NuJoi's Kitchen Diary: pastry cream

Wednesday, November 26, 2008

Thanksgiving #7: Not Bad At All

My standard joke every year is that around this time, the night before Thanksgiving, black women across the nation exclaim, "Oh Lord!!!" This happens because we are near exhaustion; it's getting late and we're still up; something didn't get crossed off the list and there's even more to do tomorrow. I was true to form, but my "Oh Lord!" was followed by, "Thank you, Jesus." I'm not exhausted. Tired yes, but not the way I've been every previous year. I took two naps today and several breaks where I put my feet up. That has been the difference between delirium and the calm that comes from managing chaos. I also made sure that I cleaned up after every dish. I mean really cleaned up. Nothing zaps your spirit more than working in a dirty kitchen.

I called an audible today (yes, to myself). I made the cranberry sauce today and left the veggie prep to tomorrow morning. I did stop myself from making a silly mistake I've made before -- icing a cake that needs to be refrigerated when there's no room in the fridge. I wrapped the cake layers in plastic wrap. Hopefully, I knock out the icing in the morning. Here are the pics from today's activities: space

Coconut pastry cream. You wouldn't believe how good this is.

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After I got the pastry cream into the fridge, I moved on to the coconut cake. My coconut cake is going to be a Frankenstein cake -- cake recipe from Cook's Illustrated, filling (coconut custard) from another Cook's Illustrated recipe, simple syrup from Bobby Flay and buttercream from Rose Levy Beranbaum. This is going to be downright sinful. I'll finish the cake tomorrow. See that kinda bare corner in the toasted coconut? That's where I was sampling. I thought I had done a better job of covering it up.

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That reminds me. I did not fix myself anything to eat today. My nutrition consisted of a half cup of tea, pie dough, sweet potato pie filling, pastry cream, cake batter, toasted coconut and smoked turkey that I pulled from the wing I used to make the greens.

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Then there was the cornbread -- another Cook's Illustrated recipe. I had lost the light for the day, so this is the best picture I could get.

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space Next came cranberry sauce. I am a purist. I don't want orange, ginger and nuts in my cranberry sauce. I'm also particular about what type I eat and when. For a full plate, give me homemade whole berry. For sandwiches and the joy of eating dressing by itself, canned jellied cranberry sauce. Slicing it works so well.

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I got my second wind and knocked out the greens and squash. A sink full of greens gets you enough for about four people!

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Splitting acorn squash is a lot easier than splitting butternut squash. This recipe is from the Pioneer Woman.

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Tools of the trade:

I'll do this later. I'm going to bed!

Monday, July 7, 2008

More Minis

My love affair with mini desserts continues! Also the cheap side of me kicked in. I love to go to bakeries and look at the fruit tarts. They are so elegant and beautiful. I never buy them because I think they are really expensive. I finally got up the nerve to make one myself!

One of my favorite cookbooks is Williams-Sonoma's Tools & Techniques. It has recipes for both the tart dough and the pastry cream. Here we go. Let's start with the pastry cream. Grab a vanilla bean. Split it with a pairing knife and scrape the seeds out. Place the seeds and the pod into a pot with milk to steep over medium heat.

Whisk the egg yolks and sugar. I whisk until the mixture turns to a pale yellow.

By now, your milk and vanilla should be warm enough.

Slowly pour a quarter of the warm milk into the eggs while whisking constantly.

Pour the egg mixture into the saucepan. Whisk constantly and cook until the mixture thickens and comes to a boil. Pour the mixture into a sieve placed over a bowl. Strain out the solids.

Add the butter to the strained cream and stir until it melts.

Place plastic wrap over the pastry cream. (Make sure it's touching the cream so a skin won't form.) Refrigerate for at least two hours.

Let's make the tart dough now. Get all of your dry ingredients into the food processor. Please, please, please, weigh your flour.

Take the dry ingredients for a spin. Add the butter.

Process lightly and add the egg and heavy cream.

Bring the dough together in a ball. Flatten into a disc. Wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate for two hours

Here's the challenging part for me, rolling the dough. Sprinkle well with flour and grab a French rolling pin.

Yeah. Lesson learned: don't roll dough in a hot house!

I quickly wised up an placed a sheet pan in the refrigerator. I rolled the re-chilled dough on it. I used a fluted cutter to make rounds for my muffin pan.

Sorry. No more work-in-progress pics. My kitchen was still hot and I had to move quickly. I placed the rounds in a standard muffin pan I used a tart tamper to shape them. Then I docked them with a fork. Here's the finished product.

Tools of the trade: