Biscuits are Heavenly

I had not had a biscuit for a long time until I ate at a trendy little southern style restaurant here in San Francisco. Farmer Brown knows fried chicken and it is quite an indulgence every now and then. They recently opened a to-go window near my office which I finally tried this week. They serve a range of chicken lunch boxes and waffles and chicken + waffles, and they all come with what they call their "Angel Biscuits". One of my co-workers gobbled it up on the way back to our office repeatedly saying, "it's so good!" and it got me thinking... I haven't made biscuits since I have no idea and I have a lot of good recipes to try.... hmmm.

For dinner I made grilled chicken, roasted green beans and finished the meal off with a pretty little biscuit. I adapted 2 recipes to create what I find was a perfect accompaniment to a simple dinner. They came out well, though not as tall as I imagined, and were really tasty. They were nice and flakey, moist, and not too sweet for a dinner biscuit. They are also quick to pull together if you find you have no bread component for your meal.

Enjoy!

Biscuits

Adapted from Baking From My Home to Yours (and a little insight from Paula Dean)

2 C flour

1 T baking powder

1 heaping tsp sugar

3/4 tsp salt

8 T butter

3/4 C buttermilk

1/4 tsp baking soda

Preheat oven to 425* and center rack in oven. Whisk together dry ingredients and cut in butter until it resembles oatmeal and pea size pieces. Add milk and stir together with a fork. Knead once or twice in the bowl and turn it out onto a lightly floured surface. Roll to 1/2" thick and cut as many biscuits as possible with a 2" round. Gather the scraps and working the dough as little as possible pat into 1/2" thickness and cut again. (mine yielded 11) Lay cut biscuits on a silicone mat lined baking sheet (or freeze biscuits) and bake for 14-18 minutes until puffed and golden brown.

I made mine with buttermilk because I had it on hand. If you don't have it, just substitute for whole milk - or at least 2% - and don't add baking soda. They were delicious just plain and I they are a fine compliment to tea with jam and honey!

ps. roasting green beans is amazing!

Frozen Lime Pie

Close to a year ago my group of friends started something we like to call "Family Dinner." My husband and I are the only ones with family close, so it gave us an excuse to get together and have a meal family style. Dinners usually surround a theme and we each take turns hosting. Last night we hosted Family Dinner with a Caribbean theme reminiscent of our sailing trip. We had Jerk Chicken, Jibarito Sandwiches, Caribbean Salad with Lime vinaigrette, rice and beans with coconut milk, and Lime Pie.

Dinner was very successful since most people liked everything each person brought. The pie recipe comes from the villa we stayed in after our sailing trip; a creation of one of the staff there. Les Chaudieres has to be one of the most beautiful places we have visited. Visit the link above for other recipes from the kitchen (and to inspire your next vacation). I made little changes to the recipe and even though the base followed instruction, my dessert came out a little lighter and smoother than when we ate it during vacation. This pie is so easy to make I hope you try it! Since it is made for the freezer it keeps well too - great for summer nights when you don't want to heat up the house too much (I only wish we had this problem in SF).

Frozen Lime Pie

Adapted from Les Chaudieres, St Lucia

Crust: 8 oz. ground ginger snaps or graham crackers (about 2 packages) 4 oz melted butter (1 stick)

1 tsp sugar

Filling:

1/4 cup fresh lime juice 2 teaspoons lime zest 1 tin sweetened condensed milk 1-2/3 cup whipping cream

splash of vanilla

For the crust, grind graham crackers in food processor, add sugar and melted butter. Stir with a fork and press into pie pan. Bake in a preheated oven at 350* for 15 minutes or until golden brown. Set aside to cool. (Note: if you use a glass pan remember to reduce the heat by 25*)

For the filling, mix together lime juice and zest. In a large bowl, whip cream and condensed milk until stiff peaks form. Add vanilla. Fold in the juice/zest mix and spread evenly into the crust. Cover and freeze until frozen (at least 3 hours). Remove from freezer 10-15 minutes before serving. Garnish with lime zest.

