Archives for August 2011

prosecco raspberry gelee

08/31/2011 By bridget

One New Year’s Eve, I was standing in line at the grocery store buying sushi rice (because I had a very exciting evening of cooking ahead of me to ring in the new year), when I heard the person behind me tell someone on her cell phone, “I’m buying vodka…and Grandma got the good jello!”

The advantage of only making a half recipe – half a bottle of champagne to use up!

What, I wonder, is the “good jello”? Jell-o brand, and not store brand? I assure you that the two will make equally gag-worthy but redeemingly drunk-making jello shots.

I think I have found my own good jello, and it involves, as all good things must, bubbly wine. Not precisely prosecco, because apparently that Italian sparkling wine isn’t available in my area, but I’m sure my favorite New Mexico champagne will work just as well.

And good wine is key here, because very little is done to it. It’s mixed with raspberries, of course, and solidified, and slightly sweetened, and that’s it. In the end, it’s a dessert that tastes almost exactly like champagne with fruit, and the best part is that it even keeps its fizz. It keeps its buzz too, as I accidentally learned on a pleasant Sunday afternoon. I wouldn’t call this a jello shot, but it’s definitely good jello.

One year ago: Whole Wheat Bagels
Two years ago: Quick Baking Powder Pizza Crust
Three years ago: Eclairs

printer friendly recipe
Prosecco Raspberry Gelée (from Bon Appétit)

Mixing fresh raspberries with sugar doesn’t do much if you don’t cut or crush them, but just go with it. You’ll end up breaking them up slightly when you mix them with the rest of the ingredients, which will tint your gelée a pretty blush color.

I might add a couple tablespoons more sugar next time, just to make this feel more like dessert and less like a glass of wine that happens to be solid(ish).

I did use the orange-flower water, and I recommend it if you have it.

2 cups (9 ounces) fresh raspberries
¾ cup plus 2 tablespoons sugar, divided
2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice, divided
1 750-ml chilled bottle Prosecco (Italian sparkling wine), divided
3½ teaspoon unflavored gelatin (measured from two 1/4-ounce envelopes)
¾ teaspoon orange-flower water (optional)

1. Place the raspberries, ¼ cup sugar, and 1 tablespoon lemon juice in a medium bowl; toss gently to combine. Let stand at room temperature until the raspberries release their juices, tossing occasionally, 20-30 minutes.

2. Place ½ cup Prosecco in a small bowl. Sprinkle the gelatin over it and let stand 5 minutes to soften. Bring 1 cup Prosecco to a boil with the remaining ½ cup plus 2 tablespoons sugar, stirring until the sugar is dissolved. Remove from the heat; add the gelatin mixture and stir until dissolved.

3. Transfer the gelatin mixture to a large pitcher. Add the raspberries with their juices, the remaining Prosecco, the remaining 1 tablespoon lemon juice, and orange-flower water (if using), stirring to dissolve any sugar.

4. Using a slotted spoon, divide the raspberries equally among coupe glasses or other small wide shallow glasses or cups. Divide the Prosecco mixture equally among the glasses, about ¾ cup per glass. Chill gelée until firm, about 3 hours. (Gelées can be made up to 2 days ahead. Cover and keep chilled.)

Filed Under: alcohol, citrus, dessert, french, fruit, gluten free

cornmeal and bacon loaf

08/29/2011 By bridget

It’s impossible to get burned out on food fads in smalltown southeastern New Mexico. There are no cupcake shops (heck, there isn’t any kind of bakery), no restaurants topping their food with foam, and bacon stays where it belongs – next to eggs, not in desserts.

Not that adding bacon to cornbread is particularly trendy, but I naively fell for the naming trickery of this bread and didn’t realize until I was eating it that “cornmeal loaf” is cornbread. In this case, cornbread with bacon and without any fruit, as I didn’t want to confuse the issue of whether this was a dessert or breakfast. With a poached egg on top and savory bits of bacon mixed in, this is classic breakfast all the way.

