Daring Cooks' - February 2011 - Soba and Tempura

Blog-checking lines: The February 2011 Daring Cooks’ challenge was hosted by Lisa of Blueberry Girl. She challenged Daring Cooks to make Hiyashi Soba and Tempura. She has various sources for her challenge including japanesefood.about.com, pinkbites.com, and itsybitsyfoodies.com .

Hiyashi Soba

Soba Noodles:

2 Liters water + 1 cup cold water, separate

340 g dried soba (buckwheat) noodles (or any Asian thin noodle)

Heat 2 liters of water to a boil in a large pot over high heat. Add the noodles a small bundle at a time, stirring gently to separate. When the water returns to a full boil, add 1 cup of cold water. Repeat this twice. When the water returns to a full boil, check the noodles for doneness. You want to cook them until they are firm-tender. Do not overcook them.

Drain the noodles in a colander and rinse well under cold running water until the noodles are cool. This not only stops the cooking process, but also removes the starch from the noodles. This is an essential part of soba noodle making. Once the noodles are cool, drain them and cover them with a damp kitchen towel and set them aside allowing them to cool completely.

Mentsuyu - Traditional dipping sauce:

2 cups Kombu and Katsuobushi dashi (recipe HERE.) Or a basic vegetable stock.

1/3 cup  soy sauce or a low sodium soy sauce

1/3 cup mirin (sweet rice wine)

Put mirin in a sauce pan and heat gently. Add soy sauce and dashi soup stock in the pan and bring to a boil. Take off the heat and cool. Refrigerate until ready to use.

Spicy Dipping Sauce

¾ cup spring onions/green onions/scallions, finely chopped

3 tablespoons soy sauce

2 tablespoons rice vinegar

½ teaspoon granulated sugar

¼ teaspoon English mustard powder

1 tablespoon grape-seed oil or vegetable oil

1 tablespoon sesame oil (if you can’t find this just omit from recipe.)

Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste - roughly 1/3 a teaspoon of each

Shake all the ingredients together in a covered container. Once the salt has dissolved, add and shake in 2 tablespoons of water and season again if needed.

 

Common Hiyashi Soba Toppings:

•Thin omelet strips

•Ham

•Boiled chicken breasts

•Cucumber

•Boiled bean sprouts

•Tomatoes

•Toasted nori (Dried Seaweed)

•Green onions

•Wasabi powder

•Finely grated daikon (Japanese radish)

•Beni Shoga (Pickled Ginger)

All toppings should be julienne, finely diced or grated. Prepare and refrigerate covered until needed.

What I've used:

- Chicken breasts diced

- Red and Yellow bell pepper

- Onions

- Shitake mushroons

- Spring onions

- Bean sprouts

I've cut the bell peppers, the onions, the spring onions and the shitake mushroons in julienne style and stir-fried everything in a Wok pan.

Tempura

1 egg yolk from a large egg

1 cup iced water

½ cup plain (all purpose) flour, plus extra for dredging

½ cup cornflour (also called cornstarch)

½ teaspoon baking powder

Oil, for deep frying preferably vegetable

Ice water bath, for the tempura batter (a larger bowl than what will be used for the tempura should be used. Fill the large bowl with ice and some water, set aside)

Very cold vegetables and seafood of your choice

Place the iced water into a mixing bowl. Lightly beat the egg yolk and gradually pour into the iced water, stirring (preferably with chopsticks) and blending well. Add flours and baking powder all at once, stroke a few times with chopsticks until the ingredients are loosely combined. The batter should be runny and lumpy. Place the bowl of batter in an ice water bath to keep it cold while you are frying the tempura. The batter as well as the vegetables and seafood have to be very cold. The temperature shock between the hot oil and the cold veggies help create a crispy tempura.

Heat the oil in a large pan or a wok. For vegetables, the oil should be 320°F/160°C; for seafood it should be 340°F/170°C. It is more difficult to maintain a steady temperature and produce consistent tempura if you don’t have a thermometer, but it can be done. You can test the oil by dropping a piece of batter into the hot oil. If it sinks a little bit and then immediately rises to the top, the oil is ready.

Start with the vegetables, such as sweet potatoes, that won’t leave a strong odor in the oil. Dip them in a shallow bowl of flour to lightly coat them and then dip them into the batter. Slide them into the hot oil, deep frying only a couple of pieces at a time so that the temperature of the oil does not drop.

Place finished tempura pieces on a wire rack so that excess oil can drip off. Continue frying the other items, frequently scooping out any bits of batter to keep the oil clean and prevent the oil (and the remaining tempura) from getting a burned flavor.

Serve immediately for the best flavor, but they can also be eaten cold.

Shrimps

Okra

Onions, carrots and sweet potatoes

Courguete and cauliflower

Shitake, shimeji and Paris mushroons

I also made a Fig Tempura and served with Passion fruit (yellow) and Brazilian Berry (jabuticaba - purple) ice creams.

This was another amazing challenge. Many thanks to Lisa. I loved being part of this!

Don't forget to visit The Daring Kitchen website and check what great work my fellows had done.

