Happy New Year Twelve! - Chocolate Mousse Cake to Celebrate (part 1)

Wow.  2023 marks the beginning of the twelfth year of this blog.  For the record, this is the 263rd post and there have been more than 110,000 page views.  There are followers on this blog and also on the Pinterest board of the same name.

My cooking abilities have improved because of my blogging experience:  one guest taster noted that many of the recipes I have tried could be considered "technical challenges" a la the Great British Baking Show.  So true!  They fall into the category of "here are the ingredients and a general guideline of what to do, now make it and it should taste good."  The thought made me laugh and also reflect on how my attitude towards cooking has loosened over the years.  

This has increased my confidence in my ability to create.  For example, after a holiday gathering I took a variety of leftovers from my refrigerator and made a stew:  olives, pickled mushrooms, andouille sausage, chopped carrots, cherry tomatoes, French onion soup, and half a jar of marinara sauce were lubricated with some beef broth and simmered until the scent was luscious.  I didn't add any other seasonings and it was just right, served up with leftover biscuits on the side.  A wonderful light dinner after several days of holiday treats.

My blogging explorations have wandered far and wide across time and cultures.  It is what I hoped for when I started blogging, and yet went even further than I had anticipated.  I did not expect to translate an historic cookbook, and I did not know about cookbooks from, for example, medieval Syria, medieval Transylvania, ancient Baghdad, railroads, and Ukraine.  My time at several culinary symposia was well-spent in trying recipes, techniques, and new foods, and (most importantly) meeting people who love historical cooking, too.  I have learned and made friends.

I plan on continuing this blog and will get back to the California Food Project blog when time permits.  I enjoy learning more about the food and history of my home state.  Just the other day I read a book containing letters written by Laura Ingalls Wilder (of the Little House on the Prairie fame) while visiting her daughter Rose in San Francisco during its Panama-Pacific International Exposition in 1915.  Along with getting a visitor's view on that world's fair, there are a few recipes at the end of the book.  I plan to try one.

So I decided to celebrate these accomplishments with a recipe that could be considered a Most Favorite, but I didn't want to wait until December to post it.  

The cookbook is The Greyston Bakery Cookbook by Helen Glassman and Susan Postal.  The authors both trained at the Tassajara Bakery in San Francisco then helped to found the Greyston Bakery, which is operated by the Zen Community of New York.  From the inside flap of the dust jacket:

In just a few short years, the Greyston Bakery ... has established itself as one of the leading practitioners of the fine art of baking.  Greyston uses only the finest natural ingredients -- rich, dark chocolate, real butter, pure maple syrup, and fresh fruit -- to achieve the delicate textures and subtle flavors that make its cakes, cookies, and breads epicurean delights.

ISBN-10  0-87773-323-6

I haven't made many of their recipes (because calories!) but what I have made was good and the directions were specific enough to be really helpful.  The chocolate mousse cake is one I have made many times since I obtained the book in 1989, but not recently.  Sometimes I just make the mousse filling (using one-third of the quantities) as it makes a lovely dessert all by itself.  Recently I modified the mousse filling and used powdered ginger instead of cocoa powder to make a topping for a pumpkin cheesecake.

This cake requires two of their recipes:  one for the chiffon layers, found on page 133, and the other for the completed cake, found on pages 134-135.  This post covers the layers.  The next post covers assembling the cake.  Let's get started, shall we?

Chocolate Chiffon Layers

6 egg whites 
1 1/2 cups sugar
3/4 cup vegetable oil
4 egg yolks
1/2 cup water
1 teaspoon vanilla
3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa
1 cup flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
dash salt

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

Butter two round 8-inch cake pans.

You will need three bowls (two large, one small).

Beat egg whites until soft peaks form.  Gradually add 1/2 cup of the sugar and continue beating in large bowl of mixer until very stiff.

Mix oil, egg yolks, water, and vanilla in small bowl.

Sift dry ingredients together into the other large bowl:  cocoa, flour, rest of sugar, baking powder and soda, and salt.

