Savour Fare » Spring

Roasted Rhubarb Clafoutis

Kate — Thu, 02 Jun 2011 13:47:38 +0000

I have a terrible sweet tooth (as you may have divined if you’ve been reading this blog for any length of time), but my sweet tooth is not typical. Not for me the sweetness overload, the gooey cakes, the sugary cookies and candies. I prefer a more subtle sweetness, balanced by savory, or tart, or nutty flavors. Something that could easily be served for breakfast or afternoon tea.

Enter the clafoutis. A classic French dessert that’s sometimes described as a custard, sometimes as a pancake. It is a custard with flour, a pancake with more cream. Or it’s own thing. An eggy, custardy, but not insubstantial dessert with a subtle sweetness that is braced by whatever fruit it is made with. It’s not much to look at, generally — it’s really a country casserole, with nubs of fruit poking through a golden, eggy crust. It’s practically foolproof to make, and the batter comes together almost instantaneously. And yes, I am hooked.

The classic clafoutis is made with cherries, and indeed, a cherry clafoutis was on my agenda as I hit the grocery store. But then I spied the rhubarb — enticingly ruby stalks promising fragrance and tartness and that indefinable exotic yet familiar flavor that only rhubarb offers — and I was a goner.

I adore rhubarb everything, and I like it best where the flavor of the rhubarb shines through without much adornment in the form of strawberries or orange juice or other such nonsense. Rhubarb does, however, pair beautifully with custard, as the English know so well, and I thought it would make a lovely clafoutis — it’s melting tenderness complementing the silkiness of the custard/pancake.

Not too sweet, fragrant and juicy from the rhubarb, with the eggy structure of the clafoutis? Yes please.

Recipe
Roasted Rhubarb Clafoutis
The excellent clafoutis base is from Dorie Greenspan’s Around my French Table. It can be adapted for any fruit.

For the rhubarb:
1 lb. rhubarb
3 T. granulated sugar

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Chop the rhubarb into roughly 1 inch pieces, taking care to discard the leaves. In a 10X6 baking dish, toss the rhubarb pieces with the sugar. Roast 10-15 minutes, or until the rhubarb is tender.

For the clafoutis:
3 eggs
1/2 cup granulated sugar, plus additional for sprinkling
Pinch of salt
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1/2 cup flour
3/4 cup whole milk
1/2 cup heavy cream

Reduce oven heat to 350 degrees.
In a large bowl, whisk the eggs together with the sugar until blended. Add salt and vanilla, whisk until combined. Whisk in flour until thoroughly combined, then whisk in cream and milk.
Pour Clafoutis batter over the roasted rhubarb. Bake at 350 degrees for 30-35 minutes or until the clafoutis is puffy and golden. Sprinkle additional granulated sugar over the top, and serve with whipped cream.

Japanese Ramen Salad

Kate — Fri, 20 May 2011 22:46:37 +0000

It’s far too cold in Los Angeles this week to even think of having a picnic, or eating a salad. We’ve had rain and fog and nighttime temperatures in the 40′s. I’ve been digging out my thick sweaters and my boots and thinking of building a fire in the fireplace. It’s MAY, people! I live in Los Angeles! Apparently Mother Nature didn’t get the message.

Regardless of the weather, Memorial Day is around the corner! Which means PICNICS! And POTLUCKS! Or mayonnaise slowly congealing in the hot sun until it becomes liquid death, and “I’m a vegetarian/lactose intolerant/in a neurotic relationship with pasta.” Well, given these parameters, have I got the dish for you. I got it from my friend Corrine (of the apparently departed casavillecooking) who deals with dairy and egg allergies in her family, and is therefore a great source of vegan and dairy-free recipes. This dish is a perfect potluck dish — it’s vegan (or not, depending on your additions), dairy-free, egg-free, and not too starchy. You can make it gluten-free by replacing the ramen noodles with rice noodles fried in a little oil. It’s also easy and quick to make, can be scaled up or down, and can be adapted to suit your tastes and your audience. With no mayonnaise, it will hold for a few hours without refrigeration (it also makes a great brown bag lunch dish). And did I mention it’s delicious? Flavorful, kid friendly — it even features healthy vegetables!

So really, what are you waiting for?

Oh yeah, the recipe.

Recipe
Japanese Ramen Salad
Adapted from Casaville Cooking
Salad:
8 green onions, finely sliced
1 lb shredded green cabbage
two 3 oz packages of ramen noodles, broken
1/4 cup toasted sliced almonds
1/4 cup toasted sesame seeds
6-8 oz. firm seasoned tofu, cut into cubes OR 6-8 oz. cooked chicken, cut into cubes (optional)

Dressing:

Place chopped cabbage, green onions, sesame seeds and almonds in a large bowl. Toss with dressing and cover overnight. Toss before serving

Dressing

3 T sugar
1/3 cup olive oil or peanut oil
6 T rice vinegar
1 tsp sesame oil
Salt and Pepper to taste

In a large bowl, combine scallions, cabbage, ramen noodles, almonds, sesame seeds, and tofu or chicken. Toss lightly to combine. Combine all ingredients for dressing, toss with salad. This can be made in advance.

