Sous Vide Cooking

A few weeks ago, my mom sent me a link to an article on sous vide cooking. Sous vide was a technique of which I was aware, having seen it used on Iron Chef America, for instance, but I never really paid it much attention. After reading the article, I became more curious and started doing a little research. Fascinating stuff!

If you're not familiar with the basic idea, sous vide means "under vacuum" in French. While generally the food is vacuum sealed to cook, the really significant part of this method is that it cooks the food in a water bath, very slowly and gently.

The most surprising thing I learned is that all this time, what I thought I knew about food safety and safe cooking temperatures was not quite accurate. What I didn't realize is that when you read one of those charts that dictates what minimum temperature to cook various meats, you are only getting half of the story. Apparently, the USDA/FDA doesn't have a lot of faith in the masses. Those temperatures? Those are the required temperatures for "instantaneous" safety. The government, for instance, recommends you cook poultry to an internal temperature of 165 degrees. However, you can safely cook food to much lower temperatures provided you lengthen the time it is at this temperature. This graph shows the relationship between cooking temperature and time required for safe consumption. Notice that the longer the food, in this case beef, is held at a specific temperature, the lower the maximum temperature can be for safe consumption. For instance, at 140 degrees, you must cook the meat for 10 minutes while at 135 degrees, you must cook the meat for almost 35.

Now, why does this matter? Well, consider chicken breasts. This meat can suffer from problems with dryness if cooked to the USDA/FDA recommended "instantaneous" safe temperature. I don't know about you, but I don't particularly care for eating dry, tough, stringy pork chops or chicken breasts. Sous vide allows you to cook these meats at a much lower temperature, leaving those juicy flavors and textures intact, safely. If you go looking for your own sous vide information, I would advise you that in many cases, the recipes you see online do not guarantee pasteurization of the food. While I do not mind eating under cooked foods in some cases (sushi grade fish or very fresh beef, for instance), I personally don't want to consume chicken that has not been heated to the point of safety from a pathogen stand point. Therefore, if you are concerned about food safety, always look for guidelines that stipulate the food will be pasteurized at the times and temperatures given.

The best resource that I found for sous vide is put together by a mathematician named Douglas Baldwin at the University of Colorado. He has a lot of useful information on his website, but the most important, I think, are his tables of cooking times. Mr. Baldwin has taken all of the guess work out of how long to cook the food for pasteurization. Without these tables, it can be very difficult to be sure your food has been held at the right temperature for the right amount of time. He calculated the times using the thermal characteristics of the water and of the various types of meat. A few things to take note of: the thickness of the meat affects cooking time and so does the amount of fat in the meat. Thickness and time is not a one to one relationship. If you double the thickness of the meat, you must quadruple the cooking time. More fat equals more time required for pasteurization.

Using the tables is easy! Below, for example, is his Table 4.1 showing the pasteurization times for poultry. I realize the type is small in this picture... you can click on the link to the table to view in full size on his site if you'd prefer. Notice that he gives a range of temperatures. He provides the times required for pasteurization to any of these various temperatures. The trick is, which one to pick? It is purely a personal preference. The lower the temperature, the closer to raw color and texture you will end up with; the higher the temperature, the closer to fully cooked color and texture. The opening photo of this post shows a chicken tenderloin that was cooked at 142° F. Notice how juicy and still slightly pink it is? It is perfectly safe to eat, because I held it at 142 for the required amount of time, but it was so juicy and succulent! That's the joy of sous vide!

So how long did I cook it? Well, my chicken was about 15 mm thick, so once my water reached 142 degrees, I placed my vacuum-sealed chicken, which had been marinating in the refrigerator, in to the water bath. I then cooked, holding the temperature steady at 142, for 50 minutes. Pasteurization requires holding the meat at the specific temperature once it has reached that temperature throughout. His tables takes this "warm-up" period into account, so all you have to do is place the meat in the water and time. So simple!

Sous vide cooking has a lot of great things going for it... but there are also a few drawbacks. As you might guess, cooking meat in a plastic bag in water doesn't allow for much browning and that's where a lot of the flavor is developed. There are two ways around this problem. The first, especially if you are using skinless chicken breasts, is to ensure you use a flavorful marinade. The second possibility is to brown the food quickly on the stove top or under the broiler at the end.