Add yolk mixture to dry mixture.

Fold in stiffly beaten egg whites and gently incorporate.

Pour into two prepared pans.

Bake at 350 degrees for about 25 minutes, until the sides shrink and top springs back when lightly pressed.

My Notes

Note that the sugar is divided, and I've found it helps to measure it out into the 1/2 cup amount for the whites and then measure separately the 1 cup that goes into the dry mixture.  

I've also found it helps to put the small bowl with the containers of the wet ingredients in one place on the counter and the large bowl for the dry ingredients in another.  This organizational scheme reduces mistakes (don't ask!).  I usually use a measuring cup as my small bowl.

I followed the directions in order and had no issues with the process.

My layers were ready after 27 minutes.  I let them cool for 2 1/2 hours before moving on to creating the cake.

What follows are pictures of the process with comments along the way.  

Soft peaks and ready for the sugar.

Stiff!

Most of the wet ingredients.

Dry ingredients mixed.

Wet and dry mixed.

Batter completed with egg whites folded in.

Apportion the batter evenly between the pans.  

Finished layer baked to perfection!

Broccoli Salad - One of My Most Favorites

I reserve the last post of the year for one of my most favorite recipes.  This year I choose broccoli salad.

Yes, I know that you can find a bizillion recipes for broccoli salad on the internet.  It is also found in many printed cookbooks.  So why would I write it up here?

There are many versions.  This is MY version.  The combination of ingredients that I love the most, the way I make it for myself.  Welcome to a taste of what appeals to me.

I'll let you in on a secret about me:  I love broccoli stems more than the tops.  There!  I said it!  I think they are sweeter, and I love their crunch.  I use both the thick and thin stems in the salad, and I usually peel the thick stems.  See instructions below.

Broccoli Salad

1 pound broccoli, stems and tops

1/2 cup finely chopped red onion

1/4 cup coarsely chopped almonds

1/2 cup golden raisins

1/2 cup bacon bits

2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar

1 cup mayonnaise

1/2 teaspoon salt

2 teaspoons sugar

First, put the vinegar into a small bowl and add the salt and sugar.  Mix well; the idea is to start dissolving them into the vinegar.  Set aside.

Cut up the broccoli.  The very thick stems can be peeled, removing the stringy outer layer and leaving behind the juicy inner core.  Cut them into small bite-sized pieces.  The thin stems can be cut up, and the little "tree" tops should be broken up into reasonably small pieces.  Make everything a good size so it can be eaten without using a knife.

Mix the broccoli, red onion, almonds, raisins, and bacon bits together in a big bowl.

Now mix the balsamic vinegar into the mayonnaise until the dressing is uniformly colored.

Stir the dressing into the veggie mix until everything is well-coated.  Chill and serve.

My Notes

Sometimes my sweet tooth gets the best of me, and I put in more raisins.  

Don't chop the broccoli too small or it won't stand out against the raisins and almonds.

Peeling the thick stem

Chopping the thick stem

Bowl full o' broccoli

The goal for the dressing is to taste tart and sweet and creamy.  When you taste it before mixing it into the veggies, you should get a vinegary bite that is tempered by the sugar.  The salt should not be discernable.

Keep in mind that the bacon bits will add salt to the overall flavor mix. 

The Verdict

This is a favorite because it tastes so good to me.  So success!

It also tastes good to other people, and I have no qualms about serving it to them.  I think the love of sweet-and-sour is universal, and this dressing does it.

I like that the salad is very moist and the dressing is on everything.  You might want less dressing.  I think the dressing ties all the flavors together.

Another reason I like this version is the use of balsamic vinegar.  I think it adds a depth of flavor that regular white or apple cider vinegars don't offer.  Use a good quality balsamic if you can.

The dish is also visually interesting.  The colors of the broccoli, nuts, bacon, and onion all work well, and there is visual texture, too.  

