Almost Chef

Lemon Tart with Fresh Berries

2012-01-19T21:40:00.000-08:00

When you think Football Playoffs I'm sure you all think "Yes I need a fresh fruit tart!" LOL. Well they might in 49er country. My brother and some of his friends came over to watch the first round playoff game last weekend...we had the usual 7 layer dip, hot dogs, chips, dip, cookies...but I had the hankering (yes hankering) to break out the Bain Marie again - I really enjoy that little kitchen tool!

I decided on a lemon tart. First because I had tart dough left over in the freezer from the week before and I had some lemons in the fruit basket that I really needed to start using. And so I ventured into my Tartine Bakery cookbook and attempted the lemon cream - holy schnikey...this cream is delicious. Tangy, smooth and well, creamy...different than lemon meringue pie filling. It's the addition of butter that rounds out the flavor with a heavier mouth feel and adds that richness that only dairy fats can provide - le sigh.

Regular or Meyer lemons?

There's a lot of hype about meyer lemons and they are tasty...but understand that they are milder than the common Eureka lemons. So depending on your desired tartness level you may want to use more of one or the other. I personally like a 50/50 combo on the lemon juice...and juice and zest them by the ton and freeze for future use. For zest, add enough water to cover the zest and then freeze to keep from browning.

NOTE - do not use an aluminum pan for lemon juice as the acidity reacts with the aluminum and you will have a metallic flavor to your dessert

Lemon Cream

1/2 cup lemon juice
4 large eggs
3/4 cup sugar
pinch of salt
1 cup cool unsalted butter, cut into cubes (2 sticks)

In a double boiler or BAIN MARIE!!! on medium high heat, combine the lemon juice, eggs, sugar and salt. Whisk the ingredients together and whisk constantly as you don't want the eggs to "cook" in a granular fashion because of the sugar. Keep whisking for about 10-12 minutes and the mixture will become very thick (temp will register 180 degrees). Remove from heat.

Separately start to incorporate the butter either by whisking or with an immersion stick blender, one tablespoon at a time. The cream will be a pale, opaque yellow.

Let cool...you can use immediately or put in an air tight container in the fridge for up to 5 days. I am not sure if you can freeze this recipe...I have frozen other lemon curds and they were fine.

To assemble...
Prepare your tart shell... roll out to 1/8" thick, press into the pan, cut off the edges and bake for 7-10 minutes. Let cool completely.

Spread the lemon cream into the cooled tart shell. Top with fresh berries.

Mushroom Lasagna

2012-01-19T21:37:00.000-08:00

After last week's sausage lasagna posting, I got a suggestion to try Ina Garten's mushroom lasagna...it's all vegetarian and this pregnancy is leaving me in a bit of a meat lurch so I thought I'd give it a go. It was very rich and decadent...but to be honest...I missed the tomato sauce. I like the tang and bite that the tomato sauce provides to cut through the richness...it serves like the acid to the cream sauce. But not all is lost! I packed some for lunch the next day (trying to be practical) and just poured a little Rao's marinara on top - and then it was perfect!

Ina's Original Recipe can be found here...

I made some adjustments like...

I added sauteed onions and grated yellow squash to give it more texture and to pack more veg into it.
Instead of the 2 sticks of butter for the bechamel, I only used about 4 pats of butter to 1/4 cup flour and 4 cups of milk. You don't have to have a ton of butter to make good cream sauce.
I did add a little ricotta and mozarella in between the layers

Like I mentioned in the previous lasagna post...the bechamel is the key to lasagna that binds together and keeping the integrity of the layers. For the mushrooms, I actually used a mix of creminis and small portabellas...and I preferred the creminis because they don't have as much or dark set of gills. I contemplated turning it into a wild assorted mushroom lasagna but ran out of headspace to ponder it. I do recommend that you buy whole mushrooms and slice them thinly yourself versus buying pre-sliced because those are too thick.

Mushroom Lasagna Recipe + Betty's Alterations :)

Olive oil and butter
3/4 pound lasagna noodles, parboiled
4 cups whole milk
4 Tablespoons butter
¼ cup all-purpose flour
1 small yellow onion sliced thinly
1 large or 2 small yellow crookneck squash grated
1 1/2 pounds cremini or white button mushrooms thinly sliced
Ricotta, Grated Mozzarella and Parmesan cheeses
Salt and pepper to taste

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.

Bechamel: Melt butter in a saucepan, add flour and cook for one minute while whisking constantly. Pour milk into the butter/flour mixture (roux), add salt and pepper and continue to cook over medium heat mixing to incorporate all the components together. Whisk for 3-5 minutes until thick. Remove from heat while you prepare the other ingredients

In a pan, sauté the mushrooms and onions in a mix of olive oil and cutter until the mushrooms are soft and onions lightly caramelized. Set aside. Repeat the process with the grated squash. Mix all cooked vegetables together in a bowl and set aside.

To assemble the lasagna, spread a little béchamel on the bottom of a 7x10” baking pan, put a layer of noodles, sauce, mixed vegetables, ricotta and mozzarella cheeses and then repeat until the baking dish is full. Finish off the top layer with some parmesan cheese as well.

Bake the lasagna for 45 minutes, or until the top is browned the sauce is bubbly and hot. Allow to sit at room temperature for 15 minutes and serve hot.

White Chocolate Berry Tart

2012-01-13T20:53:00.000-08:00

I love the look of berries either piled high or in neat little rows for desserts...they are just too pretty that way. For dinner at Matt and Katie's house, we brought the dessert which is our typical contribution. I wanted to make something on the lighter more refreshing side so a tart it was! And instead of lemon curd I decided to try out my new Bain Marie and make a white chocolate pastry cream...

I love tarts...they are a simple dessert but provide a HUGE range for variation. Whether that be in the filling or crust plus you can go sweet or savory. For this one I made the Tartine sweet tart dough, a mildly sweet white chocolate cream which contrasted nicely with the tart berries. The recipe for tart dough makes more than you need for this dessert...but it freezes nicely if you shape into a disk and wrap in plastic wrap.

White Chocolate Pastry Cream
1 cup whole milk
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 Tablespoons cornstarch
1/4 cup sugar
1 large egg
2 Tablespoons butter
1/2 cup white chocolate pieces

Place vanilla and milk in a heavy saucepan (or double boiler!!!) on medium high heat and bring to just under a boil, stirring occasionally to make sure milk does not burn or stick to the bottom of the pan.

In a separate bowl, mix together cornstarch and sugar. Ladle about 1/3 of the hot milk into the mixture whisking constantly. Then pour the egg/milk mixture back into the hot pan and keep whisking until the custard is thick, about 2 minutes. Cornstarch needs to cook in order to "activate" the thickening process. Whisk in the butter and white chocolate, pour into separate bowl and let cool.

Tart Dough
1 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
1 cup sugar
pinch salt
2 large eggs, room temperature
3 1/2 cups all purpose flour

Add butter, sugar and salt into a mixer on medium until smooth. Add eggs one at a time. Stop mixer, scrape down the sides and mix a little longer to incorporate everything. Add flour all at once and mix on low until just incorporated.

Remove dough and separate into 4 equal balls, wrap in plastic wrap and chill for 2 hours. Meanwhile preheat oven to 325 degrees.

Roll to about 1/8" thick on a lightly floured surface. Lay gently into tart pan and press into the corners of the pan. Using a knife, cut off the dough that hangs over. If there are any bare spots, using the remaining dough to patch the spots.

Bake for 7-10 minutes. Remove from oven and let completely cool.

To assemble, spoon pastry cream into tart shell until just under the brim. Then add berries in a pattern or your choosing.

Sausage and Zuccini Lasagna

2012-01-13T20:27:00.000-08:00

Bubbling in it's cheesy saucy glory is a lasagna fresh out of the oven. mmmmmm I can almost smell it now, even though it's been almost a week since I made it :)

If there is a single trick to making fool proof lasagna....it is bechamel sauce. This is a sauce that is made of butter, flour and milk. Effectively you start with a roux then add milk...this is the magic sauce my friends. No amount of artisan sausage, homemade sauce or expensive layers of cheese will be as clutch as bechamel. Because of it's nature, it sort of binds everything together and is the only ingredient that keeps my lasagna layers from all melting into and away from each other.

Also another trick...I like store bought sauce and I just found one that is CHEAP and the perfect consistency for this type of baked pasta. Giada de Laurentiis makes pasta sauce for sale at Target..it has a great tomato tang and is thick. I think it's too thick for spaghetti (I have tried) but I like it for lasagna because it doesn't bake/absorb away into the dish and still provides a nice tomato-y flavor. And at $3 a bottle it's a great value. For one jar for a 7x10" baking dish...I think you may need 1.5 jars for a 9x13" baking dish...

Bechamel Sauce
2 tablespoons butter
1/4 cup flour
1-2 cups milk
salt and pepper

Melt butter in a saucepan. Whisk in flour at medium heat and keep stirring to "cook" the roux a little bit. Add milk in small batches and whisk to incorporate the mixture and work out any flour lumps. Add salt and pepper. Bring to boil, keep whisking and then lower the heat to a simmer. You will need to bring it to a boil to get the sauce to thicken. Remove from heat and set aside.

Lasagna
Noodles (either no cook or parboiled noodle sheets)
1 zuccini grated
1 pound italian sausage (get bulk sausage so you don't have to remove from casings)
Shredded Mozzarella cheese
Ricotta Cheese
1 jar Giada de Laurentiis Tomato Basil Sauce

Preheat oven to 375.

Cook the sausage in a pan and break up into small pieces. When mostly cooked, add the zuccini and sautee until soft. Remove from heat and set aside.

Spread a few tablespoons of sauce onto the bottom of the baking pan. Lay down a layer of noodle sheets. Spread a medium light layer of bechamel sauce over the noodle. Sprinkle a layer of the sausage and zuccini mixture. Spoon on some ricotta cheese...the amount you want to use is up to you and the desired texture you prefer as ricotta can be a little grainy. Sprinkle mozzarella cheese then spoon over tomato sauce until lightly covered. Repeat until the baking pan is full. Sprinkle more mozzarella and parmesean cheese on the top layer.

Bake for about 45 minutes until bubbly. If you think the cheese on top is cooking too fast you can tent with foil for half the cook time. Let cool and rest for about 10-15 minutes before cutting and serving.

This is pretty cool - or gently hot :)

2012-01-13T20:22:00.000-08:00

For Christmas Trisha got me this thing called a "Bain Marie" from Williams Sonoma. It's effectively a single pot double boiler. Unlike traditional double boilers that require double the pots...this is all in one. What you do is pour the water into a little spout by the handle. The pot is effectively hollow so the water goes inside.

Marshmallow Brownies

2012-01-08T06:33:00.000-08:00

Diced up marshmallows....If I could do this again, I would not repeat this part of the process....It is a pain in the butt to chop marshmallows. So why didn't I buy the minis? Because a package of large cube shaped marshmallows showed up at Christmas time and needed a home....

I love the look of batter in the mixer...it makes me happy. And it seems to make Donut happy too - you can see her mitts in the bottom of the photo trying to get her hands on the chocolate goodness. All in all the brownies turned out alright. The general consensus was that they were caramel brownies...I guess that's what melted marshmallows taste like.

Again another FABULOUS recipe from The Best Recipe Cookbook...augmented a bit by me to incorporate additional ingredients that we had on hand and to adjust for the ingredients we didn't have. For example, the recipe calls for unsweetened chocolate but I only had bittersweet...so I just adjusted down the sugar and I think we ended up in a flavor place with the intended effect. This recipe is rad because it makes for a crackly crust top and a chewy center that is dense and light all at the same time.

Marshmallow Brownies
1 1/4 cups cake flour (I use half cake and half all purpose flour)
1/2 teaspoon salt
3/4 teaspoon baking powder
6 ounces unsweetened chocolate chopped fine for easy melting
1 1/2 sticks (12 tablespoons) butter cut into pieces
2 1/4 cup sugar
4 large eggs
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
1-2 cups diced or mini marshmallows

Preheat oven to 325. Spray a 9x13" baking pan.

Whisk together the flour, salt and baking powder until combined and set aside.

Melt chocolate and butter together. If using the microwave, go in 10-15 second spurts and mix well in between. When completely melted, whisk in the sugar. Add eggs one at a time until well incorporated. Whisk in the vanilla. Add the flour mixture in 3 additions, mixing well and scraping down the sides and bottom. Fold in the marshmallows.

Pour into the prepared pan.
Bake for 30-35 minutes until moist crumbs attach to a cake tester. Let cool for about 2 hours then cut and serve brownies.

Soup! There it is

2012-01-08T06:32:00.000-08:00

Above is the pumpkin soup....below are the makings of the soup prior to blending. I added apples to accent the flavor and rice to thicken the soup in a hypo allergenic fashion. I learned this tidbit at The Kitchen restaurant in Sacramento but I am finding that my soups are just too thick overall - maybe I'm putting in too much rice... but normally I don't use cream either so I may just prefer thinner soup.
Lately I have been not as keen on the meats as I have been on the fruit and veg so soups with either a salad or grilled cheese has been a go-to weeknight meal. The great thing about soups is that they are easy to make ahead (make several at a time), freeze and reheat later without compromising the flavor or texture. So now my freezer is packed to the gills with tupperware after tupperware of soup.

Below is creamed mushroom...not "cream of." There is a little milk in it but that's it...there is more water to make up the liquid. This is really one of may favorites.

With regards to my recommendations on the amount of water to use...it's just a guess because I don't measure while cooking. Just use as much or as little as you like based on the soup thickness you prefer.

Creamed Pumpkin Soup
1 medium yellow onion diced
1 can pumpkin
1 medium apple sliced (I keep skins on)
1/4 cup cooked rice
4-6 cups water
1 cup vegetable broth or 1 veg bullion cube
1 tablespoon each butter and olive oil
Salt and pepper to taste
Paprika or Cayenne Pepper (if you like a little heat)
Sour cream for serving

Saute the onion and apple in melted butter and olive oil on medium heat. Once the onions are sweated a bit, season with salt and pepper. Add the rice and pumpkin. Add all liquids and vegetable broth/bullion. Simmer for a few minutes. Using an immersion stick blender, blend the soup until smooth. Simmer a few more minutes, stirring regularly.

