Not too much to report on the things-I-have-cooked front in the past little while. Most interesting was the pre-New year's bakefest: the afore-mentioned chocolate pecan tarts and their resultant leftover-filling-failure-cookies which became mmmKahluarumballs, and then the candy-cane-Toblerone blondies.
Tarts were okay -- not spectacular. I'm kind of unsurprised given that the chocolate I used wasn't exactly top-of-the-line. I probably didn't need to prebake the shells either. Next time I feel inspired to combine chocolate, nuts, butter, and flour in the most fattening way possible, I think I'll try a different recipe.
The rumballs were great, I thought. Dusted with icing sugar and they were just perfect.
The blondies, though, I could have eaten the whole tray of. Sweet, dense, fudgy in a non-chocolate sort of way. Just enough candy cane bits, and the Toblerone bits were just frequent enough -- and they did taste noticeably (and deliciously) different than the regular chocolate chips.
I ate far too many of them on New Year's -- the fact that I didn't have dinner didn't help. Well, "dinner" was cheese and crackers, chips, and mixed nuts. Which, by the way, it is far too easy to overindulge in when there is a whole table covered in them and nothing else to eat until 5:00 in the morning...
Then I was good the following day. Light breakfast at like 3 PM (sigh) and when I got home I whipped up some nice garlicky broccoli farfalle -- fried thinly sliced garlic first, then broccoli, tossed with pasta -- but unfortunately I added reserved pasta water after I'd added back the garlic, so it wasn't crispy. Next time I'll think first. ;)
Movie yesterday. Boston Pizza. Cajun rice bowl. Resounding "meh." Not worth the calories and I didn't even finish the rice. Between that and the popcorn and the alcoholic beverages, I feel like quite the fat fuck this morning -- oh well!
I get an opportunity to salvage some dignity and restore my confidence in my self-control today at Babcia's for lunch (lunch = lunch+dinner+calories for two days) so we shall see.
I have two nights left here to cook. Not sure about tomorrow but I think Tuesday will be PIEROGI MADNESS!
Sunday, January 3, 2010
Wednesday, December 30, 2009
More baking, or Willpower vs. Chocolate, Round II
Last night's chicken was GOOD. I tried "velveting" it for the first time, and man, did it ever change the texture -- much, much more like it is when it comes from a Chinese place. In a good way, that is. Next time, though, I'd try to add some flavour to the marinade. Not sure how it would affect it, if at all, but it's worth a try, because though the texture was good, it was lacking in flavour.
For reference, one egg white, a tablespoon each of cornstarch, rice vinegar, and a little less than that of salt. Put in some pepper, too, just because I couldn't NOT add some sort of seasoning to it. Let it sit in the fridge for an hour-ish, then poached in simmering water for a couple minutes until not quite done through.
Stirred it in to the veggies & sauce right at the end, heated through, and it was perfectly cooked. Sauce was good, but I would have liked the orange flavour to come out a little more.
Tonight: potato and veggie chowder, because I must use this milk before it goes. MUST NOT WASTE!
I was surprised at how much difficulty I had coming up with something for dinner to use the milk that wouldn't have a kazillion calories. I mean, I could just make some enormous Bechamel-slathered fat-boat, but given the bowl-licking I've been doing all day (literal bowls, like, mixing bowls... not, uh, the way it sounded) I do not need a single extra calorie.
Oops, off to go get that rolling, then.
I made the CUTEST little chocolate pecan mini tarts with my leftover pate sucree today, too. I didn't try one, but the scraps sure were nice.
Leftover tart filling. What do to but add flour and baking powder and call them cookies?
Well, in reality, they weren't really cookies. Or anything. They were cakey and dry and that made me sad, SOOOO...
Kahlua rum balls! With ganache made from (wait for it) those Bailey's chocolates. Which were on sale for debatably less than a similar amount of chocolate chips. Uh, no contest.
Okay, soup now.
For reference, one egg white, a tablespoon each of cornstarch, rice vinegar, and a little less than that of salt. Put in some pepper, too, just because I couldn't NOT add some sort of seasoning to it. Let it sit in the fridge for an hour-ish, then poached in simmering water for a couple minutes until not quite done through.
Stirred it in to the veggies & sauce right at the end, heated through, and it was perfectly cooked. Sauce was good, but I would have liked the orange flavour to come out a little more.
Tonight: potato and veggie chowder, because I must use this milk before it goes. MUST NOT WASTE!
