Leslie: Childhood favorites -- Helen's Macaroni & Cheese

Well, it seems us new bookcooks weren’t quite ready for prime time with the Ginger Duck recipe. We were content to watch from the sidelines. Now it’s time for us to get in the game! The very wise Kaoru recommended Susan, Katy, and I take a bye with the Ginger Duck for now and introduce a new CFML favorite to make sure we have time to try another dish amidst all the holiday cooking we’re bound to do.

Ever since I read Amanda Hesser’s CFML three years ago, I’ve been meaning to try her grandmother Helen’s macaroni & cheese. Before I even read her recipe, I had developed a soft spot in my heart for Helen. I just loved the image of her excited to see Amanda and deciding what to feed her granddaughter from her refrigerator of random leftovers – “We’ve got waffles and ice cream, macaroni and cheese, dried beef gravy. I can cook you some rockfish. What would you like?”

Amanda chose the macaroni and cheese since it made her want to “weep with pleasure”. Now I too would like to propose we make this yummy comfort food – hopefully it’ll be nice to have something simple and cozy in these holiday months sprinkled with so many extravagant meals.

I think this dish will also be fun given the rising popularity of M&C. I’ve noticed that it has been added to a number of menus at high-end, trendy restaurants. Like Helen’s dish, these aren’t exactly made with a Kraft box. My favorite is at Le Petit Robert in San Francisco on Polk Street where they put bacon in the dish like Helen does (she uses ham but close enough).

If anyone really gets excited about comfort food, it might be fun to try another childhood favorite – pink-frosted chocolate cupcakes. I think this would have been my dream menu as a child: macaroni & cheese followed by pink-frosted chocolate cupcakes. May be a bit much with all the goodies that come at holiday time, but I’ll post the dessert recipe too in case anyone feels up to it or wants to maybe put a peppermint twist on it!

Helen’s Macaroni & Cheese (page 95)
2 tablespoons butter, plus more for buttering dish
2 tablespoons flour
2 cups milk
1 ½ cups grated Monterey Jack cheese, plus more for sprinkling
3 ½ cups cooked elbow macaroni
1 cup small cubes roasted country ham
1 cup canned Italian plum tomatoes, drained (reserve juice)
¾ cup coarse breadcrumbs (made from stale bread cut into little cubes)
Freshly ground black pepper (or already ground if you want it Helen’s way)

Preheant oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Butter a casserole dish. In a saucepan, heat the 2 tablespoons of butter until foamy. Sprinkle in the flour and whisk until it turns golden, then slowly pour in the milk, continuing to whisk. (The French call this béchamel; her grandmother calls it white sauce.) Bring to a simmer over medium heat and let it thicken. Stir in the cheese and remove from the heat. It should be a loose sauce. Fold in the macaroni, then ham. Add tomatoes by squeezing them between your fingers into small pieces. Taste and fix accordingly. The mixture should be loose like a thin a batter; if it’s gluey and thick, add a little milk or drained tomato juice.
Pour into the casserole dish. Spread breadcrumbs over the surface and then sprinkle with about ¼ cup cheese. Grind pepper over top (Amanda likes a coarse grind). Bake until browned on the top and bubbling, about 25 minutes.

Lunch for 4.

Chocolate Dump-it Cake for the cupcakes (page 195)
2 cups sugar
4 ounces unsweetened chocolate
¼ pound unsalted butter (1 stick), plus more for greasing the pan
2 cups all-purpose flour, plus more greasing the pan
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon sea salt
1 cup milk
1 teaspoon cider vinegar
2 eggs

Preheat oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit, and place a baking sheet on the lowest rack, to catch any drips when the cake bakes (or cupcakes bake). Put the sugar, unsweetened chocolate, butter and 1 cup of water in a saucepan. Place over medium heat and stir occasionally until all of the ingredients are melted and blended. Remove from the heat and let cool slightly, 15-20 minutes.
Meanwhile, sift together the flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt. In a small bowl, stir together the milk and vinegar. Grease and flour a cupcake pan or just put the cupcake holders in place.
When the chocolate in the pan has cooled a bit, whisk in the milk mixture and eggs. In several additions and without overmixing, whisk in the dry ingredients. When the mixture is smooth, add the vanilla and whisk once or twice, to blend. Pour the batter into the cupcake pan and bake on the middle rack until a skewer inserted in the center comes out clean, about 30-35 minutes.

