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The Daring Cooks June 2009 challenge was hosted by Jen from use real butter, who chose Chinese Dumplings/Potstickers.
Such a fun challenge, involving yet another dish that I’ve sort of always wanted to try making. First, Jen instructed, you need to chose a filling.
I went for pork:
pork filling:
1 lb (450g) ground pork
4 large napa cabbage leaves, minced
3 stalks green onions, minced
7 shitake mushrooms, minced (if dried – rehydrated and rinsed carefully)
1/2 cup (75g) bamboo shoots, minced
1/4 (55g) cup ginger root, minced
3 tbsp (40g) soy sauce
2 tbsp (28g) sesame oil
2 tbsp (16g) corn starch
Combine all filling ingredients in a large mixing bowl and mix thoroughly (I mix by clean hand). Cover and refrigerate until ready to use (up to a day, but preferably within an hour or two).
 Pork filling, before mixing. Then a dough. As we don’t have any gluten intolerance in the family, I went with the standard one.
dough: (double this for the amount of filling, but easier to make it in 2 batches – or just halve the filling recipe)
2 cups (250g) all-purpose flour
1/2 cup (113g) warm water
flour for worksurface
Make the dough, Method 1: Place the flour in the work bowl of a food processor with the dough blade. Run the processor and pour the warm water in until incorporated. Pour the contents into a sturdy bowl or onto a work surface and knead until uniform and smooth. The dough should be firm and silky to the touch and not sticky.
I have to admit, I never hand kneaded at all. I let the Bosch do the job for me. But then, it did it beautifully, so I guess it’s ok.
Knead the dough about twenty strokes then cover with a damp towel for 15 minutes. Take the dough and form a flattened dome. Cut into strips about 1 1/2 to 2 inches wide. Shape the strips into rounded long cylinders. On a floured surface, cut the strips into 3/4 inch pieces. Press palm down on each piece to form a flat circle (you can shape the corners in with your fingers). With a rolling pin, roll out a circular wrapper from each flat disc. Take care not to roll out too thin or the dumplings will break during cooking – about 1/16th inch. Leave the centers slightly thicker than the edges. Place a tablespoon of filling in the center of each wrapper and fold the dough in half, pleating the edges along one side (see images in post for how to fold pleats). Keep all unused dough under damp cloth.
This all took a while. I wouldn’t exactly call my circles even and uniform, but they worked. The pleating was a bit random, too, but all my dumplings had the required crescent shape, so I’m not complaining. And then for the cooking.
To steam: Place dumplings on a single layer of napa cabbage leaves or on a well-greased surface in a steamer basket with lid. Steam covered for about 6 minutes.
 Ready for steaming. To pan fry (potstickers): Place dumplings in a frying pan with 2-3 tbsp of vegetable oil. Heat on high and fry for a few minutes until bottoms are golden. Add 1/2 cup water and cover. Cook until the water has boiled away and then uncover and reduce heat to medium or medium low. Let the dumplings cook for another 2 minutes then remove from heat and serve.
 In pan.
We tried both. And both worked out well. I think I prefer the potstickers over the steamed dumplings, though, the fried bottom provided the requisite “something extra”. And then we ate:
 Please, help yourself. dipping sauce:
2 parts soy sauce
1 part vinegar (red wine or black)
a few drops of sesame oil
chili garlic paste (optional)
minced ginger (optional)
minced garlic (optional)
minced green onion (optional)
sugar (optional)
We actually made rice to go with them, which worked well for me. And the dumplings were quite filling, I’d have thought you could eat three or four at least, but I was actually quite satisfied after just two. On the other hand, they were quite delicious eaten cold for lunch the next day, too.
My only complaint is I’d have preferred the filling to be somewhat more spicy. But then I can always change that next time I try.
 The Daring Kitchen The May Daring Bakers’ challenge was hosted by Linda of make life sweeter! and Courtney of Coco Cooks. They chose Apple Strudel from the recipe book Kaffeehaus: Exquisite Desserts from the Classic Cafés of Vienna, Budapest and Prague by Rick Rodgers.
Some people made other sorts of strudel, spinach and feta sounds kind of nice, doesn’t it? That didn’t occur to me, though.
I opted for apples.
Strudel dough
from “Kaffeehaus – Exquisite Desserts from the Classic Cafés of Vienna, Budapest and Prague” by Rick Rodgers
1 1/3 cups (200 g) unbleached flour
1/8 teaspoon salt
7 tablespoons (105 ml) water, plus more if needed
2 tablespoons (30 ml) vegetable oil, plus additional for coating the dough
1/2 teaspoon cider vinegar
1. Combine the flour and salt in a stand-mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Mix the water, oil and vinegar in a measuring cup. Add the water/oil mixture to the flour with the mixer on low speed. You will get a soft dough. Make sure it is not too dry, add a little more water if necessary.
Take the dough out of the mixer. Change to the dough hook. Put the dough ball back in the mixer. Let the dough knead on medium until you get a soft dough ball with a somewhat rough surface.
2. Take the dough out of the mixer and continue kneading by hand on an unfloured work surface. Knead for about 2 minutes. Pick up the dough and throw it down hard onto your working surface occasionally.
Shape the dough into a ball and transfer it to a plate. Oil the top of the dough ball lightly. Cover the ball tightly with plastic wrap. Allow to stand for 30-90 minutes (longer is better).
