Lemon, lavender & pine nut tart.

Tags

creamy, dessert, food, Lavender, lemons, Meyer lemon, pine nut, sabayon, sweet, tart, yum

I love lemon. I love lemon curd and lemon tarts.  I especially love these things made from Meyer lemons.  Last year I made a lemon lavender ice cream and I really liked the combination of flavors.  I haven’t pulled the ice cream maker out of the closet yet because although spring is definitely here now, it’s still cold and rainy most days.  I read an Epicurious recipe for a sabayon style lemon tart and the best part was the crust was made with pine nuts!  As I read through the comments someone had added lavender and rosemary to the crust….I knew that I had to try both but individually.  Lavender first.  I will make one with rosemary soon but I think I will use a different nut in the crust or use a flour crust recipe as pine nuts are really expensive right now.  I will caution you that the recipe in the link makes enought crust for three (3?!) tarts.  I did math and reduced it to one crust although the egg was a problem.  What I did was beat the egg, weigh it and divide by three.

Unfortunately I just realized that I didn’t take enough pictures and I don’t think I have any of the finished tart and it’s long gone now…. sorry!

Crust

• 3.3 oz pine nuts
• .8 oz sugar (probably a Tablespoon)
• 5.3 oz flour
• 2.7 oz butter
• 1/3 beaten egg by weight
• 1 tsp lavender

Grind the pine nuts in a food processor, add the sugar, flour and lavender and pulse until finely ground and combined.  Put in a bowl and add the butter and egg and mix together into a dough. Wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 10 mins.

Preheat the oven to 350. Butter and flour a tart pan with removable bottom.  I don’t have one so I used a cheesecake pan with removable bottom.  Next time I will use a tart pan.  Press the dough into the bottom and sides of the pan. Bake for 10-15 minutes, rotate and bake another 10-15 minutes until crust is golden. Remove and let cool.

Lemon Sabayon 

• 2 large eggs, cold
• 2 egg yolks, cold
• 4 oz sugar (you can add more if you like it extra sweet)
• 4 oz fresh lemon juice (I used Meyer)
• zest of one lemon
• 3 oz cold unsalted butter cut into 6 pieces

You will need a bowl that will fit over a pot of water without the water touching the bottom of the bowl.  Bring the water to a boil.  Meanwhile whisk the eggs, yolks and sugar in the bowl until the sugar is dissolved (about 1 minute).

Set the bowl over the pot and whisk the mixture while turning the bowl. (I used an electric mixer) When the eggs are foamy and have thinckened add 1/3 of the lemon juice.  Keep whisking until mixture thickens again and add another 1/3, whisk again until mix thickens and add the final 1/3 and the zest.  Continue whisking until the mixture lightens and the mix leaves a ribbon on itself.

Turn off the heat leaving the bowl over the water. Whisk in the butter, one piece at a time. The sabayon may loosen but will thicken and set as it cools.  Pour it into the tart crust and place on a baking sheet.

Lemony goodness!

Place the tart under the broiler and brown the top.  Be careful it browns very quickly!  Let sit for an hour before serving.  Can be served at room tempurature or cold.  My tart didn’t seem to set as well as I would have liked. I’m used to using a lemon curd type of filling for tarte so this seemed a bit loose.  The flavor was wonderful though, very tart and the lavender was subtle and not overpowering. The pine nuts were almost an aftertaste and an enjoyable one at that.  I can’t wait to try rosemary in the crust but I think I will go back to my usual lemon tart filling.

Date Walnut Dacquoise

Tags

baking, caramel marscapone, creamy, dacquoise, dates, dessert, food, gluten free, layer cake, sweet, toasted walnuts, yum

I’ve been wanting to make this cake for awhile and decided I would make it for the Aspiring Bakers #18 Layers of Love challenge hosted by Sam over at Sweet Samsations.  She has such an inspiring blog with wonderful recipes and gorgeous pictures of said recipes!   The challenge is for a layer cake that must have at least three layers.  Cake is not my favorite dessert, I do enjoy it every so often but I haven’t baked one in a long time.  What to do?  I want to join the challenge but I don’t want to bake a traditional flour cake with overly sweet frosting.  Hmmmmm……

I recently found a Williams Sonoma cake book at a thrift store.  I can’t remember which recipe caught my eye, but all of them were classic recipes and I needed a good cake book to add to my collection. This is where the original idea for this dacquoise came from.  What is dacquoise?  It is usually almond or hazelnut meringue “cake” layered traditionally with buttercream or whipped cream.  This recipe called for toasted walnuts!  Why not?  I also didn’t want to use buttercream because again, I don’t really like it.  I can usually taste too much of the butter.

