h o m e * e c o n o m i c s

poached pears with chocolate sauce

In this Jacques Pepin dessert, pears are poached in sugar water, which is then reduced and mixed with chocolate to sauce the pears. Unfortunately I used the bittersweet chocolate I had on hand instead of unsweetened, so the sauce was a little too sweet. But it is good to remember how nice poached or roasted fruit is for dessert. I would have been just as happy (happier) with cream or nothing instead of even the chocolate sauce.

IMBB 15: a clean, sparkling bowl of raspberries in lemonade

Ever eager to wed high and low, I was planning to make elegant Jello shots with champagne and strawberries for Is My Blog Burning 15 (my first!). When it came down to it, though, I didn't feel like spending $10 for a bottle of bad champagne and so bought sparkling lemonade instead (a good thing, too, since I ended up eating this for breakfast). Tiny, gemlike raspberries seemed likelier candidates than humongous strawberries for suspension in a clear bowl. Though they ended up surprising me by bobbing to the top, overall I was pleased with the way this looked and tasted. The gelatin was not too sweet and very refreshing; you could still feel the starry fizz, which is exactly what I was hoping for. The raspberries still tasted fantastic (I had been gobbling them while dissolving the gelatin), which was a relief, since it would have been a shame to waste all those expensive fresh berries. Next time I will make this in a shallower glass dish, or one big shallow dish to be cut into cubes, each cube containing one raspberry and looking like an ice cube! That would be fun to float in a girly cocktail.

1. Sprinkle 3.5 tsp. unflavored gelatin over 1 cup of water in a medium saucepan. Let sit for five minutes, then turn burner on and dissolve gelatin over low heat, stirring constantly. I added and dissolved a spoonful of honey and wish I had added a tiny bit more, maybe 2 tbs.

2. When gelatin has dissolved, turn off heat and stir in 1 bottle (750 ml.) sparkling lemonade. Lemonade will foam up and look like a crazy science experiment!

3. When it subsides, pour into containers (you will have about 5 cups of liquid). Stir in 2 cups of raspberries (or however many you want to eat), cover, and refrigerate until set.

UPDATE: I love the tiny version at Food Chronicles--and the pictures she links to of Blair Fukumura's desserts. Now I am dying to make little Damien Hirst Jello shots!

perils and pleasures of dining alone

The weekend after my birthday, I cat-sat Victor and his new kittyfriend in Park Slope. Needless to say, I was not about to start cooking up a storm in a strange kitchen. Even if I had been willing to do that, though, I would have been seduced by the very excellent Bierkraft, which occupies the ground floor of the cats' building. Their website doesn't do the shop justice, and neither did I, for the longest time--I saw Bierkraft when I lived in Park Slope, but I thought it was a fancy beer selection and salty snacks. No. They have an amazing selection of cheeses, imported delicacies, meats, and even little organic free range chickens. I decided to try Cowgirl Creamery's Mount Tam triple-cream cheese, which I had been eyeing in various stores for a long time.

On a Carr's oat biscuit, it was basically like dessert (n.b. this did not prevent me from enjoying some dark chocolate for dessert). I thought I tasted a pleasant grassiness, but this may have been wishful thinking; I know the parts nearer the rind tasted of ammonia, which seems to be a common problem with (or perhaps just characteristic of) this type of soft, chalky-rinded cheese.

I ate too much cheese. I ate cheese and chocolate and chips and dip. I ran the loop of Prospect Park and looked forward to returning to proper meals and green vegetables!