Cake, Batter, and Bowl

Harvard’s Science and Cooking Seminar

September 9, 2010

Although I’m a scientist, I have to admit that I don’t know much beyond the basics of how science affects cooking, which is actually a bit embarrassing! So, I jumped at the chance to review Harold McGee’s new book, Keys to Good Cooking. The book doesn’t come out until October, but I’ve already been treated to a preview and each chapter gives a whole slew of tips about different ingredients from a scientific viewpoint. I’ll be posting my review next month, but I’m already impressed with the few pages I’ve read so far because all the information is just so incredibly useful.

For example, I didn’t know that some frozen veggies (green peas, lima beans, and sweet corn!) are always a smart buy because they lose flavor and tenderness so rapidly after harvest that the flash frozen version is often higher quality than the fresh one. Another of McGee’s tips in the book is that searing meat doesn’t seal in its juices. Instead, it’s the way that you cook the meat that determines moistness. He’s has been trying to convince the public about this for years – how do I know this? Well, I heard it from the man himself!

Harvard had a seminar this week entitled Science and Cooking: A Dialogue, that Shannon and I managed to score tickets to attend. I chatted with McGee briefly after the event while he was signing my mom’s copy of On Food and Cooking, and he was so nice and assured me that the book would be even better than the summary sections they sent!

McGee’s talk was just the tip of the iceberg though – look who else was there!

Yes, that’s Ferran Adria on the right, the chef behind El Bulli, a Michelin 3-star restaurant on Spain’s Catalonian coast, which is considered by many to be the best restaurant in the world! He is the creative genius that founded avant-garde cooking (he seemed to prefer this term over “molecular gastronomy”), a culinary style in which chefs use scientific techniques to create the most gorgeous and intricate dishes with surprising elements of flavor, temperature, and texture.

Adria’s Catalan translator and friend Jose Andres, on the left, stressed that beyond being the first person to create foams and invent spherification (which they demoed!), that Adria has pushed the culinary world in an entirely new direction because he has never hesitated to share his techniques.

In fact, Adria is closing El Bulli next summer to open a center where chefs from around the world can come and study and create dishes without the pressure of having to serve diners every night. And get this, they will be posting what they create each day on the internet every night – incredible! Adria is also spearheading a course at Harvard this semester on science and cooking, which is why he was on campus. His philosophy that cooking, and life in general, is about curiosity and a willingness to learn was so inspiring! I’m so glad I was able to attend!

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Corn and Cheddar Polenta Cheesecakes

September 6, 2010

I hope you’re all having a lovely holiday weekend! I’m in Iowa right now visiting my parents and so far have squeezed in a few nice runs with my Dad (with some challenging hills – yes, Iowa does have them!) and some birthday shopping with my mom. It’s just been so relaxing sleeping in and having a break from both the lab and my kitchen. Despite having somehow picked up a little cold, I’m feeling very rejuvenated. When I think of Iowa, I think of corn, so I thought it would be appropriate to post a recipe featuring this summer favorite while I was here!

I really like it when sweet dishes take a savory turn and decided it would be fun to try making some mini corn and cheddar cheesecakes. I cut a precooked polenta roll from Trader Joe’s into slices and put them in the bottom of the cups of a muffin tin. Then I make a cheesecake mixture that contained cream cheese, corn, and cheddar cheese. I baked them up and enjoyed them at either room temperature or cold straight from the fridge. They were perfect for lunch with a side salad!

p.s. Don’t forget to enter my giveaway for an $80 CSN Stores gift card!

Corn and Cheddar Polenta Cheesecakes
Printable Recipe

Ingredients:
2 cups fresh corn kernels (my yield from 2 ears of corn)
8 ounces cream cheese, at room temperature
1 tablespoon cornstarch
1 large egg, at room temperature
1/2 cup shredded sharp cheddar cheese
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 18-ounce precooked polenta roll, cut into 12 1/2-inch thick round slices

Directions:
Heat oven to 350˚F. Place half the corn kernels in a food processor and pulse until mixture is as smooth as possible.

