Jack is Cooking Pannekoeken with Apples

Well Hello Internet!

Pancakes are one of my favorite things, in fact just last night i had a fantastic dream about blueberry pancakes, filled to the brim with blueberries in a way that is only possible in a dream.  This is a recipe for apple pancakes, called Pannekoeken due to its Dutch nature.  It would be possible to make this with almost any fruit, the spices can be adjusted accordingly.

Fresh out of the oven

The first time i ate a pancake like this was in Amsterdam, and have always wanted to make them at home.  It is almost easier than regular pancakes, but it involves the oven.  The batter is very different from american pancakes, and is basically just a sweet version of yorkshire pudding - or a popover.

delicious caramelized apples

You will need a skillet that can go on the stove, and in a hot oven.  Cast Iron is good, or something that is all metal and won't melt.  Nothing with a rubber grip basically.

Here's what you will need:

4 eggs
1/2 cup flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 tablespoon sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup milk

1 apple of your choice
3 tablespoons butter
1/4 cup brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
1 tablespoon dark rum

Preheat oven to 450°

1.  In a bowl, mix the eggs, flour, baking powder, sugar, salt, and milk together.  Whisk until its bubbly, cover and let it sit for about 15-20 minutes

2.  Cut the apple into slices.  if you want you can remove the skin, but i left it on.

3.  Melt the butter in the skillet over medium heat.  Throw in the brown sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg, and vanilla.  Stir until its bubbly, and the sugar has started to caramelize a little.  Cover with the apples, so the apples are evenly distributed over the sugary butter.  Toss the rum in, careful not to let it ignite.  (you could if you want to, and have a little Flambé action going on!)

4.  Pour the batter over all the apples, but do not stir.  Let it cook for about 30 seconds on top of the stove, and then put it in the oven for 15 minutes.  Do not open the oven at all during these 15 minutes, or it will deflate.

5.  Turn the oven down to 350° and let it bake for another 5 minutes.  Remove from the oven and enjoy immediately!  You can eat this with syrup if you like, but the sweetness of the apples due to the caramelization is enough on its own, and it is extremely delicious on it's own.

a perfect saturday breakfast

Jack is Cooking Blueberry Almond Tarte

Well Hello Internet!

I made a delicious blueberry almond tarte for thanksgiving this year.  I felt there needed to be something besides pumpkin and pecan pie.  So i made this delicious creation instead.  

It is very simple to make. There are basically only two elements that need making, and that is the crust, and the Crème d'Amandes.

you will also need:

Blueberries (1 pint)

Almond Slivers

a 9 inch tarte ring

You can use any crust you like pre made or otherwise, but i like to make a hazelnut crust, which is excellent for any sweet crust.

Here is my recipe for hazelnut crust (this will make about three 9 inch tarts) 

125 grams powdered sugar

250 grams butter

3 eggs (room temperature)

300 grams flour + a little extra

150 grams hazelnut meal

75 grams almond meal

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1.  Cream the butter and the sugar in a mixer.

2. Add the eggs one at a time until full incorporated into the butter/sugar

3. Mix in the flour, hazelnut meal, and almond meal.  it is possible that the dough will still be a little wet, so just add in a little more flour until the dough holds together in a ball.

4. Refrigerate until firm (at least 1 hour).  This dough can be frozen, and used at a later date.

While the Crust is Chilling you can make the Crème d'Amande.

For one 9 inch tarte you will need this:

165 grams butter

165 grams sugar

165 grams Almond Meal

2 eggs (room temperate)

30 grams corn starch

1/2 teaspoon vanilla (or 1/2 a vanilla bean scraped out)

30 ml Goslings Rum (or other dark rum)

1. Cream the butter, sugar, and almond flour.  

2. Add Eggs one at time.

3. add corn starch

4. add vanilla and rum, and mix until fluffy.

This can also be put in the fridge and or frozen until the time you want to use it.

To make the Tarte:

(preheat oven to 375°)

1.  Roll out the crust, and place in tarte ring.

2.  Fill evenly until with the crème d'amandes. (you don't want to fill it all the way up.  about 80%.  There will be displacement!!)

3.  Artfully place the blueberries on top of the crème d'amandes, but do not push them down.  just let them rest on top for now.

4. take the almond slivers and place them around the edge of the taste, on top of the blueberries.  if you desire you may also put them in the middle.  

5. Bake in the oven for 35 minutes, or until the top is nicely golden.  You will notice that the blueberries have sunken into the crème d'amandes,  which is exactly what should happen!

When it cools remove it from the Tarte Ring

And Serve it warm with whipped cream

There is no way this cannot be delicious!

