The Making of a Foodie

Homemade Ice Cream

Bacon and Egg Ice Cream - from Gourmet Magazine's TV Show - Diary of a Foodie

8 bacon slices (1/2 pound)
1 1/2 Tablespoons packed light brown sugar
2 cups whole milk
2 cups heavy cream
1 cup granulated sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt
6 large egg yolks
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

• Put oven rack in middle position and preheat oven to 350°F.
• Arrange bacon slices in 1 layer (not overlapping) on rack of a large broiler pan. Bake 15 minutes. Turn slices over and sprinkle evenly with brown sugar.
• Continue to bake, checking bacon every 5 minutes, until bacon is crisp and deep golden, 15 to 20 minutes more. Transfer to parchment or brown paper (such as a grocery bag or butcher paper; see cooks' note, below) to drain.
• Heat milk, cream, granulated sugar, and salt in a 3-quart heavy saucepan over moderate heat, stirring occasionally, until sugar is dissolved and mixture is hot.
• Meanwhile, beat yolks in a medium bowl with an electric mixer at high speed until thick and pale. Reduce speed to low and add hot milk mixture in a stream, mixing until combined. Transfer custard to saucepan and cook over moderately low heat, stirring constantly, until mixture is thick enough to coat back of a spoon and thermometer registers 170 to 175°F (do not let boil). Stir in vanilla.
• Quick-chill custard by transferring it to a bowl set into a larger bowl of ice and cold water and stirring frequently until cold, about 15 minutes. Meanwhile, cut bacon into tiny 1/4-inch pieces.
• Fold bacon into ice cream once you have the ice cream in the machine and it is turned on, using the hole in the top of the lid. Once the ice cream has started to set up and get thick, transfer it to an airtight container and put in freezer to harden, at least 2 hours.
• Ice cream keeps 1 week. Don't be tempted to transfer bacon to paper towels to drain—the sugar will make the bacon stick to them.

FOODIE NOTES: Everyone has certain Foodie traditions around national holidays that they carry forward from their childhood into their adulthood. I am no different. For me, it is just not the Fourth of July without ice cold watermelon slices and homemade ice cream. We always went out to my Aunt Dot's farm in Claremore, OK to shoot off our fireworks outside the city limits. We always stopped at the same fireworks stand every year for our selection of sparklers, tanks, cones, bottle rockets, roman candles and black cats. As we would pull down the long gravel road toward the farm house, you could see my Cousin Bob sitting on the front porch rocking in a old-fashioned 1950's metal outdoor chair painted pink to match the trim on the old house and at his feet a large metal washtub with the electric ice cream maker full of creamy goodness and packed with ice and rock salt cranking away. Then as soon as we parked the car and opened the car door, you could hear the unmistakable sound of the ice cream maker - Rrrl, Rrrl, Rrrl, Rrrl the rhythmic sound of the machine meant I was one hamburger away from dessert.

My electric ice cream maker I use now has come a long way since those days. Gone is the need for ice and rock salt and in it's place is a cylinder that I constantly keep in the fridge in case the mood for ice cream should strike, I am ready.

The ice cream flavor that was always made at my Aunt's on the 4th was a flavor they called Vanilla, but truthfully having made the recipe as an adult from scratch is it really more of a Lemon Cream with lots of fresh lemon juice in it to cut the sweetness. This recipe also takes like two hours of constant stirring to make the old family recipe. I am happy to do it once a year, but can't manage much more than that. 

Then there was the year that the mixture looked right, but when I froze it and served it proudly I realized that somewhere in that two hour window I had scalded the milk and the whole batch had an remarkably strong scorched earth flavor to it. All the men in the family, said it was still delicious and ate two bowls a piece just to make me feel better, I suspect, but I was crushed at the failure and decided to look for an easier recipe to make in the future.

The funny thing is, I now find myself gravitating towards more unique ice cream flavors now that my palate has expanded. So when I saw this recipe on Gourmet's Diary of a Foodie (my favorite TV show on the air) for Bacon and Egg Ice Cream, I knew that would be my Fourth of July project this year.

I have no words to describe how simple this Bacon and Egg Ice Cream is to make. It tastes like the richest butter pecan ice cream only with this sweet and smokey bacon note in the back. Fantastic, it is a keeper.

I also cheated a bit, but with a huge batch of fresh basil on my hands from my CSA, I took half the batch of basil and chopped it finely it in my food processor then added into the processor the best organic chocolate with chocolate chip ice cream I could find and blended all the ingredients together. I poured it back into the original container to re-freeze it. Ta-da! A simple Chocolate, Chocolate Chip Basil ice cream that is fresh and sophisticated tasting. My friend Suba, who grew up in Malaysia threatened to take the whole carton home with her she loved it so much. No way Sister, this batch is mine.

