Decadent (?) Chocolate Puffy Things

Thanks to Emily and Mom for pointing this recipe out. They both made basically the same thing at the same time without having communicated about it. We were inspired, and we wound up with something about half-way in between their versions. I'm not thrilled with the name, but it's better than the recipe we got it from. Maybe appropriate because we've been eating 2-5 cookies per day since we made them. Anyway, I'm just recording it here to note the minor changes we made so we can do it again the same way next time.

Ingredients

• 1/2 stick (4tbsp) butter
• 4.5 oz bittersweet chocolate chips
• 1.5 oz unsweetened chocolate
• 1/4 c unbleached AP flour
• 1/4 tsp baking powder
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 2 eggs
• 5/8 c sugar (1/2c + 2tbsp)
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 2 c (12 oz) bittersweet chocolate chips

Basically you make this like any other cookies:

Preheat oven to 350. Whip the eggs in a stand-mixer, add the sugar and beat. In a separate pan (or to be honest, probably in the microwave) mix the butter, 4.5oz chips, and 1.5oz unsweetened chocolate and melt, stirring often. We used a double-boiler - probably better than straight on the heat source. When that's melted and cooled, add to the egg/sugar mixture. Add the salt and vanilla. Then add the flour and baking powder. When that's smooth, add the 2 c chocolate chips. Pop the whole thing in the freezer for 20 minutes to stiffen. Then, using a 2" ice cream scoop, spoon the batter onto parchment-lined cookie sheets. Bake for 17-20 minutes, rotating half-way through. Take them out as soon as they're JUST getting done so they don't over-cook. Makes about 2 dozen.

Thoughts: I'm glad we halved this recipe. At the same time, this is awesome. These cookies are pretty amazing. Far and away the best chocolate-chocolate-chip cookies I've ever made. They have the advantage of being not too dry and incredibly powerfully chocolate-y. These are a winner. I think the ONE tough part about the recipe is taking the cookies out early enough. We could possibly have gone 16:00 or 16:30 instead of 17:00 (what we did) and it would have been perfect. But we're at a high altitude, so thinks dry out more quickly.

Disaster Index: 1/10

Artichoke Lamb Stew

This takes a little prep, but I think it's worth it. This was a bit unusual as dishes go, but I think the result was awesome.

Ingredients

• 3 large artichokes (prep instructions below)
• 1 lb ground lamb
• 1 onion, chopped
• 1 carrot, chopped (rounds)
• about 1/2 lb cannellini beans (or similar), soaked
• 1.5 tbsp flour
• 2tbsp lemon juice
• oil / fat of your choice (we used leftover bacon fat, but olive oil would work fine)
• rosemary, thyme, basil (we kind of eye-balled it - maybe 1 tsp / .5 tsp / 1 tsp, respectively)

Okay, the artichokes. Pull off the outer layer of roughed-up leaves. Wash the artichokes. Cut off the top inch or so of the artichoke to expose the leaves. As you do all of this, every time you remove a leaf or anything, rub the cut / damaged area with lemon juice. With a paring knife, peel the outer portion of the stem (but leave it attached. Or, if it came detached at some point, just peel it) and, again, coat in lemon juice.

Pop the artichokes in a steamer for 25-45 minutes, until the outer leaves come off pretty easily. Remove and let cool. Then begin removing the leaves. You can eat the ends of the leaves as you go or just save them for later. We saved all the leaves for an up-coming stock we're going to make. Anyway, when you get all the bigger leaves off (the top 5 layers or so) you can usually pull out all the center layers in one go. Then you're left with the heart (and the choke). Scrape out the choke using a spoon. Now chop the heart and the stems into 8 pieces (or so, I don't know - bite sized). ARTICHOKES DONE. If you didn't understand a step, go google it or something.

In a heavy-bottomed soup pot, add the lamb and some oil/fat. Break up the lamb a LITTLE, but not into tiny bits - it's nice to have larger pieces of lamb kicking around. Brown the lamb pretty well. Then add the onion and carrot. Cook until the onion is getting soft. Then add the flour and continue to cook for another minute. Finally, add everything else. Fill with water JUST to cover. Bring to a boil (scraping up the bottom of the pot as you go), then reduce to a simmer. Cover and let simmer for about an hour. Season to taste with salt and additional lemon juice.

Thoughts: The game-y-ness of the lamb was wonderfully balanced by the acidity of the lemon. It was a really nice, hearty winter soup. The artichokes had great flavor the FIRST day, but after sitting in the fridge the flavor diffused a bit so it wasn't as distinct the second day. Since the hearts were already cooked, next time I might not boil them for an hour with everything else, but instead pop them in with about 5 minutes left in the cooking process. If I had stew meat available (rather than ground) I think that would be better, but this was still really good.

Disaster Index: 1/10

Korean Seafood Pancakes

I think these are also called Pajeon or Haemul Pajeon. We totally violated the basic premise of this recipe, but it was good, so I'm blogging it. In the future, we'll do it right.

Ingredients

• 1.75c white AP flour
• .5c rice flour
• 2 eggs
• generous pinches of salt
• water to make a pancake batter
• 1 onion, sliced
• 1 daikon radish, grated
• 2c shrimp, chopped

Make the pancake batter. Add the fillings. Put about 1/2 the batter at a time on a non-stick (or highly greased) griddle. Wait for the top to start to look dry, and the bottom to be nicely browned before you attempt to flip this, or you'll have pancake bits everywhere. Cook about 5-8 min on both sides. Serve with a sauce made of 4:1:1:.5:.25 ratios of soy sauce : black or rice wine vinegar : oyster sauce : sugar : chili flakes.

Thoughts: We thought that this turned out a LITTLE on the chewy side, actually - possibly a result of the rice flour? Possibly the daikon. It can get like that. Next time, we're going to replace the onion with scallions (we didn't have any on hand, but that's what you are supposed to use) and up the seafood amount. Claire also wants to put kimchi in it. I cannot disagree completely.

Disaster Index: 1/10

Green Bean Casserole

Did you think I was done blogging?