Pink frosting (page 247)

1 box (16 ounces) confectioners’ sugar
6 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened
3 tablespoons milk, more if desired
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 to 3 drops pink food coloring

Beat together the sugar, butter, milk and vanilla until smooth. If the frosting seems stiff, add another tablespoon of milk. Beat in the food coloring until blended. Icing the cooled cupcakes!

Jer: Ginger Braised Duck

A Tough Act to Follow (Chapter 7 in CFML) where Julie found the recipe for ginger braised duck is probably my favorite chapter in this wonderful book. It is a perfect snapshot of "meeting the parents of Mr. Right", one of those few meals in life that get ingrained deeply in our mental library. Like Elizabeth, Pete’s mom is a classic and wonderful cook with pans and tools that have been used for years, first to feed her family of eight and over the years to feed many more as husbands and wives and grandchildren were slowly added to the clan. The scene where Mr. Latte squeezes Ms. Hesser’s knee under the table when his mother brings out the almond cake is one I have experienced a number of times. Whenever we are having dinner at Pete's parent's home and his mom brings out her cherry pie, apple pie, or pumpkin ice cream pie, he looks at me and smiles with pure joy. And over the years as I have seen that same smile on his face when I make a repeat dish in our own home, it brings me pure joy. As an aside, I have made the almond cake a number of times and it really is as wonderful as described in the book.

Because of the difficulty Julie and Kaoru had in controlling the temperature of the braising liquid on the stove I decided to braise in the oven at 300. I first roasted the bird on the stove with some peanut oil and then built the braising liquid with just a few changes to the recipe. I added some crushed juniper berries and star anise because I really like the flavor those two spices bring to braises. I kept the dutch oven covered the entire time. I did not use soy sauce and instead of water I used chicken stock. Also, instead of a half cup of sugar, I used only a few teaspoons. The result was a bird with meat so tender and fragile that instead of taking it out of the braising liquid to cool I left it in the braising liquid overnight where it continued to absorb deep and perfectly spiced flavor.

The following afternoon I skimmed the fat (all of which I saved to be used for future risottos and roasted potato dishes), shredded the duck meat and reduced the stock with a healthy serving of some very good Barolo. Once reduced I added fresh cream and the shredded duck. The flavor was amazing and so I decided right there that making some fresh egg pappardelle was in order before I could serve the creamy braised duck ragout.

I made the pappardelle and tossed it in the sauce with some oven roasted sweet tomatoes, shredded basil and a generous serving of freshly grated pecorino romano. The dish was simply amazing. And the preparation was so easy that I will definitely make it for a future dinner party.

The following day we used the leftover shredded duck to make some pizza. We used fresh pita as the base with a schmear of baba ganoush, followed with a layer of basil, the shredded duck and topped with crumbled gorgonzola. In the toaster over for a quick warm up and voila, a fall lunch as delicious as the luxurious meal we had the night before.

Side note: in doing research on braised duck I found a similar recipe in Craig Claiborne's classic International Cook Book. If you don't have a copy on your shelf do go in search of a used one at swap meats or used book stores as it really is a wonderful reference guide. When I found the braised duck in this classic tome I thought about how life must have been for cooks like Elizabeth and Pete's mom in the 60s and 70s when this book, in addition to Ms. Rombauer and Ms. Child's classics were really all that home cooks had as a reference. I feel a bit spoiled today as I look at my bookshelves filled with so many sources of ideas and inspiration.

PPS: and here is a photo of Rachy cleaning up her braised duck pappardelle plate!