F Is For Figs. And Freakin' Good Roast Chicken.

F is for FIGS.

I was watching Tyler Florence the other day when he made this recipe and thought I'd try it.
The figs do not have a prominent role at all, so I'm figuring I'll have to do another F word, probably FOCACCIA, since I make a kickass focaccia
adapted from my friend Maxine's original recipe.

Here's Tyler's recipe for Blue Cheese Souffle with Fresh Figs and Honey.

And notice, the recipe calls for sugar, but the recipe doesn't bother to tell you where to put the sugar, so I winged it there. Also, since there were just the two of us who would actually eat blue cheese, I halved the recipe, and then tweaked it some more.

My ingredients, clockwise from top left:

pepper
salt
nutmeg
cream of tartar
2/3 cup combination 1% milk and heavy cream
1/2 cup crumbled blue cheese
1 TB sugar
2 TB flour
2 TB butter
3 eggs

Separate your eggs.

Aren't these yolks pretty?

Melt butter.

Add in the flour and cook to get rid of the raw taste, maybe 2-3 minutes.

Whisk the entire time.

Add in the milk, whisking until the roux is creamy and thickened.

Take roux off heat and let cool a bit before adding the yolks, one at a time.

I seasoned with salt, pepper, and nutmeg, then added the sugar.
The recipe neglected to mention what to do with the sugar,
so I added it in here.

Then I added in the blue cheese and refrigerated the mixture while I prepared the rest.

The original recipe called for 4 8-ounce ramikens.
Since I halved it I used 2 8-ounce ramekins, then I decided I could probably use an extra ramekin. I butter and sugared the ramekins.

Then I beat my egg whites with a bit of cream of tartar until soft peaks formed and decided to use an extra egg white since the roux looked very thick to me.

I added in 1/3 of the egg whites to the roux.

Folded in.

Then gently folded in the rest of the egg whites.

Poured into prepared ramekins.
I needed a few extra ramekins as you can see.

Baked in a 350 degree oven for 25 minutes.

Aren't these pretty?
They all rose beautifully.
I almost impressed myself.

Oh my.
I was so pleased with these souffles.
Just beautiful.

WHOOT!
I just realized my souffles rose more than Tyler's.
Check out his picture.

Color me happy with the way these turned out.

As accoutrements, I have Mr. Hawthorne's sourwood honey, figs, and confectioner's sugar.

Here's the souffle with the figs, honey, and powdered sugar.
The souffle was delicious, but then I'm a whore for souffles.
Creamy texture on the inside, crusty on top, blue cheese on the bottom.
Nice combination of flavors.
I liked the sweetness of the honey and sugar
contrasting with the saltiness of the blue cheese.
Figs ? .... Meh ....
I guess I'm not a fig person.
But then, I really don't know a lot about figs.
Wait a minute.
Tyler's recipe called for fresh figs.
These figs were anything but fresh.
Maybe I'll make this again next month when Good Neighbor Bob's figs are ready for picking.
The figs I had were from Harris Teeter - California "Nutra Figs," with potassium sorbate and sulfur dioxide added as preservatives. Yum.
The figs didn't have all that much flavor.
And also, the texture was kind of off-putting to me.
Dry and granular.
I really need to try fresh figs.

I loved the souffle.
I will be making this again.
Need to try a different type fig though.


Chickens were on sale for 69 cents a pound the other day, so that's what we're having for dinner tonight. I took the chicken out early this morning and put it in a brine solution - covered it with water and a lot of salt. Left it soaking for hours.
Then rinsed with cold water and prepared it to cook.

I went out and picked some parsley and sage, chopped it up and mixed it with butter.

Then I put the herb/butter mixture underneath the chicken skin.

Semi-trussed my bird up and added salt and butter and a bit of oil.
I should have paid attention to that new woman on Food Network Sunday mornings that does the restaurant tips for the home cook. I think I read she trussed a chicken.

Here's my 6 pound chicken after almost 2 hours.
Shoot. I cooked it on "convection bake."
I should have used "convection roast."
Except I didn't realize I had that option.
Rosie kicks self.
I really should read instruction books that come with my appliances.
Next time I cook a hen, I'll remember to do that and report back to you.

Middle Hawthorne loves his mashed potatoes, so that's what I'm making to go with the hen.
Here, I have my cooked potato dices with butter, sour cream, and cream.

Next, giblet gravy.

I sauteed my chopped giblets and sliced mushrooms in butter.

Add flour to make a roux.

Add a bit of the broth from the roasting pan to make a gravy.

Here's the chicken (You can see the herb stuffing inside.)
and the mashed taters with giblet gravy.
I heartily recommend brining your chicken.
2 quarts water with 1 cup Kosher salt for several hours.
The chicken comes out so moist, tender, and flavorful.
It truly makes a difference.


Yeah, I know.
I should have some veggie color in there.
But I was tired.
Does that count as an excuse?

Middle Hawthorne Finally Comes Home And Eats.

Middle Hawthorne left to take Beau "for a run" just before dinner was ready.
I believe that was around 6 o' clock.
He returned home about 12 o' clock.
Must have been a hell of a run.