Ingredients

• 1 generous lb of green beans, cut to 1" sticks (ends trimmed off)
• 1 onion, sliced
• 8oz cremini mushrooms, sliced
• garlic
• 1 tsp thyme
• splash of wine (vermouth in our case) for deglazing
• 2tbsp butter
• 2tbsp flour
• 1c milk
• somewhere between 1/2c and 1c blue cheese, crumbled
• panko bread crumbs

Preheat oven to 400. In a big (preferably oven safe) saute pan, cook the onion until it's beginning to caramelize - 10 minutes or so - with some olive oil. Then add the mushrooms and cook a couple more minutes until those begin to soften. Then add garlic and thyme and deglaze with the wine. Then add the green beans and simmer until they're still crisp but JUST starting to get tender - about 5 minutes. This is called "tender-crisp" I think so as to be as pretentious and confusing as possible. I hate that phrase.

In a separate pan, melt the butter, add the flour and cook. Add the milk and bring to a simmer, at which time it will thicken. Then add the blue cheese and stir until melted. Pour this over the green beans you just cooked in the other pan and stir to coat. Top the whole thing with panko bread crumbs. Now pop the whole thing in the oven for 10 minutes. The top is supposed to brown in this time, but ours didn't for whatever reason so I turned on the broiler and let it go another minute(ish). Done!

Thoughts: We were looking for a good alternative to green bean casserole that didn't include french's onions or campbell's cream of mushroom soup, and I think this was a good one! I would definitely do this again. On the other hand, I think just about anything will taste good if you pour blue cheese mornay sauce on it.

Disaster Index: 1/10

Persimmon Pudding

We had three Hachiya persimmons that we got for cheap, but it was Thanksgiving and we couldn't really find time or space to eat these things before they got too over-ripe. So when they started spontaneously splitting open, we made something out of them. The recipe was called "Persimmon Pudding" but it would have been accurate to call it "Crustless Persimmon Pie" (to give an idea of the texture). It's really good, but I would actually put this in a pie crust in the future.

Ingredients

• 1c VERY ripe Hachiya persimmon pulp
• 1c sugar
• 1c flour
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1c milk
• 3 eggs
• 4oz butter, melted
• 1/2 tsp nutmeg
• 1/2 tsp cinnamon

Whisk everything together. Pour into a greased 9x9 baking dish. Bake at 325 for like 45 minutes, until it's mostly set but still has a little jiggle.

Thoughts: This is really delicious. In the past when we've made things with persimmons, the flavor is kind of muted for some reason - like baking it removes the flavor. This didn't have that problem - it still tastes like persimmon. As I said, though, it has all the texture of a pie - it might be better in a pie crust next time. Also, it didn't quite set in the middle for a long time - I suspect that covering with tin foil for the first 30 minutes of baking would help.

Disaster Index: 2/10

Oyster Stuffing

I'm getting tired of blogging these, but this is important.

Ingredients

• Cubed loaf of french bread, left out for a couple days so it's really stale.
• 6 slices of bacon
• 6 shallots, chopped fine
• 4 ribs of celery, chopped
• 1 lb of oysters, shucked (liquor reserved)
• 1c chicken stock
• 1/4c port
• 2 tbsp chopped fresh thyme
• 2 tbsp chopped fresh sage
• 1/2 tsp tobasco
• 1/4 tsp nutmeg
• salt and pepper

In a dutch oven, cook the bacon until crisp. Remove from the pan and chop into little bits. Add the shallots and celery to the pan and stir, adding the bacon when that's ready. When the veg are cooked through (about 10 minutes), add the oyster liquor, stock, port, thyme, sage, tobasco, and nutmeg. Bring to a boil, then add the oysters and bread cubes. Take off the heat and cover the pot. Leave for 10 minutes. Preheat oven to 400.

After the 10 minutes are up, put the stuffing in the oven covered for 20 minutes, then remove the lid and cook another 20 minutes. Serve!

Thoughts: We shortened the cook time because of the altitude, so this could go up to 30 minutes then another 30. This was our first time making oyster stuffing, but it was AWESOME. Would make again.

Disaster Index: 1/10

Pumpkin Pie

Took a lot longer to bake than I thought.

Ingredients

• 1 small pie pumpkin, halved, seeds scooped out
• 2 eggs
• 3/4c brown sugar
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/4 tsp ginger
• 1/4 tsp nutmeg
• 1c 2% (or higher) milk

For each cut half of the pumpkin, place it cut side down in a pie dish and add about an inch of water. Microwave on high for 15 minutes. When it's cooled, peel the skin off and mash.

Mix 1.75c of the pumpkin with all the rest of the ingredients. Throw in a pie shell. Bake at 425 for about an hour, until a knife inserted into the center comes out mostly (?) clean. The pie will jiggle but only a LITTLE bit.

Thoughts: This was easy. But it didn't completely set, either. I think that now that it's cooled it may be better. Probably best to serve after it has cooled. Now we have so much spare pumpkin, too.

Disaster Index: 2/10 - it wasn't the flavor, it was the texture. I would look at some other variations in the future.

Turkey Confit

I consulted about four recipes for this. New York Times, Salon, Serious Eats, and Mastering the Art (in which I actually looked up Confit de Oie).

The basic ingredients are: Turkey, fat. You can use olive oil or any animal fats you want (traditional is duck fat, but who can afford it?) Then there are some herbs and garlic. The recipe below is what we did, but variation from the recipe is acceptable.

Although traditional is duck fat, you can really substitute any kind of fat or oil. Julia herself recommended lard or vegetable shortening if you can't get duck fat. We used some high quality olive oil to fill out the fat content, with some salt pork for extra flavor.

This recipe is absurdly simple. Really low pressure for Thanksgiving, though it might be tough if you had much more than about 5 lbs of turkey. We might have been able to do it in our dutch oven? I don't know. You quickly run out of space.

Ingredients

• 5.5 lbs turkey (2 thighs and 2 legs)
• 2tsp of salt per pound of turkey
• an onion, chopped finely
• 2tbsp sage, chopped fine
• 2tbsp fresh thyme, chopped fine
• About a quart of oil
• 2 lbs of salt pork
• A clove of garlic, top lopped off
• A couple sprigs of thyme and sage (whole)

A day ahead of time, combine the onion, sage, thyme, and salt. Cover the turkey in the salt mixture, then set in the fridge for at least 8 hours or overnight.

When you're ready, wash off the turkey and pat dry. Pack it tightly in a pot along with salt pork, garlic, and herbs. Then pour in the olive oil (or whatever fat), just enough to cover the turkey.