Room 39 Goat Cheese Gnocchi

2 lbs. Goat Cheese, hung in cheesecloth overnight then squeezed out
2 egg yolks
1/2 cup Pecorino Romano, grated
1 Tablespoon salt
1/2 cup to 1 cup of flour

Combine the goat cheese, yolks, cheese and salt in a stainless steel bowl. Mix well with your hands. Push the mixture into the bottom of the bowl and indent with finger tips. Sprinkle 1/2 a cup of the flour over the dough and knead the mixture with quarter turns. Continue kneading for several minutes, then test a small amount by dropping a small gnocchi into boiling water. If the gnocchi stays intact (does not melt) then do not add any more flour. If it is falling apart repeat the flour step again. When the dough is complete, then either roll the dough into 1" diameter ropes and cut them every 1" or so, or make each dumpling by hand using 2 oz. of dough and rolling it from a ball into a tube then tapping each edge flat to form a cylinder shaped dumpling.

For the Cream Sauce to go with the gnocchi:

4 yellow onions, thinly sliced
4 shallots, thinly sliced
8 cloves of garlic, thinly sliced
Parsley, Tarragon or Basil Stems, chopped
Bay leaves
2 Lemons, zested and juiced
2 cups white wine
4 qts, heavy cream

In the medium saucepan, slowly cook the onions, shallots, garlic, parsley and bay leaves with a little oil for several minutes until soft but with very little color. Add the lemon zest and juice. Add the white wine and cook slowly over medium heat until almost dry. Add the cream and cook over medium heat until the sauce coats the back of a spoon. Strain through the chinois and adjust the seasoning with salt and add fresh cracked black pepper.

FOODIE NOTE:  This recipe was provided to me by Chef/Owner Ted Habiger of Room 39. The story behind this started about 3 months ago, while I was attending a Share our Strength dinner at The American restaurant, and Ted was there serving this very same goat cheese gnocchi with this cream sauce. I was intrigued with his dish not only because the flavor was amazing, but the texture of the gnocchi was right too. You would not believe the number of people I meet who claim to love gnoochi and when they share with me what they are eating it is a heavy, gummy dumpling and not the light, soft and pillow-like clouds that should be the correct texture of gnocchi.

I also happen to make a mean potato gnocchi, so I was curious how Chef Ted managed to get the texture right using goat cheese. When I got to chatting with him about it, is when he offered to teach me and the lady I met that night at the event, Amanda Frederickson, how to make it along with a tasting menu for a specific dollar donation to Share Our Strength. It was on like Donkey Kong, as we whipped out our checkbooks and went halvsies.

He made good on his promise and we showed up to his restaurant on 39th street right at 5 pm, as his staff was sitting down to a family meal before the dinner shift started. Ted was charming, interesting and entertaining to talk to as he stepped us through exactly how to make the goat cheese gnocchi while at the same time answering the any number of questions we peppered him with concerning his professional career. He even lent us both Chef's whites to wear. I could hardly contain my excitement, as I sat on the benches outside of his kitchen and changed from my heeled open-toed sandals into my heavy black Shoes for Crews. I'm no rookie, man. I was there to cook.
 
The secret to the gnocchi, we soon found out, was to get as much water as you can out of the goat cheese and then use the smallest amount of flour you need to hold it all together. Chef Ted buys his goat cheese from a local farmer, and he said this recipe was born out of having too much goat cheese on hand one night and needing to find the right dish to feature this delicious farm fresh cheese. It has turned out to be a very popular dish at Room 39.

The funny part about this experience was the fact that we spent about an hour or so in the kitchen with Ted learning and making this recipe with him, but we never actually ate it while we were there in the restaurant. It was a simple oversight, but it made us both laugh when we realized at the end of our night at Room 39 we had no idea what the goat cheese gnocchi we spent an hour slaving over even tasted like. I was curious as to whether our gnocchi would pass Ted's taste test to see if he would deem it good enough to sell at dinner that night. He assured me it was, and he would. How thrilling!

When we were finished, we went back out to sit down in the restaurant for our 5 course tasting menu with wine pairings, which was also part of the package. When Room 39 first opened it was only doing lunch, and then as the demand increased dinner was added. However, Room 39's dinner business is still slower than any other daypart he serves, including breakfast which he recently added.

