Braised Pork with Caramelized Leeks and Apple Cider

I successfully braised pulled pork! Braising Pork with Caramelized Leeks and Apple Cider using the linked recipe and selecting the proper cut of pork i.e. something fatty like pork butt results in succulent, tender falling apart pork. It easily could been shredded more but I was happy to leave it in the form it fell into when I removed the excess fat since the mixed textures appealed to me. 

The sauce has a hint of sweetness and is super rich thanks to the deeply caramelized onions and leeks. Seeing how all the liquid I was supposed to cook down was gone when I took off the Dutch Oven's lid my onions and leeks may have over browned but it was easy to fix. I just added some extra apple cider to deglaze the pan and then cooked the mixture down. Nothing tasted burnt so I was golden.

I ate the pork and its sauce over mashed celeriac. The celeriac provided an intense, very vegetable flavor that was a refreshing contrast with the meat. To create the mash I peeled the celeriac, boiled it, drained it reserving some of the water, and then mashed it up with the reserved water, salt, pepper and half and half until the taste and texture suited me.

To make this healthier, I recommend making it one day ahead and letting the sauce chill overnight in the fridge. That way you can remove a lot of the unnecessary fat; mine had spoonfuls that I could scoop off the top. Yuck. I'll probably make this pulled pork, or another variation, again though not just for myself as it is too much rich meat to eat alone.

Tiramisu from Scratch, the most challenging Daring Baker's Challenge to date

The February 2010 Daring Bakers’ challenge was hosted by Aparna of My Diverse Kitchen and Deeba of Passionate About Baking. They chose Tiramisu as the challenge for the month. Their challenge recipe is based on recipes from The Washington Post, Cordon Bleu at Home and Baking Obsession and it was the most challenging yet. Everything we did was new to me! I successfully accomplished 3.5 out of 4 things, which isn't so bad. As usual a full recap and pictures are below.

After reading the trials and tribulations of other Daring Bakers with the Marscapone I thought I was in trouble late last Friday night but I skipped the double boiler and didn't have any issues beyond finishing it at 11:30 p.m. The next morning I made the Zabaglione in a makeshift double boiler substituting Bailey's, as I'm obsessed with it and already had it on hand, for the Marsala/Port Wine. To my surprise this was incredibly simple. I expected a disaster like the chocolate "soup" that developed when I attempted Malted Chocolate Pudding last year. Instead it gelled and was smooth, delicious and boozy; the pan was licked. The Pastry Cream was more work but also felt suspiciously easy and tasted delicious.

I placed both items in the fridge to chill and went out to enjoy the beautiful (almost 40 degrees Fahrenheit) Saturday feeling confident about making the Savoiardi Biscuits before dinner that night. I figured if I could handle Macarons I should be able to tackle the Biscuits no problem. I was so wrong. I suspect it was my decision to mix the yolks with the flour mixture, then fold into the egg whites instead of mixing yolks with whites, then the flour mixture as per the recipe but I won't know until I try again, which I will. The 12 not 36 biscuits weren't spongy and there weren't nearly enough to make Tiramisu.

Completely out of eggs and time, I headed to dinner and while drinking delicious cocktails like a Mango-Cinnamon Margarita, enjoying great company and eating good but uneven food at Poco decided make the rest of the "Tiramisu" with homemade "Oreo" wafers. A vicious hangover and laziness waylaid my progress until Sunday around 9 p.m. when I made the aforementioned cookies, stole some creme brulee coffee from my roommate (Sorry, Tracey!), brewed it extra strong in the microwave, mixed it with 4 shots of Starbucks espresso and the sugar, made whipped cream (Twice...because naturally I overbeat it the first time) and proceeded to follow the recipe to compile the "Tiramisu."

I use quotes because I've got to tell you I don't think my Tiramsiu was remotely authentic. It started so well and then sigh. However I liked my adapted version of boozy decadence with the dipped and layered "Oreo" cookies just fine.


Recipes:
Vera’s Recipe (Baking Obsession) for Homemade Mascarpone Cheese.
Savoiardi/ Ladyfinger Biscuits from Cordon Bleu At Home
Carminantonio's Tiramisu from The Washington Post, July 11 2007

 

Makeshift Double Boiler for the Zabaglione

  

Attempted Savoiardi Biscuits

DELICIOUSNESS (Pastry Cream at the top, Marscapone in the middle and Zabaglione at the bottom)

Luscious Whipped Cream Mixture

The Final Result

Salmon in Sesame-Mustard Marinade and Spiced Sweet Potatoes and Apples

I concocted a sesame-mustard marinade and used it on salmon last week combining it with spiced sauteed sweet potatoes and apples and baby spinach for a full meal. The cooked salmon ends up moist and flaky with a tangy flavor thanks to the mustard and apple cider vinegar, a hint of sweetness from the cooked onions and a little decadence from the sesame oil's richness.

It was perfect over a bed of plain baby spinach, which didn't need dressing thanks to the marinade. I just scooped up a leaf or two with each bite. Inspired by the sesame oil I spiced the sweet potatoes and apples prominently with Five Spice Seasoning, which is very pungent with what I assume is star anise. If you don't like hints of licorice skip this stuff. I found it nice in combination with the salmon but definitely won't be using it a lot. Unique flavors are good, licorice can be tasty and yet I'm just not that into it.

If you try this, my only caveat is make the amount of salmon you want to eat. It did not reheat very well for lunch the next day!

Salmon with Sesame-Mustard Marinade
Inspired by this Mustard, Onion, and Maple Salad Dressing Recipe

Ingredients
10-12 oz. Salmon (Ideally Wild Alaskan or like; I used frozen from Trader Joe's and defrosted it.)
.5 tbsp Sesame Oil
2 tbsp Olive Oil
1.5 tbsp Dijon Mustard
3 tbsp Apple Cider Vinegar
1/2 Red Onion, diced

Directions
Combine the above ingredients, except the salmon in a small bowl, whisking to combine. Place the marinade and salmon in a ziplock bag or container. Let marinate for 20-30 minutes, occasionally flipping/moving around in the marinade to make sure the salmon soaks it up all over, while preheating the oven to 425 degrees. Pour the salmon and marinade into an oven-proof pan and cook for approximately 15 minutes or until flaky.

