All posts in category Daring cooks

Paella

Our Daring Cooks’ September 2012 hostess was Inma of la Galletika. Inma brought us a taste of Spain and challenged us to make our very own delicious Paella!

Paella has been on my list of recipes to try forever and a day. What has held me back is the fact that paella is one of the most controversial recipes I have come across. Try googling “Paella recipe” or do a search on YouTube and read the comments. You will find people crossing swords over what qualifies as a paella and what doesn’t. The quest for an authentic paella recipe seems like one with no end in sight. However, when this moth’s challenge was announced I was determined to give this a try and did my best to search for an authentic recipe, a few major points that you need to keep in mind to get a good result

Paella rice:

Rice is a tricky ingredient .You need a short-grain variety – not long-grain, that absorbs liquid easily. Spanish bomba is the best choice,Italian risotto or Japanese sushi rice are also suitable.

Paella Pan:

Ideally Paella is cooked in a paella pan (but you can use any wide pan with a thin base) . The idea is to allow the liquid to cook off quickly and evenly. Ideally that pan would be set over a wood fire, to give the dish a delicious whiff of smoke, but a gas ring will do.

To stir or not to stir:

You can stir paella up to the point of adding the rice. After that, stirring is absolutely forbidden,because you’re aiming for a tender, but not creamy result. Besides, the brown, crisp layer that forms on the bottom of a well-cooked paella, the socarrat, is a highly prized delicacy.

The recipe I am making today is some what adapted from this one, I did leave out a couple of the beans I could not find and I added roasted red pepper to add a hint of smoky flavor to the dish.

The finished paella really reminded me of Kabseh (the middle eastern spiced rice dish)because there are some of the same flavor players here but the herbs and the lemon juice added at the end are what set the paella apart. I am happy to report that we all enjoyed it and the kids even had the left overs the next day. Thank you Inma for a wonderful challenge and for finally getting to cross paella off my list.

Paella

Ingredients

1 tablespoon olive oil

3 chicken breasts (I would have prefered mixed breasts and thighs but that is what I had on hand)

3 cloves garlic peeled

1 tomato, finely chopped

1 cup frozen green peas

Salt to taste

1 teaspoon paprika

1 red pepper roasted and sliced into strips

1 pinch saffron threads

1 -2 teaspoons dried oregano (the addition of herbs is optional and the amount is up to your taste)

1-2 teaspoons dried rosemary (optional)

6 cups water (you may need more or less depending on the type of rice you use)

2 cups parboiled rice

Directions

Heat a paella pan over medium-high heat, and coat with olive oil.

Add the chicken, cook until nicely browned then move the chicken to the sides of the pan.

Add the tomato,peas, and pepper strips, paprika and mix well.

Add the water to the pan, bring to a boil. Simmer for about 1 hour to make a nice broth.

Season with a generous amount of salt, and just enough saffron to make a nice yellow color. If you are using the herbs, add them now

The goal is to make a rich tasting broth that will soak into the rice to make it delicious.

Add the rice, stir to combine then reduce heat to low, and simmer until all of the liquid has been absorbed, about 20 minutes.

Notes:

If you do not use par boiled rice, in a separate pan you have to fry a little bit your rice with olive oil in order to seal the grain.

If you do not have saffron you can use a little bit of paprika, the flavor it´s going to be a little bit different and the color of the rice a little less yellow but it works out fine.

Adding some lemon drops at the end of boiling helps to separate the rice.

Calculate rice is easy, ¼ –½ cup of rice apiece (as main dish)

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58 Comments

by Sawsan@ Chef in disguise on September 14, 2012 • Permalink

Posted in Chicken, Daring cooks, Rice

Posted by Sawsan@ Chef in disguise on September 14, 2012

http://chefindisguise.com/2012/09/14/paella/

Cornmeal ricotta lemon waffles

Our challenge for the month of August was to broaden out knowledge of cornmeal. This challenge was an interesting one because I have only used cornmeal in a recipe once before when we made tamales for the daring cooks challenge. Other than that cornmeal is used to dust pizza pans in my kitchen. I decided to do a little research.

