Happy Birthday

Amazing. I am so glad you are here.
Today we celebrate the release of Soup Spoon. The past month of talking to her, teaching her, learning from her, beating the table in frustration of not understanding what the heck HTML is talking about, has been a lovely time. Truly lovely, even beating the table. Many moments in the beginning I felt myself being vacuumed towards the stove and peeled from this screen, but through trial, error, error, error, and a lot of hot tea, here we are. Ahhh. I like this place.

Ok Soup Spoon. Now is when I shove you from the nest. They will love you. Go ahead. Go ahead.

Stephen and I were talking last night about the perfect post for the release of this blog, and nothing could be more fitting than Emily's Birthday Brunch--- two births of incredibly special things that I love.
Sunday marked the anniversary of our dear friend Emily's birth. She, being such a good friend, allowed me the opportunity of making brunch in her honor. I asked her for any special requests, and Stephen began begging her to ask me for bacon. Stephen loves bacon, and we only have it at special occasions, sporadically. I have nothing personally against the food. How could I not love salty crisp fat smothered in brown sugar and spice chased with rich black coffee? Honestly. It is just a food to enjoy in moderation. Stephen thinks moderation could be a little less moderate when it comes to anything pork; well, that will be a whole other post entirely.  When the menu was planned, Emily included buttermilk biscuits, and sweet and spicy bacon. (good job begging, Stephen)

Saturday, Stephen helped me schlep the bags of pretty things from the market. Balancing 4 bags of groceries on a bicycle is about the extent of thrill seeking I look for in a week. Those of you who have wobbled your way home with anchors hanging from each handlebar, and a full basket on back; know exactly the thrill I am mentioning.
By the time we left the market, this was the rest of the menu...

goat's cheese, ginger,  and marscapone stuffed dates... red wine stewed fresh figs with cream... sauteéd apples with cranberries... carrot muffins... buttermilk biscuits... sweet and spicy bacon... hard aged cheddar with french dijon and cornichons wrapped in salami... sliced mandarin oranges...eggs over easy fried in paprika and sea salt... coffee and pots of hot tea...

Sunday morning came beautifully with chilly fall wind and lots of bright sunshine. My eager little fingers had been waiting a month for this brunch. I hurried to the kitchen and began rinsing cranberries, cutting the stems off of figs, peeling apples, and drinking horrible coffee (keep reading we will get to this). First I layered the fresh figs in a Le Creuset baking dish, and covered them with a Cabernet Sauvignon. I stewed them for 35 minutes, and then reduced the wine on the stove finishing it with honey, cinnamon, and heavy cream.

red wine figs with basil and cream

The apples got on the stove with fresh cranberries and a few scoops of brown sugar. I whipped marscapone cheese and ground ginger with soft goat's cheese and stuffed medjool dates with a rounded scoop. The salami became a blanket around a cornichon pickle on a layer of grainy french dijon and a piece of aged white cheddar. A bit of brown sugar was mixed with cumin and chili powder and sprinkled on the Applewood Smoked Bacon before crisped in the oven. The eggs would be made to order and so all that remained were the biscuits.

Buttermilk Biscuits makes 1 dozen
2 cups all purpose flour
1 tbsp and 1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 tbsp minced fresh rosemary or 1 tsp dried rosemary or thyme
1/2 cup unsalted butter, chopped
1 cup buttermilk

1. Heat oven to 425. Chop butter and chill in freezer.
2. Sift flour with baking powder, salt, and herbs.
3. Cut in butter and fold in buttermilk.
4. Gently scoop dough onto baking sheet and roll to 3/4 inch thick. Fold over and roll again.
5. Gently perforate square pieces and bake for 22 minutes.

The technique to getting nice flaky layers is to have the butter truly cold, work quickly, and cut the fat evenly into the flour. If the butter is too warm, the biscuits will be dense. If the butter hunks are to big, they melt out of the biscuits and burn on the pan instead of melt in the biscuits. I know this from experience, and  burning butter smells dramatically different than golden biscuits fluffing in the oven. Dramatically different.
To make a great biscuit, heat the oven and then cut the butter into small hunks. Set the butter in the freezer while measuring the dry ingredients. Mix butter into flour mixture with a pastry cutter or two knives until it looks like little peas in the flour.

