Sketchy's Kitchen

Late for my own party - Daring Cooks July

2009-07-15T12:45:51Z

Due to some domain issues, my website went down the day before the big reveal. SO verry sorry.

Each month the Daring Cooks take on a challenging new recipe to test out abilities and comfort zones. I was granted the honor of hosting the July challenge. I opted to go for one of my own culinary passions - Molecular Cuisine. Many people are afraid to even broach the subject in the kitchen, or have decided they don't like the cooking style - having never attempted or tried the resulting food.

I chose something that would introduce the Daring Cooks to the style of cooking without requiring expensive tools or exotic ingredients (no chemicals required). An oven or microwave would prepare most of the ingredients. All you needed that was 'different' - a coffee/herb grinder, or a morter and pestle.

For July, I delved into a fascinating cookbook and pulled out Skate - Traditional Flavors Powdered. This is a dish from Grant Achatz, found in the Alinea cookbook - page 230.I feel this is a good introduction to Molecular Cuisine. Just a little work and you can make this, the techniques are not very hard and only require a few tools.

Onto the recipe:

Skate, Traditional Flavors Powdered - with changes

4 skate wings

* Beurre monte

* 300g fresh green beans

sea salt/kosher salt

1 banana

454g butter - 4 sticks

300g lemons

5g citric acid/vitamin c tablet

150g cilantro

150g parsley

100g dried banana chips

300g spray dried cream powder (or powdered milk)

100g cup minced red onion

200g capers (brined, not in oil)

* For green beans, slice each beans into very thin rounds (2 mm) * Beurre Monte - 454g butter (4 sticks, 1 pound) cubed and cold, 60g water. In a small saucepan, bring the water to a boil, remove from heat and whisk in the butter 1 cube at a time. This should from an emulsion. Keep this heated, but under 195 degrees. The emulsion will not break - this is your poaching liquid.

Powders - prepare ahead of time
caper / onion
lemon powder
cilantro/parsley powder
'brown butter' powder

Powders once dried, all powders should be pulsed in a coffee grinder/spice mill/morter and pestle then passed through a chinois or fine mesh strainer.

Citrus powder
300g lemons
1000g simple syrup
5g citric acid/vitamin c tablet

Zest 300g of lemons (10.6 oz), remove the pith from the zest and poach in the simple syrup three times. dry with paper towels and move to a dehydrating tray. 130 for 12 hours. pulse the zest in a coffee grinder, pass through chinois, and mix with citric acid/vitamin C powder. If you do not have a dehydrator, place in microwave for 8 to 10 minutes at medium powder. Once dried, follow the other instructions.

Cilantro/parsley powder
150g cilantro
150g parsley

Blanch the parsley in boiling saltwater for 1 second, submerge the leaves in ice water for 3 minutes. Dry on paper towels and place on dehydrator tray. 130 for 12 hours. grind and pass through chinois. If you do not have a dehydrator, place in microwave for 30 seconds, turn over leaves and microwave for another thirty seconds. They should be dry by now, pulse in coffee grinder, pass through chinois and reserve.

Onion powder
100g cup minced red onions

dehydrate - 130 for 12 hours microwave at medium power for 20 minutes. pulse in grinder, pass through chinois

Caper powder
200g capers (get the ones packed in brine/vinegar)

Run the capers under cold water for two minutes to remove some of the brine. dry on paper towels and dehydrate for 12 hours at 130 degrees. microwave instructions are unclear. Dry them as much a possible with paper towels, the microwave on medium for 1 minute. Check the moisture content and stir them. repeat for 30 second intervals until they are dry. If you use this method, pleas post the time needed to dry the capers. Once dry, pulse and sift the powder. Mix it with the onion powder.

Brown Butter powder
100g Dried banana chips (unsweetened if possible - many are coated in honey - the freeze dried ones would be brilliant)
300g spray dried cream powder

If you cannot find the cream powder, you can substitute Bob's red mill non fat dry milk powder, or even carnation instant milk powder. The substitutions will alter the flavor a little, but you will still get the general idea. preheat the oven to 350 degrees, sift the cream powder into a fine layer on a silpat or on parchment. bake for 4 minutes, then remove for heat. If it bakes for too long, it will burn.

