I've decided to change the name of the blog. The new title reflects what I've always wanted  the culinary viewpoint of my blog to be. The recipes here can be cooked by anyone in any kitchen without much in the way of high-tech gadgetry. It also reflects my love of Disney in general and Pixar in particular. Anyone Can Cook! is the name of the best-selling cookbook written by 5-star chef Auguste Gusteau in Ratatouille.

In a similar vein, there is a new show starting on the Food Network called Secrets of a Restaurant Chef (Sunday mornings at 9:30AM). This show is about how you can cook restaurant quality food at home. I can't wait to see it and incorporate some of the ideas into my recipes and share them here.

If there is anything you would like me to post or if you have a recipe you would like to share, let me know.

This recipe is based on a recipe I found on the Food Network web site (one of my favorite places to look for recipes) and adapted for my stand mixer. It was my other first place at the San Diego County Fair (formerly the Del Mar Fair). Because of the almonds the taste reminds me of biscotti.

I used fresh blueberries but it will work well with frozen blueberries if you thaw and drain them. I use a #40 (1½ tablespoon) disher (it looks like a small ice cream scoop). That way the cookies are uniform.

Ingredients

2 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
½ teaspoon salt
½ cup unsalted butter
1 cup sugar
1 egg yolk
1/3 cup milk
1 teaspoon almond extract
2 teaspoons lemon zest
½ cup chopped almonds, toasted
1 cup blueberries

Recipe

1. In a medium bowl, combine flour, baking powder, and salt.
2. In the bowl of a stand mixer using the beater blade, cream together the butter and sugar. Add egg yolk and beat until incorporated. Add milk, almond extract, lemon zest and continue beating until incorporated.
3. With the mixer on low speed slowly add the flour mixture into the wet ingredients.
4. Fold in the almonds first, then fold in the blueberries.
5. Chill the dough in the refrigerator for 30 minutes.
6. While dough is chilling preheat the oven to 375°.
7. Drop heaping tablespoons of the mix onto cookie sheets. Bake until golden brown around the edges, about 15 minutes.
8. Cool the cookies on a wire rack.

This recipe is based on a recipe in Martha Stewarts Baking Handbook. I entered it in the San Diego County Fair (formerly the Del Mar Fair) and it was awarded a first place ribbon and Best in the Adult Bread Division.

If you are new to bread baking, this is as close to foolproof as you can get for a yeast bread recipe. Don’t worry if the bread ends up huge. You can always cut it into slices, put the slices on a cookie sheet, freeze them, put them in zip top bags (or vacuum pack them if you have a vacuum sealer) and return them to the freezer. When you want a slice, take it out and toast it until warm, brown and delicious.

Finally, it’s called rustic because that’s a bread baker’s code word for hand formed rather than baked in a pan.

Ingredients

2 C. water (110° - 120°)
24 oz. bread flour
1 package instant yeast
¾ C. extra-virgin olive oil
1 tbsp. kosher salt
8 oz. kalamata olives, pitted
Cooking spray
Cornmeal

Recipe

1. In the bowl of a stand mixer stir the water, flour, yeast and olive oil until combined. Cover and let rest for 10 minutes.
2. Attach the bowl to the mixer fitted with the dough hook. Add the salt and olives. Mix on low speed until combined. Raise the speed to medium and mix until the dough pulls away from the side of the bowl but is still sticky (approximately three minutes).
3. Turn the dough onto a lightly floured work surface. Knead for 1 minute and transfer to a bowl that has been lightly sprayed with cooking spray. Cover with plastic wrap that has been lightly sprayed with cooking spray. Let rise in a warm place until doubled (approximately 1 hour).
4. Return dough to a lightly floured work surface. Fold the bottom third of the dough up, the top third down, and the right and left thirds over. Brush any excess flour off and press down to seal after each fold. Turn the dough over and cover with lightly sprayed plastic wrap. Let rest 15 minutes.
5. Transfer the dough to a lightly floured work surface. To form the round loaf, flatten the dough again with your knuckles and then fold the dough in onto itself, like you are shaping something that looks like a jellyfish. Turn the dough over and squeeze the bottom together so that the top surface of the dough is smooth. Place the dough back onto the counter and begin to roll gently between your hands in a circular motion. Continue until the dough forms a tight smooth ball.
6. Sprinkle cornmeal on the bottom of a sheet pan transfer the dough to the pan. Cover with the plastic wrap and let rest until slightly puffed (approximately 30 minutes).
7. Preheat oven to 450°.
8. With a razor or a very sharp knife make four slashes on the top of the bread to form a square. Bake the loaf until the crust is a dark golden brown (approximately 35 minutes). Cool bread on wire rack and cool completely before slicing.