When serving you can top with a little dollop of sour cream and some chopped chives.

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Creamed Mushroom Soup
1 package button mushrooms
1 medium onion diced
1 cup beef or mushroom broth (Italian supermarkets sell mushroom bullion)
3-4 cups water
1 cup milk
Salt/Pepper to taste
1 Tablespoon each butter and olive oil

Melt butter into the olive oil. Saute onions and mushrooms until soft. Add salt and pepper mid way through the saute process. Add liquids and simmer for a few minutes. Puree with an immersion hand blender until smooth. Simmer a few more minutes and serve.

Chopped parsley and sauteed mini mushrooms makes a good topper when serving.

The Best Ever Banana Bread

2012-01-08T06:31:00.000-08:00

Hands down this is the best banana bread I have ever made....It really is the recipe and no I can't claim it to be mine :( It's from the Best Recipe Cookbook by Cooks Illustrated. It takes the approach of testing every major recipe version of said item...then creating a version that takes the best of each recipe into one SUPER recipe. I received mine as a gift but if I had known about it head of time I would have just bought it...Lots of great gems in here and is now pretty much the only cookbook I use to figure out how to do it right, even if the idea of the dish comes from other sources. I would love to take credit for being an awesome cook but really it's because other people have spent time to diligently figure out the nuances that I am able to feed my friends and family tasty morsels :)

The original recipe calls for walnuts but I never put them in...I prefer the texture without them. I do enjoy the addition of mini chocolate chips though...and toasted with peanut butter is like a decadent dessert :)

Banana Bread
2 cups flour
3/4 cup sugar
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
3 very ripe bananas mashed well (about 1 1/2 cups)
1/4 cup plain yogurt
2 eggs lightly beaten
6 tablespoons melted butter (this is clutch!!)
1 teaspoon vanilla

Preheat oven to 350. Grease and flour and a 9x5" loaf pan.

Mix together flour, sugar, baking soda and salt in a bowl.

In a separate bow, mix together the bananas, yogurt, eggs, butter and wooden spoon. Lightly fold the banana mixture into the dry ingredients with a rubber spatula until combined and the batter looks thick and chunky.

Pour into the prepared loaf pan. Bake for about 55 minutes until the loaf is golden brown and the cake tester comes out clean. Cool for at least 10 minutes...you can serve warm or at room temperature.

Mixed sauté over rice noodles

2012-01-01T17:20:00.001-08:00

I embellished a recipe for ginger soy eggplant over rice noodles in a past issue of Bon Appett magazine. I added more veg and a protein. Great mid week meal that's easy, quick and versatile.

Saute meat and veggies in stages, then recompose everything with the sauce for a quick mingling over the stove. Then serve over a bed of rice noodles. You could easily vary the starch to rice...

Sauce Recipe
1/4 cup soy sauce
1-2 Tablespoons sugar (based on your preferred sweetness level)
1 teaspoon mirin
1 teaspoon sesame oil
1 teaspoon ginger
1 crushed garlic clove
pepper to taste

Happy Birthday Hiroko

2011-12-19T10:07:00.000-08:00

It's Hiroko's Birthday!!! And usually she has to share a birthday cake with Andy because they throw a combo party but this year this cake is only for Auntie Moko so it's 100% girlie! Donut was going crazy while I was making/decorating the cake because she wanted the cake ASAP and was intent on NOT sharing with her Auntie Moko.

I wanted to keep things festive so I added sprinkles into the cake batter a la Susi Cake's celebration cake...whatever mine is better - ha! Used a vanilla cake recipe and to mix things up put cream cheese frosting on it :)

Cake Recipe
1 1/2 sticks softened unsalted butter (3/4 cup)

1 1/2 cups sugar

4 teaspoons baking powder

3 cups flour (1 cup all purpose, 2 cups cake flour)

4 Eggs

1 cup milk

1 teaspoon vanilla

1 cup multicolored sprinkles

1/4 teaspoon salt

Frosting Recipe
2 sticks softened unsalted butter

1 8oz package softened cream cheese

1 teaspoon vanilla

4-6 cups powdered sugar

Grease and line wite parchment paper two 8" or 9" baking pans. Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees.

In a small bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder and salt together and set aside. Mix milk and vanilla together in a separate bowl. Beat butter and sugar together on a mixer for approximately 3 minutes. Add eggs one at a time and beat until light and fluffy. Scrape down sides and bottom of the bowl periodically.

Add the flour and milk mixture into the mixer in two patches and mix on low until well incorporated. Scrape down the sides and the bottom of the bowl. Once all flour and milk is in, beat the batter on medium high for one full minute. Fold in the sprinkles. Pour into the prepared baking pans and bake for 25-35 minutes until a cake tester comes out clean.

For frosting, put all ingredients into a mixer on low until well incorporated. Then turn mixer to medium high for 5-8 minutes until light and fluffy.

Andy's 40th Birthday cake

2011-12-18T16:02:00.000-08:00

Our friend Andy was turning 40 and sadly we were going to miss the party because went to LA to visit with my sister in law, but I signed up for cake. Hiroko came over that night as well to make some cookie dough and to help me decorate. After much deliberation we decided on a San Diego Chargers style cake since 1. Andy is from San Diego and 2. He is a huge Chargers fan. Cake recipe is the Pumpkin Spice Cake that I have been making quite a bit lately..but this time it's wearing a new outfit.

Persimmon and Goat Cheese Salad

2011-12-14T12:06:00.000-08:00

Persimmons are always a fall/winter fruit to me. You see all these bare trees with these big orange jewels hanging off of them. I've always just eaten them peeled and sectioned (the fuyu kind) and really never used them as ingredients for cooking or whatever. But this past weekend while visiting my sister in law in LA, this one restaurant had their seasonal salad with persimmons, medjool dates and goat cheese - uh sounds tasty! So I decided to recreate it when I got back home...minus the dates.

The flavors together were great! The caramelly sweetness of the fruit plus the tang of the cheese really complemented each other while I used two different greens and some radishes for crunch and texture.

Recipe
2 fuyu persimmons peeled and sectioned
2-3 radishes sliced with a mandoline/food slicer
Baby arugula torn into pieces
Romaine lettuce torn into pieces
1 Tablespoon balsamic vinegar
2-3 Tablespoons olive oil
Salt/Pepper to taste
Goat cheese crumbled

Mix torn greens together in a large bowl. Sprinkle evenly on top the radishes, persimmons and goat cheese. To make dressing, mix the vinegar, oil, salt and vinegar together and sprinkle on top of the salad. Enjoy!

Homemade Indian Food

2011-12-14T12:05:00.000-08:00

Personally I am not really a fan of most indian food...it is just too heavy for me and the long simmered mystery meat in heavy sauce in the buffet line kind of freaks me out. That said, I do enjoy me some Dosa and do enjoy sharing in the h0me cooking that my Indian coworkers bring into the office. I saw tikka misala simmer sauce at the grocery store and thought...surewhynot? And from there the search for a Saag Paneer recipe began. It was here that I learned that Paneer is a cheese and I decided to replace the cheese with tofu. The consensus is that the flavors were correct but overall the dish was light.

I've decided that Saag is basically Indian creamed spinach :) There's an S-TON of dairy in this beast. Thank You Tyler Florence and the Food Network for the base recipe.

Saag Tofu

1 box frozen chopped spinach
1/4 cup ghee (I used just a few pats of butter instead)
1/2 packaged cubed tofu
2 yellow onions, finely chopped
3 garlic cloves, minced
1 teaspoon freshly grated ginger
1 teaspoon curry powder
1/2 cup buttermilk
1/4 cup plain yogurt
Salt

Heat the ghee or melt butter in a deep skillet over medium-high flame. Add the tofu and fry for a couple of minutes until light brown on all sides, gently turning to avoid breaking up the cubes. Remove the tofu from the skillet and set aside.

Return the skillet to the heat and sauté the onions, garlic, and ginger; cook and stir for about 5 minutes until soft. Sprinkle the mixture with the curry powder; continue to stir to marry the flavors, about 1 minute. Fold in the chopped spinach and give everything a good toss. Shut off the heat and stir the buttermilk and yogurt into the spinach to incorporate. The mixture should be creamy and somewhat thick. Gently fold in the fried paneer cubes, season with salt, to taste, and serve.

Pear and Cranberry Pie

2011-12-14T09:45:00.000-08:00

All ready to go in the oven! Thanksgiving this year was up in Sacramento at my in laws house and with many grandparents to watch Donut, I was free to cook away in their spacious kitchen.

Extra pie filling you say? What else can you do except make a Crostata which is a rustic italian tart for a little pre-turkey day dinner dessert.

Pie Crust

1/2 cup butter
1/4 cup shortening
2 cups all purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup ice water

Using a pastry cutter, incorporate all ingredients together except the water until you get a nice grainy consistency (kind of like big grains of sand) and then add ice water a few tablespoons at a time and mix gently until the dough roughly holds together. Form into a loose ball and put in the fridge for a few hours before rolling. This is enough to make both the bottom and top of a 9" pie.

For the filling:

3 to 3 1/2-pounds pears, a mixture of Bartlett, Bosc and/or Anjou
1/2 cup sugar, divided
6 ounces dried cranberries
3 tablespoons cornstarch
2 teaspoons freshly squeezed lemon juice
1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
1/4 teaspoon fresh ground nutmeg

Peel and core the pears. Slice into 1/4 to 1/2-inch thick wedges. Toss all of the pears with 1/4 cup of the sugar, place in a colander set over a large bowl and allow to drain for 1 1/2 hours.

Transfer the drained liquid to a small saucepan, place over medium heat and reduce to 2 tablespoons. Set aside to cool. Toss the pears with the remaining sugar, cranberries, cornstarch, lemon juice, salt and nutmeg.

Assembly

Preheat oven to 425 degrees F.

Remove 1 disk of dough from the refrigerator. Place the dough onto a lightly floured piece of waxed paper. Lightly sprinkle the top of the dough with flour and roll out into a 12-inch circle. Place into a 9 1/2 to 10-inch tart pan that is 2 inches deep. Gently press the dough into the sides of the pan, crimping and trimming the edges as necessary. Set a pie bird in the center of the bottom of the pan. Place the pears into the unbaked pie shell in concentric circles starting around the edges, working towards the center and forming a slight mound in the center of the pie. Sprinkle the cranberries a little at a time as you go.

Pour over any liquid that remains in the bowl. Roll out the second pie dough as the first. Place this dough over the apples, pressing the pie bird through the top crust. Press together the edges of the dough around the rim of the pie. Brush the top crust with the reduced juice everywhere except around the edge of the pie. Trim excess dough. Place the pie on a half sheet pan lined with parchment paper and bake on the floor of the oven for 30 minutes. Transfer to the lower rack of the oven and continue to bake another 20 minutes or until the pears are cooked through but not mushy. Remove to a rack and cool a minimum of 4 hours or until almost room temperature.

Squash and Goat Cheese Tacos

2011-12-14T08:58:00.000-08:00

Not fully vegetarian as the title would make you believe...I also had a solo chicken thigh that was already defrosted for some reason so I included that. The tang of the goat cheese was a nice contrast to the sweetness of the squash in this mid-week meal. Using Delicata squash made the prep and cook time really easy as it is a smaller fruit so easier to handle compared to some of the larger, harder varieties. I served a side salad but I think this could have benefited from a crunchy citrus based slaw for additional texture and to balance the flavor. But still this was a winner and filled with stuff that's good for you.

I am trying to have some "food detox" days where I incorporate more veg and less animal protein just to give the system a good flush with plant fibers. I am in no way saying that meat is bad...I love meat and meat by-products!!!! but sometimes I do find that my fiber intake is not as high as I would want it to be and there is a whole wide world of plants that I have yet to sample and experiment with so why not?

Squash & Goat Cheese Tacos
1 Delicata squash peeled, de-seeded and diced
1 Tablespoon butter
1 Tablespoon olive oil
dash Cumin
dash Chili Powder
Salt and Pepper to taste
Goat Cheese
Tortillas

Melt olive oil and butter together in a pan on medium heat. Toss in squash, spices and sautee until cooked through, about 5-10 minutes depending on the size of your dice. Adjust heat so the squash does not burn but it should get good caramelization.

To prepare tacos, spread goat cheese on one half of the tortilla then add cooked squash. Fold in half and serve!

Friendsgiving: Mushroom Gravy

2011-11-21T07:49:00.001-08:00

In addition to the Pear Upside Down Cake and Chocolate Hazelnut Tart, I made a little mushroom gravy to take over. With 22 people coming to dinner, it's not a bad idea to have more gravy on hand. I was also heading over there a little early to make a gravy out of the pan drippings = yum. This made about a quart of gravy so you can half it for a smaller dinner crowd.

Ingredients

1/4 cup flour

4 Tablespoons butter

2 boxes of sliced mushrooms (the pre-packed ones from the store)
Italian parsley

Beef broth (you can use chicken broth too)

Sautee mushrooms in 1 tablespoons butter and 1 tablespoon olive oil until soft. Remove mushrooms from pan. Melt remaining butter in the pan. Add flour and mix with a whisk to make a roux. Cook the roux for a minute or two mixing constantly to keep from burning. Add broth one cup at a time and whisk well to keep lumps from forming. Add about 2-4 cups total of broth. Reincorporate the mushrooms and then finish of with chopped parsley.

Friendsgiving: Upsidedown Pear Cake

2011-11-21T07:20:00.000-08:00

For Friendsgiving #2 with the newly minted Mr and Mrs Barr, I planned for an upside down pear cake and a chocolate hazelnut tart. I forgot to add the sugar (oops) to the tart and it just came out super densely chocolatey. The cake though came out great...looking like it's pineapple cousin but sweeter and more refined with a delicate fall pear spiral... I dare someone to say they don't like caramel in their cake. Hollis and Sal said this was also good with coffee for breakfast - yay!

