Flashback Friday - Bacon Grilled Cheese

This post originally appeared on Minxeats.com on July 3, 2013.

I was so pleased with my sample of Lori's Salt Caramel Syrup, I thought I'd play with it a little more. Why not use it as a glaze for bacon, then add that to a simple grilled cheese sandwich? The syrup added just the right amount of sticky sweetness, while letting both the cheese and bacon flavors shine through.

Caramelized Bacon Grilled Cheese

6 slices bacon, cooked through but not crunchy
3 tablespoons Lori's Salt Caramel Syrup
4 slices of bread
cheese of your choice, enough to cover a slice of bread in two thin layers (aka about the size of a slice of American cheese)
softened butter

Coil bacon slices into circles; secure with toothpicks. (It doesn't have to be particularly neat; this is just to help the caramel-stiffened bacon fit on the bread.) Place bacon rings in a cold saute pan and pour the three tablespoons of syrup over the bacon. Put heat on, at about medium. Watch carefully. The syrup should start to bubble in a minute or so, but you don't want it to bubble too quickly, otherwise it will harden. As the syrup bubbles, use tongs to turn the bacon every half minute or so. Cook until the bacon is well-glazed and there doesn't seem to be much syrup left in the pan.

Remove bacon to a plate. Wash pan.

Assemble sandwiches: for each sandwich, arrange a quarter of the cheese on one slice of bread, then add half the bacon. Top with the rest of the cheese, then the second slice of bread. Spread softened butter on outside of top slice.

Turn heat on under saute pan to medium. Add sandwiches butter-side-down. Cook over medium heat until bottom bread is nicely browned and the cheese is starting to melt. Butter the top slice of bread and flip sandwiches. Cook until bottom is browned.

Cut sandwiches in half, diagonally, and serve with your favorite soup or a handful of potato chips. Or both.

* Any products in this post that are mentioned by name may have been provided to Minxeats by the manufacturer. However, all opinions belong to Minxeats.



Posted on Minxeats.com.

Flashback Friday - Curry Cupcakes

This post originally appeared on Minxeats.com on March 22, 2011.

Back in October of 2010, I posted some teaser photos of a batch of cupcakes that I baked up to test a recipe for the Scharffen Berger Chocolate Adventure Contest. I didn't win, so now it's safe to share.

The Chocolate Adventure Contest requires participants to use one or more somewhat-esoteric "adventure ingredients," which this year included stout, ricotta, buttermilk, saffron, coconut milk, molasses, adzuki beans, fresh beets, chiles, bee pollen, Meyer lemon, almond flour, and Sumatra coffee beans. I liked the idea of using saffron, coconut milk, and almond flour in the cupcakes themselves, and thought curry powder would be a nice accent for the saffron. The cake itself was ridiculously moist and the entire concoction was quite rich. And delicious! The curry flavoring was very subtle - I used Penzey's Sweet Curry, which has more sweet spices, especially fenugreek, one of the flavor components of "maple-flavored" syrups like Log Cabin. Taste-testers were hard-pressed to guess that the caramel and frosting were indeed flavored with curry.

Without further ado, I give you White Chocolate Saffron Cupcakes with Milk Chocolate Curry Caramel Filling and Curry Buttercream Frosting. (You'll probably notice that I used basically the same base in my pistachio cupcakes. It's so good, I don't see any reason to use any other recipe.)

White Chocolate Saffron Cupcakes

1/2 teaspoon saffron threads
2 tablespoons boiling water
1 cup all purpose flour
3/4 cup almond flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
4-oz white chocolate, chopped
1/3 cup butter, softened
3/4 cup sugar
2 large eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 cup coconut milk

Preheat oven to 325F. Line muffin pans with 18 cupcake liners.

Place the saffron in a small bowl with boiling water and soak for 15 minutes.

In another bowl, whisk together the flour, almond flour, baking powder, and salt.

Place the chocolate in a microwave-safe bowl and heat for 1 minute at 50% power. Stir chocolate and if it does not melt completely, microwave for another 30 seconds at 50% power. Repeat at 15-second intervals until the chocolate is smooth when stirred.

In a large bowl, cream together butter and sugar until light. Beat in eggs one at a time, then add the melted white chocolate and vanilla extract. Alternate stirring in flour mixture and coconut milk, ending with flour. Mix until no streaks of flour remain, but do not overmix.

Divide batter evenly into prepared muffin cups.

Bake at 325F for 20-23 minutes until a tester comes out clean and the tops spring back when lightly pressed with a fingertip. Cool on a wire rack.

Makes 18 cupcakes.

Milk Chocolate Curry Caramel Filling

1/2 cup sugar
1/8 cup water
1 tablespoons light corn syrup
1/4 cup heavy whipping cream
2 tablespoons salted butter, diced
1 ounce Scharffen Berger milk chocolate
1/8 cup sour cream
1/2 teaspoon curry powder (Penzey's Sweet Curry, if you can get it. It's sweeter and less cumin-y than grocery store curry powder.)
1/4 teaspoon kosher salt

In a medium saucepan set over low heat, stir sugar, 1/4 cup water, and corn syrup until sugar dissolves. Increase heat to high. Boil without stirring until syrup is deep amber, occasionally brushing down pan sides with wet pastry brush, about 6 minutes. Remove from heat. Add cream, which will cause sugar to bubble furiously, then whisk in butter and chocolate.

