Fortunately simple fortune cookies

So I have to admit that the best part of this activity was definitely writing the personalized fortunes that went inside the cookies!  So much fun! 

I did get a fortune cookie mix to which I only had to add water and margarine.  The real trick was getting the cookies bent into a fortune cookie shape while they were still hot.  The first batch of cookies were completely stuck to the pan because I used tinfoil to line the cookie tray instead of parchment paper... so silly.  I had to go out and buy parchment paper and do it again.  Thank goodness I only did one batch as practice.  I lost six cookies but I had enough batter to make about eight cookies. 

Then, to add some pizzazz and fun, after the cookies were folded and dried in little muffin tins (so they would keep their shape as they cooled), I melted baker's dipping chocolate so I could dunk the cookies and decorate them with sprinkles.  So pretty!!  They look professional!  This would be a nice gift for Valentine's Day or an anniversary.

With the remaining baker's choocolate, I dippied strawberries.  This are always a pretty, delicious, elegant touch to add romance to any event, even a regular week night dinner ;)

Barefoot Contessa's Lemon Fusilli

So, this recipe was really good and really easy for a week day dinner.  There seems to be a lot of lemon in the recipe and I guess there is, but the lemony taste is not overwhelming at all.  Also, this dish is really creamy and with the lemon, it is sort of a unique taste you don't get every day.  I also really liked the tomatoes (but I love tomatoes so I'm partial) and I almost didn't add the broccoli but I'm really glad I did because it tasted good with the cream.  I guess you could make this healthier by reducing the cream, but that doesn't sound like fun. 

Oh, one thing... I thought there was too much arugula.  Another thing - don't think she's kidding when she says to cook the pasta in the cream sauce til most of it is absorbed by the pasta... if not, well, I guess there is such a thing as too rich... and that's what will happen here. 

I'll include the recipe which I got online from Food Network (I know, I'm cheating on Cook's Illustrated, the purpose of the blog.... but I'm gonna mix it up a bit... take it out and chop it up .... that's a Royal Tenenbaum's reference that happens to be perfect for cooking). 

http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/ina-garten/lemon-fusilli-with-arugula-recipe/index.html:

Ingredients

• 1 tablespoon good olive oil
• 1 tablespoon minced garlic (2 cloves)
• 2 cups heavy cream
• 3 lemons
• Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
• 1 bunch broccoli
• 1 pound dried fusilli pasta
• 1/2 pound baby arugula (or 2 bunches of common arugula, leaves cut in thirds)
• 1/2 cup freshly grated Parmesan
• 1 pint grape or cherry tomatoes, halved

Directions

Heat the olive oil in a medium saucepan over medium heat, add the garlic, and cook for 60 seconds. Add the cream, the zest from 2 lemons, the juice of 2 lemons, 2 teaspoons of salt, and 1 teaspoon of pepper. Bring to a boil, then lower the heat and simmer for 15 to 20 minutes, until it starts to thicken.

Meanwhile, cut the broccoli in florets and discard the stem. Cook the florets in a pot of boiling salted water for 3 to 5 minutes, until tender but still firm. Drain the broccoli and run under cold water to stop the cooking. Set aside.

Bring a large pot of water to a boil, add 1 tablespoon of salt and the pasta, and cook according to the directions on the package, about 12 minutes, stirring occasionally. Drain the pasta in a colander and place it back into the pot. Immediately add the cream mixture and cook it over medium-low heat for 3 minutes, until most of the sauce has been absorbed in the pasta. Pour the hot pasta into a large bowl, add the arugula, Parmesan, tomatoes, and cooked broccoli. Cut the last lemon in half lengthwise, slice it 1/4-inch thick crosswise, and add it to the pasta. Toss well, season to taste, and serve hot.

Searing Scallops

It might sound crazy but I have never seared scallops before.  I love them but I think something about scallops just made me think "restaurant."  Like I felt they would come with a label "Do Not Try This at Home."  Well, when I got to the seafood store, I realized that part of this reason I subconsciously was influenced not to make them is because they are pricey pricey.  I purchased eight of them anyway cause I was in the mood for seafood (rhyme sort of intended) and I figured I'd go for it.

Well this is super easy and next time I want to impress my honey with a romantic and elegant meal, this is what I'll do.  Searing was so easy.  First, I washed the scallops and dried them on paper towels.  I also removed the "foot" of each scallop.  The foot was nonexistent on some though because I think this seafood guy is top notch or something... things were on point. 

