Strawberry and dark chocolate ganache tart

Continuing on the strawberry and chocolate theme.... I made my FIRST EVER sweet tart dough aka pate sucree. It was for a chocolate ganache with strawberry tart. See the recipe here.

I don't have a big enough food processor so I used my trusty dough blender to cut the butter into the flour. This is MUCH better then using your fingers. Since it was about 90 degrees in my kitchen, I put the dough back in the fridge every 5 minutes or so to make sure the butter didn't melt.


I used Trader Joe's 70-something% cocoa and I have to say.... it wasn't that good. I'm going to stick with Valrhona or maybe try a semi-sweet chocolate. The strawberries were VERY sweet so it didn't go too well with the bitter chocolate (to me at least). I think next time I'll also slice the strawberries, it was kinda hard to eat.


I also didn't do the glaze since I was going to eat it right away. All in all, it was a good pate sucree recipe. It was flaky, slightly sweet with a hint of salt. I had problems putting the dough in the tart pan, I think I have to practice. You can see how it's uneven in this photo. I think the trick is to roll it out on a flat surface and then smush it up the sides instead of dumping the dough in the middle and trying to smush the dough across the bottom AND up the sides. I'm feeling more confidant working with dough though! I'm going to try some different recipes and see if there is a better one. While this one was good, it wasn't mindblowing.

Chocolate covered strawberries

Mmm chocolate covered strawberries. I don't really have a recipe for this, I just sort of wing it. Basically you need milk/dark/semisweet chocolate, white chocolate (if you choose to do the drizzley design), a few tablespoons of cream and strawberries! (And you can omit the cream actually, it just makes the chocolate a bit smoother and easier to dip the strawberries into)



For the milk/dark/semi-sweet chocolate (it's up to your taste, I like dark), I think it's easier to do it with chips. If you get a big bar, you have to chop it up into small, even pieces and it's really labor intensive. Either way, melt it in SMALL batches! You can either do it in a double boiler (get a small pot and put 1-2 inches of water in it, bring it up to a simmer and place another pot or bowl on top. Don't let the top pot/bowl touch the water! Place the chocolate in the top pot/bowl and stir until everything melts) or in the microwave.

Personally I like the microwave because it's easier. Just put 1/2 a cup - 1 cup of chocolate in a small bowl and blast it in the microwave in 15 SECOND intervals. Stir the chocolate after each blast. Keep microwaving it until the chocolate melts. You want to do this a few seconds at a time so the chocolate doesn't burn or melt unevenly (hence the stirring). If you have some cream or half and half handy, throw some in as well. It makes it smoother and it's easier to dip strawberries in it. Add more liquid if you'd like a thin chocolate shell.


The most important part of making chocolate covered strawberries is making sure your strawberries are DRY. One tiny drop of water will make your chocolate seize and it will turn into an ugly mess. Trust me. Water does not mix well with chocolate.


So this is my process: I make an assembly line of sorts. I wash and dry my strawberries with a paper towel to make sure ALL THE WATER is gone. Then next to that is the chocolate and then next to that is a sheet of wax paper where the finished product goes.

If you decide to do some fancy white chocolate designs, it's the same process you did for the milk/dark/semi-sweet, either the microwave or the double boiler. You can either dip a spoon in and shake it over the strawberries or put the melted white chocolate into a sealed zip loc bag, cut off one of the corners and pipe the chocolate onto the strawberries.

When all the strawberries are dipped and decorated, you can either let them harden outside (if it's cool and not too humid) or in the fridge. BUT KEEP IN MIND: these do not keep that long. After a day the strawberries will begin to sweat and strawberry juice will start leaking out of them and it doesn't look pretty.

Rosemary Foccacia

Nothing beats fresh bread! I love this recipe because I love olive oil, rosemary, bread and big salt crystals. I found this recipe on foodgawker when I was searching for rosemary recipes- I always end up buying more then I need. I love the earthiness that the rosemary brings and it was easy to make since my mixer did the kneading :)

Just dump everything into the mixer, mix, let it rest and then bake!

Super easy! It was soft on the inside, just barely crisp on the outside.

Green onion pancakes

I've had this recipe (from Use Real Butter) bookmarked for a LONG time. I've been hesitant to make it because with all the rolling and flattening, I figured it'd take a long time. And since you're spreading oil onto the dough and then rolling it out and flattening it- I thought it'd be a big mess as well. I was completely wrong- they go fast, once you get the hang out it and they weren't that messy (I did it all on a wee little cutting board). I ended up making it today because I had a bunch of extra green onions.

I love green onion pancakes! They're so crispy and salty- mmmmm! I usually buy them frozen, but I thought I'd try to make them. They're really cheap to make, the only ingredients are flour, warm water, salt, oil and green onions.



First of all, these are small pancakes- like 5-6 inches across. I was kinda surprised since the frozen ones can be a foot across. SALT LIBERALLY. I thought I was overdoing it, but they came out great. I use the back of a wooden cutting board to do my kneading and dough work... my counter is not the cleanest place. You'll notice my "rolling pin" in the middle. It's my salt shaker wrapped in plastic wrap and dusted with flour. Hey, it works!


The camera decided to poop out and not focus on anything. This is the first rolling of the dough- like a burrito without tucking in the ends.

Then you roll it again on its side.


Flatten it again. Some of the bigger pieces of green onion will fall out- it's okay, just smush them back in.



Flatten it a bit more and then fry it- these taste best fresh (like most fried foods).

The Perfect Italian Dinner

...with a little dab of Asian inspiration, of course ;)

In this post, you will find: Garlic Bread, Asparagus, and Lasagna.

