Meyer Lemon Pudding to-go

I’ve made Meyer Lemon Pot de Crèmes several times and think they’re delicious but I was looking for something a little homier when I came up with this recipe. I also wanted to use my small Chinese to-go boxes and knew they wouldn’t stand up to a water bath. Voilà, pudding adapted from an old copy of “Joy of Cooking” and entered in the food52 pudding contest. For kids lunches chill pudding in something a little sturdier like Tupperware or Gladware.

I also chilled some of this pudding in used canning jars. Inspired by Stephanie Brubaker & her blog Stephmodo who is always sharing treats from her kitchen with friends and neighbors I wanted to share some of this comforting pudding. My neighbor Patricia is famous for her plum jam and every Christmas I’m a lucky recipient of this homemade treat. Patricia likes the jars and rims back so that she can re-use them and I’m all for it. This year, instead of giving her jars back empty she’ll have ready-made dessert for tonight. Patricia also gave me the lemons I used in this recipe. I have great neighbors!

Meyer Lemon Pudding to-go

½ cup sugar

6 tablespoons cornstarch

¼ teaspoon salt

1 ½ teaspoon Meyer lemon zest

4 cups milk

2 eggs

3 teaspoons Meyer lemon juice

1 teaspoon vanilla

Mix sugar, cornstarch, salt and lemon zest in the top of a double boiler or a metal bowl you can set over boiling water. While mixing, slowly add milk and place over (not touching) boiling water. Stir constantly until mixture begins to thicken. About 10 minutes. Cover and cook 10 more minutes.

Whisk together Meyer lemon juice and eggs. Stir about 1 cup of hot milk into eggs and add to milk over hot water. Stir constantly and cook for 2 minutes. Don’t overcook. Remove from heat, stir gently until slightly cooled, and add vanilla.

Continue stirring over an ice bath and pour into individual to-go containers and refrigerate until cold and somewhat firm.

*****

In my bridal shower gift (1986)  “Joy of Cooking” edition the pudding is called blancmange but I can’t say blancmange without thinking of Monty Python. At roughly the 3 minute mark the menacing blancmange shows up. 

 

FFwD: Dorie Greenspan’s pancetta green beans

    

This dish is quick and delicious. Green beans are a family favorite and often part of our weeknight dinners. Typically I quickly steam beans and serve them plain so it was fun to give our old standby a bit of a twist. Dorie Greenspan’s recipe found on page 333 of her latest book, Around My French Table was a great discovery. The recipe made more than the two of us could eat. The next morning I quickly reheated the beans and pancetta until they got just a little brown and crisp. I cleared a spot in the same non-stick pan, added a small bit of butter and prepared and egg, over medium. I found the combination very satisfying and tasty. 

Thank you French Fridays with Dorie for keeping me cooking and trying dishes from this wonderful cookbook.

Cumin Infused Olives in Rye Garbanzo Bean Salad with Oranges

I was thrilled to discover this recipe on the "Editor's Picks" list at food52 this week; they even used my photo.  This is what editor Kristen Miglore had to say about my salad.  Here I reworked my rye berry salad from last year to create an entry for the olive and citrus contest.

This salad works with any whole grain and if you’re in a hurry couscous it a great option. I like the olive, cumin, and orange combination as a simple salad before a heavy Mexican, Moroccan, or East African meal. I’ve added that quick salad to whole grains and garbanzo beans for something more substantial. Great on its own for lunch or as a side dish with grilled or roasted meat or fish. And, if you’re wondering, rye has a mild nutty taste but doesn’t taste like rye bread, which gets most of its flavor from caraway seeds.