Jack is Cooking Endives au Jambon

Well Hello Internet!

I was in the store the other day (the kind that sells food), and although it is not endive season the endives looked particularly delicious.  So i thought i would make Endives Au Jambon, which is a classic french dish (i presume) comprised of Endives wrapped in Ham, bathed in béchamel and topped with cheese baked in an oven.  There are two ways to do this - the quickest way to do it is to just blanche the Endives, before wrapping them in ham and baking them.  The Second way is to butter braise them which takes a little longer but is extra especially delicious - in a buttery Julia Child kind of way.  So i suggest the latter.  It's very easy to do, and all you need are endives, ham, cheese, flour, milk, and butter.  oh and some lemon juice.  and some salt and pepper.  and some nutmeg...

Heres exactly what you will need:

5 or 6 Endives (2 per person)
5 or 6 slices of ham (1 per endive)

4 tablespoons of butter
juice of one half lemon
3 tablespoons of flour
2 cups of milk
salt and pepper
a pinch of ground nutmeg
1/4 cup water

1/2 pound gruyere cheese (grated)

You will also need 1 heavy bottomed pot, 1 small pot, and a casserole dish.

The First thing to do is to butter braise the Endives.  To do this we can follow Julia Child's recipe which is this:
(preheat oven to 325°)

Rub 2 tablespoons of butter in the bottom of a heavy pan (like a Creuset).  Take the Endives (which have been washed) and place them in the pan.  I like to rub them around in the pan to get them coated in the butter.  add some salt and pepper, the lemon juice, and the 1/4 cup of water.  Cover the pot and on the stove slowly boil for 10 minutes.

Endives Braising in Butter

After 10 minutes, uncover the pot and turn the heat all the way up and boil for another 10 minutes - until there is only 1 - 2 tablespoons of liquid left in the pot.  At this point take some waxed paper, and put on top of the endives - this will keep them from burning in the oven.  Place them in the oven for 30 minutes.

After about 20 minutes it is time to
make the Bechamel for the next stage.  To make the béchamel place 2 tablespoons of butter in a pan on the stove.  When the butter melts add in 3
tablespoons of flour.  you will have a yellowish paste.  with whisk in hand add the milk in slowly - 1/4 cup at a time - continuously whisking.  You don't want to have any lumps, so make sure that all the lumps disappear before you add the next 1/4 cup of milk.  (NEVER STOP WHISKING!) once all the milk is in, and it has come to a boil you will have a nice thick sauce.  at this point add the salt and pepper, and a generous pinch of nutmeg.

By this point the Endives will be Ready so take them out of the oven.  Turn the oven up to 450°

After Coming out of the Oven

Get your casserole dish out, and pour some of the béchamel into the bottom of it.  (about half).

Next with some tongs, carefully take each Endive and roll it up in a piece of ham

Ready to Roll

After rolling, place each roll into the casserole dish on top of the béchamel sauce.  once you have all of the rolled up Endives in the dish, pour the rest of the béchamel over them and top with the gruyere cheese.

After Cheesing

Place back in the oven at 450° for 30 minutes and cook until the cheese has gone all bubbly and brown.  If you want you can also place it in the broiler at the very end to give the cheese a nice browning.

Here it is after emerging from the oven:

Nice gooey melted Cheese

Close-up

And that's about it!  its good served with a green vegetable of your choice!  i used sautéed mustard greens. 

Jack is Cooking Peach and Berry Pie

Well Hello Internet!

Since yesterday was the hottest day of the year (i think it got up to 108°  -  which as a LOST fan obviously holds some special significance...)  I decided that i should turn my oven on to 400° and make a pie.  An extremely Delicious, gooey, oozing pie filled with very delicious Ingredients.

it all started because i found a Peach in my fridge.  Peaches are my absolute favorite fruit, and after eating it for breakfast, i just had to have more.  I hadn't baked anything in a while, so i figured i would make a pie.  but that's not all i found in the fridge, there were a few blackberries also!  This got my mind gears moving and i decided that i would make a Peach and Blackberry Pie.

However, since I had eaten all of the peaches and blackberries in my fridge I would have to go buy more.  So I braved the heat, and walked to Union Square market to buy some more Peaches.  Upon arriving I encountered more berries than I could walk away from, and so along with the Peaches and Blackberries i had set out for, i returned home with blueberries and gooseberries.  (GOOSEBERRIES!)

Delicious Fruit

and Baking Ensued!

