Monthly Archives: October 2009

October 18, 2009

Chocolate-Almond-Anise Cookies

By swfoodworks

PA170001

Round one in my submissions to Food52 for their collaborative cookbook effort.  This weeks challenge topics; Chocolate Cookies, and Ham ‘n Cheese.  I’m gunning for the Cookies.  The basis for this recipe comes from the Baking with Julia series.  An old favorite and standby.

Here’s the recipe – Yields about 16 good sized (2-2.5 oz) cookies

  • 5 TBS. Butter
  • 8 oz. Semi-Sweet Chocolate
  • 2 TBS. Anise Seeds
  • ¼ Cup Slivered Almonds
  • ¾ Cup Packed Brown Sugar
  • ¼ Cup Granulated White Sugar
  • 2 Eggs
  • 1 tsp. Pure Vanilla Extract
  • ¼ Cup Cocoa Powder
  • 1 Cup All-Purpose Flour
  • 1 tsp. Baking Powder
  • ½ tsp. Salt
  • 2 TBS. Espresso Powder
  • 1 1/2 Cups Semi-Sweet Chocolate Chips
  • ½ Cup Cocoa Nibs

Pre-heat the oven to 350 degrees.  In a microwave-safe container, melt the butter on high for 10-15 seconds.  Stir in the 8 oz. of chocolate and return to the microwave 10 to 15 seconds at a time, stirring after each turn until smooth.  Meanwhile, toast the slivered almonds and anise seeds together in one small pan until the almonds take a little color and the aroma is pleasant.  The chocolate should be melted by now.  Let the chocolate and almond/anise seeds rest while you measure out the dry ingredients (cocoa, flour, baking powder, salt, and espresso powder) into a bowl and whisk with a fork or whisk to combine and set aside.  Turn out the melted chocolate into a mixing bowl, or the bowl of your standing mixer.  Measure in both sugars, and mix on a lower speed until well combined.  On a low speed, incorporate one egg at a time.  Add the vanilla extract and mix well.  Stop mixing, and add the combined dry ingredients all at once.  Use a wooden spoon or spatula to combine the dry ingredients fully.  Finally, incorporate the almond, anise, chocolate chips, and cocoa nibs.

As you portion out the dough, you’ll want to flatten the cookies slightly to somewhere between 3/4 and 1/2 of an inch.  Bake on a parchment line cookie sheet for 9 minutes, rotating the tray after 5 minutes for an even bake.  Remove to a wire rack and let cool before enjoying.

These cookies have a very deep chocolate flavor, and they love a good cup of coffee, or a tall glass of milk.

Cheers, and let me know if you like them!

-Scott

PA170004

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October 17, 2009

Cooking Vocabulary and Notes (Pan Sauces)

By swfoodworks

v  Chicken Bits (breast or leg) with Caramelized Onion Pan Sauce

  • Season the chicken (salt and fresh pepper) and sauté (presentation side down) over high heat (remember the oil moving around -shimmering- in the pan is an indication of the right temperature.)
  • Reserve the chicken to another container while you sauté the chopped onions, giving them plenty of caramelized color and aroma
  • Deglaze the pan with white (or other) wine, and reduce that liquid by half.
  • Return the chicken to the pan and continue cooking, adding more liquid (stock, or water) as needed.
  • Remove the chicken and adjust the pan sauce (we’ve used balsamic vinegar, honey, and plenty of salt).  Finish with a little butter swirled in the pan, correct any seasoning issues, and serve it forth!

Important bits here:

  1. Don’t be scared to use a little oil, even in a non-stick pan.  The difference in color, flavor, and texture will all be enhanced by using a touch of oil.
  2. Have all of your ‘mise en place’ ready before you start cooking.  You’ll be much more efficient, and your cooking will be more organized.
  3. Saute – You love it.  But it can be smoky, be ready to open up the house
  4. To Deglaze, is to introduce a liquid to a hot cooking surface in order to release the cooked-on bits from the surface.  We used white wine, and reduced it by half.
  5. Cooking with alcohol does a few nice things.  First, the aromatics of wine are pleasant, and add a depth to your cooking.  Second, the volatile molecules in the alcohol accelerate and accentuate (carry) the aroma of the dish up to your nose.  Third, the acidity in wine is almost always a welcome addition.
  6. Be certain to reduce (evaporate) the wine at least by half.  Raw alcohol has a bitterness which is not always welcome, and reduction will burn the alcohol away.
  7. Braising is a ‘moist-heat’ method of cooking where the item being braised is covered 1/3 to ½ in a liquid, and cooked in a closed container.  Stewing is the same as braising, except the item being stewed is covered entirely by the stewing liquid.  There are also other steps in these processes, such as browning, deglazing, sweating aromatics, reducing, thickening, and so on.
  8. Always taste.  We adjusted the sauce with a little sweetness and finished with butter.  The butter added a slight thickening, a glossy appearance, and a delicious rounding out of any sharp (bitter, acidic) flavors.  Yum!

Get this method down, and employ it with different proteins and vegetables -

Happy Cooking!

