Chantilly Cream

Chantilly cream by any stretch of the imagination is just fancy whipped cream with vanilla added to it. But it's fancy because you whipped it yourself and it's not from a can (or a tub, for the love).


Oh and it's flecked and flavored with beautiful vanilla seeds

Chantilly Cream

• 1½ vanilla beans
• 1 ½ cups heavy whipping cream
• 2 tablespoons confectioners’ sugar, sifted

Split and scrape the vanilla beans. Drop the seeds into a chilled glass bowl with the cream and sugar. Whip the cream with an electric hand mixer fitted with a whisk attachment. Start low and gradually increase the speed to high as the cream thickens (to avoid splatter painting your kitchen with heavy cream). Beat for about 2 minutes or until stiff peaks form. Do not overbeat.

Profiteroles

Profiteroles, cream puffs. 

Whatever, whatever. 

Pastries stuffed with cream, who cares what they're called?

Makes enough for 24 profiteroles or cream puffs

2 large eggs plus 1 large egg white

5 tablespoons unsalted butter, cut into 10 pieces

2 tablespoons whole milk

6 tablespoons water

1 1/2 teaspoons sugar

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup unbleached all-purpose flour, sifted

Beat the eggs and egg white in a measuring cup or small bowl; you should have 1/2 cup (discard the excess). Set aside.

Bring the butter, milk, water, sugar, and salt to a boil in a small saucepan over medium heat. When the mixture reaches a full boil (the butter should be fully melted), immediately remove the saucepan from the heat and stir in the flour until combined and the mixture clears the sides of the pan. Return the saucepan to low heat and cook, stirring constantly, until the mixture is slightly shiny and looks like wet sand, about 3 minutes.

Immediately transfer the mixture to a food processor and process with the feed tube open for 10 seconds to cool slightly. With the machine running, gradually add the eggs. When all the eggs have been added, scrape down the sides of the bowl, then process for 30 seconds until a smooth, thick, sticky paste forms. Transfer the paste to a pastry bag fitted with a 1/2 inch plain tip.

(If not using immediately, transfer the paste to a medium bowl, press a sheet of plastic wrap directly on the surface, and store at room temperature for up to 2 hours.)

Adjust an oven rack to the middle position and heat the oven to 425 degrees. Spray a large (18 by 12-inch) baking sheet with nonstick cooking spray and line with parchment paper; set the pan aside.

Twist the top of the bag and pipe the paste into 1 1/4- to 1 1/2-inch mounds on the prepared baking sheet, spacing them about 1 to 1 1/4 inches apart. Use the back of a teaspoon dipped in a bowl of cold water to even out the shape and smooth the surface of the piped mounds.

Bake 15 minutes (do not open the oven door), then reduce the oven temperature to 375 degrees and continue to bake until golden brown and fairly firm (the puffs and éclairs should not be soft and squishy), 8 to 10 minutes longer. 

Remove the baking sheet from the oven. Cut a 3/4-inch slit into the side of each puff and return to the oven, turn off the oven, and prop the oven door open with the handle of a wooden spoon. Dry the puffs oven until the centers are just moist (not wet) and the puffs are crisp, about 45 minutes.

Transfer the puffs to a wire rack to cool completely. 

I fill these with a stiffly whipped Chantilly Cream and top with powdered sugar and then eat them all before my husband gets home, but if you want to fill them with pastry cream or top with chocolate ganache, go to browneyedbaker, where this pate a choux pastry dough recipe was adapted from.

(The cooled puffs can be stored at room temperature for up to 24 hours or frozen in a zipper-lock plastic bag for up to 1 month. Before serving, crisp room-temperature puffs in a 300-degree oven 5 to 8 minutes; crisp frozen puffs/éclairs 8 to 10 minutes.)

Rules: Substituting dried herbs/spices for fresh

While I always recommend following the ingredients the recipe calls for as closely as possible, sometimes, it's just not. Here's a quick rule of thumb when you need to substitute what you've got, for what the recipe calls for: the 3:1 ratio.

3 parts fresh : 1 part dried

Dried herbs and spices have much stronger, more concentrated flavors than fresh; you'll need a lot less dried herbs in a recipe that calls for fresh herbs- a lot more fresh herbs in a recipe that calls for dried herbs.


for example:

• your recipe calls for 3 tsp of fresh ginger, but all you have is dried

--> 3 tsp fresh ginger : 1 tsp dried ginger

• your recipe calls for 1 T of dried basil leaves; but you bought fresh basil today

--> 3 T fresh basil (chopped finely) : 1 T dried basil leaves

Happy Cooking!

Mexican Cafe Sopapillas

Sopapillas.

Mexican Beignets.

Donut Triangles.

Perfection.

These little pillows from heaven are a favorite dessert at my local Mexican Cafe. Served warm, they are the perfect deep-fried bite to end a meal.

Here is the easiest recipe I've ever seen for them. They're great to share! 

Or not.

Sopapillas

2 C all purpose flour

2 T shortening

1 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

3/4 C water

Oil for frying

Cinnamon Sugar

1/4 cup granulated sugar

2 tsp cinnamon

Mix the flour, shortening, baking powder and salt in a medium bowl. Make a well in the mixture and slowly add the water a little at a time until the dough comes together. It should not be too sticky. 

Cover the dough and let it stand for 20 minutes.

Roll the dough out to 1/8"-1/4" on a floured surface. Cut into squares/diamonds/triangles.

Bring your frying oil to 375 degrees F. 

Fry your sopapillas 4-5 at a time, until golden on both sides (abt 2 minutes a side)

Drain excess oil on paper towels and sprinkle with cinnamon sugar mixture.

Unabashedly stuff your face.

Cinnamon sugar. honey. why not?

honey drizzle/rolled in cinnamon sugar

oh my gatos

Salted Chocolate & Caramel Shortbread Bites

chocolate. salted caramel. shortbread.

stop it.

Shortbread:

1 cup all-purpose flour

1 tsp. baking powder

1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, room temp

1/4 cup sugar

pinch of salt

Preheat oven to 325. Line 8"x 8" baking dish with parchment paper

In a small bowl, combine flour, baking powder and salt, whisk to blend.

Cream butter and sugar on medium speed until fluffy (1-2 minutes)

On low speed, slowly add the dry ingredients, mix until just combined

Press the dough into the baking dish as evenly as possible, creating the first and bottom layer of the bite

Bake 18-20 minutes or until golden brown.

Set on a wire cooling rack and allow to cool completely.

Caramel

1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, cut into pieces

1/2 cup sugar

2 tsp. light corn syrup

1 can sweetened condensed milk

When the shortbread is completely cooled, combine the butter, sugar, corn syrup and condensed milk in a saucepan over medium heat. Stir until butter is melted, increase the heat. Bring the mixture to a boil, then reduce the heat to a simmer, stirring constantly. Continue to stir while simmering until the mixture turns an amber-caramel color and thickens slightly. Remove from heat and pour over the shortbread, making sure the layer is smooth. Cool until the caramel is set, I popped it into the fridge to set up for about an hour.

Chocolate

4 oz. semi-sweet chocolate chips

1/2 tsp light corn syrup

1/4 cup (1/2 stick) unsalted butter, cut into pieces

fluer de sel or sea salt, for sprinkling

Once the caramel is set, combine the chocolate, butter and corn syrup in a heatproof glass bowl and set over simmering water (double boiler). When the chips start to look shiny, remove the bowl from the heat and whisk the mixture quickly until all of the chocolate is melted and the mixture is smooth. Pour the chocolate over the caramel layer and make the layer smooth. After a minute or two of cooling, sprinkle the top with the fleur de sel. Chill at least one hour, cut up and serve when set.

Homemade Tzatziki

tzatziki.

oh.em.geez.

this cool and creamy sauce is one of my favorites of all time. I could probably eat it plain.  It's great with pita bread. It's great with lamb. 

those Greeks knew what they were doing.

here's a quick and easy recipe for my take on tzatziki...

Tzatziki Sauce

17.6 oz. tub of at least 2% milkfat greek plain yogurt

1 tsp. grated lemon zest

1/2 T extra virgin olive oil

2 cloves garlic, minced (or more if your like your sauce garlicky like moi)

1 tsp. fresh squeezed lemon juice

1 cucumber, seeded and chopped

2 T fresh dill

salt to taste

Place the chopped and seeded cucumber in a food processor and puree.

Strain as much of the water from the cucumber puree, pressing the pulp into the mesh with the back of a spatula.

Wrap the cucumber pulp in cheese cloth and squeeze out any remaining water. 

You really want the cucumber pulp as dry as possible, otherwise it doesn't blend well with the yogurt and makes the sauce watery.

Open the yogurt tub and drain any water from it that has risen to the top.

Then it's pretty simple....

top the yogurt with the remaining ingredients and combine

I didn't have fresh dill, so I used dried... meh.

season with salt to taste

and there you have it, you're own tub of homemade tzatziki sauce, ready for your dipping pleasure!

enjoy!

