Fame: From Croquembouche to Cupcakes?

I always get a giggle whenever someone tells me about their "famous [fill in name of food dish]". Recently while dining with acquaintances we were informed that we were about to be treated too our hostess's "famous meatloaf". She actually informed us that she "was famous for her meatloaf"! Now don't get me wrong, it was actually quite a delicious meatloaf but I had no idea our hostess had acquired a degree of notoriety for it. Quite honestly, I had never heard of her meatloaf before that evening. Perhaps I'm just not as au currant as I thought I was? (I read the New York Times daily. I even read People magazine and when nobody is looking I'll even pick up The Enquirer. Never heard of her meatloaf.) Just this past year, however, I have been treated to "famous lemon bars", "famous Asian salmon", and more recently, "famous artichoke dip". (Trust me, as delicious as it is, NOBODY'S artichoke dip is worthy of fame.)

Within my group of closest friends, each is somewhat associated with a particular dish and yet none claim real fame for it. If you say 'popovers' we would immediately think of John who will make these (and strawberry butter!) for any gathering we might have. Michael makes an amazing carrot soup. (His other specialty is egg whites believe it or not!) Gary can whip up a pork tenderloin dinner with all the sides to perfection in just minutes. (I have made his recipe so many times that I call it "mine" when he is not around.) Lastly, Steve can turn any leftover chicken into a chicken salad so good you would be surprised that chicken salad can get even get that tasty. And yet, as good as it is, it certainly hasn't made Steve famous yet -- though it probably should.

My friends would probably have a hard time associating me with any one particular dish. Maybe if you pressed them they might laugh and say "croquembouche" -- even though I haven't actually made one since 1996. I was young and too foolish to know that some recipes should only be admired --not attempted. I had just caught my first glimpse of a younger, slimmer Martha Stewart in a set of VHS videos that belonged to my mother. She stepped her viewers through the very complicated recipe -- assuring us along the way how easy it was at each step. When I saw Martha spinning the sugar and wrapping it around the festive assembly of puff pastries I was hooke and determined to make it for my next holiday party. Surprisingly, it turned out pretty darn nice even thought it took several batches of cream puffs to get enough good ones to complete. One of my guests was so enthralled by the whole thing that he started eating it piece by piece, one puff at a time, turning my creating into a culinary game of Jenga. Before I could do a formal presentation to my guests most of its structural support had been eaten away. When I went to check on it and get it ready I found 25% of it missing! Traumatized, I have not made another one since. The stuff of legend.

Martha has since simplified her recipe-- and I now see is has become "famous" as well. I wonder if I had anything to do with that?

Which brings us to chocolate cupcakes. Specifically, my "famous chocolate cupcakes".

I'm not famous for them at all though they are one of those recipes that I wouldn't mind being famous for or at the very least associated with. They do have quite a few fans at the office when I make a batch to bring in and they always seem to disappear at dinner gatherings -- even when I've invited the 'no dessert for me" crowd. Despite the surprising inclusion of Hershey's syrup in the ingredient list they are not children's cupcakes and before you blanch at the thought of using Hershey's in your baking I will tell you that I think the distinctive flavor actually works quite well here as it delivers a certain note that your guests won't quite get a handle on.

The recipe is adapted from Ina's to make them less sweet and a bit deeper and darker in cocoa flavor. I also add some baking powder to get just a tad more lift. She makes them plain but I always decorate a few with toasted walnuts or slivered almonds.




Ingredients: nocoupons

• 1/4 pound unsalted butter, at room temperature
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 4 extra-large eggs, at room temperature
• 11 fluid ounces Hershey's chocolate syrup (1 can)
  
• 1 TBS baking powder
• 1 TBS cocoa powder
  
• 1 tablespoon pure vanilla extract
• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• Toasted slivered almonds
  
• 1 teaspoon instant coffee granules

Ganache:

nocoupons

• 1/2 cup heavy cream
• 8 ounces good semisweet chocolate chips
• 1/2 teaspoon instant coffee granules

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F. Line a muffin pan with paper liners.

Cream the butter and sugar in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment until light and fluffy. Add the eggs, 1 at a time. Mix in the chocolate syrup and vanilla. Add the flour and coffee granules and mix until just combined. Don't overbeat, or the cupcakes will be tough.

Scoop the batter into the muffin cups and bake for 30 minutes, or until just set in the middle. Don't overbake! Let cool thoroughly in the muffin pan.

For the ganache, cook the heavy cream, chocolate chips, and instant coffee in the top of a double boiler over simmering water until smooth and warm, stirring occasionally.

Dip the tops of the cupcakes into the ganache. Do not refrigerate.

