Kitchen Conundrum

King’s Hawaiian Pineapple Upside Down French Toast Recipe

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Foodbuzz recently offered its featured publishers an opportunity to create a brilliant brunch recipe to showcase the irresistibly delicious taste of King’s Hawaiian bread and we were happy to be chosen to share ours with you. We love French toast and especially making the “night before” versions because they allow you to be lazy in the morning since all you have to do is just put it into the oven, leaving you lots of time to drink coffee, read the newspaper or just pad around in your pjs.

The problem with this recipe is that you may find yourself eating the entire loaf of bread before you actually make it into French toast. King’s Hawaiian bread is lightly sweet, yet very buttery and fluffy and it just melts in your mouth.  We had to buy two loaves as everyone kept saying, “Oh, just one more slice!” until there was none left.

 

Ingredients

4 slices King’s Hawaiian Original Sweet Round Bread,1 ½-2 inches thick

4 Eggs

1 cup Half & Half

1 tsp Vanilla

1 tbs Rum

½ cup dark brown sugar

Slices of canned pineapple rings

Pinch of Salt

Shredded Coconut for Garnish

Method

In a 9×13″ baking pan spread the brown sugar across the bottom. Place slices of pinapple on top of the brown sugar. Layer the sliced bread into the bottom of the pan in one layer squeezing them slightly to make them fit. Set aside.

In a medium mixing bowl, whisk together the eggs, half & half, vanilla, rum, and salt.  Pour over the bread. Cover and place in the refrigerator overnight, or a minimum of eight hours until the liquid is absorbed into the bread.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Remove pan from refrigerator and uncover. Place in the oven and bake for 35-40 until golden brown. Let stand a few minutes, loosen the edges with a knife that has been run around the edge of the pan. Invert into a serving platter and sprinkle with shredded coconut.  Serve while hot.

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Hamantashen Recipe

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20110316-SCAN0006Hamantashen is a triangular butter cookie usually filled with jam, fruits or poppy seeds. They are traditionally eaten by Jews on the holiday of Purim which is occuring this weekend.  The shape of the cookies is representive of the tri-corner hat worn by the evil Haman, the villain of the story of Purim. It’s considered a mitzvah, or a good deed, to give ready to eat foods to your friends and neighbors on Purim and Hamantashen are the star treats in every basket.

Growing up, my mother would have to make at least two batches in the days leading up Purim so there would be enough left over to give out to friends and relatives because we would usually eat them all as they came out of the oven.  Later, as my Grandmother got older, my mother would make a double or triple batch of dough and we would all go to my Grandmother’s apartment in Manhattan and make them together.  There we would be, four generations, rolling them out on her dinning room table and baking them with her. I know that it was a very special time for her to be there with her children, her grandchildren and her great-grandchildren. The cookies were secondary.

After she passed away a few years ago at age 99, the one thing we asked for specifically were her rolling pins. They were very well worn and stained from many years of use. Even though we have other, newer ones, I always seem to pick up one of hers when I need to roll dough, especially the Hamantashen dough that we always made with her, so in a very special way, we know she is still here with us when we make these every year.

 

Ingredients

1 stick butter or margarine, softened

1 cup sugar

3 eggs

1 tsp vanilla

1 tbs lemon juice

1 tbs honey

3 cups flour

1 tsp baking powder

1 pinch salt

Filling Options

In my family, we prefer to fill with jellies such as strawberry, raspberry or apricot. We also use chocolate chips, a favorite with Renee and the kids.  Traditionally though you will see Hamentashen filled with prune butter or a poppy seed filling (called Mohn).

Method

Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees F.

In the bowl of your mixer, combine the butter, sugar, eggs, vanilla, lemon juice and honey. Blend until smooth with the paddle.

Add the baking powder and the salt. Slowly add the flour.  Mix until it is just incorporated. If the dough is too sticky you can add a bit more flour as needed. It should have a smooth dough consistency. Roll into a large ball and wrap in plastic and place in the refrigerator for a half hour to rest.

Flour a countertop or work surface well. Using ¼ of the dough at a time, roll out to a ¼ inch thickness.  With a cookie cutter or a juice glass cut out circles, remove the extra dough and return it to the bowl.

