Search results for 'shallot'

Toys and Popovers Make Everything Better

12 Sep

I had a pretty disappointing day on Tuesday, and since I had been craving BLT popovers for about a week (since Lori gave me a popover pan for my birthday), I decided I would make them to cheer myself up.  While I was shopping for the ingredients at the store, I also decided that it would be fun to make a squash and apple soup with my new favorite kitchen toy, my immersion blender.  New cooking toys and pans make everything better!

The BLT Popovers call for very basic ingredients, and the secret is the grated cheese on top!  You’re supposed to use Gruyere, but my store only had a very little bit, so I mixed Gruyere with Monchego. I’m glad I did since the Gruyere was very bland and the Monchego was delish!  The combo was good.

I followed the recipe exactly (just cut it in half), however, it just… fell… flat… My popovers didn’t pop enough! They were denser and eggier than the BLT ones and not nearly as airy.  Don’t get me wrong, they tasted GREAT, but they weren’t RIGHT.  Sad.  The recipe says to turn the popover pan halfway in the over 15 minutes into cooking.  The other recipes I saw said to not open the oven at all… so maybe this was the problem. 

When I turned them, they looked more popped than when they were finished:

The finished product looked great but… alas…


To make the squash soup, I had Delicata Squash (like a pumpkin but milder, more of a sweet potato flavor) on hand and bought an apple and some sage. 

I have been cutting many things using the cutting method I learned for shallots in my cooking class.  It worked quite well for cubing the raw squash.

I was basically using a recipe I had seen, but knew I was going to vary from it (especially to reduce it… 6 pounds of squash was not in my future).  Unfortunately, this meant I added WAY too much sage and I forgot to cut that down.  WHOOPS.  It was a very easy recipe, however, that mainly included warming the squash for 5 minutes, apple for 5 minutes, added chicken stock (and the seasonings) for 5 minutes, then using the handy dandy immersion blender to make it all creamy. (I love that immersion blender!)

Even with the added sage, the taste was actually still great, but it turn it into a very, very mushy greenish brown color… it was not pretty… but it was sure tasty!  I knew it was missing a little something though, so I added some cider spices to make it just perfect (brown sugar, cinnamon, and a pinch of nutmeg).  Perfection.

Together, the popovers and the soup made for a delicious meal. 

As a side note, I  received a request for a view of my personalized NYCNomNom apron from Kim (my awesome college and post-college roommate who taught me a lot about cooking AND was a witness to my early cooking days when I hermetically sealed a pot).  She put my NYCNomNom logo onto my very own apron!  So exciting.

And now, a shot of the cook!  Is this my first personal appearance on NYCNomNom.com?

And of course I always wear my hair like Pebbles Flintstone!

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Recipes:
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BLT Popovers:
(when I perfect this recipe and make sure they POP, I’ll post any changes)

Serves six (approximately twelve popovers)

Ingredients
4 c. milk, warmed
8 eggs
4 c. flour
1 ½ heaping tbsp. salt
2 ¼ c. grated Gruyere

1. Place the popover pan in the oven. Heat the oven and pan to 350º.

2. Gently warm the milk over low heat and set aside.

3. Whisk the eggs until frothy and slowly whisk in the milk (so as not to cook the eggs). Set the mixture aside.

4. Sift the flour with the salt. Slowly add this dry mixture to the egg mixture and gently combine until mostly smooth.

5. Remove the popover pan from the oven and spray with nonstick vegetable spray.

6. While the batter is still slightly warm, fill each popover cup three-fourths full.

7. Top each popover with approximately 2 ½ tbsps. of the grated cheese.

8. Bake at 350º for 50 minutes, rotating pan half a turn after fifteen minutes, until the popovers are golden brown. (I do not recommend rotating… I think this may be where I went wrong)

9. Take out of oven, remove from pan, and serve immediately.

(Note: Popovers DEFLATE after a few minutes out of the oven.  To avoid this, take a knife and pierce the tops as soon as they come out of the oven)

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Squash and Apple Soup:

Ingredients:

