Bostini Cream Pie - Daring Baker October 2007

+The Cream+

Making the pie was a 2 day event. The kids and I started the cream Sunday night (10/7/07) we separated eggs, mixed milk, and cooked cream. DS was so cute stirring the cream on the stove and protested greatly when he had to give up his turn; however, he had positioned his chair just in the spot where he could easily get out off the "cool" cooking tools and play with them. while DD was ladling the cream into the ramekins I look over the see DS playing swards with my large off set spatula and the tongs...he was having a blast. DD had made Creme Patisserie with Daddy before so she had a good idea of what she was doing. She was the one that checked to see if the creme coated the spoon, dipping it into the cream and blowing on it to cool it enough to run her finger through it straight to her mouth in one quick swoop only to say a few more seconds mom and then she would test it again. DD then was so excited to be able to ladle the cream into the ramekins with her measuring cup. She told me at bed time that ladling the cream was her favorite part of the day. The cream is now in the refrigerate waiting for us to make the cake tomorrow morning.

+The Cake+

At first the kids did not want to make the cake, they were too busy laying in bed reading books. Once I got the ingredients out and started juicing the Lemons they were at my side. DD whipped the egg white, that is a great job for her, and DS played drums on the counter with the measuring cups.

+Assembly+

DD wanted to put on the chocolate sauce from the start and often asked when she could do it. In the end the kids did not eat the Pie and DH and I did not find it very good. I have a better Chiffon cake recipe that I got off of the Barmy Baker Blog, and my husband makes a Creme Patisserie with milk and if I am going to go to all the trouble to make this I would make a real chocolate ganache. Great Idea, just needs some work.

Mushroom Bisque

A few years ago Panera Bread had a mushroom Bisque that I just loved. Their Mushroom bisque has changed slightly since then, but I still love it. I set out to make that soup and I created a wonderful bisque that was very close. that was before I had a blog and I never put the recipe to writing and now I can not remember how I made it. The following recipe is good, but it is not even close to the one that I created over 2 years ago.



1 medium onion thinly sliced
2 pounds button mushrooms, sliced
2 T olive oil
6 cups chicken stock
1 cup heavy cream
Salt and pepper

In a large soup pot add the oil and slowly caramelize the onions and mushrooms cooking about 20 minutes. , stirring periodically.

Add the stock and cook for a few minutes season to taste add the cream and heat through.

While writing this post I got to thinking that I did type this recipe before on babyfit.com and after about 40 minutes of searching I found one of my very first attempts at the soup...

1 Medium onion, finely chopped
2 T. Butter
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 -2 pound Mushrooms, Sliced
3 T. Flour
1/3 C. White Wine
4 C. water or chicken stock/broth (I used water)
2/3 C. Cream
1 T. Sour Cream
2 bouillon cubes (do not need if used stock)
2 dashes worcestershire sauce
salt and Pepper to taste

Sauté onions in butter for a few minutes add the Mushrooms and garlic and continue sautéing for about 10 minutes. Add flour and cook long enough to cook raw taste out of it (about a minute). Add the wine, water (stock, seasonings and cook for another 10 minutes. Lower heat add cream and sour cream and heat through. Serve.

In the Woods

Some of the the best parts about going mushroom picking is the beautiful scenery
and we found a great climbing tree too. That is my sister up there and the kids thought it was great that the two of use were up in the branches climbing that tree.

We also brought a picnic lunch that we enjoyed in a pine forest. The wind in the canopy above us was a wonderful sound.

Pumpkin Blossoms in October

In early October my Daughter's school went on a field trip to the pumpkin farm. it was very warm that day, well above average, and the field was not just covered in orange pumpkins but in beautiful yellow blossoms. I asked the hay ride driver if I could have some and he said I could help myself.

I love zucchini flowers and I wanted some all summer and never once found any but pumpkin flowers, how different could they be. I always batter and fry my blossoms tempura style and this time I wanted to try something new. I had found a recipe on the William-Sonoma website for spaghetti with zucchini blossoms and saffron and I thought that this would be perfect because I could make a new dish with the blossoms and enter the spice of the month on Sunita's blog, which is saffron for the month of October.

I have to say that I should have looked at the recipe closer because the flavor was lacking, and blossoms were slimy, and the cheese was clumpy. I have a few William-Sonoma cookbooks and I have enjoyed the recipes very much but this was an absolute bomb, how disappointing.

Lost my pictures

I had a computer that I used for only pictures and it died the other day. Hubby is trying everything that he can think of to retrieve the pictures but it is taking time, this includes all of my food pictures. I have taken more in the past few days and I will be posting a food entry soon.

Menu for week 10/12/07

• Mushroom Bisque
• Chicken with Tarragon Mushroom sauce from Tyme for Cooking
• White chicken Chili
  
• Roasted chicken

I am going out of town for the weekend to pick mushrooms and go hiking so the menu is a little short this week.