Going to the City of Brotherly Love…
After a super long week of being totally sick while having to work overtime, coming home late and falling into bed exhausted, then waking up just to repeat it all over again… I’m going to Philadelphia for the weekend for some well needed R&R.
Next week, I’m on VACATION which I’m so looking forward to. I really need a break since things have been so crazy lately.
That also means that I’ll plenty of time to catch up on Barefoot Bloggers, My Kitchen My World and a few other things I have not posted about yet…
Stay Tuned!
Chocolate-Banded Ice Cream Torte – TWD
I have to admit when I first looked at the recipe for this week’s Tuesdays with Dorie pick, Chocolate-Banded Ice Cream Torte, I was kind of concerned because there was a lot of waiting going on. Usually, I’m totally not into making desserts that have multi steps or wait times in between each step for chilling, resting, what have you. Yes, I know that “good things come to those who wait” but I can get quite an impatient streak sometimes. I also wondered how I was going to be able to fit this one in with my schedule getting crazier lately. Massive overtime pushes at work are in full swing and just my day to day life is filling up with more and more to get done. Whenever I do actually have a minute to myself now, there’s this general laziness that washes over me and keeps me glued to the couch. Good times. 
But I couldn’t let any of that or a few little 30 minute chilling periods get in the way of me making the torte that Amy of Food, Family, and Fun chose for all 250 TWDers to try this week. I had to see how it turned out.
I used a 9 inch springform pan and got scared it was way too big while I was putting the torte together. It didn’t seem like it would have any height at all or my layers would be invisible or something. Well, I was right because the torte came out pretty thin, to my dismay, but at least you could still differentiate the layers. It didn’t turn out as picture perfect as Dorie’s, in some places there was kind of a psychedelic wave to the center chocolate layer. Far out, man. 
I stuck to the recipe as written and used raspberries mixed with Breyer’s Vanilla Bean ice cream. Making the ganache was my favorite part. It’s kind of funny to me that I like making things like ganaches and pastry cream so much now. I think it probably has something to do with all the whisking.
Anyway, this recipe definitely wins the “destroyed my kitchen” award. I had eggs, chocolate, and raspberry ice cream all over every counter and the floor… and a sink full of dishes.
I liked this. It was good for what it was… 5 layers made up of chocolate and ice cream. The torte would be great with so many different ice cream flavors and you could dress this up or down depending on who you were making it for. This is a super easy recipe, it’s not hard to do at all. My advice would be to use the right sized pan, allow yourself plenty of time and stick to the minimum freezing suggestions. Actually, freezing the torte a little longer in between each step would maybe be a good idea. It melts pretty fast after cutting, as you can see in my pics, so keep that in mind and serve immediately.
Make sure you stop by to see Amy’s Chocolate-Banded Ice Cream Torte and the recipe at Food, Family, and Fun. Then head on over to the TWD site to see how everyone else did this week.
For next Tuesday, Stefany of Proceed with Caution has chosen Chunky Peanut Butter and Oatmeal Chocolate Chipsters.
I Like Amy Sedaris
After somehow finding this post recently on the now closed down (unfortunately, as this was one of my all time favorites) Cupcake Bakeshop blog, I started to get interested in Amy Sedaris and her cupcake recipe. I knew who she was from TV but had no idea she had a Vanilla Cupcake recipe out there that people actually really seemed to like. So I decided I would have to test them out and see what I thought.
I got home late from my weekly piano lesson and WalMart trip, whipped these up in a couple minutes and was baking in no time. I made a third of a batch, made minis and baked for about 15 minutes at 375.
My thoughts on the taste: I would eat these without frosting. That’s how good the cake part is. It kind of reminded me of one of my all time favorites, Hot Milk Sponge Cake, although lighter. The frosting was pretty sweet but it wasn’t too overly sweet. I would definitely make these again. As of right now, this will be my Vanilla Cupcake recipe of choice.
Amy Sedaris’ website is called “Amy Sedaris Rocks”. Very true, just for this recipe alone.
Click here for Amy Sedaris Cupcakes Recipe and to check out the other recipes on her site. I love how to the point some of her directions are.
Granola Grabbers – TWD
For this edition of Tuesdays with Dorie, we have Granola Grabbers selected by Michelle of Bad Girl Baking. I’ll admit, it was nice to have a cookie recipe come up although I actually had none of the ingredients on hand. That gave me a good excuse to do some shopping at my local Dutch Market, one of my favorite places.
