ShutterCook

Zwiebelkuchen or onion tart (plus how to chop an onion)

2011-09-20T11:13:00.002+02:00

The longer I live overseas, the more I continue to learn and am fascinated about certain things. For example, how important seasonality of fruits and vegetables is around here in Germany. There are things I knew had seasons like strawberries or tomatoes or corn. I had no idea that onions had a season. And not only that, but how thoroughly it is embraced.

Zwiebelkuchen and Neuerwein is currently on the menus of many restaurants around here. Zwiebelkuchen is basically a savory tart, kind of like a quiche without cheese and with onions. Lots of them. It is commonly paired with Neuerwein, or new wine, the semi-fermented wine of this year's grape harvest. It can vary widely in flavor and alcohol content: the sweeter it is, the less alcohol it has, and vice versa. Because I love this paring so much, I made it my mission to find a recipe and make it for myself.

I think I may have found a winner. I had to borrow from several places, combine a few recipes, and go to many restaurants to sample to see what I liked best (tough job, I know). But all that blood, sweat and tears (ha!) has paid off.

Because this recipe involves 1 1/2 lbs of onions I figured I would also include a little instructional guide to chopping them up. So first, I'll get started with the "how-to". It is best to use a fairly big knife for this task, I like using my 9" chef's knife. I've included pics, because sometimes it's a little hard to describe.

To start, cut the onion in half through the root and stem ends.

Working with one of the halves, place it flat side down and slice off the stem end (not the end with the little fuzzy brown stuff, that's the root). Leaving this end in place will help keep the onion together as you chop it.

Now, peel the papery outside off of the onion.

Next, with your knife parallel to the cutting board and starting near the bottom of the onion, slice through the onion almost up to the root end, but not all the way. Repeat 2 or 3 times depending on how small you would like your onion chopped.

The next step is to cut vertically through the onion. With your knife perpendicular to the cutting board and the tip of the knife pointing toward the root end of the onion, begin to slice vertically starting from one side and working across the onion to the other. You may lose a few pieces on either side, but that's ok.

Finally you'll make slices across the ones you've just made working from the end where the stem was to the root end. And there you go, you're done. The thing I haven't figured out yet is how to avoid crying while chopping. Any hints? Please let me know!

Now for the rest of the recipe...I should add, I made a shortbread crust for this. If you have a better recipe, by all means use it. If you don't have the time or inclination to make your own crust, I think a store-bought pie crust would also work.

Zwiebelkuchen (onion tart)
Crust adapted from Avoca Cafe cookbook
Filling adapted from Cooks Illustrated

Ingredients
For the crust:
8 oz plain flour (about 1 cup plus a heaping 3/4 cup)
5 oz butter (10 tbsp or 1 1/4 sticks), diced
1/2 tsp salt
2 egg yolks

For the filling:
2-4 slices bacon, depending how much bacon flavor you want.
vegetable oil, if needed
1 1/2 pounds onions (about 3 3"diameter onions), diced (yellow or white are fine, but not sweet onions)
1 sprig fresh thyme
3/4 teaspoon salt
2 large eggs
1/2 cup half-and-half
1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
1 tsp caraway seeds, toasted

Directions
As a time-flow hint, you could start the crust, then while the crust is chilling or baking, or both, get started on the filling.

Make the crust.
Preheat oven to 350F/180C. Sift the flour into a bowl and rub in the butter until the mixture resembles fine breadcrumbs. Stir in the salt them mix to a dough with the egg yolks and a little cold water if necessary.

Cover with plastic wrap. Put into the fridge to chill for 20-30 minutes. After it has chilled, remove from the fridge and dump it into a pan with a removable bottom (you can use a regular pie pan, but it may be a little more difficult to get the Zwiebelkuchen out to serve). You don't really need to be neat about this. It's better if it isn't in one big blob. Using your hands, spread out the dough to an even thickness in the pan and around the edges. Place on cookie sheet and bake blind for 20 minutes (to bake blind, cover the pastry with parchment paper or foil and fill with dried beans or pie weights).

Remove paper/foil and beans, return to oven for 5-10 more minutes or until very lightly browned.

Make the filling.
While crust is baking, cook bacon in 12-inch nonstick skillet over medium heat until browned and crisp, 8 to 10 minutes. Remove bacon slides from pan and let cool on a plate lined with a paper towel. If it looks like you have about 2 tablespoons of bacon fat in the pan, fine, if less, add vegetable oil to make up any difference.

Add onions, salt, and thyme to skillet. Cover and cook until onions release liquid and start to wilt, about 10 minutes. Reduce heat to low and continue to cook, covered, until onions are very soft, about 20 minutes, stirring once or twice (if after 15 minutes onions look wet, remove lid and continue to cook another 5 minutes). Remove pan from heat and let onions cool 5 minutes.

Whisk eggs, half-and-half, pepper and caraway seeds together in large bowl. Remove thyme sprig from onions and discard. Stir onions into egg mixture until just incorporated. Spread onion mixture over baked crust and crumble bacon evenly on top.

Increase oven to 375F. Return baking sheet with tart to oven and bake until center of tart feels firm to touch, 20 to 25 minutes. Cool on wire rack at least 10 minutes.

When ready to serve, remove tart pan ring (hint: place tart on a large can of tomatoes and the ring should just fall away with a little push), gently slide thin-bladed spatula between tart pan bottom and crust to loosen, then slide tart to serving plate. Cut into wedges and serve.

Chicken Breasts with Tomatoes and Herbs

2011-08-13T12:27:00.002+02:00

So I'm sure upon reading this post, my mom will be shocked that I'm sharing a recipe with tomatoes as one of the main ingredients. I am not a fan of tomatoes. I would pick them out of spaghetti sauce as a child. The closest thing I would eat to tomatoes when I was little was ketchup and pizza sauce. To this day, I'll still pick tomatoes out of a salad and give them to my husband. Bruschetta with chopped tomatoes and fresh herbs--nope. Caprese salad with fresh mozzarella--only the cheese, please. Chunky salsa--chips dipped to absorb juice only, no chunks.

I feel like, as an adult, I should be past this picking-stuff-out-of-my-salad phase. Tomatoes are a grown-up food. And good for you. So why am I so averse to them? I don't know. But I made a decision a little while ago to make myself at least try recipes with fresh tomatoes. I've come across some that have been OK. Some that the husband loved (read: chock full of tomatoes and little else). But none that I have truly enjoyed. Until I came across this recipe in this month's Bon Appetit. I had to share it. The tomatoes are both sweet and a little sour, the butter adds a nice richness to it, and the herbs make it taste light and fresh. All together it makes for a tasty dish. You only need a nice green salad to go along side.

BA has this great section in it called "Fast, Easy, Fresh", and that is exactly how I would describe this dish. It is really simple. All you do is mix some oregano and spices into soft butter, sautee up some chicken breasts in some of the butter, then char up some tomatoes in that same pan. And you're pretty much done. Mom will be so proud, I'm eating my tomatoes!

Some notes on this recipe:

- Use a meat thermometer to measure the internal temperature of the chicken breasts to make sure they are done right, not too raw, not too dry. You're looking for a temp 150-155F. Tenting them with foil after this point and letting them rest will increase the temperature and redistribute the juices back through the meat, keeping it moist.

- After you remove the chicken from the pan, toss the tomatoes right in on top of the pan juices and any bits from the chicken. There is lots of flavor in what is left over and you don't want to lose it.

- Get a good char on the tomatoes, again, another good source of flavor. Once they get a little caramelized, that's when they start to get sweet.

Chicken Breasts with Tomatoes and Herbs
slightly adapted From Bon Appetit
Printable version

Ingredients

4 tablespoons (1/2 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 tablespoon chopped fresh oregano
1 teaspoon sweet paprika
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
4 skinless, boneless chicken breasts
4 cups mixed cherry tomatoes (1 1/2 lbs)
2 tablespoon chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley

1. Mash butter, garlic, oregano, and paprika in a small bowl to blend. Season to taste with salt and pepper.

2. Add half of the oregano butter to a medium heavy skillet and melt over medium heat. Season chicken with salt and pepper. Add chicken to skillet, cover, and cook until no longer pink in center, or a thermometer reads 150-155F, about 5 minutes per side (depending on how big thick the chicken is). Transfer chicken to a plate. Tent chicken with foil to keep warm.

3. Increase heat to high. Add tomatoes to skillet and cook, stirring occasionally, until they begin to char and burst, about 5 minutes. Add remaining oregano butter to skillet. Crush tomatoes slightly to release juices; stir 1 minute. Season sauce to taste with salt and pepper. Spoon tomato sauce over chicken. Garnish with parsley.

Salt-crusted Burgers with Lentil Hummus and Roasted Red Peppers

2011-07-31T21:48:00.004+02:00

I'm back again. I can't believe that I've gotten 2 posts completed in 2 weeks! I'm so proud of myself. And I'm totally loving getting back into sharing my kitchen with you guys again.

I've been doing a little experimenting in the past few months with lentils. They're something I'm trying to use more of in my meals. Lentils are a nutritional powerhouse with all sorts of fiber and protein in a calorie-light package. But I honestly had no idea how to use them before I saw this recipe. I always thought of them as something you should eat, but not actually want to eat. The more I research I've done, the more I'm finding out that I do actually want to eat them! I'm looking forward to sharing more of my discoveries in future posts.

Lentils also make a great replacement for the carbs I feel like I'm not "allowed" to eat. As I started eating less and less "white carbs" like bread and potatoes, I really missed the things that often go along with them, like hamburger buns and hamburgers. I love love love a really good hamburger, but it seems weird to me to just eat a piece of cooked ground beef on a plate. So when I came across this recipe, I realized that I had found exactly what I was looking for--I didn't even miss the bun. Plus, it's super easy, and that is always good. It's become a staple in my kitchen when I don't feel like cooking a big meal, but don't want to go out, either. This burger, combined with the lentil hummus and roasted red peppers makes for a great balance of sweet and salty and a little garlicky. You could even serve this with a nice salad if you would like to get a little more veggies into your day.

A few notes about this recipe:

-It actually calls for canned lentils, but I couldn't find that, so I just used dried lentils. You'll want to cook them until very tender, it makes blending them much easier.

- If you're not familiar with tahini, it's a paste made out of sesame seeds. It's also the other staple ingredient in traditional chickpea-based hummus. You can find it in most grocery stores, but sometimes it's by the peanut butter and sometimes in the ethnic food section. Here is one brand that I've been able to find easily.

- To prevent the burgers from cooking too fast on the outside and staying raw on the inside, let them sit out at room temperature for 30-60 minutes before cooking them.

- What is really special about these burgers is the crust that forms on the bed of salt at the bottom of the pan. The salt keeps the burgers slightly off the pan and lets the juices dissolve the salt. It then forms a crunchy layer on the outside of the burger. To make sure this happens, try to evenly distribute the salt in an area the same size as the burgers in the pan and place the formed burgers right on top of the salt.

- This recipe makes 2 8oz burgers. Feel free to make 4 4oz burgers or however you want to do it.

- That also goes for making the hummus, if you want more garlic, add more garlic, or tahini, or lemon juice or whatever. When I make this, I just use the big spoons in my silver wear drawer and take 2 big scoops of tahini out of the jar. I'm not much for exact measuring unless I'm baking, so don't stress too much.
- I haven't tried it, but I'm sure you could use ground turkey or chicken, but you may need to add a little fat to the pan to keep it from sticking.

