Tuesdays with Dorie - Chocolate Creme Tart

I made every attempt in the book to screw this one up.  The fact that it turned out not only edible, but pretty damn good is a testament to Dorie!

It all started with the crust.  I put all the ingredients into the food processor and pulsed, and pulsed.....and pulsed....but all I had was a FP full of crumbs.  It was not coming together into anything resembling usable crust.  Damn.  So I looked at the recipe to make sure I hadn't left something out and...well, crap....I had added 1/2 cup too much flour.  No wonder.  So, I'm about to throw it out and start over when I realize I don't have enough butter in the house for another whole recipe.  So, I punted.  The only thing my inexperienced baker mind could come up with was to add another egg yolk and a few more tablespoons of butter and hope for the best.

I didn't exactly achieve "best", but I ended up with something that I could actually press into a tart pan, but by this time I had a huge amount of crust so I used a 12" tart pan instead of the 9" that Dorie called for.  Another crap.  This meant that there wasn't going to be enough filling.  Grrrrr.

Which brings us to my second faux pas.  I was about a half a second too late getting the boiling milk off the burner.  Which means that half of it boiled over all over my stove and countertops.  At this point, I wanted to throw it all into the garbage and go help Mr. B wash cars (yuck).  But I didn't, because after all of these pastry cream recipes this month, I own pastry cream, so I can totally turn this around.  Errr.  Not so much.

Everything was going well until I added the chocolate and then it turned into this really shiny gelatinous blob in my pan.  WTF?  It was like my chocolate had too much fat in it?  Is that possible?  Help?

Considering all that I'd already been through with this F'n tart, I shoved it into the fridge to cool and tried to figure out what I was going to do to fill 12"'s of space with about 7"'s of filling.  I had read in some of the comments on the TWD site that someone was thinking of spreading a thin layer of Nutella over the crust before adding the pudding.  Bingo.  I'm stealing that idea.....and I did.

So, I put about a whole container of Nutella in there, poured in the pudding, whipped up some cream (added a little hazlenut Kahlua....drank the rest) and shoved it into the back of the refrigerator hoping to forget about it.

About an hour later, Mr. B comes in exhausted from washing cars and wants a little bit of whatever it was that I'd been making....house smelled like chocolate, I guess.  I asked him if he was sure.....he said, "hell, yes...smells like chocolate".  

Well, other than a somewhat crumbly crust, it tasted fabulous.  How did that happen?  Since Mr. B leaves town for the week, I gave half of the tart to my trainer who loved it.  Now his girlfriend wants the recipe!  I don't even know where to begin.

Thanks to Kim of Scrumptious Photography for her choice this week.  You can get the "correct" recipe from her blog. 

Barefoot Bloggers - Break all the Rules

This week's (well, technically last week's...whatev) BB recipe was Croque Monseiur and was chosen by Kathy of All Foods Considered.  I paid absolutely no attention to Kathy.  It's not personal.  I just hate Croque Monseiur.  And I've tried the real thing in Paris.   Didn't like it there either.   So, I didn't make Croque Monseiur.

Another BB choice was Lobster Cobb Salad Rolls.  This was one of those "extra" challenges.  We were supposed to make an Ina recipe on a budget.  I don't do budgets.  Sorry.  Don't like them.  So, needless to say, I didn't follow any of the rules this week.  Let's count how many I ignored:

1.  Did not make the assigned recipe

2.  Did not post the not assigned recipe on time (huh?)

3.  Participated in a completely voluntary challenge and chose not to follow the rules.

4.  Didn't even follow the recipe correctly for the completely voluntary challenge.

You may see me getting kicked out of Barefoot Bloggers in the near future.

And in addition to all that, I took a crappy picture!

This salad was really much better than it looks.  The only thing I'll change the next time I make this (and I will) is to not add any additional salt.  Between the bacon and the blue cheese it's quite salty enough.

I made this for my chief taste tester before a night of Idol watching.....in which my least favorite contestant FINALLY got eliminated....Lil.  I mean suriously....who IS she as an artist???  I have no idea what that means, but I think I sound so "Simon" when I say it.  Anyhoo...we both loved the salad.

