tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-89504688211610070912024-03-13T22:01:07.415+00:00Tales from the Kitchen TableUnknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger150125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8950468821161007091.post-25609805059038249822022-10-16T15:38:00.002+01:002022-10-16T15:38:36.541+01:00No Recipe Today<p> Barb passed away on May 9th, 2022. I know we don't really post all that much anymore. We always used to joke that once we got to 100 recipes that we'd compile it together into a cookbook. Somehow we got further than that but never did. Barb, Asti, and I all used to swap recipes and always had difficulty finding them and asking for them again and again. Eventually one of us suggested that we start a cooking blog. The idea was more to be a convenient repository of our family recipes than about anything else. But we were pleasantly surprised to see how many visitors from around the world came to read our recipes, particularly for my mother's maple duck recipe. I plan to continue to post recipes here and there as I make them.<br /></p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8950468821161007091.post-2847070498786928072021-04-07T23:43:00.001+01:002021-04-07T23:43:22.853+01:00Dairy-free chocolate ice cream<p> A friend of mine is horrendously allergic to dairy, poor bastard. He's also a chocoholic. With spring in the air, I thought it would be a nice challenge to make a dairy-free chocolate ice cream that doesn't have a horrible taste/texture.</p><p>You will need:</p><p>1. 2 large eggs</p><p>2. 1 cup sugar</p><p>3. 1/3 cup cocoa powder</p><p>4. 1 teaspoon vanilla extract</p><p>5. 2 1/2 cups oatmilk (I use Kirkland brand from Costco)</p><p><br /></p><p>In a large mixing bowl, whisk the eggs for a minute until light, fluffy, and homogenous. Slowly whisk in the sugar until fully combined. Even more slowly add the cocoa powder. By the time all the cocoa powder is added, the texture will be like a batter. Add the vanilla and whisk to combine. Add 1 cup of the oatmilk slowly, whisking to keep even consistency. Add the remaining oatmilk and whisk to combine. Pour into your ice cream maker and run accordingly. </p><p>The result should be a dense, creamy-textured, chocolatey ice cream. It misses that edge of fattiness from dairy, but it's remarkably good. Note that it isn't particularly healthy, not with that much sugar, but I care more about making something good than making something healthy.<br /></p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8950468821161007091.post-86673165418324821082021-03-06T00:02:00.002+00:002021-03-06T00:02:39.995+00:00Chocolate italian ices<p> This had been planned to be Hot Cocoa Gelato, but once I tasted the product and felt the texture on my tongue, I realized what I'd made. This is exactly the same as the chocolate Italian ices from the corner pizziaria of my youth. So my failure was a success; there's no bad data, right?<br /></p><p><br /></p><p>You will need:</p><p>1. 1/4 cup cocoa powder</p><p>2. 1/2 cup sugar</p><p>3. 1/3 cup boiling water</p><p>4. Pinch salt</p><p>5. 4 cups whole milk</p><p><br /></p><p>Mix the cocoa, sugar, and salt in a sauceman, then add boiling water and whisk until combined. Heat saucepan over medium heat, stirring constantly, until it begins to boil. Add the milk and continue to whisk until hot. I have a gelato maker with a built-in refrigeration unit, so I added the hot mixture and turned it on. If you don't, I'd suggest refrigerating the mixture overnight and then skim off the top and add to your ice cream maker. Incidentally, chilled hot cocoa is delicious.<br /></p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8950468821161007091.post-89261835651764049772020-04-26T23:06:00.004+01:002020-04-26T23:06:46.476+01:00Cooking in the Time of CovidScrap-Stuffed Peppers. So named because I made them from scraps around the house that weren't enough to do anything with on their own.<br />
<br />
You will need:<br />
<br />
1. 6 bell peppers<br />
2. 1 bag (~2 cups?) frozen riced cauliflower from Costco<br />
3. 3 stalks celery<br />
4. 2 x 1/2 inch smoked porkchops<br />
5. 4 x ~3" diameter tomatoes<br />
6. 1/2 large onion<br />
7. ~1 carrot worth of baby carrots<br />
<br />
Start heating a large pot of salted water to boil. Cut the tops off of your bell peppers. Empty out the seeds. Reserve the tops, and put the cup-portion aside.<br />
<br />
Cut the main meaty portion off of the smoked porkchops. Assuming your chops have bones, put the bones into a pot with 1 cup water, heat over a medium heat, cover tightly. Cut the meat small, not being afraid to shred it in the process.Put the shredded meat into a large mixing bowl.<br />
<br />
Finely dice your half onion, celery, and carrot and add to the meat in the mixing bowl. Cut each tomato into 6-8 wedges (don't stress about this, they're going to cook down, we just want lots of surface area).<br />
<br />
Finely dice the bell pepper tops and add to the mixing bowl.<br />
<br />
By now the pot of water is probably boiling. Add the hollowed peppers to the boiling water. These will take twenty minutes or so to cook, but give them a poke every few minutes. You don't want them completely soft, there should be a little bit of give when you poke them. Once done, gently pull them out of the hot water and set aside to cool.<br />
<br />
Check the pork chop bones. Once the water has boiled down to a half cup, add another half cup to bring it back up to a cup and let it boil down a second time to a half cup. Remove and discard the bones and add the cauliflower, then cover while heating for five minutes. After five minutes, stir the pot, then re-cover. Keep stirring every few minutes until the cauliflower is hot and partially cooked. Then remove from heat and dump the pot into the mixing bowl.<br />
<br />
With all the ingredients in the mixing bowl, gentle mix everything together. In a large pan, add a few tablespoons of olive oil and heat on a medium heat. Once the oil begins to smoke slightly, dump the contents of the mixing bowl into the large pan. Stir to prevent anything from getting stuck to the bottom of the pan. Cover tightly and start building your add-in flavorings.<br />
<br />
This is really up to you, and it is going to need to reflect the ingredients you have. Pork and brassica always invite sharp flavors, so in a bowl I combined some wasabi, a squirt of sriracha, some cooking sherry, a generous amount of worcestershire sauce, a dash of soy sauce, then whisked it all together. I also took sprigs of fresh rosemary and parsley from my garden, minced them finely and added them in as well. This add-in was dumped into the pan with the food and stirred together so everything would have a chance to meld. A crack of black pepper and some sweet hungarian paprika are added as well, and the pan was covered tightly.<br />
<br />
Start pre-heating the oven to 350 degrees. <br />
<br />
Every once in a while, open the cover and stir the contents. We have added a lot of liquid, and many of the vegetables will release fluids as they cook. Keep cooking over a medium heat. This will cook the vegetables, let the flavors mingle, slowly drive off the moisture. Carefully adjust for taste, remembering that as the moisture is driven off, the flavor will intensify. By the time all the moisture is gone (roughly a half hour to an hour) all the vegetables are cooked, the bell peppers have cooled, and you are ready to move on the the next step.<br />
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Place the peppers upright in a cassarole dish. Using a large spoon, start stuffing the peppers with the filling mix from the pan. If any of the peppers have split, that's okay, they'll taste the same. One of my peppers completely fell in half, and I just lay both parts down and poured filling in the middle. It ended up tasting great, nobody cares. Nobody. Cares.<br />
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Place the stuffed peppers in the now hot oven. After 50 minutes, take out, and they should be done and crispy, but there's one last thing. Sprinkle shredded mozarella on top. Place back in the hot oven for 10 for minutes. Remove from oven and serve immediately.<br />
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I have been trying to find new uses for things around the kitchen, trying to eat a bit healthier, and I also have all these little bits and bobs that were never enough on their own to do anything with, so I decided to try to find a way to combine them. The result was shockingly delicious. Light, tasty, filling, pretty diet friendly, also pretty oxalate-friendly. It balances vegetables with a little protein and fat, packs enough flavor to punch you in the tongue, and I enjoyed it greatly. I think it really worked because I embraced what ingredients were there, rather than trying to pretend the cauliflower was rice and the pork was beef and using the same spicing. I would much rather work with the ingredients I have and make something delicious than worry about how exactly I am recreating a different dish. But then, that's me, you may prefer differently.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8950468821161007091.post-26852915726033940872020-02-26T00:20:00.001+00:002020-02-26T01:09:19.569+00:00Pan-"roasted" brussels sproutsThis is a great recipe that allows you to use scraps and ends scattered around the pantry. I had three raw sweet italian sausages that needed to be cooked. Maybe you have some bacon, who knows? Use what you have on hand.<br />
<br />
I sliced up three raw sweet italian sausages and sauteed them in a frying pan until browned, then added one large diced onion, cooking until soft, deglaze with a dash of chicken stock, then setting aside.<br />
<br />
While they cook, take a pound or two of brussels sprouts (you'll need to estimate the amount) and trim the end, then half lengthwise. Place facedown in a cold, dry frying pan. Fill the entire pan with facedown brussels sprouts- if you have a big pan, you may be able to fit more than a pound. It may be wiser to trim and add the sprouts to the pan as you go you so do not accidentally process too many. Drizzle a few tablespoons of olive oil over the brussels sprouts, crack some salt and pepper over, then cover and heat over a medium-high heat for five minutes. After those five minutes, remove the cover and continue to cook two to three more minutes.<br />
<br />
As the brussels sprouts cook, dice one bell pepper (or two smaller peppers- something spicy might be nice), juice and zest a lemon, salt, pepper, sweet hungarian paprika, and a teaspoon of dijon mustard. Combine in a bowl. <br />
<br />
Once the brussels sprouts are done, turn off the heat and add the bell pepper sauce, a generous sprinkle of freshly grated parmesan cheese, and quickly toss together with a wooden spoon. Add the sausages and onions and stir together. Serve immediately. If you need a starch, serve over white rice, but if you are watching your carbs you can enjoy by itself. At the end of it all, made two large bowls worth, but if you have some rice or another starch, can easily spread over multiple meals.<br />
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<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8950468821161007091.post-32849980038577700452019-10-16T09:00:00.001+01:002019-10-16T09:00:37.168+01:00WafflesI know there are a lot of recipes out there for waffles, and there is that Waffles of Insane Deliciousness recipe you find left, right, and center on the web these days. This is the recipe I have used for many years now which gives me waffles that are crispy on the outside, tender in the middle, and absolutely delicious. <br />
<br />
Ingredients <br />
3/4 cup bleached all purpose flour<br />
1/4 cup cornstarch<br />
1/2 tsp salt<br />
1/2 tsp baking powder<br />
1/4 tsp baking soda<br />
3/4 cup buttermilk<br />
1/4 cup milk<br />
6 Tbsp butter<br />
1 large egg<br />
1 Tbsp sugar<br />
1/2 tsp vanilla extract<br />
<br />
Melt the butter over a low heat until just melted then set aside- you want it completely liquid without being hot.<br />
<br />
Combine the flour, corn starch, salt, baking powder, baking soda in a
large bowl. No need to sift, but go ahead if you feel like you have to.<br />
<br />
Separate the egg yolk from the egg white. Combine the egg yolk, milk,
and butter milk. Whip the egg white until soft peaks have formed, then
add the sugar and vanilla and continue to whip until stiffened.<br />
<br />
Add the butter to the dry ingredients, then add the milk mixture to the
dry ingredients. Rapidly mix with a whisk until it is just homogenous.
