Beef Stew with Craig's Beer Bread

So I was immediately intrigued when Craig happened to mention he had a wicked beer bread recipe at work one day. I've heard rumors of people roasting chickens or turkeys with beer, but never in bread, though it's rather logical when you think about it. Craig mentioned that his last batch made with a can of Bud came out really well, and I was all gung-ho to do the same, except I then found a forgotten bottle of Heineken in the kitchen. And really, if I don't have to buy an extra ingredient, so much the better. I thought I'd get a nice-ish bottle (we're only so classy here at WTF) of French wine for the beef stew to make up for the Bud, but then I found a small bottle of questionable wine that my grandmother had picked up as a party favor at a wedding. It contained exactly one cup of wine. Perfecto.

The beer bread ended up tasting like banana bread. Go figure. And the beef stew was great back when the weather was freezing. I might add more cumin next time, though.

Swiss Chard

This is a cop out as far as updates go, but isn't the Swiss Chard glorious?

I'll have a more substantial post within the next few days, stay tuned...

Curried Winter Squash Soup with Lentils and Clams

Well, my dears, it's been too wicked long since my last update. I've been a bit busy over the past few weeks, but here's an update now that I have a breather whilst down in the South visiting the family folks.

Winter squash, curry, lentils, and clams. Unlikely bedfellows in the soup pot, but the flavors work perfectly together. It's been eons since I made this, but I think I found the recipe via the lovely La Tartine Gourmande after picking up a pair of red kuri squash at the farmer's market and wondering what the hell to do with them. I imagine nearly any type of squash would work well with this recipe. The proportion of greatness in this soup also rises with the addition of more clams.

Fava Bean Risotto with Pancetta and Kale

It's been a while since my last visit to the Chelsea Market, so I moseyed on over to see if there was anything new to try. One of my favorite stores in the market is the Manhattan Fruit Exchange, and it did not disappoint: I ended up with a few pounds of fresh fava beans. Another trip to Buon Italia yielded some pancetta. What's a girl to do but make risotto?

Fig, Plum, and Almond Crisps

Ever had those Rainforest Crisps they sell at Whole Foods? I tried them once when they were giving out free samples, and oh were they good. I couldn't justify the $7.99 price tag though, so I resigned myself to never eating them again. Well, never say never, because I found this recipe at Seven Spoons and they ended up tasting just as good! I love how it's such a very versatile recipe, and you can easily adapt it to add whatever fruit/nut/spice combination you'd like.

I halved the recipe since I didn't have enough dried fruit on hand, but I recommend doubling the recipe to make two loaves, freeze them, and bake only the amount you'd want to eat. Maybe I didn't slice mine thinly enough, but they weren't as crisp the next day. A quick pop in the oven remedied that, but they lost their crispness soon after.

Black Velvet Apricot and Fig Frangipane Tartlets

You'd think with a name like What the Fig?, something fig-like would've made an appearance by now (or stories of WTF moments in the kitchen at the very least), and after almost a year since I've started this blog (where did the time go??), I give you these Black Velvet Apricot and Fig Frangipane Tartlets.

On my way home a few weeks ago, I walked by a produce stall in Chinatown selling 12 count boxes of fresh figs for $5. Normally, the quality of the produce at this stall is questionable at best, but these figs looked promising enough that I waited in the queue for some time before I got my greedy hands on two boxes of them. I'm sure you'd see the crazy in my eyes if you had seen me that day.

And the Black Velvet apricots! After some hesitation at the price ($3.99/lb at Whole Foods), I caved in and bought some and never regretted it. I do regret not trying them earlier, since I think they're out of season now. At least, I don't see them anymore, but I'm definitely picking up loads next year.

This is one of my favorite desserts I've made so far. The combination of the fruit, the almonds, and the buttery tart shell is pure heaven.

Black Velvet Apricot and Fig Frangipane Tartlets
Crust adapted from Bon Appetit, June 2009
Frangipane cream from Tartelette
makes one 9-inch tart or about 5-6 tartlets

Crust
7 tablespoons butter, melted
1/4 cup sugar
1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup plus 1 tablespoon all purpose flour
pinch of salt

Frangipane Cream
8 tablespoons butter, softened
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1 cup almond flour
seeds from one vanilla bean or 2 teaspoons vanilla paste/extract
2 eggs
1/4 cup heavy cream

fresh figs, black velvet apricots - 3 total, more if making 9-inch tart

Crust:
Preheat oven to 375ºF.

Mix melted butter, sugar, and vanilla. Add the salt and flour. Transfer dough to a 9-inch diameter tart pan and press the dough evenly onto the sides and bottom of pan.

Bake until golden, about 18 minutes. Transfer crust to rack and cool.

Lower the oven temperature to 350ºF.

Frangipane Cream:
Whisk the butter, sugar, almond flour, vanilla, and eggs until smooth. Stir in the cream instead of whisking or it will emulsify and rise while baking.

Pour the frangipane into the 9-inch tart shell or spoon into the tartlets, about half full. Slice the figs and/or apricots in half and place them gently on the frangipane. Bake for 35-40 minutes (less for the tartlets), until the frangipane has set.

Red Currant Mini Cakes

I made these about three weeks ago when I picked up a carton of red currants at the farmer's market. I'd never had any before, and a wary nibble on one made me realize why the woman who sold them to me had warned that they should be cooked first. I'd rather gnaw on a lemon, honestly.

They tasted better in the cakes, though I'm not sure I really like the flavor. But they look very festive, no?