Spiced Sweet Potatoes and Apples

Ingredients
2 apples, peeled, cored and cubed
2 sweet potatoes, peeled and cubed
Chinese Five Spice Powder
Cinnamon
Salt

Olive Oil (and the tiniest sliver of butter if you'd like)
Water

Directions (Rough Ones)
Peel and cube the sweet potatoes. Heat the pan (with a lid) over medium-high heat once hot add a bit of oil and a tablespoon of water. Add the sweet potatoes sprinkle on salt, cinnamon and five spice powder. Flip so they are all coated in the olive oil/water combo and cover for 3-4 minutes. Peel and cube the apples. Remove the lid from the pan add a touch more of everything and saute for another 3-4 minutes. Eat.

Apple Cider Cupcakes/Mupcakes with Caramel Buttercream

Last Saturday night I felt super ambitious and decided to adapt not one but two cupcake recipes to make Apple Cider Cupcakes. Because I really needed that many cupcakes. It took a couple days and a little effort to give them away but the cupcakes are all gone at this point.

They, and kale chips, were the perfect accompaniment to viewing age inappropriate movies with friends, who I won't incriminate. Fortunately I had already seen High School Musical 1 and my taking on too much baking didn't make me miss out on anything new since I finished in time for the hilarious HSM 2. Next up is HSM 3 with either 17 Again or Grease. I'm so 28 going on 12 sometimes.

While both cupcakes were good, I felt like the Apple Cider "Mupcakes" (recipe below) were the clear winner: moist, light and not too sweet with delicious chunks of apple inside. They didn't even really need frosting though I certainly iced them with a Caramel Buttercream that I could, and did, eat by the spoonful.

The regular Apple Cider cupcakes, adapted from this recipe which I made last May, domed beautifully just like the original cupcakes with Bailey's. However, they didn't taste like apple cider and were a little dry and crumbly. Perhaps I should have balanced the ingredients differently. Maybe some other time.

Apple Cider Mupcakes i.e. Muffin-Cupcakes
(Adapted, as usual from the best cupcake recipe ever, Mango-Chile Cupcakes. Mupcakes coined by Leslie.)
Makes approximately 12 regular size cupcakes

Ingredients:
1 cup flour
3/4 cup sugar
6 tablespoons butter, at room temperature
2/3 cup 0% Fat Greek Yogurt
1/3 cup Apple Cider
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/8 tsp cinnamon
1 egg, at room temperature
1 apple, peeled and cubed

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350. Line or grease and flour 12 wells in a cupcake pan. In a large bowl, cream the butter and sugar. Add the egg, mix thoroughly. Add flour, baking powder, cinnamon, and salt to the butter mixture. Add the greek yogurt and apple cider to the rest of the batter and beat until well combined. Fold in apple. Fill each well 2/3 of the way full. Bake about 15 minutes or until a toothpick inserted the center of a cupcake comes out mostly clean. Cool briefly in the pan, then remove cupcakes to wire racks to cool completely before icing. Ice.

Caramel Buttercream

For the caramel buttercream, I made Chef Jane's caramel sauce, which is the easiest caramel I've ever made; it doesn't even require butter. While it cooled, I creamed a room temperature stick of butter. Then I added spoonfuls of caramel sauce, 1/2 cup portions of confectionery sugar and splashes of half and half to taste. The end result was rich but not overwhelming. I don't feel right posting Chef Jane's recipe but I will tell you this one is pretty similar. 

 Recipe 1 on the right (lighter ones) and Recipe 2 on the left

Baked Shrimp with Tomatoes and Feta

While researching Mezze I found this Baked Shrimp with Tomatoes and Feta recipe. It seemed like the perfect use for (some of) the excessively large pound of feta I purchased at Whole Foods, the frozen shrimp in my freezer from I don't even want to tell you when and the leftover parsley. But there weren't enough hours for me to throw it into the Mezze mix, so I left it for this past weekend. If you like these ingredients, I don't think you should wait a week to make it.

This dish is rich and tangy thanks to the tomato and feta, slightly sweet from the cooked onions and garlic and you can actually taste the dill's pungent flavor, though not the parsley. In combination the flavors make my taste buds perk up with each bite. I recommend not using pre-cooked shrimp or after 12 additional minutes of cooking time they'll shrivel into imperfect little pink lumps. Then again you could just mix them in after pulling the skillet out of the oven and let it rest 5-10 minutes so the shrimp heat up.

Yesterday as I packaged up the bits from my halved version with brown rice I was going to say it made only three servings not four. Then I had a portion for lunch and was perfectly full with less than 2 cups of the Baked Shrimp with Tomatoes and Feta over Rice. The half bag of Butterscotch candies I consumed may have have helped with that sensation though so who knows? Either way I know I'll make this recipe again.

Mezze with Homemade Pita, Hummus and More

Happy Valentine's Day! ♥

The 2010 February Daring Bakers challenge was hosted by Michele of Veggie Num Nums. Michele chose to challenge everyone to make mezze based on various recipes from Claudia Roden, Jeffrey Alford and Naomi Dugid. You can download a PDF with the challenge details and other helpful information here. Michele really did her research and provided lots of optional recipes in addition to the required homemade pita and hummus. Thanks so much for your hard work, Michele!

This challenge was nice as you could do the minimum or get really creative and it could be done in advance for leisurely entertaining. Of course, I didn't plan correctly and there was nothing leisurely about my experience. I started at 4 p.m. Saturday before last and didn't finish until 8:30 p.m. I mean why would I want to spread the work out over several days when I could exhaust myself cramming it into one action packed night? :) Thank goodness Jeff allowed me to change plans and came to me. I'm not sure what I would have done with all the food without him. 16 pitas for one girl?! Even with his help, I was able to take leftovers to a Superbowl party Sunday, eat them all week and STILL have 3 pitas left as of tonight (2/13).

