Archive for April, 2008
Lately, I’ve been watching more Gordon Ramsay – both the new season of Hell’s Kitchen and Kitchen Nightmares (UK version, not US) – and have been enjoying it more and more. While the US shows play up the more sensational aspects of Ramsay’s character a bit more than the British ones, his overall goals of creating dishes with clean, simple flavors always seem to come through. It seems to be the underlying theme of his newest cookbook, Gordon Ramsay’s Fast Food.
I say underlying because the book is actually about less-than-30-minute meals. Every recipe in the book takes less than 30 minutes to prepare and cook and each menu suggestion takes no more than 45 minutes. As usual with these “timed” recipe, it does help a bit if you have some knife skills and other cooking experience to help you out, but the book strikes me as a 30-minute meals book for chefs and home chefs – not for the same crowd that just wants to get some kind of casserole on the table at 6:30 (not that there is anything wrong with that!). The recipes range from things like beef fajitas with guacamole and frittatas, to dishes that call for more gourmet ingredients, like duck, quail’s eggs, blood sausage, lobster, etc. Granted, not everything is going to appeal to everyone, but the variety is definitely refreshing when quite a lot of quick-fix cookbooks seem to have been dumbed down. There are also recipes for soups, salads and many, many desserts in addition to the mains and sides.
The book has an appealing layout and the recipes are well-presented, with succinct instructions and usually with short ingredient lists to go with them. Measurements are given in standard and metric. The only potential issue is that some of the recipes call for ingredients that are not common stateside, such as clotted cream. For these, the book offers some suggestions for substitutions and you should be able to find the exact ingredient you’re looking for at specialty markets without too much difficulty.
I have never been a big fan of nuts in brownies. They’re usually included to provide a crunchy contrast to a fudgy, chocolaty treat. After eating many brownies that were more nuts than chocolate as a kid (before I wisely realized I should carefully inspect the brownie before eating it), I decided that a really good brownie is nice when it’s fudgy and doesn’t need a contrast besides a glass of milk. I almost never included nuts in brownies after that.
Lately, I’ve been looking for different twists for brownies, however. I loved the crunchy crust on the Caramel Oatmeal Brownies I tried and the fun flavors of my Peppermint Cookies and Cream Brownies. So I decided to set aside my bias and look into working with nuts. I immediately discarded the idea of walnuts (the go-to brownie nut) and opted instead for some toasted pistachios. They have a fantastic green color and a lovely nutty, buttery flavor that complements that of chocolate.
The double chocolate brownie base is very rich and made with both dark chocolate and milk chocolate. Melted dark chocolate (I used 65% Callebaut) is incorporated into a not-too-sweet batter and provides a surprisingly intense flavor to the brownies. Milk chocolate chips, or milk chocolate chunks, are mixed in alongside the pistachios to sweeten up the dessert a bit – and because I think that milk chocolate really goes well with pistachios in general. The brownies are moist and rich, but are not too fudgy. In fact, I would say that they almost melt into your mouth, neither cake-like nor gooey. The flavors and consistency balance exceptionally well here and these brownies will definitely be made by me again, even though they have nuts in them.
Extra brownies can be stored in an airtight container in the fridge or freezer. I actually like them cold and crumbling them up to use as an ice cream topping isn’t a half-bad idea either!
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When recipes are written, it’s pretty common for the cook or baker to direct you to use “good quality” this or “high quality” that. It’s logical that the better your ingredients are, the better your finished product will be and simply recommending the use of a high quality product is much easier (and makes more sense, since personal tastes vary so widely) than always suggesting a particular name-brand item
I have an easy time finding things like high quality chocolate, an ingredient which is (now) widely available in a huge range of prices. Chocolate has a strong flavor that always really stands out in a recipe, so it is clearly worth seeking out, even to occasional bakers. Some other products are either so difficult to find that I don’t bother or just much too expensive to make it worth my while. Puff pastry is one of these. Most stores only carry one brand and, although the pastry is a major component of some tarts and other recipes, it isn’t usually the focal point of flavor so you can get by with using whatever you can find if you don’t want to put the time into making your own.
