Starfruit Gypsy

Tarte aux pommes, miel et amandes

2010-03-02T19:43:00.000-08:00

Made this recipe for French class, and I've wanted to make it again ever since.

So.

In the middle of FINALS WEEK

(ohmygodwomanwhatareyouthinking)

I made it. And will eat it tonight. Then study for my Math final. But only after I eat this.

It is so simple, it's not even baking. It's just cooking with sweet things.

Here's la recette in Français:

Tarte aux pommes, miel et amandes

(http://www.marmiton.org/Recettes/Recette_tarte-aux-pommes-miel-et-amandes_15227.aspx)

Préparation : 40 mn

Cuisson : 30 mn

Ingrédients (pour 6 personnes) :

- 250 g de pâte feuilletée

- 6 petites pommes

- 70 g de beurre

- 2 cuillères à soupe de miel

- 100 g de sucre

- 100 g d'amandes effilées

Préparation :

Préchauffer le four à 210°C.

Granir un moule à tarte avec la pâte feuilletée.

Couper les pommes en lamelles moyennes et les disposer sur la pâte.

Mettre au four une vingtaine de minutes.

Dans une casserole, faire fondre le beurre à feu doux. Ajouter le miel, le sucre et les amandes.

Napper le dessus de la tarte avec l'appareil encore chaud, et remettre au four quelques minutes pour faire dorer le tout.

English:

Apple Tart with Honey and Almonds

Preparation: 40 mins

Cooktime: 30 mins

Ingredients (for 6 people) :

- 250 grams puff pastry (about one sheet or round, depending on the size)

- 6 small apples

- 70 grams butter

- 2 T. honey

- 100 grams sugar

- 100 grams chopped almonds

Preheat the oven to 210ºC (410ºF).

Lay the puff pastry in a pie pan like you would a pie crust.

Cut the apples into thin slices and lay them in the pie pan.

Bake for about twenty minutes, until lightly browned.

In a saucepan, melt the butter on low heat. Add the honey, sugar and almonds.

Pour the mixture evenly over the apples and put the tart back in the oven for a few minutes into browned and hot.

Eat.

Teehee.

2010-02-02T17:24:00.000-08:00

I had to watch this for French class. I love her voice; it's so cute!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hwmactsrr9c

Reconciliation in Cinnamon Buns

2010-01-31T19:19:00.000-08:00

Step 1. Want to bake something

Step 2. Whine/moan/fantasize about it for three weeks (at least).

Step 3. Finally bake it at the most inconvenient time, i.e. when you have mountains of homework

Step 4. Gloat about how you baked something amazing AND got your homework done

Step 5. Finish said baked good in about two days and begin again at Step 1.

I finally finished steps 4 and 5 last week. I made cinnamon buns.

"Come ON, Gypsy, you've made cinnamon buns, like, 17392804821984 times before on here."

I know, I know. But it's comfort food, and if I'm going to get my baking groove back, I want to start with things I like and know how to make.

Recipe can be found at this previous post.

I'm Alive

2010-01-28T19:08:00.001-08:00

Um...

Hi.

*cricket cricket*

I've lately been getting my baking/cooking mojo back, so... we'll see.

Thanks to all of you who have commented on my previous postings. I'm glad to see that they were appreciated.

We'll see how this goes.

Long Time, No See: Hot Cross Buns

2009-04-05T17:09:00.000-07:00

Homemade Pysanky eggs

Whoa. Jeebus christcake. Haven't been here for

a while.

I have an excuse! I was sick, then high school started, then breaks and Disneyland and homework and dances and friends and insomnia and... life got in the way. I've also lost my cooking/baking drive a bit, so we'll see how this goes.

But this is the prominent baked good in our house at the moment. Hot Cross Buns... mmmm....

We make them every year. Usually during Lent, but we've been late this year and its closer to Easter than anything else. But my spring is not complete without them.

HOT CROSS BUNS

Makes 18-24 buns

2 packages yeast

1/2 cup very warm water (105-115ºF)

1/4 cup warm milk (90ºF)

1/2 cup vegetable oil

1/3 cup sugar

1 1/2 tsp. salt

3 1/2 to 4 cups unbleached flour

1/2 tsp. cinnamon

1/2 tsp. nutmeg

3 eggs, beaten lightly

1 cup raisins

1 egg white

pinch of salt

3/4 cup powdered sugar

1/4 tsp. vanilla

Place yeast and warm water in bowl of mixer and stir to dissolve the yeast. Let stand for three minutes.

Add milk, oil, sugar and 1 1/2 tsp. salt to the yeast mixture and stir to combine. Set aside.

In another bowl, mix one cup flour, cinnamon, and nutmeg together. Stir flour ixture into yeast mixture with a whisk until well combined. Stir in the eggs. Now using a dough hook, gradually stir in 2 1/2 to 3 cups flour -- just enough to make a very soft, pliable dough.

Place dough on a lightly floured surface and knead for 5-7 minutes. Return dough to bowl, cover with plastic wrap, and let rest for 20 minutes.

Knead dough again for 1-2 minutes (until smooth and elastic but not too firm). Gently flatten dough into a rectangle one inch thick. Spread raisins over rectangle. Fold the mass into an envelope and knead just until raisins are well distributed.

Shape dough into loose ball and p;ace in a lightly oiled bowl. Turn the dough to coat the top with oil and cover bowl with oiled plastic wrap. Let dough rise at room temperature until doubled in volume -- about 1 1/2 to 2 hours.

Line two baking sheets with parchment. When sough had doubled in bulk, place it on a floured surface and divide into 18 even pieces (cut it into thirds, then in thirds again, then in half). Shape the pieces into small round buns. Place on pans. Cover loosely with oiled plastic wrap ad let rise at room temperature until almost doubled in volume -- 45 minutes to an hour.

Preheat over to 400ºF. Whisk together egg white and pinch of salt. When buns have doubled in bulk, make a shallow cross on the top of each bun with a sharp knife (try a serrated knife). Brush buns lightly with egg wash and reserve the remaining egg wash. Place pans in oven (use two ovens -- don't try to double up in one). Using a spray bottle, mist top and side of each oven with water 6-8 times and quickly close oven door. After 3 minutes, mist again.

Bake for 10 minutes; reduce heat to 350ºF, and bake for 5-10 minutes longer, or until buns have turned a nice golden brown. Transfer buns to rack and let cool for 5 minutes.

Combine reserved egg wash with powdered sugar and vanilla. Add water, if needed, to make frosting workable. While rolls and still warm, use a pastry bag fitted with a small plain tip to make a cross of frosting over the cross on each bun. These buns freeze well.

Watashi no "Lavu Afe-a": My Love Affair

2008-08-24T12:49:00.000-07:00

I never did say anything about Japan, did I? Oh, yes, right... I have a one-paragraph beginning rotting in my post repository. Well, it'll never get written, I can tell you that. I am probably one of the world's worst procrastinators. Unless I have it written in front of my face in a homework log that I have to do it, it won't get done. Unless it's actually fun to do...

Oh, I'm sorry, let me introduce my lover (or lahvahhh, if you are a Sex and the City fan). This is 日本のおにぎり: Japanese Onigiri. He is my new flame, and we were inseparable for three days straight in Japan. And now, in the US, I've found him again, and even found the most sensual of delights: making onigiri myself.

But first, I must backtrack months and months ago, to our class's preliminary trip to Japantown, SF, for a scavenger hunt. *cue dreamy harp music and rippling screen*

It was lunchtime... and this year's graduating class was hungry (as usual). Some went to restaurants... some went to food stands... others went to a Japanese general store. I followed my friends to the store, and stood, nonplussed, in the refrigerator aisle, looking at the bounty of choices. Should I try the strange looking rice wrapped in tofu? Or a bento box? Or those funny looking green triangles, the rice balls that all of my friends seemed to be snatching up...

Unfortunately, I stuck to safety and got a rice bowl with teriyaki chicken (always the adventurer...). But from then, my curiosity was peaked for these popular rice balls. Unfortunately, I loathe their most popular filling, salmon, and all strong fishy tastes. That plus seaweed? Ugh, forget it.

But, but, but! Fast forward to our second week in Japan, the first day of the big groups all together, after our homestays. We were set loose in a market in Osaka to find lunch, and I had my heart set of trying onigiri, or bust...

I was excited, my heart leaping with joy as two friends and I wandered up and down the marketplace, smelling delicious things, and conspicuously pointing our fingers at things that looked gross (so American). After fifteen minutes of unabashed sightseeing, we walked into a grocery store to find something we could eat in the market, so as to resume our indulgence of strange new sights.

We found ourselves in the pre-packaged section, where my friends picked up containers of tempura and sushi rolls. However, I was drawn, inexplicably to the shelves of green triangles. There were several different kinds, it seemed, for there were many different colors of wrappers. I decided to face my fears.

"Which one is edible?" I asked my friend. He frowned, and inspected the array. He pointed to a pink-wrapped one with the word "sake" on it. "Sake," besides being a strong alcoholic drink that should not be served below 90º F, means salmon. And, it's pronounced "sa-KAY" in the correct Japanese, NOT "sa-KEE," as most Americans seem to think.

Swallowing hard, I picked up the onigiri, got a drink, and purchased them. My friends followed shortly. We searched for a place to eat, and finally ended up sneaking into another restaurant, something like a Japanese Subway.

I began to unwrap the onigiri, which was hard. It turns out there's a trick to it: they give you a little plastic strip to pull, and the plastic just comes right off, leaving the seaweed wrapped neatly around the rice. But I didn't know this. Out came the ball of rice, and out came the seaweed. I gingerly wrapped the rice in the seaweed, said a prayer, took a breath, and took a bite.

It wasn't bad, I had to admit. I took another bite, then another, and another. Then I hit the salmon in the center, which was salty and perfect. I finished off my rice ball with no difficulty, except I peeled of some of the leftover seaweed, which I hate by itself. But from then on, onigiri and I were in love.

I had onigiri again the next day, and the day after that...

The third day, we found a little shop in Takayama. We were starving, and the restaurant we were planning to go to was closed. My four-person walking group was about done walking, we were so hungry and tired, and when we finally saw the tiny little man and wife in the tiny little shop, we felt like celebrating.

We tried to make him understand that we wanted four onigiri, two with salmon, two with rice only, for out two vegetarians. My friend "C" and I struggled with our Japanese.

Me: Anou... {Ummm...} Ni? sake to onigiri kudasai? {Two (wrong form of number) onigiri with salmon?}

Man: *looked amused* Futatsu sake to? {Two (correct form of number) with salmon?}

Me: Yeah, hai, hai.

C: Chotto matte kudasai {Wait a minute, please}. To... futatsu onigiri.... gohan dake... {And...two onigiri... rice only}

Me: Yeah, gohan only...

Finally, we got it across what we wanted. I waited for him to hand us some prepackaged onigiri, but it was to my surprise when he and his wife went to the back of the shop and began to make them by hand.

They were handed back to us in clear plastic takeout containers. We embarrassedly thanked the shopkeepers, and sat down on spindly chairs at a little table outside the booth/store. We bit into our onigiri. They were probably the best thing we'd tasted on the trip so far; the rice was still warm; the salmon seemed freshly cooked and seasoned. It was delicious.

Almost six months later, my craving for the salty delight became so overwhelming that I just had to have it again. I tried a packaged one, but it was disgusting. So, I decided to make it myself. With the help of a friend who also went to Japan with her own school, we used the molds I bought two months ago at Daiso Japan.

So, here is our rough procedure:

Cook some sushi rice according to the package (don't add anything to it; onigiri usually is made with plain rice).

Put about a tablespoon of butter on a glass baking dish and place in a hunk of salmon. Salt generously, and bake in a 350 or 400º oven (can't remember which, sorry)

Once the salmon is fully cooked, about 10 minutes, let it cool. Then flake it into a bowl.

Place some rice in the bottom of a mold and top it with about a tablespoon of salmon. Cover the rest with rice. Replace the lid of the mold and press. Unmold, and wrap in nori (seaweed).

You can shape these by hand, but this is much easier. Itadakimasu! (Japanese version of bon appètit)

What Can I Say...

2008-08-19T21:46:00.000-07:00

My mom is having a proper luncheon, and asked me to bake some bread for it (probably not because I'm any better than her, but just because she had enough going on already). The luncheon will feature a multitude of salads: curried chicken salad, cucumber salad, fruit salad, then my bread and butter and cookies (if we can find some to bake at the last minute).

I decided do stand by an old friend, and bake some Rosemary Raisin Bread, but without the raisins. However, I used rosemary from my own garden! Whoohoo! (Please understand: I am awful at gardening, but I love herbs. It is a happy day when my five new plants actually get water, and don't almost die before I resuscitate them) I haven't tasted the bread yet, but just HAD to post these pictures:

By the by... I draw, too

Well, what can I say?

It was just so perfect and cute. Cute bread, perfect bread... Or, in Japanese: かわいいパン！

I actually kissed it once. It was that adorable.

Starbucks

2008-08-16T08:54:00.000-07:00

Starbucks Coffee is a subject of constant deliberation. Some love it, some hate it, some go there for the fact that it's there, some avoid the consumerism-driven at all costs. I happen to be among those who love it.

I am between 13 and 16 years old. I do not drink black coffee. I hate espresso, I hate strong coffee flavors in anything but ice cream. I am tiny, so I have to drink decaf, or my body would overload. I don't care if Starbucks is for "people who hate coffee," because, in truth, I do hate coffee. If you love your coffee strong and in huge quantities, be my guest; go to Peet's.

Starbucks is for the people who need comfort. I don't care if I have a long string of drink modifications attached to my image in Starbucks: "Oh, it's the tall-decaf-peppermint-mocha girl, or the tall-mint-chocolatey-chip-frappuchino-no-whip girl." In fact, I like it. Like Meg Ryan, in You've Got Mail, I see that everyone in a Starbucks has defined themselves with their drinks. Our unending streams of decafs and shots and extra rooms and whip creams are just extra modifiers to describe who we are as human beings.

For example: my dad. He likes his coffee black, with room and cream. I don't know what that means about him, but it does, somehow, miraculously seem to fit him as a person. My decaf peppermint mocha, which I order all year round, shows I am nostalgic for the Christmas season, when peppermint flavorings abound in every corner of the food market.

Starbucks is also good for the younger population. We teens have found a tasty place to get a fantastic concoction called a frappuchino. It's like a milkshake, but with so many different flavors (and tastier, too), and they look so stylish when you're walking down the mall. Starbucks is the teen culture's touchstone. We can get the slightly grown-up flavors of coffee, but mask them with fun: caramel macciatos, mochas, mint-mocha frappuchinos.

