Cooking Challenge Week 35 - Marinating - Bulgogi and Thai Cucumber Salad

It's a Neglected Cookbook Project double feature!  Both recipes are (slightly) adapted from Williams-Sonoma Collection: Asian, which my brother and his wife gave to me for Christmas years ago.  It's a well-written, beautifully-photographed book, and yet somehow I never found myself cooking from it.

So a few weekends ago I picked it out of the NCP pile and starting leafing through.  Knowing the marinating challenge was coming up, these two just jumped right out at me.

I know the ingredient list for the bulgogi looks long, but the marinade and the sauce use mostly the same ingredients in different quantities, so it's really not that bad.

Bulgogi (Korean BBQ)

Marinade

• 3 cloves garlic, chopped
• 1 tbsp sugar
• 1/4 cup soy sauce
• 1 tbsp sesame oil
• 1 tbsp rice vinegar
• 4 green onions, minced
• 1 tsp ginger paste (or finely chopped ginger)
• 1 tbsp sesame seeds
• 1/2 tsp ground black pepper
• 1 tbsp water

Sauce

•  1 clove garlic, chopped
• 1/2 tsp sugar
• 3 tbsp soy sauce
• 1 tbsp rice vinegar
• 1 tsp Sriracha chile sauce
• 1 tsp sesame oil
• 1 green onion, minced
• 1 tbsp sesame seeds
• 1 tbsp water

• 1 1/2 lbs beef tenderloin
• 1 tbsp canola oil

Make the marinade: Using a mortar and pestle, crush the garlic with the sugar to form a rough paste.  (Alternately, if you don't have one, use a cutting board and the flat of a heavy knife to mash them together.)  Transfer the paste to a small bowl and add the remaining marinade ingredients, whisking well to combine.  Set aside.

Make the sauce just as you made the marinade, combining everything in another small bowl.  Refrigerate until needed.

Cut the beef across the grain as thin as you can manage (1/8" or less is ideal).   Placing the beef in the freezer for 30-45 minutes before slicing can help firm it up and make it easier to get thin slices.  (Mine actually weren't so good, I need to get my knives sharpened.)

Add the beef slices to the marinade and toss to mix.  Cover and refrigerate 1-3 hours.

Prepare a hot fire on a charcoal grill, or preheat a grill pan on the stove on high.  Brush the grill rack/pan with the canola oil.

Remove the beef from the marinade and pat dry, discarding the marinade.  (I tried to get most of the sesame seeds off, afraid they'd burn, but really they didn't, so there's no need to be too fussy.)  Working in batches, arrange the beef in a single layer on the hot pan.  Sear, turning once, until crisp and browned on both sides, about 2 minutes per side.  Wipe down and re-oil the pan between batches if necessary.

Here, I served it over rice, drizzled with the sauce, with a side of...

Thai Cucumber Salad

• 2 lbs. cucumbers
• 2 tsp salt
• 2 tbsp sugar
• 1/2 cup rice vinegar
• 4 shallots, thinly sliced
• 1 red jalapeno or other fresh red chile, seeded and julienned
• 2 tbsp fresh cilantro leaves

Peel the cucumbers, halve lengthwise, and scoop out the seeds.  Cut crosswise into 1/4" thick slices.  Place in a colander, sprinkle with 1 tsp of the salt, and toss to mix.  Set aside to drain for 1 hour, then pat the cucumbers dry.

Meanwhile, in a small saucepan over medium heat, combine the sugar, the remaining 1 tsp salt, and the rice vinegar.  Heat until the sugar and salt dissolve, about two minutes.   Set aside to cool.

To assemble the salad, in a large bowl combine the cucumbers, shallots, and chile.  Pour the cooled vinegar mixture over and toss well.  Garnish with the cilantro leaves, and refrigerate at least 1 hour before serving.

Neglected Cookbook Project: Gingery Chickpea Curry

This is from the very first cookbook on Indian cuisine that I ever got, the day after my first Indian meal.  I was in England, visiting my husband while he was doing his Master's over there, and he took me out to this charming curry house down the street from his flat.  The next day, I found Recipes from the Indian Spice Trail at a used bookstore two streets over.  I browsed through while I was there, but we had a lot going on, so it was on the flight home that I read most of it.

It's an odd and fascinating blend of travelogue and cookbook, being a companion piece to a BBC radio series.  Being a sort of journey-through-food, the recipes are divided by region and often subdivided further by ingredient, focusing on the handful of predominant flavors of the area.  This means I usually start hunting in the index when I want to make something with a specific ingredient (like this week, when red bell peppers were on sale and I really wanted to use them in a curry), which is not my normal method of finding recipes, so that may be, in part, why I don't use this book nearly as often as it deserves.  Until now, I really had only made one recipe from it, a cinnamon-scented caramelized rice that can be tricky to pull off without burning, but goes so, so well with super-spicy curries.  I haven't made it for a while, I should really make it again soon....

