Eclairs

I was in need of something yummy yesterday. And when I say yummy I mean REALLY yummy. OOZING with yummy-ness. Decadently yummy. Do you get the idea? Boring old cookies or something like that just weren't going to cut it, I needed something amazing. But I don't have huge reserves of energy right now (and I'm just lazy) so it had to be something that wasn't going to require a large amount of effort. Or a trip to the store. Ethan helped me swim through mountains of cookbooks and ideas and we finally decided that these would be the perfect thing. And OH BOY were they ever!

What you need:
Pudding (we used this recipe to make our own, but you could use the boxed stuff) or Pastry Cream
   
*For the eclairs:
1 cup flour
1/4 tsp salt
1 cup water
1/2 cup butter
4-5 eggs
*For the chocolate glacé icing

3 squares (3 oz) semi sweet baking chocolate, melted in 1 1/2 TBS water
3 cups confectioner's sugar, SIFTED
3-4 TBS water

What you do:
Make your pudding/pastry cream first and get it started chilling in the fridge.

For the eclairs:
Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
Sift the flour and salt together into a small bowl or onto a piece of waxed paper. Put the water and butter into a fairly large saucepan, bring to a boil, and when bubbling, remove from the heat. Immediately pour in the flour/salt. Beat vigorously for a few seconds until the mixture is smooth and pulls away from the sides of the pan to form a ball.
Cool the mixture about 5 minutes, then beat in the eggs, one at a time. If the eggs are large, break the last one into a bowl and beat with a fork. Add this egg slowly to the pastry dough to ensure that it remains firm and keeps its shape--all of this last egg may not be needed, depending on the consistency of the dough.
Beat the dough for 1-2 minutes until it's glossy and very smooth.
Put the dough into a pastry bag (I just use a large ziplock bag and cut off the tip of one corner) with a 1/2 plain tip. Pipe the dough fairly far apart onto a dampened baking sheet in 3 in lengths (I don't know why they have you dampen the baking sheet. It didn't prevent the pastries from sticking, next time I'm going to try just spraying the pan with cooking spray).
Bake for 10 minutes in the heated oven, then raise the temp to 425 degrees and continue baking for 15 minutes. When the eclairs are firm and crisp, prick the sides to release the steam and cool on a wire rack. Slit them open along one side.Fill the eclairs with the pudding, making sure the entire length is filled, preferably using a pastry bag fitted with a small plain tip (again, I used a plastic baggie). 
Dip the tops of the eclairs in the icing (recipe to follow) and return to wire rack to set (I didn't dip mine, I just spooned the icing over the tops, it seemed less messy). These were good warm, but we decided we liked them best chilled. 
For the chocolate glacé icing:
In a pan over gentle heat, melt the chocolate pieces in the water, stirring until it's smooth (Remember how I said I didn't want to have to go to the store? I didn't have baking chocolate, so I just threw in three medium size handfuls of semi sweet chocolate chips, and it worked fine). Take from heat and beat in the sugar. Add enough water to make a thick cream. Heat the icing over a pan of hot water until warm to the touch--it should coat the back of a spoon. If it's too thick, add a little more water; if too thin, beat in more sugar.

Now, I do have to warn you that I have a terrible time getting my pastry to come out uniform. There are often several of them that have holes or deformations that make them unfit for filling. Also, my oven has a thing against heating to and staying at the temp you've chosen so my first pan of these didn't cook right. So, I took the ones that would work and filled/frosted them the conventional way, but the rest didn't go to waste. I put a layer of the pastries in a dish, then poured the leftover pudding over the top of them. I added another layer of pastries and topped with the remaining frosting. I ended up with an eclair casserole tiramisu lasagna cake pie thing that was REALLY yummy, though not beautiful. None of the ugly pastries got wasted and I have WAY more good stuff to fatten myself up with. That's a win for everyone!

Ratatouille

I know...the pan looks gross...but it's just the juices and olive oil that splashed up. I thought you should know it looks a little messy straight out of the oven, but it wiped up really easily and then it looked pretty.

We got all the ingredients we needed for Ratatouille except for the yellow squash and red bell pepper in our bountiful basket this past week. I've been wanting to try this for years now and finally we did! It was really yummy and Cameron even liked it (he's not a squash or tomato fan). Give it a try!

