Spoonfoolery!

'Tis the Year of the Dragon

2012-01-22T09:52:00.000-08:00

January 23 isChinese New Year. Time to celebrate the Year of the Dragon, a sign of goodfortune and great power. Anyone born this year should be honored and respected.So how about doing that with a nice dim-sum-oriented spread?

To me,potstickers are a Far East comfort food. There's something about a pair ofchopsticks, a chubby dumpling, and some sweet and salty dipping sauce. I reallyenjoy some crunchy crab rangoon for starters when getting Chinese take-out, butI know everyone can go without the fried-food calories this time of year. I'verevamped a longtime recipe in my arsenal to be baked in phyllo dough instead ofusing wonton wrappers and frying them. And who doesn't love a littleoriental-inspired dessert? Matcha (green tea) latte chocolate chip cupcakeswith Chinese five-spice fudge frosting wrap up your trip on the OrientalExpress nicely. So go on, celebrate the Year of the Dragon with a little honorand respect to the ultimate of Chinese comfort food gods!

Chinese Potstickers (adapted from Cooking Light)

For thedumplings:
3 cups chopped napa (Chinese) or savoy cabbage (about 4 ounces)
4 dried shiitake mushrooms (about 1 1/2 ounces
1/4 cup finely chopped green onions
2 tablespoons plus 1 teaspoon cornstarch, divided
1 1/2 teaspoons minced peeled fresh ginger
1 teaspoon sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons oyster sauce
1/8 teaspoon white pepper
5 ounces lean ground pork
5 ounces ground chicken breast
1 large egg white
48 gyoza skins
1/4 cup canola oil, divided
1 1/3 cups water, divided

For the sauce:
1 teaspoon ground ginger
2 tablespoons minced green onions
1/3 low-sodium soy sauce
3 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
2 tablespoons dry sherry
2 teaspoons oyster sauce
2 teaspoons chile puree with garlic sauce, such as Sambal Olek
2 teaspoons dark sesame oil

To preparedumplings, cook cabbage in boiling water 1 minute or until tender. Drain andrinse with cold water; drain. Cool; chop.

Place mushrooms in a small bowl; cover with boiling water. Cover and let stand30 minutes or until tender. Drain mushrooms; chop.

Combine cabbage,mushrooms, 1/4 cup green onions, 2 tablespoons cornstarch, and next 7ingredients (through egg white) in a large bowl. Cover and refrigerate 4 hours.

Working with 1gyoza skin at a time (cover remaining gyoza skins to prevent drying), spoon 2teaspoons pork mixture into center of each skin. Moisten edges of gyoza skinwith water. Fold in half, pinching edges together to seal. Place dumpling, seamside up, on a baking sheet sprinkled with remaining 1 teaspoon cornstarch(cover loosely with a towel to prevent drying). Repeat procedure with remaininggyoza skins and filling.

Heat 1 tablespoon canola oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat.Add 12 dumplings to pan; cook 3 minutes. Add 1/3 cup water. Reduce heat, andsimmer 3 minutes or until water evaporates. Repeat procedure with remainingcanola oil, dumplings, and water.

To prepare the sauce, combine all ingredients in a small bowl. Serve sauce withdumplings. You can also use prepared Gyoza Sauce or Ponzu Dipping Sauce foundin your grocer's international foods aisle. Yields 16 servings (serving size: 3dumplings and about 1 tablespoon sauce)

Phyllo Crab Rangoon (adapted from the kitchen of L. Peters)

1 8-oz packages) light cream cheese, room temperature
1 can (6 oz) lump crabmeat, drained
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1 teaspoon onion powder
cooking spray or melted butter (depending on how many calories you want tosave!)
1 roll phyllo dough (from a 2-roll package), thawed

Combine the cream cheese and crabmeat and mix until smooth. Add salt, garlic,and onion powder. Unroll phyllo dough and follow this tutorial if you've never made phyllo triangles before. Placetriangles on parchment-lined cookie sheet and bake at 350 for 15 minutes oruntil golden brown. Allow to cool 5 minutes before serving. Serve with sweetand sour sauce or soy sauce. Makes 24 appetizers.

Green Tea Latte Chocolate Chip Cupcakes

1 1/3 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
8 tablespoons (1 stick) butter, room temperature
1 cup sugar

1/4 cup Trader Joe's Matcha Latte Mix
2 eggs, room temperature
1/2 cup milk, room temperature
1/2 teaspoon almond extract
2-3 drops green food color
3/4 cup mini chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350°F. Line two 12-cup muffin tins with about 15 cupcake liners and setaside.

In a medium bowl, sift first four ingredients together and set aside. In alarge bowl, cream butter, sugar, and latte mix together with an electric mixer until lightand fluffy, about 3 minutes. Add eggs, one at a time, and mix well each time.Add dry ingredients alternately with milk in four additions (flour, milk,flour, milk) and mix until virtually no lumps (about 3-5 minutes). Add almond extractand 2-3 drops of food color. Stir to combine. Divide evenly in lined cupcake pan (no more than 2/3 full)and bake 16-18 minutes until golden or toothpick comes clean. Cool completelybefore frosting. Makes 12-15 cupcakes.

Chinese Five-Spice Chocolate Buttercream

3 3/4 cups (1 lb) powdered sugar, sifted
1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa
1 teaspoon Chinese Five-Spice Powder (pre-ground McCormick and Penzey's brands also available)
1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, room temperature
4 tablespoons milk
1 teaspoon vanilla

In a medium bowl, sift together sugar and cocoa; set aside. In a large bowl,beat butter with electric mixer until light and fluffy. Add powdered sugar,cocoa, and five-spice powder and mix to combine. Add milk and vanilla andcontinue beating until creamy. If desired, add more milk until frosting isspreading consistency. Fill a pastry bag with a large star tip and pipe on topof cupcakes or use small spatula and spread on desired amount. For a cutefortune cookie cupcake topper, follow this link.

Champagne Wishes and Sorbet Dreams

2012-01-02T11:47:00.000-08:00

Ah, the new year... A chance to purge the old and bring in the new. Typical vows to get in shape, quit eating sweets, and cook healthier meals. But if you have to break those resolutions at all, and you can at least make it to Valentine's Day before doing that, these treats will be worth veering off that path and onto a pink-treat one: pink champagne cake and raspberry prosecco (rosé) sorbet.

I love rosés, especially champagne or sparkling rosés--good, dry cavas, proseccos, and bruts. Rosé is usually considered a summer drink, but it rears its beautiful blush head this time of year in sparkling format everywhere. For these two recipes, made this past weekend to celebrate ringing in 2012, I used Gruet Brut Rosé ($15.99 at Whole Foods). We had this a few years ago for NYE dinner out on the town, and it really fits the bill. Don't cheapen out when baking with champagne. It's well worth getting the good stuff, since alcohol notoriously bakes off in the process. And although the sorbet recipe calls for prosecco, I went ahead and used more brut rosé, since it's what I had on hand for the cake, and it definitely made both dishes. Plus, by using some for the cake and some for the sorbet, it leaves you with just enough to enjoy a glass while baking! ;-)

Rosé Champagne Layer Cake (adapted from The Boozy Baker by Lucy Baker)

2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
2 cups cake flour
4 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 1/2 sticks unsalted butter, room temperature
2 cups granulated cane sugar
6 large egg whites
2 large whole eggs
1 1/3 cups brut rosé

Preheat oven to 350°F. Butter or spray with baking spray three 9-inch round layer cake pans. Line with parchment circles and butter/spray again. Dust with flour and tap out excess.

In a medium bowl, sift together flours, baking powder, and salt. In the bowl of a stand mixer, beat the butter and sugar until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes. Add egg whites and eggs and beat until smooth, about another 2 minutes. Alternately add the flour mixture with the rosé, beginning and ending with the flour mixture, beating well after each addition.

Divide batter evenly among prepared cake pans. (I used about 2 1/2 cups of batter per pan and then had extra batter for some cupcakes.) Bake 28-30 minutes, or until toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.

Cool cakes for 15 minutes in their pans, and then remove them and allow to cool completely on wire rack before filling and frosting. Fill with cream cheese frosting, mixed with 2 tablespoons pink sanding sugar and 2 tablespoons strawberry vanilla sugar, and frost with Swiss meringue buttercream (plus a few drops of pink food coloring). I also used India Tree Oyster Pearls along with plain vanilla buttercream for piping the decor on top and down the sides, for a "bubbly" effect.

Makes one three-layer 9-inch cake (12-15 servings) plus about a half dozen cupcakes, or one three-layer 10-inch cake (20-24 servings) with no extra batter. Serve at room temperature with raspberry rosé sorbet.

Raspberry Rosé Sorbet (adapted from The Craft of Baking by Karen DeMasco and Mindy Fox)

1/2 cups fresh raspberries
1 cup plus 3 tablespoons sugar
3/4 cup water plus 1 1/2 cups water
1 1/2 cups prosecco or rosé

Gently mash together raspberries and 3 tablespoons of sugar in a bowl to macerate. Cover and let stand at room temperature for 1 hour or refrigerate overnight.

In a small saucepan, combine the remaining 1 cup sugar with 3/4 cup water. Bring to a boil, whisking to dissolve the sugar. (You are making a simple syrup.) Transfer syrup to a bowl and refrigerate until cold, about 1 hour.

Scrape the raspberries and their juice into a blender, add 1 1/2 cups cold water, and purée until smooth. Strain through a fine-mesh sieve into a bowl, pressing the purée with a spatula to extract as much liquid as possible. You should have about 3 cups of raspberry purée. Discard seeds. Add sugar syrup and prosecco or rosé to purée and stir to combine.

Freeze in an ice cream maker according to manufacturer's directions. Due to the alcohol, it may still be slushy after churning. Transfer sorbet to an airtight container and freeze until ready to serve. Makes 1 quart.

It's German'S Chocolate Cake, People!

2011-11-24T12:27:00.000-08:00

I have this theory that the type of frosting on a cake is what truly makes the cake, not so much the cake itself. I think red velvet cake as one of them. My theory is that people love the cream cheese frosting more than anything. And maybe the color... But there's really not enough cocoa in the recipe to make it a chocolate cake, so I have to laugh out loud when people try to qualify it as one. There are only two ounces per two layers' worth of batter!

The other cake I think is really made by its frosting is German Chocolate Cake. Or really German's Chocolate Cake. Many of you have probably heard the story by now. It was never really chocolate cake invented by the Germans. This link tells the rather humorous story of its come-about and how it went from being a recipe developed by a man named German to actually being considered German. And the original recipe from Baker's provides both the cake recipe and the complementary coconut pecan frosting, which is another topping that, in my opinion, makes the cake. When all is said and done, it's kind of a very basic, "barely there" sort of chocolate cake. It's that flavor carnival called coconut pecan frosting that's really (forgive the overuse of cliche) the icing on the cake!

I've tried out several different from-scratch recipes for coconut pecan frosting, all egg-based and a whole lot of work because you're building from a custard. None of them really turn out like I need them to... Most are too runny and make moving the cake for delivery very hard. Since I move this kind of cake on a regular basis, I need a more stable frosting. Also, a lot of folks hosting parties don't have room in the refrigerator by the time the cake arrives. It's so packed with party fixings, they can't make room for a three-layer monstrosity that might need refrigeration because of a dairy- or egg-based frosting. With your various holiday gatherings taking place near and far, you don't want a mudslide in the backseat before you get there!

So I've come across this great vegan recipe that holds together like a dream and is fine for situations lacking refrigeration. Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World is an excellent source for lots of vegan cake and frosting recipes, but its Coconut Pecan Fudge Frosting is the real winner in the book. I'm not really sure why it's called "fudge" frosting though, as there's no sign of chocolate in the recipe anywhere. Typo maybe? Who knows... But seriously, it's so good, you can eat it with a spoon. It totally makes the cake!

Coconut Pecan Fudge Frosting (adapted from Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World)

1/2 cup rice milk
1/4 cup arrowroot or cornstarch
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 cups coconut milk
2 cups brown sugar
3 cups shredded unsweetened coconut
1 cup pecans, coarsely chopped
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 tablespoons whiskey or bourbon

Whisk rice milk, arrowroot/cornstarch, and salt in a small bowl and set aside. In a heavy-bottom saucepan over medium heat, stir together coconut milk and brown sugar. Cook, stirring occasionally, until mixture starts to boil. Turn heat down to low and cook, stirring occasionally, for 5 minutes. Whisk rice milk mixture once more and then slowly pour it into the coconut milk mixture, stirring continuously to incorporate.

Stir mixture continuously until it darkens again and gets very thick and smooth, about 6-7 minutes. Remove from heat and beat in vanilla, whiskey, pecans, and coconut. Stir until everything is completely combined. Cool to room temperature before frosting cake. Makes enough to cover a three-layer 8- or 9-inch cake.

Liquered Up

2011-08-15T14:09:00.000-07:00

As if I didn't already make enough things from scratch around here, I have now decided to take on homemade liqueurs. They're not difficult, just a little time-consuming, in that you have to wait a month or two to consume!

I have been fascinated with limoncello since a good friend of mine in St. Louis had me sample some on a night on the town. It is very much a special-occasion thing to me and worth every second of the immediate buzz I get upon the first few sips! The recipe below is outstanding and quite worth the wait as well (it needs about a month "stewing" time). Go ahead and splurge for the fancy hand-made gnocchi or ravioli at your local gourmet shop when your limoncello is ready to go. It'll be one of the best dinners and after-dinner drinks you've ever made.

At a recent get-together, Zesty Lemon recently graced me with the presence of his homemade amaretto. I won't divulge his recipe, since it came from a friend of his, but I can pass this one along that he sent me after our evening hanging out. This one uses real almonds and takes a little more time than the limoncello, but if it's anything like the speedy version he gave me, it's got to be good!

Last but not least, I highly recommend the book Infused: 100+ Recipes for Infused Liqueurs and Cocktails. Unfortunately, it's out of print, so it's only available used. I did find it at my local library, but then realized I was copying so many recipes, I figured I might as well buy it. It does use the same general rule of thumb throughout, which is a certain percentage of fruit, vegetable, or essence to a certain amount of alcohol, so maybe you won't really need the whole book once you've made a few.

Or maybe you think I'm insane that I'd take on the task of liqueur-making with everything else I insist on not purchasing ready-made. Isn't pie crust, buttercream, and granola from scratch enough?

Limoncello

Adapted from A Table in the Tarn: Living, Eating and Cooking in Rural France, by Orlando Murrin

5 lemons
4 1/4 cups vodka
1 3/4 cups water
1 cup sugar
5-6 clean 12-oz bottles

Rinse the lemons and soak them overnight in cold water. Drain and dry. Zest the lemons using a vegetable peeler, zester, or grater. (I used a vegetable peeler, making half-inch-wide strips and breaking those into 2-inch pieces.)

Stuff the zest into a 1.5-liter bottle. Pour the vodka into the bottle, seal, and shake well. Leave for a month in a dark, dry place, and shake once a week.

Heat water and sugar on medium-high heat until dissolved. Boil 1 minute and allow to cool (you are making a simple syrup). Pour vodka out of 1.5-liter bottle into bowl, and mix in simple syrup. Using a funnel and strainer, strain into clean bottles. Seal tightly and store in freezer. Shake well before serving. Serving size: 1 oz. Makes two 750-ml bottles or about 5 1/2 12-oz bottles for gift-giving!

We Are All Probably Screaming for Ice Cream Right About Now...

2011-06-07T11:17:00.000-07:00

Chicago just went from cloudy, rainy, damp, and 40-something to hot, humid, and 90--in about a week. That's nothing new around here, a city that can see a 40-degree spread in a single day. But I've gone a little crazy lately with making ice cream and sorbet in order to debunk the heat, and I need to share the fun!

If you don't have a countertop ice cream machine, now would be a great time to get one. Most quality brands are $50 to $70 for the season, and many companies are offering rebates right now. I own both a Cuisinart 1-1/2-quart Ice Cream and Sorbet Maker and the freezer attachment for my Kitchen Aid stand mixer. Both work really well and require only an overnight freeze of the mixing bowl. If you have a deep freeze or chest freezer, you can just store your freezer bowls in there all the time. Unfortunately, I cannot report on the old-fashioned ice-and-rock-salt electric or hand-crankers, as I've never worked with one, but I highly recommend a small electric one if you have the cabinet or counter space. They're affordable little workhorses (I've had my Cuisinart for more than 10 years), and you can purchase additional freezer bowls so that there's always one frozen and ready to go, making it easy to freeze multiple flavors at a time. It has recently gone through a redesign, and Cuisinart has also since introduced a 2-quart version, which I highly recommend. Most ice cream recipes, especially when adding mix-ins, tend to "enlarge" through the churning process, and so it's nice to have the extra bowl capacity. The Kitchen Aid attachment is pricier, but for those of you who already have a 4- to 6-quart stand mixer parked on the countertop, it's nice to just be able to purchase an attachment instead of a whole new machine. Please note though, with small electric makers and attachments, ice cream requires an additional setting time in the freezer for a couple of hours or overnight. I have heard from ice-and-rock-salt owners that you can eat it right out of the bucket when churned. Just know that those machines require purchasing the special salt and having lots of ice on hand to get started.

My favorite books on the subject include The Ultimate Ice Cream Book: Over 500 Ice Creams, Sorbets, Granitas, Drinks, and More, by Bruce Weinstein, and The Perfect Scoop: Ice Creams, Sorbets, Granitas, and Sweet Accompaniments, by David Lebovitz. I've actually lost count of the number of recipes I've done from the Weinstein book. Even the mix-ins (he provides sometimes up to 10 variations of several of the recipes) are amazing crowd pleasers. Favorites around here from that book include the ice creams cheesecake, corn (yes, kinda crazy but GOOD!), key lime pie, green tea, coffee, peanut butter (add some chocolate chips--he doesn't suggest it, but mini-chocolate chips are a great mix-in), peach, pumpkin, and white chocolate. And the sorbets banana, honeydew, and coconut. Weinstein provides two types: standard custard-style (heavy on the eggs, so very rich) and egg-free Philadelphia-style, which is much lighter and often has less sugar. Just a warning though... Philadelphia-style requires at least overnight in the freezer after churning, to make sure it's frozen solid enough for scooping. This most likely has to do with the lack of eggs, which provide a lot of structure and intensity to custard-style ice creams. Lebovitz's is a little more gourmet, with things like pear caramel and goat cheese, but he offers a lot more sauces, toppings, and mix-ins than the Weinstein book. Both authors take cooks through the custard making process rather efficiently, and you can churn/freeze according to your maker's manufacturer's directions. I am not as well-versed on gelato (which contains more milk than cream and is often viewed as lower in fat content as a result), and neither book really tackles that subject. I might be able to include an addendum to this entry, after I take the gelato class I enrolled in at Canady Le Chocolatier later this month. So stay tuned...

Both the Weinstein and Lebovitz books include sorbet and granita recipes, sauces, cookie recipes for making ice cream sandwiches, and lots of other ice cream accompaniments. I've been cooking out of the Weinstein book for as long as I've owned my little Cuisinart, and I'm nowhere near done with everything I could make out of it!

If you're a cone lover like I am (the extra crunch of a sugar cone really makes the treat for me), you might want to consider getting a pizzelle or waffle cone maker. You will need to purchase cone rollers (most pizzelle makers don't include them but some waffle cone makers do) in order to make cones, or you can make (rather large!) ice cream sandwiches.

I'll leave you with an absolute must this season--hot fudge sauce! This is an easy recipe that cans and freezes well, and reheats perfectly. You can even steep spices (cinnamon sticks, ginger) or herbs (lavender, basil, orange or lemon zest) in the heavy cream at the heating stage to add flavor. So go on... scream for ice cream! You deserve a cool blast this already-hot summer!