A Scone A Day...

does not keep the doctor away... it only encourages physical activity.

I really like scones a lot in spite of their evil fat content. Lucky for me the scones I made don't have the extra fat from heavy cream (buttermilk instead). I have had the intention to make scones for a while now but they never seem to make it from thought to edible good! After my swim I was talking breakfast with my friend, Rebecca, and decided tonight would be a good night to make scones. I had no recipe in mind but found one that used up some ingredients I had on hand.

The scone is similar to a biscuit, except sweeter and usually has a fruit component or can be savory with cheeses. The Scone was nice and flakey and a little ugly with its bumps and lumps (I promise it is supposed to be this way). I added little chunks of banana to the basic dough before adding the liquid and the recipe suggests that prunes or apricots would be nice as well. Scones are pretty easy as long as you don't over mix them. Like any biscuit - Less is More. Hopefully you will have a chance to try them.

Oatmeal Nutmeg Scones

with Banana

1 egg

1/2 C buttermilk

1 2/3 C flour

1 1/3 C old fashioned oats

1/3 C sugar

1 T baking powder

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

1/4 tsp nutmeg

1 stick + 2 T cold unsalted butter, cut into small pieces

Preheat the oven to 400* and line a baking sheet with parchment or a silicone mat.

Whisk the dry ingredients. Cut in the butter. Add 1/2 C chopped fruit (banana, diced prunes, dried apricot) then mix in the egg and buttermilk until the dough just comes together. Knead in the bowl gently! Turn it out on a lightly floured surface and divide in half. Pat the dough into a 5" round and cut into 6 pieces. Arrange on a baking sheet and bake 20-22 minutes or until the tops are golden brown. Cool on a rack for at least 10 minutes or room temperature.

The Tomato

No, not dessert... just something I am obsessing over since receiving our first few heirloom tomatoes of the summer. I remember a time in my life where I hated tomatoes, well most tomatoes. I would only eat the tomatoes from my Pock's garden. He had a fairly small garden in our backyard but every year he grew a tomato similar to the Early Girl. They were bright red and juicy and we couldn't wait to pick them. He would slice them up with salt and sometimes we would just stand at the kitchen counter and eat them. He is the one who instilled a love for fruit and salt that I just can't break to this day (grapefruit, cantaloupe, watermelon...).

Planting the first seeds

watching Pock garden

Some time in the past giant seed corporations like Monsanto took control and decided what we should eat. They funded genetic engineering for crops to withstand pests and drought, and found a way to patent their seeds' genes. There have been an outrageous number of lawsuits for farmers crops that have been contaminated by Monsanto who demands a technology fee for using their product (even when the product comes by air or bird poop). This concept is completely wrong. Plants are very smart and these engineers are taking a role that no one should. Plants evolve in certain climates to reach maximum growth under the conditions they are used to. Evolution. It's that simple. Unfortunately, big corporations have taken the region out of our food system. Fortunately, farmers (mostly smaller scale) have joined a movement against the Man and began collecting and sharing seeds like heirloom varieties.

The Slow Food Movement has strongly backed growing heirloom varietals of vegetables and even Turkeys and Chickens. The Seed Savers Exchange is a non profit dedicated to sharing rare seeds and have been around since the 70's. I like this idea very much, and hope to support it when I have a garden of my own. (First I need a balcony or south light). But the movement has sparked interest in consumers who are tired of the mushy pink hot house tomato. This tomato is the reason for my hatred. Thankfully, I live in a city with a strong support for local food with a great farmers market full of delicious tomatoes. Our first CSA box came a couple weeks ago with an assortment of heirlooms that were huge. I really enjoyed my walk through the farmers market last Saturday when I saw a tomato the size of my head, but lumpy and disproportionate. A man pointed it out to his daughter and she was completely confused. These tomatoes are slightly unpredictable. They are all very fun looking, fairy tale like even. Something that Alice should have eaten to increase in size. Some are striped, some multicolored, but they all surpass what my taste buds once knew as "tomato". Meaty flesh with little pockets of seeds scattered randomly throughout make each slice unique. I sliced one open before dinner and regretting that I had not taken a picture before, decided it was time. I had only planned on eating half and saving the rest for later and I did, but it was only about 10 minutes later. I think the tomato I ate was something like the Cherokee Purple but don't know for sure. All I know is that I am happy for summer and that summer brings tomatoes.

