even more french fries!

I had a lot of leftover oil from deep frying the piroshkis a few recipes ago. Here are the sweet ones, I put strawberry jam on the inside and dusted them with confectioner's sugar afterwards.

My set up.

I also had a bunch of leftover potatoes so I made french fries. I experimented with two frying techniques, just frying once and doing a double-fry (aka once at 325 and again at 375). I didn't use a thermometer, although that would've helped. I put small pieces of potato in the oil to test if it was hot enough- if the oil isn't hot enough you get soggy, greasy fries- not good.

One fry.

Double fry.

I seasoned mine with cajun seasoning and smoked salt. Next time I'll try soaking the potatoes in water for a few hours before frying- I read that this make them crispier.

Garlic Fries

One of my favorite things to eat is french fries, but it's hard to find a recipe for oven-baked fries that are good. They usually turn out soggy and greasy, but these are GARLIC FRIES. I found the recipe here. And it's easy to make because you pre-cook the potatoes in the microwave (or par-boil them if you don't like using the microwave).


I also added some of Trader Joe's chicken seasoning. I paired mine with sriracha mixed with ketchup. These have the same outer crunchy layer because of the corn starch- good trick.

Granola

I was never a big fan of granola until I had Jamba Juice's Chunky Strawberry (without peanut butter). It's kinda expensive though so I decided I'd make my own granola. It's great as cereal with soymilk and with yogurt in the morning. There are a LOT of granola recipes and I wasn't sure what Jamba Juice did with theirs so I started with David Lebovitz's recipe and added somethings and took some things out too.

I used rolled oats, sliced almonds, dried cranberries and puffed rice cereal. I didn't have rice syrup so I used maple syrup. The apple sauce is ssooooooooo good! It really made the granola stand out. I learned the hard way that puffed rice cereal tends to burn, so next time I'd add it in half way or towards the end of the baking time. I'm also going to try some pumpkin seeds and some more sea salt at the end. This recipe made WAY too much- even though I halved it. Luckily it didn't seem to go bad.

Banana Cream Pie and Rice Krispies

I don't normally like pies because cooked fruit rarely appeals to me, but banana cream pie is an exception. Especially if there is a graham cracker crust. This recipe was great and I knew it before I even made it because you need 6 bananas! Unfortunately, only one photo.... and that's of the pie chilling in the fridge. I used a whole vanilla bean instead of 1/2 and I definitely tasted the difference. Also you want to eat this within a few days- bananas turn grey after awhile ): even if hidden under delicious pastry cream.


I was really happy to find THE recipe for Rice Krispies. Yup, the original. They taste different from the packaged variety- probably because they add a bunch of other junk to it. I added an extra 1/2 cup of marshmallows (mini) because I like them. The trick is to melt everything over a very low heat so you don't burn the marshmallows. And when pressing the rice into the pan, spray a sheet of plastic wrap with pam and use it pam-side-down to press the rice into whatever shape you want.

so good- these disappeared in 2 days.

Piroshkis!

Piroshkis are like Russian empanadas. I've seen it spelled all sorts of ways, but this is how the recipe spelled them and I'm going to stick with it! There's a Russian bakery near where I live that has really good (and cheap) piroshkis, but they always taste a little bit stale. I especially like the one with pickled cabbage- I've yet to find a recipe for the cabbage. It's so good!

I found this recipe via google-searching piroshkis. I think I make mine too big, because the full recipe only makes me about 30. The trick is to roll out the dough really thin because it puffs up when you cook them. I've made this three times in the past 6 weeks so you know it's good. I've also made it with strawberry jam on the inside and dusted with powdered sugar- mmmm kinda like doughnuts.

This filling is ground beef, onions and mushrooms (and a lot of dill).

I've also made it with Silk soymilk when I ran out of milk and it tasted the same. And I've baked it (at 450 and brushed the top with vegetable oil) and deep fried and they're both great. Obviously the deep-fried is crunchier and more oily, but the baked version gets crispy too because of the baked version is also crispy because of the oil in the dough and the oil brushed on top. I like to bake them though because I always have leftovers and they taste the same the next day.

I added way way way more dill to the filling, it was pretty much green by the time I was finished. I also added some hot sauce (sriracha!) and some chicken boullion. Also... I don't know what sort of shape piroshkis are supposed to be, so I made them into dumpling shapes because that's all I know how to do. Be sure you pinch the edges shut, I had a few blow up during the deep frying.

Quiche Lorraine

Sauteed Leeks.

This is such a decadent recipe with a lot of cream and cheese and butter. It's based off the Le Pain Quotidien Quiche Lorraine recipe. I've never had the quiche there, but I've had a lot of soups and bread there and their super delicious Nutella-type spread.

Browned custard.

Mine turned out a little runny because I used "light" sour cream, which is runnier. It took me (and friends) several days to finish because it is SO rich and heavy. I cheated and used puff pastry- I didn't want to make dough on a week night when I only have 30-45 minutes to cook. But the dough looked delicious, so it's worth a try if you have time.

