food it up

Root Beer Float Cake

2012-02-06T20:11:00.000-08:00

There's a complicated story behind the "party" for which I made this cake, but basically I wanted to make an out-of-the-ordinary cake to reward some of the students I work with for a fundraising job well done. This cake was delicious but not a roaring success in terms of attaining the taste I was going for, but I took pictures, so it goes up on the blog.

This "Root Beer Float Cake" didn't quite taste like a root beer float but it was still very tasty. I convinced myself that I tasted the root beer but most samplers of the cake said it just tasted like chocolate cake. For the frosting, I found several sources that said making a vanilla buttercream with vanilla bean paste instead of vanilla extract would make it taste like vanilla ice cream. Having tried it, I can't vouch for the truth in that idea. I did come across a few recipes that actually listed ice cream as an ingredient and I'll probably go that route if I give this concept another try.

Chocolate Root Beer Cake
One 12-oz bottle strongly flavored root beer
One Box Devil's Food Cake Mix

Mix them together with a hand mixer or by hand until well blended. Follow instructions on cake mix box for time and temperature. My batter was pretty thick and I was only able to get one round 9-inch cake out of it.

Vanilla Bean Buttercream Frosting
1 cup (2 sticks) butter, softened
3-4 cups powdered sugar
1 T vanilla bean paste
1 T milk

Beat together softened butter and sugar, adding sugar slowly until it reaches a frosting consistency you like. Then add in the vanilla bean paste and some milk to smooth it out.

Once cake is cooled, spread on frosting. I used this decorator bottle to make the top of my cake pretty.

Pumpkin Cheesecake Pecan Pie

2012-01-23T21:08:00.000-08:00

So today (yesterday?) is National Pie Day. Funny, I thought it was March 14th; 3/14, 3.14, you get it? Sorry, I like math. Anyway, on account of this and my apparent neglect of this blog, I have decided to post this recipe (without a picture, I know, I’m horrible) that I first made a few months ago. I have to say, it is one of my more inspired ideas. I was attending an Autumnal Shabbat Dinner (dinner party/potluck featuring “seasonal” dishes) and I wanted to make a ridiculous dessert. I decided to combine my mom’s Pecan Pie recipe with Natanielle’s mom’s dairy-free (for kosher reasons, I promise you won't notice the difference) Pumpkin Cheesecake recipe. It’s so good, I baked four pies within 2 weeks. I’ll add a picture the next time I make it

Recipe yields two pies.
Pecan Pie Base

3 eggs, slightly beaten
1 tsp. vanilla
1 cup karo corn syrup
1 cup sugar
1/8 tsp. salt
2 tbsp. margarine, melted
1+ cup pecans, roughly chopped
pie crust

Preheat oven to 400F.
Protect the edge of the pie shells with strips of foil or a pie ring.
In a bowl mix eggs, vanilla. salt, corn syrup, sugar and the melted margarine.
Stir in the pecans. Pour into two “deep-dish” pie shells, it’s ok if not all the liquid makes it in. Bake ~20 minutes. Lower oven temperature to 350.

While it’s cooking get started on the pumpkin cheesecake component.

Dairy-Free Pumpkin Cheesecake Layer

¾ cup regular sugar
¾ cup canned pumpkin
3 egg yolk
1 ½ tsp cinnamon*
½ tsp mace or nutmeg*
½ ground ginger*
¼ tsp salt
*Can replace cinnamon, mace/nutmeg, and ginger with 2-2.5 tsp Pumpkin Pie Spice

3 tubs (8 ounces each) soy cream cheese
⅜ cup regular sugar
1 egg
1 egg yolk
2 Tbsp non dairy whipping cream (frozen kind)
1 Tbsp cornstarch
½ tsp vanilla extract
½ tsp lemon extract

Combine ¾ cup of white sugar, the pumpkin, 3 egg yolks, cinnamon, ground mace, ground ginger, and salt in a medium bowl. Mix well, set aside.

Beat cream cheese with an electric mixer until light and fluffy; gradually add ¼ cup plus 2 Tbsp white sugar and mix well. Add the whole egg, remaining egg yolk and the whipping cream, beating well. Add cornstarch and vanilla and lemon extracts. Beat batter until smooth. Add pumpkin mixture and mix well. Distribute batter evenly over two pecan bases. You may need to press down the pecan layer with a flat bottomed glass if it puffed up too much while pre-baking.

Remove foil from crust.*

I like to top with a star made out of pecan halves to show what’s on the inside.

Bake at 350 degrees for 50 to 55 minutes. Do not overbake. Center may be soft but will firm up when chilled. Let cheesecake cool on wire rack, then refrigerate.

*It’s up to you if you remove the foil or not. The first time I made this I covered it for the pecan part and then removed it for the pumpkin part. The second time I didn’t cover it for the pecan part and it burnt so I covered it for the second half even though it (the crust) was beyond saving. I think it depends on your oven. I used my oven the first time and it came out well, but in my mom’s oven the filling got a little overcooked.

Accidentally Delicious- Tomato and White Bean Sauce

2011-11-30T16:23:00.001-08:00

I often make an impromptu delicious dinner and think, "Hey, I should blog this." Inevitable I forget to take pictures and/or forget how I made what I made. But tonight, in a cranky-hungry stupor, I've created something delicious. In my pantry I had a can of small white beans and a fancy can of chopped tomatoes (some Whole Foods brand with garlic and onion). I also have this great "Quick-Cook" pasta that cooks in 3 minutes. And all of a sudden it was delicious and blog-worthy. I'm literally not even done eating as I type this. I took the picture on my webcam, you can see the pasta sliding out of my bowl and the drip of liquid that fell on my keyboard immediately after the picture was snapped. I know it doesn't look appetizing; I promise, it is.

Here's how you do it:
Put up a pot of water to boil. Keep an eye on it and cook the pasta while everything else is going on. Drizzle 1-2 tsp olive oil in a small saucepan. Add some garlic (I used 2 frozen cubes of this), about a teaspoon of rosemary, and a pinch of red chili flake. Let that all heat up and flavor the oil then add the can of tomatoes, cook off some of the liquid, for about 4 minutes. Drain and rinse the can of small white beans. Once the tomatoes have reduced, add the beans (I only used about 2/3 of the can) and continue to reduce down. It will start out looking a lot like soup, let it cook until it more closely resembles sauce. Stir in 3-5 TBSP grated parmesan cheese (the powdery stuff). When the pasta is done top it with the tomato bean sauce. It's so good.

Sorry again the picture is terrible. Just make this dish, it's SO easy, and healthy. The sauce would probably be good on whole wheat pasta or quinoa if you're looking for a healthier starch. But those don't cook in 3 minutes.

Easy as Pudding Banana Cookies

2011-02-23T16:22:00.000-08:00

I came across this recipe: http://www.the-girl-who-ate-everything.com/2010/12/day-1-of-12-days-of-christmas-cookies.html in December and loved the idea of using pistachio pudding mix because I love pistachio flavoring. So I whipped up a batch only adjusting it by replacing ¾ of the chopped nuts with white chocolate chips; why? because I ran out of pistachios and white chocolate chips are delicious. I brought them into work as a treat for the volunteers I manage while they work hard at a solicitation booth. I have another booth coming up this week and I wanted to bake them some more cookies. I looked up a few recipes but I really wanted to make the pistachio cookies again, then it dawned on me: If you can use pistachio pudding mix, why not use some other kind of pudding. When I went to the store, the only non-chocolate/vanilla/pistachio pudding they had was banana cream, so I got it and decided it would be good with walnuts and chocolate chips, so I made these, and they are good.

Ingredients

1 package sugar cookie mix
1 package (4 serving) instant banana pudding mix

¼ cup AP Flour
2 eggs, lightly beaten
½ cup melted butter
½ cup semisweet chocolate chips
¾-1 cup chopped walnuts

Directions

Preheat oven to 350F.

Mix together cookie mix, pudding mix, and flour. Stir in butter and eggs to form dough. Add in chocolate chips and walnuts.
Drop by teaspoonful on an ungreased cookie sheet (I lined mine with parchment) about 2 inches apart, they will spread out. Bake for 9-11 minutes (I baked mine for 11-12). Cool for at least 2 minutes before removing from cookie sheet, then cool completely.

Everyone who tried them really seemed to like them, here is a picture of my friend and volunteer, Leah, enjoying her cookie.

It's Been a Long Time French Onion Soup

2011-02-19T18:25:00.000-08:00

I know it’s been a while and I am ashamed of my neglect. The main reason I started contributing to this blog was to add a little accountability to the quality and frequency of my cooking. Oops. I’ve been cooking and I have a few backlogged recipes and photos, and I’m going to see what I can do about posting a little more often. The reason I’m posting this particular recipe is because my friend asked for a French Onion soup recipe; so thanks for getting me back on the blogging wagon, Shelley.

Hi, my name is Jenna, and I’ve been a Food Network junkie for about 15 years now. I can’t say I love 100% of their programming, but I still remember the traumatic experience of learning something from Food Network that I absolutely did NOT want to know. French Onion soup is made with beef stock/broth. This was not good news to me. I had grown up having this delicious soup at non-kosher restaurants. The beef stock isn’t kosher there, and beef stock and cheese is never allowed. I just had to stop eating one of my favorite foods, cold turkey. mmm...bubbly cheese, how I missed thee. This happened when I was 10 or 11, by the way. So I went years without French Onion soup, but I finally started to realize I could achieve its rich flavor with no beef involved (I always choose cheese). All it takes is a few hours to milk (caramelize) the onions for all the flavor they’ve got. This is a simple recipe, but it is not a quick, weeknight recipe. However, your patience will pay off.