If you have a garden I encourage you to check out the link above for the Seed Saver Exchange instead of buying your seeds at garden super stores. Do your part to bring back the Heirloom! I wanted to add some recipes at the end here that I plan on attempting this summer with our tomatoes to break the general thought that tomatoes may only be used in savory dishes. If you try one before me I'd love to hear how it turned out!

Happy Baking.

Source of recipes SFGate

Oliveto, Oakland CA

Chef Paul Canales and Pastry Chef Jenny Raven

Mascarpone Budino with Sungold Tomato Compote

Makes 10-12

Ingredients:

For the budinos:

5 ounces softened cream cheese

1/3 cup + 1 tablespoon sugar

13 ounces mascarpone cheese

3 eggs

1 3/4 tablespoons lemon juice

Finely grated zest of 1 1/2 oranges

Finely grated zest of 1/2 lemon

For the compote:

5 1/2 cups Sungold tomatoes

3/4 cup sugar

1 lemon, halved, sliced paper thin and chopped, with peel

1 cup sultana raisins

Additional lemon juice and sugar, to taste

Instructions: Spray 10 to 12 six-ounce ramekins with oil and line the bottoms with circles of parchment paper.

In an electric mixer, beat the cream cheese until smooth. Add the sugar gradually and beat until completely blended.

Add the mascarpone and beat until smooth. Add the eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition and scraping the sides of the bowl well. Add the lemon juice and orange and lemon zests. Pour into the prepared ramekins.

Preheat the oven to 325° (300° for a convection oven). Place the ramekins in a pan large and deep enough to fit all of them, such as a roasting pan, and pour in boiling hot water until it comes halfway up the sides of the ramekins. Bake until the budinos are set, 30-40 minutes. Remove from the oven and let cool in the water bath. Remove from the water bath and chill thoroughly before inverting each ramekin onto a plate so that the budino comes out. Discard the parchment paper circles.

For the compote: Preheat the oven to 325°, or a convection oven 300°. Set aside 1 1/2 cups of the tomatoes. Cut the remaining 4 cups in half lengthwise. Place them with their cut sides up on a wire rack set over a sheet pan. Sprinkle with 1/4 cup of the sugar. Bake for 15 minutes, sprinkle with the remaining 2 tablespoons sugar, and continue cooking until the tomatoes are dry but not brittle, 1-1 1/2 hours.

Place the reserved 1 1/2 cups tomatoes into a blender, and blend to make 1 cup thin puree.

Bring 1 cup of water along with the remaining 6 tablespoons sugar to a boil and add the lemon. Let simmer for 10 minutes, then add the roasted tomatoes and raisins. Cook until the mixture is bubbling fiercely, add the tomato puree, and cook another few minutes, stirring well with a heatproof spatula so that the bottom of the pan does not scorch.

Remove the compote from the heat and cool to room temperature. Add more sugar to taste, and, if needed, a squeeze of lemon. Spoon generously over each budino.

Tomato Sugarplums

Makes about 20

Ingredients:

4 cups Juliet tomatoes (can substitute Sungold cherry tomatoes or Romanitas; see Note)

1/4 cup sugar + about 1/4 cup more for cutting board

2 cups almonds

1/4 cup honey

2 teaspoons orange zest

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon ground ginger

1 cup confectioners' sugar

Instructions: Preheat the oven to 325°, or a convection oven to 300°.