It doesn't have to be absolutely lump-free, but should be close. Make
sure you do this in a large bowl because you want to do it rapidly. The
longer you whisk, the tougher the resultant <span class="il">waffles</span> will be.<br />
<br />
A dollop at a time, fold the egg white into the batter using a soft
rubber spatula. Again, don't worry about lumps too much, but you don't
want giant chunks. Use a soft spatula- I have found it is less likely to
destroy the egg white.<br />
<br />
If you want to make a batch and serve all at once, have an oven pre-heated to 200 and lay the <span class="il">waffles</span> inside in a single layer and they'll be crispy and warm for service.<br />
<br />
If you want a slightly different taste, use almond extract instead of
vanilla- you get more of a nutty taste which compliments the browning
flavor of the <span class="il">waffle</span>.<br />
<br />
I don't bother to grease the <span class="il">waffle</span> iron because there is a fair amount of butter in the <span class="il">recipe</span>. Your <span class="il">waffle</span> iron may vary.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8950468821161007091.post-275884475921076512019-10-13T03:00:00.000+01:002019-10-13T03:00:19.633+01:00Beef Jerky~1/2 cup Kikomon Low sodium soy sauce<br />
1 tsp dijon<br />
3 cloves garlic, minced<br />
1 tsp horseradish<br />
1 tsp sugar<br />
1 tsp sriracha<br />
<br />
Look, here's the thing with home made beef jerky. No matter what you do, it's going to taste delicious. So if you look at my ingredients and think something sounds terrible, then swap it for something else. Try using a teriyaki sauce or a barbeque sauce. Maybe you like a hotter jerky or a sweeter jerky, so add more hot peppers or some honey. You really can't go wrong with the ingredients.<br />
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Where you do go wrong is with the meat itself. You want a very lean cut of meat- london broil, top round, something like that. Buy whichever is on sale. Now trim off all of the fat.<br />
<br />
Normally when eating meat, you want to cut against the grain. You get a more tender bite of meat when you do so. For my jerky, I prefer to cut with the grain. Cutting against the grain gives a more crumbly jerky, while cutting with the grain gives a harder, chewier jerky. There is no right answer here, it's really a question of whether you prefer more tender jerky, or a jerky that gives your jaw a workout.<br />
<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8950468821161007091.post-16532443694593375422019-10-04T17:36:00.003+01:002020-10-10T00:02:31.209+01:00New York BagelsI love bagels. A good bagel is everything I want in bread. A dense chew, a crispy skin, flavors and toppings galore. And yet it is a true nightmare to find them anymore, even in New York where everything is increasingly made mass-produced and quickly because with rent the way it is, nobody can afford to do things slowly anymore. The profit margin is simply too thin.<br />
<br />
So I decided to make my own. This took research from old cookbooks, looking into the science, experimentation, and even finding an old amateur home move made in the 70's by a man who wanted everybody to know his love for bagels and actually got one of the ubiquitous bagel bakeries in Brooklyn to walk him through all the steps of how they made bagels. <br />
<br />
<br />
This recipe will make 12 medium or 8 large bagels. I use it to make 8 large bagels and will refer to it accordingly. Note that this makes bagels with a lot of chew. If you like fluffier bagels, skip adding the gluten and use AP flour. If you are taking the time to make this from scratch, you make it how you like it and don't let anybody judge you for how you like it.<br />
<br />
You will need:<br />
<br />
<ul>
<li>1 pack or 3/4 teaspoon instant yeast </li>
<li>1 teaspoon salt (use a humble inexpensive kind, bagels are a proletariat bread)</li>
<li>1 3/4 cup cold water</li>
<li>4 cups flour. You can use bleached white all purpose flour and it will turn out okay (fluffy, but okay). If you want it to be really the right consistency though, use high gluten flour. I use King Arthur High Gluten Flour (also known as King Arthur's Sir Lancelot Flour, so named because it is the finest and mightiest of their flours. Seriously.)</li>
<li>8 teaspoons vital wheat gluten. You will want at least 1 tablespoon per cup flour for lower gluten flours.</li>
<li>Malt syrup</li>
<li>Cornmeal. </li>
<li>Toppings (optional): coarse salt, sesame seeds, poppy seeds, dried onion, dried garlic, whatever. For Everything Bagels mix equal parts onion, sesame seed, and poppy seed.</li>
<li>baking soda or potassium bicarbonate</li>
</ul>
<br />
<br />
Sieve flour, salt, vital wheal gluten into bowl of stand mixer with a dough hook. Add 1 teaspoon salt.<br />
<br />
If you have instant yeast, you can add it directly into the flour. If instead you have Active Dry Yeast, wait to add it because the recipe changes slightly: Add a pack of yeast to 1/4 cup warm water along with a teaspoon sugar,
then stir to dissolve and set aside. If after ten minutes it is not
frothy, your yeast is dead and you need to stop cooking, throw it out,
and get new yeast. Be sure to change the amount of water added later to 1 1/2 cups instead of 1 3/4 cups so that it balances out.<br />
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<br />
Turn stand mixer on the lowest speed.<br />
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Add ~3 tablespoons (a generous couple of glugs) malt syrup to 1 cup cold water and stir to dissolve. <br />
<br />
If you used the Active Dry Yeast, now is the time to add it. Rinse the cup with the yeast mixture out with the water/malt syrup mixture in order to get all the yeast, adding the water to the flour a little bit at a time.<br />
<br />
The first cup of water (with the malt syrup) can be added pretty quickly. Add the last half cup or 3/4 cup very slowly- you are looking for a very shaggy consistency where it just comes together into a shaggy ball. Then add a tiny amount more water and leave the machine to continue to work the dough. The shagginess should go away after a minute to two and the dough come together. The last few tablespoons added in the end should make the dough slide around in the bowl, and that is okay, it is how you know it is the right amount.<br />
<br />
This is a very dry, dense dough. It is very sensitive to water content; if you add too much water, the texture will be affected. Continue to work the dough for a few more minutes until you are certain that the moisture has worked its way through. Baking is sensitive to a lot of things like the kitchen's temperature and humidity, so you may need to add a little more or a little less water, which is why you are adding the final half cup a little bit at a time.<br />
<br />
Remove the bowl and set aside, covered, for ten minutes. This gives the gluten time to form, chemicals to break down, wheat granules time to absorb moisture, etc.<br />
<br />
Put the bowl back and knead again for another 2-3 minutes. Take the lump of dough out and cut into 8 equal pieces. Cover and leave on the countertop for ten minutes.<br />
<br />
While the dough is rising, take out a baking sheet. Make sure that you
have a shelf in your refrigerator large enough (and cleared) to
accommodate the sheet. Sprinkle the sheet generously with cornmeal.<br />
<br />
Roll a dough piece into a ball shape by pressing a flat palm firmly against it and rolling- you may see the dough having twisted around and forming a navel (or even a second one on the bottom) as you do so. If you do, congratulations, you are doing well! As you roll, you will feel the dough tighten under your hand- you are bringing the dough together and adding strain to the structure, which helps develop the chew.<br />
<br />
You should feel the dough as quite silky, dense, tough. Flatten out and roll out with a rolling pin. You don't need to go too crazy with this, you are looking for 5 mm or under (a little under 1/4 inch). Flip it over and re-roll as needed. Set the rolling pin aside and roll one edge all the way to the other side into a nice, tight cylinder- like a rolled up newspaper. Roll it back and forth a couple of times until it is ~8 inches or so long. Twist the dough cylinder a couple of times, like wringing out a towel.<br />
<br />
If you have small hands, use all four fingers for this next step. If you have huge hands like me, use the forefinger, middle, and ring finger. Form the twisted cylinder into a ring with the ends overlapping one another.
