Saturday, February 12, 2011

The "V" Word


No, not that one. I’m talking about the other one … you know, that annual event which shows up in the aftermath of the “S” word (i.e., Superbowl, as I mentioned recently). In other words, that great Hallmark holiday known as “Valentine’s Day”. Oy veh.

I already shared my thoughts about this last year:

http://nevertrustaskinnycook1.blogspot.com/2010/02/back-in-saddle-again.html

Suffice it to say, Valentine’s Day is not something I celebrate. Do I really want to go out for an overpriced, limited choice dinner in some overcrowded restaurant that is probably overwhelmed and in the weeds? Do I really need to destroy trees just so I can give Henry a couple of cards that he will read once and throw away? Do I really need to receive a bouquet of flowers or a blue box from Tiffany? (Well, “yes” to that last one, but we won’t go there). You get where I am going with this.

Speaking of cards, my parents had the best idea. They would go to the drugstore together and stand in front of the cards, reading them until they found “the right ones.” They would then read them to each other, put them back, wish each other a happy Valentine’s Day and go on their merry way. No muss, no fuss, no cost and no waste of trees.  If I were the card-giving sort, that is exactly what I would do.

So Henry and I will be staying home on Valentine’s Day (as usual) this year. I might cook something a little more special than the usual weekday “slop the hog” fare.  I might even make a special dessert, like chocolate mousse or crème brulee.  Hell, I might even make both of them!  But I won't be giving out any cards or gifts and I won't be making any reservations! 


(Oh, and Henry, how lucky are you anyway?  This lets you  totally off the hook.  Care to show your appreciation with something blue from Tiffany?)


CRÈME BRULEE WITH A SECRET

4 cups (1 quart) heavy cream
¾ cup granulated sugar
1 teaspoon cornstarch
¼ teaspoon kosher salt
9 egg yolks
1 teaspoon vanilla extract or vanilla paste
9 tablespoons turbinado sugar
1 cup mini chocolate chunks or chopped chocolate

Preheat oven to 250-degrees.

Place cream and sugar in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Bring to a low boil, stirring frequently. When mixture is gently bubbling, turn off the heat.

Meanwhile, combine the cornstarch, salt and egg yolks in a medium bowl. Add about ¼ cup of the hot cream mixture to this and whisk until blended. Return everything to the hot cream remaining in the pan and let stand (off the heat) for 10 minutes. Stir in the vanilla extract (or vanilla paste).

Divide the chocolate chunks evenly between 6 crème brulee dishes (about 2 tablespoons each). Strain the custard mixture into a large pitcher or pouring vessel and pour over the chocolate in each dish. Chocolate should be barely visible.

Place the custards in a shallow pan and add hot water to come halfway up sides. Bake in the preheated oven for 45 minutes or until just set. Custards should still be slightly wobbly in the center.

Remove from water bath and cool slightly, then wrap each dish in plastic wrap and chill until ready to serve.

To serve, sprinkle 1 ½ tablespoons of the turbinado sugar over each custard and smooth into an even layer. Use a blowtorch to caramelize the tops so they become golden and crunchy. Serve immediately.

Yield: 6 servings




Tempering the eggs


Straining the custard

Vanilla specks!



Cute blowtorch!


Pre-blowtorch

One down, another to go

*  I used crème brulee dishes, but you can use custard cups, small gratin dishes or whatever you have.  The advantage of the crème brulee dishes is that they are shallow and have a greater surface for the caramelized sugar, which is not a bad thing if you ask me.

*  I have one of those kitchen blowtorches which is ideal because it's small and easy to store, but one of those regular old big blue blowtorches from the hardware store will work just fine.  In fact, that's what we used in the bakery at Star Provisions.  If all else fails, you can run them under the broiler, just keep a close eye so they don't burn.

