Picnic for Two

It’s been a rough week, and for once it wasn’t school related. This runs a bit deeper and flows a bit thicker than stressing over Schrodiner, because I’m talking about emotional stress. The kind that persistently ebbs and flows, lingers and aches, an unyielding but blunted throb. It made me rather pensive and somber most of the week - not to mention prickly, snappy, and hard to work with (sorry Chi Nhu An!).
But fortunately for me, I have heaven-sent fairy godparents who quickly made things a lot better. And the result was (1) an opportunity to cook for someoneiknow and more importantly (2) time to talk with someoneiknow to smooth things over. And what better way to facilitate a heavy-hearted conversation than with comfort food? Keeping that theme in mind, I had to choose dishes that would cater to those needs - and I can proudly say that I met them one-for-one. Pesto, Pomodoro y Mozzarella Paninis and Italian Chicken Salad with Homemade Red Wine Vinaigrette. Can I say delicious? And before the actual event, I had plenty of taste testers confirm and acknowledge that the food was in fact edible (I bake not cook…). So menu chosen Tuesday night and on Thursday at about 2pm I headed to Safeway and gathered all the ingredients. Got home by about 3pm and started. Keep in mind I had a final at 6:30pm later that night. Anyway, I finished everything by about 6:15pm, ran to the final (thanks Kelly), conquered it, then rushed home to package everything for the picnic. Got home and fed the fairy godparents. Jumped into the car and rushed down to San Jose. I felt like Cinderella being whisked away to the ball because the fairy godparents had planned everything out. So I sat helplessly in the backseat while the magic frenzy was working up front, and with each mile bringing me closer to San Jose, I felt a growing sense of restlessness along with a case of fluttering butterflies in my stomach. I didn’t know that could still happen! Not pleasant, but not unwelcomed either. Lots of madness and the fairy godparents going crazy over the little details. But in the end, it happened. The clock did strike midnight, and I didn’t lose my glass slipper nor did my clothes turn to rags or my coach (godfather’s scion!) turn into a pumpkin. Exeunt.

Pesto, Pomodoro y Mozzarella Paninis

This is actually one of my favorite sandwiches to make. It is loosely based off a sandwich found in Ina Garten’s Barefoot Contessa at Home. And did I mention it is easy and very college student friendly? The only thing to keep in mind is that in order to bring out the flavors of this sandwich, everything needs to be fresh and of good quality - do not skimp or the sandwich will seem like a big slab of lard (no joke - Kari cannot stress this enough). Fresh mozzarella and fresh tomato are key. Good quality pesto (preferably from pine nuts) is a bonus. Crusty bread (Italian, French, even Sweet Batard) handles the cheese and pesto the best. For this picnic, however, I went simple and just used honey nut and grain sandwich bread. This serves at least 3-4 people, with leftovers for lunch the next day…

Ingredients:
2 large ripe beefsteak tomatoes
1 ball fresh mozzarella
1/2″ thick sliced white bread (it really works with any bread)
1 cup pesto
Directions:
Uniformly slice the tomatoes and fresh mozzarella about 1/8-1/4″ thick. Spread a table spoon (or as much as necessary to cover) of pesto over one slice of bread. Layer mozzarella and sliced tomatoes on top. Top the sandwich with another slice of pesto-spreaded bread. Place into a hot stove (med heat to melt, then med-high to toast) top pan and press a heavy plate right on top of the sandwich. This is college friendly - no expensive panini machine involved, though Kari does occasionally use her George Foreman. Toast until cheese melted and bread has browned, or to your own preference. Kari likes her bread charred. Yum.

Italian Chicken Salad and Red Wine Vinaigrette
Source: Food Network

This was soooo good! The individual elements are only decent, but once everything is thrown together, sooo delicious! The salty capers and savory chicken are a great contrast to the sweet and tangy vinaigrette. The butter lettuce is also sweet and adds richness to the salad. We also ate the leftovers with mixed organic greens, which is bitter, but paired so well with the chicken. There is a lot of red onion in this recipe, so if you don’t mind having onion breath then keep it. If not, I suggest a dessert mint :). I did not strictly follow this recipe as it serves 12. I used one roasted chicken, 1 bell pepper, half an onion, 3/4 cup parsley (I love it), toasted peanuts, a tablespoonful of capers. The Vinaigrette was also reduced, but remember — this isn’t baking. This is cooking- where recipes are merely guidelines not the procedure for great food. Also, props to Piggy for shredding the whole chicken all by herself. Good job!
Ingredients:
10 cups coarsely shredded cooked chicken (from about 3 purchased roasted whole chickens)
2 cups roasted red and yellow bell peppers, drained, patted dry, and coarsely chopped
1 1/4 cups paper-thin slices red onion
3/4 cup chopped fresh Italian parsley leaves
3/4 cup slivered almonds, toasted
1/2 cup drained capers
1 1/2 cups (about) Red Wine Vinaigrette, recipe follows
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
24 butter lettuce leaves (from about 3 large heads)
1 (4-ounce) piece Parmesan, shaved with vegetable peeler
Directions:
Toss the chicken, bell peppers, onion, parsley, almonds, and capers in a large bowl with enough vinaigrette to moisten. Season the chicken salad with salt and pepper, to taste.
Arrange 1 large lettuce cup and 1 small lettuce cup on each plate, overlapping slightly. Spoon the chicken salad into the lettuce cups. Drizzle more vinaigrette over the salads. Sprinkle with the Parmesan and serve.