Hot Fudge Sauce

3/4 cup semisweet chocolate chips
3 tablespoons unsalted butter
1/3 cup heavy cream
2 tablespoons sugar
1/3 cup light corn syrup (Karo makes a 33% less fat version)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

In a microwave-safe container, heat the chocolate and butter in the microwave on half power in 30 second intervals until melted. Set aside to cool.

Heat cream in medium saucepan over low heat. Add sugar and corn syrup and stir until sugar dissolves completely. Add cream mixture to melted chocolate and return to pot. Continue to heat mixture over low heat, stirring constantly. Add the vanilla and serve hot. Makes about 1 cup. Can be pressure canned or frozen for later use.

The Big O

2011-05-31T10:32:00.000-07:00

Oprah, that is... The curtain's been called, the lights are out, and she's probably relaxing poolside at her mansion in California by now, but I managed to get my foot in that door before it closed by landing a spot on a baking team for one of the final shows.

For William and Kate's wedding, Oprah hosted a royal tea party, where crumpets, cookies, and William's favorite chocolate cake were served. Chef Darren McGrady, Diana's personal chef since her wedding to Charles until her death, came to town, courtesy of Oprah's peeps, and through a few highly valued connections, I got to work with him to make all the menu items for the show. My pictures from the two-day experience don't do it all justice (and unfortunately, neither did the actual episode, where he hardly got any face time with Oprah and our goods were hardly glimpsed by viewers), but as they always say, the experience is what counts. Chef Darren was so charming and full of fun stories cooking for the Queen, Queen Mum, Diana, and the boys. It was a great experience, and I think I made some connections for a lifetime. That's "The Word" in this business of who you know and how you know them!

Check out our Flickr roll for more pictures from these day(s) of thunder!

Breakfast of Champions!

2011-04-20T13:22:00.000-07:00

No, not Wheaties, but something better... Stuff that really sticks to your ribs and keeps you going until lunch. We're talking the types of breakfast foods that really truly help you get a good workout regimen going this spring and can help maintain that diet when you're back in shape.

Most manufactured cereal brands contain that dreaded HFCS anyway, so you want to really avoid those at all costs, especially when you're working out and trying to lose weight. As you can tell from our absence in Cyberspace, we were kind of fresh out of blog ideas at Spoonfoolery until I posted recently on our Facebook page, asking fans what they'd like to know. I got a resounding request for breakfast food. So here goes...

Granola and yogurt are two of the best things you can do for your body to kickstart the day. You've got protein and calcium in the yogurt, along with fruit and fiber in the granola. Most manufactured granola brands are high in fat and sugar. Try this one on for size. I've been making Cooking Light's Maple Almond Granola for years, and we love it every which by loose... In a bowl with milk, mixed in with yogurt, even sprinkled on top of ice cream! (You know, to make dessert worth something more than it really is!) I mix it up a bit each time too, using the following interesting combinations to replace the recipe's existing fruit/nut combination:

*pecans and dried cherries
*pistachios and dried cranberries
*walnuts and unsweetened banana chips
*cashews, unsweetened coconut, and dried pineapple or mango

For something you can grab and go, try the Hearty Breakfast Cookies at CDKitchen. I make them with whole wheat flour, add nuts (any kind), and even chopped cooked bacon or diced ham (if you buy prepackaged diced ham, drain in paper-towel-lined bowl overnight in your refrigerator before adding to cookie dough). These have become an integral part of our Healthy Snack lineup at the youth center where I teach, an endeavor that requires us to stay within the guidelines of a reduced sugar and fat after-school snack. And by the way, try and avoid margarine in actual baked product of any kind (this recipe suggests it, but I never use it). It contains too much water and wreaks havoc on the structure, is not as flavorful as butter, and don't even get me started on the whole trans fat thing!

Last but not least, here's a recent find that I unearthed during the last zucchini season: Low-Fat Chocolate Zucchini Muffins. These can almost pass as a cupcake, they're so rich and moist, but you're getting the power-packing benefit of a green vegetable in there, so you can feel good about the fact that you're feeding your family a chocolate muffin for breakfast! I've tried several of the mix-ins people mention, like chocolate chips (well, when you're a pastry chef, sometimes you just can't suppress your devilish nature), nuts, and even applesauce to replace the oil. All renditions turn out fine, and this recipe can be poured into a loaf pan and made into a zucchini bread as well.

There's no reason breakfast has to be boring. Be a champion, a baking champion, and make it from scratch your way, every day!

Rolling Out the Red Velvet

2011-02-25T10:37:00.000-08:00

Valentine's Day brings out all things pink and red, including everyone's lust for that indelible favorite, red velvet cake. I'm not sure what it is about it that everyone loves (with anywhere from only 2 tablespoons to maybe 1/3 of a cup of unsweetened cocoa, it's not really chocolate, but then it's not really just vanilla with red food color either), but secretly, I think it's the color plus the cream cheese frosting.

Everyone loves cream cheese frosting! It goes well with carrot cake, devil's food, lemon, and of course, red velvet. With wedding cakes, I encourage brides to go with a white chocolate or cream cheese filling so that guests can still get a little "alternative flavor" kick along with the standard wedding vanilla buttercream.

But at this time of year, you might even want to go for an alternative item on the red velvet spectrum. How about red velvet doughnuts? I pulled a recipe off Gourmet Live recently, but after some rather interesting results at home, I revamped it a bit to come up with the one below. The first few attempts were too airy and fluffy--much like a cupcake in a circle, if anything else. A good cake doughnut should be soft and melt-in-your-mouth tasty, like a good cupcake, but it also needs to be dense, buttery, and eat like a meal, like a hearty doughnut should! I played around with the egg and butter ratios, replaced the flour with cake flour for tenderness, and added a cream cheese glaze, and voila! Here's a little something you can roll out the next time you have overnight company. (But they may not want to leave, so beware the extended stay!)

Baked Red Velvet Donuts
2 cups sifted cake flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup sugar
2 large eggs
1/2 cup (1 stick) butter
2 ounces unsweetened chocolate
3/4 cup buttermilk
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 tablespoon red food coloring

Preheat the oven to 350°F. Spray a doughnut pan with cooking spray with flour in it, or butter it with pastry brush and flour it.

In a large bowl, sift together cake flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt and set aside.

In the microwave in a small heat-proof bowl, heat butter and chocolate together on 50% power in 1-minute intervals until melted. DO NOT ALLOW TO BURN. Stir until smooth. Set aside to cool.

In another bowl, whisk together the sugar and eggs. Add the melted butter/chocolate mixture to the egg/sugar mixture. In a glass measuring cup, whisk buttermilk, extract, and food color until combined. Add to egg/sugar mixture and stir well.

Gradually add the dry ingredients to the wet mixture in three intervals, mixing with a spatula each time just until combined. Using two spoons or a pastry bag fitted with a 1/2-inch wide tip, fill the doughnut pan with the batter, filling each cavity about two-thirds full. Bake in the preheated oven for 12-15 minutes.

Cream Cheese Glaze

1/2 package cream cheese (4 ounces), room temperature
1/4 cup butter, room temperature
1 1/2 cups powdered sugar, sifted
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 cup milk, room temperature

In small bowl, using electric mixer, blend cream cheese and butter until combined. Add
powdered sugar, salt, and vanilla extract and mix well until no lumps. Add milk and mix until smooth and a little drippy. Add more milk if you like a thinner glaze. Spread on doughnuts while warm and let glaze drip over sides. Makes about 1 dozen.

A Chili for the Chilly

2011-02-16T07:59:00.000-08:00

February. The dead of winter. Cold and gray. Outside of the Super Bowl and impatiently waiting on spring to arrive, with little else to look forward to, it’s a great time to add some spice to the trials and tribulations of everyday life.

You’re probably thinking, “All right, already, King… Get to the point!”

Chili is the point. In this long overdue rendition of a recipe, the Burger King shares a legendary version of everybody’s favorite winter fill.

1 lb. 96% extra lean ground beef
1 jalapeno pepper, seeded and finely chopped
1 green bell pepper, seeded and roughly chopped
1 red bell pepper, seeded and roughly chopped
2 garlic cloves, peeled and finely chopped
1 small white onion, thinly sliced
4 medium tomatoes, roughly chopped, seeds and juices discarded
1 can red kidney beans (15.5 oz)
1 can black beans (15.5 oz)1 jar plain marinara sauce (16 oz)
2 cans tomato sauce (15.5 oz each)
about half a white chocolate bar (about 2 oz)
1/4 cup of buffalo sauce (such as Frank's RedHot)
Spices: cinnamon, black pepper, brown sugar, sea salt, cumin, coriander, cayenne pepper

In a large pan over medium-high heat, brown beef, breaking it up as you move it from the container to the pan. As it begins to brown, add 1/2 teaspoon of each: cinnamon, black pepper, and brown sugar. This will take about 10 minutes.

While beef is cooking, prepare vegetables, garlic, and onion as noted above. Add these ingredients to the beef, along with some sea salt to taste, and continue cooking another five minutes, or until the peppers have become tender.

As this mixture cooks, chop the four tomatoes, discarding the seeds and juices, and drain and rinse both cans of beans. Add tomatoes, beans, marinara sauce, and tomato sauce, as well as 1 heaping teaspoon ground cumin, 1/2 teaspoon ground coriander, about a half of one white chocolate candy bar, and 1/4 cup buffalo hot sauce. Stir ingredients well to combine and reduce heat, adding a few of pinches of cayenne pepper to taste.

His Highness suggests letting the chili simmer for about two hours, which brings out the creamy, sweet notes of the brown sugar and white chocolate, along with the kick of the cayenne and buffalo sauce — a unique, yet delicious contrast.

Although the recipe has some quirks, it’s one that has been through many tweaks and variations by this hardcore chili hound. And, most importantly, it’s the best one I’ve had the pleasure of coming across.

For Perfect Roast Chicken, Get Yourself a Brick

2011-02-01T17:17:00.000-08:00

The next must-have kitchen gadget isn't at Sur La Table or Williams-Sonoma. It's at Home Depot.

This isn't to deny my affection for fancy kitchen implements. The only way you'd take away my Le Creuset Dutch oven is from my cold, dead hands! But I must confess my adoration of the humble brick. I owe it my gratitude for its role in helping make the most flavorful and moist roast chicken I have ever made.

I take roast chicken seriously. There's perhaps no better test of a cook to get it right. It's simple, but not easy. Two things usually foul (fowl?) up roast chicken. The first is insufficiently brown, or worse, rubbery skin. A more glaring fault is dry, stringy breast meat. That's because chicken breasts, like those of other birds, cook more quickly than the legs and thighs. By the time the latter cook completely, the former too often have entered shoe leather territory.

A brick (and pair of sturdy scissors) address these shortcomings. You'll need the scissors, or a sharp knife, to remove the chicken's backbone—an easy feat that will take no more than 1 minute—so that it lays open like a book. The brick forces the chicken flat, ensuring even cooking. In 45-50 minutes—much less time than conventional roasting techniques—you'll pull a perfectly cooked bird from the oven, with the requisite crisp, golden skin to match.

A note about the chicken itself: I highly recommend the Empire kosher brand, which I find at Trader Joe's. I won't pretend to be an expert on kosher slaughter techniques, but I know the process involves salting the meat, a practice that boosts flavor and helps the chicken retain moisture. (You can achieve the same effect by soaking your chicken in cold salted water, a procedure known as brining. Click here for a primer.) I give the chicken an added boost with a marinade of equal parts lemon and olive oil and fresh herbs. Rosemary and thyme are classic chicken-friendly herbs, but tarragon would pair nicely too.

Below you'll find a step-by-step guide to chicken under a brick, or as the Italians call it, chicken al mattone. (It always sounds better in Italian, doesn’t it?)

First, turn the chicken breast down, and with a sturdy pair of scissors, cut along one side of the back bone. Cut from one side to the other. Repeat on the other side of the backbone. The bone will be your guide. (When you attempt this maneuver, you'll see what I mean.)

Next, flatten the chicken with the palm of your hand as if you were mistreating a book. Rub the marinade on the front and back of the chicken. I prefer an all-day marinade, but an hour or two will do in a pinch. Any longer, though, would be a bad idea. The lemon juice may start "cooking" the chicken.

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F. In an oven-proof frying pan, saute the chicken, breast side down, in a couple tablespoons hot olive oil for approximately 7 minutes. The chicken should be well-browned.

Wrap the brick in foil (see below) and set it atop the chicken, with the chicken remaining breast side down. This will ensure even cooking and perfectly browned skin. Insert pan in oven and roast for 30 minutes. (When my chicken is on the smaller side, around three pounds, I usually roast it for a little less, around 27 minutes.)

Remove the brick and carefully turn the chicken so that it's breast side up. Return to the oven for another 10-15 minutes. (After 10 minutes, I check to see if the chicken is done. Some fancy-pants cooks might advocate use of a thermometer. I prick the leg or thigh with a fork, and if the juices run clear, it's done.)

It's important to let the chicken rest for at least 10 minutes after roasting. As tempting as it looks, resist the temptation to carve into it. Its juices will end up on the cutting board rather than in your mouth. Loosely cover it with foil to keep it warm.

When you're ready to eat, you'll find it easy to cut into serving pieces. I love to serve roasted chicken with crusty bread and white beans, briefly sauteed in olive oil and rosemary. I'll also braise a hearty green, such as kale or Swiss chard, in olive oil and garlic. All complement the simplicity of the chicken so elegantly.

The last step is optional, though highly recommended: This dish, like any meal, is best enjoyed with special company. In this case, it was my equally zesty boyfriend, who just loves this dish.

Choux, Choux, Kachoo!

2011-01-21T06:20:00.000-08:00

People have often asked me what the next big thing in pastry will be, especially after this crazy cupcake ride we've been on for some time now. For years (and I am not saying this because they seem in fact to be the next big thing), I've been saying it'll be the whoopie pie. Bon Appetit in fact did a feature on this recently, pitting the whoopie pie against the French macaron and having readers vote on which would be the Next Big Thing.

However, I daresay at this point, the cream puff may very well be giving all these sweet treats a run for their money. Cream puff patisseries like Beard Papa's are opening up everywhere, and the lines are out the door! And profiteroles (see the difference between cream puffs and profiteroles here) are appearing on dessert menus in everyday cafes from here to D.C. This holiday season, I catered dessert for a party where the centerpiece was a good old-fashioned French croquembouche.

I recently ventured over to Beard Papa's here in Chicago's Loop to investigate this puff proliferation. Theirs are some seriously large Marges, I must say, and I think French chefs everywhere would balk at the size of these things. Cream puffs, or chouquettes, are true petit fours and should be consumed, by definition, in one or two bites. So the fact that Beard Papa's are like burger buns is a little disconcerting to the average French pastry chef, but at least it makes them good for sharing. I got the standard "eclair" (another thing I had issue with--eclairs are the long "hot-dog-bun-like" puffs; chouquettes are the round, more "meatball-looking" puffs), which was coated in a rather hard chocolate shell for some weird reason. Since Beard Papa's version is neither round and meatball-looking, nor is it long and hot-dog-bun-like, I guess they can call it whatever they want! They are more or less bumpy and hilly, but generous in portion and nice and airy inside. I had some problems with the hard chocolate shell business. That is not at all the way it's done in France. Most typical French-style cream puffs and eclairs have a smooth, thick ganache glaze over the top that's soft and nice and drippy upon biting into them. But I will give BP some kudos on the strawberries-and-cream filling. Yum! Nice touch to add the fresh strawberries to the cream!

The other cool thing about BP is the "Chipotle-style" ordering system. You decide how many you want (single or various multipacks), order your puff (naked or chocolate shell), order your filling, and voila! It's filled fresh right there in front of you, so you're not getting some soggy, day-long-filled blob. It is a low-cost/high-return venture for these folks, so talk about a winning business plan!

Believe it or not though, these are very easy to make at home, and so you should save yourself the bucks and try whipping up a batch. Ina Garten's choux paste (cream puff batter) recipe is ridiculously easy and five-star review on Food Network's site, so you just can't go wrong with it. Use real whipping cream for your filling (no cheating and using that heart-attack-in-a-bowl Cool Whip crap). And when it warms up again, you can make them profiteroles and serve them with ice cream!

Cookie Swap!

2010-12-19T15:55:00.000-08:00

It's that time of year... Cookie Monsters everywhere are baking up a storm, filling pretty tins with delectables, and delivering them near and far. This year, I tested a few new recipes and found some real winners, including getting my French macaron game on again. I hadn't tackled that fussy little task since pastry school and was worried I'd forgotten the how-to, but it all came back to me, and now I'm having a hey-day with them. A macaron obsession, if you will, thinking about all the unending possibilities of flavor combinations! Here are some solid staples you might want to try in these last days of baking before Christmas...

Fine Cooking's Orange Butter Cookies with Grand Marnier Glaze: Soft, buttery orangey cookie with a tasty even-orangey-er glaze! You can substitute Triple Sec for Grand Mariner to cut costs. The flavor effect is about the same. The butter cookie recipe is also a great basic roll-out recipe for any other flavoring, including lemon or lime. The use of yolks instead of the whole egg give the dough a nice, pliable feel and a golden color.

Chocolate Caramel Bars from Martha Stewart: If you're not planning to transport them elsewhere for presentation, follow the recipe and make them in bar format. Use a hot, wet knife to make clean cuts, and definitely make sure you leave extra parchment hanging over the pan's edges in order to pull it out of the pan and lay it flat on your cutting board. However, if you do want a neater, cleaner presentation, this filling works great in small tart shells or between two butter cookies. You could use the Fine Cooking recipe above, but leave out all the orange flavoring (or keep it, if you go for that chocolate-orange zest appeal!). One note of caution though... Martha's editors fail to tell you how to caramelize sugar for real. The extra water in this recipe wreaks significant havoc on the caramelizing process, I must say. This online tutorial on caramelizing sugar without water is excellent and will give you the confidence to make caramel any ol' time!

Nielsen-Massey's Chocolate Chip Cookies: This recipe is absolute perfection time and time again. It doesn't matter the mixer, the oven, the altitude, the humidity, whatever... They are perfectly soft and chewy in the center and crispy around the outside. I actually leave out the cream of tartar. This description gives you the reasons for cream of tartar in recipes, but quite honestly, I don't know the purpose of it in this one, as it already contains baking powder, which is a sufficient enough form of acid for baking cookies. Nonetheless, people will devour these and may be clamoring for more, so it's a good thing the initial recipe makes 4 dozen!

French Macarons, also from Martha: Exceptionally fussy if you don't have a good flour sifter (which I don't), and are forced to use a sieve, (which I am!), but well worth the effort in the end. There is definitely a macaron craze going on in this dessert-lovin' nation of ours right now, right down to entire bakeshops opening up simply to sell macarons. I was out of practice when I tackled these this week, but they came out totally perfect using Martha's recipe. The variations this recipe includes are also nice, especially the pistachio. Make sure you purchase ready-made almond flour though, and if you decide to grind your own, don't use blanched silvered almonds. Something about their initial structure does not make a true finely ground flour. Somewhere on Martha's site, I read that if you grind your own, you should use blanched sliced almonds. Considering I have a caveperson's sifter (don't ask; totally useless gadget in my kitchen, start to finish) and otherwise have to use a small sieve, I really couldn't fathom adding that extra step for myself, so I purchased almond flour from Whole Foods (Bob's Red Mill brand) for $12.99/lb, which is rather steep. I later found it at Nuts Online in much cheaper 1-lb and 5-lb packages. A little goes a long way though, as you can get about 2 dozen macarons out of less than a cup of almond flour. All that said though, what is really at stake with making macarons is your technique. Follow this recipe carefully, and you'll do just fine. I Love Macarons, a cute little primer on this ever-precious treat, also details what can go wrong and why, lots and lots of flavor combinations, and some great recipes for fillings.