For the first time they've published the Home and Hobby competition results online. It looks like my Rustic Olive Oil Bread not only received a blue ribbon, it also got Best in Division!

I haven’t been blogging lately but I have been cooking. Last Wednesday except for the time I was sleeping I baked for 24 hours in a row to make sure the eight items I entered in the San Diego County fair were fresh and ready.  I went to the fair today to participate in the Ghirardelli Chocolate Championship and found that I had been awarded 2 first place ribbons, a second place ribbon, two third place ribbons and two honorable mentions. Only one of my entries didn't receive any honors. In addition, I received a third place ribbon in the Ghirardelli Chocolate Championship.

All the winning fair recipes will be published in the fair cookbook next year. If you cannot wait, I will be adding them to the site over the next few weeks.

This recipe is courtesy of the Monthly Scavenger Hunt photography group on Flickr. Each month they put up a list of 20 items and each participant posts photos depicting their interpretation of each item. This month one of the items is English Muffins.

These English Muffins are brown on the outside and have the nooks and crannies that make them the perfect delivery vehicle for tuna fish (which I just happen to have, see Note 1).

I also need to thank Alton Brown for the recipe from The Muffin Man episode of Good Eats.

Note 1: You can use small tuna fish cans with the top and bottom removed for the forms. However, you need to be careful. The Starkist cans had bottoms that I could not remove. When I went to the market, I found most of the cans are now made like that. The best I could do was to buy the least expensive store brand which had bottoms that looked like they would be possible to remove (I still had to use a hand opener and some tin snips).

Note 1a: At 2 inches the English Muffins still were a bit small. I will be purchasing 3 inch forms for next time.

Note 2: To fill the forms I used three scoops from a #40 disher (a tiny ice cream scoop that will give you 40 scoops from a quart of ice cream). You can use a 1/3 cup measuring cup instead.

Ingredients

½ cup non-fat powdered milk
1 tablespoon + 1/8 teaspoon sugar
1 teaspoon salt (divided in half)
1 tablespoon shortening
1 cup hot water
1 envelope dry yeast
1/3 cup warm water
2 cups all-purpose flour, sifted
Non-stick vegetable spray

Recipe

1. Combine the powdered milk, 1 tablespoon sugar, 1/2 teaspoon salt, shortening, and hot water in a medium bowl. Stir until everything is dissolved (the shortening may not melt completely). Let cool.
2. In a small bowl combine the yeast and 1/8 teaspoon of sugar in 1/3 cup of warm water and rest until yeast has dissolved.
3. Stir the yeast mixture to the dry milk mixture. Add the sifted flour and beat thoroughly with wooden spoon until completely combined.
4. Cover the bowl and let it rest in a warm spot for 30 minutes.
5. Preheat a cast iron skillet on the stove between low and medium low.
6. Add the remaining 1/2 teaspoon salt to the mixture and mix thoroughly.
7. Place metal rings (see Note 1) onto the skillet and coat lightly with vegetable spray. Using a #40 disher put three scoops into each ring (see Note 2) and cover with the bottom of a metal pan with a weight[1] on it and cook for 6 minutes until bottom is golden brown.
8. Remove the pan and flip the rings over using a spatula. Cover with the pan and cook for another 6 minutes or until golden brown.
9. Place on a cooling rack, remove rings and cool.
10. Split with a fork, toast and serve.

I just bought a 12-inch pre-seasoned Lodge Logic cast iron skillet this week. Don’t be surprised to see recipes using this heavy hardware pop-up over the next few weeks.