Be very cautious with all powders in the oven. They all go from browned to burnt in a few seconds. grind the banana chips in a coffee grinder and mix with the toasted cream powder. Pass this through a chinois and reserve.

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I opted to use Cod - based on availability, and the dish worked wonderfully. We had some who used skate, shark, cod, chicken, and even tofu. As long as you keep the cooking methods, the moisture vs dryness of the dish will remain balanced. The powders are very strong and powerful flavors, they explode on the tongue and immerse you in a new tasting experience. the recipe looks complicated, but if you reread it a few times, it is not too complicated, just requires a little bit of work on the cooks part, which can me done ahead of time.

Again, I apologize for missing the reveal date - they took down my website >.<

And thanks to all the Daring Cooks who took up the challenge and gave it a whirl :D

Massive technical difficulties

2009-07-15T00:47:29Z

aving domain issues, hope to be back in a few hours. I apologised to all the Daring Cooks for missing my own challenge.
sketchy

Daring Cooks - June

2009-06-17T15:04:16Z

Better late then never - been behind in posts...
The June challenge was to make Gyoza (Japanese dumplings) - Hosted by Jen from use real butter

This was a fun challenge, I steamed a batch, and tried to burn my house down with the other. It's difficult to have a conversation with 4 people when attempting to cook. flames flew fromthe pan and almost got my arm.

I made a filling of pork, chicken, wasabi, cabbage, onion, carrots, and garlic. The wrappers were easy to make. On the seond batch of wrappers, I added a tablespoon of powdered wasabi to the dough. Next time I will add two or three. You could smell the wasabi, but it was not very present in the dough.

That's the batch that tried to kill me. Make sure you reduce the heat when you add liquid to a tightly packed pan that is searing with oil. I made a total mess with that one. I think I'll stick with steaming from now on.
for the dipping sauce, I used soy, rice wine vinegar, and sriracha. It was quite pleasant.

Dominion Harvest

2009-06-17T05:01:59Z

For those of you who have not heard of Dominion Harvest (probably most), let me introduce them to you. They are a local company to Richmond that specializes in home delivery of local produce.

We've been getting packages for a few weeks, and for the most part, they are great. The vegetables are excellent. Swiss chard, asparagus, sugar snap peas, beets, radishes - so many vegetables. They are in very good condition, and lost a long time if you store them properly.

We wash and dry the vegetables, then wrap in paper towels and store in zip top bags. All of the produce comes from local sustainable farms within 100 miles of Richmond. They've been in business a few weeks, and are doing a very good job. We get a crate of vegetables once a week for under forty dollars ($37). It gives us fresh produce without having to leave the house. Each box has 10 to 12 different types of produce. We've gotten a wide selection, and each week we could get different things - whatever's in season.

This makes it very interesting when planning meals - what veggies will we get today!

My wife has discovered she loves Swiss chard if prepared correctly. We're eating a lot of greens now - having to come up with creative ways to cook it, and the stems to keep things interesting. We've typically lived off the 'staple' vegetables - carrots, onions, squash, potatoes, etc. Now we are eating a lot of spinach, chard, radishes, peas, greens, etc. We have a much larger variety of options when cooking. And it's all super healthy for pregnant women, so the wife is happy.

The only complaint I have it the fruit. So far, we've gotten very little, and what we get is not in the best condition. The strawberries were small and overripe - to the point where they 'splattered' when tossed into the sink. The only reason this was an issue - the Ashland Berry Farm had a festival the same weekend - giant strawberries in great condition. I thought - why can't we get these strawberries. We had around 6 usable raspberries in the last shipment. And with a 3 ½ year old, we tend to eat fruit every meal.

But the vegetables are excellent. I'm looking forward to when they activate the options on the website to add/remove certain items to your order. I wonder if the fruit is damages in transit - it tends to be near the bottom of the package (instead of on top) or if the 'newness' of the company is affecting their ability to get the best fruit available.

Even with the fruit quality, I would still highly recommend the service. If enough people in your neighborhood sign up, they will start delivering to you. We have the option for every week or every other week. And they have a deluxe package with additional items, eggs, cheese, etc at a higher price.