This piece of cloth was newly washed and right in front of my eyes when I started to look for a table cloth. Hardly traditional strudel-baking equipment, but it did the job.
3. It would be best if you have a work area that you can walk around on all sides like a 36 inch (90 cm) round table or a work surface of 23 x 38 inches (60 x 100 cm). Cover your working area with table cloth, dust it with flour and rub it into the fabric. Put your dough ball in the middle and roll it out as much as you can.
Pick the dough up by holding it by an edge. This way the weight of the dough and gravity can help stretching it as it hangs. Using the back of your hands to gently stretch and pull the dough. You can use your forearms to support it.
To my amazement, the dough actually behaved the way the recipe says it should. It stretched. It only formed holes when I was particularly careless.
4. The dough will become too large to hold. Put it on your work surface. Leave the thicker edge of the dough to hang over the edge of the table. Place your hands underneath the dough and stretch and pull the dough thinner using the backs of your hands. Stretch and pull the dough until it’s about 2 feet (60 cm) wide and 3 feet (90 cm) long, it will be tissue-thin by this time. Cut away the thick dough around the edges with scissors. The dough is now ready to be filled.
Transparency, I haz it. Tissue thin? Uhm, perhaps not. I suspect I should have stretched more. Problem was I was running out of space. Also, though the dough didn’t break, it did spring back. More elastic than flexible. Must find out why. So instead of 60×90 cm I gave up around 50×80.
Apple strudel
from “Kaffeehaus – Exquisite Desserts from the Classic Cafés of Vienna, Budapest and Prague” by Rick Rodgers
2 tablespoons (30 ml) golden rum
3 tablespoons (45 ml) raisins
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/3 cup plus 1 tablespoon (80 g) sugar
1/2 cup (1 stick / 115 g) unsalted butter, melted, divided
1 1/2 cups (350 ml) fresh bread crumbs
strudel dough (recipe below)
1/2 cup (120 ml, about 60 g) coarsely chopped walnuts
2 pounds (900 g) tart cooking apples, peeled, cored and cut into ¼ inch-thick slices (use apples that hold their shape during baking)
However, I don’t agree very well with walnuts, so hazelnuts it is.
1. Mix the rum and raisins in a bowl. Mix the cinnamon and sugar in another bowl.
2. Heat 3 tablespoons of the butter in a large skillet over medium-high. Add the breadcrumbs and cook whilst stirring until golden and toasted. This will take about 3 minutes. Let it cool completely.
3. Put the rack in the upper third of the oven and preheat the oven to 400°F (200°C). Line a large baking sheet with baking paper (parchment paper). Make the strudel dough as described below. Spread about 3 tablespoons of the remaining melted butter over the dough using your hands (a bristle brush could tear the dough, you could use a special feather pastry brush instead of your hands). Sprinkle the buttered dough with the bread crumbs. Spread the walnuts about 3 inches (8 cm) from the short edge of the dough in a 6-inch-(15cm)-wide strip. Mix the apples with the raisins (including the rum), and the cinnamon sugar. Spread the mixture over the walnuts.
4. Fold the short end of the dough onto the filling. Lift the tablecloth at the short end of the dough so that the strudel rolls onto itself. Transfer the strudel to the prepared baking sheet by lifting it. Curve it into a horseshoe to fit. Tuck the ends under the strudel. Brush the top with the remaining melted butter.
5. Bake the strudel for about 30 minutes or until it is deep golden brown. Cool for at least 30 minutes before slicing. Use a serrated knife and serve either warm or at room temperature. It is best on the day it is baked.
Eaten warm with ice cream. Nice, but not mind-blowing. I might try it again and drop the nuts entirely, add more raisins and rum and probably more sugar and cinnamon (I already used more cinnamon than the recipe called for).
Or perhaps try a savoury version.
The Daring Kitchen The first Daring Cooks challenge! How exciting!
Zuni Ricotta Gnocchi
Source: From The Zuni Café Cookbook.
Yield: Makes 40 to 48 gnocchi (serves 4 to 6)
Prep time: Step 1 will take 24 hours. Steps 2 through 4 will take approximately 1 hour.
Equipment required:
- Sieve
- Cheesecloth or paper towels
- Large mixing bowl
- Rubber spatula
- Tablespoon
- Baking dish or baking sheet
- Wax or parchment paper
- Small pot
- Large skillet
- Large pan or pot (very wide in diameter and at least 2 inches deep)
For the gnocchi:
1 pound (454 grams/16 ounces) fresh ricotta (2 cups)
2 large cold eggs, lightly beaten
1 tablespoon (1/2 ounce) unsalted butter
2 or 3 fresh sage leaves, or a few pinches of freshly grated nutmeg, or a few pinches of chopped lemon zest (all optional)
½ ounce Parmigiano-Reggiano, grated (about ¼ cup very lightly packed)
about ¼ teaspoon salt (a little more if using kosher salt)
all-purpose flour for forming the gnocchi
For the gnocchi sauce:
8 tablespoons (227 grams/1/4 pound/4 ounces) butter, sliced
2 teaspoons water
Step 1 (the day before you make the gnocchi): Preparing the ricotta.