I was watching Alton Brown’s yearly egg nog show and had forgotten that at the end he tells you that you can use the base to make egg nog ice cream (not too surprising since last year I didn’t have an ice cream maker). So I went out, bought the ingredients (it’s definitely not low fat) and proceeded to churn.

Since bourbon and nutmeg are the only flavorings used, the alcohol taste is quite pronounced. I would add some vanilla bean next time. I might also add a stream of caramel syrup during the last 5 minutes of churning to create a ribbon.

Makes 1 quart.

 

Ingredients

4 egg yolks
1/3 cup sugar
1 pint whole milk
1 cup heavy cream
1 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
3 ounces (85 grams) bourbon (I prefer Maker’s Mark)

Recipe

1. Beat together the egg yolks and sugar until the yolks lighten in color and the sugar is completely dissolved.
2. In a medium saucepan, over high heat, combine the milk, heavy cream and nutmeg and bring just to a boil, stirring occasionally.
3. Remove from the heat and gradually temper[1] the milk mixture into the egg yolk mixture. This should bring the entire mixture to 160°F (71°C) where any salmonella germs will be killed (if it isn’t quite there, return to the pot and cook until it reaches the proper temperature and remove from the heat).
4. Stir in the bourbon, pour into a medium bowl, cover and set in the refrigerator. Chill the mixture until it reaches a temperature of 40°F (4.5°C), approximately 4 to 6 hours or overnight.
5. Process in an ice cream maker according to the manufacturer's instructions. Serve as is for soft-serve, or place in an airtight container and put in the freezer for 2 to 4 hours for traditional ice cream.

This toffee is a great dessert to have with coffee (it’s very sweet by itself). If you have self-control, you can store it in an airtight container for up to a week. I wonder if it would be a good mix-in for the Egg Nog Ice Cream?

To clean the cooked toffee that is stuck to the saucepan just run it under very hot tap water to melt the sugar based mixture.

Makes About 2 cups.

Ingredients

1 cup sugar
½ cup butter, cut into small chunks
¼ cup water
1 tablespoon light corn syrup
½ cup chopped pecans
1 teaspoon vanilla
6 ounces bittersweet chocolate (either chips or chopped)

Recipe

1. Butter or spray non-stick cooking spray on a rimmed cookie pan.
2. In a medium saucepan over medium-low heat, stir sugar, butter, water and corn syrup until butter is melted and you no longer see sugar crystals. Increase heat to high and boil until mixture reaches 300° on a candy thermometer, 4 to 5 minutes.
3. Immediately remove from heat and carefully stir in pecans and vanilla. Quickly spread thinly in the prepared baking pan to about ¼ inch thick.
4. Distribute chocolate over the hot toffee spreading it evenly with an icing spatula as it melts.
5. Let cool until toffee is hard, about 20 minutes. Put in refrigerator until chocolate hardens about 10 minutes.
6. Flex pan to release toffee. Break toffee into bite-size chunks.

Winter may be approaching but that doesn’t mean you can’t make frozen treats. My friend Lisa who asked me to post this recipe doesn’t care what time of year it is. This would be an elegant ending for a New Years Eve dinner.

If you think that sorbet has to have ice crystals, this recipe will change your mind. It is rich and almost creamy (even though it has no dairy). I freeze it in individual glass ramekins with plastic lids. That way when we want it, we don’t need to scoop. Just take it out of the freezer, pop the lid off and dig in. I use a 2 quart Cuisinart Ice Cream Maker that I got at Costco for $50 this summer.

Makes 1 quart.

 

Ingredients

4 cups water
1 2/3 cup granulated sugar
1/3 cup brown sugar, packed
2 cups unsweetened cocoa powder
1 tablespoon pure vanilla extract

Recipe

1. Put water into a saucepan and stir in granulated and brown sugars. Cook over medium heat stirring until sugars dissolve.
2. Carefully whisk in the cocoa and bring the mixture to a simmer. Simmer for two minutes stirring constantly.
3. Remove from the heat and transfer to a bowl and stir in the vanilla.
4. When cool chill in the refrigerator until mixture reaches at least 40°F (4.5°C) 8 hours or overnight.
5. Stir the chilled mixture and pour it into an ice cream maker. Make sorbet according to the manufacturers directions.
6. Transfer to an airtight container and freeze for about two hours.

