Don’t you just want to grab a spoon and scrape up that drip and move it directly into your mouth? Because the soufflé top was tilting the way it did, I couldn’t photograph the top without viewing the drip. So, drip it is. Does it make it more real?

I mentioned last week that I’d been to a Julia Child cooking class. Taught by one of my favorite teachers, Phillis Carey. She was a particular fan of Julia’s, so it was no trouble for her to find recipes for a class. Phillis made coq au vin, chicken fricassee, the Roulade au Fromage, and Beef Bourguignon too. And this chocolate treat. Over the years I have made chocolate soufflé – maybe once. And I’ve made a chilled frothy gelatin kind of soufflé, but unless it’s baked like this one, it’s not a true soufflé. And although the instructions below seem long and tedious, it’s really not that hard. One of the great things about this recipe is that, except for baking them, you can make these ahead – yes, really – you keep them chilled until you’re ready to bake. They will keep overnight, but ideally make them earlier in the day and pop them in the oven about halfway through your dinner. Small ramekins take about 35 minutes. A larger single bowl of soufflé would take longer, probably 55 minutes or so. Whatever you do, once the top is puffed up (do NOT open the oven door to peek – you need to look through the door) don’t overbake it or it will be dry. Phillis told us that in France they generally bake soufflés at a 425 (a higher temp) for a shorter time period, because they prefer the center to still be soft and molten. This may be a change Julia made to this recipe – or Phillis did. Am not sure, but these are baked at 375 for 35 minutes.

What you see in the top-center is a small hole in the soufflé where Phillis piped in some freshly whipped cream, which oozes down into the soufflé. In France they serve a dessert soufflé (making a slot in the middle of the soufflé and spooning in something) with either a chocolate or vanilla sauce. In this one it’s just whipped cream, which I liked very much. Just remember that you must whisk these to your dinner guests immediately – within a minute or two – or the soufflé will begin to deflate, and you definitely don’t want THAT! Serve the ramekins on a plate with a small cocktail napkin underneath, to catch any drips and so the crock won’t slide around on the plate.
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A year ago: Filet Mignon with Mushrooms and Blue Cheese

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It was only after I made this dish that I discovered Butter Chicken, Indian Style, is a very popular Indian dish, and can be as varied as spaghetti sauce. It depends on the cook. It depends on the spices used. It depends on what part of India you’re from. It depends on the technique used. My only Indian cookbook didn’t have a recipe for this dish, so I turned to the internet. Right out of the box I found a video about it, which is very interesting. The origin of the dish, per wickedhowtos.com is historic:

• “Butter chicken (aka “Murgh makhani”) is an extraordinarily popular Indian dish that can be found at the top of menus in restaurants around the world. Butter chicken originated in Delhi, during the reign of the Mughal Empire. According to a documentary by the Discovery Channel, the murgh makhani curry was invented by a person employed amongst the kitchen staff of a famous Indian restaurant called Moti Mahal located in Daryaganj, the central region of Delhi. Even though its general recipe is widely known, the actual flavor can vary from restaurant to restaurant. . .”

You can watch the video of this dish, the full butter type, made by a chef at the Tamarind Restaurant (it’s a lot more complicated).

THIS recipe below came from Christie’s Corner, Charmian Christie’s blog, and I was intrigued because it said NO butter chicken. We like Indian food, and I have my fair share of Indian spices. We have several small markets nearby that carry more, much of it imported and not always translatable (by me, anyway). But this recipe used just turmeric and garam masala, both spices I keep in my spice cupboard. And the garam masala you can make yourself. I’ll include a recipe for that below, although I have a bottle of it from the grocery store.

In the true Butter Chicken method, there are a number of different steps. The sauce is made separately, the chicken marinated, grilled, then chopped. Well, I didn’t have time to do all that (we’d decided to go to a 7:30 movie and I didn’t start dinner until about 6 pm), so this easy recipe was right down my alley. But I’d also decided I was going to use chicken pieces. Certainly not authentic, but again, I didn’t have time to debone the chicken. So I improvised and made it all in one pot, using all the additions. I didn’t add the brown sugar, but the onions add plenty of sweetness in my book. I had Greek yogurt and used more water than Charmian did, to keep the sauce from burning.