As you can see, I chose not to put the salad into a roll.  Hey....wait a minute....um, there's my "on a budget" requirement.  Hooty Hoo.   Forget item #4 up there in my list of transgressions!  So there.

Here's the recipe:

Lobster Cobb Salad Rolls

2005, Ina Garten, All Rights Reserved

Show: Barefoot ContessaEpisode: Lunch in a Box

Ingredients

For the vinaigrette:
1 1/2 tablespoons Dijon mustard
1/4 cup freshly squeezed lemon juice (2 lemons)
5 tablespoons good olive oil
3/4 teaspoon kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

For the salad:
2 ripe Hass avocados
1 lemon, juiced
1 bunch arugula, washed and spun dry
1 1/2 pounds cooked lobster meat, cut in 3/4-inch dice
1 pint cherry tomatoes, cut in half or quarters
1 1/2 teaspoons kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1/2 pound lean bacon, fried and crumbled
3/4 cup crumbled English Stilton, or other crumbly blue cheese
8 hot dog rolls

Directions
For the vinaigrette, whisk together the mustard, lemon juice, olive oil, salt, and pepper in a small bowl.

For the salad, cut the avocados in half, remove the seed, and peel. Cut into 3/4-inch dice and toss with the lemon juice. If the arugula leaves are large, cut them in half crosswise.

Put the lobster and tomatoes in a bowl. Sprinkle with the salt and pepper and toss with enough vinaigrette to moisten. Add the diced avocados, crumbled bacon, blue cheese, and arugula and toss again. Fill the hot dog rolls with the salad. Serve at room temperature.

I'm such a slacker and TWD - Four Star Chocolate Bread Pudding

I'm a blogging slacker.  The first step to recovery is admitting your problem, so that little sentence should solve everything.  With that out of the way, lets get to this week's TWD....

Four Star Chocolate Bread Pudding.

Which is actually only getting two stars here.  It just didn't thrill me.  And I'm a little embarrassed, because I gave most of it to the chocolate-loving husband of a BFF who was kind enough to be my transportation to the hospital last Friday.  Her four-star effort didn't deserve two-star bread pudding.  Now I'm going to have to make her husband some World Peace Cookies to properly thank her.

It wasn't that this totally sucked, but it didn't compare to my favorite Banana's Foster Bread Pudding recipe with the Butterscotch Rum Sauce that I could bathe in.  I'd make that for the BFF's husband, but let's just be honest.....I'd eat it all and then STILL have to make the dude World Peace Cookies.

So, thanks to Lauren of Upper East Side Chronicles for choosing this week.  Check out her blog for the recipe and make sure you check out the other bakers to see what creative things they did with this one.  My favorite variation this week has to be Spork or Foon's Tiramisu Bread Pudding which I know I'll be trying soon.

TWD - Chocolate Amaretti Torte

What a great way to start off a month of chocolate bliss.  Thanks to Holly of Phe.mom.enon for picking this weeks TWD recipe.  It's actually named "15-minute Magic Chocolate Amaretti Torte" and that's truly about all the time it took to throw this together.  Everything happens in the food processor so the clean up is a cinch also.  A bonus!

Many of the bakers had trouble finding the amaretti cookies that Dorie suggested, but I was lucky on that front.  I think they're important in this because of the intense almond flavor they bring, but a little shot of almond extract might do the trick.  

This is a really great cake that I know I'll be making again.  It's dense, chocolatey, and really easy.

Make sure to visit Holly's site for the recipe.

Barefoot Bloggers - Chinese "fire drill" Chicken Salad

This recipe will forever be remembered as the one that brought the Hoover, Alabama Fire Department to my house.  Nice fellas.

So, I had just popped the chicken breasts into the oven and was starting to walk away when it sounded like the Rice Krispie men were inside there with the chicken.  I opened the door to flames shooting up in the back of the oven.  Can you say F.R.E.A.K.O.U.T.  My brain totally left my body.....WTF am I supposed to do?  Throw something on it?  Is it a grease fire?  Is it electrical?  So I dialed 911 and asked the operator how to put it out.  She said, "You don't.  Get out of the house."  Well in the meantime, I regained some of my brilliance and shut the oven off.  Within a few seconds the flames started dying out.  So I tell the operator that the fire was out and that she can cancel the fire department.  No such luck.  Once they're called, they come running.

