An early birthday gift from A+D!

A+D were in town for a wedding this weekend, and surprised me with an early birthday gift! The neatly wrapped package was rectangular, and fairly heavy, but bendy. The bendiness threw me off of the trail...usually books of this size and weight are hardcover. So I didn't immediately think "book" (note: I tend to get inordinately excited about books of any kind :P).

But, voila!! THE FOOD OF THAILAND: A JOURNEY FOR FOOD LOVERS. These two could not have selected a better book for me!

This book is a party for the senses!

First of all, the photography is GORGEOUS. I may love books, pictures or no, but cook books without photos?? Well, this one has it in spades -- every recipe is paired w/ at least 1 glorious full-page photo. The photographer traveled to Thailand to capture each dish in its authentic clime. Also, the recipes are given w/ both UK and US measurements (the author is Thai but lives in England), which is great -- no conversions necessary. The food selections are fantastic -- from standards to street fare to regional dishes -- "I love this dish. And this dish. And this one. Wait, I love all of them!" There's additionally background about regional differences in Thai food, which is where I'll start. AND the book stays open on its own.

Reviewers have applauded the book as inspirational, and I quite agree. Can't wait to try some recipes out and compare w/ my dad! Thanks A+D!!! My future taste testers :P

The poached eggsperiment!

I used to eat poached eggs w/ Maggi seasoning pretty often for breakfast, but we made them in the microwave with a plastic egg poacher. They had an unfortunate tendency to explode if you didn't do it just right.

The authentic way of cooking poached eggs is on the stove, over boiling water. Today's turned out much better than my last attempt a few years ago. I used this recipe:
http://whatscookingamerica.net/Eggs/PoachEgg.htm

Unfortunately, I ate my serving before I remembered to take a photo, but here are more eggs sans toast (waiting on the toast bc the eater is still asleep!):

3 poached eggs and some turkey sausage, getting cold on the counter.

Carb city: inarizushi & onigiri

I should probably also make a vegetable and a chicken dish to go with this...but I'm too lazy. 

The 2 onigiri w/ gomashio are filled w/ Momoya gohan desu yo, which went directly into my belly. The 3 onigiri w/ umeboshi in the center were wrapped and put into the freezer. The inarizushi will be headed into M's maw!

Strawberry Shortcake

So yesterday was M's birthday, and initially I had planned to make Boston Cream Pie/Cake (I recently purchased round cake tins and a cake leveller, and I figured it'd be a good opportunity to give them a try). But since we were going to a friend's for dinner, I thought I'd take suggestions. The final outcome was this strawberry shortcake:

The recipe was surprisingly quick and easy, and the strawberry sauce so simple and divine...just sliced/mashed strawberries with a bit of sugar. However, the scones, while flaky and aromatic with a hint of sweet, failed to rise properly, so I'll need to look into tweaking the recipe or my method to improve the look and texture. We may just need to purchase a new canister of baking powder...

Recipe from: http://www.joyofbaking.com/printpages/StrawberryShortcakeprint.html

[UPDATE: Tried a new scone recipe and found to be much preferred: http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/worlds-best-scones-from-scotland-to-the-savoy-to-the-us/detail.aspx]

SCONE INGREDIENTS

2 cups (260 grams) all-purpose flour
1/4 cup (50 grams) granulated white sugar
2 teaspoons (10 grams) baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/3 cup (76 grams) cold unsalted butter
1 large egg, lightly beaten
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1/2 cup (120 ml) cream, half and half, or milk

STRAWBERRY SAUCE

2 pounds (900 grams) fresh strawberries
1/4 cup - 1/3 cup (50 - 65 grams) granulated white sugar (or to taste)

TOPPING

1 cup (240 ml) cold heavy whipping cream (double cream) (35-40% butterfat)
1 - 2 tablespoons (15-30 grams) granulated white sugar (or to taste)

SCONE METHOD: Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C) and place rack in middle of oven.  Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper.

In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt. Cut the butter into small pieces and blend into the flour mixture with a pastry blender or two knives. The mixture should look like coarse crumbs.  Whisk together the egg, cream and vanilla extract and add to the flour mixture, mixing just until the dough comes together. Do not over mix the dough.

Transfer to a lightly floured surface and knead dough gently four or five times and then pat or roll the dough into a 7 inch (18 cm) round. With a 3 inch (7 cm) round cookie cutter, cut out rounds and place the scones on the baking sheet. Brush the tops of the scones with a little cream. Bake for about 15 - 20 minutes or until nicely browned and a toothpick inserted in the center of a scone comes out clean. Transfer to a wire rack.

STRAWBERRY SAUCE: Wash, hull, and slice the strawberries. Place about one third of the strawberries in a large bowl and crush them with a potato masher or fork. Add the remaining sliced strawberries, along with the sugar. (The amount of sugar used will depend on how sweet the berries are.) Set aside to macerate at room temperature for about 30 to 60 minutes.

