cookbook

Citrus Mint Salad & A Cookbook Giveaway!

30.03.2012 272 Comments

Thank you everyone for your get well wishes. It was a slow cooking/blogging week. Perfect opportunity to tell you about a project I was thrilled to be part of earlier last year. Along with some pretty awesome authors, photographers, bloggers, crafters, I was asked by the magazine Where Women Cook, to be part of their book project, "Where Women Cook: Celebrate!". The book is a collection of women’s stories on how they celebrate and gather the people they love around them.

The instant I read the first lines of the project, I knew I wanted to tell the story of how my grandmother used to celebrate. Above all the traits I inherited from her, this is by far the strongest one. The project was easy: tell with pictures and a few recipes your favorite way to celebrate, how you gather the people you love ad create lasting memories.

Tthe theme I chose to feature and photograph was the same one my grandmother would pick for family gathering: a Berber Couscous with merguez sausages, stewed veggies, chicken and mutton. Plenty of couscous and harissa to go around too. Both my grandparents were in Morocco for a extensive period of time, ten years apart, both my parents were born there, ten years apart. Moroccan cuisine is very much part of my family coding. It’s celebration food for us.

My friend John at Lana Restaurant provided all the bistro bowls, silverware and napkins I needed. We set out a pretty table with flowers in mason jars and lots of natural twine.

We strung some lights across the trees and all over the yard.

The girls got busy making pretty flower arrangements while I was finishing cooking and John was grilling. The other guys in the group got busy with quality control and opening wine bottles.

We sat down by the water and cheered, laughed, ate well, raised our glasses and polished off many servings of couscous. My grandmother would have been proud of us!

We took a break, played some silly games and found some room for Honey Saffron Ice Cream and Cardamon Shortbread Cookies.

Fanny and Patrick from Bin 152 provided much of the wines and we lingered at the dinner table and watched the sun set over the water. We talked for hours and I completely forgot to serve a family favorite palate cleanser, a Citrus Mint Salad.

So here it is. The one recipe that never made it into the cookbook, my grandmother’s super easy refreshing Citrus Mint Salad (check at the end of the post).

For the Berber Couscous and the Honey Saffron Ice Cream & Cardamom Cookies recipes, I encourage you to check out the book, "Where Woman Cook: Celebrate!". You will also be able to discover some of the amazing women who participated in the project such as Ree of Pioneer Woman, Angie of Bakerella, and Molly of Orangette.

You could also…enter a giveaway to win a copy of the book, right?! Well, here it is! I am indeed giving away one copy of "Where Women Cook: Celebrate!". All you have to do to enter is leave a comment to this post, between Friday March 30th and Monday April 2nd, midnight Eastern Standard time when a winner will be picked at random. And yes, I will ship overseas.
Just a few guidelines: no anonymous comments, one comment per person and prize must be claimed within 48 hours or another winner will be chosen.

Citrus And Mint Salad:

Serves 4

1 pink grapefruit
1 white grapefruit
1 large orange
1/4 cup fresh mint, chopped
3 tablespoons honey

Supreme the pink and white grapefruit as well as the orange. (here are great instructions on how to supreme citrus)
Place the fruit segments with the mint and honey in a non reactive bowl and let sit at room temperature for 20 to 30 minutes. Refrigerate until ready to serve. Divide among bowls or ramekins, adding some of the natural juices over the fruit.

Scenes From A Cookbook Shoot

03.02.2012 33 Comments

Studio wall with quick prints of the shots so far.
Friday already. We are on the last day of the shoot for "Marmalade" by Elizabeth Field for Running Press (Fall 2012) and as usual at the end of every book shoot, I am a little sad, a little tired, and a little excited to see what project I get to work on next. And reconnect with the rest of the world.

Setting up one shot.
I truly enjoyed every minute of this shoot. The marmalades and the sweet and savory recipes using them. Working through each shoot with focus to get that giddy feeling inside my stomach that we had the shot.

Amanda, the graphic designer for Running Press.

One of my kitchen assistants, Gilly, hard at work making Chinese Dumplings to go with a marmalade dipping sauce.
A cookbook shoot is a lot of things, little and big. Lots of minute details and large sketches. It’s a lot of fun too. It’s having the best group of kitchen assistants working through the recipes and tweaks needed. It’s collaborating in the studio space with Amanda, the graphic designer for Running Press who had flown in for the week.

My two office managers are worn out…
And this time it was also sneaking in a hug from my mom in between two shots. My parents are leaving Sunday but I am glad they got to be here during a book shoot. They now realize the investment it is for me, both in time and dedication. Plus, marmalades is one of their favorite subject so that shoot was really a propos!

