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10 Legs in the Kitchen

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10 Legs in the Kitchen

Tag Archives: tiramisu

The Big Shake: by ginger

16 Sunday Nov 2014

Posted by Stacey Bender in From the journals, Ginger + Buddy, the kitchen

≈ 10 Comments

Tags

canine stretches and sighs, canine zen, frozen dessert, this dog's life, tiramisu, tiramisu gelato

PS6

Release.  I love to release.  Unless it is food.  If it is food and it has made it to my (not so) delicate mouth, you had better back off!  Or keep at it, tugging and prying relentlessly, until you save me from myself (some food is bad for me but I never learn).

I love to shake.  Shaking is a great form of release, just like a big sigh.  Deep, bottom of the soul kind of sigh.  I love to sigh.  I love to shake.  I love to release.  My brother Buddy (yes, I been known to refer to him as my brother now) has a really unique shaking technique; he always has had.  When he first came to live with us, his shake was a little weak but the technique was fun to watch.  I think it was then that I knew he was one I could love someday.  He needed work though, and by work, I mean what he really needed was love and care.  I didn’t give him obvious love, but I was teaching him (with love) nonetheless.  Mom didn’t think so though; she thought I was jealous of and mean to him.  But I saw it as tough love.  His first lesson of course, was to learn who was boss.  After he learned that, there was a large agenda to fill.

I taught him to stretch.  He came to us crotchety and stiff.

I taught him to sit on the couch, waiting for the snacks to come to us, rather than jumping down and chasing Mom each time she goes into the kitchen.  This has taken some time, but he still does it often enough.  There is a whole syllabus that could be built around etiquette and maximizing the efforts in the kitchen.  It took a while for him to get a passing grade in this class and sometimes I wonder if he could use a refresher course.

I taught him to scratch, fervently behind the ears to get Mom to rub them, or sometimes just for attention.  If that doesn’t work, proceed to chewing your crotch.  That always works for gaining attention.

I taught him to move from room to room, following the sunbeams and switching up which bed to nap in.  Now that he is my brother, I let him take his pick.  And sometimes, I even let him choose first after Mommy and Daddy leave for work.

I taught him to snarf.  Snarfing must come from the nose, and the head needs to tilt with a quick flick of the neck.  It should sound wet but not dripping (although Daddy disagrees with my assessment and continues to declare, “snarf-free zones”, like the front seat of the car; silly Daddy).  It should start softly and get louder until the intended action is taken.  Snarfing is a gentle way of asking for something that you want.  Don’t ask me why it works but I have found that it does.  It is also a good method of release.  Just look at the dashboard.

I also taught him to sigh!

He used to make little sighs that you couldn’t hear, but I’m talking deep down, from the belly to the nose and back through to the toes kinds of sigh.  People pay good money to learn this technique I’m told.

He too likes to sigh big now and we both like to shake.  When Buddy shakes, he looks like a propeller starting to take-off.  It begins at his head and echos down to the small of his back where it effortlessly builds momentum, lifting his little butt upwards and back legs off of the ground ending in his little stubby tail.  This happens very quickly, yet it still seems like it is happening in slow-motion because he is a blur.  I think he used to be a cowboy.  I can almost see him on a bull-ride, hanging onto the reins as it whips him too and fro.  He’s a little scrappy guy but I bet he would hang on, back hunched forward and bottom flying up and down in the air.  His (rather large) nose would be pointing up to the sky, eyes squinted and tongue tucked at the corner of his lip where his missing tooth used to be.

When I shake, it is much more graceful.  It is proceeded by a languished stretch; front paws fully extended, pushing into the ground.  Chest forward, it dips down and my arms buckle, my back arches and my short nose skims the floor.  I sit like this for a bit, letting the stretch work it’s way through my belly from my pelvis to my lungs, then my head guides my chest back up and I shake it out.  A whole body at once, a side-to-side kind of shake.  Legs firmly planted, posture intact and a deliberate motion shake.  I was a dancer before and take movement very seriously.  Even when it appears to be a crazy move; the move is always intentional.  This goes for the moves I make with my eyes, intentional and all-knowing.  I see everything.  I plot out each move.  I work hard each day and then I need to release – sleep, sigh, stretch, then shake!

