Rosemary Bread

I've been making this bread regularly for months now, and I keep forgetting to photograph it. But the recipe (from here) is really simple and I wanted to be sure to capture it before it disappears from the internet haha. I've modified the recipe to use RapidRise yeast, so it only needs one long rise instead of two.

Rosemary Bread

• 2 1/2 c. all-purpose flour
• 2 tsp sugar
• 1 tsp fine salt
• 1/2 tsp kosher salt
  
• 1 1/4-oz. packet (2 1/4 tsp) RapidRise yeast (the 3rd product down on this website)
  
• 1 c. slightly-hotter-than-warm water (get the hottest water from the tap)
  
• 2 Tbsp extra-virgin olive oil, plus more for brushing and serving
• 4 Tbsp chopped fresh rosemary

Whisk together the flour, sugar, and salts in a large bowl (or the bowl of a stand mixer, with a dough hook attached). Add the yeast and whisk again to distribute. Slowly add the water with one hand, and knead the dough with the other to evenly wet all of the flour (or just let your stand mixer go crazy). While still kneading, add the oil and, once that's incorporated, add the rosemary. Then keep kneading for an additional 10 minutes. You might need to dab your hands with some oil to keep the dough off of them.

Next, brush the sides of the mixing bowl with more oil, and let the dough rise (covered with either plastic wrap or a dish towel) for 10 minutes. While the dough is rising, brush your baking utensil (either a cookie sheet or a large loaf pan) with oil.

After the first rise, shape the dough for baking. If using a loaf pan, just place the dough in it (obviously this will yield a loaf of bread...). If using a cookie sheet (to get smaller rolls), break the dough smaller chunks (I've done everything from 4 to 12 pieces), roll into balls, and place on the oiled cookie sheet.

Place the dough into an UNHEATED oven, along with a big bowl of boiling water, and allow to rise for 2 hours. The oven is a great place for rising because it's sealed, so with the boiling water, it seals in a lot of steam and heat which yeast loves.

After the dough has doubled in size, take it out of the oven and begin to preheat the oven to 400F.

When the oven has heated up, place the bread in and bake for 10 minutes (20 if you're baking a loaf). Take the bread out of the oven, brush the tops with olive oil, and return to the oven for another 10 minutes (again 20 if you're baking a loaf). The bread should be golden brown on all sides (even check the bottom) when it's done.

Transfer to a rack to cool for 5-10 min (it should still be a little warm to the touch). Then either eat right away or store in plastic wrap/ziploc bags for later (this keeps it from completely drying out).

Really easy for bread! And oh so delicious. I've also tried replacing some of the white flour with white whole wheat flour, which works, but of course isn't quite as soft.

Holiday Greetings!

Wishing everyone a very happy holidays! Hope your holiday season is filled with lots of yummy baked goods :)

Korean KupKakes

These are for my Korean friend who has a ton of national pride. These were chocolate cupcakes out of a box, with strawberry filling. The filling is just strawberries, sugar, and water, boiled till it reaches a jelly-like consistency. I made holes in the cupcakes using a bottle cap, filled them up with the jelly, and then topped with store-bought icing.

Persistence of Memory

This is a double chocolate cake with cream cheese and blueberry filling. And as usual, it is eggless and the base is a boxed cake mix.

Ingredients:
1 box of Duncan Hines Devil Food cake mix
1 tub of whipped cream cheese
1 small basket of blueberries
1 large handful of chocolate chips
chocolate frosting
cream cheese frosting
sugar
milk
cooking spray
flour

Directions: Separate out the cake mix into two halves. Bake two separate layers from each half of the box mix. For each, mix 7/8 cup of milk with half a box of cake mix and half of the chocolate chips. Oil your cake pan, and sift flour over the oiled surface. You do not want the thin layers of cake to break when you are removing them from the cake pan/stacking them. Bake each layer at 350 degrees F for 20-25mins. The cream cheese filling is 8oz of cream cheese mixed with 3-5 tablespoons of sugar to taste. To make the blueberry filling wash the blue berries and cook them at medium heat over the stove with a few tablespoons of water. Mash the berries as they cook. Add 2-3 tablespoons of sugar to taste. Cook until the berries have reached a jam-like consistency. When the layers and jam have cooled, you are read to stack. Spread a layer of cream cheese over the bottom cake layer. Then spread a layer of the blueberry jam. Finally carefully stack on the top layer, and frost. Here, I was inspired by Dali.

