March 2007 Archives

Unfortunately, it's not in my neighborhood. It's a couple blocks south of Port Authority, on 9th Avenue. Near Todd's office. Every aspect of a meal at Market Cafe is right on, with little touches that make it kind of wonderful. It's kind of a diner-looking place inside, with small, cramped tables. They give you a carafe of water with a long, thin slice of cucumber. The menu is divided into small and large dishes, but they're all significant enough to make a meal. Last night there I had 3 fat seared scallops covered with a tangle of mache and perched atop mashed potatoes in a deep bowl. Todd's fries were crispy and nicely seasoned.

The best part, though, was the lemon pound cake topped with a compote made from tiny blueberries and fresh ginger (I could see the ginger hairs throughout). It was not at all liquidy, and the sharp bite of the ginger kind of echoed the lemon of the cake, which was actually a wedge of a two-layer round cake with a layer of lemon cream, not a slice of loaf cake. I love the enormous slice of chocolate layer cake they have at Market Cafe, too.

It didn't sound good to me. Jean-Georges Vongerichten and quick-fix food didn't seem like a realistic combination. But I was trying to get my mind off something else, so I clicked over to it.

I don't know if I'm on a hormone ride or what, but what I found made me kind of giddy. I think I actually giggled when I thought about making one of Vongerichten's Ovaltine or green tea popsicles or apple confit.

I thought I had a great idea: Turn the pecan-raisin rolls that were getting a little dry into a breakfast bread-pudding type casserole. But I tried to fudge the recipe and I ended up with something that wasn't pretty, with curdled-looking custard and bread that was mushy in some place and completely crusty in others. It was just that the bread didn't absorb enough of the custard; it sat all night in the fridge, so I can't help but think the bread was just too dense and maybe not dried out enough. Also, I think scrambling the eggs a bit before you mix them in with the milk, which maybe should have been something higher fat than 1 percent.

The flavor was good, with just a couple teaspoons of brown sugar and a dash of cinnamon. We ate some of it. So I may try it again with a few tweaks, and maybe I'll have something.

Grab a glass of milk for this one. I always had a sense that chocolate chip cookies of a certain type were all the same. But the chocolate chip cookies August and I just made, from New American Cooking cookbook, were just over-the-top rich. Insanely, overwhelming rich. Making it possible for me to stop at one. Wise, even. Todd said he thought it might be the best chocolate chip cookie ever.

I've tried many, many chocolate chip cookie recipes, and I always fall in love with them. (Clearly not enough to be faithful, but still.) And I have rarely enjoyed a purchased chocolate chip cookie as much as the ones I make myself, regardless of the recipe I use. I do prefer the soft, chewy variety, with a good edge of salt and a reasonable amount of chocolate chips.

I made a half-recipe, 12 big cookies: Cream 1/2 cup softened butter with 6 tablespoons each white and brown sugar (other recipes I've used use all brown, and these were lighter in color and flavor), then add one egg and 1/2 teaspoon of vanilla. Mix in 1 1/4 cup flour, then a generous 1/4 teaspoon baking soda and a generous 1/4 teaspoon salt. I stirred in 6 ounces of chopped chocolate from an 8-ounce bar of Nestle Chocolatier chocolate (they had sent coupons for free samples, but I couldn't find the higher percentage, only the 53%, in our grocery store). I liked the big chunks, which when warm were smooth and rich pockets of melty chocolate. Yum.

I used a 1/4 cup measuring cup, scantly filled, to measure out the cookies, then baked them in a 350 degree oven for 18 minutes.

A side note for the grandmas: August loves to taste, so I'm wary of letting him help with the dough after the egg's been added. This time he tasted the sugar-butter mixture, then I gave him the spatula I had used for that and instructed him that was his and the dough would now be off-limits, because of the egg. It worked. When I was chopping the chocolate, he was eating almost to keep up with me, so I had to move away from him to finish the chopping. I left a few chunks behind, accidentally, and he, as though he was mimicking me, said, "You can have those little pieces on the table, August."

August and I both had a thoroughly enjoyable time making pizza together tonight. It's the perfect project for a 2-year-old: the tactile dough, the spreading, the sprinkling, the tasting of everything (since everything but the dough has already been cooked). He loves pizza, so he'll even eat vegetables on it. He spent a lot of the assembling time picking the larger pieces of tomato out of the sauce and eating them.

I use a frozen pizza dough, and we just patted and poked the dough into shape right on the pan we baked it on. Spread on sauce, sprinkle on cheese, put on toppings, then add more cheese and grate some Romano. Bake on a lower rack, 450 degrees or so, 15 minutes or so. Slice. Eat.

August and I both had a thoroughly enjoyable time making pizza together tonight. It's the perfect project for a 2-year-old: the tactile dough, the spreading, the sprinkling, the tasting of everything (since everything but the dough has already been cooked). He loves pizza, so he'll even eat vegetables on it. He spent a lot of the assembling time picking the larger pieces of tomato out of the sauce and eating them.

