With lovely fragrant lilac
I made a few "green" items in my kitchen recently:
Monday, May 23, 2011
May happenings
The month of May has come and is passing by, bringing sunshine, thunderstorms, new growth and much needed greenery to Minnesota.
This is how the mulberry tree looked like 2 weeks ago:
... here it is today
With lovely fragrant lilac
The microgreens are growing
I made a few "green" items in my kitchen recently:
Spinach lasagna with Bolognese cream sauce (I followed Marcella Hazan's recipe for a pillowy, delightful 7-layer lasagna that is unlike the 'typical' chunky meat-and-Mozzarella-and-Parmesan one)...
...and lemon-thyme-lavender cookies
With lovely fragrant lilac
I made a few "green" items in my kitchen recently:
Saturday, January 29, 2011
The thing about salt
I have been reminded so many times of how salt does wonder in bringing out the flavor of other foods.
However, don't put salt and yeast together when making bread dough as the salt will inhibits the working of yeast. Mix the salt and flour together, then add them to the yeast mixture.
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| A visible dusting of coarse salt on top of this focaccia compliments the fragrant rosemary and the nutty olive oil |
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| A more generous use of salt in the batter and a dusting of sea salt on top give these chocolate chip cookies a unique taste |
What I have been making at culinary school
It's already one month into 2011. It's time for me to be more present here on this blog.
To start, some pictures to share with you what I have been working on at school, in my Intro to Baking class.
It has been wonderful baking and soaking in fresh bread scent no matter how cold or dreary it is outside.
To start, some pictures to share with you what I have been working on at school, in my Intro to Baking class.
It has been wonderful baking and soaking in fresh bread scent no matter how cold or dreary it is outside.
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| White Sandwich Bread |
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| Kaiser Rolls |
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| Dinner Rolls |
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| Potato Herb Cheddar Rolls |
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| Pilgrim Bread |
Thursday, September 23, 2010
Summer into fall: fruit desserts
Lately, I have been experimenting with some new dessert recipes using fruit. Summer and fall have been offering beautiful, delicious fruit that I cannot resist touching, smelling, eating and cooking with them. I guess my childhood's habit of having fresh, seasonal fruit for desserts in Vietnam is another reason that I am drawn to fruit. The three desserts that I have made are not too sugary nor heavy (I am not a sweet tooth person), but just sweet enough to close the meal.
1. A late summer dessert with stone fruit: Peach and Plum Tart by Eric Ripert in his book "A return to cooking"
For this dessert, I made a sort of peach preserve by cooking peach slices, some butter and a little sugar over medium-low heat until it was jam-like, which took about 45 minutes. As this preserve cooled down, I put a sheet of thawed store-bought puff pastry on a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper. Using a fork, I gently poked some holes on sheet so that it would not puff up in the oven. Then I spread the peach preserve on top, followed by thin slices of plums. (In his recipe, Eric Ripert suggested making small individual round tarts on which he arranged plum slices in an overlapping circular pattern. I didn't want to cut up my sheet of puff pastry into circles and thus wasting some dough edges, so I just used the whole sheet like a gallette.) After brushing the plum with some melted butter and sprinkling a couple of tablespoons of sugar, I baked the tart in the oven at 400F for about 20-25 minutes. The result was a beautiful, shiny, caramelized tart that smelled tangy like peaches and plum.
(I often eyeball the ingredients without strict measurement, which works well for this tart. If you have any left over peach preserve, you can keep it in the fridge for a few days, add it to another fruit pie or turn-over that you make, or eat it like jam on a piece of toast. Leftover plums? Eat them up or use them to make this awesome plum salsa. )
2. Poached Pears in Red Wine and Fall Spice, based on a recipe in Anthony Bourdain's "Les Halles Cookbook"
This recipe made me realize how easy it can be to transform pears into a dessert of much warmth and complexity. I stirred together a bottle of red wine (sweet kinds are okay, since you'd want to have some sweetness in this dessert anyway), two tablespoons of sugar, 4-5 whole peppercorns, 3 whole cloves, 1 cinnamon stick, 3 whole star anise pieces and a slight squeeze of lemon juice. I cooked this mixture over medium heat to dissolve all the sugar, then added halved peeled and cored pears. (Depending on how wide your pot is and how many servings you need, you can adjust the amount of pears, wine and spices used. I used four pears and a whole bottle of wine (750ml), which was plenty of poaching liquid.) I kept the pot covered and simmered for about 20 minutes, then gently turned the pears and let them simmer for another 20. You can serve the pear warm as is, with a little wine sauce, or you can serve it at room temperature, with some sauce and a scoop of vanilla ice cream drizzled with chocolate ganache. Each bite will warm your heart, I promise!
