From Whence the Sweet Bird Sang

Time to move...

2009-08-11T13:54:00.000-07:00

It's official - From Whence the Sweet Bird Sang has officially transitioned to an entirely new blog - a bird in the kitchen.

We're now located at abirdinthekitchen.com and can't wait for you to join me there to indulge in as much food and food related business as is humanly possible.

Be sure to visit the about tab when you visit the new site - it'll give a better idea of the set-up of the new site and a hint as to the new directions I'll be taking in the new location, both domain-wise and geographically.

See you soon!

a bird in the kitchen

News...

2009-07-21T07:30:00.000-07:00

There are some changes coming - and coming soon.

Soon this blog will be boasting a new name, a new site, and a new location - both domain and geographical. When I started it just over a year ago I had no idea I'd stick with it long enough to justify a more involved format.

It does.

Additionally, in the next few weeks Mr. TA and I will be relocating to the East Coast - and I'm sure you all understand how unlikely it is I will be cooking anything in the car to talk about. We will be making some pretty amazing stops on our journey to the other coast though, and I'll be sure to provide any photos of interest upon my return to the blogosphere.

I'm not sure how long it will take to get my kitchen stuff back, but as soon I do I'll be back in the kitchen, cooking away to my heart's content.

See you on the other side!

Pumpkin Pancakes with Honey - Strawberry - Raspberry Syrup

2009-07-16T11:09:00.000-07:00

This recipe was a complete FAIL.

As I was mixing it all up I knew there had to be something wrong with it - there's no way a pancake batter should be as thick as muffin batter.

I added milk until it was right, but after so much experimentation I only had enough batter left to make a few small pancakes.

After being totally frustrated and wasting about an hour and a half of my damn morning trying to figure out this recipe - I realized that I'd copied the recipe down incorrectly.

Go me.

I imagine that if one were to actually make these pancakes properly they would likely be delicious. I wasn't a fan. I did like the strawberry substitution for half the raspberries though.

The recipe is at Vegetarian Times.

Vietnamese Coffee Popsicles

2009-07-12T08:59:00.000-07:00

I remember as a child my sister and I made ice pops nearly every opportunity we had during the summer. We'd sift through the refrigerator, mixing juices and creating different flavor concoctions to pour into the molds. Grape juice, apple juice, lemonade, root beer - you name it, we tried to freeze it.

My favorite then was grape - I believe hers was apple.

I still enjoy a good popsicle over ice cream any day of the week, although I think that has more do to with my freakish sensitivity to cold (thanks to a particularly unskilled dentist a few years ago) than with an actual preference.

I must admit that now my tastes run a little bit more involved than just a simple frozen juice, even though I doubt I'd turn down a grape popsicle most days (a real one, not the fake flavored, frozen garbage people feed to their kids nowadays), especially if it were with my sister.

I was quite delighted to find David Lebovitz's recipe for Vietnamese Coffee Popsicles yesterday.

They are ridiculously easy to make and therefore surprisingly delicious in their simplicity. I can see myself eating a ridiculous amount of these for the rest of the summer. Especially considering that Mr. TA and I will soon be vacating the Central Coast for a rather sultry location on the East Coast in a matter of weeks. I'm sure once I reach that heat I'll be downing these babies on an hourly basis.

Check out his recipe here: Vietnamese Coffee Popsicles. If you like coffee ice cream you will fall in love with it.

Nutritional Estimate

This is a nutritional estimate, I do not claim it to be exact - although it is pretty close.

Using David's recipe cut in half (1 cup coffee + 1/3 cup sweetened condensed milk) in a 4 popsicle mold, each popsicle will have:

Calories: 88
Carbohydrates: 15g
Fat: 2g
Protein: 2g

The entire recipe (2 cups coffee + 2/3 cup sweetened condensed milk) contains:

Calories: 702
Carbohydrates: 122g
Fat: 16g
Protein: 18g

Bistro Christine

2009-07-10T06:27:00.000-07:00

I love French food.

Love it. Could nearly eat that and only that every day for the rest of my life.

It would be an even easier decision to make were the French to suddenly include noodles and potstickers to their repertoire.

That being said, I am hypercritical of every single thing that enters my mouth - whether it's a burger or a soufflé, it must be well executed. I'm ever vigilant of the quality of my own cooking, which frequently disappoints me, and equally so with other's. I'm the worst, however, at restaurants.

I worked in the food industry for nearly all of my very short adult life up until two years ago. With the knowledge of what goes on in the back of the house, I see little reason for poorly composed or inadequately cooked foods. In fact I visited a restaurant this week that I adored in the past, only to be severely disappointed with nearly everything ordered.

With that preface, I must introduce you to Bistro Christine. A new kid on the culinary block of Monterey, CA, Bistro Christine is quickly becoming well recognized as a serious contender for the best purveyor of French cuisine in town. I've now been to Bistro Christine twice - and each time I was so completely blown away by the simple perfection of their food that I am heartbroken I will be moving across the country soon.

The cooking is classic French, compliments of the owners and chef (husband and wife team Christine and Francis) hailing from Normandy. The focus is on homey, bistro style cuisine using the freshest, highest quality ingredients to create simple, well-made food that showcases the inherent qualities of each component. Add to that a well-appointed wine list and the exemplary service offered by Christine, and I find it difficult to top the experience had at this little bistro.

The first thing brought to the table is a basket of homemade bread - still steaming from the oven.

It was still so hot, in fact, that I singed the tips of my greedy fingers while trying to steal a piece too soon.

My MiL, in town visiting for special occasion, chose a 2006 Puma Road Pinot Noir from Franscioni Wines at Black Mountain Vineyards. This pinot is to die for. It's not currently available for retail sale - and it's a travesty that it's not. Fruity and fresh with the perfect body. It was well put in this article, that "Someone could’ve taken all the fruit out of this bottle and painted a pretty serious still-life."

To start I ordered the endive gratin - a recipe I've noticed in Simple French Food but was wary to attempt until having tried it.

It is a head of endive, wrapped in ham, smothered in Béchamel and topped with cheese It is then baked until hot and bubbly and the cheese gets all browned and sexy.

It may not sound all that glamorous, but it is a classic French preparation. It was perfectly made, well seasoned, and so superbly delicious I could easily eat one every day. Sadly, I don't think my thighs would appreciate that.

Next up was a crock of Onion Soup au Gratin - a dish so often defiled that I tend to avoid it on most menus. At Bistro Christine, however, it is quite obviously prepared at length. The onions are caramelized to perfection, the broth is quite obviously made from beef bones, and the cheese is Gruyère. As a side note, if you're making this soup at home and do not use Gruyère, I reserve the right to kick you in the shins.

If you can't find a recipe you like, use Thomas Keller's. Because really, there isn't much that man can't do well.

For entrées, my husband ordered medallions of filet mignon with a black pepper sauce.

The medallions were melt in your mouth tender and the black pepper sauce - my god! Divine is the only word that can attempt to describe it.

My MiL ordered sea scallops in a tarragon sauce.

Although I'm not a huge fan of tarragon, I can appreciate it in small doses. This pushed the limits of that, but the sauce itself was outstanding. The scallops were flawlessly cooked and, as you can see, generously portioned.

You'll have to excuse the blurriness of the scallops. I forgot my tripod, the lighting was not in my favor, and that Puma Road Pinot was starting to work it's magic...

I ordered the half roast chicken au jus with fries.

I cannot actually remember the last time I had enough confidence in a restaurant to order the chicken. I've always thought that if I wanted to chew on dried leather that I'd prefer to use one of my neglected pairs of Anne Klein stilettos. I was feeling adventurous though - and was not disappointed. It was moist and juicy, the skin crisp and well-seasoned. And the fries - my god the fries.

They were accompanied by a homemade mayonnaise that nearly brought me to tears.

My husband insisted that he didn't like it because it wasn't the "right" color - meaning a bleached, anemic white. I responded with, "No - this is most definitely the right color." Homemade mayonnaise makes my heart sing - the jarred kind makes me want to - well, you know.

Christine, lovely woman that she is, brought us a sampler of desserts - gratis.

They too were well-executed, though I am unsure if these are made in house. Whether they are or not has not effected their quality though.

A lovely frozen lemon confection -

And a perfect lemon tart, both topped with candied lemon and orange peel.

There was also a brandied chocolate mousse that could not have been more delicious, but without my tripod I was only able to capture a blurry mess that only slightly resembled a chocolate mousse.

It was a lovely meal - one that I hope to repeat at least once more before our move away from Monterey. I hate to sound like a walking advertisement for anything, but I am a firm believer in supporting good restaurants. Bistro Christine deserves to succeed. My worst fear for this place is that someone will dine here and not appreciate the gem that it is.

If you are in Monterey - stop by. You won't be disappointed.

Bistro Christine
481 Alvarado Street
Monterey, CA 93940
(831) 644-0819

Hours:

Wed-Sun. 11:30 a.m. - 2:30 p.m.
Wed-Sun. 5:30 p.m. - 9:30 p.m.

Lemon-Vanilla Bean & Berry Tarts

2009-07-04T11:49:00.000-07:00

No 4th of July BBQ is complete without a tasty dessert, and the combination of lemon French yogurt cake, vanilla bean pastry cream, and fresh berries is hard to beat.

The handy thing about garnishing cute little individual tarts with fresh berries is that they are amazingly beautiful and look like you slaved in the kitchen for hours to complete - which is rarely ever the case. That being said, I'm ever the fan of delicious eats that look impressive and are in actuality so easy a trained chimp could make them.

The cake itself is a variation on Ina Garten's Lemon Yogurt Cake - tweaked a little bit to cut the fat. It's very easy to make and packs a refreshing lemony flavor.

As you're celebrating the 4th today remember to be safe. And please, take a moment to think about the men and women who have sacrificed so much, and those who continue to do so, to keep our country safe and secure.

Happy 4th of July!

Lemon-Vanilla Bean & Berry Tarts

Serves 12

Lemon Yogurt Cake

1 1/2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1 cup greek/plain, strained yogurt
1 1/3 cups sugar
3 jumbo eggs
zest of 2 lemons
1/2 vanilla bean, split and seeds scraped
1/4 cup canola oil
1/3 cup fresh squeezed lemon juice

Preheat oven to 350 F

Grease and line a rimmed half-sheet pan (jelly roll pan) with parchment paper. Set aside. Sift together flour, baking powder, and salt. In a separate bowl whisk together yogurt, 1 cup sugar, eggs, zest, and vanilla bean seeds. Slowly whisk the dry ingredients into the wet. Using a rubber spatula fold the oil into the batter until it is fully incorporated. Pour batter into the prepared sheet pan and bake 10-12 minutes, or until cake tester comes out clean. Meanwhile, cook the remaining 1/3 cup sugar and 1/3 cup lemon juice in a small saucepan over medium heat until the sugar dissolves and the mixture is clear. Set aside and cool. When the cake comes out of the oven, allow to cool for ten minutes. Brush the top of the cake with the lemon syrup and allow to soak in.

Vanilla Bean Pastry Cream

1/3 cup sugar
1/3 cup cornstarch
2 egg yolks
1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
3 cups nonfat milk
1 vanilla bean

Place a fine-mesh sieve over a medium bowl; set aside. In a medium saucepan (off heat), whisk together sugar, cornstarch, egg yolks and salt. Gradually whisk in milk (1 tablespoon at a time to start) until smooth. Split vanilla bean lengthwise and scrape out seeds with the tip of a paring knife; add seeds and pod to milk mixture. Cook over medium-high, whisking occasionally, until the first bubbles appear on surface; continue to cook, whisking constantly, for 1 minute more. Pour pudding through prepared sieve into bowl; discard solids. Place plastic wrap directly on entire surface of pudding to keep skin from forming. Refrigerate until cold, at least 2 hours, and up to 3 days. To serve, whisk just until smooth.

To Assemble

Using a 2 3/4 - 3 in. round cookie cutter cut out 24 rounds from the lemon cake. Using a pastry bag or a small spoon top 1 round with a tablespoon or so of the pastry cream, top with a second round of cake, and place another tablespoon of pastry cream on top. Garnish with berries and mint sprigs as desired. Repeat until all twelve are assembled. Devour at will.

There's no break down on nutritional content for these - mainly because I can't get it exact enough to be comfortable enough to give a specific number. From what I've gleaned they're about 225-250 calories per tart though.

Blogerversary

2009-06-28T21:37:00.001-07:00

This just goes to show how bad I am at remembering momentous occasions...apparently my one year anniversary of blogging was yesterday.

Thank you to all my readers - and especially my commenters - you've made the last year a very special, and surprisingly fulfilling journey.

I started this blog after moving to a new area. It was the first time I'd ever moved outside of the greater Seattle area and I didn't know a single soul other than my husband. I'd just gone through a very personal tragedy and was grasping at straws to keep myself sane. I'd been reading food blogs for a while, but didn't think I had the chops to write one myself - it seemed very intimidating.

Nevertheless, I jumped in with both feet and found it to be at once challenging and therapeutic. I have evolved and improved as a cook and as a photographer and can only hope to continue doing so as I progress.

Again, thank you to everyone who has contributed to the last year - either with ideas, advice, or a nice comment or two along the way.

I guess it's into the kitchen for another year of making tasty foods and writing about them - I hope to see you, same time and same place, this time next year.

-Robin

Roasted Strawberry Compote with Vanilla Bean

2009-06-28T20:48:00.000-07:00

There are few Monday afternoon activities that top walking down the street to my town's farmers market and picking up a basket of freshly picked, California-grown strawberries. I'm not sure what it is about the Central Coast area, but the powers of earth and awesomeness have collided and provided some prime strawberry-growin' turf.

I grew up in a small town in Northwest Washington State on a defunct raspberry farm. The area however, was not only well known for its raspberries, but also the strawberries, blueberries, and hazelnuts the fertile soil allowed to flourish. I remember many a day of going strawberry picking with my mother and sister to make jams, jellies, and whatnot. (Later in life we simply bought them in 5-gallon buckets from a local farm, but I still enjoy the memories of picking them by hand - though I'm sure I drove my mother batty while doing so.)

The strawberries from my childhood memories cannot even begin to compete with the berries they grow here. They are easily the best strawberries in the world. Still warm from the sun, plump and a deep garnet red. The flavor nearly explodes on your tongue - a burst of sweetness followed by the barest hint of tanginess. When I drive to the other farmers market in Monterey I have to buy at least one extra basket for the 10 minute drive home - they're impossible to resist.

I'm also sure that the people driving behind me can understand, though probably don't appreciate, the many strawberry hulls that go flying out my window as I drive along the coast.

I saw this recipe in Vegetarian Times a couple months ago and decided I had to try it. When I pulled it out this week to finally make it I realized that it called for frozen strawberries. Needless to say I was not going to be using some nasty old frozen berries when I had these priceless gems sitting in front of me. Instead I just froze some of my fresh berries. It worked perfectly - and probably came out better and with more flavor than if I'd used storebought frozen berries.

This is delicious, you should try it. We ate ours on frozen yogurt for dessert and in crepes for breakfast the next morning, though the versatility in no way stops at those two dishes.

Also, should you ever venture into the Central Coast area - don't forget to try the strawberries.

Roasted Strawberry Compote with Vanilla Bean
adapted from Vegetarian Times, February 2009

5 cups frozen whole strawberries
¼ cup sugar
¼ teaspoon salt
½ vanilla bean

Preheat oven to 475°F.

Coat 13- x 9-inch baking dish with cooking spray. Toss together strawberries, sugar, and salt in large bowl. Scrape seeds from vanilla bean with back of knife, and stir into strawberries along with bean. Bake 25 minutes, stirring often. Remove vanilla bean before serving.

Shrimp & Spinach Stuffed Portobellos

2009-06-26T19:25:00.000-07:00

Sometimes, when I have way too much time on my hands, I think about how it was discovered that certain foods are edible.

I'm sure everyone's thought about who the first guy was to eat a chicken egg - imagine his wife's face when that happened. "Honey, what are you doing? Don't play with that. Stop bothering the chicken! What are you doing with that frying pan...? OH MY GOD."

Similarly, the potato (once deemed poisonous), escargot (Seriously, who thought that one up? Whoever you are though, thank you!), and caviar seem equally as unappetizing when the attempt is made to look at them as if you'd never seen them before. Who's going to pull up a plant, see some weird looking round tuber thing stuck to its roots...and then decide to put it in their mouth? Also, how many raw potatoes were eaten before it was discovered that they're way better cooked?

All that being said, the mushroom is another one of these mystical, extremely tasty foods that frequently makes its way to our dinner plates that, at any point in our culinary history, could easily have been discarded as poison - or just plain gross. I mean, picture it in your head, walking through the damp woods your boot kicks over a bit of leaf litter revealing a spongy, brown plant. It's covered in dirt and leaves, possibly some kind of protective mucus - who's first thought is, "Gee, I should put this in my mouth"? (I know that question mark isn't where it's supposed to be - sue me.)

Again, whoever it was that tried them first - thanks. Because mushrooms are insanely delicious. Especially when they're stuffed with spicy shrimp, cheese, and spinach and then baked until they're hot and bubbly with yummy goodness.

My brother-in-law gave me the idea of pairing shrimp with sriracha - a spicy Asian condiment - while I was in Florida. For this idea I will be forever grateful. It's quite possibly my new favorite thing in the world. If you've never tried sriracha (pronounced sir-a-cha), or never tried shrimp cooked in a little butter and sriracha - you must immediately drop everything that you are doing and go make some right now. NOW.

I decided that instead of using ridiculous amounts of mayo or cream cheese to hold it all together that I'd use Laughing Cow Cheese. It's a spreadable cheese (great on Wheat Thins) that's only 35 calories per serving. I used the Garlic & Herb one - they're pretty tasty. I keep those and the little Babybel cheeses in the house at all times. They're been a great snack while I've been trying to lose weight (23 lbs. so far! 10 more, I'll be at 120, and life will be good!). Now that I recognize the versatility of the spreadable ones though, I definitely won't be giving them up when I quit trying to lose weight.

Even if you don't try the whole recipe, for whatever reason, I cannot stress this enough. Every single person in this world (except those allergic to shrimp) should try shrimp cooked in sriracha.

It will change your life.

Shrimp & Spinach Stuffed Portobellos

Serves 2

8 oz frozen spinach, thawed and drained of all water
1/4 small onion, minced
1 garlic clove, minced
2 Laughing Cow Spreadable cheeses
2 tablespoons mayonnaise
1 Babybel Light, cut into small pieces (substitute mozzarella or other light cheese)
salt and fresh ground black pepper to taste
10 large shrimp, peeled and deveined
1 tablespoon butter
1 teaspoon sriracha
2 portobello caps

Preheat oven to 375 F

In a medium mixing bowl combine spinach, onion, garlic, cheeses and mayo. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Set aside. In a skillet over medium-high heat melt the butter. Cook the shrimp until just pink, toss with sriracha. Set aside. Place the portobello caps gills side up in a casserole dish. Bake at 375 for 10 minutes. Remove from oven. Top each cap with half the shrimp and half the spinach mixture. Return to oven and bake for a further 15 minutes, or until the spinach is heated through and the cheese is warm and bubbling.

Nutritional Estimate

This is a nutritional estimate, I do not claim it to be exact - although it is pretty close.

1 serving equals one whole stuffed portobello cap

Calories: 245
Carbohydrates: 15g
Fat: 15g
Protein: 18g

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CORRECTION 6/27: I am a numbskull and forgot to include the tablespoon of butter in my nutritional estimate. Therefore, the new estimate is:

Calories: 296
Carbohydrates: 15g
Fat: 20g
Protein: 18g

I would also like to point out that in omitting the mayonnaise saves 180 calories and 20g of fat, effectively halving the fat content of the recipe. This would make each cap only 206 calories and 10g of fat.

Buitoni Contest

2009-06-25T19:42:00.000-07:00

A couple months ago I participated in a contest put on by Foodbuzz and Buitoni pasta to develop a new pasta sauce for their new Riserva line of pastas. I'm not much of a contest-entering kind of person - I have a perfect score of zero in the competitiveness slot in my personality. However, when I saw the grand prize was a set of brand new pots and pans, I decided that the worst thing that could happen was not winning. A novel concept, eh?

In any event, I entered this recipe: Wild Mushroom Agnolotti with a Cognac Cream Sauce and Baby Pea Shoots.

I didn't win - that honor is reserved for Taste With the Eyes and the lovely recipe for Wild Mushroom Agnolotti with Veal, Portobello, Fried Sage and a Pinot Noir Cream Sauce.

I did however place as one of the runner-ups, which won me the sweet-ass colander you see above and enough pasta swag to keep me and the mister carb-loading until next year.

A complete list of the runner-ups is located at Foodbuzz. I recommend checking out the other recipes that placed, they all sound quite tasty.

Thanks to Foodbuzz and Buitoni for giving me the opportunity to participate - and thanks for the cool stuff. I'm not big on buying premade foods, but that Mushroom Agnolotti is good. I'll be stuffing myself on that for the next few months...

Orange-Ginger Custards

2009-06-24T19:06:00.000-07:00

While typically a big fan of custards, I am not a fan of ginger. Fresh ginger, that is. Powdered ginger is quite delicious. My other half, however, is a huge fan of all things ginger. The original recipe calls for a tangerine and ginger combination, which I'm sure would be better than orange.

I originally saw this recipe in the November issue of Vegetarian Times. I bookmarked it because I knew he would like the ginger in it, but like most recipes from magazines it sat on the shelf for the last eight months or so. I decided to finally try it out this week - cleverly waiting until tangerines were out of season. As such I substituted oranges.

The mister said it was quite delicious, and while I found the flavor combination to be less than stellar, texturally it was creamy, smooth, and in all ways outstanding.

I can definitely see this recipe being used as a vehicle for all sorts of flavor combinations.

Cardamom and allspice with fresh figs...star anise and cinnamon...lemongrass and Thai basil...grapefruit and vanilla...

Orange-Ginger Custards
adapted from Vegetarian Times, November 2008

Serves 6

2 cups nonfat milk
zest of 1 orange
1 inch piece of ginger root, peeled and chopped roughly
1/2 cup sugar
2 eggs
supremed orange sections for garnish

Preheat oven to 350°F.

Heat milk, zest, and ginger in medium saucepan over medium heat, until milk’s surface begins to bubble, stirring frequently. Remove from heat, and cool. Strain milk through fine sieve into medium bowl, discarding zest and ginger. Mix in sugar. Beat eggs with pinch of salt in small bowl. Whisk beaten eggs into milk mixture. Fill 6 4-oz. (1/2-cup) ramekins with custard. Place ramekins in roasting pan. Fill roasting pan with boiling water that reaches about one-third up sides
of ramekins. Bake 50 to 60 minutes, or until custards jiggle slightly. Remove from water bath, and cool. Garnish each custard with an orange section before serving.

Nutritional Estimate

This is a nutritional estimate, I do not claim it to be exact - although it is pretty close.

Calories: 119
Carbohydrates: 21g
Fat: 2g
Protein: 5g

Lime Meringue Tartelettes

2009-06-22T18:16:00.001-07:00

Lime and Lemon Meringue pies and I have always had a contentious relationship. As long as I can remember I've always had an affinity for sour foods. Sweets hold little power for me - I could probably go the rest of my life without chocolates, cookies, and candy and not really miss them - but sour foods, that's another story. Put me in a room with a bag of Sour Patch Kids and there's little wonder who'll be walking out of their uneaten. (Now that I'm thinking about it, if I ever see a Sour Patch Kid that I think might be capable of eating me I bet it will change my entire outlook on food in general.)

