Breakfast Souffle: Recipe

Ahh souffles. I love them fluffy and I love them dense. I love them sweet and I love them savory. Airy chocolate ones and oozing cheesy ones...But before this turns into a souffle love letter, I have to say, I don't actually love making souffles. Too much work. Tricky ingredients. Specialized equipment. All sorts of things can throw them off, the egg whites not being whipped properly, the oven temperature not quite right, overmixing, I could go on and on. But they are so tasty, every once in a while it's worth doing anyway. Because nothing quite gives the sense of satisfaction to a cook, as a successful souffle. Making a souffle is magic.

For IMBB #20 Has my blog fallen? I made a souffle I think is great for breakfast. But you could also make it as a light supper with a salad. It's an indulgent kind of meal, perfect for lazy weekends. Just make sure your dining companions are seated when it comes out of the oven; souffles waits for no one.

I base my version on a couple of recipes from The Fannie Farmer Cookbook. But because I don't have a souffle dish I use a Pyrex baking dish. I can't stand recipes that call for uneven numbers of whites and yolks, so I decreased the number of whites to make it come out even. If you want your souffle super duper fluffy, you can use five whites and four yolks. Experiment with cooking times to get the texture you like, I like mine a tad bit runny, not too dry. If you do decide to tackle a souffle, be sure to make it for someone truly deserving!

Breakfast Souffle
serves 2 for breakfast or 4 if you serve a lot of other stuff!

1/2 cup grated cheddar cheese
1/2 cup grated parmesan cheese
4 Tablespoons butter
1/4 cup flour
1 cup milk
pinch salt
pinch cayenne or dry mustard powder
4 yolks
4 egg whites

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Place a large (9x13 or so) baking pan in the oven and fill with water, about an inch of water. Spray a 1 1/2 quart baking dish with cooking spray.

Melt the butter and whisk in the flour, cooking for a couple of minutes over medium low heat. Whisk in the milk until smooth and cook until thick, three minutes. Stir in cheeses and spices, cook over very low heat until the cheeses melt. Beat a few tablespoons of the very thick sauce into the yolks, then mix the yolk mixture into the sauce.

Beat the egg whites stiff, but not dry. Mix a big scoop of the whites into the cheese sauce to lighten the mixture. Then carefully fold the sauce into the whites. When combined, put in a souffle dish and slip that into the water filled baking pan, bake for 25-30 minutes. Serve immediately with buttered toast.

Enjoy!

IMBB # 20 + Souffle

Great Tarte Tatin with the Equipment on Hand

Before this weekend, I had never tried to make one of my favorite French desserts, a tarte Tatin. And all of this deprivation was for lack of a kitchen utensil: I have never owned a "moule à Tatin," which seemed to be an essential piece of equipment for making this dish. I finally decided, though, to try one out with "les moyens de bord" -- or what I had on hand.

A tarte Tatin is basically an upside-down pie. Recipes abound. As usual, I used a combination of a few different versions from various cookbooks.

But rather than using the magical moule à tatin, which allows you to prepare your caramel, sauté your apples, and bake your tart all in the same dish, I just used a quiche pan. I sautéed my apples first in a skillet with a generous amount of butter, then placed them, without draining any excess butter, in a quiche pan in which I had sprinkled about three tablespoons of sugar (above.)

Then I covered the fruit mixture with a pâte brisée, or short pastry. I've noticed in the recipes that many of them call for pâte feuilletée, or puff pastry, and the difference is probably a great subject of debate in some circles.

I poked the crust a few times with a fork to let the steam out...so far, so good...

...and about a half hour later, the tarte came out of the oven looking like this. So far, so good...

The moment of truth: turning the tart over on a plate and seeing if everything would come out resembling a "real" tarte Tatin. (The suspense thickens....)