Caitlin, who evidently can’t resist the combination of fruit and cornmeal, chose this for Tuesdays with Dorie, and she has the full recipe posted. I substituted whole wheat pastry flour for half of the whole wheat flour, left out the fruit, reduced the sugar to ⅓ cup, and added 6 strips of cooked chopped bacon, as recommended by Dorie in her savory variation.

One year ago: Espresso Chocolate Shortbread
Two years ago: Lime Meringue Pie
Three years ago: Chunky Peanut Butter and Oatmeal Chocolate Chipsters

Filed Under: bread, breakfast, pork, quick bread, tuesdays with dorie, whole grains

blueberry barbecue salmon

08/28/2011 By bridget

Dave and I sometimes go to lunch at a little coffeehouse that used to have only one sandwich option each day. There was no pattern to which sandwich would be available when, so we would just cross our fingers for reubens or the turkey pesto panini. It’s fortunate that neither of us is picky, but there was one sandwich I got there that I disliked – tuna salad with chunks of apples.

I’m working my way around to sweet and savory combinations, and thinly sliced apple on a sandwich with cheddar and turkey sounds appealingly crisp and sweet. I like applesauce with pork. But I could not wrap my mind around chunks of apple in tuna salad, so, like a picky little brat, I picked them all out.

And yet blueberries in barbecue sauce sounds like a perfect match. Barbecue sauce is a mix of tangy, spicy, and sweet flavors, so why not throw some fruit into the mix to add to the sweet balance. I had never eaten salmon with barbecue sauce, but salmon is so rich and meaty that it’s a perfect match.

In the end, I could hardly taste the blueberry anyway, although the barbecue sauce was a particularly vibrant shade of purple. Maybe that means this wasn’t a true test of my sweet plus savory acceptance, but I still think it’s one step closer. Just don’t give me one of those chicken salads with grapes in it.

Housekeeping: If you’re reading this through a feed reader like Google Reader, you’re missing out on my brand new design! Click on over to check it out. I’ve also added a couple of new pages – a long overdue list of my favorite food blogs and a few notes on how I approach recipe writing and categorizing. Finally, I’ve created a Facebook page for The Way the Cookie Crumbles, because apparently between this blog, Twitter, and at least half of my personal conversations, I wasn’t getting enough avenues to talk about food.

One year ago: Penne alla Vodka
Two years ago: Amaretto Cheesecake
Three years ago: Mashed Potatoes with Kale

Printer Friendly Recipe
Blueberry Barbecue Salmon (adapted from How Sweet It Is via Pink Parsley)

Serves 4

4 (6-oz) salmon fillets, skin on
kosher salt and freshly ground pepper
1 teaspoon olive oil
1 shallot, minced
1 clove garlic
pinch red pepper flakes
½ cup fresh blueberries, rinsed and patted dry
⅓ cup ketchup
1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar
1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
2 tablespoons brown sugar
1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce

1. Prepare the grill to its highest setting. Pat the salmon dry and season it liberally with salt and pepper.

2. In a small saucepan, heat the oil over medium heat. Add the shallots and cook, stirring occasionally, until just starting to brown around the edges, stirring occasionally. Add the garlic and red pepper flakes and cook, stirring constantly, until fragrant, about 30 seconds. Reduce the heat to medium-low, add the blueberries, and cook until they begin to soften and burst, about 10 minutes. Use the back of a spoon to mash them, then add the ketchup, vinegars, brown sugar, mustard, and Worcestershire sauce. Whisk well to combine and break up the blueberries, then increase the heat to medium. Stirring often, cook until the mixture begins to bubble, then lower the heat to medium low. Continue to cook, stirring frequently, until the sauce has thickened, another 10-20 minutes. The sauce will be thicker and clumpier than traditional barbecue sauce.

3. Use a paper towel and tongs to oil the grates of the grill well, then lay the salmon, flesh-side-down, on the grill. Cook 5 minutes, then carefully flip. Brush the salmon with half the barbecue sauce, then cook an additional 3-5 minutes, or until it is mostly cooked through but still pink in the center. Remove from grill, brush with the remaining sauce, and serve.

