yuletide carols

For a special Christmas treat this year, I decided to make a Bûche de Noël. I saw Tyler Florence make it a few days before on an Iron Chef challenge (the secret ingredient was sugar), and I have always thought that the yule log cake looked delicious. Basically, it is a traditional dessert served at Christmas in France and other francophone countries or former French colonies. They are usually made with a sponge or flourless cake with a layer of mousse or buttercream icing, and then rolled up to look like a yule log.

I found a recipe online, since it was not in any cookbooks I have, and I altered it a little as well as followed others' comments about the best way to make it. The version I found used flourless chocolate cake, which makes it a lot harder to create a fluffy cake, since there are no leavening ingredients.

This is the recipe I used, and I added my comments at certain steps.

Ingredients:
Mousse--
2 cups heavy cream
1/2 cup confectioner's sugar
1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Cake--
6 egg yolks
1/2 cup white sugar
1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1/8 teaspoon salt
6 egg whites
1/4 cup white sugar
confectioner's sugar for dusting 

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C). Line a 10x15 inch jellyroll pan with parchment paper. (The parchment paper needs to be sprayed with Pam or something similar, otherwise it will be impossible to peel off of the cake.) In a large bowl, whip cream, 1/2 cup confectioners' sugar, 1/2 cup cocoa, and 1 teaspoon vanilla until thick and stiff. Refrigerate. 
2. In a large bowl, use an electric mixer to beat egg yolks with 1/2 cup sugar until thick and pale. (This will take at least 5 minutes with the mixer on the highest speed. The egg yolk mixture will be very thick and have almost no color.)Blend in 1/3 cup cocoa, 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla, and salt. In large glass bowl, using clean beaters, whip egg whites to soft peaks. Gradually add 1/4 cup sugar, and beat until whites form stiff peaks. Immediately fold the yolk mixture into the whites. Spread the batter evenly into the prepared pan. 
3. Bake for 12 to 15 minutes in the preheated oven, or until the cake springs back when lightly touched. Dust a clean dishtowel with confectioners' sugar. Run a knife around the edge of the pan, and turn the warm cake out onto the towel. Remove and discard parchment paper. Starting at the short edge of the cake, roll the cake up with the towel. (Be very careful when doing this, because the cake could tear.) Cool for 30 minutes. 
4. Unroll the cake, and spread the filling to within 1 inch of the edge. Roll the cake up with the filling inside. Place seam side down onto a serving plate, and refrigerate until serving. Dust with confectioners' sugar before serving. (I actually spread the remaining mousse mixture on the outside of the cake, and then I dragged a fork through it to make it look like bark. Most pictures I found of this kind of cake looked like that.) 

The most important detail in making this cake is to make sure that you beats the yolks and the egg whites enough, because you basically have to beat air into it. Otherwise, it will probably just taste like a chocolate omelet, and it will not be light and airy. This cake is best when it's really cold, so I put it on our screened-in porch overnight. It was delicious, but very rich!

The finished product.

A view of the layers inside.

not about food

Well, not really. This is just an article I read on The Onion a little while ago. In case you have never read The Onion, it is basically an online parody newspaper, though they do have hard copies in bigger cities like New York and Washington D.C. The articles always somehow manage to speak the truth, while still being hilarious. This one has to do with baking dilemmas, something I do encounter from time to time. Click here to read it!

bring on that pecan pie

For Thanksgiving this year, I was delegated with making the pies for the gathering we attended (something I was glad to do, of course.) Each year, I make pumpkin, pecan, and chocolate chess pies. I have to admit that I do not really like pumpkin or pecan pie, but since they are classics, I always make them. I found a new pecan pie recipe this year though, and it has made me like pecan pie. I made three of these pecan pies last week. I brought one to a "Friendsgiving" on Saturday, and one guy told me it was the best dessert he has ever eaten...not to toot my own horn or anything :)

I tried out a new pie crust recipe that included Crisco, an egg, and vinegar, rather than just the usual butter and flour recipe. However, I didn't like that new crust as much, and I switched back to my old Betty Crocker standby after making a few pies.

For the filling, I used this recipe from none other than Pioneer Woman. The great thing about this version is that the sweetness was not overpowering, which can often be the case, since pecan pie is made with corn syrup. I tested out using half corn syrup and half maple syrup in one pie, but in my opinion that made it too sweet, even though the maple taste was nice. Maybe next time I will just add a little maple flavoring.  

Make this pecan pie. You will be glad you did.

