I’m Back Baby!

Well it’s been almost a year since I last posted.  I almost thought I wouldn’t get back to it, but I have been missing the Daring Baker experience the entire time and am making it a priority again.  I was so pumped when I read the challenge and completed it in time to post on the 27th, and then I tried to get online.  Biggest problem of living in Russia………shady internet.  So while “I’m Back”, the internet really determines my blog accuracy.  :)

The October 2010 Daring Bakers Challenge was hosted by Lori of Butter Me Up.  Lori chose to challenge DBers to make donuts.  She used several sources for her recipes including Alton Brown, Nancy Silverton, Kate Neumann and Epicurious.

Now let me preface this by saying I do not like donuts.  I didn’t grow up eating them, and I had one while I was pregnant and that did it for me.  The only donut I can tolerate is a KK hot glazed.  Doesn’t really taste like a donut and isn’t as heavy when it’s hot.  We happened to have an extra teenager staying with us, so I thought boy and his friend would like the treat. 

I wanted to try the yeast and the Bombolini, but the Bombolini needed an overnight rest so I just did the yeast donuts.  It was a fool-proof recipe.   Simple enough to be a quick put together, and basic enough to have all the ingredients on hand.  The only thing I changed was the addition of nutmeg to the dough.  I substituted cinnamon of course.  The dough was very soft and smooth.  I did not have a donut cutter so I used a biscuit cutter and a little plastic top from my cream whipper.  A little more laborious, but did the trick.  The dough was very light and easy to work with and proofed perfectly. 

I own a little fryer so I could only fry two at a time.  They cooked so evenly and so quickly that I didn’t even notice how long it took to fry them all.  The smell was fantastic and after I let one sit for a little bit I tasted it.  It was delicious!  Even with nothing on it.  So light and airy in the middle.  I tried to make a glaze, but it just tasted like wet powdered sugar.  It was horrible…..so I just did a cinnamon sugar sprinkling and they were fantastic. 

Boy and his friend ate them like they never had a donut in their life.  They were so easy and good I made them a second time.  This time for a kid Halloween party where they ate them off a string with no hands.  Cinnamon Sugar was everywhere….hilarious!  The best part of this challenge was learning to make something I can’t find very easily here.  They do have donuts in Russia, but they are a bit different and a little more dry.  Everyone is gonna love me……

It feels so good to be back…can’t wait for next month’s challenge!

Twas the day before Christmas…..

said I to my spouse, “I wonder who’ll come and look at my house?”  The shingles all hung in colors so fair,  in hopes that Audax and the Dee-Bees would be there.  A ton of ideas swirled around in my head, do I dare try to make a big- tall gingerbread?  So I in my socks with the comp on my lap, decided to go and look at some shacks.  Would it look like a house or something from Saturn?  I decided I needed a very good pattern.  Away to the bookstore I drove in a flash, and opened my pocket and pulled out some cash.   I was ready to begin so I mixed up the dough, put it into the fridge then painted my toes.   Time to move on I pulled out  my gear,  rolling the dough was nothing to fear.  I was too cocky and tried to be slick, and rolled out my dough so it wasn’t too thick.  What was I thinking my head hung in shame, the wall broke in half-there goes my frame.  Think Amber- a bit faster- no time for more mixing, I’ll make super stiff icing and begin all the fixing.  I said a few “words”, and went straight to work.  So many details but I would definitely not shirk.  With icing all over from my hands to my nose, I felt exhausted from the highs and the lows.  I took a step back and saw a great house,  even with mistakes it pleased me and my spouse.  With a huge smile on my face and with a voice of delight,  Merry Christmas to all and to all a good night!

The December 2009 Daring Bakers’ challenge was brought to you by Anna of Very Small Anna and Y of Lemonpi. They chose to challenge Daring Bakers’ everywhere to bake and assemble a gingerbread house from scratch.

et tu, croute?

Oh yes….even you Croute.  The best part of being in the Daring Cooks is having  the opportunity to do things one would never attempt on their own. 

The 2009 Daring Cooks challenge was hosted by Simone of Junglefrog Cooking. Simone chose Salmon en Croute (or alternative recipes for Beef Wellington or Vegetable en Croute) from Good Food Online.

