It's in the Details

I am a firm believer that it's the small things that count. All the tiny details, compiled, make something great. Sure one amazing ingredient can really make a difference, but more often than not, it is the combination of delicious flavors and simple ingredients that really make an entire meal or even just one dish really come together. Fresh herbs, bacon grease, butter, salt, freshly ground pepper, and freshly squeezed lime or lemon juice add amazing dimensions to foods that otherwise would be just so-so without them.
You always hear or read tips from chefs that tell you to keep fresh herbs on hand, and it truly does liven up a ho-hum dish. Rubbing olive oil or bacon grease on the outside of a baked potato and sprinkling it with coarse salt sends it sky rocketing above the ordinary dry potato. Grinding fresh salt and pepper over your naked salad greens before topping with dressing gives every bite flavor. Take any ordinary steamed veggie (broccoli, carrots, asparagus, green beans, etc), add browned butter and freshly grated pecorino romano; or melted butter, a squeeze of fresh lemon juice, and some freshly chopped tarragon or thyme; or a sprinkling of chopped bacon or prosciutto and some balsamic salad dressing; or, one my grandma showed me, melted butter, minced garlic, salt and pepper.
All of those take a few fresh ingredients, usually things I happen to have on hand, and turn your side dish into something worth talking about. Those are the tips and tricks I like to incorporate.

I also like these principles applied to desserts. I don't indulge every meal, but if I am going to, I want it to be totally worth it. There is nothing more disappointing than spending the money (and calories) on a dessert that just doesn't do it for you. I would rather eat three bites of an amazing, decadent, rich dessert, than ten bites of something ordinary. When I read about croquembouche, that french wedding dessert that consists of a tower of cream puffs with spun sugar, I thought to myself, "I will make that." Not, "I want to make that", but, "I will make that." An event came up and I needed some height on a table. Perfect. I used a cream puff recipe from my amazing Art and Soul of Baking cookbook. Instead of spun sugar, I wanted to drizzle it with my caramel sauce, and I filled the puffs with lightly sweetened whipped cream. If I had more time I would have filled them with vanilla custard, one of my favorites. My only regret was that I should have made the puffs smaller, so I could fit the whole thing in my mouth.
 

Croquembouche

(or something like it)

Make the caramel sauce ahead and store in the fridge until just before using

Profiteroles (sounds like prof fitter rolls) i.e. Cream Puffs

First, you will make the pate a choux, which is a dough that can be used for eclairs, cream puffs, or gougeres (savory profiteroles made with cheese, mustard, and black pepper...sounds delicious, right?)

Pate a Choux

Line two baking sheets with parchment and trace 1" circles on the parchment

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F

1 stick unsalted butter, cut into 1/2-inch pieces

1 cup water

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 cup flour

4 large eggs

Cook the butter, water, and salt in a medium saucepan over low heat, stirring occasionally until the butter melts evenly. Increase the heat and bring to a boil. Immediately remove the pan from the heat and add the flour all at once. Beat vigorously with the wooden spoon until the dough comes together in a mass around the spoon. Place the pan back over the medium heat and continue to cook, beating, for another minute or so to dry out the dough-the pan will have a thin film of dough on the bottom.

Transfer the dough to the bowl of a stand mixer. Beat on medium speed for 1 minute to slightly cool the dough and develop the gluten. In the medium bowl, beat the eggs together until you can't distinguish the yellow from the white. With the mixer on medium, add the eggs a couple of tablespoons at a time, allowing each addition to blend completely into the dough before continuing. When all the eggs are incorporated, the mixture should be shiny and elastic and stick to the side of the bowl. It should also pass the "string test": Place a bit of dough between your thumb and forefinger and pull them apart. The dough should form a stretchy string about 1 1/2 inches to 2 inches long. If the dough has not reached this stage, beat another egg and continue adding it, a little at a time, until the dough is finished.

Pipe the dough onto the prepared baking sheets and bake for 20 minutes.  Reduce the oven temperature to 350 F, switch the sheets between the racks, rotating the pans from front to back, and bake for 20 minutes longer. Reduce the oven temperature again, to 300 F, and bake 10 to 15 minutes longer. The profiteroles should be a deep golden brown.

When cool, fill with lightly sweetened whipped cream, stack into a tower, and drizzle with caramel sauce.

Berry wonderful!

