For my birthday, my mom gave me a copy of The Art of Living According to Joe Beef.  Joe Beef  is one of Montreal’s culinary gems and its book reads like a gastronomical novel – it’s just beautiful in content and images.

One of the recipes I knew I had to immediately try is the BBQ Pulled Pork over Seared Scallops.  Yes, it’s a bit odd in concept.  No, you haven’t made a better dish than this one at home – guaranteed.

I served this dish as a main course but I’ll have it in my back pocket as an amazing starter for upcoming dinner parties.

Pulled Pork Ingredients:

• 2 Tbsp. paprika
• 1 Tbsp. each salt, pepper, granulated sugar
• One 4-5 pound pork shoulder (sometimes called Boston Butt)
• ¼ cup yellow mustard
• ½ cup water
• 4-5 jumbo scallops per person
• Canola oil for frying
• Sea salt and pepper

Hollandaise Sauce Ingredients:

• 7 egg yolks, at room temperature
• 1 cup butter
• Pinch of cayenne pepper
• 1 Tbsp. freshly-squeezed lemon juice

World’s Best BBQ Sauce, Ever, heated

Pulled Pork Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 275 degrees.
2. In a small bowl, combine the paprika, salt, pepper and sugar.  Slather the pork with the yellow mustard then coat with the spice mixture.  Place pork in a large Dutch oven and add the water.  Put the pork in the oven for five hours.  After the initial five hours, check for doneness every hour, covering the meat with aluminum foil if it becomes dry or overly browned, until it’s cooked for nine hours total.  The meat should be fork tender.
3. Allow meat to cool for 15 minutes then, using two forks, pull it off into bite-size pieces and place in a large bowl (can be made a day ahead of serving if refrigerated then warmed in hot BBQ sauce).

Hollandaise Sauce Directions:

1. In a small saucepan over medium-low heat, melt butter.  Allow to cool for 3 minutes.
2. In a tall container, like a pitcher, add the egg yolks.  Using an immersion blender, add the butter to the yolks in a slow, steady stream until the sauce thickens and is emulsified.
3. Add the cayenne pepper, the salt and the lemon juice.  Keep sauce at room temperature until ready to use.  Makes about ½ cup.

Plating Directions:

1. In a large cast iron or non-stick pan over high heat, add the oil and heat until shimmering hot.  Add the scallops and cook for two minutes on each side.  Remove onto a paper towel.
2. For each scallop you’re using: in a medium bowl, add one tablespoon of pork and two tablespoons of hot BBQ sauce.  Combine meat and sauce well.
3. Add a tablespoon of Hollandaise sauce per scallop on a plate (1-2 for a starter or 4-5 for an entrée).  Top the sauce with a scallop.  Top each scallop with a tablespoon of BBQ-sauced pulled pork.

Notes:  The pulled pork in its state at the end of step 3 of “Pulled Pork Directions” can be used in a multitude of ways when combined with BBQ sauce: pulled pork sandwich, as a topping for pizza, in tacos, etc…

I was making prime rib for a small New Year’s Eve party I was hosting and couldn’t see not serving Yorkshire Puddings.  Some past recipes I’d tried failed and I was somewhat intimidated to try again, particularly for a holiday dinner party.  I found the following straight-forward recipe that proved both simple to prepare and delicious.

Adapted from a recipe by Regina Varolli.

Ingredients:

• 2 large eggs
• 1 cup whole milk, divided
• 1 cup all purpose flour
• ½ tsp. coarse kosher salt
• ¼ cup liquid beef rendering or vegetable oil

Directions (at least 6 hours prior to serving the puddings):

1. In a medium bowl, whisk the eggs with ½ cup of milk, set aside.
2. In another medium bowl, combine the flour and salt together.  Add the egg mixture and whisk vigorously until there are absolutely no lumps left in the batter.
3. Cover the batter with plastic wrap and keep it at room temperature until ready to use (at least 6 hours).

