Slow cooker white chicken chili

 Was perfect for winter! [ link ]

Dandelion Chocolate Buche de Noel / Yule Log

 Maria took a Buche de Noel baking class at Dandelion chocolate this year and was excited to make one for Christmas. There were a few slip ups but ultimately it did become a delicious rolled cake that looked like a log! recording the recipe and notes here for future use.

There are 4 parts to this recipe: The cake, the frosting, the sugared cocoa nibs and meringue mushrooms. This is a 2-day project!

Day before:

Prep the Chocolate Whipped Cream frosting an sugared cocoa nibs. Meringues might also be done this day or on the main baking day.

Chocolate Whipped Cream frosting:

• 410 g cream (almost a pint)
• 50 g milk
• 60 g sugar
• 80g ~75% chocolate

1. Combine the cream, milk and sugar and heat to a simmer. Pour over the chocolate and let sit for a couple of minutes to melt the chocolate. blend with immersion blender to emulsify. Chill overnight
2. the rest of the steps are for the main baking day.

Sugared Cocoa Nibs

• 60 g sugar
• 10 g water
• 60 g cocoa nibs

1. Dissolve the sugar in the water and bring to a boil in a small saucepan.
2. Stir in the cocoa nibs. Reduce the heat and stir rapidly until syrup crystallizes around the nibs. (This took longer than I expected but did eventually dry out. Keep stirring!)
3. Shake off excess sugar in a strainer
4. Save for later.

Meringues

• 4 egg whites, room temp
• 100 g sugar
• 100 g powdered sugar, sifted (keep separate from the granulated sugar)

1. Whisk egg whites in mixer using whisk until they are frothy (in the class, he said until it looks like the froth on a poured beer). Gradually add the granulated sugar in a very fine stream and whip until the mixture is thick, glossy, with stiff peaks. THEN fold in the powdered sugar.
2. Scoop the meringue into a piping bag and cut the end. Pip mushroom caps and stems onto a parchment lined sheet pan.
3. Bake at 200 F until the meringue is crisp, about 1 hour (some of mine took 10-20 minutes longer if they were bigger)
4. Hollow the caps with the point of a knife and attach the stems with a dab of melted chocolate.

Main baking day!

Bake the cake, frost, roll, and frost. Decorate with meringues.

The Cake

• 225 g 75% ish chocolate
• 75 g hot water (hotter than the melted chocolate)
• 8 eggs, separated, room temp
• 150 g sugar
• pinch salt

1. Preheat the oven to 325F. Prepare a half-sheet pan by spraying the rim with pan spray and lining with parchment paper with a slight overhang.
2. Melt the chocolate (microwave is fine!)
3. Using an electric mixer with whisk attachment, whip egg yolks with half the sugar until very thick and light, about 5 minutes.
4. In a super clean bowl and with clean dry whisk, whip egg whites at medium speed until foamy and opaque, then gradually add remaining sugar. Whip until firm peaks. 
5. Stir the hot water into the chocolate, being careful to smooth out any lumps. Soften the mixture by stirring in a small portion of the whipped egg whites.
6. Fold the whipped yolks mixture into the melted chocolate. Then fold in the rest of the egg whites. Pour into the prepared pan and spread evenly. 
7. Bake for about 11 minutes (I think mine needed 2 more minutes). Let it cool and settle a bit in the pan. Free the cake from the edges of the pan with a knife, cover with a clean sheet of parchment paper, and flip onto a second half sheet pan. Remove the cake from the pan and peel away the parchment paper. invert so the cake is right side up.

Chocolate Whipped Cream Frosting (pt 2)

• Transfer the chilled cream/chocolate mixture into your electric mixer with whisk attachment. Whip to soft peaks.

Assemble!

• Spread about half of the whipped cream in a thin layer on the flat cake, leaving about 2 inches uncovered on the long side closest to you. 
• Carefully roll the cake using the parchment paper to guide it, starting from the unfrosted edge closest to you. start with a tight fold (cake will likely crack a bit, don't give up!) and keep rolling. Wrap in paper and round it out. Chill in fridge to firm up slightly. 
• Bring the cake out of the fridge. Trim rough edges a bit (snack time!). Cut a small edge at a diagonal for the tree branch and place somewhere at the side or top of the cake.
• Apply the rest of the whipped cream all over the outside of the cake. Use a large fork to comb the edges and give a tree-bark like texture. 
• Remember those cocoa nibs we made yesterday? press them using a bench scraper to the case of the log to create a tidy finish. 
• Garnish with meringue mushrooms and any other decorations just before serving.
• Can be refrigerated if not serving right away. Can be safe at room temp for a couple hours if not wanting to serve totally cold. Whipped Cream will stay pretty soft even straight from the fridge.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  

Holiday soup (lamb meatballs in chicken broth)

 This was a rich, wonderful soup!

https://www.seriouseats.com/shurabet-el-eid-5180240

The rice was a nice addition, but we'll probably add chick peas next time to fill it out even more.

