AUTUMNPIE

slice of apple pie made with panela, cinnamon, whiskey, nutmeg, and LOVE.

soondobu jigae (순두부 찌개)

mmm. just what i need at the end of a rotation, and a day spent climbing and photographing the coming of winter. in this lovely stew: seaweed, fish balls, frozen clams, lotus root, bamboo shoots, garlic, garlic, garlic, and super soft tofu.

next up: 9-4 schedule, free nights to study, cook, and make apple pies til i drop. anyone want to take me in for thanksgiving?

WHEW. WHAT A DAY. This is something my dad used to make when he had to feed us, minus the peppers. Egg noodles (I found a spinach-pressed version in Toronto) & a fried soy sauce egg. Yum. Just like home.

lime icebox pie

this is from a LONG time ago. ive since forgotten the exact recipe. made a big one for a friends bday (see first picture), and had some leftover mix that didn't fit in the springform pan, so i decided to make mini sample sizes (bottom pic).

the base was a lime, zest, condensed milk custard that was baked until slightly jiggly in the center. the crust was a graham cracker crust that i added a bit of cayenne to for kick (the sample one i just used a square of the graham cracker i had leftover). after baking, the whole shebang is tossed in the freezer because it is meant to be served ice cold. sort of like an ice cream cake, but so much more refreshing! i topped with homemade whipped cream and some slivered almonds that i candied with brown sugar, salt and cayenne for some extra texture and salt/sweet combo that i love so much.

homemade vanilla bean ice cream with strawberry jam swirl

broke out the ice cream machine finally.

had some donated vanilla beans and leftover strawberries, and 2 new cookbooks which had recipes for a homemade vanilla bean ice cream and a strawberry jam. just common sense to mix the two together!

ice cream: (from damgoodsweet)

1.5 c milk

1.5 c heavy cream

1/2 c + 3 tbsp sugar

1 vanilla bean, split & scraped

8 egg yolks

bring milk, cream, half the sugar and vanilla bean to a boil in large pot. turn off heat and set pot aside. whisk yolks and the other half of the sugar in a separate bowl. temper with the hot milk mixture, and then add the yolk/milk mixture into the rest of the pot. cook over low heat, stirring often until thickness is enough to coat the back of a spoon. remove from heat and strain into clean bowl. chill in ice bath, and refrigerate overnight. then take out the vanilla bean and pour it into your handy ice cream maker!

strawberry jam: (from good to the grain)

3 lb strawberries

1 c sugar (i used slightly less)

*put a small plate in the freezer first to test the consistency of the jam after its made.

chop strawberries roughly. put 1/2 c water & sugar into a heavy bottom saucepan, swirl to combine. bring sugar mixture to a boil over high flame and cook without stirring until syrup starts to form quarter sized bubbles on the surface. the syrup should stay clear. if it starts to color, then swirl it quickly and add berries immediately. add berries to syrup and cook over med. high heat, stirring constantly until the texture turns jammy. they say the temp of the finished jam should be 210 F, but i don't have a candy thermometer so i just eyeballed it. take off heat, put the jam into an ice bath. to test jam consistency, put a small spoonful of the warm jam from onto the chilled plate and tilt plate. the right consistency should hold its shape, slide slowly down the plate and leave a soft jammy trail.

since i had made the ice cream already before hand and then made the jam, i took the ice cream out of the freezer, let it soften a little and mixed in the cooled jam by hand. but, would probably be easier next time to add the cooled jam to the ice cream in the ice cream maker in the last minute of making.

Mini Pita Stuffed with Grilled Shrimp

Found a package of 6 pre-grilled shrimp at Wegman's yesterday, on sale for $2.50. Normally, I'd walk right past something like this, but since 3rd year started, my standards for freshness have dropped a few notches. And... it was cheap. Cheaper than a food truck burrito. Cheaper than a latte. BUT the problem of how to handle tough, fibrous crustaceans remained, as I wheeled my grocery cart around, brows furrowed in contemplation. The solution:

Miniature pita bread stuffed with shrimp! Only slightly inspired by thoughts of the lobster roll food truck in DC. I'm obsessed.

