One Fish, Two Fish, White Fish, Pink Fish - 7/28/2009

Something was very fishy last week. Turns out it was my kitchen.


A stop to Whole Foods found me staking out the seafood display. Whenever I'm in front of these types of cases, I get the urge to choose one of the foods without any real plan for what I'm going to do. This time it was a nice piece of cod. After some searching, I decided to use this recipe from Bon Appetit (December 2008). It's pretty much cod covered in a mushroom topping flavored with white wine, lemon zest and Parmesan. I subbed out the chanterelles (since they are so hard to find) with a combination of baby bellas and sliced button mushrooms. I don't often consider mushrooms with fish. In fact, I usually picture mushrooms on steaks and burgers. But this mushroom "ragout" added some earthiness to this surf dish, but was brightened by the touches of lemon and white wine. And leftovers made for good lunches all week long.


As a side, I had some eggplant from my CSA last week, so I made a very easy dish: roasted eggplant slices. You slice up your eggplant crosswise, then toss it in oil, salt, pepper, and whatever spices you want to use (I chose thyme). Then spread it out on a greased baking sheet and bake it at 450 degrees for about a half hour until it is tender but not starting to brown or crisp up. The great part about this dish is you don't have to worry about salting the eggplant and letting it sit for a while to remove the bitterness. The roasting does all that for you by caramelizing some of the sugars in this purple veggie. This method also works great with cauliflower. Just be warned: you will need a lot of vegetables for this for two reasons. First, they cook down in size greatly. Second, they go extremely fast, even with those who do not care for vegetables. So give it a shot with your fussy eaters of any age.


The other fish I saw at Whole Foods was this salmon crusted with nuts. I had some feta and cherry tomatoes from my CSA, so I made a side Greek salad (pitted kalamata olives, sliced seedless cucumbers, cherry tomatoes, sliced red onion, and feta) with a buttermilk-scallion-cilantro dressing. This was a quick-fix dinner because I just baked the salmon until it was just cooked through and served it with the salad. The great thing about pre-treated fish is that all you have to do is cook it. It is cheating, to a degree, but everyone needs to cut some corners every once in a while. Plus, by cooking at home I'm still saving the time and calories of going out to a restaurant. So why not eat simply when you just don't have the time to crust or marinate your meat yourself before cooking it.

Made in Manhattan - 7/12/2009

As I mentioned in the last post, I took a trip this weekend to NYC. I was only in town for a couple days, but there was a great deal of eating to be done.


After getting our stuff settled into our Pod (a decently cheap, but very nice and cozy place to stay on E 51st St. between 2nd and 3rd Ave., we hoofed it over to Chinatown to go to Joe's Shanghai Restaurant. If you've seen any of the dumplings filled with soup that I've posted here (usually from No. 1 Panda), these are another example. The dumplings had a pork filling and a wonderfully meaty soup (the website explains how to eat them if you need a tutorial). They served the dumplings with a ginger-infused vinegar that, when used sparingly, added to the experience of eating the dumpling.




While we did feel a little full after the dumplings, who could pass up the opportunity to enjoy some more Chinese food? We had some moo shu pork, which is always great with the slight plummy taste from the plum sauce. I ordered the lion's head. I've attempted to make this myself and it definitely did not turn out this good. The meatballs were wonderfully savory and lightly packed. The outer sauce is difficult to explain because it was so dark, salty and earthy. The sauce brought a full-bodied quality to the meatballs that could not be beat. Joe's was a great restaurant that is worth the wait and the hurried service because it is so gosh-darn good.


Two good tips while you are traveling around NYC are to keep your eye open for food on the go. There are innumerable food vendors roaming the streets, including hot dog carts, roasted nuts and ice cream. We found a farmers' market with everything from fresh cheeses to produce to kittens (to adopt, not to eat). Just down the street was a street fair with lots of food, crafts and various odds and ends. We had roasted corn with honey butter sauce (very excellent, seen above, though the holder's identity has been blocked out to protect his innocence), falafel and chicken souvlaki. While it was great to go down the 5-6 blocks of the fair, be sure to ask about prices first if they are not overtly advertised. I ended up paying $10 for the decent but not-worth-the-price falafel.


