Let Them Eat Cupcakes

Cambridge’s Bastille Day celebration proved to have better food than the typical street festival. At this event - hot dogs, cotton candy and fried dough were replaced with Crème Brûlée, Macaroons, Paninis and pastries - served up by local french bistros and cafés. Although Holyoke Street would have by no means passed for the Champs-Élysées, its lively music and great food visibly made many local Parisans proud.
Sweet – Improper Bostonian’s 2009 winner of the Boston’s Best Cupcakes sold creamy Madagascar Vanilla Bean and Dark Chocolate cupcakes topped with butter cream frosting and decorated on-theme with red, white and blue sprinkles. Chez Henri took street food to the next level, with their version of vanilla bean Crème Brûlée - with sugar crusts being burnt to order. The dessert was the perfect combination of rich and creamy, with a thin and crunchy crust.

French or not - Bastille Day (July 14) is the perfect excuse to make your own Crème Brûlée. I am posting a copy of my favorite recipe to make at home. This recipe replaces the typical vanilla bean with fresh ginger, and is paired with a warm fruit compote. Bon appetit!!

Alfred Portale’s Ginger Crème Brûlée with Warm Plum and Raspberry Compote

2 cups heavy cream
1/4 cup chopped fresh ginger
6 large egg yolks
1/2 cup sugar
4 6-ounce ramekins

Position a rack in the center of the over and preheat to 325 F. Place the ramekins in a large baking pan. In a medium saucepan, bring the cream and ginger to a simmer over medium heat. Reduce the heat to very low and simmer gently for 30 minutes.

In a medium bowl, whisk the egg yolks and sugar. Gradually whisk in the cream. Strain through a wire sieve into a bowl, and discard the ginger. Place the baking dish with the ramekins in the oven, and carefully ladle or pour the mixture into the ramekins. Using a teaspoon, skim off any foam on the surface of the custards.

Pour enough hot water into the baking pan to come ½ inch up the side of the ramekins. Bake until the custard sets firm (the centers will be slightly loose), 40 to 50 minutes. Remove from the water bath and cool completely. Cover each Ramekin with plastic wrap and refrigerate until ready to serve.

Warm Plum and Raspberry Compote

2 tablespoons butter
3 ripe dark-skinned black plums, pitted and cut into sixths
2-3 tablespoons sugar, depending on the sweetness of the plums
¼ cup fresh orange juice
½ pint fresh raspberries

In a medium saucepan, heat the butter over medium-low heat. Add the plums and sugar. Cook, stirring occasionally, until the plums begin to release their juices, 3-4 minutes. Add the orange juice and bring to a boil over high heat. Cook until the orange juice is slightly thickened, about 2 minutes. Remove from heat and fold in the raspberries.

To serve:

2 tablespoons brown sugar

Position a broiler rack about 6 inches from the source of heat and preheat the broiler. Rub the brown sugar through a wire sieve to cover each custard with a dusting of sugar. Put the ramekins on a baking sheet and broil, watching carefully to avoid scorching, until the brown sugar has caramelized, 1-2 minutes. On a large plate, place a Crème Brûlée and a small dish of the compote.

Cinco de Mayo-MY!!

If only Tuesday night dinners always came out THIS GOOD! I think it helped that I had great inspiration - Cinco de Mayo and a golden ripe champagne mango. With this, I made chicken fajitas with onions, peppers and a spicy mango salsa.

Charlestown Culinary’s Chipotle Mango Salsa

1 champagne mango, diced
½ red pepper, diced
½ cucumber, diced
½ red onion, diced
1 chipolte pepper, diced
2 tablespoons fresh lime juice
Pinch salt

Combine ingredients in a bowl. Let sit at least 30 minutes before serving.

Charlestown Culinary’s Chicken Fajitas

3 tablespoons olive oil
1 pound chicken tenders, cut into strips
1 green pepper, sliced thickly
½ onion, sliced thickly
1 tablespoon grill seasoning
Half cup water

Heat olive oil over medium-high heat. Add chicken, peppers and onion, stir until well coated. Add remaining ingredients and turn heat down to medium. Stirring occasionally, cook about 10 minutes until chicken is cooked through and vegetables are tender.

