My second catering job! They turned out well! I know this because I snuck a cupcake (or two).
July 31, 2009Martha Stewart’s Chewy Chocolate Gingerbread Cookies
I’ve re-discovered Martha Stewart’s “Cookies”. It’s a really exciting book. I made gingerbread cookies because I’m on a bit of a molasses kick. I used chopped chocolate rather than chocolate chips so that there would be large chunks of melty chocolate.
Here is the recipe. I recommend it highly.
July 30, 2009Pineapple, Molasses, and Lime Zest
I have a new side job. My mom and her husband are going to Spain and France in September. I’m in charge of planning the whole thing, from flights to dinner reservations. I’m pretty much planning my dream vacation, but for someone else. (sigh) I’m totally more excited about this trip than they are. I’ve been downloading every itunes show about Spain and France that I can find and predictably I’m tending towards the ones with a foodie bent. The other night I watched “On the Road Again” with Mario Batali, Gwyneth Paltrow, and Mark Bittman. It’s really mediocre. Gwyneth Paltrow is pretty obnoxious. But, they do eat some beautiful food. In the episode about Barcelona they went to Inopia, a restaurant by one of the Adria brothers (tangent: I tried to make a reservation of El Bulli, the Adria brother’s restaurant but they are booked up for the next year!). For dessert at Inopia they serve fresh pineapple with lime zest and molasses. Simple, simple, wonderful. I’ve never thought about using molasses with fresh fruit. I like this very much.
July 28, 2009Cranberry Macadamia Cormeal Biscotti
I’m back on the horse! I don’t really know what that means.
Ingredients:
1 1/4 cup all purpose flour
1 1/4 cup cornmeal
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 large eggs (room temp)
6 tablespoons of butter
1 cup sugar
3/4 cup dried cranberries
3/4 cup chopped macadamia nuts
3/4 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
zest of one lemon
for the maple icing:
3/4 cup confectioner’s sugar
1 1/2 tablespoons maple syrup
1 tablespoon water
1. preheat oven to 350
2. sift together the flour, cornmeal, baking powder, and salt–set aside
3. cream the butter and the sugar until fluffy and light
4. beat in the eggs, one at a time
5. add the flour/cornmeal mixture to the butter/sugar/egg mixture
6. add the lemon zest, chocolate, cranberries, and macadamia nuts
7. combine all the ingredients
8. on a parchment lined cookie sheet form the dough into a log that is about 14 inches long
9. bake for 30-40 minutes or until the bottom edges are slightly browned and the top begins to crack just a bit
10. remove from oven and let cool for about 20 minutes
11. slice the log into 1/2 inch slices and place back onto a parchment lined cookie sheet
12. bake for 15-18 minutes or until the edges are slightly browned
13. remove from oven and let cool completely
14. mix the ingredients for the icing and pour into a sturdy ziploc bag
15. push the icing into one corner of the bag, making sure to release all the air from the top of the bag
16. snip off a tiny part of the corner of the bag and drizzle the icing over the biscotti
17. serve dipped in coffee or milk or dessert wine
July 27, 2009A Good Gathering
requisite
honey brined chicken
jab chae (glass noodles with vegetables)
bean sprout rice
soups (also requisite)
saeyoung and patricia
marinated tofu
no one ate this but me
i found orange cauliflower at the market and i couldn’t resist
butternut squash fries
maple dipping sauce
peanut sauce
my favorite guacamole : thai guac
mango cherry salsa
I love cooking with my mom and sister. Once in a while we’ll have extended family over for large weekend dinners. We say it will be a simple meal, but it never is. Simplicity just isn’t in our blood. We meticulously plan. We make several trips to the grocery market (the korean market, the american market, and the last minute trip to Ralph’s). We toil. We barely sit down to eat but somehow manage to gorge until our stomachs are disgustingly rotund. We then clean for what seems like centuries. And then we pull out leftovers from the fridge and eat again.
