Wednesday, December 9th, 2009
There’s a restaurant on 4th & Lenora in downtown Seattle called the Dahlia Lounge. It’s a local institution run by our very own celebrity chef, Tom Douglas (he beat Morimoto in Iron Chef!). When you come visit me, I’ll take you there to eat the Dungeness Crabcakes and “Bang in a Bag” a.k.a. beignets with vanilla marscapone. And if you’re really nice, I’ll get you a slice of his Triple Coconut Cream Pie. It’s world famous.
A while back ago my friend Nurit adapted Tom’s coconut cream pie recipe for her blog. Since then, I’ve made her version of the pie no less than 5 times … THIS MONTH. It’s surprisingly easy to make – just coconut and some pantry items. And if you forgo the coconut infused pie crust for a store bought one (she didn’t, I did), it makes whipping it up easy as … PIE! Har! Har! Har!
Coconut Cream Pie
Modified from the recipe on Nurit Asnash’s blog “1 Family Friendly Food” who in turn modified Tom Douglas’ original recipe for Triple Coconut Cream Pie.
Pie shell
Git ‘er done quick & easy with one pre-baked Marie Callendar’s Deep Dish Pie Crust. Just follow the manufacturer’s direction, which basically calls for popping the pie shell out of the freezer and baking it until it’s golden brown.
Coconut Pastry Cream
2 cups whole milk
1 1/2 cups sweetened shredded coconut
2 teaspoons bourbon vanilla extract
2 large eggs
1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons sugar
3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1/4 cup (1/2 stick) unsalted butter, softened
Whipped Cream
1 1/2 cups heavy cream, chilled
1/3 cup sugar
1 teaspoon bourbon vanilla extract
Garnish
2 ounces unsweetened “chip” or large-shred coconut (about 1 1/2 cups) toasted in a 350°F for 7-8 minutes (I used Bob’s Red Mill brand)
Chunks of white chocolate (4 to 6 ounces, to make 2 ounces of curls)
Coconut Pastry Cream
Combine the vanilla, milk and coconut in a medium saucepan. Place the saucepan over medium-high heat and stir occasionally until the mixture almost comes to a boil.
In a bowl, whisk together the eggs, sugar, and flour until well combined. Temper the eggs (to keep them from scrambling) by pouring about 1/3 cup of the scalded milk into the egg mixture while whisking. Then add the warmed egg mixture to the saucepan of milk and coconut. Whisk over medium-high heat until the pastry cream thickens and begins to bubble. Keep whisking until the mixture is very thick, 4 to 5 minutes more.
Remove the saucepan from the heat. Add the butter and whisk until it melts. Transfer the pastry cream to a bowl and place it over a bowl of ice water (I actually did not do this – I put the custard in a tupperware container and popped it in the fridge). Stir occasionally until it is cool. Place a piece of plastic wrap directly on the surface of the pastry cream to prevent a crust from forming and refrigerate until completely cold. The pastry cream will thicken as it cools. When the pastry cream is cold, fill the prebaked pie shell with it, smoothing the surface.
Whipped Cream
In an electric mixer with the whisk, whip the heavy cream with the sugar and vanilla on medium speed. Gradually increase the speed to high and whip to peaks that are firm enough to hold their shape. Fill a pastry bag fitted with a star tip with the whipped cream and pipe it all over the surface of the pie, or spoon it over.
Garnish
Preheat the oven to 350°F. Spread the coconut chips on a baking sheet and toast in the oven, watching carefully and stirring once or twice, since coconut burns easily, until lightly browned, 7 to 8 minutes.
Use a vegetable peeler to scrape about 2 ounces of the white chocolate into curls or follow the directions posted here on how to create the curls the old school way. Though, my curls really turn out looking like flakes.
Sprinkle the pie with coconut and chocolate.
Posted in Daily, Foodie | 18 Comments »
Thursday, July 23rd, 2009
Whhaaaa, you say? A post about bacon? A post about jam?
Is it a condiment? An entree? A dessert?
Yes to all of the above.
About a month ago, my friend Jonathan gave me a tin of this stuff. He does some work with the folks that make it and after cajoling him for about 3 weeks, he finally brought me some to try out. He is a good person.