I then just seasoned the scallops with salt and pepper, heated butter in a pan and then added the scallops.  I waited a few minutes (I erred on the side of fewer minutes so as not to overcook) and then used tongs to turn them over.  Low and behold, there was that golden browned scallop look that, up until now, I have only seen at restaurants.  I was psycehd.  I waited two more minutes to sear the other side and then... poof, I was done. 

Instead of making a sauce or eating them just fresh from the pan, I baked some roughly chopped garlic and halved cherry tomatoes in the oven and then ate the scallops with this.  I love tomatoes like that so for me, it was great... and very filling cause I made a lot of tomatoes. 

I'll be searing scallops again and experimenting with different sauces, etc.

"The Ultimate" Banana Bread

This "ultimate" banana bread recipe comes from the Cook's Illustrated Cookbook. This recipe is different from others for banana bread because it requires you to zap the bananas in the microwave (unless you're using frozen ones like I was) in order to get the juices flowing out of them. Since frozen bananas easily release juices, it's not necessary to heat them up. You collect 1/2-3/4 of a cup of liquid and then reduce it down on the stove. This is then used with the bananas, brown sugar, butter and the dry ingredients.

I really like the touch on the top of the banana bread: two rows of sliced bananas on top of the loaf. It looks so pretty and is a nice touch. I am letting it cool now so I'll let you know how it tastes soon, but the bananas and sugar spread on top is supposed to give it a crunchy nice topping. I'm sure it will. You are supposed to leave 1 1/2 line in the middle of the loaf so the bread can rise evenly. It looks and smells delicious. (I added chocolate chips instead of walnuts) and we're gonna eat it for breakfast in the morning!

Bread Pudding with Bourbon Sauce

Bread Pudding with Bourbon Sauce is real rich Southern fare that Paula Deen would be proud of. The pudding was actually really easy to make. I used raisin challah though later I realized that the left over cinnamon bread would have been PERFECT for such a dessert. If - actually WHEN (since it was such a big hit) - I make the cinnamon bread again, I will definitely use the second loaf for a batch of bread pudding. To me, this dessert is certainly a hit. It uses NINE egg yolks so if you want to make meringues or like lots of egg white omeletes with the extra egg produce, I highly recommend planning ahead. The process was simple but it did longer than the recipe suggested for the pudding to officially set. I kept neurotically checking to see if the center was still liquidy after the time the recipe said had passed. It probably took an extra ten minutes but then everything was fine. You need to wait approximately an hour to make sure it cools down, so allot that into your serving time as well.

The bread pudding, however, would not be complete without the amazing Bourbon sauce that you pur on top of it. It takes about five minutes to make and the ingredients are simply cream, brown sugar, butter and then a tablespoon and a half of Bourbon stirred in after you remove it from the heat. It then needs to cool to room temperature. This definitely made the whole dessert. I made it for my boyfriend and brought the leftovers to my mom and grandma for Easter. The only complaint (if you can call it that) received is that the dessert is too heavy - and it is very rich - so make sure you're hungry and prepared to indulge. Definitely will make this again!

Far Away Spices: First TIme Cooking Indian

So as I type this my fingers are burning. (I de-seeded and ribbed a jalapeno pepper). Tonight was the first time I cooked Indian and I have to admit, the kitchen smelled pretty exotic with all the blended spices, chili peppers and curried vegetables. I put together: chicken tikka masala, curried vegetables and mint and onion chutney (all from the Cook's Illustrated cookbook). I didn't actually eat anything tonight because I made it for dinner tomorrow for when my boyfriend, Eric, comes over.

So, one of the cool things about this dinner was that I got to use some new equipment. My spice/coffee grinder was implemented to grind coriander:

It felt pretty fresh and authentic to grind your own spaces for the tikka masala. I didn't have the garam masala spice so, as a substitution, I ground a mix of coriander, cardamom, black pepper, cumin, salt and cinnamon. I also used curry powder, paprika and cayenne pepper at some point tonight. Before making curried vegetables I had to toast the spices to get a richer flavor:



Another exciting thing that I got to do tonight... drumroll.... USE THE BROILER! I know it might sound ridiculous that I have never actually used the broiler before... but I hadn't. After the chicken breasts marinated, I dipped them in a yogurt, garlic, oil mixture and placed them (with my new tongs) on the broiler pan. Yessss...finally!! I didn't really know how or when to use the broiler so I just avoided it all together. Anyway, as the sauce marinated, the high heat of the broiled began to cook the chicken. I turned it over once (with my trusty hot pink tongs) and then the other side got super charred (which I like but maybe wasn't supposed to happen). I then inserted by NEW instant read digital thermometer and the chicken came out to like 230 degrees when it was supposed to be 160 degrees... so that seemed too hot. It didn't matter though because the piece I tried was like AWESOME... it was charred on the outside, tender on the inside... I'm very excited about it.