My pitas were mostly pocket-less. Those with pockets were significantly lighter and more enjoyable, even though the others still tasted good. I'm not sure why so few puffed. I used the same methodology throughout but it must be some technicality. I will definitely try pitas again with a quarter or half of the recipe. I have a feeling getting the pitas to puff takes practice. Do any other Daring Cooks have tips? If so, please share them!

As for the hummus, it was a bit raw for my taste between all the lemon juice and the garlic's bite. The hummus also needed more extra liquid than in past recipes. I love making my own hummus but I'll probably stick to the basic recipe I have scrawled in a notebook somewhere in my room or this AMAZING cilantro-lime hummus.

The provided Cucumber Raita recipe was enjoyable; I always had wondered what went into it. I'm certain I'll revisit it perhaps amping up the cumin since I love it so much. Cumin is about to be my first non-baking related spice to have ever used up, which seems like a milestone in the kitchen.

I also served cubed feta, a simple salad with roasted beets and a pearl barley salad loosely inspired by this complicated and wonderful Eggplant Barley Salad. The roasted beets were very fresh and bright with the zest of one lemon, juice of half a lemon and fresh parsley; I thought of this simple recipe when I threw them together. For the pearl barley salad, totally trying to remember now as I was lazy and didn't outline promptly, I cooked the pearl barley and set it aside to cool. While it was cooling, I sauteed ground lamb in water, then set it aside to drain. Next I added onions, cumin and coriander to the same pan and sauteed until the onions were translucent. Finally I combined everything together with some freshly chopped parsley, quartered and seeded cherry tomatoes and, when I realized I omitted salt, some crumbled feta to compensate. It could use some work but it wasn't a bad variation and it took a LOT less time.

As for the three leftover pitas? They are so going in the freezer for the moment. Don't get me wrong. It was a great, tasty challenge but I have mezze fatigue. I'm certain I'll be back to them sooner rather than later though as they are fun to put together and make a healthy, portable meal.

 

  

  

Why I felt the need to put silverware in everything is beyond me since, hello, the joy of mezze is scooping up food with the pita and eating with your hands.

Kale Chips

I'm with April; Kale Chips taste awesome and are amazingly nutritious. They are even easier than my usual method of dealing with kale: cooking it down in liquid until it is barely recognizable. And this way the kale ends up with a visually appealing tie-dyed appearance.

The chips are salty, crunchy and an excellent replacement for potato chips. I can see why Cathy of Not Eating Out in New York, whose recipe I used, garnished soup with them. Perhaps I'll do that next time but this time I just enjoyed them on their own.

Rouge Tomate

Last Monday I joined Meg and Lara at Rouge Tomate to partake in Restaurant Week, which offers a prix fixe three-course menu with two or three choices per course at some of the city's best restaurants.Rouge Tomate has a warm, modern appearance -- very airy with lots of wood, vases of apples lining the walls and red uplighting.

As per their Web site, the restaurant is the first to fully comply to Sanitas Per Escam (Health Through Food), a nutritional charter developed by chefs and dietitians that focuses on providing optimal nutrition with optimal taste. Healthy cooking that tastes as good as theirs is definitely something to aspire to (how I would love to spend some time in that kitchen!); every dish features complex flavors that unfold as you eat.

Unfortunately the service was less than stellar. Usually with Restaurant Week the restaurant pushes you to finish quickly. Our experience at Rouge Tomate was the polar opposite; we had a leisurely meal that lasted 2+ hours. We sat for 30 minutes before our order was even taken. From that point forward, the table was bussed efficiently and water refilled but each course took a long time to come out. Needless to say, we were ready to go by the time the check reached us. But let's go back to the food.

Currently each table is started with a super smooth spinach-almond butter and a plate of subtly jalapeño spiced whole wheat bread as well as more traditional sourdough. The chef also sent out an amuse-bouche of rutabaga soup with apples, which was rich and warm with the spicy vegetal flavor of rutabaga. If the apples had retained a bit of their crunch I think the soup would have benefited. 

My appetizer was Tombo Tuna Poke with Asian Pear, Watermelon Radish, Oyster Mushroom and Sesame; from what I can tell a tuna poke is like tuna tartare without the carefully molded shape. It's a light appetizer where the tuna's silky texture contrasts nicely with the sesame seed, pear and radishes crunch. The pear's sweetness and radish's bite helped cut the heaviness that sesame oil can sometimes impart.

I couldn't reach Lara's Cranberry Bean Soup with Chorizo to taste it, but I did taste Meg's Chickpea Hummus with Roasted Peppers, Olive, Sesame and Flat Bread Crisps. The hummus was very smooth, though perhaps a touch oversalted, and the artfully arranged toppings allowed you to make each bite taste different. The flat bread was almost Zatar-like with an intense blend of spices that easily overwhelmed the hummus.

Lara and I both ordered the Atlantic Hake Fish with Winter Bean Stew, Fennel, Lacinato Kale and Provençal Oil for our main course. The fish was melt-in-your-mouth flaky perfection complimented nicely by the stew's beans, which broke up the smoothness of the fish and provençal (french olive) oil. Meg ordered the Cauliflower Risotto with Heirloom Cauliflower, Parmesan, Garlic, Lemon Confit. It was tasty but overwhelming as a main course with its tangy flavor that left the mouth dry like drinking a dry red wine.

To cleanse our palates, the Chef sent out kiwi sorbet. It was creamy, pale, free of seeds and had a crisp apple-like finish that left me refreshed and ready for dessert. I enjoyed the Market Apple Rosemary Shortcake with Golden Raisins and Buttermilk-Lemon Ice Cream. The buttery caramel sauce surrounding the shortcake and the apple balanced out the very rosemary dense shortcake well, but the tangy, sweet buttermilk-lemon ice cream was my favorite part. It was the perfect finish - sweet without being too much.

