Fancy

Pumpkin Mousse

November 4, 2013 by mollygilbert520 13 Comments

I often wonder what other people at my coffee shop are doing. What are you doing over there, guy with the enormous beard? I see you with your iced green tea, laptop and intense expression. Me? I’m editing photos and typing out recipes and looking at babies on Facebook. Also I’m thinking about if a cookie counts as lunch, and whether or not the Splenda in my daily coffee will one day kill me (yes, I’m cool with cookies for lunch but feel the need to moderate my sugar intake when it comes to coffee consumption — I’m a walking contradiction and I’m fine with it).

Hey, Lady with the great hair and cool necklace — whatcha doing? Writing a collection of short stories? Studying for your botany exam? Pinning cat photos? Oh, and Guy in the Steve Jobs uniform — yeah you, Mr. Rolling-Your-Eyes-And-Screaming-Into-Your-Bluetooth — we get it. You’re important at your important start-up that’s important. Settle down.

All these people and me, we share an “office.” People are always coming and going and going and coming again, and we sometimes smile and nod as we come or go or refill our coffee cups, but we don’t really know each other. I don’t know about their dissertations or their break-up emails or their rampant online shopping habits, and they don’t know about my pumpkin mousse. It’s just weird, I guess. They should know about the mousse.

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Party Figs

August 22, 2013 by mollygilbert520 7 Comments

These figs like to party. Which is good because next week is my 29th birthday.

29! Almost aaaaalmost 30! Not that I’m rushing. Let’s bust out the sprinkles. Or, as my sister’s first grade student calls them, “them sprankles.” To me, nothing says PARTY like rainbow sprankles. Sprinkles. They’re like the tiny party hats of the food world. Only more flattering and without that uncomfortable rubber-band chin strap.

Party figs! They’re the best of both worlds. Sophisticated elegance (fresh figs) meets lowbrow nostalgia (white chocolate and rainbow sprinkles). Eating them is like seeing Grace Kelly at the Dairy Queen. Or “The Situation” at Buckingham Palace?

Similes aside, I think you’ll want to make these before fresh figs disappear (a.k.a soon). Sweet in both flavor and appearance, they make a playful end to a late-summer dinner gathering, or else just a fun and colorful snack. Either way, it’ll be a p-a-r-t-y.

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Raspberry Nectarine Clafoutis

June 21, 2013 by mollygilbert520 2 Comments

I killed so many bugs in the name of this clafoutis. So. Many. Freaking. BUGS.

It all started with a lovely day of stone fruit picking last weekend. Unable (again) to restrain myself, our kitchen counter found itself beneath a good twelve pounds of freshly-picked and amazingly fragrant nectarines and peaches. Gorgeous fruit! Fresh and ripe and beautiful. I’ll make so much pie, I thought, and cobblers and custards and jams! Maybe scones? Parfaits? Who’s to say?! My heart (and my kitchen) was ripe with summer fruit potential.

Except there were bugs. …So many bugs! They came out when I went to wash the great pile of fruit. URGH. They creeped and crawled and CREEPED. They were black and had pincers and were the size of golfballs (the last part might not be true).

I screamed. I swatted. I put on my rubber dishwashing gloves and went at them, dancing and dodging around on my tippy toes, shaking and wriggling and trying not to actually touch the things. I’m not proud. I threw one out the window. I tried to drown some in the sink (don’t tell PETA), but they crawled back up the drain. They had to be smashed. (Keep the change, ya filthy animal.) It was traumatic for me (but probably more so for the bugs) and I’m getting itchy just talking about it.

At any rate, in the now famous Battle Of The Bugs, there were casualties. Mostly of the insect variety, but we lost a lot of good peaches out there. There was plenty of bug-free fruit left, though, and I showed those bugs who’s boss by making clafoutis (actually I did it by smashing them to smithereens, but I’m trying not to come off as a terrible person and also the clafoutis makes for a prettier picture).

So what exactly is a clafoutis, you ask? Well, it’s pronounced CLA-FOO-TEE and it’s a fancy (but non-fancy) French dessert of fruit (traditionally cherries) in a firm, baked custard. It’s sort of a cross between custard and cake (and pancake, odd as that sounds); clafoutis are firm enough to slice up in pieces but smooth, soft and yielding in that cream-and-egg-enforced, custardy sort of way. It’s light and rich and delicious, and delightfully bug-free (I made quite sure of that. But I still feel kind of itchy?)

