Chocolate Cream Pie

I am told that when I was a child, one of my favorite foods was Gerber chocolate pudding. And really, what baby wouldn't be happy to eat that? I vaguely recall loving it long after I was out of the puree stage; I think my cousin Cheryl once bought me a few jars of it for Christmas and I didn't even know Cheryl until I was 5 or 6.


Chocolate pudding is rich, comforting, hearty, and fantastic. I happen to think I make the best chocolate pudding in the world and I am about to share all my secrets with you.


Let me preface this by saying that last weekend my sister and I made a chocolate cream pie; I say my sister and I because I cannot make pie crust. I am determined to master it someday but I am not there yet. My sister used this recipe and we all agree that it was nearly the best pie crust we've ever had. So make this crust, bake it off, and then use my chocolate pudding to fill it; add real whipped cream and you will have yourself a slice of heaven.


For more than a few years in a row, my sisters and I made 50+ pies in a span of 3 days for a July 4 celebration. We are all pie masters. As a result of this, I have memorized the pudding recipe and can make it anywhere on a moment's notice. It's not fool-proof, easy, or quick. It is worth it. You'll thank me later.


Ingredients:
1/3 Cup cornstarch
3 Cups milk
2/3 Cup sugar
1/8 tsp salt


4 beaten egg yolks


2 oz excellent quality chocolate, melted
1 tsp vanilla


You need to do some prep work here. Melt your chocolate in a bowl and set aside (or use 3tbsp cocoa and 1 tbsp light oil per oz if you don't have chocolate. I always end up using more than 2 tbsp oil total to make the chocolate very easy to pour and therefore easier to mix into the pudding later).  Put your egg yolks into a medium size bowl and give them a good whisk.


In your best pot (something that will heat evenly and hold heat well), put in the first 4 ingredients. I use whole milk if I am really indulging, organic skim milk if I am trying to be a little better. Regular skim milk is too watery and your pudding won't have the silky rich feeling to it. I have used soy milk; if you choose to, reduce the sugar by 1/3 cup. You now have 3 bowls of "stuff".

Put the pot on medium or medium low heat and start stirring. Stir gently; you're not beating up your food here, you're preventing any milk from sticking and making sure everything heats evenly and all the solids dissolve. I use a wooden spoon and make a very slow figure 8 in the pot, rotating the top of the 8 occasionally so I get the entire bottom of the pot. You have to do this until the whole mixture comes to a boil for 1 minute. It doesn't come to a rolling boil, just a steady glug-glug, one bubble at a time. How long does it take? It depends on the pot, the stove, etc. Anywhere from 15 to 30 minutes. You'll know you're close when the milk takes on a foamy translucence, then it will thicken quickly. It will get VERY thick when it's boiling.

After the mixture has boiled for one minute, take it off the heat (but don't turn the stove off). take a few spoonfuls of the milk mixture and slowly pour it into the yolks, stirring the yolks as you do this (it helps to have a buddy for this part). This is tempering the yolks to heat them a little so they don't turn into scrambled eggs in your pudding.  When the yolks are hot, add the whole thing back into the pudding pot, stir well, and bring to another boil on the stove. Glug-glug for 30 seconds. Keep stirring the pot constantly and a little more vigorously this time; this is when pudding will burn on very easily.


NOW you can turn the heat off and take the pot off the stove. Add the chocolate and the vanilla and stir stir stir.

Pour it into whatever you want (crust, serving bowl, etc.) and put a layer of plastic wrap directly on the top of the pudding, eliminating any air pockets you see (to prevent pudding skin; I'm not a fan). If you are making a pie, make sure the crust is cool before you pour the pudding in, otherwise the crust will get very mushy.


I think it was Martha Stewart who said that she pushes her pudding through a sieve when it is hot to remove the lumps--and yes, sometimes lumps happen. I don't bother. It's homemade pudding and just like homemade potatoes, sometimes they are lumpy. It's ok. This particular time, I didn't have a single lump (one near catastrophe I will never admit to but not lumps).

A piece of heaven. You're welcome!

Pasta Pasta Pasta!

I do not love pasta. I have lived in this state for nearly four years and I still have one of the first boxes of pasta I bought when I moved here. Dried pasta for me is usually a waste--a waste of stomach room, carbs, calories--all those things I normally don't give a second thought to. The exception to this pasta snub is fresh pasta. I love fresh pasta. Again, I don't eat it very often (it's not easy to find here and the grocery store kind does NOT count) but when I do I enjoy it tremendously.


