Mmm chocolate

Anyone looking for proof that chocolate makes EVERYTHING better? 

 

For instance, let's say you pipe four trays of pate a choux discs, and in your attempt to keep them from burning, you open and close the oven a bunch to rotate them, and they end up looking like this: 

 

 Rather than this: 

So, you melt a bag of chocolate chips with a little vegetable oil, stir in some half&half and dip away:

Pop them back in the freezer, and you've got chocolate eclairs. Problem solved! 

Dreaming? of a frozen eclair with perfectly formed chocolate shells.

Snow day, part 6

Wednesday was the day I nearly cracked.

I've barely left my apartment since last Thursday. Yes. A full week from today. The only other human I've seen besides the odd passerby and the Giant cashier on Saturday has been Jake.

So, like any cabin-fevered, stir-crazy individual, I threw myself into another round of baking last night.

The result?

First, it's been a while since I used pate a choux for anything, and it's the first time I used it in my new oven. Damn thing isn't exactly reliable, so the first batch of these were a little flatter than should have been. Anyway, rather than post the step by steps, I'm trying this out:



Next came a second round of whoopie pies.

 

  

Dinner was a slight departure from pho to the Korean-ish version of pho, mul naeng myun. 

Mul naeng myun is traditionally a summer dish, served icy cold to combat those hundred degree days in Seoul. Like pho, it combines noodles, broth, meat and is seasoned to each person's own liking.

Finally, I threw together some polenta and grilled it up as a nice side dish.

RECIPE for grilled polenta:
Boil 2 c water, 1 c buttermilk, 3 TBS butter, 1 tsp salt or season salt.
Gently whisk in 1 c corn meal or polenta. Continue stirring over low heat 5-10 mins.
Pour into a round or square tin, allow to chill until firm (about 20-30 mins)
Turn out on a cutting board or plate, slice into pieces.
Heat grill pan over high heat, spray with non-stick oil and grill each piece until warmed through.
Dust with sea salt to serve.

 

  

  

Dreaming? of hopefully returning to work, and re-joining civilization sometime soon!

Superbowl food

Still trapped at home - our metro stop is closed through tomorrow again! Today I finished my french onion soup and baked up some toasty baguettes to serve with the soup.

 

  

  

  

  

  

The baguettes:

  

  

  

  

 

Our Superbowl spread: sticky wings, empanadas, homemade salsa and spinach artichoke dip. Yum!

RECIPES:
French Onion Soup:
Half bag of onions, sliced
1 stick of butter
3 TBS flour
4 cloves garlic
1 bay leaf
3 cans beef broth
1 can light beer (or 8 oz white wine or bourbon or whiskey)
2 tsp white pepper
swiss cheese or Gruyere for serving

Brown onions in butter (I tried to do this right in the crock pot, but they just softened. I scooped them out later and browned them up in a frying pan). Stir in flour and allow to thicken with butter. Pour in beer, allow to simmer up to 20 mins in slow cooker. Pour in beef broth and seasonings, allow to simmer 4-6 hours. Serve with crusty bread and melted cheese


Baguettes:
1/4 oz active yeast
1 TBS sugar
1 1/4 c lukewarm water (or half milk, half water)
4 c flour
1 tsp salt
1 TBS corn meal for dusting

Proof yeast, sugar and water 15 mins until foamy and expanded. Mix flour and salt, divide equally in 2 bowls. Mix yeast into one half, and stir until smooth batter forms. Cover and allow sponge to sit up to 30 mins until slightly expanded. Stir in the rest of the dry ingredients and knead on a lightly flour surface 10 mins. Cover in an oiled bowl, allow to proof up to 1 hr in a warm place. Punch down, and knead 2-3 mins more, then form into three logs, about 12-15 inches long. Allow to rise again, up to 30 mins. Sprinkle bottoms with polenta, spritz tops with water and cut diagonal slices into top. Bake at 400 F for 10 mins, then 5 mins at 375 F or until hollow when tapped.


