rhuby tuesday

These last couple weeks have been very exciting with signs of late spring beginning to appear, which is especially nice considering that summer will be here before we know it. The farmers markets are showcasing more brightly colored flowers and lots more fresh fruits and vegetables, my favorite of which is rhubarb. For me the first rhubarb, marks the beginning of pie season. With a little rhubarb from the Ballard market, a little from Dan's mom's garden, I made the first rhubarb pie of 2010. 
This pie recipe comes from Saveur magazine, the crust is really nice because it uses oil rather than butter or shortening, making it much easier to work with. They got the crust recipe from Louise Piper, who won a 1997 blue ribbon at the Iowa State Fair, using this crust and a strawberry-rhubarb filling. This one's just filled with rhubarb, but I'll share the recipe soon for the strawberry-rhubarb version.

RHUBARB PIE

Crust:
2 2⁄3 cups all-purpose flour

1 tsp. salt

2⁄3 cup vegetable oil

6 tbsp. cold milk

For the filling:

1 1⁄3 cups, plus 2 tsp. sugar
2 tbsp corn starch
1⁄4 tsp. ground nutmeg
1⁄4 tsp. ground cinnamon
4-6 cups thinly sliced rhubarb
2 tbsp. butter, cut into small pieces
2 tsp. milk
Preheat oven to 400°. For the crust: Sift together flour and salt into a mixing bowl. Measure oil into a measuring cup, then add milk, but don't stir together. Pour oil and milk into flour mixture. Stir until dough just holds together. Divide dough in half, shape into 2 balls, and flatten slightly. Roll out each ball between two sheets of wax paper into 12" rounds. Transfer one pastry round (discarding wax paper) into a 9" pie plate, and set other pastry round aside.
For the filling: Mix together 1 1⁄3 cups of the sugar, corn starch, nutmeg and cinnamon in a large mixing bowl, then add rhubarb, tossing well to coat evenly.Fill bottom crust with rhubarb mixture and scatter butter on top. Cover with remaining pastry round (discarding wax paper) and crimp edges together to seal. Score top to allow steam to escape, brush with milk, and sprinkle with remaining 2 tsp. sugar. Place pie on a baking sheet and bake until crust is golden and filling is bubbling, about 50 minutes. If edge of crust browns too quickly, cover edge with a strip of aluminum foil to prevent burning. Allow pie to cool for 1 hour before serving.

Eggplant Lasagna

This is a new take on lasagna that is both meat and gluten-free. For this recipe I used the same filling that I use for regular lasagna and cannelloni, and a jar of store-bought or a homemade marinara. The eggplant is used in place of noodles and I used a Trader Joe's marinara sauce.  


EGGPLANT LASAGNA
2 medium eggplants (about 2 1/4 pounds total), trimmed, cut lengthwise into 1/4-inch-thick slices

• 3 zucchinis, sliced thinly lengthwise
• Coarse kosher salt
• Extra-virgin olive oil

16-24 ounces of canned marinara sauce

For filling:

1 pkg. frozen spinach, thawed & drained well

15 basil leaves, chopped

1 lb. fresh ricotta

1 cup shredded mozzarella, plus 1/2 cup for topping
salt & pepper

2 eggs

1/2 cup grated parmesan 

• 
  
  Cover bottom and sides of each of 2 large colanders with 1 layer of eggplant slices; sprinkle generously with coarse salt. Continue layering eggplant slices in each colander, sprinkling each layer with coarse salt, until all eggplant slices are used. Place each colander over large bowl; let stand at least 30 minutes and up to 1 hour. Rinse eggplant slices to remove excess salt; dry thoroughly with paper towels.
• 
  
  Position oven rack 5 to 6 inches from heat source and preheat broiler. Line 3 large rimmed baking sheets with parchment paper. Arrange eggplant slices in single layer on prepared baking sheets. Brush both sides of eggplant slices with olive oil. Broil 1 sheet at a time until eggplant slices are tender and beginning to brown, watching closely and removing eggplant slices as needed if cooking too quickly, 3 to 4 minutes per side. Remove baking sheet from oven and cool eggplant while preparing filling.
  
  
  Combine drained spinach, basil, ricotta, mozzarella, salt & pepper and eggs; mix well. Add 1/4 cup parmesan, reserve the rest for topping and set aside. 

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Lightly oil 15x10x2-inch glass baking dish. Spread a layer of sauce evenly over bottom of dish. Place one layer of eggplant slices over sauce, covered by one layer of filling (about 1 inch thick), covered by one layer of zucchini slices and cover entire layer with sauce.  Repeat with another layer of eggplant, filling, zucchini slices and sauce.  Cover entire pan with remaining marinara, mozzarella and parmesan.  

