HEADED TO COLORADO!

Posted in Travels by sallybr

Well, folks… it is finally time to take a break and enjoy a week off from work. Summer is one of the busiest times of the year for us. You can ask our poor graduate students who are faced with daily 8am meetings in which we talk about the plans for the day and what was accomplished the day before. But, as they say, if you work hard, you gotta play hard too.

As this post goes live, we’ll be getting ready to drive to Colorado once again, as we did last year. We’ll head to cooler temperatures (not something I’m particularly thrilled about), golf, hiking, relaxing, re-charging our batteries for another year of work ahead.

As usual, the blog should go on… who knows, maybe having some time off I’ll be able to finally share with you a certain trip to Hawaii that happened 5 months ago! Slowly but surely, I’ll get to it…

Hoping to re-visit some of the fun from last year….

Lunch at Vail, Colorado – August 2014

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4Aug2015

KA’KAT, A MIDDLE EASTERN SNACK BREAD

Posted in Breads by sallybr

These are serious contenders for the prize of World’s Cutest Bread… Plump, golden brown, topped with sesame seeds, they are simply irresistible! I found the recipe in Karen’s site, and fell in love at first sight. I almost made them for the Nobel reception we hosted, but that day was frantic enough without bread baking. In a way, I’m glad I did not push the envelope and tried squeezing in one more culinary project. But a couple of weeks later, I rolled my sleeves up and went to work. Not only these are adorable little entities, but they are a ton of fun to make. Surprisingly easy too. I hope I convinced you to bake a batch soon. You’ll need one exotic ingredient, though. Mahlab. Totally worth searching for, or if you want to make it easy on yourself, click on this link.

KA’KAT BREAD
(from Karen’s Kitchen Stories)

2 T sugar

2 tsp active dry yeast

2 cups warm (105 to 115 degrees F) water

17 to 21 ounces of bread or unbleached all-purpose flour, divided

1 1/2 tsp salt

1/4 tsp ground mahlab

1 large egg, beaten

3 to 4 tsp sesame seeds
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In the bowl of a stand mixer, whisk the sugar, yeast, and water. Add 12 ounces of the flour, and mix on low with the dough hook for about 3 minutes. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and let it sit for about 10 minutes.
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Add the salt and mahlab, mix on low. Gradually add flour until you have a dough that is cohesive (I used all of the flour). Mix on low for about 10 minutes. Let the dough rise in an oiled bowl until doubled, about 60 to 120 minutes.
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Line two baking sheets with parchment. Divide the dough into 32 equal pieces. Roll each piece into a 6 inch rope. Form the ropes into rings and place them onto the baking sheets. Keep the rings covered with oiled plastic wrap. Cover and let rise for about 30 minutes.
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Heat the oven to 400 degrees F and place the oven racks in the upper third of the oven. Brush the Ka’kat with the egg wash, and sprinkle with sesame seeds. Bake the Ka’kat for about 20 minutes, until golden. Rotate the pans halfway through. Let cool on the pans for about 5 minutes before serving warm.
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Leftovers can be reheated in a hot oven.

ENJOY!

to print the recipe, click here
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As you know, I have way too many cookbooks, and quite a few are related to bread baking. Still, I could probably get rid of all of them and be happy baking along Karen’s yeast-steps. Yeap, I made up the word. How’s THAT for taking liberties with a second language? Daring is my middle name! Seriously, though. Karen bakes the most amazing breads, and I find myself bookmarking almost every single one of her posts “to make very soon.” Ka’kat was such a nice baking adventure! The dough is smooth, pliable, the smell of the mahlab giving that subliminal message… this is going to be one tasty bread…

Shaping the rings is very easy, although when the dough rises the central hole may or may not be closed… As Karen, I decided not to even worry about it…

A nice coating with egg wash followed by sesame seeds sprinkled on top…

And there you have it, a batch of Ka’Kat ready to be enjoyed, shared with friends, or stored in the freezer for later…

I cannot recommend this recipe highly enough, it would be a great project to tackle with kids, they would have fun forming the little dough ropes and then the rings. If you don’t have mahlab, don’t let that stop you from making the bread, but I must say the seeds add a flavor that will leave everybody wondering “what’s in it?”

