the honey eater » winter

Banana Pudding

naomi — Fri, 23 Jul 2010 09:14:18 +0000

Once upon a time, I worked in an office and made money. It’s true, it happened. One day, a swarm of consultants descended upon us and made us take the Meyers-Briggs Type Indicator test. When we got the results, (I’m an INTP) I was described as a “mad-scientist”, often distracted with many projects going at the same time. Me? Distracted? Never!

I often feel a bit mad, but rarely like a scientist, except when I’m making caramel. When I make caramel I feel like an alchemist turning base elements into pure gold. That’s certainly what you get when you make the banana caramel that flavors this pudding, pure molten sweet delicious gold.

You don’t have to make the banana pudding, if you go just as far as making the caramel you will be more than happy. It’s delicious mixed into plain yogurt, or blended with milk and frozen into a banana sherbet. I would imagine that it’s also very good sandwiched between a two shortbread or some chocolate cookies. However, if you do make the pudding, oh if you do! it is manna from heaven. I like mine layered with homemade shortbread but do with it what you will. I challenge you not to eat it all in one go.

Banana pudding
Stolen, blatantly, from Francis Lam

If you have never made caramel before, go to Francis Lam’s original recipe for a more thorough description of the process.

For the caramel:

2 very ripe bananas, pureed until they’re the consistency of pancake batter
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup water

Stir together the sugar and water and bring to a boil. Turn down to a simmer and wait for it to caramelize. Watch it closely and when it starts to turn nice and golden, take it off the heat. It will continue to cook a little. Stir in the pureed bananas, it will probably bubble up like crazy, it’s okay, keep stirring and soon you will have the magical elixir of life, banana caramel. Let it cool and then put it in the fridge, you will have more than you need for the pudding, but you will have no trouble eating it all.

For the pudding:

1-1/2 cups whole milk
1/2 cup heavy cream, plus more for whipping
3 tbsp cornstarch
2 eggs
6 tbsp sugar
1/4 tsp salt
2 tbsp unsalted butter, cut into pieces
1/4 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 cup banana caramel
1-2 bananas
shortbread cookies (or whatever cookies you have on hand)

Mix a few tablespoons of the milk with the cornstarch in a large saucepan, make sure all the cornstarch dissolves, set aside.

Heat up the rest of the milk and the cream in a medium saucepan until small bubbles start to form around the edge but the milk is not boiling. While your milk heats up whisk the eggs, sugar and salt into the milk-cornstarch mixture.

Slowly whisk the hot milk into the egg mixture.

Set the pan over medium-low heat and stir constantly, adding the butter a piece at a time. The mixture will begin to thicken and eventually will feel like pudding (if it lumps a little just whisk the lumps out). Once it reaching pudding consistency turn the heat to low and let it cook for another minute or so.

Pour the pudding through a mesh strainer into a bowl. Stir in the banana caramel and the vanilla. Lay a piece of plastic wrap directly onto the pudding’s surface, let cool completely before putting it in the fridge.

When your pudding is cool, try not to eat it all straight from the bowl. You can make one big pudding or (as I like to do) make several individual puddings in little glass dishes. You’ll want to crush some of your cookies and press them into the bottom of your dish. Then you’ll spoon in some of the pudding. Add a layer of cookies and a layer of sliced banana, then more pudding. More cookies, more banana, more pudding. Deck with whipped cream and crushed cookies. Let sit in the fridge for about four hours, to let the cookies soften and the flavors meld. Enjoy!

Bishop (hot mulled port wine)

naomi — Tue, 16 Feb 2010 03:41:57 +0000

This mug comes from the Frankfurt Christmas market

I meant to post this for Gourmet Unbound‘s February round up but somehow between taxes, and school, and teaching, February 1st came and went without my even realizing it.

While in Berlin I became addicted to something known as glühwein, which means “glow wine,” an appropriate name considering the radiant effect it can have on one. You can buy it on the street for about €2 and for an extra euro they’ll add a shot of amaretto or rum. It’s a wonderful drink and economical too, it warms you up, brightens your spirits and makes the grey skies and snow seem a little less dismal.