I use a frozen pizza dough, and we just patted and poked the dough into shape right on the pan we baked it on. Spread on sauce, sprinkle on cheese, put on toppings, then add more cheese and grate some Romano. Bake on a lower rack, 450 degrees or so, 15 minutes or so. Slice. Eat.

My friend and I took a trip to Soho and the West Village this weekend, and we swung wide on our walk so we could visit Jacques Torres's chocolate shop on Hudson street. She was disappointed it wasn't more sophisticated; I was disappointed that I hadn't brought August along. This would be a perfect destination for a little kid with a sweet tooth. You can see a large chocolate-making operation going on around the perimeter of the retail shop; on Saturday bunnies, chickens and sheep were in the works, some the size of a mid-sized dog. There's a lot of floor space, a coffee-bar type counter, and even a kiddie table. Torres's offers some whimsical, kid-friendly chocolates, too, like chocolate-covered Cheerios, cornflakes and graham crackers, hot chocolate and chocolate lollipops. But I just think August would be tickled to see the works.

This soup is not really sweet, but the two main vegetables are parsnips and carrots, which did lend a vegetable sweetness that I found pleasant. Once the pasta soaked up a good portion of the broth, August and I were enjoying slick, soupy egg noodles dotted with pieces of chicken and veggies. This afternoon I'm adding rice to the rest of the soup base for a little variety.

It's not a real chicken soup recipe, because I don't start with a carcas. I started with one small finely diced onion, and sauteed it in oil until soft. Then I added a minced garlic clove, stirred it a little bit, then added 6 cups water and a heaping tablespoon of Better Than Bouillon. About 10 sliced baby carrots and 2 parsnips cut lengthwise in half and then in half-moons. The dark meat from a rotisserie chicken. Let that simmer for a while, about 30 minutes, then tasted it and added salt and pepper. At this point I put a lot of it into storage containers and refrigerated it, then added a couple handfuls of noodles to the rest. I found the broth got very concentrated, so I ended up adding water to taste. That stretches the soup even further.

Saturday was Todd's birthday, and I really wanted to come up with something that would make him pleased. August has decided that cupcakes and birthdays go hand in hand (every time we have cake we have to sing the birthday song), so I knew we needed some. And Todd likes toffee, so these cupcakes, from 125 Best Cupcake Recipes, were perfect. They're made with brown sugar and buttermilk and have pieces of chocolate with toffee bits throughout. Fortunately the cake's not too sweet; the toffee bits melt a bit for a burst of toasty, buttery sweetness. They're super-tender with a fine crumb, maybe from the buttermilk, and epitomize "cupcake" vs. "muffin."

Mix 1 cup flour with 1/2 teaspoon baking powder, 1/4 teaspoon baking soda and a pinch of salt. Then beat 3/4 cup packed brown sugar and 1/4 cup softened butter until well combined. Add 2 egg whites, 1 at a time, then alternately add the flour mixture (3 additions) and 2/3 cup buttermilk (2 additions). When it's smooth, mix in 2/3 cup toffee bits (I used a Lindt milk chocolate bar with toffee bits that I had chopped up). Bake in a 12-cup muffin tin in paper liners in a preheated 350 degree oven 20 to 25 minutes. Let cool for 10 minutes.

I made a whipped chocolate ganache for the frosting, but it was so intense that I prefered the cupcakes without. This would be good for a plain vanilla, though. It's from Baking Illustrated.

Heat 1/2 cup heavy cream to boiling, then pour over 4 ounces chopped chocolate or chocolate chips (I used Nestle Chocolatier and found the chocolate really benefitted from the richness of the cream) and stir until melted. Chill in fridge for 45 minutes, no more or less, then whip until fluffy. Frost right away, because if you re-refrigerate you end up with chocolate truffle filling. (Not a bad thing, but not what you're going for.)

I have actually had some requests for this strata recipe, so I better get on the ball with it. I skipped some steps because I threw it together while watching the Oscars, and since I don't have a TV in my kitchen that meant running into the kitchen during breaks to get done what I could. Still, it was easy to make, and no one missed the things I left out.

You need 8 cups of 1-inch bread cubes. The recipe I was using said 1/2 pound, but my 1/2 pound Italian loaf was no where near enough, and this is kind of horrifying: all I had besides sandwich loaf was a whole wheat bagel, so that's what I used to supplement my bread. No one noticed. I scattered half of the cubes in my 9 x 13-inch pan (you could use a deeper 3-quart casserole dish and make 3 layers instead of 2). Then I scattered over it half of a 10-oz box of frozen spinach that I had thawed and squeezed dry (the recipe I used directed me to saute an onion, then add the spinach, salt, pepper and nutmeg - I skipped this step and added the seasonings to the custard). Then I sprinkled 1 cup grated gruyere and 1/2 cup parmesan over the bread and spinach. Repeat bread, spinach and cheese layers.

Mix together 2 3/4 cup milk, 9 eggs, a teaspoon of Dijon mustard and some salt, pepper and nutmeg, then pour it over the bread. Cover and refrigerate overnight (up to 24 hours). In the morning, take the strata out of the fridge to let it come to room temperature, about 30 minutes, then bake in a 350 degree oven for around 50 minutes. Let sit for a few minutes, the cut and serve.