Sticky wings:
Bake wings (washed, patted dry, salt/pepper/drizzle olive oil) covered at 375F for 25 mins. Drain any liquids, coat with flour and return to baking pan 5 mins each side at 425. Whisk together hoisin sauce, soy sauce, sesame oil, sriracha, honey, and oyster or fish sauce, coat wings with sauce. Return to hot oven 5 mins more to thicken sauce. Sprinkle with chopped scallions, toasted sesame seeds.


Spinach dip:
Mix equal parts plain yogurt, fat free sour cream and low fat mayo, 1/2 package frozen spinach (defrosted), handful chopped artichoke hearts, 1 tsp garlic powder (more to taste - can also use minced fresh), 1/2 tsp paprika, pepper to taste, chopped scallions (white and green parts).

Makin' whoopie (pies, that is!)

Saturday night, and we're still snowed in. The big win for today is the fact I was able to master whoopie pies! :) YUM. 

Here's how it all went down: 

First, amazingly chocolatey batter. I used this recipe from epicurious.com, except I found myself without buttermilk, yet again. I substituted 6 oz yogurt, 1/4 c half and half, and 1 1/2 TBS white vinegar whisked together.

I also finally found a use for the melon baller my mother slipped into my stocking a few years ago (after a conversation when I asked what on earth people would use a melon baller for. Today was the first time I've used it!) I also kept a little dish (it's a condiment dish I nicked from Applebee's a few years ago) of vegetable oil nearby, and dipped the melon baller in it after each one. This keeps the batter from sticking and generally causing a mess. It also coated the balls with oil, and gave them a nice shiny crisp.

BAKING!!!

Cooling -- this recipe made about 4 sheets of cookies.

In the mad rush that was the pre-blizzard snow storm, I forgot to grab marshmallow fluff. Giant, very bizarrely keeps this with the peanut butter and jelly, not with the baking supplies, nor with the other marshmallows. 

 

The recipe doesn't call for it, but I had a little cream cheese (about a two-inch piece) that I threw in, as well as an extra half stick of butter and more fluff. I also used about 2 TBS half and half to help thin it out a bit. 

  

In the end, they were perfect. The insides fluffy and tasting of marshmallow, the outsides soft and cakey. YUM. 

 

snOMG! snoMAGGEDON! snoPOCALYPSE!

So, as you may have heard, the entire Washington Metro has effectively shut down for fear of an apocalyptic snow storm that began midday yesterday.

 

My car, as of about noon, Saturday. 

Photo by Jake

Yes, we have about 20 inches of snow so far. What to do? Yes, that's right... cook. I joined the throngs of foolish idiots both Thursday night AND Friday morning and braved the markets - first to HMart (this was the weekend we were supposed to go), then to Giant. As a result of NWS and other "officials" making recommendations that people should prepare for up to 5 days, they of course, began ransacking the stores, stocking up like it was Y2K all over again.

First project: Homemade pho.

I've been on a major pho kick lately, and poor Jake (who does not believe "soup is a meal") has been a good sport, and been dragged from pho house to pho house over and over again.

So, I finally decided to try my hand at making it. I used two recipes as reference texts, one from Serious Eats, and one from Viet World Kitchen (at the recommendation of one of the commenters on the Serious Eats post). I didn't exactly stick to either recipe, and had somewhat mixed results.

First, I did follow the advice of @aqnguyen and charred the onion and ginger first. I'm not sure if this really helped for the ginger, but it sure smelled nice. Additionally, since I do not have a large 12-quart stock pot, I tried to use two small stock pots. But, I'm not sure I had enough bones, onions or ginger for this. My stock, after the initial 2-3 hours, was a bit watery.

The onions and garlic got added to 4 lbs of beef soup bones (as they were labeled at the HMart. Fairly cheap, not a bad buy. And the tendon meat that fell off these was out of this world) and a bunch of spices. Star anise, cinnamon, cloves, white pepper (my addition), crushed garlic cloves - skin still on, and fish sauce (I accidentally bought oyster sauce and substituted). I also had a half bunch of cilantro leftover from tacos, which I split, and tossed into each pot. I split these ingredients among the pots and covered each with water. After 3 hours, I tasted and, although my house smelled amazing, the broth was disappointingly watery.

