Monday, October 8, 2007

When Truffles and Shrimp Meet the Taste is Sweet!

In recipes, certain ingredients always stand out. "Gold-flaked Chocolate and Caramel Pudding." "Harbenero Beef and Broccoli." "Grilled Shrimp with Truffle Oil Vinaigrette." Mmm! Truffles. These days cooks are sprinkling truffle oil on everything... with good reason. The taste is distinct, delicate and yet delectable. When asked how to save a bad dish, a contestant on "Top Chef" said, "Sprinkle some truffle oil on it !" How could I resist using this wonderful essence of fungus?

Except, of course, that I couldn't actually find Truffle Oil. Even Whole Foods didn't have it! (In retrospect, I should have tried Williams Sonoma.) So I had to settle for truffle oil infused olive oil. The clerk said it was "just as good." I knew I was in trouble.

Without the aid of pure truffle oil, I would have to ratchet up the flavor up in other ways. First, the main protein, the shrimp itself, would have to hold up more of the bargain. I went for un-shelled Gulf Shrimp which are the sweetest and most expensive. Buying them unshelled locks in more flavor. Did you know that shrimp have a sizing system? For example, a mid sized shrimp is a U25. That means about 25 shrimp per pound. I bought U15s.

I decided to spice things up with some mild hot peppers. Sweet and spicy are like getting married in heaven. Unfortunately, I can't tell hot peppers apart, so I'm not sure exact what I peppers I used.

Prepping shelled shrimp is time consuming. First, one shallowly cuts the top of the shell, which allows access to the "vein" which is actually the intenstines. The vein can easily be removed with the point of a knife and wiped onto a paper towel. The shell is then peeled off, being careful to leave the tail in place to hold the shrimp together. I then removed the actual vein which runs along the bottom of the shrimp (this is probably not necessary.)

Next, I butterfly cut the shrimp, which is a cut along the bottom of the shrimp, leaving the top connected, so the two halves don't completely separate. Season with the olive oil and sauce then throw it on the grill!

The shrimp absorbed a wonderful smoked flavor from the grill, were marvelously sweet and had a nice finish with a hint of hot peppers and truffle oil. Excellent!

Monday, April 16, 2007

Recipes from 1st cooking club- Valentines theme

Brie Kisses (to have with drinks) ** See Rick's edit's below **
Makes 32 kisses. Perhaps halve this recipe.
1/2 to 2/3 pound brie cheese (wedges are fine)
1 (17.3-ounce) box frozen puff pastry
Hot pepper jelly – red in colour

Cut the brie into 1/2-inch squares (leave the rind on if you like). Place on a dinner plate and put the cheese in the freezer while you thaw the puff pastry for 30 minutes at room temperature.Unfold the thawed pastry, press together seams and roll lightly with a rolling pin to smooth it out. Cut each sheet into fourths, then cut each fourth in half. Cut the halves in half to make 16 squares per sheet.Lightly spray a mini muffin pan with nonstick spray. Fit a piece of dough into each cup, pushing into the cup but leaving the edges sticking up. Place a dab of pepper jelly in each cup, then top with a piece of cheese.Bake at 400 degrees for 10 to 15 minutes, until golden. Serve warm. (Can be prepared ahead and refrigerated until ready to bake, or you can bake them and rewarm about 10 minutes in a 350-degree oven before serving.).

Salad Caprese
Real Italian mozzarella sliced ½ inch thick
Ripe vine tomatoes sliced ½ inch thick
Fresh basil leaves
Extra virgin olive oil
Pesto (purchase ready made)

Make an individual appetizer plate for each person. If tomatoes and mozzarella balls are large enough one slice of each is probably enough per person. Adjust quantity according to size.
Place a few fresh basil leaves on each plate. Leaves can be shredded; depends on leaves.
Place a slice of tomato on the basil leaves and drizzle olive oil on tomato.
Top the tomato with a slice of mozzarella.
Use a toothpick to draw a heart with the pesto on each slice of mozzarella.
Season with salt and ground pepper.

