Éclairs with peanut butter pastry cream

Pregnant women like éclairs.  Kind of a lot, actually.  I had been promising Katy I would make her some for a month before I finally got around to it, and as it happened my parents came to visit the next day.  Everybody was so taken with them that Katy and I decided to make more over Christmas, to celebrate my parents' anniversary.

As fancy as they look, the dough for these guys is a five minute proposition.  Really.  Amid some protest, I had Katy do this batch, and she admitted it was really easy.  (Of course, now she knows how to make them for herself, which could be dangerous  :)

There are lots of possibilities for filling, from whipped cream to ice cream.  I tried pudding once, but it was too wet and made the pastry soggy.  The better choice is pastry cream, which is quite similar to pudding but holds up better.  The King Arthur cookbook has a fussy version that requires you to separate eggs and fold in whipped cream, but it has a bunch of great ideas for flavor variations.  On the other hand, the version below is quite simple, but takes to flavoring equally well.  Make the pastry cream 1 - 3 days in advance so it can chill well, and then assembly is fast and easy on the day of.

Peanut butter pastry cream
(based on a recipe from The Advanced Professional Pastry Chef)

In a saucepan, bring to a simmer

1. 2 c milk
2. 1/2 vanilla bean, scraped (or add 1 t vanilla extract at the very end)

Meanwhile, whisk together

1. 4 T cornstarch
2. 4 oz (1/2 c + 1 T) granulated sugar
3. 1/4 t salt
4. 2 eggs

Slowly whisk a third of the hot milk into the egg mixture, then whisk that back into the remainder of the milk.  Bring to a full boil and hold for at least 10 seconds, then remove from heat.  It's important to get it back up to a boil to kill enzymes in the eggs, or they'll slowly digest the cornstarch and un-thicken the cream.  Remove vanilla pod (or add extract).  Whisk in

1. 4 T butter
2. 1/2 c creamy peanut butter (optional)

Press plastic wrap over surface and chill thoroughly.  I mix the eggs up in a 4 c Pyrex measure, then return the finished cream to it for chilling -- cuts down on the dishes to wash, and I figure the boiling-hot cream will safely sterilize any bits of raw egg left in the cup.  This recipe makes about 3 c of pastry cream, though you can stretch it further (if desired) by folding in a cup or two of whipped cream at the end.

Éclair dough (pâte à choux)
(from the King Arthur Baker's Companion)

In a saucepan, bring to a rolling boil

1. 1 c water
2. 1 stick (1/2 c) butter
3. 1/4 t salt

Pull off heat and dump in

1. 5 1/4 oz (1 1/4 c) flour

Return to heat and stir vigorously until the dough comes together into a single mass.  Cook about 1 minute.  Pull off the heat and allow to cool until you can comfortably stick a finger in it (about 140 F), about 5 minutes.  Transfer to a mixer and beat in, one at a time

1. 4 eggs

After beating in the last egg, beat for at least 2 more minutes.  Doing the eggs one at a time and beating the dough at the end are important -- I glossed over this once, and the dough didn't really rise.  The times I remembered, it turned out beautifully.

Transfer the dough to a large zip-top plastic bag, placing it near one of the bottom corners.  Snip away that corner, then pipe out finger-sized pieces of dough onto a baking sheet fitted with parchment paper or a Silpat.  I get three rows of six or seven.  Wet a finger and use it to flatten any little "tails" that are still sticking up where you pulled the bag away.

Bake at 450 F for 15 mintues, then drop the heat to 350 F for another 20 minutes.  Pull out the éclairs, poke their ends with a paring knife to let out any trapped steam, and return to the oven for a final 5 minutes.  Remove and cool on racks.

