Blondies

Zingerman's bakehouse makes the best pecan blondies. We found this recipe online that is supposed to be the Zingerman's recipe. We made a few tweaks but they came out pretty darn good!

INGREDIENTS

BATTER

• 1 cup brown sugar
• 1 cup butter, melted
• 2 large eggs
• 2 teaspoons vanilla
• 2 tablespoons dark rum or whiskey
• 1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
• 1/2 teaspoon sea salt
• 1 teaspoon baking powder

PRALINE

• 2 tablespoons butter
• 1 cup pecan pieces
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/2 cup, plus 1 tablespoon granulated sugar

DIRECTIONS

• 1
  1. Preheat the oven to 300 degrees F.
• 2
  2. Line a 8“ x 8” baking pan with parchment paper.
• 3
  3. Make the Praline: first, brown the butter in a saucepan over medium heat. Then add the pecan pieces, salt and vanilla extract and toss to coat. Stir to combine.
• 4
  4. Put the hot buttery pecans into the 8 x 8 pan and place into the oven at 300 degrees F for 10 minutes.
• 5
  5. When the nuts are just out of the oven, put the granulated sugar into the saucepan and melt it over medium heat. Bring to a boil stirring minimally and let the sugar caramelize to a nice light brown color. Immediately add the pecans (which are still warm from the oven) and then pour the mixture back onto the parchment paper. Let cool. *** Be careful not to burn the sugar*** Take it off the heat immediately after it turns brown.
• 6
  6. Turn the oven up to 325 degrees F.
• 7
  7. Make the batter. In a saucepan, melt the butter over medium heat. 
• 8
  8. Add the butter to the brown sugar. Then add the rum (or whiskey) and vanilla extract. 
• 10
  9. Add the eggs after the mixture is cooled.

  
  10. In a separate container or bowl, combine the flour, the salt and the baking powder, using a wooden spoon or rubber spatula. Add the brown sugar mixture to this mixture.
• 12
  11. Break up the cooled praline and add to the bowl in chunks. Stir.
• 13
  12. Pour the batter into the 8x8 pan lined in parchment paper.

  
  

  13. Bake for 35 to 40 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center is nearly clean.14. Remove from the oven and cool on a cooling rack. Cut into 16 squares.
• 
  

  Adapted from:http://www.tastebook.com/recipes/2233222-Praline-Blondies?full_recipe=true

  
  

Glazed Lime Cookies

Glazed Lime Cookies

Yield: 3 dozen cookies

ingredients:

2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup granulated sugar
2 tablespoons lime zest
1 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

For the glaze:

1 cup powdered sugar
4-5 teaspoons fresh lime juice

directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 35o degrees F. Line two baking sheet with parchment paper or a silicone baking mat. Set aside.

2. Combine flour, baking powder, and salt in a small bowl. Whisk and set aside.

3. In a small bowl, add granulated sugar and lime zest. Rub the sugar and lime zest together with your fingers, until fragrant.

4. Beat butter and sugar/lime mixture together until light and fluffy. Beat in egg and vanilla extract. Mix until smooth.

5. Slowly beat in flour mixture on low speed until blended. Drop dough by tablespoon onto prepared baking sheets, spacing 2 inches apart. Gently flatten dough with the palm of your hand.

6. Bake for 12-14 minutes or until cookies are just set and slightly golden brown. Cool cookies on baking sheet for 2 minutes and transfer to cooking racks. Cool completely.

7. In a medium bowl, whisk together powdered sugar and lime juice. Dip each cookie top into the lemon glaze. Let cookies sit until icing has set.

Makes about 3 dozen cookies

Taken From http://www.twopeasandtheirpod.com/glazed-lemon-cookies/

Happy New Year!

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"Moscato di Asti with black currant sorbet to celebrate the new year! "

Meatball Recipe

Decided to try making meatballs today. I thought it came out pretty well for my first try.

Ingredients

• 2 eggs
• 1 cup whole multi-grain bread crumbs
• 3/4 cup shaved parmesan cheese
• 1/2 tablespoon salt (i added an extra tsp but it was slightly too salty)
• black and white pepper
• 1 garlic clove minced
• garlic powder
• 1.3 lb ground beef
• 1/4 chopped parsley
• 4 oz melted butter

Mix the eggs, beef, melted butter (after it's cooled) in 1 bowl

Mix the garlic, bread crumbs, parmesan cheese, salt, pepper, and garlic powder in another bowl.

Mix the ingredients in the 2 bowls together, form the meatballs and bake for 20 minutes.

Enjoy!