"You hungry?"
"Yeah."

So here's dinner for MH.
A chicken leg (He loves the dark meat.), some breast slices,
mashed potatoes, and blue cheese souffle.
I added some gazpacho from the other night, along with some reduced Balsamic vinegar on top of the chicken.
Now, I was wondering about the blue cheese souffle. Most kids don't like blue cheese.
I told him the souffle had blue cheese in it which was on the bottom, and try it and see if you like it. I love the fact that my children will try foods. If they don't like them, fine. At least they tried. It's not like I'm trying to disguise food and force protein into the little dears, like some people we all know and love.

Well, hellooooo. I don't think MH had a problem with anything on his plate.

He ate EVERYTHING.

Rosie can go to bed and sleep well,
knowing in her heart that she nourished her child.

Although she's still pissed that MH and his buddies pulled into the kitchen in the middle of last night and
ATE ALL MY DAMN PASTRIES!!!!!!
The Cherry/Berry Galette and the Cherry/Strawberry Pie.
Crap.
Damn kids.

Saturday Night Dinner With Maxine.

While prepping dinner, Maxine and I opted for a few appetizers.
Here, I've wrapped dates in prosciutto.

And sauteed them in a little butter.

Maxine sliced apples and made pesto for them.
I had never thought about that combination but it's very good.

Pesto and apples.
Dates and prosciutto.

And what's really good is topping the dates with a bit of blue cheese, in this case
Rosenborg Danish Blue.

Delicious combinations.

Now, on to supper.
I'm starting off with Blue Cheese Souffles.
Yes, I know I've blogged about them before, but Maxine has never had them and they're worth doing again. And again.

Here, I'm preparing my roux.
Melt 2 TB butter, add 2 TB flour, and cook a bit to get rid of the raw flour taste. Don't brown.
Gradually add in 2/3 cup milk/cream mixture and whisk until nicely thickened.

In a separate bowl, whisk the egg yolks until they become light, frothy, and lemon colored.

Add yolks into roux mixture.

Then add in about 1/2 cup blue cheese and a tablespoon of sugar.

Beat egg whites with a bit of cream of tartar until stiff peaks form.
The cream of tartar stabilizes the whites.

Now, when I'm beating egg yolks or whites, I beat them at room temperature.
That way, you can incorporate more air into the eggs and get more volume.

(If you're beating cream to make whipped cream, then the cream should be very cold along with the beaters and bowl.)

I stirred in about 1/3 of the whipped cream to make a lighter roux.
Then I gently folded in the rest of the whites and poured into little buttered and sugared ramekins.

Bake at 350 for about 25 minutes.

And here are my souffles ready to be served immediately.

Next, I'll show you what I prepared for the rest of the meal.
First, I'm making an orange-soy glaze
which looked pretty darn good when I read about it in Carol's French Laundry Blog.

Maxine juiced enough oranges to make about 2 cups of juice.

Then I sloooooooow-ly cooked it down until it was reduced to about 1/4 cup.

This orange flavor is very concentrated and intense.


I whisked in about 2 tablespoons butter.

And 2 tablespoons soy sauce.
Set aside and keep warm.

Next, I rinsed my scallops and patted them dry, salted and peppered them, added a little freshly squeezed lemon and orange juice, then rolled them in panko bread crumbs.

I sauteed them in butter and oil.

Maybe two minutes on each side.
Then drained on paper towels.

Next, I decided to try a version of Carol's radish salad.

I julienned carrots, radishes, green onions, and cucumbers and kept them in ice water to keep them crisp.

For my dressing, I have olive oil, salt and pepper, and a splat of balsamic vinegar.

I added in some fresh lemon juice and ginger, whisked all together, then poured over top of the julienned veggies.

This is very light and refreshing.

Now, on to plating our dinner.

I put a little pool of the orange/soy glaze and topped it with edamame and placed two little dates alongside.

Next a couple of scallops on top.
(Scallops, not moi, seeing as I, unlike Carol, don't have a fishmonger with, shall we say, the types of feelers and connections, questionable or not, necessary for the procurement of moi.)

I added the radish and carrot salad on top.

Then I plated the blue cheese souffle and sprinkled powdered sugar over top.

And finally drizzled some sourwood honey over top.

Here's Maxine's table.

The sweetness of the dates and scallops was perfectly complemented by the lightness and freshness of the radish salad. The orange/soy glaze was a wonderful addition. The souffle was light, creamy, delicious. The crunchiness of the salad was a nice textural contrast to the creaminess of the souffle.
All in all, a winning dish.

Our dinner table conversation went something like this:

M: Ohh.
R: Oh yeah.
M: Oh my.
R: Mm.
M: Mmm.
R: Mmmm.
M: Mmmmm.
R: Mm...Mmmmmm.
M: Mmmmmmmmmmmm.

We probably spilled some food since our eyes were closed the whole time.

This was an excellent meal.
Sometimes the flavors and textures all just POP and this was one of those times.
It was so good, that I'm making another version of it tonight, only I'll be using tile fish.