Frosted Deception

A number of people have asked me if this blog was inspired by the movie Julie &Julia, to which I say an emphatic "No!" because I haven't even seen that movie for starters and I'm not exclusive to just one cookbook.  However, that said, if I were to pick a cookbook to follow, it might just be the one I was using last night titled "Chocolate: Cooking with the world's best ingredient."

I was inspired, as usual, by a chocolate craving attack, and so I started flipping through my books looking for something a little more creative than my usual brownies.  As I drooled over the different recipes in "Chocolate," I started cursing myself for not having the ingredients on hand to make some of the more delicious looking recipes (why on earth don't I have dark chocolate in my pantry??)  But finally, I came across something that seemed just right - Chocolate Fairy Cakes.  This was basically a recipe for chocolate cupcakes, which I've been dying to make for a while, so it sounded like a surefire winner, especially since I actually had all the ingredients on hand and wouldn't even have to fiddle with substitutions.

I began with the icing, because I have a terrible history with making icings so if this didn't work, there would be no point in baking the cupcakes.  Unless the base is cream cheese, I can never get them to come out right so for years I have avoided recipes that called for frosting, unwilling as I am to buy pre-made things.  But, to my surprise, I followed the directions and added the milk slowly, and voila!  Icing appeared in my bowl!  Very exciting, but sadly, this was to be the night's only success...

Next, I started melting the chocolate for the cupcakes.  I do this all the time directly in the pan for brownies, but I decided to try this double boiler business since sticking to the recipe worked for the icing, so why not here, too?  But when I attempted this, I was left with a mound of chocolate that simply would not liquefy.  So I decided to go back to the tried and true technique of melting it in the pan, and dropped my two ounces of chocolate into a small pan on low heat.  But just like before, only a mound of mushy chocolate appeared with no liquid in sight.  Finally, it dawned on me - what was different here from my brownie recipe that works like a charm every time?  Butter!  Butter makes everything better!  So I dropped the softened butter that would just be added later anyway into the pot with my chocolate, and voila!  A nice, velvety chocolate sauce.

From there, things continued to get weird - once the batter was assembled (which almost killed my hand mixer in the process - that should have been a sign of bad things to come...) it looked more like a mousse than a cake batter (probably because I melted the butter...).  But, since I had come this far, I decided to press on and bake it anyway to see what came out.  Who knows, maybe I'd get lucky like with the frosting?  And indeed, when they came out of the oven, they looked simply glorious!  Perfectly puffed cupcakes just begging for frosting.

And then I tasted them, or rather, the lack of taste.  How could a book called "Chocolate" steer me so wrong???

Into the trash they went, because we're technically dieting in my house and there's no point in wasting calories on non-delicious chocolate items (a very strange phrase, I know...)  I'm going to look for a better recipe, but I'd definitely take suggestions on how this one might be improved, too.  (Click "read more" to see the recipe.)

In the mean time, it'd be a shame to let the frosting go to waste...

Culture or copyright infringement?

Ever since I had the idea for this blog, I've been concerned about copyright infringement issues associated with reposting recipes online.  Although I credit the authors of all of the recipes and try to provide links to where their cookbooks can be purchased, the fact of the matter remains that you can still find some of their hard work for free on my blog.  So with this concern in mind, I'd like your suggestions for how to continue this blog, if it can be continued at all. 

One format I've considered is to just post descriptions of the recipes (perhaps a list of ingredients only without quantities) and pictures and provide an email address for people to request more details on an individual basis.  After all, recipe sharing is such an integral part of our culture, it's hard to imagine that there could really be something wrong with friends sharing a couple of recipes via email. 

Another idea is to privatize this blog so that the contents are not really public per se - it's more like I'm letting you all into my kitchen to peruse my cookbooks, as friends and family normally do, but in this case my cookbooks are a little easier to get to. 

And of course, a final option is to simply close the blog.  I've wondered why I really wanted to start this from the get go - did I think I had free time?  My advisor would certainly disagree...  Just about all my friends and family are great cooks, too, who have their own wealth of wonderful recipes, and really, who doesn't own a copy of The Joy of Cooking these days, which is probably my most used source.  Perhaps a better way to share my love of cooking is to do as I have been doing - keep inviting you all over to help concoct and taste the latest creations from my kitchen in person. 

So if any of you have any ideas or suggestions regarding this issue, please let me know!

