.salmon dill eggs benedict.

With my husband working nights (he goes back to days this week! WAHOO!!!) I have felt so guilty because he doesn't get nearly as many homecooked meals because he has to go in so early.  One of his favorite things is eggs benedict.  When we were first married, we would always hit this awesome brunch buffet at this nice hotel by our home on  the weekend.    Eggs benedict would be the first thing on his plate.  So the other day I thought I would surprise him by making this for him.  He loved it!

Eggs benedict is usually made with a toasted english muffin, a slice of canadian bacon, a poached egg, and hollandaise sauce.  Mine is made with the english muffin, a slice of smoked salmon, poached egg, and a dill hollandaise sauce.  Yummy. If you're looking for something new to make for breakfast this coming Easter Sunday, you should try this!

Hollandaise sauce is a rich, egg sauce.  Not difficult to make.  First you need to cut up 4 Tbsp butter and set to the side.

In a bowl put 3 egg yolks, 1 Tbsp water, 1 Tbsp lemon juice, a dash pepper, and 1 pat of butter.  Put over a pot of boiling water in a double boiler method.  Stir with a rubber spatula consistently so the eggs don't turn into scrambled eggs.  When the pat of butter melts, add another pat and repeat until all the butter has been incorporated.  By this time, the eggs should start cooking and thickening the sauce.  When it's thick and coats the spatula, remove from the top of the pot.

Add some fresh chopped dill (or dried dill) (about 1/2 tsp).

This is the smoked salmon I used.  It's usually found in the deli section of your grocery store.  Do not buy the kind down the tuna aisle.  It's not the same kind.

Now we need to poach the eggs.  Poaching means to let the egg cook in water or steam.  An easy way to do this is to first break an egg into a bowl and then pour into a skillet of hot water.

Repeat.  I made 3 eggs... you keep adding for however many you're making this for.  Let poach for 3 minutes.

Use a serrated spoon to scoop from the water. 

Plate everything and serve with fruit and sausage or bacon.

Printable version:

http://docs.google.com/Doc?id=dg2vfjqm_152fwzxtrhp

.chocolate souffle.

Ahhhh chocolate souffle...or should I say pure unadulterated pleasure in a ramekin.  Oh how I love thee!  This dessert recipe is the cherry on top of the cake for your Valentine Dinner.  Are you folks ready to start cooking?

Remember, you can do a lot of your prep tomorrow if you have time, that way you aren't killing yourself on Saturday.  It is a good thing Valentine's Day falls on a weekend though, right?  I really hope if you make this menu for your special love, that you'll come back and let me know how it goes.  Deal?

Okay.. back to the pot of pure pleasure.  I have to admit something.  This is the first time I have ever made a souffle.  I guess I've always been intimidated by it and thought they took so much work and time.  I couldn't have been more wrong.  Seriously.  It really isn't difficult.  You just have to know what you're doing and that's where I come in.  You are going to WOW the socks off your husband or wife if you make this for them.  Really.  So don't be afraid.  Just follow me. :)

Take 4 ramekins and butter the bottom and sides.  Dust with regular sugar.  This recipe will probably make up to six souffles, so if you have enough ramekins, by all means.. make six!

These ramekins need to go back into the fridge to sit while we make the souffle.

You need to melt 4 ounces high quality bittersweet chocolate (70% cocoa) over a double boiler on very very low heat.  You don't want your chocolate to get too hot.  A tip.  When the chocolate starts melting, turn the heat off and just let the heat melt it.

Once it's melted, just set it aside for now.

Separate five eggs, saving only 3 of the yolks.  You need all of the 5 egg whites so do not discard them.  I put my eggs on the counter to warm up a little before starting my souffles.  You will get more volume when it comes time to whip.

Put the egg yolks in a mixing bowl with 1/4 cup sugar.  Whisk on high for 3 minutes.  At that time, the yolks and sugar will be really pale and fluffy.

