04.07.09
Posted in Appetizers, Baby Food, Bread, Cake, Chocolate, Dessert, Dips & Spreads, Nuts, Grains & Legumes at 6:41 pm by julie
Amazing as it may seem (well, to me at least), our little boy turned one year old near the end of March. My mom flew out for the celebration, which was a small family affair combining Nolan’s birthday party with his dedication. I was mostly busy straightening up the house for company, but I made several savory hors d’oeuvres for our guests to snack on.
This is my homemade grissini with whipped spinach and chickpea hummus. The grissini was a recipe from the King Arthur cookbook, and made enough breadsticks for a week’s worth of snacking. I seasoned them variously with za’atar, smoked paprika, sesame seeds, and Parmesan cheese, and Nolan loved them, with or without a dip in the hummus. I also stuffed some split baby bell peppers with a mixture of feta and ricotta, but those were all eaten up before I remembered to get a photo.
Of course, the highlight of Nolan’s birthday party had to be his cake. Knowing that Nolan is already a big chocolate fan but not wanting the mess of chocolate frosting, I went with the devil’s food white-out cake in Baking: From My Home to Yours. It made the perfect baby birthday cake: moist and chocolatey, but not too big or fussy, and with that crumb coat, it just begged to be eaten with chubby little fingers.
Nolan had never eaten sweets more than a pinch at a time, so we weren’t sure how he would react to a whole slice of cake. But he dove right in without the slightest hesitation and proceeded to eat the entire thing. He didn’t even make all that big a mess, considering. My husband also posted a little video of Nolan chowing down on our main website if anyone is interested.
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09.27.08
Posted in Appetizers, Bread, Dips & Spreads, Foodblog Events at 2:19 pm by julie
I’m a little late posting my Daring Bakers challenge for the month of September, but for once it isn’t because I procrastinated making it. On the contrary, this challenge—to make vegan or gluten-free lavash crackers and an accompanying dip—was perfect for the party I hosted way back at the beginning of the month. I just haven’t had much free time for writing up posts lately, thanks to Nolan’s ever-diminishing nap schedule.
Because I was making a number of things, not just the crackers, I ended up getting some assistance from my husband while making these. He does an excellent job of kneading dough, which saved me a lot of effort. For ease (and an excuse to buy agave nectar, which I’ve been eyeing curiously for some time), I decided to make the vegan version of the crackers.
The dough rolled out pretty easily, though it was difficult to get the edges as thin as the center. I sprinkled mine with sesame seeds, smoked paprika, cumin and kosher salt and pre-scored it in strips on the diagonal, as the book shows.
My lavash baked up crispy in some spots and a bit chewier in others, with a few air bubbles. Jeremy expected it to be crunchier than it was, fresh from the oven, at least—it seemed to crisp up more overnight, which I hadn’t expected.
I served it at the party with muhammara, a roasted red pepper dip thickened with toasted walnuts and bread crumbs. The vaguely Middle Eastern spices I used to season the crackers paired up nicely with the muhammara, which had an elusive flavor: sweet, earthy, and a bit spicy. The crackers, however, were largely overlooked at the party, where people chose to eat the muhammara and other dips with the fresh pain a l’ancienne we made (another recipe from The Bread Baker’s Apprentice
, by the way). I think it may have been because I should have cut the crackers into shorter strips. Oh well—I liked them a lot, and ate them with both the leftover muhammara and garlic-white bean dip. They were definitely easy to make and fun to try, but I’d just as soon make bread if I’m going to bother with a yeasted dough, I think.
Muhammara
1 T red pepper flakes, or 1 small red chile (I used less than this, because I’m a wuss)
1/2 tsp ground cumin
3/4 C toasted walnuts
1/4 C whole-grain bread crumbs
1/4 C extra-virgin olive oil
2 T pomegranate molasses
1/4 C tomato paste
2-3 roasted red bell peppers
1/2-1 C warm water
1/2 tsp fine sea salt
In a food processor, puree the first 8 ingredients to a smooth, even consistency. Mix in warm water to achieve a desired texture, a bit thicker for dipping, a bit thinner for spreading. Stir in the salt and adjust seasonings if necessary.
Source: Super Natural Cooking, by Heidi Swanson (p. 102).
I’ll write up what I did with the leftover muhammara tomorrow if I have time. Meanwhile, thanks to Natalie of Gluten A Go Go, and Shel of Musings From the Fishbowl, for hosting this month’s challenge. You can find the cracker recipe on their blog. And be sure to check out all the lavash and dips on the Daring Bakers Blogroll.