As such, I've always loved lime and lemon meringue pies. I'd discard the meringue and eat the mouth-puckering filling all by itself. When the husband asked me to make a Key Lime Pie yesterday I decided it wouldn't be such a bad deal. Unfortunately it is nigh impossible to find key limes or key lime juice around here, so plain lime it was. Nevertheless, it turned out deliciously.

Typically I am not a fan of prepackaged food making its way into my kitchen, but the ease of the miniature graham cracker shells were just too hard to pass up while I was grocery shopping. We'll blame it on the jet lag from just having got back into town the night before. If you're uninterested in using the premade shells, feel free to make your own by mixing crushed graham cracker with a little sugar and melted butter.

Additionally, some people choose to add green food coloring when making lime pies and tarts to differentiate them from lemon confections. I didn't - I think food coloring is for Easter eggs. If Mother Nature had intended lime juice to be neon green she would've made it the same color as the rind - but she didn't, so enjoy it as it is. That being said, obviously feel free to do whatever the heck you want.

Lime Meringue Tartelettes

Makes 4 Tartelettes

4 mini graham cracker shells
4 yolks
125 g sugar (1/2 cup)
56 g butter, softened (4 tablespoons)
zest of 1 lime
100 ml lime juice (1/3 cup + 2 tablespoons)
2 egg whites
1/4 teaspoon cream of tartar
1/4 cup sugar

In a medium saucepan whisk together the sugar and egg yolks until thoroughly combined. Add butter, zest, and lime juice and stir continuously over med-low heat until thickened - about 7-10 minutes. Do NOT let boil. If it starts to simmer, remove the pan from heat and whisk until it cools enough to place back on the burner without bubbling. Divide the filling between the 4 graham shells, approximately 1/4 cup per each shell. Place in the refrigerator to set up while making the meringue. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. In a metal bowl (NOT aluminum), add the cream of tartar and egg whites. Whisk until soft peaks form. Add the sugar in a slow, continuous stream until all is combined. Continue whisking until stiff peaks form. Top each filled shell with a large dollop of meringue. Place the 4 shells on a baking sheet in the center of the oven and bake for 5-7 minutes, or until meringue is nicely browned. Allow to rest for at least 20 minutes before serving. Garnish with lime zest if desired.

Nutritional Estimate

This is a nutritional estimate, I do not claim it to be exact - although it is pretty close.

1 serving = 1 tartelette

Calories: 446
Carbohydrates: 61g
Fat: 21g
Protein: 6g
Fiber: 1g

New Love...

2009-06-21T08:01:00.000-07:00

For the first time there's a man other than my lovely husband that's got me wrapped around his tiny little fingers.

I've never felt the driving need to procreate that some women do. The pitter-patter of little feet and the scent of baby shampoo does little for me.

...or at least it didn't until I met him.

I still don't feel the push to start a family, but at least now I know how truly wonderful it can be.

Off to see the wizard...

2009-06-04T18:20:00.000-07:00

...or at least my brand new baby nephew.

I'll be incommunicado for the next few weeks as I help my lovely sister and her husband welcome their new baby boy into the world.

See you all soon!

Daring Cherry Strudel

2009-05-27T07:06:00.000-07:00

It's that Daring Baker time of the month again.

The May Daring Bakers’ challenge was hosted by Linda of make life sweeter! and Courtney of Coco Cooks. They chose Apple Strudel from the recipe book Kaffeehaus: Exquisite Desserts from the Classic Cafés of Vienna, Budapest and Prague by Rick Rodgers.

I'd never even thought of making a strudel before, so when I discovered that this month's challenge was just that I was quite happy. The rules for the challenge were fairly straightforward, we have to make the dough recipe from the selected cookbook but were free to decide what kind of filling we wanted.

I wasn't feeling super creative this month and I just happened to have bough some of the first fresh cherries of the season at the farmer's market, so cherry strudel it was. I halved and pitted the fresh cherries and used some crushed pistachio to give it some crunch.

The filling wasn't what intimidated me about making the strudel though, it was the dough. Although there isn't a great deal of it, the point is to roll it out as super thin as you possibly can so that there is layer upon layer of flaky, crunchy dough surrounding the filling - kind of like phyllo. The problem with this is that it requires a great deal of flat work space - ideally a large dining table.

However, the husband and I live like total college students and the only kitchen table we've ever had was commandeered to be the new computer desk for his gigantic computer when we moved to California. We do have a nice little table in the kitchen that we eat breakfast at on the weekends, but it's nowhere near the size one needs to roll out strudel dough.

My solution? Mini strudel.

It worked amazingly well. This dough is so supremely easy to work with it's kind of ridiculous. I was anticipating all sorts of headaches with this baby, even with only making strudel a fraction of the size of a normal one. I couldn't have been more wrong. It was like the dough was actively conspiring to help make this successful. Oh to have all my Daring Baker recipes go this well.

Linda has the recipe posted for the strudel and the traditional filling posted over at her blog, make life sweeter!, so if you're interested in trying it out yourself you can find it there.

If you're like me and don't have the space to roll out one enormous strudel, or you're too lazy - which is also like me, quite frequently - it's quite simple to make some mini strudels. This also gives one the opportunity to try out many different types of filling with only batch of dough.

My method for cherry-pistachio strudel:

Divide strudel dough into eighths, roll out as thinly as possible,

brush with melted butter, sprinkle with crushed pistachios,

top with part of cherry filling (which is merely a pound of pitted, fresh cherries tossed with a tablespoon of sugar), roll into a tight cylinder, and brush with more melted butter.

Bake at 400 F for about 15-20 minutes, or until golden brown, let stand for ten minutes, devour.

Easy as pie.

...or strudel.

Be sure to check out all the other Daring Bakers and their lovely creations this month at the Daring Bakers Blogroll.

Thai Sticky Rice With Mangoes (Khao Niao Mamuang)

2009-05-24T10:52:00.000-07:00

Sticky rice with mangoes is a Thai dessert often sold by vendors with street carts in the spring and early summer while mangoes are in season.

It's an incredibly simple dessert to make, given that one has the ability to steam the sticky rice properly, with only 5 ingredients.

First a note on sticky rice itself; sticky rice, also called glutinous rice, is a short grain rice that is widely cultivate in Southeast Asia. Although it is called glutinous rice, it does not contain any gluten. 'Glutinous' is used in the sense that the rice is sticky, unlike other varieties of rice that are dry and fluffy when cooked. Sticky rice is also frequently called sweet rice, waxy rice, and botan rice.

Additionally, while most rice (at least in the West) is boiled, sticky rice must be soaked for several hours and steamed. I use a traditional steamer that is available in many Asian stores and on Amazon.com that looks like this:

Water is put into the lower basin and set to boil, while the rice is placed in the steamer basket. Some prefer to wrap the rice in cheesecloth before putting it into the basket. I used to take this extra step, but once I realized that the rice easily releases from the basket and cooks exactly the same way I eliminated the cheesecloth. A lid from a pot (I use the lid to my 2 quart saucepan) is placed over the top of the rice to trap the steam in the basket. The water boils and steams the rice for about 20 minutes, and voila - sticky rice.

I imagine that one can use any type of steamer that uses this method to cook the rice, it doesn't have to be a traditional basket steamer. I've never attempted it any other way, but I'm sure that someone could McGyver up a method to make it work.

For this recipe, once the rice is steamed it is simply left to soak in a pot of warmed, sweetened coconut milk until it absorbs it all and then topped with chopped, ripe mango and some sesame seeds. It's one of my husband's favorite things to eat, and if I can remember to soak the rice (it must soak for at least 8 hours before steaming) I usually make it for him whenever I find mangoes on sale.

I've used regular coconut milk for this recipe, only because the commissary was out of lite coconut milk. Coconut milk is one of the only plant products that is extremely high in saturated fat. As such I have usually tried to limit our intake of coconut milk, but according to this article on Forbes.com, I may have the wrong idea about coconuts. All the talk about good fats vs. bad fats gets can be overwhelming - but apparently even though coconuts are high in saturated fat, it's a Medium-Chain Triglyceride that the body burns as it would a carbohydrate, for energy, instead of storing it, like normal saturated fat.

All that being said, this is a delicious and ridiculously easy dessert that's great for the mango season. I suggest trying it at least once, you may fall in love with it as we have.

Thai Sticky Rice with Mangoes (Khao Niao Mamuang)

Makes 6 servings (90g rice + 75g mango)

1 cup dry glutinous rice, soaked for at least 8 hours and then steamed over boiling water for 20-25 minutes
1 cup coconut milk
2 tablespoons sugar (preferably grated palm sugar, but white granulated will do)
2 mangoes, pitted, skinned, and chopped roughly
1 tablespoon sesame seeds

In a medium saucepan heat the coconut milk and sugar over med-low heat until hot, but not boiling. Reserve two tablespoons of the mixture, set aside. Place the still warm sticky rice into the coconut milk mixture, cover with lid, and let rest for 5 minutes or until all the liquid is absorbed by the rice. Serve rice with the chopped mangoes on top, drizzle the reserved coconut-sugar mixture over the mangoes and sprinkle with 1/2 teaspoon of sesame seeds.

Nutritional Estimate

This is a nutritional estimate, I do not claim it to be exact - although it is pretty close.

1 serving = 90g rice + 75g chopped mango + 1/2 teaspoon sesame seeds

Calories: 262
Carbohydrates: 43.5g
Fat: 9g
Protein: 3.5 g

Refried Beans

2009-05-23T20:01:00.001-07:00

I've always loved refried beans - they're filling and they're tasty - what can be bad about that, right?

As it turns out, refried beans are called refried because they are first cooked, then mashed and fried in lard/fat to give them their characteristically smooth, creamy texture.

Tell me the thought of that doesn't just totally skeeze you out. Beans frying in lard - not my idea of tasty fudz.

I decided that if I was ever going to eat refried beans again I had to develop my own method of making them. Turns out it's so easy that I'm pretty sure a trained monkey could actually do it.

Seriously, no exaggeration needed.

So, next time you've got a hankering for some tasty refried beans to add to your bean burrito, nachos, taco salad, etc. try this instead of loading up at your favorite Mexican joint.

Your arteries will thank you.

Refried Beans

Makes 4 Servings (1/2 cup/100 g)

1 (14 oz) can pinto beans, drained and rinsed
1/2 small yellow onion, chopped
2 garlic cloves, chopped
1 teaspoon olive oil
1/2 tablespoon chili powder
1/2 teaspoon cumin
kosher salt

Process the onion and garlic in a food chopper/processor until nearly pureed. If you don't have a food processor/chopper, throw on some sunglasses and chop until they're a super fine mince. Heat the olive oil over medium heat in a 2 qt. saucepan until it begins to shimmer. Add the onion and garlic mixture and cook until softened, about two minutes. Add the chili powder and cumin, mixing until evenly distributed. Add the drained, rinsed pinto beans and add enough water to cover the beans. Bring to a boil, reduce heat, and simmer uncovered until water has decreased by half. Mash beans with a potato masher until they resemble your desired level "refried-ness." If still too thin for your liking, let sit over med-low heat, stirring occasionally, until they are as thick as you like. Serve immediately, or store in refrigerator with plastic wrap pressed directly on surface of beans so as not to form a skin.

Nutritional Estimate

This is a nutritional estimate, I do not claim it to be exact - although it is pretty close.

1 serving - 1/2 cup/100 g

Calories: 81
Carbohydrates:15.5g
Fat: 1.5
Protein: 5g

Carnitas

2009-05-22T18:37:00.000-07:00

Pork is an amazing, wondrous meat.

I've often considered going vegetarian - for health and environmental reasons - but it's always pork that keeps me an omnivore.

I like it smoked, baked, braised, cured - you name it, I'll eat it. I could abstain from all other meats for the rest of my life, just leave me my delicious oinky friend and I'll be just fine.

That being said, I bought a whole pork loin a while back and have since been finding different ways to use it. Following in the steps of my lovely, frugal mother, whenever I see a sale on a protein I stock up. I'd portioned the loin into different sizes for different purposes and finally found myself with one last piece left - a 1.5 lb. roast.

I figured I'd just treat it like any other roast, but as I was perusing the interwebz looking for what to do with it I decided that I'd much rather have carnitas. I already had everything else in the house that I'd need to make a delicious latin-style meal, but was unsure how well the substitution of loin for shoulder would go.

Traditionally carnitas is made using a boneless pork shoulder, also known as a Boston Butt (god only knows how it became both a butt and a shoulder). It's browned in a dutch oven and then slow-braised at a low temp for several hours. When it's fork tender it's pulled apart so it can soak up the residual juices - and then depending on tastes you can throw it back in the oven without a lid for a while to crisp up, or keep it tender and soft.

Although pork loin has a minimal amount of fat, there's relatively little marbling - nothing in comparison to what a shoulder roast has got going on. Nevertheless, I figured it was worth a shot. If it goes horribly wrong we can always order pizza, right?

I am very happy to say that it turned out amazingly well. Surprisingly well. Shockingly well.

I could eat a whole damn pot of it given the time, opportunity, and exemption of weight gain from eating that much pork at once.

I am aware that this is not a traditional recipe. However it is delicious, it's lower in fat than the traditional style, and it's damn easy to make.

You should eat this.

Carnitas

Serves 4

1 1/2 lb. boneless pork loin
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
1/2 tablespoon chili powder
1 teaspoon cumin
1 (14 oz) can beef broth
2 garlic cloves, smashed and then minced
2 bay leaves
kosher salt

Preheat oven to 325 F.

In a large ovenproof skillet or dutch oven with lid, heat the two tablespoons oil over medium to medium-high heat. Season all sides of the pork loin generously with the kosher salt. Sprinkle the chili powder and cumin over all sides of the loin as well. Place the loin in the hot oil, and allow to cook, undisturbed, until it is browned. Repeat until all sides of the loin are browned, about 2-3 minutes each side. Pour in the beef broth, add garlic and the bay leaves. Cover with the lid and put in 325 F oven for two hours. After two hours check the loin, most of the liquid should be gone and it should be fork tender. If it is not, continue braising, checking every 30 minutes until it is. Using two forks, pull the meat apart and toss in the residual juices. If crispy carnitas is desired, return to the oven, uncovered, for 15-20 minutes or until the top is crispy. If not, serve as is with warmed tortillas and whatever condiments are preferred.

What do you do with a drunken sailor?

2009-05-17T16:33:00.000-07:00

Why save the wine corks of course!

Sadly the story behind my wine-cork cork board is not nearly so interesting as straying behind a meandering, intoxicated seafarer who willy-nilly casts about the stoppers of his preferred beverage, picking up each and dusting them off before attaching them to a board.

I'm lucky enough (or boring enough compared to the above example) to have relatives that truly enjoy this beverage of the gods. If it had been just me it would've taken years to accumulate all these corks.

Regular wine-drinker or not, I'm quite pleased with my creation. I saw a wine-cork cork board in a magazine spread on a house in Northern California and fell in love. Granted, theirs was outside and about 6 feet by 9 feet, but mine will do just fine.

It was really quite simple to make. A little tedious - and painful - but simple. Depending on the thickness of the frame you have you may have to cut each of the corks in half lengthwise so that they don't stick out too far. If you're smart, you'll go through the extra labor of finding a thick frame - I didn't, and after spending about two hours cutting corks in half yesterday morning the tendinitis in my right arm is about to kill me.

But, after collecting the corks and buying the frame, all that really needs to be done is arrange them in a suitable manner and glue them there.

Easy as pie.

Well, actually easier than pie depending on the pie.

If you like puzzles you'll really enjoy fitting the corks in and out in different shapes and designs. If you're like me and would rather gouge out your own eyes with a salad fork than solve a puzzle then the highest level of difficulty in design you'll get to is likely what you see here.

I'm so damn creative.

So get to that wine-drinkin' and save your corks. Then put them on the wall in a pretty way so people will admire your craftiness and forget that you're a lush and drank that many bottles of wine.

Lush.

Daring Ricotta Gnocchi

2009-05-16T19:04:00.000-07:00

Two and one half years after establishing the Daring Bakers, Lis of La Mia Cucina and Ivonne of Creampuffs in Venice have created a whole new outlet for my food addiction with the introduction of the Daring Cooks.

One could never think that these two ladies could be more lovely, but then they astound with you lovely notions such as this one.

The next few months of my life are going to be, in a phrase, completely effing insane. Nevertheless, I plan on participating and enjoying both groups and expanding and honing my cooking and baking skills through their gentle encouragement.

For the inaugural recipe, Lis and Ivonne chose a ricotta gnocchi recipe by Judy Rogers. The recipe is located in her cookbook, titled for her restaurant of the same name, "The Zuni Cafe Cookbook."

I've only ever had gnocchi once before - and to be completely honest I was less than impressed. When I discovered what the recipe was for this month I was vaguely disappointed, but still retained hope that ricotta based gnocchi - and those made by my own two hands - would taste better than the packaged gnocchi I'd tried previously.

I was pleased that this recipe was quite easy. The only time consuming portion is draining the ricotta of the excess whey to ensure a firm gnocchi. Considering that draining the ricotta requires little to no active participation on my part, I was even more pleased.

These gnocchi were most definitely better than the packaged kind I'd had before - no surprise there. I still don't think gnocchi will ever make its way onto my list of favorite foods - but at least I've got another recipe to add to my repertoire of things I can make that will usually impress other people.

I've included below both the recipe for the gnocchi and the helpful tips provided by Lis and Ivonne if you wish to try these out yourself. I highly recommend these for anyone who 1) likes gnocchi, 2) likes ricotta, 3) likes Parmesan (that's what they taste like mostly), or 4) has some spare time and feels like trying a recipe that's entertaining and relatively tasty.

I didn't get too crazy with my version of the recipe, though we were granted latitude in deciding what flavorings or sauces we wanted. I stuck with some good old Parmigiana-Reggiano, sauteed them in French butter, and sprinkled them with some freshly ground black pepper, a few shavings of the PR, and some fresh chopped chives. They were pretty tasty, though a little egg-y in my opinion - something I heard from many people who made this recipe.

Thank you to Lis and Ivonne for not only hosting the first month of the Daring Cooks, but also for creating a super-awesome group for people that are more comfortable with the stove-top portion of the oven. I can't wait to see what's going to get cooked up for next month...

Zuni Ricotta Gnocchi
From The Zuni Café Cookbook.

Yield: Makes 40 to 48 gnocchi (serves 4 to 6)

Prep time: Step 1 will take 24 hours. Steps 2 through 4 will take approximately 1 hour.

Tips:

- If you can find it, use fresh ricotta. As Judy Rodgers advises in her recipe, there is no substitute for fresh ricotta. It may be a bit more expensive, but it's worth it.
- Do not skip the draining step. Even if the fresh ricotta doesn't look very wet, it is. Draining the ricotta will help your gnocchi tremendously.
- When shaping your gnocchi, resist the urge to over handle them. It's okay if they look a bit wrinkled or if they're not perfectly smooth.
- If you're not freezing the gnocchi for later, cook them as soon as you can. If you let them sit around too long they may become a bit sticky.

For the gnocchi:

1 pound (454 grams/16 ounces) fresh ricotta (2 cups)
2 large cold eggs, lightly beaten
1 tablespoon (1/2 ounce) unsalted butter
2 or 3 fresh sage leaves, or a few pinches of freshly grated nutmeg, or a few pinches of chopped lemon zest (all optional)
½ ounce Parmigiano-Reggiano, grated (about ¼ cup very lightly packed)
about ¼ teaspoon salt (a little more if using kosher salt)
all-purpose flour for forming the gnocchi

Step 1 (the day before you make the gnocchi): Preparing the ricotta.

If the ricotta is too wet, your gnocchi will not form properly. In her cookbook, Judy Rodgers recommends checking the ricotta’s wetness. To test the ricotta, take a teaspoon or so and place it on a paper towel. If you notice a very large ring of dampness forming around the ricotta after a minute or so, then the ricotta is too wet. To remove some of the moisture, line a sieve with cheesecloth or paper towels and place the ricotta in the sieve. Cover it and let it drain for at least 8 hours and up to 24 hours in the refrigerator. Alternatively, you can wrap the ricotta carefully in cheesecloth (2 layers) and suspend it in your refrigerator for 8 to 24 hours with a bowl underneath to catch the water that’s released. Either way, it’s recommended that you do this step the day before you plan on making the gnocchi.

Step 2 (the day you plan on eating the gnocchi): Making the gnocchi dough.

To make great gnocchi, the ricotta has to be fairly smooth. Place the drained ricotta in a large bowl and mash it as best as you can with a rubber spatula or a large spoon (it’s best to use a utensil with some flexibility here). As you mash the ricotta, if you noticed that you can still see curds, then press the ricotta through a strainer to smooth it out as much as possible.

Add the lightly beaten eggs to the mashed ricotta.

Melt the tablespoon of butter. As it melts, add in the sage if you’re using it. If not, just melt the butter and add it to the ricotta mixture.

Add in any flavouring that you’re using (i.e., nutmeg, lemon zest, etc.). If you’re not using any particular flavouring, that’s fine.

Add the Parmigiano-Reggiano and the salt.

Beat all the ingredients together very well. You should end up with a soft and fluffy batter with no streaks (everything should be mixed in very well).

Step 3 Forming the gnocchi.

Fill a small pot with water and bring to a boil. When it boils, salt the water generously and keep it at a simmer. You will use this water to test the first gnocchi that you make to ensure that it holds together and that your gnocchi batter isn’t too damp.

In a large, shallow baking dish or on a sheet pan, make a bed of all-purpose flour that’s ½ an inch deep.

With a spatula, scrape the ricotta mixture away from the sides of the bowl and form a large mass in the centre of your bowl.

Using a tablespoon, scoop up about 2 to 3 teaspoons of batter and then holding the spoon at an angle, use your finger tip to gently push the ball of dough from the spoon into the bed of flour.

At this point you can either shake the dish or pan gently to ensure that the flour covers the gnocchi or use your fingers to very gently dust the gnocchi with flour. Gently pick up the gnocchi and cradle it in your hand rolling it to form it in an oval as best as you can, at no point should you squeeze it. What you’re looking for is an oval lump of sorts that’s dusted in flour and plump.

Gently place your gnocchi in the simmering water. It will sink and then bob to the top. From the time that it bobs to the surface, you want to cook the gnocchi until it’s just firm. This could take 3 to 5 minutes.

If your gnocchi begins to fall apart, this means that the ricotta cheese was probably still too wet. You can remedy this by beating a teaspoon of egg white into your gnocchi batter. If your gnocchi batter was fluffy but the sample comes out heavy, add a teaspoon of beaten egg to the batter and beat that in. Test a second gnocchi to ensure success.

Form the rest of your gnocchi. You can put 4 to 6 gnocchi in the bed of flour at a time. But don’t overcrowd your bed of flour or you may damage your gnocchi as you coat them.

Have a sheet pan ready to rest the formed gnocchi on. Line the sheet pan with wax or parchment paper and dust it with flour.

You can cook the gnocchi right away, however, Judy Rodgers recommends storing them in the refrigerator for an hour prior to cooking to allow them to firm up.

Step 4 Cooking the gnocchi.

Have a large skillet ready to go. Place the butter and water for the sauce in the skillet and set aside.