I leave you with some snapshots from the shoot while I go rest my head on the pillow for a few hours…!

Work table.

Acorn Squash & Sweet Potato Soup And "Basic To Brilliant Y’all" by Virginia Willis

12.10.2011 55 Comments

If I had to pick my two most favorite months of the year in Charleston it would be October and February. The humidity finally drops some in October, giving us the ability to enjoy being out without suffocating. I sneak in any moment I can feeling the tall grass under my feet. I also spend more time than usual at the dock watching the porpoises huddle and play now that less boats are out now that summer is over.

February is just magical here. The light is crisp and electric. The cold finally reaches us for a few days and we gather friends around the fireplace. I love the cold nippy winds that we get for a few days. A barely there couple of weeks of wintry weather.

Lately, while the temperatures are still hot enough to have us in short sleeves and flip flops, the numerous rain showers and stronger winds put me in a definite Fall-ish mood. One that calls for hot soups and warm apple crisps.

This Acorn Squash and Sweet Potato Soup is one of those I want to have on repeat this Fall and Winter. It’s been decided by both Bill and myself after the first couple of spoons. Not only was it tasty, it was also the kind that does not need much else but a nice piece of country bread smeared with a dab of butter and sprinkle of grey salt.

Aside from the addition of acorn squash, the base of sweet potato soup is directly from Virginia Willis' latest cookbook "Basic to Brilliant Y’all – 150 Refined Southern Recipes and Ways to Dress Them Up for Company". A book she came to share in Charleston last week and which release was celebrated (among other events) in a Sunday Dinner style dinner at Heirloom Book Company. The setting was perfect, a cookbook store with wall to wall vintage and current editions.

The table setting was fun and the company engaging. In our proper form, Bill and I made fast friends with the couple next to us, visiting Charleston on their anniversary. They had just stepped into the bookstore a few hours prior to the event, completely on a whim and purchased a couple of tickets for that dinner. They did not know the book or Virginia but they "got" the spontaneity that defines Charleston.

Why celebrating Virginia in person in Charleston? Because the book was photographed here. In my studio to be exact and also on our dock where we had Virginia hold a very fiesty crab at sunset. The crew gathered in my home for 10 days and we got to work on some pretty delicious recipes. Curried Chicken Wings with Peach Dipping Sauce. Endive and Roquefort Slaw. Louisiana Duck Gumbo. Meringue Pillows with Strawberries and Cream.

Sunday’s dinner showcased some of my favorites such as the Roasted Tomato Soup and the Chocolate Monkey Bread and new ones like the Garlic and Sausage Stuffed Pork Loin. Most importantly, it gave me a chance to congratulate Virginia on her hard work and dedication to develop and write recipes so that people like me, get the chance to convey emotions and visions one level deeper.

I have been blessed to work with pretty special cookbook authors and their publishers these last few years and each time. This project where a whole team came together, fierce with dedication and love and pride of their work, made me grow as an artist and as a person. I walked away with a greater love of my profession as photographer. A greater dedication also. And let’s face it, hundreds of new favorite recipes…!

Virginia’s recipes are no different. They completely speak to me. Virginia has the perfect ability to balance her formal French training as a chef with her Southern roots. A little irreverence against ennui thrown in for good measure and you have the perfect blend: a cookbook compiling easy and intermediate recipes, interesting and fun and with a Brilliant twist that is worth exploring each time.

Take her Sweet Potato Soup for example. The basic recipe is pretty darn tasty as it is if you ask me. A blend of sweet potatoes, Vidalia onions, thyme and curry. The "brilliant" possibility? A dollop of rum spiked whipped cream. Yep. And that my friends, is indeed brilliant. It absolutely makes you smile… I did vary mine a bit by adding acorn squash and sprinkling a bit of thyme and cracked black pepper on ours too. Recipes are canvas for you to enjoy your time in the kitchen and Virginia’s are perfect for that.

When I was growing up, each meal would start with a bowl of soup. Nothing fancy. My mom would make the tastiest soups from the simplest vegetable combinations. Zucchini, onion, pumpkin, carrots, turnips. The quantity for each varied every single time which made the soup slightly different every time also. She learned that from her mother. She passed it on to me.

I carried that tradition a little further by making soups that my grandmother would surely dubbed as "fancy" if she were still alive. I never grew up with single ingredient soups beside Soupe a l’Oignon. Always a mix. Even our family trademark, Soupe Au Pistou is a medley of Provencal fragrances.

Nowadays, I am usually drawn to soups where one ingredients really shines. Mushroom soup, roasted tomato soup, pumpkin soup, smoked corn soup, this crazy good lima bean bisque from my pal Tami. The multi ingredient ones I now stir are some we never made when I was a kid, such as Pho, Tom Yum, Avgolemono.