Then I remembered the caramel marscapone frosting I made for the Pierre Hermes Apricot Lime Financier Cake.  That was not too sweet, had a little burnt sugar taste and would go well with toasted walnuts.  As I was making it the thought of dates went through my head, their sweetness, the deep subtle flavor they would add,  why not?

The Recipe adapted from the Williams Sonoma Cakes, Cupcakes & Cheesecakes book.

• 75 g plus 60 g walnuts, lightly toasted
• 180 g sugar
• 1 Tb cornstarch
• 3 large egg whites (room tempurature)
• 1/2 tsp cream of tartar
• about 1/4 cup chopped dates (I didn’t measure sorry)
• Caramel marscapone frosting (find the Pierre Hermes recipe here)

Toast the walnuts in a 350 oven for about 10 minutes, and put 75 g in a food processor with 60 g of the sugar and the cornstarch. Process to a fine grind.

Line two baking sheets with parchment paper. Draw three 8 inch circles onto the parchment in pencil. One 8 inch circle on one sheet and two on the other.  Make sure to turn the parchment over so the circles are visible but so you won’t get pencil transfered onto your meringue.  Preheat the oven to 250.  Combine the egg whites and cream of tartar in a mixer and mix on med until soft peak form.  Add in the remaining 120 g of sugar and continue beating until stiff, glossy peaks form.  Gently fold in the nut mixture. Divide the mixture onto the three circles. (you can pipe the circles if you want). Bake for 1 hour 20 mins until crisp and golden. Let cool on the baking sheets for 10 minutes, remove from parchment and then let cool on racks.

Meanwhile I made the caramel marscapone frosting.  This cake has to sit in the refrigerator overnight to let the meringues soften and my cake plate is too large to fit in the refrigerator with everything else in there.  I decided to cover a piece of cardboard with aluminum foil and transfer the cake to the fancy plate in the morning.  Bad idea, the cake stuck to the foil….because I put some frosting on the foil to anchor the meringue.

Frost the first meringue and sprinkle with the chopped dates. There’s no correct amount to use, whatever your taste likes.  I thought the amount I used was perfect, it added an unrecogniseable flavor that was not overpowering or oversweet.

Dates!

Put the next meringue layer over this and frost, sprinkle this layer with some chopped, toasted walnuts.

Add the final meringue and frost the top and sides.  Press chopped walnuts on the sides of the cake and decorate with walnut halves on the top.  Cover and refrigeratove overnight.  Bring to room tempurature before serving.

The taste and texture are wonderful. It has a smooth creamyness with just a little crunch.  The carmel marscapone frosting has a slight bitter edge which is offset nicely by the sweetness of the dates and the toasted walnut flavor tops it off perfectly.

The foil not only made the cake stick to it, it also ripped and stuck to the piece I cut. I hope this qualifies as a layer cake!  If I find the time and, more importantly, the inspiration, I will try a completely different, more traditional layer cake and submit that as well.

Diets and cake…a cautionary tale…or why my cake fell flat!

Tags

baking, cake, castella, dessert, diets, disaster, eggs, food, kasutera, matcha, yum

So……….I’ve been dieting. UGH.  All my life I’ve been able to eat whatever, and yes I am aware that I’ve been lucky that way. I’m not a skinny person by any means, just regular. But lately…well I’ll put this in the order I believe it should be in….1. I haven’t really exercised in about 3 years and 2. I’m getting older.  And I don’t like it.  About 3 years ago I stopped taking Tae Kwan Do or going to the gym, or going hiking and kinda stuck around home more….and possibly started baking more.  My sister thinks the weight gain is mostly due to age but I’m fighting against that.  So I’ve gained about 20 pounds if I’m being honest.  The first 10 were no big deal, this last 10 however are another story altogether!!!  I can see them! I can feel them in my clothes!  So diet it is.  Here is the problem, it’s not easy to change years of eating habits! I don’t eat badly, just probably too much for my current metabolism.  So I went low carb.  Thinking that way I can still eat sweets on the weekends!  Low carb all week, dessert on weekends. Logical eh?  A friend gave me fresh eggs from his chickens and pheasants. I can eat all I want of eggs on this damned diet.