Local company, local produce - if you are in Richmond, check it out

Gnocchi

2009-05-15T15:42:02Z

The Daring Bakers have spawned a new sibling - The Daring Cooks. Similar concept, different method. For the first challenge, we attacked ricotta cheese. To be more specific - Zuni Ricotta Gnocchi.

This was chosen as the first challenge, and the recipe comes from The Zuni Cafe Cookbook.

Recipe:

1 pound (454 grams/16 ounces) fresh ricotta (2 cups)

2 large cold eggs, lightly beaten

1 tablespoon (1/2 ounce) unsalted butter

2 or 3 fresh sage leaves, or a few pinches of freshly grated nutmeg, or a few pinches of chopped lemon zest (all optional)

½ ounce Parmigiano-Reggiano, grated (about ¼ cup very lightly packed)

about ¼ teaspoon salt (a little more if using kosher salt)

all-purpose flour for forming the gnocchi

Forming the gnocchi was similar to making potato or butternut squash gnocchi, but the moisture differences were noticeable. The recipe came together quickly, all in one bowl. I pressed the ricotta, then mixed in the eggs, cheese, butter, nutmeg, and salt. Initially, I tried the larger form that was recommended, but I did not like the amount that you got each bite.

I rolled mine smaller and dusted them with flour. One thing I noticed. If you let them sit for more then ten minutes, they may stick together. If this happens, you will need to reshape them. If they are cooked with exposed edges, they will explode in the water and fall apart.

By themselves in a butter sauce, the cheese and nutmeg shine through. The texture is very moist and reminiscent of ricotta cheese. For dinner, I decided to toss the first ones in an almond pesto, and the second pile in a chicken mole sauce. I think I burnt part of the sauce reduction because the sauce was a little on the bitter side.

Even the small ones were filling. Neither of us finished our dinner.

Daring Bakers do cheesecakes

2009-05-01T00:00:16Z

The April 2009 challenge is hosted by Jenny from Jenny Bakes. She has chosen Abbey's Infamous Cheesecake as the challenge.

I thought about this for a while and asked some friends what type of cheesecake they would like. I offered up two options. Chocolate passion fruit or honey lemon lavender.

I checked Whole Foods and they actually had passion fruit. It was the first time in two years I have found actual passion fruit in Richmond. Usually you can only find a juice blend. The actual fruit is much tarter then the juice - which is cut with apple juice. This worked very nicely with the bittersweet chocolate. To alter the texture of the cheesecake, I used half cream cheese and half marscarpone cheese. The cheesecake was quite dense and solid. It cut very well, and held its shape. The crust stayed dry and had a really good texture. Three quarters of the cheesecake was distributed to neighbors. I Think I gave too much away.

Since the cheesecake came together so easily, I decided to make a second one. This time I made a honey lavender lemon cheesecake. I decided to experiment with this one. I made a lemon shortbread crust. This was one of the easiest crusts I have ever made. I made a little on the thick side, and I think that was a good idea. Once cooked, the crust had a wonderful lemon taste, with the dry crumb of a shortbread cookie. I used some lemon curd I had sitting in the ice box, mixed it with a small amount of the cheesecake mixture to prevent a bad memory from reoccurring. I once made a cheesecake with a lemon curd swirl - when I unmolded it, all the swirls separated and it fell apart. Cooked cheesecake and liquid lemon curd. Adding some of the batter lets the lemon curd fully incorporate/cook with the rest of the cheesecake, while still keeping the swirl look.

This cheesecake held its shape quite well, but was 100% creamier then the chocolate one. It even won over the neighbor who said that lavender would taste like cleaner. She loved it. I think it is the best cheesecake I have ever made. My wife even liked it, and she usually doesn't like cheesecake.

Unfortunately, I forgot take any pictures of the finished product

English Muffins

2009-04-09T19:57:18Z

By request of on of Jen's friends, I'm going to make a post about my English muffins. In an attempt to save some money, I started making English muffins for breakfast. I wasn't sure how they would turn out at first, but they are quite easy to make, and can be completed in one day, which is always nice.

