build me up butternut

I haven't posted on here in a long time, but I thought it would be a good time to start again, because for the past month and a half, I have been vegetarian! Well, I did eat fish one night, but otherwise I have been doing pretty well. I haven't even missed meat at all, and eating vegetarian has forced me to be more creative when cooking, which is definitely a good thing! This week while grocery shopping, I picked up a butternut squash since they are delicious. One squash yields a lot of food, so I had to find a lot of different ways to use it.

Last night, I roasted the squash so it would be ready to eat. I cut the squash in half, scooped out the seeds, sprinkled each half with salt and pepper, and placed the two halves on a baking sheet covered with aluminum foil. It roasted at 400 degrees for about 45 minutes until it was fork tender.

The skin burned a little and set off the overly sensitive smoke detectors in my apartment, but otherwise it turned out well. I cubed all of the squash and saved some of it for later.

For dinner, I made a wrap with cous cous, black beans, avocado, feta, and the squash. It might sound like a strange combination, but it was delicious! This picture was before I rolled it up and grilled it a little on my roommate's George Foreman grill (works just as nicely as a panini press), but it looked ugly after that so I didn't take a picture.

Tonight, I wanted to use the squash in a somewhat different recipe, so I decided on...mac and cheese! Except, I don't really think you can call it mac and cheese, because I used shells, and there was very little cheese involved. Since the squash was already cooked, I pureed it in the blender, and stuck it in a saucepan with some Greek yogurt (but cream cheese would work well too.) I added milk to thin down the mixture some, and then let it heat while the pasta cooked. The end result was a dish that looks exactly like macaroni and cheese, but it is much healthier and tastes much better than Kraft!

See, you can't even tell the difference! The Greek yogurt added a nice flavor too. I actually put a little mozzarella on top too, but it would taste fine without that too, and be totally cheese-free (if that's what you want). I suggest that you make this "mac and cheese" asap!

yuletide carols

For a special Christmas treat this year, I decided to make a Bûche de Noël. I saw Tyler Florence make it a few days before on an Iron Chef challenge (the secret ingredient was sugar), and I have always thought that the yule log cake looked delicious. Basically, it is a traditional dessert served at Christmas in France and other francophone countries or former French colonies. They are usually made with a sponge or flourless cake with a layer of mousse or buttercream icing, and then rolled up to look like a yule log.

I found a recipe online, since it was not in any cookbooks I have, and I altered it a little as well as followed others' comments about the best way to make it. The version I found used flourless chocolate cake, which makes it a lot harder to create a fluffy cake, since there are no leavening ingredients.

This is the recipe I used, and I added my comments at certain steps.

Ingredients:
Mousse--
2 cups heavy cream
1/2 cup confectioner's sugar
1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Cake--
6 egg yolks
1/2 cup white sugar
1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1/8 teaspoon salt
6 egg whites
1/4 cup white sugar
confectioner's sugar for dusting 

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C). Line a 10x15 inch jellyroll pan with parchment paper. (The parchment paper needs to be sprayed with Pam or something similar, otherwise it will be impossible to peel off of the cake.) In a large bowl, whip cream, 1/2 cup confectioners' sugar, 1/2 cup cocoa, and 1 teaspoon vanilla until thick and stiff. Refrigerate. 
2. In a large bowl, use an electric mixer to beat egg yolks with 1/2 cup sugar until thick and pale. (This will take at least 5 minutes with the mixer on the highest speed. The egg yolk mixture will be very thick and have almost no color.)Blend in 1/3 cup cocoa, 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla, and salt. In large glass bowl, using clean beaters, whip egg whites to soft peaks. Gradually add 1/4 cup sugar, and beat until whites form stiff peaks. Immediately fold the yolk mixture into the whites. Spread the batter evenly into the prepared pan. 
3. Bake for 12 to 15 minutes in the preheated oven, or until the cake springs back when lightly touched. Dust a clean dishtowel with confectioners' sugar. Run a knife around the edge of the pan, and turn the warm cake out onto the towel. Remove and discard parchment paper. Starting at the short edge of the cake, roll the cake up with the towel. (Be very careful when doing this, because the cake could tear.) Cool for 30 minutes. 
4. Unroll the cake, and spread the filling to within 1 inch of the edge. Roll the cake up with the filling inside. Place seam side down onto a serving plate, and refrigerate until serving. Dust with confectioners' sugar before serving. (I actually spread the remaining mousse mixture on the outside of the cake, and then I dragged a fork through it to make it look like bark. Most pictures I found of this kind of cake looked like that.) 

The most important detail in making this cake is to make sure that you beats the yolks and the egg whites enough, because you basically have to beat air into it. Otherwise, it will probably just taste like a chocolate omelet, and it will not be light and airy. This cake is best when it's really cold, so I put it on our screened-in porch overnight. It was delicious, but very rich!

The finished product.

A view of the layers inside.

not about food

Well, not really. This is just an article I read on The Onion a little while ago. In case you have never read The Onion, it is basically an online parody newspaper, though they do have hard copies in bigger cities like New York and Washington D.C. The articles always somehow manage to speak the truth, while still being hilarious. This one has to do with baking dilemmas, something I do encounter from time to time. Click here to read it!

bring on that pecan pie

For Thanksgiving this year, I was delegated with making the pies for the gathering we attended (something I was glad to do, of course.) Each year, I make pumpkin, pecan, and chocolate chess pies. I have to admit that I do not really like pumpkin or pecan pie, but since they are classics, I always make them. I found a new pecan pie recipe this year though, and it has made me like pecan pie. I made three of these pecan pies last week. I brought one to a "Friendsgiving" on Saturday, and one guy told me it was the best dessert he has ever eaten...not to toot my own horn or anything :)

I tried out a new pie crust recipe that included Crisco, an egg, and vinegar, rather than just the usual butter and flour recipe. However, I didn't like that new crust as much, and I switched back to my old Betty Crocker standby after making a few pies.