If the ricotta is too wet, your gnocchi will not form properly. In her cookbook, Judy Rodgers recommends checking the ricotta’s wetness. To test the ricotta, take a teaspoon or so and place it on a paper towel. If you notice a very large ring of dampness forming around the ricotta after a minute or so, then the ricotta is too wet. To remove some of the moisture, line a sieve with cheesecloth or paper towels and place the ricotta in the sieve. Cover it and let it drain for at least 8 hours and up to 24 hours in the refrigerator. Alternatively, you can wrap the ricotta carefully in cheesecloth (2 layers) and suspend it in your refrigerator for 8 to 24 hours with a bowl underneath to catch the water that’s released. Either way, it’s recommended that you do this step the day before you plan on making the gnocchi.
I thought I’d give Finny’s tomato sauce another go to serve with the gnocchi. Here are the tomatoes ready to go in the oven for half an hour:
Step 2 (the day you plan on eating the gnocchi): Making the gnocchi dough.
To make great gnocchi, the ricotta has to be fairly smooth. Place the drained ricotta in a large bowl and mash it as best as you can with a rubber spatula or a large spoon (it’s best to use a utensil with some flexibility here). As you mash the ricotta, if you noticed that you can still see curds, then press the ricotta through a strainer to smooth it out as much as possible.
Add the lightly beaten eggs to the mashed ricotta.
Melt the tablespoon of butter. As it melts, add in the sage if you’re using it. If not, just melt the butter and add it to the ricotta mixture.
Add in any flavouring that you’re using (i.e., nutmeg, lemon zest, etc.). If you’re not using any particular flavouring, that’s fine.
Add the Parmigiano-Reggiano and the salt.
Beat all the ingredients together very well. You should end up with a soft and fluffy batter with no streaks (everything should be mixed in very well).
Step 3: Forming the gnocchi.
Fill a small pot with water and bring to a boil. When it boils, salt the water generously and keep it at a simmer. You will use this water to test the first gnocchi that you make to ensure that it holds together and that your gnocchi batter isn’t too damp.
In a large, shallow baking dish or on a sheet pan, make a bed of all-purpose flour that’s ½ an inch deep.
With a spatula, scrape the ricotta mixture away from the sides of the bowl and form a large mass in the centre of your bowl.
Using a tablespoon, scoop up about 2 to 3 teaspoons of batter and then holding the spoon at an angle, use your finger tip to gently push the ball of dough from the spoon into the bed of flour.
At this point you can either shake the dish or pan gently to ensure that the flour covers the gnocchi or use your fingers to very gently dust the gnocchi with flour. Gently pick up the gnocchi and cradle it in your hand rolling it to form it in an oval as best as you can, at no point should you squeeze it. What you’re looking for is an oval lump of sorts that’s dusted in flour and plump.
Mmmmm. Plump.
Gently place your gnocchi in the simmering water. It will sink and then bob to the top. From the time that it bobs to the surface, you want to cook the gnocchi until it’s just firm. This could take 3 to 5 minutes.
If your gnocchi begins to fall apart, this means that the ricotta cheese was probably still too wet. You can remedy this by beating a teaspoon of egg white into your gnocchi batter. If your gnocchi batter was fluffy but the sample comes out heavy, add a teaspoon of beaten egg to the batter and beat that in. Test a second gnocchi to ensure success.
Form the rest of your gnocchi. You can put 4 to 6 gnocchi in the bed of flour at a time. But don’t overcrowd your bed of flour or you may damage your gnocchi as you coat them.
Have a sheet pan ready to rest the formed gnocchi on. Line the sheet pan with wax or parchment paper and dust it with flour.
You can cook the gnocchi right away, however, Judy Rodgers recommends storing them in the refrigerator for an hour prior to cooking to allow them to firm up.
And here is the sauce, whizzed in the blender:
Step 4: Cooking the gnocchi.
Have a large skillet ready to go. Place the butter and water for the sauce in the skillet and set aside.
In the largest pan or pot that you have (make sure it’s wide), bring at least 2 quarts of water to a boil (you can use as much as 3 quarts of water if your pot permits). You need a wide pot or pan so that your gnocchi won’t bump into each other and damage each other.
Once the water is boiling, salt it generously.
Drop the gnocchi into the water one by one. Once they float to the top, cook them for 3 to 5 minutes (as in the case with the test gnocchi).
When the gnocchi float to the top, you can start your sauce while you wait for them to finish cooking.
Place the skillet over medium heat and melt the butter. Swirl it gently a few times as it melts. As soon as it melts and is incorporated with the water, turn off the heat. Your gnocchi should be cooked by now.
With a slotted spoon, remove the gnocchi from the boiling water and gently drop into the butter sauce. Carefully roll in the sauce until coated. Serve immediately.
The gnocchi were mouthwateringly yummy. The sauce was a bit too thick (not so much of a problem) and a bit overpowering (more of a problem). I’m also not sure I was quite happy with the taste of the sauce, but there are leftovers, so I’ll try it with something else before passing judgement.
I’ll most likely make gnocchi again, but I’ll go for a lighter sauce next time. Something basilly or creamy or both, methinks.
Oh, and: “Serves 4-6″? Between us the husband and I gobbled up every morsel. Oops.
The Daring Kitchen The April 2009 challenge is hosted by Jenny from Jenny Bakes. She has chosen Abbey’s Infamous Cheesecake as the challenge.
I have no idea why, but I have never made a cheesecake. It is obviously high time, so this is one challenge I’m grateful for.