Combine the cream cheese and cornstarch in the bowl and beat on medium-high speed with a mixer for 3 minutes or until smooth. Beat in the egg, scraping down the sides of the bowl as needed. Mix in both types of corn (1 cup whole kernels and 1 cup pulsed in the food processor), cheddar cheese, and salt.

Discard the 2 end pieces of the polenta roll and trim the remaining 10 slices so that each will fit snugly in the bottom of a muffin tin. Place the 10 trimmed round slices in a greased muffin tin. Pour cheesecake mixture evenly on top of each and bake at 350˚F for 23 to 27 minutes or until edges are set and middle is slightly wobbly. Cool to room temperature, about one hour, and then refrigerate until well chilled, about one hour. To remove from the pan, use a knife to cut around the edges of one cheesecake and then flip the pan over and remove the cheesecake. Repeat for remaining 9 cheesecakes. Makes 5 servings of 2 cheesecakes each.

Nutrition: 341 calories, 21.3g fat, 3.4g fiber, 11.2g protein per serving
Cost: $0.92 per serving

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Carrot Cake Drop Donuts with Cream Cheese Frosting

September 2, 2010

Today is my birthday! And to celebrate, CSN Stores, which has everything you need to stock your kitchen, from dutch ovens to cake pans, is hosting a giveaway for an $80 gift card (which goes a long way with their great prices!). To enter, just leave a comment telling me about your favorite birthday dessert. Thanks CSN!

I started celebrating early last weekend by whipping up a fun treat. If you haven’t guessed it based on my blog design, my absolutely favorite kind of cake is carrot cake. We had it at our wedding and I always request it on my birthday too. But, donuts are my second favorite goodie, and in fact, during my senior year of college, my friends bought me 21 donuts to attempt to eat on my 21st birthday! I think there were only 4 or 5 leftover the next day – pretty impressive, huh? That Man vs Food dude should be shaking in his boots! Anyway, I knew I wanted to try combining my two favorite desserts into one, so you guessed it, I made carrot cake donuts!

These drop donuts were inspired by Jenny’s recipe for Glazed Caramelized Roasted Banana Bread Drop Doughnuts, which earned her a spot on Ultimate Recipe Showdown the season before I was on the show. I made a thick carrot cake batter that I dropped with a cookie scoop into hot vegetable oil and then fried up the treats until they were golden brown. There’s only a little bit of sugar in the donuts because I slathered them with a pretty sweet cream cheese frosting. I piped some on top and also did a little dipping! They are super indulgent and perfect for a celebration!

Giveaway details: To enter, just leave a comment on this post describing your favorite birthday dessert. Entries must be in by Thursday, September 9 at 11:59pm EST and the winner will be picked with random.org and announced shortly thereafter. CSN Stores is sponsoring this giveaway but I received no compensation for this post and all opinions are mine.

Carrot Cake Drop Donuts with Cream Cheese Frosting
Printable Recipe

Ingredients:

Carrot Cake Drop Donuts:
Vegetable oil for frying
1/3 cup plain Greek yogurt
1/3 cup crushed unsweetened pineapple
1 large egg
1 cup all-purpose flour
2 tablespoons granulated sugar
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 cups shredded carrots (I shredded mine with a coarse cheese grater)

Cream Cheese Frosting:
1 1/3 cups powdered sugar
2 ounces cream cheese, at room temperature
1 tablespoons butter, at room temperature
1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 teaspoon lemon juice

Directions:
To prepare the carrot cake drop donuts, heat vegetable oil to 350˚F in a fryer. Make yogurt, crushed pineapple, and egg in a large bowl until smooth. Mix in flour, sugar, cinnamon, baking powder, and salt until a thick dough forms. Mix in shredded carrots. Use a small cookie scoop or a generous tablespoon to drop small batches of dough into the hot oil and fry for 3 to 4 minutes or until golden brown and cooked through. Remove from oil, drain on paper towels, and cool completely.

To prepare the cream cheese frosting, place powdered sugar, cream cheese, butter, vanilla extract, and lemon juice in a large bowl and beat with a mixer until smooth, scraping down sides of the bowl as needed. Place frosting in a pastry bag and pipe frosting evenly over carrot cake drop donuts. Makes 14 drop donuts.