Edit: This recipe also calls for chopping up the pecans, which I have decided is good for two reasons: 1. It makes it easier to cut pretty pieces, since it's hard to cut through the full pecans and 2. The small bits get toasted better, which makes for a more pecan-y flavor.

it's all gravy

I know it's been awhile, but hopefully with the upcoming holiday season, I will have a lot to write about!

In the past few weeks, my roommate, Jade, has started a ritual of roasting a chicken and making rice and gravy on Thursday nights. She started this because it was a meal her grandma always made for her, and she had not had it in a long time. The first night she cooked, I helped her out a little, and the result was a pretty tasty (and filling) meal. However, the one thing we could not really master was the gravy. The next few weeks she experimented with a few different methods, but none of them were as good as she remembered. Neither one of us could figure out what to do to make the gravy better, which was frustrating since it seems like a relatively simple thing to make.

Tonight, I decided to try again. Both of my roommates have gone home for Thanksgiving break already, so I needed to find something to occupy my time at dinner anyway. I went the grocery store, where I bought a roasting chicken and some rice. It took me 30 minutes to get home from Barrack's Road, which shows you how bad traffic is in Charlottesville on Friday at rush hour.

I roasted the chicken, and in the process I set off the smoke detectors twice. In an attempt to be healthier, I rubbed olive oil instead of butter on the bird. Apparently, olive oil smokes a lot, so I had to keep running around the apartment waving a towel under the detectors.

With the help of The Pioneer Women (mentioned in an earlier blog) I was finally able to master, or at least improve, the gravy. The key is to make a roux, a combination of the pan drippings from the chicken and flour. I browned that in the roasting pan on the stovetop (to preserve all the flavor), and once it was a good consistency, I added the chicken broth. From there it was only a matter of adding more broth until I had enough gravy. It was a very filling dinner, and now I am utilizing all the parts of the chicken that I did not eat by making homemade chicken stock! The apartment smells very chicken-y.

Another thing I learned from all this is that gravy is basically grease. I never realized that fact when I was little, when I would pour it all over my mashed potatoes or turkey. Even though it tastes delicious, seeing the leftovers congealed in the pan kind of grossed me out. Just think about that flowing through your arteries...or just don't.

cinnamonster

Last weekend I went home for fall break, and after taking the LSAT on Saturday, I finally had some time to relax. Of course, I decided to bake something, since that is what I usually do to relieve stress. My new favorite website, in case you have not heard of it, is The Pioneer Woman. I mostly like it for the recipes, though she also has a blog, pictures, and other tips about life in general. Elizabeth introduced me to the site awhile ago, via stumbleupon I think, and I only recently rediscovered it.

After browsing through the recipes, I decided to make cinnamon rolls. I have another cinnamon roll recipe that I feel I have perfected, since they are one of my dad's favorite foods. That recipe involves frozen dough, hazelnuts, and mascarpone cheese. However, this new recipe required making homemade dough, which is actually pretty easy, it just takes awhile because the dough has to rise. 

Part of the way into making the dough, I realized that maybe I had read the recipe wrong. The version that I printed out said it made "8 servings," but after adding 8 cups of flour to the mixture, I decided to re-check the website. The blog version of the recipe revealed that 8 servings actually meant 8 PANS! At that point I couldn't turn back, so I made a lot of cinnamon rolls. Some were eaten, some were given away, some are in the freezer at home, and I only brought one pan back with me to school, which has yet to be eaten.

 Fresh out of the oven

And with the icing. Instead of using the normal mixture of powdered sugar and milk, this recipe called for maple syrup and coffee. The coffee cut the sweetness a little bit, and the maple made it taste a little different (and delicious!)

So if you want to try some, there is a pan in my freezer waiting to be eaten!

hoppy birthday

On Saturday night, a group of us went to South Street Brewery to celebrate Emily's 22nd birthday! We all wanted to try a new place to eat, and none of us had been there before. It is right next to the parking lot where the City Market is held every weekend, on the outside of the Downtown Mall. The restaurant itself is really cool, because it is in a restored warehouse. The warm building was also a very welcome respite from the cold fall night.  The beer menu seemed to have a varied selection, and their special featured beers are brewed at the restaurant! Unfortunately, I do not really like beer, so I only had sips of what others ordered. Additionally, they were $4 a pint, which seems like a pretty good deal.

