GATEAU MARJOLAINE

Le gâteau Marjolaine de Fernand Point (Pyramide)

Ingredients for the Meringue-Nut Cake

• 1 ½ cup blanched almonds
• 1 cup skinned hazelnuts
• 1 ½ cups sugar
• 8 egg whites, (be sure to reserve the yolks)
• 1 pinch salt
• ¼ teaspoon cream of tartar

Directions for Meringue-Nut Cake

1. Preheat oven to 450 degrees.
2. In separate baking pans or pie plates put the almonds and hazelnuts.
3. Bake in the hot oven for 20 minutes or until browned, shaking the pans occasionally.
4. Remove from oven and cool. 
5. DO NOT turn off oven, reduce the heat to 250 degrees.
6. Once the nuts are cool grind 1 cup at a time in a blender on high speed for about 5 seconds then empty into a medium bowl.
7. Mix ground nuts with sugar, set aside.
8. Beat egg whites until stiff.
9. Add salt and cream of tartar to egg whites.
10. Gradually fold in the nut mixture.
11. Line baking sheets with wax paper and butter lightly.
12. Mark the wax paper to note 4 bands about 12 inches long and 4 inches wide.
13. Spread the meringue-nut mixture on these bands thickly.
14. Bake about 30 minutes or until crusty on top but still pliable.
15. Remove from oven and carefully invert onto another sheet of wax paper.
16. Carefully remove the wax paper from the bottom of bands. (The wax paper that the bands were baked on.)
17. Set aside and cool.

Chocolate Wafers

Ingredients:

• 6 ounces semi-sweet chocolate chips

Directions:

1. Place chocolate chips in a glass or stainless steel (best) bowl.
2. Choose a saucepan that will allow the rim of the bowl to rest on the rim of the saucepan.
3. Fill the saucepan with water and bring to a boil.
4. Remove water from the heat.
5. Place bowl with chocolate chips in the saucepan over the water.
6. Allow the chips to melt stirring occasionally to make sure all of the chips have melted.
7. Cut 2 ½ inch circles from wax paper.
8. Spread circles with a thin coating of melted chocolate.
9. Place rounds on a cookie sheet and chill until firm.

Butter Cream 

Ingredients:

• 1 cup sugar
• 1/3 cup water
• 1/8 teaspoon cream of tartar
• 8 egg yolks
• 1 ½ cups unsalted sweet butter
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• ¼ cup praline powder
• 2/3 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
• 1 tablespoon water
• Confectioner’s sugar for dusting

Directions:

1. In a medium saucepan combine sugar, water, and cream of tartar.
2. Bring to a boil; rapidly boil to 240 degrees on a candy thermometer or until syrup spins a long thread.
3. Place egg yolks in a medium bowl.
4. Gradually add hot syrup to egg yolks while beating.
5. Beat syrup and egg yolks until cool and thick.
6. Cut butter into pieces.
7. Bit by bit, beat butter into egg mixture. This produce 1 quart of butter cream.
8. Measure out 1 cup of butter cream and add vanilla, mix lightly.
9. Measure out a second cup of butter cream and add praline powder, mix lightly.
10. Melt chocolate chips with water.
11. Stir melted chocolate into the remaining butter cream.
12. Chill the creams until ready to spread.

CHIU CHOW SAUCE

Homemade Chiu Chow Sauce

 

Prep time

30 mins

Total time

1 hour 30 mins

 

Serves: about 2½ cups

Ingredients

• 15 fresh chili peppers, thinly sliced
• 2 teaspoons salt (or to taste)
• 2 heads of garlic, peeled
• 1¼ cups neutral oil (like vegetable or canola)
• 1 cup Sichuan chili flakes
• ½ teaspoon sugar
• 2 tablespoons regular or light soy sauce

Instructions

1. Slice the fresh chili peppers thinly. Place into a mortar and pestle along with 2 teaspoons salt. Grind and mix thoroughly with the pestle—you don't need to form a paste, just break down the peppers slightly. This is my shortcut for salt-preserved chilies. I'm not really sure if it actually approximates salt-preserved chilies, but it does add really great spice and texture! Set aside and prepare the rest of your ingredients.
2. Mince the garlic. I used a garlic press; a food processor also works well. Then again, nothing wrong with old-fashioned elbow grease!
3. Heat ½ cup of your oil in a small saucepan over medium heat. Add the garlic. Stir and let fry gently until the garlic turns golden yellow in color. However, it should NOT become crisp or fry intensely at all. You can turn the heat up and down between medium-low and medium-high to slow or expedite the process as need be.
4. When the garlic is ready (about 30 minutes later, give or take 10 minutes depending on how cautious you're being), add the salted chilies. Stir and let fry gently for another 5-10 minutes.
5. Next, add the last ¾ cups of oil to the saucepan to heat through. Too much oil early on in the process makes it more difficult to evenly fry the garlic and chilies, which is why we started with only ½ cup.
6. Now add your chili flakes and sugar. Stir to combine. Finish off with 2 tablespoons of soy sauce, and you've got a delicious jar of homemade chiu chow oil! (Feel free to re-season with up to a teaspoon of additional salt if needed. You may want to wait until it's cooled first to get a more accurate read on the flavor.)
7. Transfer to a clean jar. In our experience, the sauce stores well at the top/back of the refrigerator (the coldest part) for a good 2-3 months. And, of course, always dip into it with a clean spoon/chopsticks to preserve it. But we're betting it doesn't last past the 2-week mark!

