Adapted from a recipe in Saveur Magazine

Okay, I’m just learning French, so my translation of “Tart with Three Chocolates” may not be exactly correct.  What I do know is that I couldn’t find chocolate graham crackers anywhere in the Twin Cities.  I even emailed the Nabisco company asking if they would direct me to a grocer that carried them.  I never heard back.  If anyone knows where one can purchase chocolate graham crackers, please let me know.

In the meantime, I used a chocolate dough recipe from Claudia Fleming’s book, The Last Course for the crust of this luscious tart.  This is another one of the six tarts that I will be teaching this Saturday at The Chef’s Gallery in Stillwater.

No this post does not include a recipe for meatloaf muffins.  However, I had the pleasure of speaking with Michael Dane, the creator of the Meatloaf Muffins blog,  a  stand-up comedian and hopefully a soon-to-be cookbook author via telephone the other day.   Here’s the results of our interview.  He’s a hoot and even made me sound funny!  Check out his blog if you get a chance. Hopefully, he’s got a recipe for his meatloaf muffins too!

This tart totally reminds me of the Tarte aux Pommes in France that I have enjoyed.  They can be purchased from any number of patisserie cases in Paris, Provence and many shops in-between.

Of course I had to figure out how to make it.  If I do say so myself, it’s darn near close to the taste and texture of what I’ve enjoyed in France and so simple to make.  I will be teaching how to make this tart among others to the students who sign up for my The Art of the Tart class on Saturday, October 1.  It will be held at The Chef’s Gallery in Stillwater MN.  Check out this class and the others that  I will be teaching this fall.

There’s rarely a opportunity missed to talk about food and France.  And, it really helps when I have reloaded my wallet with business cards.  The most recent occasion was a conversation with ER doctor at Abbott Hospital in the wee hours of the morning during a visit with Jon.  Jon’s fine and it gave us a chance to have a follow-up visit with the doctor’s wife to give her some ideas for their upcoming trip to Provence.   Here’s a recommendation I received recently for a restaurant in Cannes from a friend who lives near there.  It’s called Restaurant lAffable.

Recently, I came across an article titled “Here’s the Scoop”, written by Molly O’Neill.  It’s in the Aug/Sept issue of Saveur magazine.  In the article she talks about the science of making “rich and creamy” ice cream.  I had a vague idea of the “science”, so my interest was peaked.

She also writes about one entrepreneur, Jeni Britton and Jeni’s Splendid Ice Cream stores in Ohio and a lonely one in Tennessee.  Jeni has a new book out called, Jeni’s Splendid Ice Creams at Home (Artisan, $23.95).  In it she walks the readers through her novel technique, for what Molly believes is some of the creamiest, most flavorful ice cream on which she’s ever laid her tongue.

The long and the short of her technique is that she uses, among other ingredients, a small amount of corn starch.  This replaces the traditional egg yolks as the binder for the frozen emulsion.    She also boils the liquid to reduce the water content, thus concentrating and denaturing the milk proteins which then allows a greater ability to bind the remaining water and fat.  She also uses some cream cheese, which is high in casein proteins; another binder.

She goes on in more detail about the “science” and has included an ice cream base recipe, plus three variations: Blackstrap Praline, the Darkest Chocolate in the World, and a Beet with Mascarpone, Orange Zest, and Poppy Seeds.  Since Jeni said that her base is a starting point for any ice cream, I of course came up with my own version; a Peanut Butter-Chocolate Swirl recipe.

2 cups whole milk
4 teaspoons (1/2 ounce) cornstarch
1 ¼ cups heavy cream
1 cup (8 ounces) smooth natural peanut butter, divided
2/3 cup brown sugar
2 tablespoons light corn syrup
1 pinch of sea salt

2 teaspoons vanilla extract
¾ cup hot fudge sauce*

In a bowl, stir together 1/4 cup milk and the cornstarch; set slurry aside.  Place the cream cheese and ½ cup of peanut butter in a bowl and set that aside as well.

In a 4-quart saucepan, whisk together the remaining milk, cream, sugar, corn syrup, and salt; bring to a boil over medium-high heat.

