The Pot de Creme Meltdown!

Since our theme was apres ski cuisine, we asked our friends Bob and Lynn and their cute daughter Caroline to be this week's judges.  Lynn was the maid of honor at our wedding and has attended Connie's self-titled 'Pumpkin Pie from Scratch" class which is actually hanging out around our kitchen baking pumpkin pies and then heading out to lunch!  And Bob and Caroline are now being featured in commercials and other productions as aspiring extras.

They have a family condo in Colorado where they enjoy beautiful mountain scenery and great skiing so we knew they'd have some strong opinions about pot de creme!

                                       Colorado Ski Trees

                                       Caroline Ready to Hit the Slopes


Connie was easily able to follow Betty's instructions and the end results looked and tasted like pot de creme we've had in the past.  The only thing she'd change about this recipe is that because it is so rich it would have been nice to top it with whipped cream.

                                                   Betty's Pot de Creme

And then there was Bruce's Challenger recipe.  We've said it before...Bruce has a very hard time sticking to a recipe...he is simply too creative (and self-confident)!  He decided to add a roasted marshmallow on top of his pot de creme and he spent quite a lot of time trying to perfect that for this dish.  He also spent at least 10 minutes in the Dollar Store finding Betty Crocker measuring cups for his serving dish to confuse our judges.  He should not have messed with Betty!

After he chilled his pot de creme for hours, he realized that it did not have the right consistency...it was more like chocolate milk.  He was devastated (Connie's words, not his).  In fact, he seemed quite contrite in saying, "Don't give Bob and Lynn my dish...just let them have yours because this is so awful."

                          Bruce's Pot de Creme Masqueraded as Betty's

The hour of judgement arrived. Connie met Lynn for lunch and handed off both dishes!  Since Lynn is a lawyer by trade, she wanted precise directions about how to serve the dish.  Connie's instructions:  "Serve the one in the glass dish as is and enjoy.  The one in the Betty Crocker cup has a problem.  Try freezing it for 20 minutes and then serving it".  We thought that might make it taste more like pot de creme ice cream!

Bob, Lynn, and Caroline followed the instructions given and proved to be very diplomatic (and kind) judges.  About Betty's they said, "It has a creamy, smooth texture and an interesting balance of cholocate and other flavors".  Unfortunately, the Challenger's dish did not freeze (perhaps it could be used in the South Pole for explorers?).  However, they bravely tasted it and commented that, "it tasted like cold hot chocolate -- not bad, just odd". 

In other words, Betty Crocker rocks on!

                             Caroline Enjoying This Week's Winner

One final note:  one of our most astute bloggers (Jim) checked out the recipe that Bruce used this week and noted that there were no reviews for it.  He therefore speculated that this might be Betty's week.  Hmmm....maybe Bruce should check that out next time!

This Week's Scorecard:
Betty:                         5
The Challenger          3

Pot de Creme....ooo la la!

Since Bruce and Connie love all things French (and Italian...and, since we'll  be going to China soon, probably Chinese) we decided to do a French dessert this week.  Although we're in hot 'lanta, there is still a tinge of crispness in the air that signals the beginning of colder weather.  Perhaps because it's been such a hot summer, we started dreaming of snow-peaked mountains and cups of hot chocolate.

Back to reality...we need something like hot chocolate, but that is cold and creamy as we finish up the final dog days of summer.  So, of course, we settled on this week's competition...pot de creme au chocolat mousse (pronounced "poe duh crem (not "cream") oh chocolah moose").

We did some digging to find out more about this dessert.  It originated in the Middle Ages and is renowned for both the smoothness of the custard as well as for the small lidded dish (pot) that it was traditionally served in.  There's no record of who the original cook was who created this little delicacy.

                                             Example of Pot de Creme Au Chocolate

Once again, Connie will be Betty and Bruce will be the Challenger.  Here's what Betty had to say about her recipe:  "A smooth chocolate custard cream from France.  So rich that very small portions are served."

Betty's Pot De Creme Au Chocolat Mousse:

1    bar (4 ounces) sweet cooking chocolate
1    tablespoon sugar
1/4 cup sugar (for the mousse)
1/2 cup light cream
2    egg yolks, slightly beaten
2    egg whites
1/2 teaspoon vanilla

Heat chocolate, 1 tablespoon sugar and cream over medium heat stirring constantly, until chocolate is melted and mixture is smooth.  Gradually beat into egg yolks.   Stir in vanilla.

Beat 2 egg whites until foamy.  Beat in 1/4 cup sugar, 1 tablespoon at a time; continue beating until stiff and glossy.  Fold into chocolate mixture. 

