LET IT SNOW, LET IT SNOW, EGGS IN SNOW

Posted in Desserts, Sweets by sallybr

“Eggs in snow” or “oeufs a la neige” or “ovos nevados“… conveys the same delight in any language: a classy, delicious, impressive dessert, that’s surprisingly simple to make. Besides that, you can prepare its components in advance, which is the golden rule for a relaxed host.

OEUFS A LA NEIGE
(adapted from several sources)

for the creme anglaise
4 egg yolks
1/2 cup sugar
1 tsp cornstarch (optional)
1 + 1/2 cup boiling milk

for the meringue
4 egg whites
6 Tbs sugar
1 tsp vanilla
1/4 tsp cream of tartar
1/4 tsp salt

for the caramel glaze
2/3 cup sugar
1/4 cup water

Thinly sliced almonds (optional)

Prepare the creme anglaise: beat the sugar and yolks with an electric mixer for a few minutes, until the color turns pale yellow and the texture becomes somewhat thick (ribbon stage). Beat in the cornstarch, if you decide to use it, and while still beating, slowly add the hot milk without scorching the egg yolks.
Transfer the mixture to a saucepan and warm over low heat, while constantly stirring. Don’t let it boil, but bring the temperature to 170F on a candy thermometer. Remove from heat and pass it through a fine sieve to remove any bits of egg yolk that might ruin the texture of the creme anglaise. Put it in the fridge until ready to assemble the dessert.

Prepare the meringue: Starting with egg whites at room temperature, beat them with the vanilla, cream of tartar, and salt until soft peaks form. Add the sugar and continue beating at very high speed, until the peaks are all glossy and thick.
Heat water in a large skillet to 180F (at this point, the water will form bubbles on the edges). Using two tablespoons or an ice cream scoop, spoon mounds of meringue and gently dislodge them into the water. You can cook several at the same time, making sure that the water never boils. If it does the meringues will disintegrate. Cook them for 3-4 minutes per side, then transfer to a baking sheet lined with a soft cloth to drain any excess water. Reserve in the fridge.

When ready to assemble the dessert, add about 1/4 cup of creme anglaise to the serving dish and add 3 cooked meringues to the dish. Sprinkle on some almonds and glaze everything with streams of caramel, made as follows:

Add the sugar to a small saucepan, drizzle the water on top. Set the mixture over medium-low heat, and gently swirl the pan until the sugar dissolves. Then, increase the heat to high, cover the pan, and boil the caramel for 2 minutes. Remove the lid and continue boiling until the sugar turns amber. Place the bottom of the pan in cold water to rapidly cool it, and working quickly, dip a fork in the caramel and allow it to stream through the tines of the fork onto the cooked meringue and almonds.

Serve immediately, or keep in the fridge for 1-2 hours.

ENJOY!

to print the recipe, click here

for more photos and comments, keep reading

11Jan2010

BBA#36: STOLLEN

Posted in BBA Challenge, Breads by sallybr

The Bread Baker’s Apprentice Challenge, the adventure of baking every single recipe from Peter Reinhart’s book, brings us to Stollen, a festive European-style fruit-and-nut bread. Once more, I cannot say I was thrilled about making it – as far as fruit-breads go, I like panettone, but have never tasted stollen – the sugar coating seemed excessive to me. But, as happened in the not-too-distant past, I was pleasantly surprised by a nice bread that, without the challenge, I would never attempt to make…

The previous three or four breads were all a bit involved, in the sense that they required a sourdough starter, sometimes a soaker in addition to it. Stollen is much simpler – you can mix and bake the dough in the same day. The recipe calls for a sponge made just one hour before the complete dough.

The dough doesn’t rise a lot, but it smells wonderful from the very beginning, thanks to the cinnamon, brandy, orange and lemon peel it contains. Mr. Reinhart offers two different shaping methods, a regular loaf, and a crescent-shaped bread, with a special fold all along it.
I chose the latter.

A few photos of the preparation…

The sponge, almost ready to be mixed with the rest of the ingredients…

The dough, after 45 minutes rising…

The initial shaping…

The stollen, shaped and ready to go into the oven….

After baking, the loaf is brushed with a little vegetable oil, then dusted with a generous amount of powdered sugar. After 1 minute, one more layer of powdered sugar is added on top….

One long hour waiting….. until we finally sliced the bread….

For those familiar with panettone, I should say that stollen is quite different. The texture is a little softer, the cinnamon taste very obvious and pleasant. The powdered sugar, that at first seemed a bit too much, is a perfect match to the bread. Do not skip it…

Thrty six breads down…. seven more to go…

Next on the BBA Challenge: Swedish Limpa. Stay tuned! 😉

7Jan2010

CROWD PLEASING PULLED PORK

Posted in Pork, Weekend Dinners by sallybr

Suppose you´re facing the task of feeding a lot of people, but you´re short on time and low on cash. With this recipe you´ll have no worries, and everyone´ll love the moist, melt-in-your-mouth meat, with bits of tangy, crispy skin to please the palate!