Cook for 4 minutes and then stir in the cornstarch slurry.  Return the mixture to a boil and cook, stirring until thickened, about 2 minutes.

Pour ½ cup of the hot milk mixture into the bowl of the peanut butter/cream mixture and whisk until smooth.  Whisk in the remaining milk mixture and vanilla extract.

Place the bowl with the mixture in an ice bath and stir occasionally until cool.  Cover and refrigerate until cold; 6 – 8 hours, or over night.

Pour mixture into an ice cream maker and process according to manufacture’s instructions.  Transfer to a freezer-proof bowl and quickly swirl in remaining 1/2 cup peanut butter and ¾ cup chocolate sauce.   Cover and freeze until hard.  Serve with remaining hot fudge sauce, or use the sauce to make another batch of ice cream.

Hot Fudge Sauce
Makes about 2 cups

2/3 cup heavy cream
1/2 cup light corn syrup
1/3 cup packed dark brown sugar or dried cane juice
1/4 cup (1 ounce) unsweetened Dutch-process cocoa powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
6 oz fine-quality bittersweet chocolate (not unsweetened), finely chopped
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
1 teaspoon vanilla

Bring cream, corn syrup, sugar, cocoa, and salt to a boil in a 1 to 1 1/2-quart heavy saucepan over moderate heat.  Reduce heat and cook at a low boil, stirring occasionally, 5 minutes, then remove from heat.

Add butter, vanilla, and chocolate and stir until smooth. Cool cool completely before adding to churned ice cream.

I was riding home on the train recently during which time I got a phone call from Jon.  “Hey meet me at the 38th Street Station”, he said.  Pourquoi I inquired?  We need to go downtown to pick up 23 dozen eggs from our farmer friends, Curt and Paul.  23 dozen eggs?  Immediately visions of ice cream popped into my head.  The reason for this “sugar plum” thought is thanks to my friend Zoë François and her recent delicious looking post for making, “The Best Fresh Strawberry Ice Cream“.

Though, we will be distributing many eggs to friends, who also enjoy the golden organic yolks and sturdy whites, we will be left with plenty.  Therefore, using almost a dozen to make an ice cream base will not even make a dent in our storehouse.  I also had a quart of sour cherries that I dried last year still in the freezer.  These are the cherries from Maple Leaf Orchards, Spring Valley, WI, which by the way, will be at the Saint Paul Farmer’s Market, July 23, 2011.  Anyway, I pulled out some, made a quick simple syrup in which to simmer them and then added some ameretto for soaking them.

Okay, note that if have looked at Zoë’s blog via the link above, I make my ice cream base slightly different than she makes her base.  Whereas, she adds the sugar to the milk/cream mixture, I whisk the sugar into the egg yolks and then temper them with the hot milk.

What I have heard is that adding the sugar to the milk/cream helps in preventing the mixture from boiling over. Adding the sugar to the yolks, helps in preventing the yolks from scrambling when the hot milk/cream is added.   Personally, I would rather keep an eye on the milk and take more precautions in not scrambling the eggs.  Either way, one of the steps will require a watchful eye.  However, you will get the same results.

After it was all said and done (making the ice cream I mean), I’ve come to the conclusion that there are at least two schools of thought as far as sweets.  The first school is for folks who enjoy tart and sweet together.  The other is for people who enjoy only sweet.  If you use dried sour cherries, as I did,  you will be in the first school.  You will taste the sweet of the ice cream and chocolate.  Then, you will bite into the cherry, which will cause you to want to take another bite of the ice cream to taste the sweetness again. Is that really such a bad thing?  If you are in the second school, I would recommend, instead, using dried sweet cherries.  These would be folks that have a serious sweet tooth.

Brandied Cherries:
4 ounces dried sour or sweet cherries
1/4 cup water
1/4 cup sugar
1 cinnamon stick
½ cup brandy or ameretto

Bring the water, sugar and cinnamon to a boil in a small saucepan.  (The goal here is to rehydrate the cherries before all the liquid evaporates.  Therefore, a saucepan is favored over a sauté pan.)  Add cherries and simmer 5 minutes.  Remove from heat and add the brandy or ameretto.  Let cool, topping off with extra Brandy if needed.  I didn’t need to add any additional this time.  Cover and allow to steep over night or longer.  Strain the cherries from the juice just before ready to use.