While sous vide is a cooking technique that a person could spend a lot of time researching and learning about, in its simplest form, it's pretty straight forward. You place the food of choice into a vacuum sealer bag (you can use zip-top bags, but I'd stick with the heavier duty freezer bags) with your marinade or seasonings. In this case, I used olive oil, a splash of lemon juice, a splash of white wine, thyme, salt, and pepper. Vacuum seal - or close with as much of the air removed as possible. Place in the refrigerator to marinate for a few hours. When ready to cook, place a large pot of water on the stove to heat. I rigged a floating thermometer using some cork and a clothes pin. Heat the water to your desired temperature.

Once the water reaches the desired temperature, place your bag of meat, directly from the refrigerator (41° F) into the water. Begin timing based on the thickness of your meat, using Mr. Baldwin's tables. He has tables for whatever type of meat you are thinking about cooking! When the time is up, remove the bag from the water, cut open, and serve. If you want, you can sear the meat quickly in a pan or under the broiler for additional flavor.

Whipped Ganache Truffles

I recently made a huge batch of truffles. A week before, I had made some whipped ganache frosting for a cake and when there was a little bit left over, I stuck it in the refrigerator. On a whim, I thought I would try using the whipped ganache to make a few truffle centers. Holy moly! Those little whipped ganache truffles were so good! The texture was so ethereal and light, creamy and smooth. When served at room temperature, as all truffles should be, the filling instantly coats your tongue the moment you break into the middle.

I was worried that the whipped ganache centers would be a lot more difficult to work with, but they're really not. You basically follow the same recipe and steps as with making regular truffle centers, but in this case you simply beat the ganache after it has thickened slightly in the refrigerator. You're looking for it to be near the consistency of room temperature cream cheese before beating it with a paddle attachment (or regular beaters) until it is fluffy and smooth. The color will lighten from the addition of air. Like when whipping cream, be careful not to over beat the mixture. Refrigerate the ganache thoroughly before using a small disher to scoop out consistent amounts, just like you would for regular truffle centers. Because it comes to room temperature more quickly, you will want to stick the scooped portions back in the refrigerator for a few minutes before rolling them into nicely shaped balls.

Because you really have to dip these truffles initially while they are cold, you absolutely must plan on dipping them more than once. After dipping the first time, let them come to room temperature before dipping a second time. This will make sure you don't end up with a cracked final shell as the truffles warm up and swell.

You can still flavor them just like regular truffles; mint, however, is absolutely divine in this application! And, guess what? Technically, you could call these "reduced calorie" truffles because when you whip the ganache, it increases in volume, thus reducing the number of calories compared to a similar sized scoop of unwhipped ganache!

Baker's Math

I know there are a lot of folks out there with math phobia. I see them when my earth science students mutter that they thought they signed up for a science class, not a math class. What they, and a lot of other people, don't realize, is that math makes the world go round. We are fortunate that the universe appears to be structured in a very deliberate and organized way. I would argue that it is quite possible that until we are able to mathematically describe physical phenomena we see in our universe, we do not truly understand it.

Now, what does all of this have to do with baking bread? Well, to be honest, not a whole lot. I'm not worried about mathematically modeling the chemistry of bread baking, but I do believe that a few math skills in baking can be darn useful.

I won't lie to you. It took me a while to really grasp its usefulness, and many of you may find yourselves in that category forever. There's nothing wrong with that. You don't need baker's math to make great bread. But it comes in really handy when you want to start fiddling. Or scaling recipes. It really comes in handy there.

The whole idea of baker's math is that the recipe is presented as a list of percentages. Here's a sample recipe for french bread:

Flour 100

Salt 1.9

Yeast 0.55

Water 65

Two things you may notice right away: 1) the flour is 100%, 2) the total of all ingredients does not total 100%. All baker's math formulas are based on the flour totaling 100%. The other ingredients are listed as a percent of the flour's weight. How much weight is totally up to you. In this case, if you start with 4 cups of flour (weighing approximately 5 oz per cup), the required water would be 13 ounces. I obtained that number by using this first formula here. I plugged in 65 for the ingredient % (from the recipe above) and 20 ounces for the flour weight (4x5 oz). Multiply those two numbers together and divide by the 100 gives you how much water you need to add.