I didn’t think I was really a fan of cookies like these (like oatmeal cookies, etc) but I’m starting to think that as I get a little older my tastes are changing. Things I used to hate I don’t hate anymore if I try them again now. Like vanilla ice cream, dark chocolate, coconut, pecans… all things I hated in my younger years. I think my taste is growing up.
So going into it I didn’t really think I’d like these cookies so much. But I ended up liking them a lot. They were chewy in the middle but the outside had a sweet, crunchy coating. They seemed “healthier” than other cookies with the addition of wheat germ, nuts and raisins (although I’m sure that could be debatable looking at the whole recipe). I didn’t change anything from the original recipe other than using a half and half mix of golden and dark raisins.
Another success. Go on over to Bad Girl Baking to check out the recipe and to see how Michelle’s cookies turned out. Then to see over 200 more, make your way to the Tuesdays with Dorie site. Next week, Amy of Food, Family, and Fun has selected Chocolate-Banded Ice Cream Torte on pages 288-289 of Dorie Greenspan’s Baking: From My Home to Yours for everyone to try out. Can’t wait, this one should be really interesting.
And thanks to my boyfriend for lending a hand (literally) with the photo shoot. Even though he complained about it the whole time…
Barefoot Bloggers: Panzanella
And we’re back with another Barefoot Bloggers recipe. This time, Melissa of It’s Melissa’s Kitchen was up to choose and she selected Panzanella, a perfect summer recipe.
Panzanella is an Italian bread salad loaded with fresh vegetables and mixed with an olive oil based vinaigrette. You really don’t need your oven other than to toast the bread on the stovetop and cutting the vegetables is the most considerable work you’ll have to do. It’s a very simple recipe to put together and the taste is light and fresh. This recipe seems very adaptable. You could play around with the ingredients and throw in whatever you had available and I’m sure it would turn out fine. And I know that some people are funny about capers. However, I would definitely recommend adding them to this salad.
What I did/changed/thought: I made half a recipe and it still made a large amount. I forgot to get fresh basil and I didn’t have any mustard so I had to substitute dried versions for both. No worries. For the bread I used a french baguette. I really liked this salad but I probably would only make it for a party. A nice summery, outdoor party.
Head on over to It’s Melissa’s Kitchen to see how Melissa’s Panzanella turned out. Then stop by here to check in on almost 100 others.
Panzanella
From the book Barefoot Contessa Parties! by Ina Garten
Seen On the TV show: Barefoot Contessa Episode: Beach Volleyball Picnic
3 tablespoons good olive oil
1 small French bread or boule, cut into 1-inch cubes (6 cups)
1 teaspoon kosher salt
2 large, ripe tomatoes, cut into 1-inch cubes
1 hothouse cucumber, unpeeled, seeded, and sliced 1/2-inch thick
1 red bell pepper, seeded and cut into 1-inch cubes
1 yellow bell pepper, seeded and cut into 1-inch cubes
1/2 red onion, cut in 1/2 and thinly sliced
20 large basil leaves, coarsely chopped
3 tablespoons capers, drained
For the vinaigrette:
1 teaspoon finely minced garlic
1/2 teaspoon Dijon mustard
3 tablespoons Champagne vinegar
1/2 cup good olive oil
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
Click here for directions
Next up will be Butterflied Chicken chosen by Stefany of Proceed with Caution.
Blueberry Sour Cream Ice Cream – TWD
I have been wanting an ice cream maker for a while. So this week’s Tuesdays with Dorie selection of Blueberry Sour Cream Ice Cream chosen by Dolores of Chronicles in Culinary Curiosity was a perfect excuse for me to get one. I picked up an electric ice cream maker at Target for $30. It wasn’t quite the one I’ve had my eye on but hopefully it will last a while.
I cut the recipe into thirds and used frozen blueberries. Before it was frozen, the mixture tasted very heavy on the sour cream to me. I tried adding a little bit more sugar to balance it out. After it was frozen though, the sour cream flavor was more mellow which was a very good thing. If it hadn’t been, this would’ve been the first Dorie recipe I wasn’t crazy about. But in the end, it tasted very good and my new ice cream maker worked great.
Short post this week… Make sure you stop by Chronicles in Culinary Curiosity to check out the recipe and see Dolores’s Blueberry Sour Cream Ice Cream. Then go on over to Tuesdays with Dorie to see over 200 others.
Another picture… this time the ice cream is more melty.
Blueberry Sour Cream Ice Cream (page 434 of Dorie Greenspan’s Baking: From My Home to Yours).
