Butterscotch Pudding

I started my second series of ICE classes last Wednesday: Techniques of Healthful Cooking. I expect to learn a lot, even if it isn't quite as structured and formal as Chef Jane's Fine Cooking I. Last week's highlights were discovering I DO like Tamarind, an amazing lamb dish - it's grilled to perfection with a rich, yet healthy marinade - and receiving an explanation for why my soba noodles always cling together like saran wrap.

How does this relate to Butterscotch Pudding? Well, our dessert was Mango Sorbet and Angel Food Cake, which leaves 12 egg yolks as waste. I couldn't bear the thought of throwing them away so I brought the yolks home and made Grapefruit Curd (6 yolks, now frozen) followed by this Butterscotch Pudding (2 yolks). Are there savory uses for the other 4? Please let me know as my methods of using them up = healthy cooking fail. Those last ones might just die a sad, sad death.

Chef Shuna fish Lydon's Butterscotch Pudding is supposed to be the real deal and it is delicious! Its flavor is a mellowed out version of artificial butterscotch syrups and is similar to caramel, both flavors I love. I don't think I've ever had real butterscotch though so I'm not 100% that I was successful in creating the correct flavor. One of my taste testers, a Butterscotch connoisseur, Kimberly, said it was missing something? I'm guessing it needed more salt and less vanilla extract. Regardless, I won't know until I try the real thing. Anyone want to go have Chef Lydon's butterscotch pot de creme? :)

Her thorough instructions caused me to dirty numerous pots, whisks, etc. but resulted in a creamy, lush pudding...very different than my last pudding i.e. chocolate malted soup. Take her note about whisking continuously seriously. I had been whisking for what felt like eternity, stepped away for 2 minutes to see how long I had to keep going and returned to THICK pudding. This could have been a disaster but I started whisking furiously again and was able to save it from the lumps. All in all I'd say this project was a success!

Carrot Cumin Lentil Soup

Okay. My unofficial blog break is over! I went home for Easter and didn't cook a thing all weekend. Last week was using up frozen gnocchi, etc. and so this weekend I was ready to get back to the kitchen with lots of little projects.

Drawing inspiration from this Lentil, Carrot, and Kale Soup with Crème Fraiche and Dill, this Carrot-Ginger Soup and the previously enjoyed Carrot Soup (the Moosewood Cookbook version) I made Carrot Cumin Lentil Soup this weekend. This soup is economical to make, especially if you make the broth from scratch instead of using the pre-packaged kind like me.

It is very filling and nutritious with a rich, warm flavor. The carrots sweetness is toned down nicely by the spices and lentils. The soup has a lot of texture, which doesn't always happen with lentils. Should your lentils disintegrate from a lack of paying attention (my usual issue) and/or you don't want to get carried away dicing I advise cooking everything and pureeing the soup. It might not look as pretty but it will still taste nice!

I can't wait to eat this all week with a spinach salad on the side.

Carrot Cumin Lentil Soup
1 Tbsp Butter
1 Tbsp Olive Oil
1/2 Tbsp Cumin Seeds
1 Tsp Ground Coriander
1/2 Tbsp Fresh Ginger, Minced
2 cups Carrots, Diced (I made mine into small dice...just for fun...but that isn't necessary. I'm sure rough slices or whatever you prefer would work.)
1 Small Yellow Onion, Diced
2 Tsp Salt (SHOULD have stuck to one...be cautious)
6 cups Veggie Broth (I used a mix of Whole Foods and Trader Joe's; TJ's is more tomato based.)
1 cup French Lentils

1. Heat the butter and olive oil over medium high heat. Once hot add the cumin seeds, ground coriander and ginger. Stir then cover for a minute listening to the cumin pop like popcorn. Remove lid.

2. Add the onion and saute a minute or two. Add carrots tossing them with everything else. If necessary add a bit of water to create some steam. Cover the pot, turn the heat down and let the mixture sweat 15-20 minutes.
3. Remove the lid and add the 6 cups of stock and 1 tsp. salt. Bring the mixture to a boil.
4. Add 1 cup of lentils. Stir. Cover the pot and turn down the heat, let the mixture simmer approximately 35-45 minutes or until lentils are tender but not falling apart.
5. Dish and serve in approximately 1 cup portions.

