procrastination and the power of the visual

It is amazing how productive I can be during finals. I mean, I am on a roll. In the past 48 hours alone, I have: mailed in my parking tickets, secured a part time job for the summer, written that last blog post, written this blog post, and made THESE:

Chocolate Mascarpone Brownies. I had half a tub of mascarpone leftover from my tart and I didn’t know what to do with it. So while I was procrastinating, I happened to see this which led me to this recipe. I just happened to have the exact amount of mascarpone, as well as a whole bag of Ghiradelli semi-sweet chocolate chips and Ghiradelli cocoa powder. “PERFECT!” I said to myself as I put aside my english paper again.

I would like to note that I adore my paper topic. However, I love it so much that I don’t want to ruin it by writing about it. Especially when writing about it involves 15 pages! I have never written something so long (maybe a lab report). Especially not about LITERATURE. I will pause right now to reccomend that anyone who hasn’t read Zora Neale Hurston’s Their Eyes Were Watching God should go read it immediately. I am rarely effected by a novel. Especially not a book that one would read as “classic literature” <insert haughty accent>. However I was floored by this book. It is vivid and vibrant and so beautiful. Anyone out there who is as addicted to food blogs as much as I am is surely a visual person, and Hurston’s language is as visual as you can get. As I read more and more criticism, I continue to be more and more impressed. For anyone who cares (probably no one, but that’s ok), I am writing about Janie’s ability to visualize herself and her self empowerment, as relating to the power of the visual and the female body.

But back to procrastination…These brownies were superb. They hardly belong in the “brownie” category. More like “fudgy bite of heaven” category. And, you know what? They were not hard to make. This was my first experience with ganache. SO simple and SO delicious. I think next time I would like to use a darker chocolate.

Some more “visual power” for you:

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strawberry mascarpone tart with balsamic glaze

Last week I spent one whole day eating. Then skipped lunch the next days so I could eat more. Especially more of THIS:

Let me just talk briefly about thursday, though. First of all, I was very tired, having stayed up until 2 am finishing a presentation. I woke up a little later than I wanted to, so my breakfast was a little late. Then I went to class. Then I was supossed to meet a friend for lunch. Then I went to my afternoon class where we had a long day of presentations. Our prof. brought us snacks as a treat. From there I went to the Relay for Life VIP reception, which was catered, where I ate a whole bunch of snacks and watched everyone sample the beer. So I ate more snacks and complained about how my 21st birthday was in one week. From there I went to dinner with my english class at a prof’s house, where I continued to eat and watch everyone drink wine and complain about how my 21st birthday was in one week. From there I went to our Relay for Life wrap up committee meeting where we got ice cream and sundae stuff to treat the committee. And I ate half a pint of ice cream. What a day! Delicious, but fattening.

But I knew there was more to come, for Friday was the Equestrian Team End of the Year dinner & trail ride. As usual, I was assigned the task of dessert.

I was fretting because I wasn’t sure if people wanted chocolatey or fruity or cakey or creamy. I had originally considered doing this lemon-strawberry tart thing, but I was concerned about my ability to make lemon curd. I had never done it before and I was pressed for time, because I had to finish my research paper before I could go bake. And then there was my iGoogle home page.

This little beauty showed up on my Simply Recipes gadget in my time of need. It was my first time ever making a tart, and it went really well! The tart itself was refreshing and the team polished off the entire thing. The balsamic was subtle and tangy. It was a really interesting addition. My glaze had gotten a little sticky because I let it cool a little too long and it was difficult to glaze with, so I actually would have liked MORE balsamic on my tart, but it was still good.

Next time I make this tart: I will cut my strawberries in halves to make decorating a little easier. I will let my strawberries drain a little more. My only option for draining was a colander and I didn’t get as much of the juice out as I would have liked. They were a little too wet so the top of the tart got a little juicy when I cut it… Now for the recipe:

Strawberry Mascarpone Tart with Balsamic Glaze

Prep time: About 2 hours, including refrigeration of the dough

• Crust (used Easy Tart Crust recipe from Epicurious)
• 2 lbs strawberries
• 1/2 cup granulated sugar
• 1 Tbsp orange zest, divided
• 1 teaspoon lemon juice
• 12 ounces mascarpone cheese
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla
• 1/3 cup confectioner’s sugar
• 1 Tbsp balsamic vinegar

1. Bake crust, following directions, weighting it down with pie weights (I used parchment paper with uncooked rice). Let cool.

2. Whilst the crust bakes: Combine your strawberries with half of orange zest and granulated sugar so the strawberries are coated with sugar. Let sit for 30 min to macerate.