To assemble the fajitas, I warmed a tortilla in a hot skillet. To the tortilla, I added a generous spoonful of chicken, peppers and onions. I then topped this with a spoonful of the mango salsa and a dollop of sour cream. Mr. Charlestown Culinary (my most interesting man!) and I enjoyed this meal with a cold Dos Equis. ¡Buen provecho!

Rascally Rabbit

Unfortunately, the Easter Bunny did not visit Mr. Charlestown Culinary and I on Sunday morning. SO-- we tried to lure him to our home with a dinner menu that we thought no bunny could resist:

• Golden Beet Salad
• Carrot Risotto
• Lemon Roasted Chicken with Mushrooms
• Hazelnut Lemon Meringue Tart

All dishes were made from scratch with my own recipes. But-none-the-less, that chocolate-carrying bunny was a no-show. If he only knew what he missed... Charlestown Culinary’s Golden Beet Salad

8 small golden beets, remove and reserve greens
1 orange
¼ shallot, finely chopped
1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
1 tablespoon lemon juice
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 tablespoon fresh chives
Salt, to taste
Pepper, to taste

Rinse and dry beets. In bunches of 4, wrap beets in foil. Roast in 425°F oven for 45 minutes. Meanwhile, peel and segment 1 orange, squeezing excess juice into a bowl. To the orange juice add the shallots, mustard, lemon juice, olive oil, chives, salt and pepper. Removed roasted beets from oven, cool, peel and quarter. Toss beets with orange segments and vinaigrette. Plate on beet leaves. Charlestown Culinary’s Carrot Risotto

3 cups carrots, peeled and diced
4 tablespoons olive oil
¾ shallot, finely chopped
½ onion, diced
1 ¼ cup arborio rice
1 cup white wine
6 cups chicken stock
Salt, to taste
Pepper, to taste
1 tablespoon chives, chopped

In a 10 inch sauté pan add chopped carrots and 1 tablespoon of olive oil over medium-high heat. Add water until carrots are just covered. Cook until all water is reduced and carrots start to caramelize, remove from heat. In a blender, puree 1 cup of carrots with ½ cup hot water. Set remaining carrots aside. In the meantime, bring chicken stock to a boil, then reduce to a low simmer.

In the same pan used for the carrots, heat the remaining olive oil and sauté shallots and onions until soft. Add rice and stir until translucent. Add wine and stir until evaporated. Add carrot puree and 1 cup of stock. Stir until evaporated. Repeat process, stirring a cup of stock at a time. Towards the end of cooking, add the caramelized carrots, salt and pepper. Garnish with the chives.
Charlestown Culinary’s Lemon Roasted Chicken with Mushrooms

4 chicken drumsticks
Juice of 1 lemon
1 cup vermouth
8 ounces baby bella mushrooms, halved
1 cup chicken stock
1 tablespoon corn starch
Salt, to taste
Pepper, to taste
1 tablespoon chives, chopped

Combine first 3 ingredients and marinade for at least 4 hours. Combine chicken and marinade with mushrooms, and bake at 350°F for about 40 minutes. Remove the pan from the oven and carefully pour the lemon, mushroom sauce into a pan over medium heat. Turn oven up to 450°F and continue baking chicken until skin is crispy. Meanwhile, add chicken stock and corn starch to sauce and whisk until smooth and thickened. Season with salt and pepper. To serve, pour sauce over chicken. Garnish with the chives.
Charlestown Culinary’s Hazelnut Lemon Meringue Tart

½ cup hazelnuts, toasted, peeled and finely ground
¾ cup whole wheat flour
2 tablespoons dark brown sugar
¼ cup extra virgin olive oil
1 pinch salt
2 tablespoons cold water
1 cup sugar
¼ cup corn starch
¾ cup fresh squeezed lemon juice
½ cup cold water
4 eggs, separated
½ teaspoon cream of tartar
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 tablespoons sugar

For the crust, combine the ground hazelnuts, flour, brown sugar, olive oil, salt and water. Press into a deep 8 inch tart plan. Bake tart crust in a 425°F oven until golden, about 15 minutes. Remove crust and cool.

For the lemon filling, over medium heat, combine sugar, corn starch, lemon juice and water. Whisk in yolks, 1 at a time. Continue whisking until lemon mixture comes to boil. Pour thickened lemon mixture into the cooled tart crust.

For meringue topping, beat egg white with cream of tartar and vanilla until soft peaks form. Slowly add sugar and continue beating until shiny, stiff peaks form. Cover lemon mixture with meringue topping. Bake tart crust in a 325°F until golden brown, about 20 minutes.