Directions (when ready to serve the Yorkshire puddings):

1. Heat oven to 425 degrees.
2. Place a 12-muffin tin into the hot oven and heat it until the pan is very hot, about 5 minutes.  Measure out one teaspoon of beef fat (or oil) into each muffin cup and place the pan back in the oven.  Leave the pan in the oven until the fat is literally smoking hot, about 5 minutes.
3. As the fat is heating, whisk the remaining ½ cup cold milk into the batter that’s been sitting out all day.  Whisk in some fresh, coarsely ground black pepper to taste. Put the batter into a vessel that makes it easy to pour.
4. When the fat is smoking, take the muffin tin out of the oven and, working as quickly as possible, pour the batter evenly into the 12 cups.  If the batter doesn’t sizzle as you pour it in the muffin cups, expect your Yorkshire puddings to not rise.
5. Immediately return the pan to the oven and bake for 20-25 minutes.  Do not open the oven for the first 20 minutes of baking.  The Yorkshire puddings are done when they are dark golden brown and dry to the touch.  The inside of the puddings will be moist.
6. Serve immediately.  Yorkshire puddings don’t wait, so bake them as you need to serve them.

Makes 12 standard muffin-sized puddings.

This weekend, I was asked to bring dessert to a potluck dinner.  The hostess is a caramel fanatic, so I knew that my Dulce de Leche Cheesecake would be well-received, but I wanted something more portable.  This recipe yields 24 two-bite cheesecakes, but can easily be halved if you only need a dozen.

Ingredients:

• 24 round vanilla cookies (I used Nabisco Nillas)
• 2 8-ounce packages cream cheese, room temperature
• 1 14-ounce can sweetened condensed milk
• 4 eggs
• 1/2 cup good quality, Dulce de Leche (I used La Salamandra)

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 300 degrees.
2. Add cupcake liners to two 12-muffin pans.  Place one vanilla cookie in the bottom of each liner.
3. In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the cream cheese until light and fluffy, about a minute.  Add the condensed milk then the eggs, one at a time, and beat for about 2 minutes, scraping down the sides of the bowl as needed.
4. Divide the batter (I use a measuring cup) among the cupcake liners and bake until the centers of the cheesecakes are nearly set and outer edges are firm, about 23 minutes.
5. Cool the muffin pans to room temperature then refrigerate the cheesecakes in the muffin pans for at least an hour.
6. Microwave the Dulce de Leche for about 20 seconds and use to top each mini cheesecake with about a half teaspoon of warm Dulce de Leche.

Yields 24 mini cheesecakes

I’m sort of picky about cookies.  Some cookies I like crispy and crunchy and some I enjoy soft and chewy.  This past weekend, I decided to combine two of my recipes to create a crispy AND chewy cookie.  My tasting panel (ten warehouse workers at my office) really liked the results.

Ingredients:

• 3 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
• 1 1/2 teaspoons salt
• 2 sticks (1 cup) butter, softened
• 1 cup light brown sugar
• 1/2 cup dark brown sugar
• 1 cup granulated sugar
• 3 large eggs
• 2 tsp. pure vanilla extract
• 1 cup semisweet chocolate chips
• 1 cup white chocolate chips
• 1 cup butterscotch chips

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
2. In a medium bowl, whisk the flour, baking soda, and salt.
3. In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, cream the butter and sugars on high speed until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes.  Add the eggs to the butter mixture, beating well after each one, until fully combined, about 1 minute.  Add the vanilla.  With the mixer on low speed, add the flour mixture – do not overmix.  Add the chips and mix until just combined.
4. Line four cookie sheets (see notes) with parchment paper.  For each cookie, scoop one tablespoon of batter, place on a cookie sheet and flatten gently with the palm of your hand.  Eight cookies will fit on one each cookie sheet.
5. Bake, two sheets at a time, until golden, about 13 minutes.  Allow to cool for 5 minutes on the cookie sheets then transfer cookies to a cooling rack and continue baking cookies using cooled cookie sheets.

