Seastack Cheese

I recently bought a small wheel of my favorite cheese: Seastack, made by Mt. Townsend Creamery in Port Townsend, Washington, a great little place about 40 miles from Seattle.



This is very indulgent of me, because eating a whole round of this cheese by myself is so decadent! Usually it's part of a cheese platter meant to be consumed by many more people.



Seastack is a soft-ripened cheese, such as Brie or Camembert, but much more strongly flavored. It almost has hints of a bleu.



In terms of texture, the cheese is semi-lactic, so it almost resembles velvety goat cheese.



See how it's melty at the edges and firmer in the middle? This means it's at the perfect temperature to eat. I let it sit out for about 45 min after taking it from the fridge.

Serious Eats wrote about this cheese, and according to the writer, a New Yorker, Seastack is "one of the best American cheeses available." Because it's a small-batch local cheese, only those of us lucky enough to live in the Pacific Northwest get to eat it. :D "The flavor is mushroomy and even almost nutty -- seriously delicious." Needless to say... I agree!



I'd love to hear about cheeses you enjoy, both local cheese and ones that are nationally available!

Creamy Tomato Bisque

Homemade tomato soup is one of those things that is a hundred, no, a thousand, times better than any premade stuff you can buy at the store.  It's a bit involved to make, true, especially for something that seems so deceptively simple.  I mean, a tomato soup -- what could sound easier?



Don't get me wrong, it is easy.  It's just more dishwashing than I would like. :D  Still, the results are so spectacular that I can't really complain.  Start with good tomatoes.  I used tomatoes from my garden -- a few of the larger ones that actually ripened during our cold Seattle summer.  The garlic and basil were also from my garden, I'm proud to say!



Start by roasting the tomatoes, garlic, and onion with salt, pepper, and olive oil.  Once the tomatoes are nice and soft, puree them with the garlic, onion, and some basil.  I used my new immersion blender, but this can also be done in a regular blender or a food processor.



This next step, in my opinion, is not really optional.  After the tomato mixture has been pureed, strain it through a fine mesh sieve.  All the little bits of tomato skin and things that didn't get finely pureed get separated out, making the resulting soup wonderfully smooth in texture.  To this I added soy milk (substituting for heavy cream with no ill effect, though I'm sure it would have been even more delicious with the cream), a splash of white wine, and a pinch of sugar.  I like my soups very hot, so I strained the soup into a small pot and kept it on low heat while I prepared the other part of dinner -- what's tomato soup without grilled cheese?



In this case, it was a grilled cheese sandwich made from a plain bagel and Irish white cheddar.  It was the only kind of bread I had, but it worked great.  Excellent dunkability.  A fantastic complement to the deep, rich flavor of the soup. :-)  The recipe I provide makes one large bowl, or two smaller ones.  If you decide to double or even triple it, to make all the dishes worth it, keep in mind you'll probably have to puree and strain in batches.



Creamy Tomato Bisque

Ingredients

• 4 large tomatoes, cored
• 4 cloves of garlic, peeled
• 1/4 of an onion, chopped
• salt
• pepper
• olive oil
• 1 tbsp basil, sliced or chopped
• a splash of white wine (optional)
• a big pinch of sugar
• 1/4 to 1/2 cup heavy cream (can be substituted with milk)

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 375°F.
2. Line a baking sheet with foil.  Place the cored tomatoes on the sheet.  Partially wrap garlic and onion in some foil.  Sprinkle salt and pepper over the tomatoes, garlic, and onion.  Drizzle with olive oil.  Close the foil over the garlic and onion to make a pouch.
3. Roast in the oven for 35 minutes, until the tomatoes are soft and starting to brown on top, but not falling apart.
4. Place the tomatoes, garlic, and onion (be careful opening the pouch!) in a container (bowl, blender, food processor).  Add the basil, reserving some for garnishing if you wish, and the wine, if using.  Blend to a fine puree.
5. Strain the mixture into a small pot or a large bowl.
6. Add the sugar and stir.  Taste and adjust seasoning.
7. Add the milk or cream, enough to achieve the desired color and texture, and stir until combined completely.
8. When soup has reached the desired temperature, divide into bowls, garnish, and serve.

