Wallowing in Homemade Crème Fraîche, Again!

It's finally crème fraîche season. You didn't know it has a season? Well, it sorta does. I make it and eat it all year round, because there isn't much you can't use it in. (If you've not tried it, think of it as a mild, almost nutty-tart sour cream-like, addicting product that won't separate when you add it to and food, hot or cold) and it whips! To buy it, it's quite expensive, but to make crème fraîche  is cheapo cheap. And for me, it has a season because I can eat so much of it that I gain weight . So I rather tend to use it more during the layered clothes-big sweater seasons of fall and winter if you get my drift. Nothing, but nothing, is more delicious.

When you buy it, you can end up paying as much as nearly $5 for a cup or so, but with this recipe, which I've put out there more than once, you can probably make a half gallon for about the same amount, especially if you use a bit from your current batch to make the next.

Crème fraîche is one of those essential things. If there isn’t any in my fridge it requires an immediate trip to the market. Not to actually buy crème fraîche, just to get the ingredients to make it at home. I have bought the culture to make the real thing, and it does make a product closer to what I’ve eaten in France, but buttermilk, and pasteurized heavy cream are enough to make an endless supply, so I can wallow in the luxury of having as much as I want. When it's nearly all gone I can use the last bit in my jar to make more by transferring it to a small bowl, washing the jar thoroughly, mixing the remaining crème fraîche with two cups of cream and start the fermenting process again.  Fabulous and...cheap.

Time to start another batch of Crème Fraîche!

Homemade Crème Fraîche

1 pint of heavy cream pasteurized (NOT ultra pasteurized)

¼ cup of cultured buttermilk

Tools: spoon, measuring cup, and a very clean quart or liter glass jar with a cover

How: pour the ¼ cup of cultured buttermilk into the bottom of the jar, pour in the cream, stir gently and thoroughly, and either partially cover the jar, or leave off the lid and cover the top loosely with a clean cloth or a paper towel. Set it aside at room temperature for 8 to 36 hours (depending on how warm your kitchen is, and how thick you want the finished product). Stir gently once or twice a day if you think of it, and while you are stirring you can judge how thick it’s getting. Try not to lick the spoon, although I am totally unsuccessful at it. Just don't double-dip.

When it’s nearly as thick as you’d like (somewhere between the thickness of yogurt and commercial mayonnaise), seal the jar with the lid and pop it in the refrigerator. It’ll keep about two weeks, and if you notice that you’re down to your last half to quarter cup of the stuff, you can use your already made crème fraîche as the starter for your next batch. So you can fearlessly use up all that excess buttermilk in pancakes, pies and cakes, and keep that crème fraîche jar going just about forever. It’s bottomless. Really. 

5 Delicious Things to Do with Your Homemade Crème Fraîche

Am trying to find some time to bury my toes in the sand. So please bear with a few reposts for the next couple of weeks. There will be some new material, but ...Happy Summer.

I know, I know. I've been banging the drum about making your own crème fraîche for months now, but honestly it's worth the 10 seconds (minus the sitting-on-the-counter-time) of actual work it takes you to make the glorious stuff. If you somehow missed the super-easy instructions I've posted before, you can find them here. But once you make it, you end up with a jar full, rather than the measly,  expensive little cupful you find in the market. A few of you have asked what you can do with such a bounty.

As far as I'm concerned, you can never have too much crème fraîche, just like you can never have too much chocolate. It's the sophisticated cousin of sour cream, and instead of a  sour tang, it has a nutty, full, more rounded flavor. And unlike one of it's parents, heavy cream, it keeps a long time. Mine will keep well up to a month in the coldest part of my fridge. If it lasts that long without having to start a fresh batch. I always start a fresh batch when I get down to my last half-cup or so.  Remember to keep a quarter cup or so to use as a starter with a bout 2 cups of single pasteurized heavy cream. Every day I can find a reason to dip into the jar of creamy goodness at least once.  God forbid I run out. Here's how I use mine (other than eating it right off a spoon):

Homemade crème fraîche.
For the record I did not eat the whole spoonful.