Joe ordered this "Hefeweizen," whose description sounded like it would be similar to Blue Moon. It definitely looks sort of like it, but this beer had "hints" of banana and clover (it was a pretty strong flavor.) Since I don't like artificial banana flavor, this was not my cup of tea.

Most of us ordered burgers, which were tasty but really nothing special. However Jon got salmon with this really good pesto on top. It had a really strong bite to it, almost like horseradish, but we could not figure out what made it different.

Problem solved! I just checked the menu online, and the concoction on top is cilantro and jalapeno-lime pesto. I need to figure out how to make that...

semolina

Today I had lunch with Nica at Semolina, a new restaurant on the Corner. It is between Cafe Europa and Baja Bean, where _____ used to be. Neither one of us could figure out what was in the building before, though Nica was pretty sure it was a sandwich shop. Regardless, the space has been redecorated in a style reminiscent of Basil (probably because they are owned by the same people) with blue water glasses and low lighting. The dining area is on the second floor, and our thoughts about the atmosphere sum it up pretty well: "this would be the perfect place for a date!"

Now, for the food. Nica ordered the Quattro Stagioni pizza (in Italian that means four seasons) which had artichoke hearts, portobello mushrooms, prosciutto, red peppers, and of course, mozzarella. I got the Genovese, with pesto sauce, potatoes, and pecorino and mozzarella cheeses. Potatoes may seem like a weird choice for pizza, but it is actually delicious. The slices of potato provide a nice contrast to the cheese and crust, since the slices of potato are put onto the pizza raw before it goes into the oven. The crust of the pizza was really delicious, which is important, because in my opinion, a pizza can be ruined by bad crust regardless of how good the ingredients on top are. We each got the 8 inch version of our pizza, which was enough for lunch plus some leftovers. I also ordered a San Benedetto peach tea with my meal, which brought back memories of Italy (if only they had the European style Fanta, then it would be perfect!) The meal was really tasty, and I would definitely go back there again, maybe for dinner, because there were some appetizers and desserts on the menu that I wanted to try too.

My Genovese pizza. I had to take the picture with my phone since I forgot my camera, but I think it turned out pretty well! I might have to go nibble on my leftovers now...

weekend update

We all know that birthdays usually come with lots of delicious sweets and drinks, and this weekend was no exception. Though my birthday was on Saturday, the celebrations were on Friday because of a conflict I had on Saturday night with an ASB retreat. A group of us made the trek to Jefferson Vineyards, and afterwards we had a yummy dinner at Mono Loco, complete with happy hour priced margaritas!

An assortment of cupcakes from Capellino's Crazy Cakes. I'm not sure why cupcakes are such a craze now, but I like it. You can get all the flavor of a cake, but in one serving size. In this case, we cut them into quarters so everyone could sample. My favorite was the chocolate, of course, but the pumpkin spice (top right) was a close second.

Some of the wine selection at Jefferson Vineyards. The Viognier was my favorite of the white wines we tasted, though I ended up buying a red wine called Petit Verdot. According to the sommelier (I guess that was his title) the wine has hints of honeysuckle and apricot, which we could definitely taste when we tried it. It was very aromatic and fruity (clearly I'm not well-versed in wine language) while not being too sweet. Also, he told as that they figured out that women will choose wine in a blue bottle over a black or green one, so they started bottling another of their popular white wines in blue, pictured on the bottom shelves.

A passion fruit margarita at Mono Loco. Basically, it tasted like Juicy Juice. In a good way, of course.

milky ways

Some of you may (or may not) know that the Kroger here in Charlottesville has some of the best options for local milk, butter, and ice cream! (thanks to Sarah and Arley for that tip!) The company is called Homestead Creamery, which is based in a place called Wirtz, VA, near Smith Mountain Lake. My mom used to buy their milk from Good Foods Grocery in Richmond. I remember we always had two or three milk bottles rattling around in the back of the car waiting to be returned to the store. That's the great thing about it--you buy the milk and pay a little bit more for it than a gallon of Kroger brand milk, but once you return the bottle you get back two dollars plus tax. Then (after sanitizing them) the company reuses the bottles. Plus, the chocolate milk is amazing, and the butter is delicious. With 85% butter fat, it's definitely real butter. And the ingredients in the vanilla ice cream, with a French custard base, are all things that you can pronounce! The fact that it comes from a place a little over 100 miles away is just icing on the cake. Next time you're at Kroger, I would suggest picking some up, or if you shop at Harris Teeter, just make the short trip down to the other end of the parking lot for milk.