I found my recipe over at Jessica’s wonderful blog kitchenbelleicious, cornmeal waffles! We had just bought a waffle machine and I could not wait to use it. I stuck to the recipe with the exception of making 2 changes. We sadly don’t get blueberries here so I omitted them and reduced the baking powder to 2 teaspoons.

The waffles were a huge hit.The cornmeal gives them a nice crispy texture without making the waffle hard. They are still both perfectly moist and tender but with that nice slightly crispy exterior. If you have never used ricotta in your baked goods I strongly suggest you do, it makes the waffles fluffy and light. The double dose of lemon from the lemon zest and juice adds so much freshness. The end result is a winner breakfast that your family will request again and again.

If you don’t have a waffle iron but still want to enjoy the lemony ricotta goodness, try making my lemon ricotta pancakes.They are my kids favorite weekend breakfast. My next project is to try replacing 1/3 the flour in them with cornmeal, will keep you posted how that turns out.

Cornmeal ricotta waffles

Recipe adapted from here who adapted the recipe from here

1 1/2 cups ricotta cheese

2 cups milk

6 large eggs, separated

1/2 cup sugar

2 cups cake flour

1/2 cup fine yellow cornmeal

2 teaspoons baking powder

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 stick unsalted butter

1 lemon juice

1 tablespoon lemon zest

Instructions

In your food processor, beat the ricotta with the milk, lemon juice,egg yolks and sugar.

In a medium bowl, whisk the flour with the cornmeal, baking powder and salt.

Add the dry ingredients into the ricotta mixture and whisk until combined.

Stir in the melted butter.

In a large bowl, using an electric mixer, beat the egg whites until firm peaks form.

Fold the egg whites into the batter and add in the lemon zest .

Lightly coat your waffle iron or waffle machine with oil

Heat your waffle making machine or the waffle iron.

Spoon the batter onto the machine or waffle iron

Close and cook until the waffles are golden and crisp.

Serve the waffles immediately or transfer them to a rack in the oven to keep warm.

Rachael of pizzarossa was our August 2012 Daring Cook hostess and she challenged us to broaden our knowledge of cornmeal! Rachael provided us with some amazing recipes and encouraged us to hunt down other cornmeal recipes that we’d never tried before – opening our eyes to literally 100s of cuisines and 1000s of new-to-us recipes

Thank you Rachael for a wonderful challenge

I know I will be making these cornmeal ricotta waffles again and again and I will be experimenting with cornmeal more.

89 Comments

by Sawsan@ Chef in disguise on August 14, 2012 • Permalink

Posted in Breakfast, Daring cooks

Tagged baking, breakfast, cornmeal, cornmeal pancakes, cornmeal waffles, daring cooks, ricotta waffles, waffles without yeast

Posted by Sawsan@ Chef in disguise on August 14, 2012

http://chefindisguise.com/2012/08/14/cornmeal-ricotta-lemon-waffles/

Cannelloni from scratch Daring Cooks June Challenge

Manu from Manu’s Menu was our Daring Cooks lovely June hostess and has challenged us to make traditional Italian cannelloni from scratch! We were taught how to make the pasta, filling, and sauces shared with us from her own and her family’s treasured recipes!

I was really thrilled to see my friend Manu hosting this month’s challenge. If you have never been to Manu’s blog I urge to. She is a very talented blogger who shares authentic italian recipes but what really gets you hocked is how nice and friendly Manu is, she is one of the most talented yet humble and friendly bloggers I have ever met. She shares her recipes, stories and stunning photography on her blog Manu’s menu , do take the time to pay her a visit.

Making pasta from scratch has been on my to do list forever. The fact that I don’t have a pasta machine seem to push that project down the list time after time but when this challenge was announced and seeing who was hosting I just knew I had to do it.

