Daring Dumplings! Our First Daring Cooks Challenge!

The creators of Daring Bakers have launched their new website - thedaringkitchen.com - and with it a new group called the Daring Cooks. As Randi already partakes in the Daring Bakers, I thought it only right to join this new group. Fun!

This month's challenge was to make traditional dumplings. Jen of Use Real Butter was the host and did a great job explaining the process and coaching the novice through. And trust me, we where novices...Her wrap up and the recipe here.

I have been making sushi by hand for years, but never ventured into dumpling making. They always intimidated me a little, so I am incredibly appreciative of this challenge! Although I had grand ambitions to make one batch of shrimp/pork dumplings and one batch of potato-leek dumplings, we ran out of steam after the first ones were done and couldn't wait to dig in.

The dough was really tough (as she warned) but did soften up a smidge after sitting for 15 minutes. Next time I will add a bit more water to the dough. Because they were so tough, it was a little hard to roll them into nice circles for the wrappers. Andrew did the pleating and did the best with what he had. Besides the fact that they weren't quite as pretty as some of the others (I think these things take practice), they sure did taste great! I can't wait to experiment with other flavor combinations. Thanks again Jen!

Andrew gets his hands dirty!

Potstickers Away!

Lily thinks she might want one too...

Oh so tasty!

Giada's Penne with Spinach Sauce

When in doubt - turn to Giada! She has got me out of a food jam many times. Well, I suppose, this did not constitute as a jam...but it was a "what do we make for dinner?" moment. I made this pasta dish a few months ago and remembered how delicious and easy it was. And as you must know by now, delicious + easy = Georgia's favorite type of recipe!

Also, this is on the healthy side of pasta recipes, especially if you use wheat pasta (which you should!). Full on fiber and cancer-fighters, this pasta dish is a winner. I love pasta - my quarter of Italian ancestry is a strong one. Unfortunately, if you are not careful, pasta meals can be high in calories and fat. Boo! I love finding ways to satisfy my carb cravings in a more heart and waist healthy way.

You could do this dish hot or cold - we opted for hot this time. Giada uses a plain goat cheese, but we found a garlic-chive goat cheese at the farmer's market that made our dinner extra garlicky!!! Good thing we both had garlic breath, wink wink...

Also, because this is a pasta recipe, I submitted it to Presto Pasta Nights hosted this week by Daphne of More than Words.

Penne with Spinach Sauce
Recipe courtesy of Giada De Laurentiis
serves 6

1 pound whole wheat or multi grain penne
3 garlic cloves
2 ounces goat cheese
1 ounce reduced fat cream cheese
3/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
6 ounces fresh baby spinach leaves
2 tablespoons freshly grated Parmesan

Bring a large pot of salted water to boil. Add the penne and cook until it is tender but still firm to the bite, stirring occasionally, about 12 minutes.

Mince the garlic in a food processor. Add the goat cheese, cream cheese, 3/4 teaspoon of salt, 1/2 teaspoon of pepper, and half of the spinach leaves. Blend until the mixture is smooth and creamy. Set the cheese and spinach mixture aside.

Meanwhile, place the remaining spinach leaves in a large bowl.

Drain the pasta, reserving 1 cup of the cooking liquid. Spoon the pasta atop the spinach leaves in the bowl. Scrape the cheese and spinach mixture over the pasta mixture and toss to coat, adding enough reserved cooking liquid to moisten. Season the pasta, to taste, with salt and pepper. Sprinkle the Parmesan over and serve.

Brioche s'il vous plaît

One of Andrew's constant complaints about Central Pennsylvania is there aren't any good french bakeries (if you know of any, let us know!). He loves brioche and is sad that there are no local sources...well until now! Because I am the world's best girlfriend I told him that I would try to bake some. I have been baking regular yeast bread for years, so figured that it would not be too much of stretch. I got a recipe out of the Joy of Cooking and had at it. I am not including the recipe here, because I assume that most of you have or have access to a copy of this book. If not, GET ONE!!! It is a must have and has saved my butt on several occasions.

In the recipe, they say that the dough is a little sticky and not to worry. Ok, a little sticky is a bit of an understatement. And, yes, I was worried. It had no shape whatsoever when it first was mixed together and even after adding some more flour would have been impossible to knead. My second little setback was that I didn't realize that the dough required a few hours refrigeration. The plan was to make these for breakfast, but oh well. After three hours in the fridge the dough doubled nicely and they were a nice afternoon treat.

Looking back, they were pretty easy to make and relatively fool proof. If you are having a brunch or just feel like a special breakfast, make these. Not exactly health food, but a nice treat.