So, I do not hate Starbucks. I love going into my local shop at 6:45 during the school year, and making eye contact with the barista.

"One tall decaf peppermint mocha?" she'll say. I'll nod, and order a scone or croissant for breakfast. We'll chat as she places the pastry into that novelty Starbucks bag (one reason why I love actually going to Starbucks rather than just making my own mochas and scones at home), and I'll tell her about why on earth I come in this early (my school is far away), and she'll tell me about some funny incident yesterday. And I set off for school, balancing my scone on my lap, and sipping my peppermint mocha, remembering Christmases and Day After Thanksgivings. So, Starbucks is good.

What a Trip!

2008-08-03T19:22:00.000-07:00

So, if you read my previous post, you might know that almost a month ago, my mom and I embarked on a cross-America road trip. We were gone for nearly four weeks, and boy! It was a blast!

We went to a lot of national parks, including Yosemite, Badlands, Mount Rushmore, Petrified Forest, and Yellowstone. They were all fantastic. We stayed in tiny towns (Marion, IL), and in big ones (Las Vegas, NV). From Hiltons to little Indian-themed motels. We were everywhere.

I don't have time to go through everything we did: I'd probably bore you to tears. But, I'll include our standout eating experiences.

Santa Fe, NM: La Boca

I found this restaurant on Trip Advisor. It was dimly lit and very romantic: I wish my mom were my date instead. It was tapas style, which was new to me. We ordered a large salad that had feta, figs, olives, and was dressed with honey, and shared a plate of hummus and pita. I swear, it was the best hummus I have ever eaten in my life. It had carrots, which cut down the spiciness a bit. Gracious, it was addicting. We also shared a fresh pasta dish wish wild mushrooms and duck. The sauce was rich and... almost musky, but not in a gross way! It was so delicious, I may write Bon Appetit for the recipe!

I feel like I am under-describing the soothing and wonderful atmosphere of the place. It was a bit pricey, but after a week of eating out of our car cooler and at tiny hotel discount restaurants, we were ready for a treat. The food was so fantastic, I don't think my writing is doing it justice. Go there. I command you.

Memphis, TN: The Rendezvous and Earnestine and Hazel's

Ernestine and Hazel's was our lunch destination. It was recommended to us by my cousin-in-law, who swears they have the best Soul Burgers on the face of the earth. It probably would not pass any building codes in San Francisco, I can tell you that. The shell of wall and ceiling is veined with pipes and electrical wires. The wall on one side is plastered with pictures of stars who have visited, and old jazz singers' portraits cluster around an ancient jukebox. The few tables are attended by a single server, probably the owner.

We sat down, and the young man walked to our table. "Two soulburgers?" he asked in a languid Memphis drawl. My mom and I stared at him.

"Well, what else do you have?" I stuttered, hoping that I wouldn't have to eat even more beef than I'd already been exposed to on this trip.

He chuckled and almost grinned "That's about all we have. With or without cheese." Dumbfounded, we found ourselves ordering two soulburgers, topped with whatever he recommended. When it came to drinks, I asked for a milk. They didn't have milk, so I asked for Sprite. They were out. I got water.

Finally, the burgers came. They looked completely ordinary. But one bite told us this was definitely not so. They were loaded with onions and cheese, but no frilly lettuce or tomatoes. Artery clogging grease, too? Of course.

They were the best burgers we have ever had. Period.

When it came time to leave the scorching heat of Memphis, we got dry ribs to go at the Rendezvous. Located in a basement in a tiny alley behind a hotel, it is the city's best-kept secret.

We drove farther north, towards Illinois and got to my cousin's house by dinner. We played with her adorable two-year old and ate our ribs, very rudely, at her kitchen counter. Good god, they were delicious. The beans and rolls that came with them were great, too, but the ribs are my new favorites. We stayed up until midnight talking and watching Iron Chef. I love my cousin; she is practically the only one in my family who will actually treat me as an adult.

We got up late the next day and ate Alton Brown's pancakes. I repeat: I love my cousin.

Sikeston, MO: Lambert's

Lamberts: Home of the Throwed Rolls! Since I am too lazy to type it, here is the background story. This was quite an experience! We got there around 1:40, there was a 45 minute wait! We were starving, but once we got in, service was fast.

There were murals all over the walls of town and saloon scenes, people eating huge platters of southern favorites, and servers walking everywhere, carrying huge bowls of free sides and pushing carts filled with hot, mushroom-like rolls. We sat down, placed our orders, and waited. A man pushing a roll cart stood about ten feet away.

"Hot rolls! Throwed rolls!" he bellowed. I held up my hand to him, and he launched a puffy, oven-fresh roll at me. He threw another to my mom. A server spooned gooey sorghum right onto our paper towel napkins, and we ate it with the rolls. More healthy food for us! (we ended up buying a jar of sorghum)

The food was fantastic. My mom and I both ordered fried chicken, and they came on HUGE platters; one would have been enough to share between three people. I didn't try many of the free sides, but my mom did, and she said they were fantastic. Best southern food we had on the trip. Next time, though, I would just assume get something I really don't care about, that's cheap, and just eat out of the free sides, since they seemed to be the best things there.

We went to many other restaurants, some good, some bad, but those were our standout experiences. We're doing the east coast next year, so if you have any suggestions of good restaurants in New York, Maine, Rhode Island, New England, etc. please tell me!

A Sacrificial Offering: Cherry and Chocolate Chip Cookies

2008-06-30T19:47:00.000-07:00

Okay, half of this is an explanation, and half of it is me acting like Martha Stewart. You'll see why.

First, the explanation. I didn't post my Barefoot Bloggers recipe last week because I've been sick and going to ridiculous amounts of unrelated doctors appointments. Why do they have to group all the checkups, sport physicals, blood tests, etc. into the same week? Ugh... I won't be baking or cooking for a bit, either, folks. Sorry.

I also will probably have to withdraw completely from the Barefoot Bloggers because I've already used up one of my side-out passes, and we're going on a month long road trip a week from today. There will be no chance to fulfill the cooking requirements on the road, even when we are staying with relatives. So, no point being in the group when I can't even do the posts. I know, it's sad. I'll re-join later.

And now, the Martha Stewart bit. We went to Whole Foods today, because we needed groceries, and we were near one. I love Whole Foods. It feels so eco-friendly and healthy in there (even though it probably isn't). They also have a much better selection, I think, than any other store.

We splurged! We bought, well, actually not that much stuff, but it was fun! We got veggies and brioche (!) and english muffins (whole wheat and cinnamon raisin) and granola. To put in the granola we bought dried date bits rolled in oat flour and dried strawberries and pecans. It was exciting! (Yes, I know you're probably backing away)

I have actually never had granola. Well, I did once on a camping trip, but it turned the milk purple. It was so gross, I dug a hole and buried the rest of it.

So, when we got home, I looked at our fruit bowl, which has various plums and peaches and such in there. There were also about two other bags of dried fruits, like some squishy old dates and a variety bag from the farmer's market. They looked very messy sitting in the bowl, so I moved everything to jars, as well as the newly purchased nuts and dried fruits. I chopped up the old dates and rolled them in sugar. And I put all the jars in the cabinet with the bags of granola and my mom's carefully labeled tupperwares of chocolate chips and raisins.

I swear it looks like something right outta' Martha Stewart Living. Of course my crap photo skills don't do it justice. I can't wait for breakfast tomorrow just so I can lustily unscrew those jars of dried fruit and mix them into a bowl of granola and milk. Oooo...

And, finally, I have a recipe. My mom had a girls' lunch last Monday, which left me with the kitchen (and the house) all to myself. I made some cookies that I'd had my eye on for a while: Cherry and Chocolate Chip Cookies in Bon Appetit July 2008.

They involved soaking the cherries in kirsch, which was exciting. No drunk teens here!

Hrm, anyways, the verdict? Not fantastic. Despite all the extra to-do about brown sugar and almond extract, they really just tasted like normal chocolate chip cookies with cherries thrown in. I couldn't even taste the almond extract. I opted to use dark chocolate instead of white, because I absolutely loathe white chocolate. So, whatever. I'm far too lazy to post the recipe, so here's someone who did: Nicole at Slashfood.

Ah, Bon Appetit just arrived in the mail. Off I go.

Epitome of Summer

2008-06-22T08:04:00.001-07:00

Shamelessly advertising Dorie Greenspan

{Open scene}

{In the car, driving to a lesson on Tuesday morning}

*Phone rings. The driver picks up.*

Driver {Mom}: Hi, darlin' {or whatever pet name she regularly calls my dad}

Dad: Hi. Hand the phone to Abigail.

*Mom shoves phone into Abigail's face. She pauses her Nightwish and takes it*

Abigail: Yeah? {I am on the short-winded side of my family}

Dad: Can you make lemon poppyseed scones? I got one from Starbucks and it's too sweet.

Abigail: *chuckles* Yeah, of course

{End scene}

So, this is how I found myself dragging my lazy body out of bed at 8:30 yesterday morning to make scones. Saturday mornings are for sleeping in, and 8:30 is, for me, sleeping in. I wake up at 5:30 most school days, so the summer is ridiculously relaxing. Pink-cheeked and with wildman's hair, I trooped into the kitchen in my Singapore t-shirt, Tweety shorts and fuzzy green socks. Morning cooking knows no apron.

I have a standby recipe for scones that is wonderful. I first came upon it when I was looking for a recipe that had the same ingredients as Starbucks blueberry scones, which I was trying to reproduce. I found it on Oswego Tea. Her recipe used milk instead of buttermilk, which I substituted in, and had no baking soda, which I have started adding, since it cancels out the sourness of the buttermilk slightly and adds a lot of extra rise. I am now proud to call my modified recipe my own.

So, the recipe was easy. Adding lemon zest and poppyseeds was easy, and the lemon poppyseed scones were done! But, if I were to completely fulfill my destiny as a Starbucks maniac, I told myself, I would make vanilla bean scones. So, out comes the lone vanilla bean in my mom's spice rack.

I found a few good pointers for making these ones at Cookie Baker Lynn. She has her own Starbucks copycat recipe for the vanilla bean scones, and I borrowed her ideas. I used half of the horribly dried out vanilla bean in the scone dough. It wasn't a very fresh or fragrant bean, so I also added a dash of vanilla powder. I added a teaspoon of vanilla extract to the buttermilk and egg. Then they were in the oven.

And so the fun part began. The fun of the Starbucks scones in the glaze. I love how it crunches slightly, and I love the taste. So I concocted a lemon poppyseed glaze and used Lynn's recipe for a vanilla glaze, adding a little vanilla extract along with the milk for extra vanilla punch.

The scones, needless to say, are fantastic. I made them extra small, so I could have one of each for breakfast, but you could make them whopper size like Starbucks. I personally can't even finish one of those...

Yum-zors

VANILLA BEAN SCONES

Makes 8 large scones, or about 24 small ones

3 cups all purpose flour
Scant 1/2 cup sugar
4 tsp. baking powder
1/8 tsp. baking soda
1/8 tsp. salt
2 sticks chilled butter, cut into small pieces
1 vanilla bean, cut in half, scraped
1/2 tsp. lemon zest
1 large egg
1/2 cup buttermilk

1/4 cup powdered sugar

1/4 tsp. vanilla

2-4 tsp. milk

Oven: 350F.

Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Combine the dry ingredients in a large bowl and mix well. Add the vanilla beans and mix until evenly distributed. {Note: a Cuisinart works best for this}. Cut in butter until it is the size of small peas.

Whisk the egg and buttermilk together with the vanilla. Add to the dry ingredients and mix and fold until the dough masses and the flour is absorbed.

Divide the dough in two and shape each into a ball. Pat each one into a 6 to 7 inch circle on a lightly floured surface. Roll to approximately 1 1/2 inches thick and cut into whatever size you want. If you want to make smaller scones, pat the dough into a rectangular shape, cut in half horizontally, and cut each half into about six triangles. {Note: These almost double in size while baking, so cut them small. As a rule, the bigger you cut them, the more they expand.}

Bake until firm to the touch and slightly golden, about 25 to 30 minutes.

While they bake, mix together the powdered sugar, milk, vanilla, and the rest of the vanilla bean seeds. When the scones are cool, brush the glaze on them.

LEMON POPPYSEED SCONES

Makes 8 large scones, or about 24 small ones

3 cups all purpose flour
Scant 1/2 cup sugar
4 tsp baking powder
1/8 tsp baking soda
1/8 tsp salt

1 T. lemon zest

2 sticks chilled butter, cut into small pieces
2 T. poppyseeds
1 large egg
1/2 cup buttermilk

1/4 cup powdered sugar

1-2 tsp. lemon juice

1 tsp. poppyseeds

Oven: 350F.

Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Combine the dry ingredients in a large bowl and mix well. Add the lemon zest and mix until well incorporated. {Note: a Cuisinart works best for this}. Cut in butter until it is the size of small peas. Stir in the poppyseeds.

Whisk the egg and buttermilk together. Add to the dry ingredients and mix and fold until the dough masses and the flour is absorbed.

Divide the dough in two and shape each into a ball. Pat each one into a 6 to 7 inch circle on a lightly floured surface. Roll to approximately 1 1/2 inches thick and cut into whatever size you want. If you want to make smaller scones, pat the dough into a rectangular shape, cut in half horizontally, and cut each half into about six triangles. {Note: These almost double in size while baking, so cut them small. As a rule, the bigger you cut them, the more they expand.}

Bake until firm to the touch and slightly golden, about 25 to 30 minutes.

While they bake, mix together the powdered sugar, lemon juice, and poppyseeds. When the scones are cool, brush the glaze on them.

Blueberry-Brown Sugar Plain Cake

2008-06-20T15:52:00.000-07:00

I seem to have gotten my mother obsessed with Japanese things. My Japanese homestay's grandmother sent her a "furoshiki", or wrapping cloth as a customary gift. My mother has now become obsessed with the 20" square decorative eco-friendly wrapping papers. She has been to just about every Japanese market in the area now, looking for more of these things to give her extended family.

And, so, we found ourselves at a huge, warehouse-like Japanese superstore. It had everything from stationary to house supplies. Cooking stuff to cute little bento boxes. Toys to bathroom gadgets.

Of course I looked at the cooking section. I bought an onigiri mold (after travelling to Japan, I am in love with these rice balls). I also bought little pound cake trays! They're so cute, and you actually bake the food right in them, which was new and exciting to me.

So, I absolutely had to make something with them. After seeing the popularity of Dorie Greenspan's Baking: From My Home To Yours, I went and got it from the library. It's already chock-full of little yellow page markers. I want to make everything! My family isn't big on cakes: we rarely have dessert (I know, it's a sin). What other recipes from the book are good, though? How are the cookies?