Classically you do this by wrapping the cylinder around your fingers and
rolling the two ends together. Place rolled bagel dough onto the baking sheet with cornmeal.<br />
<br />
Many instructions will tell you to just punch a hole through the middle
of the dough ball with your thumb and stretch it out. I have seen arguments back and forth
about whether or not this is proper. I don't do it, because the
Bagelmen of old didn't, and they did it long and often enough to have
tried doing that, and they didn't. <br />
<br />
You want to be pretty quick about these last couple of steps so that the bagels are all in place before they have a chance to dry out. The speed comes with practice, so do not be afraid to have some plastic wrap you can drape over the dough as you roll out more bagels. Good bagels do not have a huge hole, and the dough in this shape wants
to retract into a smaller form. With the dough in your hand you can
gently squeeze the dough to encourage that retraction and make the hole
smaller. Do not go crazy with this; between rising, boiling, and baking much of the hole will fill in so don't worry about it too too much.<br />
<br />
Repeat process until all eight bagels have been made. Cover pan with plastic wrap and set aside ten minutes, then place in refrigerator overnight.<br />
<br />
The next day: <br />
<br />
Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. Take the sheetpan out of the fridge and set on your countertop to warm a little before boiling.<br />
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Prep a stockpot of water to boil. Add a generous glug or two malt syrup and a tablespoon either baking soda or (if you have it) potassium bicarbonate. As you will see from the results below, this gave a lovely textured skin with great browning and flavor.<br />
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Experiments with changing active ingredients in the boiling water. </div>
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From left to right- sugar, baking soda, plain water, and malt syrup.</div>
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There are a million different suggestions for what to add to the water. I experimented with a bunch:</div>
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<u>Just water: </u>Did not brown brilliantly, skin was thin. Slight sweetness to the dough.</div>
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<u>Sugar</u>: Bland and dull. Tasted like something from a supermarket.</div>
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<u>Baking soda</u>: Great browning, skin texture good. Nice flavor.</div>
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<u>Malt syrup</u>: Browning okay, skin texture great with a little crisp to it. Nice flavor. </div>
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<u>Vinegar</u>: Did not brown well. Stank up kitchen. No particular taste.</div>
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<u>Baking soda and malt syrup</u>: Very nice. Good browning, great skin texture, nice flavor.</div>
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<u>Potassium bicarbonate</u>: Great browning, more intense than baking soda, skin texture too soft. Great flavor.</div>
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<u>Calcium carbonate</u>: Almost inedible. Pale white with a tinge of brown in spots, the calcium carbonate somehow deposited a visible layer over the whole bagel (and on the bottom of the pot too!). Unpleasant skin, flavor was doughy.</div>
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<u>Potassium bicarbonate and malt syrup</u>: The winner for me, which is lucky since I have to cut my sodium. Great skin, great browning, great flavor, a real winner. That said, it is almost exactly the same as baking soda and malt syrup, to the point that there may be variations like the dough and the temperature and such influencing the test, as these are very close.</div>
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Sodium hydroxide probably works beautifully, but I have to watch my sodium. If you decide to handle lye in your kitchen, you are responsible for handling it safely. I do not condone its use for most people. I am a professional chemist and have been trained in the safe handling of hazardous chemicals, while you probably have not. You have been warned.</div>
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I do not have a huge stockpot, so I can only boil two or three bagels at a time. Take two bagels from the sheet and drop them into the boiling water. Do not worry about the cornmeal, most or all of it should come off in the boiling water. After thirty seconds, flip the bagels. After another thirty seconds, remove to cooling rack. Repeat until all eight bagels are on the cooling rack.<br />
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Bagels post-boil. Note the color change compared to when taken from the fridge.</div>
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If you are going to add toppings, now is one of the two times to do it. <br />
<br />
Place cooling rack onto a new sheet pan, then place in the hot oven. After 3 minutes, remove the rack and baking sheet from the oven. Take the bagels off of the cooling rack and flip them over onto the baking sheet; the top skin will have begun to dry and harden.<br />
<br />
The gel layer that forms on the outside of the bagel after being boiled will act like a glue and attach the bagel to whatever surface it is on. By flipping it, you use the already dried skin as the contact layer, so that it does not stick. If you wait more than three minutes, the bagels will stick to the wire rack and be more difficult to remove, potentially ruining the skin.<br />
<br />
If you are going to add toppings, this is the second time to do it. Sprinkle the toppings on top of the bagels (now it is actually the top of the bagel). Stick the baking sheet with the bagels back into the oven. Continue to bake for 10 minutes, flip the bagels, bake for another 10 minutes. Remove from oven, then remove bagels to cooling rack. <br />
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Final Product </div>
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Some notes:<br />
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<ul>
<li>That's a lot of work just for 8 bagels, and my fridge is big- is there a way to scale this up and maybe make a double batch? </li>
<ul>
<li>Yes and no. Yes, the recipe does at least double. However, the trouble is the time it takes to roll out each bagel. When there are only 8, the bagels are not sitting out on your counter for very long before going into the fridge. When there are 16, this time becomes significant, and the earlier rolled bagels will overprove. If you have more than one person rolling the dough together, you can get away with this. If you are doing this by yourself, I would instead suggest two batches instead.</li>
<li>As an aside, I have a professional series kitchen aid stand mixer with all metal gears. This was a very deliberate purchase. I have owned this stand mixer for ten years. When I doubled the recipe, for the first time I could smell the motor overheating, and it shut itself off from it. I had read of the automatic overheating shutoff, but never actually seen it. If you double this recipe, make sure your equipment can handle it. </li>
</ul>
</ul>
<ul>
<li>Is there a way to make these ahead of time?</li>
<ul>
<li>Absolutely! Make the bagels all the way through baking them for the initial 3 minutes to tighten the skin. Then take the bagels and stick them into freezer bags and freeze them. When you are ready to cook them, place on baking sheet, frozen, and stick them into a 400 degree oven for 20 minutes, flip, then 5 more minutes. This is also a good way to prepare large batches of them ahead of time (see previous question)- 8 bagel batches are much easier to handle, and you can just make a bunch of them and freeze them, so you have freshly baked bagels anytime!</li>
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<li>Eight bagels! How can I possibly eat so many all at once? How do I prevent them from going stale?</li>
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<li>After the bagels have cooled, they are best enjoyed within two or three hours. If you will not eat them within that time, place into freezer bag and freeze. You can microwave on high for 30-45 seconds if you have a powerful microwave, or a full minute if you have a puny microwave like me. </li>
</ul>
</ul>
<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8950468821161007091.post-15506980020856193372019-09-22T23:23:00.001+01:002019-09-22T23:23:30.826+01:00Chicken Pot Pie dumplingsIngredients:<br />
Asparagus, 1 kilo<br />
Milk: ~1 cup<br />
Flour: 2 tablespoons<br />
Fat: 1-2 tablespoons<br />
Chicken: ~1 breast, cooked.<br />
1 large onion. <br />
<br />
Snap your asparagus to get rid of the woody part. Dump into boiling water for 5 minutes, sample for doneness, then drain and set aside. The asparagus should be tender (not soft) and sweet. This cooks the asparagus and removes excess oxalate.<br />
<br />
Dice your onion medium-fine and saute with a little PAM for ~5 minutes, enough that they soften and sweeten.<br />
<br />
I had some chicken schmaltz handy (if you don't, you should start collecting it), but you can use butter. To a small saucepot, add the fat and a sieved 1-2 tablespoons flour. We want that rich, creamy interior from a pot pie. If you do not have schmaltz, you will want to add some chicken stock to give the sauce a rich chicken-y flavor. If you do have schmaltz, you may want to as well. Add the milk, stirring. You want a fairly thick sauce, so that it helps glue everything together. I would have made a veloute, but discovered that I had no stock. <br />
<br />
Chop chicken into small pieces.<br />
<br />
Combine asparagus, sauce, chicken, onion. Salt and pepper to taste, then fold with a rubber spatula.<br />
<br />
Fill dumplings as usual. Steam. I have not found that this particularly benefits from frying, though it does not do it any harm either.<br />
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8950468821161007091.post-21235497043003744882019-09-22T14:36:00.003+01:002019-09-22T23:11:12.349+01:00Dumplings FAQI realize that there are things that should be addressed so I don't need to keep repeating them, as well as various troubleshooting steps.<br />
<br />
Q: How do I make the wrapper?<br />
A: I buy mine pre-made at an Asian supermarket. Making the dough is a pain in the butt and takes forever. Pre-made are both easy and cheap. It's kind of like filo dough or puff pastry. Can you make them at home? Sure. Nobody does- you just buy them frozen from the supermarket.<br />
<br />
Q: How do I seal a dumpling?<br />
A: Have a little bowl of water next to you while making dumplings. Dip your finger in and run it along the edge of the wrapper. Don't be afraid of going back and re-dipping your finger. This allows the dough to seal properly, but if your dough was frozen and got a bit of freezer burn, the edge of the wrapper may have dried out (you'll know when the edge is hard and cracks). When that happens, I moisten a finger and gently rub it over the edge on that spot.<br />
<br />
Q: Is there a right way to wrap the dumpling?<br />
A: There is no one right way. Some folks just fold the wrapper over in half and seal. If that is what you like, more power to you. There are also crimpers which allow you to do that, and it will put waves along the edge. I do not personally care for those, because it tends to lead to a much higher wrapper-to-filling ratio and you get doughy dumplings as a result. But you may like that, or you may be okay with trimming off the excess dough.<br />
<br />
Properly speaking, you pleat the dough, and there is symbolism in the number of pleats. I do not bother counting the number of pleats, but if you do, more power to you. I think the pleats make the dumplings look nice, work well to seal the dumpling, and help pull the dumpling into shape so that it can stand up instead of laying on its side, making it easier to pack more dumplings into a steamer/pan.<br />
<br />
Q: How do I pleat?<br />
<br />