My Kitchen, My World: China
For week 8, the My Kitchen, My World group is cooking food from China in honor of the 2008 Olympic Games. I’ve been super busy lately, I wasn’t even sure if I had enough energy to get this post done. But here I am, and only two days late.
Beijing, China is a place I have visited and it was one of my most favorite places that I’ve gone. My boyfriend, his best friends and I took a trip there this past March for five days which wasn’t anywhere near long enough. But we did get to see a lot in the short time we were there. My boyfriend travelled extensively overseas for his last job so he’s gotten to see a lot of cool places. Sometimes it gets hard to plan vacations because he kind of has been there, done that with everything. But China is one place all four of us had never gone so we eventually all settled on it. A quick fourteen hour plane ride and we were there…
I’m the kind of person that will only stay in a hotel room to shower and sleep. The rest of the time, I have to be out going non-stop. There was so much to see and do in Beijing that I was exhausted every single night. Some of the things we did: Forbidden City, Tian’anmen Square, the Great Wall, Jingshan Park, Beihai Park, Beijing Zoo, Houhai Lake, Temple of Heaven, Ming Tombs, a jade factory, walked through many hutongs, and even visited a Chinese hospital for a traditional check up.
We also got the chance to see the Bird’s Nest, the Cube and the construction of the Olympic village which was amazing. It was evident that the city was going through a massive overhaul to prepare for the 2008 Olympics. It was quite impressive to see people working day and night in order to prepare. You could tell there was huge pride in being the host and it showed absolutely everywhere.
My favorite parts of Beijing centered (suprisingly?) around the food. The Wangfujing Night Market was definitely a highlight, here you could find street vendors selling anything from sugared fruit on a stick to octopus to scorpions to grub worms to pretty much anything squiggly and wiggly. We tried everything between the four of us. Ever heard of a century egg? Looks and sounds gross, but it tastes good. Of course, the Peking Duck was amazing (we had the 115,002,273th served at the restaurant we went to). The shark fin soup in a papaya was to die for. The bakeries were phenomenal! Totally decked out fancy desserts all for… get this… about 70 cents. I could go on and on with all the wonderful food we ate, I really could. But I need to get to bed soon.
Me eating grasshoppers… they were very papery like.
My boyfriend and I took 2,650 pictures while we were there. One of my best friends joked that I only saw Beijing through a camera lens. We took the best pictures and had a really nice hardcover book made through one of Apple’s picture programs. We have so many good memories from Beijing, everything was such a new and fun experience. All of the history is truly mind boggling, especially when I think of America and what a young country we are in comparison. We plan on going back the first chance we get, this time to stay for a longer time and to venture outside the main city more.
So, on to the food I made for this week’s MKMW. I wanted to stay more on the traditional Chinese side instead of the Chinese-American I know and love so well. I found The Thousand Recipe Chinese Cookbook by Gloria Bley Miller at my local library and looked through that for days trying to figure out what to make. In the end I tried to find a recipe where I already had everything on hand that I needed and that eventually led me to Stir Fried Shrimp with Almonds.
This was a very simple recipe. It called for shrimp, toasted almonds, ginger root, cornstarch, salt and celery (which I didn’t use) stir fried in a sauce of garlic, soy sauce, sherry, water and pepper (which I added after the picture was taken). It was so fast to make, the rice took so much longer to cook. I thought this was pretty good. Though I do like most of my food with a sweeter element that this dish just didn’t have. I would definitely go for something with a little more sweetness over this next time, maybe a stir fry with pineapple instead.
Make sure you stop by My Kitchen, My World to see everyone else’s creations this week. There was some really amazing dishes that were made by all the talented members.
The Black and White Banana Loaf – TWD
Ashlee of A Year in the Kitchen was up this week to select the Tuesdays with Dorie recipe and she chose The Black and White Banana Loaf on page 232 of Dorie Greenspan’s Baking: From My Home to Yours. I was excited about this one, it’s one of those recipes that always catches my eye when I look through the book.
Here we have a Naked Loaf out of the confines of a baking pan:
And the internal workings:
I used Wild Turkey Bourbon Whiskey instead of Rum. I like the rough stuff. Yeah right, just the smell of it can make me ill, but it’s all I had in the house and I wasn’t about to go running out to the liquor store since I was still in my pj’s. I had some Nestlé Chocolatier Bittersweet (62% cacao) chocolate left so I used that for the chocolate. I used dried lemon zest but was out of lemon juice so I used lime instead. And of course I forgot something… I forgot to add the milk to the batter. I realized it when I was putting all the ingredients away, I looked at the container of milk, then looked at my loaf pan already in the oven and then I said “Shit”. Looking back, I don’t really think it was that necessary because the loaf still came out moist. Though, if I made this again I wouldn’t leave the milk out on purpose.
