oldie, but not quite a goodie

I have fond memories of eating and baking these brown sugar muffins as a child. I'm always happy pulling out one of my mom's old recipe cards, cherishing the familiar handwriting. But unfortunately, taste memory often doesn't translate into reality. These muffins were serviceable, almost good when eaten hot with butter. But they were nothing like the super-moist, super-sugary, crunchy top confections of my youth. Perhaps some old beloved recipes are better left to memory alone.

homesick

Here's some things I'm looking forward to eating if and when I make it back to California:

• carne asada burrito
• carnitas
• fresh masa corn tortillas
• sangria soda pop
• fish tacos (from Fins, if it's still there)
• donuts - twists, cake, raised, glazed, sugared, iced, etc. etc.
• dungeness crab - this means I might have to visit SF too (yea!)
• in & out burger - it's an addiction, what can I say?
• odwalla - I miss you, Mo' Beta
• jamba juice - where are you old friends: Razzmatazz, Peach Pleasure, Mango-a-go-go
• BBQ, particularly pulled pork - I might have to stop in the Carolinas to get this
• sweet corn & fresh peas - two of my favorite summer treats. I don't know why these are gross here, but they are absolutely inedible!
• breakfast out - waffles, pancakes, french toast, biscuits, scrambles, whatever (if only there was a Waffle House in CA)
• milkshake from an old fashioned diner (oh, Peninsula Creamery, I miss you so)
• Gyros - Donners are not the same thing
• Naan bread - I haven't found any decent ones here yet, but I'm still hopeful
• Pho Chin & Bun Cha
  
  

bagels, take three

This time I tried a recipe from The Bread Baker's Apprentice by Peter Reinhart (who also wrote that pizza book). This recipe uses a sponge to develop flavor and lets the shaped bagels proof overnight in the fridge. Not only does improve flavor and texture, but the bagels can be eaten fresh at breakfast, instead dinner. These bagels were a major improvement over the mini-bagels that I tried before. These were so wonderfully chewy, despite my lack of high-gluten flour (I used Halbweissmehl, at a measley 13g protein).

Here are a few things I learned:

• MOST IMPORTANT: Bake the bagels immediately after boiling! The longer they sit, the heavier they are. If you need to bake in two batches, wait to boil the second batch until a couple minutes before you put them in the oven. Also, transfer boiled bagels directly to baking sheet without "draining" on a rack.
• dust parchment with semolina flour before laying down the boiled bagels. This creates a more authentic look and texture.
• do not use parchment paper a second time - it burns to a crisp, smoking up your kitchen and bagels
• water - various recipes tell you to add various things to the boiling water (barley malt syrup, milk, molasses, etc.) but don't say why. This recipe suggests adding baking soda to alkalize the water, which creates more shine and crust caramelization. Baking soda is the best substitute for food-grade lye used by commercial bagel bakers for the same effect.
• shaping - I used the rope method again, but this time rolled the rope around my hand and rocked the overlapped pieces against the counter to seal them, as suggested by the recipe. This made a perfect seal. But I still have some problems - where's the hole?
• heat - this recipe starts bagels at 500F(260C) for 5 mins and drops to 450F(230C) for another 5 mins. Much hotter and much better than the mini-bagels. This gave a lovely golden crust and light, moist, chewy interior. Yea!
• topping - after baking, I brushed the tops with melted butter and then sprinkled on cinnamon sugar (per the recipe). I found this made the crust rather soggy and sticky. Last time, I sprinkled sugar on the wet boiled bagels before baking, which made for a crisper crust. Much better.

I made these bagels for my last day of German class (I hope to start back up a few months after the baby comes). Although most of my fellow students were unfamiliar with bagels, the Cinnamon Sugar Bagels with Honey Cream Cheese were a big hit (I credit the high amount of sugar). My teacher has fond memories of eating bagels in NYC and liked mine so much, she ate one in class and took one home for later - the best compliment for this cook.