Add 2 Tbsp flour and whisk again on high.  The mixture will start thickening now.  Make sure you scrape the sides of your mixing bowl to ensure everything is incorporated.

I didn't tell you beforehand, but you need to heat 1 cup milk just until it's warm.  Do not let it come to a boil.  While the mixer is on low speed, slowly add the milk into your egg yolk mixture.  Once the milk has been added, turn onto high speed and whisk for a minute.

Pour the entire milk/yolk mixture back into the saucepan and put on a medium burner.  You need to stay right on this and whisk getting into the corners because it will burn and try to stick on you.  So keep whisking.  It will start thickening up a little.  Once it starts thickening, REMOVE THE PAN FROM THE BURNER and whisk whisk whisk just to make sure nothing's sticking.

I returned this BACK to the mixer bowl and whisked again on high heat to make sure I had it whipped real good.

Add the melted chocolate and whisk again on high for a minute.

This is your creme patisserie and the base of your souffle.  If you aren't quite ready to go all the way with your souffle, then put a sheet of saran over the top of this mix, pressing it to seal tight on the surface of the patisserie.  Keep in a warm place.

I'm pretty sure this is how far a restaurant goes with their souffles.  Then when someone orders one, all they have to do is fold in the egg whites and bake.  Pretty amazing process, I'm sure.

Okay.. ready for the next step?  You're almost there!

If you only have one mixing bowl and whisk attachment, you're going to need to move the creme patisserie to another bowl, wash your mixing bowl well and drying it completely, and clean your whisk.  You need a very clean bowl to get your whites to whip up.

Put the 5 egg whites in the bowl with a pinch of cream of tartar.  Whip on high.  When you have soft peaks, sprinkle in 2 Tbsp sugar.  Continue to beat until you have firm peaks.  Little fluffy clouds of goodness!

Fold 1/3 of the egg whites into the chocolate.  This will lighten up the base.  Add the remaining whites and quickly fold in before they deflate.  If there are striations in the batter, it's okay.  

Pull the ramekins from the oven and ladle the souffle filling into each one.  Fill just up to where the lip flutes out.

Put these into a preheated 400* oven for 15 minutes.

After 15 minutes are up, pull these from the oven.  Make sure when they're baking that you don't open the oven for any reason.  The egg whites give the souffle the lift and bouyancy that make this dessert so spectacular and so indulgent.

Dust lightly with cocoa or powdered sugar.  If you want to serve this with a little whipped cream or ice cream, go right on ahead.

So is it as intimidating as you think a souffle appears to be?  If you can whip egg whites, or make a cream pie filling, you can make these!  I know I'm not scared anymore.  I even have a recipe for a lemon souffle that I'll have to try sometime.  

Thank you to all of you who are taking this Valentine dinner journey with me.  I hope you have much success and I hope the hearts and stomachs of those you love are filled this holiday weekend.

Love,

Suzanne

Printable version:

http://docs.google.com/Doc?id=dg2vfjqm_138fs7zw8dh

.chocolate french silk pie.

Have you ever had french silk pie? If you have, you'll be familiar with the delicious light, whipped filling that has a very delicate texture. Absolutely delicious. The chocolate is very subtle, unlike a chocolate cream pie. This is really just a chocolate mousse plopped on pie crust. What can be better than that?

This pie does call for raw egg, so if you have a problem with that, this might not be the pie for you. But trust me (trust me), you will not get food poisoning and you cannot taste the egg at all.

Before making the filling, you need to make a pie crust. When I started the pie crust, I took 3 eggs out of the fridge and sat out on the counter. You don't want to use really cold eggs, but rather you want eggs that have the chill taken off them. I have found if you take them out as you start the pie crust, they'll be out long enough to whip well.


For this recipe, make one single pie crust. Put in your pie plate, stab with a fork to create air holes, and stick in a 425* oven for 10-15 minutes.

You want the pie crust to be a little golden brown. Pull from the oven and allow to cool. You can make this pie crust the night before if you want.






