Dreaming

Lately I have been dreaming of baking. Baked goods, actual baking, cute bakeries....all of it. Maybe it is because I have been on a kick to lose weight (I lost a pound this week wahoo!), who knows. But I secretly wish that I was living in Paris, attending culinary school, learning all the knowledge and skills necessary to open a successful bakery. My sister and I have always dreamed of opening one and lately I can't help but dream about it. Now, don't get me wrong. I absolutely love my job (I have even recently applied to graduate school). This whole idea is just me dreaming, I suppose. 

Last night, I dragged my boyfriend to go see It's Complicated at the Kabuki Theatre. If you are in SF, you must go watch a movie there. They have a full bar and restaurant full of treats to bring into the movie with you. I'm sure it made it easier for Graham to watch this chick flick with me.  Anyways, in the movie, Meryl Streep was this amazing baker and had the cutest bakery. It looked like it came straight out of a Pottery Barn magazine. She made these perfect buttery and flakey chocolate croissants for Steve Martin that made my heart swoon. Seriously, is there anything better than indulging in fine pastries? Maybe that makes me a fat kid for posing that question? Probably. Once again Meryl Streep has made me fall in love again, with the food world that is. First as Julia Child and now as a woman with a bakery.

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Oh Paris, why are you so far away? Oh well, at least I live in a city that has millions of amazing culinary choices. For now, I will keep dreaming. Dreaming of macaroons, croissants, brioche, tarts, cupcakes.....

Culinary Goddess' "Fried" Chicken Sandwich

While I was in college, I was surrounded by amazing food. Berkeley, California might not be the prettiest or safest place in the world but it does have epic food. Chez Panisse, Henry's (hello Angry Mac, yum), Joshuya, Claremont, and Sconehenge among MANY others.

This post is inspired by a little place just on the border of Berkeley and Oakland. From the outside, it doesn't look like anything special. It doesn't even have a sign. However, pass by it around 11-3 and you will find a line that goes around the block. Why? Bakesale Betty. It's Australian take out that is home to the best fried chicken sandwich that I have ever had. There is no where to sit inside but if you're lucky, you can grab a seat at the painted old ironing boards converted into outdoor seating. Inside, a Ford style assembly line keeps the line outside moving pretty fast. Next time you are in town supporting the Bears (Go Bears!) or seeing good friends (wink wink Camilla), head on over to Bakesale Betty!

Alright, so back to tonight's dinner. So this sandwich is huge and delicious....fried chicken on an Acme torpedo roll topped with spicy coleslaw. Living in San Francisco, I can only come up with so many excuses to drive over the Bay Bridge for food before I start to realize how ridiculous that actually is and sounds. Solution? Make my own! Instead of fried chicken, I made baked pistachio crusted chicken. I also found a recipe online for the coleslaw and dressing on Recipezaar.

Holy moly, go make this now. You will not be disappointed. And with that, I present...

Culinary Goddess' "Fried" Chicken Sandwich

Chicken Ingredients:

- 4 cups of unsalted, shelled pistachios

- 4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts

- 1/2 tablespoon thyme (dried)

- 1/2 teaspoon oregano (dried)

- 1/2 teaspoon pepper

- 1/2 teaspoon salt

- 1/2 tablespoon olive oil

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

2. Add pistachios to food processor. Pulse until finely chopped (resembling bread crumbs).

3. Add thyme, oregano, pepper, and salt to pistachios.

4. In shallow bowl, place chicken in pistachio mixture and press to entirely cover chicken breasts.

5. In a medium skillet, heat up olive oil over medium high heat. Cook chicken 2 minutes on each side.

6. Place chicken in baking dish. Bake for 45 minutes.

Vinaigrette Ingredients:

*from Recipezaar

- 1 tablespoon Dijon mustard

- 3 tablespoons red wine vinegar

- 1 teaspoon salt

- 1/2 cup of olive oil

Combine mustard, vinegar, and salt. Whisk in olive oil until everything is well blended.

Coleslaw Ingredients:
*Adapted from Recipezaar
- 1 small red onion, thinly sliced
- 1 cup of red wine vinegar
- 2 jalapeno peppers, thinly sliced and seeded
- 1/2 green cabbage, core and outer leaves removed, thinly sliced
- dash of salt

1. Let onions soak in red wine vinegar for 20 minutes. Disregard vinegar.
2. Combine onions, peppers, salt, and cabbage.
3. Toss with vinaigrette until evenly covered.

