Operation Mascarpone Day 3: Apricot Taleggio Crostata

Day 3 of what is turning out to be a 4 day series on Operation Mascarpone, is a bit more obscured, since it is contained within this amazing pastry crust. Truth be told, I got the recipe from Giada De Laurentiis. The night of the Alton Chocolate Sauce, I scanned around the Food Network programming and DVR'd a few shows just to see what was going on. I watched this episode more than a week or so ago, and couldn't wait to try it. It seemed to have all the elements of a good appetizer or dessert, sweet, salty and rich - so you don't want too much before moving on to a proper supper, or satisfyingly decadent to indulge a small wedge after a good meal. Paired with the correct dessert wine, I'm thinking this rustic tart could reach status-seeking potential.

While I have no motivation for a proper supper this evening, I had every motivation for making this crostata today. I spent a lovely lunchtime hour(s) at the MATC Cuisine Dining room with Chef Malavenda, chatting excitedly over a leisurely lunch. Just being in the presence of so many cooks, heightened my need to rush home and bake something! (Though not before stopping to get some coffee and unbelievably beautiful yarn - which was an accident - at Alterra and Loop, respectively.) The MATC student-run dining room is a place I'll definitely go again, it has a weekly changing menu prepared by students, but it is best to call for reservations. They have a limited dining schedule, and operate during the fall and spring semesters.

Because I missed lunchtime at home, I didn't really need to worry about getting dinner started, since the boys ate their lunches late - leaving me plenty of time to work up this easy dough in the food pro, and bake up this simple crostata. I bought the taleggio last week at Beans and Barley, in anticipation of this event. Just after 5, it came out of the oven, and though it was painful to wait, I let it set up for 10 minutes before slicing into it. I was surprised at how savory it was; the apricots took on a decidedly "unsweet" role, even with cinnamon and honey playing just beside. I think if I served this for dessert, I may drizzle with a bit of additional warmed honey (or, runny honey), or perhaps a little scoop of sweetened whipped cream or sweetened creme fraiche. The mascarpone lent a softness to t he crust, that I completely loved... I'll make this crust again in other applications for sure.

I now have a lonely 3 or 4 tablespoons left of that mascarpone cheese. Just enough to incite a Day 4 of imagination. As of 7 p.m., I have no idea yet what to use it for, so let me know if there is something I can't overlook!

mascarpone-stuffed french toast

mascarpone-stuffed french toast, originally uploaded by Rcakewalk.

Day two of operation Use Mascarpone Cheese: Stuffed French Toast. Lo gave me the idea, and what better thing to do with this stuff than eat it for breakfast?

I took one slice of Lahey bread, cut in half, and spread about a T. of mascarpone in the middle. I made two sandwiches, so I used 2 beaten eggs for the dip. Let them soak up the egg well, about 30 seconds per side, before sizzling them to golden brown seduction on a hot buttered pan.

I was surprised at the clarity of mascarpone in this! It was melted into the bread, and not heavy or overdone like restaurant stuffed French toast, since I used such a small amount. In fact, I've been making the Lahey bread with flax meal and whole wheat flour (thanks in part to Deborah at Loop!), so the whole breakfast was rather nutritious, if I do say so myself.

My Husband liked it too, so I'm counting it a double win! Thanks, Lo!

hidden mascarpone

hidden mascarpone, originally uploaded by Rcakewalk.

True to my word, here is today's usage of mascarpone: Pasta with Mascarpone-Tuna Tomato Sauce.

I heated up some frozen homemade pasta sauce, and then added a hefty spoonful of mascarpone. I know it's pathetic to get excited about watching cheese melt into hot sauce, but I was. (I couldn't help but wish I had made a Vodka Sauce, since this addition made it so silky, and Vodka Sauce is one of my favorite things.) I added one drained can of imported tuna in olive oil, my favorite, and stirred in about 2 cups cooked pasta. Topped with dried Lahey bread crumbs mixed with a bit of Parmesan cheese and olive oil, I baked it covered in foil until the carrots were done roasting: about 30 minutes give or take. It was liked by all, even the pickiest Boy-O who even ventured out of his fail-safe granola mode and ate several noodles.

Looking forward to tomorrow morning's application thanks to Lo: Stuffed French Toast. I'd better hurry up and get to bed!

Mastering Mascarpone...and the Salvaging of Salt Block Salmon

When the Daring Baker mascarpone cheese turned out less than desirable, I knew I could do better. What better inspiration than these organic jars of heavy cream from the organic Crystal Ball Farms? I got one on Saturday morning at the Winter Farmer's Market. Not only do they look fantastic, the contents are stellar. This sweet cream had to make the best mascarpone! I very excitedly started it yesterday afternoon.

