August 2010 Daring Baker's Challenge: Baked Alaska

The August 2010 Daring Bakers’ challenge was hosted by Elissa of 17 and Baking. For the first time, The Daring Bakers partnered with Sugar High Fridays for a co-event and Elissa was the gracious hostess of both. Using the theme of beurre noisette, or browned butter, Elissa chose to challenge Daring Bakers to make a pound cake to be used in either a Baked Alaska or in Ice Cream Petit Fours. The sources for Elissa’s challenge were Gourmet magazine and David Lebovitz’s “The Perfect Scoop”.

 As you can see from the title of this blog entry, I opted for the baked alaska.  My reasoning was twofold: 1) I've always been intrigued by mentions of the dessert, and 2) I have this great dislike of petit fours (even though the ones made in the challenge would be completely different than those I dislike).  For those who don't know, baked alaska is a layer of cake topped with ice cream, all covered in meringue that is lightly toasted (or torched).

 It wasn't really what I expected, but I couldn't really tell you what it was that I had expected.  From the past few challenges, I've learned something about myself: I do not like desserts that chill cake along with ice cream.  They're fine if they are separate, but I do not like cold cake.  You learn something new about yourself every day!


A heads up: I am super crazy excited about September's Daring Cook's challenge!!!!!!!!

Strawberry Pielettes

Last weekend, hubby and I finally hosted a housewarming party after being in our house for approximately two months.  I came up with this monstrously long list of things I wanted to make, which hubby then had to help me cull down.  I stuck mostly with recipes that have been a hit before, but I really wanted to make little bite size fruity pie/tart hybrids.  The coffee shop across from my college - Brewed Awakenings in Cedar Rapids, IA if you're ever in town - made little tarts that were amazing, ESPECIALLY the mulberry one.  The crust was perfectly sweet and tender.  I wanted to do something similar.  I knew what I did not want my crust to be; I didn't want it super flaky (a la apple pie) but I didn't want it to be hard and buttery (a la lemon meringue tarts).  I wanted something almost cookie like, but not quite.  Looking through  my recipes, I came across the hand pies my sister and I made for her husband months ago and TADA we've got a crust.  

These little pielettes (name in progress, not quite a pie, not quite a tartlette) were a smash! Everyone, including me, thought they were great.  I used strawberry preserves for the party ones, and having a few empty shells after the strawberry ran out, used some fig  as well.  Hubby preferred the fig.  I think you could do just about any fruit in these: peach, apple, berries galore. 

 The crust isn't exactly what I wanted; next time, I'll use butter instead of crisco and substitute some brown for white sugar. 

Strawberry Pielettes

(makes 48)

• 1 cup sugar
• 1/2 cup shortening
• 1 egg
• 1/2 tbsp vinegar
• 1/2 cup milk
• 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
• 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 3 1/2 cups all purpose flour
• approximately 2 cups strawberry preserves (or any other variety)
• whipped cream
• sliced fruit/additional berries for topping (optional)

Preheat oven to 350F.  Grease 2 mini-muffin pans (or if you just have 1, bake in two parts).

Cream together sugar, shortening, and egg until fluffy.  Beat in vinegar, milk, and vanilla extract.  

In a separate bowl, whisk together baking powder, baking soda, salt, and 1/2 cup flour.  Add to the wet ingredients.  Add flour in 1/2 cup increments, mixing well after each addition.  Add additional flour, if necessary, to ensure dough is not sticky. 

Roll 1-inch balls of dough and drop into each cup of the muffin pan.  Press the dough to fill the muffin cup, creating an indentation into which you will put the preserves.  You can use your fingers for this; I used the end of my ice cream scoop which had the perfect diameter.  If you use an instrument, make sure you keep it greased or the dough will stick to it and pull up.

Bake for approximately 10 minutes.  The crust will puff up a bit; if it puffs too much, use a spoon to gently remove some from the center.  Spoon a tablespoon or so of preserves into each, filling them almost to the very top.  Try not to drip preserves on the rims of the pielettes.

Bake approximately 10-15 minutes, or until the crust  appears set and slightly golden.  Let cool in pan for a few minutes, then remove to a cooling rack.  A tip for removing them: if you rotate the pielettes in the muffin cup, then should pull out easily.  

