Lightness All Around

Two aspects f Spring cooking are tightness and freshness.Gone are heavy winter stews and roasts. Gone are the root veggies that make up most of a cold weather diet. Now it's time to celebrate with lighter ingredients and a warmer weather outlook on cooking and baking.

Regular contributor David Tanis gave three seasonably perfect recipes for this kind of meal in today[s New York Times Wednesday Food section, The main course is salmon which he liberally douses with freshly ground pepper and nutty brown butter.He also does this for the side of parsley potatoes. Brown butter is an easy make .Just take a knob of butter and toss it in a hot pan.Let it sizzle for a minute and and a squeeze of lemon juice.The potatoes are just as easy to fix and go well with the fish.  They're first boiled and then simmered in a pot of well salted water They're then taken out left to slightly cool and peeled.  They;re returned to the pott be warmed. Parsley is then sprinkled on them right before serving.Of course the star of any Spring table is asparagus.Mr Tanis chooses to put it into a salad with feta cheese The tough ends are snipped off and the stalked are boiled in well salted water . After make the dressing a lemon vinaigrette with the addition of two teaspoons of Dijon mustard.Arugula,dill and feta are then added to the dressed asparagus spears.

Any Spring meal should have a fruity dessert Mr. Tanis gives a fresh strawberry tart This is a classic French tart that has a buttery pastry shell filled with a light custard. Strawberries top this off. The filling is an almond frangipane, which has a quarter cup of whole almonds that have been ground together with flour and sugar to form a rough powder two large beaten eggs are added a long with half a cup of butter (use a good one  like Kerry Gold for this and the pastry shell).Almond extract is also used to bring out the almond flavor. The pastry shell is another butter rich creation.One half cup of thinly sliced cold butter is added to a cup of flour and two tablespoons of sugar. The dough is made, pressed into a pastry pan and left to chill for two hours. The filling is then poured into it and everything is baked in a preheated 375 degree oven for thirty to forty minutes. The shell should be nicely browned by then.Let cool and then add whole or halved strawberries. Mr.Tanis dusts his tart with confectioner's sugar but it could be left plain too. Warmed apricot or raspberry jam can also be gently brushed over the berries with a pastry brush.

A Spring meal has the lightness and flavors of the season.These thee recipes certainly have that. Try them for a nice welcoming to warmer weather,

October Cookouts

You would expect mid October t have a bit of a nip in the air. That would mean hot chocolate and warm , hearty meals. Not so. Many of the areas around the country are experiencing a second summer? WHat to do? Barbecue  but with a fall twist.

With temps in the almost eighties, many home chefs just don't want to cook or bake. yet fall has some of the tastiest ingredients and recipes out there. What to do? Incorporate them into easy to grill, easy to cook and easy to bake recipes. Pork chops with apples have always been a popular  October dish.It can easily be put on the grill and till deliver the same rich taste/There is a slight problem with pork.It can dry out quickly when cooked on a high heat/Baste the chops with a barbecue sauce or marinade. To keep the fall themed try an apple cider marinade.The is a blend of apple cider, brown sugar and such spices as dry mustard and garlic powder. To give it some silkiness and body add a teaspoon or two of olive oil. Brush the pork chop with this every fifteen minutes. To maintain the juiciness let the pork chops sit for about five minutes before cutting into them. This allows the meat to bathe in the juices a bit more. You can serve with grilled apple halves. This is just putting them on the grill for six to eight minutes , then flipping them over for another five. You can also whip up a potato salad but add a small diced apple for texture and flavor.