This recipe starts out as a side dish without any red pepper in it at all, but one of the variations recommends stuffing the chickpeas inside peppers and baking them.  From there it wasn't much of a stretch to simply include it in the curry to begin with, very similar to my bean and broccoli curry, which was so good I made a second batch that same week just to freeze for later.

One note: while I cook most of my own beans from dry, I don't have an inexpensive source for dried chickpeas, which is why I use canned here.  If you're cooking them yourself (which I highly recommend you do, if you can) the steps remain basically the same, you just leave out the bell pepper and dramatically lengthen the cook time from twenty minutes to whatever your brand of dried chickpeas recommends.  The original recipe assumed dried and says 1-3 hours, depending on brand, and suggests canned as a time-saver. Throw in the bell pepper for the last 20-30 minutes and you're good to go!

Gingery Chickpea Curry

• 3 15-oz cans chickpeas (garbanzo beans)
• 1 large red bell pepper, chopped
• 2 to 3 inch piece ginger, skinned and minced finely, divided
• 6 cloves garlic, minced finely, divided
• 2-4 thin green chillies, half left whole but slit, half seeded and finely chopped
• 1 large onion, finely sliced
• 2 tbsp ghee or butter
• 1 1/2 tsp cumin seeds
• 1 15-oz can diced tomatoes
• salt to taste

Combine the chickpeas and bell pepper in a large saucepan, and add just enough water to cover.  Stir in half of the minced ginger, half the minced garlic, and the slit chillies.  Bring to a boil, then reduce the heat and simmer for 20 minutes.

Meanwhile, heat the ghee or butter in a skillet and fry the onion until soft and golden (which should take just as long as the simmer, I won't lie and say you can caramelize onions in 5 minutes like so many recipes do.)  Add the rest of the ginger and garlic, and the cumin seeds.  Fry another minute or so until the garlic is fragrant and the cumin seeds start to pop.  Stir this mixture into the chickpeas.

If a lot of water is left, remove some of it now; then mash some of the chickpeas against the side of the pan to thicken what's left.  Stir in the undrained tomatoes and heat through.  Season to taste, and serve with plain boiled rice.

Baking Challenge Week 20 - Citrus - Lemon Cookie Tarts

I've been known to make jam tarts in the past--just pie crust and various jams baked in my muffin tin--and whether they come with me to work, or go with me to a potluck, they're always popular.

Pondering my citrus options, I came across this recipe in one of my oldest and most-used cookie books, The Complete Cookie Book.  I love lemon curd, but have never tried to make it from scratch.

What better time than now?

It didn't come out perfectly, I'll admit.  I didn't beat the eggs completely enough before whisking them into everything else, which meant I had bits of egg white that wouldn't incorporate, leaving my curd speckled with cooked albumen.  Not the end of the world, I just pick them out, but now that I know that can happen, I'll be more careful next time.

The dots of jam aren't in the original recipe, but I couldn't resist.  I had some strawberries and blackberries that were past their prime, so I tried making microwave jam, a technique I ran across in Kitchen Sense, one on the list for my Neglected Cookbook Project.  I don't think I let it cook long enough, but it was threatening to boil over the bowl and glop up my microwave, so it's somewhere between a jam and a sauce.  It tastes great, though.  Don't feel compelled to make your own just for this--if you want, use a bit of regular jam, or just leave it out.  They're fine without, I promise.

Finally, the recipe calls for small brioche molds or mini tart pans, which I don't have, so I used a regular muffin tin.  I got 24 tarts instead of 36, so clearly, mine are bigger.  But I don't think that's a bad thing...

Lemon Cookie Tarts

Cookie Dough

• 1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, softened
• 1/2 cup granulated sugar
• 1 egg yolk
• 1/2 tsp almond extract (I substituted lemon for an even more lemony experience!  Also, I am out of almond.)
• 1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour

Lemon Curd

• 3/4 cup granulated sugar
• 1/3 cup water
• 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
• grated zest and juice of one lemon
• 1/8 tsp salt
• 2 eggs, lightly beaten

 In a large bowl, cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy, 1 to 2 minutes.  Add the egg yolk and almond extract.  On low speed, beat in flour until a soft dough forms.  Scrape down the sides of the bowl and refrigerate until firm.

Preheat oven to 350 F.  Use a teaspoon to scoop otu dough and from in 36 3/4-inch balls.  Press a ball of dough into the bottom of a tiny fluted tart pan or brioche mold.  Prick the bottom and side of dough to prevent puffing.  Place molds on a baking tray and bake until just golden, 15 minutes.  Remove molds to wire racks to cool 10 minutes before turning out the cookies.

