Pumpkin Cranberry Muffins

Can easily tweak the recipe for dairy/egg/sugar free. Very moist and fluffy! I found it a bit too sweet. Perhaps I’ll cut the honey down to 1/3 cup next time.

Recipe credit goes to littlebroken.com! Beautiful food photography on this site.

INGREDIENTS:

• 1/3 cup liquid coconut oil
• 1/2 cup honey (consider 1/3 cup for less sweet)
• 2 eggs OR for egg free: 1/2 cup unsweetened apple sauce with 1 tsp baking powder
• 1 cup mashed ripe banana (2-3 bananas)
• 1 cup pumpkin puree (not pie filling)
• 1/4 cup soy milk
• 2 tsp pumpkin pie spice
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1/2 tsp sea salt
• 1.75 cups flour
• 1/2 cup raisins or dried cranberries

INSTRUCTIONS:

1. Preheat oven to 425F. Grease muffin pans with a bit of coconut oil.
2. Mix coconut oil and honey. Whisk in eggs.
3. Add banana, pumpkin puree, spices, baking soda, vanilla, salt
4. Slowly add flour and mix until jUST combined. Fold in raisins.
5. Spoon into muffin pans.
6. Bake 5m at 425, reduce heat to 350, continue baking for ~17m or until toothpick inserted in the center of a muffin comes out clean.

Crispy Baked Fish Sticks + Taragon Tartar Sauce

Trial and error fish sticks. This is what happens when I ask R what he wants for dinner. He even called after me as I was heading towards the kitchen with: “make ’em taste just like those frozen ones I had when I was little!” Aaaarrre you kidding me?

FISH STICKS

• 4 large fillets of white flaky fish, cut in even long strips (like cod or pollock)
• 2 eggs, beaten until frothy
• 1 cup all purpose flour
• ~2 tsp garlic salt
• 1/4 cup parmesan cheese
• 1 tsp dried parsley
• 1 cup panko bread crumbs
• olive oil

Preheat oven to 450F. Line baking sheet with aluminum foil and generously oil/butter. Place AP flour and salt in one bowl, eggs in another, and panko, parsley, and parmesan cheese in another. Pat fish dry. Dredge in flour, shaking off excess, then eggs, letting the excess drip back into the bowl, and finally the panko mixture, pressing it into the fish. Space fish evenly on baking sheet. Drizzle with oil. Bake 15-20 min or until golden brown and cooked through (test by cutting the largest piece in half. It should flake easily.)

TARTAR SAUCE

• 1/2 cup mayo
• 1/2 tsp dijon mustard
• 1/2 tsp Worcestershire sauce
• 1/2 tsp lemon juice
• 1 dash white wine vinegar
• 2-3 slices of dill pickle, minced
• 1-2 tsp dried tarragon

Combine in a small bowl. Adjust to taste.

R likes them with ketchup. Another blasphemy. (I tried it later. It’s actually pretty tasty.) I’d like to think this is the improved version of frozen fish sticks. Fresh, tender fish, light and crispy panko breading. Took 30 minutes to make! Including bake time!

Happy eats.

Monkish à la Meunière + Celery Root Mash + Roasted Baby Carrots

I have recently discovered monkfish. White, tender flesh. Almost lobster-like. Versatile and mild flavor. It is a very ugly fish, but damn, it tastes good. 

PAN SEARED FISH à la Meunière

INGREDIENTS: 

• 6 oz monkish fillets
• lemon
• flour
• clarified butter*
• unsalted butter (always buy unsalted)
• salt
• parsley

*over low heat, melt butter (cut in 1 inch blocks) until fully melted. Stir. Continue heating until it begins to bubble and foam. Once it stops foaming, turn off heat and strain over cheesecloth. Do this in bulk. Keep left overs in fridge for several months!

