Souffle.

Brown butter.

Three words which by their mere mention can create fear in the most fearless of cooks.   

Souffles are so finnicky.  If you look at them funny, they fall.  Kind of like Goldilocks, you never know if they are just right until you taste them.  They are sometimes runny and sometimes overcooked.   If you accidentally hit the oven door with your knee, uh oh.  And never mind trying to remove them from the oven and get them to the table.  Egads.  They just aren’t worth the effort.

OH DEAR.  They so are.   And if you follow a few simple steps, they shouldn’t cause one sweat gland to begin working overtime.  (Stay tuned for tomorrow’s tips and tricks for fearless souffle making.)

And let’s not forget the brown butter.   The key to brown butter is to not have the flames turned up so they are flicking out over the sides of the saucepan.  Melt the butter over medium heat and let it work its magic.  It will turn brown and nutty and oh so yummy. 

Did I mention that it transforms this souffle from good to magical.  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

  

 

CAULIFLOWER SOUFFLE WITH BROWN BUTTER  Gourmet Magazine May 2008

3 tbsp finely grated parmigiano reggiano

1 1/4 cups finely chopped cauliflower florets

1/4 cup chopped flat leaf parsley

white pepper to taste

1/2 stick butter

4 1/2 tbsp all purpose flour

1 1/2 cups whole milk

6 egg yolks

8 egg whites

1 stick butter (for browned butter)

Preheat oven to 400 with rack in the middle.  Generously butter souffle dish, then sprinkle with cheese, knocking out excess.

Stir together cauliflower, parsley, 1/4 tsp salt and white pepper in large bowl.

Melt butter in saucepan over medium heat.  Whisk in flour and cook, whisking, until pale golden, about 2 minutes.  Add milk a little at a time, whisking constantly until smooth.  Bring sauce to a boil, whisking, then simmer until thick, about 1 minute.  Remove from heat and whisk in the egg yolks, 1/4 tsp white pepper and 1/2 tsp salt.  Stir into the cauliflower mixture.

Beat whites in a bowl with an electric mixer at high speed until they just hold stiff peaks (they should not look dry).  Stir a heaping spoonful of whites into yolk mixture to lighten the mixture and then gently fold in the remaining whites until just combined.

Spoon into souffle dish and bake until golden brown about 35 to 40 minutes.

Meanwhile, cook butter in a small saucepan over medium heat, stirring occasionally, until it turns golden with a nutlike fragrance and fleck on bottom pan turn a rich brown, about 6 mintues.  Remove from heat.

Serve souffle immediately, drizzling with warm brown butter.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Post submitted to Gourmet Unbound and Magazine Mondays.  Thanks ladies!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

DISCLAIMER:  Do not let my inability to use a camera keep you from trying this dish!

I love to counterbalance the heaviness of homemade ravioli with the lightness of a broth.  There are endless combinations of fillings for pasta and once you get the hang of pasta dough, you will never buy the premade frozen stuff again.  We did a class a couple of weeks ago and made ricotta and basil ravioli, black bean ravioli and fig and gorgonzola ravioli.  We also made three different sauces.  All in about 3 hours! 

Won ton wrappers work equally well for a quick fix weeknight meal although they do not reheat well.   This is a quick meal utilizing fresh ingredients and since asparagus are in season it is a great choice as well as a perfect marriage with the mascarpone and it is all the better for you as it isn’t laden with a big heavy sauce. 

ASPARAGUS RAVIOLI IN PARMESAN BROTH from Gourmet Magazine, April 2008

30 wonton wrappers 

1 pound asparagus, trimmed

5 cups chicken broth

3 inch rind from a wedge of parmesan cheese

1 bay leaf

1/4 cup grated parmesan cheese

1/4 cup mascarpone

1/4 cup bread crumbs

1 tsp grated lemon zest

Put broth/stock into a pot.  (If I have homemade broth, I use it.  If I don’t, I use store bought and toss in a peeled, lightly crushed clove of garlic and a few sprigs of a fresh herb and let it simmer for about 15 minutes).  Add rind, bay leaf and asparagus stems and simmer until stems are tender, about 5 minutes.  Transfer stems to paper towels to cool slightly.  Reserve broth.

Puree asparagus stems in food processor with grated parmesan, mascarpone, bread crumbs, zest and salt and pepper to taste.

Fill wonton wrappers with filling and seal edges.    

Bring a pot of salted water to a boil and begin to cook ravioli.