3. Mix together the mascarpone cheese, confectioner’s sugar, the remaining orange zest, lemon juice and the vanilla until well combined. Refrigerate until needed.

4. After the strawberries have macerated for 30 minutes, place a sieve over a bowl and drain the liquid out of the strawberry mixture into the bowl. Take that strawberry liquid and put it in a small saucepan. Add a tablespoon of balsamic vinegar to the saucepan, and bring to a boil on medium high heat. Boil until the liquid has reduced to the consistency of syrup, remove from heat and let cool. I let mine cool too long and it became kind of goopy…Maybe I boiled it too long too?

5. Assemble the tart. Spread the mascarpone mixture over the bottom of the tart shell. Arrange the strawberries on top of the mascarpone mixture. Use a pastry brush to brush on the balsamic glaze.

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Strawberry Chocolate Cupcakes

Helloooo readers! This past weekend was Equestrian Team Movie Night. We watched Hidalgo. I hadn’t baked anything in a while because midterms are HORRIBLE terrible nasty evil creatures. Luckily I had this excuse to procrastinate. So I made these deliiiicous chocolate cupcakes and plopped strawberries on top of them.

Ever since I went home for spring break to sunny sunny florida I’ve been wanting to make something with strawberries. I also recently bought some muffin tins (mini and regular sized) that I need to get more use out of. Then I realized it’s not exactly strawberry season in Vermont. All the same I went to the grocery store and the strawberries were on sale so I grabbed a couple boxes. My original intent  was to make strawberry cupcakes, but then I realized I needed to puree my strawberries which was not going to happen here in my dorm kitchen. Then I decided that everyone loves chocolate and I had a bunch of it in my Bag of Baking Goodies so I should use it. And besides, strawberries and chocolate TOTALLY go together.

I went for simplicity because I did not have a lot of time on my hands. Of course I ended up with too much batter and loved the mini-muffin trays so much that I made..oh…4 or 5 trays of mini cupcakes. One at a time. While watching Millionaire Matchmaker on Bravo. Oops. I used the Hersheys cake recipe, which I saw on Lovin’ from the Oven, but I did not in fact use Hersheys chocolate because I think it has a very distinct taste that I don’t like that much. So I used ghiradelli cocoa instead. As for the frosting…well…I REALLY adore Duncan Hines Dark Chocolate frosting. I could eat a tub of that stuff without the cupcake, so why change a bad thing? Being resourceful, I spooned it into a ziplock bag and used it to pipe little swirlies onto my cupcakes.

As usual, the cupcakes were photographed on our grimy kitchen table using our collection of frisbees for dishware and the light of a kind of rainy day.

Chocolate Cupcakes

• 2 cups sugar
• 1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 3/4 cup ghiradelli cocoa
• 1 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1 tsp salt
• 2 eggs
• 1 cup milk
• 1/2 cup vegetable oil
• 2 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 cup boiling water

1. Heat oven to 350 degrees. Line muffin cups with bake cups.

2. Stir together sugar, flour, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in a large bowl. Add eggs, milk, oil and vanilla; beat on med speed for 2 minutes. Stir in boiling water (batter will be thin). Pour batter onto prepared pans.

3. Bake 30-35 minutes if doing 9-inch round pans, 22-25 minutes for cupcakes until wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool 10 minutes; remove from pans/cups to wire racks and cool completely.

Frosting: Duncan Hines Dark Chocolate frosting. Spread it on. Pipe it on. Skip the cupcake entirely and eat it with a spoon…

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Classic Vemont Apple Pie

Since my camera is broken, I checked my iPhoto for any outstanding pictures, and I found these apple pie pictures from early fall, post-Happy Valley. As many people know, I LOVE pie. But you know what I’m not a big fan of? The gooey-ness in fruitpies. I don’t mind it in strawberry rhubarb, but I have a bit problem with cherry pie because of the goo-factor. You know that cornstarch-y goo that messes up those delicious cherries? Bleh!

As such, when it comes to my apple pies, ain’t no cornstarch goin’ near my apples! Luckily, most “Vermont Apple Pie” recipes are in agreement. The first requirement are apples fresh from a Vermont orchard. The apples are then peeled and thinly sliced then tossed with a number of yummy ingredients – sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg, butter, flour, etc.

I used the Basic Flaky Pie Crust recipe off of epicurious.

Apples covered in deliciousness peek through the latticetop.

