Popovers

 25 December 2020

Recipe from Cook's Illustrated, January 2021

Christmas dinner was a beef rib roast. We like having Yorkshire pudding with this, but a simpler and very similar side dish is popovers. A new recipe came out from the Test Kitchen just in time for Christmas dinner.

Popovers are very easy to make. You can use popover pans and make 6 popovers or use a muffin tin and make 12. We don't have a popover pan so used our muffin tin. Bread flour and salt were whisked together in a large measuring cup. Low fat milk, which had been warmed to about 115°, was added with 3 eggs. The mixture was whisked until almost smooth. It was portioned into the muffin tin, which was easily done with the measuring cup, though I ended up with 11 instead of 12 popovers. These were baked at 400° then eaten warm with butter. Preparing the batter took about 15 minutes and start to finish the total time was about 45 minutes.

The popovers were good: a crisply shell surrounded the custardy interior of a mostly hollow pastry. These could be used as a substitute for dinner rolls and they can be made quickly using ingredients that are readily available in most kitchens. I had the leftovers for breakfast with butter and jam or honey. They were good this way, too, though they lost the crusty shell when reheated in the microwave oven.

Cinnamon Rolls (Kids)

 24-25 December 2020

Recipe from America's Test Kitchen Kids

We wanted to continue our Christmas morning tradition of cinnamon rolls even though it was just the two of us. I wanted a recipe for homemade rolls that would not take too much time or too many ingredients, that would make a reasonable number of rolls, and which could be executed early on Christmas morning. My search led me, to my surprise, to the ATK Kids section where I found this recipe. It was listed with a difficulty of "advanced" but I figured I could handle it. It is a yeast-roll recipe but I bet that I could let the rolls rise in the refrigerator overnight then bake them the next morning. The directions were very easy to follow.

The dry ingredients—AP flour, sugar, yeast, and salt—were whisked together in the bowl of a stand mixer. Water, softened unsalted butter, and an egg were mixed into the flour mixture then kneaded using the dough hook. The dough was then kneaded briefly by hand into a smooth ball that was left to rise until doubled. After 2 hours 20 minutes it was rolled out to 16"x8", brushed with melted butter, sprinkled with a filling of cinnamon, brown sugar, and salt, then cut into 2" strips. These were rolled up and placed in a round 9" cake pan that had been prepared with parchment and vegetable oil spray. Excess filling was sprinkled over the top of the rolls. They were covered with plastic and placed in the refrigerator to rise over night. The next morning they were removed from the refrigerator and allowed to warm while the oven came up to temperature, 325°. The rolls were baked until golden brown, drizzled with a glaze of confectioner' sugar and milk, and served. Preparation time Christmas eve took about 3 hours, including the 2+ hours rising. Christmas morning the rolls were ready to eat about 70 minutes after they were removed from the refrigerator.

These were really good cinnamon rolls and met my criteria of being easy to prepare with common ingredients and ready to serve at a reasonable time on Christmas morning. It was fun following the detailed, illustrated recipe instructions; printed they came to eight pages. The rolls were not as rich as those made using the recipe for ultimate cinnamon rolls, but they were easier to prepare. These were worthy of our Christmas breakfast, and good as leftovers over the following days.

Cranberry Curd Tart with Almond Crust

 24 December 2020

Recipe from Cook's Illustrated, November 2020

I was drawn to this recipe by the vibrant red color of the cranberry curd. I don't recall ever seeing food so red before, other than beets. We have some experience using cranberries in dessert, a cranberry apple crisp with the cranberries providing tartness to complement the sweet apples and topping. But it was primarily because of the color that I made this tart as our Christmas day dessert.

The curd filling and almond crust were made separately. For the curd, 16 ounces of cranberries were boiled with water, sugar, and salt until they burst. The hot cranberries were placed into a food processor and a mixture of egg yolks with cornstarch was added. This was processed until smooth and then allowed to cool to 125°. For the crust, almond flour, cornstarch, sugar, and salt were mixed in a bowl. Melted butter and almond extract were added and stirred to form a uniform dough. The dough was pressed by hand into the bottom and sides of a tart pan (with removable bottom) and baked for about 20 minutes at 350°. Once the cranberry mixture had cooled, butter was added and processed until smooth. The mixture was strained. A few tablespoons of the mixture were mixed with heavy cream and refrigerated. Most of the purée was poured into the crust (it barely fit) and refrigerated until we were ready to eat it the next day. (Alternatively, it could have rested for 4 hours at room temperature.) The heavy cream was whipped and piped onto the tart for decoration. Total time, excluding the 4-hour rest, was 2 hours.

Diane and I disagreed: she likes this cranberry tart better than the apple-cranberry crisp, I prefer the crisp. The tart has a delicious crust and a filling that is neither too sweet nor too tart. It keeps well in the refrigerator for a few days as does the whipped cream, stabilized by the addition of a little cranberry. We do agree that my piping skills leave much to be desired. It us unfortunate that the recipe requires 16 ounces of cranberries when a bag is 12 oz. I don't know if I will be making this again, but it is good enough to eat again and is certainly one of the most visually striking things I have ever made.

15-Minute Pantry Tomato Soup

 20 December 2020

Recipe from The Food Lab, W. W. Norton, 2015, p. 208

I started reading this huge book recently and when I was thinking of making some tomato soup I skipped ahead and found the recipe. It was advertised to be quick and not require any special ingredients, so well worth trying. I have tried several other tomato soup recipes and am curious how this one will compare.

A finely diced onion was cooked in butter in a sauce pan to soften the onion. Red pepper flakes (about 1⁄16 of a teaspoon) and dried oregano were added and cooked until fragrant. Flour was added and cooked followed by canned whole tomatoes with their juice, and milk. This was brought to a boil then simmered for just 3 minutes. The tomatoes were mashed roughly with a potato masher and an immersion blender was used to purée the soup. It was seasoned with salt and pepper and enhanced with the addition of some bourbon. Total time was about 30 minutes.

Unfortunately, doing a side-by-side comparison of soups made using different recipes is not practical, so I can't say with any confidence if this soup was better or worse than others I have made. My impression is that it was okay but not a great soup. Nonetheless I would like to make it again, using better quality tomatoes (I used a store-brand organic tomato) and the blender to purée instead of the immersion blender. I'm not totally sold on the bourbon, an optional ingredient, but perhaps it adds some complexity that I would miss. I also am interested in knowing how well the soup that is still in the freezer has fared.