A few weeks ago I had my old roommates over for dinner. It was a cold night and as they had braved the elements to trek out to my Brooklyn apartment I felt it was only right to have something warm and fortifying (and fortified) waiting for them. This wonderful mulled port was the answer. Simple, easy, it makes the house smell great and makes you feel even better.

Bishop

adapted from Gourmet, February 2006

All you need is a bottle of ruby port, an orange, and about 8 whole cloves. Preheat the oven to 450 degrees, stud the orange with the cloves, toss it in the oven for about an 1-1/2 hours, until brown. Toss it in a pot with the wine, heat it up (but don’t let it boil!). Serve hot.

I would strongly recommend doubling the recipe.

Snow Day (Coconut Cream Pie)

naomi — Wed, 10 Feb 2010 22:55:35 +0000

Today we had a snow day in New York. Public schools were closed, which means that I didn’t have to get up at 6:45 this morning. Even though the snow is still falling outside I think everything will return to normal tomorrow and by 8:30 am I’ll be back in the classroom with 25 five-year-olds to teach.

This pie comes from Betty Crocker’s Picture Cookbook. A lot of people look down on Betty Crocker, but I love this cookbook. The pies are great, and so are the cookies, and there are some great cakes and quick breads too. What’s more the pictures are totally groovy and there’s all sorts of antiquated advice about pleasing husbands and table service with or without servants (sadly, ours is a no-servant house 100% of the time). Just stay out of the salad section, there’s a little too much aspic in there for my taste.

This particular pie, which they call White Christmas Pie (NYC does look kind of like this pie today, all white and fluffy), is a serious keeper. It reminds me of a pie my grandmother makes, where you fold whipped cream into the custard, rather than laying it on top. This pie has an added boost of airiness from a meringue folded in at the end. It is so light it’s like biting into coconut flavored air.

Coconut Cream Pie
adapted from Betty Crocker’s Picture Cookbook

If you’re using sweetened coconut I might cut down the sugar to maybe 1/3 cup in the custard and 1/4 cup in the meringue.

Baked and cooled 9″ pie shell

1 tbsp gelatin (1 envelope)
1/4 cup cold water
1/2 cup sugar
4 tbsp all-purposeflour
1/2 tsp salt
1-1/2 cups milk
3/4 tsp vanilla
1/4 tsp almond extract
1/2 cup whipping cream, whipped until still
3 egg whites
1/4 tsp cream of tartar
1/2 cup sugar
1 cup moist shredded coconut

Soften gelatin in 1/4 cup water, set aside.

In a medium saucepan, whisk together the sugar, flour and salt. Slowly whisk in the milk. Cook over low heat, stirring constantly until it comes to a boil. Boil for 1 minutes. Remove from heat and stir in softened gelatin. Cool.

When partially set, whisk until smooth and stir in the vanilla and almond extracts.

Gently fold in the whipped cream.

Whisk the egg whites and cream of tartar until foamy. Slowly add in the sugar and continue whisking until stiff peaks form.

Gently fold the meringue into the custard.

Gently fold in the coconut.

Pour into the cooled pie shell, sprinkle with extra coconut. Chill until set (about 2 hours).

Pistachio Cake

naomi — Sun, 07 Feb 2010 20:19:38 +0000

Last year, after I whined about the price of nuts in New York, my mom said she’d see if she could get me some nuts wholesale through one of her suppliers (if you didn’t know, she has a shop in Los Angeles). A month or so later, a guy comes by and delivers a 25-pound box of nuts, half almonds, half pistachios. 25 pounds! I got a bunch of bags and portioned out the nuts and stacked them in the freezer. We made it through the almonds fairly quickly, a short roast in the oven and they made a perfect snack. The pistachios however, lingered. Maybe it’s the shelling, and the fact that we’re lazy, or the mess that we make eating them. I’m not sure why, but a year later we still have the better part of 12-1/2 pounds of lovely bright green pistachios in our freezer. That is about to change. . . .

