Daring Cooks November - Sushi

The November 2009 Daring Cooks challenge was brought to you by Audax of Audax Artifex and Rose of The Bite Me Kitchen. They chose sushi as the challenge.

Yay, sushi! While I'm not exactly a sushi connoisseur (I'm not a raw fish fan - it's a textural thing) I have made it a number of times at home. This meant I already had the rice, mats, vinegar etc and was ready to get started.

Our challenge this month had 4 elements - first the sushi rice itself, which we then made into 3 different end products. I followed the recipe to the letter and have to say my rice turned out better than it ever has before.

First up - Dragon Roll ...

My dragon roll filled with delicious terriyaki chicken and topped with sliced avocado.

And turned into a dragon. Grrrr!

Yes, I am aware my dragon looks like it was made by a 3 year old. Let's pretend it was!

Next, Spiral Sushi Roll ...

I think I rolled these the wrong way because they look like the regular sushi rolls I buy all the time. Very tasty though, filled with terriyaki chicken, avocado, cucumber, carrot, omelette and sesame seeds.

And last, bite sized Ngiri ...


I made two varieties of these, one with smoked salmon and the other with omelette and nori. Yum!

I won't post the recipes here as they are really long, but you can find a printable PDF version here.

Thanks for a wonderful challenge Audax and Rose!

Tuesdays with Dorie: Chocolate-Caramel Chestnut Cake

Today is my dad's 60th birthday and to celebrate we had a big family bbq on Sunday. You can't have a birthday party without birthday cake and this week's TWD pick was perfect!

Chestnuts aren't at all common in Australia. My only experience with them prior to this was in Paris as a 17 year old, and what an eye opener that trip was for a budding foodie! One freezing cold day while wandering through the streets we came across a street vendor selling roasted chestnuts in paper bags. I still remember the rustle of the bag, the warmth and delicious taste of those chestnuts.

Here I had to make do with tins of chestnuts and unsweetened chestnut puree (which I sweetened by blitzing it with 3 ts vanilla extract and 3 tbs of sugar) sourced from a local deli.

This cake is definitely not for the faint of heart, with 1/2kg butter, 1/2 litre of cream and almost 3 blocks of chocolate. It didn't rise as much as I expected so I only sliced it into 2 layers instead of 3. Still managed to use all of that delicious ganache though!

The taste test ...

One word - RICH. Dorie said it serves 16 but I think you could double that easily. There aren't too many times where just 1 piece of cake is enough but this was it. The flavour of the cake itself was absolutely sensational and I will definitely make it again, just without all the chocolatey excess.

It was the perfect finish to a fabulous lunch of roast pork loin cooked on the bbq, lots of salad, breads, cheese and drinks. We just didn't eat much else for the rest of the day.

Thanks for a great pick Katya! You can find the recipe on her blog here.

Tuesdays with Dorie: Cran-Apple Crisps

Well, first thing you'll notice is there are no cranberries in my crisps. I've bought frozen cranberries many times and although we are only 52(!) days away from Christmas, there were none to be found.

By the way, a big thank you to Laurie for being flexible with this month's posting days. I am saving the Chocolate Caramel Chestnut cake for my dad's birthday next week!

Em of The Repressed Pastry Chef chose Dorie's Cran-Apple Crisps this week and without the cranberries I don't know if I'm a good judge of these or not. Basically it was just an apple crumble. Tasty, but usually our fallback dessert if we haven't planned ahead.

The taste test ...

Like I said, your standard apple crumble. I'm sure the cranberries would elevate this to something more special and give a great contrast with the sweet crumble topping. Oh well, we did enjoy it with a big scoop of vanilla icecream. An easy Saturday night dessert! I'll stock up on cranberries next time I find them just to pop into something like this.

Thanks Em! You can find the recipe (and no doubt some gorgeous photos) on her blog.

Sunday Crepes

Breakfast has always been my favourite meal of the day, particularly on weekends, but lately I can wander around the kitchen for ages before I find something that takes my fancy. It can't take too long to prepare, be too sweet or too heavy. The answer? Crepes!

Lots of crepe recipes are filled with unnecessary ingredients. One recipe I came across had 1/2 cup sugar and 80g butter. Ridiculous!

The recipe I use is from The Original Woman's Weekly Cookbook (circa 1970s) and it is one that has stood the test of time. This weekend we filled our crepes with fresh sliced bananas and topped with a raspberry and lime sauce. Delicious.

Crepes

1/3 cup plain flour
2 eggs
3/4 cup milk
pinch of salt

Combine all ingredients using a food processor or hand whizz. Let stand for 15 minutes.

Meanwhile to make the sauce, in a small saucepan add 1 cup of frozen raspberries, 1 tbs sugar and the juice of 1 lime. Warm through on low-medium heat, stirring gently to keep some of the raspberries intact.