Salt-crusted Burgers with Lentil Hummus and Roasted Red Peppers
adapted from: Jules at the Stone Soup
Printable Version

Ingredients:
1lb Ground Beef
½ cup Dried Lentils, rinsed
4 Tbsp Lemon Juice
2 cloves Garlic, peeled and smashed
4 Tbsp Tahini
1 Jar Roasted Red Peppers (10Oz)

Directions:
1. Put drained lentils into a saucepan, cover with about 2" of water and bring to a boil over high heat. Turn the heat down to medium/med high and simmer for 20 minutes or until very tender.

2. Meanwhile, heat a frying pan on a very high heat. Sprinkle a scant teaspoon of salt over the base of the pan, concentrating the salt under where you will place your burgers.

3. Shape the beef into 2 burger patties (the thinner they are, the faster they will cook). Cook burgers for 3-4 minutes on each side. This will cook them to medium rare, leave on for longer if you want them a little less pink in the middle.

4. While the burgers are cooking, blend lentils, lemon juice, garlic and tahini in a food processor or blender until smooth. Taste. Season.

5. When the burgers are cooked, remove from the pan to let rest and add the drained peppers. Cook peppers for a minute or until just heated through.

6. Serve burgers on a scoop of hummus and top with peppers. Enjoy!

My new favorite roast beef

2011-07-27T15:03:00.003+02:00

WOW. It has been a while since I have blogged. I really cannot believe it has been since February. I'm kind of embarrassed I am about neglecting this place. I really used to enjoy it, and then for some reason I stopped. I can't for sure say why. I think it had a lot to do with me changing my whole way of eating in January. I went on a diet. Not the new-year's-resolution kind of diet, actually not a diet at all, but a "lifestyle change" as the experts like to say. It kind of depressed me to not be able to eat the "good" stuff. Like bread and potatoes and pasta and fruit and sugar. And Butterbretzels (my friends in Germany know the goodness of these big soft pretzels that have the fat end slit lengthwise and filled with butter). But after all was said and done, I lost 20 pounds in 3 months and that made it all worthwhile. I fell off the wagon for a little while, but I'm back on it. Back to eating the way my doctor recommended (and hopefully dropping the last 15 pounds). And now with a little experience under my belt in cooking that way, I'm excited to start up my blog again with a renewed enthusiasm in sharing my new way of cooking--but don't worry, I'll still be sharing the occasional sugar-loaded treats.

This recipe for roast beef is one that I've had for a several years, and it has been a success every time. I've made it several times before and it's only recently occurred to me to share it with all of you! This is great for Christmas or New Years or any time you feel the need to celebrate with a big, delicious meal. Now, all that being said, it is also great for the holiday times/entertaining because it is easy and doesn't require you to stand around at the stove for the entire time your guests are there. Just a short saute of the mushroom after the beef comes out of the oven, and you are ready to chow down.

A few notes on this recipe:
- The most important thing in this recipe is to use a meat thermometer. I can't stress that one enough. A thermometer can make you look like an absolute genius in the kitchen. For me, I have no idea when something like a roast (or any cut of meat, really) is done unless I have a thermometer.
- Horseradish. It is AWESOME! Even better when you can get in fresh and grate it yourself. If you don't know what it looks like, it's a root that is long and narrow. You absolutely have to peel it before you use it. The one I used in the picture above was about 9" long and maybe 1" in diameter. If you can't find fresh horseradish, used the prepared stuff. But NOT the creamy sauce stuff that is used on sandwiches. That won't have nearly enough flavor. The prepared stuff will be in the refrigerated section.
- The horseradish/garlic/salt/pepper crust that goes on top of the beef will look like it has burnt to a crisp in the oven, well before your beef is done. Don't panic. That's just how it looks, trust your thermometer. Once the beef is done, serve a little of the crust with each slice of meat, it is wonderful. The original recipe calls for 1/2 c of salt in the crust. I found that to be too much, I recommend using only 1/3c.
- I've listed some vegetables to roast up with the meat. Use these as a guideline, add more if you have room in your pan. I don't have a great roasting pan at the moment, so I only used what would actually fit in the pan. They turn out wonderfully, and every time I make this, I wish I had more veggies.
- Let the meat rest. I can't stress this enough. The meat won't get cold while it sits out. Just tent some foil over the top. Resting it allows all the yummy juices to go back into the meat. If you serve it straight out of the oven, when you carve it up, all the juices will end up on the cutting board, and not in the meat where it should be, making the meat taste dry. The internal temperature will also continue to rise as you let it rest.
- A nice green salad would also be great with this.

Enjoy...and if you decide to make this, let me know how it turns out!

Horseradish and Garlic Prime Rib with Roasted Vegetables and Sauteed Mushrooms

Prime Rib:
1 (3-rib) Prime Rib Beef Roast, about 6 pounds
5 Garlic Cloves, smashed, plus 2 heads garlic, halved
1/2 cup Grated Fresh Or Prepared Horseradish
1/3-1/2 cup Sea Salt
1/4 cup Freshly Ground Black Pepper
1/2 cup Extra-Virgin Olive Oil
2 Carrots, peeled and chopped
2 Parsnips
1 Red Onion, halved

Wild Mushrooms:
1 Tbsp Unsalted Butter
Extra-Virgin Olive Oil
2 pounds Assorted Mushrooms, such as cremini, oyster, shiitake, chanterelle, or white, trimmed and sliced
Leaves From 2 Fresh Thyme Sprigs
Sea Salt And Freshly Ground Black Pepper

1/2 cup dry red wine
1/2 cup Reserved Beef Broth (Drippings From Roast) Or Low-Sodium Canned Broth

1/2 cup Heavy Cream
1 Tbsp Minced Fresh Chives

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 350℉.

Lay the beef in a large roasting pan with the bone side down. (The ribs act as a natural roasting rack.)

In a small bowl mash together the garlic, horseradish, salt, pepper, and olive oil to make a paste. Massage the paste generously over the entire roast.

Scatter the vegetables and halved garlic around the meat and drizzle them with a 2-count of oil.

Put the pan in the oven and roast the beef for about 1 ½ to 2 hours for medium-rare (or approximately 20 minutes per pound). Check the internal temperature of the roast in several places with an instant-read thermometer; it should register 125℉. for medium-rare.

Remove the beef to a carving board and let it rest for 20 minutes. The internal temperature of the meat will continue to rise by about 10 degrees. Remove the vegetables and set aside. Pour the pan juices into a fat separator or small bowl and set aside to allow the fat and beef juices to separate. Pour off and discard the fat. You will use the tasty beef juices for the mushrooms.

Wild Mushrooms:
Place a clean skillet over medium heat. Add the butter and a 2-count drizzle of oil. When the butter starts to foam. add the mushrooms and thyme; and season with salt and pepper. Stir everything together for a few minutes. Add the red wine, stirring to scrape up any stuck bits; then cook and stir to evaporate the alcohol. When the wine is almost all gone, add the reserved beef juices (or beef stock). Let the liquid cook down and then take it off the heat. Stir in the cream and chives, and season with salt and pepper.

Almond Torte

2011-02-09T17:03:00.002+01:00

This is a great dessert and I have pretty much convinced myself that is is really more of a vitamin than a dessert. It has very little white flour, instead uses ground almonds. It is made with 6 eggs, 4 ounces of dark chocolate, a little cream, only a cup of sugar, and a little raspberry jam for fun. I think it is more like a PowerBar. OK, that is just rationalization, but I love this recipe none the less. It's out of one of the more random cookbooks that I own: The Sopranos Family Cookbook. Yep, everybody's favorite mob family. Tony and Carmella have chapter and so do Artie Bucco and Paulie Gualtieri. If you've never watched the show before, the characters like to eat. A LOT. They aren't small people, so go figure, they made a cookbook.

Anyway, some notes on this recipe. The leavening agent for the cake is the egg whites. It is a little difficult to incorporate the whites into the almond mixture all at once without deflating the whites. I would recommend just adding a scoop or two of the egg whites to the almond mixture and combining. Don't worry about being gentle with it, all you want to do is lighten up the almond mix. Then, once it is combined, add the remaining egg whites and fold in. Here is a good link on how to fold egg whites into a thinker base, although, it is at the 17 minute point in the video, so unless you want to learn how to make a full souffle, fast forward to 17:00. But all that being said. Folding will help you keep the cake light.

Also, I'm sure you could use any sort of jam for the filling. I'm sure strawberry would be good, or even apricot. Just make sure, whatever you buy, that it is seedless. I haven't done this yet, but I bet a little bit of Chambord would be delicious in the frosting. Now I'm just brainstorming. Have fun with it!

Almond Torte
Serves 8
Printable recipe

2 c blanched almonds
1 c sugar
2 Tbsp all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
6 large eggs, separated, at room temperature
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 tsp almond extract
1/2 c seedless raspberry jam
4 oz semisweet or bittersweet chocolate
1/2 c heavy cream
Sliced or slivered almonds for decoration

Preheat the oven to 350F. Butter 2 9-inch layer cake pans. Line the pans with circles of parchment paper. Butter the paper and sprinkle the pans with flour. Tap out excess.

In a food processor or blender, combine the almonds and 1/4 c of the sugar. Grind the nuts very fine. Blend in the flour, baking powder, and salt.

In the large bowl of an electric mixer, beat the egg yolks until thick and light. Beat in the remaining 3/4 c sugar and the extracts. Stir in the almond mixture.

In a clean bowl with clean beaters, whip the egg whites until soft peaks form. Add one big scoop of egg whites to the almond/egg yolk mixture. Stir in to lighten up the mixture (no need to be gentle here, just mix it in). Then gently fold the remaining whites into the almond mixture with a rubber spatula.

Scrape the batter into the prepared pans. Bake for 20-25 minutes, or until the cake springs back when touched int he center. Cool on a wire rack for 10 minutes. Unmold the cakes and carefully peel off the paper. Turn the cakes right side up and let cool completely.

Place 4 strips of wax or parchment paper around the edge of a cake plate. Place one cake layer upside down on the plate. Spread the jam evenly over the top.

Place the second cake layer right side up on the first layer.

Break up the chocolate in to small pieces. In a small heatproof bowl set over, not in, a pan of simmering water, melt the chocolate with the heavy cream.

Stir until smooth. Let the glaze cool slightly.

Pour the glaze onto the top of the cake. Smooth the top with a metal spatula, allowing some of the chocolate to run down the sides of the cake.

Then smooth the chocolate over the sides. Decorate with slivered/sliced almonds (I like to put them around the sides of the cake--it covers up the rough edges I tend to create). Let set briefly, then remove the paper strips. Chill briefly to set the chocolate.

Cassoulet--A French stew

2011-01-14T14:24:00.001+01:00

Our January 2011 Challenge comes from Jenni of The Gingered Whisk and Lisa from Parsley, Sage, Desserts and Line Drives. They have challenged the Daring Cooks to learn how to make a confit and use it within the traditional French dish of Cassoulet. They have chosen a traditional recipe from Anthony Bourdain and Michael Ruhlman. Don't let all the steps fool you, this isn't as difficult as it looks, but there are lots of steps. And as I learned the hard way, make sure you read the directions well.

