The Daring Cooks: Patties

green and yellow zucchini, prosciutto, and cheese fritters

The Daring Cooks’ February 2012 challenge was hosted by Audax and Lis and they chose to present Patties for their ease of construction, ingredients and deliciousness!  We were given several recipes, and learned the different types of binders and cooking methods to produce our own tasty patties!

The downloadable file of all the delicious recipes, useful info, and tips that Audax and Lis tirelessly prepared for us is here.

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The Daring Cooks: Moo Shu

The October Daring Cooks' Challenge was hosted by Shelley of C Mom Cook and her sister Ruth of  The Crafts of Mommyhood. They challenged us to bring a taste of the East into our home kitchens by making our own Moo Shu, including thin pancakes, stir fry, and sauce.

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Daring Cooks: Edible Containers

Mac 'N' Cheese on a crispy cheddar cheese bowl

baked hash potato cups with assorted fillings:
egg salad topped with caviar, poached salmon, goat cheese

vegetarian bibimbap with tofu, baby carrots, baby zucchini, soybean sprouts,
fresh shiitake, and egg yolk in a seasoned rice bowl

Renata of Testado, Provado & Aprovado! was our Daring Cooks’ April 2011 hostess. Renata challenged us to think “outside the plate” and create our own edible containers! Prizes are being awarded to the most creative edible container and filling, so vote on your favorite from April 17th to May 16th at http://thedaringkitchen.com!

This is one of the most fun Daring Cooks challenges and most delicious too. Thank you Renata for coming up with this brilliant challenge allowing us DC members to be as creative as much as we want.

THE RECIPES

Mac 'N' Cheese
I love the crunch and saltiness of the cheese bowls and what could be better than a double dose of cheese.

coarsely grated extra sharp Cheddar cheese
prepared macaroni and cheese, keep hot
1 tablespoon butter or olive oil
1 cup panko bread crumbs
medium-size bowls
cookie sheet lined with aluminum foil (for easy clean-up)

• Heat a non-stick skillet over medium fire and place 3 tablespoons of grated cheese. Cook until golden brown and a little fat has been rendered. Remove fat by dabbing with paper towel. Remove cheese with a large spatula and place immediately onto the bottom of upside-down bowl. Place on the cookie sheet and let set while cooking the rest of the cheese. Once set, remove cheese cups carefully from bowl and set on a serving dish. Add butter or olive oil to the skillet and toast panko until golden brown. Spoon macaroni and cheese into cups and sprinkle with toasted panko. Serve immediately

Hash Potato Cups
I love these for breakfast.

1 pound waxy potatoes
¼ cup finely chopped sweet onion
1 tablespoon butter
1 teaspoon sea salt
egg salad
caviar
poached or shallow-fried salmon steak
goat cheese, cream cheese, or mascarpone
regular or mini muffin pan

• Boil potatoes, whole and unpeeled, for 10 minutes. Let potatoes cool in the freezer for 15 minutes. Peel potatoes and coarsely grate. In a non-stick skillet, heat butter, saute onions until cooked, add to the grated potatoes with the salt, mix gently. Preheat oven to 425°F. Grease muffin cups. Spoon and press the potato mixture on the bottom and sides of muffin cups. Bake until darkish brown and edges are crispy. Remove from pans and fill.

Vegetarian Bibimbap
Korean cuisine has been a long-time favorite specially bibimbap I decided to make it vegetarian with tofu instead of beef strips for a change.

rice
2 cups cooked Japanese short grain rice
1 egg white
2 tablespoon sauce
2 medium-size microwavable bowls

sauce
6 tablespoons soy sauce
3 tablespoons gochu jang sauce, or to taste

3 tablespoons sugar

1 tablespoon ginger juice
1 garlic clove, minced
1 tablespoon toasted sesame seeds
1 tablespoon Korean sesame oil

vegetable and tofu

light olive oil
baby carrots, julienned
baby zucchini, sliced into coins
fresh shiitake, julienned or halved if small
kale or spinach
soybean sprouts
1 block firm tofu, cut into 1 x 1 x 2 inch pieces