Vanilla Bean Ice Cream Base:
2 1/2 cups heavy cream
1 1/2 cups whole milk
1 large vanilla bean, scraped
1 cup (7 ounces) granulated sugar
10 large egg yolks (180 grams)

4 ounces dark chocolate, chopped into small chunks (reserved for the final step)

Combine milk and cream in heavy medium saucepan.  Split the bean down the center and lay open two halves.  Taking the back of the knife, scrape the seeds from vanilla bean.  Add the seeds and the bean to the milk mixture.  Bring to a simmer, which will take about 5 minutes.  Don’t walk away as there is nothing worse than cleaning-up cream that has boiled over the pot.  Remove from heat and let steep for up to an hour.  The flavor will become more pronounced the longer it sits.  If the mixture has cooled bring it back to a simmer before proceeding.

Whisk together the yolks and sugar in a medium bowl until thoroughly combined.  What you don’t want to do is pour sugar onto eggs and then not stir together, as the sugar will draw out the moisture from the eggs, causing bits of the egg to become hard and will never dissolve.

After the cream has come to a simmer, remove from the heat and whisk a small amount of cream into the egg mixture, adding enough cream to warm the eggs.  Once the eggs are warm, add them back into the pot with the remaining cream.  If you ever see the phrase, “tempering the mixture”, this is what you are doing.

With a heat-proof spatula or wooden spoon, (one that has not been used to sauté garlic) gently stir the custard over low heat until it thickens and leaves path on back of spoon when your finger is drawn across, about 5 minutes.  Do not let it boil!

Have an ice bath at the ready.  Strain the custard through a fine mesh strainer or chinois into a bowl.  Set the bowl into the ice bath and stir to cool.  Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and place in the refrigerator.

For the most delicious results, allow the custard to sit in a refrigerator for anywhere from 6 to 12 hours.  If you want only vanilla ice cream freeze this custard in an Ice Cream Maker according to the manufacturer’s instructions.

If you are adventuring beyond vanilla, churn the custard in the ice cream maker.  Then, scrape the churned ice cream into a freezer-proof bowl.  Mix in the strained brandied cherries and chocolate chunks.  Cover and place bowl in the freezer until good and hard.

Earlier this month we traveled to Saint Louis to visit family and friends.  While we were mostly “unplugged” from the net, thankfully we did have some connectivity via our cell phones.  As Jon was scanning through the emails coming in, he noticed an email from his absolute FAVORITE restaurant in the Twin Cities, Saffron Restaurant and Lounge!  Intrigued, he opened the email and to our delight discovered that we had been invited by the owners, Saed and Sameh Wadi, with an invitation to a private event to view their newly redecorated space and to experience the new menu that was to be released.

He immediately acknowledged the email with an affirmative attendance and then turned to me and said “you get to tell Carolyn that we won’t be able to attend the Twins game that we were scheduled to attend.  ”Upon our arrival back in the Twin Cities, we chose an early reservation (5:00pm) thinking that we could take our time at Saffron and still make it to the game.  That didn’t work out as well as we had hoped but the dining experience totally outweighed the loss of attending the game.

To begin: the décor.  The restaurant has made some noticeable changes to the space.  New tables, chairs, and chandeliers that have been placed beautifully throughout the space.  The Saffron logo is also painted onto the back wall behind the bar in a vibrant royal blue.

Once seated, we were greeted by both owners who thanked us for our willingness to participate and provide them with candid opinions on the food, presentation, service, etc.  Now, anyone familiar with us knows that we can be strongly opinionated when it comes to food – perhaps even too much so when given the opportunity.  Based on our conversations with the Saed and Sameh we knew that they were looking for an honest critique of the menu and service.

We began with drinks and appetizers; I had the Arrak and Roll, a faux citrus “arrak”, apricot liqueur, egg white and dry vermouth ($10.)  This was my favorite of the evening though having an entire slice of orange floating in the glass was a bit disconcerting.   Jon ordered the non-alcoholic Twist & Shout, a roasted lemonade with mint ($4.5).  Both were quite enjoyable but the lemonade in particular was extremely tart – but very pleasing to the palate.

