Goldy's Kitchen Cookbook
Page 25
8. Chill the custard in the refrigerator until it is thoroughly cold, usually 2 hours or overnight.
9. Following the manufacturer’s instructions, turn on the gelato maker and scoop the chilled custard mixture into the frozen rotating bowl. With most gelato makers, the soft gelato will be ready after 25 minutes. If you desire a firmer gelato, scoop it into a hard plastic container with a lid and freeze, covered, for 20 minutes or so.
10. After serving the gelato, freeze any leftovers, covered, in a hard plastic container with a lid. Allow to soften at room temperature for about 15 minutes before serving again.
Makes about 2 cups
Chocolate Tartufi Diana
This is a bonus recipe. It is not in any of the books. But after I finished writing this cookbook and submitted it for editing, I took a fabulous online class through Coursera: Roman Imperial Architecture, taught by Yale’s phenomenal Professor Diana Kleiner. During the class, Professor Kleiner occasionally mentioned her favorite gelato places in Rome. She raved about Tre Scalini, where she always ordered the tartufo. I decided to try to figure out how to make this frozen chocolate truffle (a restaurant secret). I made several recipes for chocolate gelato, which was fun, and finally hit on a combination of flavors we liked. Making tartufi, though, proved quite demanding, mainly because molding the gelato into balls was challenging. Then I hit on trying the round molds used for freezing ice cubes (made by Tovolo and available online). The molds come in sets of 2, and to be on the safe side, I ordered 3 sets. I describe the mold-filling in detail in the recipe, but it is really quite easy. My taste-testers invariably said, “Whoa, that’s intense!” (before their eyes rolled upward). To moderate the intensity, I found that it was important to serve each tartufo with a very large dollop of the whipped cream garnish as well as the cookie. If you crave what Professor Kleiner calls a “chocolate bomb,” I hope this recipe meets your expectations.
Centers:
5 glacé cherries (available either at your grocery store during holiday time or year-round online)
1 to 2 tablespoons, or more as needed, best-quality dark rum, such as Clément or Appleton Estate
Gelato:
2¼ cups whole milk
¾ cup extra-fine (also called “Superfine”) sugar, divided
1 cup Dutch-process unsweetened cocoa powder
⅓ cup heavy (whipping) cream
2 ounces bittersweet chocolate, such as Godiva Dark, chopped
4 egg yolks, from large eggs
1 tablespoon Grand Marnier liqueur
1 tablespoon amaretto liqueur
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
⅛ teaspoon salt
Coating:
8 tablespoons (1 stick) unsalted butter, plus 1 to 2 tablespoons more as needed
7 ounces best-quality bittersweet chocolate
Garnish:
1 cup heavy (whipping) cream
½ teaspoon vanilla extract
1 teaspoon powdered sugar, or more to taste
5 to 10 Pirouline or Pirouette cookies
For the centers:
Place the cherries in a narrow glass or plastic container and pour the rum over them to completely cover. (Make sure the rum completely covers the cherries.) Place a piece of plastic wrap over the cherries and allow them to sit at room temperature while you work on the gelato. (They can remain at room temperature for at least a day. Longer is fine.)
For the gelato:
1. In a large saucepan, heat the milk and ½ cup of the sugar over medium heat, stirring with a wire whisk until the sugar dissolves and the milk begins to simmer (bubbles appear around the rim of the pan). Add the cocoa and whisk vigorously, until smooth. Set aside.
2. In the top of a double boiler, over simmering water, heat the cream and the chopped chocolate, stirring until the chocolate melts. Remove the top of the double boiler from the bottom pan.
3. Pour the milk mixture into a 4-cup glass measuring cup. Pour the mixture slowly into the cream-chocolate mixture (still in the double boiler top), whisking until well combined. Pour the mixture back into the glass measuring cup. Set aside.
4. In a large bowl, with an electric mixer, beat the egg yolks with the remaining ¼ cup sugar on high speed for 4 minutes, or until the mixture is lemon-colored and very thick. Turn the mixer to low speed, then pour the combined milk-cream mixture slowly into the egg yolk mixture. Beat well to combine.