Preheat the oven to 300 degrees. Set the pot over a burner on medium-high heat until you get some bubbles coming up from the oil - the oil will be at about 200 at the bottom of the pot, though I found that the oil doesn't circulate well. Then throw the pot, covered, in the oven and leave it for 3 hours.

After 3 hours, it's done. If you want (and if the turkey will stay together), you can sear the turkey to crisp the skin before you serve it, but it's not required. Just set the turkey in a bowl to let some of the oil to drain out, then serve on a separate plate.

Thoughts: Super easy. The salt pork was unexpectedly salty (duh, I guess), but the turkey was just really well seasoned. The flavor was great. I would do this again in the future, though I don't know that the animal fat was strictly necessary. Just a nice addition. I would also try this with other birds. Goose? You're next.

Disaster Index: 1/10

Maple Bacon Marshmallows

Ingredients

• 1/2c candied bacon bits (just coat bacon in brown sugar and bake in the oven on a wire rack at 350 for 25-30 min, cool, then chop.)
• 2/3c sugar
• 1/2c maple syrup
• 1/4c corn syrup
• 1/4c water
• 1/4tsp salt
• 4.5tsp gelatin
• another 1/2c cold water
• 1/8tsp cinnamon
• powdered sugar

In a microwave safe bowl, add the 1/2c cold water and the gelatin. Let that sit at least 5 minutes. While that happens, in a saucepan, add the sugar, maple syrup, corn syrup, 1/4c water, and salt. Bring to a boil and cook until it reaches 240 degrees. When it's close, microwave the gelatin/water mixture for 30 seconds. Pour into a stand mixer bowl and set to low. When the sugar mixture is cooked, pour it into the stand mixer. Turn the speed up to medium-low and beat for 5 minutes. Then turn up to medium-high and go another 3 minutes. Then add the cinnamon and turn to high for 1 more minute. Then pour in the bacon bits and let mix thoroughly. Pour the whole thing into a 9x9 baking dish that you've covered in parchment and PAM. Smooth the top as best you can (it's sticky and very lightweight) and dust the top with powdered sugar. Let sit for 6 hours (or overnight), remove from pan and cut into about 36 pieces (halves then thirds in each direction). Don't worry, just crush through them with your biggest knife and they'll spring back. Toss the marshmallows in powdered sugar. Done!

Thoughts: Claire felt the bacon was a little off-putting? I think these would make AWESOME smores. No argument from Claire on that. We made these KIND OF thinking of matching them with the sweet potatoes for thanksgiving. So that will probably happen. Anyway, our first foray into making marshmallows (and cooking with gelatin) and it was incredibly easy. Homemade marshmallows are much more... airy and springy than the store-bought type. I guess that make sense. But maybe I will investigate recipes that use a little less gelatin? I'm not sure.

Not quite sure how to store marshmallows. My current vote is "cheek pouches."

Disaster Index: 1/10

Shepherd's Pie

This is really easy if you have an oven-safe saute pan.

Ingredients

• 1 carrot, peeled and chopped
• 2 stalks celery, chopped
• 1 onion, chopped
• 1 lb ground lamb (or whatever)
• 1 tsp fresh or dried rosemary
• 1 tbsp tomato paste
• 1c chicken stock
• 1c peas
• 2 lbs russet potatoes, peeled and cut into large chunks of roughly the same size
• 1/2c or so milk
• 2 tbsp butter

Set the potatoes boiling in a pot. In a separate saute pan, add the carrot, celery, onion, and meat. Cook over medium heat until the vegetables are tender and the meat browned. Then add the herbs, tomato paste, and stock. Bring to a simmer and cook until thickened, about 10 minutes. Remove from heat and add the peas. Toward the end of the cooking, preheat the oven to 375. When the potatoes are done, drain the water and add the milk and butter and mash. Salt to taste. Spread the mashed potatoes over the meat and vegetables in the saute pan and spread to create a layer of mashed potatoes. Use the tines of a fork to texture the surface (optional, as far as I can tell). Throw the whole thing in the oven for 30-35 minutes, until lightly golden or you can't stand it anymore (what happened for us). Serve.

Thoughts: This was really easy, if a little time consuming. I think the lamb was really good. If I weren't using lamb, I would go with a mixture of pork and beef, probably. I can't think of much I would change about this, although I might consider upping the rosemary or adding some thyme or something.

Disaster Index: 1/10

Parsnip and Leek Soup with Crab

Seems like it's been too long since we posted something here. This was too interesting to pass up, though.

Ingredients

• scant 1 lb of parsnips, peeled and chopped into rough 1-2" pieces
• 2 small leeks or, I don't know, one large one? Chopped and rinsed thoroughly to remove the sand. (We like to float the cut leeks in a bowl of water, and the sand sinks to the bottom)
• about 1 or 1.5tsp dried thyme
• splash of white wine (or vermouth)
• olive oil
• 3c chicken stock
• 1/4c whipping cream
• lump crab meat (we got a 6oz package of "blue star" crab meat, and it wasn't too expensive - like $6).
• Juice of 1/2 a lemon
• 2tbsp butter

So toss the parsnips in some olive oil and put in a glass baking dish. Cover with foil and pop in the oven at 350 for 20 minutes. Remove from the oven and add the leeks, thyme, and wine and stir to coat. Cover back up with the foil and put back in the oven for another 30 minutes.

When that's done, put everything in a soup pot with 3c of chicken stock. Bring to a boil, then reduce to simmer for 10 minutes. When the veg are soft, blend until relatively smooth (we used an immersion blender, which worked great, but you can use a stand blender if you want a really silky texture). Return to the pot (if you took it out?) and add the whipping cream. Adjust salt and the texture - if you use low-sodium broth, I can see you needing some more salt. And if you weren't generous with the stock or if you had a few more parsnips than I did, you MAY need a little more water.

In a microwave safe bowl, melt the butter with the lemon juice. When it's melted, add the crab to the bowl and stir. Probably won't actually cook the crab, but I don't think you really need to, either (our crab meat was pasteurized and, therefore, ready to eat). Anyway, serve the soup in a bowl (or shooter, or whatever) and top with a little bit of crab.... or a lot of crab.

Thoughts: Pretty great. The flavors complemented each other really nicely. I would say my only gripe is that I felt like there is a better way to do this. Roasting the parsnips should bring out the natural sweetness, but when you leave them covered, it kind of defeats the purpose. And why roast the leeks? Maybe next time, we throw the parsnips in the oven (covered for 15, uncovered for 25?) and while they're roasting, we could saute the leeks with the thyme and olive oil in the stock pot. That makes more sense to me. EVEN SO, this was really good. Also quite easy.

