02.08.10
Posted in Chinese, Cuisines, Dinner, Meats, Poultry, Sides, Veggies at 10:17 pm by julie
This was a good use for boneless chicken and some basic pantry ingredients. It is a riff off of traditional Chinese red cooking, which takes its name—and its color—from gentle braising in soy sauce and brown sugar; afterwards, the braising liquid is reduced almost to a syrup that gets tossed back together with the meat. This recipe calls for red wine in place of the traditional shaoxing, which helps to underline the color. The recipe calls for thigh meat, but I used breasts because that was what I had, and it worked out fine; I also used shallot in place of the green onion. The sauce, once reduced, packs a big punch; it was a little salty for our taste due to the soy, so I think we might tone that down a touch next time. I served my chicken with rice and some mildly Asian roasted carrots.
Double Red-Cooked Chicken
8 skinless, boneless chicken thighs or breasts, cut into 1 1/2-inch pieces
2 tsp five-spice powder
2 1/2 C dry red wine
6 large scallions—white and light green parts cut into 2-inch lengths, dark green tops finely chopped
1/2 C soy sauce
1/3 C light brown sugar
2 large garlic cloves, minced
1/2 T finely grated fresh ginger
1 dried red chile (or a pinch of red pepper flakes)
1 T sesame seeds
In a large bowl, toss the chicken with the five-spice powder.
In a large, nonreactive saucepan, combine the wine with the scallion pieces, soy sauce, brown sugar, garlic, ginger and chile and bring to a boil, stirring to dissolve the sugar. Reduce the heat to moderately low and add the chicken. Simmer until the chicken is just cooked, about 10 minutes. Using a slotted spoon, transfer the chicken and scallions to a plate.
Boil the cooking liquid over high heat until it is reduced to about 1 cup and glossy, about 12 minutes. Return the chicken and scallions to the saucepan and stir to coat with the sauce. Transfer to a bowl. Garnish with the chopped scallion tops and sesame seeds and serve.
Source: Food and Wine.
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02.05.10
Posted in Cuisines, Dinner, Fish, French, Leftovers, Seafood at 9:48 am by julie
When we buy a salmon fillet from Costco, I can usually spread it out for about 4 meals. I cook two-thirds of it fairly simply like that above, roasted in foil packet at 500F with some caper-anchovy butter for about 15 minutes, or just until cooked through. The inevitable leftovers from these simple recipes then go into salmon salads, croquettes, and chowders, and et cetera.
But it can be pretty boring working primarily with leftover cooked salmon, so I always try to save at least a little of the fillet to try out a new technique. So here are two slightly more interesting salmon recipes, both incorporating herbes de provence as a flavoring agent. The first is seared salmon with a beurre rouge sauce. I’ve made beurre blanc before; this is essentially the same thing using red wine. I served mine with muffin cup gratins.
Salmon with Beurre Rouge
2 T minced shallots
1 tsp herbes de provence
2 C fruity, not-too-tannic red wine
2 T balsamic or red wine vinegar
1½ to 2 lb salmon fillet
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 stick butter, cut into 6 or 8 pieces
Combine shallots, herbes de provence, wine and vinegar in a small saucepan and turn heat to high. Cook until it is reduced to about ¼ cup, 10 minutes or so. Strain if desired.
Meanwhile, put a nonstick skillet over medium heat; no fat is needed in pan. Sprinkle salmon with salt and pepper and place it, skin side up, in skillet. Cook over medium-high heat until nicely browned, about 5 minutes, then turn.
When red wine mixture has reduced, turn heat to very low. Add butter a piece at a time, stirring after each addition until it is incorporated. When all butter has been added, taste and adjust seasoning.
Use a sharp knife to peek inside thickest part of fish to judge doneness. When done to your liking, about 3 to 5 minutes after you turn, remove it to a platter or serving plates. Spoon sauce over fish, garnish if you like, and serve.
Source: Slightly adapted from Mark Bittman, NY Times.
For the other recipe, I took inspiration from having randomly watched an episode of Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives in which a gentleman cooked salmon encrusted with hash browns. I’ve used a similar technique on halibut, which relied on a mayonnaise mixture and the starch from the potatoes to stick them onto the fish. This guy used what he called “salmon glue” to attach the potatoes, essentially a simple salmon mousse made with trimmings, seasonings, and cream. As I was trimming away the thin parts of my fish, I flashed back to this episode and decided at the spur of the moment to give it a shot, and it worked beautifully. I served my crusted salmon with a grainy mustard vinaigrette and a quick salad garnished with disks of fried goat cheese. The recipe is more of a method than anything, as I don’t include amounts.
Potato-Crusted Salmon
I think this method would also work with halibut or other fish; possibly even chicken cutlets, though I’ve not yet confirmed this with testing. If you don’t have scraps from trimming because you used steaks or already uniform fillets, you might be able to use raw shrimp or bay scallops as the base of your glue. It would work with shredded russet potatoes, zucchini ribbons, or virtually any thin layer you want to stick onto the fish. If I try out any of these variations, I’ll make a note of it here.