Add sour cream, curry powder, and salt. Cool completely before using.

Curry Buttercream Frosting

1.5 sticks of  room temperature butter
7 ounces marshmallow fluff
3/4 cup confectioners sugar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon curry powder (Penzey's Sweet Curry)

Combine the butter and marshmallow in a bowl, and with a hand or stand mixer, beat on medium until completely smooth. Reduce speed to low and add confectioners sugar, vanilla, salt, and curry powder. Continue to beat until smooth and fluffy.

To assemble cupcakes:

Using a paring knife, cut a small divot out of the top of each cupcake, about 1" deep x 1 1/4" wide (the little plugs are Cook's Treat!). Fill hole with some of the cooled caramel sauce. Spoon frosting into a piping bag fitted with a large plain round or French tip and pipe in a spiral onto the tops of each cupcake, making sure to cover the caramel. Garnish with chopped pistachios or sliced almonds, if desired.

Store in refrigerator to keep frosting from getting too soft. Bring to room temperature before eating.



Posted on Minxeats.com.

Cracker Toffee Ice Cream

Earlier in the year, I made a cake using flavored tea that I bought on sale from David's Tea. I still have several varieties left from the cute star-shaped gift set and I've decided I'll probably use a few of them to make ice cream this spring and summer. Yes, ice cream. Tea infused milk or cream makes a lovely ice cream with barely any effort--I normally have to heat the cream anyway, so why not let some tea leaves hang around in it for an hour or so before I proceed?

And so it went this particular weekend that after I selected English Toffee flavored tea to make my ice cream base, I decided I also wanted to make some cracker toffee. For completely unrelated reasons. A friend had sent me a video for a matzo toffee sometime before Passover, which put it in my mind. This matzo toffee was left unbaked, instead the caramel was cooked for a longer time. I suppose it was tasty enough, but I prefer a baked version. Not only do the saltines (or matzo, if you prefer) get toasted in the oven, but also the caramel gets a chance to ooze around to the bottom of the crackers and coat that side, too. So the toffee is tasty on both sides. You can choose your method; I've included the one I prefer within the recipe below.

So...toffee ice cream. Cracker toffee. Seemed to me they needed to become one. So I broke up some of the toffee and layered it in the finished ice cream. It's maybe a bit more difficult to scoop, but the end result is very good. The crackers don't get soft in the ice cream, so there's plenty of great texture between them and the nuts and the thin layer of chocolate. I think this ice cream is a winner, and I hope you do, too.

If you can't find English Toffee flavored tea (though several companies, including Celestial Seasonings, do produce it), use a chocolate or caramel flavor instead.

Cracker Toffee Ice Cream

For the toffee:
3/4 cup butter
3/4 cup brown sugar
40 saltines (1 sleeve)
6 ounces chocolate chips
Walnuts or nuts of your choice, chopped

For the ice cream:
2 cups whole milk
1 1/4 cups heavy cream
1/2 cup sugar
2 tablespoons light corn syrup
2 tablespoons loose English toffee-flavored tea, preferable David's Tea
1 tablespoon + 1 teaspoon corn starch
1/8 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons cream cheese

To make the toffee. Preheat oven to 400°.

Cover a large rimmed cookie sheet with aluminum foil. Lay out the crackers in one layer, making sure they are touching.

Combine the butter and brown sugar in a saucepan and bring to a boil. Cook 2-3 minutes, stirring constantly. Remove from the heat and pour over the crackers. Use an offset spatula to spread the caramel evenly. Place pan into the oven and bake for 5 minutes.

Remove pan to a rack. Sprinkle on the chocolate chips. Wait a minute or so to allow the chocolate to melt, the use an offset spatula to spread the chocolate evenly over the crackers. Sprinkle with nuts.

Allow the chocolate to dry completely before breaking up into pieces.

To make the ice cream: Put the milk, cream, sugar, corn syrup, and tea in a large sauce pot and cook over medium high heat until tiny bubbles start to form around the edges but the milk does not boil. Turn off the heat and cover the pot. Allow to steep for 30 minutes to an hour.

Strain out the tea. Reserve 2 tablespoons of the milk mixture and return the rest to the pot. Mix the 2 tablespoons of milk with the cornstarch to make a slurry. In a separate bowl, whisk the cream cheese and salt together until smooth. Prepare a shallow ice bath: in a large bowl or baking pan, place an inch or two of cold water and several ice cubes. Set aside.

Bring the milk tea mixture to a boil and boil for 4 minutes, watching carefully so it doesn't boil over (stir when it starts to expand), remove from heat, and slowly whisk in the slurry. Bring back to a boil over medium-high heat and cook until slightly thickened, about 1 minute. Blend a few tablespoons of hot milk mixture into the cream cheese to loosen it, then pour the cream cheese mixture into the pan of milk. Whisk well until smooth. Pour into a container with a tight-fitting lid and place the container into the ice bath until cool, ensuring that the water level doesn't come up as far as the lid. When the mixture seems mostly cool, refrigerate until completely cold.