Pour into demitasse cups or other small dessert dishes.  Chill.  If desired, garnish with whipped cream.

6 to 8 servings.


The Challenger's Pot De Creme Au Chocolat Mousse:
(courtesy of CDKitchen.com)
 1 package semisweet real chocolate chips
1/2 package (11 1/2 oz. size) milk chocolate morsels
1/2 cup sugar
3 eggs
1 cup hot milk
whipped cream (optional)

DIRECTIONS:
In blender, combine all the chocolate, sugar and eggs. Add hot milk and blend until smooth. Pour into pot de creme or demitasse cups.

Chill several hours and garnish with whipped cream. Always keep refrigerated until ready to serve. You may prepare and freeze this ahead.

Spoiler Alert:  One of these recipes was a complete disaster...yes, it was a real train wreck!  Which do you think it was?

Stay tuned for the results next week!

Mushrooms Reign Supreme!

Bruce and Connie decided to go for the ultimate challenge...we will be this week's judges!  So...not only do we have to cook opposing recipes, but we have to decide together which recipe is best.  Connie was quite skeptical about this approach given that part of this couple can be quite aggressive in "his" opinions.  However, Bruce suggested that if we don't have an obvious winner, Connie's decision would rule!  Does this man know how to keep the marital peace or what?

First up, Bruce's mushrooms.  They were quite pretty and you could see the cheesy goodness at first glance.

                                       The Challenger's Cheesy Stuffed Mushroom

We bit into it with great expectations, however....the cream cheese was actually over-powering and made the whole thing taste a bit bland and gooey.  But, it's never a slam dunk until both dishes are tested so Connie was a little concerned as she eyed her (er, Betty's) mushroom one more time.

                                    Hmmm....will Betty's mushroom reign supreme?

Betty's mushroom had that golden crust that is more typical for a stuffed mushroom.

                                                    Betty's Mushrooms Royale

As Connie tasted it, an inner beam started shining and it was difficult to keep the smile off her face.  This mushroom tasted just like Thanksgiving!!!  The stuffing and seasonings were super-yummy and all she could think of was "more, more, more!"  But, she remained calm as Bruce did his taste test.

He paused for a long moment as if deep in contemplative musings/thought....

                                                   Bruce in Deep Thought



before finally declaring Betty's mushrooms the clear winner.  He agreed that the delicate stuffing taste was spot-on.  As we happily munched our way through a big plate of Betty's mushrooms we discussed how to make the dish even better.  One idea:  a small amount of cream cheese might make it even more decadent.  And, as one of our active blog followers suggested...maybe some sausage would send it over the top. So, two final thoughts:  #1  Bruce kept a happy (and triumphant) wife

No, she's really not THAT competitive!

and #2 Betty scores again!!!

This Week's Scorecard:

Betty:                         4

The Challenger:        3



Hail to the Mighty Mushroom

Bruce and Connie have developed a true appreciation for mushrooms over the years.  Perhaps much of the reason for our interest in this little puff of fungus comes from our love of all things French...and the French certainly have a way with food, especially truffles.  Here in the States, Connie happily substitutes the giant portabella mushroom in place of a hamburger and Bruce has created a devilishly good mushroom and wine concoction that he serves over french bread and goat cheese (thanks to our good friend Jim S. for the inspiration on this one!)

Now, for this week's history lesson:

The first evidence that mushrooms were used as human food in prehistoric Europe is the recent find of a bowl of field mushrooms in a Bronze Age house near Nola in Italy.  Mushrooms were gathered from the wild.  Classical Greek authors tend to treat them as famine food, on the level with acorns. By Romans, however, they were so highly regarded that the Stroic writer Seneca gave up mushrooms as unnecessary luxuries -- an approach to the vegetarianism and asceticism that he toyed with. Recipes are suggested by Diphilus of Siphnos, in the third century BC, and in Apicius in the fourth century AD.

Mushrooms were also very popul in the civilizations of China, Egypt and Greece.  Egyptian pharoahs and Roman emperors actually went so far as to forbid commoners from eating mushrooms; strictly reserving them for nobility only.
 

Clearly, eating mushrooms is probably the closest we'll ever get to feeling

like nobility, so this week we decided to focus on the ever-popular stuffed

mushroom!

Connie will be cooking Betty Crocker's version:

Betty Crocker's Mushrooms Royale

Each mushroom cap holds a spicy golden stuffing.

