Just another typical dinner…

Lest you think that all Jason and I eat at home are sandwiches and sweets, the recipe featured in this post highlights a typical weeknight dinner for us.

Our inspiration for dinners usually come from how tired we are when we get home from work and the gym and on the night we made this, we were particularly lazy. We went with an all-in-one pasta dish/meal. This particular one starred the beautiful Maitake and shiitake mushrooms, shallots, and spinach we picked up from the farmer’s market. The pork was an after thought to “beef” the dish up but it would have been fine kept as vegetarian for a lighter meal.

The starch in the reserved pasta water brings all of the flavors in the dish together and makes the dish seem almost creamy. I personally prefer pastas that don’t have a traditional sauce and reserved pasta water is a MUST to making them taste wonderful. I wouldn’t dream of making a dish like this without it.

Here’s a lovely pic of the mushrooms being cut up. Yum!

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Weeknight One-Pot Pasta

serves two hungry eaters

5 oz dried short pasta (i.e.; penne), prepared according to package but drained slightly BEFORE al dente
1 cup pasta water (reserved from above)
3-4 pork chops, 1/2-inch thick, seasoned with salt and pepper
2 TB olive oil
red pepper flakes, optional
4-5 large shallots, thiny sliced
2 cloves of garlic, minced
1/2 lb mix of Maitake and shiitake mushrooms, rough chopped (any mushrooms would work here)
3-4 large handfuls of fresh spinach, rough chopped
1/2 cup white wine (stock or water will be fine for this too)
salt and black pepper
freshly grated Grana Padano cheese, Parmigiano-Reggiano is fine

Heat 1 tablespoon of olive oil over medium-high heat in a large skillet that has a cover. When the oil shimmers, add the pork chop and sear for 3-4 minutes a side. Remove from the pan, chop into bite-size pieces, and reserve.

Heat the the remaining olive oil over medium heat in the same pan and throw in the garlic, shallots, and red pepper flakes. Fry for about 7-10 minutes or until the shallots are soft and caramelized, stirring occasionally. Lightly salt and pepper the aromatics. Add the white wine to deglaze the pan and then add the mushrooms. After 3-4 minutes, pull out a mushroom to taste it and readjust the seasonings as needed.

Add the pork back in along with the pasta, pasta water, and spinach. Stir to combine and cover the pan. Let steam for 3 minutes or until spinach is wilted.

Serve with the freshly grated cheese.

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This meal will realistically take about 35-40 minutes from start to finish. It may take less if you have help from a great partner Thanks for being my kitchen buddy for life!

First Daring Bakers post!

Hello friends~

This month was my first challenge as a Daring Baker. The challenge was Cheesecake Pops from Jill O’Connor’s Sticky, Chewy, Messy, Gooey cookbook. It was hosted by Deborah of Taste and Tell and Elle of Feeding My Enthusiasms.

The cheesecake turned out really well and it was the first time my cheesecake didn’t crack upon cooling. After doing some research, I found out that leaving the finished cheesecake to cool in the oven is the trick. By leaving it in the warm oven, the cheesecake can cool slowly. Another tip I have to making a successful cheesecake is to make sure that all the ingredients are at room temperature. This will ensure a creamy cheesecake with no thick lumps.

Though I loved the idea of this dessert, I must be honest and say that I didn’t think think it was worth the effort. The cheesecake slid off the sticks while I was dipping them and while Jason was eating them. I couldn’t get a good coating of chocolate on them either but I think that was my fault. Note to self, Nestle chocolate chips are best in chocolate chip cookies and not melted for a candy coating. I had an inkling that might be the case but it was the only chocolate I had in the house at the time (I have been on a chocolate chip cookie craze). The other wonderul Daring Bakers out there had beautiful results though and are obviously more artistic than I. Check theirs out!!

Sorry that the picture below is suffering from jaundice. I snapped it while Jason was eating it on the living room couch.

On a more positive note, I think these would be great at a bake sale and/or as an activity at a little kid’s birthday party.  It can get messy though so I’d suggest doing it outside and having a hose handy.