Lamb with Red Peppers and Rioja (Entrée)
1kg/2 ½ lb. lean lamb cubed (Boned or boneless leg, or if available cubed stewing lamb)
Enough flour to coat cubed lamb
60ml/ 4tblspoons olive oil
2 red onions sliced
10mls/ 2 teaspoons paprika
1.5ml /¼ tsp ground cloves
400ml red Rioja
150ml/ 2/3 cup lamb stock
2 bay leaves
2 thyme sprigs
3 red bell peppers seeded and sliced
salt and ground black pepper to taste

1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees F
2. Season the flour and coat lamb
3. Heat oil in frying pan and brown lamb in batches. Transfer to an ovenproof dish.
4. Fry onion and add to meat
5. Add paprika, cloves, lamb stock, bay leaves and thyme and bring mixture to a simmer.
6. Add the sliced red peppers
7. Cover dish and cook for 30 minutes or until meat is tender.


Fluffy Mashed Potatoes
4 medium russet potatoes (about 21/2 pounds), peeled and quartered
3/4 teaspoon salt, divided
1/2 to 3/4 cup half-and-half or whole milk
4 tablespoons unsalted butter, at room temperature, divided
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground pepper

In a large saucepan over high heat, combine the potatoes with water to cover and bring to a boil. Add 1/4 teaspoon of the salt, reduce the heat to medium low, and simmer until tender, about 20 minutes. Drain well. Return the potatoes to the warm pan, add 1/2 cup of the half-and-half, and beat with an electric mixer or potato masher until smooth. Use additional half-andhalf or milk if needed for desired consistency. Cut 2 tablespoons of the butter into small pieces and beat into the potatoes. Add the remaining 1/2 teaspoon salt and the pepper and fluff with a fork. Transfer to a warmed bowl, dot the remaining butter on top, and serve immediately.

Green Beans with Shallots
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt, plus more for the cooking water
1 pound fresh green beans
1 large shallot
1 to 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
Freshly ground black pepper

Bring a medium pot of cold water to a boil over high heat and salt it generously. Trim the stem end off the green beans. Peel and finely chop the shallot.
Drop the green beans into the boiling water and cook, uncovered, until crisp tender, about 4 minutes. Drain in a colander set in the sink and rinse with very cold water until cool. Drain well and pat dry with paper towels. (The vegetables can be prepared up to this point, up to 4 hours ahead.) Heat the olive oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add the shallot and cook, stirring occasionally, until the shallot is just golden, about 2 minutes. Add the green beans, increase the heat to high, and cook, stirring occasionally, until the beans are heated through, about 4 minutes. Season with the 1/2 teaspoon salt and some pepper and serve immediately


Pavlova ** Alternate recipe from Alex below **
4 egg whites
1 ¼ cups finely granulated sugar
1 tsp vanilla
1 tablespoon cornstarch/cornflour
For decoration: 1 ½ cups heavy whipping cream and fruit.
Grease flat baking tray, line with grease-proof paper and grease again (Pam)
Preheat oven to 250 degrees

Place egg whites in a warm dry bowl and beat until very stiff. Gradually beat in 1 cup of sugar – mixture should be very thick and peaks should remain in place if formed.
Quickly fold in remaining ingredients (vanilla cornflour and remaining sugar).
Spread mixture on the greased and lined baking tray in the shape of a heart. Make sure you have a platter that will hold this shape when baked. The raw mixture should be roughly 1 ½ inches thick.
Bake for 1 ¼ hours.
Allow to cool. No longer than two hours before serving, whip cream until soft peaks form and spread on pavlova. Cover the cream with red fruit. Sliced strawberries, raspberries and red currants are ideal. If feeling adventurous, the fruit can be used to decorate in a pattern to accentuate the heart shape.