Mezze-Tapas-Snacks (To Share)

Sultan Hummus:  a puree of chickpeas with tahini, lemon, garlic and Palestinian olive oil; served with a house cured bastirma (a dried beef, Turkish style) ($9). I could have easily enjoyed a plate of the bastirma by itself.  It was perfectly seasoned and house cured.

Fried Beef Kubbeh:  bulgur shell stuffed with spiced beef and pine nuts served with cucumber yogurt ($6).  This is not a new dish but the first time either of us has tried it.  I’m not sure how we missed it all these times, but it was truly an amazing dish.

Chicken & Porcini Mushroom Croquettes ($6) is Saffron’s take on the classic Spanish dish.  Again, amazing flavors with a fluffy cloud-like texture – definitely a MUST try!!

Octopus “A La Plancha”:  octopus cooked on a hot plate with toasted garlic, smoked paprika and sherry ($8).  This was an unexpected treat. It had some “tooth” but was not “tough”.  It had superb flavors and melded well with the Chicken & Porcini Mushroom Croquettes.

Marinated Olives and Pickles ($5):  This dish was less than stellar – it was rather heavy on the vinegar and lacking in other spices and flavors.  We put this in our notes with the hope that the recipe can be tweaked.  I’d like to hear too, if anyone had a different take on these.

Crispy Potato Chips:  Chips served with za’tar yogurt and spicy piquillio pepper sauce ($5).  Jon tends to be a chip snob – He tries chips everywhere we go.  His two favorites can be found at Buster’s (28^th Avenue South & 42^nd Street East) and The Citizen Café (38^th Street East & 24^th Avenue South).  According to Jon, the Saffron chips were good, but could have been cooked a little longer (He likes his chips very crisp).  Also the chips themselves could have used a little spice on them.  The dip, however, was awesome!!

Salads – Apps – Sides:

Quail:  stuffed with mirqaz sausage and served with a farro salad – another surprising dish.  The flavors were a mix of spicy sausage contrasting with the subtleties of the quail itself.  To lay it atop of the farro salad was brilliant ( $14).

Crispy Soft Shelled Crab with watermelon “curry” and cilantro:  All we can say is WOW!  Keep in mind that soft shelled crab is a seasonal offering and may not always be available.  It is a must-have when available.  The flavors and textures all blended into a heavenly delight of deliciousness, with the flavors swirling around from a multitude of spices as you’re savoring this dish ($14).

Entrées – Big Plates:

Whole Roasted Branzini:  A Mediterranean sea bass with crispy grape leaves, olive oil, lemon and herbs ($MP).  If you have any qualms about eating the whole fish then you might choose something else, as this dish comes out as the entire fish – head and all.  Not the most “appealing” presentation for Jon, but I did not find this bothersome at all.  The flavors and textures of the dish outweighed any presentation squeamishness whatsoever for him.

We chose to add the Grilled Sweet Corn (from the Salad-Apps-Sides) ($5) but were disappointed with the preparation and taste.  For me, it was grilled corn, meets State Fair and north Africa.  Mentioning this visual to Sameh, this was exactly the idea for which he had in mind.

Desserts:

Pineapple Semolina Cake with pineapple & yogurt sorbets and berries ($7).  Unfortunately, the cake was a little too dry.  Upon mentioning this to our waiter, he had Sameh taste it as well and he concurred.  I’m sure he’ll make this correction toot sweet.

The Blueberry & Peach Trifle with vanilla baked peaches and blueberry/hibiscus preserves layered with lemon cake and candied ginger ($7).  Traditionally, trifles are made with “day old” cake that may be a little dry.  That’s not a bad thing as the cake is then allowed to absorb the juice of maybe some berries or a simple syrup.   A little more of either will make this a perfect summer treat.

Chocolate Ganache Cake with the flavors of Arabic coffee ($8).  With an intense flavor of chocolate and coffee ice cream, this was definitely my favorite of the evening.