Final Step: Cut up roll. Place chicken on roll and then cover with heaping pile of coleslaw. Enjoy! (Make sure you have tons of napkins on hand, it is extremely messy due to the coleslaw but oh so worth it)

Dear Julia

"The only time to eat diet food is when you're waiting for the steak to cook" - Julia Child

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Dear Julia,

Oh Julia, you make it so hard for me sometimes. You tempt me with all these amazing recipes loaded with butter. Graham got me both of your famous cookbooks for Christmas and I've been dying to jump right in. One thing that is stopping me? Shedding pounds. Julia you must understand. I am trying to eat healthy AND workout every day. It is going well right now but some days I just wish I could indulge in your Coq Au Vin or Sole Meuniére. Some day soon I will make them. 

Oh and I don't think that I have properly thanked you. Thanks for being my inspriation. You have made me love cooking. From one girl 6 feet tall to another (ok you're taller but still),

 you pretty much are the best.

Love,

Claire

Vanilla Cupcakes with Blood Orange Buttercream Frosting

I came home craving cupcakes after a rainy day at work. I figured I should probably make mini cupcakes and cut the recipe in half because knowing me, I will probably eat more than my fair share of these. Enjoy!

Vanilla Cupcakes with Blood Orange Buttercream Frosting

Cupcakes:

(I used the same recipe I did when I made Vanilla Maple Cupcakes)

Ingredients: (recipe from Magnolia Bakery)
(Double the recipe for regular cupcakes)
- 3/4 cups of self-rising flour
- 1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
- 1 stick of butter (softened)
- 1 cup of sugar
- 2 large eggs at room temperature
- 1/2 cup of milk
- 1/2 teaspoon of vanilla extract

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

2. Line tins with liners and set aside.

3. Combine flours in a small bowl and set aside.
4. In another bowl, cream butter with electric mixer until smooth. Add sugar and beat until fluffy. Add eggs one at a time, beating in between. Do not over beat.

5. Add flour, milk, flour, vanilla, flour, milk in that order (a little each time). Using spatula, get batter off side of bowl and mix in.

6. Fill cupcake liners 3/4 full with batter.

7. Bake in the oven for 10 minutes (Again, this is for mini-cupcakes. Regular cupcakes bake for 20 to 25 minutes).
8. Let cool on wire rack before icing.

Icing:

(Adapted from Gale Gand's Quick Vanilla Buttercream Frosting)

Ingredients:

- 3 cups of confectioner's sugar

- 1 stick of butter, softened

- 2 tablespoons whipping cream

- 1 tablespoon blood orange compound flavor

1. Using hand mixer (or if your lucky enough to be using a stand mixer with whisk attachment), mix sugar and butter together for about 2 minutes on medium (start off low and work up to medium).

2. Add cream and continue to beat for another minute.

3. Add compound flavor and mix together. Taste. Add more if you want the flavor or color stronger.
4. Using pastry bag and large icing tip, pipe icing onto cupcakes.

Trying Something New

When I was at Rainbow Grocery a couple weeks ago, I came across quinoa pasta. I had been reading about all the benefits of quinoa but had actually never tried it. I decided to experiment with the boxed dried pasta and happily threw it in my basket as I headed to the checkout counter.

It sat and sat in my bulging cupboard, always staring at me when I grabbed my morning oatmeal. I thought enough is enough and threw together this dish. I love love love pasta carbonara (minus all of the calories). It is was inspired this dish although I added and subtracted various ingredients. It was good, however, I noticed myself really missing the creamy, decadent sauce that really separates carbonara from all other pastas. I guess it was just a lighter version of what I really wanted. The quinoa pasta was ok, I think I'm a regular gal myself. However, I am glad I ventured out of my Italian safety zone and tried it.

