America’s Test Kitchen “Dish It Your Way” Challenge: Cupcakes!

Or, to explain why I don’t make them….

Reason #1….

Reason #2….

Reason #3….

Reasons #4, 5, and 6….

And finally, reasons #7, 8, 9, and 10.

I live with my husband in rural France, and think that perhaps anyway but in Paris, cupcakes are an oddity.  When I explained what a cupcake was to Christophe, he gave me the same baffled look as when I explained that a brunch is a meal that is part breakfast-part lunch, to which he responded, “Why would anyone want to skip a meal?” He didn’t understand why I would want to make a “small cake”.  Not to be discouraged, I plotted on.

I have a silicon pan, but it was the only one found after much searching, and it does a terrible job.  It had no lift on the cupcakes and they would not release right.  Trying to get around that, I looked all around for paper cupcakes holders, and couldn’t find them.  I tried ‘enhancing’ the cupcake batter with red currant jam and chocolate, which only sank to the bottom.  I tried ceramic yogurt containers, hence error # 7 - 10.  That was a messy cleanup.

Cupcakes are just not a French thing.  No matter how hard I tried, I was not able to adapt this classic to my new location.  I know, I know… it’s America’s Test Kitchen take on classic American food, so I shouldn’t be saying that, but I’ve been about adapting ever since I met Christophe and this new culture, so I’m all about trying.

I’m not giving up; the fun of experiments also comes from the failures, but I think a step back and a new plan might be needed as well as more local twist.  Speaking of local, the apple trees are producing well this year, so I’m pondering a tarte tartin right about now, which if the story is true, shows good things come from failures.

Summer has come to an end, and so has America’s Test Kitchen “Dish It Your Way” Challenge.  I’ve had a blast trying new recipes – some worked, some didn’t, and Christophe had a great time eating the results, most of the time.  I found a few great new recipes along the way – ice box pickles, salmon with watermelon salsa, how to make a potato salad your own, and that mac n’ cheese can be, and is even better fried. 

The fall winds here are starting to blow, so winter preparations need to be made.  I’m looking forward to evenings in front of the fire while bread bakes in the oven, and dinner simmers quietly on the stove.  I’ll be turning my attention to more autumnal foods, canning from the garden, and writing about rural life in Southern France.  Hope you’ll pull up a chair, grab a glass, and join me.

America's Test Kitchen "Dish It Your Way" Challenge: Mac n' Cheese

I recently watched a show where French chef Christian Constant demonstrated his version of a pasta dish.  He stuffed cooked macaroni with paper thin truffles, cut the macaroni’s into rounds, placed them on the inside of a hollowed out eggshell, and then filled that with a scallop mousse.  Once cooked, he removed the shell and had something that looked like a Fabergé egg.  It was amazing, and like Michael Jordan doing a layup, he made it look easy.

While pondering what to do for the next round of America’s Test Kitchen “Dish It Your Way” challenge, Christophe turned to me said, “Do something like that!”

My response, “You’re nuts!”  I’ve never been good at basketball and have never been able to a layup to save my life.  There was no way I was going to try what a starred chef pulled out of his hat.  Not to mention, it was missing one key element: cheese.  Yes, that is how I got out of that one: cheese.

Scaling back a bit, I decided to something more family style, and I looked in the fridge for inspiration.  I found Roquefort cheese and smoked salmon, hence I decided upon:

Rigatoni with Roquefort Cream Sauce and Smoked Salmon

(I immediately nixed Christophe’s idea to stuff the Rigatoni with the salmon and cook them in a hallowed out egg.) 

I ran with this idea because I’m tired of being disappointed with a mac n’ cheese that is overcooked, swimming in a bland sauce, and lacking character.  More than anything, I was interested in taking a risk with flavor and ready to go a little off the deep end.