Anyways, I needed to make a cake or bread or something if I was going to use the little pans. I had a canister of blueberries left over from making some scones, and they were about to get fuzzy, so I decided to try her Blueberry-Brown Sugar Plain Cake. I have always wanted to try coffee cake, and this sounded pretty good.

It was quite fun to make. I halved the recipe, because we are a tiny family. It was very easy, but held my first experience with beating egg whites (remember, I am only a teenager). It came together well. I had lots of extra batter after filling my first tray, and didn't want to use more than one (save the precious things!), so I used some little cup molds that I got in Japan.

The adorable things in the oven

They puffed up so prettily in the oven! They looked so... professional. But I didn't take pictures until the next morning, when I actually wanted to eat it... and it deflated!

But it still was yummy. Unfortunately, I have learned never to eat right after you wake up, because I couldn't taste anything. I could tell it tasted like something, but my taste buds weren't registering until an hour later when I went to get a second piece. Then, it was really good. The cinnamon was very nice and the blueberries were perfectly tangy. It was well named Plain Cake, but it was light and refreshing. It held together well, so I cut thin slices and ate them slathered with butter. I love butter... I could never be vegan.

Poo, the papers got greasy

BLUEBERYY-BROWN SUGAR PLAIN CAKE

1 1/3 cups all-purpose flour
2 tsp. baking powder
1/8 tsp. ground cinnamon (optional)
1/8 tsp. plus a pinch of salt
2 large eggs, separated
1 stick (8 tablespoons) unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 cup (packed) light brown sugar
1/2 cup whole milk
1 pt. blueberries -- fresh, preferably, or frozen (not thawed)
Confectioners' sugar, for dusting

Center a rack in the oven and preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Generously butter an 11-by-7-inch baking pan (a Pyrex pan is great) and place it on a baking sheet.

Whisk together the flour, baking powder, cinnamon (if you’re using it), and the ⅛ teaspoon salt.

Working with a stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment or with a hand mixer in a large bowl, beat the egg whites with the pinch of salt until they form firm, glossy peaks. Gently scrape the whites into a clean bowl if using a stand mixer. Fit the mixer with the paddle attachment, if you have one. (There’s no need to clean the mixer bowl.) Put the butter and sugar in the mixer bowl, or in another large bowl if using a hand mixer, and beat on medium speed until creamy. Add the egg yolks and beat 2 minutes more. Reduce the mixer speed to low and add half the dry ingredients, then all of the milk and then the remainder of the dry ingredients, adding each new batch as soon as the previous batch has been incorporated.

Switch to a large rubber spatula and lighten the batter by stirring in about one quarter of the stiffly beaten egg whites. Fold in the rest of the whites, working as gently as you can. Since the cake batter is heavy, it’s only natural you’ll deflate the whites a little — don’t be concerned. Still working with as light a handle as possible, fold in the blueberries, and scrape the batter into the prepared pan.

Bake the cake for 35 to 40 minutes, or until it is golden and a thin knife inserted into the center comes out clean. Transfer the cake to a cooling rack and cool in the pan for about 30 minutes before dusting the top with confectioners’ sugar and serving warm.

Cinnamon Roll Summer

2008-06-18T07:15:00.000-07:00

Rosie and I always bake whenever she comes over. Or, actually, we always choose some really good-looking recipe, and I bake it while she watches movies. She's not the baking type. So far, we have made cinnamon buns every time (we like breakfast foods).

The last few times we'd made the, we had used an okay recipe from RecipeZaar. It was good, but not quite the doughy, warm, sugary love that we were looking for in a cinnamon bun. We were thinking more Cinnabon sort of thing (bad girls...).

I finally went through all my stockpiled Bon Appetit magazines with the pages turned down and cut out all those pages with recipe I actually wanted. I needed counter space... In my very first magazine, the March 2008 issue, I found a Cooking Life article about Cinnamon Buns. I'd turned down the corner, then forgotten all about it. I don't usually keep rapid rise yeast in my house, so making these would require a special trip to the grocers. I am far too lazy.

But, dissatisfied with our previous cinnamon bun recipe, I finally decided to give it a go. After eating dinner and watching the video of our Beauty and the Beast performances (they made me rewind and watch the kiss twice), Rosie and my mom started on The Other Boleyn Girl, and I started on these buns. All was good until the first rise. I had divided the recipe by three, so I had a miniscule scrap of dough, which didn't seem to rise at all at first.

When I finally though it had risen enough, if not completely doubled, I rolled it out, filled it, rolled it up, cut out six tiny buns (which got me an "are you kidding?" look from Rosie), and set them in the smallest baking dish I could find, which was still too big, and put them in the fridge. We decided to get up early and bake them in the morning. My dad talked to us into it by saying "Oh, it's okay, I'll just get a cinnamon bun at Starbucks..." *insert appropriate curses here*

At 6:00 AM, my alarm went off. I snoozed it twice, then finally pulled myself and my groggy-eyed companion into the freezing downstairs (we forgot to close the windows). The cinnamon buns didn't look like they'd risen at all. I knew the fridge would stunt their growth, but they hadn't changed at all. They were still tiny. Sighing and swearing, we popped them into a 375º oven anyway.

And lo and behold! After 10 minutes, they were puffing beautifully, and cinnamon sugar could be smelled everywhere. I mixed together the glaze (almost tripling the amount of butter, hehe) and then they were out in time to gloat in my dad's face. We ate them standing at the counter while Rosie hurriedly finished a six sentence paragraph about Nijo castle for her Japanese trip meeting.

And boy, were they good. This is the kind of cinnamon bun that I think about hours after they are eaten and gone. This is the kind of thing that will make a regular appearance in my household. Yumyumyum.

CINNAMON ROLLS WITH CREAM CHEESE GLAZE
From Bon Appetit

Makes 18

DOUGH
1 cup whole milk
3 T. unsalted butter
3 1/2 cups (or more) unbleached all purpose flour, divided
1/2 cup sugar
1 large egg
2 1/4 tsp. rapid-rise yeast (from 2 envelopes yeast)
1 tsp. salt
Nonstick vegetable oil spray

FILLING
3/4 cup (packed) golden brown sugar
2 T. ground cinnamon
1/4 cup (1/2 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature

GLAZE
4 ounces cream cheese, room temperature
1 cup powdered sugar
1/4 cup (1/2 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature
1/2 tsp. vanilla extract

Combine milk and butter in glass measuring cup. Microwave on high until butter melts and mixture is just warmed to 120ºF to 130ºF, 30 to 45 seconds. Pour into bowl of stand mixer fitted with paddle attachment. Add 1 cup flour, sugar, egg, yeast, and salt. Beat on low speed 3 minutes, stopping occasionally to scrape down sides of bowl. Add 2 1/2 cups flour. beat on low until flour is absorbed and dough is sticky, scraping down sides of bowl. If dough is very sticky, add more flour my tablespoonfuls until dough begins to form ball and pulls away from sides of bowl. Turn dough out onto lightly floured work surface. Knead until smooth and elastic, adding more flour if sticky, about 8 minutes. Form into ball.

Lightly oil large bowl with nonstick spray. Transfer dough to bowl, turning to coat. Cover bowl with plastic wrap, then kitchen towel. Let dough rise in warm draft-free area until doubled in volume, about 2 hours.

Mix brown sugar and cinnamon in medium bowl.

Punch down dough. Transfer o floured work surface. Roll out to 15x11-inch rectangle. Spread butter over dough, leaving 1/2-inch border. Sprinkle cinnamon sugar evenly over butter. Starting at 1 long side, roll dough into log, pinching gently to keep it rolled up. With seam side down, cut dough crosswise with a serrated knife into 18 equal slices (each about 1/2 inch to 3/4 inch wide).

Spray two 9-inch square glass baking dishes with nonstick spray. Divide rolls between baking dishes, arranging cut side up (there will be almost no space between rolls). Cover baking dishes with plastic wrap, then a kitchen towel. Let dough rise in warm draft-free area until almost doubled in volume, 40 to 45 minutes.

Position rack in center of oven and preheat to 375ºF. bake rolls until tops are golden, about 20 minutes. Remove from oven and invert immediately onto rack. Cool 10 minutes. Turn rolls right side up.

Combine cream cheese, powdered sugar, butter and vanilla in medium bowl. Using electric mixer {or whisk}, beat until smooth. Spread glaze on rolls. Serve warm or at room temperature.

Silly Dad took one and a half

Summer Olive Salad

2008-06-14T12:24:00.001-07:00

You did it. You walked down the aisle of the auditorium, your eyes roving like frantic hummingbirds over the crowd. You could barely breathe in your gorgeous dress, the one everyone said looked like Cinderella (to your dismay: what is it with you and Disney princesses?). You felt your heels clacking on the lacquered floor. You turned sharply to the left and left your partner behind, then up the daunting stair to your seat.

You sat in shortbreathed speculation as people spoke, one after another. You smiled and laughed at their speeches, wondering why you couldn't even shed a tear about leaving. Then, you heard your first name spoken, then your last name: butchered and mispronounced. Your proud Hungarian name, the "a" flattened like squash. But you smiled and acknowledged, standing clumsily to give Ari a hug. You stepped on his toes as you hugged him, and embarrassedly apologized beneath the smattering of applause.

You gave your speech without too much incident, improvising a new paragraph at the beginning, and choking up in the middle because of your beastly cold. You ferociously announced to them that, no, you weren't crying; you were just sick. You don't know if they believed you.

When you finished, you acknowledged the new speaker and walked unsteadily in your shiny heels to your seat. You sat through the rest of the speeches, laughing in relief at all the inside jokes in your classmates' speeches, holding dear the time when those jokes mean something.

Finally, they gave the diplomas. And it hit you. As the dear friend next to you rose and floated down like an elegant vision to receive her printed, signed, stamped, and rolled destiny, you realized that she's a graduate. You glanced at her, embarrassed, as she sat down, glowing. You aren't even worthy to be near her anymore.

And then your name was called (correctly pronounced this time). You half expected yourself to trip (but you didn't) as you circled round to take your own diploma. The Principal handed it to you with an impersonal smile and the oft repeated words "Lovely speech." You know she wasn't being honest, but it gave you a sort of thrill as you shook her hand and smiled out to the cameras, frozen in fantasm for a split second. Then the diploma came away in your hand. You were sort of surprised, because you almost expected it to be just for show, and that she would take it away with her. You sat again and basked in the sad glory of it all.

So now, it's summer. I went to a class party, and said goodbye. I'll miss them all, except the two who are coming to high school with me.

My grandparents stayed the night after my graduation, and we went to the farmer's market this morning. For lunch, my mother attempted a summer favorite: Olive Salad. My aunt makes it every year, and we just got the recipe. I almost feel bad posting it on here, because I didn't make it. I'm still sick with a cold (and on graduation!), and shouldn't be near sneezing distance of anyone's food. But, it's a delicious salad that reminds us all of smoky, hot days in humid Missouri.

AUNT CINDY'S OLIVE SALAD

Makes a big bowlful -- enough for a pot-luck offering

one jar pimiento-stuffed small green olives

one can small pitted black olives

one-half jar sliced pepperoncini (or a little more)

one can red or black beans

one gan garbanzo beans

one-half red onion, chopped (or more)

red, green and yellow peppers, chopped (all three)

one tsp. dried organo

one tsp. dried basil

6 T. salad oil

1 T. red wine vinegar (not balsamic)

1/2 tsp. salt

1/4 tsp. pepper

3 cloves garlic, minced

Drain olives and pepperoncini and decant into a large bowl. Drain and rinse beans and add to bowl. Add chopped onion and peppers and sprinkle with oregano and basil. Make a vinaigrette dressing with the remaining ingredients, pour over the vegetables and toss.

Barefoot Bloggers, First Post

2008-06-11T17:38:00.000-07:00

So, here it is, my first Barefoot Bloggers post. On schedule. The recipe for this two weeks is: Pasta, Pesto, and Peas!

I have to say, I had my doubts. Unfortunately (or maybe fortunately), I am a true hater of commercial mayonnaise. It's just disgusting. Also unfortunately, I have never had the real thing. So, for this recipe, my mother, who was also going to eat it, insisted she make the mayonnaise herself. She did it in the food processor, but it was still a cool show. She also insisted that we use her own pesto recipe, which was fine. Anything to get this dish made and to try and get new recipes into our kitchen...

So, the dish. It really was just like pasta with pesto. I didn't at all taste the mayonnaise, but I liked it because it mellowed out the pesto and made the sauce creamier. I eyeballed the amounts of pesto and mayonnaise according to personal preference, so I sort of cheated on this first recipe. I also opted to leave out the spinach. I would have added fresh spinach if I had it, but I didn't. Cheater. I loved the addition of the peas and pine nuts, though, it gave some really nice texture variation.

Since I screwed with the recipe so much, and divided it by three, I'm not going to post it here. But there's pictures. The original recipe can be found here. (Warning: All the Contessa's recipes provide much more food than the stated serving size. Always double the printed servings and you'll have something more accurate)

Next Barefoot Bloggers Recipe: Parmesan Chicken!

Farewell to Transient Tresses

2008-06-10T19:56:00.000-07:00

A dear friend of mine cut his hair. Silly, says you. Heartbreaking and miraculous, says I.

My friend has had long hair since about third grade. When I met him in fifth grade, I immediately took him to be a girl. A hard-core tomboy, perhaps. So, it was to my greatest puzzlement when I saw his namecard in the boys' bathroom envelope (if you needed to use the bathroom, you put your card in the envelope for your gender's bathroom and then went). I asked one of my new friends, a girl with also unusually long hair that has never been cut, if I should move the card to the girls' bathroom envelope. Obviously, she had accidentally put it in the boys' one.

My friend giggled, and explained that this "girl" was actually a boy. Whoops.

He was so obviously a boy. A techie with a great sense of humor and a ferocious temper; there wasn't a drop of femininity in him. We became fast friends, and remain so to this day.

In sixth grade, we manned sword-fighting forts together. In seventh grade, we all raised eyebrows as he developed a hilarious perverted sense of humor, and started the fads of "your mom" and "that's what she said" and, his personal, and completely original, favorite "J-harst!" (Just Had A really Sick Thought).

All along, that hair had been his defining feature and his greatest enemy. He often started introductions with the words, "If you're wondering, I'm a boy." He battled along with us long-haired girls with brushing it out every morning, empathized with us as to the need for conditioner, and always wore his hair down.

Finally, at the beginning of this year, he announced that he intended to cut it before graduation. We all exclaimed that it was a great idea, voiced premature remorse at the loss of his long hair, and forgot about it. So, at our school's fortieth anniversary celebration on Saturday, I happened to see a girl in my class walking towards me with a short, and also short-haired boy in tow. he was wearing reflective aviators and swaggering slightly. I decided he must be some new boyfriend, and waved politely.