Rice Pudding Pie

Kate — Sat, 16 Apr 2011 16:18:45 +0000

I used to be afraid of pie. The rules about cold hands and precise handling, the rolling and the cracking and the patching and the shrinking – it all gave me hives. But now? I’m over it. I can honestly say that I make a pretty darn good pie crust. What changed?

1. My tools. I swear by my French Tapered Rolling Pin, for fuss free rolling.

2. My techniques. I roll out between sheets of parchment or plastic wrap. I use this method for making pie crusts in the food processor, but it’s even better if I keep back about a third of the butter and mix it in by hand before I add the water, rubbing it in with my fingertips, flattening globs of butter into flakes. Then I add the water by hand, too.

3. My ingredients. I get better results if I use European butter — my favorite is Kerrygold Irish butter. It has a higher fat content than most American butter, and a better butter flavor. Shortening and oil may yield a more tender crust, but what you’re giving up in the butter flavor is, IMO, not worth it.

4. My attitude. This is the most important piece. Pie crust doesn’t intimidate me any more. I just make it, chill it, roll it. If it cracks, I patch it. If it shrinks, I shrug it off. Pies don’t have to be perfect. In fact, they’re better if they’re not. And nobody refuses homemade pie.

This rice pie is a creamy pie that’s part of the traditional Easter meal in parts of Italy. And it could be an Easter dessert for you. The ingredients are easy to find and relatively inexpensive. It slices beautifully, and travels well, and tastes best after chilling and then about an hour out of the refrigerator. Best of all, it’s glorious homemade pie with homemade pie crust, and you really can’t go wrong with that.

Recipe: Easter Rice Pudding Pie

Ingredients

9 oz. plain flour
pinch salt
6 oz. Kerrygold salted butter
3 oz. ice cold water

For the filling:

3/4 cup short grain white rice
2 1/2 cups milk
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. lemon zest
3 large eggs
8 oz. (about 1 cup) fresh, whole milk ricotta, drained in cheesecloth (or coffee filter) lined sieve or colander about an hour
3/4 c. sugar
1 cup heavy cream
1 tsp. vanilla extract

Instructions

Combine flour, salt and about 2/3 of the butter, cut into pieces, in the bowl of a food processor. Pulse about 9-10 times in short bursts, until the mixture resembles coarse, damp sand.
Tip it into a bowl, and rub the rest of the butter in with your fingertips, pinching and flattening pieces of butter until it is incorporated.
Add the water all at once, stir with a fork, and dump the whole mixture onto some plastic wrap. Flatten into a disk, and chill for about an hour.
Roll the dough out between two pieces plastic wrap or parchment, making sure to roll from the center out.
Being careful not to stretch the dough, transfer into a deep, 9″ round pie plate, and carefully lift the dough into the corners.
Form the pie crust and crimp the edges, according to the directions in this post. Prick with a fork all over, and chill for about 15 minutes.
Preheat the oven to 350. Line the piecrust with greased foil, fill with pie weights, and bake until set, or about 8 minutes. Carefully remove the foil and weights, and bake the crust for another 6 minutes, or until pale gold and slightly dry looking. Cool the pie crust.

For the filling:

Preheat oven to 350, or leave the oven on after prebaking the crust.
Bring a pot of water with a pinch of salt in it to a boil. Boil the rice about 10 minutes, or until slightly underdone. Drain.
Combine the drained rice with 2 cups of milk, the lemon zest and the salt, simmer over low heat until the rice is cooked through, about 20 minutes (most of the milk will be absorbed).
In a large bowl, beat the eggs, milk, ricotta, sugar, cream and vanilla together until smooth. Add the cooked rice and milk and stir until combined. Pour into the cooled prebaked crust.
Bake until the filling is firm, about 40 minutes. (it’s OK for there to be a little wobble in the middle).
Cool, chill in the refrigerator, and serve with a little cinnamon sprinkled over the top.

Fancy Rhubarb Parfaits

Kate — Tue, 11 May 2010 12:09:46 +0000

We are in full on girly mode in the Savour Fare household. The Nuni is two and a half years old, and is seriously interested in the following (in no particular order): twirly dresses, crowns, glass slippers, toenail polish, my makeup, shiny shoes, and anything with sparkles. I would freak out in a feminist quandary, except I have a fuzzy memory of being VERY into princesses and makeup when I was quite young myself, and I am a perfectly acceptable adult with a career and a family and a tendency to wear Old Navy tee shirts to work.

