Entries from February 21st, 2012

I’m Stuck Making Portuguese Custard Tarts

18

21.2.12

Did you hear? The winning $336 million Powerball jackpot ticket was sold in my hometown of Newport, Rhode Island. At MY grocery store. I was convinced my mom had won.

The gears in my brain started turning. What would I do with my cut? I would totally pay someone to redesign this blog. And obviously I would get Andi some physical therapy to regain use of her injured leg.

I would also fly back to the Northeast on a whim whenever I wanted some pastéis de nata, or Portuguese custard tarts, because they’re such a pain to make. They’re available in all the bakeries in nearby Fall River, Massachusetts, but no one here in Austin has heard of them.

Unfortunately my mom didn’t win— she bought her ticket at the other Stop & Shop. So I’m stuck making custard tarts from scratch when the craving strikes.

Pastéis de nata are buttery pastry cups filled with dense, eggy custard flavored with vanilla and cinnamon. They’re baked at a high temperature and get a little charred on top and around the edges. I figured Fall River native David Leite would have a reliable recipe, and I wasn’t disappointed.

I won’t post the lengthy recipe and directions, but here are some helpful tips:

1. You can use the dough blade of a food processor to mix the dough if you don’t have a standing mixer.

2. Don’t worry about making perfect pastry dough. David says that the secret to flaky pastry is evenly layered butter, as well as rolling the dough thinly and folding it neatly. I’m not patient enough and did none of these things. I rolled the dough out with a vodka bottle.

3. Remember you’ll need to refrigerate the pastry dough overnight or at least for a few hours before using it.

4. When pressing the dough into the muffin tins, don’t press it too thinly. Otherwise the custard will leak through the bottom, and the tart will fall apart.

5. I didn’t bother with a thermometer to gauge the temperature of the custard. I just waited until the syrup boiled for a few minutes before whisking it into the milk.

6. The tarts commonly found in Fall River are larger than those in this recipe, so I used a regular muffin tin. It yielded about 18 tarts.

I don’t think my shortcuts affected the final product, but a vavo might disagree. My friends gave them rave reviews, and they reminded me of the real thing.

Portuguese Custard Tarts from Leite’s Culinaria

A Fresh Start

7

18.2.12

We got some unwelcome news last month. Our landlord is selling our house and won’t renew our lease. I absolutely despise moving. I’ll miss our fig tree, giant backyard, and garden. Andi will miss our house too.

But good riddance to our atrocious kitchen. The owner was a stereotypical single bro who never cooked. He bought a giant fridge but never bothered to fix all the burners on the stove. There’s also no dishwasher.

In our new house we’ll have a dishwasher and plenty of counter space (if I can just accept the offensive faux granite counter tops). And maybe I’ll be able to display my collection of legume jars on the counter for once!

Shauna’s recent post on Gluten Free Girl got me thinking of this moving hassle as an opportunity. It will be a fresh start from this.

Feels kind of psycho putting my clutter out there for all to see, but this isn’t even the worst of it. I refrained from posting the picture of our flatware drawer. And what is up with the hand grenade cup from college times on Bourbon Street circa 2002?

I’ve checked the internet for some inspiration, and this is what I’ve found so far:

ORGANIZED: The Kitchen Pantry on the High Straightenance column on Homefries

20 Tips and Tools for Kitchen Organization and Storage on The Kitchn

How to Organize Your Kitchen Pantry on Unclutterer

Back to School and Celebrating the Seasons on The Seasonal Plate

What are your best tips for moving into and organizing a new kitchen?

It’s Gnocchi Making Time

10

14.2.12

The first time I had gnocchi, my sister made it for me. We ate gnocchi with pink sauce because it was the 90′s. I felt cool eating this trendy, hip food with my older sister. About 20(!) years later gnocchi still has a special allure. Except now I make it from scratch.