I used the same recipe and method I did the first time: both from Vera at Baking Obsession. I used a double boiler (a.k.a. old pot with a Pyrex mixing bowl on top), and found I had the same problem I did the first go around... I was stirring and "gently heating" for a full 45 minutes with no temperature increase past the 180 degree mark. I wondered if my thermometer was broken. I rinsed it and tried it again from zero, still only 180. I needed that 190 mark. I finally got frustrated enough that I poured the 180 degree cream into a regular pot, and then turned the heat to medium low. Mere minutes passed, until I was at the 190 mark. I added my lemon juice (which I eyeballed to be 3/4 of a T. due to evaporation and the 450ml of cream I started with), and another minute or two and it was properly thickened. I will be transferring any future cream for mascarpone directly to a bare naked pot, after it is properly and gently heated. That is my zen moment for today.

I now know that I did not have the true 190 mark on my first try. I know I was frustrated then too, and it wouldn't surprise me if I added the lemon juice and figured it was hot enough. It never coated a spoon like this the first time!

I let it cool 20 minutes, then let it drain through my layered cheesecloth until it came down to room temperature. I stashed the whole thing in the refrigerator overnight, and then sat down to daydream about what I was going to do with this luscious cheese. Of course, I wasn't going to wait until this morning to taste it! It was so smooth and sweet, no trace of "off flavor" that my last batch had, every bit like "the thickend creme anglaise" Vera spoke of. It was even better this morning when I unearthed it from its cocoon of cloth:

Don't let that cheesecloth-textured exterior fool you, this was the softest, dreamiest thing imaginable. Firm, but creamy, and so delicious. It had every mark of the fresh taste that the plain cream had. Non-homogenized milk is the key, I think. innBrooklyn suggested in my comments that a ravioli may be a good bet, and that is rather tempting. But meanwhile, I knew I'd have to try something by lunchtime. Fortunately, this cheese stepped right in to save an otherwise unfortunate learning experience: Salt Block Salmon.

Last week, I was excited to experiment with curing salmon on the Posh Saltblock. Using tips from Chef Malavenda, who graciously coached me via email, I used my one slab instead of two, and weighted it with unglazed quarry tiles. The piece of fish I used was rather thin, and I think I let it go too long. It was rendered fully cured but, even with vigorous washing, extrememly salty.

It certainly wasn't an unpleasant taste, just overwhelmingly salmon-y and saline. Since I knew that salt was going to keep it fresh for (I'd bet) weeks to come, I stored it in my fridge and asked the good Chef M. for a couple of ideas. She suggested a cream sauce for pasta, sans capers of course, or chopping it up tartar like for canapes. I took it for a spin in the food pro, and turned it into nicely textured, though still salty, rubble:

After I tasted the mascarpone this morning, it immediately struck me to add it to some mascarpone cheese. Not too much, just a bit, since I knew I was dealing with some pretty strong flavor here. Perfection? I think so! For the past week, my poor Husband kept hearing me discuss the salmon and what to do with the salmon, and that the salmon was way, WAY too salty, and I wasn't at all surprised that he didn't really jump at the chance to be a guinea pig to my original pasta sauce or fish cake idea. He did agree, with a tiny spoonful taste, that this is really good (though still a bit salty). I froze the rest of the salmon, and am going to pull this out next time I have dinner company (provided they are savvy of salmon, that is).

Just wish there was a bit of dill growing out in the yard...

I had just a bit for lunch today, on the heal of the never-waning obsession that is Lahey bread. I baked a new loaf this morning, and also placed another Amazon order for a Lodge 5 quart cast iron dutch oven. I could write love sonnets for my red LeCreuset, and I noticed it was receiving a bit of a blow being heated repeatedly in a hot oven. For around $30, I figured it was time to "upgrade" (or "downgrade" perhaps?) to a dedicated breadbaker, one that I had no such feelings attached to. Red LeCreuset shall be restored to her former glory, and I will have a bread-baking oven in an oven...and hopefully a whole lot of salmon spread to enjoy it with.

These first glimpses in a cold but sunny start to March (definitely in like a lamb, I'd say) make me so hungry for a ripe late summer tomato; this spread on that bread with a perfect tomato would be one for the books. Then I remembered about another Wisconsin food blogger: World of Flavors. I feel so busy lately, and have a hard time reading and responding and indeed cooking and baking as many bookmarked things as I like. World of Flavors featured sprouts and sprouting recently, and I do know for sure it is the time of year for watching something sprout in the kitchen. Not to mention Otehlia's photography is second to none, and made them look as if I could pluck them off my screen. I soaked some lowly "sandwich mix" seeds from Outpost, and by the end of the week, I'll be enjoying some sprouts.