The stock went back on for another two or so hours. I tried keeping the pots uncovered and at a high boil, in attempt to boil down the stock, and intensify the existing flavors. I also added some salt, and more oyster sauce. I tried transferring most of the bones and seasonings into one pot, to try and intensify the flavors, while allowing the other pot to boil down even further.

Finally, it tasted delicious. I pulled as much tendon and soft meat from the bones as I could. Loaded up my bowl with noodles, raw slices, the tendon...

Then ladled in the boiling broth, bean sprouts, cilantro, pepper slices and lime juice. YUM.

Was it perfect? Of course not. My broth is way darker than it's supposed to be. I strained it many many times, but I know there's still some stuff (broken bits of cinnamon stick, mostly) floating around. 

Was it delicious? Of course!! And it's amazing to have a big bowl of pho waiting for me at any time! I think if I were to make it again, I'd probably buy the soup bones, and boil them storebought stock (there's a good one I get for mul naengmyun that I like) with the spices in a satchet -- but probably not start entirely from scratch again. It took too long, and was kind of a pain! 

Dreaming? of a magically clean kitchen, so I can get to my next snOMG/snoMAGGEDON cooking adventure!!

Snow day biscuits

Yesterday the area was more or less entirely shut down, owing to the fact we got dumped with 6 inches of snow. What better to do than bake? My thoughts exactly.

After running across this post by Amateur Gourmet, I was excited to have a use for my last cup of buttermilk.

I adapted the recipe a little bit - and instead of breakfast style buttermik biscuits, I added in some fresh herbs that were getting near their last legs and a bit of Parmesan.

Adam, from AG, suggests mixing your dough in one bowl, and rolling your biscuits in another. But, I tried to form my dough in my new food processor and had my first #foodprocesorfail. The 6 oz. buttermilk and 6 oz plain yogurt (mixed with a little white vinegar), so I ended up having to add an extra up of flour in a different mixing bowl. I scattered a little more flour on one of my new cutting boards and rolled the biscuits there.

This is a midway shot, I wasn't actually able to fit all 12 biscuits into one pan like the recipe suggested (owing, I'd guess to the extra cup of flour I added). I just stuck the other four in a separate pan, but they burned a little on the bottom. Next time I'll probably yank the second pan a few minutes before the full one.

Additionally, as we learned with last week's popovers, my oven tends to run a little hot, so I was watching pretty closely this time. The extra Parm I sprinkled on the top burned a bit, so I think I would also save that til the last few minutes.

End result? 12 beautiful (ok, 4 had slightly burned bottoms), delicious and fluffy biscuits. 

Here's my  adapted version of the recipe: 

3 c all purpose flour

1 TBS baking powder

1 TBS sugar

1 tsp salt

1/2 tsp baking soda

chopped basil and parsey (about half a handful of each, or however much you've got onhand)

3 TBS grated Parmesan cheese

4 TBS cold butter, cut into little pieces

1 1/2 c buttermilk (I used 3/4 c buttermilk and one 6 oz plain yogurt mixed with 1 TBS white vinegar)

Pulse together dry ingredients and herbs in food processor (or whisk together in a large mixing bowl). 

Cut the butter into flour mixture until it looks like coarse meal (I used my FP for this). 

Pour the liquids into the dry ingredients and combine into a sticky dough.

Sprinkle about 3/4 c flour on a baking sheet or large cutting boards. Scoop 1/4 c sized balls of dough and roll in the mound of flour, then place in a well oiled cake pan. (AG fit 12 in his pan, I only fit 8 in mine)

Bake for 5 minutes at 500 degrees, and 10 at 450 (I adjusted the temperature slightly in my own oven) 

Turn out on wire racks to cool. 

 Dreaming? of a day without snow, so I can go buy more flour and keep baking!