Dessert

Happy Birthday Julia

~ Lynn ~ 10 Comments

August 15th was Julia Child’s birthday. Many of us grew up watching her shows, moved by her enthusiasm for food  and the joy teaching people to cook brought her. The Way To Cook is my mothers go to cookbook even now, over 20 years after it was published.  We watched her cooking on her own in Dinner at Julia’s, we saw her marvel at dishes created by others in Cooking with Master Chefs, and we saw her tease and joke with Jacques Pepin in Julia and Jacques Cooking at Home (Jacques is another go to at my parents house).

In honour of her birthday I made a recipe from Baking with Julia ; the tart that made Julia cry. The recipe is actually a Nancy Silverton recipe, and you can watch them make it here. The tart really is wonderful, I can understand how a bite of it could bring tears of joy to Julia’s eyes.

Brioche Custard Tart

  • 1/3 of dough from Golden Brioche
  • 1 cup heavy cream
  • 2 egg yolks
  • 1/2 cup sugar
  • 2 nectarines, sliced
  • 1/2 cup strawberries
  • 2 cups white wine
  • 1/2 cup sugar
  • 5 or 6 basil leaves
  1. After chilling the brioche dough overnight, roll it out to fit in a pie plate, with about an inch of dough overhanging. Fold the overhang into the pie shell to create an edge.  Let rise uncovered for 1 hour.
  2. While the dough is rising, whisk the cream and egg yolks together.
  3. Once the dough has risen, dimple the bottom of the dough (don’t create holes, just dents) and pour the cream mixture in.
  4. Sprinkle the cream with sugar.
  5. Preheat the oven to 300, then bake the tart for 30 to 40 minutes until brioche is cooked and custard has set.
  6. Let cool completely.
  7. While the tart is cooling bring the wine to a boil. Add the sugar and basil leaves. Add the fruit and simmer for a few minutes, just until the fruit is slightly softened. Strain fruit.
  8. Place fruit on tart.

Bon appétit!

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I want S’more Pie!

~ Lynn ~ 10 Comments

Tuesday was my little brothers twenty-sixth birthday. Originally I was going to make him this cake , but then I started thinking about how we used to celebrate his birthday as kids.

Every summer my parents would rent a cottage in Vermont. My aunt and uncle also had a summer home right down the road, so our cousins were always around. My brother and our cousin Alex’s birthdays are less than a week apart, so one Saturday we would have a party for Alex and then the next we would have one for Richie. The formula was pretty much always the same, BBQ, followed by cake and hopefully some Ben & Jerry’s ice cream (it was Vermont after all). I have no recollection of what kind of cake we used to have at my brother’s birthday, but I decided instead of lemon ricotta cake he should have something cottage-y for his birthday. What came to mind immediately was s’mores. I’m pretty sure every time I’ve had a s’more was at the cottage with Richie, Alex and Janice (Janice and I also celebrate our birthdays within a couple of days of each other).

But s’mores on their own didn’t seem good enough. No, for my brother’s birthday there should be something more exciting than just a s’more; there should be s’mores in pie form. I didn’t even give him a choice.

I could have served this pie last Saturday when we actually had dinner with Alex and Janice, but I wasn’t thinking very clearly. So I waited till his actual birthday to serve the pie. I need to apologize to my cousins as this pie was soooo good. It was ooey gooey deliciousness. The marshmallows brought me right back to being a kid. Slicing the pie was a bit of an adventure, but s’mores are supposed to be messy and watching me struggle with it just added to the fun. There were marshmallow strings all over the place.

If you microwave any leftovers for 10 seconds the marshmallows get a little melty.

If you microwave them for 20 seconds they get a lot melty.

This recipe was adapted from Gourmet. Instead of making marshmallow fluff I just piled store-bought marshmallows on the pie.

S’more Pie

  • 1 1/2 cups graham cracker crumbs
  • 5 tbsp butter, melted
  • 1/2 tsp salt
  • 8 oz bittersweet chocolate, chopped
  • 1 cup cream
  • 1 egg
  • 1 bag large marshmallows
  1. In a bowl combine graham cracker crumbs, butter and salt.
  2. Press graham cracker mixture into a 9 inch pie plate. Bake at 350 for 12 to 15 minutes. Let cool completely.
  3. Once the crust is cooled, heat cream until just before boiling. Pour over chocolate and stir until the chocolate is completely melted. Whisk in the egg.
  4. Pour the chocolate mixture into the crust and bake at 350 for 45 minutes. Let cool completely.
  5. Just before serving, pile marshmallows on top of the pie and broil till the marshmallows are at your desired golden or burnt level (keep a close eye on them, they’ll burn fast).

Enjoy!

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Berry Terrine

~ Lynn ~ 6 Comments

Have you ever had a recipe stuck in your head?

Ever since I saw Laura Calder make this recipe on the Food Network Canada I’ve been thinking about making it. Since  July 14th was Frances national holiday I decided this was a great time to make it. I know a lot of people have the impression that french food is complicated, and although it can be, in general it’s actually quite simple.

This terrine is basically just a fancy jello mold. I based my recipe on Laura Calder’s Pink Grapefruit and Orange Terrine, but since we are at the height of raspberry season here in Quebec I decided to make a berry version.

To make this you’ll need a 9 inch loaf pan and some plastic wrap.

Berry Terrine

  • 1 cup rosé or white wine ( I used C’est La Vie Rosé Syrah)
  • 1/2 cup pomegranate juice
  • 1/2 cup sugar
  • 2 packages gelatine
  • 1/2 cup blueberries
  • 1/2 cup raspberries
  • 1/2 cup strawberries (halved or quartered if they are too large)
  • greek yogurt and honey for topping
  1. In a saucepan heat wine, juice , and sugar until sugar has completely dissolved and mixture is simmering.
  2. Take a 1/4 cup of the hot liquid and dissolve the gelatine, then return that to wine mixture.
  3. Line loaf pan with plastic wrap, making sure there is a good overhang.
  4. Fill the loaf pan with the berries and the cover with the wine gelatine mixture.
  5. Cover with overhang from the plastic wrap and refrigerate at least four hours until set.

I was actually a little disappointed with the dessert. Maybe I cooked the wine too long, but there was no wine taste to the jelly at all. Next time I’ll change the wine to juice ratio, and maybe add some anise to it for more flavour. I will try again though, as I think this has a lot of potential.