  • 2 cups of Squash (peeled and cut into 1/2 inch cubes)
  • 1 Granny Smith Apple (cored, peeled, and cut into 1/2 inch cubes)
  • 1 can of chicken stock (I used 99% nonfat)
  • 1.5 tsp. Sage
  • 1 tsp. Kosher Salt
  • Pinch of Pepper
  • 1/4 cup Light Brown Sugar
  • 1/2 tsp. Cinnamon
  • Pinch of Nutmeg

Directions:

  1. Put a smidge of olive oil in the bottom of a large saucepan and cook the squash for about 5 minutes (don’t stir too often, browning on the bottom is good)
  2. Add apples and cook for another 5 minutes (same thing with the stirring)
  3. Add chicken stock, sage, salt, and pepper to pop and simmer for about 5 more minutes until apples and squash are soft
  4. Use an immersion blender (make sure yours can go directly in a pot on the stove) to blend down the soup (if you do not have an immersion blender, take the pot off the heat and you can put it in a regular blender in batches when it cools a bit)
  5. Add brown sugar, cinnamon, and nutmeg (adjust to your tastes… if you don’t like sweet, add less sugar)
  6. Serve hot

Happy Nomming!

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Top Chef- Part 1 (Prep Phase)

27 Aug

My company decided to host our very own Top Chef competition in our office to benefit Big Brothers/Big Sisters.  Of course, I jumped at the chance to cook AND compete (two of my favorite past times).  We were informed there would be a “guest judge” and we could cook whatever we wanted and we could enter more than one dish.  I quickly decided that one of my dishes would be my famous chocolate peanut butter bars.  I have posted the recipe in the past as one of my favorites.

It took me a few days to decide that I wanted to make a beurre blanc sauce (always a crowd pleaser).  At the time and throughout preparation, I didn’t know that you’re not supposed to reheat a beurre blanc sauce (it separates) but I still took my chances.  I was originally going to put it over fresh pasta and lump crab meat.  I was a bit concerned about cooking pasta in a microwave (my only heating tool), however, I figured I’d take my chances (especially since all you really have to do is soak fresh pasta in water and it works).

I took a journey to Whole Foods to get all of my ingredients.  I got home and immediately set to making the beurre blanc sauce. 

Side tangent:  It has become cliche to talk about Julia Child at this time.  Between the book and movie, there is an instant judgement on the subject (especially by other food bloggers!  So judgemental! WOW!)  Now I, for one, loved the book AND the movie (a rarity to love both).  I completely related to Julie’s humble beginnings in the blog world as well as her theatre background and clumsy nature.  While reading the book, there were a number of times that I felt that I could relate ALL too well.  I have also always had a fond respect for Julia Child, especially when it comes to butter.  While I think most of her recipes will never, ever apply to me, I always trust Julia Child when it comes to butter.  Therefore, I decided it was time to check out her recipe.  Low and behold, it is exactly the same as the recipe I’ve been using.  I found myself even more inspired.  /side tangent

My first step was taking 3 bars of GOOD butter and chopping it into small pieces (about a half in slices seems to work well).  It’s also important to keep it cold. (More on that later)

I love shallots and believe in using many and not straining them out.  Therefore I added a LOT of shallots.  Speaking of shallots, I took a cooking class a few months ago and learned a great cooking tip for how to cut up a shallot.  He instructed us to cut off the tip but LEAVE THE BASE (which holds it all together).  First cut it horizontally, parallel with your surface.  Then cut it from tip to base in vertical lines without cutting through the base.  Lastly, starting parallel to the base at the tip, start cutting it into small pieces.  Here is my visual collage of the steps:

Works like a charm! 

Now usually I would never be the kind of cook that would use mise en place bowls.   Unfortunately in the very few seconds it took me to chop the shallots, the butter began to melt and I had to do a quick exchange of putting the prepped ingredients into a lovely little ramekin so I could stick the butter back in the fridge.  (Oh the joys of cooking in the middle of August).

Then I mixed the vinegar and white wine in a pot until boiled.  Then I added the shallots, salt and pepper and lowered the heat to a simmer to reduce the liquid. 