Slow Cooker Potatoes Au Gratin

When Trix picked potatoes au gratin for our weekly slow cooker meal, I agreed readily because... potatoes and cheese, what's not to love? The problem was, the recipe served 10-12 (!!!). I decided to cut it in half, but I really should have quartered it. It's lucky I decided on half, at least, because it turns out that my Crock Pot was just able to fit that amount. I can't imagine the size of the Crock Pot needed to make the entire recipe. O.o



Some people are able to have just potatoes for a meal; for me it's more of a side dish (though believe me there was plenty to have made an entire meal on its own). But in order to adhere to the spirit of a hot meal without spending too much time on preparation, I bought a rotisserie chicken from the grocery store and also quickly stir fried some broccoli. Not very upscale, maybe, but quite yummy just the same.

As for the star of today's show, the potatoes were great. Maybe not as cheesy as I expect from potatoes au gratin, but the dish makes up for that by being surprisingly sophisticated in flavor. Not very salty, a bit tangy, with surprising heat -- or maybe I added a little too much pepper. Or mustard. Or both.

Dishes like this are why I have a mandoline. Actually, I have two. One full-sized mandoline, which I love, but am loath to drag out and actually use, because it's a chore to clean. Then there's my little OXO hand-held mandoline, which I got only recently, and it is a DREAM. It works incredibly well, and is convenient, small, and easy to wash. It's not good for very wide items, but it worked perfectly in this case.



I should also mention that I didn't have the heavy cream that the recipe called for. I actually deliberately went to Trader Joe's on Labor Day (thank goodness they were open), with the EXPRESS PURPOSE of buying heavy cream, but I somehow got home without any whatsoever, and I didn't realize it until late at night. How a person can go to the store to buy a specific item and walk out with practically everything BUT that item, is still a mystery to me. Sigh. It could have been more of a disaster, I suppose. I substituted 1 1/4 cups of half & half and 1/2 cup of soy milk. The half & half made things decently rich. The sauce came together beautifully, and while I don't know what the dish would have tasted like made with heavy cream, it tasted just fine to me. Plus, it helps that after the dish is done you're adding cheese to it.

Warning, if you're like me and with work and travel time, are gone from the house for longer than 8 hours or so, the potatoes may overcook a tad on the edges. I had to leave mine in (on low, of course) for about 10 hours, and the potatoes on the outside were already starting to darken too much. They weren't burned, but texture wise was extra chewy somehow, not great. I know it kind of defeats the point of a slow cooker to have to watch the dish, but in this case of these potatoes it would probably be a good idea if you were able to check on them once in awhile, or know for sure how long you'll be gone.

I think this would be a great dish to make for a big family dinner, or maybe as a contribution to a pot luck. :D

Slow Cooker Potatoes Au Gratin (adapted from A Year of Slow Cooking)

Ingredients

• 3 large Russet potatoes, thinly sliced
• 1 parsnip, thinly sliced
• 1/2 onion, diced
• 4 tbsp butter
• 3 tbsp flour
• 1 3/4 cups heavy cream
• 1 tsp dried thyme
• 1 tsp sea salt
• 2 tsp dried mustard
• 1/2 tsp black pepper
• 1 cup shredded cheddar cheese

Method

1. Place prepared vegetables in the slow cooker.  Combine haphazardly.
2. In a small saucepan, melt the butter.  Add the flour and stir to create a roux.  Cook the roux for 3-5 minutes, until it turns golden in color.  Slowly add the cream.  Cook until heated through and the sauce has the texture of a slightly thickened sauce (not thick like gravy).  Add thyme, sea salt, dried mustard, and black pepper.  Stir until everything is well incorporated into the sauce.
3. Pour the sauce on top of the vegetables and turn on the slow cooker.  Cook on high for 5-6 hours or on low for 8-9.
4. Just before serving, stir in the cheese until melted.

Spring Hill's Fried Chicken Dinner

One of my favorite foods in the world is fried chicken. There are few things better than biting into hot, crispy batter then encountering juicy, flavorful chicken.  It's damn good.  Not ever having had the pleasure of eating homemade fried chicken in the south, most of the fried chicken I've had have been at fast food establishments and restaurants.  I've just about given up having fried chicken at restaurants.  It's inevitably overpriced and not as good as the fast food places -- such as Church's or Ezell's (a Seattle establishment famed for having fried chicken so good that Oprah Winfrey has said that it's her favorite fried chicken and has it flown out to her in Chicago).

