Passion Food

The Chocolate Bread Pudding Wars

Roasted Salmon with White Wine Sauce (Martha Stewart Everyday Food)
Steamed Fingerling Potatoes (Cooking, James Peterson)
Cauliflower Gratin (Barefoot in Paris, Ina Garten)
Chocolate Bread Pudding (Recipes, Susan Spungen)

The Story Behind It:
John loves chocolate bread pudding so last week I made him a large batch from a recipe in Dorie Greenspan’s Baking From My Home to Yours. Since I am not a bread pudding connoisseur myself, I asked John for his opinion. He said it was right on and he continued to eat the entire batch by himself over the course of the weekend. I normally would have been pleased and moved on to the next dessert, but as luck would have it I came across another recipe from Susan Spungen’s cookbook Recipes. The chocolate bread pudding recipes are similar, but Susan’s recipe seems to be a little more grown up, it includes brandy. So this weekend I am going to put Susan’s chocolate bread pudding to the John taste test and we’ll see which recipe wins the chocolate bread pudding war.

And not to worry, I am making dinner too – we’ll be having roasted salmon with white wine sauce, steamed fingerling potatoes and cauliflower gratin.

The Story About It:
Dorie’s recipe called for “staling” the bread in the oven for 10 minutes. Susan’s didn’t – but I thought Dorie had a good idea and so I took the extra step. I thought stale bread would encourage soaking up the custard.

I was well into making the custard for the bread pudding when I realized that we had no vanilla extract. I checked earlier in the week to make sure I had the brandy, (hey priorities!) but never thought to check for the vanilla. I feel like Dorie may already have an unfair advantage against Susan. Without the vanilla, I was worried about a potential problem with the custard and so just to be sure I decided to check for myself. A dunk of the bread put my fears to rest; it tasted delicious.

Now I wasn’t crazy about the baking dish I had – maybe not the right size? So while the bread soaked in the custard I went to the Sur La Table website and bought myself a gratin dish I’ve had my eye on. (Thanks Danny, Meghan & Melody for the gift certificate!).

In the end, I have to say that Susan’s chocolate bread pudding looks pretty amazing and it smells great too. But then again, I’m not the chocolate bread pudding expert so we’ll have to wait and see.   

John’s Side of the Story:
First of all dinner was very good. I told Marissa that since it was Blog night I was going to be very critical.  Her response was when am I not critical? This is true, but on Blog night I am even more critical and to know me is to love me. Let’s just say I am known for telling it how it is and that sometimes gets me in trouble. Most people only want to hear what they want to hear. Well enough about me, back to the food.

 
My first thought when I walked in the house was that the house smelled and not in a good way.  Everyone that knows me is aware that my sense of smell is frightening and sometimes it is annoying.  Needless to say this was due to the cauliflower, which I was not looking forward to eating because I didn’t want to end up on the bowl. But the cauliflower dish was very good.  All of the flavors were on spot and the bread crumb and cheese crunched up nicely on top. The salmon and potatoes were very good also. My one comment was on the white wine sauce. Although it was very flavorful, the wine flavor was a little too up front and not as subtle.

Now to dessert. Marissa decided not to break the bread up into pieces (like she did last week) and left the bread as a slice. Not good. This caused too much of a bread flavor and it took away from the chocolate-cake like sensation. The flavors were good, but no big difference from last week’s recipe for chocolate bread pudding. The key to this dessert is that it should appear like a piece of cake even though it is made from bread. Also it should not be mushy and custard like.  Therefore the bread pudding from last week was the chocolate bread pudding winner.

Well until next week happy eating!

Tortatini’s

Martinis
Homemade Cheese Tortellini with Marinara (Williams & Sonoma Mastering Pasta) 
Baked Chicken
Sautéed Spinach
Lemon Sorbet

The Story Behind It:
Well we’ve been in the grip of mastering homemade pasta for some time now and while the end of the pasta chapter is near, today’s plan is to give tortellini a try. What’s even more exciting is that Pete & Marilyn (Dad & Mom) are coming over with their pasta machine so I can show them the ropes in making homemade pasta (if only I were really that good). In my experience with making pasta so far I’ve realized that a recipe that says it will feed four or more may feed only two (I am sure this is my inexperience at the wheel) but just in case I am baking some chicken and doing a quick sautéed spinach to add to dinner.