I can’t wait for the next challenge and hope I’ll have better luck with it!

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Cheesecake Pops

makes 30-40 pops

40 oz of cream cheese at room temperature (I used 1/2 full fat and 1/2 neufchatel cheese)
2 cups sugar
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
5 large eggs
2 egg yolks
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract (I used 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract and the insides of one vanilla bean)
1/4 cup heavy cream
Boiling water as needed

thirty to forth 8-inch lollipop sticks
1 pound chocolate, finely chopped
2 tablespoons vegetable shortening
assorted decorations such as chopped nuts, colored jimmies, crushed peppermints, etc…

Position oven rack in the middle of the oven and preheat to 325 degrees F. Set some water to boil.
In a large bowl, beat together the cream cheese, sugar, flour, and salt until smooth. If using a mixer, mix on low speed. Add the whole eggs and the egg yolks, one at a time, beating well (but still at low speed) after each addition. Beat in the vanilla and cream.

Grease a 10-inch cake pan (not a springform pan), and pour the batter into the cake pan. Place the pan in a larger roasting pan. Fill the roasting pan with the boiling water until it reaches halfway up the sides of the cake pan. Bake until the cheesecake is firm and slightly golden on top, 35 to 45 minutes.
Remove the cheesecake from the water bath and cool to room temperature. Cover the cheesecake with plastic wrap and refrigerate until very cold, at least 3 hours or up to overnight.

When the cheesecake is cold and very firm, scoop the cheesecake into 2-ounce balls and place on a parchment paper-lined baking sheet. Carefully insert a lollipop stick into each cheesecake ball. Freeze the cheesecake pops, uncovered, until very hard, at least 1 – 2 hours.
When the cheesecake pops are frozen and ready for dipping, prepare the chocolate. In the top of a double boiler, set over simmering water, or in a heatproof bowl set over a pot of simmering water, heat half the chocolate and half the shortening, stirring often, until chocolate is melted and chocolate and shortening are combined. Stir until completely smooth. Do not heat the chocolate too much or your chocolate will lose it’s shine after it has dried. Save the rest of the chocolate and shortening for later dipping, or use another type of chocolate for variety.

Alternately, you can microwave the same amount of chocolate coating pieces on high at 30 second intervals, stirring until smooth.

Quickly dip a frozen cheesecake pop in the melted chocolate, swirling quickly to coat it completely. Shake off any excess into the melted chocolate. If you like, you can now roll the pops quickly in optional decorations. You can also drizzle them with a contrasting color of melted chocolate (dark chocolate drizzled over milk chocolate or white chocolate over dark chocolate, etc.) Place the pop on a clean parchment paper-lined baking sheet to set. Repeat with remaining pops, melting more chocolate and shortening (or confectionary chocolate pieces) as needed.

Refrigerate the pops for up to 24 hours, until ready to serve.

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Ode to grilled cheese

Oh grilled cheese, how do I love thee? Let me count the ways?

You are:

1. warm
2. crunchy
3. buttery
4. salty
5. tangy
6. healthy
7. quick
8. easy
9. cheap (sometimes)

A simple grilled cheese sandwich got my roommates and me through a few rough times at NYU. I’m not talking about a fancy schmancy grilled cheese like the one featured in this post either (I give myself credit, I know). Ours were made with two slices of Wonder Bread, two slices of Kraft American cheese freshly peeled from their plastic casing, and a thick coat of butter. The sandwich was then thrown into a hot pan and often came out burnt but eaten in delight anyway.

Though I look back fondly on those sandwiches - perhaps owing more to missing my college days - this particular grilled cheese is not like that. This one uses a whole host of ingredients that grilled cheese purists may argue make this more of a general panino. However, this is my website and my recipe so I take the liberty to call my recipes what I want. In this case, I’m calling it a grilled cheese sandwich.