Ingredients:

1 pound Rigatoni pasta

4 Tablespoons butter

2 Tablespoons flour

2 cups whole milk

10 oz. Roquefort cheese, cut roughly into 10 cubes, plus additional for garnishing

8 oz. smoked salmon, cut into 1/8 inch matchsticks

½ cup bread crumbs

Salt and pepper

Bring 2 quarts of salted water to a boil over medium high heat.  Stir in one pound of Rigatoni pasta.  Cook for 8 minutes (or slightly under ‘al dente’; the pasta will continue to cook in the oven so an ‘undercooked pasta’ is desired at this state to avoid a mushy end product), and drain well.

While pasta is cooking, melt 4 tablespoons of butter in a medium size pot over medium high heat.  Allow the melted butter to foam; sprinkle flour over the top and allow it to rise and brown slightly.  Knock down the mixture by whisking briskly and continue until a smooth consistency is reached.  This will avoid unwanted flour clumps in the sauce.  Add milk, lower heat to medium –low and continue to whisk until a homogenous liquid is formed.   Stir in 9 cubes of the Roquefort cheese and continue stirring into melted.  Season with salt and pepper to taste, being cautious not to over salt since the cheese has a high salt content. Mix in pasta until well coated.

In four large ramekins or one 9x13 baking dish, layer sauce coated pasta and salmon, followed by a top layer of pasta again.  Sprinkle with breadcrumbs and crumble the remaining cube of Roquefort cheese on top.  Place in preheated 350F oven for 15 minutes.  Garnish with additional cheese and chives if desired.

I know Roquefort cheese and smoked salmon aren’t a typical combination, but risks are worth taking when something is to be gained.  In this case, the risk paid off.  I got a well cooked, not over cooked pasta, in a sauce “with character” with smoking, salty hints that brighten the dish.  Now, I think I’m ready to work on my free throws – I’ll get to that layup later.

America's Test Kitchen "Dish It Your Way" Challenge: Burgers!

Over the course of the summer, I’ll be participating in the America’s Test Kitchen “Dish It Your Way” Blogger Challenge.  The “Dish It Your Way” asks blogger to recreate an American classic dish throughout the summer, share the recipe, and tell a story.  This week: Burgers.

Each year when we return to Chicago, we have a few mandatory stops, and a local bar – restaurant tops our list.  It’s a small place that boasts the best burgers, a ghost, and has peanuts on the table that are shucked right onto the floor.  To Christophe, it is folkloric, and I often try to schedule our stop on a Monday so we can watch Monday Night Football in the bar just to put the icing on the cake for him.  This place is Americana at its best and encompasses all that I want when I go out for a burger and a beer.

The first time I took Christophe there, he ordered a buffalo burger; not buffalo as in the hot sauce he now loves, but as in buffalo meat.  He was hooked on his first bite and hasn’t strayed from his order since.  I thought hard about our evenings there for this round of America’s Test Kitchen “Dish It Your Way” challenge.  With the bar raised so high, there is no way I can compete by creating simply a ground beef burger, so I’ve decided to take a completely different route.  Many of the ingredients in my burger are typically French and might not be even available in the United States (Can regionally controlled unpasteurized goat’s milk cheese be imported in the United States anymore?), but that’s what make this Galette d’ Epinards au Rocamadour.  It can also be pronounced Spinach Burgers with Goat Cheese.

Save us a place in the bar this winter.  We like the table by the chimney under the mounted boar’s head where we have an unobstructed view of the football game and a basket full of peanuts.

Spinach Burgers with Goat Cheese

The burger:

1 8 ounce packet of frozen chopped spinach

1 cup bread crumbs

¼ cup grated parmesan cheese

¼ cup grated emmental cheese

3 beaten eggs

½ cup, plus 2 tablespoons of softened unsalted butter

2 tablespoons of Herbs de Provence

1 teaspoon salt

½ teaspoon pepper

The toppings:

1 portion Rocamadour cheese (This is an unpasteurized, whole milk goat cheese with a creamy rich texture and a pungent odor.  The semi soft Mothais-sur-feuille can be substitute, but dry, crumbly goat cheeses should be avoided since they will not melt well.)