This dish was not only easy, but delicious. I served it on millet (most Indians serve this with naan and possibly over rice too). Interestingly, millet is a common Indian staple, so even though it’s not authentic for this dish, it could be. If you happen to use chicken pieces, I recommend you remove the skin, as it isn’t very appetizing to eat once this is cooked. You could also remove the meat from the chicken after the chicken is fully cooked. I just didn’t have time for that, either. Don’t be tempted to use sour cream in this (it separates when simmered). That’s why using yogurt is such a good “cream” for sauced dishes. And if you use the Greek style, it’s already very thick. But, however you make it, you should try this.
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And here’s the recipe for the Garam Masala:

A year ago: Mocha Pecan Roll

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It was at a cooking class that I heard about this dish. Phillis Carey just talked about this, but didn’t make it. Someone in the class asked a question about Brussels Sprouts and Phillis just off-handedly mentioned that her favorite way to cook the baby cabbages was simmering them in cream. She elaborated just slightly to say halve all the sprouts, leaving the stem intact (although trimming the base of any brown edges). They’re piled into a big pot, some cream is added. Once they’re at a simmer, turn down the heat, cover and cook for 9-10 minutes, then remove lid and continue cooking until the sprouts are fully cooked and the cream is hardly visible in the bottom of the pan, or gone. Season with some freshly grated nutmeg, salt and pepper and you’re done. I scribbled down that recipe in about 10-12 words on the back of one of the class recipes, and pulled it out the other day to try.

Here are the sprouts raw and halved. Making these, though, was easy – well, my DH cleaned and trimmed the Brussels Sprouts for me, so all I had to do was the cooking part. I had smaller sprouts, so cooked them about 7-8 minutes, I think, then removed the lid and continued. They weren’t quite done when all the cream had disappeared, so I just added a smidgen of water to the pot. You don’t want to add milk as it will separate with that kind of cooking. That’s why you use cream because it can be boiled and not separate. These are scrumptious. I couldn’t get enough of them, and even reached in the refrigerator the next day and had them as a snack. I didn’t use much cream (about 1/3 cup for 2 pounds of sprouts), but the nutmeg is a real capper. And don’t skimp on the salt, either. Taste to make sure. Mine needed more than I thought.
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Files: MasterCook 5+ and MasterCook 14 (click link to open in MC – 14 contains photo)

A year ago: Cardoons (uh, my one and only venture with this veggie, and I didn’t like it at all)

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My friend Debbie used to work for me. She was a whiz at typesetting on one of the very early computerized typesetters, and she also did some early programming of WordPerfect forms. This was in the 1980’s. But during that time we became friends, even though I was her boss. We have stayed in touch over the years, and I’ve never forgotten the wonderful apple pie she used to bring to our office potlucks. So I asked her recently if she’d come to my house and make the pie and piecrust, I’d document the process with photos, and we’d each make a pie. AND, I’d post the story on my blog. Bless her heart, she said “yes!” Debbie has an interesting background – she was born in Venezuela to American parents. She learned to speak Spanish, obviously, from a very young age. She’s a VERY accomplished artist, a wife, and a mom to 3 grown kids and grandma to several grandchildren too. She cooks some South American specialties (like fried plantains, and smashed fried plantains too). Maybe another day I’ll get her to show me how she does those! So, here’s part of the dialogue we had going on pie-day.

– – – – – – –

Carolyn: So, Debbie, where did this recipe come from, this pie, your famous apple crumb pie?

Debbie: I have no idea where the original came from, but it goes w-a-a-ay back. The only recipe I have is on a piece of paper in my own handwriting. The directions are vague. I must have tried it at someone’s house and asked them what was in it. Since I’ve had the recipe, I’ve done lots of experimentation and received advice from different sources – what kinds of apples to use, how to line them up in the pie shell, etc. – to come up with my current version. The pie crust recipe came from my friend Betsy who I’ve known since the 70’s.

Carolyn: What’s unique about the pie?

Debbie: Hmmm. I suppose part of its secret is the use of two kinds of apples – Granny Smith and another kind of crispy apple. A non-acidic apple. That part was in my notes, actually; the non-acidic part. I still use Red Delicious for the crispy ones, but have been a little unhappy with the texture, so have used Fuji sometimes. You must not use a soft apple, even a Golden Delicious. It must be crispy. I’m still experimenting with apple varieties to find a firmer, crisper apple instead of the Red Delicious.