Chocolate glaze
(King Arthur Baker's Companion)

In the microwave (or over a double boiler) melt together

1. 1 T butter
2. 1 oz unsweetened baking chocolate

Beat these together, then beat in

1. 1 T hot tap water
2. 1/2 c (2 oz) confectioners' sugar

To assemble éclairs, cut the pastries in half horizontally and fill with cream.  Spoon chocolate glaze over top.  (If you want to be generous with the chocolate, make a double batch.)  They keep for several days, but they're really transcendant when they're first made -- after just a few minutes, they start to get a bit soggy.  If possible, fill them just before serving for best effect!

Bûche de Noël (Yule Log cake)

After Katy and I made gingerbread houses for Evan and his friends to decorate, I got to thinking about holiday baking.  I decided it might be fun to try another classic show piece, the yule log -- maybe as a treat to celebrate my parents 35th anniversary when we went down to visit.  Two days later, I got this email from my mom:

Should we make something fabulous for dessert? I've always wanted to try one of these - Buche-de-Noel-with-Marzipan-Mushrooms

Great minds think alike, I guess.  So away we went.  There are lots of recipes on the internet, but some are pretty questionable -- the first cake recipe was a disaster that called for mixing melted chocolate with water, leading to gritty, nasty clumps of seized chocolate in the cake.  (That cake was reincarnated a few days later as a trifle, but that's another story.)  Eventually we cobbled together the necessary components from trusted sources, though, and the result was delicious!  Although I'm not known for, er, pretty food, decorating it was really straightforward too.

Jelly Roll Cake
(from the King Arthur Flour Baker's Companion)

In a stand mixer, whisk until thick and doubled or tripled in volume

1. 4 eggs, at room temperature
2. 3/4 c (5 1/4 oz) granulated sugar

Start the eggs first, then slow add the sugar as the mixer is running.  To quickly get the eggs to room temperature, put them in a bowl and cover with hot tap water for a few minutes.  Mix in

1. 1 t vanilla extract

Sift together

1. 3/4 c (3 oz) all-purpose flour *
2. 3/4 t baking powder
3. 1/4 t salt

Gently whisk the flour mixture into the egg mixture.  If you want a chocolate cake, replace the 3/4 c flour with 1/2 c flour plus 1/4 c cocoa (sifted).  I think the vanilla cake would look more like "wood" under the frosting "bark", but chocolate did work well for me.  Grease a 10" x 15" jelly roll pan, cover the bottom in parchment paper, grease again, and dust with flour (shaking out excess).  This is a very sticky cake -- don't try cutting corners!  Pour in the batter and smooth out to an even layer.  Bake at 400 F until the center is just barely set, about 12 minutes.  Err on the side of underbaking, as an overbaked cake will crack when you try to roll it.
Invert the cake onto a smooth dish towel dusted with powdered sugar (to prevent sticking).  Actually, my cake still stuck, so I'm considering greased wax paper plus powdered sugar next time.  Starting at a short edge, roll up the cake and towel together, and let cool completely on a wire rack.

Rich Chocolate Buttercream
(from The Ultimate Southern Living Cookbook)

Traditional buttercreams require a boiled sugar syrup, but easy buttercreams like this one just whip together butter and powdered sugar.  The double chocolate makes it extra flavorful.

In a double boiler, melt

1. 2 oz unsweetened chocolate
2. 2 oz semisweet chocolate

We used two squares each of Baker's.  You could also probably use the microwave. In a stand mixer, beat until creamy

1. 2 sticks (1 c) butter

Add the melted chocolate and

1. 4 c sifted powdered sugar
2. 1/4 c cocoa, sifted
3. 1/4 c milk
4. 2 t vanilla extract

Beat until creamy and spreadable.

Assembly and Garnish

Once the cake has cooled, unroll and spread evenly with about two-thirds of the frosting.  Leave an inch or two at one of the short ends lightly frosted, as frosting tends to squish forward when the cake is rolled up.  Starting at the other short end, roll the cake back up into a log.

