The craving I had to satisfy!!

I was in Vegas this past weekend and one of my girlfriends had french onion soup as a midnight snack.. I never actually saw the soup... But just hearing about it made me think about it this entire gloomy day! Luckily lakers were playing clippers tonight so we couldn't go out to dinner.. Which meant I would get to satisfy my craving all... Just the way I liked it! With EXTRA CHEESE!!! Mmmmm yum! I started first by looking through several allrecipe and used a combination of the French onion gratinee recipe, the French onion V recipe, some improvisation and imagination. I loved the soup a lot... And it totally hit the spot... I didn't want to risk it getting too salty.. I would advise adding a little more salt though and I've made changes to the recipe below. Also..  I decreased the amount of onions from 4 to 3 for future reference, because it was too much for my liking.

French Onion Soup

Ingredients
3 onions ( I used a combo of red and yellow)
4 tbsp butter
3 tbsp ap flour
1 tsp peppeR
1 tsp sugar
1 tbsp balsamic vinegar
1/2 cup red or white wine
1 14.5 oz can beef broth
1 32 oz carton chicken stock
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp dried parsley
1/2 tsp dried thyme
1/2 tsp bayleaf (or one bay leaf)
1 loaf of French bread
12 slices of Swiss cheese
8 oz shredded asiago

1. Brown onions with butter in a deep non stick pot for about 15 minutes.
2. Add flour, pepper, sugar and mix into a pasty mixture.
3. Add wine and vinegar to the pot and allow it to cook for 5 minutes.
4. Stir in beef and chicken stock, parsley, salt, thyme, bayleaf and bring to a simmer.
5. Turn oven on broil and toast both sides of sliced bread.
6. Divide soup into individual portions filling bowls 2/3 of the way.
7. Top each bowl with one slice of toasted bread, two slices of Swiss cheese.
8. Cover cheese slices with 1/4 cup of asiago cheese and sprinkle parsley flakes.
9. Place under the broiler for 5-7 minutes or until cheese bubbles and browns.

Testing... 1...2...3

After a wonderful birthday weekend filled with friends family and fun I decided to give my new toys a test run! As usual I spent the entire day thinking about what I wanted to make first and tossed a couple ideas around.. and eventually settled on something safe. I was short on ingredients and the rain kept me from visiting the grocery store. However, I did have a new bottle of cream of tar tar that I had purchased last year when one of my best friends was in town. I was set on making her a batch of her favorite snickerdoodle cookies but her trip came and went too quickly.. and the tartar remained unopened.  The recipe is below and is from all recipes and is pretty similar to the one from smitten kitchen. I stuck with only butter since thats all I had.

As for the stand mixer... the same friend mentioned above asked me today.. "what exactly does it do... besides.. mix..." It is a baker's best friend... usually I make a huge mess when I bake.. which is why i prefer to do it when no one is awake.. no one to nag me about the drippings and clean up... and no one to fight for space. Anyway, point is.. it does all the grunt work.. in a clean and simplistic manner.. it uses only one bowl and all the measured ingredients go directly in. No mixing, no kneading! I'm IN LOVE! thanks guys!

Snickerdoodle Cookies 

INGREDIENTS:

1/4 cup butter, softened

1/4 cup shortening

3/4 cup white sugar

1 eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1-1/3 cups and 1 tablespoon all-purpose

flour

1 teaspoon cream of tartar

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/8 teaspoon salt

1 tablespoon white sugar

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

DIRECTIONS:

You have scaled this recipe's ingredients to yield a new amount (24). The directions below still refer to the original recipe yield (48).

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C).

2. Cream together butter, shortening, 1 1/2 cups sugar, the eggs and the vanilla. Blend in the flour, cream of tartar, soda and salt. Shape dough by rounded spoonfuls into balls.

3. Mix the 1 tablespoons sugar and the cinnamon. Roll balls of dough in mixture. Place 2 inches apart on ungreased baking sheets.

4. Bake 8 to 10 minutes, or until set but not too hard. Remove immediately from baking sheets.

Thick like Molasses

Every time I bake with molasses, I remember a college friend telling me "our friendship is thick like molasses..." At the time I had no idea what molasses was and if you don't know, think fragrant dark honey. Anyway,  after watching hours and hours of "The New Girl" and "Gossip Girl," to celebrate my well earned free time, I finally ran out of episodes to watch.  It suddenly occurred to me that I needed to redeem the time and enjoy the holiday season before it slips away like summer did...What better way to celebrate the holidays than with some holiday cookies! These are a little different from the ones I encountered in the past. They did not require flattening before entering the oven and they spread A LOT!! so spread 'em!