In the Nuni’s world, her current favorite book is one called “Fancy Nancy”, about a hapless girl who LOVES being fancy — she likes to write her name with a plume (which is a fancy word for feather), her favorite color is fuchsia (which is a fancy word for purple), and she can’t WAIT to learn French, because EVERYTHING sounds fancy in French. Poor Fancy Nancy is beset by a thoroughly plain family, who thrills her one night by dressing up in accessories, going to a restaurant and ordering parfaits, which are “French for ice cream sundaes”.

Now, accuracy aside, parfaits are a very fancy dessert, and as the parent of a wee one who loves all things fancy, I thought I would accommodate her wishes and make them. As she also loves all things pink (as she regularly tells me, “Pink is my favrit color, mamma.”) I thought I would turn to the pinkest of all pink things — rhubarb. Sure, it doesn’t sport the aggressive magenta of anything made with beets, but for rosy, fancy, girly pinkness, rhubarb is your ingredient of choice.
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Savory Baked French Toast Croque Monsieur (with Ham and Cheese)

Kate — Wed, 05 May 2010 12:42:37 +0000

I don’t really understand the marketing of Mother’s Day. I see all these floral pastel cards and delicate lacy handkerchiefs and early morning breakfast in bed and advertisements for “brunch” and “afternoon tea” with fussy hats implied. Let me set the record straight. I am a mom, and I know a lot of moms. An informal survey of what our ideal Mother’s Day would look like involves 1) sleeping in; 2) a pedicure with some celebrity gossip magazines; 3) sushi; 4) chocolate and 5) lots of wine. Maybe this holiday doesn’t sell so well on a greeting card, but it sounds pretty awesome to me. Too awesome to be an also-ran Mother’s Day. Maybe I will name it something else, like “Saturday”. And it will fall once a week.

If your Mother’s Day veers towards the more traditional, or you’re trying to fill the time between pedicures, sushi and wine, try cooking brunch at home, and avoid the overpriced and overcrowded restaurant brunch options. (For more on this, see Brooke of FoodWoolf’s insider’s take on the restaurant Mother’s Day brunch. If you’re not feeling confident in your hollandaise sauce, or you’re a late sleeper yourself and don’t want a giant fuss in the morning, this is the brunch dish for you.
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Sauteed Asparagus with Leeks and a Giveaway

Kate — Fri, 02 Apr 2010 12:19:35 +0000

Spring has sprung. Sure, I live in LA, where a sunny day could just as easily mean December as it could April. People are always exhibiting various degrees of suntan (usually related to their house’s proximity to the beach), and flip flops are a year round fashion statement. Fortunately, I like to frequent the farmers’ markets (particularly the Hollywood Farmer’s Market, which I think is the best farmer’s market in Los Angeles), and the signs of spring are unmistakeable. Strawberries are a big tip off, trucked in from Oxnard, and so are the lilacs that are only around for the early birds. The very first tomatoes are appearing, but the vegetable that says “spring” to me is asparagus. The thin and tender stalks are all over the market.

Now, I love steamed asparagus with a little hollandaise, or roasted asparagus with olive oil, but sometimes I just don’t feel like going to the effort that steaming and roasting require. (And don’t ask me why it seems like a big deal to turn on the oven or dig out the two part steamer, but it does). That’s where pan sauteeing comes in. You don’t need a special asparagus cooker or a hot oven. Just a skillet, a little butter, and some quick knife work, and you have a dish fit for a king. The asparagus stay bright green and tendercrisp, with the flavor being undimmed by high heat roasting and undiluted by water. I like to add some leeks for a mellow oniony bite — the combination is really fantastic. Topped with some curls of sharp and grainy parmiggiano, this dish is simple, quick and delicious.

And since this is the first Friday of April, I’m having a first Friday giveaway. You’ve heard me speak lovingly of pretty much everything I own that was made by Le Creuset, right? I adore my enameled cast iron French ovens, but my steel stockpot is also pretty terrific. Well, Le Creuset has gotten into the stainless steel cookware game, and although I haven’t personally tried it, I feel absolutely confident that the quality is as amazing in these pans as it is in their other products. Le Creuset has very kindly provided a 2 quart chef’s pan to give away to a lucky reader of Savour Fare.
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Deviled Eggs with Capers and Parsley

Kate — Wed, 31 Mar 2010 12:44:52 +0000

I have vivid childhood memories of dyeing Easter Eggs. We always made my family’s traditional Craftsman flower eggs, but I also spent many a spring break waiting impatiently for the eggs to take on a deep color sitting in vats of vinegar with those little Paas tablets. Now that I am the mom, I try to recreate for the Nuni some of my own childhood joys, so I buy dozens of eggs each Easter, ripe for the decorating.

