August 27, 2008
From Recipes
Posted by Lucy Baker, August 27, 2008 at 1:15 PM
Classic, buttery brioche is delicious enough on it own. This version adds chocolate—twice—elevating it to sumptuous new heights. Cocoa powder is incorporated into the dough, and chocolate chips are folded into the brioche as it is shaped.
To make individual chocolate brioches, François Payard, author of this week's Cook the Book selection Chocolate Epiphany, offers these instructions: divide the dough into fifteen two-ounce rounds. Shape into balls, and press a one-inch chunk of bittersweet chocolate (60% or 72%) into the center of each round. Place them on a baking sheet, allow them to rise. Brush with egg white and sprinkle with sugar. Bake as you would the loaves, checking to see if they are done after 20 minutes.
Win 'Chocolate Epiphany'
In addition to excerpting a recipe from Chocolate Epiphany each day this week, we're also giving away five (5) copies of the book. Enter to win here.
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From Recipes
Posted by Lucy Baker, August 27, 2008 at 12:00 PM
The following recipe is from the August 27th edition of our weekly recipe newsletter. To receive this newsletter in your inbox, sign up here!
Revered pastry chef and author François Payard notes that, "while not specifically low in fat," you can make this recipe for coffee & chocolate panna cotta with skim milk for a healthier alternative. The apricot preserves serve as a surprisingly delicious garnish.
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From Recipes
Posted by Lucy Baker, August 27, 2008 at 11:30 AM
Brussels sprouts are the new bacon.
Wait. Hear me out. Even if you don't agree that mini cabbages will ever hold a candle to cured pork, you must admit that Brussels sprouts, like bacon before them, are the latest chic ingredient. Many restaurants are now serving them up tapas style, garnished with fresh thyme or sautéed lardoons.
So okay. Maybe Brussels sprouts aren't the new bacon, but they're certainly bacon's new best friend.
Inspired by the trend, I decided to make the salad with pancetta crisps, roasted Brussels sprouts, and pear from the September issue of Everyday Food. Tossed with crisp greens and salty slivers of ricotta salata, it looked like the perfect main dish salad: Autumn on a plate.
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From Recipes
Posted by Blake Royer, August 26, 2008 at 4:00 PM
Using a wok when preparing this recipe will make all the difference, especially if it's the real carbon steel kind that can take any heat. Mine was smoking like crazy. A big non-stick skillet will work fine, but it's harder to get the beautiful golden crust on the shrimp without overcooking them. Absurdly high heat allows flavor to develop while the rest of the ingredients can stay crisp and crunchy. The quick cooking—along with hardly any prep work—makes this an under-ten-minutes dinner.
The recipe comes from Jamie Oliver's Jamie's Kitchen, one of my favorites of his books. The flavors create a well-balanced combination of sour (lime), salty (soy sauce), and hot (chili), and the salad is quite light. Look for baby zucchini at farmers' markets, or substitute with the smallest zucchini you can find.
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From Serious Eats
Posted by Jamie Forrest, August 26, 2008 at 2:30 PM
With only a few more weeks left of summer foods, it's time to start preserving the bounty of the season before the cold dark months to come. One of the simplest and most delicious things you can do is marinate a good sheep or goat's milk feta in olive oil and fresh herbs, an ingenious combination that can last throughout the winter and beyond.
Taking inspiration from David Lebovitz, here's a simple guide to marinating feta:
Fill a Ball jar, or similar glass jar, with two-inch cubes of feta. Add some fresh herbs of your choosing: oregano, thyme, rosemary, bay leaves, mint, red chili flakes, and/or fresh pepper. You can really use your imagination here.
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From Recipes
Posted by Lucy Baker, August 26, 2008 at 1:30 PM
Almost everyone is a chocolate lover. But recently, more and more people are making the leap to chocolate connoisseur. This new breed of aficionado is interested in more than milk vs. semisweet, Scharffen Berger vs. Callebaut. They want to know the math—specifically, the ratio of cacoa to other ingredients in their beloved bars.
To that end, François Payard, author of this week's Cook the Book selection, Chocolate Epiphany, specifies certain percentages of chocolate with each recipe, instead of calling for "unsweetened" or "bittersweet."
Here is a simple guide:
38-40% = milk
50% = semisweet
60% = bittersweet
72% = extra bittersweet
99-100% = unsweetened
Today's recipe for Charlie's Chocolate Pudding Cake calls for 50 percent, or bittersweet, chocolate, which François notes is best for ganaches and fillings. Indeed, this dessert is about as rich as they come. Since it is baked in a water bath, it retains a molten, pudding-like center. Then in the final stages, it is coated in a rich, fudgy glaze that imparts an impressive shine.