Ginger Fried Rice

Leslie pointed out Smitten Kitchen's adaptation of Mark Bittman's adaptation of a Jean-Georges Vongertichten Ginger Fried Rice recipe* a while back. It was instantly printed yet I only made it last week. I too really liked the recipe. The dominant ginger flavor gives the rice a nice bite, which then is mellowed out by the egg yolk. It has an amazing, crunchy yet creamy mouth feel and a rich, savory flavor.

I adapted Smitten Kitchen's version of the recipe by substituting 1/4 cup canola oil for 1/2 peanut oil, low sodium soy sauce instead of regular and adding a touch of Sriracha** to the soy sauce and sesame oil mixture for spice. I took "salt to taste" a bit too far, each part tasted fine on its own but together I needed water while I ate, so I'll be toning that down next time. I used brown basmati rice cooked one day in a advance and I didn't bother to mold it into a beautiful presentation. Shocking, I know.

A plus to this recipe is you can get away with using a mere two dishes and really only one each day since the rice should be aged, which puts this recipe on par with its beloved cousin Sesame-Garlic Soba Noodles. I might one day seek out the original but for now it is safe to say this will go in my semi-regular meal rotation as is (which really means I'll make it once a month or something ridiculously rare like that).

*As I typed all the adapation's out I couldn't help but think of the numerous times in the Bible where they list genealogies of who begat who... They were always so tedious to read. I skimmed them.
**On a side note did you realize Sriracha is made in the U.S.? Fascinating. I really want to try the Jean-Georges Vongertichten recipe linked to that article as well.

Orange Tian

The 2010 March Daring Baker’s challenge was hosted by Jennifer of Chocolate Shavings. She chose Orange Tian as the challenge for this month, a dessert based on a recipe from Alain Ducasse’s Cooking School in Paris. To quote her "The dessert is made of different layers: a pate sablee with orange marmalade, a flavored whipped cream topped with fresh orange segments and served with a caramel and orange sauce. You build the dessert upside down and then unmold the dessert so that the bottom layer (the orange segments) becomes the top layer."

I had never heard of this dessert but it is fantastic: creamy, light, bright with citrus and pleasantly sweet with a stunning presentation. When the challenge first was posted I was excited just to learn to to make marmalade but the whole dessert was an amazing learning experience. Since it is so time consuming I likely will revisit the marmalade long before the rest of it. Hopefully one day (anyone have a special occasion, the urge to go in on the ingredients and a mixer?) I will make tians again, perhaps even experimenting with other fruits like grapefruit, kumquat and a little ginger.

In a break from form I am placing the recipes below the pictures. I don't want to skip including them but they are LONG. I added a few comments to them and between the pictures as well.

Boiling the thinly sliced oranges, three times, to remove bitterness. No one ever said marmalade was fast.

The end result was a little chunky but super delicious. I wanted to eat it all with a spoon (and had trouble NOT eating it all with a spoon since I made this the weekend before the rest of the Tian). Next time I'll perhaps run the peels through the food processor a bit to make them finer...then again I like candied rind bits.

I segmented the oranges and made the orange-caramel sauce the night before I assembled the Tians. It was a good decision as it took longer than I expected. Unfortunately my orange slices were mandarin sized. I should have picked bigger ones! Learning the proportions for a flavored caramel sans using a touch of extract was useful. I always wondered how Baileys-Guinness Caramel happened and now I have some idea.

 The assembled Orange Tians as served. They were a success and worth all the labor involved. It would be nice to figure out how to smooth the Saran wrap a bit more to get the elegant clean slides but my krinkled ones were fine with me.

Pate Sablee tastes like a very light shortbread though less sweet... The leftover of it, the marmalade and the whipped cream made for lovely "ice cream" sandwiches that could be dipped in the orange-caramel sauce or eaten on their own.