Boneless skinless salmon fillet, trimmed into rectangles of even thickness and scraps reserved
Red potatoes, thinly sliced (about 1/8″—I used a mandoline)
Cream
Herbes de provence (or other herbs, such as dill, that compliment the fish)
Shallot, diced
Salt and pepper
Olive oil
Place the salmon scraps in a food processor with some shallot, herbs and cream. For our two portions (plus a baby piece for Nolan), I had enough scraps to use 2-3 T cream, 1-2 T shallot, about 1/2 tsp herbes de provence, and a pinch of salt and pepper. Run the processor; you want to end up with a light, fluffy, spreadable, but not runny consistency, so add a bit more cream if necessary. Season the salmon fillets with salt, pepper and another sprinkle of your herbs, then smear on one side with about a 1/4″ of your glue; layer with potato slices, making sure each one has some contact with the glue. Flip fillets over carefully and repeat on the other side.
Meanwhile, heat some olive oil in a non-stick skillet over medium heat. Carefully lower in the salmon, ensuring that the potatoes stay in place, and cook for about 5-7 minutes, until the potatoes are golden brown. Flip gently and cook on the other side until the potatoes are again golden and the salmon is cooked through to your liking; if you, like us, don’t care for medium salmon, you may need to turn the heat down at the end and lid the pan for a few minutes to finish cooking through. Serve with the sides and/or sauces of your choice.
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02.04.10
Posted in Cuisines, Dinner, Leftovers, Meats, Mexican, Pork and Ham, Sides at 7:42 pm by julie
You know, I’ve never been able to buy pork shoulder from my regular grocery store, which is such a shame because there is such a proliferation of braising recipes I want to try that call for it. Costco carries whole ones, but I’ve never been able to bring myself to purchase quite such a large chunk of meat for our little family, considering our limited freezer space, and the same goes for many of their enormous cuts of beef. However, we’ve had pretty good luck cooking their boneless country rib options in both the pork and beef. I seem to be accumulating quite a few recipes for dealing with these cuts, so look for quite a few posts discussing them in days to come.
My go-to recipe for dealing with these pork ribs in the past few years has been braising it Hawaiian style. But I think one of my new favorite applications is making carnitas. The recipe couldn’t be simpler. Essentially you braise the meat until it is meltingly tender and all the liquid has evaporated, then you sear it a little bit in the fat that is left behind, to give it even more flavor and texture. I served with homemade flour tortillas, jack cheese and a simple rice salad with corn and black beans, but you could take the toppings in any direction you like, or use the meat for quesadillas, burritos or what you will. Frankly, thinking back on this pork is making me hungry, so I won’t drag out the post any longer… dinner time!
Pork Carnitas
3 lb boneless pork shoulder or country ribs, lightly trimmed and cut into 1-inch cubes (leave some fat on)
Olive oil
Water
1 T salt
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 medium white onion, diced
2 tsp ancho chile powder
Salt and pepper
Drizzle a heavy wide pan (I used my big red Le Creuset) with olive oil, season the pork with salt, pepper and ancho, and sear on all sides. Pour in just enough water to cover the meat, add the garlic and onion, and bring to a boil, uncovered. When the liquid reaches a boil, lower the heat, and continue to cook at a gentle simmer until all the liquid has evaporated, about two hours. At this point, the meat should be cooked through but not falling apart. Lower the heat a little more and continue cooking the meat until all the fat has rendered out of it. Keep turning the meat until it is lightly browned all over, about 15 more minutes. Makes a lot, but the leftovers are possibly even tastier than the first day.
Source: Slightly adapted from Food Network.
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02.03.10
Posted in American, Cuisines, Fish, Leftovers, Seafood at 11:33 am by julie
In case anyone wants to know, leftover fried fish can be acceptable, and even pretty tasty, fishcakes. When we were on our way to the airport with my folks after Christmas, we stopped at a McCormick and Schmick’s for lunch, where my mother and I both ended up ordering the cod fish and chips. Nolan threw a teething fit and refused to even sit in proximity to solid food, and we were concerned about getting to the airport on time, so I came home with most of the fish and chips in a doggie bag—probably about 3/4 lb of flaky cod. There was no way the batter was ever going to recrisp, so I just broke up the fish, batter and all, and made it into codcakes. For bulk, I steamed and riced 5 red potatoes, and added two crumbled up slices of white sandwich bread; I seasoned it with some grated onion, salt and pepper, and bound the whole lot together with two eggs.
This constitutes my basic fishcake recipe, and I use it frequently with all manner of leftover fish, particularly cod, halibut, and salmon. Sometimes I’ll dip the patties in a dusting of flour or panko crumbs, but I skipped that this time because of the extra starch from the batter. I served the codcakes with some arugula I sauteed with olive oil and garlic, and a quick dipping sauce that contained, I believe, mayo, Dijon, and some dill (the salmon variation above had a sauce of plain yogurt with mayo, lemon, and smoked paprika). Usually Nolan likes these a lot, because they are crunchy and starchy and contain fish, but the dreaded molars were still keeping him from eating; in fact, only one has fully erupted so far, so this is an ongoing problem that I will be very glad to see the end of.
