake from scratch, when there are perfectly reasonable boxed alternatives? And, the simple answer is, because it’s wholly fantastic. Dense, moist, creamy, and totally delicious, this cake emerged from the oven like a dream. All it needed was a little chocolate buttercream frosting to make it truly ethereal, and the hard work and effort (yes, it does take more effort than boxed cake) was well worth it.

Enjoy!

Click here for a printable version of the recipe

Golden Butter Layer Cake with Chocolate Frosting, Serves 12
Adapted from Baking in America

Ingredients:

For the Cake

1 Cup Butter, at room temperature
½ Tsp. Salt
2 Cups Sugar, divided
2 Tsp. Best Quality Vanilla Extract
3 Eggs, separated
3 Eggs
3 Cups Cake Flour, sifted
1 Cup Milk

For the Frosting

4 oz. Semi-Sweet Chocolate, broken into pieces
½ lb. Cream Cheese, at room temperature
½ Cup Butter, at room temperature
½ Tsp. Best Quality Vanilla
¼ Tsp. Best Quality Almond Extract
2-3 Cups Confectioner Sugar, sifted

Preparation:

Preheat the oven to 350°. Line two 9-inch round cake pans with parchment paper. Butter the parchment paper and sides of the pans with butter. Set aside.

In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the butter on medium speed until smooth, about 1 minute. Add the salt, ¼ cup of the sugar, and the vanilla and beat on medium-high speed for 1 minute. Beat in 1 ½ cups of the sugar, ¼ cup at a time, allowing each addition to be incorporated before adding the next.

Scrape the bowl and beat on medium-high speed for 5 minutes. While the batter is beating, you can get on whipping your egg whites. In a separate, medium-sized bowl, whip the egg whites with an electric whisk on medium speed for 2-3 minutes, until peaks start to form.

Add the remaining ¼ cup sugar in four parts, whisking between each addition, to incorporate the sugar. Be careful not to over-whisk… the egg whites and sugar should be thick and glossy, but not meringue-stiff. Set the egg whites aside and return to the batter.

Add the egg yolks to the batter and beat for 2 minutes on medium-high speed. Add the whole eggs, one at a time, and beat for 1 minute in between each addition. It does seem like a lot of waiting around, but it’ll be worth it in the end.

The real hero in my kitchen

Scrape down the bowl. While on medium-low speed, add the cake flour and milk in alternating thirds (1 cup cake flour, 1/3 cup milk), allowing to beat in between additions until fully incorporated. Scrape down the bowl, as necessary.

Fold 1/3 of the egg whites gently into the batter. Once mostly incorporated, add the remaining 2/3 of the egg whites to the batter and fold in until fully incorporated.

Divide the batter between the two round cake pans and bake for 35-40 minutes.

Meanwhile, get on with the frosting….

Melt the chocolate in a double-boiler, makeshift or otherwise.

Put cream cheese, butter, vanilla, and almond extract in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment and beat at medium speed until creamy. Add the confectioner sugar ½ cup at a time and beat until smooth.

Who needs the cake?!

Add the melted chocolate to the mixture, and beat on medium-low speed until full incorporated. Set aside.

Once your cakes are out of the oven, let them cool completely on a cooling rack. When you’re ready to frost them, plop about ¾ of a cup of frosting onto the top of one of the cakes, and, using a flat spatula, spread elegantly around the cake. Carefully, lift the other cake and set on top of the frosted cake.

Check the sides of the cake for any major bumps and smooth them away with a paring knife. Plop another ¾ cup of frosting on top of the second layer of cake, and smooth with the spatula just as you did with the first. To frost the sides, I added a tablespoon or so of frosting to 8 equidistant spots and smoothed around the side with the spatula.

Stick a big candle in the top, pour a big glass of milk, celebrate, and enjoy!

Cod Fillet in Clam Chowder with Smoked Oyster Panzanella and Lemon Thyme Butter

Jessica — Thu, 10 Sep 2009 15:02:52 +0000

I know I’ve been bad about posting lately, but, it’s been with good reason. It’s not that I haven’t been cooking – I have – I’ve just been cooking some of my favorite, comforting, familiar dishes. I love those dishes that I’ve cooked a couple dozen times, don’t need to look at a recipe, don’t need to make a grocery list before heading to the store, and can cook lazily and absent-mindedly, while letting my mind ponder other things.