Someone else typed up the recipe so I don't have to. Check it out on Blossom to Stem. In this version, the ingredients have been halved from the original.

tamales for Easter

For many years, I lazily haven't made traditional holiday meals. It's hard to get motivated to cook several intricate dishes over several days for only two people. Dinner lasts 15 minutes and we can't possibly consume all the leftovers so most of it ends up in the trash. Still it's depressing when my family, grandparents and all the cousins call from their elaborate holiday dinner with all the fixings to wish us well and I'm eating scrambled eggs or cereal in front of the TV.

This year I decided to make the effort anyway and for Christmas, dutifully made a full turkey dinner, complete with potatoes, rolls, pie, cranberry sauce, sweet potatoes, the works. All in my first trimester when I didn't really want to eat any of it. It was nice but exhausting and ridiculously excessive for our tiny family.

how much stuffing can two people eat?

This Easter, I was a little less ambitious. I made only one special dish, which still made the day felt different while preserving my energy. I made tamales, filled with tomatillo chicken. They were good and just what I was craving. Suprisingly, they were even better the next day. I also made some sweet ones for dessert by adding a lot of sugar and some cinnamon to the masa - so yum. I'll definitely be making these again. I used a recipe from Rick Bayless's Mexican Kitchen. If anyone's interested in the recipe, let me know and I'll post it.

a little package of joy

Tamale and Tomatillo Chicken Filling recipes
from Rick Bayless’s Mexican Kitchen

All “special” ingredients can be purchased in Zurich at El Maiz on Josephstr. This includes the corn husks, masa harina (corn flour), tomatillos (in cooler, look like green tomatoes), jalapeno and serrano chiles. Lard or “schweinfett” is available at Jemoli.

Tomatillo Chicken Filling

This is only one option for filling tamales. If you have about 2 cups of shredded cooked meat or lightly cooked vegetables mixed with a salsa or sauce, you can use it as a filling for tamales. I highly recommend getting a Rick Bayless cookbook so you have more options for fillings.

8 oz (5-6 medium) tomatillos, husked and rinsed
2 serrano chiles (or jalapenos), stem removed
1 ½ tablespoons olive or vegetable oil
½ medium white onion, roughly chopped
1 garlic clove, peeled and roughly chopped
1 cup chicken broth
2 tablespoons cilantro (aka coriander), roughly chopped
Salt, ¼ to ½ teaspoon
1 1/3 cups coarsely shredded cooked chicken (I usually use meat from a roasted chicken or you can poach a chicken breast in water)

Roast the tomatillos and chiles on a baking sheet 4 inches below a very hot broiler until blackened and soft on one side, 5 to 6 minutes. Then turn them over and roast the other side. Transfer (including all juices) to a food processor or blender. Heat 1 tablespoon of the oil in a large, heavy skillet over medium, add the onion and cook, stirring regularly, until deep golden, about 8 minutes. Stir in the garlic, cook 1 minutes, then scrape into the food processor or blender. Process to a medium-coarse puree.

Heat the remaining ½ tablespoon of the oil in the skillet and set over medium heat. Add the puree all at once and stir for about 5 minutes, until noticeably darker and thick. Stir in the broth, partially over and simmer over medium-low for 10 minutes. Add chicken and simmer for a few minutes. Stir in cilantro and generously season with salt.

Tamales

½ of an 8oz package dried corn husks
4 to 5.5 oz (100-150 grams) chilled lard (or vegetable shortening)
1 tsp baking powder
1 ¾ cups masa harina (for tamales) mixed with 1 cup plus 2 TB hot water, then allowed to cool
About 1 cup of chicken broth
Salt

The corn husks. Bring the corn husks to a boil in water to cover in a large saucepan, then weight with a plate to keep them submerged and let stand about an hour. Boil more than you think you need, some will be too small, some fall apart and you need some to line the tamale steaming pot.

The batter. With an electric mixer, beat the chilled lard with the baking powder until light in texture, about 1 minute. Continue beating as you add the reconstituted masa harina in three additions. While beating, slowly pour ½ cup of broth. Continue beating another minute until a ½ tsp dollop of the batter floats in a cup of cold water – ensures tender and light tamales.