Cover with foil and bake 30 minutes.  Remove foil and bake another 15-20 minutes until the cheese begins to brown.

tacos al past or tacos al present

Tacos al pastor are my number one favorite thing to order in Mexican restaurants. I've been meaning to learn how to make them at home for a while now, but when I originally looked up the recipe there was all this talk about shawarma and cooking the meat on a spit with intermittent layers of pineapple.  I'm not ready to invest in my own spit quite yet.  I was able to find a couple of other recipes that did not require such a purchase, and I blended the two recipes to make this creation.  It consists of marinating a fatty piece of pork (shoulder or butt, loin would probably work too) and then slow cooking it at low heat on the stove top or  in a crock pot.

The meat was a little spicy, but not too spicy, and had lots of different delicious flavors that combined to make one delicious flavor spread amongst many different tacos.  top each little taco with your fixings of choice: cilantro, lime, onions and even jalapenos if you have them.

and happy cinco de mayo everybody!

TACOS AL PASTOR
Marinade:
1 large white onion, chopped coarsely
1/2 can pineapple chunks and all juice from the can
1/2 cup orange juice
1 cup white vinegar
1/4 cup guajillo chile powder
8 garlic cloves, halved
2 teaspoons kosher salt
1 teaspoon dried oregano
1 teaspoon ground cumin
2 small chipotle chiles in adobo sauce
2 teaspoons adobo sauce from the chiles

Meat:
1 2-3 pound pork shoulder, cut into 1 1/2 inch chunks.

For serving:
Fresh cilantro
lime wedges
chopped white onion
chopped fresh jalapenos

Blend all marinade ingredients in a food processor or blender.  Pour into a bowl with the meat, stir to cover the meat and marinate for two hours or overnight.  After the meat has marinated, place meat and marinade into a large pot on medium-low heat, add remaining pineapple chunks and cover.  Cook for about 2.5 hours or until meat is tender.

Serve on warmed corn tortillas with a sprinkling of cilantro, lime, onion and jalapenos.

doughnuts are really more like dough nuggets

I tried to surprise Dan with these on Saturday morning, when he was coming over to help me with some car troubles. I think I was more surprised than him, surprised foremost at how delicious the donut batter tasted before it was fried and surprised secondly at how I could not, for the life of me, get these to work.  But hey, you live and you learn. I have since learned that the "deep" in "deep fry" is not to be taken lightly. The oil has to be deep enough to cover the dough, so that the dough floats rather than rests on the bottom of the pan. If it rests on the bottom of the pan, as it did when I made this batch, the bottom of the donut will burn before the inside batter is able to cook. Causing many rounds of burned dough filled with liquid batter, which you can look at in confusion before you throw them away, because they do not taste good. promise. I'm going to try to make these again, and hopefully they'll work better next time. I reread through Joe Pastry's notes (which is where Dan found the recipe), and he really emphasizes the temperature of both the oil and the batter. Temperature is essential to your success. I did not pick up on that during the first attempt, but have since realized it's a pretty big deal.

butter, sour cream and eggs, warming up to room temperature.

the final masterpieces.  

Vanilla Cake "Drop" Doughnuts
8 ounces all-purpose flour sifted
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
3/4 teaspoon nutmeg
3.5 ounces (1/2 cup) sugar
1 once ( 2 tablespoons) soft butter
2 ounces (1) egg
1 ounce sour cream
1 1/4 tsp vanilla extract
3.5 ounces (1/4 cup) milk


Make sure all ingredients are at room temperature to begin (this is VERY important). Have a fry pan or Dutch ready with about two inches of oil in it(canola oil works the best).


Combine all the dry ingredients (including the sugar) in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Stir the eggs, milk, sour cream and vanilla together in a separate bowl. Turn mixer on low to blend all the dry ingredients together. Add the butter and turn the mixer up to medium-low. When the butter has been fully incorporated add the wet ingredients in a steady stream with the mixer running. Let the mixer run for 30 seconds and scrape the bowl down. Let the mixer run for another 30 seconds. The batter should be smooth, thick and spoonable. Let it rest for ten minutes, while you bring your oil up to temperature: 380 degrees Fahrenheit. Fry tablespoon-sized dollops in oil for 45 seconds per side. Drain on paper towels. Dust with sugar or dip in icing and serve warm.