INSTRUCTIONS:

1. Trim off any grey/ugly membranes from fish. Slice filets into even size pieces to allow for even cooking. 5×3, and about 2 inches thick is good.
2. Optional: soak fish in milk ~ 30 min. Helps the browning process.
3. Pat fish dry. Salt generously. Dredge fish in thin coat of flour.
4. Heat frying pan over medium high heat, add a few tablespoons of clarified butter. Pan fry fish until brown on one side (white/cooked portion will creep up to past halfway the thickness). DO NOT push/nudge/peek under fish until it’s half way cooked! Once ready, it WILL release from the pan.
5. Flip and brown other side for a few minutes until cooked through. Remember: cooked fish flakes. If it’s transparent and chewy, it’s still raw. (which is OK in some cases, like for salmon it is ok to have a slightly pink center.)
6. IF YOU HAVE A PARTICULARLY THICK CUT: after the first side is done (white/cooked portion creeped up past half way the thickness of the fish), place in a 400F oven until no longer transparent. THEN pull the pan back out and flip the fish over to let it “kiss” the other side. once that browns, serve. MAKE SURE you have an OVEN PROOF pan before trying this.
7. Set fish aside. Add another pat of regular unsalted butter (mmmm butter) and some fresh herbs of your choice, then a squeeze of lemon. Once melted, pour over fish.

CELERY ROOT MASH

• 1 part celery root, cut in 1/2 inch pieces
• 2 parts russet potatoes (for a creamier mash) cut in 1 inch pieces
• butter
• milk
• salt
• herbs: chive, or parsley, or rosemary, what have you.

Put celery root pieces in a large pot. Bring to a boil, let it boil for about 5 minutes. Add potatoes. Boil another 20 minutes or until fork tender. Turn off heat. Strain. Put potatoes back in pot and turn heat back on medium. Let the liquid dry up. Mash. Add butter and milk to taste/consistency of preference.  Salt and season. You will always need more salt than you think… Potatoes always take a lot of salting.

ROASTED BABY CARROTS

Preheat oven to 420 F. Shave off skin of carrots, if you have little baby carrots, roast them whole. If you have larger ones, cut them in long diagonals. Toss in olive oil, salt, black pepper. Optional: a bit of curry powder, or a pinch of brown sugar, whatever you’d like to mix it up. Spread out on lined and greased baking pan. Roast for 20 minutes or until just charring at the ends.

Easy Berry Cobbler

Adapted from a Betty Crocker recipe

Want cobbler in 20 minutes? This recipe could be a dangerous thing. I don’t even have flour at my apartment right now let alone baking powder. This recipe uses Bisquick mix and frozen berries. Meaning you can have fresh warm cobbler every night…

Makes 2 big servings. I bake these in a 4 cup, glass tupperware bowl (or the yellow Snapware). Perfect for saving leftovers (rare, but it happens).

INGREDIENTS:

• 2 cups frozen mixed berries (raspberry blackberry blueberry)
• 1/4 heaping cup of brown sugar
• 1 tbs water
• 1/2 tbs corn starch
• 1/2 cup Bisquick mix
• 3/4 tbs of butter, melted but not heated (nuke until mostly melted, then stir until fully melted)
• 2 tbs whole milk (I use the half and half I keep in my fridge for coffee..)

INSTRUCTIONS:

1. Preheat oven to 430F
2. In a medium sized sauce pan, add berries, corn starch, sugar, water.
3. Turn heat to medium and stir until sugar dissolves and berry mixture begins to congeal and thicken. Do not use high heat as it will burn. **Carefully dip in a clean spoon and taste! Adjust sugar as needed. If too sweet, add a squeeze of lemon juice. Note that the mixture should coat the back of the spoon and not run off. If it looks too watery, add more corn starch, a pinch at a time.
4. When berries begin to bubble, let it boil for 1 minute then turn heat off and pour mixture into 4 cup baking dish.
5. in a small mixing bowl, add Bisquick, lightly melted butter, and milk. stir until JUST combined into a dough. If it is still crumbly, add a dash more milk. DO NOT over mix.
6. With a large flat spoon, plop small sections of dough into berry mixture.
7. Place on flat baking pan (in case it bubbles over) and bake in oven for 15 minutes. Mixture will be bubbling and edges of the dough will have baked to a nice golden brown.
8. Serve with ice cream or a dash of cold cream! Tastes good cold the next day, too.