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01.27.10
Posted in Baby Food, Chocolate, Cookies & Candies, Dessert, Foodblog Events, Snacks at 1:28 pm by julie
The January 2010 Daring Bakers’ challenge was hosted by Lauren of Celiac Teen. Lauren chose Gluten-Free Graham Wafers and Nanaimo Bars as the challenge for the month. The sources she based her recipe on are 101 Cookbooks and www.nanaimo.ca. I’d never actually eaten a nanaimo bar before, but I was familiar with them from the Willamette University Bistro’s offerings, so I was very curious to see what they were like. I make simple graham crackers all the time for my son, and have actually made the Nancy Silverton grahams before as well, so those weren’t new to me.
The graham cracker recipe used for this recipe is definitely sweeter than my basic one, but it also has more flavor (not that my son minds one way or the other). Since we don’t have dietary restrictions at our house, I just used some flour I already had on hand: 1 C AP flour, 1 C whole wheat flour, and as a nod to gluten-free baking flours, 1/2 C oat flour ground from rolled oats and 2 T buckwheat flour. I made the full batch of crackers so as to have extras for snacking.
My dough came out quite sticky, but I’m told that was pretty common, and some flour on the board and rolling pin made it perfectly workable. My crackers took a few minutes longer than the suggested time to bake, but maybe that was because of my choice of flours.
As you can see, my taste tester approves! They are especially good for teething 2-year molars.
The crust for these cookies is a bit unusual, cooked briefly on the stovetop, then patted into the pan. It stays soft and chewy, and the nuts and coconut give it some crunch. I used a 9″ pan instead of the 8″ called for, so my bars came out a little thinner than intended.
I didn’t have access to custard powder, so I flavored the middle layer, essentially an American buttercream, with vanilla paste. I had some trouble getting my chocolate melted and cooled to a good consistency for spreading over the buttercream, so it wasn’t as smooth or shiny as I might have liked, but it served its purpose well. The finished bars were incredibly sweet, but we ate them all in about two days, so apparently we didn’t mind a bit. 
There were enough graham crackers not only for snacking, but for several pies with graham cracker crusts, so I also made a coconut cream pie (it did not cut neatly enough for photos!).
All in all, this month’s challenge was interesting and very tasty, but not so much what I would term “daring.” That doesn’t mean I won’t be making nanaimo bars again; in fact, I’m fully planning on taking inspiration from all the amazing variations that our Daring Bakers came up with. Maybe one day I’ll even come across some custard powder and try the real thing.
Nanaimo Bars
Bottom Layer
1/2 C (4 ounces) unsalted butter
1/4 C granulated sugar
5 T unsweetened cocoa
1 large egg, beaten
1 1/4 C graham cracker crumbs (store-bought or homemade)
1/2 C almonds, finely chopped
1 C coconut, shredded (sweetened or unsweetened)
Middle Layer
1/2 C (4 ounces) unsalted butter
2 T plus 2 tsp heavy cream
2 T vanilla custard powder (such as Bird’s), or other flavoring (vanilla, coconut, mint, peanut butter, fruit—sky’s the limit)
2 C powdered sugar
Top Layer
4 ounces semi-sweet chocolate
2 T unsalted butter
For bottom layer: Melt unsalted butter, sugar and cocoa in top of a double boiler. Add egg and stir to cook and thicken. Remove from heat. Stir in crumbs, nuts and coconut. Press firmly into an ungreased 8 by 8 inch pan.
For middle layer: Cream butter, cream, flavoring, and powdered sugar together well. Beat until light in colour. Spread over bottom layer, and chill.
For top layer: Melt chocolate and unsalted butter over low heat. Cool. Once cool, pour over middle layer and allow to set.
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01.24.10
Posted in Beef, Breakfast, Cookies & Candies, Dessert, Dinner, Meats, Persnickety Bits, Pies & Tarts, Poultry, Quick Breads, Sides, Veggies at 7:34 pm by julie
It’s been a few months since I’ve managed to post anything on the blog. I wish I could use the busy holiday season as my excuse, but that really isn’t the case. In truth, I’ve been faithfully cataloging our meals by date, complete with edited photos and recipe notations. However, when it comes time to write up a finished post, I stall out trying to find some way around the admission that most of the food I cook these days is purely utilitarian. I cook largely from the pantry because getting to the grocery store is often problematic, and my pantry is stripped to the basics for financial reasons, so most of the time I feel like the little Dutch boy, constantly plugging the gaps in my recipes with substitutes. I’m also trying to cook for, and around, a 22-month old who is simultaneously going through a picky phase and cutting his 2-year molars. I like to say that cooking is the only hobby I can make time for these days, but it’s not true if I define the hobby aspect as pushing my boundaries with new ingredients and techniques. It’s all I can do to get a coherent meal on the table these days, and writing it in black and white on the blog just drives that point home.
