making things better, whipped cream, sauteed squash

First whipped cream- whipped cream is the cure all, or the cure most, for desserts. A mediocre cobbler? Pile on the whipped cream! A lackluster fruit pie, pass the whipped cream. Some people, such as my bf, like whipped cream fraiche. I think it has an off, slightly fermented taste, which it does, that's what differentiates it from the real stuff, and consequently, I don't like it. I make whipped cream, organic heavy whipping cream, no stabilizers! If you are lucky enough to have any left over, save it for tomorrow. That mediocre cobbler is not improving with 24 hours on the counter. Or just add it to your morning coffee. But as for making it better, I think I have discovered why at times, I whip it up and the next day it is still holding together and holding firm peaks and sometimes I whip it up and mere hours later, it has separated and is altogether too runny to be any good to anyone and needs to be rewhipped. It has to do with the temperature of the cream when originally whipped. Cook books always try to instill fear of the unwhippable warm cream and insist on a chilled bowl and chilled beaters and heavily chilled cream, and this will make your cream whip up faster. However, it will not last. If you go with regular cream and a bowl directly from the cupboard and beaters right out of the drawer, it might take a little longer to whip, but it will retain its whipped-ness on into the next day and longer. I am guessing it has to do with the consistency of the fat in the cream at the different temperatures. But that's for the scientist. I haven't done a side by side yet on this, but I make plenty of disappointing desserts so there will be ample opportunity to test this out.

Sauteed squash- I made a squash and tomato gratin (BORING!) and because there was so much squash to slice, I hauled out the food processor. In general, unless the time saved with the food processor is at least twice as much as the time it takes to wash the wretched thing, I don't bother with it. But this was a big job, so I sliced an onion and then lots of squash, 2 mm slicing disc. I had squash and onion left over and sauteed them up in olive oil with some salt. WOW! I make a lot of sauteed squash in the summer, one of my most favorite things, and this was far and away the best I have ever had, not just made, but had. I will always use the food processor for this from now on.

raspberry chiffon and all that that implies

I have been eying a raspberry chiffon pie recipe all summer. First I saw the pie on the cover of Cooks Illustrated Entertaining magazine. Then I saw it again. Then I subscribed to Cooks Illustrated Entertaining Magazine, and a few weeks later got my first issue. Summer Entertaining with that raspberry chiffon pie on the cover. I read the recipe. OK, so it calls for Sure Jell and Raspberry Jello. But that picture! I had a friend coming to dinner, one friend on a Monday night. It seemed perfect.
The crust is a "press-in-the-pan" crust and even if you have never in your life greased a pie pan, in this case, when it says to spray the pan with cooking spray, don't scoff, just do it. The crust wasn't bad. You get to mix it in a mixer and then just press it in the pan. Sort of a short bready crust. The raspberry layer is where the sure-jell comes in and it might have had an odd flavor but since there are 2 cups of sugar for 12 oz of rasberries, my throat hurt too much from all the sweetness to really notice any flavor. The chiffon layer had raspberry jello and cream cheese and whipped cream and some fruit purree and really, I love that sort of thing. Chill the beast and top with sweetened whipped cream.
It was pretty good, all in all, for a Monday night and one friend. Next time I'll try using 1 cup of sugar, tasting and then ading a little more if it needs it. Also maybe cut down on the sugar in the whipped cream topping. It was all just overly sweet. But such a pretty color.
And now that picture no longer has me under its spell.

beware cake recipes that list nutritional info

I wanted to make a peach upside down cake and I wanted it to be easy and not involve a springform pan because all the good gooey stuff leaks out of those pans, and even if you have wrapped the pan in foil, you still have lost a good portion of gooey stuff. So I found a recipe in Epicurious and it included "carmelized" and "cake" in the title, so without further investigation, ahead I plunged. A closer reading would have revealed the utter lack of any fat in the recipe, no butter, no oil, just some eggs, some flour, a little sugar and some pureed peaches. And that tell tale nutritional info!
So Not Good! I served it with lots of sweetened whipped cream, which helped, but a real failure and disappointment all the way around.
Moral of the day: If there's no butter in your cake recipe, you may as well opt for ice cream.