Também em www.labgastro.blogspot.com

Daring Cook's - January 2011 - Cassoulet and Confit

Blog Checking Lines: Our January 2011 Challenge comes from Jenni of The Gingered Whisk and Lisa from Parsley, Sage, Desserts and Line Drives. They have challenged the Daring Cooks to learn how to make a confit and use it within the traditional French dish of Cassoulet. They have chosen a traditional recipe from Anthony Bourdain and Michael Ruhlman.

Mandatory: We should make a confit and incorporate it in to a cassoulet.

Variations: We might choose to use any combination of meat or other protein source that we wished. We were also encouraged to soak our own beans, but we could use canned beans as well.

Notes:

If we couldn’t find duck, we could substitute with any other waterfowl/poultry. Same goes for any of the pork, we could substitute with lamb, beef, and venison, or whatever we wished.

If we couldn’t find duck fat, we could substitute any other fat that we wanted, i.e. bacon grease, lard, butter, olive oil, etc.

Pork belly may be substituted with a Boston butt pork roast, pork shoulder, pancetta or whatever we thought would work and/or simply prefer due to dietary, religious, or any other personal reasons

Pork rind could be substituted with slab bacon or we could purchase salt pork and cut off the rind.

Duck Confit

4 whole duck legs (leg and thigh), size does not matter

Sea salt, for the overnight (at least 6-8 hours) dry rub (the amount varies depending on the size of your legs, so just know that you need to have enough on hand for a good coating).

450 g duck fat

A healthy pinch or grind of black pepper

4 sprigs of fresh thyme

1 sprig of fresh rosemary

1 garlic clove

Day One

Rub the duck legs fairly generously with sea salt, place in the shallow dish, cover with plastic and refrigerate overnight. At all times, keep your work area clean and your ingredients free of contamination - meaning don't allow any other food, like bread crumbs or scraps, to get into your duck, duck fat or confit, as they will make an otherwise nearly non-perishable preparation suddenly perishable.

Day Two

Preheat the oven to moderately hot 375ºF/190ºC/gas mark 5. Render (melt) the duck fat in the saucepan until clear. After seasoning with the black pepper, place the duck legs in the clean, ovenproof casserole. Nestle the thyme, rosemary and garlic in with the duck legs, and pour the melted duck fat over the legs to just cover. Cover the dish with foil and put in the oven. Cook for about an hour, or until the skin at the "ankle" of each leg pulls away from the "knuckle." The meat should be tender. Allow to cool and then store as is in the refrigerator, sealed under the fat. When you need the confit, you can either warm the whole dish, in which case removing the legs will be easy, or dig them out of the cold fat and scrape off the excess. I highly recommend the former. A nice touch at this point is to twist out the thighbone from the cold confit. Just place one hand on the drumstick, pinioning the leg to the table, and with the other hand, twist out the thighbone, plucking it from the flesh without mangling the thigh meat. Think of someone you hate when you do it.

Ok, let me tell you something. Here in Brasil it is easy to find whole duck to buy. You can find it in almost every supermarket. But just the whole bird. I've never seen it been sold in separate parts. So I bought and used legs and tights of chicken.

On the other hand, I thought I wouldn't find duck fat but, as I went to São Paulo at the beginning of the month, I could buy it there. (Thanks to my friend Claudia who kept it in her fridge until the time of coming back home!)

Cassoulet

5 cups white beans such as Great Northern or Cannelini (if you use canned

beans be aware that you will need double this amount!)

900 g fresh pork belly

1 onion, cut into 4 pieces

450 g pork rind - Like Jenni I used thick cut bacon

1 bouquet garni (tie together two sprigs parsley, 2 sprigs thyme and one bay leaf)

Salt and pepper

1/4 cup duck fat

6 pork sausages - I saw some really beautiful bratwurst at the market, so I used them

3 onions, thinly sliced

1 garlic clove, thinly sliced

4 confit duck legs - used just two

Day One

Place the beans in the large bowl and cover with cold water so that there are at least 2 or 3 inches (50mm or 75mm) of water above the top of the beans. Soak overnight.

Day Two

Drain and rinse the beans and place in the large pot. Add the pork belly, the quartered onion, 115g of the pork rind, and the bouquet garni. Cover with water, and bring to a boil. Reduce to a simmer and cook for about 30 minutes. Season with salt and pepper to taste and continue to simmer until the beans are tender, about 30 minutes more. Let cool for 20 minutes, then discard the onion and the bouquet garni. Remove the pork belly, cut it into 5cm squares, and set aside (If you plan to wait another day before finishing the dish, wait to cut the pork belly until then). Strain the beans and the rind and set aside, reserving the cooking liquid separately.

In the sauté pan, heat all but 1 tablespoon of the duck fat over medium-high heat until it shimmers and becomes transparent. Carefully add the sausages and brown on all sides. Remove sausages and set aside, draining on paper towels. In the same pan, over medium-high heat, brown the sliced onions, the garlic and the reserved squares of pork rind from the beans (not the unused pork rind; you'll need that later). Once browned, remove from the heat and transfer to the blender. Add 1 tablespoon of the remaining duck fat and purée until smooth. Set aside.

