Cooking with Sara

The Frenchies gave me a new cookbook as a thank you gift last April after their stay with us.  Foster's Market is my favorite café here in Durham.  I even see Sara dashing around there once in a while.  The Durham location was remodeled this summer and I love the new look.  Their coffee is the best, in my humble opinion.  Unfortunately, due to the fact that I do not have any free periods before 10:45 am this year, their revenues must be falling because I cannot escape to get a cup of that wonderful, hot coffee.  Anyway, enough about my sad state of coffee affairs.  The other day, I decided to pull out the book and make something.  Being a good Southern girl, I was practically raised on pound cake and that is what Mildred and I decided to make.

If you are new to this blog, Mildred is my mama.  I named my Kitchen Aid mixer after her.  I don't have any daughters, but I informed Mildred before I had children that even if I did have girls I would not be naming them after her.  She took the news well.  One of my sisters did name a dog after her, though.
I assembled the ingredients, letting the eggs, butter, and buttermilk come to room temperature.

This is very important, according to all the bakers I know and the cookbooks I've read.  Other than the fact that they tell me to do it, I am not very curious why.  I am like that.  I don't really need long scientific explanations.
Mildred had fun creaming the butter and sugar.

Another cake making tip-- cream this stuff until it is indeed light and fluffy.  Try not to be impatient.  The butter needs air in order to make a nice soft crumb for your cake.  And for pound cake, this is important stuff.  Oh!  And don't over mix after adding the flour.  That will make the cake tough.  Another no-no.  Mix just until it is all blended.
Put it in your well-buttered and floured tube or Bundt pan and

bake it for a long time, without opening the door to peek at it.  You will have the wonderful smells filling up your house so resist the temptation to check up on it for the first hour.  Yes, that is 60 whole minutes.

You can now make the glaze and brush it on while the cake is still hot.

And voilà!  One beautiful, delicious, irresistible pound cake!

You can even share it if you want people to love you.  I took some in for my fellow language teachers so that we could have a little birthday celebration for one of us (nevermind that she is 20 years younger than me!).  I even made the crème fraîche to go with it.  That was a first for me. The tangy-ness of that offset the sweetness of the cake just a bit.  Yum.

I like my coffee with lots of cream, just in case you need to know. (And there are a couple of slices of pound cake left in the refrigerator in my classroom that I might be willing to share... hint hint.)


buttermilk pound cake with tangy buttermilk glaze
serves 10-12

cake
3 c. sugar
3/4 pound (3 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
6 large eggs
3 c. all-purpose flour
1 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. kosher salt
1 c. well-shaken buttermilk
1 Tbsp. pour vanilla extract

glaze
1 c. sugar
1/4 c. heavy cream
3 Tbsp. unsalted butter
1 Tbsp. light corn syrup
1/2 c. well-shaken buttermilk
1 tsp. pure vanilla extract

buttermilk crème fraîche
makes about 2 cups
1 1/2 c. heavy cream
1/2 c. well-shaken buttermilk
2 Tbsp. sour cream

**Note:  If you don't have access to or don't regularly buy buttermilk, you can make an easy substitute with milk and white vinegar or lemon juice.  For every cup of buttermilk needed, start with 1 tablespoon vinegar or lemon juice and add enough milk to equal a level cup.  Stir to combine and let sit at room temperature for about 5 minutes, until the mixture curdles, before using.

Cake:
Preheat the oven to 325˚F.  Lightly grease and flour a 10-inch Bundt or tube pan.  Have all the ingredients at room temperature before you begin.
Cream the sugar and butter in a large bowl with an electric mixer until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes.  Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well and scraping down the sides of the bowl after each addition.
Combine the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in a separate bowl and stir to mix.  Stir the buttermilk and vanilla together in a small bowl.
Add the flour mixture to the butter mixture in thirds, alternating with the buttermilk mixture and beginning and ending with the flour mixture, stopping to scrape down the bowl several times and stirring just until all is incorporated.  Do not overmix.
Spoon the batter into the prepared pan and spread evenly.  Give the pan a rap on the counter to settle the batter and get rid of any air bubbles.  Place the pan on the center rack of the oven and bake for one hour, undisturbed.  Check the cake, rotate the pan, and bake for another 15-20 minutes, or until the cake is golden brown and a wooden skewer inserted in the center comes out clean.
Remove the cake from the oven and cool in the pan for 15-20 minutes.  Run a small knife around the outer and inner edges of the pan before turning the cake out onto a baking rack set over a baking sheet to cool.