We also had amazing, innovative cocktails ($12 each). Meg and Lara enjoyed the Pear Crisp (Ten Cane Rum, White Pear Purée, Fresh Vanilla, Lemon, topped with Prossecco), which tasted crisp (obviously) and sweet almost like Apple Jacks. I had the Queen's Cup (Pimm’s, Cucumber purée, Mint, Lemon Juice), which was light and relaxing after a long day. I would love to go back and try some of the others; they had a whole section devoted to non-alcoholic cocktails as well since Rouge Tomate also has a juice bar.

If you have patience for the service and a penchant for fairly healthy creative food, I would recommend Rouge Tomate.

Location: 10 East 60th Street (Between Fifth and Madison Avenues)
Hours: Mon-Sat 12-3,  5:30-10:30
Cost: $$$

I know these photos aren't great but I don't like intruding on other people's dining experience with my camera's flash. These were taken using my camera's highest ISO setting to give an impression of the presentation.

 

Caper-Pea Risotto with a hint of Mint

Friday Britt, one of my oldest friends, came up to visit for the weekend. Since his train from Phillie arrived on the later side and he wanted to chill out with wine anyway, I made dinner.

I had been contemplating something mixing capers and peas since December but am always slow to attempt "original" recipes. The risk of wasting ingredients on something potentially inedible isn't appealing to me, especially not when cooking for other people, but I knew as a Southern gentleman that Britt would be kind regardless of the result.

I adapted the below recipe for risotto from Sally Schneider's A New Way To Cook (thanks for the book again Jaime!) to include capers, peas and mint. It was a successful risotto in my opinion, although I may play with the proportions in the future. The capers' tanginess does a good job balancing out the peas' sweetness while cutting the risotto's creaminess and the mint makes it all taste fresh and bright.

Simple Risotto

Ingredients
5-6 cups rich broth (mine wasn't so rich, I used Trader's Joes Free-Range Chicken Broth)
2 tsp unsalted butter
1 tsp extra-virgin olive oil
1/4 cup finely chopped shallots or onions (I used onions)
1 1/2 cups of arborio rice (or any Italian rice for risotto)
1/2 cup dry white wine
1 1/2 tbsns sour cream (I used Trader Joe's 0% Greek-Style Yogurt)
1/2 cup freshly grated aged cheese (I used parmesean reggiano)
Kosher salt and black pepper
1 cup frozen peas
1/4 cup capers (I used the kind in vinegar as that is what Key Foods had)
2 tbsp mint chiffonade

Directions
1. In a medium saucepan, bring the broth to a boil over high heat; lower the heat to maintain at a simmer. (I always skip this and it seems fine, so eh.)
2. In a large heavy saucepan, melt the butter with the olive oil over low heat. Add the shallots, cover, and cook, stirring occasionally, until translucent, about 4 minutes. Uncover, increase the heat to moderate, and cook, stirring until the shallots are golden. Add the rice and cook, stirring constantly, until the grains look chalky with a white dot in the center of each, about 5 minutes. (Do not allow the rice to brown.)
3. Add the wine and cook, stirring, until it has been absorbed by the rice. Stir in 1/2 cup of the broth. Cook at a very low boil, stirring frequently, until almost all of the liquid is absorbed, 3-5 minutes. Continue adding the broth in this fashion, a 1/2 cup at a time, cooking and stirring until the grains of rice are tender yet still firm in the center and the risotto is creamy but not soupy, about 25 minutes.
*I added the peas, capers and mint after the last 1/2 cup of broth had reduced about halfway.
4. Remove the saucepan from the heat and stir in the sour cream and 1/4 cup of the cheese, and season with salt and pepper. If you wish to add herbs, stir them into the risotto. You can stir any other embellishments into the risotto or spoon some-ragus, for example-right in the center of each serving. Serve at once, passing the remaining 1/4 cup of cheese on the side.

(Yes, I needed something else on that plate but I didn't have anything on hand to make a small salad. Or perhaps I should have made a bigger pool of risotto and stuck the chicken on top. Either way at least it tasted good.)

Toasted Coconut Shortbread

I love butter and sugar but shortbread overwhelms me. It tastes good, especially my friend Meg's version, but it sits heavy on my palate, crumbles on my clothes and is mysteriously thick. Don't get me wrong I eat it up like all other desserts. It just has never been my favorite.

This weekend Courtney and Kimberly came over for a baking project. Having narrowed down the desired ingredient to coconut I sent four possible recipes from my bookmarks and these toasted coconut shortbread cookies were chosen. I was wary but this shortbread recipe caused none of my usual complaints. I demolished the cookies I hadn't sent home with them and Britt in a snap.

These cookies are light and crisp yet retain all of the sweet, buttery taste of shortbread. The coconut brings a slightly nutty flavor, but would need to be amped up in the future for me to consider them truly a coconut dessert. If you enjoy shortbread, or perhaps even if you aren't sure, I think these are an excellent choice.

Thanks to my fantastic co-bakers, Courtney, Kimberly and Britt, for their creative cookie cutting (a ski helmet, ski boots, skis, a brontosaurus, a whale, a dachshund, etc.) and for doing most of the work. :)

 

Nanaimo Bars and Graham Crackers

The January 2010 Daring Bakers’ challenge was hosted by Lauren of Celiac Teen. Lauren chose Gluten-Free Graham Wafers and Nanaimo Bars (in honor of the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver) as the challenge for the month. The sources she based her recipe on are 101 Cookbooks and http://www.nanaimo.ca/. As I don't have dietary restrictions and am on a budget, I did not make the gluten-free graham wafers. You can find a PDF of the information we received (and the recipes) here.

This challenge provided me with a new dessert recipe and the experience of making crackers, which I'll talk about later, but more importantly it reminded me of/made me more aware of the challenges faced by those living with Celiac disease. For Lauren to eat these bars, that she once could pick up at almost any grocery store in Canada, she had to create a recipe to make gluten-free graham crackers and now has to make the crackers and the bars using them in the base every time. As you can see from her blog she handles the challenge her illness provides with grace (and probably eats better than most of us) but is is not something I can imagine dealing with...after all I can't even get myself to eat less sweets, my eternal goal. 