5. Pour this mixture back into the saucepan and clip a candy thermometer onto the side of the pan. Make sure the thermometer does not touch the bottom of the pan. Cook over medium-low heat, stirring constantly, until the mixture thickens into a custard and covers a spoon. The thermometer should register at least 170˚F when the mixture thickens. (At high altitude, you may have to stir until the thermometer registers 180˚ to 183˚F.) Remember: You are making a custard, not scrambled chocolate eggs, so although you do need to allow the mixture to thicken, you do not want to allow the mixture to boil.
6. Pour the mixture through a sieve into a glass bowl. Stir in the liqueurs, vanilla, and salt. Place a piece of plastic wrap directly onto the custard (this is to prevent a skin from forming). Chill completely, preferably overnight.
7. Meanwhile, follow the manufacturer’s instructions for prepping the bowl of a gelato or ice-cream maker.
8. Following the manufacturer’s instructions, pour the custard mixture into the bowl of the gelato maker or ice-cream maker. Process about 25 minutes, until the gelato is soft set. Turn off the gelato maker and remove the bowl of gelato.
9. Follow the directions that come with the spherical ice molds for filling them, except you will not be filling the molds to the fill line, but just below it, so as not to lose too much gelato when you place the tops on the molds. Using a rubber spatula, scrape the gelato into the bottom half of the first mold, to just below the fill line. Drop 1 rum-soaked cherry into the mold. Using a toothpick, gently push the cherry into the center of the gelato. Carefully place the silicone cap on the top of the first mold. If you have filled the mold to just below the fill line, you should not have much gelato squirting out the hole in the top of the mold. If you do have gelato squirt out the top of your first mold, fill the next molds even less. (Even if you do have gelato squirt out the hole in the top, do not worry, you will rinse it off later.) Depending on how well you can manage the mold-filling, you will have 4 or 5 molds filled. Freeze the molds until rock-hard, usually 4 to 6 hours, or overnight. If there is gelato left over after you fill the molds, you can freeze it in a hard plastic container for another use.
For the coating:
1. When you are ready to make the globes into tartufi, make the coating. In the top of a double boiler, over simmering water, melt the butter with the chocolate, stirring until completely melted. Remove the top of the double boiler and allow the mixture to cool slightly, stirring frequently. (If the chocolate seizes up, or is too thick, reheat the mixture over simmering water, and add the additional butter, a tablespoon at a time. Stir well, until the mixture is liquid again.)
2. Once the coating is slightly cool but still quite liquid, unroll a 12-inch square of wax paper and place it on a freezer-proof dinner plate. Remove the molds from the freezer. Working quickly, run each mold under warm tap water, remove the silicone cap from the mold, and unmold the whole globe onto the wax paper. (If you have run the mold under warm tap water and the globe still will not release, you may have to coax the chocolate globe out of the bottom half of the mold with a fork. This is okay.)
3. Using tongs, quickly dip each frozen globe into the butter-chocolate mixture, and roll it around until it is completely covered. Place the chocolate-coated globes back on the wax paper–covered plate and place in the freezer. These are now tartufi, or truffles. (You may not use up all the coating, in which case you can dip large fresh strawberries into it. Place these on wax paper until firm.)
For the garnish:
When you are ready to serve the tartufi, whip the cream with the vanilla and powdered sugar. Place each
tartufo into a pretty individual serving bowl, top with a very large dollop of whipped cream, and put 1 or 2 cookies on top.
Makes 4 or 5 large tartufi
Chapter 7
Enfin! Low-Carb Recipes or How I Lost Thirty Pounds and Kept It Off
These days, nutrition experts repeatedly tell us—and after all my experiments with low-fat food, which yielded me nothing, I now believe them—that the problem with Americans’ diet is that it contains too many simple carbohydrates. The enemy comes in the form of sugar, flour, white bread, pasta, chips, etc. Even more of an issue is that sugar and wheat are both addictive. Some people call them “the heroin of the grocery store.” If one is trying to lose weight, it might be good to keep that in mind.