Let’s fire up the citronella candles (and bring some swatters and maybe a can of RAID — fine, forget the RAID) and eat this al fresco, in fat slices dusted with confectioner’s sugar. We’ll crack some wine — pink sounds good. We’ll pour some out for our bug friends (enemies), gone but not forgotten.

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Lemon Cream Ice Cream

May 31, 2013 by mollygilbert520 6 Comments

There are certain things I just know that I like. Red nails. Gramma’s house in Montauk. Pancakes and French pastries with extra syrup and jam. The act of re-reading any and all Harry Potters (except maybe number five — Harry’s angsty teenager act stresses me out in that one). New running sneaks. Getting flowers! Clean sheets. Amazing/terrible pop music. Thanksgiving! Also chocolate.

And now, apparently, lemons? I don’t know. I mean, lemons. I didn’t used to think the sight of a pile of lemons on the counter would excite me, but here I am again, singing the praises of yet another lemon recipe. I’ve made lemon curd (twice, actually – the second time I turned it into lemon yogurt mousse), lemon muffins, um, twice, lemon loaf cake, lemon yogurt cake (one of my first ever blog posts, by the way — how far I’ve come since then), and lemon-scented banana bread. And now ice cream! I am lover of lemons and a maker of lemon cream ice cream. Yes! Loud and proud.

You don’t see a lot of lemon ice cream out there. Lemon sorbet, sure, and the occasional lemon Italian ice (or water ice in Philadelphia), but it’s rare to find smooth, creamy, true ice cream in bright and refreshing lemon. But let me tell you: it exists, and it is fantastic.

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Meyer Lemon Yogurt Mousse

February 28, 2013 by mollygilbert520 2 Comments

YOU GUYS. I’m back with the Meyer lemons again. I can’t stop won’t stop singing their praises, it seems. But the things a Meyer lemon can bring! So many wondrous and enchanting and damn good things.

Things like lemon almond loaf cake.

And dream curd.

And muffins with gingerbread zing.

And mousse! Moose. Mousse. Oui.

See the things? I want all the things.

Let’s talk about this mousse – about how it’s bright and fresh and amazingly light, both in texture and in life. Caloric life. Or whatever. It’s reduced-guilt mousse! Is what I mean.

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Cocoa Date Truffles

February 8, 2013 by mollygilbert520 5 Comments

For you! Just in time for Valentine’s Day. I’m setting you up with a date.

I saw that eye roll, missy. Don’t worry! This date won’t be boring or bland or jealous of your Days-Of-The-Week underpants. Nope. This date is sweet and adorable and unexpected. Also, this date smells like chocolate. (Is it just me or does anyone else think I’ve just described the perfect date?)

(Just checking.)

Alright. I’m tired of date puns. Let’s just talk about truffles, okay? I won’t lie to you — if you’re looking to get your deep dark chocolate on this Valentine’s Day, these little babies won’t cut it. They just won’t. Why? Because these truffles are made primarily with dates, not chocolate. True, they’re rich and luscious and yes, they do take a tumble with some cocoa powder, but I’m just trying to tell you straight — dates are no replacement for chocolate.

If you’re looking for some true chocolate action on the 14th, get into this Flourless Chocolate Cake, or whip up a Brownie Berry Tart. Maybe make some Devil’s Food Raspberry Drip Cakes? Chunky Peanut Butter Brownies? Ooh, or World Peace Cookies! Chocolate Heart Sandwich Cookies with Whipped Espresso Ganache? The point is, we’ve got options.

These Cocoa Date Truffles are something different. They keep us on our toes. They’re sweet and decadent, dark and yielding, fudgy in texture and complex in flavor. And so clever, what without any added sugar and all. (I love sugar, but I’m just saying.) (I also really love parentheses today, apparently. Apologies.)

Try it out! Put yourself out there for a date. Who knows? Maybe you’ll be pleasantly surprised (and like, totally fall in love and have babies and puppies and stuff).

(Sorry. I’m stopping now.)

(Seriously.)

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Cheesy Leek & Delicata Squash Tart

November 14, 2012 by mollygilbert520 3 Comments

There’s an old man who sits in my local coffee shop all day. I probably didn’t notice him the first few times I ran in for a latte, but I bet he was there. He’s always there. Reading a newspaper and holding a pen, sometimes making notes in the margins. He wears thin silver glasses, wispy white hairs, a navy blue sport coat over a blue striped shirt and a navy blue ascot around his neck. I think that’s what made me notice him, at first – the ascot. I didn’t think much about him, initially. Just, you know, cool ascot. But the coffee shop days wore on, and I started noticing.

