Wednesday, November 14, 2007

Creme Brulee

When my father spent a few days visiting, we discovered that he LOVES crème brulee. It turns out that the dish is not very difficult to make, so Ken gave us a couple cooking lessons. It was certainly a chore to make and eat those delicious delicate desserts, but we all make sacrifices for family. I believe that my dad recently tried the recipe on his own. Maybe he will post a comment to let us know how it went.

Ingredients:
1 qt. heavy cream
6 egg yolks
1 C sugar
1 vanilla bean, split (scrape out the bean if you don't want a speckled brulee)


Heat the cream and vanilla bean over-medium high heat and bring to a boil. Remove from heat and allow to cool. Remove vanilla bean.

In a non-reactive bowl, whisk 1/2 C sugar with the egg yolks until creamy and the egg yolks start to lighten in color.

Slowly pour a little of the cooled cream into the egg mixture while stirring. Continue until the cream and eggs are well mixed.


Pour the liquid evenly into small dishes (ramekins) and place them in a baking pan. Fill the baking pan with enough water to come up about half way around the dishes.

Bake the crème brulee at 325 degrees until the brulee is set but still trembles when agitated (about 45 minutes). Then, cool the brulee in the refrigerator for several hours.


Dust the brulee with a thin layer of sugar and then use a blow torch to caramelize the sugar and form a crispy top layer.




Enjoy!

Monday, November 12, 2007

Banana Coffee Cake and Quiche

With all of the houseguests we've had recently, I've had the opportunity to brush up on my brunch cooking skills. To the right you'll see pictures of a banana coffee cake. This recipe is amazing and combines the best parts of banana bread and coffee cake. I found the recipe in one of my mother's old cookbooks, The Anderson House
Cookbook. The cookbook is from a lovely bed and breakfast that my parents used to frequent in Wabasha, MN. The Anderson House is located near the Mississippi River and at 150 years old, is the oldest bed and breakfast in Minnesota. This cookbook is a compilation of recipes that have been collected and served at the Anderson House since it first opened. Accompanying many of the recipes, you'll find historical accounts about the origins of a recipe or how the inn used to operate. All in all, its an excellent and fascinating cookbook and has old hearty Minnesotan recipes that you couldn't find anywhere else.

Below the coffee cake, there are a couple images of a spinach, caramelized onion, goat cheese, and chive quiche. My aunt is a master of quiches and she has inspired me to also often serve them for brunches. I think Ken would get sick of eating them on so many Sunday mornings if they weren't so versatile and, um, really really good.

Saturday, November 10, 2007

Tilapia with Fall Harvest Vegetable Medley

So as I'm behind on posting and have a lot less free time for everything, I probably won't put up recipes for every set of pictures I post. If, however, there is a recipe that anyone would like, please feel free to post a comment or email me.

These photos are from a dinner we had with a visiting friend about a month ago. The salad is a pretty basic balsamic reduction vinaigrette with fresh greens. Ken made a version of goat cheese croutons that we've really enjoyed on a number of occasions. They're quite tasty and are from The Wine Lover's Cookbook which I previously mentioned in this post. We also had a three step cornmeal breaded Tilapia with Burre Blanc and a medley of squash, zucchini, and shitake mushroom. Ken has really been enjoying this vegetable medley and you'll probably see it accompanying a few other dishes. At some point, I will post pictures and a recipe for the vegetable dish, as it’s become one of our favorites.