Tag: Cr

Chocolate Sour Cream Bundt Cake – You Asked For It!

As promised, here’s the recipe for the chocolate cake that
was featured in the orange Crème Anglaise video recipe we did a few weeks ago.
In case you missed it, here’s what happened: We uploaded a perfectly fine
looking custard sauce video, which no one cared about once they saw this
gorgeous looking cake.

Not only did the vast majority of the audience lose all
interest in the Crème Anglaise, but they also started requesting the cake be
shared in video recipe form. And by “request,” I mean they demanded under
threat of grievous bodily harm. Well, it worked.

By the way, you can use any pan for this cake, even a
cupcake tin, as long as you’re prepared to adjust your baking time. I’d love to
give you specific times, but that will depend on the exact size/type of pan.
Best to test early and often with the old bamboo skewer, until it comes out
clean.

I joked in the intro that if you messed this up, you
should never try to bake anything else again. The funny this is, that’s not a
joke. You’ll have to try really hard for this not to come out awesome. In fact,
the ganache is probably the trickiest part, and all that entails is pouring
boiling cream over chopped chocolate and stirring. I hope you give this
ridiculously easy and delicious chocolate cake a try soon. Enjoy!

Ingredients for 1 Chocolate Sour Cream Bundt Cake:
Recipe from Bi-Rite Market’s Eat Good Food

2 cups all-purpose flour

1 3/4 cups sugar

1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda

2 sticks (1 cup) unsalted butter

1/3 cup high-quality cocoa powder (use the best you can
find)

1 cup water

1/2 tsp fine salt

2 large eggs

1/2 cup sour cream

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

For the ganache:

4 ounces good quality dark chocolate, chopped or broken into
1/2-inch pieces

1/2 cup heavy cream

*Bring cream to a boil and immediately pour over chocolate.
Wait 1 minute and stir until smooth and glossy.

Incoming search terms:

B.L.T. Pasta – I’ll Have the Bacon, Lettuce, and Tomato…Hold the Sandwich

I love Twitter for many reasons, but stumbling upon recipe
ideas is probably my favorite. I recently saw a picture posted by my friend,
Mardi from eat. live. travel. write, for something called, “BLT Pasta,” and I
immediately had one of those, “why didn’t I think of that” moments. By the way,
I have four or five of those moments a day.

Since I get so many food wishes for pasta recipes, I figured
I would give it a go. Plus, as luck would have it, I had some arugula in the
fridge just begging to be used. I knew that this combination would taste great,
but I wasn’t prepared for just how great.

I decided to use crème fraiche as the main sauce ingredient,
and it worked beautifully. It was just rich enough, and the fermented cream’s
subtle nuttiness was an excellent foil for the smoky meat, sweet tomatoes, and
bitter greens. As I mentioned in the video, crème fraiche is pretty easy to
find, but of course we’ll encourage you to follow this link and make your own.

If you can’t find or make some, just use heavy cream along
with a squeeze of lemon juice to mimic that essential tanginess. Thank
you Mardi (and Twitter) for the inspiration, and if you’re looking for a quick,
easy, and very summery pasta idea, I hope you give this a try soon. Enjoy!

Ingredients for 4 portions:

1 tbsp olive oil

8 oz bacon

2 garlic cloves minced

2 tsp lemon zest

2/3 cup crème fraiche

2 cups halved cheery tomatoes

3-4 cups roughly chopped arugula or other salad greens

2 cups macaroni, cooked, drained
grated Parmesan

Million Dollar Chicken – Of Course It Tastes Rich!

This take on the Standard Grill’s famous “Million Dollar
Chicken,” showed me once again that so many of life’s great culinary pleasures
happen when you least expect them. I saw this recipe featured on TV recently,
and chose to try it for two main reasons: one, it’s slathered in crème fraiche;
and two, it’s roasted over caramelized, chicken drippings-soaked bread.

I know, we had you at “slathered in crème fraiche,” but it
was the bread that I was really looking forward to when I pulled this out of
the oven, which is why I was so bummed when I thought I’d ruined it. Since I
got greedy and used an extra slice of bread, and also used a larger roasting
pan, the bread cooked to what would generously be referred to as
“golden-black.”

Several times during the glazing at the end, I contemplated
tossing them out and simply making a joke about it during the narration, but
I’m SO glad I didn’t. I can’t explain why, but not only didn’t it taste like burnt
toast, it truly tasted fantastic. For purely aesthetic reasons, I’ll
encourage you to use a smaller roasting pan, which will better insulate the
edges of the bread, but I wasn’t exaggerating when I described just how great
it really was. I promised to stop using the word “unctuous,” but it actually
seems appropriate here.

It was so saturated with chicken fat, caramelized juices,
and crème fraiche, that the bitterness from the darkest parts of the bread
seemed to balance the richness somehow. The point is, if mine was good this
dark, one shade lighter should get you even closer to million dollar chicken
nirvana. I hope you give this “rich” combo a try soon. Enjoy!

Ingredients for 4 portions:

4 1/2 pound whole chicken

salt and pepper to taste

1 lemon

1 bunch fresh thyme

1 bay leaf
3 cloves garlic (original recipe calls for adding a few cloves of garlic in the cavity with the herbs and lemon – I didn’t, since I had included garlic in the last twelve things I’d eaten, and was taking a break, but feel free to add!)

olive oil, as needed

3 thick slices day-old French bread (I used sourdough)

For creme fraiche glaze:

1 cup creme fraiche

1 zest of one lemon

juice of one lemon

1 tablespoon grated shallot puree

1 teaspoon Aleppo pepper

– Cook at 450 degrees F. for one hour, then glaze, cook for
10 minutes, and repeat until chicken is done. (Note: If you use a different
size chicken, you’ll obviously need to adjust your times. Cook until internal
temp in thickest part of thigh is 165 degrees F.)
– The original recipe from the Standard Grill in NYC calls for finishing with Maldon sea salt. I didn’t, but that always a nice option.