Cooking w/ Tamarind

Useful for below steak marinade: :)
Look for three main types of tamarind paste in Asian, Indian or Latin markets: bricks with seeds and seedless pulp. Flat cellophane wrapped bricks contain the pulp and seeds; break off an inch or so and submerge it in warm water for about 15 minutes. Then press the softened pulp and liquid through a strainer over a bowl to separate the usable diluted pulp from the seeds and fibers. Indian markets carry tamarind concentrate, which contains pure pulp without seeds, and can be used straight from the jar.
You can also find tamarind powder and so-called instant tamarind, which takes longer to dissolve than tamarind bricks. Other tamarind products include nam phrik pao, a chile-tamarind paste used in Thai and Filipino sour soups, sauces, dressings, and stir-fries.
When dissolving tamarind pulp, go ahead and make more than you need immediately. After straining the pulp, freeze the liquid in ice cube trays for ready use later.
If you can't find tamarind, you can substitute lemon or lime juice mixed with a touch of brown sugar.

Awesome Oaxacan Steak, Chicken & Veggie Tacos

ACTIVE TIME: 1 HR 45 MIN TOTAL TIME: 2 HRS 30 MIN plus overnight marinating

SERVES: 6
Great recipe from Food and Wine. The sweet Coca-Cola–and–tamarind marinade used to tenderize and flavor skirt steaks was a discovery the author made while traveling through Oaxaca. The chef observed that Mexicans love Coke and they’d offer it to her at breakfast. So true!!! Best fajita/taco recipe I know!!! Enjoy.

STEAK
2 ounces pressed tamarind from a pound block, cut into 3/4-inch pieces
3/4 cup hot water
4 unpeeled garlic cloves
3 scallions, chopped
1 1/2 teaspoons thyme leaves
1 tablespoon pure ancho chile powder
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
3/4 cup Coca-Cola
Salt and freshly ground pepper
1 1/2 pounds skirt steak, cut into 4-inch lengths
VEGETABLES AND CHICKEN
1/2 cup extra-virgin olive oil
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 serrano chile, thinly sliced
2 medium zucchini, thinly sliced lengthwise
2 chayote—peeled, halved lengthwise, pitted and thinly sliced crosswise
2 large carrots, thinly sliced on a sharp angle
1 fennel bulb—trimmed, cored and thinly sliced
Salt and freshly ground pepper
4 skinless, boneless chicken breast halves, butterflied
36 corn tortillas, warmed
Salsa Verde and Pico de Gallo, cilantro sprigs and sour cream, for serving

Directions
Prepare the steak: In a microwave-safe bowl, combine the tamarind and water and microwave on high power for 2 minutes. Cover and let stand until the tamarind is softened, about 30 minutes.
Meanwhile, preheat a small skillet. Add the garlic and cook over moderate heat, turning occasionally, until the cloves are blackened in spots, about 8 minutes. Peel the garlic.
Mash the tamarind to a pulp. Strain the puree through a fine sieve into a blender. Discard the seeds and fibers. Add the roasted garlic and the scallions, thyme, chile powder and olive oil to the blender and puree until smooth. With the machine on, add the Coca-Cola in a thin stream until blended. Season generously with salt and pepper. Transfer the mixture to a shallow baking dish. Add the steak and turn to coat. Cover and refrigerate overnight.
Prepare the vegetables and chicken: Preheat a grill pan. In a large bowl, combine the oil, garlic, fennel and serrano chile. Add the sliced vegetables and a generous pinch each of salt and pepper and toss to coat. Grill the vegetables over high heat, turning occasionally, until tender and lightly charred, about 8 minutes. Transfer the vegetables to a cutting board and coarsely chop them.
Brush the chicken with some of the remaining oil from the vegetable bowl and season with salt and pepper. Grill the chicken over high heat, turning once until cooked through and lightly charred, about 8 minutes. Let rest for 10 minutes, then cut into thin strips.
Scrape most of the marinade off the steaks. Grill the steaks over high heat, turning occasionally, until charred in spots, about 10 minutes for medium-rare. Transfer the steaks to a cutting board and let rest for 10 minutes, then thinly slice across the grain.
Mound the steak, chicken and vegetables in 3 bowls and serve with the tortillas, Salsa Verde, Pico de Gallo, cilantro and sour cream.

