Pears Poached in Red Wine

This is such a beautifully simple, yet unbelievably special desert.  And a great dinner party dish, it looks and tastes spectacular, and can be made in advance to be served at room temperature. So, so, so easy.

I absolutely love pears, the honey sweet flavor and soft grainy texture, they're like no other fruit.  For this recipe I like to use French d'Anjou pears, but Bartlett will do if the French d'Anjou are not available. 

There are so many recipe's for this dish, but the ingredients vary only between the spices, and the use or not of lemon. I like to make my poached pears using star anise, vanilla pod and cinnamon.

I've tried many different ways of making this dish, and this is my favorite.

Ingredients:

4 French d'Anjou Pears

2 cups Marsala wine

1/2 cup sugar

2 sticks cinnamon

1 Star Anise

1 Vanilla pod, split
2 tbsp mascarpone cheese

Put the red wine, sugar, and spices in a saucepan and bring to a rolling boil.  Reduce heat and simmer until the sugar dissolves.

Being careful to leave the stalk on, peel the pears, and remove the core.  Slice a disc off the base of each pear so they stand up.

Place the pears into the saucepan, and make sure they are completely covered with the wine. Simmer for 25 - 30 minutes, until the pears are cooked through.

Remove the pears from the heat and allow them to cool for a couple of hours, once cooled refrigerate in the liquid.

When ready to serve, remove the pears from the liquid, then reduce the liquid for about 20 minutes over a medium heat until it has a consistency of syrup.

Pipe the mascarpone cheese into the centre of each pear, and drizzle the reduced liquid over to serve.

  Lovely poached pears, absolutely delicious.

The secret to making these pears fabulous, is to make them a couple of days in advance, so they have time to absorb all the flavors from the wine and spices, this also intensifies a wonderful deep color into the pears.

Another way with Surf & Turf

So having spent the morning at the barn with the horses, I rushed home to make an order of assorted cup cakes for a Memorial Day family get together.

I made coffee, coconut and chocolate butter cream frosted cup-cakes, my 3 favorite 'C's"...

The weather was so glorious today, in the high 80's, thank God for air conditioning.  Once my cup cakes were done and collected by the client, I decided to make myself a special dinner of surf and turf.

I bought a lovely piece of fillet Mignon from the wholefoods store yesterday.  Yes I have to admit I have started eating meat in America again, but only because I found a supplier of farm raised beef, grass fed cattle.

I sauteed some scallops and some mushrooms in butter, and then pan seared this wonderful piece of fillet.  It was mouth wateringly  good, so simple, quick and thoroughly delicious, no recipe needed, just cook everything in a sautee pan with a little butter until done to your taste.   Serve with some salad greens, a generous dollop of Coleman's English Mustard, a few sauteed onion rings and you are in culinary Heaven...  What could be easier!

Enjoy :o)

Actually this is a low carb meal,  hmmmm I wonder how I managed that?

Extension of the "car Boot sale"!

Having almost, (yes I said almost) reached the point of being totally tidy in the new house, you know that place, that dream we all have, that impossible, unattainable, illusive dream of having a place for everything, and everything is in its place, a place where your entire life's collection of "we might need that some day" junk, that you just can't bear to part with, is stored safely, tidily and organized on polished glass shelves, and categorized with military precision, in a part of the house that you don't have because it doesn't exist, but you pretend it does so you don't have to worry about all the space your junk is taking up in your otherwise tidy house.  "Have I lost you yet?"

We had almost reached that point of perfection, we were all but there, we had just one little pimple, on the otherwise unblemished face of true perfection, "the basement."

A festering pile of surplus junk that was steadily growing down below.  Both Edi and I had spent hours and hours in the basement since we moved here, sorting through box after box of stuff; stuff that had previously been stored in the garages at Easton for the last 4 years, stuff I'm sure I wouldn't have missed had I never seen it again, but having seen it I just couldn't bring myself to part with it, so there it was growing larger and larger in the basement.

In particular a multitude of silk flowers, emanating from a period of my life where I thought it was cool to fill the house with said fake, floral junk.