Teff

I hadn't heard of teff until I took a cooking class at Kripalu a few years ago.  But like quinoa, teff is making a resurgence and can now be found with other baking supplies at Whole Foods. (It's the one that looks suspiciously like hot chocolate mix - probably shouldn't mix those up.)  For those who haven't yet experienced this unique ingredient, teff is a grain native to Ethiopia that has a really interesting nutty, even somewhat chocolaty taste (in my opinion).  It's rather dense, like whole wheat flour, so baking with it requires lots of leavener, and it has a fine, grainy texture in most finished products.

Below is a recipe for teff banana pancakes from my favorite source for breakfast recipes.  I finally found the magic amount of heat to use on my pancakes so that they didn't have a black sear on the outside like they so often do - medium heat, about 2 minutes/side.

Teff banana pancakes
From: Going Wild in the Kitchen by Leslie Cerrier

This recipe yielded 12 pancakes for me (about 2-3 inches across).

2 tbsp flax seeds
2 ripe bananas
1 1/2 cups milk
1 tbsp vanilla
1 tbsp honey
1 tsp vegetable oil
1 1/2 cups teff flour
1 tbsp baking powder
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp salt

Grind the flax seeds in a coffee grinder or blender.  Combine in a blender or food processer everything from the flax seeds to the oil and blend well.  In a bowl, combine the dry ingredients, then add the mixed wet ingredients.  Make pancakes as usual and enjoy!

Fabulous flax seeds

Flax seeds totally saved my butt last night, so I decided to give them their own feature on this little blog. 

I had a wicked cookie craving so I decided to whip up some oatmeal cookies, since they're fast and I had all the ingredients in the house already - or so I thought...  With half the ingredients already mixed together in my sugar-craving haze, I reached for the eggs only to find they were all gone (used up for some home made pasta that didn't go as planned the first time.)  I usually use this handy chart in the back of the Joy of Cooking to find substitutions, but there were no good ideas for eggs, so I was at the mercy of the internet.  This happened once before, and the internet suggested substituting 1 ripe banana/ 2 eggs, but that didn't work very well.  Option #2?  Well, actually this was more like 5 or 6 down on the lists of substitutes I found, but it worked so well!

1 egg = 1 tbsp ground flax seeds + 3 tbsp water; mix until gooey.

The cookies were so moist and delicious, I think I'll use this substituion every time!  Try this in your favorite cookie recipe and you, too, can pretend your cookies are actually super healthy!

Soup du Jour

First, just let me say that soups are not photogenic, at least for me, so there are no pictures to go with this post.

Soups were a staple in our house all winter, and even though the cold weather is finally making its exit (fingers crossed!) we're still continuing to enjoy them.  They're just such an easy way to use up some of the strange vegetables that make their way into my kitchen via Boston Organics (rutabega? kale? cabbage? turnips? what do I do with these?!).  I actually used to be intimidated by making soups, but now I have no idea why because they're just about as easy as it gets - throw everything in a pot and simmer until you want to eat it.  And, soups are versatile - don't have one ingredient?  No problem!  Substitute something similar or leave it out altogether, and the taste is usually not impaired.

Below are two wonderful soup recipes from my soup Bible, Moosewood Restaurant Daily Special.  I don't usually try to tackle dairy soups because I'm afraid of recipes where I have to heat milk or cream, but this one uses cream cheese and is just delicious.


Moroccan Root Vegetable Stew
Grade: A!  I was wary about this combination of spices, but it's so awesome!  A crowd pleaser, and an excellent winter recipe for when root vegetables abound.


Creamy Potato Cabbage Soup
Grade: A-  This is my latest solution to my cabbage problem (the heads just keep coming!) and it's a delightfully creamy soup with great natural flavor.  Would be great with some homemade croutons.

Pecan roll redemption

After my orange bread debacle I wasn't sure what to make of my new Tassajara Bread Book, but yesterday I made some delicious pecan rolls from the book that assured me this one is a gem, indeed.  These rolls are loaded with butter, brown sugar and pecans, but they have whole wheat, so that must counterbalance all of the fat and make them good for you!  Hope you enjoy these as much as we did.  They're very best right out of the oven.

This recipe is easily adapted to making cinnamon rolls, if you're not partial to nuts.  Just stop before the pecans in the filling ingredient list.

Pecan Nut Rolls
From: The Tassajara Bread Book
Grade: A!  These are as good or better than any from a bakery in my opinion, and they don't even take as long to make as most yeast breads.

The recipe listed below makes enough rolls to fill 2 round cake pans - I cut it in half for just the two of us.

