Dining In: Denver, CO

While in Denver with our fabulous friends, The Earnests, I got the random idea for a new blog series ;)

Since I moved out to the East Coast, it feels like we have been traveling non-stop and of course with traveling comes eating!

Hence the title of my new "Dining In:" series in which I'll feature our culinary adventures from random parts of the continental US and beyond.  I can't wait to post about "Dining in: Taiwan," but that won't be until January 2011, depending on whether I have consistent access to internet.

So in the meantime here we go!

Smash Burger

Classic burgers,  frothy milkshakes, and fried side items.

The Avocado Club (grilled chicken, avocado, ranch dressing, applewood smoked bacon, lettuce and tomato) with fried pickles and a root beer float (not pictured here). 

The Hubs had a burger smothered in BBQ sauce perfection with a side of delicately fried french fries and a strawberry shake (again, not pictured here).

Earnest's Denver Omelette

You can't head to Denver and not have a Denver omelette right? We just happened to have all the ingredients in the fridge. Go figure. ;)

Abe's Cafe

We had lunch at this Greek cafe called "Abe's Cafe" tucked in the cute, classy town of Littleton. They featured the most interesting and flavorful homemade Chicken and Lemon soup chocked full of tender pieces of chicken and veggies. Oh yeah, and the beef pastrami sandwich was delicious too!

Lola's Sugar Rush Candy Shop

We didn't actually buy any candy, but I couldn't help but covet these beautiful candy jars and the shelves upon shelves of sweet confections!

Beau Jo's Colorado Style Pizza

Drinks in mason jars. Super cute!

Our beautiful Yukon mountain pie pizza (smoked canadian bacon, artichoke hearts, roma tomatoes, Beau Jo's pizza sauce, whole milk mozzarella, and smoked provolone cheeses). It was so delicious!!! Can't imagine what this is like after skiing all day.

Fish Tacos and Albarino Wine

Albarino Wine: dry, crisp, citrusy, and surprisingly smooth! A must try Spanish wine with grapes grown right next to the salty ocean.

Baked apples with pecans, raisins and brown sugar filling. A perfect fall dessert.

primeBar

Cheese plate perfection: brie, gouda, blue cheese, sweet figs, grapes, pita chips. 

Angry Shrimp Sliders: so outrageously spicy with 7 spicy ingredients!

Happy dining adventures! Share some of yours! 

NC State Fair

Every year, we tell ourselves that we aren't headed to the NC State Fair especially after feeling sick from all the fried food.  However, every fall we are tempted by the building excitement of the NC State Fair all over again.

This year's special fried food was Texas Fried Frito Pie, which the Hubs just had to try. For those of you who aren't familiar with Frito Pie, it consists of Texas chili with shredded cheese and Frito chips. In this case, imagine all of those items fried into a little nugget with sour cream and salsa as condiments. 

We also had the Bloomin' Onion, which is just too big for 2.

And of course there is the overpriced soda that we all lined up to purchase. This year we brought our Pappy's Mug so each refill was only $2. 

Never surprising, but always odd: Free Child ID Tags.

I'm not sure if we'll be heading out there again next year... (but my guess is yes). 

The French Omelette

Omelettes are the perfect Saturday morning indulgence. I never wake up early enough to make myself anything more than oatmeal for breakfast, so when we make omelettes it feels extra luxurious.

The Hubs tends to like his omelettes super tender and semi-runny in the middle. So the french omelette is the perfect recipe. The key element of this kind of omelette is that the egg never has long enough contact with the pan to overcook the egg... resulting in a perfectly tender omelet inside and out. 

Ingredients: 

1 thin pat of butter

2-3 eggs beaten

Fresh chives or any other type of herb

Salt and pepper to taste

* Feel free to add any other omelette ingredients you'd like. 

One last look at our fall herb garden until they go to sleep until next spring! 

Directions:

1. On medium heat, melt the pat of butter on a non-stick (preferably omelette pan). 

2. Pour egg mixture into the pan and begin sliding the pan back and forth so the egg does not have constant contact with the heat.

3. Cook until you are able to fold the egg over itself in thirds. 

We made a video to demonstrate the technique. 

The Classic French Omelette with Chives topped with Chiffonade Basil. 