Filed Under: fruit, gluten free, grilling, seafood, summer

grilled pita

08/25/2011 By bridget

It’s news to no one that homemade pita is a hundred times better than storebought pita. But it might be news to some that grilled homemade pita is a hundred times better than baked homemade pita. True story.

Pita dough and pizza dough are so similar that I keep batches in the freezer (actually lately I’ve been using Tartine’s country bread dough) and use them interchangeably. Both are rounds of dough that are stretched out thin, and when cooked, are expected to be spotty browned but still tender. So if grilled pizza is so popular lately, why not grilled pita?

Grilling pita is particularly convenient for me because all of my favorite pita fillings are grilled. So once the chicken comes off the grill and is resting, I plop a round of dough on the hot coals, wait a minute until it bubbles and browns, then flip it. Your pita breads likely won’t be perfectly round, because transferring sticky stretchy dough to hot hot coals isn’t a trivial process. But what they might lack in symmetry, they make up for in grill lines – not to mention crisp edges, soft middles, and that touch of smoke that only the grill can provide.

One year ago: Baked French Toast
Two years ago: Pasta with No-Cook Tomato Sauce and Fresh Mozzarella
Three years ago: Blackberry Swirl Ice Cream

Printer Friendly Recipe
Grilled Pocketless Pitas

12 pitas

2½ pounds pizza dough, fully risen
nonstick spray or olive oil

1. Working on a damp towel, cut the dough into 12 pieces. Shape each into a ball by gently pulling the edges toward one side and pinching the seam to seal it. Roll the ball of dough on the towel to smooth and even the shape. Let the dough rest for 15-30 minutes. Meanwhile, heat the grill to medium-high heat.

2. Pick up one ball of dough by an edge; stretch and pull it into a 5- to 6-inch round. If it becomes too elastic to shape, set it aside, loosely covered, for 5 minutes before trying again. Spray the tops of the shaped rounds with nonstick spray or brush with olive oil.

3. Carefully lay the pita rounds, oiled side down, directly on the grill. When the pita bubbles and the bottom is spottily browned, after 1-2 minutes, use tongs to flip the pita. Continue cooking until the second side begins to brown, about 1 minutes. Serve immediately or wrap in a kitchen towel for up to 30 minutes.

Filed Under: bread, grilling, sandwiches, yeast bread

golden brioche loaves

08/23/2011 By bridget

Saturday I had a cooking extravaganza. I chose five fun recipes and spaced out the eating and the cooking over the course of the evening. I spent hours in the kitchen, and I had a great time.

I spent most of Sunday in the kitchen as well, but it wasn’t planned, so it wasn’t as fun. Plus, I made bread dough for three types of bread, but one (completely delicious) grilled pita was the only bread I ate all day. It’s a good reminder that the best part of cooking is eating.

Of course it’s worth it in the end. I was thankful for the Sunday’s batch of bagels at work Monday morning, and I was grateful for the brioche on Tuesday. My coworkers were particularly grateful for the brioche. Who can say no to bread that’s this flakey, and most importantly, buttery?

Margie chose brioche for Tuesdays with Dorie, and she has the recipe posted. Despite Dorie’s recommendation that the full recipe (enough for two loaves) of dough be made at once, I was able to make only half the recipe with no problems. For tiny brioches baked in a mini muffin pan, I divided the half recipe into 36 portions and baked them at 450 degrees for 12 minutes.

One year ago: Crunchy and Custardy Peach Tart
Two years ago: Applesauce Spice Bars
Three years ago: Chocolate-Banded Ice Cream Torte

Filed Under: bread, breakfast, french, tuesdays with dorie

sweet corn hash

08/21/2011 By bridget

I went to the local farmer’s market for the first time in over a year this morning and was sadly reminded why I hadn’t gone to the local farmer’s market for over a year. Apparently a farmer to the locals is someone who makes little crafts, not someone who grows stuff. The only vegetable for sale was zucchini, and we already have plenty of that.