1          pound medium mushrooms (about 3 dozen)
3          tablespoons butter or margarine
1/4       cup finely chopped green pepper
1/4       cup finely chopped onion
1 1/2    cups soft bread crumbs
1/2       teaspoon salt
1/2       teaspoon thyme
1/4       teaspoon garlic powder
1/4       teaspoon pepper
1          tablespoon butter or margarine

Heat oven to 350 degrees.  Wash, trim and dry mushrooms thoroughly.  Remove stems; finely chop enough stems to measure 1/3 cup.

Melt 3 tablespoons butter in skillet.  Cook and stir chopped mushroom stems, green pepper and onion in butter abuot 5 minutes or until tender.  Remove from heat; stir in remaining ingredients except mushroom caps and 1 tablespoon butter.

Melt 1 tablespoon butter in shallow baking dish.  Fill mushroom caps with stuffing mixture; place mushrooms filled side up in baking dish.  Bake 15 minutes.

Set oven control at broil and/or 550 degrees.  Broil mushrooms 3 to 4 inches from heat 2 minutes.

About 3 dozen appetizers.

Bruce is this week's challenger and will be cooking:

Cheesy Stuffed Mushrooms

12 whole fresh mushrooms

1 tablespoon vegetable oil
1 tablespoon minced garlic
1 (8 ounce) package cream cheese, softened
1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese
1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
1/4 teaspoon onion powder
1/4 teaspoon ground cayenne pepper

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Spray a baking sheet with cooking spray. Clean mushrooms with a damp paper towel. Carefully break off stems. Chop stems extremely fine, discarding tough end of stems.

Heat oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add garlic and chopped mushroom stems to the skillet. Fry until any moisture has disappeared, taking care not to burn garlic. Set aside to cool.

When garlic and mushroom mixture is no longer hot, stir in cream cheese, Parmesan cheese, black pepper, onion powder and cayenne pepper. Mixture should be very thick. Using a little spoon, fill each mushroom cap with a generous amount of stuffing. Arrange the mushroom caps on prepared cookie sheet.

Bake for 20 minutes in the preheated oven, or until the mushrooms are piping hot and liquid starts to form under caps.

Connie immediately started stressing about the fact that Bruce's recipe features cream cheese, while Betty's focuses on bread crumbs...who do you think will win this week's Mushroom Mania cookoff?

Good 'ole comfort food!

This week's judges are April (Bruce's daughter) and her husband Nick...by the way, they are the proud parents of our last judges...sweet Elise and Emma.

April and Nick are no strangers to food competitions.  For many years now they have hosted a much-attended chilli cookoff during the New Year's holiday.  And, of course, they are competitors in our annual family food  competition...this year we'll be hosting it during the Thanksgiving holidays.

Our family is full of fierce competitors and we can be quite critical as judges.  So, when family members are involved in the Betty Crocker cookoff,  Bruce and I hold our collective breaths and steel ourselves for whatever may happen!

                                                  April and Nick Before the Cookoff

We spent the day at the Historic 4th Ward Park in Atlanta to amuse the kids...

                                                   

and....Bruce.

Finally, back at home we got the potatoes in the oven and Bruce cooked steaks in the sous vide.  At this point we really haven't gotten the hang of perfect sous vide cooking; we haven't figured out how to serve the food really hot given that it is coming out of a warm water bath.  We have tried flash cooking the meat after it comes out of the bath, but we're still not satisfied.  However, last night we made a knock-it-out-of-the-park Mediterranean Shrimp in the sous vide.  It was over the top deeeeelicious! 

Anyway, back to the potatoes.  Betty's potatoes were drier and more like cheesy hash browns.

                                   Betty's Au Gratin Potatoes

and Connie's Challenger potatoes were creamier (you can never go wrong with bechemel sauce in any casserole)!

                              The Challenger's Au Gratin Potatoes

They tasted so different that we feared there might be a tie, however one bite of each and April and Nick quickly declared the Challenger the winner!  Connie did her happy dance around the kitchen while Bruce quizzed them on why they liked this dish better.  Their answer was surprising:  it was because of the sliced American cheese in the challenger's potatoes. Ah, Betty, I'm surprised you didn't add this old stand-by to your dish!  After a yummy meat and potatoes dinner everyone was satisfied and ready for a nap, especially Nick!

Another happy cookoff and it's getting interesting:

This Week's Scorecard
Betty:                            3
The Challenger:           3

Meat and Potatoes!

We decided to have an old-fashioned meal of steak and potatoes and couldn't resist throwing in the competitive edge to it by involving Betty. We have been experimenting with our new sous vide (pronounced "Sue Veed") machine so we decided to use it to cook steaks.  Basically, you vacume-seal your food then put it in a very low heat water bath in the machine.  It cooks slowly and retains the juices of whatever you're cooking.  Since Connie doesn't eat meat, that job goes to Bruce!

