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Posts from the ‘Desserts’ Category

Dec 18

58 Comments

Pandoro Bread Pudding

Pandoro Bread Pudding

Pandoro Bread Pudding

I posted this a while back but thought that it’s worth posting again as this is a dessert I make every year at Christmas. I buy the Pandoro at Eataly, it’s the best in my opinion. I am sort of obsessed with custards lately, and thats what you use to make bread pudding.

Pandoro is a sweet Italian Yeast Bread it’s traditionally served around the holidays and every year I buy one that I make bread pudding from. It’s similar in texture to a brioche but a little sweeter, so if you cannot find Pandoro using brioche will also work.  This bread pudding is not heavy, its very light and you can almost characterize it as fluffy. I added a little orange and chocolate because they go so well together and the end result is a creamy bread pudding with melted chocolate and just a hint of orange. This is best served warm so the chocolate is soft. Garnish with some whipped cream if you like, but I found this needs nothing its delicious on its own.

What is your traditional holiday dessert? Is there something you serve every year without fail?

Makes 8 individual small ramekins or one 9×13 rectangular baking dish

Approximately 1/2 of a Pandoro cut into large cubes (about 16 oz)

6 eggs

1/4 cup sugar (If you use brioche increase the sugar to 1/3 cup)

2 cups half and half

1 cup heavy cream

1 tsp vanilla extract

soft butter for the ramekins

8 tsp orange marmalade

4 oz dark chocolate chopped

Boiling water for the bain marie

Cut bread or Pandoro into cubes, break eggs into large mixing bowl, add the sugar and whisk until combined. Add the half and half, heavy cream and vanilla and whisk well, you don’t want the sugar to pool at the bottom of the bowl. Add the bread cubes and let sit while you prepare the ramekins.

Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees, put your kettle on to boil the water. Butter each ramekin then place a tsp of orange marmalade in each and spread on bottom and half way up the sides. Chop the chocolate and add to the soaking bread and stir. Spoon it into each ramekin. Place ramekins in large roasting pan and pour the boiling water carefully so that it comes a little less than half way up the ramekins. Carefully place in oven and bake for 35-40 minutes until the custard is set. Remove from oven let cool about 15 minutes and enjoy. Alternatively, you can use a medium size rectangular baking pan if you do not want to use ramekins.

Delicious!

Delicious!

Nov 27

67 Comments

Thanksgiving Pies And The Wine

I bake pies, lots of pies for Thanksgiving. Not just for me but for some friends as well. For my family it’s just a pumpkin and pecan. I am also making sweet potato, pumpkin and apple for friends. It wouldn’t be Thanksgiving without pie, it’s a staple and everyone loves it.

A very Happy Thanksgiving to everyone that celebrates the holiday and to all that don’t I hope you have a wonderful day also. The holiday season officially starts after Thanksgiving and it’s a very short time until Christmas. Have a wonderful day with friends and family and enjoy a fantastic meal, there is so much to be thankful for and on this day we want to remember just how lucky we are to have each other, delicious food on our table and the warm home that we live in,

Sweet Potato Pie

Sweet Potato Pie

I use Joy the Bakers recipe for the sweet potato pie. If you have never had one you should try it, it’s delicious. I actually prefer to pumpkin pie. Joy’s recipe is fantastic.  I made a couple of very minor changes to Joys recipe, I bake the sweet potatoes until they are very soft and caramelized, then I process in the food processor until they are silky smooth. She uses two 5 oz cans of evaporated milk, I use 5 oz of half and half and 5 oz of heavy cream. I also omit the coriander.  It’s very similar to Meta Givens Pumpkin pie rccipe which is what I use for my pumpkin pie. NOTE: The baking time for the sweet potato pie was different than that in the recipe. Joy has you bake at 450 for 10 minutes then reduce the heat to 325 and bake for 1 hour. well my pie was completely baked in 45 minutes and my oven temperature was accurate. Every stove varies so this doesn’t mean it will not take an hour for your pie but mine did not.

Pecan Pie

Pecan Pie

I also make Pecan Pie, I posted the recipe last year so click on the link to see the recipe. It’s tooth achingly sweet but that is the way pecan pie is and it’s absolutely delicious.