*  Chocolate chunks not required for this recipe.  If you omit them, you will end up with a classic and lovely crème brulee, which is sometimes my preference.  Feel free to tinker with this - you could add raspberries, candied ginger or anything else you can think of.  You could also add liqueur to the custard or any other flavoring of choice. 

*  I use turbinado sugar because I think it adds a lovely depth of flavor (which is also why I prefer vanilla paste to vanilla extract).  Nonetheless, you will be just fine if you use granulated sugar and pure vanilla extract.


DARK CHOCOLATE MOUSSE (from Thomas Keller’s “Bouchon”)

4 ½ oz. bittersweet chocolate (at least 60%)
2 tablespoons unsalted butter, diced
2 tablespoons espresso or brewed coffee
1 cup heavy cream, chilled
3 eggs, separated (recipe specifies “large” but I used “extra-large”)
1 tablespoon granulated sugar

Combine the chocolate, butter and espresso in the top of a double boiler over hot, but not simmering water. Stir frequently until smooth and remove from heat. Let cool slightly, but make sure chocolate is still warm to the touch. If it is too cool, the mixture will seize when rest of ingredients are added.

Meanwhile, whip the cream to soft peaks. Whip the egg whites in an electric mixer until they are foamy and just hold their shape. Sprinkle in the sugar and beat until soft peaks form.

Stir yolks into the chocolate. Gently stir in about 1/3 of the whipped cream. Fold in half of the egg whites until just incorporated, then fold in remaining whites. Fold in the remaining whipped cream.

Spoon or pipe the mousse into a serving bowl or individual dishes. Chill for at least 8 hours before serving.

Serves 6











*  I have a lot of confidence when it comes to melting chocolate, so I rarely use a double boiler, relying instead on low heat and a keen eye.  Nonetheless, for this recipe, I decided to follow Mr. Keller's advice.  It didn't let me down.

*  Be careful not to cool the chocolate mixture too much or indeed it will seize, as it did on me the first time I tried this recipe.  You don't want it piping hot, but it does need to be fairly warm.  Follow that guideline and you will meet with success.

*  In a perfect world, it might be nice to pipe the mousse into individual serving glasses, but to heck with that.  I certainly don't want to screw with it and personally, I like the more rustic look when it is simply spooned into whatever serving dish(es) you are using.

*  Mr. Keller serves this at his restaurants in individual dishes, accompanied by Langues de Chat, which are also known as Cats' Tongue Cookies.  Edna Lewis was famous for hers; here is the link to her recipe:

http://nevertrustaskinnycook1.blogspot.com/2010/07/under-radar-screen.html

Now I know these aren't complicated recipes, but that's exactly what is right about them.  They are both simple and stunning.  What else do you need in a dessert?  It doesn't need to be overly complicated to be delicious.  I mean really ... who doesn't like crème brulee or chocolate mousse? 

Happy "V" day, everyone!  Or not.


Valentine's Gift


So each holiday I struggle with what to buy my husband. If he wants something, he just goes and buys it for himself. So FRUSTRATING!!! Anyway, this year for Valentine's I decided to give him a little something that he could display with pride. An OU license plate...check it out.


My husband is a huge OU football fan. I always tell him that he would've been an excellent player, only if he were bigger. He has a huge heart for OU football. Who knows...maybe I'll win wife of the year since I bought him this gift!! I guess we'll find out.

Shout Out

Just wanted to give a shout out to Little Sailor Design Blog. I'm so excited to have a new look on my blog. For some reason, I don't have the patience to design my blog. Part of it has to do with not knowing how to design it and I'm a little bit of a perfectionist. If you ever need someone to design your blog, I highly recommend Little Sailor Design Blog.

Traditional Beetroot Soup (Borscht)




After that very stylish pink soup, here's a more traditional non-creamy beetroot soup, where the beetroot is left in rustic chunks, in its lovely sweet red juices. Borscht is a soup very commonly found in many Eastern European countries, and there are so many ways of preparing it depending on region, but you can never really go wrong with this sweet and beautiful root vegetable.