Farm fresh eggs

Except after about a week and a half on this damned diet nothing seemed to be coming off.  I’m not going to starve myself (hardly) if it doesn’t even work.  Last night was my breaking point.  I found a recipe for Kasutera Cake (a Japanese sponge cake) and decided what the hell, it’s a small recipe, it’s not too sweet, I have matcha powder and it uses eggs!  I can eat eggs….green tea cake it is!

Lovely tea fragrance

Jason only chuckled, diet over already?  Well, no, just a break.  Besides a light, not too sweet little tea scented cake couldn’t really hurt that much right?

There are many Kasutera also known as Castella, recipes out there. I chose this one because I thought it would be small enough that I wouldn’t completely blow the damned diet.  You can make it in many flavors and  Matcha is a green tea powder that can be used to flavor many things including ice cream, cake etc.

Matcha Kasutera

• 2 Tb milk
• 2 Tb honey
• 3/4 c flour
• 1 Tb matcha
• 4 eggs
• 3/4 c sugar

Prepare a small 9 inch rectangular pan with parchment paper.  Combine the honey and the milk and warm it up. Sift together the flour & matcha powder in a bowl and set aside.  Whisk the eggs and slowly add the sugar, place this bowl over a simmering pot of water, (very low simmer) and continue to whisk (I used a hand mixer.) The mixture will grow in size, get thick and get very light colored, it takes at least 10 minutes.

The egg mix at the start.

You want to reach a point where the mixture is very thick and reaches what is called the “ribbon stage”. See the picture below, when you take the whips out, the mixture will form what look like ribbons on top and slowly melt back into the rest of the mixture.  If you’ve ever made Zabaglione, this is the stage you are looking for.

Ribbon stage

So far so good, right?  It sure seems to be going great.  Stir in the milk/honey mixture and preheat the oven to 360 F.  Sift the flour/matcha into the batter and fold with a spatula, you want to fold gently so that you keep the light fluffiness of the egg mixture. Pour the batter into the pan and tap lightly on the counter to get any big air bubbles out.  Bake for 10 minutes at 360 then reduce the temperature to 300 and bake a further 40 minutes.  If a toothpick inserted comes out clean, it’s done! Then remove from pan, cool and blah blah blah.

My cake was doing fine, it had risen and looked good.  When I checked it about 20 minutes after I had lowered the tempurature….disaster!  The middle had collapsed!  What in the world?  I started racking my brain, did I beat it too much/hard?  Oh I added food coloring paste at the end and it may not have blended that well, was that it?  Ugh, this is what happens when your stomach has no carbs and takes over in a panic demanding cake.  I did an internet search with the query “Why did my sponge cake collapse?”  The very first hint made me realize my mistake….I had opened the oven door when I reduced the tempurate, thinking that would help get rid of some of the heat.  WRONG MOVE.  I guess sending in a rush of cold air causes sponge cakes to collapse, unless it’s more than 3/4 of the way done.  I’ll never make that mistake again.  The more I learn, the more I realize how much I don’t know.  This may be an elementary mistake to all you sponge cake makers but I’ve never been a big fan of cake until I discovered sponge cakes.  When I was little we mostly had box cakes, or bought cakes with waaaaay too much super sweet frosting.  Here’s another example of one more thing I will conquer!  My next attempt will be a Pandan Chiffon cake, similar I believe to a sponge. So… I definitely won’t be opening the oven door.

Poor cake.

We let it cool a little bit and then cut a piece.  It tasted delicious with crispy edges.  Jason loved it and kept eating.  I told him I knew how to replicate this exact cake now!  I’ll just never be taking it anywhere!   Oh and when I got on the scale this morning I had lost two pounds!  It’s working!!!!!

Excuse the deviation

I’ve started reading the Piere Hermes book and something struck me so much that I had to write it here….In the introduction, the author says two wonderful things. “Yet the simplest of desserst has a story behind it, one that is often distorted or erased over time.”  And later on “…it becomes clear that patisserie works in the same was as painting or literature – through imitation. Or, rather, through assimilation.”