A few slices of Toulouges sweet onions

Batavia salad

Cook spinach and drain well.  Once cooled, combine all ingredients and form into 6-8 burger-sized patties.  Freeze overnight.

To cook, place the frozen patties in a non-stick pan over medium heat.  Cook undisturbed for 5-6 minutes allowing bottoms to brown.  Turn patties over, cover, and cook 5-6 more minutes on low heat.  When interior temperature reaches 160 F, place one portion (35 grams) of Rocamadour cheese on the burger.  Cook for 1-2 minutes more, allowing the cheese to melt.  Top with Toulouges sweet onions, and a few leaves of Batavia salad.

Serve with fries.

America’s Test Kitchen 3rd “Dish It Your Way” Blogger Challenge: Salmon

This is America’s Test Kitchen 3^rd “Dish It Your Way” Blogger Challenge.  The “Dish It Your Way” asks blogger to recreate an American classic dish throughout the summer, share the recipe, and tell a story.  This week: Salmon!

After days of rain, I was thrilled to find the sun shining through the kitchen window.  “At last”, I thought to myself, “a good day.” 

I finish my coffee and happily trot to the mailbox; bonus day: the July/August edition of Cook’s Illustrated has just arrived.  I open it and scan down the list of new recipes.  Then, my eyes jump out of their sockets: “Salmon Cakes”.

“What?”

 I quickly flip to the page. 

“No”, I scream.

Suddenly, the blue skies cloud over and a chilly wind begins to blow.

“What’s the matter?”  Christophe asks when I get back to the house.

“My recipe for the salmon challenge!  They published it!  Cook’s Illustrated stole my recipe!”

“The one you made for our wedding?”  He asks with a chuckle.  “Now what are you going to do?”  He prods me with a smile.

And with that, my Ace in the hole was gone…

After I calm down, I look over the recipe more carefully.  I’m a Midwesterner for Pete’s sake, how was I to know fish cakes were such a New England mainstay?  I thought I was being cleaver modifying a crab cake recipe.  Christophe loves my salmon cakes, and I even made them for our wedding.



Look at the time stamp on the photo - 2007! 
That's four year before Cook's Illustrated published their salmon cake recipe!



Yes, that was my story.  Salmon cakes and a French country wedding….

Being a bicultural couple, we had our choice where to get married, in the United States or France - we decided on France. The road to our village of 15 inhabitants is a nine mile climb up a single lane mountain road next to plummeting caverns tumbling down into nothing below.  No caterer was going to come to us, so in a true country wedding fashion, we decided to make the food ourselves.  The main dish was easily decided, we would grill a few lambs from a family farm; however, the first course was not as easily found.  After numerous tests and many failures, I thought about making salmon cakes.  They took some work, but had the delicate presentation we were looking for.  I made close to one hundred of them days before the wedding.  Night after night, Christophe would come home from work with another salmon in his hand and I would launch into a project of deboning and seasoning the salmon before creating the delicate cakes.  When served, they had the desired effect because everyone devoured them and raved about the originality of the course.

Obviously, I exaggerated when I stated Cook’s Illustrated stole my recipe.  There are some differences, but, being that my winning recipe was published by them, there is no way I could enter their cooking competition by simply retyping their recipe.  So, here is my plan B, my quick weeknight dinner, my not so ace in the hole, but a darn good standby.

Savory Poached Salmon

Ingredients:

4, 8 ounce salmon fillets

2 lemons

1 medium onion

Freshly chopped parsley

Sauce:

½ cup butter

3 Tablespoons soy sauce

2 Tablespoons tomato concentrate

1 Tablespoon Worcestershire sauce

1 Tablespoon mustard

1 crushed garlic clove

Combine, butter, soy sauce, tomato concentrate, Worcestershire sauce, mustard, and garlic in a small saucepan. Simmer gently to bring all ingredients together.  Avoid boiling the liquid.

In a large skillet, place ¼ inch of water.   Cut the ends off the lemons, and place ½ of a lemon a side for later use.   With the remaining 1 and ½ lemons, and cut eight thick slices.  Place the slices in the water and place one fillet onto of two lemon slices.  Each fillet should hover slightly over the water.  This allows for the fish to be poached without becoming water logged and losing flavor.

