Take That Bill Cosby

I am a sucker for nostalgia. I had a pretty cool childhood, especially in retrospect, and I enjoy partaking in foods that bring me back to that time. Cooking the chicken and dumplings that my mom use to make us, or spending hours making gnocchi, just like my Nona used to do, puts me back to a time where the days were lazy, I would ride my horse for hours in the mountains, and modern technology was all of 3 channels, if we moved the bunny ears just right.

Chocolate pudding is one of those memory-inducing foods, not so much for its ingenuity, but because it was and is a dish that is incredibly easy, requires few ingredients (box of pudding mix, milk) and satisfies those intense chocolate cravings I must satiate from time to time. We always had a box of Jell-O pudding mix around the house, and on those occasions when there was no milk, we would use water. It works fine. When I starting working in the food industry, there were times when I would make pudding out of the box and silently berate myself for taking the easy route. I mean, didn’t I spend a small fortune on culinary school? Shouldn’t I be able to make pudding from scratch?

I finally did come around, but admittedly, it was a client that made me a convert. I had a request for something rich and chocolaty, and they are mostly gluten free, so that eliminates many options that would require flour. I realized that my opportunity was there, and I must, against my own resistance, make pudding that didn’t come out of a box. They are not paying me to make things out of a box. So I took the plunge, borrowing a basic outline from my good friend, the Barefoot Contessa. I expanded on a basic chocolate pudding recipe and made it a bit more unique with the addition of orange, but the pudding is wonderful on its own as well, without flavorings.

There really is no comparison to the real deal, it is so wonderfully smooth and rich and decadent, without being heavy or dense. And even though it certainly isn’t as easy as adding milk to a powder and stirring, the whole process takes about 20 minutes and there are few ingredients. But, while this recipe is altogether very simple, it does take a bit of patience, since it is important to constantly stir the mixture over low heat, until it begins to thicken. I put on the Glee soundtrack and dance around at the stovetop, it’s ridiculously amusing to see, I imagine. I can just picture my neighbors glancing through the dining room window and seeing me in my sweatpants, rocking out to Don’t Stop Believing, and stirring a pot on the stove.


Chocolate Orange Pudding

2 cups 2% milk
6 large egg yolks, at room temperature
½ cup granulated sugar
¼ cup cocoa powder (I use Ghirardelli)
¼ cup corn starch
½ tsp kosher salt
¼ cup chopped, high cacao, bittersweet or semisweet chocolate
2 tbs unsalted butter
1 tbs grand Marnier, triple sec (optional)
2 tbs heavy cream
½ tsp grated orange zest

Bring the milk to a low simmer in a medium saucepan. Take care to heat the milk slowly to avoid scorching.

Beat the egg yolks and sugar in a stand mixer with a paddle attachment until light in color and tripled in volume, about 3 minutes. With the mixer on low, add the cocoa powder, corn starch and salt and mix to combine. Carefully pour the hot milk into the mixer, combine thoroughly and the pour the mixture back into the saucepan.
Over low heat, cook the mixture, stirring constantly until thickened to pudding texture. It takes 10-12 minutes (or about 4 songs on the aforementioned soundtrack) for the mixture to thicken. Remove from the heat and stir in the remaining ingredients, stirring until the chocolate has melted.



Pour into individual serving containers and cover with plastic wrap. Press the plastic wrap directly on the top of the pudding (this prevents it from forming a “skin”). Chill at least 2 hours. Serves 4.

An experiment gone awright

I couldn’t pass up the opportunity to sneak in the kitschy title here simply because over the years I have had so many experiments gone awry. This time however, something quite magical came about. It all started because of the need, as many of us have, for dessert. A dinner party for one of my regular clients was looking like it was going to be a culinary success. Smoked salmon blinis and zucchini fritters; check. Butternut squash soup; check. Roasted fillet of beef with port reduction; check. And then, all of a sudden, 4 more guests arrived and those coconut macaroons I had made earlier were just not going to be substantial enough for the mood of the dinner party. With no form of chocolate anywhere to be found, I couldn’t do a nice soufflé or cake. What to do? Well, my first thought went to berries, I have a go-to cobbler recipe that is fool proof and doesn’t require much that isn’t in most pantries. However, since this was a fancy dinner party, we decided that a rustic cobbler wouldn’t be quite as appropriate as other options. Don’t get me wrong, a giant heap of cobbler dumped in a bowl, perhaps with a scoop of vanilla gelato, is top of my dessert list. We needed something a little more presentable for this instance though.