And this fragrant and silky Acorn Squash & Sweet Potato Soup. I could not let go of my DNA apparently and had to throw in another ingredient! Acutally, I picked up gorgeous mini acorn squash at the farmers market as well as a myriad of other vegetable and I have to cook the majority before my upcoming trips to Kansas City and Seattle this week.

This soup is good company. A warm bowl of soul and a whole lot of comfort.

Acorn Squash & Sweet Potato Soup, adapted from Virginia Willis' Sweet Potato Soup in "Basic To Brilliant Ya’ll"

Serves 6 to 8

Ingredients:
2 mini acorn squash, peeled and cubes (about 3 cups)1 tablespoon olive oil
1 teaspoon + 1 tablespoon olive oil, divided
1 sweet onion, coarsely chopped
1 teaspoon curry powder
3 medium sweet potatoes, peeled and cubed
9 cups vegetable or chicken stock
1/4 cup maple syrup
3 sprigs of fresh thyme
1/8 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
coarse salt and freshly ground pepper

Directions:
Preheat the oven to 375F.
Cut the acorn squash in halves. Place them in a baking dish, drizzle with one teaspoon olive oil and roast for about 20-30 minutes. Let cool. Peel the skin off and reserve the flesh.
Heat the remaining tablespoon oil in a large heavy soup pot set over medium high heat. Add the onion and curry powder and cook until the onion is almost translucent, about 4 minutes. Add the sweet potatoes, stock, maple syrup, thyme and nutmeg and the flesh from the acorn squash.
Bring the soup to a boil, reduce the heat and simmer, uncovered, until the potatoes are tender, about 30 minutes. Remove the thyme sprigs. Let the soup cool a little.
Puree the soup until smooth with an immersion blender or a blender/food processor.
Reheat the soup before serving and adjust the seasoning with salt and pepper if necessary.

To garnish:
1 cup heavy cream
2 tablespoons dark rum
1/4 teaspoon lemon zest
1/2 teaspoon freshly chopped thyme
freshly ground pepper

In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, whip the heavy cream to soft peaks. Add the rum and lemon zest and continue whipping until firm. Use a dollop on top of the soup and sprinkle with fresh thyme and chopped thyme.

Away In Seattle…

27.08.2011 35 Comments

This week of cookbook styling and shooting is over. Grueling. Exhausting. Exhilarating. Soothing. A nice change of pace for me to prop and play with food. I loved every minute of it and enjoyed being in the moment but I admit, I can’t wait to get back behind the camera.

Working with Clare was just about the awesomest time I have had this summer. It was almost like sharing a brain. Of the good kind. The one without a misplaced ego. Clare called, asked me to style and I did just that. But the way we think and how we similarly sensitive and sensible to photography we are, made it a breathe to navigate the plate and the photograph.

Never the words "working together" have had as much meaning as they have this past week. Without spoken words or the feeling of stepping over, we worked together. Clare, Jeanne and I. About thirty five of the seventy five recipes that Jeanne included in her book had to be photographed. That’s thirty five recipes to be made every night for their beauty shot the next day.

Every night, Jeanne and I would do a perfectly orchestrated ballet of pans and whisks to bake the recipe for the next day of shooting where Clare would work her magic with the camera. Both Jeanne and I know our way around a pastry or a cake but baking for a shoot is slightly different and thankfully there was plenty of wine and good food to help us push through each night after a long day of shooting.

We all hit a wall at some point but we worked through them together and pushed through. Always feeling like the other helped a little. I never felt anything but support and kindness. We made a team. "We’re number two! We’re number two!" Because it’s not about us. It’s not about being number one. It’s about coming together to give Jeanne's book the best photographs. I can’t wait for you to see the book next year when it comes out!

I stayed with Jeanne, I stayed with Clare. I met them both in their element. I felt home. I was able to get to know them in their crafts and their thought process. I am sad to leave two wonderful talented ladies. I am sad to leave friends. I am happy to get home and share this week with my husband. Hurricane Irene, please be nice…it’s been a long week….!

My little homage to Clare’s blog header…

Gluten Free Nutella Doughnuts & A Cookbook Giveaway!

24.06.2010 441 Comments

I’m in Utah folks! Got in Salt Lake City yesterday afternoon and I’m heading to The Canyons Resort in Park City Utah where the Evo 10 Conference is held this year. To say that I am honored and stoked is putting it mildly. Yesterday as I was watching my inbox implode in between two planes, I just smiled and thought "breathe – take the travel time as a time out". I am looking forward to this week, complete with the workshop in Boulder. Work does pile up when you can’t look! It’s fine though. It’s actually better than fine. It’s impossible to complain when mixing work and play in such beautiful scenery as the mountains of Utah and Colorado.