Everyone says the key to beurre blanc is to whisk in one cube of COLD butter at a time.  I diligently did so.

I soon realized, however, that my whisk was ready for a much later stage.  SO it was my mini whisk to the rescue! (I knew it would come in handy some day)

It all went perfectly and I had a beautiful creamy yellow sauce in just a few minutes.

It was at this point that I began to debate… “Do I really want to serve this great sauce over simple lump crab meat?  Isn’t there something interesting I can do with the crab?”  While I mulled this over, I started on the chocolate peanut butter bars.

The combination of peanut butter, melted butter, graham cracker crumbs, and powdered sugar makes an amazing fudgy like bottom.

I have made a double boiler and melted chocolate many, many times.  I’m not sure what happened this time, however, but my chocolate seized.  It has never happened to me before!  I’m not sure if the chocolate was old or the steam hit it too much… it was strange.  I had to start anew.  Take 2 worked like a charm!

Back to crab… I did a quick search for crab cake recipes and decided to go with making a simple mini lump crab cake.  I used panko bread crumbs instead of regular and it was DELICIOUS. 

I was feeling confident as we taste tested that night.

So how did it all turn out? Who won? How did I do? Where did my food rank? Was it a fight to the finish? Who was judging?

Tune in tomorrow for the results.

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RECIPES:

I’m quoting this from the posting from Saveur:

Julia Child’s Beurre Blanc Sauce

“Butter is essentially a smooth mixture of fat and water. The secret to making beurre blanc is to preserve its makeup by allowing each addition of butter to melt smoothly into the sauce, as you whisk it, before adding the next piece of butter. Also, never let the sauce come to a boil once the butter is added; that will cause it to separate. Some restaurant cooks add a little heavy cream to the wine reduction before whisking in the butter, to ensure a smooth and stable sauce. This recipe is based on one in Mastering the Art of French Cooking by Julia Child, Louisette Bertholle, and Simone Beck (Knopf, 1977).”

3 sticks cold unsalted butter (24 tbsp.), cut into chunks
1⁄4 cup dry white wine
1⁄4 cup white wine vinegar
1 tbsp. minced shallots
1⁄4 tsp. kosher salt
Pinch of white pepper
1⁄2 tsp. fresh lemon juice

1. Have butter ready. Bring wine and vinegar to a boil in a saucepan; add shallots, salt, and pepper. Lower heat to a simmer; cook until most of the liquid has evaporated- reduced to ~1.5 tbsp. (If reduced too far, add 1 tbsp. water to remoisten.)

2. Remove pan from heat; whisk 2 pieces of butter into the reduction. Set pan over low heat and continue whisking butter into sauce a chunk at a time, allowing each piece to melt into sauce before adding more.

3. Remove sauce from heat; whisk in lemon juice. Taste and adjust seasoning, then strain through a fine sieve into a bowl. Serve with fish, poultry, or vegetables.

This article was first published in Saveur in Issue #109

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Mini Baked Crab Cakes

(My recipe made about 36 crab cakes with my melon baller scoop)

Ingredients:

  • 1 pound fresh lump crab meat (I got mine at Whole Foods for $12!)
  • 3 shallots, finely minced
  • 1 garlic clove, finely minced
  • 1 teaspoon lemon juice
  • 1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
  • 1/2 teaspoon mustard
  • 3 tablespoons mayonnaise
  • 1/2 cup panko breadcrumbs
  • Salt and black pepper

Directions:
Preheat oven to 400 F. 

  1. Mix crab, shallots, garlic, mustard, Worcestershire sauce, lemon juice and mayonnaise.  
  2. Add salt and pepper to taste.
  3. Using a melon scooper (or teaspoon), shape mixture into about 20-30 walnut-sized balls.
  4. Spread remaining breadcrumbs onto a plate and roll balls lightly in crumbs to evenly coat.
  5. Slightly flatten crab cakes. 
  6. Place on a greased baking sheet (or Silpat). 
  7. Bake crab cakes until crisp and golden, about 12-15 minutes.  (since I used panko, mine didn’t get too gold, however, the crispness was good)

Add enough bread crumbs to bind, about 2-4 tablespoons.