Makes 32 cookies.

Notes:  Don’t have four cookie sheets?  No sweat, cookies bake two cookie sheets at-a-time, so simply bake the first two sheets of cookies and bake a second batch of two sheets once the first ones are done.  You can use 1 ½ cups of light brown sugar if you don’t have dark.  Feel free to use different chips combinations based on your preferences.  You could also replace ½ of chips with ½ cup of chopped nuts to create texture.

I recently attended a berry virtual tasting hosted by Driscoll’s and WineTwits and created the following recipe to share with the group.  The results are just as tasty when blackberries are used.

Ingredients:

• 1 cup heavy cream
• 2 cup half and half
• 6 large eggs
• 1 cup granulated sugar
• 1 tsp.  pure vanilla extract
• 4 croissants, cut into1/2” cubes
• 1 6-ounce container of fresh raspberries

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 325°F.
2. Heat cream and half and half in a saucepan over medium heat until just simmering.
3. In a large bowl, whisk the eggs, ¾ cup sugar and vanilla until well combined.  Add a ladleful of hot cream to the egg mixture and whisk well to bring up the temperature of the eggs.  Add the rest of the cream to the egg custard and whisk well.
4. Add the cubed croissants to the custard and gently push down the cubes into the liquid to ensure they absorb as much custard as possible.  Set aside for 20 minutes.
5. Lightly coat four 10-ounce ramekins with cooking spray.  Add two raspberries to each ramekin then divide the bread and custard mixture between the four dishes.  Divide the remaining raspberries amount the dishes and sprinkle each with the rest of the sugar, about one teaspoon each.
6. Place the ramekins on a cookie sheet and bake for about 35 minutes, until puddings are puffed and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out mostly clean.  Serve while still warm with a drizzle of Blackberry Balsamic Coulis and/or a scoop of vanilla ice cream.

Makes 4 servings.

I’m sure you’ve noticed through my posts that I entertain quite a bit.  I love cooking, baking and having friends over – it’s sort of my ‘thing’.  The tough part is being creative with my menus so that friends who visit often don’t have the same meal multiple times.  That’s why I’ve relied on my friend Lisa to make suggestions based on the blogs she visits or recipes she finds interesting.  Two weeks ago, she shared a recipe for a Gâteau St-Honoré she saw in Bon Appétit magazine and suggested I make it for a dinner party I hosted last weekend.  Little did I know how much work it would take to put my own spin on this very traditional recipe that I grew to enjoy with my Grandma at a local French bistro when I was a little girl.

Although I felt the presence of St Honoré, the patron saint of French pastry bakers (pâtissiers), with me as I baked this cake for 7 hours, I’m not sure I’d recommend novice bakers attempt this recipe, but it’s darn tasty if you put in the effort.

Pastry Base Ingredients:

• 2 sheets of frozen puff pastry from a 17 ¼-ounce box, thawed
• 2 Tbsp. all-purpose flour for dusting when rolling out the pastry

Choux (Cream Puffs) Ingredients:

• 1 cup whole milk
• 5 Tbsp. butter
• 1 tsp. granulated sugar
• ½ tsp. coarse salt
• I cup all-purpose flour
• 4 large eggs

Crème Pâtissière (Pastry Cream) Ingredients:

• 3 egg yolks
• ¼ cup granulated sugar
• 3 Tbsp. all-purpose flour
• 1 cup whole milk
• ¼ heavy cream
• 1 tsp. pure vanilla extract

Salted Caramel Mousseline Ingredients:

• 9 Tbsp. granulated sugar
• 1/8 tsp. cream of tartar
• ¼ cup heavy cream
• 2/3 of the Creme Pâtissière recipe above, chilled
• 2 sticks (1 cup) butter, softened
• ½ tsp. coarse salt
• ½ tsp. pure vanilla extract

Caramel Ingredients:

