Baker's Theory

Sweet Corn Risotto

December 17, 2020 by Alex

Risotto is one of my favorite foods… I am part Filipino, so I grew up enjoying rice for three meals a day! And by enjoy, I mean my grandparents continued shoveling it on to my plate after I’d insisted I was full three servings ago.

A lot of countries have their version of risotto. The Filipino version is called lugaw. In China, they have congee. In the U.S., we have creamy chicken and rice. A few years ago, I went through a savory breakfast porridge phase. Maybe that should make a comeback. I bet it’s a thing in Scotland.

Anyway, the thing about risotto is you have to be patient with it. It’s a high-maintenance dish that requires frequent stirring for 45 minutes while eyeing the liquid level, adding a cup of wine or broth at a time when needed.

But the reward is high, I can promise you. It is creamy. Savory. Buttery. Tangy. And with a little crunch from toasted pine nuts, it’s the rice dish of your dreams.

What’s really nice about it, though, is you can flavor it any way you want. Plain risotto cooked in wine and chicken broth can be tossed with butter and parmesan or creamed garlicy peas and prosciutto just the same. Simple or complex. Cracked pepper or truffle-topped. Mushroom or asparagus. However you dress it, inhale it immediately after.

If you’re looking for a shortcut, cook your risotto in a pressure cooker or rice cooker. My friend Lauren uses a recipe where she slow cooks it in the oven. (I’ll have to inquire further on this…) The ratio depends on the type of rice you use, but for the classic risotto rice called arborrio rice, it’s about 1 cup of rice to 4 cups of liquid. If you’re using jasmine, it’s a bit less, about 1 cup of rice to 2.5 cups of liquid. It’s not the traditional way, but I’ve done the shortcut method in many a pinch and it’s just as tasty, so who cares if you did it the “correct” way?

For the purist, though, here’s the gist of it. Fry your alum (garlic, onion, shallot, leek, etc.) of choice in hot butter or extra virgin olive oil. Add in the rice and toss it around with a wooden spoon. Once the rice is a light golden brown, add one cup of dry white wine. It’ll bubble and turn a bit syrupy after a couple of minutes. Once almost all of the wine has evaporated, add another cup of wine, then two cups of chicken broth, waiting between each cup for the liquid to reduce by about 75%. Lower the heat, add in butter, grated parmesan cheese, and cream, or any other addition as you see fit. Then generously shovel it in to your gracious mouth.

Sweet Corn Risotto

Ingredients

2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
1 leek, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup arborrio rice
2 cups dry white wine
2 cups chicken broth

1/2 onion, chopped
1 can of corn (frozen or fresh are good too!!)
1 tbsp butter + 1 tbsp bacon fat + 1 tbsp EVOO (2 tbsp of butter is also fine if you don’t have bacon fat)
1 cup half and half
1/2 tsp ground mustard
1/4 tsp onion salt
1/2 tsp garlic powder
1/2 tsp sugar

1/3 cup freshly grated parmesan
1 tbsp fresh parsley, chopped
1/4 cup pine nuts, toasted golden brown (~3-4 minutes on broil)

Process

In a large non-stick skillet on medium heat, sautee leek and garlic in olive oil. Once onion is translucent, add salt and pour in rice. Stir, coating the rice in a bit of oil. Stir occasionally, and once the rice has turned a light golden brown, pour in the first cup of wine. Allow the wine to absorb into the rice and is almost completely evaporated. Then add the next cup of wine and chicken broth in a similar manner: one cup at a time and waiting until it is almost evaporated.

While you are between adding cups of liquid to your rice, melt butter, bacon fat, and olive oil in a medium-sized sauce pot on high heat. Add onion, cooking until translucent. Add corn and all of the spices and sugar. When the corn has taken on a golden yellow color, pour in the half and half and reduce the heat to low. Bring it to a simmer (do not boil!!) and use a hand mixer to puree it. Stir in the parmesan cheese, using a whisk to combine the parmesan has melted completely.

Back to the risotto pan, once you have added your final cup of chicken broth to your rice and the liquid has reduced almost entirely, you can add in the corn. (If you aren’t ready to add the corn yet, change the heat to the lowest setting on your stove and stir occasionally so it doesn’t burn.) Combine completely and remove from heat immediately. Serve in bowls and top with parsley and toasted pine nuts.

PUTZY – Episode 2: Le Croissant

December 16, 2020 by Alex

Hello again. I’m back on le YouTube with another non-15-minute, non-quick-and-easy, non-health-conscious recipe.

It took way longer than I had hoped, but it’s finally here! PUTZY – Episode 2: Le Croissant! Video editing a 20 minute video takes me about 50 hours! Sadly, I don’t do food blogging full-time, so spreading out video editing over five weeks is where I am at now.

I was really happy with my first PUTZY video on making fresh pasta, but I got some feedback that it was too rambling and not helpful. It spurred an identity crisis, I think, and that contributed to me neurotically editing the next video so it is more informative. Honestly, I’m not really thrilled with it because I thought the rambling rapport was what made it fun! Alas, I still haven’t figured it all out just yet. Sorry if you hate it. I also did a blog post on how to make croissants if you’re more of a skimmer than a watcher!

In other news, I have decided we will do something Christmas-y each of the 12 days before Christmas. Monday, I sent out my Baker’s Boxes Part II:

These included coffee toffee with peanuts, more sugar cookie bars, marshmallows, shortbread, walnut Russian teacakes, and Italian Reeses cups. I also added chocolate chunk cookies and chocolate peppermint “brookies,” which are brownie cookies. It was stressful to hit the deadline, but thankfully I had help.

Jim helped me bake all of the goodies over the weekend, thank goodness. Jane must have passed on a baking gene to him because he’s a NATURAL!!

We also worked on some Christmas music on Monday! Music is how Jim and I originally became friends. He plays the piano wonderfully, and I do Bing Crosby impersonations. Lately, our project has been an old Christmas song sung by Kate Smith called Christmas Eve in My Hometown.

Yesterday we did some Christmas shopping and present wrapping! Today we are going to bundle up and drive or walk around our neighborhoods to ogle everyone’s Christmas lights. Do you have any other Christmas-activities we can do?? Hot chocolate is also on the list!

We have been crazy busy lately between the Baker’s Boxes, Christmas stuff, and work! However I did manage to make some homemade pizza. ,

Italian BBQ Chicken

When I need to make chicken in a pinch, I either use my cast iron skillet and grill it in the oven, or I slice it thinly–almost julienned–add some quick spices and sauces to it, and pan fry it.

This one got topped on a pizza with caramelized onions and grilled bell peppers, but I could see this going on a salad or pasta quite nicely, too!

It’s really easy after you julienne the chicken. I add the spices and sauces directly to the chicken on the cutting board and toss it with my hands before throwing it in some hot oil.

I just used one chicken breast here for the pizza, and that gave us four servings, but adjust for your own quantity needs!

Ingredients

1 chicken breast, about 1/3-1/2 lb
1 tsp sugar
2 tsp red wine vinegar
Dash of Worcestershire sauce
Dash of soy sauce
1/4 tsp ground mustard
Dash of paprika
Pinch of salt
Oil, for frying

Process

Julienne chicken into 1/4″ thick slices. You can make the slices about 2″ long. On the cutting board that you cut the chicken on, add the spices directly onto the chicken. Add the sugar, Worcestershire, soy sauce, ground mustard, paprika, and salt. Mix it together with your hands briefly so the pieces are evenly coated.