Nutrition: It’s my birthday, I’m not going there!
Cost: $6.08 per batch

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Creamy Lemon Summer Squash Pasta

August 29, 2010

So it’s official – I’m a triathlete! I finished my first sprint triathlon at the Cranberry Trifest yesterday. The race was a 0.5 mile pond swim, followed by a 11.5 mile bike ride, and 3.1 mile run. My official time was 1:28:00, which put me in the top fourth of my age group. But, if you don’t count my 2:00 penalty for drafting during the biking (oops, I did my best to stay three bike lengths behind other riders, but I definitely need more experience riding and passing in crowds!), then it was a 1:26:00!

I have to start my recap by sending a huge shout out to Shannon, who inspired me to sign up and was so encouraging and helpful during the training process. We met once a week at her pool to swim, which definitely helped get me in the water more than usual, and did a couple of training bricks (bricks are back to back tri workouts, e.g. a swim and bike ride) on the weekends at Walden pond. Most importantly, she gave me tons of tips about how to handle the race and transitions and was so super supportive! And, she continues to be inspiring – she completely rocked her race and placed second in her age group!

My goal going into the race was to break a 9 minute per mile pace during the 5K run at the end of the tri. My previous fastest 5K time was 27:19, so I wasn’t sure if I’d be able to repeat it or not after doing both the swim and bike, but it’s always good to challenge yourself, right?

So, we got to the race in plenty of time to set up our transition stations and have a pre-race snack. Apolinaras did a great job taking photos, and captured me mid-bite with this one, which I thought was pretty funny.

I wasn’t too worried about the swim since I’ve been a swimmer my whole life. We basically had to swim in a long rectangle around four buoys and I did great spotting them on the way out, but the return was a whole different story. The sun was so bright that I literally couldn’t see the buoys unless I stopped swimming and put my hand up to block out the sun! I got a little panicked and almost ran into two different boats with lifeguards along the way, who were yelling and trying to redirect me – oops. Oh well, my time of 15:11 wasn’t horrible and now I know that I need googles with shaded lenses when I swim outside!

I was a little stressed about the bike ride because I had never ridden with a group of people before and was worried about being coordinated enough to glance behind me when I needed to pass people. I’m a bit of a klutz (e.g. I didn’t drink any water on the ride because I was afraid of dropping my bottle like I did during our practice ride the week before!). It went better than I expected and I was pretty happy with my time of 38:38, which averages to 18 miles per hour.

The run was a different story. The first two miles were painful! My legs were super tight and I felt like I was really dragging. I kept waiting and waiting and waiting to see the water stand at the halfway point and became focused on just finishing without taking a break to walk. Around mile 2, there was a nice section going downhill and my legs finally loosened up and I was able to finish a bit stronger. Even so, I was convinced my time was going to be pretty slow and was a little disappointed with my run. So, you can imagine my surprise when I looked up my splits and found out I ran 27:20, which is 8:49 per mile! I couldn’t believe it and I’m already excited for my next 5K in October because I think I’ll be able to get a PR!

Considering I just started running in January and biking in May, I’m really happy with how I did. I’m definitely going to do another tri next summer and plan to continue working on my endurance because I want to feel stronger during my run next time!

Now onto my very favorite part of racing – carbo loading! I always go out of my way to eat pasta a couple days before a race and this time was no exception. I stirred zucchini, yellow summer squash, and chicken, into a lovely lemony cream cheese and parmesan sauce that I thinned out with a bit of chicken stock. It was super easy and tasty and really hit the spot. Now if you’ll please excuse me, I’ve become addicted to racing and need to figure out what I’m going to train for next!

Creamy Lemon Summer Squash Pasta
Printable Recipe

Ingredients:
1 pound whole wheat penne pasta
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 large yellow squashes, chopped
2 large zucchinis, chopped
3 boneless skinless chicken breasts, cut into bite-sized pieces
1 yellow onion, chopped
4 garlic cloves, minced
1/2 cup chicken stock
Juice and zest of one lemon
4 ounces cream cheese
1 cup freshly grated parmesan cheese
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup chopped fresh basil

Directions:
To prepare the pasta, cook penne according to package directions. Drain the pasta in a colander, return it to the pot, and keep warm.