I am a member of the Theta Class of Daring Bakers, inducted in July 2007. Below is a list of previous challenges:
Strawberry Mirror Cake – July 2007
Milk Chocolate and Caramel Tart – August 2007
Cinnamon Rolls and Sticky Buns – September 2007
Bostini Cream Pies – October 2007
Tender Potato Bread – November 2007
Traditional Buche de Noel – December 2007
Lemon Meringue Pie – January 2008
French Bread – February 2008
Perfect Party Cake – March 2008
Opéra Cake – May 2008
Danish Braid – June 2008
Filbert Gateau – July 2008
Chocolate Éclairs – August 2008
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09.24.08
Posted in Appetizers, Cuisines, Dinner, Italian, Leftovers, Pastas, Veggies at 3:05 pm by julie
In addition to the various spreads I made to go with our fresh bread, I also slow-roasted some roma tomatoes and set out a locally produced garlic-herb goat cheese. Most of the tomatoes and virtually all of the cheese was left at the end of the party, however, so I made up a pasta dish for dinner the next night to use some of them up, along with the one zucchini I didn’t fry into roll-ups. The last loaf of pain a l’ancienne was a perfect accompaniment, and a few tomatoes still ended up in the freezer for perking up a meal later this fall—bonus!
Oven-Dried Tomato Pasta with Zucchini and Goat Cheese
1 small yellow onion, diced
2 garlic cloves, sliced
1 small zucchini, thinly sliced
12-16 oven-roasted tomato halves, coarsely chopped
3 oz garlic-herb goat cheese
6 basil leaves, chiffonade
1/2 lb pasta, such as radiatore, cooked to package directions
Saute onion until starting to caramelize. Add the garlic; when it starts to smell fragrant, add the zucchini and saute over medium high heat until golden brown in spots. Add the tomatoes and stir.
When pasta is cooked, drain, reserving a cup or so of the pasta water. Toss the pasta and goat cheese with the sauce until the cheese melts, adding pasta water to loosen as necessary and coat the pasta. Add the basil, taste, and adjust the seasonings.
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09.23.08
Posted in Appetizers, Bread, Cuisines, Dinner, Italian, Mediterranean at 10:31 pm by julie
A few weeks back, we found out that one of our dearest friends is going to be moving out of the area, and Jeremy and I offered to throw a going-away party for him. This was a pretty big deal for us, because we’re kind of hermits—I think we’ve only even attended one party in the last year or two, and I’ve never hosted anything organized before. But since we rarely have company and I don’t get out much thanks to the baby, I was actually pretty excited at the prospect, and I spent a lot of time poring over menu options. In the end, I went with mostly Italian and Mediterranean flavors, for several reasons: our friend has Italian roots; I personally love Italian food and feel pretty comfortable cooking it; and a lot of Italian food is good, or even meant to be eaten, at room temperature. To make it easy on myself, we planned on bruschetta with a variety of spreads and toppings, and a few other items for snacking.
The party was at 3pm on a Sunday to give me most of the weekend to cook and clean up. With our little guy to take care of, I needed every moment I could get. I ordered a serving platter and a tablecloth from Amazon, and on Friday night we hit Fred Meyer for groceries and disposable plates and cups. On Saturday morning, I walked over to the farmer’s market for all the fresh produce I would need, determined to make the party food as local as possible. Somehow I managed to lug home red peppers, Roma tomatoes, peaches, boysenberries, garlic, prune plums, lettuce, goat cheese, mushrooms, zucchini, and a huge bouquet of flowers for the table. Nolan slept the whole time, and let me get a head-start roasting peppers and oven-drying tomatoes before joining us for the afternoon. All in all, by Saturday night, we had finished several bruschetta spreads and toppings, baked off one type of bread and made the dough for another, and got elements started on several other items.
The day of the party I made one more dip, fried zucchini, baked a crostata and finished making the watermelonade; Jeremy shaped and baked three loaves of pain a l’ancienne, and we both did a bunch of cleaning and organizing. I ran out of time to toast the bread, but it was freshly baked and no one seemed to mind. Nolan cooperated again by taking a three-hour nap that ended just as the first guests arrived. Of course, that meant that I had to go feed him and pump, and missed the first half hour of the party, but most folks didn’t show up until after that anyway. The food was all well received and worked well at room temperature, as I’d hoped, and I think everyone had a good time. We had quite a bit of leftover dip and such, but I found a few creative ways to use them up.
There are too many items to cover in a single post, so I’m going to break it up over several days, and mention what I did with the leftovers at the same time. I’ll start with a few of the spreads and miscellany.
I made three spreads to go with the bread: garlic-white bean hummus, fig-kalamata tapenade, and a third one I’ll discuss later. The hummus was technically more of a bean dip because it didn’t contain tahini, but it did have a nice garlic zing from raw and skillet-roasted cloves. I’ve lost track of where I got the recipe, but it was pretty straightforward. I didn’t get to try the tapenade, but it was very well-received also.