The salad goes well with sandwiches for lunch, as a side dish with dinners of roasted meat or stews, and sometimes I like just a bowlful as the whole meal.

Please enjoy this favorite.  You can also play with the proportions to suit your tastes.  Chopped walnuts are a good substitution for almonds.

Cooking Chicos, a Pinedo recipe

Previously I wrote about making chicos on my other food blog, The California Food Project, in which I described first roasting ears of corn in the oven then hanging them to dry for about a month.  These dried kernels are able to be stored for months, then are rehydrated and cooked.  Click here to see the previous post.  (If you are not familiar with my collection of Pinedo recipes, search on both this blog and the CA Food Project using the keyword Pinedo to see them all.)

Miss Pinedo gives this recipe in her book:

My translation:

I needed some help on how to cook them, so I turned back to Edible New Mexico.    Visit this site to see their work.

They suggest using 2 cups of chicos, which are soaked overnight in 10 cups of cold water.  Then they are cooked all day in a slow-cooker on low, or for three hours at a simmer on the stove.

I chose to use the slow-cooker.

My Redaction

Cooking:

2 cups chicos

10 cups water

About 3 1/2 cups of chicos

Place chicos in the water in a slow-cooker and allow to soak overnight.  Then set the slow-cooker to low and allow to cook all day.

Beginning of the soaking time

End of the soaking time

After the chicos are cooked, I chose to stew them with green chiles (not red).  I used canned Ortega chiles, and included Cotija cheese which was crumbled.  Some of the cheese went into the chicos and some was reserved to sprinkle over the top.

I just added the chiles and cheese to the corn and heated them all together.  

Soaked and cooked chicos

With the addition of chiles and cheese

After heating

The cotija cheese is robust enough that it didn't melt quickly.  There was a certain point where it melted, which I did not like because it was clumping and sticking to the bottom of the pan.  I think heating the chicos with just the chiles first would be better, then adding the cheese at the end and letting it warm up from there.  That way the chicos and chiles would blend their flavors.

Use a slotted serving spoon.

The Verdict

The dried chicos in the container smelled so good!  I love the smell of corn and this was excellent.  Not strong, but the scent was there.

Before soaking, an individual kernel was hard.  After soaking, it was soft, easily squished by my fingers.  It still smelled good.

The cooked chicos with the chiles and cheese also smelled enticing.

I served the result with a piece of baked chicken -- and wine! -- for a simple dinner.

Don't forget the wine.

The flavor was surprisingly good.  I expected it to taste good but I was pleased at how the chiles and chicos blended their flavors and supported each other.  The corn offered a deeper, richer corn flavor than you would get with canned kernels.  The chiles added a more acidic note as well as their distinct flavor.  The cotija cheese added a slight salty kick, a little umami, and a change in texture.

In fact, both my guest taster and I found the dish rather addictive.  We loved the flavor and wanted to have more.  We had several servings each!  The second time I served it, I put a dish of crumbled cotija cheese on the table and we could add more as we felt like it.  I even took a batch that was made without the cheese in it to a potluck, and saw that people liked it, especially the vegetarians.  Again, I put a dish of crumbled cheese nearby for people to use as they pleased.

Success!

I want to try it again using dried red chiles.  I have enough dried chicos left to do this again, and I think it is worthwhile continuing to dry corn for this as a kitchen pantry staple.  I could see using them in stews, soups, and other side dishes.  

I also think that 10 cups of water to 2 cups of chicos is too much water.  I would try it again using 8 cups.  I also would remove a lot of the cooking liquid before mixing in the cheese if I were to serve it as a side dish.  The liquid would probably be good as a soup or stew base.

Ukrainian Borsch with Duck and Dried Smoked Pears

 It was time to try out the dried smoked pears from my previous post.  (Click here to visit the post.)

The recipe was from Olia Hercules' book, Summer Kitchens, on page 132.

