Good as Gold

I've been making way too much chocolate lately at the cafè, but I wanted something for our celiac community. Here's a flourless chocolate cake with a chocolate mirror glaze and a bit of gold:

Want to know my dream?

This link has pictures from the recent Pastry World Championship. Look at how beautiful these creations are. I know for many of you it will seem like a pointless or odd dream, but for me, to be able to create something this perfect, this beautiful, this inspiring would be a highpoint in my life. Whenever you all say positive things about my work, I appreciate it, but I know that in comparison to these masters, I am but an infant. Some day it will come. That is my dream.

Marbled Cake Frosting Experiment

I wanted a cook cake frosting that was appropriate for a 95 year-old. I thought a white glaze would be nice, and ended up doing white chocolate, a bit of corn syrup, a few sheets of glelatin (silver) and created this art deco marbled cake. The birthday girl was happy, so I was too!

Aloo Gobi Paneer

I don't know if there is such a dish, but I made it last night after I taught our Basic Indian Cooking class at the store. We made fresh paneer and fresh chapati, so I brought the extra home for this great meal. As always with us...fast and easy!

Paneer
1 Gal of whole milk
1/2 C. Fresh lemon juice

Bring milk to a rolling boil. Add juice and stir SLOWLY and in one direction for 15 seconds. Add 1 T. of salt. Cover, remove from heat and let sit 15 minutes. Carefully and gently pour the curd and whey into a strainer lined with cheese cloth or an old t-shirt. Gently rinse with warm water. Tie the curds into a ball and squeeze as much liquid as you are able. Hang the ball from your sink faucet for 2 - 3 hours.

Aloo Gobi Paneer

• Peanut or canola oil, for shallow frying


• 1 lb Potatoes, peeled and cut into 1/2" cubes


• 1 Cauliflower (1 3/4 pounds), cut into delicate florets


• 1 T. Peeled finely chopped fresh ginger


• 1/4 t. Ground turmeric


• 1 t. Salt


• 1/4 t. Cayenne


• 1 t. Ground cumin


• 1 t. Ground coriander


• 3 T. Water


• 3 T. Coarsely chopped cilantro leaves

Put the oil in a large frying pan and set over medium heat. When it is hot, put in the potatoes and fry them until they are golden and almost tender, about 10 minutes. Lift the potatoes out with a slotted spoon, and drain on paper towels. Do the same with the cubed paneer.

Turn the heat to medium-high, put in the cauliflower florets, and fry for 3 to 4 minutes, until they are golden brown. Lift the cauliflower out with a slotted spoon and drain on paper towels.

Turn the heat off. Remove all the oil from the frying pan except for 2 tablespoons (the extra oil can be drained and reused). Turn the heat to medium-high and put in the ginger. Stir for 10 seconds.

Now return the potatoes, paneer and cauliflower to the pan. Turn the heat down to medium. Put in the turmeric, salt, cayenne, cumin, and coriander. Stir gently to coat the vegetables with the spices. Add 3 tablespoons of water. Stir once and cover the pan. Turn the heat down to low and cook very gently for 4 minutes. Add the cilantro and toss gently. Serve hot.

Gadgetmania

I've said it before and I'll say it again. Even though I own a kitchen store, I am very anti-gadget. I hate having a kitchen full of crap that collects dust and takes space. (For the record, Tyler is just the opposite). BUT, this is one gadget that is a must have!

Orka now makes silcone, see-through measuring cups. Do you see the impact of this?! Do you see the life-altering advances that this provides!? You can microwave in your cup. You can freeze in your cup. You can poach in your cup. You can see through it, so there is no question how much is inside your cup. And best of all...it is flexible which means you can pour your beaten eggs, easily into their container; or you can pour your fresh vinaigrette into the serving bottle. I love these things!

This is my morning cherry/almond smoothy, mixed right in, and drank from, the measuring cup.

Brownies By Request

(Contrary to the length of these instructions, this is my fastest, easiest recipe that I use in the café. They take less than 5 minutes to prepare so don't be intimidated. And, the fact that I can sell a little bitty brownie for $2.95US gives you an indication of how much people like them. They always sell out within a day.)

I call these my "Over-the-Top Brownies" because they are. They are a riff on the Katherine Hepburn brownies that you'll find all over the internet, 0nly better.

Oven to 325 F
Line a 9x13 pan with parchment paper (foil if you don't have parchment) and butter the paper (you can just butter your pan if you don't care about how they look when you take them out. I line with parchment so I can chill the brownies, lift them out of the pan, frost them, and cut them for selling.)

Melt 1 C. (230 g) of unsalted butter in saucepan on stove (you can microwave it also).
Add 1 C. (230 g) of chocolate - I use 75% Chocoa, but any brand will be fine.
Remove pan from heat and let sit about 30 seconds to a minute.
Stir the chocolate until it is melted.
Add 1 3/4 C. (400 g) Sugar and 4 whole eggs to the chocolate mixture.
Stir until just completely combined - not more.
Add 1 t. Vanilla and 1 t. Raspberry extract/compound/ or 2 T. puree.

Add 1/2 C. (100 g) of All-Purpose flour, don't stir yet.
Here is a key step!!!
I add 1/2 t. of course salt - not ground. I prefer my Spanish sea salt or Balinese Pyramid salt, but really, just anything course that won't dissolve in the batter.
Add 3/4 C. (200 g) Toasted pecans (with or without salt is fine).
And finally, 2/3 C. (140 g) of chocolate - I use 64% Cacao Barry Guayaquil. Just get as close to that percentage as you can to provide the contrast to the 75%, and you can also go to a lower percentage if you want.

