Yule Stump

To be a Daring Baker! I have been so excited about being brought into the fold of daring baker bloggers all over the world. I planned and plotted my first challenge. Before it was over, I would call my challenge disastrous, delightful, dangerous and delicious. Daring, it is, to be a blogging baker!

I gathered the ingredients and started early. We were planning to go to a special Christmas supper club and I had told everyone that I would bring a yule log. I didn't tell them it was a blogger challenge. I just committed to bringing the dessert.

So, the day came. I thought "genoise, schmenoise -- it's nothing more than a jelly roll cake". I guess that I stopped thinking there because I doubled the recipe due to the evite guest list for supper club increasing rapidly. When I got to the part of the recipe that says, "Scrape the batter into the prepared pan and smooth the top.", somehow I interpreted this to say "smooth TO THE TOP" of the cookie sheet. My double batch wouldn't fill 2 cookie sheets (or jelly roll pans as my Mom likes to call them - {more from Mom later}). So, I thought that maybe I didn't beat the genoise long enough. Maybe I needed to put the double batch in 1 pan to bake. It baked beautifully. I turned the cake out onto another pan.

Now, the buttercream. I wasn't too worried about it. I've made buttercream before. Mom has several cake mixes that have different flavored buttercreams as frosting. Egg whites, sugar and butter - the mixer was doing beautifully. Fluffy buttercream - yum. Then, I added the espresso powder, which had been dissolved in rum. I had doubts. Alcohol in my fluffy buttercream, won't it separate? I added it anyway. I set the mixer to beat it in. It still looked funny. Taste - very yummy. Oh well, on to the filling.

I had plans to use this caramel frosting (store-bought) to fill the cake. I pulled it out and the plastic container cracked while in the pantry. It was as hard as a brickbat. Microwave for 30 sec - still hard. What else could I use? Coffee buttercream and raspberry preserves didn't sound good to me at all. Lemon curd - no. fig preserves - no way. Ok, just use the buttercream. So, I filled it with buttercream, being sure to leave enough to frost the yule log.

On to the rolling! I helped my granny roll jelly rolls many times. This would be a cinch. I remembered that granny used to use a clean dish towel sprinkled with sugar for rolling. I started to roll. Something is not right. The genoise is too thick and already cracked with the first turn of the roll. More cracks - crack, crack for a splintered yule log and buttercream mess! Maybe I could cover it up with the rest of the buttercream.

And then, a knock at the door! Mom & Dad arrived to pick up a picture that my husband took at Thanksgiving for their Christmas card. I answered the door with a mixture of embarrassment and relief. My mom can fix any kitchen disaster. She has been known to burn the bottom off a pan and still get dinner for 12 on the table. I say, "I'm making a yule log!". Mom says, "I've always wanted to make a yule log!". Great, today is your lucky day, I think to myself.

I explain how I've ended up with a great big yule mess in my refrigerator and how I am just going to cover it with buttercream frosting to mask my great mistakes.

Of course, she wouldn't hear of it.
Mom: Where is your recipe?
Me: Daring Bakers blog.
Mom: What's that?
Me: Never mind, Mom. It's on the computer.
Mom: Why didn't you cut the double-batch genoise in half lengthwise when I realized it was too thick?
Me: I don't know. Too late now.
Mom: We'll make another genoise.
Me: Do we have to?
Mom: Of course! I've always wanted to make a yule log!

I made a single batch genoise. Mom starts juicing satsumas (seedless oranges of Japanese origin, also called mikan) for her favorite son-in-law. Satsumimosa recipe post to follow. Glass breaks all over the kitchen floor. My crystal stirrer for the martini pitcher has gotten loose, fallen to the floor and broken in a million pieces. This really makes me want to give up on the whole yule log. Mom insists that we carry on. All yule log ingredients remain safe and without glass bits.

Mom says that I didn't beat the buttercream long enough, which is why the frosting appeared to separate. Mom scraped the filling from yule mess in the frig to use as filling in the new genoise cake. Beat the buttercream more. We filled and rolled the genoise with coffee buttercream. It reminds me of granny and helping her get ready for her pokeno games.

The yule log looks pretty good. We arrange it with a piece jutting out from the main branch and it looks almost real. One problem: not enough frosting to cover the log. I explain to Mom that it would be a violation of Daring Blogger rules to vary from the recipe to frost the log. She doesn't understand any of that. I don't have another 3 sticks of butter to dedicate to another batch of buttercream, so we improvise.