Dough:
1 cup lukewarm water
3 1/2 tsp dry yeast
3 tbsp honey or sugar
1/3 cup dry milk (regular milk works just fine, but you may need less water or more flour - or you can omit this all together for a grainier bread texture)
1 egg
1 1/2 cups white or whole wheat flour

3 tbs melted butter or oil
1 1/4 tsp salt
1 cup sifted white or whole wheat flour
1/2 - 3/4 cup additional flour for kneading

Filling:                                                                     
1/4 cup melted butter                                              
3/4 cup brown sugar                                              
1 tbsp cinnamon                                                    
1/2 cup raisins (optional)
Stop here for just cinnamon rolls
1 cup chopped pecans
6 tbsp butter (for lining the pan)
1/2 cup brown sugar (also for the pan)

To prepare the dough, dissolve the yeast in water and stir in the honey, milk, and egg.  Stir in 1 1/2 cups flour (I used 1 cup white and 1/2 cup whole wheat) and beat well (100 strokes if you're going with the Zen method).  Let the dough rise for 30 minutes, covered with a damp cloth (mine did not rise a very noticeable amount).

Fold in the butter, salt, and 1 cup of flour (I used 1/2 white, 1/2 whole wheat).  Try to fold in and not cut through the dough.  Turn the dough out and knead on a floured board using extra flour as needed until the dough is smooth (5-10 minutes).  Let rise another 40 minutes (again, I didn't see much action in this time frame).

Roll the dough out into a square about 1/4 inch thick.  Brush with the melted butter and sprinkle with the brown sugar, cinnamon, raisins (if using), and pecans.  Begin at one edge and tightly roll up the dough like a jelly roll.  Have your cake pan(s) ready, each dotted with 3 tbs butter and 1/4 cup brown sugar.  Cut the log into 1/2-3/4" pieces and place in the cake pan(s).  Let the rolls rise an additional 20-30 minutes.

Preheat the oven to 350F (375 for cinnamon rolls).  Brush the rolls with an egg wash if desired (for cinnamon rolls only).  Bake the rolls for 30 minutes (20-25 for cinnamon rolls).  Cinnamon rolls are done after baking and can be topped with frosting or glaze if desired.  For the pecan rolls, turn them out of the pan to reveal the tops already coated with a nice glaze.  Serve immediately!

Sugar and Spice

Last week I got a new cookbook! (Thanks Mom!) But not just any cookbook, a bread book.  Since we always have ripe bananas in our house, I decided to try making their banana sandwich bread, a nice departure from our usual banana quick bread.  But, I should have known that when something calls for the zest of not 1, but 2 oranges, you're not going to be tasting anything else...  Still, the bread had a wonderful texture and their method of making it is something I'd never tried before (the sponge method?) so I decided it was blog-worthy.  I can't wait to try some of the other tasty recipes (accompanied by equally tasty-looking pictures!) this book has to offer.

Also featured in this post: Gingersnaps!  I made these a while ago when my dad came to visit - my dad is the ultimate chocoholic but can no longer have chocolate.  I was looking for something that 1) did not have chocolate (I have very few recipes that meet this criteria to begin with...); and 2) could be made from ingredients I already had in my kitchen.  And as usual, when I'm trying to meet criterion #2, the Joy of Cooking made itself useful.  Though these gingersnaps were not actually crunchy, they had a great taste and went fast!

Gingersnaps
From: The Joy of Cooking
Grade: A-  Pretty easy to whip up, but could not get them crunchy.  Still, great taste!

This is the original recipe and makes 6 dozen cookies.

3 3/4 cups flour
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
4 tsp ginger
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp ground cloves
1/4 tsp salt
1 1/2 sticks butter
1 2/3 cups sugar
2 eggs
1/2 cup dark molasses
2 tsp fresh lemon juice
1/4 tsp orange or lemon zest

Combine dry ingredients.  Beat together sugar and butter, then add remaining wet ingredients.  Stir in the flour intil smooth.  Roll small 1" dough balls and place onto a greased cookie sheet.  Flatten the tops slightly.  Bake at 350F for 10-13 minutes.


Whole Wheat Orange Spice Bread (or "lightly spiced" Banana Sandwich Bread)
From: The Tassajara Bread Book
Grade: A- if you want an orange bread, C+ if you were hoping to taste any banana...  But a wonderful texture!


Caution: This recipe makes 2 loaves, something I always forget to check when making bread and before I know it, I'm elbow deep in way too much dough to handle.  So, I'd highly recommend cutting this in half.  Also, I have an extra loaf of this in my freezer if you want to save yourself the trouble...