As I said, summer is definitely over and winter is getting ready. Can soup be far behind? This is a great recipe from Sunset Magazine for a hearty bean-based vegetable soup. I used chicken broth but if you are a vegetarian you can substitute vegetable broth. In any case, I recommend using reduced sodium broth rather than the regular broth and seasoning to taste. If you use regular broth, make sure you taste first as you will probably not need to salt the soup.

Makes 5 servings.

Ingredients

½ bunch Swiss or red chard
2 medium tomatoes, peeled, seeded, quartered and chopped
1 can (approx. 15 oz. or 425 grams) cannellini beans, rinsed and drained
½ cup water
1 tbsp. olive oil
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 carrot, peeled and cut into ¼ inch pieces
1 zucchini, quartered lengthwise and cut into ¼ inch pieces
½ tsp. salt
¼ cup dry white wine (I used sauvignon blanc)
1 can (approx. 15 oz. or 425 grams) chikpeas / garbanzo beans, rinsed and drained
2 cups chicken broth

Recipe

1. Cut chard leaves away from the stems. Finely chop the stems and chiffonade the leaves. Set both aside separately.
2. Puree half of the cannellini beans with water in a food processor.
3. Briefly cook olive oil and garlic over medium-high heat until fragrant but not browned (less than a minute).
4. Add carrots, zucchini, chard stems and salt. Cook while stirring for five minutes (until chard stems are tender).
5. Add white wine and cook another 2 minutes so the vegetables can absorb the flavor of the wine.
6. Add chard leaves, remaining cannellini beans, tomatoes, cannellini bean puree, chickpeas and broth. Bring to a boil and reduce heat to a simmer. Cook until vegetables are tender and the soup has some body (about 15 minutes).

Sorry for the hiatus, but I am back now. It’s not like I haven’t been cooking over the summer. We bought an ice cream maker and made Dark Chocolate Sorbet (you would swear it had fat in it), Dark Chocolate Ice Cream (you end up swearing at all the fat in it). With strawberry season in Southern California coming to an end I bought four pounds and made Strawberry Ice Cream, Strawberry Sorbet and Strawberry Syrup.

But summer is over now and fall cooking is starting. My wife and I occasionally go to a Moroccan restaurant called Marrakesh. They have a traditional Moroccan appetizer called Bastilla (pronounced buh-STEE-ya) that is wonderful. It has sugar, cinnamon, almonds, chicken, spices and it’s all wrapped up in phyllo. A few weeks ago I thought about it and wondered if I could make it at home. I searched Google for a recipe and found one by Chef Daniel Avurto of Mamounia. I’ve made this recipe twice now and each time it tasted exactly the same way it did at the Marrakesh.

This recipe is for one bastilla that serves about eight as an appetizer (so long as you can keep everyone from taking seconds). To make two, just boil the who chicken instead of half (no need to double the vegetables and spices in the pot with it). You can split up the labor and cook the chicken the day before if you like.

 

Ingredients

Chicken filling:
½ chicken
1 onion, chopped
½ teaspoon ginger
½ teaspoon turmeric
½ teaspoon black pepper
1 whole cinnamon stick
1 cup chopped cilantro
6 large eggs

Almond filling:
8 ounces (230 grams) slivered almonds (if using sliced almonds, crush them)
½ cup sugar
2 tablespoons cinnamon

Pastry crust:
1 box frozen phyllo pastry dough (in your supermarket freezer section)
¼ cup melted butter
Confectioners sugar

Recipe
Chicken filling:  

1. Put enough water in a large pot to cover the chicken.
2. Add the onion, ginger, turmeric, black pepper, cinnamon stick and cilantro.
3. Bring water to boiling over high heat, add chicken and cook for 30 minutes.
4. Take the chicken out of the stock and set aside to cool. Reserve 1/3 cup of the stock.
5. When cool remove skin, bone and cut the chicken into bite sized pieces.
6. Whisk the eggs with the reserved stock.
7. Heat a large non-stick skillet over medium heat. When hot, add the egg mixture and soft-scramble the eggs.
8. Combine the chicken pieces and egg mixture in a large bowl.

