Receta Julia Child's Favorite Brownies
Karen Polle rode "With Wings" to victory at the Hampton Classic Grand Prix
18 Year Old Victoria Colvin won our hearts!
Last Sunday’s Grand Prix Day at the
Hampton Classic was its 40th Anniversary. What started out as a
truly local event has now become a major stop on the Equestrian circuit. Participation can affect Olympic status for
the riders. Horses come from all over
the world. This year, there was horse
and rider from Argentina and the winner of the $250,000 Grand Prix was Karen
Polle, a Japanese citizen riding a Japanese horse called “With Wings”. And of special interest to us was a very
winning young rider named Victoria Colvin.
18 year old Victoria rode more than one dozen horses in the show. On it’s last day before the Classic, Victoria
won first, second, fourth and fifth places in the Hermes Junior /Amateur-Owner
Hunter Classic. Just before that she
took home the championship ribbon in the East Coast Young Jumper Championship
for 7 Year Olds. Her horse was Austria
2, owned by Take The High Road LLC of New Jersey. And why was she our personal favorite?
Because she stayed at our house while pursuing her Hamptons Classic
ribbons. Well done, Victoria. But Grand Prix Day isn’t just about the
horses. Not by a long shot.
Jim and Michael with the perennially beautiful
Barbara "B." Smith
Andrew
and I feel so fortunate to be invited to the Big Event by the deans of
Hampton’s florists and our dear friends Michael Grim and Jim Osburn. If they
look familiar, it may be that you know them through their multiple appearances
on Ina Garten’s wildly popular “Barefoot Contessa” cooking series on the Food
Network. What Ina is to food, Michael
and Jim are to flowers. Their handiwork
is everywhere at the Classic. They
create fantasy table settings for the Grand Prix tents and some very bold-faced
names. Think billionaire former Mayors
for one. They even decorate the jumps
for corporate clients. And then they
turn their imaginations to their own table under the big tent.
This
year, they ran with the 40th Anniversary theme and took it over the
top. Having been at the Classic
virtually from the beginning, and being inveterate photographers, they gathered
together images of Classics past and transferred these images to white
tablecloths. People, some of whom are
sadly missed and many of whom stopped by to see themselves(!), gazed out from
under glass plates. Those pictures that
weren’t Andrew and I on the tablecloth
on the tablecloth peered out of plexiglass frames that ran down the
center of the table along with pink orchids cut for the occasion. The food was all catered by our go-to take out
purveyor, Loaves and Fishes. Lobster and
steak salads joined the greenest peas on earth and our local Rosé flowed
freely. Then came Andrew’s annual
parade of phenomenal confections.
Placed at the end of the table, they are so well-known and well-liked
that a steady stream of friends stopped by to sample Andrew’s handiwork.
Before
we get to the recipes, I thought you might like a glimpse of the star power
that peoples Sunday’s Grand Prix. It
really is the culmination of the season out here and you see practically
everyone you’ve heard were here this summer
but not laid eyes on. And oh what your
eyes see. The Outfits! The Hats!
The Jewellry! The rich, the
famous, the infamous and the awful all parade past you in an unmatched
event. See what we mean?
The inimitable Joy Marks who
changes outfits midway through the EventKatie Couric and Brooke ShieldsKatie Couric and husband, John MolnerMarla Maples, the 2nd Mrs. Donald Trump
and Jason Binn, Publisher of Hamptons Magazine.Matt and Annette LauerFormer Mayor Michael Bloomberg and Grandson, JasperOne of the jumps created by The Bridgehampton FloristYet another table by The Bridgehampton Florist
Joy Marks, in vintage Pucci, stopped by with her husband Alan
to see herself on The Bridgehampton Florist's table topping.
Every
year, Andrew outdoes himself with his sweets.
This year, in honor of the Anniversary, he went back into the vaults and
presented two of his (and your) all-time favorites: Butterscotch Brownies and Chocolate Chip
Cookies. These two recipes have appeared
here before. Follow these links and
entry this year was for a Brownie, so dense and chocolate-y it takes the prize
for best Brownie ever. The recipe came
from Dorie Greenspan’s “Baking: From My Home to Yours” (Houghton Mifflin
2006). But talk about provenance! A Boston-based pastry chef named Rick Katz
was laboring away helping Julia Child to produce the recipes for the “Baking
with Julia” TV series and its accompanying book. There were 26 chefs involved but somehow
Rick Katz managed to produce extra sweets,
these brownies among them. They are very
dark, very fudgy and made in away that Dorie Greenspan had never seen a brownie
made before. Half the eggs and sugar
are mixed in with the chocolate while the other half are beaten until they
double in volume. That gives you a
brownie that is light as a sponge.
“Whipping the eggs”, Dorie writes, “creates the surprisingly creamy,
soft and definitively fudgy texture.
Here is the recipe”
Recipe for Rick Katz’s Brownies for Julia Child
Makes 18 1-1/2 X 3 inch Brownies.
2
- sticks (8 ounces) unsalted butter, cut into 16 pieces
- 4
- ounces unsweetened chocolate, coarsely chopped
- 2
- ounces bittersweet chocolate, coarsely chopped
- 1
- teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1. Getting
ready: Center a rack in the oven and preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Put a
9-inch square baking pan (Pyrex is good for this) on a baking sheet.
2. Whisk
the flour and salt together.
3. Set
a heatproof bowl over a saucepan of gently simmering water, put the butter in
the bowl and top with the chopped chocolate.
4. Stir frequently until the
ingredients are just melted — you don’t want them to get so hot that the butter
separates. Add 1 cup of the sugar and whisk gently just to incorporate it, then
remove the bowl from the pan of water. Stir in the vanilla and transfer the
warm chocolate to a large bowl.
5. Put
the remaining 1 cup sugar into the bowl of a stand mixer or a medium bowl and,
using a whisk, stir in the eggs. Stir the eggs and sugar together until they are a pale lemon color.
6. Switch to a rubber spatula and, little by
little, add one half of the sugar-egg mixture to the warm chocolate, stirring
very gently but without stopping — you don’t want the heat of the chocolate to
cook the eggs.
7. With
the whisk attachment or with a hand mixer, beat the remaining sugar and eggs on
medium-high speed for about 3 minutes, or until they double in volume.
8. Using
the spatula and a light touch, fold the whipped eggs into the chocolate
mixture, stopping just short of blending them in completely.
9. Sprinkle the dry
ingredients over the batter and delicately fold them in, working only until
they disappear. Scrape the batter into the pan and smooth the top with the
spatula.
10. Bake
for 25 to 28 minutes, or until the top looks dry. Poke a thin knife into the
center and take a peek: the brownies should be only just set and still pretty
gooey. Transfer the pan to a rack and cool to room temperature.
The
brownies are fragile and best cut in the pan. Cut eighteen 1 1/2-x-3-inch bars.
Serving:
Because these are so intensely chocolaty, they are particularly good with
espresso.
Storing:
These will keep for 2 days at room temperature — cut what you need and keep the
remainder covered tightly with plastic wrap. To freeze for up to 2 months, wrap
the brownies airtight.