I adore desserts and baking.  It thrills me to know when I bake bread that people have been doing this for centuries. To get my hands in the dough and feel that I’m part of a tradition.  To make a dessert that has been passed on through my family, your family, the internet…is a fabulous thing.  You can feel the love of creating something sweet to share.  Then you add your own twist….it may not always work out but it’s fun to try.  This is what I enjoy so much about reading blogs.  People love to share food.  When I have traveled to other countries and someone asks if I’ve eaten, I know it’s a form of welcome and my acceptance of their food, (whether I recognize what I’m eating or not!) is acceptance of them.  Blogs feel the same, we can’t eat together but we can share what we love and you might just feed your family from my recipe!

I’ve never understood the people who hold their “family” recipes secret.  I do understand that you want to be complimented on your food but it’s so self centered, self absorbed.  The highest compliment for me would be to see a recipe I had a hand in spread all over!  And it truly would only be “had a hand in”, I don’t think there are any truly “new” recipes at all.  Just variations, riffs as it were, on old classics. I try to share little tips I’ve learned along the way. Someone taught me after all, why not pass it on to make cooking easier?  Anyway, just some random musing. More food to come later…..

One more quote from the first page. “These desserts seem to have existed since the beginning of time, effortlessly traversing borders and centuries. Most of these recipes are so ancient that they are hard to date. Certain master pastry chefs have left their imprint on the recipes over the course of their long histories and are still associated with them today, but these chefs were not their actual inventors.”  Inspiring, we can leave our own little touches on these ancient recipes!

Sharing on V-Day

Tags

baking, cheesecake, creamy, dessert, pretzels, strawberry, sweet, Valentine's Day, yum

What I have learned so far about the blogging world is that people are extremely generous with their recipes and advice.  So in honor of Valentine’s Day and to spread love everywhere I can I am posting a wonderful strawberry cheesecake that was kindly shared by Donna over at Sugared Pecan (You will go directly to the recipe from that link and her great blog).  Oh and did I mention that this has a pretzel crust?!  That idea was genius Donna.

Not only did I make this for me and my sweetie to enjoy but I have a friend at work who’s birthday is on Valentine’s day so the slice that is missing in my picture is hers!

Oh what a fabulous cheesecake!

I followed the directions exactly (rare for me!) except…..I had to leave before it was done so I set the oven to shut off automatically. Poor planning on my part but I wanted it to be done for Valentine’s Day. Anyway, it sat in the still warm oven for probably 1/2 hour or so before I could remove it.  It didn’t affect the taste at all, just the appearance.  As you can see the strawberry hearts sunk a bit.  Go look at her pictures for perfection!   My mother recently emailed my grandmother’s cheesecake recipe to me,  I haven’t had it in years, so I will have to make it soon and compare it to this one.  This one is amazing so…..Actually it will probably be awhile before I make grandma’s as cheesecake is so rich.

Poached Pear souffle a la Tartlette

Tags

baking, creamy, dessert, food, gluten free, pear, souffle, sweet, yum

I found a wonderful blog http://www.tarteletteblog.com She has the most delicio looking desserts on there, plus some good, what I call “regular” food recipes too.  Anyway, I was intrigued by one called a Poached Pear Almond fallen Souffle Cake I believe.  Since it’s fall and there are pears everywhere, I had to try it.  Here is the recipe and then my results.

Poached Pear And Almond Fallen Souffle Cakes:

Makes 6

She did not remove the center, seeds etc so I didn’t either.
For the poached pears:
6 mini d’Anjou pears, peeled (I used 4 d”Anjou and 2 Bartlett)
1/2 cup  sugar
2-3 cloves
2-3 cardamom pods (I used about /21 tsp ground cardamom)
1 stick cinnamon
5-6 allspice berries
1-2 star anise
1/2 lemon
4 cups (1 liter) water

For the cakes:
3 tablespoons (40gr) unsalted butter, at room temperature
1/2 cup (100gr) sugar
2 eggs
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
3/4 cup (190ml) heavy cream
1 cup ground almonds

1/4 cup (40gr) sorghum flour (I used 1/4 cup all purpose flour)
1 teaspoon baking powder

Prepare the pears:
Place the pears, spices, lemon and water in tall saucepan and bring to a boil over medium high heat. Lower the heat and let them simmerfor 15-20 minutes or until the pears are just soft (poke with a toothpick to check).
Remove from the water using a slotted spoon and allow to cool on paper towel or baking rack.