It was only after they had passed by that a friend walking with me exclaimed, "That's ARI!"

It was. I almost cried. All his hair, gone. His defining feature. Gone.

But, change must come. He is still the same Ari. Just with shorter hair.

So, this is a eulogy and a celebration in honor of his lost tresses. Spaghetti Carbonara can be eaten for comfort or celebration or sadness. He can eat it in romantic candlelight with whatever girls he attracts in high school with his aviators and new short hair. I dedicate this to Ari.

SPAGHETTI CARBONARA
(Adapted from Martha Stewart)

Serves 3

1/2 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
10 ounces pancetta, chopped roughly
1/2 pound spaghetti
1/2 cup heavy cream, plus more if needed
1 large egg yolk (2 can also be used, if you want to make the dish richer)
1 cup grated Parmesan cheese, plus more for garnish
1/8 teaspoon freshly ground pepper

Bring a large saucepan of water to the boil. Heat a medium skilled over medium heat. Add the olive oil and pancetta to skillet, and cook until pancetta is browned, 7 to 10 minutes. Remove skilled from heat, and keep warm.

Cook spaghetti in boiling water until al dente, about 8 minutes. While spaghetti is cooking, whisk cream, egg yolk, Parmesan, salt, and pepper in a medium bowl until combined. Drain pasta, and return to saucepan. Immediately stir in egg-and-cheese mixture until well combined. Add warm pancetta and fat from pan. Toss well. This sauce with additional cream if necessary. Serve immediately, garnished with grated Parmesan cheese.

Barefoot Bloggers

2008-06-09T14:52:00.000-07:00

Every morning at 6:30, before practicing violin and after defrosting a scone to eat in the car, I sit down to my computer. I open the long and constantly growing list of blogs in my bookmarks folder, and click on each one consecutively, hoping for some delicious inspirational tidbit. Baking, cooking, anything. Just give me some new, lusty photos of wonderful foods, a bit of good writing, and a recipe.

And lo and behold, the majority of frequented blogs seems to participate in something called TWD. Huh? All I know is that whenever I see those words in the headline, something delicious and sweet is surely to be posted about. It's Tuesdays With Dorie, the baking sensation that's sweeping the nation.

Someday, I will join TWD. But not yet. I am still an amateur in the baking field. Also, I have a tiny family with almost no sweet-tooth, so these decadent desserts would be made and never eaten.

However, I will join a blogging group. I am joining the Barefoot Bloggers.

I am a fan of Ina Garten. Not of her character, especially. Am I the only one who has noticed that she seems to bat her eyes obsessively? It's a little strange. Not to mention that, like her Grown Up Mac and Cheese, which is supposed to serve 2, serves about 6. All her recipes are massive. But still good!

So, I'm joining. June's recipes are Pasta, Pesto and Peas and Parmesan Chicken. I'm currently desperately trying to get my to mom try more recipes. She is a fantastic cook, but she has a sort of limited amount of recipes that, though delicious, do get a little old after a while. So, this is a perfect way to get her to try new things with me.

Wish me luck!

Grown Up Macaroni and Cheese

2008-05-30T12:58:00.000-07:00

The last few weeks of school are hard. All the trips are done, and the teachers are using the fact that you'll be graduating soon to lay on every possible project and homework assignment. Ethnography reports on Japan, Lab Reports, Self-Evaluations, extra math (because you absolutely stink at graphing and the math teacher loves using you as a problem tester-- the more frustrated your response, the better the level of the problem), portfolios, creative writing, not to mention the dreaded Graduation Speech. It's enough to make you just want to skip the second to last week and just enjoy the ice cream socials in the last few days.

When you're bogged down with homework, traffic (I don't drive, but I hate it), and tiredness, you just want to have something good to eat for dinner. You're too tired to think of anything fancy. You have enough wits to cook, and you want to take up the zen-like posture of standing above the stove, whisk in hand. Then, you want your efforts to be rewarded with something comforting and delicious that tastes like a second childhood (right after your first one, if you're me). You want macaroni and cheese.

This recipe is a godsend. It's delicious in every way, and hasn't failed me yet. You can screw with it all you want. Try different cheeses. Add tomato. Take out the bacon. Don't add olive oil to the pasta water. Try different pasta shapes. Take away the breadcrumbs. Whatever. It's still delicious, no matter what.

This is the food I crave after getting off an airplane. This is all the comfort I need.

GROWN UP MAC AND CHEESE (Ina Garten)

Makes 6 servings

4 ounces thick-sliced bacon
Vegetable oil
Kosher salt
2 cups elbow macaroni or cavatappi
1 1/2 cups milk
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
4 ounces Gruyere cheese, grated
3 ounces extra-sharp Cheddar, grated
2 ounces blue cheese, such as Roquefort, crumbled
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
Pinch nutmeg
2 slices white sandwich bread, crusts removed
2 tablespoons freshly chopped basil leaves

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.

Place a baking rack on a sheet pan and arrange the bacon in 1 layer on the baking rack. Bake for 15 to 20 minutes, until the bacon is crisp. Remove the pan carefully from the oven - there will be hot grease in the pan! Transfer the bacon to a plate lined with paper towels and crumble when it is cool enough to handle.

Drizzle oil into a large pot of boiling salted water. Add the macaroni and cook according to the directions on the package, 6 to 8 minutes. Drain well.

Meanwhile, heat the milk in a small saucepan, but don't boil it. Melt the butter in a medium pot and add the flour. Cook over low heat for 2 minutes, stirring with a whisk. While whisking, add the hot milk and cook for a minute or 2 more, until thickened and smooth. Off the heat, add the Gruyere, Cheddar, blue cheese, 1 teaspoon salt, pepper, and nutmeg. Add the cooked macaroni and crumbled bacon and stir well. Pour into a large gatin dish.

Place the bread slices in a food processor fitted with a steel blade and pulse until you have coarse crumbs. Add the basil and pulse to combine. Sprinkle the bread crumb mixture over the top of the pasta. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes, or until the sauce is bubbly and the macaroni is browned.

Fruit Love (Part One: The Fellowship of the Ollaliberries)

2008-05-24T20:50:00.000-07:00

Yes, yes, I'm back from Japan. The post about my travels will be very lengthy and I'm tired of typing, so I"ll make this one short and work on the other one later.

To relieve my jetlag three days ago (the day after returning to the US), I went fruit-picking with my mom and grandparents. We got nectarines, ollalieberries, and cherries. (P.S. To help stay awake the day I got back, I made a double recipe of scones. One recipe blueberry, one half recipe chocolate chip, one half recipe walnut dried cherry orange. It was serious therapy.) I swear; the Japanese eat NO raw fruits or veggies. Today's modern culture has them eating plenty of them, but the traditional cuisine I was eating most of the time featured only pickled things. I need raw fruit!

Well, what are you to do with a huge bowl of ollalieberries, let alone the other fruits? To start, my mother and I made an ollalieberry pie. We haven't done anything with the other fruits except eat them raw, but sooner or later we'll be making cherry pie and nectarine crisp, so keep watching.

My mother, in her own words, "owns" at pies (she's been listening to me and my friends talk too much). Her crust, so effortlessly and perfectly made every time, is so delicious, I always save it for last. It's my favorite part of the pie, to be sure.

PLAIN SHORT PASTRY (especially good for pies for tarts)

Recipe make one 9” to 11” shell.

8 oz. unbleached, all-purpose flour (about 1 ½ cups)
½ tsp. fine sea salt
5 oz. butter (10 T.), frozen and cut into one-inch pieces
¼ tsp. lemon juice (omit if using Gilt-Edge Butter)
6 to 8 T. cold water.

In food processor, combine flour and salt. Pulse in butter gently until mixture is crumbly (should see little chunks of butter). Mixing lightly, add lemon juice and water gradually, just until mixture begins to come together.

Turn onto a floured work surface, gather dough together, shape into a disk, sprinkle with a little flour, wrap in plastic and allow to rest in the refrigerator for one hour before rolling out.

Can be made one day in advance and refrigerated, or frozen for a month. Thaw frozen dough in refrigerator one day before rolling out.

OLLALIEBERRY PIE

plain short pastry for double crust (two recipes)

5 cups ollalieberries

1-1/3 cups sugar

3 T. tapioca

1 T. lemon juice

1/8 tsp. salt

2 T. butter, cut into small pieces

milk and white sanding sugar for top lattice

Combine berries, sugar, tapioca, lemon juice and salt, and let stand 15 minutes while you roll out crust. Roll out crust and lay in bottom of small pie plate, reserving scraps to cut strips for top lattice. Add berry mixture to crust bottom, dot with butter, add top lattice and crimp edges. Brush lattice with milk and sprinkle with sanding sugar.

Bake on LOWEST OVEN RACK at 400º (convection) for 30 minutes. Slip a baking sheet beneath, reduce oven temperature to 325º and bake until the juices bubble through the lattice, about 30 minutes more. The pie is done when the top is a deep, rich brown and thick juices bubble enthusiastically.

Oh, and what do you do with the leftover pie dough? Make cookies, of course!

Off to Nihon!

2008-05-07T12:47:00.001-07:00

ひさしぶり！(Hisashiburi: Long time no see) So, I have about two or three unfinished posts sitting in my Archives, but they won't get finished for a while. I'm off to Japan! My class is leaving tomorrow for two weeks.

For the first week, I'll be staying with a homestay. She is a Japanese girl in Osaka living with two sibling, both parents, and both grandparents. I will be going to school with her and with a few other girls in my class whose homestays also go to the school.

I am very excited. I have been studying Japanese for three years, and while I am not at all very good, I am looking forward immensely to practicing the language, and, of course, eating Japanese food. Believe it or not, I have never had any Japanese food other than various chicken dishes and a few sweets. So, this will be quite an adventure.

Shouldn't I be packing?

Wish me luck! I'll be back with stories, pictures, and hopefully a few recipes (my homestay mother cooks). さようなら！(Sayounara: Good bye)

Can't wait to see some of that crazy fashion!

Jammin'

2008-04-18T08:07:00.000-07:00

*cue Bob Marley song*

Frankly, jam scares me. Oh, I'll crack open a jar of it from the store, of course, and I leap up and down in delight whenever my godmother (if she's my godmother, than how come I call her Auntie Connie?) presents us with the yearly box of pomegranate jam from her own tree.

But making my own jam? Forget it. I've heard the horror stories:

"If you don't sterilize your jars, you'll poison everybody!"

"Jam takes so long to make, you just have to stand there forever, stirring, and stirring, and stirring...."

It was enough to scare anybody out of their wits.

But here is where my official favorite new blog of the moment steps in. Oswego Tea, that miracle worker woman for my scones who doesn't even know I exist, had this recipe for Strawberry and Blood Orange Jam. And she said she just poured it into her butter dish! I sure hope she was right.

Anyways, even when my darling father is off to Singapore (SINGAPORE! See my green, jealous face?), or moreover, especially when he is in Singpore, or traveling, my mother tends to overcook and overbuy food. Her excuse for making a HUGE six serving recipe of risotto for two people is "I'll eat it for breakfast." Well, the only time she can eat it for breakfast is when I am not baking scones and bread and jam like crazy, and that happens to be exactly what I am doing, because it is Spring Break. And we hardly get to eat it for lunch because we are too busy eating greasy, disgusting pizza at Beauty and the Beast rehearsals. Curse you, Gaston. (the risotto got frozen, by the way) And I'm not even at school, so there's no chance of it getting eaten in my lunch box (yes, I still have a lunch box).

So, when my mom bought a 4 lb box of strawberries last weekend, I knew that the majority of them would be going in the trash. It's inevitable in a small household.

Well, I was bored yesterday. And I had two recipes for strawberry-based things: jam and a Ben and Jerry's recipe for strawberry ice cream (no pictures yet, sorry). Why not, I thought? I'd never made jam, and I'd only ever made a batch of Mint Chocolate Chip ice cream a few months ago.

Well, the jam is really, really good. Next time, I'll add a little more gelatin perhaps, to make it a bit firmer, but it tastes pretty darn good (on top of my Rosemary Raisin Bread, of course)...

Here is Michele's recipe:

STRAWBERRY AND BLOOD ORANGE JAM

3 cups chopped strawberries (Washed and stems removed)
The juice of one small blood orange (or a regular orange (like I used), but the blood orange intensifies the jam into a deep red colour)
½ cup of sugar
One gelatin sheet (or about a quarter of a packet of powdered gelatin, like I used)

Put the first 3 ingredients in a saucepan and bring to a simmer over medium high heat. Then reduce heat to medium-low for about 40 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Near the end of cooking time, soak one gelatin sheet in cold water for approximately 5 minutes. Wring out the excess water with your hands and add it to your fruit mixture. Stir until dissolved (just a few minutes). Let the mixture cool a little then pour it into whatever container you like. (I used one of the nice jars that my mom collects in the garage like a packrat)(Oh, and make sure you wash it with hot water and soap beforehand).

Refrigerate. You’ll end up with a cup to a cup and a half of jam. It should last about a month.

As a rule, I hate Strawberry Ice Cream. It's just not my thing. But when I played hookey last Friday with my mom (long story, I was exhausted), she got some strawberry gelato, and I just had to try it. Yummm. So, frozen strawberry desserts have certainly redeemed themselves. I still hate smoothies, though. Recipe for Ice Cream to follow... with pictures!

Oh, and guess what. There's still about a cup of strawberries in the container. Even after I used most of them. Gracious me...

I Don't Get It

2008-04-17T17:23:00.000-07:00

Why haven't I ever eaten these things?:

Frittata
Guava
Eggplant
Passionfruit
Squash
Good Sushi
Thai food

My mother is a fabulous cook, but she does have a limit. It seems no Mexican and no Asain food other than take-out has ever entered her kitchen. I should try and change this...

Bread of Heaven

2008-04-16T08:22:00.000-07:00

Rosemary Raisin Bread

I swear, if you were to kill me now, and I were allowed to take one thing with me to Heaven, it would be this bread.

What can I say? I was bored yesterday. I went to Beauty and the Beast rehearsal (opening night in a week, ack!) and the director drained me body and soul by making me run one song over and over. I was bruised and battered after lunch by the greasy, thin-crusted pizza that Gaston ordered, and mentally scarred by having to see him try on his costume, including a muscle suit and women's tight pants...

Haha, twin yolks... I love organic eggs...

So, when I got home, I wanted to bake. I craved the feel of dough in my hands, I needed the meditative sound of the mixer to heal me. So, I tried this Rosemary Raisin Bread recipe from Farmgirl Fare. Boy, am I glad I did.