What I am faced with as an adult that I didn’t realize as a carefree kid is that after the fun of the Easter Egg hunt comes a long slong of trying to use dozens of hard boiled eggs. There are only so many plain hard boiled eggs you can eat, though a dash of tabasco helps matters immensely. Likewise, egg salad, although a love of mine, can quickly grow tireseome. Enter deviled eggs.

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Matzo Ball Soup and Cooking for Passover

Kate — Thu, 25 Mar 2010 15:47:52 +0000

Today I have a guest post from Emily, a dear friend and a fantastic cook. I wanted to do a recipe for Passover this year, and since I did not grow up in the Jewish culinary tradition, I asked Emily to write a guest post about Passover cooking with one of her favorite recipes, which I can personally vouch for as delicious. You can read more of Emily’s writing, about food, about motherhood, and about style at her blog, West of the Loop.

For Jewish families, the two most important holidays, both from a religious and a culinary perspective, are the High Holidays and Passover. Kids prefer Hanukkah naturally and certainly latkes are one of the better known Jewish foods. But Hanukkah is ultimately a minor holiday. The two times of year that Jewish families are likely to come together — maybe even traveling to do so — are the fall High Holy Days and Passover. Passover is a holiday celebrated almost entirely at home, as opposed to in the synagogue, making it really THE holiday for most Jewish families. Even the most assimilated families will usually host or attend a Passover Seder. It’s one of those traditions that people seem to hold onto, despite inter-marriage, cross-country moves, divorce or what have you.

The highlight of most Seders, and certainly the Seder I grew up with, is the chicken soup with matzo balls. It’s also the most iconic Jewish food this side of the bagel. While you may have to be Jewish to be nostalgic for your Bubbe’s matzo balls, you certainly do not have to be Jewish to love matzo ball soup, or to try making your own.

Any recipe for matzo ball soup, in my opinion, has to start with the soup. If you are ever going to make your own chicken broth, this is the time to do it. There are two reasons to make homemade broth for matzo ball soup. The first reason is plain: this is a dish in which you really taste the broth. Canned chicken broth is fine when making, say, squash soup, when the flavor of the squash is predominant. But with matzo ball soup, the broth is half the experience. The second reason to make homemade chicken broth is less obvious, but very important: you can use the chicken fat (schmaltz) that is rendered in making the broth to flavor your matzo balls. Matzo balls flavored with schmaltz are the real deal, my friends. The only caveat is, you have to make the broth at least a day ahead of time.
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Irish Soda Bread — Erin Go Bragh

Kate — Mon, 15 Mar 2010 12:39:20 +0000

Wednesday is Saint Patrick’s Day (don’t forget to wear green or the leprechauns will pinch you) and even though my family is only moderately Irish, and I, in fact, have never been to Ireland, my family celebrates every year without fail. Part of it is that my grandparents were married on March 17 (and enjoyed the luck of the Irish — they were married for 59 years), and part of it is that we happen to like celebrations, and if that celebration involves food, then we’re definitely in.

So March 17 sees us feasting happily on beer, corned beef, more beer, English mustard (don’t tell the people who are actually Irish!), beer, cabbage, Jameson’s (a change from beer), mashed potatoes, and always, always Irish soda bread. This might not look like the Irish soda bread you’ve seen — there are no raisins, no caraway seeds. But this version, a “brown soda bread” made with half whole wheat and half white flour, is more authentically Irish, according to Darina Allen and Rory O’Connell, founders of the Ballymaloe Cooking School. And it’s incredibly satisfying – hearty and only slightly sweet, with a crunch to the crush and a melting interior. Warm from the oven with a pat of butter, it really can’t be beat.
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Post tags: bread, breakfast, brunch, holiday, quick bread, Saint Patrick's Day

Giveaway, The Auberge of the Flowering Hearth and Endive Salad with Bacon

Kate — Fri, 12 Mar 2010 12:22:12 +0000

As I may have mentioned before, I generally receive a several cookbooks for major gift-giving occasions. This isn’t surprising; after all, I have a known cookbook problem, and I have several cookbooks on my Amazon wishlist. I’m fairly familiar with the major cookbooks that are released, what the buzz is, and what the classics are. But this Christmas my aunt (who is a fantastic cook) gave me a book I had never heard of — the Auberge of the Flowering Hearth, by Roy Andries De Groot. “It’s the book that inspired Alice Waters,” she told me. I thanked her politely and added the book to my already crowded shelf of food and cookbooks.

A month or so later, I had finished my book club book for that month and was looking for something to read, and my eye fell on the Auberge. The book is unassuming, with its seventies cover and relatively unknown author (who was at some point the President of the Gourmet Club, which I’m sure had some real meaning in 1973, but sounds made up to me, like something an enterprising high school student would use to pad their college application), but I thought it would be an excellent soothing bedtime read.
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