Well, one restaurant has finally done it right.  Is it really any surprise that it's West Seattle's Spring Hill?  Not to me, at any rate.  Spring Hill rarely disappoints.  At least when it comes to their food.  Their Fried Chicken Dinner for 4 -- by special reservation only and served only on Monday nights -- is something special.  It comes with two whole chickens (with the breasts cut in half, so there's a higher crunchy batter to meat ratio, which means you can get delicious skin and meat in every bite), which is more than you think it is.  It also comes with seasonal sides.  It was one of the most satisfying meals I've had in a long time.

And now, the pictorial.


A truly enormous platter of fried chicken, fried in peanut oil, that once you start eating, seems to grow in size.  We thought we'd be able to tackle it easily.  We ended up taking a box and a half of chicken home.


What's a fried chicken dinner without mashed potatoes and gravy?  It would be wrong.  Spring Hill doesn't leave it out.  Here's buttered russet potatoes with a light but intensely flavorful gravy.


Spring Hill calls this "herbed dumplings with Beecher's Flagship."  I call it upscale macaroni & cheese, made all the more delicious by the use of Beecher's Flagship cheddar.  Beecher's is another wonderful Seattle institution.


Then of course, there's cornbread.  But with a twist, or maybe a kick; these are jalapeno.  It came with a delicious honey butter (not pictured).


Caramelized broccoli; I like to call it oven crisped.  I like pretty much any preparation of broccoli, but there's something about the texture it gets when prepared this way that I just love.  I could have eaten five plates of this on its own, so really for four people it's quite small (especially in comparison to the chicken).


Put it all together and what do you have?  A PLATE OF HEAVEN, THAT'S WHAT.  Oh, the dinner also came with marinated cucumber spears, but I didn't have a chance to take any photos of that before it'd been passed around too much and was obliterated.


After dinner I went home and sliced up a mango, Thai style, because it was overripe and needed to be eaten.  Lord mangoes are good.  Fried chicken and mangoes ... life is good.

A Simple Meal

I recently saw the movie "It's Complicated." This is not a movie review blog so I won't go in depth about it, but food-wise, it made two big impressions on me: 1) One day I'd like to have a vegetable garden as amazingly awesome as that of the heroine; and 2) I needed to find out what croque monsieur was, and then I needed to make it and eat it.



It turns out that croque monsieur is a very simple, no-fuss affair, easy to prepare and even better to eat. It's what the French consider fast food. You really can't go wrong with a croque monsieur, unless you don't like bread. Or cheese. Or ham. But how could that possibly be?

Putting it together is simple. There's some debate about whether the croque monsieur is made with two slices of bread (similar to a grilled cheese sandwich, sometimes with additional cheese melted on top) or one. In the movie, from which I derived my inspiration, it was served as an open-faced sandwich, so that's how I made it. I used part of a baguette from the best bakery I know (West Seattle's Bakery Nouveau), slicing that in half to make two croque monsieurs, but any thick, hearty bread would work. I placed a slice of ham on each half, and topped with Beecher's Reserve (a very sharp white cheddar). Traditional croque monsieur is made with gruyere or emmenthal, but I wanted to use what I had on hand. The two halves were then baked until the cheese was melted and starting to brown. Next time I'll have to use the broiler instead; I think that would have browned the cheese much faster and with better results.

You can play with ingredients. Rub a garlic clove on the bread before adding the other ingredients. Place a fried egg on top and you have a croque madame. Include some tomato slices and you've got yourself a croque provencal. The sky is the limit! Though I think simplicity is really the key.

Finally, I had to have something to accompany the heavy bread/cheese/ham meal. A Caesar salad sounded just right. The recipe I used made a dressing that was tangy and light and flavorful -- and very unlike most restaurants' Caesar dressing. Paired together with the Croque Monsieur, it was a simple meal, but packed with delightful flavor explosions that made me look forward to the next time I could have it again.

Croque Monsieur (open faced)

Ingredients

• 2 slices of thick, hearty bread (such as a portion of baguette sliced on the horizontal then in half on the vertical)
• 2 slices of ham
• 2 slices of cheese (gruyere, emmenthal, or cheddar)

Method

1. Preheat broiler, or oven to as high as it will go, with a rack placed on the top shelf.
2. Layer ham on top of the bread, followed by the cheese. Place on a baking sheet, preferably lined with foil, to catch cheese drips.
3. Broil or bake for 5-10 minutes, or until the cheese has melted and has started to brown.