Cumin Infused Olives in Rye Garbanzo Bean Salad with Oranges

1 cup rye berries or other whole grain

½ tsp. kosher salt

1 can garbanzo beans, rinsed and drained



¼ cup chopped red onion

½ cup parsley, coarsely chopped

2 oranges

Dressing: 


2 tsp. ground cumin

2 Tbsp. olive oil

1 cup pitted green olives

2 Tbsp. sherry vinegar


2 tsp. mustard


½ tsp. kosher salt

additional salt and pepper to taste

Place the rye berries and salt in a large pot, cover with 2 ½ cups water and bring to a boil. Lower the heat and simmer for 60-90 minutes, until tender and most of the rye has split open. Add water as needed to keep the rye covered.

While rye is cooking prepare dressing. Toast cumin in a dry pan until fragrant, about 30 seconds, add olive oil and olives, sauté 1 minute or so to infuse oil and olives with the cumin. In a small bowl whisk together remaining dressing ingredients and scrap olives, oil, and cumin from pan into bowl, toss to combine (adjusting to your taste). Cover and bring to room temperature until ready to use.

Drain rye well and run under cool water to stop the grains from cooking. Transfer to a bowl; add garbanzo beans, prepared dressing and toss to combine. Chill until the mixture is completely cool, or for up to a day.

Zest one orange into the rye mixture. Peel and section both oranges and add to salad along with the red onions, and parsley. Section the orange over the salad allowing any juice to drain into the salad. 

The food52 video on slicing and segment an orange is helpful and fun to watch.

Salted Orange Cardamom Caramels – with or without pistachios or chocolate

You will also find this recipe at the wonderful food52 website and blog. I've added it to the cardamom contest. Check it out and participate, it's lots of fun. I am impressed with the work Amanda Hesser and Merrill Stubbs are doing but what I love most is seeing what the contributing home cooks are creating in their own kitchens.

I love caramel sauce and candy but I’m a bit intimidated by any recipe that requires me to use my candy thermometer.  A strong craving for this combination of flavors sent me to the kitchen despite my fears and I am very pleased with the results.  The pistachios are optional; I don’t think they add much more than a little crunch and color but some of my taste-testers disagree and urged me to leave the option in. A small drizzle of chocolate is also tasty and looks nice but is optional too. Inspired by Emily Luchetti’s Orange-Cardamom Ice Cream (A Passion for Ice Cream, Chronicle Books, 2006) and  adapted from David Lebovitz Salted Butter Caramels (http://www.davidlebovitz.com/2010/01/salted-butter-caramels/).  Avoid Ultra-Pasteurized whipping cream and use cultured butter if possible.

3/4 cup heavy cream

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 teaspoon flaky sea salt, divided (I use Maldon)

4 green cardamom pods, crushed

Zest of 1 medium orange

1/2 cup light corn syrup

1 cup sugar

about 4 tablespoons, divided, salted butter, cut in small pieces, at room temperature (cultured if available)

½ ounce salted pistachios, chopped (optional)

1 ounce bittersweet chocolate, chopped (optional)

Calibrate you candy thermometer.

Line a 9-inch loaf pan with foil.  For best results, use Reynolds Rapid Release and coat with cooking spray or butter.

Combine cream, 2 tablespoons butter, vanilla, ½ rounded teaspoon sea salt, cardamom and orange zest in a small saucepan heat to just before boiling – small bubbles will be forming around the edges of the pan.  Remove from heat, cover, and let steep for 20 minutes before continuing. Don’t let the cardamom cream cool too much.

Attach your candy thermometer to the side of a heavy bottomed 4-quart saucepan so that the bulb will be submerged. Heat corn syrup and sugar over medium heat; stir carefully until the sugar melts. Once the sugar has melted only stir to avoid hot spots.

Cook the syrup to 310ºF (155ºC).

You may need to tilt the pan to submerge the bulb and get an accurate reading.

Remove from heat and stir in warm cardamom cream, until smooth.

Return to heat and cook to 260F (127C).

Remove pan from heat, take out thermometer, and stir remaining butter, until it’s melted and caramel is smooth.