I got my recipe from http://www.thecomfortofcooking.com/2010/08/layered-ratatouille.html but I modified it slightly. Here's what I did:

Ingredients: 
1/2 onion, finely chopped
2 garlic cloves, very thinly sliced (I'd never sliced garlic before, but it's not hard)
1 cup tomato puree (this was about 5 roma tomatoes worth chopped up in my mini food processor)
1/4 tsp. oregano
1/4 tsp. crushed red pepper flakes
2 TBS olive oil divided (I discovered we're out of olive oil...so I just used my olive oil cooking spray and it worked fine)
1 small eggplant (the one we had was kinda fat...this'll work better if you have a longer/skinnier one)
1 zucchini
1 yellow squash
1 long red bell pepper (I goofed and got a green one at the store, but it worked fine)
Thyme (the original recipe called for fresh...we were all out of fresh so I used dried)
Salt and Pepper
Queso Fresco, Parmesan, or some other cheese (the recipe called for crumbled goat cheese, we used the two I just listed)
1 roma tomato, sliced (this wasn't in the recipe, but I had 1 tomato left and I thought it'd add color...since I didn't have a red bell pepper)
Parchment Paper

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees
2. Spread your tomato puree in a baking dish that is around 10 inches long. Mine was a little shorter, but we made it work. Spread the garlic and onion around in the sauce evenly (I laid mine on top and then used a wooden spoon to push it down in the sauce) and then sprinkle on the oregano, crushed red pepper, 1 TBS olive oil, and salt and pepper.
3. Slice the eggplant, zucchini, yellow squash and bell pepper (cutting off the ends and coring the pepper of course). Leave all the skins on! Slices should be approximately 1/16-inch thick. Pretty much to me that meant as thin as I could get them (since I don't have a fancy slicer that measures for me).
4. Layer the slices of veggies (eggplant, squash, pepper, then zucchini, or whatever order you want to maximize the color combo) starting at the outer edge and overlapping them so that just a small edge of each surface shows behind the next. Spiral them all the way around the edge and to the middle of the pan.
5. Drizzle/spray the veggies with olive oil and season with salt and pepper. Sprinkle a small amount of thyme over the veggies.
6. Cut a piece of parchment paper to fit in the edge of the dish and place on top of the veggies. I wasn't careful with how I cut it and it was a little small. I think that's why my pan was so dirty on the edges.
7. Bake for 40-55 minutes (until the veggies have released their liquids and are cooked all the way through, but not until they are completely limp and lifeless). The tomato sauce should be bubbling and the veggies should NOT be brown (mine were a little overcooked, but still tasty).
8. Serve with cheese of choice on top. This can be eaten with crusty bread, on top of rice or couscous, or plain (we did plain and it was great).

Potage Crecy (Carrot Soup)

This was so yummy! We really enjoyed it and I'll probably make it again. Ethan gobbled it up! The color is a little off-putting, but the taste is great! I only made a half a batch and it made about 3 servings.

What you Need:

1 lb fresh carrots, peeled and chopped into 1/2-1 inch thick pieces

1 medium Russet (or other starchy) potato, peeled and chopped into pieces about the same size as the carrot pieces

2 Tbsp unsalted butter

1 medium onion, peeled and roughly chopped

1 clove garlic, peeled and crushed

½ cup dry white wine (I substituted chicken broth)

1 qt vegetable broth or stock

Kosher salt and ground white pepper, to taste (I just used regular pepper and it tasted good)

What you do:

In a large soup pot melt the butter over medium-low heat. Add the onion, garlic and carrots and cook for 2-3 minutes or until the onion is slightly translucent, stirring more or less continuously.

Add the wine and cook for another minute or two or until the wine seems to have reduced by about half.

Add the stock and the potato. Increase the heat to medium-high and bring to a boil. Then lower the heat and simmer for 15 minutes or until the carrots and potatoes are soft enough that they can easily be pierced with a knife. Don't let them get mushy, though.

Remove from heat and purée in a blender, working in batches if necessary. (I had to add more stock so that it wasn't too thick to blend nicely)

Be Very Careful!: When processing hot items in a blender the hot steam can sometimes blow the blender lid off. Start on a slow speed with the lid slightly ajar to vent any steam, then seal the lid and increase the blending speed.

Return puréed soup to pot and bring to a simmer again, adding more broth or stock to adjust the thickness if necessary. Season to taste with Kosher salt and white pepper.

Garnish with a toasted crouton and serve right away. (I didn't want to take the time to make the croutons, but they would've been pretty good, I think I'll be sure to do that next time.)

Variations:

• Try adding ¼ cup of minced fresh ginger along with the onions and garlic.
• Or, after puréeing, add 1 Tbsp fresh thyme leaves before bringing the soup back to a simmer.
• Or, stir ¼ cup hot cream into the soup just before serving. (As you can see in the picture I put a little dollop of sour cream on ours. I liked it, Ethan didn't.)
• The soup can be thickened with rice instead of potato. Just substitute about 1/3 cup of uncooked rice for the potato, and simmer the soup until the rice is soft. (I realized when it was too late to run to the store that I had somehow run out of potatoes, so this is the method I used. If you do it this way make sure you really cook the rice well, or it's a little gritty.)

I found this recipe here, if you're interested in checking out the original.

Roast Stuffed Goose

This dish was a little more work than the duck, but was definitely very good. The stuffing was really really yummy and the apples that are to be served with it as a garnish are amazing. We carved into this bird so fast that Marquette couldn't get any more good pictures, so this one will have to suffice.