I noticed that he likes ginger cookies. His thin lips rarely smile, and his Roman nose is always gloriously beet red. His thin pocket square slumps down in his breast pocket like a deflated dream, barely visible except when he leans over his paper to catch the small print. He’s always getting up and sitting back down, teetering around the coffee shop with a slow purpose, it seems. He chews with his mouth wide open and throws stray pastry crumbs on the ground. He’s got lots of stray crumbs.

This man often makes me smile, as I sit and work and sip. He also makes me sad. Who is this man? What are his stories? Why does he sit in this coffee shop, day after day, wearing his sport coat and ascot? What is he writing in those margins? Letters? Short stories? Nothing at all?

I don’t know. He interests me. I hope his life is happy. I hope he’s got a nice family. Somehow, I’m not sure that’s true. Watching him makes me thankful for my own life, loves, family. I guess that’s all I really mean to say.

All of which has nothing to do with this cheesy leek and Delicata squash tart, except that I made it for my love of a sister, who was here visiting over the weekend. We ate it warm for dinner alongside bowls of creamy carrot potato soup, then snacked on it cold the next day, like leftover pizza. It’s definitely better warm, but when you’re snacking and gossiping with your visiting little sister, it turns out it doesn’t much matter.

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Chocolate French Macarons

January 23, 2012 by mollygilbert520 15 Comments

Look at this fanciness! Sometimes it’s fun to be French and fancy. And then add sprinkles.

I first made macarons in pastry school, and I remember being surprised and actually a little bit disappointed at just how simple they are to make. I mean, these are macarons. French ones! These dainty little pretties line the windows of the best French bakeries, taunting us Americans, we with our thick crusted pies and face-sized cookies, looking all sloppy and oafish in comparison. Stupide, they say, look at how delicate we are! Look how elegant, how sophisticated! Out of your league, girl.

Well, nope.

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Warm Truffled Mushroom Salad

January 9, 2012 by mollygilbert520 3 Comments

This is a salad. That is correct. Sure, it gets drizzled with truffle oil, sprinkled with strong cheese and topped with fried shallots… but! Technically, salad. I mean, there are vegetables in this thing and you eat it with a fork. So, salad! Perfectly acceptable for consumption in this austere month of January. Don’t you agree?

Don’t tell my mother, but I almost ripped out the battery from my smoke alarm making this salad. The thing is exceptional, in that if I accidentally breath on it wrong, it beeps uncontrollably. Beep! Beep! Beeeeeeep! It loved the “sautée the mushrooms in batches” step of this recipe. Loved it. BEEP BEEEEEEP!

But you know. All’s well that ends well, some people say. And I think I may have mentioned that this ends with truffle oil and crispy shallots. So, yes. Ends well.

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Roasted Figs with Gorgonzola & Honey

December 27, 2011 by mollygilbert520 4 Comments

Just in case!

You might be hosting some friends on New Year’s, and you might need to feed them some little somethings. These roasted figs are some somethings to get behind. They’re easy and elegant, salty and sweet and a little herb-y, too. Great with champagne. You know, just in case.

Roasted Figs with Gorgonzola & Honey

This recipe is a snap to make, and the figs are delicious both warm and at room temperature. Be sure to leave out an empty bowl for the discarded fig stems.

Ingredients:

10-12 fresh figs, any color (I used black mission figs), sliced in half lengthwise
1/4 cup olive oil
1 teaspoon fresh thyme, chopped
salt and pepper, to taste
1/4 cup gorgonzola crumbles
1/4 cup honey

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 375ºF. Cover a cookie sheet with tin foil (this makes for easy clean up), and lay the figs on the sheet, cut side up.

Drizzle the olive oil over the figs, lightly coating each one, and then sprinkle each with a bit of thyme, salt and pepper. Place the figs in the oven and bake for about 15 minutes, until figs look slightly puckery and juice is beginning to leak from the fruit. Remove from the oven. While the figs are still warm, place a few crumbles of gorgonzola on top of each fig. Once all of the figs have been gorgonzola-ed, drizzle the honey lightly on top.

Remove figs to a serving platter. Enjoy!

Makes 20-24 pieces.