Santa didn't bring me a black truffle unfortunately, so those truffle dishes that I want to do right, will have to wait until I find a good source for them online. My buddy Alex gave me the heads up on some Oregon black truffles. Has anyone ever used/tried them? How to they compare to Italian? At 50$ (+22$ shipping) for 3oz they sure seem like a steal. They are also more 'local' than Italian, so I should get some Alice Waters karma kudos points too, no? Haha.
What Santa DID bring however, was some giftcards and such (and an Amazon Kindle). That called for braving the gift-card crowded stores this weekend and picking up a few things. Here is what we scored:
A Molcajete
While I love all kinds of cuisines, I really enjoy Mexican flavors. My guacamole's always fell flat because you just can't make a good guacamole without a molcajete. This one is pretty hefty. You can't tell the size, but it's about 8 inches around and weighs like 15lbs. It's made of hand carved lava rock from Mexico. I'm in the lengthy process of seasoning it now. I did the rice, salt, then some garlic, cumin, S&P...anyone have any other seasoning tips? This will also come in really hand for Salsas and Pesto.
Then, I got the creme-de-creme. Finally. The long awaited.....BLENDER. I did some research and I just couldn't justify 500$ for a vit-a-mix or a blend-tec. I saw that my buddy Alex picked up a Kitchen-Aid, and did some research. It turns out this blender got very high remarks (actually I think the best) from Cooks Illustrated, and at 99$ plus a 20% off Bed Bath and Beyond coupon, and some giftcards, it was a steal! I can't wait until I get to use it!
I also picked up a few smaller items. A new cheapie hand-held mandoline to replace my fancy expensive OXO waste-of-money standing one that works horribly and is a bitch to clean. Some little seafood forks were also had. These will be perfect for bone marrow too! Laurie, had to get something as well. We'll NEVER use it...but she had to have it. Some snowflake pancake thing that will collect dust in the back of the drawer.
Her double boiler setup
I'm not quite sure what we did before our kitchen-aid, but probably the same thing we did before we just bought our blender...we complained a lot.
You see this picture? Don't do it this way. It's a bad example. Don't put a bunch of ramakins in another dish then put them in the oven, if you do, pre-heat the bigger dish in the oven, then just place the ramakins in the dish while it's in the oven. Even better, make a small water bath in the pre-heated dish to keep the temperature consistent. If you don't pre-heat the dish, your cooking time will be off and you may run into problems.
...and one to try and match the book.
Thoughts: It's Chocolate Soufflé, how can it be bad?! The dish as a whole is a little boring for me to order at a restuarant, but I will tell you that I scarfed it down mighty quick at home! We 'paired' it with some espresso chip Edy's ice cream. The rose just enough, but we still should have filled them up to the very top. Next time. I think this is a classic dessert that's pretty easy to 'whip up' in a pinch.
Up next: Trying to get my hands on some truffles without paying a hand+leg. I'd like to do a fish dish next too. I'll have to see what's fresh.
Making a souffle may be a basic culinary skill, but I don't necessarily find it to be the easiest. I'd call it an 'intermediate' technique.
ReplyDeleteThis recipe does look tasty, but for home consumption, I'll stick to Mina's dark chocolate molten cake with dark chocolate-peanut butter ganache.
Nice blender, by the way. First thing I made with mine was a vanilla milkshake. What are you making?