Bottomness of Cooking

Pan-Roasted Pear Salad with Radicchio, Blue Cheese, and Walnuts

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Mon, 09 May 2016 00:07:00 +0000

Ingredients:

3 ripe but firm pears (about 1 1/2 pounds), quartered and cored (see note above)
2 1/2 teaspoons sugar
2 tablespoons olive oil plus an additional 2 teaspoons
4 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
1 small shallot , minced (about 1 tablespoon)
1/2 medium head green leaf lettuce , washed, dried, and torn into 1-inch pieces (about 4 cups)
1 large head radicchio , quartered, cored, and cut crosswise into 1/2-inch pieces (about 4 cups)
4 ounces crumbled Gorgonzola cheese (about 1 cup) or Stilton cheese
3/4 cup walnuts , toasted and chopped

Directions:
1. Toss pears, 2 teaspoons sugar, 1/4 teaspoon salt, and 1/8 teaspoon pepper in medium bowl. Heat 2 teaspoons oil in large skillet over medium-high heat until just smoking. Add pears cut-side down in single layer and cook until golden brown, 2 to 4 minutes. Using small spatula or fork, tip each pear onto second cut side; continue to cook until second side is light brown, 2 to 4 minutes longer. Turn off heat, leave skillet on burner, and add 2 tablespoons vinegar; gently stir until vinegar becomes glazy and coats pears, about 30 seconds. Transfer pears to large plate and cool to room temperature, about 45 minutes. Cut each pear quarter crosswise into 1/2-inch pieces.
2. Whisk remaining 2 tablespoons oil, remaining 2 tablespoons vinegar, remaining 1/2 teaspoon sugar, and shallot together in large bowl; season to taste with salt and pepper. Add lettuce, radicchio, and cooled pears to bowl; toss and adjust seasonings with salt and pepper. Divide salad among individual plates; top each with portions of cheese and nuts. Serve immediately.

Lemon Bar with Strawberry Glaze and Candied Lemon Peel

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Sun, 08 May 2016 23:26:00 +0000

Ingredients:
    Crust
    1 3/4cups unbleached all-purpose flour
    2/3cup confectioners' sugar , plus extra to decorate finished bars
    1/4cup cornstarch
    3/4teaspoon table salt
    12tablespoons unsalted butter (1 1/2 sticks), at very cool room temperature, cut into 1-inch pieces, plus extra for greasing pan
    Lemon Filling
    4 large eggs , beaten lightly
    1 1/3cups granulated sugar
    3tablespoons unbleached all-purpose flour
    2teaspoons grated lemon zest from 2 large lemons
    2/3cup lemon juice from 3 to 4 large lemons, strained
    1/3cup whole milk
    1/8teaspoon table salt
    Strawberry Glaze
Candied Lemon Peels

Directions:
    1. For the crust: Adjust oven rack to middle position and heat oven to 350 degrees. Lightly butter a 13-by-9-inch baking dish and line with one sheet parchment or wax paper. Dot paper with butter, then lay second sheet crosswise over it.
    2. Pulse flour, confectioners’ sugar, cornstarch, and salt in food processor workbowl fitted with steel blade. Add butter and process to blend, 8 to 10 seconds, then pulse until mixture is pale yellow and resembles coarse meal, about three 1-second bursts. (To do this by hand, mix flour, confectioners’ sugar, cornstarch, and salt in medium bowl. Freeze butter and grate it on large holes of box grater into flour mixture. Toss butter pieces to coat. Rub pieces between your fingers for a minute, until flour turns pale yellow and coarse.) Sprinkle mixture into lined pan and, press firmly with fingers into even, 1/4-inch layer over entire pan bottom and about 1/2-inch up sides. Refrigerate for 30 minutes, then bake until golden brown, about 20 minutes.
    3. For the filling: Meanwhile, whisk eggs, sugar, and flour in medium bowl, then stir in lemon zest, juice, milk, and salt to blend well.
    4. To finish the bars: Reduce oven temperature to 325 degrees. Stir filling mixture to reblend; pour into warm crust. Bake until filling feels firm when touched lightly, about 20 minutes. Transfer pan to wire rack; cool to near room temperature, at least 30 minutes. Transfer to cutting board, fold paper down, and cut into serving-size bars, wiping knife or pizza cutter clean between cuts, as necessary. Sieve confectioners’ sugar over bars, if desired.