Disaster Index: 1/10

Cream of Mushroom Soup

Straightforward cream of mushroom soup has deep flavor and none of that paste-y consistency that comes when you add thickeners.

Ingredients

• 3tbsp butter (ish)
• 1/2 a red onion, chopped
• 1 tsp minced garlic
• 1/4 tsp nutmeg
• 20oz cremini mushrooms, sliced
• 1.5c water
• 2c chicken stock (you could probably substitute for veg)
• 1/2oz dried mushrooms - we used oyster mushrooms, though porcinis would be good.
• 1/6c dry sherry (we actually used Marsala, which worked very well.)
• 1/2c heavy cream
• Juice of 1/2 a lemon
• salt to taste

Melt the butter in a soup pot. Add the onion and cook until translucent, then add the garlic and nutmeg. Cook for another 30 seconds (until fragrant) and add the creminis. Cook over medium-high heat, stirring occasionally, for about 5 minutes, then set heat to low and cover. Let them cook 15-20 minutes, stirring (again) occasionally. Add the stock, water, and dried mushrooms and bring to a simmer. Simmer for 20 minutes (probably don't have to stir at all). Then, working in batches (or however you want to do it), blend the soup in a blender. You might be able to get away with an immersion blender here, but I'm not sure. Anyway, return to the pot and add the sherry, cream, and lemon juice. Season with salt to taste.

Thoughts: This was actually kind of time-consuming, but only because it was the first time we made it, I think, and we wanted to watch it all the time. Otherwise, the flavor was fantastic. I think we did something really smart here. Only complaint I think could be legitimately raised is that there isn't a lot of textural variety. I'm not sure what I would want to fix that. Probably some crusty bread would do the trick, or something equivalent. Not sure. Anyway, definitely make this soup.

Disaster Index: 1/10

Cinnamon Rolls

It's shameful that I have not blogged this yet, since I've been making variations on it for years. We made these again today, and Claire remembered not liking the recipe. I told her she was creating false memories, and what she didn't like was our variations (particularly when we tried to add raisins). Turns out: I was right. Still an awesome recipe. It's basically from this recipe, though we have our own version of frosting and some minor edits.

Ingredients

• Rolls
• 4.5c all purpose unbleached flour
• 1/2c granulated sugar
• 2.25tsp yeast
• 4tbsp butter (half a stick), melted
• 1c milk, warmed in the microwave
• 1tsp salt (we didn't add this the last go-round, and it wasn't as good as it could be. Next time I think we'll do this, though).
• Filling
• 4tbsp butter (the other half of that stick), melted
• 3/4c (packed) brown sugar
• 2tbsp cinnamon
• Frosting
• 4tbsp butter
• 4oz cream cheese
• 1.33c powdered sugar
• 1 tsp vanilla extract

Make the rolls. Basically, combine all the ingredients and knead into a dough. Turn out onto a floured counter and knead until smooth. Return to the (now liberally greased) bowl and cover to rise for two hours. THE FULL two hours. Don't skimp.

Now make the filling. Melt the butter. Mix in the other things. DONE.

After two hours have elapsed, take the dough out of the bowl and put on the counter. DON'T PUNCH IT DOWN. Just roll the dough out into a huge rectangle, like 18" wide and maybe 14" deep? As big as you can manage, keeping the dough about 1cm thick. Spread the filling across the whole dough using a spatula. Or your hands, or whatever. Now starting at the wide end, roll the dough up. Cut into 12 pieces (cut into fourths, then each fourth into thirds). Stand these up in a 9x13 casserole pan.

Now preheat the oven to 400 and cover the cinnamon rolls (loosely) to rise for another 30 minutes. When they've risen and the oven has preheated, bake for 15-20 minutes. We did exactly 15 this last time, and they were a LITTLE doughy, but who's complaining? Next time, 18-20, though.

While those go, you can make the frosting. Bring the butter and cream cheese to room temperature. Using an electric mixer of some kind, cream together the butter and cream cheese, then add the powdered sugar by 1/3 cups until you've got it all mixed. Then add the vanilla.

We recommend not frosting the cinnamon rolls until you're ready to eat them. Although this recipe has a lot of steps, it's actually not harder than making a loaf of bread. Once you do it the first time, it'll be easy from then on.

Thoughts: Just what I needed: diabetes.

Disaster Index: 1/10

B'Stilla

We went off the beaten path for this one, I guess. B'stilla is a chicken almond filo (or phyllo) pie from Morocco. Some recipes incorporate apricots. When I saw the recipe, I was reminded of a dish they serve at Medcaf in Madison, WI, that they call "chicken apricot pie". I think theirs is the same IDEA, but maybe different execution. Nevertheless, this was really delicious. We have some tweaks for next time, though.

This recipe makes TWO small pie-sized dishes.

Ingredients

• Ras El Hanout
• 1/2 tsp aniseed
• 1 tsp fennel
• 8 allspice berries (or, I guess, like 1/2 tsp)
• seeds from 8 cardamom pods
• 8 whole cloves
• 15 black peppercorns
• 1/2 tsp cinnamon
• 1 tbsp sesame seeds
• 1 tsp coriander
• 1/2 tsp cumin
• pinch of red pepper flakes
• 1 tsp dried ground ginger
• 1 tsp nutmeg
• Almond Sugar (seriously)
• 1/2c almonds
• 3 tbsp sugar
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• Apricot Compote
• 8oz dried apricots
• water
• juice of 1/2 lemon
• Filling
• Filo dough
• 2 smallish onions, chopped
• 2 cloves garlic, chopped
• 3/4 tsp grated ginger (fresh)
• 1/2 tsp black pepper (or to taste)
• 2 tsp Ras El Hanout
• 2c chicken stock
• 1.5-2 lbs chicken thighs
• 1c bulgur (Could maybe use rice in place of it? Or maybe even oatmeal?)
• olive oil
• salt

So first grind together that huge list of spices to make the Ras El Hanout. You'll be left with quite a lot. If you can figure out how to get the right mixture but with less extra left over, by all means. But it's REALLY interesting, so I'm sure we'll use it in other stuff. It might be good in a bechamel.