For the Pate Sablee:
Ingredients U.S. Imperial Metric Instructions for Ingredients
2 medium-sized egg yolks at room temperature
granulated sugar 6 tablespoons + 1 teaspoon; 2.8 oz; 80 grams
vanilla extract ½ teaspoon
Unsalted butter ¼ cup + 3 tablespoons; 3.5 oz; 100 grams ice cold, cubed
Salt 1/3 teaspoon; 2 grams
All-purpose flour 1.5 cup + 2 tablespoons; 7 oz; 200 grams
baking powder 1 teaspoon ; 4 grams

Directions:
Put the flour, baking powder, ice cold cubed butter and salt in a food processor fitted with a steel blade.
In a separate bowl, add the eggs yolks, vanilla extract and sugar and beat with a whisk until the mixture is pale. Pour the egg mixture in the food processor.

Process until the dough just comes together. If you find that the dough is still a little too crumbly to come together, add a couple drops of water and process again to form a homogenous ball of dough. Form into a disc, cover with plastic wrap and leave to rest in the fridge for 30 minutes.

Preheat your oven to 350 degree Fahrenheit.

Roll out the dough onto a lightly floured surface until you obtain a ¼ inch thick circle.

Using your cookie cutter, cut out circles of dough and place on a parchment (or silicone) lined baking sheet. Bake for 20 minutes or until the circles of dough are just golden.

For the Marmalade:
Ingredients U.S. Imperial Metric Instructions for Ingredients
Freshly pressed orange juice ¼ cup + 3 tablespoons; 3.5 oz; 100 grams
1 large orange used to make orange slices
cold water to cook the orange slices
pectin 5 grams
granulated sugar: use the same weight as the weight of orange slices once they are cooked
[I added a teaspoon of vanilla bean paste!]

Finely slice the orange. Place the orange slices in a medium-sized pot filled with cold water. Simmer for about 10 minutes, discard the water, re-fill with cold water and blanch the oranges for another 10 minutes.

Blanch the orange slices 3 times. This process removes the bitterness from the orange peel, so it is essential to use a new batch of cold water every time when you blanch the slices.

Once blanched 3 times, drain the slices and let them cool.

Once they are cool enough to handle, finely mince them (using a knife or a food processor).

Weigh the slices and use the same amount of granulated sugar . If you don’t have a scale, you can place the slices in a cup measurer and use the same amount of sugar.

In a pot over medium heat, add the minced orange slices, the sugar you just weighed, the orange juice and the pectin. Cook until the mixture reaches a jam consistency (10-15 minutes).

Transfer to a bowl, cover with plastic wrap and put in the fridge.

For the Orange Segments:

For this step you will need 8 oranges. [I used juicing oranges and I needed so much orange juice for the recipe. I'd recommend another kind. Their segments were really small and made it hard to shape them into the top of the Tian.]

Cut the oranges into segments over a shallow bowl and make sure to keep the juice. Add the segments to the bowl with the juice.

For the Caramel:
Ingredients U.S. Metric Imperial Instructions for Ingredients
granulated sugar 1 cup; 7 oz; 200 grams
orange juice 1.5 cups + 2 tablespoons; 14 oz; 400 grams

Place the sugar in a pan on medium heat and begin heating it.

Once the sugar starts to bubble and foam, slowly add the orange juice. As soon as the mixture starts boiling, remove from the heat and pour half of the mixture over the orange segments. [My sugar started to crystallize and get firm here but I just kept stiffing over lowered heat for a few minutes longer to work it out. Everything turned out fine.]

Reserve the other half of the caramel mixture in a small bowl — you will use this later to spoon over the finished dessert. When the dessert is assembled and setting in the freezer, heat the kept caramel sauce in a small saucepan over low heat until it thickens and just coats the back of a spoon (about 10 minutes). You can then spoon it over the orange tians.

[Tip: Be very careful when making the caramel — if you have never made caramel before, I would suggest making this step while you don’t have to worry about anything else. Bubbling sugar is extremely, extremely hot, so make sure you have a bowl of ice cold water in the kitchen in case anyone gets burnt!]

