Sugar-crusted popovers and Daifuku

Sugar-crusted popovers, aka donuts you don't have to deep fry AND you can use your muffin pan! This recipe comes from David Lebovitz, again. Every recipe of his that I've tried has been amazing.

Right out of the oven, they're sort of bland (already deflating) popovers. Soft and fluffy, but otherwise not very flavorful. Brush them with a bit of butter and roll them in cinnamon and sugar and they are ready to be devoured. They were still good the next day- the butter kept them crisp.


Daifuku: otherwise known as filled mochi. I didn't realize that average home bakers could make daifuku! I always thought the process was complicated and involved top secret home equipment. I had fresh mochi when I went to Japan in spring and it was so good. This doesn't taste quite like the one I had in Japan- theirs was more sticky, pliable and liquid. Jenny showed me this recipe and it turn out you only need FIVE ingredients. And a microwave. Seriously, you can make this!

Blast the mochiko and water in the microwave and then roll it out- you will need a lot of corn starch! And you have to work quickly before the mochi gets cold and hard, but carefully since you just microwaved it for several minutes.

Trying to combine the strawberries and red bean paste (anko). Turns out they do not like to stick to each other.

Testing one out- so good! I made this lumpy, delicious blob!

For the second batch, we added some food coloring.

Look how pretty they are! These are Jenny's, mine did not turn out this pretty/smooth/rotund.

Sausage ragu and polenta and whole wheat pizza

This was my first time eating and making polenta and ragu. I wasn't too excited about polenta when I started making it- it looks like sand in water for the first few minutes. Then it plumped up into a creamy mass, sort of how I imagine aligot to look like in person. I loooveeee polenta now and it's so easy to make and really really cheap! I have the standard corn meal from Ralphs and it tastes great. I use chicken stock and some milk to have some extra flavor. I also made some polenta triangles with leftover polenta (a later post...). By the way rouxbe.com is a great site for beginning cooks who really don't know how to cook or chop. Their videos are really helpful and even if you don't get the paid subscription you can still access a good part of their website.


Whole wheat pizza! Surprisingly still pretty tasty, but definitely only for a Neapolitan style pizza. The dough was pretty good, but not great. Once it's baked to a crisp, it doesn't really matter if you use whole wheat or all purpose flour (to me at least), but if you want to have some chew to your crust I would skip it. I made a standard cheese pizza and topped it with arugula, my new favorite salad staple.

Bolognese

Again, only an iphone photo. This recipe is for a bolognese (meat) sauce. There are a lot of different ideas about what a "traditional" bolognese sauce is- even carbonara is heavily debated. Wikipedia says "The traditional recipe, registered in 1982 by the Bolognese delegation of Accademia Italiana della Cucina, confines the ingredients to beef, pancetta, onions, carrots, celery, tomato paste, meat broth, white wine, and milk or cream." The recipe I used is fairly similar.

It's a very hearty, slightly greasy sauce that tastes better the longer it's cooked.

Tomato Soup and Butternut Squash soup

It's cold and rainy again in Los Angeles and it's perfect soup season. First is a Creamless Creamy Tomato Soup from America's Test Kitchen- I really need to start subscribing instead of buying issues at Whole Foods. So much research and testing goes into each recipe! This one uses a bizarre method- you use white bread to make the soup "creamy." You can easily substitute a vegetable broth to make it vegetarian. I didn't even know I liked tomato soup because the previous ones I've had tasted like Campbell's tomato soup which is disgusting.

Unfortunately I don't have pictures because this is the week that I left my camera at my parents house and no one was around with a decent camera phone. ): Instead enjoy this picture of a pesto + tomato grilled (american) cheese. Just take my word that this soup is ammaazzzinnngggg.

I've typed the recipe up below:

Creamless Creamy Tomato Soup
Serves 6 to 8
Note: You can use an immersion blender to process the soup directly in the pot. For a smoother soup, pass the pureed mixture through a fine-mesh strainer before stirring in the chicken broth in step 2.