Ingredients

9 tablespoons unsalted butter, room temperature, divided, plus more

3/4 cup plus 3 tablespoons unbleached all-purpose flour

3 tablespoons coarse yellow cornmeal or polenta

1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder

1/4 teaspoon kosher salt

1 cup sugar, divided

2 medium pears (about 1 pound)

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

2 large eggs, separated

1/2 cup whole milk

Whipped cream or caramel gelato (optional)

Preheat oven to 350° F. Butter and 8" pan; line bottom with a parchment-paper round. Whisk flour, cornmeal, baking powder, and salt in a small bowl. Stir 1/4 cup sugar and 2 tablespoons water in a small saucepan over medium-low heat until sugar dissolves. Increase heat to medium-high. Boil syrup without stirring, occasionally swirling pan and brushing down sides with a wet pastry brush, until sugar turns dark amber, 8-10 minutes. Remove pan from heat; add 1 tablespoon butter (caramel will bubble vigorously) and whisk until smooth. Pour caramel into prepared cake pan and swirl to coat bottom.

Peel, halve, and core the pears. Place flat on a work surface and cut lengthwise into 1/8"-thick slices. Layer slices over caramel, flat side down, overlapping as needed.

Mix remaining 3/4 cup sugar, 8 tablespoons butter, and vanilla in a large bowl. Using an electric mixer, beat on medium speed until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Add yolks one at a time, beating to blend between additions and occasionally scraping bowl. Beat in flour mixture in 3 additions, alternating with milk in 2 additions, beginning and ending with flour mixture.

Using clean, dry beaters, beat egg whites on low speed in a medium bowl until frothy. Increase the speed to medium and continue to beat until whites form soft peaks. Fold about 1/4 of the whites into cake batter. Add in remaining whites; gently fold just to blend. Pour batter over pears in pan; smooth top.

Bake cake, rotating pan halfway through, until top is golden brown and a tester inserted into the center comes out with a few small moist crumbs attached, about 1 hour. Let cool in pan on a wire rack for 30 minutes. Run a thin knife around inside of pan to release cake. DO AHEAD: Can be made 1 day ahead. Store airtight at room temperature.

Invert cake onto a plate; remove parchment paper. Serve warm or at room temperature with whipped cream or caramel gelato, if desired.

Pork Chops, Tomato Salad and Roasted Brocoli

2011-11-21T07:17:00.000-08:00

Surprise Sunday visit from my in laws as they were making their way back home after weeks of vacation/traveling. And since we had been in Europe, we hadn't been around for any visiting. After all that traveling and eating in restaurants, I was glad to spend some time in the kitchen cooking... so for a Sunday with Nana and Grandpa, I whipped up pan seared pork chops, roasted cheesy broccoli and tomato salad. The most awesome part about this was not only the company...but that Donut ate the adult food with us!!!

Ingredients

Bone in pork chops

salt/pepper

Old Bay Seasoning (good on everything!)

Broccoli, one head cut into pieces

Parmesan cheese (grated or shredded)

Cherry tomatoes

Balsamic Vinegar

Olive Oil

Prep Work

Season pork chops with salt, pepper and old bay on both sides and set aside. Slice cherry tomatoes in half add 2 Tablespoons balsamic vinegar and salt and pepper to taste, set aside. Cut broccoli into small pieces, toss in olive oil, salt and pepper then place into a baking pan then top with parmesan cheese.

Heat a frying pan (not a non-stick one) on medium high with the lid on for a few minutes until hot. Add 1 Tablespoon olive oil and butter to the pan. When the butter melts swirl until incorporated. Add pork chops to pan and close pan with lid. Adjust heat to medium and leave for 4-5 minutes. If too much liquid if forming in the pan then cook with the lid covering the pan only halfway. Flip the pork chops then repeat with lid for another 4-5 minutes. Leaving the meats alone on the pan is what lets the meat get the nice caramelization.

Once the chops are in the pan, put the broccoli under the broiler of the oven. Check when you are flipping the chops to stir the broccoli around so it doesn't burn.

Enjoy!

Friendsgiving: Lemon Meringue Pie

2011-11-21T06:56:00.000-08:00

Always a favorite...easy to make and delicious to eat. Lemon or other fruit based desserts tend to be a nice way to cut through all the gorging that is with heavy Thanksgiving foods... This along with the Pumpkin cake were what went to the Friendsgiving at Susi and Brian's house. This awesome recipe is from a book my MIL gave me that is roughly 60 years old....so you know its solid.

RECIPE:
1 1/2 cup sugar
1 1/2 cup water
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 cup cornstarch
1/3 cup water
4 eggs yolks, slightly beaten
1/2 cup lemon juice
3 Tblspn butter
1 tsp grated lemon zest
4 egg whites
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 cup sugar
Baked 9" pie crust

Combine the first three ingredients together in a saucepan and heat to boiling.

Mix next 2 ingredients together (cornstarch and water) to form a smooth paste; add to boiling mixture gradually, stirring constantly; cook until thick and clear, then remove from heat

Combine egg yolks with lemon juice (I like to go 1/2 fresh squeezed and 1/2 juice), stir into thickened mixture. Return to heat and cook until it bubbles, stirring constantly. Remove from heat and stir in butter and lemon zest. Cover and set aside to cool until lukewarm.

To make meringues, add sale to egg whites and whip with an electric mixer until frothy. Gradually add the sugar until whipped whites stand in glossy peaks. Stir 2 rounded tablespoons into the lemon filling.

Fill pre-baked pie crust with the lemon filling. Pile the meringue on top, spreading evenly to the edges of crust. Bake in a 325 decree oven for out 15 minutes until the meringue tips just start to brown. Cool for a minimum of 1 hour before cutting and serving

Friendsgiving: Pumpkin Spice Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting and Chocolate Leaves

2011-11-21T06:53:00.000-08:00

I tend to only make this cake around the holidays but I am starting to wonder...why not have pumpkin all year round? And especially since you use canned pumpkin in the recipe. Anyhoos this was one of two desserts we brought to one of the annual friendsgivings. The chocolate leaves are a new touch...I enlisted Molly's help because she is 1. awesome with details and 2. always up for a seemingly impossible task. Left to my own devices I would not have enough gusto to either work with chocolate or bother with the decoration. I was 4 desserts deep this year in the course of a weekend so I was thinking of sprinkles and that's it. Surprisingly the leaves were not as hard as I was expecting and any task is fun if you have a friend there with you :)

For Leaves
6 ounces (1 cup) semi sweet chocolate
12 fresh, cleaned lemon leaves
For Cake

1 cup cake flour

1 cup regular flour

2 teaspoons baking powder

1 teaspoon nutmeg

1/2 teaspoon baking sode

1/2 teaspoon salt

2 teaspoons cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon ground cloves

1 stick butter (1/2 cup) room temperature

1 1/2 cup packed brown sugar

2 large eggs

1/2 cup whole milk

1 cup canned solid pack pumpkin

For Frosting

1 8 ounce package cream cheese

1 stick butter softened

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

4-6 cups powdered sugar

Make cake:
Preheat oven to 350°F. Line bottoms of two 9-inch-diameter cake pans with 2-inch-high sides with waxed paper. Spray sides of pans with nonstick spray. Sift flour, baking powder, cinnamon, nutmeg, baking soda, salt and cloves into medium bowl; sift again.

Using electric mixer, beat butter in large bowl until fluffy. Gradually beat in sugar. Beat in eggs 1 at a time. Beat in flour mixture in 3 additions alternately with milk in 2 additions. Beat in pumpkin. Fold in currant-walnut mixture. Divide batter equally between prepared pans (batter will be about 3/4 inch deep).

Bake cakes until tester inserted into center comes out clean, about 25 minutes. Cool cakes in pans on racks 10 minutes. Turn cakes out onto racks; peel off waxed paper. Cool layers completely. (Can be prepared 1 day ahead. Wrap in foil and store at room temperature.)

Beat butter, vanilla, cream cheese. and powdered sugar. (Frosted cake can be prepared up to 1 day ahead. Cover with cake dome and refrigerate. Let cake stand at room temperature 2 hours before continuing.)

Place 1 cake layer, bottom side up, on platter. Spread with 1 1/2 cups frosting. Top with second cake layer, bottom side down. Spread remaining frosting smoothly over top and sides of cake.

Arrange chocolate leaves decoratively on top and sides of cake. Serve immediately or let stand up to 2 hours.

Chocolate Brownies

2011-11-13T14:24:00.000-08:00

We had some surprise visitors a couple of Sundays ago...my in laws were stopping by on their way home from Southern California It had been quite some time since we had seen them due to travel on both of our accounts so I was excited to plan and whip up a family meal for Sunday night.

This brownie recipe is from "The New Best Recipe Cookbook" and has less than a cup of flour (interesting)....causing a super runny batter (see blow) that results in a gooey brownie interior with a cracker like crust on top (see above). The cookbook describes it as neither cake nor fudgy but right in between.

Brownies

1 1/4 cup cake flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
3/4 teaspoon baking powder
6 ounces unsweetened chocolate, chopped (I used bittersweet chips)
1 1/2 sticks unsalted butter cut into pieces
2 1/4 cups sugar (you can use 1/4 less if you use bittersweet or semi-sweet chips)
4 large eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Toffee chips (optional)

Pre-heat oven to 325. Prepare a 9x9 baking pan with nonstick cooking spray.

Mix together the flour, salt and baking soda in a bowl and set aside.

Melt chocolate and butter in a bowl in a saucepan on low (WATCH CAREFULLY!) or in the microwave (pulse 15 seconds and stir to keep from burning) until melted.

Pour chocolate/butter mixture into a mixing bowl and gradually mix in the sugar. Add eggs, one at a time, whisking well and then add vanilla. Add dry mixture into 3 additions making sure to fold in until the batter is smooth. I sprinkled on some toffee chips but that is totally optional.

Pour batter into prepared pan and bake for 30-35 minutes or until a cake tester comes out with a few moist crumbs. Let cool for about 2 hours then serve.

Weeknight dinner - Spaghetti Carbonara

2011-11-13T09:46:00.000-08:00

Dinners for Wednesday and Thursdays get to be a little problematic... After a few days of commuting down to Palo Alto, I tend to run out of steam on cooking once I get home. And well, lately the commute time has been growing steadily to an average of 90 minutes one way leaving one extra tired.

This past week I decided to give carbonara another try. So with a little bacon, eggs, parmesan cheese and some spaghetti...an easy mid-week meal appeared as if magic. And the taste? It is amazing how something so simple can taste so satisfying...creamy, rich, meaty and just a smidge salty.

Spaghetti Carbonara

2/3 cup parmesan cheese

2 eggs, lightly beaten

4 strips bacon, cut into 1/4 strips

Pepper to taste

Spaghetti noodles

In a large bowl mix eggs, cheese and cracked pepper. I tend to use about 1-2 teaspoons of fresh cracked pepper. Adjust the amount based on your tolerance for black pepper spice.

Boil spaghetti noodles until al dente, drain and set aside

Sautee bacon in a pan, cooking until pieces are brown and fat is rendered. Toss spaghetti noodles into the pan and heat in the bacon fat.

Pour noodle and bacon mixture into the bowl with egg mixture. Toss the noodles using tongs and keep tossing until well incorporated. The heat from the noodles/bacon will cook the egg and melt the cheese creating the creamy carbonara goodness..

Soup is ON

2011-11-08T09:19:00.000-08:00

This past weekend I spent a lot of time in the kitchen, much to my delight. After being out of the country for over 2 weeks to travel with the family across Europe and a few days on the east coast for work, I was eager to do something a little more domestic. With the weather telling me that fall/winter is here, I was jonesing for some soup!

The best part of soup is that they freeze well and these recipes easily make enough for 4 servings each so you can make some for lunch then freeze the rest! Makes for a quick weeknight dinner coupled with either a salad or grilled cheese sandwiches.

Carrot Ginger Soup :)
Above is Chicken Vegetable Soup and below is Cream of Tomato.

Carrot Ginger Soup

4-5 carrots peeled and chopped (or 1 bag of baby carrots..depends on what you have around

1 russet potato cut and diced into cubes

1/4 yellow onion diced

1 Tablespoon each butter and olive oil

1/4" piece of ginger large dice

Salt/pepper to taste

1/2 cup chicken stock/broth

1/2 cup milk

4-5 cups water

Sautee onions, potato and carrot in oil and butter in a large pot for about 5-10 minutes to bring out the sweetness of the carrot and "roasted style" flavors. Add ginger, salt, pepper, and stock and water. Bring to boil for about 10 minutes until vegetables are soft. Puree in blender or with immersion stick blender. Add back to pot, add milk and simmer on low, stirring occasionally for anothe 5-10 minutes.

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Chicken Vegetable Soup

1 carrot, peeled and cut into 1/8" diagonal slices

2 celery stalks cut into 1/8" diagonal slices

1/2 yellow onion in a large dice

1 bone in, skin on chicken breast cut into 3-4 pieces

1 Tablespoon each butter and olive oil

1/4" piece fresh ginger chopoped into a fine dice

1/2 teaspoon paprika

4-6 cups water or chicken stock (If using water, you can add some bouillon)

1 Tablespoon dried herbs (your choice...I tend to use herbs de provence)

Sautee vegetables in oil/butter combo until the onions start to soften (3-5 minutes) add liquid and chicken. Bring to boil then lower to simmer. Add ginger, paprika and dry herbs.

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Creamy Tomato Soup

1 can tomatoes (can be whole, diced, crushed)

1/2 yellow onion diced

1 Tablespoon oil and butter

1 large heirloom tomato

1 cup milk or cream

Salt/Pepper to taste

Herbs like basil are optional

Sautee onions in oil and butter until soft and translucent. Add heirloom tomato and heat through so it starts to break down. Add the canned tomatoes, salt, pepper and heat through. Puree in a blender or by using an immersion stick blender. If you are adding herbs, add prior to the puree process. Add milk and simmer for about 15 minutes, stir occasionally. The tomatoes have so much natural water in the fruit that you don't need to add any additional water. Based on how big the heirloom tomato is you may or may not want to add more milk.

Halloween Party Pumpkin Cupcakes

2011-10-31T06:22:00.000-07:00

Um yeah - so I haven't been very regular about posting these days and it is basically because I haven't been cooking as much - boo BUT the halloween party was reason enough to break out the baking pans and get to making some tasty treats!