I know I’m not the only one out there whose financial and family responsibilities sometimes overshadow the fun parts of cooking, so I’ll try to get past my writer’s block and get back to the posts. They may not always be exciting or challenging, but hopefully they may help some people who are in a similar predicament. I’ll start by filling in a few of the gaps since the holiday season.
We didn’t cook Thanksgiving dinner on Thanksgiving this year. We were invited up to eat with my husband’s relatives, and shared a great day with them. Nolan ate heartily and had a fantastic time sharing toys and kisses with everyone there. I brought along a batch of whole wheat-walnut butterhorns, a loaf of pumpkin bread with a banana cream swirl (leftover cannoli filling, actually), and two pies, white chocolate pecan and cinnamon crumble apple. We came home with just some the desserts leftover, and the refrigerator almost seemed haunted by a lack of turkey and sides; the extra pie disappeared far too quickly for our health.
About a week later, I gave into my itch and made a mini-Thanksgiving dinner centered around a roasted chicken. I used some pre-mixed turkey brine to flavor the chicken, but miscalculated the percentages, because the chicken came out extremely salty, so much so that the gravy I made from the drippings was nearly inedible. At least it was just a 4-lb chicken, and the sides helped balance out some of the overseasoning: steamed broccoli, apple and onion cornbread stuffing, mashed potatoes, pureed sweet potatoes with sherry and fried onions, and yeasted pan rolls left over from a previous meal. We didn’t much care for the stuffing, which was a little dry and gritty for our tastes, but I may not have added enough liquid. I liked the sweet potatoes quite a bit because they walked that line of sweet and savory; Jeremy thought they were good, but left off the fried onions. For dessert, I made a caramelized walnut tart that was very tasty and roundly appreciated. I should note that all of these items were made from the freezer and pantry.
The week before Christmas, Jeremy came home from Costco with an 11-lb turkey. I admit that my heart fell when I saw it, because we had talked about doing some sort of beef roast for Christmas dinner, and I thought he was changing the menu without a consult. As it turns out, there was just such a good deal on turkeys that he couldn’t pass it up: something like $10 for a turkey that size. This time I avoided the brining, and rubbed my turkey with miso butter; I also baked a loaf of bread in advance so we would be able to have our standard slow cooker stuffing, and tried out a carrot souffle since we were out of yams. The turkey made for great leftovers and stock, but was generally forgettable. The carrot souffle was interesting and worth making again with a few tweaks. I didn’t have sharp cheddar so I just used medium, which costs less. Although I minced the onion as finely as possible, we found their texture to be unpalatable in the otherwise smooth souffle, since they are added raw after the carrots are pureed, and didn’t cook through in the oven; next time I would either grate the onion on a microplane, saute it minced, or possibly cook it along with the carrot. It would definitely be a good change of pace for us from time to time, though, since I always seem to be working my way through a big bag of organic carrots from Costco.
I wasn’t able to make my Daring gingerbread house in December because I ran out of most of my baking spices (cinnamon, ginger, cloves, and vanilla), and needed to save what little I did have on hand for edible baked goods, like molasses spice cookies. The latter were addictive, made from my last little bit of freshly ground whole spices, plus organic molasses and demerara sugar. I also made my personal favorite, pecan snowballs, and tried out some cinnamon-kissed chocolate oatmeal cookies from Dorie Greenspan’s Baking.
With all those cookies in the house, we forsook a fancy dessert to go with our Christmas dinner, which was made all the more festive by my parents’ arrival at the airport at 4pm on the very day. I had anticipated making as much of the meal in advance as possible, and splurging on a beef tenderloin roast that would take less than an hour to cook, but the cost of a standing rib roast was so much more reasonable that I adjusted the plan. The roast was dry-brined overnight in the fridge, and removed to room temperature as we walked out the door for the airport. Upon returning, we opened presents and nibbled on stuffed mushrooms and fresh bread with white bean hummus until the roast and fixings were ready. I went with a porcini jus, sweet potato puree with goat cheese and truffle oil, mustard roasted potatoes, and the cream braised Brussels sprouts that I’ve made for my folks before. The roast beef came out delicious and perfectly cooked, the Brussels sprouts vanished in a flash, the roasted potatoes were adequate, and Jeremy thought the goat cheese masked the flavor of the sweet potatoes (which may have been why I thought they were pretty good).
The leftover prime rib made for excellent sandwiches in the days after Christmas, but the most interesting meal we had was not one I cooked. My father was kind enough to share his new speciality with us: ebelskivers. He’s made many varieties of these tiny round pancakes, both sweet and savory, usually with a dollop of filling hidden inside like a treasure. This time, he filled the ebelskivers with a cinnamon apple filling, and topped them off with powdered sugar. They made perfect, tender little bites, and we all loved them, so much so that I really wish I had an ebelskiver pan now.
That pretty much brings things up to speed. Since Nolan started cutting his 2-year molars just after New Years, he’s barely been eating at all. Suggestions on how to fatten up a scrawny toddler greatly appreciated!