Heat a large non-stick skillet on medium high heat with enough oil to almost cover the bottom of the pan. (If your pan is 10″ in diameter, put enough oil to cover 8″ in diameter.) When the oil is very hot and shimmering, drop in all of the chicken as evenly as possible. Allow it to sear for a minute before tossing around the pan with a wooden spoon. Cook for about 5-6 minutes, or until no longer pink in the middle. You should have a nice crust on at least one side of each piece of chicken.

Baker’s Boxes

December 8, 2020 by Alex

If Christmas cookie charcuterie isn’t a thing already, I’ll be glad to make it so. Call it the holiday spirit (I call it a serious baking addiction, actually,) but something possessed me to put together little Christmas tins of homemade cookies and candies over the course of 36 hours and ding dong ditch them to my friends and family near by. (I’m also starting to mail some out to friends and family not so near by!)

I feel like I have completed a serious baking challenge after making all of these treats, and I’m gearing up for round two soon!

Here was the menu for this batch (which is not indicative of the next batch…).

“Wrapped Presents” – Sugar Cookie Bars (the red and green ones) which taste like the big, store-bought cookies you bring to school when it’s your turn to bring a snack. (Unless people don’t bring cookies to school anymore and I’m showing my age because we’re supposed to encourage carrots instead of sugar?)

“Snowballs” – Russian Tea Cakes (the white cookies dusted in powdered sugar) which are actually an eastern European version of shortbread. You substitute half of the flour with almond meal or some kind of ground up nut.

“Tree Stumps” – Italian Reese’s Cups. Used a very putzy method to make my own hazelnut paste and used that instead of peanut butter for the filling.

“Nut (space) Crackers” – Peanut Butter and Chocolate Chunk Cookies. Like chewy chocolate chip but a little different.

“Yule Log” – Homemade Snickers Bar (wrapped in foil or half eaten on top of the one still wrapped in foil…). Picked up candy bar molds at Michaels! I’ve also been learning a lot about candy making and whipped up a nougat and caramel to wrap around salted peanuts before coating it in dark chocolate.

“Stocking Stuffers” – Salted Caramel. Honestly wasn’t thrilled with any recipe I have found on caramels because they all require light corn syrup and sweetened condensed milk. Immediately after sending out this batch of Baker’s Boxes, I came up with my own recipe that I’m a lot happier with, and that’s the recipe I’ll share. (Sorry to the first batchers!)

“Lumps of Coal” – Double Chocolate Chip Cookies. I think that speaks for itself. Got this recipe from the NYT and it’s one of Jim’s favorites!

“Icebergs” – Homemade Marshmallows (dyed light aqua in the back right) which are great for dropping in some hot chocolate!

“Ho Ho Hosts” – Scottish Shortbread. They have a cross pricked in them with a fork, and Jim said, “Oh, like a host?” Really buttery and dry. Highly recommend with your morning covfefe.

Sugar Cookie Bars (by The New York Times)

Ingredients

1 cup butter, at room temperature
2 3/4 cup flour
1/2 tsp sea salt
8 oz cream cheese, at room temperature
1 1/2 cups sugar
1 egg
2 tsp vanilla extract

Process

Grease a 9″ x 13″ pan and line it with parchment paper, also greasing the parchment paper. Make sure to have an overhang with the parchment paper (so you can pull the bars out to cut). Beat butter and cream cheese until well blended. Add sugar, then egg and vanilla. Gradually add flour and salt. Bake at 350F for 20-25 minutes. Cool completely, then pick up out of the pan using the overhang.

For frosting – this is enough for half a batch. Double this for two different colors in one batch.

6 tbsp butter
2 cups powdered sugar
1 tbsp milk or cream
1 tsp fresh lemon juice
1 tsp vanilla
1/4 tsp sea salt
3-4 drops food coloring gel

Combine all frosting ingredients in a stand mixer. Color should darken over time. Spread over cooled bars. Use sprinkles liberally, then cut into 1″ squares.

Russian Tea Cakes and Scottish Shortbread

Russian Tea Cakes
Ingredients

1 cup softened butter
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/3 cup powdered sugar, plus more for dusting
1 1/2 cup almond flour or walnuts, ground up finely
2 cups all purpose flour
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp almond extract, or vanilla if using walnuts

Yield: 40-42 cookies

Russian tea cakes are a form of shortbread! You are seeking a dry, biscuit texture. For both tea cakes and Scottish shortbread, you must add the flour slowly!

Process
Cream butter with brown and powdered sugars in a stand mixer. Add salt and extract. Very slowly, add the flours on low speed. If you add it too quickly, the dough will be too crumbly and difficult to work with. Once all flour has been added, roll a tablespoonfull into a ball and place on a parchment-lined baking sheet. Place the balls 2″ apart. Bake at 325F for 20 minutes. Allow to cool slightly, then roll in more powdered sugar, about 2/3 of a cup. You can roll them twice, once when warm, and once when cooled.

Scottish Shortbread
Ingredients

1 cup softened salted butter
1/2 cup brown sugar
2 cups all purpose flour

Yield: 28-30 cookies
Process

Cream butter and brown sugar in a mixer until fluffy. Very slowly, add the flour on low speed. Alternatively incorporate by hand. If you add the flour too quickly, the dough will be too crumbly and difficult to work with. Once all flour has been added, scrape dough out onto a long, rectangular sheet of cling wrap or Press ‘n’ Seal (sticky side facing up). Cover dough with another sheet of cling wrap or Press ‘n’ Seal (same dimension as the bottom sheet). Using a rolling pin, flatten dough to 1/4″ thick. Peel back the wrap to fold dough on itself along the edges, then reapply the wrap and roll further to attain a straight edge. (See diagram.) You should have a relatively straight, rectangular shape of dough. Peel back the top layer of wrap and discard. Using a bench scraper or sharp chef’s knife, Divide the rectangle into smaller, equal rectangles, about 1″ x 2″. Transfer to a parchment-lined baking sheet, placing cookies in 4 rows of 3. Prick with a fork four times in any pattern you like. Bake at 325F for 20-25 minutes. Check the cookies at 18 minutes. Once they form a golden edge at the bottom, they are finished. Cool and then serve

Italian Reese's Cups

Process

Boil water in a medium pot. Add 3 tbsp of baking soda and 1 1/2 cups hazelnuts. Water will turn purplish black. Boil for three minutes and then drain in a colander. Roll the nuts out onto a large tea towel, then place another towel on top. Rub them gently with the top towel to loosen the skins. Transfer the skinless hazelnuts to a parchment-lined baking sheet. Bake at 325F for 12 minutes.

Transfer the nuts to a food processor and process on high until crumbly. Add salt, powdered sugar, and 4 oz semi-sweet chocolate, melted. Process further, slowly drizzling in 3 tbsp of vegetable oil while processing. It should be a thick paste.

In a bowl melt 1 1/2 cups of chocolate chips or melting discs, about 1 minute in the microwave. Using a mini muffin tin lined with mini muffin liners, drop 1/2 tsp of the melted chocolate in to each muffin liner. Work quickly and pick up the muffin tin, making a figure eight motion to spread the chocolate up to the edges.

