Archive for October, 2007

It’s more than just a lightly chocolate-flavored red cake or the subject of a line from one of my favorite movies, Steel Magnolias. Done right (read: not in the shape of an animal), a red velvet cake is rich, smooth, and incredibly decadent. Incredibly decadent if it’s topped with cream cheese frosting. Its origins are murky but although it seems to mostly be attributed to the Waldorf Astoria Hotel in NYC, the cake has been a Southern dessert menu staple for at least all of my lifetime.

We used the blood-red cake as the “spoon” for cream cheese frosting on our Halloween Cupcakes this year. And believe it or not, it’s not just the frosting that makes the cake such a favorite. The alternating layers of ruby red and bright white in an over-the-top tall slice of red velvet cake make a dramatic statement after dinner.

And the cream cheese frosting rocks, too

Red Velvet Cupcakes, Adapted from The Pastry Queen Christmas
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, cubed and softened
1 3/4 cups sugar
2 eggs
1/4 cup (2 oz) red food coloring
1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
2 cups cake flour
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp salt
1 tsp baking soda
2 tsp vanilla
1 cup buttermilk
1 cup sour cream
1 Tbsp white vinegar

Preheat oven to 350. Line muffin tin with baking liners or grease and flour the muffing cups.

Cream butter and sugar on medium-high for two minutes. Mix in one egg at a time, beating after each addition. Turn mixer off and add food coloring and cocoa powder to bowl. Turn on low until just incorporated and then beat on medium for 4 minutes.

Sift together the flours, salt, and baking soda and set aside. Stir buttermilk and vanilla together. Add dry ingredients to the bowl in three batches, alternately with the buttermilk in two batches, starting and ending with the dry ingredients. Beat on medium until just combined. Add sour cream and vinegar and beat on low until combined.

Fill muffin cups 3/4 full (I used a number 12 scoop to fill the liners) and bake for 25-35 minutes until the cupcakes test done with a toothpick. Let cool in the pan for 5 minutes and then cool completely on a rack.

Yields: approx 24 cupcakes

Cream Cheese Frosting, adapted from The Gourmet Cookbook
8 oz cream cheese (no need to soften)
5 Tbsp butter, softened
2 tsp vanilla
2 1/2 cups powdered sugar

Cream cream cheese, butter, and vanilla on med-high speed. Sift the powdered sugar after measuring. Add the powdered sugar to the bowl in batches, beating on low until just combined and then beating on high until desired consistency is reached. For a stiffer icing, add more powdered sugar.

I have quite a few cookbooks, but there is only one that I pick up and read front-to-back like a “real” book: The Pastry Queen by Rebecca Rather. And I do it a couple of times a month. I can close my eyes and recite a couple of the recipes by memory, much like the way I recited simple German verb conjugations in the 6th grade.

I could psycho analyze why I’ve taken to her book the way that I have – maybe it’s because she’s a fellow Texan, maybe it’s because I’d love the idea of leaving this big city behind for the beautiful hill country myself. But there’s really no need for all the soul-searching psycho babble – just take one bite of her All Sold-Out Chicken Pot Pie.

I’d call it the “ultimate comfort food,” but depending on the day and my mood, I could apply that label to just about anything edible That’s why we had chicken pot pie on a day when it reached 92 degrees outside.

It’s a rich and creamy concoction that lends itself to the flavors of the season. I stuff mine full of on-sale produce in the summer and leftover turkey and green beans at Thanksgiving. And the crust? Oh my goodness, the crust. Can you ever go wrong with cream cheese?

The long list of ingredients might look daunting for a Tuesday night dinner, but the prep time isn’t terrible as long as you read the recipe and get organized before getting started. It probably took me almost 3 hours the very first time I made the dish. I learned a few lessons and now it’s in the oven in about an hour. Shuffle the recipe around to suit your veggie tastes and accommodate what you have on hand. And then crank down the AC, turn on some Christmas music, and tell me if it doesn’t feel like winter-in-a-bowl to you, too.

Chicken pot pie, adapted from The Pastry Queen
Filling
3 tablespoons unsalted butter
1 medium-size yellow onion, chopped
2 stalks celery, diced
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 red bell pepper, diced
1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
1 1/2 tsp fresh thyme (or 1/2 tsp dried)
Salt and freshly ground black or white pepper
1 purchased rotisserie chicken (or 4-6 chicken breasts)
8-10oz package frozen peas and carrots
8-10oz package frozen corn

Cream Sauce
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter
1 cup all purpose flour
2 1/2 cups chicken stock
1/2 cup heavy cream
1 tsp Tobasco
Salt and freshly ground black or white pepper

Pie Crust
1 cup (2 sticks) chilled unsalted butter, cut into 16 pieces
3 cups all purpose flour
10oz chilled cream cheese, cut into large pieces
1 tsp salt
1/4 tsp freshly ground black or white pepper
1 large egg

To make the filling:
If cooking chicken breasts, pound the chicken breasts to 1/4-1/2 inch thickness and place in a pot of simmering water before chopping veggies so they’ll be ready to shred while the veggies are sauteing.

Melt the butter in a large saute pan set over medium heat. Add the onions and celery and saute for 5 minutes. Add the bell pepper and saute about 15 minutes until the vegetables are tender. Add the garlic and cook 1-2 minutes more, until fragrant. Stir in the crushed red pepper, thyme, and add salt and pepper to taste.

While the vegetables are sauteing, shred the chicken. Stir the frozen vegetables and the chicken into the vegetable mixture. Set the filling aside.

To make the cream sauce:
Melt the butter over medium heat in a large saucepan. Add the flour and whisk until smooth. Whisk in the chicken stock and cook the sauce over medium heat until it thickens to the consistency of a cream soup. Add the cream, hot pepper sauce, and salt and white pepper to taste. Pour the cream sauce over the chicken filling and stir to combine. Transfer the filling to baking pans of choice:
- Fill individual, oven-safe bowls three-quarters full
- Divide between 2 9-inch baking dishes
- Fill one 9×13 baking dish

To make the crust:
Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F (or don’t, if you’re cooking for the freezer). In the bowl of a food processor fitted with a metal blade, pulse the butter and flour until crumbly. Add the cream cheese, salt, and pepper. Continue pulsing until the dough forms a ball.

Set the dough on a flat surface dusted with flour. Use a floured rolling pin to roll the dough out to 1/4-inch thickness. Measure the diameter of the baking dishes and cut dough into pieces that are slightly larger. Lay the dough on top of the pot pies, and tuck any overhanging edges under. Whisk the egg in a small bowl and brush the dough lightly with the beaten egg. Bake the pies for 20 to 25 minutes, until golden brown. Serve immediately.

To cook from the freezer: Preheat oven to 375. Cover top of the dish with foil and bake for 45 minutes. Remove the foil. Whisk the egg in a small bowl and brush the dough lightly with the beaten egg. Bake for an additional 10-15 minutes, until golden brown and the center registers 165F.

::Insert creepy Woooo-OOOOOOO-oooo music here::

After my siblings and I returned from trick-or-treating, we dumped our candy on the floor so our parents could inspect our haul. We’d be allowed to eat a piece or two that night but were usually sent to bed because we usually had to drag ourselves out of bed the next morning for school.

I don’t think any of us ever missed school on November 1st due to a tummy ache, but I’m sure there were plenty of times that we were were late. And I can remember at least once when my blonde hair wouldn’t release its death-grip of spray-on “temporary” hair color. “Washes out with normal shampooing” can sometimes mean “it will fade after two weeks regardless of what you try.” Did you know that you can actually stain blonde hair? You can!
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