Soufflé au chocolat (Chocolate Soufflé)

My first soufflé ever!  I would have posted this two days ago, but for some odd reason my entry did not save and I was too irritated and tired to retype it until now lol.  Anyway, this soufflé seems to be a great choice for a soufflé novice--it forgave me and still behaved correctly despite my failure to notice that my mold was an 8-cup, not a 6-cup, until I had already spooned it in (oops!)  I highly recommend serving ti with vanilla bean ice cream, as shown here:

Link to original recipe:
http://www.williams-sonoma.com/recipe/chocolate-souffle2.html

Ingredients:

2 T. unsalted butter, plus 1 T. melted butter for brushing soufflé mold
3/4 c. sugar, divided
6 oz. chocolate, 70% cacao, roughly chopped/in pieces
2 T. heavy cream
4 egg yolks
1 tsp. vanilla exract
6 egg whites
1/4 tsp. kosher salt
1/4 tsp. cream of tartar
confectioners' sugar for dusting

Instructions:

1. Position a rack in the center of the oven so that the soufflé will have plenty of room to rise above the mold.  When ready to bake, heat oven to 425°F (recipe indicates that you can prepare the filling and let set at room temp for up to 4 hours prior to baking; I left mine out for about an hour and half, while making dinner.)

2. Brush inside (bottom and sides) of a 6-cup soufflé mold with the 1 T. melted butter.  Coat with 1/4 c. of the sugar and tap out any excess.

3. Place 2 T. butter, the chocolate, and the cream in top part of a double boiler.  In bottom part, add a small amount of water and bring to a simmer.  Hold pan over the simmering water, but NOT touching, and stir the chocolate mixture together until all melted and combined.  Set aside in a warm place.

4. Place egg yolks, vanilla, and 1/4 c. of the sugar in a large bowl.  Use whisk attachment on a hand mixer (or hand blender) to whisk until mixture is thick and ribbony.

5. Stir in chocolate mixture with egg yolk mixture.

6. Place egg whites, salt, and cream of tartar in a separate medium or large bowl.  With clean whisk attachment on hand mixer/blender, whisk the whites mixture until foamy.  Slowly add the remaining 1/4 c. sugar and continue whisking until stiff peaks stage is reached.

7. Using 1/3 of whites at a time, fold them into the chocolate mixture gently and carefully.

8. Spoon the mixture into prepared soufflé mold, filling it to the rim (or not, as was the case with my mistaken mold size).

9. Bake soufflé for 15 minutes, then reduce heat to 400°F. and continue baking for another 25-30 minutes.  Soufflé should rise to around 2 inches above mold (or in my case, up to the rim).

10. Dust top with confectioners' sugar and serve immediately.  Enjoy!

Chicken Friand (Tourte au poulet et champignons)

Ooh this one is soooooo good.  As in, "I want to make this again right away"-good.  However, a word of precaution here: as I was unsure of the portions, I decided to attempt to make 1.5 times the original recipe to make sure there would be enough.  There was more than enough for sure.  I didn't get to write this entry directly after making it, though, so I'm hoping that the amounts I include are correct for what I modified.  In the future, I will probably make this in the same amount and just freeze the leftover sauce and chicken so that I can easily have it again some night.

Link to original recipe:
http://www.food.com/recipe/chicken-friand-tourte-au-poulet-et-champignons-513419

Ingredients:

3 c. boneless, skinless chicken thighs, chopped in bite-size pieces
5 T. unsalted butter, divided
kosher salt and coarse ground pepper, to taste
6 cups sliced button mushrooms
~1 1/2 tsp. herbes de Provence, divided (I didn't actually measure)
1 1/2 c. dry white wine, divided (I used Barefoot Chardonnay)
1 medium yellow onion, finely chopped
3/4 tsp. bottled minced garlic
3 T. flour
up to 1 c. chicken broth
1 c. heavy cream
1 1/2 sheets puff pastry, thawed (or 2, if you need 4 servings)
1 egg, lightly beaten

Instructions:

1. Heat oven to 375°F.  (Next time, I will wait until when I start making the cream sauce to turn it on, as I'm a slow cook.)  Line a large, rimmed baking sheet with parchment paper.

2. Add chicken to large frying pan over medium heat.  Salt and pepper to taste, then add 2 T. butter.  Stir occasionally and cook chicken for about 10 minutes, or until done.  When chicken is done, pour into a strainer over a bowl to reserve cooking juices.

