Alberto, from the wonderful food blog Il Forno and the father of the whole Is My Blog Burning? phenomenon, has a post up about the latest IMBB event. Can you believe this worldwide blogging smörgåsbord is already at number seven?! The latest version is being hosted by Jarrett of the very excellent blog about food blogs Food Porn Watch and the very cool blog Life in Flow. The theme this time is Dumplings and Jarrett has all the details posted here. The deadline to post your entry is Sunday August 22nd 2004 and as always, this is open to anyone interested in participating. I look forward to all the IMBB? events but I'm especially looking forward to this one, how could anyone not love a dumpling? Just the word makes me happy!
The good folks at Too Many Chefs have posted the list of participants from the 6th edition of IMBB?. An impressive 35 people participated and I'm sure that number will change as late comers trickle in. I want to thank all the great folks from Too many Chefs for suggesting the subject, hosting the event and for all the work they put into making sure everyone was counted. Thank you Meg and Barrett, it was a lot of fun.
ETA: There are quite a few new (to me) food bloggers who participated in this latest IMBB and I am so glad to see them. I'm always looking for new food reading and will enjoy adding them to my growing food blog list over there in my drop down sidebar ------>.
Have I ever mentioned that I have never barbecued or even grilled anything in my life? I have happily watched family and friends grill endless meals in which I have been lucky enough to join in and share. I have eaten my share and then some of burgers, sausages, hot-dogs, chicken, shish-kabob, vegetables, fish, shrimp and even fruit hot off the grill, many times burning my tongue and the roof of my mouth because I was too greedy to wait for the food to cool down. I have eaten food that was cooked on grills using propane, charcoal and even wood, such as oak, hickory, mesquite and apple. I have a vague memory of my Mother grilling some skewered meat on a Hibachi off the back porch of an apt. we once lived in in Brooklyn. I have eaten some very good, sloooow cooked Southern barbecue, pulled pork sandwiches so juicy and succulent that my mouth waters even now as I type, yet, with all that eating experience, I have never ever tempted fate and tried to do it myself. I am chicken, me and fire just do not click, among the countless burns I have endured over the years while cooking and ironing, there is an incident that still remains fairly fresh in my mind; Christmas Eve some 20+ years ago, I somehow let my head get too close to a lit candle and suddenly my hair burst into flames à la Michael Jackson in that Pepsi commercial, so when Barrett said that he would be hosting the next Is My Blog Burning? event and that the subject would be Grilling and Barbecuing, I thought it was just the push I needed to finally try my hand at barbecue, or at the very least grilling.
Silly me, what was I thinking?
What it came down to was time, or rather, a lack of it. For the longest time I've wanted to make Char Siu at home, the proper way. I made it once a long time ago in our oven and got disastrous results, well, maybe not disastrous, it was edible, but it lacked in every way, the texture, the flavor, and the moistness were all off and it turned out to be nothing like the char siu you see hanging in the windows of restaurants in Chinatown. This Cantonese specialty is often used as a filling for baked or steamed buns and that is exactly what I wanted to make the char siu for, baked roast pork buns. The meat is left to marinade in a mixture of brown sugar, ketchup, dark soy, yellow bean sauce, hoisin sauce, oyster sauce, fermented red bean, dry sherry, roasted sesame oil, and garlic for at least 8 hours, then suspended over a tray of water, which is then set over a fire so that the meat can slowly roast. It is one incredibly tasty treat.
Baked, barbecued roast pork buns are sort of a specialty of mine. A treat I make for Tom that I'm very proud of because I taught myself how to make them many years ago when I could not rely on the internet for good or even accurate recipes. Back in those days, I couldn’t find any one recipe that was quite what I wanted, so I pieced together a whole bunch of different ones, incorporating elements I liked from each to make my own version of the baked pork buns. In retrospect, I could have asked my Mother-in-Law to teach me, but then I would have never had the fun of figuring it out on my own and impressing Tom in the process. ANYWAY, I wanted to make the pork buns again because it has been a while, they are great to have around for snacking or quick breakfasts and I wanted to try making the char su the right way, but I couldn't seem to get my act together or find the time. Between caring for the baby, working and doing a gazillion other things I never seem to be able to cook for sheer pleasure anymore, so I cheated. I'm a cheater. There. I said it. I feel better, I can move on. I strapped Little Miss Parsley Fingers into her carrier and we walked down to Chinatown where I bought 2 pounds of the barbecued meat and even had the nice man chop it up for me. Ellie didn't grab at anything this time, but she did blow quite a few raspberries at people. That’s' my girl! I was feeling prit-tee smug on the way home, after all, there was barbecued meat in my backpack and the girl was napping on my chest, life was good...until I came home and reread the recipe and to my absolute horror, noticed some HUGE errors! HUGE!
About a year ago, I transcribed all those little notes and pieces of paper I had onto the blog so that I had a more permanent and coherent record of the recipe. By doing this I broke a rule that I made when I initially set up this site, and that was to never post a recipe that I had not tried. Technically, this was a tried recipe because I had made it many times before, but I never tried it after I had transcribed it onto the site and so I didn't catch the errors until yesterday. The other thing that was a little odd was that I gave instructions for the dough assuming people would use a food processor, yet I never once used a food processor for mixing this dough myself, huh! I immediately removed the entry from a year ago and today's post, for the 6th IMBB? will replace the old recipe I had here for Char Siu Bao. Besides, the old entry didn't have fabulous pictures like this one does. actually, I know some of the pictures came out less than fabulous but I was having camera troubles and was also rushing.