Now what is Salmon en Croute you say?  It is salmon cooked in pastry.  In theory it sounds a little odd, but in reality it is delicious.  There are various pastries one could use….shortcut, puff and the like.   We had the option to make a shortcut pastry if we had time…I have very little time but wanted to try the shortcut pastry.  Three ingredients is all it takes for the pastry and with a food processor it is done lickity split.   I found that the dough was almost like a clay……and as it cooked it didn’t really turn into what I imagined it would.  It was more like a crust…hard on the outside.  I didn’t have all the ingredients for the watercress mixture so I improvised with spinach, mushrooms, dill and cream cheese.  (it was such a good mixture I could have eaten it with crackers)  I steamed some broccoli and thought the meal needed one more thing so I made a lemon butter sauce.  The sauce was perfectly tart to go with the salmon and the broccoli. 

Having never tasted it before I wasn’t sure if my final product was correct.  Boy and Man loved the salmon…but didn’t like the pastry so much.  Man said the pastry had no flavor and he would have preferred a “crescent roll”  like pastry.  (apparently his advanced palate knows more than I….LOL)  I thought it was perfectly fine and how great was it that it was like an individual packaged dinner? 

Daring Cooks 2~Me 2

Holy Moley, it’s Cannoli!

So I’ve been noticeably absent the last couple of months, and to be honest I didn’t think I’d be able to continue…..but I finished some training and am now just doing language -so I freed up some time.  YAY!!!  (Just a heads up…trying to learn Russian, not so easy.)   I was excited to get a challenge that would take my mind off all the foreign words occupying my brain and when I read our challenge I was not very excited…but hey it was something new that I hadn’t done before so I jumped aboard. 

The November 2009 Daring Bakers Challenge was chosen and hosted by Lisa Michele of Parsley, Sage, Desserts and Line Drives. She chose the Italian Pastry, Cannolo (Cannoli is plural), using the cookbooks Lidia’s Italian-American Kitchen by Lidia Matticchio Bastianich and The Sopranos Family Cookbook by Allen Rucker; recipes by Michelle Scicolone, as ingredient/direction guides. She added her own modifications/changes, so the recipe is not 100% verbatim from either book.

I’ve had Cannoli before and I’ve never liked it, so I went into it a little half hearted.  I did purchase the cannoli forms and I love having them, totally recommend everyone getting them.  Even if you NEVER use them.   There’s nothing like the feeling you get when you open the drawer and see them and think to yourself…I could totally make Cannoli right now if I wanted to.    The dough was super easy to make and as I was working with it the smell was so light and delicious I started getting pretty excited about this little treat.  I used a pasta machine to get the dough thin enough which worked perfectly and made it a simple task.  I  worked my way down to the second to smallest setting and thought I should try them a little thicker.  I made 2 that were not as thin but I didn’t get the bubble effect and I didn’t think they looked as lovely.  (sorry there are no pics of the process, still trying to figure the lighting out in the apt.) 

I’ve never really fried before so I was a little scared, but as I went along and they were looking so pretty I forgot how scary it was.  I did taste one before I filled it and I did not like it very much….so I was a little bummed.  I was going to make two fillings…the pumpkin one that Lisa was generous enough to give us and a lemon mousse-like one.  I got all my ingredients out for the pumpkin one and my pumpkin was bad.  ARGH!!!!!  I love me the pumpkin but since we were going out of town I didn’t want to go out and purchase a new one to leave in the fridge for a week.  So I just stuck with the lemon.  Oh My Goodness!  Once I filled the cannoli shells and tried them….I LOVED them.  They were fantastic.  The filling made the flavors in the shell jump out.  I couldn’t stop eating them.  The crisp bite of the shell was perfect I was so proud of myself.   I will never purchase a cannoli again as it could never compete with the homemade one.  I can’t wait to try the pumpkin filling.   

Thanks Lisa for expanding my horizons….and giving us a great challenge. 