And nothing goes better with an omelette than a freshly brewed cup of coffee in a gorgeous cup (from Sherry :)

Except perhaps a nice thin, salty slice of proscuitto.

Happy omelette sliding! 

Whipped Cream and Rum-Infused Pastry Cream

Today, I've asked the Hubs to guest blog the section on Rum-Infused Pastry Cream since he was the creator behind this deliciously flavorful pastry cream (and I was busy eating cheesy Choux pastries). ;)

But first, let me go through the basics of Whipped Cream. It is so incredibly easy and tastes so much better than your store-bought cans of Redi Whip.  If you haven't tried making your own whipped cream, you must try this because I promise you will never go back to canned versions.  

Ingredients: 

1/2 pint heavy whipping cream

1 pinch salt

1 pinch cream of tartar

1/8-1/4 cup of sugar (your preference) 

Directions:

1. You can beat this by hand, which we (or mostly The Hubs) have done before. However, I always become breathless and exhausted before the whipped cream reaches even soft peaks so I used our Kitchen Aid stand mixer (100 times easier). 

*Sidenote* 

What to expect if mixing by hand: Make sure you whip the cream hard enough to hear the "plopping" of the cream as it mixes with air. Remember, this is not just stirring. The progression of the texture should go from foamy, to thickened, soft peaks, hard peaks, and eventually (if you persist) to chunky!

You can test the peaks by lifting your whisk and you'll see the cream form a little mountain on top of the whisk: soft (weak, droopy mountain) and hard (tall, stiff, shape-holding mountain). Should have taken pictures, but you should get the picture.

Chunky consistency is great for topping on fruit while the hard peaks are great for topping on pies, cakes, and tortes, etc.

2. Pour whipping cream into your mixer/bowl. Begin whipping the cream at medium speed and begin by adding the salt and cream of tartar. 

3. Slowly, begin adding the sugar as the whipped cream is beaten. You want to do this early on in the process before the cream begins to thicken and feel free to stop the whipping and taste the sweetness to make sure the flavor is right. 

We used this whipped cream for our Choux Pastries and used our handy Ziplock pastry bags to fill the puffs. 

Happy Whipping! 

Rum-Infused Pastry Cream

Everything is better with pastry cream!  This is a recipe for a very traditional creme patissiere that you can use to fill eclairs, puffs, fruit tarts or just to squirt in your mouth.  There are a few different types of egg/custard based pastry creams and this is one of the richer, more dense types.  You can lighten it up, as I did, with whipped egg-whites and turn creme patissiere to the more fancy creme saint-honore.  This recipe makes enough to fill 2 large tarts or about 45 puffs.

Ingredients:
1 cup of sugar
5 egg yolks
1/2 cup flour
2 cups boiling milk
1 tablesppon butter
vanilla extract

Optional (additional) flavors:
Rum, cognac, orange liqueur, coffee liqueur, instant coffee, coconut vodka, semisweet chocolate

1. Mix the egg yolks and sugar and continue beating for 2-3 minutes until the mixture is pale and ribbon-like.

2. Beat in the flour.

3. Prepare the milk to a boil and add the milk to the mixture very, very slowly.  If you rush this, you will get scrambled eggs!

4. Pour the entire mixture into a saucepan and stir the entire pot with a wire whip and be sure to scrape off any bits from the bottom.  Take care to keep the bottom moving quickly otherwise that will be the first layer to cook and scramble.

5. Heat the mixture until a minimal boil and let no more than a few bubbles rise to the top.  Drop the heat to low and continue to stir aggressively.  The mixture should thicken slowly.

6. Remove the pan from the heat and add the butter to create a sheen.  Then, add the flavorings.  The most simple version calls for 1 1/2 tablespoon of vanilla extract.  The PG-13 version calls for about 2-3 tablespoons of rum in addition to a splash of vanilla.  Chocolate pastry cream can be made with adding 3 oz of melted chocolate with some rum, coffee or vanilla to round out the extra richness of chocolate.

7. If the mixture is too thick, beat 3-4 egg whites until stiff peaks are formed.  Fold in the egg whites into the custard.  You may need to sacrifice 1/4 to 1/3 of the egg whites to lighten the pasty cream before the rest of the whites are folded and fluffed into the mixture.

8. Chill the mixture for at least 3-4 hours.  It will keep in the fridge for up to 1 week.  Add the cream to your favorite dessert! 