I ran out of raisins, so I used currants. I didn't have fresh rosemary, so I used dried. I didn't have instant yeast, so I used an extra half teaspoon of normal. I forgot to divide the dough in two and make two loaves, so I have one gigantic loaf.

The X looks so professional...

The bread is still perfect.

Raisin and rosemary, while not a usual combination, are so delicious together in this. The rosemary flavor is heavenly, salty, and savory, while the raisins lend moisture and sweetness. It's a sweet bread for breakfast, and a savory bread for sandwiches, and a hearty bread for soaking up sauces at dinner.

Me, I like it warm with insane amounts of butter and marmalade.

Dough

ROSEMARY RAISIN BREAD

Makes 2 loaves

3 3/4 cups bread flour, plus a little more while kneading
2 teaspoons instant yeast (or 2 1/2 teaspoons active dried yeast)
1/2 cup warm milk (115-120ºF)
1 Tablespoon chopped fresh rosemary
1-1/2 packed cups raisins
1/4 cup olive oil
4 eggs, beaten
1 1/2 teaspoons salt

Mix the flour and yeast in a large mixing bowl. Make a well in the center and add the milk, rosemary, raisins, olive oil, and eggs. Mix to form a soft, sticky dough, adding extra flour, 1 Tablespoon at a time, if the dough is too moist.

Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured work surface. Knead 6 minutes. Cover the dough and let it rest for 20 minutes.

Knead in the 1-1/2 teaspoons salt, and continue kneading until the dough is silky, springy, and elastic, about 5 to 8 minutes.

Put the dough in a plastic lidded container (or in a large bowl covered with a damp tea towel) and let it rise until doubled in size, about 1-1/2 to 2 hours.

Divide the dough into two pieces. Shape each into a round loaf and place on a well floured couche or work counter. If you aren't using a baking stone, place the rounds on a parchment-lined heavy baking sheet. Lightly dust tops of loaves with flour and cover with a damp tea towel.

Heat oven and baking stone to 400 degrees. Proof loaves until doubled in size, about 1 hour. (Note: the book says that the loaves will spread and look slightly flat after rising, but will rise up dramatically during the initial stages of baking. Mine didn't flatten out, but my dough was on the dense side.)

Cut a slash, 1/2 inch deep, across the top of the loaf, then another in the opposite direction to make an "X."

Bake in the preheated oven (directly on the baking stone if you're using one) until golden brown and hollow sounding when tapped underneath, about 30 minutes with a baking stone and 45 minutes without. Cool on a wire rack.

Eat with good English marmalade

Summer Came Early

2008-04-14T09:11:00.001-07:00

Westward

Remember what summer tastes like? It tastes like sweat and hope and joy. It tastes like watermelon, the red kind you never really liked, the mushy kind that drips down your chin with a sort of sticky satisfaction. It tastes like hot, sun swollen strawberries that you just picked, like cold and throat-cooling frozen lemonade from the carnival.

Remember what summer smells like? It smells like the fruity spray-on sunblock that saved so much time as you anticipated running to the stage to watch bagpipe-wielding musicians at the Scottish Festival. It smells like that sunblock. It smells like hot summer air that makes you imagine you can smell the birdcalls through your nose.

Remember what summer feels like? It feels like freedom, and pure, unadulterated joy. It feels like the cool wind that plays around your bare shoulders, it feels like the scantness of shorts and tank tops and burning bare feet. It feels like the scorching sun that blondes your hair and burns your skin, and the oxymoron of shade that makes you wish for the hot sun again.

Summer is old friends in new places. Summer is the spin of 1001 Nachts, the ride your friends convinced you to go on. You went three times in a row. Summer is the flash of cameras. Summer is the chill of air conditioning. Summer is the forgetting of all the hardships of the years past.

Do you remember the Shepherd’s Pies you ate at the Scottish Festival? Do you remember the plaid skirt you wore, the one you borrowed, the purple one with skulls on the pockets. Do you remember the jewelry in the marketplace, the fake cartilage earrings your friend bought, then you both wore for the rest of the day? Do you remember dancing when you were ten, dancing like a tiny goddess to the soul-beating throb of the Wicked Tinkers?

Will you remember that day when summer came early? When you sat down outside and wrote? Will remember when the weather seemed to rejoice? You were free, free to live and do what you loved.

It just happened. Summer came yesterday. It was hot, it was wonderful. And today it is overcast and windy. But summer came for a day.

The neighbors' fountain... sneaky...

Oh, right, I'm a food blogger. Well, I had an Orange-Currant scone for breakfast with Twining's Lady Grey Tea. Scones and butter and tea. Oh, and I read English mystery novels. Dorothy L. Sayers. I just love Lord Peter Wimsey.

The epitome of Spring Break

Eurika!

2008-04-13T07:54:00.000-07:00

This really does remind me of a song my fourth grade classmates composed for their Greek play (sadly when I was not attending their school).

Eurika, eurika! Oh what is the matter with me? Eurika, eurika! (something that rhymes with "me"...)

This song was written for the boy playing Archimedes, and he sang it in the bath tub with a rubber ducky as he realized that the buoyancy of the crown in water or something proved it was fake (I can't remember these things...).

Anyways, it is with these very words on my lips that I write this triumphant post today. For a nonexistent audience, once again, I present...

Scones!!

Yes, this will be my last post about them for a while, I swear. And I will not stop because I am tired of making them. Oh no...

I am stopping because I have had that final "Eurika!" moment. I have found the recipe for Starbucks blueberry scones. Well, not exactly. They are still missing a final something... but for my purposes, it's good enough.

I have only the World Wide Web to thank. So obsessed was I becoming, that I went on to Starbucks.com and found out the ingredients to the blueberry scones. Hence "Oh what is the matter with me?"

The ingredients are as follows:

WHEAT FLOUR (MALTED BARLEY FLOUR, NIACIN, REDUCED IRON, THIAMINE MONONITRATE [VITAMIN B1], RIBOFLAVIN [VITAMIN B2], FOLIC ACID), BLUEBERRIES, SUGAR, BUTTERMILK (MILK, CONDENSED SKIM MILK, SALT, BUTTERMILK CULTURE), BUTTER (SWEET CREAM), EGGS, CREAM (CARRAGEENAN, MONO- AND DIGLYCERIDES, POLYSORBATE 80), EGG, VANILLA POWDER (MADAGASCAR VANILLA BEAN, DEXTROSE), BAKING POWDER (SODIUM ACID PYROPHOSPHATE, SODIUM BICARBONATE, STARCH, MONOCALCIUM PHOSPHATE), LEMON ZEST (LEMON PEEL, SUGAR, CITRIC ACID), SEA SALT, BAKING SODA.

Now, I don't even really want to know what Mononitrate or Riboflavin are, so the real ingredients are:

Flour
Blueberries
Sugar
Buttermilk
Butter
Eggs
Cream
Vanilla powder
Baking powder
Lemon zest
Sea salt
Baking soda

In that order of amounts, greatest to least. So, all I had left to do was find a recipe. I found a promising-looking Julia Child recipe for Buttermilk Scones, but they were missing eggs, and we all know what happens when you don't put in eggs...

So, it was to my utter delight and surprise when I found this recipe on Oswego Tea in her July 2007 archive.

It was perfect. Except for three things: a) There was no baking soda, but instead 4 teaspoons of baking powder (I ended up adding 1/8 of a teaspoon baking soda, which makes them puff up a considerable amount), b) There was no cream or buttermilk, only milk (which I substituted for buttermilk), c) It wasn't a blueberry scone recipe.

Well, all of these were fine. I made a full recipe, but divided it in half after the dough had come together, and added orange and currants to one batch, then added vanilla, blueberries, and lemon zest to the other. It made four scones each (eight total, if you are, like me, math-challenged).

They hit the spot. I haven't tried an orange-currant one, but the blueberry ones... oh yeahhhhh. Eat it was a short decaf peppermint mocha.

Here's the recipe with my edits:

STARBUCKS BLUEBERRY SCONES

Makes 8 scones

3 cups all purpose flour
Scant 1/2 cup sugar
4 tsp baking powder
1/8 tsp baking soda
1/8 tsp salt
2 sticks chilled butter, cut into small pieces
1 cup blueberries
1 tb lemon zest
1 large egg
1/2 cup buttermilk

Oven: 350F.

Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Combine the dry ingredients in a large bowl and mix well. Cut in butter until it is the size of small peas then add the blueberries and lemon zest.

Whisk the egg and milk together with the vanilla. Add to the dry ingredients and mix and fold until the dough masses and the flour is absorbed.

Divide the dough in two and shape each into a ball. Pat each one into a 6 to 7 inch circle on a lightly floured surface. Roll to approximately 1 1/2 inches thick and cut into whatever size you want. (Note: These almost double in size while baking, so cut them small)

Bake until firm to the touch and slightly golden, about 25 to 30 minutes.

(Note: I got home late after a taxing Beauty and the Beast rehearsal, and didn't want to spend too much time cutting the butter in, so I used a Cuisinart. Just be careful that you don't over-cut the butter.)

Egg-less...

2008-04-09T14:10:00.000-07:00

Yeah... I made scones last night... because I am obsessed.

And forgot to put in eggs.

They were lumps of dough.

Whoops.

Thank God for Starbucks.

Pesto Times Two

2008-04-05T15:16:00.000-07:00

I know, I know, I promised Easter recipes. But these have pictures!

On Tuesday night, following an intense rehearsal for Beauty and the Beast (I'm Belle), my mom and I were exhausted. So, we turned to absolute comfort food: pesto pasta. I'd been reading my Bon Appetit in the car, and was filled with wonder for tomatoes and all sorts of grilled vegetables. So, along with my Aunt Cindy's delicious fresh pesto (recipe follows), we put some tomatoes under the broiler, sprinkled with olive oil, salt, and pepper. Then we ate them on top of our pasta. It was the best meal I'd had in ages, and there was a little left over for lunch. It was even good cold. I savored it, hunched over a plastic tupperware on a fieldtrip. So much better than my friends' sandwiches. So, that's the first recipe.

As a rule, my dad NEVER watches the Food Network. That is solely my territory. He restricts himself to sports and action movies. And one golf movie. So manly...

So, it was to my utter surprise when, while watching Good Eats last night, he put down his probably riveting Michael Crichton book and started watching Alton make pasta. I raised my eyebrows, but said nothing. Near the end of the episode, as we watched AB toss sundried tomatoes, olives, and nuts into plain pasta, he looked at me and said "That looks good." I shrugged. It looked good to me, too, but it was 9:30 at night and my mom was still slaving over a Julia Child fish recipe that she'd decided to make on the fly. There was no turning back now. (the fish was fantastic, by the way)

But, I looked up recipes for pasta, and finally settled on a Giada recipe. I'd never tried any of her recipes before, and it sounded good. I was wary, though. I'd read reviews of some of her other recipes, and there were often lots of faults with them. However, I asked my distracted mother if I could make pasta for tomorrow's dinner. "Yeah, sure."

It was so good, I forgot to take pictures. But I'll give you the recipe (second one).

Note about the fresh pesto: This is a spicy, garlicky pesto. If you don't like that, cut down on the garlic and pepper.

AUNT CINDY'S FRESH PESTO

2 1/2 T. pine nuts, toasted
3 cloves garlic
1 cup fresh basil leaves
heaping 1/4 tsp. salt
2 twists black pepper
1/4 cup olive oil
1/4 cup freshly grated Parm. Reggiano
2 T. freshly grated Romano Pecorino
1 1/2 T. butte, softened

Toast pine nuts in a dry skillet over medium heat until lightly browned. In a food processor, mince the garlic. Add pine nuts, basil, salt, pepper and olive oil. Pulse until chunky, scraping down sides once or twice. Add cheeses and butter and pulse a few more times until the desired texture.

PENNE WITH SUN-DRIED TOMATO PESTO

Makes 4 or 5 servings

12 ounces penne pasta
1 (8.5-ounce) jar sun-dried tomatoes packed in olive oil
2 garlic cloves
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 cup (packed) fresh basil leaves
1/2 cup freshly grated Parmesan

Cook the pasta in a large pot of boiling salted water until tender but still firm to the bite, stirring occasionally, about 8 minutes. Drain, reserving 1 cup of the cooking liquid.

Meanwhile, blend the sun-dried tomatoes and their oil, garlic, salt and pepper, to taste, and basil in a food processor and blend until the tomatoes are finely chopped. Transfer the tomato mixture to a large bowl. Stir in the Parmesan.

Add the pasta to the pesto and toss to coat, adding enough reserved cooking liquid to moisten. Season the pasta, to taste, with salt and pepper and serve.

Losing to Lemons

2008-03-15T13:18:00.000-07:00

I'm about ready to give up on this blog, because, frankly, no one reads it. I know I'm just writing nonsensical things about food for an invisible, imaginary audience. I would really like to think that people read this, but the absence of comments tells me otherwise. Please, for the last time, please, if someone takes the time to read this, please comment and tell me you exist. Otherwise, this blog may be going bye-bye.

Anyways, I got up early to make scones this morning. Lemon scones, to be exact. I love this recipe I've found. No matter what I do to it, whatever variations I use, it stands the test. A definite keeper for all my life. Last week, I made orange scones. This time, I'm trying lemon. They are delicious, especially with the glaze, and the candied peel really keeps it sweet. I can't wait for one with marmalade tomorrow!

This is really just a variation of the orange scones but I felt the need to post it anyway. With pictures!

LEMON SCONES WITH GLAZE

Makes 9 to 12 scones

For scones:
1/4 cup candied lemon peel (optional)
1 cup sour cream
1 teaspoon baking soda
4 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 cup white sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon cream of tartar
1 teaspoon salt
Zest of two lemons
1 cup butter
1 egg

For glaze:
3/4 cup powdered sugar
3 T lemon juice

The day before making the scones, cut the lemon peel into small pieces and soak them in a few tablespoons of dark rum overnight.

The day of the scones: In a small bowl, blend the sour cream and baking soda, and set aside.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Lightly grease a large baking sheet.

In a large bowl, mix the flour, sugar, baking powder, cream of tartar, and salt. Mix in the lemon zest. Cut in the butter. Stir in the lemon peel. Stir the sour cream mixture and egg into the flour mixture until just moistened.

Turn dough out onto a lightly floured surface, and knead briefly. Roll or pat dough into a 3/4 inch thick round. Cut into 12 wedges, and place them 2 inches apart on the prepared baking sheet.

Bake 20 to 25 minutes in the preheated oven, until golden brown on the bottom.

As they bake, mix together the powdered sugar and the lemon juice for the glaze. Transfer the cooling scones to wire racks over parchment paper. Spoon the glaze over the scones and let cool. Enjoy immediately, or keep in a large airtight plastic bag for up to a week.