On most of my trips, I do my best to find a cuisine that represents the area I'm visiting. For this trip, I vowed to find a black and white cookie (among other items that just did not fit our time or stomachs). While strolling through the city, we spied Crumbs. The shop sells cookies, cupcakes and full cakes of all sorts. Among them were this "candy cookie" with M&M-like candies (very good) and my two-toned wonder which hit every criterion I remembered for this baked good. It was thick, cakey (in fact, it appears it was baked and then the bottom was frosted for the full, flat face), and the creamy icings were a wonderful duo of vanilla and chocolate. The next time you're in the Big Apple, be sure to try all of these recommendations as part of your NYC experience.

Star-Spangled Cake & Mad Hatter - 7/12/2009

This week had some preparation for a weekend trip (see next post), so this post is a little shorter than some of the other epic entries, but it's still delicious nonetheless.


Early in the week, I had the chance to go to Mad Hatter for brunch. I opted for their Cuban, seen above. It is a very non-traditional take on the usual pressed sandwich. Instead of a relatively thin compilation, the Mad Hatter take is piled high with thickly sliced pork and a slightly spicy sauce on top, all on a thick, chewy bread (not Cuban bread, but still very good). On the side is a cold pasta with bell peppers and tomatoes. Not pictured is a "Mostess cupcake" in the style of the Hostess chocolate cupcakes with the curly-cue of white frosting and white cream filling. I was surprised to find the cupcake very dry, making the whole experience a little disappointing. I've had their cake before, and it was pretty good, especially after an overnight chill in the fridge. I will definitely go back to Mad Hatter, but I will be a little more wary of the desserts.


The cake theme of the week was Fourth of July, despite the fact that the holiday has passed. I decided on some All-American flavors - vanilla spice cake with an apple butter filling - similar to what you find in apple pie. I will admit to save time I used a box cake mix, but I did throw pretty much every spice I could think of into the batter (including, but not limited to, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, allspice, and cloves). The cake was moist and a little more airy than is good for frosting, but luckily this week we were also working with fondant. Fondant is like a frosting dough. You can buy it from stores like Michael's and roll it out on a cornstarched surface. Then you drape it on top of your cake, smooth it out and cut away the excess. I can easily see fondant being a great way to save a cake that does not look like it will be presentation-worthy by itself. Most people liked the slightly chewy quality it brought to the cake. As a final note, the stars on top are made of gum paste, which when set to dry turns almost inedibly solid after a couple days (but they sure look good).

4th of July & Buttercream Flowers - 7/5/2009

Happy Independence Day, everyone! I hope everyone had a filling and safe 4th of July. I realized this year it's strange that on one of the days near the peak of the summer heat, we spend the day cooking in front of a grill and lighting fireworks. It seems we like to celebrate the birth of our nation by sweating all day long. Anyways, here's what I whipped up for a small gathering of my classmates.


As a simple appetizer, I made Muhammara. Instead of a perennial dip like spinach-artichoke or hummus, I chose the road less travelled which happens to run through Syria, the birthplace of this dip. It's primary constituents are roasted red peppers and walnuts with some cumin as the primary spice. The overall consistency is more like a thick paste, but it can be thinned down if need be. Not only is the dip easy, it's just different flavors that I think take your taste buds by surprise. So ditch the old dips and slip your chip into this tip and you'll be licking your lips.


I did not manage to take individual pictures of the main course and side items, but everything worth mentioning is on my plate (go figure). I like to run my parties as potlucks so I'm not left doing all of the cooking. This also prevents me from going overboard and preparing too much food for the occasion. So the main items to focus on are the burger and the cornbread. The pork burgers feature an apricot-chipotle mayonnaise that really livened up its flavor. The mayo has a sweetness balanced by a subtle, smokey heat that helps to counter the fattiness of the mayonnaise. If you prefer your pork well-done, be sure to not overcook it so that it becomes to dry. Not even mayonnaise can save it then.

These burgers met with critical acclaim, but the biggest smash of the main course was the cornbread. A little birdie gave me the idea, which I thought was absolutely genius: corn dog bread. Who doesn't love a corn dog? But who needs to go through the hassle of skewering and frying all those wieners when you can merely slip them into your favorite cornbread recipe? I love to keep everything a surprise, and this side item pretends to be normal cornbread until you cut into it. Then it's Crouching Hot Dog, Hidden Deliciousness comes to the forefront. I had to stop myself from eating the entire pan's-worth because it had all of my favorite elements of corn dogs, only in smaller pieces. I would definitely recommend this very simple twist on a fair food classic for pretty much any excuse you can find to make it. July 4th? Yes. Birthday? Sure. Monday? Why not?