Using a melon baller or 1/2 tsp measuring spoon, drop the chocolate hazelnut paste into the tins over the melted chocolate. Press gently to flatten. Spoon more melted chocolate over the hazelnut paste to cover it. Place in refrigerator to set, at least 30 minutes.

Ingredients

1 1/2 cups raw hazelnuts
3 tbsp baking soda
4 oz semi-sweet chocolate
3 tbsp vegetable oil
1/4 tsp kosher salt
1/3 cup powdered sugar
1 1/2 cups chocolate chips or melting discs (dark, milk, or white–your choice)

Homemade Snickers Bars

Ingredients

1 1/2 cups melting chocolate or chocolate chips (dark, milk, or white–your choice)
Nougat* see below
Caramel* see below
2/3 cup roasted, salted peanuts

For the nougat
1/2 cup sugar
1/3 cup corn syrup
1/4 cup water
1 egg white
1/8 tsp cream of tartar
Pinch of salt
1/8 cup (2 tbsp) of cocoa powder
1/3 cup creamy peanut butter

For the caramel
1 cup sugar
6 tbsp salted butter, divided into six pieces
1/2 cup heavy whipping cream
1 tsp sea salt

Yield: 10 candy bars
Process

For the nougat
Combine sugar, corn syrup, and water in a heavy-bottomed sauce pot. Place on medium heat and cover, 2 minutes. Remove cover and insert candy thermometer. Bring to hard-ball temperature, 260F.

While waiting for sugar to boil to hard-ball temperature, place egg white and cream of tartar in a mixing bowl. Whisk until stiff peaks form in a stand mixer. You may have to whisk by hand if your stand mixer doesn’t reach the egg white.

Once sugar syrup has reached hard-ball temperature, immediately remove from heat. Turn on stand mixer to low speed, slowly drizzling the hot candy down the side of the bowl into the egg. white mixture. Once all the syrup has been added, change speed to medium-high and whip for 3 minutes. At the second minute add the cocoa powder and salt. After three minutes, remove from stand mixer. Allow to cool slightly, about 10 minutes. Then mix the peanut butter in with a spatula. Transfer the mixture to a gallon-sized Ziplock bag and place in refrigerator for 1-2 hours.

For the caramel
Place sugar in a heavy-bottomed sauce pan on medium heat. Stir with a wooden spoon constantly. Crystals will form and then melt. Once the caramel is a dark amber color, add in butter pieces, stirring until melted. Continue to cook for 2 minutes without stirring. Slowly drizzle in the heavy whipping cream (it will bubble violently!). Boil for one minute, not stirring. Remove from heat and add salt.

For assembly
Place two silicon candy bar molds on a baking sheet. Brush molds with melted chocolate. Be sure to get the sides and corners. Snip the tip of the gallon bag containing the nougat and pipe the nougat into the mold. Scatter 7-9 peanuts in each mold, in and around the nougat. Spoon the caramel over the peanuts and the nougat until the mold is about 90% full. Spoon remaining chocolate over the bars. Place the baking sheet in the refrigerator for at least 30 minutes. Then carefully invert the molds to pop the chocolate bars out. Use a sharp knife to trim excess chocolate and create a straight edge along your bar. Wrap in aluminum foil.

Salted Caramel

Ingredients

1 cup sugar
6 tbsp salted butter
1/2 cup heavy whipping cream
1/2 tsp sea salt
Kosher salt for sprinkling

Process

Prepare a 9″ x 5″ loaf pan by spraying with non-stick cooking spray or rubbing with butter. Line with parchment paper and apply the same spray or butter to that. Make sure to have an overhang of the paper.

Melt sugar in a heavy-bottomed sauce pot on medium heat, using a wooden spoon to stir. Once sugar is a dark, amber color (about 5-10 minutes) add in the butter, stirring until the butter and sugar are melted together completely. Insert a candy thermometer and bring to 280F. Slowly drizzle in the heavy whipping cream. This will cause the temperature to drop. Bring the temperature up to 266F, never stirring. Once the temperature is reached, remove from heat and stir in 1/2 tsp sea salt. Pour into the loaf pan. After 30 minutes, sprinkle kosher salt over the caramel. Transfer to the refrigerator to cool for 1 hour. Lift caramel out of the loaf pan and onto a cutting board. Cut caramels into desired shapes and wrap in wax paper.

Double Chocolate Chip Cookies (by The New York Times)

Yield: 36 cookies
Process

Combine dry ingredients in one bowl. Beat butter and sugars in a stand mixer for five minutes. Add egg and vanilla. Add the dry ingredients until just combined, adding the discs last. Form dough into 1″ cubes and place on parchment-lined baking sheet, 2″ apart. Bake at 350F for 14 minutes.

Ingredients

1 cup flour
3/4 cup cocoa
3/4 tsp kosher salt
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
10 tbsp softened butter
3/4 cup brown sugar
2/3 cup sugar
1 egg + 2 tsp vanilla
2 cups chocolate discs

Homemade Marshmallows (by Alton Brown)

Ingredients

3 packs unflavored gelatin
1 cup ice water, divided
1 1/2 cups sugar
1 cup light corn syrup
1/4 tsp kosher salt
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 cup cornstarch
1/2 cup powdered sugar
non-stick spray

Process

In a stand mixer bowl, bloom gelatin in 1/2 cup of ice water. Attach the whisk attachment. Combine the other 1/2 cup of water with sugar, corn syrup, and salt in a sauce pot. Cover on medium-high heat for 3-4 minutes. Uncover and clip in a candy thermometer to reach 240F (soft ball stage). Remove from heat immediately. Turn the mixer on low and slowly drizzle in the sugar syrup down the side of the bowl. Once all syrup is added, whip on high 12-15 minutes with the whisk attachment. Add in vanilla during the final minute. Mixture will be white and glossy. Spray a 9″ x 13″ pan with non-stick spray and coat the bottom and sides with the cornstarch and powdered sugar. Pour the marshmallow mixture into the pan and cover with more cornstarch and powdered sugar. Allow to set 4-24 hours. When ready to cut, coat knife in powdered sugar and cornstarch. Should be good for up to three weeks.

Chicken Francese

December 1, 2020 by Alex

Hey, friends. It’s been a hot minute! Jim and I road tripped to see my family for a pre-Thanksgiving gathering last week and I spent a lot of time in my mom’s kitchen. She and Jim had to work during our visit, so I was left to amuse myself in the kitchen. (Oh, the horror.) Beef tenderloin, homemade ice cream, a hilarious variety of Christmas cookies, homemade Snickers bars, and slow-cooked shredded carnitas were the orders of the day! I learned a bit about pulling hard candy (which burned my palms and exerted my biceps more than they’re used to) by making a coconut lime “twist,” though, if I’m being honest, they looked more like disgusting Grinch fingers. I’ll try this again soon as I think I’m starting a candy phase.

I also managed to shoot my next PUTZY episode: Croissants! If I ever manage to complete the video editing–which, I’ve found I’m rather neurotic about–it will be available for public viewing on YouTube by next Wednesday, only one month later than promised. Oh well. Delay is preferable to delivering crappy film footage. That’s what Thomas Jefferson always says.