The best part about this sandwich is that you can add or omit whatever you want (except of course the cheese). The main lesson here is that anything slapped between two slices of bread with cheese and then heated with butter will most likely taste wonderful. Seriously, it would probably even good with this… Or maybe just stick to the tried and true combinations like the below

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Weekend Lunch Grilled Cheese

makes 2 sandwiches

4 slices of fresh sourdough loaf
6 cloves of homemade garlic confit*
2 TB Dijon mustard
2-3 oz thinly sliced extra Comte cheese, which I’ve extolled previously
2-3 oz thinly sliced ham
6-8 leaves of baby arugula
4 thin slices of fresh tomatoes
black pepper to taste
1 TB butter, melted

Heat a cast iron skillet over medium-high heat. Mash the garlic confit and mustard together and spread evenly on each slice of bread. Layer all of the remaining ingredients up to the butter on two slices as shown below. I like to start and end with cheese so that when it melts, it acts like glue for the sandwich. Really though, isn’t cheese in fact the wonderful glue that holds all of our worlds and lives in order? Such deep thoughts…Okay, moving on.

Top each layered slice and brush it liberally with the melted butter. Lay the buttered side of the sandwich down in the cast iron skillet first and then top with heavy pans/lids/bricks/end tables to smush it. Heat for 3-4 minutes or until it’s as toasted as you like. Before flipping the sandwich to toast the other side, brush it with the remaining butter. Flip it and then heat for another 3-4 minutes or until it’s as toasted as you like.

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I served the finished sandwich with a matching side salad of baby arugula and tomato tossed with a garlic Dijon vinaigrette. And yes, I know that’s like the the whole ordering-a-diet-coke-with-a-super-sized-value-meal type thing.

Great, now I’m in the mood for Wonder Bread and a slice of Kraft cheese.

* Garlic confit is a simple pantry item I learned to make from Thomas Keller in the Bouchon cookbook. Peel the cloves from 5-6 heads of garlic and place in a small saucepan. Pour in enough olive oil just to cover all the cloves and turn the heat on the stove to the lowest heat possible. The bubbles should barely break the surface. Braise for about 30 minutes and then cool. Store the cloves and oil together in an airtight jar in the fridge.

Another post to say thank you to mother nature on her day

This post is dedicated to one of the less obvious reasons why I love the Grand Army Plaza Greenmarket.

Besides the friendly vendors selling bread, produce, fresh eggs, milk, cheese, etc…, there is a wonderful flower vendor that sets up shop year round. In the colder months, there are wreaths and dried flowers available. Starting now until it gets cold again, the vendor sells an amazing variety of fresh cut flowers. They serve to brighten up our home and starting this week, I plan on sharing each bouquet we buy with you all!

I have never bought tulips before but these were too beautiful to pass up. The colors remind me of the inspiration for all of our wedding details. I hope these flowers put a smile on your face like they do mine :o)

HAPPY EARTH DAY!!

From all of us (i.e.; both of us) here at the Equivocal Epicurean :o)

A “Just Because” Cake

About a month ago, Jason went to watch a March Madness basketball game over at the house of the infamous Equivocal Epicurean commenter, JMan. Being alone with nothing to do on a Friday night, I made a chocolate hazelnut cake from Nigella Lawson’s How to be a Domestic Goddess, which I surprised him with when he came home. Just because.

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Torta alla Gianduia

6 large eggs, separated
pinch of salt
1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened
14 oz Nutella (1 standard jar)
1 TB Frangelico, rum, or water
1/2 cup ground hazelnuts (I toasted and peeled* raw ones and then ground them up in my food processor)
4 oz bittersweet chocolate, melted and cooled (I did this over a double boiler)

Icing:

4 oz whole hazelnuts (toasted and peeled*)
1/2 cup heavy cream
1 TB Frangelico, rum, or water
4 oz bittersweet chocolate, chopped

Preheat the oven to 350F.

Whisk the egg whites and salt in a large bowl until stiff but not dry. Be careful not to overbeat and stop as soon as when the whisk is turned upside down, the peaks don’t collapse.