Prepare the cakes:
Preheat the oven to 350F and position a rack in the middle.
Slightly butter or spray 6 ramekins and place them on a baking sheet. Set aside.
In the bowl if an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the butter and sugar on medium speed until light and fluffly (about 3 minutes). Add the eggs, one a time and beat well in between each addition. Reduce the speed to low and add the vanilla, heavy cream, almonds, flour and baking powder and beat until incorporated. Fill each ramekins about 1/3 full with the batter and place a poached pear in the center.
Bake for 25-30 minutes.

Just out of the oven

I had no ramekins so I had to rush out and get these.

The pears smelled heavenly as they were poaching and I was so excited to finish this.  I wonder if there are any uses for the leftover poaching liquid cause it seemed such a shame to throw it away. It smelled drinkable!  I might try reducing it to a syrup and pouring it over these before serving.  I made the batter, added it to the ramekin, popped a pear in each one and into the oven they went.

So the verdict:  They taste wonderful, the insides seemed a little undercooked but the tops were too brown to allow more cooking.  The texture reminded me of a type of halvah they make in Greece which is more like a cake than the paste that the Persians make.  A bit grainy which might mean I need to process the almonds longer.  I think next time (and there will be a next time) I will change the almond and flour mix to have more flour.  I didn’t end up making a syrup because we couldn’t wait to try them. Jason would have eaten them all in one sitting if I didn’t restrain him!

Don't they look sinfully good?

Pavlova by any other name

Tags

chocolate, creamy, dessert, food, gluten free, idea, Merengue, pavlova, sweet, yum

I recently came across an amazing baking blog.  Mostly cakes to be specific. You can find the link below and if you have any interest in cakes I highly suggest you go now…I’ll wait….see you in a few days!  http://sweetapolita.com/  There are so many amazing cakes to try and recreate and I don’t even like cake that much!  But this one  here  was too much. I couldn’t wait.  Especially when some friends invited us to dinner and asked me to bring the dessert.  Me, bring a dessert?  I think I can manage that. 

Pavlova!

 

 As usual I did make some changes so I will write the recipe as I did it and if you want the original, go to the link above.  One thing I was forced to change was the use of marscapone cheese. I couldn’t find it in my local store and really didn’t want to drive all over the place searching for it.  I can substitute of course. I used cream cheese mixed with some sour cream and heavy cream. (I’ll write it in the ingredients, never fear.)  

So Christmas… it was quiet, drama free and filled with stuff I like.  We didn’t go down to LA to be with my family for once.  I thought I would be more sad but it turned out well.  We spent Christmas Eve eating with some friends, turkey, stuffing etc and a to die for Upside Down Pineapple cake that I’m gonna have to remember to get the recipe for.  But the actual day was spent watching Marlon Brando “On the Waterfront”,  a Chinese Movie that was great, I’ll think of the name in a minute.  I made a fantastic chicken/vegetable with dumplings soup that I’m worried I’ll never be able to recreate.  I have to start writing the impromptu things down. Oh yes, the Chinese movie was called “The Stool Pigeon” and I give it two thumbs up.  Totally story driven, set in modern Hong Kong and just what you want in a movie…unless you can’t stand violence cause all Chinese movies seem to have some violence these days.  The Koreans are the Kings of violence though. Great bloody movies with interesting stories!  But you might ask, how can I like violence when I love dessert so much?  As if the two can’t go together?  It’s some strange thing in my DNA that enjoys the sweet with the brutal.

 

Stool Pigeon

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

So this cake isn’t even really a classic cake. There is no flour so if you have friends with gluten allergies this is perfect!  It’s layers of merengue, cream and chocolate.  Oh by the way, I halved the original recipe, next time I will do the full thing.

  On to the merengue:

 

6 egg whites (at room temperature)

1 1/4 cups superfine sugar aka casters’ sugar

a pinch of salt

 

You must beat the egg whites with the salt until the eggs get foamy, add the sugar slowly and beat until the mixture is glossy and stiff.  This is a hard stage to judge, at least for me it was. I was very paranoid because I know it needs to be stiff peaks (but how stiff!?!) and I also know you can over beat and end up on the other side, somehow….I don’t know what this other side looks like and I don’t want to find out!  Here is a picture of where I stopped.  I think next time I will dare to go a bit further.

 

 

Is this glossy or stiff? Enough?!?