Teriyaki Sauce

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Mon, 05 May 2014 00:33:00 +0000

Mike and I were going to make beef teriyaki about a month ago, when we happened upon the fact we were out of teriyaki sauce. Found this recipe (halved the sugar) and have decided to never go back to store bought sauce again. (Apologies for the shoddy photo again; I took this photo with my phone.)

1/2cup soy sauce
~~1/2~~ 1/4cup sugar
1/2teaspoon grated fresh ginger
1clove garlic, minced or pressed through garlic press (about 1 teaspoon)
2tablespoons mirin
1/2teaspoon cornstarch

Combine soy sauce, sugar, ginger, and garlic in small saucepan; stir together mirin and cornstarch in small bowl until no lumps remain, then stir mirin mixture into saucepan. Bring sauce to boil over medium-high heat, stirring occasionally; reduce heat to medium-low and simmer, stirring occasionally, until sauce is reduced to 3/4 cup and forms syrupy glaze, about 4 minutes. Cover to keep warm.

Cherry Lime Cupcakes

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Mon, 05 May 2014 00:28:00 +0000

Asked a friend what his top two favorite flavors were: cherry and lime (aka time to start combining recipes):

Cupcake: Key Lime Pie Cupcakes
Frosting: Margarita Cupcake Recipe

That covered the lime basis; to cover the cherry flavor, I stuffed (and topped) the cupcake with maraschino cherries.

(Apologies for the shoddy photo, but I was in a rush.)

Christmas 2013

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Mon, 05 May 2014 00:23:00 +0000

Pumpkin Roll

Chocolate Mousse

I also sent out tins of snickerdoodles to my raid team:

Oatmeal Cream Pies

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Mon, 05 May 2014 00:17:00 +0000

While I was going through a rough patch in the past year, I had a hankering for the Little Debbie Oatmeal Cream Pies, but wanted to make my own: Oatmeal Cream Pies

Piña Colada Cupcakes

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Mon, 05 May 2014 00:09:00 +0000

I've been absent for a good long while and am just now starting to play catch-up with some old photos.

Made these delicious treats for my mother's birthday in April 2013: Piña Colada Cupcakes

Blueberry Muffins

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Mon, 17 Jun 2013 01:32:00 +0000

Blueberries were on sale for $1.99 a pint... so of course... I buy a ton of them. But looking at the pile of blueberries, there was no way I was going to munch my way through all of them. Time to make blueberry muffins. (Cooks Illustrated Blueberry Muffins with Streusel Topping).

Spring Birthdays

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Sat, 20 Apr 2013 23:10:00 +0000

As happens, a lot of the birthdays of friends and family fall into the months between April and June. Lots of frisky between July and September. I present three different cupcakes: Cherry Cola Cupcakes (the remake), Jasmine Cupcakes with Raspberry and Honey, and Limoncello Float Cupcakes.

A couple of notes:
-The cherry cola cupcakes I had made sometime last year, I couldn't stand because of how oily they came out. This time around, I replaced the oil with butter. I was much happier with the consistency.
-The Jasmine cupcakes gave me a chance to use this delicious raspberry vinegar I had bought at a local food and wine festival last August. There were no raspberries at the store, so I replace the berry on top with blackberries.
-I did not have enough time to make the ice cream for the limoncello float cupcakes.

Jasmine Cupcake with Raspberry and Honey

Cherry Coke Cupcake

Limoncello Float Cupcake (Ben & Jerry's Lemon Cookie Ice Cream)

Limoncello Float Cupcake (Vanilla Ice Cream)

Limoncello Float Cupcake with a Happy Mother

Valentine's Day

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Sat, 20 Apr 2013 23:01:00 +0000

This Valentine's Day, I decided to try a classic red velvet from a cookbook I got for my dad a couple years ago (The Complete Southern Cookbook)... I'm always so nervous about cupcakes tasting like food dye that I never put enough in to give it that vibrant red color... I rely on the chemical reaction between acid and buttermilk to bring out a red color from the anthocyanins in the chocolate. Does anyone have any tips for not over coloring your baked goods? Especially red velvet cakes?

Holiday Cooking 2012

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Sun, 27 Jan 2013 23:39:00 +0000

Alright... it was the holidays.. Twas hectic, wonderful, and unfortunately a little sad.

Thanksgiving brought cupcakes for my coworkers and the usual spread for my family. The cupcakes (apple cobbler cupcakes with literal pumpkin pie frosting) turned out alright. The literal pumpkin pie frosting left some to be desired, but I did enjoy the apple cobbler bit.