I was surprised at how much difficulty I had coming up with something for dinner to use the milk that wouldn't have a kazillion calories. I mean, I could just make some enormous Bechamel-slathered fat-boat, but given the bowl-licking I've been doing all day (literal bowls, like, mixing bowls... not, uh, the way it sounded) I do not need a single extra calorie.
Oops, off to go get that rolling, then.
I made the CUTEST little chocolate pecan mini tarts with my leftover pate sucree today, too. I didn't try one, but the scraps sure were nice.
Leftover tart filling. What do to but add flour and baking powder and call them cookies?
Well, in reality, they weren't really cookies. Or anything. They were cakey and dry and that made me sad, SOOOO...
Kahlua rum balls! With ganache made from (wait for it) those Bailey's chocolates. Which were on sale for debatably less than a similar amount of chocolate chips. Uh, no contest.
Okay, soup now.
Monday, December 28, 2009
Ahh, bigos!
Not quite as I remember Babunia making it -- but I did it, and it was good -- passable, that is.
Just tossed some bacon in a pan, let it get renderin', then some onions, garlic, carrots, a bit of chopped kielbasa, a BIG pile of sauerkraut, red wine, and seasonings. Let that all come together for awhile. Oh, and some dried mushrooms -- I was supposed to find "dried Polish mushrooms" but by the time I was passing by the European deli on the way home today I was so laden with bags of stuff that I don't think I could have stopped if you paid me.
Well, okay, if you paid me. But shh. That's beside the point.
Anyway, a couple of things for next time. One: I would definitely have crisped the bacon and browned the kielbasa first, then removed and added back. I didn't realize what an hour and a half of braising would do to diced kielbasa -- it was always fine when I've cooked it down with cabbage before. Way overdone in this case though.
I'd really go out of my way to add some pork shoulder or butt or some nice tough fatty cut. That really "makes" the bigos as I remember it -- those little chunks of meat so tender that they fall to shreds as they're being forked.
I added the wine at the beginning; should have been at the end. Oh, I'd toss in some apple next time too. As it was, I had to add sugar, and I'd rather just use a damn apple, seeing as I always have them around anyway.
In general, though, good stuff! Comforting.
Finished my mega Toblerone today. I'm glad it's gone, but no regrets about eating the whole damn thing. It was so worth it.
Tomorrow... what to do tomorrow? I'm thinking orange chicken broccoli stir-fry concoction.
Just tossed some bacon in a pan, let it get renderin', then some onions, garlic, carrots, a bit of chopped kielbasa, a BIG pile of sauerkraut, red wine, and seasonings. Let that all come together for awhile. Oh, and some dried mushrooms -- I was supposed to find "dried Polish mushrooms" but by the time I was passing by the European deli on the way home today I was so laden with bags of stuff that I don't think I could have stopped if you paid me.
Well, okay, if you paid me. But shh. That's beside the point.
Anyway, a couple of things for next time. One: I would definitely have crisped the bacon and browned the kielbasa first, then removed and added back. I didn't realize what an hour and a half of braising would do to diced kielbasa -- it was always fine when I've cooked it down with cabbage before. Way overdone in this case though.
I'd really go out of my way to add some pork shoulder or butt or some nice tough fatty cut. That really "makes" the bigos as I remember it -- those little chunks of meat so tender that they fall to shreds as they're being forked.
I added the wine at the beginning; should have been at the end. Oh, I'd toss in some apple next time too. As it was, I had to add sugar, and I'd rather just use a damn apple, seeing as I always have them around anyway.
In general, though, good stuff! Comforting.
Finished my mega Toblerone today. I'm glad it's gone, but no regrets about eating the whole damn thing. It was so worth it.
Tomorrow... what to do tomorrow? I'm thinking orange chicken broccoli stir-fry concoction.
Sunday, December 27, 2009
Post Christmas: The Recovery
So here I am. Time for a return to some sort of normalcy.
I picked up a whole chicken yesterday. 1.3 kg. Ten bucks. Playing a sort of game with myself to see how far I can stretch it. Insert suspenseful-sounding music here.
Butchered it, which I was actually super-excited for (I'm not crazy, right?) Got two nice pieces of breast, a pile of white meat (tenders & bits) for stir-fry, a nice pile of dark meat for stewing (it's damn hard to bone a drumstick, as I learned!) and a hell of a pile of carcass for stock goodness!
There was no giblet bag! I was very disappointed. Seriously, not cool, Loblaws.
