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How to Prepare Ganache Frosting

admin — Thu, 18 Apr 2013 00:00:00 +0000

A luxurious chocolate ganache frosting can make a delicious dessert even better. Ganache has only two main ingredients – chocolate and heavy cream. A chocolate of choice may be used, but firmer dark chocolate makes a dark, glossy frosting. Chop twelve ounces of chocolate into small pieces and shred it further in a food processor or use a peeler or mandolin to shave it, eliminating the need for a food processor. The small pieces will melt more thoroughly. Place it in a heat proof bowl. Heat two-thirds cup of heavy cream until just boiling, stirring occasionally, and remove it from the stove or microwave. Pour it over the chocolate and stir it slowly to melt and blend the ingredients. Be sure no water gets into the chocolate or it will not blend properly, however, flavoring such as vanilla or orange extract may be added now, if desired.
This is a wonderfully simple recipe that can be used between cookies or cake layers. It can be poured over cooled cake to make a chocolatey rich smooth finish, and is perfectly suitable to be decorated. It can also be chilled and used for truffles or other confections.

Creating Some Creamy Creme Brulee

admin — Thu, 10 Jan 2013 00:00:00 +0000

The Direct tv channel guide isn’t the only place where you can find food channels and cooking recipes. And today, we’re going to talk about Creme Brulee!

Creme Brulee is one of the greatest French desserts and the most identifiable. You can also make it yourself – though it is quite challenging. So, if you have about four hours to kill and a drive to make something delicious, then you’ve come to the right place.

First, let’s talk about what you’ll need:
- 1 quart heavy cream
- 2 quarts hot water
- 6 egg yolks
- 1 vanilla bean
- 1 cup vanilla sugar
- 1 medium saucepan
- 1 medium bowl
- 1 whisk
- 6 ramekins
- 1 roasting pan
- 1 blow torch

Here’s what you do:

1. You’re going to want to split and scrape that vanilla bean.

2. Preheat the oven to 325 degrees Fahrenheit.

3. Add the cream and vanilla bean into a medium saucepan and bring to a boil.

4. When this happens, remove it from the heat and let it sit (covered) for 15 minutes.

5. After 15 minutes, remove the vanilla bean, but keep it for later.

6. Whisk together the sugar and egg yolks in a medium bowl until it’s all evenly mixed. Add the cream but not all at once – little by little.

7. Pour the liquid into 6 ramekins and place the ramekins in a roasting pot.

8. Pour the hot water into the roasting pot until the level is about halfway up the sides of the ramekins. Now you’re going to want to bake these for about 45 minutes.

9. Now remove the ramekins and refrigerate them for two hours.

10. Now you remove the creme brulee and evenly distribute the sugar atop each. If you want to get real fancy, you can take a blow torch and brown that sugar.

Homemade Barnaise Sauce: Easier than You Think

admin — Wed, 20 Jun 2012 00:00:00 +0000

Bearnaise sauce is a French favorite and has a delicious gourmet taste of butter, herbs, shallot, and tarragon. This recipe is much simpler than one would think and can be made in only 15 minutes. To start, you will need a 1/4 cup of tarragon leaves, minced shallot, 1 stick of butter, peppercorns, 3 egg yolks, and champagne vinegar for flavor.

Next, grab a small saucepan and set the stove at a medium heat. You will now need to mix your ingredients of vinegar, tarragon, and shallot. Let the mix simmer for about 5 minutes before taking it off the stove to cool off. Now use a blender on the lowest setting and combine the eggs and butter. Once the blend is almost fully mixed, speed the blender up on a higher setting to finish the job. Add this to the rest of the sauce and stir while you lightly add a few peppercorns for extra zing. This blend of bearnaise sauce has about 4 to 6 servings and is the perfect sauce for dipping bread and having as a side for grilled chicken. You can also use bearnaise sauce as a marinade to give food an extra buttery flavor.