Abbey’s Infamous Cheesecake:
crust:
2 cups / 180 g graham cracker crumbs
1 stick / 4 oz butter, melted
2 tbsp. / 24 g sugar
1 tsp. vanilla extract
cheesecake:
3 sticks of cream cheese, 8 oz each (total of 24 oz) room temperature
1 cup / 210 g sugar
3 large eggs
1 cup / 8 oz heavy cream
1 tbsp. lemon juice
1 tbsp. vanilla extract (or the innards of a vanilla bean)
1 tbsp liqueur, optional, but choose what will work well with your cheesecake
DIRECTIONS:
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (Gas Mark 4 = 180C = Moderate heat). Begin to boil a large pot of water for the water bath.
2. Mix together the crust ingredients and press into your preferred pan. You can press the crust just into the bottom, or up the sides of the pan too – baker’s choice. Set crust aside.
3. Combine cream cheese and sugar in the bowl of a stand-mixer (or in a large bowl if using a hand-mixer) and cream together until smooth. Add eggs, one at a time, fully incorporating each before adding the next. Make sure to scrape down the bowl in between each egg. Add heavy cream, vanilla, lemon juice, and alcohol and blend until smooth and creamy.
4. Pour batter into prepared crust and tap the pan on the counter a few times to bring all air bubbles to the surface. Place pan into a larger pan and pour boiling water into the larger pan until halfway up the side of the cheesecake pan. If cheesecake pan is not airtight, cover bottom securely with foil before adding water.
5. Bake 45 to 55 minutes, until it is almost done – this can be hard to judge, but you’re looking for the cake to hold together, but still have a lot of jiggle to it in the center. You don’t want it to be completely firm at this stage. Close the oven door, turn the heat off, and let rest in the cooling oven for one hour. This lets the cake finish cooking and cool down gently enough so that it won’t crack on the top. After one hour, remove cheesecake from oven and lift carefully out of water bath. Let it finish cooling on the counter, and then cover and put in the fridge to chill. Once fully chilled, it is ready to serve.
Pan note: The creator of this recipe used to use a springform pan, but no matter how well she wrapped the thing in tin foil, water would always seep in and make the crust soggy. Now she uses one of those 1-use foil “casserole” shaped pans from the grocery store. They’re 8 or 9 inches wide and really deep, and best of all, water-tight. When it comes time to serve, just cut the foil away.
Prep notes: While the actual making of this cheesecake is a minimal time commitment, it does need to bake for almost an hour, cool in the oven for an hour, and chill overnight before it is served. Please plan accordingly!
Since I’ve never made a cheesecake before, I thought I’d go with the basic variety, though I had to do some minor adjustments (we might get graham crackers at Ultra, but I wouldn’t swear to it). Mind you, I might have opted for “plain” in any case, because the best cheesecakes I’ve been served have been the plainest of the plain. Some sort of berryish sauce will be necessary, though.
So I stocked up on Kornmo (can you belive Sætre doesn’t have a product page for it?) and set to it.
Cheese and sugar, just getting started.
Adding and incorporating the eggs one by one.
I cheated. It cracked anyway, so I didn’t let it rest in a cooling oven for an hour (more like half an hour). Then we started digging in before it was even cold. It was still good.
Ever so slightly warm cheesecake with berries.
I settled for the really easy option as far as the sauce goes. I added a tablespoon of Old Pulteney Liqueur to the cake mixture and the sauce is simply frozen forrest fruits thawed out with some more of the liqueur mixed in.
This all worked really well. I think to deserve the name cheescake it really ought to taste more like cheese, but this was very, very good, even if not very cheesy, and I will quite probably make it again.
The Daring Kitchen
The March 2009 challenge is hosted by Mary of Beans and Caviar, Melinda of Melbourne Larder and Enza of Io Da Grande. They have chosen Lasagne of Emilia-Romagna from The Splendid Table by Lynne Rossetto Kasper as the challenge.
Pasta? Oh yay and oh no. Oh yay because it’s my favourite food, more or less, oh no because, well, home made pasta? That sounds like hard work. But then, I am a Daring Baker, right? Best live up to the Daring part, then.
#1 Spinach Egg Pasta (Pasta Verde)
Preparation: 45 minutes
Makes enough for 6 to 8 first course servings or 4 to 6 main course servings, equivalent to 1 pound (450g) dried boxed pasta.
2 jumbo eggs (2 ounces/60g or more)
10 ounces (300g) fresh spinach, rinsed dry, and finely chopped; or 6 ounces (170g) frozen chopped spinach, defrosted and squeezed dry
3&1/2 cups (14 ounces/400g) all purpose unbleached (plain) flour (organic stone ground preferred)
Working by Hand:
Equipment
A roomy work surface, 24 to 30 inches deep by 30 to 36 inches (60cm to 77cm deep by 60cm to 92cm). Any smooth surface will do, but marble cools dough slightly, making it less flexible than desired.
A pastry scraper and a small wooden spoon for blending the dough.
A wooden dowel-style rolling pin. In Italy, pasta makers use one about 35 inches long and 2 inches thick (89cm long and 5cm thick). The shorter American-style pin with handles at either end can be used, but the longer it is, the easier it is to roll the pasta.
Note: although it is not traditional, Enza has successfully made pasta with a marble rolling pin, and this can be substituted for the wooden pin, if you have one.
Plastic wrap to wrap the resting dough and to cover rolled-out pasta waiting to be filled. It protects the pasta from drying out too quickly.
A sharp chef’s knife for cutting pasta sheets.