I'm somewhat apprehensive to admit this is the second purchase of mayonnaise I've made in my life (it's a slippery slope!). I picked out a bottle of chipotle-flavored mayo, and in the privacy of my home, squirted a tablespoon into the bowl of chopped shrimp. I added minced garlic, minced onion, sliced open a few mini-pitas and red lettuce leaves - and there you have it. Not quite lobster but it beats eating cold pre-grilled shrimp out of the package. Nom nom nom.

Buffalo's First Taco Truck

I know this is supposed to be about food we make, but I can't help myself, V. I'm just so excited about this taco truck. The great city of Buffalo now lays claim to a street food vendor worthy of any major metropolitan center. It's called "Where's Lloyd" and features an assortment of soft corn tortilla tacos - braised beef, pork, cilantro chicken, bean, tomatillo --- with the option of burritos - or chili corn, on the side. Tacos are dressed with cilantro, smoky chipotle sauce, cabbage, cheese, and a lime wedge. Heavenly. Right now they're only open during the lunch hour but I have high hopes they will expand and drive to the many college campuses we have here in Bufftown.


Love on first bite. I am super impressed. Easily the best tacos in town. THE BEST. Pictured below: Chili corn with butter. Mmmmm. Oh my heavens.

Peach+Blackberry Pie

I've never made a pie with blackberries. First shot. Critique by budding surgeons-in-waiting to come. From Parade, 2002.

Sweet Plum Ceviche & Salmon

OK so this sounds weird but I had a bunch of plums last night and decided to make a ceviche from plums, onion, honey, & whole grain mustard. Ladled it over a raw salmon steak, marinated for 10 minutes, then threw it in a 400 deg oven for 15 minutes. Sauteed some spinach on the side. It actually worked well; not terribly sweet, and I think baking it took out some of the acidity of the plums as well. Win! Tomorrow I am on call for the first time in my life. Nervous. At least I will have good food to eat.

Green Papaya Salad

I can't take credit for this, because JW was kind enough to bring his entire green papaya ensemble to my house yesterday to assembly this work of art. Shredded green papaya + fish sauce + jalapeno + dried shrimp = brilliance invented by Thai people. I made BBQ chicken & tomato salad; JW made sticky rice in the microwave.

The completed dish, above.
And because it's summer.... heirloom tomatoes. Mmm.

quarter rack + portabello shrooms in white wine reduction

So I splurged a few weeks ago on truffle salt which was the best luxury investment I've ever made to my spice rack. Grilled up some lamb and shrooms and am kicking back before surgery orientation starts tomorrow. Made extra for lunch... for the next two days. Happiness abound. The colors suck, unfortunately, but use your imagination.

Recipe: salt + peppa, sear rack on both sides; bake at 380 for 8 minutes each side for medium rare. toss a few sliced shrooms, basil, white wine, & 1-2 tbsp water together in a high heat pan (separate from the seared lamb so it doesn't taste burnt). It's maybe 10 minutes of work, with ~20 minutes of waiting around and ordering books from amazon.

lime meringue tarts with repurposed gingersnap cookie crust

so i decided since the gingersnaps i made were a semi-fail due to their too-delicate texture, i would use them instead as a shells for mini lime meringue tartlets to bring to a bbq. basically i threw them in a food processor with some extra whole wheat flour and beat it into crumbs and pressed the crumbs into a cupcake pan and baked for 10 min at 375F. i followed david leibovitz's recipe for the lime filling component, which involved lots of manual labor since i didn't have a juicer. since i also don't own a candy thermometer, i decided to go with good old fashioned meringue topping instead of his marshmallow topping and used the broiler to brown it. the gingersnap crusts were a bit soggy/oily because the cookie crumbs weren't dry enough, but i felt the flavors went well together, so all in all i was pretty satisfied with the results.

photo provided by the most excellent jeff chang.

gingersnaps!