Simmered the stock from cold, after roasting the carcass for about 40 minutes or so, saving all the fat. Boiled it a little hard by accident so it came out a tiny bit cloudier than it could have, but still nice! Added the veggies nearer the end, then let it sit all night.
Boiled some down to concentrate it tonight for some nice Rosół -- with kluski! Mmmmm... delicious kluski. Was damn good.
I did need a light dinner, having gone to Mandarin (urrrgh) for lunch. Was good though! I avoided wasting calories on crappy faux-Asian grease piles (why bother eating their soggy, grease-soaked noodles? I can make my own...) Their garlic broccoli, meanwhile, is great and I did stuff myself with it.
So, Rosół and salad tonight.
Tomorrow, I really think I might go crazy and make BIGOS! I bought a big jar of sauerkraut and I can't wait to put it to good use.
Aside from that, I still have some tahini that needs using... some extra stock... lost of cheese, broccoli, milk, potatoes... I think it'll be a good couple of weeks for soup!
Ooh, leftover bigos in pierogi? Just a thought...
I picked up a whole chicken yesterday. 1.3 kg. Ten bucks. Playing a sort of game with myself to see how far I can stretch it. Insert suspenseful-sounding music here.
Butchered it, which I was actually super-excited for (I'm not crazy, right?) Got two nice pieces of breast, a pile of white meat (tenders & bits) for stir-fry, a nice pile of dark meat for stewing (it's damn hard to bone a drumstick, as I learned!) and a hell of a pile of carcass for stock goodness!
There was no giblet bag! I was very disappointed. Seriously, not cool, Loblaws.
Simmered the stock from cold, after roasting the carcass for about 40 minutes or so, saving all the fat. Boiled it a little hard by accident so it came out a tiny bit cloudier than it could have, but still nice! Added the veggies nearer the end, then let it sit all night.
Boiled some down to concentrate it tonight for some nice Rosół -- with kluski! Mmmmm... delicious kluski. Was damn good.
I did need a light dinner, having gone to Mandarin (urrrgh) for lunch. Was good though! I avoided wasting calories on crappy faux-Asian grease piles (why bother eating their soggy, grease-soaked noodles? I can make my own...) Their garlic broccoli, meanwhile, is great and I did stuff myself with it.
So, Rosół and salad tonight.
Tomorrow, I really think I might go crazy and make BIGOS! I bought a big jar of sauerkraut and I can't wait to put it to good use.
Aside from that, I still have some tahini that needs using... some extra stock... lost of cheese, broccoli, milk, potatoes... I think it'll be a good couple of weeks for soup!
Ooh, leftover bigos in pierogi? Just a thought...
Well! Christmas recap
Ahh, Christmas: it's over as quickly as it began, as always. All of a sudden the baking is over... so what to do now?
First of all: the gingerbread house was COMPLETED! And glorious it was, despite a couple of misfortunes and a could-have-been-fatal-but-instead-I-pulled-it-together-by-the-skin-of-my-ass mistake.
I think I did mention that I was concerned that the gingerbread was over-leavened/not hard enough. I did end up tossing it back in the oven super-quickly while I roasted the squash for that SK chickpea salad (mmm!) It hardened up all nicely after that and having been left overnight.
The next day came the moment (well, several hours, really) of truth (and calories): the assembly. I was pleasantly surprised at how well it came together, save for a few instances of slightly uneven walls -- but that's what extra royal icing is for.
The biggest issue was when, in the mess of re-baking and so forth, I got two almost-identical-but-critically-different pieces mixed up and damn near blew the whole project by doing so. Luckily I noticed immediately before I was about to plaster the "wrong" piece with icing and M&Ms, thus saving me from significant self-harm.
In between doing all this I ate SO much royal icing, sprinkle-covered chocolate discs, M&Ms... you get the picture... that I was literally twitching with sugar-high until quite early in the morning when I literally FELT my blood sugar drop precipitously. bedtime.
Did I mention that not only do chocolate-covered sunflower seeds make great Christmas lights, but they are friggin' delicious? Just like peanut M&Ms, flavour-wise, but tiny and fantaaaastic.
So the thing went together without a major hitch ("major" being something like full collapse, or implosion, or falling off the table or something.)
Final day: Christmas Eve morning, the most fiddly part -- the roof -- came together, albeit a bit lopsidedly due to my earlier piece mixup, and somehow, due largely to some divine power's overseeing grace, it stayed on and stayed a house!
Add a little gingerbread Babcia in front and TA DA. Accolades! Man, was I proud.