Unfortunately, repetition and familiarity don’t produce any new Besotted posts…. So, I thumbed through my cookbooks and magazines until I found the dish that would snap me out of my culinary lethargy and back into the exciting world of experimentation, and this recipe was it.

Originally billed in Bon Appetit, and provided by Spring Hill in Seattle, as Black Cod with Fennel Chowder and Smoked Oyster Panzanella, this recipe had everything that I was looking for – creative use of fresh ingredients, loads of butter and cream, and a healthy dose of artful presentation that can really make an hour’s cooking worthwhile.

I made a few adjustments to the original ingredient list (mainly to use more of my CSA veggies and not have to buy additional ones), and I would encourage you to both check out the original recipe at BonAppetit.com and take your own creative license with the dish – there is enough variety here to really make it your own.

Enjoy!

Click here for a printable version of the recipe

Cod Fillet in Clam Chowder with Smoked Oyster Panzanella and Lemon Thyme Butter, Serves 4

Adapted from Spring Hill, Seattle Washington and Bon Appetit

Prep Time: 1 Hour 15 Minutes

Total Time: 1 Hour 15 Minutes

Ingredients:

For the Chowder

3 Tbls. Butter

¾ Cup Fennel, cut into cubes

¾ Cup Potatoes, cut into cubes

½ Cup Onion, chopped

¼ Cup Leek, chopped (white and pale green end only)

1 Tbls. Flour

2 Bay Leaves

1 ½ Tsp. Thyme, chopped

8oz. Bottled Clam Juice

¾ Cup Heavy Cream

¾ Cup Whole Milk

1 Tsp. Grated Lemon Peel

For the Panzanella

¼ Cup Carrot, finely chopped

¼ Cup Onion, finely chopped

2 Tbls. Parsley, chopped

Juice from ½ Lemon

½ Tsp. Grated Lemon Peel

¼ Cup Smoked Canned Oysters

¼ Cup Panko Bread Crumbs

For the Fish

4 1/3 Pound Cod Fillets, skin on

Salt & Pepper to season

4 Tbls. Butter

2 Tsp. Thyme, chopped

Juice from ½ Lemon

Preparation:

Prepare yourself with many pots and pans – this recipes takes only just over an hour, but you will be using 3 burners at once to keep it all moving along. Also, there is plenty of time while the chowder cooks to prepare the vegetables in the Panzanella, so no need to fully prepare the mise en place.

To make the chowder, melt the butter in a sauce pan over medium-low heat. Add the fennel, onion, leeks, and potatoes, cover, and cook for 8-10 minutes.

Add the flour, bay leaves, and thyme and stir until the flour is incorporated into the melted butter. Add the clam juice, heavy cream, and milk; stir well and allow to simmer for 10-15 minutes.

Meanwhile, get on preparing the vegetables for the panzanella. Toss all of the ingredients except for the panko breadcrumbs into a medium bowl. Set aside.

Once the panzanella is finished, add the lemon peel to the chowder and turn the heat down to the lowest setting, just to keep warm while you cook the fish.

Set a large non-stick skillet over high heat and melt 2 Tbls. of the butter. Season the cod liberally on both sides with salt and pepper and set 2 pieces at a time, skin-side down, onto the skillet and cook for 6-7 minutes.

While the first batch is cooking, heat the remaining 2 Tbls. of butter, thyme, and lemon juice in a small sauce pan over medium-low heat.

Remove the first batch of fish to a plate and cover with tin foil. Add a bit more butter, if necessary, to the skillet, and cook the second batch of cod, skin-side down, for 6-7 minutes.

Once finished, the dish is ready to plate. Ladle some of the chowder into a shallow bowl. Place a piece of fish in the middle of the chowder, spoon some of the melted butter, thyme, lemon sauce atop each piece of fish. Top with the panzanella and sprinkle with the panko breadcrumbs.

Serve and enjoy!

