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Ideas Post 68: Vote for a Recipe

April 21, 2018 7 Comments

What!? It's Saturday night already?!

I'm pretty sure I committed to making something from this ridiculously beautiful tome of a French pastry cookbook this week - what should it be?

A) Tea and Honey Macarons (Macarons Thé au Miel)

B) Orange Macarons (Macarons Orange)

C) Salted Caramel Macarons (Macarons caramel beurre salé)

D) Basque Cake (Gâteau Basque)

E) Mocha Cake (Moka Café)

F) Paris-Brest Almond Financiers (Moelleux Financiers Paris-Brest)

G) Molten Chocolate Cakes (Moelleux au Chocolat)

All from French Patisserie

Chicken with Mustard (Poulet a la Moutarde)

April 20, 2018 Leave a Comment

This chicken with mustard is famous. At least, it's famous in the Food52 Cookbook Club last July, when the group covered My Paris Kitchen. People raved about David Lebovitz's simple but delicious recipes, but remarked that his cookbook was heavily skewed towards "Fall/Winter" dishes. Since it was swelteringly hot here, I skipped cooking from My Paris Kitchen at the time, and then promptly forgot all about it. Nine months later, I finally picked up Lebovitz's marvelous cookbook again and tried the famed chicken with mustard (properly, poulet á la moutarde).

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Ideas Post 67: Vote for a Recipe

April 14, 2018 4 Comments

Happy Saturday! The poulet a la moutarde from My Paris Kitchen was a smash hit for dinner last night, so much so that I was tempted to pull more recipes from David Leibovitz's cookbook for today's recipe vote.... but, I realized I have Gather & Graze checked out of the library. Flipping through it, I saw a ton of delicious-looking recipes to try, so I'll save round two of MPK for another time.

A) Kohlrabi Salad with Ginger-Maple Dressing

B) Smoky Broccoli with Blue Cheese Dressing and Spiced Krispies

C) Peanut Pork Ragout

D) Slow-cooker Coconut-braised Beef Cheeks

E) Miso-butterscotch Budino with Yogurt and Blueberry Jam

All from Gather & Graze

Ultralemony Lemon Bundt Cake (with an optional Lemon Glaze)

April 8, 2018 3 Comments

Lemon cake is one of my favorite desserts. I don't remember precisely what cake I would ask for on my birthday growing up, but I do remember lemon or orange cakes appearing by request for special occasions. This ultralemony lemon Bundt cake with a lemon glaze (slightly adapted from Baked Occasions) is the pinnacle of all the lemon cakes, and perfect for Spring when there's a surplus of lemons to be had. Yes, there's already a lemon (yogurt) Bundt cake on this blog.... both cakes are great, but this one has much more lemon flavor. ...

Tuxedo Brownies

April 7, 2018 Leave a Comment

A tuxedo brownie is so named for its three layers - super dense, almost black in color because it's so fudgy, brownie, followed by a thick layer of crisp white frosting, and finished with a stylish coating of shiny dark chocolate ganache. These tuxedo brownies, from Cookies and Cups, are among the best I've ever eaten.

Let me get this out of the way immediately. I'm not a huge fan of frosted brownies. In fact, generally, I strongly dislike the frosted brownies sold at grocery stores and some bakeries, with their super sweet, thick layer of buttery buttercream and their super sweet, thick layer of "meh" brownie. These tuxedo brownies are not like those frosted brownies.

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Ideas Post 66: Vote for a Recipe

April 7, 2018 2 Comments

I'm catching up with these idea posts, I swear! Tuxedo brownies are made (and taste-tested), both chicken curries are planned for dinner this coming week. In the meantime, I've heard really great things about My Paris Kitchen by David Lebovitz, so that's the inspiration for this week's cookbook selection:

A) Chicken with Mustard (Poulet a la Moutarde)

B) Chicken Lady Chicken (Poulet Crapaudine)

C) Chicken in Red Wine Sauce (Coq au Vin)

D) Herbed Fresh Pasta (Pates Fraiches aux Herbes)

E) Individual Chocolate Cakes with Dulche de Leche and Fleur de Sel (Mini Gateaux au Chocolat avec un Coeur de Confiture de Lait et Fleur de Sel)

Thanks for voting!