Here's what you will need to make this pie - and you should definitely make this pie.

for the Crust (Pâte Brisée)- from Julia Child:
2 cups A/P flour
1 tsp Salt
1/4 tsp Sugar
1 and 1/2 stick (6 oz) chilled butter - cut into small cubes
4 tbspns chilled vegetable shortening
1/2 cup of iced water

For the Filling:
7 or 8 Peaches
8 oz blackberries
8 oz blueberries
8 oz gooseberries (stemmed)
1/4 cup white sugar
1/4 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup flour
1 tbspn corn starch
2 tsp vanilla extract
the inside of 1/2 a vanilla bean (optional, but steps it up a notch)
3 tbspns Rum

For the Crumble
1/2 tspn cinnamon
1/4 tspn nutmeg
3/4 cup granola
1/4 cup sliced almonds
1 cup flour
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup Cold Butter

preheat oven to 400°

To make the Crust
Put all the ingredients except the water into a bowl, and cut the butter and shortening into the flour until it resembles a texture similar to oatmeal.  don't overmix the butter in, just get it to this crumble state.  (later i will do a post purely on Pie Crusts)

Add half of the water in, and mix until it just comes together.  if it is still very dry slowly add a little bit more water, but depending on the humidity of the day you will use more or less water.  (since it was VERY humid yesterday i used very little water at all)

once the dough has come together in a flaky ball, take walnut sized pieces smear them with the heel of your hand against the counter.  this will finish the mixing of the butter and the shortening.  gather all the dough together and wrap it up and chill is for an hour.

Next! prepare the fruit!

Peel and slice the peaches (this is a tedious, messy operation), put them in a bowl with the rest of the fruit, and add all the rest of the ingredients, and mix it up gently, as you don't want to destroy the lucious berries.

the fruit!

Now, since that probably took about an hour, take the chilled dough out of the fridge and roll it out on a floured board, and place it into your pie container.  Add the filling to it.  don't worry if its overflowing a little bit.  LET IT OVERFLOW!

put this in the fridge while you make the crumble.

to make the crumble (this ones easy!):
add all ingredients together in a bowl and mix (with your hands!!!!) until crumbly.
put it over the filling

before baking
(as you can see i actually made two.... but the ingredients listed here are only for one!)

place it on a tray and cook it first for 20 minutes uncovered.  then cover with tinfoil and bake it for another 25 minutes.  finally remove the tinfoil and bake it for a further 15 minutes.  Remove from the oven and let it cool for 30 minutes.

and then:

yummmmm

and then

want to eat

 and then

must. wait. 30. minutes 

and then yes you can eat it, and just look how delicious and gooey and sticky and scrumptious this is...

and save some for somebody else!

mmmmmm........

Jack is Cooking Pea Souffle

Well Hello Internet!

the other day (actually a couple of weeks ago... this post got lost somehow) i made a pea souffle with my newly learned knowledge of making souffle.  

apparently souffle's are very easy to make!

all you need is to make a bechamel, and egg whites, with whatever filling you want!

heres what you will need:

flour 1 tablespoon
butter 2 tablespoons
milk 3/4 cup
salt and pepper
a little nutmeg

frozen peas
garlic
an onion (chopped up)
salt and pepper
paprika
olive oil

6 egg whites
a pinch of salt

pepper jack cheese (grated)  you could use cheddar, or any other cheese of your own fancy.

preheat the oven to 450°

So First!  i sauteed the peas, garlic, and peas, in a little olive oil and flavored them with some salt and pepper and some paprika.  when they were all done i put them in my blender and blended it until it was a fine mush.  or one might say a purée...

Next!  i made my béchamel.  that's pretty easy.  first you melt the butter.  then you add the flour to the butter, and mix it together.  then you add the milk stirring constantly.  when it comes to a boil it should be a pretty thick mixture.  yum yum!  this is an important base to lots of different recipes.  i like to add a little nutmeg for flavor.  after it was done i mixed the pea purée into the béchamel.

then i took my egg whites and whipped them up until they were nice and stiff.  after that i took the egg whites and folded the béchamel purée mixture together.  really really fold these!  no mixing!  you must keep the fluffiness of the egg whites or it won't work!

after that i filled some ramequins half way, then put a nice little bit of cheese into each one, and filled them up to the top with more of the mixture.  and then a nice coating of cheese on top!

into the oven, and cook them until they have puffed up and gone nice and golden brown on top!

mmmmm mmmmm delicious!

Jack is Cooking Pork Chops

Well Hello Internet!