A: Pleats are only on one side, while the other side remains flat. Wet the wrapper edge, then add your filling. Pull the wrapper up like a taco. I pleat the side further away from me. Push in with a finger closer to me and push out with the finger away from me to make an S-shape in the dough. Push the side of the taco closer to you onto the S-shape, then press the S shut along with the flat side. Do not be discouraged- there is a certain amount of juggling involved, but you should get the hang of it pretty quickly, and start knocking them out. Honestly, I am not afraid of cutting corners but I still use the pleats. It seems intimidating, but it is just not as difficult as it seems.<br />
<br />
<br />
Q: The dumplings are sticking to the steamer, help!<br />
A: Lay parchment paper down on the steamer bottom. Place the dumplings onto the parchment paper so that they do not touch each other or the walls of the steamer. They will adhere slightly when cooked, because of the moisture, but they will not actually stick to the paper. This is also handy when making a batch of dumplings, to lay a sheet of parchment paper onto a cookie sheet or cooling rack while waiting to batch them. My wife taught me this trick- I tried oiling the steamers and other tricks, none of them worked. The parchment paper works beautifully.<br />
<br />
Q: How long do I steam the dumplings for?<br />
A: I steam them for ten minutes. They are probably done in 8 or so, but it does them no harm to steam a little bit longer. Make sure if you plan to fry the dumplings to take them out of the steamer quickly, so the skin has a chance to dry a touch before adding to the hot oiled pan.<br />
<br />
Q: What temperature do you use for frying?<br />
A: My pan will be on a medium-high heat. If you have pleated your dumplings, you can always pick the dumplings up by hand to watch the progress of the fry so you don't burn them. A nice golden brown is what you are aiming for.<br />
<br />
Q: What kind of oil do you use in the pan?<br />
A: I use PAM. A quick spritz is more than sufficient for several batches of dumplings.<br />
<br />
Q: I don't have a bamboo steamer, can I use a metal rack steamer that fits inside a pot?<br />
A: Sure, why not? <br />
<br />
Q: Can I boil the dumplings?<br />
A: Yes, but you really need to be very careful to be absolutely sure that the dumpling is sealed properly.<br />
<br />
Q: I steamed them for ten minutes, why are my dumplings still raw?<br />
A: Unless you are using huge dumplings, ten minutes should be fine. But make sure the water is boiling *before* you place the steamer onto the pot.<br />
<br />
Q: I have so many dumplings, what do I do with them all?<br />
A: Freeze them! They will reheat very nicely by just popping them into a steamer for ten minutes.<br />
<br />
Q: I tried to freeze my dumplings, but they became one giant dumpling!<br />
A: I steam the dumplings before freezing them. This prevents the wrappers from welding to one another, especially if you use a vacuum sealer.<br />
<br />
Q: This is a LOT of work.<br />
A: You can do it sitting down while watching a movie or YouTube- something you can glace at and listen to occasionally. It can also be something fun to do with friends and loved ones- my wife and I enjoy making dumplings together. You might be surprised what a difference it makes having something to watch or someone to chat with while you work.<br />
<br />
Q: I went to the grocery store and all they had were wonton wrappers. I said I wanted dumpling wrappers, but the woman who worked there yelled at me and told me they were the same thing and got angry when I politely disagreed and started screaming that she had been to culinary school and what do I do?<br />
A: So, wonton wrappers and dumpling wrappers are both the same dough. However, dumpling wrappers are a little bit thinner on the edges to make them easier to pleat, and are round where wonton wrappers are square. I have not tried to pleat a square wrapper, you might be able to, but wontons are not usually pleated, instead being boxed.<br />
<br />
Q: The dumpling wrappers claim they are vegan, I don't want vegan, I want the real thing!<br />
A: A wrapper claiming to be vegan is like a steak claiming to be gluten-free. It's just how you make it. Wonton wrappers are flour, water, and a touch of salt. That's it. It's vegan because of the ingredients used, not because they did anything weird to it. It does not generally contain egg, milk, or butter. Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8950468821161007091.post-15211103298485220892019-09-21T23:19:00.003+01:002022-12-01T01:24:47.042+00:00More savory dumplingsToday's dumplings are a bit of a variation on a theme- mushrooms and onions. My local Costco had wild chanterelle mushrooms, so I thought I would take advantage of that. I made a large batch which was used for all three recipes below. So, let's start with making the mushrooms.<br />
<br />
Mushrooms:<br />
<br />
I used 1 1/2 pounds chanterelle and 1 1/2 pounds of white mushrooms. You can absolutely use white mushrooms, this is, if anything, probably a waste of chanterelles. Each were washed with cold water. If you are paranoid about them absorbing the water (they don't), it's okay, because we are going to cook it all out anyway.<br />
<br />
After washing, chop the mushrooms medium-small. Take one giant onion (or 2 large, or 3 medium- there is no wrong answer here, you can use shallots as well I bet, and they would taste amazing- I wish I had some) and chop medium. Add mushrooms into a large, high-sided frying pan over a medium heat with a tablespoon or so of butter. The butter is there more for a hint of flavor than anything, and you can feel free to leave it out. Dump in the mushrooms and cover tightly. My pan has a clear lid, so I can see through to when the fluids start to come out of the mushrooms. Once the fluids start to come out, add the onions in. Stir it all together. Every once in a while, take the lid off and give it all a stir, making sure to scrape the bottom of the pan. First it will be very wet, and then eventually it will dry out. You do not need to have a high heat to drive off the moisture, you can cook it at a medium heat and take the time to really let everything soften. Once it is dry, add a splash of white wine to the pan to get the fond off the bottom of the pan, and cook until dry again. Set aside for use, or heck, eat with a spoon.<br />
<br />
Note: if you are not on a restricted diet, I would add a sprinkling of salt and pepper. However, the dishes this is used for already have salty ingredients generally. So don't feel pressured to salt absolutely everything.<br />
<br />
<u>Breakfast dumplings</u><br />
<br />
Eggs, mushrooms, onions, swiss cheese, bacon<br />
<br />
Fry a half dozen strips of streaky bacon. You want them fried crispy. Set aside on some paper towels and reserve the fat.<br />
<br />
Chop a large onion to medium pieces and add to pan with the residual bacon fat. Cook until soft.<br />
<br />
Whisk four eggs, then add to the pan with the bacon fat (if any remains) and scramble. I scramble hard, but your taste is your own. Between my personal tastes, the fact that it will go through a steaming process, freezing, steaming and possibly frying, all that means loads of moisture inside the dumpling, so I am more than happy to cook the eggs dry. Up to you tho.<br />
<br />
Shred some cheese- I use a low sodium swiss, but again it is up to you. I think the swiss is good, as the flavor is there but will not overwhelm the other flavors the way something like a cheddar might.<br />
<br />
Take the cool bacon and chop into matchstick-width pieces.<br />
<br />
Combine the eggs, mushrooms, onions, cheese, and bacon.<br />
<br />
But you didn't tell us how much cheese or mushrooms or onions! I know. It's up to you. Maybe you like something more bacon-y. Or heavier on the eggs. Or more mushrooms. There is no going wrong on this, it's really your choice. I used about a third of the mushrooms, a third of the onions, and a third of a block of swiss cheese.<br />
<br />
Make as dumplings, then steam for 10 minutes. This made 25 large dumplings. After steaming, freeze, eat, or fry and eat. Suggested dipping sauce- ketchup, salsa, or if you have the energy, a fresh pica de gallo.<br />
<br />
<u>Beef dumplings</u><br />
<br />
Ground beef, mushrooms, onions, swiss cheese<br />
<br />
This recipe uses another third of the mushrooms, onions, and swiss cheese from above.<br />
<br />
Roughly 1 1/2 pounds of a lean ground beef (I think mine was 93%/7%, but I do not remember off the top of my head) should be browned in a pan, then drained thoroughly. This recipe uses half of the beef, while the next recipe uses the other half.<br />
<br />
Combine beef, mushrooms, onions, swiss. Sprinkle some slat, pepper, and paprika if you are not on a restricted diet. Make dumplings as mentioned above. Makes roughly 25 large dumplings.<br />
<br />
<u>Experimental beef dumplings</u><br />
<br />
Ground beef, mushrooms, onions, swiss cheese, horseradish, gorgonzola<br />
<br />
You will use: the rest of the ground beef, mushrooms, onions, and swiss cheese from above.<br />
<br />
I shredded a knob of horseradish roughly a 1 inch cube, maybe a little larger, on a microplane (you really don't want that to be in chunks).<br />
<br />
I also took a hunk of gorgonzola roughly the size of 1 1/2 decks of cards. Break up the gorgonzola by hand and cut and fold everything together using a rubber spatula. Gorgonzola chunks remained, but I thought they would add bright, intense notes. They did.<br />
<br />
Combine all ingredients and make dumplings as mentioned above. I made 25 large dumplings, then ran out of wrappers, with more filling left. I would estimate this probably makes about 35-40 large dumplings.<br />
<br />
Edit- it ended up being 45. I also pan fried them after steaming, and that extra burst of heat melted the gorgonzola. It is lovely, but it is up to you if you want that more homogenous experience versus an individual bright note in the dumpling.<br />
<br />
I'm not going to lie, while all of these are experiments,
this one was really experimental. I actually expected it to not be
great. Instead, the end result was funky and delightful. This really worked out, and I am very happy with them all.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8950468821161007091.post-51896284174463943612019-09-12T23:33:00.001+01:002019-09-12T23:33:22.747+01:00Tex-Mex Breakfast Dumplings<div class="gs">
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This makes roughly 20 dumplings. <br />
<br />
You will need:<br />
<br />
1/2 pound mushrooms<br />
Roughly 1 medium bell pepper (note: I used only the tops from a green,
yellow, and red pepper, with the rest of the peppers left behind. I
estimate this to be roughly a bell pepper worth of pepper. )<br />
1/2 a giant onion<br />
2 eggs<br />
50 g Swiss cheese (roughly a chunk about 2 inches x 1 inch if you use one of those grocery store bars of cheese)<br />
Dumpling wrappers<br />
<br />
Everything needs to be sliced and chopped pretty thin. Slice and combine
the onions with the peppers. Slice the mushrooms and set aside. <br />
<br />
<br />
Over medium-high heat, Sauté the onions and peppers with a sprinkling of
black pepper and sweet paprika until they are all soft and dry (there
is a focus on dryness in this recipe). Pour them into a bowl and set
aside. <br />
<br />
In the same pan, sauté the mushrooms with a little bit more black
pepper. Because the mushrooms are chopped fine, and the pan is very hot,
their moisture comes out and evaporated very rapidly. Instead of
getting the more stewed-type mushrooms, they slowly caramelize and get
reddish-gold. These will be quite dry. Once they have reached that
point, the bottom of the pan will have some nice caramelization stuff.
Add a little water to the pan and quickly scrape the bottom to get the
mushrooms coated with the fond. <br />
<br />
Once they are dry again, add the onions and peppers back into the pan.
Let the flavors mingle for a few minutes, then pour everything into a
bowl and set aside. <br />
<br />
Crack and whisk two eggs, then add the still-hot vegetables. This will
not cook the eggs but they will thicken and coat the veggies. Shred the
cheese finely and add and mix it all. You should not need to add salt to
any of this. The salt naturally present in the cheese and such once it
has melted from the hot vegetables will be enough and will also help
leach more moisture out. <br />
<br />
Set the mix aside for ten minutes or so and pour out the liquid which
has pooled. Scoop into dumpling wrappers and steam for ten minutes. I
think they would be nicer being subsequently fried. As a dipping sauce?