Baked Bars (aka Seven Layer Bars)

March 25, 2018 4 Comments

I've been eyeing all of the bar cookies on our recipe schedule for Baked: New Frontiers in Baking with a little dismay. The bars segment of the brownies and bars chapter probably contains the highest percentage of recipes I would never choose to make of my own accord within any of the Baked cookbooks. I love bar cookies, but this particular set I've never found especially motivating (which explains why I've owned this cookbook for 10 (!) years but haven't baked any of the bars yet). ...

Ideas Post 65: Vote for a Recipe

March 24, 2018 7 Comments

I've been following a pretty strict "only buy what's on the list" grocery shopping regime, as well as a "eat what we already have" program, so I haven't been making many new dishes. I can only follow that sort of behavior for so long though and guests are a great excuse for cooking more....

We have guests! Caleb's parents and two adorable goldens will be staying with us for the next month-ish, which means I have more people to feed, so more recipes to be made.

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Focaccia with Grapes, Pancetta, and Rosemary

March 13, 2018 Leave a Comment

Focaccia is one of the easiest breads to make and one of the most rewarding. The Italian version of a flat bread, focaccias derive their tender chewy interior from the oil added to the dough, the crispy edges and surface come from baking on an oiled sheet as well as the drizzle of olive oil just before baking. Focaccias can be flavored with virtually any seasoning scattered across the top - the simplest usually being chopped rosemary and flaky salt. This focaccia with grapes, pancetta, and rosemary from Bread Toast Crumbs is a lovely incarnation of the fluffy Italian bread....

Chicken Baked with Tomatoes and Lemon

March 12, 2018 1 Comment

This is a post about chicken baked with tomatoes and lemon zest, as a simpler and speedier version of the lamb baked with orzo, tomatos and preserved lemon from Malouf. Bear with me.

Once upon a time, I stumbled upon a jar of preserved lemons at Trader Joe's. Intrigued, I put them in my basket. The Jersey cashier asked me what on earth a preserved lemon was and how I used them in cooking. This was to become a theme, although at the time, my response was something like: I'm not really sure but I'll figure it out....

Maple Walnut Scones

March 11, 2018 Leave a Comment

I've always been a huge scone fan. In high school, I was firmly in the iced lemon poppy seed scone or bust camp, but my taste buds have matured a little bit since then. I haven't met a single scone recipe in any of the Baked cookbooks that I haven't liked, although some have worked out a little better than others. These maple walnut scones are our second scone recipe from Baked: New Frontiers in Baking (and the only other scone recipe in the book). They're also the first Baked scone I've decided to modify slightly....

It might be obvious, either from things I've said or from the actual content on this blog, but I can't stand chunks of nuts in my baked goods. This applies not only to the obvious (brownies with surprise nuts make me sad), but also to breakfast-y things like these maple walnut scones. My dislike of chunks of nuts interrupting my tender pastry isn't something I've ever felt I needed to "overcome", instead I just work around it....

Lamb Baked with Orzo Pasta, Tomatoes, and Lemon

March 4, 2018 3 Comments

This one-pot dish of lamb baked with orzo pasta, tomatoes, and lemon from Malouf is actually a very traditional Greek meal, called arni giouvetsi or youvetsi. The lamb is baked in a light, lemony tomato sauce, with a little hint of warming spices, then the pasta is added to the stew until it absorbs most of the sauce and becomes quite tender.

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Vanilla Marshmallows

February 25, 2018 1 Comment

Of all the desserts in the world, marshmallows fall towards the lower half of my list. There are sweets I like less, but many others I'd rather eat before a vanilla marshmallow. I don't even like them in my hot chocolate. I'm good with vanilla marshmallows as the topping for s'mores cookies or s'mores brownies, or melted down to become rice krispies or oat fudge bars, but that's about it. So I hesitated to make these, because what on earth was I going to do with 48 vanilla marshmallows? I felt badly about skipping the adult hot chocolate though, and I had just ordered a bunch of gelatin sheets to try out some recipes from Momofuku Milk Bar, so I told myself to make the marshmallows first and figure it out later....