-Scott

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October 17, 2009

Cooking Vocabulary and Notes (Brussels Sprouts)

By swfoodworks

Here’s how to build some charred- garlicy sprouts:

v  Brussels Sprouts

  • Start by cleaning the sprouts (removing the discolored core end)
  • You could start the (boiling salted) blanching water at this time as well.  Remember to taste the water for salt level.
  • Cut an ‘x’ into the core of each sprout so that the core and the outside will cook /be done at the same time.
  • Blanch the sprouts until they exhibit very little (or no) resistance to a paring knife
  • Drain and set them aside
  • Get a sauté pan hot with a little oil in it (high-heat, little-fat is right to sauté).  Sear the sprouts, getting a nice amount of charred color.
  • Add a little soy sauce to the pan while tossing (or stirring) the sprouts.
  • Remove from the heat and add the (pre-chopped) garlic.
  • Check for seasoning and adjust.
  • Enjoy!

Okay, a few of the key concepts from above:

  1. Blanch -   To blanch is to cook in a large amount of boiling, salted water.  This technique serves two purposes; blanching will set, or fix, the color of vegetables (especially important for the green ones), and blanching will bring the vegetables to the desired texture.  Remember, if the blanching time will be very short, the water should be heavily seasoned.  Less seasoning is needed if the blanch is long.  Also, sometimes it will be appropriate to ‘Shock’ the vegetables in an ice water bath in order to stop the texture from turning to mush.  I’m not a fan, but sometimes it’s handy.
  2. Saute – Literally ‘to jump’ in French.  Use high heat and a small amount of fat to sauté.  This will caramelize and char vegetables and proteins.
  3. Sweat – The kinder, gentler sauté.  Use medium heat with slightly more oil.  To sweat the vegetable is to bring out its sweetness, and often change the appearance to something more translucent.

Go Get It!

-Scotty

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October 17, 2009

Cooking Vocabulary and Notes (Risotto)-

By swfoodworks

v  Risotto 101 –

  • Risotto is a method for cooking rice (or other grains / starches) and  there are a few simple steps, with lots of possible variations.
    • Step One:  Sweat the aromatics (onion, garlic, leeks, etc.) until translucent.  I use about half an onion for each cup of rice.
    • Step Two:  Set the cooking liquid (this should have great flavor) on to simmer.  You will need liquid at four times the volume of rice.  (4:1  liquid to rice)
    • Step Three:  Add the rice and stir to coat the grains with oil, and cook the kernels to the point the Italians call ‘al occio’, which means when you break the rice in half it will look like an eye.
    • Step Four:  Deglaze the pot with wine (white or red).  You should add enough wine to just cover the bottom of the pan.  Reduce this liquid by half.
    • Step Five:  Start incorporating the liquid with the rice on a medium heat.  Make the additions of liquid in measurements equal to the volume of rice.  For example, if you started with 1 cup of rice, you would add the cooking liquid 1 cup at a time.
    • Step Six:  Keep stirring the rice to keep from sticking, also developing the starch.  When you can drag the spoon or spatula through the rice and the path of the spoon isn’t filled in by the rice, it’s time to add more liquid.
    • Step Seven:  Before adding the final amount of liquid, test a little of the rice to be certain it won’t over cook from adding the total amount left.  Make the last addition of liquid, and rather than constantly stirring, shake the pot and stir just the outer edge because at this point the rice is delicate and aggressive stirring will break the grains.
    • Step Eight:  Check for doneness, add more liquid if needed.  Finish by adding a little dairy (butter, cream, cheese) correct the seasoning (salt and pepper), decide if it needs a touch of acidity (lemon juice?) and serve quickly.

Risotto is endlessly flexible.  You can add vegetables or proteins to the cooking process, use different wine/spirits, use short-grain rice or a whole world of other grains, garnish, sauce, plate, and present in many many ways.  Have fun with it and don’t be afraid to try some new flavors in combination.

Be bold, and be brave!

-Scotty

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October 16, 2009

Italian Chicken Ballotine

By swfoodworks

The Finish

Sometimes I miss cooking seriously.  And sometimes I am compelled to cook ‘Cheffy’ plates at home so I don’t forget how it feels to bring them together.  I’m nervous about letting any memories or skills that I’ve developed just wash away from lack of use.  Don’t get me wrong.  I’m still cooking all the time, but… let’s just say that I’m not always cooking challenging plates.  They are delicious, but they are not technically difficult to pull off.

This dinner was a little more technical, and thankfully, it was also delicious.  Find the story in pictures below  -

For those of you curious about trying your own ballotine, here’s a link to a demonstration video which is pretty well done.  At least it shows how to get the skin off in one piece, which is the hard part.  How you decide to stuff (or not), season, and roast (or poach) is up to you.  Eating like this is very satisfying.  It is like having a little Thanksgiving dinner, without too much fuss.  If you want to try this at home and have questions, feel free to email, and we’ll get the ball rolling!

Enjoy yourselves and each other -

-Scott 

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