These make up some of my happiest moments. We’re oddly cheerful when we cook. We have a sense of collectivity, of doing something together and enjoying what we made together. Call me sentimental, because there’s no denying it, I really am.
This last Sunday we had one of these large dinners. I was in charge of appetizers because I believe that’s my favorite part of a meal. I made a Thai guacamole, which is my favorite avocado dish, hands down. Also, I made a mango cherry salsa, inspired by the fruit we had in the fridge. Also, butternut squash fries with peanut sauce and a maple dipping sauce. Saeyoung made a strata, which she will post about very soon (yes, she also blogs here *nudge nudge saeyoung cho). She also made her famous peach drop cookies, which are always excellent. Mom, being the faithful Korean that she is made jab chae, spinach soy bean soup, tofu salad and bean sprout rice . Doc, faithful to his grill, made korean short ribs and a very tender honey brined chicken.
Very pleasant evening.
July 26, 2009My First Catering Job last minute “business cards”                      
Carly Yu hired me to bake a birthday cake + some cupcakes for her sister’s birthday. It’s exciting to get paid for something you enjoy doing. Unfortunately, I have a nagging suspicion that the red velvet cake was not as good as it could have been. Let me explain. I don’t like the idea of baking cakes too far in advance. I like to bake things the morning of the day it will be served. In this case, this meant staying up all night baking. Seriously, I didn’t touch my bed that night. I don’t know if my mind was fuzzy from lack of sleep but when I unmolded the red velvet layers they felt a little stiffer than they usually do. And obviously I couldn’t sample a bit to confirm my suspicions so now I feel all anxious about how the cake was. I’m scared that I didn’t measure something correctly, that maybe in my sleepy delirium I put an extra 1/2 cup of flour or left out a few ounces of butter. What if it was horrible? What if it was stiff as a board? To be honest this is really bothering me. It felt really important that my first catering job went well, like it was supposed to be good omen of things to come. Oh (!!) I’m almost positive it wasn’t my best red velvet. I’m sad and disappointed in myself.
I also made strawberry pink lady cupcakes, which were adorable. I bought these great tulip baking cups that were just perfect. I thought they tasted pretty good and I made a double batch so that I could take some to Felipe’s 27th birthday party. But Thomas later told me that they weren’t my best cupcakes, that they weren’t as moist as they could have been.
………………..
I am a failure!
Oh, I am very unhappy with this. Maybe I just wasn’t meant to exchange my baking for money.
A Very Pleasant Evening (recipe for pear and bittersweet chocolate cake included)
homemade kettle corn
cantaloupe, watermelon, mint, and white wine salad
pear and bittersweet chocolate cake
i really love the idea of a movie night. i think they’re nice. and relaxing. and usually there is food involved. i had a few people over the other night to watch “in the mood for love” and “talk to her”. Are movies at movie nights supposed to be light and easy? Because, these movies were decidedly not. But I think that’s a good thing. We actually had conversations about the movies…like little discussion sessions after the viewing. it felt—-productive (??). In any case I had a lovely time and i think my friends are peachy.
When I have people over, I get really host-y. It’s probably obnoxious but I all of a sudden feel responsible for everyone’s comfort. The best way to deal with this is to stuff people up to the gills with food. Speaking of gills, Gil brought the most amazing pita bread–unusually doughy and adorably misshapen. I think he said it was from a bakery on Fairfax. I will have to get the address from him. Also, Sam brought an excellent fruit plate. fruit and summer. thomas brought hummus and babaganoush (which he mistook for tabouli/tabbouleh). lan brought her buoyant and joyous self. I made a pear and bittersweet chocolate cake, a melon mint white wine salad, and homemade kettle corn.
