Tip!

Quick Munchie tip:

1 large bag popcorn, butter free kind

1/3 cup butter, melted

Heaping 1/3 packed brown sugar

In small pot combine butter and sugar on med-high for 3-4 mins stirring constantly. Place popcorn in large bowl, drizzle with butter/sugar mixture and stir like hell. Evenly space out on parchment covered baking sheet and let cool.

Enjoy!

It's a strudel the world we live in.

The May Daring Bakers’ challenge was hosted by Linda of make life sweeter! and Courtney of Coco Cooks. They chose Apple Strudel from the recipe book Kaffeehaus: Exquisite Desserts from the Classic Cafés of Vienna, Budapest and Prague by Rick Rodgers.

So, it's been a month since my last post. Which is sad, awfully sad, considering I've cooked up a bunch since then. There was the banana-peanut butter loaf, the chicken and barley soup, the thin crust pancetta and mozzarella pizza, the creamiest pasta salad, and wake-me-up coffee muffins(which I did record and will post, later).

Anyways, it all comes down to this months DB. I ditched the apples because I had pears galore, what can I say, when there's a sale, I go crazy. I've also really been meaning to use David Lebovitz recipe for candied ginger, and this seemed like the appropriate venue. 

The result? Tasty as hell the first day, okay the second, and not even worth eating the third. So, needless to say it went in the compost and it wasn't until the third day when I could bring it to my knitting group, or not bring it as it went. I have to take advantage of my weekends for cooking, I'm a busy girl! Also, my camera batteries died during our wonderful photoshoot, and I'm left with one 'candid' out of oven shot.

Cheese please

The April 2009 challenge is hosted by Jenny from Jenny Bakes. She has chosen Abbey's Infamous Cheesecake as the challenge.

I've done it, completed my first Daring Baker Challenge. Okay, okay, so I'm two days late posting, first time's never perfect, right? My days have been filled with cramming as much history of design into my head as possible. So much that, I can firmly say this cheesecake in honest. There are no underlaying steel tubes, or 79 screws holding it together, and it is indeed greatly comprised of cream cheese. 

I chose to do a very Spring inspired cake, keeping away from anything heavy or rich. I added 2 1/2 tablespoons of rosewater to the mix, the zest of two blood oranges, and the juice of one. I opted to keep the vanilla out, even though I know it's staple in almost all baking. Besides these few modifications I kept everything else the same, including a graham cracker crust!

I toped it with a simple icing with the zest and juice of one blood orange, and a few sugar bits of zest. I originally had the idea to place candied orange rind on, but when I got studying, and came into my kitchen full to the brim with smoke only to find my rinds burnt to a pot I think I'm going to throw away.

I can't vouch for it's taste yet, but the batter was rather good, and the icing, sweet and fresh. I'll let you know how a gaggle of fashion students respond to it.

Can you phrase that in terms of Epicness?

I often  find myself thinking of ways to improve upon everyday foods, trying to take everything awesome and smash it up into one. I'm pretty sure it's the same logic behind the Turducken. Take 3 delicious meats smash 'em into each other and roast. However, they are times where it goes too far, like taking said Turducken and covering it in Bacon. I mean, I love bacon, but.. really? I don't like to think about all that fat soaking into the bird, and can't imagine it tasting any good. It's an Epic food fail, similar to my stuffing experiment. Bread good, bacon good, sausage good, brussel sprouts good, cheese good, broth good, mix 'em up: NOT GOOD.

My recently acquired spring form pan has got me thinking off all the new things I could make, besides cheesecake, and I think I've found my Epic winner. A dolce de leche cheesecake with a carmel toping that is then followed by a croquembouche. The only real problem I can see with this is that one, or hopefully more than one, would have to eat said topping before digging into the cheesecake, and most would say this in no problem at all. 

Hopefully I'll get a chance in the future to make this Epic creation, and that it wont turn out to be an Epic Fail. 

Hiatus

Ah! I suck at blogging. I've been cooking, yes I have, still need to eat after-all.

More importantly I've not been taking pictures of what I make, I usually remember after my first few bites, which doesn't make for the best photo. Anyways, I've made a few things I can vouch for.

I was invited to a party on Valentines day, which turned out to be a cleverly named 'Love's a gamble' poker night, and I thought this was the perfect excuse to delve into the many bookmarked baked goodies that are pilling up. I decided upon the cheesecake brownies at David Lebovitz. Anyways, they turned out rather lip smacking, and were polished off accordingly. 

Also notable, the maple-balsamic pork I made last night. The flavor was quite nice, home style, no frills. You can also find that one over here. And it's incredibly easy for all those with cooking fear. 

I promise something good will come... soonish.

It's reading week after-all.

As guilt-free-as-they-get cookies

My mother's mother is an amazing baker, and as much as I hate saying it, I owe some of my skills to her. As a kid she taught me our family favorite, Ginger Snaps, which were kept in full bounty inside that cow cookie jar (and yes, it 'moo'd' when you opened the lid). Now, although the cow cookie jar is no longer living, I still do break out my tattered recipe and fill the kitchen with sweet ginger spice. So, you can imagine how excited I was when I saw a recipe for non-fat gingersnaps on David Lebovitz. And although they don't have quite the same flavor, I think ditching my grandma's 1/2lb of shortening had some effect. 

You can find that chewy and tasty cookie here.

Cupcake?

I haven't had time to make anything exciting, (As I don't think re-heating dinner counts), so I leave you with a link.

Go all weak-kneed over these delights, cupcakes!

I've got a few bookmarked!