It has been a productive and very fun vacation, but my blogging fell by the wayside a bit. I guess there is such thing as too much fun. When we returned home, we spent Thanksgiving with Jim’s family, and I finally watched Christmas Vacation. I think I’m too daft to get the humor in it? Regardless, I appreciate the official kickoff to THE MOST WONDERFUL TIME OF THE YEAR! Immediately after Thanksgiving, Jim and I bought our first (fresh) Christmas tree, a handsome Fraser fir. Miraculously, we also managed to host the whole family over that same day, after decorating the house for Christmas and grocery shopping for fresh pasta and meatballs. (Well when I put it like that, it doesn’t sound that miraculous, but I can assure you we were amazed at the feat.)

Christmas is the best and I am fully prepared for a cookie-decorating party fit with a hot chocolate bar and caroling through the streets. With that said, I wanted to share with you a very summer-season dish, Chicken Francese. Francese is Italian for “French,” however, Chicken Francese is actually an American-created dish. Since I don’t know how to pronounce “Francese,” and since it doesn’t seem like a very apt name anyway, I think I’ll petition an official rename of this dish to lemon-and-champagne-in-a-butter-sauce chicken because that’s much more pithy.

It’s a very lemon-y dish and will make you pucker! But it’s yummy and fresh, and will give you a taste of summer during the best of winter.

Ingredients

1 lb skinless, boneless chicken breasts, sliced into thin, flat cutlets
1 egg
1 tbsp milk
Salt and pepper
2/3 cup all-purpose flour
2 tbsp grated Parmesan cheese
1/2 tsp garlic powder
1/4 tsp onion salt
2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil plus 1 tbsp butter, for frying

3 tbsp salted butter
1 clove minced garlic
1 cup dry white wine or champagne
Juice of one lemon, plus the zest of half the lemon
1 cup chicken broth
1 tbsp heavy whipping cream
Parsley, chopped for garnish (optional)

1/2 lb cooked angel hair pasta tossed with butter and grated Romano

Process

In a shallow bowl whisk together the egg, milk, salt and pepper. In a gallon-sized Ziploc bag combine flour, 2 tbsp grated Parmesan cheese, garlic powder, and onion salt. Shake to combine.

Dip the flattened chicken cutlets in the egg mixture and then transfer to the flour bag to coat. Once all cutlets are in the flour bag, seal it and shift the chicken pieces around to ensure they are completely dredged in the flour mixture.

In a large skillet, heat olive oil and butter on medium heat until very hot. Arrange chicken in the skillet and cook 4 minutes per side, or until cooked fully, and there’s a browned crust on each plane. When all chicken pieces are cooked, transfer them to a paper-towel lined plate and set aside.

Wipe out the pan with a paper towel and return to medium heat. Melt 3 tbsp salted butter and when it’s hot, add the minced garlic. Sautee until golden and fragrant and then add the wine or champagne. It will bubble as the wine flashes from the high heat. Add the lemon juice and zest and cook and stir until the liquid is syrupy, about 3 minutes. Drizzle in the chicken broth and cook and stir until the liquid is reduced by half. It should be thick and velvety. Last, whisk in the heavy whipping cream.

Add the fried chicken pieces back to the pan and spoon the sauce over them on low heat. Serve immediately by dishing a few pieces of chicken with the sauce over a bed of angel hair pasta. Garnish with parsley.

A short note on cookies...

I also have a small note on shortbread cookies based on how many batches I have made in the last two weeks. If you have trouble with your dough coming together, you can add cream or milk like I noted in my post on chocolate caramel shortbread, but it will not have the desired dry texture of true shortbread cookies. To get that true, dry texture, there is one critical step you must take. After creaming 1 cup of butter with 1/2 cup brown sugar, you have to add 2 cups of flour verrrrrrrrrrrrrrry slowly. If you add it too quickly, you’ll have crumbly dough. I think this happens because the fat globules from the butter get coated with too much flour at once when you dump all the flour in at the same time. If you introduce the flour slowly, there’s more room for it.

In my croissant endeavors, I realized a technique that could cross over into cookies. If you want a straight edge for your cookie dough, roll it with a rolling pin by sandwiching your dough between two sheets of Cling Wrap or Press ‘n’ Seal. This helps to keep your rolling pin clean, ergo, fewer dishes, AND you can use the plastic wrap to fold the dough at the edge into a straight line. I’ll demonstrate this technique in an upcoming video, but send me a comment with any questions!

Chocolate Caramel Shortbread

November 17, 2020 by Alex

Sometimes there are bad days, and for bad days, there is chocolate and caramel. I was so dreading this last weekend because I still hadn’t fully nailed laminating croissants yet and still needed something to upload for my second episode of PUTZY. So at the last minute (not always a great way to start something…) I changed and decided that on Saturday, I would make (and film myself making) a full-on Thanksgiving meal where I got to choose everything on the menu.

I quickly realized that filming myself doing something putzy is also very putzy in itself. Camera angles vary, and it’s not as simple as making each dish individually. For instance, I switch between mashing potatoes and sauteeing breakfast sausage for stuffing. This is good for maximizing kitchen efficiency but not ideal for explaining how to make each piece of the pie.

It was a full day of cooking and I filmed the whole eight hours in little segments at different parts of my kitchen. Afterwards, I selected all the .mov files and deleted them. Good riddance. No one wants to watch chaos unfold.

But the meal was actually really yummy! If I got to pick the Thanksgiving menu it would include…

For me, turkey has way too low of a return on investment. It occupies your oven for around four hours and, in my opinion, roasted poultry just isn’t yummy enough to justify taking up the same amount of time as four bundt cakes.

Filet mignon, on the other hand, barely needs any oven time or seasoning and tastes like a standing ovation.

As for dessert, I have never been huge on pies and I think I missed the pumpkin spice craze. To me, chocolate cake with chocolate ganache and whipped cream is the only celebration-worthy dessert!

Alas, I lost my PUTZY time on Saturday and attempted to demonstrate croissants on Sunday. But by then my energy was gone. Sometimes this happens. I gave myself the grace to mope a bit, then dusted the flour off and picked myself up. I was too much in my head and needed to return to my usual curiosity about food and JUST HAVE FUN! So there is no PUTZY episode planned for tomorrow, but don’t despair. I will be back when I find something marvelously putzy to show you!

And that’s where I’m at now. I have extrapolated my croissant-laminating lessons into biscuits, I’ve eaten a filet mignon that was taller than my stilettos, and I’ve indulged a sudden craving for cookies. Which brings me to…

Chocolate Caramel Shortbread

This is my response to sugar cookies. I am so over those. They don’t taste that good to me! I’d rather give those precious calories to a noble cause like chocolate. From my YouTube searches, some decorations for sugar cookies require a day for the icing to dry! Another low ROI if you ask me.

These chocolate caramel shortbread cookies are one of Jimmy’s favorites. It’s a simple Scottish shortbread cookie painted with a homemade caramel sauce and a little chocolate ganache flair. While I admit that brightly decorated cookies are indeed beautiful, I think there is a rich elegance to decorating in caramel and chocolate hues.