Wigilia involved an enormous pile of fish -- four HUGE sides of beautiful salmon, which all ended up unfortunately overcooking because it's honestly impossible to coordinate cooking, holding, and reheating five full steam trays and several more smaller containers in ONE domestic oven.
It was good, though, despite everything. I could eat kapusta pierogi all day and never, ever get bored of them. Speaking of which, I think making some might be in order...
We got a BUNCH of junk food and ate lots of it on the road Christmas morning -- but not before we'd stuffed ourselves with peameal. Had about a pound and a half and I elected to roast it, which I'd never tried before: took about 35 or 40 minutes at 350, plus resting, which was a little more than I'd anticipated but man was it juicy -- even after ten minutes chillin' in foil it still ran delicious pork juice everywhere. Ate the whole thing between the two of us. Mmmm.
Christmas in Ottawa involved far less kapusta than I had hoped, but turkey was good. Next morning was a ciabatta-and-smoked-salmon gorgefest -- and THEN, further gorging -- I chose that day as the day of all days to not care about how many calories I ate. Literally ate most of a pound of chocolate, plus wasabi peanuts! Trail mix! Cheese spread! Jelly Bellies! I could go on and on!
I'm up five pounds since the day before Christmas but I couldn't care less.
First of all: the gingerbread house was COMPLETED! And glorious it was, despite a couple of misfortunes and a could-have-been-fatal-but-instead-I-pulled-it-together-by-the-skin-of-my-ass mistake.
I think I did mention that I was concerned that the gingerbread was over-leavened/not hard enough. I did end up tossing it back in the oven super-quickly while I roasted the squash for that SK chickpea salad (mmm!) It hardened up all nicely after that and having been left overnight.
The next day came the moment (well, several hours, really) of truth (and calories): the assembly. I was pleasantly surprised at how well it came together, save for a few instances of slightly uneven walls -- but that's what extra royal icing is for.
The biggest issue was when, in the mess of re-baking and so forth, I got two almost-identical-but-critically-different pieces mixed up and damn near blew the whole project by doing so. Luckily I noticed immediately before I was about to plaster the "wrong" piece with icing and M&Ms, thus saving me from significant self-harm.
In between doing all this I ate SO much royal icing, sprinkle-covered chocolate discs, M&Ms... you get the picture... that I was literally twitching with sugar-high until quite early in the morning when I literally FELT my blood sugar drop precipitously. bedtime.
Did I mention that not only do chocolate-covered sunflower seeds make great Christmas lights, but they are friggin' delicious? Just like peanut M&Ms, flavour-wise, but tiny and fantaaaastic.
So the thing went together without a major hitch ("major" being something like full collapse, or implosion, or falling off the table or something.)
Final day: Christmas Eve morning, the most fiddly part -- the roof -- came together, albeit a bit lopsidedly due to my earlier piece mixup, and somehow, due largely to some divine power's overseeing grace, it stayed on and stayed a house!
Add a little gingerbread Babcia in front and TA DA. Accolades! Man, was I proud.
Wigilia involved an enormous pile of fish -- four HUGE sides of beautiful salmon, which all ended up unfortunately overcooking because it's honestly impossible to coordinate cooking, holding, and reheating five full steam trays and several more smaller containers in ONE domestic oven.
It was good, though, despite everything. I could eat kapusta pierogi all day and never, ever get bored of them. Speaking of which, I think making some might be in order...
We got a BUNCH of junk food and ate lots of it on the road Christmas morning -- but not before we'd stuffed ourselves with peameal. Had about a pound and a half and I elected to roast it, which I'd never tried before: took about 35 or 40 minutes at 350, plus resting, which was a little more than I'd anticipated but man was it juicy -- even after ten minutes chillin' in foil it still ran delicious pork juice everywhere. Ate the whole thing between the two of us. Mmmm.
Christmas in Ottawa involved far less kapusta than I had hoped, but turkey was good. Next morning was a ciabatta-and-smoked-salmon gorgefest -- and THEN, further gorging -- I chose that day as the day of all days to not care about how many calories I ate. Literally ate most of a pound of chocolate, plus wasabi peanuts! Trail mix! Cheese spread! Jelly Bellies! I could go on and on!
I'm up five pounds since the day before Christmas but I couldn't care less.
Wednesday, December 23, 2009
Soooo Muuuuch Suuuggggaaarrr
It's been awhile since I ate enough of any one thing to actually give me stomach pains, but leave it to royal icing to get the job done.