Molasses Ginger Snaps

Ingredients

3/4 cup butter, melted

1 cup white sugar

1 egg

1/4 cup molasses

1/2 tablespoon lemon zest

2 cups all-purpose flour

2 teaspoons baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon ground cloves

1/2 teaspoon ground ginger

1/2 teaspoon fresh ginger

1/2 cup white sugar

Directions

1. In a medium bowl, mix together the melted butter, 1 cup sugar, and egg until smooth. Stir in the molasses add lemon zest and fresh ginger. Combine the flour, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, cloves, and ginger; blend into the molasses mixture. Cover, and chill dough for 1 hour.
2. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C). Roll dough into walnut sized balls, and roll them in the remaining white sugar. Place cookies 2 inches apart onto ungreased baking sheets.
3. Bake for 8 to 10 minutes in the preheated oven, until tops are cracked. Cool on wire racks

Quaranta Goffredo Mameli

Pasta sauce that brings me back to "quaranta goffredo mameli," my cozy 6 person split apartment in Rome. Its funny how your taste buds can make you so nostalgic.. and that something so simple and taken for granted, like pasta sauce can send memories flooding...Eating the pasta made me think of all the meals my roommate and I would have while watching Eddie Izzard or Summer Heights High...even more so, it reminded me of this small hole in the wall restaurant where we were literally eating in someone's kitchen... 25 euro pre fixe dinner.. no english necessary, just sit and eat. Anyway, this sauce is so easy to make and for those who have not had the opportunity to visit rome.. it is EXACTLY how pasta would taste at your local osteria :) I suggest adding some guanciale-- pig cheek, or maybe just adding bacon bits if its easier.. you'll end up with a traditional pasta amatriciana!

My mom and I were at the super market and I was explaining the concept of spaghetti squash to her and she was in disbelief that the big yellow squash could yield strands of noodles, at 99cents a lb, we picked one up. After all the thanksgiving festivities and its leftovers were finished, I finally had the opportunity to fire up the stove. I decided to make the spaghetti squash with some shrimp and swai filet and served it with a healthy scoop of sauce. It was absolutely delicious, but for next time I'll be baking the squash like a lasagna  or ziti since I like the way the spaghetti squash and melted cheese tastes together. I also, made a separate portion with corkscrew pasta for my brother since he's not fond of squash...As for the sauce, it was great with seafood but, some guanciale would have made the meal molto autentico! Enjoy the recipe!

Tomato Sauce with Butter and Onions
Adapted from Marcela Hazan's Essentials of Italian Cooking
Serves 4

Ingredients:
28 ounces (800 grams) whole peeled tomatoes from can (drained)
5 tablespoons (70 grams) unsalted butter
1 medium-sized yellow onion, peeled and halved
Salt and fresh cracked pepper to taste

1. Put the butter, onion and tomatoes in a heavy saucepan over medium heat. (dont worry that its dry, the butter will melt and you'll soon see plenty of liquid)
2. Bring the sauce to a simmer then lower the heat to keep the sauce at a slow, steady simmer for about 45 minutes
3. Stir occasionally, crushing the tomatoes against the side of the pot with a wooden spoon. Remove from heat, discard the onion, add salt to taste. (I didn't add any salt, just some fresh cracked pepper)

nom nom nom thanksgiving!

so thanksgiving kicks off my favorite time of the year! holiday music, pumpkin, good food, good company and something I did not expect... hennessy shots with the fam? anyway, point is I look forward to this holiday EVERY year... I was invited to a holiday fat burn... which entailed burning fat during thanksgiving and xmas... and I couldn't do it because the thought of having to skip dessert and skimp on the butter in the turkey was unbearable.. First off, I'll post a picture of my turkey. I used the michigander style recipe on allrecipe.com. I've been using it for several years now and have made a couple changes each year.. chopped veggies and fresh herbs here and there but the recipe itself is solid and makes a great moist turkey.

what i was REALLY excited about was dessert. everyone knows i LOVE LOVE LOVE pumpkin and i also LOVE bread pudding. When I came across the recipe for pumpkin bread pudding I was absolutely sold... besides I'm usually pretty hesitant about making pumpkin pie since it sells at 3.99 at ralphs... I topped my bread pudding with vanilla bean ice cream and slightly burnt caramel sauce because I liked the burnt sugar taste :)

Pumpkin Bread Pudding

Adapted from a recipe in Gourmet, October 2007

Ingredients:
5 cups cubed (1-inch) day-old baguette or crusty bread*
3/4 stick unsalted butter, melted
1 1/2 cup whole milk
1 1/2 cups canned solid-pack pumpkin
3/4 cup sugar
2 large eggs plus 1 yolk
1/2 cup pecan, chopped (optional)
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
2 teaspoons ground ginger
1 teaspoons ground pumpkin pie spice or all spice
2 teaspoons nutmeg
1 teaspoon ground cloves
vanilla ice cream, caramel sauce, and more chopped pecans, for garnish

Method:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Toss bread cubes with butter in a bowl and set aside.

Whisk together the rest of the ingredients in another bowl, then pour pumpkin/cream mixture over the bread. Toss to coat the bread well.  Let it sit, covered, for about 30 minutes in the refrigerator to let the custard absorb into the bread.

Transfer to an ungreased 8-inch square baking dish and bake until custard is set, 25 to 30 minutes. Alternatively, for individual servings, divide and transfer to 6 ramekins.

first blog entry! hooray!!!