Quickly fold in the buttermilk. Have a baking sheet lined with a Silpat nearby and scoop biscuit dough onto sheet. Roll with rolling pin until about 3/4 inch thick. Fold over once and roll again. Gently perforate the dough into square pieces and bake.

Inquiring minds are waiting for the bit about horrible coffee. Oh it was horrible. In the process of the melodious morning, Stephen put on the coffee. Excited, I savored my first sip and it tasted acidic and almost (excuse my language) like vomit. Stephen tried his mug, as I was hoping it was just mine that reeked, and oh no, his was just the same. We planned a back-up trip to buy a carafe of coffee as Stephen ran two pots of water through the maker in an attempt to clean the machine. On the next batch of coffee the flavor was still there, better but still there. He scrubbed every piece and then scrubbed them again. Ran hot water through one more time, and tried another batch of coffee. With scrunched up noses and hopeful palates we tasted a sip. Ahh relief --- we will indeed be heavily caffeinated.
Emily successfully ran a half marathon that morning before brunch, and as tired confused legs sort of hobbled her in the door, we proceeded with a brunch that tasted seamless.
Happy Birthday Emily.

Comments

[Hannah]

L*Joy!!! This is beautiful and you are beautiful and this all sings to my soul! I am so excited to read along and travel this journey of good, good food and cooking with you. My stomach is literally singing to be fed. My farmers market leftovers for lunch will do for now, but I hope we can hang out and dine together again soon! My turn to have you over, and I would love to experiment and create with a sure master! You are awesome!

[L*Joy]

Invitation accepted! I would love to share a plate with a fellow good food lover.

[David S.]

L*Joy. Wow. I knew you could cook. I knew that -- You're talents in that arena are pretty well known in your circle of friends, I believe. But I didn't know you could write like this.

I visited SoupSpoon for the first time at your behest and I've just finished reading (and salivating over) every word. The thought and the LOVE you put into every dish is inspiring (and appetizing) and I sit here feeling strangely cozy... even under this cold flourescent cubicle lighting.

I am also possibly now the hungriest man alive. If you ever find yourself wanting in the "people to feed" area, PLEASE give Laura or me a call.

[Shelley Dorman]

L*Joy, if your food tastes as good as it sounds, please let me have a baby so you can bring me something!! Your writing is beautiful. I want to feed my family delicious, good foods on our teeny budget. Thank you for the inspiration.

[T.J. Morton]

L*Joy,
I don't know if you look back at comments to your blog posts, but if you do, I would like to ask a question. We are trying to use more whole grains and whole wheat flour instead of white or all-purpose flour. Have you ever experimented with wheat flour in biscuits? I would appreciate any information you could offer.
I love your blog by the way. It is beautifully written and the recipes seem simply divine! Thanks.
T.J.

[L*Joy]

T.J.
Thank you for loving Soup Spoon, and thank you for your question about whole wheat biscuits. At this moment, I am trying to keep crumbs from a lovely whole wheat biscuit off of the keypad. Of course these are different from the all-purpose version, but lovely all the same. They finish with a nutty, slightly bitter flavor of the whole grain, and I like it. If you want to make whole wheat biscuits, follow the above recipe and make these minor changes:
2 cup whole wheat flour
3/4 tsp salt
1 tbsp and 1 1/2 tsp baking powder

enjoy!

[T.J. Morton]

Not only are you a great writer and cook, you are also the coolest blogger I know :-). Thank you for the whole grain biscuit information. I am looking to impress my Thanksgiving dining companions with some roasted garlic mashed potatoes and whole grain, buttermilk biscuits.
Thanks again,
T.J.

[T.J. Morton]

Mmmmmmmm, mmmmmmmmmm, good!
Wow, those biscuits were good. I didn't make them very pretty, but they sure were good. Next time, a smaller cookie sheet and a rolling pin will help.