In a separate bowl, beat the butter and Nutella together until combined. Then add Frangelico, egg yolks, and ground hazenluts. Fold in the melted chocolate and then mix in 1/3 of the beaten egg whites to lighten up the mixture. After this, fold in the rest of the egg whites a third at a time with a very light hand. Try to keep the batter as light as possible.

Pour the batter into a prepared 9″ springform pan and bake for 40 minutes or until the cake begins to come away at the sides. Let cool in pan on a rack.

For the icing, combine the heavy cream, Frangelico, and chocolate in a heavy bottomed pan. Mix the ingredients over gentle heat just until the chocolate is melted. Take the pan off the heat and whisk until it reaches the proper consistency to ice the cake.

Unmold the cooled cake carefully. It is a moist cake so leaving it on the base is a good idea to avoid breaking it. Ice the top with chocolate icing and dot it thickly with the cooled, toasted hazelnuts.

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Here are some modification I made to the recipe:

• Instead of baking it in a 9″ spring form pan to make a one layer cake, I baked the cake in 4″ springform pans to make a mini layer cake.
• I cooled the icing and whipped it to make a whipped ganache frosting versus a shiny ganache like the one that is shown in the cookbook.
• I did not top the cake with whole hazelnuts and instead, made an icing with which I piped the lettering.

Happily, the cake was as rich as I had expected it to be and as soon as Jason got home, we shared a slice and a tall glass of milk. Does it get any better than that?

Mission Cheap Eats 2008 - Tampa

Jason and I have vowed to save more money this year and since almost all of our money is spent on food, we have been seeking out good cheap eats places. A couple of weekends ago on a trip to visit my in-laws, we were lucky enough to go to two such places.

The first stop was for lunch with a taste of the south at Eli’s BBQ!

This outdoor food stop is only open on Fridays and Saturdays from 11 am-6 pm and the smokehouse - behind the converted ice-cream stand where orders are taken - is manned by Eli (Crawford) himself.

 

Jason and I went up to the smokehouse for a peek and he quickly invited us in to take a look at all the goodies on the grill.

Eli takes great pride in the food he serves which was obvious through his list of homemade foods. These include but are not limited to the sausage that he stuffs and smokes, cole slaw and baked beans that come with each meal, and both a mild and hot BBQ sauce. There are only a small number of offerings at Eli’s which is fine by me because we tried everything on the menu and it was all excellent.

There were 6 of us that day and we each ordered a separate meal with the tab coming out to a little under $40 dollars. I got the ribs and showed enough restraint to take a picture before digging in.

I feel confident in saying that they were some of the best smoked ribs I’ve ever had. The meat was slow smoked to the point of falling off the bone but still tender. The meat on top was crispy from the grill and contrasted beautifully with the juicy meat underneath. It was a perfect combination with the tangy, not overly sweet, BBQ sauce served on the side.

The other star in my opinion was the smoked chicken, which my mother in law chose. She ordered the ¼ chicken with white meat and it was some of the juiciest white meat I have ever had. We were all pleasantly surprised considering it didn’t look as though it would be moist. When we go back on our next trip, I think we’ll have to order the whole chicken and all share it.

The other cheap eats place we went to was Le Cabana del Tio, which as you guessed it, is a Mexican joint. We didn’t think we’d have time to give del Tio a try on this last weekend trip but as luck would have it, my father in law’s favorite boat supply shop is one block away and we had to go there to pick up some things.

The setup of this place is similar to a takeout Chinese restaurant where there are 2 tables, a counter, and an open kitchen where you see corn tortillas rolled out and grilled fresh in front of your eyes. The menu is above the counter and is almost entirely in Spanish. I must add that they had Chuck Norris playing on a TV mounted above the counter. And yes, it was dubbed. I have to include a picture of Jason and his dad being goofy while we wait for our food. Yes, he is his father’s son.

They serve only the basics here: tacos, gorditas, quesadillas, tortas, and some specials. No burritos, enchiladas, chimichangas, or anything else you’d find at Taco Bell. I can’t be sure but I’m almost positive Mexican Pizza was nowhere to be found on the menu.