I'm using a recipe from A Bread Bakers Apprentice. It has a handful of ingredients, and is very easy to complete. I've made three batches of muffins, and they get easier each time. No special equipment is needed, well.. you will need a cast iron griddle or skillet to cook them, besides that, it's all straight forward.

Ingredients are flour, butter, milk, yeast, salt, sugar, and corn meal.

The recipe makes six large English muffins, the tops and bottoms are crispy, while the center is soft and full of nooks and crannies (if you open them correctly). The corn meal is used for dusting, otherwise, they would never release from the parchment paper when you go to cook them.

To cook them - warm up a griddle and oven to 350 degrees. Once it is up to temperature, drop three of the muffins on the griddle and cook for seven to eight minutes. Flip them over and cook fro the same amount of time. When you put them on the griddle, you may hear they crackle and pop, this is normal and nothing to be concerned about. The goal is to get a nice dark crust on the bottom before flipping. They will come to a medium brown in two to three minutes, but may take up to eight minutes to get the nice rich brown you are looking for. They are very resilient to burning, so if you keep an eye out for the color after 5 minutes, you should not have any problems.

Once cooked on both sides, place the muffins in the oven for 8 minutes to insure the centers are cooked through. Then cool on a rack until room temperature. We keep ours chilled, and fork separate them before toasting in the morning. To get the expected texture when toasting, you really need to use fork to separate them, otherwise, you get a uniform smooth cut with no where for the butter/lemon curd/cheese/etc to go.

These can easily be completed in an afternoon. When the little chef gets a little bigger, I think he would have fun helping me make these. Since everything is done on the griddle, they are easy to shape, drop, and flip.

Recipe after the break ---
]]> English Muffins

2 1/4 cups unbleached bread flour
1/2 tablespoon sugar
3/4 teaspoon salt
1 1/4 teaspoons instant yeast
1 tablespoon butter (room temperature)
3/4 to 1 cup milk (room temperature)

mix the try ingredients together, then stir in 3/4 cup of milk, and the butter. Mix with spoon until they form a ball. If flour remains loose, add more milk until everything comes together.

Sprinkle some flour on the counter and transfer the dough. Knead dough for 8 to 10 minutes. the dough should be tacky, not overly sticky. Control the amount of flour, and wash your hands if they get goopy. It should pass the windowpane test.

Oil a large bowl and transfer the dough to the bowl. Spray with spray oil and cover. Let rise for 90 minutes.

prepare a sheet of parchment. - Spray with spray oil and generously dust with corn meal.
Wet the counter with a cloth and transfer the dough out. Form an even log with the dough and cut into six pieces. Shape the pieces into boules (small balls) and place on the parchment a few inches apart. Mist with spray oil and dust the tops with cornmeal.

Cover with plastic wrap and let rise for 60 to 90 minutes (doubled in size)

Heat a griddle or cast iron skillet to 350 degrees. Warm oven to 350 degrees.

Spray the griddle with oil and place three of the muffins on the griddle. They will brown quickly, but take along time to burn. I find that 6 to 9 minutes per side works well. Once both sides are cooked, place on a baking sheet and put them in the oven for 8 minutes. When the first three are in the oven, griddle cook the next batch.

Let them cool ona rack for 30 minutes before forking into them.

Spinach, Kitchen Aid, and Daring Bakers

2009-03-30T19:46:31Z

This month, I got to pull out the pasta attachments for my Kitchen Aid mixer. We made spinach lasagna - this was super simple to make, and was loved by some our good friends. As for baking - I put that at a bit of a stretch, but I followed the recipe none the less. I already have a pasta maker, so no amount of pushing or pleading will get me to make pasta by hand again.

The March 2009 challenge is hosted by Mary of Beans and Caviar, Melinda of Melbourne Larder and Enza of Io Da Grande. They have chosen Lasagne of Emilia-Romagna from The Splendid Table by Lynne Rossetto Kasper as the challenge.

The first thing I did was to make the Ragu alla Contadina. I used the meats I had on hand (and I can't stand to use veal) - so we had sirloin steak, buffalo, and a pork loin. To that I added some prosciutto and panchetta, celery, onions, carrots, tomatoes, and some other ingredients. This slow cooked for about 2 hours.

