Ossobuco

At our local butcher's (Salem's) they had veal shoulder for $4 a lb. (3-4 lb shoulder) so I had one cross-cut for me, and decided to make an Ossobuco-like dish in my slow cooker.  I did feel a bit bad about getting veal, but as I have a confidence that the small local farms they are sourcing from treat the animals with respect, I decided to go for it.  (Here's a great article on them).

I wanted to do somethign quick and one-step, so I skipped gremolata in favor of incorporating garlic an parsley into the dish, and I was out of white wine.  here is what went into the slow cooker:

• 4lbs. of cross cut veal; dredge in flour and lightly browned in a hot pan with olive oil
• 2 red onions, 9 med. carrots, 10 garlic, 7 celery; all cut this and sauted in the pan next with some parsley, salt, and black pepper
• 1 small can of tomato paste and a box of beef broth (~4 cups) used to deglaze the pan

I left this overnight in the fridge, then started the slow cooker before work (8:30am).  My nice Hamilton Beach model has a probe, which I stuck int he liquid, and told the machine to switch from "low" to "warm" at 170F.  By the time my husband checked it at 4:30pm, it was on "warm" but had risen another 20 degrees to 190F.

He turned it off and let it sit till I got home, so it would not get hotter.  ((If you do not have a slow cooker with probe control, I would suggest making this on a day when you can be home and monitor it, or else just put it on "warm" to start.  Slow cookers always run too hot, and if meat gets to boiling, it really suffers.))

This veal is hands-down THE most tender beef I have ever had, including restaurants.  I would call the texture perfect for a braise.

The flavor, while good, had 3 flaws:

1. It lacked acid (I wish I'd had that wine!)
2. The broth was too dilute/watery
3. The celery flavor was overpowering compared to the garlic and parsley

So next time I am going to use 2 cups beef broth instead of 4, along with 1 cup white wine.  I am going to use only 3 stalks of celery, down from 7, and lastly I am going to saute garlic and lemon peel and fresh parsley after the other vegetables, but before de-glazing, and then leave it in the fridge until i come one, to be mixed in right before eating.

Sadly, with the amount of leftovers, my quest for perfectly ossobuco must wait a while.  In the meantime I am going to try and fix the acidity by adding some lemon juice the next time I eat it.

Thoughts?

Fresh Pasta

I bought semolina flour to make fresh pasta.  This is somewhat ironic because traditionally fresh pasta is made with bread flour in Italy, and semolina is only used for dried pasta, but whatever. . .

I started with a basic recipe I found online:
100g semolina
1 egg
pinch of salt

From there I basically focused on getting the feel of well-developed dough. (smooth and elastic).  To add some color I threw in 1/8 cup powdered spinach (made by putting frozen spinach in my coffee grinder).  Which necessitated adding a lot more flour.  After about 2 minutes of kneading I let it set under a damp towel for 30 min, then I kneaded it another 5min and started rolling it out.

Rolling pasta is a pain in the ass.  It seems like no matter home much you roll, you can always divide it in 2 and roll it thinner.  Even after going as thin as I could imagine I still ended up with rather chunky pasta that took abnormally long to cook.  Then when I cut it into fettuccine-like strips, they were uneven and it stuck to itself.  This became a huge project.  Eventually I got it all into a container with some semolina flour to keep it from sticking, and that evening boiled it.  I thought it would be 2 people's worth of pasta, but it was easily 4 people's worth.  The green color was beautiful, and I really liked the consistency, which reminded me of what I used to buy at The Pasta Shop in Berkeley.

I am going to try this again to make uncolored lasagna pieces (which should be easier and less time consuming) and then to make ravioli colored by beet juice.  If I still enjoy the process at that point I will be investing in a $25 hand crank pasta machine before I do noodles again.