Dreams Really Do Come True

2008-03-11T17:05:00.000-07:00

Our view from the hotel room

Good lord, I'm in heaven. I spent Friday and Saturday in Disneyland, CA, and stayed at the SUPER FANCY Grand Californian Hotel. The breakfast was fabulous, and I had the second best scone in my life (first being, unfortunately, the Starbucks blueberry scones). It appeared to be a sort of flat, sickly sweet, orange thing, but it was close to the next kingdom, especially with an artistic slather of marmalade.

I attempted to replicate the recipe the next day, with fabulous results. I've found a real keeper scone recipe! Grandma Johnson's Scones are literally perfect. I can modify the recipe in any way to provide new flavors to my poorly breakfast life. I've already made blueberry scones and cranberry-orange scones with the recipe, and it hasn't failed me yet.

For the glaze, I stole a tip from one of my mother's recipes, some kind of lemon-strawberry cake with orange glaze. Easy peasy.

So, here is the recipe with my modifications.

ORANGE SCONES WITH GLAZE

For scones:
1 cup sour cream
1 teaspoon baking soda
4 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup white sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon cream of tartar
1 teaspoon salt
Zest of two oranges
1 cup butter
1 egg

For glaze:
3/4 cup powdered sugar
3 T orange juice

In a small bowl, blend the sour cream and baking soda, and set aside.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Lightly grease a large baking sheet.

In a large bowl, mix the flour, sugar, baking powder, cream of tartar, and salt. Mix in the orange zest. Cut in the butter. Stir the sour cream mixture and egg into the flour mixture until just moistened.

Turn dough out onto a lightly floured surface, and knead briefly. Roll or pat dough into a 3/4 inch thick round. Cut into 12 wedges, and place them 2 inches apart on the prepared baking sheet.

Bake 20 to 25 minutes in the preheated oven, until golden brown on the bottom.

As they bake, mix together the powdered sugar and the orange juice for the glaze. Transfer the cooling scones to wire racks over parchment paper. Spoon the glaze over the scones and let cool. Enjoy immediately, or keep in a large airtight plastic bag for up to a week.

Fig Heaven

2008-02-18T17:06:00.000-08:00

I am going to take a moment away from recipes to review a delicious food which has opened up new horizons for me. Well, more like new daydreams about romance on the Greek Isles, but forget that: Figs. Dried figs, to be precise.

Yes, I know, they look like alien heads, much like Julie's beets. But, I assure you, they are fantastic, and yes, I mean that in both senses of the word.

When sliced or bitten in to, you find that the inner walls are sticky and lined with little seeds, or "sand". These are partly what give the figs so much flavor. They crunch delightfully and stick in the teeth annoyingly, but they are the best part. I like to each my figs thusly: Bite off the hard, tough stem and attempt to chew and swallow it. Turn the fig over and bite off the little hole on the end (what is that?). Attempt to make a straight incision in one side. Unravel the fig into one flat piece. Scrape off the little seeds with teeth and relish their musky, fruity taste and crunching noise, then gobble down the rest of the skin. Yum. One delicious, sensual experience out of a single small fig.

I have no recipes for figs yet. I just eat them. They are the very best as snacks, but if you must have a recipe, I will provide my favorite sandwich of all time.

Warning: If you have braces, this will crud them up like the goonies, but it's all worth it.

FIG AND CHEESE SANDWICH

Two slices bread, preferably with any add-ins like nuts and berries, such as my favorite, Fred Bread
Four dried kalamata figs
Two slices of your favorite strong cheese, such as Gruyere or Jarlsberg

Chop tough stems off of figs and quarter them. Lay cheese slices on bread, and arrange pieces of fig on top. Top with second slice of bread.

Instant comfort food. I think I'll try grilling this one.

Whatcha Gonna Do With Leftover Pie Dough, Early in the Mornin?

2008-02-12T18:27:00.000-08:00

Here's what you do: Roll out the pie dough and brush melted butter on it and sprinkle o cinnamon sugar. Then roll it up and cut slices. Bake them at 400º for 20 minutes or more. Yum.

I put in all sorts of crazy things, too. Put on pecans and brown sugar, or leave out the egg wash and put on chopped cherries and chocolate. Anything you've got in the pantry. These make the best cookies on the face of the earth.

Dreams of Blueberry Heaven, plus a bone to pick

2008-02-10T22:03:00.001-08:00

First, the bone: I don't know if anyone reads this blog. I really don't. There is no evidence, no comments, no favorites, so for all I know, I am writing a personal food diary. Perhaps it has to do with the fact that I don't comment much on other blogs. So, I am going to comment on all eight of my regularly visited blogs and see if there is some slight traffic. Please, if you see this post, comment, just so I can know that people actually might read this.

Finally, the most delicious scone recipe ever to enter my kitchen: this Martha Stewart (gasp!) recipe. The relationship between Martha and I, like many of her previous affairs, has been rocky, especially after one particularly nasty encounter with a stomach-numbing macaroni and cheese recipe. But for now, we're tight.

These scones beat all the rest. They're moist and chewy and satisfying. Hell, they're even better than the Starbucks blueberry scones. I love 'em, and I'm awaiting my opportunity to make a second batch. A word of caution to this tale: (should Hercules fight, you will fail, haha) No, actually, if you use canned blueberries, as I did, the result will be a mess, albeit a delicious one:

So, use a sheet of parchment to knead and cut the scones, or your countertop with be a purple sticky disaster for which I claim no responsibility. Also, these don't rise much in the oven, so make them about as big as you'll want.

I can't wait for blueberry season! Then I'll use fresh blueberries and these will be even better, if such a thing is possible.

BLUEBERRY SCONES

Makes 8

2 cups all-purpose flour
3 T. sugar, plus more for sprinkling tops (for this, use decorator’s
sugar)
1 T. baking powder
¾ tsp. salt
6 T. cold unsalted butter, cut into pieces
1 ½ cups fresh blueberries, picked over and rinsed (can use
canned)
1 tsp. grated lemon zest
1/3 cup heavy cream, plus more for brushing tops
2 large eggs, lightly beaten

Preheat oven to 400 degrees, with rack in center. Place a baking mat on a baking sheet, and set aside.

In a large bowl, sift together flour, 3 tablespoons sugar, baking powder, and salt. Using a pastry cutter or two knives, cut in butter until the largest pieces are the size of peas. Stir in blueberries and zest.

Using a fork, whisk together cream and egg in a liquid measuring cup. Make a well in the center of dry ingredients, and pour in cream mixture. Stir lightly with fork just until dough comes together. Turn out onto a lightly floured surface, and knead a few times to mix well.

Pat dough into a 6-inch square about 1 ¼ inches thick. Using a floured knife, cut into four 3-inch squares. Cut squares in half on the diagonal to form eight triangles. Transfer to prepared baking sheet. Brush tops with cream, and sprinkle with sugar. Bake until golden brown, 20 to 22 minutes. Transfer scones to wire racks to cool.

So, remember to comment if you see this and reassure my poor mind.

Far Better Than {Things I Am Not Supposed To Even Know About}

2008-01-12T14:20:00.000-08:00

Following the wonderful success of my Cranberry Scones, I decided to make some more last night. My mom happened to have a great recipe for lemon scones, so I made them at 7:30 p.m. while she was upstairs. Needless to say, we didn't have dinner until extremely late.

The lemon scones are crusty and crunchy on the outside, and very dense and cakey in the inside. They are very rich and filling. I made a half recipe, which gave me about eight teensy little scones. They have a lot of baking powder, so they swell up to about twice their height in the oven, but they are still very small. Next time I will make them a bit bigger. I think I liked the cranberry scones a bit better, since they were more biscuit-ish and less cakey, but these are still extremely scrumpdiddlyumptious, in the immortal words of Roald Dahl.

LEMON SCONES

Makes about 16 small, wedge-shaped scones

2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

2 1/2 tsp. baking powder

1/3 cup sugar

1/4 tsp. salt

8 T. (one stick) cold, unsalted butter, cut up

2/3 cup buttermilk

1 T. freshly grated lemon peel

2 tsp. fresh lemon juice

2 T. sugar

Large-granule (decorator's) sugar

Place flour, baking powder, sugar and salt into food processor bowl. Process with knife blade a few seconds to mix. Add butter and process until mixture looks like fine granules. Add buttermilk and lemon peel; process until soft dough forms. Roll and cut out round scones with bisquit cutter, or, for wedge-shaped scones, divide dough in 2, roll into 7" circle, and cut each circle into 8 wedges, total of 16.

Preheat oven to 425º. Mix lemon juice and 2 T. sugar; brush onto tops of scones. Sprinkle tops with large-granule sugar. Bake 8-12 minutes, until lightly brown on top. Remove from baking sheet and let cool. Serve with butter, honey or preserves.

Cranberry Stars and Orange Bucks

2008-01-05T09:56:00.000-08:00

Cranberry-Orange Scones

Lately, I have, unfortunately, become a Starbucks fanatic. I know, I know, I am conforming to the Valley Girl fad of "omiGAD, STARbacks frappaCHInao!". But it really is so good! I adore their blueberry scones, and the peppermint mochas are to die for!

But, to save money and fight the consumerism, I have decided to leave Starbucks behind and replicate it in my own kitchen. I bet I could easily make my own mochas and scones! However, croissants are another blog. Quite out of my league, though probably not impossible.

Yesterday, I spend a good hour on the internet looking up copycat Starbucks recipes. I found a blueberry scone recipe that may or may not be the Starbucks one, a definite copycat Pumpkin scone recipe, and a formula for a frappuchino. I am complete.

My grandparents have no electricity, due to our west coast storms, so they spent the night, and are here this morning with nothing to do. There's nothing like a Grandmother to put to work in the kitchen! We tackled a recipe for Cranberry-Orange Scones from an ancient issue of Bon Appetit, and the grown-ups had them for breakfast, while I feasted on cold apple pie (one of my favorite breakfasts).

Anyways, about the scones. They are delicious and light and fluffy. They spread out quite a lot, so I would suggest adding some more flour while kneading, and cutting them into smaller circles or wedges. They are light, orangey, and fluffy, and I really wish I hadn't eaten that apple pie instead. Maybe I'll toast one and put ham and cheese on it for lunch.

CRANBERRY-ORANGE SCONES

Makes 9 scones

3 cups all-purpose sugar

1/3 cup sugar

2 ½ teaspoons baking powder

1 teaspoon salt

½ teaspoon baking soda

1 tablespoon grated orange peel

¾ cup (1 ½ sticks) chilled unsalted butter, cut into ½ -inch

pieces

¾ cup dried cranberries

1 cup chilled buttermilk

Preheat oven to 400°F. Line baking sheet with parchment paper. Sift flour, sugar, baking powder, salt and baking soda into large bowl. Mix in orange peel. Add butter and rub in with fingertips until mixture resembles coarse meal. Mix in dried cranberries. Gradually add buttermilk, tossing with fork until moist clumps form. Turn dough out onto lightly floured work surface. Knead briefly to bind dough, about 4 turns. Form dough into 1-inch-thick round (or slightly thicker). Cut into small wedges, or use a small round cookie cutter, about 2 inches in diameter (they spread out a lot). Transfer wedges to prepared baking sheet, spacing 2 inches apart. Bake until tops of scones are golden brown, about 25 minutes. Let stand on baking sheet 10 minutes. Serve scones warm or at room temperature.

Savior and Downfall

2008-01-04T18:49:00.000-08:00

On New Year's Eve, a friend and I were babysitting. They were the sweetest kids; a sixth grade boy and a fourth grade girl, very quiet, very good company. It was actually quite fun. Anyways, the mother left us with a magnet with a number for Chinese food, and a sheet of numbers and addresses.

About six o'clock, we decided we were hungry. We abandoned our Game of Life, and tried to find something to eat. After about a half-hour discussion about whether to eat the frozen pizza in the fridge (which also led to the discovery of an Oreo ice-cream pie) or order take-out, we decided to order take-out.

The boy hauled in the phoneboook, and we tried to find a pizza place. After about ten minutes of more discussion over whether the quality of the pizza might be in correlation with the quality of the ads, we tried calling one place. They didn't do take-out, so we tried another.

Unfortunately, the sheet the mother gave us didn't include the house's address or phone number. My friend's conversation with the pizza place went something like this:

Lady: Welcome to {______'s ___ety ___ something Pizza} (I honestly can't remember the name)

Rosie (my friend): Oh, uh, hi, I'd like to order a pizza delivery

Lady: Your name?

Rosie: Rosie...?

Lady: What's your order?

Rosie: Oh, just a second. (to us) What do we want?

{five minutes later}

Rosie: Hi, you still there? Okay, I'd like a small pizza, one third cheese, one third pepperoni, one third tomato.

Lady: We don't to thirds.

Rosie: Oh, okay. Just a second.

{Thirty seconds later}

Rosie: Okay, so, one small pepperoni pizza.

{I am grumbling in the corner about the loss of my precious tomato}

Lady: What's your address?

Rosie: Oh. Crap. Sorry. One sec. (to the kids) What's your address?

Kids: blankety blankety on blabla street.

Rosie: blankety blankety on blabla street.

Lady: What's the nearest cross-street?

Rosie: WELL, F*CK IF I KNOW!!!!!! (slams down phone)

Well, that was slightly dramatized, but I'm sure she felt like swearing and slamming down the phone internally.

Well, to make a long story short, we decided to make pasta. I felt so sorry for the kids, because plain pasta is a bore, especially on New Year's, so I looked up a quick alfredo sauce recipe on the internet. Ah, the World Wide Web.

They had about a quarter cup of heavy cream, so I used milk. That was fine. The butter melted nicely, and then came the parmesan. All they had was this Kraft parmesan crap, more preservatives and flavorings than actual cheese. It went in, but wouldn't quite melt. Ah, woe is me. I added salt, pepper, and garlic powder for flavoring, but it remained resolutely lumpy. My only consolation is that the first thing the boy said was "This is good." So, maybe it wasn't so bad. It actually tasted fine, it was just that stupid Kraft crap that screwed it up.

We watched Hairspray and Pirates of the Caribbean 3, with an ice-cream break in-between. The kids wanted some of the Oreo pie, so Rosie and I got it out so them. It took about ten minutes to slice, or should I say hack out a piece for them to share. The girl took a bite, and said it was freezing her mouth, and so it was. So, into the microwave for 10 seconds. I'm sure it was good, but the whipped cream was frozen to a point of being more like very hard frosting, and the Oreos were all soggy. Needless to say, Rosie and I stuck to some very good chocolate chip ice cream.

But, after all, it's a new year. New cooking, new recipes (I'm currently on a hunt for copies of all my favorite Starbucks scones), and new adventures in babysitting.