Place ice cream mixture into an ice cream machine and proceed according to manufacturers instructions.

Scoop some of the ice cream into a freezer container. Sprinkle with a layer of the toffee, adding additional nuts if desired. Repeat ice cream and toffee layers twice more. Put a layer of waxed paper over the top of the ice cream and put on the lid. Freeze until desired texture.



Posted on Minxeats.com.

Flashback Friday - Pear and Fig Turnovers with Bourbon Caramel

Sometimes a good restaurant meal inspires good home-cooking. Perhaps not replicating the entire meal, but just one course. Or borrowing the flavors from the appetizer or dessert to create a completely different dish, as in these crisp turnovers filled with a combination of pears and figs and jazzed up with bourbon caramel sauce.

--Kathy

This post was originally published on January 17, 2012.
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Pear and Fig Turnovers with Bourbon Caramel

We spent a couple of the last remaining hours of 2011 having a lovely dinner at B&O American Brasserie. Among the five courses we consumed were two that really inspired me to try a variation at home, one of which was a brown butter pear cake paired with figs and bacon.

The cake itself was just a rather plain yellow cake; the pear actually appeared to be within the jam-like accompaniment of caramelized dried figs sprinkled with bits of bacon. I thought the fig/pear/caramel combination was delicious and made a mental note to try it at home, with or without the bacon.

After a bit of thinking, I decided figsnpears would work nicely as a filling for tartlets, hand pies, or turnovers. Because I was already making a fairly complicated dinner the same night, I decided to forego the bacon, although it would have been a tasty addition.

Commercial puff pastry is always a breeze to use - just thaw, fill, and bake. The puffy little pies were terrific hot out of the oven and drizzled with a bit of the caramel sauce, but equally as good at room temperature with a scoop of butter pecan ice cream and more caramel.

Pear and Fig Turnovers with Bourbon Caramel

2 sheets frozen puff pastry, thawed
8 dried figs, quartered, stems removed
1 cup water
2 medium pears, skinned and diced
1 tablespoon butter
Bourbon Caramel Sauce
1 egg, beaten

In a small saucepan, bring figs and water to a boil. Turn down heat and simmer for 20 - 25 minutes, or until figs are tender, adding more water as necessary. Remove from heat and drain figs. Set aside.

Melt butter in a medium sauté pan. Add pears and cook over medium heat until tender. Add 2 tablespoons of the bourbon caramel sauce, stir in reserved figs, and cook an additional five minutes. Remove from heat and allow to cool.

Preheat oven to 400F.

Unfold one puff pastry sheet and use a rolling pin to flatten the seams and stretch the dough out a bit. Cut dough into six squares. Place a tablespoon of fig and pear filling in the center of each square (if some of the squares are rectangles, stretch the dough accordingly). Fold dough to form a triangle and seal edges with the tines of a fork. Place pies on a parchment-lined baking sheet and brush each with the beaten egg. Repeat with second pastry sheet.

Bake for 18 minutes. Serve with little ramekins of caramel sauce for dipping.

Bourbon Caramel Sauce

1 cup sugar
1/4 cup water
4 tablespoons butter
1/2 cup half and half
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 tablespoons bourbon

Place sugar and water in a saucepan and cook over medium-high heat until sugar has dissolved. Turn heat to high and bring sugar mixture to a boil. Cook without stirring until the syrup turns a medium amber and starts to smoke (but is not burning!). Remove pan from heat and add butter and cream. Stir in bourbon and vanilla. Pour into a clean glass pint jar and allow to cool. Store in the refrigerator.

Reheat caramel by placing a couple of spoonfuls into a microwave-safe ramekin and microwaving for 5-second increments until caramel is hot and bubbly. Remove carefully, as it will be very hot.

Posted on Minxeats.com.



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Bourbon Salted Caramels

I started making caramels around the holidays a couple years back, just on a whim. It seemed easy, and the homemade caramel I'd eaten was delicious, so I knew the payoff would be worth the effort. And it is.

Patience isn't my strong suit, and it does take a little while for the caramel to reach the perfect temperature. Like 45 minutes. The sugar mixture hits 220°F pretty quickly, but it takes f  o  r  e  v  e  r for it to get another 20 degrees hotter. I usually try to find something else to do in the kitchen to pass the time, like work on dinner. It's not a good idea to leave the room while sugar is cooking, because sometimes it rises up while boiling, and hot sugar spilling all over the stove top would be bad news. I have found that caramels made with sweetened condensed milk, rather than heavy cream, are a bit less likely to boil over, but I still watch that pot like a hawk.

These caramels have a rich, dark, flavor, because of the brown sugar. You can use white sugar instead, if you want, for a lighter flavor. And I suppose, if you don't like bourbon, you can use another type of liquor. Rum might be nice, for example, or Kahlua.