Fun with Frosting

This is just a very basic O pudding pie. Jell-o pudding. Store bought Oreo crust. It was mainly fun to decorate!

Stovetop Pizza Bites

Pizza's oddly expensive in Shanghai, and it doesn't even taste right. I only have a small conventional oven, so making a pizza from scratch would likely be more effort that it's worth. I figured I'd try something else - so I decided to make pizza over a stove. It actually worked out pretty well. My supermarket sells freshly made dumpling wrappers, noodles, wonton wrappers, and the like, so I just got some fresh dumpling wrappers for the purpose of this experiment. You can get packaged ones from Asian supermarkets in the US as well.

Ingredients
1 package dumpling wrappers
1 cup Roma tomatoes
1/4 medium onion, sliced
1/4 cup mushrooms, sliced
grated cheese of your choice (I used chedder and pepper jack)
olive oil
salt
pepper
garlic powder (use fresh garlic if you have it; I don't like garlic, so I prefer keeping it in powdered form for occasional use)

Preheat oven to 450F. Quarter the tomatoes. Put on a baking sheet. Drizzle with olive oil, salt, pepper, and garlic powder and bake for 45-60min, until caramelized. (Add oregano if you have it; I unfortunately do not). If you have fresh garlic, roast that, too.

Saute onions until caramelized. Saute mushrooms until it releases water and browns. Blend onions, mushrooms, and tomatoes in a food processor. Adjust seasonings to taste

Heat a nonstick saucepan (preferably with a lid) over high heat. Cover the bottom with a single layer of flat dumpling wrappers. When they turn a slightly translucent color and no longer stick to the pan, flip them immediately (you may want to try with just one or two wrappers at first so you don't burn them). Turn down the heat to a medium flame. Spoon the tomato sauce on the wrapper, then cover with grated cheese. Cover saucepan with lid and "bake" until the cheese melts. It should be just about when the wrappers start browning on the bottom. Plate and serve!

Mushroom Yogurt Soup

So I got a new immersion blender and immediately started playing around with it. One of the first actual recipes I made was a modified cream of mushroom soup. There are plenty of mushrooms in China (you can get them at the Asian supermarkets in the States as well), so I decided to use a nice mix.

Ingredients
1/4 cup enoki mushrooms, chopped
1/4 cup shiitake mushrooms, chopped
1/4 cup oyster mushrooms, chopped
1/4 medium yellow onion, sliced
1/2 cup plain yogurt
1 bay leaf
salt
white pepper

Optional
2 Tbsp butter
flour

Saute the onion with some olive oil in a medium saucepan. Add the mushrooms and saute until mushrooms start to brown and release water. Cover with chicken stock, add some salt, pepper, and the bay leaf, and simmer for 10-12min. Remove the bay leaf and blend with immersion blender. Return the bay leaf.

Optional: In another skillet, make a roux by melting the butter and stirring in flour until it becomes a thick, smooth paste that separates from the pan easily. Add to the soup.

Simmer for another 20min or so, stirring or whisking to mix the roux in and thicken the soup. Remove from heat and add the yogurt (don't add it to the heat directly or it might curdle). Season to taste.

Mini Ginger pancakes

Excuse my absence from the blog; I'm in China where blogspot and picasa are both blocked, so I've been having a heck of a time trying to figure out a way to post. :P I still can't get picasa so no pictures (sad), but at least I can post! I had a hankering for pancakes the other day but didn't have syrup, so I figured I could make flavored pancakes and skip the syrup altogether. It's too late for Christmas now, but next year! Along with gingerbread cookies and spiced milk/coffee, you can try ginger-flavored pancakes!

Ingredients
1/2 cup self rising flour
1/3 cup brown sugar
1 tsp ground ginger
1 egg, beaten
1/2 cup water

1. Beat water, egg, sugar, ginger. Stir in flour.

2. Over medium high flame, pour a Tbsp of the batter onto a nonstick pan. When little air pockets form on the top, flip and cook until the bottom is browned. Serve hot, with a little pat of butter.

Princess Cake

This is one of my favorite chocolate cake recipes. Its very rich and moist.