Karen, thank you once again for inspiring me! I have so many breads I want to bake from your site, it’s not even funny… but I bet you knew that already…
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ONE YEAR AGO: Spinach and Chickpea Curry

TWO YEARS AGO: Sautéed Zucchini with Sun-dried Tomatoes and Basil

THREE YEARS AGO: Orzo with Heirloom Tomato Relish

FOUR YEARS AGO: Headed to Brazil!

FIVE YEARS AGO: The Rhubarb Brouhaha: Revelation Compote

SIX YEARS AGO: Love me tender…

31Jul2015

QUINOA SALAD WITH RED GRAPES AND AVOCADO

Posted in Rice and Grains, Salads by sallybr

This salad was based on a recipe by Katie Lee featured on the FoodTV show The Kitchen. It was originally made with green grapes, avocados, cucumbers, and a lime dressing. Obviously, the idea was to have a sort of monochromatic green salad with bright and sharp flavors. I changed things around by using red grapes instead. Red grapes are quite a bit sweeter, and added a contrast of color I found particularly pleasing. But, let me tell you, no matter what you decide to add to your quinoa salad, please try the cooking method I describe after the recipe. It is nothing short of life-changing. Yeah, you read me correctly. Life-changing. For better.

QUINOA SALAD WITH RED GRAPES AND AVOCADO
(adapted from Food TV Network)

(as written, it makes a lot of salad, I more or less halved this recipe, eyeballing most ingredients. I kept the amount of dressing unchanged)

Zest and juice of 1 lime
3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
Kosher salt and freshly cracked black pepper
4 cups cooked quinoa, cooled
2 cups green grapes, halved
1 1/2 cups diced cucumbers
fresh parsley, roughly chopped (or fresh cilantro)
1 avocado, diced

In a large bowl, whisk together lime zest, lime juice and olive oil. Taste and season with salt and pepper.

Toss the quinoa, grapes, cucumbers, parsley, and avocados together with the dressing. Serve chilled or at room temperature.

ENJOY!

to print the recipe, click here

Now, take a moment to look at the beauty of this perfectly cooked quinoa.

It is really too bad you cannot taste it through the screen, because the texture turned out sublime. The secret? Cooking the seeds in less water than most recipes recommend, and simmering them for only 6 minutes. I cannot take credit for it, so here is the link to Elaine’s blog, where I found it.

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And here is what I did…

For each cup of quinoa, add 1 + 1/3 cup lightly salted water

Bring to a boil in a saucepan…

Reduce heat, simmer for exactly 6 minutes. That is 360 seconds. Do not open the pan. DO NOT. (I will slap your hand if you try to open it… )

Turn the heat off. Wait 20 minutes with the pan covered. DO NOT PEEK. DO NOT.

Open the pan (finally!), be mesmerized, amazed, awed by the beauty of the perfectly cooked quinoa, fluff the seeds gently with a fork and use them in any preparation you like.

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For the salad, I simply allowed the cooked quinoa to cool to room temperature, and added all the ingredients plus the simple dressing. The salad keeps well in the fridge for several days and is a great option for a light lunch, if you so desire. Another tip I’d like to share with you: make sure the avocado has a firm texture and only add the pieces when you are about to serve the quinoa. I did not care for the mushy texture of overly ripe avocados I used the first time I made this dish. On my second time around, I also added sliced celery. Turned out delicious, very refreshing. But, you know by now how much we love our celery…

Elaine, thanks so much for sharing your method for perfectly cooked quinoa!
I won’t be cooking it any other way from now on…
My life is changed. For better.

🙂

ONE YEAR AGO: Strawberry Coffee Cake

TWO YEARS AGO: Lemon-Poppy Seed Muffins

THREE YEARS AGO: Mascarpone Brownies

FOUR YEARS AGO: Salmon Tacos

FIVE YEARS AGO: Cinnamon Turban Bread

SIX YEARS AGO: Summertime Gratin

26Jul2015

SECRET RECIPE CLUB: STRAWBERRY CHOC CHIP CAKE & A BONUS RECIPE

Posted in Desserts, Desserts, Sweets, Secret Recipe Club by sallybr

The Secret Recipe Club strikes again, as it does every last Monday of the month. Each participating food blogger gets assigned a blog in secret, and must publish a post about a chosen recipe from the assignment at the exact same time as everyone else in the group. This month I hit gold. Pure gold. My blog was Fried Ice and Donut Holes, hosted by Melissa. A special assignment not only because it is one amazing blog, but because a little bird told me that this month marks her last participation with our club. That is sad, of course, but sometimes we need to make choices and set new priorities. When I read Melissa’s About Me page, I kept smiling all the way through it. For one thing, this whole paragraph could be equally applied to me!