Chef Ted sees his place on 39th street as a neighborhood bistro, and when you eat there, you do have a sense that almost everyone who walks through the door as been in the cozy dining room many, many times before. It feels casual and familiar and a great place to land for a drink and a bite or a full meal. I have had the benefit of eating at Room 39's location on 39th street for breakfast, lunch, dinner and late night . . .and I am amazed at the chameleon like atmosphere the restaurant takes on during different parts of the day.

For breakfast, with the first rays of sun coming though the front window, the entire restaurant is vibrant with the yellow and red's coloring the restaurant walls shining like the morning sun. The place smells like excellent coffee, eggs and bacon. You hear people chatting over breakfast discussing current events and you hear the rustling sound of newspapers being read around you. It is an easy and wonderful way to start your day. Very European.

At lunch, the pace picks up considerably as the light in the restaurant has mellowed into a mild wash of even light. The place is packed and busy. People are talking loudly and laughing, and the place takes on a bustling lunch time bistro atmosphere. Service is precise and efficient.

Then come dinner time, the pace slows considerably. The lights are brought down as the sun is also setting and the restaurant glows with warm spotlights and candles on the table. Conversations are leisurely and spoken in more hushed tones. This is an intimate dining experience without being one bit stuffy.


Late night, there is a dark shadow over the entire restaurant with candles carrying most of the sexy brassiere bar atmosphere into the night-cap part of the night. It is a bit louder now, with alcohol plying everyone into a social mood, and the pomme frites that come from the kitchen are the perfect late night booze sponge before it is time to go home.

Although I have enjoyed eating many meals at different times at Room 39, I can assure you after enjoying a our 5 course tasting menu for dinner, I cannot understand why dinner would be slow. I think dinner might just be undiscovered. Every course of our meal was plated simply but beautifully and everything was perfectly cooked. I will also say the wines he paired with each course were spot on and the perfect accompaniment to the food. Which is something that so many restaurants miss completely in an effort to feature a wine they want to sell over how well it compliments the food. It was an absolutely fantastic experience, with knowledgeable and well-trained servers and fancy but not pretentious dishes made with locally sourced ingredients.

In fact, I was just thinking the other day that Room 39 was the first restaurant I remember dining at where the words "local ingredients" were listed on the menu. This restaurant was the first in Kansas City that I remember pushing the local agenda on it's menu . . .before the rest of the culinary scene in KC was talking about it. (They may have been practicing it, but they were not talking to the guests about it until fairly recently.) 

I have placed some wonderful photos in my iPhoto web gallery for you to enjoy. Check out the cooking class and the 5 course dinner and make a point to go to Room 39 for dinner. You will be surprised in the best way possible, and discover the best undiscovered dinner restaurant in KC.

As a small side note, I did decide to make this Goat Cheese Gnocchi for "my mothers" for Mother's Day. But where could a Foodie buy 6 lbs. (I planned to make extra and freeze it.) of fresh goat cheese? From, the Goatsbeard Farm in Harrisburg, MO. Located approximately 2.5 hours from KC east on I-70 toward St. Louis. For $8 a pound for fresh goat cheese that had been made the night before I arrived with my cooler in hand to pick it up. I spent more in gas getting out to their lovely little farm than I did on the goat cheese itself. But the flavor of that goat cheese . . .I obviously never knew what fresh goat cheese tasted like.
I can assure you it beats the pants off of anything you have tasted in the grocery store. Gone is the musky "goat" smell or flavor, replaced by the sweetest, lightest and creamiest tasting cheese you have ever had the pleasure of putting on your tongue. When one of my containers began "losing" a small amount of goat cheese every night, I discovered that my family had been sneaking spoonfuls of it and then drizzling it with local honey and pecans as a sweet treat after dinner every night. I don't blame them, it was that good.

Palmiers - the Quick Way

1 Roll of Puffed Pastry Dough - thawed to room temp
1-1 1/2 cup granulated sugar

Sprinkle your board generously with sugar then lay the puffed pastry dough on top and flatten it as thin as possible with a rolling pin.

Then flip the dough over to coat the other side with sugar and trim ends of the dough until even. Sprinkle the top with sugar and draw six lines, vertically, making six even stripes up and down in the sugar. Then fold in the outside edge on each side in until it meets the next line. Then fold the dough over again toward the middle on both sides. Finally, fold both sides in until they meet and one long log of dough is formed.

Place the dough in the freezer for 5 minutes or until the dough it chilled enough to cut even slices.

Take dough out of the freezer and cut into 1/4" slices.

Take a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper or a silicon baking sheet and place the cookies side by side  and open the dough a little bit to allow for and expansion during the cooking process.

Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees with the over rack placed on the top rung of the over. Then slide in your cookie sheet and bake for 10 minutes. Remove the tray from oven and flip over all cookies to cook an additional 10-12 minutes until a light golden brown.