Ingredients:
1 box of devil's food chocolate cake mix
4 eggs
1/2 cup of veg oil
5ounce pack of chocolate instant pudding powder
1 cup sour cream
1/3 cup milk
2/3 bag of chocolate chips
1/2 cup of warm water
cream cheese frosting
food coloring

Mix up all the ingredients (except the frosting/food coloring). To make the princess's skirt we used a bundt cake and two cup cakes. Bake bundt for 50-55 mins. Bake cupcakes for 20-25 mins at 350degrees.

To decorate. Flip the bundt cake out of its pan. Slide a barbie doll up through the bottom of the cake. (Note, the Barbie will have to be in a sitting position to fit in the cake.) Fill in the rest of the hole using the cupcakes. (You may have to break up the cupcakes.) Frost to look like a skirt.

Holiday Cupcakes

Sorry I didn't have a chance to post this over the holidays, but here is a quick and fun holiday treat.

Peppermint Cupcakes (makes 9):
1/2 box of devil's food cake mix
3/4 cup of milk
chocolate frosting
chocolate chips (1 handful)
6-9 candy canes (to taste)

Grind up the candy canes. Pass the powder through a large - sieve. The small powder will go into the cake mix, and the larger pieces will serve as the cupcake topper. Mix the cake mix, fine peppermint powder, chocolate chips, and milk, and pour into cupcake papers. Bake for 25-29mins. Let cool. Frost. Cover with the larger candy cane pieces.

Walnut Cupcakes (makes 9):
1/2 box of devil's food cake mix
3/4 cup of milk
cream cheese frosting
chocolate chips (1 handful)
walnuts (1 handful)

Chop up the walnuts into very small pieces. Mix the cake mix, walnuts, chocolate chips, and milk, and pour into cupcake papers. Bake for 25-29mins. Let cool. Frost. Decorate with piping frosting.

Mint Pesto Lamb with Ravioli

My first time cooking lamb, and I really didn't know what I was doing, but I loosely adapted this recipe and served it with a side of ravioli. Overall not bad, but bc the meat wasn't marinated in anything, it wasn't very flavorful. In the original recipe you're supposed to use rack of lamb, maybe that inherently has more flavor?

Mint Pesto Lamb Steaks with Ravioli

To prep the lamb:

- Large leg of lamb steak (~3/4 lbs)

- Olive oil

- salt and pepper to taste

Preheat oven to 400F. Coat the bottom of a cast iron skillet with olive oil and heat over high heat. When the oil is hot, sear each side of the lamb steak for ~3min each, until nicely browned. Then place the skillet (with oil and juices) into the oven and roast for ~30 min, or until the lamb is almost done to your liking (I roasted for 30 min because I like it well done and after 30 min, it was about medium-well done).

For the pesto:

- 1/2 c loosely packed mint leaves (but 1/2 c basil leaves would be way better)

- 2 Tbsp pine nuts

- 1 Tbsp freshly grated parmesan

- 2 garlic cloves, grated

- a few dashes of salt

- 1 Tbsp olive oil

While the lamb is roasting, in a food processor, blend together the mint, nuts, cheese, garlic, and salt. Then add olive oil and a little water if necessary to make a smooth creamy paste.

When the lamb steaks are almost ready, drain the juices from the skillet. Then spread the pesto over the meat and place back into the oven for ~5 min. Serve with ravioli, below.

For the ravioli:

- 1 pack Trader Joe's goat cheese and sun-dried tomato ravioli (from the refrigerated section)

- 1/2 jar of marinara sauce (my recipe for this amount is below)

- 3 medium mushrooms, sliced (I used cremini)

- 1/4-1/2 c frozen spinach

- olive oil

Prepare the ravioli as instructed on the packaging. While the ravioli is boiling, coat a skillet with olive oil and heat over medium heat. Then add the mushrooms and spinach. When the mushrooms are cooked through, add the marinara sauce and drained ravioli and sautee until the sauce is heated.

Marinara Sauce:

- olive oil

- 1 medium onion, chopped

- 2 cloves garlic, grated, (preferable) or 1Tbsp dried, minced, garlic

- 3 small-medium tomatoes, chopped

- 1/2 Tbsp dry Italian seasoning

- 1/2 tsp salt

- 1 tsp black pepper

- 1/2 tsp sugar

Heat the olive oil over medium heat in a skillet. Add the onions and sautee until the onions are translucent. If using fresh garlic, add it and sautee for another minute. Then add the tomatoes and other seasonings. Once the tomatoes are completely cooked (i.e., they've completely disintegrated except for the skins), allow the mixture to cool and then blend into a liquid in a blender.

