Sachertorte

So, in honor of Franz Sacher's creation of the Sacher Torte 175 years ago, Gropius and I made a sachertorte (note the small "s" since this is NOT the official one from the Hotel Sacher in Wien/Vienna). I had never made one before, but I think the end result will be VERY tasty and looks pretty good (there is a bit of a learning curve involved with that chocolate glaze!).

First off, when you approach the cashier at Whole Foods with these:



you're bound to be asked, "What are you making?" You just can't go wrong with cream, butter, and chocolate, can you?? ;)

The Sachertorte is a chocolate layer cake with an apricot glaze that's then covered with a shiny chocolate glaze. The recipe I followed is from my trusty Rick Roger's Kaffeehaus cookbook and is Walter Leschanz's version of a Sacher Torte (I figure the head baker from Demel and Sacher can't be wrong, right?). So, I whipped butter, melted chocolate, added 7 egg yolks:






Then, I whipped 7 egg whites into soft peaks, folded those into the batter, sifted flour, folded that in, and then put the thing in a springform pan and into the oven:







And the end result looked like this:





After that was done, Gropius and I went to the movies (saw "Knocked Up" and wow. GREAT movie).

This morning, we made the apricot glaze which involved an entire jar of Bonne Maman (sp?) apricot preserves and a couple of Tb of rum:



Then, Gropius cut the cake into three (!!) layers.



This is different from the "official" Sacher Torte rezept and was the ultimate determinant of the court case between Demel and Hotel Sacher about whose recipe was the "official" one. (Hotel Sacher won). Leschanz argues that the three layers helps to keep the cake moist which is a common problem with sachertortes (torten?)--the cake itself can be very dry. We glazed each layer with the apricot glaze and then the top and sides of the entire thing and let it cool.



Then, it was making the chocolate glaze! Melting 6 oz bittersweet chocolate, 1 1/2 c sugar, and 3/4 c water over med-high heat until it reaches 234 degrees then pouring the stuff over the top of the cake. Wow.





Here is the learning curve though--I should've pour some over the top, let it cool, and then poured more to more fully cover the sides of the cake. Oh, well. Guess that means I have to make it again??



I think the reflection of the fireplace and wall from across the room on the top of the cake is pretty awesome.

Next up: Dobos Torte!

Pork & Cabbage

For dinner last night, Gropius and I had grilled pork chops, wirsing (wirsching?), baby Russian fingerling potatoes, and balsamic-glazed carrots.



I was quite impressed with the carrots since I was improvising and not following a recipe.







We enjoyed it with a Goats Do Roam rose that we bought at Cost Plus for $4.50. (I love CA!)

YUM!



That's me trying to be artistic, but Gropius looked over to see what I was doing.

Retro Dinner Par-tay.

So, we had our friends, Hellen & Derek, over for dinner on Sunday. Derellek, as they're known, contributed to the retro theme by bringing their "astro ball" as an appetizer.



Yes, it is cheese, meat, and olives on toothpicks! And, even better, the dipping bowl fits into the top of the cabbage. Personally, I think you can't go wrong with meat and cheese. Mmmmm, meat....or as my friends Bob and Mike put it, "eyeball eating."

The astro ball was followed by a dinner of chicken tetrazzini with bundles of beans, my father's trademark recipe. I was inspired to try my hand at cooking tetrazzini from a Martha Stewart Everyday Food recipe newsletter, but I didn't like the shortcuts that MS-EF advises. (Rant: MS used to mean something--if you cooked something and said you got the recipe from MS, people were shocked and awed. Now, it's almost equivalent to Sandra Lee's semi-homemade cr*p). So, I found a recipe on epicurious.com that didn't cut corners.



We poached three chicken breasts in water with aromatics (carrots, onion, celery, bay, cloves, peppercorns, etc), then boiled down the liquid to make a quick chicken stock. Then, I cooked some sliced white button mushrooms in butter until they released all their water. Then, I made a quick roux with some flour and additional butter, added the cream and sherry, added the chicken stock and let it thicken into a sauce. Basically, making cream-of-mushroom soup (the hard way). Meanwhile, I cooked the pasta (linguine fini for those keeping up at home) and Gropius cut the chicken into 2-3" chunks.

Put it all together in a casserole dish (or my trusty 9x13" cake pan), top with some breadcrumbs and parmesan, and bake for approximately 30 minutes. That's it. Took about an hour or so to prepare, assemble, and cook.

I also made my Dad's signature Bundles of Beans (although I didn't follow the recipe exactly because I used fresh green beans, not canned). Basically, wrap a bundle of beans with bacon, holding the bacon in place with a toothpick. Melt equal parts brown sugar and butter, pour over beans, and bake for 30 minutes. I got a little fancier by using sliced garlic (since the original recipe called for garlic salt which we didn't have) and some thinly sliced almonds (because nothing tastes better with green beans than almonds!).

Gropius poured a nice cremant and here's the finished product:



Tasty, no?

Derellek was REALLY excited because Derek's new CD was reviewed in the Sac Bee that day and Hellen had to read the review to us:



You can read the article for yourself here (still don't know how to post links yet):

http://www.sacbee.com/music/story/184477.html

Is an aural carnival ride like a magic carpet ride? Is Derek getting carried away with his Moroccan fanbase??

Gropius and Derek were enjoying Hellen's reading of the review and celebrated with spontaneous dance:



Dido, however, was NOT so amused. Apparently, Derek's harshest critic has yet to be pleased...

Kung Pao!!!

