Friday, March 16, 2012
Brown Butter Soda Bread
My unit at work had a little St. Patrick's Day party yesterday at lunch, and my assigned contribution was "bread." Naturally, to me, that meant I needed to make Irish soda bread. I've tried other variations before, and I really don't love the regular soda bread with the raisins in it so I've never even bothered making that kind, but I always end up coming back to my Brown Butter Soda Bread recipe that I first tried six years ago. I made two huge loaves of it, which went really well with the soups people brought in. I think sometimes people are nervous about making bread, but this is just a mix-and-bake bread. There's a little bit of kneading but not much, and there isn't any yeast. I love this bread. You still have time to try it before St. Patrick's Day!!
Tuesday, March 13, 2012
Greasy Sae's Spicy Vegetarian Chili
I finally found it. The perfect vegetarian chili. The kind you have to cook on the stove for hours until all the flavors blend seamlessly into one amazing, delicious bowl of spicy goodness.
Where did I find it? The Hunger Games Cookbook. Look: for a cookbook that was made to capitalize on a book/movie phenomenon, this has far surpassed expectations. I would venture to say that this is one of the best cookbooks I own. I have not made a single thing from it that wasn't delicious, and I can easily say that some of the things I've made were entirely epic and went into my "most favorites" folder almost immediately. GUESS WHERE THIS ONE IS GOING?! Love it.
If you are sensitive to spice, cut down on the chipotle significantly. You could omit the jalapenos as well. Other than that, I followed the instructions exactly. SO GOOD. Hoorah!!
I forgot to take a picture because I'd been waiting 2 1/2 hours for my food to be ready, so instead please enjoy this still from the movie, of Katniss buying food from Greasy Sae:
Greasy Sae's Spicy Vegetarian Chili
The Unofficial Hunger Games Cookbook, page 44
3 tablespoons olive oil
1 large yellow onion, sliced
1 clove garlic, diced
1 teaspoon cumin (more to taste)
2 cups vegetable broth
6 plum tomatoes, diced
2 jalapeno peppers with seeds, sliced
1 yellow pepper, sliced
1 red pepper, sliced
5 chipotle peppers (canned), sliced
1 8 ounce pack fresh white mushrooms
1 teaspoon chili powder
1 12 oz can tomato paste
1 10 ounce pack soy crumbles (found in freezer section)
1 15 oz. can kidney beans, drained
1 15 oz. can pinto beans, drained
1 15 oz. can black beans, drained
Kosher salt to taste
Ground black pepper, to taste
In a large pan, heat olive oil over medium-high heat. Cook sliced onion, diced garlic, and cumin in olive oil until lightly browned. Add vegetable broth, plum tomatoes, all the peppers, white mushrooms, chili powder, and tomato paste. Mix thoroughly, then cover and let simmer for 45 minutes.
Add soy crumbles to mixture and let simmer for 20 minutes. Add all the beans and let the whole thing cook over very low heat for at least 60 minutes. Add salt and pepper and extra cumin to taste.
Yield: 4-6 servings
Where did I find it? The Hunger Games Cookbook. Look: for a cookbook that was made to capitalize on a book/movie phenomenon, this has far surpassed expectations. I would venture to say that this is one of the best cookbooks I own. I have not made a single thing from it that wasn't delicious, and I can easily say that some of the things I've made were entirely epic and went into my "most favorites" folder almost immediately. GUESS WHERE THIS ONE IS GOING?! Love it.
If you are sensitive to spice, cut down on the chipotle significantly. You could omit the jalapenos as well. Other than that, I followed the instructions exactly. SO GOOD. Hoorah!!