  

 

Meanwhile, the oven should be heated to 250 degrees.  Place parchment paper on 2 cookie sheets and make 6 inch circles on the parchment.  You don’t want the the pencil marks to actually touch the merengue so turn the paper over.  Scoop out the merengue onto the sheets and spread inside the circles, it should be about 1 inch or more thick.  I made three circles out of it.  Her recipe said to cook for 2 1/2 hours?!?!!  I did not do it.  I cooked for 1 hours 20 minutes and then left them in the oven with the temp off and the door open to let them cool on their own.

 

circles of fluff!

 

 Now you can make the creamy filling/topping. I used 1/2 package of cream cheese mixed with 2 Tb sour cream and 1/8 cup of heavy cream.  Mix together well and you will have a good substitute for marscapone, or use real marscapone…it’s all up to you.  In a separate bowl I creamed 1/2 cup (plus a dash or two more) of heavy cream with 1 1/2 Tb sugar and about 1 1/2 tsp of vanilla paste (which I recently purchased and like alot, its more liquid than paste and has vanilla seeds in it)  Beat together until the cream is thick, fold in the cheese mixture.

 

 

 

Now we can work on the chocolate ganache.  I feel so elegant when I say ganache.  I always put an accent on it.  A snobby accent.  Say it… Ganache. If you say it too many times it sounds strange though.   Put 9 ounces of chocolate in a bowl. I used a combination of chips and a big chunk I bought. If you use a big chunk, make sure you shave it into small meltable size chunks.  In a saucepan, bring 1 cup heavy cream just to a boil.  If you watch the top of the cream you will see funny things happen and you’ll be able to tell when it’s about to boil.  Don’t let it completely come to a boil or it will boil over the top of the pan quickly. Danger.  Danger of being burnt by hot cream.  Not what you want to happen during a desert making experience.  Pour the cream immediately into the bowl with chocolate and whisk until combined.   If you have time wait for it to cool, if you don’t have much time, put it in the fridge to cool.  You want it to be a bit thick and stay on the cream where you put it. 

 

You can see the cream in the pan, ready to boil!

 

Now it’s time to construct your layers.  I put some ganache on the plate so the merengue wouldn’t slide around as I had to take it in the car to my friends house.  Layer merengue, cream and chocolate.  I also put it in the fridge during dinner to make sure it set as my merengue layers looked a little lopsided. 

 

 

  

This dessert is so amazing that it needs it’s own name.  A name that embodies the crunchy, creamy, chocolatey, melt in your mouthness that is this dessert.  Maybe “Born under a Bad Sign” or “Bad Moon Rising”?  For some reason I feel like a blues song fits this dessert. Or!  I’ve got it!  Brutally Sweet!!!  I am open to suggestions….

 

It didn't last long after this.

 

Now I have a German Chocolate cake to make for a birthday and then……diet!  

Do you Hum Bao? Cause I totally do…

Tags

Chinese steamed buns, dinner, hum bao, Pork, savory, snack, yum

Oh Hum Bao…fluffy balls of goodness. Sounds kinda dirty don’t it?  I’m talking about the Chinese Steamed Buns here, filled with all manner of yummy. The first time I tried one I wasn’t really impressed. The second time? Hooked, totally and completely hooked.  Luckily, or not, I can’t get a decent one near me unless I go down to Chinatown…oh excuse me, the International disctrict.  I don’t know if they call it that for politically correct reasons or out of some misplaced desire for homogenity. It’s Chinatown for God’s sake. The shops? Chinese, the restaurants? Chinese. The people? Chinese (mostly). At my favorite Dim Sum place (don’t ask me the name, it’s in Chinese, I just know the street it’s on) the servers don’t speak English. Well…..maybe a Chinese version of English. Last time I asked “Oh, what’s in that?” The lady went back to the kitchen (with her cart) and came back and said….something…maybe pork…and some other words. So now I just eat it and try to figure it out. Except the Chicken feet. My friends consider me a daring eater but I don’t like the idea of everyone in the place looking at me with a chicken foot sticking out of my mouth…cause you have to gnaw on them.  So it’s vanity that stops me…..

But I digress…. as usual.  And yeah, there is a Vietnamese section up the road from the Chinese section but I haven’t explored that yet. I always get stuck in Chinatown, usually in a bakery. But just to press my point. There is nothing International about that district. Maybe it’s a fusion of Asian cultures (maybe) but there are no Russian piroshky, no Greek shops, no…Brazilian food.