                            Sous Vide Machine


For this week's competition we are featuring Au Gratin Potatoes to go with the steak.  This was Connie's favorite dish growing up and she couldn't resist making it.  We don't typically eat white potatoes and cheese at our house, so this is a decadent treat!

                                          Yummy Au Gratin Potatoes


Bruce is serving as Betty this week with her recipe:

Betty's Au Gratin Potatoes:            

6 medium potatoes

1 medium onion, chopped

1/4 cup margarine or butter

1 tablespoon flour

1 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon pepper

2 cups milk

2 cups shredded natural sharp Cheddar cheese

1/4 cup fine dry bread crumbs

Paprika

Peel and slice potatoes into thin slices.

Cook and stir onion in margarine in 2 quarrt saucepan until onion is tender.  Stir in flour, salt and pepper.  Cook over low heat, stirring constantly, until mixture is bubbly; remove from heat.  Stir in milk and 1 1/2 cups of the cheese.  Heat to boiling, stirring constantly.  Boil and stir 1 minute. Place potatoes in ungreased 1 1/2 quart casserole.  Pour cheese sauce on potatoes.  Cook uncovered in 325 degree oven 1 hour 20 minutes or in 375 degree oven for 1 hour.

Mix remaining cheese and the bread crumbs; sprinkle over potatoes.  Sprinkle with paprika.  Cook uncovered until top is brown and bubbly, 15 to 20 minutes longer.  6 servings.



The Challenger's Au Gratin Potatoes:
This is Connie's original recipe adapted from the dish she enjoyed as a child...

3 large baking potatoes                                         

4 tablespoons butter
1 tablespoon flour
1 cup cream
1/2 cup milk
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon pepper
3 slices of American cheese
1 cup of shredded Cheddar cheese

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Make the cream sauce:
In a small saucepan, melt 1 tablespoon of butter over medium heat.  Add the flour and stir constantly for 3 minutes.  Add the cream and milk and stir until slightly thickened.  Remove from heat.

Slice the potatoes thinly.  Spray a 9 x 13 inch casserole with canola oil.  Spread 1/3 of the potatoes in an even layer in the casserole.  Top with slivers of 1 tablespoon of butter, 1/3 of the cream sauce, 1/3 of the salt, pepper, and garlic powder, 1 slice of American cheese (cut into strips), and 1/3 of the Cheddar cheese.  Repeat for the next two layers. 

Cover the casserole with aluminum foil and cook for 1 hour.  Remove the foil and cook for approximately 15 more minutes until the top is golden brown.

So, who do you think will win this week's potato challenge...Betty or Connie???

This Week's Very Diplomatic Judges!

Bruce's young granddaughters, Elise (6) and Emma (3) came for a summer visit and we asked them to be judges in a very special Betty Crocker cookoff.  Since they are both chocolaholics, it seemed fitting that we'd make double chocolate cupcakes. 

We tried to keep it secret who was cooking which recipe, but clever Elise spotted Poppy adding white chocolate chips to his recipe.  She quickly came over to Connie to report that she'd probably win since Elise does NOT like white chocolate!!! 

Once all the cupcakes were made, we let the girls add sprinkles to all of them...I mean, what's a girlie cupcake if it doesn't have pink sprinkles?

                        Elise and Emma Displaying the Finished Cupcakes

Once they were seated and ready we discreetly placed 3 cupcakes out for tasting. 

                                     Emma Eyeing the Cupcakes

Before Elise could begin, Emma quickly scooped in and grabbed a Betty Crocker cupcake.  One  big bite of the icing and she declared this cupcake the winner!!!  Woohoo for Betty!

                                          Emma Eating All the Icing Off Betty's Cupcake

As Connie was trying not to jump around the kitchen in a victory dance, Elise glanced at the cupcake Emma was devouring and realized that it did not have white chocolate in it.  She glanced worriedly at Poppy and Connie knew that Betty was toast.  Without skipping a beat, she daintily tasted both cupcakes (carefully avoiding the white chocolate chips) and pronounced the cupcake with the white chocolate chips her winner! 

                                               Elise Carefully Making Her Decision

Yes, this child may be a future Secretary of State!!!  We profusely thanked this week's judges and declared their decisions to be fair for all.  So, this week's cookoff is a very sweet tie with even sweeter judges!

The Scorecard Remains:
Betty:                   3
The Challenger:  2