GARLIC BREAD

Delicious! This recipe I adapted from some trial-and-error cooking at the nice dinner party I had a few weeks ago. I added a few dashes of basil this time and I think the taste matches very well. :)

Ingredients:

• bread of your choice (I used French bread but after this experience I'd recommend going for something softer)
• 5 cloves garlic
• 2 tbsp unsalted butter
• 1/2 tsp salt or to taste
  
• few dashes basil, or one fresh basil leaf
  

Directions:

1. Pre-heat oven to 350 F
   
2. Melt butter in microwave or over stove.
3. Add minced garlic and basil to butter
4. Spread butter-garlic mix onto sliced bread to your liking
   
5. Bake for 10 min or until bread is crispy
   

ASPARAGUS

Ingredients:

• bundle of asparagus
• kosher salt
• rice vinegar or balsamic vinegar
  
• soy sauce

Directions:

1. Boil asparagus ~5 minutes in boiling water (or until ready) [I don't know how long since I made the mistake of over-boiling mine... stupid electric stoves]
2. Drizzle soy sauce and rice vinegar (has not regular vinegar) at about a 60:40 ratio, or to your liking.
3. Sprinkle kosher salt to taste

This one was a really fun one; it's simple, light & delicious, and visually very appealing. From the ideas of other recipes and The Food Network (I really should give more credit to them for what I know!), I kind of made this one up on the fly. I chose soy sauce and rice vinegar to provide strong flavor, yet lightness to the asparagus--exactly what you want a vegetable to do to balance a carb-heavy or meat-heavy meal!

Explanation to my deliberate choice of kosher salt over sea salt and table (regular) salt: Table salt will likely dissolve and it's harder to see/less visually appealing. Generally speaking, table salt is used while cooking and not thrown on afterward as a garnish. Kosher salt worked best for the presentation because it offers large, flaky pieces of salt. Sea salt is the one I haven't quite figured out yet... in appearance it looks like large crystalline rocks, probably similar to a blown-up version of table salt. I believe (and I may be wrong here) that choosing kosher over sea salt really depends on how you want your dish to look; some dishes will be better with flakes and some will look better with a rocky-looking salt. Although all probably taste about the same, you'll get less concentration of salt in a pinch of kosher or sea salt versus a pinch of table salt. Also, based on the chef's vision, the presentation is probably the key to the decide which salt is used.

LASAGNA

I have to note that this is not the freshest picture--it's a microwaved piece of leftover lasagna, but it's the only photo I've got. =/

This recipe is adapted from: http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Worlds-Best-Lasagna/Detail.aspx. I liked this recipe so much that this is the second time I'm making it. I did make a few changes though:

Ingredient differences:

• swapped the sweet Italian sausage for 1 package of Adelle's Chicken and Portobello Mushroom Sausages, chopped into bits
• added 1 tray of white button mushrooms (whatever size in those blue containers they sell at Safeway), sliced
• did not add garlic
• tomato sauce was flavored with basil
• no basil leaves (cost effective when you buy the above instead, haha)
• no parsley
  
• added slightly more beef and ricotta cheese than called for

I liked it a lot more this time when I swapped some ingredients. :D
Notes I made: Do not add too many fennel seeds. Next time will probably expand use of mushrooms to include portobello mushrooms, and will add garlic. For the future I will also try to use as many fresh ingredients as possible, including upgrading to real tomatoes and chucking that canned stuff!

Croque Monsieur

Mmmm this is like a fancy grilled cheese. The sweet, salty ham, the gooey grueyere, crisp buttery bread and the the nutty sauce. SO GOOD! I had a croque madame (a croque monsieur with a fried egg on top) at Morels at the Grove. It was good, but they put a LOT of sauce on so it was soggy. I didn't make as much sauce as the recipe called for so that the bread would still be crisp. I also substituted thyme for nutmeg and the bay leaf because that's what I had on hand. Also... no chives, but they would be great the next time I make them. I used the Trader Joe's 4 cheese sour dough bread because I love sour dough.


This is like my 10th time making a roux so I'm starting to get the hang of it. The first time I made it was for a mac and cheese and I was not sure what the hell flour + butter was going to taste like. For this one, I let it cook for awhile (on accident) so it had a nuttier taste. I'm going to experiment more with the roux and see how it affects the recipe.

All in all, a very very good sandwich. But then again, where can you go wrong with cheese + ham + butter + bread?

Korean BBQ Chicken

JUST a side note: since I'm not allowed to BBQ at the place I live at, I had to improvise using an oven and some pan frying, but a charcoal BBQ grill will make this taste best. ;)


Ingredients:

• 1 Bottle Korean BBQ Sauce (find at 99 Ranch or Korean markets)
  
• 6-8 pieces of boneless chicken thighs (or whatever cut of chicken you like)
• 1 tbsp vegetable oil
• pepper to taste (if desired)

Directions:

1. Marinate chicken in a gallon-sized zip-lock bag for at least 2-3 hours, or overnight. I usually give it about 3-4 hours.
2. Bake chicken in a pan at 350 F for about 45 minutes or until ready (not bleeding if cut in thickest part of chicken). *The key here to keep your chicken moist is to COVER the pan completely with foil paper! (Caution: steam is HOT. Be careful when you remove the foil after baking!)
3. Heat oil in pan and pan fry the cooked chicken until you get a slight burnt look. Enjoy!

Korean BBQ Sauce

This is the best sauce I've found so far--same one my mom uses when she BBQs over a propane grill. Tastes wonderful, and this also works really well for bulgogi (Korean BBQ short ribs)!