Cookbook Club - review and new pick

Charlie and I spent last weekend in New York traipsing around the city and joining friends for a wedding celebration.  We had a glorious time and enjoyed delicious food that ran the gamut from French bistro fare at Les Halles to oversized slices of street corner pizza in the village.  In between we also had Asian fusion at Shi in Long Island City, moussaka and octopus salad at Opa Souvlaki, peach and pistachio gelato in Little Italy, and the most decadent tri-chocolate mousse you can imagine at French Roast.  We're talking about going back this fall, and when we do I'm going to eat my way through the whole city.  

Here are a few food-related pictures from the trip.

Opa Souvlaki's outdoor dining area

Greasy New York pizza -- a perfect dinner

Candlelit tri-chocolate mousse

And now for a cookbook review.  Last month's Cookbook Club pick was Martha Stewart's Cooking School: Lessons and Recipes for the Home Cook.  My book club picked this because we believed it would be accessible for everyone in the group and would offer inspiration for weeknight dinners.  That didn't work out quite as planned.  While this is certainly a worthwhile volume for a cookbook collection it did not serve me well as a go-to for inspiration.  Instead it offers a wealth of information on technique, including full-color step-by-step photographs for a number of operations.  So, while I'm glad to own this cookbook, I don't think it's the best cookbook club pick we could have made.  I give the cookbook itself four stars, but as a cookbook club pick it gets only three.  Some of the dishes I cooked from this cookbook include: profiteroles, spatchcocked chicken, and herbed rosti with wild mushrooms.  Charlie also tried out the chocolate cupcakes, buttercream frosting, and french fries.  The profiterole recipe is definitely a keeper, and I'm sure I'll try a few other things from this book in the coming months.

 

I'm super excited about this month's pick, 1080 Recipes by Simone and Ines Ortega.   It's a collection of Spanish recipes and includes the loveliest hand-drawn illustrations.  Dozens of ingredients are spotlighted and include information regarding seasonality, proper storage, and suggested food pairings.  This book is a monster and, I believe, has a little something for everyone.  I've already enjoyed flipping through and bookmarking a handful of recipes.  Last night I cooked a little something out of the new pick, and it was interesting and tasty with a twist I wouldn't have come up with on my own.  I love it when that happens.  :)  I have a feeling this one's going to really going to be spot-on for a cookbook club pick.  

Spatchcocking a Chicken or How to Crash and Burn

This week's theme for girls night was Grills Gone Wild!  Yes, that's right. My friend Gabi had everyone over, and we grilled out on her rooftop swimming pool deck that overlooks the city. It was beautiful!

I decided to take a brined spatchcocked chicken to grill and checked this month's cookbook club pick (Martha Stewart's Cooking School) for instruction.  Brining sounded difficult but proved to be very simple.  Preparing the chicken (I refuse to say dispatching the cock, which is technically accurate) was also a snap.  Everything went super well until I got to the actual grilling part.  I'm a lousy griller.  I can use my indoor grill pan like a pro, but real grills freak me out, and I never feel confident using them.  In this case I was reminded of why I should not be confident when grilling. 

But...back to brining.  Brining is done to keep the chicken juicy and tender.   A very simple brine can be made of only salt, sugar, and water, and that will work, but what not spice it up a little?  I used the brine suggested by M.S. and was not disappointed.

For brine:

finely grated zest of one orange

finely grated zest of one lemon

3 Tablespoons sugar

1/2 cup coarse salt

2 teaspoons whole black peppercorns

2 garlic cloves, crushed and peeled

4 cups water

4 cups ice cubes

Place all ingredients except ice cubes in a large stock pot and heat, stirring occasionally, until sugar and salt have completely dissolved.  Remove from heat, add ice cubes, and stir until completely cooled.  

 

Not a beautiful picture but that's what it looks like!  Also, it smells pretty great.  If you can handle that then you can brine.  Now you need a spatchcocked chicken.

How to spatchcock a chicken:

Place the chicken on a clean work surface, breast side down.  Use kitchen shears (make sure they're sharp!) to cut along both sides of the backbone and remove it.