Black Bean Meatballs

Ingredients
(A)
2 tablespoons of blackbean
1/3 cup soy sauce
1/3 cup cooking wine
2 big cloves of garlic
1/2 teaspoon sugar
3/4 cup water or chicken broth

(B)
1 pound ground pork or chicken
2 teaspoons of cornstarch + 1 egg white
1 tablespoon soy sauce
4 tablespoons of water

Directions:
1.  Mix (B) in a big bowl
2.  Cook (A) in a pot with MEDIUM heat until almost boiling
3.  Use a wet spoon to make meatballs and cook in pot until boiling


Make 24 meatballs

Zucchini Cake

Who knew that a healthy cake made of vegetables could be so good. This is a recipe from my dear friend Raveena who used to make this for me all throughout med school.

1 cup flour
1cup sugar
1cup grated zucchini
1tsp Baking soda
1/8 tsp Baking powder
1/2 tsp Salt
1/2 cup chopped walnuts
1/2 cup veg oil
1/2 tsp vanilla essence
1.5-2 eggs


Mix all ingredients together and bake at 350 F. I can't remember the exact time.. just use the tooth pick test.

Orange Cauliflower and Prosciutto Pasta

Mango Mascarpone Cake

Sponge Cake

1/2 box Duncan Hines French Vanilla Cake Mix

5 egg whites, 1 egg yolk

5/8 c. light coconut milk

1/4 c. cooking oil

1/2 tsp. cream of tartar

1. preheat oven to 350 F

2. beat egg whites amd cream of tartar until stiff

3. In another bowl, combine cake mix, egg yolk, coconut milk and oil. Mix well.

4. Fold eggwhites into cake mixture

5. Pour batter in to 2 well oiled 9" pans

6. Bake for 10 minutes, then reduce heat to 250 F and bake until light brown or toothpick comes out clean (another 3-5 minutes)

7. Allow cake to cool while making the filling.

Mango Puree

4-5 fresh mangos

1 lemon

1. Puree flesh of 4-5 champagne mangos in a blender to make 3 cups total. I used 1 canned mango + 4 fresh mangos. 

2. Add in the juice from 1 lemon.

Mango Mascarpone Mousse

2 cups mango puree
1 cup heavy cream,
3/4 cup mascarpone,
1 (1/4oz)pack of gelatin powder,
1/4 cup - 1/2 cup sugar or more to taste

1. Sprinkle the gelatin powder in 1/4 cup of water, set aside for 5 minutes. After that, heat the mixture in microwave for 10 second, until the gelatin has dissolved.
2. Whisk the mascarpone and sugar until it becomes light, add in 2 cups of  the mango puree mixture and beat for another 3 minutes to combine. Pour the mango-mascarpone mixture to another big bowl, gently stir in the gelatin mixture. Mix well to combine.

3. Beat heavy cream + 1.5 tablespoons of sugar until medium peak form. Fold the heavy cream into the mango mascarpone mixture.

To assemble:
Using a 8/9-inch sprinform pan or ring, layer one sponge cake at the bottom of the pan, and pour half of the mousse in. Use an offset spatula to smoothen the mousse. Next, layer the second sponge cake on top of the mousse. Follow by the remaining mousse. Cover the mousse with saran wrap and chill the cake while preparing the mirror.

Mango Mirror:
1 cup of mango puree
2 to 3 tablespoons granulated sugar

1 pouch of gelatin powder

1. Sprinkle the gelatin powder in 1/4 cup of water, set aside for 5 minutes. When the gelatin is softened, microwave the mixture for 10 seconds, until the gelatin has fully dissolved.
2. In a medium bowl, combine 1 cup of mango puree 2 to 3 tablespoons of sugar, to taste. Mix in the gelatin powder. Once the mirror is made, immediately pour on top of the mousse. Chill in fridge for at least 4 hours.

Sponge cake based off of Happy Mama Cookbook Japanese Fruit Cake
Mango Mousse based off of http://novice-baker.blogspot.com/2008/05/looking-at-bright-side-mango-mascarpone.html

Coconut Ice-Cream

Ingredients:
1/2 cup shredded sweetened coconut
1 cup sugar
3 large eggs
1 teaspoon cornstarch
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 can unsweetened light coconut milk
1 cup heavy cream
1 vanilla bean (or 2 teaspoons vanilla extract)