Cake Recipe

2 cups cake flour

2 teaspoons baking powder

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon ground cloves

1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature

1 1/2 cups (packed) golden brown sugar

2 large eggs

1/2 cup whole milk

1 cup canned solid pack pumpkin

For frosting

2 sticks unsalted butter, room temperature

1 tablespoon vanilla extract

1 8-ounce packages chilled cream cheese

4-5 cups powdered sugar

Make cake:

Preheat oven to 350°F.Using electric mixer, beat butter in large bowl until fluffy. Sift flour, baking powder, cinnamon, nutmeg, baking soda, salt and cloves into medium bowl; sift again. Gradually beat in sugar. Beat in eggs 1 at a time. Beat in flour mixture in 3 additions alternately with milk in 2 additions. Beat in pumpkin. Fold in currant-walnut mixture. Fill cupcake cups about 2/3 the way full.Bake cakes until tester inserted into center comes out clean, about 17-20 minutes. Cool cakes in pans on racks 10 minutes.

Make frosting:

Beat butter, cream cheese, vanilla and powdered sugar until well blended and fluffy. (Frosted cake can be prepared up to 1 day ahead.

Korean BBQ with work friends

2011-10-07T07:11:00.000-07:00

Above Korean BBQ L.A style ribs marinating... below some banchan...pickled cucumbers and sauteed zucchini

Tiffany and Aaron (friends from work) came over for a BBQ with their respective SO's. They were both responsible

Pizza Partytime! Mini Vanilla Cupcakes

2011-09-03T16:52:00.000-07:00

Our neighborhood was having a pizza party one Sunday afternoon so I wanted to contribute by bringing over some dessert. Since all of the kids were going to be age 3 or under I decided to go mini on the cupcakes.

Vanilla cupcakes

1 1/2 cups self-rising flour
1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
2 cups sugar
4 large eggs, at room temperature
1 cup milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line cupcake pan with liners.

In a small bowl, combine the flours. Set aside. In a large bowl, on the medium speed of an electric mixer, cream the butter until smooth. Add the sugar gradually and beat until fluffy, about 3 minutes. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Add the dry ingredients in three parts, alternating with the milk and vanilla. With each addition, beat until the ingredients are incorporated but do not overbeat. Using a rubber spatula, scrape down the batter in the bowl to make sure the ingredients are well blended.

Using an ice cream scooper, scoop batter into the lined cupcake pan until about 2/3 full. Bake for about 10-12 minutes or until a cake tester inserted in the center of the cupcakes comes out clean.

Vanilla Frosting
2 sticks softened butter
6-8 cups powdered sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Few drops food coloring, if desired

Cut butter into cubes. Put all ingredients into a mixer and mix on low until well incorporated. Then turn up the mixer to medium/high for 3-5 minutes. Scoop into a piping bag and use to pipe on the frosting using various decorating tips for variety.

Chicken + Waffles

2011-08-20T21:16:00.000-07:00

Tuesday night dinner of fried chicken and waffles. Carbs were courtesy of Molly and her sourdough starter mania while the chicken was just plain boneless, skinless breasts that were seasoned, breaded and fried - all topped with maple syrup. yes = tasty

Red Velvet and Cream Cheese Frosting

2011-08-03T07:05:00.000-07:00

After basically not cooking/baking for weeks on end because of our work's "busy season" I filled this entire past weekend with loads of stuff revolving around food. This cake was the second cake of the weekend to bring as my contribution to our book club meet up! It's been awhile since I made Red Velvet and I tried a butter based recipe this time versus the more traditional oil based recipe used here. I think I prefer the oil based one better as it results in a cake that is less dry than the butter based one...more testing required.

I didn't make enough cream cheese frosting so thank goodness I decided to cover it with fondant. I know it's only cosmetic but it helps to have a pretty cake. For some reason, I was completely unable to cut the cake evenly so I ended up with a slanted cake. Frosting 4 mini layers is what probably had me run out of frosting in the first place.

Not posting a recipe until I figure out the right one :)

Vanilla on vanilla birthday cake

2011-08-03T06:53:00.000-07:00

It was our friend Reese's first birthday this past weekend and to celebrate we made a vanilla cake with vanilla frosting and fun decorations in pink and purple. Reipce from the Mganolia's cookbook and decorating help from Hollis, Hiroko and Linh - thanks girlies!

Vanilla Cake
1 1/2 cups self-rising flour
1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
2 cups sugar
4 large eggs, at room temperature
1 cup milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease, flour and line cake pans with parchment paper.

In a small bowl, combine the flours. Set aside. In a large bowl, on the medium speed of an electric mixer, cream the butter until smooth. Add the sugar gradually and beat until fluffy, about 3 minutes. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Add the dry ingredients in three parts, alternating with the milk and vanilla. With each addition, beat until the ingredients are incorporated but do not overbeat. Using a rubber spatula, scrape down the batter in the bowl to make sure the ingredients are well blended.

Bake for 20-25 minutes until cake tester comes out clean.

Vanilla Frosting
2 sticks softented unsalted butter
4-8 cups powdered sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/4 cup water

Put all ingredients into a mixer and mix on low until well incorporated then beat on medium high for roughly 5 minutes.

Ggakduki - Radish kimchi

2011-08-03T06:52:00.000-07:00

Ahhh finally back on the kim chi horse ;)

Lemon Blueberry Bread

2011-08-03T06:51:00.000-07:00

All hail the mighty quickbread!

Meatballs, Summer Squash and Cous Cous

2011-07-09T09:42:00.000-07:00

Recently Forrest and I went to Citizen Cake's new outpost on Fillmore. We were always a fan of the one in Hayes Valley and have also visited Elizabeth Falkner's other restaurant Orson. We dig her style of food and especially the desserts! I had this entree that was lamb meatballs with Israeli cous cous and artichokes. It was DELICIOUS so last night I re-created it but with some slight modifications...

For the home version, I used beef and pork instead of lamb for the meatballs to ensure that Donut wouldn't balk at the gameyness. The addition of pork is AWESOME in meatballs because of the added flavor and juicyness from fat. And I substituted summer squash for the artichokes because well, squash is in season and bountiful. Also working with artichokes is sometimes a pain...too much knifework for when you are cooking alone with an active toddler hanging off your leg.

Recipe

1/2 pound ground pork

1/2 pound ground beef

1/2 cup breadcrumbs

1/2 grated parmesean cheese

1/2 cup milk

2 Tablespoons herbs (I used fresh but you can also use dried)

Salt and Pepper

1 egg lightly beaten

2 summer squash

1 lemon

Israeli cous cous

tomato sauce (I used Rao's marinara)

Finely chop the fresh herbs (rosemary, sage, thyme, oregano) or crumble the dried herbs finely so it's almost a powder. Mix with breadcrumbs. Soak breadcrumbs in milk and let sit until absorbed then mix in cheese. Crumble both ground meats into a bowl and salt and pepper (maybe a few turns of a griner or less based on your preferred flavor profile), add the egg and breadcrumb mixture. Using your hands, mix the ingredients together until well incorporated.

Heat pan with oil. I used a nonstick pan with olive oil. Using a standard size ice cream scooper, scoop out meatballs into the pan leaving enough space betweeen meatballs for rolling them around. Adjust heat to medium and cover pan. Roll meatballs every few minutes. Cooking for approximately 7-10 minutes. Cook less if you use a smaller scooper. Set aside on plate with paper towels to drain off excess oil.

Boil water for cous cous. Boil for about 7-10 minutes depending on preferred doneness. Drain and mix in tomato sauce. Using a mandoline, slice the summer squash very thinly. Sautee lightly in olive oil and lemon juice.

To serve spoon the tomato cous cous into the bottom of a bowl. Layer on the squash and top with meatballs. ENJOY!

Pickled Onions (Zuni Cafe style)

2011-06-27T10:59:00.000-07:00

It's officially summer and what does that mean? Things are a bloomin and a ripenin on the vines... And as the produce variety becomes ever more abundant, I start to get antsy to do some canning. I love the process of making jams, jellies, chutneys and will now venture into the realm of pickles! Chelsea made some dill pickles awhile back using her grandma's recipe and they were freaking delicious... we have a list of stuff we want to try out this summer - and Molly has been experimenting with some picking too - woot woot!

The above was just a Sunday afternoon experiment but turned out pretty tasty - bonus is that it was SUPER EASY. You can even make this mere minutes before mealtime.

Recipe
1 Red onion
1-2 cups vinegar (I used apple cider but you can use white or red)
1/2 - 1 cup sugar (it's a 2:1 ratio against the vinegar)

Slice red onion into 1/4 inch rings and separate them. Pour vinegar and sugar into a saucepan and boil until sugar is completely dissolved and liquid is at a rolling boil. Add onion rings and gently push down as you stir so all the rings get submerged. Do this for no more than one minute and then pour everything into a glass container and seal with lid. Serve when cooled.

My new favorite chicken

2011-06-27T09:22:00.000-07:00

I am apparently into legs, in particulr thighs...hahaha. I've always been a fan of dark meat over white meat when it comes to chicken but lately I have been cooking and serving more chicken. It's easy and takes on flavors really well so it's a no-brainer. My protein preference is typically beef or fish but way to go fowl. As for cut, I prefer to have a bone in and skin on portion of meat because it's more flavorful and the rendered fat from the skin provides the perfect cooking liquid and there is no need for added oils.

I found this great recipe in a recent issue of Bon Appetit magazine (the one with Gwenyth Paltrow on the cover) and it is fabulous! For my home cooking, I don't use the oven but do everything on top of the stove. I find you need about another 5-8 minutes once you flip the chicken depending on the size of the thighs. I need to try some of the sauce variations next. What's great is that all you really need is salt and pepper...the rest is up to you. For sides I served sauteed swiss chard cooked in the rendered chicken fat and rice.

Recipe
4 bone in, skin on chicken thighs
salt & pepper

Season thighs with salt and pepper. Heat pan on medium high for a few minutes. Put chicken skin side down and lower the heat to medium. Cover with pan lid and cook for 10-12 minutes until skin is crispy and fat is rendered. Flip chicken pieces over and cover again for 7-8 minutes depending on the thickness of the chicken pieces.

Let cool, enjoy!

Balsamic Cherry Pork Chops

2011-06-12T20:47:00.000-07:00

It's stone fruit season and I got a little adventurous a few weekends ago... and tried a recipe on epicurious for Pork Chops in Balsamic Cherry Sauce. Instead of the dried cherries I used fresh ones and if I were to do this recipe again, I think I'll go dried as the tartness of dried cherries would impart a better flavor. Also instead of the butterflied chops, I'd go regular thick cut chops as the thin ones dry out too fast.

Served with polenta with the lovely addition of fresh sweet corn and a spinach salad for some ruffage...enjoy!

Happy Birthday Vanessa - lemon raspberry cake

2011-05-30T14:05:00.000-07:00

For Vanessa's birthday Susi and Brian hosted a little dinner party at their house. It was a casual "make your own pizza" party = super fun! They had a pizza stone and the BBQ and another one in the oven and lots of topics to go around. For dessert I brought the birthday cake....Vanessa's flavor profile was more fruity than chocolaty so I opted for a lemon cake with raspberry frosting. The nice thing about using fresh raspberry juice is that it leaves a very tart and refreshing taste to the frosting to help cut through all the sweet....

for decor I tried the cluster flower sort of pattern that is popular with many wedding cakes out there - enjoy!

Lemon Birthday Cake

1 1/2 cups self-rising flour
1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
2 cups sugar
4 large eggs, at room temperature
1/2 cup milk
1/2 cup lemon juice
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease and flour two 8" square cake pans and line the bottoms with parchment paper.

In a small bowl, combine the flours. Set aside. In a large bowl, on the medium speed of an electric mixer, cream the butter until smooth. Add the sugar gradually and beat until fluffy, about 3 minutes. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Add the dry ingredients in three parts, alternating with the lemon juice, milk and vanilla. With each addition, beat until the ingredients are incorporated but do not overbeat. Using a rubber spatula, scrape down the batter in the bowl to make sure the ingredients are well blended.

Pour evenly into the cake pans. Bake for 20–25 minutes, or until a cake tester inserted in the center of the cake comes out clean.

Raspberry Frosting

2 sticks of butter, softened and cut into cubes
6 cups powdered sugar
1/3 cup raspberry juice

To get raspberry juice, put berries into a blender and puree then run through a strainer to remove seeds. Put all ingredients into a mixer on low until combined. Then turn to medium and beat for a few minutes.

Frost in between layers then on top and on sides of cake. Put in the fridge for about an hour to give time for the frosting to set. In the meantime, knead the fondant and incorporate the color. Roll out to about 1/8 inch thickness. Remove cake from fridge and cover with colored fondant. To decorate with flower fondant then roll out white fondant and use flower shaped cookie cutters.

Easter Party Goodies...

2011-05-08T19:52:00.000-07:00

Donut's Birthday cupcakes

2011-05-08T14:08:00.000-07:00

Donut got a kick out of the above picture because her "toe-key" or rabbit in korean was hanging out with all the cupcakes. It was hard to keep her grubby little hands off the baked goods while I was making these. She kept asking for cupcakes and I tried to put them aside on high counters but without fail I saw her come up to me saying "mmm, cupcake" happily munching away on a cupcake. Apparently she has Mr. Gadget arms when it comes to cupcakes.

The frosting of these little gems had to occur once my little pastry monster was asleep otherwise they wouldn't have stood a chance and her little handprints would have been ALL over them. I went mini cupcakes for the bulk off them since we were expecting lots of children but did make a few standard cupcakes for the adults.

Vanilla cupcakes

1 1/2 cups self-rising flour
1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
2 cups sugar
4 large eggs, at room temperature
1 cup milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line cupcake pan with liners.

In a small bowl, combine the flours. Set aside. In a large bowl, on the medium speed of an electric mixer, cream the butter until smooth. Add the sugar gradually and beat until fluffy, about 3 minutes. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Add the dry ingredients in three parts, alternating with the milk and vanilla. With each addition, beat until the ingredients are incorporated but do not overbeat. Using a rubber spatula, scrape down the batter in the bowl to make sure the ingredients are well blended.

Using an ice cream scooper, scoop batter into the lined cupcake pan until about 2/3 full. Bake for about 17-22 minutes or until a cake tester inserted in the center of the cupcakes comes out clean.

