Bread Pudding Pre Thanksgiving

I wanted to give propper thanks for all the bread crusts from the stuffing I made for Emeril's Segment on Monday.
One must ponder how to use perfectly good Pullman Bread crusts.
What to do... what to do. Aha....
I am going to an early evening movie at my Buds house and I wanted to bring something warm and wonderful. So here ti's. xo

The night before.
First I crack 5 eggs whisk well, add 2 cups of milk, 1 Tbs. Van Extract and 1 and 1/2 cups of light brown sugar. Then I add 10 cups of  fresh bread crusts and or bread cubes to the apparail, mix well.

Cover with plastic, close to the mixture and refrigerate overnight.

Then I add 6 oz semi sweet chocolate chunks and 3 oz Mexican Chocolate and mix well.
Place in a 9x11 inch oven proof dish.

Combine 1Tbs. Cocoa, 1 Tbs. granulated sugar, 1 tsp. cinnamon and sprinkle over pudding.

Melt 2 Tbs. butter, drizzle over the top.
Place in a 350 degree preheated oven.
Bake for 45-50 minutes until top is golden and crunchy
Let cool but serve warm as is or with unsweetened whipped cream.

Recipe, photos and writing by Karen Pickus
Courtesy Karen Pickus 2010

King of Pop

My friend Charles raised some of his corn strictly for popping and man is it good. Not only is it beautiful yellow, white and blue but he has tirelessly dried it removed it from the cobs and filled the jars in an appealing way. I was enchanted by his description of the process and decided to take photos of the event. I took these pictures in his home in early spring.

Writing and Photos by Karen Pickus
Courtesy Karen Pickus 2010

Marble Cake

Here is the cake I made for the end of year party for my daughter's twelfth grade class, my friends gave at their beautiful home. Marble cake has special significance for me ... It was the cake my Mom made through the years on our birthdays. I love it and I hadn't made it in some time. My friend who made the food for the party, Chef Bobo, the kids' chef at their school, wanted me to make it because I made it for a school event some years back and he really liked it. So I thought, this will be the last cake I make for a high school event for my daughter. Let it be marble!
I made my lemon cake recipe... I omitted the lemon altogether.
I then made the simple syrup without the lemon and used that to moisten the cake. I made two 14 inch cakes. Each layer was a double recipe.  I used 6 Tbs. cocoa with 1and1/2 cups of batter for each of the two cakes. I swirled this amount into each layer. I baked them for about 40- 50 minutes. I let them cool, then sliced them diagonally in half and had a total of 4 layers.
I made ganache with 3 Lbs. semisweet chocolate and 3 cups of cream. I spread the ganache evenly between the layers and on the top and sides of the cake. I covered the cake with milk chocolate curls, dusted it with confectioners sugar, and there you have it! I got a standing ovation for the cake that evening. So glad they all liked it!

Recipe, text and photos by Karen Pickus
Courtesy Karen Pickus 2010

Maria's Best Wishes Lunch

 The GMA Food Team Margo, Maria, Anthony and KMP outside  Restaurant Sfoglia

 Maria has left GMA. She is embarking on a  new and exciting journey. We thought it was befitting to take her out for a goodbye lunch. We have all often bonded and enjoyed lunches together during our tenure together.  We not only worked very hard and well together. We became friends in the process. I hope our paths cross again, but in the mean time best wishes and luck must suffice. Maria possesses some fine organizational skills, and one of the things I loved most about working with Maria, was that she made it her business to work ahead and always kept me informed of what was coming up. This made it possible for me to plan the rest of my life. Thanks don't begin to describe my gratitude. xoxox You will be surely missed!

Here are some of the delicious treats we shared.

The bread was outstanding and the pithy olives robust!
The red wine was an excellent Cortino.

These are some briny, and tender clams in a rich tomato broth.
The salad was excellent, mizuma with wild boar proscuitto, and bits of goat cheese, loved it!