Here is my favorite recipe and at least for me it’s no fail pie dough or pastry whichever you would like to call it. It’s from the master, Julia Child and is simple and foolproof. She uses butter and shortening, all purpose and cake flour. I like to use leaf lard instead of the shortening. I gave instructions if you want to use a food processor, for me it’s by hand only for a flaky pie crust. I like to use the food processor for tart dough (pate sucre’)

Julia's Kitchen Wisdom

Julia’s Kitchen Wisdom

Juilia Childs Pastry Dough

Makes enough dough for a double crust 9 inch pie

1 1/2 cups all purpose flour

1/2 cup cake flour

1 tsp salt

6 oz cold unsalted butter cut into tbs size pieces

4 tbs shortening or leaf lard cold

1/2 cup ice cold water

You can make this either by hand or in the food processor. To make by hand, put flours, salt, butter, lard or shortening into mixing bowl, use pastry cutter to combine until it resembles pea size crumbs. Add water mix with fork, gather with your hands, divide dough into a 2 discs and cover with plastic wrap. Refrigerate for 1 hour.

In Food Processor, add the flours, salt, butter and shortening or lard into the bowl of the processor. Pulse a few times until the mixture resembles pea size crumbs. Add the water and pulse a few times until it becomes a cohesive dough.  Divide dough into two discs and wrap in plastic and refrigerate for 1 hour.

Apple Pie

Apple Pie

For the Thanksgiving meal I feel like picking a wine is like a crap shoot. There is such a variety of dishes how do you pick something that compliments the meal? I know with poultry or fowl you usually pair white wine but I like red with my meal. I purchased a variety of wines but the star of the show for the meal will be 2010 Christian Bernard Fleurie Select Block Gamay – Beaujolais I got a magnum. I feel that it will not compete with the meal but compliment. Hope I’m right. I can’t take credit for picking out the wine, my friend and owner of Gnarly Vines in Brooklyn is the expert and he guides my choices. Excuse the messy table I quickly shot a pic of the wine before it went into the wine cooler. What wine are you serving with your Thanksgiving feast?

Thanksgiving wine

Thanksgiving wine

Nov 7

107 Comments

Whipped Chocolate Caramel Ganache – Hooray, I’m A Food52 Finalist!!

Whipped Chocolate Caramel Ganache

Whipped Chocolate Caramel Ganache

I actually discovered that if you whisk or whip ganache it turns into a fluffy spreadable concoction. I like using this because it’s not too sweet, easy to spread and decorate with. The chocolate caramel gives this ganache a buttery deeply delicious flavor. This icing is light, much lighter than a standard American buttercream, closer to the consistency of a swiss meringue buttercream but without the eggs. I like to use both dark and milk chocolate but you can can use all dark or even all milk. If you use all dark it will be less sweet.

I had this recipe for over a week as a draft, but entered it in a Food52 contest for best frostings. Well, I just found out today that I am a finalist, I am so thrilled and happy that my recipe was chosen. So now I will shamelessly plug my recipe and ask you all if you don’t mind to vote for me, here is the link to food52 to vote  If you are not a member of food52 (you should be) it’s simple and totally painless to join and you will love the site, you will not be barraged with emails and the like. If you do vote for me I thank you so much!! I used Divine Fair Trade Chocolate in this recipe, the bittersweet for the caramel, dark and milk for the ganache.

Makes enough frosting to fill and frost a 9-inch cakeChocolate Caramel Sauce:

  • 1 cup sugar
  • 6 tablespoons salted butter cut into tablepoon-size pieces
  • 1/2 cup heavy cream
  • 2 ounces dark chocolate (I used bittersweet)
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  1. Put the heavy cream in a glass measuring cup and microwave on high for 45 seconds, add chocolate and microwave another 30 seconds Stir until its smooth, add the vanilla extract and stir to combine, set aside so that it will cool before adding to the caramel.
  2. In large saucepan add the sugar, turn heat to med/high and let sit until it starts to liquefy. Start stirring with a heat proof spatula. The sugar will crystalize but that’s alright — keep stirring until its all liquid. Stop stirring and let it cook until it turns amber in color, then add the butter and stir to combine.
  3. Remove from heat and add the chocolate cream. Stir until its incorporated. Store in a container at room temperature until ready to use. Note: If you make this ahead of time, simply place the bottle or jar in hot water to warm the caramel so it’s pourable.