Quinoa Pasta with Chicken, Mushrooms, Pancetta, and Peas

Ingredients:

- 1 box (8 oz) quinoa pasta

- 1 cup of pancetta, diced

- 1 1/2 cups of crimini mushrooms, sliced

- 1 cup of frozen peas

- 1/2 lb. chicken tenders, raw

- 2 cloves of garlic

- 1 cup of shredded parmesan cheese

- 1 teaspoon of lemon juice

- 1/2 tablespoon butter, unsalted

- olive oil

- salt and pepper, to taste

1. Heat up large pot with 4 quarts of water. Add 2 tablespoons of olive oil to water. Bring to a boil. When at a boil, add pasta. Stir often and cook for about 8 minutes. Drain and put in bowl.

2. Add cheese to pasta.

3. Cut up pancetta, garlic, mushrooms, and chicken.

4. In a large pan, brown mushrooms in butter. Add to pasta.

6. Sprinkle chicken with salt and pepper. Add chicken and garlic to pan with a little bit of olive oil. Cook through and add to pasta.

7. Add pancetta and cook till crispy. On a plate with a paper towel, blot off excess fat. Add to pasta.

8. In a strainer, place peas under warm water to remove frozen crystals. Add to pasta.

What I am going to change for next time: Add 1/2 cup of chicken stock, 1/2 cup of white wine, 1/4 cup of cream to ingredients in pan and reduce. Also, use regular pasta :)

Greek Easter Shortbread Cookies

A few months ago, my grandparents from Wisconsin sent me a couple cookbooks. One of them, Greek Cooking by Lou Seibert Pappas, really struck my eye. Being that I'm part Greek, I have a special place in my heart for Greek food. I absolutely adore it, from appetizers to desserts. Due to this storm that is passing through the Bay Area, I decided to open the cookbook up and make some cookies. I cut the recipe in half so I wouldn't eat the entire batch and it's a good thing I did because they were delicious, buttery, and sweet.

(Side note: According to the cookbook, these cookies are displayed in Athenian bakeries in various shapes and sizes.)

Greek Easter Shortbread Cookies

(from Greek Cooking by Lou Seibert Pappas)

Ingredients:

- 1/2 cup unsalted butter, room temperature

- 1/2 cup sugar

- 2 eggs

- 2 1/2 cups unsifted all-purpose flour

- 2 teaspoons baking powder

- 1/4 cup heavy cream

- 1 teaspoon vanilla

- 1 egg yolk beaten with 1 tablespoon milk

- Sesame seeds

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

2. Beat butter until creamy. Gradually, beat in the sugar.

3. Add eggs, one at a time, and beat until the mixture is smooth.

4. In a separate bowl, mix together flour and baking powder.

5. Add flour mixture to batter alternating with cream.

6. Mix in the vanilla.

7. Pinch off small portions about the size of a walnut and roll on a lightly floured board into strands about 1/3 inch thick and 6 inches long. Fold in half and twist, twice (I braided them).

8. Place on a lightly greased baking sheet. Brush with egg yolk and milk mixture. Sprinkle lightly with sesame seeds.

9. Bake for 20 minutes or until golden brown (for me that was about 17 minutes).

10. Remove and let cool on a wire rack.

(Store in an airtight container)

Power Burger with Sweet Potato Fries

When my parents were living in London, my mom would make these epic power burgers by George Foreman. I'm not a huge burger person. Don't get me wrong, I do love burgers but if given a choice I would probably order something different. However, I would choose these any time. I made sweet potato fries for the first time ever tonight and they were also quite amazing if I do say so myself :) I felt like less of a fat kid than had I gone with my original instinct and gotten In-N-Out.

Power Burger

*Adapted from George Foreman

Ingredients:

- 1 pound lean ground beef

- 1/2 cup of diced zucchini

- 1/2 cup of diced squash

- 1/2 cup of shredded low-fat mozzarella cheese

- 1/4 cup of Panko breadcrumbs

- 1 ripe vine tomato

- 1 avocado

- red leaf lettuce

- hamburger buns

1. Dice up vegetables. Place in large bowl.

2. Add the rest of the ingredients to bowl and mix together. Grill until meat is cooked through.

3. Form patties to size of buns. Place on grill or grill pan.

4. Place burgers on buns. Add tomato, avocado, and lettuce.

Sweet Potato Fries

Ingredients:

- 2 large sweet potatoes

- 1 tablespoon olive oil

- 2 teaspoons paprika

- 2 teaspoons garlic powder (I wanted to use fresh garlic but ran out. If you want to use fresh garlic, dice up about 2 cloves)