Last weekend I happened to be in Boston. I usually go to Boston for one reason--Logan Airport. I am either on a bus or being driven to or from. Rush, rush, hurry, hurry. This spring I think I will have the opportunity to see a little more of the city (or the "big town" as one of my friends calls it).


After wandering around a little bit last Sunday, my sister and I happened into the Mission Hill section of town on Tremont St. We were hungry and had no idea what was around us. Not knowing a good spot for lunch, I made the arbitrary decision that we go to Lilly's Gourmet Pasta Express, a decision we were more than thrilled with.


I completely understand why real Italian folk might be offended by the concept of fast and easy design your own pasta dishes; however, let me tell you, my sister and I had a delicious lunch! 


My sister had ziti with meatballs.

This was fresh ziti. Light and tender, rich and cooked perfectly. The sauce reminded me of the Italian places in Portland back in the late 80s-early 90s, simple and fresh. 

I had tortellini with chicken, peas, onions, and pink sauce (marinara with a little cream).

As fresh as the pasta and sauce were, as caramelized as the onions were, as juicy as the chicken was, the peas were AMAZING. Do not ask me how a Boston chain rest has fresh peas in February. They couldn't possibly be fresh but they tasted like the were just picked and they were not mushy or overcooked at all. SO GOOD.

Both of these dishes were served with hunks of warm Italian bread. They were so big that we couldn't finish either of them, so, for around $25 we got 4 great meals. The guy running the place obviously had at least partial ownership. He was a friendly cute guy who was very helpful, made lots of suggestions to customers, and went out of his way to make sure everyone was happy. Yummy food and good service, what more can anyone ask for?

I was on Chowhound today and came across the following comment in regards to Snow's Chowder being sold to Bumble Bee, and BB changing the recipe for their chowder. It cracked me up so I thought if you used to like Snow's Chowder, it would crack you up, too:

"I sent the following message to Snow's: "I am extremely upset at your company. I have been buying Snow's condensed clam chowder for 40+ years. You changed the recipe!!! The new stuff is awful, truly awful. Didn't you learn anything from the New Coke disaster? Even worse you did it quietly behind everyone's back without admitting it. Don't think people haven't noticed. My entire family both in California and Massachusetts hate the new stuff. And don't insult my intelligence by telling me no changes were made. I have a can of the old, good chowder. I compared them side by side. The new concoction smells different. It it thinner. The clams and potatoes are smaller. It's crap. Even my cat didn't want it. Did Bumble Bee do this to you? What a crime! You ought to be ashamed of yourselves. You ruined a time honored fantastic product. Well, I'll never buy another product from any company associated with you again. " They have not replied."

Ode to Brunch, #1

My life is a study in conflicts. Not two weeks after I wrote a blog about not liking things too salty I made a banana bread that ended up bland (I put as much salt as the recipe called for, fyi). I love to sleep late on the weekends but I love, love, LOVE breakfast.


This is why I am so happy that brunch exists. One thing I love is a great brunch. There are so many good things about brunch; you can have breakfast OR lunch, you can have it almost anytime during the day, after you have brunch with friends you still have the day ahead of you to do whatever you like, and you can take a nap after it if you want.


Brunch alone is just eating; brunch with friends or family is an event. And I have had some fun, amazing, great brunches. I'm sure future blogs will discuss other brunches in more detail; here are a few highlights.

Ok, so donuts right out of the fryer are decidedly NOT brunch but look at these golden orbs of yumminess with the sun shining right on them...seriously, would you turn these down if someone showed up at brunch with them? My dad and sisters made them and they are just as delicious as they look. Sometime there will be a detailed donut blog.

A few years ago we had Easter brunch at my cousin's house. My cousin and his partner are great hosts and great cooks. This brunch was poached eggs on english muffins, bacon, trifle, fruit salad, croissants, and cake. Beautiful and fun! By the looks of the glassware, we also had mimosas. Plural, I'm guessing.

The Front Room in Portland, ME is one of my favorite places to get brunch. The lines are insane on the weekend, the service isn't great. The noise is atrocious, the tables are packed together. This restaurant makes a perfectly runny poached egg and they make their own brown bread--and that is all that matters. 