Cloth-covered chair backs, broom handles, or specially designed pasta racks found in cookware shops for draping the pasta.
Mixing the dough:
Mound the flour in the center of your work surface and make a well in the middle. Add the eggs and spinach. Use a wooden spoon to beat together the eggs and spinach. Then gradually start incorporating shallow scrapings of flour from the sides of the well into the liquid. As you work more and more flour into the liquid, the well’s sides may collapse. Use a pastry scraper to keep the liquids from running off and to incorporate the last bits of flour into the dough. Don’t worry if it looks like a hopelessly rough and messy lump.
I cheated, I used the blender to chop the spinach and to get it chopped I needed liquid, so the eggs are in there, too.
Kneading:
With the aid of the scraper to scoop up unruly pieces, start kneading the dough. Once it becomes a cohesive mass, use the scraper to remove any bits of hard flour on the work surface – these will make the dough lumpy. Knead the dough for about 3 minutes. Its consistency should be elastic and a little sticky. If it is too sticky to move easily, knead in a few more tablespoons of flour. Continue kneading about 10 minutes, or until the dough has become satiny, smooth, and very elastic. It will feel alive under your hands. Do not shortcut this step. Wrap the dough in plastic wrap, and let it relax at room temperature 30 minutes to 3 hours.
My mistake, I think, was to use durum wheat meant for pasta in a recipe asking for ordinary plain flour… In any case, the dough did not really behave as it was supposed to. I kept having to add flour or it would stick to everything and no matter how long I kneaded it never seemed to change it’s texture. Though I might just have lost patience a bit too soon. Did I mention I have very little patience? Patience is, most emphatically, NOT my middle name.
Stretching and Thinning:
If using an extra-long rolling pin work with half the dough at a time. With a regular-length rolling pin, roll out a quarter of the dough at a time and keep the rest of the dough wrapped. Lightly sprinkle a large work surface with flour. The idea is to stretch the dough rather than press down and push it. Shape it into a ball and begin rolling out to form a circle, frequently turning the disc of dough a quarter turn. As it thins outs, start rolling the disc back on the pin a quarter of the way toward the center and stretching it gently sideways by running the palms of your hands over the rolled-up dough from the center of the pin outward. Unroll, turn the disc a quarter turn, and repeat. Do twice more.
Stretch and even out the center of the disc by rolling the dough a quarter of the way back on the pin. Then gently push the rolling pin away from you with one hand while holding the sheet in place on the work surface with the other hand. Repeat three more times, turning the dough a quarter turn each time.
Repeat the two processes as the disc becomes larger and thinner. The goal is a sheet of even thickness. For lasagne, the sheet should be so thin that you can clearly see your hand through it and see colours. Cut into rectangles about 4 by 8 inches (10 x 20 cm). Note: Enza says that transparency is a crucial element of lasagne pasta and the dough should be rolled as thinly as possible. She says this is why her housekeeper has such strong arms!
Not having a pasta machine thing, I used a rolling pin. A normal one, too.
I know transparency was stressed, and holes are transparent, right? Actually, the structure was quite obviously not what it should have been. I tried stretching and ended up with holes. If I hung the rolled out pasta over a chairback, it would develop holes and parts would drop to the floor. I settled for rolling it out as thinly as I could and hoping it would not taste like glue. Oh, and the picture is out of focus, but believe me, you’re not missing anything.
Dry the pasta at room temperature and store in a sealed container or bag.
#2 Bechamel
Preparation Time: 15 minutes
4 tablespoons (2 ounces/60g) unsalted butter
4 tablespoons (2 ounces/60g) all purpose unbleached (plain) flour, organic stone ground preferred
2&2/3 cups (approx 570ml) milk
Salt and freshly ground pepper to taste
Freshly grated nutmeg to taste
Using a medium-sized saucepan, melt the butter over low to medium heat. Sift over the flour, whisk until smooth, and then stir (without stopping) for about 3 minutes. Whisk in the milk a little at a time and keep the mixture smooth. Bring to a slow simmer, and stir 3 to 4 minutes, or until the sauce thickens. Cook, stirring, for about 5 minutes, until the sauce thickens. Season with salt, pepper, and a hint of nutmeg.
And I did.
#3 Country Style Ragu’ (Ragu alla Contadina)
Preparation Time: Ingredient Preparation Time 30 minutes and Cooking time 2 hours
Makes enough sauce for 1 recipe fresh pasta or 1 pound/450g dried pasta)
3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil (45 mL)
2 ounces/60g pancetta, finely chopped
1 medium onion, minced
1 medium stalk celery with leaves, minced
1 small carrot, minced
4 ounces/125g boneless veal shoulder or round
4 ounces/125g pork loin, trimmed of fat, or 4 ounces/125g mild Italian sausage (made without fennel)
8 ounces/250g beef skirt steak, hanging tender, or boneless chuck blade or chuck center cut (in order of preference)
1 ounce/30g thinly sliced Prosciutto di Parma
2/3 cup (5 ounces/160ml) dry red wine
1 &1/2 cups (12 ounces/375ml) chicken or beef stock (homemade if possible)
2 cups (16 ounces/500ml) milk
3 canned plum tomatoes, drained
Salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
Working Ahead:
The ragu can be made 3 days ahead. Cover and refrigerate. It also freezes well for up to 1 month. Skim the fat from the ragu’ before using it.