"So the lion fell in love with the lamb

Stupid lamb

Sick masochistic lion"

Wouldn't be that way if the lion just smartened up and ate that lamb, like I did.

Cravings out of my usual two rarely strike me, beef jerky and chocolate if you were wondering, however this week has been an onslaught of constant wants. From the decedent mac and cheese a few nights ago, to fried chicken last night, it's been crazy keeping up with the list of things pilling into my head. I blame spending too much time reading food blogs, but I'm going to let it be, as my other cravings for fruits and mushrooms equal out all unhealthy ones. 

Tonight I'd figure planned on getting a nice cut of meat, something to help finish off the bottle of Valpolicella I opened last night to help me relax, or at-least pass-out in a timely manner. However, when I arrived at my local butcher, the thought of sweet, tender lamb filled my head, and that was it, I needed myself a rack. 

Rub with garlic clove and sprig of rosemary. Salt and Pepper. Set oven to 450, and cook for 15, fat side down. Reduce to 400, flip and cook for another 20-30. I went to 22mins, and wish I had taken it out at 20, as I like my meat a little more rare. Serve with yam fries. 

Macarons

Did I tell you I made Macarons?

I put every gram of baking knowledge I have to the ultimate test, and made the elusive, tricky, and simply irritable Parisian delight. I had been talking about it for weeks, and when I discovered that my local Metro sells bulk ground almonds, I knew it was time. So I prepped with reading every blog I could find on the subject, memorized pictures, knew how to spot a macaright, and a macawrong dead on, and spent a few too many night drooling on the Pierre Herme website. When I mentioned I was going to make this leap of pastry faith at a recent work party, the words 'salted caramel' where passed across the table. As I never have had the delight of munching on an authentic macaron, and this flavour seemed to be a winner, it was decided. Also, there's plenty of recipes!

Batter up anyone?

I chose a pale pink, because well, it's me, and what's an un-colored macaron after-all?

I realised on after-the-fact, that burning the Carmel a little more would have provided a slightly better result. Although, no one who tried it put up fuss.

My little army of pale pink and tan creatures. Look, they have feet! 

I have no completed pictures, as they were given away, or snatched up by myself too fast!

I've learned a few things for my next batch like to actually sift the mixture, and perhaps get better at piping? More food coloring too!

So, this is not the end of my exploration into macarons. Next time I think the Puritan Impulse said she would like to join me, and I'm sure her photography skills will produce much more mouthwatering results.

Recipes can be found here:

Batter-Up at Serious Eats

Best Salted Carmel Sauce

I'm in love

We finally met today, and it was instantaneous love. Admittedly we'd been eyeing each other over the past few weeks during my morning commute, which made me yearn for him even more. Tired of waiting around for him to come to me, (as I'm sure he really can't, or that would be a completely different story) I made the first move. I mean, it's a new year, and who says girls can't make the first move? And I really, really can't resist a mustache. 

Oh, and his name? Bialetti! You know how I like those Italians.

Finally, I have you all to myself. And combined with illy espresso, you make my head spin in delight.

If I have my way, I take him with a dollop of un-sweetened fresh whipped cream, but other wise, straight up works too.

ETA: It's only early night, and I've already had him twice!

On being sick and baking

It's happened again, the nauseous, headache, runny-nose, congestion and miserable pain that my body likes to put me through. I really miss that year long strike against sickness I had going on a while back.Alas, my self prescribed doctors note was to stay in bed, drink plenty of orange juice and rest away. It's times like these I'm glad I had left over chicken soup stored away in my freezer. Thankfully some energy returned to me this evening and I decided to make a dead easy bacon and onion tart for dinner.

Simply make a pie crust, and let it chill for a bit (really, the better the longer, mine only stayed in for the duration of onion and bacon cooking).

Then chop 2 medium onions and 6 slices of bacon. Toss into frying pan, and let them go until the bacon had crisped and the onions somewhat caramelized, stirring frequently.

Then roll out your crust to desired shape and thickness (I went with whatever my lazy ass would produce as my rolling-pin skills are severely diminished with sickness). Toss it on your baking sheet and prick with a fork.

I decided to use the remainder of the Gruyere cheese I had in the fridge, which when grated came out to a heaping half cup. Toss on the bacon and onion mixture. Grind some pepper and sprinkle a little fleur de sel.

Bake till the crust is golden and fluffly!

While it was in the oven, I chared a bell pepper to go on the following recipe. 

It might not look like it, but that gas burner was on.

On other baking news I made a loaf of flaxseed bread yesterday. I adapted it from a Smitten Kitchen recipe for the Bread Without A Timetable.

Opting to use all white flour (as that's all I had) and substituted out a 1/4 cup of flour for flaxseed. I'm trying to incorporate those damn things into everything after I bought a large bag for Christmas onion and flaxseed crackers. 

First Time, and A Roast Chicken

I've fallen ill to the world of blogs. After spending endless hours reading the wonderful food blogs out there, I've decided to start my own.

A few days ago I decided to tackle the frozen chicken I've had sitting away. 

Inspired by a recipe in my Williams Sonoma Cookbook, I did a variation of their apple and sage roasted chicken. So simple and it was the best chicken I've ever had. 

Simply rub the inside with lemon squeezing it as you go, then leave the wedge in there, throw in some celery, apple, onion and then your sage. In this case I used thyme, as I prefer it. Cook breast down at first, then flip and finish off. 

I served it with braised fennel. So tasty!

Best thing though, use the carcass to make broth and then a tasty chicken soup!