Vietnamese Braised Beef and Ice Cream Spring Rolls

It's been a wonderful food weekend. Sometimes, you bookmark a recipe that you just have to make as soon as possible. It happened twice this week! This is so rare that you'd think I'd win the lottery or something (which by the way, Lotto Max is still at a grand prize of 50 million with fifty 1 million prizes - come on ticket, just a measly million please).

The first one is from Steph's blog, i am a food blog, with her Vietnamese Braised Beef Taco post. If you know me, you know that I love tacos. Any given night if you ask me what I want to eat, it'll most likely be tacos (or sushi). So I went out and bought the 2 1/2 pounds of boneless chuck roast. Do you ever feel grown up going to the butcher? I do. I feel so much more like a cook when I get to unwrap the butcher paper and cut off the tied string. Or maybe I just like unwrapping presents.

Total aside and speaking of feeling like a grown up, I finally bought a new work bag. I've been alternating between my high school backpack and my weekend camera bag for my commute. But Howard finally said, enough is enough, and forced me to look professional. Thanks for looking out for me? Hahaha, it's a colour-blocked tote bag in light and dark camel. The best part is, the base is wide enough to fit my lunch box, which was my main criteria.

In other grown up news (geez, I'm all about growing up today), my maid of honour bought me an early wedding present last month and I used it for the first time today. Oh beautiful round cocotte, how I adore thee! I think I might like it more than my cast iron skillet, less oil splatter as I brown the meat.

So where are the tacos? Well, I did buy the tortillas, but at the last minute, I boiled some noodles to go with the Vietnamese braised beef. This way, I didn't waste any of that delicious juicy stew, the noodles soaked it all up and then it went in my belly. I hope you get a chance to try the recipe. It was quick and easy, just make sure you start in the afternoon and then let it braise until dinner time. You brown the meat, cook the onion, shallots, garlic, carrots, and tomatoes. Add the beef stock and then throw in more aromatics like star anise, cinnamon, five spice, bay leaves, and fish sauce. Then pop it in the oven for the flavour magic to happen.

Even though I took all the ingredients out, I forgot the brown sugar. It was sitting on the counter top and I was too lazy to take the cocotte out of the oven. But guess what? It came out tasty so I won't know what I'm really missing.

The second one is from Lady and Pups who posted Ice Cream-Spring Rolls with Ground Peanut Brittle. I've had this twice this weekend. Mainly because I have so much ground peanut brittle left over (am I not sprinkling enough on my ice cream?!?) and because it's freaking delicious. The crepes are so easy to make, it's only three ingredients! We have an assortment of green tea, mango, and red bean ice cream in the freezer - aren't those everyone's staples? Then we bought an assortment of mochi - green tea, strawberry, vanilla, and red bean.

The photo above is red bean everything - ice cream and mochi. Did you know that peanut brittle can be used for anything? Put it on fruit or try sprinkling it on savoury food. It should be the new condiment, sold with ketchup and mustard.

Peanut brittle.
Peanut brittle.
Peanut brittle.
Peanut brittle.
Peanut brittle.
Peanut brittle.
Peanut brittle.
Peanut brittle.
Peanut brittle.
Peanut brittle.

You know that scene in Chef where he makes ground brittle and splashes it over the dessert? I now appreciate the beauty of that scene even more.

Mille Crêpes Cake

Happy birthday to my sweetheart, Howard! As some of you know, he was born on Groundhog Day and that his favourite cake is the mille crêpes cake from Lady M. To celebrate, I wanted to make him the same cake, but of course there isn't an official Lady M recipe. Luckily, the internet has many speculations on how the cake is made.

The one I followed is from the New York Times. In the article, the author uses the crêpe recipe from Joy of Cooking and the vanilla pastry cream from Desserts by Pierre Hermé and added whipped cream.