Browning the Ragu Base:
Heat the olive oil in a 12 inch (30cm) skillet (frying pan) over medium-high heat. Have a large saucepan handy to use once browning is complete. Add the pancetta and minced vegetables and sauté, stirring frequently with a wooden spoon, 10 minutes, or until the onions barely begin to color. Coarsely grind all the meats together, including the prosciutto, in a food processor or meat grinder. Stir into the pan and slowly brown over medium heat. First the meats will give off a liquid and turn dull grey but, as the liquid evaporates, browning will begin. Stir often, scooping under the meats with the wooden spatula. Protect the brown glaze forming on the bottom of the pan by turning the heat down. Cook 15 minutes, or until the meats are a deep brown. Turn the contents of the skillet into a strainer and shake out the fat. Turn them into the saucepan and set over medium heat.
Reducing and Simmering: Add the wine to the skillet, lowering the heat so the sauce bubbles quietly. Stir occasionally until the wine has reduced by half, about 3 minutes. Scrape up the brown glaze as the wine bubbles. Then pour the reduced wine into the saucepan and set the skillet aside.
Stir ½ cup stock into the saucepan and let it bubble slowly, 10 minutes, or until totally evaporated. Repeat with another ½ cup stock. Stir in the last 1/2 cup stock along with the milk. Adjust heat so the liquid bubbles very slowly. Partially cover the pot, and cook 1 hour. Stir frequently to check for sticking.
Add the tomatoes, crushing them as they go into the pot. Cook uncovered, at a very slow bubble for another 45 minutes, or until the sauce resembles a thick, meaty stew. Season with salt and pepper.
I deviated again. I’ve been wanting to try Finny’s Best tomato sauce ever. Yep. for a while, and thoought I’d grab the chance now.
So I did.
And I used high-end minced beef rather than mincing my own, but mostly followed the rest of the Ragu recipe. I should have bought more tomatoes, so the sauce (which was, indeed, quite delicious) did not really suffice, so I added a tin of tomatoes, too, and there was my second mistake, I should have realised this meant I needed more salt and pepper. Somehow I never got around to tasting the ragu, being too worried about the state of the pasta.
Cooking the Pasta:
Bring the salted water to a boil. Drop about four pieces of pasta in the water at a time. Cook about 2 minutes. If you are using dried pasta, cook about 4 minutes, taste, and cook longer if necessary. The pasta will continue cooking during baking, so make sure it is only barely tender. Lift the lasagne from the water with a skimmer, drain, and then slip into the bowl of cold water to stop cooking. When cool, lift out and dry on the paper towels. Repeat until all the pasta is cooked.
Pre-boiling the pasta. Enjoy this wonderful picture where you can see my spotlessly clean stove…
Assembling the Lasagne:
Spread a thin layer of béchamel over the bottom of the baking dish. Arrange a layer of about four overlapping sheets of pasta over the béchamel. Spread a thin layer of béchamel (about 3 or 4 spoonfuls) over the pasta, and then an equally thin layer of the ragu. Sprinkle with about 1&1/2 tablespoons of the béchamel and about 1/3 cup of the cheese. Repeat the layers until all ingredients are used, finishing with béchamel sauce and topping with a generous dusting of cheese.
Baking and Serving the Lasagne:
Cover the baking dish lightly with foil, taking care not to let it touch the top of the lasagne. Bake 40 minutes, or until almost heated through. Remove the foil and bake another 10 minutes, or until hot in the center (test by inserting a knife – if it comes out very warm, the dish is ready). Take care not to brown the cheese topping. It should be melted, creamy looking and barely tinged with a little gold. Turn off the oven, leave the door ajar and let the lasagne rest for about 10 minutes. Then serve. This is not a solid lasagne, but a moist one that slips a bit when it is cut and served.
I didn’t cover it at all. I like my lasagna brown and slightly crisp on top. I’m such a rebel.
See? Browned. And crispy.
The pasta worked out quite well, actually, despite all my worries. If I’d just remembered to taste the ragu and added salt, pepper and spice accordingly, this would have been the perfect lasagna, or close to it, anyway. As it was? Well, a little disappointing, really. Adding pepper after the fact helps, but it can’t really make up for the lack of proper attention while making the sauce, I’m afraid.
Still, at least the experience didn’t scare me off making pasta.
Leftover pasta. What to do with it?
I’ll be making pasta again, that’s for sure. Next time I’ll aspire to achieve flexibility and thereby transparency. I think I’ll put a pasta machine on my birthday wishlist. There is a pasta attachment set available for the Bosch, but it looks like it’s plates that you add to the grinder attachment so that the pasta is squeezed out through little slits, rather than rolled, out, and that can’t be right, surely? Will it work? Perhaps I need to do some investigation.
This was fun. I’m sure looking forward to the April challenge.
This is my first Daring Bakers challenge, and I was very exited at the beginning of February to see what my first assignment might be. Well, it involves chocolate. This made me happy, I mean, how could something that starts with this:
be anything but good?
I meant to do the hard work (ok, not so hard, but whatever) last weekend, but was laid low with a throat infection. This weekend rolled around, and I was all set, but had shipped the husband and lass off to Hitra in order to do some serious tidying of the flat (though you wouldn’t know it from how it looks), and thought it would be a pity to make this heavenly chocolatey concoction and have no one to share it with. Hence I’m a day late, but I hope I may be forgiven…
The February 2009 challenge is hosted by Wendy of WMPE’s blog and Dharm of Dad ~ Baker & Chef. We have chosen a Chocolate Valentino cake by Chef Wan; a Vanilla Ice Cream recipe from Dharm and a Vanilla Ice Cream recipe from Wendy as the challenge.