Since the grill was already heated up, why not a grilled dessert. The great thing about fibrous fruits like pineapple and stonefruit is that they hold up well on a grill. Grill marks look great on almost everything, and they help to caramelize the sugars in the fruit. Plus warm pineapple puts cold pineapple to shame. On top of this great base is drizzled a diluted Nutella sauce, then dollops of a vanilla-infused mascarpone. You can also throw on some toasted hazelnuts to really finish it all off. Giada may not look it, but she knows her way around a dessert.


My favorite dessert, though, is this watermelon sorbet. I took Alton Brown's recipe and infused it with some Martha Stewart inspiration. While making the sorbet, I remembered some flavors she used on some fresh watermelon a few years back, so I dropped the vodka (I don't know why you'd really need it anyways since it would drop the melting temperature) and added some honey and a healthy dose of freshly grated ginger. The ginger kick helped give the watermelon a surprising bite so that it wasn't just sweet melon with more sugar then frozen. I attempted a nice display in a watermelon rind, but my scooping does need a little work. Presentation not withstanding, this sorbet was the runaway hit for our desserts without being too overbearing.


On a different note, cake class this week was how to make frosting flowers. Pictured above are a plain, simple swirl, a daffodil (my best was still not very realistic), a rose, a sunflower, and a hyacinth with leaves. My favorite were the hyacinth since they were the easiest to make, yet the most amazing to look at. The lesson learned for this class was you really need the right equipment (i.e. piping tips) to make just the right shapes for each of the flowers. The wrong size tip can make the difference of making a flower that looks like a nice representation of nature using frosting versus one that could be a flower placed on top of the cupcake. For those, like me, who care almost equally about flavor as about decoration, the cupcakes this week were from Shelly Kaldunski's book, Cupcakes. Half were gingerbread (with fresh ginger) and half were mocha, and all were topped with a vanilla-white chocolate buttercream. I thought they tasted good, and apparently my lab did too because they disappeared in less than 24 hours. Sweet.

Cooking, Baking, Restauranting...Pretty much just eating anything I can get my hands on - 6/29/09

What a week! I managed to do a lot of cooking and eating this week and I'm not sure where it all came from. Let's start with what I made first.


Lunch this week, as a continuation of my soup series, is chili con carne. The recipe was from Cooks' Illustrated. After browning chunks of beef, you cook some onions and bell pepper (or jalapeno). Then, you stir in some cumin, oregano and garlic, then water, beef, diced tomato, and minced chipotles in adobo sauce, simmering it for 1 hour covered, 30 minutes uncovered. At the very end, you whisk in some cornmeal into 1 cup of the chili, then whisk this mixture back into the soup, simmering it until it thickens up. I was very surprised by the consistency of this soup. Most chilis I've had contained beans, but this one omits them in favor of thickening the soup using the cornmeal. The chipotles in adobo are a very easy way to bring some heat and a nice smokey flavor without resorting to liquid smoke. The beef stayed tender and everything else seemed to melt together into the background flavor. This chili was both surprising and outstandingly delicious for something homemade.


Dinner this week is a chicken fricassee with some citrus flavors. Briefly, the chicken is seared, then some root veggies and citrus are cooked in the same pot. Tomato paste is added, then flour, then some chicken stock, orange and lemon juices, white wine, and honey. The chicken is added back in to finish cooking. On the side, you cook some potatoes and blanch some veggies (I chose yellow squash and Mediterranean zucchini). Oddly, you remove the original veggies and citrus, then thicken the sauce using an egg yolk and milk. All of this is combined again to yield the final produce. Everything tastes good, but the citrus disappears into the background. I think adding in some citrus zest in at some point could help make the flavors more bold. But this makes for a fine dinner. The citrus lightens the heavier chicken with its skin on. Plus, lemon and orange are the perfect flavors for the summer.


A great deal of the ingredients used in the foods above came from this week's CSA assortment: corn, blueberries, potatoes, onions, zucchini, squash, cucumber, tomato, and three kinds of melon.


For cake decorating this week, we learned more piping techniques, including some specific to birthday cakes. Since my lab did not have any birthdays this week, I went for an "I <3 Cake" cake. The cake was supposed to be flavored by rose water, but that flavor did not come out. Instead, the major players were the apricot jam filling and vanilla icing. Cake writing is a little difficult, by the way, if you don't have the right size tip for one, but also because you have one shot to do it right (sizing, spacing, shaping). And always, always, ALWAYS remember to spell everything correctly. Here are some examples of what can go wrong with cakes: Cake Wrecks.