I highly reccomend buying the roasted pork from a shop rather than making it on your own. I will no longer keep the recipe for roasting your own pork posted here because I don't trust myself and cannot vouch that it is error free. The rest of the recipe I post today is fine, I know because I tested it, hee. This is a little time consuming to make if you factor in the three hours that the dough needs for rising and then the additional hour for it to proof, but it is so worth it.
Before I could boogie down (did I really just say that?) and start making the stir-fry, I cut out about 20-three inch squares of wax paper (parchment works too) and set them aside. I was going to need one square for each filled bun, and for some reason I got a little nuts about getting the size as close to three inches as possible.
In a bowl, I mixed together 1 TBS grated ginger, 1 TBS oyster sauce, 1 TBS hoisin sauce, 1 TBS dark soy sauce, 2 TBS sugar, and 1/2 cup water and set aside.
I set the wok over high heat, then added 1 TBS peanut oil, letting the oil get very hot, then added 1 cup of finely chopped onion and stir-fried until soft, but not letting the onion turn brown.
I then added 2 lbs of roast pork that had been diced very small and stir-fried for 30 seconds, then poured in the marinade mixture and let everything come to a boil.
I slowly added 1 TBS of cornstarch that I had previously mixed with 1 TBS water and stirred it in with the pork, cooking and stirring until thick.
This is not thick
This is thick. Once the mixture was thickened, I added 1 TsP sesame oil, stirred for 20 seconds just to incorporate the oil and then removed everything from the heat and set aside. The mixture needs to be cool when filling the dough, but there was no problem since I made the filling ahead of time it would be cool by the time the dough was made and left to rise for three hours.
I dissolved 1 package of active dry yeast with 1 TBS sugar in 1/4 cup warm water, I let this sit for about 5 minutes letting it foam (above) then after 5 minutes I mixed it around and added 3/4 cup warm heavy cream, an egg that I had beaten and 2 TBS vegetable oil. I set that all aside while I mixed the dry ingredients. In a large bowl I sifted 3-1/2 cups of flour with the remaining 2 TBS of sugar and a pinch of salt, then added the yeast mixture and with my hands I mixed the dough until it was slightly tacky adding more flour if needed. When the dough pulled away from the sides of the bowl I turned it out onto a floured countertop and began kneading.
This batch of dough was a little stiff to work with and I'm wondering if the egg serves any real purpose other than making richer dough. I want to try leaving it out since most of the recipes I've seen for the yeast dough don't ask for an egg. I can't remember why I added one in the first place! Anway, I kneaded the dough for 10 minutes, taking a few breaks in between to let the dough rest so that it was easier to handle. After ten minutes the dough was a lot smoother (above) and I placed it in a large bowl that had been coated with vegetable oil, turned it a few times to coat, then covered it with plastic wrap and a dish towel and set it aside to rest for 3 hours.
After three hours the dough had doubled in size.
I punched it down, let it rest for about 2 minutes then turned it out onto a lightly floured surface.
At this point, I began to work the dough into a flat shape, then sprinkled 1-1/2 teaspoons baking powder over the top surface. The above photo shows the dough with flour on the bottom and baking powder on the top.
I gathered the sides of the dough and sort of pinched them together to keep the baking powder from spilling out and then began to knead it into the dough to incorporate it really well, about 5 minutes.
I divided the dough into 20 equal-ish balls (some were bigger than others but that's okay) and set them aside in the oiled bowl from earlier, then covered them with a damp dish towel while I worked with each piece of dough individually. Armed with the neat little rolling pin I picked up at my beloved Kalustyans not too long ago, I made quick work out of rolling dough into flat little discs.
I placed 2 heaping tablespoons of filling in the center of each disc,
then did the best I could to stretch/pinch/close the dough over the filling. I don't think I did that poorly!
I placed each finished blob onto a little sheet of wax paper and then set that onto a cookie sheet and covered it with a damp towel while I made the other yummy treats.
Here are the buns all lined up and looking cute, as if they are getting ready to march with the band or something.
Once I had all the buns made, I covered them with the dish towel and let them proof for 1 hour. When I lifted the towels an hour later I was pleasantly surprised by how nicely the buns had risen.
I made an egg wash that consisted of 2 egg yolks, 4 tablespoons of cold water and a teaspoon of sugar and using a pastry brush I brushed it very gently onto the buns.
You can see how the buns not brushed with egg wash look dull compared to the ones with egg wash. Egg wash is a wonderful thing, it will allow the buns to brown a lovely color and what you don't use on the buns you can use for an egg tempera painting. (kidding)
I placed the buns in a pre-heated 350 degree oven and let them bake for 20 minutes, give or take a few minutes. When I removed the buns from the oven they had turned a nice brown and the kitchen smelled incredible! I left them to cool on wire racks.
This is the barbecue roast pork bun just before I split it open, photographed it and scarfed it down. It was delicous, sort of sweet, sort of savory, well worth the effort.
There is a wonderful group food blog that appeared in February 2004 called Too Many Chefs. It's an amazing collaboration of food writing and cooking by five friends (and a little chef on the way) who are in different parts of the world (mostly Chicago) and who come together via the internet to bring us their take on all things related to food and then some. Recently, the very friendly and quite funny Barrett, announced that Too Many Chefs would be hosting the next incarnation of the international blogging event known as Is My Blog Burning? The subject: Barbequing and Grilling. The deadline to post or email your entry: Sunday, July 18. This event, as always, is not limited to food bloggers, anyone with or without a blog is encouraged to join in the fun, and trust me, this is a lot of fun. For full details please visit the good folks at Too Many Chefs.