I forgot to take a picture because I'd been waiting 2 1/2 hours for my food to be ready, so instead please enjoy this still from the movie, of Katniss buying food from Greasy Sae:
Greasy Sae's Spicy Vegetarian Chili
The Unofficial Hunger Games Cookbook, page 44
3 tablespoons olive oil
1 large yellow onion, sliced
1 clove garlic, diced
1 teaspoon cumin (more to taste)
2 cups vegetable broth
6 plum tomatoes, diced
2 jalapeno peppers with seeds, sliced
1 yellow pepper, sliced
1 red pepper, sliced
5 chipotle peppers (canned), sliced
1 8 ounce pack fresh white mushrooms
1 teaspoon chili powder
1 12 oz can tomato paste
1 10 ounce pack soy crumbles (found in freezer section)
1 15 oz. can kidney beans, drained
1 15 oz. can pinto beans, drained
1 15 oz. can black beans, drained
Kosher salt to taste
Ground black pepper, to taste
In a large pan, heat olive oil over medium-high heat. Cook sliced onion, diced garlic, and cumin in olive oil until lightly browned. Add vegetable broth, plum tomatoes, all the peppers, white mushrooms, chili powder, and tomato paste. Mix thoroughly, then cover and let simmer for 45 minutes.
Add soy crumbles to mixture and let simmer for 20 minutes. Add all the beans and let the whole thing cook over very low heat for at least 60 minutes. Add salt and pepper and extra cumin to taste.
Yield: 4-6 servings
Monday, March 12, 2012
Make-Agains
I bought lunch at work all last week, which is something I generally try to avoid, so I wanted to prevent it from happening this week. Therefore, I made a double-batch of Potato, Turnip, and Spinach Baeckeoffe, one of my favorite winter meals, and portioned it out for the whole week. Hoorah! I was also struck with the thought that it would be interesting to try putting sliced apples into it in the fall. I wonder if that would be good. I will try to remember.
Yesterday I had guests stop by for breakfast so I made Classic Waffles. Easy peasy, delicious, and versatile. I had regular pure maple syrup (no more Mrs Butterworth like I apparently used to use four years ago when I first made these!) and then I still had some hickory syrup from the wine festival last year. Yay for breakfast!
Yesterday I had guests stop by for breakfast so I made Classic Waffles. Easy peasy, delicious, and versatile. I had regular pure maple syrup (no more Mrs Butterworth like I apparently used to use four years ago when I first made these!) and then I still had some hickory syrup from the wine festival last year. Yay for breakfast!
Friday, March 09, 2012
Irish Car Bomb Cupcakes
Today was my friend's birthday, and something she likes is alcohol. Especially beer. And Bailey's Irish Cream. Naturally, that means Irish Car Bomb. What is an Irish Car Bomb, some of you might ask? It's when you take a shot glass of Bailey's and Jameson (whiskey), drop it into a glass of Guinness, and drink the entire thing as fast as you can before the Bailey's curdles. I know. Awesome, right?
So this is a car bomb in cupcake form. This is shocking, but I was out of Jameson, so I didn't make the ganache filling. Instead, I just made the cupcakes. And they were delicious. You can taste the beer, but not in a bad way. It pairs so beautifully with chocolate. The Bailey's frosting is delicious too, but it is strong and boozey! I only put it on half the cupcakes so that non-drinkers would be able to enjoy the cupcakes as well. Out of the 24 cupcakes I took to work, I came home with one. I'm pretty sure that means it is a successful recipe. Definitely keeping this one, and maybe next time I'll try it with the whiskey!
Chocolate Whiskey and Beer Cupcakes
Smitten Kitchen
For the Guinness Chocolate Cupcakes
1 cup stout (such as Guinness)
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter
3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder (preferably Dutch-process)
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 cups sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
3/4 teaspoon salt
2 large eggs
2/3 cup sour cream
Ganache Filling
8 ounces bittersweet chocolate
2/3 cup heavy cream
2 tablespoons butter, room temperature
1-2 teaspoons Irish Whiskey (optional)
Baileys Frosting
3-4 cups confectioners' sugar
1 stick (1/2 cup) unsalted butter, at room temperature
3/4 tablespoons Baileys (or milk, or heavy cream, or a combination thereof)
Special equipment: 1-inch round cookie cutter or an apple corer and a piping bag (though a plastic bag with the corner snipped off will also work)
1. Make the cupcakes: Preheat oven to 350°F. Line 24 cupcake cups with liners. Bring 1 cup stout and 1 cup butter to simmer in heavy large saucepan over medium heat. Add cocoa powder and whisk until mixture is smooth. Cool slightly.