Ganache :

  • 4 ounces dark chocolate broken into small pieces
  • 4 ounces milk chocolate broken into small pieces
  • 1 cup plus 2 tablespoons heavy cream
  • 1 tablespoon liquor (I like cointreau or kahlua) or vanilla extract
  • 1/2 cup chocolate caramel sauce
  1. Heat cream to scalding (not boiling). Pour over the pieces of chocolate that are in a mixing bowl. Let sit 5 minutes then stir until there are no pieces of chocolate and it’s smooth and shiny, then add the chocolate caramel sauce and stir to combine.
  2. Place bowl in an ice bath and stir or whisk until it’s cool but not cold — it will stiffen fairly quickly if it gets too cold. Remove from the ice bath and beat with a mixer or whisk until the ganache is fluffy and spreadable. Frost the cake immediately. Best served at room temperature.
Photo by James Ransom for Food52

Photo by James Ransom for Food52

Oct 25

62 Comments

Awesome Salsa, Empanadas And A Giveaway!

One of the things I love most about blogging  is meeting and get to know other bloggers, I love visiting their sites, it’s a source of inspiration for me. One of the blogs I love and follow is Pretty Bitches Can Cook Too, the very pretty Tamara contacted me asking if I would like to do a guest post, and of course I jumped at the opportunity. Not only does Tamara have wonderful recipes on her site, she also is quite an entrepreneur and has a clothing line and makes and bottles her own salsa and hot sauce and is a philanthorpist. She sent me a jar of her Medium Serrano Salsa to try and I told her I would love to create a recipe using her salsa, she also generously offered to provide a lucky reader with a jar, if you love salsa you will LOVE this stuff!!

Salsa

Salsa

Now, I am not an expert on food from South America or Mexico or even the Southwest US but Tamara’s salsa inspired me to make empanadas. Well, they are sort of empanadas they are not half moon shape but round like little hand pies,  it’s my interpretation I guess you could say, I have never made them before and decided they are after all a turnover of a sort, so I used the recipe for galette dough. The tender flaky pastry goes so nicely with the spicy filling. The filling is so simple, ground beef, onion, garlic, black beans and salsa, this is topped off with some Manchego cheese.  It’s a great combination and would make a great appetizer or snack, first thought was how great would these be while watching a football game!

Empanadas

Empanadas

The salsa is so good I can think of so many uses for it besides dipping chips or nacho’s. It would make a great base for chili or any dish with a south of the border or southwestern flavor profile. The medium serrano salsa has the just right amount of heat for a wimp like me, you know it’s there but it’s not uncomfortably hot. It’s fresh, and zingy and contains only good stuff, no preservatives or additives. It’s the real deal!

The empanada’s were wonderful served with some avocado (or guacamole), sour cream and some more salsa for dipping.

Spicy and flaky

Spicy and flaky

See above for link to galette dough.

Makes 1 dozen small pies

Filling:

1 lb ground beef, 90% drained after cooking

1 small onion diced

1 clove garlic minced

1 cup black beans (I used canned)which I drained

1 1/2 cups Medium Serrano Salsa (Pretty Bitches Can Cook Too)

1 cup Manchego cheese grated (or grate as you need it, thats what I do) You can also use Monterey Jack or whatever kind of cheese you like

salt and pepper to taste

egg wash

Coat a fry pan with a little olive oil and saute the onions, when they are soft and translucent add the garlic and continue sauteing until completely cooked. Add the ground beef and brown, now add the salsa and black beans. Cook on medium/high for approximately 30 minutes, it will be nice and thick. Set aside to cool to room temperature.

Pre heat oven to 400 degree’s. Roll out your dough to about 1/4 inch thick. Using 3 or 4 inch biscuit cutter cut out rounds, place a spoonful of the meat mixture in the middle top with a generous sprinkle of grated cheese, wet around the edge of the dough and place another round on top, press down and crimp edges with fork. Pierce the top with a fork, Place on parchment lined baking sheet, brush with egg wash and freeze for 15 minutes before baking.

Place directly from freezer to oven and bake for 25-35 minutes or until a beautiful golden brown.

Now for the giveaway:

To be entered in the contest you should:

– Leave comment here

– Follow Tamara on her blog “Pretty Bitches Can Cook Too“

– Like on Facebook

– Follow@prettycooks on Twitter

– Tweet about the giveaway to @prettycooks and @bklynpuggal

Winner will be announced on Oct. 31, 2013 and will be selected by Random.org. Good luck everyone. This salsa is amazing, you will love it!! Be sure to let me know that you were able to complete all the requirements. If you do not have a twitter or facebook account it’s ok, just let me know and you can just leave a comment here. Open to US residents only, sorry my dear friends abroad.

