Wednesday, July 14, 2010

Imposter!

Today my husband and I went to home depot to get supplies for our new house. After wards we stopped by whole foods for juice. My husband calls whole foods my home depot. I get really excited, giddy even when I walk up the side walk chalked entry way through those sliding glass doors. I feel like the kids in willy wonka, my eyes get big and I just want to run around and try everything!
While wyatt selected his juice I quickly darted off to one of my favorite sections the "fatty milk" section. I adore local fat filled milk! In fact I thought that I had out grown my childhood milk allergy until I discovered Shatto milk. I drank it everyday, ate it on everything. Unfortunately I had not out grown the allergy and so I have to limit my dairy, and fatty milk is a rare indulgence.
Next is the ice cream isle. The shelves are full of sorbets, gelatos, dairy free goodness, fat and dairy filled delights. All in perfect pint sized containers begging to be taken home. Unfortunately I settled for the dairy free, 150 cal. in the whole pint peanut butter and chocolate. I know sounds to good to be true, it is. The "ice cream" was a total fail! I am so sad what should taste like two of the greatest ingredients on the face of the earth taste like... cardboard.
You see there was a time when this would have been my favorite treat. A time when my goal as a chef was to make everything fat free and/or sugar free. I thought that food could be great without calories, completely guilt free. I was WRONG! I will never forget the day I got into a discussion with one of my instructors in college over splenda. I adored splenda! I put it on and in everything. And who needs butter and oil when you have applesauce? I was so naive. He explained to me that these substitutes are a far cry from true food. Sure they will fill you up, but what about the pleasure that real cream and butter bring? In honor of summer and delightful real food below is my blueberry ice cream and home made waffle cone recipes:

Blueberry Ice cream
Yield: 7c.

Vanilla base:
Whole Milk 16 Fl. oz.
Heavy Cream (36 %) 16 Fl. oz.
Yolks 10 ea.
Sugar 5 oz.
Salt 1/8 tsp.
Vanilla bean 1/2 ea.
Lemon zest 1/4 tsp.

Blueberries 1 # 4 oz.
Sugar 6 oz.

Scrape out the vanilla bean half and mix in a sauce pan with the lemon zest and half the sugar. Followed by the milk and cream. Bring to a simmer until the sugar dissolves, stir often. Remove from the heat and cover with a piece of plastic wrap to create a vacuum. Allow to steep for 1/2 hr.
Meanwhile combine the blueberries and the sugar in a sauce pan and stir until the sugar dissolves and the juices are released. Puree and strain through a fine mesh strainer.
Whisk the remaining sugar, salt and yolks together. Slowly stir the milk mixture into the sugar and return to the heat. Cook stirring constantly over medium heat with a rubber spatula until the custard thickens enough to coat the spoon. Do not let it boil. Pour through the fine mesh strainer into your ice cream maker followed by the blueberry puree and freeze according to machines instructions. For an extra treat fold in a few fresh blueberries right at the end.

Mini Waffle Cone:
Yield: 15 small cones
I used a pizelle maker which can be found at most food specialty stores.

Eggs 2 ea.
Salt 1/4 tsp.
Sugar 2/3 c.
Vegetable 2 Tbs.
Cake flour (sifted) 1 c.
Vanilla 1 tsp.

Preheat the pizelle maker and make sure to spray it well between each use.
Mix the dry ingredients and add remaining ingredients. Mix until a smooth batter forms, add water if the batter is too thick. Follow the manufactures instructions for cooking the cone. Fold while it is still hot into a cone shape. Fill with ice cream and enjoy!

Friday, June 4, 2010

The origin of my blog name:

When I was in culinary school I had a friend who had a rather round belly and the two of us would laugh because he always ended up with frosting, flour, or whatever we were cooking that day smeared across his middle. I on the other hand have an unusually large chest for my otherwise almost boyish figure and found myself wearing remnants of what I had created across my chest. I have lost chef coats and some of my favorite tshirts to chocolate mousse and an assundry of other things I’ve decided to bake. You see I’m clumsy, I believe because I’m top heavy and just tend to run into things with the part of me that sticks out the farthest. Side note after a few too many cookies and croissants towards the end of my schooling I also ran into a whole row of chocolate cakes with my round behind. It was humiliating the school janitor had to find me a new chef coat and I had chocolate frosting on my caboose for the remainder of the day.