Brown Sugar Bourbon Salted Caramels

1 cup packed dark brown sugar
1 cup sugar
1/4 cup corn syrup
1/2 cup water
1 14-oz can sweetened condensed milk
1 stick butter, cut into small pieces
2 tablespoons bourbon
1/2 teaspoon salt
Sea salt

Cut a length of parchment to fit the bottom of an 8" square metal baking pan, with about 6" overhang on each side. Set aside.

Put both sugars, corn syrup, and water in a 2 quart saucepan. Turn heat to medium and stir sugars to combine. Cook until bubbly, 3-4 minutes. Add the can of sweetened condensed milk and the butter, and stir until the butter is melted. Clip a candy thermometer to the pan. Make sure the tip of the thermometer is in the syrup, but not touching the bottom of the pan.

Close, but no cigar. 

Continue to cook syrup over medium heat until thermometer reaches 240°F. It's likely the temperature will jump to 220° pretty quickly, then take half an hour or so to get the rest of the way to 240°.

Once the syrup has reached temperature, remove from the heat, remove the thermometer, and quickly stir in the bourbon and salt.

After pouring into pan. The stuff sets up pretty quickly, but should be completely cool before cutting.

Pour into prepared pan, sprinkle with sea salt, and allow to cool completely before cutting into squares. Wrap each in waxed paper and store in a zip top bag in the fridge (they'll stay fresher that way). Allow to come to room temperature before eating.

Posted on Minxeats.com.

Caramel Apple Cobbler

I love apple pie, but I don't like making pie crusts. There's just not enough counter space in my little kitchen to roll one out properly. Sometimes I use store-bought crusts; they're ok, but not quite good enough. So I was a bit stymied as to what to do when there were too many apples in the crisper.

An apple crisp would be a perfect solution, but I found out recently that Mr Minx really doesn't like crisps. Unbelievable, I know. He made the announcement after I had made a rather large peach crisp, which resulted in my having to eat just about the entire thing myself. (I loved it!) If not a crisp, then what? I didn't think a traditional biscuity-cobbler would work as well with apples as it does with a juicier fruit, but found a couple recipes for cobblers topped with a sweet cookie-type batter. That seemed absolutely perfect.

A combination of brown sugar and Lyle's Golden Syrup (a British product found in some supermarkets) makes a lovely caramel-y sauce for the apples. Chunks of nuts in the batter add a lovely crunch to the topping. The result is delicious when eaten warm with a scoop of ice cream, or cold, straight out of the pan.

Caramel Apple Cobbler

For apples:
6-8 apples, peeled, cored, and sliced
1/2 cup packed dark brown sugar
1 tablespoon flour
2 ounces unsalted butter
1/2 cup Lyle's Golden Syrup
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground nutmeg
Pinch ground cardamom

For cookie topping:
1 cup packed dark brown sugar
1 stick of butter (4 oz), melted
2 large eggs

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/2 cup almond meal

1/2 cup flour 

1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup whole almonds, crushed roughly
Powdered sugar

Preheat oven to 425°F.

To make apples: Place apples, brown sugar, flour, and butter in a large saucepan. Cook over medium heat until butter and sugar melts and starts to bubble. Add the golden syrup and spices. Cook for about five minutes. Remove from heat and pour into a 8" or 9" square baking dish.

To make cookie topping: In a mixing bowl, beat together brown sugar, melted butter, eggs, and vanilla. Mix dry ingredients, minus almonds, in a smaller bowl. Add flour mixture to sugar and butter mixture and stir until combined. Stir in almonds. Dollop batter over apples in baking dish.

Place baking dish on a sheet pan to catch drips. Bake for 20-25 minutes, until crust is nicely browned and firm to a light touch.

Dust with powdered sugar and serve warm with ice cream or chilled without.

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Summer Fancy Food Show 2013 - Sweet Treats

Last week, I wrote about some of the many many (many!) savory products on display at the 2013 Summer Fancy Food Show at New York's Javits Center. This week, I want to mention some of the sweets.

There were many producers catering to special diets, and gluten-free and vegan products abounded. One of my favorites was Cocomels, a caramel using coconut milk in place of the usual dairy. They're both vegan and gluten-free, also corn syrup- and soy-free, and non-GMO. Most importantly, they're delicious, chewy, creamy caramels with a hint of coconut flavor.

Another vegan coconut product is Coconut Bliss, a frozen dessert made with coconut milk. It's not exactly ice cream, but it's very good, and it comes in more than a dozen flavors that can be purchased at your local Whole Foods.

CookiNuts, by Maryland-based Sweet Nuttings, are dairy- and gluten-free treats that are reminiscent of soft, chewy, Italian almond cookies, only with a much-higher nut content. I suspect that they contain egg whites, so they are not vegan. Nonetheless, they are delicious, more nutritious, and more filling than your garden variety commercial cookie.

