Category: Fall

Kale and Brussels sprout salad

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Kale and Brussels sprout salad / Salade de chou frisé et de choux de Bruxelles

I’ve been making this salad for a few years by now after seeing it on a Bon Appétit site. It never fails to receive compliments, and friends often request that I bring it to dinner parties at Thanksgiving and Christmas. It is a bright, crisp, crunchy salad that contrasts well with braised or grilled meats and cooked vegetables. If you do not enjoy the taste of Brussels sprouts, fear not. Raw, young sprouts do not have the same flavor profile as when cooked.

The salad is not the only handmade thing appearing on today’s blog. I made the salad bowl (top left) for my mother 50 years ago – in 7th grade shop class.

I normally use our food processor to make this salad in order to “be quick about it.” However, today, to honor my daughter (again) who constantly advocates for muscle power in the kitchen instead of electricity whenever possible, I use a chef’s knife for this task and so can you.

Meditation on knife over “robot” (French for food processor). The decision to use no power tools has an immediate impact on one’s environment both internal and external. Yes, it will take longer to make the salad. No, this task is not strenuous (like making mayonnaise or whipped cream by hand can be). But more importantly, your world becomes quieter. If you can “let go” of time for a bit and focus on the simple tasks in your hands, you may discover a sense of peacefulness and the pleasure of your handiwork. To this recipe for working in peace, I added one more element – I turned off the kitchen lights and was able to work easily in the sunlight coming through the windows. A poor man would probably get a chuckle out of all this “talk”. After all, he is not in a position to make such decisions. Oh, just to keep it real and simple: 1) I would suggest to not play music while you work. Sing or hum a tune instead, 2) Enjoy renewed attention to your sense of smell too, the garlic, the lemon and the parmesan cheese when you grate it.

INGREDIENTS (All as fresh as possible. No precise quantities given. Watch the video below and judge how you might do this for yourself or your family.)

  • Kale : strip leaves from stem and chop as desired
  • Brussels sprouts: remove stem and chop as desired
  • Garlic: peel and mince
  • Lemon (zest and juice; one or two according to taste)
  • Parmesan cheese: finely shredded but not powdered (avoid buying pre-shredded)
  • Almonds (toasted and roughly chopped; used sliced almonds here since that’s what was in the cupboard)
  • Olive oil: use your judgement on quantity creating the consistency that you like
  • Salt and pepper (freshly ground; to taste)
9 ingrédients – 2 mains – 1 couteau

Tarte au Boudin noir

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Farm to table comfort food

I spend a good bit of time looking for French comfort food recipes that can come from a small farm and find a place on the table near the fireplace. This is one such dish, Boudin noir. Traditionally, boudin noir (blood sausage) is served warm with sautéed or roasted apples. Happily, we have a number of apple trees on the farm to help us bring this dish to the table. I owe the presentation of this “boudin pie” to Bruno Albouze, a talented chef you can find on YouTube whom I highly recommend.

Leftovers – the gift that keeps on giving.

Why this dish now? Well, chef Albouze had just recently published his “Blood Sausage Roasted Apple Pie” (Ça va, chef, si je traduis le titre en français?), so it was on my mind. Then “low and behold”, I opened our fridge and, to my surprise, we had almost everything on hand ready to go for this recipe. I had some unused pie crust in the freezer, some leftover caramelized onions from a hamburger party, a few Granny Smith apples that were part of a cole slaw recipe and three pears . Oh, “what’s that in the back of the fridge?” Boudin noir? Where did that come from? Not sure. But I knew I had to ask permission to use it from this family’s true chef, my wife. Permission granted. So I got busy.

Le rassemblement

What do to?

  1. Pie crust – Made. I needed to thaw it, shape it in the pan, put it back in the freezer for a few minutes, then bake it (blind bake, 20 minutes, then uncovered 10 minutes at 350 F).
  2. Caramalized onions – Made. Just pull from the fridge.
  3. Compote- Oops, chef! I did not have enough apples for the apple compote AND the apples on top of the pie. Sooooooo, I made a pear compote instead “because they were there” and because I was convinced that the Poire-Williams Eau de vie in the cupboard would bring a flavor that would marry well with this complex set of flavors and textures – and I was right!
  4. Potato prep – As directed by Chef Albouze and recommended by the late Joël Robuchon, I boiled them with skin on beginning in cold, salted water. Peel. Slice. Done.
  5. Sautéed apples – peel, core, slice (6 per apple), sauter in duck fat. Oh. I failed to mention that I had some duck fat on hand too. Sorry, it almost feels like cheating. What to do if you don’t have or can’t find duck fat? Not sure. I am inclined to say “sauter in clarified butter”. I did so for a Christmas meal – and it was very, very yum.
  6. Gastric sauce — a finishing touch that has a great effect on this dish. Please watch the Albouze video for that one.

A few pictures of the process follow…

Crust plus caramelized onions
Pear compote with Eau de vie
Apple, potato, sausage, repeat (as artfully as possible)
Fresh out of the oven (basted once with some melted butter)
Ready to enjoy with a lovely salad and some mulled wine for a mid-winter treat.