CATFISH SLOPPY JOE

• 8 oz skinless catfish (or tilapia) fillet, cut into 1/3-inch dice 
• Coarse salt
• 1/4 cup vegetable oil
• 1 small onion, diced (about 3/4 cup)
• 1 small green bell pepper, diced (about 3/4 cup)
• 2 tsp paprika
• 1 cup barbecue sauce
• Unsalted butter
• 2 oversized burger buns (or other soft rolls), split horizontally

Instructions

Season catfish with salt. Heat medium-sized skillet over medium-high heat. When pan is hot (drop of water will sizzle on contact), add oil, onion, and bell pepper. Cook, stirring often, until vegetables begin to soften, about 3 minutes. Stir in paprika and cook, stirring constantly, for 1 minute. Add catfish and cook for 1 minute, stirring frequently so all sides of fish come in contact with hot pan. Stir in barbecue sauce and bring to a simmer. Reduce heat to low and simmer until thick, about 10 to 12 minutes. Butter rolls and lightly toast, buttered side down, in skillet. Fill buns and serve hot.

COCONUT RICE WITH MANGO AND PISTACHIOS

YIELDS: Makes 7 cups

PREP TIME: 5 minutes

COOK TIME: 23 minutes

STAND TIME TIME: 5 minutes

Ingredients

1 1/3 cups chicken broth

1 (14-ounce) can coconut milk

1 teaspoon salt

2 cups jasmine or basmati rice

1 cup diced mango

1/2 cup chopped roasted, salted pistachios

Directions

Bring first 3 ingredients to a boil in a large saucepan. Stir in rice. Cover, reduce heat, and simmer 15 minutes or until liquid is absorbed and rice is tender. Remove from heat; let stand 5 minutes. Toss gently with remaining ingredients.

CHILI

INGREDIENTS

• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 pound ground bison or ground dark turkey
• 1 large onion, finely chopped
• 1 12-ounce bottle of beer
• 1 14 1/2-ounce can diced tomatoes
• ½ cup strong brewed coffee
• 1 tablespoon tomato paste
• ¼ cup brown sugar
• 1 tablespoon chile sauce
• 1 tablespoon cocoa powder
•  Half a serrano or other hot pepper, seeded and finely chopped, or to taste
• 1 ½ tablespoons ground cumin
• 1 ½ teaspoons ground coriander
• 1 teaspoon cayenne pepper, or to taste
• 1 teaspoon salt, or to taste
• 2 15-ounce cans kidney beans
• 1 15-ounce can cannellini or other white beans

•  

  Nutritional Information

PREPARATION

1. Place a Dutch oven or other large pot over medium heat. Add the oil and heat until shimmering. Add the meat and sauté until browned, then transfer to a plate.
2. Add the onion to the pot and stir for 1 minute. Take two large sips from the beer, and pour the rest into the pot. Stir in the tomatoes, coffee and tomato paste.
3. Add the brown sugar, chile sauce, cocoa powder, hot pepper, cumin, coriander, cayenne, salt and kidney beans. Return the meat to the pot. Reduce heat to low and simmer, partly covered, for 1 hour.

SPINACH WALNUT PESTO

Spinach Walnut Pesto Sauce

 

Prep time

10 mins

Total time

10 mins

 

Author: My Sequined Life

Recipe type: Sauce

Yield: 6

Ingredients

• 2 cups baby spinach leaves, packed
• 1/4 cup shelled walnuts
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 1/2 cup extra-virgin olive oil
• 1/2 cup grated Parmesan

Instructions

1. Add spinach, walnuts, and minced garlic to the bowl of a food processor. Pulse until the spinach leaves are chopped up in small pieces.
2. Drizzle in the olive oil and process until smooth. Add the Parmesan and process until combined evenly.

Notes

If serving with pasta, I like to add a little bit of the hot pasta water and mix it into the pesto to thin it out just a little bit.

This spinach walnut pesto sauce will coat approximately one pound of pasta.

MISSISSIPPI SIX

Ingredients

• 1 (1 pound) loaf round bread
• 1 (8 ounce) package shredded Cheddar cheese
• 1 (8 ounce) package cream cheese, softened
• 1 1/2 cups sour cream

• 1 (4 ounce) jar dried beef, chopped
• 1/3 cup chopped green chile peppers
• 1/2 cup chopped green onions
• 1/2 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
2. Cut top off round bread loaf. Scoop out bread from the interior of the loaf, leaving a hollowed shell. Reserve top and removed bread.
3. In a medium bowl, mix together Cheddar cheese, cream cheese, sour cream, dried beef, green chile peppers, green onions and Worcestershire sauce. Transfer the mixture to the hollowed bread. Replace top of bread.
4. Wrap bread with foil and bake in the preheated oven 90 minutes. Serve with pieces of the scooped out bread and crackers.