Decisions had to be made, it couldn't continue, it had to go, Danni and Edi had made it quite clear, NO FAKE, FLORAL CRAP in their house  :o(

So we came up with the idea of... CAR BOOT, GARAGE SALE, YARD SALE, whatever you want to call it, the idea was tossed around and we all decided this was the way to go, lets sell it, let someone else get some fun, use, whatever out of my precious stored old, moldy junk and floral crap.

But this is me!  the eccentric, I can't just do things as expected, in the usual, normal, accepted way.   So using my brilliant intuition, and exploiting any possible excuse to spend time more in the kitchen, I decided to have a bake sale, along with the sale of my precious junk.

And wouldn't you know it,  it was a huge success, all my cakes quickly sold out.

 I made a poster of some of my more elaborate cakes, and I made about 100 cup cakes as samples of the flavors I use in my cakes,  which I sold at 50 cents each.

I took so many orders for cakes, I just hope I have time to make them before I leave here on June 9th, to return to Daisy in Panama.

Everyone said it was the best, most delicious garage sale they had ever been too.  That made me happy :o)

 Our garage/bake sale was a huge success, we sold almost all of our (crap) stuff, and all but one of my floral arrangements...

I'm feeling quite flourless tonight :o(

A Little Tipple :o)

Sunday, May 8, 2011

I tried another interesting wine this week, that I really liked and thought I would share it with you;

 Masciarelli

 Montepulciano D'Abruzzo 2007

This delicious red, full bodied wine comes from the Abruzzo region of Italy, but don't confuse it with the fabulous wine Vino Nobile di Montepulciano, which is made from the Sangiovese grapes.

I found this wine in Giant Eagle, and it was under $20 a bottle.

Readers Question

Tuesday, May 10, 2011

For the reader who asked why the brie (Brie De Meaux) I was talking about in an earlier post is illegal here in the US.

Brie De Meaux is a raw milk cheese that is aged under 60 days, and the US legislation, standards and requirements state that a raw milk cheese must be aged in excess of 60 days.

Here is a link to a site that should answer any further questions you may have.

http://www.dbicusa.org/documents/Raw%20Milk%20Cheese%20Legislation%20PDF.pdf

Personally I think it's a shame that we can't get the real thing here, because we're missing out on some truly amazing cheese's.  I always find the imitation brie's available to us here in the US  are such a disappointment, but then I'm from Europe and grew up eating the real thing.  However, there is hope, I've discovered that using US brie in recipe's where it is baked with other flavorful ingredients it takes on a whole new delicious identity.

For those of you (locally) there is a great deli where you can buy some fabulous English and Italian cheeses

KATZINGER’S DELICATESSEN 

475 S. Third Street, 

Columbus, Ohio 43215 

(At the corner of Third & Livingston in Germain Village) 

614/ 228.DELI (3354)

 www.katzingers.com

Yeah, cheese lovers unite :o)

Dough

Tuesday, June 22, 2010

Bread making on board

Saturday 19th June

We woke to heavy, continuous rain, and skies dark with cloud, it looks as though it will be like this all day. Our plan had been to drive out around St.Thomas and sight see, but I’m not sure that’s going to happen, at least not this morning.
So, what to do while it’s raining cats and dogs? I decided to work on perfecting my bread making skills, which are a little like my sailing skills, very amateurish and frequently unsuccessful. I have in the past managed semi successful bread with the use of a bread maker, but it was still a little dense, and heavier than I would have liked. Obviously I can’t use a bread maker on board, it would run the boat batteries dead in no time. I really need to learn to make bread by hand.
You could use my loafs of home made bread to build houses, they were like bricks. However, before I returned to Daisy this time, I spent many hours browsing the cookbook isles of my local Barns & Noble, my absolute favorite store, and I found a fabulous book called ‘DOUGH’, by Richard Bertinet. This wonderful book explains in really easy to understand terms, the methods, and techniques to the art of making bread. Not the sweet, cakey type American bread, but the light as air, crusty, delicious style bread. Found in Europe. OH how I’ve missed that wonderful bread. The book comes with a DVD, so you can clearly see Richard’s technique.
It took me a while longer than it should to perfect the dough, as I hadn’t allowed for the moist, humid atmosphere on board, here in the Caribbean. I was working with the dough for almost an hour, until my hand’s ached so much I had to stop. I couldn’t quite get the dough to be anything other than sticky. However, an hour and a half later, I was taking the most delicious little bread rolls out of the oven, I was eating them hot smothered with butter, they were absolutely wonderful, and the boat smelt like Heaven. All the slapping of the dough on the marble board had woken Edi, and he came out to see what I was doing. I started making another batch and as he watched me slap, and stretch, adding air and struggling with the stickiness of the dough, he decided he wanted to have a go, as it turns out, Edi is quite the bread maker! The result; light, crusty, delicious bread. Yummy!