Baking is a big part of the fall canon. You can easily bake an apple or pear galette on the grill.You will need those cheap foil pie pans.The fruit filled dough is placed in it and then on top of an inverted foil roasting pan.Doing such will prevent the  pies' bottom from burning. The grill's temperature should be the same as your oven. Bake at 350 to 400 degrees Farenheit for about twenty to thirty minutes. as with any pie , keep an eye on it, making sure it doesn't burn. Serve with vanilla ice cream and a drizzle of caramel.If you made ice cream over the summer, don;t stop because it is autumn. It's a hot autumn and that means the cooling relief of a frosty dessert. Try a salted caramel ice cream to go with those apples. You will need to use your stovetop to create the caramel.It's cooking a cup and a quarter of granulated sugar until it becomes a syrup.whole cream is then added to this to create the caramel. it's cooled and then the sea salt (try Malden's flaky sea salt) and vanilla are added. while this cools make the ice cream base. This is eggs being whisked with a blend of cooked milk ,and cream.The caramel is added to this then strained through a fine mesh sieve. This is chilled  for three to six hours and then you can put the mixture through an ice cream maker. Freeze until solid. Serve with cinnamon coated apple slices.

THis is a rare October heat wave. Cook like it's summer ,using fall ingredients. You can still get a taste of autumn but with a hot weather twist.

You Serve Soft Serve

Soft serve ice cream is one of the best summer treats.It's creamy and satiny all in one. Unfortunately if you're hankering for it , it's a trip  out to the local ice cream parlor or boardwalk. Not anymore.It can be made at home.

How can this be? Easy, thanks to a recipe by Melissa Clark in her A Good Appetite column in yesterday's New York Times Food section. Home chefs don't need one of those special machines that churn out the treat. They don't even need an ice cream maker. The fanciest gadget required is a food processor (although the recipe works well with an ice cream maker so use it )It's an easy recipe that only requires six large egg yolks, heavy cream and melted cream cheese! Why the last? Because it's a sub in for the usual gums commercial ice cream manufacturers use to solidify the product. Ms. Clark leaned this from Jeni Britton Bauer of Jeni's Splendid Ice Creams, an up and coming maven in the industry..Ms Bauer asserts that cream cheese  gives body to ice cream and gives it body.. Another suggestion from her is using a mix of granulated and liquid sugar to increase the ice cream's elasticity. Liquid sugar could be corn syrup or honey. .Ms Clark recommends the last but it's not the average honey. For more flavor think a lavender one or chestnut , linden flower or even buckwheat. Adding the honey gives a caramelized sweetness that amps up the flavor.

Is making soft serve hard? No. It's basically creating a custard and then freezing it. The base is really considered French ice cream or sort of like frozen custard. The recipe calls for six large egg yolks that will be first whisked together with the honey, sugar ,vanilla and salt. The cream is also heated for a better blending and to prevent the eggs from curdling. The entire mixture should just be simmered until the custard can coat the back of a spoon otherwise it could curdle.Transfer to a heatproof bowl and add the cream cheese. This last should be cut into cubes for more manageability and it will melt faster . Then the bowl should be nestled in a larger bowl filled with ice water. Then the custard should be whipped until thick and cold. Use a hand mixer or immersion blender for this. After five minutes spoon it into ice cream trays.It's best frozen overnight but if you're pinched for time then just stick it in the freezer for three hours . (It's maximum time is one week)Once frozen, pop out the cubes with a butter knife or off set spatula and into a food processor.Pulse cubes with a half cup of milk until smooth and the consistency of soft serve. serve immediately . It can last up to one week but you probably won;t have to worry about that.Buy or make cones for the real experience.

Soft serve ice cream is one of the hallmarks of the summer. Now you can have it right in your kitchen, thanks to an easy recipe. Make it and enjoy this classic treat, whether in a bowl or in a classic cone

Tasty Tarts

One of the most delicious and versatile baked treats to make is a tart. It's an elegant alternative to cake and pie, always looking perfect on a dessert table. One of the best aspects of any tart recipe is that you can make one or a dozen with basically the same recipe.They all are mouthwatering , with their glazed crusts  and rich fillings of fruit, cream or ganache.