Pour caramel into the loaf pan and let sit for ten minutes, then sprinkle with rounded 1/4 teaspoon of sea salt and pistachios, if using. Set on a rack and completely cooled. You can check this by touching the sides and bottom of the pan. When cool, lift foil and caramel from, carefully remove foil**, and slice caramel with a long, sharp knife into squares or rectangles.

** For chocolate option: melt chocolate in the microwave and using a fork drizzle over the caramel.  Place in the refrigerator for about 10 minutes before cutting to allow the chocolate to set.

Wrap caramels individually in waxed paper otherwise they get sticky. David Lebovitz says they’ll keep for about a month but I’ll never know cuz they disappear very quickly around here. 

A Passion for Ice Cream, available on Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Passion-Ice-Cream-Fabulous-Desserts/dp/0811846024/ Disclosure: Emily is my cousin by marriage and I tested recipes in this book before it was published. In spite of that connection, or because of it, I always reach for Emmy’s books first when making dessert.

I don't have any financial interest in the book.

  

FFwD: Dorie Greenspan’s Basque Potato Tortilla or how I learned the truth about my broiler.

Here I am participating in my first French Fridays with Dorie and feeling like a screw up. There is nothing wrong with the recipe just with the cook and her equipment.  I decided this week’s dish would be perfect for dinner because my teenage son is great fan of breakfast for dinner.  Greenspan suggests serving the tortilla with bacon for an American diner meal and I knew my son would love it. The final dish was fine for dinner and very good cold in my lunch the next day but it wasn’t perfect and I know why …

When I try a recipe for the first time I always read carefully through the whole thing once before I shop, again while collecting the ingredients, and one last time before I start cooking. Well, maybe not always. I was in a rush to get dinner on the table and was multitasking. I didn’t read the first paragraph on page 143 carefully enough.  Dorie writes that “the top is almost set – there’ll be a circle of liquid or jiggly egg at the center” but I stopped reading after I saw the word “set”. Finally I figured out that 21 minutes was too long for the eggs to be on the stovetop and checked the recipe one more time.  I had let the eggs go well beyond the suggested 8-10 minutes. Lack of extra ingredients and a hungry teenager forced me to carry on.

This is when I encountered problem number two. My broiler had been pre-heating for a long time, over heated and shut itself off. I didn’t know my oven did this but now I know the truth about my oven’s broiler. The oven was warm because I cooked the bacon in there and I didn’t notice that the broiler was off.  I continually peeked through the window to see if the top had browned and it never did. I finally figured out what was going on but at that point the eggs were very well cooked and I decide to stop and call it dinner. Lesson learned.

I will do better by Dorie next time, I promise.  Dorie Greenspan's Around My French Table (available on Amazon) is full of beautiful photos, delicious recipes, and headnotes that make great reading. I encourage you to find out for yourself.

Bon Appetit

Capellini with Mussels & Clams in Rich Saffron Broth

Capellini with Mussels & Clams in Rich Saffron Broth

Dinner for 2

My son has always loved clams with pasta or in chowder and he doesn’t mind if they come from a can but we both prefer them fresh and flavorful right out of the shell. We were Italy when Andrew was first served clams and mussels in there shells; he was pretty young. I was worried that he wouldn’t want the fish once he saw it in its natural form but boy was I wrong because he dug right in and loved it.

Live clams and mussels straight from the fish market allow me to whip up a special dinner quickly on a weeknight. There’s something about seeing the pile of empty shells grow as we each create our own bowl of seafood pasta. Sometimes we eat them one by one and the brothy pasta is our satisfying finish and other nights we empty every shell before we dig into the seafood, pasta and broth combination.  Make sure you have a spoon to get every sip of the yummy broth. Crispy crostini or a chewy bread like Acme Sweet Batard are also great ways to soak up the broth.

Pinch of saffron

2 cups seafood or chicken broth

1 tablespoon butter

1 shallot, minced

2 teaspoons tomato paste or 1 grated roma tomato

18 dozen clams, scrubbed

18 mussels, scrubbed and beards removed

1/3 cup crème fraiche

2 oz. angel hair pasta, prepared following package instructions.