[Sidenote: it was at this point that I told Debbie the story about Red Delicious and what happened to the breeding of them and why they’re so mealy and un-delicious anymore. If you’re interested, go look at my post about it.]

Carolyn: Well, I remember when you used to bring this apple crumb pie to our office potlucks we had a few times a year, and it was the topping that was special. And the fact there was never a crumb leftover by the time we were all done with it!

Debbie: Yes, the crumb topping isn’t as common in apple pies, although there isn’t anything unusual in it – just flour, sugar and butter, crumbled up and sprinkled on top, with a little bit in the layer below it. I started sprinkling the crumb mixture in the lower layers thinking that the flour would thicken the juice from the apples – nothing worse than a runny pie.

Carolyn: When you slice the apples, do you put them in a bowl of acidulated water to keep them from getting brown, or does it matter?

Debbie: Oh, no, no water. If you soak the apples in acidulated water, the pie will be too watery and soggy. I learned that the hard way! I sprinkle fresh lemon juice over the apples as I slice them, and just toss them around with my free hand to get most of the apple surfaces. Plus, just that little bit of acidity from the lemon juice counters the sweetness of the apples. I think it makes a good combination.

Carolyn: Tell me about your pie crust.

Debbie: Actually, I’ve made different kinds of pie crusts over the years, but have in the last few years settled on this one made with vegetable oil. No shortening. No butter, or egg either. A little healthier, I think. Just flour, oil, water and salt. It’s a very easy dough to work with – the dough is soft and pliable. But once it’s baked, it’s firm enough to hold its shape when you wedge a piece out of the pan.

Carolyn: Is there any special technique you use to layer in the apples. Like any particular pattern?

Debbie: Yes, definitely. I place the apple slices in circles around the outside edge and work in, slightly overlapping the apples with the outside edges, the thicker edge of the apple facing out. Some of the cinnamon sugar mixture is sprinkled on top of each of the 4 layers. I don’t toss the apples with the cinnamon mixture, but sprinkle it on each layer. Maybe it would work to toss it all, but that’s just the way I remember doing it. I think, a long time ago, I tried mixing the cinnamon mixture in the apples before placing them in the shell, but something must have gone amiss causing me to return to the sprinkling method.

[Later . . .]

Debbie: So what do you think of the pie?

Carolyn: Oh my goodness, this pie is SO, SO good, Debbie. It’s been years since I’ve had your apple pie, and it’s every bit as good as I remembered. I love the crumb topping – nice and crispy, crunchy. The pie shell is flaky, but it’s also firm. I noticed how easily the slice came out of the pie plate. Everything held together so I got even the first slice out with no trouble at all. That’s an accomplishment! There’s just the right amount of gooey-ness to the apples. No liquid to leaking out at all and the bottom crust isn’t soggy at all; just perfectly cooked apples inside. The cinnamon adds just the right amount of high note. I love cinnamon. The vanilla ice cream adds a nice foil to the apples. Got to be vanilla, though. Nothing fancy. Do you ever serve this with whipped cream?

Debbie: Nope. Ala mode is the only way! I’m glad you liked it!

Carolyn: Thank you so much, Debbie, for coming over to my house and baking with me.

[The next day Debbie emailed that she’d had fun too, and that instead of lunch, she had a slice of, you guessed it, apple pie!]

Here was our pie-baking process. First we made the pie crust.

It comes to a ball very easily – really easily – you knead it some and then you plop it out on a flat, floured surface.

It looks like it would be dry, but once you begin rolling it out, you’ll see. Very easy to roll, even for me who is moderately pie crust challenged.

Don’t turn over the top edge – it will make it too thick. But, gee, isn’t that a PERFECT lookin’ crust? I thought so, thank you! Okay, teach’, do I get an A so far?

You set aside the pie crust, then start peeling, coring and slicing the apples. In the bowl above you can see the two different kinds of apples, the greener ones are Granny Smith; the yellow ones are Red Delicious. I’d just sprinkled a little bit of lemon juice over them. A half a lemon is enough for one pie. Just toss the apples around a bit so the lemon juice gets on most of the surfaces.