While the Thanksgiving spread was normal (same turkey, stuffing, potatoes, rolls...), I had still yet to find a good sweet potato dish. I found one! It's a sweet potato casserole that is still sweet, but not too sweet. My family agreed that this was the sweet potato dish that was going to stay.

Christmas season started out with cake balls being shipped out to my wonderful raid team. We were recently able to finish 6/6 bosses in Mogu'shan Vaults! (Guess they deserved the cake balls!) Granted... the cake ball part was too little cake and too much frosting for my taste. I will probably try a different recipe next time around.

With my raid team taken care of... it was time to tackle the cupcakes for the coworkers. Recently I have been going out for a rum & coke with a couple of buddies at work. Not coincidentally, hot buttered rum is my favorite holiday beverage. I decided to make rum and coke cupcakes. Unfortunately, I had no cola extract. I tried to make a frosting with using straight up cola. This made the frosting too watery and didn't have that cola punch I was looking for. The rum cake part was still delicious though.

After presents had been shipped and cupcakes dispersed, it was time for Mike and I to start packing. We headed to Florida for Christmas. First time I've been able to see my cousins in over 10 years. Was a happy reunion full of good ole Southern cooking... not that I wasn't happy to make my way back to California cooking.

We arrived back Christmas Eve and I still cooked for my parents the next day. Did the same meal as last year: prime rib, greens, and roasted potatoes Simple, delicious, and perfect to come back to after travelling.

It was time to start planning for New Years Eve. This year, my usual group of friends decided to do a formal pot luck complete with board games. Somehow, the potluck turned into me supplying the meal.

I made slow-cooker barbecued sticky ribs, salad, roasted potatoes, and cherry-coke cupcakes. Mike made fried rice.

Alright, so you would think that the holiday baking would be over... My brother had a few weeks off after New Year's Eve. Him and his friends would come over for beers and board games. Eventually one of his friends turned me onto food porn daily and somehow the topic of cupcakes had come up. Long story short, I decided to make a batch of cupcakes that my brother would enjoy as well as a "belated birthday present" for his friend. My brother's requirement for cupcakes was "cream flavored". A short story short, I made Boston Cream cupcakes (you need to be logged in to America's Test Kitchen to see the recipe). This is probably one of the best cupcakes I have made.

Easy Peasy Lemon Squeezy (Pulled Pork Sandwich)

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Sat, 10 Nov 2012 04:27:00 +0000

Oh alright, there isn't actually lemon is this. The last few months have been particularly challenging in finding motivation to cook. I started experimenting with different Trader Joes deli packages to try to find easy meals that I wouldn't get sick of after 2 days. I hit jackpot.

Pulled Pork Sandwich with Roasted Potatoes

Potatoes

Preheat oven to 350 deg.
Cut assorted baby potatoes into quarters.
Spray with a light coating of olive oil.
Season with thyme, salt, and pepper.
Cover with aluminum foil. Roast for 10 minutes and then remove aluminum foil.
Bake for an additional 30 minutes or until tender.

Sandwich

Saute some onions with a dash of red pepper flakes until they've just started caramelizing.
Spray some multi-seed sourdough with a light coating of olive oil and sprinkles with ginger.
Toast the sourdough.
Pile onions, heated up pulled pork, greens, and cheese on the bread.

Slow Cooker Asian Spiced Pork Ribs with Noodles

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Sat, 10 Nov 2012 04:19:00 +0000

The past few months I have pretty much not cooked. I was flipping through my Cook's Illustrated Cover & Bake when I came across a particularly appetizing photo and panicked... it was a Chinese food recipe. It's been a long time since I've attempted Chinese food. Last time I managed to burn noodles. For whatever reason, I was feeling particular inspired last weekend...who knows why. And what do you know? Victorious. Oh so victorious. Supposedly they are reminiscent of real Chinese spare ribs. Super tasty and did not take that long to get all of it together (granted I took my time in consideration of my last attempt at Chinese food).

LAN Party (And Cupcakes)

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Tue, 10 Jul 2012 09:28:00 +0000

Went to a LAN party over the weekend... so of course I had to make something for the boyos. Cupcake Project's "Chocolate Peanut Butter Hi Hat Cupcakes" seemed to do the trick.