Summer Fried Chicken

Jessica — Wed, 19 Aug 2009 15:24:13 +0000

I’ve come to the realization lately that my farm share may be taking over not only my fridge, but also a large portion of my life. As one friend put it, “the pressure to consume” all of the wonderful veggies can be a bit overwhelming, and I did find, as I looked back through the latest Besotted posts that they almost exclusively dealt with vegetables – noble and lovely as they are, I started to feel that there was something a bit lacking.

I spent a couple of quiet hours on Sunday pouring through my cooking magazines and books and came up with a lot of happy inspiration for delicious (and omnivorous!) meals. And, to get the ball rolling, I decided to start-out with one of my favorite carnivorous meals – Fried Chicken.

I know that I already have a Fried Chicken recipe up from the Winter, but this one, much more delicately seasoned and paired with Honey & Pepper Biscuits and fresh Green Beans seemed so much more in keeping with a light and bright summer mood.

This recipe also beats out the Winter version in its diminished complexity – owing to the amount of salt that the Winter version marinates in (which does give it tremendous flavor), it can not be left unattended for very long, and certainly not overnight. Whereas, this summery version can be marinated overnight, or for as little as 6 hours, depending on your schedule, making it far easier to plan and prepare for friends.

Below you’ll find the Summer Fried Chicken recipe, and, in the posts that follow, I’ll include the recipe for the Honey & Pepper Biscuits, as well as 2 Fresh Green Bean recipes – Green Beans with Fried Shallots and Green Beans with Onion Mustard Vinaigrette (one of my new favorites!).

Summer still seems to be clinging on here in New England, with a vigorous heat wave, and what a better way to celebrate the warm weather and sunshine than with a big plate of homemade fried chicken. Enjoy!

Click here for a printable version of the recipe

Summer Fried Chicken, Serves 4-6

Adapted from Bon Appetit

Prep Time: 90 Minutes

Marinating, Drying & Frying Time: 7 Hours 45 Minutes

Total Prep Time: 9-9.5 Hours

Ingredients:

3 Cups Buttermilk

1 Tbls. Kosher Salt

1 Tsp. Hot Pepper Sauce

3-4lbs. Chicken Pieces (thighs, legs, and wings are best)

2 Cups Flour

2 Tsp. Garlic Powder

2 Tsp. Onion Powder

2 Tsp. Paprika

1 Tsp. Cayenne Pepper

8-10 Cups Peanut Oil for frying

Preparation:

Mix together 2 cups of the buttermilk, salt, and hot pepper sauce in a large bowl. Add the chicken pieces, pushing down to submerge and cover thoroughly. Cover and put in the refrigerator for at least 6 hours or overnight.

Before removing the chicken from the refrigerator, prepare your battering station. Combine flour, garlic powder, onion powder, paprika, and cayenne in a medium sized bowl and mix well. Pour half of the flour mixture into another medium sized bowl. Between the two flour bowls, add a third bowl filled with the remaining cup of buttermilk.

[Click here for a few tips on battering chicken]

Dredge the chicken pieces in the first bowl of flour and shake off any excess. Submerge the chicken piece in the buttermilk, coat thoroughly, and allow to drip dry. Lastly, dredge the chicken piece in the second flour bowl and, again, shake off any excess. Lay on a drying rack and repeat with the rest of the chicken pieces.

Place the drying rack, uncovered, in the refrigerator for 30-60 minutes.

When you’re ready to begin frying, pour the peanut oil to a depth of 1.5-2 inches into a large stock pot and heat over medium-high heat until it reaches 300°. Drop the battered and dried chicken pieces into the pot, skin-side down, two at a time, and cook for 12-14 minutes (6-7 minutes each side).

Remove to a plate covered in paper towels, and repeat until all of the chicken pieces are cooked. Sprinkle with a little sea salt, grab a mountain of paper napkins, serve, and enjoy!

Buttery Veggie Popovers with Gorgonzola Sauce

Jessica — Tue, 04 Aug 2009 15:09:09 +0000

For those of you that think that vegetarian dinners consist of greater amounts self-righteousness than flavor, let alone decadence, meet the Veggie Popover and…. Eat. Your. Hearts. Out.

