Tuesday, November 18, 2008

TWD: Arborio Rice Pudding



This week's recipe was chosen by Isabelle of Les Gourmandises d'Isa. As always, you can find the recipe listed on her site and you can see what other TWD bloggers did here.


I'm a huge fan of pudding, so I looked forward to this week. I've never made rice pudding and I've eaten it only a couple of times. I like it! The arborio rice adds substantial texture to the pudding compared to other rice puddings I've had.


Thanks to the P&Q section of the website, I learned from other bloggers that the pudding takes longer to cook than the recipe states. Dorie herself commented that there was an error in the printed recipe and it was actually supposed to cook for 55 min., not 30. Thanks Dorie! Mine only took 45 minutes.



This was a simple recipe with only four ingredients. The end result - delicious!


Next week is Thanksgiving. There's going to be a whole lot of baking going on. Our next TWD recipe is the Thanksgiving Twofer Pie - pumpkin and pecan combined, oh my!

Wednesday, November 12, 2008

TWD: Kugelhopf

Kugelhopf is from the Alsace region of France. It's part bread, part cake. Similar to brioche, but not as rich.

I waited until the last minute on this one. I thought I would whip it up Tuesday morning as I often do....until I read the recipe. Oops. This is one that requires planning ahead. Having missed the last 2 weeks I forged ahead anyway.





What takes so much time in this recipe is all of the rising of the dough that needs to happen. I got a nice rise the first time around. I used the oven trick for a little insurance that other members had suggested. I heated it on it's lowest setting for 10 minutes then turned it off and put the dough inside. Worked like a charm.

I wasn't so lucky once the dough went into the pan and was supposed to rise to the top. I used a bundt pan since I don't have a kugelhopf pan. I skipped refridgerating it overnight as the recipe suggested. No time for that and in hindsight, I don't think it would have made a difference in getting a better rise. I could be wrong. I used the oven trick again and it did rise some, just not as much as I think it was supposed to. I left it in there for four hours. I don't think anything more was going to happen with more time so onto the baking I went. That's the easy part!





When it's done, you brush it all over with melted butter and dust it with sugar. And then, powdered sugar. Yum.




I had it for breakfast this morning. I added extra powdered sugar because I don't think it's sweet enough. I like the texture and the delicate crust. I'm not sure if I will make it again, but I'm glad I tried it. I had never even heard of kugelhopf before. I might try making some french toast with the rest of it.

This week's recipe was chosen by Yolanda of The All Purpose Girl. You can get the recipe from her site. Click here to see what other TWD bloggers had to say about this recipe.

Part of my absence was because Jeff and I went to NYC for a week. He ran in the NY Marathon which was the reason for the trip. We had a great time. We ate at Bobby Flay's Mesa Grill which did not disappoint. I have an extensive cookbook collection and I was happy to discover when I got home that I have this cookbook! Now I can make this delicious food at home.

We also ate at a small restaurant in the village called The Spotted Pig for lunch. And being the pizza lover that I am, we ate at Lombardi's. Twice. Check out what I found in the dining room downstairs.



How's that for a mixer?!