The Essential Chewy Sugar Cookie from my good friend HD: You'll want to eat five in one sitting, I'm sure of it! These are so perfect, so chewy, so buttery, not too sugary, and just an all-around easy-peasy recipe to make, there's no reason to not do this one this year! You'll note in the recipe that it does not use the standard creaming method for making cookies but asks for more of a dump-it-all-in-and-finish-with-flour format. It works though, so give it a whirl. My fifth-graders even made them at the youth center where I teach, and everyone in the kitchen was clamoring for a few. Bake some tonight--it's the perfect lunchbox treat for this last week before the holiday rush!

Essential Chewy Sugar Cookie

3/4 cup (12 tablespoons) unsalted butter

3/4 cup granulated sugar

1/2 cup light brown sugar

1/4 cup light corn syrup

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

1/4 teaspoon nutmeg or lemon oil (optional)

1 1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 large egg

2 1/2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour

1/4 cup coarse or granulated sanding sugar for coating

Preheat oven to 375°F degrees. Line baking sheets with Silpat or parchment paper.

In a large mixing bowl, beat together the butter, granulated and brown sugars, corn syrup, vanilla, nutmeg, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and egg. Stir in the flour.

Place the course sugar in a shallow dish. Drop the dough by tablespoonful into the sugar, rolling the balls to coat them. Place on prepared baking sheets and bake for 10 minutes, or until the edges are just barely beginning to brown (Note: They will look soft; if you bake these cookies too long, they’ll be crunchy and not chewy.)

Remove them from the oven and cool on the baking sheet for 5 minutes, then transfer them to a rack to cool completely. Makes 3 dozen.

The Blind Side of Baking

2010-11-24T11:10:00.000-08:00

I realize this post is perhaps coming a bit late for your Thanksgiving baking, but in case you are planning for more pies this season, I wanted to comment on some recent experiences with blind baking, or what most people know as the prebaked pie shell.

Generally, the drama that ensues with prebaking a homemade crust is the slippage factor. It's very hard to keep a real all-butter or mostly butter pie crust from slipping into a big buttery pile at the bottom of your pie pan. For some reason, the machine-made, store-bought, full-of-palm-or-various-tropical-oils refrigerated or frozen pie crusts don't do that, and I'm not sure why. I'd imagine it has something to do with the amount of preservatives and other fake ingredients that hold it in place. Makes me wonder whether you really should be ingesting something that will most likely still be there in 2030.

Well, never fear; Flaky Pastry's here to help clear the path to homebaked pies. First, you need a trusty, all-purpose pie dough recipe. Dorie Greenspan's Good for Almost Everything Pie Crust recipe is a foolproof keeper around our house. I use it for everything, including chicken pot pie (and other savory pies), hand pies and turnovers, fruit pies, cream pies, nut pies, you name it. The sugar in it is negligible and mostly helps with the browning factor, so using it for savory baking is just fine. Some butter purists would balk at its use of shortening, but it actually aids in the flakiness factor. I highly recommend making her recipe as-is. Don't change a thing! You'll be thrilled with the finished product.

Once you've rolled out and placed your crust in your pie plate, and completed your decorative edge (whether it's the simple poke-and-pinch method I like to use or small cookie-cutter-cut shapes placed around the edges and egg-washed), you'll want to prick it with a fork all over the bottom and along the sides. Freeze your pie shell for 15-20 minutes. Next, place a sheet of parchment paper or foil in the center, pressing to make it flush against the crust. Fill the entire cavity with dried beans or ceramic pie weights. We're talking fill it to the brim, folks! I even try to tuck the parchment against the fluted edges and get beans into the corners so that my fluted edges are maintained. The key to prebaking a shell with no slippage is to weight it down properly and completely.

Return your beans-and-shell to the freezer for 10 minutes while you preheat your oven to 425℉. Bake shell for 15 minutes and reduce the oven temperature to 375℉. Remove the pie weights/beans and parchment, brush the inside, sides, and edges with egg wash (1 egg yolk and 2 tablespoons milk, half-n-half, or cream), and return it to your 375℉ oven. Bake another 20 minutes and let cool on wire rack before filling.

You can dry out your beans on a sheet pan overnight for future use. I store mine in Ziploc bags in the pantry. Unfortunately, I have only recently switched to using beans, so I can't speak to how many times you can use them, but I suppose the beans will start opening and exposing themselves (!!!) after multiple uses, so definitely throw them out when they reach that point.

So hopefully, in the end, you'll get something that looks like this. This holiday weekend's orders included Chocolate Silk, Sweet Potato, and Banana Cream, all of which used this method for blind baking. So now, I'm going to shut my piehole and let you take it away! Happy Thanksgiving, everyone!

Eat This, Rachel Ray

2010-11-19T11:20:00.000-08:00

If I were to pen a modern-day Dante's Inferno, I'd reserve one circle of hell for Rachel Ray. I detest her faux-cheeriness and false charm. She may sauté chicken in e.v.o.o., but it will always be olive oil to me. While Julia Child elevated her audience, Ray cooks like everyone else. And a top-rate meal in 30 minutes? Puh-leeze. That's not possible without quality-reducing shortcuts, subpar, premade ingredients, and often in Ray's case, unwashed fruits and vegetables. Speed and quality go together a lot like fat-free and ice cream: It's possible, but a lot gets lost in the process.

Italians might disagree. Yes, Italy is home to the Slow Food movement, which aims to be everything fast food is not. Many of its culinary treasures, such as the long-simmered Bolognese ragu, aren't exactly ideal for busy Tuesday nights. And other than on the road—riding in a car with an Italian driver is often a white-knuckle experience—many Italians don't appear in a hurry to do much of anything. Yet most Italian dishes don't require complicated techniques and take little time to execute. The idea is to use few ingredients and maximize each of their flavors.

There's no better embodiment of this principle than Marcella Hazan's tomato sauce with onions and butter, whose name tells you all the ingredients you'll need. (Hazan, by the way, did for Italian food what Julia Child did for French in her masterful Essentials of Classic Italian Cooking.)

Here's what you need: A 15-ounce can of plum Italian tomatoes, 5 tablespoons of butter, and a medium onion, peeled and cut in half. Oh, and of course, salt. In a saucepan, combine all the ingredients, bring them to a slow, steady simmer for about 30 minutes (or maybe 45, if you listen to Marcella). Occasionally stir, breaking the tomatoes with the back of a wooden spoon, which gives the sauce a smooth texture. Once it's thickened, test for salt, and that's about it. There's no need for further embellishment, though I've found a healthy dash or two of heavy cream will do it no harm.

With so few ingredients, there's nowhere for bad tomatoes to hide. I know of no sauce that so simply showcases tomatoes' irresistible sweetness, but it won't do so if you use under-ripened, highly acidic ones that sadly dominate most supermarket shelves. My favorites are the Italian plum tomatoes from Carmelina, which you can find at Whole Foods. A less-expensive, more-accessible alternative brand is Muir Glen, which packages organic California tomatoes.

This sauce pairs best with stuffed pastas or those with some added personality, such as gnocchi. I prefer to serve it as it is in homes and trattorias in Bologna, Italy, coating meat-stuffed tortellini.

As much as it pains me to admit it, Rachel Ray is right. Sorta. Great food made without a lot of effort is possible in only 30 minutes. But the Italians teach you don't need to stoop to her level to next time you're in a pinch.

Buon Appetito!

Burger King Deliberates the More Mindful Burger

2010-10-30T05:46:00.001-07:00

On a sunny and seasonably cool October Sunday afternoon, with lunch time upon us, the Burger King and one of his burger minions journeyed to a fairly recent addition to Chicago’s burger scene: Epic Burger.

A number of burger houses have popped up all over Chicago in the past few years. Based in a relatively bustling strip of Lincoln Park near North Avenue, Epic, not unlike rivals such as Five Guys or The Counter, isn’t necessarily an upscale dining establishment, but it is leaps and bounds above traditional fast food eateries. Touted as a “more mindful” burger, Epic offers patrons an assortment of refined options to assist in building their desired burger, including cage-free organic eggs and whole-wheat buns. Choice alternatives are available for those looking to avoid red meat, such as all-natural chicken breast or portabella mushroom sandwiches. Still, the burger reigns supreme at Epic, and burgers are this king’s business.

The hungry handful in line ahead of his Majesty dissipated swiftly upon our arrival, making the wait time quick and painless. For the King, the choice was simple: The all-natural Epic burger (a double) with house sauce, lettuce, tomatoes, raw onions, pickles, and Wisconsin cheddar on a whole-wheat bun. Unfortunately, Epic lost some points on serve time, with the order finally arriving after what seemed like well, an epic wait!

The first ostensible item of significance was the pool of grease spreading throughout the brown paper bag in which the burger dwelled--not a good initial sign. After peeling back the sopping wet bag, the real work was upon us. Epic burgers don’t resemble traditional burgers. The meat typically isn’t round, and tends to be somewhat flat, making it appear more like a flank steak than a hamburger. With the first bite, a number of mainly positive sensations ran over the palette. The lettuce, tomatoes, onions, and pickles were all crisp and fresh, with some melty, flavorful cheddar sitting right on top. Even so, those few pleasantries couldn’t mask the two main detractors of the experience: the unoriginal Epic sauce covering the greasy main event.

For starters, this “Epic sauce” differs little from the Thousand Island dressing on McDonald’s Big Mac. Considering that Epic’s prices aren’t exactly competitive with Mickey D's, this was a notable disappointment. Even more unacceptable was the excessive spattering of grease lurking within. This ground beef had been violated, so much so that it could barely keep itself together, crumbling apart after each bite. As the halfway point approached, few features of the burger were able to triumph over the extreme grease seeping from the meat. The bitter (or, more appropriately, oily) end was not far off. The remaining half was abandoned, transported to the nearest receptacle for prompt termination.

Despite the favorable reviews from legions of faithful Chicago locals, this is not a burger worth exploring. Costs are steep for the experience, and the experience is unsatisfactory, clocking in at nearly $10 for a double cheeseburger by its lonesome. In this type of burger class, whereby diners aren’t looking for burgers on either end of the price spectrum, Five Guys remains the ruling champion.

The Flame Still Burns Bright at Naha (for the most part!)

2010-09-22T13:44:00.000-07:00

In New York, what's hot remains that way for approximately as long as Britney Spears stays married. Chicago's relationship with its hot spots, though, is decidedly more long term. Sure, the must-try new restaurants of the early 2000s—MK, Blackbird, and Naha—may not inspire the sort of excitement they did when their doors first opened, but they still enjoy a loyal following.

I wouldn't laud such loyalty if it weren't well-deserved. There's nothing worse than clinging to a relationship long after the magic has died. Yet Naha remains both filling and fulfilling after all these years. That's at least partly because it's managed to stay fresh inside the kitchen and out.

On the latter score, Naha's clean-lined, vaguely Zen-like, formal-without-really-feeling-like-it space is still modern, but warmly so. More importantly, chef (and Chicago native) Carrie Nahabedian's seasonal, mostly Mediterranean-inspired cuisine largely struck the right notes, though at times I thought there could be fewer of them.

Take the scallop appetizer, for instance. I could barely detect the promised vanilla bean flavor, maybe because it couldn't compete with the accompanying endive, hearts of palm, musk and watermelons. That said, the scallops were thick, lightly sweet, and perfectly cooked. And had the vanilla flavor been more pronounced, it might have become cloying, an outcome that would've been much worse.

Where the complexity worked especially well was in my main course dish. The squab, a Naha specialty, showcased Nahabedian's affinity for Middle Eastern flavors. Served along with raisins, dates, and a noodle cake--a sort of noodle patty crisped on the outside--the squab came cooked a rosy medium rare along with a melt-in-my-mouth piece of foie gras (I'm hesitant to say that it was so good it shouldn't be legal, but I don't want to give any Chicago pols any ideas. Banning it once was enough.) My favorite element of the entire dish was the rose, licorice, gooseberry, and anise sauce coating the plate. I'm not sure anyone could distinguish between its many different components--what is gooseberry anyway?--but that just may be the point: The sum of the flavors are much greater than the parts.

My boyfriend tried the Arctic char. I won't say too much about it since I got just a bite, but I can't blame him for keeping the lion's share to himself. Ordinarily I'm not a big fan of char, which usually makes me think I'm eating salmon's bastard child. Yet at Naha, it was flaky, moist, and had a flavor profile of its own.

Dessert, however, was a big disappointment. I anticipated the pain perdu, or French toast, would arrive moist and eggy but it was little more than a browned piece of brioche. And sadly, the strawberry topping was little better than one might get at the IHOP. At $14, that may have been the most expensive piece of toast I've ever had. (Our experience may be an anomaly, though. Flaky Pastry has fared much better, and she's a far higher authority on dessert than me).

Naha surely isn't for penny pinchers. The average entrée hovers near $40, and dessert is $14 no matter what you order. (Prices for the appetizers are similarly steep. A simple sounding beet salad clocked in at $17.) I may have found those price tags are easier to stomach thanks to Naha's well-crafted cocktails. Those cost me too, but even in the best of relationships, you sometimes need a stiff drink.

When Push Comes to Chevre...

2010-09-06T06:28:00.000-07:00

Goat cheese is a quintessential summer ingredient. It's soft, spreadable, crumbly, tangy, and creamy all at once. A great biography on goat cheese can be found here, but generally, it's known to be lower in fat and higher in vitamin A and potassium than cow's milk. Also, people who have a lactose intolerance for cow's milk find goat milk products easier to digest.

Our household is unfortunately undergoing a bit of a tolerance regime change in our older age, but we're also nuts for cheesecake and pizza around here. So this summer, we tried our hand at pizza with goat cheese (superb!) and this weekend--a goat cheese cheesecake! It still had plenty of other cow's milk products in it (mascarpone and cream cheese), but because those ingredients were cut down to make way for the flavor boom that is goat cheese, our bellies and our palates were quite satisfied. I served it buffet-style with three sauces: seedless raspberry port wine sauce (8 ounces of seedless raspberry jam simmered in about a cup of sweet port wine), my hot fudge sauce, and a beautiful, silky butterscotch sauce. (I'll include that another day, otherwise this blog entry will be too long to bother with!)

The key is to make sure all your cheeses are room temperature, otherwise you'll suffer with lumps. I did not add sugar to the crust either. I felt with the amount going into the filling plus the sauces, it was not necessary. If you like a sweeter crust, start with 1/4 cup granulated sugar and try it once that way. If you think it needs more, go up to a half cup next time. Also, the original recipe called for a vanilla bean split and scraped, but I save my vanilla beans for things that need steeping in cream or milk, like ice cream and chocolate truffles. I prefer using vanilla bean paste when it's part of the presentation that we actually see the vanilla flecks. It's cheaper than whole vanilla beans and more concentrated than extract, so it provides the overall effect I'm looking for without too much expense. Last but not least, I used a water bath with this one, which I generally don't because most of my cheesecakes have some sort of topping that masks the cracked top that occurs when baking cheesecakes. Doing a water bath is not hard and is well worth it for a party-worthy presentation!

As we hang onto these last days of summer, I'd highly recommend putting your springform to work on a new kid in town. Your tastebuds will thank you!

Goat Cheese Cheesecake (adapted from The Last Course, by Claudia Fleming)

2 cups graham cracker crumbs
1/4 to 1/2 cup granulated sugar (optional)
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, melted

12 ounces cream cheese, room temperature (1 1/2 bricks)
8 ounces fresh goat cheese (1 large log or two small ones), room temperature
1 cup sugar
1 tablespoon vanilla bean paste
1 1/2 cups (12 ounces) mascarpone cheese, room temperature
4 large eggs, room temperature

Preheat oven to 350℉. In a large bowl, combine graham cracker crumbs and sugar (if using), and mix well. Add melted butter and stir until combined. Press evenly into bottom and sides of 9-inch springform pan. You will use all your mixture. Bake for 8 minutes until set. Remove from oven to allow to cool and reduce oven temperature to 325℉.

In a separate large bowl, combine cream cheese, goat chese, sugar, and vanilla paste and beat with an electric mixer until smooth and creamy, about 3 minutes. Add the mascarpone and beat until smooth (another 1-2 minutes). Add the eggs individually, scraping down sides and bottom of bowl after each addition. Scrape bottom and sides of bowl one last time and mix well for 30 seconds.

Tightly wrap outside of prepared pan with aluminum foil, making sure there are no gaps. Pour mixture into pan and place in center of a larger baking pan with at least 2-inch sides. Pour enough hot water into the larger pan (not your cheesecake!) to reach two-thirds up the side of the springform pan. Cover the entire baking pan with foil and pierce in several places to allow for steam release. Bake 1 hour, then lift off a corner or two of the foil for additional steam release, and bake 50 minutes longer, or until cheesecake looks set around the edges but is ever-so-slightly jiggly in the center.

Transfer cheesecake to a wire rack to cool completely, then chill in refrigerator at least 3 hours before serving. Cheesecake can be made up to two days ahead and will keep, refrigerated, for about a week. Serves 12-16 pretty darn generously! Serve with sauces or seasonal fruit.

The Sugar Art of Learning

2010-08-30T08:27:00.000-07:00

Many apologies for my lack of presence here. It's been one crazy summer (wedding season for a pastry chef always is), but I did manage to cram in a little continuing education for myself last week in Atlanta at the famed International Sugar Art Collection. I've taken classes with Chef Nicholas Lodge here in Chicago at my alma mater, The French Pastry School, and I have longed for an opportunity to go to his school down south and learn from the master of sugar artistry. You've probably seen him on Food Network, where he often serves as a judge for Wedding Cake Challenges and other cake-oriented insanity cable television is notorious for. But a day or two (or four, in my case!) in his classroom is like Cake Artistry 101, 201, 301, and 401 all at once! I learned more about recent fondant and gumpaste trends than I ever would struggling at home with books from Amazon. Well worth the trip and tuition!

Here are some of the all-stars from my four days there. See the captions in the Flickr roll for a description of the type of sugar artistry used in each example. I am excited about being able to offer these elements for cake orders going forward. Care to place an order??

Have a Ball!

2010-07-31T11:20:00.000-07:00

Cake balls/pops/truffles/etc. seem to be all the rage these days. People have been asking me for some time what the next big thing after cupcakes will be, and I think this may be it. Bakeries all over the country have started offering them because they help make use of "cake droppings," as I like to call them. These are all the cake crumbs you're left with after a week of leveling cakes for stacking, filling, and frosting.

Basically, you take a 9" x 13" cake pan full of crumbs, add about 2 cups of frosting (perhaps less, depending on how moist your initial cake recipe is), squish it all together, and make balls about 1-2 inches in diameter. Freeze them individually on a sheet pan for 20-30 minutes and dip in tempered chocolate or chocolate coating. They're really cute on miniature cupcake liners, all boxed up and ready to go for party favors, hostess gifts--you name it!

Bakerella has made cake pops a worldwide phenomenon through her blog and now soon-to-be published book. These take a lot more effort but are probably worth it in the end. I can imagine the reaction you'd get from your crowd! Check out her site and view her amazing gallery of cake pop artistry. The first time I made them, it was more of a deliberate effort. The client wanted them to start with, so I had to bake a cake from scratch (because that's how I roll), crumble it up, make the frosting (because I just don't do canned frosting of course), and mix it all up for the ball "batter." It seemed like a lot of labor to basically have something mini-cupcake-sized anyway. I didn't quite get what the hubbub was about, but knowing its the best way to make use of "cake droppings" these days helps you feel more sustainable in today's waste-conscious society. You can even freeze your cake crumbs for up to 3 months and use them as needed.