Next up was the pasta - this was fun. I used organic frozen spinach, eggs, and flour. This is where a pasta machine is your friend. I've made pasta by hand before, and it is so much more enjoyable when you have something to help flatten the pasta for you.

I took it all the way to the thinnest setting. It was remarkably thin. I could see the wood grain of the butchers block through the pasta. Once rolled and cut, I laid out the pasta to dry. I wanted to keep it flat, because I dislike cooking the pasta ahead of time, especially if is homeade.

Some of it curled up, but a little time with the ragu/bechamel sauce, they quickly hydrated and flattened out. though I did run into one problem when assembling. This recipe did not scale well to my lasagna pan. I could not find a pan size in the instructions, so I went ahead and started with my normal, straight edge, shart corner metal lasagna pan. Well, after the first layer, I realized the pan was way too big. I only got in five layers, and I stretched one of those. Only two layers had meat. This meant short and wide slices, insted of tall and narrow slices. Next time I will double the recipe.

This was excellent hte first day, and just as good the second. I think it could have used a little more cheese, and a slight touch of spice. Unfortunatly, we didn't get any pictures of the night of service, but I remembered to take a shot of the last piece before it was eaten.

2009-03-22T04:34:56Z

It's been a while since I've updated here, as I said before, I got in a slump. Well, I resurrected my sourdough starter, and started baking again. I'll start my first sourdough in three month tonight (possibly tomorrow - depending if the sky's are clear).

This last week we had come company over for dinner. Can't talk about the main course yet, but I can talk about the rustic bread I made, the sauteed mushrooms, garlic, and tomato bread dip, and the other dishes. First up - we have the bread, this was a cold fermented rustic recipe. Most doughs require room temperature proofing to get the yeast growing. I really like the texture and flavor of this bread, but I am deeply saddened that my stone is sitting in 4 pieces in the garage. The tops browned very nicely, but the bottoms were very weak. you just can't get good browning with metal pans. I'll have to go get some tiles tomorrow morning.

Next up was a basic for me. Marshmallows. This time we have passionfruit marshmallows. These were made with concentrated passionfruit juice (since you cannot buy them in richmond). I used two egg whites in this recipe, so they are a little fluffier then the gelatin only recipe that is most common.

Back to Basics

2009-03-22T04:34:56Z

As for the stars and the sky - I got a great shot of a crescent Venus with my Nikon D40 with a telephoto lens.

Stuck in a rut

2009-03-16T19:54:20Z

Ever feel like you are stuck in a rut - I guess this is a type of cooking writers block.

Well, it appears the snow has left, I guess I should start a fire under me and get some new posts up. Also - the site is broken in Safari 4, and the database is having issues on the "non-blog" site. I should get that started.

adventures in pesky, disagreeable cookies

2009-01-29T13:01:53Z

This months Daring Bakers challenge was Tulies. These are very thin and crispy cookies that can be bent and curved fresh out of the oven. Once set, they can support a little weight and will retain their shape. The recipe was simple, and it produced a thin crispy cookie that could be formed about 60% of the time.

This month's challenge is brought to us by Karen of Bake My Day and Zorra of 1x umruehren bitte aka Kochtopf. They have chosen Tuiles from The Chocolate Book by Angélique Schmeink and Nougatine and Chocolate Tuiles from Michel Roux.

The cookies are very fragile, and if they are too thin, they break when forming. If they are too thick, they are hard to chew, but very easy to mold. Getting the balance between the two were a little hard, but I got about 55% that allowed me to form them.

After breaking and shattering countless thin crisps, I got a little disenfranchised with these cookies. But, I needed to finish the challenge. We were supposed to make some topping, dip, soup, or other accompaniment.

My first attempt had a dollop of lemon curd, then topped with fresh meringue, a little caramel syrup and lime zest. The second attempt was ice cream based. Ice cream was way too cold. My wife liked the meringue, I think it would have been better with a whipped cream, but we did not have any at the time.

The rest of the cookies will be served with a port wine-chocolate dipping sauce.

Month old wrap up - IE: what have I been up to?

2009-01-16T13:22:20Z

Better late then never - right?