The cake is straight-forward enough, I opted for a mix of chocolates, partly because of bad planning (I’d have used all Fair Trade chocolate if I’d remembered to buy it from my usual source): 100 g Änglamark Fairtrade dark (70% cocoa), 100 g Freia 70%, 200 g Freia Dronningsjokolade and some leftover Lindt 70% to make up the pound. The eggs were fresh organic ones, which might, for all I know, make a difference (the organic bit, the freshness does make a difference, I know that).
Chocolate Valentino
Preparation Time: 20 minutes
16 ounces (1 pound) (454 grams) of semisweet chocolate, roughly chopped
½ cup (1 stick) plus 2 tablespoons (146 grams total) of unsalted butter
5 large eggs separated
1. Put chocolate and butter in a heatproof bowl and set over a pan of simmering water (the bottom of the bowl should not touch the water) and melt, stirring often.
2. While your chocolate butter mixture is cooling. Butter your pan and line with a parchment circle then butter the parchment.
3. Separate the egg yolks from the egg whites and put into two medium/large bowls.
4. Whip the egg whites in a medium/large grease free bowl until stiff peaks are formed (do not over-whip or the cake will be dry).
5. With the same beater beat the egg yolks together.
6. Add the egg yolks to the cooled chocolate.
7. Fold in 1/3 of the egg whites into the chocolate mixture and follow with remaining 2/3rds. Fold until no white remains without deflating the batter. {link of folding demonstration}
8. Pour batter into prepared pan, the batter should fill the pan 3/4 of the way full, and bake at 375F/190C
9. Bake for 25 minutes until an instant read thermometer reads 140F/60C.
Note – If you do not have an instant read thermometer, the top of the cake will look similar to a brownie and a cake tester will appear wet.
10. Cool cake on a rack for 10 minutes then unmold.
So much for the cake. Wendy and Dharm provided two different recipes for vanilla ice cream, but I ended up using a recipe from the main dairy producer in Norway to make sure I got the right recipe for the type of cream we get here (no such thing as double cream in Norway) – though the cream I used was actually from their main competitor. Never mind. I halved the recipe, and couldn’t find real vanilla, so cheated with the good vanilla sugar. And the sugar I use is Fairtrade, and has a more distinct taste than ordinary refined sugar.
4 egg yolks
75 g sugar
3 dl kremfløte (cream)
1 tsp vanilla sugar
Whip the egg yolks and sugar, add the vanilla. Whip the cream and add to the mixture. Freeze, taking the bowl out every half hour or so and stirring it.
Since we had a bag of mixed berries in the freezer and I love sorbet, I thought I’d make that as well. No fancy ingredients here. I whirred the berries in the blender, with a little pineapple juice to make it go round, then pressed the pure through a strainer to get the seeds out and ended up with 7 dl pure. To which I added a sugar solution made with 1,4 dl of water and 1,8 dl sugar brought to the boil and cooled a bit. Stuck that in the freezer and took it out to stir every half hour or so as well. Easy peasy.
The result:
The “cake” was heavenly, more a sort of mousse with a brownie crust. The sorbet and ice cream went well with it, and it’s all bound to disappear quite quickly, I suspect. I need to work on my food photography skills, though. The above is the best I could do before the ice cream melted. I had a bit of a disagreement with my flash, so it’s not as sharp as I could wish.
The taste was just right, though  Looking forward to the March challenge already (will try not to fall ill at the critical moment this month…)
Whenever we’re in Britain and don’t stuff ourselves silly on the main course so that there is actually room for dessert, the husband tends to go for sticky toffee pudding every time (provided it’s available, obviously). So a while ago, going on three years in fact, I checked out some recipes online and thought “I can do that.” And then didn’t. Until this week, when I thought I’d take advantage of this baking frenzy to actually try making sticky toffee pudding. Having dropped the lass off at her grandmother’s for a sleepover on Thursday, I set to it.
I used the Ultimate Sticky Toffee Pudding recipe from the BBC Good Food website, but instead of seven puddings (seven? odd number, isn’t it?) I used my xl size muffin tin and made six.
 Pudding, glorious pudding Thing is, I thought puddings were supposed to be sort of steam baked, not just popped into a pan and coming out looking rather like another muffin? Or perhaps I’ve just been reading to much Patrick O’Brian and related literature and assume nothing’s changed in the British kitchen since the early 19th century? Anyway, it smelt delicious and looked pretty good. The next item on the agenda was the toffee sauce. It looked yummy, too.
 Toffee sauce, check. The BBC recipe suggests leaving the puddings to soak in the sauce for a day, which was just as well, as the husband was working the late shift and would not be home until after my bedtime. So I soaked:
 This here is pudding soaking, so it is. I didn’t have six individual oven proof dishes, so I made little “dishes” out of aluminium foil. The next day I told the husband to buy either cream or icecream, depending on whether he wanted custard or icecream with his puddings, and he opted for custard. So I tried the BBC recipe for Dead Good Custard, except I cheated and used vanilla sugar (even if it was the posh kind) rather than real vanilla. It turned out very tasty, but more vanilla sauce-ish than custardy. I suspect I should have been more patient in the “let simmer until it thickens” phase. Oh, well.