Using a serrated knife, cut off about three inches from one end, at an angle.  (Some people trim both ends, to show off the frosting/cake spiral, but I liked the tree-like look of the crispy cake ends.)  Gently smoosh the cut end up against one side of the roll to make a branch.  Cover the cake in the remaining frosting.  Use the tines of a fork to make a few knots by turning them in a circle, then trace out wood grain by dragging the fork gently along the cake.

We weren't up for making marzipan holly or meringue mushrooms this year, so we used some real holly leaves (washed) with some fresh cranberries that were rolled in sugar while still wet.  (Holly berries are poisonous, so just in case, we removed the leaves after taking the picture.)  Use a strainer to dust a little powdered sugar over the top to create the snow effect, if desired.

Creamed Spinach

The last year, I've really been into kale. It all started with this recipe on Orangette. And this time of year, Papa Spuds has great kale available every week.

Unfortunately, pregnant women get random cravings and aversions, and kale is currently on Katy's naughty list. So we ordered spinach instead, which would be fine -- but this was not your tender, sweet, salad-ready baby spinach. This was rugged, leathery, muddy spinach that had been fighting off the cold weather tooth and nail.  Mature spinach, to put it delicately.  I was worried it was going to be inedible, actually.

Creaming saves the day.  There's no magic chemistry to creaming spinach (or corn, which also loves to be creamed).  But it sure is delicious.  This is a fairly high fat version, which doesn't hurt the deliciousness of course, but you could eliminate the butter and replace the cream with milk and it would still be fine.  The cornstarch gives body to the sauce, which is particularly important for the low-fat version.
In a medium pot, cook until wilted, stirring contantly

1. 1 large bunch spinach with stems, washed, dried, and coarsely chopped (about 8 oz.)
2. 1 T butter
3. salt to taste

I think you can skip this step and immediately add the next ingredients, but this is the way I actually tried it last night.  If you're omitting the butter, definitely skip ahead -- don't try wilting the spinach in a dry pot.  Whisk together

1. 1/2 c half-and-half
2. 1 1/2 t cornstarch
3. fresh ground black pepper
4. few grates fresh nutmeg
5. 1/4 t smoked paprika

It's important to blend the cornstarch into the cold cream before heating, so that it doesn't clump.  Stir into the spinach and simmer over low heat, covered, until the spinach is tender and the sauce is thickened, about 10 minutes.  You could replace the paprika with a little cayenne, or some Tabasco, or a touch of chipotle puree -- anything spicy.  But it really needs that little touch to wake it up.  The same basic recipe also works for corn, although I'd drop the spices and stick to salt and pepper.

As a footnote, cornstarch is a really useful thickener.  Like flour, the starch molecules unwind and thicken the liquid they're suspended in when heated to near boiling.  But unlike flour, which generally has to be cooked in a roux to get rid of the raw taste, cornstarch doesn't taste like much of anything.  It's also quite efficient as a thickener -- you need about 1 T cornstarch per cup, as opposed to 2 T of flour.

Acidified Austrian Potato Salad

I love potato salad (of all types), but I have a problem:  mine always ends up half way to mashed potatoes by the time I'm done.  I guess there's a magic moment when the potatoes are tender but will still hold their shapes, but I never find it.  In an effort to avoid crunchy potatoes, I always overcook them.

However, I learned from Cook's Illustrated that potatoes respond to acid the same way beans do.  That is, acidic conditions keep the cell walls of beans from breaking down and becoming tender, and (slightly) basic conditions promote faster "cooking".  But potatoes cook a lot faster than beans, so instead we can use a little bit of acid -- about 2 T per quart -- to protect them from overcooking.  Conveniently, they seem to cook to the perfect tender-firm texture for potato salad, and then just hold there for another 5 minutes or so!

This particular recipe is similar to a German or Austrian style potato salad, but the same technique would work for a vinaigrette- or mayonnaise-based salad.  Still, this one is well worth a try -- it's got great flavors, and it's actually pretty healthy.