New Year's Minty Freshness

2007-12-30T20:20:00.000-08:00

I used to think Dreyer's Rocky Road was ice cream heaven. That was before I was introduced to the tangible, icy, refreshing, delectable world of homemade ice cream.

I received the Cuisinart Automatic Frozen Yogurt-Ice Cream & Sorbet Maker for Christmas. Quite a surprising gift, I don't think I even asked... oh... yes... maybe once. Or twice. Or, well, quite a few times...

Anyway, it's amazing. I froze the ice cream in 30 minutes flat, and had lovely soft serve to have after dinner tonight. It'll be even better once it's firmed up a bit in the freezer.

Alongside the ice cream maker, I got two cookbooks from my aunt, who hardly even sends anything besides gift cards. I guess she and my mother were in cahoots this year. My favorite is this one, The Perfect Scoop, by David Lebovitz. It's really fun to just read and look at the delicious pictures. There are some crazy recipes in there, including a recipe for Green Pea Ice Cream and recipes for Basil, Parsley, Black Pepper, and Saffron ice creams too. However, I chose to make mint chip.

I was daring, and on my first try, I tried a relatively hard recipe, and even edited it, though adding chocolate chips hardly counts as "editing".

The ice cream is very spearmint-y (because it uses fresh mint instead of extracts or creme de menthe) and you can really taste the heavy cream and milk. I was a little put off by this at first, then I kept going back for "one more bite", and I realized it really was delicious. It tastes a whole lot better than any stuff you get at a supermarket, and it was actually pretty easy.

The original recipe says the milk is supposed to turn "a lovely shade of emerald." Mine stayed resolutely white, and I don't know if this was because I used store-bought mint instead of freshly picked, or the type I used. Spearmint is good, but perhaps peppermint would be better? You can't easily find any other kind of mint in stores, though. I will have to experiment. When summer rolls around, I want to try his peach ice cream. It sounds absolutely delectable and, well... like summer.

FRESH MINT CHIP ICE CREAM

Makes about 1 quart (1 liter)

1 cup whole milk

3/4 cup sugar

2 cups heavy cream

Pinch of salt

80 g (about 2 lightly packed cups) fresh mint leaves

5 large egg yolks

3/4 cup mini chocolate chips

Warm the milk, sugar, 1 cup of the cream, and salt in a small saucepan. Add the mint leaves and stir until they're immersed in the liquid. Cover, remove from the heat, and let steep at room temperature for 1 hour.

Strain the mint-infused mixture though a mesh strainer into a medium saucepan. Press on the mint leaves to extract as much of the flavor as possible, then discard the mint leaves.

Rewarm the mint infused mixture. Pour the remaining 1 cup heavy cream into a large bowl and set the strainer on top. In a separate bowl, whisk together the egg yolks. Slowly pour the warm mint liquid into the egg yolks, whisking constantly, then scrape the warmed egg yolks back into the saucepan.

Stir the mixture constantly over medium heat with a heatproof spatula, scraping the bottom as you stir (there will be egg bits coating the bottom), until the misture thickens and coats the spatula. Pour the custard through the strainer and stir it into the cream. Stir until cool over an ice bath.

Chill the mixture thoroughly in the refrigerator, then freeze it in your ice cream maker according to the manufacturer's instructions. About five or so minutes before the ice cream has reached your desired consistency, add the chocolate chips.

Mochas To the Rescue!

2007-12-26T08:24:00.000-08:00

^ Here are the cookbooks I got for Christmas! ^

Plus an ice cream maker, which I will test out today. Oh, and three cooking magazines. And a Wacom Tablet. And a Nightwish poster. And a lot of gift cards. Anyways, it was a wonderful Christmas with my family.

My dad got an Cuisinart coffee-maker, so at Christmas dinner, my friend and I decided to try and make mochas. This is the perfect combination we came up with:

Fill mug one fourth of the way up with milk. Put two spoonfulls of cocoa powder (I use Scharffenberger unsweetened cocoa power) and two spoonfulls of sugar in a small bowl and add a bit of hot water. Stir to form a thick paste. Mix chocolate into milk, using less or more according to you preferences. Fill the rest of the mug with coffee, stir, and you have a mocha!

My next experiment is going to be to make a peppermint mocha, like at Starbucks, with peppermint extract. I one asked for one at this cute little cafe, and she put Italian soda peppermint syrup in. It was terrible. I'll use the real stuff, thank you very much.

I just realized that I took all these nice pictures of the Panettone, and never posted them with the recipe.

Pan of Toni and Father Christmas' Gifts

2007-12-25T13:32:00.000-08:00

Our Advent Wreath

Christmas Cookies

Candied Orange and Lemon Peel

Merry Christmas, or Happy Christmas, to all you Brits and Aussies. I got seven new cookbooks and an ice cream maker. I'm practically in Heaven.

I love December 23rd. Christmas Eve and Day are never as wonderful as you think they will be, so the day of anticipation is always the best. I got up early yesterday and baked a Panettone, while my mom made Christmas cookies, Cranberry Frappe, and candied orange and lemon peel. Then, while Dad and I went to church early to practice for our cheesy Nativity play, she stayed home and started Duck a l'Orange and an apricot and lemon steamed pudding. I felt like we were in a Christmas Carol.

But, about the Panettone. It is phenomenal, light and eggy and sweet and tangy and gosh darn delicious. I baked it in a pot, so it looks like a mushroom with two little eyes where the bolts in the pot were. This is a keeper, and I think I've started a new Christmas tradition. I almost couldn't wait to log on here and post the recipe, it's so good. I got it from The Frugal Gourmet Celebrates Christmas, one of my mom's old cookbooks that I've recently become obsessed with. Jeff Smith is such a nerd, he's like the eighties equivalent of Alton Brown (whose cookbook I received today, squee!!).

I used Citron and Golden Raisins in mine because I had them on hand, but you really could use just about any candied or dried fruit. The recipe actually calls for the candied orange and lemon peel with raisins. I stole the process of soaking the dried stuff in rum the night before from The Joy of Cooking, the chef's Bible, because I thought it would add some nice extra flavor (I am very tempted to spell that "flavour", so that I sound professional, but then I would just be a poser). Here is my recipe, with all edits and added parts:

PANETTONE

Makes one loaf

1/4 cup raisins (golden raisins taste best, but I did half-and-half)
1/3 cup one type of candied dried fruit of any kind (citron, orange/lemon peel, etc) (nuts such as pecans or walnuts can also be used; if so, don't put them in the run soak with the raisins)
3 tablespoons dark rum, or other simple syrup
3 packages dry yeast
1/2 cup warm water (105º-115ºF)
Pinch of sugar
6 egg yolks, at room temperature
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/3 cup sugar
2 to 3 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, at room temperature, cut into ten pieces
2 tablespoons melted butter to brush loaf

Place raisins in a small saucepan with enough cold water to cover by 1/2 inch. Bring the water to a boil, then drain well. Transfer the raisins to a small bowl and add your other dried or candied fruit. Sprinkle with the dark rum. Cover and let soak for a minimum of thirty minutes, though overnight is best. Occasionally stir to make sure all the fruit is equally soaked in rum.

In a small bowl, combine the yeast, water, and pinch of sugar. Set aside in a draft-free spot until the mixture is full of bubbles. Pour the mixture into the bowl of a mixer with a dough hook attached. Slowly mix in the egg yolks, vanilla, salt, and sugar.

On a medium speed, blend in 2 cups of flour, ½ cup at a time, and beat until the dough pulls away from the sides in strands. Cut the butter into the dough (how to cut the butter in: with the mixer on the lowest setting, drop each piece of butter in one at a time, waiting into each is more or less incorporated to add the next).

Add the candied or dried fruits and the raisins, along with the rum they have been soaking in. Add about 1 cup more of the flour, a little at a time, mixing now with your hands. The dough should be firm, not sticky, but a little stickiness is okay.

Turn the dough onto a lightly floured board, and knead until it is smooth and shiny.

Put the dough into a buttered bowl, and smear a little more putter on the top of the dough to keep the surface from crusting. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and let sit in a warm place until the dough rises to about double its original size.

Grease 1 small tall-sided saucepan or a Panettone pan liberally with butter. Punch down the dough, and put it into your chosen baking vessel. It should be about half filled with dough. Cover lightly with wax paper and return to the warm place until the dough has doubled in bulk -- near to but not over the top of the rim of the can. Preheat the over to 400ºF (about 380ºF for a convection setting). Remove the middle shelf.

Brush the top of the dough with melted butter. Bake the loaf on the bottom shelf in a hot oven for 10 minutes. reduce the heat to 350º and bake for an additional 30 to 40 minutes. Half way through the baking, brush again with the butter and rotate the pan. The loaf will be crisp and brown when it is done. If the bread is getting too brown, wrap tinfoil over the top. Pierce with a metal skewer; if it comes clean, the loaf is done. If the bread tested done but the sides are not brown enough, unmold and return to the oven for another 5 to 10 minutes. Watch closely so it doesn't overbrown.

Remove the bread from the oven. Handle the tall loaf with special care withe it is hot; it is somewhat delicate. Wait to unmold until it is cool enough to handle; the loaf should just lift out of the pan. Place on a wire rack until it is completely cooled. Panettone stays fresh for a long time, if it is well wrapped.

Have a Merry Christmas!

Bizarre Bazaar

2007-12-24T10:13:00.000-08:00

Twilight, with the press of bodies in dimly colorful clothing. Shouts and salutations, advertisements, questions, accusations, requests twining together into a massive cacophony of the Bazaar. Music is heard above all, lilting strums of instruments from far countries. The smell of foods lures you into thinking this truly is a Silk Road Bazaar, and the shine of beads 0n a girl's sari dazzles your eyes into believing you are in the middle of the past.

I sold all my bread, every last piece.

SESAME DRAGON MOUTHS

These are pretty good, though definitely not my favorite. I went a bit heavy on the Sesame Oil, though, so maybe that had something to with it. They are very salty, and you get tired of them quickly, so make them a lot smaller that you think you should. Also, when rising, put a BIG bowl over the dough. It rises like crazy, and I even used a normal yeast packet in place of one of the fast-rising ones.

Recipe:

SESAME DRAGON MOUTHS

Makes about 18 rolls

2 packages fast-rising yeast
½ cup lukewarm water
1 T. sugar
1 cup milk, heated to lukewarm (90º)
4¼ cups regular flour
Raw sesame seeds
Sesame oil

Sprinkle the yeast over the lukewarm water and then add the sugar. Allow to stand and the stir in the yeast. Add the warm milk. Stir in the flour and knead until smooth. Place the dough on a plastic countertop and cover with a large metal bowl. Allow to rise until double in bulk, around an hour. When properly risen, punch the dough down.

Roll the dough out to about 1/3 inch thick and cut into strips 2 inches wide. Cut the strips into pieces 5 inches long. Brush each with sesame oil and fold it over, making a little bun about 2 inches wide and 2½ inches long.

Brush the top of each bun with a bit of milk and sprinkle with raw sesame seeds. Allow to rise until double in bulk an bake in a 400º oven for 20 minutes, or until golden. Cool on cake racks.

ALEXANDRIAN CUMIN BREAD

This was an absolute hit. I didn't take any pictures of the finished product, sorry, but it turned into two large, tan, crusty, delicious loaves. The cumin taste was wonderful, and it could even have been stronger. I found the recipe online, and it was very weird, so I just improvised and revised the usual white bread recipe, using cumin. However, I stuck with the rising times of the original, and though I am glad I did, it had to rise three hours, be punched down, then rise another hour. I started calling the rising bread "stick-in-the-mud bread" because it took so long. But it was SO worth it. I brought the two large loaves to the Bazaar, and they were the first to run out. Darn, I would have liked to take some home.

Recipe:

ALEXANDRIAN CUMIN BREAD

3 cups unbleached, all-purpose flour
1 package dried yeast
1½ tsp. Salt
1 tsp. Cumin seed, ground
1 cup, plus 3 oz. lukewarm water

Pour 1 cup of the lukewarm water into a small bowl and sprinkle it with the yeast and sugar. Let the mixture rest for 2 to 3 minutes, then stir to dissolve the yeast completely. Set the bowl in a warm, draft-free place (such as a turned-off oven) for 5 minutes, or until the mixture doubles in volume.

In a deep bowl, combine the flour, salt, and cumin, make a well in the center, and pour in the yeast mixture. Gently stir the center ingredients together, then incorporate the flour and continue to beat until the ingredients are well combined. Add up to 1/2 cup more lukewarm water, beating it in a tablespoon at a time, and using as much as necessary to form a dough that can be gathered into a compact ball. If the dough is difficult to stir, work in the water with your fingers.

Place the dough on a lightly floured surface and knead for 20 minutes, or until the dough is smooth and elastic. Shape the dough into a ball and place it in a lightly oiled bowl. Drape loosely with a towel and set aside in the warm place for 3 hours. The dough should triple in bulk.

Flour the top of the dough lightly, punch it down, and remove the dough from the mixing bowl. Form the dough into a circular loaf, and place on a baking sheet covered with parchment paper. Cover with a towel and let rise 1 hour, until nicely risen.

Bake in a preheated 400ºoven for 35 minutes, until browned on top; the bottom of the bread should sound hollow when tapped with the finger. Let the bread cool, then serve.

KHOUBZ ARABY

Here is the link to my previous post about this bread: Middle Eastern Night. There was a bit of a surprise when I sliced into it on Thursday evening. It wasn't hollow this time, but spongy, and, well, bread-y. I seriously don't know which was it is supposed to be, but it was delicious both ways. One half-Iranian dad told me it was just like his mother used to make, so perhaps it's supposed to be this way...

Have a Merry and Blessed Holiday!

The Cinnamon Raisin Search

2007-11-18T19:10:00.000-08:00

I have been in the search for a good cinnamon raisin bread for a while now. I made some during the summer, and while is was lovely and eggy and cinnamon-y, it wasn't quite right. It became very dry after a while, and not stale sort of dry, but like it was just a very dry bread. I had not had the time to experiment again, but since my church is going to be feeding some homeless families breakfast in two weeks, i thought this would be a good time to try a new recipe.

I used a variation of a cinnamon bread recipe from a very old, very tattered copy of "Beard on Bread", by James Beard, and added half a cup of raisins to my half recipe. It is so delicious! It's very doughy, with a lot of gluten, and will be wonderful Thanksgiving morning as toast. Ity could do with more of a cinnamon flavor, so maybe next time I'll do just under a tablespoon, since a 1/2 tablespoon didn't seem to lend enough flavor. It was VERY fragile dough, especially after rising. I put on an egg wash to brown the crust, and the whole top just collapsed, and it now quite ugly and flat. But it tastes like heaven...