1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil, plus extra for drizzling
1 onion, chopped medium (about 1 cup)
3 medium garlic cloves, minced
pinch red pepper flakes (optional)
1 bay leaf
2 (28-ounce) cans whole tomatoes
1 tablespoon brown sugar
3 slices high-quality white sandwich bread, crusts removed, torn into 1-inch pieces
2 cups low-sodium chicken broth
2 tablespoons brandy (optional)
salt and pepper
1/4 cup chopped fresh chives

1. Heat 2 tablespoons of the oil in a Dutch oven over medium-high heat until shimmering. Add the onion, garlic, pepper flakes (if using), and bay leaf. Cook, stirring frequently, until the onion is translucent, 3 to 5 minutes. Stir in the tomatoes and their juice. Using a potato masher, mash until no pieces bigger than 2 inches remain (avoiding the bay leaf). Stir in the sugar and bread; bring the soup to a boil. Reduce the heat to medium and cook, stirring occasionally, until the bread starts to break down, about 5 minutes. Remove and discard the bay leaf.

2. Transfer half of the soup to a blender. Add 1 tablespoon more oil and process until the soup is smooth and creamy, 2 to 3 minutes. Transfer to a large bowl and repeat with the remaining soup and remaining 1 table spoon of oil rinse out the Dutch oven and return the soup to the pot. Stir in the chicken broth and brandy (if using). Return the soup to a boil and season with salt and pepper to taste. Serve the soup in individual bowls. Sprinkle each portion with pepper and chives and drizzle with additional oil.



The second soup recipe is for a Roasted Butternut Squash soup. This was my first time cooking a squash. I had no idea what to expect. It turned out to be really good- I would eat it plain after roasting it. It becomes really sweet and the edges are caramelized. I always thought squash were mushy and plain.

This has few ingredients so it's easy to make, just cook and blend. I added crispy slices of potatoes and some Tabasco for some extra heat!

Look how orange this is!

Wild mushroom lasagna and chicken enchiladas

This is that delicious, heavy, rich wild mushroom lasagna I mentioned earlier. It's... amazing. It's also different from the other lasagna's I've made- no ricotta. This is more like making a gratin. Thankfully there is some tomato to balance out the whole milk, but you probably won't get past the first slice.


This recipe for chicken enchiladas is great- no sour cream sauce! It was easy to assemble and pretty fast to make (except for simmering the chicken...). My first time making enchiladas and it was a big success. I didn't have pickled jalapenos so I used fresh ones- I'm starting to get the hang of chilies.

Vegan Mexican Chocolate Cake

Surprise, a healthy delicious chocolate cake! I skipped their glaze and made a ganache of heavy whipping cream and dark chocolate (2:1 ratio). Delicious. It's a very dense cake and it stayed relatively moist over the next 3-4 days.


This is the first time I've used cayenne pepper and I underestimated exactly how spicy it was going to be. Holy crap. Good thing I followed directions and used only the suggested amount. It was a very interesting cake, sweet and spicy.

Green Tea Ice Cream and Shortbread cookies

My favorite ice cream is probably green tea ice cream, with taro a close second (not sure where to get taro powder in the US though...). This recipe is awesome- it tastes exactly like the ice cream you get in the stores, but you can make it for half the price! Just make sure you go to a Japanese supermarket to get the green tea and not somewhere like Whole Foods where it's $30 for a tiny container. Also this ice cream doesn't have any egg yolks in it so it's thankfully not as rich as the other ice creams I've made.


Another favorite of mine is Pepperidge Farm Chessman cookies. These are so freaking good and buttery. But this recipe for a green tea shortbread beats it. The only cookie cutters I have are candy cane and stocking shaped so I used those. These cookies disappeared in a few days (good thing one batch makes a ton of cookies!).

Still using my trusty salt shaker as a rolling pin.

The underbelly full of nooks and crannies.