Oct 11

89 Comments

“Divine” Chocolate Gingerbread, Roasted Pears And Chocolate Caramel Sauce

Chocolate Gingerbread and chocolate caramel sauce...Divine!

Chocolate Gingerbread and chocolate caramel sauce…Divine!

I love Divine Chocolate, it’s fantastic, the quality, the flavor and the company itself. Divine is Fair Trade Chocolate, the farmers are the owners, it’s a cooperative that is a huge success, with happy workers that all share the company profits. Whats not to love, honestly, a great product produced by a company that is a model for fair and ethical work standards.

I partnered with Divine to create some baked goods for “No Kid Hungry” bake sale and fell in love with their chocolate. The good people from Divine have asked me to partner with them again to create a recipe using their incredible chocolate, how can I say no!! There were several themes  suggested and I got to choose which I wanted to represent and my choice was local produce, supporting local farmers and farmers market. It should also to represent the season “Autumn” and what better fruit than the lovely and delicious pear (ok except for maybe apples).

The gingerbread is a recipe from a friend from Food52, Antonia James, I adapted the recipe slightly adding a little more chocolate than she called for, it’s moist and delicious and warm, the spicing makes me think of Autumn, my farmers market find that I incorporate with this are pears, oven roasted, gently spiced, sweet and buttery and when paired with the gingerbread it’s heavenly. Served warm and topped with some vanilla ice cream and homemade chocolate caramel sauce, this dessert is rich and totally delicious. The gingerbread itself is not very sweet, Antoniajames tops with a hard sauce, I chose a chocolate caramel sauce, this makes for the perfect amount of sweetness.

Spiced Roasted Pears

2 pears (I used bosc) peeled cored and cut in half

1/4  cup brown sugar

3 tbs butter

1/4 tsp cinnamon

1/4 tsp nutmeg

Optional splash of Poire William

Heat oven to 350 degree’s place pear halves cut side down in baking dish, mix the brown sugar, cinnamon and nutmeg together and sprinkle over the pears, dot with the butter. Roast in the oven for 20 minutes or until pears are just tender. Cover baking dish and set aside  I also added a splash of Poire William to the pears thats purely optional.

Chocolate Gingerbread 

  • ½ cup unsalted butter (1 stick, or four ounces)
  • 2 ounces Divine Bittersweet chocolate
  • 1/3 cup regular molasses (not light, not blackstrap)
  • ½ cup dark brown sugar NOTE: recipe didn’t say packed, I did pack the sugar
  • 2/3 cup all purpose flour
  • 1 ½ – 2 teaspoons ground ginger, to taste
  • ½ teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
  • Pinch of cloves
  • ½ teaspoon baking powder
  • ½ teaspoon salt
  • ½ teaspoon cinnamon (optional . . . I don’t use it)
  • 2 eggs
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla
  1. Pre heat oven to 350 degree’s and generously butter an 8×8 baking dish. Melt the butter and chocolate together over low heat (or do what I do, which is to put them in a Pyrex one-cup measure and microwave at about 40% for 2 -3 minutes).
  2. Put the melted chocolate and butter into a medium bowl with the molasses and brown sugar. Stir well to combine.
  3. Combine the dry ingredients.
  4. Gently beat the eggs and stir into the wet ingredients, with the vanilla.
  5. Add the dry ingredients and stir just to combine. Do not overbeat.
  6. Pour the batter into the prepared baking dish and bake in the middle of the oven for about 30 minutes. Allow to cool in the pan. NOTE: I omitted the cloves and included the cinnamon.
Chocolate Caramel Sauce

Chocolate Caramel Sauce

Chocolate Caramel Sauce:

1 cup granulated sugar

6 tbs salted butter (yes salted) cut into tbs size pieces

2 oz Divine bittersweet chocolate chopped

1/2 cup heavy cream

1 tsp vanilla extract

Put the heavy cream in a glass measuring cup and microwave on high for 45 seconds, add chocolate and microwave another 30 seconds Stir until its smooth, set aside so that it will cool before adding to the caramel.

In large saucepan add the sugar, turn heat to med/high and let sit until it starts to liquify. Start stirring with a heat proof spatula, the sugar will crystalize but thats alright keep stirring until its all liquid. Stop stirring and let it cook until it turns amber in color, now add the butter, stir to combine. Remove from heat and add the chocolate cream. Stir until its incorporated in the caramel. Store in container at room temperature until ready to use. Note: If you make this ahead of time, simply place the bottle or jar in hot water to warm the caramel so it’s pourable.