The whole process turned out to be much easier than what I expected and the out come…out of this world!! I will never buy cannelloni ever again, the fresh homemade stuff is much better when it comes to flavor, texture and handling

Fillings:

I actually made cannelloni twice this month, the first over a week ago using a chicken basil and sundried tomato filling and that is when my oven exploded so sadly I don’t have any pictures of the finished cannelloni. The second was made today, using two fillings, cheese and pesto filling and the other was a minced meat with herbs and tomatoes. I am glad to report that all three fillings turned out great and I will be making them again and again.

Cannelloni recipe

Egg pasta

Making egg pasta is very easy. You only require eggs and flour (Italian 00 or all-purpose flour) in a proportion of (1 egg per 100 grams of flour).

Ingredients

(to make enough cannelloni for 4 persons):

100 grams (2/3 cup plus 2 teaspoons) (170 ml) (3½ oz) plain (all-purpose) flour

1 large egg

1 teaspoon vinegar (I added that to eliminate any eggy smell)

Directions:

Measure out your flour, make a well in the middle

Crack the egg in the middle, add the vinegar and then using a fork whisk the egg and start whisking in the flour gradually.

When you have incorporated most of the flour start kneading the dough, incorporating the rest of the flour (the dough will be slightly tough but when you keep on kneading it softens up a little)

Knead well by hand until you obtain a smooth dough. Make it into a ball, wrap it in cling wrap and let it rest for 10-15 minutes.

Cut out a piece of egg pasta dough and flatten it into a rectangular shape with your hands. Put a little flour on it and begin rolling it.

Now fold one side of the piece of dough into the middle, then fold the other side over that to form 3 layers.

Starting with one of the narrower sides of the folded dough, start rolling it again

Keep rolling it thinner,ill it is almost 1mm thick

To make cannelloni, cut out rectangular pasta sheets (10×15 cm) (4”x6”).

BÉCHAMEL SAUCE

4 tablespoons flour

4 tablespoons butter

4 cups of liquid milk

white or black pepper

1 tablespoon of grated cheddar cheese or cream cheese

1-2 tablespoon grated parmesan

1 teaspoon oregano (optional)

Pinch of nutmeg (optional)

Heat butter in a pot

Add the flour and stir until the color begins to change(you don’t want it to go dark or else it will affect the final color of the bechamel sauce)

Lower the heat

Add the milk gradually while whisking .(you need to whisk until you have added all the milk to prevent lumps from forming)

Keep stirring until the béchamel thickens, add the oregano and basil

Add the cheese mixture and stir for two minutes

Meat filling

1 tablespoons olive oil or vegetable oil

1 large onion chopped

2 cloves garlic minced

1 large red tomatoes, peeled and cut in small cubes

1 large red or green Pepper chopped (optional)

1 large carrot, peeled and grated (optional)

2 tablespoons tomato paste

Salt

Black Pepper

1 teaspoon oregano

1 teaspoon Basil

( or use Italian seasoning instead of the oregano and basil if available)

Heat the oil in a pot,add onions and garlic, stir for 5 minutes until the onions become tender

Add the minced meat and stir until the meat starts changing color

Add chopped tomatoes and stir until they soften then add the tomato paste

If you feel the mix is dry (if the tomatoes you used are not juicy) add a little boiling water

Add salt, herbs and black pepper and stir

Add the grated carrots and stir for two minutes

Add pepper and stir for a couple of minutes then allow to cook over medium low heat for 5 minutes to make sure all the flavors come together.

Pesto

Adapted from l2ma.com

2 cups (480 ml) (80 gm) (2¾ oz) basil, washed

2 small clove garlic

1 tablespoons (15 ml) (10 gm) (¼ oz) Parmigiano Reggiano, finely grated

1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil ½ tablespoon

1/2 cup pine nuts

2 tablespoons cream

Salt to taste

Pulse all the ingredients in the food processor till a fine paste is formed

Chicken Filling

2 chicken breasts cut into cubes

1 onion chopped

one clove garlic

2/3 cup sun dried tomatoes chopped

2 tablespoons pesto

olive oil

Salt and pepper to taste

Saute the onions in olive oil till they are almost translucent

add the garlic and stir for a couple of minutes

Add the chicken and stir till the chicken is golden brown

Add the tomatoes and pesto and stir occasionally

Cheese filling

1 cup ricotta

1 cup mozzarella

2 tablespoons pesto

stir to combine

Assemble the Cannelloni

Put a large pot with salty water on the fire and bring to a boil. Cook the pasta sheets in it for 1 minute. Do this in batches (I use a shallow but large pot and I cook them in 1 layer, so I am sure they do not stick together).

