Arne's food and wine blog: Nicole's Birthday Dinner

Per Nicole's request, for her Birthday dinner, we had steak risotto and individual chocolate souffles with mint infused custard sauce. The chocolate souffles were ones that I had made a number of years ago after attending a Jerry Traunfeld cooking class (of Herbfarm fame). They are really quite amazing but require an organized approach and result in a lot of dirty dishes. If made at the same time as the accompanying custard sauce (which you pour into them when you eat them) it is a lot going on. Michelle did the souffles tonight (and did a outstanding job) while I did the custard sauce which made things much more manageable, though we were at times competing for stove top and dishes. You can make the custard sauce 1-5 days ahead which might be a good idea.

The risotto I have made numerous times and used Julia Child's "no stir" technique, which I always use now. This is outlined in her The Way to Cook book, but really is just the classic method, but with no stirring and the lid on.

Beef Risotto with Steak

Serve risotto on hot plates when done, don't let it sit and get gluey. If timing is off, add more broth before it sticks.

Use a heavy pot like Le Creuset

Mince 1 large shallot and saute in butter and/or olive oil until translucent
Add 1 cup of risotto (arborio) rice and saute with onion for a few minutes
Add 1/4 cup dry white wine or vermouth until cooked down
Add a little less than 1 quart hot (simmering) beef broth and stir well, cover pot and low simmer for about 20-30 minutes. Reserve remaining broth to finish at end
When almost done to proper risotto consistency (spreads when spooned on a plate) add the mushrooms, beef, seasoning (salt, pepper, and rosemary if you want), plus about 1/2 cup grated parmeson and the reserved broth. Stir, and simmer until correct consistency.

Beef

About 3/4 lb steak or more cubed into 1" cubes (they will shrink to bite size). Tender steak that will stand up to the risotto process. I use tri-tip or new york or rib eye.
Spread on a foil covered baking pan with separation between pieces.
Season well with salt and pepper
Place under hot broiler until browned
Let stand until ready to be added to risotto above, use juices in mushrooms below

Mushrooms

Saute sliced cremini mushrooms in medium hot pan with butter and/or olive oil. Do in batches if your pan is not big enough for all mushrooms to fit in single layer with a little space. Pan should be hot so shrooms brown and not stew.
When lightly browned, add about 1/4 cup or more red wine and let reduce for about 5 minutes.
Add beef juices from above and a little of the reserved beef broth and reduce for another about 5 minutes. Time so that the mushrooms and resulting sauce are just done when it is time to add them to the risotto.

Green Beans

I was out of burners tonight when making the risotto since I had mushrooms, broth and the risotto all going. So I decided to bake the green beans. They took longer than I had figured, and probably would have been better prepared in a butter saute/steam frying pan.

Fresh cut and trimmed green beans
Half to 3/4 onion, chopped, sauted in butter and/or olive oil
1/4 cup chicken broth +/-
Seasoning (salt and pepper, italian or other seasoning of choice

I put everything in a covered casserole and baked at 350 for about 30 minutes until beans are done. Could have used some butter, or bacon, or something but were pretty good. If had been done in a pan, I would have reduced the broth at the end.

Chocolate Souffle (from the Herbfarm Cookbook by Jerry Traunfeld c 2000)

Prepare 6 (6 oz) straight sided ramekins with soft butter bottom and insides completely. Use fine sugar then to coat buttered interiors.
Melt 10oz of high quality bittersweet chocolate (like sharfenberger) that has been broken or chopped coarsly with 4 tablespoons of unsalted buter in a bowl or small pot over boiling water.
Beat 6 egg whites (yolks get used in custard sauce below) until they begin to rise then add 1/2 cup fine or superfine sugar until you get sagging peaks. Don't overbeat.
Fold 1/3 of the beaten egg whites into the chocolate in a bowl until smooth and completely incorporated. Then gently fold in the rest until just no streaks of white remain.
Pour the resulting stiff mixture into the prepared ramekins making sure to not get any drips on the sides of the dishes until about 1/4 from the top. (If the souffle bakes onto any unbuttered surface at the top of the dish it will stick and prevent it from rising straight up)
Bake souffles in a preheated 400 degree oven in a water bath (like creme broule) for about 20 - 25 minutes, or until the souffles have risen about an inch. In the space of 1 minute you can go from perfect to a bit burned on top so watch them carefully at the end.

Serve immediately with the custard sauce below. To eat, poke a hole in the top, pour in the sauce and enjoy!

Infused Custard Sauce (from the Herbfarm Cookbook by Jerry Traunfeld c 2000)

Infuse 2 cups of whole milk with fresh herb of choice like mint, fresh bay, rosemary, etc. by bringing milk just to a boil, adding the fresh herbs (about 3-4 tablespoons of mint leaves for example), pushing them down and covering the pot and removing from heat. Let stand covered for 30 minutes.

Heat 6 lightly beaten egg yolks in a bowl over boiling water until about 90 - 100 degrees.
Meanwhile, strain infused milk, mix in 1/2 cup sugar, and reheat on medium until just boiling.
When just boiling, remove from heat and whisk into the heated egg yolks by pouring the milk mixture into the yolks slowly while whisking constantly but gently.
Continue to stir the sauce for about 30 seconds. Sauce should come up to 175 - 180 degrees. (If for some reason the sauce doesn't thicken and come up temp, heat over boiling water. Don't heat sauce above 180 degrees unless you want scrambled eggs.)