Preheat the oven to moderate 350ºF/180ºC/gas mark 4. Place the uncooked pork rind in the bottom of a deep ovenproof non-reactive dish. You're looking to line the inside, almost like a pie crust. Arrange all your ingredients in alternating layers, beginning with a layer of beans, then sausages, then more beans, then pork belly, beans, duck confit and finally more beans, adding a dab of the onion and pork rind purée between each layer. Add enough of the bean cooking liquid to just cover the beans, reserving 1 cup/240 ml in the refrigerator for later use. Cook the cassoulet in the oven for 1 hour, then reduce the heat to very slow 250ºF/130ºC/gas mark ½ and cook for another hour. Remove from the oven and allow to cool. Refrigerate overnight.

Day Three

Preheat the oven to moderate 350ºF/180ºC/gas mark 4 again. Cook the cassoulet for an hour. Break the crust on the top with the spoon and add 1/4 cup of the reserved cooking liquid. (Don't get fancy. Just pile, dab, stack and pile. It doesn't have to be pretty). Reduce the heat to very slow 250ºF/130ºC/gas mark ½ and continue cooking another 15 minutes, or until screamingly hot through and through. Then serve.

Lisa and Jenni also provided another recipe of Cassoulet. The Thirty Minute Cassoulet by Jacques Pepin’s Fast Food My Way. I decided to make the longer version because I thought it seemed to be more - let's say - tradicional. But to tell you the truth, I could not see any difference between this Cassoulet and our Brasilian Feijoada. In our Feijoada we don't use duck. nor chicken. It is just black beans, jerked beef, pork belly, smoked pork sirloin, sausages, pork ears, nose and tail. And Feijoada is made in an easier way. This long and complicated version of cassoulet is like much ado about nothing...

 

     As my elder daugter hates white beans I also made some feijoada for her

As this challenge was about confit too I decided to make two other confits: garlic and tomatoes confit.

Garlic Confit - First Version
20  peeled garlic gloves
2 sprigs of fresh thyme
Salt
Olive oil - to cover the garlic cloves

Put all ingredients together in a small pan and take to a very low heat. Cook it for 1 to 2 hours but don't let it boil.

Garlic Confit - Second version 

Just like the first one but instead of thyme I used fresh rosemary and I didn't peel of the garlic cloves

Tomato Confit
Cherry tomatoes cut in lenghwise
Salt
Fresh oregano
Olive oil
Make it the same way as Garlic confit
I also made another tomato confit, using Italian tomatoes, cut in small dices.

I made four chicken legs confit but used only two in the Cassoulet. The other two I fried in its own fat and served with the garlic and tomato confit. Really good!

This was an amazing challenge. I learned and enjoied it a lot. Thanks Lisa and Jenni.

Também em http://www.labgastro.blogspot.com/

Daring Cook's - December 2010 - Poached Eggs

Blog-checking lines: Jenn and Jill have challenged The Daring Cooks to learn to perfect the technique of poaching an egg. They chose Eggs Benedict recipe from Alton Brown, Oeufs en Meurette from Cooking with Wine by Anne Willan, and Homemade Sundried Tomato & Pine Nut Seitan Sausages (poached) courtesy of Trudy of Veggie num num.

Mandatory Items: To use the technique of poaching an egg (or vegan substitute) in either one of the recipes listed below or our own creative take on the challenge. But whatever we do MUST involve the technique of poaching.

I would never say that poached eggs are something daring, nor a challenge. I spent much omy life eating, watching someone making or doing poached eggs myself,  in my parents' house or in mine.

I could not say how many times I've added a   poached egg into a clear and transparent consommé. Not to mention the poached egg in the middle of steamed cabbage.

But I can't say that everything on this challenge are old to me. Along with the recipes of egg there was a English muffin recipe as well, which I found extremely interesting.

So I decided that, besides doing the good old egg and cabbage, I would try  the muffin recipe too. I must say I loved the bun. Surely, this goes to my personal archive, I will repeat it many times.

Eggs Benedict

4 eggs

2 English muffins
4 slices of Canadian bacon/back bacon (Didn't use)
Chives, for garnish (I used parsley instead)
Splash of vinegar (for poaching)

Hollandaise Sauce
3 large egg yolks
1 tsp. water
¼ tsp. sugar
170 g unsalted butter, chilled and cut in small pieces
½ tsp. kosher salt
2 tsp. freshly squeezed lemon juice
Pinch cayenne pepper (optional)

Fill a medium saucepan halfway with water and bring to a simmer. Cut the chilled butter into small pieces and set aside. Whisk egg yolks and 1 tsp. water in a mixing bowl large enough to sit on the saucepan without touching the water (or in top portion of a double boiler). Whisk for 1–2 minutes, until egg yolks lighten. Add the sugar and whisk 30 seconds more. Place bowl on saucepan over simmering water and whisk steadily 3–5 minutes (it only took about 3 for me) until the yolks thicken to coat the back of a spoon. Remove from heat (but let the water continue to simmer) and whisk in the butter, 1 piece at a time. Move the bowl to the pan again as needed to melt the butter, making sure to whisk constantly. Once all the butter is incorporated, remove from heat and whisk in the salt, lemon juice, and cayenne pepper (if using). 