Yield: 12-15 cookies (using 3″ in diameter cookie cutter, cookies are 1/2″ thick)

Ingredients

For the shortbread

1 cup softened, salted butter
1/2 cup brown sugar
2 cups all purpose flour, plus more for rolling
1-2 tbsp heavy whipping cream, as needed

For the caramel (from Sally’s Baking Addiction)

1 cup cane sugar
6 tbsp salted butter at room temperature, sliced into tablespoons
1/2 cup heavy whipping cream
1 tsp kosher salt

For the chocolate ganache

1/2 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips or melting discs
1 tbsp heavy whipping cream

Process

For the shortbread

Cream butter and sugar until soft and fluffy, about 2 minutes. Scrape down the sides of the bowl so it is fully incorporated. On low speed, add in the flour. Dough will be just crumbles. Dump the dough crumbles on to a floured surface and squeeze the crumbles with your hands, compressing them together. If the dough does not come together, add a bit of whipping cream slowly–about a half tablespoon at a time–until it comes together. Flatten to a half inch-thick using a floured rolling pin. Cut the dough with a cookie or biscuit cutter and transfer to a parchment-lined baking sheet. Bake at 325F for 20 minutes. Allow to cool.

For the caramel

In a heavy-bottomed saucepan, melt the sugar on medium heat. Use a wooden spoon or high-heat spatula to stir it as it turns an amber color. Once all of the sugar is melted, add in the butter, one tablespoon at a time. The butter will splatter because it is colder than the sugar. This is normal, but be careful not to get splattered with hot sugar! Stir it with your wooden spoon until the butter and sugar are both melted, about 2 minutes. Slowly drizzle in the heavy whipping cream, continuing to stir as you do so. Allow it to boil for a minute and then remove from heat completely. Stir in the salt and allow to cool slightly so it will thicken more. Can be stored in refrigerator for up to a month! After the cookies have cooled slightly, spoon caramel sauce over the cookies, spreading it generously.

For the chocolate ganache

In a small glass mixing bowl combine chocolate with cream. Microwave in 15-second intervals, stirring between, until melted. Place a quart-sized Ziploc bag in a drinking glass, folding the sides over the lip of the glass. Spoon the chocolate mixture into the bag and seal it. Cut a small hole in one of the bottom corners of the bag. Pipe chocolate designs over the caramel spread on the cookies. Sprinkle with coarse sea salt.

Store cookies on a covered baking sheet on the counter. The caramel and chocolate will stick to the other cookies, so if you’d like to maintain their aesthetic, do not stack or stagger them.

Le Croissant

November 13, 2020 by Alex

Following my PUTZY pasta YouTube debut on Wednesday, I’ve been sweating over the next thing to make. There are so many putzy things, and yet, everyone has their own levels of what’s too much work and what’s an acceptable amount of work. I asked Jim for ideas, and he said everything I make is too much work if he had to make it.

I had been toying with the idea of bread, butter, and jam for the last couple of days. I tested a batch of macarons this morning and read up on the history of chocolate making. I still like all of these ideas–they’re totally putzy!

There was that lovely Halloween morning when Jim and Joe went to the library to vote and I tagged along because the fancy grocery store was within walking distance of the library. I grabbed a bakery croissant and watched the world go by in the market cafe feeling cozy and sophisticated.

It sealed the deal when we had my friend, Maddie, over for dinner last night. Her lovely presence reminded me of the beautiful croissants she had made over the summer during the COVID baking craze. At the time I remember simultaneously giving her kudos and shaking my head. I told her I’d never tried making them because they were, “Way too putzy for me.”

Bingo.

I did a bit of research on croissants and it got a little annoying how exacting people can get with their recipes. I gathered the gist of them and discarded any sort of instruction requiring me to do something weirdly specific, like cut dough into 7.25″ pieces. While I accept that certain comestibles are arduous and time consuming, it brings me joy to reject arbitrary precision. I even throw in extra flour. or salt or butter to be devilish.

I’ve made bread more times than I can count, so making croissant dough was similar enough. You use milk instead of water, and there’s no oil in croissants like there is in bread. The butter you slather over croissant dough supplies all the fat.

The difference came down to the laminating process. Bread just rises and then you bake it. Croissant dough rises, and then you shape it into a rectangle, place a big, flat block of butter on it, fold it like a letter to Santa, flatten that, chill it, and repeat the folding process 3-8 times. The more times you do it, the more flakey layers you are rewarded with. I lost track of how many times I folded this dough, but I’m guessing it was in the 5-6 range.

After the laminating process, you get to cut the dough in half, and then the halves in half, and then those halves in half, and then those halves in half. It yields 16 croissants, thousands of layers, and one very buttery-smelling kitchen.

We couldn’t even speak after we tried the first flakey, crunchy, soft-on-the-inside, slathered-in-more-butter bite. Then we washed it down with some very rich hot chocolate.

I think tomorrow I’ll make two more batches and deliver them to everyone I know. I’m dough-hooked.

Croissant Recipe

Ingredients

1 1/2 cups whole milk at 110F
1/4 cup brown sugar
1 tbsp yeast
3-4 cups all purpose flour
1 tbsp fine sea salt
1 1/2 cups salted butter
1 egg

Process

In a stand mixer bowl combine the warm milk, brown sugar, and yeast. Let it sit for about 10 minutes and it will become foamy and bubbly.

Add 3 cups of flour and salt. Using a dough hook, knead the mixture on the lowest setting until the dough is formed. Add more flour as needed, 1/4 cup at a time. Dough should be slightly sticky but not gooey.

Take dough out of the bowl and place on a lightly floured surface. Knead it with your hands a bit and then place it back in the bowl. Cover it and refrigerate it for an hour.

Lay out a long (20″) sheet of plastic or cling wrap. Remove the wrapping from 3 sticks of butter and place them on the plastic or cling wrap. Place another sheet (the same size as the first) on top of the butter. Using your hands (preferably when your hands are cold) gently press the butter sticks down though the plastic wrap so they mash together. Using a rolling pin, even the surface of the butter so it is a flat rectangle, about 8″ x 14″. Use the rolling pin to get straight sides.

After the dough has chilled for an hour, roll it into a rectangle on a lightly floured surface. The rectangle should be about 10″ x 16″. Place the flattened butter block in the center and fold the dough in a trifold over the butter. Roll this new rectangle out into a flattened 10″ x 16″ rectangle again. Wrap in cling wrap and place on a baking sheet. Return the dough to the refrigerator and allow it to chill for another hour. Repeat the folding process at least three more times, each time allowing the dough to chill for an hour after the fold.

After the folding (also known as laminating) process is complete, using a bench scraper cut the 10″ x 16″ rectangle in half lengthwise and vertically. This will yield four rectangles. Cut each rectangle in half to yield a rough square. Cut the square along the diagonal to get a triangle shape. You will have 16 triangles.

Create a small cut on the narrowest side of your triangle. Then roll the triangle from the narrow side to the tip on the opposite end. Repeat for each croissant, and then place on a parchment-lined baking sheet. Eight croissants per baking sheet. Allow the croissants to rise for 1-2 hours on the pans.

In a small bowl, beat egg lightly. Using a pastry brush, brush the egg onto the risen croissants. This will give the croissants a beautiful golden shine.

Finally, bake at 400F for 12 minutes, then reduce the heat to 375 for 5 minutes. Bake one pan at a time. Rotate the pan after reducing the heat. Cool croissants for 15 minutes on a wire cooling rack before consuming.