Cream Cheese Frosting

1 package regular cream cheese
2 sticks softened butter
6-8 cups powdered sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Few drops food coloring, if desired

Cut butter and cream cheese into cubes. Put all ingredients into a mixer and mix on low until well incorporated. Then turn up the mixer to medium/high for 3-5 minutes. Scoop into a piping bag and use to pipe on the frosting using various decorating tips for variety.

Easter Cookies

2011-04-26T20:40:00.000-07:00

Up close and personal to the glittery, buttery sweet little treasures. Easter weekend, Donut and I headed down to my mom's house for a girls slumber party and to go to church together on Sunday. Forrest got a pass card this time because, well church is all in Korean and I feel bad if he has to sit there for an hour not knowing what people are talking about. I wanted to contribute a little something because I knew they would be serving a lunch so I decided to make a bunch of Easter themed sugar cookies. Well that double batch took awhile to bake, cool and decorate so my "quick batch of cookies" turned into me being up until 1 am applying frosting and sugar to each individual cookie.

I found a new recipe for sugar cookies too of the Food Network website which I really like. It is basically like a shortbread recipe and uses no leavening agents so there is no cookie puffing or spreading - convenient for cutouts.

Recipe

2 1/4 cups All Purpose Flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
12 Tablespoons butter, softened (1 1/2 sticks)
1 cup granulated sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 egg

Sift together flour and salt.
Cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Add egg and vanilla and mix until well blended. Lower speed of mixer and add flour mixture slowly until it is all incorporated.

Remove dough, wrap in plastic wrap in place in the fridge for about 2 hours.

Lightly flour work surface and rolling pin. Roll out dough to about 1/8" thick and cut with decorative cutters. Bake at 350 degree oven for 10-12 minutes or until cookies are golden brown along the edges.

Enjoy!

Two Tier Birthday Cake - MIL's 70th Birthday!

2011-03-27T20:59:00.001-07:00

No recipe, just the pics this time around. I spent about 8 hours making this concoction. The top layer is lemon cake with raspberry frosting and the bottom layer is chocolate cake with espresso frosting. This was my FIRST EVER multi tier cake!!!!! I even used straws for support to hold up the top layer (very professional feeling)!!! Flowers are sugar paste and decorations are all fondant.

Linh's Birthday Cake

2011-03-27T20:58:00.000-07:00

Standard vanilla cake with lemon curd filling....I missed Linh's actual birthday so I took the cake over to our book club meet up for dessert

New Year's Day Korean Style

2011-02-13T16:25:00.000-08:00

This is a bittersweet post for me. I wasn't quite sure if I should do it or not...I want to share with you the days of cooking and learning of new Korean foods with you, but with this day in particular all roads lead to my father's passing. It took me almost a month to finally post again - and I have been posting about all the other stuff and not this day. But I think I should finally do it. The food on this day is really special to our family...it's a celebration of our Korean-ness and over the past few years we have been inviting different friends over to share in our family tradition. And with each year we make new foods to keep expanding on our cultural experience.

Donut "helping" by making sure the iPad isn't lonely. Below is the makings of my very first japchae. It's a pain in the ass to make but it turned out pretty tasty.

Above is one of the three pots of short ribs. We had SO MANY short ribs this year. Below is the table, all set with place settings and food. We have two tables of eight this year. We welcomed some new Korean friends to our holiday family - yay...thank goodness for Molly's k-dar because I can't seem to locate any Koreans outside of the ones I am related to.

Hollis' Birthday Cake - Double Chocolate Cake

2011-02-12T21:07:00.000-08:00

For Hollis' bridal shower, I had grandiose plans of a really festive and colorful cake. I knew it had to be chocolate on chocolate and I wanted to do something that tied back to her wedding in Puerto Vallarta and the taco bar theme for the shower... I had finally decided on a design featuring mexican banner flags and flowers. But my father passed away the week leading into the party and I had to scrap the plans for co-hosting and cake baking. In the craziness of the week, I was a little bummed out about not being able to do something special for my friend to celebrate the start of her new life. But we were able to meet up a few weeks later for a quiet dinner...and since it timed well with her upcoming birthday, I baked a little mid-week cake for her to celebrate.

Double Chocolate Cake

1 1/2 cups flour
3/4 teaspoons baking powder
3/4 teaspoons baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 large eggs at room temperature
3/8 cup butter (3/4 sticks) softened
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1 cups buttermilk
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease and flour two 9" round cake pans, then line the bottom with parchment or wax paper. Sift together flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt and cocoal powder together in a bowl and set aside.

Cream the butter and both sugars in a mixer until smooth. Add eggs, one at a time and beat until well incorporated. Ad the dry ingredients in thirds, alternating with the milk and vanilla extract. Pour batter into pans, and bake for 40-45 minutes or until a cake tester comes out clean.Let cool completely before frosting. Level off top of cakes, frost with buttercream (recipe below) in between layers, on top and sides of cake.

Chocolate Frosting

3 egg whites (at room temperature)
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 pound (4 sticks) of butter, softened
6 oz melted and cooled semisweet chocolate

Put egg whites in a mixer with wisk attachment. Wisk on high speed until frothy and gradually add granulated sugar until soft peaks form as a glossy white meringue. Add butter in cubes and mix on slow/medium until evenly incorporated. Then whip on high and leave for a few minutes until light and fluffy. Mix in chocolate and frost cake. Once frosted, put cake in fridge for an hour to set. Then decorate with fondant. To make the flags I used a crinkled biscuit cutter, then cut them in half. To make the decorations on the flags, I used the ends of round and square chopsticks.

Fruity Lemony Tart

2011-01-30T16:43:00.001-08:00

Take one pie crust recipe...add 1 cup sugar and 1 egg. Mix until well incorporated. Roll out dough and put into tart pan. Bake until golden brown. Spread lemon curd and top with berries, Enjoy!

Chocolate Mint Chip Cake - Happy Birthday Uncle Mike!

2011-01-30T16:24:00.000-08:00

Mike has never been one to eat produce...Molly always says "There's only 4 things that Mike eats that grows out of the ground." Well fruit is definitely not one of them... However recently Mike was hanging out with his high school friends and decided to eat an orange. After pondering the round citrus, he plainly asked "how do you open it?" to which everyone laughed because you peel an orange, not open one. Proof positive that he doesn't eat produce. So for his birthday we thought it would be funny to give him an orange slice - so he doesn't have to worry about opening it.

I wish I had taken a picture of the cake after we cut it because it was so cute to see the green mint frosting in between the chocolate layers. oh well

Chocolate Cake with Mint Chip Frosting

1 1/2 cups flour
3/4 teaspoons baking powder
3/4 teaspoons baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 large eggs at room temperature
3/8 cup butter (3/4 sticks) softened
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1 cups buttermilk
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla

Mint Chip Frosting

3 egg whites (at room temperature)
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 pound (4 sticks) of butter, softened
1 Tablespoon mint oil / flavoring
1/2 cup chocolate chips, chopped into fine pieces
Few drops light green food coloring

Put egg whites in a mixer with wisk attachment. Wisk on high speed until frothy and gradually add granulated sugar until soft peaks form as a glossy white meringue. Add butter in cubes and mix on slow/medium until evenly incorporated. Then whip on high and leave for a few minutes until light and fluffy. Add mint oil, food coloring and chocolate chips. Mix well and frost cake.Once frosted, put cake in refridgerator for an hour to set.

Lemon Curd

2010-12-22T07:09:00.000-08:00

In the realm of frosting, I recently made the switch over to meringue butter cream which is lighter, fluffier and less sickeningly sweet compared to the standard butter cream which uses a pound of powdered sugar to get it's stiffness. Meringue based buttercream however leaves me with a ton of egg yolks with no place to go. So I started to freeze the egg yolks and use them later in lemon curd. Another one is custard...or even ice cream.... yolks away!

Lemon Curd

4 egg yolks
1 cup sugar
4 lemons juiced
1 stick butter

Whisk together yolks, sugar and lemon juice. Put into a saucepan with butter and cook on medium high, stirring constantly to keep the eggs from scrambling. Keep cooking until curd turns opaque and thick, about 8 minutes. Cool completely and store in fridge for a few days or freezer for about a month

Molly Birthday - Pistachio Cake

2010-12-22T07:07:00.000-08:00

Pistachio Cake

1 cup unsalted shelled pistachios (approximately 4 ounces; not dyed red)
1 cup all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon ground cardamom
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup milk
1/4 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, softened
1 cup sugar
3 large eggs
2 tablespoons finely grated lemon zest

Arrange oven rack in middle position and preheat oven to 350°F. Butter 9-inch-diameter round metal pan and line bottom with waxed paper. Butter paper, then dust pan with flour, knocking out excess.

Using food processor, pulse pistachios until finely ground, about 40 seconds. (Do not overprocess, or mixture will become paste.) Add flour, baking powder, cardamom, and salt and pulse briefly to combine.

In small bowl, combine milk and vanilla.

In large bowl using electric mixer at moderate speed, beat together butter and sugar until light and fluffy, 1 1/2 to 2 minutes. Add eggs 1 at a time, beating well after each addition. Reduce speed to low and add pistachio and milk mixtures alternately in batches, beginning and ending with pistachio mixture and beating after each addition just until combined. Add orange zest and beat just until combined.

Spread batter evenly in pan and bake until wooden skewer inserted in center of cake comes out clean, 30 to 40 minutes. Cool completely. Remove from pan, cut in half, frost between layers, stack and frost over cake.

Lemon Vanilla Frosting

3 egg whites at room temperatur
1 cup granulated sugar
2 sticks butter, softened
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/4 cup lemon juice

Put egg whites in a mixer with wisk attachment. Wisk on high speed until frothy and gradually add granulated sugar until soft peaks form as a glossy white meringue. Add butter in cubes and mix on slow/medium until evenly incorporated, then turn up the speed to medium high until light and fluffy. Then add vanilla and lemon and mix.

Hiroko Birthday - Chocolate Espresso Cake

2010-12-15T08:53:00.000-08:00

Hiroko had her annual "Double Trouble" birthday party with Andy this past weekend. And while I was unable to attend I wanted to fulfill my promise of providing her birthday cake. I like to ask the honoree what cake flavor they would like to have...and Hiroko chose the chocolate mocha cake that I made for Father's Day this year. I had been noodling on how to decorate the cake as that is probably my favorite part. Two years ago I went plain with candy canes. This year I was torn between making it christmasy or something more birthday-y... But I decided on christmassy :)

Happy Birthday Hiroko!

Chocolate Cake with Espresso Frosting

3 cups flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
3/4 teaspoon salt
3 large eggs at room temperature
3/4 cup butter (1 1/2 sticks) softened
1 cup brown sugar
1 cup granulated sugar
1 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
2 cups buttermilk
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla

Cream the butter and both sugars in a mixer until smooth. Add eggs, one at a time and beat until well incorporated. Ad the dry ingredients in thirds, alternating with the milk and vanilla extract. Pour batter into pans, and bake for 40-45 minutes or until a cake tester comes out clean.
Let cool completely before frosting. Level off top of cakes, frost with espresso buttercream (recipe below) in between layers, on top and sides of cake.

Espresso Frosting

5 egg whites (at room temperature)
1 cup sugar
1 pound (4 sticks) of butter, softened
1-2 teaspoons instant espresso

Put egg whites in a mixer with wisk attachment. Wisk on high speed until frothy and gradually add granulated sugar until soft peaks form as a glossy white meringue. Add butter in cubes and mix on slow/medium until evenly incorporated. It will literally look like curdled milk for awhile - but have faith... once fully mixed together, put back on high and leave for a few minutes. Amazing after what seem like decades, the curdled milk looking substance will turn into a thick creamy frosting consistency. At this time add the instant espresso and a teaspoon of vanilla, if desired. Mix well and frost cake.

Once frosted, put cake in refridgerator for an hour to set. Meanwhile color fondant to desired shade of red, set aside in a ziploc bag so fondant does not dry out. Knead white fondant, roll out and cover cake. Roll out red fondant and cut into long strips. Arrange on cake.

Hapy Turkey Day 2010!

2010-11-28T13:37:00.000-08:00

Hello my friends! This year we got to host Thanksgiving - YAY! It was our first turn at hosting since we finally have a place big enough to have people over for a sit down dinner. We had both set of grandparents over plus my brother who literally got back from a two week Thailand trip the day before plus the three of us - so not a lot of people so no stress in trying to build a huge feast. I was able to schedule the cook times appropriately of all the items so really there wasn't that much work!

What was on the menu you ask? Here you go...

The Bird

Mashed Potatoes

Stuffing (from MIL)

Sweet Potato Biscuits

Sauteed Kale and Green Beans

Pumpkin Pie (recipe straight from the can)

Apple Cranberry Pie (from MIL)

This was the first time I made a turkey in over a decade and I will admit I was worried. With turkey it's always the fear it will be dry so I read a few different recipes and approaches and decided on the the recommendation from the Best Recipe cookbook. If it's good enough for James Beard, it's good enough for me.

The idea is to flip the bird..hahaha

400 degree oven, breast down for 45 minutes. Rotate on it's side for 15 minutes, rotate to other side for 15 minutes then breast side up for 45 minutes to 1 hour. This resulted in a tender, juicy 12 pound bird that was ready in about 2 hours.

Banana Chocolate Chip Bread

2010-11-14T16:10:00.000-08:00

I'm not going to post the recipe because I didn't like the way this turned out..too dry and not banana-y enough arggggg

Pear Cranberry Pie

2010-11-14T16:09:00.000-08:00

oh pie goodness! I put a little to much water in the crust while making it so in my opinion it wasn't as flaky as it could be but the filling turned out pretty awesome. The pears were a nice soft consistency but were firm enough to hold their shape and the use of dried cranberries gives a nice tart punch to the filling.

Above - before heading to the oven...yay! literally this was the tallest pie I have ever made. I didn't quite have enough crust to make a nice edge but oh well. I tried to cut out leaf shapes from the top for not only decoration but to also provide venting for the steam from the cooking contents.

Pie Crust

1/2 cup butter
1/4 cup shortening
2 cups all purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup ice water

For the filling:

3 to 3 1/2-pounds pears, a mixture of Bartlett, Bosc and/or Anjou
1/2 cup sugar, divided
6 ounces dried cranberries
3 tablespoons cornstarch
2 teaspoons freshly squeezed lemon juice
1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
1/4 teaspoon fresh ground nutmeg

Peel and core the pears. Slice into 1/4 to 1/2-inch thick wedges. Toss all of the pears with 1/4 cup of the sugar, place in a colander set over a large bowl and allow to drain for 1 1/2 hours.