optional topping
2 egg yolks

• Mix all sauce ingredients and let simmer in a small saucepan for 3 minutes. Remove 2 tablespoons and mix with the rice together with egg white. Line the bowls with plastic wrap and spoon 1 cup rice in each bowl pressing up the sides. Microwave, uncovered for 1½ minutes. Leave to set.
• In a non-stick skillet, add half tablespoon of oil and saute carrots until tender, transfer into a large plate and set aside. Saute the next 4 ingredients, one at a time, adding oil as needed and transfer into the plate separating each vegetable. Keep vegetables warm. Stir fry tofu with 2 tablespoons of sauce until sauce is absorbed and has thickened. Transfer into the platter; keep warm. Fry the egg yolks until the bottom is set and the edges begin to cook.
• Reheat rice bowl in the microwave for 1 minute. Remove the plastic wrap carefully and transfer the rice bowls into plates. Arrange the still warm vegetables and tofu in the bowls. Drizzle sauce all over. Top each with an egg yolk. Serve immediately with extra sauce on the side.

The Daring Cooks Poach to Perfection

Jenn from Jenn Cuisine and Jill (jillouci) have challenged The Daring Cooks to learn to perfect the technique of poaching an egg. They chose Eggs Benedict recipe from Alton Brown, Oeufs en Meurette from Cooking with Wine by Anne Willan, and Homemade Sundried Tomato & Pine Nut Seitan Sausages (poached) courtesy of Trudy of Veggie num num.

Thank you Jenn and Jill for choosing this wonderful challenge. I love eggs, specially fried sunny-side-up with runny yolks. I also like poached eggs but it's too much work and I tend to lose a lot of the whites during cooking resulting in a much smaller egg which means less protein. For this challenge, I poached just one egg according to the recipe and the smallish egg reminded me why I bought an egg-poaching pan many years ago which has an insert [with several nonstick cups] that sits on the simmering water in the pan without the eggs touching the water. This way you cook perfectly poached eggs with all the whites intact.

Well anyway, I had the egg on top of a toasted thick slice of brioche and a slice of home cured pork belly ham but did not top it with hollandaise sauce. I sprinkled the egg with sea salt and chopped Italian parsley and had it with slices of the yummy seitan sausage. My sausages are not perfect because they're a bit soft rather than chewy which is how I like seitan sausages but the flavor is fantastic. I'll make them again and will use less liquid; I'm also inspired and will be making Spanish seitan chorizos later this week.

Homemade Sun-dried Tomato And Pine Nut Seitan Sausages
¼ cup pine nuts, toasted
½ of a red onion, diced
1 red chili, chopped
1 cup whole sun-dried tomatoes
¼ cup olive oil
1 cup vegetable stock
2 tablespoons tomato paste
2½ cups vital wheat gluten
1 teaspoon dried thyme
1 teaspoon paprika

for the poaching liquid:
6 cups vegetable stock
3 garlic cloves
2 bay leaves

cheesecloth to wrap the sausages

• Place 6 cups of stock, the garlic cloves, and the bay leaves in a deep sauté pan or stock pot. Heat on medium.
• In a food processor finely mince the toasted pine nuts, red onion, chili, and sun-dried tomatoes. Add the vital wheat gluten, dried thyme and paprika to the pine nut mixture and process till combined. In a measuring bowl, whisk the stock with the tomato paste and olive oil. Slowly add to the vital wheat gluten mixture and pulse until you have a smooth dough. You probably will not need all the liquid. Start with ¾ cups of the liquid and add more if needed. Whatever liquid you have left can be added to the poaching liquid.
• Divide the dough into 10 portions and shape into 6-inch sausages. Wrap each section tightly in cheesecloth and tie off the ends with twine.
• If the poaching liquid is not yet boiling, turn up the heat until it does. Add the sausages and turn the heat down to a simmer. Simmer gently for 45–50 minutes, or until the sausages are firm. Remove the sausages from the poaching liquid (reserve the liquid if you don’t plan on eating all the sausages immediately). Allow the sausages to cool a little and gently unwrap. These may be refrigerated in their poaching liquid for a week.

Click here to view more Daring Cooks Poached to Perfection

Daring Cooks Nut Butters

cold salad of buckwheat soba, spinach, sugar snap peas, and strips of nori with cashew butter sauce

The July 2010 Daring Cooks’ Challenge was hosted by Margie of More Please and Natashya of Living in the Kitchen with Puppies. They chose to challenge Daring Cooks to make their own nut butter from scratch, and use the nut butter in a recipe. Their sources include Better with Nut Butter by Cooking Light Magazine, Asian Noodles by Nina Simonds, and Food Network online.

Sorry for my seemingly never ending post but I went nuts with this challenge. I made 5 savory dishes and an easy sweet one using homemade nut butters. Nut butters are easy to make in a food processor, they are delicious and very healthy too.

First is one of the recipes given for this challenge, a noodle salad with cashew butter sauce. I omitted just one ingredient from the sauce (ginger), adjusted the seasonings to suit my taste, and added a few drops of sriracha sauce. The salad has cold Japanese buckwheat noodles, spinach, sugar snap peas, and strips of nori for a completely vegan dish. The mildly spicy cashew butter sauce is absolutely delicious with the cold noodle salad specially on a hot summer day.

Cold Buckwheat Noodle Salad
½ pound buckwheat soba, cooked and chilled on ice
blanched baby spinach, room temperature
precooked sugar snap peas, room temperature
cashew butter sauce
nori, cut into thin strips

cashew butter sauce
1 cup roasted unsalted cashews
2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
½ cup cashew butter
¼ cup soy sauce
2 tablespoons sugar
2 tablespoons vinegar
2 tablespoons toasted sesame oil
¼ cup water
1 teaspoon sea salt, or to taste
sriracha hot sauce, to taste

• Make cashew butter: Grind cashews in food processor for about 2 minutes until smooth.
• Prepare cashew dressing: Combine garlic, cashew butter, soy sauce, sugar, vinegar, sesame oil, and water in food processor. Process until smooth and garlic is completely pureed.
• The dressing should be pourable, about the same thickness as cream. Adjust consistency to your liking by adding more water or cashew butter.
• Add a few drops of sriracha hot sauce if desired. Taste and add salt if needed.

The second dish I prepared is Filipino tamales which I never had back when I was living in the Philippines, I don't know why. I have made a similar tamale recipe once, it was from another region in the Philippines and so I can say this is the first time I made this kind of tamale. Unlike the Mexican corn tamale, this is made with rice flour, peanut butter, and lots of coconut milk. They are wrapped in wilted banana leaves and steamed for hours. I love its peanuty and soft creamy texture.

Filipino Tamales

2 cups rice flour
7 cups coconut milk
1 cup brown sugar
1 teaspoon black pepper
salt to taste
¼ cup annatto seeds soaked in ¼ cup warm water
½ cup lightly toasted peanut butter
slices of hard boiled egg
boiled peanuts
cooked pork belly, sliced
cooked chicken breast, shredded
squares of banana leaves

• Toast the rice flour in a large non-stick wok or Dutch oven until light brown.
• Add the coconut milk, salt, sugar, and pepper and cook over low heat, stirring constantly. Add the peanut butter and stir cook for 10 minutes.

• Divide this paste mixture into two parts leaving one part in the wok.
• Strain the annatto, discard the seeds and add the colored water to the remaining mixture in the wok and continue cooking for 2 minutes longer.
• Wrap the tamales: On three layers of banana leaves, put 3 tablespoons of the red mixture, then an equal amount of the white mixture, pat lightly to flatten, then arrange slices of pork or the shredded chicken, boiled peanut halves, and hard cooked eggs on top of mixture. Wrap each tamale and tie securely. Place the tamales in a steamer and steam for 2 hours.

I love Spanish tapas and one of the easiest to make is Albondigas, meat balls. After frying the meat balls they are usually simmered either in almond or tomato sauce.

Albondigas (Spanish Meatballs in Almond Sauce)

meat balls
1 pound minced pork or beef
1 small onion, finely minced
1 clove finely minced garlic
2 slices bread, crusts removed and soaked in milk
1 egg beaten
1 tablespoon finely minced parsley
dash of nutmeg
olive oil for frying
flour for dusting

sauce
¼ cup olive oil
1 slice bread
½ cup almond butter
½ cup white wine
1 clove minced garlic
1/8 teaspoon ground black pepper
¼ teaspoon ground clove
a pinch of saffron
1 cup chicken or vegetable stock
lemon juice
chopped parsley and toasted slivered almond for garnish

• In a bowl combine all the ingredients for the meatballs and mix until well blended, then divide and shape into small walnut sized balls. Roll in flour and fry gently in hot oil until brown all over. Set aside and keep warm.
• Prepare the sauce: Fry the bread and garlic in the oil until golden, then put into a food processor along with the almond butter, black pepper, saffron, clove, and white wine. Process to a smooth paste. Pour this into the same pan and add the stock, mix well and bring to the boil. Add the meatballs to the pan and simmer for 20 minutes.
• Just before serving add a squeeze of lemon, a little chopped parsley and a few slivers of toasted almonds.