Next, cut the onion and the remaining ½ lemon into thin slices.  Brush each fillet with the sauce, then layer with onions and lemon.  Brush again with sauce.  Place on high heat until the water comes to a simmer, then cover, and reduce heat to low.  Cook between 10 -15 minutes (the thickest part of the fish should reach 125 degrees).  The sides of the fish should be opaque, but the center slightly translucent.  Remove from heat and plate fillet with onions and lemons.  Serve with additional sauce and garnish with fresh parsley.

And, yes, while I did not take their recipe as whole, I did adapt the cooking method from their “Flavorful Poached Salmon” (May/June 2008).  It was much easier to get the temperature just right rather than cooking in the oven like I had done in the past.

Here’s hoping Cook’s Illustrated doesn’t have a wiretap to my brain, if so, my Roquefort flavored mac n’cheese is finished and my macaroon inspired cupcakes are a gonner for their future competitions.

Amerca's Test Kitchen "Dish It Your Way" blogger challenge #2: Potato Salad

This is America’s Test Kitchen “Dish It Your Way” blogger challenge #2.  The subject: potato salad – an American summer classic.

I’m known in my family as being one who likes to cook.  I like to experiment.  I take recipes and deviate; sometimes it works, sometimes not.  I once tried “relooking” Thanksgiving dinner with disastrous results.  I learned my family is not “okay” with grilled apples with couscous, and I had to remake everything in the tradition fashion just to please some at the table.  I’ve learned there are some things you just don’t mess with.  So, I am a bit hesitant to “relook” a potato salad.  There are hundreds of variations of this dish, but one has a solid idea of what is coming to the table when the menu is announced.

Christophe had some elaborate ideas for this challenge: fried potato “nests” filled with rougaïl; mille-feuilles of potato and cucumber in mayonnaise, and even something that resembled a dinner more found in a mountain ski lodge than at a barbeque in the back yard.  I look back at my Thanksgiving dinner catastrophe as learning moment; potato salad is convivial, social, and to me, something served family style.  It does not need to be overworked and should not be served with grilled apples and couscous.  A classic is a classic for a reason, and its purpose shouldn’t change.  Potato salad should gather people happily around the table, feed them, and leave them with a good memory of the day.  It shouldn’t have your family asking, “And the normal potato salad, where’s that?”

Potato Salad… with a Mediterranean twist

·         1 pound small, whole new potatoes

·         1/3 cup mayonnaise

·         2 Tablespoons lemon juice

·         1 garlic clove, minced

·         ¼ cup kalamata olives, rinsed and coarsely chopped

·         2 Tablespoons capers, rinsed and coarsely chopped

                        Make sure both are well rinsed to avoid excess salt.

·         3 hard-boiled eggs, coarsely chopped

To avoid the green ring around the yoke, cover the eggs in water and heat until boiling.  Allow to boil 1 minute, turn off heat, cover, and let rest for 10 minutes.  Then, plunge into ice bath.

·         ¼ cup finely diced chives

·         Dash of salt and pepper

Add whole unpeeled potatoes to salted water in a medium size saucepan.  Leave skins on to help the potatoes stay in tack during cooking.  Bring to boil over high heat.  Reduce to simmer, cover, and cook for 15 -20 minutes until tender.  The potato peels should not yet be broken, but a knife should easily enter and leave the potato when pierced.

Drain potatoes and allow to cool.  Slice into quarters.

Mix mayonnaise, lemon juice, garlic, and pepper in a medium mixing bowl until smooth.  Then, pour over cooled potatoes. Stir in olives, capers, hard boiled eggs, and chives.  Chill 4 to 24 hours before serving.

If you have a hankering for a more patriotic salad, check out wild, fresh + tasty’s red, white, and blue potato salad – she used three types of potatoes!

Interested in some chicken with the dish?  Here’s the winner from first “Dish It Your Way” fried chicken challenge.