Assembly

Preheat oven to 425 degrees F.

Pumpkin Spice Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Frosting

2010-11-14T15:58:00.000-08:00

Happy Friends-giving you'all! This year Susi and Brian hosted are hosting and I'm bringing dessert. With an update email from the hosts about headcount being 17 full sized and 3 pint sized human attendees, I figured we should bring two desserts. Originally I had just planned on bringing a pie..non pumpkin even so this large group made it possible for me to bring a pumpkin item via cupcakes with cream cheese icing per Auntie Moko's request.

Fresh from the oven and cooling....I don't know why but these little buggers "fell" so they didn't have those pretty dome tops like most cupcakes do. I have a feeling that it may be due to the extra moisture from the pumpkin puree - oh well. thank goodness for frosting.

i freaking love the camera that Forrest got us(me) last christmas. it takes such great pictures! the colors are nice...blady blady blah

Cake Recipe
1 cup cake flour
1 cup all purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature
1 1/2 cups (packed) golden brown sugar
2 large eggs
1/2 cup whole milk
1 cup canned solid pack pumpkin

For frosting
1 stick unsalted butter, room temperature
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
2 8-ounce packages chilled cream cheese
1/3 cup powdered sugar

Preheat oven to 350°F.

Using electric mixer, beat butter in large bowl until fluffy. Sift flour, baking powder, cinnamon, nutmeg, baking soda, salt and cloves into medium bowl; sift again. Gradually beat in sugar. Beat in eggs 1 at a time. Beat in flour mixture in 3 additions alternately with milk in 2 additions. Beat in pumpkin. Fill cupcake cups about 2/3 the way full.

Bake cakes until tester inserted into center comes out clean, about 20-25 minutes. Cool cakes in pans on racks 10 minutes.

Make frosting:
Beat butter, cream cheese, vanilla and powdered sugar until well blended and fluffy. (Frosted cake can be prepared up to 1 day ahead.

Korean Foodabration - Chuseok

2010-10-22T17:38:00.000-07:00

Korean Thanksgiving, otherwise knows as Chuseok was in September and serendipitously Molly and I had scheduled a Korean-food-a-bration for the weekend after without knowing about the chuseok date. We just randomly thought a food fiesta would be fun....and the plan was to invite all the koreans we knew...which is primarily myself, sam and donut but Molly knew a few more.

Meal included:
Kalbi - Korean short rib BBQ
Kim Chee - cabbage and radish variety
Seafood pancake
TONS of ban chan
rice - seaweed - perilla leaves - you name it!

We missed the second half of the celebration because Donut had reached her peak and we had to head home...

Turkey Meatballs

2010-09-16T16:43:00.000-07:00

We have been training for a half marathon so we've also been pretty hungry. I've been making turkey meatballs to mix up our pasta repoirtoire. The best part is that it is filled with fresh herbs from the garden :)

Vanilla "Ice Cream Cone" Cupcakes

2010-09-07T13:13:00.000-07:00

Labor day weekend we headed out to a BBQ potluck to catch up with some friends. We signed up for dessert and I whipped up a batch of vanilla cupcakes baked in ice cream cones complete with vanilla frosting "ice cream" and sprinkles.

I used about a dozen ice cream cones and only needed a half batch of the cake recipe.

Magnolia's Vanilla Birthday Cake

3/4 cups self-rising flour
5/8 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, softened
1 cup sugar
2 large eggs, at room temperature
1/2 cup milk
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Cut X marks into the bottom of the cupcake cups and flip them over, then insert the ice cream cones.

In a small bowl, combine the flours. Set aside. In a large bowl, on the medium speed of an electric mixer, cream the butter until smooth. Add the sugar gradually and beat until fluffy, about 3 minutes. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Add the dry ingredients in three parts, alternating with the milk and vanilla. With each addition, beat until the ingredients are incorporated but do not overbeat.Using a rubber spatula, scrape down the batter in the bowl to make sure the ingredients are well blended.

Fill cones about halfway and give them a few minutes to settle before popping into the oven for about 25 minutes.

Vanilla Frosting
1 stick butter
1/8 cup water or milk
4 cups powdered sugar
1 tsp vanilla

Dump all ingredients into a mixer and beat until light and fluffy. Use a pastry bag with a star tip to give the effect of soft serve ice cream or chill the frosting in the refridgerator then use a small ice cream scooper to scoop ice cream scoops of frosting. Use assorted sprinkles for decoration.

Steak Sunday :)

2010-08-28T06:30:00.000-07:00

This time it was a rib eye...with steamed green beans and mixed green salad. the salad is now co-star at every meal.

Mom's Birthday Cake - Vanilla and Lemon

2010-08-28T06:02:00.000-07:00

Magnolia's Vanilla Birthday Cake

1 1/2 cups self-rising flour
1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
2 cups sugar
4 large eggs, at room temperature
1 cup milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease and flour two 8" square cake pans and line the bottoms with parchment paper.

In a small bowl, combine the flours. Set aside. In a large bowl, on the medium speed of an electric mixer, cream the butter until smooth. Add the sugar gradually and beat until fluffy, about 3 minutes. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Add the dry ingredients in three parts, alternating with the milk and vanilla. With each addition, beat until the ingredients are incorporated but do not overbeat.Using a rubber spatula, scrape down the batter in the bowl to make sure the ingredients are well blended.

Pour evenly into the cake pans. Bake for 20–25 minutes, or until a cake tester inserted in the center of the cake comes out clean.

Lemon Frosting

4 egg whites (at room temperature)
1 cup sugar
1 pound (4 sticks) of butter, softened
¼ lemon juice

Put egg whites in a mixer with whisk attachment. Wisk on high speed until frothy and gradually add granulated sugar until soft peaks form as a glossy white meringue. Add butter in cubes and mix on slow/medium until evenly incorporated. It will literally look like curdled milk but keep mixing, put back on high and leave for a few minutes. Eventually the curdled milk looking substance will turn into a thick creamy frosting consistency. Add ¼ cup lemon juice. Mix well and frost cake.

Lemon Curd

5 egg yolks (at room temperature)
1 cup sugar
1/3 cup lemon juice
4 Tablespoons butter

In a stainless steel bowl placed over a saucepan of simmering water, whisk together the eggs, sugar, and lemon juice until blended. Cook, stirring constantly (to prevent it from curdling), until the mixture becomes thick and covers the back of a spoon (160 degrees F or 71 degrees C). This will take approximately 10 minutes. Remove from heat and immediately pour through a fine strainer to remove any lumps. Cut the butter into small pieces and whisk into the mixture until the butter has melted. The lemon curd will continue to thicken as it cools. Cover immediately (so a skin doesn't form) and refrigerate for up to a week.

Banana Bread

2010-08-18T10:34:00.000-07:00

Donut anticipating the banana bread baking in the oven. It was really cute because she had her head up to the oven window staring at the bread for minutes on end. She would scream bloody murder when I trid to pull her away from the oven so I could check on the bread.

I dig banana bread but it is somewhat of a pain as I need to wait for these freaking bananas to basically rot before I can use them. For my own personal consumption I literally eat green bananas as I really dislike soft bananas. So waiting for brown mushy bananas drive me crazy...never mind that it attracts fruit flies (gross). Regardless, I finally had enough of them to bake some banana bread on Monday night.

Recipe was the Magnolia's recipe minus the peanuts and chocolate chips. It was ok - great texture and crumb but I think it could have used a caramely sweetness.. Next time I will either add the choco chips or add some brown sugar to the existing recipe.

Banana Bread Recipe

1/3 cup softened unsalted butter (5 1/3 tablespoons)
1/2 granulated sugar
2 large eggs at room temperature
1 1/2 cups mashed ripe banans (a chunky mash of approx 3 bananas)
1/3 cup milk
2 cups self rising flour
1/3 cup apple sauce

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease and flour a 9x5x3 inch loaf pan.

Cream the butter and sugar together until fluffy, around 3-4 minutes. Add eggs one at a time and beat until well incorporated. Add bananas, apple sauce and milk and mix well. Stir in flour and combine well but do not overmix.

Pour into loaf pan and bake for about 45-55 minutes until a cake tester comes out clean. Let cool for 20 minutes before slicing and serving.

Seafood (meatless) Monday

2010-08-18T10:14:00.000-07:00

I used to avoid cooking fish because it scares me...easy to overcook and make un-tasty. Fish was something I always left to the restaurant pros. However, lately I think I may have figured out a way to make fish work for me. Specifically scallops...mmmmmmm...

So here we have a lovely plate of Seared Scallops, Black Quinoa and Steamed Broccoli.

So scallops - pat scallops dry, sprinkle with salt and pepper. Use a non-stick pan and put a mix of butter and olive oil in the pan. Heat the mix on medium-high until butter/oil mix starts to bubble a little. Lower the heat to medium and place scallops in pan. Leave for a couple of minutes and flip when you sear a nice carmelized sear, repeat. Remove from pan and the scallops should still be very springy to the touch.

Sunday Steak Night - August 15th 2010

2010-08-16T09:56:00.000-07:00

This weekend's Sunday Steak Night consisted of one gigantic rib eye from Marina Meats (I believe it was the Estancia Farms one) I like using the fattier cuts of the grass fed beef as then the overall fat consistency/marbeling is consistent with a leaner convential farmed beef cut.

Anyhoos...dinner consisted of

Rib Eye: Pan seared with use of the pan lid. Sauteed onions and mushrooms as a topper
Brussel Sprouts: blanched then sauteed in olive oil
Buttermilk biscuit: Courtesy of Alexia's Naturals or whatever frozen biscuits
Garden salad: greens from our garden (arugula, beet, lettuce) plus sliced baby beets from the garden, radishes, carrots, cucumbers and tomatoes. For the root vegetables, I like to use my mandoline on a fine slice and pre-cut them for the week to save time in salad building.

Sunday Steak Night

2010-08-02T10:56:00.000-07:00

Friday nights are one of two things for us... either Steak Friday or Girls Cooking Party Night. Sometimes we mash both up into one Friday night. Lately though we have all been a bit crazy schedule-wise so we haven't been able to do much on Friday nights except turn into pumpkins so this week I moved "steak friday" to "Steak Sunday."

The special component of this meal was the mac'n'cheese. I made a roux then dumped in a cup of parmesean and sharp cheddar cheses - tasty and tangy.

Steaks are always done on the stovetop. The trick I learned (by trial and error) is to make good use of the pan lid. If you cook the steak on the stovetop in a pan with the lid on it keeps the meat from drying out and kind of steams it in its juices while simultaneously creating a nice sear.

Jerry's Birthday Cupcakes - Lemon on lemon

2010-08-02T09:58:00.000-07:00

After many years of invites, I finally made it to one of Jerry's birthday parties. Linh and I stopped by to mingle and bring some birthday cupcakes. Saturday was a very full day of hanging out so I was frosting these gems at 930 pm just before heading out to the bar.

The meringue didn't get as fluffy as I normally like it so it ended up creating a denser buttercream...not enough sugar...and really too light on the lemon flavor -

More experimentation to be had!

Lemon Cupcakes

1 1/2 stick butter
3 cups sifted cake flour
4 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 cup lemon juice and zest
1 cup milk
4 eggs

Lemon Buttercream

4 egg whites
1 cup sugar
1 pound softened butter
lemon juice and zest

Mix all dry ingredients together, add softened butter and mix until combined.In separate bowl, mix eggs and cream together...slowly add to the dry mixture in batches. Mix on low speed just until incorporated. Add passionfruit and key lime juice and zest. Beat at medium high speed for one minute. Pour into cupcake pan and bake at 350 degrees for about 25 minutes or until cake tester comes out clean. Cool completely and frost with lemon frosting

For frosting, whip the egg whites until frothy and gradually add 1 cup sugar and beat until stiff glossy white peaks form. Add the softened butter in cubes and beat on low / medium until well incorporated. Don't be alarmed as it will go through a phase where it looks like cottage cheese...eventually it will all bind together. Once you get a nice creamy consistency, add the lemon juice and zest - mix well and put into piping bag to frost cupcakes.

Cooking Party - Naeng Myun and Sticky Rice

2010-07-05T20:51:00.000-07:00

Molly made the sticky rice so I don't have the recipe for it. The naeng myun is from a package so I can't take credit...but Molly and I were responsible for the presentation :)

4th of July BBQ

2010-07-05T20:47:00.000-07:00

A veritable meat bouquet with roasted potatoes and grilled veggie kabobs! For the potatoes, I used small yukon golds, boiled until tender, then toss in a mix of olive oil + herbs + salt/pepper. Then grill and then toss again in the oil/seasoning mix while still warm and serve.

a picture of the meats, pre-bouquet, pre-grilling. Molly got some lamb from Elysian Farms and as always that shiz is amazing. Whatever they are doing to those lambs is definitely the right thing.

Congratulations Cake - Chocolate Cream Cheese

2010-07-05T20:39:00.000-07:00

It was uncle Mike's last day at Quince the night before and he has a few days off before he starts his new super exciting restaurant venture! To celebrate we had a secret cake ready for him at the 4th bbq. It was a chocolate devil's food cake with cream cheese frosting. Now if the decorations don't make any sense, that's because Molly and I were drunk the night before and basically put a bunch of things that Mike likes onto a single cake...without thinking about consistency in theme or anything. Oy vay - thankfully it turned out ok and Mike liked it.

Chocolate Cake
3 cups flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
3/4 teaspoon salt
3 large eggs at room temperature
3/4 cup butter (1 1/2 sticks) softened
1 cup brown sugar
1 cup granulated sugar
1 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
2 cups buttermilk
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla

Cream the butter and both sugars in a mixer until smooth. Add eggs, one at a time and beat until well incorporated. Ad the dry ingredients in thirds, alternating with the milk and vanilla extract. Pour batter into pans, and bake for 40-45 minutes or until a cake tester comes out clean.
Let cool completely before frosting. Level off top of cakes, frost with espresso buttercream (recipe below) in between layers, on top and sides of cake.