Heat a non-stick frying pan (or crepe pan if you have one) over medium-high heat. You shouldn't need to use any oil at all. Holding the pan in one hand, pour in 1/4 cup mixture while tilting the pan in a circular motion to swirl the mixture evenly over the base. Cook for about 1 minute or until the the top of the crepe is dry and the edges are starting to curl. Flip the crepe over and cook for another 30 seconds or until lightly golden. Remove crepe and repeat process.

The Kitchen Reader

Last month I stumbled across (I say stumbled but it was on Cakelaw's blog which I visit frequently) The Kitchen Readers, an online group reading their way through foodie related books. As it combines two of my great loves ie. food and books, I decided to join at once!

Unfortunately I don't have a book to review this month. Literally. Neither of the next few month's selections are available in our library system or indeed any b0okshop in the country (or so it seems) so I resorted to buying online and they haven't arrived yet.

My apologies to Jennifer and the other members!

Triple Treat Chocolate Chip Cookies

After the hot weather we've had lately, it was a relief that yesterday was grey, misty and cool. The kind of day that is perfect for curling up with a good book, a hot drink and something sweet to nibble on.

Which brings me to these.

There is much debate on what consitutes the 'perfect' chocolate chip cookie but I say, to each their own. If your preference is for thin, crunchy or chewy these are not for you. Or they may just convert you!

Triple Treat Chocolate Chip Cookies
Adapted from 'Chocolate Chip Cookies' on p16 of Modern Classics Number 2 by Donna Hay

125g butter, at room temperature
1/2 cup white sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar
1ts vanilla extract
2 eggs, at room temperature
2 cups plain flour
1 ts baking powder
100g dark chocolate, roughly chopped
100g white chocolate, roughly chopped
2/3 cup roasted salted peanuts

Preheat oven to 180 degrees C. Line 2 baking trays with baking paper.

Beat together the butter, sugar and vanilla until thick and smooth. Add the eggs and beat to combine. Using a spatula, fold through the flour and baking powder until just barely combined. Add the chocolate and nuts and fold through.

Roll dessertspoonfuls of mixture into balls and place on prepared trays allowing room for each cookie to spread.

Bake at 180 degrees for 10 to 12 minutes, or until puffed and lightly golden. They will still be very soft. Remove from oven and allow to rest for a few minutes before transferring to wire racks to cool completely.

Tuesdays with Dorie: Cherry-Fudge Brownie Torte

This week's TWD selection was another decadent delight!

April of Short & Rose chose Dorie's Cherry-Fudge Brownie Torte and really the name says it all don't you think? Cherry, fudge, brownie, torte. I'm there!

I made only minor changes to the recipe, using dried cranberries instead of cherries, black cherry jam instead of cherry preserves and leaving out the kirsch (I just used all water instead and this really allowed the flavour of the fruits to shine through).

My topping was not even remotely pourable - it somehow managed to achieve to achieve the consistency of a baked New York cheesecake. Fluffy and delicious but not at all mousse-like!

I was all set to do the chevron pattern on the top so I still piped the jam on top.

The taste test ...


I think this would have to be in my top 5 TWD recipes so far! Exactly like a black forest cake but in brownie form and with (an unintentional) cheesecake topping. And of course a lot easier to make. Absolutely delicious.

The tartness of the fruit cut through the richness but I was happy to be able to give most of it away. My MIL was having a working bee on Sunday to give her backyard a makeover. N and I couldn't make it so I sent the torte down to feed the hungry horde. It apparently went down really well and there was none left over, that's always a good sign!

I will definitely be making this again, perhaps for Christmas. Thanks April! You can find the recipe on her blog.

Daring Bakers October - Macarons

The 2009 October Daring Bakers’ challenge was brought to us by Ami S. She chose macarons from Claudia Fleming’s The Last Course: The Desserts of Gramercy Tavern as the challenge recipe.

Oooh boy, this month's DB challenge was a doozey! For the first time since I joined the Daring Bakers over a year ago I don't really have a finished product to blog about.

So many bloggers seem to have a macaron obsession that I was really keen to try them myself. After all, I'm not a complete novice now. How hard could they be?

Attempt #1 - I followed the DB recipe for a plain macaron. I weighed and measured everything carefully, aged the egg whites and ended up with these ...

Now I know they're not terrible but they're also not macarons. I didn't bother filling them since I had to scrape them off the baking paper (they were stuck like superglue) and I naievly assumed my next lot would be better. Ha!

Attempt #2 - I tried a different recipe (chocolate flavour) which called for them to be rested on the bench for an hour before baking. This time I didn't even make it to the baking part. Once I folded in the dry ingredients my mix turned almost solid. I could have rolled the dough into balls it was so stiff and dry. It just seemed like the ratio of eggwhites to dry ingredients was completely off. It all went straight in the bin.

Attempt #3 - Same recipe as attempt #2 but this time I added only half the amount of dry ingredients (I stopped as soon as the consistency seemed right).