1.
As a topping for fruit, lightly sweetened or not.  I like it unsweetened, but taste it, and add a bit of sugar , honey, erythritol or stevia to your liking. Nothing is nicer than a bowl of sweet berries or peaches with a big ole spoonful of crème fraîche atop. All those ads showing strawberries with that fake-tasting frozen glop in a tub can't hold a candle to creamy crème fraîche. Or unsweetened as a topping for a baked potato, or better yet, a baked sweet potato. Nothing wrong with adding a sprinkle of blue cheese and some black pepper...

2.
Replace heavy cream with an equal amount of crème fraîche in baked goods. If your baking recipe calls for heavy cream, use your crème fraîche instead. It adds a depth of flavor you can't get from heavy cream. Cream pies, cakes, and ice creams are all seriously improved with crème fraîche.

3.
Whip it. You can whip it, and use it in either savory or sweet dishes. Mine usually whips more easily than regular cream, and if you stir a bit of curry paste into it before whipping it to dab on your crab cakes or spoon into your tomato soup, you won't be disappointed. Surprise your dining mates with savory whipped cream. They'll think you are a genius.

4.
Turn into a sauce or dressing. Just add your favorite seasonings,--- mine are currently Dijon mustard and anchovy paste, whisk in and the resulting sauce is perfect over grilled chicken, or over steamed vegetables like beets or green beans. To make into a dressing, you can do this, or simply mix with lemon juice, salt, pepper and a little minced fresh garlic. Need it lighter, use equal parts crème fraîche and plain fat-free Greek yogurt. A crème fraîche-yogurt salad dressing makes salad days seem a lot less penitential.

5.
Make cultured butter. If you have ever tasted cultured butter, you know why it costs so much over at Whole Paycheck. It's hard to go back to regular butter once you've had it or cooked with it. If you put a couple of cups of crème fraîche into a food processor or beat it with a hand mixer, just turn on the power, and keep going until it curdles up. Just takes a few minutes. Carefully, with a spatula, press out as much whey as you can, drain it off, and then add some cold water with an equal amount of ice to the curds and whirl again. Press out the water again with your spatula, and drain --keep going until it's all butter, and with the spatula, stir in a pinch or to of finely ground salt if you want salted butter. Go get some bread and eat. Don't share, it's that good.

Poor Girl's Pate: Mushrooms, Chicken Livers and Truffle Oil

Poor Girl's Pate.
Yes, I had it for breakfast this morning. Too, too good!

Back when Izzy was a newborn, she had a hard time with dairy products, and her Mom, who was nursing her, had to give them all up. This is a tough thing in this family; we are all Francophiles, and while we can do without a lot of things, good cheese is dear to our hearts. We came up with a lot of alternatives for Susan, --dairy-free cakes, cookies and I even changed up my favorite pate recipe to eliminate all the dairy products. Now that Izzy is older, and has gotten past her dairy issues, I am back to the original recipe, more or less, and I have to say, while the dairy free one is delicious, this one hits the ball out of the park. How can you go wrong with chicken livers, mushrooms, and truffle flavors? Ball out of the park? Can you tell I fell asleep last night watching the Phillies with Chuck?

I call this Poor Girl's Pate because, while I'd like to be able to afford to use real truffles and duck or goose livers to make it, my budget (and probably yours) is a lot happier with chicken livers, truffle oil and truffle salt. This is wonderful as a snack, hors d'oeuvre, or with a soup or salad for lunch or dinner. I admittedly had it for breakfast this morning. Mea culpa.

Poor Girl's Pate

2T butter
2T extra virgin olive oil
2 garlic cloves, minced
2 large shallots, chopped fine
8 to 10 oz. sliced cremini mushrooms
kosher salt
1 lb. chicken livers
1/4 cup brandy or cognac
1-1/2 tsp. Herbes de Provence
1/4 cup dry white wine
1 scant tsp. black truffle salt
1/3 cup crème fraîche, homemade or purchased
4 tsp. Black truffle oil

Heat the butter and oil together in a 12" skillet over medium heat, and when the butter is melted, add the shallots and garlic, and stirring, cook until the shallots begin to look translucent. 

Add the mushrooms to the pan, add a pinch or two of kosher salt, and cook until they give up their juices and soften. Add the chicken livers to the pan, stir well to mix evenly with the mushroom mixture, and carefully add the cognac or brandy. If you have a gas range, if you tilt the pan away from you slightly toward the gas fire, and flame the brandy. If you have an electric or induction range, you can either use a match, or just let the alcohol cook out for a minute or two. 

