Bev recently made the Ad Hoc Blueberry Cobbler.
She sent me this enticing photo:
She also sent no details. Like… why wasn’t I invited to dessert?
I tried probing for information. All she would give up is that it was delicious. Want to peek again?
I like this photo because it looks like the sort of spoon I would want to eat this cobbler with… next time I’m invited for dessert.
Oh Bev, you are such a tease.
I had the pleasure of visiting the Bouchon Bakery when we were in california wine country. I’m pretty sure I gained about five pounds in one day, because I distinctly remember sampling (by sampling I mean eating) a chocolate croissant, some other flaky pastry, the nutter butter cookie and the TKO. I made the Nutter Butter last summer, but thought I really owed it to Mason to try my hand at the Oreo.
Filling first:
Chop up some white chocolate. 
melt with some cream.
Remove from heat and cool for at least six hours so it sets up. (no instant gratification here)
That gives you lots of time to make the chocolate cookie part.
Flour, Sugar, Soda, Cocoa, salt.
slowly add butter
It will look like this before you roll it. Mason was not helping me with this project, but I can only imagine what comments he would have on the appearance of this dough.
So roll it between some plastic wrap and cut into your desired shape. It’s supposed to be about a two inch circle with a scalloped edge. I didn’t have that cutter. I opted for plain round ones and some mini butterflies just for fun.
Bake and allow to cool on racks.
When they are cooled, turn half of the discs upside down and pipe some of the white chocolate cream mixture into the center.
Sandwich with the remaining tops and voila! You have an Oreo.
OK, I don’t think it is supposed to seep out like this, but none the less it looks delicious!
Shoot. May be too much cream and not enough white chocolate? I think the center was supposed to have set up a bit more. And this photo is sort of blurry…
My toughest food critic didn’t seem to mind.
I know, I’m such a mom, but I really can’t get enough of these pictures of the pure joy that comes from a good cookie.
These were fun to make. I’ll probably do it again.
Again, recipe can be found here.
This time of year, I feel like I am eating asparagus with every meal. I love it. AND I get in a bit of a rut cooking it the same way, so the Keller Asparagus Coins recipe in Ad Hoc at Home caught my eye as a relatively easy new way to showcase one of my favorite vegetables.
In the book, they have you slice on a mandoline. I had a hard time with that. May be because I didn’t get “pencil thin” asparagus. (Where do you find that?)
So I cut the coins with a knife- they are not as uniform as I’m sure Thomas would like, but for a family dinner I think it’s fine.
Heat up some chive oil (which I had frozen from the green beans)
Toss in the reserved asparagus tips and cook for a couple of minutes.
Add the coins and cook until just the edges are done.
Add some parsley water (a bit of parsley, water, and honey whirled and strained)
Cook for another 2 minutes and add a touch more parsley water and plate.
Pretty tasty. I like the way that it looks on the plate- not so gangly as asparagus usually looks. Plus it is just different.
Mine tasted a little too parsley like for my taste. Might due with less parsley water next time. I think that this would have also been excellent with the garlic oil that comes out of the garlic confit.
Will definitely make some version of this again.
gâteau aux amandes, compote de fraises et de rhubarbe
Yes please.
Originally I was going to make this for Mark’s birthday, but the Foster house was stricken with a virus that left us sweaty heaps Memorial Day Weekend- so we put this off for a bit.
I had already made the Strawberry Rhubarb Compote, and it kept quite nicely while waiting for us to get a bit more healthy to enjoy the cake.
What makes it almond you may ask?
Almond paste. Delicious! Whip with sugar until crumbly.
Get your Sous Chef to add cold butter cubes and continue to mix until light and fluffy.
Mix in some honey, and add the eggs one at a time.
Add Amaretto, flour, and a pinch of salt. Mix to combine.
Scrape batter into prepared pans. We used mini spring forms.
Bake for about 15 minutes. Allow to cool on a rack.
When it is time to serve, cut the small cake in half. Top with some toasted almonds and a sprinkle of powdered sugar.
Serve with a generous helping of compote and some whipped creme fraiche.
Delicious!
Foolishly, Mason opted for an orange popcycle. Sucker.
You can tell from this photo that in my cake coma I nearly forgot to take a fork picture. I enjoyed this cake tremendously- and NOT too time consuming at all. A great make ahead dessert.
Bonus- I put the extra compote on a waffle for breakfast this morning. A girl’s gotta get her fruit!
Grilled Asparagus with prosciutto, fried bread, poached egg, and aged balsamic vinegar
The last dish that Kathy and I made together was this lovely thing. The most thrilling part of this dish (aside from the taste and the beautiful plating) was learning how to poach eggs. Neither of us had poached eggs before, so we were pretty pleased with our results.
First, bring a lot of water to a boil with a touch of vinegar. Bring it back down to a simmer and stir the water in a circular motion to get a sort of whirlpool action. Drop the egg into the center (from a ramekin or cup) and simmer gently for about one and a half minutes.
It’s sort of crazy how it comes together.
After a minute and a half, remove the egg and pop it gently in an ice bath.
When it comes time to plate the eggs, trim off the crazy edges and warm them again in simmering water for just about 30 seconds.
Full disclosure- I was the timer and encourager. Not the chef on the poached eggs- but I did feel like I learned something and could do it on my own- so hey! Not so bad!
So I recognize that the title of this article was “Grilled Asparagus” and that is the feature on this dish, but really, the poaching was much more exciting. But to show you we didn’t forget about the asparagus completely…
Lovely, right?