Chinese BBQ Spare Ribs + how to mince garlic

I had left over spare ribs from my stew and basically tweaked the recipe for Chinese Chicken Wings

INGREDIENTS

• spare ribs, cut in 2 or so inch pieces
• equal parts honey, hoisen (NOT oyster) sauce, soy sauce, rice wine.
• ginger, garlic, green onion
  • Classic Chinese recipe trio.
  • cut in thin but large slices so that it’s easy to remove from the marinade later. Less burning when you bake.
  • I also like so smash the slices with the flat side of my knife before I add it to the marinade, releases more juices.
• Chinese Five Spice. ~1 tsp is fine. don’t over-do this. Just sprinkle over the ribs before you add it to the marinade.

It’s hard to mess up the ratio. as long as you keep equal parts of the liquid ingredients, you’ll be ok.

INSTRUCTIONS:

1. Marinate ribs in a large ziplock bag over night.
2. Preheat oven ~310F.
3. Space ribs evenly on foil lined pan, pour 1/2 cup marinade into the pan, tent over with aluminum foil (**this part’s different from the chicken recipe!).
   • Pork takes longer to cook. Lower heat, longer time, and tenting the foil keeps the meat nice and moist and prevents burning. Results in a more tender rib.
4. Bake for 1 hour. Open the tent and flip the ribs 180 degrees, add a bit more marinade
   • pan bottom should be bubbly and brown, not black and charred. When you flip, the side of the ribs that were in contact with the foil should be shiny and have a bit of a golden crust.
5. Re-tent and bake for 30min-1 hour more, depending on thickness of the ribs. Check on it on the 30 min mark, and if it’s not shiny and brown with a nice crust, it’s not done. If it’s greyish, it’s not done. If the meat doens’t come easily off the bone with a fork, it’s not done. Pan bottom by now should start to blacken. That is A-OK.
6. eat.

MMM… nice end of summer snack. (yes. i eat bbq ribs as a snack.)

EAT.

See the little black bits clinging to the meat? Doesn’t taste bad. Just looks bad. That’s green onion, diced. I know, I know, I said use long slices for the marinade. But I get my green onion in bulk in Flushing where it’s like 3 bunches for a $1 as opposed to 1 for a dollar. I chop ’em up then freeze them in ziplock bags. So if you want to be cheap, use frozen diced green onion. If you’re going for presentation, use fresh sliced green onion.

Ginger powder works fine if you don’t have fresh.

Never skimp on garlic. Canned stuff is foul. I don’t even do pre-peeled bulk garlic. Just break off a clove, smash with the back of your knife, and the skin comes right off. Chop off the hard nubby end and slice, OR, if you want minced garlic, I use my onion method (I think I learned this from Alton Brown):

HOW TO MINCE GARLIC – LESS MESS, LESS TOOLS.

• break off 1 clove.
• do NOT cut off nubby end.
• Smash lightly a few times with flat side of knife, peel.
• Lay clove on its flattest side.
• slice parallel to the cutting board, then perpendicular along the LENGTH of the clove, all the while stopping at the nub. You should end up with long slivers, all still attached to the nub. Like a brush.
• Slice perpendicular to the board, this time starting at the tip, along the wiDTH of the clove. this creates the mince.

Voila! less sticky fingers, less useless tools in the kitchen that only perform one duty. I will draw you pictures some day. SOME day…

 

EDIT: found an awesome video on chopping onions. The “traditional way” is how I mince my garlic. I think the new way looks intriguing, but not sure how I can manage that with a tiny garlic clove…

Lemon Poppy Seed Pound Cake

I received my KitchenAid stand mixer as a birthday present last year around this time.

After much fear and trepidation, I am just now beginning to tackle this cake baking business. My original hesitations were due to all the rules and precision that comes with baking that you just don’t have to worry about with other types of cooking. As anyone in my life who knows me but at ALL will tell you, I do not follow rules well. I distrust what others tell me and no matter how much the instructions make sense, I just have to do it on my own and learn it the hard way. My fear of baking also stems from the fact that I SUCKED in chemistry lab. Like, 5% yield sucked. But hey, if I can learn, so can you.