If the water simmering in your pan has gotten too low, add enough so that you have 2–3 inches of water and bring back to a simmer. Add salt and a splash of vinegar (any kind will do). I added about a tablespoon of vinegar to my small saucepan (about 3 cups of water/720 ml of water), but you may need more if you’re using a larger pan with more water. Crack eggs directly into the very gently simmering water (or crack first into a bowl and gently drop into the water), making sure they’re separated. Cook for 3 minutes for a viscous but still runny yolk. While waiting for the eggs, quickly fry the Canadian/back bacon and toast your English muffin. Top each half of English muffin with a piece of bacon. Remove the eggs with a slotted spoon, draining well, and place on top of the bacon. Top with hollandaise and chopped chives, and enjoy!

English Muffin (recipe from Culinary Institute of Amarica)

1 1/2 teaspoons active dry yeast

1 cup water, warmed to 110°F
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon unsalted butter, softened
1 teaspoon sugar
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup cornmeal, or as needed
Oil or solid vegetable shortening, as needed

Place the yeast and warm water in the bowl of a mixer and stir to completely dissolve. Let the yeast proof until foamy, about 5 minutes. Add the flour, butter, sugar, and salt to the yeast mixture. Mix ingredients together on low speed using the dough hook until all ingredients are blended, about 2 minutes. Increase the speed to medium-high and mix until the dough is smooth, another 5 minutes. Shape the dough into a ball and place it into a lightly greased bowl. Cover with plastic wrap and let the dough rise in a warm place until doubled in size, about 2 hours. Fold the dough gently over on itself in three or four places and turn the dough out onto a lightly floured work surface. Divide dough into 12 equal pieces. Shape into rounds and place on sheet pans that have been heavily dusted with cornmeal. Turn each muffin over to coat both sides with cornmeal. Cover and let rise until slightly risen, about 30 minutes. Preheat a griddle over medium heat and brush lightly with oil or shortening. Cook the English muffins until lightly brown on the bottom, about 5 minutes. Turn the muffins over and cook until golden brown, another 5 minutes. Split the English muffins by pulling them apart with a table fork. Toast them just before serving. Serve very hot.

Cabbage with Poached Eggs

1 / 2 cabbage, thinly sliced

4 garlic cloves, minced
1 / 2 onion thinly sliced
6 eggs
Salt to taste
Olive oil baste

In a large skillet, saute garlic and onion. Add the cabbage and salt and stir until wilted. Add a little water and simmer. Make holes in the cabbage stew, where you can put the eggs. Break one egg at a time and settle gently into place you have prepared. Cover the pan and let the egg cook for a few minutes. The time varies depending on the preference for more or less hard yolk.

I served the cabbage on individual plates and garnish with fresh paprika and rosemary.

Culinary Institute of America tutorial on eggs benedict including homemade English muffins, poaching eggs, and making hollandaise sauce:

http://www.ciaculinaryintelligence.com/2009/04/eggs-benedict-for-mothers-day-brunch.html

Epicurious video tutorial on hollandaise:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aGw_gs8UaeI

Do not forget to visit The Daring Kitchen site, just to see what is happening in other kitchens and check more recipes with the technique of poaching.

Também em www.labgastro.blogspot.com

Daring Cooks' Challenge - October 2010 - Stuffed Grape Leaves

Blog-checking lines: Our October 2010 hostess, Lori of Lori’s Lipsmacking Goodness, has challenged The Daring Cooks to stuff grape leaves. Lori chose a recipe from Aromas of Aleppo and a recipe from The New Book of Middle Eastern Food.

Historical Note: Stuffed grape leaves are a part of many cultures including the Syrians, the Turks, the Greeks, the Lebanese, the Albanians, the Israeli's, the Iranians, the Iraqis and the Armenians (just to name a few). Generally speaking the stuffed part could be in zucchinis/courgette, eggplant, tomato or peppers. Really it also extends to stuffing certain types of fish as well. It is suggested that the origin of stuffed grape leaves goes back to the time when Alexander the Great besieged Thebes. It has also been suggested the Byzantines refined and spiced up the recipe and used the leaves of other vines such as hazelnuts and figs.

Mandatory Items: The challenge this month is to make a filling and roll it in grape leaves. If grape leaves are unavailable to us then we could use Swiss chard, kale, cabbage or some tough green.

The filling was totally up to us. We could do any meat filled filling or meatless, but it must include rice. We could add different nuts or dried fruits to our filling.

Grape Leaves Stuffed with Ground Meat and Rice

Preserved grape leaves, stems trimmed, drained, rinsed and patted dry

1 tablespoon (15 ml) vegetable oil

¼ cup (60 ml) freshly squeezed lemon juice

1 tablespoon salt

Notes:

If using grape leaves preserved in brine, to remove salt put them in a bowl and pour boiling water over them. Make sure that the water penetrates well between the layers, and leave them soaking for about twenty minutes, then change the water a time or two using fresh cold water.