Simple recipe with a nice result, though!

Veggie broth (stock)

 This was really great!  Here's the recipe.

Maria's only modification was adding a carrot.  Early on it did taste a little empty, and the recipe recommended adding more salt which works.

This should be our chicken stock alternative.

Spiced Chickpea Stew

 This was good, though I'm not a huge fan of things whose dominant flavor is coconut milk.  It helped that we used Maria's homemade vegetable broth.

I think this is worth one more try, but here's what I'd do:

1 can coconut milk and 3-4 cups homemade veg broth.

Only fry one can of chickpea in the onion, then add some of the liquid and blend it all.  THEN simmer with the remaining can.

Here's the recipe.  And here's the veggie broth recipe (Maria's only modification is that she added a carrot).

Really great Chole

 Recipe was here:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XTNDdHtSwd8

Could be sped up with pre-bought chole masala, perhaps.  I only used 1/2 tsp chili and that was spicy enough.  I also omitted the tadka and it was still great.

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Soak 1 c dried chickpea overnight

pressure cook ~6 min, let depressurize for another 10
- 2 black tea bags
- 2.5 - 3 cups water
- salt to taste (1 tsp)
- 1/8 tsp baking soda 
2 bay leaves
1-2 cinnemon sticks
2 black cardamom
3-4 cloves
2-3 green cardamom 

=============================
Dry masala:

salt to taste 
1/2 tsp chili powder
1/2 tsp turmric 
1 tsp coriander
1 tsp garam 
1 tsp cumin powder 
1/4 tsp asofaetida 
1 tsp dried fenugreek powder 

1 tsp dry mango powder
1 tsp roated anadra powder
[ I didn't have these last two so I added ~ 1 tsp tamarind pulp]

=====================================
drain chickpeas but reserve water.

3 Tbsp oil
1 med onion (paste or mince)  saute
1 tsp ginger/garlic paste     saute 1-2 min 
2 med grated or pureed tomatoes  (I used 1/2 can TJ "tomato sauce")
cover and cook for another minute

add chole masala and mix
add boiled chickepea and some of the chickpea water until it looks like a good consistency
cover and cook for 2 min 
open lid and mash a bit to make gravy thicker
cover and cook until oil separates.

=======================================
tadka:
3 tbsp oil
2-3 chopped garlic cloves 
(ok to brown them)
2-3 green chillies, 1 tbsp roasted cumin powder

=======================================

Fry together for 1 min, then pour over top before serving

David improv chana masala

Came out nicely!  So I'm going to write it all down.

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Brown on low heat for 10 min: 1 diced yellow onion in ~ 1-2 T oil? + 1 T cumin seeds added at the start

Minced 6 cloves garlic and equivalent volume ginger.  Added duing last 4 min of onion time.

Added ~1-2 T tomato paste along with 1T ground coriander + 1/2 tsp ground cumin + 1 tsp turmeric.  Stirred around a few minutes, then added 1 14-oz can tomato sauce and 1 chopped medium-large tomato + a half can of water.  Added 1 diced (1cm cube) yellow potato and 2 cans chick pea + 1 - 1.5 tsp salt + 2 tsp of my homemade red pepper paste.

Bring to simmer, then cover and let simmer for 15-20 min.  Adjusted seasoning: added a bit more salt + 3/4 tsp brown sugar + 3/4 tsp garam masala.

Delcious!  Would add a little heavy cream or yogurt to cut the spice a bit potentially.

Glazed cod with ginger and oyster sauce

 This was quite good, though I have a few changes for next time.

Here is the original recipe.

We didn't salt the fish as the rest of the sauce was quite salty.  I also added a splash of chicken broth to increase the overall poaching liquid.  5 min is maybe a hare to long to cook it.  Maybe 2 min each side and remove immediately.

