Tiramisu with Brandied Custard

Hello all!
Since the last recipe was a bit complicated, I figured I'd stick with that theme and give you one of my favorite alcoholic dessert recipes. This is not for children! There is about a cup of liquor in the whole pan, which won't get you tipsy unless you eat the whole pan and even then you might not get too much of a buzz because of all the other good stuff in there. BUT if you're hell bent on a dessert inspired bender may I recommend mixing 4 oz of coffee, 2 oz of Kahlua, 2 oz of Brandy and 4 oz of Baileys (shake over ice and pour into a highball) and then a large helping of this tira and you might feel pretty good. Or just savor this dessert and all of its alcoholic goodness on its own. You can make this non-alcoholic by only using espresso, sugar and cream to dip the lady fingers in and just make a plain 'ol custard with the mascarpone... But where is the fun in that?
The first time I made this dish was when I was going to meet Matt's extended family for the first time and I wanted to make a good impression. To me this said, alcoholic dessert... and I was right! Since I was not 21 yet I had to ask my mom to buy me brandy and because my mom doesn't drink much (a tumbler of Baileys/year is more her speed, though I think I've gotten her into pina coladas too!) this was a bit tricky and we ended up with "Cask and Cream" instead of of regular brandy. This turned out to be brilliant and an excellent addition, but Maryland is no fun and I couldn't find it here so this time I just went with straight brandy. Moral of the story... If you want to impress your future in-laws bring alcoholic desserts, and Maryland is like prohibition lite.

In terms of time this takes, I'd give yourself an hour to do it mostly because of making the custard, which you have to do over a double boiler. Now as another disclaimer, this is not a true custard because it is made with whole eggs. If you'd prefer a richer TRUE custard, use 9 egg yolks instead of 6 whole eggs. This will also make your custard a more yellow color which some people might not find as attractive, but is so darn delicious! I originally got this recipe from Epicurious and although its a very nice recipe I have made some modifications to increase its alcoholic content and also make it extra tasty!
BUT just in case, here is the original link: http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Tiramisu-with-Brandy-Custard-103162

Tiramisu with Brandied Custard

Ingredients:

6 large eggs

1 1/3 c. sugar

5 Tbs brandy 

3- 8oz containers of mascarpone cheese
1 1/4 c. strong coffee/espresso
3/4 c. Kahlua
3/4 c. whipping cream
2 packages of lady finger cookies (~44 cookies)


1/4 c. unsweetened coco powder

Whisk eggs and 1/3 cup sugar in medium metal bowl set over saucepan of simmering water.

Aha! Hello make shift double boiler!

Whisk constantly until thermometer registers 160°F, about 10 minutes.

Note the probe sticking out of the bowl. It is my handy dandy wired meat thermometer. You can also use a candy thermometer for this, I just found it cumbersome and it got in the way.

Set custard over bowl of ice water and whisk until cool.

Whisk mascarpone in another large bowl to loosen. Run custard through a sieve to ensure no lumps get into the custard.  Whip the custard and brandy into the mascarpone until smooth.

In a large bowl or mixing cup, add 1 cup sugar to strong coffee and Kahlua; whisk until sugar dissolves. Mix in cream.

Ummm Didn't have Kahlua, but I did have "espresso liquor" which was Kahlua knock-off. It worked great!

Mmmmmmm Whipping cream!

 Submerge  cookies in coffee-cream mixture until soaked (but not too long or else they'll disintegrate).

Place cookies on bottom of 13x9x2-inch baking dish. Working in batches, repeat with enough remaining cookies to just cover bottom of dish.

 Spread half of mascarpone mixture over cookies.

Repeat soaking process with remaining cookies, placing them in single layer atop mascarpone mixture. Spread remaining mascarpone mixture over cookies.

Sprinkle unsweetened coco powder over the tiramisu

Refrigerate until set, at least 2 hours.

 Ok, if you want to impress your future in-laws and they're OK with alcohol this is totally the way to go! Its also great for work, casual dining with friends or just one of those nights when you're sad/angry/frustrated, but don't feel like downing a pint of Hagan daas... This really is an amazingly delicious dish that is really not too hard (the custard is the hardest part, but YOU CAN DO IT!) to make and its so worth it to try. The only other inhibitory factor is cost. If you have to buy all the ingredients from from start to finish it can be expensive (mostly because of the liquor, but mascarpone can be pricy too at $4-5/tub) but if you happen to have brandy, cognac, or even Baileys, any of those are pretty good in the custard and that's half the financial battle. I will also be blogging how to make "homemade Kahlua" (or as Matt calls it Kahula) so that could be a good part of this dish as well. Every where I've ever brought this dish it has been a hit!