Just a bit of canola oil and salt and pepper- finished with some aged balsamic. (Incidentally, about a year ago, Amy and I did a taste test- cheap balsamic against aged balsamic. Aged was much better. Noticeable difference)
Kathy brought the torn croutons from home- so I can’t really speak to how much of a pain it was to make. I do know that it involved garlic confit so it is a bit more involved, but they were delicious
All of these components get arranged on a platter accompanied by some prosciutto. Drizzled with a touch of olive oil and balsamic and finished with some fleur de sel.
Looks pretty nice, no? And Check out those eggs!
Take aways:
1. We learned to poach eggs! And it’s sort of a pain!
2. Torn Croutons are AMAZING. Totally worth Kathy’s effort. (from the opinion of the consumer)
3. Grilled Asparagus anytime is good. Sprinkled with the Balsamic? Should be a staple.
Next time, probably won’t poach the eggs. They were good. Questionable as to whether or not it was worth the effort. Everything else- winner.
From Ad Hoc at Home
Recipe can also be found here.
I have been eyeing this recipe since the first time I cracked open the Ad Hoc cookbook. It is photographed beautifully which makes it nearly irresistible to want to try. And really- why fight it? Who doesn’t love a savory bread pudding?
Just toast some one inch brioche cubes in the oven for about 20 minutes.
Meanwhile, sweat the leeks with some salt and pepper for about 35 minutes. They will get really soft and golden. They will then get mixed with some chives and thyme and the toasted cubes.
Oh yeah…
About half goes in a casserole. It gets a light sprinkle of Emmentaler before the next half goes on with another sprinkle of cheese.
Last, it all gets doused with a custard of egg, milk, and cream… AND another sprinkle of Emmentaler.
Let it rest for about 15 minutes before it gets popped in the oven for about an hour and a half.
Now, I should have checked on it to make sure it wasn’t over browning.
BUT, I didn’t. So it’s a touch more brown than I would like. It doesn’t look particularly good at this point. I should have probably put some foil on the top or taken it out earlier, but on the upswing, it’s not burned- just over tanned… the Jersey Shore of bread pudding.
The over browning didn’t effect the flavor! Whew! It was DELISH. I will definitely make this again as a nice hearty side or a vegetarian main. Either way- super tasty. This would have been good with the oven roasted tomatoes on top also.
Thank you Kathy for allowing me to boss you around the kitchen. 🙂
Thomas Keller Simple Roast Chicken.
We saw it here, and here, and now on this post. For anyone who reads this, if you have not yet tried this recipe… you need to. It is easy as pie, delicious, and the left overs can be used in countless ways.
I must admit that other than the finishing basting, and turing off all the smoke alarms every time we opened the oven, I had nothing to do with this. But since I took pictures, I’m going to take 3% credit.
Kathy was coming over to cook. We were making lots of different things: check out our recipe station:
You will notice, three cookbooks, one computer, lack of counter space (we had to start using Mason’s kitchen to help us)
Kathy brought over this beautiful bird:
Chicken and the Sea
Pop in the oven for about 50 minutes. No muss, no fuss, three smoke alarms later…
Beautiful. A bit of thyme sprinkled on top and some pan juice basting (that’s all I did) and it’s ready to be carved.
Kathy watched a handy youtube video on how to carve a chicken. She says she needs practice. I say I’m willing to help her practice whenever she wants to feed me.
The chicken then gets a bit of butter on it (of course it does) and then is popped on the platter for everyone to devour.
He suggests serving with dijon mustard. I enjoyed it just as it was.
Make it. You won’t regret it. Better yet- find a friend to make it for you and offer to turn off the smoke alarms.
Cuisses de Grenouille Croquantes– from Bouchon
When this club started, I was hoping to be able to stretch myself in the kitchen. Try new things. Attempt new techniques. Surround myself with home cooks.
Today, I did all of these things.
When I first cracked open Bouchon and looked at the crispy frog legs, I couldn’t get them out of my head.
Kathy agreed to take on this challenge with me, and together we have now conquered what was my first encounter with an amphibian in the kitchen.
I got these babies at Don and Joe’s Meats in Pike Place Market. In an advanced scouting mission I was assured that they had lots, and they weren’t flying off the shelves (so to speak) so I should be fine. Of course, when I show up to buy them, they had five pairs of legs left. YIKES!
Good enough.
When they were all lined up on the counter, they sort of looked happy. Like they wanted to do a cancan. I know. Weird.
Notice the veins in this photo? Remember for later.
The legs are marinated in a paste of: basil, garlic, olive oil, and piquillo pepper. The legs are under the cheese cloth so the basil bits don’t stick to the legs. The Marinade is poured on top and sits for about six hours.
After the cheesecloth is removed, the legs are dried, dunked in egg, and dipped in flour.
Spank the little froggie until the excess flour comes off, and into the fryer.
After about five minutes, they come out- nice and crispy. Arrange on a simple salad with a light vinaigrette and Sauce Gribiche (fancy tartare).
Dig in!
Now for our collective thoughts on frogs’ legs.
From Carol-
Today I ventured out of my comfort zone to try one of Thomas Keller’s recipes. I must admit that I am more of a Rachel Ray type cook and TK is very intimidating. I didn’t know that people made their own mayonnaise. However, cooking club is featuring Thomas Keller and I do follow the rules. I heard about his amazing roasted chicken and it seemed simple enough. Basically you throw a chicken in the oven and don’t baste or season it. I could handle this.
I have never trussed a chicken before and am not sure this is correct but it seemed to work. I must admit that this is the best chicken I have ever made. I found the recipe on Epicurious.
from Kathy–
Seattle Cooking Club 