The SO (significant other) did some cooking this week too that was quite astounding. It started with some pork that was combined with pureed pears and plums. To this was added some cream cheese, cilantro and hazelnuts, among other ingredients. Wrap it in a tortilla, stick it in a pan with cheese and more hazelnuts, and bake it in the oven. The flavors for this dish were definitely out of left field, but they all combined together for quite a sumptuous dinner. Add a side of fresh cucumbers and raspberries and a cup of dilled sweet potato soup, and you've got one killer dinner.


As for eating out this week, I remembered my camera for most of our meals. First up is Pepper's Pizza on Franklin Street in Chapel Hill. This was the second time I ate at this restaurant, and I've enjoyed it both times. The pizza pictured is one we made ourselves. They have some great ingredients and pre-formulated options, but we were in a creative mood. Half of the pizza was Italian sausage with fresh garlic (fantastically garlicky without being overbearing...but then again I don't know if you can have too much garlic), and the other half was a NC-style Hawaiian using pulled pork and pineapple (a great variation on true Hawaiian with ham and pineapple). Plus, they have great music while you eat. While we were there, they were playing Michael Jackson's album Thriller to honor his untimely passing. If you want some non-traditional options for pizza and you're in the area, give Peppers a shot.


While in Raleigh, we hit up the Flying Biscuit. This restaurant serves delicious, truly Southern food (breakfast all day to boot). I ordered my first chicken-fried steak and what an awesome dish it was! The crisp outside juxtaposed against a moist and delicious cubed steak, paired with a wonderful gravy made me want to wrap myself in the steak and never leave. The green beans were a good side, though a little oily. The homefries were seasoned with a house ("moondust," I believe) seasoning that made these tubers really pop. In the midground (between foreground and background), you can see their biscuits, served with strawberry jam. True to their name, these biscuits are light, airy, but totally indulgent with some good saltiness to them. Lastly, in the background, you can spy their sweet tea, which is one of the sweetest you can find without any sugar at the bottom. The South has risen again at this wonderful restaurant. Word to the wise: if there is a wait for a table, the bar seats in a first-come-first-serve fashion, so feel free to grab a stool and enjoy your food while others are still waiting outside.


In the Chapel Hill Timberlyne plaza is a rare find: an Ethiopian restaurant by the name of Queen of Sheba. If you've never had Ethiopian, try to find a restaurant and give it a shot. This one was very good with great service. To start off, we had an Ethiopian soda (flavored with spices and honey) as well as a sweet tea that was also given some depth by some warm spices. We had the vegetarian sampler, which had yellow lentils, a pea flour sauce, tomatoes, green lentils, and potatoes in a horseradish sauce, all atop and with a side of injera, the sourdough-ish spongy flat bread. Everything was fantastic. I love having lots of options when I eat, and this was the best way to get that. All of the flavors melded with each other but could still stand alone. They have many meat options too for compulsive carnivores. To finish, I had a cup of Ethiopian coffee, supposedly made with some butter, sugar, and more spices. The coffee was positively black with a rich and bold flavor that lacked that bitter aftertaste of many coffees. Overall, it was a marvelous experience that could not be beat.

Cake Decorating Win - 6/22/2009

Good news! I'm not totally inept at making cakes!


After last week's cake-wreck, I was glad to find out that I have some skills with the baked goods after all. They key is not taking shortcuts with the cake or frosting. The cake itself is vanilla-cherry with some cherries mixed in. The frosting is dark chocolate with almond extract. In between the layers, in addition to buttercream, is crumbled coconut macaroons. To top it off, I sprinkled on some toasted coconut. This cake was for the birthday of someone in my lab who likes coconut, and it was a big hit. My next goal is to make cakes with more intricate and involved decorations now that I have a handle on the more understated techniques.


I did do a good deal of cooking this week myself, but I will not claim these delightful hors d'oeuvrs as my own. These are the wonderful creation of my new beau. From what he told me, they are eggplant slices wrapped around tomato paste and fresh basil, then breaded and baked. Quite wonderful.


The main course to follow the above eggplant rolls was this baked salmon. It was seasoned with dried tea leaves (sadly I cannot remember which type of tea) and seafood seasoning. It was grilled in the foil packet that you can see above. It came out very moist and well flavored. Who would have thought tea could be so versatile?