2 lbs yellow onions, halved lengthwise and thinly sliced
3-4 T olive oil
1 T salt
6 cups water
1 small pkg dried porcini mushrooms
1 cube beef bouillon (parve! yay!)
1 T flour
½ T balsamic
½ T soy sauce
½ t dried thyme
½ t dried rosemary (optional)

Garnish
1 ½-inch slice good baguette per serving
1 thin slice fresh mozzarella per serving (gruyere preffered)

caramelize onions over low heat in 3 T olive oil. This will take a long time, like 1 to 2 hours. If you are cooking over a low enough flame, you won’t have to stand over the stove the whole time. For the first 45 minutes you only have to stir them about once every 10 minutes. You can let the onions stick to the pan a bit, but stir again before they burn. Sprinkle some salt in every once in a while, starting at about 20 minutes into the cooking time. You can add a little more oil after 45-60 min too.

make broth by putting 6 cups of water up to boil. once it’s boiling, add the dried mushrooms and the bouillon. you may want to crumble and dissolve the bouillon in about ½ cup of the hot water so you don’t get clumps of saltiness in your broth. let it all boil for 2 more minutes then turn off the flame. let the flavors steep for at least 30 minutes, still keeping an eye on the onions and stirring them to prevent burning.

when the onions are caramelized and have reached a rich brown color, sprinkle them with 1 T flour and stir, cook for about a minute. Then add soy sauce and balsamic and a little broth to get all the sticky onions off the bottom of the pan. Add the rest of the broth, carefully avoiding the reconstituted mushrooms and any grit, you may need to leave some broth in the pot just to be careful. Rinse the mushrooms, and slice about half of them and add them to the soup. Add the rosemary and thyme. Simmer the soup for 20-30 minutes.

meanwhile, make the garnish. All you need is toasty bread and cheese. You can use storebought croutons and shredded cheese, or you can make your own toast and broil cheese on top. I did something in between, a little closer to the fancier version. I think the best way is to make the toast and broil the cheese on, but I don’t have oven safe serving dishes, so I toasted the cheese directly on the toast and “floated” them in the soup. I also added a little shredded monterey jack cheese to the soup under the crouton.

Orange Sesame Slaw

2010-08-26T20:28:00.000-07:00

This slaw was my contribution to a summer barbeque, it was pretty tasty. Like other salad recipes, I’m not going to go into too much detail, but I will talk about how to make the wonton crisps and infused oil.

To make the wonton crisps, I sliced wonton skins into 1/4-1/3 inch strips then heated up about 1/2 cup vegetable oil in a pot (the amount of oil depends on your pot size, but try to have at least half an inch of oil heated in the pan). A deep fryer would probably work better, but start by dropping a few wonton strips into the hot oil. Make sure you watch them, they burn quickly! Once they start to turn golden brown take them out with a wire “spider” or an slotted spoon and drain on paper towels. If you can find premade wonton crisps, that would probably be easier, I’ll try to improve my method, but I wasn’t completely enthused with how my crisps came out.

You’ll have a pot of oil left over, and I hate the waste oil created by frying, so I decided to repurpose it for my dressing. And I decided it would be an adventure to try infusing the oil with some good flavors for my dressing, I originally wanted to leave the solids from my infusion in my dressing but they kind of burned and formed a giant clump. I minced some garlic, ginger, and shallot, and threw it in with some sesame seeds, brown sugar and orange zest. If you’re more careful than I am fry all of the solids until they are cooked and lightly browned and then mix in the oil with the other dressing ingredients. If you have my luck, remove most of the solids, and measure out about 1/2 cup of the oil for the dressing. Enjoy!

Slaw
Napa Cabbage, shredded
Red onion
2 Valencia Orange- segments of 2 and zest of 1
2 Avocado
grilled corn (I didn’t use it, but it would probably be good, Trader Joe’s sells frozen roasted corn-win!)
wonton crisps
sesame seeds

Orange Sesame Dressing
juice of one very juicy orange
~1 T sesame oil
~1 T rice vinegar
S+P
1/2 c veg oil infused with garlic, ginger, shallot, sesame, brown sugar, and orange zest

RRay-style Mushroom Pasta

2010-08-26T19:26:00.000-07:00

I may have mentioned that mushrooms are my absolute favorite food before, they are just plain awesome. I’m pretty sure Rachael Ray also really like mushrooms, as she’s written several super-mushroomy recipes that inspired this dish. I also really love RRay, and I’m proud of it. I know her voice is annoying and she isn’t gourmet, but I like the way she cooks, and I admire the success she’s achieved in her life and business. I only disagree with her and another one of my idols (Kelly Clarkson!) on one big thing, they both don’t want kids, and I think babies are awesome. This recipe was fun and was one of the first times I made a successful roux. This was *shockingly* my first time cooking with dried mushrooms, and to be honest, I’m not sure I loved the smokiness of the porcinis in the mushroom broth, I may try another type of mushroom next time. Another thing I want to clarify is the way I made the mushroom broth. Most recipes call for chicken stock/broth to steep the mushrooms, but I didn’t have any on hand, plus chicken stock can’t be eaten with dairy products like the butter, milk, and cheese also in this recipe. I like the way the mild onion soup flavor (I used a lot less mix than I would for making actual package directions soup). I thought this tasted delicious, so did Ruby, she didn’t say anything while we were eating it but a few days later she said “yeah, that mushroom pasta was really good”.

Ingredients
2.5 cups water
1-2 T onion soup mix
0.5 oz dried porcini mushrooms
EVOO (had to, for RRay)
half a box whole wheat penne rigate (maybe a different pasta would be better)
3 cloves garlic, chopped
3 scallions, thinly sliced (shallots preferred)
6-8 large shitake mushrooms, stems removed, thinly sliced
8 oz. cremini mushrooms, sliced
2+ T butter
2 T flour
1 T balsamic vinegar
1 T milk (cream preferred)
1 sprig rosemary (and/or thyme), leaves removed and roughly chopped
parsley
parmesan for finishing

Directions
In a small pot bring water and soup mix to a boil, turn off heat and add porcinis, cover pot and steep mushrooms. Put water for pasta up to boil. Over low heat, begin to saute the garlic and scallions (or shallot) while you clean and slice the shitakes and creminis. Add mushrooms and rosemary to the saute pan and cook until soft and lightly browned. Push vegetables to the side of the pan and start to melt butter. Sprinkle flour into melted butter and make sure the two are fully blended. Let the flour cook for 1-2 minutes to get the raw flour taste out. Start to ladle in some of the mushroom broth and blend with the roux until it’s smooth, I had to use a whisk. Add about 1 to 1.5 cups broth total and mix in with the mushrooms in the pan. Stir in the balsamic and the milk or cream (you could also add some starchy pasta water if you’d like) and cook down until the sauce is reduced and thickened. Add the cooked pasta and the parsley and parmesan and mix until the pasta is coated with the sauce. Garnish with a little more parsley and parmesan.

Warm Artichoke Heart and Arugula Salad

2010-08-23T15:43:00.000-07:00

Here is a salad I devised back in February or thereabouts, which is great in the colder months, but does just fine now in the summer time. Also, I brought it to a dinner party a month or so ago, and it was a big hit! So side or meal, it does great either way.

Ingredients:
- Artichoke hearts marinated in oil (not brine, this is important!), 10 or so quarters per person. I use the ones from Costco for this recipe
- Pine nuts, approx one handful per person
- Arugula, 3-5 cups per person
- Grated parmesan, 1/4 cup per person, or to taste
- (and freshly ground pepper never runs amiss)

Directions:
Put (washed) arugula into a bowl. Amount depends entirely on how many people you're feeding and what portion size you're going for.
Place a small to medium skillet over high heat, add pine nuts. Don't oil/butter/coat your skillet here. You are toasting the pine nuts and there is no extra fat needed to do this. Toast the pine nuts until they are golden on a few sides, 5-ish mins. Only stir them once or maybe twice.
Once the pine nuts are beautiful, toasty, and delicious-smelling, sprinkle them over the arugula.
Then put the skillet back over the heat, and add the artichoke hearts. It's ok if a little of the marinade gets in the skillet, but try for not too much, because the liquid will slow down the browning process. Brown hearts between 2-5 mins per side, depending on how brown you want your artichokes (or how quickly you want to eat, already).
Once the artichoke hearts are browned to your liking, place them over the arugula plus pine nuts. Top with parmesan, ground pepper, and a little of the artichoke heart marinade from the jar as dressing. Toss and serve!

Zucchini Couscous

2010-06-13T19:11:00.000-07:00

This is another product of the Ruby-being-away fridge purge. I had bought zucchini, because I was in the mood for it and I was kind of thinking of making something resembling this dish. I wanted to saute the zucchini with onions and I happened to have half of a red onion left over from the beautiful toppings platter I made for yesterday's bagel lunch (it was seriously gorgeous, I regret not taking a picture). I'm glad I had it because the purple color definitely added to the visual quality of the final product. It's a pretty simple recipe, and can definitely be changed around to your liking. It's to be served warm, so I used a smaller couscous. I often make cold couscous salad (for Shabbat lunch) and I like to use the larger Israeli couscous for that. This recipe calls for seasoning (salt and pepper) at many points throughout the process; this really adds a lot to the flavor of the dish.

Ingredients:

1 box couscous, compared according to box directions

2 zucchinis, quartered and cut into ~1/4-inch slices

1/2 large red onion, chopped roughly

~1 TBSP olive oil, to coat saute pan

Generous amount of S+P

1/4 tsp nutmeg

zest and juice of 1/2 a lemon

Directions:

Heat oil in pan.

Add zucchini, onions, and some S+P.

