Daring Cooks-Ceviche and Papa Rellenas-Challenge #2

Kathlyn of Bake Like a Ninja was our Daring Cooks’ March 2011 hostess. Kathlyn challenged us to make two classic Peruvian dishes: Ceviche de Pescado from “Peruvian Cooking – Basic Recipes” by Annik Franco Barreau. And Papas Rellenas adapted from a home recipe by Kathlyn’s Spanish teacher, Mayra.

This was my second Daring Cooks challenge.  Life suddenly got a little busy and hectic and I almost ran out of time for completing this challenge.  At first, I was only going to do the Papas Rellenas part since my other half does not not seafood, but then I decided I would just make a smaller batch of the ceviche.

The ceviche was ok for me, not outstanding. I do admit I did not use fresh fish, but had to resort to previously frozen.  For me, the ceviche was just ok, nothing that I find myself clamoring for more.

On the other hand, I loved the Papas Rellenas.  I did have a problem with them falling apart after the frying.  I think next time I may add a little cornstarch to the potatoes to see if that thickens them up a bit.  The filling was great tasting.  We had leftover filling and it made a great lunch the next day.  I can definitely see myself making them again.   Below is a picture of both the ceviche and papas rellenas. 

Daring Bakers-Panna Cotta and Florentine Cookies-Challenge #2

The February 2011 Daring Bakers’ challenge was hosted by Mallory from A Sofa in the Kitchen. She chose to challenge everyone to make Panna Cotta from a Giada De Laurentiis recipe and Nestle Florentine Cookies.

I loved this challenge.  The Florentine cookies were easy and so tasty.  I ate more than my fair share of the batch. I will be making them again and again, now that I know they are simple and easy to make.

For the panna cotta, I decided to make a coconut and lime variation.  So, I adapted the provided recipe.  I was quite happy with the results.  Nice coconut flavor with a subtle lime flavor.  So yummy!!  Below is the recipe I used for the coconut lime panna cotta.

1 packet of unflavored powdered gelatin
2 cups Cream of Coconut
1 1/2 cups Coconut Milk
2 cups Heavy Cream
1/4 cup fresh lime juice
zest of two limes

Sprinkle the gelatin evenly over 3 tablespoons of cool water in a small bowl. Set aside to soften.  Heat the cream of coconut, coconut milk, and lime zest in a sauce pan until warm.  Remove from heat and stir in gelatin and heavy cream and stir until gelatin is dissolved.  Stir in fresh lime juice then pour into ramekins or glasses.  Chill until set 4 to 6 hours.


 Here are pictures of the finished panna cotta and Florentines.

Daring Cooks-Hiyashi Soba and Tempura-Challenge #1

The February 2011 Daring Cooks’ challenge was hosted by Lisa of Blueberry Girl. She challenged Daring Cooks to make Hiyashi Soba and Tempura. She has various sources for her challenge including japanesefood.about.com, pinkbites.com, and itsybitsyfoodies.com.

I was excited to see this challenge as my first official Daring Cooks challenge.  I love all sorts of Asian food. One of my favorite dishes during a trip to South Korea in the summer of 2002 was a cold buckwheat noodles with a spicy sauce.  This dish brought back memories.  Even better, I had received a small home deep fat fryer as a Christmas gift and now I had a good reason to put it to use.

 I decided to make the spicy dressing for the noodles.  Next time, I will have to add some chili flakes or something because I did not find it that spicy at all.  For the tempura, we had shrimp, peapods, carrots, sesame leaves, shitake mushrooms, and blue potatoes.  My and my other half's favorites were the carrots and the potatoes.  I loved the color the potatoes added to the dish.  This dish was good enough the other half asked for it to be put into the regular rotation of dinners that I make. 

The recipes for the both the noodles and tempura can be found here at the Daring Kitchen website. And finally here is a pic of the noodles and tempura.

Daring Bakers-Biscuit Joconde Imprime/Entremet-Challenge #1

The January 2011 Daring Bakers’ challenge was hosted by Astheroshe of the blog accro. She chose to challenge everyone to make a Biscuit Joconde Imprime to wrap around an Entremets dessert.

As mentioned in a prior post, I became a member of the Daring Kitchen and joined both the Daring Bakers and the Daring Cooks groups.  This was my first official challenge as a member of the Daring Bakers.  I was exciting about the challenge and immediately thought of caramel and chocolate, caramel being one of my favorite things.

I must say the finished product was not exactly what I had in mind. I still ended up impressing my group of friends, The Steves.  The Steves (there are two of us named Steve, so everyone has a Steve name, I'm *Runner Steve and there is a Hostess Steve, Queen Steve, Hey Steve, and so on) are the group of friends I and my partner hang out with  almost every Friday  night.  A few weeks ago, I let them know I would bring dessert for the night. 

At first, I thought the dessert would take about 4 to 5 hours to prepare, that was including time for it to set up in the fridge.  Actually it took me almost 8 hours in total to get through everything.  The biscuit Joconde Imprime being the biggest challenge.  My sponge cake ended up being undercooked in the middle but overbaked around the edges.  Thankfully I had enough to line my springform pan.  Honestly, I'm happy I learned the technique for this, but do not think I will be trying again it anytime soon. 

However, I did enjoy learning how to make the Praline Feuillete and the Praline powder and butter (see the previous post), the caramel mouuse. Both of these were the favorite parts of all of the Steves.  I definitely will be adding both of these to my collection of recipes and will be making them again, especially the caramel mousse.  I've made homemade caramel many many times.  

Anyways, below is a few pictures of the final project.  The base was a Praline Feuillete (using rice krispies), then a chocolate mousse, ganache, salted caramel with toasted almonds, caramel mousse, and finally caramel sauce and toasted almonds on top.

Praline Powder and Paste

Tonight, I started to work on my the January Daring Bakers Challenge (for now the challenge is Top Secret, on the 27th all will be revealed).  Anyways, for a few parts of my project I needed praline paste.  After doing a lot of Google researches and finding out praline paste is expensive but rather easy to make, I decided to make my own. 

Praline paste, I learn is a common staple in a lot of pastries, especially French pastries.  Basically praline paste is ground up nuts (traditionally hazelnuts or a combination of hazelnuts and almonds) that have been coated in a caramelized syrup.  I decided to use all almonds to make my praline paste. After looking at many recipes, I decided on the following.

• 1 cup almonds ( I used slivered)

• 1 cup sugar

• 1/2 cup sugar

First step was to toast the almonds in the oven.  An easy step, just have to pay attention and not get distracted.  I've had more than one mishap, not this time, with toasted almonds or other nuts a bit too far.

 

The next step was to melt sugar and make a simple caramel syrup.  Again rather easy, just takes some time, yet something you have to keep your eye on so it does caramelize too far.  Once the syrup is ready, you stir in the nuts and quickly coat them with the syrup. Once the nuts are coated, you spread the nuts out onto a Silpat mat or greased cookie sheet to cool.

Once the mixture cools for about 30 minutes to an hour, you break it into pieces and then grind the pieces into either a powder or paste.  The paste tastes like a sweet (very yummy) peanut butter, well in this case almond butter.  I did have to contain myself from tasting more.  I could have easily eaten a few heaping teaspoons.

Now, the next step is to prepare for the actually attempt of the January Bakers Challenge.  Stay tuned for that.