yearning for coconut cake

It was my step daughter's birthday and she very graciously agreed to let me bake the cake for her party. She doesn't like chocolate and when I suggested coconut she said she loves coconut. Back to the vanilla bean coconut cupcake recipe. Most cake recipes that make 2 9" layers call for 2 C of flour and this recipe calls for 2 C of flour so I thought I was in the ball park. I asked my sister how many layers, 2 or 3 and what size. She said definitely 10 inches and therefore 3 layers so it looks proportional. I doubled the recipe. I did everything the same as for the cupcakes. Reducing the coconut milk takes nearly an hour and you have to watch it or it will really boil over and make a mess and also you'll lose valuable coconut milk. This time I used vanilla extract and vanilla bean. Then I baked the 3 layers for about 35 minutes which was perfect.
I used half butter and half cream cheese in the frosting, way more confectioners sugar than called for and then also both vanilla extract and vanilla bean. This was also perfect. The cream cheese adds a bit of tartness to the frosting, that just makes it balanced. I finished it by pressing toasted coconut to the outsides. It was outstanding.
The guests said, "It's so big!" "It's delicious!" and "No one bakes from scratch any more, the boxes are so easy." The host asked me how I got started baking growing up in NY? I told him I had grown up in CT, and he said, "That's even worse."
My only regret is that I didn't get to bring any home with me bc I would like to have some right now!

apps, not passed

Had a cocktail party. In an effort to reciprocate 2 years worth of invitations, I had a cocktail party for my neighbors.
3 weeks out- what a grand idea, I wonder what I'll make? Maybe pigs in a blanket, maybe sliders, maybe Rumaki, maybe congealed salad. I'm sensing a theme.
2 weeks out- I wonder if I should make mojitos? I wonder where I can buy organic, humanely raised mini cocktail franks? I didn't realize Rumaki had chicken livers in it!
1 week out- It's too hot for pigs in a blanket. Everyone likes lemonade and vodka. My hummus is usually popular and I've wanted to make that greek salad salsa for years.
After some consultation with Elise, who instructed that I not mix up regions, (no hummus and guacamole at the same party!) I ended up with Hummus, Greek salad salsa and little balls of mozzerella and cherry tomatoes on a tooth pick. The hummus is from Cooks Illustrated and having made it a number of times now, I would say- easy on the cayenne, easy on the garlic, bold with the cumin and the lemon.
The Greek salad salsa is from San Francisco flavors and was just OK. Basically, feta and olives are very strongly flavored and there wasn't much there to balance them.
I put a little basil leaf on the tooth pick with the cherry tomat and the mozz and everyone left them behind as if they were just a garnish!
The home made lemonade is amazing. 1 C lemon juice, 1 C sugar, 5-6 C water. Mix up another cup of lemon juice and cup of sugar and have them ready to go when you run out of the first batch. With vodka, can me great.
One guest told me that he always carries a picture of his wife in his pocket and periodically takes it out to look at it. "When she starts to look good, it's time to go home!" There are a few ways to take that.

God Bless America

I made a FLAG CAKE! I followed Barefoot Contessa pretty closely but used a vanilla bean for the frosting rather than vanilla extract and also added way more confectioners sugar than called for bc I felt recipe, as is, resulted in greasy frosting.
When I was buying the ingredients, which include several pints of berries, the man behind me in line asked if I was making smoothies. I said, No, a flag cake. The woman checking me out then told me that she had intended to make a flag cake but ended up just chunking up the angel food cake (!) and putting it in a bowl, layering on some berries and cool whip and then repeating with more cake, more berries and more cool whip. All her guests raved.
After I made the flag cake and was busy bragging to all my friends about it, one friend asked me if I made the recipe with the cool whip icing or the colored stuff in tubes.
I guess its a very American recipe.

White Trash Cookin'

We actually made roast chicken with a can of beer up its butt. Too hot to use the oven, wanted roast chicken, seemed like a good solution.

1 12 oz can of PBR
1 roasting chicken
pile of herbs
butter
garlic

Chop the herbs and garlic and mash with the butter. Smear this under the bird's skin. Salt and pepper liberally. Cut the top of the can of beer and leave it about 3/4 full. Set the bird down on the can while limiting the number of crude jokes about the bird's anatomy.

Put it in a gas grill big enough so it can stand tall and roast at 400 or so until done. Took about an hour.

And you know what? It was really good.