Before I left I treated B. to a couple of special treats and of course stocked the fridge and freezer. When I made these Nutella Doughnuts from Lorna’s cookbook, The Newlywed Kitchen, they almost ended up being dinner. We just could not stop eating them. Pop. Pop. Pop. Oops… Tender, moist, tangy and filled with Nutella….the one thing we truly fight over in the kitchen. If you finish the jar and do not replace it, be ready to face a mini temper tantrum. And not necessarily from me…!

Last week I raved about the simplicity of the Parmesan Roasted Asparagus Tomatoes and Eggs I made from her cookbook. Well, let me raved about how spending a little bit of time in front of the stove to fry these babies up was worth it. Ten times that even. The recipe comes together in no time and the size of the doughnuts makes them the perfect little bite to have after dinner or as a treat (but you won’t stop at one, let me tell you that!). The oozing Nutella in the center? Literally the proverbial icing on the cake. Per-fect.

I love drop doughnuts and the simplicity of Lorna’s recipe makes them so easy to adapt gluten free. If you are afraid of deep drying. Fear no more. The temperature given for the oil is right on for these. They turn into perfect airy pockets with a slight tang coming from the ricotta and lemon zest. Love how the Nutella plays so well with the lemon zest. Just the right touch of it too. They are so good plain too. Filled with some strawberry jam I made last month. I even filled some with compote I made after the neighbors gifted me with a basket full of sour apples.

Another successful bite from Lorna’s book! And guess what? Today is your chance to get your hands on a copy to see and taste what I am talking about! That’s right! Lorna is graciously giving away a copy of her book to one of you. All you have to do is leave a comment on this post (anonymous please sign a name) – between today Thursday June 24th and Sunday June 27th, midnight Easter time. A winner will be picked at random from the comment pool by my better half.

While in Salt Lake City I stayed with Maria and Josh, the team behind Two Peas And Their Pod and we are heading together to the conference, meeting up with Kristen, Katie, Amy and a whole bunch of people I’m thrilled to meet for the first time. Since this morning is pretty much the most quiet time I foresee for the rest of the week, I thought I’d post some snapshots of our "Bloggers Meet Up". I’ll try to post snapshots of the conference, attendees and speakers as I go along.

Maria and Christie.
Maria organized a little get together for me and Christie from The Table Runner graciously hosted it at her beautiful home. We spent hours talking about life, blogging, food, kids and so much more. Made me go to bed with a full heart and a skip in my step. Thank you ladies for your generosity!

Group Shot
From left to right: Becky at Project Domestication, Barbara from Barbara Bakes, Maria from Two Peas and Their Pod, Brooke from Cheeky Kitchen, Holly from Phemomenon with baby Kayla, Bonnie from City Home Country Home, Dara from Cookin' Canuck, Becky from The Vintage Mixer and Chrisie from The Table Runner up front.

Dara.

Becky

Jaime from Sophistimom makes the best Italian sodas….

Good luck in Lorna’s cookbook giveaway!

Nutella Doughnuts, courtesy and copyright Lorna Yee from "The Newlywed Kitchen" cookbook.

Makes about 14 doughnuts

Note: to adapt these gluten free, I replace the flour with 1/2 cup superfine sweet rice flour, 1/4 millet, 1/4 cup sorghum flour, and added 1/4 teaspoon xanthan gum for a smooth dough.

3 large eggs
1/4 cup sugar
8 ounces whole-milk ricotta
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
Canola, vegetable, or peanut oil for frying
Powdered sugar for dusting doughnuts
1 cup Nutella

In a large mixing bowl, stir together the eggs, sugar, ricotta, salt, and vanilla extract. Add the flour and baking powder, and mix until just combined.

Heat 3 inches of the oil in a deep pot until it registers 375 degrees F on a deep-fat thermometer. Drop a tablespoon of batter into the oil and cook for about 3 minutes on one side, and 2 minutes on the other side. (Do not make the doughnuts much bigger, as the outside will brown too quickly and they won’t cook through.) Don’t overcrowd the pot–you will probably need to fry the doughnuts in three batches. Cut one doughnut open to make sure it’s cooked through before removing the rest of the batch from the oil. When the doughnuts are cooked, scoop them out and allow them to drain on paper towels. Repeat with remaining batter.

Dust the doughnuts with powdered sugar and pipe Nutella into the center of each one. These doughnuts are meant to be devoured warm out of the fryer, so make them just before you’re both ready to eat them.