2. Whisk flour, sugar, baking soda, and 3/4 teaspoon salt in large bowl to blend. Using electric mixer, beat eggs and sour cream in another large bowl to blend. Add stout-chocolate mixture to egg mixture and beat just to combine. Add flour mixture and beat briefly on slow speed. Using rubber spatula, fold batter until completely combined. Divide batter among cupcake liners, filling them 2/3 to 3/4 of the way. Bake cake until tester inserted into center comes out clean, rotating them once front to back if your oven bakes unevenly, about 17 minutes. Cool cupcakes on a rack completely.
3. Make the filling: Chop the chocolate and transfer it to a heatproof bowl. Heat the cream until simmering and pour it over the chocolate. Let it sit for one minute and then stir until smooth. (If this has not sufficiently melted the chocolate, you can return it to a double-boiler to gently melt what remains. 20 seconds in the microwave, watching carefully, will also work.) Add the butter and whiskey (if you’re using it) and stir until combined.
4. Fill the cupcakes: Let the ganache cool until thick but still soft enough to be piped (the fridge will speed this along but you must stir it every 10 minutes). Meanwhile, using your 1-inch round cookie cutter or an apple corer, cut the centers out of the cooled cupcakes. You want to go most of the way down the cupcake but not cut through the bottom — aim for 2/3 of the way. A slim spoon or grapefruit knife will help you get the center out. Those are your “tasters”. Put the ganache into a piping bag with a wide tip and fill the holes in each cupcake to the top.
5. Make the frosting: Whip the butter in the bowl of an electric mixer, or with a hand mixer, for several minutes. You want to get it very light and fluffy. Slowly add the powdered sugar, a few tablespoons at a time.
6. When the frosting looks thick enough to spread, drizzle in the Baileys (or milk) and whip it until combined. If this has made the frosting too thin (it shouldn’t, but just in case) beat in another spoonful or two of powdered sugar.
7. Ice and decorate the cupcakes. [I used a star tip and made little "poofs" everywhere and sprinkled it with various colors of sanding sugar to keep it looking festive for New Years. I bet shaved dark and white chocolates would look gorgeous as well.]
Do ahead: You can bake the cupcakes a week or two in advance and store them, well wrapped, in the freezer. You can also fill them before you freeze them. They also keep filled — or filled and frosted — in the fridge for a day. (Longer, they will start to get stale.)
Yield: 20-24 cupcakes
So this is a car bomb in cupcake form. This is shocking, but I was out of Jameson, so I didn't make the ganache filling. Instead, I just made the cupcakes. And they were delicious. You can taste the beer, but not in a bad way. It pairs so beautifully with chocolate. The Bailey's frosting is delicious too, but it is strong and boozey! I only put it on half the cupcakes so that non-drinkers would be able to enjoy the cupcakes as well. Out of the 24 cupcakes I took to work, I came home with one. I'm pretty sure that means it is a successful recipe. Definitely keeping this one, and maybe next time I'll try it with the whiskey!