If using fresh leaves, plunge a few at a time in boiling water for a few seconds only, until they become limp, and lift them out.

Filling

Cooked rice

Ground meat

1 onion, diced

2 garlic gloves, diced

½ cup tomato sauce

1 Tbspoom ground mustard

½ tspoom cinnamon

1 Tbspoom ground cumin

Peppermint leaves, chopped (that's what I call peppermint. Do you agree?)

Salt to taste

1Tbspoom olive oil

Mix the ground meat, ground mustard, cinnamon, ground cumin and salt. Set aside.

In a large pan, heat the olive oil. Stir-fry the onion and garlic. Add the ground meat until browned. Add the tomato sauce. In low heat, cook for 10-15 minutes. Add the cooked rice and mix well. Set aside.

The roll

Place a grape leaf on a flat surface, vein side up. You can trim the little stem if we would like. Place about two teaspoons (10 ml) of the filling in the center of the leaf, near the stem edge. Roll the leaf end to end, starting from the stem edge. As you roll, fold the sides of the leaf in toward the center. The leaf should resemble a small cigar, about 2 to 2 1/2 inches (50 mm to 65mm) long. Repeat with the remaining leaves and filling (you can freeze the stuffed grape leaves at this point. Just line a baking sheet with wax paper. When firmly frozen, transfer to an airtight plastic bag place back in the freezer.)

In a medium saucepan put in the vegetable oil and then place the filled grape leaves in the pot. Cover and cook over low heat for 5- 8 minutes or until the grape leaves begin to sweat. Combine lemon juice, salt, and water then add to pan, filling it ¾ full. Weigh down the grape leaves with a heat proof plate or board to prevent them from unraveling. Cover and bring to a boil over medium high heat. Reduce the heat to low and simmer for about 40 minutes.

Spoon cooking liquid over the grape leaves occasionally. We will know they are done, when the grape leaves are neither soupy nor dry. Tilt pan sideways over serving platter, allowing the grape leaves to tumble out. Try not to handle them individually to reduce unraveling.

Ok, this was very good. But Audax Artifex had inspired me to make some cabbage rolls baked in a oven. All I have to say is: D.E.L.I.C.I.O.U.S!!!!

Stuffed Cabbage with Chicken, Pistachios and Arborio Rice

Cabbage leaves

Chicken or beef stock

Boil cabbage leaves in lightly stock until leaves become translucent, about 10 minutes. Make sure that the leaves are soft and all the leaves have the same degree of doneness. If the cabbage leaves aren't boiled enough they will never soften enough in the baking process. Shave off the protruding thick stem on the "outer" side of each leaf; this makes wrapping much easier.

Filling

1/3 cup Arborio rice, soaked in hot beef or chicken stock for 30 minutes

400g chicken breasts

20 semi-dried tomatoes packed in oil

¼ cup pistachios, toasted and chopped

1 lime zests

½ cup peppermint leaves, finely chopped,

½ cup parsley leaves, finely chopped

½ cup chives, finely chopped

½ cup tarragon, finely chopped

6 cloves garlic, minced

2 tablespoons pomegranate molasses

1 tablespoon sumac

2 teaspoons cinnamon, freshly ground

1½ teaspoon allspice

Basting

1 tablespoon molasses (or golden syrup or strong honey)

1-2 tablespoons butter

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/4 cup water

Place the chicken breasts, the dried tomatoes, the lime zests, garlic, the pomegranate molasses, the sumac, the cinnamon and the allspice in a bowl of a food processor. Beat until the chicken breasts are minced and everything gets mixed. Add the peppermint, parsley, chives, tarragon chopped leaves and the pistachios. Mix well. Add the Arborio rice and mix again.

The roll
To make each roll, place about 2-3 tablespoons of filling near the stem end, fold end on top, wrap the sides and roll. Make sure all the rolls are the same size. Preheat oven to very hot 480°F/250°C/gas mark 9¼ or as hot as the oven could go. Place the filled cabbage rolls seam side down in a tight even layer on a well greased shallow baking dish. Sprinkle rolls with salt and pour a thin lattice of molasses on top. Dot rolls with tiny lumps of butter. Pour the water into the bottom of the pan. Bake for 30 minutes (check occasionally during this time that the rolls are not burning on the bottom) then reduce the temperature to moderate 350°F/180°C/gas mark 4. Bake about 1½ to 2 hours check every 30 minutes the cabbage rolls will brown on top during this time. Spoon some pan juice atop the rolls every now and then; add more water or molasses if they dry up too much. In the last 30 minutes remove most of the excess liquid in the baking pan and reduce in a small saucepan until it coats the back of a spoon (like thin honey) ladle a tablespoon or so over the cabbage rolls a couple of times in the last 30 minutes. Constantly check the rolls at this stage since they could burn on the bottom if the pan juices dry out. The reduced pan juices (mainly molasses, butter and salt) are supposed to soak into the cabbage and turn the top of each roll a nice glistening dark brown. Do not confuse this with the cabbage drying out and burning. Turn off oven and let them sit there and soak up the pan juices for an hour or two.

