Sunday, February 25, 2007

Cocoa Brownies


Cocoa Brownies, originally uploaded by aznkey.

My first time baking brownies. Damn tasty, highly recommmend.
Recipe
Taste 4/5
Difficulty 2/5
If you read the reviews, don't pay attention to the people that said the bake time is wrong. They don't know what they are doing, some said they left it in the oven for 40 mins and it still wasn't cooked, i have no idea what they did. Follow the recipe and it will turn out great. My notes on this recipe.

1. You don't have to use a water bath, just use a small pot and turn your stove to the lowest setting.
2. I baked mine at 335 because i believed those stupid people that said it didn't cook in 25 mins. 320 should be find.
3. Pastry chef and chocolate expert Alice Medrich, who has written several books about baking with chocolate, swears by something she calls the "Steve ritual," after a friend who discovered the technique by accident. She bakes her brownies for a shorter time at a higher temperature (375 to 400 degrees), then placing the hot pan in ice water about 3/4" deep. The sudden change in temperature produces a crisp crust and a soft, dense center.
I did shock the brownies, but i did not bake them at high temp, i will try that next time.
4. It's probably important that you use the suggested size pan*, since surface area will affect how it bakes. I think this is why it didn't bake properly for those people.
5. I couldn't find unsweeted cocoa powerd so i use I used Ghiradelli sweet ground chocolate and cocoa powder. Thus, some calculations must be done to adjust the amount of sugar added.

Grams of sugar needed
amount required for recipe = 1.25 cups
225g/cup * 1.25cup = 281.25g

Grams of sugar in sweet cocoa
Recipe requires 3/4 cups of unsweeten cocoa + 2 tbs
some quick convertion:
16 tbs/cup * 3/4 cup +2 tbs = 14 tbs of cocoa needed

From nutritional facts
1/4 cup/ serving * 16tbs/cup = 4 tbs/serving
14tbs/4 = 3.5 serving of cocoa needed
30 g of sugar/ serving * 3.5 = 105g sugar in sweet cocoa

Subtracting the amount of sugar in the sweet cocoa from the amount sugar we needed to add: 281.25 - 105 = 176.25 g

and since i don't have a scale.. another convertion
176.25g * 1cup/225g= .783 cups* 16 tbs/cup = 12.5 tbs

12.5 tbs = 3/4 cups + 1/2 tbs of sugar
lol all that work and guess what.. when i finished the calculations i notice the the recipe behind the ghirardelli jar. It was almost exactly like the one from epicurious, except it had more flour and a bit of baking power. And the amount of sugar required? 3/4 cups!!!! So while we are at it might as well calculate the percent error. I think my calculated value should be the theoritical value.
(12.5-12 tbs)/12.5 * 100%
= 4% error

In conclusion, this was a very fun lab. Sources of error include the fluctuations in oven temperature that occured during the process of adding hazle nuts halfway through baking. Also my walmart grade measuring instruments aren't very accurate. Ways to improvement on this experiment is to use a scale.

* Don't have a 9x9 pan? no problem make one with foil=)
PICT2779

Saturday, February 24, 2007

"Salt and pepper"

For the longest time i've wondered why my salt and pepper dishes never tasted remotely close to those at chinese restaurants. The problem- wrong type of pepper. They use szechwan pepper instead of regular pepper. Now if only i get my hands on some.

Thursday, February 22, 2007

Southern style


Collard Greens, originally uploaded by aznkey.

This is my first time having collard greens and I think it's great. Taste sorta like a mild chinese brocolli. Traditionally this would be served with corn bread, who has the time? >>>rice works

Someone has requested that i add ratings to recipes so i'll try to do that.

Collard greens
a bundle of greens washed and cut into transverse strips
1 smoked ham hock cut into quarters
1/2 can of chicken broth
water

Add a bit of oil to a pot and wilt the greens for a few minutes. The collard greens have a pleasant aroma while it cook, i think. Add chicken stock, hocks, and enough water to cover. Bring to simmer. I transfer the contents into a baking dish and finished it in the oven while my ribs cooked. You can also finish it on the stove on low for 40 mins. Salt and pepper to taste before serving.

Taste 4/5
Difficulty 1/5

Ribs


ribbs, originally uploaded by aznkey.

Some chinese bbq flavored ribs. Ran out of american bbq sauce soo... asians can live in the south too.

Chinese bbq ribs(not the one shown)
1 part hoisin sauce
1 part ketchup
Rub over a rack of rib. bake at 375 for 50 mins. After 30 mins spread another coating of your cause on the ribs.
Change over temp to 400 and bake for another 10 mins after the 50.

Taste 4/5
Difficulty 1/5

Monday, February 19, 2007

Beef stew pasta


Beef stew pasta, originally uploaded by aznkey.

Another old picture that i found, if i remember correctly this was pretty good.