So, now if you want to use a baker's math recipe, you have a formula that can allow you to easily figure out how much of each ingredient you need. All you need to do is decide how much flour you want to start with and do one calculation per ingredient.

I used to pooh-pooh the use of the scale in the kitchen because it seemed laborious and unnecessary, but when it comes to making bread, the scale really is a rock star. Simply place your bowl on the scale, tare it, and start adding ingredients until you hit the requisite amount. Tare between each ingredient and there's no thinking involved!

But really, most cookbooks give the baker's weight and conventional measurements, so the above formula is only sometimes useful. So why the hubbub about baker's math?

Because I like to fiddle.

Lately, I've been fiddling with french bread. None of the recipes I tried quite gave me the results I was looking for, but many of the recipes had features I liked. But it is very hard to compare different recipes when they are written in conventional measurements. However, in baker's math, you can easily compare the recipes. Here are four french bread recipes from three different cookbooks that I converted to baker's percentages. The first thing to note is that they are quite similar. In fact, I could now probably write a set of parameters for what constitutes a french bread dough. And while there are a lot of factors that can influence the final product besides proportions of ingredients, it's an important place to start.


After making 5-6 different batches of baguettes, I took the above information and came up with a formula of my own I wanted to try. I decided on my percentages, and then I used the above formula to determine the weight of each ingredient. (I'll share that recipe in the not too distant future.)

What if you want to scale a recipe that is in conventional measurements? Then you need a different arrangement of the above formula.

With this formula, you need the weight of each ingredient, so you'll have to use a scale to get started. Once you have the weight of each, you can simply plug in the ingredient weight and flour weight to get the percent of each. Remember, in every case, the flour weight is 100%.

Again, baker's math is not required for bread baking, but it can be very useful when you want to compare recipes or scale them for a different yield. It may not be that hard to scale the measurements to increase a yield from 2 to 3 loaves, but what if you have a recipe that always makes loaves just a little smaller than you are happy with? With baker's math, you can simply and easily scale them up just a bit while still keeping all of the proportions equal! Handy dandy!

Homemade Breakfast Sausage

One of the things I love about cooking is that I never run out of new and interesting things to try. Making sausage has been on my list for a long time, but somehow it only recently made it to the top of the list. If you have a meat grinder, it is so very easy. The best part is that you can then tailor your sausage to your exact liking! Its great because you can mix together the seasoning and then cook a small bit and sample it before committing yourself to multiple pounds of the stuff.

I have an old fashioned meat grinder (although to be honest, I'm not sure I could tell you where it is right this second), but I also have the grinder attachment for my KitchenAid. I found the grinder attachment worked fairly well, provided that you use partially frozen meat when grinding. Unfortunately, I found the sausage stuffer add-on for the KitchenAid to be horrible. I ended up making a few cute little sausages, but - as far as I'm concerned - it wasn't worth the time and frustration of making links using my mixer. It just didn't feed properly... mainly because the food pusher does not fit snugly into the hopper. If you're darned and determined to make links, you'll want to look into a dedicated sausage stuffer (like this one), which can be found for less than a hundred bucks.

Anyway... so, I purchased a big ol' Boston butt roast. That's pork, in case you didn't know. And it's not butt. I've always wondered why the heck they call the shoulder the butt. All it does is cause confusion, but now you know, right?

Boston butt is nicely marbled, which is what you want for making sausage. Remember, there's a reason sausage tastes so good, and it's not because it's healthy for you! You do, however, want to cut away the major chunks of fat and connective tissue. There's plenty of marbling in a Boston butt and the extra gristle and fat can bog down the grinder. Cut the roast into approximately one inch squares. Place a Sil-Pat or Super Parchment sheet on a sheet tray and lay the pieces out on it so they are one layer thick. Cover with plastic wrap and freeze. When you are ready to make sausage, let the meat sit on the counter until it is about half thawed. (Or, you could only freeze until half frozen... it depends on your timeline). Run the meat through your grinder using the coarse grinding disk, if you have an option.

Once the meat is ground, the rest is quick and easy. Mix together the seasoning and then sprinkle it over the meat. Stir completely. Then form it into small patties. I made mine about 3 inches across. Keep in mind that they'll shrink a bit when cooked. Place the patties in a single layer on the baking sheet with the Super Parchment or Sil-Pat (to allow easy removal once frozen). Try to form the patties so that they are a little thinner in the middle than on the outside edges. Place the tray in the freezer and freeze them until they are rock hard. Remove from the tray and place in and air tight container.