Meanwhile, add the asparagus tips to the reserved broth and cook until tender, about 3 minutes.  

As ravioli cook, add to the broth.  Serve immediately.

Linked to Magazine Mondays and Gourmet Unbound. 

Gnocchi intimidates many but really shouldn’t.  Not counting the potato cooking time, it is just a quick mix on a smooth surface, an equally quick knead and shaping the dough into snakes similar to molding with play doh as a kid.  Give them a quick cut, add some ridges and a float in a hot bath.  Viola!  Tender gnocchi.  I have included some photos below to demonstrate the process.

While not completely necessary, there are a few tools which will make your gnocchi making easier much easier.  The first is a potato ricer.  A ricer is great for a couple of reasons.  There is no need to peel the potatoes as the ricer pushes the potatoes through the holes in the bottom but the skins stay in the tube. It is also important because it creates light and airy potatoes as opposed to mashing by hand.   Once you have potatoes this way, I doubt you will ever go back.  They always come out light and airy and mashed potatoes are a breeze.

A bench scraper, while not  a necessity, makes for quick cutting of the gnocchi.  I think you get into a better rhythm than with a knife.  Finally, a gnocchi board.  The gnocchi board (think miniature cutting board) is ridged.  As you roll the individual gnocchi down the board, these ridges are pressed into the dough.  While not a necessity the ridges give the sauce a place to cling to.  You can use a fork to create the same ridges but I find it a little harder to make it quickly through a batch of dough when using a fork.  If you employ the Alton Brown rule of the multi task requirement for a kitchen gadget, then use the fork.   While I love Alton, I don’t subscribe to the rule and adore my board!

The recipe I chose was as a result of what today means for this little blog.  It is Magazine Monday so I have to choose a magazine recipe from my pile of untried recipes.  It is National Pig Day on the Quirky Calendar so naturally I have to use some part of a pig in the dish.  Finally, it is Gourmet, Unbound reveal day where a Gourmet magazine recipe from March of any year must be tested and reviewed.  I drove myself a little crazy looking for the perfect combination for this momentous Triple Threat occasion.  With some tweaks, I think I found it.  

The sauce was good but I don’t think it had enough punch.  I would add some heat next time in the form of crushed red pepper flakes.  The gnochetti (baby gnocchi) were a trial for me for a couple of reasons.  I am not a patient woman.  Gnocchetti take too long and gnocchi are perfectly acceptable to me.   The real problem was I normally make my ghocchi with egg yolks or alternatively, with a bit of  spinach or basil which acts as a binder.  These were just potatoes and flour and I found them a bit daunting.  Maybe if I hadn’t had lots of success with other recipes and had learned to make eggless gnocchi the first time around, these wouldn’t have seemed such a failure.  My MIL makes spaetzle with eggs, my grandmother made dumplings with eggs and I make gnocchi with eggs.  I would recommend if you are a newbie to this gnocchi making thingie, you add an egg yolk to this recipe.   Or, if you are feeling adventuresome, go eggless. 

 

But down to business.  Here is the recipe with a few tweaks I will make when I do this again.

TINY POTATO DUMPLINGS WITH TOMATO, ONION AND PANCETTA SAUCE     Gourmet March 2003

1 tbsp olive oil

5 ounces pancetta, finely chopped (about 1/2 cup) 

1 large red onion, finely chopped (1 1/4 cups)  I used a white onion

1 small clove garlic, minced I used two cloves

28 ounce can plum tomatoes, finely chopped with juice

1/2 tsp crushed red pepper flakes – my recommendation

1/2 cup water

1 tsp sugar

1/2 tsp salt

1 1/2 lbs potatoes

1 1/2 cups all purpose flour plus additional as necessary

1 1/4 tsp salt

1 egg yolk  – my recommendation

Cover potatoes with salted cold water and simmer, uncovered, until very tender, about 25 minutes.  Cut in half and allow to sit for a few minutes.

Push potatoes through a ricer into a large bowl or a smooth work area.   Allow potatoes to sit for about 10 minutes (to allow excess moisture out and to prevent eggs from cooking)   Add flour, salt and egg yolk and combine until mixture begins to come together.  Gently form dough into a ball and cut into pieces.

Knead each piece of dough about 1 minute.  Then begin to form and roll until until you form a snake shape.  Cut into pieces about and toss lightly with flour .  Press a piece of dough onto the gnocchi board or the back of a fork.  Continue shaping, cutting and rolling gnocchi until all of the dough is used up.