A quick beef stew with some pasta.

1. Brown some chuck roast in a hot pan.
2. deglaze with chicken stock and some water.
3. Add chopped carrots, pinch of italian seasoning.
4. Simmer for 30 mins.
5. Boil your pasta of choice, al dente
6. Add pasta to stew, salt and pepper to taste.

Ham and Swiss


Ham and Swiss, originally uploaded by aznkey.

I was on a sandwich spree here is another sandwich. Quick, easy and good.

Chicken Ranch


Chicken Ranch, originally uploaded by aznkey.

Just found this picture from like months ago. It looks awesome. STACK!

some grilled chicken breast with bbq sauce, lettuce, tomatos, bacon and mayo. Some bbq lays on the side. BAM!

Chinese New Years


new years dinner, originally uploaded by aznkey.

Gotta have something for chinese new years, so this is what i came up with. Sorta pressed for time so i didn't even have time to take proper picture of everything. People were hungry. From the left.
Congee condiments( pickled cumcumber, bamboo shoots and wheat gluten)
cold vermicelli
Store bought braised fish
Chicken and beans with ox sauce
Black bean and garlice ribs
Congee with yams
Rice was steamed with chinese sausages.
dessert not in the pictures: banana flambe over vanilla icecream.

More on the dessert. Carmelizing the bananas was surprising easy i don't know why i had such a hard time before. I guess things are alot hard when you were a kid. Actually i think i know why, i use to add water. Don't add water. Warm fruit over cold ice cream = yumm.

1. Hot pan, almost smoking
2. Add sugar, watch it melt and change color remove from heat if it looks like it going to burn.
3. Add sliced bananas and pad of butter for taste.
4. Add a slash of sherry and tilt the pan. Watch your hair=)
5. Serve over icecream.

chicken and beans with xo sauce


chicken and beans with xo sauce, originally uploaded by aznkey.

Made my own XO sauce with dried shrimps, scallops, chilli, and garlic. Missing the XO. Tasted pretty good, if you like beans=P

1. Blanch beans in boiling water for 3 mins and drain(in the restaurants i think they use oil)
2. In a hot pan add seasoned chicken and brown. When it is half cooked add the beans and xo sauce.
3. Done when chicken is cooked.

fishy fishies fish.


fish, originally uploaded by aznkey.

Bought this at the chinese place across to street to complete new year's meal. Must have fish! Braised Fish. The whole fish is deep fried and we add the sauce before serving.

Thursday, February 15, 2007

Valentines day

I decided to cook vday dinner instead of going out for various reasons.
1. no car
2. didn't want to deal with the crowd/reservations.
3. nothing that great to eat.

So once again inspired by top chef I opened up an experimental restaurant in my apt. "O3"
A very small and exclusive restuarant.

the menu

- O3-

Soupe Du Jour

Chicken herbal soup with goji berries

_________

Starter

Melon Prosciutto wrap with balsamic reduction

_________

Entrée

Lamb Wellington with pan roasted potato and braised carrots

_________

Dessert

“Citrus Harmony”

Fresh ruby grapefruit and cara cara orange

topped with sherry vanilla sabayon

_________

Mixed Berries Napoleon

ö

Beverage Pairing

Perrier lemon
Korbel Rose Champagne
Barefoot Cabernet sauvignon
R.L Buller & Son Muscat
TGI Fridays Mudslide

Herbal Chicken soup


Herbal Chicken soup, originally uploaded by aznkey.

This is one of my favorite soups. Nothing complicated, just scome chicken slowly shimmered with chinese herbs. A very hearty soup that's great for winter times.

Take a whole chicken and remove most of the skin and fat. Remove the breasts and legs. Place the rest of the carcass along with the inners in a pot and cover with water. Add herbs( not sure what some of it is called in english, i only know the goji berries). Shimmer for 1.5 hours. and strain.

Before serving add the breast or legs to the soup and shimmer for 15 mins.

Melon proscuitto wrap


Melon proscuitto wrap, originally uploaded by aznkey.

Melon and proscuitto is a classic pairing for sweet and savory. The flavors match quite well together.

Some fresh cantelope cut into sticks and wrapped with proscuitto. I had a hard time getting the right consistancy with the balsamic reduction. It was either to running or too thick. After several attempts i just used the running version.

Lamb wellington


Lamb wellington, originally uploaded by aznkey.

This one was pretty labor intensive but well worth it.
The classic version is done with fillet of beef, but here i used lamb. I couldn't find any loin of lamb so i used some thick lamb chops and deboned it.

Lamb stock
Roast the left over bones at 400F for 40 mins until deep brown in color. Place the browned bones in a pot with your mirepoix(carrots, onions, and celery), a bay leaf, some pepper corns and a few cloves of garlic. Add a can of chicken stock and add enough water to cover. Simmer for a hour and occasionally remove the scum on top. Stain and store. should be prepare before hand.