Almond filling:

1. Process sugar and cinnamon in a food processor until combined.
2. Put almonds in a bowl, add sugar mixture and mix together.

Pastry crust and final assembly:

1. Preheat oven to 350°.
2. Thaw phyllo dough according to package directions (but do not remove from storage bag). Note: Each piece of phyllo dough is paper thin and must be handled quickly and carefully so it doesn’t dry out until it is in place. If you need to leave the dough for more than a few moments, cover with a damp towel to ensure it doesn’t dry out.
3. Remove and unroll the thawed phyllo dough from the storage bad. If you need to leave the unrolled dough for more than a few moments, cover with a damp towel to ensure it doesn’t dry out.
4. Brush melted butter on the bottom and sides of a 9 inch (23 centimeter) oven-proof skillet.
5. Cover bottom and sides of skillet with phyllo dough making sure the dough covers and overlaps in the bottom of the pan and goes over and outside the side.
6. Carefully spread 1/3 cup of the almond filling over the dough in the skillet.
7. Spread the entire chicken mixture on top of the almond filling.
8. Top with the rest of the almond filling.
9. Fold the excess dough over the filing and add more phyllo dough as needed to ensure the top is completely covered. Tuck any excess dough into the inside side of the skillet so the filling is completely encased.
10. Bake Bastilla for 15 – 30 minutes or until lightly browned.
11. Place serving plate upside down on top of skillet and invert skillet.
12. Put confectioners sugar in a sieve and sift a layer of sugar to completely cover the bastilla.
13. Cut into pieces and serve immediately or for an authentic service break the bastilla open with your fingers and let everyone pull off pieces onto a plate and eat with your hands.

The Flourless Chocolate Cake with Chocolate Ganache Glaze! I won a second place award at the San Diego County Fair with it. Unfortunately, my Overnight Cinnamon Rolls didn't win anything. I also entered the Ghirardelli Chocolate Championship today with a Chocolate Pecan Pie (recipe and photos forthcoming) but didn't win that competition either (although it was fun as always). I did win the drawing for all those who didn't recieve an award and got a serving tray loaded with six different Ghirardelli chocolate baking bars,  four different bags of chocolate morsels, a canister of unsweetened chocolate powder and a canister of cocoa powder.

 Do you like chocolate? If you don’t like it, skip this recipe. This is as close to pure chocolate as any cake will ever get. Since there is neither flour nor leavening, the cake will be very dense and flat.

This is my other entry in the San Diego County Fair today. I mentioned that I was going to be back on Sunday for the Ghirardelli Chocolate Championship contest and got a high-five from one of the volunteers. It seems they don’t get too many men entering the cooking contests these days.

Ingredients
Cake:
7 ounces (200 grams) bittersweet chocolate
14 tablespoons unsalted butter
5 large eggs, separated
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
¾ cup sugar
Pinch of salt
2 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder

Glaze:
½ cup heavy cream
4 tablespoons cocoa
4 teaspoons oil
¼ cup + 4 teaspoons superfine sugar
1 -2 ounces (25 – 50 grams) hot coffee
Sliced almonds

Recipe
1) Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

2) Grease a 10 inch (25 centimeter) springform pan.

3) In a metal mixing bowl over a saucepan of simmering water, combine the chocolate and butter. Heat until melted and smooth.

4) Transfer to a medium-size bowl and whisk in the egg yolks and vanilla. Sift in the sugar, salt, and cocoa while continuing to whisk.

5) Whip the egg whites to soft peaks.

6) Gently fold one third of them into the chocolate mixture until no streaks of white remain. Repeat with the remaining white.

7) Pour the mixture into the prepared springform pan. Place on the lower rack of the oven and bake for 25 minutes.

8) Remove to a cake rack and immediately loosen the springform collar. Slip a plate inside the collar on top of the cake and push down slightly to push the air from the cake. Remove the plate and springform collar, and allow the cake to cool completely.