By then, I figured out that the lower element had burned up and Hoover's finest assured me that there was nothing further to worry about, made me feel not quite so stupid and went on to more important things.  Luckily, I have more than one oven in my house and got to finish making something I wasn't that excited about making in the first place.  I'm not a huge lover of Chinese food so I was lukewarm on this one.

I should know better than to doubt Ina.  I actually loved this.  And so did my traditional chicken salad loving niece, Charlotte.  I had read the musings section on BB's website and everyone was cautioning on the high sodium content, so I did not add any of the salt called for in the original recipe.  In the end, I thought mine lacked salt, so I would change that next time.  I also think Ina tends to put too much dressing on her salads.  I made the dressing as written (which is delicious) but only ended up using half.

This salad is wide open to variations....I think I may add some snow peas next time.  Make sure you check to see what the other bloggers did with theirs!

Thanks to McKenzie of Kenzie's Kitchen for this weeks selection.

Here's the recipe:

Chinese Chicken Salad

2001, Barefoot Contessa Parties!, All rights reserved

Show: Barefoot ContessaEpisode: Back to School

Ingredients

4 split chicken breasts (bone-in, skin-on)
Good olive oil
Kosher salt
Freshly ground black pepper
1/2 pound asparagus, ends removed, and cut in thirds diagonally
1 red bell pepper, cored and seeded
2 scallions (white and green parts), sliced diagonally
1 tablespoon white sesame seeds, toasted

For the dressing:
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1/4 cup good apple cider vinegar
3 tablespoons soy sauce
1 1/2 tablespoons dark sesame oil
1/2 tablespoon honey
1 clove garlic, minced
1/2 teaspoon peeled, grated fresh ginger
1/2 tablespoon sesame seeds, toasted
1/4 cup smooth peanut butter
2 teaspoons kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

Directions
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

Place the chicken breasts on a sheet pan and rub with the skin with olive oil. Sprinkle liberally with salt and pepper. Roast for 35 to 40 minutes, until the chicken is just cooked. Set aside until cool enough to handle. Remove the meat from the bones, discard the skin, and shred the chicken in large bite-sized pieces.

Blanch the asparagus in a pot of boiling salted water for 3 to 5 minutes until crisp-tender. Plunge into ice water to stop the cooking. Drain. Cut the peppers in strips about the size of the asparagus pieces. Combine the cut chicken, asparagus, and peppers in a large bowl.

Whisk together all of the ingredients for the dressing and pour over the chicken and vegetables. Add the scallions and sesame seeds and season to taste. Serve cold or at room temperature.

TWD - Banana Cream Pie

Oh dear God is this pie good.  Mr. B ate the WHOLE thing this weekend.  Unfortunately, I'm not kidding!  This is the best TWD recipe so far and I have Amy of Sing for Your Supper to thank for choosing this one.

I do have a confession to make...again.  I used Pillsbury frozen pie crust.  So sue me.  It's easy and I hate to make pie crust.  

As you can see, it kind of shrunk and it's just not pretty.  But frankly, you could have put cardboard around this filling and it wouldn't have mattered.  It was different than any banana cream pie I've had before....with the addition of the cinnamon and nutmeg it had a much different complexity.  

And then Dorie goes and adds sour cream to the whipped cream topping and it just put it over the top.

Since I was usually the one cutting Mr. B another piece, I got the first bite every time.  This just got better every day.

The only changes I made to the recipe were to double the topping.  Mr. B loves him some whipped cream, plus I made the mistake of putting this into a deep dish pie pan (hence the shrinkage).  It worked out!

This is definitely my "go-to" banana cream pie recipe from now on.  Thanks, Dorie!

Dill Fingerling Potatoes

Well it just doesn't get any easier than this.