Ed hard at work with the dough

When we return to the BVI’s and have Internet service again, I’m going to write to Richard Bertinet and thank him for his wonderful book, that has enabled me to finally make not only edible, but wonderfully delicious bread. www.thebertinetkitchen.com

My 3 workplaces

My Galley

This is where I work when on board.  My galley on Daisy

Looking back from the living area.

My Mum's little kitchen

My Kitchen when I'm not at Mum's or on Daisy bouncing around on the ocean.

Food to Die For!

What would your last meal be?  This is a great dinner party question, everyone comes up with some interesting and sometimes surprising answers.

If you knew this was your last day on this earth, and you could only have one meal to enjoy, do you know what it would be?

I would have absolutely no hesitation, mine would be cheese, bread and wine.

But not just any cheese, it would have to be Brie De Meaux, OH this cheese is truly to die for delicious,  a fabulous soft-ripened raw cow's milk cheese;  sadly illegal for import into the United States, but there are some imitations available here that are quite acceptable, that is unless you are dying, and only the real thing would do.

The wine would have to be Chateau Beaucastel 1981 Chateau-neuf-du-Pape (no imitations acceptable here)

This wine is thick, rich, sweet, candied, fruity with notes of smoke, pepper, dried herbs, truffles, leather, cedar, blackberry, it's full-bodied and opulent.  Truly a wine to die for! One of the most delicious, complex, stunning Beaucastels ever made, and the cost of it (around $350 a bottle)  I would have to be dying to buy it...

The bread would be a crusty white baguette, made especially for me by Richard Bertinet.

Oh yes,  and some fresh ripe figs. 

 I'm now in culinary dreamland, and my mouth is watering, I need to go and raid the fridge and see what cheeses I have available to snack on...

So next week my blogs will be all about Brie, and some of the delicious ways you can use it...

Happy Eating :o)

When Adam came to Dinner

I think I may have mentioned my love of cooking and all things culinary, I love cook books, they are my favorite reading. I also get really excited about kitchen equipment, I'm sure I have almost as much as most professional kitchens, although sadly most of it is still in storage. I love kitchen design, and shows about cooking especially the program "Chopped" which I think is the best show on TV! 

I love the British Chef Gordon Ramsey, he's an incredible chef, despite his foul language and short fuse, I own all of his cook books, and DVDs of his TV shows.  Then last but by no means least my unconditional love of food, both eating it and preparing it. I get excited about ingredients, and especially fresh organic fruit and vegetables.

 Nothing makes me happier than having people to feed, and test my new recipes on. When we lived in Cincinnati my son Edi would often bring his friends home for dinner.  One of Edi's closest friends Steve, even had a regular place at our dinner table.  But there was one friend Adam, who would never stay for dinner despite many invitations, Until...

One day when I was making fish pie, Adam finally accepted the invitation to dinner.   I spent a little longer than normal piping the creamed potato on top of the fish, I wanted it to not only taste spectacular, but look great too, after all you eat with your eyes first.

I had the table laid up with all the best linen, glasses and silverware, it looked lovely, we even had flowers on the table. When everyone was seated, I proudly placed my beautiful fish pie in the center of the table, and everyone commented on how fabulous it looked,  I could tell Adam was looking forward to eating it.  After I had served everyone the table was very quiet, usually a sign that everyone is enjoying the food.

My first mouth full was a surprise, and not in a good way, it tasted like nothing, it was so bland, totally lacking in any flavor, like eating soggy tasteless mush, it was hard to believe that food could taste so tasteless! I could have cried, I immediately apologized and everyone except Adam said "yea Mum not your best"!  Adam politely said "it's delicious" and ate the whole thing, while the rest of us pushed it aside eating only the vegetables.
It was a long time before Adam ate with us again, I made sure that it was good when he did, and definitely not Fish Pie.