Chocolate Whiskey and Beer Cupcakes
Smitten Kitchen
For the Guinness Chocolate Cupcakes
1 cup stout (such as Guinness)
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter
3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder (preferably Dutch-process)
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 cups sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
3/4 teaspoon salt
2 large eggs
2/3 cup sour cream
Ganache Filling
8 ounces bittersweet chocolate
2/3 cup heavy cream
2 tablespoons butter, room temperature
1-2 teaspoons Irish Whiskey (optional)
Baileys Frosting
3-4 cups confectioners' sugar
1 stick (1/2 cup) unsalted butter, at room temperature
3/4 tablespoons Baileys (or milk, or heavy cream, or a combination thereof)
Special equipment: 1-inch round cookie cutter or an apple corer and a piping bag (though a plastic bag with the corner snipped off will also work)
1. Make the cupcakes: Preheat oven to 350°F. Line 24 cupcake cups with liners. Bring 1 cup stout and 1 cup butter to simmer in heavy large saucepan over medium heat. Add cocoa powder and whisk until mixture is smooth. Cool slightly.
2. Whisk flour, sugar, baking soda, and 3/4 teaspoon salt in large bowl to blend. Using electric mixer, beat eggs and sour cream in another large bowl to blend. Add stout-chocolate mixture to egg mixture and beat just to combine. Add flour mixture and beat briefly on slow speed. Using rubber spatula, fold batter until completely combined. Divide batter among cupcake liners, filling them 2/3 to 3/4 of the way. Bake cake until tester inserted into center comes out clean, rotating them once front to back if your oven bakes unevenly, about 17 minutes. Cool cupcakes on a rack completely.
3. Make the filling: Chop the chocolate and transfer it to a heatproof bowl. Heat the cream until simmering and pour it over the chocolate. Let it sit for one minute and then stir until smooth. (If this has not sufficiently melted the chocolate, you can return it to a double-boiler to gently melt what remains. 20 seconds in the microwave, watching carefully, will also work.) Add the butter and whiskey (if you’re using it) and stir until combined.
4. Fill the cupcakes: Let the ganache cool until thick but still soft enough to be piped (the fridge will speed this along but you must stir it every 10 minutes). Meanwhile, using your 1-inch round cookie cutter or an apple corer, cut the centers out of the cooled cupcakes. You want to go most of the way down the cupcake but not cut through the bottom — aim for 2/3 of the way. A slim spoon or grapefruit knife will help you get the center out. Those are your “tasters”. Put the ganache into a piping bag with a wide tip and fill the holes in each cupcake to the top.
5. Make the frosting: Whip the butter in the bowl of an electric mixer, or with a hand mixer, for several minutes. You want to get it very light and fluffy. Slowly add the powdered sugar, a few tablespoons at a time.
6. When the frosting looks thick enough to spread, drizzle in the Baileys (or milk) and whip it until combined. If this has made the frosting too thin (it shouldn’t, but just in case) beat in another spoonful or two of powdered sugar.
7. Ice and decorate the cupcakes. [I used a star tip and made little "poofs" everywhere and sprinkled it with various colors of sanding sugar to keep it looking festive for New Years. I bet shaved dark and white chocolates would look gorgeous as well.]
Do ahead: You can bake the cupcakes a week or two in advance and store them, well wrapped, in the freezer. You can also fill them before you freeze them. They also keep filled — or filled and frosted — in the fridge for a day. (Longer, they will start to get stale.)
Yield: 20-24 cupcakes
Thursday, March 08, 2012
Some Make-Agains
Today I'm going to make something fun, but the past few nights have been super boring. Lots of Lucky Charms and frozen samosas (SAMosas, not MIMosas - unfortunately!). I did do a little bit of cooking though. I made some Rice & Bean Burritos, and I made the Single-Serve Coffee Cake. Oh my gosh, is that it? I could have sworn I made more than that. That's pathetic. I'm sorry.
Sunday, March 04, 2012
Rochester NY
I have been in Rochester, NY since Friday night after work, hence the lack of posts. I was visiting friends. I'd been to Rochester (in upstate New York, between Syracuse and Buffalo) once about six years ago but didn't get a chance to really see much around the city. So my friends made sure to take me out!
Friday night we hit up Dogtown to eat the meal that Rochester is most famous for: the garbage plate.