When you are ready to cook, simply place the number of frozen patties you want in a lightly oiled pan over medium-high heat. Cover it and keep an eye on it. As soon as you hear some good sizzle going on in there, reduce the heat to medium-low. After about six minutes, turn the patties over to cook the other side. Pierce the sausage about halfway through to allow the excess grease to escape. Cook another 5-6 minutes of the second side, until the sausage is cooked through.

Homemade Breakfast Sausage

Yield: 2 pounds

2 pounds Boston butt pork roast

2 tsp table salt

1 tsp ground sage

1/2 tsp ground thyme

1/2 tsp ginger

1/4 tsp nutmeg

1/4 tsp ground pepper

Trim the roast of excess fat and connective tissue. Cut into one inch chunks. Freeze in a single layer on a sheet pan. Either freeze solid and then remove from freezer ahead of when you want to make sausage or freeze only until about half frozen. Grind half frozen meat with a coarse grinding plate.

Mix the seasonings together in a small bowl. Sprinkle over the ground meat and mix thoroughly. Form small patties so that they are thinner in the middle than at the edge. Place on a Sil-Pat or Super Parchment on a sheet pan and freeze until solid, then transfer to an air tight container. Sausages can be cooked directly from the freezer. Start over medium-high heat in a covered pan. As soon as you hear a decent amount of sizzle, turn down the heat to medium-low. Cook 5-7 minutes per side, until cooked through.

Cheesy Broccoli Soup

A few months ago, a friend moved away to a new duty station and gave me a grocery bag full of frozen food items she couldn't take with her. The assortment included two large bags of frozen broccoli florets. From the first moment I saw them, I immediately had an urge to make a cheesy broccoli soup. I finally got around to it the other night. This is such a quick and easy soup to make and it is filling and so mouth satisfying. I made it with non-fat milk because that's what I had on hand, but it would be even better with 2% or whole milk. When you use a lower fat milk, it is not usually the flavor that suffers, but the mouth feel. Feel free to use whatever type of milk works for you!

Cheesy Broccoli Soup

Yield: 4 servings

3 strips of bacon, diced

1 medium-small onion, diced

1/4 cup flour

4 cups milk, warm

1 Knorr vegetable bouillon cube (or similar)

1 16 oz bag frozen broccoli florets

2 cup shredded Cheddar cheese

salt & pepper to taste

splash of heavy cream (optional)

Heat a 4 quart pan over medium high heat. Add the pieces of bacon. Cook until the bacon has rendered its fat and browned. Spoon out the bacon onto a paper towel lined plate and set aside. Add the onion to the oil and cook, stirring frequently, until the onion is tender and translucent.

Add the flour to the onion and fat and cook, stirring constantly, for one minute. Mix the warm milk and bouillon cube and then slowly add to the flour mixture, stirring with a whisk continuously. Add the broccoli and let the mixture come to a boil. Reduce the heat to a simmer and cook until the broccoli is tender. Remove from the hear. Add the cheese, salt & pepper, cream (if using), and cooked bacon and mix thoroughly. Serve and enjoy!

Vanilla Cake

I am usually all about a chocolate cake. As I've mentioned previously, growing up, there was only one cake for us. I talked about it here. But, you know, sometimes, chocolate isn't what you're looking for (Really!). And sometimes, maybe, you want a change of pace or to offer a variety. I have a friend who is getting ready for her son's birthday. She made cupcakes out of my chocolate cake batter and loved them. Then she asked me if I had any good vanilla cake recipes. I did not, so I told her I would need to get back to her.

Six batches of cake and four pounds later, I think I have a recipe I feel good about sharing! It has a very nice crumb, and a sweet, subtle vanilla flavor. It makes great cupcakes or a layer cake. The other great thing about this cake is how easy it is to make. You just throw all the ingredients into a bowl and beat them together! The cupcakes above and below are this recipe with a nice butter cream frosting. I made a layer cake but took it to a function and felt a little too weird about trying to take a picture of a slice after it was cut.