This time I stir fried the vegetables in the ginger and garlic and they picked up most of it so there was none left by the time I added the fish.  Next time I'd like to see what happens if we include all those aromatics in the poaching liquid.  Generally speaking, quite good though!  

Home made chili sauce

 Made this:  https://hildaskitchenblog.com/recipe/spicy-home-made-chili-sauce/

Except only 1/2 lb of chilies.  Really good!  A little on the hot side.  I also roasted and then ground up mabye 1/4 c pepitas and mixed them in.

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Variation of necessity:

scant 1/4 cup peanuts, roasted and ground

5 oz red serrano

half yellow onion, 1 bulb garlic

1 lime

2 tsp white vinegar

1/2 tsp salt total

(Freeze-Dried) Strawberry muffins

 Original recipe: https://mykitchensdrawer.com/2020/07/28/strawberries-and-cream-muffins/#recipe

We made a half recipe of these (made 9 muffins) and thought they were much too sweet but the strawberry flavor was extreme! We also forgot to correct for the self-rising flour in the recipe which made them not rise and be gummy and weird. So below is what I would try next time to make these better, because these could be great strawberry muffins, especially since Nadia doesn't usually like the texture of cooked fruit (so this gets big strawberry taste without lumps of fruit in the muffin)

• 60 g freeze Dried Strawberries (2 packages from TJs)
• 100 g all purpose flour
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 40 g white sugar
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 30 ml vegetable or canola oil
• 50 ml yoghurt
• 1 eggs
• 1/4 tsp vanilla extract
• 50 g white chocolate chips (optional)

Instructions

• Preheat your oven to 320 F and line a muffin tray with 9 liners
• Blitz the freeze dried strawberries in a food processor until you have a strawberry dust
• In a medium bowl combine the oil, eggs, vanilla and whisk together well
• In a separate large bowl add the flour, baking powder, sugar, strawberry dust and salt and mix together, then create a well and pour the wet mixture into it, followed by the yoghurt.
• Fold everything together gently for 3-4 fold, then add the white chocolate and stir together for 2 more until just mixed. some lumps are OK.
• Scoop the muffin mixture into the prepared tray and bake for 20-25 minutes until well risen and golden.

Slow cooked lentils

 ... are really really good!

Here's the smitten recipe (from 'keepers').

We've made it with home made chicken broth and boxed broth and it's fine both ways.

I like it with or without the goat cheese at the end.

Sometimes for my taste I'll only do 1 Tbsp of the vinegar at the end.

Instead of Kale it's a lot easier to just add some frozen chopped spinach in the last 5 min.  I also like to add a few fresh-chopped tomatoes.

Smitten exeptional grilled chicken

 Another great summer recipe.

Brine chicken for 1-6 hours.  Grill, then toss in a vinegrette.  Very delicious!

Recipe from smitten.

Panzanella Salad

 This one will enter our "wait for the summer so we can have this recipe" list.

Original recipe from serious eats.

Good tomatoes are critical to the recipe.  We used TJ's "dry farmed early girl" tomatoes.  Extremely delicious!

Sweet and sour salmon with bok choy

 This was fantastic!

Here's the recipe:

Miso honey chicken

Recipe link.  Quick, easy, delicious!

Per recommendations in the comments I cooked it for about 20 min at 425.  I used 1.5 T soy sauce instead of 3 and only 1/2 tsp chili garlic sauce because of Nadia.  Really great!  Will definitely cook again.

Orecciette Salad with halloumi "croutons" (NYT)

 Really great!  Here is the NYT recipe.  Because halloumi is super expensive, we went with Panella; however it didn't actually brown so much as melted and then browned.  It still worked out; we just let it semi-brown and then tore it into bite sized pieces afterwards.

Really great mix of flavors!

Here's a picture of the constiuent parts (since Nadia wouldn't eat the mixed salad), followed by the mixed one.  The picture doens't make it look that special, but the pasta + cherry tomato mixutre has a great flavor (probably due to the red wine vinegar).  The whole thing was wonderful.

Cauliflower, Broccolini and Canellini Bean Salad

 A hearty and delicious salad from the cafe at Adobe.  Maria asked for the recipe and here it is, though we subbed other veggies in for the romanesco.  It was very good, but difficult to balance the vinegrette flavors in such small quantities.  Ours had a bit too much mustard and shallot, but was still very good!