Pretty on the Inside

The title for this post comes from a song by one of our favorite bands, Ceann.  The dishes in this post might not look like they're worth your time (I'm a cook, not a photographer...) but they are delicious!  The first is a favorite from my childhood, despite the fact that it contains mushrooms, and the second is one that, apparently, was part of everybody else's childhood but I've never had before.


Mom's Beef Stroganoff
Adapted from: My mom's recipe
Grade: A!  Easy as any pasta sauce, but with a wonderful velvety texture.  Perfect comfort food.

Stuffed Cabbage Rolls
Adapted from: The Joy of Cooking
Grade: B+  Surprisingly good flavor, but a little labor intensive.

Mom's Beef Stroganoff

3/4 lb white button mushrooms, sliced
3/4 minced onion
3 tbsp butter
1 lb ground beef
1 can (10.5 oz) condensed beef broth (I didn't have this on hand so I disolved a cube of chicken bullion in 10 oz water)
2 tbs ketchup
1 clove garlic, minced
1 1/4 tsp salt
3 tbsp flour
1 cup sour cream (I also didn't have this on hand - instead, used 3/4 cup + 2tbsp plain yogurt + 3 tbsp butter + pinch of sugar to taste)

Sautee the mushrooms, onion, and 3tbsp butter on medium heat until onions are translucent and mushrooms are soft.  Remove and set aside.  Brown the meat and drain the fat, then add in garlic, salt, ketchup and 2/3 of the broth and simmer covered for 15 minutes (medium heat or so).  In a small bowl, blend the remaining broth with the flour (add one tbsp at a time, stirring constantly to keep a smooth texture).  Add the flour/broth mixture, as well as the cooked onions and mushrooms, to the pan and cook on medium high heat (boiling) for 2 minutes (I found I only needed about 45sec-1 min), stirring constantly.  Stir in the sour cream (or yogurt, butter and sugar).  This was always served over egg noodles in my house, but I didn't have those either so it went onto regular spaghetti.  Scrumptious!!



Stuffed Cabbage Rolls
We got a head of Savoy cabbage in our Boston Organics box last week and I didn't know what the heck to do with it, since neither of us really like cabbage.  But we both loved this dish!  Although, next time I make this, I'm not going to bother peeling off all those leaves, but just do what they did on Iron Chef tonight, and stuff the entire cabbage head!

For the cabbage leaves:

16 quarts water
1 1/2 tbsp salt
1 head Savoy cabbage

For the filling:
1 lb ground beef
1 egg
1/2 cup bread crumbs
1/2 cup white rice (I only had brown)
1/2 cup water
1 carrot, peeled and grated
1 onion, finely chopped
1 clove garlic, minced (oh please, we never use just 1 - 3 at least!)
salt and ground pepper

For the sauce:
3 tbsp vegetable oil
1 medium onion, chopped
1/2 cup dry white wine (always Pinot Grigio at my house)
2 cans diced tomatoes
1 cup water
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
8 gingersnaps (I used a pinch of ginger and some sugar)
juice from 1 lemon
2 chunks sour salt (okay, I don't even know what this is so I obviously didn't have it on hand, but the cookbook says it's citric acid so I just put in extra lemon juice).

Bring the water and salt to a boil.  Cut the core out of the cabbage (don't cut the cabbage in half to do this like I did!  You end up with smaller leaves to stuff) and place the head in the boiling water, stem sides of the leaves down.  Boil ~5 minutes, then remove the outer leaves.  Repeat this until you get most of the good leaves, then soften the remaining cabbage for use in the sauce.  I laid the leaves out on a hand towel to dry/cool, and you're also supposed to cut out the spine - I manged this for some, but ended up losing a few leaves...

Mix the filling ingredients in a bowl and combine with your hands - it's the only way for meatball-type fillings, in my opinion.  Spoon about 1tbsp of filling into the base of a leaf, fold the right side of the lef over, roll up, then fold the left side of the leaf in.  That's about as well as I can describe it because I didn't really get it myself and my rolls weren't too much to marvel at...

Chop up the remaining cabbage and heat it with the oil and onion in a pot.  Cook over medium heat until golden-brown, then add the wine.  Simmer on low heat for 5 minutes and add the rest of the sauce ingredients.  Bring the sauce to a boil, then add the rolls seam side down.  Add water as needed to cover the rolls.  Cover and simmer for 1 1/2 hours on med-low heat, shaking the pan every 30 minutes to prevent sticking.

The good thing about this recipe is it made a lot of rolls, so we had dinner and lunches for a few days from all our efforts.