TOPPING: Chill the bowl and whisk in the freezer for about 15 - 30 minutes. Place the cream and sugar in the bowl and whip until stiff peaks form. The whipped cream can be covered and stored in the refrigerator for a few hours.

To Serve: Cut the scones in half and place the bottom half of the scone (soft side up) on a dessert plate. Top with some of the strawberries and whipped cream. Place the top half of the scone on the strawberries. Top with whipped cream and a few more strawberries. If there is any juice from the strawberries, drizzle a little over the top of the scone. Serve immediately.

Serves about 6-8 people.

Rhubarb sauce and Bean dip

Rhubarb sauce and bean dip....two completely unrelated dishes, but both amazing nonetheless.

At the Farmer's Market no the Square last Saturday, I picked up a few stalks of rhubarb. They weren't particularly nice-looking, but I figured it'd be good as a taster -- it's been a while since I last cooked up a batch of rhubarb sauce.

RHUBARB SAUCE

Rhubarb, rinsed
Sugar
Butter (optional)
Water
Custard (for serving)

The important thing is to make sure you remove the leaves completely -- they're poisonous. The pink and white parts of the stalk are perfectly good to use. Chop them into 1/4 or 1/2 inch pieces and toss them into a sauce pan or pot with a bit of water (add more as needed, depending on how thick you want your sauce to be). Cook until you can still see the pieces, but they've fallen apart and are mushy and all things nice. I continually poured in sugar until it tasted good...rhubarb is exceptionally tart, so this is is one of the few dishes where it isn't possible to cut or skimp on the sugar. I also tossed in a pat of butter to round out the taste. I'll be serving it with Ambrosia custard...and maybe also frozen custard! This is Wisconsin, after all.

This bean dip recipe was featured on the back of the refried beans can. Since I had all the ingredients on hand, I figured, why not? And the results are fantastic! I'll definitely be serving this all summer.

BEAN DIP

1 can refried beans
1 cup salsa
1 cup cheese

Method: Heat in microwave stirring every 1 min til hot. That's IT!

The anti-everything: banoffee pie

Condensed milk ==> dulce de leche. Just heat and stir, right? Well, yes...if you have the patience to sit and stir continually for nearly 2 hours! 

(The alternative was to dunk the entire can into a vat of boiling water for about 3 hours, but I wasn't about to risk combustibles in my apartment. Maybe I'll try the slow-cooker method next time).

Regardless, the result? A sinfully delicious banoffee pie:

I used the cheaper Burton's -- tastes fine.

Ignore my "double boiler". At the start, the condensed milk was pale and soupy

This is about 2 hours in. It needed about another hour to get a nicer golden brown caramel color, but it had already lost a lot of liquid via this method. A pressure cooker or slow cooker might yield better results, if you don't want to boil the sealed can.

DULCE DE LECHE = SIN.

Layered in a extra bananas -- the dulce de leche is quite sweet

I don't own a springform pan, but this 9x9 worked reasonably well

Not very photogenic, but thoroughly made up in taste!

Last but not least, a non-banana version, for the allergic M

In the future, I may add a hint of confectioner's sugar to the whipped heavy cream, and a teaspoon of vanilla. I think coffee or dark chocolate dusting on the top would be nice as well, especially if crunchy (like oreo cookie crumbs). One version called for chocolate IN the whipped cream, which would likely be delicious as well... and with that, we're well on our way to diabetes and clogged arteries!

Last but not least, I don't like the dulce de leche to be chilled when serving this dish (it hardens a little, like caramel). It should be chilled enough to set, then brought out to near room temperature. The bananas should be chilled and sliced immediately before serving, along with the whipped heavy cream.

[recipe modified from Food Network UK]

Banoffee Pie

1 can sweetened condensed milk (about 400g)
12 crushed digestive biscuits
1/2 stick butter, melted
2+ large ripe bananas
1 pint double cream
Ground cinnamon
Dark chocolate, grated

Method

1) Pour condensed milk into double boiler and cook over low heat for about 1.5 hours, stirring frequently. Be careful not to burn as it sticks to the bottom of the pan.

2) Crush the digestives (I hammered the biscuits in a plastic ziploc, but the original recipe called for a food processor -- pulse the butter in). Pour crumbs and melted butter into pan (knead until mixed, if you didn't use the processor) and press with your hands or a measuring cup to evenly distribute on the bottom of the pan.

3) Chill to set for about 15 minutes in the refrigerator.

4) Pour the dulce de leche over the digestive biscuit base. Spread evenly. Slice the peeled bananas and arrange over the top covering the entire surface. Whip the cream until firm and spread over the top. Sprinkle top with cinnamon and grated chocolate. Serve.

A twist on an old stand-by...

PBJ...sushi! Used sunflower seed butter rather than peanut butter. It tastes OK, but I prefer peanut butter. Next time we'll try cashew butter...I'm sensitive to almonds.