Just a quick little note to let everyone know that Wena has rounded up all the entries from the 5th Is My Blog Burning? event and they can be seen here and here. Thank you Wena for all your hard work and for suggesting this terrific topic, I had a lot of fun and I'm going to enjoy reading what everyone else made.
One of the things I didn’t anticipate would happen when I became a mother was all the help I would get when I went shopping for our groceries. For instance, the other day, while the Little Girl and I were at the market picking up the ingredients for this latest version of Is My Blog Burning? this time hosted by the lovely Wena of Mum-Mum, the baby, who is always in her carrier which is strapped to my chest, leaned way over and grabbed the handle of the grocery basket to "help" me carry it. Let me tell you, this kid has super powers, because while it was very cute, I'm sure it wasn't the most comfortable position for her, so when I tried to get her to loosen her grip on the basket she would not let go, I mean really, where do babies get that super-human strength from? I was no match for her, so I let her be, she was twisted in a pretty weird position but she was so happy helping mommy carry the basket that I could not deny her. A bit later, while we were in the produce section, the Little Girl, with her super hawk-eyed vision locked in on some parsley that was within her reach and yanked some out. Parsley, yup, I did need it, but not the entire display that came tumbling down into the basket and onto the floor with it, thanks baby girl! (actually, it was very cute to see the surprised look on her face juxtaposed with the lone parsley leaf that she was still clutching between her little chubby fingers). I’ll tell ya, grocery shopping is hard work, I very easily get tired, so when I just couldn't hold the shopping list a minute longer, the Little Girl, helpful as she is, swooped down, grabbed it out of my hand and held it for me, which was a great burden lifted from my shoulders, except that she ate the bottom part of the list and later on, after we had gotten all comfortable and changed into our tattered comfy house clothes and had started to cook, we had to stop everything, get redressed and go back out to get two missed ingredients.
I really love to eat fish, I always order it whenever we go out to dinner but sadly, I cook with it a lot less than I would like, mainly because these days buying fish has become a big chore. There’s the contaminated fish from contaminated waters that I would really like to avoid, then there's the endangered fish that I will no longer buy or eat, at home or in restaurants because I personally don't wish to contribute to the further extinction of species of fish (to read more about endangered and contaminated fish go here), AND quite frankly, fish has gotten very expensive. What used to be part of a poor man's diet...what was long ago considered peasant food has really turned into a pricey delicacy these days. Having said all that, I was still really glad for the opportunity that this latest IMBB gave me… I got to try a new recipe and eat something we don't often dine on at home, so it’s all good.
I wanted a recipe that was going to be a little more interesting than most, but I also wanted something that wasn't going to take a lot of time preparing, I have to be honest, as much as I adore making labor intensive recipes with long lists of steps and ingredients, these days I just can't spend the time on them unless they can be spread out over several days, so when I came across this recipe for Moroccan Fish Tagine With Peppers And Olives on good ole Epicurious, I knew it was the recipe I wanted to try making for IMBB V.
I was a bit skeptical when I read that the fish would be slow cooked in a 350 degree oven for over an hour, all I could imagine was the fish turning out dried out and chewy but I did read what other folks who had tried and rated this recipe had to say and for the most part all were happy, so I had to trust that everything would be alright. I’m glad I trusted, this dish turned out far better than I expected. Garlicky with a bright tart lemony fragrance and flavor permeating throughout the dish, the olives added a nice salty kick and the peppers mellowed everything out with their sweetness. For the fish I chose Tilapia, which according to the Monterey Bay Aquarium Seafood Watch List is:
Native to North Africa, tilapia are now farm-raised all over the world. They're hardy, freshwater fish that tolerate a wide range of water conditions, making them easy to raise. In the U.S., most tilapia are farmed in inland re-circulating systems that have little impact on the environment. Tilapia thrive on inexpensive vegetable-based foods, making them a good source of eco-friendly protein. You'll find mild, white tilapia fillets fresh and frozen, and you may spot farm-raised tilapia in the live tanks at Asian restaurants.
This was a good choice, the fish being firm-fleshed, had absorbed all the flavors of the dish and because it was layered in between the other ingredients it stayed nice and moist and came out very tender and flakey. This recipe is a keeper!
I recommend this recipe, and will post it as it appears on the site, however, here are some of my modifications and a few warnings: Salt to your taste rather than follow the recipe, the olives are salty and will add saltiness to the dish without the recommended amount of additional salt, and the dish will easily be ruined if it is over salted. I don’t have a tagine, but rather than use a glass baking dish covered with aluminum foil I used a covered enamel roasting pan and it worked really well, I packed everything really tight and close together. I used a really dark green, fruity olive oil rather than the vegetable oil the recipe called for. I used one pound of fresh tilapia rather than the 4-6 ounces of "white-fleshed" fish the recipe said to use, and I added six fat cloves of garlic oh yeah. From my own past bad experiences, I recommend using saffron that is fresh, I know it's pricey, but old saffron permeates a dish with stale flavors and smells that just ruins everything and it’s not worth taking the chance. The marinade and eventually the sauce that comes from the juices of the lemons, peppers and spices stains. Your fingers will have a slight yellow-orange tinge to them for a day or two, and don't wear a white shirt (ahem, not that this happened to me of course) unless you want it to become a knock-around-the-house-doing-chores-shirt . I used two medium onions and 3 lemons for this, but that's just my preference, I like onions and lemons. The lemon rind becomes soft and almost melts in your mouth as you eat, but it does also add a slight bitterness to the food that some may not like, so use less lemon or pick it out I guess. I did not pit my olives, I wasn't serving this to company and since Tom is not crazy about olives and usually eats around them and since I don't mind dealing with pits, I left them in. (hmmm, "dealing with pits", seems like there’s some kind of metaphor in there, no? Life is a bowl of cherries...). I also, highly recommend using organic lemons because you will be eating the rinds. I know they are pricier than non organic but they don’t contain the pesticide residues that regular lemons have and to me that's worth the extra money. This went really well with plain old reliable white rice. There you have it, my measley advice, so now go, go my friends, go and make this wonderful dish and eat it with gusto and abandon.
