So after a spiritual, uplifting morning with my family I decided to do something extraordinary. My definition of "extraordinary" is putting on an apron and turning into a domestic goddess. Because being domestic for me is EXTRAORDINARY -especially when it comes to cooking. Oh.. the dreaded word.. "COOKING." I don't think I can actually say it without flaming knives of terror shooting from my eyes. Talk about SCARY! ek,ek,ek. It's my life-long dream to become a gourmet cook, or should I say, a good cook. To go where I've never gone before, to turn on appliances, to beat meat with wooden hammers, to cook with exotic spices while I throw them over my shoulder, to make pie from scratch, to place peach cobbler in my kitchen window for the neighbors to sniff.
Okay, okay... relax. I simply decided to make a delicious looking dessert I found in a Julia Child's cookbook. Yes, I did see the movie "Julie & Julia" the night before.. and yes, I did watch the movie with envy as I gazed at two domestic queens bustling around their kitchens while devouring glorious food. And yes, I did say to myself, "I can be a gourmet chief like Julia within a short time frame (sometimes I overestimate my abilities, then I later cash and burn). However, I truly believed at that moment that I could cook like Julia Child, that I would be the envy of all my domestic idols in the neighborhood. So I thought I'd pick something basic to start with like... Soufflé glacé à l'orange (I can't even say it). It's Deep-frozen orange soufflé.
Doesn't this look mouth-watering? Yum!
Here are the "coordinates" in case you want to make this... all my yourself.
2-1/4 teaspoons granulated gelatin (I recommend orange gelatin)
4-6 tablespoons of water (tap water is okay)
1/2 cup water
1 cup sugar, divided (I don't know what "divided" means here)
zest and juice of 2 oranges
3 eggs, separated, room temperature
1 cup heavy cream, chilled.
(I'll post the directions in the comments section)
I began with combining the water & sugar in a saucepan. "Bring to boil until softball stage." The first try my "softball stage" went to "hardball stage" within seconds. I turned to zest my oranges after I turned off the stove and within seconds my sugar water turned into hard, flakey snowflakes. So I cleaned out the pan and tried it again. Next I was told to whisk the egg yolks and orange rind.. then pour my beautiful sugar syrup into the same bowl while I "folded in" the gelatin. "Fold in" what does this mean? I can fold towels, my pj's, pants.. I couldn't figure this out with gelatin. I did my best and later found that the gelatin was fairly chunky in sections, aah.. short, even folds next time? In a different bowl I tried whisking the egg whites "until stiff." I beat those whites by hand with my whisk as fast as possible until my wrist throbbed. However, the whites remained just.. simply whites, nonstiff. So I pulled out my blender and blended them to a stiff stage with pretty peaks. Then folded them into my orange mixture and WHALAA! Orange Soufflé, Jennifer style.
My little dishes don't look as lovely as Julia's, however my soufflé was delicious, very tasty. I'm sure Julia would have given me two thumbs down but I was glad to wrap it up, fold it in, and simply taste it. Today, it was all about taste.
au revoir
2 comments:
Dissolve the gelatin in 2 tablespoons water until it's spongy.
Combine 1/2 cup water and 1/2 cup sugar in a saucepan. Boil sugar to softball stage. Heat the orange juice to boiling, cool slightly, and then dissolve the gelatin in it. Whisk the egg yolks with the orange rind and pour in the syrup in a thing stream, whisking continuously until the mixture is pale and creamy. Then, fold in the gelatin dissolved in the orange juice. Combine 1/2 cup water and 2/3 cup sugar in a saucepan. Boil sugar to softball stage. Cool slightly. While boiling the sugar, whisk the egg whites until stiff. Gradually whisk in the syrup to make an Italian Meringue. Whisk until cool. The meringue should be firm and glossy and doubled in volume. Whip the cream until thick, but not stiff. Fold it into the yolk mixture, Fold the meringue into the mixture.
Pour the souffle mixtue into each dish so it comes near the to of the dish. Chill for several hours.
Let me just confirm that your orange dessert was FANTASTIC! Thanks for sharing some with me. Oh, and I love how in your photo of the little dishes, there's a fancy star pattern on the counter!
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