For the filling, I used this recipe from none other than Pioneer Woman. The great thing about this version is that the sweetness was not overpowering, which can often be the case, since pecan pie is made with corn syrup. I tested out using half corn syrup and half maple syrup in one pie, but in my opinion that made it too sweet, even though the maple taste was nice. Maybe next time I will just add a little maple flavoring.  

Make this pecan pie. You will be glad you did.

Edit: This recipe also calls for chopping up the pecans, which I have decided is good for two reasons: 1. It makes it easier to cut pretty pieces, since it's hard to cut through the full pecans and 2. The small bits get toasted better, which makes for a more pecan-y flavor.

it's all gravy

I know it's been awhile, but hopefully with the upcoming holiday season, I will have a lot to write about!

In the past few weeks, my roommate, Jade, has started a ritual of roasting a chicken and making rice and gravy on Thursday nights. She started this because it was a meal her grandma always made for her, and she had not had it in a long time. The first night she cooked, I helped her out a little, and the result was a pretty tasty (and filling) meal. However, the one thing we could not really master was the gravy. The next few weeks she experimented with a few different methods, but none of them were as good as she remembered. Neither one of us could figure out what to do to make the gravy better, which was frustrating since it seems like a relatively simple thing to make.

Tonight, I decided to try again. Both of my roommates have gone home for Thanksgiving break already, so I needed to find something to occupy my time at dinner anyway. I went the grocery store, where I bought a roasting chicken and some rice. It took me 30 minutes to get home from Barrack's Road, which shows you how bad traffic is in Charlottesville on Friday at rush hour.

I roasted the chicken, and in the process I set off the smoke detectors twice. In an attempt to be healthier, I rubbed olive oil instead of butter on the bird. Apparently, olive oil smokes a lot, so I had to keep running around the apartment waving a towel under the detectors.

With the help of The Pioneer Women (mentioned in an earlier blog) I was finally able to master, or at least improve, the gravy. The key is to make a roux, a combination of the pan drippings from the chicken and flour. I browned that in the roasting pan on the stovetop (to preserve all the flavor), and once it was a good consistency, I added the chicken broth. From there it was only a matter of adding more broth until I had enough gravy. It was a very filling dinner, and now I am utilizing all the parts of the chicken that I did not eat by making homemade chicken stock! The apartment smells very chicken-y.

Another thing I learned from all this is that gravy is basically grease. I never realized that fact when I was little, when I would pour it all over my mashed potatoes or turkey. Even though it tastes delicious, seeing the leftovers congealed in the pan kind of grossed me out. Just think about that flowing through your arteries...or just don't.

cinnamonster

Last weekend I went home for fall break, and after taking the LSAT on Saturday, I finally had some time to relax. Of course, I decided to bake something, since that is what I usually do to relieve stress. My new favorite website, in case you have not heard of it, is The Pioneer Woman. I mostly like it for the recipes, though she also has a blog, pictures, and other tips about life in general. Elizabeth introduced me to the site awhile ago, via stumbleupon I think, and I only recently rediscovered it.

After browsing through the recipes, I decided to make cinnamon rolls. I have another cinnamon roll recipe that I feel I have perfected, since they are one of my dad's favorite foods. That recipe involves frozen dough, hazelnuts, and mascarpone cheese. However, this new recipe required making homemade dough, which is actually pretty easy, it just takes awhile because the dough has to rise. 

Part of the way into making the dough, I realized that maybe I had read the recipe wrong. The version that I printed out said it made "8 servings," but after adding 8 cups of flour to the mixture, I decided to re-check the website. The blog version of the recipe revealed that 8 servings actually meant 8 PANS! At that point I couldn't turn back, so I made a lot of cinnamon rolls. Some were eaten, some were given away, some are in the freezer at home, and I only brought one pan back with me to school, which has yet to be eaten.

 Fresh out of the oven

And with the icing. Instead of using the normal mixture of powdered sugar and milk, this recipe called for maple syrup and coffee. The coffee cut the sweetness a little bit, and the maple made it taste a little different (and delicious!)

So if you want to try some, there is a pan in my freezer waiting to be eaten!

hoppy birthday

On Saturday night, a group of us went to South Street Brewery to celebrate Emily's 22nd birthday! We all wanted to try a new place to eat, and none of us had been there before. It is right next to the parking lot where the City Market is held every weekend, on the outside of the Downtown Mall. The restaurant itself is really cool, because it is in a restored warehouse. The warm building was also a very welcome respite from the cold fall night.  The beer menu seemed to have a varied selection, and their special featured beers are brewed at the restaurant! Unfortunately, I do not really like beer, so I only had sips of what others ordered. Additionally, they were $4 a pint, which seems like a pretty good deal.

Joe ordered this "Hefeweizen," whose description sounded like it would be similar to Blue Moon. It definitely looks sort of like it, but this beer had "hints" of banana and clover (it was a pretty strong flavor.) Since I don't like artificial banana flavor, this was not my cup of tea.

Most of us ordered burgers, which were tasty but really nothing special. However Jon got salmon with this really good pesto on top. It had a really strong bite to it, almost like horseradish, but we could not figure out what made it different.

Problem solved! I just checked the menu online, and the concoction on top is cilantro and jalapeno-lime pesto. I need to figure out how to make that...