A tart is basically a topless pie with usually a short crust.meaning it has a lot of shortening or lard in the recipe. Many professional and home bakers will sub in butter for a richer flavor and more crumbly crust. The pastry has been around since the medieval period, starting off with more meat than fruit fillings. The French quiche , German zweibelkuchen or onion pie and Swiss Gruyere pie are savory forms of it. Most tarts are now either custard or fruit filled. The truest form of tart is probably the English custard tart.It has a rich egg yolk filling, sort of similar to the Italian zabaglione.Any home chef can easily make them and also personalize them too. They can add in a pinch of cinnamon or nutmeg. or do a dusting of toasted coconut or toasted almonds on top.A Gallic variation is the tarte aux flan, a creamy one that has the light Spanish based custard as a filling. fruit tarts are a great way of using the fruits of the season. Nothing beats the sweet and tangy flavor of both apple and pear tarts.

Are tarts easy to make? They may seem complicated with all their steps but they're can be made by any novice home baker. The  star of any tart is the crust. This is what makes it extraordinary. If it's too soggy, then the whole thing is gloppy.The preliminary steps are similar to making a regular pie crust.The dough should be chilled, anywhere from thirty minutes to an hour The crust should be rolled out to an even thickness and then placed into a two piece tart pan.Remember the dough is supposed to be tender so don't worry if there's tears. These can be mended.If it's baked without the filling then prick the sides and bottom with a fork to prevent shrinkage. Don't do anything if the tart is to be baked with a filling.Luckily tart crust can be made with gluten free flour Tarts can also be made with almond or any ground nuts too. Beginners should start off with the simple custard tart and then work their way up to fruit and ganache filled ones.

Tarts are an elegant alternative to pie. They are easy to make for any home baker, who wants a classier dessert with no fuss. These fit the bill perfectly.

Pumpkin Spice Deconstructed

This is pumpkin spice season for sure. Every food stuff , from  candy corn to lattes is now flavored with it. There are even pumpkin spice Oreos! Yet what exactly is pumpkin spice? Is one spice or an amalgam of a few? Another good question is how do we accept  it  after being oversaturated with it.

The spice is actually a blend of four spices, cinnamon, ginger, allspice and nutmeg. Their combination is what gives that spicy, sometimes spiked taste. The dominant flavor notes are the cinnamon and ginger, while the allspice and nutmeg provide the more mellower ones. Everyone is so inundated by the combo, that they've sworn off the spice combo. Don't . On their own they are wonderful flavors that can be used in a variety of sweet and even savory dishes.Cinnamon is yummy  in  homemade rolls and coffee cakes. It adds a sweetness  to cereal and is perfect for dusting over cappuccinos. It can be used as a rub on any game fowl such as turkey and pheasant and is a perfect spice for bringing out lamb's flavor. We all know that ground ginger is the anchor flavor in gingerbread and snaps.It;s a strong , robust flavor that can  also be used in stuffing recipes for boost and color.Both spices have a lot of health benefits and you can also make restorative teas with both.

Allspice and nutmeg, "the quiet" spices are excellent on their own too. Their rich individual flavors are woodsy and intense. Allspice can be used in both sweet and savory dishes, Ground allspice  is always used in sweet potato recipes to give the dishes kick while the whole allspice fruits are used to flavor stews (whole ones are not meant to be eaten, they should be tossed after cooking). They can be used in making the traditional Jamaican jerk recipe too. Nutmeg is one of the loveliest fall spices. It   has a warm, sweet flavor, imagine a favorite fall sweater for your taste buds. It graces vanilla custards, adding color and flavor as well as  zinging up that autumn dessert Indian pudding.Nutmeg can also be used in savory dishes too.It's a must have for creamed spinach and vital in quiche Lorraine. Nutmeg is also the rare spice that can work well with seafood. Use it to sprinkle over scallops or in a creamy sauce to serve with them or shrimp,

Pumpkin spice should not be feared Deconstructed , It  yields four spices that are perfect additions to any sweet or savory meal. Try one,or try them all. They are the perfect spices for fall cooking.

Your Ice Cream Guide

The warm weather brings about much wished, things, days at the beach , barbecues, and of course ice cream. This is the start of the frozen treat season. Yet many of us don't; know the difference between  gelato and an ice cream or frozen milk and regular ice cream. Just like flavors, there are so many different kinds of ice cream and ices .