PUTZY

November 11, 2020 by Alex

I am so proud to introduce to you my mini show on YouTube: PUTZY. I think I’ve been overloaded on “Dinner in 15-minutes or less!” and “Quick and easy meals!” Apparently those kinds of recipes are short and sweet so that you can focus on what is important. But for me, food is what’s important! I like spending time in my kitchen, and learning about what goes in to my body is a good use of time!

I am going to try (as time allows) to post a new episode once a week on Wednesdays and bring you all the cumbersome, painstaking, arduous, way-too-much work meals you (might?) also be craving. This first episode is all about fresh pasta! It also includes some bonuses like New York Metropolitan grade opera singing and Vito Corleone impersonations. I even do a pro-bono (and thus unsponsored) commercial for Ghirardelli!

Let me know what kinds of putzy stuff you make, too! I’d love to hear about it!

Fresh Pasta

Ingredients

2 cups all purpose flour
2 eggs
1/2 tsp fine sea salt
1/4 cup water

Process

Place flour and salt in a stand mixing bowl. Create a well in the middle. Crack eggs into the well and add water. Using dough hook, knead on stir or speed 1 until dough is soft and elastic, about 10 minutes. Flatten dough (about 1.5″ thick disc) on parchment or wax paper. Chill dough / allow it to rest for 20 minutes in refrigerator.

Once the dough has rested you can divide it into 6-8 equal pieces, using a bench scraper to cut it. Flatten the pieces with your hands to about 1/4″-1/2″ thickness, using flour generously to prevent dough from sticking to your hands. You can also use a rolling pin.

Run a flattened piece through the widest setting of your pasta maker. Add flour to the dough. Then run it through the next, slightly less wide setting. Add flour to dough again. Do this up to the third setting, each time making the dough a little flatter.

Then make a trifold with the dough. Return the pasta maker to the widest setting and feed the pasta dough through the rollers with the trifolds vertical. Continue running the pasta through the rollers up to the third highest setting.

Make another trifold in the opposite direction of the one you did previously. Repeat the previous step up to the fifth or sixth highest setting of your pasta maker. Pasta should be quite thin at this point.

Cut into desired shapes, adding flour to the noodles as you continue so they do not stick to each other. When dough is prepared, boil in heavily salted water for one minute, or until pasta floats to the top of the pot. Serve immediately.

Say, “Cheese!”

November 7, 2020 by Alex

Say brie cheese, in fact. Or chevre, even. Cream cheese is a classic. What makes these cheeses kitchen all-stars is their versatility. They can play in the appetizer, entree, or dessert round.

Brie en croute is a French appetizer that sprinkles a wheel of brie in brown sugar and encloses it in puff pastry. It’s baked until the brown sugar and top of the brie meld into a caramel. Sweet meets salty and creamy and it is delicious.

There is an ice cream shop in Minneapolis called Milkjam Creamery and they make wonderfully unique ice creams like chili mango, lychee pineapple, or black dark chocolate. But their namesake ice cream, The Milkjam, is a combination of caramelized goat’s and cow’s condensed milks.

My maid of honor, Lauren, and her family celebrate Thanksgiving each year with a special dish called Cranberries in the Snow. It is a jam of whole cranberries and pineapples under a “frost” of cream cheese and whipped cream.

Finally, the Vermont Brownie Company is known for beating Bobby Flay with their dark chocolate, chevre-swirled brownies.

Excluding my father-in-law from this declaration, cheese can belong in any dish because it encompasses so many wedges on the flavor wheel.

To use the flavor wheel, first identify the friendly flavors: fat, sweet, and salty. The friendly flavors are spaced between the more adverse flavors: bitter, acidic, and spicy.

Friendly flavors will go with any flavor on the wheel. Adverse flavors will (usually) need to pair with friendly flavors. When you think about the flavors you enjoy together, it makes a lot of sense. Here are some examples:

Sweet and acid work together in a lemon tart or a sweet and sour chicken.

Fat and bitter work together in a dark chocolate souffle, a cheese and wine pairing, or even adding cream to coffee.

Salty and spicy work together in buffalo wings, which also have acidity and means you have two adverse flavors! But the saltiness in the breading creates harmony, as does the creamy (aka fatty) bleu cheese dip you serve them with.

When looking at cheese in terms of the flavor wheel, cheese usually falls into the salty and fatty flavors which makes it extremely versatile. Remember, salty and fatty flavors are friendly, and thus they go with any flavor on the wheel. Cream cheese, bleu cheese, and goat cheese have the added element of acidity.

The goal is not to hit every corner of flavor (alas, it is a wheel…), but to make a relevant combination of flavors.

Desserts, meet Cheese

Cheeses in dessert is not a novel idea. People have paired cheese with sweets for as long as cheese has existed. <<< I made that up. But it could be true!

I wanted to take a deep dive into the complexity that cheese can bring to dessert and build my own bridge between the two. I have already shared the cranberry orange tart last year and the chevre brownies I make are identical to the cream cheese brownies, except that you substitute half of the cream cheese with chevre, you add a small amount of almond extract, and you fold in 1/4 cup of diced fancy cocktail cherries (with their syrup) like Luxardo Cherries.

Brie and caramel work in brie en croute and apples and caramel work as a delicious snack. I picture Caramel as the friend introducing Apple to Brie and the shortbread as the charming setting. If you’re lost, feel free to make the face my brother-in-law, Joe, makes at me often and say, “Oh, my gosh. What are you talking about?” Needless to say, brie, apples, and caramel work together because they combine the most friendly flavors with a little bit of tang.

Apple, caramel, and brie on a shortbread tart

For the shortbread: Combine 1 stick of softened butter with 1 cup of flour, 1/4 cup of sugar, and 1/4 tsp of salt. Press into the bottom of a 9″ tart or cheesecake pan. If you choose a tart pan, press dough into the sides of the pan to get a fluted edge. Bake at 350F for 15 minutes.

For the filling: In a stand mixer combine 4 oz brie, rind removed, 4 oz of sour cream (it’s about a half cup), a pinch of salt, and one egg. Mix it on high until creamy and smooth, and then spread evenly over the slightly cooled shortbread crust. Sprinkle brown sugar over the brie mixture, about 1/3 of a cup. Arrange thinly sliced red and green apples (you will need about half a red apple and half a green apple) on top of the brown sugar. Sprinkle with a little more brown sugar, about a tablespoon, and place in the oven on a baking sheet at 350 for an additional 20 minutes. Sprinkle flakey sea salt over it when it comes bubbling out of the oven. Let it cool at least 20 minutes before cutting into small wedges or squares. Can be refrigerated and reheated.

Chocolate Truffle Ice Cream

I think this is the thing I am most proud of. This is the ice cream to rule all ice creams. (Except premium Mickey ice cream bars. Those are king.) There are classic flavors: bittersweet chocolate truffle and literally milk and honey. But there is also a subtle, slightly acidic twist: chevre cheese. It takes a few hours to make, but almost all of it is inactive, just letting the refrigerator or freezer do the work. Jim, wary of most unconventional things, liked this ice cream, so I give it a picky eater stamp of approval.