I recently made a bunch of cake balls and debuted them at my book club. For years, these wonderful folks have been my test kitchen, and I have soooooo appreciated them for that. Everyone loved them and thought they were one of the best desserts I've brought to a meeting. One longtime clubber actually came up with the name I'll be using to add them to my menu: Bomb-bons! Very sassy and the perfect thing to call something that packs that much of a sugar punch!

So if you're interested in Bomb-bons a la Pomegranate Sweets & Savories, give me a call or visit my site to order some. I'll be posting the available flavors each week. This week, I'm featuring Grandma's Chocolate, Carrot, and Vanilla Buttermilk. And maybe, when Bakerella's book comes out, it might inspire me to work on a pomegranate-shaped one I can call my signature Bomb-bon!

Cool Tools: Butter for Brains

2010-07-19T12:24:00.000-07:00

I have discovered the whimsical world of Worldwide Fred. Talk about pan addiction! I recently purchased a few pans that have me so excited about what I can do with them, I can't stop thinking about them...

For example, the Brain Freeze set at left, first and foremost for ice, can also double for Jell-O jigglers, panna cotta, and butter! Imagine that served up with your daily bread! I'm even going to try them with melt-and-pour soap base this week and see how those turn out. I could call them Smart Soap...

I also recently purchased the Worldwide Fred Cakewich pan. I haven't made anything yet, but the possibilities are endless, even on the savory side. It comes with a recipe for a vanilla pound cake, peanut butter frosting, and berry compote. But I'm thinking you could even do your favorite white bread recipe with just about any kind of fixings and serve up a big sandwich for the cutting!

All jokes aside though, it's good to always investigate all the possibilities of your novelty pans. I have a fetish for them, so goodness knows I don't always follow this rule of thumb. But I do have a dozen-cavity miniature egg pan from Williams-Sonoma from years ago that not only makes good eggs (no pun intended), but bumblebees, ladybugs, and hedgehogs too. (Wilton makes one too, with only eight cavities though.) The Nordicware baby Bundt pan can make pumpkins, apples, and all sorts of round seasonal shapes (see right). Heck, Bundt pans in general do a lot of things besides your average Bundts. Try this caterpillar cake design some time!

S'more Than Enough

2010-07-01T22:13:00.000-07:00

I think there's an undeniable fascination going on with the graham cracker + marshmallow + chocolate thing. I have seen s'more options for making s'mores-type goodies this summer than ever before. Having been a Girl Scout who enjoyed my fair share of camping trips and campfires, I adore them! What is it about oozy, chocolatey goodness with a rustic whole-grain crunch? And now, s'more than ever, there are so many ways to work this ooey gooey equation into summer desserts. (OK, I'll stop with the s'moring now...)

Here's a little background on these goodies... The term s'more comes from the phrase "some more"--a typical request when the treat became a regular around the campfire. This article details some history on the s'more, indicating that the first real recipe was cited in a Girl Scout handbook in 1927. Marhsmallows were an easy-to-transport item along a hiking trail and warmed up nicely over a campfire. Chocolate bars and graham crackers were also just as portable, and so all these items came together in a sticky sweet treat that became synonymous with the great outdoors.

Lately, more varieties of desserts have oozed onto the scene, using these three elements, only in different ways. This cookie recipe from Martha has me wondering whether a "graham-like" cookie would be more satisfying than a graham cracker. They sure are cute little buggers and would make a great presentation at a winter tween slumber party, when you need to fake a campfire with your good ol' gas oven. (Pretend the pilot light is your open flame.)

Or if you really wanted to go all-out Martha, you could seriously impress your friends by putting together one of these for a weekend getaway: the S'mores To-Go Box! Real homemade marshmallows are included in Martha's version. I must admit, once you've had a homemade one, it's hard to go back to ye ol' store-bought Kraft marshmallows. There is some sort of melt-in-your-mouth madness going on with homemade versions that beckon you to their side. You've got to try it at least once before you knock it. It's not a time-consuming task, but without the preservatives that store-bought ones harbor, just remember that homemade doesn't last as long. The major plus though is that you can flavor them any way you like. I put strawberry Nestle Nesquik or cocoa powder in mine and sometimes mix them up for holiday gift-giving in a sort of Neapolitan pack.

But so far, my favorite rendition of this classic treat has been the s'mores brownie with marshmallow ice cream concoction I put together a few weeks ago for an impromptu dinner party with friends. It starts with this brownie recipe from the Food Network, topped with chocolate buttercream, and accompanied by a scoop of marshmallow ice cream. I eliminated the marshmallow topping in the brownie recipe and served a chocolate-frosted brownie with a scoop of marshmallow ice cream on the side. Of course this one can't be passed around a campfire on a camping trip, but it sure can make a rather metropolitan spread feel like a campsite. Just play your nature sounds alarm clock in the background while you plate it up!

August 10 in National S'mores Day, so you have some time to experiment on which of the above you'll treat yourself to that day. That's s'more than enough time!

Sweets & Snacks Expo 2010

2010-06-17T09:38:00.000-07:00

For the first time in my life, I'm involved in a line of work that has conventions! I loved going to them with my dad as a kid. He was a surgeon, and so I'd end up wandering around these medical convention expos with him, grabbing free socks and backpacks, emblazoned with some medical research or drug company's name. We always had a bevy of pharmaceutical company pens and Post-It notes in our house, along with our fair share of t-shirts bearing fungal cell structures and other medical oddities you wouldn't even be caught mowing the lawn in!

But now I'm in a field where I get to attend things like the Sweets & Snacks Expo, which was held at McCormick Place in Chicago on May 24-27. This is the candy and snacks industry's chance to justify the purpose of high fructose corn syrup, monosodium glutamate, and maltodextrose in your diet. I think I acquired diabetes by just walking in the door! Nonetheless, I had a great time and learned a lot about the snack industry, like how Frito-Lay is becoming one of the greenest snack producers in the world, with compostable packaging and by using recycled water and solar power in its plants. Or that there will now be a line of Fancy Nancy Sweethearts candy and that Pringles has gone multi-grain.

We are not big snackers in our house and tend toward simple tortilla chips and a good homemade salsa or a bowl of cereal to tie us over between meals, but it was fun to see all these vendors in one place and to bring home everything from chocolate-covered Peeps to chewy Lemonheads. As a cupcake baker always looking for the right topper, it was heaven on Earth! I also experienced yet another celebrity sighting, at least in the cupcake-baking world. Authors Karen Tack and Alan Richardson, of Hello Cupcake! fame, were in full cupcake-demo swing, showing conference goers how to make cupcake toppers out of anything from Kraft caramels to Nutter Butters. They are just as jovial in person as they come across in their books, and like the big cookbook nerd that I am, I returned the next day with both my Hello Cupcake books for them to sign. I also saw the mayor, who I've heard is not even really an eater, much less a snacker, but that was good PR for the city for him to show up, even if he doesn't so much as pop a Hershey Kiss in his mouth. More people attended this year's show than any other Sweet & Snacks Expo in history and there are more candies, sweets, and snacks being produced worldwide now than ever before. (So much for healthy eating!) In fact, at one time, Chicago was the biggest candy producer in the world; now it's Denmark. Not sure how that transition happened--maybe Denmark wanted to be known for more than just a breakfast pastry.

Take a look at my photos on the Spoonfoolery Photostream. You'll see some general high-fructose insanity, like the Native American headdress made entirely out of candy and a Mona Lisa mosaic constructed with Jelly Bellys. And then maybe you'll want to go eat a big salad because your blood sugar will have spiked just looking at this stuff!

Oh, the Places You'll Go!

2010-06-10T13:42:00.000-07:00

Last week, I finished my first full term as a baking and pastry arts instructor. It was a dream job with a textbook start and a photo finish. I couldn’t have asked for a better experience post-corporate America. A year ago, I finally walked away from the cement wall I’d banged my head against for 15 years and plunged head-first into a career as a baker and pastry chef. On June 2, as I met all the parents at the pizza banquet my students had slaved all afternoon to make (totally and completely from scratch, including doughs and sauces!), I was never more thankful for my one-year-old decision.

Teaching is so satisfying. I loved watching their minds swell with baking knowledge over the weeks of our program. To see them, just 3 months ago, unable to wrap their brains around the concepts of yeast and how it activates bread life, to happily kneading pounds and pounds of pizza dough and knowing how to handle a rolling pin—well, it just warms the cockles of my heart! We began in March with the simplicities of blueberry muffins and cornbread. Along the way, they learned how to make cinnamon rolls, frost cupcakes, and bake brownies. They hand-rolled chocolate truffles and assembled caramel pecan turtles. They went from England (scones) to Italy (pizza dough), and on our last day, they planned and executed a banquet welcoming their parents to our kitchen. My pastry queens!

And the pizza banquet was a HUGE hit! We made classic pizza dough with a homemade pizza sauce and plenty of fun toppings, along with a salad trimmed right from the youth center’s rooftop garden. We finished everything off with a dessert pizza, assembled with a cookie dough crust, a vanilla yogurt and cream cheese “sauce,” and lots of fresh fruit, with chocolate sauce drizzled over the top. Parents were satisfied, and the kids were quite proud of their work. Considering so much was made from scratch, it would be hard to share all the complete recipes here, so I will meet you halfway and give you my infamous dessert pizza recipe. I've been making it for years--a great dessert staple, with backyard barbeques, and the celebration of youth and the whole learning process upon us this graduation season.

Dessert Pizza

Cookie Dough Crust

3 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 sticks butter, unsalted, softened (8 oz)
1 cup granulated sugar
1 large egg
1teaspoon vanilla extract
dash of almond extract

Sift together the flour, baking powder, and salt. In a mixing bowl, beat the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Stir in the egg and both extracts.

Slowly add flour mixture (1 cup at a time) and stir until incorporated. Form the dough into a disc and wrap in plastic wrap. Refrigerate for at least 1 hour.

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Press the dough out onto a parchment-lined 12-inch pizza pan. Bake the cookies for approximately 12-14 minutes or until the edges begin to turn golden brown in color. Remove from oven and allow to cool completely.

Yogurt-Cream Cheese Sauce

2 8-oz packages light cream cheese, room temperature
1 1/2 cups lowfat vanilla yogurt
Powdered sugar to taste

Blend cream cheese and yogurt in the bowl of an electric mixer until smooth. Add sugar by tablespoonfuls until desired sweetness. Chill 30 minutes before spreading.

Hot Fudge Sauce

3/4 cup semisweet chocolate chips
3 tablespoons unsalted butter
1/3 cup heavy cream
2 tablespoons sugar
1/3 cup light corn syrup
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

In a microwave-safe container, heat the chocolate and butter in the microwave on half power in 30 second intervals until melted. Set aside to cool.

Heat cream in medium saucepan over low heat. Add sugar and corn syrup and stir until sugar dissolves completely. Add cream mixture to melted chocolate and return to pot. Continue to heat mixture over low heat, stirring constantly. Add the vanilla and pour into a small pitcher.

To assemble pizza, spread yogurt-cream cheese sauce over cookie crust. Sprinkle with assorted fruit (pineapple chunks, strawberry and banana slices slices, blueberries, mandarin oranges). Drizzle with chocolate sauce. Slice into squares and serve!

Book & Restaurant Reviews: Bobby Flay's Burgers, Fries, & Shakes and State & Lake

2010-05-13T11:48:00.000-07:00

It's a two-fer today... Call me a bad Hindu, but I love a good burger every now and then. I personally can't tell a flank steak from a strip steak, so I leave the real meat prep up to the professionals and hardly ever make them at home. However, I am a HUGE fan of Bobby Flay, and so when I stumbled across his newest, Burgers, Fries, and Shakes, at the library, I immediately brought it home and proceeded to salivate.

I dream of throwing down with him one day on his famous TV show, be it cupcakes, cookies, or even my chilis and soups, which many of you have told me are your favorites here at Spoonfoolery. But at least this cookbook has given me some confidence for summer grilling season. His basic burger recipe is the same throughout, but he spins each possibility for between your buns as anything but ordinary. From giant basil leaves in place of lettuce for his Trattoria Burger to a burger variation on the Cubano, today's "It" sandwich, Flay travels the globe in good flavor. Burgers such as the California (avocado, tomato, and watercress--what else were you expecting?), the Carolina (BBQ sauce and slaw), the Cheyenne (shoestring onion rings, bacon, and a to-die-for black-gold of a homemade BBQ sauce recipe that he gives you as well) represent this great nation of beef too. And the fries-and-onion-rings tutorial midway through the book is great for the frying illiterate, such as yours truly. I couldn't even deep fry the Indian stuff until very recently, so it's good to know some foolproof ways to handle a burger's best buddies.

The shakes portion of this cookbook simply made my day! Somehow, Flay makes it seem A-OK to prepare a 1,500-calorie meal at home, even with topping it off with one of these sweet-and-creamy indulgences. I see a Blackberry Cheesecake Milkshake or a Toasted Marshmallow Milkshake in my very near future. I am also realizing how my plan to borrow cookbooks from the library is slowly backfiring, as this is officially the third book I've borrowed lately and then purchased promptly afterward!

Perhaps what made a burger cookbook catch my eye in the first place was thoroughly enjoying one at State & Lake, inside the Wit Hotel in downtown Chicago. This is the quintessential gastropub, with a mighty fine beer list (16 on tap!) and even a reasonably priced wine list (for downtown Chicago). It's standard pub fare taken up a notch, with such recent fancy-pants items on the bar scene as salted cod brandade, savory beignets, and braised short ribs. The mac-n-cheese, which my husband sort of ate (but not really, since stout on draft generally replaces a meal for him in such places!) sports a little truffle oil but unfortunately was not cooked al dente, so I grew bored with it fast. However, my burger was nicely done (for some reason medium well seems to be a hard thing for a lot of places to accomplish these days), and the fries would probably meet Bobby Flay's standard--crispy on the outside, long and skinny enough to cook through well on the inside, with a minimal toss in salt and parsley flecks. Yum! I tend to do only half a burger in the restaurant and take the rest home for lunch the next day, and I must say, it heated up nicely and was just as enjoyable a day later. Now, if only they could master mac-n-cheese, and it'd get my total seal of gastropub approval, but then, I guess there's always Bobby Flay's Four Cheese Burger in the book to make up for that!

All this said about burgers, fries, shakes, and mac-n-cheese mistakes, I'd like to take this moment to introduce our latest addition to the Spoonfoolery editorial staff, Burger King. Burger King is a true connoisseur and hopes to take you all over Chicago (and perhaps this great nation) in search of the more perfect union of meat, bread, toppings, and fries. Look for his restaurant reviews and random research on America's favorite sandwich soon!

Chocolate Chip Cookies Three Ways

2010-05-09T17:49:00.000-07:00

I've been on a quest for the perfect chocolate chip cookie recipe. A few weeks ago, I had the middle schoolers I teach at a local youth center make the Nielsen-Massey chocolate cookie recipe I've been meaning to try for years. Recommended to me by a dear fellow baker friend of mine, I knew we could do no wrong with this one. They couldn't have come out more perfect, really. They were slightly crispy around the edges and evenly puffed from the middle out, so they were nice and chewy on the inside with some crunch to the edges. In fact, I think they looked quite like anything you'd buy in a box, but then tasted so much better. However, when I got home and tried the same recipe, they came out overly spread-out with hardly any heft to them at all. Like a bunch of flying saucers with chocolate chips in them! Disappointing in my pathetic Frigidaire convection oven (which is really just a mere bunch of gnomes huddled together and blowing from the back--convection my a$$!). In this case, I'd lend the perfection at school to the good ol' trusty Blodgett commercial convection oven. Oh, how I'd love to have one of those aerators in my home! I also think weak home ovens, like the Frigidaire brand in general (the stock developer's appliance from this housing bubble), don't really know what to do with all that butter, and so, well... spread happens.

Next up, I leaned back on my standard staple, Sherry Yard's Quintessential Chocolate Chip Cookies. I got her Desserts by the Yard cookbook about a year ago and switched over from the Tollhouse recipe to this then and have never really gone back. Her recipe requires a little less butter and quite a bit less sugar than the Nielsen-Massey one (you'd have to double Sherry's to come up with equal proportions to the Nielsen-Massey one). Again, a much more flat and crispy return than we got at school, but my husband and I actually liked the flavor of these better. I think we are fans of anything with less sugar, so I do believe this will still remain our staple chocolate chipper. One major difference with Sherry's recipe is that she asks you to give it some fridge-chillin' time--an hour or up to overnight. Interesting, since one doesn't really think of cookies as needing any kind of "glutenization" process. So I speculate she's just going for the chill-before-baking plan of action, which helps most cookies keep their shape. I often do this with my giant decorated cookies, chilling them cut and laid out in their pans for 10-15 minutes before baking. This helps keep them from spreading too much and maintains their sturdiness for handling during the decorating process and for packing and shipping. Next time, with Sherry's, I'm going to go for overnight and see if they hold their shape better.

Last but not least, a recipe on the back of the Gold Medal flour bag caught my eye, and I thought I'd try them tonight--Oatmeal-Chocolate Chip Cookies. I love oat-anything cookies because somehow, they make me feel less like I'm eating a cookie and more like I've got a granola bar in wolf's clothing! At the risk of sounding rather Goldilocks, these were just right! The gnomes in the back of the oven seemed to make them nice, puffy, and even like the ones at school, but then they were also chewy and crispy in all the right places. With the added heft of the oatmeal, they made the perfect ending to a weekend stuck inside working both days. Here's the recipe, with a special secret ingredient. If you like Indian fusion, you'll love this!

Chai Oatmeal-Chocolate Chip Cookies a la Gold Medal Flour

2 cups quick-cooking oats
1 1/2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon chai spice blend
1 1/2 cups packed light brown sugar
1 cup butter, room temperature
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 egg
1 cup semisweet chocolate chips
1 cup chopped nuts, optional

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. In a medium bowl, sift together oats, flour, baking soda, salt, and chai spice. Set aside. In a large bowl, cream butter and brown sugar with an electric mixer until well-blended. Add vanilla and egg and mix well. Add dry ingredients and mix well. Stir in chocolate chips and nuts (I used a mix of butterscotch, white chocolate, semisweet, and M&Ms!).

Drop by rounded tablespoonfuls or with cookie scoop about 2 inches apart onto parchment-lined baking sheet. Bake 9-11 minutes or until golden brown. Cool slightly and remove from cookie sheets to cooling racks. Makes about 3 dozen.

Zesty Lemon and Flaky Pastry visit Longman & Eagle, The Whistler

2010-05-03T20:21:00.000-07:00

All the cool kids live in Logan Square these days. They're eating at recently opened Longman & Eagle, and they've been drinking at the nearby Whistler for a while. Admittedly, I'm not really cool. I always sat with the nerds when I was in school and would probably still fit in with them today. But Flaky Pastry, who I hereby declare a fellow nerd, and I did our best to fit in as we checked out both venues.

You can't argue with Longman's simple motto, which is emblazoned on its door: Eat Sleep Whiskey. All three count me as one of their biggest fans. Longman handled the latter expertly in Vieux Carre, a cocktail comprised of rye whiskey, vermouth, cognac, and Benedictine—a sort of uber-manhattan. (Whiskey lovers will find an exhaustive list of bourbons and other mainly American whiskeys on the menu.) I didn't find the kitchen as skilled as the bar, however. Yes, the kobe meatballs are little nuggets of deliciousness, served with a bright pesto and creamy polenta. And the arugula, roasted beet, and goat cheese salad was perfectly enjoyable, if a little too skimpy on the cheese. But my main course, veal breast and beef cheek manicotti, left me feeling a little flat. The veal was mostly tender and enjoyable but too fatty in parts. The manicotti, meanwhile, was too chewy. I also thought the pairing of the two didn't make sense, but that's a minor quibble. This isn't Alinea, after all. Flaky Pastry found her hamburger to be unforgivably dry and bland, and didn't even finish half of it. And it seems that veering off the whiskey list and ordering a simple white wine caused some melodrama between the bartender and the varietals. That had to be sparkliest Chardonnay she'd ever had! Some of our fellow patrons swore by the enormous, unwieldy appearing Sloppy Joe, though my thoroughly cool hair stylist (and Longman regular) tells me it shares the same quality as the burger. Caveat emptor!