So before I have a chance to decide on color schemes and formatting for my blog, I decided I had to write a post.. now... like NOW.. afterall it is 1am.. and seeing that I started with doing ONLY nocturnal baking 3 years ago to fight insomnia, I felt like it had to be now that I wrote my first blog post. so here it goes!

I've been pretty busy studying for the LSATs so I haven't had as much time to bake as I thought I would. Insomnia is no longer a problem because now I am a grandma and enjoy sleep whenever I can get it. I think another reason why I haven't been baking so much has to do with the fact that I'm a nervous eater..and I have no one to give away my treats to... and therefore there is no reason I should tempt myself with fresh baked goods everyday...

however...that doesn't stop me from foodgawking and browsing blogs in my spare time and mentally bookmarking recipes that I see on foodnetwork at the gym. After reading all about making fluffy asian bread with the tangzhong/water roux method, I grew extremely curious about how fluffy and soft the bread from this recipe would be... It seemed like a pretty long process and from my experience with making croissants a couple years back... it just wasn't worth the time when I could buy a box for five bucks at pavillions in less than five minutes.. anyway, back to the story... one day mom and I went to the asian bakery.. made our way through the war zone of asian moms.. picked out our buns... and paid twenty bucks.. we sat in the car and devoured our buns savoring the taste and smell of fresh baked bread.. wait rewind.. twenty bucks...for some buns that probably cost less then two dollars to pump out... Yeah... thats when I decide I had to give this tangzhong a shot...

after taking my practice test friday morning.. I decided that today was the day that I would make my own asian baos!!

First I made the recipe for the tangzhong

Tangzhong
Ingredients
1/3 cup  bread flour
1 cup water
Directions

1. Mix flour and water together and whisk until it is completely dissolved and no lumps remain.
2. Pour mixture into a small pot and turn on medium heat. Begin stirring constantly as the mixture heats up. Whisk until the mixture thickens up and you begin seeing lines!!
3. Transfer to bowl, cover with cling wrap so that the wrap is literally sticking to the tangzhong...
4. Pop it in the fridge for a couple hours or overnight!!

After the tangzhong was done... infinite possibilities began running through my head... pineapple bun?? whole wheat toast?? green onion bun? creamy corn bun...? cranberry swirl?? then it hit me... HOT DOG BAO!!! Anyway, I ended up compromising and using half the dough for cranberry swirl and the other half for hot dog bao, sweet & savory with one batch of dough.. btw, anyone notice how all the chinese breads taste the same.. but with different toppings and fillings? Anyway here is the recipe I used!


Ingredients:

2½ cups bread flour
3tbsp+2tsp sugar
1/2 tsp salt
1 large egg
½ cup milk
120g tangzhong (half of the tangzhong made)
2 tsp rapid rise yeast

3 tbsp butter (melted 30 seconds in the microwave)

Directions
1. Combine the flour, salt, sugar and instant yeast in a bowl. Make a well in the center. Whisk and combine all wet ingredients: milk, egg and tangzhong, then add into the well of the dry ingredients. Knead until your dough comes together and then add in the butter and continue kneading. I hand kneaded it and it took around 20-30 minutes.. You know you're done when you can perform the window test!

2. Knead the dough into a ball shape. Take a large bowl and grease with oil.  Place dough into  greased bowl and cover with a wet towel. Let it proof for 40 minutes.

3. Transfer to a clean surface. Divide the dough into six equal portions. Knead into balls.  Cover with cling wrap, let rest for 15 minutes.

Cranberry Swirl directions
4. Roll out each portion of the dough with a rolling pin into an oval shape. Cover with cranberries, roll your rolling pin over the cranberries to secure the spot.. and then fold the bottom of the oval up to the middle and then fold the top of the oval down to cover the bottom flap.. sort of like a 3-fold letter.

5. Flip the dough so the folds are facing the down and then roll the dough out to a rectangular shape turn the dough around put another layer of cranberries. Once again, roll the rolling pin over the cranberries and then begin to roll the dough upwards like a cigar.

6. Repeat steps 4 and 5 for the rest of the portions and let it proof a second time for 60 minutes.

7. Brush the tops with egg white and pop it in the oven for 30 mins at 330 degrees.

Hotdog Roll directions:
4. Roll out each portion of dough with a rolling pin, then roll up with dough like a cigar horizontally.
5. Turn the dough vertical and try your best to flatten out the roll. You'll end up with a long rectangular shape. Once again, roll the dough from bottom up into a cigar.
6. Slowly roll the dough to lengthen it, work your way from the center out. You should end up with a rope like piece of dough the length of your rolling pin.
7. Wrap the rope dough around the hotdog and let it proof on the baking sheet for about an hour.
8. Brush top with egg white and bake for 30 mints at 330 degrees.


 So at the end of my bread making session, which officially ended last night... I had either given away or eaten all the cranberry bread and hotdog bread from the previous day... luckily I was ready to give it another go and made another sweet and savory combo, cranberry swirl bread.. and then I sub'd the cranberries for pork sung, chinese dried pork. I must say that was the best one out of the three breads that I made.