I left my little recipe book up at school, unfortunately, so I don’t have the recipe I used. Most “Vermont Apple Pie” recipes suffice, however. Some have an egg, some have more flour or more butter than others. I like the ones that include a bit of cider vinegar or fresh cider, since we always have those in supply up here. They’re all quite good. All they need is a melted slice of cabot and they are truly vermont pies, then

There’s no goop in THIS pie! Only juicy deliciousness. You can see that space in the pie is taken up by layers of apples and the juice leeched from them during baking. Mmm…

A true Vermont college student enjoys their pie from a Frisbee with Vermont Woodchuck Draft Cider.

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Girls Going Away Dinner

It’s the end of fall semester, junior year. What does that mean? It means people are going abroad and this is going to be the last time I see many of them before we are seniors! It is tres, tres sad. We girls decided to have a nice dinner together before everyone dispersed. My initial email said “Make something! It doesn’t matter what just claim it quickly before someone else does”.

Well, due to that little comment we had QUITE the variety of food. And no good pictures because my camera was broken. Here’s what I made though:

Me with Tomato-Mozarella PokeBalls

Tomato-mozarella skewers! We took vine-ripened cherry tomatoes, the little balls of mozarella, cut each one in half and put them together to make one whole sphere. Sarah thought they looked like the PokeBalls in Pokemon. We wrapped a thin slice of basil around them and skewered ‘em. I made a simple balsamic reduction to dip them in.

I also made another appetizer on a whim: Dates with Goat Cheese Wrapped in Prosciutto. I saw it on the homepage of epicurious before I went to the store and I was like !!!. If I had to pick my top 10 favorite foods those three things would all be there. Here’s where I found them: http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Dates-with-Goat-Cheese-Wrapped-in-Prosciutto-241134 . Pier, who was one of the many people to happen upon our dinner, described them as “An excellent and surprising combination of flavors. The basil is a perfect buffer from the prosciutto to the date.” Well, whatever you say, Pier. They were EXCELLENT, flavorful, and easy to make (only 4 ingredients!). I was later reading the epicurious comments and someone mentioned using walnuts in them. I think the extra crunch would be a great addition. Unfortunately only one horrible picture of them was taken.

Kelsey made spinach-artichoke dip. Kelsey needs..hm…some extra supervision when cooking. She has a bad habit of reading measurements wrong (Which she did even with me there next to her. We just ended up doubling the recipe.). We used the spinach-artichoke dip recipe from Closet Cooking. We did not leave enough time for it to bake to that nice golden crust on top but it was good all the same. I think I would have been content with a simpler version still.

Kelsey making dip, messing up dip, then fixing it.

Laurel made a salad with spinach and mixed baby greens, pine nuts, goat cheese, cranberry’s and Brianna’s Balsamic Vinaigrette Dressing. Laurel also brought along the music… A couple weeks ago Laurel went to the SIM-Mamajamas a capella concert and bought a raffle ticket for $1. It seems she was the only person to do so because she won a song from SIM (Stuck In the Middle – one of our boys a capella groups) whenever she wanted. Well we thought our dinner would be the perfect time. And they sung three songs. “A dollar well spent?” we asked her. “Definitely! Three songs? That’s better than iTunes!” she replied.

Our own personal performance. Definitely better than iTunes.

Sarah made pasta with pesto. Wendy made something wonderful with a spanish name I don’t remember, but it was pretty much deconstructed pot roast; Shredded beef with chopped carrots, potatoes, and onions. Jenny made her “yummy grape thing“, which was essentially grapes with cream cheese icing. Claire made a caramel turtle cake. Halley made this delicious beverage made out of mixed berry sherbet and 7up.

We ate off of frisbees (because that’s how we do in Brooker…) and it was lovely and delicious.

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One weekend, many desserts

This weekend, under the orders of my aunt, I have made:

• chocolate chip cookies (interesting crumbly ones made with shortening and no butter)
• pumpkin pie (with doubled spices)
• creme brulee
• another pumpkin pie
• a birthday cake for Dinah’s 8th birthday

And the best part? My camera broke a couple weeks ago. (I dropped it…). Expect no more pictures till after Hannukah.

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Happy Valley Orchards

Can we talk a little bit more about Vermont? Last weekend I found myself struggling with a few difficult decisions: Farmers Market, Organic Garden, or Apple Picking. You can see which one I chose…

I’ve never eaten so many apples (and apple related things) in one day. It actually was a great learning experience! Apple tasting, you might say. I needed to know which were the best pie apples, eating apples, baking apples, etc..

Luckily, we had our local apple expert with us, Charlie Hofmann, pictured with the precious remaining ginger golds.