I think that the frosting that we used consisted of:
powdered sugar
cocoa
butter (only one stick)

I made the marzipan while Mom put together the improvised frosting. We shaped the mushrooms and I put together holly to garnish the top of the log. We dusted the mushrooms with cocoa powder as they all fell over on their sides. We covered it with toasted almonds to look like wood chips. Off to the party!

Everyone seemed to like the yule log. It is certainly festive-looking. The next day I had a cookie swap and used my leftover log - the yule stump - as a dessert.

This is the yummy yule log that I ordered at Todd English's restaurant, Riche, a week later. I bet that they didn't have nearly as much danger and delight making their log as I did with mine.

Looking back, I'm glad that it was a disaster at first. Making my second yule log and Mom's first yule log together will be a holiday memory that I will remember for years to come.

The yule log recipe, taken from Nick Malgieri’s Perfect Cakes. Since this post is so long, I'll just link to Cream Puffs in Venice for anyone interested in getting the recipe. Please visit the blogroll, to see other blogger's attempts (hopefully, less disastrous) at this holiday treat!

Mirliton Stuffed with Shrimp (page 18)

I was so excited to see fresh mirliton at the Farmer's Market a few weeks ago. Unfortunately, I they ran out before I could get any for this recipe. Luckily, it was the weekend of the Mirliton Festival, so I was able to get some there and enjoy a lively show by Morning 40 Federation. I saw them in Hattiesburg a few years ago. I don't remember enjoying the Hattiesburg show. It was in a tiny bar and was too loud. This show was great! What a fun band!

This dish was one of my favorites as a child. My granny made it with shrimp and crabmeat. It was often served as a side dish. I've heard of other versions with beef and seafood.

I didn't have any fresh parsley or shallots. I just used dried parsley. I also used some stale sourdough bread that I had around. I served it with creamed spinach (also pictured). The resultant dish got rave reviews from my husband and my sister!

Stuffing:

6 medium sized mirliton

3 Tbsp. butter

2/3 cup finely chopped onion

2 cups medium shrimp, peeled & deveined

1/4 cup shallots

1/4 cup chopped parsley

1/4 tsp. black pepper

1 tsp. salt

3 slices bread, soaked in water & squeezed

Topping:

3 Tbsp. melted butter

1/4 cup plain or Italian bread crumbs

Cut mirlitons in half lengthwise. Place in pot of boiling water. Cover and boil for 25 to 30 minutes or until tender. Remove seeds. Scoop out. Reserve pulp & shells. Saute onions in butter for 5 minutes. Add shrimp. Continue cooking for approximately 8 minutes. Add mirliton pulp, bread, shallots, parsley, salt & pepper. Mix well. Cook for 10 minutes stirring constantly. Pile into shells. Top with buttered bread crumbs. Bake 20 minutes at 350 degrees Fahrenheit.

Serves 6 to 8.

Sundried Tomato & Pesto Torta

This is a great appetizer that doesn't require any real cooking. The three colorful layers make the presentation of this dip really impressive. It is really easy and it tastes good, too! You can also use store-bought pesto to make it even easier.

Pesto Layer:

1/2 cup basil leaves

2 Tbsp. freshly grated Parmesan cheese

1 Tbsp. toasted pine nuts

1 clove minced garlic

1/4 tsp. salt

1 Tbsp. EVOO

3 Tbsp. cream cheese

salt & pepper to taste

(OR 1/2 cup store-bought pesto + 3 Tbsp. cream cheese)

Boursin Layer:

1 (5.2 oz.) package Boursin cheese (I used the pepper flavor)

1/4 cup heavy cream

Sundried Tomato Layer:

1/3 cup sun-dried tomatoes, pack in oil, drained

2 Tbsp. tomato paste

1 clove minced garlic

1 Tbsp. freshly grated Parmesan cheese

salt & pepper

Crackers or bread

1) Pesto layer: With a food processor, combine the fresh basil, cheese, pine nuts, garlic and salt. Process until finely chopped. Drizzle the olive oil in using the feed tube. Add cream cheese and pulse to combine. Add salt & pepper and refrigerate.

2) Cheese layer: Mix together the Boursin cheese and cream until smooth. Refrigerate.

3) Tomato layer: Remove oil from sundried tomatoes by squeezing. Use the food processor to chop these to a very fine texture. Add tomato paste, garlic, parsley and cheese. Puree. Taste and add salt & pepper, as needed. Refrigerate.

4) Line the springform pan with parchment paper or waxed paper. Spread 1/2 cup of sundried tomato mixture in the pan. Layer 1/2 cup cheese mixture on top. Finish with 1/2 cup of refrigerated pesto/cream cheese layer. Cover with plastic wrap & refrigerate.

