YAY! for Black Bean "Falafel"

The Daring Cooks’ February 2012 challenge was hosted by Audax & 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!

I made hamburgers shortly after the challenge was announced, but that's something I've done several times before, so not much of a challenge. I also forgot to take pictures. For my second challenge attempt I thought I would make falafel, but I didn't have any chickpeas, so I came up with something completely different: a black bean "falafel" style patty, with Tex-Mex flavors, served in a pita with sour cream, lettuce, salsa, and cheese. Avocado would have been great, but I didn't have one :(


Recipe
Into my food processor I put 2 handfuls of tortilla chips (I didn't add salt because the chips were salty)
I chopped them small then added:
1/2 small yellow onion
3 cloves of garlic
zest of 2 limes
1/2 serrano chili (use more if you like more heat)
about 1/2 tsp each of black pepper and cumin
I blended again and added one can of black beans, rinsed and drained well. I added them last to maintain some of the chunkiness you find in traditional falafel (which uses soaked raw beans)
1/2 an egg might have been good, but they held together pretty well without it. Any more liquid than 1/2 an egg would have made the mix too soft to handle.

I used a #60 scoop to portion the patties, flattened them slightly, and fried them in about 1/3" of 350F oil until browned on both sides, drained on toweling, and served.  
The patties were good, and super filling. I made about two dozen "falafel", which was more than enough for the four of us, and probably would have easily served 6. 

YAY! for tamales!!

Maranda of Jolts & Jollies was our January 2012 Daring Cooks hostess with the mostess! Maranda challenged us to make traditional Mexican Tamales as our first challenge of the year!


I made the chili verde version here


They were really good! I usually don't like tamales (probably just haven't had good ones, I guess) but I liked these. 

I served them with extra chili verde sauce and guacamole. 

My brother, sister, and puppy helped me fill, and then I steamed them in my bamboo steamer (I got it for Christmas, thanks Jonathan!) I cooked them last night then reheated for dinner tonight. 

Hunter was such a good supervisor

YAY! for cha siu bao!!

Our Daring Cooks’ December 2011 hostess is Sara from Belly Rumbles! Sara chose awesome Cha Sui Bao as our challenge, where we made the buns, Char Sui, and filling from scratch – delicious!

This was a great challenge as this is a favorite treat!

Cha Siu Recipe:
1 pork fillet/tenderloin (roughly 1-1.5 pounds) (I used two pork chops because everything at the store was much larger than 1 1/2 pounds)
4 large cloves of garlic, crushed
1 teaspoon grated ginger
1 tablespoon peanut oil
3 tablespoons honey
2 tablespoons hoisin sauce
2 tablespoon light soy sauce
1 teaspoon oyster sauce
½ teaspoon ground pepper
pinch of salt
½ teaspoon (2 gm) five spice powder
½ teaspoon sesame oil
½ teaspoon red food coloring (I use a paste color, so I used a LOT less than 1/2 tsp)


Mix everything together an pour most of it on the meat. Let the meat sit in the fridge for 4+ hours. Pre-heat oven to 350F. Heat a heavy pan until it's hot, add meat, cook to form crust of marinade. Put meat in oven and basting frequently, cook for about 20 minutes or until cooked through.


Let cool. Make bun dough:


1 cup milk, scalded and cooled to 100-115F
¼ cup (60 gm/2 oz) sugar
1 tablespoon oil
¼ teaspoon (2 gm) salt
2½ teaspoons (8 gm/1 satchel) of dried yeast
3 cups (420 gm/15 oz) plain flour


Mix together all ingredients. Knead well, let rise until doubled. Punch down and divide into 30-40g pieces. While the dough is rising prepare the filling 
12 oz char sui, finely diced
2 shallots (finely diced)
1 tablespoon soy sauce
2 tablespoons oyster sauce
1 teaspoon sesame oil


Stir together in a frying pan or wok. Add ¼ cup water mixed with 1 tsp corn starch, cook until thickened. Let cool while prepping the dough balls.


Press the balls into rounds, put about 1T of filling on each, pinch shut. Place on parchment squares and let rise 15-30 minutes. 
Steam for about 10 minutes, leave plenty of room, they expand a lot!

I steamed some in the rice cooker and some in a large pot with a vegetable steamer insert.

YAY! for Noodles!!

Steph from Stephfood was our Daring Cooks' July hostess. Steph challenged us to make homemade noodles without the help of a motorized pasta machine. She provided us with recipes for Spätzle and Fresh Egg Pasta as well as a few delicious sauces to pair our noodles with!

I made Käsespätzle, which is spätzle with cheese and onions. It was really good. I have a spätzle maker (looks like this ), which makes it really easy. I layered the noodles with cheese and browned onions and baked until bubbly. YUM! For sure a once in a while treat.

YAY! for Potato Salad!!!

Jami Sorrento was our June Daring Cooks hostess and she chose to challenge us to celebrate the humble spud by making a delicious and healthy potato salad. The Daring Cooks Potato Salad Challenge was sponsored by the nice people at the United States Potato Board, who awarded prizes to the top 3 most creative and healthy potato salads. A medium-size (5.3 ounce) potato has 110 calories, no fat, no cholesterol, no sodium and includes nearly half your daily value of vitamin C and has more potassium than a banana!

