Vanilla Cream Pudding

Welllll, I set out to make Vanilla Cream Pie two days ago, but soon realized that my granny would be over for and finished with supper long before the pie would have a chance to set up in the fridge, so I modified my plan. I would freeze the crust, save it for another day, and we would have pudding alone for dessert. And that, by gosh by golly, is what we did.

This was my debut at making pudding from scratch all on my lonesome (though I have helped my Grandmother Hill with her butterscotch pudding many a time), and I would say it was most certainly a success. My biggest concern as I started out was that it would lack the smoothness that I have come to expect from pudding, and that is easy to achieve with the Jell-O Packs. This was apparently unfounded, for my mother, who has become intent upon my quoting her on this blog of mine, remarked after tasting it, “Smooth, smooth, smooth,” and then, “I could eat this ’til I die.” Its nearly perfect texture I credit entirely to the magic cookbook whence came the recipe, fast becoming my standby, The New Best Recipe, which hasn’t failed me yet. I HIGHLY recommend.

But it must be said that however deliciously this pudding turned out (however far this pud from dud… hohoho), I think it would be greatly improved by a crust, and the one in the magic book, I can vouch is a very tasty one– but be sure to start on it early and watch your clock because unlike most crust recipes I’ve tried, this one involves a lot of fridge and freezer time (to prevent shrinkage in the oven).

The End.

New Year’s Mousse

Though it pains me to say it, I neglected to take any pictures of the chocolate mousse I made for our New Year’s Eve celebration, but I figure it still deserves an entry on the ol’ bloggerama.

Last summer, I had occasion to spend some time with a French family, the mother of which was famous for her exceptional chocolate mousse, which, it turns out, was very basic: eggs and chocolate. She inspired me to try the task myself. The recipe I used was quite a bit more complicated and came from my newest cookbook acquisition, The New Best Recipe, which some friends gave me to help with this project. From the editors of Cook’s Illustrated magazine, this book is the result of truly extensive testing and tasting. Their goal: to find the very best recipes of American home cooking, even if it takes them fifty tries on every dish to get there. The stories accompanying each recipe are a culinary education in themselves and have been of real interest to me in my cooking undertakings.

Based on these readings and my faint memory of Sylvie’s mousse, the inclusion of more ingredients such as butter or cream tends to make the mousse more buttery or creamy. SURPRISE! Although I suppose this complicates the palate’s experience and could distract from the choco-focus, I have always been a fan of the extreamely creamy. In any case, it seems it is a personal choice.

My other big question on the chocolate mousse front was about the use of raw eggs. According to The New Best Recipe, to heat the eggs to a high enough temperature as to kill the potentially dangerous bacteria would be to cook them, and thus, they suggest that if you are really worried, you should avoid any situation in which you might be required to make chocolate mousse at all. It was a risk I decided I was willing to take.

The mousse was a big hit, although for me, and a couple others, a full serving of it was a bit more than my stomach could handle after an already big meal. That may have been timing more than anything else, but I did consider the possibility of next time involving more whipped cream in the equation, as the book suggested. This would definitely make it creamier, and a bit less chocolaty. But whether easier for the stomach or not, I can’t yet tell.

And that’s the news from Lake Woebegone.

Endeavor No. 1- Pear, Goat Cheese, and Onion Tart

A few days ago, I was stricken with the inspiration to create as my first culinary masterpiece a savory something of my own invention: A Pear-and-Goat Cheese Tart with Caramelized Onions. I happened upon this whim because these items were in my refrigerator, and we (my mother and I) needed something to bring to some friends’ house for dinner. In the end, with a lot of help from my mom, it was a highly successful and fairly brief undertaking. As I am new at recipe-creation, I did a very poor job of noting the specifics of ingredient quantities and cooking times, and for this I do apologize. I will try my very best to make accurate estimations. Here it is, my very first recipe:

Ingredients:

Crust:

• one cup, plus one tablespoon flour
• one stick, minus one tablespoon frozen butter
• a couple of large handfuls of extra sharp cheddar cheese
• a little water

Filling:

• approximately one cup of chopped pears, cooked until a little brown outside, and tender but not mushy
• about half an onion, preferably red, caramelized.
• 4 or 5 or maybe more oz. goat cheese, cut into small chunks
• a small handful of freshly grated, or shredded Parmesan cheese
• fresh ground pepper
• a few sprigs of fresh thyme (which we didn’t include originally, but which Mrs. Sheila Kelly later suggested )
• cream or half-and-half to brush over the crust

Directions:

Crust:

Note: This would likely work with any other pie crust recipe, as long as the cheddar is incorporated well.

1. Cut the frozen butter into half-tablespoon sized chunks, place in food processor with metal blade attachment.
2. Add flour and process until the sound becomes uniform and no longer clunky, or until contents resemble small-pea-sized bits of butter coated in flour or have an oatmeal-like consistency. (Listen well– do not over-process, as this will make the crust hard rather than flaky.)
3. Add cheese, then while running the food processor, add water in a small stream a little at a time until dough begins to clump and ball up. Very little water is needed, maybe between 1/8 and 1/4 cup.
4. Roll into uniform circle on well-floured countertop; thickness is less important than diameter, which will vary depending upon the size of your pie pan, but should be about 12 in. for a 8-9 in. pan. Transfer rolled crust into pie pan, letting excess hang evenly over the edge.

Assembly and Baking:

1. Spread onions over the pie crust, then adding the pears, Parmesan, and goat cheese. Sprinkle pepper and thyme to taste.
2. Fold crust over the contents of the tart, so that the fold occurs approximately where the pie plate begins to slope upward. The crust will not meet in the middle, and the result will be what looks like an oculus in the center of the tart. Brush cream or half-and-half over the exposed crust.
3. Bake in a 375° oven until top is golden. Serve warm. 6-8 servings.