Tuesday, September 20, 2011

Macaron Madness!


Macarons are pretty much the most pretentious cookies on the planet.



I've been obsessing over these little suckers over the past few weeks; I've done about a dozen batches before my mother called her friend to get tips for me! Finally I got a batch that *looked* right! They have the little feet and everything! I adjusted the proportions from several recipes to make smaller batches to just do test runs. Here's my recipe:

1 egg white
40 g almond flour (I just measured sliced almonds out and put it in a my Magic Bullet)
60 g powdered sugar
1.5 tbsp granulated sugar
Piping bag (ziplock bag if you don't have one)
Parchment paper
Oven at 275-300*F

You probably want to make the dry mix first. Do this by measuring out the almonds and blending it with the powdered sugar in a food processor. Next, sift it all out to get a fine powder.
Egg whites! When whipping egg whites, start adding the 1.5 tbsp of sugar when the whites start to foam. Continue the beatings till morale improves. When you pull the beater out of the egg white, the egg white should come up stiff (and not collapse back down). Disaster can also strike if you beat the white too much so be on the alert!

Next, fold the dry mix into your stiffened whites in 4-5 batches. If you're colouring your macarons, put the food colouring in now. Fold enough so it's mixed in and the dry mix is no longer visible, but not too much. If nudged, the dough should slowly sink back down.

Now, fill your piping bag with the macaron mix and pipe little circles onto the parchment paper-lined baking sheets. Leave space in between as they will spread out as they start to rest.

Let stand until film forms over macarons--a "skin" MUST form on the macarons. May take about 30 min. or possibly longer, depending on the humidity of the air; I find it best to make macarons when the weather is relatively dry. Test the macarons by gently touching the surface. If the dough does not stick, you're good to pop it in the oven. Let it bake for about 10-12 minutes.

When checking the macarons, they should have risen a bit to form "feet." They also should come off the parchment paper effortlessly if they're ready. If they're still stuck to the paper, they're not done yet! But watch them closely--if they stay in too long, they could crack, sag, or just get plain rock-hard.
Once again, this is a really pretentious cookie to bake, so don't be discouraged if you don't get 'em right in 10 tries. Seriously. Even professionals struggle with these.

To make a filling, you can use fruit preserve, whipped cream, peanut butter, Nutella or ganache, all which taste great! To make ganache, bring some heavy cream to a simmer and then pour it into a heat-safe bowl of chocolate or white chocolate chips. Stir until even and let it cool off until it's easier to work with. It should be like the consistency of Nutella when it's cool. If it's too liquidy, mix some flour or corn starch in to thicken it.

Fill your macarons with the filling of your choice and then they're free to eat. I have found them best at a day old, as the moisture in the filling seeps into the cookie at that point. Just store them in an air tight container and they're good for a couple days, but I doubt they will last that long! Happy baking! xx

Saturday, September 17, 2011

I do believe I've found a ramen place that tops Asa Ramen... oh dear, I am smitten...

4681 Convoy St., #1, San Diego, CA 92111
(858)576-7244

Tajima is in San Diego county on Convoy, frequently known as the Asian area in SD, where 99 Ranch Market resides. Their website is here.

I had the opportunity to try the ramen with the house broth, topped with the pork belly fat, sliced pork, seaweed, an egg and green onions! Not only was it plenty of food, but the taste was fantastically flavourful and rich and not overly salty! The piece of dried seaweed was actually a nice touch and you can ask for extra if you like. :)

Another bonus is that they give student discounts!! Just bring your ID with you and set it on the table when you order and they'll knock off a percentage! I don't know if you can top a restaurant that pays attention to the fact that us students are actually kinda poor like we say we are!

I do recommend going early if you don't want to wait. The place does start to fill up at around 6 or 6:30 and if you go at peak hours you might have to wait.

Definitely going back to this ramen house for more!

Sunday, September 4, 2011

Food Feature: Eggplant Eggstravaganza!

Ah, the eggplant... or aubergine, as it's known in many places around the world. Apart from being a nice winter colour, it's also a meaty vegetable; when cooked right, I find it's density is a bit like a cooked mushroom. The aubergine comes in many shapes and sizes, but for the most part, eggplants are similar in taste and texture from my experience. It's a funny vegetable that looks nothing like it's cousins, the tomato and the potato, and it's a good source of potassium; some studies have shown that the vitamins in eggplants can help in countering high cholesterol, but it's by no means a treatment on its own.

Another fun factoid off Wikipedia: the eggplant has more nicotine in it than any other edible plant in the world! Somehow I doubt that it's enough to get you hooked, as you'd need to ingest about 20 lbs of eggplant in order to get the same amount of nicotine in a cigarette.


They are mighty-tough buggers to cook! If not done right, eggplants could come out hard or bitter or overly-mushy. They also absorb oil like paper towels without so much as being cooked, so I don't recommend pan-frying them like other veg. Eggplants also don't keep too long, so if you buy some, put it in the fridge to keep them, but I don't recommend letting them stay there for over a day, two at most. They're also emotionally-sensitive vegetables, probably because they're pear-shaped (no shame in this!) and can be easily bruised.

I'm here to share some awesome recipes I've discovered over the past year or so, since I fell in love with the aubergine when my friend Lena treated me to some of her mother's fantastic eggplant lasagna (wish I had THIS recipe!). A cool fact is that most of these recipes, if not all are vegetarian or vegan!


Eggplant Fries
One of my favourite treats are eggplant fries! I may possibly like them more than sweet potato fries; if they don't precede sweet potato fries, then they are a close runner up.