Variation: Add 1 1/2 teaspoons grated lemon or orange zest to the dough and fill the doughnuts with your favorite jelly or lemon curd.

Parmesan Roasted Asparagus, Tomatoes and Eggs

20.06.2010 48 Comments

I have a friend. Her name is Lorna. She writes The Cookbook Chronicles. She is drop dead gorgeous. Kindness and intelligence dance with every word she says. She is generous and humble. Humor and good disposition seem to like her. I have no idea if she is high or low maintenance but if she is the latter, I want to know how she does it. She’s got taste and she’s got gumption. And she wrote a book. A quirky, funky, well written, beautifully photographed cookbook, The Newlywed Kitchen. No wonder Henri asked her out and then asked for her hand in marriage. Smart man.

Lorna and Henri are newlyweds. They both love food. This is not a loose statement. They met on a food forum. In Lorna’s words "Our relationship was founded on our mutual love of food and our desire to nourish one another’s stomachs as well as our spirits." It could sound superficial and barely enough to hold a couple together but as she chronicled the making and writing of the book, you could tell that they were like the vast majority of couples. They love to share with others, spend time learning and give back what they know. Lorna did it with "The Newlywed Kitchen".

I am not a newlywed and yet I, we, thoroughly enjoyed the book. It does not pretend to be the "essential guide to cooking as a couple", instead it focuses on clean, simple recipes that can be at the foundation of any new couple repertoire. Narratives of other well known couples are dispersed throughout the book and add a charming and quaint little thing to it. I caught myself chuckling along as I was reading with that familiar feeling of "been there done that" of kitchen mishaps and victories. Pictures of newlyweds throughout the book are a little too quaint at times but they’re here to illustrate a point: there is plenty in this book to bring people together in many different ways.

Some of the recipes are kicked up classics like the "Four Cheese Mac-and-Cheese", the "Chicken Pot Pie with Cheddar Thyme Crust". Some are best saved for your first dinner cooking for the in-laws, "Holiday Rib Roast Wtih Thyme Gravy", "Chicken Piccata with Mushrooms and Leeks". Others are made for lazy Sunday mornings in newlywed Bliss like the "Topsy Turvy Apple French Toast", the "Smoked Salmon Frittata". And who would not want to cozy up with their better half with some "Chocolate Mudslide Cookies", "Nutella Doughnuts" or some "Lemon Sour Cream Pound Cake"?

I just made myself hungry…

My better half does not cook. He barely boils water. We have shared custody of the grill. I don’t even know if he’s any good at it, he’s just not interested. And as he says "I married a chef, why would I even consider crossing the line? You don’t come in the garage and bleed the break of the MG now do you?". Touche. So you might wonder how this cookbook fared with us…

It did exactly what it was intended to do for a couple like us regarding food: I’d hold the book in one hand, pencil in the other and ask him whether "Grandma’s Italian Meatballs" sounded good for dinner or would he rather have the "Fall Apart Pot Roast"? Should I take the "Red Velvet Cake" or the "Strawberry Rhubarb Pie" to a dinner party with friends? My man may not cook or enjoy cooking but he loves to eat and knows his food, making it a pleasure and never a chore for me to cook everyday.

Finding a recipe to illustrate this review was a no brainer (I picked two actually and will write about the other one next week – with a little surprise you guys reading). The "Parmesan Roasted Asparagus, Tomatoes and Eggs" is exactly the kind of dish I like to fix us for lunch on Saturdays when we come back from the market or on Sundays when we set out to "not have a schedule". It’s simple, it’s fresh, it comes together fast and needs nothing but maybe a glass of wine and a piece of bread.

It’s the kind of meal we enjoy as a couple. It fits us and it felt even more special when we sat down to ingredients we had just picked up at the market from people who loved food as much as we do.

Let’s make lunch this week "French Word A Week" feature: "dejeuner". One of our favorite activity and time of the day. (click on the word to hear the pronunciation).

Check out Jen at Use Real Butter making Grandma’s Italian Meatballs from Lorna’s book. I also love this review of the book from Becky at Chef Reinvented (and don’t forget to click on the video link – adorable).

Parmesan Roasted Asparagus, Tomatoes and Eggs, courtesy and copyright Lorna Yee for "The Newlywed Kitchen"

Serves 2

1 pound asparagus
1 cup grape or cherry tomatoes
3 tablespoons olive oil, divided
1/4 cup grated Parmesan or pecorino (I used shredded)
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon freshly grounded black pepper
2 large eggs
3 spoonfuls pesto (optional)

Preheat the oven to 425F.
Wash the asparagus. Break the bottom stems off and discard. Toss the asparagus spears and tomatoes in 2 tablespoons of the olive oil, then place them on a parchment paper or Silpat lined baking sheet. Sprinkle with the Parmesan, salt and pepper. Roast the vegetables for 12=14 minutes, or until tender and cooked through..
Meanwhile, fry the two eggs in the remaining oil, seasoning them with salt and pepper to taste. Place an egg in each portion of the cooked vegetable and top with a dab of pesto if desired.