Cut the tomatoes in half lengthwise. Place them with their cut sides up on a rack set over a sheet pan. Sprinkle with 2 tablespoons of granulated sugar. Bake for 15 minutes, sprinkle with another 2 tablespoons sugar, and continue cooking until the tomatoes are dry but not brittle, about 1 1/2 hours for cherry tomatoes, about 2 1/2 hours for larger Juliet or Romanita tomatoes. It may take less time if you use a convection oven. Cool.

Meanwhile, toast the almonds in the oven until nicely browned, about 15-20 minutes. Cool and chop finely with a knife, or pulse in batches in a food processor to a very coarse grind.

When the tomatoes are cool, sprinkle a cutting board with 1/4 cup sugar and cover with the tomatoes. Carefully chop them quite finely, tossing with some of the sugar if they begin to stick to your knife.

In a large bowl, combine the honey, orange zest, cinnamon and ginger. Add the almonds and tomatoes and mix well.

Roll the mixture into 1/2-inch balls. Fill a bowl with the confectioners' sugar and drop the balls into it as you go. When you have almost covered the surface of the sugar with balls, toss to coat the balls well. Proceed until all balls are coated.

Place in an airtight container and let "ripen" several days in the refrigerator. Toss again in confectioners' sugar and bring to room temperature before serving.

Note: Romanita tomatoes are available at Berkeley Bowl and Monterey Market, both in Berkeley. Juliets are hard to find but may be in mixed baskets; inquire at farmers' markets or produce stores.

Walnut Ice Cream with Brandywine Caramel Sauce

Serves 6-8

The ice cream and sauce are very rich, so you will want small servings.

Ingredients:

The Ice cream

1 cup walnuts

2 cups heavy cream

1/2 cup + 6 tablespoons sugar

1/4 cup powdered milk

1 cup whole milk

7 egg yolks

The sauce

1 small Brandywine tomato

1 cup sugar

Instructions: For the ice cream: Preheat oven to 325° (300° for convection oven). Place nuts on a pan, then toast until dark and golden, 15-20 minutes. Let cool, then grind until fine in a food processor.

In a saucepan, heat the cream and 1/2 cup sugar to just below the boiling point. Add the ground nuts and let steep at room temperature for at least an hour, or until a strong walnut flavor has permeated the cream. Pour through a coarse strainer into a large plastic bowl, then pour again through a fine-mesh strainer such as a chinois into another large plastic bowl.

In a large, heavy-bottomed pot, mix 6 tablespoons sugar with the powdered milk, and slowly add the whole milk, whisking constantly until the powdered milk is dissolved. Place over high heat until it's just below the boiling point.

Place yolks in a large bowl. Add a ladleful of the hot milk mixture to the yolks and mix well. Add about a third of the hot milk to the bowl with the yolks and stir. Pour the contents of the bowl into the pot with the milk and cook for another 30 seconds or so, until the milk begins to steam.

Remove from heat and pour the mixture through a fine-mesh strainer into the walnut-infused cream. Cover and chill until completely cold, 3 hours or overnight.

Churn in an ice cream maker according to manufacturer's instructions.

For the caramel sauce: Cut the tomato into large pieces and process in a blender or small food processor until smooth. Pass through a fine-mesh strainer. Measure out 1/2 cup puree; set aside any extra.

Combine 1/4 cup water and the sugar into a broad, heavy-bottomed saucepan and stir until sugar dissolves. Cook over high heat until the sugar is a tawny golden color. Turn off the heat and add the tomato puree. Do this carefully and step back in case of any of it splatters.

When the foaming eruption has subsided, stir the caramel mixture with a wire whisk, turning the flame back on if necessary, until all of the candy threads have melted into the caramel. Remove from heat and let cool. Taste for tomato flavor intensity and add any extra puree, if desired.

Serve the ice cream drizzled with the caramel sauce.

Daring Bakers - Bakewell Tart...er...Pudding

The June Daring Bakers' challenge was hosted by Jasmine of Confessions of a Cardamom Addict and Annemarie of Ambrosia and Nectar. They chose a Traditional (UK) Bakewell Tart... er... pudding that was inspired by a rich baking history dating back to the 1800's in England.