~ adapted from Epicurious
Most Moroccan fish specialties are prepared with a marinade called charmoula. Paprika, cumin, cilantro and garlic usually form its base, with other seasonings-such as the saffron and turmeric here-added for variation.
Mix first 7 ingredients in medium bowl. Add fish and turn to coat. Refrigerate 2 hours, turning fish occasionally.
Preheat oven to 350°F. Arrange carrot slices over bottom of 13x9x2-inch glass baking dish. Layer half of tomatoes, half of onion and half of lemon over. Season with half of salt and pepper.
Drain marinade from fish; reserve marinade. Arrange fish atop lemon slices. Top fish with remaining tomato, onion and lemon slices. Season with remaining salt and pepper. Top decoratively with red pepper strips and olives. Pour reserved marinade over. Cover dish with foil. Bake 40 minutes.
Increase oven temperature to 400°F. and bake until fish flakes easily and vegetables are tender, about 25 minutes. Garnish with additional parsley.
Serves 4.
Bon Appétit
May 1995
Hi there! I have been away but now I am back! Boy do I have a lot of catching up to do, there are many entries I want to write, lots of lost blog reading I'd like to catch up with, piles of magazine reading and recipe downloading, and then there's the cooking. I have been inspired again and I want to get into the kitchen right away and start whirling and spinning and making and doing but I need another 6 or 7 hours added to my day to be able to fit it all in! The sad thing is, as eager as I am to get back into the kitchen AND back to blogging about it, I'm afraid blogging is going to be slow slow slow around here for a while, (it always is in the summer months). I will try to post as often as I can though.
Speaking of "catching," there is a new Is My Blog Burning? everybody say YAY! This time it is being hosted by the wonderful Wena of Mum-Mum. Wena has a most excellent food blog and often has great photos of meals being prepared by her very own Granny (who looks like an amazing cook if you ask me). So, the theme for this latest IMBB is Fish and Wena has all the details posted here. I'm going to try my best to participate in this one too and I hope that many of you will be inspired to join in as well, it really is quite a lot of fun.
The numbers are in (!) and Pim has done a wonderful job collecting all the submissions and putting them into a lovely summary for everyone to enjoy at their leisure. There was an impressive global turnout with 46 50 entries as of this writing. Thank you Pim for hosting the fourth IMBB and for all the hard work that you put into it, and thank you for making it a lot of fun. I have at least a weeks worth of reading to catch up with, and some new blogs to add to my list!
This ancient and venerable grain has been cultivated since at least 5000 b.c., and archaeological explorations in China have uncovered sealed pots of rice that are almost 8,000 years old. Today, rice is a staple for almost half the world's population — particularly in parts of China, India, Indonesia, Japan and Southeast Asia. The 7,000-plus varieties of rice are grown in one of two ways. Aquatic rice (paddy-grown) is cultivated in flooded fields. The lower-yielding, lower-quality hill-grown rice can be grown on almost any tropical or subtropical terrain. source : Food Dictionary
When Pim announced that she would be hosting the next Is My Blog Burning? Event and that the topic would be rice, at first I became very excited. (hooray, another IMBB, these events are becoming as addicting as they are fun) I immediately left a comment on Pim's Blog letting her know I would definitely be participating. That turned out to be the easy part. The hard part was deciding on a recipe that would be interesting and challenging to make, yet represent what rice, a grain that up until now I had taken for granted; meant to me. I grew up eating Carolina® brand rice and occasionally some dishes made with Arborio, like risotto, but I never really knew just how many varieties of rice there were out there. I thought Pim's choice of topic was going to be easy, giving me a reason me to finally cook something from my as of yet unused copy of Seductions of Rice by Jeffrey Alford and Naomi Duguid, but when I opened the book and started flipping through it, nothing really jumped out or inspired me.
I grew up eating rice boiled and buttered, served as a side dish or in soup. There was the occasional risotto, arancini di riso, or fried rice from the local Chinese take-away. When I was sick it took the form of a bowl of Nonna's chicken soup, which I would greedily slurp, hoping to chase away whatever evil germ had seized hold of my body. My very first paella was cooked by one of my mother's closest friends, in our kitchen in Brooklyn and without a paella pan! It was one of the best paellas I've ever had, why, I don't know, but maybe it had a lot to do with the fact that it was cooked with love and that we all crowded around the table to eat it together as a family, unhurried, and with gusto and lots of laughter. When I was in college, it was late nights with friends, all you can eat sushi and (too) many bottles of ice cold Tsingtao. After college, the most fragrant and fluffy biryani I ever had was in an Indian restaurant in Nairobi, dining at a round table with 10 friends and no lights, the power having gone out just as we had been seated. The waiters tried desperately to get the generator working again while we ate by candlelight and drank (too) many bottles of lukewarm Tusker Beer and marveled at how in the world the kitchen staff was managing to keep the food hot, tasty and flowing to our table in the dark. All these dishes were certainly worthy of trying to recreate for IMBB? IV but I felt too close to the memories of the meals and didn't think I could possibly do them any justice...if that makes sense.