With the copious leftovers, I snacked on the bean dip with carrot sticks. It and the tapenade would make lovely sandwich spreads in place of mayo. Jeremy mixed some of the tapenade into tuna salad, which gave it a pleasant tang. I also considered mixing some of the tapenade into bread dough for olive bread, but didn’t get around to it.
To go with the slightly Moroccan flavors of the muhammara, I decided to make roasted garbanzo beans seasoned with a Moroccan spice blend, just for snacking purposes. These were very tasty, but were largely overlooked amid the other hors d’oeuvres.
These, on the other hand, were devoured entirely. I was lucky to get this photo before the last one was taken. They were fried zucchini roll-ups with capers and lemon, from Lidia’s Family Table, and they were the last item I made before the party started. Like many Italian fried foods, they were intended for eating at room temperature, and made perfect little bites. I’ve done this recipe once before, but not in the roll-up version; Lidia also recommends the fried slices as a tasty sandwich filling, and I can vouch for that.
Zucchini Roll-Ups
2 lb (about 5 or 6) small zucchini
About 2 C flour in a shallow dish
5 large eggs, beaten in a shallow dish with a pinch of salt
Kosher salt
Freshly ground black pepper
2 C or more canola oil
1-2 T nonpareil brined capers, well-drained
1/2 lemon
Rinse and dry the zucchini and top and tail them. With a sharp knife, slice lengthwise into about 5 or 6 1/8 thick strips, flexible but not transparent. Dredge several strips at a time in the flour, shaking off any loose flour. Slide them into the eggs, and turn to coat well. Remove and allow to drain on a colander or drying rack.
Meanwhile, pour canola oil into a 12″ cast iron skillet to a depth of 1/2″ and set over medium high heat. Line a large platter with paper towels and set nearby. When the oil is very hot, slip several battered strips into it; they should sizzle actively. Don’t crowd them; cook for about 90 seconds per side, so that they are nicely colored, then remove to the paper towels to drain. Sprinkle with salt while they are still hot.
Once all the strips are fried up and cooled enough to handle, roll up each strips with a few capers in the center, and secured with a toothpick. Just before serving, squeeze fresh lemon juice over the roll-ups and scatter a few more capers over them. Or just leave them as strips and pile them into sliced bread for sandwiches.
Source: Lidia’s Family Table, by Lidia Matticchio Bastianich (p. 21-23).
Since we don’t do alcohol, I let our friends take care of that (they brought fixings for martinis and cosmos) and provided pitchers of iced tea and sparkling watermelonade as alternatives. The watermelonade was well-liked and very easy to make. I pureed the watermelon the day before, and added the sparkling water to it just before serving.
Sparkling Watermelonade
1 (12-14 lb) watermelon (preferably seedless)
1/4 C sugar, divided
4 tsp fresh lemon juice, divided
Sparkling mineral water, ginger ale or lemon-lime soda, optional
Cut watermelon flesh into 2-inch chunks and discard rind. Purée watermelon in a blender in batches, adding sugar, lemon juice, and a pinch of salt in the last batch. Strain through a fine-mesh sieve into a large bowl, discarding solids. Add more sugar or lemon to taste if desired and serve over ice. You can make this a sparkling punch by adding about 4 C mineral water, ginger ale or soda, to taste. Serve with lemon slices. Drink will separate if allowed to sit; re-stir before serving.
Source: Slightly adapted from Epicurious.
Stay tuned for several more posts in this series…
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01.10.08
Posted in Appetizers, Chinese, Cuisines, Dinner, Foodblog Events, Meats, Pastas, Pork and Ham at 5:10 pm by julie
We made a run by LifeSource the other night for some essentials, and I decided, upon seeing the huge organic Napa cabbages, to make pork potstickers for dinner again. We made our way around to the refrigerated cases last, and lo and behold, no wonton wrappers in sight. Turns out they hadn’t been selling, and are no longer kept in stock—good to know, but not much help to a woman with the makings for potstickers already in her shopping cart. When I got home, I sat down and decided to try making the wrappers myself. You can use wonton wrappers as substitutes for fresh pasta in ravioli recipes, so how different could it be from making pasta dough?
Not much! I started with this recipe as my base, but halved it, using an egg white instead of a halved whole egg. My primary concern was producing a dough that wasn’t too sticky, and I ended up having to add quite a bit of flour to get something that didn’t leave residue on my fingers when I gave it a pinch. Next time I will add less water more gradually. The dough ran through my pasta maker up to the finest setting without a hitch, and I made sure to sprinkle the sheets very liberally with bench flour to keep them from sticking to the counter-top and each other. I overlapped them and covered them with a damp towel while making the potsticker filling, and they stayed nice and pliable until I was ready to fold my stickers. I just uncovered a few at a time, as I was ready for them.
