A lucky find and a delightful treat

Since a trip to the Alsace area of France, I have been searching for something.  I look on the Internet, e-bay, just about everywhere, and I have not found want I was looking for.  I know I can find it in France, but right now, I am in the USA and it is more difficult to find.

So, last week we were in North Carolina visiting our daughter and her family.  Angie and I decided to go to some antique shops.  As I was glancing at a wall, I said, "I don't believe it!"  There it hung.  I quickly walked forward and looked at the tag and it said it was a "jello mold."  No way. This was not a jello mold, but an absolutely perfect, copper Kugelhopf mold.  I explained to my daughter and the shopkeeper, my long time search for this Alsatian pan.  My daughter grabs it out of my hands and says "Happy Mother's Day."  Perfect, just a perfect find, and thank you, Angie.

So then, the next search was for the recipe that was most similar to the one I ate for breakfast each day while we stayed at the B&B in Alsace.  That was a little easier since it ended up that the cookbook in my kitchen had the perfect recipe.  Susan Herrmann Loomis and  French Farmhouse Cookbook had just what I wanted.

Kugelhopf is a sweet, raisin studded bread that is the signature pastry of Alsace and every pastry shop in the region proudly displays this in their windows.  Serve it as a late afternoon snack with coffee or for breakfast.  

Alsatian Coffee Bread

Kugelhopf from Susan Herrmann Loomis

3/4 cup (125 g) golden raisins
2 tablespoons kirsch (I used apricot brandy)
1 cup milk heated to lukewarm
1 scant tablespoon active dry yeast
3/4 cup (150 g) sugar  (vanilla sugar is preferred)
2 eggs
3 3/4 cups (500g) unbleached all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon salt
12 tablespoons (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, cut in small pieces, room temperature
whole almonds

About 1 hour before you plan to bake, combine the raisins and kirsch in a small bowl.  Stir and set aside.

In a large mixing bowl (I used my Kitchen Aid bowl), combine the lukewarm milk and the yeast.  Stir, then add the vanilla sugar and stir well.  (NOTE:)  I had half the amount of sugar needed in vanilla sugar that I brought back from France last year.  It comes in packets.  I then added regular sugar to get the full 150 grams.

Let this sit for 5 minutes, until the yeast begins to foam.  Whisk in the eggs, one at a time, until thoroughly combined.  Then gradually add the flour and salt, mixing well with a wooden spoon.  The dough will be quite sticky.  Continue mixing the dough using the wooden spoon or your hands until it is quite elastic, about 10 minutes.   This takes about 5 minutes in an electric mixer.

Gradually add the butter piece by piece, kneading until it is well incorporated and the dough is smooth and elastic and comes cleanly off the sides of the bowl, about 5 minutes or 2-3 with an electric mixer. 

Mix in the raisins until they are evenly distributed.  Leave the dough in the bowl, cover with a tea towel and let rise in a warm spot until it has nearly doubled in bulk, about 1 1/2 hours.

Punch down the down and knead it briefly to remove all the air.  Then let rise again until nearly doubled in bulk, about 1 1/2 hours.

Heavily butter a 6 cup kugelhopf mold and place the almonds in the indentations in the bottom of the mold.  Punch down the dough and place it in the mold as evenly as possible.  Let rise until it reaches the top, about 1 hour.  (If you don't have a kugelhopf mold, use a 6 cup souffle dish.  Place the dough in the souffle dish and arrange the almonds on top of the dough.)  Susan Loomis says that 17 almonds are needed in the bottom of the typical kugelhopf mold.  I only had room for 16, but believe me, I am not typical either. 

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Bake the kugelhopf in the center of the oven until it is golden and sounds hollow when the mold is tapped, 1 hour.

Remove the mold from the oven and let it sit for 5 minutes.  Unmold the kugelhopf and let it cool on a wire rack.  Dust it with confectioners  sugar before serving.  If you used a souffle dish, cool the kugelhopf almond side up on a wire rack and serve so that the almonds are showing.

You will see that there is a lot of time spent rising; 4 hours and 1 hour baking.  I am not fond of raisins in anything, but this is one way that is easy to tolerate them. 

I have started baking using a food scale and I am so loving it.  Using it today, set to grams, I was reminded of my grandmother's old green scale that she used with her baking.  I truly think it makes a difference. 

Ready for the oven

What pleased me the most was how this kugelhopf simply fell out of the pan after baking.  That would tell me that the pan had been used many times and was well seasoned.  Now my imagination will go wild as I think about who, when and where.  I love mysteries.

The next time, I will reduce the oven temperature to 325 degrees and watch it carefully to see if it is baking correctly.  Ovens vary a lot and I have found that most baking recipe are simply a guide and you need to check frequently to see what is working for you.

Okay, I am totally pleased.  This kugelhopf turned out perfect!!  It is soft, fluffy and cake-like and I know our B&B hostess had these frozen for her breakfasts, so I am quite sure they will freeze easily.  The Trout said he thought a touch of orange zest would be nice and I did read some recipes that had this added ingredient.  I will definitely make this again even though, from start to finish, it was a 6 hour production.  To all my Alsatian friends and family, this treat is for you.  I wish I could share with everyone. 