So I’ve been buying my summer corn at the grocery store, which just seems wrong, doesn’t it? Ears of corn should be bought out of the back of a truck on the side of the road. That doesn’t seem to be an option here, but it would be a shame to go the whole summer without eating corn just because I can’t find a local vendor selling it.

It doesn’t take much more than the word “hash” to get me excited about a recipe. It’s hard to go wrong with a dish based on browned potatoes topped with eggs. Buying corn at the grocery store instead of the farmers market might not feel as satisfying, but it works just fine, especially once the corn is mixed with lightly caramelized onions, browned potatoes, and crisp bacon.

One year ago: Whole Wheat Challah
Two years ago: Potato Tomato Tart
Three years ago: Fruit Bruschetta

Printer Friendly Recipe
Sweet Corn Hash (adapted from Joy the Baker)

Serves 4

Joy roasted her potatoes, but I thought it would be easier to brown them in the skillet with the rest of the ingredients. She also adds butter at the end to increase the richness of the dish, but I figured a couple slices of bacon would have the same affect, while contributing great flavor of its own.

We also stirred in some chopped roasted green chile, because ‘tis the season.

4 slices bacon, chopped
4 medium red potatoes, cubed
1 onion, chopped
4 ears corn, kernels removed
¼ cup parsley, minced
salt and ground black pepper
4 eggs

1. In a large nonstick skillet over medium heat, cook the bacon until almost crisp. While the bacon cooks, put the potatoes in a medium microwave-safe bowl; spoon a couple teaspoons of rendered bacon fat from the skillet into the bowl; stir. Cover the potatoes loosely and microwave on high for 3 minutes, stirring twice.

2. Add the onions and potatoes to the skillet with the bacon; cook, stirring occasionally, until browned, about 8 minutes. Stir in the corn and most of the parsley. Lower the heat to medium-low. Using the back of a spoon, create 4 wells in the hash. Break one egg into each well; season with salt and pepper. Cover the pan and cook, without stirring, until the white is set, about 8 minutes. Garnish with the remaining parsley; serve immediately.

Filed Under: breakfast, eggs, gluten free, one pot meal, pork, potatoes, summer, vegetables

chocolate friands

08/18/2011 By bridget

These are hard to describe. They resemble brownies, but are so far on the fudgy end of the brownie spectrum that they’re almost candy. They’re served in candy cups if you can find them, but the alternative option is mini muffin cups, which makes the friands resemble cake. These don’t fall neatly into any category.

They’re made similarly to brownies too, with a few interesting variations. One is that, instead of melting the butter and chocolate in a bowl set over a pot of simmering water like most brownie recipes, hot melted butter was poured over chopped chocolate, and the residual heat of the butter melted the chocolate. It provides the same effect as a double boiler, but it’s simpler.

The other difference I noted is that the eggs are stirred in last. Usually flour is the last thing added to batters and doughs, because the more flour is worked (stirred or kneaded), the chewier and less tender the resultant baked good becomes. Plus, eggs are mostly water and they don’t easily mix into the fatty mixture of butter and chocolate, so seeing that worrisome “do not overmix” warning right after the eggs are added at the end was extra stressful.

And lastly, and I believe most importantly, there is no leavener – no baking powder or soda, no whipped eggs. This is what makes the confections so rich that they’re almost more candy than brownie. And that is what makes them so hard to figure out.

Apparently they’re hard to pronounce too, as I had multiple coworkers come by my office to thank me for the ‘chocolate friends’ that I brought in to share. It’s an appropriate name for a treat I chose to make for Josie’s virtual baby shower. Josie is in the no-dessert-is-too-rich club, like me, so I definitely consider her a chocolate friend. Congratulations Josie! I wish you and your family the best.

One year ago: Banana Peanut Butter Muffins
Two years ago: Vegetable Curry
Three years ago: Country Egg Scramble

Printer Friendly Recipe
Chocolate Friands (from Tartine)

Batter:
6 ounces bittersweet chocolate, coarsely chopped
16 tablespoons (1 cup) unsalted butter
1½ cups + 1 tablespoon (11 ounces) sugar
¾ cups (3.75 ounces) all-purpose flour
2 tablespoons cornstarch
¼ teaspoon salt
4 large eggs

Ganache:
4 ounces bittersweet chocolate, finely chopped
⅔ cup heavy cream

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Line up 48 1½-by-½ inch candy cups on 2 baking sheets, or butter and flour 24 mini-muffin-tin wells, knocking out the excess flour.