A Farewell for My Amazing Boss

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Sat, 09 Jun 2012 00:27:00 +0000

My boss is leaving to work for another company and as a farewell, I asked him what his two favorite cupcake flavors were: chocolate and cherry. I set out to make black forest cupcakes, but I didn't want to use stock maraschino cherries, I went all the way. I made both cupcakes, cupcake filling, and maraschino cherries.

First Attempt:
I accidentally simmered the maraschino cherries for too long. A lot of them fell apart when I tried to take them out of the container.

Second Attempt:
I changed the frosting for this batch. The Luxardo maraschino liqueur was too harsh for a frosting in my opinion. I substituted with 6 tbsp of Herring's Cherry liqueur.

Easter Dinner & Mom's Day

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Mon, 28 May 2012 21:34:00 +0000

Most of my family was out of town this year for Easter, but I made a easy-ish dinner for Mike, my dad, and I. Turned out pretty well. I hadn't made ham in years.

My mom was out of town for her birthday unfortunately, so I went to town on her mother's day cake. I ended up with a layered carrot cake and some homemade vanilla ice cream. The carrot cake didn't end up with as many layers as I wanted because I didn't have the right sized pan. It ended up still being delicious though. Wasn't as much of a fan of the frosting as I was for her birthday cake last year.

Carrot Layer Cake

Pi Day in Conjunction with St. Patrick's Day

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Sun, 08 Apr 2012 06:58:00 +0000

So... apparently I forgot to post my pi day cupcakes and St. Patrick's Day dinner. So sorry guys!

I didn't want to have to make separate cupcakes for both holidays. That's way too many cupcakes in the span of 3 days. Cupcake Project had posted upside-down key lime pie cupcakes for pi day a bit ago. As a Southern girl, those had a very strong appeal. Granted, it takes an arm and a leg to find key limes around here this time of year. They turned out supreme even though I used ordinary limes.

As far as St. Patrick's Day goes, Mike had never had corned beef before. I felt oddly inspired to try making it this year. I also made purple cabbage, carrots, and roasted potatoes (a meal inspired by one of my best friend's chemist girls' nights events). I even made some quick homemade rolls. I must say, best meal I've made for us in a very long time.

One thing to note is that my purple cabbage is blue. It turns out, that red cabbage can be used as an at home pH kit. If your cabbage is blue, your solution is basic; if your cabbage is red, your solution is acidic. I've also noticed, that in cabbage recipes, people tend to add some vinegar; this helps it retains its red/purple color.

Pi Day is Almost Here!

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Tue, 06 Mar 2012 22:57:00 +0000

Pi Day is just around the corner. Comment on this post to tell me what type of pie I should make this year. ^_^

Valentine's Day

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Tue, 14 Feb 2012 06:03:00 +0000

Happy Valentine's Day All!

Tomorrow is Valentine's Day and I have group meeting at work. I cannot justify going to a meeting on a holiday without bringing some cupcakes. In the spirit of Valentine's Day, I decided I wanted to eat hot tamales in cupcake form.

Throughout the search I found two types: #1: cayenne pepper and cinnamon #2: melted red hots...

I ended up doing a combination of the two. The actual cupcake uses the cayenne pepper and cinnamon and the frosting uses cinnamon schnapps. However... I topped it with gummy red hot hearts and sprinkles. They definitely have a kick and I will definitely have to bring a jug of milk to work tomorrow. (The actual recipe was taken from the Food Network.)

Thank you Mum and Dad!

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Sat, 31 Dec 2011 10:02:00 +0000

My parents got me a double boiler for Christmas! ^_^

Christmas Presents

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Sat, 31 Dec 2011 09:45:00 +0000

After much debate on how to cheaply send quite a few of my friends Christmas presents, I finally decided on attempting to make some chocolate bars. I bought some molds and went to work.

I have a TREMENDOUS addiction to S'mores anything. My favorite desserts include S'mores ice cream sandwiches and S'mores cupcakes. So... sorry friends, out of some slight self interest, I made you S'mores chocolate bars (and horded several for myself). However, making a chocolate candy bar by tempering some chocolate, melting some marshamallow and opening a box of graham crackers to make these creations seemed too simple and involved enough to be considered a present. To bump up the challenge, I decided to make my own marshmallow fluff. Other than that, I pretty much just followed the recipe from Not So Humble Pie.

Some thoughts: I think I made the chocolate bar too thick. You couldn't really taste the marshmallow and graham cracker. Ah well, I have no qualms about making them again. ^_^

Merry Christmas!