ISBN 978-1-68188-570-4

Borsch with duck and smoked pears

1/2 cup beet kvas or 1/4 cup good-quality red wine vinegar

2 small beets, peeled and cut into thin matchsticks

1 medium onion, finely diced

1 medium carrot, scrubbed and cut into thin matchsticks or coarsely grated

7 oz canned diced tomatoes

10 oz potatoes, peeled and cut into 3/4-inch dice

1/4 cabbage (anything from green to Savoy), sliced

2 garlic cloves, crushed

Sour cream to serve

Stock

2 duck carcasses or 6 duck legs

1 onion, roughly chopped

2 celery ribs, roughly chopped

2 carrots, scrubbed and roughly chopped

Handful of parsley stalks

2 bay leaves

A few sprigs of thyme

4 - 6 dried smoked pears or Agen prunes

Pour the beet kvas or vinegar over the beets and set aside.

Next make the stock.  Put all the stock ingredients except the smoked pears or prunes into a large stockpot and cover with 2 1/2 - 3 quarts of water.  Bring to a boil, skimming off any froth as it appears and, if you are using duck legs, season lightly with salt - this way the meat will be properly seasoned.  Add the smoked pears or prunes and simmer for 1 - 1 1/2 hours over low heat - if using duck legs, the meat should be falling off the bones.

When the stock has been simmering for about an hour, use a ladle to skim some of the fat from the stock and put it into a frying pan over medium heat.  Add the onion and cook until soft and taking on some color, then add the carrot and cook until the vegetables start caramelizing - keep skimming and adding fat if the pan seems dry.  Now add the beets together with the liquid they have been pickling in, and cook for 2 minutes, then add the tomatoes and cook over high heat for another 3 minutes.  Take off the heat.

Strain the duck stock into another saucepan, returning the smoked pears or prunes to the stock.  Discard (or compost) the vegetables - and the duck carcasses, if that's what you used.  If you used duck legs, take the meat off the bones and put it in with the stock as well.

Now add the contents of the frying pan to the stock and bring to a boil.  Add the potatoes and simmer for 5 minutes.  Stir in the crushed garlic at the very end, when you are ready to switch off the heat.  

Ladle into soup bowls and serve with a spoonful of sour cream.

My Notes

I used 6 duck legs.  I keep homemade pickled beets in my kitchen often, so I used those instead of pickling fresh beets.  I had to guess what quantity two small beets would be.

I also chose to use 8 ounces of fresh tomatoes instead of the canned.  I used 1/4 of a purple cabbage I had handy, and put in 6 dried pears.

My interpretation of "lightly salting" the duck legs was to use 1/4 teaspoon sprinkled over the meat before the water was added.

It is just so wonderful to make my own stock, starting with all those fresh ingredients and cooking them into a rich, complex liquid. 

Pre-water

At the beginning of the cooking process

At the end of the cooking process

Taking stock

It took a total of 2 hours of slow cooking to get the meat to fall off the bones.  I took the instructions to cook over low heat seriously, which was probably too low!  I bumped up the heat to medium low and that is what got me over the line by two hours.  The difference was simmering versus barely simmering.

After the one hour of simmering mark passed, I skimmed fat from the pan and started cooking the soup vegetables.

Caramelizing onions and carrots.

Now with beets

Next up, the tomatoes

All cooked and ready for the soup pot!

Once the stock was ready to be strained, the duck legs sat draining over a bowl for a little while so they could cool to a comfortable-to-handle temperature.  Then I deboned them and was pleased with the amount of meat they produced.

I estimate 1 1/2 to 2 cups of meat.

The borsch was assembled with the stock, meat, pears, and vegetables from the frying pan.  Then I added the potatoes and cabbage as directed.

Everything went on hold until the entire meal was ready to be served, so the garlic waited until just before serving.  

The Verdict

I served the borsch with homemade French bread and pinot noir.  Sour cream was available to those who wanted it, which was everyone.  Dessert was a peach and sour cherry cobbler with French vanilla ice cream on top.

The pear is the brown item to the right of the sour cream.