Red Wine Vinaigrette:
Ingredients:
1/2 cup red wine vinegar
1/4 cup lemon juice
2 teaspoons honey
2 teaspoons salt
Freshly ground black pepper
1 cup olive oil
Directions:
Combine the vinegar, lemon juice, honey, salt, and pepper in a blender. With the machine running, gradually add the oil and blend until emulsified.

I didn’t mean to make this a cliffhanger, but to satisfy your curiosity, the picnic went very well despite all things. Lots of good conversation; good food; and of course, good company. The weather was a bit chilly, though, and I was far too absorbed with the conversation to eat much. That just means there are leftovers for the next day. Yum! Anyway, I am not much of a romantic, but I really think that cooking a meal and then surprising your significant other with a basket full of food is such a sweet thing to do. I feel that the effort alone paves way for smoother sailing further down the river… Please excuse the imagery (I tend to talk in metaphors when the subject gets a bit sticky), but you know what I mean. And you know what helps even more? The best fairy godparents ever! Thank you soo much!
This will be my last entry for the next two weeks. Finals are around the corner. But for the rest of you, good luck to you all - whether in the kitchen, in the classroom, or in love.

—Anh—

“The Best” Strawberry Shortcake

To celebrate DNA Day last Friday (April 25), my Biotechnology teacher planned a Strawberry DNA Extraction Lab. Each group was also told to bring in small portions of strawberry shortcake, purchased or home-baked, to distribute to other teachers and compete to see who brought in the best strawberry shortcake. I was confident in my shortcake and rather pleased with my teacher’s response, as it proved that my experience in baking and has not failed me. “Great Strawberry Shortcake,” he wrote in my lab notebook, “The Best!”

The recipe I followed was, once again, taken from Essentials of Baking.

Williams-Sonoma’s Strawberry Shortcake

Ingredients
2 cups cake flour
1/4 cup and 3 tablespoons granulated sugar
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup cold, unsalted butter
1 large egg
1/2 cup heavy cream and more for brushing
2 tablespoons turbinado sugar
(which I replaced with brown sugar)
4 cups strawberries, hulled and slice
1 can of whipped cream

Directions
Preheat the oven to 425 F. Mix together the flour, 1/4 cup granulated sugar, baking powder, and salt. Add the butter and mix only until the mixture forms tiny, coarse crumbs. In a bowl, whisk together the egg and the heavy cream. Pour over dry ingredients and mix until the mixture is moistened. Spoon out the dough onto a baking sheet covered with parchment paper or foil. The mounds should be 3 inches wide and 3/4 inch high. Brush the top of the shortcakes with heavy cream and sprinkle with brown sugar. Bake until the shortcakes are a light gold brown. While the shortcakes are baking, brush 1 cup of strawberres with a fork in a bowl. Add the remaining 3 cups of berries and 3 tablespoons of granulated sugar. Mix well and refrigerate. When the shortcakes have baked, transfer them to a wire rack and let cool for 15 minutes. Carefully slice the shortcakes horizontally in half and spoon berries onto the bottom half. Top with whipped cream and cover with the shortcake tops.

Due to the success achieved through these strawberry shortcakes, I will continue to use this Williams Sonoma recipe. Not only do the shortcakes taste good even without strawberries and whipped cream, but the brown sugar also adds a wonderful, crispy texture.

As I realized I ran out of eggs and could not bake another batch of shortcakes, I itched to find a recipe for anything that did not require eggs. Ah, MEXICAN WEDDING COOKIES! I had forgetten which recipe I used a couple of months ago that resulted in a soft batch of cookies that melted immediately in my mouth, I took a chance and used the recipe in the same Williams-Sonoma book from which I took the shortcake recipe from.

Williams-Sonoma’s
Mexican Wedding Cookies
also called Russian Tea Cakes

Ingredients
1 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature
1/3 cup granulated sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
3/4 cup toasted and ground hazlenuts
(which I replaced with walnuts)
1/2 cup confectioners’ sugar

Directions
Preheat the oven to 325 F. Sift together the flour and salt. In a mixing bowl, combine the butter, granulated sugar, and vanilla. Beat on medium speed until smooth. Add the ground walnuts and blend. Add the dry ingredients and beat until the dough creates large clumps. Roll a level tablespoon of dough between your palms into a 1 inch ball. Place the balls 1 inch apart on the baking sheet lined with parchment paper or foil. Bake the cookies until the bottoms are light brown and the tops are lightly colored. Let the cookies cool on the baking sheet for 5 minutes, then transfer them to a wire rach to cool completely. Sift the confectioners’ sugar into a bowl. Roll the cookies in the sugar and coat them evenly.

