1967 Cheesecake

Adapted from Elegant But Easy by Burros & Levine 1967

Improves with age and freezes well.  Add a topping of raspberry coulis to make a gorgeous Christmas or Valentine's Day dessert

Twenty-five minutes of beating seems like a lot, but it must be what makes this cheesecake so light and lovely. The stand mixer does the work while you put the crust ingredients together. 

Crust

1 ¾ cups graham cracker crumbs (from about 16 graham crackers)

1/2 cup butter (original recipe calls for 3/4 cup)

1 tablespoon brown sugar

Line bottom of 9-inch spring form pan with crumb mixture.

Filling

Combine and beat at medium speed for 20-25 minutes:

24 oz. cream cheese

4 eggs

1 cup sugar

1 tsp. vanilla

Place cheese mixture in spring form pan on top of crumb mixture. Bake 50 minutes at 325F.  Cool for 35 minutes. 

While cooling beat together:

1 pint sour cream

¾ cup sugar

Pour over top of baked cake. Bake at 400F for 10 minutes.  It should brown very slightly on top.

Refrigerate at least overnight. Improves with age.  

Crispy Chard

Recipe TK

Dutch Baby

3 tablespoons butter, melted
2 eggs and 1 egg white, at room temperature
2/3 cup milk, at room temperature
2 tbsp. sugar
1/2 cup plus 2 tbsp. flour
1/4 tsp. cinnamon
1/4 tsp. vanilla
1/4 tsp. salt

Blend or whisk 1 tablespoon of the butter with the eggs, sugar, flour, cinnamon, vanilla and salt.

Preheat over to 400F.  Heat a 10- or 12-inch cast iron skillet in the oven for at least 8 minutes.

Pour the remaining 2 tablespoons of butter into the hot skillet and swirl to distribute butter. Pour batter gently into skillet and return pan to oven for 20 minutes.

Serve immediately, cut into wedges, with a sprinkling of powdered sugar, a berry sauce or sauteed pears.

2-3 servings

Hamantaschen

Recipe TK

Brutti ma Buoni

In Italian, Brutti ma Buoni means "ugly but good."  They're not only good, but they're easy and they keep well.

1 1/2 cups (about 8 oz.) toasted slivered almonds

1 1/2 cups confectioners' sugar

pinch salt

1 egg white

1 tsp. grated lemon zest

In a food processor, pulse nuts with sugar and salt until nuts are finely chopped. Pulse in egg white and lemon zest.

Preheat oven to 400F. Line baking sheet with parchment paper. Form tablespoon-size balls of dough and place one inch apart. Bake until browned--about 13 minutes.

Bob Chambers' Pear and Red Wine Custard Tart with Hazlenut Crust

After I met him at La Varenne in Paris, Bob Chambers brought the caviar to my wedding and then we worked together on a  Time-Life cooking series. He created this beauty while catering for hot-air balloon picnics in Burgundy. The pastry dough can be pressed into the pan rather than being rolled out, and almonds or walnuts can be substituted for hazelnuts. The pears, red wine reduction and tart shell can be prepared in advance. The following version, published in Food & Wine magazine, is for a one-inch-deep pan. My 1/2-inch-deep pan only needed 4-5 pears, and I had enough pastry and syrup leftover to make a few tartlettes.

PEAR & RED WINE CUSTARD TART IN A HAZELNUT CRUST

Serves 6–8

1 cup granulated sugar

1 bottle (750ml) dry red wine

1 cup fresh orange juice

1/3 cup fresh lemon juice

2 cinnamon sticks or big pinch of cinnamon

8 pears

1 cup hazelnuts

1 cup flour

½ cup confectioners’ sugar

1/8 tsp. salt

6 Tbsp. cold unsalted butter, cut into six pieces

1 egg yolk

3 whole eggs, lightly beaten

In a large nonreactive saucepan, combine 2/3 cup of the granulated sugar with the wine, orange juice, lemon juice and cinnamon sticks and bring to the boil over a high heat. Boil until reduced to about 3 ½ cups--about 12 minutes.

Peel, quarter and core the pears. Cut a round of parchment the size of the saucepan. Add pears to the wine and lightly press the parchment paper on top of the liquid. Bring to the boil over a moderate heat. Reduce heat to low and simmer for 10 minutes. Remove from heat and let the pears cool in the poaching liquid.