So that experience pretty much put me off fish pie, I originally thought for life, but recently I decided to have another attempt and make one using my own recipe, and definitely knock up the taste a few notches.  I made one this week and it was the most delicious fish pie I have ever eaten, and that was echoed by my son Edward (also my greatest critic).

So because I'm feeling generous, here's my recipe:

I decided against using mashed potato for the topping, and experimented by using biscuits instead, it was a real success, at least judging by the comments I received.
Let me know what you think.

Sweet crust Fish Pie

1 ¾ lb fresh Cod fillets, cut into 2” squares

4 medium carrots, peeled and chopped into ½”slices

4oz frozen peas

1 large leek, washed and chopped into ½” slices

1 tbsp Tarragon leaves (stems removed)

2 oz double cream

1 tbsp finely chopped dill

1 tbsp all purpose flour

4 oz unsalted butter

2 oz full fat milk

1 can buttermilk biscuits

Salt & Pepper

Large ovenproof flan dish 

Preheat oven to 350.

Season the cod with salt and pepper. Melt 1 oz of the butter in a large sauté pan and fry the cod pieces on all sides until lightly golden in color.  Remove from the pan and place in the flan dish, sprinkle the tarragon leaves over the fish.

Add a little more butter and the chopped leeks to the sauté pan, and cook for about 5-6 minutes, until just starting to soften, add the frozen peas and stir for 1 minute, remove leeks and peas from pan and spread over the cod.

Place the chopped carrots in salted, rapidly boiling water for 3-4 minutes, strain the carrots and spread evenly over the cod.

To make the Roux:

Heat the rest of the butter in a saucepan until reduced to liquid, remove the pan from the heat and using a wooden spoon gradually stir in the flour until all the flour is incorporated.  Gradually add the milk stirring constantly to achieve a smooth thick paste.  

Return the pan to the heat, and add the cream slowly continuing to stir until all the cream is incorporated, add the dill and continue to cook gently over the lowest heat without boiling for about 10 minutes.

Pour the roux evenly over the cod and vegetables.

Open the biscuits and carefully pull each one apart into 2 pieces laying over the top of the cod and vegetables until they’re completely covered.

Bake in a 375 degree oven for 35-40 minutes or until biscuits are golden brown.

Enjoy :o)

Paying Peanuts for Cheese

So there I was in the speciality food store, trying to decide whether I really wanted to pay $17 a pound for the particular Parmigiano-Reggiano I had read about, without tasting it first.  $17 a pound isn't a lot to pay if the cheese is good, so it was a bit of a gamble.
This cheese has a reputation of having a rich nutty, tangy flavor, and claims to have a great texture,  it won "Best in Show" so it should be good, right!  But that was best in show here in America, where I'm sorry, but I find the cheese here usually rather tasteless...  I normaly look for imported cheese from Europe.

Being English I am very choosey about my cheese. I grew up near Cheddar, where they make the best, really the best, tastiest cheese in the world.  I've always found American cheese to have a slightly plastic consistency, and almost always lacking in flavor.  Each year I go back to the UK, and bring a suitcase full of cheese home with me.

Anyway, moving on...

I have heard, and read only great things about this particular Parmigiano-Reggiano, it boasts a good balance of creamy, fruity, nutty Parmigiano flavor, and I really wanted to try it.  I was looking at the other Parmigiano-Reggiano's on offer, all of them around $9- $12 a pound, when I suddenly had a flash back, and remembered something that happened years ago that totally changed my way of thinking when shopping.

My husband and I were having dinner at our friends house, (this was about 30 years ago) we had just finished eating the most scrumptious meal, and she was serving us coffee, when she said "sorry about the coffee it taste's like crap, but I had to buy it because it was so cheap"!  For whatever reason, that stayed with me.  The cheap coffee absolutely ruined the lovely meal.

I would rather pay 10 times the price to have quality,  just enjoy it less often, than have crappy, nasty, tasteless stuff every day because it was cheap.
You pay peanuts you get monkey's.

