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FrogPrincesse

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    What's in your cream?

    in Kitchen Consumer

    Posted

    I never paid attention to this until this thread. My heavy cream from Trader Joe's is 40% butterfat and contains carrageenan (percentage unspecified). I am located in California.

    It also has a disclaimer that it "contains MILK"!!

    Baking (Etc.) with David Lebovitz's "Ready for Dessert"

    in Pastry & Baking

    Posted

    I made the chocolate financiers (almond cakes) from The Sweet Life in Paris, Delicious Adventures in the World's Most Glorious - and Perplexing - City. The book is a hilarious read by the way, with great, and unfortunately very correct, observations of the typical tribulations of living in Paris.

    I started with my prep at about 10:30 pm, and by 11 pm we had a batch of delicious little cakes.

    Financiers can be a little dense or dry but these were neither. I love chocolate and I preferred these to the traditional version.

    Fromage blanc

    in Cooking

    Posted

    I make my own formage blanc and use it in fruit smoothies.

    I can also be drained, seasoned with salt, pepper, herbs or spices and used as a dip for crudites.

    In France, fromage blanc is sometimes be used to make souffle, cheesecake as noted by djyee100, and tarte au fromage blanc which is a tart served with berries.

    I imagine that you could also use it instead of creme fraiche in a vegetable gratin , although it's not traditional, or as a topping for flammenkuche.

    Easter Menus

    in Cooking

    Posted

    I've been hosting the Easter family meal for a few years now. I love it as lamb is more fun for me than turkey.

    Last year I served an herb-stuffed deboned leg of lamb; in the previous years I made a 7-hour leg of lamb, and many other leg of lamb & rack of lamb variations. I was considering lamb shanks this year, but got a specific request for rack of lamb and am happy to oblige.

    I haven't finalized my menu yet but here are my ideas so far:

    • Small nibbles- smoked trout with golden beets, duck carpaccio
      I will serve a punch of some kind with this. I just put my hands on a few bottles of Batavia Arrack that I will put to good use.
    • Ravioli - TBD. Last year I did Babbo's mint love letters with lamb sausage, and I would like to make ravioli again (feeling ambitious!).
    • The main course (by popular demand) will be a mustard-crusted rack of lamb, very traditional.
    • The side vegetable dish will be based on whatever I will receive in my farmers' market bag that week. Maybe some sautéed artichokes, baby potatoes & leeks.
    • Dessert - most likely a baba au rhum and something with chocolate (truffles?).

    I cook lamb quite frequently but never the shoulder, so I won't be able to help you FoodMuse.

    Baking (Etc.) with David Lebovitz's "Ready for Dessert"

    in Pastry & Baking

    Posted · Edited by FrogPrincesse (log)

    I'm on a roll... I've made two more batches of the brownies, the chocolate pot de crème, and the Bahamian rum cake.

    The prep for Robert's Absolute Best brownies takes less than 20 minutes, only uses one pot, and bakes in ~ 25 min, so it's my new go-to recipe for last minute dessert requests.

    Brownie.jpg

    The chocolate pot de crème is another recipe that takes less than 20 min to prep, and bakes in about 35 min. It's all about the mouthfeel - a thick chocolate cream explosion.

    07af04a2111b4cd4947f9d041d4e28bb_7.jpg

    The Bahamian rum cake is a little more involved but really worth it. It's very moist and has a delicious flavor from the rum, coconut milk, and shredded coconut.

    5573161663_8ecdeaece4_z.jpg

    Edited to correct the image link

    Dining in San Diego (Part 2)

    in California: Dining

    Posted

    In addition to the above I would recommend

    • Nine Ten for local & seasonal upscale food, in La Jolla
    • Cucina Urbana for rustic Italian-Californian fusion, a great place to mingle with the local crowd, located in Banker's Hill between downtown and Hillcrest
    • Whisknladle, another fun & casual Italian-Californian restaurant, located in La Jolla
    • Cafe Chloe downtown for casual French food
    • Sea Rocket Bistro in North Park for local seafood (including sea urchin)
    • Bali Hai on Shelter Island, which has been recently renovated, for a relaxing tiki experience (think Roy's with vintage tiki cocktails and local ingredients)

    Baking (Etc.) with David Lebovitz's "Ready for Dessert"

    in Pastry & Baking

    Posted

    I've been continuing the chocolate festival with a few other recipes from Ready for Dessert.