First I want to start out with talking about duck confit. If you've never had it before, I highly recommend trying it. Confit is actually a means of preserving meat (be it duck, goose, pork, whatever). It's the preservation method that make is delicious, I think. Basically the way the meat is preserved is by first salting overnight, then cooking the meat in it's own fat. That may sound a little off-putting at first, but then think about duck legs roasted in duck fat. What a combo! To can it for long preservation, it is then put in whatever vessel is appropriate and submerged entirely in fat and sealed. If you want to save some effort in this recipe, you could just buy the confit as well.

I will admit, I sometimes do not have enough attention to detail as I should. This was my main problem in this recipe. It is a three-day process, so keep that in mind. The beans require lots of cooking time and water--that's what I ended up messing up...I only cooked them for 30 minutes on the 2nd day. Then, I forgot to add the cooking water to the cassoulet later. Result? You guessed it. Crunchy beans and no sauce. I was able to salvage it a little, but most importantly, the duck survived. I can't even imagine how good this would be if I followed the directions (go figure). It was still pretty darned tasty, even skipping a few key steps (but I wouldn't recommend it). I will give it a second chance in the near future, and I think it will definitely be a winner.

So some notes on this recipe...I did not get any pork rind, so I used bacon to line the pan. I figured bacon makes everything better so this should work. I also used Cannelini beans, and aside from the above mistake, I think they worked fine. I used 4 large bratwursts rather than 6 smaller ones.

For your planning purposes, here is an outline of what needs to be done on which day:

Day one (easy)
-Salt duck legs
-soak beans

Day two (most of the work)
-boil beans
-complete confit
-assemble and cook cassoulet

Day three (again, easy)
-cassoulet back into the oven.

Preparation Time:

For Duck Confit: 2 Days.
First day, 15 minutes.
Second Day, 2 hours.
For Cassoulet: 3 Days
First Day: 10 minutes, if that
Second Day: Approximately 3 ½ hours, most of which is oven time
Third Day: 1 ½ hours, all oven time

Cassoulet
Cassoulet by Anthony Bourdain and Michael Ruhlman (as featured on the Travel Channel’s “No Reservations”)
Serves 4 - 8
printable version

Ingredients for Duck Confit

4 whole duck legs (leg and thigh), size does not matter
sea salt, for the overnight (at least 6-8 hours) dry rub (the amount varies depending on the size of your legs, so just know that you need to have enough on hand for a good coating.)
2 cups/480 ml/450 gm/16 oz duck fat
a healthy pinch or grind of black pepper
4 sprigs of fresh thyme
1 sprig of fresh rosemary
1 garlic clove

Day One
Rub the duck legs fairly generously with sea salt, place in the shallow dish, cover with plastic and refrigerate overnight. At all times, keep your work area clean and your ingredients free of contamination - meaning don't allow any other food, like bread crumbs or scraps, to get into your duck, duck fat or confit, as they will make an otherwise nearly non-perishable preparation suddenly perishable.

Day Two
1.Preheat the oven to moderately hot 375ºF/190ºC.
2.Render (melt) the duck fat in the saucepan until clear.
3.After seasoning with the black pepper, place the duck legs in the clean, ovenproof casserole.
4.Nestle the thyme, rosemary and garlic in with the duck legs, and pour the melted duck fat over the legs to just cover.

5. Cover the dish with foil and put in the oven. Cook for about an hour, or until the skin at the "ankle" of each leg pulls away from the "knuckle." The meat should be tender.

6. Allow to cool and then store as is in the refrigerator, sealed under the fat. When you need the confit, you can either warm the whole dish, in which case removing the legs will be easy, or dig them out of the cold fat and scrape off the excess. I highly recommend the former. A nice touch at this point is to twist out the thighbone from the cold confit. Just place one hand on the drumstick, pinioning the leg to the table, and with the other hand, twist out the thighbone, plucking it from the flesh without mangling the thigh meat. Think of someone you hate when you do it.

Ingredients for Cassoulet

5 cups/1200 ml/1100 g/39 oz dried Tarbais beans or white beans such as Great Northern or Cannelini (if you use canned beans be aware that you will need double this amount!)
2 pounds/900 gm fresh pork belly
1 onion, cut into 4 pieces
1 pound/450 gm pork rind
1 bouquet garni (tie together two sprigs parsley, 2 sprigs thyme and one bay leaf)
salt and pepper
1/4 cup/60 ml/55 gm duck fat
6 pork sausages
3 onions, thinly sliced
1 garlic clove, thinly sliced
4 confit duck legs

Day One
1.Place the beans in the large bowl and cover with cold water so that there are at least 2 or 3 inches (50mm or 75mm) of water above the top of the beans. Soak overnight. That was hard, right? (Beans will double in size upon soaking, so use a big bowl!)

Day Two

1. Drain and rinse the beans and place in the large pot.
2. Add the pork belly, the quartered onion, 1/4 pound/115 gm of the pork rind, and the bouquet garni.

3. Cover with water, and bring to a boil. Reduce to a simmer and cook for about 30 minutes. Season with salt and pepper to taste and continue to simmer until the beans are tender, about 30 minutes more.

4. Let cool for 20 minutes, then discard the onion and the bouquet garni.
5. Remove the pork belly, cut it into 2-inch/5-cm squares, and set aside. (If you plan to wait another day before finishing the dish, wait to cut the pork belly until then.)
6. Strain the beans and the rind and set aside, reserving the cooking liquid separately.
7. In the sauté pan, heat all but 1 tablespoon/15 ml/15 gm of the duck fat over medium-high heat until it shimmers and becomes transparent.
8. Carefully add the sausages and brown on all sides.

9. Remove sausages and set aside, draining on paper towels.
10. In the same pan, over medium-high heat, brown the sliced onions, the garlic and the reserved squares of pork rind from the beans (not the unused pork rind; you'll need that later).

11. Once browned, remove from the heat and transfer to the blender. Add 1 tablespoon//15 ml/15 gm of the remaining duck fat and purée until smooth. Set aside.
12. Preheat the oven to moderate 350ºF/180ºC/gas mark 4.
13.Place the uncooked pork rind in the bottom of a deep ovenproof non-reactive dish. You're looking to line the inside, almost like a pie crust. Arrange all your ingredients in alternating layers, beginning with a layer of beans, then sausages, then more beans, then pork belly, beans, duck confit and finally more beans, adding a dab of the onion and pork rind purée between each layer.

14. Add enough of the bean cooking liquid to just cover the beans, reserving 1 cup/240 ml in the refrigerator for later use.
15. Cook the cassoulet in the oven for 1 hour, then reduce the heat to very slow 250ºF/130ºC/gas mark ½ and cook for another hour.
16. Remove from the oven and allow to cool. Refrigerate overnight.

Day Three

1. Preheat the oven to moderate 350ºF/180ºC/gas mark 4 again.
2. Cook the cassoulet for an hour.
3. Break the crust on the top with the spoon and add 1/4 cup/60 ml of the reserved cooking liquid. (Don't get fancy. Just pile, dab, stack and pile. It doesn't have to be pretty.)
4. Reduce the heat to very slow 250ºF/130ºC/gas mark ½ and continue cooking another 15 minutes, or until screamingly hot through and through. Then serve.

Breakfast Quinoa

2011-01-04T16:27:00.003+01:00

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to everyone! I hope you all had a wonderful and treat-filled holiday season. If you are like me, and LOVE to eat, then you are probably also feeling a little more rolly-polly that you did in early December--I know I am. So much good food (and drink) over the past month has made me need to rethink some of my eating habits. Now, I'm not going to go all boring on you with plain brown rice and grilled chicken breasts every night, but I've been on a little bit of a search for something as good as it is healthy. So, when I came across the Food Lovers' Cleanse by Bon Appetit magazine, I was thrilled. I'm not sure I'm going to go whole hog on the cleanse, but let me tell you, there are some fantastic recipes in there.

I'm only 3 days into it, but I've found the most fantastic breakfast that I need to share it. It's a breakfast quinoa with cinnamon, blackberries and toasted pecans. I've adjusted the recipe a little from the magazine, mainly because I couldn't get my hands on some of the ingredients. But my version of it is below.

If you aren't familiar with quinoa, it's actually pronounced KEEN-wah. It's a seed from South America that is packed with protein (and is considered a complete protein, since it contains all of the required amino acids--a little nutrition trivia for you). There are two varieties, a red and a white, but I've only seen the white in the grocery store. It cooks up nice and soft and sort of similar to couscous in texture, although it is a little hardier. Quinoa also has a natural coating of saponins, which taste like soap, and need to be rinsed off in several changes of water before using (although, I've found a brand that is sold pre-rinsed, so check out the packages before you buy).

This dish is a nice warm breakfast alternative to oatmeal, and has more protein to it, so you'll be fuller throughout the morning. It also warms up well the next day, so make a bigger batch if you really like it. As far as substitutions go, you could use real milk instead of almond (or any other milk, really), and I would think almonds or walnuts could be good too. Blueberries or apples could work as well. So give whatever you have on hand a try. Hope you enjoy...and here's to a happy and healthy 2011!

Warm Breakfast Quinoa
Printable recipe

1 cup Vanilla-flavored Almond milk
1 cup water
1 cup organic quinoa, (note: rinse quinoa)
2 cups frozen blackberries, thawed (fresh would be better, but they are super-expensive right now, and I couldn't justify paying $7 for 2 cups...)
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/3 cup chopped pecans, toasted (see below)
4 tsp honey

Combine almond milk, water and quinoa in a medium saucepan. Bring to a boil over high heat. Reduce heat to medium-low; cover and simmer 15 minutes or until most of the liquid is absorbed. Turn off heat; let stand covered 5 minutes. Stir in blackberries and cinnamon; transfer to four bowls and top with pecans. Drizzle 1 teaspoon honey.

To toast pecans, put in a dry pan over medium heat for 3-5 minutes until fragrant.

Salad dressing...

2010-12-03T18:34:00.000+01:00

With the holiday eating season upon us, I though I would throw in a little healthy blog in here to counter balance the shear amount of tasty treats I'm going to be eating in the next few weeks! So, I decided upon salad dressing. Why salad dressing? Well, I think that it is the easiest way to make or break a salad. Nothing turns me off of a salad more (aside from wilty lettuce) than gross, thick fatty salad dressing. I've been through my fair share of store-bought dressing that has tons of MSG and preservatives, and all sorts of ingredients that have more than 15 letters in them.

I had always wanted to make my own dressing, but I had always relied on the special bottles that had all the measurements on the side, built-in-mixer-things and "stay fresh" lids. I always ended up making like 5 times as much as I needed and most of it would go bad.

What really amazed me was how a little Grey Poupon jar helped it all change. All you need to make great salad dressing at home is a small (8 oz or so) jar. It's the perfect size to make dressing in-I was always making what seemed like a gallon of it. I actually use an old mustard jar that is square, it helps me out with the "measuring". The best part about these jars is I always seem to have one on hand, they're free, clean up nicely in the dishwasher and if you break it, well, it's replaceable!

So, after all this talk of salad dressing, I'm not even going to give you a recipe. What my whole goal is for this blog is to give you a start on how to make your own dressings, with only a few little ratios to remember, some hints, and let you go to it! I should admit here, that I figured a lot of this stuff out with the help of Jamie Oliver and his "Cook with Jamie" cookbook. But I've found that nearly every recipe I've come across, has a similar foundation for building dressings.