This was a radicchio Caesar salad, bountiful and biting!

                                      

These were sauteed diver scallops with escarole and an excellent celery root puree. This dish was stellar!

                                        

An excellent but bittersweet afternoon!

Text and photos, except the one at the top of the four of us, by Karen Pickus

Courtesy Karen Pickus 2010

B. Smith at GMA, Thursday April 29

Today the lovely B. Smith graced our studio. The segment  she did was part of a mother's day whip: small segments with big ideas for mother's day. I set up the food for the segment.

 The lovely and gracious Ju Ju, made my daughter Marjolaine, feel most welcome, and B. Smith before the segment. B. Smith's french toast with strawberries and mint, is in the foreground that I made for the segment.

Photos and Text by Karen Pickus

Courtesy Karen Pickus 2010

Beanie and the Jets

Robert Downie Jr. and Marjolaine in the Jumbotron! in Times Square!

Photo Captured by Rita our lovely and amazing green room coordinator! Thanks Rita

When Beanie Came to GMA this Thursday specifically to meet Robert Downey Jr. she was thrilled to get his autograph.

 What a morning she had. My illustrious cohorts at work helped make her morning what it was for her and I want to thank them by showing off how lucky I am and she too for having these folks in our lives.

Beanie and the Jets : Joe, Darren and Brian

Photos and Text by Karen Pickus
Courtesy Karen Pickus 2010

Some of my Favorite Things: Shakespeare, David Bowie, Glamrock and Lemon Cake

Marjolaine as Sebastian and Lauren as Olivia singing Ch Ch Ch Changes with the amazing cast by Bowie

 

Photo by Beth Krieger                   

Today I volunteered to make dinner for 35 people.
My daughter is performing in a play at her school this week. It is a Glamrock Twelfth Night by Shakespeare with David Bowie songs. The upper school's illustrious Theatre Director Margie's  amazing idea. The rehearsals run late in the beginning of this week so dinner is necessary. The performances start Thursday evening. It is early in the morning and I am busy pondering what to make for their dinner. Healthy, delicious, something high schoolers would like, not too fattening , some are vegefruitiens.....gotta come up with something great for these amazing kids and their equally amazing faculty mentors... they all work so hard and do an incredible job!
Wonder how this will evolve this time?
So I decided to make French lentils. Saffron brown rice, roasted red peppers, carrots and potatoes, salad with balsamic vinaigrette and my lemon pound cake. Hope they like it!

My daughter gave a full report... They all loved everything! Whew, I had a tough audience. I am delighted!  I decided the lemon cake would be a nice recipe to blog about.

This is actually the same lemon cake I made a while back when I made cakes and tartes for the farmer's market in Martha's Vineyard. I had a terrific following! Here is the recipe. I have a Beaterblade attachment for my Kitchen Aid and it is a terrific tool. It makes it possible to mix cakes without having to scrape the bowl. I love this thing!

Lemon Cake

2 sticks softened butter

2 cup sugar

4 large eggs

zest and juice of 2 lemons

1/2 cup sugar

1/2 cup water

2 tsps. baking powder

1/4 tsp salt

2 cups all purpose flour

1 tsp. vanilla extract

1/2 cup buttermilk

Method

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Butter and flour one high 8" cake pan or  two 5" x 9" loaf pans.

In an electric mixer, with the paddle attachment cream the softened butter with  the sugar and beat about 1-2 minutes on medium speed until the mixture is light and pale in color. Add the eggs one at a time.  Combine the 1/2 cup sugar and 1/2 cup water in a small sauce pan.  Bring to a boil, remove from the heat and add the zest from 1 lemon. Sift together the baking powder, salt and flour.  Add the vanilla to the buttermilk. Add 1/3 of the sifted flour mixture alternating 1/3 of the buttermilk to the butter sugar and egg mixture until all the parts are combined. Then add the juice of 1 lemon. Scrape the batter into the prepared pan and bake for 35-45 minutes until it is golden brown in color and the edges of the cake have pulled away from the sides of the pan and the top is firm when it is touched and does not indent. Add the juice of 1 lemon to the to the lemon zest syrup once it has cooled. Let  the cake cool for 15 minutes. Unmold and place on the rack. Spoon the syrup on both sides of the cake while it is still warm. Place on an attractive serving platter . Slice and serve when completely cool.