• ½ cup granulated sugar
• ¼ cup cold water

Pastry Base Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
2. Spray an unrimmed baking sheet with cooking spray.  Place a piece of parchment paper on the baking sheet, ensuring it adheres to the cooking spray.
3. Unfold a puff pastry sheet on a floured work space.  Unfold the second pastry sheet and place directly on top of the first to create a double layer of pastry.  Using a rolling pin, lightly roll the pastry to enlarge the rectangular sheet by 2 inches in each direction.
4. Using a 10-inch cake pan or a paper guide, cut the pastry using a sharp knife into a 10” circle.  Place the circle on the prepared baking sheet and bake until golden brown, about 30 minutes.  Allow to cool completely on a wire rack.  Can be made the day before if stored in a sealed container at room temperature.

Choux Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 375 degree.
2. Spray an unrimmed baking sheet with cooking spray.  Place a piece of parchment paper on the baking sheet, ensuring it adheres to the cooking spray.
3. In a heavy, medium saucepan, bring the milk, butter, sugar and salt to a boil over medium-high heat.  Remove from heat and add the flour.  Stir with a wooden spoon to combine well.  Return the pan to the stove over medium heat and stir briskly until the dough pulls apart from the sides of the pan and forms a ball, about 2 minutes.
4. Transfer the dough to a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment.  Turn the mixer to medium speed, add eggs, one at a time, until well incorporated.
5. Add the dough to a pastry bag fitted with #2 tip.  Pipe 1” rounds on the parchment-lined baking sheet – should yield 25-30 rounds.  Dampen fingertips and smooth down the pointy tops of the rounds.
6. Bake for 20 minutes.  Lower oven temperature to 325 degrees and bake for an additional 15-20, or until choux are golden brown.  Remove from the oven and let stand on baking sheet for 2 minutes.  Remove the choux from the sheet and poke a small hole on the bottom of each one to let steam escape.  Let cool completely with bottom sides up.  Can be made up to 2 months ahead of time if stored in a sealed container in the freezer.

Crème Pâtissière Directions:

1. In a medium bowl, whisk together the eggs, sugar and flour until well combined.
2. In a heavy, medium saucepan, scald the milk, cream and vanilla.  Add a couple of ladleful of the hot liquid to the egg mixture and whisk to fully incorporate.  Add the egg mixture to the remaining hot cream mixture in the pan and whisk vigorously for 3-4 minutes until thickened.
3. Pour 1/3 of the crème in a small bowl and 2/3 of the crème in a medium bowl, press a sheet of plastic wrap on each of the crème’s surfaces and refrigerate until completely cool.

Salted Caramel Mousseline Directions:

1. Stir 2 tablespoons of water, the sugar, and the cream of tartar in a heavy, medium saucepan over medium-low heat until sugar dissolves.  Increase heat to medium-high and boil without stirring, occasionally swirling pan and brushing down sides with a wet pastry brush, until a deep amber color forms, about 7 minutes.
2. Remove the caramel from the heat and gradually add cream (mixture will bubble vigorously). Stir until any caramel bits dissolve and mixture is smooth.  Let cool.
3. In a stand mixer fitted with a whisk attachment, beat the chilled 2/3 of Crème Pâtissière and the cooled caramel sauce at medium speed.  Gradually add butter, 1 tablespoon at a time, beating until fully incorporated between additions.  Add salt and vanilla then chill until ready to use.

Caramel Directions:

1. Place the sugar and water in a heavy, small saucepan and stir with a wooden spoon over a medium-low heat until the sugar dissolves. Once dissolved, increase heat to medium-high and boil without stirring, occasionally swirling pan and brushing down sides with a wet pastry brush, until a light to medium golden color forms, about 5 minutes.  Remove from heat and use within 5 minutes.