Recipe inspired by a website called userealbutter.com

Ingredients: 
1-2 medium eggplants/aubergines
1 c flour
1/2 tbsp oregano
1/4 tsp pepper
1 tsp kosher/Hawaiian rock salt
1 tsp dry parsley flakes
frying oil
honey
salt to taste

Make a dry mix of 1 cup flour1/2 tbsp oregano, 1/4 tsp pepper, 1 tsp kosher salt and 1 tsp dry parsley flakes. Peel and cut the 1-2 medium eggplant(s) into 3/4 inch thick strips, as long or short as you like and lightly coat them in the flour mix (if it’s too heavily coated, the excess flour will come off in the frying process and ruin your oil). In a saucepan or fryer, add frying oil and heat up. To test the temperature, I like to sprinkle a little bit of flour into the oil; if it starts to bubble, it’s hot enough to start frying your eggplant fries. Fry only a few at a time so the temperature of the oil doesn’t drop too much; I recommend turning them during the process. Take them out when they’re golden (after a minute or so) and set them on paper towels to remove unwanted oil. When they’re done, drizzle with honey and sprinkle salt before serving! (For an herbal twist, substitute lavender seasoning for the honey!)
When I made this for my family, I served this as an appetizer with a Mediterranean-style dinner: Quinoa salad (quinoa, cubed avocado, cubed cucumber, kalamata olives, chopped cherry tomato, olive oil & salt) and a Greek-style chicken dish (chicken cooked in a skillet with a tomato sauce with onions, green peppers and zucchini). The fries absolutely disappeared within minutes! I could almost swear that the lazy susan on the table never stopped spinning because people were constantly turning it to get at these fries. 
Briam
The best way to describe briam, a Greek dish, would be ratatouille. The vegetables in briam can be swapped out depending on the season, so my version has got our star of the show, eggplant, in it!



My favourite recipe for this dish is actually from About.com!

Ingredients: 
1 large eggplant/aubergine
4 large potatoes
Olive Oil
1 medium onion, diced
4 cloves of garlic, minced finely
1/2 c chopped parsley
1 tsp dried basil
a pinch of dried mint
a pinch of oregano
2c tomato sauce
salt & pepper to taste

Boil 4 large potatoes in salted water till tender. When they're done, drop the suckers in a bath of ice water. Take a potato and cut the skin around the center of the potato; the ice water will shrink the peel and let you slip it right off! Repeat on the rest of the potatoes. Next, slice the potatoes into 1/4 inch rounds and set it aside.

In a saucepan, heat up 1/2 c olive oil and saute the 1 diced medium onion until they are translucent. Add minced garlic (4 cloves should do it). Saute for another minute. The smell will be fantastic! Optional: add 1/2 c wine and cook it off for a few minutes.

Next, add your herbs: 1/2 c chopped parsley, a tsp of dried basil, a pinch of dried mint, a pinch of oregano (this isn't in the original recipe, but I like a bit of it in my briam). Once that's stirred in, add 2 c tomato sauce and 1/2 c water. Bring all this to a boil, cover with lid and simmer for 15 min or so.

Slice up 4 large tomatoes to whatever thickness you prefer and set aside. I like them at about 1/3-1/4 inch thickness.

If your oven needs preheating, go ahead and switch it to 425ºF. While your sauce is cooking, grab a baking pan! Drizzle some olive oil at the bottom and start lining about half of the potato slices in the pan. Grab your salt and season the potatoes lightly. For the next layer, cover the potatoes with your tomato slices. Season with salt and pepper. Time for another layer of potatoes! By now, you should be using up the rest of your potato slices. Season again and when your sauce is done, go ahead and spoon about half of it over your potatoes and tomatoes.

For the next layer I like to switch off the zucchini for eggplant. Just a personal preference. :) Slice up 1 large aubergine/eggplant to about 1/4 inch thickness and to ahead and layer it on top of the sauce. Top it off with the rest of your sauce. and pop your baking pan into the oven; let it roast till the vegetables are tender. It generally takes about an hour, but watch it so the top doesn't burn. Since your potatoes are cooked, your eggplant will determine the readiness of the dish. Take a fork and poke at the eggplant layer; it should be soft and tender, but not mushy.



Baigan Bharta
Since the eggplant is native to India, we should probably see how it's done in that region, no? Baigan bharta is basically an eggplant curry and I'll just link the recipe since I didn't change anything in it. Here it is!

One thing I do recommend though, is adding a bit more salt; I found myself needing to add it as I was eating. I also have to say, it's funny baking the eggplant. If you fork it to test it's tenderness, it'll emit steam like an angry cartoon character; super entertaining! It's also really strange peeling the eggplant; I've never done anything quite like that to be honest.


Chinese-Style Eggplant Dishes
Chinese eggplants are different from the plumper eggplants you generally see in western supermarkets; they are longer and slimmer, making for easier slicing. Though I'm yet to cook this dish myself, I have to recommend a common dim-sum dish that features Chinese eggplant. It's eggplant that's stuffed with mince fish, battered and deep fried. Generally a sauce is added to it; at today's dim sum, I had stuffed eggplant accompanied by a black bean sauce. Yum! 

In my travels, I've also come across braised eggplant. In Beijing, China, one of the restaurants right outside the Forbidden City had braised eggplant on the menu; when trying to figure out what to order for my friends my eyes stopped at 紅燒 (hong shao), the Chinese word for braised. To say the least, 紅燒茄子 (hong shao qie zi) turned out to be a hit! Braised in a red sauce, it was sweet and really tasty; the dish disappeared quickly among my non-Chinese friends. To be honest, I'm not even sure they knew what it was, but they loved it anyway. :) 


Well, that's about all for today! Huzzah for aubergines! There are tons of other possibilities in the eggplant world yet to be explored! Please feel free to share any in the comments section! Happy eggplanting--well, don't go out planting eggs... I doubt you'll get a tree that blossoms chickens or a bush that sprouts eggs.