Additional Information:

http://greekfood.about.com/od/greekcookinglessons/ss/foldleaves.htm

http://whatscookingamerica.net/Vegetables/StuffedGrapeLeaves.htm

http://www.squidoo.com/stuffed-grape-leaves

Video:

http://www.5min.com/Video/How-to-Make-Stuffed-Grape-Leaves-101615656

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1DlKlzltajg

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lSyOUhHzIoQ&feature=related

Thanks Lori for another amazing challenge. I think I would never make stuffed grape leaves if there wasn't this challenge. Now I'm sure I'll do that again and again.

Don't forget to check out what the other Daring Kitchen members had done.

Também em http://www.labgastro.blogspot.com/

Daring Cooks' Challenge - September 2010 - Food Preservation

Blog-checking lines: The September 2010 Daring Cooks’ challenge was hosted by John of Eat4Fun. John chose to challenge The Daring Cooks to learn about food preservation, mainly in the form of canning and freezing. He challenged everyone to make a recipe and preserve it. John’s source for food preservation information was from The National Center for Home Food Preservation.

Mandatory: he wanted us all daring cooks to try canning or freezing one of the recipes presented in the challenge.

Variations allowed: If we were familiar with home canning and would like to make our favorite up to date recipe, we were free to make this recipe.

John gave us all a great biochemistry class. He explained everything about preserving and canning food at home. He also presented some very interesting recipes of aplle butter and preserved tomatoes. You can check these recipes out at the Daring Kitchen website.
I myself did some research about the subject and found two recipes that really attacted me: Pear butter and an apple and onion chutney. I'm crazy about chutneys and I love pears. So, as variations were allowed, I decided to give a try to them.

Pear Butter
4 pounds medium pears, quartered and cored
2 cups sugar
1 teaspoon grated orange zest
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/4 cup orange juice
Place pears into a large pot over medium heat, and add just enough water to cover the bottom of the pot and keep them from sticking, about 1/2 cup. Cook until the pears are soft, about 30 minutes. Press pears through a sieve or food mill, and measure out 2 quarts of the pulp. Pour the pear pulp and sugar into a large saucepan and stir to dissolve sugar. Stir in the orange zest, nutmeg and orange juice. Cook over medium heat until the mixture is thick enough to mound in a spoon. When the mixture begins to thicken, stir frequently to prevent scorching on the bottom. This will take about 1 hour. Ladle the pear butter into hot sterile jars, leaving 1/4 inch of headspace. Remove air bubbles by sliding a metal spatula around where the pear butter touches the glass. Wipe jar rims clean, and seal with lids and rings. Process for 10 minutes in a boiling water bath. The water should cover the jars by 1 inch. Check with your local extension for exact processing times for your area.

This recipe was found at allrecipes.com. Nice and easy. I wish you were here to taste this. W.O.N.D.E.R.F.U.L!

Easy Apple and Onion Chutney
1.8kg cooking apples
900g onions
3 - 4 plump garlic cloves
60g fresh root ginger
1 large red chilli
1l distilled malt vinegar
550g muscovado sugar
2Tbspoon ground tumeric
1Tbsppoon salt
Peel, core and chop the apples. chop the onions, garlic and ginger. Deseed the chilli, if liked, and chop. Put the apples, onions, garlic, ginger and chilli in a large preserving pan. Pour in the vinegar and stir in the sugar, tumeric and salt. Bring the mixture to the boil, stirring until the sugar has dissolved, then simmer for about 1 hour until thick. Stir often as the mixture reduces, to avoid it catching on the botton of the pan and burning. Spoon into hot sterilized jars, cover with vinegar-proof seals, label and store in a cool, dark place for about 1 month before using.

This one is from the amazing book Jams & Chutneys _ Preserving the Harvest, written by Thane Prince. I love this book. The recipes are clear and the pictures are beautiful. There is also a very comprehensive chapter on preserving techniques.

I tasted the chutney while is was simmering. A bit bitter but good. Now I have to wait a whole month to taste the final result. I promise I'll come back to this and tell you what happened, ok?

Thanks, John. It was an amazing challenge. Sure I do too eat4fun!

Também em http://www.labgastro.blogspot.com/

Daring Cooks' Challenge - August 2010 - Pierogi

Blog-checking lines: The August 2010 Daring Cooks’ Challenge was hosted by LizG of Bits n’ Bites and Anula of Anula’s Kitchen. They chose to challenge Daring Cooks to make pierogi from scratch and an optional challenge to provide one filling that best represents their locale.

Mandatory: we had to make the dough from scratch (no ready made won ton wrapper etc. allowed!) and we also had to make filling from scratch.

Variations allowed: we could choose our filling: sweet or savoury.