Hearty veggies steeped in a deep, rustic wine sauce, baked inside a flaky, buttery pastry shell and drowned in a gorgonzola cream sauce obliterate any notions that vegetarian dinners are an ersatz gourmet experience. Every bite is more delicious and satisfying than the last, and if you also happen to feel a little self-righteous for getting so many veggies into your diet, all the better.

Just a little forewarning, come to this dish with a hearty appetite, and approach the recipe with a fair amount of time and energy – there’s a good hour and a half of solid prep time (though, not all at once), but, I assure you, the investment is well worth it.

Also, for those of you that think that Boston’s recent heat and humidity wave has made me 1) overly ambitious with regards to grocery lists or 2) mad, I’ll admit that the ingredient list does look daunting, but when you look at it more closely, you’ll realize that many of the items are already in your pantry, fridge, or garden:

Garlic, check; wine (red and white), check; heavy cream (check – I make loads of ice cream and always have a pint on-hand), herbs, check (thank you, herb garden); water, ah, check. When you actually go shopping for the items, you’ll realize it isn’t as bad as it looks.

Although it goes without saying, this dish is perfect for entertaining…. impressive, delicious, decadent, and most of the work can be done in advance.

Enjoy!

Veggie Popovers with Gorgonzola Cream Sauce, Serves 4

Adapted from Caprial’s Bistro-Style Cuisine

Prep Time: 1 Hour 45 Minutes

Cooling/Resting Time/Baking Time: 35 Minutes

Total Prep Time: 2 Hours 20 Minutes

Ingredients:

For the Veggie Filling:

2 Tbls. Olive Oil

½ Onion, diced

2 Cloves Garlic, chopped

1 Yukon Gold Potato, peeled and diced

1 Carrot, peeled and thinly sliced

1 Cup Mushrooms, sliced*

1 Summer Squash or Zucchini, rough chopped

¾ Cup Red Wine

2 Tsp. Fresh Basil, chopped

1 Tsp. Fresh Parsley, chopped

1 Tsp. Fresh Thyme, chopped

1 Tsp. Salt

½ Tsp. Pepper

For the Crust and Eggwash:

2 1/3 Cup Flour

½ Cup Butter, sliced into 8 pieces

½ Cup Shortening

½ Tsp. Salt

½ Cup Cold Water

1 Egg

1 Tsp. Water

For the Gorgonzola Sauce:

1 Cup White Wine

2 Cloves Garlic, chopped

2 Shallots, chopped

1 Cup Heavy Cream

1/3 Cup Gorgonzola Crumbles

Preparation:

Chop all of the herbs and vegetables. Owing to the quantity of veggies to be chopped, this is one of the few recipes that I strictly adhere to the ‘mise en place’ rigidity of professional kitchens.

Tons o' veg... Get chopping!

Heat the olive oil in a large saute pan over medium heat until hot. Add the onion and garlic and saute for 2 minutes. Add the potatoes and carrots and saute for 4-5 minutes. Add the summer squash (or zucchini) and mushrooms and saute for 2 minutes.

Add the red wine, increase the heat to medium-high, and let the wine reduce for 10 minutes. Add the basil, parsley, and thyme. Remove from the heat, give the veggie mixture a good stir and add the salt and pepper. Stir again, and set aside on a trivet to cool.

Onto the dough….. place the flour, butter, shortening, and salt in a large bowl. Using your (clean) fingers, mash the butter and shortening into the flour, until the mixture is crumbly. (This was a first for me, as I typically make doughs in my food processor or mixer, but it worked very well and didn’t dirty another bowl, which makes it aces in my book).

Add the cold water to the mixture in 4-6 batches, mixing well with a fork in between each. The dough should be fairly wet, but not sopping. Cover dough with plastic wrap and let sit for 20 minutes.

Once the dough has rested and the veggies are well on their way to being cool, preheat the oven to 425°. Cover a baking sheet with parchment paper (or, alternatively, grease with butter).

Flour your hands and rolling pin, and roll the dough out onto a VERY well floured surface (wet dough needs a bit more flour to make it workable). Roll the dough into a rectangular shape (about 24 inches wide) for 4 popovers. Cut the rectangle into 4 equal squares and add about ¼ – ½ cup of the veggie filling to the center of the squares.**

Fold the dough up over the filling, creating a snug package; pinch the dough to seal in the filling.

