Ok I admit it, I procrastinate. But it was worth the wait. I have been cooking up a storm, mostly sweet treats, and here they are, for your cooking spender.
Posted in Uncategorized
November was super busy and I enjoyed a lovely 10 days in Mexico. It’s finals season so that has contributed to my cooking delinquency. However, the final project in my Social Entrepreneurship class is pitching my organic bakery concept, Patisserie Carbon. So with that in mind, I’ve been making cupcakes, like crazy.
I got these cute little mini muffin tins so that I can feed my whole class on my batch of cupcakes and people can taste both flavors without feeling guilty. I made vegan chocolate cupcakes, with a raspberry jam filling and a fluffy vanilla icing. I also made gingerbread cupcakes with a caramel butter cream icing. Of course everything is made with organic ingredients.
For the chocolate cake I used an old recipe from war times. It amazing me how good this tastes for being vegan, really.
Vegan Chocolate Cupcakes
1-1/2 c unbleached white flour
1/2 c unsweetened cocoa powder
1 t baking soda
1/2 t salt
1 c sugar
1/2 c vegetable oil
1 c brewed coffee
2 t pure vanilla extract
2 T vinegar
1. Preheat the oven to 375-degrees.
2. Mix together the flour, cocoa, baking soda, salt and sugar into a large bowl.
3. In a 2-cup measuring cup, measure and mix the oil, water (or coffee), and vanilla. Slowly and gently pour the liquid ingredients into the bowl and mix the batter with a whisk.
4. When the batter is smooth, add the vinegar and stir quickly. There will be pale swirls (and some bubbling) in the batter where the baking soda and vinegar are reacting. Stir just until the vinegar is evenly distributed throughout the batter (the color becomes more consistent throughout).
5. Pour batter into a lined muffin tin and bake for 25 minutes–testing with a toothpick. Remove to a cooling rack and frost.
Vegan Vanilla Icing
2 c shorting (transfat free)
6 c powdered sugar
1 T vanilla extract
¼ c soymilk
Beat all ingredients on low, then high with an electric mixer, until fluffy.
Gingerbread Cupcakes (Courtesy of Bobby Flay and The Food Network)
1 3/4 c all-purpose flour
1 t baking powder
3/4 t baking soda
1/4 t salt
1 T ground ginger
2 t ground cinnamon
1/4 t ground cloves
1/2 stick unsalted butter, melted
3/4 c brown sugar
2 large eggs
6 T black strap molasses
3/4 c water
1. Pre-heat the over to 3:50 degrees.
2. Mix all the dry ingredients and set aside.
3. In an electric mixer, bead the butter, brown sugar, eggs and molasses will well blended.
4. Gradually add the dry ingredients and water, alternating to form a thick batter.
5. Pour the batter into muffin tins with paper liners and bake for at least 20 minutes, checking doneness with a toothpick.
6. Cool on a wire rack and frost.
Caramel Butter Cream Icing
1 c sugar
½ c heavy cream
2 sticks butter
2.5 oz margarine
3 large egg whites
1-1/2 c sugar
1 T vanilla Extract
1. Heat the cup of sugar on medium high heat in a heavy bottom pan. The sugar will met and caramelize, take the sugar off of the heat and swirl the pan to make sure that all crystals dissolve and that the sugar doesn’t get too dark or burn.
2. Pour the cup of cream into the sugar and let it continue to cook. After 10 minutes, stir to pull the sugar off of the bottom of the pan and continue to cook so that the mixture thickens. Take it off the heat and set it aside to cool.
3. Beat the butter and margarine together on high, till fluffy, with an electric mixer, set aside.
4. In a heat proof metal bowl, over simmer water, like a double boiler, wish the egg whites and remaining sugar. The sugar crystals will dissolve and the mixture will get thing and turn white. Be careful not to cook the eggs.
5. Wisk the vanilla into the egg whites.
6. Add the egg whites and the caramel to the butter mixture. Beat on high until well combined and fluffy.
7. Put the mixture into the refrigerator to cool. Stir occasionally until it is the right consistency for piping.
Posted in caramel butter cream, chocolate, cupcakes, gingerbread, vegan
My friends Sabrina, Sean and Dave and I have a new tradition of cooking Sunday dinner together. We collaborate (guys vs. girls) and take turns taking the lead. This weekend I was in charge. I had 4 duck breasts in my freezer that where begging to be eaten.