Bakewell tarts…er…puddings combine a number of dessert elements but still let you show off your area’s seasonal fruits.

Like many regional dishes there’s no “one way” to make a Bakewell Tart…er…Pudding, but most of today’s versions fall within one of two types. The first is the “pudding” where a layer of jam is covered by an almondy pastry cream and baked in puff pastry. The second is the “tart” where a rich shortcrust pastry holds jam and an almondy sponge cake-like filling. The version we made was a combination of the two, shortcrust almond pastry with frangipane and jam.

I was inspired by some photos on the Tartlette blog and decided to make a trip to our own San Francisco Farmer's Market for fresh blackberries. I wanted to make my own jam for the tart and found the market berries deliciously ripe and ready to become jam. I have never made jam from scratch and found it fairly easy (even though I really didn't have much of a recipe to follow). No matter the process, the jam turned out well and maybe a little more soupy than jam in a jar.

The Shortcrust pastry is a basic sweet pie crust only it uses eggs and the Frangipane is an almond-sponge. All together the textures form a wonderful dessert. Very interesting - and I believe "Dessert" is key for name here. I served it with unsweetened whipped cream and fresh blackberries. I will definitely be making this a regular dessert because I have a feeling it will very easily change flavors based on seasonal fruit available.

Recipes

Blackberry Jam

1 pint fresh blackberries

2 T Sugar (more to taste)

Squeeze of lime (lemon or orange may substitute)

Combine berries and sugar in a saucepan over medium until berries 'give up their juice'. This takes between 5-10 minutes. Add citrus juice, continue to cook and stir for an additional 10-15 minutes. At this point the sauce will coat the back of a spoon and the liquid should have cooked down into something that resembles a jam. You may need to add a little cornstarch but is not completely necessary. Set aside to cool. Store excess in the fridge for one week.

Shortcrust Pastry

225g (8oz) all purpose flour 30g (1oz) sugar 2.5ml (½ tsp) salt 110g (4oz) unsalted butter, cold (frozen is better) 2 (2) egg yolks 2.5ml (½ tsp) almond extract (optional) 15-30ml (1-2 Tbsp) cold water

Sift together flour, sugar and salt. Grate butter into the flour mixture, using the large hole-side of a box grater. Using your finger tips only, and working very quickly, rub the fat into the flour until the mixture resembles bread crumbs. Set aside.

Lightly beat the egg yolks with the almond extract (if using) and quickly mix into the flour mixture. Keep mixing while dribbling in the water, only adding enough to form a cohesive and slightly sticky dough.

Form the dough into a disc, wrap in cling and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes

Frangipane

125g (4.5oz) unsalted butter, softened 125g (4.5oz) icing sugar 3 (3) eggs 2.5ml (½ tsp) almond extract 125g (4.5oz) ground almonds 30g (1oz) all purpose flour

Cream butter and sugar together for about a minute or until the mixture is primrose in colour and very fluffy. Scrape down the side of the bowl and add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. The batter may appear to curdle. In the words of Douglas Adams: Don’t panic. Really. It’ll be fine. After all three are in, pour in the almond extract and mix for about another 30 seconds and scrape down the sides again. With the beaters on, spoon in the ground nuts and the flour. Mix well. The mixture will be soft, keep its slightly curdled look (mostly from the almonds) and retain its pallid yellow colour.

To Assemble

Place the chilled dough disc on a lightly floured surface. If it's overly cold, you will need to let it become acclimatised for about 15 minutes before you roll it out. Flour the rolling pin and roll the pastry to 5mm (1/4”) thickness, by rolling in one direction only (start from the centre and roll away from you), and turning the disc a quarter turn after each roll. When the pastry is to the desired size and thickness, transfer it to the tart pan, press in and trim the excess dough. Patch any holes, fissures or tears with trimmed bits. Chill in the freezer for 15 minutes.