P.S. This requires a mixer. I though it was all by hand, buit it's not. Use a mixer with a dough hook.

P.P.S. The butter will be chunky and float around the mixture after you beat it. Don't worry, it'll all get worked in when you add the flour.

CINNAMON RAISIN BREAD

Makes two loaves

1 package active dry yeast
1/3 cup granulated sugar
3/4 cup warm water (100º to 115º, approximately)
1 1/4 cups warm milk, approximately
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1/2 stick (1/4 cup) softened butter
1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
5 to 6 cups all-purpose flour

Combine the yeast, sugar, and water in a large bowl and let proof for 5 minutes. Heat the milk, and add the salt and butter. Add to the yeast mixture and blend well. Stir in the cinnamon, the add up to 4 1/2 cups flour, one cup at a time, beating well after each addition. Scrape the dough out on a lightly floured board, and knead a good 10 minutes or until smoothe until elastic, using enough of the remaining flour to avoid excess sticking. When dough is firm enough to easily work with, flatten it out, and pour about a half of the raisins on. Fold the dough over them, and knead them in. Repeat with the rest of the raisins. Shape into a ball and put into a buttered bowl, turning to coat the surface of the dough with butter. Cover with plastic wrap and let sit in a warm, draft-free spot until doubled in bulk.

Punch down the dough. Divide into two pieces, and shape into loaves that will fit buttered 8 x 4 x 2 or 9 x 5 x 3-inch tins. COver loosely and let rise again until doubled in bulk. Bake in a preheated 425º oven for 10 minutes, then lower the temperature to 350º and continue baking 20 to 25 minutes longer, or until the loaves sound hollow when rapped on top and bottom. Cool on racks before slicing... if you can wait!

Middle Eastern Night

2007-09-16T11:55:00.000-07:00

I love book sales. This summer, my mother wanted to give me a week-long cooking and baking tutorial, and it stuck. I spent the whole summer in a baking overdrive, trying out every recipe I could get my hands on, reading cookbooks like a repenting sinner reading the Bible. She dragged me to quite a lot of book sales, too. I spent the first few in irreversible boredom, because the only books you ever find at book sales are computer manuals, self-help guides, and harlequin novels. But, soon, I found my way to the cookbook section. At first, I would pull one or two off the shelf or table and stand there for a minute looking it over to see if it was worth my money. Soon, however, I found myself piling as many as I could hold into my arms and then settling myself in a remote corner of the room to read and evaluate them. My "buy" piles started getting higher and higher. This last one I went to, I came home with three (one of my smaller purchases). One was a holiday cookbook from Better Homes and Gardens (including St. Patrick's day, New Years, and the 1960's equivalent of the Superbowl), published when little hot-dogs on toothpicks and a salad encased in gelatin were stylish things at a party. I adore old cookbooks, so even if there is nothing edible in this one, it's still fun to look through and make faces at the entire section devoted to fruitcake. The second one is my favorite, it's a little book with a darling white cover with pink pictures of various holiday sweets. It's called "Visions of Sugarplums", and it's all about Christmas cookies and breads and sweets, with a few Hanukkah things thrown in. It was published in the early 60's or 70's (I can't remember, and I'm far too lazy to make the simple trip downstairs to find out). I can't wait to try things out once Christmas comes. I don't think I can wait, though. I'll beg to try something for Thanksgiving...

The third cookbook is the one I really wanted to try something from, though. It's called "Middle Eastern Cooking", and covers jst about everything from Greece to Iran to Israel to Turkey. This year, the middle school is studying the Silk Road. The big culmination at the end of the year will be a bazaar of some kind, where everyone dresses up, and studies a form of trade, and.... I dunno. Tries to sell stuff to people? They haven't given us specifics yet. Anyway, this doesn't happen till April or May, but I instantly got the idea in my head to choose a few major countries along the Silk Road, and cook a traditional dish from each country. Then I can set up a buffet table at the bazaar and give people little sample cups of food, and basically, I'll be catering for the school, so they have to pay me. Well, maybe not the last part. Pooey.

Anyway, I decided to try a dish or two from this cookbook. The first recipe is for Arab Bread. It's a bit weird, and comes out all hollow, but perfectly delicious. It's a huge recipe, and even a half came out with four loaves. But a family can eat one whole loaf with dinner because they're hollow, so maybe not so bad. I plan to take the remaining bread we don't eat tonight to school with me tomorrow to feed to my Advisory and get them to tell me what they think. It is fluffy and crusty at the same time, and the cornmeal on the bottom gives it a lovely flavor.

The second recipe is for Alo Balo Pollo. It is a chicken and rice dish with saffron rice and sour cherries on top. Very, very tasty. The portions are huge, though. I made a half recipe, for three. We could have fed five or six with it. Oh, well, I bet it makes excellent leftovers. The dish is mentioned in my Middle Eastern cookbook, but there is no recipe. So, I found one online. The original is very confusing, and I made a few edits to it. But the result was delicious. I served it with the bread, and fresh Persian cucumbers. I'd better be careful, or I'll drive my family broke by shopping too much at the Farmer's Market.

Sorry the image quality is so bad. I have a new camera, but it's not at all professional. Maybe I'll steal my mom's next time.

KHOUBZ ARABY (ARAB BREAD)

Makes eight loaves

2 1/4 to 2 3/4 cups lukewarm water (110º to 115ºF)
2 packages active dry yeast
A pinch of sugar
8 cups all-purpose flour
2 tsp. salt
1/4 cup olive oil
1 cup cornmeal

Pour 1/4 cup of lukewarm water into a small bowl and sprinkle it with the yeast and sugar. Let the mixture rest for 2 to 3 minutes, then stir to dissolve the yeast completely. Set the bowl in a warm, draft-free place (such as a turned-off oven) for 5 minutes, or until the mixture doubles in volume.

In a deep bowl, combine the flour and salt, make a well in the center, and pour in the yeast mixture, the olive oil, and 2 cups of lukewarm water. Gently stir the center ingredients together, then incorporate the flour and continue to beat until the ingredients are well combined. Add up to 1/2 cup more luke warm water, beating it in a tablespoon at a time, and using as much as necessary to form a dough that can be gathered into a compact ball. If the dough is difficult to stir, work in the water with your fingers.

Place the dough on a lightly floured surface an knead for 20 minutes, or until the dough is smooth and elastic. Shape the dough into a ball and place it in a lightly oiled bowl. Drape loosely with a towel and set aside in the warm place for 45 minutes, or until the dough doubles in bulk. Punch it down and divide it into 8 equal pieces. Roll each piece into a ball about 2 1/2 inches in diameter, cover the balls with a towel and let them rest for 30 minutes.

Sprinkle 2 large baking sheets (use as many baking sheets as you need. I was only able to fit two loaves of bread on each sheet) with 1/2 cup of the cornmeal or flour. On a lightly floured surface, roll 4 of the balls into round loaves each about 8 inches in diameter and no more than 1/8 inch thick. Arrange them 2 t 3 inches apart on the baking sheets, cover with towels and allow them to rest for 30 minutes. Preheat the oven for 500ºF (475º if you have a convection oven).

Transfer the loaves to the oven, and bake for about 10 minutes, or until the bread puffs up in the center and is a golden brown.

(this part didn't make a difference in the bread for me, but you can try it if you like:)

Remove the bread from the baking sheets, wrap each loaf in foil, and set aside for 10 minutes. The tops will have fallen in ad there will be a shallow pocket of air in their centers.

Sprinkle the pans with the remaining cornmeal or flour, and bake the rest of the loaves in a similar fashion. Serve warm or at room temperature.

ALO-BALO POLO

Serves 6 to 9

4 cups sour cherries; pitted (about 2 pounds)
6 T. sugar
1/4 cup olive oil
2 1/2 lb chicken
1 tsp. Salt
1 medium onion; peeled and cut into 1/8 inch thick slices
1/2 cup water
2 cup Iranian rice, or other long grain rice; soaked and drained
8 T. butter, melted
1/4 tsp. saffron threads; pulverized with a mortar and pestle or the back of a spoon, and dissolved in 1 tablespoon warm water

Combine the cherries and sugar in a 2 to 3 quart saucepan, and, stirring gently, bring to a boil over high heat. Reduce the heat to low and simmer uncovered for 2 or 3 minutes, or until the cherries have softened somewhat and given off most of their liquid. Remove from the heat.

In a heavy 3 to 4 quart casserole, heat the olive oil over moderate heat until a light haze forms above it. Pat the chicken completely dry with paper towels and sprinkle it inside and out with salt. Brown the chicken in the hot oil, turning it frequently with a large spoon or tongs and regulating the heat so that the bird colors quickly and deeply without burning. Place the chicken on a plate and add the onion slices to the oil remaining in the casserole. Stirring frequently, cook for about 10 minutes, or until the slices are richly browned. Return the chicken and all of the juices which have accumulated on the plate to the casserole, add the 1/2 cup of water and bring to a boil over high heat. Reduce the heat to low, cover tightly and simmer for about 30 minutes, or until the chicken is tender.

Transfer the chicken to a plate, set aside 2 tablespoons of the cooking liquid and discard the onion slices. When the bird is cool enough to handle, cut it into 6 or 8 serving pieces.

Meanwhile, bring 6 cups of water to a boil in a heavy 4 to 5 quart casserole with a tightly fitting lid. Pour in the rice in a slow, thin stream so the water does not stop boiling. Stir once or twice, boil briskly for 5 minutes, then drain the rice in a sieve. The rice should not be fully cooked.

Pour the reserved chicken cooking liquid and 4 tablespoons of the melted butter into the casserole and stir them together. Add half of the rice and, with a spatula or spoon, smooth it to the edges of the casserole. Cook uncovered over moderate heat for 5 minutes, then remove the casserole from the heat and add the chicken and half of the reserved cherries. Spread the remaining rice on top and pour in all the remaining cherries and their cooking liquid. Keep the cherries slightly to one side, so you have about a cup of plain rice that is easy to scoop out later. Cover tightly and cook over low heat for 15 to 20 minutes, or until the rice is tender.

To serve, spoon about a cup of the rice into a small bowl, add the remaining 4 tablespoons of melted butter and the dissolved saffron and stir until the mixture is bright yellow. Scoop the rice, chicken, and sour cherry mixture onto a serving platter. Sprinkle the saffron rice on top. With a metal spatula, lift the rice crust from the bottom of the casserole and arrange small pieces of it around the edge of the platter. Serve.

Cinnamon Buns

2007-09-09T16:54:00.000-07:00

My first recipe, woohoo! Anyway, this recipe comes from RecipeNut at recipezaar.com. I first attempted a half recipe (which is by far enough) with a friend, a few weeks ago. We stayed up until 4:30 A.M. making them. They didn't take long, we just started VERY late, haha. They expand a LOT, so make them as small as humanly possible. They probably end up double the size as when you first roll them. Anyway, they were a huge hit. You don't even need the glaze, though it's very tasty. The first time, my friend and I ran out of cinnamon halfway through, so we substituted brown sugar. They were still really good! I made them again yesterday, much smaller this time, and with actual cinnamon, and they are the perfect thing for breakfast.

My only complaint about the recipe: it tells you to roll out the dough into a rectangle, spread on the butter, sugar, and nuts, and then roll it into a jellyroll and cut it into bun sizes. DON'T DO THIS. It is a big mess. Instead, cut each strip separately and roll it. It may be tedious and annoying, but you will save yourself a lot of pain and mess, and your cinnamon buns will look a lot better.

So, here is the recipe with my edits (this is a half recipe of the original):

CINNAMON BUNS

Makes 6 to 9 buns, depending on size. Keep small.

DOUGH
1 package active dry yeast
1/2 cup warm water
1/3 cup granulated sugar
1/2 teaspoon granulated sugar
1/2 cup warmed milk
1/3 cup butter
1 teaspoon salt
1 egg, slightly beaten
3 1/2 cups all-purpose flour (or more if needed, up to 8)

FILLING
1/2 cup melted butter, , divided
7/8 cup granulated sugar, divided (1/2 cu + 1/4 cup + 1/8 cup)
1 1/2 tablespoons ground cinnamon
3/4 cup chopped walnuts (optional)
3/4 cup raisins (optional)

GLAZE
1/3 cup melted butter
2 cups powdered sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
2-4 tablespoons hot water

DOUGH

In a cup, combine yeast, warm water and 1 tsp sugar, stir and set aside.

In a large bowl, mix milk, remaining 2/3 cup sugar, melted butter, salt and eggs; stir well and add yeast mixture. Add half the flour and beat until smooth.

Stir in enough of the remaining flour until dough is slightly stiff (dough will be sticky). Turn out onto a well-floured board; knead 5-10 minutes.

Place in well-buttered glass or plastic bowl, cover and let rise in warm place, free from drafts, until doubled in bulk, about 1 to 1 ½ hours.

When doubled, punch down dough and let rest 5 minutes. Roll out on floured surface into a rectangle (make it much longer than it is tall).

FILLING

Spread dough with 1/4 cup melted butter (save the rest for the glaze). Mix together sugar and cinnamon; sprinkle over buttered dough (save some). Sprinkle with walnuts and raisins, if desired.

Cut dough into vertical strips and roll each into a bun.

Lay parchment paper on a baking sheer, and coat it with a little bit of the remaining cup melted butter, then sprinkle with remaining sugar.

Place cinnamon roll slices close together in pans. Let rise in warm place until dough is doubled in bulk, about 45 minutes.

Preheat oven to 350ºF (325ºF convection). Bake 25 to 30 minutes, or until rolls are nicely browned (25 should be enough).

GLAZE

In medium bowl, mix melted butter, powdered sugar and vanilla; add hot water 1 Tbsp at a time until glaze reaches desired spreading consistency.
Spread over slightly cooled rolls.

Rolls can be made the night before and put in warming oven overnight. Glaze can be refrigerated.

Coconut Bandanas and Mango Salsa

2007-09-09T14:57:00.000-07:00

After spending two to three months absolutely enthralled with food blogs, I've decided to make one. I am an amateur chef, and I mean amateur. I still have to ask my parents' permission to use the kitchen. However, I enjoy all forms of cooking, especially baking. And I find cupcakes very alluring, and hope to experiment a lot for Halloween and Christmas.
Random Facts:

- I love to cook, but I don't especially enjoy eating my own creations. Yes, very strange
- I will probably post two or three times, and then give this up as a lost cause
- I don't have a very good camera, so my pictures will probably look very un-professional
- I don't have many recipes of my own; most of them are from other websites, or TV, or my mother's own personal recipes. So I will link the originals if they are not my own

P.S. Don't ask very I got the name for the blog. In all honesty, I don't know myself.