Either a hot sauce of some description, or a sweet chili sauce. <br />
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8950468821161007091.post-53116626762462043242019-09-02T17:02:00.004+01:002019-09-02T19:16:06.291+01:00New twists on dumplingsI'm trying to lose weight, but have also found out about some...pretty restrictive dietary restrictions. But I also like my food to be delicious. How can I have something unctuous but still healthy? I think one way is to have something full of flavor and texture so that you feel satisfied with a smaller amount. That means for both meals and desserts. And you know what does all of that? An amuse-bouche.<br />
<br />
An amuse-bouche is a one-bite expression of an idea. Nowadays, many cooks use it as a one-bite expression of themselves and their heritage. It's not enough to just take bits and pieces of something you like and put it all on a spoon- you are trying to distill the essence of the idea- the proportion of ingredients, flavors, textures, all in a tiny, tiny portion.<br />
<br />
Part of who I am is a New York Jew. And that means I love dumplings. And you know how many bites it takes to eat a dumpling? One or two.<br />
<br />
So I made typical dumplings, but started to experiment with some things. All of these recipes call for being steamed for 10 minutes in a Chinese bamboo steamer that sits atop a pot. For added bonus, after steaming set aside for a couple of minutes to
cool and for the wrapper to dry a little bit, then put into a hot pan
with a little oil (avocado works nicely) for a couple of minutes to
crisp up. Most of the time, I think this is optional, but one recipe below I think it is required. I tried all of these both steamed and fried. Here are the recipes and some thoughts:<br />
<br />
<b>Dumpling Sauce</b>: This is just my take on classic dumpling sauce. Use low-sodium soy sauce, a little sugar, a little minced ginger, some green onion, mix and dilute to half with water.<br />
<br />
<b>Kasha Varnishkas Dumplings:</b><br />
Buckwheat groats are a BIG no-no for me now, as it turns out. But I can have arguably one dumpling worth once in a while. I made kasha varnishkas as I usually do (I'm not going to write the recipe here) and stuffed it into the dumpling. I would suggest instead to make the kasha but leave out the egg noodles, and just put the cooked buckwheat and onions into the dumpling; the dumpling wrapper will act like the noodle. Steam 10 minutes and enjoy. <br />
<br />
<b>Baby Bok Choy Dumplings:</b><br />
Clean and separate boy choy leaves. Cut to separate the white from the green, cut the whites smaller if you got bok choy too large. In a pan, saute the white parts with minced garlic, minced ginger, and green onions. Add a dash of low sodium soy sauce and Worcestershire, salt, and pepper. When the bok choy whites are toothsome, throw in the green parts. They will cook down and wilt very rapidly, they only need 1-2 minutes to cook, or else they will overcook. Wrap in dumpling wrappers and steam.<br />
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Above, you can see the bok choy dumplings on the left and the kasha dumplings on the right.</div>
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<b>Salmon Croquette Dumplings:</b><br />
Chinese broccoli (sometimes also known as Chinese kale), new potatoes, canned salmon, rinsed capers, salt, pepper, sweet hungarian paprika. If you are not on a restricted diet, spinach would work great for this, or any soft green with a little bitterness.<br />
<br />
Wash, separate, and set aside the leaves of the Chinese broccoli. Peel the new potatoes, slice thin on a mandolin (note, may be able to use large shreds, but they are more likely to disintegrate I think) into a bowl of water while you wait for the next step. Put a large pot of water up to boil. Once it boils, dump the greens in, then drain the potatoes and pour those in too (why not just dump them in directly? Part of the point of this is to leach out soluble forms of oxalic acid, so we want to change the water, in effect). Boil for 15 minutes, then drain. Once cool enough, separate the potatoes into a bowl and put the greens onto a chopping board. Chop medium fine (it's going into a dumpling, but no need to liquify it) and set aside.<br />
<br />
Separately, take a tablespoon of capers and give them a good rinse under cold running water. Set aside.<br />
<br />
Finally, take that can of salmon that you bought because it seemed like a good idea at the time but now have no idea what to do with it, and open it. Drain the water (don't squeeze the salmon, you should be able to just pour it out). Into a bowl add the salmon, some pepper, and some sweet Hungarian paprika (the salmon is already salty and does not need more salt added). Using a fork, gently break up and toss the salmon until it has mixed with the spices. It is okay to let it become small flakes, but don't make the salmon a paste, this should be a gentle crumbing. We want delicate and flaky, we do not want the godawfulness that is the salmon burger.<br />
<br />
Prep your dumpling wrapper and add a slice of the new potato, some of the Chinese broccoli greens, a little bit of the salmon and 3-4 capers. Seal the dumpling and steam.<br />
<br />
Once it is done, set aside for a minute to let the skin dry a touch, and meanwhile heat a pan with a touch of oil (I used avocado, but it's really up to you what flavor you want it to impart or not impart). Once hot, add the dumplings (you'll know it's hot enough when they sizzle on being added). It should only take about 3 minutes to get golden brown and crispy. While you don't have to fry these dumplings, I think that you need that crispiness to bring this dumpling together to emulate the traditional crispy flakiness of a classic croquette. Serve immediately.<br />
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<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-t3-DY22nGtU/XW0-y_IYUJI/AAAAAAAADQI/AjLaKGcqGvIXVnycUI9nf2fHLe7p8QCFgCLcBGAs/s1600/IMG_5006.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="240" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-t3-DY22nGtU/XW0-y_IYUJI/AAAAAAAADQI/AjLaKGcqGvIXVnycUI9nf2fHLe7p8QCFgCLcBGAs/s320/IMG_5006.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
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After steaming, you can eat immediately, as seen above. However, the frying is what brings it all together. Note the texture of the salmon in the dumpling- that is the kind of flakiness you are looking for. </div>
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See how nice and crispy they were? In the one cut in half, you can also see the individual elements, as they have not been made into a paste.</div>
<br />
Note: on reflection, I think you may be able to leave the potato out altogether. I'm just not sure it really adds anything to the dumpling except more steps, more calories, and more oxalic acid. You may also need to increase the number of capers, but that's a matter of personal taste- I did mostly one caper and a couple with two in them, but would have liked it a bit more prominent so I wrote three here. I knew something was off- I left out the lemon juice, it needed a touch of acid. I would use a wedge or two worth of lemon and squeeze on the salmon in the bowl along with the spices. Or even better, make a nice, buttery, lemony hollandaise sauce to dip the dumplings into as a dumpling sauce.<br />
<br />
<b>Dessert Dumplings.</b> That's right, I went there. My wife thought I was completely crazy with these, but they turned out spectacular. Read on to learn more.<br />
<br />
<b>Creme Brulee Dumplings:</b><br />
<br />
See my earlier recipe on this blog for creme brulee. I halved that to limit how many dumplings I would make for an experiment, it turned out just fine. The steamed custard in the dumpling somehow tastes eggier and reminded my wife and myself of a really nice don tot, the Chinese egg custards you can get at dim sum.<br />
<br />
Make the custard as usual, but don't pour into ramekins- we want it in liquid form. Take a dumpling skin and carefully pleat it as usual, leaving a gap in the middle. When you are almost done, take a turkey baster and carefully pipette the liquid custard into the skin. Do not worry about filling it all the way, this can be very tricky. The custard will happily leave through the tiniest hole, so what is more important is to have a good seal. You WILL lose some to leakage, but with practice it will be fine. Steam 10 minutes. Once done, place into some tupperware and place in your refrigerator for 30-60 minutes. You want it to be cool at least.<br />
<br />
Pour a couple of tablespoons of white sugar on a plate. Take the now-cool dumpling and gently press the flat bottom or side into the sugar and shake off the excess. Place on a heat-safe surface and use your blowtorch to caramelize the sugar on the skin of the dumpling. Place on a plate and stick in the refrigerator another 30-60 minutes. Eat immediately.<br />
<br />
<b>Fruit Tarte Dumplings:</b><br />
Strawberries, blackberries, banana. Note: kiwi may work but I had none. I had bought raspberries then learned I can't have those any more but should work as well.<br />
<br />
Make the creme brulee custard from the creme brulee recipe and set aside while still liquid (before the liquid would be poured into ramekins).<br />
<br />
Cut the green off of the strawberries, then cut in quarters lengthwise. Blackberries may be used as-is. Banana should be peeled and sliced into thin circles. All should be dry (if the berries are wet from washing, pat them dry with a paper towel). Add all to a mixing bowl and add a heaping tablespoon of cornstarch, then toss so that each piece is well coated; they will release moisture on cooking, but this will prevent there being a separate liquid layer and just having berry juice and instead being a nice thick sauce.<br />
<br />
Into the dumpling wrapper add one round of banana, one piece strawberry, one blackberry. Here is where a few options occur:<br />
<br />
If you just want the berries (which can be very nice) seal and steam as usual. I would suggest chilling and eating cold, but it can be eaten hot as well. As an option, follow the steps above from the creme brulee dumplings to chill, sugar, torch, and re-chill.<br />
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If you want a fruit tarte type, after adding the berries to the wrapper, close most of the way, then use a turkey baster to add the custard liquid into the dumpling wrapper. Don't worry about underfilling, you don't need to go crazy on this. Seal and steam. To replicate the crispiness of the classic tarte, follow the steps above from the creme brulee dumplings to chill, sugar, torch, and re-chill.<br />
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Above you can see the steamed berry dumpling with some of the custard in the bottom.</div>
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Above you can see the after-blowtorched dumplings. On the left is the creme brulee, on the right is the fruit tarte.</div>
<br />
One final note: I accidentally bought dumpling wrappers made with pumpkin in them, so everything mentioned above, I made with both regular dumpling skins and the pumpkin wrappers (which is why you see orange and white). I really don't taste a difference, I think it's more color than anything, but you do you.<br />
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Bon appetit!<br />
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<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8950468821161007091.post-66042282551748280802019-08-17T13:52:00.002+01:002019-08-17T13:52:43.180+01:00Chocolate Tapioca PuddingI wanted to make some tapioca pudding, and my wife asked me to make it chocolate. How on earth am I going to....<br />