The Luck of the Irish Soda Bread

If you followed Charlestown Culinary back in January, you may remember my post We All Make Mistakes. In this post, I recounted my disastrous attempt at making oatmeal bread. I am not sure if it was because my second homemade bread attempt was yeast-free, or if it was because it was Irish Soda Bread. Whatever the reason, this bread came out wonderful and was completely gone only hours after baking. Traditional soda bread is plain, however I chose to use a recipe that called for the addition of raisins and a little bit of sugar. Hints: The recipe I used, from epicurious.com, called for white flour, but I chose to substitute whole wheat flour. The other change I made that I would recommend, was to use a pastry blender to incorporate the butter in the dough. Using this little tool made mixing the cold butter with the flour mixture very easy.

Bon Appétit's Recipe for Irish Soda Bread with Raisins:

Nonstick vegetable oil spray
2 cups all purpose flour
5 tablespoons sugar, divided
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
3 tablespoons butter, chilled, cut into cubes
1 cup buttermilk
2/3 cup raisins

Preheat oven to 375°F. Spray 8-inch-diameter cake pan with nonstick spray. Whisk flour, 4 tablespoons sugar, baking powder, salt, and baking soda in large bowl to blend. Add butter. Using fingertips, rub in until coarse meal forms. Make well in center of flour mixture. Add buttermilk. Gradually stir dry ingredients into milk to blend. Mix in raisins. Using floured hands, shape dough into ball. Transfer to prepared pan and flatten slightly (dough will not come to edges of pan). Sprinkle dough with remaining 1 tablespoon sugar.
Bake bread until brown and tester inserted into center comes out clean, about 40 minutes. Cool bread in pan 10 minutes. Transfer to rack. Serve warm or at room temperature with butter.

We Ate Like it Was 1999

Happy New Year!

My husband and I brought in 2009 with a bottle of champagne, a couple of movies and a fabulous multi-course meal.

We started with an appetizer of shrimp cocktail, followed by a salad of roasted pears, grapes, dried cranberries, sugared walnuts, gruyere cheese and a cranberry vinaigrette. For an entree, we had Beef Wellington, broccolini with pine nuts and baked potatoes. After the ball dropped we finished the meal with chocolate molten lava cake with fresh raspberries.

Having never made Beef Wellington before, my initial instinct was to find a recipe online. What I ended up doing though, was using a recipe by Gordon Ramsay to understand how to assemble the beef, but made up my own recipe for the duxelle (aka the layer in between the beef and the puff pastry).

Emily's Recipe for Beef Wellington Duxelle:

4 ounces butter

1 package cubed pancetta (Italian bacon)

1 shallot, minced

1 package baby bella mushrooms - diced finely

10 fresh thyme sprigs, with leaves stripped from twigs

1/2 cup Marsala wine

1/4 cup Maker's Mark Whiskey

Salt

Freshly ground black pepper

Over a medium heat, melt the butter and add the pancetta, stirring until crisp. Add the minced shallot and cook until soft. Add the mushrooms and thyme and stir for about 5 minutes. Add the marsala and whiskey and stir until liquid is absorbed by mushroom mixture. Add salt and pepper to taste. Spoon the mixture into a bowl and refrigerate until cool.

The below slide show shows our meal and the process for making the Beef Wellington (HINT: Scrolling your mouse over the slideshow will bring up the controls to pause or change the speed):

Christmas Present

This year, my husband and I spent Christmas with his family up in Vermont. We were joined by my two younger brothers. As you can imagine, there was lots of laughs, wine and food. Our Christmas Eve dinner featured foods from my husbands heritage: Italian Wedding soup made by my husband's mother and Lamejun (Armenian pizza), bought from Eastern Lamejun Bakers in Belmont, MA.
Photo from Eastern Lamejun's website.

Christmas day spotlighted a Brisket with Portobello Mushrooms and Dried Cranberries (recipe) made by husband's mother.Accompanying the brisket was roasted yams and mashed potatoes. In addition, I made an antipasto and an eggplant caponata.
The antipasto featured home-made roasted peppers, marinated artichoke hearts, mushrooms, herbed olives, pepperdews, cornichons, provolone and buffalo mozzarella.
The caponata was based on a recipe I developed for last Christmas' dinner.