Christmas Dinner

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Sat, 31 Dec 2011 09:34:00 +0000

Happy Holidays All!

I realized recently that I have not been keeping my blog up-to-date. (Again!) My New Year's resolution is to post about my experiments ASAP. I've gotten into a bad habit these past few months of choosing gaming over logging these fun-time cooking adventures.

Lots of firsts for me this Christmas. Number one: I made prime rib. Number two: I made a yule log. What the hell was I thinking?! Not all is lost! It all came out amazing... and you couldn't see the cracks in my yule log which is always a plus.

Things to do if I attempt these recipes again: 1) Get a new oven. 2) Get a new oven. Ok, I should explain... Our oven does not keep an even temperature in addition to not actually being the correct temperature. This made (at the very least) the yule log way too difficult.

The spread: prime rib with an herb paste, potatoes, glazed carrots, green beans with bacon, and french onion soup. If the holiday gathering is small, I am inclined to make the prime rib again (purely financial reasons). The potatoes were good, nothing fancy; just cooked in the drippings from the roast. Green beans were pretty standard (well, for Southern green beans). The carrots are now a required side dish at any holiday meal. Thankfully, they are super simple to make. The French onion soup recipe was different from my previous one, but I like the recipe I had previously posted better. This one was good... just not great.

As far as the desserts go for flavor, the gingerbread cake... is a must try! It was fantabulous! I made it with a vanilla bean cream cheese frosting. The yule log was very tiramisu-like in flavor. Although, I am inspired to try filling it with different creams. This will also give me opportunity to practice baking and rolling the actual cake (without cracking it). I want to try a hazelnut cream as well as a peppermint cream. If anyone has any tips on not cracking the cake when rolling it, let me know.

Herb-Roasted Prime Rib & Potatoes

Glazed Carrots with Bacon and Pecans

Bittersweet Chocolate Yule Log

Classic Gingerbread Cake

Thanksgiving Dinner

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Sat, 31 Dec 2011 09:16:00 +0000

Thanksgiving was pretty good again this year. We used the same turkey recipe as the last few years. I did vary up the side dishes a bit: broccoli and cheese casserole and cauliflower gratin. I also tried making stuffed mushrooms, but they didn't have a very good flavor. I will definitely make the broccoli and cheese casserole again, but the cauliflower needs something better. It was very bland (granted they look gorgeous).

Stuffed Portobello Mushrooms with Spinach and Goat Cheese

Cauliflower Gratin

Broccoli and Cheese Casserole

However, I did make this amazing pumpkin-bourbon cheesecake. I think I ate 3/4 of it. Sooo delicious. Definitely an autumn dessert winner. Granted, I didn't homogenize the cream cheese enough and I did over bake it a smidge (I had a nasty crack on the top).

Pumpkin-Bourbon Cheesecake with Graham-Pecan Crust

Autumn Cupcakes

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Mon, 28 Nov 2011 22:55:00 +0000

I had been promising my lab that I would make them cupcakes for quite a few weeks (not to mention they make the best guinea pigs). I wanted to try out some fall cupcakes. There are two flavors that scream "autumn" to me: caramel apple and pumpkin spice.

Group meetings are never better than when one has a cupcake. Dull data becomes interesting. (Granted, that's probably the early afternoon cupcake sugar rush as opposed to the data becoming more interesting.) I did make an interesting observation: the men preferred the pumpkin spice, whereas the women preferred the caramel apple. Take that as you will, but possibly consider that when making either of these cupcakes for a gathering.

You can find the recipes here: caramel apple cupcakes & pumpkin spice cupcakes. I did make the pumpkin graham crackers that Cupcake Project lists for the pumpkin spice cupcakes, but instead of putting them on top, I crumbled them up on the frosting.

Note: I seem to have lost the caramel apple cupcake recipe, as soon as I find it, I will edit this post.

Edit: I have found the recipe! I had to dig through the internet until I found it, but I found it nonetheless! It was on the Cupcake Friday Project. Enjoy!

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Sun, 27 Nov 2011 15:25:00 +0000

I've decided I'm sick to death of just copying/pasted really tasty recipes that I find. I want to actually start commenting on them, devising my own recipes... I don't want this to just be an index of recipes that I happen to enjoy. (Granted, when I'm at the store and I know what I'm having for dinner, I do like being able to pull up my blog to figure it out.)

On that note, Thanksgiving just passed. I tried out some new recipes. I will be sure to post them in the next few days.

Love you all!