With the four of us in the kitchen and John ready to make martinis to drink while we cook things are bound to get interesting. 

Note: Has anyone in the tri-state area realized that “due to low numbers of listeners” Smooth Jazz CD101.9 is now a rock station?! When I am not listening to Beatles music, I always have CD101.9 cranked in the kitchen. I’ve already complained to the station; come on people let’s see if we can bring it back!!!

The Story About It:
As soon as Mom and Dad walked through the door I put them to work.

First we made the dough.  I made a batch by hand and then Mom and Dad made a batch using the KitchenAid and a slightly different recipe. (In the end we couldn’t tell the difference.) While we let the dough rest we worked on an easy cheese filling and I put the chicken in the oven. Then we got cranking on making the dough.

Now that John and I have worked on pasta a few times the process went smoothly and more hands in the kitchen made the work go faster. Once the dough was rolled into sheets, Mom and I worked on filling the tortellini (at this point I poured myself martini).  Mom had the good idea of making a template, which I used to measure out the squares (Dad also suggested getting a square cookie cutter for the next time). I would cut, Mom would fill.

In the end we had three full trays of tortellini. And John was sure to clean up.

As Mom cooked the tortellini, I sautéed the spinach and finished it will a little lemon juice. I was really pleased with the outcome of the tortellini, it was incredibly light and the cheese filling was flavorful without becoming heavy. My only concern was that compared to pre-made tortellini ours were a little floppy, but this may be the difference between what you make at home and what you buy in the store.  I served the tortellini tossed with marinara sauce as a side to the chicken and spinach.

For dessert we had lemon sorbet and Mom’s famous cookies.

Their Side of the Story:
Teamwork, teamwork that’s the secret behind great pasta!  With Pete and John working the machines and cranking out ribbons of thin, thin pasta sheets and Marissa and I cutting, filling and twisting , we made three trays full of tortellini. Of course, sipping a good martini as we went along added to the family pasta bonding! And now to the eating: in a word, they were GREAT!!  Small, delicate and very light with a savory cheese filling and a sauce that complimented not overpowered the pasta. The chicken and sautéed spinach rounded off a very fine meal. Bravo Marissa!

Who Takes the Cake?

The Story Behind It:

Every year our nephew JT asks Uncle Johnny to make him a carrot cake for his birthday. John is always happy to tackle the task and he always makes a terrific cake… from the box. Now cooking from the box or the can or whatever you want to crack open is usually not the way I cook, but I’m not making any judgments. However, one year I couldn’t help it and I put John and JT to the test.

I proposed I would make a carrot cake, from scratch with cream cheese frosting from scratch and John would make his traditional boxed cake. Then we would blindfold JT and make him take a taste test. And so the preparation began. I grated my carrots and John opened his box. I creamed the cream cheese with confectioners’ sugar and John opened his can of icing.

And so in the end who did the birthday boy pick as the winner of the carrot cake challenge? Uncle Johnny. But I’m not bitter, every each I help myself to a piece of John’s cake and think about when we’ll have a rematch.

Happy birthday JT!!

I usually make these cupcakes for my sister-in-law Michele on Easter.

Carrot Cake Cupcakes
(makes 22 cupcakes)

Cupcakes:
2 cups granulated sugar
1 1/3 cups vegetable oil
3 extra-large eggs at room temperature
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
2 cups all-purpose flour plus 1 tablespoon
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 ½ teaspoons kosher salt
1 pound carrots, grated
1 cup raisins
1 cup chopped walnuts

Frosting:
¾ lb. cream cheese @ room temperature
½ lb. unsalted butter @ room temperature
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1 lb. confectioners’ sugar, sifted

1. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Line muffin tins with paper liners.

2. Beat the sugar, oil and eggs together in the bowl on an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment until light yellow. Add the vanilla. In another bowl, sift together 2 cups of flour, the cinnamon, baking soda and salt.

3. Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients. Toss the carrots, raisins, and walnuts with 1 tablespoon of flour. Add to the batter and mix well.

4. Scoop the batter into the muffin cups until each is almost full. Bake for 10 minutes, then lower the oven to 350 degrees and bake for 35 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean. Let cool on a wire rack.

5. For the frosting, mix the cream cheese, butter, and vanilla in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment until just combined. Add the sugar and mix until smooth.

6. When the cupcakes are cool, frost them generously. I usually toss some sprinkles on them too!