Caesar Salad (adapted from Mark Bittman's How to Cook Everything)

Ingredients

• 1/2 garlic clove
• 2 eggs
• 2 tbsp freshly squeezed lemon juice
• 2 tbsp minced anchovies
• 6 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
• dash of Worcestershire sauce
• salt & pepper
• 1/2-1 cup shredded parmesan cheese
• 1 heart of romaine lettuce, washed, cut, and dried*
• croutons, if desired
• additional protein, if desired (chicken, steak, shrimp, etc.)

Method

1. Rub the inside of your salad bowl with the garlic (discard when done). Seems like a waste of perfectly good garlic to me; next time maybe I'll just crush it into the dressing.
   
2. Bring a small pot of water to boil. Pierce the broad side of the eggs with a pin/needle. I don't know why that's necessary but I did it ... and let me tell you, piercing an egg shell with a pin/needle without breaking the whole thing open is more time consuming than it should be!
   
3. Boil the eggs for 60-90 seconds. Crack the eggs into the salad bowl -- they'll have only just started to firm up. Scoop out the white clinging to the shell. Beat well with a fork.
   
4. Gradually add the lemon juice, then the olive oil, whisking with the fork the whole time.
   
5. Add the anchovies and combine. You could also skip them entirely ... apparently the original Caesar salad didn't have anchovy in it; it only had that slight flavor from the Worcestershire sauce. I didn't have any W. sauce on hand and I do like anchovies, so I used them and skipped the W.
   
6. Add W. sauce, then add salt and pepper to taste (be pretty generous with the pepper).
   
7. Put the romaine lettuce into the bowl and toss well. Add the parmesan cheese over the top. I like mine totally incorporated so I tossed it again once I added the cheese.
   
8. Top with croutons, chicken, steak, shrimp, etc., if you're making this into a substantial meal.

* I found that there was actually way more dressing than needed, so next time I'll either double the amount of lettuce or cut the recipe in half. I prefer my salads to be lightly dressed.

"Perfect" Mac and Cheese

Some would say that I'm picky about my mac and cheese. Some would say that I'm very not picky about it. How can both be true? Well, it might be clearer after I make this confession: My favorite kind of mac and cheese is from Stouffer's, the kind you buy frozen then bake.



Maybe it's a childhood thing. It's what I had as a kid and so I associate it with being the right mac and cheese. I've had the Kraft stuff out of the box. It's crap. I've had the stuff they serve at Souplanation. It too, is crap. I've had mac and cheese at fancy joints and not-so-fancy joints, and sometimes it's been OK. But none of them have ever held a candle to Stouffer's.

Well, I take that back. This last December, I finally had a mac and cheese that I thought was absolutely delicious (as opposed to a waste of my time/appetite, as all the previous experiences had been). It's the side dish they have at Wood Ranch. It's not like Stouffer's; it tastes of real cheese and doesn't have any sauce (Stouffer's is a creamy cheese sauce), but is delicious nonetheless. About a week ago I also had the mac and cheese at Hugo's, and that was pretty good. Worth the calories to eat, at least. Maybe it's a coincidence that after so many years I've found two good mac and cheeses in succession, or maybe I'm getting less picky. I think it's the former, though.

By now many of you are probably thinking, just make your own! Oh I have. I've tried a number of homemade mac and cheese recipes, but they were all disappointing. They used a tremendous amount of cheese, but they all ended up being fairly tasteless. Considering that cheese is getting more and more expensive (and in any case, mac and cheese isn't the healthiest of meal options), I opted not to attempt it over and over again until it was perfected. I figured if I had a craving for mac and cheese, my grocery store's freezer section had the best kind readily available.

Then I came across a mac and cheese recipe that wasn't much of a recipe, more of a guideline. It breezily talked of making a white sauce out of a roux, then adding some seasoning, liberal amounts of cheese, and pasta. Little to no measurements were given. Specifics about the type of cheese were omitted. It didn't mention baking the mac and cheese at all, which in my book is necessary in order to get the crusty bits that I love so much (it also makes the creamy sauce in the end result). And yet, it sounded right. I finally had the chance to make it this weekend, and by golly if it isn't the best mac and cheese I've ever made at home! It's not perfect -- but it has the makings to be so. The method is sound; what needs to be perfected is the blend of cheeses I use.