Sweet Potato Brioche with Orange-Pecan Streusel

February 24, 2018 Leave a Comment

It's a Saturday, I realize, but this is not an Ideas Post... and there hasn't been one for several weeks. The last one didn't get any votes, so I was just kind of leaving it there, and suddenly a month slid by. I haven't been keeping up with previous winners very well (obviously), so the idea is to catch up over the next few weeks (while I don't make anything new). We'll see how it goes....

I really liked both of the recipes voted for on Ideas Post 61, the Moroccan stuffed sweet potato and this sweet potato brioche with orange-pecan streusel from Bake from Scratch: Vol 1, which was technically the vote-winner. I made the brioche for Christmas dinner and I actually used the finished loaf for my inaugural photo shoot with my homemade light box (so excited (still!) about having these).

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Moroccan Stuffed Sweet Potato with Braised Fennel and Tahini

February 19, 2018 1 Comment

There are a lot of cooking shows I like, but MasterChef has never been one of them. I've tried watching it a few times, but it always seems more about the people drama than about the food, and I really only care about the food. So when I checked Fress out of the library, I had no idea it was written by a MasterChef finalist. Instead, I was curious about the content of Fress: really well-styled "contemporary" Jewish food, including this Moroccan stuffed sweet potato with braised fennel and tahini, which won the "sweet potato" idea vote back in December.

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Savory Monkey Bread with Gruyère, Scallions, and Bacon

February 6, 2018 2 Comments

I have a confession to make.... I've been withholding an outstanding recipe from you. I've made this savory monkey bread with Gruyère, scallions, and bacon at least three times now.

That may not sound like a lot, but I don't frequently make recipes more than once. Either I like it and I know it, so I move on, or I don't like it and I want to adjust things but I keep putting it off.... very infrequently, I like something so much I make up excuses to keep "testing" the recipe. This savory monkey bread, from Alexandra Stafford's marvelous cookbook Bread Toast Crumbs, falls into that third category.

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Fennel Soup with Spinach and Spicy Sausage

January 31, 2018 Leave a Comment

Of all the recipes I made from the Whole 30 Fast and Easy Cookbook, the fennel soup with spinach and spicy sausage was hands-down my favorite. To be fair, that's less of a glowing recommendation for the soup and more of a statement on the cookbook as a whole. This fennel soup is a great weeknight choice; it isn't "under 30 minutes" fast, but it's about 45-60 minutes fast, full of flavor, and super healthy.

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Black Forest Chocolate Cookies

January 28, 2018 Leave a Comment

I am always happy when the Baked Sunday Mornings challenge involves a cookie. It's not that I don't enjoy pitting myself against complicated desserts, but cookies are so much easier to fit into a normal week than something like the pecan praline ice cream cake. When the cookie in question involves chocolate, my level of happiness doubles (at least). This weekend, we were tasked with making Baked's spin on Black Forest chocolate cake in the form of a Black Forest chocolate cookie. Since we made their scrumptious Black Forest cupcakes last Spring, I had complete confidence in these cookies being similarly stellar.

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Coffee and Chocolate Tart (Tarte au Cafe et au Chocolat)

January 21, 2018 Leave a Comment

Coffee and chocolate are two of my favorite flavors, so when I saw the stunning photograph accompanying this coffee and chocolate tart in Maison Kayser's French Pastry Workshop, it immediately rose to the top of my must-try list. I added it to a Vote for a Recipe post last fall, which it won (naturally). It's been months since I first made Eric Kayser's coffee and chocolate tart..... and I have been putting off posting about it, partially because I knew the recipe was going to be a beast to type up, and partially because I didn't like the tart nearly as much as everyone else seemed to (I think I was just mad at it).