In the largest pan or pot that you have (make sure it’s wide), bring at least 2 quarts of water to a boil (you can use as much as 3 quarts of water if your pot permits). You need a wide pot or pan so that your gnocchi won’t bump into each other and damage each other.

Once the water is boiling, salt it generously.

Drop the gnocchi into the water one by one. Once they float to the top, cook them for 3 to 5 minutes (as in the case with the test gnocchi).

When the gnocchi float to the top, you can start your sauce while you wait for them to finish cooking.

Catch-up

2009-05-14T19:53:00.000-07:00

I cannot even begin to put into words how incredibly relieved I am to be finished with this semester.

This was one of the most academically challenging last few months of my life. When I started college the first time at 15 it was easier than the five courses I've been taking since February.

But I took my last final this morning...and I am free!

I'm taking summer semester off because I'm going to be spending a large chunk of June in Florida. My sister is having her first child and I am so excited to meet him that I could just scream.

Additionally we'll be moving. In July. We just don't know where to.

Tell me that's not stressful, eh?

In any event, I'll have plenty of time over the next few weeks to whip up some tasty treats to share with the 7 people who read this thing.

I'm going to attempt to make recipes that are as low-calorie as possible. While suffering through the hardest load of classes EVAR - I've also managed to lose 15 lbs. I'd like to lose 5 more before I make it to Florida in a couple weeks and then after that I'm hoping and wishing to lose another 10-15 lbs. I figure that I weighed 120 lbs. for a large portion of my adolescence and dammit I'm going to get there again.

Even if I go insane in the process.

Hopefully that won't happen. But I bet if it did my husband and I would still get along great. And by that I mean he's a crazy person (love you, honey!).

I lost the power cord to my camera's battery charger for about a week, so I wasn't able to take pictures of as many things as I'd like. I finally found it though and managed to grab a few shots of a childhood favorite of many...circus animal crackers!

And oh boy is it ever.

I remember my friends having these in their school lunches and being totally envious of them. My mother never bought these kinds of things for us when we were kids - she believed in us eating things that were actually good for us....lame-o. Every chance I got I'd try and trade at the lunch table for a couple of these babies.

After trying them again, courtesy of Foodbuzz, I'm quite sad to admit that my childhood tastebuds were horribly mistaken - they taste nothing of the delicious, sprinkle-covered awesomeness that I remember. More like someone dipped cardboard in sugar.

Boo.

At least they're still cute though.

I've also developed a distinct love for swiss chard in the last couple weeks. I'd never tried it before, although I've eaten just about every other green under the sun, and after my first exploration into the world of chard-y-goodness I am hooked!

It's particularly delicious sauteed up with mushrooms, shrimp, tomatoes, and cheese ravioli (tortellini in this shot - I ended up making it again a few days later but was out of ravioli).

I found that it is also delicious in baked penne. Though considering that the ingredients are largely the same it shouldn't have been too surprising. I'll blame it on the fact that my cognitive abilities have sunk to that of a goldfish after exercising my big juicy brain so thoroughly for the last few months.

And so concludes my update on the last few crazy, crazy weeks. I hope to be making a particularly tasty treat in the next few days for a particularly daring group - if you catch my drift.

Hasta luego, mi amigos.

See you soon...

2009-05-09T14:22:00.001-07:00

It's that finals time again folks...

I'll have my nose stuck in books for the next week brushing up on systems development, Kantian ethics, Piaget's development stages, and the AP style of documentation.

See you on the other side!

Daring Lime Cheesecake

2009-04-29T16:35:00.000-07:00

Hoo-boy did I drop the ball this month. I should've had this baby up a couple days ago. I'll resist from blaming it on homework (but it was homework's fault. stupid homework.)

The April 2009 challenge is hosted by Jenny from Jenny Bakes. She has chosen Abbey's Infamous Cheesecake as the challenge.

Jenny chose quite the delicious recipe, I will admit. It was a little too rich for me, so I did change it up a little bit.

I replaced the heavy cream with evaporated milk and halved the butter in the crust. I also replaced the extracts and flavorings in the original recipe with fresh squeezed lime juice and added lime zest to the graham cracker crust.

It was delicious.

I let myself eat two pieces before sacrificing it to the trash can gods.

I'm on a diet here, people. (Whoo - lost 12 pounds!) I can't be eating cheesecakes for weeks on end.

Which is how long I would've been eating it because I wasn't smart enough to halve the recipe.

This was a very good cheesecake. It was a very good recipe. Jenny was a great host. Be sure to check out her blog and the rest of the Daring Bakers on the Daring Bakers Blogroll.

Abbey's Infamous Cheesecake

crust:
2 cups / 180 g graham cracker crumbs
1 stick / 4 oz butter, melted
2 tbsp. / 24 g sugar
1 tsp. vanilla extract

cheesecake:
3 sticks of cream cheese, 8 oz each (total of 24 oz) room temperature
1 cup / 210 g sugar
3 large eggs
1 cup / 8 oz heavy cream
1 tbsp. lemon juice
1 tbsp. vanilla extract (or the innards of a vanilla bean)
1 tbsp liqueur, optional, but choose what will work well with your cheesecake

DIRECTIONS:
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (Gas Mark 4 = 180C = Moderate heat). Begin to boil a large pot of water for the water bath.

2. Mix together the crust ingredients and press into your preferred pan. You can press the crust just into the bottom, or up the sides of the pan too - baker's choice. Set crust aside.

3. Combine cream cheese and sugar in the bowl of a stand-mixer (or in a large bowl if using a hand-mixer) and cream together until smooth. Add eggs, one at a time, fully incorporating each before adding the next. Make sure to scrape down the bowl in between each egg. Add heavy cream, vanilla, lemon juice, and alcohol and blend until smooth and creamy.

4. Pour batter into prepared crust and tap the pan on the counter a few times to bring all air bubbles to the surface. Place pan into a larger pan and pour boiling water into the larger pan until halfway up the side of the cheesecake pan. If cheesecake pan is not airtight, cover bottom securely with foil before adding water.

5. Bake 45 to 55 minutes, until it is almost done - this can be hard to judge, but you're looking for the cake to hold together, but still have a lot of jiggle to it in the center. You don't want it to be completely firm at this stage. Close the oven door, turn the heat off, and let rest in the cooling oven for one hour. This lets the cake finish cooking and cool down gently enough so that it won't crack on the top. After one hour, remove cheesecake from oven and lift carefully out of water bath. Let it finish cooling on the counter, and then cover and put in the fridge to chill. Once fully chilled, it is ready to serve.

Lemon-Pepper Shrimp

2009-04-25T12:31:00.000-07:00

This is another recipe courtesy of my MiL (Marinating MiL? The MiL who marinades? hmmm...)

It's quite the quick and tasty treat, especially when grilled with some mushrooms. It was a rather nice recipe to break out the hibachi for the first time this year.

The only problem with using a hibachi is that they're such a pain to get lit it almost seems like a travesty to not use it for as much as possible while it's going.

Cue the s'mores and my healthy lemon pepper shrimp dinner soon turned into a rather disappointing calorie count for the day.

Nonetheless, this recipe is outstanding. Nice tanginess, a good deal of spice, but not too much.

I added a tablespoon of Dijon mustard.

It was yummy.

Lemon-Pepper Shrimp Marinade

1/2 cup lemon juice
1 tablespoone extra virgin olive oil
1 tablespoon fresh ground black pepper
1 teaspoon white pepper
4 teaspoons rosemary
2 teaspoons Worcestershire sauce

Mix and let shrimp marinate for at least one hour. Grill. Devour.

Wild Mushroom Agnolotti with Cognac-Cream Sauce and Baby Pea Shoots

2009-04-23T19:47:00.001-07:00

I hope I'm not starting to sound like a Foodbuzz broken record, but once again they've sent me a tasty treat to try and review. I promise, I'm not totally in their pocket!

This time I was sent a package of Buitoni Riserva Wild Mushroom Agnolotti to try. I'd been seeing the advertisements for this in Gourmet and Bon Apetit and was thinking of trying it out anyways.

I'm a marketing director's dream - show me enough pretty pictures and I'll try anything. I may not go back for seconds, but I'll at least try it once.

I'm notorious for watching TV (back when I had a TV) and after seeing an advertisement developing a huge craving for whatever they were advertising. It's pathetic really.

This time the product has lived up to the hype, though. The ravioli were truly outstanding - some of the best storebought ravioli I've ever had.

I actually just took a moment to google the other Foodbuzz blogger reviews and it appears that just about everyone likes them. We may sound brainwashed, but I assure you they really are quite impressive for a grocery store selection.

I know that next time I need a quick meal I'd be more likely to pick these up then the ravioli I've chosen in the past from the freezer section.

I must admit after first opening the package they didn't look all that fantastic, but they more than made up for it with flavor. I thought it was kind of silly that they promote it as 'wild mushroom' ravioli filled with cremini and portabello mushrooms. First of all, they're the exact same mushroom, merely at different stages of maturity. Secondly, they're both cultivated - not wild.

But, no matter. They were tasty. I won't complain anymore about silly marketing ploys.

I decided to participate in the contest Foodbuzz and Buitoni are holding for a sauce recipe, so I made a cognac-cream sauce with sauteed creminis and baby pea shoots. It's a simple recipe, very easy and quick to make, and has a pleasant complexity of flavor that really complements the ravioli.

Wild Mushroom Agnolotti with Cognac-Cream Sauce and Baby Pea Shoots

1 9 oz package Buitoni Riserva Wild Mushroom Agnolotti
3 tablespoons unsalted butter
1 medium shallot, minced
4 medium cremini mushrooms, sliced
50 ml Courvoisier, or other cognac (50 ml is one of those little airport size bottles, about 3 tablespoons)
1/2 pint heavy cream (not ultra-pasteurized)
baby pea shoots
kosher salt and fresh ground black pepper to taste

In a skillet over medium-high heat, melt the butter. Cook the shallots and mushrooms, stirring occasionally, until caramelized and cooked through. Remove the mushrooms to a separate plate, cover with tin foil to keep warm.

In the same skillet pour the cognac, be very careful if using a gas stove - the cognac will ignite if poured over the flame. Let the cognac boil until reduced by half. Add the cream all at once, bring to a boil stirring constantly. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Reduce by half.

Meanwhile, boil the pasta in salted water with 1 tablespoon of olive oil about 3-5 minutes, or until ravioli float to the top. Strain the ravioli and add to the skillet with the cream sauce. Allow to cook further for about 2 minutes.

Plate several ravioli, topped with half the cremini mushrooms and a generous handful baby pea shoots. Serve immediately.

Coconut Pancakes with Mango-Honey Compote

2009-04-22T20:28:00.000-07:00

I am procrastinating.

I don't wanna write another damn paper.

Ironically it's on chronic stress - apropos, eh?

Instead I will tell you about the coconut pancakes I made the other night.

They were outstanding.

My husband frequently sends me text messages about what he's decided he wants for dinner. Unless I've got something that requires a ton of preparation, I usually let him have his way.

This time he wanted pancakes.

For dinner.

I hate pancakes - what's the point of a simple, empty carb swimming in sugary syrup? The calories just aren't worth it to me.

But, for him I will make exceptions (and I'd eaten a huge Subway sandwich for lunch so I only ate what you see on the plate - not much of a sacrifice if you ask me).

He also loves coconut and mangoes - Thai sticky rice with mangoes is a menu staple in our house - so I decided I'd make coconut pancakes and incorporate the mangoes somehow. The only problem with making recipes with a lot of coconut is the exorbitant amount of saturated fat present in nearly all coconut products. One cup of coconut milk alone contains 45 grams of fat. As nihilistic as I have been in the past towards my arteries, I don't hate them that much.

Because I wanted to make the husband happy with coconut pancakes and mangoes I decided to use 2% evaporated milk with a teaspoon of coconut extract. Tastes like coconut with a mere fraction of the fat. Sounds like a win-win situation to me.

I'm not going to lie, I fudged on these pancakes. I had some Jiffy Baking Mix languishing in the drawer that I needed to use up - so I did. And they were still fabulous.

Fast, easy, and relatively low-fat coconut pancakes - if anyone objects to using a boxed mix they can feel free to just alter their own pancake recipe. This one is good.

Coconut Pancakes with Mango-Honey Compote

Makes 4 servings

2 cups Jiffy Baking Mix/ Bisquick Mix
1 egg, beaten
1 1/4 cups evaporated milk
1 teaspoon coconut extract
1 cup shredded coconut

1 mango, in small dice
1/4 cup honey
1/2 cup water

Make the compote:

Combine mango, honey, and water in a small saucepan. Cook over medium to low heat until mango is softened and falling apart and majority of liquid has evaporated.

Make the pancakes:

Combine all ingredients in a large bowl or pitcher - blend with whisk or immersion blender (immersion blender will chop up the coconut more). Cook over medium heat in a butter greased skillet for approximately 2 1/2 minutes each side, or until golden brown.

Serve with mango-honey compote. Garnish with micro or chopped mint if desired.

Apple Pie

2009-04-21T15:10:00.000-07:00

It is hot, hot, HOT here. Thankfully today it has cooled down to the 80s.

Oh yes, you read me right. 80s!

This is not a normal thing for the Central Coast. Do not the weather gods know that we wee mortals melt above 85?

Apparently not.

At least I'm getting a sweet tan so at least I won't look like the Pillsbury Dough Girl when I ditch CA for FL in 6 weeks.

Obviously when it's this hot out I am less than interested in turning on the oven for any reason whatsoever. I made this last week when it was a much more normal 65 degrees. Because even in the Spring we need a little bit of comfort food.

...or I can tell the truth, which is that I was plodding away on the treadmill for the second hour in the day and I was like, "You know what sounds good, self?"

And I replied, "Apple pie!"

Thankfully we were in agreement, and apple pie was made that night.

I'm not posting a recipe because I was totally lame and used my favorite store bought crust and I don't think combining a couple pounds of apples with 1/3 cup sugar, 1 tablespoon cinnamon, a sprinkle of cloves and allspice, and some fresh ground nutmeg qualifies as a real recipe. Unless of course I also add that you should bake it at 400 degrees for the first 20 minutes, reduce heat to 350 and bake 20 minutes further, tent with foil and cook ten minutes further.

Oh, and egg wash the pastry.

Voila!

That is so not a recipe.

Easter Lamb

2009-04-18T10:05:00.000-07:00

This marinade recipe comes courtesy of my Mother-in-law. Lamb is one of my favorite things to eat with her - well...and duck, and sushi, and risotto, and mussels...you get the picture.

She is quite the amazing cook, visiting her home is always a pleasant experience resplendent with fresh, new treats to explore and devour. Not to mention the outstanding wine I get to drink when I'm with her (being the only person who drinks alcohol in a household can make it difficult to explore new wines).

This marinade works as a tenderizing agent as well. I let my boneless leg of lamb soak in it for about 24 hours and it was truly divine after being pan seared. A little drizzle of olive oil and a squeeze of fresh lemon to finish and it was quite the Easter treat.

Spring Lamb Marinade

1/4 cup fresh lemon juice
3 tablespoons red wine vinegar
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
1 tablespoon fresh ground black pepper
1 tablespoon fresh, chopped rosemary
1/2 teaspoon salt
4 cloves minced garlic

Mix together well and let lamb soak for at least 4 hours and up to 24 hours.

Monterey Bay Sand Dabs

2009-04-11T19:07:00.000-07:00

I must admit after moving to Monterey I was curious about seeing Sand Dabs on menus at nearly every restaurant we visited. A sand dab, after all, sounds less than appetizing. It more conjures up thoughts of gritty shellfish than a mildly flavored, delicate fish.

Sand dabs are flatfish, like flounder, and are indigenous to the Pacific Ocean. They're very popular along the California coast and are considered a delicacy. They're not as popular elsewhere, though after trying them I can only assume it's because they're not available everywhere.

Last night I finally decided to try them out after being convinced by my local fishmonger. Unfortunately the only way I could get them was pre-breaded, but after a little fry in some olive oil and a squeeze of fresh lemon I'm thinking breaded may be the way to go when preparing sand dabs.

I really can't recommend them enough if you happen to be on the California coastline. They couldn't be simpler to prepare and they're so fresh you might as well be catching them yourself (obviously dependent upon where you buy them).

Off to the salt mines...

2009-04-09T19:08:00.000-07:00

You know what sucks about college?

Well, other than the outrageous tuition, ridiculous hours of homework, ungodly amounts of required reading, friggin' stupid as hell classmates, and unrealistic instructors.

Not having the time to make tasty treats and talk about them on the interwebz.

This Greek salad with sauteed shrimp is about as complicated as I've gotten in the last week or two. And I'm pretty sure no in is interested in reading about the various pizzas, burgers, and tacos we've consumed because I'm just way too damn busy to cook a decent meal every night.

I had midterms the last two weeks, a paper due this week, a paper due next week, one due the week after that, and an additional project due the week after that. Top it all off with a sadistic teacher that likes to assign at least 5 hours of reading each week (on top of the other work she assigns), plus all the normal homework that's due each week and I think my damn head is about to explode.

I'd like to let all my friends and family know that if I ever try to take this many classes in an abbreviated semester again, you have my permission to beat me about the head and face until I see reason.

Until that time when I again have a spare moment to make some tasty goodies and show off my mad cooking skillz (yeah right), please enjoy my favorite lolcat pictures.

If you've never seen or heard of a lol cat, go here: I Can Haz Cheezburger

Foodbuzz 24,24,24: Passionfish - Eating Green in Monterey County

2009-03-29T15:17:00.000-07:00

Our beautiful planet is groaning under the burden of supporting so many billions of people and our destructive practices. We slash rainforests, poison the oceans, pollute the air, and decimate entire species of animals – for a very long time without nary a thought to the implications those actions may one day have. We are now beginning to feel the effects of our callow disregard. The blinders of ignorance and indifference are slowly being shed, and awareness of the impact our actions have on the environment is growing quickly.

I doubt at this point there is a single soul in the developed world that hasn’t heard of the “green” movement. We’re greening light bulbs, house paint, carpet, and fabrics. We’re searching for alternative fuel sources (ethanol, biodiesel), eco-friendly energy (wind, solar, and hydro), and novel renewable resources (bamboo, corn, hemp). There seems to be nothing bypassed by the crusade of environmentalism, an admirable movement to be sure, and that includes the foods we eat, the wines we drink, and the places we frequent to procure them.

For those of us who dedicate a significant portion of our lives to food – the quest to find new ingredients and methods of preparing them, different breeds or varietals, heirloom this and artisanal that – we are equally dedicated to pursuing our passion in a manner that will not only satisfy our ever-longing palates, but will also sustain the planet for future generations. After all, we that love food often enjoy nothing more than sharing it with someone we care about – if we don’t preserve the planet we have, before long there won’t be anyone to share it with.

The greening of restaurants is just starting to pick up momentum, with little bistros and gastropubs popping up in their chic, planned neighborhoods – touting their eco-consciousness like it’s a banner of coolness. As much as I appreciate the push towards environmentally friendly practices, and no matter the motivation as long as it’s done properly, it seems that the environmental movement has picked up an air of pretentiousness as it’s grown.

Businesses are promoting themselves as eco-friendly to appeal to the consumers that think saving the planet is “the cool thing to do.” And while it most definitely is the cool thing to do, the arrogance of it can sometimes be overwhelming. It seems that the old refrain of reduce, reuse, recycle has turned into a popularity contest. But in the end, I do believe that most often the ends do justify the means. If you’re a business that’s reducing emissions and attempting to utilize more eco-friendly practices just because you think it’s going to increase your bottom-line or make your customers think you’re, “like, way hip, yo” then fine. Good for you. Save the planet because it makes you money or gets people to think you’re awesome. Whatever – just do it.

I do like the virtue behind motivations though. I much prefer to patronize business that don’t tout their sustainability as the hip new trend, but rather truly believe that it is the right thing to do. We live because of this planet, so we must keep constant vigil to ensure that she is healthy. Not because it’s trendy, but because we need her, alive and well, for all the generations that follow us.

Passionfish Restaurant in Pacific Grove, CA is one of these restaurants. Chef Ted Walter and his wife Cindy own and operate Passionfish in sleepy Pacific Grove, a small town on the Monterey Peninsula. Chef Walter is a classically trained French chef who traveled and cooked throughout France before returning to the United States. He has cooked in Lake Tahoe, New York and Carmel, establishing a prestigious reputation along the way. His exquisite cuisine has won the restaurant great attention. Passionfish holds a Zagat rating, has been awarded Wine Spectator’s Award of Excellence every year since 1998, and was named to the California Restaurant Association’s Hall of Fame.

Cindy Walter is active in the Monterey Bay community, raising awareness of harmful fishing practices and encouraging education in sustainable seafood. She is Vice President of the Monterey Chapter of the California Restaurant Association, is a member of the Women’s Chefs and Restaurateurs, and the Seafood Choice Alliance.

Although it wasn’t originally something they had planned on doing, Passionfish became Monterey County’s first official green restaurant, and is currently the only certified green restaurant listed on Monterey Bay Area Green Business Program’s web site. The criteria for achieving this title include “reducing water consumption, retrofitting lights and other equipment to conserve energy, reducing solid waste going to landfill by minimizing waste and recycling, and implementing practices that reduce pollution and protect worker safety.”

The requirements for a restaurant to become green are numerous and include the following:

• Reasonable effort must be made to promote the use of local, organic produce.
• Consult with the Monterey Bay Aquarium’s Seafood Watch advisory to adhere to sustainable seafood sources
• Conscientious maintenance of kitchen equipment to prevent grease from entering the sewers
• Reduce use of water in cleaning, e.g. no hosing down sidewalks, carpets, etc.
• Reduce use of toxic cleaning chemicals
• Encourage employees to carpool or take alternative transportation
• Reduce air pollution in at least two additional ways, e.g. streamlining vendor deliveries, patronizing vendors closest to business, encourage bicycling to work
• If there are more than 5 employees, gas and electricity usage statistics must be posted for employee viewing
• Upgrade at least ten electrical fixtures to reduce energy consumption, e.g. light bulbs, efficient HVAC, water conserving dishwasher, insulate hot water pipes, etc.
• Thermostats must be set at 76 F for cooling and 68 F for heating
• Reduce use of paper in at least 5 different ways, including reducing amount of paper mail that is sent to the restaurant
• Reuse or recycle as many materials as possible
• At least 3 paper products used in the restaurant must be recycled
• All water leaks must be repaired immediately and low-flow aerators must be installed to reduce water use
• Ensure that all landscaping irrigation devices are in working order at all times

This is just a brief overview of the many requirements for achieving green status in Monterey County – a stark contrast to the many restaurants I’ve worked in and patronized over the years. Most of the restaurants I worked in did none of these things to encourage an environmentally friendly and sustainable work atmosphere. Only one took efforts to recycle paper products and compost food waste. It’s actually rather shocking how wasteful most restaurants are.

Thankfully, not so with Passionfish. They’ve made these efforts and more, becoming a beacon of sustainability in the community. They frequently partner with Monterey Bay Aquarium in the annual Cooking for Solutions event. They also encouraged the aquarium’s Seafood Watch program to establish a program for restaurants, to increase awareness of sustainable seafood.

To learn more about the motivation’s behind the Walters’ approach to sustainable seafood, I contacted Cindy Walter with some questions about their inspiration and methodology at Passionfish.

Passionfish was the first "green" restaurant in Monterey County, what motivated you to pioneer such an effort?