Strawberries are here! I love the season's first offering of these sweet-but-sassy berries (which, actually, are not berries). So every time the first strawberries appear at the grocery store, I am compelled to buy them. Especially when they are running a 'buy two get a deal' thing. I then try to use the as fast as I possibly can, because I don't want to waste anything. You know the routine. Buy something on special, throw it in the bottom of the fridge.                           Two weeks later.              Digging through fridge and find special deal asparagus that you never used for anything. I know. It stinks. What I have started doing with miscellaneous produce items that I cannot seem to use in time is freeze them. This works especially well with strawberries. You hull them and throw them in a freezer Ziploc bag. They can be used for all sorts of things. Throw them in a smoothie with a banana, some honey, yogurt and a little milk. I also make jam out of them if I happen to collect enough.
Lately, though, I have been getting better at using the abundance of produce I end up with. One way is my second son, who thinks he is a garbage disposal. He loves, I mean loves strawberries. He thinks they are apples (he is only one and a half). If he sees them he starts saying, "Apples, more apples. Apples. Thank you." How can I resist? He will eat as many as I let him.
I also like to take fresh strawberries, hull and quarter them, plop on some yogurt (flavored is fine, or if you have unflavored mix it with jam or honey) and smash up some cereal like Honey Bunches of Oats on top of it. It's delicious. It is like a parfait, but in about 2 minutes. I love serving that with breakfast on our days off.
They are also great in salads with walnuts and feta. Add a raspberry vinaigrette (I like Ken's light) or balsamic dressing and you have a great start to a meal.
Well, I recently found another great addition to my strawberry repertoire. Strawberry shortcakes. I am not talking about those spongy, sweet circles you buy in the store. Real shortcakes. They are a snap to make, and filled with homemade whipped cream and fresh, ripe strawberries, I am going to be making these more often!
The shortcakes come together in food processor in a matter of moments. Just flour, salt and leavening, then add some cold butter and heavy cream. Roll them out and cut them into *heart shaped* shortcakes-so much fun! Perfect for an evening with just you and your man-or in our case, me and my men.

While they are baking in the oven, hull and quarter the strawberries and mash a few for a bit of a different texture. Whip up the cream and there you go!
I served mine after an easy dinner of pasta and salad, but it made the evening feel special and they were delicious!
You can make the shortcakes ahead, so all you have to do is fill them for a special meal. There is a lot of the shortbread leftover, so I just bake it up and use it for breakfast with some homemade blackberry jam and lots of butter...mmmm! It can't get any better than this!

Strawberry shortcakes

 3 cups cake flour, plus more as needed
1/4 cup plus 1 tablespoon, plus 2 teaspoons granulated sugar
2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon kosher salt
6 tablespoons cold unsalted butter, cut into pieces
1 1/2 cups heavy cream
1 egg lightly beaten with 1 tablespoon water

Strawberries

2 cups hulled and quartered strawberries
1 tablespoon blackberry preserves
2 teaspoons granulated sugar
1 1/4 teaspoon fresh lemon juice

Whipped Cream

1/3 cup heavy cream
1 tablespoon sour cream
1 1/2 teaspoons granulated sugar
1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract

powdered sugar for dusting

Position the rack in the center of the oven and preheat to 400 degrees F. Spray a baking sheet with vegetable-oil cooking spray.
            To make the shortcakes: Sift together the flour, the 1/4 cup plus 1 tablespoon granulated sugar, the baking powder, and kosher salt in a medium bowl. Transfer to the bowl of a food processor fitted with the steel blade. Add the butter and pulse 3 or 4 times at 2-second intervals until the dough resembles coarse meal. Add the cream and process until the dough begins to come together, a few seconds more. It will still be crumbly at this point. Do not overwork or the shortcakes will be tough.
Transfer the dough to a well-floured work surface. If the dough is sticky, sprinkle it with more flour. using a lightly floured rolling pin, roll out the dough into a rectangle about 12 inches long. Fold the left end to the middle and the right end up over the left end for for 3 layers. Roll out the dough to 3/4-inch thickness. using a 3-inch-wide heart-shaped cutter, cut into 3 individual cakes. Gather the scraps, roll out the remaining dough, and cut out 3 more hearts.
Place the shortcakes at least 2 inches apart on the prepared baking sheet. Brush the tops lightly with the beaten egg mixture and sprinkle lightly with the 2 teaspoons granulated sugar. Bake until the shortcakes are light golden brown. 15 to 20 minutes.
Meanwhile prepare the strawberries: Stir together the strawberries, blackberry preserves, granulated sugar, and lemon juice in a medium bowl. Put 1 cup of the mixture in a small bowl and mash with a fork or potato masher. Add to the strawberry mixture and set aside.
To make the whipped cream: Combine the heavy cream, sour cream, granulated sugar, and vanilla in the bowl of  a stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment. Beat on high speed until speed until soft peaks form, about 1 minute. The cream should slowly fall over forward when lifted with a whisk. Alternatively, use an electric hand mixer.
To serve, using a serrated knife, cut 2 shortcakes in half horizontally and place the bottom halves on each of the 2 plates. Top with the strawberries, dividing evenly. Add a dollop of whipped cream and top with the remaining sugar.