Black Skimmers!

I went for a walk on the beach and found a flock of terns and black skimmers. Since I had never seen black skimmers before, I ran back to my car for my camera. As it turned out, I had left my telephoto lens on my bedroom floor, so I had the choice of my 90 mm macro lens or my 10-20 mm wide angle lens. I chose the macro lens.

Elegant terns in the flock too

This Heerman's gull was standing right in front of me for a while.

The sun finally went down and pictures started getting blurry.

Crêpes!

I like crêpes a lot, but they always seemed kind of difficult to make. Eventually, I watched some youtube videos and it turns out they aren't that hard. I also learned ways to solve several of the problems I had with them:

• Problem: The crêpe is lumpy because there were flour lumps in the batter
• Solution: put the batter through a strainer or mix the batter in a blender (I should have thought of that, but I didn't)

• Problem: There are holes in the crêpe where the batter didn't cover the area
• Solution: put more batter over the holes. I figured everyone else was just better at tilting the pan to spread the batter (and maybe they are), but this is another way to have crepes that fill the entire area they encompass. The other way is to use a crêpe spreader tool, which is a completely different technique.
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• Problem: The crêpes are supposed to sit in the fridge for an hour, but I don't have space for a mixing bowl
• Problem: I can't eat an entire batch of crêpes
• Problem: taking a cup or ladle full of batter out of the bowl becomes more difficult when there is not enough batter left to submerge the utensil
• Solution: Pour the batter into a mason jar. It takes up less fridge space, and crêpe batter can apparently stay good for two days in the fridge. There is no reason why I have to make the entire batch at once. Even if I do, crêpes can be refrigerated and reheated and still taste good. Also, I found it is easiest to make crêpes by pouring the batter out of the jar straight into the pan.

three eggs, two cups of milk, and one cup of flour all fit in a mason jar

Once I didn't have to worry about scooping out the right amount of batter or tilting the pan exactly right, I could relax and enjoy the process. I was still experimenting with how much batter to pour out, and found I tended to err on the side of not enough, which resulted in crepes with crispy, paper-thin edges. It wasn't very good for rolling up, but one of the edges turned a medium-dark reddish brown color and tasted amazing. I started using more batter so it didn't spread quite so thin, and I got more normal crêpes.

I used this recipe: http://allrecipes.com/recipe/french-crepes/

Beat three eggs with two cups of milk in one bowl and mix one cup of flour, one teaspoon of sugar, and one quarter teaspoon of salt in another bowl. Beat the flour mixture into the egg mixture and stir in two tablespoons of melted butter. Let the batter rest in the fridge for at least an hour, then cook the crêpes.

This was also my first time making savory crêpes. After looking on the internet for ideas of combinations of foods to use, I took a few ideas from the crêpe menu at my school and filled them with onions and little mushrooms I had sautéed in butter, topped with grated gruyère cheese. I had planned on adding some sort of meat, like bacon or ham, but the onions, mushrooms, and cheese by themselves were fantastic.

sautéed crimini mushrooms, sautéed onion, grated gruyère

rolled up and ready to eat

this was the best looking crêpe in the batch, so I used it first and took pictures

I looked at these, and realized that they look like little French burritos or flautas. There is another crêpe recipe that is basically enchiladas, but more French. I haven't made it yet, but I plan to once I get some crème fraîche and make some fromage blanc (French fresh cheese). It comes from my La Cuisine Lorraine book.

Creupes au Fremgeye (crêpes au fromage frais)

Ingredients: 

crêpes

fromage blanc, well drained

crème fraîche

eggs

cooked ham

salt, pepper, and nutmeg

chopped parsley

On each crêpe, spread a thin layer of fromage blanc mixed with a little crème fraîche, an egg, salt, pepper, and nutmeg. Put a slice of ham on top and spread it with more fromage blanc. Roll up the crêpes, and put them side by side in a buttered baking dish. Cover with more fromage blanc, put it in the oven, and cook until it turns into gratin. The book doesn't give an oven temperature, but various gratin recipes on the internet seem to agree on about 375 degrees farenheit. Cook until the top is browned, which is probably somewhere between fifteen and thirty minutes. Sprinkle chopped parsley on top and serve hot.