Once cool and you're ready to serve, garnish with a plop of whipped cream and slice of strawberry (or whatever fruit you've used). 

August 2010 Daring Cook's Challenge: Pierogi

The August 2010 Daring Cooks’ Challenge was hosted by LizG of Bits n’ Bites and Anula of Anula’s Kitchen. They chose to challenge Daring Cooks to make pierogi from scratch and an optional challenge to provide one filling that best represents their locale.

Man, I just barely completed this challenge.  Hubby and I threw a housewarming party today for which I made waay too much food.  Prior to that, we've been  fixing and painting and cleaning and all the wonderfully time consuming things owning a house has.

For my filling, I actually used mashed potatoes and mushroom cream sauce left over from the party.  Worked quite well!  The pierogi were delicious and easy to make! Next, I want to use bacon in them somehow,.

Easy Stir Fry

I like cooking elaborate dishes; the more steps involved the better and more rewarding.  That being said, I don't always feel like being in the kitchen and spending my free time taking care of meals.  Sometimes, I'm hungry and I want to eat soon.  Unfortunately, for many people, that means cooking things from boxes or not cooking anything at all, which is sad.  Good food can be made simply and quickly.  Like this stir fry.  As long as you've got thawed meat and veggies, you're golden! 

Hubby and I play around with stir fry, using different meats and veggies.  One evening I made it with pork, bell pepper, and onion.  One day hubby used shrimp and a frozen veggie stir-fry mixture we picked up.  Those mixes are handy! 

Take this recipe lightly and loosely; do what you want!

Easy Stir Fry

• 2 pork chops, sliced into thin strips (the thinner the strips, the faster they'll cook)
• 2 green bell peppers, sliced thinly
• 1 large onion, sliced thinly
• olive oil
• soy sauce
• oyster sauce 

In a large skillet, heat oil then brown the strips of pork.  Sprinkle soy sauce over the meat to give it a little flavor.  Once the pork is cooked thoroughly (it will take a few minutes per side) remove to a bowl. 

Add the bell pepper and onion into the pan.  Cook over medium heat until tender.  Return the pork to the pan.  Stir in approximately 2 tbsp soy sauce and 1 tbsp oyster sauce.  For more sauce, increase amounts.   

Florida Blueberry Cobbler

Some time back, hubby and I were at the store and saw blueberries were on sale.  Since hubby loves blueberries, we of course got some.  At that store, they have a little recipe kiosk, so hubby browsed through it to decide what we should do with our blueberries.  He came across two recipes: one for a pie and one for a cobbler.  He opted for cobbler.  Now, this is not a cobbler like the one I always make; some might say this one is traditional.  It's syrupy fruit on the bottom with crispy, buttery crust on top.  Quite delicious!

 Florida Blueberry Cobbler
(From the Florida Agriculture Bureau of Seafood and Aquaculture)

Filling

• 1 stick butter
• 1 tsp lemon juice
• 4 cup fresh blueberries, rinsed and drained
• 1 cup sugar

Crust

• 1 cup self-rising flour
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 tsp vanilla flavoring
• 1/2 cup milk

Preheat oven to 375F.  Place the butter in an 8x8 baking glass dish and melt in the microwave.

For the filling: in a large mixing bowl, combine the lemon juice and blueberries.  Add the sugar and mix well.  Pour the blueberry mixture into the baking dish. DO NOT STIR.

Combine the crust ingredients in a small bowl.  Pour over the blueberries and bake for 45 minutes or until brown.

Serve with ice cream, whipped cream, or plain. 

It is best served warm, or at least the same day.   The blueberries get a little syrupy  (i.e., runny), so watch yourself (and any nice clothes)!

july 2010 Daring Baker's Challenge: Swiss Swirl Ice Cream Cake

The July 2010 Daring Bakers’ challenge was hosted by Sunita of Sunita’s world – life and food. Sunita challenged everyone to make an ice-cream filled Swiss roll that’s then used to make a bombe with hot fudge. Her recipe is based on an ice cream cake recipe from Taste of Home.