3:1. By that I mean your ratio of Oil to Vinegar (or another acid). It doesn't matter what oil you use, or what vinegar or acid you use. You could use olive oil and red wine vinegar like I did here or even Balsamic or white wine vinegar. Or skip vinegar all together and use lemon juice. Go Asian style and use canola oil with a little sesame oil (it's a little stronger flavor, so you need to cut the sesame oil with something neutral like canola) and rice vinegar.

Emulsify. Sounds complicated but isn't. A little Dijon mustard goes a long way in preventing the dressing from separating. I just use a little scoop (like for the above amounts, 1/4-1/2 of a dessert spoon). For a creamier dressing add sour cream or yogurt.

A little sweet. Now, don't go adding scoops and scoops of sugar! I add about the same amount of honey as I do the mustard. It rounds out the flavors a bit and takes a little of the bite out of the acid.

Season. All you need now is a little salt and pepper. I couldn't even begin to tell you how much to add. For the amount above, a pinch of salt and a few grinds of pepper. If you have a favorite spice blend, add a few pinches here, too. Fresh herbs, garlic, anything goes...

Shakey shakey. No fancy blenders or food processors here, shake away (just be sure your lid is on securely).

Taste for seasoning. Take a leaf of lettuce (or your finger) and test it. Does it need more salt/pepper? Is the vinegar too much/not enough? Just add whatever you think it is lacking and go from there.

Dress the salad. Sounds simple and obvious, but this is the most important. Have you ever had a salad that was just swimming in dressing or had been sitting in the dressing for an hour or so? Yuck. The key in this is not to drown the salad. It's best to dress the entire salad at once in a large serving bowl. Just a light coating is all you need. Pour a little over, toss gently with your fingers (or salad hands, which are my favorite). And serve.

So don't be afraid to make up your own combination of flavors/seasonings/ingredients. You've got a basic ratio to start out with, and just run from there. It is just so simple and delicious, you'll never want to buy another bottle again.

Spinach Soufflé

2010-11-16T06:45:00.003+01:00

It's time again for my Daring Cooks' Challenge (which I missed last month). This is my 3rd one and I think the most challenging in terms of blogging and photographing.

Dave and Linda from Monkeyshines in the Kitchen chose Soufflés as our November 2010 Daring Cooks’ Challenge! Dave and Linda provided two of their own delicious recipes plus a sinfully decadent chocolate soufflé recipe adapted from Gordon Ramsay’s recipe found at the BBC Good Food website.

I chose to make the Spinach (well actually it was watercress, but spinach was easier for me to acquire) Soufflé. Now, I have always been intimidated by the thought of soufflés. They were this "gourmet" super time consuming dish that should be left to the professionals. But the only truly difficult thing about this dish was taking the photos for the blog!

Before I began my soufflé adventure, I watched this video by Julia Child, it's about 20-25 minutes long. Amazing. She has a way of breaking things down in such a way that it no longer seems like a daunting task. After watching this, I was no longer afraid of the soufflé. I highly recommend you watching this episode of The French Chef before starting out. Any recipe notes I could give you would be straight from this episode anyway.

So without any further ado, here is the recipe...

Spinach Soufflé
printable version

Ingredients:

2 Tbsp butter plus additional for the soufflé dish
3½ Tbsp plain (all purpose) flour
1 cup milk
½ cup parmesan cheese, finely grated plus additional for the soufflé dish
1 cup finely chopped spinach

4 large eggs, separated
½ tsp prepared mustard
¼ tsp cream of tartar*
Salt and pepper to taste
* If you can’t find cream of tartar, a dash (~ ½ tsp) of lemon juice can be substituted

Directions:

1. Butter the soufflé dish(es) thoroughly, then grate a small amount of cheese in each dish and tap so that the sides are evenly coated with the cheese. Place the dish(es) in the refrigerator until needed (according to some sites, this helps the soufflé climb).

2. Preheat the oven to moderate 350º F

3. Wash and chop the spinach if you haven’t already.

4. In a medium sized saucepan, melt the butter over medium heat, then stir in the flour to make a roux. Cook 1 minute, then add the milk, a little at a time, and stir until just thickened, about 1 minute. Add the cheese and stir until it’s just melted. Remove from heat then add the spinach, mustard, salt and pepper.

Roux

5. In a larger pan, bring water to a gentle simmer. Whisk the egg yolks in a bowl set just over this water until pale and slightly foamy – about 6 minutes.

6. Mix the egg yolks into the spinach sauce.
7. Beat the egg whites and cream of tartar until they form stiff peaks yet are still glossy.

8. Fold the egg whites into the sauce in 3 additions so that it’s evenly mixed, but you don’t lose too much volume.

9. Remove the soufflé dish from the refrigerator and spoon the mix into it. Use a spatula to even the tops of the soufflés and wipe off any spills.

10. Bake 25 minutes for small dishes or 40 minutes if using a large soufflé dish, then serve immediately with a nice green salad and a glass of wine.

Banana Bread

2010-11-08T06:39:00.000+01:00

This summer I went to my cousin Summer's wedding in Dublin. And I fell in love with Ireland...it's so green, has so much interesting history, and don't even get me started on the accents--I could listen to it all day! I could be getting yelled at or insulted, but it wouldn't matter. That accent is awesome (that being said, the Irish are about the nicest people you'll ever meet, so you probably won't be yelled at or insulted). It was a fantastic trip.

During our stay there I was introduced by the groom's family to a wonderful cafe/concept/cookbook called Avoca. During one of the family dinners, they served several dishes from this cookbook, and I was hooked! As soon as we got back from our trip, I ordered one of the cookbooks, appropriately titled "Avoca Cafe Cookbook" (it's also available on Amazon.com if you are interested). It's got all sorts of recipes that call for all sorts of fresh veggies and fruits. It's all very fresh, uncomplicated food.

This banana bread is one of the recipes I fell in love with. It works out pretty well for my lifestyle, which is to say I buy lots of fruit with the intention of eating it and being oh so healthy, but then it goes bad before I get to it. Which is where banana bread comes in handy. For me, bananas are at their raw best when they are just barely still green and firm. As soon as a brown spot appears, though, the flavor and texture changes, and I just can't eat it. But add some flour, sugar and nuts, it's a whole different story. The browner the bananas the better! They somehow get more banana-y or something in recipes and this one really seems to highlight it.

Some notes about this recipe: If you've got a kitchen scale, use the weights...those are better measurements. I've converted to volume measurements from the weight. But of course once you start moving flour around, so much air can get incorporated that the volume can change, but I don't think the differences will be too tragic. Also, don't get too enthusiastic with the mixing of the batter/dough. Beating all the ingredients will work to make the bread tougher, so just get the stuff more or less incorporated. The bananas, I like to keep them a little chunky, so when you bite down into the bread, you get some good bits of banana, but that's just me (the original recipe also only calls for 4 bananas, but I think the extra one adds a little more moistness). And last, but not least, if you need a little portion control, this recipe also makes 12 great muffins. Just follow the same recipe, divide into 12 lined muffin cups, and bake for approx 20 minutes.

Banana Bread
adapted from The Avoaca Cafe Cookbook
click here for printer friendly recipe

8 oz all purpose flour (somewhere between 1 3/4 and 2 cups)
1 tsp salt
1 heaped tsp baking powder
1 tsp ground cinnamon
4 oz sugar (a heaping 1/2 cup)
1 egg, beaten
3 fl oz canola oil
1/4 tsp vanilla extract
2 1/2 oz pecans, chopped (heaping 1/2 cup, or to your taste)
4-5 medium-sized ripe bananas, mashed

Sift the flour, salt, baking powder and cinnamon into a bowl and stir in the sugar. Mix in the egg, oil and vanilla, but do not beat. The batter/dough will seem way too dry, but don't fret, that's OK.

Fold in the pecans and mashed bananas, using a fork. It will start to look a little more like a batter, but again don't beat.

Spoon into a lined loaf pan and bake in an oven preheated to 350F for 50-60 minutes, until the loaf is golden brown and springs back when prodded gently with you finger. Leave in the pan for 10 minutes, then turn out onto a wire rack to cool.

Double Chocolate Biscotti

2010-11-02T16:20:00.004+01:00

Hello everyone! I must first apologize for being so absent the past month or so. Life got a little ahead of me...and all of a sudden its the 2nd of November and I don't know where most of October went! But I went on a cooking spree yesterday, and have plenty of raw material for posts and I'll be back with more tasties more frequently--that's my goal!

I rummaged around through all of my cookbooks for some good treats, and found some good ones in the old plaid stand-by. That is the Better Homes and Gardens Cookbook. The very first cookbook I ever owned. I've been caught up recently in the celebrity chefs, restaurants, fanciness of the Food Network recently, that I've forgotten my "roots" as it were. This is the very first cookbook I can remember seeing. My mom still has it in her pantry with her cookbooks, too!

So I randomly flipped to the Cookie tab (OK, maybe not randomly. I really wanted to make some cookies). This recipe sounded fantastic to me and I figured it would travel well, since (most of) the cookies will be headed to Afghanistan for my brother's enjoyment.

These turned out really well, nice and crispy, and chocolate-y. I've never been successful with biscotti before, but I think it was because I had a bad recipe. I didn't realize that these actually get baked twice: once as a loaf and once as slices to crisp up. They are great with a cup of coffee, and standup well to being dunked. I hope you all enjoy them with a nice hot cup o' Joe!

Double Chocolate Chunk Biscotti
Adapted from Better Homes and Gardens New Cookbook
printable version

Ingredients
1/3 cup butter
2/3 cup sugar
1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
2 teaspoons baking powder
2 eggs
1-3/4 cups all-purpose flour
4 ounces white chocolate chips
3 ounces semisweet chocolate chips

Directions

1. Grease a large cookie sheet or line with parchment paper; set aside. In a large mixing bowl beat butter with an electric mixer on medium speed for 30 seconds. Add sugar, cocoa powder, and baking powder; beat until combined. Beat in eggs. Beat in as much flour as you can. Slowly. You don't want a huge cloud of flour in your kitchen. Stir in any remaining flour. Stir in the chocolate chips.

2. Divide dough in half. Shape each half into a (not entirely appetizing-looking) 9-inch-long roll. Place rolls 4 inches apart on prepared cookie sheet; flatten rolls slightly to 2 inches wide.

3. Bake in a 375 degree F oven for 20 to 25 minutes or until a wooden toothpick inserted near the centers comes out clean. Cool on cookie sheet on a wire rack for 1 hour. Using a serrated knife, cut each roll diagonally into 1/2-inch-thick slices. Lay slice, one cut side down, on an ungreased cookie sheet.

4. Bake slices in a 325 degree F oven for 8 minutes. Turn slices over and bake 7 to 9 minutes more or until slices are dry and crisp. (Do not overbake.) Transfer to a wire rack; cool.

A Twist on Chocolate Chip Cookies--Bacon!