 This is the recipe, 2x.

Recipe, photos and text by Karen Pickus

Courtesy Karen Pickus 2010

The weekend April 17 and 18

Saturday I made a fruit jumble for my friend who is recouperating from surgery. She titled it. It is composed of dried Turkish apricots, dried pitted organic plums and Hunza raisins... they are a beautiful green, very dense, sweet and quite dry. They happen to be my favorite raisins. They are grown organically in the Himalayas. This jumble is a delicious accompaniment to Greek yogurt or vanilla ice cream if you dare!

Dried Fruit Jumble

2 cups dried apricots
2 cups dried pitted plums

2 cups dried golden or Hunza raisins  
2 cups water
1 cup  orange juice
1 cup dry vermouth
1/2 cup honey
2 cinnamon sticks
zest of 1 orange
zest of 1 lemon
1 vanilla bean split lengthwise or 2 tsp. vanilla extract

Method

 Place all of the ingredients if using vanilla bean into a 3-4 quart sauce pan. If you are using vanilla extract don't include until the jumble cools, stir gently with a large spoon.
Bring quickly to a boil . Then cover and lower the heat to simmer. Cook, stirring occasionally about 1 to 1  1/2 hours until the fruit is tender, but not falling apart, and the liquid is syrupy.
Let cool and add vanilla
Serve warm with yogurt or  vanilla ice cream.

On Sunday my daughter and I were looking at Vogue together and came across this amazing watch... She was so taken with it and so was I so I decided to take some photos.
Here are some of the shots I got!

 Writing, recipe and photos by Karen Pickus
Courtesy Karen Pickus 2010

April 16 on GMA Sara Moulton, our guest chef

Margo, now Sr. Broadcast Producer, Me, Chef/Food Stylist, Maria, Food Segment Producer, Sara Celebrity Chef. Eddie our illustrious stage manager took this shot. Thanks Eddie!

Sara Moulton was in today to celebrate her new book. Sara and I go way back... a long time ago me met when I applied for a job at La Tulipe restaurant in Greenwich Village.  I knocked at the steel gate of the restaurant and this bubbly blond answered the door. She was so amused by my friendly handshake when we first met that fateful day on the steps of La Tulipe and became fast friends ever since. We worked together there as "mighty mights" her husband Bill would call us. Later, Sara brought me in to GMA, when she was the chef, to use my baking skills, for the first time, to make a Reine de Saba for Julia Child when she was the food correspondent on GMA. Sonia Selby Wright was the food segment producer at that time. After that, I would come in from time to time when Sara needed extra help for certain segments, and when she was on maternity leave I filled in for her. When she went to the food network she recommended I replace her as the Chef at GMA. By that time Margo became the food segment producer and we have all worked together ever since. The rest is history.

Steve, our friendly photographer taking this shot of the Salmon I made for Sara's demo for the GMA recipe website. I took these shots of Steve taking the salmon and then I shot the salmon I made for this blog!

                                                          Eddie cuing Sara for a live shot.

                                      The Anchors, Ju Ju and Steve enjoying the food during the segment.

                               

After the show we went to Maialino for breakfast to celebrate and had these delicious ricotta crepes among other wonderful things!

Photos and writing by Karen Pickus

Courtesy Karen Pickus 2010

Nice shots taken on 4/15

Shots of Me and Emeril taken by Ida, our illustrious photographer courtesy of Ida Astute

                                                         Emeril, Maria, and Me