Big Chocolate Chip Cookies

- This recipe is from the Moosewood Restaurant New Classics cookbook (2001 edition).

Ingredients:

3/4 cup butter, at room temp.
1 1/2 cups dark brown sugar, packed
2 eggs
1 1/2 cups unbleached white flour
3/4 cup whole wheat pastry flour (I used reg. whole wheat flour)
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
2 tsp pure vanilla extract
2 tbsp water
2 cups chocolate chips
1 cup chopped walnuts and/or raisins (optional)

Steps:

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Lightly butter a baking sheet (I used parchment paper and it worked fine).

2. In large bowl, cream the butter and sugar together until smooth. Beat in the eggs until well blended. In separate bowl, sift together the white flour, whole wheat flour, baking soda, and salt. Stir the dry ingredients into the butter mixture, mixing well. Add the vanilla and water. Stir in the chocolate chips and, if you wish, the nuts and/or raisins.

3. For 3-inch cookies, drop the batter by scant 1/4 cups onto the baking sheet, leaving 2 inches of space between the cookies. Bake for about 10 mins, or until the edges and bottoms are light brown and the tops golden. Check after 8 mins to avoid overbaking.

Remove the cookies to a rack to cool.

Yield: 20 three-inch cookies

Prep time: 15 mins

Baking time: approx. 10 mins per batch

- Believe it or not, I forgot to add the eggs to this recipe today! I was wondering why the dough was so dry, so I ended up adding a little bit of milk to make the dough moist. It worked out though because Andy had used all the eggs in another recipe yesterday anyway! To my delight, the cookies turned out just fine - if anything, they were a bit on the sugary side. I'm sure the eggs would have helped tone that down a bit.

Enjoy!

Excellent, moist Blueberry Coffee Cake - Cooking Light

Ingredients

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour (about 6 3/4 ounces)

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/4 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 teaspoon salt

3/4 cup granulated sugar

6 tablespoons butter, softened

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 large egg

1 large egg white

1 1/3 cups low-fat buttermilk

2 cups fresh blueberries

1 tablespoon turbinado sugar


Preparation


1. Preheat oven to 350°.
2. Lightly spoon flour into dry measuring cups; level with a knife. Combine flour, baking powder, soda, and salt, stirring with a whisk.
3. Place granulated sugar and butter in a large bowl; beat with a mixer at medium speed until well blended (about 2 minutes). Add vanilla, egg, and egg white; beat well. Add flour mixture and buttermilk alternately to sugar mixture, beginning and ending with flour mixture; mix after each addition.
4. Spoon half of the batter into a 9-inch round baking pan coated with cooking spray. Sprinkle evenly with 1 cup blueberries. Spoon remaining batter over the blueberries; sprinkle evenly with remaining 1 cup blueberries. Sprinkle the top evenly with 1 tablespoon turbinado sugar. Bake at 350° for 50 minutes or until a wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool in pan 10 minutes on a wire rack; remove from pan. Cool completely on wire rack.


Yield

8 servings (serving size: 1 wedge)

Nutritional Information

CALORIES 287(31% from fat); FAT 9.9g (sat 5.9g,mono 2.6g,poly 0.6g); PROTEIN 5.4g; CHOLESTEROL 51mg; CALCIUM 93mg; SODIUM 294mg; FIBER 1.5g; IRON 1.4mg; CARBOHYDRATE 45.4g.



Marcia Whyte Smart, Cooking Light, MAY 2008

Baked Potato at Mile 75

Hot Tater

melting butter

salt & pepper

plastic fork

hunger of a ravaging gorilla

(and yes, i am distantly related to the lasanga girl below)

Sarah's popovers

Hello chefs out there,
Sarah's Fannie Farmer popover recipe turned out excellent the other night. Did not touch the oven to peak, just to turn down the temps. Don't be afraid if the batter looks slightly lumpy... and mine was alarmingly thin. They popped so beautifully but fell a little as they cooled out of the oven. I put a little of the strawberry icing I had leftover in the porous middle and they were to die for. Enjoy and thanks Sarah!
Here is a link to the online 1918 version of Fannie Farmer's cookbook for those interested:
http://www.bartleby.com/87/

hope you enjoy as much as I did

Curtin Yacht Club Lasagna

SUPER EASY! rich and creamy lasagna. Barry's mom used to make it after sailing events at the yacht club :) Great reputation all the way from London...