My friend, Dandan, makes the BEST Kung Pao Chicken you've ever tasted! She and her husband invited Gropius and me over for dinner last summer before we moved and I'm still haunted by how tasty her kung pao chicken was. The spices were amazing--you could literally feel the heat hitting different parts of your tongue as you ate. Seriously, I've never had Chinese food that tasted so good.

She was kind enough to give us some tips and pointers about cooking Kung Pao Chicken and we've been experimenting to try to re-capture the deliciousness of that meal. (I don't think we'll be successful though since the companionship made the meal)

Last night was our latest attempt/interpretation: Kung Pao Pork. We followed Dandan's recipe with a few modifications: we substituted pork instead of chicken and cashews for peanuts (because that's what we had on hand) and we added sugar snap peas into the mix.




Dandan recommended finding a sauce called "old step-mother" and two of my colleagues, Joni and Ta-Chen, have helped me locate what we think is the sauce Dandan recommended. (if it's not the same one, it's still tasty!) We also added some dried Thai peppers to try to liven things up a bit.



Gropius got some pretty good "wok hay" going.



Raley's had "european-style" (i.e., fat) asparagus on sale, so we had some of that on the side (simply steamed with a little salt to finish). Dandan, I wish you could've been there to share it with us!

Mmmmmmmm, chocolate cake.

For the ODE (Omicron Delta Epsilon) reception tomorrow, I made a chocolate cake in honor of the occasion. It's a sour cream fudge layer cake with butter chocolate frosting from The Best Recipes cookbook. It was pretty easy to throw together--combine cocoa, instant espresso powder, sour cream, and vanilla.



Cream butter, sugar, and eggs.



Alternate dry ingredients with the cocoa mixture until well mixed.





Bake in the oven until done.

Assemble the icing by melting butter and chocolate together over a bain marie then stir in some Karo. Easy.



Let it cool in an ice bath until the right consistency to assemble the cake.



When you're all done, you've got (in the words of my friend Derek) "a thing of beauty."



Mmmmmmm, cake!

New Creation

So, Gropius and I had grilled chicken, fresh sugar snap peas, and an orzo of my own creation tonight for dinner. And, I'm in love with the orzo enough that I have to share. It was a typical spur-of-the-moment creation of mine: southwestern-spiced, with nuts or seeds, and some sort of grain or starch added. Tonight's orzo featured a combination of sunflower and pumpkin seeds and pinon nuts because that's what I had in my pantry. I added some southwestern spices like cumin seeds, oregano, and thyme (along with salt and pepper) and then added some vegetables in for good measure like onions, garlic, carrots, serrano peppers, and red bell peppers. Very tasty!



If you would like to have the recipe to fiddle with for yourself, here it is:

Orzo Pilaf with Southwestern Nuts and Spices

olive oil
½ onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, roughly chopped
2 carrots roughly chopped
1 serrano pepper, deseeded and minced

¼-1/3 c sunflower seeds
¼-1/3 c pumpkin seeds
¼-1/3 c pinon nuts
1 c orzo

roasted red bell pepper, chopped
dried thyme
dried oregano
cumin seeds
salt
freshly ground pepper

chicken (or vegetable) broth (if you want to keep it vegan/vegetarian)

Heat olive oil in nonstick skillet (w/lid) over medium high heat. Saute onion, garlic, carrots and pepper until softened. Stir in sunflower and pumpkin seeds, pinion nuts and orzo and continue cooking until browned and toasty. Add the bell pepper and spices, stirring well to combine.

Add enough broth to cover and bring to a slight boil. Cover the skillet and simmer, checking frequently (~ 5 min) to add more broth as needed until orzo is tender and cooked through.

Easily serves two hungry people (possibly up to 4 as a side dish?

Here are those delicious sugar snaps with the orzo in the background:

Napa Daytrip

So, Gropius and I took the in-laws to Napa on Sunday afternoon. I had the opportunity for some quick drive-by "shootings" with the camera.

The weather half-way cooperated with us: the last of 2-3 days of rain showers finally blew through on Sunday afternoon. So, we had periods of pretty intense rain followed by glorius sunshine. The freakiest feeling is seeing rain pouring out the windshield of your car when you're surrounded by blue skies (other than the one cloud that's obviously on top of you at the moment).

We started at the top of the valley in Calistoga. Calistoga is MUCH less commercial and touristy than further south, so it started things off on a good note. It's also important to point out that there were almost NO tourists around (which is NOT the case in summer!).

First stop was the CIA at Greystone (no, not *that* CIA: this is the Culinary Institute of America). Those gardens in the foreground are used in the kitchen btw. I tried to find an angle that would cut out the white traffic cones, but alas, no such luck! (notice the rainy/cloudy background)



Then, we went to a couple of tasting rooms (Beringer, Louis Martini, etc) and ended up our day at Domaine Chandon, sipping champagne. Gropius and I really like the Chandon Riche which we scoop up whenever it's on sale in the grocery store, so I was really excited about *this* tasting room! They had a beautiful sculpture garden outside, too. (note the bright sunshine now)





An artist also had a little fun with mushrooms which were very cool:



Think we could do something like this in our yard??



The tasting room was pretty busy, and we enjoyed our champagne. I had the pinot noir rose while Gropius and his folks had the reserve cuvee (or something like that). Much debate commenced on which is better: Gruet from NM or the stuff in our glasses. Personally, a full champagne flute in the hand is *always* better than two in the bush...



The room was decorated with white globe lights which I really liked. Don't you think this light...



...would look great in our living room? (esp. given that white globe lights are a trademark of the Streng houses)