snowed in

I had plans to travel back to my parents house for the holidays today, but several inches of snow foiled those plans.

Instead, I was forced to stay inside, drink hot chocolate, listen to soma.fm's "x-mas in frisko" station, and bake gingerbread cookies all day.

They're not the prettiest cookies since I didn't have a piping bag to put on the frosting. However, they are very delicious, if I do say so myself. I've been on a fresh ginger kick lately and happened to have some in the refrigerator left over from some other cooking project-it really amped up the flavor in these cookies.

Gingerbread Cookies

2 1/4 cups unbleached all-purpose flour

1 tsp. baking soda

1 1/2 tsp. cinnamon

1/2 tsp. ground cloves

1/2 tsp. freshly grated nutmeg

1/2 tsp. salt

1 tsp. grated fresh ginger (I used a microplane)

1/4 cup molasses

1/2 cup brown sugar

2 tbsp. maple syrup

1/2 cup butter, softened

1 egg

about 1 tsp. vanilla

Whisk together the dry ingredients (flour, soda, spices, salt.) Cream the butter and sugar in a separate bowl. Add the rest of the wet ingredients and combine.

Add wet ingredients to dry and mix to combine. Cover and refrigerate for 1 hour.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. On a lightly floured surface, working with half the dough at a time, roll 1/8 inch thick. With floured cookie cutters, cut dough into shapes. Using a metal spatula, place cookies 1/2 inch apart on lightly greased cookie sheets. Bake 8-10 minutes or until very lightly browned.

Royal Icing

Recipe from Alton Brown

Note: I used only about 2 cups of sugar and 2 egg whites and still had a lot more than I needed to frost the cookies.

3 ounces pasteurized egg whites
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

4 cups confectioners' sugar

In large bowl of stand mixer combine the egg whites and vanilla and beat until frothy. Add confectioners' sugar gradually and mix on low speed until sugar is incorporated and mixture is shiny. Turn speed up to high and beat until mixture forms stiff, glossy peaks. This should take approximately 5 to 7 minutes. Add food coloring, if desired. For immediate use, transfer icing to pastry bag or heavy duty storage bag and pipe as desired. If using storage bag, clip corner. Store in airtight container in refrigerator for up to 3 days.

thanksgiving: shoo fly pie.

I'm posting this pie I made at thanksgiving because I just finished all of my work for the semester and had zero time to do anything since thanksgiving except for frantically design stuff, eat ramen, and get very little sleep. It was nice to take a break on Thanksgiving day, even though I didn't have enough time to go home and visit my family. I made this pie to bring to a Pittsburgh thanksgiving gathering with some friends, and it was a good night with good people.

I chose to represent my home area of Pennsylvania by bringing a traditional wet bottom shoo fly pie. These can be a little tricky to make and I ended up having to bake two pies from different recipes to get one that worked. It ended up being delicious even if it's not as beautiful as the ones I've seen back home. This pie has an intense, sweet molasses flavor with a nice crunchy crumb topping.

Shoo Fly Pie

1.2 tsp. baking soda

1/2 c. molasses

3/4 c. boiling water

9" unbaked pie shell

Dissolve baking soda in boiling water and combine with molasses and pour into pie shell.

Crumbs:

3/4 c. flour

1/2 c. brown sugar

2 Tbsp. shortening (or butter)

1/2 tsp. salt

Combine dry ingredients with shortening. Use hands to make into crumbs. Put over top of liquid. Bake pie at 400 degrees until crust starts to brown, reduce heat to 325 degrees and bake until firm, make sure to watch the pie and test it with a toothpick to see when it's firm.

sake marinated tofu in shitake broth

This semester has kept me incredibly busy at CMU, and (lucky me!) all that stress reacted badly on my immune system a week or two ago. I wanted a flavorful, gingery soup to take care of my sore throat and help me feel better, and this did the trick. Since I haven't seen my kitchen much this fall to do any real cooking, it was very nice to take the time to make a fiery soup on a cold fall afternoon.
I used instant bonito shavings for the dashi stock (I'm no expert in this field, but I read that this is what many Asian households use since it is very easy to prepare.) And it was easy to make with the individual packet of Bonito, all you need to do is boil it for a minute or two in water and then strain though a cheesecloth.

As for the shitake mushrooms, I'm normally not a fan of eating members of the Fungi kingdom, but I have to say these were pretty delicious. I got these at Whole Foods, they have a pretty nice selection of mushrooms.