Pear and Bittersweet Chocolate Cake
Ingredients:
3 pears diced in cubes
3/4 cup bittersweet chocolate, chopped
1 cup flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
3 eggs at room temperature
3/4 cup sugar
1 stick of 4 ounce butter
1. preheat the oven to 350
2. either use a decorative disposable cake mold or butter a 9 inch springform pan
3. sift flour, baking powder, and salt and set aside
4. with a mixer, whip the eggs on high speed for at least 5 minutes until the eggs have greatly increased in volume and the mixture looks pale and thick
5. brown the butter at medium heat in a sauce pan. the butter is done with brown solids begina to form and the butter turns just slightly brown. careful not to burn. as soon as the brown solids appear, remove from heat
6. add the sugar to the whipped eggs and mix for a few minutes more
7. add the brown butter and flour in alternating additions, being careful not to over beat
8. pour the batter into the cake pan
9. top with the pear cubes and chopped chocolate
10. bake for about 50 minutes
adapted from smittenkitchen.com
July 20, 2009Toasted Sesame Seed Sugar Cookies
I found this recipe in a McCormick advertisement in Bon Appetit Magazine. Plug Plug. Here is the recipe.
I quite like these cookies. I like the idea of using sesame in a dessert.
July 19, 2009Pepin
vegetarian paella
paella valenciana
cured salmon with capers
eggplant, goat cheese salad
beef and tomato empanadas
crab and arroz negro croquetas
mushrooms with escargot
sherry mushrooms
sangria
On our last night in Scottsdale we went to Pepin Spanish restaurant for some tapas and paella.
The restaurant was a bit on the campy side with a flamenco dancer but otherwise the food was quite good. I was especially impressed by their vegetarian paella, which I’m not sure that I’ve ever encountered before. Meat and/or seafood always seem to pretty integral to paella. The paella was a bit buttery for my taste. It was sort of swimming in broth which gave it an almost stew-like quality. I like mine a little crisped at the edges and I like to taste more saffron than butter.
Not pictured but also delicious were the sweetbreads in a wine sauce. On the sweet side but the sweetbreads were very tender.
Pepin
7363 E Scottsdale Mall
Scottsdale, AZ 85251-4414
480.990.9026
Blueberry Cornmeal Pancakes With Honey Butter + other fuel foods
okay, my frittata failed. it at least tasted good
The night before going to Arizona I couldn’t sleep. I almost can never sleep before travel days. Even in elementary school I never slept the night before a field trip. With the extra hours I decided to make a large breakfast for my family before our morning flight.
Menu:
Blueberry Cornmeal Pancakes With Honey Butter
Oatmeal With Warmed Soymilk, Candied Figs, Walnuts, And Cinnamon Apples
Vegetable Goat Cheese Frittata
Blueberry Cornmeal Pancakes
Ingredients:
1 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 cup cornmeal
1/4 cup sugar (separated)
1 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt (kosher or coarse)
1 1/2 cup low fat buttermilk
1/4 cup milk
3 tablespoons butter
1 large egg (yolk separated from the white)
2 cups fresh blueberries
1. soak the cormeal in the buttermilk overnight. This is an optional step. Soaking overnight smoothes out the grittiness of the cornmeal but if you like the gritty texture, feel free to skip this step
2. melt the butter and cool to room temperature
3. sift together the flour, baking soda, 2 tablespoons of sugar, baking powder, and salt
4. in a separate bowl combine the butter, the milk, the cormeal/buttermilk mixture and the egg yolk
5. add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and mix until just combined
6. beat the egg white until it holds stiff peaks and then fold very gently into the batter (this may seem like an unnecessary step but it makes for a fluffier lighter pancake. but if you’re in a rush feel free to just combine the whole egg with the wet ingredients rather than adding them separately)
7. heat up a griddle at medium-low heat and brush with melted butter
8. meanwhile toss the blueberries with the remaining sugar
9. ladle a large spoonful (I like my pancakes small so I put about 3 tablespoons of batter per pancake)
10. arrange the desired number of blueberries on top of the pancake
11. when large porous holes start to bubble up on the wet side of the pancake, flip and cook for about one minute more
12. serve with maple syrup and honey butter
Honey Butter
1/2 stick of butter
2 tablespoons of honey
Simply whip room temperature butter with honey until the butter is fluffy
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