Faye Levy is the author of the Fresh from France cookbook series.DUXELLES – MUSHROOM HASHDuxelles is a classic French preparation of butter-cooked chopped mushrooms flavored with shallots. It is said to have been created by François Pierre de la Varenne. La Varenne’s book, Le Cuisinier Francois (The French cook, 1651), was one of two books that “strongly influenced the evolution of French classical cuisine,” writes Anne Willan in The Cookbook Library. “As a good luck talisman,” she adds, “I kept a copy of Le Cuisinier Francois in my desk drawer when I opened La Varenne Cooking School in Paris in 1975.”I learned to make duxelles at the cooking school. It is one of those magical mixtures that chefs in traditional kitchens keep on hand to slip into their culinary creations. Duxelles is easy to make and suitable for quick meals as well as special- occasion dishes like mushroom tarts. You can enrich duxelles with cream and serve it as a side dish with vegetables or fish, or use it as a tasty vegetable alternative to ground meat in stuffings and spaghetti sauce.To vary the flavor, you can add dried thyme or chopped fresh tarragon. Mix duxelles with cooked rice or pasta for a quick entree, with a spoonful of cream or a sprinkling of grated cheese. Makes about 1 cup.225 gr. (1⁄2 pound) mushrooms, rinsed, patted dry 11⁄2 tsp. butter or vegetable oil 1 small shallot, minced salt and freshly ground pepperChop mushrooms in food processor with pulsing motion so they are chopped in fine pieces but are not pureed. In a medium-size skillet heat butter over low heat. Add shallot and saute about 1⁄2 minute until soft but not brown. Add mushrooms and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Cook over high heat, stirring, for 3 to 5 minutes or until mixture is dry. Serve hot.RICH SEED CAKE WITH CARAWAY AND CINNAMONThis recipe is from The Cookbook Library by Anne Willan with Mark Cherniavsky. It is based on a cake in The Compleat Housewife by Eliza Smith, published in London in the 1700s. The caraway seeds give this buttery, not overly sweet cake a pleasant taste and made me wonder why caraway seeds aren’t used in cakes more often. At the book party the cake was accompanied by blueberries and a mixture of whipped cream and mascarpone cheese.Willan urges the reader to try mixing the batter, which is very similar in proportions to classic pound-cake batter, by hand, as was originally done. “The direct contact with the batter as it develops from a soft cream to a smooth, fluffy batter is an experience not to be missed. If you use an electric mixer, the batter is fluffier but the cake emerges from the oven less moist and with a darker crust.”The original recipe listed ambergris as an option for flavoring the cake. “Ambergris,” writes Willan, “a waxy secretion from a sperm whale, was once used to perfume foods. As it is now a rare ingredient, I’ve opted for Mrs. Smith’s second suggestion, of cinnamon, which marries unexpectedly well with caraway.”Makes one 22-cm. (9-inch) cake450 gr. (1 pound or 31⁄2 cups) flour 330 gr. (12⁄3 cups) sugar 45 gr. (6 Tbsp.) caraway seeds 5 eggs 4 egg yolks 450 gr. (1 pound or 2 cups) butter, more for the pan11⁄2 Tbsp. rose water or orange-flower water 2 tsp. ground cinnamonHeat the oven to 160ºC (325ºF). Butter a 22-cm. (9-inch) springform pan. Sift together the flour and sugar into a medium bowl, and stir in the caraway seeds. Separate the whole eggs, putting all the yolks together and straining the whites into a small bowl to remove the threads.Cream the butter either by hand or with an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Add the yolks two at a time, beating well after each addition. Beat in the rose water. Whisk the egg whites just until frothy, then beat them, a little at a time, into the egg yolk mixture. Beat in the cinnamon. Finally, beat in the flour mixture, sprinkling it a little at a time over the batter. This should take at least 15 minutes by hand, 5 minutes with a mixer. The batter will lighten and become fluffier. Transfer the batter to the prepared pan.Bake until the cake starts to shrink from the sides of the pan and a skewer inserted in the center comes out clean when withdrawn, 11⁄4 to 11⁄2 hours. Let the cake cool in the pan on a rack until tepid, then unmold it and leave it to cool completely on the rack. When carefully wrapped, it keeps well at room temperature for several days and the flavor will mellow.