Note how the slices are arranged in concentric circles but the outer edges are lifted up and overlap. Debbie was just sprinkling the sugar and cinnamon mixture on top.

There’s a better shot of the cinnamon sugar mixture. Divide it up between all 4 layers.

The crumb topping was mixed up and about 1/3 was sprinkled on the next to the last layer. Another layer of apples went on top. I got demerits for my apple layering . . . see below on the finished pie.

Here’s the top – we gently poured the crumb mixture in the center and lightly moved the crumbs outward so they almost completely covered the apples.

There. All done and ready for the oven. I got demerits for not-fine-enough crumbs. Should have kept mixing them up (by hand) until they were more like bread crumbs. I left too many bigger chunks.

Talk about golden brown, huh? Salivary glands are working in overdrive! That was my pie, and Debbie told me that I hadn’t quite positioned the apples correctly to the outside edge on the top layer – you want no gaps where topping can sink down through. Right there at the bottom, you can see a hole between the crust and the apples. More demerits. Hmm. Can I re-register for this class – to just audit? I don’t want a letter grade, okay?

Oh, but was this ever tasty! Most folks wouldn’t notice all my mistakes, and they surely didn’t make any difference to the taste. Thank you, Debbie!
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A year ago: Rack of Lamb with Mint Crust

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Rice pudding may not be on everyone’s radar. Maybe too comforty. Too old time. Too yesterday. But even though I don’t make it very often, whenever I do, it’s just so gosh darned GOOD. Hits the spot. And this one may be my forever go-to recipe from now on. My friend Norma thought rice pudding sounded good. She’s still recovering from very major surgery and because of radiation damage to her throat, has a very hard time swallowing. She’s had major skin cancer caused by anti-rejection medication she must take for the rest of her life. Taking the medication allows her to live with her transplanted lung, but she seems to be one of the many who develop skin cancer because of it. She’s getting better, but slowly.

A day or so ago I made another big, huge batch of the Italian Sausage and Tomato Soup that I just posted about 3 weeks ago. It was so good I had to make more of it. Half went to Norma and she says it tastes good. She just can’t swallow very much of it. But puddings she can do. They go down more easily, as long as they’re kind of soupy. There isn’t a pudding I haven’t made. I’ve done butterscotch, chocolate, tapioca, vanilla, milk chocolate and rice. So we’re starting back on ones I’ve made before, this time rice.

I did a search for rice puddings – even though I’d made Dorie Greenspan’s recipe the last time, I wanted to try something different. Norma wanted a thin, not too rich one. I found one at Elise’s blog, Simply Recipes that intrigued me. Basically I used her recipe, but I changed it a bit. I like the proportion of milk to rice (I added a tetch more rice than Elise did). And I used part 2% milk and part half and half. I used converted rice because I’d read a story awhile back about why it provides a better texture in rice pudding. I also used a part of a cinnamon stick to flavor enhance the milk/rice mixture. I also used  half the amount of brown sugar. I tasted it and thought it was just fine. I also added nutmeg. The real freshly grated stuff – both to the pudding and just a whiff of it on top too. This one’s a keeper.
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A year ago: Butternut Squash Soup with Pancetta

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I’m just tickled pink. I won/got an award. No, it’s not an Emmy, or an Oscar, or anything near so glamorous. But it’s meaningful to me. It’s a blogger to blogger award, called an Over the Top Award. From one blogger to another blogger, giving her/him some recognition for good work. In this case, Ninette, over at Big, Bold Beautiful Food, has been interested in my photos, particularly the close-ups. The ones that make you want to reach right into the monitor and grab a bite.

So, what’s the big deal about an Over the Top award? Well, from your end, probably nothing. And maybe from my end nothing I can hold or put on my mantel. I just get to give a big cheesy grin and say thank you. But I’m asked to answer these questions below with one-word answers. That’s a whole lot harder than you might think. Lots of these kinds of blog quizzes are inane; this one among them. But oh well . . . here goes. If you want recipes, skip this and wait until tomorrow. If you’re interested, scroll down to the bottom and see the other bloggers I’m awarding the Over the Top Award.