OH, and the cheese was actually not that bad...  BOAR'S HEAD Parmigiano-Reggiano

Sugar Baskets

Easter is on the way, and hopefully warmer weather.  We're still waiting to move house.  The move is so overdue, these last few weeks are really dragging by.  The maintenance guys have tried to fix the cigarette smoke that seeps constantly into our apartment from the one below, but nothing seems to work, so we just have to put up with it until we can move out, thankfully it's only days now.  I'm still busy trying to occupy my time in between the packing and clearing out with other mindless, fun stuff...  like cooking! I thought it would be fun to make sugar spun baskets for Easter.  I've not worked much with sugar, and believe me it's not as easy as it looks, especially when you're trying to do it without a candy thermometer!

My first attempt was a bit clumsy, and I burnt the sugar, however the baskets took me so long to make I decided to serve them anyway and just tell everyone to eat the filling and leave the baskets.

I filled the base of each basket with a thin layer of dark chocolate, then piled lovely blackberries on top and a large dollop of mascarpone cheese that was mixed with blackberry jam and a splash of Disaronno.

It turned out that the sweetness of the blackberries and cream, with the bitterness of the sugar and chocolate was a delightful gastronomic experience, and Bob said I shouldn't change a thing it worked perfectly. 

I've since perfected the art of making the caramel for the baskets, but Bob still says he prefers it when the sugar is slightly burnt.

I'm still working on the final recipe's for my book, bearing in mind all my recipes are aimed at the boating community, ie, simple stuff to make on board in tight conditions and sweltering heat, sadly I don't think the sugar baskets quite qualify.  OH well, they were fun to make (on land)

Yogurt Berry Surprise

It's not a lot of fun living surrounded by boxes, and furniture piled up all over the place, the new vacuum is working overtime trying to cope with all the mess we're creating by moving furniture, taking down shelves and packing... I'm desperate to get out of here and into the new house.

OH the sheer bliss of not having to live at, (well maybe I shouldn't mention the name here) anymore, I'm so excited at the thought of peaceful, silent nights, no more road sweepers waking me in the early hours, or the damn bus stopping below the apartment playing the automated safety message at full volume.  The thought of having clean air to breathe,  and no more struggling to carry bags of heavy groceries up 2 flights of stairs, or having to park 10 minutes from where you live, to have a bathroom that doesn't fill up with cigarette smoke from the apartment below, something we have nagged and nagged them to fix for us, without success, many promises to do so, but no results...  Moving time really can not come fast enough for us.  The time is really dragging...

Living here is quite depressing us all, so in an attempt to cheer everyone up I decided to make one of my really decadent, Heavenly deserts, and because I'm feeling generous I'm going to share my secret preciously guarded recipe with you.

Daisy's Yogurt Berry Surprise

Shopping List

Mascarpone Cheese 4oz

Raspberry Jam 1 tbsp

Dark Brown Sugar 1 tbsp

Amaretto Liqueur 2oz

Natural Yogurt 8oz

Heavy Whipping Cream 8 oz

Selection of Berries, (anything in season) 1 1/2  cups

Clean the berries, if using strawberries, slice in half, place in the bottom of a glass flan dish and pour the Amaretto over, stirring gently to coat all the berries.  

In a small bowl gently stir the mascarpone cheese with the raspberry jam to mix, and spoon over the berries.

In a medium bowl beat the whipping cream until stiff peaks form, then gently stir in the natural yogurt mixing well.

Spread the cream mixture over the mascarpone cheese & berries, and sprinkle liberally with the dark brown sugar.  

Garnish with berries.

Place in the refrigerator for a couple of hours before serving.

Enjoy :o)

Daisy's Chocolate Mousse

For years I have experimented and messed around with different recipe’s for chocolate mousse eventually I came up with this one, which, like my recipe for Crème Brulee will remain a steadfast favorite among my recipe’s, it’s easy, quick and doesn’t use many ingredients.

4 ounces of Bittersweet chocolate, chopped

3 tsps Grand Marnier or Cointreau

1/3^rd cup heavy cream

2 large eggs

2 tbsp soft brown sugar

In a heatproof bowl, over a saucepan of simmering water, add the cream and the chocolate, and stir until the chocolate is completely melted and smooth. Remove the bowl from the saucepan, stir in the Grand Marnier, and set aside.

