Sunday, December 19, 2010

Baker mushes things together in an effort to take up an activity that isn't baking and that will please her mother

So the Baker and non-baker's mother's birthday is tomorrow. And the Baker, because she is the nice and adoring daughter that she is, who wants to limit her intake of whatever dessert is present for said birthday, decided to make her mother a special birthday treat. A chocolate one, of course. So, she and her father whipped up (almost literally), Bailey's Chocolate Mousse. (Nicely enough, the part where she was making something different from what she usually makes means that she was willing to rely on a recipe with exact measurements. However, in classic Baker tradition, this did not stop her from making the recipe in 2/3rds proportions, since that was how much heavy cream she bought at the store.) See the pictures below.

First they took 3 eggs and sugar (see amount in recipe, the Baker, when recollecting recipes, makes no note of such unimportant things) and mixed them together, put them in a metal bowl over simmering water, continuously mixing until it reached 160 degrees Fahrenheit.

Then they took it off the heat, and for about 10 minutes, whipped it together.

While it was cooling, they melted 2/3s of 12oz semi-sweet chocolate in the microwave.

Then they mixed the Baileys with the heavy whipping cream and whipped it until it small peaks began to form.

Then the chocolate was ready (and lukewarm.) They folded the chocolate into the egg/sugar mixture.
Afterwards they folded in a little bit of the cream mixture at a time with the chocolate.
And they folded it til it was blended. Then they covered them and put them in the refrigerator to chill overnight.



Tuesday, December 7, 2010

Baker, non-baker and birthday girl go out for birthday girl's birthday dinner

So recently the Baker and non-baker's parents decided to visit them again. And, they realized that, though they usually took birthday girl, one of the non-baker's roommates, out for her birthday, that they had not done so this year. And with that the Baker and non-baker's parents had the perfect excuse to try out a new restaurant, Girl and the Goat.

Once at the restaurant, the non-baker and birthday girl decided to order drinks. They ordered a dark and stormy and a some other gin and lime based cocktail.
And, once the Baker arrived, the party began to order food (despite the fact that the restaurant was incredibly full and they ended up eating in the lounge section.) First came the rye bread. It was accompanied by house thousand island and a cheese-mustard spread. The thousand island was good, but the cheese-mustard spread was amazing. Since they were all hungry they began eating immediately, and, once they started it was hard to stop since the bread was so tasty.
Next came a complimentary dish, the hiramasa crudo with crispy pieces of pork belly, aji aioli and caperberries. While it was difficult to get all of the components of the dish together, the taste was worth the trouble of doing so.
Next came a shaved kohlrabi salad with fennel, evalon, toasted slices of almond and ginger dressing. (Yum!)
And then roasted cauliflower with pickled peppers, pine nuts and mint. It was delicious, though to be fair, the Baker and non-baker had mainly ordered it because the people sitting next to them, the Sandwich Couple, had gushed about this particular item moments before insisting that the Baker, non-baker and birthday girl try the squash ravioli that the Sandwich Couple had ordered. And boy, were the Sandwich couple right. The roasted cauliflower was fantastic.
And then, though the Sandwich Couple had not particularly recommended it, came the goat pizza. Not goat cheese pizza. Goat pizza. Specifically, a smoked goat pizza with apple soffritto, black kale, ricotta and cipollini.
They also ordered seared scallops with pumpkin brandade, pecans, fried brussels sprouts (which were surprising and astoundingly delicious), tarragon and pomegranate.
And then they ordered more bread, stocca this time, and it was just as good as the first. It came with roasted garlic and white anchovy butter to spread on it, though the Baker, non-baker and Birthday girl continued to use the condiments from the first bread.
But then, of course, it was time for the cheese course. Birthday girl picked out the cheese. She chose one cheddar, one goat cheese. They were served with flatbread, crackers, beets, and onions with mustard (a combination that the non-baker is itching to try her hands at.)
And, of course, since it was Birthday Girl's birthday, they got dessert. The dessert, delivered with a candle, was a dark chocolate salt brownie, served on a toffee crème fraiche with a shitake gelato (which, though it sounded odd, was possibly the high point of the meal.) The flavors were fantastic and crisp and the use of salt made the Baker, in particular, exceedingly happy.
Overall, the restaurant was a fantastic choice for Birthday Girl's birthday dinner. While busy, the restaurant was nice and the Baker, non-baker and Birthday Girl also enjoyed meeting and talking with the Sandwich Couple. The flavors were incredible, if unconventional.

Saturday, December 4, 2010

The non-baker's easy sweets snack (aka homemade nutella)

So, occasionally, though she doesn't tend to like to admit it, the non-baker doesn't feel like cooking or baking but wants something dessert-ish and sweet. When this happens, she makes what most people would call homemade nutella. (She doesn't really have a name for it.) How do you make this wonderful and simple treat?

Simple. All you need is the following:
however many semisweet chocolate chips you want (not so dark that they won't melt well, but if they're milk they won't contrast as well)
A microwave safe bowl
Nut butter of some sort (the non-baker generally uses peanut, but has recently rediscovered the joys of almond butter)
And a chopstick or small spoon

As for instructions:
Pour the chocolate chips into the microwave bowl
Microwave the bowl in 15 second intervals, pulling the bowl out and stirring it between intervals until the chocolate has melted
When the chocolate has melted, add nut butter to taste (generally, around 1/3 of the amount of chocolate works well)
Mix well and serve- either plain (thus the spoon), or with something else

It's not a huge discovery of a recipe, but it's delicious. And, if you want to make something with a texture that's a bit more of a ganache, add a little bit of water to the chocolate when you melt it.