Bars were the next thing that came to mind, lemon to be specific. But alas, I had less than two hours until dinner with still quite a bit of work to do and lemon bars take a considerable amount of time and detail. Since the client can only eat blueberries, and there just so happened to be a Costco sized container of fresh blueberries in the fridge, I knew I had to go with that. I decided to make a blueberry bar, something I had never done before. I went with my standard lemon bar crust since it is 3 ingredients and takes about 2 minutes to prepare and get cooking. The berries I knew I would have to cook, so I threw most of the container into a sauce pan with sugar and some sliced lemons. Since I didn’t have time to let the berries cool enough for them to thicken properly, I threw in some flour and then added the remainder of the whole berries. Then I simply poured the whole thing over the crust, threw on a crumble topping and popped it in the oven, able to do nothing more than cross my fingers, and toes, that this would be an edible product. The tray was picked clean by the end of the evening, I guess I did alright.



Blueberry bars

For crust:
1 ¼ cup all purpose flour
½ cup confectioners’ sugar
1 stick unsalted butter, softened
Pinch of kosher salt

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Prepare a 9 x 9 baking dish by either spraying thoroughly with non stick spray or laying foil to lift out. This makes for easy removal from pan and is highly recommended. To do this, take a long piece of foil and lay it lengthwise in the pan. Then take another piece and lay it crosswise in pan, then spray with non stick spray. This allows gripping the foil and simply lifting the entire concoction from the pan to let cool and then easily cut. Combine all ingredients in a food processor and pulse about 10 times, until ingredients come together and mixture turns pale yellow. Dump into prepared pan and using the bottom of a glass or a measuring cup, pat mixture evenly over pan, pushing into corners and slightly up the sides. Bake for 20 minutes, until just starting to brown. Set aside until ready to use

For Filling and Crumble Topping

1 lb fresh blueberries
¾ cup sugar
2 whole lemons cut in half, seeds removed as best as possible
¼ tsp kosher salt
1 cup 3 Tbs all purpose flour, divided
¾ cup brown sugar, lightly packed
½ stick unsalted butter, cut into small chunks and softened

Place ¾ of the blueberries, the sugar, salt, 3 Tbs flour and lemons in a medium saucepan and add ¼ of water. Cook over medium heat for about 10 minutes, until blueberries are broken down and sauce starts to thicken. Remove from heat and add the remaining blueberries, stirring to combine. Let cool 30 minutes. Combine remaining flour, brown sugar and butter in bowl and combine with fingers until ingredients start to come together and look crumbly. Pour blueberry mixture over crust and sprinkle crumble evenly over entire surface. Bake 30-40 minutes, until blueberries start to bubble and topping in browned. Remove from pan if using foil bed, or place pan on cooling rack. Let rest 15 minutes, then cut into squares and serve. Makes approximately 16 two inch squares.

Leftover Rice

It seems that whenever I make a batch of rice, no matter how large or small, there are always leftovers. The amount of white rice that comes with an order or Chinese takeout is usually quite large and I can never finish it, even with a guy in the house who has a substantial appetite. Rice doesn’t hold up well for more than a day or two in the fridge and not too many people would consider a bowl of leftover rice a significant meal anyways. However, since it will complete a meal when served with a deliciously sauce-laden entrée, I wouldn’t ever give that up, despite the leftover conundrum. What to do? I say when life gives you leftovers, make pudding. Same principle I apply when I have leftover bread that is going stale; yummy bread pudding. Rice pudding is quick, requires few ingredients and is a hearty and delicious dessert that you can tweak with many different ingredients to add subtle flavors. For those faint of heart who think you can’t bake, in the words of a certain public figurehead, “yes you can”. Rice pudding is a great segue way into the baking world, and one of those rare baking finds where the ingredient measurements don’t have to be precise. Like lemon flavored rice? Add a tsp of grated lemon zest to the final product. What is so attractive to me about this recipe is the ability to substitute and eliminate ingredients as you see fit. Throw in dried apricots instead of raisins, leave out the cinnamon, add cardamom, it’s all up to you. Once you have the basic method down, the flavorings can be changed without limit, an aspect of baking that I have always wished were more prevalent. So go ahead and order that large side of rice to go with the sweet and sour chicken, and then get busy making this yummy dessert for the next night.