Emily's recipe for eggplant caponata:

2 medium eggplants, diced in 1 inch cubes
Sea salt, to taste
Freshly ground pepper, to taste
1/3 cup extra virgin olive oil
1 large onion, small dice
5 cloves garlic, minced
1 cup celery
1 carton pomi chopped tomatoes
4 tablespoons capers, drained
1 tablespoon sugar
1/3 cup red wine vinegar
1 teaspoon dried chili flakes

Preheat oven to 400°F. In a gallon-sized ziplock bag, combined diced eggplant with half of olive oil, sea salt and pepper. Shake bag until eggplant is evenly coated. Spread eggplant in one layer on a cookie sheet covered with parchment paper. Bake eggplant for 30 minutes or until tender, flipping halfway through.

Meanwhile, in the remaining olive oil, saute the onions, garlic and celery over medium heat until vegetables are translucent (~5 minutes). Add pomi tomatoes and grilled eggplant. Continue to cook for 10 minutes. Add capers, sugar, vinegar and chili flakes. Cook for an additional 15 minutes, stirring frequently. Season to taste with sea salt and pepper. For best flavor, refrigerate overnight before serving with crusty bread.

ZINGIBER

QUESTION: What is the common name for 'ZINGIBER', a spice often used in holiday baking?

Fortunately, the night before I made a batch of 'Zingiber' cookies for Christmas and was quite familiar with the spice. Even more fortunate for my husband's team trivia team, I had also joined them for their weekly game of bar trivia in Somerville. The answer was 'Ginger'.

Emily's recipe for Zingerbar Spice cookies, loosely based on a recipe from epicurious.com.

2 cups of flour
3 1/2 teaspoons ground ginger
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground cloves
3/4 teaspoon sea salt
1 cup chopped crystallized ginger
1 cup dark brown sugar
3/4 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
1 large egg
1/4 cup dark molasses
1 cup turbino sugar

Whisk flour, ground ginger, baking soda, cinnamon, cloves and sea salt in a bowl, until well blended. Add in crystallized ginger. In a separate bowl, with a mixer, beat brown sugar and butter in large bowl until fluffy. Add egg and molasses and beat until blended. Add flour mixture and mix just until blended. Cover and refrigerate 1 hour.

Preheat oven to 350°F. Cover 2 baking sheets with parchment paper. Pour turbino sugar into a small bowl. Using wet hands, form dough into 1 1/4-inch balls; roll in sugar to coat completely. Place balls on prepared sheets, spacing 2 inches apart.

Bake cookies until cracked on top but still soft to touch, about 12 minutes. Carefully transfer to racks and cool.

Honeymoon Macaroons

On our honeymoon in Hawaii, we ate macadamia nuts almost everyday. In pancakes, crusted on fish, covering desserts... when we left, with us came a few bags of the wonderfully delicious nuts. While looking for holiday cooking inspiration I came across a recipe on epicurious for 'Island Macaroons' - coconut and macadamia nut macaroons topped with chocolate. MMMM... I drizzled the chocolate on top instead of dipping, but otherwise the recipe is wonderful.

From epiurious.com:

3 cups sweetened flaked coconut
1 cup unsalted macadamia nuts, chopped
2/3 cup sweetened condensed milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 egg whites
Pinch of salt
6 ounces bittersweet chocolate, chopped, melted

Preheat oven to 350°F. Place coconut and macadamia nuts on large cookie sheet. Bake until lightly toasted, stirring frequently, about 12 minutes. Cool. Maintain oven temperature.
Line 2 large cookie sheets with parchment paper. Grease parchment. Combine condensed milk and vanilla in large bowl. Mix in coconut and macadamia nuts thoroughly. Using electric mixer, beat egg whites and salt until stiff but not dry. Fold whites into coconut mixture. Drop batter by rounded tablespoons onto prepared cookie sheets. Bake until macaroons just turn golden brown around edges, about 14 minutes. Cool completely on cookie sheets.

Line another cookie sheet with waxed paper. Dip cookie bottoms into melted chocolate. Place cookies, chocolate side down, on prepared cookie sheet. Refrigerate until chocolate is set, about 15 minutes. (Can be prepared 4 days ahead. Store cookies in airtight container in refrigerate.)

Eat, DRINK and be Merry

At our holiday party last weekend we served up a festive drink that was both easy and popular with guests.