Warm the broth in the microwave, mix in the saffron and allow it to steep while the seafood is cleaned and the shallots cook.

Melt butter over medium heat in pan or pot with a lid that is large enough to hold the broth and seafood.  Add the shallots to the butter and sauté until softened then add tomato, broth and saffron. Bring the broth to a simmer. Add the seafood, cover and simmer until all the clams and mussels open, 7-10 minutes. Once most of the clams and mussels have opened discard any that haven’t opened and assemble pasta

Divide the pasta between two deep wide pasta or soup bowls, top each serving of pasta with half the clams and mussels. Whisk the crème fraiche into the broth over high heat until combined and heated. Pour the broth over the clams, mussels and pasta. 

Foodie Fights: Corn and Tomato

Fresh Corn Enchilada Soup with Might’ve Been Guacamole (but the tomatoes got in the way)

My inspiration for this soup came from an old favorite enchilada recipe. I picked up all the ingredients for the enchiladas and headed for the kitchen. When I started planning this dish the weather here was still pretty cool but all that changed today. Instead of the rich soup I had planned on I decided to lighten things a bit but not too much, and serve the soup chilled. It was delicious.  My son loved it hot last night and again today when it was chilled. I tried it both ways too and agree it is really good. Next time I might use a large can of green chilies, especially if I use the heavy cream and add the jack cheese.

Make sure to toast the cumin, it really makes a difference.

Fresh Corn Enchilada Soup
2 teaspoon cumin seeds
2 tablespoons butter
1 large yellow onion, chopped
8 ears of corn (8-9 cups or kernels)
3 garlic cloves, minced
½ teaspoon kosher salt
1 quart chicken broth
1 8 oz. container sour cream
½ cup non-fat (whatever you have on hand) milk or
1 cup whipping cream (see note)
1 small can diced green chiles
½ cup shredded jack cheese, optional (see note)
Tortilla chips
Might’ve Been Guacamole (but the tomatoes got in the way)



Prepare guacamole, cover and set aside until ready to use. If you’re serving the soup right away keep guacamole at room temperature, otherwise refrigerate until ready to serve the soup. Bring to room temperature for hot soup and keep chilled if serving soup chilled. 

Slice corn kernels from cobs, set aside until ready to use. 

Warm a large pot over medium heat and toast cumin seeds. (More than you ever wanted to know about toasting cumin seeds but very helpful.)

Once the seeds are toasted add butter and onions. Cook, covered, stirring occasionally, until softened, 5 minutes. Stir in garlic, salt and corn to combine. Add chicken broth. Bring to a simmer, and cook for 15 minutes. Carefully remove about tow cups of corn from the pot.

Meanwhile, whisk together sour cream and milk or whipping cream.

Using an immersion blender puree until smooth. If you use a regular blender do this in 2 cup batches, drape a clean dishtowels over the lid and hold in place with your hand making sure none of the hot soup overflows. Whisk in the mixed creams. Return reserved corn to pot. Add diced green chilies and cheese if desired. To serve the soup hot, heat gently (do not boil); to serve cold, chill at least 2 hours.  

Pour about 2 cups of soup into a bowl, sprinkle 3 or 4 crushed tortilla chips over soup and top each serving with 2 tbsp. guacamole. Serve with tortilla chips and remaining guacamole.

Note: In the winter months when you’re forced to use frozen or canned corn the extra richness of the cream and cheese works great. I find it’s too rich on a hot day. Make sure to heat the soup until the cheese is melted.
Also, the soup may thicken up when chilled if it does thin to desired consistency with milk or broth.

Might’ve Been Guacamole (but the tomatoes got in the way)

4 medium tomatoes, rough chop
¼ cup chopped cilantro
1 small white onion, finely chopped
2 ripe avocados, diced
2 serrano peppers
2 teaspoons lime juice
1 teaspoon kosher salt

Gently combine all ingredients.