The dough behaved very well, and definitely felt similar to the commercially-produced wonton wrappers I’ve used in the past. It was a tad softer, but that just facilitated folding and pinching into shape (a good thing since I don’t have a clue what I’m doing in that department!). I made about a dozen at a time, because that is all that would fit in my little nonstick pan. They responded to steaming and panfrying just as they should, with a good chew on top and a crisp brown crust underneath. The amount of dough I made produced almost exactly the right amount of wrappers to use up all the filling, amounting to about 3 dozen potstickers. They were so tasty that Jeremy commented, while tucking away his second helping, that now we won’t have to worry about finding wonton wrappers at the store anymore. I guess that’s true, but it wouldn’t hurt to look—potstickers are fiddly enough as it is, thanks!
This is my somewhat unorthodox entry for Presto Pasta Night #45, hosted by the lovely Ruth.
Wonton Wrappers
1 large egg white
About 1/3 C water
1 C all-purpose flour
1/4 tsp salt
In the bowl of a standing mixer, combine the flour and salt. Add the egg white and mix with the paddle attachment over medium speed, slowly adding water until the dough forms a ball. You may not need all the water. Continue beating the dough with the paddle for several minutes, or remove from the mixer to knead by hand. You want a smooth elastic dough that isn’t sticky, so adjust the flour and/or water content by increments as necessary. Mine was rather more pliable than my usual egg pasta dough. Note: This was not a large amount of dough, so I didn’t bother with my dough hook.
Cut the dough into four equal parts and run through a pasta maker up to the thinnest setting, or roll out by hand using a liberal amount of bench flour. Cut the sheets into roughly 3″ squares, and make sure they are well sprinkled with flour on both sides before stacking or overlapping to prevent them from melding together again. Use immediately or cover for a short while with a damp towel to keep them from drying out. Makes about 3 dozen squares, enough for me to use up nearly all of the spectacularly delicious filling from Shawnda’s recipe, here. Or use in any recipe that calls for wonton wrappers.
Source: Adapted from AllRecipes.
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06.29.07
Posted in Appetizers, Chinese, Cuisines, Dinner, Meats, Pork and Ham at 9:16 am by julie
Since I got serious about cooking a few years back, I have mostly been concentrating on Italian cooking, which suits most of my tastes perfectly. I would like to branch out to other cuisines, and do so here and there, but my pantry has a strong Italian bent and I’m missing out on some of the equipment and basic cookbooks I’d need to really do justice to them. I’m building up slowly, so for now I’m just taking it one dish at a time.
For instance, on Tuesday night, following a trip to LifeSource for a few items, I decided to be brave and try making homemade pork potstickers for dinner. I based the meal on a recipe at Confections of a Foodie Bride, and for the most part, it worked out really nicely. The filling was easy to make and had great flavor, and although I doubt that I folded them into anything approaching a traditional potsticker shape, they held together pretty well on the stove. I prepped a plateful of potstickers, and got them going in my biggest skillet while I worked on the next batch.
When the time was up, I checked on them… and discovered they were all irrevocably stuck to my stainless skillet, despite the oil. Guess they don’t call these things potstickers for nothing! I ended up scraping viciously at the pan with a turner, dumping the mangled potsticker remnants on a plate and the wonton-encrusted pan in the sink. A taste-test of the broken ’stickers indicated that they would indeed be worth the aggravation of making more, so I gave it another go using my only nonstick skillet, a little 8″ guy that worked perfectly for a much smaller batch of ’stickers (really need a larger nonstick skillet). I had some rice steaming away in the rice cooker while working on all this, and served the ’stickers with that and some sweet ginger chili sauce from Ginger People for dipping, although it turned out to be a little too spicy for me.
Were they worth the trouble? You better believe it! They were the best tasting potstickers I’ve ever had—even the broken, potstuck ones—and it gave me a warm fuzzy feeling to know for certain what was in the meat filling I was eating: ground pork, Napa cabbage, green onion and chives, and a bit of soy sauce and sesame oil. I think I might be able to recruit Jeremy’s assistance with prep next time, and would even consider making a double batch and freezing them for future meals.
Update 8/30/08: I’ve made these potstickers numerous times now. Tonight I doubled the filling recipe and used up an entire package of wonton skins to feed Jeremy, myself and a friend of ours, along with freshly cooked rice and sauteed Napa cabbage. Still wish I had a larger skillet. This time I used a 1lb chunk of pork loin trimmed off of a large loin that wouldn’t quite fit in my oval Le Creuset for another dinner; I was feeling pressed for time, and just popped it in the food processor rather than using my meat grinder, and it worked out just fine.
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