While the pie crust is in the oven, you need to melt 3 ounces chocolate. The key to this recipe is good chocolate. Don't use Hershey's or Toll House. I'm talking gourmet chocolate here, people.

I broke off a piece of my Callebaut bar. It is some seriously good chocolate with out about 70% cocoa. It's a nice dark chocolate.












Melt over a double boiler on low heat. Don't get this too hot!











In a mixing bowl, put 1 softened stick (1/2 cup) butter and 3/4 cup sugar.

You really will want to use a hand mixer or stand mixer for this. You will KILL YOURSELF trying to whip this by hand and you won't get anywhere near the texture you need/want.






Cream the sugar and butter together for about 5 minutes on medium high speed. You need to make sure you let this whip until the sugar is no longer grainy. It needs to dissolve into the butter.









Add the melted chocolate and whip to incorporate. See how fluffy this is already becoming?

Add 1 tsp vanilla at this point too. Mix well.









Now, add one egg and whip whip whip on high. When it has been whipped and the sides scraped, add the second egg.

Again, whip whip whip on high. Each time you add an egg, it will get lighter and fluffier. Scrape the sides again.

Add the third egg and whip whip whip for the last time. By this point, you will have a beautiful silky mousse filling.


Here's a better shot of that filling. See how gorgeous that is? It's almost like chocolate whipped cream!











Scrape all of the filling into the cooled pie shell. Put in the fridge to sit while we make the whipped cream.










Thanks to the magic of the internet, voila. Sweetened whipped cream! Put the whip cream in a piping bag fitted with a star tip. Pipe whip cream around the edge of the pie and a little dollop in the center.

I used my vegetable peeler to shave off some chocolate off my Callebaut bar and sprinkled that on top.

Because this pie has egg in it, you will need to keep it in the fridge at all times. Probably not a good pie to serve at a hot summer pot luck outside. No no. Not good, unless you pull it directly from the fridge, serve, and put right back.

This pie is so very simple to make. Wow your family with this dessert tonight!


Printable version:
http://docs.google.com/Doc?id=dg2vfjqm_1312w8dkwdv

.creme brulee.

I had mentioned in a couple of entries prior to this one that I will be adding some of the recipes for the other Valentine menus I posted. I will apologize in advance because in order to get all of the meals posted before the holiday, I'll be posting a lot. Maybe even two times a day. I've been bad about typing up the recipes in a printable format. I will spend today getting everything typed and uploaded. :)

I made creme brulee yesterday. It's my dad's most favorite dessert, next to peach pie. It's a custard, which means it's made mostly of eggs and sugar.. and then steamed in the oven. These turned out so delicious and creamy. I topped with fresh strawberries and blueberries. Feel free to garnish with whatever fruit you'd like, or just leave plain. If you choose to make this for your Valentine, I know he/she will love you forever.

This recipe filled 3 ramekins. I thought I could get four out of this recipe, but it didn't happen. If you're feeding more than 3, you might want to adjust the recipe accordingly.


In a bowl, put 8 egg yolks and 1/3 cup sugar.












Add 2 cups heavy whipping cream and 1 tsp vanilla.

Whisk everything together.










This is a crucial step so don't skip it. You need to strain the mixture into another bowl. This will remove any lumps or egg particles because we want a smooth custard. Not a lumpy one.









Ladle the mixture into your ramekins. If you don't have ramekins, I really suggest you buy some. If you can't find ramekins, use little coffee mugs. They'll work just fine and that could be really cute!









Place the ramekins in a baking dish and fill the dish up with water. The water needs to come halfway up the side of the ramekin.

Place in a 300* preheated oven for an hour. The centers will still be slightly loose but the edges should be set.

After that hour, turn your oven off, but leave the pan in there. We need to slowly cool these down.



Once they're cool, pull from the oven and let sit on the counter until they come to room temp. Remove from the baking dish and cover each ramekin with saran wrap. Put in the fridge and allow to chill at least 2 hours. You can keep them in the fridge up to 2 days, so you can make these babies up days ahead of time!