"This wasn't something we intended to do. I have severe asthma and food
allergies. I have a really difficult time with heavy perfume, and many
cleaning chemicals. We began using vinegar for cleaning and I was
checking the labels on everything we used. When our hot water heater
quit we switched to an on demand hot water heater, which is much better for the environment and energy consumption. We needed new lights and worked to find lights that consumed the least amount of energy. When we painted, I looked for low VOC paints. And from day one we recycled as much as we could and re-used paper, printing on front and back for internal stuff. The Monterey Health Department created the Green Business Program and I applied. They were helpful by providing some more ideas for recycling and providing containers around the restaurant to help the staff. They have also been a go-between for the Waste company and I. I am also on the Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary and as I became more aware of the issues of water quality and the effects to our watershed, I became more diligent about the cleaning products we used."

What steps have been taken specifically to ensure that Passionfish is a sustainable, environmentally aware restaurant?

"All of the above, and our fish is purchased mostly from fishermen who are using traps or rod & reels. We do purchase from the Alaskan fisheries quite a bit, which are managed sustainably and we also purchase as much as we can from our local farmers who frequent the farmers markets. Our meats are from 'natural' ranchers, and that has taken a large amount of effort. Probably the hardest thing to do is source sustainable seafood."

Are there any foods or wines that are strictly forbidden at Passionfish and why?

"Seafood that is harvested by pelagic long lines, trawlers or gill nets(Tuna, Swordfish) and finfish farmed in the ocean. White Zinfandel :) The fish is obvious why we forbid it. Our oceans are in deep trouble, and 90% of the pelagic species have been removed. Long lines and gillnets are indiscriminate and trawlers are probably THE most destructive for of fishing created. Not only is it indiscriminate but it devastates the habitat. The wine? Well I guess we are just snobs about that. It’s the only wine I could think of that we would never even bring in or probably choose to taste. The staff loves true Rose but it’s a really tough sell."

(Two cheers for keeping White Zin off the menu!)

Are there any foods or wines that should be prominently featured in this article to promote awareness of sustainable seafood?

"Our local spot prawns are harvested by a fisherman in his 80's. He weaves the traps out of bamboo, and creates them so that the smaller, younger prawns can crawl out, therefore protecting the nursery. We love this little creature, and we are so thankful for a fisherman who has worked to sustain his harvest all these years. We also have sustainably farmed fish, such as Tilapia and Sturgeon. Many guests have never tasted Sturgeon and they are thrilled when they do. When you read our wine list you will notice some have this funny little emblem by them. We try hard to recognize wineries that are working to be sustainable. Perhaps they are using integrated pest management in the vineyard, or biofuels in their vehicles. Some are working hard to repair creeks that flow through their property, attracting trout, and steelheads back to the natural habitat. They are using natural fertilizers instead of nitrogen based ones. Those are the wineries that we want to bring attention to."

The Menu for the Evening

We enjoyed a wide variety of dishes at Passionfish, each unique and meticulously prepared.

To start off I ordered a half bottle of the 2006 Tablas Creek Vineyard Esprit de Beaucastel.

It was perfectly dry with hints of cherry and nutmeg - it paired superbly with the meal. It scored a 93 in Wine Spectator and I wholeheartedly agree with their decision. Tablas Creek Vineyard is entirely organic and received their certification in 2003. If they keep producing wine such as this, they'll have few problems getting more vineyards to jump on the organic bandwagon.

Our first course started with a Braised Kurobuta Pork Belly with Moroccan Carrots and Charmoula

Kurobuta is essentially Japanese raised Berkshire hogs - exquisitely tasty Japanese raised Berkshire hogs. The marbling is delicate and the short muscle fibers translate into an extraordinarily tender piece of meat. This pork belly was sourced from Snake River Farm in Idaho and was cooked to perfection. The fat was silky smooth, just melting on the tongue. Although I wasn't initially impressed with the Moroccan carrots, by the end of the dish I realized that it just wouldn't be complete without their tangy zing to add another layer of flavor.

Mussels steamed in a Spicy Tomato-Cilantro Broth

Prince Edward Island mussels in a perfectly seasoned broth of tomatoes and cilantro, with just the right amount of spicy kick to grab your attention. I think it would truly be a crime against all things good and holy to not sop up that broth with the amazing crusty bread they serve.

I had to have them taken away so I wouldn't dip the entire loaf of bread in the broth and ruin my appetite.

Grilled Shrimp in a Spicy Vietnamese Sauce with Lemongrass Slaw

These shrimp were grilled perfectly to retain the texture of the shrimp. Too often shrimp are cooked until they're rubber, but these were just barely opaque. The sauce was a little too spicy for my tastes, but the lemongrass slaw cooled it down perfectly. The shoots added an earthy coolness to help quench the heat, pairing perfectly with the daikon and red cabbage.

We then moved on to a meat course, of Kurobuta Pork Shank braised in Dark Beer with Apple Mustard and Baked Penne Pasta

The shank was braised to perfection and the greens that accompanied it made an ideal combination of flavors. I wasn't very impressed with the apple mustard, I thought it was much too sweet. The baked penne pasta was skillfully cooked, but disappointingly bland. Even with those minor detractions the shank was superb, and I'd definitely order it again. Perhaps without the apple mustard...

For a poultry course we enjoyed the Duck Confit with a Honey Reduction, Chipotle Potato Cake and Braised Fennel

I think this was one of my husband's favorite dishes - we're both huge fans of duck. The flavor was unparalleled, they really know what they're doing when it comes to French technique. The chipotle potato cake was delicious, just a hint of spice and perfectly creamy. My husband enjoyed the braised fennel and honey reduction with the legs, but they were a little too sweet for my tastes - though that's a matter of personal preference, they were immaculately prepared.

Before stating on the seafood I ordered a white wine to accompany it. Our server, Sara, recommended a 2007 Fumé Blanc from Grgich Hills Estate in Napa.

She was spot on (as she was about everything) - this wine went beautifully with everything. It was fruity with tropical notes, but still pleasingly dry - it was a little minerally too, but not overpoweringly so.

Grgich Hills Estate is certified organic and Biodynamic and the winery is solar powered.

For fish we decided to go with the Sturgeon with Coconut Rice, Sweet Potato Fritter, and Red Curry Vinaigrette

I have to say, very unfortunately, that this was the only thing we tried at Passionfish that I didn't like. The sturgeon was splendidly cooked and the sweet potato fritter was to die for, but the coconut rice was a little gummy (even for sticky rice) and the red curry vinaigrette was not very pleasant. I hate giving the thumbs down to any dish, especially at a place like Passionfish, but had I been dining here and this was the only thing I ordered I would be disappointed. The red curry vinaigrette was so overpowering, spicy, and tangy that it masked the flavors of everything it touched. The sturgeon, while a firm fish, is delicately flavored, so too was the coconut rice. The red curry vinaigrette just didn't suit, in my opinion.

My husband enjoyed it, after his tongue accustomed to the strong flavors. After a few bites to try everything I couldn't try it again - though I might give a limb to get the secret of that fritter.

Grilled Monterey Bay Spot Prawns with a Linguine-Cauliflower-Bacon Custard and Lemon Brown Butter

These were some of the most amazing things I've seen. They're enormous - practically the size of a small lobster without the claws. I had no idea we had anything so beautiful and tasty right in our bay - almost makes me want to go for a swim.

The spot prawns have the most exquisite flavor - like a cross between lobster and prawn. They were sweet and tender, perfectly cooked and absolutely the highlight of the meal. They were a bit messy, I had to break them down myself to get at the delicious flesh, but it was oh so very worth it.

When I picked one up I discovered a lovely surprise, the chef had packed the cavity with the roe.

The roe was delicious, tiny and tender - with a delightful little pop as they crushed between the teeth. They had the most splendid flavor of the sea, with just a little bit of saltiness. I'd take these over salmon roe any day of the week!

I was very glad that I saved these for last. Unfortunately our server told us the season is coming to a close for spot prawns so I probably won't get to order them again (we're leaving Monterey this summer), but I am so happy I was able to try this regional treat at least once. I refrained from sucking the heads, though - that's one thing I cannot stomach.

I have to admit the lemon browned butter is a tad superfluous. It covers up the flavor of the prawn a little too much.

To finish we moved onto dessert. My husband had the Mint and Espresso Mud Pie with Chocolate Sauce and Walnuts

He enjoyed it quite thoroughly, devouring the whole thing in a surprisingly short time. I tried it, but I'm not a huge chocolate fan so it didn't exactly ring my trolley.

I had the Grapefruit Panna Cotta with Grapefruit and Vanilla Citrus Sauce

It was exquisite. Light, refreshing, perfectly creamy. It was set just right and topped with a candied kumquat peel. It was silky smooth with just the right amount of tang to it. The only improvement may have been taking the grapefruit juice through a chinoise before setting the panna cotta to improve the texture, but even so I'd order a dozen of these and stuff myself silly.

All in all Passionfish is a gem - I wish that I had discovered it much sooner. They have taken great pains to not only explore the bounty of the earth with their outstanding menu, but also to preserve that bounty, so that others may benefit from it as well. It is a high standard for other restaurants who wish to emulate them, not only in their environmental practices, but also in their quality as a restaurant. The food is amazing, the service impeccable. I cannot wait to visit again soon.

Thank you to Foodbuzz, for giving me the opportunity to do this. Thank you to Cindy Walter, for letting me pick your brain over Passionfish's origins and intentions.

The Pork Dubliner - or a Kerrygold Irish Cheese Review

2009-03-27T21:21:00.000-07:00

Once again it's time for another product review compliments of Foodbuzz and Kerrygold. This time I tried the Reduced Fat Aged Cheddar and the Dubliner cheeses. I am not going to bother posting anything about the aged cheddar - my momma always said that if I didn't have anything nice to say, not to say anything at all. Or at least I think she did...

The Dubliner, on the other hand, was quite the treat. It reminded me of a cross between manchego and pecorino cheeses - quite nice for grating over a salad, or in this case, crusting a pork loin.

After trying this out, and looking at the photographs, it looks more like a chicken parmesan than I realized. The taste, however, is quite different.

I took a 5 oz. slice of pork loin, egg washed it, crusted it in finely grated Dubliner cheese, pan seared it, then set it to bake at 375 for 12 minutes with a few tablespoons of roasted red bell pepper spread and some goat cheese. It was insanely delicious.

This Dubliner cheese is surprisingly good for just about anything one would use parmesan or romano cheese, with a nice tangy little kick to it. If you're a fan of sheeps milk cheeses I bet you'll love it. It also pairs nicely with tart apples and figs. Go figure.

Try some out, I bet you'll like it.

Thanks Foodbuzz and Kerrygold for letting me try this out!

Lemon Curd French Toast with Minted Strawberries

2009-03-23T21:55:00.000-07:00

I was originally going to title this post "What do do when your cake collapses" but the end result was simply too amazing to ignore.

I've been noticing a ton of French Yogurt Loafs traipsing around the food blogosphere lately and it piqued my curiosity enough to try it out. From what I'd read it was similar in taste and texture to pound cake, but with a fraction of the fat and calories - sign me up, eh?

Unfortunately it collapsed like one of those fainting goats as soon as I pulled it out of the oven.

Bummer.

It had great flavor, but it was dense and chewy where I wanted it to be light and fluffy...or at least fluffier.

As husband and I were chewing on a piece, and he was mentioning that I don't have great success with cakes (gee, thanks babe), I decided that this would make delicious French toast. As I was pulling the eggs out of the fridge last Saturday morning to make said French toast, I noticed a jar of calamansi curd I'd made a little while ago, canned, and stuck in the fridge door.

Cue lightbulb flickering over head.

This was one of those ideas that's either going to end as a tasty and amazing treat, or with me furiously fanning the damn smoke detector hoping it will shut the hell up.

It was outstanding.

Seriously the best French toast I've ever had in my life. I honestly believe that it is worth it to make the yogurt loaf just to have this French toast again - and I'm a very lazy person, so that's sayin' something.

Lemon Curd French Toast with Minted Strawberries

Serves 2 (One hungry, one not so hungry)

6 slices yogurt loaf ( I used this recipe but converted it to vanilla bean instead of peach)
3 eggs, beaten
2 tablespoons lemon curd
2 cups sliced strawberries
1 tablespoon chopped fresh mint leaves
1 teaspoon lemon juice
1 teaspoon sugar
1/2 cup vanilla yogurt, divided

In a shallow pan mix the lemon curd and beaten eggs until thoroughly combined. Set the slices of yogurt loaf to soak for ten minutes, flip and let soak another ten minutes. Meanwhile, in a small bowl combine the strawberries, mint, lemon juice and sugar. Toss to combine and set aside. Heat a pan, and cook the soaked slices of yogurt loaf until golden brown on each side and set throughout. Set three slices each on two plates, top each with one cup slices strawberries and 1/4 cup vanilla yogurt. Embrace the awesomeness.

Spinach Stuffed Chicken Legs with Dubliner Cheese

2009-03-20T21:41:00.000-07:00

I think it's pretty obvious by now that just about everyone is trying to cut back expense-wise. In all honesty it's about damn time - our country has become way too spoiled and wasteful.

On that cheery note, let's talk about how we can cut back on one of the many things that interests me - the grocery bill. Right now there are blogs-a-plenty offering recession-savvy dining tips on how to cut back on your dining excesses:

*Eat beans and rice, lentils, quinoa, etc.

*Stop buying all that processed garbage for your kids, they don't need to be eating it anyways.

*Drink water instead of the sodas and bottled drinks.

*Pay attention to what you're actually eating.

*Look for bargains at the grocery store.

It's that last one that seems to work the best for me. Mr. TA and I already eat plenty of beans, rice, quinoa and the occasional lentil. We rarely buy anything processed or from the freezer section (except fish and edamame), we keep only milk, fresh-brewed iced tea, orange juice, and coffee in the house for drinking, and I plan each week on a menu.

That really only leaves me with shopping the occasional sale at the grocery store to cut back anymore on cost. Of course, I'm sure many people out there are in the same boat.

However, when the item on sale is a whole chicken or chicken leg quarters, many people pass because they either don't like dark meat or are intimidated at the thought of trying to bone something. This is really unfortunate, because when times are as tough as these people need to pinch pennies everywhere they can. And buying a package of leg quarters at 60 cents per pound is exceedingly cheaper than boneless skinless thighs at $2.19 per pound - and don't even get me started on $5.99 per pound for boneless skinless breasts. Plus, if you do decide to bone the chicken you can save the bones in a bag in the freezer for making chicken stock. Win-win, baby.

So, dissecting the two main reasons for why people won't buy something as tasty as chicken leg quarters:

Don't like dark meat/Thigh and leg meat is more fattening than boneless skinless breasts - OK, fair enough, you don't like dark meat. Meh, I doubt you can taste the difference in soups, pot pies, pastas, etc. Stop being a big baby and save some money already. As for the fat content debate, it's true - dark meat has more fat than white meat. Just keep in mind that a thigh-leg portion weighs on average about 6 oz. I've seen many a chicken breast weigh over 14 oz. If you're allotting one chicken breast per family member not only are you wasting the meat by serving enormous portions that no one in their right mind should finish, but the health benefits of the low-fat breast are outweighed by the fact that you're scarfing down more than twice as much meat. Period.

Now for the second reason: intimidated by deboning? Easy-peasy. Let me show you how.

First, use a very, very sharp knife. It sounds backwards, but using a sharp knife is much safer than using a dull one. Now that you've got your sharpest knife in hand, don't shank yourself.

Don't worry, this is much easier than it appears. (Not the shanking, the boning.)

Start with your leg quarter:

Cut through the skin and tissue right at the end of the leg bone (the part you hold on to when eating a fried chicken leg). Slice all the way around the bone.

Use your knife to slit the skin on the underside of the leg. The skin will peel back nice and easy down the entire piece of meat, usually with just a little coaxing from the knife here and there to release the skin.

Peel all the skin off and release it around the edges with your knife. The end result will be this:

Next, flip the whole piece over and slice down the underside of the leg bone like so:

Open up the skin around the leg and slice down each side, freeing it from the bone:

Now, slip the tip of your knife behind the bone and run it down until you hit the joint, releasing the meat entirely from the leg bone:

Now, slice under the leg joint and locate the thigh bone with your finger tips. Run the tip of your knife down the length of the thigh bone towards the bottom of the piece, like this:

Keep sneaking around until you hit where the thigh bone connects to the rest of the body:

After that, lift up the leg bone, cut underneath the leg joint and along the bottom of the thigh bone until you come out clean on the other side:

Now you can pop all the bones out of the meat and slice any residual cartilage left on. Now is the time to trim all the excess fat off the meat too.

You'll be left with an underside that looks like you chewed it from the bone,

But the top will be nice and neat,

Ta da! You've just deboned a chicken leg quarter! That wasn't hard at all, was it?

I usually like to buy several package of the leg quarters when they go on sale, spend a half hour or so deboning them and then throw them in the freezer in packages appropriate for the sizes of meals I typically make.

Now you can use the meat for all sorts of things, soups, stews, quesadillas, pot pies, pastas, skewers - you name it, you can do it.

My favorite thing to do with chicken legs though is to stuff them. Gordon Ramsay has a delicious recipe I've tried out before, for Sausage Stuffed Chicken Legs . This time I took a slightly more healthful approach and stuffed the legs with pastrami, spinach, and KerryGold's Dubliner cheese.

It was delicious.

Let me show you how.

First, lay out a sheet of foil and season it with a little salt and pepper. Lay out your boned leg quarter.

Top it with a couple pieces of pastrami,

Next comes some spinach sauteed with a little shallot,

Now for the sticks of Dubliner,

Now start the rolling. Roll it onto itself like a jellyroll, then grab the foil to keep it tight:

Wrap it up into a tight little package and twist the ends real tight.

Now you're going to poach this in a pot of boiling water for twenty minutes.

Pull them out and let them cool off for a minute or so and peel off the foil.

Brown them in a hot skillet with a little melted butter and then slice on the diagonal to serve.

Whoever said eating cheap couldn't taste good?

Plus a thank-you to Foodbuzz for supplying me with plenty of KerryGold cheese to try out for St. Paddy's.

Update....

2009-03-18T21:05:00.001-07:00

I took a brief break from my studies and meandered out to Death Valley with a friend for a few days.

While I was there I decided this mountain needed climbing.

If you look real hard you can find me.

I'll be returning shortly to making tasty treats and telling you about them.

Right after I finish the paper that's due on Friday...

Fresh Spring Rolls

2009-03-08T09:47:00.000-07:00

Oh Fresh Spring Rolls, are you Thai? Are you Vietnamese? Are you some sort of creation thought up by crazy Americans and passed off as authentic Asian cuisine? Tell me your secrets!

Though I have no idea where these tasty treats hail from, and after at least three minutes of exhaustively googling them I came up with no conclusive evidence, I still love them. The first time I had them was on one of my first dates with Mr. TA before we got married. He really likes Asian cuisine, all kinds, and he took me to this really cute little Thai place in Washington. We had Phad Thai, Chicken Satay, Mangoes with Coconut Sticky Rice, and Fresh Spring Rolls. Everything was delicious and Mr. TA and I were well on our way to everlasting mushiness - or more typically driving each other as crazy as possible. We like to keep things fresh.

So, more importantly, fresh spring rolls are a rice paper wrapper filled with lettuce, an assortment of herbs, chicken, and shrimp. Many recipes also require the addition of other vegetables like carrots or cabbage and many times noodles are added. I prefer to stick to the style we first had on our date, so I use only lettuce, basil, cilantro, mint, chicken, and shrimp. Top it off with some out of this world peanut sauce and you're good to go.

Speaking of peanut sauce, talk about a crapshoot when you're looking for a good recipe, eh? I've made peanut sauce countless times, and I've never been quite satisfied with any of them. They're either too sweet, too peanutty, too spicy, or too oily. I like my peanut sauce to contain a myriad of flavors - heat, sweetness, spice, and of course the peanuts. It needs to blend effortlessly into a flavor that complements the dish it's adorning, not covering it up. Peanut sauce isn't really an Asian creation (invented by crazy Westerners), so it's little surprise it's now basically the Asian ketchup. We throw it on everything, and instead of adding an additional level of flavor, it masks everything else until all we can taste is the peanut sauce.

I'll pass.

That's why I attempted to create my own recipe completely from scratch. Usually when I attempt something like this it ends in an Epic FAIL. This time, it actually worked. It's the best peanut sauce I've ever had - restaurant or otherwise. It was one of those recipes that as I was mixing everything I knew that it was either going to be the most amazing thing I've ever created - or lump of goo not fit for the neighbor's cat that keeps pooping in my flower beds.

And believe me, at this point I'd feed that cat all sorts of weird crap. That's right, poop in your owners house - not my chrysanthemums.

I've heard that working with some Asian ingredients and techniques can be a little intimidating for some, so I've included some step-by-step photos to guide through the process. They're really so simple, I can't think of any reason for not trying them.

Fresh Spring Rolls

Makes 6

For the Rolls:

6 sheets rice spring roll wrapper (available at any Asian market)
6 leaves green or red leaf lettuce (romaine and iceberg are too firm, they may tear the wrapper)
1 cup cilantro leaves
1 cup mint leaves
1 cup basil leaves
12 shrimp (preferably 25-30 ct.), raw, shelled and deveined
10 oz chicken (1 medium boneless, skinless breast), cut into small strips about 1 oz each
4 tablespoons butter, divided

For the Peanut Sauce:

1/2 cup smooth peanut butter
1 teaspoon red curry paste
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon palm sugar, grated
1/2 tablespoon rice vinegar
1/3 cup coconut milk

In a heavy bottomed skillet over medium-high heat melt two tablespoons butter. Add the shrimp, season to taste with salt and cracked pepper. Cook until pink and opaque throughout. Remove from skillet and set aside to cool. Melt the remaining two tablespoons butter and add the chicken strips. Cook completely. Remove from skillet and set aside. Turn off the heat, but keep the pan on the burner (gas stoves may require lowest flame). Using the residual heat, melt the peanut butter for the peanut sauce, in effect deglazing the skillet with the peanut butter. Add remaining ingredients, combine thoroughly and let meld for at least two minutes - adjust to taste if necessary. Remove from skillet into a ramekin or other small dish and set aside.

For assembling the rolls:

Start with your rice wrappers

This is what they look like when they're dry, out of the package

In a wide, shallow dish ( I use a large pie plate) fill halfway with hot water (from the tap is fine). Soak the wrapper for about 45 seconds, lift it out of the water carefully and let excess water drip off. Now it will look like this:

A quick tip, dry to keep your work area as dry as possible. It needs to be moist, but if the area is soaking wet the wrapper will stay soaking wet too - and it needs to start to dry out a little as you're working or when you start the rolling it will be too slippery to stick to itself. Keep a kitchen towel handy and wipe down the surface after every roll.

Start the assembly by placing two cooked shrimp, side to side in the center of the wrapper.

On top of the shrimp, layer the herbs in equal amounts and top with a strip or two of the cooked chicken.

Top with a lettuce leaf. Now, start to roll it like a burrito. Flip the edge nearest you over the top of filling, pull taught, and fold in each side.

Now just keep rolling until it's sealed.

If you're awesome you end up with the shrimp showing through the top of the wrapper. However, I am not awesome, and after rolling all six of mine I still didn't get one to work properly - so they look all plain and boring like this:

Now you're all finished. You can serve them whole or cut on the diagonal.