Another great poached egg; made even better with short rib hash. This was my birthday brunch a few months ago. I had two really strong drinks that had rum AND vodka in them before this meal so it's hard to say if it was truly good or not but I did have a very happy birthday!

Restaurant Week Maine

There are lots of great things about restaurant week. A friend and I used it as an excuse to get out to a good dinner at a reasonable price, trying a new place at the same time. After looking at all the choices participating this round, we tried the strangely named Academe Brasserie at the Kennebunk Inn. Clicking the link will take you to their Restaurant Week menu.


The dining room was not overcrowded, which I like. For a mostly dead town mid-winter, the restaurant was full; a testament to the success of restaurant week, I think. The regular, day-to-day menu was much different than their restaurant week offerings; usually they have burgers, wings, chicken and dumplings, and of course, a lobster roll (this is why I found the name so odd).


We started with cocktails. My friend had the Sage Against the Machine, and apparently, the bartender who won an award with this drink was working this night. The drink was very good. Lots of flavors, not too sweet, not too boozey, and very interesting. I had the Maine Lemonade, which was slightly more boozey and very very tart. Personally, I like to finish my cocktail before I start eating but appetizers came out right away. I had the PEI mussels.

These were delicious. There were only 3 unopened ones in the entire, giant bowl. The toast was brushed with butter and garlic; the broth was herby and buttery and perfect with the toast. The mussels were very clean, which is very important to me! My friend had the salad. I did not try it but any salad with goat cheese has to be good, right?

The main courses were a tough choice. There are signs EVERYWHERE about Cat Cora mentioning their lobster pot pie on the Food Network show The Best Think I Ever Ate. So it seemed obvious that one of us would order it; my friend stepped up to the plate.

The puff pastry on the top of this dish was by far, hands down, no question, the best puff pastry I've ever had. Light, crispy, so so buttery. I could have had just that and been happy (well, more than just one piece, obviously). The stuff in the pot? I'm sad to say, completely forgettable. Notice the blog above, which states that salt is an important element in bringing out flavors in dishes? Perhaps the person who assembled this creation forgot about that part. It was so bland. There were no noticeable flavors whatsoever (except the pea). It's really sad when you order something called "lobster this or that" and you can't taste lobster. Even when you know you have a chunk of it sitting on your tongue. There was nothing "bad" about this lobster pot pie but it was pretty disappointing considering the signs outside, on the menu, and placards on each  table touting its greatness (not an exaggeration).


For each night of Restaurant Week, Academe was offering a special that was not on the menu. The night we went, the special was a sous vide duck. This dish had about 8 different elements, and I wish I had written them down. What is sous vide? It's a cooking method. I like to think of it as fancy "boil in the bag." My dad used to occasionally bring home La Choy dinners that I seem to remember us throwing in boiling water on the stove but that is a digression. It was savory, sweet, smoky, satisfying. It had potatoes, endive, leeks, sherry reduction....it was so delicious and was worth the entire price of the 3-course meal on its own.

I know it looks pink; do not be alarmed. That is due to the cooking method. It was brought up to a safe temperature inside its vacuum-sealed bag. I did not eat the fat though; chewy duck fat is not my favorite.

These were the dessert selections tonight. My friend chose the s'more.

The torching of the marshmallow made the outer edge of the chocolate warm and drippy and gooey. This was yummy and was just this side of being too sweet for me. I could have eaten the whole thing, though, and I loved that it came with a shot of milk. I ordered the lemon meringue cheesecake.

This was a little heavy but not too heavy for cheesecake, if that makes any sense. I liked that the marshmallow on top was freshly toasted. The lemon filling was not too sweet and was very tart. The coffee was really, really good.


We both enjoyed our meals but I think we both feel we got the best of what this restaurant has to offer, and therefore, I don't think we'd go back. The one odd thing about our meal was our server. She forgot us twice (admitted it openly once); she did bring us some sorbet to make up for it--it was lime, SUPER salty, and not delicious. In all honesty we think she was high, and getting more so, throughout our meal. It was the random comments to us, the forgetting us and not seeming to really be too apologetic about it. Telling us that sweet things were really salty and vice versa, bringing us two coffees after she confirmed that we only wanted one..just little things throughout the evening that convinced us that she wasn't busy, or overworked, she was under some influence. It added some character to the night though, and we had a great meal overall.