 I had a lot of fun figuring out what flavors of ice cream to use as two different flavors are hidden within the cakey exterior.  I stuck with the original swiss roll cake recipe, chocolate cake with a simple cream filling.  Add to those the layer of fudge between the two types of ice cream, I definitely starting getting a sundae vibe.  And thus I came up with caramel and marshmallow ice creams. 

Unfortunately, I had a few mishaps with this challenge.  I spread my cake batter a bit too thin, so it didn't roll too well.  Then, I didn't thicken the fudge sauce enough, so it didn't set which then kind of make things a mess.  Good thing looks don't affect taste!

July 2010 Daring Cook's Challenge: Nut Butters

The July 2010 Daring Cooks’ Challenge was hosted by Margie of More Please and Natashya of Living in the Kitchen with Puppies. They chose to challenge Daring Cooks to make their own nut butter from scratch, and use the nut butter in a recipe. Their sources include Better with Nut Butter by Cooking Light Magazine, Asian Noodles by Nina Simonds, and Food Network online.

I once played with the idea of making my own peanut butter, but at the time I did not have a food processor, so the idea slipped away.  When I found out this month's challenge, I was super excited!  It took me forever to decide what kind to make, and then I changed my mind at the last moment because of a craving I'd been having.  I ended up making an almond butter and using it in one of the supplied recipes, Chicken with Curried Tomato Almond Sauce.

(please note: homemade nut butters are not as smooth as store bought)

I was surprised by how absolutely simple it is to make a nut butter; you just grind the nuts and they'll eventually become a paste, though you may have to add a little oil to smooth things out.  I am SUPER excited by this.  Next up, cashew butter!

The Chicken with Curried Tomato Almond Sauce was great: nice and spicy with the sweet earthiness of the peas mellowing it out.  The almond butter was very subtle; it lingered on the tongue after all else was gone.

Chicken with Curried Tomato Almond Sauce

Ingredients:

• 1 Tablespoon (15 ml) olive oil
• 4 (6 oz / 170 g) boneless, skinless chicken breast halves
  Salt to taste

Spice Blend:

• 1.5 tablespoons (20 ml) garam masala seasoning
• 1 teaspoon (5 ml) ground ginger
• 1/2 teaspoon (2 ml) ground cinnamon
• 1/4 teaspoon (1 ml) black pepper

Sauce:

• 4 tablespoons (60 ml) butter
• 1 large onion, cut in half pole to pole (or coarsely diced if you plan to leave it in)
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 (15-ounce/425 g) can tomato sauce
• ⅓ cup (80 ml) almond butter
• ⅓ cup (80 ml) milk
• ½ to ¾ cup (120 to 180 ml) chicken broth or water, more as needed
• 1 cup (240 ml) frozen peas (optional)

• Hot basmati rice for serving
• Chopped parsley (optional garnish)
• Sliced almonds (optional garnish)

Directions: 

Cook the chicken. If desired, pound chicken to ¼ inch (6 mm) thickness to promote even cooking. Sprinkle with a bit of salt and pepper to taste. Heat 1 teaspoon (5 ml) olive oil a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Add half the chicken; sauté 3 to 5 minutes on each side or until cooked through. Cook the chicken in 2 batches, adding more oil if needed for second batch. Dice chicken into bite-sized pieces; set aside on clean plate and keep warm.

Prepare spice blend. Stir garam masala, ginger, cinnamon, and pepper together in a small bowl. Set aside.

Melt the butter in large nonstick skillet over medium-low heat. Add the onion and cook gently for several minutes to infuse the butter with onion flavor. Keep the heat low to avoid burning the butter; a little color is fine. Add the spice blend and garlic and cook for 1 minute or till fragrant, stirring constantly. Add the tomato sauce, stir well, and bring to boil. Reduce heat to simmer. Whisk in almond butter and milk until thoroughly combined with tomato sauce. The almond butter is thick so it takes a while to make a smooth sauce. Return to simmer. Add broth (or water) to sauce to reach desired consistency; return to simmer. Add more broth (or water) as needed to thin sauce as desired.

Remove onion from sauce and discard (or leave the onion in, like I did). Stir frozen peas (if using) into sauce. Transfer sliced chicken to sauce. Simmer gently for a few minutes until peas and chicken are heated through.