<br />
This is how I did it.<br />
<br />
You will need:<br />
1. 1 cup tapioca pearls<br />
2. 4 cups whole milk<br />
3. 1/4 cup cocoa powder<br />
4. 1/2 cup sugar<br />
5. vanilla extract<br />
6. 1/3 cup water<br />
7. big pinch salt<br />
<br />
Pour the tapioca pearls into a large mixing bowl, then add cold water until a couple of inches above the top of the pearls, allowing them plenty of water to soak- don't be worried about adding too much water. Leave in refrigerator at least overnight, but you can absolutely take them out the next evening as well.<br />
<br />
Combine sugar, cocoa powder, salt, and the 1/3rd cup water in a large saucepan. Heat over a medium heat, stirring, until boiling. Boil for about three minutes. Add the milk and stir together, continuing to heat. Once the chocolate mixture has reached a temperature that it starts to scald slightly, add the drained tapioca pearls. Continue to stir, making sure to scrape the bottom of the pan (you may want to lower the temperature to medium-low to prevent too much from sticking to the bottom). As the mixture heats, it will slowly thicken and the tapioca pearls will begin to pop up, transparent. When enough have, add the vanilla extract and pour the whole thing into some tupperware and stick into refrigerator to chill.<br />
<br />
Let's talk about what I have, and what I would suggest as changes.<br />
<br />
Normally, I cook the pearls until they all float to the top, clear. That did not happen here. I continued to cook the mixture for a long time, hoping it would help, but it did not. The longer you cook tapioca, the thicker the resultant pudding it- mine became an extremely stiff gelatin. Which is fine, I enjoy that too. But the pearls were a mixture of clear and cloudy, which means that not all of the pearls were completely done, affecting the texture and the taste in a slightly chalky way.<br />
<br />
What would I try next time to address this? I think that I would have the four cups of milk in a separate saucepan, heating with the tapioca. This is not exactly the same as typical tapioca (they would normally have eggs and such) but I am guessing that the cocoa powder is interfering with the diffusion of moisture into the pearls or whatever. Cook the pearls until they are all clear and floating on top, then add that to the chocolate mixture, cook together for a couple of minutes to make sure everything is friendly and intermingled, then decant.<br />
<br />
Traditional tapioca pudding has eggs. I left the eggs out with this because I was afraid that adding them would at best result in a mousse-like chocolate, which I did not think would be nice, but that was only if everything worked out nice. If things went wrong, some weird eggy-chocolately concoction sounded disgusting. But you could absolutely make essentially a traditional tapioca pudding (see the previous tapioca recipe posted on this blog) and then add the chocolate. It might work.<br />
<br />
I'd like to experiment with this more, but the sheer amount of space it requires in the fridge plus the time takes an eternity. So I will come back and update this recipe as I continue to experiment.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8950468821161007091.post-16804202043162717432019-06-01T17:03:00.002+01:002020-06-27T17:11:46.385+01:00Creamsicle/Dole Whip<u><b>Orange Sherbet</b></u><br />
<br />
Notes:<br />
<br />
1. I haven't tried this with pineapple, but I believe you can just swap out the freshly squeezed OJ with juiced pineapple. Update: Have now tried with pineapple. Make the following changes: drop the vanilla. Replace orange and lemon with zest and juice of 1 lime. <br />
<br />
2. Different oranges will really affect the flavor. I used naval oranges, which was nice but a tad too sweet for my taste; I would have preferred something sharper.<br />
<br />
3. I like to drink orange juice with pulp. For this tho, I filtered mine through a sieve. <br />
<br />
<br />
Ingredients:<br />
1. 1 1/2 cups whole milk<br />
2. 2 cups freshly squeezed OJ<br />
3. 2/3rds cup sugar<br />
4. juice of 1 lemon<br />
5. zest from 1 orange and 1 lemon.<br />
6. pinch kosher salt.<br />
7. 1 tablespoon vanilla extract <br />
<br />
Whisk together all ingredients except milk and mix until sugar has dissolved. Whisk in the milk slowly. Quickly add to your ice cream maker, because every second freshly squeezed orange juice sits out, it loses some of its magic. Process until thick and creamy, then freeze immediately.<br />
<br />
Edit: Decided to try this out with lemon-lime. Two notes: 1. leave the vanilla out of the lemon-lime. It works for the mellower orange and all, but not for the sharper lemon-lime. 2. 2 cups of lemon and lime juice made a sherbet tart enough that it was like licking a 9 volt. I think next time I'll try 1 cup lemon and lime juice, and add an extra cup of milk to make up the volume. The flavor is excellent, but it is just too strong.<br />
<br />
<u><b>Sweet Cream Vanilla</b></u><br />
<br />
Ingredients:<br />
1. 3 eggs<br />
2. 1 cup milk<br />
3. 2 cups heavy cream<br />
4. 3/4 cup sugar<br />
5. 1 tablespoon vanilla extract<br />
<br />
Whip the eggs until homogenous, then add the sugar. Whisk together until homogenous, then add the rest of the ingredients. Add to your ice cream maker, then process until done and freeze.<br />
<br />
<br />
I'm too lazy, but if you have a popsicle maker, you can freeze the sweet cream on the stick first, then cover with the sherbet. I just scooped a scoop of each into a bowl and enjoyed that way.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8950468821161007091.post-2747047527205760622018-12-28T15:40:00.001+00:002018-12-28T15:40:57.949+00:00Algarve Carrots<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<br />
A great party nibble -I admit I went a bit insane with the garlic - but utterly yummy next day snack after cleaning up all the leftover party rubble.<br />
<br />
<br />
There's a recipe in the blog for this already but here's a quick easy take on that for the holiday weary:<br />
<br />
Peel and cut up carrots. Simmer until al dente 5-8 minutes for tender carrots, more for the huge old style ones.<br />
<br />
Meanwhile measure 4T extra virgin olive oil and 2 T white wine vinegar into a bowl. Slice or mince 1 or 2 cloves of garlic (no need to be insane like me and use 4 or 5 huge ones). Add garlic, a good pinch flaked sea salt or kosher salt, lots of freshly ground black pepper to the bowl. Vigorously mix with fork or whisk.<br />
<br />
When carrots are cooked, drain and then dump them into the oil/vinegar mix and gently mix. The boiling hot carrots will absorb the tasty mix and with only an hour or so to rest, absorb, and cool down, they will be ready to serve.<br />
<br />
Yum!Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8950468821161007091.post-51769401641913284212018-09-20T01:43:00.001+01:002019-09-22T15:52:44.136+01:00Chicken Matzoh Ball Soup<div>
This recipe can be one or two days long, depending on your choices.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
You'll need:</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
1 whole chicken</div>
<div>
celery</div>
<div>
carrots</div>
<div>
onions</div>
<div>
salt</div>
<div>
pepper</div>
<div>
matzoh meal</div>
<div>
eggs</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Prep
your chicken for roasting- sprinkle the skin with some salt and pepper,
then put in a 350 degree oven for 15 minutes per pound. If it's a
little underdone, that's okay, it'll finish cooking in the soup anyway.
Take the chicken out of the oven and set aside. Remove all the fluids
and put into a pyrex cup in the fridge for an hour or so.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
By
this point, the chicken should have cooled. Set up two bowls, one for
the meat, and the other for everything else- bones, skin, everything.
Put the meat aside, and dump all the bones and scraps into a pot.
They'll be the base for your stock. </div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Roughly
chop carrots, onions, and celery into the stock pot. These are used for
flavoring, not for eating (unless you really want to...) so don't worry
about anything more than a rough chop- quarter the onions with the skin
on, half or quarter the carrots and celery. How much is up to you- I
recommend being restrained with the carrots, as they have a lot of
sugar, and the sweetness can overwhelm the soup. For a large soup pot,
one of those giant costco onions, 4-6 stalks of celery, 3 carrots should
be fine. </div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Add cold water until it is an
inch below the top, then put the pot on to heat. You'll want something
like a hard simmer/light boil, so a medium heat usually works. Let it
keep going until an inch or so of water has evaporated- roughly speak,
boiling for an hour or two. Give it a taste- the flavor won't be hugely
strong but you'll know it when it's ready.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Separate
the solids. If you really want to go crazy, you can use fine filters
and such, but I tend to use a slotted spoon to get all the big stuff and
a wire mesh ladle I have to finish.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
You have
an option now. If you want, you can stick the stock in the fridge
overnight to solidify the fat and scum to scrape away. If you want to do
this, now is the time, it's easiest. Otherwise, you can continue, but
when uneaten soup is put int he fridge, it'll develop a layer on top.
Not a big deal, but a little trickier to deal with to remove if you want
to when there are soup components inside. If you do refrigerate
overnight, put the meat you set aside into a ziplock bag and keep in the
fridge overnight.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
You now have your
chicken stock- this is incidentally a great way to make stock for all
kinds of things, so any time you roast chicken or something, it's a nice
little something extra to do to make your own stock for dishes.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Set
the stock pot on the stove to start heating, again to a light boil.
Ready your chicken and vegetables (the same carrots, celery, and onions,
but now cut for eating sizes) in amounts you feel comfortable with.
While the stock pot is heating, prep your matzoh meal.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Now,
I've had difficulty with this in the past. I always used to use manischewitz, but it got hard to find and I switched to streitz. I got
leaden balls- sinkers, not floaters. Tonight I had a box of each and I
ended up going to manischewitz, but in case it made a difference, I also
added an extra egg. The balls came out perfectly- whether it's the
brand or the extra egg, I couldn't say. I don't see any harm in adding
the extra egg tho. If you like sinkers, that's fine too, but my family has always been firmly in the floater party.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
You'll prep the matzoh ball
mix similar to how it says on the box. Typically that will mean one pack
of the meal, two eggs, and some oil or butter. We're going to make a
couple of changes though. As I said before, add an extra egg. For the
fat, instead of butter or oil, go to that pyrex cup I told you to put
aside earlier. There should be a nice layer of fat on top, 3-4
tablespoons worth. Scrape that off and place in your small bowl and give
it five minutes to come to room temperature. Then add your matzoh meal.