Now, do the compote. This takes forever, so you can do it ahead of time. Chop the apricots finely and throw them in a sauce pan with water to cover (generously) and the lemon juice. Bring to a boil, then reduce to a simmer until they're really soft and you basically have jam. It takes like 30-45 minutes. You will probably have to add water part way through a couple times.

NEXT, throw the onions and garlic in a stock pot with some olive oil. Cook until onions are translucent, then add the ginger, pepper, ras el hanout, stock, and chicken thighs. Bring to a boil, stirring, and then reduce to a simmer and cover until the chicken is very tender. Remove the chicken and shred using two forks (or whatever you want, I guess), then return to the pot with the bulgur. (Now would be a good time to set the Filo out to thaw!) Bring BACK to a boil, then reduce to a simmer and cover. Cook for about 10 minutes, stirring occasionally, then turn off and leave covered for another 10 minutes or so. Use your judgement on this one.

While that's sitting, preheat the oven to 425. Grind the almonds with the sugar and cinnamon. Take about three sheets of filo and lay them across a pie tin. Brush the bottom with olive oil, then sprinkle with 1/4 of the almond mixture. On top of it, add 1/2 the chicken mixture. Then another 1/4 the almond mixture. Top with 1/2 the apricot compote, then fold the filo over to form a top crust. Or just use more sheets of filo. Brush those with olive oil (generously). Repeat the process with a SECOND pie tin. You could probably actually do this whole thing in a 9x13 casserole pan and do a couple layers of filo, etc. ANYWAY, bake the suckers for 20 minutes, until the filo is browned. Enjoy! IT TOOK LONG ENOUGH.

Thoughts: This was really delicious, but incredibly time consuming. Or I'm just grumpy because I'm cutting back on my caffeine this week. But next time we thought maybe more layers of filo and stuff. Claire thought a little more salt in the chicken. What else? Parsley. Probably a lot of that could go in here. Claire thought maybe incorporate pieces of dried apricot when you do the chicken, rather than doing apricot jam like we did. I think that is probably wise.

Disaster Index: 1/10 - despite our minor complaints, this really killed it. We accidentally AN ENTIRE PIE IN ONE SITTING. So.

Ginger Beer (syrup)

I told you that story so I could tell you this one.

Ingredients

• about 1/2c of ginger, minced. Don't bother peeling it.
• 1 small lime, sliced thin
• 1/2c brown sugar*
• water to cover, plus a little

For ginger, I used about $1 worth of fresh ginger. I don't know how to measure this. It must have been about a 6" long piece with two branches? I don't know. The more ginger the better for this.

Toss the ginger and lime into a saucepan with the water. Bring to a boil, then reduce to a simmer for 20 minutes. Pour through a cheesecloth, then (here's the important part) squeeze out the ginger and lime that's in the cheesecloth. There is a LOT of liquid in there.

Add 1/2c brown sugar for each cup of liquid. Or, if you're like me, add 1/2c at a time until it tastes about right. Mix with soda water in a ratio of 1:3.

Thoughts: This is slightly different from brewing ginger beer, but much faster and much easier. I discovered that the secret to a good syrup for mixing with carbonated water is to filter out as much of the particulate matter as you can from the syrup so the bubbles don't all come out of solution at once. Anyway, I think this recipe worked pretty well. Ginger beer can never be ginger-y enough to be satisfying to me, so I wonder how I could improve that. Maybe if you cook ginger less, it's more punchy? To test this theory, next time I will use less water. I will grate the ginger FINELY, then cook for 2 minutes and (again) wring the ginger dry afterward. We'll see what that does? HOWEVER, this WAS fairly potent. One good option would be to use less sugar and then just use more ginger syrup to water.

Disaster Index: 1/10, good show.

Cola

Or, "Dan gets bored of studying insurance accounting."

Ingredients

• 2c water
• 1 tbsp dried lemon zest
• 2 tbsp dried clementine zest
• 1 fairly dry vanilla bean pod, snapped into five pieces
• 1/4 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1/4 tsp grated nutmeg
• 1 star anise pod thing
• 1/2 tsp lavender flowers
• 2 tsp minced ginger
• 1 cardamom pod
• 1/4 tsp fenugreek
• 1/4 tsp citric acid
• 1tsp instant coffee
• about 1/2c sugar

Add all the aromatics to the water. Bring to a boil, then simmer for about 20 minutes. Strain through a cheesecloth, then a coffee filter. Then add the citric acid, coffee, and sugar. Stir until the sugar is dissolved, then refrigerate. Mix in a ratio of 1:4 with soda water. Drink while watching Portlandia. Cry about what a hipster you've become. Cry your ironic hipster tears.

Thoughts: This is VERY CLOSE. We're not quite there yet - in the future, we may switch to dark brown sugar instead of granulated. Maybe a splash of dark rum would do the trick? Another idea I had was to throw a half teaspoon of Russian Caravan or Lapsang Souchong tea in with the water. This reminds me very much of "china cola" that we used to get at woodman's. Do they still sell that stuff? Apparently.

Disaster Index: 1/10

Quiche

Well that was easy. Note - makes TWO quiches. So. Think about that.

Ingredients

• Custard
• 2 pie shells
• 5 eggs
• 3 egg yolks
• 2/3c skim milk
• 1/3c butter (about 5tbsp), melted
• 1tsp salt
• 1/4tsp black pepper
• 1/4tsp nutmeg
• 1/2tsp rosemary
• about 1c summer sausage (or ham), cubed
• Other fillings
• 1/2 a red onion, chopped
• 1/2 a red bell pepper, chopped
• 4-8oz mushrooms, sliced
• 3 cloves garlic
• about 1 bag of fresh spinach
• about 1c shredded dill havarti
• olive oil, as necessary

It looks complicated but it's not. Take the pie shells out of the freezer and set aside to thaw. Preheat the oven to 350. Mix all the custard ingredients together. Now, saute the vegetables, then wilt the spinach in some olive oil. Place all that in the bottom of the pie tins. Sprinkle the cheese evenly over the tins, then pour the custard over everything. Place in the oven for 45 minutes, or until the egg is set. Remove and let cool for 15 minutes or so. Also great re-warmed the next day!

