GROWN-UP LESSONS

My first attempt at baking croissants from scratch is behind me. I’m not sure how I ended up with a yeast-free recipe (croissants without yeast are traditionally called croissants de patîssier, as opposed to the croissants de boulanger to which I am more accusomed), but they still tasted okay and I was definitely pleased with the flakiness.

I am very excited to try a new recipe for batch numero deux.

This may be the richest, most decadent cake I’ve ever eaten.

I don’t like cheesecake, but my little brother loves it, and since his birthday’s on Valentine’s Day and he came home from college to celebrate with us, I decided to indulge him. (Plus, when I asked him what kind of cake he wanted, he told me to “do [my] worst,” and a real grown-up can’t ignore a challenge like that!)

This 3-inch deep cheesecake has a Kahlùa and chocolate cookie crumb crust, a thick bottom layer of chocolate ganache, another thick layer of coffee- and rum-flavored cream cheese filling, a sour cream and vanilla topping, and is decorated with chocolate ganache and chocolate-covered espresso beans.

I ate one slice and, because I dislike cheesecake and am lactose intolerant, just about tossed my cookies, but if it looks appealing to you (and I think that to anyone who loves chocolate and cheesecake, it should), you can find the recipe on my favorite food blog, Smitten Kitchen.

If you follow this link, please be a doll and don’t laugh at how awful my cake looks compared to Deb’s. She probably has the benefit of using high-quality pastry tips, whereas mine are made of cheap plastic and come from the cake decorating aisle at the grocery store. Plus, I don’t even have pastry bags, so I used plastic storage bags. They were constantly breaking and on two occasions the pastry tip shot straight out the corner of the bag and embedded itself in the middle of the cake, hence the oh-so-subtle disguising pile of espresso beans right smack in the middle of my cake.

I was pretty proud of the way this meal turned out. I cooked for the parents of my charges as a Christmas gift, delivered the meal to their door, and whisked the kids off for a night of pizza and movies at my house.

I served rosemary roast chicken on a bed of barley bean risotto with roasted, spiced carrots. I also made martinis as an apératif and added a French bâtard and a bottle of wine. For dessert, crème caramel with a dark chocolate triangle.

I was worried that the chicken would be too dry because even though it was less than 4 lbs., I cooked it for over an hour but basted constantly with butter and drippings. I was really happy with the color and crispiness of the skin and was later assured that it was succulent! I also tried something new, separating the chicken skin from the flesh and stuffing fresh rosemary in between before replacing the skin. The way the leaves showed through the skin was really pretty.

I’d really like to experiment more with crème caramel. It wasn’t actually that hard to make but it took several tries to remove it cleanly from the ramekin. I had to eat about two-and-a-half of them that I ruined. Boy, my life sure is tough.

It was just Papa, Hannah and I for dinner last night, and the cupboards were a bit bare. I found some beautiful organic carrots with their greens in the fridge, though, which is perfect since I’m trying to eat as vegan a diet as possible. I remember seeing a Kevin Gillespie make a carrot green purée on Top Chef and decided to try my own hand at cooking with them. Plus, they’re supposed to be super healthy!

THE MEAL: ROASTED CARROTS WITH A CARROT GREEN VINAIGRETTE-TOPPED HERB SALAD AND VEGAN CORNBREAD

First I cut the greens off of six carrots and scrubbed the carrots clean. I am of the opinion (a) that a little dirt only makes you stronger and (b) that the skins of fruits and vegetables should be eaten whenever possible. I then sliced the carrot on a diagonal into inch-and-a-half long chunks, which I tossed in a couple of tablespoons of olive oil and about a ¼ each of cumin and cinnamon. I cracked some sea salt and black pepper on top, threw them in a baking dish, and popped them in the oven at 400 degrees for about 25 minutes.

In the meantime, I combined the following ingredients in a mixer:

1 cup cornmeal

1/2  cup unbleached all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

3 tablespoons canola oil

1 tablespoons honey

1 cups soymilk

1 teaspoons apple cider vinegar

I poured this mixture into a greased 9-inch cake pan and put it in the oven alongside the carrots (still at 400 degrees) for 20 minutes. I recommend cooking it ahead of the carrots at 350 degreed for about 30-35 minutes because mine came out a bit dense. Also, adding a bit more honey or a dash of salt would give it more flavor. Mine was a bit bland (Papa kindly called it “delicate”) but I ate three pieces anyway because I was famished!

Next I combined 1/3 cup extra virgin olive oil, the juice of one lemon, a small garlic clove, and about 3 tablespoons of chopped carrot greens in a food processor to make a light dressing for the organic fresh herb salad I found in the fridge. I also chopped up a couple more tablespoons of the carrot greens and added them to the salad, but only after I tasted them and made sure I was okay with the bitterness. I think the carrots, sweet as they are, nicely balance the bitter and sour salad, but you may not agree, so taste, taste, taste along the way!

Papa and Hannah made some chicken legs to eat alongside, but I think this is a really delicious and satisfying weeknight meal even if you’re not vegan. The carrots were perfect (the bigger ones could have cooked longer, though they weren’t underdone) and I could have eaten a whole plate of them easily.

Okay, well, technically I didn’t cook this one up all by myself. Reuben sandwiches for dinner was a family effort last night. Considering that the Reuben is Papa’s single, all-time favorite sandwich, it’s funny we’ve never made them before. It was pretty simple, but could be made even easier if you don’t make your own dressing from scratch, like we did.

REUBENS

For each sandwich…

2 slices of white rye bread, sauerkraut, thinly sliced corned beef, one slice Swiss cheese, about 2 tbsp. Thousand Island Dressing (we made ours from the reicpe in the Joy of Cooking).

Butter the bread on the outside of the slices and arrange the incredients on the inside. Cook on a griddle or in a pan like you would a grilled cheese sandwich, until the bread is golden brown.

I can’t get the prospect of culinary school out of my head lately, and I’ve been getting my hands dirty with all sorts of exciting recipes. The most notable was a tarte tatin I made from Julia Child’s The Way To Cook. I felt inspired to try some of Julia Child’s recipes after delving into My Life In France, which was a recent gift from my boyfriend’s mother.

For those of you who aren’t familiar, the tarte tatin is a classic French apple tart. I’ve eaten loads of different varieties, but this one was by far my favorite, thanks more to Julia Child’s suggestions than to my own cooking ability, I’m afraid.

This recipe is truly delightful because the apples are first cooked in a homemade buttery caramel, which may be the traditional preparation but most I’ve tasted haven’t been nearly so caramel-y as this one.

Additionally, I finally seem to have mastered a nearly perfect pie crust. It seems the trick is to use King Arthur flour, which is really expensive but totally worth it in this case; to use only butter and no shortening, which is tasteless and to be avoided in all possible cases; and to blend the butter and flour by pulsing them in a food processor. I know, it seems strange but it’s what JULIA CHILD HERSELF recommends so it must be valid and not cheating.

I won’t share the recipe here because it’s rather long. Actually, it took quite a long time to prepare, too, but it was a nice Saturday afternoon diversion. Feel free to contact me and I’ll gladly pass it along.