Culinary Concoctions by Peabody

Peaches are one of those fruits I love to eat cut up in a bowl with just a sprinkle of brown sugar and lots of cream poured over the top. So I set out today to recreate my peaches and cream in a custard form…I needed to use up some whole milk too. I might next time use one more egg yolk as I like my custard a tad firmer(these don’t set up in the fridge, you eat it at room temp). But my experimenting was fun and in the end very tasty. If you are not a fan of bourbon just omit that.

Peaches-N-Cream Custard

custard:
2 1/4 cups milk(whole)
3/4 cup heavy whipping cream
1 cup plus 2TBSP light brown sugar, lightly packed
5 large egg yolks
3 large eggs
2 1/4 tsp lemon zest
1 1/4 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 tsp salt
3/4 tsp ground cinnamon
pinch of fresh nutmeg*

peaches:
4 medium peaches, sliced 1/2″ thick, with peel
2 TBSP light brown sugar, lightly packed
3 TBSP fresh orange juice
pinch of salt
3 TBSP bourbon

1. Preheat oven to 350F. Lightly grease 8 ramekins with butter.
2. Place all the ingredients for the custard in a large bowl and stir vigorously with a whisk untl completely blended.
3.Pour the custard mixture into the ramekins. Place them in a shallow baking pan on the center oven rack. Pour enough hot water into the baking pan to come two-thirds of the way up the sides of the ramekins.
4. Bake the custard until it is loosely set and a tester inserted close to but not in the center, comes out clean. About 35 minutes.
5. Allow for custard to cool to room temperature, then cover with plastic wrap if you plan to refriferate it. The custard should be at room temperature when served.
6. To prepare the topping, place the peaches, sugar, orange juice and salt in a medium sized skillet. Bring to a simmer over medium-high heat; simmer until most of the liquid is absorbed but the peaches still hold their shape, 2-3 minutes.
7. Remove the skillet from the head, add the burbon and toss gently. Spoon the peaches on top of each custard and serve warm.

*if you don’t have fresh nutmeg, skip that ingredient altogether.

I had this once at a French restaurant and it was so sinfully wonderful and yet I never went home and made it for the simple reason that I didn’t have the special dish required to do so. I finally broke down and bought some mini ones in hopes of serving them at a dinner party one of these days. They are cute little dishes, almost always in the shape of hearts. One might argue that the reason they are shaped like hearts is to remind you that you are clogging yours with all that cream and cream cheese But no, coeur is the french word for heart and so it makes perfect sense to make the dish in the shape of a heart.
Once you have the actual dishes, it really is fairly simple to make. And once you eat the dish you will imediately go to the store and buy a pair of pants in the next size because you will be needing them. Why you ask? Although you will of had full intentions of serving your 8 mini coeur a la cremes to your guest somehow they will have all of disappeared into your belly. It wont be your fault really. Your eyes will glaze over and you will go to a happy place and when you awake there will be nothing but a few dribbles of raspberry sauce on the plate.




Coeur a la Creme

12 ounces cream cheese, at room temperature*
1 1/4 cups confectioners’ sugar
2 1/2 cups cold heavy cream
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
1/4 teaspoon grated lemon zest
1 vanilla bean, seeds scraped from

Place the cream cheese and confectioners’ sugar in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment and beat on high speed for 2 minutes. Scrape down the beater and bowl with a rubber spatula and change the beater for the whisk attachment. With the mixer on low speed, add the heavy cream, vanilla, lemon zest, and vanilla bean seeds and beat on high speed until the mixture is very thick, like whipped cream.
Line a 7-inch sieve with cheesecloth so the ends drape over the sides and suspend it over a bowl, making sure that there is space between the bottom of the sieve and the bottom of the bowl for the liquid to drain. Pour the cream mixture into the cheesecloth, fold the ends over the top, and refrigerate overnight.
To serve, discard the liquid, unmold the cream onto a plate.

Source: Barefoot in Paris by Ina Garten

* I deviate from the recipe and use 160z of cream cheese….I like mine to be a little more solid.

Raspberry Sauce:
1/2 pt. raspberries
1/2 c. water
1/4 c. sugar

Make raspberry sauce by combining all ingredients and bringing them to a boil. Strain and cool the sauce.