2010-09-29T19:41:00.001+02:00

"Bacon Tastes Goooood"--Samuel L. Jackson as Jules Winnfield in Pulp Fiction

"Mmmm. Move over, eggs. Bacon just got a new best friend - fudge."--Homer Simpson

Well, in this case, not fudge, but chocolate chip cookies. I know it sounds like a horrible combination, but I discovered it a little while ago in a blog called Pete Bakes! and I knew I had to try it. Chocolate chip cookies were the first thing I really ever cooked on my own. I was maybe in 4th grade, I can't remember. But what I do remember is how much I loved them. Now, I figured I also love bacon. Why not combine them?

It does sound crazy, I fully acknowledge that. But I've tried salted caramel--awesome. Chocolate covered pretzels--yummy. Chocolate dipped potato chips--so wrong and yet so right. So that salty-sweet combination is something that I find fantastic. The best of both worlds and they are again brought together, and include bacon.

I do love bacon, but I rarely eat it. It's just one of those things, that when you want it, you need it. I'm not quite as bad as the Bacon Explosion guys, that is just a lot of pork products in one sitting. But cookies with bacon is just a little way to incorporate a little more love into the day. In this recipe, I made candied bacon, which is pretty simple, and could be good in a variety of recipes (spinach salad w/bleu cheese and pears, sprinkle some candied bacon on, that kind of thing....)

Anyway, I hope you all enjoy this as much as I did...and I hope my bro in Afghanistan does, too, because there are some on the way!

Candied Bacon
6 oz sliced bacon
Brown sugar for sprinkling

Preheat the oven to 350 F. Lay bacon on a parchment covered baking sheet so they are not overlapping. Sprinkle brown sugar evenly on each strip of bacon (I really have no idea how much I used, check out the pictures for the general idea).

Bake for 8 minutes, remove from oven, flip bacon and drag it through the syrupy liquid that’s collected on the baking sheet and put the it back in the oven for another 5-8 minutes, until it is fully cooked and a very dark mahogany color.

From Left: too done, just right, not enough

The length of time will depend on how thick the bacon is sliced. If you buy the thick cut, which would work a little better, you'll need to leave it in the over for a little while longer, just keep an eye on it.

Remove the strips from the sheet and cool on a wire rack. Once they are cool and crispy, chop them up roughly.

Chocolate chunk cookies

2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup (2 sticks) butter, softened
3/4 cup granulated sugar
3/4 cup packed brown sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 large eggs
10 oz bitter sweet chocolate (I used bars and just chopped into chunks)
Candied Bacon from above recipe

Preheat oven to 375° F.

Combine flour, baking soda and salt in small bowl. Beat butter, granulated sugar, brown sugar and vanilla extract in large mixer bowl until creamy. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Gradually beat in flour mixture. Stir in chocolate and bacon. Drop by rounded tablespoon onto ungreased baking sheets.

Bake for 9 to 11 minutes or until golden brown. Cool on baking sheets for 2 minutes; remove to wire racks to cool completely.

Cookies for the troops!

2010-09-22T20:08:00.001+02:00

My brother left for Afghanistan about 3 weeks ago. He's in the Marine Corps and will be there about 6 more months. I've been wracking my brain to figure out what sort of care package to send to him (and the guys he's with) that would bring smiles to their faces. That's when it hit me. Since I'm living overseas with the military, it should be fairly easy to send him some treats that will still be good in the time it takes to get to him...

I was pleasantly surprised when I got a note from him yesterday saying he had already gotten the package...it was only a week! That means, as long as I can find recipes for treats that can travel well, he'll be getting more. The other great part of this, is I can enjoy making tons of cookies, blog about them, and I don't have dozens of cookies sitting around the house begging me to eat them! So, Brother (and your guys), these (as well as my thoughts and prayers for a safe return) go out to you, and expect more!

These cookies actually turned out oh so tasty. They are a chocolate cookie with both white and dark chocolate chips. I think adding walnuts or pecans would be a good addition, too. Or maybe even macadamia nuts. Now I'm just brainstorming. Anyway, without any further ado, here are the cookies...

Reverse Chocolate Chip Cookies
From Food and Wine Annual Cookbook 2009

Makes 28 large cookies

2 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup unsweetened Dutch-process cocoa, sifted
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
2 sticks (8 oz) unsalted butter, softened
1 cup granulated sugar
1 cup light brown sugar
2 large eggs
2 tsp pure vanilla extract
12 ounces bittersweet chocolate, coarsely chopped into chunks
12 ounces white chocolate, coarsely chopped into chunks

Preheat oven to 350F. Line 2 large cookie sheets with parchment paper. In a medium bowl, sift the flour with the cocoa, baking soda and salt.
In a stand mixer fitted with the paddle, beat the butter with the sugars at a medium speed until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Beat in the eggs and vanilla. Add the dry ingredients and beat at low speed until incorporated. At low speed, beat in the chocolate chunks until they are evenly distributed. This batter will be very thick.
Scoop eight 1/4 cup mounds of batter onto each of the prepared cookie sheets, leaving about 3" between them. Flatten the mounds into 2" rounds. Bake on the lower and middle racks of the oven for 20 minutes, until the cookies rise and then flatten slightly; switch the cookie sheets half way thru cooking. Let the cookies cool for 10 minutes, then slide the parchment paper onto racks and let the cookies cool completely. Line the cookie sheets with fresh parchment and repeat to make the remaining cookies.

Apple Butter

2010-09-14T13:38:00.002+02:00

It's time again for my next Daring Cooks' Challenge-one that I was very excited to try. It was all about food preservation and how to get the most out of in-season produce. One of the options was to make apple butter. Now, apple butter is one of those things that I've heard about, tasted only a few times and have never actually made.

Apple butter also reminds me of my days in high school in Ohio. When I was in high school, one of the neighboring towns held an Apple Butter Festival every October. It was one of those old-fashioned, participants-dressing-in-19th-century-clothes, everyone-drinking-hot-apple-cider and sitting-on-hay-bales sort of fest. The big difference there was that their apple butter was made in big black cauldrons over an open flame, churned mainly by ladies in aprons and bonnets, but they did give everyone a chance to churn the butter.

That was also when I realized there is no actual butter in apple butter. It's just a consistency thing. Basically, it's just a spiced and thickened apple sauce. It can be used for many different things. The most basic is as a spread on toast or a bagel or whatever you'd like. But you can also use it as a condiment with pork chops, as part of a marinade or in an apple quick bread.

Now, there probably won't be a big black cauldron over a fire in my kitchen in the near future, especially since we're renting right now. All we've got here is an electric stove and an immersion blender, so that's how I'm going to roll with this. I do have some notes though about this recipe.

If you want to be a little more "authentic" about it, you can use the whole apple: core, peel and all that goodness. Just chop the apples into eighths before softening them. Once softened, put them in a food mill and mill away (I don't have one, so hence all the peeling and coring). Add sugars and spices and continue with the rest of step 2.
This recipe is suitable for canning. I've never canned before, so I'm just going to freeze or give away what I can't use immediately. But if you can can, more power to you! I'll have a canning blog sometime in the future, once I have the equipment and have it figured out.
I can't recommend which type of apples to use. I just used the ones I bought from a lady selling them on the side of the road. Seemed to work out pretty well. But, from what I understand, if you use a sweet apple like Golden Delicious, you won't need to use as much sugar, tart apples like Granny Smith will require more sugar.

The September 2010 Daring Cooks’ challenge was hosted by John of Eat4Fun. John chose to challenge The Daring Cooks to learn about food preservation, mainly in the form of canning and freezing. He challenged everyone to make a recipe and preserve it. John’s source for food preservation information was from The National Center for Home Food Preservation.

Apple Butter

5 lbs Apples, peeled, cored and cut into eighths
1 C apple juice or cider
1 C sugar
1/2 C brown sugar
1 Tbsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground allspice
1/4 tsp ground cloves

Combine apples and juice (or cider) in 8-quart pot. Cook slowly and stir occasionally to prevent sticking. Cook until apples are very soft and falling apart. At this point, you have some pretty tasty apple sauce. If you want to stop here, you can, but if you continue on, you will be rewarded with tastiness...
With a potato masher, mash the soft apples. Add the sugar and spice (and everything nice). At this point I used a stick blender to blend to a smoother consistency. If you would like it a little chunkier, by all means skip this step, but make sure to stir in all the spices well.
Bring to a simmer and turn down the heat to keep it at a slow simmer. Cover with a splatter screen or use 2 wooden spoons to support the lid open. It is important to let the water evaporate to thicken the butter. Simmer for at least 2 hours, until it is thick and stays mounded on a spoon when it is scooped out.
Let it cool a little, then put into the desired storage container or containers. It will keep for up to 2 weeks in the fridge or up to a year in the freezer. I would recommend using smaller containers if you don't think you will use up everything in a larger one fast enough.

Yields about 5 cups.

Homemade Marshmallows

2010-09-02T09:59:00.000+02:00

So, we're going camping this weekend...I'm totally looking forward to it. I haven't been camping in a long time, so I'm a little rusty. But we're going camping in Switzerland, and I can't imagine anything better. OK, I can imagine one thing that could make the trip even better...s'mores with homemade marshmallows.

I saw an Alton Brown episode where he made marshmallows from scratch. At first, I thought he was totally crazy (I mean he is, but even more so that he thinks marshmallows can be made at home), but then I decided I was also crazy and I gave it a try. Much to my surprise, it wasn't as difficult as I thought. I will say, though, now that I have a stand mixer it is a whole lot easier, but even without one it isn't as complicated as you might think. The only necessities are some sort of electric mixer and a candy thermometer. If you've got those two, you're good to go.

Once you've tried these little babies, you'll never want to eat store-bought marshmallows again. They are light and fluffy, not plastic-y stiff on the outside (and they puff up HUGE in the microwave, if you like that sort of thing). You can even cut them up smaller and make mini-marshmallows for your hot chocolate (I know for some of you, hot chocolate is not 1st on your mind--it's still hot outside--but last night here in Germany, it got down to like 40F, so I'm thinking hot chocolate).

Homemade marshmallows
From Alton Brown's Good Eats

3 packages unflavored gelatin
1 cup ice water, divided
12 ounces granulated sugar, approximately 1 1/2 cups
1 cup light corn syrup
1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/4 cup confectioners' sugar
1/4 cup cornstarch
Nonstick spray

Place the gelatin into the bowl of a stand mixer along with 1/2 cup of the water. Have the whisk attachment standing by.
In a small saucepan combine the remaining 1/2 cup water, granulated sugar, corn syrup and salt. Place over medium high heat, cover and allow to cook for 3 to 4 minutes. Uncover, clip a candy thermometer onto the side of the pan and continue to cook until the mixture reaches 240 degrees F, approximately 7 to 8 minutes. Once the mixture reaches this temperature, immediately remove from the heat.
Turn the mixer on low speed and, while running, slowly pour the sugar syrup down the side of the bowl into the gelatin mixture. Once you have added all of the syrup, increase the speed to high. Continue to whip until the mixture becomes very thick and is lukewarm, approximately 12 to 15 minutes. Add the vanilla during the last minute of whipping. While the mixture is whipping prepare the pans as follows.