Easy Lemon Mousse

• 1 cup sugar
• 2 tablespoons grated fresh lemon rind
• 2/3 cup lemon juice
• 4 eggs
• 1 package unflavored gelatin
• 1/4 cup cold water
• 2 cups whipping cream

Bring sugar, lemon rind and juice to boil. In a bowl beat eggs; pour in hot lemon mixture and mix well. Pour back into pan and bring to just a boil over medium heat, stirring constantly.  Cook and stir constantly for 5 minutes, or until thickened.  Scrape into a bowl. Sprinkle gelatin over cold water in small saucepan; let stand 5 minutes.  Heat over low heat until dissolved; stir into lemon mixture, mixing well.  Place plastic wrap on surface of mousse and let cool, stirring once, gently,for 30 minutes or until no longer warm.  In another bowl, whip cream and fold into lemon mixture.  Refrigerate.

better late than never….

So we have finally settled in the VA area and are so glad to be unpacked.  Unfortunately I’m a bit behind on posting my challenges.  We have a few months of schooling to do before we head to Russia so I’m having a very hard time finding time to do the challenges.  I have to give some huge props to all of you who work and still manage to get them done…..I don’t know how you do it.  I’ll probably figure it out just in time to pack up again and head on out. 

The worst part of moving is having to give up the beautiful kitchen for a tiny kitchen apartment…..where there is no natural lighting to even dream of taking a somewhat attractive picture.  I apologize for the lack of talent and pictures that these post will have, but I promise I’ll start manipulating things till I have it down k? 

This month’s Daring Cooks challenge was hosted by Debyi from the Healthy Vegan Kitchen.   She challenged us to make Indian Dosas.  I was so excited for this challenge as I love Vegan food.  I grew up practically vegetarian and miss eating that way.  (so hard to live that lifestyle when living with a boy and man who say NO to twig and berry food)  The recipe comes from reFresh: Contemporary Vegan Recipes From the Award Winning Fresh Restaurants by Ruth Tal.  Lucky for me I didn’t have to purchase anything but the spelt flour to make this dish.  As I was cooking, it was smelling fantastic and I was salivating as I finished in the kitchen.  It took everything I had not to try the dish before I got all the components together.   Once I assembled the dosas I sat down to eat, and after the first bite my excitement fell.  I didn’t like it.  I was so disappointed.  I’m not even sure why I didn’t like it.  Maybe cause there was no fat to smooth and blend the flavor together.  Ghee definitely would have added to the dish, but I’m not sure that would have even fixed what my taste buds were missing.  The dosas pancakes were good and I can see using them with other fillings, and boy and man each ate one…..but so not what I was hoping for. 

Surely it can’t be the recipe…..it’s gotta be the kitchen. 

Daring Cooks 2~Me 1

Goodbye beautiful kitchen :(

This last month has been crazy and a little stressful for myself.  I’m sure you’ve all been there.  Find out your moving to Russia after just purchasing a house and only living in it for 6 months, trying to show a house while relatives come to visit  and separate all your belongings into 3 separate shipments and then deal with an ulcer.  (okay…maybe it’s not an ulcer…but it sure feels like one…ooooooooh…maybe it’s anxiety)  Anyway, I was going to take a break from the Daring Bakers/Cooks for the month, but then I saw this month’s challenge and knew it was a sign to make one last treat in my lovely kitchen.   I do admit I did the bare minimum and only did half of the challenge and once I get settled I will make the other half k?  Promise! 

To preface I just have to say my favorite treat in the whole world is the Marshmallow so I was thrilled to see that July’s Daring Bakers challenge was hosted by Nichole at Sweet Tooth.  She chose Chocolate Covered Marshmallow Cookies and Milan Cookies from pastry chef Gale Gand of the Food Network.  This has got to be one of the easiest recipes where the result is impressive.  I halved the cookie recipe as word on the street was that it made a ton.  I then moved on to the marshmallow  recipe and realized I used my last egg and a half on the cookie.  Since we’re moving I’m down to the bare minimum and had no intention of buying any more eggs so I almost gave up, but then I remembered that I had meringue powder and went to town.  My marshmallows took quite a while to get stiff so I’m not sure if it was the meringue powder or just how it works.  When I thought it was done it piped perfectly.  Stiff enough to hold it’s shape yet soft enough to be delicious. (I don’ t think they really even need the chocolate) 

The hardest part was the dipping of the cookie in the chocolate.  Apparently I can’t do that very well nor can I pour the chocolate over the cookie without getting chocolate everywhere.  I’m talking EVERYWHERE.  I definitely need to get me some cocoa butter cause I know it would give the chocolate that perfect bite.  My chocolate never solidified without being put in the fridge.  Not so easy to eat unless you can fit in the fridge.   The result was fantastic regardless of the chocolate melting in your hand before you could eat it and boy and man LOVED them.  

heart to heart pudding or tart?