I made this month's challenge in Vika and Rafe's well equipped kitchen Sunday while listening to the Jets game, visiting and taking full advantage of Vika's help and her digital SLR/photography skills. It took about 5 hours, including rest times, to complete both aspects of the challenge. I suspect if my original graham cracker dough hadn't been so dry and crumbly it would have been quicker as my paralyzing fear of failure wouldn't have kicked in and dragged things out. 

I ended up putting the first batch of graham cracker dough in the oven figuring it didn't matter if it was a crumbled, rolled out mess since I was trying to create crumbs. After a consultation with Mom, Vika fixed up the second half of the dough using 3 teaspoons of milk. It made all the difference in the world as you can see below. Both sets of graham crackers were delicious though I was shocked by how sweet a mere 1/3 c. of honey could make them. When I make these in the future, I will definitely continue to leave off the cinnamon-sugar topping as they don't need added sugar. 

The bar portion of the challenge was a breeze in comparision to the graham crackers. My only changes to the Nanaimo bar recipe were substituting vanilla Jello pudding mix for the Bird's custard powder and using at least a half cup less of confectionary sugar for the filling. I cut the nanaimo bars into 1" x 1" cubes as they were so rich. Yet I keep eating them in multiples as they are so delicious so perhaps I could have cut them bigger. I love the creamy buttercream filling's contrast with the crunchy graham cracker-coconut-almond-chocolate base. 

Per Lauren these bars freeze well. I hope that is true as I had to put the remaining bits in the freezer to stop myself from eating them. Fingers crossed on that working. I'd recommend making these and you could even cheat to make the whole process easier by purchasing store bought graham crackers (though I think making them on your own is definitely worth a try). Thanks for a great challenge, Lauren!

The finished bars!

Batter 1



 Batter 2 (Night and day, right?)

Base Layer

Buttercream!

Cutting the Finished Bars

Borscht

On of my best and oldest friend's, Vika, is Ukrainian and Russian and rumor has it her mom makes a mean borscht. I've tried her husband's attempt at mimicing Mrs. O's recipe and my memory of the borscht was one of violent pink, filling soup with a spicy flavor .

I hope one day to try the original or even Rafe's version again, but in meantime the farmer's market had amazing, huge healthy looking beets last week and the time had come to try making my own. Or, you know, someone else's found via the amazing food blog recipe search. This borscht is bright, warm and very healthy with a somewhat sweet, tangy flavor.

Since the recipe was in grams I made the following approximate conversions: 3.5 cups beets, 1 cup onions, 2 cups carrots, 2.5 cups of shredded cabbage, 1 quart vegetable stock and 2 cups of water. I added a touch of red pepper, cayenne probably, to make it spicier as per my memory and let it simmer way longer than 20 minutes as the beets just weren't getting softened to my taste. These adjustments worked well and next time I will use less shredded cabbage as I didn't enjoy its mushy texture.

One word of advice, which may seem obvious, when you grate the beet I advise putting the grater on a hard surface to stablize it and making the beet mobile. Otherwise, you could end up with a grated knuckle. It wasn't too horrifying though as really blood and beet juice look pretty similar. Isn't that reassuring?

Pork Satay with Peanut Sauce

The January 2010 DC challenge was hosted by Cuppy of Cuppylicious and she chose a delicious Thai-inspired recipe for Pork Satay from the book 1000 Recipes by Martha Day. Cuppy was a generous host, who allowed a lot of wiggle room to us Daring Cooks. The only required element for this challenge was marinating the chosen meat.

I used the faster (cheaper) marinade listed below, substituting lime juice for lemon as I had a lime handy, on pork butt. In keeping with all the advice I’ve heard pork butt, clearly an area that gets lots of exercise on the pig, was a cheap cut of meat ($2.99/lb at Whole Foods). It isn’t something I ever expected to cook but it turned out very tasty after nearly 24 hours of marinating and the broiling. The meat was extremely tender with a rich flavor spicy enough to leave my lips burning a touch. Though I’m not sure the tingling was the norm or if it was the result of my lips’ tenderness due to the cold.

The peanut sauce was really easy to make, especially since I used a 1-cup measuring cup and the microwave to make it happen. My low powered microwave, which won’t even pop popcorn really, took about 2.5 minutes of 30 second intervals followed by stirring to dissolve the peanut butter creating a creamy sauce. I wasn’t sure I would like the peanut sauce but I did. Peanut butter as one would expect from the name was the predominant flavor.

I served myself the satay on a bed of coconut rice, which neatly used up the other half of the 15 oz. can of light coconut milk, surrounded by blanched broccoli. I didn’t feel like the satay itself needed the sauce since it already had so much flavor, but it was delicious on my blanched broccoli (even if it didn’t look so appetizing). The coconut rice is very coconut and sticky by the way. I've hung onto that recipe for years.

The most exciting aspect of this project and my chosen sides was that had I done it in one night I think I could have completed everything at the same time without any issues, excluding the meat’s marinating time. I’ll be revisiting this to test that theory and because it was delicious and economical.

Pork Satay

Satay Marinade
1/2 small onion, chopped
2 garlic cloves, crushed
1 T ginger root, chopped (optional) (2 cm cubed)
2 T lemon juice (1 oz or 30 mls)
1 T soy sauce (0.5 oz or 15 mls)
1 tsp ground coriander (5 mls)
1 tsp ground cumin (5 mls)
1/2 tsp ground turmeric (2-2.5 mls)
2 T vegetable oil (or peanut or olive oil) (30 mls)
1 pound of pork (loin or shoulder cuts) (16 oz or 450g)

Feeling the need to make it more Thai? Try adding a dragon chili, an extra tablespoon of ginger root, and 1 tablespoon (0.5 oz or 15 mls) of fish sauce. (I keep some premature (still green) dragon chili peppers in the freezer for just such an occasion.)

Directions:
1a. Cheater alert: If you have a food processor or blender, dump in everything except the pork and blend until smooth. Lacking a food processor, I prefer to chop my onions, garlic and ginger really fine then mix it all together in a medium to large bowl.
2a. Cut pork into 1 inch strips.
3a. Cover pork with marinade. You can place the pork into a bowl, cover/seal and chill, or place the whole lot of it into a ziplock bag, seal and chill.