Meanwhile, heat 1 tablespoon olive oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium high heat. Add squash and zucchini and sauté until tender, about 8 to 10 minutes. Remove from heat. Add chicken to the same pan and cook for 6 to 8 minutes, stirring occasionally, or until chicken is cooked through and no longer pink in the center. Remove from heat.

Heat remaining 1 tablespoon olive oil in the same pan and sauté onion for 5 to 7 minutes or under tender; add garlic and sauté one additional minute. Add chicken stock, lemon juice and zest, cream cheese, parmesan cheese, and salt to the pan and stir until cheese has melted and sauce is smooth, about 3 to 4 minutes. Toss sauce with pasta, yellow squash, zucchini, chicken, and basil. Makes 6 servings.

Nutrition: 632 calories, 19.1g fat, 12.6g fiber, 49.8g protein per serving
Cost: $1.98 per serving

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Chicken Tikka Masala Naanwiches

August 25, 2010

Remember when I mentioned I was reviewing a product for CSN Stores? Well, I ended up getting a gift card and look at all the loot I scored!

The two 9-inch cake pans have been on my list for awhile now because I previously only had two 8-inch pans and one 9-inch pan, which means to make a triple layer cake I had to cut one 9-inch cake down to the 8-inch size….yeah, not so fun since cake crumbs would get everywhere so I’m very happy I don’t have to deal with that ever again. I also got a coffee bean grinder that I’ve been exclusively using to grind all my spices. If anyone has ever attempted to mash coriander seeds with a mortar and pestle, you’ll understand why this little gadget has made my life so much easier!

The very first thing I put in my shopping cart though was a Caphalon nonstick grill pan. We can’t grill at our apartment and I’ve been so jealous of all the grilled goodies you’ve all being making around the blogosphere! Since I’m still on a bit of an Indian kick, I decided to use the pan first to grill up some chicken for naanwiches! I marinated a couple chicken breasts in Greek yogurt, garlic, and spices and then grilled it up on my new pan, which worked beautifully. My grill marks weren’t perfect, so I don’t have a picture to share with you, but I’m already looking forward to practicing more!

The sauce for the naanwiches was inspired by the chicken tikka masala I made for our dinner party. It didn’t have a smooth sauce like the version you usually get at restaurants. Instead, finely chopped almonds were added to the sauce, which gave it a bit of texture and inspired me to use almonds and the same flavor profile to make a lovely Indian-spiced pesto. I pureed red onion, garlic, roasted red peppers, golden raisins, tomato paste, and garam masala along with some tomato paste, and served the spread on the naanwiches along with the grilled chicken. So yummy! Thanks so much CSN Stores for all the fun kitchen goodies!

Disclaimer: CSN Stores sent me a gift card for free so I could try several products of my choosing, but I received no compensation for this post and all opinions are mine.

Chicken Tikka Masala Naanwiches
Printable Recipe

Ingredients:

Grilled Chicken:
1/2 cup plain nonfat Greek yogurt
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 teaspoon ground coriander
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
1/2 teaspoon garam masala
1/2 teaspoon ground tumeric
1/4 teaspoon ground cayenne pepper
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 boneless skinless chicken breasts, butterflied in half lengthwise so you have 4 pieces

Masala Spread:
2 tablespoons canola oil
1/2 cup chopped red onion
2 garlic cloves, minced
1/3 cup chopped roasted red peppers
1/4 cup toasted whole almonds
1/4 cup golden raisins
2 tablespoons tomato paste
1 teaspoon garam masala
1/2 teaspoon salt

8 pieces whole wheat naan sized to fit the chicken (I cut mine from 4 pieces), warmed
2 ounces fresh spinach (1 cup packed)

Directions:
Place Greek yogurt, garlic, coriander, cumin, ginger, garam masala, turmeric, cayenne pepper, and salt in a medium bowl and mix until well combined. Spread marinade evenly over chicken pieces in a shallow dish and refrigerate for an hour.