1. Where is your cell phone? Purse
2. Your hair? RealBlonde
3. Your mother? Heaven-land
4. Your father? Heaven-land
5. Your favorite food? Everything
6. Your dream last night? Uhm. . .
7. Your favorite drink? Champagne
8. Your dream/goal? Centenarian
9. What room are you in? Kitchen
10. Your hobby? Watercoloring
11. Your fear? Drowning
12. Where do you want to be in 6 years? Healthy
13. Where were you last night? Home
14. Something that you aren’t? Atheist
15. Muffins? Chocolate
16. Wish list item? Camera lens
17. Where did you grow up? California
18. Last thing you did? ApplePie
19. What are you wearing? Sandals
20. Your TV? HDTV w/Tivo
21. Your pets? None
22. Friends? Dear
23. Your life? Busy
24. Your mood? Calm
25. Missing someone? Hubby
26. Vehicle? BMW
27. Something you’re not wearing? Watch
28. Your favorite store? Trader Joe’s
29. Your favorite color? Purple
30. When was the last time you laughed? Today
31. Last time you cried? Last week
32. Your best friend? Cherrie
33. One place that I go to over and over? Peet’s
34. One person who emails me regularly? Jerry
35. Favorite place to eat? Jalapeno’s

The bloggers I’d like to recognize . . . ARE (cue dramatic music and drumroll):

Cheryl from 5 Second Rule – Cheryl is a professional food writer living in Northern California. Since she IS a pro at this writing game and well-connected in her field, you can guess her blog posts are exceptional. She composes essays and informational posts about a broad range of food-oriented subjects, and shares some very different recipes. She also takes great pains to compose striking photographs.

Marie’s blog, A Year From Oak Cottage – Marie lives in the country in England. She’s a very spiritual person, is madly in love with her husband and is not bashful about broadcasting it. She is also a professional cook who has an unlimited number of recipes she unearths from her old, but precious “blue notebook.” Marie also writes a second food-only blog called The English Kitchen. Even though she’s from Canada, she has embraced English food with a vigor.

Britt-Arnhild at Britt-Arnhild’s House in the Woods (not all blogs I read are about food) – This one comes from Trondheim, Norway. Britt-Arnhild is an avid photographer, travels often all over Europe for her job, loves lattes, her family and Venice, not necessarily in that order! She’s a published author, but you’ll learn a lot about her through her very soul-sharing blog. She writes five blogs (at least one of them written in Norwegian, her native language), one being a photo-blog about her home town of Trondheim.

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Good friends of ours, Lynn & Sue, often exchange dinners with us. We’ve been doing it for years, and always enjoy their company whether it’s at our house or theirs. Sue’s a very good cook, so we have great conversations about food and about choir/church. Lynn and Dave have guy talk – about wine, travel, and choir/church. They’re both 2nd tenors. Sue and I are both 2nd altos. The day I’m writing this [over a week ago] we just sang our little hearts out for Reformation Sunday. Our choir, which has now swelled to about 140, and may be up to 150 starting next week, was a significant part of our church service, with the help of a brass ensemble multiple drums and flute, guitar, organ, piano and a synthesizer. It was gorgeous music – both to sing and hear. We sang some of the old hymns that I know nearly by heart – Great is Thy Faithfulness, for one.

Normally I don’t use my blog as a venue for discussing my faith, but I just had to share a bit about my Christian music life. Anyway, Sue & Lynn invited us for dinner that night, even though we didn’t get home from singing completely through two services, until about 12:30 pm. I’d offered to bring a couple of things, though, to make it easier on Sue. We do that generally, the guest brings something and a bottle of wine.

I’d given Sue a list of options of things I’d thought about making, and she chose two of them. But then Lynn started joking about a dinner I fixed one night a year or so ago when I made tabbouli salad, but instead of bulgur wheat, it was made with cauliflower. I didn’t tell any of the guests what was in it. Lynn, who professes to dislike cauliflower in most forms, liked it a lot. Then I told him what was in it. He’s never forgotten that I like to slip some in under his radar.

So, of course, I had to find some kind of cauliflower appetizer. Where he wouldn’t have a clue. It’s a kind of game we play. I couldn’t find much except some Indian-type ones making roasted cauliflower, flavored with Indian spices, which sounded more like a side vegetable anyway. But baking cauliflower florets would be much too obvious. Had to find something with camouflage. So this is the one. Found it on the internet, although it was a very oddball website and I’m not going to link to it. Besides, I changed the recipe, so it’s not really anybody else’s anymore. It was called a pate so I figured I could get away with serving it to Lynn, telling him it is a bean pate.