Disclosure: The very nice people from Divine Chocolate provided all the chocolate used in this recipe

Oct 3

72 Comments

A “Divine” Chocolate Giveaway And A DIVINE Triple Chocolate Cake

Divine Chocolate

Divine Chocolate

I planned on two posts this was going to be the second, the first is a recipe I am developing using Divine Chocolate, well this will be first because I have had some setbacks and the recipe didn’t turn out so it’s back to the drawing board. Stay tuned for another totally DIVINE recipe. The chocolate is fantastic and so is the company, owned and operated by the farmers it is truly a cooperative venture that is a recipe for success.  A Fair Trade product of outstanding quality you don’t get better than that.

Who doesn’t love chocolate, well I am sure there are a few that don’t and then there are those poor souls that are allergic. But for the rest of us and speaking for myself there is hardly a day that goes by that I don’t at least have a bite of chocolate. Since I discovered just how wonderful Divine Chocolate is, it’s always in my pantry and is now my go to chocolate for baking and eating,  I have partnered with the very lovely people at Divine for a fantastic giveaway, I know you will love this chocolate as much as I do and you will really love this Bakers collection.  Open to US residents only I am so sorry my friends abroad!! Just leave a comment here and I will use random.org to pick 3 lucky winners on October 14, see below for directions on how to enter. Good luck everyone!!

Divine Chocolate Giveaway 3 lucky winners!!
Divine Chocolate, the premium chocolate brand and Fair Trade social enterprise co-owned by cocoa farmers in Ghana, is giving away ***THREE*** Divine Bakers’ Collection Gift Sets so you can Make Something Divine. Each gift collection contains two 70% Bittersweet Chocolate Baking Bars, one 38% Milk Chocolate Baking Bar and a 4.5 tin of unsweetened Cocoa Powder.

To enter the giveaway, all you need to do is:

  • Follow @bklynpuggal on Twitter and Tweet:
    • I’d love to win a Divine Chocolate Gift Set #DivineInNYC
  • Like Divine Chocolate USA on Facebook (www.facebook.com/divinechocolateUSA) and leave the comment:
    • I’d love to win a Divine Chocolate Gift Set. Sent by apuginthekitchen #DivineInNYC
  • Follow @DivineChocUSA on Twitter and Tweet:
    • I’d love to win a Divine Chocolate Gift Set. Sent by bklynpuggal#DivineInNYC

Good Luck! Winners will be selected at random and notified by [Oct. 14, 2013]. Divine Chocolate is responsible for delivery of the Gift Sets. This giveaway is open to US residents only.

Triple Chocolate cake

Triple Chocolate cake

I couldn’t resist, since I am working  with all of this fabulous Divine Chocolate I had to resurrect my favorite chocolate cake. For this cake you are using 3 types of chocolate , Divine unsweetened cocoa powder in the cake, Divine white chocolate in the Mousse and Divine Milk Chocolate for the ganache, Irresistible!!

White Chocolate Mousse
  • 2 tsp powdered gelatin
  • 6 ounces Divine white chocolate chopped
  • 1 1/4 cup heavy cream
Dissolve gelatin in 2 tbs of cold water. Set aside for 5 minutes. Place chocolate in food processor and pulse until finely chopped.
Prepare an ice bath. Place 1/2 cup heavy cream in small saucepan, bring to a boil. Remove from heat and add the gelatin and stir to dissolve. Pour into food processor with chocolate while the motor is running, process until smooth.
Place in ice bath until mixture is thick and falls from a spoon in ribbons.
Whip remaining heavy cream and gently fold into cooled chocolate mixture. Place in airtight container and refrigerate until ready to use.
  • 1 3/4 cup all purpose flour
  • 3/4 cups Divine unsweetened cocoa
  • 2 cups sugar
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 1 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
  • 1 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1/2 cup vegetable oil (If you want to substitute melted butter for the oil its fine)
  • 1 cup whole milk at room temperature
  • 2 large eggs at room temperature and lightly beaten
  • 2 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 1 cup boiling water
  • 2 teaspoons instant espresso coffee (Optional but recommended)
  • soft butter and flour to prep baking pans or you can use cooking spray
Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees. Prepare two 9″ round baking pans, butter the bottom add a parchment round then butter bottom and sides and flour the pan or you can use cocoa powder instead of flour.
In large mixing bowl add your dry ingredients, flour, cocoa, sugar, salt, baking soda and baking powder and whisk to combine. Now add the wet ingredients milk, oil,eggs and vanilla do not add the boiling water yet. With hand held mixer beat for 2 minutes. Now add the boiling water with optional espresso powder, beat just until combined. Pour into your prepared pans (the batter is quite thin) and bake for 30-35 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean.
Let cakes sit in pans for 10 minutes then invert onto cake rack to cool.
Milk Chocolate Ganache
  • 8 oz Divine milk chocolate
  • 1 cup heavy cream
Chop chocolate into very small pieces and place in medium size mixing bowl, bring cream to a boil and pour over chocolate. Let sit for 3 minutes, stir until smooth and shiny. Cover and refrigerate until it’s spreadable (approximately 1 1/2-2 hours)
Assembling:
Place one cake layer on serving plate, spoon the mousse on and spread, you may not need to use all of the mousse it will be very thick I used about half, place other layer on top, pour and  spread the ganache on the cake. Refrigerate if not serving immediately. Let sit at room temperature for 30 minutes before serving if it was refrigerated.