Serve chicken and sauce over rice. Garnish with chopped parsley and/or sliced almonds if desired.

June 2010 Daring Bakers' Challenge: Chocolate Pavlovas with Chocolate Mascarpone Mousse

The June 2010 Daring Bakers’ challenge was hosted by Dawn of Doable and Delicious. Dawn challenged the Daring Bakers’ to make Chocolate Pavlovas and Chocolate Mascarpone Mousse. The challenge recipe is based on a recipe from the book Chocolate Epiphany by Francois Payard.

Pavlova is one of my absolute favorite desserts, so I was thrilled to have an excuse to make one!  It was fun to try a new recipe as well as new topping as I usually do mine with whipped cream and berries.  The mousse in this recipe was a little too "dark" for me; I'd use a sweeter chocolate next time.  This was my first time making a creme anglais (for the topping), though I've made similar things in the past.  Mmmm cream.. I enjoyed a pavlova with just that drizzled on top. 

In non-challenge news, a few weeks ago hubby and I bought and moved in to our first house!! Tres exciting.  So my last of blogging has been due to 1) restricted finances (all money going to fixing up said house) 2) busy-ness, 3) lack of internet and 4) not much cooking (hubby has a job that has him away four evenings a week).  

Also, hubby and I have decided it is time to get healthier (and shed some rather unnecessary pounds) so we're adapting to new eating habits.  We'll see how creative we can get cooking without butter (oh butter, I miss you).  

In the near future, except posts on:
 1)  Blueberry cobbler that, had hubby and I not been married already, he would have married me for.  

2) Venison backstrap.  Super simple, tasty, and not at all bad for you!

May 2010 Daring Baker's Challenge: Piece Montee (Croquembouche)

The May 2010 Daring Bakers’ challenge was hosted by Cat of Little Miss Cupcake. Cat challenged everyone to make a piece montée, or croquembouche, based on recipes from Peter Kump’s Baking School in Manhattan and Nick Malgieri.

I've always been fascinated by the piece montee/croquembouche, but I must admit I never planned on making one myself.  I'm not a huge fan of pate a choux, but I do ADORE pastry cream, so it all evened out.  The actual baking in this challenge as fairly easy, though I believe my pate a choux was a bit too wet and I was very concerned it would not rise (it did.. mostly), but the assembly? GOOD LORD was it touch and go for a minute.  The process generally involved dipping a delicate cream filled puff into hot liquid sugar then flipping it over and placing it on the arrangement as quickly as possible.  Did I burn my finger? Yes.  Did I almost put said finger, with the burning sugar still on it, in my mouth? Yes.  At the last moment, I realized what I was doing.  I can just imagine that phone call to hubby telling him to come home from work as I've disabled myself.  .... BACK to the challenge.  All in all, I'm not in love with this, but I would definitely use this recipe if trying to impress someone.  I know scores of people who love pate a choux based delights; I'm just not one of them.  It's really sad.  I need to get over it.  

May 2010 Daring Cook's Challenge: Stacked Green Chili & Chicken Enchiladas

Our hosts this month, Barbara of Barbara Bakes and Bunnee of Anna+Food have chosen a delicious Stacked Green Chile & Grilled Chicken Enchilada recipe in celebration of Cinco de Mayo! The recipe, featuring a homemade enchilada sauce was found on www.finecooking.com and written by Robb Walsh.

 Oh my but this challenge was delicious.   It was a perfect combination of textures and flavors.  Soft and firm, hot, sweet, and savory.  Now, the one pictured above is a bit overdone (as can be seen by my darkened cheese) as the enchiladas in one dish browned more quickly.  But still, SO DELICIOUS!!!

The only way I really varied from the recipe was that I cooked my chicken  in a skillet on the stove after seasoning it with salt-free Chachere's and cumin.  This was one recipe I pretty much followed  by the book.  You should definitely give it a try!