Ingredients

4 oz softened cream cheese
3 oz softened goat cheese
2 tbsp sour cream
2 tbsp heavy cream
1/3 cup powdered sugar
1/4 tsp almond extract
Juice from half a lemon
Lemon zest, about 1/2 tsp

1 cup heavy cream
1 cup whole milk
3 egg yolks
1/2 cup sugar
1/4 cup honey

1 scant cup Ghirardelli dark chocolate melting discs
1 tbsp cold heavy cream

Process

In a stand mixer beat cream cheese, goat cheese, and sour cream until smooth. Add the powdered sugar, heavy cream, and almond extract, beating until well incorporated. Last, add the lemon juice and zest. You can do this a day in advance to save time.

In a medium, heavy bottomed pot combine the cheese mixture with 1 cup heavy cream, 1 cup milk, 3 egg yolks, 1/2 cup sugar, and 1/4 cup honey. Whisk until completely homogenous and turn on heat to a medium flame. Whisk continuously until the mixture reaches 135-150F, about 10-15 minutes. Do not boil. Remove from heat and allow to cool for about 10 minutes. Transfer to a sealable container and refrigerate at least 4 hours. 20 minutes prior to using the ice cream machine, place your custard in the freezer.

To make the dark chocolate truffle, melt 1 cup of Ghirardelli melting discs in the microwave or a double boiler. It takes about 30 seconds in the microwave. Then add 1 tablespoon of cold heavy whipping cream to the chocolate. It will immediately begin to turn solid. Incorporate the cream until all of the chocolate is a bit stiff. Transfer the chocolate to a sheet of wax or parchment paper and spread evenly. Cover it with another sheet of wax paper, pressing flat and even. Carefully place in the freezer for at least 10 minutes. Once hardened, cut the truffle into 1/4″ squares and store in a sealable container in the freezer.

Once the custard is ready, use your ice cream maker per its instructions (this usually involves freezing the churning bowl overnight!). I pour the custard into the churning bowl and let it churn for about ten minutes. Then I add in the chocolate truffle and let it churn for another 5-10 minutes. The ice cream should be stiff, a bit more than soft serve, and then you can transfer it to an ice cream container. Freeze it for at least 4 hours before serving.

One Pasta Two Ways

November 2, 2020 by Alex

Pasta is my kryptonite. Pasta, butter, and cheese could sustain me any day of the year. Freshly rolled or dried, I don’t care. I love it all. One of my all time favorite types of pasta is bucatini. It’s like a hollow spaghetti noodle and it provides a tiny tube for more sauce to burrow.

Bucatini is great for making any kind of saucy pasta, but a really good one is macaroni and cheese because it very closely resembles the noodles out of the Kraft blue box when you break up the long noodles into inch-long pieces, and the cheese sauce finds its way into the hollow tubes.

Sometimes it’s hard to decide what kind of sauce to go for on a pasta. Red is tangy and bright and white is creamy and savory. Both have their merits. Today was the kind of day where I really felt the urge to be in the kitchen, so I indulged myself and made (then ate) both.

The tomato sauce–technically a marinara–is by Marcella Hazan, a famous Italian chef known for an incredible bolognese and particular cooking techniques. It’s no-nonsense and you have everything you need in your pantry already! You can easily add meatballs to it if plain sauce is too boring for you.

The cream sauce is a little more fancy and starts off with leeks, then portobello mushrooms, sage, and garlic.

Both pastas are topped with a healthy amount of freshly grated Pecorino Romano cheese.

Marcella Hazan’s Tomato Sauce

Ingredients

1 28 oz can of whole, peeled tomatoes, preferably San Marzano
1 medium onion, peeled and halved
5 tbsp butter
Salt, to taste

Optional additional ingredients:
4 cloves garlic, minced
1 tsp sugar
2-3 dashes cayenne pepper

Process

Place tomatoes, onion halves, and butter in a heavy-bottomed sauce pot. Cook on low and uncovered for 45 minutes. If using optional ingredients, you can add them with the tomatoes. Discard onion and toss with 1/2 lb cooked bucatini pasta and freshly grated Romano cheese.

Mushroom Sage Bucatini

Ingredients

8 oz chopped mushrooms
1 tbsp chopped sage
4 cloves minced garlic
3 tbsp butter
2 leeks, chopped
1/2 tbsp Worcestershire sauce
1/2 lb cooked bucatini pasta
1 cup reserved pasta water
Salt, to taste
Grated Pecorino Romano cheese, as desired

Process

Heat butter in a large skillet on medium. Add leeks and stir until translucent, about 5 minutes. Add in mushrooms, sage, and garlic and increase heat to high. Stir until mushrooms are golden and most of the water from them has evaporated. Add salt, the Worcestershire sauce, and pasta water, cooking until the liquid has reduced by half. Toss with cooked bucatini pasta and freshly grated Romano cheese.

Holiday Practice

October 31, 2020 by Alex

For whatever reason, it suddenly struck me at Trader Joe’s to buy a whole chicken after we came back from Orlando. Maybe it was all of the commercials for Christmas at the Disney resort, or the fact that the hotel merchandise shop switched from Halloween mouse gear to Christmas over our last night there. It could also be that Hallmark has started airing their new Christmas movies already, and watching Mistletoe Secret is a Mistletoe Secret Indulgence of mine… Whatever the reason, I feel Christmasy, cozy, and in pursuit of comfort food and Bing Crosby music.

Chef Samin Nosrat wrote about a simple buttermilk chicken recipe in her book Salt, Fat, Acid, Heat. Three ingredients–a whole chicken, 2 tablespoons of Kosher salt, and 2 cups of buttermilk. Marinate it overnight in a gallon Ziplock bag, let it sit out for an hour before roasting, then bake it for about an hour in a cast iron skillet. It’s zero fuss and yields a very juicy bird. You can also build off of that and add fresh herbs (courtesy of a friend’s garden!), a quartered onion, an orange, or garlic. By the way, does anyone else hate tiny cloves of garlic? Ugh. So hard to smash and chop!

Anyway, this year for the holidays will be tough–Jim and I have to divide the cheer between our families. As much as I love to cook, we will likely be either traveling or not home for the upcoming holidays. However, upon reflection, this is actually somewhat of a relief! I get to practice making fun holiday menus without the pressure of hosting (and the cleanup that goes with it…) And I still get to indulge myself with dishes that are completely my own. Nothing makes me want to pull my hair out more than hearing someone complain, “Oh, so-and-so would never eat that. Just make it plain.” I don’t, or rather, I can’t, just make anything plain. It pains me. If you can make something better, you have an obligation to!

So I whipped up this grand lunch on Monday–the roasted chicken I’d marinated overnight, sour cream and garlic mashed potatoes, and a buttery wheat and sage stuffing. Later I made the accompanying elote Brussels sprouts and corn (Brussels also courtesy of a friend named Lindsey’s garden!). And I asked Jim if he wanted any of this spread for lunch. He replied, “That’s too fancy for lunch. I can only have something that fancy for dinner,” and he himself made a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. More for me, at least.

After taking the meat off of the chicken, I boiled the bones in water to make chicken stock. After soaking lentils in water overnight on Tuesday, I cooked them in the chicken stock for a couple of hours until they were incredibly tender. To it I added a sofrito with rosemary (thank you, Lindsey!!!) cooked in bacon fat and a splash of fresh lemon juice after the lentils had really softened. Pro tip: lentils will never soften if exposed to acid or salt too early on in cooking them. (The same goes for onions, actually, so if you ever try to make something with onions and tomatoes, for example, wait to add the tomatoes until the onions are softened and translucent.)