Et oui! I did end up with something which looked and tasted, roughly, like a tarte Tatin. The caramel was not quite dark enough, so I think I could have added five minutes baking time at a high temperature at the end or beginning -- or maybe I need a moule à Tatin for that.

No one in my family complained!

So if you want to try your hand at making this traditional French tart, don't be discouraged by the lack of equipment. A skillet and a well-greased pie or quiche pan can certainly do the trick.

East West Eats

I don't often make a pitch for charity events, but this one is pretty special. The local chapter of the Asian American Journalists Association is holding it's first hopefully annual East West Eats dinner.

Here are my top five reasons you should consider going:

1. The venue, the Ferry Building is quite spectacular for special events

2. The food should also be quite spectacular considering the chefs are:
Charles Phan of Slanted Door
Robert Lam of Butterfly
Hung Le of Three Seasons
Peter Pahk of Silverado
Kirk Webber of Cafe Kati
Anjan and Emily Mitra of Dosa
Mutsumi Takhara of Slanted Door
Chris Yeo of Straits

3. As Charles Phan said, "It's a good way to sample, you get to see several restaurants at one time "

4. It's a good cause, the association assists Asian Americans in pursuing journalism careers and encourages fair, sensitive and accurate news coverage of Asian American issues

5. I'm on the honorary committee along with:
Phil Bronstein, Executive Vice President and Editor, San Francisco Chronicle
Nguyen Qui Duc, Host and Producer, KQED's Pacific Time
Susan Goldberg, Executive Editor, San Jose Mercury News
Sydnie Kohara, Anchor, KPIX
Marion Nestle, Professor and Author of "What to Eat" and "Food Politics"
Patricia Unterman, author "San Francisco Food Lovers' Guide" and chef at Hayes Street Grill
Wilfred Wong, Cellarmaster, Beverages & More! and judge of the Chronicle Wine Competition

I hope you'll come and if you do, please say hi!

READ MORE Over at Bay Area Bites is my interview with Charles Phan of Slanted Door.

FOOD

Hiccup Number One

I wanted the title of this post to be an expletive that begins with an F and ends with a K, but I've calmed down now, so I'll be nice.

This morning a letter from the sous-préfecture arrived stating that I cannot apply for citizenship until October 22 and that I need to get apostilles for seven pieces of paper (birth certificates and marriage certificates for me, husband and parents).

First of all, where the hell are they getting the date of October 22? Did someone close their eyes and point at a calendar? We arrived in France on March 28. My first carte de séjour was issued on June 18. My husband's first carte de séjour was issued October 12.
So, why October 22? The date has no significance to us.

Secondly, the original list I was given for the mountains of paperwork I would need said nothing about needing apostilles. Now all the birth certificates and marriage certificates that I just ordered have to be sent back to various states they were ordered from to get apostilles.

And to add salt to the wound, I have to re-apply for my seventh carte de séjour in two weeks. You know what that means. Months of papers flying back and forth between here and Béziers because they'll either lose the first set or decide they need extra papers in which I have to attest to this or that.
I'm surprised they haven't asked for my first born child yet (which I don't have so they can't have anyway).

Do I sound bitter?
I'm having a really hard time seeing the light at the end of the tunnel.

Perfecting Pastry

Sad ending #1
An utterly average dessert that costs $10.

Sad ending #2
A huge dessert that is way more than a single serving.

Sad ending #3
When the only thing remotely fresh on the dessert menu is a mint or strawberry garnish on the invariable assortment of chocolate cake, bread pudding and creme brulee.

Happy ending #1
Way back in my expense account days, I once had a decadent late night meal at a restaurant in Seattle. The place was swank and dark and the food over the top. After dinner, dessert sounded terrific, but frankly I didn't have room for it. I wished I could just have one spoonful, not realizing I was saying it out loud, the waiter responded, "let me see what I can do". He came back with a soup spoon full of lusciousness. Exactly what I wanted.