For my fourth nut butter dish, I processed dehydrated coconut flakes to a thin almost liquid consistency. I added some vegetable broth, salt, and lemon juice and drizzled the sauce on a dish of steamed oysters and sauteed vidalia onions seasoned with soy sauce, lemon juice, and 1 sliced red finger chili. It's very yummy.

The last dish is also Filipino called Kare Kare, a meat stew colored with annatto seed oil. It has lots of peanut butter and an assortment of precooked vegetables and served with salty fermented shrimp fries called bagoong (bah-goh-ong). The usual vegetables are yardlong beans, banana blossoms, baby bokchoy, and Asian eggplant. I had some pig tails already boiled and stored in the freezer with the broth and made the peanut butter with medium dark roasted peanuts. My favorite Kare Kare is made with ox tail, recipe and photos here.

pig tail kare kare

And I couldn't resist making something sweet out of peanut butter and chocolate chips. I mixed equal amounts of peanut butter and chocolate chips then added powdered sugar until crumbly but holds its shape. These are similar to candies in the Philippines called Choc*Nut.

Thank you Margie and Natashya for coming up with this surprisingly delicious and delightful challenge.:p

Daring Cooks: Pâté and Bread

Our hostesses this month, Evelyne of Cheap Ethnic Eatz, and Valerie of The Chocolate Bunny, chose delicious pate with freshly baked bread as their June Daring Cook’s challenge! They’ve provided us with 4 different pate recipes to choose from and are allowing us to go wild with our homemade bread choice.

I chose the Chicken Liver Terrine and used all the ingredients in the recipe. It is super delicious and the perfect topping for Peter Reinhart's Pain à l'Ancienne mini baguettes. It's a surprise that I really love it because I hardly cook any kind of liver except for one Filipino dish. I couldn't stop eating it as soon as it has cooled overnight in the refrigerator.

Chicken Liver Terrine
1 tablespoon duck fat, or butter
2 onions, coarsely chopped
11 ounces chicken livers, trimmed
3 tablespoons brandy
3½ ounces smoked bacon, diced
11 ounces boneless pork belly, coarsely ground
7 ounces boneless pork shoulder, coarsely ground
2 shallots, chopped
1 teaspoon quatre-épices (1 teaspoon ground white pepper and ¼ teaspoon each cloves, nutmeg and ginger)
2 eggs
7 ounces heavy cream
2 fresh thyme sprigs, chopped
sea salt and pepper
bacon rashers, optional

• Preheat oven to 400ºF.
  
• Melt the fat or butter in a skillet over low heat. Add the onions and cook, stirring occasionally, for 5 minutes, until softened. Add the chicken livers and cook, stirring frequently, for about 5 minutes, until browned but still slightly pink on the inside.
  
• Put the minced pork belly and shoulder in a food processor, then add the onion-liver mixture and the chopped shallots and pulse until you obtain a homogeneous mixture – make sure not to reduce it to a slurry. Transfer to a bowl, and fold in the chopped bacon, quatre-épices, brandy, cream, eggs, and thyme. Season with salt and pepper, and mix well. Wrap half a tablespoon of the mixture in a plastic film and poach in water for a few minutes. Let cool, taste, and adjust seasoning.
  
• Line a 10 x 5-inch loaf pan with thin bacon rashers. Spoon the mixture into the pan, covering top with the bacon overhang. Cover tightly with aluminum foil.
  
• Prepare a water bath: place the loaf pan in a larger, deep dish. Bring some water to a simmer and carefully pour it in the larger dish. The water should reach approximately halfway up the loaf pan. Put the water bath and the loaf pan in the oven, and bake for 2 hours. Uncover and bake for another 30 minutes. The terrine should be cooked through, and you should be able to slice into it with a knife and leave a mark, but it shouldn’t be too dry.
  
• Refrigerate, as this pâté needs to be served cold. Unmold onto a serving platter, cut into slices, and serve with bread.