Hum Bao...by me!

I never thought about making these at home…until I did….think about it.  INTERNET SEARCH!  Lots of different versions, so I picked the easiest one.  Now the great part about these is you can fill them with anything. I mean BBQ pork is probably the most common but it’s really up to you. You can do curry chicken, chicken mushroom green onion, a vegetarian version.  In fact, I had one once….oh I still remember, it was MASSIVE.  It was filled with meat of some kind, sausage and there was even an egg inside, hard boiled egg!

This recipe calls for yeast!  Yeast and breads scare me, I feel like they are difficult.  Most homemade bread I’ve had is dense and kinda chewy, NOT appealing.

Yeast primer type thingy

So first you mix 1 Tb yeast (I used one packet that you can get in any grocery store)

1 ts sugar, 1/4 cup flour and 1/4 cup warm water. Let it sit for about 1/2 hour.

Then you have to knead, but how much?  that’s the trick! And there are tricks to this. Luckily I had just read a book “Baking Artisan Pastries & Breads” by Ciril Hitz. Good thing I did. He has pictures in there that show a properly “worked” dough in his troubleshooting section. Under techniques there are pictures that show a window test that you can do to tell if your dough is “fully developed”.  It helped…alot.  I don’t have a kitchenaid mixer (not that I don’t want one but I’m cheap!) so I did this all by hand and one thing I can tell you is the dough feels different after kneading for awhile. It gets smoother and kinda silky. I’m pretty sure this is the stage you want to get to. I also read online somewhere that if you are kneading bread dough by hand it’s almost impossible to overwork. That your hands will get tired before that happens….cause that was a fear too, “overworking” the dough….so complicated!

From the book so you have an idea what to look for.

So after your yeast sits for half an hour, add 1/2 cup warm water, 1 1/2 cup flour, 1/4 ts salt, 2 Tb sugar and 1 Tb vegetable oil.

Mix together and then knead on a floured surface until it’s smooth and you can do the window test. See above.  It’s kinda fun actually. Then you put the dough in a bowl that has been greased on the bottom & sides. ( I used vegetable oil)  You then cover it and leave it to rise for about 2 1/2 – 3 hours! Yes hours!

If you know me, which you probably don’t, you will know that I have a problem following directions. I don’t do it on purpose but I’m usually so excited about making something that I’ll skim through the recipe and then go!  Hey at least I make sure I have all the ingredients first….usually.  Anyway, I get to the 3 hours part and it’s about 6:30pm now and I wanted these for dinner, tonight.  So we had my fallback, rice, kidney beans & cheese.  It’s quick, easy and tasty (we haven’t gotten sick of it yet!)

The start

After 3 (!) hours.

Now the crazy part!  You punch this, yes I said punch!  AND it deflates!  AND that’s what you want!  Then you put it on a floured surface and knead it some more.  AND…if you’re me…you decide that you really want to go to bed soon and don’t want to finish this tonight.  But you don’t know if you can stop in the middle and refrigerate the dough and pick up again tomorrow after work.  Can you put dough in the refrigerator?  In the middle of the process?  INTERNET SEARCH (I love the internet! YES I know there is alot of false info and duplicate info out there, I’ve been doing this a long time now.) The answer is YES!!!!!! Wrap it tightly in plastic and use in within at least 48 hours. AWESOME!!!!

Day Two…

Pork

I chose BBQ pork…kinda.  Not the usual Chinese style BBQ pork you find in these.  Some leftover pork shoulder that I had made a ketchup, brown sugar, cayenne pepper-ish sauce for.  So as you can see above, you flatten out circles of dough, put your filling in the center and wrap the dough around it. Pinching the top together. Meanwhile you take a wok (or any pan I suppose) put a little bit of water and a steamer tray in it and start it on a low simmer. You don’t want water splashing up onto the buns.  Arrange the buns on the tray (if you have a bamboo steamer that would be super traditional and great….I don’t have one. There are so many things I still need to have a proper kitchen.)

I put too many in. No overcrowding!

Mine were shoving and pushing each other! I had to take some out and leave them room to expand. Cover and let steam for about 15 minutes.  How do you know if they are done?  I have no idea. I just took one out and cut into it and it was perfect!!!!!  SERIOUSLY, I was so impressed with my bad self.  They looked like professional steamed buns! I couldn’t get over it. Why have I been so scared of trying to make bread, yeast type things. Oh I’m unstoppable and dangerous now.  Just look!