Get some good butter, good jam and runny cheese and be transported to a cafe on the Seine.


photography by Andrew of Falling Leaves Photography

My Coping Method - Cooking

The last few weeks have been a bit hectic. My semester is done - finally - but involved three final exams and a final project on top of each other. In addition, my grandmother passed away and the funeral was up in Connecticut. It was a stressful week, one that I wasn't necessarily prepared for. My grandmother was a wacky lady, full of life at 81 and her death was very unexpected. I have a lot of great memories of her and her funeral was a true celebration of her life!

Although I did not really have the energy to blog or take photos, I was cooking up a storm. I found that when Andrew and I were in the kitchen, it distracted me. The kitchen is my happy place. We made brioche (post to come tomorrow), strawberry muffins (above and not worth mentioning further), a great one pot meal - Chicken with Tarragon and Leeks - from Real Simple. We had friends over for a semester's end bbq and grilled steak, peppers and rosemary potatoes. Martha Stewart Surprise Cookies were the dessert (yum!). These cookies were basically a devils food cookie with a marshmallow topper and covered in a fudge icing.

We grilled, we baked, we coped.

My mom is forever reminding me that I do not cook for them enough. Granted, this is tough as I live four hours away now, but in honor of Mother's Day and going to CT, I made a new version of the Orange Olive Oil Cake that I posted about in April. OMG - it was delicious!!!! I substituted lemon peel for the orange and poured the batter over about 2 cups of blueberries. Wow. I had to cook it a little longer (the berries were frozen), but it wound up being more of a pudding than a cake. It was moist and flavorful. I got compliments from everyone and will definitely make it again.

Anyway, the only picture unfortunately was of the blah strawberry muffins. These could have been called un-strawberry muffins. You win some, you lose some.

Blogging will be back on track this week!

Rest in peace Grandma, we all love and miss you.

Whole Foods Challenge

Every Tuesday Whole Foods does this thing where each department has samples out. Last week though they were trying something new. Since its asparagus season the store was featuring asparagus and therefore each department's sample was asparagus based. Also more awesomely, they were asking everyone to vote for their favorite. It was an awesome Whole Foods Department Challenge.

The produce department had two samples, a grilled baggett with roasted asparagus and fresh mozzarella and an asparagus leek soup. Even though the bakery department had super delicious asparagus and feta croissants, I felt that on asparagus deliciousness alone, the asparagus leek soup was my favorite. It might have had something to do with how cold and rainy it was outside, you never know. Either way, I picked up the recipe and resolved to make it this week for dinner. I might have cooked it down some more to make it a little thicker after pureeing it, but otherwise it was tasty, filling and good for you.


Asparagus Leek Soup

1 large leek, chopped into 1/2 inch pieces
2 shallots, chopped
2 tbsp butter
2 bunches asparagus, trimmed and cut into 1.5 inch pieces
4 cups chicken broth
1 cup water
1/4 cup cream
parmigiano-reggiano grated over top of each bowl

Using only white and pale green parts, cut leek in half and rinse. Then chop into 1/2 inch pieces. Saute with better, shallots, salt and pepper.

When leeks are softened, after 3 minutes, add cut asparagus, broth, and water. Bring to a boil and then simmer covered for about 10 minutes or until asparagus is tender.

Using either the traditional blender or an immersion blender, blend until smooth. Pour through a sieve if desired (I didn't do this, I like pulp), then return to pot and add cream and salt and pepper to taste. Simmer till hot. Serve immediately and grate parmigiano-reggiano over top.

A Late Dinner - Curried Eggplant With Tomatoes and Basil

My semester is almost done!!! Only three take home finals left and then freedom - for a few weeks anyway...One of the best things about the end of classes is that I can focus more on cooking. My classes are at night, so on the three days that I had to drag myself to school, it was hard to put together anything but a quick meal. Yesterday we loaded up at the farmers market with fresh veggies with some good dinners in mind.

Last night's dinner ended up being super late, because we decided it was a good time to advance our photo setup and build a white-box (probably the wrong term) for light reflection. Needless to say, with building the setup, shooting the muffins we made (post on these later), and shooting the curry, dinner did not commence until about 8:45pm. Oh well.

This recipe is from Real Simple, which is my go to magazine for good recipes. As we had been stuffing ourselves with meat for the last week, I opted for this vegetarian dish. It looked light and simple, a perfect summer meal. The flavors were good, but lacked a little pop. We ended up sprinkling more salt and curry over our plates and that helped. Also, definitely serve with plain yogurt, it does wonders. All in all, the combination of eggplant, tomatoes, basil and curry is a winner. Thumbs up again RS!

I submitted this post to Magazine Mondays over at Cream Puffs in Venice for her blogging event.