Beat in enough additional broth to give the mixture the consistency of soft (not runny) cake batter; it should softly hold its shape in a spoon. Season with salt, about 1 tsp, depending on the saltiness of the broth.
For lightest texture, refrigerate the batter for an hour or so, then re-beat, adding enough additional broth to bring the mixture to the same consistency it had before. (Note: I refrigerated my overnight then re-beat when I was ready to assemble the tamales. This worked well)

Forming and steaming the tamales. Pick out 16 nice corn husks for forming the tamales, then use 2/3 of the remainder to line a steamer (a tall pot with a vegetable steamer basket opened at the bottom –the pot should be tall enough to allow the tamales to stand up). Fill the bottom of the steamer with 1-2 inches of water. Tear 16 long, ¼ inch-wide strips of corn husks for tying the tamales.

One by one, form the tamales: Open the corn husk, dry it slightly, then spread about ¼ cup of the batter into a 4-inch square, leaving at least 1 1/2 –inch border on the pointy end of the husk and a ¾-inch border along the other sides. Spoon a good 2 tablespoons of the filling down the center of the batter. Pick up the two long sides of the husk and bring them together, causing the batter to roll around the filling, enclosing it. Roll the flaps of the husk in the same direction around the tamal. If the husk is too small, start over with a bigger one. Fold up the empty, pointy end section to close off the bottom, then secure it by loosely tying one of the strips of husk around the tamal and the folded flap. Stand the tamal on its folded end in the steamer.

Continue until all tamales are formed and standing in the steamer. Fill any gaps in the steamer with leftover corn husks. Lay any unused husks over the tamales. Cover the pot. Bring to a boil and steam over medium heat for 1 to 1 ¼ hours. Make sure that the water stays at a steady boil and never runs out, or your pan will burn and the tamales will not be as light.

Tamales are done when the husk peels away easily. Let them firm up a few minutes in the steamer, off the heat, before serving.

Advanced preparation. Steamed tamales hold beautifully, covered and refrigerated for several days; reheat them in the steamer (or microwave if you’re lazy like me). The filling can be made a couple days beforehand and the masa can be whipped with the lard up the day before, then re-beat before forming.

any excuse to make biscuits

One of the first baking fears I conquered was cutting butter into flour for pastry crusts and biscuits. Pastry crusts and biscuits are my absolute favorite because it's so quick. In under 10 minutes, I can get homemade biscuits in the oven and just a few minutes later I have hot "bread" to go with my meal. I've heard frequently from excellent home cooks that they wouldn't dare making pie crust - too scary, too hard. Perhaps it's the stern warnings in many cookbooks and cooking shows, implying that only the most attentive and experienced bakers can produce an edible crust. But it's quite simple if you follow two basic rules: cold butter and don't over mix (stop when you have small, unevenly sized lumps).

The other key is a good biscuit cutter. You must have a thin sharp edge on your cutter to quickly cut through the dough without mashing the butter layers. This enables the biscuit to rise tall. If you use a glass or can, the mashed edges hold the biscuit down, resulting in sad squatness. If you are making square or triangle biscuits, you can use a knife, but sharpen first and cut decisively. A few years ago I impulsively bought these graduated circle cutters, to make homemade donuts and since then I've been amazed at how often I find uses for them. I also like that I can choose from a variety of sizes to suit the dish I'm serving.

So late Sunday night when I was scouring the fridge for a treat and discover strawberries and cream, how could I resist whipping up some strawberry shortcake?