Disclosure: I received a free copy from The Newlywed Kitchen from Sasquatch Books.

Special Edition – Two Cookbooks Giveaway!

09.02.2010 498 Comments

I’m coming here empty handed today. Well almost…Looks like I won’t be around here much this week and I apologize for that. I was hoping to have pictures of some of the behind the scene moment of the work for Carrie’s cookbook but I got to tell you, when 2am rolls around…I have no more energy left to bake and write.

Carrie is here, staying at the house for a few days working with me on her book. It’s the first time we meet in person and it really feels special to be part of making her dream come true. Above is an out take of one of the dessert for a her book. I was putting things together and wanted to check the morning light in the studio one morning.

I fall asleep flipping through pages of other people’s cookbooks knowing that I am never going to have time to bake or cook anything from them. Instead of seeing them collect dust, I thought about holding a giveaway for a couple I have enjoyed reading so far. More like salivating as I read! I have two wonderful books up for grabs for you today: Amy’s Bread and Unforgettable Desserts.

All you have to do is leave a comment here (one entry per person) between Tuesday February 9th and Friday February 12th midnight eastern US time. I’ll ship anywhere in the world. My dear B. will pick at random a winner for each cookbook.

I really am bad at having a pool of recipes ready to go for busy times. I wish I was as organized as my buddy Jen. Sigh…I have a post in draft mode. I don’t have things properly aligned in my head yet. Ha…that could be a goal for 2010 right – a sort of late resolution. Hmmmm. I promise to work on that.

Thank you for your patience!

Chocolate Wontons And Tonka Bean Ice Cream

07.11.2009 57 Comments

If I were to wait for the proper weather to bake certain desserts, I’d never get to turn the oven on or fry some donuts and the ice cream machine would be churning year round. Take Halloween day, it was near 90F pretty much all day long and yet I wanted to bake some fun goodies for the neighbors. We spent the day in short sleeves, going about the neighborhood with the kids steaming in their costumes. More than one of them thought ill of their parents for dressing them up as a furry teddy bear or a heavy padded alligator. I know these feelings disappeared when I brought down these hot Chocolate Wontons and a batch of Tonka Bean Ice Cream that we had with glasses of apple cider…on ice.

Years ago we used to have a different chocolate special everyday at the restaurant and certain mornings proved difficult to come up with a bright idea at 5am when I was hand deep into kneading baguettes. I remember opening Chocolate Passion by Timothy Moriarty and Tish Boyle with the assurance that I’d have a winner and often recommended it to patrons asking me for a recipe. When I stumbled upon Maury Rubin’s Book Of Tarts, I think I baked just about every one of them they were so creative.

Sometimes it’s a technique or a subject that makes me delve in a cookbook. Sometimes it’s the story behind its coming to life, an anedocte, the writing. Sometimes it’s the author and her/his journey. In short, something that moves me beyond the recipes (I have quite a head full of those already) which is the case with Jaden’s first cookbook, The Steamy Kitchen Cookbook, from which I made the chocolate wontons. Having shared a plane, meals, drinks, and a panel with her, I can tell you that Jaden is good people and I am extremely proud of her. I knew her book would be one I could open at any page and cook something new, delicious and fresh. All four recipes I have made so far were a hit with us and our friends.

If you were to come to my house you’d think I spend all my spare change on cookbooks. If you looked a little closer, you would see a fine print on most reading "preview copy", "press release copy", etc… About twice a week, the mailman makes the hike up to the front door and drops a new box on the porch. He also leaves a couple of doggie treats for the pupps. They know it, they go crazy until I get to the door. What do I do? I open the box, I flip through the book and get the post-its out. "This one will be great for friend S." or "This is one for R." and so forth.

I am very appreciative of this situation, believe me and I am under no obligation to review or pimp them out on this site. I know that a friend would benefit from a crockpot recipe book more than I will since I don’t own such a beast, or my baking-challenged friend S. might enjoy a basic dessert cookbook more than I will. But there are books I hoard, read, cook and bake from, hoard again, read some more and cook from until the hinges get worn out. Jaden’s book will be one of them.