Following dinner, we headed to The Whistler, a hipster haven that has (justifiably) gotten a lot of press for its creative, classically inspired cocktails. It's rather nondescript, easy-to-pass-right-by exterior decor is really no indication of the good times that can be had inside. Live music each night is a virtual guarantee, and although there's no food service, pizza delivery and takeaway is never frowned upon.

Among the cocktails, my favorite was the Slippery Slope, another manhattan-ish blend, but this time with apricot and lemon, in addition to the usual whiskey and vermouth. I also wouldn't turn down the Welcome Back, with gin, St. Germain, lillet blanc (one of those liquors popping up everywhere these days), and absinthe, which we both enjoyed. Every cocktail is just $8—a more than fair price for the quality and effort. We arrived early, around 8 pm, but by 9, the bar was brimming with neighborhood folks sporting the standard Logan Square uniform: skinny jeans, flannel, shaggy hair, and a PBR in the right hand. (Lest you think I'm exaggerating, the guy sitting at the bar next to me matched that description to a T). But these not-so-cool kids would happily drink at The Whistler again. Maybe you'll find us both relaxing on the back outdoor patio this summer!

What Exactly Is Monkey Bread?

2010-04-27T12:31:00.000-07:00

Seriously. Who came up with it, why is it called that, and why is it just one of the best comfort foods around??? My middle-schoolers made it in our baking class yesterday afternoon, and that's the first thing they asked me. And I had no idea! So I promised them I'd research it and get back with them at tomorrow's class. (Also, Zesty Lemon is still working on his restaurant review, and I thought this post would entertain you in the interim.)

This account at The Food Timeline provides the most detail I've ever read on the subject. The recipe itself derives from typical sweet roll yeast breads of yesteryear, and monkey bread (a.k.a. bubble bread or pull-apart bread) can be traced back to pioneer days, when cowboys on the range preferred one-pot cooking for just about everything, including their daily bread. Early 20th-century cookbooks described all kinds of "balled rolls," including Parker House rolls and clover-leaf rolls, with its first official mention in the New York Times coming in 1976. Nancy Reagan even began serving it at the White House in the '80s.

However, one thing's for sure--no one really knows why it was ever called monkey bread to begin with. There are several possibilities, including how it resembles "a bunch of monkeys" all jumbled together. Another account says it has to do with all the "monkeying around" you need to do with balls of dough to get this dish together!

All that said, it's a mighty tasty treat, and in these days coming into spring, where the evenings are just cool enough to still warrant some sweet-n-toasty baking, it's the perfect thing. You can get Nancy Reagan's recipe at The Food Timeline link, but try mine sometime and let me know what you think. The kids in class were all over it; so much so, I didn't even get a bubble of bread to myself!

FOR THE BREAD
1/4 cup warm water
pinch of sugar
1 package yeast (2 1/4 teaspoons)

3/4 cup warm milk
2 tablespoons butter, room temperature
1 egg
1/4 cup sugar
1 teaspoon salt
3 1/4 cups all-purpose flour

FOR THE COATING
1 stick butter (8 tablespoons)
1/2 cup chopped nuts (pecans or walnuts work best)
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
3/4 cup light brown sugar

FOR THE ICING
2 cups powdered sugar
1/4 cup milk

Spray a Bundt pan with cooking spray and set aside. Spray a medium bowl with cooking spray and set aside.

Put the warm water and a pinch of sugar in a small bowl. Sprinkle yeast over top and allow to dissolve and get foamy (about 5 minutes). In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, place milk, butter, egg, sugar, and salt. Combine yeast mixture and mix well on medium for about 1 minute. Change to dough hook and add flour, kneading for about 2 minutes. (To do this by hand, combine yeast mixture with milk, butter, egg, sugar, and salt using a wooden spoon or spatula. Add flour and mix well with hands. Turn dough out onto floured surface and knead by hand for 5 minutes.) Place dough in oiled bowl, wrap with plastic wrap, and set aside. Allow to rest in warm place for 20 minutes.

Make coating: Melt butter in small bowl and set aside. In a separate bowl, combine cinnamon, nuts, and sugar. Sprinkle 2 tablespoons nut mixture into bottom of Bundt pan.

Cut dough into 1/2-inch pieces and roll into balls. Dip balls in butter, then nut mixture, and place in Bundt pan, layering as you go. Wrap pan in plastic and set in warm place to double in size (about 1 hour).

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Bake bread for 30-35 minutes. Allow to cool in pan for 15 minutes, then turn bread out onto wire rack. Cool another 20 minutes.

Make icing: In small bowl, stir milk into powdered sugar until there are no lumps. Drizzle over bread and serve!

NOTE: In the interest of time during class, we eliminated the 1-hour rising time in the Bundt pan, and our monkey bread still came out perfectly crispy on the outside and soft, warm, and sweet on the inside!

My First Cake Contest

2010-04-15T15:53:00.000-07:00

I'm no Cake Boss or Ace of Cakes, but I tried my hand at a cake decorating competition last weekend here in the greater Chicago area. Cake decorating is just one of the many things I do; inherently, I'm more of a baker than an artist. I like texture and substance in food more than presentation and artistry.

But this was fun, and I was glad I participated. I didn't win anything, but I learned a lot. Like how much bigger is better at these sorts of things! I knew from the moment I entered the parking lot and saw all the massive SUVs that I would be outdone by size. My trusty Chouquette, the pint-sized MINI Cooper a.k.a. Pom-mobile "delivery truck" for the business, arrived carting not one but two little entries in its tiny boot, and I went up against Hummers and Suburbans carting massive 6-foot tall towers of detail and decor!

The judges weren't all that constructive (check out the new Flickr Photostream feature at right and see the captions for total cake contest coverage), but as in any competitive sport, it's not whether you win or lose, it's how you play the game. I was proud of my work, enjoyed having the chance to execute some crazy ideas swimming around in my head, and got to hang out with some really supportive friends who made the trip to way-the-hell-out-there Chicagoland to wish me well.

Throughout this blog post, I've included a few of the winners, with my own two posted at the bottom. The top left is Sunday's Best of Show winner; the one at right and directly below was Decorator's and People's Choice. But definitely check out the Photostream to get some close-ups on my own handiwork.

On a final note, I wanted to take this opportunity to introduce a new addition to the Spoonfoolery food blogging staff--my good friend The Zesty Lemon! Now our guest restaurant critic, he is a man about this food town, an experienced restaurant critic, and a very fabulous foodie. He's an expert home chef, regularly knocking anything French or Italian out of the ballpark. Zesty Lemon and I recently experienced a local eatery in my West Side Chicago neighborhood that's been all the rage this spring. Watch for his report on Longman & Eagle in the next post. Welcome Zesty Lemon!

Restaurant Review: El Cid

2010-04-05T05:31:00.000-07:00

I've lived in Logan Square for four years and had yet to hit either El Cid 1 or El Cid 2, until this long holiday weekend. What a perfect way to spend Easter--with Mexican food! OK, OK, makes no sense really, but we managed to bookend the weekend with pretty days here in Chicago, which bode well for long walks in the 'hood and well, finally trying a restaurant we should have years ago. Neighbors have been singing its praises for years, and they couldn't be more right. It was terrific Mexican fare at a reasonable price with monstrous margaritas, a sunny patio, and a fun lounge for late-night snacking. Our service was a bit slow, thanks to the weather bringing out droves of sun soakers, but the food made up for it. I highly recommend the chicken enchiladas with mole sauce and the fish tacos, which we shared over a late lunch and then proceeded to need no dinner later. The tortilla chips are addictive, and the guacamole light and creamy with just the right kick. I think this will be a summer favorite on our list!

Cooking School: Shortening vs. Butter

2010-04-03T14:55:00.000-07:00

I am a sucker for the check-out aisle baking magazines. My favorites are the Better Homes & Gardens Special Interest Publications, like Ultimate Desserts (on sale starting last month). But upon purchasing and studying this "bookazine," it left me wondering why so many cookie recipes in it called for shortening. As a cake decorator, I am stumped by the fact that so many of my brethren choose to make "Criscocream" frosting instead of real buttercream. Cheaper, I'm sure, but way too synthetic for my book. I do like going halfsies in pie crust. (See my post Pie Crust Primer for the perfect pastry crust.) But my affinity for using vegetable shortening in cooking and baking pretty much stops there. I'm all butter, all the way after that.

So I decided to do some research into why the BH&G kitchens use shortening sometimes instead of butter in baking, especially with cookies. Camilla at Enlightened Cooking investigated the dilemma in depth in this post. Butter naturally contains water and shortening doesn't, so shortening yields a higher, lighter texture and butter generates a flatter, crispier little number. But if it's flavor you're really going for, stick with butter. You'll notice the difference. She also conducted a comparison test using her double chocolate cookie recipe, which proved that although the shortening version had a lighter, puffier texture, the butter version was tastier and more flavorful. I guess it's really just what you go for in the end (or perhaps what's stocked in your fridge or pantry!).

My recommendation would be, as she suggests in her post, to make note of how much a role the butter plays in your recipe and go from there. If it's a central role (1 stick or more), you may want to go with butter. That much butter in a recipe means to be part of the flavor profile as much as the structure. Also, there's nothing wrong with going halfsies on buttercream too, if you're needing to save a buck or you notice your audience actually prefers Criscocream. That's what the grocery stores use, and sadly, what some people are used to these days. Real buttercream might throw your group for a loop, believe it or not!

A Birthday Meal Down South

2010-03-29T08:34:00.000-07:00

Just back from a road trip to see friends and family down south. While there, I had a hunkering for a truly southern meal, and my good friends R & H in my hometown appeased me. With a birthday in our midst, we celebrated in style with a lightened-up version of a country favorite, Country-Fried Steak with Mushroom Gravy and of course, classic yellow cupcakes with chocolate buttercream. Good times were had by all, and we sauntered to bed that evening comfortably stuffed!

This is a keeper recipe I've had around since earlier days of subscribing to Cooking Light. I've done nothing to it except to try and make it at least once a year in order to stay in touch with my southern roots! You can use just about any type of mushroom for this, but the button mushrooms you see here make the best presentation. We served this with green beans sauteed in toasted almonds and olive oil with some cracked pepper and salt. Instead of mashed potatoes, I roasted baby red potatoes in rosemary, sage, oregano, garlic powder, and more olive oil, salt, and pepper.

As for the cupcakes, I polled before I arrived and knew to bring a recipe for classic yellow cupcakes with chocolate buttercream frosting. This is a variation from Cupcake Bakeshop by Chockylit, one of my all-time favorite cupcake blogs.

Classic Yellow Cupcakes with Chocolate Buttercream

1 1/3 cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
8 tbsp (1 stick) butter, room temperature
1 cup sugar
2 eggs, room temperature
1/2 cup milk, room temperature
1 tsp vanilla extract or vanilla bean paste

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a separate bowl, sift first three ingredients together and set aside. In another bowl, cream butter and sugar together with an electric mixer until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Add eggs, one at a time, and mix well each time. Add dry ingredients alternately with milk in four additions (flour, milk, flour, milk) and mix until virtually no lumps (about 3-5 minutes). Add vanilla and stir to combine. Divide evenly in lined cupcake pan (1/2 to 2/3 full) and bake 16-18 minutes until golden or toothpick comes clean. Cool completely before frosting.

Cooking School: What's the Deal with the Easy-Bake Oven?

2010-03-21T06:29:00.000-07:00

I have always been intrigued by this machine. I wanted one so badly growing up, but my mother was a purist and believed in the big bad oven and teaching us how to use it. She did borrow one from a friend's kid for a summer to appease my interest. I remember being so anal as to actually slice the cakes into perfect portions to give to my family. Yes, there is something so fascinating to young bakers about cooking food with a 100-watt light bulb.

Since spending time with my nieces this weekend, who just got one for Christmas, I've started wondering about it all over again. I simply need to understand how this stuff works with the simple heat of a light bulb! After much Googling, I learned that no one really can say how it works, except that it does. NPR went so far as to conduct a gourmet cooking face-off with two industry notables, Caprial Pence of PBS cooking show fame, and Oprah's chef, Art Smith. Wikipedia and About.com both chronicle the efforts of the toy companies who've owned the Easy-Bake patent over the years. None of these resources really explain how a 100-watt light bulb can bake a wild mushroom flan. But it does! I would need to consult an engineer, but my best guess would be the ratio of heat to space. If you stick a light/heat source of that magnitude into a less-than-a-cubic-foot space, it'll probably cook anything!

I'm glad the Easy-Bake Oven is still around and entertaining kids across America. Hopefully, now that gourmet chefs' recipes can be executed in them, it will encourage wee ones everywhere down the path of culinary success. I hope to have that influence myself here in the coming weeks, as I've just accepted an opportunity to teach baking and pastry arts at a local youth center for the spring term of its after-school program. I won't be Easy-Baking, that's for sure, since the goal is to teach these kids really cooking and baking with a convection oven and electric stand mixer. But I'm very grateful for the opportunity to be a part of their learning process. I am truly enjoying my change in career, and I'm looking forward to helping Chicago youth choose this avenue right out of the gate!

Lamb Vindaloo--Woo Hoo!

2010-03-14T11:19:00.000-07:00

Even though I grew up eating it at nearly every meal, I have only recently clued in to the fact that there is actually no such thing as a curry, according to The Food of India, an amazing text and cookbook that every Indian food connoisseur should have. The term comes from the Tamil word kari, meaning black pepper. Dishes are named for the amalgamation of spices used to make them (rogan josh, vindaloo), the cooking method (korma--in cream, or biryani--with rice), or for their main ingredients (saag--spinach, aloo gobi--cauliflower). Curry powder doesn't really exist in India either, with the closest thing being masala (a spice mix). There are hundreds of masala combinations, such as garam and Madras.

I grew up eating traditionally South Indian food, which is not the standard fare served in Indian restaurants. Its mostly vegetarian and includes things like dosa (rice flour crepe filled with a curried potato mixture) and idli (steamed rice cake served with a coconut or cilantro chutney). However, I have come to embrace North Indian selections such as vindaloo because of its combination of all my favorite Indian spices and its serious kick! You can make this spice mixture en masse and keep it around as a rub for just about anything (burgers, roasted chicken--you name it). But it is definitely worth slow cooking a lamb shank in some time. This was almost so good, we didn't want to eat it, for fear we'd be finished with it all too soon! Most of the ingredients can be found at your grocery store or Whole Foods, but if you live in the vicinity of a good Middle Eastern or Indian grocer, stock up on some of the exotics like cardamom pods and bay leaves. They're much cheaper for bigger quantities there.

Lamb Vindaloo

2 T coriander seed
1 T cumin seed
1/4 tsp black peppercorns
3-4 green cardamom pods
3-4 whole cloves
2 tsp black mustard seeds
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp cayenne
1 T turmeric
2 tsp salt
6 cloves garlic, peeled and minced
2 inches fresh ginger, peeled and minced
2 lbs lamb shanks, fat mostly trimmed
1 cup red wine
1 medium tomato, diced (or two roma/plum tomatoes)
1 medium Vidalia onion or other sweet onion, finely chopped
6 bay leaves
Fresh cilantro leaves

Lightly dry roast (no oil) coriander through mustard seeds over medium-high heat until fragrant (about 3 minutes). Grind these in a spice grinder or clean coffee grinder until fine. Mix with cinnamon, cayenne, turmeric, and salt. Add garlic and ginger and make a paste. Rub over lamb shanks to coat. In a large Ziploc bag or Tupperware, combine red wine, tomato, onion, and bay leaves. Place lamb in bag or Tupperware, seal, and shake to coat evenly. Marinate overnight in refrigerator.

Preheat oven to 275 degrees F. Empty contents of bag or box into oven-proof pot with lid. Cover and roast lamb shanks with curry mixture for 2-3 hours. (You can check at 2 hours and see if it's fall-off-the-bone tender; if not, leave it in for another 30 minutes to an hour). Serve over rice and garnish with fresh cilantro leaves. Serves 4.

Cooking School: Feeding a Crowd

2010-03-04T09:24:00.000-08:00

Many apologies for the delinquency in posting anything new. I am working on a few ideas, but it's been a bit nutty sitting down to write these days. One of the things I often hear about from people is how difficult it is to plan multiple components to a meal and pull it all off at the same time. I must admit, I struggled with my efficiency in the kitchen until I went to culinary school, which in itself is an education on constant multitasking.

I recently took a cooking class at Chicago's Chopping Block, and the chef was so organized, he scared me. But in a good way! One of the things he pointed out is how in our minds, we think dessert should be done last. Well, that's the way we eat it, but when prepping for a party, you should actually do it first. It is typically one of those things that requires resting or rising a batter or dough, chilling something or the other, baking time, and cooling time. Probably the most time-consuming portion of the meal! So do it first and utilize the resting, baking, cooling, and all-around sitting-around-and-waiting-for-the-next-step slots in your schedule for other things.

Before you shove off, take a look at all your recipes and look for line items such as these, and when something is sitting around and doing nothing, do something else. If you need to bring things to room temp before working with them, then chop vegetables, shred cheese, or simmer or saute something in the interim. If something's gotta chill, then put something else in the oven during that time.

And it's OK to "cheat" with some prepared foods. Get the sliced mushrooms, canned diced tomatoes (no-salt-added versions are the best), shredded carrots or cheese, peeled and deveined shrimp--you name it. The possibilities are endless these days at the grocery store, as more and more food manufacturers are realizing you want to eat healthier and are less likely to buy preservative- and salt-heavy boxed meals but are more willing to buy prepped fresh food.

I recently put all the items in this picture together in 5-1/2 hours--enough to feed a party for 30. And I did this by simply starting dessert first and utilizing the downtimes for up times. You too can be this organized in the kitchen, and you will be ready for those guests, cocktail in hand, apron on the hook, and delicious food just waiting to be consumed!

Restaurant Review: Tac Quick

2010-02-17T09:11:00.000-08:00

Another new feature at Spoonfoolery--restaurant reviews! Tac Quick in Wrigleyville is officially the word on Thai, in my book. My husband and I have been there several times since discovering it with my book club in the fall, and we just can't get enough. It is simply not your average Thai. There's presentation and flavor beyond any corner take-out joint you'll ever go to, and unique dishes such as the pork neck appetizer and basil beef brisket special keep you coming back for more. It's BYOB, so all told, you can get a couple of entrees and a few appetizers for under $30. The music is of the martini-lounge variety, and the service is genuine and efficient. Must-haves include the panang curry (talk about special noodles!) and the tod mun fish cake. I think what we enjoy most about the place is how unique and alternative it is to the average neighborhood joint. It comes to you looking different, tasting divine, and filling you up. As we've discovered this place in the cold season in Chicago, we can't wait to try out their patio come summer! Oh, and you can bring your own dessert. They are one of those rare places around town that charge no corkage fee or plate service for homemade desserts. Reservations recommended for large groups. Go Tac Quick!

Salted Caramel EVERYTHING!

