A Snowy Winter Continues...

For a girl with pretty serious texture issues when it comes to food, I do love me some good tapioca. Growing up, homemade tapioca was commonplace in our house.

Tapioca is chock full of dairy when made traditionally, but there is hope for a non-dairy version. So, for all you non-texture-averse lactards out there, as Bud Light would say - this one's for you.

 I have been testing out unsweetened almond milk recently in everything from my morning coffee to... well, this tapioca. Almond milk is naturally very sweet and makes a great substitution for regular milk. For example, when I put it in my coffee, I don't add any sugar and in this recipe, I was able to cut back on the sugar as well. 

As you can see, this is the small pearl minute kind. (Boo.) I always prefer the large pearl that requires soaking, but my local Shaw's Supermarket just wasn't working with me on this one. 

For the record, this is the recipe from the side of the tapioca box substituting Almond milk, but I will re-write it for you here:

Fluffy Tapioca Cream

1 egg, separated

6T. sugar, divided - cut back at your discretion

3T. Tapioca

2c unsweetened Almond milk

1t. vanilla

Beat egg white in small bowl with electric mixer on high speed until foamy. Gradually add 3 Tbsp. sugar, beating until soft peaks form. Mix tapioca, remaining sugar, almond milk and egg yolk in medium saucepan. Let stand 5 minutes. Cook on medium heat, stirring constantly, until mixture comes to full boil. Remove from heat. Quickly stir egg white mixture into hot tapioca in saucepan until well blended. Stir in vanilla. Cool 20 minutes; stir. Serve warm or chilled. For creamier pudding, place plastic wrap on surface of pudding while cooling. Stir before serving. Store leftover pudding in refrigerator.

Try your hand at it.  Delicious!

A Carb Bender: Braided Challah

I never met a carb I didn't like.

The carb bender continues. This time with some braided Challah. (Yumm.) I actually made this loaf a couple weeks ago, and I am drooling just remembering it. For those of you that aren't familiar with Challah, it is a Jewish sweet bread that is eaten on both the Sabbath and holidays. While I am not Jewish, I have to thank a certain high school friend for teaching me everything I know about Judaism - but mainly for fostering my love for matzo ball soup and good Challah.

Challah is a very simple bread - water, flour, eggs, sugar, and yeast. While I can't boast its healthfulness, I can tell you it has the addictive properties of Wonder Bread, but worse because it is sweet to the taste. Oh, and buttery. Sweet and buttery.

I followed this very traditional recipe I found after a quick search on Challah recipes. Another thing to note is her mention of the "jiffy method". I have used this method on a couple other types of loaves since. I simply microwave a clean, damp tea towel for 30 seconds and then place it over the rising bread in the still warm microwave. It works wonders.

Happy kneading!

Berry Pavlova: Happy Birthday, Boy!

I normally make Boy his very favorite dessert once a year for his birthday. After recently learning the number of calories in a single slice of cheesecake though, I decided to mix it up this time around. [I won't ruin it for the rest of you by saying it is more than half of what you should be consuming in a day.]

While eating my lunch on a recent snow day I turned on my idol, the Barefoot Contessa, to indulge for thirty minutes. I was basically drooling on myself by the end of it.

Meringue? Fresh whipped cream?! Framboise liqueur strawberry sauce?!? Yes please. Sounds like something straight out of my dreams. And perfect timing with Boy's birthday right around the corner.

As was the case with the Lobster Mac and Cheese, I can take no credit for this Triple Berry Pavlova, but I can (and did) pat myself on the back for a flawless execution.

Happy Happy Birthday, Boy!

A Winter Carb Bender: Cranberry Raisin Granola Bread

I shouldn't say this because the premise of this blog is to cook with what is in season in New England, but I am fully bored of winter vegetables. Now, I love root vegetables as much as the next person, but I have a dirty little secret. I am already dreaming of the crisp, vibrant fruits and vegetables that that accompany spring. That being said, I have instead focused a lot of time ensuring that Boy and I (and some lucky neighbors) start our weeks off with fresh loaves of bread to eat with breakfast or enjoy with our stews.

Simple, homemade breads are something that have always turned me into a smitten little kitten. Have you ever looked at the ingredients in a loaf of bread you buy at the store? What percentage of that list can you pronounce? The answer is not many. [I once had a bag of hot dog buns on my shelf for an entire summer that never grew mold. I finally threw them out - still in pristine, children-of-the-corn-esque condition - because the thought of them gave my the heebie jeebies.] I was once told that if you can't pronounce it (or your great-grandmother wouldn't have used it) you shouldn't be eating it. I can't think of a better rule of thumb. Enjoy eating real foods and not food products. But, I digress.

For Christmas I received an amazing book that deep dives into the theory of cooking just about everything. Being the huge nerds that we are, Boy and I excitedly jumped into the chapter on the science behind leavened breads and yeast. Who knew what a precise process bread making is?! Certainly makes me appreciate the perfect baguettes you get in Paris. (Yumm.)

I am very lucky that my new mixer affords me the ability to make doughs very easily. I have been taking full advantage.While I am relying heavily on recipes for the most part now, I hope to be using my growing knowledge of the science of bread making to experiment more in the coming months. Hopefully that focus will help the winter pass quickly while I eagerly await for the colorful fruits and vegetables that signify spring!