For regular marshmallows:

Combine the confectioners' sugar and cornstarch in a small bowl. Lightly spray a 13 by 9-inch metal baking pan with nonstick cooking spray. Add the sugar and cornstarch mixture and move around to completely coat the bottom and sides of the pan. Return the remaining mixture to the bowl for later use.
When ready, pour the mixture into the prepared pan, using a lightly oiled spatula for spreading evenly into the pan. Dust the top with enough of the remaining sugar and cornstarch mixture to lightly cover. Reserve the rest for later. Allow the marshmallows to sit uncovered for at least 4 hours and up to overnight.
Turn the marshmallows out onto a cutting board and cut into 1-inch squares using a pizza wheel dusted with the confectioners' sugar mixture. Once cut, lightly dust all sides of each marshmallow with the remaining mixture, using additional if necessary. Store in an airtight container for up to 3 weeks.

For miniature marshmallows:

Combine the confectioners' sugar and cornstarch in a small bowl. Line 4 half sheet pans with parchment paper, spray the paper with nonstick cooking spray and dust with the confectioners' sugar mixture.
Scoop the mixture into a piping bag fitted with a 1/2-inch round piping tip (or a zip-lock bag and cut off one corner). Pipe the mixture onto the prepared sheet pans lengthwise, leaving about 1-inch between each strip. Sprinkle the tops with enough of the remaining cornstarch and sugar mixture to lightly cover. Let the strips set for 4 hours or up to overnight.
Cut into 1/2 inch pieces using a pizza wheel or scissors dusted with the confectioners' sugar mixture. Once cut, lightly dust all sides of each marshmallow with the remaining sugar mixture and store in an airtight container for up to a week.

Maultaschen...for the August Daring Cooks' Challenge

2010-08-14T17:41:00.017+02:00

The August 2010 Daring Cooks' Challenge was hosted by LizG of Bits n’ Bites and Anula of Anula’s Kitchen. They chose to challenge Daring Cooks to make pierogi from scratch and an optional challenge to provide one filling that best represents their locale.

Since I am a recent transplant to Germany, I decided to opt for the local specialty part of the challenge. The region I'm currently living in is near Stuttgart, in the southwestern state of Baden-Württenberg. There is are several dishes that are unique to southern Germany, one of which is maultashen, also known as Swabian meat pouches.

Legend has it that maultaschen were invented by the monks at the Maulbronn Monastary (about an hour from our house) to hide the fact they were eating meat during lent, which was forbidden. They believed they were hiding the meat in little pasta packets, similar to ravioli, and God wasn't able to see them eating it. Which I just find hilarious on many different levels.

Maultaschen can be served in several different ways. I've had them served in a tomato sauce with cheese melted over top, again reminiscent of ravioli. I've also had them sliced and scrambled into eggs (geröstet) or sauteed in butter and topped with caramelized onions (geschmälzt). But, my favorite preparation is in der Brühe, or in broth, which is how I decided to approach this challenge.

Since this is a regional dish, there are about as many recipes for the filling as there are grandmothers who make it, so I ended up combining all sorts of recipes down into one. But the basic ingredients are hand-made pasta dough with a filling of ground meat, spinach and onions.

Now for some recipe notes...

First and foremost, don't let the fact that I hand-made the pasta fool you...I'm NOT good at making pasta pouches of any sort. In fact, this is the 2nd time I've ever made them. The first time is now referred to as "The Ravioli Incident" and much of the pasta ended up on the walls (because I was so angry I threw them). You can easily substitute wonton wrappers and save yourself some time. How to make ravioli will be a future blog, once I get a better handle on making them.
If you do decide to make the pasta, lay all the finished maultaschen in one layer on floured waxed paper if you aren't going to cook them right away. I didn't do that on my first ravioli attempt and it all ended up sticking together in a clump of pasta and filling and me getting mad, resulting in the aformentioned "Ravioli Incident".
The recipe I came up with didn't work entirely, so I changed up a few things to come up with the recipe I now have below. I had way too much bread and spinach and didn't cook the onions well enough before adding it all together, so I'm going to call that one a lesson learned, which is the whole point of me doing this blog and this challenge, so I guess I can put that in the win column.
Feel free to use whichever meats you want...I used equal amounts of ground veal, beef and pork, but I think it would work with ground turkey if you want to lighten things up, or all beef if that's just easier.

OK...now the recipe...

Maultaschen
Click here for printable version

Pasta

3 eggs
pinch of salt
1/3 c water
360-400g wheat flour

Mix eggs with salt and water. Sift flour into a bowl and make a well in the middle. Break the eggs into it and blend all the ingredients together. Take out of the bowl and then knead the dough on a board until air pockets can be seen when the dough is cut. You can knead by hand or with a mixer.

Depending on the flour, if the dough is too thick add a little water or an egg white, add more flour if too sticky. The dough shouldn't be too soft. Form a ball and place on a board. Cover with a cloth and leave to rest. Now you can prepare the filling.

Meat filling
5 oz frozen spinach, thawed and drained
2 strips of bacon, diced
20g butter
1 small onion, finely chopped
3 stale rolls (or the equivalent of stale bread), crusts removed
5-6 oz ham or cold meat, diced
8 oz ground meat (pork, beef, or veal or any combination)
2 eggs
a pinch of salt, pepper and nutmeg

Cook the bacon in butter for a couple of minutes (I know this just seems wrong and delicious at the same time, but that small amount of bacon does not provide enough fat to saute the onions). Add the chopped onion and cook until translucent and soft. Soak the stale rolls in water until soft. Squeeze out the excess water and chop the rolls into pieces.
In a large bowl mix the above prepared ingredients with the spinach, ham and ground meat. Add the eggs and season with salt, pepper and nutmeg.

Assembling

Beef broth (about 64 oz or enough to cover the filled pasta when in the pan)
1 onion, diced
1 onion, sliced
butter or olive oil

On a floured surface, roll out the noodle dough into rectangular sheets (about twice as wide as you want your Maultaschen to be). Use a tablespoon of filling at equally spaced 3 inch intervals all down the middle of one side of the sheet of dough. Fold the plain half of the sheet of dough over to cover the filling and press firmly on the spaces around the pockets of filling. Use a pastry wheel or cookie cutter to cut into 3 inch squares.

Put beef broth and diced onion into a pot and bring to the boil. Add as many maultaschen to the pot as you can without them sticking together, let simmer (not boil) for 10-15 minutes depending on the size.

Saute the onion slices in butter until brown. Serve by placing 2-4 maultaschen in a bowl, pour both over and garnish with sauteed onions. Serve with a nice green salad.

If there are any left over, they can be used the following day. Cut them into one inch slices, fry in oil or butter, add slightly beaten eggs and milk to the pan and cook through.

Currant Clafouti

2010-08-05T19:58:00.003+02:00

I'm not sure how many of you have read the book Julie and Julia, but to summarize, it's about a woman (named Julie) who cooks everything in Julia Child's Mastering the Art of French Cooking cookbook. But ever since reading that book (which was WAY better than the movie BTW), I've had this craving to make clafouti, which Julie raves about in the book. Now, a clafouti is basically some fruit in a baking dish with a batter poured over it. As it cooks the batter turns to this silky, flan-y, custard-y texture that goes so well with any fruit, really. But, I guess to officially be called a Clafouti, it is made with whole cherries (pits included). If it's made with other fruit it's called a flaugnarde. But, since I hadn't heard that term until I was reading about clafoutis on Wikipedia, I'm still going to call this clafouti.

I decided to do a little twist on this and use red currants in stead of cherries. There are TONS of currants out right now at the market in town and they are dirt cheap! I haven't done any cooking with currants before, and I figured there was no time like the present to try something new that is in season (and cheap if I screw it up). I needed to make a few adjustments to the original recipe which called for 3 cups of cherries. I had planned to just substitute currants for the cherries, but after I started spreading the currants on, I realized using 3 cups was way too much. I only used about 2-2 1/2 cups, but I feel even that was too much. The currants have a lot more water in them than cherries, and that made this dish a little soggy. I think it would be better off with 1 1/2 cups; I made that change in the recipe below.

I think this dish would be amazing with other fruit. I've made it before with cherries, plums, and pears. Adding a little cinnamon is great with the plums and pears. You could probably use whatever is in season and it would work out well.

Currant Clafouti
Adapted from Julia Child's Clafouti
Serves 6-8

1 1/4 c milk
2/3 c sugar, divided
3 eggs
1 T vanilla
1/8 t salt
1/2 cup flour
1-1 1/2 cups red currants

powdered sugar (for dusting)

Preheat oven to 350F

In a blender, blend together the milk, 1/3 c sugar, vanilla, salt and flour. Pour a 1/4" layer of batter into a buttered 7 or 8 cup lightly buttered oven-safe baking dish. Place in the oven until a film of batter sets in the pan, about 10 minutes.

Remove from the heat and spread the currants over the batter. Sprinkle on the remaining 1/3c of sugar and pour over the rest of the batter.

Bake at 350F for 45 minutes to an hour. The clafouti is done when puffed and brown and a knife stuck in the center comes out clean. Sprinkle with powdered sugar and serve warm.

Click here for a printable recipe

Spiced Nuts

2010-07-23T15:02:00.002+02:00

So after my nut butter post, I found myself with plenty of nuts left over and wondering what to do with them all. I looked through my cookbook library, and found an old favorite that I couldn't believe I had forgotten about. Now I love the mixed nuts you can get in the can at the store, don't get me wrong. But this is a big step-up from those. The cayenne gives it a little heat, and the rosemary gives it a little freshness. The brown sugar balances it all out. It makes a quick and easy party snack...I've even given away small jars as gifts.

Some recipe notes: The more types of nuts you use, the better; I only used 3 types this time, and I wish I had included more (but that's what I had on hand, and didn't feel like making the trip to the store). If you can't find unsalted nuts, salted are fine, just omit the salt in the recipe or this will be waaaaaaaayyyyy too salty. These are awesome served warm, but that isn't necessary, they are pretty dang good at room temperature, too.

The Union Square Café Bar Nuts
from Nigella Bites by Nigella Lawson
for printable recipe click here

18 ounces assorted unsalted nuts, including peeled peanuts, cashews, Brazil nuts, hazelnuts, walnuts, pecans and whole, unpeeled almonds (about 2 1/4 c)
2 Tbsp coarsely chopped fresh rosemary
1/2 tsp cayenne pepper
2 tsp dark brown sugar
2 tsp sea salt
1 Tbsp butter, melted

Preheat oven to 350F

Toss the nuts in a large bowl to combine and spread them out on a baking sheet. Toast in the oven till they become light golden brown, about 10 minutes.

In a large bowl, combine the rosemary, cayenne, sugar, salt, and melted butter.

Thoroughly toss the toasted nuts in the spiced butter and serve warm.

Asian Noodle Salad with Cashew Butter--My first Daring Cooks' Challenge

2010-07-15T17:03:00.006+02:00

The July 2010 Daring Cooks’ Challenge was hosted by Margie of More Please and Natashya of Living in the Kitchen with Puppies. They chose to challenge Daring Cooks to make their own nut butter from scratch, and use the nut butter in a recipe. Their sources include Better with Nut Butter by Cooking Light Magazine, Asian Noodles by Nina Simonds, and Food Network online.

I just joined the Daring Kitchen (see the link to the left) recently and this is my first experience with their challenges. Basically what they do is a monthly challenge recipe that all members have to make and then blog about if they are bloggers. It isn't a competition, but more like a way to experiment with new dishes/ideas that are a little bit out of the ordinary, things that most people wouldn't think to make on a daily basis and share experiences. It's a monthly challenge, so be on the lookout on the 14th of each month for my monthly challenge post (I do realize I'm a day late, I misread the directions).