When it came to the marbling, I obeyed Dorie and stayed conservative with my zig zagging. Although I admit i did want to do more. I kept it to one pass through with about 6 or 7 knife turns. Upon cutting, some parts of the loaf didn’t really show any marbling, the colors just looked stacked where I had dropped the different color batters. I only made half a recipe and baked in a small loaf pan for about one hour and five or ten minutes. I did use a foil tent but only towards the end of baking, I think adding it at the 30 minute mark would have been a better idea.
This was one of my favorite recipes to date. The flavor combinations between the white and black parts along with the banana was interesting to me. Staying true to my new “diet” though, I only had one piece and then gave the rest away to my neighbors (who all said they enjoyed it too). **Total side note: Yes, Chr – I WILL stop by your house one of these days with some of the stuff I bake. I promise you!
Be sure to stop by A Year in the Kitchen to check out the recipe and see how Ashlee’s Black and White Banana Loaf turned out. Then move right along to the Tuesdays with Dorie website to see over 200 more unique marbling patterns.
For next week, Dolores of Chronicles in Culinary Curiosity has picked Blueberry Sour Cream Ice Cream on page 434 for all of us to test out. I already have this one completed and can’t wait to post about it. See you next Tuesday!
My Kitchen, My World: Mexico
This week, the My Kitchen, My World group went to Mexico to find culinary inspiration. I went to Mexico on a cruise back in January of 2003 and we went to Cozumel on one of our stops. Talk about the most beautiful beaches and crystal blue water I have ever seen, it was amazing. I’m used to gray oceans around here where I live.
I had to think for a while about what I would choose to make this week. I knew I would not be able to post on Saturday like I was supposed to due to timing issues. So I decided to wait until Sunday morning and make a common Mexican breakfast – Huevos Rancheros.
Huevos Rancheros translates to “Eggs Ranch Style”. Common versions consist of fried corn tortillas, a tomato based sauce and fried eggs. It’s a dish that I’ve never had before. One of my best friends eats Huevos Rancheros every Saturday at a popular local Mexican place so I decided this challenge was the perfect time for me to try it out for myself.
The sauce is probably the most complex thing to make in this dish and it’s not even hard. The recipe I used called for charring the tomatoes, onion and pepper before pureeing in a blender with a little salt and garlic. The tortillas are fried two at a time for about 30 seconds each. The eggs were cooked over medium heat for about 3 to 4 minutes. Then everything is put together and covered with some cheese and a little cilantro. Nothing to it really. This doesn’t have to just be a breakfast meal either.
Um, excuse the chip in my plate. Thanks.
I ended up using the Huevos Rancheros recipe in the big yellow Gourmet cookbook. I found a simplified version online at Epicurious that is worth checking out:
Click here for Gourmet’s Huevos Rancheros Recipe
Things I learned this week: I fried an egg for the first time ever (I think). Usually I just scramble them. I’ve mentioned before that I’m not much of a cook (I’ve always been partial to baking) so a lot of these techniques coming up in the future will probably be new to me. Just like cooking a whole chicken was last week – which I cooked and served upside down but hey… whatever.
Also, I HATE cilantro. I really do. It’s like the Seinfeld where Newman is forced to eat broccoli, he spits it out and exclaims “VILE WEED!”. That’s EXACTLY how I feel about cilantro. The taste and the smell just put me off. But anyway, I put the hate aside and used it in this recipe and it made it through ok.
Thanks to Natashya of Living in the Kitchen with Puppies who chose Mexico for all of us. Make sure you stop by her blog to check out her Mexican meal. And then stop by the My Kitchen, My World site to see everyone else’s.
On another note:
Susan of She’s Becoming doughMESStic who created the My Kitchen, My World blog event has also recently began Operation Baking Gals, a group that will bake monthly and send the baked goods overseas to troops stationed in Iraq.
About a week ago, Susan put out a call for help from fellow bloggers to help her bake enough goodies to send to her cousin stationed in Iraq and all of his troop mates. Within a few hours, she got such a tremendous response from people willing to help her out that she decided to create Operation Baking GALS (Give a Little Support) in order to keep it going to send homebaked goodness to other troops as well. The VERY FIRST package of cookies have been received by the soldiers and you can see the post with pictures over at the Operation Baking Gals site. I’m excited for Susan, this is amazing!!
If you’d like to join in, stop by Operation Baking Gals to sign up!