Cook for 3 minutes then add nutmeg, lemon zest, and some more salt.

Continue cooking until onions are soft and zucchini are cooked and barely starting to brown in spots.

Mix into couscous with the lemon juice and a little more S+P.

Serve warm.

Beer-Battered Chicken Fingers and Scallion Pancake

2010-06-13T19:10:00.000-07:00

Ruby, my roommate, is away for a few days at her friends wedding and I have an excess of food in the fridge to burn through. This food supply included one lone chicken breast leftover from my special kosher supply at a friend's BBQ. I decided to make a simple beer batter for the chicken. And when I had leftover batter and hot oil just sitting there dying to fry something, I searched the fridge for something else to fry. I found some cute skinny scallions and fried them up whole, they were delicious and reminded me of scallion pancakes from Asian restaurants, so I chopped up a few scallions and mixed them into the rest of the batter to make a pancake. It was a pretty good dinner for one, if I do say so myself.

Ingredients

One chicken breast, cut into strips

1/2 cup+ beer

1/2 cup flour

5 scallions, cut into 1-inch pieces

vegetable oil for frying

Directions:

Pour flour into a shallow dish and dredge chicken pieces in it. Then add 1/2 cup beer and mix until a batter forms, you may need to add a little more beer.

Heat oil in pan, about 1/4 inch deep should be fine. Keep over medium to medium-high heat.

Coat chicken pieces in batter and gently place into oil. Fry first side until golden, then flip and fry second side until golden. (Sorry, I didn't pay attention to how long this took, but give it some time; raw chicken = BAD NEWS BEARS!).

Once chicken is done, remove and drain on paper towels. You can now make the scallion pancake, but don't leave the hot oil alone!

Mix scallions into remaining batter, if you turned off the heat under the oil make sure it is hot again, then pour in the batter and the scallions and fry first side until golden brown, then flip and brown the second side. This will cook a lot faster than the chicken.

Keep in mind you can make several scallion pancakes and more than one chicken breast, just maintain the 1:1 (ish) ratio for the batter.

Peanut Sesame Noodles with Chicken

2010-05-09T14:23:00.001-07:00

This recipe is another one of my go-to's, I make it just about every time I host a Shabbat lunch. Because as I've mentioned before, it's much easier to eat dishes meant to be served cold when you don't have a hot plate (basically the only Shabbat-approved way to heat things up). I've always enjoyed peanut sesame noodles and this recipe is a great way to stretch a buck; it can feed up to 6 people as a main dish and last week I served it (with several other dishes) to 13 people. And it only uses about a pound of chicken, if I was going to serve 6 people a chicken dish, I'd need about 3 pounds. You also can make it without the chicken, I don't think it adds too much other than making the dish a more "complete" meal. I don't know if cucumber is a common ingredient in cold sesame noodles, but my mom used to use a recipe that called for finely chopped cucumber, I like grating it right into the sauce; I think it really lightens up the flavor and adds freshness to the flavor. The pasta and chicken can be cooked in advance (I usually do it Thursday night in preparation for Saturday lunch), and the sauce can be made and mixed in right before serving. I apologize for the lack of exact measurements in the sauce, it's something I'm working on, but have failed at this juncture. I think that the measurements are really to taste, when I make the sauce it isn't super peanut-buttery, but that's the way my guests and I like it, you can make it however you want, you don't even need to use all the ingredients.

Ingredients
1+ lb boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cut into very small strips before cooking
vegetable oil
1 lb bucatini (spaghetti with holes in it)
~5 scallions, thinly sliced
sesame seeds

Yummy Asian sauce (I got this idea from the Garlic Noodles recipe)
2 T brown sugar
2 t soy sauce
1.5 T hoisin
1 t sesame oil

Peanut Sesame Sauce
1/2 c Peanut Butter
1 T Sesame Oil
1 t Rice Vinegar
2-4 T Soy Sauce
~1 T honey
~1 t hot sauce
1-2 T brown sugar
1 T hoisin
1-4 T veg oil
1 small cucumber shredded

Directions
Bring a pot of water to boil, generously salt it, and break the bucatini (pasta) in half before dropping it in to cook; it is nearly impossible to handle if you don't break it in half, so don't forget this step. In my experience the bucatini just needs to be watched for readiness, needing at least 10 minutes, it's kind of a fickle pasta but I'm usually already at the stove cooking the chicken in the meantime, and I think the straw shape is cool. You can use any long pasta, I think thick spaghetti or thicker would be best because I'm not confident angel hair or regular spaghetti would hold up to the sauce.

While the pasta is cooking, heat some oil in a pan to prevent sticking and cook up the small pieces of chicken breast. When the chicken is just about done cooking, add in the Yummy asian sauce and let it cook down a little to coat the chicken. The sauce isn't necessary, but why not give the chicken it's own flavoring. Once you're confident the chicken is cooked and coated, put it into your serving/storage dish with the cooked pasta. If you used too much oil like I occasionally do, just take the chicken out with a slotted spoon.

I usually drizzle a little sesame oil and/or vegetable oil over the pasta so it doesn't become a solid mass in the refrigerator. The noodles and chicken should be cool for this dish, but it does not need to be refrigerated overnight. I store the noodles and chicken in the same dish (in my case, a disposable aluminum pan) I plan on serving them in, it's just easier that way.

To make the sauce: Put all ingredients (except oil and cucumber) in a bowl and mix, if you are mixing with a spoon, just be patient, eventually it will all come together. When the sauce looks fairly homogeneous, it probably won't look like it will be easy to distribute over that much pasta. This is where the oil comes in, vegetable oil is flavorless, but oily (duh), so add just enough to make the sauce tossable. Then grate in the cucumber, this will probably make the sauce less attractive, but go with it.

Add the scallions and some toasted sesame seeds to the pasta and chicken, then toss it all with the sauce. Enjoy!

Shepherd's Quiche

2010-04-11T21:47:00.001-07:00

I'm not in the most talkative of moods this evening, but I do have one word of advice: before pouring (or worse, squeezing) a condiment/dressing/bottled food product, be WELL aware of the dispenser top that said bottle has. On TWO occasions this evening I overdosed because I thought my soy sauce and my ranch dressing had that kind of top with the little hole that you have to shake and/or squeeze the bottle to dispense out of.

As you can probably tell from the name of this post, this quiche is inspired by Shepherd's pie, a well-known, delicious, all-in-one food. Unlike classic shepherd's pie, however, it is vegetarian and lacks potatoes (because I didn't have any). I filled a pie crust with a "meaty" mixture of mushrooms, onions, and Morningstar Farms meat-like crumble, included some corn, and rounded it all out with an egg/milk mixture and some cheese. I like both eating and making quiche, except for the few issues of filling leakage (solved by baking on a cookie sheet) and the edge of the crust breaking off (let me know if you've solved that one). I served this one with a(n unfortunately overdressed) salad. I used bottled ranch dressing because I was in the mood for something creamy and my fridge lacked the goods for a homemade one as it is still a post-passover wasteland.

Ingredients
1 premade pie crust
1/2-3/4 cup shredded cheese
2 TBSP butter
1 cube frozen chopped garlic
8 cremini mushrooms, chopped
1/2 white onion, chopped
3/4 cup meat-free crumbles
1/2 can corn
3 eggs
1/4 cup milk
splash soy sauce
S+P

Directions
Saute garlic, mushrooms, and onions in butter until soft. Add frozen "meat" and heat through. Sprinkle some cheese on the bottom of the pie crust, then spread the "meat" mixture on top. In a separate bowl, mix eggs, milk, soy sauce, S+P, corn and some more cheese (reserve some for the top). Pour egg mixture over the pie contents, you want the corn to sit on top of the meat like it does in shepherd's pie. Sprinkle remaining cheese on top. Bake at 400 F for 30 minutes. Let sit for 5-10 minutes before slicing and serving.

French Toast Bread Pudding Cups

2010-03-17T18:04:00.000-07:00

This poor challah had had a long journey. I bought it a few months ago and then froze it when it was rendered unnecessary. It was defrosted this weekend, and still not used. At this point it was too stale to eat as bread, so something had to be done. I was going to make French Toast and freeze it to be used as weekday breakfasts. But I changed my mind last minute and decided to make something resembling Bread Pudding. I can't honestly say I know how to make Bread Pudding but I can make yummy bready muffiny breakfast treats.
I froze almost all of them and took one to work for breakfast a few times. I just defrosted in in the microwave and then got the soggy out by finishing the reheat in the toaster oven.

Ingredients
1 large challah, at least a few days stale
4 eggs
1/4 cup half and half
3/4-1 cup skim milk
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp almond extract
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 TBSP sugar
2 4 oz. cans of diced peaches in light syrup
butter
turbinado sugar

Directions
Preheat oven to 350 F. Cut challah into 1-inch cubes. Whisk together remaining ingredients (including syrup from peaches). Pour custard mixture over bread cubes in a large bowl. Bread should absorb the custard like a sponge, so mix it as well as you can. Let bread soak for about an hour, mixing a few times throughout. Your end product will be very soggy bread with few discernible chunks. Butter each cup of a muffin tin. Fill cups with mixture and top with a little melted butter and a sprinkle of turbinado sugar. Bake for 30-35 minutes until edges are brown and muffins feel spongy but not wet and squishy to the touch.

Lemon Coconut Cake

2010-03-13T17:16:00.000-08:00

Another meat Shabbat meal, another parve dessert conundrum. This time I wanted to use my new(ish) bundt pan. As we know, I'm not generally a cake-from-scratch kind of girl, so the challenge was what to do with a box of cake mix and some imagination. I decided to revisit the lemon-coconut flavor combination of a previous post. I took a chance and combined the coconut with non-dairy cream cheese and made a tunnel/swirl in the middle of my lemon cake. This tunnel ended up being a crown which suited me just fine. I think my guests liked the cake and didn't mind one bit that it was dairy-free.