Petits Choux au Fromage

Now that you know how to make the basic choux pastry, it is time to expand the options. I was extremely excited about the Cheese Puff because (1) there is CHEESE and (2) they are bite sized, which is perfect as a cocktail appetizer.

These cheese puffs can be served hot or cold, although with cheesy baked goods I always prefer them hot. Unlike the basic choux puff, these will not rise as high because of the large amount of cheese weighing them down.

Ingredients
2 cups warm Pâte à Choux (see recipe here)
1 cup (4 oz) grated Swiss, or Swiss and Parmesan cheese

* Feel free to substitute with your favorite cheese. Ones I'd love to try include Fontina, Emmenthaler, Smoked Gouda, cave-aged Grueyer, etc.

Directions:
1. Beat the cheese into the warm pâte à choux. Correct seasoning as needed (salt/pepper).

2. Squeeze into circular mounds on a buttered baking sheet, paint with beaten egg, and sprinkle each puff with a punch of grated cheese (optional).  

3. Bake as in Choux Pastry recipe for small puffs.

The perfect finger-licking treat!

Choux Pastries

This weekend, The Hubs and I attended a dinner party and made a decidedly French dessert: the cream puff.

Flipping through our copy of Julia Child's Mastering the Art of French Cooking, we found the recipe for Pâte à Choux, which is the paste/batter for all delectable filling-contained treats like cream puffs, eclairs, and even cheese puffs.

Ingredients: (For about 2 cups of batter)
1 cup water
3 oz (6 Tb, 3/4 stick) unsalted butter cut into pieces
1 tsp salt
1/8 tsp pepper
Pinch of nutmeg
4 eggs (large)
3/4 cup all-purpose flour (scooped and leveled)

For egg wash
1 extra egg
1/2 tsp water

* We did not include pepper in our recipe since we wanted to make a cream puff as well as a cheese puff with the batter so the addition of pepper might have been odd in the cream puff.

** To make a sweeter batter: You can include 1 tsp sugar and reduce the 1 tsp salt to a pinch

Directions:
1. Bring water to a boil with the butter and seasonings and boil slowly until the butter has melted. Meanwhile measure out the flour.

2. Remove from heat and immediately pour in all the flour at once. Beat vigorously with a wooden spatula or spoon for several second to blend thoroughly. Then beat over moderately high heat for 1-2 minutes until mixture leaves the sides of the pan and the spoon, forms a mass, and begins to film the bottom of the pan.

3. Remove saucepan from heat and make a well in the center of the batter with your spoon. Immediately break an egg into the center of the well. Beat it into the batter for several seconds until it has absorbed. Continue with the rest of the eggs, beating them one by one. The 3rd and 4th eggs will be absorbed more slowly. Beat for a moment more to be sure all is well blended and smooth.

4. If you don't have a pastry bag (like us), Julia recommends dropping the batter on the baking sheet with a spoon.  However, a long time ago we improvised and created our own Ziplock brand pastry bag. Just simply fill the batter in a Ziplock bag and snip the tip.  

5. You have the option of making small puffs or large puffs. Small puffs are 1 1/4 to 1 1/2 inches in diameter and 1/2 inch high while large puffs are 3 inches in diameter and 1 inch high. Space the mounds 2 inches apart (more space if making large puffs) on 2 buttered baking sheets. We used wax paper here and buttered on top of the wax paper. 

6. Preheat your oven to 425 degrees and prior to placing the puffs into the oven create an egg wash (1 egg beaten with 1/2 tsp water in a small bowl). Brush the egg wash over the top of the puffs and pop them in the oven and bake for approximately 20 minutes until they have doubled in size and are golden brown on top. 

7. Since these puffs at this stage still have steam trapped inside, they will become soggy very quickly if the steam is left alone. To prevent this, once the puffs are golden brown, remove them from the oven (do not turn off the oven), and place little slits on the side of the puff to release the steam. Then place them back in the oven with the oven door slightly ajar so they can crisp back up and the steam is dried out. 

8. Now, you have perfect little Choux Pastries to fill with your favorite pastry creams and whipped creams! 

(I just figured out that my iPhone has auto-focus so hopefully my pictures are more clear now!!)

Happy baking! KK certainly approves. :)

Petits Choux au Fromage (Cheese Puffs) featured in my next post!