For the Whipped Cream:
Ingredients U.S. Metric Imperial Instructions for Ingredients
heavy whipping cream 1 cup; 7 oz; 200 grams
3 tablespoons of hot water
1 tsp Gelatine
1 tablespoon of confectioner's sugar
orange marmalade (see recipe above) 1 tablespoon

In a small bowl, add the gelatine and hot water, stirring well until the gelatine dissolves. Let the gelatine cool to room temperature while you make the whipped cream. Combine the cream in a chilled mixing bowl. Whip the cream using a hand mixer on low speed until the cream starts to thicken for about one minute. Add the confectioner sugar. Increase the speed to medium-high. Whip the cream until the beaters leave visible (but not lasting) trails in the cream, then add the cooled gelatine slowly while beating continuously. Continue whipping until the cream is light and fluffy and forms soft peaks. Transfer the whipped cream to a bowl and fold in the orange marmalade.

[Tip: Use an ice cold bowl to make the whipped cream in. You can do this by putting your mixing bowl, cream and beater in the fridge for 20 minutes prior to whipping the cream.]

Assembling the Dessert:
Make sure you have some room in your freezer. Ideally, you should be able to fit a small baking sheet or tray of desserts to set in the freezer.

Line a small tray or baking sheet with parchment paper or a silicone sheet. Lay out 6 cookie cutters onto the parchment paper/silicone. [I used ramekins lined with saran wrap]

Drain the orange segments on a kitchen towel.[I used a strainer and touched up with a paper towel. It was effective enough for me.]

Have the marmalade, whipped cream and baked circles of dough ready to use.

Arrange the orange segments at the bottom of each cookie cutter. Make sure the segments all touch either and that there are no gaps. Make sure they fit snuggly and look pretty as they will end up being the top of the dessert. Arrange them as you would sliced apples when making an apple tart.

Once you have neatly arranged one layer of orange segments at the bottom of each cookie cutter, add a couple spoonfuls of whipped cream and gently spread it so that it fills the cookie cutter in an even layer. Leave about 1/4 inch at the top so there is room for dough circle.

Using a butter knife or small spoon, spread a small even layer of orange marmalade on each circle of dough.
Carefully place a circle of dough over each ring (the side of dough covered in marmalade should be the side touching the whipping cream). Gently press on the circle of dough to make sure the dessert is compact.
Place the desserts to set in the freezer to set for 10 minutes.

Using a small knife, gently go around the edges of the cookie cutter to make sure the dessert will be easy to unmold. Gently place your serving plate on top of a dessert (on top of the circle of dough) and turn the plate over. Gently remove the cookie cutter, add a spoonful of caramel sauce and serve immediately.

Gnocchi with Red Cabbage, Roasted Jerusalem Artichokes and Garlic

Gnocchi's texture lets me imagine I'm eating cookie dough while feeling healthy since being savory it skips sugar. Obviously that's awesome and makes it one of my favorite foods. I received a potato ricer for  Christmas, requested with the goal of making my own gnocchi, and just put it to use Sunday night.

I followed 101 Cookbook's recipe for Cooking Gnocchi Like An Italian Grandmother and found the instructions easy to understand. Riced potatoes are light, fluffy and look like Play Doh hair. While time consuming making gnocchi was easier than expected... For a first attempt I figure the most important thing is that they floated after being cooked, didn't disintegrate and had the requisite doughy texture. :) I definitely need to keep practicing to get the appropriate size and shape.