Making the tikka masala sauce was a lot like cooking italian spaghetti sauce, so I felt very comfortable with that. I added some extra salt to flavor it up and added the chicken after it cooled.

Now the curried vegetables were a whole production. It was like making a stew. I chose this recipe so I could make it a day ahead and (for both) the flavors will become richer and just better overall for tomorrow. The curried vegetables included cauliflower, chickpeas, potatoes, onions, spices, diced tomatoes, tomato paste, peas and coconut milk. I actually liked them A LOT but the recipe made like a lott of vegetables that we're probably never gonna get to eat.

Now, for what I believe was my crowning achievement of the evening: basmati rice pilaf! I had to try this THREE times and the first two were no good. The recipe calls for the pan to get really hot with the vegetable oil before you add spices (cinnamon stick, cloves, cardamom pods) and then onions, before adding the rice, water and salt. So, the first time, I definitely left the spices in too long and they started to burn, then I added diced onions and they started burning IMMEDIATELY. (They were supposed to only be translucent). I threw it all out. Then the second time, I didn't let the spices burn BUT the same thing happened with the onions as soon as I dropped them in. I made the rice anyway because I wanted to see if I could salvage it, but the bottom of the rice burned miserably and it was inedible.

So the third time, I finally got it right. I reread the recipe (key) and realized I was supposed to add SLICED onions, not diced ones. Apparently, this makes a huge difference. The small onions were too small and burned immediately. The other mistake I made with the second batch of rice that caused it to burn? After simmering the rice for 17 minutes, I was supposed to remove it from heat and let it stand for ten minutes. Instead of "removing" from the heat, I just turned the heat off and left it "standing" on the hot burner. This made the rice burn. The third time I moved the sauce pan (a smaller one by the way instead of using the skillet I had been)) to a completely cool oven burner. THis clealry made all the differencce. I was able to fluiff the rice and none of it stuck to the bottom. Per-fect. Though rice seems like an easy thing to make, I have consistently had trouble (as we could see again tonight) so I was happy to have a successful rice attempt.

Tomorrow I will take more pictures of the whole meal put together. For now I'd just like to say that I'm proud of myself for successfully cooking Indian, for using the broiler successfully, for making a nice batch of rice and for using my new kitchen tools. Next time I'll have to get vinyl gloves to wear while de-ribbing a jalapeno (something I used as a substitute for a serrano pepper because the store didn't have one by the way. I feel like I'm learning a few things and moving forward. I'll let you know if the food is well-received tomorrow!

Spaghetti al Vino Bianco

Tonight I tried another recipe from the April 2012 edition of Cook's Illustrated : Spaghetti al Vino Bianco. Basically, the recipe calls for you to cook the pasta in white wine and then toss it with crispy pancetta, arugula, cream, cheese and toasted pine nuts. This recipe went fairly well. Well, more than fairly well. I would definitely make it again!

I was excited because I had all the ingredients and was able to throw it together last minute for my best friend and her brother, who I invited to dinner like an hour before. I was really thankful that the recipe was so easy to put together. I do suggest, however, eating the pasta on the same day ande white it's hot. I can imagine that the arugula would taste extra wilted and water logged the next day. Also, once it gets colder (I just tasted some leftovers) the flavor of the wine is so pungent. I don't know much about wine but it definitely matters what wine you pick to do the recipe because you will taste it loud and clear. I put in a tablespoon of sugar to balance out the flavor after I made the initial white wine reduction.

Some things I would consider doing differently: 1. do a better job toasting the pine nuts. They weren't crispy enough and I think the recipe could have really used it. 2. Make sure the pasta is really hot when you add the pancetta so it heats through. I think I took too long waiting to add the pancetta (cause my friends weren't here yet) and it tasted a little chewy (just a little) when it would have been better crispy.

Anyway, the presentation looked pretty! I served with a caprese salad and some roasted artichokes (that I didn't make).

I was then so happy that I could serve some toasted cinnamon bread for dessert!! I gave one loaf to my boyfriend but I had another loaf left and it was a BIG hit... which, once again, surprised me, since I thought that the mistakes I made and step I missed would have somehow negatively affected the bread. I'm very glad that it didn't!!