2010-02-12T06:17:00.000-08:00

It seems to be all the rage these days: sweet + salty. Caramels sprinkled with fleur de sel, chocolate truffles topped with pink Himalayan salt, and now cupcakes! I made these for an order last week--a brown sugar-based cake with a Swiss meringue buttercream and caramel swirl frosting. I topped them with traditional Kraft caramels and a sprinkle of fleur de sel. Although I cannot give up this treasured Pomegranate recipe, you can order them here for delivery in Chicago and the greater metropolitan area. But because I don't want to be a stingy blogger, I came up with the following libation to accompany your total salted caramel experience. In a perfect world, you'd end your Valentine's Day dinner with one of each (cupcake and martini), but I won't be offended if I don't get that immediate phone call for an order of the cupcakes. ;-) If you do try the martini, let me know what you think. My foray into the food arts began with bartending school several years ago, followed by weekend work bartending with a big catering company in Boston. I'd like to think that's what started it all, and to this day, I still like pausing to concoct a good fun drink. Hopefully, some day, you can indulge in both the cupcake and drink at Pomegranate Sweets & Savories!

Salted Caramel Martini

1.5 oz vanilla vodka
1.5 oz Cask & Cream Caramel Sensations liqueur (or Bailey's with a Hint of Caramel)
1 oz milk or half-n-half
Turbinado sugar (Sugar in the Raw)
Coarse sea salt

Combine equal parts of the salt and sugar in a shallow bowl or plate. Coat the rim of a martini glass with the salt-sugar mixture. In a martini shaker with ice, combine vodka, caramel liqueur, and milk or half-n-half and shake well. Strain into martini glass and drink up! Serves 1.

Banana Chocolate Caramel Wontons

2010-02-09T10:05:00.000-08:00

You probably just read that title and thought, "What is she smoking?" Well, hopefully, just hot oil to fry these guys in! This is a take-off of a dessert my husband and I had in San Francisco in July 2007--a banana chocolate chimichanga. I made them as simpler, smaller portions the other night, and it brought back fond memories of our first big vacation together in one of the best food cities in the nation.

My only suggestion is to forgo the caramel bits we included in our version. They end up cooling cold and hard. Not sure what Kraft meant those for, but they haven't actually worked for me in anything I've tried them in--cupcakes, cookies, quick breads. I've included our recipe here, sans the caramel bits, and suggested you just use your favorite caramel sundae topping (Smucker's makes a good one) and drizzle it over your whole shebang in the end.

Banana Chocolate Caramel Wontons

vegetable or grapeseed oil for frying
12 wonton wrappers (not eggroll wrappers)
1 ripe banana, sliced into 1/4-inch slices
1 Hershey's milk chocolate bar, broken as scored
Caramel topping (such as Smucker's Sundae Topping)
Vanilla or butter pecan ice cream

Heat oil in a deep pot until hot but not smoking. Test temperature by dropping a tidbit of wonton wrapper dough in oil and checking if it fries and floats directly to the top. Remove wrappers from packaging and keep in wet paper towel and you use each one. Place one wrapper on a smooth, dry surface, place 1-2 slices banana and 1 square chocolate in center. Bunch up like a sack and press to seal. Keep banana chocolate sacks covered until frying. Line a shallow bowl with double paper towels. Using a slotted spoon, fry banana chocolate sacks two to three at a time until golden brown. Serve warm with a scoop of ice cream and drizzle of caramel. Serves 6.

Book Review: Confections of a Closet Master Baker

2010-02-04T13:48:00.000-08:00

Yes, you read that title right. Many, many double meanings in that one, my friends. But the book is really about having a dream and making it happen. I'm starting a new feature here at Spoonfoolery--book reviews! I am a cookbook junkie, as you learned when I met Thomas Keller and again when I met Gale Gand, and admitted to owning multiples of her baking bibles as well. So since I read cookbooks as if they're bedside novels, I thought I'd review one that more or less is a bedside novel.

Gesine Bullock-Prado is the younger sister of Hollywood A-lister Sandra Bullock. After years as a studio executive mired in Hollywood shenanigans, Gesine chucked it all to purchase, build out, and run a vintage-style bakery in the middle of Vermont. I felt she was a kindred spirit when I read that she took up baking as an outlet to the insanity that is the most plastic place on the planet (Hollywood). That was pretty much my trajectory from editor to pastry chef. Baking was definitely a release from hoeing the cubicle farm all day for me. Gesine and Sandra's late mother, a true German baker, was another inspiration, and the homage Gesine pays to her mom in the book is very moving. Set up more as a testament to her tenacity to turn a completely different corner and make a homestyle bakery work in the middle of nowhere, Confections of a Closet Master Baker is part biography, part cookbook, part stand-up comedienne routine. Each chapter starts with a sharp, witty look at how exactly something came to be at the bakery or in her life in general, and ends with a famous recipe from her menu, making it hard to decide if this book belongs on the living room shelves or in the kitchen. I loved her laugh-out-loud takes on kitchen disasters (including her sister's wedding cake), and her cynical-yet-dead-on assessments of just the way people are sometimes, especially her customers. She is a distinctly different personality than Sandra, and that's something she's been gunning for her whole life. She just never found that in Hollywood, but I think she's on her way now, by making Montpelier, Vt., the French macaron capital this side of the Atlantic!

Colorful Chicken Chili

2010-02-02T20:25:00.000-08:00

One of my all-time favorite winter specials is Lewis & Clark's white chicken chili. L&C is a St. Louis-area pub-fare institution. The recipe for it's famous white version of the red-brown favorite appeared in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch nearly 15 years ago, when I was living and working in the area. I've never stopped making it since....until now! I wanted to improve on it a bit by adding more veggies and making it a little more "south of the border." Try this version this wintry weekend and let me know what you think. Cooking the chicken only part of the way before adding all the liquids helps keep it tender. I served it with crumbled tortilla chips and shredded nacho cheese on the side. If you can't find Great Northern beans, cannellini beans work fine.

Colorful Chicken Chili

1 medium onion, chopped (preferably Sweet Vidalia)
2 tbsp corn oil
1/2 cup mild banana pepper rings, chopped
1 jalapeno, cored and diced
3 cloves garlic, minced 2 stalks celery, diced
1 cup carrot, diced
1 lb boneless, skinless chicken breast, cut into 1/2-inch cubes
1 tsp ground cumin
1/2 tsp chili powder
1/4 tsp ground black pepper
salt to taste
2 cans Greath Northern Beans, undrained
1 can cream-style corn (or regular sweet corn, undrained, if you prefer non-dairy)
3 cups chicken stock
1/2 cup chopped cilantro for garnish

Heat corn oil in large stockpot until hot. Toss in onions and saute five minutes. Add banana peppers, jalapeno, and garlic and continue stirring and sauteing until fragrant. Add celery, carrot, and chicken. Do not brown chicken all the way. When still partly pink, add spices (cumin through salt), and combine throroughly. Add beans with its water, corn, and chicken stock and bring to a boil. Reduce to a simmer and cook, slightly covered for 30 minutes on low heat. Uncover and increase heat to medium and boil off some of the liquid before serving. Garnish with cilantro. Serves 8.

Cooking School: Pan Addiction

2010-01-31T10:20:00.000-08:00

I cannot believe it, but Wilton has managed to pioneer yet another cupcake size. As if mini, regular, and Texas were not enough, we now have the option of King-Size! These are not new; evidently, they've been around for a couple of years. But they are a new discovery here in Spoonfoolery land. The possibilities are endless! My favorite so far is this "soft-serve cupcake" from Wilton's site.

With these tulip paper liners (all the rage right now; just visit your local Starbucks, and you'll see more than things than you can imagine made with them), this tall cupcake pan certainly makes some cute food!

I must say, I'm addicted to collectible cake pans,, and I just can't seem to have enough varieties to do all the things I'd like to do. Another recent addition is this fun wonder--the Fanci-Fill cake pan--also from Wilton.

It comes in 8-inch and 4-inch sizes, so you could actually tier this for a super-special occasion. I made one big giant Hostess cupcake with this for a dinner party last night, filled with a standard Devil's food cake recipe, chai whipped cream, and melted fudge frosting poured over the top. Sorry, but I totally forgot to get a cross-section for you, but see the accompanying booklet photo above. It does slice very neatly with a complete cross-section of filling.

And you can also do savory with this; the recipe booklet has a "rice cake" of sorts, where you put whatever you planned to serve with the rice you just made inside the "fill" part of the cake pan. A new way to serve Indian food? I think so!

But all humor aside, baking pans, which ones to get (nonstick or commercial metal), and many other construction details befuddle home bakers nationwide. A friend from my Boston days recently asked me what was my preferred cookie sheet--the flat, insulated kind with the two upturned lips or jelly-roll style?

I prefer the jelly roll style, nonstick. They are much easier to remove from the oven with their surrounding lip, and they serve multiple purposes: cookie sheet, bar cookie pan, and cake pan. Chicago Metallic makes an excellent version, in a commercial-grade uncoated metal. With parchment paper, it's just as nonstick as nonstick, without the horrible burn factor that nonstick often unwittingly includes. I am rather against nonstick coating in cooking and baking in general (What is that stuff, and I just know it is getting in your food!!!), and I do think it instigates extra browning on the bottoms of your cookies more than it should. And I'm a big fan of parchment paper, as I really believe it's the only thing that's truly nonstick in this baking life.

However, sometimes you can't get away from nonstick coating. The Fanci-Fill pan I just bought and fell in love with has nonstick coating, as do many of my layer cake pans. But I always apply cake release to the pan and line it with parchment (also applied with cake release) to ensure things really don't stick (and to hopefully avoid little Teflon bits getting into any precious crumb).

Here is an excellent recipe for cake release that I picked up at a cake decorating convention last summer. You can make this in small batches and store in your dry-goods cabinet for up to 3 months.

Cake Release

4 tbsp shortening
4 tbsp neutral oil such as vegetable or canola
4 tbsp all-purpose flour

Mix thoroughly until no lumps. Apply to cake pans and/or muffin tins with pastry brush. Store in an airtight container in dry area at room temperature for up to 3 months.

Happy panning!

BBRP Bruschetta!

2010-01-24T10:35:00.000-08:00

There's an awesome scene in the movie Julie & Julia where Julie Powell's husband Eric is stuffing his face with bruschetta and proclaiming with his mouth full how absolutely fabulous the dish is. Indeed! I'd have to agree with him. I cannot get enough of it, when it's done right, that is. Olive oil is the key, and in all the renditions I've tried, I've found that grilling the bread in a grill pan with olive oil produces the most flavorful and crunchy version. My sister-in-law made a roasted red pepper version this Christmas at my in-laws that was out of this world, and her brother (my main squeeze, of course) and I improved on it this weekend just a tad by deciding everything's better with bacon! Try our Bacon Basil Red Pepper Bruschetta and let us know what you think... (I included a link for roasting your own peppers--saves money and tastes better too!)

2 large red bell peppers, roasted and diced
1 bunch basil, finely chopped (about 1/4 cup)
2-3 cloves garlic, minced
2 tblsp Balsamic vinegar
1 crusty baguette, sliced into about a dozen 1/2-inch thick slices
olive oil
3 strips bacon, fried to a crisp and crumbled
1/4 cup grated Parmesan
freshly ground black pepper

Roast peppers according to linked directions. In medium bowl, combine peppers, basil, garlic, and Balsamic; set aside. Pour enough olive oil in medium skillet or grill pan until it just covers the bottom of the pan. Fry baguette slices 5 minutes each side, until slightly browned and toasty (you may need to fry in batches, so add olive oil accordingly). Remove from pan and arrange on serving platter. Place 1-2 tablespoons of red pepper mixture on each baguette slice; sprinkle with bacon and grated Parmesan. Garnish with black pepper and serve immediately.

Cooking School: Stocking Your Pantry

2010-01-18T07:12:00.000-08:00

For today's post, I dug back into my cookie jar of comments from friends regarding my last blog. A friend from high school who lives and works in the D.C. area and has probably the busiest schedule of anyone I know asked a really great question: How do you put together a fun meal for friends when you have nothing in the fridge or pantry?

My first answer would be, order a pizza! But then, if you think about it, most people do get more creative when they're down to the bare bones of what's available at home. I once managed to put together a taco salad with the remnants of someone's pantry when even he had no clue his kitchen offered up such fare. I think it is when you're down to nothing that you can really get your game on!

The folks at OChef offer a nice comprehensive list of the ideal pantry, and in a perfect world, we'd all have this stuff lying around to whip up into something great when throwing an impromptu party. But really, if you've got a can of diced tomatoes, an onion, a lime, and even just garlic powder and salt, you've got salsa. I would say most people tend to have tortilla chips around the house, but even if you just have a stack of flour or corn tortillas, even those can be turned into chips in a hot oven in 10 minutes. Instant chips and salsa! Or, you can go a step further if you have shredded cheese and maybe a can of chili in that cupboard somewhere--oven nachos, one of mine and my husband's favorite dinner-and-a-movie menus.

Say you've got a box of spaghetti and two or three tomatoes, and maybe, just maybe, if you're lucky, there's a container of grated Parmesan from your last big Italian production. Nothing makes a better summertime dish than pasta with fresh tomatoes and a garnish of Parmesan. And remember, you can always make an unplanned get-together somewhat planned by asking folks to bring something. Even if you prefer homemade, a lot of people are quite willing to stop by the grocery store and pick up something ready-made.

Here are some other fast equations to calculating an impromptu party spread:

Box of instant pudding + thawed whipped topping + sliced bananas, apples, pears, etc. = fruit dip tray
Potatoes + cheese + deli meat + sour cream = TGIFriday's-like potato skins
Sour cream + dill, parsley, and garlic powder = homemade ranch dip for random veggies or potato chips
Ice cream + cookies = ice cream sandwiches

I suppose you do actually need something in your kitchen to get started, so if you really truly don't have anything, then maybe the pizza guy will have to come to the rescue, but I'm a big believer in stocking the kitchen forever and always with at least some of the following: pasta, canned tomatoes and black beans, shredded cheese (which keeps in the freezer for what seems like forever), sour cream, apples (Granny Smiths and Red Delicious keep a long time in the fridge), flour tortillas (also freezeable), and seasonings such as garlic powder, basil, oregano, cumin, and cinnamon. Our house is never really without ice cream, so we always have an instant dessert around here. And with all the two-fer deals grocery stores are always having on those, there's no real reason any home should be without it, I think!

Well, here's to a better-stocked 2010. Eating at home is always better for you than eating out (saves moolah and calories!), so I hope this little pantry primer helps you make out better with what you might already have!

SpaghettiOs!

2010-01-15T16:31:00.000-08:00

It's comfort food season, and sometimes you find yourself craving things you shouldn't. Like sodium-infested SpaghettiOs. I am generally not a fan of Wikipedia for obtaining details on things you start wondering about, but it did provide a rather humorous timeline on the development of SpaghettiOs and their creator, Donald Goerke, who sadly, actually died this week at the age of 83. After I learned that, I decided to pay a little homage to him and see if I could replicate his masterpiece at home. I also wanted to try and make them somewhat better for you than canned-food-aisle quality, especially should the hubby and I decide to add munchkins to the mix somewhere down the road. (Yeah, all you parents out there are laughing your patooties off thinking, "She thinks she'll have time to make homemade SpaghettiOs with a bunch of rugrats running around screaming 'feed me, feed me'?" Well, I always said this was a bunch of Spoonfoolery, ya know...).

This recipe from Oven Love is a good solid start, but I found the noodles took a long time to cook using the cooking method there, and they absorbed nearly all the moisture in the pot, making for something resembling Sbarro's heat-lamp masses instead of the savory, soupy goodness of SpaghettiOs. Here's the recipe with my edits to cooking time, process, and measurements.

1-lb package anelletti (ring-shaped pasta, available at Trader Joe's) or alpabets or even orzo, cooked separately according to package directions and drained
28-oz can tomato sauce
2 tsp garlic powder
1-2 cups extra water (as needed)
1 cup shredded cheddar cheese
1/2 cup milk
2 tbsp butter
salt to taste

Heat the tomato sauce and garlic powder in a heavy-bottomed saucepan over medium heat. Add noodles and stir to combine. Add water as needed, depending on how "saucy" you like your SpaghettiOs. Stir in the cheese and heat through until melted. Add milk, butter, and salt to taste. Voila! Instant fourth-grade joy!

I Met Gale Gand!

2010-01-12T08:20:00.000-08:00

One more idol down, probably a hundred more to go!

I met Gale Gand, pastry chef extraordinaire, savvy Chicago businesswoman, amazing artist of the tiny food movement, on Sunday at a talk she gave in Morris, Ill., on feeding families. I've been collecting and cooking from her books for years and was aware she'd had twins not long ago (another reason she's an idol--she had those two at age 40!). But I was especially impressed with her many anecdotes on feeding your family, how to include them in the daily shuffle, and how to make sure they continue connecting the good food dots their whole lives. Here are some tips and tricks she gave us that day:

*Compartment plates help parents ensure there are examples of everything at the meal: veggies or fruit, starch, protein, grain, etc. This way, kids get a variety of everything they essentially need, and you don't have to push "clean plate club" on them. (This notion is actually no longer a popular one in child-rearing, from what I understand; Gale said in their house, "Trying something is better than finishing it.")
*Have a make-your-own-pizza night. This way, everyone in the family gets something they want, and they get to help make it too.
*Keep smoothie kits in the freezer. If you have a banana with a few too many brown spots or a couple of strawberries on the brink of growing fuzz, slice them up and chuck them in single-serving freezer-safe Ziploc bags so they're ready to go into the blender with a dollop of yogurt and/or milk at a moment's' notice. Kids love working appliances (with supervision, of course), so again, this is another tasty treat where they can be the chefs!

*Set a real table. That means dishes, napkins, silverware, and even candles. And have your kids help set it all up each night. If they know dinner truly comes with all the fixin's (no less than they'd see while dining out), then it makes the table a really fun place to come to every night. In Gale's home, each family member gets to make a toast (even with just water glasses) every night, and it's definitely something they all have fun with every time.
*Come sit at the table with your kids. One of the biggest mistakes parents make is to hover around the kitchen after the meal is made, doing dishes, loading Tupperware, and so on. If you don't show respect to the work that was put in and to the food that was made by coming and enjoying it with your family when you want them to, then it's hard to expect that same respect from your kids.
*Teach your kids kitchen tasks year by year. One year, they may only be able to pour an egg cracked in a cup into the batter bowl. But the next year, they can probably learn to crack the egg. The year after that, they might be able to count and collect the eggs for the recipe from the carton in the fridge, and maybe after that, read the recipe and get all the ingredients out themselves! If cooking is taught in graduating steps, it makes for less frustration for everyone all around.

*And finally, if you're a loner in the kitchen and would rather not have too many cooks in there with you, take your kids shopping so they can learn to pick out healthful ingredients for themselves, or include them in the menu planning so they can feel a part of it all in some way.

So inspired by Gale was I, that I came right home and made a recipe from Chocolate & Vanilla, one of her best. Cake in a Jar has to be one of the most comforting dessert experiences around, and I think it will be a definite on Pomegranate's menu some day. These can easily be made ahead and refrigerated until ready to serve. They're portable too and lunchbox ready, and there are no cake pans or cupcake tins to wash up afterward. Just stick the jars in your dishwasher and make it again soon!

Cooking School: Defining Buttercreams

2010-01-07T08:42:00.000-08:00

What is buttercream frosting? Well, what it's not is the stuff you see slathered on cakes at the grocery store or in the tubs on the Pillsbury/Betty Crocker aisles. Those versions are made with shortening or other vegetable-based oil suspensions and cannot legitimately be called buttercream. But what does qualify as such contains plenty of butter and sugar, sometimes milk and vanilla, and in European versions, eggs.