Stacked Green Chile and Grilled Chicken Enchiladas

 

1½ pounds Fresh Anaheim chiles (about eight 6 to 8 inch chiles) 24 ounces 678 grams - roast, peel, remove seeds, chop coarsely. Other green chiles (NOT bell peppers) could probably be substituted but be conscious of heat and size!)
7-8 ounces Tomatillos (about 4-5 medium)212 grams - peel, remove stems
4 cups Chicken broth (32 ounces/920 grams)
1 clove Garlic, minced
2 teaspoons yellow onion, minced
1 teaspoon dried oregano
½ tsp Kosher salt (add more to taste)
¼ tsp Black Pepper (add more to taste)
2 tablespoons Cornstarch (dissolve in 2 tablespoons water, for thickening)
Hot sauce, your favorite, optional
2 Boneless chicken breasts (you can also use bone-in chicken breasts or thighs)
3 tablespoons Olive oil or other neutral vegetable oil (use more as needed)
Kosher salt and pepper
12 Small Corn tortillas (5-6 inch/13-15 cm). (you can also use wheat tortillas or other wraps)
6 ounces grated Monterey Jack, 170 grams (other cheeses (cheddar, pepper jack, Mexican cheeses) can be used. Just be sure they melt well and complement the filling)
Cilantro for garnish, chopped and sprinkled optional

Directions:

Roasting Fresh Chiles

1. Coat each chile with a little vegetable oil. If you are doing only a couple chiles, using the gas stove works. For larger batches (as in this recipe), grilling or broiling is faster.
2. Lay the oiled chiles on the grill or baking sheet (line pan with foil for simpler clean-up). Place the grill or broil close to the element, turning the chiles so they char evenly. They should be black and blistered.
3. As they are completely charred (they will probably not all be done at once), remove them to a bowl and cover with plastic, or close up in a paper bag. Let them rest until they are cool.
4. Pull on the stem and the seed core MAY pop out (it rarely does for me). Open the chile and remove the seeds. Turn the chile skin side up and with a paring knife, scrape away the skin. Sometimes it just pulls right off, sometimes you really have to scrape it.
5. DO NOT RINSE!

Green Chile Sauce

1. Put a medium saucepan of water on to boil and remove the papery outer skin from the tomatillos. Boil the tomatillos until soft, 5 to 10 minutes. You can also grill the tomatillos until soft.
2. Drain and puree in a blender or food processor.
3. Return the tomatillos to the saucepan along with the chicken broth, chopped green chiles, minced onion, oregano, garlic, salt and pepper.
4. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat and then reduce the heat and simmer for 10 minutes.
5. Add the cornstarch/water mixture and stir well. Simmer, stirring occasionally, until the sauce is thickened and reduced to 4-5 cups, another 10-15 minutes.
6. Adjust seasonings and add hot sauce if you want a little more heat.

Enchiladas

1. Heat a gas grill to medium high or build a medium-hot charcoal Coat the chicken with olive oil and season well with salt and pepper. Preheat oven to 450 degrees.
2. Grill the chicken until just cooked through, 4-5 minutes a side for boneless chicken breasts.
3. Cool and then slice into thin strips or shred.
4. In a small skillet, heat 3 tablespoons oil over medium-high heat until very hot. Dip the edge of a tortilla into the oil to check – it should sizzle immediately.
5. Using tongs, put a tortilla into the pan and cook until soft and lightly brown on each side, about 15-20 seconds per side (at the most).
6. Drain on paper towels.
7. Add oil as needed and continue until all 12 tortillas are done.
8. In a baking dish large enough to hold four separate stacks of tortillas, ladle a thin layer of sauce.
9. Lay four tortillas in the dish and ladle another ½ cup (4 ounces/112 grams) of sauce over the tortillas.
10. Divide half the chicken among the first layer of tortillas, top with another ½ cup of sauce and 1/3 of the grated cheese.
11. Stack another four tortillas, top with the rest of the chicken, more sauce and another third of the cheese.
12. Finish with the third tortilla, topped with the remaining sauce and cheese.
13. Bake until the sauce has thickened and the cheese melted, about 20 minutes. Let rest for 5-10 minutes.
14. To serve, transfer each stack to a plate. Spoon any leftover sauce over the stacks and sprinkle with cilantro, if you wish. The stacks may also be cooked in individual gratin dishes.