For about $20, we got 2 tacos (bistek, or beef, and pastor, or pork), an order of beef quesadilla, and one of the daily specials which I have wanted to try, menudo. Yes, I’m Chinese and my mother’s daughter.

According to Jason, everything we had was similar to the food he had in Monterrey in 2004 and while I’m glad it was authentic, more importantly, everything tasted great!

The tacos were simply made with corn tortillas wrapped around a bit of seasoned meat, garnished with fresh chopped cilantro, and served with a side of lime and smoky salsa. The quesadilla was a corn tortilla encasing a bit of melted cheese and steak, served with crema fresca and an avocado puree, not fancy guacamole.

The menudo was fierce and definitely not for the faint of heart. It was full of heat as you can see in the picture and had deep beef flavor from all of the offal. It was served a small stack of their fresh corn tortillas for dipping along witha lime wedge and raw onions to be added at my discretion. I could’ve eaten the whole bowl if not for the fact that half way through, I inhaled through my mouth and burned the back of my throat. After hacking for about 2 minutes, I knew my throat was done with menudo for the day.

All in all, I was extremely pleased with our two finds and can’t wait for our next trip back to Florida to see my in-laws as well as visit Eli and the friendly tortilla-making ladies

A bread for all seasons…

For a while, my go-to bread has been a French loaf similar to a baguette. It’s a great recipe that creates a consistently good loaf. The bread has a crisp crust, is dense in the middle, and is best eaten with butter or thinly sliced for crostini. There’s nothing wrong with any of that, right? Who doesn’t like bread with butter or crostini?

However, I wanted to find a bread recipe that would be versatile enough to keep around the house and use for whatever we wanted, which is where the hearth bread from 
The Bread Bible enters. The recipe, which uses a touch of whole wheat flour along with bread flour, creates a bread with a great crumb. Rose attributes the light crumb to the wetness of the dough - whatever the reason, I like it.

The recipe creates a large loaf but I think mine came out flatter than it should have. My guess for why is that I left the last rise go too long, which caused it to slightly collapse under its own weight. Despite the look being a bit off, the taste was still great. It was light and fluffy with a toothsome crust, just like bread given before dinner at a great Italian restaurant. It is good with only butter like the French loaf, or dipped in olive oil, or for sandwiches, which is how we used up the loaf.

Below is a simple recipe for one of my favorite sandwiches that I have named the BTB. The sandwich would also be delicious grilled into a panino.

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Burrata Tomato and Basil Sandwich, aka the BTB 
makes 2 sandwiches

4 slices of hearth bread
half a ball of burrata
2 plum tomatoes, sliced horizontally
6-8 basil leaves
fresh cracked black pepper
good, aged balsamic vinegar

Lay two slices of bread on the counter with all other ingredients prepped. I like to start and end with the basil because the leaves act like a shield for the bread against the wetness of the tomato and burrata. After lining the 2 slices with a couple of basil leaves, layer on the tomato, burrata, black pepper, and then the last of the basil. Top the sandwich off with the last slice, which should be drizzled very lightly with the balsamic.

Note: I use the aged balsamic my sister got me for Christmas. I do not suggest using a regular balsamic vinegar or your bread will end up soggy.

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Cinnamon Raisin French Toast and Carb Mania 2008

I am a bread addict. There, I’ve said it. The first step is admitting it, right? When the waiter at a restaurant comes around offering to refill the bread basket, the angel and devil on my shoulders argue for what seems like five minutes about how I should respond. Lucky for my waist line, Jason will politely decline before the devil inevitably wins.

However, since buying Rose’s wonderful book The Bread Bible, , the battle over whether to have another slice has been brought into our home and is now waged daily. I don’t have to listen to the angel when I greedily say yes to more bread since I can easily sneak a piece of bread without anybody judging or even knowing. Shhh…

Anyway, I know I am taking liberties by referring to the baking goddess Rose Levy Beranbaum by first name, but feel comfortable doing so. Her book has barely left my side for the past month, no exaggeration. She has been a constant companion vicariously through her prose, reassuring me throughout the sometimes daunting bread making process.