Flip the chicken over and press firmly to flatten.  

And...that's it.  So far everything was going really well.  I had brine.  I had a spatchcocked chicken.  Great!  Let's keep going.

As directed, I submerged the chicken in the brine, breast side down.  The chicken should stay in the brine for at least one hour but no more than three.  Any less than an hour and it won't have enough time to do its thing.  Any longer than three and the texture of the chicken can become unpleasant.  I put the brine and the chicken in a portable container and set out for Gabi's beautiful apartment.  Once there we heated up the grill and plopped it on, breast side down.  I then drizzled a citrus glaze (1/4 cup honey, 3 Tbsp orange juice, 3 Tbsp lemon juice beat together) on top.  It smelled great!

A few minutes later I opened the grill to check on it and...

it was sort of on fire.  Bummer.  This picture was taken after we put out the fire and flipped it over.

So, after flipping it we closed the grill top again and waited another 20 minutes.  The grill hissed a little as the glaze dripped off the chicken, but after a few minutes it was silent.  Of course I didn't notice that it wasn't making any sound because I was gabbing with my friends.  The twenty minutes passed, and I checked on the chicken only to discover that the grill was no longer on because somewhere along the line it ran out of fuel.  

I have no idea how to change the gas tank on a grill, and, frankly, I don't care to learn.  Fortunately, there were other people around who do know how to do those sorts of things and ten minutes later we were back in business.  I had no idea how long the grill worked before running out of fuel so I decided to cook the chicken for another ten minutes and call it a day.

After ten minutes I took it off and cut into the brined, glazed, spatchcocked, blackened chicken to make sure it was cooked through.  Of course by now the sun had set and I had only the light of a tea light candle and the warm glow of my iPhone.   It looked like it was probably cooked.  Maybe.  Really, I have no idea.  

The girls discussed and decided it was probably cooked.  We cut it up, passed it around, and everyone marveled at how tender and juicy it was.  Everyone agreed that it had been on the grill for awhile and it was probably fully cooked.  Surely it was so tender because of that wonderful brine!   

It did have a nice flavor, and no one got sick so I must assume I did alright.  Still, not exactly a success story.

There's nothing quite like thinking you might be serving your friends raw chicken.  I really need to work on this grilling-out thing.

Profiteroles

Keeping with the cookbook club plan, I decided to make profiteroles last weekend.  Profiteroles are nothing more than cream puffs.  I just like the slightly fancier name.  :)  

This was not a particularly difficult undertaking, but it did take several hours to make the cream puffs.  Also, the mastery of a few (simple) techniques is necessary to make it a smooth and enjoyable process.  It was definitely worth all of the trouble.  I ended up with beautiful puffs full of a satiny, not-too-sweet vanilla cream. 

Before even thinking about the pastry, pastry cream must be made.  Pastry cream can be used in a variety of confections including eclairs, napoleons, and cream pies.  I'm sorry to say it's also delicious on it's own, and I couldn't keep my fingers out of it.

Pastry Cream

ingredients:

2 cups whole milk

1/2 cup sugar

1/2 vanilla bean, split lengthwise and seeds scraped

pinch of salt

3 large egg yolks

3 Tbsp plus 1 1/2 tsp cornstarch

2 Tbsp unsalted butter, cut into small pieces

1/2 tsp vanilla extract

Bring the milk, 1/4 cup sugar, vanilla seeds, and salt to a simmer in a saucepan over medium heat, whisking to disperse seeds.

Whisk egg yolks and remaining 1/4 cup sugar in a medium bowl.  Whisk in cornstarch, 1 Tablespoon at a time.  

 

Ladle 1/2 cup hot-milk mixture into yolk mixture, whisking.  Add remaining milk mixture, 1/2 cup at a time.  This process is called tempering and is very important.  If you simply add the eggs to the warm liquid they will curdle, and you will have to start over.  By slowly adding the warm liquid to the eggs and whisking constantly you will end up with a smooth mixture with no lumps.

Pour mixture into pan, and heat over medium-high, whisking constantly, until mixture comes to a full boil and is thick enough to hold its shape when lifted with a spoon, about 2 minutes.  