I find that the best way to approach learning to bake is this: Follow the $#%@ing instructions. To the T. After a few successful attempts, you gain the confidence to fiddle with the recipe. But before you go making big changes, RESEARCH. What does “Creaming the butter” mean? Is sugar considered a dry or a wet ingredient? What’s the difference between baking powder and baking soda? What is the purpose of each and every ingredient used in baking? Tedious? Maybe. But if you’re a nerd like me, you relish in knowing and understanding every step in the process. If you are NOT like me, go follow a recipe. Here’s one to start you off:

INGREDIENTS:

• 1 2/3 cup all purpose flour
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1/4 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp salt (kosher)
• 1 cup granulated sugar
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 3 eggs, medium size
• 1/3 cup butter
• 1/4 cup greek yogurt (HEAPING cup)
• 3 tbs Meyer lemon zest (worth it.)
• 2 tbs lemon juice
• 2 tbs poppy seeds

EQUIPMENT:

• stand mixer with paddle attachment
• large mixing bowl
• zester
• 1 loaf pan
• silicone spatula for batter
• whisk
• measuring cups/spoons

TIP: when juicing the lemon, juice it over the zester to strain out lemon seeds. no extra tools to wash, and no bitter seeds to bite into when you eat the cake later…

INSTRUCTIONS:

1. Preheat oven to 350F. Place rack in center of the oven (if it’s too low, it’ll bake too quickly)
2. Line loaf pan with parchment paper (cut to fit, it’ll hang over the two long sides) and butter generously. You can clip down the sides with binder clips.
3. Zest lemon. Mix zest and juice with yogurt and set aside.
4. In a large mixing bowl, combine flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt. Whisk to combine.
5. Cream Butter: Cut butter up into small chunks ~ 1 inch cubes. Put in stand mixer bowl and beat on high, with paddle attachment, until soft and creamy. Reduce speed to medium. Add sugar slowly and continue beating until well incorporated. Should look fluffy, like airy sand. Mix in vanilla.
6. Beat in eggs, one at a time, until well incorporated.
7. Still on medium speed, slowly add in part of the dry mixture, then some yogurt mixture, then some dry mixture, etc, until fully incorporated. Add poppy seeds. Increase speed to high for a few seconds to fluff up batter.
8. Pour batter into loaf pan and spread evenly. Place in center of oven and bake ~ 1 hour. At the 40 min mark, open oven door and QUICKLY cut a line down the center of the loaf and cover the top with a sheet of aluminum foil to prevent burning. No need to crimp, just cover. The cut down the middle is what creates that pretty split in the crust.
9. Set loaf aside and let cool, 10 min.
10. Optional Glaze: In stand mixer with whisk attachment, mix 2 tbs lemon juice and 1/2 cup+ powdered sugar on high speed until it reaches the consistency you like. Opaque and not too runny. Glaze cake after cooling for 20 min or so.

THINGS I’M LEARNING ABOUT BAKING:

1. Always level the ingredients after measuring: Scoop the ingredient into the measuring utensil, then with the flat edge of a knife, smooth off the top. Spooning it in slowly will give you less than the recipe calls for, unless the recipe specifically says to.
2. Butter doesn’t have to be room temperature and softened. Wastes time. Just cut it up and beat it on high in your stand mixture. This softens it. Technology is wonderful. Use it. Same goes with eggs. Use them fresh out of the fridge. No one needs salmonella.
3. If you’re messing with a recipe:
   1. Eggs are emulsifiers and binders. They hold the cake together.
   2. Baking soda is a base and needs an acid to neutralize it or you’ll get a bitter yucky taste. Brown sugar is considered a neutralizing agent for baking soda. Do not substitute brown sugar for white in a recipe that has baking soda. Unless you swap BS out for BP (Baking powder). And even then it’s not an exact substitute…still figuring this one out.
   3. AP flour =/= cake flour =/= self rising crap. Use what the recipe calls for, or use this substitution: 1 cup cake flour = 1 cup AP flour minus 2 tablespoons. some people say replace those two tablespoons with equal amounts of corn starch. I’ve yet to try this.
   4. Sugar is a wet ingredient. Don’t mix it in with the flour at the beginning. Typical progression of cake baking goes like this: soften butter, cream butter with sugar, beat in eggs, add extracts and flavors, add dry ingredients then add ons (nuts, chocolate chips, what have you).
   5. Last but not least, read lots and lots of recipes. Look at the ratios. What ingredients where different? How do you think that affected texture, density, crumb, flavor, etc? Then create your own combination and WRITE IT OUT. Follow your new recipe exactly so you can compare the results to what you did. If you’re making adjustments as you go, you’ll never know how to recreate it exactly. It’s just bad science.
   6. Find friends who’ll be your guinea pigs. (: Good luck!

