Many years ago, my mother-in-law’s niece made a trip to England. She brought two gifts back for my mother-in-law — a Bone China tea cup and saucer and a cookbook. I was the lucky daughter-in-law who got both of her English treasures after she died.
I pulled “Cook in Your Castle” off the shelf this week. After paging through the section on desserts, I finally decided on 10 Downing Street Frozen Orange Mousse, a recipe from Margaret Thatcher, who was Prime Minister at the time the book of recipes was compiled.
There were a couple of things about the recipe that worried me a bit. First, I noticed it called for gelatin. I don’t use gelatin very often. The recipe didn’t explain how to dissolve it before adding it to the mixing bowl.
I wound up putting 2 tablespoons of cool water into a custard cup. I sprinkled the packet of gelatin over the water and mixed it with a fork. The gelatin immediately absorbed the water and became an ugly, clumpy mass. I left it sit for 5 minutes and, in the meantime, heated some water in a small saucepan on the stove. Just before the water came to a boil, I removed the saucepan from the heat and set the custard cup holding the clumpy gelatin in the water that came halfway up the sides of the bowl. As I stirred the gelatin mixture, it began to dissolve and become liquid. Smooth and lump-less liquid. The mousse turned out perfectly light and lovely.
Babka (cake) is a big part of my childhood memories. If you don't know what babka is, I guess the best way to describe it is a very spongy, brioche-like yeast cake. It's sweet and usually has a fruit filling such as golden raisins. It's a very dense cake and the dough can be very finicky and easily over-mixed.
Easy and impressive food...I love it. Another quick and easy appetizer to make your dinner party go as smooth as possible.
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.
My
friend Chris was recently visiting LA and I decided to surprise him
with one of his favorites - Banana Cake. He lives in NYC and loves to
stop by Billy’s Bakery and pick up a whole Banana cake to take home.
They have great homemade baked goods and it’s definitely worth stopping
by when you’re in the city. Their version of Banana Cake is quite dense
with a sugary sweet frosting but I prefer a lighter more tender cake
with smooth silky cream cheese frosting.