Don't get me wrong ... it was perfectly good the way I made it. But the cheese I used, while good cheese, may not have been the right blend for perfect mac and cheese. From the depths of my refrigerator I unearthed several wedges of cheese, some that had never been opened, but getting a bit moldy. I went to work slicing off every surface of every wedge of cheese to get to the clean, unmoldy, perfectly good cheese underneath. I then proceeded to use my food processor (bless it) and the shredder attachment to shred much of the cheese, which was a combination of: medium orange cheddar, sharp New Zealand white cheddar, 2 kinds of gruyere, and parmesan. Once it was all shredded I mixed it up. The orange cheddar was just a generic grocery brand -- in future I'll definitely be getting the good stuff, as this was fairly tasteless. However, an orange cheese in the mix is necessary to give the final product that familiar orangey color (if you don't care about that, it's not required, of course). Gruyere is good to use because it melts in a non-stringy way, which is good for a mac and cheese cream sauce. I'll be experimenting with the kinds of cheese I use the next time for sure. Another thing I meant to add but didn't this time was just a bit of white wine. I think that'll make some of the flavor bloom, like a fondue.

The most important part about the cheese is that you shred it yourself. The pre-shredded kind has cornstarch in it, and is also generally not as flavorful as the cheese you buy in wedges and have to shred yourself.

The hardest part of the whole thing was finding elbow macaroni. I was very surprised by this, and maybe it's just my local selection. Maybe people always eat the Kraft stuff and rarely make their own, so stores don't carry macaroni anymore. Who knows?

I didn't do any measuring, but the recipe below is a good general guideline that I've approximated.



"Perfect" Mac and Cheese

Ingredients

• 8oz uncooked elbow macaroni pasta
• 1 small onion, diced
• 3-4 cups shredded cheese, your choice (recommendations above)
• 4 tbsp butter
• 4 tbsp flour
• 1 1/2-2 cups milk, cream, or half and half
• 2 dashes garlic powder
• pinch of nutmeg
• salt and pepper

Method

1. Make the pasta as directed on the package. Cook to al dente, and if you don't like your pasta softer than that, run cold water over the pasta once it's done to stop the cooking. Otherwise just drain the water and let it sit while you finish making the sauce.
2. Preheat the oven to 500°F and put a rack at the highest point it will go and still allow you to fit your baking dish. (Alternatively, broiling would probably work also.)
3. In a large pot (or right in the casserole dish, if you have one you can use on the stovetop like I do), melt the butter. Add the flour and mix thoroughly to create a roux. Cook until dark blonde.
4. Add the onion and blend well into the roux. Cook a few minutes. The roux will darken a bit more.
5. Start slowly adding the milk. Add as much as you need to create a thick creamy mixture.
6. Season the cream sauce with salt, pepper, nutmeg, and garlic powder. (At this point, I'd probably also add the white wine, if using.) Stir well.
7. Turn the heat to low and start adding the cheese a handful at a time. You don't want the mixture to boil at this point, as it will separate. Keep doing this until all the cheese is incorporated. The mixture will be very thick and may look kind of stringy due to the cheese. Taste it and adjust the seasoning as needed, or add more cheese if you think it needs more.
8. Add in the cooked pasta and mix gently but thoroughly. Use your spatula or spoon to press the pasta down into the dish and smooth the surface.
9. Bake for 10 minutes in the oven, or until the top is bubbly and brown in spots. Serve hot.

Breaking Out of My Hermit Shell for a Night

Those who know me in real life won't be surprised by the confession I'm about to make: I'm somewhat of a hermit. I like my family and I like my friends, and occasionally I even like my coworkers. But put me in a room full of strangers and acquaintences, and I'm completely ill at ease. It's not a situation I like to put myself in. But sometimes there are invitations you can't refuse.

Take Carol, a coworker of mine, and a friend. We've known each other for years, though it's only been since 6 months since we began seeing each other in person with any regularity (previously she lived in New Zealand). We go to lunch every week -- at least, we try to. She's a food enthusiast, like me. So when she said she was throwing a dinner party for a handful of people, I couldn't say no.

There were only 7 of us, so the "room full of strangers" claustrophobia didn't set in, even though I didn't know anyone well (or at all) other than Carol and her husband, David. And the best part of dinner parties is getting to take pictures of all the wonderful food, without having to do the work of making it (and worse, cleaning up afterward).

It wasn't the best timing for a barbecue (they'd just gotten a new Webber grill) -- it ended up getting extremely cold during the day and started snowing. I wasn't even sure I should go, as the roads were sure to be a mess. But I had made a pumpkin pound cake that I didn't want to eat all by myself, and I do actually try to make an effort at not being such a hermit all the time. So I went, and other than one terrible spot on the freeway, it wasn't too bad. A fun time was had by all, and though I didn't get home till well after midnight, I was glad I had gone.