Glaze:
Stir together the sugar, cream, butter, and corn syrup in a small saucepan and bring to a low boil over medium heat.  Reduce the heat to low and simmer for about 3 minutes, stirring occasionally.  Remove the pan from the heat and stir in the buttermilk and vanilla.  Let the glaze cool for 5-10 minutes before pouring over the warm cake.  Slice and serve warm or completely cooled with a dollop of Buttermilk Crème Fraîche, if desired.

Buttermilk Crème Fraîche
Combine the heavy cream, buttermilk, and sour cream in a pint glass jar.  Screw the lid on the jar and shake to mix.  Let sit in a cool, dark place for 2 days before refrigerating; the mixture will become thick. Crème fraîche will keep, refrigerated, for up to 2 weeks.

Bon appétit, Foster's Market!

Delicious lessons

Oh là là!  School has started back and the delicious-ness has begun.  For starters, this box of chocolates is now living in my desk drawer.  Oui, there are one or two missing... who could resist?  A very generous young man who has brought me numerous treats over the past two years began his 8th grade year (and third year of French with moi) by surprising me with chocolates from his summer cruise.  (--"Is the Louvre or the Hermitage better, madame?"  --"Hmmm, I really don't know.  I've never been to the Hermitage.  But you will be able to make your own decision after we visit the Louvre in March!"  Ah, the questions I am asked.  He did visit the Hermitage while on vacation.)
Two of my little darlings have already started cooking up goodies.  First, Chocolate Raspberry Clafoutis made by a 7th grade jeune homme.

He brought in a sample for me, along with the recipe.  It was so very good.   Tangy raspberries and chocolate all in one bite.  What's not to love?
The next treat came in the form of Lavender Langues de Chat made by an 8th grade jeune fille.  I must admit that it was actually fun to make her classmates think, for just a few minutes, that we were going to indeed eat cat tongues.  I confess that I told the little darlings that they are a French delicacy.   Non, non, non-- it's not really true.  They love their little minous, just as we do.

Yes, I can be like that with my students
a) sometimes
b) once in a while
c) as often as possible
d) never
Bingo!  C is the correct answer!  It's middle school, you know.  If you can't beat them, you join them.
I kept the container she brought them in for a couple of days (until her mom picked it up on Parents' Night) just so that I could smell the chocolate and lavender scent left behind after the cookies were gone.  I did share them... with the class and with some selected teachers around school.  I can be très généreuse --once in a while.

I discovered tonight that the blog has been mentioned in another website, Very Good Recipes.  A huge welcome to any new readers who may have stumbled my way.  Bienvenue et bon appétit!

Chocolate Raspberry Clafoutis
(from epicurious.com)
makes 6 servings

12 oz. fresh raspberries ( 2 3/4 cups)
1 Tbsp. granulated sugar
1 c. whole milk
1/2 stick unsalted butter, melted
3 large eggs
1/2 c. packed dark brown sugar
1/3 c. all-purpose flour
2 Tbsp. unsweetened cocoa powder
1/4 tsp. salt
3 to 3 1/2 oz. bittersweet chocolate, coarsely chopped

Preheat oven to 400˚F with rack in middle.  Butter a 1 1/2 quart shallow baking dish.
Toss berries with granulated sugar and let stand 15 minutes.
Blend milk, butter, eggs, brown sugar, flour, cocoa, and salt in a blender until smooth.  Scatter berries (with juices) evenly in baking dish, then pour batter over top.
Bake until slightly puffed and firm to the touch, about 35 minutes.  Remove from oven and immediately sprinkle with chopped chocolate.  Cool to warm, abut 20 minutes.  Serve warm or at room temperature.

Lavender Langues de Chat

9 Tbsp. softened butter
10 Tbsp. white sugar
3 egg whites
1 1/2 tsp. vanilla extract
1 1/2 c. all-purpose flour
1 Tbsp. minced organic dried lavender flowers
1 oz. melted semisweet chocolate

Preheat oven to 400˚F.  Lightly grease cookie sheets (or line with parchment paper).
In a medium bowl, cream together butter and sugar until smooth.
Beat in the eggs whites, one by one, until batter is light and fluffy.  Stir in vanilla and lavender.
Mix in the flour just until it's blended.  Dough should be a little stiff.
Put in a pastry bag with a medium star tip and pipe onto cookie sheets.  Each cookie should be about 3 inches long.
Bake for about 10 minutes.  Take out of the oven when straw-colored.
When cool, dip one end of each cookie in melted chocolate and place on waxed paper until hardened.
Store in a cool place.