To assemble:

For the choux:  Spoon the remaining 1/3 of the Crème Pâtissière into a pastry bag fitted with a #2 plain tip and pipe a small amount into 12 of the choux from the hole in the bottom of each.  Using tongs, carefully dip the tops of the 12 choux into the warm caramel to form a glaze.  Place caramel-coated puffs on a baking sheet coated with cooking spray and allow caramel to set.  Dip the tines of a small fork into any remaining caramel and drizzle 4-5 lattice-style shapes onto a baking sheet coated in cooking spray to use for decoration later.

For the base (to be done no more than 3-4 hours prior to serving):  Using a serrated knife, cut the puff pastry base horizontally into two circles.  Place one of the circles on a serving plate and spread 1/3 of the caramel Mousseline over it.  Top with the second pastry circle then another 1/3 of the Mousseline.

Final decorations:  Add the 12 caramel-coated choux to the top pastry circle in a circular pattern.  Add remaining Mousseline to a pastry bag fitted with a #2 plain tip and pipe small rosettes between each choux to fill any gaps on top of the cake.  Add hardened caramel decorations to the top of the cake.  Refrigerate cake until ready to serve.

Serves 8.

Notes:  Many components of the cake can be made in advance, so take advantage of that.  Final assembly should not be done prior to 3-4 hours before serving or the pastry will become soggy.  To save time and efforts, you could easily skip the Mousseline and just use Crème Pâtissière to make the cake (in the choux and to top pastry circles).  Remaining, unfilled choux can be used as profiteroles by cutting each choux tops, filling with ice cream and topping with chocolate sauce.

I know making homemade pudding is pretty old school with all the available, decent-quality commercial puddings on the market, but there truly is a tremendous taste difference that warrants rolling up one’s sleeves every once in a while.  Here’s a version with a deep caramel flavor you can enjoy on its own or you can use in various recipes.

Ingredients:

• 2 cups whole milk
• 1 ½ cups heavy cream
• 4 Tbsps. (1/2 stick) butter
• 1 cup brown sugar
• 3 egg yolks
• ¼ cup cornstarch
• ¼ tsps. sea salt
• 1 ½ tsps. pure vanilla extract

Directions:

1. Add the milk and cream to a large saucepan and cook over medium heat until small bubbles start to form on the surface, about 4 minutes.  Remove from heat and set aside for later use.
2. Melt the butter in a large, heavy skillet over medium-high heat. Raise the heat to medium-high and add the brown sugar.  Simmer, stirring frequently, until the mixture caramelizes and begins to have a nutty aroma, about 5 minutes.
3. Gradually pour the hot caramel mixture into the reserved cream mixture, whisking vigorously to fully combine. If the mixture is lumpy, pass it through a fine sieve.
4. In a medium bowl, whisk the egg yolks. Add about a cup of the hot liquid to the eggs and whisk vigorously to prevent curdling.  Add the cornstarch and salt to the egg mixture and whisk to fully combine.
5. Add the egg/cornstarch mixture to the pan with the hot liquid and cook over medium heat until the mixture is thick and just begins to boil, about 3 minutes.  Take the pan off the heat and add the vanilla extract.
6. Ladle the pudding into decorative cups, cover with shrink wrap and refrigerate several hours or overnight.

Makes about six 4-ounce servings.

It’s unusual for me to post a recipe that skips most of the work and goes for semi-homemade but this is one of these instances.  This super easy to make key lime pie skimps on prep time but not on flavor.  Don’t like the meringue top?  Simply replace it with whipped cream and enjoy!

Ingredients:

• 4 eggs, separated
• 1-14 ounce can condensed milk
• ½ cup Key Lime juice
• ½ tsp cream of tartar
• 1 frozen, 9-inch graham cracker crust
• 4 tbsp granulated sugar

Pie Directions:

• In the bowl of an electric mixer, beat the egg yolks on high speed until thick and light in color, about 4 minutes.  Turn off mixer and add condensed milk.  Mix on slow speed.  While still on slow, add half the lime juice, then the cream of tartar, then the remaining lime juice.  Mix until the filling is just blended.
• Ladle the filling into frozen crust and bake at 325 degrees until set, about 10-15 minutes, or until center is dry to touch.
• Let pie set in freezer for 3 hours before topping with meringue.