3. Meanwhile, in another large frying pan, add mushrooms and 2 T. butter over medium heat.  Cook until mushrooms give their liquid and it has nearly evaporated.

4. Add 3/4 tsp. of the herbes de Provence to mushrooms and sauté for 1 minute.

5. Add 3/4 c. of the wine to mushrooms and cook until it evaporates.

6. In the pan used for cooking the chicken, add remaining 1 T. of butter over medium heat.  Add onions and cook until soft (I think it was about 2 minutes for mine).

7. Add garlic and remaining 3/4 tsp. of herbes de Provence to onions and cook for about 45 seconds.

8. Whisk flour into onion mixture and cook, stirring constantly, for about 2 minutes.

9. Add enough chicken broth to reserved chicken cooking juices to make 1 cup total (**I may have used 1.5 cups total, but I am not certain).  Gradually whisk this into onion mixture.

10. Whisk in remaining 3/4 c. wine.  Add mushrooms to mixture, then stir in cream.  Cook for 3-5 minutes.

11. Cut whole pastry sheet into 2 triangles, and if using the half one, pinch pieces together to make a T shape, if needed.  Place on parchment lined baking sheet.

12. Add 1/3 to 1/2 c. of chicken to each piece of puff pastry.  Top with around 1/4 to 1/3 c. of mushroom cream sauce.  Fold up pastry to enclose the chicken and sauce (some may will leak out, this is ok and messy :)).  Pinch all seams closed as best as possible.

13. Brush each pastry with beaten egg (shown above).  Place in oven and bake for 25-30 minutes, until golden-browned.

14. Top each pastry with remaining mushroom sauce and enjoy! I highly recommend serving with salad, vinaigrette dressing, Asiago shredded cheese, as shown here :)

Tarte Flambée attempt

Tarte Flambée is one of my favorite things to eat in France, especially when I visit the region of its origin, Alsace (one of my favorite parts of France).  I found this recipe and thought it sounded correct, so I gave it a very hopeful try.  Unfortunately, I found that the crust did not match with what I am used to in France; it should be thin and somewhat soft like this, but nowhere near this oily.  I shall find a different recipe and make another attempt soon-ish.  The ingredients are listed in metric because that is how the original had them and I thus measured that way.

Original recipe link:
http://www.food.com/recipe/tarte-flamb-e-els-sser-flammkuchen-365298

Ingredients:

200 g all-purpose flour
2 T. oil
125 mL water
1 pinch salt
200 g onions, sliced thin (preferably with a mandoline)
100 g bacon, cut in small pieces
200 g crème fraîche

Instructions:

1. Heat oven to 480°F.

2. Mix together flour, oil, water, and salt to make dough (should not be sticky).  Roll out as thin as possible.

3. Cook the bacon in a medium skillet over medium heat.  Once the bacon pieces are just starting to crisp a little, remove bacon and set aside on paper-towel lined plate.

 (don't mind the two slices there in the pic--those are for my kiddo, not the recipe :))

4. Add onions to pan and cook for 30 seconds to 1 minute--just enough time to soften them slightly.

5. Place dough on a baking sheet.  Spread crème fraîche all over dough evenly.  Top with bacon and onions.

6. **I added a small amount of shredded Gruyère to the top; this is optional.**

7. Bake for 15 minutes, or until edges are browned.

8. Cut out desired portion and serve.

Cinnamon-Walnut Palmiers

Yes, this is another recipe from the book I can't stop cooking from, French: Delicious Classic Cuisine Made Easy by Clements & Wolf-Cohen.  I used to make these with my French classes on culture/cooking days (the reason half the students chose my class was to get to to these days lol).  I was in a bit of a hurry this time around and attempted cooking two batches at once on the two racks of the oven, switching between the two every few minutes.  While they did turn out tasty, I think they didn't quite puff up the way they should have done.  Anyhow, they were still very yummy and will make again for sure :)  Also forgot to get a plated pic, so this will have to do for now:

Ingredients:

1/2 c. chopped walnuts (you can also use almonds or hazelnuts, if preferred)
2 T. superfine sugar, plus more for sprinkling
1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon
1/2 pound puff pastry, defrosted if frozen (according to package directions)
1 egg, lightly beaten

Instructions:

1. Lightly butter 2 large baking sheets, preferably non-stick.

2. Add walnuts, sugar, and cinnamon to food processor.  Process until finely ground and combined.  Transfer half to a small bowl.