Bake around 35 minutes or until set but not over-cooked.
(A quick note: I use only my gram measures when baking, so I can attest to their accuracy. I used the gram to cup converter at gourmetsleuth.com for the volume measurements and had to round things. Brownies are forgiving, so you should be fine.)

Once they are done, bring to room temp, then set in the fridge until cool. This is when I take them out of the pan for frosting and trimming, but you can leave them in if you don't mind less clean cuts. Remove by pulling up on the parchment paper and set on a cutting board.

Now, take 1/2 C. (100 g) Cream and microwave it for about 90 seconds in a bowl. You want it to come to a boil but not scald. Then add 1.5 C. (300 g) Chocolate - I use the 75% Chocoa. Let it sit for a minute to soften. Stir until smooth and silky. For those of you who don't bake much, this is called a ganache (or for me, I call it breakfast spread). Spread the ganache all over the top of the brownie. Let it sit for a few minutes until the ganache firms up a bit and set in the fridge. After 15 minutes pull it out and cut into your serving shapes. I cut by resting my sharpest knife in a glass filled with very hot water, then wiping the blade with a towel, I cut cleanly into each piece. This method assures you ulta clean edges...if you care. If not, just take a fork to it and save the step!

What takes this brownie beyond the rest is the raspberry and course salt, so don't skimp on those two steps. Let me know what you think.

Down the Hatch: Green Chile Dinner Pics

This meal launches our VIP Dinner service at the Cafè.

This menu was inspired by Hatch Green Chiles. I didn't want to beat folks over the head with HGCs but I wanted the food to play off of the experience of the morning at the festival. As much as was possible, I wanted to source my products locally. Here we go...

Course 1: Pixie Stix

Let's just start it off with straight HGC! I gelatin clarified roasted HGC, eye dropped it into tart Granny Smith juice and a sprinkle of wasabi. This was served in a long tube that reminded me of those Jumbo Pixie Stix when I was a kid - you know, the ones where we ate 2 cups of flavored sugar in one fell swoop.

Course 2: Pan de Vida

This is my sourdough shaped into chiles. I've had such amazing success with this sourdough and I owe much of it to hummingbirdkiss at eGullet. This was the first time I made a small bread out of it, normally making batards. It's turned upside down in this picture.

Course 3: Roasted Corn

This was the course I was most looking forward to making. A piñon tuile with a roasted sweet corn panna cotta served with fresh garden tomatoes and a piñon horchata soup.

Course 4: Sushi Nofishi

I pureed HCGs, added a bit of egg white and corn syrup, spread them on a silpat and slow baked at 175F until dry. I then cut them into nori squares, added hitomobore rice, fresh mango and some sodium alginate HGC caviar from my gelatin clarified batch. It would have been more visually stunning if I had used my non-clarified chile. And here is the nori by itself - beautiful:


Course 5: Tuna Tempura

I'm starting to have fun now! I wanted folks to expect the fish tuna, but instead I took prickly pear tuna. I seeded them, stuffed them with chuchupate, an indigenous herb infused into local honey, white chocolate and topped with blueberries. I tempura battered and fried them. They were served on top of an oil lamp chimney, which had an Everclear soaked square of green chile at its base. The burning chile gave a brief, but dramatic moment, but what I really wanted was that whisp of roasting chile.

Course 6: Red Sea Caviar

I had many failed trials working on this dish. I ended up with beet soaked tapioca pearls flavored with rice vinegar and soy sauce, set over a soft poached Guinea Fowl egg and a bit of gold leaf for good measure.

Course 7: Bison Under Pressure

This is the only course where I felt out of my element and it showed in the results. Sous vide bison tenderloin pan seared to finish with a molè verde, homemade ravioli with pancetta, parmesan and piñon, a light limoncello butter sauce, and a smear of morel infused ganache. The ravioli was the only self-anointed disaster of the night.

Course 8: Summer Fruit

I roasted some of my garden tomatoes, skinned, pureed, seasoned, gelified every so slightly. I served it with 25-year balsamic (guests said it was lost in the overall dish) and powdered basil oil.

Course 9: Curso Queso

Whiskey cheddar fondue with fried cornbread and microgreens. Just a transition course.

Course 10: Tooty Fruity

Hungarian sour cherry stuffed bao/bun served with lemon chantilly soup and sour cherry geleé cubes. I was afraid that this might be too bulky at this point in the meal, but none came back, so then I was worried that it wasn't enough food...so...

Course 11: Tamal Dulce

I re-created my dish from the eGullet Iron Baker Challenge, and made the orange infused masa tamale with mincemeat filling, pan seared to finish, served with sage/agave ice cream (very melted in this pic).

Course 12: Margaritas

A little after dinner drink. I had been chatting incessantly with the Chocolate Doctor, Kerry Beal, on this since I had never made a pate de fruit. In the end it was exactly the finish to the meal that I wanted. Margarita pate rolled in sugar, salt and lime zest.

Thank you to Chris Hennes for these fantastic pics! And thank you to our hosts, Mike & Cathy; and to our expert server, John, and his wife, my sous for the evening, Alysha! All were rock stars!