Losing weight and keeping it off is a long, slow marathon, not a sprint. With all the food-testing I did over the years, plus hours sitting at my desk working, the pounds crept on. Eating so-called low-fat food made no difference. So I finally decided to try something new, and to do it systematically, for weight loss.
I tried one diet after another and exercised endlessly, all of which proved unsuccessful. Finally I hit on two wonderful books: Gary Taubes’s Why We Get Fat and Neris and India’s Idiot-Proof Diet: A Weight-Loss Plan for Real Women, by Neris Thomas and India Knight. (Unfortunately, the last time I checked the latter, it was out of print. You could try your local library, or if you want to buy it, The American Book Exchange at abe.com.)
I had two strict requirements going in. First, I didn’t want to feel deprived or bored. Second, having a husband and three sons with healthy appetites, I didn’t want to have to do a lot of extra cooking just for me. So I read the books, tried out the suggestions, and decided these were eating plans with enough variety and actual food that I enjoyed. I took the books to my doctor to see if I was a good fit, health-wise, for the eating plans the books described. He said I was. If you want to lose weight, I recommend talking to your doctor.
So I reread the books, went on the eating plan, lost thirty pounds, and have kept it off for over five years. I began each day with a hard-boiled egg, or egg salad, or tuna salad, or cheese in any number of guises. (No juice! Fruit oxidizes quickly in juice, so a glass of orange juice is like a glass of sugar.) I would have espresso with cream, not milk, and certainly no fat-free milk (thank God). Lunch was a tunafish (or other protein source) salad made with real mayonnaise over arugula and sliced tomatoes, lettuce, and guacamole (woo-hoo!). For lunches with friends, there was always shrimp or fish or other protein, and green vegetables such as spinach, green beans, and broccoli. I avoided bread, rice, pasta, and potatoes. For dinner I would prepare the usual family meal, making sure there was plenty of meat or chicken or fish for everyone. Here, too, I had no rice, potatoes, pasta, bread, or sweets. After a week, I didn’t miss them. I don’t like store-bought desserts, so I told the family that while I was on my new eating plan, they would have to endure grocery-store desserts. And they did. When I craved something sweet, I would have berries, sometimes lightly sprinkled with Splenda, or the Berries with Yogurt Cream (here).
Once the weight came off, I began to enjoy other fruits in moderation, plus the occasional cracker, cookie, piece of pie or cake, or even a tartufo, with no ill effects. I walk every day and work out in a gym. I feel great in my new body, have much more energy, and my blood tests are astonishingly improved. (The only downside was that I had to spend money having my clothes altered to make them smaller. This is one of those good problems.)
Again, if you want to lose weight, I recommend reading the books and talking to your doctor. And speaking of doctors, I do like them. Really. In fact, one of my brothers-in-law, Dave Faison, is a radiologist. Dave helped me when I was trying to figure out who the victim would be in The Grilling Season. I knew the Jerk would be a suspect, and I had to figure out who it was my fictitious doctor—the character readers loved to hate—might have killed. So I asked Dave who it was that he, or most doctors, would like to kill.
Dave did not hesitate. “An HMO executive.”
When I finished the book (spoiler alert), I proudly told Dave I had killed off an HMO executive.
Dave’s voice turned sad. “Only one?”
So there you have it.
There are many low-carb recipes throughout this cookbook, or recipes you can make low-carb. Snowboarders’ Pork Tenderloin (here) is a particular favorite. You can make Quiche Me Quick (here) without the crust, Ferdinanda’s Florentine Quiche (here) without the crust, and so on. What I’ve learned is that the main things one needs in a low-carb meal are: protein to bring up one’s blood sugar for the long haul to the next meal and lots of dark green vegetables, the more variety in both of those departments, the better.
There is only one appetizer in this chapter. When you are on a low-carb eating plan, your most frequent appetizer will be nuts or a slice of cheese. My favorite nuts are pecans. My mother-in-law, now sadly deceased, gave me this recipe forty-plus years ago.