I made a warm potato salad using red an yukon gold potatoes, with blanched snow peas, asparagus, and green beans, crispy turkey bacon, sliced scallions, and a mustard vinagrette:

1/4 cup oil (I used olive oil)
2 T mustard (I used Maille hot dijon, my favorite)
2 tablespoons cider vinegar
Salt and pepper to taste


It was really good, and made good leftovers later in the week. Yum!

Gumbo

Our May hostess, Denise, of There’s a Newf in My Soup!, challenged The Daring Cooks to make Gumbo! She provided us with all the recipes we’d need, from creole spices, homemade stock, and Louisiana white rice, to Drew’s Chicken & Smoked Sausage Gumbo and Seafood Gumbo from My New Orleans: The Cookbook, by John Besh.

I didn't like it much, I think I cooked the roux too fast, it ended up oily and gritty. We made hush puppies to go with and they were great.

YAY! for Papas Rellenas!!!

Kathlyn of Bake Like a Ninja was our Daring Cooks’ March 2011 hostess. Kathlyn challenges us to make two classic Peruvian dishes: Ceviche de Pescado from “Peruvian Cooking – Basic Recipes” by Annik Franco Barreau. And Papas Rellenas adapted from a home recipe by Kathlyn’s Spanish teacher, Mayra.

I made the Papas Rellanas, but changed the filling. Raisins and hard cooked eggs don't go over well in my house, so I made a filling of onions, mushrooms, spinach, bacon, and cheese. It was fantastic. I served it with sausages and homemade pretzels (I was recipe testing for something later in the week)

YAY! for Japanese Food!!!

The February 2011 Daring Cooks’ challenge was hosted by Lisa of Blueberry Girl. She challenged Daring Cooks to make Hiyashi Soba and Tempura. She has various sources for her challenge including japanesefood.about.com, pinkbites.com, and itsybitsyfoodies.com

Japanese food has long been a favorite in our house. My dad lived in Japan in his late teens and developed an appreciation for the food, which he and my mother learned to make while living in Frankfurt, Germany from some Japanese friends.

Soba salad is a frequent dinner in the hot summer months, and tempura a popular treat for birthdays or New Year's Eve. The first time I made tempura on my own was 10 years ago, when I was just 16.

This month's recipes didn't feel like challenges, but they were sure family favorites!

Poaching

Jenn and Jill 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.

As I don't like runny yolks (or really yolks at all) I decided to poach fish. I looked high and low for a recipe that didn't call for wine, then someone suggested I use a Court Bouillon. This sounded great. So I looked up recipes and found a few and decided on one. I won't bother posting the recipe because it was totally bland and flavorless, even with added seasoning. Part of this was probably the fish I used (I'm poor, so went with the cheapest thing at TJs) I thought, hey, a flavorful broth would be great to make risotto with, but it was so bad we didn't eat it (my sister added ketchup and pronounced it "edible")

I'd definitely poach fish again, but next time I'd just use water, it would add about as much flavor. And I'll try risotto again with something flavorful.

Pumpkin Souffle

I ran my thumb around the top edge of the ramekins, which is supposed to help them rise straight, but they didn't anyway. I'm blaming the oven.

Pumpkin Souffle
1/4 c milk
1 1/2 tsp cornstarch
1/8 tsp grated nutmeg
1/4 tsp ground cinnamon
1/8 tsp ground cloves
1/8 tsp ground ginger
1 1/2 tsp sugar
6 T pumpkin
3/4 c egg whites
Pinch of cream of tartar
1/3 c sugar

Preheat oven to 400F
Prep 8 ramekins by spraying with pan spray and coating with sugar.
Mix together the first 7 ingredients in a small saucepan. Heat over med-high heat until thick, stirring constantly. Add pumpkin, remove to medium mixing bowl, let cool.
In a super-clean bowl beat the egg whites with cream of tartar until frothy. While beating, add the sugar gradually. Beat until stiff peaks form.
Fold some of the whites into the pumpkin mixture to lighten, then the rest in two batches.
Spoon into ramekins, scraping off the top. Run your thumb around the edge, if you think your oven won't interfere and make them bake wonky anyway.

These are excellent with caramel sauce on top.

YAY! for Lasagne!!

This month's challenge was a little out of the ordinary, but still delicious!
The March 2009 challenge is hosted by Mary of Beans and Caviar, Melinda of Melbourne Larder and Enza of Io Da Grande. They have chosen Lasagne of Emilia-Romagna from The Splendid Table by Lynne Rossetto Kasper as the challenge.
I've been baking for ages and this is one of the few times I've felt like I failed at something.
I don't have a pasta machine, so I rolled it by hand and it was taking far too long, so I gave up and used boxed no-boil noodles for half. I added a ton of mozzarella to the bechamel and added a ricotta layer because that's what my family wanted.
Mostly I made it up as I went, as I tend to when cooking. To make the meat sauce I first cooked a chopped onion and a few cloves of garlic, added a pound of bulk sausage, cooked it up, added a can of tomato sauce, a can of tomato paste, and a cup of water. For the bechamel I cooked a roux, added hot milk and cooked until thick, then added a lot of grated mozzarella cheese (I don't know how much, but I'd guess about a pound). I also mixed a couple of eggs into a pint of ricotta, then stirred in a couple of handfuls of grated parmesan. I layered it all in a pan, topped it with more mozz and parm, and baked. I've only made lasagne one other time, and it was several years ago and I don't remember how it turned out, but this one was good. I'd make it again, but never again will I make my own noodles without a pasta roller, even if it's just one from the craft/hobby store.