There are two things to be careful of in making this recipe. The first is to be sure to use cake flour. Because this cake is beaten after the flour is mixed, you can't use all purpose flour. All purpose flour has way too much gluten in it; if you beat it the way you beat this recipe, you'll end up with chewy goo. That's no good! So stick with the cake flour. Secondly, don't over-bake the cake. Start testing with a cake tester a few minutes early and take it out of the oven the second that tester comes out clean. I've found if it is over-baked, it can come out a little on the dry side. It's still tasty, just not as luscious as it should be.

Vanilla Cake

Yield: 2 dozen cupcakes or 2 9" layers

Adapted from The Good Housekeeping Cookbook

2 1/4 cup cake flour

1 1/2 cup sugar

3/4 cup room temperature butter

3/4 cup milk

3 eggs

2 1/2 tsp baking powder

3/4 tsp table salt

1 tsp vanilla extract

Preheat the oven to 375 F. Line either 24 standard sized muffin cups with papers or oil and cut a parchment round to fit the bottom of two 9" round cake pans. Measure all ingredients together into a large bowl. Beat with an electric or stand mixer for 3-5 minutes, until the batter is smooth and thick. If making cupcakes, a size 16 disher is the perfect portion size. Otherwise, spoon batter in until the cups are about 2/3 full. If making cakes, divide the batter evenly between the two pans. Bake cupcakes for 20-25 minutes, until puffed and just slightly golden and a tester comes out clean. Bake cakes 25-30 minutes, also until puffed, slightly golden, and a tester comes out clean. Let cool in the pans for about 10 minutes and then remove from pans to cool completely before frosting.

Pressed Cheddar Cheese

Finally! I am so excited to share this post with you today. It would've happened earlier, but apparently, having 3,297 different hobbies makes it hard to focus on just one for any length of time. And would you believe I picked up another one last week? I am now completing my first stained glass project and planning my second. I've also finally gotten the necessary electrical outlet in our garage to be able to run my kiln. Somehow, in between all these other activities, I have managed to make some molded cheese.

Now, please note, I am not saying that I'm making moldy cheese. While there are some where mold is required, cheddar is not one of them. But I am finally able to progress beyond cheddar cheese curds. Hallelujah!

One of the reasons it took so dang long is because I needed a cheese press and I just couldn't justify spending over 250 bucks to buy the version I wanted. The cheaper styles just didn't seem like what I wanted. I wanted a press where it was super easy to set the appropriate pressing weight and super easy to disassemble and store. I finally decided I would just have to make my own. After a little fiddling, I found out they're not that hard to make! Here's one of my cheese presses. Because I think everyone should be able to make hard cheese without spending over $250, I am now offering them for sale on my Etsy site. You can click here, or click the widget on the top left of this page.

As you can see, there's not much to the design. Fortunately, I have a heavy duty scale that I can use to calibrate how much spring compression relates to how much pressure. The set up has been working Jim Dandy! Yehaw! I'm a cheese making fool!

So, the first hard cheese I'm going to share with you is pressed cheddar. Why? Because I already posted how to do 75% of the process in my cheddar cheese curds post. There are a few slight differences in the recipe, but the process, right up until the salt is added is exactly the same.

Cheddar Cheese for Pressing

Yield: one 2 lb wheel of cheese

2 gallons milk

1 packet mesophilic starter (mixed in 1/4 cup cool water)

1 tsp liquid rennet (mixed in 1/4 cup cool water)

2 TBS cheese salt

1/8 tsp calcium chloride (optional)

1/2 tsp annato color (mixed in 1/4 cup cool water) (optional)

The calcium chloride is helpful when you are using store bought pasteurized/homogenized milk. It helps replace some of the calcium lost in those processes and helps to form a firmer curd. If you choose to use it, add it after the culture has set for an hour. Stir it in and let the milk sit for five minutes before going on. If you choose to color your cheese, add it after the addition and five minute waiting period of the calcium chloride.

So, follow the other blog post for the procedure up until the curds are salted. Please, please, please, don't make the mistake I did in trying to reduce the salt when making pressed cheddar. The salt is necessary and helps things turn out right during aging. Set up your cheese mold by lining it with a couple of layers of cheesecloth. Pour the curds in, trying to keep the cheesecloth from bunching up.