Instead of keeping it simple and pairing the gnocchi with tomato sauce, I decided on Red Cabbage, Roasted Jerusalem Artichokes and Garlic, a tasty mixture on the slightly sweet side of savory. The cabbage's crunch, roasted garlic's richness and the slightly peppery, nutty finish of the Jerusalem Artichoke contrast well with  Gnocchi's smoothness but the "sauce" needed to be a bit thicker or to not exist. I'm not sure which yet.
Approximate recipe for my accompaniment... Preheat the oven to 475 while dicing a medium onion, not too finely, peeling and thinly slicing Jerusalem Artichokes and Garlic. Toss these items with Olive Oil, Salt and freshly Ground Pepper, then roast approximately 30 minutes until slightly crisp and caramelized. Set aside  Jerusalem Artichoke pieces to top the plated dish. Next add half a head of thinly sliced red cabbage to the roasting pan and pour in roughly 2.5 cups of Trader Joe's Organic Vegetable Stock, salt generously if you use low sodium broth. Roast this mixture in the oven for approximately 30 minutes taking it out and turning the cabbage occasionally so it cooks evenly.

Next time I will probably saute the onion and red cabbage, set it aside, and then use the broth to make a real sauce that would coat everything better. I may also try veggies that impart less natural sweetness. Anyway, if you decide to try the rough recipe don't put the gnocchi in until you are ready to eat as mine turned a bit lavender, which tasted fine but looked strange.

Quick and Spicy Tomato Soup

When April forwarded this Quick and Spicy Tomato Soup recipe from Giada De Laurentiis recipe noting that it was "kind of cheating but it's amazingly delicious for how quick and simple it is," I knew I had to try it. After all she doesn't even like using recipes so it had to be good.

I substituted roasted vegetable stock for store bought, pearl barley for the pasta and dipped Wasa Whole Grain Crisps in it while eating. April added about 1/3 C of freshly grated Parmesano-Reggiano and some freshly ground black pepper and served it with crusty bread.

I may have misread the recipe and used too many red pepper flakes because I found the spiciness overwhelming. I like spice but when eating the soup requires a tissue it is over the top. The easy remedy was swirling in a tablespoon or two of plain (greek) yogurt and eating it cold.

In the future I'll probably adjust the red pepper flakes and/or add them later in the simmering stage to reduce the spice. I may also saute the carrots a minute or two longer since they were pretty crunchy. Regardless this will definitely be revisited! I had to stop myself from buying ingredients to make it again this weekend...a sure sign of love.

Thin Mints

To celebrate my friend Danielle's birthday I made her Baking Bites' Thin Minties, as Thin Mints are her favorite cookie. The resulting cookies weren't machine perfect but they were crisp with a hint of mint and the requisite chocolate coating.

I added approximately 3 tablespoons of milk to the batter to make it form cohesive logs and I would recommend adding a bit more mint extract (perhaps to the chocolate coating) to make the mint flavor more prominent. I'd make a recommendation for my biggest issue with the cookies but I have no ideas... The chocolate coating never hardened!

I let the cookies cool completely prior to coating them in the chocolate/butter mixture and ultimately let them sit overnight with wax paper over them. In the morning? They were still soft. I ended up putting wax paper pieces between each one to prevent a mess and ultimately suggesting that Danielle keep them in the fridge, which isn't so bad as Thin Mints always taste good cold.

These were fun to try but I don't think they are worth the effort involved. I'll probably stick to supporting the Girls Scouts (or stealing cookies from others who support the Girls Scouts) when I want Thin Mints in the future. If you live nearby feel free to arrange a visit for a frozen cookie or two in the next few weeks... I have extras in my freezer.

Lemon-Kissed White Bean and Kale Risotto

33 minutes left to post this Daring Cooks' Challenge before the deadline! Between 1 p.m. and now I have burnt my fingers making cookies, cut my hand on a can, "run" 4 miles in 45 minutes at the gym (furthest ever), freaked out about the apartment beside ours in the building next door catching on fire and made this risotto. So I'm a bit tired. We'll see if I can string together coherent thoughts. If not just act like I did please...

The 2010 March Daring Cooks challenge was hosted by Eleanor of MelbournefoodGeek and Jess of Jessthebaker. They chose to challenge Daring Cooks to make risotto. The various components of their challenge recipe are based on input from the Australian Masterchef cookbook and the cookbook Moorish by Greg Malouf. The recipes can be downloaded here. In addition to making risotto all Daring Cooks were to make their own stock.

