TIRAMISU, The Daring Baker's Challenge February 2010

The February 2010 Daring Bakers’ challenge was hosted by Aparna of My Diverse Kitchen and Deeba of Passionate About Baking. They chose Tiramisu as the challenge for the month. Their challenge recipe is based on recipes from The Washington Post, Cordon Bleu at Home and Baking Obsession.

This month, like most of the previous months, is always been a fun challenge. I am telling you, these hostess really know how to pick the challenges. This month is no exception, First, you must make your own mascarpone cheese which I would do it over and over since it is really really easy and taste far more superior then the store bought mascarpone. Secondly, you must make your own savoiardi (aka lady finger biscuit), although it wouldn't be too terrifying to do, I still have my difficulty with any baking technique that involve piping. Lastly, you must make your own creme patttisiere, and zabaglione which I can guarantee that (maybe) 90% of the DB's group had made it before.

So, what I have been battling against the challenge each end of the months is how to learn to eat just enough to satisfy my happily growing Buddha's belly ( I am working on it, ha ... ha...)

Thanks Aparna and Deeba for this delicious treat of the month. As always, I thank you Lis and Yvonne for creating this Daring baker's group.

Please visit Deeba or Aparna for the recipe.

Pork Vindaloo

I saw this lean pork stewing at my local grocery, which I never really bought this kind before. I was curious how it will turned out for this Indian curry specialty of the Goa region. The curry was good, but I didn't really like the taste of this lean stewing pork. It was a bit too lean, and in my opinion a bit stringy, and dry. Next time, I will stick to what I normally use for stew or curry, which is either the cut from shoulder or the leg. It is fattier, but it gives the succulent, luscious and tender, the kind of meat that will melt in your mouth. If, you do use this type of cut, make the curry the day before, and refrigerate overnight, that way, you can skim off all the fat that floating on the surface.

Almost very morning now I hear birds chirping outside my bedroom window, they are so many of them making so much noises. It is hard to ignore them, sometimes I feel like I am living in a bird park. I thought I might share them with you, although you can not hear them chirping beautifully. It was drizzled a little when I took the photo, so I just shot it quickly, here they are.

The recipe Pork Vindaloo

~elra~

Ingredients:

2 tbs canola oil

2 tsp black mustard seeds

3 whole dried red chili

20 curry leaves

1 large onion, finely chopped

ginger-garlic paste, see below

1 cinnamon stick

2 cardamoms

½ tsp jaggery, or palm sugar (optional)

ground spices, see below

¼ tsp turmeric powder

1½ pounds lean stewing pork (I'll use different cut next time, see my note above)

1 tbs tamarind pulp (soak with ½ cup hot water, strain-discard the solid)

3 cups water, chicken stock

½ cup coconut milk (omit this, if you are using pork shoulder)

salt to taste

• Heat a heavy bottom pot over medium heat, add oil. When the oil is hot and almost smoking, add black mustard seeds (be careful, it will splutter), dried chilies, and curry leaves, stir for a few seconds, be careful not to burn them. Add chopped onion, stir, cook until the onion is soft. Add garlic-ginger paste, cinnamon stick, cardamom seeds, jaggery if using, ground spices, and the turmeric powder.

• Add pork, tamarind water, and 3 cups water or chicken stock, season with salt. Stir, cover the pot. Cook on low until the pork is fork tender, I didn't remember how long it took me, but keep checking. At the end of cooking stir in the coconut milk, cook still on a low heat for another 5 minutes, taste to see if need more salt. Serve with plain steam Basmati rice.

For the garlic ginger paste:

Grind about 2 inches peeled ginger and 5 peeled garlic cloves into smooth paste, set aside until needed.

For the Ground Dry Spices:

Grind all of this spices below in a coffee grinder into powder, set aside until needed.

1 tsp cumin seeds

2 cloves

4 funegrek seeds

5 - 10 black peppercorns

¼ star anise

1 tsp poppy seeds

MANOUSHI Bread With Za'atar and Sumac

I really like the simplicity and the characteristic of this Lebanese and Syrian favorite breakfast bread. I found the recipe from my book "Saha", and has been making it pretty often. Although I don't really eat it for breakfast, as you can imagine making this in the morning during the week. But, I think I will try to make this on the weekend. Who wouldn't want chewy, soft, deliciously pleasant taste from exotic herb called za'atar for weekend breakfast?

This bread is not difficult to make at home, only take couple of minutes to mix the dough, and wait until its risen. Once the dough is risen, it is practically quick to bake directly in the hot baking stone (only take about three minutes), and quickly disappear as well, so quick, you wish you double the recipe. So, today, I am sharing the recipe of my favorite manoushi bread with Joanne, I hope she'll be happy with this Middle Eastern Bread that I send for her Regional Recipe (Middle Eastern) event! And also to Susan for yeast spotting event!

Manoushi Bread

Recipe adapted from "SAHA", written by Greg and Lucy Malouf.