As I was finishing my leftover crêpes filled with sliced peaches, fresh-squeezed lemon juice, and sugar, I wondered about other sweet crêpe fillings I could use. I've had crêpes with chocolate sauce and Bavarian cream custard, so I thought the chocolate crème pâtissière I use in religieuses would be good.

Then I realized: Why don't I just make a religieuse crêpe?

Religieuse Crêpes

ingredients:

crêpes (see recipe above)

crème pâtissière (see this post about religieuses)

crème au beurre frosting (see religieuse post again)

melted chocolate

Spread each crêpe with crème pâtissière. Roll up the crêpe and drizzle melted chocolate on it. Pipe crème au beurre frosting on top with a pastry bag with a star tip. If you are feeling extra fancy, garnish with those curly decorative chocolate pieces or chopped hazelnut and maybe drizzle some melted chocolate on the plate.

Religieuses are usually eaten cold I think, so you could refrigerate all the ingredients before assembling them. This seems easier than refrigerating the finished assembled crêpe. 

Lorraine Food: Sauerkraut

A year ago and a half ago, my French grandmother gave me a book called La Cuisine Lorraine. It isn't so much a cookbook as a book about Lorraine food. It has general procedures for making foods and ingredient lists, but it rarely has anything as specific as cooking time. In addition to these recipes, it has bits of history about food in the Lorraine region, illustrations, poems, and a few stories written in both French and a local patois.

After looking through it occasionally for a while, I decided that I would like to try to make one of the sauerkraut recipes. It consists of pork shoulder slow cooked with sauerkraut, onions, spices, and potatoes. The cooking time was not specified, other than it must be at least a half hour, but I looked at similar recipes on the next page and got an idea of how long to cook it.

If you can read French, cool! If not, here is the recipe:

Ingredients:

• pork shoulder
• sauerkraut- about as much by weight as the pork shoulder. I think you are supposed to rinse it.
• onions
• salt and pepper
• thyme
• bay leaf
• nutmeg
• some liquid to simmer it in. The recipe says dry white wine, but I just used some chicken broth that I had.
• potatoes
• smoked ham or sausage (optional)

Procedure:

1. brown the pork shoulder in the pan. 

2. Add the liquid, sauerkraut, salt, pepper, bay leaf, entire onions, and plenty of thyme and nutmeg. Add ham and/ or sausage if desired.

3. Cover the pan and let it simmer for three hours.

4. A half hour before it is done, cut up some potatoes and put them in the pan. They will cook from the steam.

Chocolate Coconut Omelette

I was looking at a recipe on marmiton.com, when I saw the "Au hasard" button (Au hasard is French for random). I decided it would be fun to click it a few times and see if anything interesting came up. One of the more interesting results was the Omelette chocolat coco, or chocolate coconut omelette. My boyfriend's cousin decided that we should make it after our religion class one evening, so I brought ingredients and the recipe, my boyfriend brought his knowledge of how to actually make an omelette, and his cousin helped us eat the finished product.

http://www.marmiton.org/recettes/recette_omelette-chocolat-coco_50400.aspx

After making this food, I looked at the ingredients again and realized this contains slightly more chocolate than eggs by weight, and I was using extra large eggs. Basically, it tasted like a very chocolaty brownie. Not only can it be made extremely quickly without waiting for an oven to heat up, it would also be a good brownie alternative to people who can't eat flour. Unfortunately, the only person I see very often who can't eat flour also can't eat chocolate. So no chocolate omelette brownies for him.

just poured the chocolate egg mixture into the pan

Ingredients:
100 grams of chocolate chips
100 grams of dark chocolate
3 eggs
shredded coconut

just flipped over the omelette

Procedure:
1. Melt the dark chocolate. You can use a double boiler/ bain-marie, but I used the microwave.
2. beat the eggs in a bowl, then add the chocolate chips and melted chocolate.
3. Make the omelette.
4. Sprinkle coconut on the omelette and serve. We actually added the coconut to the omelette while it was still cooking, so it added some nice texture to the inside.