Prepare the egg wash by beating the egg and tsp. of water. Using a pastry brush, brush the egg wash over the popovers.

Don't worry about the beauty of your popovers.... those bumps and ridges look rustic and beautiful once baked, and, besides, you'll be drowning them in gorgonzola sauce.

Bake the popovers in the oven for 22-25 minutes.

While they’re baking, make the gorgonzola sauce. In a sauce pan, over medium-high heat, bring the wine, shallots, and garlic to a boil. Reduce the wine until about ¼ cup remains (3-5 minutes). Add the heavy cream and reduce again until ½ cup liquid remains (another 3-5 minutes). The heavy cream will froth up while reducing and make it difficult to judge the quantity; just remove it from the heat for a few seconds, it’ll settle down, and you’ll be able to gauge the quantity more easily.

Once reduced, remove from the heat, stir in the Gorgonzola crumbles until it looks creamy (don’t worry about a few errant gorgonzola crumbles that haven’t melted.)

Once the popovers have finished baking, remove from the oven. Using a spatula, plate the popovers, drown in gorgonzola sauce, and serve with a big salad (to counter the heaviness of the dish). Serve and enjoy!

*Select the mushrooms that best fit your taste and budget, but I chose a mix of Shiitake and Chanterelle.

** You can cut a greater quantity of dough pieces and just add a little less filling (6 would be my recommended maximum) if you’d like smaller, more plentiful popovers.

Cherry Chocolate Chunk Ice Cream

Jessica — Wed, 22 Jul 2009 15:12:09 +0000

After two previous attempts – one solid, one mildly disastrous – I think I’ve finally got the hang of my ice cream maker. The main take-aways from the first two attempts were:

Follow directions
Re-read the directions and make sure you’re following them as they are actually stated on the directions, and not concocting new directions in your own head.

Once those two directives were firmly planted in my brain (along side the horrid memory of the ice cream maker bouncing and spurting all over my counter), I managed to turn out a really, REALLY good batch of ice cream.

I’ve become mildly obsessed with the cherry/chocolate combination as of late and whipped up a batch of creamy almond-tinted ice cream, laden with heavy bits of cherry and dark chocolate chunks. I knew I had a winner on my hands as I watched the cherry juice slowly bleed into the steaming cream, but I didn’t know quite how good it would be until I folded the big chunks of cherry and chocolate into the ice cream. It’s heavenly.

This particular recipe leaves things nice and chunky (my personal preference), but you could certainly chop items smaller or even blend the hot cream (carefully) after it’s done simmering.

Enjoy!

Click here for a printable version of the recipe

Cherry Chocolate Chunk Ice Cream, Serves 8

Prep Time: 45 Minutes

Cooling, Freezing & Churning Time: 8 Hours (Plus, the ice cream maker has to be in the freezer at least 24-48 hours before churning)

Total Prep Time: 8 Hours 45 Minutes

Ingredients:

1 ¾ Cup Heavy Cream

¾ Cup Milk

½ Cup Sugar

1 Tsp. Salt

2 Cups Cherries, pitted and rough chopped

1 Tsp. Almond Extract

1 Cup Semi-Sweet Chocolate Chunks

Preparation:

Heat half of the pitted cherries, 1 cup of the cream, milk, sugar, and salt in a medium sauce pan over medium heat until the mixture just starts to steam, about 10 minutes. Turn the heat down to low and let simmer for 15 minutes.

Pour the mixture into a large bowl and add the remaining ¾ cup of cream. Mix well. Allow the mixture to sit on the countertop for 15 minute before cooling in the refrigerator for 4 hours. Pop your chocolate chunks into the freezer while the mixture is cooling.

Once cooled, add half of the chocolate chunks (½ cup) to the mixture and churn, according to your ice cream maker’s instructions.

Once the ice cream is finished churning (it should look creamy and soft, but decidedly solid), fold in the remaining cherries and chocolate chunks, package, and return to the freezer for another 2-4 hours until very solid and ready to eat.

Soft Serve-style... still yummy, but best to let it harden a bit more.

Enjoy!