This holiday season, we decided to bake most of our gifts. I made lemon sable cookies, biscotti, stolen, cinnamon raisin bread, marshmallows, brioche, and some Portuguese sweet bread. Everything turned out well.

The Lemon Sable cookies were first. They were slightly lemony, with hints saltiness and sugar. They had the perfect balance of sandiness and chewy.

Next was the biscotti. There were multiple batches of these Italian twice baked cookies. The Little chef helped me make a few batches of what he calls "Mixer cookies"

We made honey lavender-lemon, mixed fruit (cranberries, cherries, and raisins) and spice, chocolate chocolate, and chocolate chip. The little guy loves these cookies. These were based on the Dorie Greenspan recipe - I really like the addition of corn meal in the recipe. It adds a nice touch of texture that is so often missing from these cookies.

For the stolen, I soaked some zante currants, golden raisins, tart cherries, and craisins in Myers rum and ginger alcohol. With the addition of cinnamon, nutmeg, cardamom, cloves, and some Navan liquor made the stolen very moist and flavorful. They rose nicely, and when dusted with powdered sugar, looked very festive.

Everything else was straight forward. The brioche was the best thing I made this season. It's hard to screw up bread with a pound of butter and 5 eggs. We had that at New Years brunch at Piet's place, and for the worlds best French toast the next day. I'll be making the brioche again in the next few weeks, it smells so good when baking, and when slightly toasted or grilled, so much flavor comes out.

unproductive

2008-12-22T14:13:07Z

Being sick for a month doesn't help a food blog. Two regiments of antibiotics :(

I've managed to get a few things done, but I don't have pictures. Tonight I will start the holiday season baking.

I plan on making stolen, biscotti, and cinnamon raisin bread.

I hope to have some pictures

DB - Salt Caramel Cupcakes, birthday parties, and even more cupcakes!

2008-12-01T21:14:03Z

Well, this month's Daring Bakers challenge was a Caramel Cake with Caramel Icing. The end product was a dense and moist cake with a slightly salty icing. I added some extra salt to the icing to enhance the caramel flavors. These were a big hit with the parents, and the toddlers who decided to try them.

Second, we have chocolate orange cupcakes with a cinnamon peanut-butter icing. These were 'normal' cupcakes in size and texture. The Caramel cupcakes were tiny little things. I cooked them in the 'fancy wrappers' and they released from the sides like the were supposed to. I decided to remove them from the wrappers for service. They were delicate and petite, but the density of the cake made up for the size. They were deceptively decadent and filling.

Third up were the vegan cupcakes with chocolate icing. The icing was the most interesting -- there seem to be two types of vegan icing. One is margarine based, so it is similar to buttercream, the other is like an overworked glaze. It is the exact recipe for a cocoa based corn starch pudding, cooked an whipped until it thickens well past the pudding stage, then cut with some oil. This lightens the recipe and makes for a very pleasant texture for icing.

All the cupcakes were a hit at the party.

This months challenge had us making browned butter, dark caramel, and a few other things that can be challenging to a baker. I had to make the caramel twice. The first attempt was a careless venture on my part. It all crystalized, so I opted to start over, instead of trying to cool and save it. The second attempt was perfect, and is still toping hot chocolate, and being used to flavor marshmallows and whipped cream!

The browned butter was simple. I opted to strain it through the chinois, then drip it through some coffee filters. This got all of the browned bits out, and left me with a rich, nutty, and smooth browned butter. Both if these added a complex flavor to the recipe, hinting savory bits along with the cloyingly sweet sugar. The addition of salt to the icing made a huge difference, and the flecks of Maldon salt gave a surprising burst of flavor when bitten into.

This months challenge was presented by Dolores of Chronicles in Culinary Curiosity and Alex of Blondie and Brownie and Jenny of Foray of Food. Shuna Fish Lydon's Caramel Cake with Caramelized Butter Frosting was the recipe we followed. I really enjoyed the challenge, an will make this cake again.

The little chef was very interested in what was going on. He loves the stand mixer and pretty much any thing else you can plug in. He helped me make a few of the items, and then we made some snack mix for him. He had a blast with the recipes.