autumn trifle

one could not possibly call this trifle a "fall trifle;" it requires the british-accent, hunting-dogs-and-trumpets air that "autumn" lends to the phrase. specifically, this is an autumn trifle with roasted apples and pears, and a pumpkin-caramel sauce. carrien sent me the recipe a while back when we had just gotten apples and pears in our organic foodbox, and as we still had them, and i finally wasn't closeted in studio, it got made. it was a relief to cook again, and wonderful to use my santoku. i'm afraid i've been neglecting my wusthof chef's knife in favor of the wonderful balance of my santoku. the wusthof is great for heavy-duty work, but i haven't had to do any lately. and the santoku just cuts through things as if they're butter. it's simply amazing. have i mentioned that i love my santoku? i really believe that i own the most beautiful knives in the world. or, at least, in the world of people i know. i bow down in awe of my knives. and hope that i won't cut myself with them, as i am wont to do from forgetting that i own sharp knives. no testing the edge on my finger for these babies.

we started off the evening coercing miriam and v to abandon their plans to go to grendel's, and come over to cook with us as we had food to cook - an unnaturally large "jewel yam" (more plump than anything else) and cauliflower. i had seen a disgustingly beautiful (if that makes any sense) photograph of a cauliflower gratin in my bouchon cookbook, and jumped at the opportunity to make something from it for the first time.

for dinner we ended up making the cauliflower gratin, the jewel yam with wilted greens, and pasta with fennel sausage in a tomato cream sauce that was essentially a vodka sauce. both the yam and the cauliflower had curry powder in them and i added some to the pasta sauce too, along with some cumin, billington's dark brown sugar, and balsamic vinegar to take away the awful canned blandness of the crushed tomatoes we had in the pantry. that's the last time i use that brand of tomatoes (the green can)... all of it turned out quite well, though, and got put together in a reasonable amount of time. the gratin was suspiciously easy to make, although probably more involved than the typical gratin - the cream segment of the recipe was onions sauteed with finely chopped cauliflower stems, cooked with the herbs (supposed to be bay leaves and thyme, but all star had was tarragon), curry powder and cream. not hard to do, though, just longer. you mix that with blanched cauliflower, top it with cheese and bread crumbs, and pop it in the oven until it looks done. it was quite good (thank you thomas keller), if very rich from all the cream. i think i liked the tarragon more than i would have liked thyme. and of course we ate the whole thing. we had some red wine with dinner (markko cabernet sauvignon, 1999, which is best with food) as well.

i made the trifle while we watched a few good men. the first part is a cinnamon pastry cream - typical preparation, with a bit more flour than i would have liked. it thickened up remarkably quickly, unlike the last time i made pastry cream, probably because of increased egg yolks. next was a pumpkin caramel sauce, which starts with butter and sugar, eventually lots of cream when the mixture caramelizes, and then canned pumpkin at the end of all that. i ended up doubling the recipe because one reviewer recommended it as an ice cream topping - the one constant in our fridge is invariably ice cream. you might wonder how my body handles the cholesterol bombardment, and i can't give you an answer. you would think that my arteries are about to be completely clogged, but my cholesterol was normal when it last got measured. strange. the trifle gets finished off with roasted apples and pears. i hadn't realized that they would release so much liquid, so i was a bit disappointed with that - i would prefer firmer fruit still with the roasted flavor (guess that's a bit of the oxymoron). but all together (all of the above plus ladyfinger soaked in the tokay i opened yesterday - royal tokaji, 1996, 5 puttonyos) it was quite good. and very autumnal. and now we have breakfast for tomorrow!

autumn trifle with roasted apples, pears, and pumpkin-caramel sauce
cinnamon pastry cream
6 large egg yolks
2 cups whole milk
3/4 cup sugar
1/2 cup cake flour
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
2 tablespoons unsalted butter

pumpkin-caramel sauce
1/4 cup (1/2 stick) unsalted butter
1/2 cup sugar
1 cup heavy whipping cream
1/2 cup canned pure pumpkin

roasted fruit
3 large Fuji apples, peeled, cored, cut into 1/2-inch cubes (about 4 cups)
3 Bosc pears, peeled, cored, cut into 1/2-inch cubes (about 3 cups)
2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
2 tablespoons unsalted butter, cut into 1/2-inch cubes

assembly
3 1/2 dozen (about) soft ladyfingers
1/3 cup dry Sherry
2 cups chilled whipping cream
2 tablespoons sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
8 1/8-inch-thick slices Bosc pear
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice

1. for cinnamon pastry cream: whisk yolks and 1/2 cup milk in large bowl. add sugar, flour, vanilla, and cinnamon. whisk until sugar dissolves. bring 1 1/2 cups milk to simmer in heavy medium saucepan over medium heat. gradually whisk milk into yolk mixture. return mixture to same saucepan. cook until custard thickens and boils, stirring constantly, about 2 minutes. transfer to medium bowl. add butter and stir until melted. press plastic wrap directly onto surface. chill until cold, about 2 hours.

2. for pumpkin-caramel sauce: melt butter in heavy small saucepan over medium heat. add sugar and cook until mixture is deep amber, stirring constantly, about 8 minutes (mixture will be grainy). reduce heat to medium-low. add cream (mixture will bubble). stir until caramel bits dissolve, about 2 minutes. add pumpkin; stir until heated. refrigerate until cold, about 2 hours.

3. for roasted fruit: preheat oven to 400F. mix apples, pears, and lemon juice in large bowl. place butter on rimmed baking sheet. heat in oven until butter melts and begins to brown, about 5 minutes. add fruit to baking sheet and toss with butter. roast until fruit is soft and golden, turning with metal spatula every 15 minutes, about 1 hour. cool fruit on sheet.

4. for assembly: place ladyfingers, flat side up, on baking sheet. brush with sherry. line bottom of 2- or 3-quart glass trifle dish with single layer of ladyfingers, sherry side up. line bottom edge with 1 row of ladyfingers, sherry side in, pressing gently against dish. spoon half of pastry cream into lined dish; smooth top. cover with half of fruit. drizzle with 1/2 cup caramel sauce. line edge of dish with second row of ladyfingers, sherry side in. cover fruit with single layer of ladyfingers. spoon remaining pastry cream on top. cover with remaining fruit. drizzle fruit with 1/2 cup caramel sauce. line edge of dish with third row of ladyfingers, sherry side in. chill at least 6 hours.

5. whip cream, sugar, and vanilla in bowl until mixture holds peaks. fill pastry bag fitted with large rosette tip with whipped cream and pipe over trifle (or spoon whipped cream on top of trfile). drizzle whipped cream with 2 tablespoons caramel sauce. brush pear slices with lemon juice; arrange decoratively atop whipped cream.

[makes 12 servings]