Ingredients
Lemon Cake mix plus water, oil, and eggs
~7 oz Coconut
~6 oz Tofutti (non-dairy) Cream Cheese
3 TBSP Powdered Sugar
1 TBSP Margarine
2 TBSP Soy Milk

Prepare cake mix according to package directions.
Soften cream cheese and margarine.
Cream together cream cheese, margarine, soy milk, and powdered sugar, add coconut.
Mix in a little batter.
Pour half of cake batter into a prepared bundt pan, pour coconut/cheese mixture on top then add rest of cake batter.
Bake at 350 F for 38-43 minutes.
Let Cool and glaze.

Frosting/Glaze
1/2 a can Whipped Vanilla Frosting
1 tsp Lemon Extract

Put frosting in a bowl and microwave for 15-20 seconds until it is a little thinned, then mix in extract. Pour or spoon over the cake so it looks pretty, drippy, and glazed.
Serve cake with Strawberry Sauce.

Strawberry Sauce
1/2 lb. cut-up strawberries
zest of 1 lemon
juice of 1/2 a lemon
1-2 TBSP sugar

Mix together and let macerate for at least 1 hour. I filled the center cavity of the bundt cake with it, looked pretty.

Cake storage tip: I am not married and therefore have not been privy to the extreme awesomeness that is a registry, so I don't have a fancy covered cake plate. But I still need to store cakes, so I use the lid of a large plastic bowl as the plate, and the bowl as it's cover. Weird, but it works; just make sure your cake pan fits in the bowl so you don't mess up your work of art.

Nunu Cookies

2010-03-13T16:42:00.000-08:00

Nunu is one of my dearest friends, and she absolutely LOVES peppermint. So for her birthday I chose to honor her obsession with some home baked goodies. The only other catch is that Nunu does not like cake, so that was out. I've already mentioned my love for cake mix in other applications so I decided to go with it. With a chocolate cookie, I was looking for visual and flavor contrast with the white morsels because I personally can have too much chocolate. In addition to the peppermint extract, I wanted to add a candy element. I've read some baking blogs that advise against baking with candy pieces because they essentially melt and dissolve into the batter, but why wouldn't you want that? The candy pieces I used were not necessarily visible, but they melted a little while baking and created chewy to crunchy pockets of yum in my cookies. For the candy I used I couldn't find starlight mints (the white and red stripy hard candies), but I did have some boring-looking red peppermint sucking candies that I had actually bought with Nunu in mind months ago, they did the trick. The cookies will be VERY soft when they first come out of the oven, especially if you add the extra water. I even left mine in the off oven for about 10-15 minutes, but they do get at least handle-able when they cool. There are a lot of recipes for cake mix cookies out there, and I think using butter instead of all or some of the oil may help the cookies set up more solidly. I brought the cookies to her birthday party and they were a hit! But I kinda knew they would be because I may or may not have been snacking on them for the few days between baking and gifting.

Ingredients
1 box devil's food cake mix
2 eggs
1/3+ cup vegetable oil
2-4 Tbsp water
1 tsp peppermint extract
~8 peppermint candies, crushed with a hammer
~1 cup white morsels (white chocolate chips)

Directions
Mix together cake mix, eggs, oil, and peppermint extract. If the batter looks wet enough to hold onto the morsels and candy chunks, go ahead and add them. If it's too dry, add some water 1-2 TBSP at a time, then add the mix-ins. Roll little balls and place on a lined baking sheet (or 2). I got about 3 dozen cookies out of the recipe.

Bake at 350 F for 8-9 minutes

Remove from oven and let cool.

Feta Lime Salad

2010-03-11T17:22:00.000-08:00

So on Shabbat after services, it's traditional to have a nice lunch, but the catch is you can't cook on Shabbat, so unless you prepare something before sundown Friday you're stuck with raw food for lunch. I was cranky and busy last week so after services on Saturday morning, I brought my friend home with me (she was going to have cereal for lunch, I had to save her), woke up my roommate from her deep weekend slumber and threw together a salad. Now, I wasn't planning on blogging about a stupid salad I threw together; but it is with this salad that I have unearthed one of my new favorite flavor combinations: FETA and LIME!!!!! I am that excited about it, don't judge. So excited, in fact, that I decided to attempt a recreation of it for dinner tonight. I say attempt because I knowingly added a few salad ingredients, but because I make my dressings from scratch and fairly haphazardly, it is sometimes hard to recreate them. But the reason I make them from scratch is not a grandstand against bottled dressings, because we know I love processed foods that make things easier. I just like my dressings better; plus, I don't want to commit to a big bottle of same flavored salad forever because I'm rarely in the mood for the same thing for more then a few days. The original salad had everything but the apples, but they seemed like a good idea to add. I also had to use up the tofu that I didn't use in yesterday's dinner, so I made some Crispy Coconut Tofu Nuggets that I found on Cara's Cravings via my fave "food porn" site, tastespotting.com. All in all delicious. And now that we've had tofu two nights in a row, we're super super proud of ourselves. "You did good with the tofu"- Ruby, thanks Cara!

I don't like giving directions for salads, because salad recipes are really just flavor concepts. I think these things taste good together, I hope you do too, but you can chop and mix the ingredients however you choose. For the dressing just whisk it all together to taste.

Salad Ingredients:
Lettuce (Romaine and Green Leaf blend)
Apples
Avocado
Feta , crumbled
Lime Zest
Red Onion
Craisins
La CHoy Noodles

Dressing Ingredients:
Lime Juice
Red Wine Vinegar
Veg Oil
cumin
Honey
S+P
Hot Sauce

And an additional picture because I took it. Tuna Salad with capers, sundried tomatoes, and feta. And some Teeny Weeny potatoes roasted with garlic, rosemary, and onions.

Garlic Noodles

2010-03-10T18:29:00.000-08:00

I (Jenna)** adapted this recipe from Budget Bytes, and I'm pretty happy with the results. This recipe for noodles or a side dish is now a full meal complete with protein (tofu) and my favorite food (mushrooms). I also had to substitute hoisin for oyster sauce because oysters aren't kosher, but both sauces are sweet and Asian-y tasting. I was super hungry and found this recipe as I was compiling my shopping list on the way out of the office. I buy mushrooms more or less every time I go shopping (ya know, the whole favorite food thing) and had bought tofu last week and wasn't sure what I was going to do with it, so I threw them both in. It was pretty good, I would maybe add more sauce to compensate for the added tofu and I would have liked a little more flavor regardless. Also, we're super proud of us for eating tofu and not complaining a.bout it, you should be too

Ingredients
1/2 lb angel hair pasta
4 T butter
4 cloves minced garlic*
4 scallions, chopped
6 cremini mushrooms, halved and thinly sliced
1/2 package extra firm tofu, pressed and cut into 1/2 inch cubes
2 t soy sauce
2 T brown sugar
1 t sesame oil
1 1/2 T hoisin sauce
toasted sesame seeds

Directions
Cook pasta according to package directions.
Saute garlic, scallions, and mushrooms in butter until soft, add tofu and continue to cook over very low heat.
In a separate bowl, stir together soy sauce, sesame oil, hoisin sauce, and brown sugar.
Add pasta to sauteed mixture and then mix in sauce.
Top each serving with sesame seeds.

*I used a variety of minced garlic sources because I was in the mood to switch it up and diversify my garlic flavor. I used one large clove of fresh garlic, one frozen cube of minced garlic, and 2 cloves equivalent of jarred minced garlic. I don't know if it made a difference, but I'm gonna keep thinking it did.
**I'm specifying who wrote the post early on, because Becca has thankfully rejoined the blogging world, but it has created some confusion among our followers

Grog

2010-03-02T22:21:00.000-08:00

We went to an awesome bar called Smuggler's Cove (yes, you heard right). The best drink I had there was also the simplest, and I decided to try it on a grand scale for our New Year's Eve party. The hardest part here is juicing all of the limes.

Grog

10 limes, juiced + 2 sliced into rings
12 oz brown sugar simple syrup (1 3/4 cups brown sugar dissolved in the same amount of water)
12 oz pineapple juice
1.5 L rum
3 L water

Combine the rum (I recommend Bacardi Gold for this application, not too expensive, but good quality) with the lime juice, simple syrup, pineapple juice. I suggest making an ice block like in the Lychee Punch recipe. Pour half the mixture into a punch bowl with the lime rings, add half the volume of water. Repeat when the first batch is almost gone.

Makes approx 40 servings.

Pimm's Cup

2010-03-02T22:18:00.000-08:00

This one is very simple, no muss, no fuss.

Pimm's Cup

750 mL Pimm's No. 1
4 lemons, juiced
48 oz lemon juice
48 oz (4 bottles) ginger ale
1/2 - 1 cucumber, sliced into spears

Combine all in a large pitcher or other receptacle. I did this 1/2 at a time, mostly so it would fit into the pitcher. It might need a little more lemon juice / ginger ale, depending on your taste. Serves 20-30... ?

Lychee Punch

2010-03-02T22:13:00.000-08:00

We've been hosting some pretty awesome parties lately, and punches are an excellent way to get people drunk :D

I'm happy to say the punches have been a big hit, and I've been asked for the recipes by multiple people. So here's the first one...

Lychee Punch!