Overall judgement from the expert: Yummy, but not very sticky. Will try to do better on that point next time, suggestions on how would be appreciated.
We bought muffin tins today. I’ve only ever used the muffin paper on its own when making muffins and have therefore only been able to make quite small, flattish ones. So now we are testing muffin recipes, and so far it’s obvious that with tins we’re talking a whole different kettle of fish.
First out: Just Bento’s Earl Grey Tea Muffins. I was thrilled with how much they rose and how fluffy they became. They do indeed taste just like a cup of tea with milk, though the husband thought they “need more milk”.
 Yummy. I then tried making some lunch muffins, using a combination of several recipes found on various Norwegian sites. These I poured into the extra large muffins muffin tin, and I suspect just one is going to be sufficient for lunch. They sure look good, but I’ll have to report back on the taste tomorrow. If it works I’ll post the recipe.
 For scale: It is about half as tall as a standard half pint glass. To round the evening off, I made another tea muffin batter, doubling the measurements, initially without the tea. I poured half into my medium size tins and added some frozen berries straight into the tin and stirred each muffin a bit with the handle of a spoon. I then added rooibos tea to the rest of the batter before pouring it into more medium sized tins.
I haven’t tried the berry ones yet, but I can tell you that the rooibos worked perfectly. The tea has such a sweet taste, too, that I suspect you could cut down on the amount of sugar without anyone being any the wiser. I may have found myself a new favourite.
Or our Bosch, I guess, as it was a Christmas present for us both. I commented when I opened the present that it was a new toy for me, whereupon my mil, who gave it to us, questioned whether the husband hadn’t had it on his list for his birthday this summer, too? Well, yes, he did. Because I wanted one and he couldn’t think of anything else to ask for. Anyway, I’ve used it twice for baking already and he’s certainly eating the results with gusto, so I guess he’s reaping the benefits too.
And I love it. I like baking, but in a very lazy and somewhat haphazard way. I don’t find satisfaction in kneading for hours (or even minutes). So a machine that really works well at doing the job for me is a dream.
So there it is. A MUM6N22 Universal Plus. With blender and meat mincer. Swoon.
 And I couldn't even get it in focus... And for my birthday I want the sausage thingymabob, then we can really go crazy in the kitchen. And the pasta maker. In fact, all the extra equipment, of which there is a lot.
 Oooh. Lookie. All shiny. Anyway. For some reason I had not anticipated such a bulky and expensive gift and had therefore not stocked up on baking ingredients before the Christmas holidays (we had no eggs, very little milk and hardly any flour other than some of the plain stuff). So the first thing we made (we… well, the lass helped, sort of) were sausage rolls, as we happened to have everything we needed. We tried this recipe, and used some of the odd sausages we picked up in Riga before Christmas. In addition to the sausages I stuck some sticks of cheese in there as well. The sausage rolls turned out really tasty, the sausages, luckily, were just right for this sort of thing. I’ve thrown some in the freezer and gobbled up most of the rest… We will be making them again, though with different sausages, I suspect. Going to Riga regularly in order to shop would not be very economical.
 So, what are these? After some stocking up, though as it turned out I needen’t have, really, I searched my Delicious bookmarks tagged recipes for some more ideas and found A Spoonful of Sugars Pan de Ramirino recipe. Not having stocked up on fresh rosemary, I used the dried, which worked surprisingly well. I also used the Bosch for the whole shebang, except the shaping of the buns. To persuade it to work in the olive oil rather than just swirl the oily dough round and round I had to cheat and add a little more flour. Next time I think I’ll just leave some out at the beginning for this purpose. My buns turned out rather more ragged than Angelas, but they tasted juuuuust fine. Another recipe that will quite definitely be repeated, and possibly in larger batches, as I supect these will freeze well enough, too.
The lass seems to have inherited my love of all things pasta, and when it’s just the two of us for dinner (whenever himself works a late shift), we frequently end up with tortellini and sauce of some sort. I buy the fresh tortellini, as one pack is pretty much a perfect serving for the two of us, and try to stock up when we’re in Sweden, as the variety there is much greater than here (I just checked the Fjordland site and the choice is tortellini with meat or hamand cheese or ravioli with cheese or pesto). Most importantly, with a child that only erradically (at best) eats vegetables, they have several varieties containing greenstuffs. So we stock up and fill the freezer, and when I get home after having picked the lass up from daycare I put on a pot of water and grab a pack and throw them in while still frozen. Quite possibly I shouldn’t, but they seem to taste fine and I never remember to take a pack out in the morning for defrosting, so there it is.
And then the sauce. If there is pesto in the fridge, that’s what we have. Quick and easy. Sometimes I throw a handful of broccoli bouquets in the water with the pasta. In that case I tend to mash one or two in the pesto, to sneak some vitamins into the lass’ portion.
Today there was no pesto. What to do? Well, there were two jars of feta (or, rather, “gjeta”, as it’s not Greek, but Norwegian, purchased at the farmer’s market on Saturday), so I scooped in a few cubes and a bit of the marinade, and I threw an egg in there, too, for good measure. Perfect! The cheese melted slightly, and with the congealed egg and the herby marinade it covered the pasta and broccoli beautifully. A grating of cheese on top – in this case organic cheddar from Rafnklau – and a little freshly ground black pepper and the lass was blissfully happy, and so was I.
We need a picture, don’t we?
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