Curried Eggplant With Tomatoes and Basil
four big servings

1 cup brown rice
Kosher salt and black pepper
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 onion, chopped
2 pints cherry tomatoes, halved
1 eggplant (about 1 pound), cut into 1/2-inch pieces
1 1/2 teaspoons curry powder
1 15.5-ounce can chickpeas, rinsed
1/2 cup fresh basil
1/4 cup plain low-fat yogurt (preferably Greek), optional

In a medium saucepan with a tight-fitting lid, combine rice, 1 1/2 cups water, and 1/2 teaspoon salt and bring to a boil. Stir once, cover, and reduce heat to low. Simmer for 18 minutes. (Do not lift the lid or stir!) Remove from heat and let stand, covered, for 5 minutes; fluff with a fork before serving.

Meanwhile, heat the oil in a saucepan over medium-high heat. Add the onion and cook, stirring occasionally, until softened, 4 to 6 minutes. Stir in the tomatoes, eggplant, curry powder, 1 teaspoon salt, and 1/4 teaspoon black pepper. Cook, stirring, until fragrant, about 2 minutes.

Add 2 cups water and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer, partially covered, until the eggplant is tender, 12 to 15 minutes. Stir in the chickpeas and cook just until heated through, about 3 minutes.

Remove from heat and stir in the basil. Serve over the rice with yogurt, if using.

Orange Olive Oil Cake

Good News!

The quality of the food photography on this blog is likely to improve. As some of you may know, Andrew went to photography school and has quite the eye! I finally decided that he should be recruited for the blog. He loves to eat, cook and take photos, so why not combine the three? We have been studying different techniques and hopefully will have great results!

On a different note, I made this cake last weekend for his parents who are recovering from a bug (not the Swine flu, don't worry!). I was inspired by the blueberry crumb cake I made a few weeks ago, in which I substituted olive oil for some of the butter.

After doing a quick search, I found this recipe for Orange Olive Oil cake. It is from more than burnt toast, but is an Anna Olson recipe. Be sure to check out her post, she has some great info on Ms. Olson and the cake. Apparently someone at work is paying her to make this because they loved it so much!

Wow, was this cake yummy! The orange flavor was on the subtle side, but worked perfectly. Because of the olive oil, the cake was very moist. You may notice that on the picture below it looks almost uncooked in the middle, but that is just from the olive oil sinking a little. I think I may have stirred it too long. Anyway, I will be sure to make more baked goods with EVOO in the future.

Olive oil is healthy right? How can you go wrong?

I am also bringing this cake to a virtual bakesale. Lauren, from I'll Eat You is holding a virtual bakesale in honor of her one year blogiversary. Way to go Lauren! She is raising money through firstgiving to donate to the World Food Program. What a great cause? Check out the site and give a little if you can :)

Orange Olive Oil Cake

2 eggs
1 -1/4 cups sugar
3/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
3/4 cup 2 %milk
zest of 2 oranges or tangerines
1 cup + 2 T all purpose flour
1/4 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp baking soda
dash salt
powdered sugar for dusting

Preheat oven to 350 °F and butter and flour a 9-inch round cake pan.

In a large bowl, whisk eggs and sugar. Add olive oil, milk and orange zest and mix well. In a separate bowl, stir flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Add to olive oil batter and stir just until smooth. Pour into prepared pan and bake for 40 to 50 minutes, until a tester inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean.

Let cake cool completely, then turn out onto a plate and dust with powdered sugar.

Everything Tastes Better Grilled

A few years ago, Bobby Flay grilled pizza on an episode of Boy Meets Grill. It looked absolutely delicious and I knew that it was something that I had to make. After all, what doesn't taste better grilled? My first attempt at this pizza challenge came shortly after, when I was living at home with my parents. It was pretty good, but I recall having some troubles with the dough...either way, when Andrew and I were headed out to the local farmer's market on Saturday morning, I suggested that we get some ingredients to grill pizza. As usual he was game and we stocked up on some goodies. We both got chorizo sausage (there is a place at the market that makes seriously the best chorizo I have ever eaten) and I got a portabello, ricotta and basil. Andrew got some yellow peppers, sheep's milk feta and a red onion.

A word of advice, have all the ingredients prepped before you start. I forgot how quickly the dough cooked and snapped a little teensy bit in my frenzy.

Andrew!?! Stop snacking and help me with the pizza!!!!

I later realized I could just turn off the grill and get stuff ready....turn off grill??? Novel idea!

Because I was lazy, we got some pre-made pizza dough at Wegman's which worked fine. If you oil the dough before you put it on the grill, it doesn't stick at all.

This is a really fun meal to make and pretty impressive if I do say so.

I didn't write the entire recipe from the episode, just listed the ingredients we had on hand. You can find Bobby's method here.