Remove them with a slotted spoon and put them on a clean tea towel to cool down

Now take one sheet of cooked pasta and put some of the filling along the side of the rectangle.

Do so for the remaining rectangles of pasta.

Take a big enough oven dish to fit all your cannelloni tightly.

pour some béchamel and pesto sauce on the bottom. Spread it well, especially in the corners.

Put the cannelloni in the oven dish on 1 layer.

Cover the cannelloni with the béchamel and sprinkle with cheese.

Bake on the middle rack of a 220 C oven for 30-40 minutes or until the top is golden brown

Allow to cool for at least 15 minutes before cutting into it (preferably longer) this will prevent the sauce from being too runny and that will make serving easier

103 Comments

by Sawsan@ Chef in disguise on June 14, 2012 • Permalink

Posted in Daring cooks, Pasta

Tagged authentic italian recipes, baked cannelloni, baking, cannelloni, cannelloni fillings, daring cooks, dinner, egg pasta, homemade, pasta from scratch, pesto recipe

Posted by Sawsan@ Chef in disguise on June 14, 2012

http://chefindisguise.com/2012/06/14/cannelloni-from-scratch-daring-cooks-june-challenge/

Alcohol free beef bourguignon…daring cooks May 2012

Our May 2012 Daring Cooks’ hostess was Fabi of fabsfood. Fabi challenged us to make Boeuf Bourguignon, a classic French stew originating from the Burgundy region of France.

I think I am one of many who the mere mention of beef bourguignon brings back images from Julie and Julia

But when I first saw that beef bourguignon was this month’s challenge my first idea was to sit this one out. Being a muslim I don’t drink alcohol or cook with it and beef bourguignon is a dish based on red wine.I mean wine is not just an ingredient in the dish, it is basically what the dish revolves around. Then as I was reading other people’s comments on the challenge in the forum I came across quite a few asking if there was a way to make this dish alcohol free, be it for religious reasons , being pregnant or recovering alcoholics. Realizing I was not the only one seeking an alcohol free version,I decided to at least research if it was possible.

I came across many recipes that used a combination of broth, grape juice and grape vinegar to replace the wine with differing proportions. There was also a variety of additions ranging from tomato paste to soya sauce. Many said it was not the same, others said it was even better. I decided to give it a go, there was really nothing to lose and I am after all a daring cook.What follows is the recipe that I used, based on tasting and tweaking along the way.

To tell you the truth I was really nervous about this one, I was worried the whole pot would end up down the drain. As the beef cooked and the aromas filled the house, my daughter came into the kitchen and announced that this will be a success, she can tell how good a recipe is by the smell of it cooking and this was going to be a great one.

She was right.

The dish was a big hit, the flavors blended in so well, it was not overly sweet nor acidic. The meat was cooked to the point of melting in your mouth and the mushrooms onions and carrots added just the right texture

Now to spare myself the lectures about this being a beef stew not beef bourguignon, I have to tell you that I have never tried the real beef bourguignon and don’t know how well my recipe compares to the original but all I know is it was fun to try and experiment and that we all loved it so much that I will be making it again for sure. If you have ever made Julia Child’s beef bourguignon,I would love it if you would give my recipe a try and then let me know how close or how far you think I got it. Anyone up for the challenge? In the name of science?

BOEUF BOURGUIGNON

Ingredients for 4 people:

Ingredients

1 pound stewing beef cut into 2 inches (5 cm) cubes

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon pepper

1 1/2 tablespoons flour

1 1/2 cups red grape juice (100% juice no sugar added)

1/2 cup red grape vinegar

2 carrot, sliced

1 onion, sliced in julienne

3 cups beef stock (preferably home made, remember you want something rich with flavor to enhance the flavor)

1 tablespoon tomato paste or tomato puree

2 cloves mashed garlic

½ teaspoon thyme leaves

1 bay leave

12 small onions, brown-braised in stock

250 grams mushrooms sautéed in butter

Directions:

1.Dry the meat cubes carefully with paper towels.