Mille Crêpes Cake
(Makes about 1 eight-inch cake)

For the crêpe batter:
6 tablespoons butter
3 cups milk
6 eggs
1 1/2 cups flour
7 tablespoons sugar
A pinch salt

For the vanilla pastry cream:
2 cups milk
1 vanilla bean, halved and scraped
6 egg yolks
1/2 cup sugar
1/3 cup cornstarch, sifted
3 1/2 tablespoons butter

For the assembly, this was adapted from the original article:
Vegetable oil
2 cups heavy cream
2 tablespoon sugar or more

1. Make the crêpe batter and the pastry cream the day before. 
2. Crêpe batter: In a small pan, cook the butter until brown. Set it aside. In a small pot, heat the milk until it starts steaming and then set it aside to cool for 10 minutes. On medium-low speed with your mixer, beat together the eggs, flour, sugar, and salt. Slowly add the hot milk and browned butter to the mixture. Pour the batter into a container, cover and refrigerate overnight.
3. Pastry cream: Flatten the vanilla bean and slice it open with a sharp knife. Peel the bean open and scrape the seeds out with the knife. In a small pot, bring the milk with the vanilla bean with scrapings to a boil, set it aside to cool for 10 minutes; remove bean. Fill a large bowl with cold water (or ice). In a medium sized pan or small pot, whisk the egg yolks, sugar, and cornstarch together. Gradually whisk in the hot milk. Place the pan over high heat and bring it to a boil, whisking vigorously for 1 to 2 minutes. Set the bowl in the ice bath or cold water and stir until the temperature reaches 140°F (60°C) on an instant-read thermometer. Stir in the butter. Cool, cover, and refrigerate.
4. The next day, bring the batter and pastry cream to room temperature. Place a nonstick 8-inch pan over medium heat. Swab the surface with the oil, then add about 2-3 tablespoons of batter and swirl to cover the surface. Cook until the bottom just begins to brown, about 1 minute, then carefully lift an edge and flip the crêpe. Cook on the other side for no longer than 5-10 seconds. Carefully flip the crêpe onto a baking sheet lined with parchment. Repeat until you have 20 perfect crêpes.
   
5. Use a mixer to whip the heavy cream with the sugar - it won't hold strong peaks. Fold it into the pastry cream.
6. To assemble, lay a crêpe on a plate. Pipe or use an icing spatula to completely cover the crêpe with a thin layer of pastry cream (about 1/4 cup). Cover the pastry cream layer with a crêpe and repeat to make a stack of 20, with the best-looking crepe on top. Chill for at least 2 hours. Set it out for 30 minutes in room temperature before serving.
   
7. If you have a kitchen torch, sprinkle the top crepe with granulated sugar and caramelize with the torch.

I know it wasn't necessary, but I went out to get a kitchen torch anyways. They weren't too expensive, I was bracing myself to spend around $30 for one and was surprised to find it on sale for $13 at the Bay! The torch isn't filled, so we made a trip to Canadian Tire to find butane fuel, $5.

I made the crêpes batter and pastry cream the night before. The next morning, I stood in front of the stove for hours to cook those crêpes. Then I stood for another hour at the table icing each layer. I even sprinkled the top layer with sugar. Then along comes Howard to perform the fun part. Caramelizing! 

At least I got to take the photos.

I'm kidding, it was great seeing him have so much fun with the torch. And the torch was worth it. That top crunchy layer is the best. I mean, the cake is amazing as a whole, but if it were just layers of crunchy crêpes, that would be awesome too!

We are highly recommending that you try making this cake. Sure, the edges will be ruffled (Howard picked out our black ruffled cake stand to go with this cake) and not as neatly stacked as Lady M's, but the cake itself is tasty and the texture is delicious!

Caramelized-Apple Crêpes

Ooo I love spontaneous posts! After yoga this morning, I was going to attempt an omelet in the style of Jacques Pépin for brunch. I had watched his video and thought I could practice some of his techniques.

Little did I know that when I stepped into the kitchen, there would be a huge bowl of apple slices. My mom was in her make-four-apple-pies mode! I remembered seeing the caramelized-apple crêpes recipe beside the pancake ones and decided to test it out instead.