Emily's Raspberry Bellini Recipe:

Champagne (I supported local and bought Westport River's Sparkling Brut)

Raspberry Lambic

Frozen Raspberries

Fill a champagne glass 2/3 full with champagne. Fill the remaining 1/3 with Raspberry Lambic. Finish with a spoonful of frozen raspberries.

P.S. I learned the hard way that putting the raspberries in first is VERY MESSY.

'Nicholas Cage' Pistachio-Cranberry Biscotti

Yesterday I spent almost 2 hours shelling and pealing the skin off of a bag of pistachios -to get just under a cup of nuts. I think it was doing it in front of the Nicholas Cage movie my husband was watching that made it even more painful -- but the results were delicious!

I admit, I usually lose a couple slices in between the first and second bake. The ends and anything that crumbled during slicing is devoured. MMMM... hot cookies.

Emily's recipe for Chocolate Dipped Cranberry - Pistachio Biscotti:

2 1/4 cups all purpose flour

1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder

3/4 stick salted butter + 1 tablespoon

3/4 cup sugar

2 large eggs

2 tablespoons grated orange peel

1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract

1 teaspoon anise extract

3/4 cup shelled whole pistachios + 1/8 cup finely chopped
4 ounces semi-sweet chocolate

Preheat oven to 325°F. Sift first 3 ingredients into medium bowl. Using electric mixer, beat butter and sugar in large bowl to blend well. Beat in eggs 1 at a time. Mix in orange zest, vanilla, and anise. Beat in flour mixture just until blended. Stir in cranberries and whole pistachios. Divide dough in half. Roll each half into log. Carefully transfer logs to 1 prepared baking sheet, spacing 3 inches apart. Bake logs until almost firm to touch but still pale, about 25-30 minutes. Cool logs on baking sheet at least 15 minutes. Maintain oven temperature.

Carefully transfer logs to cutting board. Using a chefs knife and gentle sawing motion, cut logs crosswise into generous 1/2-inch-thick slices. Stand slices on baking sheets, bake until firm and pale golden, about 15 minutes. Transfer cookies to racks and cool.

Line another baking sheet with parchment paper. Put chocolate and tablespoon of butter in micorwaving for 30 second intervals, stirring in between each. Microwave until fully melted. (Be careful to no overcook!) Dip 1 end of each cookie into melted chocolate. Place cookies on prepared sheet. Sprinkle with chopped pistachios. Chill until chocolate is firm.

Christmas Past

This year we will be going to Vermont to celebrate Christmas with my husband's family. Rumors are of an Italian-themed Christmas Eve and a Beef Wellington centerred Christmas.

Here is a look back at some of the goodies from last year's two days of eating:

Antipasto featuring roasted garlic, olives, marinated artichoke hearts, mushrooms, roasted peppers and prosciutto. Served with crusty bread and cheese (buffalo mozzerella and provolone) from the Fresh Cheese Shop in Boston's North End.
Toasted, sliced french baguette spread with garlic aoli, arugula, braised beef, braise reduction and caramelized onion. The braising liquid included: beef broth, chipotle peppers, pale ale, molasses, bourbon,... MMM...
Sicilian-style Eggplant Caponata
Sage-Butternut Squash Risotto. For a deeper squash flavor I roasted the squash in the oven with olive oil, salt, pepper and sage. I also reserved half the squash and mixed it into the risotto towards the end of cooking. This gave the risotto a mix of creamy squash infused rice with chunks of roasted squash. I finished the dish with fresh ground nutmeg.
Vanilla-Bean Bread Pudding with Golden Raisins. I used Challah bread...the egginess of the bread creates a dense and rich dessert. Also, for plump raisins, I soaked the raisins in Grand Marnier for 15 minutes prior to adding them to the bread pudding mix.Orange-Pistachio Florentines. I remembered cooking these vividly - I was out of almonds, and used pistachios on a whim. I knew I was either going to love them or hate them. Fortunately, they were LOVED...especially by my sister who couldn't eat gluten.

Italian Macaroons with Pignoli Nuts. Light, crisp and delicious!

Stella Doro Cream Puffs... Growing up my great aunt used to make these every Christmas. My siblings and I thought she was a cooking genius. Now I know that the shells were store-bought ANGINETTI cookies and the filling has kool-whip, cream cheese and crushed pineapple... but they are still genius, and in her honor I make them every Christmas.