Meanwhile, make the masala spread by heating 1 tablespoon canola oil over medium high heat in a nonstick skillet. Sauté red onion for 5 to 7 minutes or until tender; mix in garlic and sauté for 1 additional minute. Place cooked onions, remaining 1 tablespoon canola oil, red peppers, almonds, raisins, tomato paste, garam masala, and salt in a food processor and pulse until well mixed.

Heat a nonstick grill pan over medium high heat. Spray with nonstick cooking spray and cook chicken for 2 to 3 minutes per side or until cooked through and no longer pink in the center.

To assemble the naanwiches, top one piece of naan with one fourth of the spinach, a piece of chicken, some of the sauce, and another piece of naan. Repeat to make 4 naanwiches.

Nutrition: 612 calories, 22.2g fat, 4.5g fiber, 41.5g protein per naanwich
Cost: $2.22 per naanwich

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Caramelized Peach Sundaes with Cardamom Gingersnap Topping

August 21, 2010

When I was planning our Indian dinner party menu, I knew I wanted to serve ice cream since it’s been so hot, but I still wanted to have the dessert tie in with the theme of the meal because yes, I’m a big dork like that! I was thinking it would be fun to create my own dessert since the rest of the recipes from our meal were from my awesome 660 Curries cookbook, and finally settled on making peach sundaes with an Indian-inspired crumble topping after a bit of brainstorming!

I started by caramelizing some fresh peaches in a skillet with a little butter and brown sugar and spooned the warm fruit on top of vanilla bean ice cream. Then I topped the sundaes with an oat-based crunchy granola-like mixture that contained crumbled ginger snap cookies, cardamom, cinnamon, coconut, and golden raisins – yum! This was the perfect way to enjoy ripe summer peaches and end our Indian feast! The leftover crumble topping was fabulous on yogurt too and may or may have been pretty addicting to eat just on its own too – I mean the oats and raisins make it a pretty healthy snack, right?

Caramelized Peach Sundaes with Cardamom Gingersnap Topping
Printable Recipe

Ingredients:

Cardamom Gingersnap Topping:
1 cup oats
1 cup coarsely chopped gingersnap cookies
1/2 cup shredded coconut
1 1/2 tablespoons packed brown sugar
2 tablespoons canola oil
2 tablespoons honey
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground cardamom
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 cup golden raisins

Caramelized Peaches:
1/4 cup butter
1/4 cup packed brown sugar
6 peaches, pitted and cut into slices
2 tablespoons lemon juice

4 cups light vanilla bean ice cream

Directions:
To prepare the cardamom gingersnap topping, heat oven to 325˚F. Combine oats, gingersnap cookies, and coconut in a large bowl. Place brown sugar, canola oil, honey, cinnamon, cardamom, salt, and vanilla extra in a small saucepan and heat over medium heat until mixture is boiling and sugar is dissolved, about 3 minutes. Pour hot sugar mixture into the bowl with the oats and mix well. Spread topping evenly onto a parchment paper lined cookie sheet and bake at 325˚F for 15 to 18 minutes, or until coconut is golden brown, stirring occasionally. Cool completely, about 15 minutes, and stir in raisins.

Meanwhile prepare the caramelized peaches. Heat butter and brown sugar over medium heat in a large skillet until butter has melted. Add in peaches and cook for 12 to 15 minutes, stirring occasionally, or until fruit is caramelized. Stir in lemon juice.

To assemble the sundaes, scoop 1/2 cup of ice cream into each bowl and top evenly with caramelized peaches and the desired amount of cardamom gingersnap topping. Makes 8 servings.

Nutrition: 321 calories, 11.8g fat, 3.8g fiber, 4.8g protein per serving (calculated using half the cardamom ginger snap topping since we had some leftover!)
Cost: $1.59 per sundae

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Cucumber Cranberry Cocktails

August 16, 2010

I spent half of Saturday and all day Sunday last weekend grinding spices because we were hosting an Indian feast! I’ve been all about Indian food lately and love being able to make healthier versions of our favorite dishes at home. It’s also the perfect cuisine to enjoy when you have vegetarian guests because there are so many yummy veggie options! I was particularly excited for this dinner party because our friend Willy is also a huge foodie and likes to experiment in the kitchen as much as I do. In fact, we decided to pick an ingredient and each make a secret dish with it, how fun is that? We settled on cucumbers and Willy made amazingly refreshing cucumber ice cream! I wanted to lick the bowl, it was that good. I decided to make a cucumber simple syrup after being inspired by a cucumber martini I recently had at Orleans, a bar in our neighborhood.

