What's for Dinner?

Despite two years of culinary classes, I am still quite pathetic when it comes to menu planning.  I've noticed that far too often in the past few months, dinner around here ends up being a "fend for yourself" affair.  That's not setting well with me.  The daughter of my friend, Terry, posted an observation on her blog, llama-et-burro, awhile back that really struck me:  "Feed myself like I like myself. If I had a friend over for lunch and fed them a piece of cheese, some chocolate, a banana, and a glass of milk, I wouldn't be a very good friend."  A very astute observation, indeed.  Thank you, Alanna.

In the past, the hubs has done the majority of the cooking.  But now that he's in the midst of working toward tenure and promotion, he really doesn't have time.  He has a lot of other things on his plate, so to speak, and with a stay-at-home wife (again, who went to school for culinary arts!), he shouldn't have to.  (This should not in any way, shape or form be mistaken for a subservient 50's mindset.  Those who know me, certainly know better!)

Given the fact that I've accumulated literally thousands of recipes over the years, menu planning shouldn't be that difficult.  I am making it more difficult than it needs to be.  I think it has to do with the fear of rejection.  Cooking is very personal to me; it's a way of expressing to people that I care about them.  To make something that isn't well received can be very disheartening.  While I get very excited about trying new recipes, I also get a bit anxious as well.

But it's time.  So I'm now in the process of selecting recipes I want to try and making up my grocery list.  A few of the ingredients I'll need are a bit on the pricey side, but not many and I don't feel badly about spending money on meals prepared at home.  So far I have four recipes selected:  another tagine (using beef instead of lamb) with couscous; General Tso's chicken with lo mein noodles; Spanish pork chops with chorizo and green beans; and pasta shells stuffed with spinach, pancetta and cheese.  Not much, but it's a start.

I'd be lying if I said I was making one of these tonight.  I've got the grocery list started, but I won't set foot in any store at the first of the month without the hubs along as my bouncer.  Left over pizza it will be!

Dinner with Friends

Last night we had our friends, Terry and Wayne, over for dinner.  This was waaaay past due and I was thrilled to finally be able to reciprocate (at least in part) their hospitality over the years.  (While I had planned to include pretty pictures of preparing and serving dinner, there are only photos of leftovers due to falling behind schedule.)  There was some necessary house cleaning to be done, but I wasn't worried about getting the white glove treatment and dim lighting can hide a lot of dust.  I did as much dinner prep work as possible on Friday so yesterday wouldn't be quite so hectic.

As previously mentioned, I still got a little behind schedule.  Yesterday was my dad's birthday and being a daddy's girl, it was an absolute MUST that I call him on his birthday.  We talked for over an hour.  I think that's some sort of record for my dad to be on the phone without being on hold.  Huge dent in my agenda for the day.  Normally, I'm the sort of person who will get a little tightly wound when things aren't going according to plan.  And in another situation, I'm sure I would have. 

But that's what's so great about friends.  You already know they don't judge you; they've already accepted you as you are.  So when Terry and Wayne arrived to a smoky kitchen, dinner still in progress and three of our four dogs barking insanely, I wasn't freaking out about it.  The hubs took Wayne on the ten-cent tour and being the fabulous woman she is, Terry asked what she could do to help.  In many instances I would reply with a cavalier, "oh I've got it."  I didn't.  I put her to work.  Our dinner guest had to work for her dinner.  How's that for hospitality?

Dinner eventually got done; the dogs eventually stopped barking; and we had a wonderful evening of friendship, food and wine.  The good things in life, yes?

The Menu:



I need to figure out the brine for the peppadews so
I can grow them and pickle them myself.

For starters I had mixed olives and peppadew peppers stuffed with goat cheese.

Our main course was Moroccan chicken (it's really chicken tagine, except I don't actually have a tagine so I changed the name) with basmati rice seasoned with saffron, lemon zest and parsley.



Moroccan chicken minus the chicken.  Only the legs were left,
which I saved for the hubs. 

 

  

And dessert was almond and walnut baklava.



Left over baklava, aka, breakfast.













The Recipes: 

Moroccan Chicken

This recipe is adapted from the Professional Chef textbook.  I’ve made a few changes due to difficult to find (locally anyway) ingredients.  I’ve not found preserved lemons either, but they’re easy and inexpensive to make.  Note they need to be made about a week ahead of time.