I had an extra guest taster, NK, as well as my usual guest taster.

First, I have to say that I probably underestimated the quantity of beets.  I think I should have doubled the amount I put in.  The beet slivers had lost all their color, as expected, but the broth was not as red as the picture in the cookbook had it.  

Next, everyone added salt to their bowls, including me.  This tells me that I probably should have used 1 teaspoon of salt when making the stock.  But it really wasn't a problem -- I typically like to undersalt my dishes so everyone can make it salty to their own taste.  (I like less salt than my usual guest taster.)

I made sure everyone got at least one dried pear in their bowl.  We were all very interested in knowing what it would be like.

The flavor of the borsch was excellent.  There was plenty of duck meat and it was cooked just right -- I know how easy it is to overcook meat once it was at the "falling off the bones" state, so I was happy that I didn't cross that line.  The meat was tender and flavorful.  

The vegetables added so much interest to the dish.  Some were tender and others were tender-crisp, making for a variety of textures to experience while eating.  NK noted that having so many of the vegetables cut into small pieces was good because it helped to unify the soup, which big pieces do not always allow. 

The amount of garlic was pronounced as "just right."  I love garlic, so I would be tempted to put in much more than was listed in the recipe.  However, we all agreed that it added a nice backdrop flavor without being dominant, and that was best.

As for the pears, they were a lovely addition!  The dried pears before cooking was hard as rocks.  The cooked dried pears were tender and moist.  We all would use a spoon to cut off a small piece to include with a mouthful of soup.  The pears added a little burst of sweet and pear flavor to the meat and vegetable flavors.  I didn't taste the smoked flavor but that was probably because I didn't do as good of a job smoking them as I could have.  Practice makes perfect, so I will consider doing it again.

I enjoyed the pears so much that I was sad there were only six to go around.  The next day I made a chicken soup, so I cooked more pears in it and then added them to the leftover borsch just to have more.  I think I would add more pears initially if I make the borsch again.

This was definitely a success.  What a lovely soup!  

I had some leftovers, so when I heated those up, I added a generous spoonful of pickled beets, including some of the pickling juice.

More beets!

Then I reheated it.  The result was an even better (beeter?) borsch:  the beet flavor was more obvious and the pickling juice added a bright acid tang to the broth.  It was lovely!  I should have put the container of pickled beets on the table the first time, to give everyone a chance to up the beet flavor of their serving.  Now I know!

Ms. Hercules states on page 120 that "For every Ukrainian, borsch triggers deep memories and feelings of kinship.  A delectable meal in itself, a bowl of borsch represents family and sustenance, and connects us to home, wherever we find ourselves."

NK brought these.  Thinking of you, Ukraine.

Ukrainian Dried Smoked Pears

Another recipe that really drew my interest in Olia Hercules' book, Summer Kitchens, was for pears that were dried and then smoked.  

ISBN 978-1-68188-570-4

The recipe is on page 62.  It is as simple as the title says, with the challenge, perhaps, to get them smoked.  

Dried Smoked Pears

 

4 1/2 pounds Bartlett pears, cut in half lengthwise, cores and stems removed

Lay the pears, cut side up, on baking sheets lined with baking parchment and put them in a very low oven - the warming oven of a Rayburn or Aga is ideal - until they are completely dried, about 3 days.  Check on them every so often, swapping the sheets around so the pears dry evenly. As they dry, the pears will shrivel and develop a caramelized chewiness - any juice that oozes onto the baking parchment will taste like pear caramel.

Transfer the dried pears to wire racks, placing them cut side up.  If you have a cold-smoker, you can then cold-smoke the pears for 18 hours.  Alternatively, you can hot-smoke the pears over oak or fruit wood chips on a barbecue for about an hour or so.

Store the pears in lidded jars at room temperature - they will last for many months.

My Notes

Most of my Bartlett pears were yellow.  Ripe, but not soft.  Just right, I hope.  I tasted a bit of one and it was very sweet.