Off to conquer my next recipe this week. Hopefully I'll make chicken tikka masala and curried vegetables tomorrow! I also got stuff to make bread pudding. This would have me cracking into the cookbook....not just the magazine. Very exciting. I'll have to come up with a method that will help me work through the book in some kind of orderly fashion.

I "cleared the sides" on my first recipe!

Sooo... I was so excited to get started on this that I went to the grocery store at 8 pm on a FRIDAY night after hours - yeah, hours - of looking through the cookbooks and deciding what I wanted to cook first.

I decided that the April issue of the Cook's Illustrated magazine (my first one!) was easier to tackle than two giant cook books with over 1000 recipes each. I also decided that since I was going to do this Friday night (late late into the night, as it turned out), I might as well make something that one could eat for breakfast. Cinnamon swirl bread was perfect because everyone likes it and I could wrap the bread over night.

I was also excited about this recipe because it allowed me to use my Mixer's dough hook!! I had no idea what the dough hook apparatus was when I first bought my Cuisineart standing mixer (I know, a travesty), but in this recipe, it was mandatory!



After I went shopping for all the ingredients (grocery shopping in New York, more precisely Brooklyn, on a Friday night was so peaceful I think I'm going to make it a permanent habit. No one was out and I didn't have to elbow anyone or hop over any strollers to get my produce. Lovely), I got myself settled and started getting down to business.

Firstly, I had to cut a stick of butter into 32 pieces and then coat it with flour. The flour would allow the butter to easily combine with the mixed dough when it was integrated later (and this worked perfectly):



Next, I had to mix dry ingredients together before putting them in the mixer, adding wet ingredients, and letting the dough hook to go to work.



After that, I had to add salt and then the butter, a few pieces at a time. The dough was super sticky, but this is supposed to be perfectly normal and one should avoid the temptation to add flour. However, there was one direction I didn't fully understand. It said to mix the dough until it was elastic, smooth and "clears the side of the bowl." Well, I'm not exactly sure what that means. I was trying to google on my iphone as it was happening, but the time was running out on my phone and I started to just assume it did "clear the sides" since it touched the sides of the bowl but didn't stick to it. After doing some research, particuarly after reading this feed about bread baking here: http://www.thefreshloaf.com/node/25037/using-kitchen-aid-standmixer-make-bread-having-problems-need-advice , I beileve I confirmed my suspicions about "clearing the bowl."

Anyway, things were going fine, I added my raisins, then I had to put it in the oven above a cake pan of boiling water (to keep the dough moist as it rises) for 45 minutes... what, 45 minutes?!

I guess I got started with this process a little too late. (Part of the reason was I forgot to buy plastic wrap and the recipe called for it and I figured aluminum foil was not a good substitute. I had to get redressed out of my pajamas and go to two different bodegas to get my plastic wrap. Oh, woe is me). I then skimmed through the recipe and realized there were THREE... yes, THREE intervals of 45 minutes where I would be waiting for dough to rise. Since it was now approaching 10 o'clock, I had already started, and I was determined to get it done, I realized that it was going to be a long night.

So, the first forty-five minutes went well. I took it out, kneaded it again, and put it back. Then I made the cinnamon sugar filling (I'm omitting details of the recipe because that's not exactly the point) and, eventually, took the dough out again.

This is where the problems started. It looked good enough: but this is where the problems started. I was supposed to roll the dough out to very specific inch stipulations (I don't have measuring things but improvised with my 81/2 inch loaf pan) and then I was supposed to spray the dough with my spritzer bottle of water. This is when I realized that though I had read the recipe through a few days ago, I forgot that I needed a spritzing bottle and I didn't have one. It was at this point that I think things got sloppy. The dough was only supposed to be 1/4 of an inch thick. However, it's thickness varied in different parts of the dough roll out. Then, I had to sloppily throw water onto the dough. This bothered me. Then I had to slather on the cinnamon sugar filling. Then I was supposed to "spritz" it again. I improvised again. I must have done the slathering and improvising sloppily because when I rolled it into a "tight cylinder," cinnamon filling was oozing out of it and I couldn't really pinch the dough together to cover it up:


On the second loaf (the recipe makes two), I thought I would get it down and correct my mistakes, which I sort of did, until I rolled it up and then realized I totally forgot to "spritz" the water on the filling. So what is a girl to do who's trying to follow the letter of the law and is panicking because she cannot? Open up the 'loaf" again, spread cinnamon sticky gook all over your countertop accidentally, losing important cinnamon on the one decent loaf you actually have because it's sticking to the marble, and then "spritz" more water with your clumsy benediction onto the dough. That's what I did. This one looked slightly better, with some smudges:

Then, came the slicing it open and braiding the bread into something pretty, all while keeping the cut side open. That was .... umm, difficult, to say the least. It was spilling out again. I then stuffed it into a loaf pan and it looked like an explosion:

After I revisited it after its rising for another 45 minutes, I realized that I made a very substantial mistake (so it seems). I reailzed that I had incorporated an egg into the cinnamon bread filling when it was actually supposed to be dry! The egg was for an egg wash to be brushed on to the bread at THIS point... oh great. Also, the oven was supposed to be heating for 45 minutes while the bread was rising, something I didn't do. So now.... it was too late to undo the egg and too early (ahem) to wait another 45 minutes. So, I put it in the oven (with another egg used for the egg wash) and hoped for the best.

It started to BURN almost immediately (probably because I put extra egg) so I tented the tinfoil and turned the oven down earlier than the recipe stated. Then.... and this was the kicker... I actually fell asleep while the bread was in the oven. I woke up at 3:30, never heard the timer and I just took the bread out. It looked like this:



I was pretty upset that I missed some of the directions, fell asleep and almost burned the bread, but after we cut it, toasted it and put butter on it... well, this empty plate speaks for itself:



It was a hit!



What I learned from my first recipe in this experience, is that I absolutely MUST read the recipe like three times before I begin. I cannot make any assumptions that I have all the equipment I need or I know the timing necessary for the recipe. This bread caused me to stay up hours past my bed time and the results might be disastrous! It is definitely stressful to waste that time and energy if it isn't going to taste good. Luckily, this is a learning experience and, since no one's dinner depends on this baking, I think it'll be okay. I'll check in again soon and hopefully I'll learn how to cut these entries down to fewer words!

FOLLOW UP: Another great idea! My boyfriend used the cinnamon bread to make cinnamon french toast in the morning. AWESOME! It would also be cool to use the leftovers (if there were enough) for some bread pudding.

In the beginning...there was Cook's Illustrated

So here I am all "Julia and Julia" style, starting a cooking blog to trace how I blossom into a real live cook, able to whip up a hollandaise sauce in a jiffy and know when to poach versus broil versus sear then broil. I'm overly enthusiastic about this and keeping this blog is a way to keep me accountable for reflecting (and pursuing) my culinary ventures.

Now, I really started boiling with excitment when I learned about Cook's Illustrated and, after reading about it, decided to buy two cook books and a subscription to their magazine in one keying in of my credit card number on amazon. The books came this week and I was uber excited to get started! Here they are (I know the pic quality isn't the best... I'll work on it):



So, in case you don't know, Cook's Illustrated is an empire run by America's Test Kitchen, a kitchen/company located outside of Boston. The kitchen makes it their mission to try and retry recipes over and over until they find the "best" version of that recipe so you can make it at home without many disasters. They don't take anything for granted so they really try all kinds of combinations and permutations. They are also somewhat cost conscious, so you are able to replicate the recipes at home without going broke.

I spent this week reading the magazine on the subway back and forth from work. For each recipe offered, the magazine gives detailed descriptions of how they got to the recipe that is published. They detail their mistakes, successes, the origin of their ideas and the responses from their taste testing panel. I'm thinking that if I read these descriptions (which are also included in their cookbooks) and tackle one thing at a time, I'll really be cooking - pun intended.

I'm not exactly sure what my mission is, however. Unlike Julia of "Julia and Julia," I don't just have one cookbook to get through, I have two. Also, the cookbooks don't have one meal per page. They have pages of appetizers and sides and salads. If I am going to "cook through the cook book" it certainly wouldn't be in a linear way....and it would take me years. Well, I guess I do want to make the investment of "years" to the process and I want to come out of this as someone who knows how certain ingredients interact so that I can throw my own recipes together with confidence. To do that, I think I will say that my goal is to: 1. Cook through every issue of Cook's Illustrated as I get them, over the course of the two months between the publications and to: 2. Begin conquering "The Best New Recipe" cook book little by little, reading the description and background of every recipe I make so that I learn something, and to eventually get through the entire book! I'll put little checks and the date next to every recipe I make. I'm thinking this cook book thing alone will take about three years!... I mean, if I do every single recipe and if I factor in diversions to other cook books, etc. (Obviously this will happen).

Okay, so I am very excited to get started and I'm hoping that this blog will help me make the commitment to Cook Like a Champion today... and every day.