3 lb chicken pieces (use the parts you like)

Kosher salt

Pepper

1 Tbs ground cumin

2 Tbs olive oil

1 cup pearl onions

½ inch piece fresh ginger root, peeled and thinly sliced

2 garlic cloves, thinly sliced

Pinch saffron

½ cup low-sodium chicken stock

½ cup pitted green olives

6 – 8 wedges preserved lemon, rinsed (see recipe that follows)

1 Tbs chopped flat leaf parsley

Season the chicken pieces on all sides liberally with salt and pepper.  Sprinkle with cumin.

Heat the oil in a large sauté pan (with a lid) over medium-high heat.  Carefully place the chicken in the pan and sauté until brown, turning only once.  Remove the chicken to a platter and set aside.

Add the onions and cook, stirring occasionally, until golden brown, 7 to 8 minutes.  Add the ginger and garlic and cook about a minute, then add the saffron and cook another minute.  Add the chicken stock to the pan.  Scrape any brown bits off the bottom and stir in.  Return the chicken to the pan, along with any juices on the platter.  Reduce heat to medium-low.  Cover the pan and simmer for 25 minutes, turning the chicken at least once.  Add the olives and lemons and simmer an additional 15 minutes until the olives are tender and the lemons fragrant.  Sprinkle with parsley before serving.

The preserved lemons can be removed for serving if desired.  I like them so I leave them in.

Preserved Lemons:

10 lemons

1/3 cup kosher salt

Juice six of the lemons and place the juice in a quart container (preferably glass) with a tight-fitting lid.  Add the salt and stir to combine. Scrub the remaining four lemons and slice each into six wedges.  Remove the seeds.  Add the lemons to the juice and salt.  Place a piece of plastic wrap over the top if your container has a metal lid.  Cover tightly, shake to combine and refrigerate.  Shake the container gently every other day to help dissolve the salt.  Allow the lemons to cure for at least a week.  Rinse the wedges under cold water before using.  These will last several months in the refrigerator.

Basmati Rice for Moroccan Chicken

1-1/2 cups water

3/4 cup chicken stock

1-1/2 cups basmati rice

Pinch saffron

1/2 tsp finely grated lemon zest

1 Tbs coarsely chopped flat leaf parsley

Bring the water and chicken stock to a boil over medium-high heat.  Add the rice and saffron.  Return to a boil, then reduce heat to medium low, cover and simmer for 15 minutes.  Add the lemon zest and parsley and fluff the rice with a fork.  Serve immediately.

Makes approximately six servings.

Baklava

I don’t remember where I found the original recipe for baklava, but this has been altered nearly beyond recognition of the original.

3-1/2 cups sugar, divided

2-1/2 cups water

2 Tbs honey

1 Tbs fresh lemon juice

1 strip lemon zest

1 large cinnamon stick

3 whole cloves

1 cardamom pod (green or black), optional

2 tsp ground cinnamon

1/2 tsp ground cloves

1/4 tsp ground cardamom

1/2 lb walnuts, finely chopped

1/2 lb almonds, finely chopped

1 lb unsalted butter

1 – 1-1/2 lb phyllo dough*

1/2 cup plain bread crumbs (or as needed)

*Check the package for the size of the phyllo sheets to make sure they will fit on the pan you’re using.  I include this note from experience.

In a large sauce pan, combine three cups of the sugar, the water, honey, lemon juice and zest, cinnamon stick, whole cloves and cardamom pod (if using).  Bring to a boil, then reduce the heat and simmer for 15 minutes.  Strain and set aside to cool.

In a small bowl, mix the remaining half cup of sugar, ground cinnamon, ground cloves and ground cardamom.  Combine the walnuts and almonds in a large bowl.  Melt the butter in a small sauce pan.  Skim the foam from the melted butter and add to the nuts.  Toss so that all of the nuts are coated with the butter foam.  Add the sugar and spice mixture to the nuts and stir to combine.

Preheat the oven to 300°F.

Unroll the phyllo dough on a flat surface and keep it covered with plastic wrap and a slightly damp towel.  Using a pastry brush, brush a rimmed half-sheet pan with melted butter.  Place a phyllo sheet in the center of the pan.  (Make sure to re-cover the phyllo after removing individual sheets.  Dried phyllo is not pleasant to work with.)  Gently and lightly brush the phyllo sheet with melted butter.  Lightly sprinkle with bread crumbs.  Repeat, using a total of eight phyllo sheets.  Sprinkle the top phyllo sheet with approximately half of a cup of the nut mixture, spreading it to all sides.  Layer three more phyllo sheets in the same manner as the first eight, and then top with more nut mixture.  Repeat until all of the nut mixture is used.  Layer eight more sheets of phyllo on top, brushing each with butter and sprinkling bread crumbs on all but the top layer.