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Ideas Post 64: Vote for a Recipe

January 20, 2018 5 Comments

This weekend we are in San Diego for a party, but I'm planning ahead to Super Bowl weekend. We're going to have a monkey bread contest, so beyond the caramel monkey bread and the savory monkey bread from Bread Toast Crumbs, I need another entry.

In addition to the monkey breads, I couldn't resist a couple other breakfast-y/dessert-y options.

A) Bouchons from Bouchon Bakery

B) Cinnamon Honey Scones from Bouchon Bakery

C) New Deli Coffee Cake from Zingerman's Bakehouse

D) Hot Cocoa Cake from Zingerman's Bakehouse

E) Za'atar Monkey Bread with Garlic and Onion Labneh from Molly on the Range

F) Toasted Oat, Orange, and Dried Cherry Monkey Bread from Marbled, Swirled, and Layered

Thanks for voting!

Butterscotch Pudding Tarts

January 14, 2018 4 Comments

Butterscotch is one of my favorite flavors. I mean, creamy, smooth, caramelized brown sugar plus butter? What's not to love?! I used to eat Werther's Originals and Lifesavers butterscotch candies like diabetes was nothing anyone had to worry about. The butterscotch budino at Redd? Definitely one of my favorite restaurant desserts. Despite all that, I've never made butterscotch pudding. I looked at the butterscotch budino recipe in Mozza but couldn't justify making so many servings of a dessert I worried I would eat all by myself. Then Baked Sunday Mornings posted the recipe schedule for Baked: New Frontiers, thus encouraging me to give butterscotch pudding a try in the form of these adorable and easy little butterscotch pudding tarts.

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Sheet Pan Shrimp with Sesame Broccoli

January 12, 2018 Leave a Comment

Much like the "one bowl" phenomenon, sheet pan supper came out of nowhere last year as a "new" trendy but totally doable for virtually anyone. The idea is minimal prep time, followed by roasting pretty much everything together in a single layer while you do something else (have a glass of wine, hang out of the family, do more work, go for a jog...), ultimately resulting in a scrumptious meal that is much more flavorful than you might expect. This sheet pan shrimp with sesame broccoli from Whole30 Fast and Easy follows along with that premise - chop some broccoli into florets, slice a lemon into thin rounds, make a little dressing to coat, roast for 20-25 minutes while you let the shrimp sit in melted butter, garlic, and soy (or coconut aminos), then add the shrimp to the sheet pan, and 6-12 minutes later (depending on shrimp size) dinner is ready to serve.

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Orange Chicken with Cauliflower Rice

January 11, 2018 1 Comment

I did not grow up an orange chicken fan (nor a lemon chicken fan). As a staple in most Chinese restaurants, I've always found orange chicken to be overly cloying and sweet, with strangely fluorescent, goopy sauces. In grad school, I had a roommate who was obsessed with orange chicken from a fast food chain that shall remain nameless. I learned to appreciate orange chicken (or OC) on a very occasional level, but potentially just because there wasn't anything else there I thought would be better. This orange chicken with cauliflower rice from Whole30 Fast and Easy isn't like those other orange chickens. There's no thick breading or greasy sauce. No unidentifiable pieces of meat. This is orange chicken taken to a much, much healthier plane, while staying close to the backbone of what orange chicken lovers want out of the dish.

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Thai Chicken and Brussels Sprout Skillet

January 7, 2018 4 Comments

Let me first start by introducing myself, I’m Marie-Eve and a friend of Kat. You might recognize me as ME in the blog comments and even some entries as a loyal assistant to Kat. So what’s going on today? I always vote on the Ideas Posts but this week, I was too impatient to wait for the results and for Kat to post one of the recipes. You see, I had a big bag of Brussels sprouts in the fridge and needed to find a purpose for them. So I asked Kat for the recipe and she jokingly said she wouldn’t have to try it since I’d do the work for her. I decided to take that all the way and write her blog entry as well. I’m a great friend, right?? [Kat: YES!] Drumroll... Here comes the Thai Chicken and Brussels Sprout Skillet!!...