It’s really a dip – and contains many of the usual ingredients for one – like cream cheese (light), and sour cream (light). But then it veered off in another direction:  hardboiled eggs, an onion, a small quantity of cannellini beans, and some cooked cauliflower. The seasonings are mild – salt, pepper, curry and parsley. As a matter of fact, the online recipe I found called it curried cauliflower pate, but the recipe didn’t contain any curry. I added curry powder and also lime juice because it needed just a little something to zip it up some. And I’d probably add even more curry powder, but didn’t want to overwhelm the palates of us all. I used less beans, less sour cream, less cream cheese, and MORE cauliflower. The online recipe contained butter, but I left it out.

I served it with some veggies and pita chips. along with a second appetizer too (an almond dip, which I’ll post in a day or so). A Greek type one based on skordalia, the Greek sauce made with baked potato. More on that one later. I also took a Roasted Sweet Potato, Black Bean and Red Bell Pepper Salad with a jalapeno dressing, which was really good (I posted that one last week). Very international menu, based on what I was bringing! Sue made a delish Mexican baked chicken dish with tomatoes, sour cream, avocado and a tomatillo sauce. And a very nice spinach, apple and pomegranate salad. Oh yes, and for dessert we had pieces of Julia Child’s chiffon pumpkin pie that I thought was fabulous. She’s going to give me the recipe.

So, you want to know how it went? Lynn tried both dips and didn’t say much at first. He then pointed to the skordalia dip and said “now, you didn’t slip some cauliflower in this one, did you?” Honestly, I could say with great laughter, “no, no cauliflower.” Sue asked him how he liked the other dip, this pate, and he said great. Liked it. We all did. When I told him it WAS cauliflower, he didn’t believe me. We all laughed and nearly finished the bowl. It was good. Not like a meat-based one (like clams) or a very major veggie one (like caramelized onions or artichokes) – in this one you really cannot taste or feel cauliflower. I liked the curry hint to it – it might not be to everyone’s taste. I liked the texture. And it’s fairly low cal and low fat.
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A year ago: Pork Tenderloin with Cherry Grape Sauce

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Every time I pop my package of frozen bacon out of the freezer, and somebody happens to be here, they usually ask “what’s that?” And I explain that these are my bacon rolls. “Bacon rolls? What are bacon rolls?” I’ve mentioned them here before, and I don’t recall where I heard this suggestion. Probably at a cooking class. When I buy bacon, usually I buy the uncured nitrate- and nitrite-free Niman Ranch thick bacon (carried at our local Trader Joe’s, and some upscale markets). It’s a rare morning when we eat bacon and eggs, so a package of bacon lasts a long time at our house. This uncured bacon doesn’t have a long shelf life, so the best thing for me is to freeze it. Mostly I use it in cooking, to flavor things. Like a stews, soups, green beans, or sprinkled on a salad even.

So, the above picture shows you what I do with them. I let the bacon package sit out at room temp for about 10 minutes. Otherwise when you try to pull off the first bacon strip, it almost tears, and it’s hard to roll, almost cracking in the process. Once it’s warmed a bit, the slices are easy to pull apart and roll up. So, I carefully peel off each strip of bacon, roll it up in a tight little ball and place it on a foil-lined baking sheet, with the end edge down. Just press the roll down a bit and it will stay firmly in place. The tray you see above was before freezing . . . I just pop that tray into a flat place in the freezer, loosely covered with another sheet of foil, until they’re frozen solid, then the whole batch is wrapped in heavy-duty foil and placed in a heavy-duty freezer bag. The bacon keeps for months. Then, whenever I need bacon, I just pull out ONE roll/strip. Or, I may even cut one of the rolls in half and use just that. Cutting frozen bacon is very easy because the fat doesn’t freeze very hard – a good butcher knife will sink right through. I find chopping frozen bacon far easier than crumbling or chopping it up later.

So, there’s one of my pantry secrets, if you can call it that!