Top with the peanut sauce, but not too much...

Now devour at will.

True Delights - A Fancy Granola Bar?

2009-03-07T14:19:00.000-08:00

I never thought I'd see a granola bar that was trying to appeal to the ritzy crowd. A granola bar "puttin' on airs" if you will.

Until Quaker decided to come out with their True Delights chewy granola bars. Foodbuzz, awesome people that they are, sent me a sampling to try out before they hit the shelves. Of course, that was a while ago, and now I'm sure you're seeing them on the shelves of every major grocery store. I went to the store this morning to get some brown rice and bananas (put 'em together with some almond milk, yum) and was asked by two different sample ladies if I wanted to try them.

I figured it was about time I posted my review.

And no, I'm not getting paid for this.

Other than six free granola bars.

It typically takes a lot more than six granola bars to get me at say something I don't think.

It takes at least eight.

I do these reviews not for personal gain, but because I assume there are more people out there like me that wouldn't mind hearing a realistic opinion of a mass marketed product - not the marketing blurb the multi-billion dollar conglomerate pays thousands to have thought up by a room of marketing chimps. No offense, Quaker. But how does your product really rate?

I always like to see products as they truly are, without the benefit of some food stylist primping and fluffing each grain or basting with oil to appear moist - I want to know what it looks like when I take it out of the package. That's why I included photos of something as mundane as a granola bar. The fun part is comparing them to the manufacturer's photos.

These weren't so bad, to be completely honest. Definitely not a disappointment like this.

Toasted Coconut Banana Macadamia Nut

I actually didn't get the opportunity to try this one. Mr. TA scarfed them both down before I had the chance to get a taste. When I asked him what he thought of it today he replied,

"It tasted like banana…and macadamia…nut. It was pretty good."

Considering not much gets the "It was pretty good" stamp of approval, I'm going to say it was better than your average granola bar.

And in comparison, the manufacturer's photo

Honey Roasted Cashew Mixed Berry

I actually really liked this one. It was a little salty, the fruit is a little too sweet, but you can make out the flavor of the berries. The saltiness really helps counter the sweetness, something not many granola bars take into consideration.

Mr. TA said, "Eww. Tastes like syrup."

I'd actually consider buying a box of these for a post-gym snack. They do only have 140 calories after all. That goes a long way in my book.

And in comparison, the manufacturer's photo:

Dark Chocolate Raspberry Almond

This one was alright - and just alright. I'm not a huge fan of chocolate but I really think it could use some more chocolate. The raspberries don’t taste like raspberries – just dried fruit of some indiscriminate flavor. All around this one was not my favorite.

Mr. TA said, "It tastes like a chocolate granola bar – but like with some berries and s*** in it."

How eloquent, that husband of mine.

And in comparison, the manufacturer's photo:

Verdict?

Pretty good all around. Mr. TA really like the Toasted Coconut Banana Macadamia Nut, even if it does take three minutes to say the name of it. I enjoyed the Honey Roasted Cashew Mixed Berry - at least I probably wouldn't kick it out of bed for eating crackers.

As far as the photos go, obviously a professional photographer is going to kick the respective butts of my puny little wannabe amateur photos. And in all fairness they don't look too far off, you know, beyond the expensive camera, professional lighting, and all around way-better-than-me-at-this-ness. I wouldn't be appalled unwrapping these babies after bringing them home from the grocery store, and that's really all that matters in my book.

Thanks for the chance to try the new stuff Foodbuzz and Quaker.

Almond Pancakes with Honey Cream and Raspberries

2009-03-04T19:32:00.000-08:00

It's been an interesting week. Assignments I think will be a breeze take all damn day, trips to the grocery store are punctuated by driving half-way there and realizing I forgot my wallet - oh, and my computer died a horrible and painful death.

At least I'm assuming it was horrible and painful, empirically I don't know, but it sure looked like it. There I was minding my own business, playing some super-fun video games in a rare moment of free time and ker-ploop - there goes my computer. Pretty blocks of color and flashing oddness of screens occurred.

I hope it gets fixed.

I like my computer.

Because until it's fixed or we get a new one I'm stuck using our old crazy laptop from like, forEVAR ago. You know, when dinosaurs roamed the earth and all that. (Or the early 2000s....something like that.)

This laptop has all sorts of quirks - even aside from the gigantic skull and crossbones emblazoned across the top (which I found out while Mr. TA was away in the sandbox attracts lots of men in coffee shops, apparently it makes you look like some hawt haxx0r chick). It does fun things like attach random l's each time you type a k. I say random because sometimes it's one, sometimes none, sometimes five. Which wouldn't be too annoying, except that a majority of my passwords have a 'k' in them.

Oh yeah. And you know how they block it out with a series of dots when you're entering your password? It makes logging into everything a real pain in the ass.

Wanna see how it works?

"The kllitten lickled the kitchen floor while attackllling a klite string."

Fun, huh?

Enough of my technological woe. On to the food!

Tonight I made some pancakes (pancakles, to be exact), except because I can't stand traditional pancakes (too soggy and boring) I used almond meal instead.

Was it delicious?

You bet yer ass it was.

(Except don't really bet your ass, you never know who might win it. And that could make for awkward bathroom time later in life...you know what I mean?)

The pancakes are nearly entirely comprised of almond meal, with just a half cup of whole wheat flour to bind them together. Topped with honey sweetened whipped cream, fresh raspberries, and a sprinkling of fresh mint they were a touch of spring in a very dreary week of rain and gray skies.

Mr. TA added some pure maple syrup to his, but that's just because he wants to make friends with Diabetes.

You do what you want.

Almond Pancakes with Honey Cream and Raspberries

Makes 7 medium sized pancakes.

1 2/3 cup almond meal/flour (I used Bob's Red Mill.)
1/2 cup whole wheat flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 1/8 cup milk (I used skim.)
1 egg
2 tablespoons sugar
2 tablespoons melted unsalted butter.
pinch salt

1/2 cup heavy cream
1 tablespoon honey

fresh raspberries
fresh mint, chopped fine

In a large pitcher combine first 8 ingredients, use an immersion blender to mix. Let sit for 5 minutes to thicken a bit. Meanwhile, heat a skillet over medium heat and whip honey and whipped cream together until stiff peaks form. Refrigerate until needed. Using butter or oil to grease the skillet cook pancakes one at a time over medium-low heat until batter is gone - keeping finished cakes in the oven on warm. Top pancakes with a generous dollop of honey cream, fresh raspberries, and a sprinkle of chopped mint.

Daring Flourless Chocolate Cake

2009-02-28T08:38:00.000-08:00

Do you know what time it is?

I think so, but how are we going to make pencils that taste like bacon? Or maybe we should make bacon that tastes like pencils? (Narf.)

(Ten points to anyone who understands that.)

It's Daring Bakers time!

The February 2009 challenge is hosted by Wendy of WMPE's blog and Dharm of Dad ~ Baker & Chef.
We have chosen a Chocolate Valentino cake by Chef Wan; a Vanilla Ice Cream recipe from Dharm and a Vanilla Ice Cream recipe from Wendy as the challenge.

The flourless chocolate Valentino was mandatory, the ice cream encouraged but not required. Thank goodness, because I just did not have enough time this month to make ice cream. I don't have an ice cream machine and between spending nearly the first half of the month in Florida and the last half of the month with my nose buried in text books, I just didn't have the time.

Which is unfortunate, because I really wanted to try it out.

I'm sure I'll get there eventually.

I've always been intrigued by the mechanics of flourless cakes - it just doesn't seem right that delicate, wispy egg whites should be able to support such a heavy ingredient like chocolate. But they do, and they do so quite nicely. It creates a cake that veritably melts on the tongue. One of the best aspects of making a cake like this is the amount to which the chocolate is showcased. It's not masked or disguised with other flavors - the cake will taste exactly like the chocolate used.

This is all great and lovely if you are a huge dark chocolate fan, but I'm not. I was unsure of how to proceed until I had a great epiphany - mint chocolate! I love dark chocolate and mint together. And oh boy was it delicious.

It was like eating a slice of those Andes mints. Pure heaven.

If you've ever entertained the idea of making a flourless chocolate cake but haven't because it sounded too difficult or intimidating - try this recipe. I'm the worst whipped egg white folder in the universe and it worked perfectly for me. It's probably one of the easiest things I've ever made.

A big thanks to Wendy of WMPE's blog and Dharm of Dad ~ Baker & Chef for such a fun and novel challenge. Of course a big thanks to our lovely founders, Lis and Ivonne.

Please be sure to check out all the other Daring Bakers to see their amazing creations this month too.

Chocolate Valentino

Preparation Time: 20 minutes

16 ounces (1 pound) (454 grams) of semisweet chocolate, roughly chopped
½ cup (1 stick) plus 2 tablespoons (146 grams total) of unsalted butter
5 large eggs separated

1. Put chocolate and butter in a heatproof bowl and set over a pan of simmering water (the bottom of the bowl should not touch the water) and melt, stirring often.
2. While your chocolate butter mixture is cooling. Butter your pan and line with a parchment circle then butter the parchment.
3. Separate the egg yolks from the egg whites and put into two medium/large bowls.
4. Whip the egg whites in a medium/large grease free bowl until stiff peaks are formed (do not over-whip or the cake will be dry).
5. With the same beater beat the egg yolks together.
6. Add the egg yolks to the cooled chocolate.
7. Fold in 1/3 of the egg whites into the chocolate mixture and follow with remaining 2/3rds. Fold until no white remains without deflating the batter.
8. Pour batter into prepared pan, the batter should fill the pan 3/4 of the way full, and bake at 375F/190C
9. Bake for 25 minutes until an instant read thermometer reads 140F/60C.

Note – If you do not have an instant read thermometer, the top of the cake will look similar to a brownie and a cake tester will appear wet.

10. Cool cake on a rack for 10 minutes then unmold.

Tupelo Honey Glazed Roasted Chicken

2009-02-27T13:49:00.000-08:00

I love honey. I always have.

When I was very young my family lived in an agricultural community in Northern Washington. We lived on a defunct raspberry farm surrounded by strawberry, blueberry, and raspberry fields, dairy farms, hazelnut orchards - and only a few miles away from a great uncle who kept bees.

There are few things I remember more fondly about food in my childhood than a bowl of fresh raspberries from the back yard and a bowl of fresh milk - maybe with a sprig of mint - or a piece of still warm from the oven bread slathered with my great uncle's raw honey.

Just thinking about it makes my mouth water.

So started a life long love affair with honey, whether it was used as a sweetener, a flavoring agent, or just eaten out of a jar (not that I would ever do that) I'm always game to eat some honey. Kind of like Winnie the Pooh I guess.

I like it in tea, in yogurt, on cakes or in cookies. The more varied kinds of honey the better - orange blossom, clover blossom, spiked with cinnamon or infused with berries. So it was with great anticipation that I bought a bottle of Tupelo honey while on vacation in Washington D.C. last Christmas.

If you're unfamiliar with Tupelo honey it is honey made from the blossoms of the White Tupelo Gum Tree. The Tupelo tree grows in flooded areas in the South - Georgia, Florida, Louisiana - but the trees used to produce the honey commercially are typically along the Choctawhatchee, Apalachicola and Ochlockonee rivers. It is prized for it's unique flavor and inability to granulate. It is also the most expensive honey because of the great pains taken to produce it in its purest form.

Beekeepers fastidiously clean out the honeycomb right as the Tupelo trees blossom to eliminate the flavors of previous honeys. The bees are then usually set on elevated platforms just beneath the trees to encourage them to only collect from these trees.

The result? A honey with a beautiful tawny color, a sleek, smooth mouthfeel and the most captivating depth of flavor. It's not saccharine sweet like most commercially produced honeys, instead leaving the mouth with a feeling of heaviness and complexity. Not in a cloying way, but in a substantial way. It coats the tongue and slides down smoothly - an altogether pleasing experience.

I decided to glaze a chicken with it - for no other reason than I thought it might be tasty.

It was.

You should try it.

Tupelo Honey Glazed Roasted Chicken

1 whole chicken, approx. 4-5 lbs.
3 tablespoons butter
2 tablespoons Tupelo honey
salt

Rinse the chicken thoroughly removing all organs from the cavity. Pat dry. Sprinkle liberally with salt and roast in a 425 F oven for 50-55 minutes until a thermometer inserted in a fleshy part of the thigh registers 170 F or a knife inserted between leg and body produces juices that run clear. Melt together the butter and honey and brush over the chicken liberally. Put back in 425 F oven for 4-5 minutes to darken, taking care not to let the skin burn - that is the tasty part after all. Remove from oven, brush with remaining glaze and allow to rest for 10 minutes before cutting and serving.

Meatballs in Broth with Little Pasta

2009-02-26T14:39:00.000-08:00

I'm pretty sure you can't go wrong with a combination like meatballs and pasta. Granted, usually they're in a more traditional application like spaghetti and meatballs, but this adheres to similar guidelines. Well seasoned, highly flavorful meat and sauce/broth to cover up the fact that I'm too damn lazy to make my own pasta and I buy the tastes like cardboard stuff.

You know, the same guidelines everyone follows.

This soup really does rely on the quality of a good broth, so ideally use homemade. I know, it's a pain, but homemade stock really is the foundation of a good soup. So get to boilin'.

This would look way cooler if you used a pasta like ditalini - but tiny shells like these will do in a pinch. You know, the kind of pinch that involves not wanting to drive to the grocery store to buy ditalini.

That kind.

Meatballs in Broth with Little Pasta

24 oz. broth/stock (chicken or beef, choose your poison)
1 1/2 cups little pasta
8 oz. ground beef
1 garlic clove, minced
2 tablespoons parmesan cheese, grated
2-3 tablespoons flat leaf parsley, minced
1 egg
1 tablespoon breadcrumbs
salt and black pepper to taste

grated parmesan and chopped parsley to garnish

In a bowl combine beef, garlic, parmesan, parsley, egg, and breadcrumbs until thoroughly combined. Shape into 1/4 oz (about half the size of a quail egg) meatballs. Bring the broth to a boil in a medium pot. Add meatballs and boil for 5 minutes. Add pasta and cook until al dente. Serve hot with parmesan and fresh parsley to garnish. Pairs well with a Sauv Blanc and crusty bread.

Quinoa with Braised Greens and Applewood Smoked Bacon

2009-02-22T11:24:00.000-08:00

Quinoa (keen-WAH) is well known for it's nutritional benefits. It's low in fat, high in complex carbs and 1 cup contains 58% of the recommended daily intake of manganese (strengthens cell walls and stimulates collagen production - reportedly also helps in the boudoir). Plus, the 8 grams of protein in each cup of cooked quinoa are complete proteins. That means it contains all 8 essential amino acids, all necessary for tissue development and healthy body function. Basically, quinoa is awesomeness incarnate.

There's only one problem...

It tastes like bird seed smells.

I might be named after a bird but that doesn't necessarily mean I want to eat like one.

Nonetheless, Mr. TA is currently training for a marathon in April, and as such we're trying to maintain a diet that keeps him nourished and energized, but doesn't make me a big fat cow. Sorry, as much as I like going to the gym I'm not running a marathon. I would die.

Really.

Die.

Enter quinoa. Great source of nutrition, itty-bitty footprint on the caloric scale. (I just thought of that scene from Aladdin where the Robin Williams says, "Great-Big Cosmic Power! Itty-bitty living space. I loled.) I decided that I had to discover some way to cook it to make it more palatable to my non-bird-seed-loving tastes and developed this.

It's good.

Quinoa with Braised Greens

1 cup quinoa
1 1/2 cups chicken stock
10 oz. baby spinach
1/2 yellow onion, chopped fine
2 slices applewood smoked bacon, chopped
1/2 cup chicken stock

In a small saucepan with lid rinse quinoa until water runs clear. Drain completely. Add 1 1/2 cups chicken stock and bring to a boil for 1 minute. Cover, reduce heat to low, and let sit 20 minutes undisturbed. Meanwhile, in a large skillet brown the bacon over medium-high heat. When browned and starting to crisp stir in the onion and cook until beginning to soften. Reduce heat to medium-low and add the spinach in bunches until it all fits. Add 1/2 cup chicken stock and cover. Let cook for 5-6 minutes, stirring occasionally. Remove lid and cook until most of the braising liquid evaporates. Season to taste with salt and freshly ground black pepper. Serve over the quinoa.

Mycology 101.2

2009-02-16T18:40:00.000-08:00

Mushroom identification is hard.

Very hard.

It takes years to develop the skill to forage fungi on your own, and even then it is common to encounter specimens that seem to fit no category.

However, it can be done, quite obviously, or we would never have discovered the delicious mushrooms we consume regularly.

The first step is to understand the key parts of a mushrooms form:

Noting key characteristics of a mushroom in the field can save you a world of trouble. How frustrating would it be to collect dozens of fungi, and traipse miles back home to discover that because the annulus ('ring' in above diagram) is too prevalent - this isn't some tasty treat, it's some deadly treat?

Next, you need a mushroom foraging kit. Carpenter recommends taking these items with you:

*Wicker Basket for carrying fungi (never put mushrooms in a plastic container, they sweat and begin to decay almost immediately)

*digging tool (a common garden spade/trowel works wonderfully)

*brush (preferably very soft) for removing dirt and litter without damaging the fungi

* knife

*magnifying glass (optional, but very helpful to those of us who don't have 20/20 vision)

*wax paper bags for organization (useful not only for carrying, but also for separating specimens)

These books are also highly recommended by Carpenter:

All the Rain Promises and More

Mushrooms Demystified

Steps to Collect and Identify

Dig up entire mushroom, including the base. Also take some of the leaf litter surrounding the mushroom and keep that as well.
When possible, attempt to collect at least three stages of each mushroom (i.e. baby, young, and mature), this can make identification much easier.
Make note of the habitat in which the fungi is growing: is it in the grass or dirt? Is it growing near other plants or is it isolated?
Is the mushroom growing out of the ground or is it stemming from wood? Be sure to check under the layer of leaf litter to see if the fungi is growing from a buried log or branch. This can be key to identification.
Note and staining or bruising when the fungi is rubbed or cut. Some specimens will exude a pleasant or noxious scent, some will turn blue or red when rubbed.
Make note of any distinctive odor.
Take a spore print with a mature mushroom (remove stem and place cap of mushroom, gill side down, on a white piece of paper/paper towel - this will provide a 'print' of the spores from the gill, giving a more accurate spore color).
There are further steps for identification, including biting and chewing a small piece of the mushroom to sample taste, but I won't go into those. The last thing I need is for some Darwin Award candidate to read my blog and decide they can taste test the mushrooms growing in their back yard.
And finally, take the mushrooms to a professional. Don't ever eat a mushroom without having it identified by an outside source. That's just asking for an uncertain fate.

Finally, take note of the immediate surroundings of the mushroom. Many mushrooms maintain a mycorrhizal relationship with trees or other organisms. For instance, some kinds of mushrooms benefit from growing near pine trees, others prefer oak. The roots of the mycelium body intermingle with the roots of the tree, passing or exchanging nutrients. In fact, Carpenter related an anecdote about an instance in Australia with Monterey Pines. Apparently some people decided they loved Monterey Pine trees so much they absolutely had to have some home in Australia. They took some shoots back with them, and though they grew, they didn't perform nearly as well as those in Monterey. They inquired from some scientist/local guru/hippie (?) in Monterey why their trees weren't growing like they should be and were told that Monterey Pines were dependent upon a certain type of fungus for successful growth. Sure enough, the Australians brought back some of the fungi and their trees perked right up.

I have no idea whether or not this actually occurred, but it should illustrate the need to identify not only the mushroom, but the surrounding organisms as well. After all, misidentifying one mushroom could lead to a one way trip to the county morgue, so it's worth it find out the difference between a pine and an oak tree.

Next up are some of the mushrooms my class found on our hike through Garland Ranch Regional Park.

This is an Amethyst Mushroom Laccaria amethystea

This is the same species, but mature

I'm not quite sure what these were, but they were one of my favorite non-edible ones we found. They're just so adorable...

Again, I don't know what this guy is, but he smelled deliciously of almonds. Not 'like' almonds, but exactly like an almond croissant or marzipan. So much so that I nearly made some almond madeleines when I got home.

This one was unfortunately inedible, it looked so big and tasty. Held in the hand of a lovely fellow named Jerome. He and his wife were great fun.

Finally, this was my least favorite of all of the mushrooms we found. I absolutely love the colors in the stem, but if you look very closely you can see tiny black dots all over the mushroom - those were creepy crawly little bugs that swarmed over your hand in seconds. It was effing gross.

And so that ends my amateur musings over mycology. Perhaps one day I'll be able to forage on my own. That's just as likely as my actually buying Phil Carpenter to do so for me though. (But hey Phil, if you're interested...) I'd like to thank all the lovely people at Garland Ranch Regional Park, Joe Narvaez, Ranger John (sorry, that's all I ever heard you called - thanks for the roaring fire though!)and others. Thanks to Phil Carpenter for a lovely and informative class. And last, thanks to all the really cool people I met in the class (Hi Jill!), hopefully I'll see you all at one in the future?

Superpowers and Mussels

2009-02-11T07:58:00.000-08:00

I would like everyone to know that I have super-powers.

That's right. I'm a genuine, bona fide, non-cape wearing, spandex-eschewing super hero.

Would you like to know what my super power is?

Bringing the frigid cold to any tropical climate I visit. Isn't that nice?

Honestly, the moment a warm climate learns I am coming to visit the sun goes on strike, the wind starts a-blowin' and the icy fingers of doom start creeping their way towards my locale.

How else can you explain 22 degree weather in Florida? Especially when the week before I got there it was 80 and the day I left it warmed back up to 75. I'm cursed. And yes, this has happened on a few trips to Florida.

I think my brother-in-law may actually start barring my entrance to his state if I keep this up. I'm totally harshing his surfing mellow...yo.

In any event, that explains my silence for the last ten days - a trip to Florida to see my lovely sister A., her husband, also A., and my nephew R. My sister is pregnant with her first child (R. is technically a step-nephew), and though I'll be traveling out when she delivers this summer, I was anxious to see her one last time before she was a mom. I swear she's the most gorgeous pregnant woman I've ever seen too - it's not very often I'm jealous of a pregnant woman's figure, I'll tell ya that much.

I had actually uploaded photos so I could post while I was away, but I forgot to write down the recipes for this mussel dish and totally forgot what I did. Thankfully they still needed some improvement, so it's not like I lost some epic recipe. I'll just have to post about mussels again when I make them next time. I will say this - Applewood Smoked Bacon and Mussels are great friends. They should never be separated. Not ever. It's like heaven in your mouth.

Even though they weren't exactly what I was looking for, they were still very quickly devoured with a nice sourdough baguette.

Up next I'll be posting the next segment from my mushroom foraging class with a bunch of pictures illustrating what we found on our hike. There are some real pretty ones I'm excited to show.

Now I just have to get it up before spring semester starts on Saturday and I'm once again mired in piles of homework...

Mycology 101

2009-01-31T21:44:00.001-08:00

(Note: This is part 1 of a series of posts, length yet to be determined.)

"Nothing more than mushroom
identification develops the powers of observation." - John Cage

Mycology - the study of mushrooms and other fungi - has always fascinated me. While I may often attribute my interest to my intense enjoyment of their earthy, springy flesh - sauteed in butter, folded into risotto, or simply popped in the mouth with a sprinkle of sea salt - I think I'm truly drawn to the world of fungi by one key aspect - one tiny mistake and they can kill me.