Using a long, thin sharp knife, cut the baklava into small squares or diamonds.  To cut into diamonds, first make six evenly spaced lengthwise cuts.  Make sure to cut all the way through.  Next, cut diagonally across the lengthwise cuts to form the diamonds.  Start in one corner and cut until you reach the opposite corner.  (I totally didn’t get this the first few times I read it.  I was hoping my crude diagram would help, but for some reason my horizontal lines disappeared.)

Heat the remaining butter until it just starts to bubble and drizzle it over the top of the pastry.  Bake for 75 minutes or until evenly golden and flaky.  Remove the pan to a rack and spoon the cooled syrup over the entire pastry (you may not need all of it).  Cool in the pan.  Serve warm or at room temperature.  Send leftovers home with your friends so you don't eat all of it.

Going to the Dogs



"The Girls" (Inca and Maya) on "their" loveseat.

Anyone who knows us, knows that our pets are spoiled.  The dogs have their own furniture.  (The birds have their own room.)  It's a frequent occurrence that I must move a dog in order to be able to get into bed; and before we moved to our new house, I would often find myself sitting on the floor as all other seating was occuppied by a dog.  In our house, dog biscuits are not treats or rewards; they are entitlements.  I blame the hubs for this.  One look from puppy eyes and he can't say no.  We can go through your average box of dog biscuits in a day. 


Fortunately, I was already out of bed.



Given that our pets are so spoiled, that fact that I baked dog biscuits (two kinds) today probably won't raise eyebrows among friends.  But I didn't make them to further spoil our already rotten dogs.  Nor did I make them because I know homemade dog biscuits are so much more wholesome and healthier for them than those we buy.  I made them because we are out of dog biscuits and I didn't want to go to WalMart.



"The Big Guys" Cochise and Misty
(although Misty, right, is a girl)
were my kitchen helpers today.




Mind you, I don't get excited about going to WalMart any day.  But on a chilly, rainy day such as today, it's going to take something a lot more enticing than WalMart to get me out of the house.  A lot more.  So the truth of the matter is that I really made the dog biscuits for myself.  Do you think the dogs will think I'm selfish?



Yes, I do have cookie cutters in the shape of dog bones.
The dogs don't seem to mind my more "rustic" treats.



















Rainy Day Dog Biscuits
I can't really say how many this makes, because it depends on how big or small they are cut.

2-1/2 cups whole wheat or all purpose flour
1/2 cup instant dry milk
1/2 tsp garlic powder
1/4 cup bacon fat or butter, melted (use 2 Tbs less if using all purpose flour)
1 large egg, beaten
1/2 cup (or as needed) chicken or beef stock or broth, chilled

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.  Line a rimmed baking sheet with parchment paper or foil. 

Add the flour, dry milk and garlic powder to the bowl of a food processor and pulse to combine.  With the machine running, drizzle in the bacon fat or butter, followed by the beaten egg.  Slowly drizzle in the stock until a dough forms. 

Turn the dough out onto the prepared baking sheet.  Cover with another piece of parchment or wax paper and roll out to an even thickness.  Use a pizza cutter to cut the dough into small rectangles or squares.

Bake for 25 - 30 minutes.  Remove from the oven, break the biscuits apart and turn them over.  Return them to the oven and turn the oven off.  Leave them in the oven until cool.  Store at room temperature.

Ugly Good

Anyone who has ever watched The Food Network has heard at least 20 times, "you eat with your eyes first."  There is truth to that.  Several years ago the hubs and I went to dinner at the home of one of his fellow grad students.  I'd not met James' wife before that evening.  When we sat down at the table I looked at what was in the bowl in front of me and said a silent prayer that I would be able to eat it without making faces that would upset Stacy.  "It" turned out to be a hearty and delicious sausage and lentil soup.  So delicious that I asked Stacy for the recipe and have made it several times since.

The concept of "ugly good" was in my head while making dinner last night.  I had taken some steak out of the freezer yesterday morning with absolutely no idea what I was going to do with it at the time.  Later in the afternoon it occurred to me that this was the perfect opportunity to try a risotto recipe that's been lurking around in my head for a couple of years.  If I had everything I needed.

Being a fan of all things carbohydrate, I love risotto.  I've made it in several different manners and have yet to encounter one I don't like.  At some point I had run across a recipe from Williams-Sonoma for Risotto with Red Wine and Beef that I had saved.  That was my starting point.

