Summer Time, and the Eating is Easy

I came back from DC and since I cooked up a storm for my sister’s family, I only want to make simple easy things here in my tiny kitchen in NYC. So I made a quick pasta dish that is satisfying and filling yet ready in a flash.

Salmon and Asparagus Spaghetti

½ lb whole-wheat spaghetti
½ tablespoon olive oil
1 large bunch asparagus
8 oz smoked salmon
½ cup cream
garlic powder
parsley
salt and pepper

Heat a pot of salted water for the spaghetti. Cut off the bottoms of the asparagus and cut the rest into 1-inch pieces. Once the pot of water comes to a boil, cook spaghetti according to package directions (probably about 10 minutes). Heat the olive oil in a large pot on medium heat. Add the asparagus, garlic powder, parsley and salt and pepper. Stir-fry the asparagus until tender, about 5 minutes. Pull the smoked salmon into tiny bit size pieces and add them to the asparagus with the cream and heat through. With a pasta scoop, transfer the spaghetti to the sauce mixture, draining most of the excess water. Toss the spaghetti immediately to distribute the asparagus and salmon. The cream should be absorbed by all of the pasta and just barely coat it.

Serve the pasta immediately with a fresh sprinkling of fresh ground pepper.

Latin Lover

I have lots of friends that are Latin here at school. And I’ve been bragging for the past year about the Tres Leches Cake I used to make for Jules. Once Alex donated a bottle of cajeta to the cause, I finally lived up to my big mouth. Everyone was on a sugar high for days!

Tres Leches Cake

Cake:
3 large eggs, separated
1 cups granulated sugar
1 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 cup whole milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Milk topping:
1 5-ounce can evaporated milk
1/2 14-ounce can sweetened condensed milk
1 cup heavy cream

Filling:
1 23-ounce bottle of cajeta (optional)

Icing:
3 tablespoons water
3/4 cup granulated sugar
3 large egg whites
or
1 ½ cubs of heavy cream
½ cup sugar

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Lightly grease a 10-inch round cake pan.

In the bowl of a mixer, beat the egg whites on low speed until soft peaks form. Add the sugar gradually with the mixer running and peak to stiff peaks. Add the egg yolks 1 at a time, beating well after the addition of each.

Sift together the flour and baking powder and add to the egg mixture, alternating with the milk. (Do this quickly so the batter does not lose volume.) Add the vanilla. Bake until golden, 25 minutes.

To make the milk topping: In a blender, combine the evaporated milk, condensed milk, and heavy cream and blend on high speed.

Remove the cake from the oven and cool on a wire rack. After about 15 minutes, run a knife around the outside of the cake to loosen it. Invert it onto the wrack and let cool further. Once the cake is cooled to room temperature, using a serrated knife, cut the cake into two even rounds. Place one cake half back into the baking pan. Place the other into a 10-nch round spring form pan. Pour half of the milk mixture over each half. Cover and refrigerate until well chilled, at least 4 hours.

After 4 hours, squeeze the cajeta over the cake half that is in the spring form pan. The cajeta should make an even level and cover all of the exposed cake. Quickly invert the other cake half over top of the cajeta. If it breaks, pat it back together. Cover and refrigerate overnight.

To make the icing: Once the cake is completely chilled, in a saucepan combine the water and sugar. Bring to a boil. Reduce the heat and stir to dissolve the sugar. Cook until the mixture reaches the soft ball stage, 235 to 240 degrees F. Remove from the heat. In a medium bowl, beat the egg whites to soft peaks. While beating, add the hot syrup in a stream. Beat until all the syrup has been added, the mixture cools, and a glossy icing forms. If this is too complicated, you can beat the whipped cream with the sugar and use it in place of the meringue icing. Remove the cake from the refrigerator and spread the icing evenly across the top.

Just before serving, un-mold the cake from the spring form pan. Serve with fresh fruit if desired.

Welcome Home Cake

My downstairs neighbor Dave isn’t a big fan of sweets. However he likes two things, clean apple tarts and not so sweet Tiramisu. For his homecoming from Switzerland, I had to make it.

Tiramisu

1/3 cup water
1/2 cup sugar
2/3 cup strong brewed espresso coffee
1/4 cup cognac
2 cups heavy whipping cream
1/3 cup sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 1/2 pound mascarpone cheese, softened to room temperature
1/2 pound fresh savoiardi
Cocoa powder for dusting the surface

For the syrup, combine water and sugar in a small saucepan. Bring to a simmer, stirring occasionally to dissolve sugar. Remove from heat, cool and add coffee and cognac.