Faster (cheaper!) marinade:
2 T vegetable oil (or peanut or olive oil) (1 oz or 30 mls) (I used canola oil)
2 T lemon juice (1 oz or 30 mls) (like I said I used a lime)
1 T soy sauce (0.5 oz or 15 mls)
1 tsp ginger powder (5 mls)
1 tsp garlic powder (5 mls)
1 tsp cayenne pepper (5 mls)

Directions:
1b. Mix well.
2b. Cut pork into 1 inch thick strips (2-2.5 cm thick), any length.
3b. Cover pork with marinade. You can place the pork into a bowl, cover/seal and chill, or place the whole lot of it into a ziplock bag, seal and chill.
4. If using wooden or bamboo skewers, soak your skewers in warm water for at least 20 minutes before preparing skewers.
5. Gently and slowly slide meat strips onto skewers. Discard leftover marinade.*
6. Broil or grill at 290°C/550° F (or pan fry on medium-high) for 8-10 minutes or until the edges just start to char. Flip and cook another 8-10 minutes.

* If you’re grilling or broiling, you could definitely brush once with extra marinade when you flip the skewers.

Peanut Sauce
3/4 cup coconut milk (6 oz or 180 mls)
4 Tbsp peanut butter (2 oz or 60 mls)
1 Tbsp lemon juice (0.5 oz or 15 ml)  (I used lime again)
1 Tbsp soy sauce (0.5 oz or 15 mls)
1 tsp brown sugar (5 mls)
1/2 tsp ground cumin (2.5 mls)
1/2 tsp ground coriander (2.5 mls)
1-2 dried red chilies, chopped (keep the seeds for heat) (I used a little cayenne here too instead)

Directions:
1. Mix dry ingredients in a small bowl. Add soy sauce and lemon, mix well.
2. Over low heat, combine coconut milk, peanut butter and your soy-lemon-seasoning mix. Mix well, stir often.
3. All you’re doing is melting the peanut butter, so make your peanut sauce after you’ve made everything else in your meal, or make ahead of time and reheat.

Poached Pears

The past two weekends I have prepared poached pears for friends. Poached pears smell heavenly while simmering and require very little attention; two great qualities when you know other people will be waiting and you want to pay attention to them not the food.
If served right away, they are warm and melt in your mouth. The finished pears are firm yet yielding enough to consume without a knife and are best with a spoon to scoop up the syrup. They are simple, satisfying, in season (!) and stun everyone with the end result.

I reviewed numerous recipes, mostly referring to Meg’s Joy of Cooking before deciding to use the methodology and ingredients below.

Poached Pears
4 Servings

Ingredients
4 firm pears, peeled, halved cored, stems on and bottoms cut flat (I’ve used bosc or seckel with success.)
4 cups Water
3/4 cup Agave Syrup*
1 Tbsp Vanilla Bean Paste
4 Cloves
Cinnamon

Directions
1. Place water and agave syrup into a pan deep enough to fully immerse all 4 pear halves in the liquid. Add the vanilla bean paste and four cloves. Bring to a simmer.
2. While the liquid heats, peel the pears and slice them in half leaving the stems on. Cut the bottoms flat in case you want to stand them up. Scoop out the core with a melon baller.
3. Add pears to the liquid ensuring they are fully submerged so they don’t change color. Let simmer uncovered for 20 (or however many) minutes.
4. Remove pears from poaching liquid. Bring it to a boil to reduce to a stronger simple syrup.
5. Sprinkle pears with cinnamon. Spoon simple syrup over and savor.

*I’ve been using Agave Syrup as I have had it on hand from an awesome trip to Costco just before Christmas, but it can be replaced with 1 cup of regular sugar. The pears are bound to still taste delicious though they technically will spike your blood sugar more. It’s only a matter of time before I revert to sugar as my wholesale access to Agave Nectar is gone with my parents.

Everyday Red Lentil Dal Recipe

Over Christmas Mom was sick and working her usual erratic, demanding hours managing the Goochland Free Clinic's Dental program leaving Dad and I to fend for ourselves a bit. I saw she still was hoarding red lentil's from a trip to visit me in NYC very early in my tenure and decided to put them to use. Only I didn't have a recipe.

I didn't get creative, but with a bit of my usual internet sleuthing I found this Everyday Red Lentil Dal recipe, which I would probably eat every day given the option. We ate the slightly spicy, warm mixture with Stacy's Pita chips and a salad for dinner. I had it alone the next day for lunch and so on. It's super easy to put together, requires under an hour to prepare and is pretty much impossible to screw up. If you overcook the lentils this time no big deal as they are supposed to be mush anyway.  Delicious, healthy mush that is full of flavor.

I'm stoked that Leslie is making the original recipe with yellow split peas this weekend and some tasty sounding dips. It turns out I had bookmarked the original ages ago at Smitten Kitchen and when I sent Leslie ideas for this weekend's movie-meal plan it was her choice. Can't wait!

Braised Beef Chuck Roast

I'd rather not admit it, but my first big cooking project of the New Year was a bit a failure. The braised beef was/is edible but not delectable, which was a shame as it smelled heavenly slow cooking for 3.5 hours.
It probably has to do with the original recipe calling for a foil packet and bone-in chuck roast and my choice to use a dutch oven and tri tip roast.

But I really don't understand how that would cause the meat to be so dry and the sauce to be so thick. It isn't like there was a place for the liquid to evaporate and the meat did have some fat, even after I trimmed the silver skin and excess off it. This is me sighing and sulking and suffering through numerous meals of this nightly.

The sauce was sweeter than I would have liked so I won't revisit this particular recipe again, in spite of seeing that numerous people had success following the recipe and loved it. But I will braise again one day when I'm feeling like eating a lot of meat. Clearly not this is not something I will do for others until I fix my technique and find a recipe that is a winner for me.