Saturday Haiku: Enuii

Cold, damp, blah morning.
Time for it to get warmer?
Not feelin' the haiku.

Hotel Room Wisdom

Love this. There it was, right up on the wall of my hotel room at the W Hotel. Quite profound really. After having given it some thought (there isn't much to do right now) I realize that we can create ourselves in many ways, not just by choosing what to wear and what to do with our hair. We create ourselves by exploring new music, meeting new people, traveling, trying new things (like blogging!) But even more importantly, we can create and define ourselves by choosing our own attitudes and deciding how to feel about the things that are happening around us or to us. Its not always easy, but we can do it.

Think about it.

What do you do to create yourself?

Saturday Haiku: Haiku's for my week

Purposefully Bland?
It is usually chicken.
That's conference food!

Workout while away?
Not really motivated.
Where is the trainer?

(DC Equinox Club.)

Abomination!
Selective Bible study:
Miss Beverly Hills.

.

I Wish I Made More of This:

We had friends over for dinner last week and once again I was not inspired to do anything special for hors d'oeuvres. I'm not an appetizer kind of cook. Never found much inspiration there I suppose. Who sits around and dreams of appetizers to serve at a dinner party? All the action is at the main course and dessert...

I'm on the road all this week, eating on airplanes, in hotels, and at conference lunch tables pretending to be interested in what the others at the table are talking about. The only good food to be had, aside from the the hotel hamburgers, is in my mind! Why is it that a hamburger is always the best thing on the menu at a hotel? Hotel hamburgers are seriously good! I'm also thinking a lot about that last jar of Port Rosemary Jam sitting nearly empty in my refrigerator back home. Did I really only keep one jar for myself? Must be true because when friends came over for dinner last week, and I needed something to make a generic cheese plate pop, only one jar was on the shelf. All the jams and jellies I made in December are gone and its not even the end of February. Did I give them all away? I tend to hoard things (which makes making jams and preserves a fitting endeavor wouldn' t you say?) but I really wanted to give home made gifts this year so I guess this later value won out.

Dammit. When is fig season going to start again? I seriously need some more of this. I bet this jam would be good on a hotel hamburger. Its not too sweet so its definitely not a breakfast jam. Perhaps it would be good to dress roasted pork tenderloin? Or it could turn some sliced pears and Gorgonzola into a amazingly adult after dinner course? Or you could put in a Prosciutto Wrapped Asparagus with Port Rosemary Fig Jam for an appetizer! Or make a thin crust Port Rosemary Fig Jam and Crumbled Pork Sausage Pizza.

Mmm.... I hope I can remember that next year! I guess people do sit around and dream up appetizers.

Port and Rosemary Fig Jam

• 2 pounds green or purple figs, stemmed and cut into 1/2-inch pieces
• 1 1/2 cups sugar
• 1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
• 1/2 cup white port
• 2 4-inch sprigs of rosemary

In a large, nonreactive saucepan, toss the fig pieces with the sugar and let stand, stirring occasionally, for about 15 minutes, until the sugar is mostly dissolved and the figs are juicy.

Add the lemon juice, rosemary sprigs and water and bring to a boil, stirring until the sugar is completely dissolved. Simmer the fig jam over moderate heat, stirring occasionally, until the fruit is soft and the liquid runs off the side of a spoon in thick, heavy drops, about 20 minutes. Remove rosemary and discard. Use an immersion blender to emulsify if necessary.

Spoon the jam into three 1/2-pint jars, leaving 1/4 inch of space at the top. Close the jars and process in a water bath and store in a cool place for up to a year or let cool to room temperature and store the jam in the refrigerator for up to 3 months or

I Have a New Salmon Recipe!

I just can't share it with you yet. You see, if I share it with you my mother will see it and then she will make it before I have a chance to make it for her. I really like salmon but stopped making it as it was always, well...always the same. I told my mom I was looking for something new and she said, "Be sure to give it to me. I'm looking for a new salmon recipe too." She makes a mean salmon and while she makes some of the best salmon I have ever had she makes it the same way each time too.

Just about everyone I asked during my search told me they were looking for a new salmon recipe. Salmon boredom must be an epidemic. Well guess what? I have one!

Sometimes when I discover a new recipe and it rates as "dinner party caliber" I can get very possessive and secretive about it until I have had a chance to serve it up to the various groups I like to invite over. "Dinner Party Caliber" recipes aren't too hard to make but they have that certain something extra that signifies it is something "special". The recipe should have enough 'play' in it so it would be unlikely anything tragic will happen and ruin everything in the final moments. (I know those among you who like to entertain you exactly know what I mean, from experience.) So when I find such a recipe, its golden and must be fully exploited before it is shared.