I will mention some of the other food I made this week, even if I ate it so fast I forgot to take pictures: fresh local berries with balsamic syrup, roasted green beans with cashews, cantaloupe wrapped in prosciutto, garlic bread, and grilled corn with orange-hoisin butter. I also got a start on this week's cake, but I won't ruin the surprise.

Large Update - 6/11/2009

I have done a great deal of cooking in the last couple of weeks, so without wasting time, let's just start in with it.


I did some apartment-sitting for a classmate while she got to vacation in Tahiti with her husband. She was very thankful and presented me with this gift upon her return. For those that don't speak French, it is pineapple-vanilla jam. The pineapple provides the stable base for the jam and the vanilla gives it a delightfully heady plume of aromatic flavor. It is very delectable on toast and just something different from your run-of-the-mill strawberry jam or orange marmalade.


My community supported agriculture has been fairly similar over the past weeks. The main features are strawberries, blueberries (not pictured), and lots of squashes: zucchini, Mediterranean zucchini and yellow squash. I accumulated so much zucchini that I had to do this:


Paula Deen makes a mean zucchini bread. I had so much zucchini that I made two batches, which is supposed to make 2 loaves per batch, hence the high productivity. Instead of chocolate chips, I substituted one pint of blueberries in each batch. I also doubled up the spices (cinnamon and nutmeg) in the first batch and added some cardamom and ginger powder in the second batch. All in all, I made one large loaf, 4 mini-loaves, 4 large muffins and 6 regular muffins, all of which were delicious. On a random note, the blueberries turned the bread slightly blue-green instead of purple.


On the subject of Southern cooking, Southern Living had on the inside cover of their latest issue something I could not resist making. They may look like normal chocolate chip cookies, but trust me, they're huge. Each has half a cup of dough in it. Plus, the real surprise is in the center: the cookie contains a brownie. That's right, Southern Living managed to stuff a baked good inside of another baked good. These treats are a tremendous endeavor to eat, but well worth it, even if you feel like you have to take a nap or hit the gym right afterward.


Mom came into town for a visit and her birthday, so I/we did quite a bit of cooking and baking. For breakfast, I managed to find this wonderful gluten-free recipe care of Martha Stewart. You prepare one batch of polenta (with an hour of frequent stirring), adding in some milk, maple syrup, orange zest, cinnamon, and raisins. You then pour the polenta into baking dishes and let it set overnight. In the morning, you slice up the set polenta and pan-fry it until golden brown. Top it with maple syrup and some fresh North Carolina blueberries (or whatever state you happen to be in). For those who cannot eat toast, and even for those who want something out of the ordinary for breakfast, this is the perfect recipe. Just be warned that this is one of the more involved breakfast setups, but it can be well worth it.


Mom brought a recipe with her to make a chocolate pavlova, also care of Martha. Pavlova is pretty much like a giant meringue cookie. This one was in the shape of a bird nest, filled with a chocolate mousse, then topped with whipped cream and chocolate shavings. This dessert had it all: chewy, creamy, crunchy, chocolate. This is a great way to end a meal with a cup of coffee on the side.


For Mom's birthday, I made this interesting flourless chocolate beet cake. You shred some beets, cook them in agave nectar until tender, then stir in some cocoa powder and some other additives, bake it for twice as long as the directions say, et voila! a cake. We topped it with some whipped cream and served it. It looks like we tried to make a red velvet cake but only got halfway there. The cake itself is a deep red-brown with a dense, moist, chocolate flavor and a subtle hint of beets, but definitely in a good way.


Lastly, I've started a cake decorating class at Durham Technical Community College. Yesterday was our first chance to work on a cake. Above you can see the Funfetti cake I made for the class.


Two problems arose while decorating the cake. First, I did not want to make a full cake just for this class, so I used a box cake, meaning an overly moist work surface. Second, I did not own 6" cake pans, so I just cut down my cakes from 8", all without using a guide or measuring tool of any kind. End result: the whimsical cake.


I was slightly embarrassed by the cake at first, but I still wanted to bring it into my lab for everyone to eat. But my buttercream was not quite up to snuff. I probably needed another cup or so of confectioner's sugar in it (it already had 10 cups in it), so it slowly oozed down the sides of the cake. The end result: the top layer slipped off the bottom layer in a giant mess. So next week, I will stop cutting corners and shoot for the moon.