FOODIE NOTES: These cookies look very plain, but taste wonderfully complex. Sticky sweet from the melted sugar and the pastry dough becomes crisp and crunchy when it bakes. Delicious. I was at a dinner party recently that hosted a coffee cupping with the owners from the Friendly Bean Coffee Company, and these little cookies were the perfect thing with a good cup of coffee. I found out later from the hostess's Mother, who made these cookies, how easy they are to make and yourself. Enjoy!

Brazilian Stroganoff

1 1/2 - 2 lbs. of filet mignon or sirloin
1 large yellow onion
2 sticks of butter
2 boxes of button mushrooms
1 can of tomato soup
1 cup of rich and tangy ketchup
Cognac to taste
8 oz. of creme de leche or heavy whipping cream

Chop the steak and mushrooms into bite sized pieces. Cut the large onion into chunks and puree it in the blender with a little water. You are wanting to create onion water that you will use as a thinner for your sauce. Strain the onion from the water - saving the chopped onion puree and water separately.

Take a stick of butter and melt it in a frying pan and mix with all of the chopped onion. Then dredge the chopped meat in flour, salt and pepper. Shake off the excess flour mixture before sauteing. In another pan, melt the other stick of butter and saute all of the meat until brown. 

Mix the onion and meat, then add 1 can of Tomato Soup and keep stirring. Cook the mixture until boiling and add no more than 1 cup of onion water in a 10 minute period. When mixture is boiling, add the chopped mushrooms and reduce heat to medium and cover.

Let mixture cook until the mushrooms are cooked through, then add onion water (what's left if thinning is needed) and 4 Tablespoons of Flour slowly into the pot and mix.

Add one cup of Ketchup and stir until thick, then add salt and pepper to taste. Add 1 1/2 shots or to taste of cognac.

Cook the mixture until boiling, then add creme de leche or heavy whipping cream and let simmer for 10 to 15 minutes or until hot.

Pour over white rice and top potato sticks and serve.

Foodie Notes: My good friend Wiki sez this about Brazil's fascination with stroganoff: "Beef stroganoff is also very popular in Brazil and Portugal, under the name "estrogonofe" or "Strogonoff". The Brazilian variant includes dice or strips of beef (usually filet mignon) with tomato sauce, onions, mushrooms and heavy whipping cream. Stroganoff is also often made with strips of chicken breast rather than beef. It is commonly served with crisp potato straws, as in Russia, but with the addition of white rice. Sometimes one can also see creative servings of estrogonofe, such as a pancake filling, or topping baked potatoes. It is so popular among Brazil's urban middle class that there are even fast-food chains (such as Strogonophy's) dedicated to it in the food courts of many Brazilian shopping malls. Many recipes and variations exist: with or without wine, with canned sweet corn, with ketchup instead of tomato sauce, etc."

Forget what you know about the American version of Stroganoff - Cream of Mushroom Soup with Mushrooms and Beef Tips over Egg Noodles. This recipe beats the pants off anything you have ever tasted in terms of Stroganoff. It is very rich, and typically used as a celebration dish in Brazil. Brazil's fascination with this dish, and the fact that is has become so popular that every region in Brazil has a little different take on it, but they all have a take, means that is has become woven into the fabric of the country. No doubt brought to Brazil or introduced by any of the numerous ethnic groups that came to Brazil and brought the dishes of their home country with them. Brazil did have many Russians settle there, and much like our country, you can't help but love the diversity in food that a new group adds to a culture and society.

Peaches & Piscos Fruit Liquor Cake

 
So, I had my Fruit Liquor Dinner Party back in February and although we happily drank the port wine and cherries, I did not end up serving my peaches and piscos,  which is the national liquor of Chile and is where I picked up a bottle on a wine junket a few years ago when I worked for a restaurant company. It just wasn't good. It tasted like sweetened peach ice tea. Too much tea flavor, too sweet . . .and unfortunately took 6 months to make. However, I threw out a challenge to the group at the dinner party asking them to give me any suggestions on how I could use it. I was thinking I would just save it until pool season and then make long island ice teas or white sangria with them. But my friend Deanne had a different idea, please find her recipe below, which was adopted from a Norwegian Apple Cake recipe.

Sift together:
•    1 cup plus 2 Tbls. of flour
•    1 teaspoon of cinnamon/nutmeg
•    1 teaspoon baking powder
•    1/2 teaspoon salt
•    3/4 cup sugar

 

Then add to that:
•    1 cup of crushed ginger cookies
•    ½ cup of chopped pecans
•    2 Tablespoons of piscos liquid

Cut it into the dry ingredients:
•    1/2 cup margarine or butter. Will look crumbly like pastry dough.
•    Beat one egg and spread over mixture stirring it up lightly. Still crumbly.
•    Press half of the crumble mixture in the bottom of a tart pan.

