Dinner Party!

Wow, I have come a long way. I'm not necessarily talking about the beginning of my marriage when I flat out could not cook, but even since the beginning of this blog. I've tackled so many cooking methods and ingredients, successes and failures, and I'm no worse for wear. I guess that confidence kind of got to me. And so it happened about a month ago when the Husband had an open weekend where he didn't have to work and we were left with deciding what to do. We talked about taking a little two-day trip somewhere, we talked about driving to a basketball game, and then the Husband said a few little words that lit a fire in me.

"How about hosting a dinner party?"

At first it sounded nice, but a little crazy. I had been talking about hosting a dinner party for a few years. But every time I got the opportunity, I either let it pass with no action or something else came up (much to my relief) and I just put the thought in the back of my mind. Truth be told, I was afraid. Afraid, she says! What's the big deal - you invite your good friends over, cook a great meal, throw in some delightful conversation, and the evening is a resounding success. The part that I was afraid of was the "cook a great meal" part. I couldn't even cook for myself and the Husband some nights - how was I going to manage cooking for eight other people and make sure it tasted good?

But then that confidence crept up inside me again. I knew I cooked some amazing dishes for this blog, and I was starting to get more comfortable with my abilities and pushing any limitations to see if I could get to the next level. A dinner party was, in effect, the next level. I knew what had to be done. I emailed our friends and invited them over before I had a chance to chicken out. I was locked in! I had to do it! Maybe I should have just done that sooner, but this timing was going to work out well. The Husband and I tossed around a lot of ideas for the meal and we finally came up with a great menu:

Potato and Ricotta Gnocchi with Bolognese Sauce
Mixed Greens Salad
Cauliflower Casserole
Roasted Zucchini
Chocolate Mousse

The gnocchi was an all around hit every time I made it, so that was a good choice. Everyone likes pasta and this gave everyone the chance to try something most of them probably hadn't eaten before. The Cauliflower Casserole came from my Aunt, who passed it along to my Dad, who cooked it as part of Christmas dinner last year. The Husband, my brother and I all turned our noses up at the name, confident that nary a bite would pass our lips. But, being the grownups we are, we tried it. And we all really liked it! And so did our guests, as evidenced by one of our friends literally scraping the bottom of the baking dish with the serving spoon. The Roasted Zucchini came from Southern Living and was also a hit - I only wish I had made more. And finally, the Chocolate Mousse came from a Betty Crocker Cookbook that my Dad gave me and the Husband for our first Christmas.

We did some major prep work for this event. I even wrote out a to-do list that started three days in advance of the party, from grocery shopping to cutting up veggies the night before to starting the gnocchi dough that morning. I was ready. For the gnocchi, I knew I would have to at least double the recipe I was used to making. There were going to be ten of us and a lot of big appetites. I eventually tripled the dough and the sauce just to make sure I had enough, and as it turned out that was way too much. I would have been okay with doubling it. I made the dough that morning and let it rest, as directed. About two hours before guests were to arrive I pulled out the dough to get it rolled out and cut into the little gnocchi pillows. But when I scooped the dough onto the floured cutting board, my blood ran cold. The dough was way too wet, gooey almost, and completely unable to be shaped. My first thought was one of panic, but thankfully my next thought was somewhat more rational. I grabbed the flour and added more to my dough, stirring away. Still runny. More flour. Getting better. More flour. Finally I had some dough I could work with. Crisis averted, but still something I had not planned.

When we moved from the salad course to the main course, we took a little longer than anticipated to actually get the gnocchi cooked and plated and on the table, but our guests were very gracious and kept the conversation flowing while the Husband and I worked our tails off in the kitchen trying to get the gnocchi wrapped up. All in all, we had a wonderful time with our wonderful friends, and all were very complimentary. One friend, in fact, really put a smile on my face when she said, "I didn't realize you could cook like this!" Neither did I. But now I do.

Cauliflower Casserole

Ingredients
1 medium head cauliflower, broken into florets
1 8-oz carton sour cream
1 C shredded sharp cheddar
1/2 C crushed corn flakes cereal
1/4 C finely chopped green pepper
1/4 C finely chopped sweet red pepper
1 t salt
1/4 C grated Parmesan cheese
Paprika to taste

Place cauliflower florets into saucepan with a small amount of water; cover and cook for five minute and drain.

Combine the cauliflower, sour cream, cheddar cheese, corn flakes, peppers and salt. Transfer to a greased 2-quart baking dish.

Sprinkle with Parmesan cheese and paprika. Bake uncovered in 325° oven for 30-35 minutes, stirring often.

I think the main reason this recipe turned out so well, despite the cauliflower, is because of all the cheese and sour cream. It's probably not all that healthy, but it's a show stopper. When steaming the cauliflower, I used an actual steamer as opposed to boiling it as stated in the recipe. I also could have used a larger head of cauliflower because once everything was dumped into the baking dish, it looked a little sparse. Our guests confirmed that after the dish was scraped clean and I swear I saw some pleading eyes begging for more.