15 minutes prep time, 40-5o minutes bake time, serves 10-15

Ingredients
5 cups Milk
1 cup flour
1 cup butter
No Boil Lasagna noodles
4 cups mozarella cheese
1 lb hamburger meat
1 jar pasta sauce

Pre-Heat oven to 35o degrees
Prepare casserole dish 13x9 with PAM
Brown hamburger in skillet, drain, add pasta sauce

(White sauce) Melt butter, stir in flour, add milk (whisk to mix)
Boil for one minute

Layer dish with noodles, cheese, hamburger + sauce, white sauce (repeat until dish is full)
top with white sauce and cheese

Bake for 40-50 minutes until top is slightly brown and noodles are soft

Enjoy!

Popovers - 2 recipes!

Hello readers,

Here are two recipes for Popovers (aka "Yorkshire Pudding"), per Courtney's request. These are a favourite in our house at Thanksgiving. There is debate, though, about whether to start Popovers baking in a cold or preheated oven - you can try it either way with these two recipes.

From the "Fannie Farmer Baking" cookbook -

**Start these in a COLD oven.

Ingredients:
2 eggs
1 cup milk
1 tbsp butter, melted
1 cup flour
1/4 tsp salt

Butter muffin pans or popover tins.

Mix the eggs, milk, butter, flour, and salt just until thoroughly blended, without overbeating - a 1-quart glass measure with a spout is a good for mixing, because you can pour the batter right into the pans. Half fill the prepared pans, and set them in a cold oven. Turn the heat to 450 degrees F and bake for 15 minutes, then reduce the heat to 350 degrees F and bake about 15 mins longer, until they are puffed and golden brown on top. Remove from the pans and serve piping hot.

Variation: whole wheat popovers - use 2/3 cup whole-wheat flour and 1/3 cup all-purpose flour instead of 1 cup all-purpose flour. These will not rise as high as regular popovers.

From "The Joy of Cooking" cookbook -

We prefere a preheated 450 degree oven. Popovers like soufles, need bottom heat only, so be sure if your oven is the type that supplies top heat when set on Bake, to remove the upper heating element. Have ready buttered deep muffin or popover tins. If you use highly glazed deep custard cups, grease them lightly and - depending on what you are serving with the popovers - dust the cups with sugar, flour, or grated Parmesan cheese. This will give the egg something to cling to. Have all ingredients at about 75 degrees.

Beat until just smooth:
1 cup milk
1 tbsp melted butter
1 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 tsp salt

Add, one at a time, but do not overbeat:
2 eggs

The batter should be no heavier than whipping cream. Full the buttered deep bakers 3/4 full. Don't overload - too much batter in the pans will give a muffinlike texture.

Bake at once. After 15 mins, lower the heat without peeping, to 350 and bake for about 20 mins longer. To test for doneness, remove a popover to be sure the side walls are firm. If not cooked long enough, the popovers will collapse. You may want to insert a sharp paring knife gently into the other popovers to allow the steam to escape, after baking.

Variation: whole wheat -
Prepare:
popovers, above

Substitute for the flour:
2/3 cup fine whole-grain flour
1/3 cup all-purpose flour

Strawberry Shortcake Cupcakes

Tonight I had a craving for a delicious cupcake. I pulled out my Food and Wine magazine and went to work. I used the basic yellow cupcake and then made strawberry icing.
"Golden" Cupcake:
Active time: 20 min. ; Total: 45 min.
Makes 12 cupcakes
1 c. plus 2 tbsp all-purpose flour ( i used white whole wheat flour)
2 tbsp. cornstarch
1 1/4 tsp. baking powder
1/8 tsp. salt
1/4 c. granulated sugar (i used raw sugar)
2 large eggs, at room temp
1 1/4 tsp pure vanilla extract
4 tbsp. unsalted butter, melted
1/4 c. vege oil
1/2 c. milk, at room temp