Happy eating!

Mama's salisbury steak with mushroom gravy

Hi All!
I have a new beef recipe for  you! This I made a bit ago, but am just now getting the chance to blog it. Lately because I've been very busy in lab  and with the horses, so I have been cooking in spurts rather than steadily as I would like. But the good news is if I'm busy in lab it means that I'm being productive (or just banging my head against the wall, either one is likely in science). The bad news is that means I don't get to cook as much as I want. So, its nice to bank a few recipes and be able to blog them as I go so that I don't run out of material, and you all can see fun and new recipes! So today I'll try to make 3-4 different items so that I can blog through out the week. Today's recipe is: Mama's Salisbury Steak with Mushroom Gravy. This was my first foray into using the broiler and I'm happy to say other than a couple small burns, it was successful! I got the recipe from the cookbook my dear friend Loren sent to me, "Basic to Brilliant, Ya'll." This has been a really nice cookbook which has so far provided me with a few really nice recipes. The only one I have turned my nose up at was the Meme's yellow squash casserole, but since my aging Weimeraner Clifford LOVED it, I'd say it wasn't a total loss. This recipe calls for a mixture of pork and beef. Usually you add pork to a dish if you want to make a bit more mild beef flavor and also increase the fat of the patty. If you are not a pork fan, I think you could use a fattier beef (80:20?) and toss in some ground turkey or chicken. Or if you want to cut fat, perhaps use only ground turkey, though I'd worry that it might become too dry. In fact this was so lovely so don't change a thing! Enjoy it as is. This recipe has tons of steps and will keep you hoppin' for about 30 minutes but it was so nice and it made lots so I'd say it was worth it!

Mama's Salisbury Steak with Mushroom Gravy

Ingredients:
1 tsp canola oil plus more for the broiler pan
1/2 sweet onion, grated
2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
1 1/2 lb of ground beef
8 oz ground pork
1 Tbs of chopped flat leaf parsley
Course salt and fresh ground pepper
3 Tbs unsalted butter
1 lb mixed mushrooms (such as cremini, chanterelle, morel, shiitake, and white button), sliced
2 Tbs all purpose flour
2 c. pan drippings + beef stock

1 lb of various mushrooms!

Grating onions is worse than finger nails on a chalk board, so I decided to try running it through the Magic Bullet

It worked, and looked frothy, so maybe a bit over blended, but still pretty good.

Position an oven-rack 4 inches below the broiler and preheat the broiler
Heat the oil in a small skillet over medium heat, add the onions and cook until translucent (3-5 minutes)

Add the garlic and cook until fragrant (45-60 seconds). Remove from heat to cool.

With clean hands, combine the ground beef, pork and parsley, cooled onion mixture in a bowl; season with salt and pepper.

Meat, parsley and mushy onion mix. It kind of browned a bit, but it still worked great

Meat all mixed with onions and parsley

(Saute a spoonful of the mixture an a bit of oil to taste for seasoning)

Spray the broiler pan with Pam. Shape the mixture into oval patties, about 1/2" thick and place patties on a broiler pan. Broil until the meat is no longer pink in the center and an instant-read thermometer inserted into the center of the meat registers 160F (about 6 minutes per side)

Remove to a warmed serving platter and tent with foil to keep warm

Pour the pan drippings into a gravy separator and bring the volume up to 2 cups with beef stock

Not much came out of the pan, so I had to add quite a bit of stock

Neat trick, if the stock is cold, the fats coagulate and so you don't have to worry about pouring them into the gravy!

Heat 1 Tbs of butter in a large skillet over medium heat. Add mushrooms and season with salt and pepper

Cook until tender, about 5 minutes. Taste and adjust seasoning with salt and pepper.

Remove mushrooms from skillet and keep warm.

Heat remaining 2 Tbs of butter over medium heat in the same skillet until bubbling. Add the flour and cook until foamy.

Whisking constantly, pour the pan drippings and stock into the flour butter mix

EWWWWW! Leftover fat! This is why you need a gravy separator!

Bring sauce to a boil and and cook until thickened (about 5 minutes)

Decrease the heat to simmer, add back the mushrooms and any liquid that has accumulated

Serve immediately with the steaks

 Hope you enjoy this recipe it was lots of fun to make and is a great comfort food meal! The mushrooms were tender, the sauce was flavorful and the patties just right! So tasty! Matt liked it too because I finally made another beef dish! Speaking of which I'll be doing a few more in the near future because Costco had a deal on Chuck roast!
Let me know if you try this and enjoy it too!
Happy eating!