Picture from Ellwood Thompson, also in Richmond

harvest festival

Today Megan and I went to the Heritage Harvest Festival at Monticello. The weather was great (it's starting to feel like fall!) and there was a lot of produce for sampling. Throw in some local food vendors and the beautiful scenery and you have a recipe for a lovely Saturday afternoon in the Piedmont.

Concord grapes and pears. Yum yum yum.

It's kind of hard to see, but this is a yellow watermelon. It tasted exactly like a normal watermelon! This guy told me that this fruit is an "heirloom" variety, which means it was "grown during earlier periods in human history, but which is not used in modern large-scale agriculture" (thanks Wikipedia!)

 (Instead of margarine)---It's probably true. 

A "cashmere" goat. They were so soft! Apparently they also make great pets. And cheese (but we already knew that).

After my terrible experience with goat meat in Morocco, I didn't even consider this as an option for lunch.

Bees! We couldn't find the queen though. 

Not food, just pretty flowers. 


I'm still trying to think of a good sign-off,
Molly

taco night

Meals don't have to be fancy as long as they taste good! Roommate taco dinner complete with my homemade queso dip and Lauren's grandma's secret chicken seasoning recipe. I would have made guacamole, but for some reason I am the only person in the apartment who likes it...
Molly

city market

Yesterday, my friend Sarah and I walked to the Charlottesville City Market. For one thing, it is a lot easier to walk, since parking there is awful, but Sarah and her friend are working on reducing their carbon footprint and eating only local food for the next few months (check it out: http://theindiansummer-cville.blogspot.com/) so she didn't really have a choice! Despite the summer temperatures, it was a pleasant day at the market, with lots of opportunities for delicious photos.

These eggplants looked like they were glowing!

Look at all that delicious local produce.

A popsicle that was homemade from local blackberries. The perfect treat for a hot day!

These apples sometimes grow on trees that came from Golden Delicious seeds, because sometimes the seeds will get naturally mixed, or something like that. They were the right combination of sweet and tart.

I have never seen black eyed peas in this form, usually they are dried by the time we get them.

A huge butternut squash.

The result of some of the produce I bought--sweet potato fries with dinner!

Next weekend, why don't you take a trip to the market?
Molly

summer eats

This summer, I got the chance to study in London, as well as travel to France, Spain, Morocco, and Italy. The cuisine of each country was a major part of my trip, so I made sure to take pictures of the delicious things I got to taste. Now that I am back at school and missing the summertime, I thought I would share some of my culinary experiences (both abroad and at home!) as a way to start off this blog.

London: Afternoon tea at Fortnum & Mason, the fancy grocer that supplies the royal family with their food. The bottom level had watercress and smoked salmon sandwiches, the middle was scones (complete with jam and clotted cream) and madelines, and the top is the "dessert" consisting of bite-sized cakes.

Barcelona: First stop on our tapas crawl. Jamon, spinach with chickpeas, spicy peppers, pan con tomate (bread with tomatoes) and patatas bravas with aioli (a garlic mayonnaise dip--very delicious!) All of this complimented by cava, a Spanish sparkling wine.

Sitges, Spain: The best rotisserie chicken I have ever eaten, accompanied by more patatas bravas and aioli.

Somewhere along the road, Morocco: A roadside lunch, consisting of traditional Moroccan mint tea, lamb, tomato salad, and something I can't remember, though they look like boiled egg yolks.

Marrakech, Morocco: Our last meal in Morocco began with an appetizer of zucchini and squash, and ended with a dessert with a cooked pear in very sweet sauce. The interesting thing about that is it was cold, not hot as we had expected.

Monterosso, Cinque Terre, Italy: Sarah and I got a lot of stares when we ordered this extra large pizza with prosciutto crudo, but it was totally worth it.

Rome, Italy: A quick lunch in Trastevere, and we knew we had to order mozzarella di bufala (made from the milk of water buffalo) with prosciutto. It was a good decision, even though finishing that ball of cheese was difficult. 

Charlottesville, VA: Shebeen Restaurant's Peri-Peri chicken with mashed potatoes and mango chutney. The chicken was hot and spicy, and almost reminded me of chicken wings!

Richmond, VA: Outer Banks Seafood Co.--Shrimp, scallobs, and crab broiled in lemon butter. Way too much food but very tasty. 

Sorry for the long entry, but I hope you enjoyed it! It all tasted as good (if not better) than it looks!
Thanks for reading!
Molly