Just look at that!

I also just had to try baking some and see what would happen.  375 for about 15 mins.  They were silly looking, they looked like aliens.  The tops kinda came off the filling.  They puffed up and these looked like a professionally baked bun too but the flavor was kinda boring.  Oh!!!!  I forgot.  The flavor of the steamed bun!  It was pretty close to the ones I get in Chinatown. I think theirs are sweeter and I wonder if they use rice flour?  Obviously I will have to make more and try different versions. But the thing that was great about the steamed ones is that they even had the skin that kinda peels off?  If you’ve ever had these you’ll know what I’m talking about. They have a little skin that you can peel away in parts.  Oh and I also forgot, you’re supposed to put them on squares of wax paper and then onto the steamer tray, but I didn’t have wax paper and if I did I probably wouldn’t want to cut it into squares.  It worked without the wax paper, a little bit stuck to the steamer tray but nothing tragic. I don’t know, it’s up to you. If you want to be safe, use the wax paper.

 Or live on the edge, don’t read the recipe all the way through, take chances.

Baked aliens.

Stripe-Ed Cauliflower

Tags

cauliflower, cheese, dinner, savory, tart, yum

Jason always makes fun of how I say Cauliflower cause I say every syllable, cau-li-flow-er.  I don’t know how else to say it!  I also like to say Strip-ed as if it’s two syllables.  It’s fun, you should try it.  So when I buy some he calls it strip-ed cau-li-flow-er. Well, I’ve been seeing cauliflower at the store lately.  I decided it was time to make this recipe and post it.

It’s a delicious roasted Cau-li-flow-er tart!

Ingredients

• 1 Cau-li-flow-er cut into about 1 inch florets
• 4 Tb olive oil
• 1 large onion cut in half and then thinly sliced so you get long pieces
• 2 large eggs
• 1/2 cup sour cream
• 1/2 cup cream cheese
• 1/2 cup milk
• 1 Tb dijon mustard
• 1/4 tsp dried mint
• 1 cup Gruyere cheese grated (you can also use swiss & I’ve used a mild Irish white cheddar too)
• salt & pepper
• 1 pie dough

Use your favorite pie dough recipe (or rather your favorite unsweetened pie dough recipe) Put it in a 9 inch pie pan, bake it at 350 for about 15-20 mins and put aside.

Random pic from the internet

Preheat oven to 425. Toss the cut Cau-li-flow-er with 2 Tb of the olive oil and salt & pepper in a bowl. Spread out on a baking sheet (covered in aluminum foil) and roast about 15 mins, turn over and roast another 15 or until tender. Some pieces will get a brown color and this is ok. Cool & slice thinly.

Cook the onion in the remaining olive oil over med low until carmalized, they should be a golden brown but not burnt and salt & pepper them.

Place the onion on the bottom of the prepared pie pan, then place the cauliflower over it.  Whisk the egg, sour cream, cream cheese, milk, mustard & mint in a bowl. Add the cheese and stir.  Pour this mixture over the cauliflower.

Bake about 25-35 minutes. The top will be golden and the center should be set.

Viola!

This dish doesn’t last long in my house.  The mint adds a very intriguing flavor that most people won’t recognize as mint.  I’ve also made it without the mint when I didn’t have any available and didn’t want to go to the store and it was just as good without.

Last piece anyone?

Comfortably Yum

Tags

apple, baking, comfort, creamy, dessert, food, peach, pink floyd, sweet, tart, yum

Apple peach comfort

Last night all I had was one Granny Smith Apple (who was granny smith anyway) and some frozen peaches. Oh and a bit of pie crust dough leftover from the pumpkin pie last week. Something had to be made but there wasn’t enough fruit for a pie or a true tart. So…..

• Roll out the dough and put in the bottom and side of a 8 inch round stoneware dish (2 inches deep)
• Cut and peel the apple and put around the bottom, sprinkle with sugar and cinnamon.
• Put the peach slices over the apples.
• Beat together 3 egg yolks, 3/4 cup sour cream, 3/4 cup sugar and 1/4 cup flour.
• Pour over the top and bake at 350 for an hour.
• Take out of the oven and brush some peach jelly over the top.

It is so delicious. The tartness of the apple with the sweetness of the peach is just wonderful and the creaminess of the filling adds the touch of comfort.