Cranberry Raisin Granola Bread
1c. granola
1/3c. oats
1/2c. cranberries (or other dried fruit)
1T. butter
2T. honey
1/2t. salt
1/2c. boiling water
1c. lukewarm water
2t. yeast
2 1/2c. flour
1c. raisins
1/2c. almonds, flaked

Chop granola to fine crumbs. In bowl, combine oats, granola, cranberries, butter, honey, and salt. Add boiling water and mix well with spoon. Set aside to cool. In small bowl, pour lukewarm water over yeast and set aside to ferment. When granola mixture has cooled, add yeast and mix. Add 1 cup of flour at a time and mix. Stir in raisins and almonds. Roll dough onto a floured surface and knead for 8 minutes. Turn into an oiled bowl. Cover with damp cloth or saran. Place in warm area and let double in size. About 1 hour. Punch down and place dough into greased loaf pan. Clover and let rise 10-15 minutes more. Bake at 375F for 35-40 minutes. Remove and cool on wire rack. 

Ready for your close-up?

I was about a paragraph into what will be my next entry and realized that there was a post that needed written before any more food items go up. We all know, and love, Sebastien, my French Blue KitchenAid Artisan stand mixer.

That being said, let's just say that Boy way outdid himself this Christmas. I was unknowingly upgraded from the 325-watt, 5-quart Artisan to a whopper 575-watt, 6-quart bowl Professional 600 Series. For my fellow cooking nerds out there - pretty exciting, I know. For my not-so-nerdy cooking friends, I am a dork, I know.

He doesn't photograph well because he is just so shiny!
Nothing like some hard work to wear that shine away.

I now have the power to make 13 dozen cookies in one bowl versus the measly 8 dozen I had before. I can crank out 8 loaves of bread at one time instead of the pathetic 4 I was able to do before. It is amazing I could even cook before this mixer - I mean, only 8 dozen cookies at once?

Weak.

So kidding! Seb and I had a long, amazing life planned together, but, unfortunately for him, Boy has spoiled me rotten. Have yet to name the new guy, but always open to suggestions!

Here's to a future of more cookies and bread than any one person should or could eat! (Personally, I see it as a challenge...)

Winter Vegetable Pot Roast

Another one of my go-to bang-for-your-buck winter meals is a good pot roast. Talk about a fantastic way to take an inexpensive, otherwise terrible cut of meat and transform it into something absolutely amazing. I have always followed my mom's tried and true recipe that involves topping the seared meat with a Lipton French Onion soup packet and adding some water. A never-fail method I must say, but, being who I am I decided to play with it a little bit.

Winter Vegetable Pot Roast
4-5 lb. chuck roast
1 packet Lipton French Onion Soup
1 onion, chopped
4-5 cloves garlic, pressed
3/4 c. red wine (never cook with wine you wouldn't drink by itself!)
3/4 c. water
2 T. balsamic vinegar

Vegetables: (coarsely chopped)
carrots
brussel sprouts
new potatoes
parsnips

Preheat oven to 300F. Saute onion and garlic together in olive oil, sea salt, and fresh pepper until softened, about 5 minutes. Spread onions and garlic along the bottom of your dutch oven and set aside. Lightly salt and pepper the meat. Over high heat, sear all sides of roast until brown. Place seared meat on bed of onions and garlic in dutch oven. Pour wine, water, and balsamic vinegar over meat and sprinkle dry onion soup on top. Cover and place in oven. Let roast for 4 hours or until meat starts to fall apart.

After 4 hours add vegetables to dutch oven and roast until they are fork tender. Should take between 40 - 60 minutes. 

Admittedly, this is a meal that takes some patience, but is totally worth it (and the leftovers!) in the end. A note on the vegetables I listed above. Take it as a suggestion. In the past I have used celery root, sweet potatoes, and onions to name a few. It all depends on what you are in the mood for, what is in season, and what will hold up to roasting. (I have also been known to make a mean blended soup from the leftover veggies...) Go nuts!

Enjoy!

Holiday Chocolate Frenzy

Oh, hey there, guys. I hope everyone enjoyed the holidays and is adjusting to full weeks at the office again. (Don't worry, MLK Day is less than a week away!)

FACT: I am probably a person you want to know during the holidays.

As someone who looks for excuses to continually cook yummy things and pawn them off on other people, I feel that my life has most purpose November through January. Normally I rotate between cranberry-pistachio biscotti and homemade bourbon hot fudge as hand-outs for Boy's and my officemates and friends, but I made hot fudge for a second year in a row this year. It's not that the biscotti isn't life-changing in its own right, but the hot fudge seems to put people in a straight up frenzy. And let's not kid ourselves people, I love it. (I have always found people's chocolate addictions hilariously intriguing.)

This operation normally involves me destroying the kitchen and a handful of tea towels on a Sunday afternoon, but is all quickly forgotten over a bowl of vanilla ice cream topped with fresh hot fudge that evening. This year, however, Boy had a much longer list of folks that he wanted to thank due to a recent project at the office (an additional 18 people to be exact). Any normal person would have let him go buy the case and a half of wine that he had planned as gifts. Pas moi. No, for some reason, I convinced Boy that it would be a great idea to set aside an evening to make the 32 jars of hot fudge necessary to thank our colleagues for a great 2010.

We did it. I felt like a Keebler Elf in Scrooge's workshop, but we did it. It only took us four hours and we were still speaking by the end of it. I have to say though, it could have taken 24 hours and it still would have been worth the effort to hear all the ways people enjoy this stuff. I hereby promise I do not put crack in it, though you might think it from some of the stories that made it back to Boy and me.

"WOW. My wife sat with your hot fudge on her lap while watching TV last night. I at least put it on ice cream."

"I took it to my sisters house for a holiday dinner. There was pie and ice cream, but we ended up just passing the jar around with a spoon until it was gone. No one ate pie."

I know there are quite a few people that did not get fudge this year because I either did not see you this holiday season or was grossly unaware of your chocolate addiction. In either case, if I missed you and you can't live without some bourbon hot fudge (non-bourbon is also an option!) this season, drop me a note. I am trading hot fudge for Chardonnay.