Bon appétit, mes élèves!  Étudiez et mangez bien!

La Féria d'Arles 2011

If I got on a plane right now, I could make it.  I could fly into Marseille, to Marignan airport, hop on the bus to the train station, hop on the train to Arles, and voilà!  I would be there in time for the fun and festivities surrounding the Féria du Riz this weekend.  I could hang out at Place Voltaire, sip rosé or sangria.  Have un bon steak-frites.  Or paëlla perhaps?

Listen to the music.  Check out the handsome cowboys.  (He has a nice smile, doesn't he?)

Oui, it is called the Rice Festival.  Pourquoi? you ask.  Because they grow wonderful rice in the Camargue.  I bring some home with me every year.  I prefer the rouge or red variety, but that never lasts long at my house.  I am always using it for my tuna-rice-chickpea (pois chiche in French- I love that word!) salads.  It is also good with chili.  This past March, I packed my bags (sacrificing a pair of jeans and a sweater) with little bags given to me by my friend at Café Voltaire.  (I think maybe he meant for me to share them with my students... but chut!  I didn't.  I kept them for my greedy gourmande little self.)
I've never been to a bullfight and am not sure I would go to that.  But I would certainly be there for all the rest of the fun...
If only...
Couldn't that be considered professional development?  Seriously.  I would, after all, being doing it all en français.  I could take a few turns around town just to make sure everything is still in its proper place before I take the new group of 8th graders there in March.  Make sure nothing has moved and that there are still lots of good restaurants and cafés.  Check on Gilles at his antique librairie, Marie-Christine at her café, Didier at his new brocanterie, Chef Érick in his cuisine/laboratoire, the charming couple who run Café Voltaire...
Guess not.  But it's fun to dream about it anyway.
Think I'll go bake something.

Bon appétit, Arles!

La Bête Noire

I am very lucky to work with people I really like.  Some of us have worked together for a long time.  And we still like each other!  The Ex-Ex and I were invited to dinner at the home of one such couple this weekend.  Our first date, back in 1981, was actually to this friend's 30th birthday.  We had fun laughing about that.   It was a very nice evening to sit in the backyard, sip rosé from my favorite vigneron, Alain de Welle, and chat.

 

(Oui, I took my box of rosé, my BIB of Alain's wine, to share with my friends.)

Dinner was delicious.  We started with bruschetta with a tomato-basil salsa, hard-boiled eggs with fresh dill, and olives.  The main course was pasta, sautéed vegetables, and grilled sausages with freshly made basil pesto.

It was simple, but so good.

And I brought dessert.  After pouring through several cookbooks, I decided to make a Flourless Chocolate Cake from Williams-Sonoma's Essentials of French Cooking.  This book was a Christmas gift from college-son.  The recipe comes from the Aquitaine region of southwest France and is called  bête noire or black beast.  That must be because it is so chocolatey.  Not difficult to make and very impressive to look at. 

I served it with Crème Anglaise.  But you could also use whipped cream.  There are two pieces left...  I am going to try to forget they are there and hope that the Ex-Ex beats me to them.

Flourless Chocolate Cake

makes 12-16 servings, depending on how large you cut the slices

1/2 c. (4 oz / 125 g) unsalted butter, at room temperature, plus extra for buttering the pan

1 c. (8 oz / 250 g) granulated sugar

8 oz. (250 g) bittersweet chocolate, chopped

8 oz. (250 g) semisweet (plain) chocolate, chopped

6 large eggs, at room temperature

Hot water

1 tsp. pure vanilla extract

Crème Anglaise or freshly whipped cream, optional

Raspberries, optional

Preheat the oven to 350˚F (180˚C).  Cut a circle of parchment paper to fit the bottom of a 9-inch (23-cm) round cake pan.  Generously butter the pan and parchment circle.  Place the parchment in the pan.

In a saucepan over medium-high heat, combine 1 cup (8 oz / 250 ml) water and 3/4 cup (6 oz / 185 g) of the sugar and cook, stirring, until the sugar dissolves and a light syrup is formed, about 5 minutes.

In a large saucepan over medium-high heat, melt the 1/2 c. butter.  Add the bittersweet and semisweet chocolates and whisk until melted, about 4 minutes.  Whisk in the sugar syrup and set aside.