This photo doesn't do it justice- sorry my kitchen lighting is terrible!

Chinese Tea (or Soy Sauce) Egg

This is one of my favorite things to eat- they sell them at 7-11's in Taiwan in big crock pots. I think they sell packets of pre-measured seasonings at asian supermarkets, but I haven't tried those. I got the recipe here. I really love the internet and finding great recipes like this for asian foods that I love, but don't have recipes for. I was surprised to find cinnamon on the ingredient list and the star anise I found at Whole Foods.

The ingredients (minus the eggs).

Post-boiling and sitting overnight.

Well it definitely helps to simmer them longer. My eggs turned out pretty pale compared to the ones you find at 7-11 (although those are probably in the pot for a day). Anyways- a great thing to try if you haven't already. I really liked the licorice-ness of the eggs (even though I hate licorice).

I have to share my favorite root beers: Virgils. You can find it at Trader Joe's and Whole Foods and it's the best root beer ever. (Not that I've tried many fancy ones, but this is wayyyyy better than A&W). Also pictured: BLT on honey whole wheat with basil mayonnaise (just blend mayo and basil). Sometimes simple is good.

Mac N' Cheese (with Bacon!)

Taking a great recipe and making it more awesome. Bacon can do that to food. Recipe adapted from: http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Chucks-Favorite-Mac-and-Cheese/Detail.aspx

Added about 10 strips to bacon, 4 more oz. of elbow macaroni and adjusted the rest of the recipe to fit the extra macaroni added. Instead of using bread crumbs I decided to go with the lighter, Japanese bread crumbs: Panko.


Also used Tillamook Extra Sharp Cheddar. Freshly grated by hand:


Here it is after going into the oven! SO MUCH MAC N' CHEESE.


Nom nom nom.

Macaroons and Blondies

Well, I had a good first attempt at macaroons. But they still didn't come out quite right- I think I need to watch some you tube videos. I tried to make David Lebovitz's chocolate macaroons and I was going to sandwich them with some nutella.

Ta-DA! a stiff peak!

The good:
- they have (uneven) feet
- they taste good

The bad:
- they are pointy
- they are not circular
- a lot of them cracked

My very poor piping skills.

I will try and tackle this again. I think one of the problems is that I was using almond MEAL, not almond FLOUR. Unfortunately I could only find almond meal and I sifted it as much as I could, but I could still see bigger chunks. And I don't think I'm properly folding the egg whites + chocolate mix. The biggest problem though? I have no idea how to pipe batter... this will be another thing to tackle in the future. At least they tasted good.



I still have leftover macadamia nuts so I made some blondies! Yum, they're from Use Real Butter. Next time I think I might make 2x the batter and keep the same amount of filling- like I said before, I like a 2:1 ratio of dough to nuts/chocolate chips. Other than that, they were GOOD. Toasting the nuts made them nuttier and with that much butter in a 8 x 8 square- you know it's going to be good.

Right now I'm trying out new recipes for my apartment's thanksgiving dinner. I want to make something besides the requisite mashed potatoes and baked mac and cheese. Also one of our friends won't be able to make it so I have to make her sweet potato pie- I'm going to need to practice. I'm thinking a brussel sprout salad with figs. It has to be vegetarian, buffet-style, and maybe kinda healthy too.

Mexican Flan

I. Love. Flan. This recipe I got off of Recipezaar and it's better than some flans I've had at restaurants. Very simple and easy to make. The recipe can be found here: http://www.recipezaar.com/Mexican-Flan-Baked-caramel-Custard-12354

Slight adjustments: You WANT to put 1-2 tablespoons of water into the caramelized layer (heated sugar), or the top will come out like a hard glass sheet! I also did not put orange rind and added a little extra vanilla extract. Actually, thinking about making this one again tonight with MEXICAN vanilla extract. (Real yummy Mexican flan calls for authentic ingredients!) I just bought some in Mexico and it's so much more aromatic than the American vanilla extracts...

Char Siu Stir Fried Rice Noodles

Hiatus. Over. Time to get serious with more food. To start, let's catch up with what I've been cooking up the last few months.

I don't really know the name of this one, so I kind of just made it up. It's a not-so-common Chinese dish, perhaps exclusively Cantonese, and it has always made a yummy meal for my family. This recipe is adapted from my mother, but of course I spruced it up quite a bit for flavor and enjoyment. :)


Ingredients

4 eggs, scrambled with 1 tsp salt, or to taste
2 packets of the Banh Boc Loc noodles
¼ cup canola oil
1 lb char siu meat, chopped (can substitute with shrimp)
(everything below is “or to taste”)
1 bag or 3 handfuls of soy bean sprouts
¼ cup soy sauce
4 tbsp oyster sauce
1 tsp black pepper
1 tsp seasame oil*
a pinch of white pepper*
1 tsp ginger powder*
3 cloves minced garlic*

Directions
1. I starred* the ingredients you probably can go without and it will taste relatively the same.
2. Heat oil in pan at medium to medium-high heat until it is less viscous/can move around easily.
3. Add garlic; when it starts browning throw in noodles and sprouts. Cook for 2 mins.
4. Add char siu. Continue adding the rest of the ingredients in no particular order, and stir well as you go.
5. Total cooking time should be about 10-15 minutes. Taste the noodles--when they are soft then the dish is about ready.
6. Lastly add in the pre-scrambled eggs and oyster sauce. Stir for a minute before turning off heat.