Most of us usually have a brick of ice cream in the freezer.This is known as hard ice cream because of its consistency.It's made with not only milk and cream but also with eggs and stabilizers to keep it from melting..It's churned to keep the ingredients from freezing into a solid mass Ice cream can be made at home thanks to an ice cream maker or one of those balls with a canister inside to hold the mixture.French style ice cream is a bit richer thanks to the addition of eggs to make a thin version of  crème anglais.That boardwalk favorite frozen custard is similar but uses more eggs or just  yolks. Both are cooked and left to cool prior before freezing. Both are denser than regular ice cream and have a silky feeling.There is also Philadelphia style ice cream which is made without eggs.It's simpler to make at home. Remember without the egg base it does freeze firmer and harder. The Italians give us that classic treat gelato. The name simply means frozen in Italian . It can contain eggs or not but it is denser  than our version, thanks to having very little air whipped into it There is also semifreddo.. It means half cold and is a variation on ice cream or frozen custard.It's frozen in a loaf pan and then sluiced and served with fruit.It's usually made at home with just cream and eggs.

Of course there is the lighter side of frozen treats.These don't have  as many calories, yet still have     flavor. There is ice  milk which  doesn't have enough milk fat to be considered ice cream.It is still creamy but lighter and lower in calories. Sherbet has always been a warm weather favorite. Classic kinds are made with fruit juice sugar water or even wine..Some versions do contain milk, buttermilk, egg whites or gelatin.It is sometimes confused and labeled sorbet which is completely vegan. This has been traditionally used as a palate cleanser between large courses.It's usually lemon or strawberry flavored and very light on the tongue and taste buds. Granita is one of the easiest frozen treats to make at home.It's made from mashed ice and usually the preferred flavor is coffee.It can be served with ice cream but is good on it's own with a chocolate syrup and side of whipped cream.  Then there is ice.It can be known as Italian ice or water ice if you're from Philly.It can contain egg white as a binder but it's mostly just water and syrup churned like ice cream.  Another treat is President Obama's love Hawaiian shaved ice and this is the most refreshing of all the ices.It starts with a block of ice that's been shaved with a special gadget , mounded into  cone and then doused with syrup.  Three different flavors can be poured over it for a yummy rainbow ice.

Just as there are so many flavors, there are so may types to choose from. Make a semi freddo for a weekend get together, have a cone on Sunday and maybe some ice during the week. No matter what you finally opt for, it's all cool , sweet and delicious, a perfect break from the sweltering heat.       

Reclaiming Quiche

Quiche is one of those foods that goes through waves of popularity. It was hot from t he Sixties to the Eighties and then fell out of favor. Some restaurants serve it still as do grocery stories, however' the recipe is so far from the original, that's it not really quiche. That's about to change. Some new recipes are emerging that restore the dish back to all its' Gallic glory.

It was the topic of an article in yesterday's New York Times Dining section. City Kitchen by Dave Tanis. Mr. Tanis explores true quiches, those light , eggy pies with even lighter and crispy crusts, These are the closest f not the exact of what French groceries sell as well as what is made in homes. What makes them lighter is what they're baked in. Most Americans bake kitchens in deep dish pie plates. Don't!This ruins the texture. Bake any quiche in a shallow dish with a removable bottom.This ensures a creamy filling with a slightly unctuous or oild texture.

Mr. Tanis gives some good recipes Of course he includes the classic quiche Lorraine,..However instead of the usual ham he suggests bacon along with Gruyere instead of the usual Swiss.There is also a tasty crab meat one that;s seasoned with fresh tarragon and chives. The trio is rounded out by a quiche with herbs and goat cheese.It has scallions and thyme along with parsley. There is a double surprise of lemon zest and the goat cheese placed at the quiche's bottom. These are great for not only Sunday brunches but for a Saturday night dinner too.

Qucihes made right are wonderful. Use these recipes with the proper baking equipment to create a true Gallic tarte salee or savory quiche. It's like tasting the best that France has to offer

Queen Of Tarts

Tarts are one of the most elegant desserts out there yet they're not popular. They're usually considered too prim or fussy - or even worse not trendy enough. Yet tarts can be an classy addition to any afternoon tea or a lovely way to end a dinner party. They are also simple to make, not requiring too much work. Tarts are also versatile, with a variety of different fillings and even crusts.