I would make this again, especially since it is an easier alternative to making brownies, and I don't like waiting for the oven to preheat. I might not put in quite as much chocolate next time, though.

Eating some of the finished omelette.

Italian Food

My brother makes good food, so I keep trying to get him to put recipes on a blog. Finally, I just asked him if I could put them on my blog. Here is the recipe he wrote for a kind of Italian food, along with some pictures he took. I have eaten it once and it was good.

The soul of Pasta alla Giorno. Just EVOO, Pine nuts, garlic, tomatoes, rocket, and salt.

Begin boiling about 150-170g pasta secca in a sufficient amount of salty water.

Start by gently heating two tablespoons of high-quality extra virgin olive oil (see if you can get something under 0.5% acidity, or single origin). 

Toast a handful of pine nuts halfway through, then add two or three cloves finely minced garlic, careful not to burn anything.

As the garlic just begins to brown, throw in two chopped tomatoes, salt generously depending on how salted your pasta water is, reduce heat, and stir. Continue cooking the tomatoes while the pasta finishes, tossing around and letting them soften, but not dissolve completely.

Twenty or so seconds before you mix the seasoning with the pasta, add in one or two cups of loosely chopped rocket (arugula) leaves, removed from their stems, and mix them around until they're about halfway wilted. This happens very quickly.

Remove the pan from the heat and mix it with your freshly cooked pasta secca in a bowl. The pasta's heat will finish wilting the rocket. Pepper to taste and serve.

Religieuses

Religieuses

Religiuses (French for Nuns) are French pastries. They are sort of like éclairs, except they are shaped like nuns who are shaped like snowmen. They can also have some sort of cream stuff on them, but I made it wrong the first time, and the second time I decided it was too much work.

A religieuse is composed of two pâtes à choux (a small one and a big one), chocolate crème pâtissière, fondant with chocolate, and crème au beurre. The crème au beurre can be flavored with smushed up pralines (hazelnuts covered in carmelized sugar). The internet says it can also be flavored like coffee, as can the crème pâtissière and fondant, but I don't drink coffee or eat stuff with it in it, so I will be sticking to chocolate and praline.

I have only made them successfully twice out of four attempts. The first two times I was following a recipe that told me to cook it for half the time I was supposed to, which made them collapse and look more like a nun that got stepped on by an elephant than a normal nun. If you cook it long enough, it should puff up and then stay puffed up once you take it out of the oven and let it cool.

I mostly followed the recipes from http://chocomaniac.canalblog.com/, but the cooking time for the pâte à choux is way off. I used the cooking directions from http://cuisine.journaldesfemmes.com/recette/311471-pate-a-choux.


Fondant (Melting)

Okay, fondant is French for 'melting', but it is also French (and English) for sugar and water with a lot of air in it to make it opaque. It can be rolled into cake coverings or made into candy, but in this case I am just adding some water to make it more runny and adding melted chocolate. My brother, who ate real French religieuses, says the semisweet Ghiradelli chips I was using taste weird in the fondant, but they were all right in the filling. Find some actual French chocolate if you want it to taste French.

This recipe makes way more fondant than you need for your religieuses. Use 100 grams of it and then store the rest. It should stay good for a month at least.

You need a pan, a thermometer, an electric mixer (or a whisk and arm muscles), a work surface, and a pastry brush (or paper towel)
You also need:

500 grams of granulated sugar
150 grams of water
50 grams of chocolate (when you assemble the religieuses)

put the sugar and water in the pot and cook. if you get sugar on the sides, brush it off with a wet pastry brush. Cook between 114 and 116 degrees C (237.2 to 240.8 degrees F). when it is the right temperature, put it in a bowl or tub or something of cold water until it cools to 75 degrees C (167 degrees F). Change the water if the container is too small and the water heats up too much.
When it is the right temperature, stick the electric mixer or whisk directly into the bowl and mix it until it is opaque and white and looks like mashed potatoes. Dump and scrape it out of the pan onto your work surface and knead all the lumps out. Wrap it up in plastic wrap until you are ready to use it. The internet says it is supposed to sit for 3 days before you use it, but that might be for if you are rolling it out. You will be adding water and making it runny, so I don't think the texture matters.