Beetroot Soup (Borscht)
Ingredients
1 medium onion, sliced
1 large beetroot, chopped
1 small carrot, chopped
1 small tomato, chopped
1/4 cup homemade stock (I used chicken. traditionally, it's beef stock)
1 bay leaf
1 tsp extra virgin olive oil
(opt) 1 tsp red wine vinegar/apple cider vinegar

To serve
1 tbsp plain yogurt
fresh dill

Ingredients
1. Saute the onions in the evoo till translucent.
2. Add the rest of the ingredient, bring to a boil and let simmer for 45 min.
3. Serve with a dollop of yogurt and fresh dill. (chives will work too)


This ruby-coloured soup is just bursting with sweetness, and earthy flavours, balanced by that sharp tang of the yogurt and the freshness of dill. Its clean yet hearty flavours are perfect for winter, plus, again, isn't it nice to see something bright and colourful when it's grey outside? Boo london skies.

All About Aşure or Noah's Pudding


Sooner or later the doorbell will ring or somebody will tap on your door. You open it and there will be your neighbour.
This is especially true if you live in an apartment block, even more likely if you live in a more traditional area of Istanbul.  I am not sure about those new complexes with independent villas. I'm guessing it doesn’t happen there.
But you open the door and for sure there she'll be, beaming at you and offering you some wonderful Turkish delight.  I love this custom because it hails back to old times, old neighbourhoods and old patterns when sharing was a way of life.

Aşure or Noah's Pudding


This happened to me two evenings ago. There was Müjgan (her name means Gift) and she had made aşure that afternoon. Not only for us but for the entire building.  Now this is one of Turkey’s oldest and most traditional of desserts, known as it is as Noah’s Pudding or Noah’s Dessert. It will contain at least 15 ingredients reflecting those items that were left when the Ark came to rest on Mount Ararat after the Great Flood. However their supplies were exhausted so whatever they could find went into the making of this dessert. They were so overjoyed at having survived that they wanted to celebrate with a very special pudding. As a result, it includes different grains, dried fruits, and nuts. The consistency is porridge-like but the presentation is beautiful, decorated as it is with nuts and pomegranate seeds. Traditionally it is made in large quantities to be distributed amongst family and neighbours during the month following Kurban Bayramı, the Sacrifice Holiday, which is a moveable feast.  This past year it occurred in November.



What I liked about Müjgan was that she said apologetically that she got confused about the right time to make it but she just felt like making it, so here it was.
Actually aşure is not my favourite. It tastes all right but is more of a curiosity than a true gourmet offering in my opinion. But the point is that the custom doesn’t stop here: when a neighbour gives you something on a plate, you must never return that plate empty. That would be ayıp or just not done. I have lived here so long that I feel this acutely. You have to put something back on that plate and then return it.
Yesterday I went to a coffee morning where we had fun decorating cupcakes for Valentine’s Day. Our wonderful resourceful American hostess wrapped several in cellophane for each of us and tied them up with ribbon to take home. So this lovely-looking packet is what I put in the 2 clean dishes that I returned to Müjgan. I told her that we had made them that day for Sevgiler Günü and she valiantly declared that she would give them to her own sevgili or darling!  I can only hope that he liked them!

Nietzsche and Hawking

I saw from a friend on Facebook that Stephen Hawking has a new book out, "The Grand Design" in which he claims that physics proves there is no God and the Universe was created by blah blah blah.

Haven't we seen this all before? Nietzsche let everyone know that there was no God and no need for good and evil and that we should all serve supermen who should rule with an iron fist. Of course, Nietzsche didn't, you know, pick up a gun and do anything, because he was, like, busy at the time and anyway he had a bunch of library books that were overdue and the kitchen was really a mess.

Nietzsche was a wimp advocating mass slaughter.