For those who survive on Macintosh and Granny Smith apples, you’ve got something to learn. Ginger golds are possibly one of the best tasting apples ever. It’s texture is amazing – the skin isn’t too hard or too grainy and the flesh is juicy and sweet. Unfortunately for us, it was the tail end of Ginger Gold season. We picked the remaining gems from the trees and then searched amongst the fallen for still-good apples.

We snagged a few Golden Delicious as well.

As James OB put it, (paraphrasing) Golden Delicious apples really know where it’s at. What other apple can live up to that name? The golden delicious were my favorite after the ginger golds. Also, I found out, they make good baking apples.

Most of our haul was made up of Empires.

There was no shortage of Macs, certainly.

However, our apple elitist attitude kept us from picking the most abundant apple. Actually, macs have a tendency to be mediocre. I spoke with the old ladies at the fruit stand though about pies (because old ladies at apple orchards make the best pie consultants) and was informed that the macs get nice and mushy inside pies, and that’s what “most people ’round here use”.

So we sent Sarah up into the tree to get the best ones she could find.

The old ladies also said that if I wanted an apple that will hold its slices in pie, I should get some of the cortlands. I took their advice, but no picture. I prefer pie with apple slices in it. I really don’t like fruit pies with a lot of goo. This is why, when it came to making pies, I used primarily cortlands and no recipe with the word “cornstarch”. As a side note, I usually don’t like cherry pie because of this. Although I do love cherries.

Apple picking isn’t complete without at least 2 cider donuts each and sharing a quart of freshly pressed cider amongst the pumpkins.

Summary:
Pie apples: cortlands (for slices), macs (for mush)
Baking apples: cortlands, golden delicious
Snacking apples: ginger golds, empires, golden delicious

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call me sugarface

One day I went out to lunch with my lab. It was then that I learned of Kristin’s love of waitresses using petnames. Such as “What can I getcha, hon?” Or “No problem, sugar”, “Kay, sweetie”. I suppose it’s reminiscent of diners and places where you order a cuppa coffee an a peesa pie. I agree that it’s cute, but I’m not one to refer to others by nicknames usually. Even my boyfriend is simply “Stuart”. Not “Stu”, not “Stuie” (which my friends-who-don’t-know-him call him), not “pumpkin”, or “honey”, or “baby”. Pretty much the same goes the other way.

So you can imagine my surprise when I got a text one day from him and it simply said: call me sugarface. Of course I did wonder whether he was calling ME sugarface and wanted me to call him. But considering the lack of comma it actually seemed to request that I call HIM sugarface. Teehee.

This is TOTALLY relevant because today I made a Honey Castella, a dense delicious honey cake. I snatched the recipe from No Special Effects’ blog here.

It was pretty easy to make – a different sort of endeavor for me. The batter was so airy and light. However, I found the actual cake itself to be a little…um…chewy. I think it’s my fault. I’m not a good enough trouble shooter to know why it might end up slightly dense (in a not good way). I wonder – should I have let it bake longer? Did I let it get too warm in the initial egg-mixing stage? At my school we have this term called January Term. One month, one class. An awesome J-term class would be The Chemistry of Baking. I would really love to know more about why I mix things slow, then fast, and hot, and cold. That’s what I get for being a biochem major, though. Wanting to know these things.

I used an 8 1/2 in. round pan which I know was a little big. In fact, the cake pulled away from the sides. It is a very simple dessert, which I appreciate a lot. However, with a little extra honey (cause we can all use some extra honey) drizzled on top and a scoop of vanilla ice cream, I completely ignored my botched texture because it was soooo yummy.

Recipe: Honey Castella, as written on No Special Effects

* 88g (1/2 cup + 2 tablespoons) all-purpose flour

* 3 large eggs, at room temperature

* 1 large egg yolk, at room temperature

* pinch of salt

* 126g (1/2 cup + 2 tablespoons) granulated sugar

* 42g (1 tablespoon + 2 teaspoons) honey

* 22g (1 tablespoon + 2 teaspoons) canola or other neutral oil (you may also use the same weight, or 1-1/2 tablespoons of butter, melted)

Preheat the oven to 175°C (350°F). Spray an 8-inch round pan with baking spray and line the bottom and sides with parchment. Don’t spray the parchment after lining. Sift the flour onto a sheet of wax paper or a bowl and set aside. In a heatproof (or mixer) bowl, add the eggs, egg yolk, salt, sugar, and honey. Place this over a saucepan of simmering water and beat on medium speed with a hand mixer (or use a whisk) for 10 minutes (the mixture will be at least 40°C, or 104°F). Take off the heat and beat on high speed for at least 6 more minutes using a hand mixer (or 10 minutes on a stand mixer if you started out with a whisk). The batter will be cool, pale and form very thick ribbons that take a very long time to sink completely into the surface of the batter.