Preheat the oven to 350F. Place the hazelnuts in a pie pan and bake for about 15 minutes until their skin cracks. Transfer the hot nuts to a kitchen towel and rub them together to loosen their skins. Let them cool completely.

In a food processor, combine the cooled hazelnuts with the remaining 1/3 cup granulated sugar and process to a fine powder. Add the flour, confectioners’ sugar and salt and pulse to blend. Add the butter and pulse until only a few large pieces remain. Add the egg yolk and process just until a dough forms. Gather the dough into a ball.

Roll out the dough to cover the base of a 9-inch fluted tart pan with a removable base.
Pierce the bottom all over with a fork. Cover the tart shell and freeze for 1 hour.

Line the cold tart shell with parchment paper and fill with dried beans. Bake for 30 minutes or until the crust is set and golden. Remove from the oven and let it cool, then carefully remove beans.

Using a slotted spoon, transfer the pears to a plate lined with kitchen paper. Strain the wine syrup through a fine sieve and return it to the saucepan. Bring to the boil over a high heat. Reduce heat to moderately low and simmer until the syrup has reduced to ¾ of a cup, for about 15 minutes. Pour syrup into a bowl and let cool until just warm.

Arrange pears in quarters in the baked tart shell on their sides in two concentric circles, overlapping them slightly if necessary. Beat the whole eggs into the warm wine syrup until blended. Pour the mixture evenly over the pears and bake for 40-50 minutes. Transfer the tart to a rack to cool and serve at room temperature.

Chicken Under a Brick

This works great with thighs, maybe better than with a whole bird.

New York Times

April 11, 2008, 10:30 AM

Recipe of the Day: Chicken Under a Brick

By MARK BITTMAN

The dish is well known in Italy, where it is called chicken al mattone (a mattone is a heavy tile), but as a knowledgeable friend points out, it has roots in Russia as well. It’s one of my all-time favorites.

PRINT RECIPE

Chicken Under a Brick

Yield 4 servings

Time 45 minutes

Here, a split chicken is seared in one skillet and weighted with another skillet -- or with a couple of rocks or bricks -- before being transferred to an oven. Moving the hot, heavy pan from range to oven takes two hands, but the effort is well worth it.

Ingredients

• 1 whole 3- to 4-pound chicken, trimmed of excess fat, rinsed, dried and split, backbone removed
• 1 tablespoon fresh minced rosemary or 1 teaspoon dried rosemary
• Salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
• 1 tablespoon peeled and coarsely chopped garlic
• 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
• 2 sprigs fresh rosemary, optional
• 1 lemon, cut into quarters

Method

• 1. Place the chicken on a cutting board, skin side down, and using your hands, press down hard to make it as flat as possible. Mix together the rosemary leaves, salt, pepper, garlic and 1 tablespoon of the olive oil, and rub this all over the chicken. Tuck some of the mixture under the skin as well. If time permits, cover and marinate in the refrigerator for up to a day (even 20 minutes of marinating boosts the flavor).
• 2. When you are ready to cook, preheat the oven to 500 degrees. Preheat an ovenproof 12-inch skillet (preferably nonstick) over medium-high heat for about 3 minutes. Press rosemary sprigs, if using, into the skin side of the chicken. Put remaining olive oil in the pan and wait about 30 seconds for it to heat up.
• 3. Place the chicken in the skillet, skin side down, along with any remaining pieces of rosemary and garlic; weight it with another skillet or with one or two bricks or rocks, wrapped in aluminum foil. The idea is to flatten the chicken by applying weight evenly over its surface.
• 4. Cook over medium-high to high heat for 5 minutes, then transfer to the oven. Roast for 15 minutes more. Remove from the oven and remove the weights; turn the chicken over (it will now be skin side up) and roast 10 minutes more, or until done (large chickens may take an additional 5 minutes or so). Serve hot or at room temperature, with lemon wedges.
• Variations:
• -- Use different herbs; sage, savory and tarragon are all great. Russians use paprika.
• -- Try a light dusting of cinnamon, ginger and/or other \'\'sweet\'\' spice.
• -- Use minced shallots instead of garlic.
• -- Vary the acidic ingredient: balsamic or Sherry vinegar, or lime can all pinch-hit for the lemon, depending upon the other flavors.
• -- Use clarified butter or a neutral oil, like canola or corn, in place of the olive oil.
• -- Leave European flavors behind entirely and make the dish Asian, using peanut oil and a mixture of minced garlic, ginger and scallions. Finish the dish with lime and cilantro, or soy sauce and sesame oil.