When we left for our European vacation this winter we asked our komsije (neighbors) if they could check our mail and keep an eye on the apartment. When I came back, not only were there piles of mail of the coffee table, but there were also gifts. This was my gift. It’s a nut grinder our komsinica’s mom sent from Croatia. I had been big-eyeing this cake for a while, but never could make it because I had no way of grinding the pistachios into a flour. You can imagine how happy I was to have that problem solved once and for all. It wasn’t long before this cake was coming out of my oven.

How sad that I had to wait so long! This cake is delicious on it’s own and is perfect with a cup of tea. It tastes like you set out to make a middle eastern pastry, but instead of layering the philo dough and nuts you ground it all together and made a cake. It is very moist, and not too sweet, with a toothsome, nutty crumb and ever so slightly perfumed by the rose water.

Pistachio Cake
Adapted from Breakfast•Lunch•Tea*

Don’t be put off by the large amount of rosewater, it has such a delicate flavor you hardly taste it. If you can’t find rosewater or just really hate it, you can substitute 1/2 tsp vanilla extract.

This is a fairly large cake, next time I might divide it between two pans and freeze one for later. However, we ate it over the course of a week and it was nearly as good on the last day as it was on the first.

for the cake:
250 g (about 2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
225 g (1 cup) sugar
grated zest of 1 lemon
2 tbsp rosewater
4 eggs
100 g (1 cup) ground almonds
100 g (1 cup) ground pistachios
50 g (1/3 cup) all-purpose flour
1 tsp baking powder
pinch of salt

for the glaze:
50 g (1/2 cup) pistachios, whole or chopped
50 g (1/4 cup sugar
juice and zest of one lemon

Preheat the oven to 350º F. Butter and flour a 10″ round cake pan.

Cream together the butter and sugar until light and creamy. Mix in the lemon zest and rosewater. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating thoroughly after each addition.

fold in the ground almonds, ground pistachios, flour, baking powder and salt.

Pour the mixture into the prepared pan and bake for about 40 minutes or until a tester inserted in the middle comes out clean.

To make the glaze, heat the pistachios, sugar, lemon juice and zest in a saucepan over low heat until the sugar has dissolved and pour it over the cake.

*My aunt and uncle gave me this book for my birthday several years ago. I loved the book and visited Rose Bakery when I was in Paris in 2007. It is a very hip place with really good food, and though I’m not a Vegetarian myself, they have a lot of Vegetarian options on the menu, which is nice. A year or two later, an old friend (my roommate in college) moved to Paris for grad school. He sent me an email telling me he’d got a job at this place, the Rose Bakery, did I know it? Did I ever! I had the shortbread from this cookbook in my oven as I typed my response.

Vegetable Soup

naomi — Sun, 24 Jan 2010 14:35:43 +0000

When I cook, I try to use mostly seasonal, local ingredients. However, there are times, when say I’ve just come back from a trip where I’ve been eating mostly sausage and potatoes, when all I want to eat is the vegetable soup that my mom used to make from a recipe that came from Weight Watchers some 20 years ago. In such as a case as that I might just buy zucchini and some tomatoes that were grown in some far off place where it’s currently summer and call it a day. After the starchy excesses of Berlin I was craving this soup something awful. It’s super simple, easy to make but feels really good.

Vegetable Soup
adapted from Weight Watchers

olive oil
1 large onion, chopped
3 cloves garlic, minced
2 zucchini halved and thinly sliced (so you have semi-circles)
2-3 carrots, sliced
1-2 tomatoes, chopped
3-4 cups chicken broth
2-3 tbsp chopped parsley (optional)
salt and pepper to taste

Heat olive oil in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Add onion and garlic and cook until the onions are transparent. Add zucchini, tomatoes and carrots and cook until vegetables are soft, about 10 minutes. Add chicken broth and bring to a boil. Lower heat and simmer about 20-30 minutes. Stir in parsley and salt and pepper (I like to add lots of pepper). If you’re feeling up to it, you can roughly puree half of the soup, leaving the other half untouched. Serve plain or topped with grated cheese.