Service:

The servers did a great job of keeping us informed about the different foods; describing them, having a willingness to discuss their favorites, and offering suggestions for wine pairings.  Again, because this event was a trial run – there were some minor glitches but overall the staff made every effort to ensure we had a great experience.  This is one of the many reasons that Jon, in particular, enjoys going to Saffron.  Service has almost ALWAYS been spot on.  The servers are members of the staff who’ve been with the restaurant for some time; they remember your names; they remember the drinks you prefer; all of those little nuances that make the experience that much more enjoyable.

I encourage everyone to experience Saffron and their new menu and décor.  Though I personally will miss the white-tablecloths, the new Saffron is more causal but just as welcoming as always.  It’s a place to visit a couple of times a month, if not every week. It’s an easy stop before a Twins game, after work for a quick bite, or to enjoy a two hour dinner on a Saturday night.

Your culinary windows will be opened and the opportunity for Sameh Wadi to expand your palate will amaze you.  And I am quite certain that your front of the house experience will be just as perfect as it always is – especially knowing that Saed is directing traffic.  His warm smile, his gentle hand shake and his genuine love of people always makes one feel so at ease when coming to dine with them.

I hope you enjoy the entire experience as much as we did.  And oh by the way, I was able to catch the last inning of the game, which was the most exciting anyway as we hung on to the win.

Saffron Restaurant & Lounge, 123 North Third Street, Minneapolis, MN, 612.746.5533

We headed to Saint Louis for a weekend trip recently.  While in transit via Southwest Airlines, I had a few minutes to peruse the July issue of Food & Wine magazine.  Low and behold there was an article featuring their top chefs for 2011.  And one of them, Kevin Willmann, has a restaurant called Farmhaus not all that far from downtown Saint Louis.  I couldn’t let this opportunity pass, so I immediately made an 8:15pm Saturday reservation for four.

Shortly after the reservation, we posted our intent to go on Facebook.  Almost immediately, a farmer (and friend of our hosts for the weekend) wrote to say that he supplies the restaurant with their blackberries. Another friend wrote saying “Save room for dessert.”  Between the magazine article and their posts I was looking forward to a delightful evening.  Missing a turn, we arrived shortly after our reservation to a bustling, but cozy space with clean lines, an attentive waitstaff, and to my delight no blaring music.  We settled in and began looking at our menus with the urge to order one of everything.  Enjoying our beverages, our waiter let us know that the plates would come out from the kitchen as they were ready and they were meant to be shared.  In other words, what was to come from the kitchen would not be timed.

I’m not sure if it was audible to anyone else, but I heard myself say, “oi”.  Unless it is a Tapas bar, I find this restaurant format rarely works.  Either the portions are really too small to share or they are constructed in such a way that it makes it very difficult to divide without conquering, i.e. destroying.

Given this new revelation of sharing, we decided to each order a first course,  one of which was the “Summer Salad”.  It arrived in a mason jar on top of which was a hefty portion of Baetje Farm’s goat cheese.   At the table our waiter poured the contents onto a rectangular plate; a whimsical presentation for sure.  The jar was filled with grilled okra, yellow wax beans, grilled local corn, heirloom tomatoes, grilled torpedo onions, roasted carrots, shaved fennel, cucumber, thyme; all tossed with a sweet Moscat vin (“vin” equals their term for ‘vinaigrette’) and served with house made lavash. $11.

Then there were the Nachos, which were house made chips from local sweet potatoes, Salemville blue cheese, cherrywood smoked bacon lardons, and fire-roasted red pepper catsup, $8.  Unfortunately, they weren’t anything about which to write home.  I did however, twist Jon’s arm to order the Conch fritters with grilled corn, jalapeno and Sriracha mayo, $11.  They are light and fluffy and something that I could imagine eating in south Florida.

The best of the bunch however was the Roasted Mushroom Salad with locally foraged wild mushrooms, hearty Terra Bella Farms greens, Baetje Farms goat’s cheese, and toasted Missouri pecans, all tossed with a warm house bacon vin. $12.  Since I didn’t order this particular salad, I was sure happy that one of our dinner companions was willing to share.  It was so good, we almost ordered a second one!