Caramelized-Apple Crêpes
Recipe adapted from Gale Gand's Brunch!
(Makes about 4 crêpes)

2 large eggs

1/2 cup of milk

1/4 teaspoon of salt

9 teaspoons of sugar

1/2 cup of all-purpose flour

4 teaspoons of unsalted butter

1 McIntosh apple, thinly sliced

1. Whisk the eggs and milk (Gale recommends using whole milk, but I only had 2% in the fridge) together in a bowl.
2. Whisk in the salt, 1 teaspoon of sugar, and flour until incorporated. Set aside. (Gale recommends setting it aside for 30 minutes, I basically used the batter once my apples were caramelized.)
3. Using a nonstick 8-inch skillet, melt 1 teaspoon of the butter over medium heat. Sprinkle 2 teaspoons of sugar and cook until it reaches an amber colour.
4. Add your apple slices to the pan. (Gale's recipe calls for 3 Granny Smith or Honey Crisp apples slices - a total of 2 whole apples. I only had McIntosh apples and covered the whole bottom of the skillet with the slices.) Cook the apples until they are golden brown on the edges. I also flipped my apples.
5. Pour (I used a ladle, it is approximately 1/4 cup) the batter over the apple slices. Lift and swirl the pan so that the batter covers all the apples and reaches the edges of your skillet.
6. Let it cook until the underside is brown. Use your spatula to flip the crêpe and cook the other side until it is slightly brown.
7. Transfer the crêpe to a platter (Gale recommends you keep it warm in a 200°F or 90°C oven).
8. Repeat the process from step 3 to make three more crêpes.
9. Serve with lemon juice and a dusting of confectioners' sugar. My mom and I both liked the addition of the lemon juice.

Don't you like it when the light is able to go through your thin crêpes?

I have never caramelized apples before, I highly recommend it. It was fun and it smelled so good!

Spin Dessert Cafe

Howard and I, along with our friends Mike and Megan, went to our first soccer game on the weekend. It was one of those rare beautiful days in Toronto. Watching the game at the BMO field was amazing, thank you warm sunny weather! Eating brisket sandwiches and giant hot dogs in the stands was fun. I think we even saw a tailgate party in the parking lot - these fans have lots of energy.

Unfortunately, Toronto didn't do so well. Seattle managed to score two minutes before the game ended. Aww well. To end the day on a high note, we checked out a dessert place. Right? Come on, you can't expect us to riot over a game. =P

Spin Dessert Cafe

1060 The Queensway

Toronto, ON M8Z 1P7

(416) 255-7746

Facebook and twitter too!

The interior at Spin was all pink and brown and the hostess was quite nice. We asked for one of the empty booths, but got seated in the middle. While it was less intimate (you're in the center of attention), it was nice and spacious. Learning that it was our first time at Spin, she took us through the menu by reading aloud all the different sections. They offer crepes and waffles, sundaes, cakes, beverages, savoury crepes, and breakfast. The last page of the menu said that alcohol would be coming soon. We also learned that they make all their ice creams in-house and that they have cheesecakes from the Cheesecake Factory.

Most of the dessert names in the menu are named after popular songs and we noticed that the waitresses also had song titles on the back of their T-shirts (also pink and brown).

Howard told Megan to sing her order - challenge accepted and Megan ordered "I Like it Like That" beautifully. Her crepe was a chocolate peanut butter ice-cream topped with Reese's Minis and bananas, with hot fudge sauce on the side.

Spin also has monthly specials, so Mike ordered from the June features, the "Lean on Me" crepes. This was a smore's ice cream topped with graham cracker and marshmallow's, with hot fudge on the side.

Howard and I shared "Irreplaceable," which was crepe with vanilla ice cream topped with fresh strawberries with strawberry sauce on the side. He also got a "Lean on Me" drink from the monthly features, strawberry lemonade (which was delicious).

We soon figured out that the song names didn't really correlate with the desserts, and what surprised me the most was they didn't play any music! With such a musical menu, it would appear to make sense to have all those songs on loop. =)

Overall, it was a nice dessert place to hang out at. The fruits were noticeably fresh and there's lots to choose from, especially if you don't have a sweet tooth. The savoury section looked good too.