It was easy to cut them in half and then to use the tip of a spoon to remove the cores and stems.

This is about half of the half pears.

The oven was preheated to "Warm", which is about 170 degrees F.  I noted the time when the trays went in so I could see about how long it would really take for them to dry.

They smelled so good!  They made my mouth water every time I walked by the kitchen.

After about 14 hours of drying, the pears looked like this:

The kitchen still smelled wonderful!

I didn't swap the sheets around because my oven runs a fan to circulate the air.

I took them out of the oven for a few hours while I used it for other purposes.  Then they went back in, no worse for wear.  All the drying halves were consolidated onto one tray.

After 24 hours

After 38 hours

After 48 hours, I turned them over to make sure the bottoms dried.

At 60 hours, I turned them back.  Here they are at 72 hours, when I considered them "done:"

I cut one open and tasted part of it.

The inside looked spongy.  It seemed dry all the way through.  While warm, the pears were very soft.  Once cooled, they were stiff.

I could taste a pear flavor, but it also tasted cooked, maybe even a little burnt.  Perhaps I over-dried them, or I had the temperature too hot.  Or maybe I got it just right!

The next step is to smoke them.  I want to hot-smoke them myself, using my propane grill.  

Hot Smoking

I removed one grate from the grill and put it on top of the others to provide a circulating zone around the pears.  Then I placed the pear halves on it, cut side up, and spaced so they did not touch each other.  I also made sure none of the pears were too close to the two fire areas.

One small piece of pear was withheld from the smoking so I could try a before-and-after taste comparison.

I used applewood chips that were soaked in water for 15 minutes, then drained.  I also had a premade cup with applewood chips in it, so I used that, too.  The fire under the chips was at full until the smoke started being produced enough to see, then I turned it down to low.  My reading said subtlety is best when smoking food.  

I used "that much" wood chips.

See the smoke?

The lid was closed.  The timer was set for 1 hour, and I waited.  I did check on them occasionally to make sure the smoke was still coming out, as I wasn't sure if I put in enough chips.  

I noticed that the temperature inside the grill's box was pretty hot, enough to cook the pears, at about 350 to 400 degrees F.  I hoped that wasn't a problem.

Also, the smoke smelled lovely!  Some of the scent was on my hands and it was a great perfume.

After the allotted time, I took the pear halves off the grates and brought them inside to cool.

The Verdict

No visible difference that I can tell.

Smell test:

I could smell the smoke on the still-warm smoked pear and that was different from the non-smoked piece I kept aside.

Taste test:

I ate a small piece of the smoked pear.  The smoke flavor was very subtle, but there.  There was no burnt flavor.  After I let the piece soften in my mouth for several minutes, I was able to chew it carefully.  The pear flavor was still there.  I liked it but would not consider this an eat-out-of-hand item.  I would like to try it in a recipe.

A small piece of the unsmoked pear still had the pear flavor.  It did have that "burnt" element to it, which I was not fond of.  It amazes me that smoking could take that away!  It definitely did not taste even the slightest bit smoky.  This tells me the smoking made a difference.

Ms. Hercules tells us:

These pears are usually added to borsch or uzvar.  They are very intensely flavored; just a half a pear is enough to impart a sweet smokiness to pork, duck, pheasant, or lamb stews.

Uzvar is a beverage and is consider classic Ukrainian.  It it typically dried fruit soaked or simmered in water (or birch water!).  It can be sweetened, often with sugar or honey, and sometimes spices are added.  The fruit is strained out and the flavored liquid is consumed.  Ms. Hercules offers a recipe in her book.

Fruit added to a meat stew is one of my favorites, and recipes are all over the internet for dried fruit with meat.  I will take Ms. Hercules' advice and make sure I use just one half of a pear to add that sweet, smoky flavor, unless the recipe calls for more.  I imagine it should be chopped into comfortably bite-sized pieces, possibly after it has cooked and before serving. 

I look forward to trying the smoked pears in a recipe.  Either one from this book or a stew of my own design.