This cake turned out REALLY well. Dense, moist, not too sweet. I was afraid that cake flour would make it too cake-y and not compact enough like I like my pound cakes, and the AP flour I used here worked out superbly well. VERY happy.

Cowboy Cookies

Thin, chewy in the center, crisp on the edges. Bake for an extra 3-4 minutes if you like crispy crunchy cookies.

Adapted from Martha Stewart, my hero.

INGREDIENTS:

• 3/4 cup pecans (3 ounces)
• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
• 3/4 cup granulated sugar
• 3/4 cup packed light-brown sugar
• 2 large eggs
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• 2 cups old-fashioned oats (not instant or quick-cooking)
• 6 ounces semisweet chocolate chips
• 1/2 cup raisins

INSTRUCTIONS

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spread pecans in a single layer on a rimmed baking sheet. Toast in oven, tossing occasionally, until darkened and fragrant, 10 to 13 minutes. Let cool, then coarsely chop. Into a bowl, sift together flour, baking soda, salt, and baking powder.
2. With an electric mixer on medium-high speed, cream butter and both sugars until pale and fluffy. Reduce speed to medium. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Beat in vanilla.
3. With mixer on low speed, gradually add flour mixture, beating until just incorporated. Beat in oats, chocolate, pecans, and raisins until just combined. (Dough can be covered with plastic and refrigerated up to 3 days.)
4. Rub a thin film of butter on a parchment lined baking pan. Roll dough into golf ball sized balls.
5. Bake until edges of cookies begin to brown, 8-10 min, or until just turning golden on top. Transfer sheets to wire racks to cool 5 minutes. Transfer cookies to racks to cool completely. Cookies can be stored up to 3 days at room temperature in airtight containers

Makes ~4 pans of cookies. Feel free to cut recipe in half, or freeze dough in preformed balls.

I really don’t know why these are called cowboy cookies. But cowboy = good connotations in my book.

Spiced Applesauce Cake w/ Cinnamon Cream Cheese Frosting

FIRST. CAKE. EVER! K, I’ll admit, the second try was much better. My first cake was a bit dry and not spice-y enough. Feel free to up the spices to your heart’s content. Also, make sure you used SOFTENED butter, and really beat the butter/sugar mixture until you notice an increase in total volume. Here’s some info on the creaming method. Do it. There is a noticeable difference. Resulting cake is dense but soft, moist, and gives off a wonderfully autumnal aroma.

Recipe from Gourmet.com

SPICED APPLE SAUCE CAKE:

• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1/2+ teaspoon ground ginger
• 2 whole cloves, ground
• 1 stick unsalted butter
• 1 cup packed light brown sugar (I used turbinado)
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• 2 large eggs (room temp)
• 1 1/2 cups unsweetened applesauce+
• 1/2 cup walnuts (optional), toasted, cooled, and chopped

*I used sweetened applesauce. Did not find the end result too cloying. In fact, even with sweetened applesauce, it was not a super sweet cake. Perhaps due to the turbinado sugar (larger granules, less overall sugar in 1 cup).