Place about ½ tsp of the filling of your choice in the center of the circle. Pinch two sides together to form two corners and pinch the top together to form the tri-corner “hat”.

Place them on a baking sheet lined with parchment or a silpat mat and bake for 10 -12 minutes until the bottoms are golden brown. Remove to a baking rack to cool completely. The jelly gets incredibly hot, so be careful if you can’t resist eating them right away!

Enjoy!

 

The Sorcerer’s Apprentices: A Season in the Kitchen at Ferran Adrià’s elBulli, A Book Review

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The Sorcerer's ApprenticesI just finished reading a review copy of The Sorcerer’s Apprentices: A Season in the Kitchen at Ferran Adrià’s elBulli written by Lisa Abend, who wrote this inside look after spending the 2009 season with free access to the kitchen and to the people who worked at, what we learn is, much more than just a restaurant.

As someone who has worked in restaurant kitchens, I really enjoyed seeing the inner workings of the kitchen at elBulli. However, it is completely different than any of the kitchens I’ve ever worked!  From the opening meeting to the final dinner and clean up of the restaurant, you get to see the methods that make elBulli what it is, and why is has been voted the best restaurant in the world 5 times. From what, in the beginning, seems to the new cooks as an inordinate amount of rules, to how over their 6 month stint they realize why they are all needed and are a crucial part of the restaurant’s success. Some of the cooks love every second of their time there and some can’t wait for their time to end.

For each season, thirty-five cooks are chosen to be stagiaires or apprentice chefs and put their lives and jobs on hold to come to work and learn from the master, Ferran Adrià for a period of six months. It is a great sacrifice in hopes of a golden ring. They often perform tedious and what seems to be mindless tasks that actually requires extraordinary focus and attention to detail in order to meet Adrià’s level of excellence. One example would be the artichoke rose which demanded the poaching of hundreds of rose petals each day which first had to plucked from their flowers and separated into individual petals, poached three times, blanched in ice water, passed through a pressure cooker before finally being arranged in perfect concentric circles on a plate. But, in the end, the artichoke rose tastes  like an artichoke and is one of Adrià’s cunning surprises.

Though there is only one recipe in the book, Abend really gives you a glimpse and an understanding of the thought process that goes into many of the dishes served at elBulli. Each diner receives, on average, thirty courses and each one is a gastronomic revelation.  But the system in place behind each dish is of equal marvel.

Not only are you privy to the inner workings of the most innovative kitchen in the world but you are also given a rare look into the lives and minds of these young cooks that come from every corner of the earth. This candid glance into their personal stories while they are there, as well as what brought them there and their plans after the season ends is what brings a human side to the food of elBulli.

There is the incredible story of Luke, a young Korean cook, who literally camps out on the doorsteps of elBulli until he is given the opportunity to be stagiarie. His dedication and perseverance were nearly unmatched and his work ethic commendable and fierce.

Abend’s book will astound you and make you feel as though you are actually an insider of the world’s greatest kitchen. You should definitely read this one! I can not recommend it enough.

About the Author: Lisa Abend is a journalist based in Madrid. For the past several years, she has been Time magazine’s correspondent in Spain. As a freelancer, she has written for The Atlantic, Wired, Ms.,The American Prospect, National Wildlife and for The Economist. She contributes to several major American food magazines, and has written features on a Marrakech cooking school (Bon Appetit); on culinary travels through Extremadura (Gourmet); on a collective of grandmothers in Catalonia who preserve traditional cuisine (Saveur); and on learning to love pig face (Food and Wine). Her food writing has also appeared in The New York Times, the Los Angeles Times, Slate, and the Christian Science Monitor.  She hosts an episode on Andalusia in the third season of PBS’ Diary of a Foodie.

In a previous life she was a professor of Spanish history at Oberlin College. The Sorcerer’s Apprentices is her first book.

The book will be available on March 22, 2011. For more information, you can go here.

You can also like The Sorcerers Apprentices page on Facebook.

And, if you happen to be in NYC on 3/24/11, you can attend a Talk with Ferran Adrià & Lisa Abend with Adam Gopnik moderating at the 92nd Street Y.  Renee will be there taking copious notes!