9) Mix cream, cocoa, oil and sugar in a small saucepan. Cook over low heat, stirring constantly until chocolate melts and mixture just comes to a boil. Remove from heat and cool until lukewarm. Mixture should fall in an even stream from a spoon. Add a little hot coffee if mixture is too thick or separates.

10) Transfer cake to a rack over a cookie pan to catch excess glaze. Pour chocolate glaze on top center of cake. Spread with a long spatula until finish is satiny and glaze runs down the side. Use spatula and more glaze to make sure side of cake is evenly coated.

11) Take sliced almonds and decorate the top edge of the cake by placing them gently on the glaze

12) Chill cake until glaze is set.

I love the smell of yeast in the morning! Actually, I love the smell of fresh yeast bread any time. You need to plan these cinnamon rolls in advance and let them mellow in the refrigerator overnight. But as Alton Brown says, “Your patience will be rewarded!” This is another Good Eats recipe from the show House of the Rising Bun.

I am entering this in the San Diego County Fair today and will find out the results when I go to the fair on Sunday to enter my Chocolate Pecan Pie in the Ghirardelli Chocolate Championship contest.

Ingredients

Dough:
4 large egg yolks, room temperature
1 large whole egg, room temperature
2 ounces (55 grams) sugar,
3 ounces (85 grams) unsalted butter, melted
6 ounces (170 grams) buttermilk
20 ounces (565 grams) all-purpose flour
1 package Rapid Rise yeast (do not use regular yeast)
1 1/4 teaspoons kosher salt
Cooking spray

Filling:
8 ounces (225 grams) light brown sugar
1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
Pinch salt
¾ ounce (20 grams) unsalted butter, melted

Icing:
2 ½ ounces (70 grams) cream cheese, softened
3 tablespoons milk
5 ½ ounces (140 grams) powdered sugar

Recipe

1) In a food processor with a whisk attachment whisk the egg yolks, whole egg, sugar, butter, and buttermilk.

2) Add approximately 2 cups of the flour along with the yeast and salt; whisk until moistened and combined.

3) Remove the whisk attachment and replace with a plastic dough blade. Add all but 3/4 cup of the remaining flour and process on low speed. When done the dough should feel soft and moist but not sticky and should clear the sides of the food processor. Add more flour if dough is too sticky and balls up on top of the dough blade.

4) Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured work surface; knead by hand about 30 seconds. Lightly oil a large bowl. Transfer the dough to the bowl, lightly oil the top of the dough, cover with a damp towel, place in an unlit oven and let double in volume, 2 to 2 ½ hours.

5) Combine filling ingredients and mix until well incorporated.

6) Spray cooking spray on a 9 by 13-inch glass baking dish.

7) Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured work surface. Gently shape the dough into a rectangle with the long side nearest you. Roll into an 18 by 12-inch rectangle.

8) Brush the dough with the ¾ ounce (20 grams) of melted butter, leaving ½ inch (1¼ centimeters)border along the top edge.

9) Sprinkle the filling mixture over the dough, leaving a ¾ inch (2 centimeters) border along the top edge; gently press the filling into the dough.

10) Beginning with the long edge nearest you, roll the dough into a tight cylinder. Firmly pinch the seam to seal and roll the cylinder seam side down. Very gently squeeze the cylinder to create even thickness.

11) Using a serrated knife, slice the cylinder into 1½ inch(4 centimeters) rolls; yielding approximately 12 rolls. Arrange rolls cut side down in the baking dish; cover tightly with plastic wrap and store in the refrigerator overnight or up to 16 hours.

12) Remove the rolls from the refrigerator and place in an oven that is turned off. Fill a shallow pan 2/3 full of boiling water and set on the rack below the rolls. Close the oven door and let the rolls rise until they look slightly puffy; approximately 30 minutes. Remove the rolls and the shallow pan of water from the oven.

13) Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit (175 degrees Celsius).

14) When the oven is heated, place the rolls on the middle rack and bake until golden brown, approximately 30 minutes.

15) While the rolls are cooling slightly, make the icing by whisking the cream cheese until creamy.

16) Add the milk and whisk until combined.

17) Sift in the powdered sugar, and whisk until smooth.

18) Spread over the rolls and serve immediately