8-10 lemons, juiced
2.5 20 oz cans lychees in heavy syrup, pureed and strained of pulp
1.75 L vodka
750 mL triple sec
2 bottles sparkling white wine (asti works really well, i got super cheap stuff (like $4-5 bottles) and it was great)
1.5 20 oz can lychees in heavy syrup
4 pints raspberries

combine vodka, triple sec, lychee juice, lychees + syrup, lemon juice and raspberries (muddle some) in a large container for a few hours to overnight. pour half of this liquid into a punch bowl, add 1 bottle wine. repeat when necessary.

ice is also important. i poured some water into a bowl with lemon slices and put it in the freezer for at least 4 hours (it probably doesn't take that long to freeze, but i didn't want to risk it). rinse with hot water to loosen the ice from the bowl for removal. or you can make an ice ball by filling up a balloon (not all the way!) and then cutting the balloon off once the sphere is frozen. basically it is much better to have one large block of ice vs. lots of small ice cubes which will melt faster and dilute your punch.

makes approx 40 servings.

Udon with Napa Cabbage, Shiitake Mushrooms and Tofu

2010-03-02T21:37:00.000-08:00

Last time I went to the supermarket, most of my staple veggies were looking less than prime, so I looked around and saw some very healthy looking napa cabbage instead. I've never cooked with napa cabbage before, so I looked around on the internet for some ideas. There were a lot of salads, slaws, etc. which is all well and good, but I definitely wanted a hot meal, so I decided to make this udon dish (which I've done before with bok choi) and hope for the best. And it came out really well!

Ingredients:
1 head napa cabbage, quartered, cored, and thinly sliced
12 oz shiitake mushrooms, stems removed, sliced
1 package firm tofu, cut into 1/4-1/2 inch think rectangles
1 package fresh udon noodles
soy sauce
black bean sauce
tomato pickle
molasses
rice vinegar
water
(sriracha)

Directions:
In a large, flat bottomed skillet, heat olive oil and sesame oil adding up to about 1 Tbsp. Once the skillet is hot, place the tofu onto the skillet in one layer and leave to fry. Keep an eye on these while you start the next step. Turn them once they are fired and golden on the first side.
In a large wok, heat about the same amount of oils as in the skillet, and add the shiitakes once the wok is hot. Toss them so that most or all of the slices are lightly coated with oil. Once the mushrooms have heated a little, add a bit of soy sauce, a drizzle of molasses, a spoonful of black bean sauce, and a spoonful of tomato pickle to the shiitakes; stir. If the tofu is done by now, add it to the wok, then add the udon, and toss it all together. Or do the reverse (order isn't important). Once the udon are coated with the with the sauce and juices, add the cabbage. Pour in some vinegar and more soy sauce, to taste. Stir everything together, and add about a cup of water. Cover the wok to steam the cabbage, 5-8 minutes, stirring occasionally.
Serve with a drizzle of sriracha, to taste.

In conclusion, I'm very glad the napa cabbage was the only good looking veggie at the supermarket last week, because it was a great success. However, this dish is equally good with bok choi.

Lemon Coconut Cupcakes

2010-02-21T21:16:00.001-08:00

I was planning on making Mardi Gras themed meringues last week but never got around to it. Nevertheless, I bought Lemon Extract (which is kinda pricey) in preparation. Today, I was hungry and in the mood to bake, and I wanted to make use of my latest baking purchase. I also had a box of Angel Food cake mix and a box of Lemon Cake mix in my pantry. I also always try to keep some coconut on hand for my Chocolate Almond Macaroons, which I will blog about the next time I make them and can photograph them. Lemon coconut it was, a delicious combination. I opted for the Angel Food cake mix, because I was in the mood for its marshmallowey goodness and it would also require the use of the Lemon Extract. I'm incredibly lazy and impatient and should really just invest in a second cupcake pan, so I overfilled my pan and only had a little batter left over; there was no way I was waiting for one batch to cook AND cool before baking a second batch. I was looking for an ovenproof bowl to bake off the rest of my batter, and came across a microwave safe over-sized mug. My aforementioned hunger led me to decide that microwaving the extra batter was a good idea. It wasn't pretty, or golden brown, but I ate it. The end product was very lightly colored (the outer cupcakes browned more than the inner ones) but the coconut gives the crusty parts a perfect chewy crispiness. I don't know if baking them in cupcake cups and not overfilling the pan would maximize crusty surface area, but it would be worth trying.

Sidebar Political Stance: Ok, maybe not really political, but a huge issue of contention in baking is to Cake Mix or not to Cake Mix? I love using Cake Mix in other applications, or just to (stealing Pillsbury's tag line) "Plus it up". I like cake mix cookies, I like taking cake and cookie mixes and adding to them. I also really like cake made from cake mix, but I fully admit that that is not really baking. Cake Mix is just a bunch of ingredients already mixed together for you. Yeah, there's all sorts of preservatives and crap in it; but it's yummy so I'm going to use it.

Sidebar Olympics Stance: I may as well use this platform to rant, let's face it the over/under on my (our? Becca? Bueller?) readership is somewhere around 5. I'm a religious follower of the Olympics and I need to say it: Johnny Weir was ROBBED!!! I'm not saying he was better than Lysacek or even Plushenko. But both his short program AND his free skate were underscored. I don't know if he was being judged on his off-ice personality or what, but there is absolutely no good reason for him to have ended the competition in 6th place. Takahashi FELL, doesn't that lower your score or something? And he just barely beat Oda (the Japanese guy with the most compelling shoelace tie ever). I and the commentators (Scott Hamilton knows his stuff!) were seriously expecting a Bronze Medal (or at least 4th) after Weir's free skate. I'm no expert, but someone please make me less mad about this. I know, I know, the 5 of you are here for the food, here's the recipe:

Ingredients
1 box Angel Food Cake mix
7+ oz coconut flakes
1 1/4 cups water
1 1/2 tsp lemon extract

Directions
Mix together cake mix, water and extract. Use a hand mixer on medium for 1 minute or just mix very well. Fold in coconut. Pour into cupcake liners or an ungreased cupcake pan so each cup is 2/3 to 3/4 full. I filled my ungreased cupcake pan to the top, but I think your product will be prettier if you don't do this. Bake at 350 F for 35 minutes, but start checking every 5 minutes or so after about 25 minutes. Cupcakes are done when edges are lightly browned and tops are dry.

Team USA > Canada Minestrone Soup

2010-02-21T20:49:00.000-08:00

USA:5
Canada:3
Absolutely AMAZING Hockey Game!

I am deep in the Olympic spirit this week. But I'm still managing to cook a little in between events or when Team USA is not playing in any non-ice dancing events. I know vegetable soups are super easy to make, but I always seem to forget this; so I decided to take a stab at it during my lazy Olympics Sunday afternoon. Also, of some inspiration, one of our moms left 2 bagged Manischewitz Minestrone soup mixes, a super-jewy product, when we moved in. My childhood memories are filled of my mom's awesome Split Pea Soup, which I'm pretty sure was made from (or at least with the help of) one of these mixes, as well as the nasty, watery failures resulting from attempts to use the other flavored soup mixes. I knew I would have to improve upon the instructions, and luckily I had the supplies I needed to add actual taste to the water. I've always liked tomato based Minestrones and Vegetable Soups; I may or may not have frequently added ketchup to my canned vegetable soups in the past. I even think that the addition of a few more spices and a higher broth:water ratio would have eliminated the need for the soup mix altogether. But now I only have one tube o' "soup" hiding in the back of my pantry. And if I do say so myself this soup is hearty and pastalicious enough for Team USA Hockey, I'll cook for you boys any day.

Ingredients
1 small onion, chopped
2 carrots, chopped
2-3 ribs celery, chopped
2 cloves garlic, chopped
olive oil
2 cups broth
5-6 cups water
1 Tube Minestrone Soup mix
3/4-1 jar marinara sauce
1-1 1/2 cups (dry) small shells pasta
Parmesan cheese

Directions
Saute carrots in oil for 2 minutes, then add celery, saute for 1 minute, add onion and garlic and continue to cook for 3 minutes until vegetables start to brown and onions are at least translucent. Add broth and water and bring to a boil. Add soup mix to boiling mixture (it's what the soup mix packet said to do). Lower the heat and cover the pot and let the soup simmer for about 25 minutes. Add the sauce, and return to a simmer for another 20-25 minutes. Puree about half of the soup; I just took an immersion blender to it and didn't puree the whole thing. Add the pasta and continue to simmer/low boil until the pasta is al dente, maybe even a bit firmer. Remove from heat and cool so you don't burn your tongue like I did. Top each serving with Parmesan cheese. It's a pretty thick soup, so you may need to add a little water when reheating leftovers. I also tried my hand at Hasselback potatoes with garlic and smoked paprika; they didn't taste particularly special, but they looked cool.

Pesto Mac

2010-02-16T18:19:00.001-08:00

I got the idea to make this "Fancy Mac and Cheese" over a month ago, but have not found the time to make it since then. But alas, I was in the mood to cook dinner tonight, and this was really one of only a few things I had the food to make. This was also my first time making bechamel/cheese sauce, and I must say (even though, I'm not sure I did it right) it wasn't nearly as scary as I thought it would be, thanks to the basic recipe I followed. I had also bought a very interesting cheese called Mediterranean Jack, it had olives, basil, garlic, and sun-dried tomatoes in it; this very flavorful cheese combined with a little of my homemade pesto was a great cheesy combination.