But, I'd imagine I'll need to make some more mascarpone by then. Meanwhile, if you have any other mascarpone ideas, keep them coming. My goal is to have a little bit each day, as not to overwhelm my healthiness with too much cream. I'm thinking a pasta sauce with tuna and a spoonful melted in... Call me crazy, but I'm trying it in my coffee tomorrow morning.

That reminds me to go and pluck a quart jar of strawberries out of the deep freeze... I'm sure a makeshift dessert could be had if I can muster up the strength to make more ladyfingers!

A Tiramisu Worth the Effort! (Daring Baker Challenge: February 2010)

The February 2010 Daring Bakers’ challenge was hosted by Aparna of My Diverse Kitchen and Deeba of Passionate About Baking. They chose Tiramisu as the challenge for the month. Their challenge recipe is based on recipes from The Washington Post, Cordon Bleu at Home and Baking Obsession.

I have made Tiramisu before, but I never made each component of Tiramisu before - and never one that could match this complexity of flavor. This month's challenge included making the Savoiardi (Ladyfinger) Biscuits, mascarpone cheese, zabaglione, and pastry cream before assembling into the ultimate enjoyment of this heavenly dessert. I began on Februrary 12th or 13th with the making of the mascarpone cheese.

The mascarpone cheese recipe came from Vera at Baking Obsession. I started with Sassy Cow Creamery heavy cream, and patiently waited for it to heat to 190 degrees. The direction noted that it may take 15 minutes of gentle heating, but it took me close to a half an hour. The 2 cups of cream I started with was sweet and delicious, but my outcome was not quite as delectable as I would have liked. It's an easy process, simply heat the cream and at the 190 degree mark, add 1 tablespoon of lemon juice. As I have never made mascarpone before, I was going on the cues in the directions - basically a thickening of the cream until it was like a "well-done creme anglaise".

I let it cool and then let it drain through a layered cheesecloth. I did not take pictures of that process, I noticed as I was going through them, and it could be because when I went to transfer it from the cheesecloth to a glass container the cheese was stuck on the various layers of cheesecloth. I had 4 layers of cheesecloth, and I had to peel away each layer of cheesecloth to reveal more usable cheese. I had to scrape it off with a spoon and managed to salvage most of it. It seemed to be the proper consistency, but I don't know why it separated into the cheesecloth instead of holding together into a soft mound. The consistency seemed proper, but the flavor seemed a little off to me; it was almost bitter and very acidic, and almost all trace of the sweet cream was gone. I don't know if it was the cream expiration date (which was close) or what, but my result wasn't inedible so I stored it for a couple of days until Tiramisu assembly time. I did use it in the final assembly, and since it was added to whipped cream, zabaglione and pastry cream, I noticed no detectable off taste.

Heating the heavy cream for mascarpone cheese.

The next phase of my journey was the Savoiardi Biscuits. I have never thought about making these before, but now know that I will never regress into buying them ever again. They were fantastically easy and exactly what you look for in a Ladyfinger, sans the expense and sometime difficulty in finding. I only had a few left over, and kept them in a glass jar, and they were crisp and fine for a good two weeks, also good to know. The recipe is from Cordon Bleu at Home:

Ladyfingers/Savoiardi Biscuits

• 3 eggs, separated
• 6 T. granulated sugar
• 3/4 c. cake flour (or 3/4 c. AP flour + 2 T. cornstarch, which is what I used)
• 6 T. confectioner's sugar (I didn't measure this)

Preheat oven to 350 and line two baking sheets with parchment.

Beat egg whites using a hand held mixer until stiff peaks form, and then gradually add granulated sugar and continue beating until the egg whites become stiff again, as well as glossy and smooth.

I used a tip from Audax Artifex here and beat the egg yolks until thick and lemon yellow instead of mixing lightly with a fork. I had great results, so I would continue doing it this way! Fold the egg yolks gently into the egg whites, and do not overdo the folding. Then sift the flour over this mixture and fold gently again until just mixed. Be gentle, or the mixture could deflate and lose too much volume.

Fill a pastry bag with a plain tip, although I used a star tip, and fill with the batter. Pipe the batter into 5 inch long by 3/4 inch wide strips, leaving about an inch in between them. I made mine a bit shorter.

