4 posts tagged “recipes”
Food blog is obviously back in full force. So I don't remember why I suddenly had the urge to make honey cake. Maybe because I've seen them pop up because of Jewish Holidays. Anyway, I wanted to make honey cake but unfortunately due to my recent move I have very few ingredients in my apartment. I finally got around to getting what I thought I needed and made one tonight. OMG, this stuff is delicious. I want to eat the entire thing. Even though I didn't add the whiskey because I didn't have any and I threw away my measuring spoons (lol) so I had to gestimate everything, it is so delicious. I also used decaf instant espresso because I wasn't going to brew it and I'm still anti-caffeine. Well the results were lovely.
Stay tuned for my version of Crab Chowder, cheapo and lazy style. I've been making this for so long it's a crime not to post it.
Hm...I wonder how many times that blog title has been used in the history of the blogosphere. Regardless, it's a fact that I have not blogged in a long time. Why? I was busy this summer with my final externship then I was busy finding a job, choosing a job, finding an apartment, and moving in. Now I am busy with my new job. New job, New city. I am now a resident of Miami, Florida. Anyway, I will likely post pictures of my new apartment soon but I want to finish organizing some stuff before I do that. But I will post pictures of my latest cooking adventures.
Tuna Tartare
So there's this restaurant back home called Umi. They have this awesome Tuna Tartare. It's got tuna and avocado and panko. Anyway, I decided to try and recreate it using some random recipe for Tuna Tartare and what I could remember about the restaurant's dish. Anyway, it turned out pretty well. Not exactly the same, but not too bad. On an unrelated note...when I moved I couldn't throw away my Corelle dishes because they're full of good memories.
For some reason I wanted to make some homemade pudding. I've been making a slightly modified version of Paula Deen's Banana Pudding forever. I won't even comment on the continuous harassment I've received to make this for people. But for that I always use instant pudding (Jello French Vanilla if you're curious). But I had never made homemade pudding. Pretty much the only extra ingredient you need to make you're own pudding is cornstarch. So I decided to try my hand at some chocolate pudding. And guess what? It turned out perfect. Just like what you buy in the store. Now I can make whatever flavor I want. Ok so I know this is boring but sometimes the most simple things are the most satisfying.
best chocolate pudding
Courtesy of: Smitten Kitchen
1/4 cup cornstarch
1/2 cup sugar
1/8 teaspoon salt
3 cups whole milk
6 ounces 62% semisweet chocolate, coarsely chopped (I used good quality
semisweet chocolate chips; use 70% bittersweet if you want more of a
dark chocolate kick)
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1. Combine the cornstarch, sugar and salt in the top of a double boiler. Slowly whisk in the milk, scraping the bottom and sides with a heatproof spatula to incorporate the dry ingredients. Place over gently simmering water and stir occasionally, scraping the bottom and sides. Use a whisk as necessary should lumps begin to form. After 15 to 20 minutes, when the mixture begins to thicken and coats the back of the spoon, add the chocolate. Continue stirring for about 2 to 4 minutes, or until the pudding is smooth and thickened. Remove from the heat and stir in the vanilla.
2. Strain through a fine-mesh strainer (or skip this step if you’re a slacker like me who is absolutely certain that there is nary a lump her puddin’) into a serving bowl or into a large measuring cup with a spout and pour into individual serving dishes.
3. If you like pudding skin, pull plastic wrap over the top of the serving dish(es) before refrigerating. If you dislike pudding skin, place plastic wrap on top of the pudding and smooth it gently against the surface before refrigerating. Refrigerate for at least 30 minutes and up to 3 days (ahem, good luck with that).
Wow, so many posts in so little time. Anyway, I've made a few things recently and thought I'd post two of them.
Ceviche
I got in the mood for it so I thought I'd look around for some recipes. I ended up combining two recipes for this one. It was quite delicious. I decided to change it up and add some sea scallops and I think that was my favorite part.
