Cook Like a Rock Star (45 page)

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Authors: Anne Burrell

BOOK: Cook Like a Rock Star

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½ cup rolled oats

1 cup packed light or dark brown sugar

½ teaspoon cinnamon

Pinch of kosher salt

12 tablespoons (1½ sticks) unsalted butter, cold, cut into pea-size pieces

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Apples, peaches, pears, plums, berries—you can substitute pretty much any fruit or combination of fruit that you like here. Have fun!

FOR THE FILLING

1
Preheat oven to 350°F.

2
In a large mixing bowl, combine the blueberries, nectarines, sugar, lemon zest, and cornstarch.

3
Place the fruit mixture in a wide, shallow baking dish (2 to 2½ quarts) or eight 1-cup ramekins.

FOR THE TOPPING

1
In a food processor, combine the flour, oats, brown sugar, cinnamon, and salt and pulse.

2
Add the butter and vanilla and pulse, pulse, pulse until the mixture looks dry and crumbly. Add 1 tablespoon water and pulse again until the mixture starts to come together. If the mixture still seems dry, add 1 more tablespoon water and pulse again. Sprinkle the topping over the blueberry mixture.

3
Bake for 25 to 30 minutes, or until the filling is hot and bubbly and the topping is crispy and nicely browned. Serve warm with whipped cream or ice cream.

Berry delicious!

SERVES: 10 TO 12 • TIME: ABOUT 3 HOURS

This is my idea of fall and winter all wrapped up in a pudding dish! I take basic custard and ratchet it up by adding pumpkin and maple syrup. Then to keep it super-sexy, I use challah, which is a rich, buttery, and slightly sweet bread. This isn’t your ordinary, everyday, bread pudding; this bread pudding is more like cake—and I like cake!

MISE EN PLACE

1 4-pound pumpkin, preferably a sugar pumpkin, or 3 cups canned pumpkin purée

2 cups heavy cream

¼ cup packed light or dark brown sugar

4 large eggs

1 cup REAL maple syrup

1½ teaspoons cinnamon

¼ teaspoon nutmeg

¼ teaspoon allspice

1½ teaspoons vanilla extract

1 tablespoon unsalted butter for greasing dish

1 loaf of challah, cut into 1-inch chunks (about 8 cups)

½ cup walnuts,
toasted
) and coarsely chopped

½ cup dried cranberries or golden raisins

If you want to get really fancy, use cinnamon brioche or pound cake in place of the challah. Mmmmm…

1
Preheat the oven to 375°F.

2
Cut the pumpkin into quarters, place it on a baking sheet, and roast for about 1 hour or until the pumpkin is fork-tender. Remove the pumpkin from the oven and let cool (this can be done a day or two ahead). When the pumpkin is cool enough to handle, peel off the skin, remove the seeds and guts, and purée the flesh in a food processor. If you’re using canned pumpkin, skip this step.

3
Reduce the oven temperature to 325°F.

4
In a large bowl, combine the puréed pumpkin, heavy cream, brown sugar, eggs, maple syrup, cinnamon, nutmeg, allspice, and vanilla, and mix well to combine.

5
Butter a 9 × 13-inch baking dish well. Toss the bread, walnuts, and cranberries together in the baking dish. Pour the pumpkin mixture over the bread and let sit for 30 minutes.

6
Put the dish in the oven and bake for 50 to 55 minutes or until the custard is set.

Hey, punkin’ puddin’!

Strawberry-Raspberry Shortcakes

SERVES: 6 TO 8 • TIME: ABOUT 45 MINUTES

Shortcakes remind me of the ice cream socials we used to have in my small town when I was growing up. We always had strawberry shortcakes, but now I throw raspberries into my version to make them a little bit fancier and a lot more fun. I also make them free-form—by not using a biscuit cutter, I get cakes that look craggy and knobby, kind of like little toads. But they have a beautiful crumbly texture and act like sponges for the fruit juice without getting soggy. These are SOOOOO delicious that I can hoover a few of them in one sitting!

MISE EN PLACE

FOR THE FRUIT

1 pint strawberries, topped and quartered

1 pint raspberries

2 tablespoons sugar

Grated zest and juice of 1 orange

6 fresh mint leaves, cut into a
chiffonade

FOR THE SHORTCAKES

1 cup all-purpose flour

2 tablespoons sugar

1½ teaspoons baking powder

Pinch of kosher salt

4 tablespoons (½ stick) unsalted butter, cold, cut into pea-size pieces

¼ cup heavy cream

½ teaspoon vanilla extract

1 pint vanilla ice cream, taken out of the freezer about 15 minutes before serving

FOR THE FRUIT

In a large bowl, toss together the strawberries, raspberries, sugar, orange zest, and orange juice. Let the mixture sit for at least 30 minutes to allow the fruit to release some of its juice.

FOR THE SHORTCAKES

1
Preheat the oven to 450°F.

2
In a food processor, combine the flour, 1 tablespoon of the sugar, baking powder, and salt. Pulse to combine.

3
Toss in the butter, heavy cream, and vanilla and pulse, pulse, pulse until the mixture comes together to form a rough ball; it should look fairly crumbly.

4
Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or a silicone mat. With lightly floured hands, form the dough into craggy-looking balls, a bit larger than golf balls. They should look a little like toads and DEFINITELY not be perfect. Place the balls on the baking sheet and squish each ball to flatten it some; sprinkle the balls with the remaining tablespoon of sugar.

5
Put the cakes in the oven and bake for 11 to 12 minutes, or until golden brown. Remove and let cool.

TO ASSEMBLE

1
Toss the mint with the fruit and stir to combine.

2
Cut the shortcakes in half equatorially, place the bottom halves on individual plates, and divide the fruit and juice among them. Place a scoop of ice cream on top of the fruit, replace the tops, and serve immediately.

Let’s get shorty!

INDEX

Almond