Then add your three eggs. Whip together with a fork until uniform, then
place in the fridge for 15 minutes.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
By now,
the stock pot should be boiling. Lightly salt and pepper the stock. You
can add the rest of your solids now (further flavoring the soup) or wait until the matzoh balls are
done, up to you.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Take the matzoh ball mix out
of the fridge. Take enough to roll a ball about the diameter of a penny-
they blow up to several times their size, so don't listen when the box
says to make them an inch in diameter. You want maybe a half inch. Roll
and drop into the rolling stock, roll and drop. This should be pretty
quick, when you're done, you may see that not only have they started to
balloon in the stock but that some of the first ones you did are
darkening. Give them a gentle stir to turn them all over (that
discoloration is from them drying out on that side, then cover the
stockpot with a lid. Cook for 20 minutes, then uncover and add the rest
of the solids if you haven't already.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Dump your solids in and add a
little salt and pepper- you aren't done yet, so undersalt and
underpepper. It will concentrate and develop and it's too easy to
oversalt and overpepper. </div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Let it all cook for another hour or so, then do your final salt and peppering. Serve immediately.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
You
also have the option to cook the matzoh balls in a separate pot of
water, sometimes salt water. I prefer to cook them in the stock so they
take up the flavor of the stock. It's personal preference, but some
folks find it easier to deal with and prefer the taste.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Also,
this freezes really well. I always like to have some in the freezer,
because when I'm sick is when I want and need it the most, but I'm least
able to make it. Wheras when frozen, you can easily just dump the
frozen block into a pot, add a little water and cover, turn the heat on
low and have nice hot soup ready to go.</div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8950468821161007091.post-44057109783594032482018-04-26T02:20:00.002+01:002018-04-26T02:20:48.989+01:00Cream CheeseAbout a year ago, I moved away from New York to Virginia. Virginia has many things to recommend it, particularly over what New York has become in recent years. However, there is one thing Virginia doesn't have (although it's become damn hard to find in New York too): TempTee Cream Cheese.<br />
<br />
If you've never had it, it's a completely different creature from Philadelphia (named for the city in New York, not Pennsylvania, incidentally). Even Philadelphia isn't quite what it used to be, and mostly you find the stuff in the tubs which has kind of a greasy feel and taste to it. I always thought of Philadelphia blocks as good cooking cream cheese, but not eating quality (just as you wouldn't pour a glass of cooking grade wine into a glass to drink).<br />
<br />
In any case, I got a delivery of bagels and bialys (at an exhorbident price- going to need to start baking soon, it's just not worth it, and they're already old by the time I get them) and just had it up to here with the garbage cream cheese options. So, hell with it. I would make my own.<br />
<br />
This recipe has gone through many rounds and tweaks. As I tasted this last iteration, I found myself thinking it was just a little too rich for my taste, trying to think what else I could do. It was at this point that I realized that I had licked the spatula clean and wanted more. So, while I do think it could use a little bit more tweaking, I think you'll still get a tasty product from it. A little bit of salt, sour, sweet, and creamy all nicely balanced together.<br />
<br />
That said, this recipe is one of the rare ones that I would recommend you tweak very carefully- it is highly sensitive to proportion changes and believe me, it doesn't take much to turn something nice into something almost inedible.<br />
<br />
You will need:<br />
1. 6 cups whole milk<br />
2. juice of 2 lemons (note: you can use the concentrate stuff if you have to, no shame in it- but be careful in adding it as you will tend to need to use less than the fresh stuff).<br />
3. 1 level tsp kosher salt.<br />
4. 1/4 tsp sugar<br />
5. 3 tbsp heavy cream<br />
6. 1/2 tsp egg yolk<br />
7. 3 tsp whey (you'll make it yourself, don't worry- see below)<br />
<br />
You will also need:<br />
1. medium saucepan<br />
2. rubber spatula<br />
3. strainer (preferably the wire kind with the little metal tabs that let it rest atop a bowl)<br />
4. large bowl<br />
5. food processor<br />
<br />
Add the milk to the saucepan and put on stove on a medium heat. Stir gently as it comes up to temperature. You want the milk scalded- just below simmering.<br />
<br />
Set up your drying/filtering station. Bowl on bottom, strainer above, cheesecloth lining the strainer. I like to separate the layers of cheesecloth and lay one layer in one direction and the other 90 degrees in the strainer. This lets me make sure the whole strainer is covered by the cheesecloth (always a hair too narrow...) and doubles the filtration fineness. The strainer should be a couple of inches off the bottom of the bowl. If it isn't, you'll have a rough time of it.<br />
<br />
Add 3/4ths of the lemon juice (you may want to just juice 1 1/2 lemons for now to make this a little easier, up to you, but reserve 1/4th of the lemon juice for much later) in halves- half the amount, stir for a few moments, then the rest of it. The curds will form very rapidly. How do you know when you've added enough? When the whey is clearly a green color and not just clear.<br />
<br />
Carefully pour the saucepan into the cheesecloth-lined strainer. You may need to let some of the whey go through before you finish pouring it all. Make sure you get all the bits and blobs in the pot. Let the curds sit and drain for 15-30 minutes. You do <i>not</i> need to press or squeeze the curds, just leave them alone and they'll leave you alone.<br />
<br />
Once the curds have drained, dump into the food processor. Add the salt, sugar, heavy cream, egg yolk, remaining lemon juice, and take three teaspoons (1 tbsp) of the green drained whey and add it too. Pulse the food processor and occasionally use your spatula to push everything back down again. Process until smooth. Taste.<br />
<br />
If you plan to add chives, this would be the time to add them and process a little bit longer until they are well integrated.<br />
<br />
As I said, I think it's a touch rich, but I'm so used to commercial stuff. The egg yolk is added because the fats don't entirely suspend in the mixture otherwise, leading to a grainy cream cheese. Egg yolk contains lecithin, which emulsifies the fats. Do <i>not</i> add the whole egg yolk, it will turn the cream cheese disgustingly eggy and suppress a lot of the delicate flavors you've created and added. If you follow this recipe, you'll have something smooth and tasty to put on your bagel. Enjoy!<br />
<br /><br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8950468821161007091.post-27520667481917263552018-03-30T00:39:00.000+01:002018-03-30T00:39:16.284+01:00Return of the Nieman Marcus Urban Legend Cookie<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<br />
These are sort of the ultimate chocolate chip cookie. In the US, everyone I ever met knew the legend of the Million Dollar Cookie in one form or another. Here in the UK, no one seems to have ever heard of it. But they do love the cookies when I pass them around. They are easy to make, just follow the recipe step by step. They keep well, just store in ziplock bags.<br />
<br />
I originally posted the recipe on this blog in 2009 and it remains unchanged so just pull it up, print up a copy and get baking.<br />
<br />
I made a half recipe yesterday because there's only Alan and me and the neighbors to eat them now. It's very easy to halve the recipe; and then I divided that half before I put in the chips, etc. In 2/3 of the cookie dough I put loads of choc chips, pecans, and sultanas. In the other 1/3 I just put in a cup or so of sultanas because Alan had earlier announced to me that he just liked biscuits with sultanas (British for Raisin Cookies). Ok, no Begian dark chocolate chips, no pecans, no craisins. Fine, be that way. So I baked cookies and packed them up separately. In the morning, Alan discovered them before I woke up when he went to make early dawn coffee. So what did he think of the cookies? The Sultana Biscuits were very nice but the other cookies, they were amazing. Arrrrggghhh!!<br />
<br />
So, grab the recipe and go forth and bake cookies.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8950468821161007091.post-44676940034264642962018-03-24T20:51:00.003+00:002018-03-24T20:59:12.018+00:00Basic Perfect GelatoAlan wanted gelato. Any flavor gelato as long as its vanilla. Of course.<br />
So I found a recipe for Sicilian gelato that met most of my basic requirements and then I made some changes to fine tune it to our specific tastes and preferences. The result was pure heaven. Below is the exact final recipe that I used to make gelato last night. I think its perfect and hope you try it and agree.<br />
<br />
Ingredients:<br />
<br />
2 cups/ 500 ml whole milk*<br />
1/2 cup sugar<br />
1 cup/ 250 ml double/heavy cream<br />
pinch salt<br />
2 T cornstarch (cornflour) dissolved in a few spoonfuls of milk<br />
<br />
*Pls note I used full cream, pure Jersey milk (5%) which is quite wonderful and very different from supermarket "whole milk" which is 3.8 - 4% at best. If you are in the UK, my favorite brand is Grahams Gold smooth which I buy at Sainsburys.<br />
<br />
Method:<br />
<br />
In a medium saucepan, bring 1 cup of the milk almost to a simmer with the sugar - heat it, whisking, until the sugar dissolves.<br />
<br />
Add the cornstarch dissolved in a bit of milk and stir till it starts to thicken. Bring just to a simmer when the first bubbles show. Immediately remove from the heat, pour into a bowl. Add 1/2 tsp vanilla (or vanilla seeds, etc) and whisk to start cooling it down. Allow to stand and cool for an hour covered by a disk of parchment or cling wrap to prevent a skin forming.<br />
<br />
When the base has cooled down, remove the parchment disk (You'll want to scrape off any custard sticking to the paper back into the bowl. Every drop is precious.) Pour in the rest of the milk, the cream and a pinch of salt. Whisk briefly to combine and pour into ice cream machine.<br />
<br />
Freeze in the bowl of an ice cream machine. It took me 55 minutes to get the gelato to soft eating consistency, your machine may vary. The rest I put in a container in the freezer to firm up more for eating later.<br />
<br />
This makes 2 plastic storage containers full, about 1 quart total.<br />
---------------------------<br />
<br />
This gelato has a wonderfully clean, fresh, delicate taste. It's also a perfect base to add fruit, nuts, flaked chocolate, syrups, endless mix-ins to create the custom flavor of your choice. My next batch I plan to add cinnamon stick to the milk/sugar mix and let that infuse.<br />
<br />
Did Alan like it you ask? Yes, he actually liked the taste and texture fresh made. He had issues with it after it sat in our freezer overnight. He claimed he could taste a few ice crystals. I couldn't but Alan is our "Princess and the Pea" tester. I say just take it out of the freezer 10 - 15 min before serving and it will be perfect. Or eat it fresh made and enjoy the best of the best.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8950468821161007091.post-54044579413224510532018-03-14T02:55:00.001+00:002018-03-14T02:55:20.044+00:00Peeps!Asti flew into London tonight for a brief visit. Always lovely to see her again and spend some time together. She handed me a small box of Peeps saying that she wasn't sure if they might be too stale. Too stale? Never, no such thing as too stale Peeps!<br />
<br />
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<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8950468821161007091.post-81651331773874136312018-03-13T21:53:00.000+00:002018-03-13T21:53:04.163+00:00New York CheesecakeRecently we had some rather nice cheesecake. It was nice but well, just nice and not what Id call a NY cheesecake. It wasn't Turf Cheesecake; but then, nothing is and its a bit much even for me these days. But I did know what I wanted, so because my daughter was flying in for a quick visit, I decided to make a classic NY Cheesecake so she'd have a tasty snack when she arrived tonight. Here's the recipe I used:<br />
<br />
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<br />
Ingredients:<br />
*10 - 12 digestive biscuits <br />
80g butter<br />