For the filling, whip cream with sugar and vanilla until soft peaks form. Fold cream into softened mascarpone.

To assemble, dip individual savoiardi, bottom side only, in the syrup. Line the outer collar of a 10-inch spring form pan, top side facing the ring, with vertical savoiardi. Then dipping both sides of the savoiardi in the syrup, line the bottom of the pan. Cover with half of the cream mixture. Cover that layer with more dipped savoiardi and cover with the remaining cream mixture. Smooth the top with a spatula.

Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for up to 24 hours before serving. Immediately before serving, place cocoa in a fine strainer and shake a light coating on surface. Remove the outer ring from the spring form pan.

Deadliest Catch

I watched the weekend long marathon of the Deadliest Catch on The Discovery Channel. I wanted shellfish, in the worst way. This was the most decedent way I could think of to make it.

Seafood Gratin

Butter
1 lb raw halibut filet
1 lb raw shrimp, peeled, deveined, and cut in half longwise
1 lb scallops ounces cooked lobster meat, cut into 1-inch chunks
salt and pepper
garlic powder
Cajon seasoning
1 cups choped leeks, white and light green parts (2 large)
2 small white sweet potatoes, shaved into rounds on a mandolin

1 cup stock
1 cup heavy cream
1/2 cup white wine
3 tablespoons tomato puree
1/2 teaspoon saffron threads

7 tablespoons unsalted butter, divided
1 tablespoon all-purpose flour
Kosher salt
Freshly ground black pepper
1 cups choped leeks, white and light green parts (2 large)
2 small white sweet potatoes, shaved into rounds on a mandolin
1 cup panko (Japanese dried bread crumbs)
1/3 cup freshly grated Parmesan
2 tablespoons minced fresh flat-leaf parsley
1 tablespoon chopped fresh tarragon leaves
1 clove garlic, chopped

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F. Butter a 13 by 9-inch baking dish.

Melt 1 tablespoon butter in the bottom of a large non-stick stock pot. Season the seafood with the salt, pepper, garlic powder and seasoning. Sear the fit filets, on either side in the pot. Remove to the baking dish and flake into bite size pieces. Add another tablespoon butter to the pot and sauté the shrimp. When cooked, sprinkle them over the fish. Melt one more tablespoon of butter in the pot and sear the scallops on each side.

Melt one tablespoon of butter in the pot and sauté the chopped leaks until translucent. In a separate sauce pan, boil some water and add salt. Quickly blanch the potatoes until cooked but not mushy. Drain the potatoes and add them and the leaks to the seafood, toss to mix.

Combine the stock, cream, 1/2 cup of the wine, the tomato puree, and saffron in a saucepan that was used to cook the seafood and leaks. Bring to a boil, and ontinue to cook the sauce until reduced by half, about 12 minutes. Mash 1 tablespoon of the butter together with the flour. Whisk the butter mixture into the sauce along with 1 teaspoon salt and 1/2 teaspoon pepper. Simmer, stirring constantly, until thickened, about 5 minutes. Set aside.

Combine the panko, Parmesan, parsley, tarragon, and garlic. Melt the remaining 3 tablespoons of butter and mix it into the crumbs until they're moistened.

Fold the sauce into the seafood and spoon the crumbs evenly on top. Bake for 20 minutes, until the top is browned and the sauce is bubbly. Serve hot.

Southern Comfort

I made biscuits for Barbara’s Southern lucky New Year’s dinner party. I was sure to make extra so that I had my own special treat!

Biscuits with Sausage and Gravy

Biscuits
2 cups flour
4 teaspoons baking powder
3/4 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon sugar
4 tablespoons butter
1 cup cream
Freshly ground pepper
Turkey breakfast sausage
2 cups milk
3 tablespoons flour

Heat oven 450 degrees.

In a large mixing bowl, combine flour, baking powder, salt and sugar. Cut in butter. Mix in cream. Kneed the dough by folding it over and over and over again to build in layers. Using a glass cut out even shapes. Briefly re-work the scraps into another round of dough and continue to cut out biscuits. Brush with cream and sprinkle with pepper. Bake for 15 minutes or until brown.

In a large skillet brown the turkey sausage; turn once to brown on multiple sides. Once the sausage is cooked, removed it from the pan and set aside. Add the milk to the pan to deglaze. Add salkt and pepper and scrape all of the sausage bits into the gravy.

In a small bowl mix the flour with just enough water to make a smooth slurry. Whisk the flour mixture into the milk. Constantly stir as the heat thickens the gravy.

Using a fork, cut open each biscuit, serve with the gravy and sausage.