Just before cooking, gently shake gnocchi to knock off excess flour.  Cook in batches in boiling salted water until they float, just a few minutes.  Transfer with a spoon or spider to a large shallow bowl and spoon some sauce on top.

Notes:  Gnocchi do not sit out well and become very sticky and gooey.  Either keep refrigerated in a single layer or, if you don’t plan on cooking them shortly after making them, they can be frozen for a month.  Cook frozen gnocchi as directed in recipe.    

Heat oil in a heavy pot and saute pancetta and onion, about 6 minutes.  Add garlic and saute, about 1 minute.  Add tomatoes with reserved juices, water, sugar and salt and simmer, uncovered, stirring occasionally, until thickened, about 30 minutes.  I would add about 1/2 tsp crushed red pepper flakes with the tomatoes for some heat.  

We are in the middle of a baking series at Foodies and last week we made a fruit galette.  It was an unfamiliar term to the majority.  A galette is a flat cake made of a flaky pastry dough or a yeast dough.  I consider it to be a rustic presentation as you bake the galette flat on a pizza stone or baking sheet with the perimeter folded over the filling.  It is a great way to use up dough and/or fruit as you can make the galette large for several servings or you can fashion individual ones.  And, my kind of recipe.  The combinations are endless.  Blueberries. Raspberries. Mango. Strawberries. Kiwi.  Peaches. Nectarines.  Blackberries.  Cherries. Hmmm.  What am I missing? Goat cheese, leeks and butternut squash. Yes, that’s the ticket! 

It was a nice surprise when I was searching for a Gourmet recipe to include in gourmet, unbound for the February challenge and I came across this savory galette.    And, it’s a double whammy today.  It’s also Magazine Monday at Cream Puffs in Venice so this counts for that as well.  Two blog challenges.  Hip Hip Hooray!

While sage isn’t one of my favorite herbs, it is one of those go together pairings with the butternut squash so I made the recipe with the listed ingredients although I would probably substitute oregano or thyme another day.

This was an extraordinary surprise.  Even with the sage, I thought it was delightful.  This would be a great brunch dish with a salad.  My original intention was to serve it with thinly grilled pork chops glazed in lemon but since I made this at 7 am…. I had it for breakfast with coffee! 

BUTTERNUT SQUASH GALETTE    From Gourmet Magazine February 2009 

1 1/4 cups all purpose flour

1 stick cold unsalted butter, cut into 1/2 inch cubes

1 tbsp chopped sage leaves

1/2 tsp sea salt

4 tbsp ice cold water

1 egg, lightly beaten

2 lb butternut squash, peeled, seeded and cut into 2 x 1/4 inch slices

1/2 tsp sea salt

3 tbsp olive oil, divided

2 leeks (white and light green parts only), thinly sliced crosswise

6 ounces soft mild goat cheese, crumbled

Dough:  Pulse flour, butter, sage and sea salt in a food processor until mixture resembles coarse meal.  Drizzle ice water evenly over mixture and pulse until it just forms a ball.  Do not overwork dough or pastry will be tough.  Gently press dough into a 5 inch disk and chill, wrapped in plastic warp, until firm, at least 1 hour.

Preheat oven to 500 with rack in the middle.

Toss squash with sea salt and 1 tbsp oil and arrange in 1 layer in a shallow baking pan or cookie sheet.  Roast, stirring once halfway through roasting, until golden brown on edges and undersides, 20 to 25 minutes.  Remove squash from oven and reduce oven temperature to 375.

Meanwhile, wash leeks, then cook in remaining 2 tbsp oil with a pinch of salt in a skillet over medium heat, stirring occasionally, until tender, 10 to 15 minutes.  Transfer to a bowl to cool slightly.  (This is where I deviated a bit.  I didn’t combine the squash with the leeks and goat cheese as suggested.  I instead layered the squash on the galette and then tossed the leeks and goat cheese and sprinkled it over the top.)

Roll out dough into a 13 inch round on a lightly floured surface.  Transfer to a baking sheet or pizza stone.  Arrange filling in an even layer in center of dough, leaving a 2 to 3 inch border.  Fold dough in on itself to cover outer rim of filling, pleating dough if necessary. 

Brush pastry with beaten egg and bake galette until crust is cooked through and golden on edges, 35 to 45 minutes.  Cool on baking sheet on a rack 10 minutes before serving.