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11.27.09
Posted in Chocolate, Cuisines, Dairy, Dessert, Foodblog Events, Italian at 12:09 am by julie
The November 2009 Daring Bakers Challenge was chosen and hosted by Lisa Michele of Parsley, Sage, Desserts and Line Drives. She chose the Italian Pastry, Cannolo (Cannoli is plural), using the cookbooks Lidia’s Italian-American Kitchen by Lidia Matticchio Bastianich and The Sopranos Family Cookbook by Allen Rucker; recipes by Michelle Scicolone, as ingredient/direction guides. She added her own modifications/changes, so the recipe is not 100% verbatim from either book.
This challenge was a lot of fun because although we love Italian food, my family had never even tasted cannoli. I’ve done a bit of frying, so this wasn’t a particularly nerve-wracking challenge, but it did give me a handy excuse to buy a deep-fry thermometer and a spatter screen, which will hopefully make a big difference in the quality of my fry sessions and the amount of clean-up afterwards.
I made my cannoli dough several hours in advance. I had no marsala and briefly contemplated attempting mirin (since it is a sweet wine), but in the end I chose to use plain old white wine, and I used a few tablespoons over 1/2 C, enough to give me a kneadable, but not sticky, dough. The recipe didn’t specify Dutch-processed or natural cocoa powder, so I used the latter. While it hung out in the refrigerator, I made a batch of fresh ricotta to divide between my cannoli and the homemade cannelloni I decided to prepare for dinner, for the sheer synergy of it all. Thank heavens for the pasta roller attachment on my stand mixer!
After dinner, I started heating the oil and dividing my dough into 1″ spheres. The oil was a blend of about 3:1 extra virgin olive oil to canola, partly because cannoli are Italian and I was channeling Mario Batali, and partly because I ran out of canola. While I heated it up to about 375F in a heavy 4-quart saucepan, I rolled out my first four cannoli in the pasta roller, thinning them out to setting 6, which gave me about 5″ rounds to wrap around the forms. I had no trouble with the dough sticking to my roller or shrinking back; actually, it behaved very well and smelled delightfully of cinnamon.
I fried my cannoli two at a time. The oil temperature was a little hard to keep steady; mostly it kept wanting to creep above 375F, so some of the shells got a little darker than I had planned, but none tasted burnt. The recipe called for turning them as they fried, but mine just rolled back whatever way they wanted, so that didn’t really happen. I should also note that I never had a problem with my olive oil smoking, despite temperatures that occasionally got above 400F.
While they fried, I prepared the next two forms, which went in for a bath when the first two came out to drain. I was able to carefully remove the hot forms from the hot cannoli by keeping a thin cloth in each hand and gently twisting the shell free. For the first night’s batch, I then dunked the hot forms into water to cool them quickly for the next round; they caused some spattering in subsequent frying due to water droplets inside the hollow forms, so the next night I just gave them an extra minute to cool and skipped the dunking.
Using my pasta roller, I was able to make a dozen large (5-6″) cannoli shells with half the dough. For the most part they blistered very nicely, and I suspect that has to do with a combination of factors, namely the amount of moisture in the dough and the temperature of the dough relative to that of the oil. My shells blistered better when the oil was at least 375F and the dough was still cold. Several shells near the end of the frying session, with the dough at room temperature, almost didn’t blister at all.
For the first batch of cannoli shells, I made a filling of about 1 C freshly made and drained ricotta, 4 oz cream cheese at room temperature, 1 tsp vanilla paste, and about 1/3 C sugar. It was thick and lovely, and tasted like a cheesecake. I piped it with a star tip into my cooled shells, and had just barely enough to fill the lot. Because it was so thick, I was able to fill the extra shells and keep them in the fridge overnight with very little sog factor.
A few days later, I had time to fry up the other half of the cannoli dough, so I played around a bit more. Using a second batch of fresh ricotta, I made two new flavors of filling, chocolate and banana cream. Both used a base of about 1 C fresh drained ricotta and 4 oz cream cheese; the chocolate was flavored with about 1/4 C sugar and 1/2 C melted semi-sweet chocolate, while the banana cream was flavored with 1/3 C brown sugar, a pinch of cinnamon, and most of a very ripe banana. In addition, I dipped the ends of my cannoli shells into melted chocolate and toasted unsweetened coconut before filling. Both of these fillings were tasty, but the original simple vanilla filling was our family’s unanimous favorite. I should also note that the banana filling was of a moister consistency, and caused the leftover cannoli to soften considerably; I ended up deciding to save most of it to swirl through loaves of pumpkin bread.
We made short work of the lot, and even our 20-month old dug in. These were a lot of fun to make, and incredibly versatile. Every variety we tried tasted great, looked elegant and impressive, and were much easier to make than expected. Since I can have the shells and filling ready in advance, I will definitely be making cannoli for guests in the future, and it would be fun to try savory varieties too. Thanks so much to Lisa Michele for choosing this recipe, and check out all of the amazing cannoli at the Daring Bakers Blogroll!