In a large bowl, whisk the eggs with the remaining 1/4 cup (2 oz / 65 g) sugar and vanilla until pale yellow, about 3 minutes.  Using a rubber spatula, gently fold the chocolate mixture into the egg mixture until incorporated.  Pour the batter into the prepared pan.  Place the pan inside a larger baking pan.  Pour hot water into the larger pan until it reaches halfway up the side of the cake pan.

Bake until the center jiggles only slightly when the pan is shaken, 45-50 minutes.  Transfer the cake to a wire rack to cool completely.

Run a knife around the edge of the pan, place a parchment or aluminum foil covered plate on top of the cake, and invert them together to unmold the cake.  Carefully peel off the parchment from the cake.  Place another cake plate on top of the cake and invert again.  Discard the parchment.  Loosely cover the cake with aluminum foil or plastic wrap until ready to serve.

To serve, cut the cake into wedges.  Spoon a little Crème Anglaise, if using, on each dessert plate and place a piece of cake on top.  Sprinkle with a few raspberries, if using.  Pass the remaining Crème Anglaise at the table.

Crème Anglaise

makes 1 1/2 cups (12 fl oz / 375 ml)

2 large eggs, plus 2 yolks

1/4 c. (2 oz / 60 g) sugar

1/8 tsp. salt

1 tsp. vanilla extract

2 c. (16 fl oz / 500 ml) milk, heated to just below boiling

In a large bowl, beat together the eggs and yolks.  Stir in the sugar, salt, and vanilla.  Gradually stir in the hot milk.  Pour into the top of a double boiler over hot (not touching) simmering water and heat until thick enough to coat the back of a spoon.  Remove from the heat and let cool to thicken.  Serve warm or at room temperature.  Use at once, or refrigerate in an airtight container for up to 5 days.

Bon appétit, bête noire!

We Are Durham

I don't know who designed this for the Durham Herald Sun newpaper, but I really like it!  I cut it out of this morning's newspaper.  I am partial to this newspaper, of course, since I am one of the monthly columnists, but also because it is our newspaper.
This week's Saturday Durham Farmer's Market featured Zach Faulisi from Bull City Burger and Brewery as Chef in the Market.

This is Zach of the amazing birthday meal for the BFF, maker of the exquisite black squid ink tagliatelle with English peas.  Quite possibly the best thing I have ever eaten.

He was at the market with his pickled watermelon rind and pickled butternut squash.  Very good.  He also had a pot of his watermelon flesh and bacon relish.  Another really great concoction.  Lots of bacon, just the right amount of bite to it.  I hear he worked on it for quite sometime down at BCBB.  Oh yes, I would eat it on a burger.

Brewmaster Luke Studer was also on hand, pouring samples of two of his beers from growlers.  Kudos to Luke and BCBB for making the now serving column in the August 3 Independent Weekly, a newspaper magazine about Triangle happenings.

We ran into lots of friends.  A teacher/colleague/friend standing on the street corner holding onto a brownie given to him by one of his vendor-friends.  Two former students named Katie and their fiancés.  Two members of the Arles 6, with a mom in tow.

I was so happy to see his smiling face!  It's been way too long since we last hugged and he called me Melanie.
We didn't buy a thing.  We just roamed around, looking at the goodies and talking to friends.  It was a beautiful morning.  The weather was great, too!

Bon appétit, Durham!

Lady Antebellum

I love music videos.  They are stories set to music.  This one, Just A Kiss, was in the Top Ten Countdown on CMT today.  Part of it is set in Paris...  with a quick peek at La Tour Eiffel.



Bon appétit, Lady A!  Merci!

Really Cool Photo

Yesterday graduated-from-college-working son sent this photo to me.  I have no idea who took it and I wish I did so that I could give that person credit.  It is awe-inspiring, is it not?  I can tell you fairly certainly that it was taken in the second half of 2008 because the Eiffel Tower was lit up blue due to President Sarkozy reigning over the European Union.  I know that because that is when I was living in France on sabbatical!!  And I happened to be in Paris in November with the now Ex-Ex.  He joined me there.  His first time.  I didn't even realize the Iron Lady was blue until he said something along the lines of "I didn't know the Eiffel Tower was blue."  He was looking at it.  I was not.  So, I, in probably a smart-alecky know-it-all kind of voice, replied "It's not."  And then he turned me around so that I could see that she was indeed a lovely shade of blue against the nighttime sky.  Glad we weren't up on top when this happened, though.
I do love that mass of iron.  I truly do.  Can't wait to see her again.

Bon appétit, la Tour Eiffel!  Merci, mon fils!