1. Preheat the oven to 350. Line a 12-cup muffin tin with paper or foil liners (i used silicon- works great)
2. In a med. bowl, whisk the flour with the cornstarch, baking powder and salt.
3. In a lg bowl, using a handheld mixer, beat the sugar with the eggs and vanilla extract at med-high speed until smooth and thickened slightly, about 3 mins. Add the butter and oil and beat until incorporated, scraping the sides and bottom of bowl. Add the dry ingredients in batches, beating well b/w additions. Carefully pour the batter into the lined muffin tins, filing them about 2/3 full.
4. Bake the cupcakes in the center of the oven for 20-23 mins, until springy and a toothpick comes out clean. Let cupcakes cool slightly in the muffin tin, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely. Frost and top the cupcakes.
MAKE AHEAD: The unfrosted cupcakes can be wrapped in plastic and stored at room temp. for up to 2 days or frozen for up to 1 month.

White Buttercream Frosting w/ Strawberry Variation:
Total: 15 minutes
6 tbsp. unsalted butter, softened
2 c. powdered sugar
1/2 tsp. pure vanilla extract
pinch of salt
2 tbsp. heavy cream or milk
strawberry jam***

In a med. bowl, using a handheld mixer, beat the softened butter at medium speed until smooth. Add the powdered sugar, vanilla, and salt and beat the mixture at a low speed just until combined. Increase the mixer speed to medium and beat until smooth. Add the milk or heavy cream and beat unti llight and fluffy- about 2 minutes. Mix in strawberry jam with the frosting to make your "strawberry shortcake" icing.
*** I didnt have any strawberry jam, so i decided to make a strawberry syrup of sorts. I chopped 4 organic strawberries and added about 1 tbsp. of raw sugar in a small saucepan on med-high heat. I crushed the strawberries as they softened, about 5 mins, with a pestle and stirred occasionally. I put this "jam/syrup" into my frosting and it was magnificent! Maybe it was the fresh strawberries or the fact that the frosting was warm... it was like warm strawberry cake. I am sure that if you used the jam, the frosting would be much more fluffy and less runny. Your choice! Enjoy.

Spanish food, pantry items online

Food and Wine magazine introduced me to 2 useful sites for spanish cooking.
www.latienda.com
www.spanishtable.com

La Tienda has a wide selection with an easy user interface. It has varities of paprika- which I cannot seem to find anywhere in Portland. They sell smoked, sweet and hot. And combos of those... not to mention, they sell great gift sets (paella ones come with a nice paella pan) for the chef in all of us! Hint to the spouses out there!!! :)

Spanish Table apparently has a shop in Seattle near Pikes Place market. I'll have to check it out soon and write a report. Meanwhile, they have online sales as well.

Happy tapas and paella cooking!

Curried Chicken Salad

This is a great variation on regular-old chicken salad. The curry flavor is just right- not too overwhelming. I made it without the mango and it was still excellent.
For salad:
4 skinless chicken breast halves
2 tbsp kosher salt
1 med. red onion, chopped
1 firm, but ripe, mango
1 c. red seedless grapes
1/2 c. salted roasted chopped cashews or sliced almonds
For Dressing:
1/2 c. mayonaise
1/3 c. plain yogurt
5 tsp. curry powder
1 tsp. honey
1 tbsp. fresh lime juice
1/2 tsp. ground ginger
1/2 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. freshly ground black pepper

Poach the chicken: Coat chicken with kosher salt in a bowl. Let stand at room temp. for 15 minutes- turning once or twice. Rinse salt from chicken. Poach chicken in a 3-4 quart saucepan of barely simmering well-salted water, uncovered, for 6 minutes. Remove from heat and let chicken stand in cooking liquid, covered, until just cooked through, 10-12 minutes. Transfer chicken to a plate and cool for 10 minutes.
Meanwhile, make the dressing: Whisk together mayonaise, yogurt, curry powder, lime juice, honey, ginger, salt, and pepper in a large bowl.
Assemble the salad: cut chicken into 1/2 inch pieces and addt o dressing. Add onion, mango, grapes and nuts and stir gently to combine. Enjoy!