Flaming the brandy or cognac.
Keep back, and keep a lid handy to smother it if the flames get out of hand.

When the brandy is mostly gone, add the Herbes de Provence and the white wine, stir well, and cook the liver mixture until the livers are just pink inside. Remove the pan from the heat and stir in the truffle salt.

Dump the contents of the skillet into a food processor, and puree. Add the crème fraîche and black truffle oil and puree until completely smooth.

Serve with baguette, toasts, crackers or on pear slices. 

Makes about 2 cups. 

5 Delicious Things to Do with Your Homemade Crème Fraîche

I know, I know. I've been banging the drum about making your own crème fraîche for months now, but honestly it's worth the 10 seconds (minus the sitting-on-the-counter-time) of actual work it takes you to make the glorious stuff. If you somehow missed the super-easy instructions I've posted before, you can find them here. But once you make it, you end up with a jar full, rather than the measly,  expensive little cupful you find in the market. A few of you have asked what you can do with such a bounty.

As far as I'm concerned, you can never have too much crème fraîche, just like you can never have too much chocolate. It's the sophisticated cousin of sour cream, and instead of a  sour tang, it has a nutty, full, more rounded flavor. And unlike one of it's parents, heavy cream, it keeps a long time. Mine will keep well up to a month in the coldest part of my fridge. If it lasts that long without having to start a fresh batch. I always start a fresh batch when I get down to my last half-cup or so.  Remember to keep a quarter cup or so to use as a starter with a bout 2 cups of single pasteurized heavy cream. Every day I can find a reason to dip into the jar of creamy goodness at least once.  God forbid I run out. Here's how I use mine (other than eating it right off a spoon):

Homemade crème fraîche.
For the record I did not eat the whole spoonful.

1.
As a topping for fruit, lightly sweetened or not.  I like it unsweetened, but taste it, and add a bit of sugar , honey, erythritol or stevia to your liking. Nothing is nicer than a bowl of sweet berries or peaches with a big ole spoonful of crème fraîche atop. All those ads showing strawberries with that fake-tasting frozen glop in a tub can't hold a candle to creamy crème fraîche. Or unsweetened as a topping for a baked potato, or better yet, a baked sweet potato. Nothing wrong with adding a sprinkle of blue cheese and some black pepper...

2.
Replace heavy cream with an equal amount of crème fraîche in baked goods. If your baking recipe calls for heavy cream, use your crème fraîche instead. It adds a depth of flavor you can't get from heavy cream. Cream pies, cakes, and ice creams are all seriously improved with crème fraîche.

3.
Whip it. You can whip it, and use it in either savory or sweet dishes. Mine usually whips more easily than regular cream, and if you stir a bit of curry paste into it before whipping it to dab on your crab cakes or spoon into your tomato soup, you won't be disappointed. Surprise your dining mates with savory whipped cream. They'll think you are a genius.

4.
Turn into a sauce or dressing. Just add your favorite seasonings,--- mine are currently Dijon mustard and anchovy paste, whisk in and the resulting sauce is perfect over grilled chicken, or over steamed vegetables like beets or green beans. To make into a dressing, you can do this, or simply mix with lemon juice, salt, pepper and a little minced fresh garlic. Need it lighter, use equal parts crème fraîche and plain fat-free Greek yogurt. A crème fraîche-yogurt salad dressing makes salad days seem a lot less penitential.

5.
Make cultured butter. If you have ever tasted cultured butter, you know why it costs so much over at Whole Paycheck. It's hard to go back to regular butter once you've had it or cooked with it. If you put a couple of cups of crème fraîche into a food processor or beat it with a hand mixer, just turn on the power, and keep going until it curdles up. Just takes a few minutes. Carefully, with a spatula, press out as much whey as you can, drain it off, and then add some cold water with an equal amount of ice to the curds and whirl again. Press out the water again with your spatula, and drain --keep going until it's all butter, and with the spatula, stir in a pinch or to of finely ground salt if you want salted butter. Go get some bread and eat. Don't share, it's that good.