Shishito summer pepper salad

 ...was quite time consuming for a salad, but very delicious!  Lots of interesting, sharp, bright flavors.

Recipe:  https://justinesnacks.com/shishito-pepper-summer-salad/

NYT Rhurbarb Roasted Salmon

 Was one of the best things I've eaten in recent memory!  Really great!  Recipe here.

Mom made the sauce and said she put in more ginger than the recipe but doesn't remember how much.

The 350 for 13 minutes wasn't nearly enough for our thicker salmon steaks to reach temperature.  Also not sufficient to caramalize the rhubarb sauce.

So we did 350 for 13 minutes, then 425 for a few more minutes, then broiled it for like 3-4 minutes.

We just served it with plain rice, but that was fine because it's more than flavorful enough!

Grilled chicken for taco bowls

 This was very good!  Here's the recipe.

I used boneless, skinless thighs.  Pounded them flat.  marinated for 30 min.  (left out all the chili spice, used 2 large cloves garlic minced, juice from 1 lime + 1/2 lime of zest).

Probably great with the original proportions as well!

For grilling, heated to 500F and did 4 min each side.

South Indian Coconut Chickpea Curry

Really great!  Recipe here.

This is not chana masala or chole.  The masala has a lot of fennel and fenugreek (methi) in it.  It's a nice almost sweet (but a little spicy) coconut flavor.  Very nice!  

Ver 1:  I used 1 can chickpea, kept all other ingredient amounts the same, but added some frozen green peas and some green beans chopped into 1/2" segments.  I didn't add any water and instead cooked everything in JUST the coconut milk, adding the beans in the last 3-4 minutes so they wouldn't overcook.

Ver 2:  1 can chickpea, half can (~1 C coconut milk) + 1/2 cup water.  Used 2 tomatoes but also ~0.33 can tomato sauce.  Added 1 package mushrooms, quartered and frozen green peas.

Roasted white bean and tomato pasta

 I thought this was really good!

Original recipe here.  I added a minced anchovy to the tomato paste mix and went a little heavy on the garlic.  Flavors were great overall! 

The white beans /mostly/ became crispy.  I was afraid they'd get soggy if I mixed them in, but that turned out to be not so much the case.

I probably only added ~2 Tbsp olive oil in the last step.

Super Simple Nadia Friendly Mexican Rice in Instant Pot

 We make a super simplified version of this recipe and Nadia loves it, so it's our go-to for taco bowls.

https://www.allrecipes.com/recipe/263330/instant-pot-mexican-rice/

Ingredients

• 1 tablespoon avocado oil, or more as needed
• 1 cup long-grain rice (we use Basmati)
• 1 ½ cups low-sodium chicken stock
• 1/4 tsp onion powder
• 1/8 tsp garlic powder
• ¼ teaspoon ground cumin
• ½ cup tomato sauce
• 3/4 teaspoon salt

Directions

1. Turn instant pot to saute. Heat the oil. Add the rice and toast, stirring, for a couple of minutes.
2. Mix together the chicken stock, tomato sauce and salt and keep ready on the side.
3. Add the onion powder, garlic powder, and cumin and toast for just a few moments, then pour in the stock and tomato sauce and give it all a quick stir before the spices burn.
4. Put the lid on the instant pot and switch to high-pressure function. Set a timer for 7 minutes; allow 10 to 15 minutes for pressure to build.
5. Once done, use quick release for the pressure, remove lid carefully, and stir to fluff the rice.

Soy Glazed Tofu with Crisp Rice

 This is also from "keepers".  It was really great!  The tofu fried up crisp very nicely.

Creamy coconut rice with chili lime vegetables

 We've made this twice now.  Very delicious!  Definitely a keeper.  It's from the Smitten kitchen book, "Keepers".

The first time we used roast broccoli which had a nice charred dark flavor that contrasted with the lime.  Second time we included brussel sprouts which were nice.  Both times David blistered some red bell pepper strips and added some simple boiled shrimp cut into pieces.

As I recall the recipe as written is too salty.  I think we halved the salt the second time and it was perfect.

Toasted Ricotta Gnocchi with Pistachio Pesto

 This was VERY delicious!  It comes from Smitten Kitchen's book "Keepers" (thanks Shavers!).  We kept some without pesto for Nadia (who still refused to eat them, but it was worth a shot).