Stir in butter and vanilla extract.  Remove from heat and pour mixture into a bowl; place plastic wrap directly on surface to prevent a skin from forming.  Refrigerate until cold, at least two hours (or up to two days).

I, being me, forgot to make sure I had enough cornstarch before I was halfway through the recipe.  Rookie mistake!  I had approximately 2 Tbsp of cornstarch, and I used all-purpose flour to make up the rest.  It's the starch that's important so this will work, but it's much easier to deal with cornstarch and it produces a much silkier texture.  Just the same, if you end up in a similar predicament you can use all-purpose flour, but you must take extra care with the whisking. 

Let me repeat one thing: pastry cream is delicious on its own!  Make this while others are around, or you may find yourself licking the bowl.  Consider yourself warned!

So, now you have the pastry cream, and it's time to work on the actual profiteroles!  This is where the fun really begins because cream puffs are made of pate a choux.  Pate a choux refers to a type of dough that is cooked on the stove.  When baked, it puffs up and creates a little pocket inside which is ideal for filling with cream, chocolate, or any number of other yummy, gooey things.  It's a lot of fun to work with and isn't to make as it at first appears.

Cream Puffs

ingredients:

1 cup water

1/2 cup unsalted butter

1 tsp granulated sugar

1/2 tsp table salt

1 cup all-purpose flour

4 to 5 large eggs

1 large egg

1 Tbsp water

1/3 cup heavy cream

1 recipe pastry cream (see above)

confectioners' sugar (optional)

*Note the breaks between the ingredients.  The first set will be be used for the pate a choux.  The remaining ingredients will be used for the rest of the recipe.

Heat oven to 400 degrees F.  Line two baking sheets with nonstick baking mats (such as Silpat).

Combine the water, butter, sugar, and salt in a medium saucepan over medium-high heat.  Bring to a boil, and immediately remove from heat.  

Using a wooden spoon, stir in the flour. 

When flour is combined, return to heat.  Dry the mixture by stirring constantly over heat until it pulls away from the sides and a film forms on the bottom of the pan, about 4 minutes, maybe a little less.  (At this stage it reminds me of homemade playdough.)

Transfer the mixture to the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment and mix on low speed, about 2 minutes, until slightly cooled.  

Add eggs, one at a time, on medium speed, letting each one incorporate completely before adding the next.  Test the batter by touching it with a flexible spatula or your finger, then lifting.  It should form a string.  If the string does not form, lightly beat the last egg and add it, a teaspoon at a time, until the batter is smooth and shiny.  If you have added all the egg and the batter still doesn't form a string, add water, 1 teaspoon at a time, until it does.

Fill a pastry bag fitted with a plain round 3/4-inch tip with pate a choux, and pipe 1 1/2 inch rounds onto baking sheets.  

**NOTE: I hate using pastry bags.  They are such a pain to clean, and I don't really use them often enough for it to matter if I keep one around.  Instead, I use a gallon ziplock bag.  Just snip off the corner and fit the coupler and pastry tip on the end just as you would with a pastry bag.  Then when you're finished just toss the ziplock in the trash.  Be sure to save the coupler and pastry tip!  

Beat together egg and the water; use your fingertips to rub egg wash over entire surface, being careful not to let it drip onto the baking sheet, and flatten tips.

Cover one sheet with lightly oiled plastic wrap, and place in refrigerator.  Bake the other sheet 15 minutes; reduce the oven heat to 350 degrees F.  Bake about 20 minutes more, or until puffs are golden brown.  

Transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.  Return oven heat to 400 degrees F, and repeat process for remaining batch.

Whip heavy cream to medium peaks in a small bowl.  Stir pastry cream to soften.  Add whipped cream to pastry cream in two batches, folding to combine after each.  

Fill a pastry bag (or ziplock!) fitted with a coupler and plain round tip.  Insert tip into the underside of each cream puff, and fill.  (I found that when I filled the pastries from the bottom they leaked a little so after a few puffs I began filling them from the side.  It creates a slightly more rugged look, but they are easier to manage, and they still look great!)