A year ago: “Divorce” salad dressing (the story was better than the dressing, but it’s good for a laugh)

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This was SO good. And it looked like more work than I’d ordinarily want to do. I didn’t make this myself, but it was served to me at a recent cooking class. A class with nothing but Julia Child recipes. Phillis Carey taught the class, and made only a couple of tiny changes to Julia’s recipes, but this was just delish. It’s ideal for a sit-down lunch, if you do such things, or probably a brunch would be perfect. Could be done for a dinner, but it’s rich and filling, so you wouldn’t want anything else very substantial in addition to this. My friend Cherrie and I talked about doing it for a brunch, but it would be best if somebody else could/would help you with some of the work. Either with the soufflé, or with the other parts of the meal, like the fruit plate you might want to have, or the champagne cocktails. How’s that sound?

So what’s a fallen soufflé? Nothing but a soufflé that’s allowed to fall, which it will do all by itself if you just leave it alone. You do do the whipped egg whites folded into your egg mixture, it’s baked flat on a large baking sheet, turned out of the pan onto a flat surface. In that short time, the soufflé falls some – not so flat as scrambled egg-like, but it’s not as high as it is when it first exits the oven. Once briefly cooled, it’s stuffed with a Béchamel-rich spinach sauce (a Béchamel sauce is really just a cream sauce) and rolled. Then cut and served immediately, while it’s hot. In the photo above, there is an egg part underneath the spinach, it’s just that there was so much spinach it kind of rolled out the side. Notice how nice and fluffy the egg layer is.

If the meal didn’t require too much other work (like maybe a green salad and bread) this could be accomplished easily enough. The spinach and sauce can both be made ahead of time and reheated. It’s the soufflé part that can’t be even mixed ahead. Eggs are temperamental things – once they’re puffed up with air, they need to be cooked right away. Everything could be mis en place (ingredients put together on a tray, all ready). The baking sheet, buttered, parchment papered and buttered, all the whisks, whips bowls and mixers ready.

The Béchamel sauce is thicker than usual – in order to hold together the filling. Half of it goes into the soufflé, and the other half is used for the spinach filling. So there’s really only one sauce to make. The filling is not all that difficult – it uses frozen spinach, and you buy the Black Forest ham and cube it up quite small. So this dish is really do-able as long as you plan the menu accordingly.
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A year ago: Goat Cheese Potato Gratin

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Every time I open Russ Parsons’ book, ‘>How to Pick a Peach: The Search for Flavor from Farm to Table, I learn something. His book is so informative without being pedantic (too wordy, drivel type or preachy). He gives you the facts in a couple of different forms, as well as a few recipes, his favorites for that particular fruit or veggie. So it was that I learned we Americans are quite proprietary about our apples. Parsons thinks it’s because of our pioneer heritage – we hold hardiness and plain goodness as really important. We used to dominate the apple market worldwide, but no more. Bet you’d never guess who’s moved into first and second place, would you? (1) China; and (2) Chile. Those were surprises to me.

China barely knew apples 30 years ago, but they now harvest a third of all the apples grown in the world. But, there’s a bit of trouble in river city . . . the Chinese haven’t worked out storage very well, nor have they excelled with apple quality either, so they haven’t totally controlled the market. Yet.

It used to be that Golden & Red Delicious were the “IT” apples here in the U.S. But they’ve slid way down the desirable scale (more on that story below). So varieties like Gala, Fuji, Honey Crisp and Pink Lady have slid up into top types. Apparently Golden Delicious apples used to be a really superior apple – but only when it was allowed to mature on the tree to a golden hue. But the farmers and producers were lured into harvesting and shipping early, when they were still green, and the apples suffered. That’s still the case, unfortunately.

Then there’s the Red Delicious. I can recall that being one of the few eating apples I ever bought from about 1965 to 1995. But something happened to the red variety farming. Because we consumers wanted redder varieties, the farmers began pushing the producers of tree seedlings to bring out redder skinned apples. Guess what? The taste suffered because when skin darkens it becomes more bitter. Now we see red delicious that are almost black in color. Not good. We continued to buy them, because we trusted the variety. I stopped buying them some years ago when I couldn’t seem to find a really crisp one anymore. Every Red Delicious I bought was soft and mealy. We consumers buy fruit too much on color and may not realize the blacker the skin the more bitter the finish.