Thoughts: This was awesome. We might adjust the veg ratios in the future, but it wouldn't be necessary. One possibility would be to see if cutting out the butter would still work. I think typically you're actually supposed to use 2%, whole, or half-and-half, but we didn't have that so we made do with butter and milk. I'm not sure how much the butter added, though - a lot of it kind of melted and then floated to the top of the quiches when they cooked. Even so, it's so good that maybe we don't want to mess with it. I don't know.

Disaster Index: 1/10

Watermelon Salad

For when you've moved recently and you don't have any of your cooking equipment because the stupid movers haven't arrived yet so you just have to make do with what you have.

Ingredients

• about 1/4 of a small seedless watermelon, cubed (about 4c, at a wild guess)
• 1 avocado, cubed
• 1/2 a cucumber, cubed
• 2-3 Roma tomatoes, cubed
• 3-4tbsp fresh mint, chopped
• 2-3tbsp fresh basil, chopped
• 2oz goat cheese, crumbled
• Optional balsamic vinaigrette, though we didn't have our balsamic.
• sea salt, for sprinkling on individual servings

So, you know, toss those ingredients together and serve.

Thoughts: Our first impression was that this was going to be basically a deconstructed watermelon gazpacho. And I think that this description isn't far off. Somehow watermelons go very well with tomatoes and avocado. I don't know how much the cucumber adds, but it gives some color so why not? Claire says peel the cucumbers in the future.

This was delicious, though it would probably be even better with a vinaigrette. Claire said maybe a little more goat cheese and a little more avocado? It was just really nice and summery. I'm confident we will make this again. It's a great way to serve watermelon.

Disaster Index: 1/10

Not Quite Pasta Carbonara

Perhaps more accurately called "Pasta Not Quite Carbonara." This was actually an attempt to use up stuff in the fridge / pantry before we go out of town (and eventually move), but it was the perfect thing after a hard day of painting. OH GOD THE PAINT FUMES.

Ingredients

• 4oz bacon, cubed
• garlic. Like, a lot. Maybe 2tbsp.
• Olive oil
• 2 large eggs
• 1/2c of that sandy parmesan stuff
• black pepper
• 14oz canned diced tomatoes
• 1lb pasta

Make the pasta. While that's cooking, cook the bacon and garlic in a pan of olive oil. When the bacon is cooked, add the tomatoes and simmer for a while until it thickens a bit. Meanwhile, in a separate bowl, mix the egg, parmesan, and pepper and whisk thoroughly.

When the pasta is done, mix it with the tomato / bacon mixture until thoroughly coated. Do this over a low flame so that it's REALLY hot. Take the pasta off the heat completely, stir a couple more times, then pour in the egg and cheese mixture and stir constantly. The heat from the pasta cooks the eggs without curdling them (ideally - worked for us, but we've curdled them in the past). Then serve.

Thoughts: This was really good. The tomato really added, actually, although I know we're heathens for doing it this way. It could be the paint fumes talking, but I would definitely do it this way in the future.

Disaster Index: 1/10

Pan Popovers

Pan popovers


I got this recipe from a friend of mine and it's great. For a 1.5 quart saucepan, use the following:

• 1/8 cup butter
• 2 eggs
• 3/8 cup flour
• 3/8 cup skim milk
• 1 tsp salt
• optional: basil, chives, tarragon, dill, pepper, etc.

Put the butter in the pan and put it in the oven. Preheat it to 425.
Put all the ingredients in a bowl and combine them with an egg beater until smooth.
When the butter in the pan is browned, carefully remove the pan from the oven and add the flour/egg/milk mixture.

Bake until puffy/browned, about 20-25 minutes.

When you remove it from the oven, there will be a lot of butter hanging out on top. Tilt the pan in all directions so that the butter runs between the popover and the side of the pan. This will make it easier to get the popover out.  Otherwise it will stick pretty significantly.

Thoughts: This is ridiculously easy and awesome. The next time we make it we might separating the egg whites from the yolks and whipping the whites separately so make it a little more souffle-like. It's pretty dense right now, which is all well and good, but lighter might be interesting.

Browning the butter before you add everything else makes this magical. Do it. Also put all sorts of herbs in it. We haven't added things like bacon, mushrooms, or shallots, because those ideas are just occurring to me now, but it would probably be another awesome idea. We'll report back. Claire out.

Disaster Index: 1/10

Slow-Cooker Cassoulet

This started out as some kind of slow-cooker chicken and then evolved from there. I didn't use a recipe, so this is completely made up.

Ingredients

• 4 skinless chicken thighs (we used boneless, but whatever) with excess fat trimmed off
• 1 small yukon gold potato, cubed (we used 1/2 of a huge potato)
• 2 carrots, peeled and chopped
• 2 celery stalks, chopped
• 2 cups chicken stock
• 1-2tbsp lemon juice
• 4 sprigs of fresh thyme (or equivalent dried?)
• 1tsp dried rosemary (fresh would have been better)
• 2 bay leaves
• a few red pepper flakes
• 1 can cannolini or great northern beans (slow cookers don't get hot enough for dried beans to not be poisonous, apparently)
• 1/2lb smoked beef sausage

To a slow cooker, add the chicken, stock, lemon juice, thyme, rosemary, bay leaves, and red pepper flakes. Set to low and cook for about 4-5 hours. Then add everything else. Cook for another 2-3 hours. Season to taste.

Thoughts: Ridiculously easy, but amazingly delicious. The only problem we had was that once we added everything else, the slow-cooker wouldn't heat up enough. We couldn't get it back to a simmer, so we ultimately had to throw everything in a big stock pot and simmer it for 5 minutes or so to make sure it was done. Even so, worth it. Claire said a touch more salt the second day since the potatoes absorb some salt.

Disaster Index: 1/10

Mousse Redux

Passover but sick of flourless chocolate cake? How about a layered chocolate and strawberry mousse instead? That was the plan. Instead of use our typical chocolate mousse recipe, we thought we'd go with a classic: Julia Child (by way of David Lebovitz). Then strawberry mousse.

Chocolate Mousse

• 6oz good chocolate chips
• 4 eggs, separated
• 2/3c sugar
• 6oz butter
• 1tsp instant espresso powder and 1/4c water (or 1/4c strong coffee)
• 2tbsp water
• pinch of salt
• 1/2tsp vanilla

This is a little complicated. Plan out your choice of bowls ahead of time. So, in one bowl, combine the chocolate chips, butter, and espresso. Melt over a double-boiler until, well, melted. Remove from heat. In a separate bowl, combine the egg yolks, sugar, and 2tbsp water. Prepare a cold water bath. Whip the egg mixture together over a double boiler for 3 minutes, then remove and whip in the cold water bath until thick (it gets very thick). In a THIRD bowl, whip the egg whites and a pinch of salt until firm, then add the sugar and continue to beat until shiny and stiff. Add the vanilla and incorporate.