Coq Au Vin: A Classic You May Not Know

www.paperpalate.net — Sat, 16 Jun 2012 00:00:00 +0000

Coq Au Vin is a French dish we think of today as chicken braised in wine. This old favorite can be made simply today for a tasty and elegant meal any time. Sear chicken breasts in your favorite oil or butter prior to cooking. Toss the seared chicken into a crock pot with some button mushrooms, onions, a few lardoons (bacon if you don’t have any), and about half a cup of your favorite red wine per chicken breast. Season everything with a little salt, pepper, garlic if you choose thyme, parsley, and a bay leaf. Now simmer everything until the chicken is fork-tender. Once the meat is fork-tender you can draw off some of the liquid to make gravy. This meal can be started in the morning before you leave for work, cook in the crock pot all day, and enjoyed when you get home that evening. For a festive dinner braise the meal in a pot on the stove such as a cast iron Dutch oven or other large braising pot, and then serve the meal in the same pot it was cooked it. Coq Au Vin is rumored to go back to the time of Caesar but you can enjoy this traditional French dish today with a little preparation.

How to Make Perfect Beef Bourguignon

www.paperpalate.net — Wed, 13 Jun 2012 00:00:00 +0000

How to “Make Perfect Beef Bourguignon” is not as hard as you may think. I do it and believe me I’m no special talented chef. The most important thing in cooking for me is how much time it’s going to take. I have 6 in my family, full time job and my children think I’m their personal chauffer.
When making my beef bourguignon I make sure I get a good piece of boneless round steak and I try to buy it on sale. Don’t forget to ask the butcher to cube the meat in one inch cubes; they will do this for free. Everything else I put into the dish is all store bought, prepared and I make sure I use a burgundy wine that I would drink. The mushrooms are pre-sliced, 1 can of mushroom soup, packaged beef broth, I used frozen pearl onions, bottled minced garlic, pre-grated parmesan cheese and last but not least a package of dried onion soup.
Once I have browned the beef cubes I set them aside. Mix all the other ingredients in the ceramic bowl of my slow cooker, add the meat last, turn to high and leave for work. That means when I get home all I have to do is add the sour cream and boil the noodles. I have a gourmet meal to serve family or guests.

French Coconut Pie: A Decadent Classic

admin — Tue, 12 Jun 2012 00:00:00 +0000

French Coconut Pie is a very delicious dessert. There are many recipes out there to try, each coming up with something different to add. This recipe is by Paula Deen.
The things that you need to make this amazing French Coconut Pie is 4 tbsp of butter, 2 beaten eggs, 1 tbsp of flour, 3/4 cup of sugar, 1 can of sweetened coconut, and 1 cup of milk.
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees before starting anything. In a large bowl you will want to combine the butter that is already melted, eggs, flour, sugar, coconut, and milk. Then you will want to pour that into a pie shell. Put this into the oven for 45-60 minutes or until firm.
Some people say that this recipe does not have a lot of flavor, so to increase the flavor they added more of the coconut and some vanilla. One edit to the recipe was to toast the coconut, added a tsp of vanilla, and then topped it with whipped cream. This was a very effective change to the recipe for that baker. If you feel you want to add more then go ahead, make it your own. Either way you want to make this recipe it will still be delicious.

How to Make French Onion Soup

admin — Sat, 09 Jun 2012 00:00:00 +0000

French onion soup is a past time and a favorite soup of many. When considering to make this soup you need to have 1/4 cup butter, 3 onions, 1 tsp sugar, 1 tbsp flour, 2.5 cups water, 1/2 cup red wine, 2 cans beef broth, 8 oz Swiss cheese and a French baguette.
Start making French onion soup by melting the butter in a saucepan, then stir in the sugar. Cook the onions until they are golden brown. Stir the flour into the onions and pan juices; then you will want to add the liquids, water, wine, and broth. Heats until it is boiling then reduces to low heat, cover and simmer for 10 minutes.Get more information here. http://gwenacaster.wordpress.com/2012/06/07/648/ While the soup is simmering cut four thick bread slices and toasts the bread at 325 degrees for about 10 minutes. Save the rest for later. Once the soup is done simmering, put it into oven safe bowls. Put one of the slices of toasted bread in each of the bowls. Fold the cheese slices over the bread and place on a cookie sheet. Bake this at 425 degrees for 10 minutes or until the cheese is melted.
This soup is very delicious and cannot go wrong.