nassau

1/1/12

"The voice of the sea is seductive; never ceasing, whispering, clamoring, murmuring, inviting the soul to wander for a spell in abysses of solitude."

12/31/11

if i could bottle this night into a perfume jar, there would be notes of damp earth, birthday, and monkeypod flowers redolent of childhood afternoons in beijing.

bahamian sky

gâteau st. honoré, or the dessert that almost defeated me

sometimes, desserts are both impressive and laughably easy to make. think tiramisu, crème brûlée, or baked alaska: guests are sure to ooh and ah over your creation as you conveniently forget to mention that it was so absurdly simple to throw together that even your pet rock could do it.

this dessert, however, isn't like that.

meet the gâteau st. honoré. it's named after the french patron saint of baking and pastry chefs (i am once again reminded of why i love that country), and an exhausting ordeal to make. one reviewer called it "an extremely complicated dessert not to be attempted by the faint-hearted."

this dessert is commonly used as a graduation test (!) for pastry chef students, since it contains basically every component that you can possibly put into a pastry: pâte feuilletée, pâte à choux, chantilly cream, pastry cream, caramel, and chiboust. if you'd like to show off, you can get even fancier and top it with spun sugar, caramel lace, meringue, chocolate tuiles, poached pears, candied rose petals, orangettes... or you could flavour the chantilly cream with matcha or strawberries, or pipe salted caramel into the cream puffs, or dip them into milk chocolate pastry cream. there really are no limits to the complexity.

the recipe reads like a novel. a russian novel. undaunted, naive little baking dilettante moi got it into my head that it would be fun to attempt this for a dinner party on christmas day. (not unlike how i thought it would be fun to take a class on tolstoy my freshman year)

oooh boy, this was a humbling experience. i've always considered myself decently competent in the kitchen, but this dessert spurred a mini-crisis -- ohmygod i can't actually cook i'm just a poser my camera has butter all over it i hope it still works i'm not qualified to be blogging!!

i was sooo close to giving up halfway through, especially after my second batch of pâte à choux once again turned into liquidy soup, the butter supply was running low, and i had been standing in the kitchen for 1 1/2 hours with little to show. i bow to you, saint honoré, i remember conceding my defeat, pouring a batch of failed batter down the garbage disposal. i, and everything else in the kitchen, was coated in flour and flecks of butter, and i felt like such a foodie failure.

not supposed to look like this. 

but miraculously... it came together. with a lot of improvisation and disregard creative adaptation of the recipe, two sinkfuls of dishes, and 3 hours of my afternoon, the gateau ended up looking pretty decent and tasting pretty phenomenal.

i christmas-ified it with raspberries and pistachios and took it to the party, where everyone was so awed that no one dared to cut into it. only after i butchered it with a steak knife did people dig in :)

recipe & more photos after the jump!

the best macarons in boston...

... are these, from sofra bakery. (trust me, i would know.) however, they are available only on special occasions -- this box was procured around mother's day.

a little birdie tells me that sofra has macarons right now. go.

cranberry & pear clafoutis

some of the best perks of being at home are the immensely well-stocked kitchen, three ovens to handle my culinary adventures, and having someone to help clean the mess that inevitably ensues (my lovely mother).

of course, i had to take advantage of this by making a special weekday dessert: cranberry and pear clafoutis.

clafoutis, besides being extremely fun to say, is a french country dessert with the texture of a flan-meets-cake. it looks quite rustic, tastes very comforting, and still exudes elegance. it's traditionally made with unpitted black cherries, sprinkled with powdered sugar, and served warm, but i improvised with what we had in the house: a single bruised pear standing on its last leg and a bag of cranberries.

p.s. click on the photos to see them larger!

the result completely exceeded expectations. warm custard studded with red berries and chunks of pear... then paired with vanilla ice cream and a dollop of crème fraiche. so decadent.



i was afraid of making the dish too sour with the cranberries, but the tartness ended up being such a nice contrast to the smooth sweet custard, and i wish i added more. also, my baking dish wasn't wide enough, and the batter ended up drowning the fruit, meaning the clafoutis lost its signature look of a golden moon studded with vibrant fruit.

but even so, this was imperfectly perfect.

Cranberry & Pear Clafoutis
Adapted from Ina Garten

• 1 tablespoon unsalted butter (I used Earth Balance)
• 1/3 cup plus 1 tablespoon granulated sugar
• 3 large eggs
• 6 tablespoons all-purpose flour
• 1 1/2 cups heavy cream
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 1 teaspoon grated lemon zest
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 2 tablespoons bourbon (Use pear brandy if you have it)
• 1 ripe Bosc pear (I would recommend using two)

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F. Butter a 10 by 3 by 1 1⁄2-inch round baking dish and sprinkle the bottom and sides with 1 tablespoon of the sugar.

Beat the eggs and the 1⁄3 cup of granulated sugar in the bowl of an electric mixer until light and fluffy. On low speed, fold in the flour, cream, vanilla extract, lemon zest, salt, and bourbon. 

Peel, quarter, core, and slice the pears. Arrange the slices in a single layer, slightly fanned out, in the baking dish. Sprinkle cranberries into the gaps. Pour the batter over the pears and bake until the top is golden brown and the custard is firm, about 40 minutes. Serve warm, with crème fraiche and vanilla ice cream.

how to look like you know what you're doing:
wear a gingham apron and wield a stick of butter earth balance

honey. luscious.

diminished rather rapidly, especially with a sweet-toothed little brother around :P