Crème Pâtissière au Chocolat (chocolate pastry cream)

Crème pâtissière is a sort of custardy filling that you flavor with chocolate to make the filling of the religieuses. You need a pan, a bowl, a spoon or two, and something to put it in the fridge in.
You also need:

500 milliliters of milk
100 grams of sugar
4 egg yolks
40 grams of corn starch
100 grams of semisweet chocolate (The recipe says 'chocolat dessert'. I haven't found anything that translates it exactly, but it looks like that is what it is.)

Bring 450 milliliters of the milk to a boil. In the bowl, mix up the rest of the milk, the corn starch, and the sugar. Add the egg yolks to the corn starch mixture and stir until it is smooth and not lumpy. Pour this into the boiling milk and stir while bringing it back to a boil.
Once it is boiling again, turn off the heat and pour the yellowish goop into a bowl or tupperware or something. Put it in the fridge to get all cold. Melt the chocolate and stir it in to the goo when it is cool.



Pâte à Choux (cabbage pastry)

I don't know why they call it that. Maybe they decided that it looks like a cabbage since the pastries are round and cabbages are round. Pâte means the dough you make the pastry out of, as well as the pastries once you cook them. Basically it is a roundish cooked dough thing that you fill with delicious cream or custard stuff.
You can also add some grated gruyère cheese to the dough and then cook it, making something called a gougère. You don't put creamy chocolatey stuff in gougères. I haven't made them yet because it is eight to ten bucks for a block of gruyère, and I am a poor starving college student. From a quick glance at a couple recipes, it looks like you are supposed to put in as much volume gruyère as flour, or half the weight of gruyère as flour.

Pâte à choux is really easy to make, as long as you cook it for enough time. You need a pan, a bowl, a spoon (I like a wooden spoon), cookie sheets (as many as fit in your oven), and a pastry bag. Grease the cookie sheets or the pâtes will stick to it. You could also put them on baking paper.
You also need:

250 milliliters of water
80 grams of butter, chopped in little pieces
a pinch of salt
150 grams of flour
4 eggs

Preheat the oven to 390 degrees F.
Put the butter, salt, and butter in a pan and bring to a boil. Turn off the stove and dump in all the flour at once. Stir it with the spoon until it is well mixed and homogenous. turn the stove back on and push it around  for a few seconds to dry it out a bit. It shouldn't be getting stuck all over the sides of the pan when it is dry enough.
Dump it out of the pan and into the bowl. Crack one of the eggs into to bowl and stir it in. Once it is completely mixed in, add the next one. Continue until all four eggs are mixed into the dough. This not only mixes in the egg, but also makes you stir a bunch of air into the dough, which helps it rise later.
Put the dough in a pastry bag, put the end of it against the cookies sheet where you want the pastry to cook, and squeeze the dough out until it is sort of the size you want it, but smaller. They grow bigger in the oven. You want to make some little ones for the heads of the nuns and some big ones for the bodies. The crème pâtissière and fondant recipes make a lot more than enough for just one batch of pâtes à choux, so I make two batches at least. Try to have about the same amount of small ones as big ones, or you end up with a lot of headless nuns or disembodied nun heads.
Put the cookie sheets in the oven. Let them cook for 25 minutes. During this time, do not open the oven door or the pastries will collapse. When 25 minutes is up, change the temperature on the oven to 360 degrees F. Let it cook for another 15 minutes. Remove them from the oven and let them cool.


Crème au Beurre (Butter Cream, but not the same as buttercream icing)


    200 grams of butter!

