Flashback Friday - Miso Caramel

This post originally appeared on Minxeats.com on March 6, 2012.
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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.

* 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. Amazon links earn me $! Please buy!

Posted on Minxeats.com.

Cookies and Pudding

When I get food products to sample and review, I don't really like to talk about the product straight up because I feel like it reads too much like a commercial. And unless the Super Bowl is on, most people don't like commercials. What I prefer to do is concoct some sort of recipe with the product in question and then post that. I feel like I have accomplished something by developing a new recipe, and I can talk about the product, too. But sometimes the products do speak for themselves, especially when they're cookies. Good cookies, that is.

I had this grandiose idea of inventing some sort of new banana pudding, only not using bananas, and with a different flavor of pudding. The La Mere Poulard cookies I was sampling would be the base of the not-banana-pudding, the vanilla wafer replacement. Only they were so tasty, I didn't want to cover them up with other flavors. All three types of cookie I received--sables, shortbread, and caramel biscuits--are buttery and crispy and smell simply wonderful, particularly the caramel ones. Two or three with a cup of tea is a perfect midday pick-me-up.

The cookies come from France--Mont Saint-Michel, to be precise. The story is that Annette Poulard, the local baker's wife, opened an inn on Mont Saint-Michel in 1888. Tourists flocked there for Poulard's cooking and especially her butter biscuits, which she baked for more than 50 years. Today, they're available in the US at stores like Whole Foods (and on the Internet).

Although I no longer wanted to use the cookies in a recipe, I still wanted to make something to go with them. Since I had pudding stuck in my head, I went with it. This recipe is based on the classic Hershey's chocolate pudding recipe, and is so fast and easy I don't know why anyone would ever buy instant pudding. I added peanut butter and rum, just to be different. The result was rich and chocolaty, with a distinct peanut flavor. Eating it with a couple of crispy cookies (the ones in the top photo are the sables) adds a bit of extra texture. You could, if you'd like, crumble some cookies on top of the pudding and pretend you've invented a new dish. Or just skip the pudding and have some of the cookies with a cup of tea.

Chocolate Peanut Butter Pudding

2/3 cup sugar
1/4 cup cocoa powder
3 tablespoons cornstarch
1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
2 1/4 cup 2% milk
3 tablespoons peanut butter
2 tablespoons butter
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Splash dark rum
Handful dry roasted unsalted peanuts
Sea salt
La Mere Poulard cookies

Combine sugar, cocoa, cornstarch, and kosher salt in a saucepan. Slowly whisk in the milk, first making a paste of the milk + dry ingredients, then adding the rest of the milk. Cook over medium high heat until it comes to a boil, stirring regularly. Boil for 1 minute, until thickened.

Turn off the heat and stir in the peanut butter and butter until combined. Add the vanilla and a healthy splash of dark rum (a few tablespoons worth) and stir until combined. If the mixture seems too thick while it's still warm, thin out with a few tablespoons of milk. Stir in the peanuts, leaving a few for garnish.

Store in the fridge in a covered container until ready to eat. If you're not a fan of pudding skin, then press a piece of plastic wrap directly onto the pudding.

Spoon into bowls and garnish with peanuts and a sprinkle of sea salt. Serve with cookies.

4-6 servings.

* 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. Amazon links earn me $! Please buy!



Posted on Minxeats.com.

Mediterranean Pimento Cheese

Pimento cheese is a southern specialty. A fairly simple combination of shredded cheese, mayo, and chopped pimento or roasted red pepper, it's great slathered on everything from crackers to burgers. Not being particularly southern, I am willing to take liberties with the recipe and make it my own.

We had a jar of fairly mild harissa paste in the fridge looking for things to do. I decided to employ it in a pimento cheese that could hail from a land in the vicinity of the southeastern Mediterranean sea. Most pimento cheeses use cheddar as a base, but I wanted something more neutral so the feta cheese could be prominent. The harissa stands in for the pimentos, but you could certainly add red pepper to your cheese if you choose. Don't forget to add the herbs, which add more character to the salty cheese.

I spread it on ciabatta and topped it with an over-easy egg, and it was mmm! Next I'll use it on a lamb burger with lots of red onion and fresh tomato.

Mediterranean Pimento Cheese

4 ounces Monterey Jack cheese, grated
4 ounces feta cheese, crumbled
2-3 teaspoons harissa paste (or to taste, depending on the strength of your harissa)
3 heaping tablespoons mayo
1 tablespoon finely chopped mint
1 teaspoon dill seeds, crushed

Combine all ingredients in a bowl until fairly homogenized in texture. There will still be small lumps of feta. Pack into a lidded container and refrigerate for several hours so the flavors can mellow. Serve with crackers or as a sandwich spread.



Posted on Minxeats.com.

Bananascotch Pudding

At last month's Family Meal media dinner, we ate the most delicious dessert: a twist on banana pudding made with butterscotch pudding. Just a few days later, I found an easy-sounding butterscotch pudding recipe on the Food 52 site. Entirely by accident--I wasn't looking for it. So it seemed that I was fated to make my own variation of banana scotch pudding.

I didn't want to do anything too elaborate; I am no pastry chef. My favorite nanner pudding recipe requires only pastry cream, shortbread cookies, bananas, and whipped cream. My banana scotch version is much the same, I just swapped out the pastry cream for butterscotch pudding. I think a really delish and over-the-top version might include both the pastry cream and pudding, maybe with a layer of whipped cream somewhere in the middle there, too. I didn't want to go crazy though--this is just a simple weeknight dessert.

There's booze in the pudding, folks, so you might want to keep it away from the kiddies.

Bananascotch Pudding 

8 Pepperidge Farm Chessmen cookies
3 tablespoons unsalted butter, divided
3/4 cup packed dark brown sugar
Pinch salt
1 cup heavy cream
1 cup whole milk
3 tablespoons cornstarch
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 tablespoons bourbon or Irish whisky
3 bananas
Whipped cream
Flaky sea salt

Put the cookies in a plastic bag and crush them into crumbs. I used a meat tenderizer, but the bottom of a heavy glass will do. Divide half of the crumbs between four lowball glasses. Set the remaining crumbs aside. Peel and cut the bananas into 1/4" slices.

Melt 2 tablespoons of the butter in a sauce pan until it stops crackling and starts to brown, 2 minutes or so. Stir in the brown sugar and pinch of salt, then whisk in the heavy cream. Turn the heat to low.

In a bowl, whisk the milk into the cornstarch until cornstarch is dissolved. Pour this into the saucepan. Turn up the heat and allow the pudding to simmer, stirring constantly. Once pudding has thickened considerably, a minute or two, turn off the heat and add the additional tablespoon of butter, the vanilla, and the bourbon or whisky.

Spoon some of the hot pudding over the crumbs in each glass. Arrange a layer of banana slices around the edge of the glass, pushing them into the pudding so they stand upright. Put a slice or two, cut side up, in the middle as well. Add the remainder of the cookie crumbs. Repeat the pudding and banana layer, finishing with pudding. (If there's any pudding left, use a spoon to shovel it directly into your mouth.)

Press plastic wrap onto the surface of the puddings and refrigerate several hours until cold. Garnish with whipped cream and a pinch of flaky sea salt.

Serves 4.



Posted on Minxeats.com.