I can’t believe that it’s time to post another DB challenge.  For the first time EVER I completed my challenge way ahead of time.  YAY me!  The only problem with that is I mentally moved on and almost forgot to post about it.  Thank goodness I remembered because this month’s challenge is fan-freakin-tastic. 

 The June Daring Bakers’ challenge was hosted by Jasmine of Confessions of a Cardamom Addict and Annemarie of Ambrosia and Nectar. They chose a Traditional (UK) Bakewell Tart… er… pudding that was inspired by a rich baking history dating back to the 1800′s in England.  The debate seems to be that no one’s quite sure if this is a tart or pudding and is this really a dessert.  I for one wouldn’t classify it as a “dessert” so much as a sweet course to have with tea. (except you can have it with anything at anytime…and trust me I did)  It’s absolutely delicious. 

We had two mandatory elements….the pastry crust and the frangipane.  The crust was simple and very delicate and was just enough to fit in my glass tart pan.  I chose to blind bake the crust just in case so I wouldn’t end up with a soggy bottom.  The frangipane is what really makes this Bakewell tart.  It’s aroma of almond makes it an experience before it even hits your tastebuds.  There was a lot of talk about how the frangipane didn’t mix well, but I found that when the ingredients were room temp it was just fine.  Our lovely hostesses then gave us the freedom to use any homemade jam or curd to finish the tart/pudding.  I thought why not make this tart with pudding and then I shall have solved the dilemma of the tart/pudding debate.  It will be both.  I intended to make a blackberry pudding, but apparently I live in an area that is not palate adventurous and I could not find a blackberry.  I decided to then go with the blueberry and just as a word of caution……. berries stain.  

The feedback on this challenge was nothing but accolades…and according to boy….it was “a taste of heaven”.   He ended up eating 3/4 of it.  (teenage boys are amazingly able to eat a lot of food)  You really wouldn’t think that you could do much with this challenge but I definitely have to give a shout out to all my DB friends.  Their ability to make such creative pieces blow me away..you should definitely check them out and see how it really should be done.  One day I’ll get there….   

Berry Pudding

2 qts fresh berries

1 c water

1 3/4 c sugar

1/2 c flour

1/4 butter

2  tsp vanilla

Bring berries and 1 c of water to boil.  Reduce heat, and simmer for 5 minutes till berries are soft.  Mash berries with a fork and pour through wire mesh strainer, using back of the spoon to squeeze out all the juice you can.  Boil at reduced heat to reduce juice volume to 2 cups.  Combine sugar and flour in a saucepan; gradually add the berry juice, whisking constantly until smooth.  Bring to boil over medium heat whisking constantly.  Reduce heat and simmer for 3 minutes  or until thickened. Remove from heat, stir in butter and vanilla

A Potsticker by any other name…..

….is called a mandu.   How exciting that this month our challenge would be the loveable and controversial potsticker.  Why controversial you ask?  Everyone on the planet who has ever had one has their own name for it and claim it to be the best.  So we have potsticker, dumpling, mandu, guotie, gyoza and the list could go on a little bit more, and to be honest I’ve been around the block and tasted some in their original countries.  Therefore, for the rest of my post I shall be referring to the potsticker as a mandu which I think tastes the best.  (I ate so many mandus when I lived in Korea I looked like a mandu)

This months challenge was brought to us by Jen from use real butter.   Jen gave us the challenge of making the entire mandu from wrapper to filling.  There were many fillings I could go with but I chose to stick with the pork filling.  

The hardest part of the whole challenge was in making the wrappers.  There are only two ingredients in the wrapper, but getting the right consistency was hard for me.  I wasn’t sure what I was going for in the first place, but I knew rock wasn’t it.  Once I got a pliable dough I started assembling the mandu. 