Time to eat!!!

The logical thing, I realize, would be to make a shake.  I am a dog now though (yes, it’s true) and this is not the thing I think of eating when I say, “it’s time to eat”.  So Buddy and I are off to eat our duck.  It isn’t just duck; there are veggies too, but it is raw.  I don’t think you want to hear about raw duck and I doubt Darwin’s will give up their recipe (or else I might just let Mom make it for me instead), so I think it is best to describe a good little “pick me up” that Mom is making from her “big mistake”.  It happens to be a shake (or at least that icy thing you use to make a shake).

PS5

PS2

Bonefide Tiramisu Gelato
By Stacey

This recipe came about from a bad batch of birthday “cake”, a spark of an idea from my niece, Julia and the leftover batter from said birthday cake.  I should also mention that the cake had not been traditional cake but actually tiramisu.  You can read about that story [here].  When I made it for my Mom’s birthday, it was a bit of a mistake because the eggs did not have enough yolk.  Long story short(ish), at dinner, my niece spoke of a tiramisu gelato being a favorite when she heard that tiramisu was for dessert.  This got me thinking, with all of the leftover cream, I could make gelato (or just ice cream).

ps2_gelati

I could not find my ice cream maker (since it was not in the freezer, it wouldn’t have done me any good anyways).  Remembering that my Blendtec claimed to make ice-cream, I decided to give it a try.  I whipped out the booklet which showed a recipe using batter frozen into ice cubes.  I proceeded to put some of my cream “batter” into the only ice tray I could find, a bone-shaped one for Ginger and Buddy’s Summer frozen yogurt.  Problem…this is a rigid tray and I couldn’t pry them out once frozen so I had to let them sit on the counter and melt enough to release.  By this point, I decided to skip the bother of any device and just put the whole lot into the freezer in a glass container.  Several hours later, it had frozen into a soft, supple, delicious pile of tiramisu gelato.  Julia, this one’s for you.  Ciao Bella!

INGREDIENTS

1 batch of cream batter from My tiramisu (click here for recipe)
1 (additional) 8oz tub of mascarpone
Cocoa powder or carob powder for dusting
Ladyfingers for optional garnish

PREPARE

When you make the tiramisu cream batter, add the extra tub of mascarpone to the called-for-in-the-recipe quantity.

Regardless of whether you end up with a thin or a creamy batter, transfer it to a freezer safe dish with tight-fitting lid.  Put it in the freezer for several hours.

It should be a soft velvety consistency when it is ready to serve. The longer it stays in the freezer, the harder it will be. If it is quite firm and too hard to scoop, simply let it rest on the counter until it comes to the desired consistency.  If you are serving at a dinner party or just know you will be having a little scoop for dessert, plan ahead and set it out about 10-20 minutes in advance.

Sprinkle the scoop with a dusting of cocoa and serve with a ladyfinger.

B & G 1I’m still teaching him…
PS_G & B 2…it’s about the zen.

PS_Ginger emotions+ when life is good, open wide and let it in!

Even the best laid plans…

08 Saturday Nov 2014

Posted by Stacey Bender in family gatherings, From the journals, the kitchen

≈ 22 Comments

Tags

cooking, dessert, tiramisu

hat top

Cook what you know.

A good motto to live by when entertaining; one I try to uphold.  This is especially true for me when it comes to dessert.  A course often overlooked as I scramble to prepare all of the others.  Simple is good!  Something in my repertoire and something that requires little to no baking is even better.  For me, that could mean tiramisu.  My recipe for tiramisu dates back to 1998 from my first journal, yet I was making it before I started documenting my kitchen, uh-ventures.  It was my thing.  I could always woo people with my tiramisu; my rendition was golden (and it was the 90’s after all, where it even stole a few lines in “Sleepless in Seattle”).journal cover Journal #1