The first key ingredient in nut butters (aside from the nuts themselves) is a really good blender or a food processor to grind the nuts up to a spreadable consistency (Thanks to my neighbor Marie for the use of her--I don't have a good one, yet). They'll turn grainy and pasty first, but then will eventually (after 2-4 minutes) smooth out to a creamy consistency. I like my butters a little more chunky, so that's just a matter of blending for a shorter amount of time.

Some other things to keep in mind:

You may need to add a little oil as well, but do so in small (1 tsp) increments so you don't end up with an oily mess. You can use the corresponding oil, or something with neutral flavor like canola oil.
Nut butters can be made out of any nut, raw or roasted, salted or unsalted. If you do use salted, make sure you account for it in your recipe, you don't want to have yourself a salt bomb instead of a creamy sauce.
You can roast the nuts yourself for 10 minutes in a 350F oven. Just lay them out on a baking sheet in a single layer.
You'll get half the yield of butter as volume of nuts. So 1 cup of nuts will make 1/2 c of butter
I could go on and on, but click here for even more information on nut butters.

For this dish, you can customize it by adding your own favorite vegetables like shredded cabbage, bean sprouts or slivered carrots (I left out the cucumber mainly because I forgot to buy it at the store). You can also omit or substitute the shrimp with the protein of your choice. I used packaged, roasted and salted cashews, and that worked well.

Asian Noodle Salad with Cashew Dressing
Click here for a printable recipe

Yield: 4 servings

Cashew Butter:
1 cup (240 ml) cashews*
Cashew Dressing:
½ inch (1 cm) slice of fresh ginger, chopped
8 cloves garlic, more or less to taste, chopped
½ cup (120 ml) cashew butter
¼ cup (60 ml) soy sauce
3 Tablespoons (45 ml) sugar
3 Tablespoons (45 ml) vinegar
3 Tablespoons (45 ml) toasted sesame oil
¼ cup plus 1 Tablespoon (75 ml) water
Hot sauce to taste (optional)

Noodle Salad:
1/2 pound (225 g) linguine or thin rice noodles
1 tablespoon (15 ml) olive oil
1/2 pound (225 g) small or medium shrimp, peeled and deveined
1 large red bell pepper, cored and seeded, cut into thin strips
1 cucumber, peeled, seeded, sliced
1/4 cup (60 ml) sliced green onions
1/4 cup (60 ml) chopped fresh basil
1 tablespoon (15 ml) chopped cashews (optional garnish)
Lime wedges (optional)

Make cashew butter: Grind cashews in food processor for about 2 minutes until smooth. (*Or start with ½ cup (120 ml) prepared cashew butter.)
Prepare cashew dressing: Combine ginger, garlic, cashew butter, soy sauce, sugar, vinegar, sesame oil, and water in food processor or blender. Process/blend until smooth. Be sure to process long enough to puree the ginger and garlic. The dressing should be pourable, about the same thickness as cream. Adjust consistency – thinner or thicker -- to your liking by adding more water or cashew butter. Taste and add your favorite hot sauce if desired. (If the cashew butter was unsalted, you may want to add salt to taste.) Makes about 1 ½ cups (360 ml) dressing. Store any leftover dressing in the refrigerator.
Prepare noodles according to package instructions in salted water. Rinse and drain noodles. Set aside.
Heat oil in large non-stick pan over medium heat. Add shrimp to the pan and sauté for about 3 to 4 minutes or until opaque throughout. Alternately, cook shrimp in boiling water for about 2 to 3 minutes or until done.
Slice basil into thin ribbons. Combine noodles, bell pepper, cucumber, onions, and basil in a large bowl. Add about ½ cup (120 ml) cashew dressing; toss gently to coat. Add more cashew dressing as desired, using as much or as little as you’d like. Scatter shrimp on top. Squeeze fresh lime juice over salad or serve with lime wedges. Sprinkle with chopped cashews if desired.

Strawberries Marinated in Balsamic Vinegar

2010-07-11T18:38:00.001+02:00

So, it's been a while...I've been away and haven't had a chance to get back to blogging. I'm actually really surprised how much I've missed it. I've enjoyed posting my recipes and pics, and I really hope you all have enjoyed my posts, too!

The strawberries right now are insane...in season, they are so sweet and fresh and cheap. Plus they are everywhere. Whenever I think of strawberries I think summer! So I've gone searching for a good summertime strawberry recipe and I've found one. Strawberries marinated with balsamic vinegar with marscarpone cheese is one of my favorites.

Now, strawberries and balsamic vinegar, when I first heard that combination, sounded more than a little off-putting to me. If it does to you too, hang with me, because it is awesome! This is one of my stand-by desserts that is great if you want something that is fresh and light-tasting, and truly easy to make. It would work great for dinner parties, because everything can be made ahead of time (and since you have to marinate the strawberries for a while, you should make it early) and just assemble it table-side. Or you can make a presentation of it and deliver to your guests and bathe in their praise:). But most importantly, enjoy it and share with those you love!

A couple of notes on this recipe...Although I have given quantities of the ingredients, they are just to give a general idea of how much to use, I honestly can't remember the last time I measured anything out when I make this, it just seems to work. Also, it does call for a vanilla pod, but since those tend to be a little spendy, just a splash or 2 of vanilla extract works as well. Fresh, super-ripe strawberries work the best, I haven't tried frozen ones, but I think that the texture once they are thawed won't be right, so I'm going to have to recommend against it.

Strawberries Marinated in Balsamic Vinegar
From Jamie Oliver's The Return of the Naked Chef
Serves 4

1-ish lbs of strawberries, hulled
~5 tbsp sugar, to taste
10 tbsp balsamic vinegar
1 vanilla pod
14 oz mascarpone cheese
4 or 5 leaves of fresh mint or basil, finely sliced

Place strawberries in a bowl and scatter generously with the sugar followed by the balsamic vinegar. Stir around and allow to marinate for up to 2 hours.

Score the vanilla pod length-wise and remove the seeds by running a knife along the inside, scraping the seeds away. Mix the seeds with the mascarpone cheese and sweeten to taste with a little sugar.

Place a scoop of marscapone on a dish, cover with strawberries and balsamic juice, and finish with a sprinkle of mint or basil.

Herb-coated Pork Tenderloin with Creamy Polenta

2010-06-29T11:14:00.002+02:00

This recipe is the recipe where I learned how invaluable a meat thermometer is in the kitchen. It can make you look like a meat-roasting genius! Especially with pork. I know many people who are afraid of under-cooking pork for fear of trichinosis, and then cook the crap out of the pork chop/loin/whatever until it is the consistency of shoe leather and equally as tasty. Cooking the meat that long is unnecessary. You can kill all the uglies that could be in pork (which, by the way, have been reduced drastically with current farming practices) at 160F. So, cooking to a temp of 155F and letting it rest for 10 minutes will increase the internal temp to the required 160, and you're good to go. It will still be pink inside, but that doesn't mean that it's unsafe to eat, it will just be much more juicy and tender.

So talking about thermometers, the one that I've found to be the most useful is a probe thermometer that can be left in the oven and the temperature can be read on a display that can stay outside. That way, you can keep an eye on the temperature much more easily. You also don't have to stick your head in the oven every 10 minutes to check on it (like I used to do with the one I had previously that was just a dial on a probe). But please note, that probe stays HOT. Just because you take the meat out of the oven and let it rest for a few minutes, doesn't mean the probe cools off. And I'm speaking from experience, I can't tell you how often I've burned my fingertips trying to take it out of the meat. You've been warned ;).

Another few notes...I've tried the pork on the grill, and it turns out wonderfully, in fact, I think it's even better grilled, just be sure to keep an eye on the temperature so it doesn't over-cook. Adding a handful or 2 of grated Parmesan cheese to the polenta works well, too.

Herb-coated Pork Tenderloin with Creamy Polenta
From Cooking Light magazine

Pork
1 Tbsp chopped fresh rosemary
1 Tbsp chopped fresh thyme
1 Tbsp chopped fresh marjoram
1 Tbsp chopped fresh oregano
1 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp freshly ground black pepper
4 garlic cloves, minced
2 (1-lb) pork tenderloins, trimmed
Cooking spray

Polenta
1/2 c finely chopped onion
2 garlic cloves, minced
1/2 c dry white wine (or vermouth)
4 c water, divided
1 c dry polenta (or yellow corn meal)
1 Tbsp butter
1 tsp salt
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

To prepare pork, combine first 9 ingredients in a large zip top bag; seal and marinate in refrigerator overnight or up to 2 days (longer marinating time=more herb flavor).
Preheat oven to 400 F
Remove pork from bag. Place pork on a broiler pan coated with cooking spray. Bake at 400F for 30 minutes or until a thermometer registers 155F. Remove from oven, cover and let stand for 10 minutes before slicing.
To prepare polenta, heat a medium sauce pan over medium-high heat. Coat pan with cooking spray. Add onion and 2 garlic cloves, saute 2 minutes. Add wine, cook 5 minutes or until liquid almost evaporates. Add 2 cups water, reduce heat, and simmer 5 minutes. Gradually add polenta, stirring constantly with a whisk. Cook over medium heat 15 minutes or until thick an creamy, stirring frequently and gradually adding remaining 2 cups water. Stir in butter, salt and pepper, add more to taste. Serve with pork.

Greek Orzo and Grilled Shrimp Salad

2010-06-17T11:27:00.007+02:00

My friend Lea went to the South Beach Food and Wine festival a few years ago. I was totally jealous because she got to meet a bunch of the Food Network chefs and watch them cook live and in person. She also brought a present back for me...a cookbook...autographed by Bobby Flay! Quite possibly one of the coolest gifts I've ever gotten. I've used that cookbook so much that I've broken the spine, stained almost every page with some sort of ingredient or sauce or something. Every page except the one with his autograph--that one I should probably frame or preserve or encase in glass (maybe that's a little too extreme, so I'll just take a picture).

But anyway, as much as I treasure the autograph, this cookbook is even better! Some of my favorite summertime recipes are from it, as is today's recipe. Greek Orzo and Grilled Shrimp Salad with Mustard-Dill Vinaigrette is a great picnic salad. It is summery and light and travels well to cook-outs, too. It's pretty straight-forward to make and can be made ahead of time, and is even better the second day.

If you aren't familiar with orzo, it's a rice-shaped pasta that cooks up pretty quickly. If you can't find it, any small pasta will do (I've even made this salad with quinoa for a big protein, whole-grain punch).

So, without any further ado...here's the recipe:

Greek Orzo & Grilled Shrimp Salad with Mustard-Dill Vinaigrette
From Bobby Flay's Grilling for Life
Click here for printable recipe

Orzo Salad
1 3/4 cups orzo
1 large English cucumber, diced
3 green onions, thinly sliced
1 cup grape tomatoes, halved (or cherry tomatoes, quartered)
1/4 cup chopped fresh dill
1/4 cup white wine vinegar
1 tbsp Dijon mustard
1/2 tsp kosher salt
1/4 tsp freshly ground black pepper
1/2 cup olive oil
8 oz feta, crumbled

1. Bring a large pot of salted cold water to a boil. Add the orzo and cook until al dente, 7-8 minutes. Drain well.
2. Combine orzo, cucumber, green onions, and tomatoes in a large bowl.
3. Combine the dill, vinegar, mustard, salt and pepper in a blender and blend until smooth. with the motor running slowly drizzle in the olive oil and blend until emulsified. Pour the vinaigrette over the orzo mixture and stir well to combine. Gently fold in the feta cheese. Cover and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes and up to 8 hours.