I could see this soup being good with the addition of some soba-type noodles.

Sake-Marinated Tofu in Shitake Broth
Recipe from Gourmet Traveller.

250g medium-firm tofu
8 shitake mushrooms, sliced
1 small carrot, julienned
50g baby spinach

sake marinade:
2 tbsp soy sauce
1 tbsp sugar
1 tbsp mirin
1 tbsp sake
1/4 tsp fresh ginger, grated
1/2 garlic clove, minced

broth:
500ml dashi, vegetable stock or water
1/2 tsp toasted sesame oil
1 tbsp soy sauce
2 tsp rice vinegar
2 tsp mirin
1/2 garlic clove, minced
1/2 tsp grated ginger
1/2 tsp sugar
1/2 tsp salt
shichimi togarashi (japanese 7 spice powder), to serve (I didn't have this, I used a little hot sauce instead)

Pat the tofu with a kitchen towel to remove excess moisture, then cut into 1-cm thick slices. Combine the marinade ingredients in a small bowl and marinade the tofu pieces for at least 2 hours (or overnight).

Lift the tofu pieces from the marinade and place on a heatproof dish. Steam on a medium heat for 6-8 minutes, until heated through. Remove from heat and keep warm.

Place all the broth ingredients in a saucepan and bring to a boil. Add the shitake and carrots then lower the heat to a simmer and cook for 4 minutes. Add spinach and cook for a further minute, until the leaves have wilted. Taste and season.

Arrange the warm tofu in large flat bowls, then pour over the broth. Serve with a dash of togarashi for a little heat.

Cure for a bad day

Caramel-apple cupcake from Dozen and coffee.

molasses cookies

It's getting chilly out. I've had to pull out my sweaters and scarves and started thinking about apple cider and butternut squash soup. I also start thinking about spiced baked goods around this time of year. I made these cookies for our october student AIGA meeting.

They're a great, basic cookie, and remind me a lot of my nana's "molasses tongues" cookies (although not quite that good, I don't know how she does it.) These also come together really quickly and easily. Take a few minutes' break from classes/projects and bake some cookies! It will make you happier.





Note: I doubled this batch and used about a half-cup less butter than the recipe called for, and the cookies turned out fine. Also, I used half white sugar and half brown sugar.

Molasses Cookies
reprinted from Framed

• 3/4 cup melted butter
• 1 cup sugar
• 1/4 cup molasses
• 1 egg
• 2 cups flour
• 2 teaspoons baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon each of ground cloves, ginger and salt
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• Extra sugar for rolling

1. Combine butter, sugar, molasses and egg in large mixing bowl
2. Combine flour, baking soda and spices in medium bowl
3. Add flour mixture to butter mixture and stir until well combined
4. Put in refrigerator until dough has hardened.
5. Scoop out dough (I find an ice cream scoop works well for this) and roll into 1 inch balls
6. Roll balls in sugar and place on cookie sheet, well-spaced apart
7. Press down slightly on cookie dough with the bottom of a glass or jar
8. Bake for 8-10 minutes in a 375 degree oven. Cool on rack.

butternut squash and spinach risotto.

You'll have to excuse the gross picture above, I couldn't get an attractive shot of this risotto. You can check out the nice picture of beautiful roasted squash below to make up for it. Nonetheless, it was probably the best thing I've cooked/eaten in a while (ah, college..) and was definitely a welcome comfort food and got me thinking about autumn.



I think one of the few times that I am truly happy is when I'm sauteeing onions and garlic in olive oil with a glass of wine nearby. Oh, you say that most people's idea of relaxing doesn't involve standing over a hot stove? So weird.

I adapted the recipe from this recipe here. I'll reprint with the changes I made included.


Butternut squash risotto

3-4 cups vegetable broth (I used Rapunzel vegetable boullion and added smoked paprika)
1 small butternut squash
a couple handfuls of washed baby spinach
some olive oil
about a tablespoon of butter
1 medium onion, diced
1 small shallot, diced
salt and pepper
1 cup Arborio rice
1/4 cup dry white wine
a handful of finely grated parmesan cheese
nutmeg (freshly grated if possible)

Halve the squash lengthwise and cut into rings. Arrange on a cookie sheet and season with salt. Roast in a 450 degree oven until soft and golden brown, about 40-50 minutes. When it's cooled a bit, remove the skin and cut into small cubes.