Collectively we decided that we really shouldn’t order another round of first courses and decided to press on with our main courses.  These included Seared Scallops with Creamed Norma’s sweet corn, house bacon, butter poached chanterelle mushrooms. $18.  The scallops were one of those dishes that didn’t fare very well in the sharing department.  I’m afraid that by the time the plate got back around to Jon, who had ordered the dish, he found that there wasn’t much left.

Robb chose the Escolar with Chaumette Traminette, dill and butter poached, grilled Pacific Blue prawns, and roasted Weidner Farms yellow French beans.  I enjoyed the Keta River Salmon with spoonbread, creamed Keller Farms corn and tomato concassé.  The Bacon Wrapped Meatloaf, that Greg ordered, with Sweet and Yukon Gold smashed potatoes, sous vide pearl onions, tomato merlot reduction, while delicious, seemed like a lost soul coming out of the kitchen as it did after three of us had finished our entrees.

Since the dessert menu was recited instead of written down, I’m relying on memory and a quick sms text to Robb to remember what it was we shared.  Between the two of us, we could only remember two of them.   The first was a Pecan Financier with mint ice cream and pecan croutons.   It was great fun seeing a “financier” in cylindrical shape, instead of the traditional barquette.  Even better, it had the same tender, buttery flavor as the traditional, which doesn’t always happen when you start futzing and changing things when baking.  The second was something that accompanied a berry compote.  It was less memorable, partly due to the fact that there were no blackberries.  The dessert we enjoyed the most was in the style of a  peanut butter cup.   It was a thin round chocolate shell filled with light peanut butter mousse sitting on top of a thick peanut butter bottom.  There’s a reason why peanut butter and chocolate are a classic combination — more often than not they work and in this case the flavors were perfect.

All in all everything that came out of the kitchen was beautiful to behold and delicious on the palette.  Also from everything that I have read Willmann takes seriously the notion of sourcing as much as possible locally, sans the fish and seafood, and that’s a beautiful thing.  My only negative of the evening was the lack of timing.  If everything is meant to be shared than give the appropriate time to allow each dish speak for itself.

Being from out of town and from what I have read, that there are a plethora of excellent restaurants in Saint Louis, I’d have to try some others before returning to Farmhaus.  However our hosts, who are local boys, would return for another visit.

Farmhaus, 3257 Ivanhoe Avenue, Saint Louis MO 63139 – 314.647.3800

My friend Elise was gracious enough to share this recipe with me.  If I remember correctly, it’s actually a recipe she got from her mother.  I had every intention of  making it back in June, but somehow that month got away from me.

However, according to the u-pick farms, we still have at least two more weeks to enjoy the local berries here in Minnesota.  Now’s the time to save a couple of pints to slice for this delicious recipe.  I’m guessing that it would make a wonderful French Toast with additional fresh berries on top.

4 cups (1.2 pounds) unbleached all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 ½ teaspoons cinnamon
1 teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon kosher salt
1 ½ cups (10 ½ ounces) granulated sugar
1 cup (8 ounces) unsalted butter, room temperature
3 large eggs, (5 1/4 ounces) room temperature
2 ½ cups (14 ounces) washed, dried and sliced fresh strawberries
2/3 cup (6 ounces) whole milk sour cream, room temperature

Position a rack in center of the oven and preheat to 350ºF.  Lightly butter the bottom and sides of two 9x5x3 loaf pans and line the bottom and two long sides with parchment paper.  Butter paper and lightly dust with flour, shaking out excess.

In a medium bowl whisk together the flour, baking powder, cinnamon, baking soda and salt.

In the bowl of a stand mixer, using the paddle attachment on medium speed, cream together the sugar and butter until smooth.  Add the eggs one at a time, incorporating each before adding the next.  Remove bowl from stand mixer and fold in the strawberries.

Return the bowl to the stand mixer, and on low speed in three additions, alternate adding flour mixture and sour cream.

Divide batter between the 2 prepared loaf pans and smooth the tops.  Bake for 50 to 60 minutes or until toothpick inserted comes out clean.  Cool 20 minutes in pans then remove and cool completely before slicing.

Serve with softened cream cheese as a spread.