Adventures in Cooking: The Barefoot RoXXXy

Sometimes I get the feeling that most people find my cooking aspirations to be nothing more than . . . pipe dreams. And before we go any further, let us please define the term "pipe dreams", shall we?

Noun
pipe dream (idiomatic) A plan, desire, or idea that will not likely work; a near impossibility.
i.e. I think her plan to become a professional chef is a pipe dream and she should give it up.

But you know what? It is not an impossibility. I do cook. And I do cook well. I find recipes to challenge me. I find recipes that have ingredients I am not familiar with. I find these recipes and I make them. And I make them damn well!!! Whether you taste them or not. Someone does. And those "someones" like what I cook and, in a way, they encourage me to continue, to branch out, and to explore the cuisines of this world we live in.

This planet is inhabited by so many diverse peoples and beliefs and religions and tastes and customs and traditions and . . . just everything!!! I can't even fathom what it must be like to only know and experience one type of food for your entire life.

For example . . . I love, worship, and adore Greek food, But I also know many native Greeks who find their home foods to be . . . common place. But . . . let me say I grew up (born and raised) in Houston, TX and I love love LOVE my traditional Southern food . . . to someone like me, baklava, souvlaki, pastitisio, spanikopita, and more are heavenly dishes to me, because I was not raised on them.

My point, I think, is that I love to explore and I crave things that are not native to me and the country/region that I live in. And to achieve this, I generally check out various chefs with shows on Food Network to give me ideas and inspirations.

Okay, so to start, I would just like to say that for about 10 years I have wanted a Kitchenaid stand mixer. Years ago, I bought a cheap stand mixer and it was nothing like what I wanted. It was plastic and it was, I eventually realized, nothing more than a hand mixer attached to a cheap plastic bowel.

So, last weekend, I had finally saved up enough money to afford the stand mixer of my dreams. My mother and I headed over to Bed Bath Beyond and I put a $299 Kitchenaid stand mixer into my shopping cart.

Well, I had a 20% off coupon that a lovely gentleman (that I may or may not have a slight crush on) that I work with gave me. That got me $60 off the price of the mixer. And when I went to check out, I found out that my mixer came with a $30 mail-in rebate. Okay, so I got the Kitchenaid stand mixer of my dreams for $210 total, including tax.

Well, once I got the mixer home, I needed something to make. And so I turned to The Barefoot Contessa, Ina Garten. I remembered an episode where she and her husband Jeffery were in Paris and she talked about (and recreated) a recipe called Meringues Chantilly.

Two of the ingredients in Merigues Chantilly call for the use of a good quality stand mixer. And now I had a wonderful Kitchenaid stand mixer, so I decided to go for this recipe.

Meringues Chantilly is basically meringue baked into cookie form and topped with stewed berries and homemade whipped cream. And, like usual, I made a change or two here and there to make this recipe truly mine. So, here you go.

(P.S. I made these a week ago. It took me this long to getting around to making this post. And this weekend I made some amazing Southern Italian/Sicilian food that I promise to get around to posting this week, I promise.)

So anyway, here is the classic French dessert, Meringues Chantilly.

Meringues Chantilly

• 6 extra - large egg whites, at room temperature
• 1/4 teaspoon cream of tartar
• Salt
• 1 1/2 cups granulated sugar, divided
• 1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

Preheat the oven to 200 degrees F.
Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper.
Using a small glass and a pencil, draw 6 (3 1/2-inch) circles on each piece of paper. Turn the paper face-down on the baking sheets.
In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, beat the egg whites, cream of tartar, and a large pinch of salt on medium speed until frothy.
Add 1 cup of the sugar and raise the speed to high until the egg whites form very stiff peaks.
Whisk in the vanilla.
Carefully fold the remaining 1/2 cup of sugar into the meringue.
With a large star - shaped pastry tip, pipe a disc of meringue inside each circle.
Bake for 2 hours, or until the meringues are dry and crisp but not browned.
Turn off the heat and allow the meringues to sit in the oven for 4 hours or overnight.
Spread some of the sauce from the stewed berries on each plate.
Place a meringue on top and fill with whipped cream.
Top with berries and serve.

Orange Whipped Cream:

2 cups (1 pint) cold heavy cream
2 tablespoons sugar
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon orange extract
1 tablespoon Triple Sec

Whip the cream in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the whisk attachment.
When it starts to thicken, add the sugar, vanilla and triple sec, and orange extract and continue to whip until the cream forms stiff peaks.

Stewed berries:
• 1 half-pint fresh blueberries
• 3 half-pints fresh raspberries, divided
• 1/4 cup water
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 1/4 teaspoon orange zest
• 2 teaspoons amaretto

Combine the blueberries, one-half pint of raspberries, 1/3 cup water, the sugar and zest in a saucepan and bring to a boil.
Lower the heat and cook uncovered over medium-low heat, stirring occasionally, for 8 to 10 minutes.
The juice will become a syrup and the berries will be slightly cooked.
Off the heat, stir in the remaining raspberries and the amaretto.
Set aside.

I fell in love with this. My mother fell in live with this. My baby brother and his wife fell in love with this. And my co0worker (the one who gave me the coupon) fell in love with this. And I would like to give thanks and ask forgiveness for all the years I spent being annoyed by Ina Garten for this recipe. It is, and I am NOT exaggerating, heaven on a plate.