I must give Jaden kuddos for the dessert section though she said it was tough to write. Her approach to dessert is very much what we like throughout the week: fresh fruits, easy to prepare frozen treats and the occasional splurge like the chocolate wontons. The headnotes say they will make little girls squeals and little boys break out into a disco dance (I am paraphrasing) and the neighbors' kids did just that on Halloween when I handed them out! I think I even saw a couple of adults shake their bootie in delight too!

These are so easy to make and if you get an extra set of hands to help out, you can make a double batch in a flash. Plan on that as they disappear very fast! There is no need for a deep fryer and if you keep the oil at a steady 350F you end up with perfectly crisp, never oily wontons which chocolate center oozes out as you bite into them. I had planned to serve them with her Asian Pear Frozen Yogurt but we devoured that one too fast so I went with my own tonka bean ice cream instead. The almond and vanilla flavor of the tonka paired really well with the chocolate once again. (see recipe notes)

Chocolate Wontons, from The Steamy Kitchen Cookbook, with permission of Jaden Hair

Makes 12

1 egg
1 tablespoon water
12 wonton wrappers
12 pieces of chocolates (I used about 4 chocolate chips per wonton)
high heat oil for frying (I used canola)
Powdered sugar for dusting

In a small bowl, make an egg wash by whisking together the egg and the water.
On a clean, dry surface, place a wrapper down with a point facing you. Place a piece of chocolate or chocolate chips near the top end of the wrapper. Brush a thin lauer of egg wash on the edges of the warpper. Fold the bottom corner up to create a triangle and press down at the edges to remove as much air from the middle as possible. Make sure the wrapper is sealed completely. Repeat with the remaining wrappers and chocolate pieces. Keep the prepared wontons covered with a piece of plastic wrap or a damp towel to prevent them from drying.
In a wok or medium pot (I used a 9-inch cast iron pan), heat about 2 inches of oil to 350F and gently slide a few wontons into the hot oil. Do not crowd the pan as the oil temperature would lower too much and you would end up with grease-soggy wontons.
Fry 1 to 1 1/3 minutes on each side until both sides are golden crisp.
Drain on paper towels and sprinkle with powdered sugar

Tonka Bean Ice Cream:

Notes: Yes, tonka beans are banned from import in the US by the FDA, yet they are used by many countries in food preparation and desserts in particular. Consumed in large quantities, they can be toxic as they contain an anticoagulant which many blood thinning medications are based on, courmarin. So, it’s banned, but its main agent is used in meds here and you can purchase tonka beans on ebay. UGH?!! Gotta love the FDA and large medical companies politics. Since I use 2-3 beans a year in recipes that feed no less than 8 people each time, I know we are ok but research and educate yourself before cooking with tonka beans if you are interested.

By the way, if you have vanilla extract from South America in your pantry and wonder why it smells like a vanilla bean got too close to an almond one night, that’s probably because tonka beans were used instead of real vanilla or diluted with it to make it cheaper to sell. Nothing wrong with that if you are aware of all the facts.

Tonka beans smell like a cross between vanilla and almond extracts and if you can’t find or do not wish to use tonka beans, substitute with each extract in the ice cream recipe and you will get close to the actual flavor.

6 egg yolks
1 cup (100gr)
2 cups whole milk
1 cup heavy cream
1 tonka bean (or 1 teaspoon vanilla + 1/2 teaspoon almond extracts)

In a large bowl, whisk the egg yolks and the sugar until pale and thick. In a saucepan set over medium heat, bring the milk, cream to a simmer, without letting it come to a full boil. With a microplane, grate the tonka bean right over the milk and cream simmering (I add the little knob left for extra flavor). Slowly pour the hot cream over the egg yolks mixture while whisking to temper the egg yolks. Pour the whole mixture back into the saucepan and cook over low heat, stirring constantly, until the cream coats the back of spoon. It should register 170F on a candy thermometer. At this point you have made a custard sauce, also known as "creme anglaise". Let cool completely, strain and refrigerate until cold, preferably overnight.
Once and the custard is cold, process according to your ice cream maker manufacturer’s instructions.

Recipes And Stories Unblogged

03.07.2008 149 Comments

Me, holding the papers and my pen: Are you in? Things are about to get a little weird-er.
Him, looking over the contract one last time: Yes, I am in.
Me: allright…there I sign…
Him: ugh…does this mean you are going to be baking even more desserts? Will I still get to eat them?
Me: yes, but now there might be a scoring card attached to them!!

The picture above sort of speaks for itself and I admit that I already told a hand full of you because 1/ I could not hold it anymore and 2/ if you write me the "what are you up to?" email, I can’t possibly say "nothing" and post that a couple of weeks ago I signed my name at the bottom of a publishing contract for a cookbook.