Strawberry Buttermilk Sherbet

I had some strawberries and buttermilk in the refrigerator that I wanted to get rid of before some travel time.  What should I find, but a perfect recipe that got rid of both in a very pleasant and easy way.

I found this recipe in a May 2008 issue of Southern Living.  Very simple, and very, very good.  Since you are not using heavy cream, you can really enjoy this treat.  Only 4 ingredients.  That's good.  I can imagine do this with a lot of different fruit. 

Strawberry Buttermilk Sherbet
from Southern Living, May 2008 issue

2 cups fresh strawberries or one 16 oz. package of frozen berries, thawed
2 cups buttermilk
1 cup sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Process strawberries in a food processor or blender until smooth.  Pour strawberry puree through a fine wish mesh strainer into a large bowl, pressing with the back of a spoon.  Discard solids.  Add buttermilk, sugar and vanilla to the puree.  Stir until well blended.  Cover and chill 1 hour.

Pour strawberry mixture into an electric ice cream make and freeze according to directions.  Mine took about 25 minutes.  Remove from ice cream freezer and put in a container in the freezer for several hours until ready to scoop.

Simple Spicy Asparagus in a Wok

It seems the Trout is always searching the Internet for new recipes.  This week he pulled a recipe off the New York Times which sounded really good.  Then we found perfect asparagus this week and we knew this would be on the menu.

So at this time, I also need to talk about the love/hate relationship of cilantro.  I almost find this situation amusing.  My big question is, "how can you hate the taste of cilantro?"  Here we are...the two of us.  One with Czech and Norwegian taste buds and the other with German infiltrated through every muscle.  Thinking back, we are not really sure the first time we tasted cilantro.  It had to be in the last 14 years or so since we retired and have ventured off the due course of eating into total experimentation and indulgence.  We both love cilantro!  In fact, we now grow it in our herb garden.  It is such a clean, fresh taste and goes perfectly with Thai and Oriental cooking which we do a lot of.  Soapy?  I don't think so.  In fact, each time I eat it, I try to imagine a soapy flavor and it just does not come through.

So, if you do not like cilantro, I am sorry.  You will not like this recipe.  It is absolutely necessary and makes the recipe POP with excitement.

Simple Spicy Asparagus in a Wok
  from the New York Times

1 1/2 pounds asparagus, medium or pencil-size
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
6 small dried red peppers  (we omitted this)
Salt and pepper
1/2 teaspoon Chinese chili paste
1 teaspoon grated garlic
1 teaspoon grated ginger
1/2 teaspoon grated orange zest (don't omit this...it is great)
1 jalapeno, finely chopped
2 teaspoons sesame oil
1/2 cup roughly chopped cilantro
3 green onions, slivered
1 tablespoon toasted sesame seeds

Snap off ends of asparagus and then cut into 2 inch pieces

Set wok over high heat and add vegetable oil.  Add dried peppers and let sizzle and then add asparagus, tossing well to coat.  Season with salt and pepper.  Stir-fry for a minute or so, then add chili paste, garlic, ginger, orange zest and jalapeno.  Continue cooking over high heat for a minute or so, until asparagus is cooked but still firm and bright green.

Mound asparagus on a serving platter and drizzle with sesame oil.  Sprinkle cilantro, green onions and sesame seeds over top.  We served this with a grilled chicken breast that was marinated in sweet chili sauce. 

Around the yard

I am always happy when the magnolias start blooming.  We have a very large tree in our front yard, and when in full bloom, it smells simply delicious. 

This morning on our walk, we also smelled our neighbors gardenias and jasmine blooming.  So many of our northern friends are so far from smelling anything right now, I thought I would share to let them know that spring will arrive...sometime soon. 

I also found this photos on the camera taken about one month ago.  Our beautiful family of sandhill cranes often visit in the backyard.  The babies now are the size of the parents and it has been fun watching them learn from the parents such habits as preening and even flight lessons.  We have a family every year and they are very tame.  Golfers need to quite often wait for them to move before they can continue.

The Forbidden Rice

We made a quick trip to our favorite oriental market this morning, and as always, Gigi was there to help us and answer questions.  We needed a Daikon radish for tomorrow night's dinner and some bean sprouts for a stir fry tonight.  But, I love checking out "other things" while I am there.

I came across a bag of Black Rice and remembered immediately it is also called Forbidden Rice.  Gigi told me that I needed to add more water and cook longer than regular rice.  I started immediately after we got home.

I took 2 cups of black rice and 2 3/4 cups of water, 1 tsp. salt and brought it to a boil.  I let it simmer for about 30 minutes.  The longer it simmered, the more purple it became.  A beautiful, royal purple color.  It was perfect; a little chewy, nutty flavored and delicious.  I will use some of it for our stir fry tonight, and the rest will go into a salad.  I like the flavor and texture of this rice, much more than brown rice. 