Happy ending #2 & #3
While I was never a huge fan of the restaurant Cypress Club, there was one thing I always looked forward to when dining there. I absolutely adored their dessert sampler, which included miniature versions of just about everything on the dessert menu. And at Jardiniere I used to order the "cookie plate" which now is the Bonne Bouche Platter and includes a creme brulee, an opera cake, cookies, petite tarts, fruit jellies, chocolate truffles and candies. All in petite form, of course, have a nibble and pack up the rest. Yippee!

Happy ending #4
Finally, a favorite restaurant of mine in North Beach, Jianna (sadly long gone) used to serve "Small Desserts"; they cost between three and four dollars each and were no more than three or four bites of decadence. They didn't offer a monstrous slab of cheesecake for a table of four to share, but a petite single portion. Just enough to leave you with a sweet taste in your mouth. How I wish other restaurants would do the same! Recent developments indicate they just might.

A number of prominent pastry chefs are embracing a concept called the "pastry flip". In the Chronicle food section a couple of weeks ago there was an article (including recipes) about the desire to make fruit the main emphasis and the decadent part--and then the cake, the pudding, the mousse, etc. becomes the garnish. I think this is just great. Quite often my dessert recipes are for "fruit-centric" treats. Not that I don't like chocolate, but sometimes something that captures the fleeting seasons and elevates fruit to something ethereal is even more satisfying especially at the end of a big meal. I do hope more restaurants will consider smaller portions, lower prices and more fruit. If they do, I promise not to skip dessert.

FOOD

I'm Dreaming of Vietnamese Cuisine...

While the holidays are thoroughly captivating to many, I am filled with visions of Spring Rolls, not sugar plums, dancing through my head. The end of this month I will going to Vietnam and it will not be a whirlwind tour. I will be there for a whole month. I have been anticipating this trip for a very long time. Being able to take big long trips is one of the true pleasures of working as a freelancer. Originally I thought I would be exploring more of Asia, but as I did my research it seemed there was at least a month's worth of things to see and do in Vietnam.

In addition to reading travel books and articles, I've been reading cookbooks. A couple in particular are really helping to give me a better background in Vietnamese cooking, ingredients and eating across the different regions of Vietnam. While many people refer to the North and South, I've learned that you can also divide the regions of the country into three, the North, Central and the South. Each region has a major city--Hanoi, Hue and Saigon (Ho Chi Minh) and a slightly different style of cuisine. I've also learned that in addition to the coffee and breads from France, Vietnamese cuisine also features curries that originally came from Cambodia, and stir fry dishes that are an influence from China.

The two books I wholeheartedly recommend if you would like to learn more about Vietnamese food are both written for American audiences by Vietnamese American women, The Little Saigon Cookbook and Into the Vietnamese Kitchen.

In The Little Saigon Cookbook published by Insider's Guide is $15.95, author Ann Le helps preserve her family traditions and her heritage as a first generation American who grew up in a Vietnamese community. In the book are explorations of topics such as Fish Sauce and Umami. In addition to recipes she provides appendixes with ingredients, resources and even sample menus. The author has connections to different regions of Vietnam and explains where recipes come from making the headnotes to each recipe feel like introductions from a friend. While I won't cook every dish, I will read through every note to better understand Vietnamese cuisine. This paperback book with black and white photos makes a great and accessible introduction to the food of Vietnam and to cooking it here at home.

From Tenspeed Press, Into the Vietnamese Kitchen available in hardcover is $35 and features beautiful color photos in addition to 175 classic recipes. The author, Andrea Nguyen begins with her story of the time she escaped from the war Vietnam in 1975, just like parents of Ann Le. She also provides a detailed primer on ingredients. I really liked reading about the Vietnamese tradition of snacking and discussions on different kinds of noodles. A photo of different green herbs is helpful and most of the recipes are not that complicated. The headnotes in this book are also a pleasure to read, incorporating personal stories, history and techniques.

FOOD + VIETNAM

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