But that doesn’t mean I’m Heidi Swanson (obviously, just take a look at my photos). My gnocchi aren’t perfect little pillows, but they’re still better than the stuff you’ll find at Olive Garden. That’s saying something, right?

Here’s my low maintenance gnocchi method. I use two eggs because I like gnocchi with some bite to it. I hate when it disintegrates in the water like balls of mashed potatoes. This method will make about 60 gnocchi, so you can freeze them unless you plan to eat them all in one sitting.

Ingredients

2 large russet potatoes
2 eggs
1 1/2 – 2 cups flour
salt to taste

1. Place the potatoes in a pot and cover with water. Add a generous pinch of salt. Bring the water to boil and then simmer until the potatoes can be easily pierced with a fork. Remove them from the water and place them in a bowl.

2. Wait until the potatoes are cool enough before handling them. You can cut them in half so they’ll cool faster. Then scoop the potato flesh into a mixing bowl and discard the skins.

3. Add one cup of flour to the potato flesh. Using your hands, knead the mixture until the potato and flour are well combined, and it is as smooth as possible.

4. Crack the eggs and add them to the potato and flour mixture. Knead the eggs into the other ingredients to form a dough.

5. At this point the dough will be very sticky. Little by little incorporate 1/2 cup to 1 cup of flour into the dough so that it is just pliable enough to handle. Use as little flour as possible. Add a generous pinch of salt to taste.

6. Flour a clean counter top to prevent the dough from sticking. Taking a large ball of dough in your hands, roll it out into a long cylinder about 1/2 inch to 1 inch thick. Press the top down with the tinges of a fork. Slice the dough roll into pieces about 1 inch wide. They don’t need to be uniform as this is artisanal gnocchi after all!

7. Bring a pot of salted water to a boil and drop in the gnocchi. When they have all floated to the top, drain the water. Alternatively, place the dumplings on a cookie sheet and leave in the freezer until frozen. Place the gnocchi in a Ziploc bag and boil later using the directions above.

Jeni’s Salty Caramel Ice Cream

6

07.2.12

It’s a fact. If there’s ice cream in the freezer, I’m going to eat it. I don’t ‘get’ people who can keep some on hand for surprise guests or whatever. Last summer I went through a phase making ice cream several times per week. It was fun experimenting with all sorts of flavors.

It was not okay when I stepped on the scale a few weeks later. Surely my daily serving of ice cream wasn’t to blame. Didn’t Michael Pollan say you can eat all the ice cream you want if you make it from scratch with locally sourced ingredients? That’s the message I took away from In Defense of Food.

I’ve eased back into ice cream making with a recipe that makes a perfect, irresistible, but satisfying ice cream. Something about the salty/sweet combo helps me put down the spoon and control myself. A recipe like this salty caramel ice cream would only come from Jeni Britton Bauer, owner of Jeni’s Splendid Ice Creams.

I have yet to visit one of her scoop shops in Ohio, but I’ve tried a few of her pints. They measure up to the hype— it really is the best ice cream ever. I ran out and bought her book as soon as it came out, and I was lucky enough to attend one of her ice cream classes at Central Market. She just glows with enthusiasm for her creative artisan ice creams.

I won’t rehash the recipe published in Bon Appetit, but the final product tasted just like the stuff I bought at the store. Jeni’s recipes are unique because they never include eggs. She uses cornstarch and cream cheese as emulsifiers, and she also boils the cream. Here are some tips:

1. Get all of your ingredients prepped before you start. Jeni uses a dry burn technique to make the caramel base, so you must watch the sugar and act quickly when it achieves the right color.

2. Back away when you add the cream as it will pop and sputter!

3. Strain the base through a sieve before refrigerating it. Don’t skip this step because you don’t want to compromise on the ice cream’s wonderfully smooth texture.

Salty caramel is Jeni’s signature flavor. Her eggless ice cream results in a bright flavor carried beautifully by the butterfat and not muddled by the egg yolks. It’s a perfectly balanced combination of salty and sweet.

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