Cover with:
•     Sliced liquor soaked fruit of your choice.
•     The rest of the crumbly dough mixture on top of the fruit.

Bake at:
•    375 degrees for 45-50 min.  Let cool in the pan, and gently turn out.
•    Serve with drizzled icing.  (icing sugar, butter, vanilla, piscos)

Notes from Deanne: Make the dough portion as instructed, but add a little nutmeg, and maybe a tablespoon of the rum, for flavor. Toss in some pecans if you're so inclined.

Press half of the crumbly dough into your favorite pan, then slice up a couple of the besotted peaches. If they're too mushy, then pat them dry and blitz them in the processor with some sugar until it's sort of jammy or preserve like. Trick is you don't want it "wet"— just moist like grated apples or whizzed up raspberries. I've found if it's too wet, the layers get a little gummy.

Spread the peach slices on top of the dough, top with remaining dough and bake as instructed. I think I told you I liked to use my tart pan. I've also used a plain old round cake pan, and then turned it out and flipped it over.

Then, if you can actually contain yourself from eating the entire thing immediately, top with a glaze made from icing sugar and rum and maybe a pinch of salt to cut the sweetness of the sugar.

Let me know how it turns out.... If it's a miserable failure, I have another cobbler recipe around here somewhere that might work better...

Notes from me to you and Deanne: Guess what Deanne, this recipe worked like magic and tasted even better! You saved me, this is a wonderful use for my fruit liquor that I had no idea what to do with when I realized it was not really drinkable all by itself.

Think about this recipe if you have left over jam you canned from the summer, or in my case two jars of macerated peaches. Try it for dessert or makes a great brunch item as well.

Enjoy!

Roasted Beets with Horseradish Cream

8-12 Beets (a mix of yellow and red are pretty)
2 whole garlic cloves sliced in half
2 tsp. thyme
1 small carton of sour cream
1/4 cup mayo
2 Tbls. horseradish, shredded
Extra Virgin Olive Oil
Red Wine Vinegar
Salt and Pepper to taste

Heat the over to 400 degrees.

Cut the peeled garlic cloves in half. Cut the leaves off the beets and scrub them very well to remove all grit, sand and dirt. Trim the root end and place all of the beets in a roasting pan. Season with salt and pepper, thyme and garlic. Drizzle all with olive oil.

Cover loosely with tin foil and bake in the oven for 20 minutes. Remove the foil, turn the beet around in the olive oil and continue roasting for another 30 minutes, or until soft to the touch.

Mix the horseradish cream by combining in a separate dipping sauce bowl the sour cream, mayo and horseradish until combined. Salt and pepper to taste. Adjust cream to your preference.

Cut the beets in half and arrange on plates and drizzle with olive oil and red wine vinegar. Serve with horseradish cream on the side as a dipping sauce to the beets.

FOODIE NOTE: I hosted my Fruit Liquor Tasting Dinner Party last night and served these beets with the cream sauce. Such an easy dish, but so pretty on a plate and hearty. Even if you think you hate beets, try them this way. The horseradish cream adds something that really makes the sweet beets come alive with robust flavor. 

Ah yes, Fruit Liquor. Remember that posting from 6 months ago? Well, it was time to crack it open and try it, and I thought potentially poisoning a few of my friends might be the easiest way to do it to see if the work had been worth it.

I invited 6 of my Foodie friends. I had a vegan, a meat and potato lover, an unknown and the rest were normal gourmet foodies . . .no pressure there. Well, with plenty of time to plan the menu in advance, I was able to come up with something that everyone could eat and enjoy, and with only a few minor set backs (exploding ravioli's, hubby's confusion on water glasses versus wine glasses, melting ice cream desserts and my not knowing that Ike Turner was dead) everything went well.

I used all of my most common tricks to ensure no party day jitters . . .cooked as much as I could in advance. Had everything in the oven cooking when guest started arriving in from the rain outside.

I even managed to put together this pretty table setting for the event. Awwwww!

But even with all of my pre-planning I still spent most of the party, up and down out of my chair serving courses, clearing plates away, pouring water and wine and preparing the next course.

So while everyone was eating one course, I would be in the kitchen preparing the next one, then I would go back to the table sit down and chat, a bite of food and a sip of wine, then it was back to the kitchen.