Ingredients
1.5-2 TBSP Butter
1.5-2 TBSP Flour
1.5-2 Cups Milk (I did a combo of Skim Milk and Half and Half, it's what I had)
S+P
~2 TBSP Homemade Pesto
Cheese: Mediterranean Jack and Shredded Pizza Blend
Cooked, chopped Spinach
2/3 lb cooked pasta (I used Mezze Penne)
Breadcrumbs and grated Parmesan
Optional: Sundried Tomato Garnish

Directions
Melt butter in a small saucepan, add flour and whisk together and cook for 1-2 minutes. Add Milk and S+P and cook over medium heat for 10-15 minutes until sauce bubbles and thickens at least a little (mine didn't thicken very much). Stir in the pesto then add cheese gradually and whisk in to melt, add as much cheese as you want until it looks and tastes like you want it to. Mix in the spinach then mix in with pasta. I felt like I had more sauce than pasta so I added sauce to pasta in smallish increments; if you feel you have more pasta than sauce add pasta to sauce bit by bit. This is all very subjective, your food should look and taste like YOU want it to. Put sauced pasta into a baking dish and top with breadcrumbs and parmesan (and a little melted butter if you want to go even more decadent), bake for 10-20 min at 350 degrees F until lightly browned.

Also, I made this for dinner last night, just without the arugula. It was amazing and I can't wait to make it again. Here is my less pretty picture.

Tuna Croquettes

2010-01-26T16:11:00.001-08:00

Tuna Croquettes are my go-to recipe. Seriously, when we had just moved into our apartment, I made them with crushed up saltines and seasoned them with Salt and Pepper only. That particular version was not great, but when you add the onion and herbs, they are awesome! So when I was asked to participate in a recipe exchange a few months back this is what I immediately sent to my designated recipient off the top of my head. When we had this for dinner last week I also made "Authentic Greek Salad" modeled after a salad served at a diner near my grandparents' house in Valley Stream, Long Island. I also love that salad, but overall it is very similar to the Greek Salad with Tuna I previously blogged about. The basic recipe is: Romaine, Scallions, Dill, Feta, YUM!

Below is my recipe exchange e-mail, it is that simple.

Hey Rachel,

Here's my recipe for Tuna Croquettes, I don't have exact measurements and there is a lot of room for substitution. You can also adjust the amount you make pretty easily as long as the final mixture forms patties, I usually do one can of tuna per person if this is the main part of my meal.

3 cans tuna (I've even done it with leftover cooked fish like haddock)
2 eggs
~1/2 cup (more or less) of breadcrumb-like substance (this could be panko bread crumbs, regular bread crumbs, matzo meal [I think this was originally a Passover recipe] or even smashed up potato chips)
1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley (or dill or anything)
1 small onion, diced
salt and pepper
oil for frying

mix everything but the oil together until it can form patties. 3 cans of tuna usually makes 6-7 croquettes. fry the patties in the oil for a few minutes on each side (until brown and a little crispy). I usually drain them on paper towels before serving.

Enjoy!
Jenna

Mexican Hot Chocolate Meringues

2010-01-22T19:16:00.000-08:00

Ruby and I were invited to our friends' apartment for Shabbat lunch. Proper etiquette in this situation is to offer to bring something. But me being my big-headed "culinarily-skilled" self, I responded with: "What can we bring? I cook, so if you want me to actually make or bake something, I'd be glad to." I was then asked to bake something, and it had to be Parve, because we would be having meat at lunch. This presented a challenge. Observant Jews are cursed with a whole variety of nasty desserts made with non-dairy substitutes. I was not going to make one of these, I was having a classy food week (Jeff and I made Orange-Rosemary Shortbread on our day off and I made Roasted Greens Pa nzanella for dinner one night); plus, there is no reason for it when the lovely dairy-free option of meringues exists. I decided on meringues and then as I was falling asleep the night before I was due to make them, the idea of flavoring them in the spirit of Mexican Hot Chocolate dawned on me, and in my deliriously tired state I thought it was quite genius; I still think it's a pretty good idea. After 2 failed attempts yielding sticky meringues, I sought baking counseling and put in a last ditch effort. I am SO happy I tried it again because they came out melt-in-your-mouth perfectly.

Ingredients

2 egg whites
pinch of salt
half a capfull white or cider vinegar
3-4 dashes hot sauce
3/4 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 cup superfine sugar
1/4 cup cocoa powder, sifted
1/2 tsp cinnamon
demerara/turbinado sugar "in the raw"

Directions

Preheat oven to ~250 degrees F.

Beat egg whites on low speed (most recipes say it's best when they are at room temperature) until just before they form soft peaks. Add salt, vinegar (or cream of tartar), hot sauce and vanilla, then continue to beat until soft peaks form. Add sugar in at least 2 increments so that it has time to dissolve. Turn up mixer speed and beat until mixture is glossy and forming stiff peaks. Add in cocoa powder and cinnamon and beat on high for one minute. Any movement made in the batter at this point should leave a track.

Transfer mixture into a pastry bag or a ziploc bag with a cut corner. Pipe small meringue dots onto a lined baking sheet. I used a reusable baking sheet liner, I have no idea what it is or what it's made of (it's definitely not parchment or silicone), but I credit it and my friend Jeff with the success of the third try on this recipe.

Sprinkle each dot with some sugar in the raw. And place the sheet in the oven for 2 hours. After 2 hours turn the oven off and let the meringues continue to cool and dry in the oven with the door closed for at least another hour.

Because I took a picture of it, this is what my Panzanella looked like. I followed Giada's recipe for the most part, but we know I'm not a fan of exact measurements. I hit it with some grated Parmesan and served it with "fried" eggs which was the perfect companion.

Teriyaki Noodles

2010-01-11T18:40:00.000-08:00

So I know it's been a while since I last blogged, but I got inspired by the stuff in my fridge. I bought these precooked noodles last week, and I wasn't quite sure what I'd do with them, even in the end I don't think I used them properly. This dish tasted delicious, but I think the execution would have been easier had my noodles not been all stuck together.

Ingredients

1 bunch asparagus, sliced into 1" pieces on the bias
1 container sliced cremini (baby bella) mushrooms
1 large scallion, thinly sliced
1 package thin precooked asian noodles
1-2 TBSP roasted sesame seeds
2 eggs, beaten

I created a sauce and called it Teriyaki

1/2 cup lite soy sauce
1/4 cup vegetable oil
1-2 tsp toasted sesame oil
1 TBSP honey
1/2 tsp ginger, chopped or grated
2 TBSP sugar
5-6 cloves fresh garlic, minced or grated

Directions

Mix together all sauce ingredients in a bowl. Then pour into a skillet and heat until the sauce bubbles, then let it keep bubbling for a little under a minute. The bubbling is the sugar melting and thickening the sauce and the oil frying the other ingredients bringing out their flavors. Add the white part of the scallion, the mushrooms, and the asparagus and mix to coat the veggies in the sauce. Cover with a pan lid or some foil, or a contraption consisting of both. While the veggies are cooking down (stir them occasionally), prepare the noodles according to the package directions. The poorly translated directions on my package said to add cold water and fry to desired crispness, I sort of fudged it in some semblance of that. Once the veggies cook down and the sauce gets more watery from the moisture in the vegetables being trapped under the cover, remove the cover and add the green part of the scallion. After some of the liquid cooks off, add some (or all if your pan is big enough) of the noodles and mix everything together. Add in the beaten eggs and mix until eggs are cooked, as the eggs cook they will coat the noodles and veggies, you don't want chunks of scrambled eggs. Add sesame seeds and toss with the rest of the pasta. Top each serving with more sesame seeds.

Greek Salad with Tuna

2010-01-11T18:34:00.000-08:00

After a long day (about a month ago) of shopping for me and work for Ruby we wanted a light dinner (with some protein, of course). So a salad it was. The dressing turned out really well, because the capers and onions are chopped together before being whisked into the dressing with the other ingredients, it's important to spoon it on.

Greek Tuna Salad
Green Leaf Lettuce
English Cucumber
Feta Cheese
Tuna (1 can per 2 servings)

Dressing
1/4 red onion, chopped finely
capers
dill from a tube
mustard
red wine vinegar
olive oil
S+P

Fish Tacos with Chipotle Mayo and Rice and Beans

2009-12-03T19:11:00.000-08:00

I made these fish tacos once over the summer when I was cooking for my family most nights with the condition that my Mom did the dishes, they were a hit with my family so I figured I'd try it again. I mostly used the recipe found here http://allrecipes.com/recipe/fish-tacos-with-honey-cumin-cilantro-slaw-and-chipotle-mayo/detail.aspx with a few adjustments. The only really notable adjustment is a revamp of the chipotle mayo and the addition of avocado slices to the taco. I also just realized from reading the title of the recipe I used that it may have been confused as to which sauce to mix with the slaw; I used the Chipotle Mayo, but I may try the Cumin Honey Lime sauce next time. We served the tacos with Saffron Rice (it came in a packet and we prepared it in the microwave) and Black Beans. Ruby made the black beans with some coaching, and I think they came out well, especially considering it was both of our first time making beans.

Chipotle Mayo
2 chipotles in adobo sauce (can substitute chipotle powder)
1/2 an avocado
zest and juice of 1 lime
a few dashes Frank's Red Hot
1/4 cup mayonnaise
3/4 cup sour cream

Put all ingredients in a blender or food processor and blend until smooth. It came out pretty spicy, a little much for my minimal to zero spice tolerance, but Ruby really really liked it.

Black Beans
olive oil
1 can black beans, slightly drained
1/2 an onion, chopped
1 clove garlic, minced
1/4 tsp cumin
1/4 tsp garlic powder
1/4 tsp onion powder
1/2 cup water

Saute onions and garlic in oil until soft and lightly colored. Add in the rest of the ingredients (spice measurements are approximated). Stir and bring to a boil, then simmer for about 10 minutes or until they reach a consistency a little on the wet side of familiar.