- 1 teaspoon salt

1. Preheat oven to 450 degrees.

2. Using vegetable peeler, peel skin off sweet potatoes.

3. Slice up potatoes into 1/2" pieces.

4. In a large bowl, mix potatoes, olive oil, paprika, garlic powder, and salt together.

5. On a baking sheet, spread out potatoes. Bake for 15 minutes.

Hazelnut Brownies

For Christmas, I got a ton of amazing cookbooks. One of them, Organic and Chic by Sarah Magid, has pictures of a bunch of desserts with lustre dust. Ever since then, I have been wanting to bake something using it. I stopped by Spun Sugar this week and picked some up. And tonight, after reading my blogging friend Beth's latest post, I decided tonight was the perfect night.

Now, as I told you earlier, I am relatively new to baking and cooking. What does that mean? I don't really have a 'go to' brownie recipe. Problem? I think so. Solution? I sat down with a ton of my cookbooks and looked through various brownie recipes. Most called for instant coffee which, being a non-coffee drinker, I didn't have on hand. Working with the ingredients I had in my kitchen, I chose to use the recipe from Betty Crocker's Cookie Book. I adapted it and changed it from regular to hazelnut. Enjoy!

Hazelnut Brownies

*Adapted from Cookie Book by Betty Crocker

Ingredients:

- 5 ounces of bittersweet baking chocolate (I used Ghirardelli)

- 2/3 cup unsalted butter

- 1 3/4 cups sugar

- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract

- 3 eggs, room temperature

- 1 cup all purpose flour

- 2 tablespoons Nutella

- 1/2 cup of ground hazelnuts

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease pan (9 x 9 x 2 inches).

2. Melt chocolate and butter using double boiler. Cool slightly.

3. Beat sugar, vanilla, and eggs in bowl with electric mixer for about 5 minutes on high speed. Beat in chocolate-butter mixture on low speed. Beat in flour until just blended. Beat in Nutella.

4. Ground hazelnuts in food processor. Fold into batter.

5. Pour batter into pan and bake for 40-45 minutes. Cool completely.

6. Optional: Paint on lustre dust. (You can find it at any baking store)

Verdict: Not going to be my new brownie recipe. Not sweet enough but still pretty good.

Vegetable Pizza

Homemade pizza is one of my favorite 'go to' meals. It is not only fast and easy but it is also fun to make. I haven't made it since our Thanksgiving pizza night so I decided it was time. You can pretty much freestyle any of the ingredients but tonight I used my favorites.

Homemade Vegetable Pizza

(Spinach, Peppers, Caramelized Onions,
Mushrooms, Sun Dried Tomato Pesto)

Ingredients

- store-bought pizza dough (I get mine at Trader Joe's. I used their whole wheat crust tonight)

- sun dried tomato pesto (Again, I used Trader Joe's and used about 2/3 of the container)

- 6 crimini mushrooms

- about 4 handfuls of baby spinach

- 1/2 yellow onion

- 1 clove of garlic

- 1 yellow bell pepper

- fresh mozzarella, sliced (add as much as you want)

- 1/4 teaspoon salt

- 1 tablespoon of butter

- olive oil

- 2 tablespoons of cornmeal

- flour

1. Unwrap the pizza dough and let rise on floured surface for 20 minutes. Preheat oven to 450 degrees.

2. Dice garlic and heat up drizzle of oil in fry pan. Add garlic and spinach. Saute until spinach is wilted. Remove and set aside.

3. Slice mushrooms into even pieces. Brown mushrooms in 1/2 tablespoon of butter. Be sure to not crowd the mushrooms or they will not brown properly. (This step will also help eliminate 'soggy pizza syndrome') Remove and set aside.

4. Slice onion into long strips. Add to fry pan with the rest of the butter over medium heat. When they are starting to brown, add salt. Stir frequently for about 15-20 minutes. (If you don't want to wait that long, this pizza tastes just as good with regular sauteed onions) Remove and set aside.

5. Dice yellow pepper. Drizzle pan with olive oil and add pepper. Saute and then set aside.

6. Roll out pizza dough on floured surface with a rolling pin. Sprinkle cornmeal on baking sheet. Place dough on baking sheet.

