Apple and Pear Membrillo Turnovers
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There are certain foods that go hand-in-hand—that are so permanently paired, that if you’ve had one, you can’t have helped but have had the other. Peanut butter and jelly, bread and butter, oil and vinegar. And because cheese is my very favorite food, it was only a matter of time before I was exposed to the jelly to cheese’s peanut butter: dulce de membrillo, or membrillo for short.
Wasabi Chocolate Pudding
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Spice and chocolate have become so frequently seen together in recent years that I was not surprised when I spotted chocolate and jalapeno gelato the other day in the freezer section. It was this revved-up sweet-hot union that I wanted to explore using wasabi—a different kind of heat, but heat all the same.
This recipe began more as a kitchen experiment than a traditional recipe development, but I was so surprised that I kept it for The Secret Ingredient. I use something gourmet enough, wasabi powder, to add a boom-kick-pow to something quite a lot less gourmet—powdered instant chocolate pudding.
Boeuf aux Carottes
So much of my inspiration for my food comes not only from the home cooking Maman dished up over the years, but also the incredible restaurants I’ve been able to sit at in France and abroad. This dish, Boeuf aux Carottes, comes from a little restaurant in the Place Dauphine–and I didn’t order it, Mr. English did. He has great taste (obviously)! But I think I probably ate more than half because it was so good–cubes of beef collapsing into their sauce, sweet like sugar just from the abundance of carrots that added a sprinkle of sunshine to the dish. So humble, and so flawless. It warms body and soul, and I had to recreate it this week for French in a Flash, because I am absolutely freezing! I use short ribs instead of the traditional beef stew meat, but you could viably choose either. Bon app!
Braising Beef Short Ribs with Carrots
For the full story and recipe from my column French in a Flash on Serious Eats, as always, click here.
Ingredients
Procedure
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White Bean Bisque
I’m in Florida, and it’s freezing! People roll their eyes, but we Floridians are entirely unequipped for this weather. If I were in New York, and it was thirty degrees, I’d wear a coat, maybe some gloves, but down here, it’s a free(zing) for all–I swear I still see t-shirts.
This week’s column will warm you up with minimum effort. I fry window panes of garlic to make garlic chips, and then use some of the garlic-infused oil to sweat out some shallots. Add to that some rosemary, and some canned white beans, a bit of stock or water, and 15 to 20 minutes later, you have soup–soup that’s rich, velvety, and aromatic of Provence, my summer oasis hallucination in this winter desert. You can easily make this more resolution-worthy by cutting out the butter and cream, although then it’d be less like a bisque, and more like bean soup, but I won’t tell…
Frying Garlic Chips
As always, click here for the full story and recipe from my column French in a Flash on Serious Eats.
Ingredients
Procedure
Wasabi Tuna
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I think it was my unhealthy college years when I first discovered the medicinal properties of seared tuna.Growing up, I used to make my mother cook my tuna steaks absolutely through, so they were splitting at the seams and dry as Bumblebee in a well-drained can.
But after a week of studying finance with an entire thin-crust Domino’s pie every night for a week, I decided it was time for something light. And happily, at a corner Japanese sushi bar, I stumbled upon my treasured “reset” food upon which I’ve relied ever since.
I have the best readers ever. Thanks to your votes, French Revolution’s pumpkin beignets won the miscellaneous division of Bon Appetit‘s holiday blogger bakeoff, and has made it into the finals, along with four other delicious, gorgeous desserts. Click here to see the final selection.
And thank you so infinitely much for casting your votes!
Spiced Pumpkin Beignets
I went to a very feminist all-girls’ school in New York. There were all sorts of legends about the founder: a suffragette mauled to death on a wheel–they got more and more wild and heroic until she was the feminine reincarnation of Hercules, singled-handedly accomplishing the immortal task of securing women in the vote on the great, grey streets of New York. A great mural dominated the second floor hallway, of women doing men’s work. And in math, when we reached the number 19, we were told over and over again to remember: the 19th Amendment, in 1919 (even though we subsequently discovered it was passed in 1920).
Lesson learned? It may be painful, but you vote. Or else.
So, today, I graduate from pupil, to illustrious head mistress, telling you to VOTE VOTE VOTE your heart out for my Spiced Pumpkin and Bourbon Beignets with Vanilla Bean Sugar for Bon Appetit’s holiday bakeoff. Like my heroic suffragette academic forebear, I can’t do it alone. Plus, there are no cog wheels involved in this kind of voting. It’s all gastronomic pleasure as you meander through pages of holiday desserts to die for.
Follow this link, register, and scroll through. My entry is in the “Miscellaneous” category. You can flip through by clicking “Vote on Next Batch,” and then just click on my Spiced Pumpkin and Bourbon Beignets. It will turn green, and then, just cast your vote!
And truly, THANK YOU.
Ingredients for the Beignets
Ingredients for the Vanilla Bean Sugar
Procedure for the Beignets
Procedure for the Vanilla Bean Sugar