To make the syrup, all I did was let shredded cucumbers soak in the syrup until it cooled and then strained them out. I combined the syrup with gin, sparkling cranberry juice from Trader Joe’s, and a splash of lime juice. They were really fresh and delicious and I’m excited to play with the leftover cucumber simple syrup more too!

Also, congrats to the winners of my Girard’s Salad Dressing giveaway – Beverly, Rachel, Elina, Erica, and Sophia!

Cucumber Cranberry Cocktails
Printable Recipe

Ingredients:
1 cup granulated sugar
1 cup water
1 cup shredded English cucumber, plus 6 slices for garnishes
1 cup gin
1 cup sparkling cranberry juice
1/2 cup fresh lime juice

Directions:
Combine sugar and water in a small saucepan and heat over medium high heat for 2 minutes or until liquid is boiling and sugar has dissolved. Stir in shredded cucumber and remove from heat. Allow simple syrup to cool to room temperature, about 1 hour, and strain cucumber out.

Combine 1 cup cucumber simple syrup with gin, sparkling cranberry juice, and lime juice and stir until well combined. Serve over ice and garnish with extra cucumber slices. Makes 6 servings.

Nutrition: 176 calories, 0g fat, 0.1g fiber, 0.1g protein per serving (calculated using 1 cup of simple syrup, I had a bit leftover!)
Cost: $0.63 per serving

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Berry Muffins

August 12, 2010

Apolinaras and I spontaneously headed to the grocery store a few weeks ago around 11pm to satisfy my sweet tooth, which is really rare for us. I usually just have a few chocolate chips if there are no treats in the house and I’m craving dessert, but that just didn’t do the trick this time because I really wanted to sink my spoon into some Ben and Jerry’s Chubby Hubby ice cream! The outing reminded me of when my girlfriends and I used to stock up on goodies in the middle of the night to fuel our study sessions in college. But unlike my junk food filled college days, I was immediately excited when I noticed that blueberries were buy one pint get two free – yay! I scooped up three containers and began happily brainstorming about how to use them. And when I saw our huge tub of strawberries from Costco sitting in the fridge when we got home, I decided to combine the two types of berries to make a purple very berry muffin!

Ok, you can see they turned out a little more brown than purple, but they definitely delivered on the berry flavor because I packed 5 cups of berries into 12 muffins! I blended 3 cups of berries into a puree that went into the muffins after being reduced to half a cup of liquid on the stove and then I folded the remaining 2 cups right into the batter. The muffins disappeared quickly and were pretty healthy too.

p.s. Don’t forget to enter my giveaway to win 4 bottles of Girard’s salad dressing!

Berry Muffins
Printable Recipe

Ingredients:
3 cups strawberries, hulled
2 cups blueberries
3/4 cup granulated sugar
1/4 cup canola oil
1/4 cup buttermilk
1 large egg
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 1/4 cups white whole wheat flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350˚F. Line a 12-cup muffin pan with cups. Place 2 cups strawberries and 1 cup blueberries in a food processor and pulse until smooth. Place berry puree in a small nonstick pan and cook over medium heat for 20 to 25 minutes or until reduced to 1/2 cup, stirring occasionally. Remove from heat and let cool to room temperature.

Mix cooled puree, sugar, oil, buttermilk, egg, and vanilla extract in a large bowl until smooth. Stir in flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Coarsely chop remaining 1 cup strawberries and fold chopped strawberries and remaining 1 cup blueberries into the muffin batter.

Scoop muffin batter evenly into the 12 prepared muffin cups. Bake at 350˚F for 24 to 28 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center of the muffin comes out clean. Makes 12 muffins.

Nutrition: 169 calories, 5.3g fat, 1.9g fiber, 2.4g protein per muffin
Cost: $0.57 per muffin