Preheat oven to 200C/400F.

Remove shell from freezer, spread as even a layer as you can of jam onto the pastry base. Top with frangipane, spreading to cover the entire surface of the tart. Smooth the top and pop into the oven for 30 minutes. Five minutes before the tart is done, the top will be poofy and brownish. Remove from oven and strew flaked almonds on top and return to the heat for the last five minutes of baking.

The finished tart will have a golden crust and the frangipane will be tanned, poofy and a bit spongy-looking. Remove from the oven and cool on the counter. Serve warm, with crème fraîche, whipped cream or custard sauce if you wish.

When you slice into the tart, the almond paste will be firm, but slightly squidgy and the crust should be crisp but not tough.

Cornbread, A little taste of the South

I have been making this particular cornbread recipe for over a year now. I seem to keep buttermilk on hand just in case the time feels right for cornbread. This weekend seemed right enough to me. Accompanied by crab legs and a new dish with roasted peppers, onion, garlic and feta cheese it was a delicious match. It was a mighty fine dinner and may disappoint only Paula Dean with the meager addition of only one stick of butter.

I highly recommend making cornbread from scratch if you can. It is so much better than the box - really. Cornmeal is very inexpennsive and when made fresh, has no strange processed food aftertaste. The texture is just right - moist with a tight crumb. It doesn't fall apart when you take a bite and the buttermilk adds just the right balance of tangy to sweet. I hope you enjoy it as much as I do!

Buttermilk Cornbread

1/2 C butter (1 stick)

2/3 C sugar

2 eggs

1 C buttermilk

1/2 tsp. baking soda

1 C cornmeal

1 C flour

1/2 tsp salt

In a skillet over medium heat, melt butter. Remove from heat and stir in sugar and eggs. Combine buttermilk and baking soda then add to the butter mixture. Whisk until incorporated. Stir in cornmeal, flour and salt. Pour into a greased 8" pan and bake in 375* oven for 30 minutes or until a tester comes out clean. The top should be lightly browned.

I believe that you could use an iron skillet with this recipe and just transfer the mix straight into the oven rather than a greased pan but I have no such pan and have not tried it. happy baking.

Play Dough Making at the Mart

Yesterday I spent my afternoon in the company of a friend and a 19 month old (accompanied by his mom) at Frankenart Mart. This is the interactive gallery owned by my co-worker Leslie. Currently, her themed show is "Elementary School." I enjoy participating in her gallery and have to be creative when I do (though at the Mart, art is for everyone... even little 5 year-olds add to the show). I decided to use my baking skills and concoct a Play-Dough from scratch and teach a class. On Saturday I assumed the role of Professor Townsend (as all visiting teachers are donned) and taught the art of play dough making.

I have made play dough a few times before - mostly in college for a group of kids I used to babysit - but I had not come across the right recipe until now. After doing some research I revised my recipe to include Baby Oil instead of vegetable oil and reduced the amount of salt. What came out was a really soft and pliable dough, very closely matched to the real Play Dough. It takes a little effort and a little more time but it is definitely worth it. Adding baby oil instead of vegetable oil also gives it a longer life without molding or going rancid. Here is the recipe, I hope those of you with kids find time to try it. (I definietly had a great time playing with it!)

Play Dough

1 1/2 C water

2 T Baby Oil

food coloring (5 drops made a nice pastel colored dough)

2 C flour

1/2 C salt

2T cream of tartar

In a double boiler over medium heat, combine water, oil, and food coloring. In a separate bowl mix dry ingredients. Add the dry ingredients to the water in thirds, stirring smooth after each addition. After all the flour mix is in, cook for about 5 minutes, stirring constantly. The dough will seem watery but will come together into a ball. Take off the heat and let rest until it is cool enough to handle. Knead it until smooth. It will start out a little sticky but refrain from adding flour! It will work itself out. Store in an airtight container in the fridge to be able to use it for a few months.