A Note from Earthly Epicurean

As many of you know, I recently started culinary school at The French Culinary School in New York City. Though I love being in the kitchen all day, commuting to/from school after a long day takes the last little bit out of you. As well, when I'm in the kitchen all day at school, I really don't want to stand in front of the stove at night!

So, during the week, I focus on creating quick, easy and light meals that a fruit and veggie heavy, as my big meal of the day is lunch, at school. Usually delicious, these meals tend to me meat and starch based. And as someone who likes to eat "mostly plants," I need some color to round out my day. I hope to share some of my go-to favorites in an upcoming post.

On the weekends, I usually cook a dish or two, either to eat over that weekend, or that will I can save for a weekday meal. For example, I plan on making some Creamy Tomato Soup and Red Wine Braised Lamb Shanks...details to come!

Regardless, with this change in schedule, my frequency of postings has decreased, but I promise to share with you not only some interesting recipes that I work on at home, as well as some favorites from school. And, of course, I will be sure to continue on sharing "Earthly Epicurean" delights...

Toasty Treat

This week brought on the winter-ish feeling weather. My early morning needed a little more assistance - or substance - to help wake me up!

I usually grab some fruit and yogurt to eat on the train - Brown Cow, or Liberte Lemon or Coconut (oh my, so good...so rich, but when you're running around a kitchen for 5 hours before lunch, it sticks with you!). But, when the temperature gets cold, I need to turn to something other than cold yogurt!

One of my favorite quick breakfasts is peanut butter and jelly -- my own raspberry jam -- on toast. This past week, I had my favorite bread on hand, too - Wave Hill Bakery's Pain de Campagne. The crusty crust, and soft, tender, moist inside isn't just a white bread, but is flecked with little spelt and rye grains. There really isn't any way you can't not like this loaf!

When I'm craving Wave Hill, I can swing by their bakery on Route 7 in Wilton, right near Wolfpit Road. I hear it is also available at Whole Foods, Walter Stewarts, and Palmer's Markets. Of course, I gobble the bread up whenever I'm at Pasta Nostra...and Napa & Company.

Get some yourself for dinner tomorrow!

I struck gold in The New York Times!

Mark Bittman wrote about three of my favorite foods in last Friday's New York Times. Figs, Brussels Sprouts (only cooked with something else!) and bacon. His Brussels Sprouts with Bacon and Figs is an ingenious and simple combination of sweet yet savory flavors, contrasting crunch with chew.

This is a must try fall side dish -- or even light lunch!

A Remedy for a Cold...and Rainy Day

I awoke early this morning with a smidgen of a sore throat. Was I too dehydrated from the kitchen and a long run yesterday? Or did my lack of sleep and running in the rain with a sleeveless top catch up with me? Not sure. All I knew is that my throat needed some cooling comfort and TLC.

It was another utterly rainy day. I didn't mind being inside in class all day one bit, secretly hoping skies would clear by 3pm. But, no. The rain was still coming down. Kind of one of those days you want to curl up with a good book in front of a fireplace with a big bowl of soup.

Of course, I came home from school ravenously hungry, and craving some warm comfort -- and some nutrients with the hopes of kicking this sore throat. Of course, I didn't really want to run to the grocery store, not did I want to spend 2 hours in front of the stove. I wanted some instant, okay, well maybe not INSTANT, gratification. Scrounging around the fridge, I found half of a butternut squash, and had lots of apples...mmm...I knew just what to make!!!

One of my favorite soups of all time is Eli Zabar's Pumpkin Butternut soup. It's rich and delicious, but living in CT, I didn't have access to it. Another favorite is Ina Garten's Butternut Apple Soup - with some brioche croutons, this is delish!

Now, I didn't have a full squash, nor apple juice nor brioche, but I was confident I could use the ingredients I had on hand to create a wonderful soup, full of healthy vitamins and minerals (Butternut squash is full of Vitamin A (Beta Carotene), Vitamin C and Potassium) and fiber - filling (even my labs liked it!).

My Curried Apple Butternut Squash Soup - serves 2-3

3 tablespoons olive oil

1 small onion, 1/2" dice

1 /2 - 1 tablespoon curry (I like more - use as much as you wish)

1/2 butternut squash, peeled and diced into 1/2" chunks

2 small or 1 large apple (I like Cortland or yellow delicious for this), peeled and diced into 1/2" chunks

2 cups water

Salt

1/2 cup applesauce

Optional: dash of cream and/or tablespoon of butter

1. Saute onions in olive oil until translucent. Add curry powder and cook on low for 5-10 minutes.

2. Add diced squash and apple. Saute a bit to warm and then add water and bring to a boil. Cover and reduce to a simmer. Cook until apples and squash are tender through.