Tarts are basically shallow individual pies that have no top crust. They are usually baked in individual metal or ceramic shells however muffin tims can be used. A tart crust is the same as a pie crust's using just flour, lard and ice water. A butter crust can be made too for a richer tasting crust that would go well with a dark chocolate filling, Pre made crusts shells can also be made and these are perfect for puddings , fresh fruits and even ice cream.

Tarts can be filled with almost everything and anything, Custard is usually the filling of choice however you can also fill them with fruit and ice cream.  Most home chefs prefer an instant pudding yet a  stove top egg  custard is easy to whip up., Fruit filling is also popular, especially cherry . As with regular pies you can use either fruit in season or canned.  Pecan pie tartlets are also good too and can be made the same way as the pie, using chopped pecans and corn syrup. Treacle tart ,that British favorite is perfect for afternoons teas. It is made simply with golden syrup, breadcrumbs and lemon juice.

Tarts are a lovely way to end a dinner or a great accent to an afternoon tea. They are versatile and delicious , different from other desserts.Best of all they are classy and elegant and not in the least bit trendy.

Flantastic

Flan is one of the best desserts ever created. it;s smooth and creamy, loaded with a variety of good ingredients. It's a cool, sophisticated way to end a meal. Another plus is that it's easy to make.

Flan has been around since Roman times when the ancients had an over abundance of eggs. The recipe is a variation of a Greek pudding recipe.Early flans could be sweet and savory. There were recipes for an eel (Ick) flan as well for a honey one.The name comes from flaon meaning flat cake in Old french and Latin. The dessert took off on the Iberian peninsula where the Arab influence brought in the flavors of almond and citrus. With the Spanish taking over the New World , Spanish colonies embraced the dish. The English also loved the dessert enrobing it in a flaky pastry (Hence the custard tart).

Flan is an easy dessert to make. It involves four whole egg,s plus whole and condensed milk. it is also sweet , using usually 3/4 cups of sugar and a dash of sugar. You can also ground almonds and orange juice (cut back on the sugar if you're doing this).A variation is adding coffee for a flan con cafe. Flan does require molds and a hot bath to bake. This just needs your roasting pan half filled with water. You can add a caramelized sugar sauce to finish it off.

Flan is an easy and elegant dessert to make. It's a great way to end any meal and add a final flair of sophistication. It's cool and classic, perfect with just coffee or tea.

Time For Homemade Ice Cream

Summer is almost here and with it comes hot sweltering days. It's the perfect time to make some old fashioned home made ice cream. Nowadays it's a lot simpler than in our great grandparents day when you had to crank it yourself. You can create the perfect bowl of goodness with some high tech machines and primo ingredients.

The first item you'll need is a good ice cream maker. Several companies have some long lasting easy to use models that will last for years. What's the best one to buy? You can spend almost a grand on the Musso Lussino, an Italian import. it is ultra heavy weighing in at forty pounds but it makes dense creamy ice cream. For those of you on a budget there's Rival White Mountain six quart ice cream maker.It's two hundred bucks and looks like an old fashioned ice cream maker. it is noisy however and does need a lot of ice. There are also much cheaper ones but Salton and Donlier that you can pick up at your local Target or K-Mart.

Once you have your ice cream maker, you can begin the fun process. Beginners should stick with the basic vanilla recipe. The best one is made custard style where you cook the egg yolks and cream in a sauce pan. You use real vanilla bean, (not the flavoring) along with caster sugar. if you want you can add fresh sliced strawberries or grated dark chocolate ( I would use broken pieces here for a nice chunky, crunchy effect). If you want homemade chocolate then use squares of milk chocolate and drop into the custard mixture while it's cooking. There are several on line sites that offer excellent ice cream recipes. You can also be creative and invent your own.

Treat yourself and your family to old fashioned home made ice cream. It;s 's worth all the work. The taste is amazing !You'll never want the store bought kind again.