I didn't mind it, but I missed enjoying the moment of my own party with my friends because I was cooking. So, how do you host a dinner party for 8 people and still have time for your guests? I am wide open to suggestions, just not sure what the answer could have been that would have allowed me to have more time with my guests.

As for the fruit liquor? We sample the port and cherries that had been mingling together on my counter top, and it was very tasty. The fruit of the cherries seemed to soften the often hash after-taste of the port. Making prune and alcohol flavors, seem rounder with fruit flavor. Two thumbs up for the port  . . .however I am sad to report that my peaches and piscos was not nearly as good. I am thinking it will be a good sweetner this summer for my sweet tea drinks by the pool, but when tasted on it's own . . . I cannot think of one thing I would drink it with to make it taste better.

Such a lovely way to spend a cold winter's evening in
February in Kansas City. I enjoyed myself and I hope you all did too.

Bouchon Macaron

5 1/4 cups of almond flour

5 cups of confectioner’s sugar

1 1/4 cups of large egg whites (7-9 eggs)

2 vanilla beans, scraped of the seeds

Pinch of Cream of Tartar

Combine the almond flour and sugar and set aside.  


Whip the egg whites until they form soft peaks then add a pinch of cream of tartar and continue to whip until they hold stiff peaks. Fold in the vanilla bean seeds and 1/4 of the flour and sugar until it comes together. Fold in the rest of the flour and sugar.

With a 1/2" plain pastry tip, pipe the batter into 2" circles, at least 1" apart. Let rest for 1-2 hours until the macaroons form a skin. (Very important!)


Bake for 10 minutes at 350 degrees, then rotate the baking sheet and continue to bake for 10 more minutes.

Fill with simple vanilla buttercream.

FOODIE NOTE: I have just returned from San Francisco, and of all the wonderful meals I enjoyed while I was there, the best thing I put in my mouth . . .the one I enjoyed eating the most - was a simple vanilla macaron bought in Yountville at Thomas Keller's new Bouchon Bakery.

I did not make the ones in the photo above, they were the real deal I purchased in Napa and enjoyed for my breakfast the day after I feasted at Thomas Keller's restaurant Bouchon. (Yes, I had tried for weeks to get into the French Laundry only to be denied, perhaps next trip.) Thank goodness I remembered to photo these cookies from my San Francisco hotel room before biting into them, because I inhaled them upon first bite. Poof, I made them all gone-gone.

The description of this cookie describes exactly what I experienced: "This classic French pastry filled with rich buttercream has been adored for centuries. Precise baking produces a cookie that has a light and crisp outside and a soft and chewy inside. These two textures are what make the macaron such a special confection. The flavors of our macarons change with the seasons."

They were two cookies - crispy and crunchy on the outside and deeply, satisfyingly chewy on the inside with rich but light buttercream between the two cookies. The seasonal flavors they had available in the bakery in January? Cafe au Lait, Vanilla, Creme Caramel and Pistachio.

I went online and found this recipe above that supposedly came from Thomas Keller's cookbook called Bouchon.

I can't wait to see if I can duplicate these "cookies of love" in time for Valentine's Day. Enjoy!

UPDATE: So, lookey here! I did get these made in time for Valentine's Day. I looked high and low and was not able to find Almond Flour for this recipe. However, I was able to find at Whole Foods from Bob's Red Mill - Hazelnut Flour, it had a little more texture to it, meaning it was not finely milled, so the appearance of the macarons themselves looked a little more rustic. However, the flavor and texture were very close to the ones I had at Thomas Keller's bakery. For the buttercream filling I used Shatto Farms Heavenly butter and let me tell you it lives up to it's name. Sweet and creamy . . .it is all about the butter isn't it?

A friend once said to me . . ."I don't know why everyone is so crazy about eating out, all the really great Chef's know the secret to really terrific tasting dishes is real butter and lots of it." At the time I dismissed the comment as rantings of a cheap-skate, but the more I think about it and eat real butter the closer I am to understanding the argument. Enjoy!

Freaky Good - Food + Wine Pairing

The best food and wine pairings usually come in two varieties for me:

1) Ones that are so excellent and well matched with the food that you don't even truly realize what you are drinking, you just know that it is exactly the right thing to be drinking with this food. It is seamless, it is planned, it is harmony, it is zen.

2) Then there are the ones that were so far out, (these tend to stick in the mind longer, interesting!) that you wonder if you could ever forget ever forget such a freakish and fabulous combination such as this as long as you live.

I discovered one of the second variety, by accident this weekend.

I had been working my way, leisurely, through the wine that had been given to me as a hostess gift from our annual Christmas party.