Honestly, I was apprehensive to try the recipes in the book at first - though there are some really nice pictures, the focus is not on food porn but on bread baking techniques. I would say the pages to picture ratio is 20 to 1. How was I supposed to know what my final product was SUPPOSED to look like? Fortunately I have 20+ years of bread eating experience and trust that I’d know if the bread didn’t come out right.

The first section, which is almost a quarter of the book, doesn’t include any recipes at all; it is essentially a manual on techniques that will be universally used throughout the book. There are extensive explanations on different starters and how they should be employed, step-by-step sketches on different folding techniques, suggestions on how to slash the tops of the loaves to allow for proper expansion, etc… Very Alton Brown-ish!

Throughout all the reading I did, I came to realize that the main takeaway is that baking quality bread requires serious commitment and some practice. I alluded to the fact that baking has taken over my weekends in the previous post and now you know why. For the breads I’ve been making so far, Rose suggests refrigerating the starter for at least 24 hours in order to develop the maximum amount of flavor. Despite my desire to have bread ASAP, I have been a good apprentice and dutifully followed her instructions. The first bread I will share with you is a cinnamon raisin loaf I made a few weeks ago.

Jason had a hankering for French toast so I decided to make a loaf of bread specifically to satisfy his craving. I could say that the reason is because using pre-sliced, wrapped in plastic bread results in mushy French toast, but really I just wanted to bake a loaf of bread.

Anyhow, I made the starter on a Friday night after work and didn’t finish the loaves until around 2 am Saturday night. To be fair, I do let them over-rise a bit because I am not waiting around at home to re-fold/knead for the next risings. I confess that if I had followed the timing Rose suggests for each rising, I probably would have finished this bread around mid-afternoon Saturday.

Nevertheless, it was worth it for my first-ever Pullman style loaf.

On Sunday morning, Jason did justice to my beautiful loaf by making the best French toast I have ever had. The denseness of the homemade loaf helped to create a tender yet custardy center. Here’s a picture of the lovely cook in action.

And here’s the final product. Notice the blur on the upper right hand corner? I can only hold Jason back for so long while I try to snap a picture. He was coming at the toast with a quickness!

The bread was excellent on its own but and we finished the rest of if off in a week via almond butter and jelly sandwiches. Next time I might try giving it an extra rise so it turns out a bit fluffier and have a slightly more developed flavor. I also halved the amount of cinnamon/sugar called for in the swirl because I feared it would be too overpowering but I think I’ll keep the full amount next time because after it baked, the sweet flavor wasn’t as strong as I had expected.

Coming up next will be my post on the classic hearth bread which out of all the breads I’ve made so far, developed the best crumb. Oh yes friends, Carb Mania 2008 has fallen upon us.

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Sunday Morning Cinnamon Raisin French Toast

3 eggs
splash of vanilla
splash of heavy cream (optional)
6 thick slices of cinnamon raisin bread
butter, to grease the griddle or pan

Heat griddle or pan over medium-high heat.

Whisk together the eggs, vanilla, and heavy cream in a plate with slightly sloped sides. Soak each side of bread slices for about 15-20 seconds. (Whoa, say that 10 times fast).

Butter the griddle liberally, which should be hot enough that when the butter hits the pan there is immediate foaming action. Place the soaked bread slices so that the pan is not too crowded. Fry for about 2-3 minutes a side or until desired color is achieved.

Serve with fresh maple syrup. Jason just found out that last month is when the maple sap starts to run and fresh maple syrup is now available at the farmer’s market. We went last weekend to pick up some and urge you to do the same!

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Note: I didn’t include the recipe or instructions for the bread because it’s 3 pages long in the book. And again, it’s all words, no pictures. If you are interested in the recipe at all, I will be happy to share with you via email.