500g mascarpone<br />
400 g Philadelphia cream cheese<br />
2 eggs, plus 2 egg yolks<br />
*2 lemons<br />
4 tbsp plain flour<br />
*150g caster sugar<br />
20 cm/8 inch springform or loose bottom deep pan. <br />
<br />
*Notes:<br />
1. They don't have graham crackers in the UK.You can either just omit the cracker crumb crust or use some really good digestive biscuits. I used Dove Organic Wholemeal Digestive Biscuits. They are the closest thing to Graham crackers I ever tasted, actually tasty. Don't use store brand or the classic McVities, they are bland and awful.<br />
2. Full Fat mascarpone only. In NYC I would have used all Philly cheese but the Philadelphia company here lies. What they sell as Philadelphia cream cheese is close but absolutely not exactly the same as what they sell in the US. Trust me on this. It's a tragedy.<br />
3. Use a microplane and get every scrap of zest off those lemons and into your cake mix. Depending on the lemon variety you're using and your personal taste preferences, you may need an additional lemon.<br />
*In the US this is called superfine sugar. I think you could probably use regular granulated but the superfine/castor sugar will yield a more delicate texture.<br />
<br />
Method:<br />
<br />
1. Butter the pan. Line the base with parchment/nonstick baking paper.<br />
<br />
2. Blitz the biscuits in a processor (or put them in a plastic baggie and smash with a rolling pin) then dump them into a mixing bowl. Met the butter - 60 seconds in the microwave in a small pyrex bowl.<br />
Pour the butter into the crumbs and stir it through. Press the crumbs into the bottom of the baking pan smoothing and pressing them with the back of a spoon. Place in refrigerator for 30 minutes to firm.<br />
<br />
3. Heat oven to 160 F.<br />
<br />
4. Dump cheeses into the bowl of your mixer (you can make this manually with a large wooden spoon but I wouldn't). Mix on low until the cheeses are smooth, fluffy, and well mixed.<br />
<br />
5. Add the eggs and egg yolks. Beat eggs and cheese gently until they are thoroughly mixed.<br />
<br />
6. Thoroughly remove the lemon zest with a microplane or zester and add to the cheese mix. Juice the lemons and add to the cheese mix. Lightly blend and taste. Add more lemon juice/zest if you want a stronger lemon taste but I'd suggest the zest more than the juice because you don't want the mix too liquidy. This is the art bit of baking.<br />
<br />
7. Add the flour and sugar and then beat gentkly to thoroughly combine all.<br />
<br />
8. Spoon the cheesecake mixture into the cake tin. Smooth the top. Slide into the oven and bake for 45-60 mins till the cheesecake is set but with a bit of a wobble when you gently shake the tin. (I turn the oven off at 45 min and just let the cheesecake sit in the hot oven for the remaining 15 min or so. This helps prevent surface cracks.) You can let the cheesecake cool slowly in the closed oven for an additional 30 - 60 minutes as well. This also helps prevent surface cracks.<br />
<br />
9. Let the cheesecake cool at room temp. in the tin, and then chill till you're ready to serve - you can make it the day before you want to eat it.<br />
<br />
You can serve the cheesecake as-is or spoon a fruit compote over the top like blueberry or strawberry.<br />
You can also swirl in melted chocolate for a marble cheesecake. I wouldn't but some people really like chocolate.<br />
<br />
How many does this feed? Ha! What a question. Polite people? Greedy People? Nostalgic people? Late at night with a cup of coffee when no one is watching people? Figure at least 8, possibly 12 or more. Did you really plan to share it?<br />
<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8950468821161007091.post-49703147385938948942017-12-07T01:27:00.001+00:002017-12-07T01:27:56.662+00:00Seville Orange MarmaladeEarly yesterday morning Abel & Cole, our organic fruit & veg box delivery company, dropped off a kilo of the first of the season Seville Oranges along with our regular order of milk, butter, eggs, etc. I promised myself that this year I would finally make the marmalade as soon as I got the oranges and not dump them in the fridge and delay as long as possible. What produced this change? Simple, I finally found a mandolin that I could work with and that produced the fine slices I always wished for. Anyone who has ever tried to shred orange peel for marmalade knows what a miserable and endless task it is, ending with cramped and painful fingers and orange peels sliced a whole lot thicker than you thought you were cutting. My fingers still were aching a bt when I finished but no cuts to report and the orange peel was in gossamer fine shreds.<br />
<br />
So I rounded up some jam jars - see, there really is a legitimate reason to save all those empty jars - and put the pot on the stove and started the process.<br />
<br />
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<br />
<br />
Ingredients:<br />
1kg Seville oranges - the bitter ones - don't use regular oranges<br />4 pints water (these are UK Imperial pints) = 2.250 Liters or 5 US pints<br />Juice of 2 lemons<br />
*2kg golden caster sugar = 4 1/2 LB Sugar (feel free to use white sugar but NOT light brown, etc)<br />6-8 (340-450g) jam jars<br />
a piece of clean plain muslin - I can never find the stuff and its a pita anyway so I do without it. Directions for both ways will be given. <br />
<br />
* Please, please, please try to use classic Cane Sugar for this. In my experience beet sugar is just not the same and just not good enough for fine baking or jam making. Ask me if you need this clarified.<br />
<br />
Method:<br />
<br />
1. Slice oranges and lemons in half.<br />
<br />
2. Put a muslin-lined sieve (or use a smallish, thin, clean cloth) over a bowl. Squeeze the citrus over the muslin to catch the pith and pips. Let the juice drip into the bowl. Keep the lemon peel to use in other dishes. Keep hold of the pips and muslin.<br />
<br />
If you can't get muslin or just can't be bothered, use a sturdy sieve and squeeze all the citrus directly into the sieve. Put the lemon peel aside or throw it out since you'd just forget it in the fridge till it was moldy and throw it out anyway.<br />
<br />
3.Now it's time to shred the orange peel (oh joy!) Either get out a sharp knife, cut the orange peel halves in half again, flatten them out a bit and start cutting shreds. Remember that the peel will swell a bit in cooking so you probably want to keep the shreds fairly thin. If you like thick cut peel, feel free, that's the joy of making it yourself.<br />
<br />
I hate slicing a mountain of orange peel so this year I used a mandolin set on the thinnest setting mine had. It was still a bit of effort but much, much less than a knife and I ended up with a mountain of delicate fairy think peel. Bliss! (Just be careful and watch the fingers, mandolins can be lethal!<br />
<br />
4. Tie the muslin up to secure the pips inside and toss into your large preserving pan or stock pot, whatever you use for jam making. Pour in the citrus juice, the shredded orange peel, and the water. Cover and allow to soak for 24 hours.<br />
<br />
If you are not using muslin, dump all the pips and pith from the sieve into a small saucepan. Cover with 2 cups of water and cover the pan and allow this pan to soak for 24 hours as well.<br />
<br />
5. The next day: Place the pot over medium-high heat and cook at a gentle boil till the peel is soft, about 30 to 60 minutes. If the pips are in a separate pan, bring that to a gentle boil and allow to simmer 30 minutes.<br />
<br />
6. Take the small pan off the heat. Dump the contents into a clean sieve hung above a mixing bowl and start pressing it with the back of a wooden spoon. You want to press out all the pectin which looks like a thick cloudy jell as it drips from the sieve. Get out all the pectin you can - the more the better because this is what sets the preserves. Similarly, if you are using muslin, remove that bag from the preserving pot and allow it to cool. Then squeeze and press the muslin bag till the pectin flows into a mixing bowl. When no more pectin flows out, throw away the squeezed out pips and pour the pectin into the orange mix in the preserving pot.<br />
<br />
7. Add the sugar to the preserving pot. Stir till completely dissolved. Return pan to the heat and bring to the boil. Boil rapidly till setting point is reached, 30 mins to 2hrs. (It ran 1 hour and 15 min for me this time.) The amount of time really depends on the pan you use and the amount of pectin in the pips - use your instincts, keep an eye on it and when it looks thick and sticky, do the set test, below. Once it passes, it's done!<br />
<br />
8. Set test: Setting point is when a little marmalade, spooned on to a cold plate (chill in freezer) and allowed to cool, has a "set" surface and "wrinkles" when pushed with the finger.<br />
<br />
9 Pour or ladle into warm sterilized jars. Seal immediately. Store and enjoy<br />
<br />
<br />
Note: How to sterilise your jars It’s absolutely fine to reuse old jam jars. Wash in boiling hot water. Dry thoroughly. When the marmalade's nearly done, place the jars and lids in a cold oven. Turn to 100C/Gas ¼. Let them warm for 10 mins.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8950468821161007091.post-70122451029523876662017-09-21T22:57:00.001+01:002017-09-21T22:57:18.800+01:00Blackberry Jam - super easy, perfect for first time preserving.<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<br />
Blackberry Jam<br />
<br />
It doesn't get much easier than this if you want to have a go at making homemade preserves. And please do have a go because you will be astonished at the taste difference from the usual supermarket jarred stuff.<br />
<br />
<br />
450 grams blackberries<br />
450 grams granulated white sugar<br />
Juice from 1 freshly squeezed lemon<br />
2 glass jars with tops - washed, rinsed well with hot water, then pour boiling water into them for final rinse. (Or run thru the dishwasher.) Set them out upside down on a clean dishtowel. <br />
<br />
1. Wash the berries then place in a saucepan with the sugar and lemon juice. Give everything a good stir with a wooden spoon to release the juices from the berries.<br />
2. Begin to cook on a medium heat, stirring constantly until boiling.<br />
3. Now turn the heat down slightly and simmer for 10 minutes, stirring every now and again to prevent the jam from sticking to the bottom.<br />
4. After 10 minutes, remove the spoon then turn the heat up to a boil and let the jam cook for a further 5-10 minutes without stirring. Towards the end you will see a change in the size and appearance of the boil/bubbles.<br />
5. The jam is ready when it has reached 105°C. Traditionally, if you haven't got a temperature probe, you can test if the jam is set up by dropping a small blob onto a plate that' has been in the freezer. If the jam forms a skin and ripples after 10 seconds when poked, the jam is ready.<br />
6. Pour into the prepared jars, screw on the lid or clamp down however they work. As they cool, a vacuum forms and you may hear the lid make a pinging sound. The jars should be allowed to fully cool on the counter. The jam will keep for quite a few weeks unopened. We Americans tend to store opened jam jars in the fridge, the Brits and Germans don't. Your mileage may vary.<br />
7. As the jam cools it should firm up. You can use it to slather on toast or bread or waffles or pancakes. You can spread it between cake layers or dollop on your oatmeal. <br />
<br />
<br />
Notes:<br />
Select your own choice of sweet or tart blackberries (yes it comes in both varieties). You can buy them fresh at the supermarket or pick them yourself from brambles - they grow almost everywhere! Don't worry about the pectin content, they are fine and the lemon will help them jell beautifully. Please don't try to cut back on the sugar because that will unbalance the ratio and you will probably end up with syrup - tasty but not jam. I save old jars like from mustard or jam and reuse them - no need to buy fancy canning jars. I find the smaller table size jars that hold about 10 oz or so most useful.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8950468821161007091.post-87583429736077700112017-08-11T17:11:00.001+01:002017-08-23T11:47:14.266+01:00I was tempted beyond control last week while putting together my weekly Farmdrop order - on the new products page they offered Smoked<b> </b>Brisket (from one of my favorite local slow growth traditional breed all grass fed cattle farmers)! Well, I just had to have it. So here I am today oven- roasting my first brisket. It needs a long, long, low temp roast then a quiet rest overnight and finally a reheat in the fabulous tangy sauce for dinner tomorrow. (Check Smitten Kitchen for my recipe inspiration.)<br />
'In oven 3 hours, 3 more to go...<br />
more to come -Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0