Then there were the chocolates. Among the many brands I sampled, one of my favorites was Chuao Chocolatier, mostly because they put bacon and potato chips in their chocolate bars. I know! The milk maple bacon bar has little nubbins of bacony goodness and a hint of smoked sea salt, and the potato chip bar has kettle chip bits mingled in milk chocolate. I also liked their dark chocolate Firecracker bar, which has chipotle pepper and popping candy mixed in.

Another chocolatier that caught my eye...my tastebuds, actually...was Hagensborg. Part of me was attracted to the company's pig motif, but another part wanted to taste all of the sustainable exotic single origin chocolate from Ecuador, Madagascar, and Santo Domingo. The 39% cocoa Ecuador milk bar was my favorite, because I like to buck the trend: I'm not all that into super dark chocolate.

Local favorite Fisher's Popcorn also had a presence at the Fancy Food Show. Now Baltimoreans don't have to make the drive all the way to Ocean City to enjoy a couple handfuls of Fisher's delicious caramel corn. It's available in bags at the Harbor East branch of Whole Foods, plus assorted other locations all over the state. (Check out this page for more information.) In addition to the regular caramel corn and white cheddar flavors, there's a new chipotle caramel popcorn flavor. My taste of this variety was only slightly spicy, so don't worry about it being too hot to enjoy.

These are but a mere sampling of the many many sweet items I tried at the show. I hope it gives you some idea of the new food items that are hitting the stores now and in the near future, and encourages you try something new and different on occasion.



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Bacon Grilled Cheese

I was so pleased with my sample of Lori's Salt Caramel Syrup, I thought I'd play with it a little more. Why not use it as a glaze for bacon, then add that to a simple grilled cheese sandwich? The syrup added just the right amount of sticky sweetness, while letting both the cheese and bacon flavors shine through.

Caramelized Bacon Grilled Cheese

6 slices bacon, cooked through but not crunchy
3 tablespoons Lori's Salt Caramel Syrup
4 slices of bread
cheese of your choice, enough to cover a slice of bread in two thin layers (aka about the size of a slice of American cheese)
softened butter

Coil bacon slices into circles; secure with toothpicks. (It doesn't have to be particularly neat; this is just to help the caramel-stiffened bacon fit on the bread.) Place bacon rings in a cold saute pan and pour the three tablespoons of syrup over the bacon. Put heat on, at about medium. Watch carefully. The syrup should start to bubble in a minute or so, but you don't want it to bubble too quickly, otherwise it will harden. As the syrup bubbles, use tongs to turn the bacon every half minute or so. Cook until the bacon is well-glazed and there doesn't seem to be much syrup left in the pan.

Remove bacon to a plate. Wash pan.

Assemble sandwiches: for each sandwich, arrange a quarter of the cheese on one slice of bread, then add half the bacon. Top with the rest of the cheese, then the second slice of bread. Spread softened butter on outside of top slice.

Turn heat on under saute pan to medium. Add sandwiches butter-side-down. Cook over medium heat until bottom bread is nicely browned and the cheese is starting to melt. Butter the top slice of bread and flip sandwiches. Cook until bottom is browned.

Cut sandwiches in half, diagonally, and serve with your favorite soup or a handful of potato chips. Or both.

* Any products in this post that are mentioned by name may have been provided to Minxeats by the manufacturer. However, all opinions belong to Minxeats.

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Bourbon, Bacon, and Caramel Cocktail

I'm going to the Fancy Food Show in NY next week. This will be my first one, and I'm excited! In preparation, I contacted a couple of the purveyors listed on the Specialty Foods web site in order to get information in advance. There are way more exhibitors than I'll be able to visit, and I figured this way I'll get a better idea of products that might be of the most interest to me.

One of those products was Lori's Salt Caramel Syrup, from the French Connection in Ashland, Oregon. They won't be at the show, but they were willing to send me some of their product to sample.

The syrup is made from caramelized cane sugar, Tahitian vanilla, Celtic sea salt, and a soupçon of maple. The flavor is subtly salty, and subtly maple-y, and I can see how it would be terrific on pancakes. Their marketing director suggested that it can also be used on ice cream, oatmeal, and corn bread, but I thought it would make a nifty addition to a cocktail. With bacon.

After trying the syrup with both rum and bourbon, I determined that bourbon was the perfect choice. The resulting drink is simple, and reminiscent of a Manhattan. Because of that, I'm calling it an Ashland, after the town in which Lori's Salt Caramel Syrup is produced.

Ashland

Lori's Salt Caramel Syrup
bourbon (if you can get some bacon-infused bourbon, all the better)
Angostura bitters
crumbled crisp bacon
twists of lemon peel

For each cocktail, stir 2 ounces of bourbon, 1/2 ounce of salt caramel syrup, and a dash of bitters together with ice.

Dip the rim of a cocktail glass in a bit of the syrup, then in the crumbled bacon. Strain the drink into the glass. Add the lemon twist.

* Any products in this post that are mentioned by name may have been provided to Minxeats by the manufacturer. However, all opinions belong to Minxeats.