Bring the broth to a simmer in a medium saucepan. Reduce the heat to low and keep the broth hot.

In a large frying pan (one with high sides would work nicely) saute onion and shallot until glassy. Add the rice and stir, allowing the rice to toast and become translucent. Throw in a splash of white wine.

Add a small amount of the cubed squash and stir until a puree forms, then add about a cup of stock. Stir continuously, and add more broth in small increments (about half a cup or so) as the rice absorbs the broth. You want most of the broth to be absorbed before you add more stock.

When you are down to the last few ladles full of broth, throw in a large handful of parmesan, the cubed squash (you want to have chunks in the finished risotto) and stir in more broth. Add spinach just before all the broth is absorbed. Season with salt and pepper, nutmeg, and remove from heat when the last of the broth is absorbed.

Serve with more freshly grated parmesan.

Pickled Beets

I've been interested in making pickles lately, and my current obsession is pickled beets. Beets always seem to be the "unpopular kid" of vegetables, always getting made fun of (I'm thinking of The Office here.) The truth is, beets are awesome. They're quite healthy, they have a natural sweetness, and come with the all the fun of pretending you're violently chopping up some sort of body parts with that bright red color (I don't know, handling cooked ones feels like I'm handling some sort of internal organs)

Pickled Beets

some beets (I used three really big ones)
1 cup white vinegar
1/2 cup sugar
about a tablespoon of caraway seeds

Boil washed beets in salted water until soft enough to stick a fork in them easily, about 30-45 minutes. Meanwhile, bring sugar and vinegar to a boil in a saucepan until sugar is dissolved. Add caraway seeds.
When finished cooking, dip the beets in an ice bath and then work off the skins with your hands, they should slip off easily. Put the beets in a canning jar and fill with enough vinegar mixture to cover the beets. Keep in fridge for about 24 hours before serving any.

Bonus: put peeled hard boiled eggs in the pickling liquid with the beets for red pickled eggs.

Grilled Chipotle Tomatoes

We need to have a word about these tomatoes.

These have to be the best thing I've ever eaten that came off of a grill. As a vegetarian, I can't get too excited about grilled meats, but I do get excited about smoky, spicy grilled vegetables.

I made these with my parents last week while visiting home. They may look a bit messy or gross from the picture above, but it's easy to forgive them.

Start off with however many tomatoes you'd want (we used plum tomatoes—they're meatier), sliced in half. Squeeze out the tomato gel and salt each open side. Stack cut side down on a plate to drain for 20 minutes or so.

In the meantime, mix an amount of creme fraiche (maybe about a half a cup?) with a diced chipotle pepper and some adobo sauce. You can pick up the canned chipotles and just freeze the rest in small portions for later use. Use your judgement, these can get really spicy.

Grill the tomatoes, cut side down, until they begin to turn black, then flip over and fill the cavity with some of the chipotle sauce. Keep on the grill until they look bubbly and soft.

I had these for dinner with my mom and dad last week, served on grilled slices of italian bread that's been drizzled with olive oil and scraped with garlic. You could put the tomato on the bread and mush it up since they're already very soft from the roasting. They don't taste at all like raw tomatoes (which is a good thing, in my opinion) and they are all you need for a light summer meal.

Recipe originally from Bobby Flay.

Rosemary Shortbread

I'm back from the west coast, and after a long red-eye flight I jumped right into baking and cooking during my week visiting home.

I had a rosemary shortbread cookie last week at a coffee shop in Berkeley (I think it was called 1 2 3 local? It was really nice.) My mom and I gave it a shot here using fresh rosemary from the garden.

It's amazing what the rosemary flavor and aroma does to complement shortbread. This would be great with a cup of black tea. It was also really easy to make.

Recipe originally from Gourmet Magazine.

Best Sandwich

So this is what this blog has become. Sandwiches. Anyway, this one was really good.

Toasted grainy bread, scrambled egg, cheddar cheese, chipotle salsa, avocado, and cilantro.

Updates

Best after work snack: Strawberry Guacamole.


Oh hey food blog, it's been a while. I'm sure the three people that read this occasionally wouldn't be too upset if I abandoned this page, but that's not the case. I've been busy with life for the past few weeks but I still want to maintain this page over the summer and update you on all the glorious food I'm experiencing.