Red Currant Mini Cakes
from La Tartine Gourmande
makes 4

4 tablespoons butter, melted
5/6 cup confectioner's sugar, sifted
1/2 cup almond flour
3/8 cup flour, sifted
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
Red currants
3 egg whites, lightly beaten

Preheat oven to 350ºF. Grease four muffin molds/tartlet pans/ramekins/etc.

Mix the sugar, almond flour, flour, and baking powder together. Add the egg whites, mix, and add the melted butter.

Divide the batter into the prepared molds and drop in the currants.

Bake for 15-20 minutes. Best eaten on the same day.

Squash Blossoms

Off to Cackalacky for a week. I hope you all had a fantabulous Bastille Day!

Cioppino

I had dinner at Bianca about a year ago and made the fateful decision to order their Brodetto di Pesce. Oh! what a heavenly bowl of sublime goodness! The seafood was cooked perfectly, the broth well-seasoned, and the portion more than generous. Then I saw this post on Fat of the Land, and I decided I had to try making it myself.

It didn't even come close.

I predict a trip to Bianca in the very near future...

Blueberry Buttermilk Cake

This cake was essentially a giant muffin, which is quite unfortunate if you, like me, don't like muffins. Something to do with the texture, which is always a deal breaker with me. No matter how good something tastes, if I don't like the texture, I can't eat it.

Personal idiosyncrasies aside, be rest assured that the cake did not go to waste. My grandmother took a liking to it and must've eaten a good quarter of the entire thing. And my 12 year old cousin Eric, whose usual reaction to whatever baked goods I bring over is a straightforward "I don't like your cooking!", had two slices.


Blueberry Buttermilk Cake
adapted from Gourmet, June 2009

1 cup all purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 stick unsalted butter, softened
1/3 cup sugar, plus extra for sprinkling
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 large egg
1/2 cup well-shaken buttermilk
1 cup fresh blueberries (raspberries, etc.)

Preheat oven to 400ºF. Butter and flour a 9-inch round cake pan.

Mix together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.

In a large bowl, beat the butter and 1/3 cup sugar at medium-high speed until pale and fluffy, about 2 minutes. Beat in the vanilla, then the egg.

At low speed, mix in the flour in three batches, alternating with buttermilk, mixing till just combined. Pour the batter into the cake pan, smoothing the top. Scatter blueberries over the top and sprinkle with a bit of sugar.

Bake cake until it is golden and wooden toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean, 25-30 minutes. Cool in pan 10 minutes, then turn out onto rack to cool.

The Toaster Oven

It's like staring into the gaping maws of Hell...

The exposed heating elements of this oven makes it impossible to clean. Said heating elements also have a tendency to set my towels on fire if I'm not careful taking a pan out.

I've resigned myself to the puddles of chicken grease oozing from the door whenever I turn the oven on. If you squint and look carefully, you'll see a mini grease stalactite waiting to drip down the top left-ish of the oven.

I've also accepted that the door will not close with a 10-inch pie plate inside. But that's OK--there's nothing a sheet of aluminum foil covering the opening will not solve.

Despite all this, it is the one kitchen equipment I cannot live without. I dub thee Pip.

Raspberry Rhubarb Vanilla Custard Tarts

These tarts are so dangerously addictive I feel obligated to post a warning on behalf of your waistlines: make a batch of these with friends over lest you gobble all of them up. Even then it might be an exercise in self control.

So I can't remember how much puff pastry I used for this recipe. It was probably a third of the puff pastry I made a few weeks ago using Tartelette's recipe. And I fudged the measurements for most of the ingredients since the original recipe was in grams and milliliters, and honestly, the conversions were doing my head in.

Raspberry Rhubarb Vanilla Custard Tarts
adapted from Delicious Days

Puff pastry

Raspberry Rhubarb
3 stalks rhubarb
5 tablespoons raspberry puree
1 tablespoon water
1 tablespoon sugar

Vanilla Custard
1/2 cup milk
1/2 cup cream
1 vanilla pod, split in half and seeds scraped out
1/8 cup sugar
pinch salt
1/2 tablespoon cornstarch
2 egg yolks

Roll out the puff pastry into a thin rectangle, and then, starting from the shorter side, tightly roll into a log, wrap it in foil, and chill in the freezer for about 20 minutes. Do not let it freeze. Cut the puff pastry into slices about as thick as your thumb, and form them into little cups. Fit them into a greased muffin pan, ramekins, mini tartlet molds, etc. Cover and chill in fridge while preparing the fillings.

Preheat oven to 425ºF.

Shave the rhubarb into thin slices and combine in a small saucepan with the raspberry puree, water, and sugar. Bring to a boil and simmer until the sugar has dissolved. Taste, and add more sugar if needed.

In another small saucepan, bring the milk, cream, and vanilla pod/seeds to a boil and then simmer for a few minutes. Remove the vanilla pod.

Combine sugar, cornstarch, salt, and egg yolks in a medium bowl and beat till combined. Continue beating very, very slowly while gradually pouring in the hot cream mixture. Return this mixture to the stove and carefully reheat while stirring continuously. Avoid boiling. Remove from heat when the mixture has thickened.

Fill the puff pastry shells with custard, about 1/2 to 2/3 full. Top with rhubarb raspberry puree. Do not overfill or the filling will overflow--puff pastry also tends to shrink a bit in the oven. Bake for 10-15 minutes, until pastry is a light golden brown.