Wednesday, April 11, 2007

Pics from the inaugural cooking club

The group at dinner:















Alex's delicious Pavlova:
Dave:














Hosting

As the hosting/entree guinea pig, here are some lessons I learned:
- Don't schedule the dinner so that the person preparing the appetizers arrives last. People arrive hungry and may resort to tucking into main course. Whoops!
- If people plan to finish their preparations at your place, make sure you have a better plan for the oven than I had! Otherwise your main dish (and/or others) may be cold. Whoops!
- Do decorate :)

Thursday, February 22, 2007

Mashed Potatoes

So, it turns out mashed potatoes are pretty easy to make, and they can have wildly varying amounts of dairy products in them. Who knew? My only mistake with these was boiling the potatoes way too early and not having a easy way to keep them warm until dinner time. Oh, and you can warm up a bowl by leaving it full of hot water for a few minutes.

-dsb

Brie Kisses

Brie Kisses to have with drinks
Makes 32 kisses.
  • 1/2 to 2/3 pound brie cheese (wedges are fine)
  • 1 (17.3-ounce) box frozen puff pastry
  • Hot pepper jelly – red in colour

Cut the brie into 1/2-inch squares (leave the rind on if you like). Place on a dinner plate and put the cheese in the freezer while you thaw the puff pastry for 30 minutes at room temperature.

Unfold the thawed pastry, press together seams and roll lightly with a rolling pin to smooth it out. Cut each sheet into fourths, then cut each fourth in half. Cut the halves in half to make 16 squares per sheet.

Lightly spray a mini muffin pan with nonstick spray. Fit a piece of dough into each cup, pushing into the cup but leaving the edges sticking up. Place a dab of pepper jelly in each cup, then top with a piece of cheese.

Bake at 400 degrees for 10 to 15 minutes, until golden. Serve warm. (Can be prepared ahead and refrigerated until ready to bake, or you can bake them and rewarm about 10 minutes in a 350-degree oven before serving.).

-=-=-=-=-=-=

My changes:

  • Used Cranberry Jalepeno jelly from this nice lady in Austin named Joy.
  • Didn't use mini-muffin pans, instead used a regular baking sheet. This required folding the four corners of each square up and pressing them together lightly. There was a little leakage, but worked well (and is easier than cleaning a mini-muffin pan).

Other suggestions from guests:

  • Use more than 1/2 inch squares of cheese -- about double seemed right.

Pavlova All Over

Unlike everyone else, I don't check my email at 10pm so I was pretty much last to choose a recipe: Pavlova or vino. Considering it's the cooking club and not the buying and opening wine club, I chose the Pavlova. I had visions of bells causing Russian dogs to salivate over exotic, sugary Turkish pastries, but a bit of research revealed that Pavlova is actually an Australian or New Zealandian/New Zealandish dessert. The exotic name comes from Anna Pavlova a Russian Ballet dancer which it is named in honor of.

I researched a variety of different Pavlova recipes to compare and contrast. The recipe I was provided seemed to be missing the key ingredient of white vinegar, so I switched to this recipe: http://www.joyofbaking.com/Pavlova.html which had the added benefit of giving explicit longhand step-by-step directions. Pavlova is essentially a giant cake-sized meringue. Its girth causes the inside to remain moist, giving the interior an almost marhmallow like texture while the exterior maintains the crisp but melty texture of meringues. Chefs pile fruit and lightly sweetened whipped cream on Pavlova to break up the almost monotonous sweetness. For our meal, I added strawberries, kiwis, golden kiwis, a sweeter yellow colored kiwi, and blackberries.

Most eaters in the cooking club noticed a distinct gray line along the bottom of the Pavlova but were too polite to say anything. The gray line was graphite from my number 2 mechanical pencil which was used to draw a seven inch circle on the parchment paper. Pavlova is free standing -- it bakes on a cookie sheet with the beaten eggs giving the dessert structure to hold shape. The pencil line was meant to keep the cake somewhat compact. Lesson learned. Next time I'll use lead based paint instead of a pencil. Or I'll draw the circle on the other side of the paper.


Overall Pavlov was a delightful end of the meal, made by its fabulous texture and the nouveau spark of golden kiwis, which none of us had tried before.