Making all the mandus was the most time consuming part and I think it could be all kinds of fun if you have some friends over and do it as a group gig.  (note to self: make some friends)

Once I assembled I had to decide which way to cook them.   I decided to go a little crazy and do two methods-steamed and panfried.  I learned two things from the challenge.  1. The wrappers need to be super thin,  thinner than you think.  And 2.  I dislike ginger.  I’ve used ginger many times before, but the ginger in this recipe was too strong and overpowered the taste of the filling.  I definitely recommend using a bit less.  The consensus from boy and man was that they were a good substitute for the real thing….but I feel that for all the work it takes I need to get a tastier filling.  

The best part of the dish was the dipping sauce.  I was able to use my most favorite cookbook and make a Tahini soy sauce.  I’ve been wanting to try it and now I had the chance.  It was mashisayo (delicious). 

Tahini Soy Sauce (adapted from Mark Bittman’s How to Cook Everything Vegetarian)

½ cup soy sauce

¼ cup honey

2 tbs. sesame oil

¼ cup tahini

2 cloves of garlic

Pinch of brown sugar

 

Combine all ingredients and stir until sugar is dissolved.  Use immediately or refrigerate.

Daring Cooks 1~Me 1

ah…the Strudel

So it’s been a year since I became a Daring Baker and after a variety of challenges I didn’t think that they could pull out something I hadn’t tried.   Luckily for me these people have creativity and ideas running out of their ears.  

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

  How appropriate that here at The Bistro we get to serve the Apple Strudel.   This challenge was one of the easier challenges, and quite possibly one of the easier recipes I’ve made.  I started with the dough since it needed to rest about 90 minutes and according to our hosts, the longer it rests…the better.   This dough was amazing!  I’ve worked with all kinds of dough and I’ve never used one that felt like this.  It is absolutely smooth, not sticky and it’s ability to stretch blew my mind.  The beauty of this dough is that it doesn’t need to be rolled out.  You just pull it or use it’s own weight to stretch it till it’s paper thin.  I’m talking THIN.  

We could then choose to fill it with the apple filling or be creative and come up with something else.  I did both.  I used apples…but I also used pears, almonds and craisins.   I’ll be honest….while this was an easy challenge and it looked very nice, I wasn’t falling face over tongue for it.  I used TASTE salt in the dough and drizzled a lemon frosting (recipe to follow) over the top and that did make it pop a little more. 

All in all a great challenge and a great dough that could be filled with a myriad of things.  I’m thinking breakfast strudel with potatoes, eggs and the like.   Seriously, you could go on forever with ideas….well you could-me not so much.

 

Lemon Creamy Frosting

6 tbs. butter

1/4 cream

1/4 tsp. salt

3 cups powdered sugar

lemon flavoring

In a bowl beat butter, cream, salt and flavoring until smooth.  Then add powdered sugar and beat very well until smooth.  Spread on anything and everything you can.

Oh the HORROR!!

The Daring Cooks have finally arrived and I’m so excited that the Daring Bakers have branched off into another group that will make me even more amazing than I already am. (I’m so kidding about that last part people…I’m really just medium amazing)  Our first challenge was brought to us from our BRILLIANT co-founders Lis and Ivonne.  They have chosen the gnocchi for our first gig.  We were given a great recipe and I had this great pumpkin sauce that I was going to use to dress it…..but then I got mad at them and just used pesto.   We were given this great tip to just do one gnocchi first so that we would be able to see if our mixture needed more stability.   If we dropped a gnocchi in and it floated to the top without busting open, then everything was just right.        See it’s totally floating………that means success.

I then proceeded to make the rest of the gnocchi and threw them in to cook.  I was super anxious waiting for them to be done so I could eat them.  Instead of waiting for them to finish I went to the one I had already cooked and taken out…but when I looked at it, it had changed…to a blob….of mush.  WTH?  I decided to wait till the others were done to try it and pushed Mr. irritation to the back of my mind.   After my gnocchi had spent their due time in el jacuzzi I took them out to cool when to my HORROR they all melted into a blob while they rested.  Okay not all….I saved 3.  3 gnocchis made it through and by the time I fished them out of the mess they were unattractive.  Absolutely unworthy of the pumpkin sauce I had planned to robe them with.   Mr. irritation was now out of hiding and I couldn’t think past the failure and just pulled out the pesto.  (love pesto…it’s the bandaid for food)  I took my food photo outside in the glaring sun to try and minimize the ugly…notice my grass…it’s looking really good right now.  

Daring Cooks 1~Me 0

Game On