Now for the pictorial, and a recipe for the pumpkin pound cake at the end...

We begin, appropriately, with the appetizers. Here is a bowl of chicken wings, marinated in Malaysian spices (which had a hint of sweetness to them), then deep fried. They were delicious; possibly my favorite of all the food served!



Here we have some fantastic salami from Whole Foods, a duck spread that has a French name that I've forgotten, and freshly sliced French bread.



Next, I helped Carol wrestle this special, extra-long pasta into a pot of boiling water. Its black color comes from -- squid ink!



Here we've got some on-the-vine tomatoes, roasted with a couple of cloves of garlic, olive oil, and balsamic vinegar.



The tomatoes, along with their sauce, were stirred into the pasta, along with sliced scallions, pine nuts, apple-flavored olive oil, and a dash of salt and pepper. It was light and delicious.



Here we have a huge salad (though you can't really tell that from the photograph) of mixed greens, candied walnuts, cucumber, shaved parmesan, and thinly sliced apple and pear. It was served with a homemade balsamic vinaigrette.



The lamb roast on the grill:



And off:



Unfortunately, the problem with serving meat at home is that people tend to like it cooked with some variation of rare or well done, and neither the twain shall meet. I like my lamb (and beef) cooked medium rare, as did 3 others. The other 3 liked their meat practically burnt ("cook it as much as you can cook it, and you're just about there" is how one described it). It's very difficult to prepare meat that caters to everyone's preferences without either letting some portion go cold (those of us who like it on the rare side), or making people watch others eat (those who need their meat cooked longer). Sadly, those who like meat on the rare side tend to get screwed, because while we can usually still suffer through over-done meat, those who like their meat well done absolutely cannot eat meat that has even the slightest amount of pink (at least, that was the case last night). So last night, the meat was cooked too well. There were a few slices with some hint of pink, but that was as rare as it got.

David, who prefers his meat medium rare as well, was muttering to himself as he sliced: "God! Ugh.... how can people eat their meat this way.... and this probably isn't even done enough for them! Ugh!" The meat was tender, though, so in that way it was still good. Flavor wise it was less than ideal, due to it being overdone, though since the lamb was fresh, it didn't have that gamey flavor that I don't like.



Along with the pasta and salad, the lamb was served with some beautifully roasted potatoes:



Putting it all together, it made for a very eye-catching plate:



As I mentioned, I brought a pumpkin pound cake laced with chocolate chips, which Carol served after dinner along with a cheese plate, an assortment of crackers, and slices of apple.



The cheese included an Irish cheddar, some kind of bleu that was wonderful with an apple slice, a caramel-flavored gouda, and one that looks like Brie but that I don't think was Brie (though I can't actually remember what it was):



The crackers included two types of New Zealand cracker, and one that was laced with dried fruit and nuts. My favorite was the one in the middle, which had a great taste and crunch. Naturally it was the one that Carol had actually physically brought back from New Zealand, which means I won't be able to find it here. Sigh.



My favorite thing about this pumpkin pound cake, which probably would have been more suitable in October or November, is that it actually sort of resembles a pumpkin. It's not an extremely sweet cake, and the pumpkin and spices are fairly subtle.



I laced it with chocolate chips, which you can see better here:



And a slice:



Pumpkin Pound Cake

Ingredients

For the cake:

• 3 ¼ cups all-purpose flour
• 2 tsp. baking powder
• ½ tsp. baking soda
• ½ tsp. freshly ground nutmeg
• ½ tsp. salt
• ½ cup milk
• 1 tsp. vanilla extract
• 8 oz. (2 sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 cup light brown sugar
• 4 large eggs
• 2 cups pumpkin puree (or mashed fresh roasted pumpkin)
• 4 oz semi-sweet chocolate chips

For the buttermilk glaze:

• ½ cup buttermilk
• ½ cup sugar
• 4 Tbsp. (½ stick) unsalted butter, cubed
• 2 tbsp pure pumpkin puree
• 1 ½ tsp. cornstarch or flour
• ¼ tsp. baking soda
• 1 tsp. vanilla extract