I am thinking soy sauce, sesame oil, cilantro, perhaps diced, roasted sweet potatoes, lime juice or maybe diced mangoes.  The ideas are endless.  I am thinking the rice could be substituted for black beans in salad, etc.  And here is the best news.....

In ancient China, only Emperors and the royal family were allowed to eat the black rice.  This is the where the name "Forbidden Rice" came from.  And now, in modern times, natural healing power and goodness of black rice is well noted.  Black rice is loaded with antioxidants, vitamin E, fiber and valuable anti-inflammatory properties.  Black rice has more antioxidants than 1 serving of blueberries.  It is also rich in iron. 

I also bought something else while at this little market.  Tumeric.  I saw some of the rhizomes in the refrigerator case, but Gigi talked me into the tumeric powder and told me to put a very small amount in a glass of water each day, but to drink with a straw because my mouth and tongue will remain bright yellow for a long time.  Tumeric is very helpful for arthritis.  I will let you know if I gain some more knowledge about the tumeric. 

Kiwi and Strawberry Cocktails

It seemed like a perfect afternoon to do some experimenting.  I bought a fairly large stock of kiwi fruit this last week.  The price was right, but at the moment, I was not sure what I was going to do with it.  So I started researching (my favorite thing to do ) and came up for a recipe for Kiwi Capiroska.  It seems that this is a drink from Brazil.  By the way, all of you who are into Pinterest, know that by simply typing Kiwi into the subject line, you come up with millions of suggestions.  I feel this is the very best cookbook ever.  I love Pinterest!!!

So we started experimenting in the kitchen and, I think, came up with a winner.  It seems the favored name for this drink is Kiwi Capiroska.  So, with a little tweeking here and there, we came up with this!

Kiwi Capiroska
 Inspired by "Spoon Fork Bacon"

Drinks for 2

Peel and dice one kiwi

Take two drink glasses and fill each with 1/2 of the kiwi, 2 mint leaves, 1 teaspoon sugar and 1/2 of a lime, juiced.

Muddle together the contents of the the glasses until fully combined.

Fill each glass with ice and top off with 1/3 cup vodka and 1/3 cup tonic water.

Stir and finish each with a garnish of kiwi, mint leaves and serve.

Okay, this was delightful!!  But, now I started a little more research and the word "strawberries" came to light.  Since this is still the fantastic strawberry season in Florida, and since I had some fresh strawberries in the refrigerator, we just had to try one more drink!!

So, instead of the kiwi, we diced strawberries and used them instead.  It was, again, a delightful cocktail, but we both agreed that instead of tonic water with the strawberries, perhaps simple club soda would taste just a bit better.

Don't you agree, that each drink looks perfectly refreshing, and it was!!

Pomme Gratin, or a favorite potato

Surprisingly, I have not shared one of my favorite potato recipes on my blog.  Always watching the carbs, we do not eat potatoes very often.  But when we do, it has to be something other than a plain old baked potato.  I am going to make it a really good, worthwhile potato.

Traveling in France, as we love to do, we have often run into a Pomme Gratin that has knocked our socks off.  Love, love, love the flavors of really good cheese, cream and potatoes together.  It is not the scalloped potatoes you grew up with as a child in the 50's.  There was definitely an American twist to that with cheddar and flour for thickening.  No, no, not necessary.

In 2003, we found a recipe we have followed since then.  It was on the Food Network and the recipe was courtesy Tyler Florence.  Right there you know we are in the right ballpark.

This recipe goes together simply, can be prepared ahead of the main course of your meal, and no one will turn up their noses.  I now see that Dorie Greenspan has an almost identical recipe in her cookbook "Around my French Table."  

Pomme Gratin or Potato Gratin
 recipe courtesy of Tyler Florence

1 1/2 cups heavy cream (Okay, use your own judgement.  You can use half n' half if you wish, but come on, do you really want to do that?)
1 sprig fresh thyme
2 garlic cloves, chopped
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
Butter
2 russet potatoes, peeled and sliced thin (I used my favorite Yukon Gold potatoes and sent them through my food processor.   I used about 1 1/4 pounds of potatoes.)
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
1/2 cup grated Parmesan (Oh no...not I.  I used 1/2 cup of grated Gruyere)

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.  In a saucepan, heat up the cream with a sprig of thyme, chopped garlic and nutmeg.

While cream is heating up, butter a casserole dish.  Place a layer of potato in an overlapping pattern and season with salt and pepper.  Remove the cream from the heat, pour a little over the potatoes.  Top with some grated cheese.  Make 2 more layers.  Bake, uncovered for 45 minutes.

This potato dish will brown beautifully without broiling the top.  I do love Parmesan and we always have a large wedge in the refrigerator for grating onto salads, slicing for a side to a glass of red wine, but the Gruyere is just so much better in this dish. 

These potatoes go great with ham, roast beef or with lamb chops as I prepared them.  The recipe says it is for 4-6 people.  Sorry, I cannot claim that, because we do love them that much.