There and Back Again

naomi — Tue, 19 Jan 2010 15:13:43 +0000

Stockholm, Sweden

I feel that I’ve been everywhere in the past month or so, visiting friends and family in Los Angeles, Berlin, Stockholm and Paris.

Berlin, Germany

While it was nice to be away, and to see new places, it feels really good to be home again. I spent the first few days just lazing around the house, cleaning, organizing, and cooking. I made vegetable soup and croissants. I’ve sorted through the piles of mail, and life is returning to normal. When I begin to tire of normal life my film should be developed and I’ll be able to relive my adventures all over again.

Hallo Berlin

naomi — Tue, 05 Jan 2010 19:36:04 +0000

Hallo from Berlin! If I’m a little absent from these here parts it’s because I’m putting on twenty five layers and enjoying the freezing cold temperatures while trudging through the city. Thankfully there’s gluhwein (a hot mulled wine) to be had, which warms you up for 3 euros or less, if only New York had such things. . . .

I’ll see you when I get back, and I’ll tell you all about it once I get all my film developed. In the meantime, check out the latest roundup of Gourmet Unbound!

tschüs!

* photo credit goes to Amir. If I had taken this photo it would have been a lot more crooked.

Lemon Meringue Pie and a Happy New Year

naomi — Thu, 31 Dec 2009 17:16:49 +0000

I am sitting here, in a friend’s apartment in Berlin with snow falling outside and fireworks going off, thinking of an appropriate way to sum up the past year. It was hard, it was a struggle, it was difficult and heartbreaking on so many levels for so many different people. In a year of hardship there were also a lot of wonderful things that happened: I started grad school and found a career that I truly love, my boyfriend completed his Masters degree and created a beautiful thesis project and, perhaps best of all, my grandmother survived her hip replacement and a heart attack and is up and walking and laughing again. It only feels appropriate to end this year with something tart, and a little sweet, and hope that next year (and the next decade) will be a better.

Lemon Meringue Pie

I had bought some Meyer lemons in the week before my break, with the full intention of making lemon curd. Of course, between one thing and another the curd was never made and the lemons were left unzested and unjuiced. Because Meyer lemons are so lovely (and so expensive) I did what anyone else would do, I packed them into my carry-on luggage and carried them to California. Yes indeed, to California where citrus fruit is plentiful and there are at least three trees on my parents’ block that are overladen with lemons. Ah well.

Lemon Curd
Adapted from Gourment, January and April 2001

Zest of three lemons (a heaping tablespoon)
1 cup lemon juice
scant 1-1/4 cups sugar
4 large eggs
16 tbsp unsalted butter

Whisk together lemon zest, juice, sugar and eggs in a medium saucepan. Stir in butter and cook over low heat, whisking frequently, until the curd has thickened enough to hold the marks of the whisk and bubbles begin to appear on the surface, about 6 minutes. Strain into a bowl through a fine mesh sieve. Cover surface of curd with plastic wrap and let chill.

Meringue

3 egg whites
pinch of cream of tartar
1/2 cup sugar

Whisk together the egg whites and cream of tarter until foamy. Slowly whisk in the sugar and continue beating until whites are glossy and form stiff peaks.

Preheat oven to 400º F.

Pour the curd into a cooled, baked 9″ pie shell. Heap the meringue on top, making sure to seal the edges. Use the back of the spoon to swirl the meringue and form peaks. Place in the oven and bake 8-10 minutes until the meringue is golden. Chill until ready to serve. Watch it disappear.

Gingerbread

naomi — Sun, 20 Dec 2009 16:48:31 +0000

I first made this cookies over ten years ago and I have made them every Christmas since. I usually create a sort of gingerbread UN, with gingerbread men from all around the world: a Scottish guy with a kilt, a Japanese woman wearing an elaborately decorated kimono, a French man with a striped shirt and a cigarette hanging from his mouth.

