January Daring Bakers Challenge: O Canada!

The January 2010 Daring Bakers’ challenge was hosted by Lauren of Celiac Teen. Lauren chose Gluten-Free Graham Wafers and Nanaimo Bars as the challenge for the month. The sources she based her recipe on are 101 Cookbooks and www.nanaimo.ca. 

I'm a day late, so I'm going to get right into it.  The first challenge was to make graham wafers/crackers from scratch.  I struggle with baking in general as I am largely more into the creative process and less into exact measurements.  That's why I do these challenges.  Needless to say, my graham crackers came out less than perfect, although this time I'm not 100% sure where I failed.

I prepared the dough with all-purpose flour (I skipped the gluten-free aspect of the challenge this time around) and exactly as the instructions indicated.  The first place I might have run up against an issue was that my 1-inch cubes of butter were not quite so precise.  They were a bit bigger and not super even.  I had a hard time mixing the dough due to the frozen blocks of butter sending things flying.

I set the dough to chill overnight and came back to it the next day.  Here's where I knew there was a problem.  The dough was pretty sticky as suggested, but not all that wet and was in fact crumbling under my rolling pin.   As such, I couldn't quite get it rolled out to the 1/8 inch thickness indicated in the recipe.

That said, my graham crackers came out as pretty tasty graham cookies that my husband gobbled up freely before I reminded him that there was more to come and I needed at least some crumbs leftover

The second part of the challenge was to turn our graham crumbs into Nanaimo Bars which apparently are a hit in Canada.  I'd heard of these creatures and they look decadent, so gladly took on the challenge.

I must say that this part of the challenge turned out remarkably better than the graham cracker portion.  I had two issues, neither of which stopped me from making a decent Nanaimo Bar.  The first was that I'm really trying to focus on getting healthy and eating "clean" and preparing the bars really brings home the amount of butter that I had to soften to room temperature.  The second issue was that when I hear 8x8x2 pan, I use this one specific pan that we have.  But it's really more like 8x9x3 roughly.  The ingredients probably fit perfectly in an 8x8x2 pan, but I had some problems with the pudding mixture, so it ended up more thin than some of the lovely pictures that I saw on others final posts.

Alas, these minor issues not withstanding, it all came together.  After I spread the cocoa, butter, sugar, coconut, hazelnut (I have a potential almond allergy that I don't like to push) and graham crumbs mixture in and topped that with pudding butter and melted chocolate, I came up with a cute little Nanaimo Bar.  They were tasty.  Very sweet.  Very un-"clean".  But a nice little indulgence  And I figure that the thin layers mean that maybe my version is not quite so bad after all!

January Can Jam: Meyer Lemon and Cara Cara Orange Marmalade

In my ongoing endeavor to mix things up in the kitchen, I signed up for another monthly challenge.  The Tigress' Can Jam Food Blog Challenge! Each month, an ingredient will be posted and we have free reign to come up with interesting recipes to create and then can using a hot water bath canning method.  In general, the Tigress is committed to local, fresh foods which I, of course, am as well.  This seemed like a great opportunity to learn a new skill, make the most of local, fresh, in season foods (and not-so-local but in-season foods while we are in winter) and learn to be more self-sufficient. 

Alas, I started off by scouring the interwebs for citrus canning recipes.  There isn't a ton of variety out there and rather than get creative on the first month, I decided to play it safe.  The bulk of recipes available seem to be preserved lemons of a sort and marmalades.  The interesting part is the opportunity to play with the various kinds of citrus that are available this time of year - your basic run-of-the-mill citrus fruits and new-to-me varieties such as Cara Cara oranges, tangelos, pomelos and more.

I decided to go with a Meyer Lemon and Cara Cara Orange Marmalade that I found in the Washington Post (the same recipe is replicated on a few other sites as well I believe including a Pittsburgh paper whose link kept disappearing on me).  Trader Joe's, my chief supplier these days, happened to have both Meyer lemons and Cara Cara oranges this week which was perfect.

The first step was to wash and cut up the fruit.  First lesson learned: if you can avoid fruit with seeds, do.  The oranges were seedless, but the lemons had lots of seeds and seedlets that kept popping up everywhere.  Of course, fruit is supposed to have seeds and I'm generally against fruit that's engineered to be more convenient, so alas, there we are.

The pieces of fruit got chopped up in the food processor next, although the recipe calls for 1/4 inch pieces and I'm fairly sure my chopping job was more thorough.  This was fine with me since I'm not really a traditional marmalade girl, but I'll see the effects once the jam is tasted.  Next, the fruit bits are mixed with water and left at room temperature overnight. 