I did enjoy the mashed rutabagas and potatoes, which looked like sunshine, and were delicious. I just boiled one peeled rutabaga (a new veggie for me!) with three medium peeled red potatoes for approximately 15 minutes, smashed everything together with a large serving spoon and, mixed in a little half and half, salt and pepper. Easy, satisfying and even somewhat nutritious since the rutabaga was in there and I didn't use butter. The simple salad (baby arugula, carrot strips and onion) was dressed with a honey-lemon-tarragon-olive oil dressing, not a vinaigrette as I forget the vinegar, and the dressing was a nice sweet contrast to the arugula.

I'll definitely revisit these thrown together super simple, side dishes. Happy 2010 y'all!

Merry Christmas! My First (and only?!) Gingerbread House

The December 2009 Daring Bakers’ challenge was brought to you by Anna of Very Small Anna and Y of Lemonpi. They chose to challenge Daring Bakers’ everywhere to bake and assemble a gingerbread house from scratch. They chose recipes from Good Housekeeping and from The Great Scandinavian Baking Book as the challenge recipes. Thanks to Anna and Y for hosting this month's truly challenging project! I chose to use Y's recipe (the second one) as all the ingredients were on hand at my parent's house.

As usual I started this challenge by thoroughly reading the trials and tribulations of other Daring Bakers' and putting myself in a slight panic. Thus my devotion to sorting two movie size packs of Nerds (Thanks to Jarrett for his help with this tedious task) and various other candies by color in preparation rather than moving forward with baking and construction.

My initial plan was to go Gaudi in honor of visiting Spain this year, but when I began rolling the gingerbread at 11 a.m. Christmas Eve that went out the window. Procrastination never wins. As expected from my reading the dough crumbled, but rolling it between wax paper sheets forced it back together and all was well. Or it was well until I carefully cut out the front, back and sides of the house using Martha Stewart's Snow Swept Gingerbread Cottage template and stuck them in the oven only to realize the template lacked a roof! Needless to say I was none to happy and concerned about the likely dough shortage.

Fortunately my Dad was able to create a roof template, there was just enough dough using the scraps and a roof was made. I opted to "glue" the house together with the simple syrup, which Mom kindly made, because it would be quicker. Simple syrup worked like a charm creating a VERY sturdy house, although once something is set crooked it is SET. Sigh. Also, it is pretty dangerous. I burnt my finger, the roof of my mouth (genius!) and got syrup in my hair. This was around the time when I informed Mom that I thought I preferred cooking to baking. :)

The decorative gluing and snow are royal icing, made using the linked recipe and a touch of maple extract to improve the flavor without making the snow look dirty.While tasty the icing was like cement, which is the ultimate goal but not the instant one. My hands are sore today but somehow it all worked out and I was able to present the lovely house below to my family at our annual Christmas Eve gathering at Mom's parents.

My house may not be exactly what I envisioned but it wasn't a bad first try. I haven't decided if I'll tackle this again but maybe by next year I'll have recovered and be up for the challenge again. Gingerbread Houses like those of my fellow Daring Baker's can be beautiful and come in all shapes and sizes. It's hard to fail.

Wishing you a very Merry Christmas (or whatever you celebrate/celebrated) to you and your loved ones! If something in this entry doesn't make sense, please forgive me. I got a migraine for Christmas, in addition to fun gifts, and it is killing me.

 The finished project!

 Detail Shot

 See? It was very sturdy. 

And I was very sticky.

Y's Recipe: Scandinavian Gingerbread (Pepparkakstuga)
from The Great Scandinavian Baking Book by Beatrice Ojakangas 

Ingredients
1 cup butter, room temperature [226g]
1 cup brown sugar, well packed [220g]
2 tablespoons cinnamon*
4 teaspoons ground ginger*
3 teaspoons ground cloves*
2 teaspoons baking soda*
½ cup boiling water
5 cups all-purpose flour [675g]

Directions
1. In a large bowl, cream the butter and sugar until blended. Add the cinnamon, ginger and cloves. Mix the baking soda with the boiling water and add to the dough along with the flour. Mix to make a stiff dough. If necessary add more water, a tablespoon at a time. Chill 2 hours or overnight.
2. Cut patterns for the house, making patterns for the roof, front walls, gabled walls, chimney and door out of cardboard.
3. Roll the dough out on a large, ungreased baking sheet and place the patterns on the dough. Mark off the various pieces with a knife, but leave the pieces in place.
4. [I rolled out the dough on a floured bench, roughly 1/8 inch thick (which allows for fact that the dough puffs a little when baked), cut required shapes and transferred these to the baking sheet. Any scraps I saved and rerolled at the end.]
5. Preheat the oven to 375'F (190'C). Bake for 12 to 15 minutes until the cookie dough feels firm. After baking, again place the pattern on top of the gingerbread and trim the shapes, cutting the edges with a straight-edged knife. Leave to cool on the baking sheet.

*After my reading I halved all of these items. The resulting gingerbread didn't puff up enough to distort and wasn't overly potent to eat. It was a very dry, slightly sweet gingerbread which balanced nicely with the sweets and icing used to decorate.

Simple Syrup

Ingredients
2 cups (400g) sugar

Directions
Place in a small saucepan and heat until just boiling and the sugar dissolves. Dredge or brush the edges of the pieces to glue them together. If the syrup crystallizes, remake it.

Mushroom Bourguignon

Smitten Kitchen's Mushroom Bourguignon is a hearty, visually appealing dish. I served it to Leslie and Danielle a few Sundays ago with a spinach, red onion and bosc pear salad topped with a homemade lemon-feta-bsalmic vinaigrette and the leftover red wine as a one course meal.

Mushroom Bourguignon smells heavenly when cooking and as long as you aren't fastidious about your dicing, which of course I was, it is low maintenance to make though not particularly quick. I don't think I have ever before enjoyed portabellos as much as I did in this preparation. They are so juicy, tender and thick that they resembled yet trumped any stewed meat I've consumed.