PULLED PORK
(adapted from Gretchen´s and Mean Chef’s recipes)

1 whole pork butt, bone-in

for the dry rub
1/8 cup black pepper
1/4 cup paprika (I used smoked paprika)
1/4 cup turbinado sugar (or brown sugar)
2 tablespoons salt
2 teaspoons dry mustard
1 teaspoon cayenne pepper

Mix all the ingredients (except the meat) in a bowl to prepare the dry rub (it´s a good idea to wear gloves).

Rub the pork all over with half of the dry rub, then place it in a plastic bag and refrigerate overnight. In the morning remove the pork from the bag and cover it with the rest of the spice mixture. If possible, let it sit at room temperature for a couple of hours, if not just place it in a 275F oven, uncovered on a rack in a roasting pan.

Roast until tender, almost falling apart. Depending on the size, it will take 7 – 9 hours. Longer will not hurt it; the desired internal temperature is 200F.

Pull the pork into pieces with forks, allowing some bits to fall on the floor to the delight of your dogs.

Serve the meat over sandwich buns with the sauce of your choice, or follow my “Brazilian variation”: transfer the pulled meat to a clean baking dish. Add 1 cup of water to the roasting pan and place it over the stove-top burner on medium heat to dissolve the bits of pork goodness that stuck to it during the long, slow roasting. Strain it over a pyrex cup and allow the fat to rise to the top, then discard it. Use the liquid to moisten the pulled meat, squeeze fresh lemon juice all over, cover with aluminum foil and place in a 350F oven for 20 minutes before serving over rice and beans. (You can leave it in the oven for longer, it only gets better).

ENJOY!

This recipe fits quite well in the ¨Perfect Sunday Dinner¨ category…

for comments and additional photos, jump to next page

5Jan2010

TURKISH CHICKEN KEBABS

Posted in Poultry by sallybr

It’s hard to find a simpler recipe that ranks as high in the taste department as this one. Either place the meat in the yogurt mixture an hour before cooking, or do as I did, and prepare it in the morning for a stress-free dinner later. A yogurt-based marinade with the right spices does wonders for chicken and pork, as this dish deliciously confirms.

A friend pointed me to this recipe, one of her favorites of 2009. It’s from Steven Raichlen, in Bon Appetit. You can read about it here.

YOGURT-MARINATED CHICKEN KEBABS WITH ALEPPO PEPPER

(adapted from Bon Appetit, July 2009)

1 1/2 Tbs Aleppo pepper
1 cup yogurt
3 Tbs olive oil
2 Tbs red wine vinegar
2 Tbs tomato paste
2 tsp salt
1 tsp black pepper
2 garlic cloves, smashed
1 lemon, unpeeled, thinly sliced
2.5 pounds skinless, boneless chicken breasts, cut in large cubes
Bamboo skewers, soaked in water for at least 30 minutes before using

Place the Aleppo pepper in a bowl an add 1 Tbs of warm water, letting it stand for a few minutes to form a paste. Add the yogurt, olive oil, vinegar, tomato paste, salt and pepper, whisking to blend. Stir in the garlic and lemon slices, add the chicken and mix enough to coat all the pieces. Leave the chicken in the fridge at least an hour, up to overnight.

Thread the chicken pieces onto pre-soaked bamboo skewers, sprinkle with salt, and grill until golden brown, turning once. For chicken breasts, about 8 to 10 minutes total.

Serve with lemon wedges.

ENJOY!

to print the recipe, click here

(receita em portugues na pagina seguinte)

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1Jan2010

BBA#35: SUNFLOWER SEED RYE

Posted in BBA Challenge, Breads by sallybr

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

On the first day of the year… I’d like to say that bread baking is a great way to welcome 2010! I debated whether to make a simple sourdough, or to mark another notch in my BBA Challenge-belt. Once I realized that the BBA bread was a sunflower seed rye, I immediately went to work on it. From its whole flours and sunflower seeds, the bread casts a healthy aura that’s perfect for this time of the year, in which we all feel the impact of holiday excesses.

Welcome 2010 with Peter Reinhart’s couronne of
sunflower seed rye…

The recipe calls for a soaker and a firm sourdough starter. Once again, I couldn’t find pumpernickel flour, and settled for a regular dark rye instead. I still prepared the soaker exactly as described – mixing rye flour with water and allowing it to sit overnight.

The dough rose slowly and less than I expected, but it was fun to shape the ring. First, form a ball, then poke a hole in the center, stretch it out, and finally make a deep indentation to define quadrants. I added some flour to try to prevent the square from closing during the rising, but it didn’t end with dramatic look of the picture in the book.

The bread didn’t have the oven-bounce of a typical, white flour sourdough, but it felt light as I grabbed it from the oven. The taste was wonderful, hearty, and the toasted sunflower seeds made it just like Reinhart described: a “loyal” bread, that stays with you long after you enjoy it.

Another winning recipe, and with it completed, only EIGHT breads remain to finish the Bread Baker’s Apprentice Challenge!

I am submitting this post to Susan’s Yeastspotting, my favorite weekly net-event…

Enjoy rye breads? Go to Foodista for more…

On a side note, my New Year’s Resolution in 2008 was to regularly bake bread. It’s been two years of ups and downs, many failures but so much fun! If you’re a believer in New Year’s resolutions, have you considered baking bread? 😉