I understand that a "garbage plate" or "junkyard plate" does not sound appetizing. And really, it doesn't look much better. But OH MY GOSH, it is delicious. It's basically a huge meal piled on top of itself on a plate.
My friends ordered meals involving hamburgers or hot dogs, which is obviously the traditional version. I got one with veggie burgers and a veggie chili. And it was delicious! It was perfect after the four hour drive I'd just completed. Yum!
Saturday we went to the Public Market, Rochester's big farmer's market. I've been missing the farmer's market here in PA, so it was extra fun. I enjoyed seeing the differences between their market and mine, since it's obviously rooted in what's local or accessible. They're up closer to water so there was a lot of seafood available. Some of it was imported from Boston, but whatever. It was still neat. While we were there, we got some breakfast empanadas from Juan & Maria's Empanada Stop. So good!
Saturday night was the Big Fancy Dinner where we went out to Next Door Bar & Grill. Now, this is a fascinating fusion restaurant with lots of different combinations, but the extra exciting part is that it's owned by the people who own Wegmans, so there's collaboration between Wegmans and the restaurant. Wegmans, as you know, is my favorite grocery store. The restaurant was very pretty and very nice, and the food was outstanding. I had a great meal, and everyone else appeared to love their food as well. We started with sushi. There was a California roll, and...
...a salmon bacon roll. No, not salmon WITH bacon. Bacon MADE OF salmon. It wasn't the same, obviously, but it was deliciously smoky and made for an amazing sushi roll. For my main course I got halibut, which came with broccoli rabe, leek-morel puree, potato gnocchi, and a red wine reduction. Amazing! It was perfectly cooked and was one of the best preparations of fish I've had (and you KNOW how picky I am with fish).
Dessert was also fun. Jeremy & Lindsay both got creme brulee. The other Jeremy got sorbet, which was very good except he kept connecting the flavors with various breakfast cereals or snacks (like Trix or Fruit Roll-ups)! We had also had a few drinks at that point so really the sorbet just became a little bit hilarious on top of being tasty.
I ordered a pineapple-almond cake topped with chocolate-chipotle sauce and coconut ice cream. AMAZING. I was a little bit disappointed that the chipotle wasn't noticeable, but it was still amazingly good. All in all, an excellent meal.
And then I came home this morning, so thus concludes my super-quick food tour of Rochester. I'll be going back later on this summer so I'll make another post at that point. In fact, there will be a LOT of traveling and eating over the next few months, so be prepared!
Friday night we hit up Dogtown to eat the meal that Rochester is most famous for: the garbage plate.
I understand that a "garbage plate" or "junkyard plate" does not sound appetizing. And really, it doesn't look much better. But OH MY GOSH, it is delicious. It's basically a huge meal piled on top of itself on a plate.
My friends ordered meals involving hamburgers or hot dogs, which is obviously the traditional version. I got one with veggie burgers and a veggie chili. And it was delicious! It was perfect after the four hour drive I'd just completed. Yum!
Saturday we went to the Public Market, Rochester's big farmer's market. I've been missing the farmer's market here in PA, so it was extra fun. I enjoyed seeing the differences between their market and mine, since it's obviously rooted in what's local or accessible. They're up closer to water so there was a lot of seafood available. Some of it was imported from Boston, but whatever. It was still neat. While we were there, we got some breakfast empanadas from Juan & Maria's Empanada Stop. So good!
Saturday night was the Big Fancy Dinner where we went out to Next Door Bar & Grill. Now, this is a fascinating fusion restaurant with lots of different combinations, but the extra exciting part is that it's owned by the people who own Wegmans, so there's collaboration between Wegmans and the restaurant. Wegmans, as you know, is my favorite grocery store. The restaurant was very pretty and very nice, and the food was outstanding. I had a great meal, and everyone else appeared to love their food as well. We started with sushi. There was a California roll, and...