The WS recipe called for beef sirloin.  I had our inexpensive flat steaks from WalMart.  It called for yellow onion.  I had red.  It called for cardoon.  (Truly I have little idea what that is besides a vegetable as I've never seen cardoon in Carbondale.)  I had carrots.  It called for Chianti or some other full-bodied, dry red wine even suggesting the pricey Barolo.  I had Chambourcin from Owl Creek (courtesy of Norm and Alicia).  It didn't call for cheese.  In my opinion, risotto must have cheese.  I had Grana Padano.

This is what I ended up with:

 

Version 1:  Risotto without cheese

 



Version 2:  Risotto with cheese.
The winner.

The hubs liked it enough to declare he would eat it again although we both agreed on a couple of things:  1) the beef needed to be browned more, which I corrected in my version of the recipe; 2) the addition of some cremini mushrooms would probably be nice.  And while the Chambourcin from Owl Creek worked out very well (also for drinking), it is more medium bodied so I would be interested in trying this again with a full-bodied red.  Overall, ugly, but good.  Even as left-overs for lunch today.



Red Wine Risotto with Beef 

4 to 5 cups low-sodium chicken stock

2 Tbs extra-virgin olive oil

1/2 pound boneless beef sirloin (or cut of your choice), cut into 1-inch cubes

1/4 cup chopped red onion

3/4 cup sliced carrots

3 Tbs unsalted butter, divided

1 cup Arborio or Carnaroli rice

1/2 cup dry red wine at room temperature

Salt and freshly ground pepper

Freshly grated cheese, such as Parmigiano Reggiano or Grana Padano

In a 2 quart saucepan over medium heat, bring the stock to a gentle simmer and maintain over low heat.  Heat the oil in a large, heavy sauté pan over medium heat.  Add the beef and cook until browned on all sides, 5 to 7 minutes.  Add the onion and carrots and sauté another 5 to 7 minutes or until softened.  Transfer the beef mixture to a bowl and set aside.  Melt 2 tablespoons of the butter in the same pan.  Add the rice and stir until each grain is well coated and translucent with a white dot in the center, 3 to 4 minutes.  Add the wine, scraping any brown bits from the bottom of the pan, and stir until it is completely absorbed.

Add the simmering stock a ladleful at a time, stirring frequently after each addition.  Wait until the stock is almost completely absorbed (but the rice is never dry on top) before adding the next ladleful.  Reserve 1/4 cup stock to add at the end.

When the rice is tender to the bite but slightly firm in the center and looks creamy, after about 20 minutes, stir in the beef mixture.  Cook, stirring occasionally, to heat through, 1 to 2 minutes. Remove from the heat and stir in the remaining butter and reserved 1/4 cup stock.  Season to taste with salt and pepper.  Serve with freshly grated cheese.

Serves 4 nicely.

Adapted from "The Williams-Sonoma Cookbook" (Free Press, 2008)

Coconut. Caramel. Cupcakes.

They didn't turn out exactly as I had imagined, but in no way, shape or form is that a complaint.  I think this may be the best cupcake I've made.



Hiding the treasure inside.



I was slightly disappointed that the caramel sank to
the bottom, but I got over it quickly.

  

All dressed up and no place to go.




Yes, those are my teeth marks. 
I guess it had someplace to go after all.



















The Recipes:

Caramel Coconut Cupcakes

Makes approximately 18 cupcakes

1-1/2 cups all purpose flour

½ tsp baking powder

¼ tsp baking soda

¼ tsp salt

1-1/2 cups shredded unsweetened coconut

¼ cup plus 3 Tbs coconut milk

1 Tbs white vinegar

1-1/2 tsp vanilla extract

½ cup unsalted butter, room temperature

1 cup packed brown sugar

3 large eggs, beaten, room temperature

20 soft caramels

Preheat oven to 350°F for at least 20 minutes.  Line cupcake tins with paper or foil liners.

Combine flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt and coconut in a large bowl.  Whisk to combine and set aside.   In a measuring cup, combine the coconut milk, vinegar and vanilla extract and set aside.

In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream the butter and brown sugar on medium-high speed for 3 minutes.  Stop and scrape the bowl and paddle.  Cream an additional 2 – 3 minutes.  Stop and scrape the bowl and paddle again.  On medium speed, slowly drizzle in the beat egg, no more than 2 tablespoons at a time and mixing each in completely before adding more.  Stop and scrape the bowl and paddle halfway through and after all the egg is incorporated.