Toss some butter in a dutch oven, throw in some fingerling potatoes and salt and pepper.  Put a lid on it over low heat for about 20 minutes.  Toss in some fresh dill and you've got another fabulous Ina creation.

Of course you could probably roast these in some olive oil and have a little healthier option, but I must admit, the butter was soooo good for a change!

Dill Fingerling Potatoes

2009, Ina Garten, All Rights Reserved

Show: Barefoot ContessaEpisode: Fast and Fabulous

Ingredients

2 tablespoons unsalted butter
1 1/4 pounds fingerling potatoes, rinsed but not peeled
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1 1/2 tablespoons chopped fresh dill

Directions

Melt the butter in a Dutch oven or large heavy-bottomed pot. Add the whole potatoes, salt, and pepper, and toss well. Cover the pot tightly and cook over low heat for 20 to 30 minutes, until the potatoes are just tender when tested with a small knife. From time to time, shake the pot without removing the lid to prevent the bottom potatoes from burning. Turn off the heat and allow the potatoes to steam for another 5 minutes. Don't overcook. Toss with the dill, and serve hot.

Parmesan Roasted Broccoli

Mr. B loves broccoli.  I hate broccoli.  Therefore, Mr. B never gets to eat broccoli when I'm the one doing the cooking.  You know the rule...you don't have to cook anything you don't like.

Well, my sweet husband will be eating more broccoli!  

Leave it to Ina to make broccoli edible.

This was really good and so easy.  A perfect side to just about anything!  The addition of pine nuts, basil and parmesan turned bland ole broccoli into something I'll be making over and over again.  Mr. B might actually get tired of it.

(I halved the recipe for the two of us)

Parmesan-Roasted Broccoli

2008, Barefoot Contessa Back to Basics, All Rights Reserved

Show: Barefoot ContessaEpisode: Fast and Fabulous

Ingredients

4 to 5 pounds broccoli
4 garlic cloves, peeled and thinly sliced
Good olive oil
1 1/2 teaspoons kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
2 teaspoons grated lemon zest
2 tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice
3 tablespoons pine nuts, toasted
1/3 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese
2 tablespoons julienned fresh basil leaves (about 12 leaves)

Directions
Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F.

Cut the broccoli florets from the thick stalks, leaving an inch or two of stalk attached to the florets, discarding the rest of the stalks. Cut the larger pieces through the base of the head with a small knife, pulling the florets apart. You should have about 8 cups of florets. Place the broccoli florets on a sheet pan large enough to hold them in a single layer. Toss the garlic on the broccoli and drizzle with 5 tablespoons olive oil. Sprinkle with the salt and pepper. Roast for 20 to 25 minutes, until crisp-tender and the tips of some of the florets are browned.

Remove the broccoli from the oven and immediately toss with 1 1/2 tablespoons olive oil, the lemon zest, lemon juice, pine nuts, Parmesan, and basil. Serve hot.

A few BFF's and I headed to South Beach last week for what was intended to be a little sunshine and a little tennis watching at the Sony Ericcson.  Well, the sunshine was so wonderful (after all the rain we've been getting in Alabama) that the tennis watching never happened!

We stayed at our Exclusive Resort accommodations which are located in the Bath Club.  This is one of my favorite ER properties....I think this was about my seventh visit and we're going back again this year at Christmas.

I love starting here every morning with a cup of coffee and ending up here every evening with a glass of vino.

Other than men in speedo's...

and women in thong's

the view is fabulous.  Ocean and white sand.

So, like I said, we skipped the tennis and chose to spend three days lounging at the pool.  Y'all know that I love to look at the ocean, but I'm not swimming in anything that doesn't have a concrete bottom which worked out great because everyone else must have been at the beach.  

This guy was about the only thing we had to share the pool with all week.

Not

a

soul

anywhere!

Fabulous.

And if it weren't for the salt water, seaweed, and fish, I would love to try this sometime while I'm there.  I guess it's windsurfing.  I don't know.  But it just looks like sooo much fun.

And the kites are so beautiful.

But I guess I'll just have to settle for watching them have all the fun!

Where can I order this?

Funniest T-Shirt EVAH!!!!