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 350°F. Spray a 10-inch non-stick Bundt pan with cooking oil.
   In a medium bowl, combine the flour, baking powder, baking soda, nutmeg, and salt. Whisk well.
2. In a small bowl or measuring cup, combine the milk and vanilla.
3. In stand mixer with the paddle attachment, beat the butter and two sugars until light and fluffy, about 5 minutes. Add the eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition.
4. Scrape down, add the pumpkin, and mix until the batter is combined. The batter will look grainy at this point; that's okay.
5. With the mixer on low speed, add half of the flour mixture. Beat until just combined. Add half of the milk mixture and beat on low speed until well blended. Add the remaining flour, followed by the remaining milk, using the same method. Beat on low until the batter is thick and smooth.
6. Scrape half the batter into the prepared pan. Scatter the chocolate chips as evenly as you can over the batter, then spoon the rest of the batter into the pan. Bake for 60 to 75 minutes (in my oven it took 70 minutes), or until the cake springs back when pressed lightly and a toothpick inserted in one of the cracks comes out clean.
7. Cool the cake in the pan on a wire rack for 20 minutes. If needed, run a thin knife around the edge to loosen the cake. Carefully invert it onto the rack.
8. Meanwhile, make the glaze. In a medium saucepan, combine the buttermilk, sugar, butter, pumpkin puree, cornstarch, and baking soda. Place it over medium heat, and bring it just to a gentle boil. Remove it from the heat, stir well, and set it aside to cool to room temperature. Once cool, add the vanilla and stir well.
9. Set the wire rack over a rimmed sheet pan or long piece of foil. Spoon the glaze, which may have lumpy bits of cornstarch in it, through a cheesecloth-lined strainer over the warm cake if you want the glaze to soak into the cake. If you want the glaze to sit atop the cake, don't use it until the cake has been cooled significantly. Cool completely before serving.

Palak Paneer and Homemade Cheese

Unfortunately there won't be a Friday dinner tomorrow, nor for the next month or so, as I'm going on vacation! I will, however, be eating lots of good food and I'll be bringing my camera with me. :D Depending on computer/time availability, I may be able to blog a bit and share any delectable photos I've got.

Before I go though, I wanted to finally post those Indian recipes I talked about so long ago (or so it seems), as I'm totally behind on that. I got started with raita, but what about what you eat raita with?

One good choice is palak paneer, which is a spinach and fresh cheese (paneer) dish. If you like spinach as I do, it's a nice, safe choice. It's reminiscent of creamed spinach -- just flavorful in an entirely different way. Paneer can be purchased or easily made at home. That's right, make your own fresh cheese at home! It's super easy and not even that time consuming.

All you need is half a gallon of whole milk, 3-4 tablespoons (about 1/4 cup) of acid, such as lemon/lime juice or vinegar, cheesecloth, and a large pot. Instructions are always more fun with visual representation, so here we go (a few of the pics are fuzzy, as I wasn't using my tripod alas):


Bring half a gallon of whole milk (and yes, it needs to be whole milk -- you're making cheese so you want as much of the solids as possible) to boil. When it's boiling, add the lemon juice. Turn down the heat a bit. Start stirring and do this continuously.


Almost immediately, you'll see the curds start to separate from the whey. Keep stirring!


Stir, stir, stir. You'll know it's done when the whey has a light greenish tinge to it. That sounds wrong, but looks perfectly natural when you see it. You should be able to scoop up obvious curds now.


Place a strainer over a large bowl and some cheesecloth in the strainer.


Pour the contents of the pot into the cheesecloth-lined strainer. The curds should stay in the cheesecloth while all the whey goes into the bowl.


Close up! Looks like cottage cheese, doesn't it?


There are multiple ways you can do this next step; go with what's easiest for you. The goal is to drain as much of the whey out of the curds as you can. Here I've tied some kitchen twine tightly around the cheesecloth, and tied the other end to a knob on one of my cupboards. It's hanging over the bowl of whey so that the excess drips in there. You can also tie it over the faucet, or maybe around a long plastic spoon and drape that over a pitcher, etc. Leave this for about 30 minutes.


After 30 minutes, unwrap the cheesecloth from the cheese. It'll look something like this.


Put the cheese on a plate and drape the cheesecloth over it. Then put a heavy weight on top, to further squeeze out any remaining whey. The heaviest thing I could think of was a cast-iron pan, so I used two of them. :D


It's been suggested to save the whey for later use, and being that I don't like waste, I saved about 4 cups of it. I still haven't found a recipe that uses whey, but it's in the freezer for when I do.