355 grams (2⅓ cups) flour

1 tsp yeast

1 tsp sugar

½ tsp salt

¾ to 1 cup (175 - 200 ml) warm water

1 tbs extra virgin olive oil

Topping:

za'atar

Sumac

extra virgin olive oil

• Put flour, yeast, sugar and salt in a mixer bowl, add warm water, and olive oil, mix on low for 1 minutes to incorporate the ingredients. Increase the speed to medium low (speed # 2 on Kitchenaid mixer), continue mixing for 3 to 5 minutes until the dough is elastic.

• Transfer the dough into lightly oiled bowl, cover with plastic, let it rest for 2 hours.

• Place the baking stone inside the oven on a lowest rack, then preheat oven to 450⁰F.

• Flip the dough over on a lightly floured counter top, divide into 12 portions. Lightly flour each of them. When the oven is ready, roll each of them out to about 6 inches (15 cm) circle. Sprinkle about 1 teaspoon za'atar, and ½ teaspoon sumac (or as much or as little as you prefer) into each dough, drizzle with olive oil. Slide into the oven, and bake directly on top the hot stone for 3 minutes. Absolutely delicious serve hot right from the oven!!!

Chocolate and Raspberry Tart For Valentine's Day

I can feel the air so fresh, full of love, and sweet smelling roses,

let's celebrate ....

Happy Valentine everyone!

The recipe:

1 Hazelnut and almond crust, recipe follows

8 oz bittersweet chocolate

3 tbs unsalted butter

¼ cup sugar

2 eggs, lightly beaten just enough to break the yolks

½ cup heavy cream

6 oz (170 g) raspberry

• Preheat the oven for 375⁰F
• Butter well an 11 inches tart pan. Roll out the pastry, transfer to the prepared pan. return the pastry back to refrigerator at least for 30 minutes.
• Line the pastry with aluminum foil, add beans to cover the entire pastry. Blind bake for 15 minutes, take out form the oven, lift the foil (including the beans), return the pastry to the oven, continue to bake for 10 minutes more. Take it from the oven, let it cool for 15 to 30 minutes.
• Place the chocolate chunk and butter in a heat proof bowl. Place the bowl over barely simmering water. Melt completely, cool slightly.
• In another bowl, add the lightly beaten eggs, sugar, and heavy cream. Mix with a large rubber spatula just enough to mix them together. Add the melted chocolate, mix well.
• Pour into the tart cell, scatter the raspberry over the filling. Bake for 20-25 minutes. it should be still slightly jiggle in the middle (it will be harden as its cool)
• Cool completely before serving.

The Crust:

½ cup Hazelnut meal

½ cup almond meal

½ cup flour

½ cup confectioner's sugar

½ tsp salt

4 oz unsalted butter, cut into large pieces and keep cold

1 large egg, lightly whisk with fork

1 tbs ice cold water, optional/as needed

• Place hazelnut meal, almond meal, flour, confectioner's sugar, and salt in to a food processor. Pulse for 2 seconds. Add butter pieces, pulse until the butter incorporated, but still has a few large pieces, about as large as the size of a pea here and there.
• Add the lightly beaten egg, pulse until it almost come together. If its a bit dry, sprinkle a few drop of ice water.
• Transfer into a piece of cling wrap, wrap, refrigerate until needed.

Slow Braised Beef Shanks With Carrots, Nutmeg, and Herbs

I was surprised when I got a comment one day that some people thought nutmeg is only use for baking bread, cake, or cookies. Well, I have the same reaction when the first time I find out that nutmeg is use for making those sweet snacks or dessert. The place where I grew up (Indonesia), nutmeg is commonly use (only) for cooking meat or poultry. This is why every time I cook meat or poultry dishes, I always add at least a pinch of grated nutmeg. Somehow it seems enhance the flavor, especially, when cooking meat that has plenty of fat in it. The other thing I like to do is, to cook it the day before I plan to serve it, that way I can easily discard the fat that float on top, then simply reheat it. Don't be alarmed by the amount of nutmeg the recipe call for, it makes a very fragrant and flavorful dish. But, if you think it will over power the meat, then simply reduce it. For me, I rather smell the fragrant of the spices then the meat. What do I serve it with? Anything really, it can be just a simple plain steam rice, couscous, but for a special occasion, I like it more elegant and appealing by serving it with pomme anna for instance.

The recipe Slow Braised Beef Shanks

serve about 6 hungry people

~elra~

3½ pounds Beef shanks

8½ ounces sliced leeks, including the green part

1 pound sliced carrots

2- 3 tbs olive oil

½ teaspoon grated nutmeg

1 sprig lemon thyme

1 sprig marjoram

1 cup white wine

salt and plenty of freshly ground black pepper to taste

• Heat an iron skillet over medium high, add the shanks ( I don't use any oil), browned on all side. Set aside. Discard the oil that released from it.
• In a braiser, or a shallow large pot, saute the leeks with olive oil on medium heat until soft, add carrots, saute for a few minutes. Add the browned beef shanks, grated nutmeg, lemon thyme, marjoram. Pour the white wine, stir, season with salt and pepper. Let it simmer on low for 2 hours with the lid on. Check and stir from time to time to make sure you have sufficient liquid. If you find that there is not enough liquid, you can add little more wine, or chicken broth. Taste, and adjust seasoning as needed.