Place the separating disk on top of the cheese. Notice how the cheesecloth is still on the outside of the mold. The first couple of times I tried to fold it over the top of the cheese before putting in the follower. It made for some very lumpy cheese.

Place a wooden follower on top of the separating disk. The separating disk is also sometimes called a follower, but I will refrain from doing that here because I think it is confusing. Begin pressing at 20 lbs and press for 30 minutes. This first time there will be a lot of whey coming out. Be prepared to dump the drain tray frequently during the first few minutes.

Each model is somewhat different. In mine, there is a small hole that allows the whey to drain into a small ramekin. Notice how this mold sits up a little bit; it has little bitty feet under there to help facilitate draining. I appreciate that.

I got this mold from homebrew4less (also available from Brewmasters Warehouse). I was using another mold from Caprine Supply first, but I like this one a bit better. The Caprine Supply one was basically a large cylinder. This one has a bottom, with feet -as I mentioned a moment ago - and it is perforated. This really helps the excess whey to drain out in a timely fashion.

After the first 30 minutes at 20 lbs, remove the cheese and carefully flip it over in the cheesecloth. Place back in the mold and press at 40 lbs for 12 hours. Finally, flip one more time and press at 50 lbs for another 12 hours. When using my cheese press, somewhere during the 40 lb press, you'll probably have to add the second wooden follower since the cheese will have compacted so much in the mold.

After that last 12 hours, remove the cheese from the press, discard the cheesecloth (unless you're using reusable stuff), and place it on a sushi mat (or similar) to air dry for three days. Flip the cheese at least once a day while drying. This helps to keep the fat evenly distributed in the cheese.

Once the three days are up, you are ready to wax! Cheese wax is a special, pliable wax, so you'll want to be sure you use the right stuff. It comes in more colors than just red. That's just the color I ended up with. Find an old pot at a garage sale to designated as your "wax pot." Try to find one that will fit comfortably inside one of your good pots so that you can easily make a double boiler. Purchase a natural bristle brush (synthetic fiber ones may melt, so stay away from them) and designate it as your "cheese brush." This system works out great because I never have to do any clean up! When the wax is cooled and hardened again, I put the pot in a plastic bag, brush and all, to await it's next call to duty.

Waxing is easiest if you've stuck the cheese wheel in the refrigerator for an hour before getting started. Brush the wax onto the cheese, one thin layer at a time. If it starts to seem like the wax is no longer staying on properly, put the wheel back in the refrigerator for a few minutes. Be sure the wax is dry, though, before you set the cheese down on anything! I like to brush one side first, then the other, then the sides. Be very careful during this step to be sure the coat is uniform. If there are any places that look like there is a pock mark, fill it with wax. The smallest hole will allow mold growth in that spot.

Once I'm done and satisfied it is waxed thoroughly, I cut a small piece of paper and record the pertinent information so I know what's inside and when it was waxed. I brush a little wet wax on the wheel, lay the paper in it, and then brush wax over the top of the paper to seal. You will now never be plagued by the "mystery" cheese.

And the last step, which I think is hardest of all? You have to wait for your cheese to age. Making hard cheese is certainly not an immediate gratification hobby. Cheddar is best aged 3 to 12 months.

Tarta Pascualina

I tell you, that dinner club we've been participating has prompted some interesting stuff! Our theme last month was Argentine cuisine and I was tasked with coming up with a side dish. I looked and looked. I became a little frustrated because Argentine food appears to be an amalgamation of many different cultures: Italian, Spanish, and Arabic influences are prominent. I wanted to try something that seemed a little more authentic. I'm not sure how authentic this dish really is, but it sure is a stunning knock out! I originally served it as a side dish, but to be honest, it's filling enough to be a wonderful vegetarian main course. That's how I served it last night.

According to Rebecca of "From Argentina with Love," Tarta Pascualina, or Eastertime Tart, was brought to Argentina by the Italian in the 16th century. I figured 500 years in one culture was enough time to consider it "authentic." And I immediately loved the idea of a pie with whole eggs baked in it! When this thing is sliced, it is so gorgeous. The first time I made it, I made it exactly as Rebecca wrote the recipe. Last night I made some adjustments. While I liked it the first go around (I used all kale), I really liked it last night. I am not a huge fan of strong tasting greens, so I prefer to use all spinach, but you can use whatever mixture of greens appeals to you. I have posted my version of this recipe below.