Okay, so my rendition of Buongusto’s tiramisu was golden.  I came to acquire their rendition specifically from watching (on many occasions) the pastry chef at the long-time defunct, Buongusto Ristorante on Queen Anne, make this dessert for dinner service.  It was often late at night, after hours (because it needed to be prepared a day in advance).  I would watch him work his magic while he told me about the ghosts that haunted the kitchen of the old house in which the restaurant resided… I watched, I learned, I repeated (on a scale more compatible to our small Queen Anne Hill duplex kitchen).  It became my go-to birthday (or special occasion) cake.  I hadn’t made it in years.journal open The entry

Facing the quickly approaching birthday affair we were hosting at our house for my Mother, it seemed appropriate to make this as a birthday cake.  After all, spaghetti and meatballs had been her dinner request and tiramisu seemed like the right thing to make.

I made a very bad birthday cake.

I don’t know that I should apologize about it, because I was not actually making a cake.  As I said, I was making tiramisu.  For my Mom’s birthday (she just turned…well, we were forewarned not to say which birthday it was).

Bad birthday cake nonetheless.

I am blaming it on the eggs.  I cracked open the 7 perfectly large, brown eggs slated for this effort, but was rewarded with a meager bit of yolk in each of them.  I had virtually 1/2 the amount of yolk that I should have had.  However, this did not stop me from proceeding, diligently following each bit of scribble in my dog-eared and tattered journal.

Rather than a thickened, creamy cloud that should have spread loosely over the top of each layer of ladyfingers, I had what “spread” with the consistency of buttermilk.  I added another 8oz of mascarpone, along with two more egg yolks, (happily for them, the whites were cooked for Buddy and Ginger) and I took my hand blender to it again.  Ironically, it was even thinner than what I had before, but it was midnight and I had to move on.

Next, I slopped down a layer of this wet cream, topped it with the first layer of fingers, and poured, as evenly as I could, more of the cream over top.  It disappeared into the pores of the fingers but I topped it with the next layer of fingers nonetheless.  Now it was time for a little, big chill, overnight, in the fridge.  I learned to always make this a day ahead.  Perhaps the new day would show a fluffier reward?

The new day did not reward me with fluff.  Instead, the big chill looked like a big shake.  I should clarify this; it was like the aftermath of a BIG shake, like the kind from a big dog that was left to do their business out in the rain.  There was a puddle of cream slopping out the edges causing a very unsightly mess, and a completely exposed, un-topped layer of cake.  I mopped it up from the sides with a paper towel.  Cake sitting on the counter, I stood over it, deliberating on what would be my next move.  Mom was hanging about the kitchen now and I tried to hide the misery under a wrap of foil until I could formulate a good plan.  Family would be arriving shortly and I was still up to my elbows in mess.  Messy kitchen, messy clothes, messy hair.  Luckily, in my frustration at the state of the cream the previous night, I did not use it all, deciding to wait on topping the last layer until the next day.  Instead, I held it in it’s glass container overnight to see if it would thicken.  It did not.

I had one more 8oz tub of mascarpone and a fresh batch of eggs (because I anticipated making a fix and asked Tom to pick some up at the store).  What I did not have was time, to start over.  Into the Blendtec my extra batter went, along with two more egg yolks.  Yup, you guessed it, the result was thinner yet again.  I thought that surely, the egg yolks plus high Blendtec velocity would produce the equivalent texture of heavy whipped cream.  I was wrong.

So in desperation, I took that (newly purchased) last tub of mascarpone and emptied all but a few spoonfuls into the Blendtec container after transferring the batter back to it’s glass dish.  I then added a modest amount of cream batter back in with the mascarpone, say 3/4 cup.  Whiz, whiz, whiz…but not enough in the container to blend it well so I dug in with a rubber spatula and beat it around a little until it was finally, a lovely, little thick bit of mascarpone cream.  Yes, key word here is little (as in just enough to do the trick, but modest enough to leave exposed ladyfingers).  I spread it over top anyways and then dusted it with carob power to cover the inadequate amount of cream.  Not too shabby.  Not sexy, but not shabby indeed.  A few clever birthday candles, a dimly lit room, a festive table filled with balloons, flowers and dinner aftermath…we had a birthday-worthy cake.  It didn’t hurt that my sister-in-law had also donned the table with a double-tiered plate of Italian dolce (cannoli, amaretto cookies and biscotti).  Added a few perfectly-frothed cups of espresso and we were in business.

