Desserts – Page 2 – Grow. Cook. Eat.

September 8, 2008

Misnomer Cupcakes

I’m a salt-head. I’ll take a salty snack over a sweet snack any day of the week. Every once in a while, I crave a sweet or I’ll peruse a dessert menu. There’s little rhyme or reason to what I like, but it’s never nutty and it’s usually pie or cake. No overly sweet confections for me. Except when it comes to cupcakes.

Whole Foods came out with a line of sweets, “Two Bites.” Two bite cupcakes, two bite brownies… you get the idea. For me, the chocolate cupcakes were the perfect little treat: just enough sweet to finish off a meal. The cake was moist and light with a creamy, chocolate butter-cream frosting. For a while, I was buying a 12-pack a week. But then they ran into production issues and the cupcakes were consistently stale. Sadly, I had to give them up.

Kick-Ass Cupcakes recently opened in Davis Square, and soon received a “Best of Boston” award and Boston’s Best from the Improper Bostonian. I tried desperately to avoid the place, knowing full well that if I found a suitable replacement for the Whole Foods cupcakes, I was in big trouble.

Last week, temptation got the best of me, and I went in. They have an astonishing variety of cupcakes… traditional variations of vanilla and chocolate cake and/or icing, mojito cupcakes (soaked with rum and mint), lemon, cinnamon, and a rotating list of specialty flavors. They also have twice-bake cupcakes dipped in chocolate and sprinkled with m&m’s – a variation on biscotti?

For the first round, I opted for the vanilla cake with chocolate frosting. The frosting, supposedly butter-cream, was too dense and too rich, and the chocolate too dark. The ratio of frosting to cake was good, but since I didn’t like the frosting, it didn’t matter. To shake it up in round two, I opted for the chocolate cake with vanilla frosting. The frosting was indeed buttercream, but the texture was grainy and I couldn’t taste the vanilla nor the butter. The cake was dry and crumbly. By this point, my head and stomach hurt from all the sugar. Perhaps the mojito cupcake would have been better – a better textured cake from the rum soak, and a refreshing minty icing. My guess is that the twice baked cupcakes were the batch that accidently got overcooked. I will never know. At $2.75 for a modestly sized cupcake (read: small), it’s not worth the experimentation.

July 9, 2008

Baking for Non-Bakers

Culinarians and Business-People are divided into two categories: cooks and bakers. Cooks are free-form and whimsical in their approach – a little of this, a pinch of that. Precision is not necessary, and often balked at. Bakers, on the other hand, are very structured. Recipes must be followed precisely to get the desired result. An extra pinch of salt could ruin a dessert, whereas with a savory dish, it could further enhance.

I am a cook!

The exclamation point comes as a result of the only time I was fired from a job: as a pastry chef. Despite this setback, throughout my career, I’ve needed to make desserts – when at Chez Henri and the pastry chef was on vacation, the task fell on me. Or as a private chef, I always made my own desserts. I’ve learned to get by, and by home-cook standards, I’m pretty good. By professional standards, well… I’m a cook not a baker.

I have a few desserts that always impress. Their simple preparations don’t require the same level of precision as many other desserts. Surprisingly, one of my favorites comes courtesy of Thomas Keller. To be sure, he is not known for his simplicity. Each dish, each dessert, has several different components. The trick, for me, has been to determine where the line of diminishing returns is.

Thomas Keller, of French Laundry fame, dolls up the French classic, “Ile Flottante” by filling them with chocolate mousse. Ile Flottant, or floating islands in English, are poached meringues “swimming in a sea” of crème anglaise. He elevates it further by serving them with chocolate tuiles, mint oil and a chocolate shaving salad seasoned with sea salt. I opt against the tuiles and the chocolate salad.

Instead of mint oil, I sprinkle freshly julienned mint for both the color contrast and flavor. I take my own liberties by adding Tahitian vanilla to the meringue which gives the dessert an expansive, yet melt-in-your-mouth feeling, almost like cotton candy.

Floating Islands Filled with Chocolate Mousse

5 egg whites (save yolks for crème anglaise)
1 cup sugar
½ Tahitian Vanilla Bean
3 egg yolks
4 tablespoons sugar1 cup half-n-half
½ Tahitian vanilla bean
3 ounces dark chocolate, melted
¾ cup heavy cream
Berries and Mint for Garnish

Make meringue: Combine egg whites and 1 cup sugar in a mixing bowl.Set over simmering water and whisk until sugar dissolves and the mixture is about 110 degrees (slightly warmer than body temperature). Remove from heat and whisk with an electric mixer until stiff peaks form. Set aside ½ cup.

Brush 6 ramekins with oil.

Fill each ramekin with the remaining meringue. Put in a baking pan with high sides. Fill the baking pan with water to come up half way on the ramekins. Cover with foil.

Bake meringues for 30 minutes at 300F.

Remove ramekins from water bath, and let set in the refrigerator for 2 hours.