Can you guess that my Mom reads this blog? Mom, you'll be getting an invitation shortly!

"T'aarof Bread Pudding"

Persian culture has a fascinating custom called "T'aarof"that can be somewhat exasperating if you are unfamiliar with its complexities. It is a form of civility comprised of an abundance of polite phrases, language, and behaviors that can get rather extreme if you are not aware of what is going on. At its most artful it is a verbal dance allowing you time figure out the intentions of the other party. If you are at someone's house and they offer for you to stay and have dinner, t'aarof dictates that you immediately refuse even if you would like very much to stay. You are allowing for your hostess to have offered out of politeness. She might not really want you to stay. Get it? She will offer again, but then again you will refuse. This will go on at least three times while each of you figures out the real intentions of the other. If you should actually stay for dinner you will find yourself in an endless round of 'taarof as the hostess offers you more food but you must refuse for fear of looking like a glutton. She will offer again, of course. You can accept on the third offer, if it is made. In the world of 'taarof you have to be careful as you could end up either hungry or overstuffed depending on how you play it.

As you can gather, this is extremely difficult to the newbie or unskilled. And while you are permitted to request no t'aarof-ing ("t'aarof nakonid"), that itself is a suspect request that could be t'aarof! As a westerner just being introduced to Persian culture I was unfamiliar with what was going on. It lead to some unusual, awkward, and often humorous moments while I figured this custom out. You should have seen the looks I got on one of our first dates when I immediately accepted an offer of the hostess to send me home with leftover food! They sure had a laugh at that one while I tried to explain that in my culture it would have been rude to refuse such an insistent request. And imagine my surprise when I once complimented a gentleman on his watch and he very insistently offered to give it to me!

There are other forms of t'aarof but mostly the practice involves saying a lot of things that you might not really mean -- knowing all the time you won't be taken literally because the other party knows you don't mean it. Got that? The overriding value, however, is always about showing proper humility while doing all you can to be hospitable. Eventually, what I at first found to be somewhat annoying and puzzling is now quite charming. I marvel at its masters.

So what does this have to do with bread pudding you might ask? Good question! I realized the other day that I had been way too indoctrinated into the ways of t'aarof when my dear friend Michelle surprised me by taking me up on my offer to bring something to her dinner party.

"We are very excited to see you, what can we bring?"

She quickly responded with, "how about dessert?".

T'aarof would have dictated that Michelle refuse my offer! I totally expected her to say, "nothing!" and I would have brought wine anyway. Even if I had offered again she would have still been obliged under t'aarof to refuse me. I have grown so accustomed to a world filled with t'aarof that I forgot to realize Michelle, my dear friend since college, didn't play by the Persian rulebook. Duh!

Nevertheless, I took this for the huge compliment it was and quickly settled on bread pudding for my contribution. Michelle was entrusting me with the dessert at her dinner party and I wanted to be sure it was something great and deserving of the honor. Now, I have never really met a bread pudding I didn't like but when I saw this recipe on a blog I love I saved it away as a sure hit for some future dinner party I would host. Since t'aarof is all about doing more for others than you would do for even yourself I was quite honored to be making it for Michelle and her family.

I followed the recipe closely but left the bread crusts on as I was after a more rustic pudding. Make this just before your guests arrive and gently reheat just prior to serving. Be sure to go look at Jennifer's blog and the pictures she took of her prep of this wonderful pudding. I'll be making this one again for sure.

Apple Rum Raisin Bread Pudding
Inspired by Bon Appétit

Serves 6-8

Ingredients

⅔ cup raisins
2 tablespoons dark or spiced rum
2 cups whole milk
4 large eggs
1 cup sugar
3 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted and slightly cooled
½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
⅛ teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon vanilla
4 cups packed Challah or Brioche pieces, cut into ¾-inch cubes (you'll need one loaf but you won't use all of it)
1 large tart baking apple such as Granny Smith, peeled, cored, cut into ⅛-inch slices and cut in half.

For Serving
Vanilla Ice Cream

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees and spray 11x7-inch glass (or equivalent 2-quart) baking dish with nonstick cooking spray.

2. Place raisins and rum in a shallow bowl and microwave on high for 30 seconds. Let raisins soak in rum while you prepare other ingredients.

3. Whisk milk, eggs, sugar, melted butter, cinnamon, salt and vanilla in large bowl to blend. Add challah cubes, sliced apples and raisins with rum and fold together with a large spatula. Pour mixture into prepared baking dish, flatten with spatula and make sure apples and raisins are evenly distributed. Let stand 15 minutes.

4. Bake bread pudding until top is golden and center is set, about 55-65 minutes. Spoon into bowls, top with vanilla ice cream and serve.