5) Refrigerate for at least 30 minutes. Plate torta by turning springform pan over onto serving plate. Release the pan and remove the paper covering the tomato layer. Serve with bread or crackers.

Grits and Grillades: Part 1 (page 11)

I have had grits and grillades on the brain lately. They seem to be popping up everywhere that I look. I even had a request for the recipe on the blog! So, it seemed like a good time to do some research! We had some friends in town last weekend, so I thought we'd go to breakfast at Luke, a local restaurant owned by John Besh. This wasn't our first time at Luke. In fact, we went there for brunch on our wedding anniversary a couple months ago and have been fans ever since. I couldn't resist the blackberry-cane syrup pancakes there the first time and have been pleased with everything that we have ordered. Unfortunately, my order for grits and grillades wasn't as pleasing as the other dishes that I have ordered there. The gravy for the grillades was thick and dark like my mom's but terribly salty. They seemed to be trying to cut the saltiness of the sauce by putting fresh herbs on top but that didn't help. I didn't complain. Everyone has off-days. I'm sure that is all it was. Luke's grits are wonderful - creamy and delicious! I'd had shrimp and grits there several weeks before. I love the grits and the bacon is yummy there, too!

Ok, so how did it compare with mom's grits and grillades? Mom's gravy is dark and flavorful. The thin strips of pork are so tender you barely have to cut them with a fork. So, I set out to make grits and grillades following mom's recipe.

The pork browned fine. My grits were looking good. I tasted them to make sure that they weren't too gritty and flavorless. Added butter and salt. Now, for the gravy. Mom says add water and reduce to make pan gravy. What? Water and pork bits will cook down to make the thick gravy that I have grown accustom to every Easter? I have my doubts. I wait 10 minutes like the recipe says. I wait 20 minutes. It looks like pork-flavored water. The husband circles the kitchen, hungrily asking about the ETB (Estimated Time of Breakfast). I have to think quickly. The mom is in France. She won't be home until the evening, so I can't call her. Must make gravy.

I may not have mentioned this before now, but my husband is not from New Orleans or Louisiana. He is from Mississippi and his definition of gravy sometimes differs from mine. His favorite breakfast is buttermilk biscuits with country gravy (white gravy) and Jimmy Dean sage sausage. I had to think quickly. I threw 3 tbsp. of flour in the pan with my pork-water and added 3 tbsp. butter. In no time, I had gravy. Not rich, dark gravy but it would due, for the husband, for now.

Breakfast was on the table. The husband was happy. He said it was delicious and I shouldn't change a thing! What am I going to tell Mom?

I polled my friends on the light versus dark gravy in grillades issue. It is definitely supposed to be dark. I made a desperate call to Mom when she arrived from France. How was the trip? Great. By the way, I need some help with the grits and grillades. No problem. The recipe is how Granny Tregre made it, but Mom has a trick and she'll share it with me. Whew!

To be continued....

Pecan Gralee (page 30)

This is one of my favorite recipes. My mom usually makes it around Christmas. It is pronounced "gra-lay". A friend recently told me that she knew someone whose family made it all the time and even named their dog Gralee, although they spelled it gralet.

This was the first time that I made gralee by myself. Ok, I DID have to call mom once while making it. Mine came out more like praline pieces, but everyone seemed to enjoy it. Mom is right about this one - once you start eating these, you can't stop!

Recipe:

2 cups white sugar

2/3 cup evaporated milk

2 Tbsp. dark cane or corn syrup (I used corn syrup)

1/2 tsp. vanilla

4 cups pecan halves (roast these first - I didn't and had to cook them longer)

3 Tbsp. butter

pinch of salt

Cook sugar, milk, corn syrup, and salt to the soft ball stage (235 degree F) . Add butter, vanilla, and pecans. Continue cooking and stirring until pecans have a slightly roasted flavor. Remove from heat and stir until pecan halves separate. Place in a single layer on waxed paper to cool. Makes approximately 6 cups.

Note: I love this candy thermometer from The Pampered Chef. It is digital and works for meat and candy. There is an alert when it reaches the temperature for the chosen meat or candy stage.

Memere's Morning Crepes (page 25)

I can finally get started with Mam Papaul's Country Creole Basket. As I've already said, the cookbook was written & published by my mom. I realized that I have to have written permission to reproduce any of her recipes. I had told her of my intention to blog about it but I don't think that she realized her recipes would be all over the internet. Anyway, I reached a deal to link to her site in exchange for reproducing the recipes. If you are interested in buying the cookbook, it is only $6.50 and can be purchased via Mam Papaul's website . It was really no big deal but I wanted to make sure that I cover myself since she has 3 lawyers in the family to give her advice.