(Notice I said me, and not we? Getting the ice, bottled water and beer set out on the deck and turning on the iPod to shuffle although helpful and appreciated functions of hosting a party  . . .does not automatically entitle one to the hostess booty. So sorry, I still did most of the work, so I get the first right of refusal on the booty. It is in my contract.

By the way, the darling creature that brought me a bottle of French Beaujolais Nouveau 2007 - Louis Tete as a hostess gift must know that it was the bottle I enjoyed drinking the most and you must tell me where you got it, so that I may go and get some more.

I am not usually a huge fan of Beaujolais Nouveau . . .I usually find them fruity in this annoying sort of way, with a flavor that goes invisible on the front palate, but is harsh and full of alcohol on the back palate as it is trying to dazzle me going down. To top it all off - a weak and a watery mouth-feel. This young wine is bottled for sale immediately with no aging, and you can usually tell, but it is the traditional way a Beaujolais Nouveau is made and it simply asks you to love it as it is, or leave it alone. This is the first one that I have tasted and wanted more of . . .NOW.)

So anyway, one of the last bottles of booty wine I had on hand was this simple German Riesling called Relax . . .which is just what I was doing last Sunday while thumbing my stacks of food and wine magazines. Now, I don't normally drink such a sweet and fruity wine in the winter, but it was cold outside I didn't feel like getting out to the liquor store to buy something else, so I popped it open.

Getting hungry, I went looking for the whole roasted almonds in my cupboard, but instead found this Whole Foods bulk bag full of cashews that were coated with black specks. I thought they might be poppy seeds at first, then I tasted one and realized they were coated in black pepper, lots of black pepper. But they were very good, so I grabbed a handful and started eating them and without thinking I took another sip of my wine, as my mouth was on fire by now as those little nuts packed a smoky hot punch.

It was a wonderful moment where smoky hot black pepper merged with the sweet, light and fruity taste of the Riesling which also brought out the natural sweetness of the cashew nut itself. It was freaky, and I was hooked. The best wine pairing I have made so far in 2008. What are some of your weirdest wine pairings? This Foodie wants to know. But try mine in the meantime and let me know what you think of this combo:

Relax Riesling and Black Pepper Cashews from Whole Foods bulk bin department.
.

One Perfect Roasted Chicken - Two Meals

1 (4 to 6 pound) roasting chicken
Kosher salt
Freshly ground black pepper
1 lbunch of chopped fresh herbs
1 small yellow onion, quartered
1 lemon, halved
1 head of garlic, cut in half
2 Tablespoons butter, melted
4 carrots cut into 2-inch chunks
1 yellow onion, thickly sliced
1 head of celery or bulb of fennel, tops removed, and cut into pieces
Olive oil

Preheat the oven to 425 degree F.

Remove the chicken giblets and neck from the inside of the chicken. Rinse the chicken inside and outside. Dry outside skin completely.

Salt and pepper the inside of the chicken very liberally. Stuff the cavity of the bird with the fresh herbs, quartered onions, lemon halves and garlic head. Tie the legs of the bird together with kitchen twine and tuck the wing tips under the bird. Melt the butter and brush the outside of the chicken with all of the melted butter, this is what will crisp up the skin and create the golden brown color. Sprinkle the skin with any left-over chopped herbs, and a little salt and pepper.

Take your roasting pan and place the chopped carrots, onion and celery or fennel in the bottom of the roasting pan in a single layer. Toss with olive oil, salt and pepper and any left over fresh herbs. Place your stuffed chicken on top of the vegetables, breast side up.

Roast the chicken in the oven for 1 1/2 hours or until juices run clear when you make a cut between the leg and thigh. Take chicken out of the oven and place a sheet of tin foil covering the bird for about 20 minutes to rest and redistribute the juices. (Prevents dry chicken syndrome.)

Slice the chicken and serve with the vegetables.

Next Day Homemade Chicken Soup:
Pick the carcass clean of meat and store in the fridge for later use. Boil the carcass in water, perhaps with a little wine or sherry added for flavor and fresh herbs, finely chopped garlic, onion, carrots and celery to make home made chicken broth to keep on hand or to make Chicken and Rice or Chicken Noodle soup from scratch. Once broth has come to a boil, skim off any foamy impurities that rise to the top with a spoon and toss. Once it has all simmered together for about 30 minutes  to 1 hour it is done, remove and toss carcass. Strain chicken broth through cheesecloth or kitchen strainer to  get the big chunks of vegetables and little herb specks out of the broth.

Take strained broth and place it back into a pot with all of the vegetables you used to make the soup stock cut up into little bite-sized pieces, add the chopped chicken left over from dinner, and your choice of herbs and if you like rice or noodles. Simmer until the rice or noodles have cooked and all items are well heated. Remove from heat and serve sprinkled with a little Parmesan cheese on top.

