Suzi’s Blog
Easy Dolce de Leche
I knew there would be a problem with his first bite. It was a mere 26 years ago, in Boston, at Sol Azteca, a tiny Mexican restaurant with fiery dishes and pitchers of sangria.
Brian and I were having dessert and he had selected Bananas with Dolce de Leche and Walnuts. The recipe for that dish is my next post. It wasn’t the bananas or walnuts that got him: it was the dolce de leche, or DDL. He was addicted after one spoonful. The man has certain weaknesses.
DDL was uncommon then but is on the shelves of many supermarkets now. It’s brown, thick, intensely sweet and versatile beyond belief.
So, while you can buy it now, it’s really better fresh and uncontaminated by chemical preservatives. For a couple of decades there has been a way to make your own: fresh in the kitchen. Put a can of sweetened condensed milk in a pot of water. Get the water to boil and leave it alone for a few hours. And there’s the rub, how many hours? I have seen recommendations for 4, 5, even 8 hours. There are war-horror stories associated with this technique: cans exploding sending goop and shrapnel around the kitchen. No one wants a family tree that has the annotation: killed by condensed milk.
Explosions aside, the biggest problem with that method is quality control. With a sealed metal can, how do you know if the DDL is done, or overdone, or …
The experts at Fine Cooking have solved the problem entirely and their solution is absolutely foolproof and fantastic. Here is their wonderfully simple solution.
One note, this recipe gives you a lot of DDL: about 5 cups. The recipe calls for three 14-ounce cans of sweetened condensed milk. I believe part of the reason for that is you’ll be using a double boiler which typically is rather wide. One can would not cover the bottom of the pan very deeply and you want volume to prevent “hot” or “overdone” spots. Don’t worry, you’ll find uses for this DDL.
My understanding from Brian is that well made DDL is so viscous that it cannot be injected. I believe that he is working on a solution.
Dolce de Leche
Yield: 5 cups
Ingredients:
- 3 14-ounce cans of sweetened condensed milk [check the expiration date on each can and get the freshest you can find]
Preparation:
Fill the base pan of a double boiler halfway with water. Bring to a boil and then reduce the heat to medium for an active simmer.
Pour the condensed milk into the double boiler’s top insert and set it uncovered over the simmering water. Every 30 minutes, check the water level in the pan, replenishing as needed. And every 30 minutes, give the milk a stir. Removed from the heat once the milk has caramelized and thickened, 2 12/ to 3 hours.
At 2 ½ hours, our test batch was lovely, light caramel in color, and can be easily stirred. At 3 hours, we had a deeper color and a much more viscous product.
Source: Fine Cooking
Arugula Sauce with Horseradish
This post has a happy ending.
I’m going through a cookbook, a new cookbook, looking for a great recipe. A healthy recipe. It’s not immediately easy:
- First sauce recipe, page 54, béchamel: butter and milk.
- Page 60, mornay sauce: butter and milk and now cream and cheese.
- Page 94, hollandaise sauce: lots of eggs and lots and lots of butter
- Page 98, béarnaise sauce: still lots of eggs and just slightly less butter.
And on it goes. It’s a fact of life: sauces taste good but they have impact on human lifespan. Well, no, actually, because this book goes beyond eggs and butter and cheese. All the classic sauces are here, as they must be, in Sauces, the Revised and Updated Edition, by Michel Roux. In 1996 the first edition of Sauces appeared, complete with excellent photos, wonderful recipes, and instructions and insight that have benefited a generation of cooks. But this new version of Sauces gives you paths rich in flavor but also rewardingly healthy.
The new edition is a complete rewrite. All the classics are here: béchamel, mornay, hollandaise, béarnaise … But there are 20% more recipes, all new photos, refined recipes, and brilliantly laid out step by step instructions. In the past year, I’ve posted recipe ideas from Eggs and Pastry, two wonderful books by Roux. This new version of Sauces follows the format of Eggs and Pastry, a format designed to be friendly, enticing and, of course, successful.
This revised version reflects the trends and expansion of our culinary world. New chapters are devoted to infusions and salsas. A separate chapter is now devoted to chocolate [and other rich creamy sauces]. Yes, it appears that chocolate is not a fad after all!
Sauce cookbooks are a staple for any serious cook and we are fortunate to have several serious tomes available to us. This book by Roux is the best general fit of any current sauce guide: it has the perfect combination of ideas, illustrations, and instructions. This book does not intimidate but it does inspire. And, when you combine Sauces with Eggs and Pastry, you have the foundation for a lifetime of culinary exploration.
Best of all, this edition of Sauces has some new gems that are just unexpected treasures. This recipe, Arugula Sauce with Horseradish, is one of them. Suzen and I call this our Universal Green Sauce. It’s incredibly fresh with a bite from all that arugula whisked with yogurt. A hint of wasabi powder and some lemon juice just accelerate the sparkle on your tongue.
I had some leftover ham and found this to be the perfect accompaniment. Roux says it is perfect for cold meat, for poached salmon or for smoked trout. I’ll go further. Use this as a substitute for mayo or mustard on your burger. Use it for crudités or for artichokes. The distinctive arugula flavor will convert any old friend into a bright new dish.
Arugula Sauce with Horseradish
Yield: 2 cups to serve 8 people
Ingredients:
- 2 ounces arugula leaves, stems removed (about 1 ½ cups)
- 1 tablespoon Dijon mustard or 1 teaspoon wasabi powder
- 2-3 tablespoons finely grated horseradish (preferably fresh) to taste
- 2 tablespoons light olive oil
- 2 tablespoons mil
- Juice of 1 lemon
- 1 garlic clove, finely crushed
- 2/3 cup strained plain yogurt
- Salt and freshly ground pepper
Preparation:
Place all the ingredients, except the yogurt and seasoning, into a blender and process for 2 to 3 minutes until smooth.
Transfer to a large bowl and whisk in the yogurt until combined. Season the sauce with salt and pepper to taste.
Cover with plastic wrap and chill until ready to use. This sauce keeps will in the refrigerator for 2 to 3 days, needing only a quick whisk through before serving.
Source: Sauces, Revised and Updated Edition by Michel Roux