For the finishing touch, you'll need a cooking torch. Don't have one? Just turn on your broiler to high. That should work okay.










You're also going to need superfine or caster sugar. You could use regular granulated, but it will take longer for it to burn/caramelize.










This final step is done after the brulee is completely chilled and set and right before you want to serve.

Sprinkle the tops of the brulee with some of that superfine sugar.








Using the blow torch, go in circular motions until the top is golden brown. The sugar will create a thin sheet of hardened, caramelized sugar. The signature for creme brulee.

Again, if you don't have a torch, put these under a hot broiler until the sugar browns. Pull from the oven immediately. Make sure you keep an eye on them. We don't want to melt the custard!

Place the ramekin on a dessert plate and garnish with fruit and a sprig of mint.

Printable version:
http://docs.google.com/Doc?id=dg2vfjqm_129fhdk2jgk

.huevos a la flamenca.

Back in June, I stole Jim away for Father's Day to St. Augustine, Florida. We had a wonderful, spontaneous family trip with the girls seeing the sights, and tasting the local flavor.

One of the restaurants we went to was La Pentola. A quaint, upscale restaurant down on Charlotte Street. We stopped in for brunch and I ordered Huevos a la Flamenca, or Spanish Eggs. I had never had them before and was a little surprised by what I got. Surprised in the sense that they were delicious!

I'm a fan of huevos rancheros which is the mexican version.. these have spicy chorizo sausage and ham in the dish too. YUM! Oh and you could easily put seafood in this dish too (crab or shrimp) to make it authentic to the coastal spanish villages.

When I came home, I went in search of a recipe to make for my family. I found one that looked great, bookmarked it, and then forgot about it. We aren't always big breakfast eaters, but Jim's been on leave for his job search and before he flew off to New York this morning, I made these for him.

These only take 15-20 minutes to bake. If you're in a hurry in the morning, make the tomato sauce the night before, and chop all of the meat ahead of time. That way all you have to do is crack some eggs, and throw it in the oven. This recipe is great for you low-carb dieters out there too. So try it and enjoy!


Remove the seeds and ribbing from one jalapeno (you can keep some of the seeds/ribbing if you want more heat) and then dice the pepper finely.


Mince 1 clove garlic.


Chop 3 green onion.


Finely chop some green bell pepper. I chopped about 1/4 cup.


Dice 1/2 cup ham.


This is chorizo sausage. It's a Spanish/Portugese sausage that gets its red color from dried smoked red pepper. It's really flavorful. You can find it down the ethnic aisle in your grocery store. You could use fresh, but traditional requires a smoked sausage.


Dice up that chorizo. (1/4 cup)

Before we start making the tomato sauce/salsa, turn your oven to 200* and put the dish you plan on using into the oven. You want to heat up the dish, whether it's a baker, or ramekins to help speed the poaching process along.


Heat a little olive oil in a skillet and add the garlic, jalapeno, and green bell pepper. Saute for a minute.


It's amazing how different the lighting in my kitchen varies from one side to the other. Sorry for the bad picture! Add the green onion. Again, saute for another minute.


Pop open a can of diced tomatoes. Add those directly to the skillet.


Season with salt and pepper then let this cook for a minute, bringing the tomatoes to temp.


Remove the baker from the oven and pour the tomato sauce/salsa in. Turn the oven up to 350*.


Dump in the ham.


Then add the chorizo.

Break in 8 eggs.

Season the top with salt and pepper, and a few remaining slices of green onion.

Put the dish back into the oven (at 350* and bake 15-20 minutes. If the egg whites aren't cooked through, keep it in there. I didn't catch mine in time and the yolks did get a little overcooked. You want them still very soft or even slightly runny.

Serve immediately with some fresh fruit and crusty bread.


Printable version:
http://docs.google.com/Doc?id=dg2vfjqm_117kcf24jdz