A good friend and former co-worker who is nurturing her young tween's growing interest in pastry asked me an awesome question yesterday: What's the difference between all the various buttercreams--from back-of-the-Domino-sugar-box (my personal favorite) to the ones that use eggs? Let's take a look...

Here is an excellent buttercream primer. The folks at PastrySampler.com define all the various ones and provide recipes for all of them. My take is that Swiss Buttercream is the easiest of the European buttercreams, tastes the best, and covers cakes marvelously. I use PastrySampler's standard Buttercream Icing for cupcakes. It's also good for adhering fondant to cakes.

I'd add the following notes of interest to PastrySamplers's definitions for buttercream:

Store-bought icing can be used for decorating (roses, piping, and other pastry bag techniques). Just add powdered sugar to achieve proper consistency for piping (flowing) or roses (stiff)
Filling is often qualified as whipped ganache, mousse, or custard, although another layer of buttercream between your cake layers works just fine. If using fillings with runnier consistencies, pipe an icing dam around the edges to hold the filling in before the weight of the next layers go on top.

Because the European buttercreams use eggs, it's best to frost cakes with them when you know refrigeration afterward will be readily available.
Bring frostings to room temp before working with them via pastry bag, otherwise you'll be arthritic before your time!
Making frostings of any type is easy with an electric handheld mixer or stand mixer. The key is to whip plenty of air in there, which is not always done sufficiently by hand. If you have neither and need to make frosting, may I suggest a bundt cake with powdered sugar glaze instead? (Sorry! I'm a bit of an electric mixer snob; it is a godsend in the cake baker's kitchen.)

Domino Sugar also provides an excellent how-to on frosting. Between this and PastrySampler, you'll be frosting like a pro in no time!

Meatballs and Muhummara!

2010-01-05T08:50:00.000-08:00

There are few stranger things than the concepts of "loaf of meat" (meatloaf) and "ball of meat" (meatball). I once had a rather hilarious conversation with a dear friend and fellow bread baker about who was smoking what when the concept of meatloaf came about. We eat loaves of bread, thankyouverymuch. We prefer our meat in fillet, medallion, sliced, or shredded form. But even the foodie blowhards have to agree that a good meatball sandwich can make your heart all a-flutter with comfort-food satisfaction! Here are some good 411s on meatloaf and meatballs, in case you're wondering how exactly world cuisine comes up with this stuff (like I often do). And with everything going gourmet these days (from rabbit sausage to grilled Gruyère cheese sandwiches), it seems logical that loaves and balls of meat should follow.

Over the holiday weekend, I tried this absolutely fantabulous recipe from this month's Bon Appetit: Lamb Kofte with Yogurt Sauce and Muhammara. I made a few minor adjustments here and there (I think the Bon Ap test kitchen went waaaaaaay overboard on the spices; I cut it all down by half), and I did make pomegranate molasses from scratch via a comment posted on a pomegranate-related entry at Coconut & Lime in November (only because I was too cheap and it was too cold in Chicago that weekend to go out looking for some). I also favor the tzatziki sauce recipe I posted (with cucumber) in the Falafel posting earlier this week, so I used that instead of the yogurt sauce here. But as you can see from our photo gallery below, we enjoyed a grand spread to commemorate the end of a long, lovely and relaxing New Year's weekend.

Another Day of Legumes: Fala-FULL!

2010-01-04T09:04:00.000-08:00

We love falafel. In fact, I simply love the word falafel. How awesome to eat something that's as tasty as it is fun to say! If we ever get a cat, I'd like a big floppy hairy one we could call Falafel.

But I digress... I found the perfect recipe for falafel in Mark Bittman's How to Cook Everything Vegetarian. Make sure you dry the chickpeas totally before processing in your blender or food processor. For this recipe, it's crucial that the mixture is fairly dry but can still come together to form patties. Drain and dry the chickpeas uncovered overnight in a paper-towel-lined bowl in your fridge. If you find yourself with a rather moist mixture, just add a 1/2 cup to 1 cup of chickpea flour (found at Whole Foods or ethnic markets). This recipe is a spot on the spicy side, so feel free to adjust seasonings to your tolerance level. I also add about 2 tablespoons of tahini (sesame paste) to my tzatziki sauce, but I've given you one here via hyperlink that works fine if you're not a tahini fan. Last but not least, I adjusted the falafel patty frying process so that you can use less oil, keeping it more healthful.

2 15-oz cans chickpeas, drained and dried overnight
2 cloves garlic, peeled and crushed
1 small onion, quartered
1 tsp ground coriander
1 tablespoon ground cumin
1/2 tsp cayenne
1 cup chopped cilantro
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp freshly ground black pepper
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 tablespoon freshly squeezed lemon juice
Neutral oil for frying (canola or grapeseed work best)

Add chickpeas and all ingredients through lemon juice to a food processor and pulse until almost smooth. Scrape down sides of bowl as necessary; add one or two tablespoons of water if necessary to allow the machine to do its work, but keep mixture as dry as possible. Taste and adjust seasonings as necessary.

Heat oil to about 1-inch depth in a heavy-bottom shallow saucepan. Oil should be about 350 degrees F for frying, but you can also use a smidge of falafel mix to test. While oil is heating, form mixture into patties, about 1/2-inch thick and 2 inches across. Fry in batches and drain on paper-towel-lined plate. Serve hot or at room temperature, in pita pockets or flatbreads with tzatziki sauce.

Lazy Days and Legumes: Black Bean Soup and Yellow Dal

2009-12-29T18:22:00.000-08:00

You always mean well with New Year's resolutions, right? After weeks of comfort food, Crock-Pot concoctions, candy, cookies, and cake, it always feels good to go back to those salad days and other vegetarian fare. Even if you don't stick to such a plan all year long, it helps to have a few healthy vegetable + fiber recipes in the archives.

Like so many others, this week, my husband and I vowed to start eating healthier, and for us, that means more legumes. He suggested I compile a sort of "five days of legumes" this week. We started with his black bean soup on Sunday, with green tomato salsa and chihuahua cheese quesadillas. I canned the salsa this summer, when it was clear it was not a good growing season for tomatoes in Chicago and about three varieties of heirloom tomatoes never went beyond being green. I was skeptical about the salsa when I canned it, but it's turned out to be a lifesaver this winter. He says his black bean soup changes every time he makes it, but I can safely say it's 1 15-oz can of black beans, one jalapeno (cored and finely diced), two to three cloves of garlic (minced), and a couple of roma tomatoes (coarsely chopped and juice included). He leaves the salt and peppering up to me, and I always throw in about a teaspoon of cumin and about a half teaspoon of chipotle or chili powder. Basically, he sautes the jalapeno and garlic together in a couple tablespoons of olive oil for about 5 minutes or until fragrant, and then throws in everything else. Heats it through to simmering (about 20 min), finishes it with the juice of one whole lemon and a smattering of chopped cilantro, and ladles it out in big bowls with the quesadillas on the side. Garnish with sour cream or extra chihuahua cheese. It's the Cinco de Enero (January) treat!

That same evening, he successfully followed my Yellow Dal recipe to a T, so he'd have lunches for the week. We eat this with purchased naan bread or just by itself. It totally warms the heart and makes you think of your favorite Indian restaurant on the first spoonful.

Yellow Dal

1 16-oz package yellow lentils (often called yellow split peas)

3 cups water

1 tablespoon salt

1 teaspoon sugar

1/2 teaspoon turmeric

1 teaspoon ground coriander

1 teaspoon garam masala

1 teaspoon cumin

1/2 teaspoon chili powder

4 tablespoons ghee (clarified butter) or vegetable oil

chopped fresh cilantro

Rinse lentils and drain them. Place lentils in heavy saucepan and add water. Bring to boil and then reduce to simmer uncovered, about 45 min, or until most of the water is cooked away and lentils are soft. Stir in salt, sugar, tumeric, coriander, garam masala, cumin, and chili powder. Combine well and heat through, another 5-10 min. Finish with ghee, mixing to coat. Serve with naan, chapathi, or rice. Serves 6-8.

Later this week, you can try your hand at Mark Bittman's Falafel recipe, which I improved on with one extra step. But for now, I don't want to overwhelm you with more than two recipes at once (plus it gives me more to talk about--and a Third Day of Legumes), so grab a spoon and dig in!

Butternut Squash Soup

2009-12-23T06:58:00.003-08:00

We suffered another guilt trip issued by vegetable share last week. We've had three gorgeous, overweight butternut squash sitting around our kitchen for weeks now, just begging to be turned into some sort of tasty winter dish. This recipe for Butternut Squash Soup from Mark Bitman's How to Cook Everything Vegetarian is a true celebration of winter soup slurping.

2 tbsp canola or vegetable oil
1 3-4 lb. butternut squash, peeled and cut into 1- to 2-inch chunks
1 medium onion
2 tbsp chopped sage
5 cups vegetable or chicken broth
salt and freshly ground pepper to taste
1 cup heavy cream (or 1/2 cup half-n-half and 1/2 cup milk for lighter version)

Heat oil in a large deep skillet or soup pot over medium-high heat. Add squash and onion and saute for five minutes. Add sage and cook and stir until aromatic (another 5-10 minutes). Add broth and reduce heat to low to allow to simmer for 20 minutes. Remove from heat and puree softened squash mixture in blender in batches or with an immersion blender directly in the pot. Return to medium heat and warm through. Add 1 cup cream or half-n-half/mil mixtures and serve immediately with buttered croutons or chopped herbs. Serves 4-6.

Cooking School: Pie Crust Primer

2009-12-08T10:07:00.000-08:00

This weekend, I stumbled across some old questions friends had posed when I had another incarnation of this blog several years ago. One of my best friends in Atlanta posed this question: "Why is pie crust so hard to make? Grocery store crusts taste better than my slop!"

All I could think was, "Oh no. Don't go the supermarket route!" Those are filled with preservatives, made with all shortening and no real butter, and full of salt to give them shelf life. You can master pie crust this holiday season, and here are a few tips for obtaining a good, workable, flaky pie dough. (I'll tackle nut and cracker/cookie crusts that require parbaking another time.)

This recipe from Epicurious is pretty foolproof. I replace half the butter with shortening to give it superior flakiness. Some people replace it with lard, but I just can't use that part of an animal (maybe it's the Hindu in me again???), so I'm fine with shortening. I do think it adds texture and allows the flaky layers to form better than an all-butter crust does.

Don't make the crust unless you're really going to use it within the allotted time. Chilling for an hour is perfect. If you think you can't get to it the day you make it but still want to cross the task of handmade crust off your list, then form the disc, wrap it twice in plastic wrap, put it in a freezer-safe Ziploc (label and date it!), and freeze it until you use it. Transfer it to the fridge first before using it because you want it to return to that "chilled-for-an-hour" temp (usually overnight works fine). If the pan-ready pie crust is your thing, then buy these glass pie plates that you can even get at CVS and Walgreens, roll out your dough after the hour chilling time, place it in these plates, lay waxed paper or parchment between each plate, stack and wrap them, and then freeze them in a Ziploc bag. You'll even have reusable glass pie plates, and they're sturdier for transport to a party than foil ones.

You can also go whole-grain on this pie crust recipe. I replace about half the flour with whole wheat pastry flour when going for a somewhat healthier or rustic slant. I do think it's crucial to use pastry flour and not just simply whole-wheat flour, otherwise you won't have the pliability you'll need for pie and tart dough. Here is a great guide on all the flours so that you can better understand gluten content and how it works in certain doughs.

I am also a fan of the silicone rolling pin for working with pie dough. Because of the high butter content, you'll want to make sure the dough doesn't stick to your pin. Flour your surface well, then flour your disc of dough. Roll with even pressure and turn the flattening disc often. Reflour your surface as necessary. I often pick up the widening circle of dough on opposite ends and circulate it, in a rather "Mr. Miyagi/wax on, wax off" way, so that I know it never sticks to my rolling surface. Wooden straight and French-style rolling pins are also great, and I got used to using one in pastry school. Just remember not to wet-wash it. It's wood and will rot and splinter if in regular contact with water. For cleanup, just allow buttery bits to dry and then scrape off with a dry, rough-surface towel or bowl scraper. This is one reason I really like the silicone pins. They offer the same even weight as a French wooden pin, but with an easy-to-clean surface. Just keep it away from knives, box graters, and other pointed surfaces when you store it, so as not to tear up the soft silicone surface.

Lattice-top fruit pies are just about the prettiest things on the planet! But lattice work takes some practice, in my opinion, so an easy way out is to use small shaped cutters. The end result is a pretty darn beautiful pie that still has the venting needed for the water in fruit pies to escape during the baking process. Scraps of leftover dough can be rekneaded and frozen until later use. For lattice-top pies, I will often insert a baking sheet with a lip (jelly-roll pan) on the rack below the pie in order to catch fruit drippings that bubble out over the lattice.

All the best with your pie-baking this holiday season, and just remember, nothing beats homemade pie crust. Really, after you become a whiz at this, the supermarket version will truly pale in comparison!

Smoky Pork and Pappardelle

2009-12-05T13:01:00.000-08:00

Having been raised Hindu, I generally have a karma problem after eating a burger or steak. I don't do it often (maybe two or three times a year, plus the occasional lasagna with meat sauce at a friend's house), and I rarely prepare it at home. For some reason, the feeling generally carried over to pork with me, even though there's nothing in the Upanishads or Baghvad Gita about pigs (as far as I know anyway). But then the bacon/pulled pork phenomenon took over American cuisine, and I can't stop looking for interesting ways to braise, roast, grill--you name it--a pork tenderloin or shoulder. My good friend Chris gave me this recipe for Smoky Pork and Pappardelle months ago, and it took me until this week to try it. Yowza! Talk about a keeper AND A HALF! This is going down in our all-time faves Messy Box o' Many Recipes (because I can't be bothered to get a binder and three-hole-punch all the print-outs and magazine tear-outs), and we'll be breaking it out multiple times this season.

A few disclaimers... I was lazy and couldn't be bothered to get in my car for groceries, so I subbed a few things, courtesy of my pantry and the Mexican grocery on the corner: conchiglie (conch-shape pasta from World Market that I already had, instead of pappardelle, a long, flat sheet pasta that's not as wide as lasagna but not as narrow as linguine); ricotta for the mascarpone; and bone-in pork tenderloin chunks that required deboning later, during the shredding process. I deboned the pork and shredded it, added another cup of chicken broth, and cooked the conchiglie in the stew on the stove, just before adding the ricotta and serving. Perfect one-pot action!

It was a simply spectacular meal, and we will be making this over and over at our house. Serve it with a good Pinot Noir, a spinach salad, and some kind of fruit pie or cobbler for dessert. Winter's here!

I Met Thomas Keller!

2009-12-02T12:10:00.000-08:00

I'm a cookbook nerd, and I'm proud of it. They are my bedside reading, I check them out from the library, I buy them used anywhere I can, and my shelves runneth over. Someday, I'd like to open a cookbook library inside Pomegranate--another way to get people to come, eat, relax, read, and enjoy hanging out in my home-away-from home.

Last night, I met the incredibly amazing and talented Thomas Keller of French Laundry, Per Se, and Ad Hoc fame. The man is a culinary genius and a gastronomic god. In my humble opinion, he is the greatest American food artist. Grant Achatz of Alinea and the whole molecular gastronomy movement trained under Thomas Keller, and people are lined up around the block to work at French Laundry for free. Keller's books are literally coffee table books--the kind where you photocopy the recipe you want to use and put the real book back on your shelf so that it never sees a splatter of anything from your kitchen! Meeting him yesterday was in one of my top experiences of all time (he's very debonair, a sharp dresser, and amazingly fit and lithe--how these guys who cook with butter 24/7 look like this is beyond me!). But going to French Laundry is one of my Top Ten Things in Life to Do Before I Die. My husband and I are hoping to go this summer, when I run a half marathon in Napa and to celebrate our birthdays. I figure the only way to justify a $500 meal and $90 bottle of wine is after running 13.2 miles through the wine country!

Anyway, if you get a chance to look at/pick up a copy of Ad Hoc at Home, it'll be worth it, because I do think it's his best yet. It's the more personal side of Keller, as he wrote it when his father passed away and included a lot of the recipes he and his friends and family have enjoyed over the years. It's also like one big textbook for the kitchen, with lots of tidbits of info about how to salt things; when to use oil and how much; and the differences between roasting, pan-roasting, and braising. There are fun chalkboard sections showing step-by-step processes such as deboning whole chickens. I, for one, am frightened by that task and regular cheat by buying mixed pieces already cut, trimmed, and packaged to go at the supermarket.

Needless to say, I fell asleep reading it last night. And now that the title page is graced with his glorious John Hancock (even his signature is beautiful--like he deserves his own font or something), I may need to get a second copy that's OK to actually cook from!

Pizza with Pulled Pork and Banana Peppers

2009-11-21T08:07:00.000-08:00

We can't get enough of banana peppers! We are big-time container gardeners (being confined to a Chicago condo with no yard to speak of), and we had two giant pots going this summer. And we got totally spoiled with having fresh banana peppers to put on everything--from tuna sandwiches to pizza. We went through them so fast, I didn't even have any left over for canning for the winter (plus I haven't quite wrapped my brain around pickling yet, so oh well...).

Yesterday, I discovered a giant jar of pickled ones at our local grocery store for all of $3.99. We think it might help us get by for a bit, and along with a shredded pork roast from Tuesday night, we turned it into pizza! It was simply fantabulous! Keep in mind that I am a made-from-scratch snob, so if you don't want to go whole hog with homemade pizza dough, that's totally fine. Boboli crusts are plenty sufficient, as is Trader Joe's unbaked pizza dough, available in the refrigerated section. But here's the whole shabang, should you seriously want to treat yourself one fine Friday night at home.

Pizza with Pulled Pork and Banana Peppers

Dough (makes enough for two pizzas)

1 1/2 cups lukewarm water
2 1/4 tsp active dry yeast (not rapid-rise)
2 tbsp olive oil plus more for bowl
1 1/2 c whole-wheat flour
2 1/2 c unbleached all-purpose flour
1/4 tsp salt
1 tbsp Italian seasoning
1/2 tsp crushed red pepper (optional)

Toppings (range is for one to two pizzas)

1-2 cups favorite barbeque sauce
2-3 tbsp tomato paste
1-2 cups shredded pork roast
3-4 banana peppers, seeded and sliced
2-4 cups shredded Monterey Jack cheese
1/4 cup cilantro leaves, coarsely chopped

Pour water into bowl of stand mixer fitted with dough hook and sprinkle yeast on top. Allow to foam 5 minutes. When foamed, add olive oil. In a separate bowl, sift together flours, salt, seasoning, and pepper (if using). Add flour to mixer and beat on Stir or Level 2 with dough hook for 4-6 minutes or until smooth and elastic. (If dough is sticky, add up to 1/4 cup of either flour. You can also knead by hand for 6-8 minutes.) Oil a stainless steel or ceramic mixing bowl and turn dough ball once to coat. Cover loosely with towel and allow to rise in a warm place until double, or about 1 hour (on top of fridge is a good place!).

Preheat oven to 425 degrees F. Place pizza stone or crisper in oven. Punch dough down and divide into two equal-sized balls. (If not using both, wrap second ball tightly in plastic wrap, place in freezer-grade Ziploc bag, and freeze for up to 3 months.) Roll out dough on floured surface to 1/4-inch thickness. Slide onto sheet of parchment paper or cornmeal-dusted edge-less cookie sheet (serves as a pizza peel!). Mix sauce and tomato paste in small bowl until combined. Spread half the sauce (about 1 cup) onto the pizza, top with pork and peppers, sprinkle with cheese and cilantro leaves. (Use reserved sauce for other pizza or store in airtight container in fridge for up to 10 days.) Slide pizza onto heated stone or crisper in oven and bake for 20-22 minutes or until edges are puffed and golden brown. Allow to cool 5-10 minutes before serving. Complete recipe makes two pizzas and serves 4-6.

