Thanksgiving 2014 - Bouchon Plat d'Or, a.k.a. "The Great Cake Saga"

Last year, I received the Bouchon Bakery cookbook as a Christmas gift. If you haven't had the pleasure of flipping through this book, you should head over to the nearest bookstore and check it out (browsing Amazon doesn't count). This book is so beautiful that even just reading it feels indulgent.

However, enticing as the imagery is, the trouble with this cookbook is that even though it's sold to "regular" people, none of the recipes are remotely practical for someone who doesn't have a commercial kitchen, a zillion "unitasker" tools (kudos to anyone who gets that reference), and a pantry full of highly specialized ingredients. Over the past year, I've baked exactly three things from this book, all of which took multiple days to complete.

The most recent undertaking was this Plat d'Or, which literally means "gold disc", but which LITERALLY (at least in this specific context) means a chocolate-on-chocolate-on-chocolate cake.

I know that chocolate cake isn't really customary for the season, but I wanted to bake something really special (i.e. it had to come from this particular cookbook), and all of the pastries and pies contained nut flours (not an option, due to P's allergies).

And so, I settled on this cake. I think I probably took on this project with too much hubris. I knew it would be an involved process, but I didn't realize quite how involved it would turn out to be. All in, this cake took about 30 hours, start to finish, including two overnight freezes, one discarded batch of egg-y custard, and an adventure in homemade vanilla syrup.

But, damn. That was one tasty cake.

Curious yet? Here she is in all her glory:

I don't have any desire to reproduce the entire recipe here, and I'm not even sure that's entirely legal, but here is a photo diary of the entire process.

Perhaps you have gleaned, based on the sheer volume of smartphone photographs I've just presented, just what a PITA this cake was. In retrospect, I've determined that this is the kind of cake that, when you want it, you just go out and pay $12 a slice for. In a handful of rare circumstances, money can buy joy. 

And that, my friends, is all she wrote.

Gluten-free Spinach and Portobello Quiche

Editor's Note: 

A few days ago, my friend Amanda called me out for not blogging the weekend after my previous entry. Today, I logged in to discover this almost-fully composed draft, which I never published because I had to transfer the photos from my digital camera to my computer. Also, I forgot to type out the steps. Several months later, I now realize that no one gives two poops about whether or not there are photos, because everyone has stopped reading this blog. No one cares whether I've detailed the steps either, for the same reason. So, I've made an executive decision. I'm going to publish this, sans photographie, and move on to my next post, which will be about Thanksgiving 2014, otherwise known as "The Great Cake Saga". Stay tuned...

Before you say anything, let me state for the record that I still consume and adore glutenous foods. (I also enjoy gluttonous foods, in case you were wondering.)

However, there's a gluten-free bakery near my office, and I've discovered that several of their items are, in fact, delicious. They're not "the same" as baked goods containing gluten, but since I don't keep a gluten-free diet, I think of them as delectable in their own right. 

In particular, I've gotten into the habit of splitting small spinach quiches from Zest with one of my co-workers. It's a somewhat indulgent breakfast for a workday, but sometimes it's just nice to treat yourself to something special. I would argue that it feels even better when there's no other reason besides, "I just feel like having quiche today."

The trouble with this habit is that once my half of the quiche is gone, I immediately want more. I'm truly enamored with the crust of these quiches, which is so light and crumbly, it literally melts in your mouth.

It actually makes sense that pie crust translate well into a gluten-free version, because you generally want pie crusts to be flakey and light, rather than chewy. Traditional pie recipes often call for cake or pastry flours, which usually have between 2% to 5% less gluten than regular all-purpose.

So with this in mind, I resolved to make a gluten-free quiche this weekend.

I researched several recipes online, but ultimately ended up winging it for the most part. There is room for improvement, as always, but overall, I'm pretty pleased with how this first attempt at gluten-free quiche turned out.

Here's the recipe:

Pie Crust

1 1/4 cups gluten-free flower (I used Bob's Red Mill)

1/2 teaspoon salt (I didn't actually measure this, so I'm estimating)

2 teaspoons sugar (I didn't actually measure this either... sorry.)

1/2 cup cold butter

1 egg

2-4 tablespoon ice water

Filling

6 cups of raw spinach, steamed and cut in pieces

1/2 cup red onion, chopped

1/2 portobello mushroom, chopped

2 large eggs

1/2 cup egg whites

1/2 cup low-fat milk (I used lactose free)

generous pinch of sage

generous pinch of thyme (how you like 'dem units of measurement?)

1/4 teaspoon kosher salt

1/4 teaspoon black pepper

Greetings from the crypt...

She lives!

It's been a year and one week since my last post, which is not embarrassing at all...

You'll notice that timing coincides almost exactly with the end of my life as a "student" and my return to the "real world." I don't think of myself as being a busy person, but it's funny how when your life has even the smallest bit of structure, the days turn to weeks, the weeks to months, and before you know it, it's been a year since you last blogged.

But it's no excuse. I've been baking the whole time (albeit less frequently than when I was in school); I just haven't managed to sit down at the computer and write about it.

But today, I am putting a stake in the ground -- I'm going to bake something this weekend, and I'm going to blog about it.

Stay tuned, World. I know, it's been a rough 372 days of silence.