So last night i somehow had the motivation to get up and make some dinner.  nothing fancy, but boy was it good!  i made breaded pork chops

heres what i used

2 pork chops ( from Herondale Farm of course!)

bread crumbs

paprika

parsley

one egg

also

some french cut beans

cheddar cheese

milk

a little bit of flour

garlic

So First i took the bread crumbs and mixed them with a little paprika and some parsley.

then i took the pork chops and dipped them in the egg, and then in the bread crumbs, and then because i like them extra breaded, i put them back in the egg, and then back in the bread crumbs.  that's easy right?

heres what they looked like

Then i took the chops, and i heated some olive oil in a pan.  i cooked them for like 1-2 minutes on each side.  then i put them in the oven at 350 for another 20 minutes.

In the meantime, i put a little butter in that pan (some of the oil had been soaked up by the chops)

i sauteed some garlic.  then i added the french cut beans.  i let those cook for a couple minutes over low/medium heat.  once they were cooked i put a little bit of flour in the pan to start a roux.  i added maybe half a cup of milk, and some grated cheddar cheese.

This made a nice side dish to the pork chops and added a little bit of green.

heres both together!  sorry for a lack of pictures this time.

mmm  mmm delicious

Jack is cooking (Baking) Sourdough Bread 11/02/09

Well Hello Internet!

Tonight i baked a new loaf of bread, and i did it exactly the same way as i did the last loaf, except i baked it a little longer.  I think i seem to have finally got it down!

heres what i did:

this morning (at 9 am)
i took 1.5 cups of starter
mixed it with 3 cups of water
and 4 cups of white flour

i let it sit until 7 pm

this is what it looked like:
















i then removed 1.5 cups of this sponge and put it back in the starter

to this i then added
half a cup of olive oil
1.5 tablespoons of salt
1 tablespoon of sugar

after i folded in those ingredients i folded, and then kneaded in
3 cups of flour

i let it sit for 20 minutes:

After that i removed 1/3 of the dough to save to make pizza tomorrow! (follow link!)

I folded the remaining dough into the loaf and let it rise for 2.5 hours (it seems to take longer now that the summer is over).

I baked it in the oven for 15 minutes at 450° and then turned the oven down to 350° and baked it for another 35 minutes.

Here it is:

Jack is Cooking Butternut Squash Ravioli with Alfredo Sauce

Well Hello internet!

Last night for dinner i went all out and made ravioli.  From scratch!  That's right i made the pasta dough, and the filling, and the sauce.
But i can't say that I did it all alone, i had help from my good friend Julie - who also took most of these pictures!
Not only was this extremely delicious, it was easy to make and also lots of fun!

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on a side note, if one were to peruse the archives, they would find that the first video i ever made for jackiscooking, way back in 2007 was butternut squash ravioli.  except when i made it then, it was pre-made frozen ravioli!  This is much better!  check out that post here.
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Heres what you will need:

For the Filling:

one butternut squash.
one leak (or an onion)
a couple of cloves of garlic
salt and pepper

For the Pasta Dough:
2 cups of flour
3 egg yolks
4 tablespoons of water + some extra

One egg for the making of the Raviolis

For the Alfredo Sauce
half a cup of butter
1 1/2 cup of parmesan cheese
1 cup of cream
Garlic
Parsley
Pepper.

First, we cut the squash in half and took out the seeds.  Then we roasted it with the flesh side down for 30 minutes at 375° with a little olive oil.

While this was cooking I made the pasta dough.

I put 2 cups of white flour in a bowl, and made a well in the center.  In this well i put the 3 egg yolks, and the 4-5 tablespoons of water.  i slowly worked flour in from the sides until i had a dough.  (if necessary, you can add more water)

Knead this ball of dough for 10 minutes, and then coat it in oil and let it sit for another 10 minutes.  This will allow gluten to develop.

Heres my ball of dough:

While the dough is sitting, and the squash continues to roast, it is time to saute the leek and garlic.  so take your leek (that has been cleaned thoroughly and diced) and add it to some melted butter in a pan.  cook this for about 5 minutes and then add in the garlic (also diced).

If you've been counting my minutes, you will have figured out that about 30 minutes has elapsed now, and so the squash should be ready to come out of the oven.  Remove it from the oven and let it cool.

 

The Leeks should also be done at this point so those can be taken off the heat, and also allowed to cool.

Next up comes the mixing of the filling.  Scoop out the squash into a bowl and get rid of the skins.

Mush it up real nice with a fork, and then add in the leeks.  Mix these together until they are well incorporated.

Now its time to return to the dough!  So cut the ball in half and roll out they two halves until they are really thin.  If you have a fancy pasta roller, you can use that.  If you have a rolling pin, you can use that also.  But I have neither!  So i decided a wine bottle would work really nicely!

Now comes the time to make the raviolis!  Take maybe 1 or 2 tablespoons (depending how big you want the raviolis) of the squash mixture and put them in little balls over one layer of the dough.  (remember!  you want to get as mush use out of this dough as you can, so place the balls well.