For the wellington:

-preparation
Finely chop some portebello and dry in a pan over medium heat. After 10 mins or so it should become a nice paste. Let it cool and squeeze out any remaining water. This mushroom paste is called a duxelle.

Season the lamb with salt and pepper and quickly sear the sides in a hot pan, about 1 min per side don't over cook. Remove from heat and liberally coat with dijon mustard.

Deglaze the pan with 1/4 of sherry, add lamb stock and reduce.

Wash and slice potatos into wedges. Boil in salted water for 15 mins and drain.

-Wrapping

Place a sheet of plastic wrap on your cutting board. Place on top of that a slice of proscuitto. Then on top of that spread a layer of the duxelle. Then place the lamb in the center and using the plastic wrap roll the whole thing up. Twist the sides so that you form a even looking roll. Chill for 5 mins.

While it's chilling unroll some puff plastry on your cutting board lined with plastic wrap. Take out the chilled lamb and remove it from the plastic wrap. It should hold its shape if not return it to the fridge. Cut the pastry into sheet large enough to wrap your lamb. Brush the pastry with some egg wash place the lamb in the center. Wrap up the whole thing using the plastic underneath. Brush the roll with egg some egg wash and set on a baking sheet. Bake in a 400F oven for 20 mins. Let the wellingtong rest for 7 mins before slicing.

While the welling is resting sautee the potatos. Season with salt, pepper, and some rosemary. Add a pad of butter at the end for more flavor.

At the same time braise some carrots in chicken stock( i used my chicken herbal soup from earlier) until fork tender.

-Plating
Cut the wellington into thick 1-2 inch slices and set on the center of the plate. Place the potato and carrots around the side and drizzle the lamb reduction over the carrots and the wellington.

Citrus harmony


citrus harmony, originally uploaded by aznkey.

This concoction turned out better than i expected. The creamy and sweet sabayon was a nice balance to the tangy slighty bitter grapefruit. Tip don't try to do this without a wisk, i think i might have carpal tunnel=/

It's my first time trying cara cara oranges and thought the flavor was great. The flesh was a beautiful light pink color sorta like grapefruit.

3 egg yolks
1/5 cup of sugar
1/4 cup of sherry

1 tbs vanilla extract

Combine and whisk over a double boiler, a boil over boiling water works just fine, until volume doubles about 5-10 mins. Fold in 1/2 cup of whipped cream.

Mixed berry napoleon


Mixed berry napoleon, originally uploaded by aznkey.

this one's Jen's with icecream

Mixed berry napoleon


Mixed berry napoleon, originally uploaded by aznkey.

A last minute thing that i decided to make with the left over pastry from the wellingtons. Sandwiched with some boosenberry jam, frozen berries and whipped cream.

Bake clam fideos


Bake clam fideos, originally uploaded by aznkey.

Recently i went on a reality cooking show spree watching top chef and hell's kitchen. This dish was created by illan for his romantic dinner challenge.

Finally found a way to use my saffron, which unfortunatedly was passed it's used by date. SInce it's so expensive i used it anyways. Perhaps that's it didn't have much taste and only color. The dish turned out ok, i think i may have over cooked the pasta since i wasn't sure how it would finish in the oven. The clams were a bit to overpowering, maybe it's cause i don't like them haah.

Asian short ribs with crispy rice cakes

A very simple yet flavorful way to prepare your steaks.
I didn't have any nice ribeye so i used short ribs.
Season the steak with salt and pepper and sear it in a hot pan. Cook to desired doneness. Combine equal parts of honey, wasabi, and soy sauce and mix in the pan. Turn down the heat to make sure it doesn't burn. Rest meat for 5 mins before slicing.

The rice cake is just some fresh steamed rice slowly pan fried until crispy.

Beef stew


Beef stew, originally uploaded by aznkey.

A soup/stew that mom use to make. Usually made with oxtail but that is hard to find/expensive around here. So i substitute it with some chuck roast. A simple hearty soup.
in parts
1celery
1 carrot
1 onion
2 potatos
5 chuck roast
2 tomato
1/2 can small tomato paste
4 cabbage
Cut the beef into 2 inch cubes and sear all sides in a large pot. Add everything else and fill with enough water to cover+a inch or 2. SImmer of 1.5 hours. Occassionally skim the scum of the top. Add salt or fish sauce to taste. Great with rice.

fast food


fast food, originally uploaded by aznkey.

good quality fast food. ham and swiss and chicken wrap with some ranch dressing

Char Siu Tonkatsu


Char Siu Tonkatsu, originally uploaded by aznkey.

This is all about taking something good and making it better. How you may ask. Well take some lee kum kee char siu marinated pork chops and deep fry it with panko. I swear deep frying makes everything taste better.

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