So with all the thousands of varieties of the grain and the equally extensive ways in which to cook it, I found myself at a loss for what to make for this event. This was turning out to be a lot harder than expected and so I packed Little Miss Muffet into her carrier and went to my beloved Kalustyan's for inspiration. Their website boasts 136 entries for rice alone and while I don't think they carry that many varieties in the store, it was overwhelming to stand there looking at all they did have to offer. Then it hit me, the one thing I could make, the one dish that is so personal and that plays a large and important role in my so called food life is rice pudding. It is comfort food, it has always been there, it will always be there. On a steamy hot summer day, when the heat and humidity are too much to bear a dish filled with chilled, refreshing rice pudding, sometimes sprinkled with cinnamon, sometimes not, maybe with a raisin or two thrown in, maybe not, hits the spot in a way that leaves me happy and grateful. When I've got the blahs, a warm creamy bowl of rice pudding sets me straight like almost nothing else can and so it was decided, right there in Kalustyan's, that for the fourth IMBB I would make rice pudding!
Now, if you haven't noticed, I like to challenge myself in the kitchen and so a regular rice pudding recipe for this cooking event, in my mind, was too easy. It has been too long between actual cooking and blog entries about cooking these days, what with the warm weather and never being home anymore...so I wanted this IMBB entry to be something special, something I had never done. I found just what I was looking for on the Saveur website, a recipe for Empanadas de Arroz con Leche (Rice Pudding Turnovers). To challenge myself further, I decided to make the tortillas from scratch, having never made those before either. woohoo, this was going to be fun!
I made the rice pudding first, so that while I was making the tortillas the rice pudding could cool down and set, making it much easier for me to handle later on.
~ adapted from Saveur
1. Put the cinnamon stick and 2 cups water in a medium heavy saucepan and bring to a boil over high heat. Stir in rice, cover, reduce heat to low, and cook until rice is tender, about 20 minutes. Uncover and remove and discard cinnamon stick.
2. Add milk, 1/2 cup of the sugar, and salt and mix well. I couldn't resist adding a few of my own touches and so at this point I stirred in 1/2 teaspoon of vanilla extract and the zest of half a lemon, the result was fragrant and married well with the cinnamon Increase heat to medium. Bring to a gentle boil and cook, stirring frequently, until very thick (pudding should hold its shape firmly in a spoon), about 10 minutes. Remove from heat and set aside to cool completely.
The tortillas were easy and surprisingly quick to make, I may never buy the store bought kind again. I hand rolled them using a rolling pin. I really got into a great groove with the hand rolling. (ah yes, wax on, wax off) I combined two recipes I found on the internet, this one and this one modifying them slightly to fit to my own preferences.
In a large bowl, stir together 3 cups unbleached all purpose flour, 1 cup of whole wheat flour, 2 teaspoons salt, and 4 teaspoons baking powder (a small whisk works really well for stirring this). With a pastry blender, a fork, or your hands (I used my hands and it felt weird yet oddly addictive too), gradually work in 2 tablespoons of vegetable shortening (or lard, although I used shortening) until it is all incorporated. Add enough warm water to make a soft but not sticky dough. (pictured above)
Turn out onto a lightly floured board and knead for 5 minutes, then, invert a bowl over the mass of dough and let the dough rest for 5 minutes. Return after 5 minutes to knead for another 5 minutes or until you have a smooth uniform mass, cover the dough with plastic wrap and let it rest for 30 minutes.
When thirty minutes have passed, uncover the dough and divide the dough into 1/4 cup (3 oz) portions and form them into balls. (pictured above)
I was pretty chuffed that the dough balls fit into the 1/4 cup measure after I had eyeballed the measurements go me! (pictured above)
Roll each ball into a flat round about 6 inches in diameter and 1/8 inches thick. (pictured above) I like doing tedious repetitive work like rolling dough, I actually get satisfaction from it. (I know I'm a sicko)
Heat a large heavy skillet over medium high heat. Place the tortillas one at a time into the dry hot skillet; once or twice during the tortilla making a couple of the tortilla's created an air pocket and made bubbles, I didn't concern myself too much with that, I just used the tips of my tongs to pop them (pictured above)
cook until brown on one side, then turn and brown the other side. Remove from the skillet and keep warm in cloth towel. (pictured above)
I used a bamboo steamer lined with a clean kitchen towel to hold the warm tortilla's until I needed them (pictured above)
At this stage I was ready to assemble the empanadas, so, following the directions in the recipe I combined 1/4 cup sugar with ground cinnamon in a small bowl and set aside.
I Measured a scant 1/2 cup pudding into the center of each tortilla (pictured above)
A while back, my friend Miguel had given me a brick of chocolate that had been handmade by his Aunts in Mexico. (pictured above) His intention was for me to use it to make Mexican hot chocolate but I have yet to get around to that and as I was making the empanadas I got the idea to grate a little of the cocoa onto the rice pudding for an extra treat. (pictured below)
So with the cocoa grated over the top of the rice pudding I folded the tortilla in half, pressing gently to close edges, then tucked the extra tortilla under itself using a dab of the sticky rice filling as a glue to keep the empanadas closed. (pictured above) I think it worked out well (pictured below)
I lined them up like little soldiers on another clean kitchen towel (pictured above) while I add enough oil to come to a depth of ⅛'' up the side of a large cast-iron skillet and heated the oil over medium heat until it was hot but not smoking.