    The Chocolate Chips Cookies are great. They are chewy and the chocolate chunks melt when the cookies come out of the oven (I chopped semi-sweet chocolate bars). I made a couple of logs that I baked over a few days.

    5533489745_88b1cd1fcd_z.jpg

    I have a pretty good brownie recipe that I've been using for years but I decided to give Robert's Absolute Best Brownies a try. Well, I now have a new favorite brownie recipe. I was out of nuts so tried them with just the chocolate and I could not get enough of the wonderful texture and intense flavor. The real bonus for me is that it's a mess-free brownie that is easy to slice and doesn't fall apart.

    Lastly, the Fresh Ginger Cake does not contain any chocolate, but you could think that it does because of its rich flavor. I was a little nervous having never used molasses, and because of the relatively large amount of oil in the recipe. The cake is very moist and the fresh ginger flavor is obvious, with cinnamon in the background.

    Even my four-year old daughter, who claims not to like "spices", approved.

    5562906261_c21890c45b_z.jpg

    Liquid smoke - how do you use it?

    in Cooking

    Posted

    I've used liquid smoke to make kalua pig & duck.

    The meat (pork "butt"/shoulder, or a whole duck) is rubbed with salt and liquid smoke (I used Wright mesquite), wrapped in ti or banana leaves + foil and then cooked in the oven. The foil bag containing the meat is placed in a roasting pan containing water, and the pan itself is wrapped in foil.

    This technique is described in Alan Wong's New Wave Luau, and is supposed to mimic cooking in a traditional imu underground oven.

    Cookbooks – How Many Do You Own? (Part 5)

    in Cookbooks & References

    Posted

    + 12 cookbooks and food-related since January

    1. Sam Choy's Polynesian's kitchen
    2. The cooking of provincial France, M.F.K Fisher (Time-Life)
    3. Charcuterie: The Craft of Salting, Smoking, and Curing, Michael Ruhlman, et al
    4. Ratio: The Simple Codes Behind the Craft of Everyday Cooking, Michael Ruhlman
    5. Tartine Bread, Chad Robertson, Eric Wolfinger
    6. Home Cheese Making: Recipes for 75 Delicious Cheeses, Ricki Carroll
    7. Ready for Dessert: My Best Recipes, David Lebovitz
    8. The Nasty Bits: Collected Varietal Cuts, Usable Trim, Scraps, and Bones, Anthony Bourdain
    9. As Always, Julia: The Letters of Julia Child and Avis DeVoto, Joan Reardon
    10. Life, on the Line: A Chef's Story of Chasing Greatness, Facing Death, and Redefining the Way We Eat, Grant Achatz, Nick Kokonas
    11. Blood, Bones & Butter: The Inadvertent Education of a Reluctant Chef, Gabrielle Hamilton
    12. French Cheeses, EyeWitness Handbooks

    When The Grocery Mischarges You

    in Kitchen Consumer

    Posted · Edited by FrogPrincesse (log)

    At my local Bristol Farms I recently got charged twice for the same item. It was a fairly pricey smoked paprika ($10/unit). I did not realize until I got home. And then I saw that it was going to expire in two months...

    Now I verify everything much more carefully when I check out.

    Edited for typo

    All About Bitters (Part 2)

    in Spirits & Cocktails

    Posted · Edited by FrogPrincesse (log)

    My local Bristol Farms now carries a pretty extensive selection of Fee's bitters, including rhubarb, cherry, plum, chocolate, grapefruit, peach, and a few others.

    I already have the old fashioned bitters. Are there any others that are highly recommended?

    Edited to correct typo

    Baking (Etc.) with David Lebovitz's "Ready for Dessert"

    in Pastry & Baking

    Posted

    Frogprincess: It must be a chocolate festival at your house. I'm sure your neighbors are thrilled!

    Neighbors, what neighbors?? Seriously, it's been quite a feast at our house and we are indeed very popular with our friends and neighbors.

    We all love chocolate so this book has been great so far.

    I've actually tried my first non-chocolate recipe from the book last week. It was the Orange Pound Cake.

    Pound cake can sound boring to some, but it's a great classic that is just perfect with coffee. This particular recipe had a great flavor thanks to the orange zest. I liked the fact that the glaze gave it an extra zing and kept it moist. Also the cake actually got better over time as the glaze permeated it.

    Here is a picture.

    5499416249_dcbab17abe_z.jpg

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