Sometimes, you can cook what you know, but you find you need to get reacquainted once more.  Sometimes even the best-laid plans require a change of plan and often times, they work out just fine, nonetheless.

tiramisu (candles edited)
A little rough but…still festive (and tasty).

Tiramisu

I have eaten many versions of tiramisu, some dense and thick, others light and fluffy.  There can be espresso or not, booze or not, but there really should be both.  It is important to use high-quality ingredients (as it always is), but with this dish even more-so due to the minimal flavors that are brought together to sing.  A good, thick espresso will provide a deep flavor and a gentle “pick me up”.  For the booze, a nice brandy is what I prefer, mixed with a small amount of Kahlúa and Meyer rum.  Some people use only rum or (gasp), no booze at all.  The booze is not meant to overwhelm the flavor but to add a nice sweetness and rich complexity that without would be apparent if missing.  I prefer the fluffy over the dense, indicating to me, that it has been delicately constructed with fresh eggs, whites whipped separate from the yolk and not replaced by a commercially convenient concoction.  The ladyfingers should be dipped quickly, not soaked, in the espresso and booze mixture so as to keep them from becoming soggy.  Most importantly, as mentioned earlier, it needs time to chill, preferably overnight, to allow the flavors to connect and the cream to firm.  The result should be a perfectly balanced flavor of coffee and cream with chocolate and spice.  The texture should be soft and fluffy, leaving your palette cleansed and your stomach less than over-indulged.

INGREDIENTS

5 egg yolks
1/2 cup Turbino sugar
8 oz Mascarpone
7 egg whites

1 cup espresso
1/8 cup Brandy, plus a drizzle for the cream mixture
2 TB Kahlúa
1/4 cup Meyer rum
Several grates of fresh nutmeg (or about 1/8 tsp grated)
Cocoa or carob powder

2 packages of ladyfingers

PREPARE

In a large bowl, whip together the yolks and sugar with a mixer until they are pale yellow.  Pour in a few drips of brandy and add the mascarpone.  Mix until blended.

In a separate bowl, mix the egg whites until stiff peaks form.

Pour the egg whites mixture into the cream and stir to blend.  It should be stiff enough to thickly coat the back of a spoon.

In another bowl, combine the espresso and the booze.  Set out a large platter with shallow sides or a sheet pan.  Quickly dunk the ladyfingers into the espresso mix, one side at a time.  Lay each one down on the platter or pan, forming rows until you have a single layer.

Top with half of the cream, spreading it evenly over the first layer.  Sprinkle with carob or cocoa powder then repeat the process again with another layer.

Carefully cover, trying not to let the cover touch the surface of the cream (rigid aluminum foil works well).  Chill for at least 8 hours.  It is best to make 12-24 hours in advance.

If it is an occasion cake, I make it directly on the platter since it will not transfer well other than to individual plates when serving.  Candles look festive and espresso served with is a must (at least for me).

Godere!

hat fullThe traveling birthday hat!

When I turned 40, I had a small outdoor party and my brother, Scott, gave me this hat.  Under (slight) protest, I wore it that night and then passed the torch to the next family member up on the birthday docket.  It became a tradition, passing the hat from one to the next for their birthdays.  I even took it on the plane to Hawai‘i one year and made Tom wear it for most of the flight on his birthday (he wasn’t under protest, the photos show him with a glass of Champagne and guava in his hand).  There is a little pocket on the inside of the hat and I had grandiose plans of each person leaving a picture of themselves wearing the hat, and tucking it into the pocket before sending it down the line.  Now that it is x years (I’m not talking either) later, I wish that we had done that; it would have been lovely to see them all now.  My Mom, under more than slight protest, did wear the hat too.  She looked marvelous.  “No pictures, please“.

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