Things got much more exciting the next morning.  I heated the fruit mixture along with three cups of sugar until boiling and simmered away for about an hour.  The recipe calls for 45 minutes, but I was a little bit timid with the heat at first and it took awhile for the fruit to thicken up. 

While the fruit was cooking, the canning process got underway.  I have to say that this project made me feel more successful than I have in awhile and it was very fun in a nerdy homesteader sort of way.  I washed and dried three pint (16 ounce) glass mason jars and set them in very hot water using both my canning kettle (found here on Amazon) and a small dutch oven to sterilize them. 

Once the marmalade (so called as it had now finally thickened to something resembling marmalade) was ready, I used my sweet canning funnel (the 5-piece canning set available on Amazon had everything I needed and was such a great help - I get no money for that recommendation.  I'm just a happy customer.) to fill the jars.  As the recipe claimed, it makes just enough (with a small bit extra) for 6 8 ounce jars or 3 16 ounce jars.

Jam jars and dummy jars ready for processingIn order to make sure I was canning properly, I consulted both the directions to the canning kettle and my new bible, Putting Food By, which alerted me to the need to use dummy jars to fill out the rack in my kettle and protect the filled jars from underwater crashes.  I also followed their process for the Boiling Water Bath and the timing from their Classic Orange Marmalade.

The processing of the jars is actually the easiest part of the whole process.  Once the jars were filled and lids placed on tightly, I filled the rack (don't make my mistake and fill the rack outside the kettle - there was no disaster but apparently carrying jars in the rack is not a good idea) and submerged in near boiling water.  As the water reached a boil, I set the timer for 5 minutes.  And then, voila! My jars of marmalade were complete!

I haven't tried them yet as diving right in seemed to defeat the purpose of sealing them in jars that will keep for up to 3 years, and cooling them for 12-24 hours was suggested by the canning kettle instructions.  I assure you, though, that I will have a post coming when I take my first taste!  

Meyer Lemon-Cara Cara Orange Marmalade

Stored in a cool, dark place, unopened jars of this marmalade can last up to 3 years. Once the sealed jars have been opened, they can be refrigerated (with lids on) for up to 6 months.

Makes six 8-ounce jars or three 16-ounce jars

Ingredients:

• 9 medium Meyer lemons, washed, cut into 16ths and seeded
• 3 medium (seedless) Cara Cara oranges, washed and cut into quarters (may substitute Valencia or thin-skinned oranges; see headnote)
• 1 cup water
• 3 cups sugar

Directions:

1. Wash jars, lids and bands in hot soapy water.  Rinse well and set aside.
2. Place lemon and orange pieces in the food processor. Pulse until they have been reduced to 1/4-inch pieces or preferred size.
3. Transfer to a non-reactive bowl.  Add 1 cup water and mix well. Cover and let stand at room temperature overnight or up to 12 hours.
4. Transfer the fruit mixture to a large pot; bring to a boil over high heat, then reduce the heat to medium-high and add the sugar, stirring to combine. Cook, stirring occasionally, for about 40 minutes, until thickened to a jam-like consistency.  (Original author notes: the mixture will start off quite wet, then begin to thicken after 25 minutes or so.)
5. While marmalade is cooking, place jars in hot water in a large pot or canning kettle and lids and bands in another pot of hot water.  Keep them over medium heat, just before boiling, to sterilize.  Note: both recipes I checked called for separate pots.  I'm not sure if this is required or a vestige of not having enough room in pots.  Seems like a good idea to me to just go with it.
6. Pour marmalade evenly among the jars, leaving about 1/4 inch of head space at the top, using your canning funnel if you have one.  Seal tightly.
7. For canning, follow the instructions on your kettle/recipe.  My canning kettle should have about four inches of hot, not boiling, water in the bottom.  Place the jars in the rack using dummy jars of hot water to fill all empty spaces. Cover jars with more hot water.  Boil for 5 minutes to process the jar.  Time starts when the water is boiling.
8. Remove jars and let sit on a towel to cool for 12-24 hours. As noted, these will last for up to 3 years if kept in a cool, dark place and will last for up to 6 months in the refrigerator after opening.

Adapted from Bonnie Shershow, of Bonnie's Jams in Cambridge, Mass. via The Washington Post, link above.

Meatless Monday: Butternut Squash, Potato and Apple Gratin

In the past, I've turned my nose up a bit at the philosophy that all recipes are mathematical formulas.  I'm not of the school that there is one best recipe for anything or just one way to prepare any dish (Alton Brown does nothing for me).  I think cooking is creative and fluid and should be a lot more fun than math.

