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.