Our October Cookbook of the Month is My Beverly Hills Kitchen by Alex Hitz! Cooking columnist Sybil Pratt shares why this Southern cookbook, in a sea of Southern cookbooks, really stands out:
“It’s Southern food on Alex’s terms, revived, revamped and revved up, grand old plantation recipes (plus a few newer creations) prepared to foodie-pleasing, haute cuisine specs.”
You’ll have to check it out for yourself to get the recipe for the Corn Pudding, but here’s a preview of another of his brilliant dishes:
Pumpkin Pecan Flan with Roquefort
Growing up in the South, we never had pumpkin anything. It wasn’t until I spent my first Thanksgiving in New York, and then in Los Angeles, that I had pumpkin in the fall with any regularity. Here’s a recipe I devised sev- eral Thanksgivings ago to punchup the flavor of regulation canned pumpkin with the warmth of my favorite nut, the pecan, and the tang of delectably indescribable French Roquefort.
yield: 6 to 8 servings
- 1 (15-ounce) can pumpkin
- 3 large eggs
- 2 egg yolks
- 1⁄2 cup heavy cream
- 2 tablespoons minced fresh ginger
- 1⁄2 teaspoon salt
- 1⁄4 teaspoon ground black pepper
- 1 tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon sugar
- 1⁄2 cup crumbled Roquefort (or other bleu cheese)
- 1⁄4 cup roasted pecans
- 2 tablespoons chopped chives for garnish
- crème fraîche or sour cream for garnish
Preheat the oven to 350°F. Butter an 8-cup soufflé dish or two 4-cup soufflé dishes.
Combine the pumpkin, eggs, yolks, heavy cream, ginger, salt, black pepper, and sugar in a food processor fitted with a metal blade and process until smooth.
Pour the mixture into the prepared baking dishes and assemble a bain- marie.
Top the pumpkin mixture evenly with the crumbled Roquefort and then the roasted pecans.
Bake for 35 to 40 minutes, until barely still trembling; bake for 5-10 minutes, less time if you will reheat it the next day.
Serve warm, garnished with the chives and crème fraîche.
Assembling a bain marie
Note: it sounds fancy, but it’s very easy, and makes such a difference in cooking perfect custards, that you owe it to yourself to learn how. Place a soufflé dish into a deep roasting pan, and pour boiling water into the sides of the pan, so the water comes about a quarter of the way up the sides of the soufflé dish. Be very careful when you put the bain marie in the oven so you don’t burn yourself!
Reprinted from My Beverly Hills Kitchen by Alex Hitz. Copyright © 2012 by Alex Hitz. Published by Knopf. Read our review of this book.