This is the part i haven't successfully made. I tried it once, but I didn't really look at the directions while I was making it and did several things wrong. It came out tasting good, but it was all runny. I plan on trying to make it again next time I make religieuses. To flavor the crème au beurre with praline, either find some praline flavoring or run the pralines I will explain how to make later through a food processor until it is a smooth paste. Don't let it food process it too long at a time because it might kill the food processor or melt the caramel on the praline.


pralines in the food processor (solid food attachment for the blender)
fun fact: French people call food processors robots.

the recipe is from http://chefsimon.com/creme-au-beurre.html except now it is less in French

You need a pan, a pastry brush, a thermometer, a whisk, and a bowl.
You also need:

200 grams of butter, cut into pieces and mushed up with a spoon
150 grams of sugar
30 milliliters of water
5 egg yolks
flavor (praline in this case)

Put the sugar and water in a pan. Use the pastry brush to get all the sugar off the sides. Turn on the stove and  heat the sugar water until it is 105 degrees C (221 degrees F). While whipping the egg yolks in the bowl, pour the sugar water on them. Keep attacking it with the whisk, and the mixture will turn white and when you lift the whisk out, it will stay attached and make a thick ribbon between the surface of the mixture and the whisk.
Let the mixture cool down. When it is lukewarm, add the mushed-up butter. Stir in a little at a time to get a homogeneous mixture. Add the flavoring. I don't know how much, but don't overdo it. It is better to have to keep adding flavor because you didn't put in enough than to put in too much.


Assembling the Religieuses


    finished religieuses (you can see I made the crème au beurre wrong)

Put the chocolate goop (crème pâtissière) in a pastry bag and poke the pointy end through the pâte à choux. Fill each one up with the chocolate goop. If you have leftover goop, either make more choux or eat it with a spoon.


chocolate mixed with the fondant

Gently melt 100 grams of fondant with 50 grams of chocolate. When it is runny enough to be  poured, pour it on the tops of a large pâte à choux. You may need to add a little water. Stick a smaller one in the still-sticky fondant to form the snowman-nun. put fondant on the nun's head. Repeat for all the religieuses.
Put the crème au beurre in a pastry bag with a tip that has pointy teeth in a circle. Put a round dot on top of the nun's head, and put it around the nun's neck to make a ruff or collar. Do an image search to see what they are supposed to look like.
Put the religieueses in the fridge and eat them when they are cold.

Pralines

I made pralines to put in the crème au beurre, but I had a lot of extra that I didn't grind up. Everyone really liked them and said it seemed like a waste to grind them up and mix them with other stuff, so later I made them just to be eaten as they were. They disappeared amazingly quickly.

I used the recipe from http://scally.typepad.com/cest_moi_qui_lai_fait/2009/03/pralin%C3%A9-p%C3%A2te-de-pralin%C3%A9-fait-maison.html

You need a pan, a spoon, a cookie sheet or baking mat or some other surface that can get hot things poured in it, and a thermometer.

You also need:

400 grams of hazelnuts (filberts)

250 grams of sugar

70 grams of water

if the skins are still on the hazelnuts, you need to get them off. I've tried roasting them in the oven and then rubbing them with a dishcloth, but that only worked for half the skins. I found a much better way to do it from http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/504535. This site is in English so I don't have to translate it. Double the amount of water and baking soda, but be aware that it will foam up if you let the heat go on too high. I stayed at the stove and turned it down whenever it got close to the top.

If you haven't already, roast the hazelnuts in a 350 degree F oven for 10 minutes.

Put the sugar and water in a pot on medium-high heat. When it reaches 250 degrees F, take it off the heat and add the hazelnuts. Stir them around to coat them. The sugar should get all grainy like sand. Put it back on the stove and let the sugar caramelize, then dump it all on your cookie sheet or baking mat to cool. When you can touch it, break up the bigger chunks.

Right after you dump the hazelnuts out of the pan, take a spoon and scrape off as much caramelized sugar as you can onto a spoon. When it is cool enough, suck on the sugar on the spoon. (Optional but recommended)

Partial Annular Solar Eclipse

Today there was an annular solar eclipse. I was too far south to see the Ring of Fire, but I got to see the sun shaped like a crescent with a couple cards with a pinhole and with my camera. 

This picture came out rather nicely, considering I couldn't use my viewfinder to set up the shot because I would burn my eyes out if looked at the sun through my 300 mm camera lens.

After getting all the pictures I wanted of the sun, I turned around and saw some interesting shadows on the wall, with upside-down crescents of light shining through the leaves. It's the same thing happening there as the pinhole I used to see the eclipse.