Morbidity notwithstanding, one must admit the allure of such a flagrant disregard for self preservation. I liken the appeal of wild mushroom hunting, and consumption, to the desire for exotic dishes like fugu. Both require an inordinate amount of skill to prepare (or in the case fungi, identify) and an equally extraordinary amount of sagacity (or lack thereof) to consume the finished product.

And so it was with this sense of adventure I placed myself in the knowing hands of Phil Carpenter and the staff of Garland Ranch Regional Park for my first foray into the labyrinthine world of wild mushroom hunting. Carpenter is a longtime officer of the Fungus Federation of Santa Cruz and has been featured regularly as a mycological expert in numerous publications throughout the Central Coast region of California. In Good Times Weekly, a Santa Cruz newsletter, Carpenter warns of the toxic Death Cap (Amanita phalloides) mushroom. In the San Francisco Chronicle Carpenter helped identify a rather extra-terrestrial looking fungi that was plaguing a local nursery owner. And in Monterey County Weekly Carpenter lent his expertise in the Big Sur Chantarelle Cook Off. Lead by such a master of his field it was hard to feel even a little anxious as Carpenter easily rattled off both the scientific and lay terms for each specimen of fungi our class found.

Before we bravely tromped through along the trails, and frequently off (much to the chagrin of Educational Director Joe Narvaez - the anxiety at the possible damage done to his park was visible - sorry Joe!), Carpenter sat us all down in the Garland Ranch Regional Park Museum for a lecture on the benefits, and possible perils, of wild mushroom foraging.

Before ever attempting mushroom foraging learn this:

First on the docket was the Death Cap mushroom. Carpenter explained that before you learn anything else about mushroom foraging, before you even contemplate identifying edible mushrooms, learn to identify the Death Cap.

The Death Cap is a rather benign looking piece of fungi that is the "most common cause of deadly mushroom poisoning in the United States." The Death Cap is prevalent in many locations throughout the world including Europe, Russia, Poland, Ireland, and even Morocco. It is also commonly found throughout the United States. Typically poisonings result from misidentification because the Death Cap so closely resembles its edible genus members.

As Carpenter warns, learn to identify it above all other types of fungi, and then steer clear.

What is a mushroom?

A mushroom is technically the fruiting body of a mycelium organism. The mycelium is a web or net-like mass of thread-like hyphae. A single spore is capable of germinating into a mycelium, but until it comes into contact with an identical spore it is incapable of reproducing. When the spores meet, and "mate," they are then capable of producing the fruiting body, or the tasty (or poisonous) bits we find poking through the leaf litter or popping up on a dead log.

While the idea of finding an identical spore may seem rather simple, one must only realize that there is speculated to be about 3.5 million types of fungi alive in the world today - makes Sex and the City seem kind of trite, eh? Of the millions of fungi only a few hundred thousand have been categorized and named. Mycology is quite the exciting scientific frontier, ripe with possibility of discovering a new specimen at any time.

Up Next: Mushroom Identification

It is here that I feel obliged to add a disclaimer for all very stupid people who might get the wild idea of mushroom foraging on their own after this post, or any one hereafter. Do NOT do this. It is the very definition of stupidity to attempt to forage fungi on your own, without the help of a knowledgeable mycological expert.

Coconut Toile

2009-01-29T19:05:00.000-08:00

As the month January winds down it is once again time for the Daring Baker's challenge.

This month's challenge is brought to us by Karen of Bake My Day and Zorra of 1x umruehren bitte aka Kochtopf. They have chosen Tuiles from The Chocolate Book by Angélique Schmeink and Nougatine and Chocolate Tuiles from Michel Roux.

Karen's creation this month is particularly eye-catching, so be sure to visit Bake My Day. It appears Zorra's site is having a little bit of difficulty, but I'm sure it will be remedied soon.

A tuile (French for 'tile') is a small, thin, crisp cookie that is molded over a cylindrical object while still hot from the oven. When the cookie cools it holds its shape, and when done in the traditional method resembles the curved roofing tile from which it draws its name.

Upon discovering this month's challenge I was a little ho-hum about it. To be honest I wasn't able to muster a whole lot of enthusiasm about it until I was popping them into my mouth this evening, then I was mightily pleased. I've just been so busy this month it's been unrealistic to pop in the kitchen to whip up something new.

Thankfully this challenge was a breeze, and with the latitude given by the hosts it ended up being quite enjoyable. We were given three separate recipes to experiment with: sweet, nougatine, and savory. The rules instructed us to attempt at least one recipe of pastry, mold them however we saw fit, and fill them with something light. I had originally planned on trying a savory version, but couldn't decide on a suitable filling. When I realized on the 27th that I still hadn't made the tuile yet, I quickly decided upon a sweet tuile with coconut sorbet, chopped mango, and toasted coconut. I also decided against shaping them in the traditional method and instead made tiny cups by forming them in a muffin pan.

The recipe came together perfectly on the first try. My only real problem came when the bag I was using to pipe onto the parchment lined baking sheet split its seam and exploded pastry batter all over my counter. Beyond that mishap everything was smooth sailing - save for burning the ever loving hell out of my fingers while trying to mold them. The coconut sorbet and mango paired beautifully, as the two flavors usually do. Mr. TA loved this challenge in particular, wolfing down the entire batch whilst standing in the kitchen - pint of sorbet wide open, mango mashed on the cutting board, and toasted coconut finding refuge all over the counter and floor - an assembly line of tuile-y goodness.

Although I might have been apathetic about this challenge at the beginning of the month, I'm actually quite excited to see where I can apply this in the future. The cups are really quite sturdy, can be made days ahead with ease, and look quite stunning. The possibilities truly are endless with these recipes. I encourage you to try them yourself and see where it takes you.

I'm thinking savory cornets with crab salad, vanilla bean cups with rosewater-tapioca pudding, chocolate-mint tuiles with milk chocolate mousse...

Thank you very much to Karen and Zorra for picking such a wonderful challenge. I think this is one of the first recipes we've had that I can see myself making again and again. Be sure to check out the the Daring Bakers Blogroll to see some amazing creations this month from the other Daring Bakers.

Recipes available at Bake My Day...

Steak-Stuffed Manicotti

2009-01-27T18:06:00.000-08:00

It seems that typically manicotti is filled with a near flavorless, texturally-nightmare inducing amalgamation of ricotta, Parmesan, and if you're lucky some herbs and salt. I'm not a big fan. While I love ricotta as much as the next bird, I prefer it to be mixed in with something of substance to provide a break in the rather gag-inducing texture - or baked in a cheesecake, you'll get no complaints from me on that one.

And so I embarked on a journey to fill a pasta shell with a stuffing of substance, one that would peel through the doldrums of stuffed pastas with it's ring of tummy-filling awesomeness. My manicotti manifestation would transform the world with it's revolutionary play of textures and flavors!

Or I saw an advert in Gourmet for stuffed shells and they sounded yummy.

One or the other. You decide.

I decided to go a very non-traditional route with these babies for really no other reason than that I wanted to use up some of the food I already had in the house. I much prefer that than running out to the grocery store to buy all new ingredients.

Blech.

Be resourceful people, we're in a recession here.

Steak Stuffed Manicotti

Serves 2

6 1/2 oz steak
1 tablespoon butter
1 medium shallot, thinly sliced
1 cup frozen chopped collard greens, thawed and drained
1 clove garlic
1 1/2 oz extra sharp cheddar cheese, in small dice
2 oz mozzarella cheese, in small dice
1/2 avocado, mashed
6 manicotti shells, boiled and drained
1 cup marinara sauce, preferably homemade
1 oz Idiazábal cheese, finely grated

Preheat oven to 375 F

Chop steak into 1/4 in dice, it's easier if it's partially frozen. In a skillet over medium heat melt the butter. Cook the shallots until softened, add steak. Season to taste with salt and pepper. When steak is cooked about half-way through add the collards. Allow to cook, stirring occasionally for 5 minutes. Remove from heat and pour into a medium mixing bowl. Add minced garlic, cheddar, mozzarella, and avocado. Combine thoroughly. Using a teaspoon, or your fingers (which I prefer), fill each manicotti shell, taking care to fill completely but without tearing the delicate pasta. Lay side by side in rectangular casserole dish. Cover with marinara sauce and grated Idiazábal. Bake for 15 minutes, or until cheese is melted and bubbly. Serve immediately.

Beef and Barley Soup

2009-01-21T18:53:00.000-08:00

Psst!

Psst!

Yes, you - in front of the computer in your bathrobe nomming on those Cheetos!

Want to hear the easiest recipe ever for a great tasting meal...that's actually good for you?

Of course you do!

No, there's no need to lick off all that cheesy powder of doom - you're fingers are stained bright orange with the proof of your winter-time indiscretions. There's no hiding it now.

But seriously, this may not be the most glamorous soup in the world, but for the amount of effort required it should be carried through the streets, hoisted over heads, and loudly applauded by crowds great and small. Barley is low in fat and high in awesomeness.

Or you can just make some really friggin' easy great tasting beef and barley soup and save all this horse-crap for something else.

Meh...hyperbole is fun.

Beef and Barley Soup

10 oz. steak, cubed (you choose, I use eye of round)
2 carrots, peeled and sliced into rounds
3 ribs celery, washed, trimmed, and chopped
1 yellow onion, chopped
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 (28 oz.) can diced tomatoes
3/4 cup pearl barley
8 cups beef stock (or 8 cups water and 2 1/2 tablespoons boullion)
salt and pepper to taste

Get a pot. Put it on the stove over medium heat. Add everything all at once. Put the lid on. Simmer for 1/2 hour. Remove cover. Simmer for 15 minutes further. Eat with tasty warm bread and butter.

Don't burn your mouth on the awesomeness.

Cowgirl Chocolates

2009-01-18T21:11:00.000-08:00

One of the lovely things about being a Foodbuzz Featured Publisher is all the fun perks. When I first signed on to team up with Foodbuzz I thought it would do little more than create a little bit of exposure for my tiny blog. I have been very happily surprised to discover that it is much more than that. Not only is Foodbuzz a really fun and useful way to connect with friends and fellow foodies, but they sent me to an awesome place like Slow Food Nation '08. On top of general bad-assery, and cool little gifts, Foodbuzz also sends out little treats to sample on occasion.

On this occasion it was a very generous selection of chocolate truffles from Cowgirl Chocolates.

First, I would like to point out that those are the coolest stickers ever. Packaging is a really big deal to me. I don't care how magnificent the product is if it has crappy packaging. No gift should require the preface of, "I know it looks really lame, but it's actually really great!" When I receive something I want to look at it and say, "Wow, that looks really cool." If I don't, I probably won't buy it.

So you won't be surprised to learn that I was very pleased upon removing the already super cool tissue paper and stickers to find this little beauty.

I mean, how freakin' adorable is that, right? I am already totally in love with this company.

A little backstory on Cowgirl Chocolates. They are located in Moscow, ID. Founder Marilyn Lysohir branched out from her career of ceramic sculpture into chocolate in 1997. Cowgirl Chocolates features an interesting niche within the confectionery world, spicy chocolates. They have been featured on several Food Network shows, including "Unwrapped" with the ultra-creepy Marc Summers as host.

Now, when I found out that Cowgirl Chocolates specialized in "hot" chocolates I was intrigued. I'm not a huge chocolate fan, but I enjoy new and different things - and these were definitely new and different. I took them with me to the MiL's house in D.C. because she really enjoys chocolate. Unfortunately, with as many photos of the packaging that I have I only ended up with one serviceable picture of the truffles themselves.

We received a lovely collection of both spicy and mild truffles, plus one caramel. As I was removing all of the truffles from the box Mr. TA stole the flavor guide and refused to return it, instead forcing us to try the chocolates and then guess what they were. It was quite fun until we reached some of the spicier guys, but I'll get to that later...

Starting clockwise from the white chocolate truffle:

Ivory Orange: A white chocolate shell with a center of milk chocolate infused with orange. Very creamy, the orange makes a very strong presence.

Milk Chocolate: This one tasted of creamy milk chocolate with hints of caramel, toffee, and coffee.

Raspberry-Lemon: A dark chocolate truffle with a strong berry presence that infiltrates the back of your palate, right near your nasal cavity. This one was a little too sweet for me.

Double-Dark Chocolate - Spicy: The first spicy one sent us for a loop! The website describes it as a "hint of spice" - it's a lot more than a hint to me! The heat doesn't hit you until after it breaks up in the mouth, really gaining its power once it touches the back of the throat.

Hazelnut Milk Chocolate - Spicy: A very nice blend of hazelnut and spice in milk chocolate. The hazelnut balanced the spice well, it was not nearly as powerful as the Double-Dark. The center had a bit of a crunch to it, almost toffee-like, with an instant taste of hazelnut followed by a prominent heat.

Raspberry-Lemon - Spicy: This one was a little deceiving, both the MiL and I tasted orange followed by strong heat. The amount of spice really overpowered the subtle hints of raspberry, leaving only a bland citrus. I didn't enjoy either of the raspberry-lemon flavors.

Cappuccino - Spicy: My second favorite, right behind the plain milk chocolate. Very creamy with a hint of espresso. Similar crunch in the ganache as with the hazelnut truffle. This one didn't seem as spicy as the others, playing up the coffee flavor by complimenting it with spice instead of negating the other flavors in the chocolate. I enjoyed it very much.

Center

Habanero Chocolate: Oh dear sweet baby Jesus in a manger was this baby spicy. In the very beginning when it first hits the tongue the dark chocolate seems a nice complement to the heavy spicy, but once the chocolate is broken up while chewing the only thing noticeable is insane flames jumping out of your mouth. I actually think I could have caught things on fire just by breathing on them after eating this chocolate.

Not Pictured

Habanero Caramel: An innocent looking, chewy soft caramel - that will very happily burn your teeth right out of your friggin' mouth. After trying a mere third of a piece of this caramel both the MiL and I downed no less than sixteen ounces of icy cold water to dampen the hell-fires stoked by this demon candy. This baby should require a waiver. It mustered a " Hmm...pretty hot." out of typically unflappable Mr. TA. I would only wish this bearer of heart-burn on my worst enemy.

In the end, Cowgirl Chocolates are a lovely treat for any pepper-head in your life. I would not recommend them to anyone who does not like spicy foods - except for the Milk Chocolate truffles, those are outstanding. Give them those. Anyone who does love spicy foods - and chocolate - will be in heaven.

Thank you Foodbuzz and thank you Cowgirl Chocolates for letting me try these tasty treats - I can't wait to see what's in store next!

Tidbits from December

2009-01-08T19:17:00.000-08:00

I'm a delinquent.

I know.

Because I'm lazy.

As is evident from my complete lack of posting.

Because I'm a delinquent.

I know.

The holidays themselves weren't particularly stressful. Actually getting to our destination, however, really was. Mr. TA and I were going back East to see family, our flight arriving in Baltimore. We were to leave our tiny airport, connect in San Francisco, arrive in Baltimore around midnight and be done. Easy peasy, right? Not so much. We arrive at the airport, bright eyed and bushy tailed (except that I detest flying. I'm claustrophobic. The thought of being crammed in a tube with a bunch of gross, dirty people I don't know makes me a basket case.) with plenty of time to board our plane.

Except the ticket agent can't find our reservation in the computer. At all.

Oh yeah, because that's not a disconcerting way to start off a trip. Not at all.

After about 5 minutes, and some jerk anxiously toe tapping away behind us (no doubt petrified at missing his flight that didn't depart for over two hours - jerk) she finally finds us. After several anxiety-inducing "Well that's odd." and "Hmm, isn't that strange?" comments she does locate our reservations. But only for one portion of the flight. Hmmm. Not great. But, in all fairness, it's something that's happened to me before. Our airport is very small, only offering flights to a very few select locations. I've experienced this before, not receiving seating assignments until arriving at a larger airport, and I was a little anxious, but having oberved this previously and it working out fine, I put it out of my mind.

That is, until we arrived in San Francisco.

We had a two and a half hour layover, but with no seating assignment we were worried about not getting our flight at all, so we immediately rushed to the ticket counter for our departing flight. To be greeted by the rudest ticket agent in the entire universe. I think if this airline had bitch training this guy must have been the star pupil. After witnessing him get into a heated verbal altercation with a very short, bald man demanding his attention, Mr. TA and I overheard that the agent was refusing to help anyone waiting in line. He was servicing the flight to New York that had just left that particular gate, and though he had the ability to help those leaving for Baltimore, he refused. What a nice chap. Christmas season has really got this guy in the spirit, eh? We were to wait until the staff arrived that was assigned to the Baltimore flight. The staff that arrived at boarding time. 40 minutes before the flight was scheduled to leave.

To make an extremely long story short - we didn't get on the flight. The lovely not-to-be-named airline (rhymes with Tunited Tair) had egregiously overbooked the flight by more than a dozen people. Isn't that lovely? Oh no, it's not a technical malfunction. Of course it's not the weather. Nope, it's just an extremely greedy airline that allows seats to continually be sold on flights that no longer have them available. Aren't they nice? It was a lovely conversation.

We ended up staying overnight in San Francisco at a rather nice hotel, had a lovely dinner, a nice breakfast the next morning, and a mediocre lunch at the airport the next day - all on their dollar. Plus a free upgrade to first class for our flight, plus two free roundtrip tickets to use within the next year.

Now, when most people heard that part of the story, they say, "Oh, well at least that made up for the inconvenience."

I completely disagree.

Sure, the free stuff was great. Sure the free flights are going to let me see my sister twice this year. But you know what would've been really great? Actually getting on the damn plane in the first place.

I think this would be a good time to point out that I am one of those "It's the principle of the matter" type-people. Sure, the airline more than compensated us for our trouble. But there never should've been any damn trouble in the first place. How dare a company knowingly sell a service that they know they can't provide? They knowingly inconvenienced hundreds, possibly thousands of people, just to what? Increase their available capital? Sure, on our flight to Baltimore there were only about a dozen people who got bumped. But the next day, on our flight into Dulles, there were over a hundred people, that's a right 100 people, that were bumped off of that flight. Just a few days before Christmas. There were whole families stranded. Women were in tears. It was truly a disgusting display of greed by this airline. I know for a fact that I will never voluntarily patronize this company again.

But, in the end, we made it to our destination unscathed. Tired, yes. Grumpy, yes. In desperate need of a change of clothes, yes. But unharmed. And the two weeks away were long, but nice. I'm a big homebody, so being away is at once relieving and disconcerting. I relish my privacy. I like my bed. I like doing my own thing whenever I want. I like deciding in the middle of the day that I want to go for a four hour hike or try out some crazy new recipe. I like cursing until the walls practically bleed and yelling at the TV (internet news broadcast, for us) whenever I think someone's a moron. Which is often. And not something appreciated by people whose house you are staying in. So it was nice to be home.

Now that that is over with, here are some photos from the last couple weeks that I don't feel like doing individual posts on.

First up is the most delicious steak I've ever put in my mouth.

Ever.

MiL and sFiL were kind enough to ask me to cook dinner for their anniversary, brave souls that they are. I've been known to thoroughly muck things up when cooking in other people's kitchens. Thankfully that didn't happen this time. Except for burning the ever loving crap out of my finger whilst mashing a potato.

Don't ask.

But seriously, doesn't this baby just make your mouth water?

These are the filet mignons available at Whole Foods. Yes, the ones that are $27 per pound. It's worth it. Get some. They're prepared using this method. If you are a meat lover, or even someone who only occasionally enjoys red meat like myself, then you are seriously doing yourself a disservice by not trying this out. This steak was a perpetual mouth-gasm. No lie. If you put steak sauce on this I will hunt you down with a meat mallet.

I paired it with some sautéed green beans and some Yukon Gold potatoes, Jacques Pepin style (or at least they are according to that brunette harpy). It was delicious. Except make sure that when you squish the potatoes you don't get burning hot potato flesh all over the knuckle of your middle finger. Because it hurts really bad. And it makes a huge blister. Not that I would know, or anything.

Up next are some tasty Vegetables Provençal prepared by the MiL.

I'm not sure what was in them. I know it was layered zucchini, yellow squash, tomato, and some carrots with cheese and other stuff. I wasn't paying attention. I was on vacation. Being lazy. And someone else was cooking for me. Good food. Yay. (Just so you know, that's a typical thought strain for me. 'Good food. Yay.' I'm a simple creature.)

They were tasty vegetables. Needed some salt, but I think everything needs some salt. So that may have just been me.

Next in line were some fresh shrimp rolls I made for New Years Eve.

We did a sort of Hors D'oeuvres dinner. MiL made some crab stuffed mushrooms and some kind of bacon-roll thingy. I was lazy and just made these. I stole these from Jen on use real butter. Hers looks better than mine. Because she's like the kitchen goddess. Get her recipe here.

I had seen these a while ago on her blog and wanted to make them, except when I was at the store buying ingredients I couldn't remember what all was in them. So the orange-y component I remembered ended up being julienned carrot instead of supremed grapefruit. Go me. But they were still delicious.

I used a vegetable peeler to take nice long, thin slices from an Engish cucumber, marinated them in a little rice vinegar, and then rolled up some shrimp (using Jen's straightening technique), avocado, carrot, and clover sprouts. They were out of this world delicious. Eat them. You'll love them.

And this is the Soy-Dijon marinated salmon referenced in this post.

And so wraps up my leftovers from December. Next up is a review on some tasty chocolates. That I tasted weeks ago.

I'll get to it eventually...

Garden Vegetable Risotto

2008-12-28T05:47:00.000-08:00

How often do you travel to a relative or friends, or really any place you aren't free to cook your own meals, and are inundated with cheap, processed foods with caloric contents that negate all your trips to the gym for the last 8 years? I know it happens frequently, and though my family isn't too bad about it, and for some it's due to an infrequent access to reasonably priced produce, I often find myself longing for my own kitchen to whip up something fresh and healthy that won't cause my arteries to cringe in horror.

One place Mr. TA and I frequent is the MiL and sFiL's house in the D.C. area. Blessedly the MiL is just as concerned about putting healthy food on the table as I am, coupled with a palate that commonly outreaches my own. It's a pretty happening place to be.

Last night the MiL was kind enough to whip up a soy and dijon marinated King salmon with a Garden Vegetable Risotto. If there's any other way to taste this much spring in a dreary winter on the Eastern Seaboard I am unaware of it. There's obviously no shortage of root vegetables in the winter, and with the addition of some tail-end-of-the-season zucchini and winter hardy parsley this risotto just screams of warm, breezy days and sunshine on your face.

If winter's already starting to get you down, do not fail to ring in your January with this baby. It will assuredly get you through the bleak, snowy winter to the spring budding trees, fluffy bunnies and sunshine and rainbows.

Plus snuggly puppies.

And unicorns.