im getting too lazy to post up the recipes. but i made gingersnaps out of the "good to the grain" cookbook. its dedicated to baking recipes with whole grain flours. this recipe used a mix of whole wheat flour and all purpose, but i was forced to sub whole grain pastry flour in for the all purpose as it was all i had. came out extremely thin and delicate as a result, but incredibly tasty.

i do believe gingersnaps are my favorite cookie.

yes, that is my foot.

no knead wheat bread and spinach-salmon dip

made for a potluck. no knead wheat bread and dip. sour cream, nonfat greek yogurt, fresh spinach, diced fennel and some flaked canned salmon. nothin fancy. tasted good though!

yogurt custard with mixed berries

a recipe i found in food and wine. mixed berries baked in a vanilla/cinnamon yogurt based custard. tried unsuccessfully to make a sugar crust on top; my broiler just wasn't able to get close enough to the surface. i need to buy a brulee torch. i heart kitchen gadgets.

whole wheat apple pancakes with homemade syrup

parents came to visit during mothers day, so for breakfast I made us some healthy whole wheat apple pancakes! they were really fluffy and yummy. i used fuji apples because thats what i had in my fridge, but they were too sweet i think and the apple flavor was lost in the pancake. so i recommend choosing a more tart apple, maybe a jonah or honeycrisp when they come back in season.... mmmmm i cant wait for honeycrisp season!

since i didnt have any syrup, i looked up an online recipe to make my own, which turned out surprisingly tasty. I did tweak a bit by adding some cinnamon and didn't have maple flavoring so i used vanilla extract. it continually amazes me the things that i always thought i had to buy in the store, that you can make from everyday items in your pantry.

adam perry lang

bbq tips from adam perry lang. excuse me while i wipe the drool off my keyboard.

also here's his website.

blackberry whole wheat ricotta pancakes

had some random ingredients left from cake making, so i decided to cook myself up some ricotta pancakes! i halved this recipe from eating well, subbed blackberries instead of blueberries, and of course, tossed in the obligatory handful of minichocolate chips and sprinkle of flax seed. had no buttermilk on hand, so i used the standard sub of milk and a squeeze of lemon juice.

the whole wheat flour made these pancakes extremely filling, but they were still nice and fluffy and browned well. the recipe needed a touch more sugar, i thought, but maybe that was just because i didnt have maple syrup to douse it with.

to make up for my syruplessness, i threw in a half can of mandarin oranges with juice, a squeeze of honey and some dried cranberries into a small saucepan and reduced it until it until it turned syrupy. next time i would maybe throw in some ginger to give it more dimension.

devils food cupcakes with cannoli cream and chocolate ganache frosting

photo courtesy of dan chiang

so for a k's bday, he specifically requested devils food cake with chocolate cannoli cream filling. since i had no round cake pans, and cupcakes are all the rage, i adapted the recipes i found to cupcake form.

devils food cake and chocolate ganache recipe from david guas. i halved the recipe and it made 11 cupcakes and more than enough ganache frosting. reduced baking time to 25 minutes to adapt to cupcake form, which seemed right. the cake turned out an extremely tender crumb, was just sweet enough, and the ganache frosting was out of this world!

cannoli cream filling recipe from giada. i just omitted the fruit part. had no whipping cream, so i used milk, which i think was the reason the filling wasnt fluffy or smooth enough. it still had the grainy quality from the ricotta, and was slightly runny so i had to firm it up in the fridge before stuffing the cupcake. i also threw in some mini chocolate chips into the final cream mixture.

to fill the cupcakes, i waited for them to cool, used a small sharp knife to cut a conical section out of each cupcake top, spooned in some cream filling and replaced the cut out piece of cake. then i frosted. the ganache set up nicely, but i recommend putting it in the fridge for at least an hour before frosting just so its easier to spread.

Banana bread... again?

I LOVE BANANA BREAD. I am sure I posted this already but I couldn't find my own recipe for it, so here's the brilliant one I used: http://simplyrecipes.com/recipes/banana_bread/