The second one I made is seafood. This is not one of the recipes given because I didn't have salmon. I had a half pound of scallops and found a seafood terrine recipe from Michael Ruhlman's CHARCUTERIE. The terrine has scallops, blue crab meat, saffron-infused cream, and chopped chives. The pinch of saffron lends its unique flavor and pale yellow color to this delicious terrine. I made sauce gribiche as Ruhlman suggests in the book and baked Spiraled Wheat Loaf from King Arthur Flour website. Great stuff.

Maryland Crab, Scallop, and Saffron Terrine
adapted from CHARCUTERIE by Michael Ruhlman
8 leeks, green tops only
¾ cup heavy cream
a large pinch of saffron
1 pound sea scallo[s
2 large egg whites
¾ tablespoon kosher salt
1 teaspoon ground white pepper
1 teaspoon fresh lemon juice
1 pound Maryland lump crab meat
¾ cup chopped chives

• Freeze all the the blades and bowls before starting.
• Wash the leek greens thoroughly. Cook them for 8 minutes in a large pot of heavily salted water. Drain and chill in ice water, then drain and pat dry. Lay out on plastic wrap.
• In a small saucepan, bring the cream to a boil over high heat; remove from heat. Add saffron and let sit for 15 minutes to infuse the cream, then chill, uncovered, in the refrigerator.
• Preheat the oven to 300°F.
• Combine scallops with the egg whites in a food processor and puree until smooth. While the machine is running, add the saffron cream in a slow, steady stream. Season with the salt, pepper, and lemon juice. Transfer into a bowl and fold in the crab meat and chives. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate.
  
• Moisten a 1½ quart loaf pan with water and line with plastic wrap, leaving enough overhang on the long sides. Line the mold crosswise with the leeks leaving enough overhang to cover top. Pack the scallop mixture into the pan. Fold the leek greens over the top, followed by the plastic wrap. Cover with aluminum foil. Place the terrine in a high-sided roasting pan and add enough hot water to the pan to come halfway up the side of the loaf pan. Bake until an instant-read thermometer reads 140°F. Remove from the oven, remove the terrine from the water bath and let cool. Refrigerate overnight.

Sauce Gribiche
recipe by David Lebovitz
1 large egg
1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
1/3 cup extra-virgin olive oil
1 teaspoon red wine vinegar
1 cornichon
8 to 10 small capers; drained, rinsed, and squeezed dry
¼ cup (gently-packed) mixed chopped herbs; flat-leaf parsley, chervil, and/or tarragon
salt and freshly-ground black pepper

• Cook the egg in boiling water for 10 minutes. Remove from heat, drain away the water, and cool the egg by adding ice and cold water to the pot. Once cool, peel the egg then extract the yolk.
  
• In a medium-sized bowl, mash the yolk until smooth with the mustard. Dribble in the olive oil, beating with a fork or wooden spoon while doing so, then adding the vinegar.
  
• Chop the egg white and cornichon separately into fine cubes, the size of the capers, and add them to the sauce. Then add the capers themselves. Stir in the herbs and add salt and pepper. Taste, and season with additional salt, pepper, and vinegar, if necessary. Serve at room temperature.

And I couldn't resist having sweet fruity terrines. I made a mini Caramel Pear Terrine with Kumquat Star Anise Rum, the recipe adapted from here and Sidra Berries Terrine. Both are delicious.

Sidra Berries Terrine
1 cup apple juice
2 packets unflavored gelatin
1 tablespoon sugar, more or less to taste
2½ cups sidra (Spanish sparkling apple cider)
fresh berries

• In a small bowl, soften the gelatin in ¼ cup juice.
  
• Heat the remaining juice to boiling. Remove from heat and stir in the gelatin mixture and sugar. Transfer into a bowl and add the sidra. Stir gently and mix well.
  
• Arrange a layer of berries on the bottom of an 8 x 4-inch loaf pan. Cover the fruits with the gelatin liquid, let set in the freezer for 5 minutes. Continue layering fruits and liquid, letting set in the freezer until the loaf pan is filled to the top. Cover with plastic film and let set completely in the refrigerator for 2 hours. Unmold onto a serving plate and cut into thick slices. Enjoy.
  

Thank you Evelyne and Valerie for choosing pâté and freshly baked bread. I enjoyed doing the challenge.:-)