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Birroteca

Birroteca, a relatively new restaurant located a piece down the road from Woodberry Kitchen in one of the old mill buildings near the Jones Falls Expressway, has been getting all sorts of positive buzz since the day it opened. We couldn't find time to visit the place during the holidays, but as soon as we knew our friend Melinda would be visiting, we made a reservation. So much better to try everything on the menu when there's another person around to help eat it all!

I heard Birroteca got crowded and noisy, so we made sure to eat early. When we got to the restaurant around 5:15pm, there were already several tables occupied and the noise in the bar was in full swing. Within an hour or so, the place was packed and the clamor - mostly due to one bigmouth woman at the next table - was deafening. This noisy restaurant thing seems to be a trend, no? And one I do not like. But if the food has received such acclaim, one must deal with the din in order to experience it.

Sun reviewer Kit Pollard mentioned on her blog that Birroteca's calamari alla plancha could be her favorite dish of 2012, so it was a must-try. She was not exaggerating. Mr Minx declared the roasty-flavored, über-tender ringlets to be the best he's ever eaten. I concur.

Sorry for the blurry photos. The restaurant was very dimly lit
and a flash would have been extremely obnoxious.

Birroteca serves food as it's ready, in large family-style bowls--all the better for everyone at the table to taste everything. The next several dishes that came to our table were carb-tastic, staring with the polenta. The planks of fried cornmeal mush were a bit too large, and the eggplant ragu didn't seem to have any eggplant in it, but otherwise, the flavors were nice. I'd have preferred smaller pieces, with a higher ratio of surface crust to fluffy insides. And some eggplant.

More successful were the arancini, which were nicely brown and crispy on the outside and tender and cheesy on the inside. The micro celery garnish was fun.

My favorite carb dish of the evening was the parmesan spaetzle with shaved snails and truffle oil. The noodles themselves were rice-sized, which gave the dish a pilaf-like quality, and super cheesy. I especially liked the cheesy crumbs on top. And don't say "eww" at the snails. I find snails to be closer in both flavor and texture to mushrooms than to anything that lives in a shell.

We also got a plate of the roasted cauliflower agrodolce which came adorned with pieces of dried fig. The sweet-sour element of the dish was subtle and didn't overpower the delicate cauliflower flavor.

We then noshed on the Locavore pizza, topped with broccoli rabe, cauliflower, brussels sprouts, and a handful of arugula. It seemed like a good idea when we ordered it, but we probably would have preferred one of the more meaty varieties. The crust/cheese/sauce combo was all very nice, but the surfeit of cruciferous veg after eating a plate of cauliflower was a bit much. A bit of advice: don't leave the box of uneaten cauliflower/broccoli pizza in the car while spending a couple of hours at the mall. Phew.

Despite all that food, we decided to make room for desserts, which were served in smaller portions than the other dishes, but still share-able.

Mr Minx opted for the chocolate caramel espresso tart, which was, um...amazing. Yum. Loved the chewy caramel topped with just the right amount of chocolate. (The older I get, the less interested I am in chocolate desserts.)

Our server enthusiastically recommended the banana cake with Nutella buttercream, but I think it was the most disappointing dish of the evening. The flavor of the cake was good, but the banana slices inside had an oddly hard texture, like dried bananas. (This kind, not chips.) And I couldn't taste the Nutella.

Much better was the orange panna cotta with amaretto cherries. How can sweetened heavy cream thickened into a pudding with gelatin not be good? And the cherries on the bottom - so intensely cherry. Mmm. 

I've often heard people say that if a restaurant's service is bad, it doesn't matter how good the food is. The service at Birroteca was terrific - our server and everyone else who came to our table were genuinely enthusiastic about everything on the menu and seemed pleased when we enjoyed something. So even though a dish or two missed the (our) mark, we left very happy and full and vowing to come back soon, this time with a more meat-friendly companion (hence the plethora of vegetarian dishes we ordered). We want, nay - need, more of that calamari, and a duck confit pizza is definitely in our future, as are meatballs and probably some salumi or crudo.

Birroteca
1520 Clipper Rd
Baltimore, MD 21211
(443) 708-1934



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Milk Jam: Not for the Impatient

I may not be the most patient person in the world. This is why I have yet to make short ribs in my SousVide Supreme™. Oh sure, I can put a pot of chili on to cook for several hours while I do something else in another part of the house, no problem. It's the ability to leave the room and go elsewhere that works for me. With milk jam, however, I had to sit vigil over the pan, lest it boil over and bespoil my (granted, already messy) cooktop.

I stumbled upon the recipe whilst perusing the September issue of Bon Appetit at the dentist's office Yes, I let my subscription lapse. :::hangs head::: (I really should rectify that. I get Food & Wine, but prefer Bon Appetit because...a little secret...I don't care to read about wine. Apologies to whomever it was that anonymously gifted me with a subscription to Wine Spectator a few years back.) The simplicity of the recipe struck me, and I committed it to memory.

Not that difficult: 2 cups milk + 1 cup sugar + cook 45 minutes until light reddish-brown and measures a scant cup.

I busted out my fancy All-Clad saucier for the job. (It's the only piece of All-Clad I can lift without my wrists screaming for mercy.) Here he is at the beginning of the cooking process.