Finally, we had our Disney Trivia and Halloween party yesterday, also known as Flake Family Fun Night with special guests, Alex and Morgan, who are my old roommates. The BBQ pulled beef was a cinch to make, and it worked perfectly with King’s Hawaiian rolls. Outsourcing the mac and cheese bundt to Jane and the salad to Alex and Morgan was 100% the right thing to do! Don’t you love having reliable people in your life?? They are the best! I also changed the dessert last minute to cream cheese brownies. The night was a success and the costumes were fantastic! I personally loved Morgan’s Disgust from Inside Out costume the most! I also really liked Joe’s Bill Lumbergh! Jim’s older brother, Tom, clinched the award for best costume as Tony Perkis from Disney’s Heavyweights, and now holds the keys to the Hollywood Tower Hotel, while his wife, Angie, led Team Mickey to another victory at Disney trivia! Our home was filled with power couples last night!

It has been a fun and rewarding albeit busy week, and it was such a delightful feeling when I woke up this morning. No honeymoon to plan, no bus to catch to the parks, the trivia game I’d worked on for the last month was finished, and no party to host or improvise apple schnapps for. I slept in and then went to the market for a coffee and croissant while I waited for Jim to finish voting across the street. It was perfectly cozy.

Buttermilk Roasted Chicken by Chef Samin Nosrat (and all the fixings by me!)

Ingredients

1 whole chicken, no giblets
2 cups buttermilk
2 tablespoons kosher salt

Process

Combine salt and buttermilk in a gallon-sized Ziplock bag. Tie the chicken legs together with cooking twine and add the chicken to the bag and seal. Marinate 24 hours or overnight, turning occasionally. Remove from the refrigerator an hour before you plan to cook it. Preheat the oven to 425F. Remove chicken from the bag and shake off excess buttermilk. Sprinkle with additional salt as desired. Place the chicken in a roasting pan on a rack or in a cast iron skillet. Place in the middle of the oven with the legs pointed to the back left. Bake for 25 minutes. You will hear it sizzling very quickly. Turn the skillet so the legs point to the back right and bake an additional 25 minutes. Then lower the heat to 375 and cover the chicken loosely with aluminum foil. Continue to bake for another 20 minutes. Allow to cool slightly in the pan before carving.

Sour Cream and Garlic Mashed Potatoes

Ingredients

4 large Yukon gold potatoes, peeled and chopped into 1″ cubes
6 tbsp salted butter
3/4 cup sour cream
1/2 tsp garlic powder
1/2 tsp onion salt
Sea salt, to taste
Heavy cream, to taste

Process

Boil cubed potatoes in heavily salted water. When pierced easily with a fork, drain and return to the pot. Add butter, sour cream, garlic powder, and onion salt to the cooked potatoes. Mash to desired texture and adjust for salt and cream as needed.

Wheat and Sage Stuffing

Ingredients

Half a loaf of day old wheat bread (Country Hearth is what I had on hand)
1/2 cup of butter, sliced into squares
3 cups chicken broth
1 onion, finely chopped
2 stalks of celery, finely chopped
1 large carrot, finely chopped
2 tbsp, finely chopped sage
1 tbsp, finely chopped rosemary
4 cloves garlic, minced
Olive oil, for the pot
Sea salt, to taste

Process

Cut or tear bread into bite-size pieces and spread on an aluminum foil-lined baking pan. Bake at 275F for 20 minutes, or until bread is dehydrated and stiff. Meanwhile, chop your vegetables and herbs. Coat the bottom of a large Dutch oven with olive oil and turn to medium heat. Sautee the vegetables until tender, then add the herbs and garlic. Make sure to salt the vegetables as they cook. When the bread is done, distribute it over the vegetables and fold them together to integrate. Add the butter, 2 cups of broth, and a bit of salt. Fold but do not mix vigorously. When bread has been slightly moistened by the broth, turn off the heat and cover the pot for five minutes. Remove lid and test for texture and taste. If it needs more broth, return the heat to medium and slowly drizzle in more broth while stirring. Adjust for salt.

Elote-style Deep Fried Brussels Sprouts

Ingredients

Vegetable oil, for frying
1 lb Brussels sprouts, halved if large
1/4 cup mayo
1/4 cup cojita cheese, crumbled
Juice from 1/2 a lime
Garlic powder, chili powder, onion powder, and salt, to taste

Process

In a large pot, heat oil until you can feel the heat coming off it. Add the Brussels sprouts carefully with a mesh or slotted spoon. Allow to fry for about 20 minutes, occasionally stirring. Remove and set on a paper towel-lined plate.

In a large bowl combine mayo, lime juice, and spices. Add in the Brussels sprouts and sprinkle cheese over. Serve!

Note: This elote recipe also works for boiled or grilled corn!

Herbed Lentil Soup

Ingredients

1 1/2 cups dried green lentils, soaked in water overnight to soften
1/2 lb bacon
1 medium onion, minced*
1 large carrot, minced*
2 stalks of celery, trimmed and minced*
2 tbsp fresh sage, chopped
1 tbsp fresh rosemary, chopped
8 cloves garlic, minced
Juice from half a lemon
8 cups chicken stock
Salt, to taste

Process

In a large Dutch oven bring lentils and chicken stock to a boil. Allow to boil for ten minutes, then reduce heat to a simmer and cover. This will cook over 2-3 hours. About an hour in to cooking, do the following:

In a large skillet, fry bacon until crisp. Place on a plate lined with a paper towel and set aside. In the same skillet, fry the onion, carrot, and celery in the bacon grease on medium-low heat until the vegetables are brown and soft, about 30 minutes. Then add the sage, rosemary, and garlic, stirring until fragrant, about 2 minutes. Remove from heat and place contents in a food processor. Squeeze in the lemon juice and process on high until a rough paste forms. Add this to the lentils and stock. Continue to cook for an hour and a half, stirring on occasion and adjusting with salt as desired. When lentils are tender (after about three hours of total cooking time in the stock) you can either serve as is or use a hand blender to puree them further into a smooth soup. (Pureeing lentils aids in their digestion, but it’s not necessary.) Ladle into bowls and garnish with grated Romano and crumbled bacon. Serve with warm garlic bread.

Cream Cheese Brownies

Ingredients

2 cups sugar
1 1/2 cups flour
3/4 cup cocoa powder
1 tsp vanilla
1 tsp sea salt
3 eggs
4 oz bittersweet chocolate, such as a baking bar
1/2 cup salted butter
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1/2 cup milk

8 oz cream cheese, at room temperature
1 tbsp flour
1/2 cup sugar
1 tsp vanilla
1 egg

Process. Melt 4 oz bittersweet chocolate with butter in the microwave, about 1 minute, stirring half way through. Then combine sugar, flour, cocoa powder, vanilla, sea salt, eggs, oil, milk, and melted chocolate with butter in a large bowl. Pour into a greased 9″ x 13″ baking pan.

In a separate bowl combine cream cheese, flour, sugar, vanilla, and egg, beating on high until smooth. Use food coloring if desired. Spoon globs of cream cheese over the brownie batter in the pan. Using a butterknife, drag the knife through both the brownie batter and cream cheese to create swirls.

Bake at 350F for 35-45 minutes on the middle rack. Cool completely before cutting, cleaning the knife between each cut.

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