Cornmeal Souffle

This is totally fantastic, but time consuming and needs to be timed well with the rest of your meal. It really wants to be the last thing to get put out. Spicer's recipe calls for grits, but I have yet to find grits in Ojai so I have substituted fine cornmeal. It's still good. Recipe from article in Food and Wine, December 2000.

5 cups water
1 cup whole milk (Organic Valley is my favorite)
3 Tbl unsalted butter
1.5 tsp kosher salt
1.5 cups stone ground grits or cornmeal
1.5 cups shredded sharp Cheddar cheese (5 oz)
5 large eggs separated

1. In a large saucepan, combine the water, milk, butter and salt and bring to a boil. Slowly whisk in grits or cornmeal and simmer over low heat, stirring frequently with a wooden spoon, until grits are thick. About an hour.

2. Transfer cooked grits to a large bowl and stir in cheese. Let cool slightly, then add the egg yolks one at a time, stirring with a wooden spoon after each one. (This is where you have the most fudge room with the timing).

3. Preheat over to 400 degrees. Butter a 2.5 qt class or Cormack souffle dish. In a large bowl, beat the egg whites until they hold firm peaks. Stir 1/3 of egg whites into grits to loosen them, then fold in the remaining whites.

4. Scrape mixture into prepared souffle dish and smooth the surface. Bake for about 30 minutes or until puffed and golden and center is moist but not runny. Serve at once.

Spiced Pecans

These are totally yummy and can be tweaked to suit your tastes.  More salty, spicy or sweet.  I have been making these around the holidays for 10 years.  Original recipe from Michael Brisson in Fine Cooking, Nov 1998, No. 29.  

2 to 3 tsp. good salt (original called for 4tsp but always was too salty for me)

1/2 tsp cayenne or to taste

1 tsp each of ground white pepper, nutmeg, cloves and allspice (fresh ground is yummy, but the already ground works well too)

4 to 5 cups of pecan halves

a generous 1/3 cup of butter melted 

1/3 cup of dark maple syrup

1. Heat Oven to 350

2. Mix dry ingredients together well and toss in pecans.  Tossing with your hands works the best.

3. Mix melted butter over nuts and again toss.  (Taste here.  Sometimes you can tell you need more salt or something else.  Sometimes I have added ground cardamon into the mix)

4. Spread out on a baking sheet into one layer.

5. Bake until lightly toasted, stirring every so often.  About 10 minutes.

6. Pour maple syrup over nuts and stir to combine and bake about another 10 minutes.

7. Let the nuts cook in the pan, about 20 minutes.  Then scrape into a bowl, breaking up any large chunks.

Christmas Week Menu

A large part of hosting Christmas in our family is the food.

Tuesday Night Dinner

Toasted Herby Spicey Nuts

Golden Sea Bass Fish Tacos with Cilantro Mint Yogurt Sauce

Serrano Chili and Lime Cesar Salad

Coconut Rice

Christmas Eve Day

Afternoon Grazing of Cheeses and Meats and olives and the like from Paradise Pantry in Ventura

Spiced Pecans

Christmas Eve Dinner

Seafood Gumbo 

Buttermilk Cornbread

Butter Lettuce Salad with fennel, Snap Peas and Turnips

Gingercake with Whip creme, Pomegranate Seeds and Mint for Desert

Christmas Day Brunch 

Lox from GeeWhataDeal and the Fixings

Christmas Dinner

Grilled Filet

Cheese Grits Souffle

Smokey Greens

Black Rice

Jalapeno Pear Relish

Lemon Chiffon Pie with Ginger Molasses Crust

The 26th

Dinner at Azu

The 27th

Lunch at Farmer and the Cook

Dinner at the Watermark

Semolina Souffle Cake with Two Sauces

While a success, only Stephanie loved this cake enough to merit making it again.
So, for her, if requested, I would.

Recipe from Susan Spicer’s Big Easy Christmas, Food and Wine, December 2000
Takes a long day to make it and needs overnight fridge time.