The first step is to prepare the filling. Mix the cheeses, garlic, nutmeg, salt, pepper, cornstarch, and milk together in a bowl. Add your greens. If you use frozen greens, thaw them completely and then squeeze them to get the excess moisture out. If you use fresh greens, steam them until wilted through, cool, squeeze, and then chop into small pieces. After adding the greens, make sure to mix thoroughly. If you don't mix it really well, you can end up with large globs of cheese that mess with the great texture of the cooked filling.

This tart is made in a 9-inch spring form pan. Prepare a batch of pie crust (or use store bought) and line the bottom of the tart. Gently lay the crust into the pan so that it reaches all the way down into the "corners." Try not to stretch or press the dough down or it will become too thin or tear. Spoon the filling into the shell and even it out across the top. Then gently press open 6-7 holes in the filling. Last night, without thinking, I put an egg in the middle as well, which I think was a mistake, as I think it messes with the cut presentation of the slices.

Crack a raw egg into each hole you made. Note that this picture is from the first time I made it when I did not put an egg in the middle. Try to ensure that the hole is big enough to contain the whole egg. If it runs over, stick your finger into the hole and gently enlarge it until the egg white falls back into the hole.

Place the top crust on making sure that it lays flat across the filling. Seal the edges and flute however you prefer. Make an egg yolk wash (one yolk and 1 TBS water) and brush it on the crust to help with browning. Bake in a 375° F oven for approximately one hour. Now, this is important! Be sure to bake with your spring form pan sitting on a sheet pan. I forgot to do that the first time and there was leakage of grease from the crust onto the bottom of my oven... oh the smoke! You only make that mistake once! Bake until the tart is golden and a thermometer stuck in the middle reads 160° F. If you pull it out below this temperature, there's a good chance your eggs will not be hard baked yet.

Remove from the oven and let it cool in the spring form pan on a rack for 10 minutes. Run a knife around the edge of the fluting to ensure it isn't stuck to the pan before releasing the band. Remove the spring form band and let it cool another 10 minutes before slicing and serving. It serves well hot or at room temperature.

The trickiest part of this whole deal is trying to be sure you slice right down the middle of an egg for the best presentation! It seems like once you get your bearings with the first slice, it's fairly easy to get it right. Isn't that pretty? The combination of the cheesiness and the flaky crust along with the creamy spinach and that hard boiled egg surprise makes this one a true delight.

Tarta Pascualina

Yield: 6-8 servings

Adapted from the blog From Argentina with Love

One recipe for a double pie crust (or store bought)

18-20 ounces of greens, frozen or fresh (spinach, kale, chard, or a mixture)

1 cup ricotta cheese

1 cup shredded mozzarella cheese

1 cup grated Parmesan cheese

2 cloves garlic, grated

dash nutmeg

1/2 tsp salt

1/4 tsp ground black pepper

1 TBS cornstarch

2 TBS milk

6-7 eggs

Preheat the oven to 375° F. Prepare the greens: if using frozen, let them thaw completely and squeeze the excess water out. If using fresh, steam them until they are completely wilted. Cool and then squeeze the excess water out. Chop into small pieces.

Line a 9-inch spring form pan with the bottom crust, gently placing flat across the bottom and up the sides. Mix together the cheeses, garlic, nutmeg, salt, pepper, cornstarch, and milk. Add the greens and mix very thoroughly. Place the filling into the tart shell and gently pat it flat. Using a spoon or your fingers, make 6-7 holes in the filling about an inch from the edge of the tart. Make sure the wells are large enough to completely contain a raw egg. Crack a raw egg into each hole. If it spills over a little, simply stick your finger in and gently make the hole larger. Place the top crust over the filling and ensure that it sits flat on it. Seal the edges, crimp, brush with egg yolk wash, and make a couple of slits to let steam escape. Place the spring form pan on a baking sheet and bake for about an hour, until the pie is golden and the temperature in the center reads 160° F.

Let the tart cool in the spring form pan on a rack for 10 minutes. Run a knife around the edge of the crust to loosen it and then release the spring form mold. Let the tart cool another 10 minutes before slicing and serving. Serves well hot or at room temperature.

