The Nom Report - Episode 7, Yule Log

To begin the tale of this Nom Report, we must back up a few weeks to the beginning of our culinary experimenting.  Regina was talking to her mother and debating holiday desserts, when her Mum commented, "We could always try making a Yule Log; I've always wanted to do that."  Not long after that, Regina and Kami had a similar conversation where Kami also declared her interest in making a Yule Log.  Then one day, while in a spectacularly bad mood, Regina decided to solicit requests from Facebook on what the next Nom-spiriment should be.  A friend commented that she'd "always wanted to try a Yule Log."  At this point it seemed that fate was telling us what our next project should be. 

Regina set about studying recipes for the project.  The trouble is that the recipes tended to all be totally different from each other.  It was hard picking one that felt "right" since we were rather in the dark about the whole project.  The icing and the filling were not a concern, since Regina can make buttercream and whipped cream in her sleep.  The issue was the cake.  The recipes were usually of two kinds: a torte-style cake with melted chocolate and lots of eggs, or a more cakey cake (Can't really explain that one better) with flour and cocoa.  We liked the idea of using melted chocolate, but were afraid the lack of flour would make the cake too dense.  Plus a lot of recipes used cake or self-rising flour, which we didn't have and weren't going to rush out and buy to only use half a cup.  Finally we found the recipe below:

Cake:
2/3 cup flour
1/4 teaspoon soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
4 eggs
3/4 cup sugar
3 squares unsweetened chocolate
2 tablespoons water

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease a 15 x 10 inch jelly roll pan, and line with parchment paper. Grease paper.  Mix flour, soda, and salt together.  Beat eggs in a small mixer bowl at high speed, until thick and light - about 5 minutes.  Gradually add the sugar, and beat until thick.  Melt the chocolate and water together, and add to the egg mixture.  Fold in the dry ingredients, and mix gently but thoroughly.  Spread in prepared pan, and bake for 15 - 17 minutes, until the cake springs back when lightly touched.  Remove from oven and turn out immediately onto a tea towel that has been sprinkled generously with icing sugar.  Remove waxed paper, and trim of any crisp edges of the cake.  Begin at the narrow end, and roll up the cake and the tea towel together. Allow to cool.

This looked like it had potential, so we were off.  First hiccup: We had exactly three squares of unsweetened chocolate...and Regina put a little too much water in the bottom of the double boiler.  Never let the water touch the bottom of the bowl.  Kami got to find out first hand what burned chocolate looked like.  So after a quick glance at Mrs. Field's version of the recipe, we decided we could get away with substituting semi-sweet.  The second melting went without a hitch.  Oh, and Regina hates melting chocolate and water together, so skim milk was subbed for the water in the recipe. 

So the cake went into the oven (parchment paper is your friend):

And we made the filling.  To make something a little more exciting than plain old whipped cream, we made Marcel "Death by Chocolate" Desaulniers' Speckled Cream.  It's simple and yummy, although it has to be under lock and key to protect it from Regina's Husband.

Speckled Cream

2 cups heavy cream

2 tablespoons sugar

1/2 teaspoon vanilla

4 oz finely grated chocolate (we used semi-sweet, but you can also use milk chocolate)

Combine the heavy cream, sugar, and vanilla in a mixer.  Beat on medium speed about 30 seconds, then increase speed to high and beat until stiff peaks form.  Fold in grated chocolate.

When we took the cake out of the oven, we forgot to take a picture, but we were immediately concerned.  The top was supposed to spring back, but it had a bit of a crust and cracked.  It's possible we over-beat the eggs.  But we forged ahead and rolled it up (longways, despite the instructions):

And went to make the icing.  When the cake cooled, it was unrolled:



Oh dear.

It is not, in fact, supposed to be in two pieces.  Kami suggest we soldier on and attempt to roll it up anyway, cause it's an adventure, right?  So in goes the filling:

And we roll it up:



Cause that's how we roll.



Yes that is a giant crack in the side.  We could just say it's the seam, but:

The other side has one too, and it's even worse.  At this point we have redubbed the dessert the "LOL Log" because we are laughing so hard.  Kami valiantly points out that in the picture on her recipe, they HAVE CRACKS TOO!  We cling to this image as proof that we do not suck at this. 

Onward, cooking soldiers; we cut off the ends to make the branch-stump-things:

And do a crumb coat of icing.  For those of you who do not bake, this is a thin coat of icing that goes on first to collect and glue down crumbs, so they don't get in the pretty topcoat of icing.  This being Kami and Regina, we use the term pretty rather loosely. 



Crumb Coat



Top coat, with "bark" texture.  Just draw a fork through the icing.