What you need:

1 young goose, about 8lb

2 TBS butter

1/2 tsp salt

1/4 tsp pepper

1/4 tsp ground ginger

1/4 cups port(we just skipped this ingredient)

1/2 cups stock (you can find a recipe for this online)

1 tsp cornstarch mixed with 1 TBS water

For potato stuffing:

3 medium onions, finely chopped

4 large potatoes, peelied and cut in large pieces

1/2 cup butter or heavy cream

1 1/2 teaspoons sage

salt and pepper

for garnish:

1/4 cups butter

10 small tart apples, peeled and cored

1/4 cup red currant jelly (we couldn't find this anywhere so we used seedless raspberry jam)

2 TBS red wine vinegar

What to do:

1. To make the stuffing: cover onions with cold water and bring to a boil and simmer 5 mintes, or until tender. Drain well. Boil potatoes in salted water 15-20 minutes or until soft, drain and return to pan. Dry over very low heat for 5 minutes, stirring frequently to avoid sticking. Mash with a potato masher or electric mixer, then add butter or cream, beating until potatoes are light. Take from heat and stir in onions, sage, salt and pepper.

2. Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Fill the body of the goose with stuffing and truss (see duck post for trussing directions), sewing each end firmly shut. Cream the 2 TBS butter with the salt, pepper, and ground ginger and spread over the breast of the goose. Set in a roasting pan and roast in preheated oven for about 2 1/2 hours, basting and turning bird from time to time so it browns evenly. After 2 hours, pour off all fat in roasting pan, spoon the port over goose and continue to cook until skin is crisp.

3. For the garnish: melt butter in a small pan (I used a couple of glass pie pans for this). Put the apples in and cover them all over with the butter. Bake in the same oven as the goose for 40 minutes, or until golden brown. Put the red currant jelly in a pan with the vinegar and melt over gentle heat.

4. Take the goose out, remove trussing strings and wing pinion bones and set on a serving platter. Arrange apples around and spoon melted jelly over them. Skim any fat from the juices in the roasting pan, add stock to the juices and boil well to disolve the meat juices(Be sure you really scrape the bottom of the pan to get all the yummy stuff off the bottom of the pan). Adjust seasoning and thicken by stirring the cornstarch mixtures into the pan, bringing it to a boil, and stirring and simmering it for 1 minute. Strain into a gravy dish.

Canard aux Navets (Roast Duck with Turnips)

This was one of the main dishes for our big gourmet dinner. It was my definitely my favorite of the two choices. It is fairly simple to make and is very impressive. The most difficult thing about cooking duck is that it is very fatty, so you have to be careful to follow the directions so that you allow most of the fat to drain off.
What you need:
4-5 lb. duck
peeled rind of 1 lemon
salt and pepper
1 cup duck stock(you can find a recipe for this online)
1 1/2 cups Espangonle sauce (you can find a recipe for this online)
1 cup white wine (I used water)
juice of 1/2 lemon

For garnish:
6-8 small white turnips, peeled and quartered
2 TBS butter
1 TBS sugar
10-12 small onions, blanched and peeled

What to Do:

1. Put the lemon rind into the duck, sprinkle the inside with the salt and pepper, and truss it. Trussing is just using a thick piece of string to tie the legs of the bird together, and another to tie the wings of the bird down to it's sides. You do this to make the bird hold it's shape while cooking so it will look prettier. If you don't want to do this you don't have to. Once the bird is seasoned and trussed, place on a rack in a roasting pan, pour around the stock and prick the skin all over to release the fat.

2. Roast the bird in a 400 degree oven for about 1 1/2 hours or until the skin is crisp and the thigh of the bird is tender when you stab it with a fork. (Duck and goose are both very dark meats, so they will not look done when you cut them open.) During cooking, turn the duck from one side to the other, then onto it's back, basting occasionally. (Basting is just taking the juices from the bottom of the pan and drizzling them over the bird) Discard excess fat as it gathers on the bottom of the pan.

3. To prepare the garnish, blanch the turnips and drain them. (Blanching is putting the veggies into boiling water for a short period of time, then putting them into a bowl of very cold water right away. It's not hard and doesn't take very long.) Melt the butter in a large saucepan, add the turnips. Sprinkle with sugar and cook over very low heat, stirring the pot from time to time, for 10-15 minutes or until the turnips are almost tender and the sugar has begun to carmalize (turn brown). Add the blanched onions and cook 8-10 minutes longer or until the onions and turnips are tender and glazed with caramel.

4. When the duck is cooked, transfer it to a serving platter(I just took mine out of the pan for a few minutes while I got the gravy ready then put it back in to serve it out of the pan) and keep it warm. Discard the fat from the pan and dissolve the pan juices in the wine(water) and lemon juice, boiling well. (Make sure you really scrape the bottom of the pan well so that you get all the yummy flavors that have cooked to the bottom) Strain the mixture into the espagnole sauce and boil it rapidly until glossy and the consistency of light cream. Spoon a little sauce over the duck, garnish the platter with the turnips and onions and serve remaining sauce separately.