Yep…100 recipes, 100 stories and 100 reasons to get you baking! 100 recipes (metric and US) never blogged about, well, except for a hand full that I have already posted but wanted to work on, specials created for work, desserts I came up with while working on others for the blog, wonderful recipes inherited from my grandmother,.etc…All are rooted in my French background but most had to be adapted to what I found when I settled in the States, whether it be ingredients, methods or traditions. I am baking, styling the food, taking the pictures and telling you a story along the way. I hope you understand if the updates here slow down here and there and why I might be commenting a little less then before, just know that I am reading, salivating, laughing and crying along with you.

How did this all come to be? Well, I did not wake up one morning to find a "we want to publish you" email. It was rather a combination of events and relationships formed that finally brought that "you are our priority" email in my mailbox one morning….I first started this blog as a place to write about my passion for desserts and to have my family and friends read to keep me accountable. To say that I never thought of what cool things could come out of writing Tartelette (another happening I’ll share in a couple of weeks) would be insulting your intelligence. But writing my own cookbook? I would have probably checked my temperature first. Like a craft or a child, the blog grew, and all because of you. By your visits, your comments and your emails, you implicitly also said "I am in" and one of the results stands in front of you today. I owe a lot of this to your support and your readership. I also know that if you want something in life, you have got to make it happen. So before I become even more absent or the best ghost commenter out there, at least you know why. I am baking you a whole of good things!

When my friend Hannah was about to release her own book, her publisher emailed me wanting to know if I wanted an advance copy for review. I like Alisa from the very first emails we exchanged. I liked her tone, her sensibility and I was very very impressed with the way she was handling Hannah’s book release. I thought "Wow! If I were writing a book, I sure would want her to be my publisher". Then I realised that I had tons of questions about book and recipe writing and we started to talk about them and a few weeks later, she encouraged me to write a proposal and she would look it over and if not their publishing house, at least she could give me a couple of pointers. Well, I guess I did an ok job because after many months (that’s another thing folks….unless you hook up a typewriter to your brain, whisk away 24/7, and take pictures like a mad one, it takes a lot of time and energy), they did send that "We are in" email….and the next 8 months are going to be bu-sy, bu-sy!!

The book is strongly related to the pictures of my grandparents above. I grew up with a spatula in one hand and an egg in the other, sitting on the kitchen counter by my grandmother, whisking and folding under her guidance. She distilled her love for desserts one recipe at a time, always careful to make me smell and taste, never afraid to let me destroy a cake because I would learn something no matter what. A couple of years after her death, my grandfather handed me her recipe boxes, all our family favorites, right there. I picked one of my favorites, set a stool by the counter top for my niece Lea, and that afternoon we made Grandma’s Madeleines. I repeated the steps she taught me with Lea, I let her stir and fold, I let her butter the molds and spill the batter. It filled me up with such sadness and love at the same time. We proudly served them to my grandfather who exclaimed "I always told her she should organize them in some sort of book….but she always did what she wanted anyways…"

I flew home with the boxes in my carry on. I read them over and over on the plane, closing my eyes at each one. I could hear her voice, I could see my mom sitting at the table with her tea while I would emerge from the kitchen carrying a freshly baked flourless cake or a batch of cream puffs. Grandma would make me wait, she’d set up the table with freshly cleaned linens, a pretty plate and then she would go pick a spoon from her collection and hand it to me "go on, go ahead, you can have it now". Baking does not end in the kitchen, it starts in your mind, carries down through your fingertips and passes on to your nose, your eyes and ends at the table….in your mouth.

Once home, I put them in the front of my other recipe binders and once or twice a week I would work through them, edit the quantities, the ingredients, to work with the time, the economy, what I had available here, enhance, reduce, balance. For me a recipe is never final , it always a work in progress. I don’t pretend to reinvent the pastry wheel, I like to work with things that most everybody can find and that will make you head to the kitchen without thinking twice whether you can do it. Of course you can! It’s not rocket science…otherwise I would not be here today! I am always trying to bring a little extra, to give you as many tips and tricks as possible (so far Tanna liked them!) so there is more than grandma’s tried and true going in the book. Because of her teachings and passion for food, I ended up doing this as a profession, and a hobby, and a favor, and teaching others….so much so that as I grew into this craft the more I found myself coming up with other recipes. I dare not say they will turn your world upside down, but I think they will nudge novices into tying on that apron a little tighter and try and seasoned bakers to come relax with me with a recipe, a story and a cup of tea. Title?

C’est Sweet: A baked narrative…

Oh gosh…is somebody still reading? There will be cake this weekend…Promise!