I am sorry that this post has less info about the details of the cooking process, but all the times (kneading, setting, boiling) seemed very subjective and specific to my case.  My advice for anyone making pasta at home is this:

1. Don't buy semolina at the grocery store.  it is a ripoff.  I got 6 lbs. of Bob's Red Mill semolina for $12 off Amazon
2. Mix the egg, salt, and other wet ingredients with a form in the middle of the flour and then gently incorporate bits of flour at a time.  Whole mixing and kneading try for a smoother, not tacky, but not dry mix.  Achieve this by adding water and flour in small amounts to correct.
3. When rolling the pasta use LIBERAL: amounts of flour on the pin and the surface.  Don't worry about using too much.
4. Boil the pasta in a lot of water, and check the taste every minute or so, till you are happy with the result.

Here is a photo of the finished product after being sauteed in a little butter and Parmesan with leftover brussels sprouts:

With Sponge Cake, the Devil is in the Details

I made a sponge cake, which for those not in the know, is a cake who's only form of aeration/rising comes from beating eggs, and which contains no fat such as shortening or butter.

On Food and Cooking lists the appropriate ratios for a sponge cake to be (by weight):
100 parts flour,  225 parts egg, 155 parts sugar.
In Fannie Farmer there was a recipe with 1 cup flour, 5 eggs, 1 cup sugar, 1 tbspn lemon juice, 1/4tsp salt, which is approximately 100, 212, 160.

I decided to make half this recipe (1 8-inch pan), but used 3 eggs so I had a ratio of 100, 250, 160.  I followed the instructions and the cake came out springy, but too thin.  So then I said to myself: "Danielle, you should make a second one!"

I set to make a list of things that might have gone wrong (and for some reason didn't notice the obvious excess of egg). This was my list:

1. I greased the pan (apparently with sponge and angel food you don't so that it acts as a lattice/support for the cake to "climb").
2. My new cake pans I bought are dark colored (light is better for even cooking).-- I can't change this.
3. My sugar was too granular / not fine enough.
4. The folding order in the recipe seemed sub-optimal (egg whites into yolks, then flour into all)

OK, here's my new recipe for a single 8-inch round:

Put 1/2 cup sugar in a coffee grinder or food processor and grind the the consistency of corn starch.

Beat the yolks of 3 eggs with 1.5 tspn lemon juice, add 3/8 cup sugar~, and continue to beat until creamy and pale, then set aside.

Whisk 3 egg whites until foamy, add salt followed by remaining 1/8th cup sugar, and beat until stiff peaks have just formed.

Sift .5 cup cake flour over the egg yolks and fold in slowly.

Then fol in the egg whites, and scoop into an ungreased 8-inch spring form cake pan.

Bake at 325F for 25min.

The new recipe was obviously fluffier when layered into the pan.  In the picture of the slice below, the first attempt is the bottom, and the second is the top.  Not only does the new recipe give more volume, everyone agreed it tasted MUCH moister.  

For those curious about the frosting and filling, they are made from stuff in my fridge.  I had some failed strawberry jam (forgot the pectin).  i put it between the layers and then mixed the remainder with mascarpone cheese and whipping cream on high in my kitchenaid.  It was quite yummy, even though I ran out and so it looks a bit sad..

For Next Time:

Make both 8-inch rounds in one 5 egg recipe, matching all ingredients to exactly 100, 225, 155.

Formulate a low-fat ricotta and fresh berry frosting with minimal sugar.

Buy and use an oven thermometer.

Kettle Corn

I love kettle corn, but often find it hard to make.  Tonight it came out PERFECT, so I want to record the details:

In a deep lidded pot add enough oil to thinly cover the bottom, and one popcorn kernel.
Heat on high until that kernel pops.
At this point add an equal volume of sugar as the oil and twice the volume of popcorn kernels.  Begin to stir immediately, still on high until popping becomes established (wait for 4-5 kernels to pop).
When this happens turn the heat to very low, cover the pot and shake rapidly until popping slows to <1 pop / 2 seconds.  Turn off the heat and shake for a few more seconds, then dump the kettle corn into a bowl and stir until the sugar mix dries (~1 min).  Sprinkle on salt.

enjoy.