Recipes: Courtesy of Nigella and Keith Famie
Tyler's Texas Chili
I was watching Food Network as usual and caught the episode this was on. It looked yummy. Chili without beans, my favorite. It's very yummy and meaty and full of flavor. I especially liked the homemade chili powder. It smelled quite lovely.
Recipes: Courtesy of Tyler Florence
Way to be obvious. But I've been spending a lot of my free time (not that I have a lot) cooking recently. I just love it. I only wish my kitchen was bigger so I could spread all my stuff around. Anyway, this weekend I made 2 recipes that turned out very very nice (that came to mind in a Borat voice). Didn't take pictures or anything but you'll get the point.
Partan Bree
A delicious, thick, creamy crab soup from Scotland: partan is the Gaelic word for crab and bree comes from brigh, which means broth. Serves 4-6
3 cups milk
1 cup rice
3 anchovy fillets
1/2 pound fresh cooked crabmeat (frozen or canned may be substituted)
3 cups chicken stock
Salt
Freshly ground black pepper
1 cup heavy cream
Bring the milk almost to the boiling point in a heavy-bottomed saucepan. Add the rice and anchovy fillets. Simmer until the rice is well done. Remove from heat and add the crabmeat.
Puree the soup in a blender or food processor. Return the pureed soup to a large saucepan and gradually stir in the stock. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Add the cream just before serving.
Notes: Ok, so this sounds weird but I just love seafood soups and "delicious, thick, creamy crab soup" sold me on it. I got this recipe from a book I bought this weekend entitled, Great British Cooking: A Well-Kept Secret (I know, oxymoron). But when I was in England we had lots of yummy food. They had great international restaurants there. And I really liked tea and scones, fish and chips, and cornish pasties. So I'm gonna give some of these things a go eventually. But back to this recipe. It was really yummy. It sort of tasted like "Chicken and Rice" soup which my mom makes all the time. The rice makes it filling and the anchovies didn't overpower the other flavors. Next time I'll probably put less milk in and more stock to boost the flavor (I halved the recipe so I don't know if that affected the taste).
Raspberry-Topped Lemon Muffins
Adapted from Susan Elizabeth Fallon via Bon Appétit, July 2006
Yield: 14 large or 56 miniature muffins
1 1/8 cups sugar, divided
4 teaspoons finely grated lemon peel (from two large lemons)
2 cups all purpose flour
2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
3/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature
1 large egg
1 cup buttermilk
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 1/2 1/2-pint containers (about) fresh raspberries
Preheat oven to 375°F. Line 14 standard muffin cups (or 56 minis) with paper liners. Mash 1/8 cup sugar and lemon peel in small bowl until sugar is slightly moist. Whisk flour, baking powder, and salt in medium bowl to blend. Using electric mixer, beat remaining 1 cup sugar and butter in large bowl until smooth. Beat in egg. Beat in buttermilk, then vanilla and lemon sugar. Beat in flour mixture.
Divide batter among muffin cups (the 2/3-3/4 level worked well for
minis). Top each large muffin with 4 raspberries (or mini muffins with
one each). Bake muffins until lightly browned on top and tester
inserted into center comes out clean, about 35 minutes (baking time was
on the shy side of 20 minutes for mini muffins).
Notes: I love muffins! Seriously I ate a dozen mini muffins in one sitting. OMG I'm so fat. But they're so so good. I whipped them up at high speed in the end to make them more airy. (Hence the 12 standard muffin cups plus 12 mini muffin cups - so from this recipe I only ate 2 standard muffins) Consequently, they were so light I ate that dozen without batting an eye lash. I have a dozen standard size ones left but I don't know how long those will last. This recipe is from a food blog called Smitten Kitchen.
Food blogs are great places to find recipes since these people have actually tried the recipe out and usually have pictures. This is loads better than recipe books. Even if books have pictures, they're from these professional cooks and professional food photographers. Food blogs are for real. lol. Ok, that's it. More recipe fun to come (I'm making cornish pasties in the next day or two - I've got the chuck steak in the fridge).