Meringue Directions:

• Preheat oven to 500 degrees (or use a kitchen torch).
• In the bowl of an electric mixer, beat the egg whites with the sugar until medium-stiff peaks, about 4 minutes.
• Form peaks on surface of the pie with the meringue.  Brown in oven, or with the kitchen torch, and return to freezer until ready to serve.

8 servings.

As a small kid, I loved watching my grandma cook and bake in her tiny kitchen where the pantry was jam packed with goodies.  I’d make my way through this pantry, being careful to open the door slowly in case anything went flying out, to see what neat condiments she had stored away for future baking sessions.  One of those pantry items was a small red box of instant tapioca pearls that I was always fascinated by.  This memory came back to me this week so I decided to make tapioca pudding, but to go the long route.  Hope you try and enjoy it as much as I did.

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup large pearl tapioca (I use Reese brand)
• 1 cup heavy cream
• 1 1/2 cups whole milk
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1/2 cup light brown sugar
• 2 large eggs, separated
• 1 tsp pure vanilla extract
• 6 tsp granulated sugar

Directions:

1. In a medium bowl, soak tapioca pearls in 3 cups of water overnight.  Drain water.
2. In a double boiler, heat cream and milk until just warmed (I use a metal bowl over a pan of simmering water).  Add salt and drained tapioca.  Continue to heat until small bubbles appear at sides of pan. Cover, turn heat to low and cook for one hour.  Make sure the milk mixture does not simmer or boil.
3. Separate egg whites from yolks.  Beat egg yolks and sugar together until light yellow.  Add a little of the hot mixture to the egg yolks and blend thoroughly. Then add the egg yolk mixture to the hot milk mixture, stirring constantly.  Raise heat to medium under the double boiler and cook until tapioca mixture is very thick, about 20 minutes.
4. In the bowl of an electric mixer, beat egg whites until they form stiff peaks.  Slowly fold the hot tapioca mixture into the egg whites.  Stir in vanilla.
5. Spoon the tapioca pudding into six 7-ounce ramekins.  Sprinkle about a teaspoon of sugar over the surface of each pudding-filled ramekins.  Brulée the pudding tops using a kitchen torch (or under the broiler), serve at room temperature or chilled.
   Makes 6 servings.

Notes: As an alternative, omit the brulée top and pour 1 teaspoon of pure maple syrup on the tapioca pudding.  Based on a recipe by Reese Tapioca.

Not sure why, but the thought of throwing away over-ripe bananas drives me nuts.  Instead, I’ll spend a few bucks to save four $0.35 bananas – not logical, but makes for a treat everyone enjoys.

Ingredients

• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/2 tsp sea salt
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 cup (1stick) unsalted butter, softened
• 1 cup light brown sugar
• 2 large eggs
• 4 over-ripe bananas, mashed
• 1/2 cup chopped walnuts (optional)

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. Sift the flour, baking soda and salt in a large bowl – set aside.
3. In the bowl of an electric mixer, cream the butter and brown sugar on medium speed for about 2 minutes.  Add the eggs, beating well after each one, add the bananas and beat for 1 minute.
4. Pour the banana / butter mixture into flour mixture and stir with a wooden spoon until just combined – do not overmix.  Pour batter into a lightly grease 9×5 inch loaf pan and sprinkle walnuts over the top (if using walnuts).
5. Bake for 60 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into center of the loaf comes out with just a few moist crumbs.  Remove the banana bread from the oven and let  cool in pan for 15 minutes, then unmold and cool completely on a wire rack.

Notes: I like chunks of banana in my banana bread so I typically squeeze and knead the bananas while they’re still in the peel.  By the time I’m done with this fun task, all I need to do is remove the peels and add the ‘mashed’ bananas to the batter.