First slice



And it didn't fall apart!



Results: It's a lot of work, but not as bad as we thought it would be.  Once we rolled up our tragically pathetic looking cake, we were able to glue it together with filling and icing, and it didn't look too bad!  Taste results...SWEEEEET!!!  We don't mean that in the "dude, awesome" kind of way.  We mean in the "might rot my teeth, oh, god, now I'm diabetic kind of way."  Regina was only able to eat half a slice.  Kami made it through her slice but admitted it was almost too much.  However, she did take the leftovers to work and said that it mellowed out the next day and didn't seem as sweet.  She said it stayed nice and moist and was a big hit with the co-workers.  Would we make it again?  Yes, probably, although not anytime soon.  And in the future, we will stick with the unsweetened chocolate. 

Note:  Regina does not use a recipe for buttercream icing.  We can tell you it uses 1 stick of butter and one teaspoon of vanilla.  Then she just adds cocoa until "it's chocolate-y enough" and alternates confectioner's sugar and milk until "it tastes right."  Sorry about that.

The Nom Report - Episode 3, Garlic Cream Sauce

So on the previous Report, our lemon chicken was a bit over- lemoned as you may recall.  So the search for the perfect white wine sauce continued on Thursday.  The Nom Inspector returned to be experimented on once again, with no compaints.  The new recipe came from foodnetwork.com, courtesy of the Dinner Impossible Dude.  That is obviously not his real name, but Regina doesn't like the guy that much, so she just can't be arsed to look it up.

 The recipe was intended to be served on shrimp and scallops, but the chef wasn't in the mood for seafood.   So chicken it was to be.  Fortunately the Kami gave no objections, so we made the chicken itself the same way we made it for Lemon Chicken, and just made the new sauce with it.  We also remembered to make the rice this time.  Yey, us!

The Verdict?  Yum!  Regina prefers this sauce to the Uber-Lemon sauce, and the more we ate, the more we liked it.  We do think it needs a little something, so maybe we should add lemon, just not as much as was in the previous recipe. Or maybe add a little less cream than it calls for.   It was good with rice, and good over pasta when Regina reheated the leftover sauce the next day.  We would certainly make this again.  The Nom Inspector gave this her seal of approval as well.

Garlic Cream Sauce

• 1/4 cup olive oil, plus 2 tablespoons
• 5 cloves garlic, finely chopped
• 4 cloves shallots, chopped (Shallots vary a lot in size, so we just did about 4 Tablespoons)
• 2 cups white wine (We used Riesling...Regina always uses Riesling)
• 2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley leaves
• 2 tablespoons chopped fresh basil leaves, plus sprigs for garnish
• 1 teaspoon chopped thyme leaves
• 2 cups heavy cream
• 1 1/2 to 2 pounds cooked pasta or rice, for an accompaniment

Directions
In a large saute pan, heat 1/4 cup oil and cook garlic and shallot until translucent, about 2 minutes. Deglaze the pan with the wine, and add parsley, basil and thyme and let the liquid reduce by half. Using a fine strainer, strain the reduction into a clean saucepan and add the cream. Over low heat, let the sauce reduce to medium thickness.

Next time on NOMS OF OUR LIVES: Regina contemplates trying yet another white wine sauce...Alton Brown's Beurre Blanc!  Will Kami tolerate another night of chicken?  Will she rebell and express her longing for a grapefruit?  Find out, on the next episode of...THE NOM REPORT.

The Nom Report - Episode 2, Lemon Chicken

Regina recently went hunting for a beurre blanc recipe and came upon something entitled "Chicken French with White Wine Lemon Butter Sauce."  We were picturing something a bit like Chicken Milanese (Grillsmith) or Chicken di Pana (Cheesecake Factory).  It was less creamy than they are, perhaps due to a complete lack of any actual cream in the recipe.  How did we miss that? 

The Verdict?  Would make again, but with some alterations.

First of all, this recipe sounds complex, and it's not.  Regina thought it was really easy to make.  We LOVED the way the chicken came out in this.  For something that simple, it tasted fancy.  The sauce however, was problematic.  Regina thought the lemon was a bit overwhelming.  The Nom Inspector (ie, Kami) enjoyed it but she may have phrased it best: "I love lemon, but I would REALLY have to be in the mood for it when I ate this."  We decided next time, mixing in a cup of cream at the end might mellow the sauce a bit and taste more the way we expected.  We had planned to serve this over rice, but we were out, so we served it over pasta.  We did add the cornstarch as suggested.  Also note that this makes a lot less sauce than you'd think.