Cream Cheese Frosting

1 stick cream cheese

2 sticks butter

1 tablespoon vanilla

4-8 cups of powdered sugar

Mix everything until you reach a desired consistency.

More cabbage goodness

2010-07-05T20:38:00.000-07:00

same recipe as last time.. straight nappa cabbage kim chee :)

my coworkers have started dropping off empty jars on my desk requesting kim chee, uh oh

New Parent Dinner - Carnitas and Bean Salad

2010-07-02T19:47:00.001-07:00

Black bean and corn salad and slow roasted carnitas. Today Donut and I stopped by Katie and Matt's house to drop off dinner for the new parents and to meet Sophia in person. She is a doll and I couldn't get over how small she was! I cannot believe that Donut was just 7 pounds about a year ago - ugh... Anyhoo I wanted to make something fun but didn't have a lot of time to prep because I was working today so I decided on carnitas....because I heart the crock pot.

Carnitas

3 pounds pork shoulder
salt and pepper to taste

Season pork shoulder, put into crock pot fat side up and turn on low. Let cook for 8-12 hours.

Bean and Corn Salad

1 can black beans
1 can or 1/2 bag frozen corn
1/2 clamshell cherry tomatoes, halved
1Tablespoon chopped cilantro or parsley
juice of 1 lime
2 Tablespoons olive oil

Toss all ingredients together. Salt and pepper to taste

Yellow Cake with Chocolate Frosting

2010-06-27T21:44:00.000-07:00

It was Adam's birthday this weekend and so we brought him a birtthday cake. I was going to decorate with fondant after I had frosted the cake and Forrest stopped me in my tracks. Stating that Adam was not a frou frou guy so I shouldn't really do fondant and stuff. But I couldn't leave the cake completely undecorated so I broke out the sprinkles and a little fondant to spell out his name.

Magnolia's Vanilla Birthday Cake

1 1/2 cups self-rising flour
1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
2 cups sugar
4 large eggs, at room temperature
1 cup milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Chocolate Buttercream

2 stick butter, softened
6 ounces semisweet chocolate, melted
1 Tablespoon Vanilla
2 cups Powdered Sugar
1/4 cup milk

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease and flour two 8" square cake pans and line the bottoms with parchment paper

In a small bowl, combine the flours. Set aside.

In a large bowl, on the medium speed of an electric mixer, cream the butter until smooth. Add the sugar gradually and beat until fluffy, about 3 minutes. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Add the dry ingredients in three parts, alternating with the milk and vanilla. With each addition, beat until the ingredients are incorporated but do not overbeat.
Using a rubber spatula, scrape down the batter in the bowl to make sure the ingredients are well blended.

Pour evenly into the cake pans. Bake for 20–25 minutes, or until a cake tester inserted in the center of the cake comes out clean.

Buttercream: Cream butter until smooth and add milk. Add melted but cooled chocolate and whip for 3 minutes. Add vanilla and powdered sugar and whip until desired consistency is achieved. Frost between layers, on sides and top of cake.

Father's Day BBQ

2010-06-21T14:18:00.000-07:00

This year we hosted a BBQ lunch at the house and we were luck enough to have both grandfathers join us in the celebration! I tested out 2 new recipes and experimted with an old recipe to make it new! Everything turned out pretty tasty....and we had loads of leftovers for sandwiches and such :)

Father's Day Menu:
Tri Tip with spicy rub from The Salt Lick (famous Austin TX BBQ joint)
Greens with Verte Sauce (new from Bon Appetit!)
Mashed Yukon Gold Potatoes
Chocolate Mocha Cake

no pics of the tri tip or potatoes.. the greens with verte sauce is new and for the cake, i experimented with a devils food and the frosting is a new recipe and i think i'm switching to this method moving forward.

Greens with verte sauce was basically green beans and green zuccini cut into shoestrings, sauteed and then tossed in a modified pesto. Light refreshing and zingy.

Behold dessert, this time a chocolate cake with espresso frosting - a mocha cake overall if you will. I took a standard devil's food recipe (cocoa powder based, not melted chocolate based) and just swapped out the regular milk for buttermilk. As for the frosting...mmmmmmmmm...I tried a swiss meringue buttercream recipe this time around and oh my goodness! I am converted. It is so much lighter and less sweet compared to the standard buttercream and it doesn't get that crystallized sugary crust like the powdered sugar version does. LOVE LOVE LOVE IT.

Chocolate Mocha Cake

3 cups flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
3/4 teaspoon salt
3 large eggs at room temperature
3/4 cup butter (1 1/2 sticks) softened
1 cup brown sugar
1 cup granulated sugar
1 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
2 cups buttermilk
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease and flour two 9" round cake pans, then line the bottom with parchment or wax paper.

Sift together flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt and cocoal powder together in a bowl and set aside.

Let cool completely before frosting. Level off top of cakes, frost with espresso buttercream (recipe below) in between layers, on top and sides of cake.

Espresso Frosting

5 egg whites (at room temperature)
1 cup sugar
1 pound (4 sticks) of butter, softened
1-2 teaspoons instant espresso

Green Beans with Verte Sauce

1/3 cup (packed) fresh basil leaves
1 green onion, coarsely chopped
2 tablespoons (packed) fresh Italian parsley
2 tablespoons drained capers
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
2 teaspoons Dijon mustard
1 garlic clove, peeled
3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 pound green beans, stem end trimmed
12 ounces zucchini, halved lengthwise, each half cut lengthwise into 1/3-inch-wide strips
3 tablespoons water

In food processor mix together the first 8 ingredients and pulse until you get the texture of a smooth pesto.

Afterwards sautee the green beans and zuccini in olive oil and water until tender but still crisp. Toss in sauce and serve.

Ggakduki (radish kim chee)

2010-05-30T16:54:00.000-07:00

Two jars just for me! mhwa ha ha... Molly and I had another friday night kim chee fest this past Friday and we made whole bunch of radish kim chee. This radish version is different than the bachelor kim chee primarily because of the type of radish used. In this version we get really big radishes (the size of nerf footballs) and cut them into 1" cubes instead of the smaller radish that look like short carrots.

1 bulb garlic, separated and peeled
1 (2 inch) piece of ginger root
2 Tablespoons Korean chili powder
2 Tablespoons salt
2 large korean radishes, peeled and cut into 1" cubes
1 bunch korean chives (bu chu) or green onion cut into 1" pieces
2 Tablespoons sugar

Brine the radish cubes in a 1 cup salt to 1 cup sugar mixture for about 20 minutes. Rinse thoroughly.

In the meantime, puree garlic and ginger together until smooth then mix in salt, chili and sugar. Add in the chives and radishes. Mix together very evenly so all radishes are coated.

Put into 4 quart jars or 1 gallon gar. Store on the countertop for a few days then put in the fridge for storage.

Quinn's Birthday Cake

2010-05-30T16:48:00.000-07:00

It was our friend Quinn's first birthday party this Saturday and as her birthday present I made her a birthday cake. We just recently learned that she has a peanut allergy so just to be safe, we had to stay away from all tree based nuts...so we chose vanilla on vanilla for the birthday cake. All the decorations were made of fondant.

Vanilla Cake

6 eggs at room temperature
1 1/2 cup milk
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 Tablespoons vanilla
2 1/2 cups sugar
6 teaspoons baking powder
4 1/2 cups sifted cake flour
2 1/4 sticks softened butter
1 cup

Frosting

2 sticks butter, softened
1 tablespoon vanilla
6-8 cups powdered sugar
1/4 water or heavy cream

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Grease and flour three 9" square pans and place parchment at the bottom of each pan.

In a small bowl mix eggs, 1/2 cup milk and vanilla extract. In a large mixing bowl combine all the dry ingredients and mix well. Add butter and remaining milk to the dry ingredients and beat on low speed, just to combine. Pour half of the egg/milk mixture into bowl, mixing well. Add the last half of the egg/milk mixture and beat on medium speed for 1 minute. Scrape down the sides of the bowl and beat an another minute.

Pour batter evenly into the 3 baking pans. Bake for 20-30 minutes or until a cake tester comes out clean. Let cool then remove from pans. Remove parchment paper and use a serrated knife to even out the layers so they are straight

To make frosting, dump all ingredients into a mixer and mix on low until incorporated. Then turn up to medium high for 3-5 minutes until light and fluffy.

Apply frosting in between all three layers. Then with a serrated knife, cut the edges of the cake so it even and the crisper edges are removed. Apply a layer of frosting to the outside of the cake and set in the refridgerator for a few hours.

In the meantime, knead fondant and color using food coloring to achieve the desired colors for the cake. Apply fondant quickly to cake and rub with your hands to achieve a smooth finish. To make flowers, use gum paste or cookie cutters to cut out shapes, then adhere by applying water with a paint brush.

Pineapple Upside Down Cake

2010-05-28T08:42:00.000-07:00

In honor of the series finale of Lost, I made a pineapple upside down cake. I know the show is only filmed in Hawaii and not really set in Hawaii...but hey, they are both islands in the warmer parts of the pacific ocean and...tropical is tropical. This is the second time I have made this particular cake...different recipe this time though and I like this one better. The cake is super spongy while the caramel and pineapple create a wonderful sticky bun like consistency on top...

up close and personal so you can see all the caramel goodness...below... it's a dense cake but with a good crumb and songy in texture. The recipe was for a 12" skillet and I only had a 9" pan so I used one of my ramekins to make a smaller personal upside down cake - see last picture

Topping

1 can pineapple rings

6 Tablespoons unsalted butter

1 cup packed dark brown sugar

maraschino or brandied cherries

Cake

3 3/4 cups sifted cake flour (I usually go 50/50 cake and regular flour for a denser cake)

2 teaspoons baking powder

1 1/2 teaspoon salt

3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks) room temperature unsalted butter

2 cups granulated sugar

3 large eggs

1 Tabelspoon vanilla

1 1/2 cups milk

1/3 run

You can use a 12" skillet, a 9" round cake pan (+ a smaller pan) or probably a 9"x13" pan

Preheat oven to 350 degrees

Melt butter and brown sugar in a pan on the stovetop until it begins to bubble. Pour into a baking pan. Arrange pinapple slices on top and put maraschino cherry in the middle of the pineapple ring. Set aside.

For cake batter...

Sift together flour, salt and baking powder in a separate bowl and set aside.

Cream butter and sugar together until light and fluffy. Beat in eggs one at a time and add vanilla. Combine milk and run in a cup. Add together the dry and wet ingredients in an alternating fashion. Mix on low speed until blended.

Pour batter evenly over caramel and pineapple topping. Bake 50-60 minutes or until cake tester comes out clean. Remove from ovena nd let cool for 2-3 minutes. Invert onto a plate and enjoy!

Donut's birthday cake

2010-05-14T20:24:00.000-07:00

It all comes down to this moment... I took cake decorating classes about 3 years ago with dreams of one day making my children's birthday cakes. Now that Donut was turning one...I finally got to make it. Above is a picture of the cupcake I made as her smash cake.... and below is the three tiered Donut cake that all the guests got to enjoy. It was a vanilla chocolate chip cake with vanilla frosting with layers of fondant for decoration.

Vanilla Chocolate Chip Cake

6 eggs at room temperature
1 1/2 cup milk
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 Tablespoons vanilla
2 1/2 cups sugar
6 teaspoons baking powder
4 1/2 cups sifted cake flour
2 1/4 sticks softened butter
1 cup

Frosting

2 sticks butter, softened
1 tablespoon vanilla
6-8 cups powdered sugar
1/4 water or heavy cream

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Grease and flour three 9" round pans and place parchment rounds at the bottom of each pan.

Pour batter evenly into the 3 baking pans. Sprinkle chocolate chips on top of the batter. Don't worry that they are sitting on top, they will sink as the batter bakes in the oven. Bake for 20-30 minutes or until a cake tester comes out clean.

To make frosting, dump all ingredients into a mixer and mix on low until incorporated. Then turn up to medium high for 3-5 minutes until light and fluffy.

To decorate...put frosting in between all three layers. Then with a serrated knife, carve the cake into the shape of a donut. Apply a layer of frosting to the outside of the cake and set in the refridgerator for a few hours.

In the meantime, knead fondant and color using food coloring to achieve the desired colors for the cake. Apply fondant quickly to cake and rub with your hands to achieve a smooth finish. Decorate with additional layers of fondant in different colors to achieve the frosted donut with sprinkles look. Enjoy!

Traditional Napa Cabbage Kim Chee

2010-05-14T20:22:00.000-07:00

The napa cabbage kim chee is literally the king of all kim chees... known as the "traditional kim chee" it's what many people only know of when you say kim chee. And of course it is the most labor intensive kim chee to make. You have to make a separate filling and then stuff in between the individual leaves of the cabbage....but the result is DELISH!

Above you see Molly stuffing cabbage leaves.... below is the care package of kim chee for Sam and Chelsea. We've been on a roll of making a variety of korean foods every friday evening... we missed this Friday due to general overloadedness from too busy of a week and next week we are out of town but we'll definitely be on the following friday! What I look forward to most is that as the years progress, Donut will be able to join in the fun and we'll get to pass on this love of cooking, eating and enjoying good company...yeah it's totally our korean food girls club!

Napa Cabbage Kim Chee

2 napa cabbages. quartered
1 big korean radish, grated
1 bunch green onions, shredded
2" piece ginger
4-5 cloves garlic
1/4 cup salted shrimp or fish sauce
1 tablespoon sugar
1 cup asian red chili powder
1-2 cups sea salt

Toss cabbage quarters in sea salt until they are evenly covered and set aside for 3-4 hours.

In a food processor, puree the shrimp/fish sauce with garlic and ginger until a smooth paste. Mix in a large bowl with the chili powder and sugar. Let sit while you prepare the radish and onions. Grate the radishes with a medium size grate on the mandolin. Shred the green onions lengthwise and cut into 1 inch pieces. Mix into the chili mixture and let sit.

Rinse cabbage thoroughly. Take chili mixture and stuff in between the cabbage leaves. Tuck the green cabbage edges under and place into a jar...continue until complete with all cabbage quarters. Leave sitting out on the kitchen counter for 3-4 days to ripen then store in the refridgerator for 3-4 weeks.