Though I absolutely love my job, cooking and baking are my passions. During the summer of 2009, I started reading some food blogs and finally, my husband suggested that I start my own. As a result, I began Fried Ice and Donut Holes in July of 2009 as a hobby and online recipe box, so to speak, for us to keep track of the many great recipes that we try.

Ok, maybe the baking in my case should be re-phrased to “bread baking”. Although I started reading food blogs long before starting my own, it is true that Phil was a big supporter of me making the move from “reader” to “writer.” I am sure you are also curious to find out the origin of her blog’s name, so I quote yet another paragraph from her page:

When I was younger, I remember my grandpa always telling us to behave or we’d be having fried ice and donut holes (aka nothing) for dinner. For some reason, that phrase stuck and now it lives on forever!

Isn’t that super cute? Melissa started her blog almost at the same time I started mine (6 long years ago), and in another coincidence, she joined The Secret Recipe Club at the same time I did, as well as other old timers such as Dorothy, from Shockingly Delicious. It is sad to see her go… She received my blog as her monthly assignment not too long ago and composed a great post about my French Style Rolls, if you’d like to see it, click here.

As you can imagine, someone who’s been blogging for so long will have a ton of great recipes, and it was not easy to pick one to feature today. Just to tease you with some of those in my final list of possibilities: Tomato Ricotta and Prosciutto Tart, Sriracha Turkey Meatballs (my love for the spicy sauce is hard to ignore…), Eggplant Cannelloni, Bacon & Spinach Souffle, Roasted Cauliflower Risotto (oh, my…), Pretzel Rolls, Baked Coconut Shrimp, Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Truffles (yessssss!)… But in the end I went with her adorable Strawberry Chocolate Chip Cake, which was fun to make and a pleasure to eat!

STRAWBERRY CHOCOLATE CHIP YOGURT CAKE
(from Fried Ice and Donut Holes)

1 1/2 cups flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/8 teaspoon salt
3 tablespoons butter, softened
3 tablespoons Greek yogurt
1 cup sugar
1 egg
1/2 cup milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/3 cup chocolate chips, plus more for sprinkling
1 pound strawberries, hulled and quartered

Line the bottom of a 9-inch round springform pan with parchment paper and grease the sides of the pan with butter or cooking spray.

In a large bowl, mix together the flour, baking powder, and salt. In the bowl of a stand mixer, combine the butter, yogurt, and sugar and mix on medium-high speed until light and fluffy, no more than 2 minutes. Reduce the speed to medium and mix in the egg, beating until light and fluffy. Then add the milk and vanilla. Reduce the speed to low and gradually add the flour mixture, mixing just until incorporated. Fold in the chocolate chips.

Pour the batter into the prepared pan. Arrange the strawberries on top of the cake, cut sides down and close together. Sprinkle additional chocolate chips between the berries. Bake at 350 degrees for about 1 hour, or until the top of the cake is golden brown and a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Remove the cake from the oven and cool for about 40 minutes before releasing it from the pan. Dust the top with powdered sugar, if you want.

ENJOY!

to print the recipe, click here

Comments: My only modification of the recipe was to use mini-choc chips because that’s what I had in the pantry and I thought they would work well too. The cake is absolutely delicious, made our graduate students happy during one of our early meetings, and the small amount leftover was shared with colleagues from the department. Huge baking success!

Since this is the last participation of Melissa in our club, I decided to make an additional recipe from her site as a special farewell. A recipe that I’ve always found pretty intriguing, but stayed as a culinary project for years. Not anymore. I made a small batch of shakshuka for our Saturday lunch. Have you heard of it? A flavorful tomato and pepper based sauce that is used as a base to gently cook eggs. So, so good!