3. Add applesauce and stir. Use a blender or an immersion blender to blend to smooth. Season with salt to taste. Optional: add cream, milk, and/or butter to taste. I was going to try calvados

to bring out the apple sweetness but didn't have any on hand. I decided for a bit of butter and a dash of maple syrup. You can even try a garnish of creme fraiche!

Serve with crusty toast, or as I did - with oat crackers!

A little autumnal celebration

This past weekend, various descendants of my great grandmother's family (she was one of four girls!) gathered upstate in CT for a little reunion. I have never met most of my great-grandmother's sister's children (and their children, grandchildren) so it was a wonderful treat to meet all of these warm, friendly people!

Somehow my father's aunt, who was organizing the day, deemed that I was "creative" and a perfect person to coordinate table decoration for the dinner for 50 on Saturday night. Gulp! There was ample possibility for it to be tons of fun, but on a budget and with little time? A challenge for sure. Yet, the possibilities were endless!

I turned to my tearsheets from my Martha Stewart Living days, and wanted something with leaves, acorns, and fruit. I had heard that there was a mean sale at Smith and Hawken and immediately decided to stop by. Of course, they had some beautifully colored fruit shaped (apples and pears) candles made in Poland. I purchased quite a few, and decided that they would be the focal point of my tables. I purchased some dried gourds from Earth Garden in Wilton, and glued on some wood wrapped wire to make the most adorable placecards!

At one of my friend's weddings this summer, I was so struck by the collection of various sizes of small vases filled with different flowers and herbs. Some low succulents, tall, skinny vases of mint, fatter vases of roses and astilbe. This arrangement would be perfect for the tables -- using a colorful flower in an array of different Juliska vases? Perfect!

I visited Juliska's South Norwalk outlet store, and found four sets of three petite vases in glear glass, as well as five each of two different short green glass vases. As for flowers, I worried about frosts hampering my search for local dahlias. Luckily, Eva's Garden, tended by Eva

Sommaripa, still had the most exquisite (and huge!) pinky orange, pinky purple, yellow, orange and white dahlias I have EVER seen! And we picked the flowers just before they were going to turn the year's flowers over. I supplemented these with some white dahlias I found at my local Whole Foods from New Jersey. The reds, pinks, light and deep greens of the candles were the perfect complement to the salmony flowers.

Warm, dark fall nights call for lots of light, so I knew that I had to supplement these candles with the flickering glow of many little votives, too. To add a touch of glitter, I collected some acorns from the tree outside the house, and spray painted them a muted gold. A couple of gold acorns scattered across the table added a beautiful accent against the white tablecloth. Of course, when I arrived for dinner, I expected to see all of the candles lit -- at the last minute, the caterer said she was unable to light the fruit candles, in the event they would drip or tip over. Argh. At least I can use them again at home for another dinner party!

Here are some pictures from the evening...

An easy and fancy weekend dessert

On the last day of our pastry "bonanza," our class focused on egg white foams -- mousses and souffles. What is a mousse, you ask? It is simply a flavored base (like chocolate...or grand marnier, fruit, etc - usually a meringue or pate a bombe base) lightened by both whipped cream and egg whites, and then chilled. It is similar to a souffle, in that both are lightened by egg whites, but a souffle is baked, further aerating the dessert, and served hot, while a mousse relies on the addition of whipped cream for further lightening and is served cold.

I have a complete weakness for chocolate souffle, with vanilla ice cream. But, I've never really fallen in love with chocolate mousse. Of course, that isn't to say I haven't met a real chocolate dessert I haven't liked (unadulterated chocolate - no raspberry chocolate, no orange chocolate, etc. Real dark chocolate).

In class that day, we were assigned to whip up chocolate mousse first thing in the morning. Although it was a bit early for chocolate, I was immediately smitten. Luck be it, Chef decided that afternoon to challenge us: he listed the ingredients for a mystery dish. We had to figure out the technique and then make it. What was it? White chocolate mousse!!!

These are perfect twirled in a champagne flute lined with chocolate swirls (get a small cornet of melted chocolate, an twirl the flute on its side, swirling chocolate. Chill) - just pipe each flavor into separate pastry bags, or swirl in one together. Enjoy!

