American Comfort Food

Sweet Potato Fries
Grandma's Macaroni and Cheese
Roasted Asparagus
Chocolate Bread Pudding with Warm Creme Anglaise





Sweet Potato Fries
Serve with Pommes Frites al Forno Dipping Sauces (September 8, 2009 blog entry).


Serves 4

Ingredients

- 2 large sweet potatoes
- coarse salt
- about 1/4 cup olive oil/vegetable oil

Preheat your oven to 425 degrees F. Cover 2 large sheet pans with parchment paper. Peel the potatoes and immediately place in a large bowl of water. With a sharp knife, cut each potato in half and then into 1/8 of an inch strips. Cut each strip into1/8 inch thick pieces, so that you have long, skinny potato slices. If the potatoes start to turn brown, place them in a large bowl filled with cold water. Place the potatoes on the sheet pans spread evenly apart and toss with oil and salt. After 15 minutes flip the fries using a large metal spatula. Bake until crisp and golden brown, about 30 minutes.

Grandma’s Macaroni and Cheese
I have certainly had (either made or eaten) my fair share of macaroni and cheese, and though I have had some good ones nothing beats my Grandma’s classic recipe. I have had macaroni and cheese with fancy noodles, exotic cheeses, breadcrumb topping, sliced tomatoes, and unnecessary foreign ingredients and still my all time favorite is my Grandma’s well-loved recipe. What makes this macaroni and cheese dish amazing is taking the extra effort to find really good extra sharp cheddar cheese. I suggest opting out of the artificial processed kind by going to a gourmet cheese shop.

Serves 6

Ingredients

- 1 pound elbow pasta, or any medium size macaroni shape noodle
- 1/2 cup extra sharp cheddar cheese, graded
- 1 cup soda cracker crumbs
Cheese Sauce
- 8 tablespoons butter
- 6-8 tablespoons flour
- 4 cup milk (you can use 1%, 2% or whole milk)
- 1 teaspoon salt, plus more for seasoning
- pinch of pepper
- 4 cups ( about 16 ounces) extra sharp cheddar cheese, grated


Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Set aside a large casserole dish with a lid, and preheat your oven to 350 degrees F. Meanwhile, melt the butter on low heat in a medium size heavy saucepan. Add just enough flour to the butter to make a paste. Slowly stir in the milk to the paste. Continue to stir and cook over low/medium heat until the sauce has thickened. Add the salt and pepper. Turn the heat off and stir in the cheese until melted. When the salted water has come to a boil cook the pasta 2 minutes less than the package’s cooking instructions call for. (The pasta will finish cooking in the oven.) Drain the pasta and add to the casserole dish, and combine with the cheese sauce. Toss the noodles evenly with the sauce and taste for more salt. Sprinkle the remaining half cup of cheese on top of the macaroni and sprinkle the cracker crumbs on top of the cheese. Bake, with a lid, for 20 minutes. Remove the lid and bake for 10 minutes more. Serve warm.

Roasted Asparagus
If you haven’t had asparagus roasted… well, you should.

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. Trim the ends of the asparagus and place on a baking sheet. Toss the asparagus with a bit of olive oil, salt and pepper. Roast in the oven for 20 minutes. Serve immediately.

Chocolate Bread Pudding with Warm Crème Anglaise
This dessert is the epitome of comfort- warm, gooey, chocolaty and covered with vanilla crème anglaise…mmm… Though there is nothing exotic about this dessert, the classic duality of chocolate and vanilla proves itself again. This bread pudding is ridiculously easy to make and goes down pretty easily too, since it is not nearly as rich and indulgent as it looks. It is also surprisingly less sweet than one would expect and therefore needs the balance of the crème anglaise. Enjoy.


Serves 10-12

Ingredients

- butter for baking dish
- 1 pound challah bread, cut into 1/2 cubes
- 4 cups milk
- 8 ounces semisweet chocolate
- 6 large eggs
- 3/4 cup granulated sugar
- pinch of salt
- 1/2 teaspoon vanilla bean extract or vanilla extract
Chocolate Ganache
- 4 ounces semisweet or dark chocolate, finely chopped
- 1 cup cream

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Lightly butter a 13 by 9 baking dish. Set aside. Spread the bread cubes out on a large baking sheet and toast in the oven for 15 minutes. Let cool.
In a medium saucepan, heat the milk, butter and vanilla on medium-low heat until warm. Add the chopped chocolate and stir until chocolate has melted. Then add the sugar and let for a few minutes. Meanwhile, in a medium bowl, whisk together the eggs Slowly whisk the eggs into the warm chocolate milk mixture.
Place the cooled toasted bread cubes evenly in a large bowl and evenly pour the custard over the bread cubes. Let the bread cubes absorb the custard for 30 to 45 minutes.
To make the ganache, heat the cream in a small saucepan and bring to a simmer. Pour the hot cream over the chopped chocolate in 3 additions and stir until smooth. Let the ganache cool for 15 minutes.
Transfer half of the soaked bread cubes into the prepared baking dish. Pour over half of the ganache. Top with the remaining breadcrumbs. Pour the remaining ganache over the top. Bake the pudding until it is puffed and does not giggle in the center, when lightly shook, about 55 minutes to 1 hour. Remove the bread pudding from the oven and let sit 10 minutes. Serve warm or at room temperature with Warm Crème Anglaise.

Warm Crème Anglaise

Ingredients

- 1/2 cup whole milk
- 1/2 cup heavy cream
- 3 egg yolks
- 1/2 vanilla bean, or 1 teaspoon vanilla bean paste
- 3 tablespoons sugar

To make the sauce heat the milk, cream and half of the sugar in a medium size heavy saucepan. Cut the vanilla bean lengthwise and use the tip of the knife to scrape all of the seeds into the milk. Place the vanilla bean in the milk and bring to a simmer. In a small bowl whisk together the egg yolks and the remaining sugar. When the milk is at a simmer, slowly pour a few tablespoon of the hot milk into the eggs, while whisking. Add a few tablespoons more of hot milk; then return the saucepan to the stove over low heat.
While whisking the hot milk, gradually pour the egg mixture back into the milk on the stove. Use a heatproof spatula to continuously stir the sauce until it begins to thicken, or until it can coat the back of spoon. When the sauce is thick (and reaches 82 C/182 F, if you have a digital thermometer), pour the sauce into a strainer over a medium size clean bowl. Serve warm over the chocolate bread pudding.