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Faye Levy is the author of the Fresh from France cookbook series.DUXELLES – MUSHROOM HASHDuxelles is a classic French preparation of butter-cooked chopped mushrooms flavored with shallots. It is said to have been created by François Pierre de la Varenne. La Varenne’s book, Le Cuisinier Francois (The French cook, 1651), was one of two books that “strongly influenced the evolution of French classical cuisine,” writes Anne Willan in The Cookbook Library. “As a good luck talisman,” she adds, “I kept a copy of Le Cuisinier Francois in my desk drawer when I opened La Varenne Cooking School in Paris in 1975.”I learned to make duxelles at the cooking school. It is one of those magical mixtures that chefs in traditional kitchens keep on hand to slip into their culinary creations. Duxelles is easy to make and suitable for quick meals as well as special- occasion dishes like mushroom tarts. You can enrich duxelles with cream and serve it as a side dish with vegetables or fish, or use it as a tasty vegetable alternative to ground meat in stuffings and spaghetti sauce.To vary the flavor, you can add dried thyme or chopped fresh tarragon. Mix duxelles with cooked rice or pasta for a quick entree, with a spoonful of cream or a sprinkling of grated cheese. Makes about 1 cup.225 gr. (1⁄2 pound) mushrooms, rinsed, patted dry 11⁄2 tsp. butter or vegetable oil 1 small shallot, minced salt and freshly ground pepperChop mushrooms in food processor with pulsing motion so they are chopped in fine pieces but are not pureed. In a medium-size skillet heat butter over low heat. Add shallot and saute about 1⁄2 minute until soft but not brown. Add mushrooms and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Cook over high heat, stirring, for 3 to 5 minutes or until mixture is dry. Serve hot.RICH SEED CAKE WITH CARAWAY AND CINNAMONThis recipe is from The Cookbook Library by Anne Willan with Mark Cherniavsky. It is based on a cake in The Compleat Housewife by Eliza Smith, published in London in the 1700s. The caraway seeds give this buttery, not overly sweet cake a pleasant taste and made me wonder why caraway seeds aren’t used in cakes more often. At the book party the cake was accompanied by blueberries and a mixture of whipped cream and mascarpone cheese.Willan urges the reader to try mixing the batter, which is very similar in proportions to classic pound-cake batter, by hand, as was originally done. “The direct contact with the batter as it develops from a soft cream to a smooth, fluffy batter is an experience not to be missed. If you use an electric mixer, the batter is fluffier but the cake emerges from the oven less moist and with a darker crust.”The original recipe listed ambergris as an option for flavoring the cake. “Ambergris,” writes Willan, “a waxy secretion from a sperm whale, was once used to perfume foods. As it is now a rare ingredient, I’ve opted for Mrs. Smith’s second suggestion, of cinnamon, which marries unexpectedly well with caraway.”Makes one 22-cm. (9-inch) cake450 gr. (1 pound or 31⁄2 cups) flour 330 gr. (12⁄3 cups) sugar 45 gr. (6 Tbsp.) caraway seeds 5 eggs 4 egg yolks 450 gr. (1 pound or 2 cups) butter, more for the pan11⁄2 Tbsp. rose water or orange-flower water 2 tsp. ground cinnamonHeat the oven to 160ºC (325ºF). Butter a 22-cm. (9-inch) springform pan. Sift together the flour and sugar into a medium bowl, and stir in the caraway seeds. Separate the whole eggs, putting all the yolks together and straining the whites into a small bowl to remove the threads.Cream the butter either by hand or with an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Add the yolks two at a time, beating well after each addition. Beat in the rose water. Whisk the egg whites just until frothy, then beat them, a little at a time, into the egg yolk mixture. Beat in the cinnamon. Finally, beat in the flour mixture, sprinkling it a little at a time over the batter. This should take at least 15 minutes by hand, 5 minutes with a mixer. The batter will lighten and become fluffier. Transfer the batter to the prepared pan.Bake until the cake starts to shrink from the sides of the pan and a skewer inserted in the center comes out clean when withdrawn, 11⁄4 to 11⁄2 hours. Let the cake cool in the pan on a rack until tepid, then unmold it and leave it to cool completely on the rack. When carefully wrapped, it keeps well at room temperature for several days and the flavor will mellow.