Win 'Chocolate Epiphany'
In addition to excerpting a recipe from Chocolate Epiphany each day this week, we're also giving away five (5) copies of the book. Enter to win here.
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From Recipes
Posted by Nick Kindelsperger, August 25, 2008 at 4:00 PM
Chalk this up as another dish I'd never heard of before. I just had some corn, a few tomatoes, and a bell pepper from the market and needed a way to use them. Then I found Macque choux (sometimes spelled maque choux) in the Lee Bros. Southern Cookbook and was seduced by the history. According to the Lee Brothers, this dish could have been here way before the Europeans settled in Southern Louisiana. A riff on succotash, it's sweet and simple—probably why it's such a staple in the area.
Plus it tastes real good. The tomato disintegrates into a surprisingly luscious sauce. That's one reason why the tomato skins don't need peeling. This is how the Lee brothers suggest getting the deal done, though I usually just take a peeler and gently peel it off. It requires a little more finesse, but it works well for me. Like ratatouille, it's another one of those perfect seasonal dishes.
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From Recipes
Posted by Lucy Baker, August 25, 2008 at 1:15 PM
Biscotti are one of my favorite kinds of cookie to bake. First, the results are a bit more impressive-looking than drop varieties. Second, they last forever (well, up to two weeks) when wrapped tightly. Third, and most importantly, it’s perfectly acceptable to eat them for breakfast.
While today's Cook the Book recipe for chocolate-nut biscotti sounds simple, in fact it is anything but ordinary. Chocolate Epiphany author François Payard adds orange zest, aniseed, pistachios, and hazelnuts to create a truly unique cookie. Enjoy them with strong espresso, tea, or dessert wine such as Vin Santo.
Win 'Chocolate Epiphany'
In addition to excerpting a recipe from Chocolate Epiphany each day this week, we're also giving away five (5) copies of the book. Enter to win here.
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From Serious Eats
Posted by Lucy Baker, August 25, 2008 at 1:00 PM
From classic cakes, tarts, and cookies, to newfangled churros, marshmallows, and pain perdu, the recipes in this week's Cook the Book selection all have one key ingredient in common: chocolate, and lots of it.
In Chocolate Epiphany, fêted French pastry chef François Payard (owner of New York's acclaimed Payard Pâtisserie & Bistro and author of two previous cookbooks, Bite Size and Simply Sensational Desserts) turns his attention exclusively to chocolate, in all its luscious incantations.
The 100 recipes range in difficulty from simple-yet-impressive chocolate crème brûlées and chocolate-honey madeleines (perfect for beginner home cooks) to show-stopping chocolate gâteau de crêpes with green tea cream and chocolate pavlovas with chocolate mascarpone mousse (a sumptuous challenge for ambitious bakers). According to François, his purpose in writing this book was to "give you options to explore chocolate at whatever level you with to make irresistible desserts for loved ones."
In addition to chapters devoted to Breads and Brunch; Cookies and Petit Fours; Candies and Chocolates; Custards, Mousses, Meringues and Ice Cream; Tarts; Cakes; and Plated Desserts, François includes special sections devoted to "The Many Shapes of Chocolate" (such as bars, chips, and nibs), and tips on how to store chocolate, prevent seizing when melting, and properly temper it for a perfect, glossy finish.
Win 'Chocolate Epiphany'
We’ll be excerpting a recipe from Chocolate Epiphany each day this week. In addition, you can enter to win one of five (5) copies of this delectable dessert compendium. Simply tell us in the comments section below: if you could eat chocolate only once more in your lifetime, what would you have?
Five (5) people will be chosen at random from among eligible comments below. Comments will close Monday, September 1 at noon ET. The standard Serious Eats contest rules apply.
From Recipes
Posted by Robin Bellinger, August 25, 2008 at 11:30 AM
When the dining hall became unbearable in college, I would treat myself to a fresh tomato, mozzarella, and basil sandwich at my favorite bakery. This combination fueled my most desperate studying, even in the dead of winter. At the time, I hadn’t heard of “seasonal” or “local," so I didn’t notice if the tomatoes were imperfect or the basil didn’t taste quite right with snow on the ground.
Since then, I've voluntarily submitted to a much stricter set of guidelines about what to eat and when, which means that I’m on something of a tomato bender right now. Recently, I decided to recreate my old favorite sandwich. If you’re squeamish about squishy bread, then don’t make this in the morning and eat it at lunchtime but for me, dressing-soaked bread is a plus.
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