Butterscotch Bliss
To celebrate a major marital milestone, we spent a night at the new Cavallo Point resort, nestled on the bay at the foot of the Golden Gate Bridge. If there’s anything I like better than a long, leisurely dinner with superb food it’s a long, leisurely dinner with superb food followed by a short, leisurely walk back to a handsome hotel room. Oh, and the bottle of 1990 Dom Perignon we had in the room before dinner didn’t hurt.I’d love to tell you about all the delicious dishes we enjoyed at Murray Circle (the main restaurant at Cavallo Point) but my impeccable filing system refuses to cough up the menu. Actually it’s a small miracle that I had room to taste anything else after I started in on the bread basket — a restaurant item I usually ignore. Two words: Seaweed-flecked rolls. One more word: Sensational.
Equally sensational was the butterscotch souffle–served with a piece of butterscotch blondie and a scoop of vanilla ice-cream. Executive chef Joseph Humphrey generously shared the recipe. It’s a winner.
Butterscotch Soufflé
Murray Circle at Cavallo Point
Serves 6
For the base:
1 cup milk
1 vanilla bean
1 ½ ounces unsalted butter, at room temperature
5 Tablespoons sugar
¼ cup all- purpose flour
8 ounces butterscotch chips
2 Tablespoons Scotch whiskey
4 egg yolks
Pinch of salt
To finish:
¾ ounce egg whites [Margin Note: That's by weight. I asked Chef Humphrey to clarify and he responded: "I checked with the pastry chef about the egg whites. He says they start with 2 ounces of unwhipped egg whites, but once its whipped they only use about ¼ of it. And the ounce is by weight, not fluid ounces. "]
4 teaspoons sugar
4 teaspoons cornstarch
Pinch of cream of tartar
Heat the milk and vanilla bean over medium heat just until the milk starts to boil. Remove from heat and set aside.
In a bowl, mix the butter, sugar, flour and salt to make a paste.
Whisk this mixture into the hot milk and stir until smooth. Return pot to the heat and cook briefly, stirring constantly, for 2 minutes.
Remove from the heat and add butterscotch chips. Mix until chips are fully melted and smooth.
Whisk in the yolks 1 at a time until incorporated, followed by the whiskey.
Cook for 2 more minutes, stirring constantly, then remove from the heat. [M. N.: Be VIGILANT at this point]
Strain through a fine mesh strainer and cool.
Mixture at this point can be made 1 day in advance and kept refrigerated. [M.N. I strongly recommend doing this]
To finish:
Whip the egg whites in a mixing bowl to soft peaks.
Add the sugar , cornstarch, and cream of tartar.
Whip the whites again to stiff peaks. [M.N. But do not overbeat. You want the whites to be stiff but not dry.]
Fold half of the egg whites into the soufflé base
Add this mixture to the bowl of remaining egg whites and gently fold until the whites are just barely incorporated.
Pour the batter into 6 small souffle cups that have been lightly buttered and dusted with sugar, filling each cup only ¾ of the way full.
Bake at 400-degrees for about 9 to 12 minutes, or until fully risen.
Serve immediately.
This is a rich, sweet souffle. I prefer to serve it with unsweetened whipped cream rather than ice cream. The other half of this marital team does not join me in this preference.
Wednesday, August 20th, 2008 at 1:38 pmand is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
August 22nd, 2008 at 9:22 pm
this is fantastic. sadly i am lazy but possibly first rainy day!
August 24th, 2008 at 9:58 am
Butterscotch ANYTHING: my weakness. Go back to eat and get the Blondie recipe as well.
MMMM.