Crème Fraîche Dressing

Did you ever have something you make or cook so regularly that you've forgotten that there was ever a recipe for it? I admittedly have more than a few of those, but today as I was making my "house" salad dressing to doll up some cooked golden beets and baby spinach when I realized that some of you might find this a handy trick.

My family seemed to have an unusual fondness for salads that had both raw and cooked vegetables in them. We called them composed salads, just to fancify the whole thing. I think it really was my mother's way of recycling leftover vegetables so they didn't get tossed. Especially if there wasn't enough left to actually be reheated and served again. My frugal Depression-Era parent strikes again. I do the same thing. I had a cooked beet, some roasted cauliflower left from two nights ago, plus some baby spinach, red onion and olives lurking at the back of the fridge. As I went for the oil and vinegar,  I remembered I had just seen a jar of my famous homemade crème fraîche next to those lurking olives.  And I decided to make my favorite dressing.

About a million years ago, there used to be a  restaurant near school that specialized in crepes. As a genuine Francophile, and a poor college student, my weekly treat was often their $5 lunch which was generally a crepe filled with whatever filling that wasn't selling that week and a salad. I adored the salad dressing; it was creamy without being gloppy like the Russian, French and Ranch dressings in the cafeteria at school. After about my 6th visit I was finally brave enough to ask the waitress what the dressing was, and when she told me it was a cream dressing, it meant absolutely nothing to me. When I asked what that was, she brought the hostess, the chef's wife, who kindly explained how they made it. I've been making variations on it ever since. It's still fabulous. Not diety, fabulous. Delicious. Got it?

Cream dressing, often called a cream vinaigrette, is nothing more than heavy cream and an acid, like lemon juice or vinegar. Real sour cream works in place of the cream, or my favorite, crème fraîche. Salt and pepper are the only other constants and everything else is up to the cook. My current version uses homemade crème fraîche, and homemade herb vinegar. A tiny dab of Dijon mustard isn't out of place with a sweet vegetable in the salad like beets  or cooked carrots, but not essential.

Here's the basic recipe, feel free to extrapolate as you wish. I am going to just give you proportions, but if you want it sweeter, or sharper, add more or less cream, crème fraîche or vinegar. Wonderful on potatoes, eggs, beets, haricots or green beans, asparagus...anything, really.

Sorry, I was so hungry, I started to eat
before snapping a shot. My bad.

Crème Fraîche Dressing

3/4 cup homemade crème fraîche or heavy single pasteurized cream
1/4 cup herb vinegar, rice vinegar or sherry vinegar...or lemon juice
1/2 tsp. kosher salt
freshly ground pepper to taste

Optional: dab of Dijon, pinch of sugar, fresh herbs, pinch of minced garlic, chopped olives or pimentos, dab of anchovy paste...

Mix everything and let stand a few minutes to thicken. Add whatever optional ingredients that are appropriate for your salad.


  

Easy Roasted Red Pepper & Tomato Soup with Orange

Yesterday was snowy and cold, today...wet and chilly. I'm not sure which is worse, but when my favorite attire is my ratty red fleece bathrobe, and a pair of ancient Uggs, its time for soup. But since I have to work for a living (imagine a food blogger that doesn't hang around home all day writing about her cool life!), long cooked soups are left for days off. Easy Roasted Red Pepper & Tomato Soup with Orange just tastes like you've spent all day cooking it. The tomato and pepper flavors are old friends, but the orange zest and juice lift it out of this world. 

This brightly flavored soup is quick to make, and is one I fall back on when  I need something that is both sophisticated flavor-wise and filling enough to turn a sandwich or a slice of vegetable tart into a top notch meal. It reheats well, so it makes a real bright spot in an otherwise mundane work lunch. 

Now you could make this in early summer with the first peppers and tomatoes, and I have, and it's delicious. This mid-Winter soup is strictly off the shelf, and out of the crisper drawer. I always have small cans of plain organic tomato sauce in the pantry, as well as a few small jars of roasted red peppers.  A drained 12 oz. jar of peppers is perfect. Don't leave out the orange; it really boosts the flavors of both the peppers and the tomato.