Aug 30

59 Comments

August Bakin Friends

I just started participating in a  great and very fun endeavor called Bakin Friends. A group of cooks are given an ingredient and are paired with another cook who participates, we make something that uses the ingredient and send it to each other, kind of a Food Pen Pal of sorts. I was paired with Jeanette from Houston, Texas  and the ingredient was pretzels. I sent Jeannette some cookies, everything I wanted to send sounded great until I thought about how hot it is in Texas and the thought of chocolate melting while waiting to be delivered didn’t sound appealing. So I decided to do cookies and also went out on a limb and did some white chocolate covered pretzels. I used my chocolate chip cookie recipe and went a little wacky, adding crushed pretzels and chopped snickers, I also threw in some nice dark chocolate. I think they turned out pretty nicely and I got a lovely note from Jeanette saying that she really liked them.

pretzel,snickers Cookies

pretzel,snickers Cookies

White Chocolate Pretzels

White Chocolate Pretzels

Packaged and ready for their trip to Texas

Packaged and ready for their trip to Texas

Now that is what I sent, here is what I received from Alex, totally delicious blondies that had pretzels and peanut M&M’s in them. They were moist and delicious and I loved them. Thank you so much Alex for baking those fantastic blondies, along with the super cute Kitty card and hand written recipe. I really enjoyed them as did a few of my close friends.

Blondies

Blondies

If you are interested in participating in Bakin Friends click on the link above that will take you to  Stephanie’s site for more information. It’s fun and a great way to meet other bloggers and taste their delicious baked goods.  You can send an email to stephanie; stephsbitebybite@gmail.com with Bakin Friends in the subject line and let her know you would like to participate.  On the 6th of every month you will be paired with another cook/baker and you will find out what the secret ingredient is. Your packages should be mailed by the 16th of the month. It’s a lot of fun to participate!

Bakin Friends

Bakin Friends

Aug 24

88 Comments

Roasted Figs With Whipped Goat Cheese And Mascarpone

Lovely figs before roasting

Lovely figs before roasting

The other day I started my daily routine, feeding and medicating and walking the pugs, get my cup of coffee and sit down at the computer to see what I missed after sleeping all night. I saw a post from The Solitary Cook, one of my favorite blogs and just have to say that she is someone I greatly admire and look to for inspiration. The title of the post was DAVID LEBOVITZ’S ROASTED FIGS,  I was immediately drawn to this recipe. First, I LOVE figs, fresh figs not dried. How could I go wrong with a recipe from the very talented Mr. Lebovitz and Cynthia (The Solitary Cook). I knew this would be wonderful.

Now this was a revelation for me, really it was. I always poached my figs, at least the figs that I didn’t eat fresh. It never dawned on me to roast them. (one of those aha moments). Imagine roasting fresh figs with rosemary or thyme, honey and wine. I was immediately drawn in, inspired and I had to make this right away.

I changed the recipe ever so slightly, instead of red wine I used white and I chose to use thyme as Mr. Lebovitz suggests (because thats what I had)  and thought that whipped goat cheese and mascarpone  lightly sweetened with the syrup from the roasted figs would be wonderful. I really recommend you try this delicious recipe, it’s absolutely amazing, and if you are a fig lover like me you will be in fig heaven.