America's Test Kitchen "Dish It Your Way" Blogger Challenge!

Over the course of the summer, I’ll be participating in the America’s Test Kitchen “Dish It Your Way” Blogger Challenge.  The “Dish It Your Way” asks blogger to recreate an American classic dish throughout the summer, share the recipe, and tell a story.  This week: Fried Chicken.

For those who don’t know, I’m American, and my husband, Christophe, is French.  This has given us an immense playing field to explore new cuisines, share traditions, and celebrate new holidays (he loves Thanksgiving).  Last Christmas in Chicago, Christophe had his first taste of this “amazing dish” that was crunchy, spicy, and made with fried chicken.  That’s right, the man who has criticized the “culinary catastrophe” of chicken nuggets has found himself enamored with the adult version: fried buffalo chicken stripes.  Not the commentary one would expect from a Frenchman who likes to spend hours tinkering in the kitchen, but none the less, a new experience for him and one he wanted me to recreate.  I’ve tried a few recipes, but none of them lived up to our expectations.  We have learned, recipes don’t always translate well from one continent to another, so it’s all about adapting.  Therefore, I turned to another recipe for inspiration and decided to move the spicy part of the dish to the condiment. The batter in this recipe is adapted from the Cook’s Illustrated “Fish and Chips”, and the heat in the recipe is provided by a spicy mayonnaise dipping sauce.  As I’m discovering, being a good cook is not just able following a recipe, but learning how to use to as a guide.  I’ve also learned that when done right, chicken nuggets can be darn good, and yes, I am calling them nuggets just to get his goat.

Buffalo Chicken Nuggets with Homemade Spicy Mayonnaise

Fried Chicken Nuggets

·         2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cut into 1 inch cubes

Mix together in a rimmed baking pan and then set aside:

·         ½ cup unbleached all-purpose flour

·         ¼ cup cornstarch

·         ½ teaspoon cayenne

·         ½ teaspoon paprika

Whisk together in a large bowl:

·         ½ cup flour

·         ¼ cup cornstarch

·         ½ teaspoon cayenne pepper

·         1 teaspoon baking powder

·         ½ teaspoon paprika

·         ½ teaspoon salt

·         ½ teaspoon pepper

Then add 1 ¼ cup cold beer and whisk until a lumpy batter forms.

Drench cut chicken into the flour mixture in baking pan, shake off excess flour, and then drench in batter.  Place chicken pieces on a cooling rack to let excess batter drip off, 2-3 minutes.  Then fry the chicken in an electric deep dryer for 6-7 minutes, or in 1 ½ quarts of vegetable oil heated to 375 degrees, also for 6-7 minutes.

Serve hot with spicy dipping mayonnaise.

Spicy Homemade Mayonnaise

The key to making sure the mayonnaise “takes” is to gather all the ingredients beforehand and allow them to reach room temperature.

Mix in a deep bowl:

·         1 large egg yolk

·         2 tablespoon mustard

·         1 tablespoon lemon juice

·         ½ teaspoon salt

·         ½ teaspoon pepper

·         1 garlic clove, crushed

·         1 teaspoon cayenne pepper

·         ¼ teaspoon paprika  

Also needed:

·         Olive oil

Place a kitchen towel under the bowl so it slants up slightly towards you and the liquid mixture runs together. Using an electric mixer on high speed in one hand, slowly drip olive oil into the mixture.  Do not move the mixer around like in a cake batter, instead focus on a single spot to drip the oil.  The mayonnaise will start to “take” when that area becomes fluffy and creamy – after a few minutes of mixing.  At that point, the mixers can slowly be moved around to incorporate the rest of the mixture.  A Kitchen Aid with the whisk attachment could be used in place of an electric mixer or a hand whisk for the brave.

Transfer to serving bowl and garnish with chopped chives.  

I have learned that adaptation is needed to be successful.  Recipes are guides, unless if it's in baking - and that is why we have pastry chefs. 

I’ve also learned I’ll never be a professional food photographer; taking a good photo is a lot harder than it looks.