Cooking School: Fridge and Freezer: Friends or Foes?

2009-11-16T06:50:00.000-08:00

A friend who's really getting into baking lately with her little girl asked me a fantastic question over the weekend about pie dough and the fridge vs. freezer. I thought this might be a good time to address the whole baked-goods-and-refrigeration confusion in pastry.

Generally, anything pre-baked can last 24-36 hours in your fridge without drying out. If it's going to take you longer than that to get to it, wrap it really well in double plastic wrap and a freezer-grade Ziploc and store it in your freezer until use (make sure you label and date it with a Sharpie!). As Chef Jacquy at the French Pastry School would often say to us in class, "The freezer is your friend." Just move it to your counter if you plan to work with it within an hour or so. If you did leave something like pie dough or cookie dough in your fridge longer than you should have, rework it using bits of shortening (pie dough) or tablespoons of milk (cookie dough) until it's pliable and workable again. You can also store unused cake batter for up to 48 hours. Unlike pie or cookie dough though, cake batter needs to come all the way back to room temperature and given a good stir before using.

With anything already baked, alas, refrigeration for extended periods is the enemy. It's fine to store frosted cupcakes or a cake in the fridge for a day before serving, but typically, cake, bread, cookies, muffins, and other high-ratio-flour already-baked goods will dry up like cilantro in Chicago (we can't grow it here), so don't go there. I will often freeze a half loaf of bread if we won't get to it 'til the next week or bake only half a batch of cookies and freeze the rest of the dough until next time. Again, the freezer is your friend, folks! Not that today's design and engineering is though. According to a recent article in Bon Appetit, side-by-side refrigerators came about in an era when we didn't cook. The appliance industry fashioned them to accommodate our TV-dinner lifestyle in the 70s and 80s. Now that we're cooking and entertaining at home more, at least they've come up with the French-door refrigerator, which enables getting party trays of food or a sheet cake in and out of the fridge at eye level much easier. But from the point of view of bakers everywhere, the bottom-mount drawer freezer is a logistics nightmare. Digging around in the depths of a drawer for frozen pre-baked goods is like the hunt for Red October when on a delivery deadline. And freezing trays of pastry shells or other items that keep shape in the oven better after a 20-minute freezer shock treatment (you'll see a lot of pie, tart, and party finger-food recipes this holiday season that perform better with a pre-freeze) is next to impossible. Goodness knows I miss the old-fashioned top-mount freezer. Oh, to be able to turn the guest bath into a walk-in fridge/freezer!

Well, all the best this holiday pie-baking season! And while we're at it, I highly recommend trying this one for next Thursday. We've made this several times this fall season already, since pears came into their own this year. D'Anjou or Bartletts work best, and I highly recommend it with some butter pecan ice cream. For me, a la mode is the only way to go with a pie!

Pear Butterscotch Pie from Gourmet Magazine (R.I.P.) September 2008

Bread Shoes

2009-11-11T14:40:00.000-08:00

I'm not sure who comes up with this stuff or why, but I do think these bread shoes would be a hilarious idea for a party bread bowl. Just make sure the dip you make doesn't smell like feet!

You can actually make these yourself. Use a firm baguette or french bread roll from your favorite grocery or bakery, and follow this picture to cut. Use a sharp serrated knife, and try and save some of the bread for cubing and dipping.

If you'd like to go whole hog and make your own bread, this is an excellent and tasty party bread recipe from Cooking Light. Shape your baguettes smaller than stated in this recipe, and keep an eye on the baking time since your bread mass is smaller and may not need to bake as long.

And I thought the kitty litter cake was enough of an alarming household-good-gone-insane-food idea. (I refuse to put a picture here; you'll have to go to the link and get grossed out on your own.)

If You See One Show in New York This Year, Make It This One...

2009-11-09T16:27:00.000-08:00

OK, so this has nothing to do with spoons, tomfoolery, or food at all, but I just had to do this plug. I just saw Fela!, a new musical on Broadway playing at the Eugene O'Neill Theater in New York, and WOW just doesn't do it justice. YOWZA! is more like it. I do have a personal connection to this show, as our Best Man in our recent wedding, Jordan McLean, co-wrote and directed the musical portion of this amazing theatrical event. Two other members of the sextet that played with Jordan at our wedding, Stuart Bogie and Dylan Fusillo, are also part of the complete music ensemble for this show, and I have literally become these dudes' biggest fan (well, next to their respective significant others, of course).

This show is really like no other you'll ever see, and I'm not just saying that because of my close ties to the music. It's about Fela Kuti, the Nigerian jazz god responsible for bringing the jazz club scene to Nigeria in the late 70s and for pioneering the whole Afrobeat sound. From the get-go, you are made to feel like you're in Fela's club; the whole theater is outfitted to look just like it, and extended-circle cast members are littered about, down aisles, along the stage, and in the box seats, in character and bringing you into their fold. The dancers combine native Nigerian rhythms with jazz club sex appeal, and hoo wee! Are they a bunch of hot chicas! Tony Award Winner Bill T. Scott choreographs, and well, you take one look at the guy at age 57 and you know you'll be feelin' the steam all night!

It's been a very, very long time since I've seen a Broadway show, and as a former theater student in high school, I've seen a lot of them. But you ain't seen nothin' yet, folks! If you find yourself in NYC this holiday season and are looking for a crazy fun time, go check this one out. You'll laugh, you'll cry, and then you'll wish you could go and feel that energy every night of your life!

Cooking School: Defining Jam, Jelly, Marmalade, Preserves, Fruit Butters, etc.

2009-11-01T06:25:00.000-08:00

The Flaky Pastry was posed an interesting question by two very good friends the other day: What's the difference between jam, jelly, marmalade, preserves, fruit butters, conserve, salsa, chutney, and all the various fruit and vegetable condiment forms out there? An excellent question that definitely deserved pondering. Here is a little Guide to Spreadables, if you will...

Jam and Conserves: Made from whole, chopped, or crushed seeded or seedless fruits and sugar boiled together; jam often comes together without sugar, but what makes it a conserve is that sugar is definitely an ingredient.
Preserves: Jam or conserves with seeds.
Jelly: Made from fruit juice only, no fruit or fruit bit content.
Fruit butter: Seedless fruit cooked to spreadable consistency, containing no pectin or other gel-activating agent; normally made from pitted stone fruits (mango, plum, apricot), pumpkin, apples, or pears.
Curds: As in lemon, lime, or orange... Contain sugar and eggs with the rind and juice of a fruit and cooked slowly over a bain marie until thick and creamy.
Marmalade: A citrus-based preserve, often containing the rind; caramelized onion marmalade is a common find these days, but to be totally honest, I'm not sure why it's particularly called marmalade and not chutney. I do think it's the only vegetable spread that is qualified as a marmalade.
Salsa and Chutney: Combinations of chopped vegetables and spices or fruits served together either raw (salsa) or cooked (chutney).

If I left any out that you're wondering about, drop me a line and I'll do more digging. You can also peruse a fine array of homemade, all-natural jams, fruit butters, and preserves here.

Apple Cider Doughnuts!

2009-10-30T07:04:00.000-07:00

One of my former co-workers just lost her beloved 17-year-old tomcat, Danny Boy. She and I always shared stories about our Superpets, and so this was exceptionally sad news to hear this week. He was a gem in her life, and I figured, she deserved one of fall's little gems to help her through this: apple cider doughnuts!

I obtained the recipe from Coconut & Lime, an excellent baking blog that offers step-by-step photo tutorials for its recipes. You may find the dough sticky, so feel free to add up to 1 cup extra flour during the mixing process. If you're a "lightly-spoon-flour-into-measuring-cups" type like me, a technique I first learned from Cooking Light, you'll definitely find that 3 1/4 cups flour is not enough. But the dough was easy to work with, roll out, cut, and fry, and both it and the frosting have just the right hint of apple cider. I'd maybe go one step further next time and throw in a little apple pie spice, but I think these doughnuts met their challenge, as I received a nice note from my co-worker this morning saying they were just the thing!

Here's to Danny Boy, his amazing cat-mom, and a fall favorite, all rolled up into one rainy Chicago morning!

A Solemn Note

2009-10-29T17:54:00.000-07:00

This week I learned an old friend from pastry school passed away unexpectedly. She was 37, and we'd had a crazy roller-coaster-ride friendship that year in school and in the following year afterward. We had gone our separate ways eventually, realizing perhaps that had we met at another time, when we weren't so "already adult," we might have tolerated the high-school drama that seemed to plague our friendship. It was odd to me that two people in their mid-30s could still create juvenile-level drama in a friendship, but in the end, it was probably better for both of us that we called it a day and moved on.

That was two years ago. Today, at the wake, I learned that she had taken her own life. When I knew her, I had no idea she was struggling with any of the aspects of life her eulogists told us about tonight. She was not a happy person, and they readily told us about it tonight. I am undoubtedly shocked by the realization that the woman I knew then, who went on field trips to bakeries around town with me, who laughed with me about our fallen souffles and unset creme brulees, who helped me decorate my new condo, and who fretted with me about whether croissants or puff pastry would be on the final exam in pastry school, had spiraled into the immense sadness she came to be mired in at her death. She seemed so carefree, in-the-moment, and recklessly fun back then.

I don't mean to be so morose on a blog that so happily discusses food and the enjoyment of it, but I just wanted to encourage folks to try and always be attune to those around you and what makes them tick. A time bomb may be about to go off in them, and what they show you on the outside may not be what's going on inside. I wish I'd had seen the drama in our friendship for what it could have meant (a conflicted person) instead of what I thought it did (a drama queen). I miss her and had come to missing her a lot lately, as my pastry business took off over the past year and I wanted someone to share in all the amazing things that were happening. But I am doing too little too late, even in writing this post as a means of paying respect to her.

Sara, you will be missed, my fellow pastry chef. I hope you find peace where you are now, and may there be lots of cakes for you to decorate in heaven.

Shitake Mushroom and Crab Bisque

2009-10-26T18:03:00.000-07:00

After a week-plus absence from the world of blogs, I've come back with a vengeance... Shitake Mushroom and Crab Bisque. Do try this at home! This resulted from some leftover ingredients for making potstickers and boy, was it worth having a few orphans with nowhere to go. This can be made without dairy (substitute 2 cups vegetable broth for the milk), but I will say the milk gives it some heartiness, great for these already-dreary fall nights in Chicago, that's for sure!

Shitake Mushroom and Crab Bisque

2 tbsp all-purpose flour
2 tbsp butter
1 chicken or vegetable stock bouillion cube
2 cups 1% milk
1/2 tsp garlic powder
1/2 tsp onion powder
1 tsp dried tarragon leaves
1/4 tsp dried thyme

4-5 shitake mushrooms, diced
1 can crabmeat, drained and picked over

In a medium saucepan over medium-high heat, melt butter and add flour to make a roux (butter paste). Crumble bouillion cube in roux and mix well. Add milk and whisk quickly to incorporate roux. Reduce heat to medium and continue whisking to thicken (about 5-10 minutes). Add garlic through thyme and mix thoroughly. Add shitakes and crab and heat through. Serve hot with french bread croutons sprinkled on top. Serves 4.

Cooking School: Price-fixing, Poilevey, and Profiteroles

2009-10-16T05:43:00.000-07:00

You gotta love the price-fixed meal in this economy. How else would we have ever arrived at three courses for under $30? In a state of affairs where main courses alone were trending toward $30 at even midlevel casual joints like TGIFriday's, it's a much-needed shot in the arm of the American wallet. Recently, my friend Christopher and I enjoyed a meal at Le Bouchon in Bucktown/Wicker Park. We had met the chef, Jean Claude Poilevey, at a cooking class we took at The Chopping Block a couple of years ago and were very enamored with his charm, wit, and overall Frenchiness. We were simply speechless when he showed up with our main courses and served us himself! For the first two, I thoroughly enjoyed my codfish brandade and lamb shank, and Chris indulged in the escargot and hanger steak. We also sampled each others' fare and gave our standard nods of approval. A huge fan of the pear, Chris went the rustic tart route and chose the pear country tart for dessert. A big fan of puffs in general (I have a 15-year-old Pomeranian nicknamed Puff, and all winter, you'll find me and my husband encased in various renditions of down, or "our winter puffs," as he calls them), I went with the profiteroles. It got me thinking, what's the difference between a cream puff and a profiterole?

Well, I asked the expert, my good friend Leticia of Simply Special Catering in Columbus, Ohio. She is a food goddess and petit fours genius. There isn't a tiny food on this planet that Leticia can't make. She simply pronounced: "It's the ice cream!" So a cream puff is filled with custard, creme anglaise, or any other form of vanilla cream, and ice cream is what makes a profiterole a profiterole. It's the French version of the ice cream sundae! I highly recommend the ones at Le Bouchon. They come swathed in a rich, dark chocolate sauce that definitely calls for a little Spoonfoolery. Or you can make your own with this pretty darn true-to-form profiteroles recipe from Gourmet.

Cooking School: Cupcake Batter vs. Cake Batter

2009-10-12T13:28:00.000-07:00

Can you use cake batter for cupcakes and vice versa? A lot of people have asked me that, and the short answer is: sure thing. However, there are a few things to remember about refrigeration, shelf life, and baking time between the two options... Cupcakes have a shorter shelf life due to their compactness. Since they have a smaller surface area overall, they'll dry up faster. So if you need to bake a cake ahead of time, you can bake it up to three days ahead of time, wrap the individual layers well in plastic wrap (unfrosted), and at least freeze it (never refrigerate baked goods for extended periods; the slow wafting of cold air in your refrigerator at a constant rate dries up baked goods like the Sahara). Frosted matter can and should be refrigerated though, especially if the frosting is dairy-based (traditional buttercream). Wilton, Duncan Hines, and Pilsbury frostings are shortening-based, and so when frosted, cakes and cupcakes can remain at room temperature.

Additionally, the general timeframe for baking cupcakes is 18-22 minutes, depending on your oven (whether it bakes hotter than most, which some people do experience). You definitely can't bake cupcakes for as long as you do a cake. Also, you should try to bake and decorate cupcakes over a 24-48-hour period and then make sure they get consumed shortly thereafter. Like that's ever a problem for most people. Who doesn't love a cupcake?

Clockwise from top: vanilla with vanilla buttercream and fondant flower with silver dragee; carrot cake with ginger cream cheese frosting and fondant-and-buttercream carrot; red velvet with cream cheese frosting and white chocolate disc; lavender lemonade with lavender-lemon buttercream and dried lavender blossoms.

Day of Mourning in Foodie Land

2009-10-05T15:36:00.000-07:00

Wow! This hit was right in the kisser today. Gourmet Magazine is folding??? Next month's is the final issue. As a former journalist (book editor and freelance writer) and present-day chef, this was very sad news to read today. Gourmet is a food bible, and Ruth Reichl its lording Goddess. The Web site literally got up and running just this year (Gourmet was late to the online game, probably because the magazine has for so long captured its readers the old-fashioned way--through paper and print.), and now it may not survive the year. I was suspicious when its infamous Politics of Food column was dropped a few months ago. I suspect that's an expensive one for the mag to maintain, as it requires a journalist and a foodie to really get to the meat of the story. Even as an equally avid Bon Appetit fan, I was sorely disappointed to hear that one will stay afloat, while Ruth et al are on the streets looking for work. Having lived through a fair number of failures and takeovers in the book publishing world, I know this story too well. I just wish some famous food giant out there in celebrity chefdom would consider pitching some money at Conde Nast and keeping the Gourmet food dream alive. I can't imagine my mailbox this December without it. :-(

Cooking School: Sugar Pumpkins vs Jack-O-Lanterns

2009-10-03T07:16:00.000-07:00

I've been asked what's the difference, so here goes... If cooking, use sugar (or "pie") pumpkins. They're "meatier" so-to-speak, and provide more heft to a dish, especially pie or pasta filling. Large pumpkins, having thinner walls and lots of seeds, are really only farmed for carving. You can read more about all the differences here. I agree wholeheartedly with what Produce Pete says about sugar pumpkins and soup. I've tried making my curried pumpkin soup with canned pumpkin puree, and well, forgedabouddit! Nothing beats the real Action Jackson--a sugar pumpkin! You can get my curried pumpkin soup here. In the meantime, here's a toasted pumpkin seed recipe we tried last night, with the pumpkin seeds from the latest batch of soup. These make a great, healthy snack, and I daresay they could replace popcorn at your next movie theater outing!

Indian-Spiced Pumpkin Seeds

2 cups washed and dried pumpkin seeds
2 T vegetable oil
1 tsp garam masala (Indian combination spice, found at Whole Foods or a local ethnic grocery store)
1 tsp salt

Preheat oven to 350 F. Set baking rack in oven at second level (not the middle, but not the highest rung either). Line a 14 x 10 jelly roll pan (cookie sheet with a lip) with parchment or Silpat. In a bowl, combine pumpkin seeds, vegetable oil, garam masala, and salt. Mix thoroughly and spread on sheet pan. Bake for 35 minutes, stirring once halfway through baking. Allow to cool and store in airtight container or sealed Ziploc. Keeps 1 week.

Broccoli-Leek Chowder with Bacon

2009-10-01T16:12:00.000-07:00

Our vegetable share produced a bumper crop of broccoli the past two weekends. What to do with all these florets? They were accompanied by some rather perfect red potatoes and a gorgeous leek, so I came up with the following introduction to fall... Grab a spoon and dig in!

Broccoli-Leek Chowder with Bacon

4 strips bacon, cooked and crumbled (reserve 2 T bacon fat)
1 large leek, finely chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 tsp thyme
1 tsp tarragon
6 small red potatoes, coarsely chopped (skins on)
1 large head broccoli, trimmed to single florets
1 quart (32 oz) vegetable broth
1 c shredded Gouda or Gruyere cheese
salt and pepper to taste

Heat 2 T bacon fat on medium-high heat in a large stockpot. Saute leeks 2-3 minutes, until golden. Add garlic and saute another 1-2 minutes. Add herbs and potatoes and cook and stir about 3-5 minutes to soften (do not brown potatoes). Add vegetable broth and bring to a boil for 5 minutes. Reduce heat to low, cover, and allow to simmer until potatoes are soft (about 20 minutes). Remove soup from heat and allow to cool about 15 minutes. Ladle half the soup into a deep bowl and use an immersion blender to puree this portion (or pour into a blender and puree). Return puree to pot and reheat on medium-low heat. Add broccoli and simmer 3-5 minutes. Serve hot with cheese and bacon sprinkled on top. Serves 6.

National Punctuation Day Entry (Not Submitted!)

2009-09-30T07:25:00.000-07:00

OK, so the first real entry in this blog is going to be about bread. Sorry about that! But here's my potential entry into the National Punctuation Day contest. In this electronic age, I decided it was too complicated to submit an entry (they actually want a sample of the item, the recipe, and *print* photos--who actually gets prints of anything these days?). So I'm just going to post it here for your enjoyment. I love baking bread and find it to be very therapeutic, so despite not officially entering, I had fun with this, and hubby and I are enjoying plenty of French toast as a result. This is a standard challah recipe, by the way, with half wheat flour. See a video on how to make it here.

A Spoonful of Sugar...

2009-09-28T15:39:00.000-07:00

Welcome to Spoonfoolery...a blog about a spoon, a bowl, and a whole lotta funsense in the kitchen. This blog will pose some questions about food, answer some quandaries about kitchen chemistry, and experiment with all kinds of cooking shenanigans. Let me know if you're pondering anything in particular, but otherwise, grab a spoon and dig in![tm]