Easy Roasted Red Pepper & Tomato Soup with Orange

Easy Roasted Red Pepper & Tomato Soup with Orange

Serves 2

Instructions:

1 cup jarred roasted red pepper, rinsed, seeded and rough chopped
1 cup plain tomato sauce
1 small onion, roughly chopped
1 small leafy celery stalk, chopped small
1 smallish carrot, chopped or sliced thinly
1/2 tsp. dried basil
1 cup chicken or vegetable stock
zest of 1 orange
juice of 1 orange
1 tsp. sugar or granular erythritol
salt and pepper
Crème fraîche or plain Greek Yogurt as garnish, optional

Instructions:

1. Place everything through the sugar in a medium saucepan, bring to a simmer, cover and let cook until the celery and carrot are tender, about 15 -20 minutes.

2. Puree with either an immersion blender, or carefully puree in a regular blender. Taste for seasoning and add salt and / or pepper as needed.

3. Serve hot, dolloped with creme fraiche or yogurt.

My Apologies to Weight Watchers: Creamy Balsamic Chicken & Mushrooms

I'm apologizing to Weight Watchers because I took an old recipe I found on their site and doctored it up.   Two or three years ago I found the grandaddy of this recipe on the Weight Watchers site while looking for a way to use up a surplus of fresh mushrooms. As written, it was pretty good, extremely easy to make, if a bit spare. But that's what you get, if you cruise diet sites for inspiration. You can see the original here. If you want to lose weight, you don't get there eating rich, luxurious dishes.

Unfortunately, the things that elevate this from a merely good recipe to unctuous deliciousness are things that add too many calories to make it a really good on-program dish (if you are following WW) unless you are willing to sacrifice a few points for the sake flavor and savor. I am willing to do that, because every now and then, especially you are watching your weight, you need something really GOOD. This is it.

Thanks to a shopping oversight this week,  both Chuck and I bought sliced cremini mushrooms,  so I had way too many mushrooms living in the fridge. Mushrooms are quite perishable, and unless you store them where they are fairly dry, they'll get slimy and stinky in no time flat. I am absolutely sure of this from experience.  Outside of the mushrooms, everything else in this recipe are things I always have on hand, and you probably do, too, especially if you are making my homemade crème fraîche. Most of us have a few boneless, skinless chicken breasts lurking in the fridge or freezer, as well as some Dijon mustard and balsamic vinegar in the pantry.

Quick enough for a weeknight meal, and nice enough to serve to company, every good home cook should have this goodie in their repertoire.

Quick Creamy Balsamic Chicken & Mushrooms 

Creamy Balsamic Chicken & Mushrooms

This is a recipe where mise en place is important, since the cooking part goes fast,  make sure you measure out all the ingredients before starting to cook.

Serves 4

Ingredients:

4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts, 6-7 oz. each, pounded out to about 1/2" thick
4T Balsamic vinegar, divided
2 teas. Dijon mustard
3 large garlic cloves, minced
1tes. dried thyme
2T extra virgin olive oil
1/4 cup sliced shallot
2 cups sliced cremini mushrooms
2 teas. Stonewall Kitchen Chicken & Pork Rub
1/2 cup dry white wine or dry vermouth
1/2 cup chicken stock, or water
1/3 cup crème fraîche or heavy cream

Instructions:

1. In a small bowl, mix 3T balsamic vinegar, the Dijon mustard, the garlic and the thyme. Place the chicken into a gallon size zip top bag and pour the balsamic mixture over the chicken, zip the bag shut, forcing out as much air as possible.  Smoosh it around to distribute the balsamic marinade as evenly as possible over the chicken. Refrigerate for at least 1 hour and up to 10 hours. More time is better.

2. When ready to cook, heat the olive oil in a large, 12" nonstick pan over medium high, and remove the chicken from the bag (keep the marinade). Brown the chicken on the top, smooth side, and then turn and cook until nearly cooked through, about 6-8 minutes. Remove the chicken from the pan and set aside on a plate.

3. Lower the heat in the pan to medium low, and add the mushrooms and shallots,  cooking until the mushrooms begin to lose some moisture. add the wine, stir up any brown bits in the pan and cook until the liquid is about half gone. Add the chicken stock and the Chicken and Pork rub, and simmer about 2 minutes. Stir in the crème fraîche, slide the chicken breasts into the mixture, cover and simmer about 2-3 more minutes.