Finally, the chocolate mousse. A little goes a long way with this item. It's so rich and delicious and just the perfect ending to a great meal. I served it in wine glasses and I meant to rim the glasses with sugar but I totally forgot. It still turned out perfect.

After our guests left and the kitchen had been totally covered up with dirty dishes and hand towels and empty wine bottles (we're a drinkin' bunch), I just felt such a sense of accomplishment and relief. We did it, and we did it up nice. Our friends were happy and full and I pushed another limitation and did something I didn't think I could do. Excuse the cliche, but I kind of felt like a kitchen rock star. It felt good.

Poblano-Pepper Jack Corn Bread

Cornbread is such a southern staple. It is perfect all by itself, or you can pair it with a big bowl of vegetable soup or some soup beans and you have what could possibly be the perfect meal. Or if you're like the Husband, you can crumble a few wedges up in a glass of cold milk. Not really my thing, but he loves it. This recipe says cornbread in the title, but the end result is more like corn cake. Kind of spongy, maybe even a little tiny bit sweet, but very good.

Poblano-Pepper Jack Cornbread

ACTIVE: 25 MIN
TOTAL TIME: 1 HR 45 MIN
Ingredients
1 medium poblano chile
7 tablespoons unsalted butter, 6 tablespoons melted
1 small onion, cut into 1/4-inch dice
1/2 cup thawed frozen corn kernels
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 cup yellow cornmeal
1 tablespoon sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup milk
2 large eggs, beaten
4 ounces pepper jack cheese, shredded (1 1/4 cups)

Light a grill or preheat the broiler. Grill or broil the poblano, turning frequently, until charred all over, about 4 minutes. Transfer the chile to a bowl, cover with plastic wrap and let stand for 15 minutes. Peel and seed the poblano and cut it into 1/4-inch dice.

Preheat the oven to 350°. Lightly butter an 8-inch round cake pan. In a medium skillet, melt 1 tablespoon of the butter. Add the onion and cook over moderately high heat until softened, about 5 minutes. Add the poblano and corn and cook until heated through, about 1 minute.

In a large bowl, whisk the flour with the cornmeal, sugar, baking powder and salt. Add the 6 tablespoons of melted butter along with the milk and eggs and whisk until just incorporated. Fold in the poblano-corn mixture and 3/4 cup of the pepper jack cheese. Scrape the batter into the prepared cake pan and sprinkle the remaining 1/2 cup of cheese on top.

Bake the cornbread for 35 minutes, until the top is light golden and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Transfer the cornbread to a rack to cool for 20 minutes. Run a knife around the edge of the cornbread, turn it out onto the rack and let cool slightly. Cut the cornbread into wedges and serve warm.

One of the recipes the Husband graciously bestowed upon me during our marriage was his cornbread recipe. I don't know exactly who in the family was responsible for it, but it's a simple, solid recipe with four basic ingredients. This is all to say that I'm not used to a cornbread recipe taking as many ingredients as this one does. But, they're all important. The corn gives it some sweet (plus the little bit of sugar), the poblano and pepper jack cheese give it some heat, and all that butter just brings it home.

This was more of a cakey texture than regular dense cornbread. I was also unfamiliar with baking cornbread in a vessel other than a cast iron skillet, but the cake pan worked well. The batter filled the cake pan to the top and I was a smidge concerned that it would overflow in the oven, but that didn't come close to happening.

One thing I changed was that I reserved the shredded pepper jack that you're supposed to put on top of the batter before it goes in the oven. In my experience, super heating cheese like that in the oven results in an inedible mess that first melts and then solidifies under the heat. So I held off until the cornbread was done, then I sprinkled the shredded pepper jack on top , put it back under the broiler for about 30 seconds, and then took it out.

This was really good! The corn and diced poblano were a nice punch with each bite and the cheese that had been mixed into the batter was melted and stringy. Not your grandmother's cornbread, that's for sure. But this would go very well with some chili or even vegetable soup.

Sort of food related

I found a cool website http://www.wordle.net/ that lets you make a tag cloud (visual representation) of a blog. It picks up the most commonly used words, which are represented below as the largest words, and the smaller words are the ones used less often. It's pretty interesting to see that the word "cheese" gets a lot of mileage in this blog.

Potato Soup

One of my favorite comfort foods is potatoes. It doesn't really matter to me how they're cooked - mashed, scalloped, baked, twice-baked, fried as pancakes - because it's going to be good no matter what. This potato soup recipe is no different. It was so good and rich and creamy. It was a total hit and really did the trick on a cold night.

Potato Soup

Serves: 8

¼ C unsalted butter
2 C chopped yellow onion
1 C chopped celery
½ t salt
¼ t cayenne
1 bay leaf
2 T chopped garlic
8 C chicken broth
2 large baking potatoes (about 2 pounds), peeled and diced
¼ C heavy cream

Melt the butter in a large, heavy pot or Dutch oven over medium-high heat. Add the onions, celery, salt and cayenne and cook, stirring, until the onions are soft and lightly golden, about 5 minutes. Add the bay leaf and garlic and cook, stirring, for 2 minutes. Add the broth and potatoes and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat to medium-low and simmer, uncovered, until the potatoes are soft, about 30 minutes.