NOTES: With so much talk about the new cookbook that was on everyone's Christmas list this year - Roast Chicken and other Stories by Simon Hopkinson which I did not get, but keep eyeballing at the book store every time I go in there . . .and with the snap of cold winter weather, it seemed like a good time to give my recipe for the perfect roast chicken.

The key to a great roast chicken is to stuff the bird with aromatic veggies for flavor and scent, brush generous amounts of butter over the skin to crisp it up and give it the luscious golden brown color and then make your roast veggies as a side dish in the same pan so that they can benefit from the chicken fat and juices that will run over the top of them while the bird is roasting above. As an added bonus, you can use the left over meat and carcass to make homemade Chicken Noodle or Rice Soup the next day for lunch. (Usually, if I still have any chicken meat left over after Roast Chicken for dinner and Chicken Soup for lunch . . .I'll make Chicken and Biscuits for dinner. Three meals from one bird . . .awesome.)

I was terrified the first time I tried to make a Roast Chicken for dinner, but it was so easy, there is really nothing to screw up. If you can do this, you can also cook, in the same way, your own Thanksgiving Turkey. It opens doors to roasting many kinds of birds from the biggest to the smallest. (People will be so impressed with roasted chicken and veggies for dinner, you would be amazed.)

It makes the house smell great and sometimes, most times, it is the simple things that taste the best . . .like Roast Chicken with Veggies and Chicken and Rice soup. Stay warm!

Texting for Caramels

1 (1 pound) box dark brown sugar
1 cup dark corn syrup
1 can sweetened condensed milk
1 cup butter
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 to 1 cup pecans, chopped (toasted if desired)

These are wonderful and easy homemade caramels.

Combine first four ingredients in two quart or bigger microwave safe container.

Microwave uncovered on high for five minutes, stirring once. Remove from microwave and with electric mixer, beat well.

Return to microwave and cook on high for 10-12 minutes, stirring three times during the cooking period.

The mixture is done cooking when 1/4 teaspoon is dropped in cold water and it forms a firm ball or the mixture reaches 248 on a candy thermometer. Stir in vanilla.

Butter a 13 x 9 pan and sprinkle 1/2 the nuts over the bottom. Pour the caramel mixture over the nuts and sprinkle with remaining nuts. Cool and cut into one inch pieces.

Wrap them in individual pieces of wax paper.

NOTES: First, let me come clean, I did not make these caramels in these photos. My friend Deanne did who invited me a few weeks ago to her house warming party where she had these casually sitting out for anyone to enjoy.

I was chatting with her about her lovely new home when she said: "Here try one, home-made caramels. They are good." I loved the rustic look of them immediately with the little strips of wax paper that had been cut and wrapped around each one of them.

Not being a huge fan of chewy caramels that stick in your teeth, and with memories of plastic tasting Kraft caramels dancing in my head, I unwrapped the candy and popped it into my mouth.

Oh my! They were one of the best things I ate during my entire Christmas break. They were soft and chewy, but not sticky, they were rich and buttery tasting, almost like butterscotch . . .which I love, and the pecans on top made the whole thing really taste like money.

I physically had to remove myself from the proximity of the candy bowl for the rest of the party for fear of diving face first into them and embarrassing my lovely hostess with the mostess.

On my way out the door that night I was eyeballing the caramels, when Deanne grabbed a handful and gave them to me and said "Here, take some home with you." I greedily snatched them from her hands and stuffed them into my purse.

At home, no one was to touch the caramels but me. I shared a couple with my family, but hoarded most of them for my personal enjoyment. Last night, I ate my last one. Sob! I had no more caramels and I was hurting. Cold sweats, panic, hysterics . . .I needed a fix.

In desperation, I broke over and texted Deanne last night . . .begging for her caramel recipe. Like a caramel druggie waiting for their dealer to get back in touch . . .waiting for her response seemed like and eternity, finally, she texted back and said it was on it's way. In moments, it was in my in-box and I relived to have it in my possession. Imagine my surprise when I realized how easy they are to make, and in the microwave and everything.

I thank my Foodie friend, Deanne, who now can officially add to her long list of accomplishments "nuclear caramel dealer" to her list. I knew we would be fast friends, but she sealed the deal when she showed me at her house that night these measuring spoons that ironically, yet carefully, provide the accurate measurement of a Drop, Smidgen, Pinch, Dash and Tad.

Wait, I think I dated boys by these same names in college. Ah yes, fond memories of Dash and Tad,  for sure!