Savory ice cream
Rosemary-walnut tart crust
Fallen mushroom souffle
Buttered pears in champagne vinegar gastrique
Decorations a la Iron Chef
Heat 2 cups milk in a small saucepan to roughly 160° Fahrenheit,
just below simmering. Do not allow it to come to a boil. Whisk the egg
yolks with ¼ cup of the hot milk until smooth. Slowly pour the
egg mixture into the saucepan, stirring constantly. Cook over low heat
and continue to stir for about five minutes. The custard will thicken
noticeably. Remove from heat and chill thoroughly, preferably for 2-3
hours in the refrigerator. If you have a professional ice cream
freezing machine, you can add the mixture after chilling the pan in an
ice bath for a few minutes, but this practice is not recommended for
home ice cream makers.
Combine 1 cup of inexpensive Sauternes (Muscat, Beerenauslese or a late
harvest Semillon or Riesling can be substituted if necessary) with 1 cup
of pear nectar, and simmer down over medium heat until reduced by nearly
half in volume. Add the shallot pureé just before taking the
mixture off the heat, and stir until well blended. As with the custard
mixture, chill this liquid thoroughly.
Place the chilled custard and the Sauternes liquid in the bowl of a food
processor with the Roquefort cheese. Blend until almost smooth; leave
some pea-sized chunks of cheese. If desired, add ¼ cup of
coarsely ground black walnuts for a differently textured ice cream.
Freeze according to the directions of your ice cream maker. You can also
pour the mixture into a freezer-safe container and place it in the coldest
part of your freezer, removing the mixture and running it through a food
processor or blender every few hours until it is completely frozen and has a
creamy, desirable texture.
Preheat oven to 300° Fahrenheit. Cream butter with sugar and
rosemary until light and fluffy. Stir in the walnuts. Slowly knead in
the flour by hand, stirring with a spoon until just combined, then
kneading by hand until the dough is soft and resilient. Roll out the
dough ¼" thick and generously cover a 9" pie pan with some scraps
left over. Bake until golden brown, about 55 minutes. "Iron chef"
speed cooking fans can increase the temperature to 350° and decrease
the baking time to 30 minutes, but the best results in shortbread are
from longer baking at low temperatures. The shortbread is done when it
is a light golden brown.
Preheat oven to 450° Fahrenheit. Melt all but 1 tablespoon of the
butter in a large saucepan, blending in the flour to form a thin roux. Cook
for two or three minutes over medium heat, stirring constantly, until the
butter foams. Whisk in ¾ cup of the milk to form a thick sauce.
In a seperate saucepan, heat the remaining tablespoon of butter until it
foams. Saute the mushrooms briefly over medium high heat, about one to
two minutes, and season with salt and pepper. With a slotted spoon,
transfer the cooked mushrooms to the sauce. Over high heat, reduce the
mushroom liquids left in the pan to a tablespoon or less, and add to the
sauce. Blend well, and remove from heat.
While the mushrooms are cooling, generously butter and flour a 9"
soufflé dish. Any oven-safe bowl with edges that are at least 4"
high will do if you do not have a soufflé dish. Stir the 2 egg
yolks into the mushroom mixture. Beat the egg whites with 1/8 tsp cream
of tartar to stiff peaks. Carefully fold the mushroom mixture into the
egg whites. Immediately pour into the prepared soufflé dish and
bake in the middle of the oven for 30 minutes, reducing the heat to
375° after 5 minutes. The soufflé should be slightly firm
and springy to the touch in the center when it is done. Remove the
soufflé from the oven and allow it to cool. It will fall,
shrinking considerably in volume and producing a somewhat denser
mushroom tart.
Carefully remove the fallen soufflé from the dish and place it
over the shortbread crust. If desired, top with additional sauteed
mushrooms and toasted black walnuts.
When ready to serve, bake the tart in a preheated oven at 350°
Fahrenheit for ten minutes and serve warm with Roquefort-Sauternes ice
cream and buttered pears.
Peel, core and slice the pears ¼" thick. Melt the butter over
medium heat until it foams, and saute the pears until soft. Add the
vinegar and the brandy or wine and simmer over low heat for another
three to four minutes. Season with freshly cracked black pepper and
serve warm with the mushroom tart.
Hints and tips: Crimini (brown) mushrooms are both inexpensive and
packed with the intense mushroom flavor that you want in this tart, and
are highly recommended for use in the soufflé. You can also use
chanterelles or other wild mushrooms, especially to garnish the top of
the tart. Roasted portobello caps, sauteed morels or black trumpet
mushrooms are excellent and tasty adornments.
Use an inexpensive sweet wine for the reduction with pear nectar, as the
reduction and alcohol removal process destroys the subtle aromatics of a
finer wine. If you wish the flavor of a better quality of Sauternes in the
ice cream, add a small amount of the real thing to the ice cream after it is
frozen, blending them together in a food processor and then re-freezing. Do
not add more than 10% of the volume of the ice cream in wine, as alcohol is
a significant antifreezing agent.
Baking the soufflé and the tart seperately creates a light,
buttery crust reminiscent of a savory shortbread cookie. If you happen
to be pressed for time, or if you prefer a risen soufflé to the
denser fallen version, use the following baking instructions for the
crust and tart, which will yield a denser and less tender crust due to
the liquid yield from the soufflé.
Use a buttered soufflé ring to raise the sides of the pie pan at
least four inches, or make your own by cutting out a long strip of
buttered parchment paper and placing it around the crust in a vertically
edged pie pan. Paint the crust with a glaze made from one egg white
beaten with one tablespoon of water, and bake at 350° for 15
minutes. Paint again with another batch of glaze, dust with flour and
pour in the soufflé. Turn the heat up to 375° and bake for
an additional 30 minutes.
Decorations a la Iron Chef: Candy tiny, edible lavender
blossoms by brushing them lightly with beaten egg white or reconstituted
dried egg white and dusting them with sugar. Dry them in the oven at
250° for about 10 minutes, and store any surplus in a tightly sealed
container. Be sure to purchase food grade lavender, as the flowers used
for potpourri contain chemicals and are not intended for human
consumption. Sprinkle lavender blossoms over the ice cream, and
decorate with thin strips of gold foil.
Are you ready to challenge the California Iron Chef? If you are, go ahead
and enter the Cyber Kitchen Stadium! The gong of fate
will sound!
Roquefort-Sauternes Ice Cream
2 cups milk
4 egg yolks
1 cup pear nectar
1 cup Sauternes
¼ lb Roquefort cheese
1 tablespoon roasted shallot pureé
Fallen mushroom soufflé tart
Savory rosemary-walnut shortbread crust
2½ cups all-purpose flour
¼ cup corn flour
2 tablespoons freshly chopped rosemary leaves
1 cup unsalted butter at room temperature
¼ cup brown sugar
½ cup coarsely ground toasted black walnuts
Mushroom soufflé
6 tablespoons butter
4 tablespoons flour
8 oz thinly sliced mushrooms
1 cup milk
¼ tsp salt
Freshly ground black pepper to taste
5 egg whites
2 egg yolks
1/8 tsp cream of tartar
Buttered Pears
2 firm fleshed pears (preferably Comice)
1 tablespoon butter
Freshly ground black pepper
1 tablespoon champagne vinegar
1 tablespoon brandy or port wine
Special thanks and credit to John Burkhart for the gong.
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