1. Toast Coconut - preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. Spread the coconut on a baking sheet lined with aluminum foil. Place in the hot oven for 5 to 7 minutes, or until the coconut turns a light brown. Remove from the oven and allow to cool.
2. In a medium mixing bowl, beat the sugar into the eggs with a hand held mixer until thickened and pale yellow. Beat in the cornstarch and salt. Set aside.
3. Bring coconut milke to a boil over medium heat. Remove from the heat and slowly beat the hot liquid into the eggs and sugar. Place over low heat. Stir constantly with a whisk or wooden spoon until the custard thickens slightly. Be careful not to let the mixture boil or the eggs will scramble. Remove from the heat and pour the hot custard through a strainer into a large, clean bowl. Allow the custard to cool slightly, about five minutes, then stir in the toasted coconut, heavy cream and vanilla. Cover and refrigerate until cold (about 5 hours) or overnight.
4. Pour the custard into the ice-cream machine. 


taken from http://www.bakingandbooks.com/2006/11/19/homemade-coconut-ice-cream/

Blinis with Caviar

Sushi Time

A great sushi find in ann arbor - Sushi Time is a little hole in the wall place next to a hardware store at 740 packard st. Run by a japanese couple, people can wait 30+ minutes to get some sushi. The reason being - good quality sushi at a good price. It may lack the creative rolls but the nigiri pieces are generous and fresh. For example, 1 piece of tuna was the size of three at another a2 sushi place that just opened, and only 1-2 places come close in quality.

shrimp tempura roll - comes in 11 or 6 piece.

spicy tuna which is a bargain at under 5 bucks and a california wrapped in salmon and avocado.

seriously...these are huge pieces!

Grits and Bits Waffle

A couple of weeks I blogged about our new waffle maker. This weekend we attempted to retcreate our favorite "Grits and Bits" Waffle from Zingerman's roadhouse. It came out surprisingly well. Bacon, butter and maple syrup. How could you go wrong?





Here's the recipe.

Waffles

Michael bought me this amazing waffle maker and waffle mix. The waffles were very easy to make and delicious! Our next project will be the Zingerman's grits and bits waffle.

The Girl and the Goat

we were lucky enough to find a table at girl & the goat, top chef chicago winner stephanie izard's restaurant in the west loop. an adventurous farm to table small plate restaurant with use of interesting ingredients (pig head anyone!)

fat bread with liver butter and little berries. they use braising liquid in the dough. overall very yummy. hard to believe the butter made the liver lighter but it did.

not pictured but also good - variation on hamachi with pork belly, pickles, microgreens, and aioli. the aioli was a bit too eggy for me but overall good.

heard a lot about the cauliflower. could of used a little more time under the roaster but mint added a nice clean taste. parmesan was great and peppers gave it a nice kick.

best dish of the night - roasted pig's head with a perfectly cooked egg!

very thick pasta with nice meat sauce with goat, veal, and pork

may be the best dessert ever - sweet corn ice cream with bacon, cornbread, and a bit of balsalmic

coma inducing donuts

overall a great restaurant with an interesting menu. most items were 10-15 dollars. you can get a great taste at a reasonable price.

Zed 451

Chicago, to us, is the brunch capital of the world. We have never had a bad brunch in Chicago but ZED 451 in River North is in a class of its own.

For $25, you get all you can eat of fruit, desserts, steel cut oatmeal, french toast, charcuterie, cheeses, bread, and salads...and thats just from the harvest tables.

they also bring around bacon, duck hash browns, chicken and waffle, crab cake benedict, corn beef hash, cinnamon buns, frittata, turkey, sirloin, salmon.

many of the mini-desserts

crab cake benedict with spicy hollandaise

quite possibly the best cinnamon buns we have ever had....

make sure to pace yourself

braised short ribs with root vegetables and shaved broccoli salad

nothing more comforting than braised short ribs - of course we had to add a bit of an asian twist.

braised short ribs:

4 pieces short rib (approximately 3 inch cut pieces on bone)

salt, pepper to taste

flour

ginger (3 inch piece)

3-4 scallions

1 median sized onion

1 parsnip

1 carrot

thyme

2 tablespoons hoisin

2 tablespoons rice vinegar

4 cloves garlic

1 star anise

1 roma tomato

soy sauce

2/3 cup beef stock

2/3 cup red wine

butter

shaved broccoli salad

broccoli stalk

2 tablespoons rice vinegar

1 tsp sugar

1/2 tsp red chili sauce

1 tsp sesame oil

steamed rice

these are guestimates for the measurements - hence why my wifey cooks the desserts

1.  season short ribs with salt, pepper then dust with flour

2.  sear short ribs in pan then remove

3.  saute garlic, onion (diced), carrots, parsnips.  add ginger, scallion, star anise, thyme.