Now assemble: mix the chocolate and egg yolks together until completely mixed. Fold in 1/3 of the egg white, then the remaining egg white. Pour into a bowl and refrigerate. After 2 hours, top this with a layer of sliced strawberries.

Strawberry Mousse

• 1lb strawberries
• Juice of 1/2 lemon
• 1/2c sugar
• 1/4c water
• 4 egg whites
• pinch of salt
• 1tbsp sugar
• 1/2c heavy whipping cream

In a saucepan, cook down the strawberries, lemon juice, sugar, and water until the strawberries are pretty decomposed. I even mashed them with a potato masher, actually. Then blend them (we used a stick blender) and let cool. When it's pretty cool (doesn't have to be COMPLETELY cool, but cool enough to touch), whip the egg whites with the salt and sugar, following the same process as outlined above. Then whip the whipping cream into stiff peaks in a separate bowl. Combine the strawberries and whipped cream, then the egg whites (1/3 first then the remainder). Pour over the now stiffened chocolate mousse. After 2 hours, top with another layer of sliced strawberries.

You could go on all day doing this, but we didn't. Serve (with a spoon? I guess?) and top with whipped cream.

Thoughts: This recipe is a little complicated, for either part. If you clean as you go and you plan out your bowls and utensils, you can get away without making a huge mess. If you don't plan ahead, you're going to have a bad time. But then, we had a bad time anyway. By the time we served this, it had completely deflated. It was like soup. Claire suggested maybe it was because we let it get warm and then cold again, which messed up the structural integrity, but I think we've had better success before. Anyway, total disaster. It was embarrassing because we had to serve it to everyone. Ugh. But then when we got home, we salvaged it by churning it into some extremely respectable ice cream.

Disaster Index: 6/10, but only because the flavor was good and it became good ice cream.

Tonic

We had our first attempt at making tonic water, based heavily on the recipe found here, by Jeffrey Morgenthaler.

Ingredients

• 4c water
• 2tbsp powdered lemongrass
• 1oz cinchona bark powder
• zest and juice of 1 lemon, 1 lime, and 1 orange
• 1/4c citric acid
• 1tsp mixed baking spices: cinnamon, clove, allspice, cardamom
• pinch of salt
• 1/2c sugar*

Okay, this is easy. 1) Throw everything in a pot. 2) Boil and simmer for 20 minutes. 3) Strain the mixture - we used a french press followed by several layers of cheesecloth. 4) Add 1/2 sugar per cup of remaining liquid.

Mix in a ratio of 1:3 with soda water and enjoy!

Thoughts: I like my tonic a bit more bitter than this, so next time I think we may use less sugar or more cinchona bark powder? I'm not sure. Claire thinks the flavor is, and I quote, "fantastic," so it may be just me. We also discovered that when we let this sit for a week in the fridge, we could decant and get rid of a bunch of the particulate matter we had missed earlier. In the future, we will probably experiment with different spices. Thoughts have included: Szechuan peppercorns, grains of paradise, black pepper, nutmeg. Finally, we tried to mix the tonic with water and carbonate it in our sodastream. Let me just make a suggestion if you try this: do not try this.

Disaster Index: 1/10

Soft Chocolate Chip Peanut Butter Cookies

We never got around to making hamentaschen this year, and I felt wrong not having cookies. So I made some peanut butter cookies. I wanted a "chewy" recipe, so I wound up making my own version based on this and this. I did something in the middle. I baked six and froze the rest in individual portions.

Ingredients

• 1 stick butter
• 1 c smooth peanut butter
• 3/4 c brown sugar
• 1/4 c granulated sugar
• 3/4 tsp salt
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 1 tbsp milk
• 1 egg
• 3/4 tsp baking soda
• 1/4 tsp baking powder
• 1 c flour
• about 8oz chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350. Using a stand mixer, cream together the butter, peanut butter, the sugars, and the salt until you get sick of it. Beat in the vanilla, milk, and the egg. Then beat in the soda, powder, and flour, slowly at first so you don't cover the kitchen in those ingredients. Then just add the chocolate chips. Portion out 2tbsp of dough per cookie onto a baking sheet and bake for about 10 minutes. Don't overbake - they don't look done when they come out, but carryover cooking will do the rest while they cool. I guess if you want to eat them hot out of the oven you should bake at least 12 minutes, because if you bake these for just 10 minutes, you won't even be able to pick them up because they'll fall apart completely.

Thoughts: This wasn't EXACTLY what I was looking for, but maybe it's even better. In the future, I would experiment with not using butter and not using as much flour, I guess. These were pretty greasy. But I'd still give it 1/10 because they were excellent. Claire liked them, too, I think.

Disaster Index: 1/10

Cullen Skink

We got the recipe at Doune Castle. I made some modifications, and it worked!


Ingredients

• about 8oz mashed potatoes
• 1.5 leeks (you could reasonably use one), chopped
• pint of 2% milk
• about 1lb cod or haddock (we used cod)
• salt
• pepper
• bay leaf
• some olive oil

In a soup pot, heat olive oil. Add the leeks and cook until they're just getting tender - 8 minutes or so. Add the milk, bay leaf, and cod. Heat to boiling, then reduce to a simmer until the fish is cooked through. Using tongs or a slotted spoon, remove the fish, about half the leeks, and the bay leaf. Add the mashed potatoes and blend what remains until smooth. Flake the fish apart and re-add that and the leeks to the pot. Salt and pepper to taste (takes a LOT of salt because of the potato - don't be afraid of seasoning.)

Thoughts: This was pretty great. It's basically vichyssoise, except with cod in it. In the future, I would probably do this SLIGHTLY differently. I might cook most of the stuff in water rather than milk, because the milk tends to separate (though blending with the potato helps this). I would want chunks of potato, too. I'm not sure exactly when I would add this. Otherwise, pretty awesome. Everyone kept saying they liked it and I do not THINK they were lying to me.

Disaster Index: 1/10

Boeuf Bourguignon

SACRÉ BLEU.