Strawberry Shortcake from The Best Recipe

Start the recipe by preparing the fruit, then set the fruit aside while preparing the biscuits to allow the juices to become syrupy. Serves 6

Fruit
8 cups fresh strawberries, hulled (note: if you don't have this much on hand, you can get away with about 4 cups, but remember to reduce the sugar accordingly)
6 tablespoons sugar (2 1/2 ounces)

Shortcake
2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour (10 ounces), plus more for work surface and biscuit cutter
5 tablespoons sugar (about 2 1/4 ounces)
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon table salt
8 tablespoons unsalted butter , chilled, cut into 1/2-inch cubes
1 large egg , lightly beaten
1/2 cup half-and-half plus 1 tablespoon, (can substitute milk)
1 large egg white , lightly beaten

Whipped Cream
1 cup heavy cream , chilled, preferably pasteurized or pasteurized organic
1 tablespoon granulated sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1. FOR THE FRUIT: Place 3 cups of hulled berries in large bowl and crush with potato masher. Slice remaining 5 cups berries and stir into crushed berries along with sugar. Set fruit aside to macerate for at least 30 minutes and up to 2 hours.

2. FOR THE SHORTCAKE: Adjust oven rack to lower-middle position and heat oven to 425 degrees. In workbowl of food processor fitted with metal blade, pulse flour, 3 tablespoons sugar, baking powder, and salt to combine. Scatter butter pieces over and process until mixture resembles coarse meal, about fifteen 1-second pulses. Transfer to medium bowl.

3. Mix beaten egg with half-and-half in measuring cup. Pour egg mixture into bowl with flour mixture. Combine with rubber spatula until large clumps form. Turn mixture onto work surface and lightly knead until it comes together.

4. Use your fingertips to pat dough into 9 by 6-inch rectangles about 3/4 inch thick, being careful not to overwork dough. Flour 2 3/4-inch biscuit cutter and cut out 6 dough rounds. Place rounds 1 inch apart on small baking sheet, brush tops with egg white, and sprinkle with remaining 2 tablespoons sugar. (Biscuits can be covered and refrigerated for up to 2 hours before baking.)

5. Bake until shortcakes are golden brown, 12 to 14 minutes. Place baking sheet on wire rack and cool cakes until warm, about 10 minutes.

6. FOR THE WHIPPED CREAM: As soon as shortcakes go into oven, place nonreactive, deep bowl and beaters of electric mixer in freezer for 20 minutes. (If freezer is too crowded to accomodate bowl, place beaters in bowl, fill with ice water, and chill on counter. When bowl and beaters are well chilled, dump out ice water and dry thoroughly.)

7. While biscuits are cooling, remove bowl from freezer and add cream, sugar, and vanilla. Beat on low speed until small bubbles form, about 30 seconds. Increase speed to medium and continue beating until beaters leave a trail, about 30 seconds. Increase speed to high and continue beating until cream is smooth, thick, and nearly doubled in volume, about 20 seconds for soft peaks.

8. TO ASSEMBLE: When shortcakes have cooled slightly, look for natural crack around the circumference. Gently insert your fingers into the crack and split the shortcake in half.9. Place each cake bottom on individual serving plate. Spoon portion of fruit and then dollop of whipped cream over each cake bottom. Cap with cake top and serve immediately.

macaron vs. luxemburgerli

Back in SF, my friend Rachel introduced me to Parisian-style macarons at La Boulangerie, something quite different from the coconut macaroons that I was already in love with. In short, two fragile domes made of whipped egg whites, sugar and almond flour sandwich a sweet filing. It's a quick burst of flavor with an at-once delicate, chewy, and creamy texture. To make them even more fun, they have to be consumed in 24 hours or they deflate and lose their magic.

vanilla Parisian macaron

Once in Zurich, I discovered Luxemburgerlis at Sprüngli, which I have up until now mistaken as Parisian macarons based on my experience at La Boulangerie. Then I went to Paris and found something entirely different. It's all the same idea. But while all Luxemburgerlis have a cream filling, Parisian macarons have all sorts of sweet stuff inside: caramel, jelly, ganache, etc. Plus the luxemburgerli domes are perfectly smooth, round and tall, while macarons are lumpy and squat as shown above. This may sound negative, but it actually makes for a quite pleasurable mouthfeel. Based on my limited experience, I think Parisian macarons are also a bit more expensive. I paid about 2 euros per macaron, while luxemburgerlis are only about .40 euros. Of course, they are also much smaller, but then you can sample more flavors for less money.