Working in batches, I fried the empanadas until crispy and deep golden brown (pictured above), 2-3 minutes per side, then removed them to paper towels to drain.
Rather than just sprinkle both sides of each one with cinnamon sugar like the recipe called for, I also gave each empanada a generous grating of Mexican chocolate. (pictured above)
These were a lot of fun to make and were an interesting way to eat rice pudding. I can see making these for an informal outdoor party, treats for folks to walk around with and eat with their hands. The chocolate and cinnamon went really well together and the savory taste of the tortilla balanced out nicely with the sweet and chewy rice pudding. I highly recommend eating them hot, they aren’t bad cold, just much better fresh and hot the cast iron pan.
And now for a little baby talk.
Coinciding with this IMBB topic of rice was the beginning of Ellina's journey into solid foods. The Dr. had me start her on a few tablespoons of rice cereal a day to get her acquainted with the feel and taste of foods other than her formula. Rice, from what I understand, is the most easily digested by young stomachs and so it is a good food to start them out with. It took about a week before Ellie took to the texture and taste, but as you can see here, she is beginning to really like her cereal time.
"Coarse rice for food, water to drink, and the bended arm for a pillow - happiness may be enjoyed even in these." ~ Confucius
The lovely and magical Pim of Chez Pim has announced that she will be hosting the next incarnation of the global, semi-monthly, virtual food event known as Is My Blog Burning? This time the theme is that wonderful, ancient and venerable grain; Rice.
These IMBB events are a lot of fun and are open to anyone who would like to participate and share their story/recipe with others, you don't have to have a food blog to be a part of it. The Deadline to post entries is Sunday May 23rd:
The rules, or guidelines, rather, are simple The theme is Rice, make a dish that has rice as the star. It can be someone else’s recipe that you love, or your very own creation, only please give credit when one is due. The dish can be made at any time, but please post your result on your (or your friend’s) blog on Sunday May 23th. Photos and recipes are highly appreciated. Please leave a comment to let me know of your participation, and provide a link to your fantastic rice creation. ~ Pim
I can't say enough about how much fun these events are, so if you would like to participate, let Pim know. I've already left my comment over at Pim's blog letting her know I'll be taking part, now all I have to do is come up with a dish that will be worthy enough to burn my blog. c'mon everybody, let's burn this muhtha down!
When I read that the very lovely Renee of Shiokadelicious! had put the call out for the latest Is My Blog Burning? event and that the subject was to be an internet cake walk I heard the call and I answered thinking to myself, "I am SO THERE!" What a lucky coincidence that I had recently purchased some cake decorating equipment, a turntable, a new icing knife, and a starter decorating set with tips and vinyl bags. I was excited, these IMBB events are turning out to be a lot of fun, and can be as challenging as each individual food blogger or non food blogger or even non-bloggers want to make it. What I really like most is the non-competitive approach and the invitation to join the event is open to anyone that might be interested. Its fun and inspiring and the ideas so far have been terrific, as for the latest incarnation, I can’t think of a nicer way to spend some time...with a cup of coffee and cake, lots of cake, and without any of the calories!
Normally I'd spend time surfing the internet looking for recipe ideas and inspiration but because of my recent interest in cake decorating I've been reading a really great book called The Whimsical Bakehouse by Kaye Hansen and Liv Hansen This mother-daughter team hail from Ardsley, New York and are the owners of the Riviera Bakehouse, famous for its delicious and well... whimsical creations. I was lucky enough to try one of their cakes at a wedding I attended a few years ago and I must tell you, the cake was terrific (that is no easy feat Dear Reader since I find most wedding cakes to be just ok if not just a little eh) The execution of the cake was just beautiful and was tailored to fit the couple in a way that had special meaning to them and their new life together. It was a memorable cake, not just for the couple but for me too and when I found out the Hansen’s had recently written a book (2002), I bought it. The book is terrific, and really takes into consideration the novice baker; should you wish to recreate one of their designs then step by step instructions are provided, or, if you would rather just use the excellent information about baking, slicing, icing and decorating cakes and apply it to an original creation you come up with on your own, then the book makes it easily possible. I highly recommend it.
This was by far a much easier cake to bake than any of the other cakes I've tried baking recently. I'm not sure why, but the batter just seemed much more flexible, and less fussy to work with, which was nice. I was lucky to find cake flour which is funny because I wasn't really looking for any when I spotted it on the supermarket shelf, but since it was there, and I was there, I put it into my basket, earning an approving little gurgle from Ellie. If you can't find cake flour, a substitution for it is; for 1 cup of cake flour, substitute 1 cup minus 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour. I used a little less sugar than the recipe called for, (probably about 1/4 cup less) because I wanted to use 4 ounces of semisweet chocolate instead of the 1 1/2 ounces the recipe asked for. I also roughly chopped the chocolate instead of shaving it and I'm glad I did, the resulting cake was moist and sweet but not too sweet, and with every few bites I was rewarded with a nice chunk of chocolate. The cake actually reminded me of a giant chocolate chip cookie! In their book The Hansen’s talk about letting your cake cool off completely before icing it, and I followed their orders, a little too well actually, having had to abandon operations for a long while to tend to the Bonnie (or is it Bonny?) Lass. Because I was unable to get back to the cake right away, it sat on my cooling racks for several hours and because of that it dried out a little. I decided that brushing a soaking solution onto the layers might help bring some extra moisture back into the cake as well as add a little extra super secret flavor surprise. I made a mixture of equal parts sugar, coffee and Kenya Gold, which is a coffee liqueur I brought back from a trip to Kenya a few years ago, then brushed each layer with some of the "secret juice", letting it soak down into the cake but not making it soggy. I think the additional step helped out with the dryness alot.