Nietzsche, right before he picked up a gun and ... oh, wait. Hear that? That sounds like the tea's ready.

Nowadays we have Stephen Hawking telling us all that physics can explain the start of the Universe and religion is a waste of time. Of course, he didn't actually see the start of the Universe the way he can see the start of human life with all its physics and stuff. If there's no sky fairy that made the Universe, then there sure as heck isn't any such thing as Stephen Hawking.

Stephen, of course, knows all of this. Still, he's taking the time to write books to convince arbitrarily connected collections of subatomic particles of this or that. Doesn't that sound a bit Nietzschean? I mean, if you believe in this stuff, shouldn't you live your life based on it? Doesn't writing books seem like a contradiction here? After all, his books are written with the underlying assumption that what all the rest of us think matters. But why does it matter?

Update: I revised this post to remove a lot of sneering at Stephen Hawking. It was unnecessarily unpleasant and Dr. Hawking, unquestionably a brilliant man, doesn't deserve such treatment.

Ayo menulis dan terbitkan!

Ehm, I'm not a professional author that have a lot of writing has been published. Neither a perfect writer nor the most creative one. I just want to share a piece of knowledge that I knew for people who loves writing and want to try to publish it. These are my tweets yesterday, but I thought it is good to be shared here too. Hope you enjoy!

Buat temen2 yg suka nulis dan mau menerbitkan tulisannya berbentuk buku, aku bakal kasih info nih!

Baca lagi tulisan kamu dan pastikan tidak mengandung SARA, tidak seronok, dan tidak kasar. Dan pastikan tulisan kamu enggak menjiplak.

Setelah yakin tulisanmu oke, periksa yuk penulisannya. Jangan GeDe KeCiL, disingkat2, atau font yg sulit terbaca. Naskahmu kan perlu dibaca.

Setiap penerbit punya kriteria masing2. Ex: @GagasMedia minimal 75 halaman A4, single space, font 12 tnr/ariel. Cari tau!

Setelah memenuhi kriteria dari penerbit, print out naskah tulisan kamu dan jilid yg rapih. Jangan dengan tinta yg mencolok; pink, kuning.

Sertakan juga sinopsis dan surat dari kamu menyertai naskah. Ini memudahkan editor untuk mengetahui naskah kamu.

Kirim naskah kamu ke penerbit, dan bersabarlah. Penerbit menerima ratusan naskah tiap harinya dan semua harus dibaca.

Kalau penasaran dengan nasib naskah kamu, boleh telp utk menanyakan kabar at least 3-6 bulan setelahnya. Enggak mungkin instant!

Sebelum dikirim, ada baiknya sebar naskahmu kebeberapa teman yg suka membaca dan tanya pendapatnya. Terima kritiknya!

Please jangan latah kalo bikin cerita kalo kamu enggak bisa membuat cerita jd berbeda. Misal: jadian sm artis korea. Hello!

Yang paling penting dalam menulis adalah, jadi diri sendiri, tetap nulis apapun bentuknya, banyak baca, dan logic.

Boleh mengidolakan penulis lain, tapi bukan berarti menyamai gayanya. Dan baca banyak genre!

Nulis cerpen dan novel berbeda sama nulis naskah film. Jadi jangan dikira mudah pindah2. Perlu sama2 belajar.

Enggak ada salahnya ikut workshop penulisan dari mana2. Ilmu itu mahal!

Pasti akan selalu ada penulis yg lebih baik. Tapi setiap penulis akan punya karakter sendiri. That's why u need to be ur self when writing.

Jangan pernah takut menulis. Selain bisa melegakan hati, meluapkan ide, jg bisa menghasilkan :)

Modal bagus buat nulis : kamus thesaurus. Kekayaan penulis adalah kata2 dan sudut pandang. Happy writing!

Yes that's all. Last but not least, no matter what keep writing, even on good mood or bad. Happy writing everyone!

Love and hugs,
Ketty Tressianah




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