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Plummy Pork

25 Aug

When I was at the Union Square Market with Mike, I saw mini plums and couldn’t resist. I used to get them at the Farmer’s Market in Ithaca, and they were some of the best fruit I had ever had. These were good, but not that good.

When trying to determine what to make for dinner on Sunday, Mike suggested making a plum sauce. A quick google later, and we found a recipe that sounded very good without the use of fats. We supplemented the mini plums with pluots (half plums, half apricots) to make for enough substance in the sauce. The recipe was a bit hard to figure out, however, we took some liberties and the recipe turned out incredibly well. The pork was tender and the plum sauce was tart and sweet and tasted incredible. It was quite pretty in color and when you cut it open, and the wine it was cooked in really brought out a great flavor in the fruit. I’d put it in the top five of the recipes we’ve made.  And I think it was pretty healthy!

I actually didn’t have cooking string to tie up the pork to wrap it, however, I did have some wire. I was concerned that the wire would do something funny, so we made a backup version of just the pounded pork with the fruit on top. The wrapped pork in wire wound up working, and the flattened ones were a bit drier, so I recommend the wrapping.

We paired the pork with brown basmati rice mixed simply with mushrooms as well as artichokes we bought for the sole purpose of using the artichoke cookers I got for my birthday from my friend and old college roommate, Kim (she also got me my very own NYC Nom Nom apron, that is adorable and awesome). They are very smart with a stand that allows the artichokes to steam upright. Unfortunately the artichokes we got were too big and didn’t have the flavor that they should have. The stems were also too woody. I look forward to trying the cookers again with regular artichokes.

Artichokes steaming:

Cooking down the plum sauce that goes on top:

Cooking the cherries in the wine (apples were added later):

Browning the wrapped pork in shallots:

Putting the pounded flat pork in the dish with fruit on top:

Browned rolled pork wrapped with wire:

A finished archie:

The finished plate:

Cut open rolled pork:

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Pork with Plum Sauce

Ingredients:

  • ½ cup dried cherries (or cranberries)
  • ½ green apple, diced
  • 3 Tbl. sugar
  • Red wine (I’m sure good wine would be better, but we used “Four Buck Chuck” aka Charles Shaw, and it was still fabulous)
  • 8 ripe black plums (or red, or pluots, which is what we used)
  • ¼ cup sugar
  • ¼ tsp. salt
  • 1 tsp. lemon juice
  • Pork chops, pounded thin
  • Shallots
  • High heat PAM

Directions:

  1. In saucepan, mix 1/3 cup of wine with 2-3 Tbl. of sugar until sweet to the taste. Add dried cherries and put over low heat. You don’t want to cook them, you just want to reconstitute them. Add apples to soften (I just let this cook on very low heat until I was ready for the next step)
  2. Cut the plums into a separate sauce pan. You don’t have to peel them. Recipe said to just cut chunks the size of your thumb off until you’re down to the pit. Add wine to a depth of about 1 inch. Add enough sugar that the wine is sweet to the taste (though not too sweet). Add salt and lemon juice. Cook over a medium low heat, stirring occasionally, until the plums soften, about 40 minutes. Mixture should be thick like applesauce.
  3. Preheat oven to 325°
  4. In the meantime, place cooking string or wire under each thinly pounded pork chop so you will be able to roll and tie it up, about 1.5 to 2 inches apart (I used 3 per chop). Spoon the cherry/apple mixture into the pork and then roll up the sides and tie up. (You can also stuff a pork loin if you prefer)
  5. Brown shallots in a pan and then brown all sides of the pork (use tongs to rotate)
  6. Spray casserole dish with PAM high heat spray. Place pork in the baking dish. Cook at 325° until done, about 50 min. Set pork on platter to rest.
  7. Pour pan juices into the plum sauce and boil 1 minute (I guess I cooked too long since there were no juices and just some solidified stickiness on the bottom, but it still tasted great).
  8. Untie/cut/untwist wire/ties and either serve as a roll or slice the pork into 1/2 inch slices to reveal the center. Serve with plum sauce over the top.

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