2. To make the batter, place the chocolate in a large mixing bowl. In a small saucepan, melt the butter over medium heat until very hot. Pour the butter over the chocolate and whisk or stir until smooth. In a medium mixing bowl, combine the sugar, flour, cornstarch, and salt and mix well. Add the flour mixture to the chocolate mixture in 3 batches, whisking well after each addition. Add 2 of the eggs and whisk until combined, and then add the remaining 2 eggs and whisk just until incorporated. Be careful not to overmix the batter.

3. Transfer the batter to a liquid measuring cup for pouring, and fill the cups three-fourths full. Bake until the cakes just start to crack on top, 12 to 15 minutes. Let cool for 10 minutes on a wire rack, and then unmold them if you have baked them in the muffin tins and let cool completely. If you have baked them in the paper cups, just let them cool in the cups.

3. To make the ganache, place the chocolate in a small heatproof bowl. Bring the cream to just under a boil in a small saucepan. Pour the cream over the chocolate and let sit for a minute or two. Stir gently with a rubber spatula until the chocolate is melted and smooth.

4. Make sure the friands are cool before dipping them into the ganache. Holding each friand by its sides, dip the top into the ganache and then shake gently to let the excess run off the side. Return the friand to the rack and let the ganache set up in a cool place for about 1 hour.

5. Don’t put the friands in the refrigerator to set up if your kitchen is hot because condensation will form on the tops when you take them out, ruining the smooth look of the ganache. The only way to avoid the condensation is to place them in an airtight container before putting them in the refrigerator adn then to leave them in the refrigerator and then leave them in the container when you remove them from the refrigerator until they come to room temperature, or to serve them right away.

6. Serve the friands within a day of making, or store them in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 5 days.

Filed Under: candy, chocolate, cookies, dessert

tropical crumble

08/15/2011 By bridget

My family’s beach vacations in Mexico always include swimming, beer drinking, wave watching, margarita drinking, cooking, and wine drinking. And so far, they’ve always included hovering neaby while someone cuts cubes of perfectly ripe mangoes, which are snatched up as soon as the knife is out of the way. There are few things in life better than eating mangoes on the beach in Mexico while on vacation.

Baking a banana-mango crumble the day after vacation is less fun. For one thing, after a week of fried fish tacos, I was ready for some detox. For another thing, I do not feel that chunks of banana are meant to be baked.

To compromise, I made the recipe with many changes. I cut the butter in the fruit filling by half, then cooked only the banana, over medium-high heat to brown it in the sugar mixture, bananas foster style. I reduced the butter in the crumble topping to 6 tablespoons and doubled the flour. Alongside a scoop of lowfat Greek yogurt, this dessert wasn’t half-bad, and it was only half-bad for me too.

Gaye chose this for Tuesdays with Dorie, and she has the recipe posted. However, other members of TWD had a number of problems with it. With the changes I noted above, mine came out well.

One year ago: Oatmeal Breakfast Bread
Two years ago: Brownie Buttons
Three years ago: Granola Grabbers

Filed Under: dessert, fruit, nuts, tuesdays with dorie

spice-rubbed picnic chicken

08/12/2011 By bridget

Family vacations require a careful balance of time together and time apart. Originally, my family found that cruises worked well – everyone does their own thing during the day and we meet up for dinner. The last few years, we’ve started renting a house on the beach for a week. We still make sure to have dinner together every evening, but now we have to cook it ourselves.

Despite my love for spending time in the kitchen, I have a greater love of sitting on the beach drinking margaritas. No one in my family is willing to cook dinner for the group every night. Instead, we take turns. On one trip, I made pasta with tomatoes and fresh mozzarella, salad, and crostini topped with white beans and with tuna. Last year, everyone built and then grilled their own pizza. Fajitas and chicken gyros are also crowd-pleasers.