2.In a casserole/pan, sauté the beef until it’s golden brown. Remove it to a side dish and set aside.

3.Still in the same casserole/pan, sauté the carrot and the onion.

4.Return the beef to the casserole. Sprinkle it with salt and pepper, then add the flour and toss.

5. Stir in the juice,vinegar, stock, tomato paste, mashed garlic cloves, thyme, bay .

6.Bring it to simmering point on the stove.

7.Cover the pot and place it on very low heat and simmer for 3 hours.

8.While the stew is cooking, prepare onions and mushrooms. For the onions: Melt 1 tablespoon butter in a frying pan and sauté the peeled onions until golden brown. Add beef stock until they’re almost covered and simmer for 20-25 minutes, or until almost all the liquid disappears and they’re tender but keep their shape. Set aside.

9.Prepare the mushrooms as well: quarter and sauté them in 2 tablespoons butter. Keep on stirring until they’re nicely brown. Set aside.

10.When meat is tender, Put onions and mushrooms over the meat.

11.Skim the fat off. Simmer for 2-3 minutes. Skim additional fat if it rises. The sauce should be thick enough to coat a spoon. If not, boil it until it thickens. If it’s too thick, stir in some stock or bouillon to make it lighter.

12.Serve and enjoy Some goods sides are potatoes, noodles or rice.

Freezing/Storage Instructions/Tips: You can keep leftovers in the fridge for 2-3 days. If you want to freeze it, it lasts up to 3 months.

92 Comments

by Sawsan@ Chef in disguise on May 14, 2012 • Permalink

Posted in Daring cooks

Tagged alcohol free, can I make beef bourguignon without the alcohol?, dinner, Juilia child

Posted by Sawsan@ Chef in disguise on May 14, 2012

http://chefindisguise.com/2012/05/14/alcohol-free-beef-bourguignon-daring-cooks-may-2012/

The Daring Cooks’ April 2012 Challenge – Create Your Own Recipe!

Our April 2012 Daring Cooks hosts were David & Karen from Twenty-Fingered Cooking. They presented us with a very daring and unique challenge of forming our own recipes by using a set list of ingredients!

This has got to be one of the most interesting daring cooks challenges so far. The idea of creating your own recipe from a list of ingredients reminded me of chopped “the TV show” with the exception of the fact that we were given a month to come up with our recipes.

David and Karen were kind enough to give us some tools and guidance. They provided us with three lists of ingredients from which we were asked to create our meal. The lists were intended to be a source of inspiration or a starting point for us to build out recipes on. Of course, this a challenge, so there had to be a catch and the catch was that you have to use at least one ingredient from each of the three lists – this will force you to think carefully about flavor combinations.

The three lists were

List 1: Parsnips, Eggplant (aubergine), Cauliflower
List 2: Balsamic Vinegar, Goat Cheese, Chipotle peppers
List 3: Maple Syrup, Instant Coffee, Bananas

The thought process:

I wrote down all the available ingredients, we don’t get parsnips here and chipotle peppers was out of the question too because I can’t stand the heat.The next step was to think of all the possibilities for each ingredients, should I grill it? fry it? mash it? stuff it? After that came the combinations, what were the flavours and textures that worked together to form a main meal?

Take one

My first take on the challenge was a salad, I love serving salads as a main meal and I thought I should start with one. I started with the eggplants and thought of what flavors, textures and other ingredients to add to build a harmonious salad. I know from one of our favorite recipes “Turkish pilaf“ that eggplants go really well with chickpeas and tomatoes. I used some roasted tomatoes I had on hand (they were roasted with olive oil and thyme and a drizzle of balsamic vinegar). I added lettuce and fried pita for crunch and goat cheese to add a creamy and light note to the salad.

