Due to a major lapse in judgement I have had no kitchen since Sunday when I packed up my cabinets into boxes. I can not for the life of me explain why I did this now and not in January, although the plan was for them to begin the Monday after Thanksgiving and therefore all of this would have been done by Wednesday. Be that as it may, I now find myself with major anxiety about the chaos and not being able to do my seasonal experimentation.
This month is usually a time of joyful activity for me in and about the kitchen. Tuesday, I made my version of Tyler Florence’s Banana Nut Muffins – flying around the kitchen (avec broom) and trying to get out of the way before the installers arrived at 8am. This turned out to be a not-so-rewarding experience as I can not find anything at all right now. And, just in case you have never done this before, I do not recommend washing dishes in the bathtub.
In order to compensate for this scoundrel-based situation, I have been cooking vicariously these last few days by combing through old English magazines and watching a lot of good food shows on tv (Create Channel). I have found the following recipes to be particularly inspiring and they are now on my current “to do” list – the first two are from my December 2009 issue of Waitrose Food Illustrated and the third is from the show, Cuisine Culture on Create TV – the latter being an extreme indulgence into the future – aka, probably like June 2013. But, I am not deterred as there are lots of other fruit options which can be incorporated into this recipe right now! See below.
photo and recipe courtesy of Waitrose Food Illustrated
SPICED LENTIL AND BUTTERNUT SQUASH SOUP – serves 8 (note: conversions done from metric)
3 1/2 lbs. butternut squash
1.6 lbs. ripe tomatoes, halved
6 garlic cloves, peeled
1 small carrot, diced
4 tblsp extra virgin olive oil
1/4 – 1/2 tsp dried chili flakes
2 tsp ground cumin
2 tsp ground coriander
2 tsp paprika
50.7 oz vegetable stock
1 cup dried red lentils
1 cup thick greek yogurt
1-2 tsp crushed sumac* (can substitute lemon juice or zest)
Preheat oven to 350F. Place the peeled, deseeded and cubed squash, tomatoes, garlic and carrot in a large sheet pan; drizzle with olive oil, sprinkle with the spices, and season with salt and pepper. Cover with foil; bake for 1 1/2 hours or until vegetables are soft and slightly caramelized. Transfer to a food processor and pulse, in batches, with a little of the stock, until combined into a smooth mixture that still has some texture. Transfer soup to a large stock pot, add the remaining stock and bring to a boil. Add the lentils and reduce heat to low; simmer for 20 minutes or until lentils are tender, stirring often and adding a little extra stock or water if it becomes too thick Season to taste with sea salt and freshly ground black pepper. Ladle into bowls and serve topped with a dollop of yogurt and a sprinkle of sumac. Serve with crusty bread.
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photo and recipe courtesy of Waitrose Food Illustrated
TRILLIONAIRE’S TART – (please weigh ingredients in grams) Note: my efforts to convert were not satisfactory as every source I consulted gave me a different conversion – a gram of ap flour isn’t the same as a gram of sugar as a gram of cocoa, etc. – having a kitchen scale is always a good idea and a good Christmas present for anyone who doesn’t have one!)
335g unsalted butter
100g sugar
100 g all purpose flour
25 g cocoa powder, sifted
140g ground almonds
175g light brown sugar
450g sweetened condensed milk
4 tblsp golden syrup
150g dark chocolate
1/2 tsp sea salt
200g milk chocolate
Line a 20cm x 30 cm (or 8×10″) baking dish with parchment and preheat oven to 350F. Cream 160g butter and the sugar together; sift in the flour and cocoa and add the ground almonds; mix well. Press into the lined baking dish and bake for 20 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into center comes out clean; set aside.
For the caramel, put 175g butter, the brown sugar, condensed milk, golden syrup, 50g dark chocolate and salt in a heavy-bottomed saucepan; heat gently, stirring until the sugar dissolves completely. Bring to a boil and simmer briskly for about 8 minutes, until thickened. Pour over the shortbread crust; smooth evenly. Cool completely, about one hour.
For the topping, melt 100g dark chocolate and the milk chocolate separately, over a bain marie or in the microwave. Pour the milk chocolate over the caramel layer, then drizzle the dark over and swirl together with a skewer. When cool, cut into squares and serve. Can be kept in an airtight container for up to 3 days.
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And, for those of you desperate as me for something to yearn for – from an episode shown last night on the Create Channel – Cuisine Culture – Jeff and Chris Galvin’s Bistro de Luxe:
Photo and Recipe courtesy of Cuisine Culture
CARAMELIZED PEACHES WITH LAVENDER ICE CREAM AND LAVENDER HONEY CARAMEL
4 very ripe Provencal peaches (note to self: personally procure these next year)
icing “confectioner’s) sugar to caramelize
Lavender Honey
675ml whole milk
675 ml heavy cream
200g sugar
10 free range egg yolks
12 sprigs fresh lavender
Bring cream and milk to a boil in a saucepan; remove from heat and add lavender buds. Allow to infuse for 10 minutes. Whisk egg yolks and sugar together until pale in color. Slowly pour the boiled cream/milk mixture into the egg/sugar mixture, whisking continuously. Pass the mixture through a fine sieve and churn in an ice cream maker.
Remove skin from the peaches by charring the skins with a kitchen torch and refresh (shock) in an ice bath. (You can merely peel these or do this in the broiler or over a gas flame as you would with roasting peppers.) Cut the peaches into 8 wedges and arrange on a baking sheet. Sprinkle with the confectioner’s sugar and caramelize with a kitchen torch (or in the broiler) for a few seconds; turn and caramelize the other side. This cannot be done more than a few minutes before serving or the peaches will weep and become mushy.
Arrange a few of the peaches in a martini glass neatly, place a scoop of the ice cream in the middle and drizzle with the Lavender Honey Caramel:
Make a simple caramel and blend with a small amount of Lavender Honey; blend.
Note for Winter months’ application – the peaches can easily be substituted with pears, apples, ruby grapefruit, blood oranges, pineapple, or whatever – while peaches and lavender are a perfect match, I really can’t think of anything that wouldn’t taste good with lavender ice cream and a caramel sauce! Look for dried culinary lavender in your specialty stores, like Dean and Deluca, Williams Sonoma, or Kalustyan’s in NYC. They even sell it on Amazon! As my dear Mom used to say, “where there’s a will, there’s a way!” Love you, Mom up there in heaven in your kitchen!!!
I just love the British recipes: first they just assume you have all of these amazing ingredients (like Provencal peaches) at your fingertips like they do and their word choices (like Christmas Sugarplum Syllububby Mess – coming soon) are so much more interesting than ours. Honestly, if you don’t make a habit of searching out British food magazines and books, take a look – they are a refreshing change of pace and they have wonderful ideas, ingredients and photos.
Have a lovely day!!!!!! I am off to the stone yard for about the 10th time to approve the layout of my new countertops – yikes!!!