In a heatproof medium bowl, whisk the eggs with 1 tbsp water and the sugar for 2 minutes.  Place the bowl over the saucepan of simmering water and continue to whisk for another 2 – 3 minutes (making sure the eggs don’t scramble)

Remove the bowl from the heat and whisk with an electric mixer on high speed for about 4 – 5 minutes until the egg mix resembles whipped cream.

Gently fold the eggs into the chocolate mix, slowly until it’s evenly incorporated.

Pour the mix into serving glasses or ramekins, and chill for at least one hour before serving.

To serve, garnish with some shaved chocolate, a dollop of whipped cream and one of those delicious chocolate straws.

You may need an extra hour on the treadmill after this one, but believe me it’s worth it…

Birds and Braised Ribs

Happy Mother's Day, to all my Mom readers.

Sitting here in my office I'm trying to work, but find myself pleasantly distracted by all the little birds on the feeders outside my window.

I've finally, successfully foiled the squirrels attempts to steal all the seed, by placing the feeder where they can't get it, the seed lasts much longer, and the number of birds coming to feed has increased ten fold.  I have some fabulous tiny little nuthatches, vibrant yellow gold finches and beautiful red cardinals, it seems that every day more and more birds arrive, I wonder whether I will be able to keep up with the demand.

My squirrel proof feeder!

As a lead up to Mothers Day I had a dinner party last night, which provided me with a great excuse to spend a day in the kitchen, and make delicious, naughty, scrummy food that I would otherwise be berated by Edi and Danni for making. 

I haven't had a dinner party (on land) for years now, I've had many on board Daisy, but that is always a challenge both with space to work, and also coping with the intense heat of the Caribbean.  So this dinner party made a very pleasant change for me.

Reducing the sauce for the short ribs

The food was successful even though I had to make two different menus,  Danni doesn't eat meat, so for her appetizer I made a smoked salmon mousse, and for the rest of us a Duck liver mousse, both served with baguette toasts.
For the entree I made Danni panko crusted shrimp with 2 different dipping sauces, lemon grass, and sweet and spicy, and for everyone else braised short ribs served with sauteed asparagus and sweet roasted parsnips.

Short ribs waiting for the sauce

Braised Short Ribs
10 short ribs
large sprig rosemary
5 sprigs thyme
2 sprigs tarragon
2 bay leaves
8 whole cloves
1 large celery stalk, cut into two.
5 carrots, peeled and cut into 1" pieces
5 shallots peeled and cut into quarters
1 medium onion, roughly chopped
10 garlic cloves (less if you're not a garlic lover), peeled and crushed ( I like to leave the garlic cloves whole)
4 tbsp of good Olive Oil
3 tsp freshly ground black pepper
3 tsp sea salt
4 tbsp tomato paste
3 tbsp plain flour
3/4 cup port
4 cups good red wine
5 cups beef stock

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees

Season the short ribs with the salt and pepper. Heat 2 tbsp of the oil in a large dutch oven until very hot, add the short ribs and brown on all sides for about 2 minutes each side.  Remove the ribs from the heat and set aside.
Place the rosemary, thyme, tarragon, bay leaves and cloves between the two celery stalks and tie with kitchen twine.

In a large saute pan over a medium-high heat add the other two tbsp of oil, when the oil is hot add the onion and shallots and cook for about 10 minutes until soft and translucent.  Add the garlic, and carrots and cook for a further 5-6 minutes.
Add the tomato paste and stir well, then add the flour and stir to combine.
Add the port and wine, and the celery herb bundle, and continue to cook for another 20 minutes to reduce the sauce.
Add the stock, stir well and cook for another 5 minutes, then pour the sauce over the ribs in the dutch oven making sure to cover all the ribs, if the stock doesn't cover the ribs top up with water.
Bring to a simmer , cover with lid and place in the oven for 3 hours.

Skim the fat off the surface of the sauce,  carefully remove the ribs and set aside.  Bring the sauce back to a slow simmer and cook for another hour, to reduce the sauce by about half.

Return the ribs to the sauce and simmer gently for about 8 - 10 minutes just to reheat, then serve.

I like to serve roasted parsnips and roast potatoes with this dish.