Hi, I'm Jenna

2009-12-02T18:56:00.000-08:00

I just wanted to introduce myself a little and explain how Becca's blog became Becca and Jenna's blog. Becca is my sorority big sister, and food is one of the many things we bond over, so we're sharing this blog and taking it bi-coastal. I'm living and working in Cambridge, MA. I cook for myself and my roommate, Ruby. Ruby has one specialty (sweet noodles with cottage cheese) but otherwise doesn't cook much. I am slowly teaching her things, but I like our arrangement because she does the dishes. The other interesting detail of my culinary situation, is that I cook and eat kosher. This won't be that different from any other food blog, there just won't be any pork or shellfish recipes, and recipes with meat or poultry won't also contain milk or dairy products and vice versa. If anyone actually cares I can give a Kosher lesson or FAQ later, but it's really nbd. I asked Becca to be a contributor to potentially motivate myself to cook better and more often, so let's hope that works out. This first week is going pretty well, but I don't think I'll keep posting daily. I'll work on cutting back my entries so that they are reasonable and readable. Also, I know Becca cooked a lot for Thanksgiving, and I am calling her out, you better post those up soon!

Pasta with Chunky Tuna Tomato Sauce and Green Leaf Salad

2009-12-02T17:50:00.000-08:00

Tonight's Dinner was also the product of the empty refrigerator and my quest for protein. I ended up going food shopping on my way home because we needed capers for the sauce, and I'm glad I got them. It was at the grocery store that I found the green leaf lettuce, which I recently realized I really like because it's lettuce, but it actually tastes like lettuce. The Lemon Vinaigrette was due to the fact that I was using zest in the sauce and needed to do something with the juice. You can leave a zest-less lemon in the fridge, but it gets pretty unhappy pretty quickly. I added dill to Becca's vinaigrette recipe, because I'm a sucker for dill, no, I really just overuse it. I was a big fan of the Tomato Sauce and I'm looking forward to having the leftovers for lunch. Ruby, who is working on her food critique skills for your reading pleasure, says: Everything was delicious, the flavors blended really well.

Chunky Tuna Tomato Sauce

Olive Oil- a few turns of the pan
a pinch Dried Rosemary
3/4 cup chopped carrots
1/2 medium onion, chopped
2 cloves fresh garlic, minced
1 heaping TBSP capers, drained, rinsed and roughly chopped
zest of one lemon
1 can tuna
1/2 jar marinara sauce
parmesan for "garnish"
cooked pasta, I used rotini

In a small saucepan heat the oil and rosemary (rub it in your palm to bring out the flavor). Add the carrots, onion, and garlic and saute until soft. I actually added some water put the lid on the pan so the veggies would soften without burning. You can let the veggies brown a little bit once soft. Then add the sauce, the lemon zest, the capers and the tuna. Stir and simmer for 5-10 minutes for flavors to meld. Mix with cooked pasta and sprinkle generously with grated parmesan. I forgot to do this but adding some reserved pasta water would probably make the sauce stick and mix a little better.

Green Leaf Salad
Green Leaf Lettuce
Dried Cranberries
Dried Apricots, chopped
Becca's Lemon Vinaigrette + Dill

The dried fruit was really good with the lemon vinaigrette, I think it might even be good if you have the time to soak the fruit in the vinaigrette before putting it over the lettuce.

Egg Sandwiches and Roasted Carrots

2009-12-01T18:04:00.000-08:00

I'm Jenna, I'll introduce myself properly soon. I'm not yet as blog-savvy as Becca, but here is my first post:

So after the leftovers bonanza that cleaned out our fridge pre-thanksgiving break, I was left with very little to work with for tonight's dinner and very little motivation to actually drag my butt to the grocery store. So at work I got to thinking about what to make (something I do most days). I knew I had some homemade pesto in the freezer, but also wanted to include some form of protein because we don't get much. I landed on egg sandwiches which I would model on one I had at Toscanini's the one time I went there for brunch (with Becca), a fried egg sandwich with spinach pesto, caramelized onions, and feta. After spending a few hours searching for a place to buy some good (hopefully sourdough, yum) sandwich bread on my very short commute home, I gave up and opted on using the pita in my fridge. The rest just came to me as I was cooking, and probably a little as I remembered the Tosci's sandwich. The carrots were also the only vegetable in my fridge, and my roommate really likes cooked carrots, and I like to hook her up with things she likes to eat where I can.

Also, sorry for the lame picture, I asked Becca to let me contribute after we finished eating, so all I have to show is the leftover carrots. I promise to take better pictures in the future, because nobody likes a cookbook without pictures.

Ingredients
4 eggs
milk
2 pitas
1 large shallot, thinly sliced
balsamic vinegar
pesto ("recipe" below)
cooking spray
butter
cheese (I used the little bit of monterey jack I had)
S+P

Directions
Cut pitas in half and place on baking sheet. Spray with cooking spray and sprinkle with S+P. It's important to cut it before toasting, because trying to slice toasted pita just results in a lot of unnecessary crumbling. Toast in oven at 400 degrees for 5-10 minutes, just keep an eye on it as you cook everything else.
Spray a skillet or saute pan with some cooking spray and then melt some butter in the pan too (I like cooking with butter and oil together, after I saw Julie and Julia I realized how deeply devoid of butter my life and cooking were). Add the shallot slices and saute for about 2 minutes, I then added some balsamic to help along the caramelization, I added a generous splash, which I thought was too much but it turned out fine. Continue to saute for 2-3 minutes or until they look soft and caramel and yummy.
In the meantime I had taken the pita out of the oven and sprinkled one half of each sandwich with some shredded jack, there was not much left in the bag so the retained heat of the bread and the shallots which I put directly on top of the cheese was enough to melt it, plus I forgot to put the cheese on before toasting the bread. I defrosted the pesto and spread it on the other half of each sandwich.
(My roommate and) I have a strong preference for scrambled eggs, so I haven't spent much time perfecting my other egg preparation method techniques. Beat the 4 eggs with a splash of milk and some S+P, then scramble in a pan sprayed and heated with both cooking spray and butter. I like my eggs light and fluffy so I let them sit in the pan for a minute before stirring then I start bringing in the edges as the cook and then keep it moving till everything looks cooked. Then I take it out of the pan as quickly as possible to prevent well done eggs. I put half of the eggs on top of the shallots in each sandwich, sprinkled them with some more S+P (I like it in and on my eggs) and closed the sandwiches with the pesto'ed top.

A little drippy (potentially from the milk in the eggs or the loose pesto) but pretty delicious. And my always very kind and complimentary roommate, Ruby, says they were very good.

Roasted Carrots
Ingredients
half a bag of baby carrots, halved lengthwise
3 scallions, halved lengthwise then chopped
olive oil
sugar
S+P
juice of one lemon
chopped parsley

Directions
Place halved carrots and chopped scallions in a pan and drizzle with olive oil and sprinkle with S+P and a little bit of sugar. Roast at 400 degrees for about 20 minutes.
When the carrots look nicely roasted squeeze lemon juice and sprinkle chopped parsley over them and toss.

Next time I think I would go with the roasty scallion flavor (as the scallions cook and "brown" a lot faster than the carrots) OR the fresh lemon parsley flavor, but they were still yummy.
Ruby says: I really liked the carrots.

Pesto
basil
garlic cloves
toasted walnuts
parmesan cheese
extra virgin olive oil
S+P

As you will probably learn (and despise me for), I'm like a grandma from the old country when it comes to measurements, I don't record them or pay attention to them, ever. I have no excuse, my grandmothers are both American, but I will try to work on including measurements.

Pulse to rough chop basil leaves in a food processor (mine is mini), add garlic and chop fine, add nuts and drizzle in olive oil if you can. I can't because the holes on my processor lid are too small, so I just pour it in in increments until the sauce comes together. I add the cheese last because I saw someone do it that way once but it doesn't matter. Honestly, I'm sure you could just throw everything in at once and blend it up.

Stir Fry Chard with Egg Noodles and Beech Mushrooms

2009-11-25T11:34:00.000-08:00

I went to the supermarket yesterday praying for inspiration, since I had no idea what I wanted to make for dinner. Something hearty, to combat the chill that is starting to creep in. Something vegetarian. Something I could stir fry with the fresh ramen egg noodles I'd bought a couple weeks ago.

So, I started out in the produce aisle (as I always do), and wound up staring at some beautiful red chard. I've never actually cooked with chard before, but I love bok choi and spinach, both also leafy greens prepared in a similar manner. I bought a bunch of red chard, and a bunch of kale for the sake of variety. Chard has a very nice flavor for autumn, but I still wanted some more meaty flavors, so on to mushrooms. The market sells these adorable beech mushrooms that I had not yet had a reason to try, so into the basket they went, 1 package of white beech mushrooms, and 1 of brown. Seriously, they are beyond cute.

From spending days at a time watching the food network, I know most people discard the chard stems. Screw that! Why waste the most colorful part? Plus I was loathe to get rid of all that substance (remember, we're aiming for "hearty"). So I googled about chard stems and found corroboration on the internet that you can use the stems as long as you saute them longer than the leafy parts. Go internet.