Garden Vegetable Risotto

1/2 lb. baby spinach leaves
1 quart chicken/vegetable stock, more if needed
1/3 cup butter
1 onion, chopped
2 carrots, diced
1 leek, trimmed and thinly sliced
2 celery stalks, diced
1 small zucchini, diced finely
1 cup arborio rice
3/4 cup white wine
kosher salt and fresh ground black pepper
1 tablespoon flat leaf parsley, minced, for garnish
grated Parmesan cheese, for garnish

Wash spinach and chop roughly. Heat stock in sauce pan on stove to just below a simmer and keep warm. Melt butter in heavy bottomed, shallow pan. Add onion and cook for 2-3 minutes, or until softened. Stir in carrots, leeks, celery and zucchini. Season with a pinch of salt and some pepper to taste. Cook 5-7 minutes or until nearly tender. Stir in the rice and cook until the butter has been absorbed and looks transparent. Add the wine, and stirring constantly, cook until all has been absorbed. Add in the spinach and the the stock, a ladleful at a time, cooking until absorbed before adding more, until rice is tender and creamy. This should take 20-25 minutes, and do not hesitate to use more stock if needed. Garnish with fresh chopped parsley and grated Parmesan cheese. Serve immediately.

Bûche de Noël

2008-12-28T04:54:00.000-08:00

You'll have to excuse my reticence, I've been quite the busy bird lately. There's nothing like cross country travel to distract you from regular blogging, eh? Let's just say that there's been high levels of stress, anxiety and a great deal of money put out by the airline that was supposed to fly us to our intended destination. I'll be sure to fill you in on all the gory details at a later date...

But for now it's Daring Baker time!

This month's challenge is brought to us by the adventurous Hilda from Saffron and Blueberry and Marion from Il en Faut Peu Pour Etre Heureux.
They have chosen a French Yule Log by Flore from Florilege Gourmand

I remember checking to see what the challenge was in the beginning of the month and my tummy doing a little flip-flop in response. I'm always up for a challenge in the kitch, but when my month of December was dominated by a week of brutal final exams and two weeks spent on the opposite coast for the holidays - I wasn't hugely excited to spend my one free week attempting to conquer the Herculean feat that is the French Yule Log. But, I am a baker from time to time - and I'm most definitely Daring (some would just say kind of slow...) so I pulled myself up by my very whiny bootstraps and asked my MiL if I could make it in her kitchen while we were there. She, being the general bad ass that she is, agreed, and so my journey of general frustration, utter annoyance, and bubbling internal cursing was begun.

See, I kind of have this little problem of not being too fond of the sweeter side of the kitchen. I'm not a huge fan of cookies, cakes, candies, pastries, you name it. So it doesn't really make a whole lot of sense that I'm a Daring Baker, because every month it's something sweet (thank gawd for the two savory challenges) I immediately start wondering who I can pawn all this sugary goodness off on. Usually it's the men and women that work alongside Mr. TA. This challenge I was all set to foist the 20 million calorie behemoth off on my in-laws. Always a good plan, eh? But the point of my redundant rambling is that I don't get a huge amount of joy out of making something I'm not really going to eat, but it's surely expanding my repertoire of baked goods. And I guess that's a good thing. It's just an interesting balance of learning new things in the kitchen and not really giving a damn about what I'm making. But the challenge is fun, so onward I whine.

If I could sum up my feelings about this challenge in one photo, it would be this:

I don't think there's really any other way to feel about a concoction that requires 4 layers of gelatinous mousse, a wedge of crème brûlée, a sliver of crisp, a smattering of ganache and a base of dacquoise - all topped off with a coating of gelatinous icing. Especially when you're making all of this in someone else's kitchen. Thankfully the MiL has a very, very nice kitchen with all of the lovely accoutrement needed to accomplish such a grandiose feat. She even recently bought Trogdor Jr. So, it really wasn't all that bad, just a little discombobulating.

The challenge was that we had to incorporate all six elements of a traditional French Yule Log, and assemble them in a fashion resembling a log.

1) Dacquoise Biscuit
2) Mousse
3) Ganache Insert
4) Praline (Crisp) Insert
5) Creme Brulee Insert
6) Icing

The flavor combination was left to our discretion.

I decided on a vanilla/white chocolate flavor combo for this challenge. The only way I like large amounts of chocolate is if they're infused with large amounts of mint, and we had members of the family who don't like mint chocolate. Enter the supposed-to-be-all-white vanilla French Yule Log. I'll explain the resultant appearance later.

I started off by making the dacquoise. Dacquoise is a French biscuit made of crushed nuts, sugar, flour, and egg whites. It's incredibly delicious and will assuredly be making another appearance in my kitchen. I chose hazelnut instead of the original almond flavor, because we all prefer hazelnuts. This was my favorite part of the recipe. Or, to be exact, the only part of the recipe I actually liked. Make this. Your mouth will thank you. Your hips...maybe not so much.

The next step was to make the Praline Crisp Insert. I wanted my log to be all white, and the recipe didn't allow for that, so I made a really thin rice crispy treat. Because I'm ghetto like that. I will have you know that it was pretty effin' delicious.

After that I made the crème brûlée, something I've made many times before but with different recipes. For some reason this recipe took forever and a day to set up, much longer than the stated hour in a 210 F oven. Closer to 2 hours.

After the crème brûlée I made the ganache and started on the vanilla mouse. The mousse was a pretty painless process that turned out nicely. I'm not a big fan of adding the gelatin to it though, it gave a funky texture and left little lumps because it wouldn't dissolve all the way. I realize it's required for structural integrity, but were I ever to take enough drugs to consider making this again I would omit the gelatin.

Assembly was pretty straight forward, line a loaf pan with plastic wrap and parchment paper, layer of mousse, crème brûlée, layer of mousse, crisp insert, layer of mousse, white chocolate ganache, tiny layer of mousse, dacquoise biscuit.

Freeze.

Then cover with the icing.

Sounds pretty painless, eh?

Not so much.

As soon as that icing hit the frozen mousse it turned into a rubberized nightmare, reminiscent of Gak. The annoying part was that I didn't notice until after I'd already started trying to embellish the top with some melted dark chocolate.

Freakin' outstanding.

So, instead I just covered it in some nice dark chocolate the MiL had around the house. No longer all nice and pretty and white all over, but at least there isn't any dilapidated, lame-ass looking, wannabe snowflakes on top.

Except I didn't think about the fact that the chocolate I melted was real nice and hot, and the log was still real nice and frozen. So it split all down the sides and you could see through it.

YAY.

So I covered it in crushed walnuts.

And restrained myself from dumping the whole damn thing in the trash.

The recipe recommended leaving the yule log in the refrigerator for about an hour to thaw, but after being in the fridge for an hour and then transported in a car for about 45 minutes, it was still very cold and the crème brûlée was frozen solid. Not exactly the greatest textures in the world if you're not a fan of frozen desserts.

Final thoughts?

Mousse - meh.

Crème brûlée - meh.

Rice Crispy Treat - yum.

Ganache - meh.

Icing - GTFO

Hazelnut Dacquoise - Oh. My. Gawd. Get in my mouth.
(Mr. TA again; remember, that's "dah-koo-see".)

Everything as a whole - Not my cup of tea, but I am very glad I did it. If only so I can say that I have.

I'd like to thank Hilda of Saffron & Blueberry and Marion of Il en Faut Peu Pour Etre Heureux for giving all us Daring Bakers such a Daring Challenge this month. Even though I didn't like it, it was still a wonderful experience to be had. Please be sure to check out all the other lovely Daring Bakers this month, there are some beautiful French Yule Logs to be devoured with the eyes.

Happy Holidays!

Mexican Lasagna

2008-12-17T21:48:00.000-08:00

Have you ever planned on making a meal and found out halfway through preparation that you're missing an integral ingredient? You know, no baking powder for baking powder biscuits or no buttermilk for buttermilk pancakes? How about no tortillas for enchiladas?

Well, I'd planned on making some nice yummy enchiladas for dinner this evening, and right before the final preparation - you know, rolling everything up in the tortilla - I realized that some fiendish little kitchen gremlin had devoured all but three of the tortillas in the refrigerator. Such naughty little gremlins we have...

Exactly how, I ask, can you make enchiladas with only three tortillas?

And, a show of hands please, what would you do? Throw your hands up in despair and order pizza? Throw each remaining tortilla at said kitchen gremlin? Or ingeniously decide to make Mexican lasagna? If you're me, you seriously contemplated option B, but eventually settled for option C.

This actually ended up being muy delicioso if you don't mind me saying. After all, how can you go wrong when blending several fresh ingredients, adding shredded cheese, and baking it, eh?

The key part of this is having outstanding chili powder. I prefer not to use the commercial blends, but in a pinch they'll do. My favorite is a toned down guajillo chili, but really whatever your preference in chili is, it'll work in this application. It's very easy to prepare, especially if you've already got cooked chicken/turkey/beef or vegetables on hand.

It's easily a new favorite in our household. It's easy, it's fresh, it's relatively healthy - how could you go wrong?

Mexican Lasagna

Serves 2, with leftovers

3 flour tortillas, of the 8 in. variety
1 recipe enchilada sauce, or a 12 oz. jar of whatever brand enchilada sauce you like
8 oz. cooked, shredded chicken (I used 3 thighs, baked in the oven at 375 for 25 min)
shredded cheese (Monterey Jack and Extra Sharp Cheddar go together nicely)
black beans
baby spinach leaves
cilantro/fresh coriander
sour cream for garnish

Enchilada Sauce

Makes 2 cups

1/2 tablespoon olive oil
1/2 tablespoon garlic powder
1/2 tablespoon onion powder
1/2 tablespoon cumin
1/2 tablespoon smoked paprika
1 tablespoon chili powder
2 tablespoons flour
1 tablespoon cornstarch
1 teaspoon kosher salt
2 cups chicken stock

In a small sauce pan over medium heat mix the olive oil, garlic powder, onion powder, cumin, paprika, chili powder, and flour until it is a thick paste. Use a couple tablespoons of the chicken stock to make a slurry with the cornstarch. Add remaining chicken stock to saucepan and mix thoroughly. Add cornstarch slurry and heat to a boil, stirring occasionally. Boil for two minutes, stirring constantly. Remove from heat.

Lasagna

Add the shredded chicken to the saucepan with the enchilada sauce to soak. Cut the tortillas into quarters. In a round, 2 quart casserole dish cover the bottom with about three of the tortilla pieces. Top with 1/2 the chicken, removing from the sauce with a slotted spoon. Cover with torn cilantro/fresh coriander. Layer with baby spinach leaves and shredded cheese. Place another layer of tortilla pieces over the top. Lay the remaining chicken over the tortillas. Top with more torn cilantro and the black beans. Top with more baby spinach leaves and shredded cheese. Put a final layer of tortilla over the top, pour remaining enchilada sauce over the tortillas, and top with remaining shredded cheese. Bake in a 375 F oven for 20 minutes or until heated through and cheese is melted and browned in spots. Top with a dollop of sour cream and some fresh, torn cilantro.

The Prodigal Bird

2008-12-16T18:46:00.001-08:00

I promise that I have not fallen off the face of the planet.

Promise.

It was close there for a while, but I've got strong fingers - this baby ain't gonna fling me off.

So, on with the news.

Mr. TA and I maintain a very tech savvy home. We have three computers and no TV - look at us go. I use one of the laptops, it's "my computer." Mr. TA uses his ridiculously expensive desktop computer with the monitor larger than many TV screens. That's "his computer." Obviously the two are interchangeable, for the most part. It's not like we password lock each other out of our computers. But I have everything organized on my computer just how I like it, as he does on his. When my laptop thought it would be the appropriate time to get infected with a virus I was a little lost. Sure I can use Mr. TA's computer, but I'm the ultra-creature of habit. I even park in the same spot every time I go to the grocery store. I have to put my left shoe on first or it's like my whole day is ruined. So when presented with using his computer to blog or not at all...well, you know the rest.

Thankfully my computer is all fixed now. It did require wiping the entire hard drive and reloading Windows, but at least I can once again use the internet. I can live without a TV. I don't know if I'd make it without the internet.

My second reason for being absent was the culmination of a very intense fall semester with several finals scheduled one right after the other. They were definitely intense, but after studying until my brain probably resembled oatmeal, I think I did quite well. The one I was most concerned about, math, I walked out of the exam room with the supreme confidence that I had at least not failed. Whooo. Then I found out today I actually got an 80% and a 90% in the class as a whole. If you know me and math - we go together like cats and rocking chairs - not so much. I'm very pleased with my ability to ~~guess very accurately on multiple choice tests~~ ~~pull answers straight out of my butt~~ take tests well under pressure.

So now I just wait on the results for the rest of my classes, relax until the beginning of February, and figure out how Mr. TA and I are going to pay for my tuition next semester. I think we're the only two people on the planet crazy enough to pay for full tuition out of pocket. We's crazee like dat.

In the meantime Mr. TA and I will be traveling East for the holidays to spend time with the lovely MiL and sFil, not to mention the gMiL and the gFiL, whom I love dearly (aren't acronyms fun?). I'm sure the MiL and I will be whipping up all sorts of awesomeness in kitch for me to blog about, so I'll be attempting to post regularly once again.

Until then I leave you with this photo

This is the corporeal form of MiL taking pity on me and my woeful whining a couple weeks ago. She's so BA.

Thank you for the olive oil. You rock.

Uno Momento, Por Favor

2008-12-04T14:47:00.000-08:00

Hello my lovely peoples, I just thought I'd let you know that since a virus has deemed my laptop prime hacking grounds...the blog's going to be down for a while. I imagine that I'll get it all fixed within a few days, but next week is finals week and I was planning on taking a week off from the blosphere during that time anyway...

Guess my temporary leave of absence is going to start a wee bit prematurely.

See you all soon, and if you'd like to get me a Christmas present - next time you meet a hacker, slap 'em in the face for me, k?

Celeriac Soup with Napa Cabbage and Bacon

2008-11-30T21:09:00.001-08:00

'Twas the weekend after Thanksgiving and all through the house, not a creature was stirring, not even a hobby-blogger in a tryptophan induced coma...

So, by now I'm sure you're all pretty much turkey-lurkeyed out. You've made turkey sandwiches, turkey hash, turkey pot pie, and some of you have probably attempted to feed it to the houseplants to get rid of it.

Just as a point of interest, knock it off.

That's going to stink in a couple days...

In an effort to continue using up your bounty of poultry, I present to you a distinctly un-turkey like application of turkey. I'm sure all of you good girls and boys used your super-duper cook powers after dinner and managed to break through the overindulgent haze from eating 2 lbs. of turkey, a mound of mashed potatoes you could have carved into Mount Rushmore and enough green bean casserole to power all the housewives of Indiana through Wal-Mart three times and saved the turkey bones from your weird house-coat wearing, dead cat smelling, hair curler bobbing aunt that you only see once a year and always tries to steal all the leftovers to feed to her eighteen cats (or you know, whoever) to make some delicious turkey stock - right? (I think that was the longest sentence in written history.)

RIGHT?

Good. Me too.

And bo-oy was it tasty. (Use your best Flava-Flav voice impression on that one.)

I tossed in a fennel top, the celery leaves from the celeriac, garlic, onion, carrots, and the typical spice accoutrement - and I was gifted with some seriously delightful turkey broth. And this celeriac soup is the bestest thing ever to use some of it up in.

If you're unfamiliar with it, celeriac is a type of celery that is grown for it's big ol' root instead of the yummy negative-calorie stalks.

It's got a texture similar to a turnip and the flavor is definitely of the celery variety, only not quite as pronounced. It's really quite delightful and a nice change of pace from your typical root vegetable. It's also really good as a puree to substitute for mashed potatoes. And, according to this article from NPR, a 1/2 cup contains only 30 calories and no fat. Not too shabby, eh?

No worries though, I'm about to ruin any nutritional value his puppy has by topping with some good old fashioned bacony-goodness.

Why, you ask?

Well, for one, everything tastes better with bacon.

And for two, if my weight loss goal is going to get thrown off track from the holiday season...so's yours.

Happy nomming!

Celeriac Soup with Napa Cabbage and Bacon

2 oz. butter
2 onions, chopped
1 1/2 lb. celeriac, roughly diced
1 lb. potatoes, roughly diced
5 cups turkey stock
15 oz. evaporated milk
salt and pepper to taste

1 small head Napa cabbage
8 oz. bacon, chopped
salt and pepper to taste

Melt the butter in a soup pot and cook onions until softened. Add celeriac and cover, steam for ten minutes without disturbing. Remove lid, stir in potatoes and turkey stock and bring to a boil. Boil for 15 minutes, stirring occasionally, until potatoes and celeriac are tender. Either remove half the solids to a blender to puree and return to the pot, or use an immersion blender to blend about half of the solid vegetables.

Meanwhile, prepare the cabbage and bacon topping. Discard the outer leaves of the cabbage and roughly chop the rest of the head. Cook the bacon in a small frying pan until crispy, add the chopped cabbage and cook until tender. Season with salt and pepper to taste.

Add evaporated milk to soup, bring back up to a boil. Serve in heated bowls and top with cabbage and bacon mixture. Goes well with crusty bread for dipping.

Daring Caramel

2008-11-28T20:21:00.001-08:00

It's that time again folks! No, not time to bug your eyes out over the stock market again - It's time for the November Daring Baker's Challenge!

This month was an adventurous return to sweets after a couple months of savory challenges. This months challenge was hosted by Dolores of Chronicles in Culinary Curiosity, Alex of Blondie and Brownie, and Jenny of Foray into Food. The ever-lovely Natalie of Gluten-a-go-go was fabulous enough to convert this recipe for all of our Alternative Daring Bakers.

The recipe this month is Caramel Cake with a Caramelized Butter Frosting courtesy of Shuna Fish Lydon of Eggbeater. This recipe was first published on Bay Area Bites. There was also the optional challenge of Alice Medrich’s Golden Vanilla Bean Caramels - with plenty of variations open to us.

I was very excited when I logged on to the Daring Bakers forum on the first of November only to find a recipe chock full of caramel. Generally I'm not too into sweets (makes ya wonder why I joined the Daring Bakers don't it?) but when it comes to caramel I am an absolute sucker. I can't get enough of it! OK, that's not true, but I can eat at least 4 pieces of it - which as my family knows is like a heroic feat. So, I was quite satisfied to find out we'd be making a caramel cake (which I didn't even know existed) topped with a caramelized butter frosting (I'd never come up with an idea like that on my own - go Shuna!) and optional cream caramels (which I'd attempted once before and burnt horribly).

The most difficult part of the challenge was actually the optional part - the caramels. Since that was the part I was most interested in - I persevered - even though it took 3 tries to get it right. That's right - 3 tries. I was about ready to pull my damn hair out. First off, the caramels are made with golden syrup, which although big in the UK, it's not exactly easy to find in the US. Though I did eventually find it at my commissary...after trying four other stores.

I do have to say, after finding Lyle's Golden Syrup I will never, ever again use corn syrup. The flavor is so amazing! It's so nutty and caramelized - much better than the saccharine sweet of corn syrup. I couldn't resist licking my fingers every time I spilled some - which over time I started 'accidentally' spilling more and more - if ya know what I mean.

And oh yes, you so do.

So, I was quite the happy camper trotting home with my treasured golden syrup. Making caramels - pshaw! So easy I could do it in my sleep.

...or at least I would've been able to do it in my sleep had my candy thermometer actually worked...which it didn't. (Although just as a point of interest I don't recommend cooking in your sleep - unless you have a burning desire to light your house on fire. Heh. Get it? Burning desire? OK I'll stop now.)

Let's just say burnt sugar smells really bad.

So, new candy thermometer in hand and another trip to the commissary later I was ready to attempt the caramels again. Only this time I didn't cook them to a high enough temperature...

But at least Mr. TA has plenty of caramel sauce for his ice cream...right?

After about a week I was ready to try again. I drove up to the commissary one more time, this time buying two bottles of golden syrup (and this stuff ain't cheap, yo). I mixed the golden syrup and sugar, patiently stirring until it was one homogeneous, wet-sand, ooky-yellow mixture. I heated it very slowly, gently stirring and wiping the sides with a wet pastry brush. Heated the cream to just the right temperature, made sure the butter was chilled...

Et voila! Creme Caramels!

I just didn't realize they'd make so much. Now I'm trying to pawn off caramel on the fellow slaves at Mr. TA's work. I cut it up into sticks and wrapped them up individually - and apparently one young buck thought it'd be a swell idea to gobble the whole thing down at once. Apparently he was on a sugar high for most of the day. Though I do believe this was the same chap that thought it would be a good idea to roll up all the fondant on a test cake I made for my sisters wedding and eat it like an apple.

Yeah...they grow 'em smart where he comes from.

So, caramels accomplished I waited until the day before Thanksgiving to whip up the caramel cake and browned butter frosting. Mr. TA and I had Thanksgiving with our neighbor N this year. We would've loved to visit Mr. TA's dad and his wife B, but it just wasn't in the cards. Dinner with N was very nice and relaxed - I say any Thanksgiving that gets you with a gin and tonic in hand by 2 pm is a success, eh?

Both cake and frosting came out very well the first time. Many of my fellow DBers thought the cake and frosting were tooth-achingly sweet, and combined it was just too much for them. So I was a little wary about the recipe, and only made half a batch of the frosting. The cake was sweet, but not a whole more so than I find most cakes. I made cupcakes for easier distribution to Mr. TAs coworkers, so as single sized portions they weren't too bad. The frosting was very sweet as well, but no more so than any other frostings I've had. I mean, after all, isn't frosting just a fattening binding agent and sugar? It's pretty much supposed to be slap-in-the-face sweet. The browned butter in it was out-friggin-standing though. I will definitely be trying browned butter in more sweets in the future.

The one thing I really didn't like about the recipe was how incredibly dense the cake was. I tried the batter before cooking and it was delicious, but once cooked into my little cakes it was just dense and chewy - not really my type of cake. The only thing I like dense and chewy are brownies - and Chewbacca

Heh...Chewbacca. I'm a riot, aren't I?

So,

Caramels? Lots of work but totally worth it in the end.

Caramelized Butter Frosting? Oh heck yes.

Caramel Cake? Meh, not so much.

But I'll let you be the judge on it...

CARAMEL CAKE WITH CARAMELIZED BUTTER FROSTING

10 Tablespoons unsalted butter at room temperature
1 1/4 Cups granulated sugar
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1/3 Cup Caramel Syrup (see recipe below)
2 each eggs, at room temperature
splash vanilla extract
2 Cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1 cup milk, at room temperature

Notes from Natalie for those of you baking gluten-free:

So the GF changes to the cake would be:

2 cups of gluten free flour blend (w/xanthan gum) or 2 cups of gf flour blend + 1 1/2 tsp xanthan or guar gum
1/2 - 1 tsp baking powder (this would be the recipe amount to the amount it might need to be raised to & I'm going to check)

I'll let you when I get the cake finished, how it turns out and if the baking powder amount needs to be raised.

Preheat oven to 350F

Butter one tall (2 – 2.5 inch deep) 9-inch cake pan.

In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, cream butter until smooth. Add sugar and salt & cream until light and fluffy.

Slowly pour room temperature caramel syrup into bowl. Scrape down bowl and increase speed. Add eggs/vanilla extract a little at a time, mixing well after each addition. Scrape down bowl again, beat mixture until light and uniform.

Sift flour and baking powder.

Turn mixer to lowest speed, and add one third of the dry ingredients. When incorporated, add half of the milk, a little at a time. Add another third of the dry ingredients, then the other half of the milk and finish with the dry ingredients. {This is called the dry, wet, dry, wet, dry method in cake making. It is often employed when there is a high proportion of liquid in the batter.}

Take off mixer and by hand, use a spatula to do a few last folds, making sure batter is uniform. Turn batter into prepared cake pan.