Makes about 6 servings. It's really good. So my question is: why hasn't AllRecipes.com accepted my recipe? Maybe because they haven't tasted it yet...

Margherita Pizza

This pizza is so freaking good- I made it three days in a row! Thank you Ms Kapser! I'm glad I joined KPCC now- this recipe is amazing. It doesn't make Pizza Hut type dough- it's Neopolitan style, aka cracker thin crust. When Jojo and I were in Rome, our hostel was a block from an amazing delicious and cheap pizza shop. They had their pizzas laid out like this:

Huge rectangles of crunchy deliciousness. They sliced it according to how much you were willing to pay. I think it was 3 euros for a pretty big slice.


And this recipe is FAST. Make the dough and let it rest for an hour or so, then roll it out until it's very very thin. I sprayed Pam on the tray before hand and used a wine bottle since I don't have a rolling pin.

I used my favorite tomato sauce- Trader Joe's marinara. I use this in everything, even as the base for soups.

Add mozzarella cheese.


Add some julienned basil (save the rest for later), sliced raw garlic, tomatoes and some olive oil. I based the toppings off of one of my favorite pizzas at Palomino's, especially the thin slices of raw garlic. SO GOOD!

When it's done and the cheese is nice and brown, throw some more basil on top. I like the basil slightly fried on the pizza with the fresh basil on top.

The next few days I made it with artichoke and salami. I'm going to try and find a good recipe for a dough-y pizza now, with cornmeal on the bottom.

Shrimp Creole & White Chocolate Chip cookies

One of my favorite things to eat is the jambalaya at Disneyland. I don't remember the name of the "cafe," but it's so freaking good. I love the seasonings and oh yeah, the cream. This is kinda like that, minus the cream, so I'm going to call it healthy. Here's the recipe. I agree with the reviewers- this would taste better with rice. It's not very soup-y so it doesn't really flavor the noodles enough. (Although if you added cream it'd probably be awesome as a pasta dish)

I ended up buying "cajun seasoning" and I'm not sure what's in it, but it's good. I put it on fries and chicken too. I omitted the mushrooms- that just didn't seem right. And even though I followed the recipe, it wasn't "super-hot," I think I'll add more red pepper flakes next time or some Tabasco.


I was also craving white chocolate macadamia nuts. There's a store in Westwood called Diddy Riese and it's famous for its cheap cookies and ice cream sandwiches (and hot dogs too). As much as I love cheap and ice cream sandwiches, I am not in love with their white chocolate chip and macadamia nut cookie- it's not chewy or crunchy. It has this perma-stale texture to it. BLEGH. I was so happy to find this recipe. This is truth in advertising- you will make chewy, buttery cookies.

And the recipe makes a TON. You probably notice dark brown specks? This is what happens when I mix by hand and get lazy. Yep... I decreased the amount of white chocolate chips + macadamia nuts because I like more dough in my cookies. Also I chopped up my macadamia nuts to sort of match the size of the chips.

Macaroons are coming! I'm determined to make macaroons this month.

Frittata

I love eggs, I think I've already used up a dozen and I just bought them on Sunday. This is a great recipe to use up some eggs in case yours are going bad. This is delicious fresh out of the oven, or at room temperature the next day. I used asparagus, potatoes (a la spanish tortilla), green onions and BACON. I thought it was kinda weird using ricotta cheese- I thought the recipe would call for heavy cream, but I think this is healthier?


Anyways, this is the recipe. I used my cast iron skillet, hurray! I've had it for a few months now but I keep forgetting to use it. Also I've never used a cast iron skillet ever so I'm always nervous I'm going to break it. It's a 10 inch one and weighs a ton.


The hardest part was keeping the flame low. I'm always in a hurry, it's hard for me to keep the flame low and slowly stir. agghhh I overcooked a little bit because I couldn't help myself- I hope you're more patient... It was still delicious though.

Honey Yeast Rolls

I haven't made bread in awhile, but the weather was unusually warm these past couple days so I thought I'd take advantage of it. I've had this recipe bookmarked for awhile, I LOVE dinner rolls almost as much as I love crunchy breads. These are slighty sweet because of the honey. They came out perfectly and were still soft two days later.

This recipe is also great because the mixer does the kneading for me.

Resting. Thanks to the warm weather, it actually rose a good amount.

Resting again. By now it's dark and the pictures are fuzzy )= Bread takes awhile to make because of all the resting- not a good recipe for busy weekdays.

Fresh out of the oven. (Mine aren't as brown as the original author's for some reason.. not enough butter/egg wash?)