#70 Caramel Apple Pecan Cheesecake

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“Every Thanksgiving at Allysa’s cousin Polly’s house they used to gather the evening before to do the holiday baking, and every year Allysa was called upon to create a new cheesecake. This is a recent year’s recipe, and it was loved by all.“

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RECIPE LINK

I was asked to bake something for a special meeting of foreign language teachers from our school and another nearby expatriate school.

I decided it was time to try my hand at a cheesecake. I had never baked one in my life. Wisdom dictates to do something you’re good at for such occasions and not to try new things. I defied wisdom, once again, and was modestly successful.

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Looks pretty good. Details discussed below.

DETOURS and DISAPPOINTMENTS: Having defied conventional wisdom, I decided to go whole hog – no, I didn’t add pork. “Whole hog” is an expression for “all the way”, but you CAN visualize it. See!?

whole hog

DETOUR #1 and a disappointment: The crust. OK. I was in a metrics mood that morning. I was thinking, “In the future I’m not gonna fiddle with tablespoons, sticks, and ounces anymore. It’s gonna be grams and milliliters.” So, like a good scientific baker, I used a pastry recipe for the crust that measured things in grams. I must add, that I didn’t like the flour-butter-brown sugar recipe proposed by Magnolia from the start. I had never heard of such for a cheesecake – and this was gonna be my FIRST cheesecake. Well, anyhooo, it turned out kind of how I’d imagined it – flour-y, close to a regular American pie crust. I will never use this recipe for a cheesecake again. To make matter worse, and to take blame for a crust that nobody wanted to eat, I did NOT do a good job forming the crust in the pan. It was too thick, especially at the edge where the bottom and sides meet.

DETOUR #2 not a disappointment: The filling. It turned out FABULOUS. I’d like to make a new word at this point fusing FLUFFY and FABULOUS, but FLUBULOUS doesn’t work. It was NOT a flub. I also don’t want to coin the word “FLABULOUS” because no one would want to eat the cake thinking of all that flab they would be creating around their tummies. So I’ll just leave it at FLUFFY and FABULOUS. But why? After all, I made a detour from the experts. OK. Here’s the detour – The recipe called for 1 pound of cream cheese. I had 1/2 pound of cream cheese and 1/2 pound of “cream cheese spread”. The spread is the same cheese but fluffed up with air. Well, I ended up with a TALL, FLUFFY cheesecake which is something I’d always wanted to make. Philadelphia Cream Cheese comes in flavored, spreadable forms nowadays that might serve well a number of confectionery creations in your kitchen. So, success on this issue — and it seems to be the issue that most people (including myself) care most about when considering a cheesecake.

DETOUR #3 a little disappointment: The pecans on top. I decided to leave them whole and cover the top of the cake with them. It looked pretty, but I’m not sure I’ll repeat it. Pecans get lost from some bites.

ROASTING PECANS: I also roasted the pecans a little too long this time and they developed a slightly burned taste. Don’t go beyond 10 minutes (even 9 could be smart) for roasting your pecans at 350 F. They continue to cook a little bit after removing them from the oven. Roasting brings out deeper flavors of the nuts, but too much is damaging. Be careful and be glad.

REWARDS OF OBEDIENCE: I want to thank the authors of the Magnolia cookbook for the directions concerning baking the cake. I followed these directions carefully; placed the cake on a cookie sheet to bake, then turned off the oven after an hour and propped open the oven door to leave the cake there to cool very slowly for one hour. The cheesecake that emerged was golden and without any cracks. That brought a smile to this novice baker’s face.

I am glad to end my story with a smile.

I hope you have a smile today too.

After all, this was, in the end, a blessing.

HAVE A SWEET DAY.

#43 Pecan Pear Cake, p. 29

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“The cake can also be made with sweet or tart apples and with or without the glaze. You won’t be disappointed with any version.” (p. 29)

RECIPE LINK

Let’s start at the very beginning.

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Oh. Let’s begin again.

But wait !!! Oops. I almost forgot. Here’s the first step to take before working in the kitchen.

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Hit it, Doc!

Now. Chop chop.

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You may notice a can of “Baker’s Joy” resting inside the cake pan. Flour and oil ready to spray on the pan. Now there’s a reason to sing. “Doe, a deer…..”

This cake requires no big equipment to make. No mixer or blender or food processor. Just a whisk, a spoon, and some fancy handiwork.

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Put it all together and pour it in the pan.

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Lookin’ yummy. Chunks of pear and pecans everywhere.

BAKER’S JOY: A few notes on this production. The Baker’s Joy is so nice. Easy to use. The release at the end was perfect. That said, I actually enjoy the pre-industrial technique of adding the flour to the pan myself and bumping the pan all round. It feels like a little work of art each time.

DETOUR: I added more pecans than called for in the recipe. Why? I had a cup full of finely crushed, roasted pecans left over from an earlier recipe. I added that to the 1 cup of coarsely chopped pecans in the recipe. I think the results were lovely. I LOVE pecans and I LOVE the way the cake came out so nutty inside and out. Yes, “out”. The surface of the cake took on a real crunch that I find lovely. I hope those who eat this treat find it likewise so.

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See what I mean?

The finale with the glaze.

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And a couple of slices for the taste test.

DESTINATION?

High School teachers with hall and dining hall duty this week. See Mrs. Beck for details. ALSO and ALWAYS – Blog followers are automatically included in this gift. Just knock on Mrs. Beck’s door – and be nice.

HAVE A SWEET DAY!