Lidisano’s Cannoli
Makes 22-24 4-inch cannoli
CANNOLI SHELLS
2 C (250 grams/16 ounces) all-purpose flour
2 T (28 grams/1 ounce) sugar
1 tsp (5 grams/0.06 ounces) unsweetened baking cocoa powder
1/2 tsp (1.15 grams/0.04 ounces) ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp (approx. 3 grams/0.11 ounces) salt
3 T (42 grams/1.5 ounces) vegetable or olive oil
1 tsp (5 grams/0.18 ounces) white wine vinegar
Approximately 1/2 C (approx. 59 grams/approx. 4 fluid ounces/approx. 125 ml) sweet Marsala or any white or red wine you have on hand
1 egg white
Vegetable or any neutral oil for frying – about 2 quarts (8 C/approx. 2 litres)
1/2 C (approx. 62 grams/2 ounces) toasted, chopped pistachio nuts, mini chocolate chips/grated chocolate and/or candied or plain zests, fruits etc.. for garnish
Confectioners’ sugar
Note – If you want a chocolate cannoli dough, substitute a few tablespoons of the flour (about 25%) with a few tablespoons of dark, unsweetened cocoa powder (Dutch process) and a little more wine until you have a workable dough (Thanks to Audax).
CANNOLI FILLING
2 lbs (approx. 3.5 C/approx. 1 kg/32 ounces) ricotta cheese, drained
1 2/3 C (160 grams/6 ounces) confectioner’s sugar, (more or less, depending on how sweet you want it), sifted
1/2 tsp (1.15 grams/0.04 ounces) ground cinnamon
1 tsp (4 grams/0.15 ounces) pure vanilla extract or the beans from one vanilla bean
3 T (approx. 28 grams/approx. 1 ounce) finely chopped good quality chocolate of your choice
2 T (12 grams/0.42 ounces) of finely chopped, candied orange peel, or the grated zest of one small to medium orange
3 T (23 grams/0.81 ounce) toasted, finely chopped pistachios
Note – If you want chocolate ricotta filling, add a few tablespoons of dark, unsweetened cocoa powder to the above recipe, and thin it out with a few drops of warm water if too thick to pipe.
DIRECTIONS FOR SHELLS:
1. In the bowl of an electric stand mixer or food processor, combine the flour, sugar, cocoa, cinnamon, and salt. Stir in the oil, vinegar, and enough of the wine to make a soft dough. Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface and knead until smooth and well blended, about 2 minutes. Shape the dough into a ball. Cover with plastic wrap and let rest in the fridge from 2 hours to overnight.
2 Cut the dough into two pieces. Keep the remaining dough covered while you work. Lightly flour a large cutting or pastry board and roll the dough until super thin, about 1/16 to 1/8” thick (An area of about 13 inches by 18 inches should give you that). Cut out 3 to 5-inch circles (3-inch – small/medium; 4-inch – medium/large; 5-inch;- large. Your choice). Roll the cut out circle into an oval, rolling it larger and thinner if it’s shrunk a little. (A pasta roller also works nicely for this step. Divide the dough into 1″ balls, flatten one slightly, and roll it through from the widest setting to the smallest.)
3. Oil the outside of the cannoli tubes (You only have to do this once.) Roll a dough oval from the long side around each tube/form and dab a little egg white on the dough where the edges overlap. (Avoid getting egg white on the tube, or the pastry will stick to it.) Press well to seal. Set aside to let the egg white seal dry a little.
4. In a deep heavy saucepan, pour enough oil to reach a depth of 3 inches, or if using an electric deep-fryer, follow the manufacturer’s directions. Heat the oil to 375°F (190 °C) on a deep fry thermometer, or until a small piece of the dough or bread cube placed in the oil sizzles and browns in 1 minute. Have ready a tray or sheet pan lined with paper towels or paper bags.
5. Carefully lower a few of the cannoli tubes into the hot oil. Do not crowd the pan. Fry the shells until golden, about 2 minutes, turning them so that they brown evenly.
8. Lift a cannoli tube with a wire skimmer or large slotted spoon, out of the oil. Using tongs, grasp the cannoli tube at one end. Very carefully remove the cannoli tube with the open sides straight up and down so that the oil flows back into the pan. Place the tube on paper towels or bags to drain. Repeat with the remaining tubes. While they are still hot, grasp the tubes with a potholder and pull the cannoli shells off the tubes with a pair of tongs, or with your hand protected by an oven mitt or towel. Let the shells cool completely on the paper towels. Place shells on cooling rack until ready to fill.
9. Repeat making and frying the shells with the remaining dough. If you are reusing the cannoli tubes, let them cool before wrapping them in the dough.
DIRECTIONS FOR FILLING:
1. Line a strainer with cheesecloth. Place the ricotta in the strainer over a bowl, and cover with plastic wrap and a towel. Weight it down with a heavy can, and let the ricotta drain in the refrigerator for several hours to overnight.
2. In a bowl with electric mixer, beat ricotta until smooth and creamy. Beat in confectioner’s sugar, cinnamon, vanilla and blend until smooth. Transfer to another bowl and stir in chocolate, zest and nuts. Chill until firm. (The filling can be made up to 24 hours prior to filling the shells. Just cover and keep refrigerated).