Grilled Pizza
Pre-made pizza dough
Pizza sauce
Feta cheese
Ricotta cheese
Yellow peppers, sliced
Portabello mushroom, sliced
Red onion, sliced
Chorizo sausage, grilled and sliced

Keep an eye on your dough to make sure it doesn't get too singed...I had a small accident, but it still tasted great!

Confessions of a Foodie

This morning, as I was lying in bed, I thought of exactly what I wanted to write about today. Unfortunately, as I did not write it down...I don't exactly remember. Oh well, here goes nothing...

If I could I would wear a t-shirt and jeans every day (which I do pretty well at), I hate shoes and own significantly less pairs than my fiance, I don't have that great a sense of interior design. Although I order a snooty drink at Starbucks (Grande, non-fat, 130 degree Latte) I am one of the least snooty people I know. I hate shopping for clothing or shoes, but could spend hours walking around Williams-Sonoma or Crate & Barrel. When I get their catalogs in the mail, I bring them to the bedroom and read them like a good book. This is what my love of food has done to me. My kitchen is loaded (and will be more so after our wedding) with goodies - a phat KitchenAid mixer, Brevelle Juicer, Le Crueset tea pot and much more. You know what - I use them all. My kitchen is my domain.

But I digress, the reason for this rambling intro is that last night we had some friends over. I decided to make a recipe out of the Williams-Sonoma catalog. Chipotle Chicken Paninis. The recipe called for their new Spicy Chipotle Rub which we promptly went and purchased. Wow, am I glad we did, the stuff is amazing!!! Seriously, get some.

We decided to grill the sandwiches outside and used ciabatta, not sandwich bread, but other than that, followed the recipe pretty closely. These things were AMAZING. I went to bed thinking about them and woke up thinking about how I wish we had more...I also submitted this recipe to Magazine Mondays over at Cream Puffs in Venice, because although not technically a food magazine, I think it counts because it ended up in the "will make someday" category. The image above is what their version looks like and what made me drool enough to want to make them. Below is our creation:

Lily wanted one too...

To go along with the sandwiches, we had a simple caprese salad and I made a Blueberry Crumb Cake from a Dorie Greenspan recipe. The cake was equally awesome. Put it this way - four people housed an entire cake in one sitting...maybe I shouldn't admit that - eh, whatever. The only change I made for the cake was substitute 3 tablespoons of olive oil for 3 of butter. This resulted in a moist, slightly healthier cake. I think in the future I'd up the blueberry amount also.

Either way, an evening of excellent food and good company - we even got to play dominoes!

Chipotle Chicken Sandwich
inspired by Williams-Sonoma recipe

2 boneless, skinless chicken breast halves, each about 8 oz., tenders
removed and breasts butterflied

8 tsp. spicy chipotle rub

1 loaf ciabatta, cut into quarters and sliced

Olive oil for brushing

8 tsp. mayonnaise

8 oz. Pepper jack cheese, cut into slices

1 avocado, peeled, pitted and cut into slices 1/4 inch thick

Rub each chicken breast on both sides with 2 tsp. chipotle rub. Grill for about 5 minutes on each side, until done. Transfer to a plate. Construct sandwich with mayo, cheese, avocado and chicken breast. Put sandwiches back on grill for a few minutes, until slightly toasted. Serves 4.

Comfort Food from Childhood - Potato Puffs

Growing up, whenever we had any leftover mashed potatoes my mom would make potato puffs the next day. I'm not sure if there was ever an official recipe or it was just something she threw together....either way I was always very excited when she made them. Who doesn't love fried potato products??? Not this girl. Trust me, once you make these once, they will become a staple. They are very easy, not too time consuming and make excellent leftovers. I just had two cold for a little snack :)

These little bundles of potatoey goodness are my mom's version of a potato pancake. As it is the Passover season, I thought it would be a fitting solute to my quasi-Jewish heritage to cook them. Andrew and I made roasted-red pepper mashed potatoes (yum!) the other night and I purposefully made extra with these in mind. I didn't get my mom's recipe prior to cooking them, I just went by feel. As a consequence, they aren't as fluffy as hers were. Still delicious though! Below is the actual recipe, but these can't really be messed up....

Potato Puffs
per one cup of mashed potatoes

1 cup mashed potatoes
1 cup flour
1 egg
1 tbsp baking powder
1/4 cup of milk
a dash of salt and pepper
oil to fry (I suggest EVOO)

Whisk all the ingredients together until light and fluffy. In the meantime, heat about 1/2 inch of oil on medium high. When the oil is ready, drop in dollops of the mixture. When the edges start looking cooked through flip them. The end result should be nice and golden brown.

The frying process should be done by feel, much like a pancake.