Chicken French with a White Wine Lemon Butter Sauce

4 medium boneless, skinless chicken breasts
1 c. flour
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp ground pepper
1/4 tsp paprika
1/4 tsp granulated garlic
1 Tbsp olive oil
1 c. dry white winejuice of
1 1/2 lemons
3 Tbsp unsalted butter
salt and pepper to taste

 Preheat oven to 200 degrees. In wide, shallow bowl combine flour, salt, pepper, paprika and garlic, stirring to combine.  In large skillet, add olive oil and heat over medium high heat until almost smoking.  Meanwhile, pound chicken breasts to even thickness and season with salt and pepper.  Toss chicken breasts in flour mixture and place, breast-side down, into preheated pan.  Cook over medium high heat until breast side is nicely golden browned, about 7-10 minutes.  Flip chicken breasts to breast-side up and cook until golden browned and chicken breast is cooked through, about 7-10 more minutes depending on thickness.  Remove chicken from pan, place on platter and into preheated oven to stay warm.  Add white wine to skillet and stir to deglaze, scraping all browned bits up from bottom of pan.  Cook, stirring occasionally, until reduced by half, about 2-3 minutes.  Add lemon juice and stir, cooking until reduced by at least half, about 2-3 minutes.  Remove from heat and stir in butter to thicken. Salt and pepper to taste (Note: if you’d like the sauce thicker at this point you may add a slurry of 1 tsp cornstarch and 1 tsp water and heat, stirring constantly for 30-60 seconds).  Remove platter from oven, top with sauce and serve immediately.

Next time, on The Nom Report - Kami is subjected to more chicken, this time in a garlic cream sauce that is intended for seafood.

The Nom Report, Episode 1

Not too long ago, Regina decided to work off some bad feelings in the kitchen and invited Kami over to taste the results.  It didn't take much time for such experimenting to become a weekly ritual for testing recipes.  Previously archived on Regina's Facebook, we will be moving the records of our Nom-speriments here.  Future tests will hopefully be accompanied by pictures of yummy-ness.

Experiment 1 - Thanksgiving Dessert

Regina was overcome with the urge to test out a dessert recipe, and decided she might as well try something she could make for Thanksgiving.  It was surprisingly easy, and Kami and Regina both declared it a success.  It was called Pumpklin Chiffon Dessert or something like that.  It's very rich, but lighter and airier (airy-er?) than your typical pumpkin pie or pumpkin cheesecake.  A nice option for a Florida Thanksgiving we think, since you never know when you'll spend the holiday in your shorts.  In hot weather, in a small apartment, turning the oven on as little as possible is a plus.  Not to mention, if you'll be cooking all day, you can make this the night before. 

Now the recipe calls for "frozen whipped topping" i.e, Cool Whip.  This is fine for other peoples (picture Regina saying "other peoples" with her nose in the air and a comically snobbish expression) but not for someone who has a long history making her own whipped cream.  So she made a few adjustments to the recipe, but we will include both versions.

Pumpkin Chiffon Torte (oh, ok...it's a torte...kinda)

1 cup finely crushed gingersnaps
3 Tablespoons butter (Regina used salted butter and it turned out fine)
2 envelopes unflavored gelatin
1/2 cup milk
1/2 cup sugar
1 can (15 oz) solid pack pumpkin - NOT pumpkin pie filling
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
1 carton (8 oz) frozen whipped topping*
Additional whipped topping, if desired (not necessary the way we made it)

*If you do not want to use Cool Whip, combine 2 cups heavy cream, half a teaspoon vanilla and 1/2 cup sugar.  Beat on medium for about 2 minutes so sugar can dissolve, then beat on high until stiff peaks form.  Refrigerate until needed.

Combine cookie crumbs and butter.  Press into the bottom of a greased 9-in. springform pan and set aside (note: We forgot to grease the pan and it came out just fine).  In a saucepan, combine gelatin and milk; let stand for 5 minutes.  Heat milk mixture to just below boiling; remove from heat and stir in sugar until dissolved.  Add the pumpkin, salt, cinnamon, ginger, and cloves; mix well.  Fold in whipped topping (or fold in 1 heaping cup of whipped cream - you'll have extra).  Pour over crust.

Now here the recipe says to refrigerate for at least three hours and serve with additional whipped topping.  But we had extra whipped cream from making our own, so we just spread the extra over the pumpkin mixture before chilling it.  We were quite happy with that decision.

After chilling 3+ hours, run a knife around the edge of the pan.  Remove sides of the springform pan and serve.

Regina really doesn't think this is a "torte."  A torte has eggs in it.  Anyone want to suggest a better name for this?  How about Pumpkin Bavarian?