ASSEMBLE THE CANNOLI:
1. When ready to serve, fill a pastry bag fitted with a 1/2-inch plain or star tip, or a ziplock bag, with the ricotta cream. If using a ziplock bag, cut about 1/2 inch off one corner. Insert the tip in the cannoli shell and squeeze gently until the shell is half filled. Turn the shell and fill the other side.
2. Press or dip cannoli in chopped pistachios, grated chocolate/mini chocolate chips, candied fruit or zest into the cream at each end. Dust with confectioner’s sugar and/or drizzles of melted chocolate if desired.
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11.24.09
Posted in American, Beef, Cuisines, Dinner, Meats, Sides, Veggies at 5:34 pm by julie
This meal came from wanting barbecued boneless beef short ribs on a shorter time frame than my usual oven-braising method. Jeremy was skeptical, but they were very meaty cuts without too much fat or connective tissue, so I thought I could get away with grilling. They tasted great and I thought they were pretty tender in the end, though of course nothing beats braising in that arena.
The last time we went to the grocery store, I got some sweet potatoes just because my husband likes them. Personally, I still really have a hard time eating them, but I’m working on it, and I think this recipe helped a lot. The sweet potatoes are cubed, simmered and sauteed, then tossed with caramelized onion, spices and a splash of sherry vinegar. They had a good balance: tender but not mushy, flavorful without being overly sweet.
Darned Good Grilled Ribs
This recipe seems to call for using a gas grill with a lid and adjustable temperatures. All I’ve got is an electric tabletop model that has no on/off switch, much less a temp control. I just turned my ribs a lot and covered them with foil.
1/2 C packed light brown sugar
1/4 C granulated sugar
1/4 C smoked paprika
1/4 cup sweet paprika
2 1/2 T kosher salt
2 1/2 T freshly ground black pepper
1 T granulated onion
1/2 tsp cayenne
2 lb boneless beef short ribs, connective tissue removed
1 C thick barbecue sauce
In a medium bowl and blend together both sugars, paprikas, salt, pepper, granulated onion, and cayenne. Sprinkle the short rib pieces liberally with this mixture until coated on all sides. Let sit at room temperature for about 30 minutes.
Oil the grill racks. Preheat your grill using all burners set on high and with the lid closed for 10 to 12 minutes. Place the beef ribs on the grill, close the lid, and reduce the heat to medium. (I just covered my meat with aluminum foil because I use an electric countertop grill.) Turn the ribs every 3 to 5 minutes or so, so that every side gets slightly caramelized, 15 to 20 minutes total, or a bit less if your ribs are small. The ribs should yield easily to the touch, not unlike a medium-rare steak or the way the tip of your nose feels. Reduce the heat a little more and brush the ribs with the sauce. Cover the grill and let cook for a minute or two for the sauce to set up, and then continue to turn and brush until all sides of the ribs have been glazed. Remove to a platter and let sit for 5 to 10 minutes, covered with foil. Serve.
Virginia Pruitt’s Perfect Barbecue Sauce
1 large onion, chopped
1 C sugar, white or brown
1 C ketchup
1/2 C distilled white vinegar
1/4 C yellow or Dijon mustard
1/2 tsp freshly ground black pepper
1/2 C Worcestershire sauce
Mix all the ingredients together in a medium saucepan. Place over medium heat and slowly bring to a boil. Reduce the heat slightly and cook until thickened, about 10 minutes. Thin with water if it gets too thick. Serve on anything your heart desires. Pour into an airtight container and refrigerate for up to 3 weeks. Makes about 2 cups.
Source: Epicurious.
Sweet Potatoes and Caramelized Onions
2 large Spanish onions
3 large sweet potatoes
4 T butter
1 T olive oil
3 cloves of garlic, slivered
1/4 C water
1/2 tsp ginger
1/2 tsp smoked paprika
1 1/2 tsp sherry vinegar
Salt and pepper
Peel and chop the onions. Peel and chop the sweet potatoes into 1-inch cubes. Heat the olive oil and butter over medium heat in a large heavy frying pan or 4-quart pot. Sauté the onions slowly over medium heat until they are turning amber, then darker brown – about 15 minutes. Once the onions are caramelized, add the sweet potato chunks and garlic. Continue cooking over medium heat, turning up the heat a little if the potato does not brown at all. Cook until the potatoes are also slightly browned and golden.
Add the water, turn the heat to low, and cover for about 10 minutes, or until the potato has softened. Remove the lid, turn the heat back up, and add the ginger, paprika, and salt and pepper to taste. Splash with vinegar, and sauté just a little longer, then remove from the heat and serve.
Source: The Kitchn.
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10.27.09
Posted in Chocolate, Cookies & Candies, Cuisines, Dessert, Foodblog Events, French, Nuts, Grains & Legumes at 12:58 pm by julie
The 2009 October Daring Bakers’ challenge was brought to us by Ami S. She chose macarons from Claudia Fleming’s The Last Course: The Desserts of Gramercy Tavern as the challenge recipe. I knew it was coming, sooner or later, and I’ve always been nervous about baking macarons, with very good reason. I made a batch of pistachio macarons once, before I really knew what they were; Nigella Lawson’s description was irresistible, but they came out sticky, lumpy, and so sweet that my husband wouldn’t eat more than one bite. I could barely remove them from the sheet pan. I’ve never tasted a real macaron, or even seen one outside of photographs, so I’d like to think that had some effect on the outcome.
