Brioche s'il vous plaît

One of Andrew's constant complaints about Central Pennsylvania is there aren't any good french bakeries (if you know of any, let us know!). He loves brioche and is sad that there are no local sources...well until now! Because I am the world's best girlfriend I told him that I would try to bake some. I have been baking regular yeast bread for years, so figured that it would not be too much of stretch. I got a recipe out of the Joy of Cooking and had at it. I am not including the recipe here, because I assume that most of you have or have access to a copy of this book. If not, GET ONE!!! It is a must have and has saved my butt on several occasions.

In the recipe, they say that the dough is a little sticky and not to worry. Ok, a little sticky is a bit of an understatement. And, yes, I was worried. It had no shape whatsoever when it first was mixed together and even after adding some more flour would have been impossible to knead. My second little setback was that I didn't realize that the dough required a few hours refrigeration. The plan was to make these for breakfast, but oh well. After three hours in the fridge the dough doubled nicely and they were a nice afternoon treat.

Looking back, they were pretty easy to make and relatively fool proof. If you are having a brunch or just feel like a special breakfast, make these. Not exactly health food, but a nice treat.

Get some good butter, good jam and runny cheese and be transported to a cafe on the Seine.


photography by Andrew of Falling Leaves Photography

My Coping Method - Cooking

The last few weeks have been a bit hectic. My semester is done - finally - but involved three final exams and a final project on top of each other. In addition, my grandmother passed away and the funeral was up in Connecticut. It was a stressful week, one that I wasn't necessarily prepared for. My grandmother was a wacky lady, full of life at 81 and her death was very unexpected. I have a lot of great memories of her and her funeral was a true celebration of her life!

Although I did not really have the energy to blog or take photos, I was cooking up a storm. I found that when Andrew and I were in the kitchen, it distracted me. The kitchen is my happy place. We made brioche (post to come tomorrow), strawberry muffins (above and not worth mentioning further), a great one pot meal - Chicken with Tarragon and Leeks - from Real Simple. We had friends over for a semester's end bbq and grilled steak, peppers and rosemary potatoes. Martha Stewart Surprise Cookies were the dessert (yum!). These cookies were basically a devils food cookie with a marshmallow topper and covered in a fudge icing.

We grilled, we baked, we coped.

My mom is forever reminding me that I do not cook for them enough. Granted, this is tough as I live four hours away now, but in honor of Mother's Day and going to CT, I made a new version of the Orange Olive Oil Cake that I posted about in April. OMG - it was delicious!!!! I substituted lemon peel for the orange and poured the batter over about 2 cups of blueberries. Wow. I had to cook it a little longer (the berries were frozen), but it wound up being more of a pudding than a cake. It was moist and flavorful. I got compliments from everyone and will definitely make it again.

Anyway, the only picture unfortunately was of the blah strawberry muffins. These could have been called un-strawberry muffins. You win some, you lose some.

Blogging will be back on track this week!

Rest in peace Grandma, we all love and miss you.

Whole Foods Challenge

Every Tuesday Whole Foods does this thing where each department has samples out. Last week though they were trying something new. Since its asparagus season the store was featuring asparagus and therefore each department's sample was asparagus based. Also more awesomely, they were asking everyone to vote for their favorite. It was an awesome Whole Foods Department Challenge.

The produce department had two samples, a grilled baggett with roasted asparagus and fresh mozzarella and an asparagus leek soup. Even though the bakery department had super delicious asparagus and feta croissants, I felt that on asparagus deliciousness alone, the asparagus leek soup was my favorite. It might have had something to do with how cold and rainy it was outside, you never know. Either way, I picked up the recipe and resolved to make it this week for dinner. I might have cooked it down some more to make it a little thicker after pureeing it, but otherwise it was tasty, filling and good for you.


Asparagus Leek Soup

1 large leek, chopped into 1/2 inch pieces
2 shallots, chopped
2 tbsp butter
2 bunches asparagus, trimmed and cut into 1.5 inch pieces
4 cups chicken broth
1 cup water
1/4 cup cream
parmigiano-reggiano grated over top of each bowl

Using only white and pale green parts, cut leek in half and rinse. Then chop into 1/2 inch pieces. Saute with better, shallots, salt and pepper.

When leeks are softened, after 3 minutes, add cut asparagus, broth, and water. Bring to a boil and then simmer covered for about 10 minutes or until asparagus is tender.

Using either the traditional blender or an immersion blender, blend until smooth. Pour through a sieve if desired (I didn't do this, I like pulp), then return to pot and add cream and salt and pepper to taste. Simmer till hot. Serve immediately and grate parmigiano-reggiano over top.

A Late Dinner - Curried Eggplant With Tomatoes and Basil

My semester is almost done!!! Only three take home finals left and then freedom - for a few weeks anyway...One of the best things about the end of classes is that I can focus more on cooking. My classes are at night, so on the three days that I had to drag myself to school, it was hard to put together anything but a quick meal. Yesterday we loaded up at the farmers market with fresh veggies with some good dinners in mind.

Last night's dinner ended up being super late, because we decided it was a good time to advance our photo setup and build a white-box (probably the wrong term) for light reflection. Needless to say, with building the setup, shooting the muffins we made (post on these later), and shooting the curry, dinner did not commence until about 8:45pm. Oh well.

This recipe is from Real Simple, which is my go to magazine for good recipes. As we had been stuffing ourselves with meat for the last week, I opted for this vegetarian dish. It looked light and simple, a perfect summer meal. The flavors were good, but lacked a little pop. We ended up sprinkling more salt and curry over our plates and that helped. Also, definitely serve with plain yogurt, it does wonders. All in all, the combination of eggplant, tomatoes, basil and curry is a winner. Thumbs up again RS!

I submitted this post to Magazine Mondays over at Cream Puffs in Venice for her blogging event.

Curried Eggplant With Tomatoes and Basil
four big servings

1 cup brown rice
Kosher salt and black pepper
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 onion, chopped
2 pints cherry tomatoes, halved
1 eggplant (about 1 pound), cut into 1/2-inch pieces
1 1/2 teaspoons curry powder
1 15.5-ounce can chickpeas, rinsed
1/2 cup fresh basil
1/4 cup plain low-fat yogurt (preferably Greek), optional

In a medium saucepan with a tight-fitting lid, combine rice, 1 1/2 cups water, and 1/2 teaspoon salt and bring to a boil. Stir once, cover, and reduce heat to low. Simmer for 18 minutes. (Do not lift the lid or stir!) Remove from heat and let stand, covered, for 5 minutes; fluff with a fork before serving.

Meanwhile, heat the oil in a saucepan over medium-high heat. Add the onion and cook, stirring occasionally, until softened, 4 to 6 minutes. Stir in the tomatoes, eggplant, curry powder, 1 teaspoon salt, and 1/4 teaspoon black pepper. Cook, stirring, until fragrant, about 2 minutes.

Add 2 cups water and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer, partially covered, until the eggplant is tender, 12 to 15 minutes. Stir in the chickpeas and cook just until heated through, about 3 minutes.

Remove from heat and stir in the basil. Serve over the rice with yogurt, if using.