More Korean Food Goodness

2010-05-14T20:03:00.000-07:00

Molly and I have been meeting up after work on Fridays to eat, drink and make assorted Korean foods. Most recently, it was a batch of seafood pancakes and radish kim chee. The first time I made the pancakes, I used home made batter but Ruthberg said that using store bought mix is better because it comes pre-seasoned...and after having tried both I am going to have to agree with the moms.

Kim chee has been a repeating force for us these days, trying out a few different variations and then of course having my mom eat some so we get get her feedback/approval :) Molly may hate me for posting the pic below but it's the only one I have of our fabulous radish kim chee making evening.

Seafood pancakes:

1 cup korean savory pancake batter mix
2 green onions finely diced
1 cup mixed assorted seafood diced
1/2 - 1 cup water
vegetable oil

In the freezer section of korean markets they sell bags of mixed seafood. It has shrimp, clams, mussels, squid and fish chunks. They sell this sort of thing at Trader Joe's too. If you don't have a mixed bag, just take whatever seafood you like best and chop up. Add in the green onion.

In a separate bowl mix the batter abd water until you get a yogurty consistency. Not too thick and not too thin.... add in the seafood and green onions. You can add additional seasoning if you want at this time like diced bell or hot peppers.

Using a non stick pan, heat up vegetable oil and fry these like little pancakes. Make sure to re-oil the pan when flipping the pancakes to keep them moist.

Bachelor Radish KimChee

2-3 bunches of bachelor radish with stems
1 cup sea salt
2" piece of ginger
3-4 cloves garlic
1 tablespoon salted shrimp or fish sauce
1/2 cup asian red chili powder

Wash the radishes, quarter them leaving about 2" of stem and toss in 1 cup of sea salt for about 30 minutes. Of the remaining greens, chop into 2" and set aside. In a food processor, pulse the ginger, garlic, shrimp/fish sauce together. Add to chili powder to form a nice paste. After 30 minutes, rinse the radishes well. Mix everything together and store in well sealed jars on the countertop for 3-4 days to ripen, then move to refridgerator and keep for about 3-4 weeks.

Fresh Berry Tart

2010-04-20T08:06:00.000-07:00

It's spring time here in the city and all the grocery stores are filling up with the fabulousness that is seasonal fruit. Berries have started to arrive and I got the itchin to make a tart. The dough is the Tartine recipe which is basically the same as pie dough buut you add 1 cup of sugar and an egg. I pressed into my new square tartlet pan instead of roling out to save time.

I cheated and used store bought lemon curd instead of making my own. I'm getting lazy in my old age and motherhood..ha! But really, I had others and they were either cheesy or too sour - but the Williams Sonoma Meyer Lemon curd was AWESOME. Just slightly tangy but light and airy. It wa a little cheesy but you can't avoid that since it's made of egg yolks.

Just slather some onto the cooled crust, pile on the berries and voila! You have a fabulous tart for dessert - ENJOY!

Easter Cupcakes - lemon on lemon

2010-04-14T13:12:00.000-07:00

This is the standard lemon cake recipe I have been using for years. The only difference really is that I tried a different frosting technique variation. I have to say I REALLY like the way they turned out...they are so pretty. I made these little gems for our neighborhood easter egg hunt. Tivo + wine + cupcake decorating on a Friday night = FUN.

Mandu Party

2010-03-22T13:15:00.000-07:00

I am starting to delve more deeply into the asian foods realm...with all the kim chee making and all. And well, Molly has been hounding me about it for like a decade and I am finally starting to crave eating this stuff on a more regular basis and with a baby can't quite go out to eat as easily as I would like so all that leads to more home cookin.

Chammy (Chelsea + Sam) and Molly came over and us ladies got to makin mandu/potsticker/dumplings - whatever after a dinner of carnitas tacos. Pork, cabbage and tofu were the fillings of the day. I think it could stand to be a little denser next time.

Not sure if I prefer the thick Chinese wrappers or the thin Japanese wrappers - so many options! I almost felt like the thin were too thin and the thick were too thick...kapeesh?

Mint Chocolate Cake

2010-03-18T21:07:00.000-07:00

A chococolate cake with chocolate chips with mint frosting...kind of like a thin mint girl scout cookie...only it's an entire cake :)

Korean Food Madness

2010-03-18T20:55:00.000-07:00

Seasoned Sesame Leaves above and Radish Kimchee round 2 below...

Kim Chee attempt #2

2010-02-24T20:42:00.000-08:00

So I tried to make some again...and it wasn't too bad! I even got the nod of approval from the Ruthberg - that is big time. I let it do it's magic on the countertop for a few days then put it in the fridge for about a week.....and oh boy what magical goodness it was.

So I made what's called the "bachelor kimchee" which is made from little radishes that have greens attached. The name comes from how bachelors in the old days wore their hair in a ponytail so the attached greens were like the ponytail. Regardless the shiz was rad so there will be a repeat soon.

Valentine's Day Surf and Turf

2010-02-15T21:52:00.000-08:00

Nevermind the part where I look like hell, OR the fact that my armpit boobs are seemingly oozing into little blobs over my actual boobs. wierd. Anyhoo - on Valentines day we stayed at home and I made a little dinner for us served on our fine china. For lunch Forrest packed a wonderful picnic that we enjoyed hanging out along the edge of the Presidio woods.

This year the theme was surf and turf... We have some rib eye medallions with butter poached lobster tails and chantrelle mushrooms in a red wine reduction...not to shabby!

New Year's Day Feasting

2010-01-15T07:41:00.000-08:00

So so so sorry for the lack of posting. I don't know what's going on but my workload has mushroon clouded into a massive nuclear bomb that takes up around 16 hours a day + weekends. I'm working to get this down to a more manageable level so I can actually remember what my family looks like and cook something every once in a while.

Regardless, here is a backpost on New Year's brunch.

ahhhhhhhhhh the soup - Happy New Year!!! Every new year in Korean culture we celebrate by eating a rice cake soup. The rice cakes need to be the oval shapes too, has something to do with bringing good luck - as with everything asian...it's all about the luck. My version includes dumplings as that's the soup version I grew up with.

The new year's table...soup, seafood pancakes, braised short ribs (with korean bbq sauce) plus all the fun panchan...especially kim chee.

lemon meringue pie because well, i don't love korean desserts because desserts in asia really aren't very sweet - it tends to me just various bean pastes (bleh)

The prime rib from Christmas made a return visit as the base bone/meat for the stock - mm mm good!

Christmas Dinner Buffet

2009-12-26T20:52:00.000-08:00

Christmas dinner this year was a fabulous potluck of deliciousness. We had 13 people for dinner so it was imperative that we divide and conquer the meal otherwise I would have jumped off the bridge by noon. On the menu was...

Appetizers: Clam Dip, Deviled Eggs, Baked Brie (Chelsea)
Salad: Spinach, Arugula, Radish and Orange
Main: Prime Rib with Horseradish Crust
Sides: Mashed Potato, Brussel Sprouts, Glazed Carrots
Dessert: Cran-Blueberry pie, Pear-Apple pie, Ginger-Pear-Custard Pie, Gingerbread Cake, Assorted Cookies.

If you left our house hungry, there was a problem because we had so much food! Sadly, I forgot to take pictures of the dessert table so there is no documentation of the fabulousness that was the pie-bonanza.

Merry Christmas Brunch

2009-12-26T10:34:00.000-08:00

Let the feasting begin! Yesterday was Christmas and the day started off with breakfast for 7 adults and 1 baby so that we may have enough strength to forge on to open presents. On the menu for breakfast was...

- Green Eggs & Ham (a homage to Rose's Cafe)
- Cranberry Orange Bread
- Fruit Salad

Green Eggs & Ham
This is really just soft, slow scrambled eggs with spinach served on top of a crusty italian bread toast with a side of bacon. I served mine with caviar for a little special something

Orange on Orange Cupcakes

2009-12-21T17:31:00.000-08:00

It was Forrest's holiday party - not the big dress up event but his Director's annual potluck holiday dinner that they host in the east bay at another coworker's house. Last year we brought appetizers and folks almost seemed disappointed that I did not bring a baked good so this year I made cupcakes. Standard yellow cake recipe but replace the milk with OJ.

Leann's Potato Cinnamon Rolls

2009-12-08T10:25:00.000-08:00

While in Kansas for Thanksgiving, I was lucky enough to try Leann's cinnamon rolls (they were tasty) which have potato in them. Leann is Jana's mother in law and we went to her house a couple of nights so the adults could get in on a poker game. She even has a dedicated table that looks like a real poker table! Anyhoo the real purpose of this post is to talk about the wonderful cinnamon rolls that I got to sample at her house. Holy smokes they were tasty!

I got the recipe from Jana and tried to make a batch the minute I got home. They turned out pretty good - the only issue was that I didn't make enough of the caramel sauce. And the recipe was very loosey goosey as in a list of ingredients and about 4 sentences of instructions - I am still amazed I was able to pull this together.

yeasty goodness above....while the caramel simmers on the stovetop below...

the dough is rising!

Thanksgiving Pies...

2009-12-08T09:31:00.000-08:00

(blueberry pie pictured above)

This thanksgiving was spent with Forrest's family (we rotate every year) and we decided to go out to Kansas to spend it with Jana and family. My in laws rented a house nearby to stay at during the week and we ended up hosting the dinner at this house.

Tamra (middle niece) and I were responsible for the desserts, so we spent the day before Thanksgiving baking three pies for the family dinner. We only used a recipe for the pumpkin pie - right off the Libby's can! The others we just kind of winged it and thankfully they turned out delicious!

Above - pumpkin pie...traditional recipe off of the Libby's pumpkin can. Below is an apple pie with a oatmeal struesel topping. TASTY. For the day before, I also baked a pumpkin cake with cream cheese frosting that we basically just snacked on for the next few days.

Red Pear Crostada

2009-11-23T10:41:00.000-08:00

Just out of the oven and mmmm mmm tasty. Actually I didn't get to eat any of this dessert because I was so full from our sushi dinner then didn't have enough time to digest before heading out to the airport for my red eye to NYC.

Pears all prepped and ready to go. Just an easy sprinkling of sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg and ground cloves.

Pumpkin Cupcakes

2009-10-29T21:21:00.002-07:00

whipped up a batch for a halloween party in the neigborhood. Recipe is a repeat of last year's halloween cupcakes for Trish's birthday! Here it is....

Peach Crostata

2009-10-29T21:21:00.001-07:00

Our fat butts ate this ENTIRE thing in one sitting! And this was after we ate our dinner..geez louiseus were we fatty mcfattersons that day. So this was supposed to be a fruit pie as requested by the hubbs...but after realizing that I only had 1 bag of frozen peaches equaling 2 cups of fruit, there really wasn't going to be a pie. So I turned the fruit poor pie into a crostada.

Not sure what I did differently here but this was my best pie crust EVER - so light and flaky!

Toss frozen peaches (or fresh ones) in some sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg and cloves. Pour onto uncooked pie shell and spread evenly. Fold pie shell over the contents, don't worry about making clean edges, etc. Sprinkle with sugar and bake at 400 degrees for about 30-40 minutes until golden brown on top.

ENJOY

Pasta, Peas and Shrimp

2009-10-29T21:12:00.000-07:00

Damnit Molly...I am now hooked on Rao's pasta sauce and that shiz is EXPENSIVE - ACK. So to make up for the price of sauce I am using frozen peas as the greens...just kidding. But in case you haven't tried it, please do...that Rao's shit is GOOD. Add peas at the very end so they are not over cooked.

Shrimp done scampi style.

French Toast - cinnamon raisin style!

2009-10-12T09:06:00.000-07:00

Forrest had to work the other weekend...and my work I mean literally lock himself in the office and not come out for hours on end. So to help make his day start off better, we had a little french toast + bacon and fruit for breakfast.

So the tasty tasty goodness behind the french toast is the Greenlee's bakery raisin cinnamon bread - oh yummy! It's a local bakery down in San Jose and they happen to sell these delicious morsels at Whole Foods Markets in San Francisco. It is so packed with delicious goodness that it is almost like a bread pudding when made into french toast.

Almond Cake with Cherry Filling and Almond Frosting

2009-10-04T21:34:00.000-07:00

Thursday was Chelsea's birthday and she and my bro were heading out to Yosemite for a group camping trip on Thursday AM. So Wednesday night after work, I whipped up a 2 layer almond birthday cake + cherry filling for them to take to Yosemite to celebrate. So take a standard yellow cake recipe but substitute almond flavoring and same with the frosting. For filling, I found this RAD french cherry preserve that was more tart than sweet which was a nice compliment to the cake and frosting.

Fresh Strawberry Pie

2009-09-18T21:41:00.000-07:00

I've made this fresh glazed strawberry pie before shortly after I had the baby...when Soo brought over the most amazing box of strawberries. Recipe located here...

pie crust :) it did come out beautifully this time...especially the fluted edges!

Beef Enchiladas

2009-09-18T21:39:00.000-07:00

These are basically easy peasy enchiladas...I'm not so authentic but they are tasty enough for my family.
Usually I make these with chicken, chiles and the tomatillo sauce but this time Forrest requested beef and red enchilada sauce so away we went!

Ground Beef
Shredded Cheese
Red Enchilada Sauce
Corn Tortillas
Yellow Onions Diced
Diced Tomatoes
Sliced Green Onions

Saute ground beef with diced onions. Warm the tortillas, spoon filling, sprinkle cheese and roll. Place into baking dish in a row with. Pour the enchilada sauce over the enchiladas. Sprinkle cheese diced tomatoes and green onions. Bake for 40 minutes at 375 degrees.

ENJOY!

Spicy Shrimp Dip

2009-09-12T16:06:00.000-07:00

It's kinda like a deconstructed jalepeno shrimp popper... As you can see below, be careful when working with chilis...I have made the mistake of cutting all sorts of spicy peppers with bare hands and then later finding that the oils were burning my skin - that shiz hurts!

Recipe
Softened cream cheese
Mayonnaise
Bay Shrimp, roughly chopped
Japenos, seeded and diced
Bell Peppers, seeded and diced
Lime or lemon juice
Salt and Pepper
Old Bay Seasoning

Basically just mix everything together to taste. The only I don't like about this dip is that the cream cheese is so thick so everything just looks white. I tried to add some color by putting in different color peppers but it didn't really help. But it tasted good!