Pumpkin Pie

Oh no. I typed up this recipe. And then accidentally ate all the pie before taking a picture!! Oooops. I feel bad stealing the picture from the blog the recipe is from, so, click the link below to see pictures!!

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Like everyone else, I made a pumpkin pie on Thanksgiving. This pie turned out perfect--light and fluffy and not very sweet. Definitely a keeper recipe! (Adapted from here)

this pie crust, but with pecans instead of walnuts

2 large eggs

1/2 cup packed dark brown sugar

3/4 cup heavy cream

1/2 cup skim milk

1 15oz can pumpkin

1 tsp cinnamon

3/4 tsp ground ginger

1 tsp allspice

dash of salt

2 tablespoons melted, unsalted butter

1. Set a rack in the middle of the oven and heat the oven to 375 degrees F. Line a 10-inch pie pan (the deeper the better) with crust. Bake the empty crust for 10-15 min.

2. Whisk the eggs in a large mixing bowl until they are blended. Stir in the brown sugar, cream, milk, pumpkin puree, cinnamon, ginger, allspice and salt. When they are blended, stir in the melted butter and pour the filling into the pie shell.

3. Place the pie in the oven and decrease the temperature to 350 degrees F. Bake for 50 to 60 minutes, until a toothpick poked into the center of the pie comes out clean. Set the pie on a rack to cool. This pie tastes great cold, room temp, or warm, with whipped cream or vanilla ice cream.

Climbing Cake

This one was for a rock climbing enthusiast. The base is a carrot cake with cream cheese frosting. We also baked a chocolate cake, which was cut to the shape of a rock and placed on top of the carrot cake.

Moose Cake!

No fancy recipes here. Just a quick cake I made for an Alsakan friend that I thought I'd share. This is just a yellow box cake with chocolate frosting. The piping is cream cheese frosting done by cutting a small hole in a ziplock bag. The inspiration was Bullwinkle!

Butternut Squash Ravioli with Kale

I had something similar to this last year at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, and have been dying to recreate it ever since. It is the perfect combination of sweet and bitter. Here is my modified version:

Ingredients (serves 4):
Trader Joe's Butternut Squash Ravioli (2 packs)
Kale (1 big bunch, about 6 cups of leaves)
Garlic (3 cloves, minced)
Olive oil (1/4 cup)
Almonds (small handfull, chopped)
Fresh grated parmesan cheese
Salt

Kale:
Pull off the kale leaves from the stalks, and wash well
Chop into strips about a cm thick
Bring a pot of water (with salt) to a boil
Add the kale, and let kale sit in boiling water for 3 mins
Drain, but keep about 1/2 cup of drained water
Add the olive oil and garlic to the kale
Add the drained water and let steam for 3-5 mins

Cook the ravioli as per directions on the package

Serve the kale over the ravioli and top with the cheese and almonds

Chocolate Cupcakes with Fresh Strawberry Filling

When I bake, there are three requirements...it has to be eggless, quick, and delicious. Here is one of my favorite combinations that I have used in both cake and cupcake form.

The cake is easy...I use Duncan Hines devil's food chocolate cake mix. Instead of egg, oil, and water, I add milk (to replace the quantity of water on the box). The cake rises very well even without the egg. You can make a sheet cake or cupcakes.

Filling: Fresh strawberries and sugar at a ratio of two-three table spoons of sugar per small basket of strawberries depending on sweetness of berries. Chop the strawberries up into very small pieces, and heat berries and sugar on the stove top at a high setting. Let the mixture boil, and the moisture evaporate, and stir often. Eventually, the mixture will start to resemble a jelly. You want to wait until this stage, as too much moisture in the filling with make your cake soggy.

For a cake, spread the filling between layers. If you will be storing the cake before consuming, a thin layer of frosting between each layer of cake and the filling will help keep the moisture in the filling out of the cake.

For cupcakes, use a deep bottle cap (one from a screwtop bottle of wine works well) to drill/scoop out a hole in each cupcake. Fill this hole with the filling, and then frost.

Frosting: I have used both cream cheese and chocolate frosting with this combo, and both taste great!

Turkey/Bean burgers

For a barbeque recently, I put together these turkey burgers filled with veggies. For the vegetarian guests, I made a few with beans instead of turkey. Both turned out great!