Chocolate Mousse - 4 servings

150 g (5 oz) bittersweet chocolate, chopped

400 ml (13 oz) heavy cream

3 egg whites

30 g (1 oz) granulated sugar

flavorings (optional)

1. Chop chocolate and place in a bowl. Melt in double boiler over simmering water. Stir til melted. Remove from heat.

2. Beat cream over ice to soft peaks. Set aside

3. Make French meringue: Whip egg whites til frothy, and add 1/2 of the sugar. Whip until soft peaks, and add the rest of the sugar. Whip on high until stiff peaks.

4. Pour warm chocolate into clean bowl. Lighten with 1/4 of the meringue. Fold in the rest of the meringue, making sure to clean the bottom of the bowl. Fold in the whipped cream.

5. Cover and chill in fridge, at least 3 hours, until ready to serve.

White Chocolate Mousse - 4 servings

225 g white chocolate, chopped

2 gelatin leaves

375 ml heavy cream

75 g granulated sugar

25 ml water

1 egg

1 egg yolk

1. Melt chocolate in double boiler over boiling water until halfway melted. Remove from heat and let sit til fully melted.

2. Bloom 2 gelatin leaves in cold water

3. Bring sugar and a bit of water to a boil and cook to softball stage (235-240) as egg yolk and whole egg is stirred in a mixer til combined. Once hot sugar is ready, add to egg yolks while stirring to make a pate a bombe, and whip until it gains volume and cools to just a bit warmer than skin temperature.

4. Add gelatin to warm pate a bombe and whip til blended. Run through a sieve to remove particles, and then fold in warm chocolate (fold quickly and avoid clumping).

5. Whip heavy cream over ice and fold into chocolate mixture.

6. Chill, covered, in fridge until ready to use, at least 3 hours.

Apple of my Eye

So, last week I mentioned how I had been working on pastry recipes in school. On my birthday, we worked on tarts -- Tarte aux Pommes (Apple Tart), Tarte aux Poires et Frangipane (Pear Tart with Almond Cream), and then Quiche Lorraine and Onion Tart.

One of my favorite foods is an apple - the fact that it was my first word makes this funny! It is no surprise that I love apple tarts (and crisp. And pies). There is a bakery near my hometown that til now won my heart for delicious, not too sweet, but apple-y classic French Apple Tarts. Well, no longer. I can make a meaner tart!!!!

Once this tart won my heart, I knew that this was something I had to play with -- I later made a free form crostata for my friend Amanda's Chili Party.

Without further a do, I present you the recipe for Tarte Aux Pommes, The French Culinary Institute way!

Tart Aux Pommes

1 recipe pate sucree (see below)

Butter for flan ring an bottom

Apple Compote

4 medium-large apples

1/2 lemon

30 ml (2 tbsp) water

50 g (2 oz) granulated sugar

Garnish/Filling

2-3 med-large apples

1/2 lemon

50 g (2 oz) butter, melted

Finish

100 g (3.5 oz) apricot glaze (jam)

20 ml (1 tbsp) water

1. Butter flan ring. Roll out dough 1/8" thick. Roll dough onto rolling pin and place on flan ring so that there are 2" dough around ring. Press dough firmly against edge to form border.

2. Press 1/2" overlapping dough over edge of ring. Roll pin over top to remove excess. Pinch border around sides with fingers so that it rises just above ring. Chill shell.

3. Make apple compote -- peel apples and cut in half. Remove cores and rub with lemon to prevent browning. Cut into cubes and put them in small saucepan with water and sugar. Cover with parchment lid and cook over medium heat until mushy/tender, and no color (careful!). Let cool.

4. Prep garnish -- peel garnish apples and cut in half lengthwise and core them. Rub with lemon and slice horizontally VERY thinly (so you have a vertical slice of apple with top and bottom), no more than 1/8" thick.

5. Fill pastry shell with apple compote. Layer apples, moving around the tart counterclockwise, in a tight overlap. Brush with melted butter. Fill center with a rosette.

6. Bake at 425 on bottom rack for 10 minutes. Lower heat to 350 and bake for 50-60 minutes, or until shell is nicely colored and apples are taking on a bit of color. Remove tart ring, place tart back in oven for 10 minutes so sides can take on color, then remove and cool.

7. Combine apricot glaze (jam) with water, bring to simmer, and stir til melted. Brush onto tart.

Pate Sucree a la FCI

200 g flour

100 g butter

30 g granulated sugar

5 g salt

60 ml water or (for a richer dough) 1 whole egg and 10 ml water

Sift together flour, sugar and salt. Add butter (diced and VERY cold). Rub until pea sized or blend in food processor. Add water in little bits until dough JUST comes together. Wrap and let rest 1 hr in fridge.