Two different recipes were provided. I chose this one, with some variations:

Cottage Cheese Wareneki (pierogi)

Dough

½ cup (125 ml) milk  - I would add some cinnamon or cloves or ginger for sweet version or some herb for savory ones

½ cup (125 ml) whipping cream

3 large egg whites

1 tsp (5 ml) salt

3 cups (450 g) all-purpose flour

Mix flour and salt, add other ingredients, and knead dough until you have a smooth dough.
On a floured surface roll out fairly thin (1/8” or about 3 millimeters), cut into 2” (5 cm) squares, and fill with 1 tsp (5ml) cottage cheese filling.

Filling - Traditional

1 lb (455 g) dry cottage cheese
3 large egg yolks

Salt to taste

Mix well all the ingredients for the filling. Put 1 rounded teaspoon (5 ml) of the filling in each square, fold corners to form a triangle, seal edges well using your fingers or a fork. Cook in salted, boiling water for 5 minutes.

I made some variations to the whole process: I chose the sweet version of the pierogi and made a riccota cheese, dried apricot and chopped walnuts filling. I also added cinnamon sticks, cloves and orange zests to the boiling water in which I'd cooked the pierogis.

If you can’t find dry cottage cheese, simply drain normal cottage cheese by nesting the cottage in a few layers of cheese cloth or a fine sieve over a bowl.

Boiled pierogi can also be fried after boiling for a nice crunchy dumpling and so I did. I got 41 pierogis and fried half of them.

I served the boiled pierogis with a balsamic and wild berries caramel ( no, I didn't make it. Just bought a bottle at the supermarcket.) The fried ones were served with an apricot sauce = apricot jam, water and white wine vinegar, mixed and heated.

I must confess the first time I read the recipe I didn't believe this pierogi thing could be tasty. It remindes me of gnocchi without the sauce. Well I can't say it's the best thing I've ever tasted but it is not the worst either.

I'd like to thank Liz and Anna for this challenge. I had the amazing chance to learn something new to me. And it is always nice.

A little visual help:

Video: How to make varenyky / pierogi (Youtube)
Video: How to make pierogi (About.com)

Também em www.labgastro.blogspot.com

Daring Cooks' Challenge - July 2010 - Nut Butters

Blog-checking lines: The July 2010 Daring Cooks’ Challenge was hosted by Margie of More Please and Natashya of Living in the Kitchen with Puppies. They chose to challenge Daring Cooks to make their own nut butter from scratch, and use the nut butter in a recipe. Their sources include Better with Nut Butter by Cooking Light Magazine, Asian Noodles by Nina Simonds, and Food Network online.

We could choose any nut of our preference. Nuts, cashews, macadamia, pecan, etc. And use this butter, made at home by ourselves, in a savory recipe. I loved the idea!

Although peanut butter is by far the most used one, my idea was to experiment with other nuts, test their flavors and combinations. Moreover, its use in savory recipes, make me very excited. Such mixing is common in Thai food, one of my favorites. Preferred both for the mix of flavors, colors and textures, as well as preferred for cooking. Always involves many ingredients, so many interesting things, like Thai curry paste, chili pepper, coconut milk, peanuts, soy sauce. The great secret of this cuisine is the balance between salty and sweet, sour and spicy.
Anyway, this is NOT the actual challenge.Another time I return to the theme of Thai cuisine.
The challenge. I decided to make four butters (daring or not?). Walnuts, macadamia nuts, cashew nuts and Pará nuts (you may know it by Brazil nuts). According to the site The Daring Kitchen, the best way to do any of these butters is with a food processor. Well, get to work.

In my first attempt, with macadamia, the food processor collapsed. I think it "thought" that after 22 years of faithful work, it deserved a vacation. Nothing else to do except appealing to blender. Hah, ya do not know how complicated it could be! No matter how strong my blender is, it does not work the same way as a processor. Who says it's all the same, does not know either.
The cashew nuts was by far the easiest to work with. Fell into the cup of the apparatus, and turned to dust and in less than two minutes had been "buttered". The Brazil nuts  behaved well, but I had to pour it bit by bit in the blender. Now, walnuts and macadamia ... What a hell.
Finally, among the dead and wounded were all rescued and the whole thing was even fun. Finished with four pots of butter in my hands, still half not knowing what to do with them. I chose a few recipes I've found here and there, all  were originally for peanut butter. I made some adjustments. See the end results of all this:

Nut Butters - as in DK site

•The process for making various types of nut butters is essentially the same. Pour nuts into bowl of food processor. Grind the nuts in the processor until they form a paste or butter. The nuts first turn into powdery or grainy bits, then start to clump and pull away from the side of the bowl, and finally form a paste or butter. The total time required depends on the fat and moisture content of the nuts; grinding time will vary from roughly 1 to 4 minutes (assuming a starting volume of 1 to 2 cups [240 to 480 ml] nuts). Processing times for a variety of nuts are described below.



•You may add oil as desired during grinding to make the nut butter smoother and creamier or to facilitate grinding. Add oil in small increments, by the teaspoon for oily nuts like cashews or by the tablespoon for dryer/harder nuts like almonds. You may use the corresponding nut oil or a neutral vegetable oil like canola.