Rice Pudding

1 cup of cooked white rice (long grain, short grain, it’s all good)
2 cups milk
¾ cup heavy cream
2 Tbs sugar
½ tsp salt
½ cup raisins
½ tsp cinnamon
1 egg, beaten

Combine rice, milk, cream, sugar and salt in medium heavy bottom saucepan and bring to a low boil over medium heat, stirring occasionally. Once at a boil, reduce to keep a low simmer going and cook about 20 minutes, stirring often. During the last 5 minutes of cooking, stir frequently and watch to prevent rice from over reducing. It should look fairly creamy at the end, similar to cream of wheat or soft polenta. Remove from heat, stir in raisins, cinnamon and egg and stir for 30 seconds to cook the egg. Makes 4 servings.

Nathan's Chocolate Souffle

I’m sure that some people find the idea of a guy making dessert to be something of an oddity, which is unfortunate for those guys whose talents for producing deliciously tantalizing and succulent sugar creations are not being procured simply because no guy wants to admit to being a fabulous baker. Cupcakes know no gender boundaries, and my sweet tooth is an equal opportunity employer. Thank goodness for people like my brother in law, Nathan. Now, Nathan isn’t a pastry chef, far from it in fact. He is the best pizza slinger in the Pacific Northwest; a scooter driving, video game loving, rear-wheel-drive car coveting guy’s guy who carried a sword when he married my sister, you know, to keep the zombies at bay. He also happens to make the best flipping desserts this lady has had in a long while.

My first taste of his incredible concoctions was on a trip to Hawaii three years ago, when he and my sister joined me and my boyfriend for a week of sun and fun. Never having known just what magic he could produce with some chocolate, butter and sugar, I was oh so pleasantly stunned to silence by my first bite of his chocolate soufflé, whipped up in about 10 minutes in our vacation rental ‘s “kitchen.” That is the beauty of this recipe; it is fast and easy, has few ingredients and could very well bribe government officials with its rich cakelike shell and velvety molten center. Once I crack into the top of the soufflé, and the molten center starts to flow out, all I want to do is take the plate and tip the warm, melting chocolate into my mouth. It is sweet without being sickly, due to the rich dark chocolate used, and somehow it is both hearty and light, leaving you satisfied without feeling licentious. In fact, if you currently aren’t salivating like a pavlovian dog who hears a bell, there just might be something wrong with you.



Nathan’s Chocolate Soufflé

1 stick of unsalted butter, plus 2 Tbs, softened, for ramekins
8 oz. good quality bittersweet chocolate, chopped
½ tsp instant coffee granules (optional)
4 whole eggs, plus 4 egg whites
1 cup sugar
1/3 cup all purpose flour
Cocoa powder for dusting ramekins
Confectioners sugar (optional for dusting)
1 pint of fresh raspberries (optional, for garnish)

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Liberally rub the insides of 8 individual ramekins with the 2 Tbs of butter and sprinkle with cocoa powder. Tap all sides to evenly coat the inside.
In a heatproof bowl set over a pot of simmering water, melt the butter, coffee (if using) and the chocolate. Set aside to cool slightly. In a mixer, beat the whole eggs, egg whites and sugar on high speed until doubled in volume and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Gently stir the flour into the chocolate mixture. Using a rubber spatula, slowly fold the egg mixture into chocolate mix until just combined, being careful not to over mix. Divide mixture between ramekins and place on rimmed baking sheet. Refrigerate for 15 minutes to 20 minutes, then place in oven. Bake approximately 12-15 minutes, until sides are set and center of top is just a tiny bit jiggly. Cool 2 minutes and then invert each ramekin onto serving plates, gently tapping sides and lifting ramekins off. If desired, dust with confectioners sugar and garnish with fresh raspberries. Makes 8 individual servings.

Note: This recipe is easily cut in half for 4 servings.