Although the cookies were beautiful in appearance and great in taste, they lacked the irresistible “melt-in-your-mouth” texture of traditional Mexican Wedding Cookies and only melted after a few long seconds, most likely a result of the granulated sugar (rather than confectioners’ sugar) used in the recipe. Now… I’ve finally remembered which recipe I used before, and I’ll be trying it out again sometime soon.

Happy belated DNA Day, all!

– eLu

Birth of a Business?

The hills are alive… with the sound of phones ringing!

The communication lines are ringing off the hook, and I’ve gotten several requests this week. By Friday night, I need to have done 3 orders for 3 separate parties and I have no idea where to start - not without canceling something. The ingredients are scattered; my tools are limited; there is no car; flour and butter are getting expensive; hhm, and did I mention that there just isn’t enough time in the day? But I am so excited. A beginning of a business almost. Getting orders placed, leaning about each party in order to most appropriately cater to the needs of those parties - a housewarming gift, a dinner party, a co-worker’s birthday… some fairly typical events. And I had today to prep but none of what I made was presentable (visually, anyway, but soo delicious!). So it looks like tomorrow is going to be a long day in the kitchen - well, after chem, physics and Viet lecture AND a date with a hot commodity (details and story later). And the best part? I get to work side-by-side with one of my favorite people. I am constantly spoiled, and I should really learn to appreciate it more. So today, I was able to make a Jam Crumb Cake and my all time favorite Mocha Chocolate Chip Cookies. In addition, I have a preview for you all - Mr9’s Ultimate Homestyle Smoked Ribs. Yum. So I hope that was enough to pique your appetite and interest. But the next few days are going to be hectic. So buckle those seat belts and get ready for a crazy ride.

Jam Crumb Cake
Was I divinely inspired to make these? Was I struck by some whimsical impetus? No. The sad truth is, I accidentally melted a stick of butter, so completely that the microwave plate was covered in yellow liquid and the butter wrapper was drenched in fat. Not so romantic or inspiring. Just me being a klutz in the kitchen ’tis all. So to not waste a whole stick of butter (it’s getting expensive, you know), I searched “melted butter” on Epicurious and of the hundreds of results, only this one seemed simple and doable. So do I did. And were they good you ask? Uh-huh. Heaven sent! I feel like accidentally melting the butter was NOT in fact an accident, but destiny. Manifest destiny! Not capitalized. But I am soo glad I stumbled onto this recipe, because it required an additional 3/4 cup melted butter for the streusel topping. Perfect. And boy, it’s good. Ask Carina. I’m sure she would love to tell you about them. If I remember correctly, these reminded her of home. And Christmas. Yum. The recipe calls for a cake, but I decided to turn them into cupcakes because they were intended for a party. But since Aman is demanind and these will not do for her party, these are now happily awaiting some attention and loving.

Jam Crumb Cake
Epicurious, Gourmet Dec 2007
Ingredients
For cake:
1 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 cup sugar
1 3/4 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
3/4 stick unsalted butter, melted
1/2 cup milk
1 large egg
1/2 cup raspberry jam or preserves
For crumb topping:
3/4 stick unsalted butter, melted
1/4 cup packed brown sugar
1/4 cup granulated sugar
3/4 teaspoon cinnamon
1/8 teaspoon salt
1 cup plus 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour

Directions
Preheat oven to 400°F with rack in middle. Generously butter a 9-inch square or round cake pan. (I used a lined muffin tin, so baking time was shorter).
Whisk together flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt.
Whisk together butter, milk, and egg in a large bowl, then whisk in flour mixture until just combined. Pour batter into cake pan. Dollop jam all over surface, then swirl into batter with spoon. Set aside.
In a separate bowl, whisk together butter, sugars, cinnamon, and salt until smooth. Stir in flour, then blend with your fingertips until incorporated. Sprinkle crumbs in large clumps over top of cake.
Bake cake until a wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean and sides begin to pull away from pan, about 25 minutes. Cool in pan on a rack 5 minutes.

Mr9’s Homestyle Smoked Ribs
Being an everyday cook, Mr9 does not use recipes. So bear with me on this one. I have copied his email verbatim, so you can make sense of it as you will.
Dry rub, hickory smoked for 4 hours, then oven roasted at 275 for another 3 hours till it falls off the bone.
The dry rub can be store bought, or if you are feeling especially ambitious, then you can make your own dry rub. Mr9 says: “The main ingredients are usually brown sugar, dried herbs, chili powder, paprika, garlic powder, salt, and pepper. Then you can get creative and add stuff that you thing will bring out more flavor. I like to add mustard powder, cayenne pepper, rosemary, dill, and whatever else is in your spice cabinet.” And for Mr9, this is an extensive collection of spices. But this is just a preview. When I make the actual thing, a post will follow.

So a quick post, until soon!

—Anh—