Between shredding cheese, preparing toppings, and stretching out ten rounds of dough, last year’s pizza extravaganza was ambitious. This year, I wanted something easier. This baked chicken is perfect because it’s actually meant to be cooked in advance, which means I can do it whenever I need a quick break from the sun.

I mixed up the spices at home, so all I need to do on vacation is rub them on the raw chicken the day before it’s my turn to cook and store the meat in the refrigerator overnight. The chicken soaks up spice and salt, which also helps it retain moisture as it bakes. It ends up tasting like barbecued chicken that’s been smoking all day on the grill, but it’s completely undemanding. Undemanding is what vacation is all about.

One year ago: Green Goddess Salad
Two years ago: Lemon Meringue Cake
Three years ago: Tuscan-Style Couscous Salad

Printer Friendly Recipe
Spice-Rubbed Picnic Chicken (from Cooks Illustrated)

Serves 8

If you have space to store 5 pounds of chicken pieces in your refrigerator all lined up on a baking sheet, you are lucky to be so rich in fridge space. I just pile the spiced chicken in a bowl with a cover.

As you can see from the pictures, I did not cut the breasts into smaller pieces. Obviously it took longer to cook, but it worked fine.

5 pounds bone-in, skin-on chicken pieces (breasts, thighs, drumsticks, or a mix with breasts cut into 3 pieces or halved if small), trimmed of excess fat and skin
2 tablespoons kosher salt
3 tablespoons brown sugar
2 tablespoons chili powder
2 tablespoons sweet paprika
2 teaspoons ground black pepper
¼-½ teaspoon cayenne pepper

1. Use a sharp knife to make 2 or 3 short slashes in the skin of each piece of chicken, taking care not to cut into meat. Combine the salt, sugar, and spices in a small bowl and mix thoroughly. Coat the chicken pieces with the spices, gently lifting the skin to distribute the spice rub underneath but leaving it attached to chicken. Transfer the chicken skin side up to wire rack set over rimmed foil-lined baking sheet, lightly tent with foil, and refrigerate 6 to 24 hours.

2. Secure the skin of each breast piece with 2 or 3 toothpicks placed near the edges of the skin.

3. Adjust an oven rack to the middle position; heat the oven to 425 degrees. Roast the chicken until the thickest part of smallest piece registers 140 degrees on an instant-read thermometer, 15 to 20 minutes. Increase the oven temperature to 500 degrees and continue roasting until the chicken is browned and crisp and the thickest parts of the breast pieces register 160 degrees, 5 to 8 minutes longer, removing pieces from the oven and transferring to a clean wire rack as they finish cooking. Continue to roast the thighs and/or drumsticks, if using, until the thickest part of the meat registers 170 to 175 degrees, about 5 minutes longer. Remove from the oven; transfer the chicken to a rack and let it cool completely before refrigerating or serving.

Filed Under: chicken, gluten free, summer

carrot spice muffins

08/09/2011 By bridget

I am against vegetables in cake, but I am pro vegetables in muffins. I am against raisins in cake, but I am pro raisins in muffins. The same goes with nuts. Basically, carrot cake is an abomination, or at best just a vehicle for cream cheese frosting, but carrot muffins are awesome.

Awesome to eat, that is; they’re a bit of a pain to make, what with the carrot shredding and nut toasting and spice measuring. But they’re worth it in the end, hearty and moist and studded with sweet raisins and bitter pecans. I have to confess to wondering if they would be even better topped with cream cheese frosting though.

Nancy chose these for Tuesdays with Dorie, and she has the recipe posted. I reduced the oil to ½ cup, replaced 1 cup of all-purpose flour with whole wheat pastry flour, doubled the salt, and increased the carrot slightly.

One year ago: Chocolate Ganache Ice Cream
Two years ago: Banana Bundt Cake
Three years ago: Blueberry Sour Cream Ice Cream

Filed Under: bread, breakfast, fruit, nuts, quick bread, tuesdays with dorie, vegetables