 Cool completely before dusting with confectioners' sugar, as desired.

Store any leftover (ha!) cream puffs in the refrigerator.

Voila!  Homemade profiteroles!  I just loved making these, and I was very pleased with the finished result.  I served them with brunch, and they looked lovely piled on a cake stand in the center of the table.  And they taste so good!

Herbed Rosti with Wild Mushrooms

So...the picture doesn't do it justice. I made a rosti the other day, and it was splendid...earthy and texturally interesting. But wait! I'm getting ahead of myself; let me back up a little.

**NOTE: I'm drinking sweet tea vodka lemonade while writing this so if it goes a little haywire, well, what can I say?!

A girl friend of mine recently suggested the formation of a cookbook club, and several friends (including me) jumped on the idea. Our first pick is Martha Stewart's Cooking School. For the next month everyone who is participating in the cookbook club is supposed to cook from the selection as much as possible. At the end of the month we will meet, discuss what we cooked, and bring a dish we've prepared (from the cookbook) to share. Sounds like fun to me!

I've tried a few things from the cookbook, including this rosti. Honestly, I had never even heard of a rosti until I flipped through the book, found a picture of one, and said "Hey! That looks tasty!". I have since learned that a rosti is a German/Swiss dish consisting primarily of potatoes that are shredded and pan-fried. In a nutshell, it's a giant latke. Mmmmm...

Without further ado, here is the recipe with pictures and commentary:

Herbed Rosti with Wild Mushrooms

Ingredients:

2 large russet potatoes (about 1 1/4 lbs)

1/2 small leek, while and pale green parts only, washed and cut into julienne

1 tsp finely chopped fresh thyme leaves

coarse salt and freshly ground black pepper

2 Tbsp unsalted butter

2 Tbsp olive oil

2 Tbsp unsalted butter

1/2 small leek, while and pale green parts only, cut into julienne and washed

4 oz fresh chanterelles, wiped clean (halved if large)

1/4 cup chicken stock

2 oz fresh goat cheese, softened

Heat oven to 400 degrees F. Peel potatoes and grate on the large holes of a box grater. Soak in water to cover for five minutes. Lift out with your hands, and squeezed out liquid, then squeeze out excess liquid in a clean kitchen towel or paper towels. You should have three cups potatoes.

Toss together the potato, leek, and thyme, and season with 3/4 tsp salt and 1/4 tsp pepper.

Melt 1 Tbsp each butter and olive oil in a 10-inch ovenproof pan over medium-high heat, swirling to coat evenly. Add potato mixture, and cook, pressing down lightly with a large spatula, until bottom is golden and releases easily from pan, about 4 minutes.

Invert rosti onto a plate. Add remaining 1 Tbsp each butter and oil and swirl to coat pan. Carefully slide rosti back into pan uncooked side down and cook until starting to brown underneath, about 3 minutes.

Transfer to oven and cook until deep golden brown and cooked through (it should offer no resistance when pierced in the center with the tip of a paring knife), 12 to 15 minutes.

Meanwhile, saute mushrooms. Melt the butter in a medium skillet over medium-high heat. Cook leek until translucent, stirring, about 1 minute. Add chantererlles, season with salt and pepper, and saute until golden, about 3 minutes.

Stir in stock and cook until reduced and slightly thickened and the mushrooms have softened, 2 to 3 minutes.

Slide baked rosti out of pan onto a serving platter. Spoon dollops of goat cheese in center of rosti and spoon mushroom mixture over top.


Cut into wedges and serve immediately.

I served the completed rosti with baked flounder (tossed with a little lemon juice, paprika, salt, and cayenne pepper) and a green salad (spinach, Belgian endive, Bibb lettuce) with blueberries, sunflower seeds, and a honey-lemon vinaigrette (pictured below).

The rosti was delicious. The actual potato pancake was crispy on the outside with a tender inside, and the leeks added a quiet sweetness. The goat cheese and mushrooms brought out a woodsy quality that grounded the dish. Adding a salad with nuts (well, seeds) and berries added to the earthy quality of the meal. Mmmm...I could eat this every night!