How To: Shuck an oyster

OYSTER SEASON HAS ARRIVED!

If you don't like raw oysters then you're insane and not my friend this post is not for you...

Oyster season takes place during all the months with an "R", however last year I was baking

this beautiful little bun

in my oven during a majority of that season, so it's been almost a whole year since I've been able to safely enjoy one of these little beauties of the sea.

So in celebration of the season, I thought I'd post with an easy How To: Shuck an oyster

for those of you who are curious, these are Choptank Bay Sweets

Using an oyster knife or another dull knife (or a flathead screwdriver like me), find the back of the oyster, called the hinge

insert your knife into the hinge, breaking the suction seal (this will take a lot of elbow grease, and unless you're like me and don't mind bloody knuckles I recommend wearing a glove of some kind)

 once you've popped it open, run your knife under the oyster to detach it from the shell

a squeeze of lemon, a little mignonette, some cocktail sauce, or as is- slurp and enjoy! 

Happy Oyster Season!

Chipotle Aioli

Aioli is essentially a fancy garlicky mayonnaise used as a dipping sauce for many fried foods. Here is a favorite of mine:

1/2 C mayonnaise
1 canned chipotle chile in adobo
1 clove garlic
1/2 lemon, juiced
pinch of salt

Combine all ingredients in a food processor for about 1 minute. Let sit in the fridge to allow flavors to marry. Serve as a dipping sauce for any fried seafood or fried potato wedges.

Fried Calamari

A crowd-pleasing appetizer, calamari is simple to make and easy to enjoy with any dipping sauce of your choice. 

1 lb whole squid tubes, cleaned and cut into 1 in. rounds

1 C whole fat buttermilk

1 large egg, lightly beaten

Canola Oil for frying

1 C all purpose flour

2 tsp paprika

Kosher salt and fresh ground pepper

Lemon Wedges

toothpicks *these help to maintain the round "O" shape of the calamari, allowing the flour breading to coat evenly*

Mix the egg and the buttermilk with a pinch of salt and marinate the squid rounds for at least 15 minutes (up to 30 min). 

Meanwhile, combine the flour, paprika and 2 T of salt and 1 T of pepper in a shallow baking dish

When the squid is done marinating,  pierce them crosswise with a toothpick to keep the round in an "O" shape. This will ensure that they get evenly floured inside the ring so that they fry evenly and do not collapse when you through them in the oil.

Heat the oil over medium heat, testing the oil for temperature by throwing a few pinches of flour in it (the flour should fry and bubble, but not turn brown for about a minute or so).

Dredge the squid through the flour, ensuring to coat each piece inside and out. Let rest, then repeat (my secret to crispy fried anything)

When the oil is at the right temperature, fry the squid in two batches. Sprinkle with a little more kosher salt when you take them out of the fry oil. Serve with marinara, my favorite Chipotle Aioli or your dipping sauce of choice.

China Bistro Mongolian Beef

I drag Scott to P.F. Chang's just so I can get my fix of this little number right here. I'm so happy to have finally found a recipe comparable enough that I can confidently make it as a substitute. It's so simple and pretty much all of the ingredients can be found in your kitchen! Enjoy!

Mongolian Beef

1 lb flank steak, thinly sliced against the grain- on bias

1/4 C cornstarch

3 tsp canola oil

1/2 tsp grated ginger

1 T minced garlic (3 large cloves)

 1/2 C water
1/2 C soy sauce ( I would use low sodium because the sauce reduces pretty significantly)
1/2 C brown sugar
1/2 tsp red pepper flakes
3 large green onions, chopped into thirds

Pat the slices of steak dry, then dredge them in the cornstarch in a shallow dish. Coat thoroughly then shake off excess cornstarch by placing the steak in a fine mesh sieve. You don't want a heavy coating of cornstarch or your meat won't crisp up nicely (the coating will fall off  and into your sauce, yuck).

Heat half of the oil in your wok or large pan over med- high heat. Add the garlic and ginger and let them cook and become fragrant for about 30 seconds. Add the soy sauce, water, sugar, and red pepper flakes. Cook the sauce for about 2 minutes and then transfer it to a bowl so that you can cook the meat.

Add the rest of the oil to your pan and brown the meat. Pour the sauce back into the pan and allow it to cook down to a thick syrup. Once you've reached the consistency you like, add in the green onions and cook another 30 seconds, keeping the onions green and slightly crisp.  Serve hot, with your favorite kind of rice (you could even try my mom's fried rice) and, as always, enjoy!