P.S. I need to get back to taking photos before I eat things.

Blueberry Ice Cream

Ok, this ice cream maker could be deadly. . .

Tonight I made fresh blueberry ice cream:

1 C heavy cream
1 C frozen wild blueberries (blended)
1/3 C sugar
3 TBS milk powder

It was very good and rich, but was a bit too sweet for my taste, and not airy enough.
The airyness is likely because I usually let my mix sit in the freezer for 30min to an hour before puttign it in the ice cream maker, but due to the berries being frozen, it was already almost smoothie consistency by the time I got it into the machine.  I do want to experience with lightly whipping the cream before adding other ingredients to produce a very aerated ice cream in the future.

Also, based on nutrition info there were 800 calories in the cream, 80 in the blueberries, and 250 in the sugar.  The ice cream was good, but not THAT much better than  a blueberry smoothie (which I usually make as blueberries, 2% milk, and a frozen banana).  I would like to try a "healthy" recipe with half the cream and sugar, some more berries, and a little plain milk.  Maybe this will happen next week.  Also, i want to try and make a chocolate banana vegan ice cream using almond milk and frozen banana, and more alcoholic ice cream, and an apple cider sorbet. . .  ok it is too hot in here and I like ice cream too much.

Stout Ice Cream and Cake

For St. Patrick's Day I went and filled a growler with "Chocolate Cherry Stout" over at East End Brewing Co., but with only two people drinking, ended up with 1/2 of it left.  My apartment is already 90F at night, which has turned my thought to home-made ice cream, so the following was the logical conclusion. . .

The Cake:
I modified a cake recipe from Fannie Farmer to replace the chocolate with cocoa powder, (as I did not have chocolate and I read in On Food and Cooking that replacing flour volumes with other flour-like substances can help cakes by reducing gluten content) and the water with stout.

•  Cream together 1/4 lb. butter and 1.5 C superfine sugar
• It is important for the sugar to be super-fine for maximum aeration.  Instead of buying it, I just put normal sugar in a coffee grinder.
• Add 2 eggs and 2 tsp vanilla, mix
• Mix together 1 1/3C all-purpose flour, 2/3C cocoa powder, 1.5tsp baking soda, .5tsp salt; then blend it all in
• Pour in 8oz ice cold stout and mix thoroughly

The recipe is for 2 8-inch cake pans and I tried making it in 1 11in cake, which has 2 negative effects.  Firstly the cake seemed dry due to the extra 15min cook time, and secondly it fell almost an inch from the peak of its rising.  Note to self: buy 8in cake pans.  Still it was quite delicious, and the dryness helped it absorb ice cream. . .

The Ice Cream
This was a completely made-up recipe based on two figures from On Food and Cooking:  that Ice Cream should have ~ 18% fat content, and 15% sugar content.  Here's what I was trying for:

• 1 C heavy cream (36%fat)
• 1 C Stout (this was the main flavoring, and replaced whole milk)
• 3/8 C sugar
• 3 TBS powdered milk (This is the amount needed to reconstitute 1 C milk
• 2 TBS cocoa (I thought chocolate flavor would complement the cake)

Instead, I accidentally put in ~ 1.5 C stout (it was late OK! :-P), and by the time  everything was mixed, it was ~ 3 cups in total.  Which puts my fat content closer to 12%.  This was noticeable because the ice cream took longer to set (~ 30min in my Cuisinart Ice Cream maker, and then left to harden overnight in the freezer), melted quicker , and had a more icey character than commercial ice cream. In contrast to the cake which tasted mostly of chocolate, this was kick-you-in-the-face stouty.  Really good if you like that taste.  I do believe that if I had added .5 C less stout it would have been perfect in flavor and texture.

All in all, these seemed to be a popular pairing when I served them, and as the summer progresses you will probably see more ice cream and sorbet recipes popping up on here.

Sadly, I forgot to take a photo.