Dry ingredients weighed, blitzed in the food processor and seived

Aged eggwhites at room temperature whipped with sugar until thick and glossy

Piped onto trays and hoping the peaks will soften

After 1 hour - nope, they look exactly the same

After 15 minutes at 150 deg C

Definitely not right

The best 2, sandwiched together with rosella jam

I am completely in awe of everyone else who made these successfully. Some of the results were absolutely stunning! But for me it was stressful, frustrating and a waste of time as I don't feel any closer to mastering them. I can't even learn from my mistakes because I have no idea what I did wrong.

As much as it pains me to say it, the macarons won. Final score Macarons 3: Susan 0.

Bring on November!

Changes

It's time for a change around here. What do you think of the new header?

Please bear with me over the coming weeks as I tweak the blog. I have zero skills in web design and am flying blind here. Help and comments greatly appreciated!

Tuesdays with Dorie: Sweet Potato Biscuits

Erin of (one of my favourite blogs) Prudence Pennywise chose Dorie's Sweet Potato Biscuits this week and they definitely had me intrigued. Basically they are an American version of our Aussie classic, the pumpkin scone. Unfortunately I've never made a scone I've been totally happy with, and over the years I've tried dozens of different recipes!

My other concern was using fresh sweet potato when recipe specified canned. I know Dorie said just use 1 cup of fresh mash, but that didn't seem to equate to 2 x 15 ounce cans. And I was right, because these were dry.

The taste test ...

Golden, flaky and great flavour but like I said, DRY. I knew at the time the mix was too crumbly. It did cross my mind to add some extra moisture but I second guessed myself and we ended up with hockey pucks. Boo. No time for a redo this week but I would love to have another go sometime.

After last month I feel like I've conquered my fear of pastry, maybe now I will work on perfecting the scone!

And now for something totally off topic but my sweet Oscar is 6 months old today!

Happy half birthday baby!

Daring Cooks October - Vietnamese Pho

Daring Cooks time again!

The October 2009 Daring Cooks’ challenge was brought to us by Jaden of the blog Steamy Kitchen. The recipes are from her new cookbook, The Steamy Kitchen Cookbook.

I was really excited about this month's pick, not only because it was chosen by Jaden but also because I love Vietnamese food! It is definitely my favourite Asian cuisine - fresh, fragrant and flavoursome. That being said, I've never actually had pho before.

We were given the option of doing either a long or short version of the dish. I originally chose the short version (which uses a premade stock) because I intended to make it again later in the month. Unfortunately I ran out of time but no matter, we will definitely be having this again!

I only made minor changes to the recipe, using chicken thighs because I feel they have more chickeny flavour, and using vermicelli noodles instead of the wider rice stick ones.

The taste test ...

Well, I didn't pick the best day to make soup for dinner. It was a hot and sticky 35 degrees in Brisbane that day, definitely not soup weather but it didn't matter. This was AMAZING! For really very little effort and a short list of ingredients we had a phenomenal meal. Light, fragrant and absolutely packed with flavour. I was also impressed with how clear the broth remained even after simmering the chicken. All I can think is if it tastes this good using purchased stock, it must be unbelievably good with homemade. I can't wait to try!

Vietnamese Chicken Pho

For the Chicken Pho Broth:
2 tbsp. whole coriander seeds
4 whole cloves
2 whole star anise
2 litres store-bought or homemade chicken stock
1 whole chicken breast (bone in or boneless)
½ onion
7.5 cm chunk of ginger, sliced and smashed with side of knife
1 to 2 tbsps. sugar
1 to 2 tbsps. fish sauce
500 grams dried rice noodles (about ¼ inch/6 mm wide)

Accompaniments:
2 cups bean sprouts, washed and tails pinched off
Fresh cilantro (coriander) tops (leaves and tender stems)
½ cup shaved red onions
½ lime, cut into 4 wedges
Sriracha chili sauce
Hoisin sauce
Sliced fresh chili peppers of your choice

Directions:

To make the Chicken Pho Broth: heat a frying pan over medium heat. Add the coriander seeds, cloves and star anise and toast until fragrant, about 3-4 minutes. Immediately spoon out the spices to avoid burning.

In a large pot, add all the ingredients (including the toasted spices) and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat to medium-low and let simmer for 20 minutes, skimming the surface frequently. Use tongs to remove the chicken breasts and shred the meat with your fingers, discarding the bone if you have used bone-in breasts.

Taste the broth and add more fish sauce or sugar, if needed.

Strain the broth and discard the solids.

Prepare the noodles as per directions on the package.

Ladle the broth into bowls. Then divide the shredded chicken breast and the soft noodles evenly into each bowl.

Have the accompaniments spread out on the table. Each person can customize their own bowl with these ingredients.

A big thank you to Jaden for introducing us to pho!

You can find the long version of the recipe here.