Well, royal icing, sprinkle-covered chocolate discs, M&Ms, leftover gingerbread bits, more royal icing (sometimes it's just easier to lick one's fingers before one turns on the tap!) a Cherry Jewel Bar (mmm!), some more of that failure loaf, a sesame snap, more chocolate discs...
You get the idea.
In between all that, I made a really good roasted red pepper soup for lunch, and smitten kitchen (againnn!)'s chickpea-tahini-squash "salad" which turned into a salad-ish saute-ish toss. Nevertheless, tahini is good on anything, and this was no exception.
The gingerbread architectural endeavour is coming along! Praying for structural soundness. It must live! Live until tomorrow night is over, at which time it can be pillaged and eaten. As if I haven't spent all day eating it before it even really existed.
WIGILIA TOMORROW!
I'm sad, though, that Babcia isn't making her own pierogi this year -- I really, really wanted to go and make them with her. Oh well...
I hope she likes the gingerbread house.
Well, royal icing, sprinkle-covered chocolate discs, M&Ms, leftover gingerbread bits, more royal icing (sometimes it's just easier to lick one's fingers before one turns on the tap!) a Cherry Jewel Bar (mmm!), some more of that failure loaf, a sesame snap, more chocolate discs...
You get the idea.
In between all that, I made a really good roasted red pepper soup for lunch, and smitten kitchen (againnn!)'s chickpea-tahini-squash "salad" which turned into a salad-ish saute-ish toss. Nevertheless, tahini is good on anything, and this was no exception.
The gingerbread architectural endeavour is coming along! Praying for structural soundness. It must live! Live until tomorrow night is over, at which time it can be pillaged and eaten. As if I haven't spent all day eating it before it even really existed.
WIGILIA TOMORROW!
I'm sad, though, that Babcia isn't making her own pierogi this year -- I really, really wanted to go and make them with her. Oh well...
I hope she likes the gingerbread house.
Tastes like childhood
Cherry Jewel Bars are God.
Seriously... these are so simple that they're barely baking at all, so much as putting stuff together in a bowl and throwing it in the oven.
Okay, I lied. Parbake the flour/butter/sugar short crust, then mix up some salted (MUST be salted!) mixed nuts, candied cherries (or any fruit, I guess, but those garish red and green cherries are just irreplaceable, to me anyway...) and chocolate. Press onto crust. Bake some more.
Remove from oven. Sit on your hands, twitching, for half an hour or so until they're cool enough to cut, at which time you dive headfirst at the tray brandishing a knife... "Oh, I'll just trim off the rough edges..."
then somehow the tray is half gone?
I don't even care how many calories these have -- I really don't. Childhood memories are worth so much more than that.
Maybe a pinch of salt in the crust next time.
I wonder if I could use the leftover nuts for another frangipane? Mmm.
Also, I'm kind of worried about the gingerbread-house-to-be. It leavened an awful lot. I baked the base this morning (sans molasses -- gogo corn syrup plus cocoa for colour...) then re-baked most of the big pieces until they were damn well and truly overdone... but nice and solid, not soft and chewy, thank you.
Deliciousness and structural integrity don't HAVE to be mutually exclusive, but I have a feeling in this case they will be.
Seriously... these are so simple that they're barely baking at all, so much as putting stuff together in a bowl and throwing it in the oven.
Okay, I lied. Parbake the flour/butter/sugar short crust, then mix up some salted (MUST be salted!) mixed nuts, candied cherries (or any fruit, I guess, but those garish red and green cherries are just irreplaceable, to me anyway...) and chocolate. Press onto crust. Bake some more.
Remove from oven. Sit on your hands, twitching, for half an hour or so until they're cool enough to cut, at which time you dive headfirst at the tray brandishing a knife... "Oh, I'll just trim off the rough edges..."
then somehow the tray is half gone?
I don't even care how many calories these have -- I really don't. Childhood memories are worth so much more than that.
Maybe a pinch of salt in the crust next time.
I wonder if I could use the leftover nuts for another frangipane? Mmm.
Also, I'm kind of worried about the gingerbread-house-to-be. It leavened an awful lot. I baked the base this morning (sans molasses -- gogo corn syrup plus cocoa for colour...) then re-baked most of the big pieces until they were damn well and truly overdone... but nice and solid, not soft and chewy, thank you.
Deliciousness and structural integrity don't HAVE to be mutually exclusive, but I have a feeling in this case they will be.
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