As I'm writing about more of my recipes, I've found that I'd like to be more systematic in my creations and actually develop recipes that I can repeat.  I won't say that my whole philosophy has changed, but I'm really getting into looking at a few different recipes and coming up with my own interpretation.  That is what I did this week with my Butternut Squash, Potato and Apple Gratin.

I had the title ingredients waiting to be used up and did a little research.  I found a good start for the recipe over at Fine Cooking and moved on from there.  The recipe that follows is a definite work in progress, but a really tasty work in progress that we enjoyed very much.  The main thing I'd like to work on is the appropriate cooking time.  I suggest checking the texture of the fruit and vegetables after about 45 minutes to make sure they are tender but not too soft.

A note about the cheese - I used Sage Cheddar from Grafton Village Cheese Company.  This is a great cheddar from a lovely cheese company in Vermont.  I get mine at the company's cheese store, but you can find it at various cheese shops and restaurants around the city, including at Stinky Brooklyn (I haven't forgotten my local roots!). 

 Butternut Squash, Potato and Apple Gratin 

• 1 1/2 cups fresh bread crumbs (I used a whole wheat bagel)
• 2 tbsp unsalted butter, melted
• Sea salt, to taste
• 1 cup Sage Cheddar, freshly grated (feel free to replace with regular cheddar and about 1 tsp dried sage)
• 1/4 cup unsalted butter, divided
• 2 small white onions, sliced
• 1 cup and 1/4 cup apple cider
• 1 cup and 1/4 cup cream or half and half
• 1 tsp dried thyme (or 2 tsp fresh thyme leaves)
• sea salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
• 1 medium butternut squash, neck portion only, peeled and sliced in rounds
• 2 crisp apples, peeled, cored and sliced
• 2 medium Yukon Gold potatoes, peeled and sliced in rounds

1. Preheat oven to 350F.  Lightly grease a 2 quart casserole dish (I used the wrapper from a stick of butter).
2. Combine butter, bread crumbs and cheese in a medium bowl.  Season to taste and set aside.
3. Melt 2 tablespoons butter in a medium saucepan.  Add onions and cook until soft and just starting to turn golden. Add 1 cup cider and simmer until slightly reduced.  If using cream, add 1 cup cream and remove from the heat.  If using half and half, set aside the onions to cool before adding the cream. Add salt and pepper to taste along with thyme.
4. Melt remaining 2 tablespoons of butter and add apple slices.  Cook until slightly golden. Add 1/4 cup cider and 1/4 cream (allow to cool if using half and half).
5. Combine squash, potatoes and cooked apples with the onion mixture in a bowl.  Add mixture to casserole dish.  Top with breadcrumbs.
6. Bake at 350F for 45 minutes to 1 hour.  Let rest for 10-15 minutes before eating if you can stand it. Enjoy!

January Daring Cooks Challenge: Satay Any Way

The January 2010 DC challenge was hosted by Cuppy of Cuppylicious and she chose a delicious Thai-inspired recipe for Pork Satay from the book 1000 Recipes by Martha Day. 

This was definitely my favorite Daring Cooks Challenge to date.  In our house, we LOVE satay.  And in these leaner times, we often do without as we're avoiding takeout.  How excited was I to find that this months challenge would allow me to experiment at home with one of my favorite things. 

The challenge allowed for us to use any sort of protein (or vegetable if we wanted) to make our satay.  I decided on chicken mainly because of the availablity at the store, again relying on Trader Joe's organic free range chicken tenders.  I also wanted to try beef or pork, but the cuts available weren't ideal at the time.  I am getting ahead of myself, but with this recipe, I will be trying all possible iterations in the future.

Each DC challenge revolves, generally, around a skill or technique.  The technique this month was marinating the meat.  It might sound laughable, since I got to work on this skill while traipsing around New York City seeing my friends and sleeping late and curling up with a book, but I really appreciated the opportunity to think about the components of a marinade and the goals such a marinade is intended to serve.

This marinade is a combination of oil, garlic, onions, ginger, lemon juice, soy sauce, cumin, coriander and turmeric.  I also made the additions recommended to make the recipe more traditionally Thai - extra ginger and fish sauce.  Apparently Thai-style also calls for dragon chilis which I did not seek out, but will next time.  As Cuppy taught us, the acidic elements help to tenderize the meat while the flavor components seep into the meat over the marinating period and really infuse flavor into the meat.  For chicken, which I've said I'm not so terribly fond of, the effect is fabulous.