Whipped Goat Cheese And Mascarpone

3 oz softened goat cheese (Chevre)

3 oz mascarpone

2-3 tbs of the syrup from the roasted figs

whip the cheese and syrup together with hand held mixer. Easy right?

Add a dollop  to the figs. Drizzle with some of the syrup.  It’s heavenly!!

Figs and Creamy Goat Cheese/Mascarpone

Figs and Creamy Goat Cheese/Mascarpone

YUM!

YUM!

Aug 17

78 Comments

What I’ve Been Up To

Things have been very busy lately, with work and cooking related things that I am working on and I haven’t really been posting as much as I would like to. This week has been a whirlwind, so I thought it would be nice to post something about what I’ve been up to.  It started last Saturday when I met a dear friend and fellow blogger from DC, Emily here in Brooklyn, we had fun going to the farmers market and flea. Sunday I had the potluck which was so much fun, lots of great food and friends.

I work in real estate and it’s crazy and incredibly trying times in the NYC/Brooklyn market. There is a serious lack of housing stock and more people who want to buy than product available which makes for a very challenging market. So I have been really busy trying to find homes for the many people looking, Not fun.

I am also sure you have seen in several posts that I am involved with the startup company, Mealku, a food cooperative matching hungry eaters with eager cooks who prepare the food and it’s delivered by bicycle or skateboard (really, the delivery person came to pick up from me yesterday on a skateboard) amazing. Mealku asked me to cater an event for 40 people, breakfast foods to be ready this last Tuesday morning, very early 6:30 AM.  I was up for the challenge so of course I said yes, I would do it. I made muffins, scones,  banana bread, apricot/pistachio loaf and a seasonal fruit salad.

Packaged for Mealku event

Packaged for Mealku event

Mealku event

Mealku event

I made a small batch of tomato balsamic jam with some of the heirloom tomatoes I got at the farmers market.

Tomato Balsamic Jam

Tomato Balsamic Jam

I had leftover peaches and assorted plums so I made a galette

Mixed stone fruit galette

Mixed stone fruit galette

Yesterday I had a Mealku request for my Meatballs and Sauce, so I made it, slowly simmering the sauce and meatballs pretty much all day. Posted this a while back https://apuginthekitchen.com/2012/03/02/meatballs-and-tomato-sauce/

Meatballs

Meatballs

Jul 19

90 Comments

Vanilla Ice Cream

Vanilla Ice Cream

Vanilla Ice Cream

I know you are probably thinking how boring, really Suzanne, vanilla ice cream, yawn. Well, you’re right, it can be boring on it’s own but just think of what you can do with vanilla ice cream. My favorite milk shake and ice cream soda’s (black and white) I always make with a chocolate base and vanilla ice cream. There is nothing better than a scoop of creamy vanilla on a warm piece of pie or cobbler or crisp. Ice cream sandwiches, I love using vanilla ice cream with a chocolate wafer. I always keep at least a pint of plain vanilla ice cream in the freezer, and the recipe I use can be changed to add whatever you want, fudge, caramel or fruit swirl, turn it into strawberry ice cream, praline or butter pecan, coffee or chocolate, the possibilities are endless. So here is is my basic vanilla ice cream recipe. Super easy and the results are fantastic.

Makes 1 quart

2 cups heavy cream

2 cups whole milk

6 egg yolks from large eggs

1/2 +2 tbs sugar

pinch of salt

1 tbs pure vanilla extract

2 tbs corn syrup or Lyles Golden syrup (optional)

Add cream and milk to heavy medium size saucepan and heat on med/high until milk scalds but should not come to a boil. While milk/cream is heating beat the egg yolks, sugar and salt with a whisk until its creamy, thick and light in color. When milk has scalded pour half into eggs whisking constantly, mix thoroughly and add back to the pan with the rest of the milk. Reduce heat to medium and cook stirring constantly with a wooden spoon until it thickens and coats the back of the spoon, you know it’s done when you can draw a line on the back of spoon and the line stays intact. Remove from heat and add the vanilla extract. Pour into a bowl and cover with plastic wrap, the wrap should sit on top of the custard. Let cool to room temperature then refrigerate over night,

Add the optional corn syrup and follow manufacturers instructions for your ice cream maker. When done (should be the consistency of soft serve ice cream) place in freezer container and let sit in the coldest part of the freezer at least 4 hours but preferably overnight,

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