1/2 big eggplant cut into cubes

1 cup goat cheese cubed

1 cup roasted tomatoes (you can replace them with sundried tomatoes)

3 cups romaine lettuce

1 cup chickpeas

1 pita bread cut into slices

Salad dressing

1/3 cup olive oil

2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar

2 tablespoons lemon juice

2 tablespoons maple syrup

1 clove garlic minced (optional)

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/8 teaspoon pepper

1/2 teaspoon paprika

Fry the eggplant in oil till it is golden brown (for a healthier version you can grill or roast the eggplant), drain, set aside.

Layer the lettuce in your serving dish and add the other ingredients

To make the salad dressing

Whisk the vinegar, maple syrup,lemon juice,garlic, paprika, salt, pepper then slowly drizzle the olive oil while whisking. You can also add all the ingredients in a jar and then cover it and shake till the dressing is well combined

Drizzle with the salad dressing and top with the fried bread.

Take two

I knew I wanted to make something with chicken, maple syrup and balsamic vinegar. My initial thought was to make something similar to my honey glazed chicken or my 5 spice honey chicken but then decided to make a spinoff chicken adobo which is a popular Filipino recipe. I was first introduced to chicken adobo through Korena’s post and I fill in love with it just by reading the recipe. I decided to try replacing balsamic vinegar instead of regular and adding maple syrup for a hint of sweetness to balance off the vinegar. I served this with baba ghanouj and rice. The meal was a hit and a definite keeper

4 skin-on, bone-in chicken thighs and breasts

4 tablespoons soy sauce

1 can of coconut milk

6 tbsp balsamic vinegar

4 cloves of garlic, roughly chopped

1 tsp whole pepper corns

2 tablespoons maple syrup

2-3 bay leaves

1 tablespoon soya sauce

In a ziplock bag or bowl, combine the chicken and soya sauce.Marinate in the fridge for 30 minutes to 1 hour.

Remove the chicken from the soy sauce, let the excess drip off, and place the chicken, skin side down,in a pan or pot. Reserve the soy sauce in a bowl.

Cook over medium heat until the chicken skin is golden brown , 5 to 7 minutes.

Meanwhile, mix the reserved soy sauce with the coconut cream, garlic, pepper corns, vinegar, maple syrup, the additional tablespoon soya sauce and bay leaves

When the chicken has browned, remove it to a plate and pour the fat out of the pan. Return the chicken to the pan, skin side down, and pour in the soy-coconut-vinegar mixture.

Bring it to a boil, then lower the heat to medium-low and simmer, uncovered, for about 20 minutes.

Turn the chicken over and simmer for another 15 minutes, or until the chicken reaches 175˚F on a thermometer.

Pour the sauce over the chicken and serve with steamed rice

For the eggplant component of the meal, I made baba ghanouj. The famous Lebanese dip. It is one of my favorites dip to make, along with mutawam “rosted zucchini garlic yogurt dip”.You can serve it with pita bread, crackers, toast, sliced baguette, celery, or cucumber slices. It also makes a wonderful companion to any meat or chicken dish.

Baba ghanouj

Ingredients

1 large eggplants

1/4 cup tahini sauce

Juice of one lemon – less thank 1/4 cup

Salt to taste

Olive oil for drizzling

1 Tbsp torn mint leaves

Instructions

Poke the eggplant in several places with a fork

On the stove top, roast the eggplant on the open flame and turn it every couple of minutes untill it is all soft and charred.

Place the eggplant in a bowl and cover with plastic wrap and allow to steam for 5-7 minutes

Peel the eggplant (you can keep a little of the charred peel for more smoky flavor)

Chop the eggplant finely,then mash it a little with a fork. You can do this in a food processor but don’t make it too smooth. Baba ghanouj is supposed to be chunky

In a bowl, mix the tahini sauce with the lemon juice and salt. At first the mix will be flowy but with mixing it will thicken .

Add the chopped eggplant to the tahini and mix to combine

Drizzle with olive oil and garnish with torn mint.