To make the lemon curd, whisk together all ingredients in a medium saucepan.  Cook over medium-low heat until thickened, 8 to 10 minutes, stirring frequently.  (Mine didn't take that long, maybe 6 minutes, but I've always suspected my stovetop to be hotter than the recipes think.  Also, it may thicken up all at once, so don't leave it alone too long!)  Pour into chilled bowl and cool, stirring occasionally.  Refrigerate until cold, pressing plastic wrap onto the surface to prevent a skin from forming.

Fill the cookies just before serving.  Unfilled cookies can be stored in airtight containers at room temperature; keep the lemon curd refrigerated.

Baking Challenge Week 13 - Cheesecake - Madeira Cheesecake with Salted Caramel and Walnuts

I love cheesecake.  It has to be said.  If there is one class of desserts I favor above all others, it's cheesecake.  I like cookies and cakes just fine.  Pie is generally good, though keep that evil banana cream away from me.  I loathe bananas.  Some things I've never had, like souffle, but I'd be perfectly willing to try.

When in doubt, however, give me cheesecake.

This is also the shot at redemption for a cookbook slated for my Neglected Cookbook Project.  My mother-in-law, having seen my love affair with cheesecake firsthand, thoughtfully gave me The Ultimate Cheesecake Collection as a gift.  It's light on production value (no photos, poor printing quality) but heavy on recipes (over 400!)

It gave me the disastrous appetizer cheesecake for the savory-themed baking challenge two weeks ago.  It's pretty rare at this point that something comes out of my kitchen that's completely inedible, but this....this was beyond disgusting.

Still, it was a stretch to begin with.  Can the cookbook be saved?

Yes, yes, it can.  (To be fair, I didn't make the recipe exactly as written, but we'll get to that!)

This cheesecake is not the best cheesecake I've ever had.  That distinction belongs to the cheesecake with summer berry compote I had at Amore's a few years back, visiting my then-future husband while he was a grad student across the pond.

But this is the best cheesecake I've ever made, hands down.

I can't take credit for the salted caramel syrup, though--I saw it over at smitten kitchen and promptly made it for a dutch baby.  Instead of making the caramel topping detailed in this cheesecake recipe, I used what was left over from that batch.  Too good to go to waste!

Madeira Cheesecake with Salted Caramel and Walnuts
(heavily adapted from The Ultimate Cheesecake Collection's "Brandied Praline Cheesecake")

Crust

• 1 1/4 cups graham cracker crumbs
• 1/4 cup finely chopped walnuts
• 1/4 cup (1/2 stick) butter, melted and cooled

 Filling

•  2 8-oz. packages cream cheese, softened
• 2 eggs
• 3/4 cup light brown sugar
• 1/4 cup Madeira
• 1 tsp vanilla

Topping

• 1/2 batch of SK's salted caramel syrup
• 1/4 cup coarsely chopped walnuts

Preheat the oven to 300 F.

In a small bowl, mix together the graham cracker crumbs, finely chopped walnuts, and melted butter.  Press the mixture evenly over the bottom and 1/2 inch up the sides of a 9-inch springform pan.

In a large bowl, beat the cream cheese until smooth.  Add the eggs and beat at low speed just until the eggs are fully incorporated.  Add the brown sugar, Madeira, and vanilla, and beat at low speed until thoroughly combined.  Pour the mixture into the prepared crust and smooth the top with a spatula.

Place the pan on a cookie sheet (in case of leaks!) and bake in the preheated oven for 1 hour.  Turn off the oven, open the door several inches, and allow the cheesecake to cool at least an hour before proceeding.

Meanwhile, make the caramel if you haven't already.  It needs to be warm enough to pour easily onto the cheesecake, but not hot.  Spread it evenly over the top of your cooled cheesecake, and garnish with the coarsely chopped walnuts, like so:

Refrigerate at least two hours before serving.  Slice with a long, sharp knife, wiping the knife clean in between cuts.  Eat!

Baking Challenge Week 11 - Savory - 'Appetizer' Cheesecake EPIC FAIL!

Seriously, it was disgusting.  We each took a single bite, then I took a picture for posterity, then I threw the entire thing away.  I hate to waste food, but there was absolutely no saving this.

I won't share the recipe--why perpetuate awfulness?--but it was an unsweetened cheesecake flavored with curry powder and shredded cheddar cheese and condensed cream of chicken soup.  Strange, but I thought it at least had potential.

And I was wrong!  The texture was bad, the flavor was off-putting, the smell was....indescribable.  In a bad way.

As a bonus, it was supposed to be the second installment of the Neglected Cookbook Project, as it was from a cheesecake cookbook that I've only used once before.  But I love cheesecake, and won't hold the cookbook responsible, because I'm sure the hundreds of other, non-savory, cheesecakes are fine.  I'll make one of them soon to erase this wretched failure from my brain and taste buds.