Take the egg for the ravioli and mix that up.   brush it everywhere on the dough where there is not squash.  next take the other sheet of dough and place it on top.  press down in between all the balls.  now its starting to look a little like ravioli!

Cut between all the ravioli, and press down all the edges - sealing inside all that squashy goodness!

Next bring a pot of water to boil.

While the water is boiling, it is a good time to start making the Alfredo sauce.

Take the butter and melt it in a pan.  Add in the cream.  Stir and simmer.  Add in the cheese, and let it melt.  add in the garlic, salt and pepper.  if you have any parsley that is nice too.

ok put that to the side.

The water has now boiled!  so its time to cook our ravioli.  just a few at a time.  i made 10 ravioli, so 5 at a time, which is essentially a serving.  or a little more, these are pretty filling!

Fresh pasta, takes no time at all to cook.  maybe 2 or 3 minutes. Ravioli conveniently will let you know when they are done, because they float!  so when they float you can scoop them out and serve.  Put some of the delicious Alfredo sauce over it, and thats it!

So that's it!  and as always, (well normally always in my video blogs) the first bite on camera!

Special Thanks to Julie - who provided much help in the preparation, and also most of the photos!

Jack is Cooking (Baking) Sourdough Bread 10/12

* update *

this loaf is the most perfect loaf of bread i have made!
hopefully i will be able to repeat it!


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Well hello Internet!

Tonight I baked a new loaf of bread, and I think this is the best one
yet! I've carefully recorded everything I did this time so if I can
repeat this and get exactly the same results I'll know I've got it!

Here's what I did this time

I took 1 1/2 cups starter and mixed it with 3 cups of water and 4 cups of flour

I let it sit for 7 hours

Then I removed 1 1/2 cups of the sponge and put it back in my starter jar for the next loaf

To the sponge I added half a cup of olive oil and one tablespoon of salt.  Then I added between 2 and 3 cups of flour - until the dough was just right - that is until it was just past sticky. I believe this is the most important part, and what I have been failing to achieve in the past.

So I let the dough autolyze for about 15 minutes before shaping the loaf. Then I let it rise for 2 hours

I baked it in the oven for 15 minutes at 450 degrees, and then 25 minutes at 350 degrees.

Jack is Cooking (Baking) Sourdough Bread 9/21/09

Well Hello internet!
So as it is Monday I am baking a loaf of bread.  My last loaf of bread was probably one of the most successful, in terms of its texture and what it looked like.  However since I ran out of white flour while I was making the dough, I ended up substituting with too much whole wheat flour.  This time I am repeating the recipe, but with an opposite ratio.  Instead of 3 cups of whole wheat flour and 1 cup of white flour being added to the sponge, I am going to use 3 cups of white flour and 1 cup of whole wheat flour.

So here it is:

This is my starter and the sponge I made out of the starter.  This morning at about 9 am i put one cup of starter in a bowl with 3 cups of water and 4 cups of white flour.  Mixed them together and then let them sit (covered) for about 12 hours

Here is my sponge:
As you can see it has bubbled up and risen quite nicely.

Next, I remove 2 cups from the sponge and put it back in the starter.  This feeds the starter, so it will be nice and ready to go next week when i make another loaf.
Then I put in half a cup of olive oil, 1 tablespoon of salt and a tiny little bit of sugar, maybe like a teaspoon.

Then to this mixture I slowly added while stirring 3 cups of white flour and 1 cup of whole wheat flour (i like to mix this together before i add it into the sponge).  eventually i can no longer stir with my spoon and i have to mix it with my hands.

This mixing eventually turns into kneading.  i have been experimenting with the amount of kneading.  this time i barely kneaded the bread at all, and also decided to have a slightly moister dough, so it is a little stickier, and not the right consistency for kneading.
Here is the Dough:

Then comes the shaping of the bread.  i folded the bread and rolled it into the shape i wanted and then placed it in the bread rising pan that i have

Here is the bread before rising:

I let it rise for 2 hours, and here is what it looked like:

I then baked it in the oven at 450° for 20 minutes, then turned down the heat to 350° for the final 30 minutes of baking.

Here is the result:

So it looks pretty good i think.  but when it turned out onto the baking pan the upward risingness of the bread turned into outward rising, so the bread is quite wide and flat, but nice and soft on the inside and crunchy on the outside.  the bread also tastes pretty darn good.

I think perhaps the rising problem can be cured by allowing gluten to develop more and then the dough will be more cohesive.  either more flour, and or kneading will probably solve my problem.

We'll find out in a week or two i suppose!