I like this recipe because it is so easy and so good. It also leaves room for tweaking too. You can certainly improvise on what spices to use. Next time, I might try using some fresh ginger and orange zest in the poaching liquid.
A note about the choice of pear: I'd suggest you use ripe but firmer pears since they do become quite tender and delicate as they are poached. You would not want to deal with an over-ripe pear that will fall apart in the pot.
3. The easiest apple to accompany ice cream: Apple Cinnamon Rings
The recipe for this dessert is here. It took me 15 minutes to make, using our powerful new smart Breville toaster oven with a broil function. I'm sure a conventional broiler would also take little time. These apple rings are simple but perfect to jazz up vanilla ice cream on a cooler week night.
Stay warm and enjoy the change of seasons!
1. A late summer dessert with stone fruit: Peach and Plum Tart by Eric Ripert in his book "A return to cooking"
For this dessert, I made a sort of peach preserve by cooking peach slices, some butter and a little sugar over medium-low heat until it was jam-like, which took about 45 minutes. As this preserve cooled down, I put a sheet of thawed store-bought puff pastry on a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper. Using a fork, I gently poked some holes on sheet so that it would not puff up in the oven. Then I spread the peach preserve on top, followed by thin slices of plums. (In his recipe, Eric Ripert suggested making small individual round tarts on which he arranged plum slices in an overlapping circular pattern. I didn't want to cut up my sheet of puff pastry into circles and thus wasting some dough edges, so I just used the whole sheet like a gallette.) After brushing the plum with some melted butter and sprinkling a couple of tablespoons of sugar, I baked the tart in the oven at 400F for about 20-25 minutes. The result was a beautiful, shiny, caramelized tart that smelled tangy like peaches and plum.
(I often eyeball the ingredients without strict measurement, which works well for this tart. If you have any left over peach preserve, you can keep it in the fridge for a few days, add it to another fruit pie or turn-over that you make, or eat it like jam on a piece of toast. Leftover plums? Eat them up or use them to make this awesome plum salsa. )
2. Poached Pears in Red Wine and Fall Spice, based on a recipe in Anthony Bourdain's "Les Halles Cookbook"
This recipe made me realize how easy it can be to transform pears into a dessert of much warmth and complexity. I stirred together a bottle of red wine (sweet kinds are okay, since you'd want to have some sweetness in this dessert anyway), two tablespoons of sugar, 4-5 whole peppercorns, 3 whole cloves, 1 cinnamon stick, 3 whole star anise pieces and a slight squeeze of lemon juice. I cooked this mixture over medium heat to dissolve all the sugar, then added halved peeled and cored pears. (Depending on how wide your pot is and how many servings you need, you can adjust the amount of pears, wine and spices used. I used four pears and a whole bottle of wine (750ml), which was plenty of poaching liquid.) I kept the pot covered and simmered for about 20 minutes, then gently turned the pears and let them simmer for another 20. You can serve the pear warm as is, with a little wine sauce, or you can serve it at room temperature, with some sauce and a scoop of vanilla ice cream drizzled with chocolate ganache. Each bite will warm your heart, I promise!
I like this recipe because it is so easy and so good. It also leaves room for tweaking too. You can certainly improvise on what spices to use. Next time, I might try using some fresh ginger and orange zest in the poaching liquid.
A note about the choice of pear: I'd suggest you use ripe but firmer pears since they do become quite tender and delicate as they are poached. You would not want to deal with an over-ripe pear that will fall apart in the pot.
3. The easiest apple to accompany ice cream: Apple Cinnamon Rings
The recipe for this dessert is here. It took me 15 minutes to make, using our powerful new smart Breville toaster oven with a broil function. I'm sure a conventional broiler would also take little time. These apple rings are simple but perfect to jazz up vanilla ice cream on a cooler week night.
Stay warm and enjoy the change of seasons!
Monday, August 16, 2010
Hues of summer
Mixed berry jam: blue, red, crimson, black
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| Berries (and a little bit of rhubarb) soaking in sugar and lemon juice |
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| Jammin' and thickening on the stove |
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| Ready to be part of a berry briache braid later this weekend |
Poached salmon with Grandma's leeks and tomatoes: green, red, orange, yellow, white, black
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| Indian Trail Farm leeks... |
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| ...topped with Indian Trail Farm juicy tomatoes... |
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| ...topped with Coho salmon... |
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| ...sprinkled with olives, thyme, salt, pepper ~ ready to be baked |
Sunday, June 27, 2010
Time to catch up, and make granola
It has been a while since I posted anything here. I apologize. Just in case you are wondering what has been cooking in my kitchen - quite a lot. And outside of my kitchen too.