And here he is again, after 90 minutes. Yes, after twice the recommended cooking time, the milk jam was medium beige and measured far more than a scant cup. But I was tired of perching on a chair in the kitchen, giving it the evil eye. 

For the most part, the milk behaved itself, burbling contentedly between stirs. But every once in a while, it got too big for its britches and bubbled to the top edge of the pan, at which point I raced to turn the heat down. Despite the mind games, there were no boil-overs. Yet I was not quite victorious.

After refrigeration, the jam thickened up quite a bit, but wasn't as thick as either sweetened condensed milk or caramel. The flavor reminded me of a Japanese candy that I like called Milky. The suggested use for this milk jam is as a topping for chocolate cake when mixed with sour cream or creme fraiche, but I rather like it as a dip for fresh fruit. Strawberries are nice, as are nectarines, bananas, apples, and just about anything else.

Probably chocolate cake, as well, but I might not have enough patience to wait for one to finish baking. In the meantime, I may eat all of the milk jam straight out of the jar with nothing but a spoon for company.

Posted on Minxeats.com.

Vote for Me on Food 52!

My recipe for miso caramel is one of two finalists in Food 52's best soy recipe contest! Please vote for me! http://www.food52.com/contests/309_your_best_soy

Posted on Minxeats.com.

Miso Caramel

During a recent episode of Chopped, the competitors' dessert baskets included a tub of white miso. Both chefs made some sort of miso caramel sauce, which was also the first thing that came to my mind. Why? Well, salted caramel has been the Big Thing for quite a while now, and miso is definitely salty. Why not take a very basic caramel recipe and substitute miso for butter?  I tried it, and it worked like a charm. The sauce was sweet and salty, but didn't taste miso-y in the least.

For those of you afraid of making caramel for some reason, don't be! Homemade caramel is easy-peasy, but you do have to keep a couple things in mind.

1) Once the sugar is melted and bubbling, DO NOT STIR. It'll do its thing all on its own.
2) PAY ATTENTION. Don't make a phone call, read the paper, or do anything other than stand near the stove, keeping an eye on the pot.
2) Melted sugar is HOT. Be careful not to get any on yourself.

Miso Caramel Sauce

3/4 cups granulated sugar
1/4 cup water
1/2 cup heavy cream
2 tablespoons yellow or white miso

In a heavy saucepan set over medium-high heat, stir together sugar and water. Without additional stirring, bring mixture to a boil. Use a wet pastry brush to wash down any sugar crystals that form on the sides of the pan. When sugar becomes a deep golden brown and wisps of smoke just start to form, remove pan from heat.

Check out the photo below...see how the edges are getting dark but the center sugar is still light in color? It's going to start smoking any second now, so be prepared to take it off the heat before the caramel burns.

Once off the heat, carefully pour in the cream, which will cause the caramel to bubble. Stir to combine. If the caramel seizes up and hardens with the addition of the cold cream, then put the pan back over low heat and stir until the caramel is liquid again. Whisk in the miso. Allow to cool slightly before pouring into a lidded container. Store in the refrigerator.

Remelt the sauce by putting some in a ramekin and microwaving it on high for 30 second intervals until hot and liquid-y. Serve over ice cream, pound cake, or just eat it cold out of the jar with a spoon. Makes one pint.

Posted on Minxeats.com.

Curry Cupcakes

Back in October of 2010, I posted some teaser photos of a batch of cupcakes that I baked up to test a recipe for the Scharffen Berger Chocolate Adventure Contest. I didn't win, so now it's safe to share.

The Chocolate Adventure Contest requires participants to use one or more somewhat-esoteric "adventure ingredients," which this year included stout, ricotta, buttermilk, saffron, coconut milk, molasses, adzuki beans, fresh beets, chiles, bee pollen, Meyer lemon, almond flour, and Sumatra coffee beans. I liked the idea of using saffron, coconut milk, and almond flour in the cupcakes themselves, and thought curry powder would be a nice accent for the saffron. The cake itself was ridiculously moist and the entire concoction was quite rich. And delicious! The curry flavoring was very subtle - I used Penzey's Sweet Curry, which has more sweet spices, especially fenugreek, one of the flavor components of "maple-flavored" syrups like Log Cabin. Taste-testers were hard-pressed to guess that the caramel and frosting were indeed flavored with curry.

Without further ado, I give you White Chocolate Saffron Cupcakes with Milk Chocolate Curry Caramel Filling and Curry Buttercream Frosting. (You'll probably notice that I used basically the same base in my pistachio cupcakes. It's so good, I don't see any reason to use any other recipe.)

White Chocolate Saffron Cupcakes

1/2 teaspoon saffron threads
2 tablespoons boiling water
1 cup all purpose flour
3/4 cup almond flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
4-oz white chocolate, chopped
1/3 cup butter, softened
3/4 cup sugar
2 large eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 cup coconut milk

Preheat oven to 325F. Line muffin pans with 18 cupcake liners.

Place the saffron in a small bowl with boiling water and soak for 15 minutes.