That said, it’s nice to have a good quality option available at a reasonable price and Trader Joe’s Artisan Puff Pastry is it. The stores have been stocking this all-butter puff pastry for a couple of months now and I’ve had nothing but success with it. The pastry is very flaky and has a good butter flavor. The sheets, while not large, are still easy to work with and I like the fact that the pastry is not folded up in the box (some brands like to fold theirs for tube-like packaging, which often leads to cracked pastry when you go to defrost it). It’s $4.99 for a pound of pastry and definitely not a bad deal considering the high quality of the product – especially considering that some other high end puff pastry products sell for more than twice that price.
Almond milk is not milk, although it does resemble milk in color. The creamy white liquid is made by grinding almonds and water together, then removing the almond solids and leaving only the liquid behind. Since most of the almond solids are removed and the nuts are not pressed to squeeze out all of the oil, almond milk is low in both fat and calories. It also is cholesterol free and, not being an actual milk product, contains no lactose. Most producers of almond milk add in calcium, as well as vitamins D and E, so that those who chose to drink almond milk in place of cow’s milk will not be missing out on those nutrients. homemade almond milk does not provide these same things, although it is easy to make.
Interestingly, while almond milk may seem like a trendy vegan/lactose-free item right now, it has been around for centuries. This is in large part because back in the time before reliable refrigeration was available, milk would go bad quickly if not made into butter or cheese. Almond milk lasted and required little in the way of specific storage.
Almond milk, much like soy milk, is a popular nondairy substitution in the kitchen, both in cooking and in baking. It is usually available in sweetened, unsweetened and flavored varieties. Some people prefer it to soy milk because it has a much milder flavor and often has a smoother consistency. It can be substituted quite easily into cakes, muffins and breads in place of regular milk, although you may find some differences in consistency if you opt to use it in puddings or other dairy-heavy dishes – especially those that specifically call for richer whole milk or light cream.
Personally, I really like sweetened vanilla almond milk. I love how it really boosts the flavor of things that I use it in, whether it’s something simple like a bowl of oatmeal or a more complex bread. I have found that soy milk sometimes adds a soy-ish note to foods, especially when they’re not strongly spiced, and almond milk has generally given me better results in simple recipes that need a more subtle flavor, like pancakes and other dishes with only a few ingredients.
Don’t bother to preheat the oven for this recipe. The bread is baked, of course, but this is a sort of old-fashioned recipe that starts out in a cold oven and the baking time includes preheating. This is the kind of baking that some older person – we’ll ballpark it at 80 or over – might have once told you leads to moister baked goods because the slow cooking somehow protects the loaf. I can’t guarantee that it will work with other recipes (obviously anything with a short cooking time or high cooking temperature is out), but I can say that it is very true for this particular loaf.
This is a quick bread that is primarily flavored with applesauce, spices and chopped up pecans. Applesauce often enters into recipes as a fat replacer because it adds much-needed moisture to a recipe that has had moisturizing butter or oil removed from it. Unfortunately, it doesn’t replace the texture provided by fat and, as a result, it has gotten kind of a bad reputation for causing toughness or gumminess in baked goods. Rest assured that this isn’t the case here! The applesauce adds flavor and moisture in this loaf, but it doesn’t replace anything else in the recipe.
The result is a delicious loaf that is perfect to slice for a quick breakfast snack. It is very moist and, while sturdy enough to hold up to a good toasting, it is not dense or gummy. In fact, the loaf is quite tender. You can really taste the flavor of the applesauce because the spicing in the loaf is fairly subtle. If you want to further increase the apple flavor, try to use a “chunky” or natural-style applesauce, instead of a smooth one. Pecans or walnuts, or a mixture of the two, are included in the bread to add another level of flavor and to provide some contrasting texture. Toasting the chopped nuts in a skillet over medium heat until golden will deepen their flavor and intensify their crunchy texture. If you prefer not to use nuts, you can substitute in raisins or other dried fruits.
I’ve noticed that some newer ovens preheat much, much faster than older models. You probably know how your oven works by now, but be sure to check your loaf with a toothpick before taking it out of the oven to be sure it is done all the way through. Some ovens might cook 5 minutes faster, and some might be a bit slower.
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