These are hands-down one of my favorite, and one of my most popular cookies. When my mom’s godson was smaller, we used to make these together and he’d always ask for them when he came to visit. One of my uncles always takes home three or four to eat with coffee. Because of all the molasses and spices, my college roommate used to call these the “bully of the cookie jar.” He meant that in the best of possible ways.

Gingerbread
Adapted from The Betty Crocker Cookbook

The original recipe calls for 1/2 cup cold water to be mixed in with the molasses. For some reason, when I started making these in New York, they felt a little dry so I switched to buttermilk (doesn’t buttermilk make everything better anyway?). If you don’t have buttermilk, use water, it’ll be just fine.

This is the recipe I used to make these.

2 tsps baking soda
3 tbsp cold water
6 cups flour
1 tsp salt
1 tsp allspice
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp cloves
1 tsp ginger
1/3 cup butter, softened
1 cup brown sugar
1-1/2 cups dark molasses (one 12 oz. jar Grandma’s Robust Molasses)
1/2 cup buttermilk

Stir the baking soda into the water, set aside.

Sift together the flour, salt, and spices.

Mix together the butter, sugar and molasses until well combined. Stir in the buttermilk.

Mix the flour mixture into the molasses mixture. Stir in the baking soda and water.

Chill for a few hours or overnight.

Preheat oven to 350° F. Roll out dough very thick (1/2″) (dough is sticky so use plenty of flour.) Bake for 15-18 minutes. Cookies are done when touched lightly with a finger, no imprint remains.

Gingerbread and Cranberry Meringue Tarts

naomi — Fri, 18 Dec 2009 07:30:39 +0000

As I sit here eating barley soup I would like to focus on what I’m not doing:

I am not writing a research paper
I am not cobbling together a portfolio
I am not getting high on Sharpie fumes while making a picture book
I am not even lesson planning

I am just sitting here enjoying the quiet in my head. And the barley soup.

Last night I had my last class of the year. Our final project was creating a “big book”, essentially a very large picture book (mine was 13″ x 19″), and an accompanying lesson plan. It was so much fun to see the books my classmates had made, they were so beautiful and creative, and some were just awe-inspiring. Everyone also brought in food and drinks to share. I had been wanting to make these tarts even since Ashley wrote about them on Not Without Salt. I’m so glad I did. Warm and spicy, tart and creamy, light and fluffy, they were a wonderful winter treat*. I had one for breakfast this morning.

Gingerbread and Cranberry Meringue Tart
from Not Without Salt

Preheat oven to 350° F.

Using your favorite gingerbread recipe (I will post my standby very soon)- roll the dough out very thin and gently lay it into mini tart pans.

Bake for 10-12 minutes. Unmold the tarts and let cool.

Bring the oven up to 400° F.

Fill your gingerbread shells with cranberry curd and top with a dollop of meringue (I would have piped the meringue but I couldn’t find my star tip). Bake for 8-10 mintues, or until meringue has browned.

Cranberry Curd
adapted from Nigella Lawson via Not Without Salt

I believe I only used 1-1/3 cups sugar, but you might want to taste it before taking it off the heat. It was late, I was tired, I kind of lost track.

1 pound (5 cups) cranberries
1 cup plus 2 tbsp water
7 tbsp butter
1-1/3 cups sugar
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
6 eggs, lightly beaten

Put the cranberries and water in a pot and cook over low heat until cranberries are soft and begin to pop.

Push cranberries through a fine sieve or a food mill.

Return the puree to the pan. Whisk in the sugar, butter, salt, vanilla, and eggs. Cook over low heat, whisking frequently, until the curd is thick enough to hold marks of the whisk and the first bubbles appear on the surface.

Transfer curd to a bowl and chill, its surface covered with plastic wrap or waxed paper.

French Meringue

the white of one large egg
1/4 cup sugar

Whisk the egg white until soft peaks form.

Slowly whisk in half of the sugar. Continue whisking until the whites form stiff peaks. Fold in the rest of the sugar.

* No only were they delicious, the tarts were a great way to refresh my apartment: when I came home I was worried that it would still reek of Sharpie marker, but instead it smelled of gingerbread, which was a very pleasant surprise.