3. Sprinkle work surface with superfine sugar.  Roll out the pastry onto surface, sprinkle sugar on pastry, and use rolling pin to roll to approximately 20" x 8" rectangle (mine was more like 18" x 8").

4. Brush pastry with lightly beaten egg, then sprinkle with the half of nut mixture in bowl.

5. Fold the long edges of the pastry to meet in the center and flatten with rolling pin.  Brush with egg and sprinkle with most of remaining half of nut mixture.

6. Fold the edges in again to meet in center, brush with remaining egg and sprinkle with remaining nut mixture.  (Now that I am typing up the recipe, I realize I missed this step.  Oops.)

7. Fold one side of the pastry over the other.  Using a sharp knife, cut pastry into 3/8" thick slices and place pieces cut-side down, about 1 " apart, on baking sheets.

8. Spread pastry edges to form a wedge shape, if desired (I didn't, thus mine aren't quite so pretty).  Chill in fridge for 15 minutes.

9. Heat oven to 425°F.  Bake for 4-5 minutes.  Remove and turn pastries over, then return to oven to bake for 4-5 additional minutes.  They should get golden brown on each side and puff up nicely--just watch carefully so that they do not burn, as the sugar can easily scorch.

10. Transfer immediately to cooling rack.  Once cooled, enjoy!

Fricassée de Poulet

I think I'm going to end up cooking half of this cookbook at the rate I'm going lol.  This is another recipe from French: Delicious Classic Cuisine Made Easy by Clements & Wolf-Cohen.  It's a really tasty dish, though not quite as amazing as some of the others I've tried.  Still, I would happily make this again.  The nice thing is that I had nearly all of the ingredients already on hand--only had to go get some cippolini (small onions).

Ingredients:

2 1/2 to 3 lbs. bone-in chicken pieces (I chose to use all drumsticks, as that is what I had on hand)
4 T. butter, divided
2 T. canola oil
3 T. flour
1 c. dry white wine (I used a Vouvray this time; next time, I will try a Chardonnay)
2 c. chicken stock (I used my homemade version)
1 c. chicken broth (original recipe calls for 3 c. of this instead of the split I have here)
bouquet garni (used thyme, rosemary, and 1 bay leaf)
freshly ground pepper, to taste
8 oz. button mushrooms, stems trimmed (I would use more next time)
1 tsp. lemon juice
16-24 cipollini (little onions--could substitute pearl onions), peeled
1/2 c. water
1 tsp. sugar
6 T. heavy cream
salt, to taste
fresh or dried parsley, to taste

Instructions:

1. Dry chicken pieces with paper towels.  Melt half of butter over medium heat in Dutch oven, and then add oil.  Add half of chicken pieces and cook for 10 minutes, turning occasionally, until browned lightly all over.  Transfer chicken to a plate.  Repeat for remaining chicken pieces.

2. Return chicken pieces to pot.  Sprinkle flour over pieces and turn to coat.  Reduce heat to low and cook for 4 minutes, turning occasionally.

3. Pour in the wine, increase heat to bring to a boil, and then add the broth.  Stir to combine, scraping bottom of pot to free any browned bits.

4. Bring liquid to boil, add the bouquet garni, salt, and pepper.  Return to medium heat, cover, and cook for 25-30 minutes.

5. Meanwhile, in a frying pan, heat the remaining butter over medium-high heat.  Add the mushrooms and lemon juice.  Cook for around 4 minutes, until mushrooms are golden/browned, stirring occasionally.

6. Transfer mushrooms to a bowl.  Add the onions, water, and sugar to the pan, stirring to dissolve the sugar.  Simmer for around 10 minutes; the water will gone and onions will be caramelized.

7. Add onions to bowl with mushrooms.  Once the chicken has finished cooking, transfer the pieces to a plate and remove/discard bouquet garni.  Add the mushrooms and onions to the sauce and bring to a boil, stirring frequently.  Cook for around 10-15 minutes, until sauce is reduced by 1/3 to 1/2.

8. Stir in cream and cook for 2 minutes.  Return chicken to pot and cook for additional 2 minutes.  Adjust salt and pepper as needed and add parsley.  Serve up and enjoy!