Meanwhile, make the crème anglaise:

Heat half-n-half over medium heat with the vanilla bean. Whisk the egg yolk and the sugar. When small bubbles form around the edges of the pot, slowly drizzle the half-n-half into the yolks while whisking vigorously. Return the entire mix to the pot and continue cooking over medium heat, while stirring constantly, until it starts to thicken. Remove from heat instantly and let cool.

Make the chocolate mousse: Whip the cream until stiff peaks with an electric mixer. One third at a time, fold the cream into the chocolate. When completely combined, fold the reserved meringue into the chocolate mix.

Hollow out the inside of the cooked meringues with a spoon, making sure to keep the exterior intact. Fill the cavity with the chocolate mousse. Refrigerate until ready to serve.

To serve, invert the floating islands onto a plate. Spoon crème anglaise around. Garnish with mint and berries.

June 2, 2008

Are you a ” Locavore? “

You’ve heard of carnivores, and perhaps even omnivores… but do you know what a locavore is? I can tell you, I am the first two and working towards the third. Yes, I eat meat (carni-) and everything (omni-) and I try to eat local (loca-). With Boston area farmers markets opening up this month for the season, my locavore efforts increase.

The Locavore Movement was founded by “a group of concerned culinary adventurers who are making an effort to eat only foods grown or harvested within a 100 mile radius of San Francisco for an entire month.” This was August 2005. The notion was that local foods are better for the environment, the economy and our health. In just a few years, the challenge has spread across the country, and people are thinking about local foods year-round.

By now, we know why local foods are better for the environment. The statistics are in every paper on a weekly basis: the average American meal travels 1,500 miles from farm to table. To get the food to the table, it must be processed, packaged (think about those 3-packs of tomatoes that are in a plastic webbed container wrapped in yet more plastic), shipped (in refrigerated trucks) and warehoused (in climate controlled storage facilities). And this process of “farm to table” can take up to 3 weeks – each step adding to our “global consumption” of petroleum. By purchasing foods from local farmers, we minimize the environmental impact of each step in this literal food-chain.

Sometimes it’s hard to see how buying local is better for the economy. After all, local produce often costs more than the Californian and even Chilean counterpart. Cambridge Local First compiled a top ten list for buying from locally owned business: this can easily be applied as general reasons for buying local. I will summarize for you now: When you buy locally, the money you spend stays within the local economy. The business owners spend their profits in Massachusetts (or wherever local is for you), and those taxes go towards local infrastructure: roads, schools, police, etcetera. By supporting local farmers, you keep jobs in your local community. When you shop at large chains the profits go to the economy of the large chain’s headquarters.

The health benefits are straightforward. When food travels less, it can stay on the vine longer. The longer it stays on the vine, the more time it has to absorbed essential nutrients from the soil and sun. Further, the minute produce is picked it begins to leach out its nutritional value (this also speaks to why frozen vegetables can sometimes be better than fresh).

Let’s be honest, though… being a locavore in California is much easier than in Massachusetts… And August, the agricultural jackpot, is less oppressive than taking this challenge in February. But when I think about the resources in New England, we are really quite fortunate. We can get seafood from Maine to the Cape even in the depths of winter. King Arthur Flour is based in Vermont. And local meat and dairy suppliers abound from Massachusetts to New Hampshire. The real issue is getting fresh produce in the darker, colder months. From November to April, we’re mostly reliant on farmers farther afield.

If you want to buy local in Massachusetts, the best resource is The Federation of Massachusetts Farmers’ Markets website. The site lists all the area farmers’ markets with dates, times and locations. More importantly, all the vendors are mentioned with links to their websites and/or contact information. Many vendors will also list their product offerings to make menu planning easier. If you can’t get to the markets during the allotted times, you can always visit the farms!

Right now, strawberries, asparagus and salad greens are at their peak.
For a recent dinner party, I wanted to serve roasted asparagus (requiring a 450F oven), but was also baking the strawberry rhubarb pie (at 375F). I opted to put the asparagus on the floor of the oven for a searing heat that caramelized the spears without overcooking them. This impromptu method worked so well, it is now my standard method for roasting asparagus.

Strawberry shortcake showcases the sweet berry. This variation puts an Italian spin on the American classic.

Balsamic Glazed Strawberry Short cake

1/4 cup balsamic vinegar
1/2 cup sugar
2 quarts strawberries
1/2 cup heavy cream, whipped to stiff peaks

1. Put sugar in a sauce pan. Add 1/4 cup water. Put over high heat, stir sugar to dissolve. Continue cooking for about 7 minutes or until sugar turns amber brown. Add balsamic vinegar. Continue cooking until liquid is reduced by half. Remove from heat. Just before serving, add strawberries. Serve Biscuits with strawberries and cream.

Biscuits:
1 3/4 cup all purpose flour
1 tsp. salt
1 tbs. sugar
2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. yeast
4 tbs. butter
2/3 cup milk

1. Dissolve the yeast in milk. Combine dry ingredients. With a knife or fingers, cut in the butter. Mix in milk.

2. Roll out to 1/4” thickness. Cut into desired shapes.

3. Bake for 12 minutes at 450.

Tis the Season to Buy Local!