After another half hour or so, it'll be flattened and look something like this.


Now it's ready to be cubed into whatever Indian dish you're using it in!

Now that wasn't too difficult, was it? Since the cheese hasn't been aged at all, it doesn't have much flavor to it. It really just, as far as I can tell, adds a texture contrast to the dish. In fact, in that way it reminds me of very firm tofu.

Back to the palak paneer. There are many kinds of paneer dishes; I chose spinach because I like it. Go with your preference. The recipe I used is from Show Me the Curry, as I enjoyed their videos and their recipes are very approachable.

The first thing I did was prepare the paneer, though you can wait until you've started the masala, if you like.


Here I've heated about a tablespoon of oil and have dropped cubes of paneer into it. Paneer is one of the few cheeses that doesn't melt! Your goal is to get them nice and brown.


They're just starting to brown, so I stir fry them a bit to get as much of the cheese's surface area exposed to the pan as possible.


When the paneer has been browned (on all sides if possible), drop the cubes into a bowl of cold water. This will help get out some of the excess oil. It will also soften the cheese. The paneer can stay in the water until you're ready to add it to the rest of the ingredients. At that point you'll want to gently squeeze out any excess water from them.


This paneer has been browned, soaked, and dried, and is ready to be added to the dish! As you can see, not all the paneer has been perfectly browned; just do the best you can and when most of them are browned just pull them from the heat. You don't want them to burn.


First thing that goes into the pan is some oil, along with the pureed onion.


Next should be the pureed tomatoes. Don't skip pureeing them (as I did) unless you're okay with bits of red standing out in your palak paneer. I thought the diced tomato would melt into the mixture eventually; it didn't do so completely.


Add the spinach. It's also instructed for the spinach to be blended using a hand blender; I was lazy and skipped that step, since the chopped spinach is already pretty much falling apart. I imagine blending it would make the final dish even creamier.


The spices go in next. Generally I like to measure out all the amounts of spices ahead of time.


Now the dish should be looking something like this. See how the tomatoes don't completely melt in? Next time I'll be pureeing them for sure.


Add the cream/milk. Mmm, creamy curry goodness.


Finally, when you're about ready to serve, add the paneer. Since the dish is already fully cooked, you don't need to cook this step for very long, as mixing too much will just make the paneer fall apart.

Serve with rice or your choice of Indian bread. Delicious!

Palak Paneer (recipe found here, with some changes by me for clarification)

Ingredients:

• 16oz frozen chopped spinach, thawed and drained
• 7oz paneer
• 3 tbsp oil, divided
• 2 medium onions, minced or pureed
• 1-inch piece of ginger, minced
• 4 cloves garlic, minced
• 1/2 cup water
• 2 large tomatoes or 1 14oz can of diced tomatoes, pureed (not canned tomato puree)
• 2 tsp garam masala
• 1 tsp cumin powder
• 2 tsp coriander powder
• 1/4 tsp turmeric powder
• red chili powder, to taste
• salt, to taste
• 1/2 cup heavy whipping cream
• milk, to taste (optional)

Method:

1. Cook frozen spinach with 1/2 cup water in a microwave safe dish for 7-8 minutes, stirring in between. Blend cooked spinach to desired texture (avoid over-blending).
2. Heat 2 tbsp oil in a medium non-stick pan on high heat. Once oil is hot, add in the minced onions, stir, cover and let it cook for about 5 minutes.
3. Add in the ginger and garlic and mix. Cook for another 4-5 minutes.
4. Add in the tomates, cover and cook until the oil separates from the mixture. Stir often to keep the mixture from burning.
5. While the onion and tomato mixture is cooking, cube the paneer to your desired size. In a non-stick frying pan, heat the remaining 1 tbsp oil. Once oil is hot, add in the paneer cubes and let them cook till they are golden brown on all sides. Remove from the pan into a plate with paper towel to soak the excess oil. In a couple of minutes, pour the paneer into a bowl of cold water. Let it sit for 5 minutes.
6. When the onion and tomato mixture is ready, add in the blended spinach and mix.
7. Add the garam masala, cumin powder, coriander powder, salt, chili powder and turmeric powder. Mix well and cook for 3-5 minutes.
8. Add in the desired amount of cream and/or milk. Mix and cook for another few minutes.
9. Gently squeeze the water out of the paneer and add the paneer to the spinach mixture.
10. Stir gently and serve hot.