In another bowl, whisk together the flour, almond flour, baking powder, and salt.

Place the chocolate in a microwave-safe bowl and heat for 1 minute at 50% power. Stir chocolate and if it does not melt completely, microwave for another 30 seconds at 50% power. Repeat at 15-second intervals until the chocolate is smooth when stirred.

In a large bowl, cream together butter and sugar until light. Beat in eggs one at a time, then add the melted white chocolate and vanilla extract. Alternate stirring in flour mixture and coconut milk, ending with flour. Mix until no streaks of flour remain, but do not overmix.

Divide batter evenly into prepared muffin cups.

Bake at 325F for 20-23 minutes until a tester comes out clean and the tops spring back when lightly pressed with a fingertip. Cool on a wire rack.

Makes 18 cupcakes.

Milk Chocolate Curry Caramel Filling

1/2 cup sugar
1/8 cup water
1 tablespoons light corn syrup
1/4 cup heavy whipping cream
2 tablespoons salted butter, diced
1 ounce Scharffen Berger milk chocolate
1/8 cup sour cream
1/2 teaspoon curry powder (Penzey's Sweet Curry, if you can get it. It's sweeter and less cumin-y than grocery store curry powder.)
1/4 teaspoon kosher salt

In a medium saucepan set over low heat, stir sugar, 1/4 cup water, and corn syrup until sugar dissolves. Increase heat to high. Boil without stirring until syrup is deep amber, occasionally brushing down pan sides with wet pastry brush, about 6 minutes. Remove from heat. Add cream, which will cause sugar to bubble furiously, then whisk in butter and chocolate.

Add sour cream, curry powder, and salt. Cool completely before using.

Curry Buttercream Frosting

1.5 sticks of  room temperature butter
7 ounces marshmallow fluff
3/4 cup confectioners sugar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon curry powder (Penzey's Sweet Curry)

Combine the butter and marshmallow in a bowl, and with a hand or stand mixer, beat on medium until completely smooth. Reduce speed to low and add confectioners sugar, vanilla, salt, and curry powder. Continue to beat until smooth and fluffy.

To assemble cupcakes:

Using a paring knife, cut a small divot out of the top of each cupcake, about 1" deep x 1 1/4" wide (the little plugs are Cook's Treat!). Fill hole with some of the cooled caramel sauce. Spoon frosting into a piping bag fitted with a large plain round or French tip and pipe in a spiral onto the tops of each cupcake, making sure to cover the caramel. Garnish with chopped pistachios or sliced almonds, if desired.

Store in refrigerator to keep frosting from getting too soft. Bring to room temperature before eating.


Posted by theminx on Minxeats.com.

Breyer's Sundae Contest

I posted this pic last month in my "Food Pr0n" post, and now I can give you details. This sundae with chocolate/bacon/caramel and toasted salted almonds was my entry in the 2010 Breyer's Sundae Showcase. The grand prize was a trip to Chicago, a cooking lesson with Gale Gand, and $10K.

I didn't win. :(

Caramel Surprise Sundae

1/4 cup sugar
1/2 cup heavy cream
1 oz of your favorite high-quality milk chocolate
1 tablespoon unsalted butter
4 strips of bacon, cooked crisp and diced

¼ cup roasted salted almonds, chopped
2 cups Breyer’s French Vanilla Ice Cream

Place sugar in a dry 1-quart heavy saucepan over moderately high heat and cook until it begins to melt, about 2 minutes. Continue to cook, stirring occasionally with a fork, until sugar is melted into a deep golden caramel, about another minute. Remove caramel from heat and carefully pour in heavy cream, which will cause the mixture to bubble. Return pan to heat and whisk constantly to remelt the caramel and incorporate the cream. Once mixture is smooth, turn off the heat and whisk in chocolate and butter until melted and well-blended. Stir in bacon.

Scoop ½ cup of Breyer’s French Vanilla ice cream into each of four serving dishes. Top with 1 tablespoons of warm bacon caramel sauce and a teaspoon of the chopped nuts.

Caramels

I love buttery, sweet, chewy caramel candy. But no Kraft or Goetz Caramel Creames for me (yuck and double yuck) - I like better quality goods, thankyouverymuch. California chocolatier See's does a pretty good job with their caramels, and I always stop short of ordering a custom mix box of milk and dark butter chews for myself (as I did for Mom).

I was perusing Etsy the other day, contemplating it as a venue for my jewelry, when I stumbled upon La Bella Caramella, purveyors of fine homemade salted caramels in such intriguing flavors as lavender, jasmine, violet, pumpkin pie, and double bergamot Earl Grey, along with the more familiarly flavored crushed vanilla bean. I couldn't resist, and ordered a fall sampler of pumpkin pie, chai, and spiced apple flavored caramels, along with a batch of vanilla. All are fantastic. The flavored caramels are pretty intensely spiced, but the sweet richness of the candy can certainly support the big dose of yum.

She added a sampler of the lavender flavor, and those are pretty delectable too.

What are you waiting for? Go buy some caramel!