justpigs

More than justpigs, really.

My ambition as it pertains to cooking is simply to make great food and share it with my family and friends. This blog is just another way to do that. Welcome to my table!

"You have to love either what you are going to eat, or the person you are cooking for. Then you have to give yourself up to cooking. Cuisine is an act of love."--Alain Chapel

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chocolate

February 15, 2010

MAKE IT! Results: "The Queen of Hot Pastries"

"Queen of Hot Pastries" is right! What fun it was making soufflés! I'm happy to say that Jamie and Wendy are keeping this feature alive and I am so grateful for their participation. Both of them made the Cheese soufflé and sent pictures and stories of other soufflés they made. All efforts were successful. Wendy and I both worried about every aspect our first attempts. Before making the cheese soufflé, Wendy made chocolate dessert soufflés that she had been meaning to make for quite a while. She said,"All along I kept thinking I'd messed it up. The chocolate wasn't right (I let it cook too long, it was too thick) I didn't beat the egg whites long enough or maybe I beat them too much, I errored on the side of caution and didn't fold enough..." But success! Everything came out perfectly. Judge for yourself!

In a completely fortuitous coincidence, the day I posted this MAKE IT! challenge Jamie's daughter had asked him to make soufflés for breakfast. He sent along this wonderful picture of what they made together: Potato Soufflé.

All three of use had the chance to make the recipe for Cheese Soufflé. We all loved it. Jamie, who wins the volume prize said it was "like eating a tasty cloud." Look at this puffy masterpiece:

And Wendy said,"It was wonderful!!!! The kids loved it. We loved it. I should have made two because this one was not enough."

I made it one evening when Yolanda & Frank and baby Sasha joined us for dinner and I worried and worried that I shouldn't have made it the first time for guests (I'll never learn!). But Yolanda reassured me and we were all delighted with the results.

I made the Grand Marnier Soufflé, which was a hit. I had much more confidence this time around and didn't worry too much about making it for the first time for guests also.

Finally, Jamie sent along this amazing lobster soufflé he undertook with a friend a couple of years back.

I'm getting ready to post another MAKE IT! and hope to snag a couple of additional participants this time! Thanks again to Jamie and Wendy!!

Filed under // baking chocolate make it! results soufflé vegetarian

Comments [5]

February 12, 2010

Chocolate Meringues

With Valentine's Day approaching, I thought I'd offer up an easy treat that's fun to make. You can shape these however you wish (hearts anyone?!). You can use them to decorate cakes or cookies or, my favorite, just eat them plain.

If you don't have a pastry bag just use a sealable sandwich bag and cut a little bit off the corner. You can also just use two spoons and drop them onto the parchment in little pods.

Chocolate Meringues

1/2 cup powdered sugar

1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder

6 egg whites

a pinch of cream of tartar

1/2 cup granulated sugar

Preheat the oven 300F. Line two cookie sheets with parchment.

Put the powdered sugar and cocoa powder in a bowl and mix well with a whisk.

Beat the egg whites and cream of tartar in a large bowl with a hand mixer or in a stand mixer. When they get good and foamy, slowly add the granulated sugar. Beat to stiff peaks. Sift the cocoa powder/powdered sugar mixture into the eggs and fold gently by hand until well combined.

Pipe (or spoon) onto parchment in your desired shape or design.

Bake at 300F for 1 hour.

Store in an airtight container at room temperature (do not refrigerate!).

I used mine to decorate Kerry's birthday cake.

Filed under // baking chocolate vegetarian

Comments [1]

December 27, 2009

Orange Gems

Growing up, we always received oranges in our Christmas stocking. This was a tradition that I didn't really understand as a child, but I appreciate much more as an adult. That so many amazing citrus fruits ripen in the winter seems to me a wonderful blessing: blood oranges, meyer lemons, the best of the navel oranges, clementines, and satsumas. I can't think of a better reminder of sunshine on cold wet days than juicy, sweet citrus fruits.

Something I love to make that celebrates this winter fruit is candied citrus peel. Most often I use navel oranges, but you can use grapefruit, lemon, or lime--whatever you fancy.

There is nothing particularly complicated about making candied peel, but it does require some time. There are recipes for it everywhere--almost any big general cookbook will have one. The basics of the process involve removing the inner fruit, either by carefully peeling or juicing; poaching the peel in boiling water; scraping out the some or all of the pith according to your taste; slicing the peel into matchsticks; and cooking the matchsticks in syrup. The syrup can be simply Cointreau or Grand Marnier, or sugar and water (and corn syrup). Finally you can toss the peel in granulated sugar and/or dip in chocolate.

If you have any of these cookbooks on hand you will find that they contain a variation of candied orange peel: The New Basics Cookbook (p 672), How to Cook Everything (p 679-80), Mastering the Art of French Cooking (p 587), The Art of Simple Food (p 382-3), The Gourmet Cookbook (p 820).

If you can't be bothered to make it, you can order chocolate covered orange peel from Michael Recchuitti, who is one of the finest chocolatiers around.

http://www.recchiuti.com/119.html?terms=orange%20peel;search_id=01605

(download)

Filed under // candy chocolate orange

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December 22, 2009

Chocolate Truffles

Last year I decided I had had enough of making christmas cookies. Instead I made chocolate truffles. I did make a couple of batches of cookies this year (gingerbread cut-outs & butter cookies), but the truffles just might be a new tradition. Recipes abound. I use the very easy one in Alice Waters' The Art of Simple Food (p. 382), one of my favorite cookbooks. This time I made the truffles with Cointreau. Here's my quick paraphrase of the recipe (for more exact instructions see the original):

Chocolate Truffles

Melt together over a double boiler 8 oz bittersweet chocolate and 10 TBS unsalted butter. Remove the chocolate from the heat and add 6 TBS heavy cream and 1-2 TBS liqueur (optional). Refrigerate the mixture until firm. When it is solid, spoon a tsp or so up and roll between your hands--this is the messy part--then roll the truffles in sifted cocoa and put on a parchment-lined cookie sheet. Put back in the refrigerator to firm up the finished truffles.

For those who don't like to bake, or if you can't face another spritz, try these!