Gently fold in the flour into the batter in 3 additions. Take about 1/2 cup of the batter and whisk it into the oil until completely homogeneous, then drizzle it back into the batter, folding continuously as you add it.

Pour the batter into the prepared pan and bake for 20 minutes, then turn the heat down to 150°C (300°F) and continue baking for 18-25 more minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out with a few very fine crumbs. Cool the cake completely (cool inverted on a sheet of greased parchment if desired). Unmold to a serving platter.

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BLTG

It may have taken a whole two months – almost the entire summer – but I’m getting the hang of planning meals. That is, taking things you make and using them the next day for something else entirely different! Or somewhat different. Which leads me to my Bacon Lettuce Tomato Guacamole Sandwich

I had my tomatoes left over from yesterday (that went into my guac) and of course the guacamole from yesterday. I stole a piece of romaine from Rebecca, and I was all set! I had an entire package of bacon that I had to thaw, so I just went ahead and fried it all up and offered out the leftovers. People can’t seem to turn down a piece of bacon (excepting our vegetarians). I had just enough left to play with when I cook dinner tonight.

My guacamole added an interesting kick to a classic. It added the texture that’s so pleasing in the BLTA with some limey, cilantroy, peppery goodness. Speaking of texture, that’s my favorite part of a BLT(A/G). Slightly toasted bread, crispy lettuce, cool tomatoes, salty crispy/chewy bacon, and creamy avocado/guacamole.

To me, texture is VERY important in my food. It can completely make or destroy something for me that’s otherwise only “ok”. This sandwich? Well beyond “ok”.

And now I need to get back to shuffling through my references about the anatomy of the Aedes aegypti alimentary canal.

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What are you doing with that beautiful aguacate?

Having a paper to write does wonderful things for my motivation to cook. That is, my desire to procrastinate. My desk has been cleaned, my papers are organized, my inbox is clear. However, I have made none of mentor’s corrections. Oops! Let me just say that when I have some beautiful, ripe avocados in front of me, writing about the peritrophic membrane of mosquitos (and trying to write with some flow) takes a back seat. I guess that’s why I’ll never be a PhD. And that is JUST fine.

Then Michaela wanted to go to the store and the avocados were just perfectly ripe right there, and on SALE. So what else would you do with a lovely avocado but make some guacamole! Guacamole is so easy to make and everyone loves it. Honestly, all you need is a sharp knife, a mixing bowl, and a fork. And, of course, some wonderful fresh vegetables. What beats any sort of store bought guacamole is the freshness you get in home-made.

I also finally dug out my camera, because everyone had been through my pictures on iPhoto and noticed the category “Blog Photos”. They all thought it was tres cool, so when I asked them to slide over a bit so I could borrow the light, everyone happily obliged. Michaela was quite enthusiastic about me asking her to hold a chip.

In the end, I had a TON of guacamole. Luckily it’s Fridays when the younger crowd from the lab likes to get together at the dock. They were down there with Coronas when I provided them with guac and chips, so a significant portion disappeared. Interestingly, people have a lot of opinions about guacamole. Today I got things from: “wow, you put lots of THINGS in there. I usually just put some spices”, to “ach onion!”, to “what’s that green stuff? cildanro? gah, ew”.

Well, I like my guacamole CHUNKY and full of FLAVOR. Whatever they said didn’t seem to matter much after they tried it, because they all ate significant amounts. As far as constructing a guacamole goes, I loosely followed the recipe I found, because I think as long as you’ve got some avocados, everything else is secondary. I really just used what I had plus a couple other things. I don’t really like spicy, nor do I like green bell peppers, so I picked up an orange bell pepper (in large part because it was such an unmarred orange that I couldn’t leave be). Also, I prefer white onion to red onion, and I’ve never been big on cilantro. I love how it smells, but I can’t handle it when it overwhelms dishes, so I also cut down on that.

Guacamole

Recipe modified from http://www.cookthink.com/recipe/4159/Guacamole.

1/4 orange bell pepper, diced
1 1/2 vine-ripened tomatoes, cored, seeded, diced
1/2 white onion, diced
<1 bunch chopped fresh cilantro
2 limes, juiced
2 teaspoons olive oil
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1/4 teaspoon fresh ground black pepper
4 Hass avocados

Mix all ingredients except avocado in a large bowl. Cut your avocado in half, discard the seed, and scoop out the flesh, adding it to the bowl. For an excellent tutorial in avocado dismantling, click here. Take a fork to the ingredients and have a ball, mashing it up until it reaches your desired level of smoothness.

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