Doughnut Glaze 
Mix these ingredients together:
8 ounces powdered sugar
2 tablespoon plus two teaspoons water or milk
a few drop of vanilla extract


Dip each doughnut in the glaze and then sprinkle with fun sprinkles.

taste the rainbow

this rainbow layer cake is the coolest thing ever. whoever has a birthday next, you're getting this. you can find the recipe and assembly instructions here.

cheery cherry almond scones

For last month's book club we went the path of a more serious read, Set This House in Order, about two people with multiple personalities who become friends.  The rather grim nature of the book was offset by lively company and a delicious breakfast at 34th St. Bistro in Fremont.  At breakfast they served the table a basket of cherry almond scones, that we ate while we waited for the main dishes to arrive.  They were so good, that we were still thinking of them a few weeks later and decided to make a batch.

CHERRY & ALMOND SCONES

2 cups all-purpose flour

• 1/3 cup sugar
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 8 tablespoons unsalted butter, frozen
• 1/2 cup dried cherries
• 1/2 cup sour cream
• 1 large egg
• 1/2 tsp. almond extract
• 
  
• Adjust oven rack to lower-middle position and preheat oven to 400 degrees. In a medium bowl, mix flour, 1/3 cup sugar, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Grate butter into flour mixture on the large holes of a box grater; use your fingers to work in butter (mixture should resemble coarse meal), then stir in cherries.
• 
  
• In a small bowl, whisk sour cream and egg until smooth. Add in almond extract and stir until incorporated. Using a fork, stir sour cream mixture into flour mixture until large dough clumps form. Use your hands to press the dough against the bowl into a ball. (The dough will be sticky in places, and there may not seem to be enough liquid at first, but as you press, the dough will come together.)
• 
  
• Place on a lightly floured surface and pat into a 7- to 8-inch circle about 3/4-inch thick. Sprinkle with remaining 1 tsp. of sugar. Use a sharp knife to cut into 8 triangles; place on a cookie sheet (preferably lined with parchment paper), about 1 inch apart. Bake until golden, about 15 to 17 minutes. Cool for 5 minutes and serve warm or at room temperature.

it's a street, it's a way to open stuff...

Sesame. It's also a nutty-flavored seed, an oil and apparently a plant with yellow blossoms and seed pods.  Dan and I made this sesame chicken for dinner earlier in the week, to go with the snappy fried rice.  It was pretty quick and introduced me to a new way of battering chicken. Since the batter contained cornstarch, baking powder and baking soda, it puffed up during frying and became light and airy.

Here's the recipe:

SWEET & SAVORY SESAME CHICKEN
For the chicken marinade/batter:
2 tbsp. all-purpose flour
2 tbsp. cornstarch
1/4 tsp. baking soda
1/4 tsp. baking powder
2 tbsp. soy sauce
1 tbsp. dry sherry
2 tbsp.  water
1 teaspoon vegetable oil
1 lb. boneless, skinless chicken breast meat, cubed

For the sauce:
1 cup chicken broth
2 tbsp. rice vinegar
3 tbsp. dark soy sauce
1/2 cup sugar
1/4 tsp. sesame oil
1 tsp. chile paste
5 cloves of garlic, minced
3-6 hot pepper pods
1/4 cup cornstarch
1/2 cup water

3 green onions, sliced for garnish
2 tsp. sesame seeds

In a medium bowl combine sugar, soy sauce, vinegar, sesame oil, chile paste and chicken broth.  Set aside.  In another bowl combine the flour, cornstarch, baking soda and baking powder and stir.  Pour in soy sauce, sherry, 2 tbsp. water and vegetable oil and stir until smooth.  Stir in chicken pieces until coated and marinate in the refrigerator for 20-30 minutes.

Meanwhile, with a splash of oil saute the pepper pods and garlic in a separate pan.  Add in combined sauce ingredients (sugar, soy sauce, vinegar, sesame oil, chile paste and chicken broth), and bring to a boil.  Dissolve the 1/4 cup of cornstarch into 1/2 cup of water and add to the mixture.  Simmer and stir until sauce thickens and becomes clear.  Reduce heat to low.

Heat oil in a large saucepan until it reaches 375 degrees.  Drop in battered chicken pieces, a few at a time, and fry until they cook to a nice golden brown and float to the top of the oil.  About 3-4 minutes.  Drain on a paper towel lined plate.  Add chicken to the sauce mixture and stir to coat the individual pieces.  Sprinkle with
sesame seeds and green onions to serve.  Serve with fried or steamed rice.