Charcoal grilled rib steak for two. Apparently steaks in the area are from old cattle — which are therefore tastier. It’s surprising how different this steak tasted, in comparison to a prime US steak.
Nom nom nom. I was entertained that they didn’t even ask what doneness of steak we wanted. Rare or rare!
On the side, baby broad beans with foie.
I’m in Spain! Bilbao to be precise.
The museum restaurant, the Guggenheim Bistro was surprisingly good.
Baby squid, ink and fideua
Raspberry ice cream, yogurt and “crispy stones”
And some of mom’s dessert —
Tiramisu!
A main, dessert and drinks for €18.
The museum itself was mostly meh. :/
It’s strawberry season! (And cherry season, and peach season…)
So I made this wonderful tres leches cake. I didn’t have a 9×13 pan, so I used a 9inch round and an 8inch round. The cakes turned out great, but a wee less soaked than I’d like.
Only modifications:
– No sugar in the whipped cream topping
– Added a pinch of nutmeg and a teaspoon of cinnamon
We had a bunch of leftover bread at work a couple weeks ago… I took it home and froze it. So when I had two almost disgustingly ripe bananas last night — bread pudding! Woo!
Preheat the oven to 350F
Custard mixture:
2 cups milk
3/4 cup sugar
1 tbsp vanilla
4 eggs
Bread:
Slice (into 1/2in-ish cubes) enough bread to fill (but not heaping) a 9in pie dish
Toast briefly if your bread came out of the freezer (Since it’s probably a little soggy…)
Chocolate:
3/4 c semi sweet chocolate chips
Assembly:
Dunk all the bread in the custard, then fish pieces out to make one layer in the pie dish. Sprinkle chocolate chips. Slice the bananas and make a layer of banana (use up all the banana). Then another layer of bread (which should finish all the bread), then sprinkle the remaining chocolate chips over and bake!
Bake until set and slightly browned. Or an internal temp of ~160F.
The little pockets of custard near the surface took longer to cook for me, so most of it got to 180F before those hit a food-safe temperature.
Trader Joe’s kougin amann, for the third time.
This time I really liked the shape — I smooshed them (pinched four corners together) into a cupcake pan. They cooked pretty evenly, except the bottom — which was likely due to the non-preheated baking steal that was under the cookie pan.
I think this, minus the baking steel, is probably my kougin amann baking shape of choice.
A cross-section of the best croissant ever.
That’s all.
Shamiq and I stopped by yesterday, and also picked up a raspberry chocolate croissant. They don’t make them often, and I suppose it’s probably a seasonal thing. I hadn’t even realized Tartine made seasonal items (other than the fruit with their bread pudding).
BUT NOW I KNOW.
Must go at all times of the year! In reality though, the almond croissant is better than the raspberry chocolate, but I’m not a big fan of chocolate croissants in general. I find that the chocolate is too heavy compared to the light buttery flavor of the croissant.
Breakfast is a magic meal. Leftovers are always an acceptable meal, especially if topped by an egg.
Chicken Lengua Sweet Potato Hash-thingy
Peel and chop sweet potatoes into chunks ~1/2 in cubes
Boil for 20 (could have probably done 15 minutes), then let air dry.
Fry onions, garlic and potatoes
Throw in meat
Throw in egg
Eat and be happy
*Will this work better with baked tubers? This didn’t quite crisp…
Here is one very blown out picture of a fruit galette. This is what I get for focusing on the filling, which happens to be very dark.
1 pie crust (I’m lazy and use premade ones)
2 tsp cornstarch
~1/4 c sugar (I usually do more like 3/4ths of the 1/4c, but I’m not very precise…)
splash of vanilla
fruit (I like peaches, berries and even pears, usually approximately 1 peach/pear + 1-2c berries)
Mix up the fruit, sugar, cornstarch and vanilla. Let sit for a few minutes. I like using some sliced fruit, since those release liquid.
Roll out your crust, mound the fruit mix in the center, then fold up the crust.
Brush with a beaten egg and sprinkle with coarse sugar.
Bake at 375F until the crust looks done. Usually 35-45 minutes for me.
I’ve always wondered if letting loaves rise post-shaping made a difference. And the answer is yes! A pretty big difference.
The loaf on top was shaped, then chucked in the oven in about five minutes. The loaf on the bottom was shaped, sat for half an hour, then baked. Huge difference in appearance. Insides were about the same though. (Though these rye bricks don’t rise much anyway)
Sidenote: This post about “Doodies” is hilarious. Cooking as a sport ftw!