CINNAMON CREAM CHEESE FROSTING:

• 5 oz cream cheese, softened
• 3 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened
• 1/4 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• 1 cup confectioners sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

MAKE CAKE:

• Preheat oven to 350°F with rack in middle. Butter an 8 inch square cake pan.Whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and spices.
• Beat butter with the paddle attachment on medium until soft  ~1 min.
• Turn speed down to low, add sugar slowly. Return to medium speed and continue mixing ~2 minutes. Mixture should look “fluffy” or aerated.
• Add vanilla and eggs, 1 at a time, beating well after each addition, then beat in applesauce. At low speed, mix in flour mixture until just combined, then stir in walnuts.
• Line pan with nonstick parchment paper and bake until golden-brown and a wooden pick inserted into center comes out clean, 40min. Cool in pan 15 minutes. Run a knife around edge of cake to loosen, then invert onto a plate. Re-invert cake onto a rack to cool completely.

MAKE FROSTING:

• Beat cream cheese, butter, and vanilla with an electric mixer at high speed until fluffy. Sift confectioners sugar and cinnamon over cream cheese mixture, then beat at medium speed until incorporated.
• Spread frosting over top of cooled cake.

Store cake in airtight container in fridge for up to 3 days. After that it starts to dry out. Bring to room temperature before serving.

Nobu’s Miso Black Cod

So I did a little experiment. I tried the recipe on black cod ($$$) and on regular cod.

GET THE BLACK COD.

Trust me. It’s worth it. Cut the recipe in half if you don’t want to buy $30 worth of fish to feed two. It’s pretty amazing, so don’t make any for your friends if you’re cheap. Ha.

INGREDIENTS:

• 1 to 1.5 lb black cod filets
• 1/4 cup sake
• 1/4 cup mirin
• 4 tbs white miso paste
• 3 tbs white granulated sugar

INSTRUCTIONS:

1. In a small saucepan over high heat, bring mirin and sake to a boil. Let the alcohol evaporate for 15 seconds. Reduce heat to medium.
2. Dissolve miso, bit by bit, into the liquid. Stir continuously.
3. Increase heat to high. Stir in sugar until also completely dissolved. Remove from heat immediately and let it cool to room temperature.
4. Pat cod filets dry. Marinate in miso mixture, covered, in refrigerator for 2 days.
5. Important: Scrape miso off cod! It’s salty stuff. And it’s already been marinating for a few days. You don’t need an extra coating of it. Trust me.
6. Line baking pan with aluminum foil. Arrange cod evenly across pan. BROIL for 5 minutes or so or until just begins to brown. Bake at 400F for 10 minutes until cod cooked through.

Heath Toffee Cookies

THANK you, Simply Recipes, for putting this into the world. These cookies are amazing. They are thin, soft, slightly chewy, with crisp edges.  The rich, buttery toffee bits and that perfect crunch of the walnuts,…. totally gonna give me diabetes. I usually eat about 4 every time I walk past the kitchen. I highly suggest forming the dough balls and then freezing them. This recipe is perfect for baking quick, small batches in your toaster oven.

INGREDIENTS:

• 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
• 1 1/2 cups sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 1 1/2 cups chopped Heath Bar pieces (Eight 1.4 ounce bars)
• 1/2 cup chopped walnuts

INSTRUCTIONS:

1. Sift together the flour, salt, and baking soda. Set aside. In a separate bowl, combine Heath Bar pieces and chopped walnuts. Set aside.
2. Beat together the butter and sugar. Beat in eggs one at a time, and vanilla.
3. Alternatively mix in the Heath Bar mixture and the flour mixture, a third at a time, until well blended. Chill cookie dough for at least 30 minutes (better an hour or longer).
4. Preheat oven to 350°F. On cookie sheets lined with parchment paper or Silpat, spoon out the cookie dough in small 1-inch diameter balls (size of a large marble). Place dough balls 3 inches away from each other on the cookie sheets. (Make sure there is plenty of room between the cookie balls, and that the cookie balls aren’t too big. These cookies spread!)
5. Bake for 10-12 minutes, until the edges are just starting to brown. Remove from oven and let cool for a few minutes. Then transfer the cookies to a wire rack to cool completely.

Makes about 6 dozen cookies.

Feel free to freeze extra dough!