From there I had a good idea of what I wanted to do. Without further rambling, here's the recipe:

Ingredients:
1 bunch Red chard
1 bunch Kale
1 package each Brown and White Beech Mushrooms
1/2 large yellow onion
4-5 cloves garlic
Soy sauce
Mustard (grey poupon)
Nutmeg, freshly grated
Paprika
1 package (4-5 servings) Fresh ramen (egg) noodles
Sour cream

Directions:
Wash Chard and Kale, pat dry. Remove stems from leaves of Chard and Kale by pulling on the stem while gripping the base of the leaf. (It's easier than it sounds, and fairly intuitive.) Set the leaves aside and chop the stems. Chop the half-onion. Heat 1-2 Tbsp olive oil in a wok or large skillet, add chopped onion and stems. Mince garlic, add. Season with 1ish teaspoon salt. Saute until onion and stems are just about tender, 5-10 minutes, but before onions start to brown. While these vegetables are sauteing, remove the ends of the beech mushrooms, and add once the vegetables are tender. Roughly chop the chard leaves, and add. Season with a few teaspoons of soy sauce, 1 teaspoon of mustard diluted in 1-2 Tbsp water, nutmeg and paprika to taste. Continue over med-high heat until the leaves have wilted. Add the noodles and cook until heated through and plumped (add water if necessary), another 5-10 minutes.

Serve hot with a dollop of sour cream on top.

Thoughts
I know at first blush this may seem like a really weird dish. I'm not going to argue, but I think it came out really well, and is a fun fusion dish that met the "hearty" bill. If you're especially skeptical about the sour cream, take note: chard is directly related to beets. Borscht, aka beet soup, is usually served with a dollop of sour cream. So really, it's kind of like eating stir fry borscht.

Coucous Salad

2009-11-14T18:13:00.000-08:00

This post is a salute to Rachel, who claims Coucous Salad as her signature dish. No arguments here, I'm grateful for the introduction. Besides being fast and easy to make, you can add just about anything you can think of.

I made this particular version with the things I had in the fridge at the time.
Ingredients
Artichoke hearts, marinated
Tomatoes
Onions (in this case yellow, but red is awesome too)
Chick peas
Mint
Cilantro
Coucous
Lemon juice
Olive oil

Directions
Prepare coucous according to the package. I recommend salting the water in order to bump up the flavor of the couscous itself, or even using chicken or vegetable stock, but this is certainly up to personal preference.
Chop all of the vegetables and herbs. Once the coucous is done, fluff it and add the other ingredients. Dress with lemon juice and olive oil, and salt and pepper to taster.
Done!

Variations
Other ingredients that work really well in this dish include, but are not limited to:
Kalamata olives
Cucumber
Parsley
etc.
Really I could go on for days coming up with new things to try. Right now I really want to try it with cubed chicken breast, peas and carrots for a Chicken Soup inspired salad.

I'd love to hear your suggestions!

Scrambled Egg Sandwich and Arugula Salad

2009-11-11T12:23:00.000-08:00

I bought these adorable single-serving baguettes at Costco the other day, and was trying to come up with exciting ways to use them. Then I broke a couple eggs while prepping to make deviled eggs, and eureka: Scrambled Egg Sandwiches! Who could argue?

I'm also a little obsessed with arugula, and since I had to make a trip to Bi Rite to pick up some ingredients for Rachel, I decided to get some. Arugula! If you've never had it, try it asap. It's a slightly bitter, slightly spicy leafy green that will change the way you think about salad. It pairs fantastically with all kinds of fruits and is best with a vinaigrette, in this case lemon.

Bonus: both of these dishes are so easy to make, you'll feel like you're cheating.

Scrambled Egg Sandwiches
2 Mini-baguettes
4 Eggs
1 Tbsp Milk
Cheddar Cheese, sliced
Parmesan Cheese (optional), grated
2 tsp Chives, chopped

Directions:
Slice the baguettes and put into the oven to toast (~400° F) for 5-10 mins, while you cook the eggs. I almost ALWAYS burn things when I try to toast them in the oven, so just make sure you don't forget they're there.
Heat 1 Tbsp butter in a skillet. Scramble the eggs with the milk, pour into skillet when it's hot. As the eggs begin to set, sprinkle in the chives, and add salt and freshly ground pepper as you see fit. If you're not feeding a vegetarian, add a bit of parmesan cheese (a couple tablespoons I guess, I've never measured). If you are adding parmesan, I'd avoid salting the eggs as well.
Let the eggs cook. Growing up I always thought you had to keep the eggs moving the whole time, but this is not true. You can leave them for 30 secs to a minute or more before turning. Just don't let them burn.
As soon as you pull your toasted bread out of the oven, lay out a slice or two of cheddar on the bottom slice of bread. Once the eggs are cooked, pile them on top of the cheese, and then top with the other piece of bread. And you're done! It's so easy.

Arugula Salad with Pecans and Dried Cranberries
Aruguala
Pecans
Dried Cranberries

Directions:
I toasted my pecans for this salad, but it's not a requirement. Easy enough to do, just pour out some pecans into a skillet over medium-high heat and heat the pecans until they look/smell toasty - 5ish minutes. Stir occasionally to prevent burning.
Spread out some arugula on a serving dish (depending on how many people you're serving, eyeball how much you think it will take to feed everyone). Pour the toasted pecans over the arugula, and add some dried cranberries as well.

Lemon Vinaigrette
Olive Oil
Lemon Juice
Pepper
Salt

In a jar with a lid, add equal parts olive oil and lemon juice. Grind in some pepper, and a little salt. Shake to combine.

Thai Green Curry with Tofu and Eggplant

2009-11-07T20:55:00.000-08:00

I love Thai curry (and indian curry. and japanese curry.... well, I've yet to meet a curry I don't like). Recently, I set out to learn how to make Thai curry. Turns out it's not all that hard - I'd say it's about as complicated as making a stew. This was the second attempt, the first having been successful enough to repeat.

I picked up some Mae Ploy green curry paste at the local market, which I erroneously thought would be vegetarian. Turns out it contains shrimp paste! Who knew? (Sorry Niv!) I also got Thai eggplant, which is an adorably tiny, round, (sometimes) green variety of eggplant that is a bit seedier than the large, purple, bulbous version I've grown up knowing. Trying out new types of eggplant was fun, so for this second attempt, I also picked up Chinese eggplant, which is more cylindrical than bulbous, and significantly softer than the Thai eggplant. Before I ramble too much longer, here is the list full list of ingredients*:
For the curry base:
3-4 Tbsp Green curry paste
1 can Coconut milk + same can's worth of water
1 can Vegetable broth
1 Tbsp Tomato paste
1 Tbsp Butter
Vegetables:
1 large yellow Onion, chopped
1ish lb Thai eggplant, cut into approximately equal sized chunks
2 medium Chinese eggplants, as above
2 cans Straw Mushrooms, drained
1 can Bamboo Shoots, drained
2 Red Bell Peppers, sliced
Also:
1 box Firm Tofu, pressed** and cut into .5x1x2 in rectangular prisms

Directions
Combine the ingredients for the base in a saucepan over medium heat. The butter and tomato paste are to augment the flavor and hopefully deepen it a little. I think it was successful, but next time I'll probably try something different.
Saute the onions in about 1 Tbsp of olive oil in a wok (or large skillet) until tender, ~4-5 mins. Add them to the curry base. In the same wok, heat the eggplant until it becomes fragrant, ~4-5 mins. Pour the curry base with onions into the skillet over the eggplant. Add the mushrooms and bamboo shoots.
In a smaller saute pan, pan fry the tofu in about 2 Tbsp olive oil until lightly golden on both sides. Add to the curry. Finally, add the bell peppers.
Let simmer for at least 5 minutes, longer is better, to let the flavors meld and the eggplant to continue to soften.

As you can see, this makes a LOT of curry. Woo! leftovers.

Oh, and I guess I should mention - serve with rice.

*All measurements are EXTREMELY rough. If you're replicating this, assume everything is "to taste."

**Pressing tofu is done to remove the excess water, and really helps in the cooking process. My method comes from the Cafe Flora cookbook. Basically put the tofu blocks on a plate, cover with saran wrap, stack another plate loaded with a few cans to add weight. Leave for about an hour (don't be surprised if the stack falls at some point, it can be precarious). When you come back, the water from the tofu will have been released. YAY

Pecan Shortbread Thumbprint Cookies with Chocolate Drizzle

2009-11-07T20:02:00.000-08:00

This week I finally caved to my shortbread craving and made some delicious cookies! I decided to incorporate the pecans from Costco and super awesome baker's chocolate from Bi Rite Market we have in our pantry. The dough comes from an episode of Barefoot Contessa in which Ina made these shortbread finger cookies. This is her recipe for the dough, with the slight revision of using salted butter* instead of unsalted, and so leaving out the salt that was called for:

Ingredients
3/4 pound salted butter, at room temperature
1 cup sugar
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
3 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

Directions
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
Mix together the butter and sugar until they are just combined. Add the vanilla. Add flour. Mix until the dough starts to come together. Dump onto a surface dusted with flour and shape into a flat disk. Wrap in plastic and chill for 30 minutes.

I ended up refrigerating the dough overnight (in order to go drinking!), and so the next day the dough was a bit harder to work than I would have liked. I rolled it into 1 inch balls and pressed them down into 1/2 inch thick disks with a pecan half in the center of each. Due to the temperature of the dough, the outsides of the balls warmed much more quickly than the insides, and led to some (very minor) issues during baking. If/when I do this again, I will roll and press the balls before refrigeration, then refrigerate at least 30 mins before baking.

I baked the cookies at 350° for (I think) 12 minutes. (Sorry for the inexact time, I pulled them out when they smelled done and forgot to note the timer). Then cooled them for what ended up being about 4 hours - I got distracted. Probably the minimum cooling time would be 30 mins.

After cooling, I melted a few ounces of baker's chocolate in the oven and drizzled it over the cooled cookies.

Final result? "F**king amazing!" (A direct quote from Sondra, my good friend and taste tester).

*I am actually anti-salted butter, but this is what we have in the house. Until we've used up the Costo quantity that we bought (in error) months ago, this is what we have to work with.