Wednesday, August 25, 2010

Caramelized Onion Tart




Umm oops, I haven't been on here for awhile. I moved to a new apartment and had to quickly assemble kitchen equipment (finally got a frying pan!) so there was very little cooking. And the cooking I did do was basic one-pan things like pasta or omelettes- not worthy of a blog post. This caramelized onion tart is from a month ago I think. It's really really good- I bought puff pastry because I didn't have time to make it.

The inspiration behind this pizza was an amazing pizza I had at Z Pizza in the Houston airport during a hellish layover/flight back from Cozumel. We almost didn't make it back and suddenly were able to get on the standby line! We got a quick bite to eat here- I had the Tuscan pizza, which was different types of mushrooms, feta and caramelized onions. It was very smelly- so much so that I didn't want to open it on the plane. It was so good though, so smelly and so good. I even liked the feta and I hate feta! (I guess I can downgrade the hate to a "sometimes I like")

This was easy, but not fast. It's also best the day you make it, unless you like soggy puff pastry.

Tuesday, August 10, 2010

Pepitas Brittle and another Pizza!



This is a failed attempt at pepitas brittle. I had to use leftover pepitas, so I thought I'd make brittle. I love peanut brittle! I'm not 100% sure what went wrong- I heated the sugar to the right temperature... there must've been some sugar on the side of the pan that didn't melt and it made the rest of the mixture crystallize. ): It tasted good though. I went overboard in protecting myself from hot bubbling sugar- I had oven mitts, aprons and towels on the side, ready just in case.

This is another version of the no-knead pizza dough. Sorry, no photos! I tried it and for some reason this one turned out better than the last version. No idea why or how, but I'm going to stick with this one for no-knead. Next up is to try a pizza dough recipe with cake flour, which is supposed to be the best stand in for 00 flour, which is what is traditionally used for pizza/pasta in Italy.

Monday, August 9, 2010

Baked Mac N Cheese and Roasted Potato Leek Soup



I really liked mac and cheese, but I'm really picky about what kind I like. I like the mac and cheese from Napa Valley Grill and even the Kraft blue box... I'm kinda on the fence about Trader Joe's boxed mac and cheese. This is a good make-ahead recipe for baked mac and cheese for when you have guests coming over- assemble the day before and bake when ready. It's from the great Barefoot Contessa.



This roasted potato and leek soup is so good. I really like roasting vegetables- you don't have to stand there watching it and the veggies come out with a completely different flavor! This also had a bunch of arugula blended in so it had a peppery kick to it.

I definitely burned the crispy shallots, but for what I paid for them I used them anyways. They are a really really good addition to the soup and would be great in sandwiches, salads etc.

Whole Wheat Brownies and Apple Pie Ice Cream





In an attempt to be more healthy I bought white whole wheat flour. I've been using it in regular APF recipes- usually substituting 1/4 of the APF with whole wheat. This recipe is all whole wheat and somehow it's still good- usually you can still feel the difference (like whole wheat pasta vs regular pasta). Also since a brownie doesn't have to be fluffy or tender it's a good place to start with whole wheat flour. I couldn't tell the difference between this brownie and any other brownie even though I ate it right after baking (the recipe has you wait overnight for the wheat germ to soften).


I had apple pie ice cream at Scoops and it started an apple pie obsession. I don't even LIKE pie- the filling is too sweet and goopy. I ate some form of apple pie every couple of days for 3 weeks- including the tasty apple pie from the Apple Pan. Finally my wallet was bled dry and I set out to make my own apple pie ice cream via this recipe. The only thing it's missing is the crust and it doesn't make that much- it was enough for 4 servings.