The Neglected Cookbook Project: Pastilla

I have a lot of cookbooks.  I'm sure there are plenty of people who have more, but I still feel I have quite a few.  I'm afraid, actually, to count them.  I'm better off not knowing!

But I since I have a lot of them, I also have a few that I've never actually made anything from.  One night a little over a week ago, when I came to one of those lulls you find in some recipes where you have to keep an eye on the food but not really do anything, I grabbed a random cookbook to entertain myself and found one of these long-neglected cookbooks in my hand.

Specifically, one on Moroccan cooking that I'd picked up for cheap on one of my visits to England.  It's just called "Moroccan", and I can't find it listed on Amazon or elsewhere, strangely enough.

As I flipped through it, I found myself absolutely enthralled by it.  So many dishes I was completely unfamiliar with! So many interesting combinations of spices and flavors!  So many things I suddenly felt a burning need to try!

In addition to the weekly challenges, I intend to work through all my never-used cookbooks by the end of the year.  For the next NCP post, I'll have a full accounting of just how many cookbooks this actually is....

As for my first attempt, after some deliberation, and an innocent question on r/cooking that turned into a pigeon-vs-chicken controversy, I came up with this, a chicken version of the Moroccan classic, pastilla.

I know it doesn't look like much.  The filo is a little overdone, and the filling looks like eggy mush.  But it was amazing.

It's a long and somewhat intimidating recipe, I'll grant you that.  Originally the pigeons were supposed to be slowly stewed, and I cooked my chicken thighs in a pressure cooker instead, which sped up the process considerably; I also cooked the chicken several days in advance, and just pulled it, and the reserved stock, out of the fridge on assembly day.

And for the love of all that's golden brown and delicious, don't toss out the extra stock!  I've already made one soup with some of it, and after a bit more tweaking of the recipe, I plan on sharing that too!

Pastilla

Broth

•  four chicken thighs, with bone and skin (or three whole pigeons)
• 1/4 cup butter
• 1 onion, quartered
• 1 cinnamon stick
• 1/2 tsp ground ginger
• 2 tbsp chopped fresh cilantro
• 3 tbsp chopped fresh parsley
• large pinch ground turmeric

Fillings

• 1 cup raw almonds
• 1 tbsp granulated sugar
• 1/4 tsp ground cinnamon
• 6 eggs
• salt and freshly ground black pepper

Pastry

• 1/4 cup butter, melted
• 16 sheets filo pastry 
• cinnamon and confectioner's sugar, for dusting

1) Place the chicken thighs in a pot with all of the broth ingredients.  Season lightly with salt and pepper.  Add water just to cover and bring to a boil.  Cover and simmer gently for one hour, until the chicken is very tender.  (Alternately, if you have one, use your pressure cooker: follow the timing directions for chicken pieces, which was 12 minutes for my model.)

2) Remove the chicken pieces and discard the skin.  Debone and chop or shred the meat into bite-size pieces.  Strain the stock and discard the solids.  Reserve 2/3 cup stock; save the rest for other uses!

3) Meanwhile, spread the almonds on a baking sheet and toast in a 350 F oven for 8-10 minutes, until browned but not burnt.  Leave to cool for a while, then chop roughly, either by hand, or pulsed a bit in a food processor.  Mix  the chopped almonds with the cinnamon and granulated sugar in a small bowl.  Set aside.

4) In a bowl, beat together the eggs.  Add the reserved stock and blend well, then pour into a saucepan.  Over low heat, cook the mixture, stirring constantly, until the sauce turns creamy and thickens.  If the bottom starts to scramble while the top is still very liquid, lower the heat and keep stirring.  This step will take a little while...when it's nearly set, but not quite, remove from the heat, season with salt and pepper, and set aside.

5) Brush the bottom and sides of a 9-inch springform pan with a little of the melted butter and lay the first sheet of pastry in the pan.  Brush this with butter and lay on a second sheet; repeat until six sheets are used.  Spread the almond mixture evenly over the bottom, then carefully pour over half of the egg mixture.

6) Layer four more sheets of pastry over the almond-egg filling.  Spread the chopped chicken meat evenly over the pastry, then pour over the rest of the egg mixture.  Top with the remaining six sheets of pastry, trimming away any overhang at the end.  Brush the top with any remaining butter.

7) Bake at 350 F for 40 minutes, then raise the temperature to 400 F and bake a further 10-15 minutes, until the pastry is golden and crisp.  (I went for 15, but I obviously should have pulled mine early--don't let yours get as brown as mine!)  Sprinkle with confectioner's sugar and cinnamon in a lattice pattern.  Carefully (it will be hot!) undo the latch on the side of the pan to remove it, and use your longest knife to cut the pie into 6 or 8 servings.  Serve hot.