4 1/2 c milk
1 1/2 c sugar
1 c semolina flour
1 stick us butter, soft
3 large eggs, beaten a little
9 large eggs, separated
1 tbl vanilla extract

Pistachio Creme Anglaise
Tart cherry pinot noir syrup

1. Butter and flour a 10-inch springform pan. Wrap the outside tightly with tin foil.
2. In big heavy Cresuet pot, combine milk with ¾ c sugar and bring to a boil. Whisk in Semolina and cook over low heat, whisking often, until thickened, about 2 minutes. Stir in half the butter and remaining ¾ c sugar and transfer to a large bowl. Stirring occasionally let the semolina cool completely. Stir in the remaining butter, then the 3 whole eggs, then the 9 egg yolks and the vanilla.
3. Preheat oven to 350. In a large bowl, beat the egg whites until stiff peaks form. Stir one third of the beaten egg whites into the semolina to lighten it, then fold in the remaining whites. Pour the batter into the prepared pan.
4. Set the cake pan in a roasting pan and add enough hot water to reach halfway up the side of the cake pan. Bake in the center of the over for 1 hour and 15 minutes, or until the cake is puffed and the center is still slightly jiggley. Transfer the cake to a wire rack to cool completely, then cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate overnight.
5. Run a knife around the edge of the cake and remove the side of the springform pan.
6. I poured some of the pistachio sauce on ½ of the plate and the cherry sauce on the other. I put a thin wedge in between the sauces. Sprinkled chopped pistachios on it and used a lavender flower for garnish.

Pistachio Crème Anglaise
1 c shelled unsalted pistachios
2 c milk
½ c sugar
salt
9 large egg yolks
Shy 1/8 tsp almond extract to taste and more as desired

1. Preheat Oven to 350. Toast Pistachios lightly. Let cool completely. Do your best to get the skins off. Transfer to a food processor and grind into a fine powder.
2. In a heavy saucepan, combine milk with the ground pistachios and bring to boil. Cover, remove from heat and let stand for 30 minutes.
3. Strain the pistachio milk through a fine sieve into another medium saucepan. Add the sugar and a pinch of salt. Whisk in egg yolks and cook over low heat, whisking constantly, until the custard sauce is thick enough to coat the back of a spoon, almost 8 minutes. Do not let the
custard boil.

4. Strain the sauce through a fine sieve into a bowl. Tast and only stir in the almond extract as desirted. Cover and put in fridge till ready to use. Can be in there for about 2 days.

Tart Cherry-Pinot Noir Syrup

2 c dried tart cherries (small is best)
2 c Pinot Noir
½ c Sugar

Combine all ingredients in a saucepan and bring to a boil. Simmer over low heat for 5 minutes. Using a slotted spoon, transfer the cherries to a medium bowl. Simmer the wine over moderate heat until syrupy and reduced to ¾ cup. Transfer the Pinot Noir to a small bowl to cool, then stir in cherries. Serve at room temperature. (Can be in fridge for up to a week).

Wrangling Christmas Day Dinner

As a way to kick me out of cooking rut, I invited some friends to come over for Christmas Dinner. I am going with a Southern Theme. Here is the proposed Menu as inspired by an article from Food and Wine a couple years ago:

Creamed Leeks and Oysters on Toast
Lox and the Fixings

Standing Pork Roast
Spicy Pear Jalapeno Relish
Buttermilk Corn Bread Stuffing with Andouille and Shrimp
Big Pot Smokey Chipolte Greens
Cheese Grit Soufflé

Semolina Soufflé Cake with Tart Cherry Pinot Noir Sauce and Pistachio Crème

I miss our friends Kim and Jake a lot right now. They moved to Argentina for 6 months and this the kind of party that Kim would have the PERFECT cocktail figured out and Jake would add the perfect dish.

Steve is going to do one of his amazing salads and Olivia will bring the perfect pear Tartan.

I will be posting the recipes and results.