4.  add hoisin sauce and rice vinegar

5.  add 1 roma tomato (crushed)

6.  add in red wine, beef stock, and short ribs

7.  season with soy sauce, salt, and pepper to taste

8.  bring to simmer then place in oven at 275 covered for 3 hours, removing cover for last hour

9.  once done, remove short rib and strain braising liquid.  Remove thyme stem, ginger, and star anise.

10.  defat braising fluid, and reduce by 2/3's.  add 1 tablespoon butter

For broccoli salad

1. shave broccoli stalk

2. blanch in boiling water seasoned with salt for 1-2 minutes then place in ice cold water

3. combine ingredients for dressing and toss with broccoli

Nice and rich with subtle nod to asian flavors

shrimp and grits

 
 

beef vegetable soup

Here is my mom's healthy beef vegetable soup. Its one of my brother's all time favorites.

Ingredients:

2 beef shanks(about 1lb/1/2" diced)

2 C. cabbage (diced)

1 C. carrot (diced)

1  C. Celery (diced)

2-3 C. tomato(diced)

2 C. potato (diced)

2  tomato can(small)

1/2 t. black  pepper

2 t. salt

6 C. water

2 T. all purpose flour

1 T. cooking oil

Directions:

1.  In a pot,put beef in boil water (water level same as beef).  Drain and put aside.

2.  Stir fry flour with cooking oil in medium heat for about 30 seconds than slowly add water till    soup turn creamy.

3.  Add beef continue to cook  for about 15 minutes in medium high heat.

4 Add all vegetables cook until potato are tender.

5  Add salt,black pepper and serve.

PS: Can also add cooked macaroni as a meal.

Makes 8-10 serving

Mango Pudding

Ray's all time favorite dessert is Mango Pudding. When we traveled to Hong Kong in 2008 he probably had Mango Pudding 10 times in 3 days. For his 28th birthday I tried making him some mango pudding from scratch and it didn't turn out so well.  In fact it came out as a giant orange blob. 

everything looks good so far....

not so pretty coming out of the mold

tastes good though....

After experimenting a little more and adding more gelatin it came out much better the second time. Tadaaaa...

 

Here's the improved recipe. 

Ingredients

• 4-5 mangos
• 1 can evaporated milk
• 2 packets gelatin
• 3/4 cup splenda
• 1 cup hot water

Directions
1. puree the mango in food processor. then strain the mango puree
2. dissolve the gelatin and splenda in 1 cup of hot water
3. Mix 1 cup evaporated milk in the strained mango puree
4. Add the dissolved gelatin and splenda into the mango puree
5. place in mold, chill for 5-6 hours before serving.  
6. serve with mango garnish and 2 tablespoons of evaporated milk
Makes 12 cupcake sized portions

Cauliflower and Chicken Mac and Cheese

A Healthy Twist on Mac and Cheese

prep time: 25 minutes

bake time: 15 minutes

Ingredients

14 ounces enriched elbow macaroni (may substitute multi-grain)

1 head cauliflower, chopped to the size of maccaroni

4 slices multigrain bread, toasted and torn

1/2 cup fresh flat-leaf parsley, chopped

3 tablespoons olive oil

kosher salt and black pepper

half a large onion, finely chopped

1 3/4 cups grated extra-sharp Cheddar

4 tablespoons velveeta cheese

1 cup reduced-fat sour cream

1/2 cup 2 percent milk

4 drops Sriracha sauce

4 drops truffle oil

1/3 shredded chicken meat (pre-cooked and seasoned with salt) - i bought a rotisserie chicken from the grocery store and pulled it apart, then added salt to taste

Directions

Heat oven to 400° F. Cook the pasta al dente, add the chopped cauliflower during the last 3 minutes of cooking time; drain.

While the pasta is cooking, pulse the bread in a food processor until coarse crumbs form. Add the parsley, 2 tablespoons of the oil, and 1/4 teaspoon each salt and pepper and pulse to combine; set aside.

Add the onions, 3/4 teaspoon salt, 1/2 teaspoon pepper and cook in a large pot over medium heat until onions are soft (5-7 min).

Mix in the pasta, cauliflower, cheese, sour cream and milk. Add the truffle oil and sriracha sauce.

Transfer half to a baking dish, add in the chicken, and then add the rest of the macaroni on top of the chicken.  Sprinkle with the bread crumbs, and bake until golden brown, 12 to 15 minutes.

Adapted from http://www.realsimple.com/food-recipes/browse-all-recipes/macaroni-cheese-cauliflower-00000000008063/index.html