I love to cook French. I’m probably the best at making French and Cajon foods. For some reason I really embody the flavor combinations. But lately I’ve been obsessed with Vietnamese. I guess its homesickness, since I have not seen my mom in a while and I miss all of her cooking (yes she is Vietnamese). So I wanted to make a fusion Vietnamese and French duck.
At first I was going to serve the duck over rice with asparagus on the side. But I felt that white rice was just too boring. Plus Sabrina wanted to make rice pudding for desert, so potatoes where the natural choice. Have you ever had the duck confit at Les Hales restaurant? I’ve had it at both the DC location and the downtown NYC location. At the DC location it came with an amazing side of oven roasted cubed potatoes with truffles and frisée, sort of a salad. First heat the oven to 500 degrees. It is essential to have a hot oven for roasting potatoes. I cut about 10 small red potatoes into 1/4in cubes. (Yes this took a long time, about a half an hour but the oven was nice and hot afterwards.) Toss them with salt, pepper, minced garlic, thyme and olive oil. Place them on the middle rack in the oven. Wash your bunch of frisée, tear it into more bit size pieces and leave it to dry. Mix up a quick dressing for the salad. I added two tablespoons of large grain Dijon mustard to a tiny bit of balsamic dressing, but you could easily make the dressing from scratch with olive oil, red wine vinegar, shallots, salt and pepper. After 30 minutes, give your potatoes a toss and sprinkle them with a few generous tablespoons of truffle oil. Put them back in the oven for 30 minutes. Pull the potatoes out to cool, they will be nice and crispy brown. After letting them sit for 15 minutes, it should be easier to scrape them off of the bottom of the dish. Toss the potatoes with the frisée and the dressing. If you are feeling decadent, shave a black truffle into the mixture before you toss.
The critical aspect was the sauce. I basically combined two classic sauces from both cuisines. Caramelized black pepper pork is a staple Vietnamese dish and the French love a good green peppercorn cream sauce. So I combined both! Go ahead and start to make the sauce when you put the potatoes into the oven.
First off I marinated my duck breasts in a healthy amount of fish sauce. Then I started working on the sauce. Chop up half of a Vidalia onion or else 3 shallots… which ever you have on hand. In a heavy saucepan, put about 1/3 a cup of sugar on medium heat. Just let it sit there, as the sugar will turn a golden brown. If your pan is not heating evenly, you can swirl the unmelted sugar into the browning sugar. Be careful not to get it too dark or let it burn. Pull it off the heat and let it cool a tiny bit. Pour in a few tablespoons of fish sauce, it should bubble in the molten sugar. Ad about a cup of half and half, the shallots and a few tablespoons of green peppercorns (discard the brine if you have jarred peppercorns). Heat this on the stove, stirring with a wooden spoon until the sugar is dissolved from the bottom of the pot. Now let the sauce cook on medium till it gets thicker and reduces. Taste the sauce to make sure it tastes rich, not too sweet and is salty enough. It helps to squish the peppercorns with the back of the spoon to release some of their flavor.
Cooking the duck breast is really easy. Heat a heavy non-stick skillet on the stove top, on medium-high. A cast iron skillet works really well. Place the breasts in the pan skin side down. After 7 minutes check to see that the skin is caramelizing nicely. Once the skin is a golden brown, flip the breast (there will be tons of fat in the pan from the melting fat under the skin) and place a thermometer into one of them, at the thickest part, from the side for maximum surface area. Once the breasts hit 150 degrees, turn the heat off and let the breasts slowly reach 165. Once they hit that, move the breasts to a cutting board to rest for 5 minutes and then slice them.
Sabrina quickly balanced some asparagus and then tossed them in a quick garlic lemon zest butter.
To plate, heap on a generous portion of the potatoes, neatly lay out some asparagus spears and fan out several pieces of the breast. Spoon two generous tablespoons of the sauce over the breasts and serve with a good French style pinot noir.
Its finally cold here in New York and for some reason I now want to eat hot and spicy foods. It doesn’t hurt if they are slow cooked and rich in flavor either.