In a 12-inch skillet, bring to the boil

1. 2 pounds Yukon Gold or other potatoes, peeled and cubed
2. 1 c chicken broth
3. 1 c water
4. 1 t salt
5. 1 T sugar
6. 1 T vinegar (scant)

Reduce heat;  cover and simmer until tender, about 15 minutes.  Uncover and increase heat for 2 minutes to reduce liquid to about 1/2 cup.  (If you have more or less, you'll have to drain the potatoes, measure the liquid, and then discard some or supplement with water.  If it looks like about 1/2 cup though, just dump it all in!)  Mash together

1. 1/2 c potato cooking liquid
2. 1 T vinegar
3. 1 T Dijon mustard
4. 1/4 c vegetable oil
5. 1/2 c cooked potatoes

Fold in

1. remaining potatoes
2. 3/4 c finely chopped red onion (1 small)
3. 2 T minced cornichons or kosher dill pickles
4. 2 T minced fresh chives
5. salt and pepper to taste

Serve warm or chilled.

Basic beans -- Lentil Chili

My first exposure to lentils was in a sunny plaza somewhere in Spain;  Toledo, I think.  I hadn't been eating all that well lately -- Spanish food has some spectacular highs, but then sometimes you get a bowl of tiny fish, fried whole, and you don't really feel like bones and scales for lunch.  So I was hungry, but this lentil stew was still fantastic -- deep and rich and savory and comforting, even if you (like me) had never had lentils before.  Although the details have faded by now, I keep trying to recreate that stew.  I think I'm passably close now.

This recipe started life as a meatless "chili" in Bon Appetit, and the first time I made it, the lentils never totally softened up -- they were still a little crunchy.  It turns out that beans of all types are sensitive to pH -- in acidic conditions they stay firm, in basic conditions they go soft.  So if you're cooking dry beans, you want to hold off on adding any acidic ingredients (like the tomatoes in this recipe) until the beans are already soft, or you may be waiting a very, very long time.  (Or eating crunchy beans.  Yuck.)  For insurance, you can also add a tiny pinch of baking soda (like 1/16 t, or less) to ensure the water is not acidic.  (Don't add much, or you'll likely get an off, soapy taste from the soda.  Also yuck.)

I also added meat to the recipe -- in Spain, "vegetarian" is generally interpreted as "with less ham".  The Toledo stew probably featured (hard, cured, Spanish-style) chorizo, but Italian sausage or ground beef or even bacon would add a welcome richness.  The ascetics and vegetarians among you may leave it out, of course.

In a medium-large pot, brown

1. 1/2 lb Spanish-style chorizo (or other sausage)

If you omit the meat, you'll need 2 t olive oil instead.  Now add

1. 1/2 c chopped onion

and saute until slightly softened.  Stir in

1. 2 cloves garlic, minced
2. 1 T mild ground red chile, such as New Mexico, or more to taste
3. 1 T ground cumin
4. 1 t dried oregano

You can find bags of ground chile powders for cheap in the Mexican foods section of most markets.  I've found the heat can vary considerably from batch to batch, so start slowly and add more if you need it.  I've substituted California chiles when I can't find New Mexico, but they're generally hotter.  If your pepper is very mild or you like things very hot, you may want to add some cayenne pepper as well, say 1/8 t to start.  Now stir in

1. 4 c water, plus more as needed
2. 1/4 c red wine (optional)
3. 1 c dried brown lentils, rinsed
4. small pinch (< 1/16 t) baking soda

Simmer for 15 minutes, or until the lentils are tender.  Stir in

1. 1/3 c tomato paste (that's most of a 6 oz can)

Continue to simmer uncovered until chili is thickened and lentils are tender, about 15 minutes.  Add water as needed if it gets too thick.  Before serving, stir in

1. 1/3 c sliced green onions

Top with additional green onions and sour cream (if desired) for garnish.  Serves 4 for dinner (3 if you omit the meat).