(photo courtesy of ruohuif)

Turkey Burgers and Bean Burgers

Yield: 4 bean burgers, 8 turkey burgers

2 medium carrots, peeled and grated

1 medium zucchini, peeled and grated

1 bunch parsley, finely chopped

1 Tbsp garlic paste

2 Tbsp black pepper

2 Tbsp all-purpose flour

2 eggs

1 can beans (try black beans, garbanzo beans, or kidney beans), strained

6oz ground turkey meat

Combine all ingredients except for beans and turkey in a large mixing bowl. Place the beans in another mixing bowl and gently mash them. Then combine them with 1/3 of the veggie mixture. Add the turkey meat to the original mixing bowl (2/3 of the veggie mixture) and combine.

Now that you have the turkey and bean mixtures, just form them into patties and place them on the grill. The bean mixture will probably be pretty liquidy, so you might have to cook the patties on aluminum foil sprayed with cooking spray.

Arroz Con Pollo

I got a slow cooker recently, and one of the first things I made was arroz con pollo, which is a very tasty Cuban dish consisting of saffron rice with shredded chicken, peas, and red peppers. Slow cookers are very easy to use, because you just put all the ingredients in the pot and cook it for a long time.

Ingredients:
2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
about a cup of frozen peas
1 (14 oz) can of chicken broth
1/2 a red pepper, cut into strips and sauteed lightly
1 (5 oz) packet of saffron rice
shredded cheese, to taste

Directions: Combine all ingredients in slow cooker (mine recommended using the 4-quart pot for this, but I found that the 2-quart pan was plenty big). Cook on high for 4 hours (I found that it only needed to be on high for about 3 hours and then I turned it down to low for an hour, although it was fully cooked after 3 hours on high. The most important thing is that the chicken be fully cooked.) Slow cookers naturally make the meat very tender, so after cooking you can easily shred the chicken using a fork or spoon, and then stir to combine before serving. If you like cheese, you can also stir in some shredded cheese before serving, and then you can season with salt, pepper, garlic, and paprika to suit your tastes. Note: If you want to cook this all day while you're at work, you can cook it on low for eight hours, but set it to cook on high for 1 hour before it switches to low. For food safety reasons, raw chicken needs to be cooked on high at first to kill bacteria, because it grows too fast when its cooked on low.

Poker Face

Another simple out-of-the-box sheet cake from me. I think the theme of the party this cake is going to is obvious. I was trying to recreate her classic look when she tied her hair into a bow.
This was a chocolate cake with cream cheese frosting. I flipped the cake out of the silicon cake pan for a flat surface to work with. I first frosted the cake with the frosting, and then used a butter knife to cut out the shape. If you cut first and frost second, chocolate crumbs from your cake will mix with the frosting giving you a kind of 'oreo' look, which I didn't want for Miss Gaga's face. The colors were made by adding food coloring. I added the texture of hair using a fork. For the sunglasses and lips, I put the frosting into Ziplock bags, cut a tiny hole in the corner of the bags, and piped on the details. The end result: Ga-ga-ohh-la-la!

"Spanakopita" "Caprese" "Quesadillas"

Lots of quotes because this dish had several multicultural influences. This recipe about spanakopita pesto inspired me because I had a ton of spinach sitting around, and what's better with pesto than tomato and fresh mozarella? That said, I didn't want to put it all in a grilled caprese sandwich because bread felt too heavy, so I decided to go with tortillas instead. Phew, that's a long chain of thought. Anyway, the whole meal turned out delicious! I'm happy to have lots of leftover ingredients so I can make these again!

Pesto Ingredients (makes enough pesto to generously layer in ~5 quesadillas)

2 c. baby spinach leaves, packed

1/2 c. mint leaves, packed

3 Tbsp walnuts

2 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil

1/2 tsp dried minced garlic

1/2 tsp black pepper

1 tsp lemon juice

Place all ingredients in food processor and blend until combined. It's that simple!

For the quesadillas, I just heated up a lightly greased griddle, placed one tortilla on, smothered it in the pesto, the chopped some tomato and mozarella slices on top, and put another tortilla on. I absolutely LOVE the griddle for this sort of this. It's basically a big pan with no sides to worry about! Anyway also, I tried trader joe's handmade whole wheat tortillas, and they were incredible! I love that place! Also, next time, to go with the spinach, I'm going to try making these quesadillas with feta...mmm!