Finely chop one medium to large sweet white onion. Throw that into a large pot with a few drizzles of olive oil and a sprinkling of salt. Sautee the onion on medium. Finely chop one large red pepper and several cloves of garlic. Add both to the pot with the onions and continue to cook, stirring occasionally, till everything is clear and cooked down. Be careful not to burn or brown the veggies. Once the veggies are fully cooked and soft, add in two pounds of ground beef. Sprinkle with salt, pepper, garlic powder, lots of cumin and a bit of cinnamon, cloves and all spice. Stir and break up the meat. Once the meat has totally broken apart, add in one small can of tomato sauce and one medium can of chopped tomatoes. Add in two bay leaves, a dash of sugar and about a half a cup of water and cook on medium till the chili mixture cooks down and turns a much richer deep brown.
Once you have you filling, it is time to make the tacos. With a beef filling I like to fill my tortillas with chopped romaine lettuce, some fresh tomato salsa, avocado, cheddar cheese and some sort of hot sauce. I really like chipotles.
Ok so there where some problems with the lasagna. There where too many competing flavors and the crab was too dry. Next time I’d actually mix the crab meat like I would mix up some crab cake balls. Layer that with the noodles, bechemel and cheese and call it a day! Enjoy!
Posted in crab, Italian, lasagna, mushroom, red bell pepper
I have no idea how it happened but I have 3 boxes of lasagna pasta in my kitchen. I guess I just have a tendency to buy ingredients on the fly in the supermarket without checking what I have in stock. I’m an inspired cook, not really a planner. As you have figured out by now, I don’t follow recipes.
Ok so my white lasagna really has a béchamel sauce base. That is the secret. It is subtle and most people don’t notice it. It is truly an amazing and rich addition and ties it all together.
So there are three basic elements to this dish, the pasta, the sauce and then the fillings. The first thing you want to do is make the ricotta and spinach filling. I love fat free organic ricotta. It makes a rich addition but is still healthy. The ricotta I buy comes in 1 pound containers, so you want to take half of it and mix it with an egg, sat and pepper and Italian seasonings. Sometimes I add a sprinkle of nutmeg just to heighten the flavor. Now take a package of chopped frozen spinach. You should defrost it and wring out ALL of the water, first, before adding it to the ricotta mixture. Now you have a great filling that is cheese, flavorful and chocked full of healthy spinach. Next make the other fillings. Today I’m going to use crabmeat, but I’ve also done this with sautéed chicken chunks. Just lightly season the crabmeat with salt and pepper and garlic. Drain a large jar of roasted red peppers and set that aside. For the final filling, sauté a ton of sliced mushrooms in a bit of olive oil, salt and pepper and garlic. Now you have 4 amazing fillings.
On to the sauce! In a large pan melt ½ stick of butter. Add some flour and make a rough. Pour in half a quart of milk, little but little, whisking as you go. Now sprinkle in a ton of garlic powder and parsley (fresh or dried). Sprinkle a bit of salt and pepper and some Italian seasoning. As that starts to simmer, you want to keep whisking so that no lumps form. Keep cooking it till it turns into a nice thick sauce. Since we are using crab, and I always put a touch of honey cup mustard in my crab cakes, I’m think it would be a nice tangy addition to this sauce. Whisk in one or two tablespoons to taste. At the end, stir in a bit of parmesan cheese and set this aside.
Now we just need to boil the noodles and assemble. Boil up a small box of lasagna noodles. You can figure out how many it will take to fill one layer of your pan. You are going to need between 3 and 4 layers of pasta.
Ok put a tiny bit of sauce all over the bottom of the dish. Lay down your first level of noodles. Always start with the ricotta filling first. Then you can layer on the crab, mushrooms and peppers and finish with more sauce and mozzarella cheese before you put on the next layer of noodles. Keep doing this till you run out of all ingredients except for sauce and mozzarella cheese. On top of the last layer of noodles you should pack on the leftover sauce and mozzarella cheese. Top that with some grated parmesan cheese and sprinkle with herbs. Now put this all in the over, covered with foil, for at least an hour. At the last minute, you want to remove the foil so that the top can brown. Enjoy!
Posted in crab, Italian, lasagna, mushroom, red bell pepper
I live in NYC and I have had a mouse. I’m insanely clean. Bordering on OCD. So really the mouse just runs around looking for food but it is all in vain. Regardless, I’m on a campaign to eat everything I have in the house to make sure there will never been anything to attract these little suckers. I have a bag of organic brown sticky short grain rice. I was going to use it to experiment with brown risotto, but have yet to.