Grilled Shrimp
24 medium shrimp, peeled and deveined
1 tbsp olive oil
1 tsp kosher salt
1 tsp freshly ground black pepper
Fresh dill

1. Heat your grill to high (or you can also use a grill pan).
2. Place the shrimp in a large bowl, toss with the oil and season with the salt and pepper. Grill for 1 1/2 to 2 minutes per side until just cooked through.
3. Remove the orzo salad from the refrigerator and transfer it to a large platter. Top with the grilled shrimp and garnish with the dill before serving.

Puffed Apple Pancakes

2010-06-06T16:02:00.004+02:00

This recipe is one of my favorite breakfast recipes ever for many reasons. First, it tastes awesome, which is key. The second is it's just so dang pretty as it comes out of the oven, all puffy and golden yumminess, that I feel like a kitchen genius every time I make it. And last, but definitely not least, is that it is super easy. Once I discovered this recipe I've made it pretty much every weekend since. It is the staple Saturday morning breakfast for my husband and me every week.

My husband had to work this past Saturday, but did it stop me from making it? Nope (sorry you missed out, Babe). I biked on over to my friend Ashley's house and we made a little brunch ourselves with it. I was so excited to share it with a new friend and she was excited about making it for her husband when he gets back. That is what cooking is about to me, sharing the love. And now I get to share it with all of you!

Just some quick notes about this recipe...It serves 4, but since it's just my husband and me, I always make half a recipe and it turns out great (the pictures here are also of a half-recipe). You can use whatever kind of apple you have on hand. I've used Gala, Pink Lady, Honey Crunch and Granny Smith (I think I used Ida Red in this recipe, but the sticker was in German so I'm not sure) they all work just as well. I also just discovered when I was making this yesterday that it says to peel the apples first--totally missed that all the times I've made this recipe (which is A LOT). So I guess what I'm saying, is that you don't actually have to peel them (although I think that it would make slicing it up a little neater).

Puffed Apple Pancakes
Adapted from Bon Appetit's Fast, Easy, Fresh Cookbook
Click here for printable version

4 tablespoons (1/2 stick) unsalted butter
12 ounces Golden Delicious apples (about 2), peeled, cored, thinly sliced

1 cup whole milk
4 large eggs
3 tablespoons sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
2/3 cup all purpose flour

3 tablespoons (packed) golden brown sugar

Preheat oven to 425°F. While oven is heating, place butter in 13"x9" glass baking dish (if you're making a half-recipe, 8"x8" or a round baker works well, too). Place dish in oven until butter melts, about 5 minutes. Remove dish from oven. Place apple slices in overlapping rows atop melted butter in baking dish. Return to oven and bake until apples begin to soften slightly and butter is bubbling and beginning to brown around edges of dish, about 10 minutes (I also do this while the oven is still pre-heating, although it usually takes a bit longer).

Meanwhile, whisk milk, eggs, sugar, vanilla, salt, and cinnamon in large bowl until well blended. Add flour and whisk until batter is smooth.

Pour batter over apples in dish and sprinkle with brown sugar. Bake pancake until puffed and brown, about 20 minutes. Gather family around to admire your puffy golden creation and dig in while it's still warm!

This is awesome with just a drizzle of real maple syrup or you can sprinkle with powdered sugar. I think next time I may fry up some bacon or breakfast sausages, too!

Mmm...Blueberry Pie

2010-05-30T11:25:00.045+02:00

My husband's grandmother is famous for her pies. Every time we go to visit, there is always at least one (usually three) waiting for us when we get there. I haven't had a chance to make a pie along with her to learn her secret, but I did ask her once how she made the crust. She's a very modest lady, and her reply was "oh, it's nothing special, you just mix it all together until it looks right". Her recipe is so much a part of her, she needs no recipe, and the "looking right" part is what I really want to understand.

I think I may have found a crust recipe that rivals that of my grandmother-in-law. It's a little unorthodox, but I've tried it and it works like a champ, so I'm sold. The secret ingredient is...vodka. I'm not sure why it works, something to do with the alcohol to water ratio in the vodka allowing for the optimal amount of gluten formation in the dough. The alcohol does evaporate in the oven, so don't worry about your pie crust tasting like booze (I also tried some dough raw, and even then I could barely taste the vodka).
So all this talk about crust, I haven't even mentioned the filling. Grandma-in-law always has at least a blueberry, cherry and a chocolate pie waiting for us upon our arrival. So when I found this recipe for blueberry pie, this was just calling my name. It is almost as good as hers...

Blueberry Pie
From Cook's Illustrated All-Time Best Recipes

Pie Dough (for one 9" double crust pie)
2 1/2 cups (12 1/2 oz) unbleached all-purpose flour (plus extra for work surface)
1 tsp table salt
2 Tbsp sugar
12 Tbsp (1 1/2 sticks) cold unsalted butter, cut int0 1/4" slices
1/2 cup cold vegetable shortening, cut into 4 pieces
1/4 cup cold vodka
1/4 cup cold water

Process 1 1/2 c flour, salt and sugar in food processor until combined, about two 1-second pulses. Add butter and shortening and process until homogeneous dough just starts to collect in uneven clumps, about 15 seconds (dough will resemble cottage cheese curds and there should be no uncoated flour). Scrape bowl with rubber spatula and redistribute dough evenly around processor blade. Add remaining cup of flour and pulse until mixture is even distributed around bowl and mass of dough has been broken up, 4-6 quick pulses. Empty mixture into medium bowl (I actually don't have a food processor right now, so just used a dough blender thing and hand mixed the dough together. It worked well, but my arm was sore the next day).

Sprinkle vodka and water over mixture. With rubber spatula, use folding motion to mix, pressing down on dough until dough is slightly tacky and sticks together. Divide dough into 2 even balls and flatten each into 4" disk. Wrap each in plastic wrap and refrigerate at least 45 minutes or up to 2 days.

The Rest of the Pie
Also from Cooks Illustrated

1 recipe of the pie dough
6 cups (about 30 oz) fresh blueberries (if you want to use frozen ones, just cook half of them over med-high heat in step 2 without mashing until they are reduced to 1 1/4 cups, 12-15 minutes)
1 Granny Smith apple, peeled and grated on large holes of a box grater
2 tsp grated zest and 2 tsp juice from 1 lemon
3/4 cups (5 1/4 oz) sugar
2 Tbsp instant tapioca, ground in a spice grinder (or 5 tsp pearl tapioca)
Pinch table salt
2 Tbsp unsalted butter, cut into 1/4" pieces
1 large egg, lightly beaten with 1 tsp water

Remove 1 disk of dough from the refrigerator and roll out on generously floured work surface to 12" circle about 1/8" thick. Roll dough loosely around rolling pin and unroll into pie plate, leaving at least 1" overhang on each side. Working around circumference, ease dough with one hand while pressing into plate bottom with other hand. Leave dough that overhangs in place; refrigerate while preparing filling until dough is firm, about 30 minutes.

Adjust oven rack to lowest position, place rimmed baking sheet on oven rack, and heat oven to 400 degrees. Place 3 cups berries in medium sauce pan and set over medium heat. Using potato masher, mash berries several times to release juices. Continue to cook, stirring frequently and mashing occasionally, until about half of the berries have broken down and mixture is thickened and reduced to 1 1/2 cups, about 8 minutes. Let cool slightly.

Place grated apple in clean kitchen towel and wring dry. Transfer apple to large bowl. Add cooked berries, remaining 3 cups uncooked berries, lemon zest, juice, sugar, tapioca and salt; toss to combine. Transfer mixture to dough-lined pie plate and scatter butter pieces over filling.

Roll out second disk of dough on generously floured (up to 1/4 cup) work surface to 11" circle. Using 1 1/4" round biscuit cutter (or a shot glass like I did, because, hey, there's vodka in the dough and I don't have a biscuit cutter), cut round from center of dough. Cut another 6 rounds from dough, 1 1/2" from edge of center hole and equally spaced around the center hole (this is much easier than trying to do a lattice top). This will allow the steam to vent from the filling as it bakes. Roll dough loosely around rolling pin and unroll over pie, leaving at least 1/2" overhang on each side.
Using kitchen shears, trim bottom layer of overhanging dough, leaving 1/2"overhang. Fold dough underitself so that edge of fold is flush with outer rim of pie plate. Flute edges using thumb and forefinger or press with tines of fork fork to seal top crust to bottom. Brush top and edges of pie with egg mixture. If dough is very soft, chill in freezer for 10 minutes.
Place pie on heated baking sheet and bake 30 minutes. Reduce oven temperature to 350 degrees and continue to bake until juices bubble anc crust is deep golden brown, 30-40 minutes longer. transfer pie to wire rack; cool to room temperature, at least 4 hours. Cut into wedges and serve.

Grandma's Stew

2010-05-23T15:34:00.011+02:00

So, this is my very first post as ShutterCook....the photographer and cook that I want to be. I thought the best way to start out this blog is with a dish that is an family favorite. My Grandma's Beef Stew is a comfort food that always makes me think of home. It's what my mom made every time it was cold out and we were expecting company. She would make it whenever I would come home from college or living somewhere far away. Even though I'm living in Germany now, it's one way for me to feel close to with my family, even when they are an ocean away.

Now, as with many grandmas' recipes, this one is not so much about measuring as what's in it. I asked my grandma to help me make it one day, so I could get it right. I walked away with a full belly of warm stew, and a recipe with very little details, and a lot of "add about enough so it looks right". I've sort of adapted it to the way I like it, and it's a little different every time. I tried to keep track of what amounts I was adding as I made this, so now I'll actually have the recipe!

Grandma's Beef Stew

Olive oil
1 Small Chuck roast, cut into bite-sized pieces (I used about 2lbs of meat)
1 t Salt
1/2 t Pepper
1-2 T Garlic Powder (or more or less to your taste)
2-3 Onions (red, white, whatever you have), cut into 1" pieces
14 oz can of tomatoes
3 large carrots, peeled and cut into 1" pieces (although I've used those packaged baby carrots, and those work pretty well too)
4-5 Cloves
1/4 head of cabbage, cut into 1" chunks
3 good-sized potatoes cut into 1" chunks

Heat a Dutch oven or stock pot over med-high heat and add a glug or so of olive oil. Once it's good and hot, add the meat and sprinkle with the salt, pepper and garlic powder. Brown on all sides.

Once the meat is good and browned on all sides, add the onions and cook for a few minutes more.

Add the tomatoes with the juice from the can, cloves, carrots and cabbage. Add enough water to cover the contents of the pot. Bring to a boil, then turn down the heat and simmer for at least 3 hours, adding the potatoes during the last hour of cooking so they don't get too soggy.

Add additional salt and pepper to taste. This stew is even better reheated the next day, so make it early and let it get yummier. Serve with some crusty bread and enjoy with those you love!

Click here for a printable recipe