My only change to the recipe was using Trader Joe's Low Fat Greek-Style Yogurt instead of Sour Cream to top it. When I enjoyed the one leftover portion the following day, I skipped the yogurt entirely as I didn't find it to make a significate difference to my palate. The fresh parsley garnish, however, is as must have. It adds a light note to an otherwise rich dish.

This was my first time using the dutch oven I purchased back in August (there was a bit of time involved in getting it from Va to NYC but thanks to Val, Vika, Rafe, my limited arm muscle and the MTA Transit system it arrived to my apartment) and I'm as happy with it as I thought I would be. I can't wait to try out other recipes where I can take advantage of its stovetop to oven functionality. It will be perfect for winter.

Quinoa Salad With Lime Ginger Dressing and Shrimp

I've actually made this Quinoa Salad With Lime Ginger Dressing and Shrimp twice now, an honor few recipes experience. It is a very delicate, Asian-inspired salad that makes me feel very healthy and satisfied when I eat it. Quinoa's crunch plays well against the firm yet soft texture of the shrimp while the cucumber refreshes your palate.

The first time I prepared the recipe exactly as instructed but found the dressing too slick on my lips, a very professional taste test, so I (approximately) halved the canola oil this time. This adjustment left the salad dressed enough for my taste and removed the unpleasant post-consumption texture. Cutting canola oil didn't have a noticeable effect on the flavor. Thank God because otherwise I'd probably be telling you how sick this dish made me, instead of suggesting that you make it next time you want a light, quick meal that is easy to assemble after work.

Just keep in mind it is very light. I can barely get 3 meals out of it, much less the 4 described in the recipe. In the future I'll plan on it being 2 servings, instead of trying to squeeze out three and ending up starving at the vending machine at work.

Salmon en Croute

The 2009 Daring Cooks December challenge was hosted by Simone of Junglefrog Cooking. Simone chose Salmon en Croute (or alternative recipes for Beef Wellington or Vegetable en Croute) from Good Food Online. I'm glad she introduced me to this dish as Salmon en Croute is delicious, rich and relatively simple.

As usual it took me longer than the expected cooking time of 50 minutes to create thanks to pre-made puff pastry's unaccounted for thaw time and my relatively meticulous chopping of the red potatoes, bosc pears, carrots and onions I roasted to serve on the side. I'm pretty sure Rafe was ready to shoot me when we sat down to eat at 9:50 p.m. but I've also convinced myself that he, Vika and Demaris forgave me when they realized how tasty the creamy Salmon en Croute was.

I used watercress and spinach for the herb crepe and made the decorative cut outs by hand, which were pretty even if they didn't cover up the seam where the pastry shell joined together. Cooking salmon for 30 minutes made me skeptical, but it was very moist and flaky likely thanks to the puff pastry packet and herb crepe's protection.

Next time I make this, I will use smaller pieces of salmon and remember to reserve some of the herb mixture for a garnish because as you can see my salmon packets are oozing green goo (so not attractive). This would be a great dinner party dish accompanied by a fresh salad or something similar. Roasted vegetables went well but doing two things in the oven certainly didn't help with getting this to the table promptly.

 

Buttermilk Cookies with Lemon Zest and Lemon Glaze

These Buttermilk Cookies with Lemon Zest and Lemon Glaze are a reminder of the lightness and fun of summer, which is perfect as the bitter cold of winter has started here in NYC. They are petite, slightly sweet and full of citrus, especially if you choose to use a full lemon's zest and then add a tablespoon or so of fresh lemon juice to the glaze like I did. What? I didn't like the buttermilk-confectionery sugar glaze. It just tasted too much like sugar paste. The juice made the glaze lighter, more refreshing and the whole project less wasteful. Their texture is almost cake-like but slightly chewy.

I can tell you with confidence that no one minded all that lemon in the least. My co-worker, N, came back for seconds immediately and said they were amazing cookies and he is hard judge. Danielle said they were tasty, Jeff fully approved although he questioned my ability to cook as he always ends up testing sweets, and I ate, well, I don't want to tell you how many, but way too many of the 40 involved in the halved recipe Molly at Orangette provided on her blog adapted from the now closed Gourmet. These cookies make me feel like I really missed something with the whole Gourmet thing. Oh well. 

I can't wait to make these using grapefruit, much to most people's chagrin. I don't care. I'm doing it anyway (as soon as my self-imposed baking ban lifts). They will be delicious. An excellent lesson I learned about buttermilk this year, that enabled me to make these cookies on a whim to deal with dying lemons, is that you can freeze buttermilk! When defrosted and stirred it is as good as new.

Sesame-Garlic Soba Noodles with Fried Egg

A few Friday's ago I invited Meg over to eat dinner and to catch up on Gossip Girl, which we haven't been able to watch in a timely manner this year. Last year virtually every Monday night was spent on her couch enjoying the dramatic times and (mostly) fantastic wardrobes of those scandalous Upper East Siders. I'm not sure why fitting it in is so much harder this year, but a three hour viewing block wasn't exactly a bad thing on a dreary Friday.

For dinner I revisited this Sesame-Garlic Soba Noodles with a Fried Egg recipe and it was just as good the second time as the first. These noodles are easy, inexpensive, filling and feature sesame oil, my favorite. The sesame flavor and creamy yolk make the dish decadent, the red pepper's spiciness is a nice kick to the palate and the green onions add flavor and punch of color to an otherwise neutral looking dish. My only complaint is how sticky my soba noodles always get. Am I doing something wrong to have them end up gummed together - overcooking perhaps?

To add some texture and to be healthier by eating more veggies, I julienned rainbow carrots and sauteed/steamed them with snow peas and a touch more sesame oil just long enough enough to leave them crisp this time. They were a great addition, although getting OCD about the cutting certainly made this quick dish take longer.

This dish is feasible to make in advance and reheat. Last time I had an excessive amount of soba noodles, so I fried 3 more eggs and contentedly ate it for lunch most of the week. If you like Asian-inspired food, I recommend you try this recipe. If you are anything like me it will only leave you wanting more.

And with the delicious yolk oozing out to mingle...