Finally, apple eaters began complaining, but the farmers didn’t want to hear it. They thought they had a lion by the tail and weren’t about to change their ongoing success. Eventually we did stop buying this old favorite. So the farmers began selling their product abroad. No, they weren’t going to change the breeding. They found exporters, instead. Then, as Parsons puts it, the sleeping giant (China) woke up and began producing big time, so American farmers suddenly lost business. Big time. During the last 15-20 years thousands of apple farmers went out of business. Trees and orchards were upended and farms sold. Some apple farmers had begun growing Pacific varieties (Fuji from Japan and Gala from New Zealand) and when they couldn’t sell them abroad they began selling them here. Voila! We started seeing them in our markets. Now they’re fairly standard issue.

So here are the different varieties he discusses (when I mention below about storage, it’s mostly the cold storage at harvest, not our home refrigerator chilling):

FUJI: a Japanese-bred cross between Red Delicious and Ralls Janet. Holds its shape during cooking, good sauce apple, buttery flavor. Stores well, but don’t buy them past mid-summer.

GALA: Cross between Cox’s Orange Pippin and Golden Delicious. A tart apple, golden with pinkish orange strips. Good for cooking, sauce, buttery flavor with a hint of spice. One of the earliest harvests. Does NOT keep well once purchased, so eat them up right away and stop buying in early Spring.

BRAEBURN: one of the first Southern Hemisphere apples to become popular. Probably a chance seedling from cross-pollination between Lady Hamilton and a Granny Smith. Spicy, tart bite, juicy crisp texture. Good for cooking, stores well and okay to buy into early summer.

JONAGOLD: New York apple, an offspring of Golden Delicious and Jonathan. Tangy, slightly soft, though, when eating out of hand. Not good for storing and don’t buy them after Spring.

EMPIRE: Also a New York apple, mostly available on the East Coast [I’ve never seen an Empire apple here in California]. A cross between McIntosh and Red Delicious. Good flavor, holds its shape in cooking, but buy before the end of Spring.

PINK LADY: From Australia. Crisp and honeyed, pinkish cast, a champagne tartness, and one of the last apples harvested, usually starting in late September. Stores well.

CAMEO: A chance mutation in Washington State from a Red Delicious. Bright red-striped with unique white spots. Good flavor, sweet and mildly tart. Lots of crispness and staying power. Because of its dense flesh, Cameos take longer to cook than most apples.

HONEYCRISP: Crisp and sweet, holds its shape during cooking, red with a golden background [our Costco has them right now in a 12-pack]. Developed at the University of Minnesota, mostly grown in northern Midwest. Remarkable storage characteristics, i.e. does well in long storage. Interesting to me is that scientists have done DNA testing on apples (yes, really) and have discovered the Honeycrisp is not a cross between a Macoun and Honeygold, and they still don’t know its heritage.

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Grown: Washington State, New York, Michigan, California and Pennsylvania

Choosing: look for smooth skins, deep color; yellow apples should be golden, striped apples have a background that’s golden. Look for heavy apples that are firm.

Storing: In the refrigerator, as close to 32 degrees as possible; lots of humidity – best in a perforated plastic bag that will retain water, but not collect it. Your crisper drawer is best. Red Delicious apples are the first ones that turn brown once they’re cut – but all apples will keep for awhile if you put them in acidulated water – lots of water plus fresh lemon juice.

Recipes: Parsons included his favorite baked apple recipe (brown sugar and butter only); also an applesauce made with bourbon, sour cherries and hazelnuts; and a gratin of apples and dried cranberries.

Here on my blog you’ll find apple recipes for the following:

Escarole, Belgian Endive & Apple Salad
Bombay Cheese Ball (best served with apple slices)
Cinnamon & Apple Bread Pudding
Baked Brie & Apples
Caramelized Apple Gingerbread
Grandgirl’s Fresh Apple Cake
Crisp Apple Pudding (my all-time favorite apple dessert)
Apple Buttermilk Scone Round
Applesauce Spice Cake with Caramel Glaze (a real favorite)
Apple Pear Upside Down Cake
Apple & Parsnip Soup
Cranberry Relish with a Zip (I make this, without fail, every Thanksgiving)
Roasted Butternut Squash Soup (includes roasted apples and onions)
Apple, Dried Cherry & Walnut Green Salad
Crostini with Apples, Watercress & Blue Cheese (one of my very favorite appetizers)

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