Candied Orange Twists

As usual, in the run up to Christmas, I made huge amounts of food to give away as gifts. I made breads, candies, pancake mix, jellies, cookies, and... truffles! I love making truffles. I don't make them super often, because they are a bit of work (although as I do it more, it becomes quicker and more efficient). I originally posted about making truffles in the first few months of this blog. You can check out the "Making Chocolates" posts here.

As you might imagine, I rarely am satisfied leaving well enough alone. I always figure I can make something tastier, cheaper, easier, or prettier. In this case, I was going for the latter. Whenever I make truffles, I make more than one kind. Because I am not a fan of the whole stick a tooth in it to figure out what's inside technique, I like to decorate my truffles in a way that I can give my recipients a key describing what's what. For my usual Grand Marnier truffles, I decided to try and make cute little candied orange twists. They were a smashing success. Not only were they easy to make, but they look like a million bucks and taste great too.

You can make the candied orange peel in advance and keep them, untwisted, in syrup for quite some time. As such, I made a fair amount and am simply keeping the left overs in the pantry. Using a zester, get a bunch of zest strips from a couple of washed oranges. Try to keep the strips at least 2-3 inches long. They're very challenging to knot when they get too short.

In a sauce pan, mix one cup of sugar, two cups of water, and 2 tablespoons of corn syrup or glucose (or a similar ratio of the three). This last bit is critical if you want to be able to store the twists for any length of time. Without the corn syrup or glucose, undesirable crystallization can occur and make your life very difficult. Simmer the zest on medium low heat, stirring occasionally, until the zest is tender and translucent. I just keep tasting until it gets to where I like it; it usually takes an hour or two. Cool the mixture completely. If storing, keep the twists submerged in the syrup and store in an air tight container in a cool, dark place.

When you are ready to make the twists, get out a piece of parchment or wax paper and simply tie them loosely into knots. A single loop is plenty and the twists are sticky enough to stay wherever you put them. Let them dry slightly so that they don't ooze syrup all over your pretty truffles.

When you are ready to apply them to the truffles, use a small brush to dab a little bit of melted chocolate onto the top of the truffle and then place the twist in the middle of that blob. Once the chocolate hardens, the twist will be an integral part of a beautiful confection. And the shiny, citrus packed twist not only adds a delicious punch to a tasty treat, but is a gorgeous way to distinguish it from the other flavors you've concocted! In this tin: Grand Marnier, hazelnut, coffee, mint, and plain.

Smoked Salmon Ravioli

You know, it's funny how long it can take for me to get around to trying an idea sometimes. I first imagined this ravioli over a year ago. Just the thought of it set off an uncontrollable Pavlovian response. Somehow, I just knew it was a flavor combination that would be out of this world. And when I finally tried it? Divine! It's smokey. It's meaty yet delicate at the same time. It's sinfully creamy! I strongly urge you to give it a try.

However, I will be the first to admit, making homemade ravioli can be labor intensive. Ahhhh, but is it ever worth it. And when you do go to the trouble, take the time to make way more than you need so that you can freeze a bunch to enjoy spur of the moment some other day.

This recipe requires cooked smoked salmon, not the cold slimy stuff. I posted how our family makes smoked salmon (a Pacific Northwest favorite!) some time ago. If you make this salmon and have leftovers, this is a fantastic way to put them to use. Of course, to do that, you have to have leftovers... When I made this batch, it was for a dinner I was hosting, and I smoked the salmon specially for this ravioli. Either way would work great.

Once you have some smoked salmon, you're ready to go! The procedure for making the ravioli themselves is exactly the same as I posted previously for my cheese ravioli, we're simply going to change the filling we stick in there. I even use the same sauce as what I use for the cheese ravioli.

Smoked Salmon Ravioli Filling

Yield: enough for about 4 doz. 1 TBS full ravioli

2/3 pound salmon, smoked (about 2 cups shredded)

1 cup cottage cheese

3 oz goat cheese (chevre)

1 TBS fresh chopped chives

1 TBS fresh minced parsley

Mix all ingredients together until they are evenly distributed. Spoon by the tablespoon into pasta, sealing the edges to form ravioli, as shown in this post. Stack in layers with parchment between to prevent them from sticking together until ready to cook or freeze. Cook in boiling water 3-8 minutes depending on whether they are fresh or frozen. Serve with a cream sauce (recipe also available in that same ravioli post linked above).