The Queen of Tarts

Flying Saucers... Also known as the Daring Bakers' Challenge

The 2009 October Daring Bakers’ challenge was brought to us by Ami S. She chose macarons from Claudia Fleming’s The Last Course: The Desserts of Gramercy Tavern as the challenge recipe.

I still remember the first time I tasted a French macaroon...  We were in Paris, and I was in grade school.  A trip to Fauchon had my sister and I peering into the windows and staring at all sorts of gorgeous delicacies that we could not even begin to imagine in our wildest dreams.  I still remember pointing to the macaroons and having the woman behind the counter fill a box with the different colored round treats - each one a different flavor.  We bought so many, we had enough to take some back home on the plane with us (this was of course before the airlines restrictions that are now in place, at that point people could bring on full four-course meals!)  Lemon, pistachio, orange, mocha, and on and on.  My sister referred to them as flying saucers, and she had a point.  From that point on, every time I saw these treats, I thought (and still think) of the trip to Paris.

While my attempt to recreate macaroons from Paris was nowhere near as stellar (I never achieved the "feet"), the taste exceeded my expectations.  I filled them with salted caramel.  Instead of a blanched almond flour, I had whole ground almond flour, which made for a nuttier and coarser texture, but the cookie came out soft and as I remembered.

Preparation time: Not taking into account the amount of time it takes for you to bring your egg whites to room temperature, the whole baking process, including making the batter, piping and baking will probably take you about an hour to an hour and a half. How long it takes to make your filling is dependent on what you choose to make.

Actual baking time: 12 minutes total, plus a few minutes to get your oven from 200°F to 375°F.

Equipment required:
• Electric mixer, preferably a stand mixer with a whisk attachment
• Rubber spatula
• Baking sheets
• Parchment paper or nonstick liners
• Pastry bag (can be disposable) or ziploc plastic bags
• Plain half-inch pastry bag tip
• Sifter or sieve
• If you don’t have a pastry bag and/or tips, you can use a Ziploc bag with the corner snipped off
• Oven
• Cooling rack
• Thin-bladed spatula for removing the macaroons from the baking sheets
• Food processor or nut grinder, if grinding your own nuts (ouch!)

Ingredients
Confectioners’ (Icing) sugar: 2 ¼ cups (225 g, 8 oz.)
Almond flour: 2 cups (190 g, 6.7 oz.)
Granulated sugar: 2 tablespoons (25 g , .88 oz.)
Egg whites: 5 (Have at room temperature)

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 200°F (93°C). Combine the confectioners’ sugar and almond flour in a medium bowl. If grinding your own nuts, combine nuts and a cup of confectioners’ sugar in the bowl of a food processor and grind until nuts are very fine and powdery.
2. Beat the egg whites in the clean dry bowl of a stand mixer until they hold soft peaks. Slowly add the granulated sugar and beat until the mixture holds stiff peaks.
3. Sift a third of the almond flour mixture into the meringue and fold gently to combine. If you are planning on adding zest or other flavorings to the batter, now is the time. Sift in the remaining almond flour in two batches. Be gentle! Don’t overfold, but fully incorporate your ingredients. (I became increasingly frustrated and stopped sifting and just dumped in the flour/sugar mixture...)
4. You can put the mixture down on the sheet in a few ways...you can spoon the mixture into a pastry bag (fitted with a plain half-inch tip -Ateco #806), or you can also use a Ziploc bag with a corner cut off. 
5. Pipe one-inch-sized (2.5 cm) mounds of batter onto baking sheets lined with nonstick liners (or parchment paper).
6. Bake the macaroon for 5 minutes. Remove the pan from the oven and raise the temperature to 375°F (190°C). Once the oven is up to temperature, put the pans back in the oven and bake for an additional 7 to 8 minutes, or lightly colored.
7. Cool on a rack before filling.

Yield: 10 dozen - Mine yielded closer to 4 dozen, but I made them a bit too big...