Since I'm not eating meat this month I made roasted vegetable stock, which I had not made previously. The recipe creates a very rich, dark stock though I'm not sure the time involved is worth the flavor. It was my first time successfully keeping a stock at a simmer so it was a very clear stock, even if it was almost black, and that was exciting.

I liked the Eleanor and Jess' chosen risotto recipe. It was much simpler than the version I have used in the past and still creates a warm, comforting risotto. This time I added a bunch of Swiss Chard cut into ribbons, the zest of a Lemon, a tablespoon of Lemon Juice, a half cup of grated Parmigiano-Reggiano and Salt and Pepper to taste to create a nutritious main course. I liked the end result! The lemon kept things bright and the swiss chard broke up the creaminess of the risotto and beans. In the future I would probably try to make the lemon flavor more intense as there was only a hint of it.

Thanks to Eleanor and Jess for hosting a great, affordable challenge!

Soft Pretzels

When someone says a recipe is a fun weekend project you should take them seriously. Do not start making soft pretzels at 8 p.m. on a Monday, especially not after watching the Oscars in Harlem the night before and getting home at 12:45 a.m. They will smell heavenly but you will be tired and hot because keeping the oven at 450 degrees this long is woah.

I would have put this project off but I had committed to making the pretzels for tonight's volunteering last week. And when I commit I really commit. Even though as I write this I'm up later than I would like I have to tell you the pretzels were fun to put together and easy.

The dough rose beautifully and just kept rising. It had this fantastic smooth, elastic texture that I could have rolled out for hours and I might have done so while trying to get the pretzels perfect only it was so late that I was saved from my perfectionism. I used parchment paper instead of greasing the pans, which made clean-up a breeze, and kosher salt instead of pretzel salt as I already had it.

These are delicious, at least as good as Costco's soft pretzels. I highly recommend you make them on a weekend!  My only caution to you is don't over poach the dough. Over poached pretzels will end up sticky/uncooked on the bottom and a little creepy though still tasty if you remove the doughy layer.

When I read the entry's comments I noticed that someone had wrapped veggie hot dogs in the pretzel dough and made stuffed pretzel bites. Yum. I might have to try that next or a soy-ginger glaze or a cheese-green chile filling like a jalapeno popper or pb&j...there are endless possibilities!

Guiness Floats

This month I promised myself I wouldn't eat out or eat meat other than seafood. I knew it would be a challenge not to eat out but it is much harder than expected. I hadn't thought about how I planned to define eating out... Is it simply buying pre-made food elsewhere? Or does it include rejecting food other people buy and give to me? It probably should exclude things like the mediocre pizza I had a work meeting but I have trouble declining free anything and the pizza would have been thrown out. The meat thing really isn't so bad though, especially since I'm still eating seafood and I'm not a die hard carnivore in the first place.

Last night Meg improvised a dinner for us. She's a whiz in the kitchen, who cooks intuitively. As a recipe lover this impresses me to no end. She deboned then cooked Chilean Sea Bass with Sesame Oil, Soy Sauce, Marsala Wine, Garlic, Ginger and a decorative Lemon slice over a bed of Spinach in a foil pouch. Once done she had this amazing flaky fish and a silky, Asian-Italian fusion sauce I took far too many slices of baguette to sop up. Since the whole thing cooked a mere 15 minutes the ginger and garlic retained a lot of their bite, which is rare and enjoyable.

My job was dessert. I thought about making 6 different things and then realized I should reign in the dessert making. After all I did eat that Tiramisu basically by myself. To keep things simple I opted to take Meg's suggestion and bring the ingredients for Guinness Floats, which as you can imagine involve Vanilla Ice Cream and Guinness. I like both ingredients separately and the rich, slightly bitter coffee-like flavor of Guinness goes well with the sweetness of ice cream. Given my sweet tooth though I kept wanting to increase the ice cream into a milkshake proportion. Strange as I like Guinness on its own...I guess once I meet sweet I find it irresistible and want more.

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. :)