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A New Love: Jacques Pépin's Fast Food
Talking Him Into It - Feeding The Guy
Another Change, and Two Summer Shortcakes
« Happy Tet | Main | CookingForEngineers.com »
This week was all about decadence. It started with a double dose of dessert: Butterscotch Chiffon Pie from Gourmet and the Green Tea Cheesecake from Bon Appétit. The Butterscotch Chiffon Pie was not the least complicated thing I've ever made, and the preparation didn't always go smoothly (even with the use of pie weights the crust shrank, and I'm pretty sure I burnt the butterscotch just a tiny bit), but it was absolutely wonderful. When I served it at a potluck I had people I had never met coming up to me to compliment me on the dessert. Definitely one for the permanent book, despite the hassle.
The cheesecake was also fantastic, and very interesting with the green tea mixed in. I did make it harder than it had to be by not buying the powdered tea (instead I spent my time cutting open tea bags, grinding them in the food processor and shaking them through a loosely woven napkin), but despite the fuss it was really pretty easy to make. My only caveat is that it was a little sweeter than I expected. Next time I might try to make it with a little less sugar. I would also be interested to see how it tasted with jasmine tea instead of the plain green (though I don't know if it would turn the same lovely green color as it baked).
Unfortunately for my liver, the desserts were not the most decadent dishes I made this week. Looking for something to do with a tub of ricotta that was sitting in my fridge, I decided to try the Ricotta Gnocchi with Spinach, Chanterelles and Parmigiano-Reggiano from Alex in the Wynn Las Vegas, featured in Saveur. Since I try to get at least one helping of chanterelles each season it seemed like a perfect dish. It started out well, although I don't think the original chef would approve of the bumpy little balls that I still insist were gnocchi. The chanterelles looked wonderful and the sauce smelled good as I reduced the vermouth and the chicken stock. Then I looked carefully at the rest of instruction #3 - "whisk in remaining butter a few pieces at a time" - and looked at the ingredient list - 3 sticks butter. Um, 3 sticks butter? Yes. Three sticks. I took a deep breath and added them. And yes, I could definitely taste the difference. It was the most decadent, richest dish I had ever eaten, much less cooked. Wonderful and flavorful and much too rich to ever make again (though I may make the gnocchi without the sauce).
To round out the decadent week, I tried the Lady in White drink featured on the White-Hot page of Bon Appétit. It was lovely and smooth, with a very tart flavor, but I think I enjoyed it more the second time I made it, when I substituted a teaspoon of powdered sugar for the egg white.
Next week, Martha's Darkest Chocolate Crepe Cake and the February overview.
Posted by georgia to Reviews on January 26, 2006 11:28 PM | permalink | Email this post
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Another great review!
Posted by: Ivonne at January 28, 2006 06:20 PM
That's a gorgeous picture!
Posted by: Sweetnicks at February 3, 2006 08:51 PM