We'll start with my favorite, Memere's Morning Crepes. I have made these several times since we moved to New Orleans. Our neighbor said that he had not eaten crepes like these since he was a kid.

Recipe:

2 eggs
2 cups milk
2 Tbsp melted butter
1/2 tsp. salt
1-1/2 cups sifted all-purpose flour
2 Tbsp. sugar
1 tsp. baking powder
oil for skillet

Sift flour, sugar, baking powder and salt together. Beat together eggs, milk and butter in the blender. Add flour mixture and blend well. Oil & heat skillet.

Here my technique is different from mom's. Recently, my sister gave me a crepe maker (see picture) and it is really efficient and helps to spread the batter thinly over the surface. So, I pour the batter in the dish for the crepe maker, dip the crepe-making apparatus in the batter and wait. After about 10-15 seconds, you can use a spatula to pull the crepes edges away from the sides. The timing depends on how you like them. Eat them with butter, syrup, lemon curd, jam or cane syrup (like mom's way).

Tart Tatin - not mom's

My dear friend, Mary, & I attended a cooking school a few years back and had a great time learning lots of new recipes! Jim complained that I always go to these cooking classes but never make the recipes again, so he never gets to see (or taste) the fruits of my small cooking education. So, I decided that I needed to pick a few favorites and share them with Jim, plus I had some apples and rosemary that I needed to use.

According to whatscookingamerica.net, the origin of tart tatin begins with the l'Hotel Tatin (in the a town called Lamotte-Beuvron in the Loire Valley of France - see map) by two unmarried sisters who owned and ran the hotel. They cooked for the guest as well. Their specialty was an apple tart. It sounds as if the tart tatin, an upside-down apple tart was actually an accident made by one of the sisters in a hurried tourist season.


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This rosemary brown sugar version of the tart was a hit with Mary and me, not so much with the husband. He said that there was too much rosemary in it, but it didn't stop him from eating it with vanilla ice cream!

Recipe:

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/4 cup brown sugar
2 tsp minced fresh rosemary
1/4 tsp salt
10 Tbsp cold unsalted butter, cut into pieces
2 egg yolks
3 Tbsp cold water

Place flour, sugar, rosemary and salt in food processor fitted with a metal blade. Process to combine. Add butter & pulse until coarse meal consistency (work quickly to keep butter cold). Whisk egg yolks & water in a small bowl to thoroughly combine. Add all at once to food processor & pulse several times to bring dough together.

Remove dough from processor; place on a large piece of plastic wrap and refrigerate for 30 min.

Filling:
4 Granny Smith apples
1 tsp fresh minced rosemary (you may want to use a little bit less, depending on your taste)
1/2 cup granulated sugar
2 Tbsp water
3 Tbsp cold unsalted butter, cut into pieces
finely minced zest of one orange

Preheat oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit.
Peel apples, cut in half & remove core and stem. Slice each in half and cut into think slices.

Place apple slices in a mixing bowl and toss with rosemary and zest. Combine sugar & water in a heavy saute pan (with an oven-safe handle). Place pan over med-high heat. Do not stir sugar. Cook until sugar is a golden brown. Remove from heat & add butter. Whisk to incorporate butter.

Overlap the apple slices in a circular pattern in the pan. Fill the entire bottom portion of the pan.

Flour dough lightly and place it between 2 sheets of waxed paper. Roll dough out into a circle a little bigger than your pan. Place dough in pan and trim edges, but make sure that it covers the apples completely.

Place pan in the oven and bake for 20-25 min. Remove from the oven when golden brown and let it rest for a couple minutes. Invert onto a serving platter (watch out! - this can be a messy & scorching hot process). Serve with ice cream.

Goals

I've tried this blog thing before now. I have decided that it did not work out because I didn't have a goal. I've read food blogs where the blogger makes food of a certain cuisine, comes up with new and exciting recipes or cooks everything in a cookbook. I think that for me it will have to be food & family related. After all, I moved here to get closer to my roots. So, I am planning to make all of the recipes in my mom's cookbook, Mam Papaul's Country Creole Basket. Mam Papaul was my great-grandmother, whose name is also the brand for my family's line of dinner and cake mixes. My mom wrote the cookbook three years before I came into the world. I think that this mission will help me learn more about my family's history & maybe the readers will enjoy it, too. I hope so. I cannot promise that I will stick with this theme all of the time, but it's a start!