My food, savory and sweet, has come a long way in the four or five years since that incident, in part thanks to taking part in 23 Daring Bakers challenges now. But when it comes to macarons, apparently I’m still at square one.
I decided to try my hand at chocolate macarons, mostly to divert my husband from eating all the Halloween candy before the trick-or-treaters get a shot at it, and my post is a little late because I was holding out to get parchment, almond meal and powdered sugar at the grocery store. When I finally got there on Tuesday, however, they didn’t have almond meal in stock and I totally spaced out the powdered sugar, so I ended up having to make both in the food processor anyhow. Superfine sugar, cocoa, and almonds all went in, and a fine brown powder came out. I sieved it to remove the larger bits of almond and lighten the texture before folding into my egg whites.
I made the cocoa-almond meringues in Baking: From My Home to Yours a month or two back, and they had a similar ingredient list and process, although they aren’t neatly piped. My meringues looked like airy rocks and had a large air pocket between the crisp shell and chewy base.
The macaron batter seemed to deflate even more than that meringue batter did, which didn’t seem like a good sign. Still, I carefully piped out row after row of neat little rounds… which promptly spread to twice their size and threatened to merge into sloppy amoeboid shapes. Not a good sign.
I baked them off anyway according to the recipe, and they set up into bumpy brown pancakes: no frilly foot, no dome, no nothing. Clearly something went awry. Was it my ingredients? My folding technique? The fact that I flavored them with chocolate? I’ll only know with further experimentation and lots more practice.
Anyhow, I filled my little bellyflop cookies with a simple ganache of 3 oz Valrhona chocolate and 1/3 C heavy cream, and gave some to my taste testers. Nolan instantly recognized them as chocolate and ate a whole cookie without sharing with his dad. He usually crams food into his mouth whole, but these had just the right tender texture for him to practice taking big-boy bites. And my husband has been mostly distracted from the Halloween candy. So even if I can’t call these cookies macarons, I’d still call them a big success. Thanks so much to Ami S. for choosing this very challenging challenge, and check out the infinite variety of real macarons baked up by our Daring Bakers at the blogroll.
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10.19.09
Posted in Dinner, Meats, Poultry, Sides at 9:22 pm by julie
I watched the most recent season of The Next Food Network Star mostly out of boredom, and because it was in season, as it were. I had no special interest in any of the candidates until the very last episode, when Melissa d’Arabian demonstrated an easy 4-step chicken dish with a side of individual potato gratins baked in a muffin tin. The chicken looked like a good repertoire dish, very adaptable and easily made with pantry staples, but the mini-gratin idea was genius. I, along with—let’s face it—practically every other person on the planet, love a good potato gratin. The problem is making them without mishap in a reasonable amount of time. Until now, every gratin I’ve tried has come out undercooked and soupy in the middle, usually requiring extra baking time that overbrowns the top of the gratin and throws off the timing of the rest of my food. But these individual gratins take just half an hour to bake and come out perfectly crisp on top and done underneath, not to mention scaling seamlessly to any number, so long as you have the muffin tin to contain them.
I have used both Yukon gold and red potatoes for versions of these gratins, though I’ve stuck with the onion and Gruyere cheese; I’ve no doubt you could tuck other veggies in between the potato slices as well, or use whatever cheese you prefer. The reds are the perfect size circumference for my muffin tin; you might have to trim down a russet. This is a great assembly-line recipe if you have helpers, or you could probably prepare it in advance and store in the fridge for a bit if you use low-starch potatoes like reds. I sliced my potatoes with a mandoline rather than dirty my food processor, but you could slice them by hand also if your knife skills are good. I also usually forget to put on the foil, and they still come out just fine in my oven.
I realize I’ve been blathering on and on about the potatoes, but the chicken was actually also very tasty. I’ve done two different variations so far, first making a lemon-onion sauce with peas, and then a dijon-thyme sauce.
5-Minute Individual Potato Gratins
Vegetable spray
2 large russet potatoes, roughly peeled and thinly sliced (or Yukon Gold, red, etc.)
1/2 C grated Swiss cheese (or Gruyere, cheddar, etc.)
2 green onions, finely chopped (or sweet onion, etc.)
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
3/4 C heavy cream
Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Spray 8 muffin tins with vegetable spray. Layer potato slices, cheese, and onions into each muffin cup, finishing with a layer of potato topped with cheese. Season with salt and pepper and top each gratin with 1 or 2 tablespoons of heavy cream. Cover with foil and bake for 30 to 40 minutes, removing the foil halfway through cooking time. Invert gratins onto plate and serve.
Source: Food Network
Update 11/30/09: I finally tried making these with russet potatoes. It worked fine, but I do think I prefer the texture of the red and Yukon potatoes better for this, as they hold up without getting mealy or mushy.
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