Falling in Love with Figs

There is something incredibly sexy about the fig.  Fresh, dried, cooked, or raw they hold an element of lure, lust, and desire.  While I have eaten dried and cooked figs for years, I fell in love with fresh figs last year during my 3-week trip to Spain and Morocco.  When my friend Asha began to pick up the figs from the fruit buffet in Madrid and then again in Marrakesh, I was intrigued and followed suit.  Sweet, soft, and decadent were the first adjectives to come into my mind.  After those bites, I was hooked, and upon my return sought out the fruit whenever I could.  Late summer / early fall is one of my favorite times of year and I now pick up figs whenever I can.

I remember a pint that was sitting in the back of my refrigerator, and I needed to do something with the precious fruit before they collapsed into each other due to their delicate nature.  I decided that with winter coming, I could turn fresh fruit into preserves and use them to top yogurt throughout the coming months.  I opened up my Joy of Cooking and searched for a jam recipe.  To my surprise, there was nothing there.  I then picked up my 2004 version of Cook's Illustrated The Best New Recipe.  Nothing.  How could neither of these book have recipes for jam?  I remembered that I had recently acquired a 1943 issue of  Joy of Cooking from my grandmother's house (which, as an aside, she recently sold after the house remained in the family for more than 170 yrs).  Sure enough the 1943 edition met my needs.  I adapted some of the multiple recipes that I found and came up with this recipe.  It is perfection on top of plain yogurt.  Absolutely a perfect dessert.  The jam itself is healthy - fruit, lemon juice, water, some agave nectar, and fruit pectin.  The recipe could be adapted for other fruits.

2 C quartered fresh figs 

3 tbsp agave nectar

1/4 lemon juice

1 C water

3 tbsp fruit pectin

Mix the figs, agave, lemon juice, and water together.  Bring to a simmer over medium heat and allow to reduce slightly - about 15 minutes.  

Add the pectin - sprinkle over the top while stirring - and continue to cook for another 5-7 minutes.  Reduce heat to low, and cook for 2-3 minutes.  Turn heat off and allow to cool.  Place into a sterilized jar if you plan to wait before eating, or into a covered container and refrigerate for up to 1 week.

 

Rosemary Goat Cheese Lamb Chops

Truth be told, I am not much of a meat eater.  Following my open heart surgery, I moved away from meat, and filled my diet with legumes, tofu, fish, and the like.  However, the same does not hold for the King of Hearts, my better half, Hector.  So during one miserable "fall-like" night this past July, I thought that I should break out of my norm and find a tasty recipe for him.  I settled on lamb chops.  I figured that they would be relatively easy to make, I knew he loved lamb, and I would challenge myself as I had never made lamb before.  I searched through several recipes and came across one from Whole Foods, which I adapted.  Hector loved it, and he knows what he is talking about when it comes to food!  The rosemary goat cheese sauce is fantastic, and could accompany so much more than lamb.  In fact, I was happy just eating it off the spoon.  Now that we are settling into fall, I might have to make this recipe again as it is comforting and filling, but not too heavy.  Enjoy!

Ingredients
1 teaspoon salt
4 lean lamb chops, each about 1-inch thick (I asked the butcher to cut them for me so they were smaller - similar to lollipops)
1/4 to 1/2 teaspoons pepper
2 teaspoons finely chopped rosemary
1/2 cup dry white wine
1/3 cup chicken broth
2 sprigs of rosemary
3 ounces goat cheese

Preheat oven to broil.

Place an oven-proof skillet on the stove on high heat and add the salt. When you flick a little drop of water in the skillet and it sizzles it's ready for the chops. Sear the chops on the first side until browned, about 2 to 3 minutes, then flip the chops, sprinkle them with pepper and sear the other side for about 2 minutes. Sprinkle chopped rosemary all over chops.

Transfer skillet to oven and broil for about 3 minutes per side, or longer, if desired. Remove chops from the skillet and keep warm in a covered casserole dish. Return skillet to stovetop and heat over medium high heat. (Be careful not to touch the handle of the skillet since it will still be very hot!)

Add wine to deglaze the skillet, scraping the browned bits off of the bottom. Add broth and 1 sprig rosemary and simmer at a low boil and add the goat cheese.  Allow to cook for about 6-10 minutes. Remove and discard rosemary sprig.

Place the chops on a plate and drizzle sauce over the top. Top with remaining rosemary sprig and serve immediately.  I served mine with rosemary roaster potatoes.