•The inclusion of salt in the nut butters is optional and to taste. If you make nut butters from salted nuts, peanuts or cashews for example, you will not need additional salt. We recommend making unsalted nut butters for use in the challenge recipes (and other savory recipes) since the recipes call for salt or salty ingredients. You can then adjust the salt to taste. If you are making nut butter for use as a spread, you should add salt according to your preference.


•Roasting the nuts before making nut butters is optional according to your preference. To roast nuts in the oven, preheat oven to 350 degrees F (180 degrees C/Gas Mark 4). Spread nuts in a single layer on a baking sheet or roasting pan. Bake for approximately 10 minutes or until nuts are fragrant and a shade darker in color. Allow nuts to cool before grinding. Roasted nuts will make butter with darker color than raw nuts.


•It’s helpful to keep in mind that the yield of nut butter is about half the original volume of nuts. If you start with 1 cup nuts, you’ll get about ½ cup nut butter.


•The consistency of nut butters varies from thin & soft (almost pourable) to very thick and hard depending on the fat content of the nut. (See links below for nutrition info on variety of nuts.) Homemade nut butters will probably not be as smooth as commercial products.


•Homemade nut butters are more perishable than commercial products and should be stored in the refrigerator. The nut butters harden & thicken somewhat upon chilling.
 
Grilled Chicken with Thai Sauce

1kg chicken breast boneless

4  garlic cloves, minced
Juice of half a lemon
Salt

Thai Sauce
1 tbsp ketchup
1 tsp sugar
1 tsp pepper sauce
Juice of half a lemon
1 tbsp fresh ginger, grated
1 tbsp soy sauce
1 tbsp oyster sauce
100ml coconut milk
Half cup of  cashew butter
Chicken stock
Salt
Chopped cilantro
Season the chicken breasts with salt, lemon and garlic. Let marinate for several hours. Grill the chicken in a skillet with minimal oil. Reserve.
Take another pan to heat and gradually add all the dressing ingredients, one by one. Do not believe much in the quantities described in the recipe. As I wrote there in the beginning of this post, the secret of Thai cuisine is the balance of flavors. Taste it, always and continually. None of the ingredients must stands out. As for the chicken stock, add little by little. The final consistency should be smooth, but thick and creamy. When it starts to boil, remove from the heat and then serve over the chicken.
This sauce also goes well with meat. I prepared the chicken for lunch. At dinner, homemade fried burger and served with plenty of sauce. Nobody complained ...

Brazil Nut Pancakes

The picture you see above is the sweet version of it. I made these pancakes with a little sugar and a pinch of salt. They were "neutral" and  I served with tangerine jelly or maple syrup, as well as with butter, cheese and ham. They were very good in both ways.

The original recipe was with peanut butter and I adapted it from here.

1 1 / 4 xic. wheat flour

2 tablespoons sugar

2 1 / 2 teaspoons baking powder

1 / 2 teaspoon salt

2 cups milk

1 egg

1 / 4 cup Brazil nutsbutter

Melted butter, for greasing the pan

Mix all ingredients in a blender and blend for several minutes. Take a frying pan greased with melted butter over medium heat and pour into it 1 / 4 cup of batter each time. Fry until golden. Turn the pancake upside down and repeat the process.

Walnut Butter No Baking Cookies

Well, this No Baking thing didn't work for me. I'll explain later.

1cup brown sugar

1 / 4 cup margarine
3tablespoons powdered milk
4 tablespoons water
1 cup oatmeal
1 cup walnut butter
Chopped walnuts
1 / 2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 / 4 cup chocolate chips

Mix sugar, margarine, powdered milk and water in a saucepan and heat until boiling. Lower heat and simmer for 3-5 minutes, stirring to avoid scorching. Remove from heat and stir in the oatmeal,walnut butter, chopped walnuts, vanilla and chocolate chips. Drop by spoonfuls onto a flat surface as pan lids. Let sit for about 10 minutes to set. 

According to the original recipe (here), it was enough. Cookies would dry and cool naturally. There was a warning: in very hot days they might not set as well. Well, the day was anything but warm. Brazilian standards, it was even chilly. But they don't set all. I then decided to bake (180°C) for several minutes, until golden. It worked. I liked it.

Macadamia Butter Ice Cream

This is old! Very old. Long ago, my mother, who is not much a fan of peanut butter, gave me a promotional booklet of a comercial brand of peanut butter with several recipes. It must have been published some 40 years.

2 egg yolks
300g heavy cream
1 / 2 cup sugar
1 / 2 cup  macadamia butter
Beat the egg yolks with a mixer. Add remaining ingredients and keep beating. Place the bowl in the freezer. When the edges begin to freeze, quickly beat it with the mixer again and return to freezer. Repeat the procedure until all the ice cream is firm but not hard. Cover the bowl well and keep in the freezer.
I served ice cream with walnut cookies. Wow!

Thanks to Margie and Natashya. I've enjoyed this challenge a lot. This was one of the best ones.

Também no Laboratório Gastronômico