Luxemburgerlis from Sprüngli

Lastly, this picture demonstrates why you shouldn't carry around macarons in your backpack, smash city. Thank you Sprüngli for always packing theirs in a box, never a bag.

smashed macarons are still yummy

If you'd like to try making them yourself, I recommend Kuidaore, one of my favorite food blogs, which has several lovely and educational postings on the subject.

sugary highs, creamy middles, & crunchy lows

Paris was so inspiring that I've returned completely overwhelmed and somewhat depressed. Perhaps it's better to not know what I'm missing. We ate high and we ate low. We ate good and we ate bad. I wish I could have eaten more, but there's only so much you can do when you are first experiencing a new city, particularly with a 3yr old in tow. Here's some of the things that went in my tummy during this trip:

- Restaurant d'Hélène was top notch: beautiful, inspired and delish. It didn't surpass the French Laundry, forever burned into my food brain, but it certainly reminded me why I love fine dining. Per usual, my favorite dish was the appetiser, a raw oyster in gelee with caviar and cream poured over the top (I took a pic of the menu to get accurate descriptions, but it didn't come out). Despite my general apathy for the "cart" strategy (of which this restaurant made extensive use), I loved the excellent cheese cart, which included a lush array of preserves to accompany the cheese (I chose cherry, fig and quince).

oyster "martini"

- Much farther down the price scale, but still excellent, was Au Trou Gascon, where contrary to form, I ordered well. The foie gras was perfect but my favorite was the cassoulet, which included melt-in-my-mouth pork belly. So yum.

the foie gras, of course

- Of course, we ate many, many crepes, a merciful option for anyone traveling with a 3yr old - quick, yummy & everywhere. However, we quickly learned not all crepes are equal - you must be sure that the crepes are made to order, not re-warmed (I was suprised how many places do this). We had our first crepes at the popular Creperie des Arts in the Latin Quarter - super yum. But another place recommend in a guide book which will soon be burned, served barely edible, rubbery, re-warmed nastiness. I immediately walked down the block to another place and downed a fresh nutella crepe to cleanse my palate. For me, nutella crepes in Paris are like gelato in Italy: I must have at least one every day.

what a big crepe you make

- We had a traditional lunch at old tyme bistro, Le Polidor, which was hearty and pleasant. I had a delectable braised leg of lamb, where the tasty meat was so tender it was falling off the bone. My husband had escargot as a starter, which were good while hot, but not as good as the Burgandy style according to an elderly patron sitting next to us. My fav part of this place was the bread cutter, a large blade set up like a paper cutter so the server inserted the bread and repeatedly pulled the blade down on the hinge to cut off bread slices.

escargot - yes, I ate one and it was good

- Chocolate & Zucchini wrote so highly of tartines that I trucked my exhausted family to the other side of town (with two Metro changes and a 15 minute walk) to try a tartine at Boulangerestaurant, recommended by C&Z. Unfortunately, they were not serving tartines (perhaps 2pm is too late for lunch?) and the sandwiches we ordered were somewhere between ordinary and not very good. The bread and pastries, however, were fantastic. On our last day in Paris, I stumbled on a promising looking tartine place that a few minutes after we were seated, developed a line outside assuring me that I made a good decision this time. These tartines were good and fun to watch being made by the workhorse behind the counter. This was another favorite food of our son, something to remember for next time.

my tartine with fromage blanc

- My favorite part of every day was breakfast. My husband would go out every morning to one of the many local bakeries and bring back a baguette, croissants, pain chocolat, etc. La Grande Epicerie was only two blocks away, supplying us with fancy jam and fresh butter. It was glorious. Croissants and baguettes really are different in France. I ate enough croissants to induce a heart attack, but I tried to counter by walking several miles a day.

breakfast of champions

Not every meal was great, but I ate well enough to make me start planning my next trip on my way home from this one. I can't wait!