For anyone that knows me, they know I'm not a big fan of frosting and more often than not, I scrape it off of my cake and fling it across the room leave it on the plate whenever I have a slice of cake somewhere. I find that too often frosting tastes either way too sweet, in that gives-you-a-sore-throat kind of way, or its way too flavorless (!) and I do not enjoy the slick greasy feeling that buttercream, especially buttercream that is made mostly of vegetable shortening leaves in my mouth. So, it was with some trepidation that I embarked on making the buttercream recipe from the book. Kaye's Buttercream uses real butter...ALOT of real butter, but I think that’s part of what makes it so good. (just a little side note here, isn’t it funny how once you know what goes into a recipe the less desire you have to eat it ? I found that knowing the buttercream has 6 sticks of butter in it made me want to run to the Dr. and check my arteries like RIGHT NOW! ) The meringue step is quite an interesting technique, something I've not seen before and it was fun to make especially when I get to the part where I had to beat in molten hot sugar! This was by far the best buttercream I have ever tasted. I reduced the sugar by 1/4 cup and was very happy by that decision because the end result was subtly sweet fluffy cream that married well with the cake.
I love chocolate and I love hazelnuts and so when I saw the recipe for the Chocolate-Hazelnut Mousse I knew that it would be the perfect filling for this cake. Now, I very rarely buy or keep Nutella in the house because it is evil... dangerous... and so tempting and delicious. A jar, even the smallest eensiest one, does not last an hour a day with me around and so I don't bother ever buying it, otherwise I'd have to be 47 feet tall for my height to match my weight. I made the mousse and I really grooved on it, so luscious and richly decadent, however, the mousse did not hold up well as a filling for the cake. It may be that I could have done something wrong when making it, I don't know, but it was runny and kept oozing out of the sides of the cake even with the border of buttercream that I had piped all around the outer edge to prevent the mousse from doing just that. I suggest making the mousse and eating it as a separate dessert and not as filling. As for the leftover Nutella, I have no idea what happened to it okay.
Decorating the cake is by far the most fun part of the whole process and I really had to resist the urge to overdo it. I have not yet had the chance to sit down and make practice flowers and so after starting to pipe green colored buttercream onto the sides of the cake to simulate flower stems and leaves and having a tough time of it I decided to go with the more simple design you see above. I think sometimes less is more, and I was quite happy with the end result. To get the darker buttercream I mixed some of the leftover mousse into the white buttercream, aren't I clever?
In my opinion, this isn't a cake for little children, (gawd, when did I start sounding like a mother?) it's loaded with caffeine from the coffee and chocolate, there's lots of sugar to make the little ones jitter and vibrate, and if you do add the extra step of using a soaking liquid like I did, then the additional coffee and alcohol really makes this an unsuitable cake for kids. Besides, if you share with the little ones then there's less cake for you and that just aint right!
The cake was incredible tasting. The buttercream is by far the best I've ever had and the chocolate-hazelnut-mocha combination is right on. I'm going to bring a few slices in to work to share with the co-workers because this is so good I don't want to keep it to myself.
Adapted from The Whimsical Bakehouse by Kaye Hansen and Liv Hansen
Start by greasing and flouring two 8x3 inch round pans. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Have all your ingredients at room temperature. (let me interupt here with a Deb notation: I suggest reading through the recipe and getting all your ingredients together, measured, and mixed before starting, it really, really helps not to have to keep stopping once you get started).In the bowl of an electric mixer, (a bowl and a handheld mixer works well too) beat at high speed until light and fluffy:
Add at medium speed and beat well
On a piece of wax paper, sift together:
In a separate bowl dissolve:
Add:
Add the dry ingredients to the butter and egg mixture alternately with the coffee-flavored milk, beating at medium-low speed until the batter is smooth.
Fold in by hand:
Pour 2 cups of batter into one prepared pan and the remaining batter into the other. Bake the less full pan for 18 to 25 minutes and the fuller pan for 20 to 30 minutes, or until cake tester inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool the cakes on a wire rack for 15 to 20 minutes before turning them out of the pans.
Yield: 6 cups of batter
In a sauce pan, bring to a boil:
Use a clean brush and cold water to wash down any sugar crystals that form on the sides of the pan as the water heats. When the sugar comes to a boil set a timer for 7 minutes, and let boil.
After 5 minutes, in the bowl of an electric mixer, ( a handheld mixer works just as well) begin to whip at high speed:
Whip until stiff. They should be done when the timer goes off.
With the mixer on high speed, slowly beat the sugar syrup into the egg whites, pouring the syrup to the side of the bowl to avoid the whip. Continue to beat until the bowl is cool to the touch, about 10 minutes. Slowly add:
When the buttercream begins to jump out of the bowl, reduce the speed to low.
Mix in at low speed:
Beat until light and fluffy. At some points the mixture might look curdled. Just keep beating it; it will become smooth again.
Yield: 8 cups
In the bowl of an electric mixer at high speed, (a handheld works well too) whip until stiff:
Soften by heating in the microwave for 10 to 20 seconds or over a pan of hot water (I used hot water):
Gently fold the Nutella into the whipped cream.