SHAKSHUKA
(adapted from Fried Ice and Donut Holes)

3/4 teaspoon ground cumin
1/4 cup olive oil
1 shallot, sliced
2 red bell peppers, cut into 3/4 inch strips
1 tablespoon dark brown sugar
2 bay leaves
6 thyme sprigs, leaves removed and chopped
2 tablespoons cilantro, chopped
1 can (15 ounces) of whole peeled tomatoes with their juices
1/2 teaspoon saffron threads
1/4 teaspoon Aleppo pepper
salt and pepper, to taste
up to 1 cup water
4 eggs (I used only three for the two of us)

In a very large sauté pan, heat the oil over medium-high heat until shimmering. Add the shallot and cumin and sauté for 5 minutes. Add the peppers, brown sugar, and herbs and continue to cook for 10-15 minutes to develop color. Add the tomatoes, saffron, cayenne, salt, and pepper. Reduce teat to low and cook for 15 minutes, adding water 1/4 cup at a time, so that the mix has the consistency of thick pasta sauce. Taste and adjust seasoning so that the mix is potent and flavorful.

Remove the bay leaves. Make wells for the eggs and carefully break eggs into the wells. Sprinkle with salt and pepper and cook on very low heat for about 8 minutes. Cover the pan and cook until the eggs are set, about 1 minute more. Serve right away…

ENJOY!

to print the recipe, click here

I am so glad I made this bonus recipe from her site! I’ve always been intrigued by Shakshuka, had quite a few versions of this recipe saved “to make soon”, but finally this assignment with The Secret Recipe Club gave me the chance to go for it. It is a perfect dish for a brunch, or light lunch. It’s important to not over-cook the egg yolks, you want to have the yolk liquid so that it mixes with the very flavorful tomato sauce, with intense saffron flavor. A crusty bread to soak the sauce is a must!

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Melissa, I hope your last assignment with the club gave you as much pleasure as I had cooking from your site! I wish you good luck on all your future projects!

To my readers, please stop by Melissa’s site to say hello, and if you want to see what my fellow club members shared this month, click on the blue amphibian smiling at you at the bottom of this post.

ONE YEAR AGO: Mini-Chocolate Cheesecake Bites

TWO YEARS AGO: Whole-Wheat Spaghetti with Grated Tomato Sauce

THREE YEARS AGO: A Taste of Yellow to Honor Barbara

FOUR YEARS AGO: Gratin of Beefsteak Tomatoes

FIVE YEARS AGO: Tour de France Final Stage: PARIS

SIX YEARS AGO: Snickerdoodles with a Twist

24Jul2015

THE ULTIMATE RASPBERRY SORBET

Posted in Desserts by sallybr

My latest obsession is America’s Test Kitchen. The TV series, the books, the website, I simply cannot get enough of it. Which is kind of odd, because until recently I was…. how should I put it… a bit “cold” about Christopher Kimball. The convoluted nature of their recipes used to irritated me, as they go on and on about every single variable tested in their kitchen until the elusive best recipe is found. But our friend Steve (my certified saffron-provider) recommended the show, and knowing him, I had to give it a try. Long story short, I am slightly addicted. The recipes always work, which is saying a lot. Chances are that for many recipes you will dirty every single pot you own, but… you won’t be disappointed. First one I tried: raspberry sorbet. Their goal was to come up with a sorbet with excellent texture, just the right amount of sweetness, and one that would not freeze rock solid. The recipe is a bit involved (what else is new, ATK?), but once I tried my first spoonful, I was in raspberry bliss… And you can be there too!

THE ULTIMATE RASPBERRY SORBET

Recipe Overview: To keep the formation of ice crystals to a minimum, their trick is making the sorbet base and dividing it in two unequal parts. A small amount of the base is placed in the freezer, and later churned together with the very cold liquid part reserved in the fridge. A little bit of no-sugar pectin is also added to improve texture. The result is mind-blowing good!

For the full recipe, please visit this link at America’s Test Kitchen. You might have to register with the site to see their recipes, but it is a small price to pay for the opportunity to surf through their huge collection.

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Isn’t the color of the raspberry mixture intoxicatingly beautiful? And matching the color of our Vitamix was a happy coincidence…

This recipe forced me to do something that a couple of years ago I said “never ever again for as long as I live“. Oh, well. I can change my mind as easily as I change my nail polish. I said before but it’s worth repeating: pushing raspberry puree through a sieve is not for sissies.