Place cake pan on cookie sheet or 1/2 sheet pan. Set first timer for 30 minutes, rotate pan and set timer for another 15-20 minutes. Your own oven will set the pace. Bake until sides pull away from the pan and skewer inserted in middle comes out clean. Cool cake completely before icing it.

Cake will keep for three days outside of the refrigerator.

CARAMEL SYRUP

2 cups sugar
1/2 cup water
1 cup water (for "stopping" the caramelization process)
In a small stainless steel saucepan, with tall sides, mix water and sugar until mixture feels like wet sand. Brush down any stray sugar crystals with wet pastry brush. Turn on heat to highest flame. Cook until smoking slightly: dark amber.

When color is achieved, very carefully pour in one cup of water. Caramel will jump and sputter about! It is very dangerous, so have long sleeves on and be prepared to step back.

Whisk over medium heat until it has reduced slightly and feels sticky between two fingers. {Obviously wait for it to cool on a spoon before touching it.}

Note: For safety reasons, have ready a bowl of ice water to plunge your hands into if any caramel should land on your skin.

CARAMELIZED BUTTER FROSTING

12 tablespoons unsalted butter
1 pound confectioner’s sugar, sifted
4-6 tablespoons heavy cream
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2-4 tablespoons caramel syrup
Kosher or sea salt to taste

Cook butter until brown. Pour through a fine meshed sieve into a heatproof bowl, set aside to cool.

Pour cooled brown butter into mixer bowl.

In a stand mixer fitted with a paddle or whisk attachment, add confectioner's sugar a little at a time. When mixture looks too chunky to take any more, add a bit of cream and or caramel syrup. Repeat until mixture looks smooth and all confectioner's sugar has been incorporated. Add salt to taste.

Note: Caramelized butter frosting will keep in fridge for up to a month.
To smooth out from cold, microwave a bit, then mix with paddle attachment until smooth and light

(recipes above courtesy of Shuna Fish Lydon)

(Optional) GOLDEN VANILLA BEAN CARAMELS
- makes eighty-one 1-inch caramels -

Ingredients
1 cup golden syrup
2 cups sugar
3/8 teaspoon fine sea salt
2 cups heavy cream
1 1/2 teaspoons pure ground vanilla beans, purchased or ground in a coffee or spice grinders, or 1 tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
3 tablespoons unsalted butter, cut into chunks, softened

Equipment
A 9-inch square baking pan
Candy thermometer

Procedure

Line the bottom and sides of the baking pan with aluminum foil and grease the foil. Combine the golden syrup, sugar, and salt in a heavy 3-quart saucepan and cook over medium heat, stirring with a silicone spatula or wooden spoon, until the mixture begins to simmer around the edges. Wash the sugar and syrup from the sides of the pan with a pastry brush dipped in water. Cover and cook for about 3 minutes. (Meanwhile, rinse the spatula or spoon before using it again later.) Uncover the pan and wash down the sides once more. Attach the candy thermometer to the pan, without letting it touch the bottom of the pan, and cook, uncovered (without stirring) until the mixture reaches 305°F. Meanwhile, combine the cream and ground vanilla beans (not the extract) in a small saucepan and heat until tiny bubbles form around the edges of the pan. Turn off the heat and cover the pan to keep the cream hot.

When the sugar mixture reaches 305°F, turn off the heat and stir in the butter chunks. Gradually stir in the hot cream; it will bubble up and steam dramatically, so be careful. Turn the burner back on and adjust it so that the mixture boils energetically but not violently. Stir until any thickened syrup at the bottom of the pan is dissolved and the mixture is smooth. Continue to cook, stirring occasionally, to about 245°F. Then cook, stirring constantly, to 260°f for soft, chewy caramels or 265°F; for firmer chewy caramels.

Remove the pan from the heat and stir in the vanilla extract, if using it. Pour the caramel into the lined pan. Let set for 4 to 5 hours, or overnight until firm.

Lift the pan liner from the pan and invert the sheet of caramel onto a sheet of parchment paper. Peel off the liner. Cut the caramels with an oiled knife. Wrap each caramel individually in wax paper or cellophane.

Be sure to check out all the other lovely Daring Bakers!

Salted Focaccia with Rosemary

2008-11-24T18:05:00.000-08:00

In early October MiL and sFiL visited for MiL's birthday. Since MiL is by far the coolest and most thoughtful MiL ever, she brought me an awesome little tasty treat.

But not just any tasty treat. You see, whenever time happens upon a traditional gift giving occasion most people seem to fall back on the tradition gender role-type gifts. Men get ties or tools, women get bath stuff. And ya know, bath stuff is great. But I've got a hole shelf-full at this point. (OK, not anymore. I've used it all up by now. I'll take more bath stuff now...but that's not my point.)

Sure it seems appropriate, and we chicks always react the same way, "Oh thank you! You shouldn't have. No, really, you shouldn't have! Oh yes, it does smell amazing! Wherever did you find such an intoxicating scent?"

But you want to know what we're really thinking? "Holy crap this smells like someone dipped road kill in gardenias/vanilla/lavender."

Seriously.

But that's not what kills me about generic gift giving - it's the complete lack of originality. (And because some bath stuff really does smell freakin' awesome.) It's that people won't take the time to think of a gift someone might really appreciate. Now, I'm not one of those people that rushes out to buy a gift at the slightest hint of an occasion. I do birthdays and I do Christmas, and even then it's pretty tame - but the gifts I do buy I buy for a reason. It's not - oh hey, that's cute and less than fifteen bucks, I'll buy them that. It's truly something I think they will really enjoy, it's me showing them how much I appreciate who they are and what they mean to me. Or it's something that they really wanted and asked for explicitly. That always makes gift giving crazy easy.

Now, all that rambling was about MiL bringing me a pretty little present when she visited, because MiL takes the same care and attention to gift giving (just like my mother, I'm blessed to have so many lovely ladies in my life) that I do. It's obvious that she's really thought about the person she's purchasing for. Now, obviously this was a 'just because' gift and completely unnecessary (I never think a gift is mandatory, not for any occasion. Not even birthdays or Christmas. I'd much rather just have the company of good people.) and for that it was even more appreciated, because MiL is just such a nice person.

Now, what is this fabled gift you may ask? Actually, what you're probably thinking is "Get the frig on with it SB before I go do more important things like check my Facebook page for the eighteenth time today." Well, her lovely gift was this:

Oh yeah, that's right - 18 year balsamic. This shit hits your tongue and angels sing. It's a pedicure and someone cleaning your house for you at the same time. Oh yeah. It's that good.

So at this point you must be asking, "What the crap does all this gift giving and vinegar gots ta do with focaccia, SB?"

Well, I'll tell you.

It's freakin' tasty ass vinegar and I had crap for olive oil. Everyone knows when you've got prime balsamic you can't bastardize it with a bunch of other garbage. (Mr. TA likes to dip french fries in balsamic...odd, but tasty.) So, my plan was to buy some choice olive oil and make some homemade focaccia. And then, I would sit down in a completely silent kitchen, the scent of fresh baked focaccia lilting through the air - sunlight in my face and a song in my heart and I would eat the whole goddamned loaf of bread in one sitting, dipping every morsel into the vinegar of the gods.

Only problem was I couldn't find a decent olive oil. I'm not mixing my precious baby balsamic in some friggin' Bertolli. No sirree. So, when Mr. TA and I went down to Paso Robles for our anniversary this month I was elated to find a whole store completely dedicated to olive oils. I tried about 5 and settled on one that was perfect. Fresh and crisp with just a little grassiness. It took Silver in some competition in Los Angeles this year. It was outstanding. It was hugely out of the price range I'd usually consider for non-essential items, but I'd been looking forward to this for a really long time.

So, I bought a bottle and carted it home, anticipating my gluttonous encounter with bread and vinegar.

How was it?

Amazing. It was everything I hoped and dreamed it would be. I'd never paid that much money for a bottle of olive oil in my life, but it was the perfect accompaniment to the sweet balsamic and salty focaccia. A luxury I'm so glad I allowed myself. The flavors melded together yet remained independent, mingling on my palate so cleanly. It was vinegary-olive oily-bready nirvana.

Then I cleaned up my kitchen later that night and knocked the bottle of olive oil off the counter and shattered it on the floor.

Yeah...

I was speechless.

But hey, my floors are hella shiny now.

And the focaccia? The best, easiest bread in the universe. Light and fluffy, crunchy with salt - perfect for dipping and easy to whip up in under two hours. In fact I've already made it again today.

And hey, it goes really well with balsamic vinegar and olive oil...just so you know.

Salted Focaccia with Rosemary
Adapted from King Arthur Flour

1 1/2 cups (12 ounces) warm water
3 tablespoons (1 1/4 ounces) olive oil (plus additional for drizzling)
1 1/4 teaspoons salt
3 1/2 cups (14 ¾ ounces) King Arthur Unbleached All-Purpose Flour
1 tablespoon instant yeast
2 teaspoons course Kosher salt, for sprinkling on top
1 tablespoon chopped fresh rosemary

1) Lightly grease a 9" x 13" pan, and drizzle 1 to 2 tablespoons olive oil in the bottom.

2) Combine all of the ingredients, and beat at high speed with an electric mixer for 60 seconds.

3) Scoop the sticky batter into the prepared pan, cover the pan, and let it rise at room temperature for 60 minutes, till it’s become puffy.

4) While the dough is rising, preheat the oven to 375°F.

5) Gently poke the dough all over with your index finger.

6) Drizzle it lightly with olive oil, and sprinkle with salt and rosemary.

7) Bake the bread till it’s golden brown, 35 to 40 minutes.

8) Remove it from the oven, wait 5 minutes, then turn it out of the pan onto a rack. Serve warm or at room temperature.

Sesame Beef Buns

2008-11-23T13:35:00.000-08:00

Have you ever been surfing the interwebs, minding your own business, ignoring the laundry to be folded, and run across a recipe that just screamed "Make me! Put me in your tummy!"? Well, such was the case with this recipe.

I know, what you're thinking, "SB, what in the heck were you thinking? It's MSN! Those people don't know a recipe from a cup of playdough!"

And you know what?

You'd be right.

Whoever developed this recipe obviously never tested it.

In conception this recipe sounds pretty delicious, savory beef mixture wrapped in a very slightly sweetened yeast dough and baked to perfection. Right? Wrong.

I realized this while I was making the dough. I don't know why I didn't think about the fact that 1/3 cup water, plus 2 eggs, plus 3 tablespoons oil is way too much liquid for 1 3/4 cups flour...but I didn't. Cuz I'm fun like that. So, after tinkering away and fixing the dough ingredients and totally changing the filling recipe I made my own.

Cuz I'm fun like that.

Sesame Beef Buns
Makes about ten buns

Dough

1/3 cup warm water
1 package (2 1/4 tsp.) active dry yeast
3 1/2 tablespoon(s) sugar
2 cups plus 1 tablespoon unsifted bread flour
1/2 teaspoon(s) salt
2 large eggs, warmed to room temperature and beaten
2 tablespoon(s) vegetable oil
1 tablespoon sesame oil

Filling

1 tablespoon vegetable oil
1 tablespoon peeled, finely chopped fresh ginger
2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
3/4 pound ground beef
2 tablespoons oyster sauce
2 tablespoon soy sauce
1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes
1 cup finely chopped green onions
1 tablespoon toasted sesame seeds

Black sesame seeds, (optional)

Egg Glaze

1 egg, beaten
2 tablespoons milk

In small bowl combine water, yeast, and 1/2 tablespoon sugar; stir to dissolve yeast. Let stand until foamy -- about 5 minutes.

In medium-size bowl, or bowl of your stand mixer, combine 1 1/2 cups flour, the remaining 3 tablespoons sugar, and the salt; stir in yeast mixture, eggs, and oil, mixing until combined. Add remaining flour 1/4 cup at a time until a soft dough forms.

Turn dough out onto floured surface. Knead dough, adding as much of remaining bread flour as necessary to prevent stickiness, until smooth and elastic -- about 8 minutes. (Or switch the the kneading hook on your mixer and let it go to town for about 5 minutes)

Place dough in oiled bowl and turn to bring oiled side up. Cover with plastic wrap and clean cloth and let dough rise in warm place, away from drafts, until double in size -- about 1 1/2 hours.

Meanwhile, prepare filling:

In large skillet, heat oil over medium heat; add ginger and garlic and cook 30 seconds. Stir in beef, oyster sauce, soy sauce, and red pepper flakes. Cook until beef browns. Remove from heat and stir in green onions and sesame seeds. Set aside.

Grease 2 baking sheets or line with parchment paper. When dough has doubled, punch down and shape into a 10-inch-long log. With serrated knife, cut log crosswise into ten 1-inch-thick slices. On lightly floured surface, roll out one slice to a 4-inch round. (I found it easier to weigh each piece of dough. Mine were 65-70 grams each.)

Roll out or press just around the edge of round so that the middle is slightly thicker and the round is 5 inches wide. Fill center of round with 1 heaping tablespoon beef filling; gather up edge to form a pouch and pinch together tightly to seal bun. Turn bun over and gently shape into a ball; place seam side down on greased sheet.

Repeat with remaining slices and filling. Cover beef buns with clean cloths or plastic wrap and let rise 30 minutes.

Meanwhile, prepare Egg Glaze.

Heat oven to 350 degrees F. Brush buns with Egg Glaze and sprinkle, if desired, with sesame seeds. Bake 15 to 20 minutes or until well browned. Cool buns on wire rack; serve warm.

DIY Macro - Lightbox

2008-11-21T16:16:00.000-08:00

There once was a bird in California.

(Some might even say she was sweet)

All summer long she chirped and sang, enjoying the bounty of the abundant crops surrounding her home and taking pictures of all she could find.

But then, as Fall set in, a terrible thing started to happen - the sun started setting earlier and earlier until one day it was only a quarter after five in the evening and it was so dark she had to turn on the light in her kitchen to cook dinner.

The bird was very upset you see, because she could no longer take pictures of her food without the natural light of the sun.

(The bird had an intense loathing of yellow pictures and flash photography.)

But then she had an amazing idea! A light box! Then the bird could take lovely photos all winter long without a need for that silly old sun!

But could she? Would it be too hard or expensive to create such a lovely contraption?

She never should have worried - it was easier than pie! With a nice big cardboard box, some tissue paper, and a light - ta da! Pictures!

Alright, now that I'm finished being a complete jackass I'll tell you how to make one too.

I was born and raised in Washington - the lovely state that gets 8 hours of dark in the summer, and 8 hours of light in the winter. It's a pain in the ass come November and it's dark by 4:30 pm. You feel like you live in a cave. So, when Mr. TA and I moved down to California I figured that it wouldn't be nearly so bad. After all, we were a thousand miles farther south.

Yeah...not so much.

Now it's dark by 5:15.

Whooo.

45 more minutes.

Mr. TA doesn't even get home from work until 5:30 most of the time, and I'm sure as heck not going to serve him a cold dinner I prepared an hour earlier just so I could take a picture of it. Mr. TA works a very long day and he deserves a nice hot dinner when he gets home. Unfortunately by that time it's so dark I can't even get a decent photo with my tripod. Mr. TA thinks I should just use the flash or turn on a light...Mr. TA also just doesn't really get my aversion to doing that. Even if my aversion is simply that I think it looks like ass when people do that.

My first attempt at salvaging some photos was to try to take a picture of the leftovers the next day.

Yeah...not so much.

I don't care if you're goddamn Thomas Keller - you can not make leftover Lentil and Orzo Soup look any better than dog poo the next day. (OK, that's a lie. Thomas Keller can do anything.)

And then it hit me - build a light box you stupid bird. Duh. It's cheap, it's easy, and it works.

Because who wants to take a picture like this:

When you could take a picture like this:

I've slowly been improving my photography over the last few months, so now that I can continue to take photos through the winter hopefully I'll be able to really get better.

How to Make a Light Box

1 large cardboard box
6 sheets white tissue paper
heavy duty tape
knife/razor blade
a light source
ability to not shank oneself while making the box

1. Cut off two of the flaps of the box, opposite each other.Set the box on it's side so that the two remaining flaps are vertical. Cut out the sides and top of the box. Your finished product should look like this.

Also, if possible, you should include a shot of the dirty ass rug on your kitchen floor. I think it really adds to the photo.

2. Using two sheets of tissue paper per side, cover the cut out sides and tape in place. Your finished product should look like this:

3. Cut a piece of white, non-reflective poster board to the width of the your box. Secure one side to the inside bottom of your box, and the opposite side to the back of the box. It should look like this:

I'm fricken ghetto so my posterboard doesn't reach all the way up the back of the box to the top like I want it to, but this isn't really a big deal. Most of my shots are really close up anyways.

4. Now you get your light source. I went to my local hardware store and picked up this baby for $9.49 + tax.

It's pretty sweet. (That's my Napoleon Dynamite voice)

It uses a regular light bulb and has a clamp.

Which is sweet.

Then you clamp it on to something and shine it either from the side:

In which you're cow shaped salt shaker from your grandmother will look like this:

But, you have to make sure you alter the white balance on your camera. That's the difference between a yellow cow and a white cow. And no one wants a yellow cow.

Or you can clamp your light on the chair you're using for support because you have to do all of this in your second bedroom which really isn't a bedroom at all it's more of a repository for all Mr. TA's GI junk that won't fit anywhere else and because there's no room to put it anywhere else you have to use the stupid chair. Whew...

In which your cow shaped salt shaker from your grandmother will look like this:

Pretty snazzy, eh? I was impressed myself.

Don't forget to change your ISO setting though. I was using a really high setting previously because I was operating in really low lighting, but if you keep a high ISO you'll end up with a lot of noise. Here's the difference between ISO set at 400:

And ISO at 50:

They may look the same, but if you click on them to look at them full size you'll see the difference. The clarity is so much better at 50.

Long story short, a light box will really save you through the winter if you rely on sunlight for your photos. I know I will very happily get back to blogging my little heart out now that I can take decent photos again.

In fact, tonight I made Lettuce Wraps.

There are so many things you can do with such a simple project. Obviously this is the amateurs solution, but I don't think there are too many hobby bloggers like myself that are willing to run out and buy hundreds of dollars worth of equipment or take a damn flash photography class just to snap a couple shots of whatever culinary delight they're shoving in their mouth at the moment. This is the perfect solution for me, it may not be for you.

I do urge you to give it a try though.

I know I'm going to have fun taking pictures of all sorts of things this evening...

Like the tea tin I brought back from Disney World when Mr. TA and I went to Florida

Or the naughty little secret I keep hidden inside

I know, isn't it wrong? Candy corn? It's so awful...and sooo good...

Well, you know what happens when someone can't keep a secret right?

They get their head bitten off...

It's the candy corn version of sleeping with the fishes.

Oh, what's that? You can't keep a secret either?

Well, I can fix that!

Oh, well...I guess I shouldn't leave any evidence, huh?

Surely he'll never tell of my indiscretions...

Cookies Throughout the Decades

2008-11-19T09:07:00.000-08:00

My favorite magazine of all time, Gourmet, recently published online their favorite cookies for each year they've been in print. It's quite the spread and really illustrates the evolution of cookie culture since 1941. From Cajun Macaroons to Glittering Lemon Sandwich Cookies they've got it all.

Can you find the cookie of your birth year? Can you find mine?

Check it out, it kept me entertained for nearly an hour - though that's not really all that hard to do...

Gourmet's Cookies Throughout the Decades

Urban Chicken Farming

2008-11-18T12:01:00.000-08:00

Although Mr. TA makes fun of me for it, I can't wait to some day have chickens of my own. Not only to harvest my own eggs, and because I love chickens, but to donate the extra to shelters and food banks - supporting a people who live too often off of canned goods and processed garbage. Newsweek recently did an article on urban chicken farming, a subject near and dear to my heart. Even if you're not interested in it yourself, I urge you to check out the article and accompanying video. It's quite an interesting trend, one that I hope really catches on.

For too long Americans have happily distanced themselves from food production, happy to believe meat comes from a Styrofoam package wrapped in plastic and fruit is perfectly colored and unblemished. Get a life people. Agriculture is smelly and loud and hard work. Quite copping out and buying your food from CAFO's and happily munching away at meat from animals who are abused and exploited, fruits that have been sprayed with chemical pesticides, and vegetables that contain more nitrogen than friggin' fertilizer.

Buy a damn chicken and get eggs you know have been raised properly. Or, at least don't get pissed off at your neighbor who does.

Fug Tong Gang Buad

2008-11-12T18:52:00.000-08:00

Fug tong gang buad is a Thai dessert or side dish of squash cooked in coconut milk and palm sugar. Characteristic of most Thai sweets there is a lovely play of salty on sweet to mix up the substantial squash pieces. The recipe traditionally calls for pumpkins, which are available year round in Thailand, but a substitute of any yellow meat squash will suffice. I used a kabocha squash (yes I know, it's Japanese) and although I nearly lopped off a finger or two trying to peel the sucker it gave great flavor to the finished dish.

One of Mr. TA's favorite things to eat is Thai sticky rice and mangoes. It's a traditional Thai dessert of steamed glutinous rice soaked in sweetened coconut milk and served with sliced mangoes. He requests it on a near weekly basis, so I try to ration it out. Coconut milk isn't exactly a health food. So when my sister told me about this website and I found the recipe for squash cooked in coconut milk I thought it would be received equally well. He was a little disappointed after arriving home to the familiar scent of warmed coconut milk to not find sticky rice steaming, but after trying the squash I think he enjoyed it quite well. You know those people who you can read their emotions on their face like a book? Mr. TA is not one of those people. He'll give a mediocre reaction to a meal to only question weeks later why he haven't had that totally awesome blah-blah-blah. It's quite an interesting life... So I'll have to assume the grunt of approval coupled with the "Yeah, it's pretty good." means it gains approval for a repeat performance.

I would recommend that if attempting this with a kabocha instead of a pumpkin you halve, seed, quarter and then chop the skin off with a knife in controlled downward motions. Then to get the remaining stubborn green off use a sharp vegetable peeler. It's a bit of a chore, but I can't imagine anyone's going to want to cook some huge ass 15 lb. pumpkin in coconut milk. I also would not recommend using an acorn squash, you're peeling this sucker, you really want to attempt that with an acorn squash? Save your digits and don't even bother. Unless you can get someone else to do it for you, then by all means have at it.

One important part about this recipe is to ensure your coconut milk is not too creamy. When boiled coconut milk nearly always curdles, so you have to be careful while cooking. So, don't be tempted to use all coconut milk, it won't end well. Start it off at medium heat, when it really starts producing steam turn it down to medium low, then low when it starts to simmer. By that time it should be fully cooked through. It's really much easier than I made it sound. Just keep adjusting the heat level so it doesn't boil.

On a final note, squash is extremely good for you - you should eat as much as possible over the winter months. And..uh..just because this is filled with sugar and fat from the coconut milk doesn't mean it's not also healthy...right?

Just don't burst my bubble...

Fug Tong Gang Buad

Serves 4

1/2 teaspoon salt
2 cups pumpkin, or other yellow meat squash
1/3 cup palm sugar
1/2 cup coconut milk
1 cup water

Peel the squash, chop into 1/2 in. dice. Add all ingredients to 3 qt saucepan and heat over medium until steam rises rapidly. Do not allow to boil, the coconut milk will curdle. Turn heat down to medium low, stirring occasionally. When it starts to simmer turn to low heat. Remove from heat when squash is tender, about 20-25 minutes. Serve immediately or cover with lid. Tastes equally good warm, room temp, or cold.