I took about a cup of the rice and I’m now making soy rice pudding out of it. God, why am I compelled to bake? I guess it is ultimately because I have a huge sweet tooth. So I simmered the rice covered with some water just to get it started. Then I added some milk, sugar and cinnamon. Then I simmered the rice mixture till it got thick and absorbed the milk. At the end I finished it off with a splash of vanilla. Fantastic and impossible to screw up!
Soy Rice Pudding
1 cup brown short grain rice
1/2 cup water
2-3 cups soy milk
1 cup sugar
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 tablespoon vanilla
pinch of salt
Place the rice and water into a sauce pot and cook on medium heat till the water is boiling. Stir the rice on the heat until the water is absorbed. Add the milk, sugar and cinnamon and keep cooking until the liquid is all absorbed and the pudding is thick. Total cooking time will probably be about 30-45 minutes. Remove the rice from the heat, add the vanilla and salt and stir before serving.
Posted in pudding, rice, rice pudding, soy, vanilla
Cookies
Yesterday I had to write a venture idea for my Social Entrepreneurship class. Of course I wrote about a bakery. And to cement that, I baked a batch of cookies, cherry chocolate chip. I discovered that if I slightly modified the base for Nestle Toll House Cookies, that it could be made into anything. The key is to use organic butter and a tiny but more salt and baking soda. So I’ve done this with white chocolate and macadamia nuts, or white chocolate and lemon… I think that the sky’s the limit. The cookies where really well received, the professor alone had 5. I love it when people enjoy the things I make.
2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup (2 sticks) butter, softened
3/4 cup granulated sugar
3/4 cup packed brown sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 large eggs
2 cups (12-oz. pkg.) NESTLÉ® TOLL HOUSE® Semi-Sweet Chocolate Morsels
1 cup chopped nuts
Directions: PREHEAT oven to 375° F. COMBINE flour, baking soda and salt in small bowl. Beat butter, granulated sugar, brown sugar and vanilla extract in large mixer bowl until creamy. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Gradually beat in flour mixture. Stir in morsels and nuts. Drop by rounded tablespoon onto ungreased baking sheets. BAKE for 9 to 11 minutes or until golden brown. Cool on baking sheets for 2 minutes; remove to wire racks to cool completely.
Normally I take the time to make Chicken Marsala. I slice the chicken breasts thin, dredge them in seasoned flower and pan-fry them to a golden brown. I then remove the chicken from the pan and sauté onions, garlic and mounds of mushrooms. After covering the veggies with chicken broth and some Marsala wine, I ad back in the chicken and cook it all down to a yummy think sauced and moist chicken masterpiece. However today is October 1st and I’m on a diet. That is right, no more high fatty meats, elaborate deserts and limited alcohol. Ugh. In addition school has started up again. So I have countless hours of reading to do. Couple that with 2-hour workouts at the gym and there is just no time. So today I tried a new way of making Chicken Marsala. In a large baking dish I placed chopped onions, garlic and sliced mushrooms. Toss that with salt, pepper and a tiny bit of Italian seasoning. Sprinkle 9 chicken breasts with salt, pepper, and garlic powder. Nestle the breasts in the veggie mixture and fill the container up with chicken broth and some Marsala wine. Cover it all with foil, poke some holes for the steam, and throw it in a 350-degree oven. Hopefully it will emerge rich and moist!
So I got a 25% off coupon for Fresh Direct over the summer. I filled my freezer with meats. This weekend I defrosted the double cut lamb rib chops. This morning I marinated them in sea salt, pepper, garlic powder and olive oil. Tonight I walked them over to Sean’s and Sabrina’s house where we broke in her grill griddle. After a quick sear on either side so that the chops had beautiful color, I slid them into a 350-degree oven for ten minutes. After 5 minutes of resting, they where perfectly done, a nice rare. Since I can’t leave well enough alone, I made a chimichurri emulsion to go with them. Two bunches of cilantro, a few tablespoons of olive oil, one clove of garlic, a few splashes of vinegar, 1 tablespoon of sugar, salt and a few red pepper flakes all went into the blender. It whirled into a creamy bright green emulsion. Taste it to make sure it is the right balance. There should be a good mouth of cilantro, not too bitter (adjust salt and sugar to make sure) and there should be just enough heat from the red pepper.
Enjoy.
Posted in chimichurri, cilantro, lamb
CookFromTheHip 