7. Spread pesto all over dough, leaving a 1/2" crust around the edge untouched.

8. Sprinkle mushrooms, spinach, peppers, and caramelized onions all over pesto.

9. Slice up mozzarella and spread pieces over toppings.

10. Brush olive oil around 1/2" edge. This will make the crust more crispy.

11. Bake in oven for 10-12 minutes. Let cool 2 minutes before serving.

Chili

If you have ever visited Ohio, you probably have had Skyline Chili. If not, let me share a little about this fast food-ish Chili joint. For their 3-way chili, they serve chili over pasta and top it with onions and cheese. Chili on pasta? Yep! These people have it right. Ever since I had Skyline, I have put my chili over warm pasta. (Note: my chili recipe is not the same as theirs (they use cocoa and cloves) but I am channeling them for their over pasta idea)

Chili

Ingredients:

- 1 pound lean ground beef

- 1/2 onion, diced

- 2 cloves of garlic, finely chopped

- 1 tablespoon olive oil

- 1/4 jalapeno pepper, diced and seeded

- 1/2 tablespoon ground cinnamon

- 1/2 teaspoon chipotle pepper

- 1 tablespoons chili powder

- 1 teaspoons thyme (dried)

- 1 cup of sweet corn

- 1 can of kidney beans, drained

- 2 cups of shredded sharp cheddar cheese

- 1 can of diced tomatoes

- 1/2 jar of tomato sauce

- 1 box of pasta

1. Saute onions and garlic in olive oil in frying pan. Set aside.

2. Brown meat. Drain.

3. Heat pot of water for pasta. When boiling, add pasta.

4. Add all ingredients to meat, including onions and garlic. Bring to a boil and then turn down to low heat. Simmer for 8-10 minutes.

5. Drain pasta. The pasta is the first layer of the dish. After the pasta, add the chili. After then chili, add the cheese.

Step One

Step Two

Step Three

Makes 6 servings.

*If you just want chili, this tastes great alone too. Also, you can eat with tortilla chips. If you want it more like Skyline, use raw onions on top with cheese instead of sauteed.

Leftover Posting

When I was on vacation last week, I felt like I was way overposting so I saved a few things for later. The time has come and I'm going to reveal some great finds around Pike Place Market. On our last day, my family and I headed to the market after lunch to pick up ingredients for my stuffed portobellos.

If you have never been to Pike Place, I would say it is kind of like a giant indoor farmers market (although I am not sure if the produce is grown by local farmers). I say it is like a farmers market because it has filled with booths offering fresh fish, produce, crafts, flowers, oils, jams, etc. Surrounding the market, there are a ton of restaurants and stores that are very enticing.

Since we were going to make my stuffed portobellos, we needed a side dish. First we considered a salad but then came to our senses and decided on a fresh piroshkis. Piroshkis are Russian hand held pies stuffed with tasty fillings. Their filings are rich, while their crusts are a perfect balance between flakey and doughy. At Piroshki Piroshki, they have both savory and sweet with many choices from which to choose. We ended up going with the potato and onion filled AND some sweet ones for the ferry ride home :) Now I must warn you, if I have you salivating and convince to go here, you must prepare yourself to stand in a 20 minute line. But if it is any consolation, it was featured on No Reservations. If you have never seen it, it is a show by Anthony Bourdain, who I might possibly be in love with.

Also near the market, there lays a store called World Spice Merchants. I think they might want to reconsider their name because it should probably be called World Spice Mecca. However, regardless of name, this shop seriously is amazing. Filled with jars and jars of fresh spices, World Spice is loaded with every spice imagined. Since I can't list every one here, I will focus on their salt collection. I have never seen so many in my life. All of my spices are from Penzey's and I'm not saying that they don't have a great collection but wow, this shop has a whole lot of spices. Some include: alderwood smoked salt, black lava flake salt, black salt, hawaiian sea salt, himalayan salt rock, italian sea salt, japanese sea salt, and the list goes on and on. Such a great find. Seattleites are lucky to have this store in their backyard! (PS my pictures don't do it justice, there were tons more spices that I didn't take pictures of)

So there it all is. Looking back, I wish I had spent more time up there but I guess that means I will just have to go back soon and visit. Maybe I should go down to the Ferry Building's farmers market and pretend to be a Pikes Place just for the day :)