Yield 4 1/2 cups
I almost wasn't able to post this at all. We lost our internet connection on Friday for what ended up being more than 24 hours, not a good thing to happen since I needed to write and post my entry Saturday rather than Sunday. I really didn't want to miss this event, I missed the inaugural one and since I spent three days working on this project, it would have been very anticlimactic if I couldn't get my entry posted. So there I was Saturday morning sitting by the computer, typing out my entry and waiting for the little light (or lack of) on the cable box to go back on, waiting...and waiting... and waiting... then FINALLY (!) there was a flutter, then a blink, and then there was a light! I quickly finished writing and working on the entry, then FTP'ed everything to my server just in case we lost our connection again.
All's well that ends well as my friend Bill always says, so without further delay, I present you with my entry for the Is My Blog Burning? ~Tartine Edition.
Since a tartine is basically an open-faced sandwich, I decided to consult the one cookbook I have devoted solely to sandwiches, Nancy Silverton's Sandwich Book by Nancy Silverton with Teri Gelber. There’s a chapter in the book devoted to open-faced sandwiches and after browsing through it I decided the Cauliflower Purée with Browned Butter and Hazelnuts recipe was the one for me. It looked easy enough, didn't require me to go out of my way to get fancy, or hard to find ingredients and the idea of creamed cauliflower sounded good to me (Mmmm, cream). I modified the recipe slightly to better fit in with my tastes but basically it went as follows:
1. I toasted 1/2 cup of hazelnuts in a 325 degree oven until lightly browned, then placed them in a kitchen towel and rubbed them together to remove most of the skins (some didn't want to co-operate), then coarsely chopped them and put them aside.
2. I removed and discarded the green stem and leaves from a medium sized cauliflower then sliced the stalk away from the head, setting it aside, then broke the large head into florets. I separated out 4 or 5 of the larger florets and sliced them into small pieces then set those aside. in the book it’s actually written as "32 1/4-inch-thick slices" but I wasn't about to start getting that precise I then sliced the stalk into 1/4-inch slices and set that aside again.
3. I placed the cauliflower florets and the sliced stem into a small saucepan with 4 cloves of peeled garlic (the recipe uses 2), 1/2 onion that had been thinly sliced, 1 teaspoon of salt, a dash of fresh ground nutmeg ( my idea) and a pinch of grated lemon zest (my idea) then added heavy cream until everything was covered. I brought this to a boil then lowered the heat and simmered for 30 minutes, stirring constantly. After 30 minutes I strained the mixture setting the cream aside, I transferred 3/4 the cauliflower into a blender and puréed the mixture adding the cream slowly and sparingly so that I ended up with something that was consistency of smooth mashed potatoes. There was a lot of cream left over, and Silverton suggests reserving it for another use. I can see using it as a base for a soup, it was fragrant and quite tasty but I ended up discarding it because it amounted to about a quart of cream that I wouldn't be able to use before it went bad...damn, it just occurred to me that I could have frozen it...oh well I smashed the remaining cauliflower with a fork and added that to the purée mixing it just enough so that everything was coarse and chunky. I salted and peppered to taste.
4. I brought 6 cups of water and 2 tablespoons of salt to a boil then added the sliced cauliflower that I had earlier set aside. I let it boil for a few minutes until they were just tender then drained, plunged them into cold water, and set aside to drain a little more. I then sautéed the cauliflower in 2 tablespoons of browned butter until it was browned and slightly crispy, then removed it with a slotted spoon and set aside. The actual recipe uses 1 stick of butter by the time all is said and done but I didn't use nearly that much.
5.I didn't follow Silverton's instructions for making the breadcrumbs for two reasons, a) I thought croutons would look nicer instead, and I thought they might help me gain height when it came to stacking the ingredients for the final assembly and b) Honestly, I was getting tired of all the steps that the meticulous Silverton was making me take to make what, if you really think about it, was going to be a sandwich. So, I sliced 2 pieces of bread into small cubes and tossed them in a skillet with some butter until they were just browned and crunchy, then removed them from the heat and set aside. To Silverton's credit, breadcrumbs do work better as I later found out, so in the middle of stacking the sandwich I tossed the croutons into the blender and grated them to a fine powder then used them.
6. For the sandwich, I took 2 slices of the Country White Loaf that I had baked the day before using a recipe from Silverton's book Breads from the La Brea Bakery, rubbed the slices with garlic, then brushed them with a little olive oil, gave a sprinkle of kosher salt then toasted them lightly in my toaster. (The recipe uses grilled bread but I didn't have access to a grill.) I wanted the sandwich to look as nice as it was tasty so I really took my time putting it together.
I started with a layer of romaine lettuce
added the lightly toasted bread
then the creamed cauliflower
and the sautéed cauliflower
It was at this point that I decided I wanted to make the presentation a little nicer, so I removed the bread and added more romaine to the dish, placing it on the other side of the plate
then added some chives in a nice pattern (the chives were supposed to be chervil, something I had on my list to pick up at the farmers market earlier in the week but then forgot once I was there)
I placed the bread back onto the bed of lettuce, added the bread crumbs, the chopped hazelnuts, a squeeze of lemon and whew! I was finally done.
The sandwich was tasty, but not a practical sandwich to make in my opinion. Oh, who knows, to be fair, maybe it's because I don’t have the free time that I used to, to spend just making a fancy sandwich, but then again I think the recipes in this book are meant to be meals and not really light quick lunches, so I'll shut-up now. I had a blast doing this for the Is My Blog Burning event and want to give a shout out to Alberto for coming up with the terrific idea and a warm thank you to Clotilde for hosting it this time around. Tom, myself and the Wee Bairn are going out of town for a few days so until next time, be well everyone.
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