...a salmon bacon roll. No, not salmon WITH bacon. Bacon MADE OF salmon. It wasn't the same, obviously, but it was deliciously smoky and made for an amazing sushi roll. For my main course I got halibut, which came with broccoli rabe, leek-morel puree, potato gnocchi, and a red wine reduction. Amazing! It was perfectly cooked and was one of the best preparations of fish I've had (and you KNOW how picky I am with fish).
Dessert was also fun. Jeremy & Lindsay both got creme brulee. The other Jeremy got sorbet, which was very good except he kept connecting the flavors with various breakfast cereals or snacks (like Trix or Fruit Roll-ups)! We had also had a few drinks at that point so really the sorbet just became a little bit hilarious on top of being tasty.
I ordered a pineapple-almond cake topped with chocolate-chipotle sauce and coconut ice cream. AMAZING. I was a little bit disappointed that the chipotle wasn't noticeable, but it was still amazingly good. All in all, an excellent meal.
And then I came home this morning, so thus concludes my super-quick food tour of Rochester. I'll be going back later on this summer so I'll make another post at that point. In fact, there will be a LOT of traveling and eating over the next few months, so be prepared!
Wednesday, February 29, 2012
Single-Serve Coffee Cake
One of my new favorite places to find recipes is on Pinterest. If you're not on there, that's probably okay, but there are a lot of great recipes posted. Lucky for you, I'll end up trying them and posting them here so you'll get them regardless.
Last night, I HAD to try this recipe I found on Pinterest: A Cup of Coffee Cake in Under Five Minutes. It was amazing. I was telling people about it all day long. My guess is I probably will make it a zillion more times just because it's SO EASY and SO GOOD. Summary: mix stuff up in a coffee mug, microwave. Done. Cake.
Single-Serve Coffee Cake
Summarized from Prudentbaby.com
1. Put a tablespoon of butter in a coffee mug or cup. Microwave 10 seconds until soft but not melted.
2. Stir in 2 tablespoons sugar, for about 30 seconds, until fluffy and creamy. Add in 1/2 an egg (more or less, as you choose) and stir it up. Add 2 tablespoons sour cream (yogurt is an acceptable substitute) and a drop or two of vanilla. Finally, stir in 1/4 cup flour and 1/8 teaspoon baking powder.
3. Make the crumb topping by mixing 1 tablespoon butter, 2 tablespoons flour, 1 tablespoon of brown sugar, and 1 teaspoon of cinnamon in a bowl with your fingers until crumbly. Sprinkle crumb topping on cake in mug.
4. Microwave for 1 minute, then for ten-second increments thereafter until the cake is done to your liking. I did mine for 1 minute 30 seconds and it was perfect. Let cool, then eat.
Servings: 1
Last night, I HAD to try this recipe I found on Pinterest: A Cup of Coffee Cake in Under Five Minutes. It was amazing. I was telling people about it all day long. My guess is I probably will make it a zillion more times just because it's SO EASY and SO GOOD. Summary: mix stuff up in a coffee mug, microwave. Done. Cake.
Single-Serve Coffee Cake
Summarized from Prudentbaby.com
1. Put a tablespoon of butter in a coffee mug or cup. Microwave 10 seconds until soft but not melted.
2. Stir in 2 tablespoons sugar, for about 30 seconds, until fluffy and creamy. Add in 1/2 an egg (more or less, as you choose) and stir it up. Add 2 tablespoons sour cream (yogurt is an acceptable substitute) and a drop or two of vanilla. Finally, stir in 1/4 cup flour and 1/8 teaspoon baking powder.
3. Make the crumb topping by mixing 1 tablespoon butter, 2 tablespoons flour, 1 tablespoon of brown sugar, and 1 teaspoon of cinnamon in a bowl with your fingers until crumbly. Sprinkle crumb topping on cake in mug.
4. Microwave for 1 minute, then for ten-second increments thereafter until the cake is done to your liking. I did mine for 1 minute 30 seconds and it was perfect. Let cool, then eat.
Servings: 1
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