Sprinkle half the confectioner's sugar over the ladyfingers, and wait 5 minutes. The sugar will "pearl or look wet and glisten". Dust with remaining half of confectioner's sugar, and slide into the oven to bake for 10 minutes. Rotate the sheets and bake another 5 minutes or so until they look light golden and puffy, but are still soft.

Cool slightly before removing to a rack to cool completely. I had a bit extra batter in the pastry bag that sat the duration of the first batch, and then piped and cooked them. I actually preferred the texture of the batter that sat those 15 minutes extra! You can visibly see the difference:

Batch one.

Batch two.

Ladyfingers complete, I moved on to the creams. The zabaglione and pastry cream recipes came from the Tiramisu recipe: Carminantonio's Tiramisu from the Washington Post, July 11, 2007.

I used port wine in my zabaglione, since that is what I had on hand, and I was absolutely shocked at the depth of flavor from such simple ingredients. Please find the recipe at the link above, but the ingredient list contained 2 egg yolks, sugar, 1/4 c. of port, vanilla extract and lemon zest. Lemon, vanilla and port mixed carefully with egg yolk over very gentle heat yielded a sinfully luxurious result. I had never truly understood the complexity of this dessert before now...and could see exactly why each of these steps was crucial to an end result worth waxing poetic over.

The pastry cream was beautifully lemon yellow and also fortified with lemon zest, egg yolk and whole milk (which I subsisted half and half mixed with skim milk). The two creams are mixed with the whipped heavy cream and mascarpone cheese, and then the dessert is ready for assembly.

This recipe was very well written, since I had perfect amounts of all ingredients for my finished product. I had a bit of extra mascarpone and maybe 10 little ladyfingers, but otherwise my proportions were spot on. The only thing that I drastically altered was the amount of coffee and sugar the ladyfingers were dipped in.

The original called for 2 c. of brewed espresso and 1/2 c. sugar! This was only to dip the bottoms of the ladyfingers in, mind you, so I used 1 c. brewed espresso and about 1 1/2 T. granulated sugar (and a splash of rum...no extracts here!). I had ample liquid for dipping, and even enough leftover to enjoy a couple Savoiardi on the side! I'm sure I didn't miss the extra sweetness either.

I alternated layers of soaked ladyfingers and cream, and then waited for the long rest of 24 hours before enjoying the results of properly married flavors and textural perfection.

It was ready for the grand reveal by noon on February 16th...and of course after the photos, Boy-O and I had to try it. I tried to explain the concept of "dessert sharing" to him, but it only lasted a couple of bites before he was trying to outpace me. Rightfully so, since the combinations of all the component flavors were much tastier than I imagined they could be. The ladyfingers kept a surprising amount of their heft, and I was pleasantly surprised at the amount of coffee flavor that came from such a quick baptism into the liquid. The lemon was a pleasant surprise as well, I never really thought about lemon and coffee before, but I LOVED it! I'd say he did too, since he had a funny little chuckle after each bite...like he couldn't believe I was letting him eat it.

After a Loop class, I rushed home to a dinner I prepared mostly by remote method. I had forgotten about my class, and invited Maeckel for dinner (and dessert). I made oven-baked brown rice (for which I relied on my never used timed-bake feature), and an Asian-type pork chop in the Crock Pot, and quickly sauteed some Savoy cabbage and onions for a side dish when I got home...not a very Italian supper, but still very good. We waited to eat the Tiramisu until after the Boy-O went to sleep...and two of the three of us like it immensely. I sent some along home with Maeckel, and then had a piece everyday until it was gone. I'm proud to say that this took until Friday the 19th, and that it only improved with age.

If there could be a down side to Tiramisu, it is that it is deceptively rich. It feels weightless and light in your mouth, but in making this true version, I know the facts about heavy cream and egg yolks. But for once in a while, though, I don't know if I'll be able to top this recipe. It is a classic, and next time, I'll certainly enjoy it after a more Italian dining experience.

Many thanks to Aparna and Deeba for a fantastic challenge! I think I'll rest on the laurels of this Tiramisu for a while...

Meanwhile, I am planning to make some more mascarpone cheese after a visit to the Milwaukee Winter Farmer's Market today. Crystal Ball Farms was selling little pint glass jars to beautiful, organic heavy cream, and I felt overwhelmingly compelled to try again. Their milk is pasteurized, but not homogenized, so maybe I will see a marked difference in my end product. I don't know what I'll be doing with the finished mascarpone, so if you have any ideas, please send them my way!