When you think of Bacon Jam, a whole bevy of ideas come to mind about what it is. Quite simply, it’s bacon that’s been rendered and then simmered for SIX HOURS with onion and spices. The result is complete tastiness. If you don’t believe me, know that I am not the first one to write about the virtues Bacon Jam – just see Matt’s homage.
So much like Bubba from Forest Gump, I spent a day thinking about ways to prepare my first Bacon Jam dish. And because I am perpetually on a diet, I decided to enlist my friends Katharine and Haakon to join me on my first Bacon Jam tasting (a.k.a to keep me from eating the whole tin). At the end of the day we all decided what could be better than bacon on Bacon Jam action?
My only complaint was that we should have put more Bacon Jam on the sandwich.
Mmmm … mmmm …
And because I’m feeling all lovey dovey about all of you … I am doing a Bacon Jam giveaway. My first (but not last! more to come!) giveaway! Yay! I LOVE YOU MAN!
One randomly chosen BIME reader will have an 8 oz jar of Bacon Jam sent directly to your home so you too can experience Bacon nirvana. Just enter by leaving a comment (along with your name/email) on this post.
Comments will be closed on Sunday at midnight and the winner will be announced on Monday, July 27th.
If you can’t wait to try it, just order it here.
Sadly, I believe Skillet Street Food only ships domestically. That means if you are from Canada or Australia, as a good portion of you are, you get no bacon love this time. Sorry guys. xo.
PS. Skillet Street Food is not paying me to say this, nor are they sponsoring this giveaway. I would tell you if that were the case.
Posted in Daily, Foodie, Giveaways | 85 Comments »
Tuesday, July 14th, 2009
We just got back from house sitting for friends in Seattle’s Capitol Hill neighborhood – my old haunt. Paige’s paternal grandmother refers to this place as “gay hill” because (a) there are a large number of gay people living there and (b) because she used to get pleasure from telling me how Paige is going to turn gay from being around gay people – “YOU ARE LIVING UP ON GAY HILL BECAUSE YOU ARE RAISING HER TO BE GAY!”
I mean, c’mon, everyone knows you turn gay from wearing pink (guys) or playing sports (girls). Where the hell has SHE been?
It’s been about 4 years since I bought my house in West Seattle and left Capitol Hill. My first apartment in the Emerald City (circa 1995) was located on the corner of Boylston & Roy, right down street from The Deluxe. I’ve lived in two other places on The Hill since then and (except for the bad relationships) I was happy as a pig in shit living up there. I now live in 1940′s tract housing – 800 sq ft house on 6000 sq. ft. lot (yes I know that my house could fit in your master bedroom suite). It’s a different kind of happiness.
I didn’t think it was possible, but I truly miss being in the hustle and bustle of apartment living. I never fully appreciated things like walking out your front door to coffee and movies and food. I moved away because (a) I really thought having a yard was kismet (b) I thought that was the “next step” and (c) there was no possible way that a single mother could afford to buy anything but a run down studio apartment in a 4 story walk up. If you don’t believe me, just look here. I am not sorry I bought a house, but every time I am up there, it’s like coming home.
So there we were, having a bit of a ‘staycation’ of sorts. In the four years since I’ve lived there, the neighborhood has changed dramatically. The Pike/Pine district is now replete with frock shops and chic restaurants. As of last Friday, there are not one, not two, but THREE gourmet ice cream shops within a 3 block radius. From my vantage point this weekend, I could walk one block and get ice cream. Then walk another block, get some more ice cream. And then if that wasn’t good enough, I could replenish the calories I just expended by getting more ice cream at the third ice cream parlor. That’s city living!
My favorite part of the whole weekend was getting to hang out with Paige at bit more than usual. I was pretty much offline all weekend because I was out exploring and eating. And eating and exploring. I decided to throw caution to the wind and went all out by eating the entire neighborhood up. I kinda regret it because I think I gained 5 lbs (I am afraid to look at the scale).
I was not sorry about eating this:
Poached eggs. Tomato. Cheddar cheese. BACON. Bread. Deliciousness.
Okay, maybe a little sorry.
But not much.
Posted in Daily, Foodie | 8 Comments »