I let the meat marinate for longer than suggested - about 26 hours.  This was chiefly due to a last minute dinner invite that superseded the need to cook the chicken immediately.  I think this accident of time helped the whole process and I would certainly consider keeping a similar marinade time if I was prepared enough in advance.

The next big step in the process was creating the peanut dipping sauce.  I've been searching for the perfect peanut sauce recipe for at least 6 years when I made it and lost it.  This recipe blended coconut milk (which I believe is key), peanut butter, soy sauce, lemon juice, sugar, cumin, coriander and chilis.  I think the ratio of peanut butter to coconut milk should be higher, but all in all, the sauce was tasty and a great accompaniment to the chicken.

Once the chicken was marinated and the sauce was started, I popped the chicken under the broiler until crispy and browned.  The end result had a beautiful deep flavor with an almost buttery tenderness.  While I may experiment further to find my perfect peanut sauce, I will search no further for a satay marinade. 

I served the chicken and sauce with caramelized broccoli which I wlll write about separately since it was also a great new approach to the vegetable for me.  I am happy to say that we have once again conquered the takeout beast and will be making this dish repeatedly in the future.

Satay Marinade

1/2 small onion, chopped
2 garlic cloves, crushed
1 T ginger root, chopped (optional) (2 cm cubed)
2 T lemon juice (1 oz or 30 mls)
1 T soy sauce (0.5 oz or 15 mls)
1 tsp ground coriander (5 mls)
1 tsp ground cumin (5 mls)
1/2 tsp ground turmeric (2-2.5 mls)
2 T vegetable oil (or peanut or olive oil) (30 mls)
1 pound of pork (loin or shoulder cuts) (16 oz or 450g)

Feeling the need to make it more Thai? Try adding a dragon chili, an extra tablespoon of ginger root, and 1 tablespoon (0.5 oz or 15 mls) of fish sauce. (I keep some premature (still green) dragon chili peppers in the freezer for just such an occasion.)

Directions:
1a. Cheater alert: If you have a food processor or blender, dump in everything except the pork and blend until smooth. Lacking a food processor, I prefer to chop my onions, garlic and ginger really fine then mix it all together in a medium to large bowl.
2a. Cut pork into 1 inch strips.
3a. Cover pork with marinade. You can place the pork into a bowl, cover/seal and chill, or place the whole lot of it into a ziplock bag, seal and chill.

Peanut Sauce

3/4 cup coconut milk (6 oz or 180 mls)
4 Tbsp peanut butter (2 oz or 60 mls)
1 Tbsp lemon juice (0.5 oz or 15 mls)
1 Tbsp soy sauce (0.5 oz or 15 mls)
1 tsp brown sugar (5 mls)
1/2 tsp ground cumin (2.5 mls)
1/2 tsp ground coriander (2.5 mls)
1-2 dried red chilies, chopped (keep the seeds for heat)

1. Mix dry ingredients in a small bowl. Add soy sauce and lemon, mix well.
2. Over low heat, combine coconut milk, peanut butter and your soy-lemon-seasoning mix. Mix well, stir often.
3. All you’re doing is melting the peanut butter, so make your peanut sauce after you’ve made everything else in your meal, or make ahead of time and reheat.

Meatless Monday: Chinese Marbled Tea Eggs

I've been focused on big batch cooking to keep our take-out to a minimum both to save money and eat more healthfully in general.  It's no secret that a hard-boiled egg makes a good quick snack with lots of protein.  It probably is also no secret that they can get a bit dull. The answer to that in our house is to make our hard-boiled eggs Chinese-style.

To make hard-boiled eggs a more interesting treat, I went to Steamy Kitchen.  Her recipe calls for you to crack the already hard-boiled eggs by tapping lightly with the back of a spoon (keep the shell intact, just crack it all over).  Then place the eggs in a pot of hot water with soy sauce, two black tea bags (there could be a lot of tasty substitutions here if you want to get creative), star anise and peppercorns.  Simmer for 40 minutes and then let the eggs steep for anywhere from a couple of hours to overnight. 

When the eggs are ready, they have a built-in sweet spicy salty flavor and are beautifully marbled, making them very pleasing to the eye and the palate! The inside of the shell is particularly artful even in the early stages of steeping and the eggs themselves get more dramatically marbled the longer they are in the tea mixture.  Our first egg  (below) was tested after about four hours of steeping.  I let them continue to sit in the tea overnight, but those eggs got gobbled up to quickly to document.  All in all, very successful and so easy to snack on in the afternoon.