Ingredients

• 2lbs. beef shoulder, cut into 1.5" pieces
• 4 onions, thinly sliced into rainbows
• olive oil
• 2tbsp flour
• 1c red Burgundy wine
• 6 carrots, cut into 1" pieces
• 1 clove garlic
• a bouquet garni (a bunch of parsley and thyme tied together)
• .5tsp thyme
• 3 bay leaves
• black pepper
• salt
• chopped parsley

In a large Dutch oven, heat some oil to nearly smoking. Salt and pepper the beef. Working in batches, sear the pieces of beef until you get a nice brown caramelized sear. You want to work in batches, because if you crowd the pan, you won't be able to get the sear you need.

Anyway, remove the beef and add all the onions. Turn heat to medium-high and cook until they're translucent and wilted. Add the flour and cook another couple minutes. Add the wine and deglaze, then add the carrots, garlic, bouquet garni, thyme, and bay leaves. Add water to cover everything by a centimeter or so. Bring the mixture to a boil, stirring frequently, then reduce to a low simmer for two hours, checking every 15-20 minutes to scrape up the bottom and make sure nothing is sticking. You may have to add water in the middle if it's cooking down too fast - it's a stew, after all. When it's done, adjust the salt. Serve over crushed boiled potatoes, and top with chopped parsley.

Thoughts: We actually served over some roughly smashed yukon gold potatoes with rosemary and wilted greens. This was pretty fantastic. I don't think I'd do anything differently. Oh yeah - we took the carrots out half-way through when Claire was afraid that they would get too soft. We added them back in at the end.

Claire says now that she thinks she liked the idea, but she also wants to try other recipes. WHATEVER.

Disaster Index: 1/10

Update: Add a bit more thyme. Also, don't need the bouquets garnis. Double the wine, and add some beef stock along with the water. Also, when you add the water, make sure to add the beef back in - somehow we left that out of the recipe.

Port Caviar

It was a test of molecular gastronomy.
Ingredients

• 3/8c Port
• 1/8c Sugar
• 1tsp agar agar and sugar mixture (not sure what % agar agar)
• oil

Pour some oil into a tall glass - you are looking to have about 4" of oil in the glass. Put the glass into the freezer for 30 minutes.

Now, in a saucepan, combine everything else. Bring the port to a boil, then turn off the heat and let it sit for a few minutes. Take the glass out of the freezer, and pour droplets of the port mixture into the glass. They should form little 'caviar' balls and collect at the bottom of the vessel. Pour the oil and port caviar through a little sieve, and wash off the collected caviar in cold water. Serve.

Thoughts: This isn't quite how it worked out for us. It could have to do with the unknown concentration of agar agar, but I was unable to get the port reduction to adhere properly. I dropped it into the oil - fine - and it stayed apart, but it was very messy. I was using an eye-dropper, but I still couldn't get neat spheres because of the weird texture of the sauce. Then when I rinsed off the caviar, they just all melted together into one big sticky mass. I'm not sure I'm going to try this one again.

Disaster Index: 9/10 - it doesn't get 10/10 because I was still able to melt the sauce and use it as a (way too sticky) sauce for blintzes.

Cheese Blintzes

Kind of like crepes, but, you know, Lithuanian.

Ingredients

• Blintz Batter
• 2 eggs
• 1c water
• 1/2tsp salt
• 1/2c flour
• Filling
• 8oz of nonfat, small-curd, unsalted cottage cheese
• 2tbsp sugar (or more)
• 1/2tsp vanilla

This recipe is kind of ridiculous(ly easy). Basically, mix together the batter ingredients. Set aside. Mix together the filling ingredients. Set aside. In a nonstick pan (or on a griddle) on medium heat, pour out some batter. Tilt the pan around to make a blintz, um, wrapper? You probably need about 7" diameter. It DOES NOT MATTER if the edges look crazy or if it's not round. Anyway, when it's done on one side (and not until then), remove from the heat and put on a plate. Put about 2tbsp of filling in the middle of the blintz, then fold it like a burrito (i.e., fold in half toward you, then fold the sides in, then roll it up along the remaining edge). When you're done with all of them, serve (hot or cold) with jam or sour cream... or maple syrup, or whatever.

Thoughts: The filling we made had a very delicate flavor. Next time, I think we'll taste the filling a few times and try to adjust the seasoning - more salt may be indicated, and possibly more sugar. One could also add fruit to the filling - blueberries are obvious.

Disaster Index: 2/10 - the only bad part was that the filling wasn't quite perfect. Otherwise, this is a potential 1/10 recipe.

Sweet Potato Pie

I guess we didn't blog this. I have this habit of keeping recipe tabs open until they get blogged, and lo and behold this has been open for more than a month. We made this to use up our farmers market sweet potatoes before we went out of town. Results were actually pretty awesome, and I don't think this is actually that bad for you?

Ingredients

• 2 medium sweet potatoes
• 1/2 stick butter
• 3/4c sugar
• 3/4c milk
• 3 eggs
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 1/2tsp cinnamon
• 1/4tsp nutmeg
• 1/4tsp salt
• 1 tbsp dark rum (maybe more?)
• 1 tbsp flour
• 9" pie shell (we used store-bought pre-made. It was fine.)

Preheat the oven to 350.

Cook the sweet potatoes until tender. We peeled and par-boiled them, but when that failed to get them cooked all the way through, we microwaved them until they were very tender. When they are very tender, mash with the remaining ingredients (maybe want to add the sugar and milk first to cool the potatoes a bit - you don't want the eggs to cook when you add them, so make sure the potatoes are sufficiently cool before you do.)

Raise the oven temp to 400. Fill the pie shell and place on a shallow baking dish. Pop it in the oven for 40 minutes Remove and let cool before serving.

Thoughts: We made two pies, actually, because our potatoes were enormous. One of the pies we baked for 40 minutes and the other was more like 60, I think. Either way, the one we baked longer LOOKED like it was overcooked - it was much darker, and we were afraid we had ruined the texture - but it was actually much better. I guess it's very hard to overcook a sweet potato pie, and cooking the thing longer caused a lot of the sugars to caramelize, which gave it a much better flavor. The texture was better, too. So I would say 60 minutes or more may be more the way to go - just start checking on the pie after 40.

Disaster Index: 1/10 - even when we messed it up, we didn't.