Blog Party #13 is here and the theme was more than challenging. No oven, or stove top or any cooking of any kind. Sounds easy till you start really thinking about it. Want to make chicken salad, after all that is not hot, but wait…you have to cook the chicken. So I went to my mound of cookbooks and dragged out Martha Stewarts Hors D’Oeuvres Handbook, surely there was something there that didn’t need to be cooked. There were tons of non-cook recipes, but thumbing through all the photographs I ran across a beautiful picture of little balls of goat cheese on a plate of olive oil. How lovely I thought. Though I feel it was more than ambitious for me to try(quite the pain to do and photograph) it was something I wanted to try. So there I stood rolling out little balls of cheese, rolling them in various herbs and trying somewhat successfully to roll them in a line of smoked paprika.
My drink is a Green Tea Collins simply because I love green tea. I have it everyday. So when I found a recipe that involved green tea and vodka, that sounded good to me.

Herbed and Spiced Goat Cheese Balls
Adapted recipe
Makes 3 1/2 Dozen

1 1/4 pounds soft goat cheese
2 TBSP extra virgin olive oil
You can use pretty much any herbs or spices you want. I used the following:
1 1/4 TBSP chopped fresh chives
2 TBSP chopped pistachio nuts
1 1/2 TBSP fresh thyme
2 tsp smoked paprika

1. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Form 1 tablespoon of goat cheese into a small ball. Transfer to the baking sheet. Continue with the remaining cheese. Refrigerate the balls for 10 minutes to set slightly.
2. In seperate small bowls, place your herbs/spices. Roll the balls in the desired coating. To make the paprika band, sprinkle the paprika in a straight line on a cutting board. Straighten the edge of the paprika with a knife. Roll the ball down the line to form the paprika strip.
3. Pour olive oil onto a serving platter. Arragne the goat cheese balls on the platter and serve with toothpicks on the side.
Source: Martha Stewart Hors D’Oeuvres Handbook by Martha Stewart

Green Tea Collins
2 ounces vodka
2 ounces strong green tea, cooled
1 ounce fresh lemon juice
1 tsp simple syrup
1/4 tsp grated fresh ginger
lemon wheel for garnish
Place the vodka, green tea, lemon juice, simple syrup, grated ginger, and plenty of cracked ice in a shaker, and shake vigorously to combine. Strain thoroughly into a Collins glass(we don’t have any so I went with a pint glass) filled with ice. Garnish with a wheel of lemon and serve.
Source: Cocktail Parties with a Twist by Alexandra and Eliot Angle

I fear today is that last baking day for about a week so I must take full advantage. My husband was giving the sad we don’t have any cookies in the house face so I knew that cookies is what I would have to make. He is pretty boring all around in the food catagory(doesn’t like most veggies, no soups, no beans and many other quirks). Cookies are no exception to his food weirdness. He likes chocolate chip, peanut butter and sugar cookies. That is it. Not a fan of oatmeal, not a fan of dried fruit, not of fan of really trying anything new. So most of the time I make chocolate chip cookies, which for me starts to get a little boring so I start messing with the recipe. One time I used the *caramelized sugar that is used in my white chocolate cherry cookies for my plain old chocolate chippers. And ever since that is usually the way they get made.
These are a much thinner and flatter chocolate chip cookie than what I usually prefer but you need them that way to highlight the caramelized sugar…they just don’t taste as good all big and chunky.

Chocolate Chip Cookies with Caramelized Sugar
2 1/4 cups all purpose flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
1/2 cup *caramelized sugar
1/2 cup powdered sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar
2 large eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 cup(2 sticks) unsalted butter
2 cups chocolate chips(or more if you are like me)

1. Preheat the oven temperature to 375°F.
2. While the oven is heating, combine the flour, baking soda and salt in a small bowl. In a large mixing bowl, cream the butter and sugar together( I like to blend all three of the sugars together in a blender for a smoother consistancy) for 3 minutes. Add vanilla extract and continue to mix. Add one egg at a time and mix thoroughly. Make sure to scrape down the bowl between each egg.
3. Take your small bowl of dry ingredients and gradually mix it into the large mixing bowl. Fold in the chocolate chips to the batter and mix.
4. Using a small ice cream scoop(or spoon) drop the dough onto your greased baking sheet.
5. Bake for 9 to 11 minutes or until the cookies are golden brown. I do 9 minutes.
6. Allow to cool.

*To make caramelized sugar for this recipe. Take a cookie sheet and line it with parchment paper. With the oven preheated to 375 F sprinkle 1 cup granulated sugar onto the middle of the pan. Bake for only about 1-2 minutes( you need to watch it the whole time because once it starts to caramelized it can quickly burn). Take out of oven and it cool completely. Once cooled, lift the blob of caramelized sugar and put into blender. Blend until the sugar is back to being super fine. Measure out 1/2 cup for the recipe. I usually make big batches of this and keep it around to use in other recipes.