Although it’s 2010 and a woman has run for both president and vice president the culinary field is still dominated by men with one exception, pastry. This is a blog of my creations and adventures as I learn how to navigate the culinary world with cleavage. How I handled the men old enough to be my grandfather asking if they can lick the chocolate off my hand, or hearing my co workers talk about my body while I’m finishing up paper work in the office.. Being hit on by just about every guy (or girl) for that matter that comes into the back of the house. Fighting for the respect that any male chef is instantly awarded. This blog is for all of the female chef’s who have been called “baby,” “sweetie,” “sexy,” or “darling” by a delivery man right after you have stated your name and managerial title.

Here we go...

I'm moving out of my apartment in 3 weeks, yeah!!! Into my very first house, super excited! Unfortunately I hate to pack. To deal with some of the stress and in an effort to declutter I decided to bake. Because 1) it soothes my soul (i'm called the cranky chef jr. less and less these days) 2) the kitchen is the most over populated area of my house. I'm not kidding our wedding registry was 90% kitchen materials. Oh and did I mention I love costco and smoked gouda and the other day at costco I bought 3 # of it! Only to get home and realize that if you eat a lunch of smoked gouda you will never want to see or smell anything smoked again. So in an attempt to get rid of the gouda (which I love again) I made a turkey and smoked gouda roulade. To our delight as my mom helped me pack the aroma of baking bread filled the apartment.
The process of baking is so beautiful. I love that you take very plain looking ingredients, mix them together and in no time you have a beautiful and tasty work of art. In the midst of all the ugly brown boxes I now have two beautiful loaves of yummyness to share with my loved ones. Below is the recipe for the roulade:

Bread:

warm water (around 110) 2 c. (let your hot water run for a lil bit just don't use steaming water)
dry yeast 2 1/4 tsp. or 1 standard envelope
sugar 1 Tbs.
salt 2 tsp.
bread flour 5 c.-6c.
masa 1 Tbs. + more for dusting
melted butter 4 Tbs. (unsalted real butter)
roasted garlic mustard* 1 tsp.
turkey breast(thinly sliced) 1 lb.
smoked gouda 5 slices + 2 slices for the garnish
Fresh cracked pepper As needed

Pour the water over sugar and yeast to "bloom" in your mixing bowl.
Add the bread flour starting with 5 c. , masa and knead on medium speed with a dough hook for 3 minutes. The bread should start to come together in the shape of a ball. Add more flour if this is not happening.
Add the salt last and mix for an additional minute.
Remove the dough hook, cover the dough with a damp cloth and allow the dough to rise in a warm place for 45 min. until it is double in size. (I recommend a window sill, the top of your refrigerator, or the stove top if the oven is on. make sure the burners are off).
Once the dough has doubled punch it down and divide it into two loaves. Gently shake, pull and press the dough into a rustic rectangle(think of the guys that toss pizza dough in old movies). You can use a rolling pin for this step if you are careful not to "over flatten" the dough.
On one of the long ends of your dough lay the turkey out overlapping, top with this strips of gouda. Roll the dough up and pinch the seem together and make this the bottom.
Preheat your oven to 425. Allow the roulade to rise for another 45 min. until it has doubled it's size.
Brush with butter and gently top with foil. Bake at 425 for 10 min.
Bring the temp. down to 375 and bake for 20min. or until the bread is golden and sounds hollow when you flick it. Remove the foil and lay strips of the remaining gouda over the top. Set your oven to broil and watch it very carefully because this only takes a minute or two for the cheese to bubble. Remove the roulade form the oven and brush with the remaining butter and garlic mustard and sprinkle with fresh pepper. Enjoy!

*i used stone wall kitchens roasted garlic mustard