Comfort Foods and Indulgences

Sometimes you want a gallette instead of a pie.  You’re shocked hearing that from me? Well, don’t be. Apparently I enabled a gallette to be the winning “pie” at the last pie contest.  And you know why?  Because of the increased caramelization possibilities of more exposed crust and the ability to make a really big one for a wow presentation. 

Like this one here which served almost 20.  Also, I find that for bakers who are nervous about the whole cooking fruit inside a crust + thickener thing, cooking the apples separately can be an easy anxiety fix.

To size up the recipe just use more dough to make a bigger circle for your gallette and prep more apples.  For this gallette that was 14″ across I made my Ratio Dough using 15 oz of flour.  I used 10 small apples.  You actually don’t need to use many more apples than for a regular pie, they’re just spread out in a much thinner layer.

I bake and make desserts all winter. It might be something to do with cocooning or comfort or simply loving desserts, but this winter especially I have been baking up a storm. To change it up a bit, I made a pillowy-soft cloud of star anise scented espresso custard and piled it on top of crisp Italian lady fingers. A spoonful alone transported me to Italy…….to a little cafe where I stood at the bar and spooned anise froth into my mouth from an espresso cappuccino.

So simple. So wonderful.

It starts with steeping anise seeds and star anise in milk. You add egg yolks and sugar to begin making the custard. Whip cream till stiff, fold it in, and there you have it.

It was luscious. Light. Frothy. And less expensive than a plane ticket to Milan, a car drive to Turin, and a memory to remember where that wonderful little cafe actually was.

A few days ago, it was a rare day in SoCal…it rained. Being the proud homebody that I am, I adore a rainy day. The heat is on at a comfortable temp, a warm cup of tea sits comfortably on my desk (all day), and my ugg slippers are the shoe of choice.

Eli woke up that morning with a “bit” of the sniffles (I knew he was faking, but we are all entitled a day off now and again). The one condition; he was to stay out of my hair. I had some work to catch up on for a few clients and I was really looking forward to a day to cross some stuff off of my to-do list.

At 10:30 a.m. Eli started asking what was for lunch. I ignored him as much as I could, but then I realized that it is rare that I have a lunch partner. Lunch was going to be a joint effort, something that we could do together. With some turkey sausage in the fridge, washed leeks, a brick of feta, and some left over challah, I knew exactly what I was going to make; the ultimate comfort food – a Savory Bread Pudding.

Sometimes I think I should just throw caution to the wind and write a book called “The Blue Cheese Diet: Eating Your Way To Happiness Through Gorgonzola And Roquefort”. I’d take all the photos, test each recipe personally, get it published, then do the TV show talk circuit, answering questions like “How did you come to invent the Blue Cheese Diet?” and “Now correct me if I’m wrong, but you went from 186 lbs to well over 350 lbs over the last 15 months, right?” The audience would snicker and laugh and point, I’d wipe the sweat from my face, and then they’d wheel me out on some gurney and my cookbook would be on the clearance rack at some B. Dalton close out sale a few months later, or worse, a bogo.

On second thought, I think I’ll stick with the day job.

But seriously, if I knew I could live on blue cheese I’d probably do it. I always seem to crave the full flavors of blue and when the craving starts no amount of cheddar or aged anything will suffice. I realize eating so much blue cheese is the taste equivalent to listening to my iPod at full blast, but that’s not to say I don’t appreciate the subtle flavors of shyer cheeses – I most certainly do!