I started culinary school at the beginning of May - no actual cooking was involved but I learned a lot about safety, sanitation and menu design. At the same time, I started learning how to make butter cream frosting for cupcakes at a local pasty shop. Butter cream frosting flavored with fresh seasonal local goodness (like strawberries and rhubarb) is a beautiful thing. Creamy yet light, and just sweet enough on the taste buds to transport you to wherever your gustatory memories may take you. I really like the way this kind of frosting tastes. And I am learning how to judge when a frosting is perfectly prepared, by the way it looks and the way it feels at the stir of a spatula.
On the home front, here are pictures of the granola I made minutes ago (while watching No Reservations episode on Indonesia.) Granola is very easy to make at home. You can tailor its ingredients to your preference, much like making a stir-fry. If you have access to a co-op, you can buy all the ingredients in the bulk area at decent prices. For the most recent batch, I used regular oats, coconut flakes, craisins, sliced almonds, sunflower seeds, some Hope butter, ground cinnamon, ground ginger, brown sugar, local honey and a pinch of salt. I mixed all the ingredients together, spread a thin layer on a cookie sheet and baked in the oven at 350F for about 10 minutes. (You may want to turn the cookie sheet after 5 minutes and stir the mixture to ensure even browning.)
I'm excited to have this granola around, especially now that it is berry season. A bowl of granola with fresh strawberries or raspberries, and some milk or home-made yogurt (more on this in another post) is a breakfast of champion.
I hope you are enjoying the beginning of a bountiful harvest season!
I started culinary school at the beginning of May - no actual cooking was involved but I learned a lot about safety, sanitation and menu design. At the same time, I started learning how to make butter cream frosting for cupcakes at a local pasty shop. Butter cream frosting flavored with fresh seasonal local goodness (like strawberries and rhubarb) is a beautiful thing. Creamy yet light, and just sweet enough on the taste buds to transport you to wherever your gustatory memories may take you. I really like the way this kind of frosting tastes. And I am learning how to judge when a frosting is perfectly prepared, by the way it looks and the way it feels at the stir of a spatula.
On the home front, here are pictures of the granola I made minutes ago (while watching No Reservations episode on Indonesia.) Granola is very easy to make at home. You can tailor its ingredients to your preference, much like making a stir-fry. If you have access to a co-op, you can buy all the ingredients in the bulk area at decent prices. For the most recent batch, I used regular oats, coconut flakes, craisins, sliced almonds, sunflower seeds, some Hope butter, ground cinnamon, ground ginger, brown sugar, local honey and a pinch of salt. I mixed all the ingredients together, spread a thin layer on a cookie sheet and baked in the oven at 350F for about 10 minutes. (You may want to turn the cookie sheet after 5 minutes and stir the mixture to ensure even browning.)
I'm excited to have this granola around, especially now that it is berry season. A bowl of granola with fresh strawberries or raspberries, and some milk or home-made yogurt (more on this in another post) is a breakfast of champion.
I hope you are enjoying the beginning of a bountiful harvest season!
Friday, March 26, 2010
Spring learning
Spring has been casting its magical touch all around here. Besides the more frequent and warmer sunshine, I noticed the other day while raking the yard purple crocus flowers, ruby rhubarb sprout, reddish bleeding heart frills and new leaves on the iris patch.
Colors in nature make me happy. So did making my first Boeuf Bourguignon a la Julia Child! Yes, I made it this morning following her recipe in The Way to Cook. I am still high on the fragrance of that wine-soaked braise :-) This dish is kind of a splurge for me, but it is so worth it for a special dinner with some dear friends.
A few things I learned while making Boeuf Bourguignon:
- Julia's technique of sauteing mushroom is right on: use butter in a good skillet (I used my 10-in cast iron skillet), cook on high heat, don't crown the mushrooms and shake the pan while cooking. What turned out was excellent browned plum quarters of mushrooms with the moisture still retained inside instead of being sucked out like when we cook mushroom on lower heat.
- Julia's tip on drying the pieces of stew beef before browning them is also a good one. Before browning them, I placed the meat in between 2 sheets of paper towel and gave them a little squeeze to soak up the moisture on the surface. The meat browned nicely and easily afterward.
I can't wait to share this dish with my friends this evening. Now it's time for me to go enjoy some sunshine outside!
Bon week-end!
PS: I did some calculation and learned that the cost of making this fancy dish is not overwhelming. The total cost for all the ingredients is at $25.00, with the biggest part being for the meat. With a loaf of European-style bread at an additional of $3.00, 5 adults can enjoy this meal together.
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