Fried Pecans
8 tablespoons (1 stick) unsalted butter
1 pound pecan halves
Popcorn salt
1. Line a baking sheet with paper towels.
2. In a large skillet, melt the butter over low heat. Add the nuts and stir to coat them with the butter. Cook very slowly, stirring frequently with a wooden spoon, until the nuts sound hollow. (This can take 30 to 40 minutes.) Once the nuts sound hollow, they will turn brown fast, so watch carefully. As they turn brown, use tongs to remove them to the lined baking sheet. Salt them while they are warm. When they are cool, store in a covered container.
Makes about 2 cups
Luscious Arugula Salad
Unfortunately, balsamic vinegar contains carbohydrates, so while one is on a low-carb eating plan, the vinaigrettes need to be made without balsamic. For the sugar substitute in this recipe, I use a product called Stevia in the Raw. Also, for the vinaigrette here, I splurge and use fleur de sel. This salad meets the strict requirements of looking good and tasting fabulous.
Vinaigrette:
1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
¼ cup best-quality red wine vinegar (or balsamic vinegar, if you are not on a low-carb eating plan)
1 teaspoon sugar substitute (omit this if using balsamic vinegar)
½ teaspoon kosher salt
Freshly ground black pepper
½ cup best-quality extra-virgin olive oil
Salad:
4 ounces baby arugula
16 strawberries, sliced
4 tablespoons (¼ cup) freshly grated best-quality Parmesan cheese
For the vinaigrette:
In a glass bowl or glass measuring cup, whisk the mustard with the vinegar, sugar substitute, salt, and pepper to taste. Whisk well to make sure the sugar substitute and salt are dissolved. Slowly whisk in the olive oil. You are making an emulsion, so keep whisking until the mixture is thick and evenly mixed. You may need to check the sides of the bowl or measuring cup, and use a spatula to scrape all the sugar substitute into the mixture. Set aside while you make the salad, but do not wash your whisk; you will need it again.
For the salad:
Divide the arugula among 4 salad plates. Top the arugula with the sliced strawberries (each serving gets the equivalent of 4 strawberries). Top each serving with 1 tablespoon Parmesan. Whisk the vinaigrette again and sprinkle about 1 tablespoon vinaigrette on top of each serving.
Makes 4 servings
Cauliflower Mash, or How to Get by Without Potatoes
This will fool your brain into thinking you are having mashed potatoes. (You can imagine what our family thought of mashed cauliflower. So I served them baked potatoes when I had the cauliflower mash.)
1 head cauliflower (about 1¼ pounds), cut into florets
1 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
Heavy (whipping) cream
Kosher salt or fleur de sel and freshly ground black pepper
1. Bring a large pot of spring water to a boil over high heat. Add
the florets and salt and reduce the heat to medium-high. Cook, uncovered, until the cauliflower is tender, 10 to 15 minutes. Remove from the heat. Drain thoroughly in a colander. You may need to shake the colander to remove moisture. (This is the key to having a mash that is not watery.)
2. When the cauliflower is no longer dripping any water, place it in a large bowl and either use a potato masher to mash it, or beat it on low speed with an electric beater. You can also process it in a food processor.
3. Place the butter in a large skillet and melt it over low heat. Add the mashed cauliflower and stir. Add cream a little bit at a time, until you have reached a consistency you like. Salt and pepper the cauliflower to taste, and heat very gently. Whatever you don’t consume that night can be cooled and stored in the refrigerator.
Makes about 6 servings
Garlicky Spinach
Spinach and garlic are yet another marriage made in culinary heaven. To avoid dealing with little bits of burned garlic, use garlic oil, available at specialty food shops or by mail order.
1 pound baby spinach leaves
1 tablespoon garlic oil
Kosher salt or fleur de sel and freshly ground black pepper
1. Wash the spinach, but do not spin it. You want some moisture on the leaves.
2. Pour the oil into a large sauté pan, and heat over medium-high heat. When the oil ripples slightly, put in the moist spinach. It will sizzle, so stand well away from the pan. Using tongs, toss the spinach for a moment, until it cooks down enough to place a lid on the pan. Cook until the spinach is completely wilted, only about a minute or two. Sprinkle with the salt and pepper, to taste. Serve immediately.