So, if you do not know, I'm currently in the Bay Area in California, doing a summer internship. What this means: I'm around a ton of awesome food and produce, but nothing near a proper kitchen (my definition of a proper kitchen might be a bit insane, however). I'll continue to post whatever I manage to cook (if it looks interesting at all) and also maybe throw in some shots of great things I get out. Which is what I'm going to do now!
Strawberry Margarita. Ok, so no lime, so it was really more of an alcoholic slushie. Still, it was nice to sit down with this after a long afternoon of walking in San Francisco.
Great Indian take-out from some place in the Haight.

And a burrito! One of the foods I've really been looking forward to. This one was HUGE, and stuffed with lots of beans, rice, cheese, guacamole, and cilantro. I couldn't finish it— definitely bigger than Chipotle burritos!

Roasted Vegetables + Berry Strata

Wow, it's been a long time since I've posted on here. I've finished my junior year of college with a pretty taxing finals week; since I finished classes I've been decompressing and doing a lot of cooking. Eamae and I had a great dinner last night—salad with strawberries, feta, romaine, and a balsamic vinaigrette; roasted vegetables, and a berry "strata" for dessert.


The vegetables are easy, this is my favorite way to make vegetables recently. I soaked a chopped clove of garlic in olive oil while I cut up some carrots, parsnips, and brussels sprouts and tossed them in the oil with pepper and sea salt. I also did some small potatoes (I think they were called butter potatoes?) with just oil, salt and pepper. Then I threw them all on a cookie sheet in a 400 degree oven for maybe a half an hour, or until they got browned and soft.
The berry strata is a result of my addiction to food network, which I don't get at school so whenever I visit my parents I watch a lot of cooking shows. I saw the recipe for this on Giada's Everyday Italian. It's such an easy dessert and it's really delicious!



Berry Strata
adapted from Everyday Italian



2 tablespoons butter
3 tablespoons honey
4 large eggs
1/2 cup whole milk ricotta
3 tablespoons sugar
1 cup whole milk (I used 2% and it was fine)
Splash of vanilla
4 slices of bread, torn into 1-inch pieces (about 4 cups)
1 (10-ounce) bag frozen mixed berries, thawed and drained

Melt the butter in a small saucepan over low heat. Turn off the heat, add the honey, and stir to combine.

Meanwhile, in a large bowl combine the eggs, ricotta, and sugar. Using a fork, mix to combine and beat the eggs. Add the milk, vanilla, butter and honey mixture, and bread. Stir to combine. Gently fold in the berries.

Place the ingredients in a 10-inch round (2-quart) baking dish. Cover with plastic wrap and place in the refrigerator for at least 2 hours and up to 12 hours.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Bake the strata until golden on top and baked through, about 40 minutes. Let stand for 5 minutes before serving. Spoon into dishes and serve.

Banana-Chocolate Cupcakes

I don't eat bananas. For one thing, raw, they make me physically ill. And, (coincidence?) I've just never enjoyed the taste or texture.

For some reason the other day, I decided I wanted banana cupcakes. Blame it on some photo I saw on Tastespotting. I made this batch in anticipation of a great backyard party/barbeque last Friday.Banana cupcakes, recipe from Orangette, which can be found here.

As for the frosting, it had to be cream cheese based, because of course, that's the best kind. I was a little skeptical about chocolate cream cheese frosting, but it turned out amazing! And also really dark because of the extra dark cocoa I used.


Chocolate Cream Cheese Frosting

about 3 cups confectioner's sugar
8 oz block cream cheese, at room temperature
1/2 cup dark cocoa
2 tablespoons butter, room temperature


Beat together the cream cheese and butter. Beat in cocoa, then confectioner's sugar in 1 cup portions until icing is as thick as you want. I only used about 2.5 cups of sugar.

Makes more icing than you need. Which isn't really a bad thing.


Overall, I was surprised at how well the flavors balanced out. One element didn't overpower the other, and these turned out to be a nice cupcake version of a chocolate covered banana.

Calzones

I've been sitting on this post since spring break, two weeks ago. While I was home I made calzones with my mom and Eamae.

Homemade calzones are way better than anything you can get in a pizza shop. This recipe is from Cook's Illustrated. I don't have the recipe with me, but you can see the process here, taking place in a much nicer kitchen than what normally appears in this blog.



The filling had lots of garlic, fresh ricotta, and mozzerella.These photos are making me hungry.