On low speed, add half of the flour mixture, followed by the coconut milk mixture, and then the remaining flour.  Mix just until combined.  Use a spatula to fold in any remaining flour, making sure to get down to the bottom of the bowl. 

Using an ice cream scoop, portion batter into prepared pan.  Push a caramel into each cupcake and swirl the batter over the top.  Eat any remaining caramels.  Bake the cupcakes for 18 – 20 minutes, or until lightly browned on top.  Immediately and carefully remove the cupcakes from the pan to a wire rack.  Cool completely.  Ice with white chocolate caramel buttercream.

White Chocolate Buttercream

Makes about 6 cups

¾ cup milk

1-1/2 cups granulated sugar

2 Tbs all purpose flour

1 tsp vanilla

6 Tbs heavy whipping cream

5 sticks unsalted butter, cubed, room temperature

3-1/2 oz white chocolate, melted and cooled

Heat the milk and sugar over medium-low heat until the sugar is dissolved, about 15 – 20 minutes, stirring occasionally.  Remove from heat and whisk in flour.  Pour into the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment and mix on medium speed until cooled to room temperature.  Reduce speed to low and add the vanilla, cream and butter.  Mix to combine and then gradually begin increasing the speed to medium-high.  Go slowly so you don’t end up wearing it.  Beat on medium-high for 7 to 10 minutes.  Reduce speed to medium and slowly drizzle in the melted white chocolate.  Mix just until combined. 

If not using immediately, refrigerate for up to a week or freeze for up to two months.  Allow to come to room temperature and re-beat before using.

White Chocolate Caramel Buttercream

3 cups white chocolate buttercream

½ cup caramel sauce

In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the white chocolate buttercream on medium-high speed until smooth and creamy.  Reduce speed to medium and slowly drizzle in the caramel sauce.

Caramel Let Down or Caramel Melt Down?

When I make caramels these days, I use lessons learned from previous attempts.  One of which is always scrape the sides of the pot into a bowl separate from the pan of poured caramels.  This makes it much easier to clean the pot and gives me a small amount of caramel to try.  From what I had in the bowl, I thought the goat milk caramels with orange were lacking orange, but had good set.  So when I grabbed the ends of the parchment to lift the caramel slab out of the pan, I was totally surprised at how soft it was. 

There are several possibilities of what may have occurred.  First and foremost is always my impatience.  Did I get tired of waiting and pour them too soon?  I didn't think so.  Second, there's the issue of the homemade sweetened condensed goat milk.  I used this on the coffee caramels I made and they had a soft set as well.  Third, it's possible that my thermometer is a bit inaccurate.  I noticed a small air bubble in the red stuff and wasn't really sure how/where to read it.

Now what do I do with this batch of soft goat milk caramels?  Caramel sauce is always an option, but I already have enough to keep me going for awhile.  A couple of other possibilities come to mind.  I think hiding a disc of caramel in some coconut cupcake batter could make for a pleasant surprise.  I'm also thinking of chilling some of them enough to hold their shape and dipping them in some dark chocolate.  Some tempered dark chocolate. 


Discs of goat milk caramels waiting for their fate. 
Can you see the flecks of orange zest? 
Too bad it's just for show.


Yes, I am going to attempt tempering chocolate.  I was reading up on it last night in a book on chocolate and confections from the Culinary Institute.  We talked about tempering extensively in Pastry class.  I've done this in class.  I should be able to handle it.  Should. 

A while back I bought a block of Callebaut bittersweet chocolate.  It got a little too warm at one time, so it will be out of temper before I begin.  Which is not a big deal given the tempering method I'm going to use.  Once I get it to the proper temperature (about 122 degrees), I'll seed it with some Ghirardelli dark chocolate that is in temper and stir it around until I get it to drop to about 90 degrees.  The problem is going to be keeping the chocolate at the appropriate temperature given the fact I'll be dipping cold caramel into it.  Maybe I should just pour the chocolate over the caramel.  Or maybe I should get some jumbo pecans and make tortoises.  Maybe I should get away from the computer and get busy. 

Update:  I didn't attempt chocolate tempering today.  I wasn't sure if it was one of those things annoyed by rainy days or not and didn't want to waste perfectly good chocolate.  I did make coconut caramel cupcakes.  And they're so awesome that I will need to get rid of them quickly so I don't eat them all.  Recipe and pics tomorrow.