Remove the soup from the heat. Discard the bay leaf. With a hand-held immersion blender, or in a food processor or regular blender in batches, process until smooth. Slowly add the cream and stir to blend.

To serve, ladle into soup bowls and serve hot.

Mmmmm. That's good stuff. First of all, some changes I made. The recipe calls for all of the potatoes to be processed until smooth. I prefer some chunkiness to my potato soup, so I only processed half of the soup mixture, leaving the other half with some of the potato pieces intact. I also didn't add any celery because I didn't want to buy a whole thing of it and not have any other way to use it. I added a little celery seed instead. And I most certainly didn't chop two whole cups of onions. I cut a few rings of an onion and it was the perfect amount.

I also halved the recipe. For the base of the soup, it calls exclusively for chicken broth so we're talking four cups of broth. Of course, this means the soup had a very strong, slightly overpowering taste of chicken broth. I think next time I will cut the broth with some water, maybe go 3/1 or even 2/2. It just distracted from the taste of the potatoes and other ingredients. It was still good, though.

I dressed the soup up with some shredded cheese and chopped parsley from my little herb garden on the porch. The soup was nice and peppery, very brothy, and had a few potato chunks. I think I will cook the potatoes for a shorter amount of time when I make this again and also puree a smaller amount of the soup. To me, it's not really potato soup unless you can see and taste the potatoes. This was incredibly good, though, and definitely fit the bill as an ideal comfort food.

Pear and Cranberry Turnovers

Yum! This recipe was one of the few dessert selections I chose at the beginning of this quest. I wanted something fun and different and this absolutely fits. I was really excited about using fresh cranberries in this recipe, and since it's holiday time I was able to find them easily at the store. All in all, this was pretty easy to put together.

Pear and Cranberry Turnovers

ACTIVE: 25 MIN
TOTAL TIME: 1 HR 30 MIN
SERVINGS: MAKES 8 TURNOVERS

Ingredients
2 Bosc pears (1 pound), peeled and cut into 1/2-inch dice
1/3 cup plus 1 1/2 tablespoons sugar
1 tablespoon all-purpose flour, plus more for dusting
3/4 cup fresh or frozen cranberries
Pinch each of ground cloves, cinnamon and salt
One 14-ounce package cold all-butter puff pastry
1 egg, beaten
Whipped cream or vanilla ice cream, for serving

Directions
Preheat the oven to 400°. In a medium bowl, toss the pears with 1/3 cup of the sugar, 1 tablespoon of the flour and the cranberries, cloves, cinnamon and salt.

On a lightly floured work surface, roll out the puff pastry to a 14 1/2-inch square about 1/8 inch thick. Using a sharp knife, cut the pastry into 8 squares. Spoon the pear filling onto a corner of each square, leaving a 1/2-inch border. Fold the pastry over the filling to make a triangle and firmly press the edges to seal. Crimp the edges with a fork. Prick each triangle once with the fork to allow steam to escape during baking. Transfer the turnovers to a baking sheet and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes, until chilled.

Brush the tops of the turnovers with the beaten egg and sprinkle with the remaining 1 1/2 tablespoons of sugar. Bake the turnovers for 30 minutes, until golden brown. Let the turnovers cool for at least 5 minutes. Serve with whipped cream or ice cream.

Before this recipe, I do not believe I had ever purchased a bag of fresh cranberries. I was also never a huge fan of jellied cranberry sauce when I was a kid, but someone once made some fresh cranberry sauce that was delicious. I have this weird aversion to meat and fruit combinations, so while I didn't apply said sauce to my turkey, I did taste it separately and it was really good. So from here on out, fresh cranberries are the way to go. Also, fresh cranberries aren't really something you can just eat out of the bag. Whoo-boy, those suckers are tart! I don't know what I expected when I crunched on one, but I just about turned inside out. Thankfully, cooking cranberries lessens the tart and brings in just the right amount of sweet.

With the pears peeled and cubed, cranberries washed and sugar/spices added in the bowl, it makes a whole lot of filling. The recipe calls for one sheet of pastry dough that you roll out to make it larger. My dough could have used a few more once-overs with my rolling pin because I had trouble getting eight exact squares. They were more like lopsided rectangles and the end pieces were a tad on the small side. There was some creative stretching going on to get the dough to the right size. Plus, with the unbaked cranberries and all that sugar, the filling really isn't something you can eat out of the bowl if there is still some left over. So I just added it all and really pulled that dough so it covered everything and sealed.




I highly recommend putting down a sheet of parchment paper under the turnovers. As you will see in the "after" photo, the sugary sauce that results will become a little burned (or maybe it's just my oven) and will stick to your baking sheet. Parchment paper will lift right off and you can throw it away with minimal cleaning needed to your baking sheet. You also don't have to use a non-stick cooking spray with the parchment paper.

The finished product was really good, with the exception of the slightly crispy edges. The cranberries mellowed out significantly and any residual tartness was covered by the copious amounts of sugar that went into the filling. The pastry was light and flaky, and the egg wash gave it a nice sheen on top.

Even with just the Husband and myself here at the house, we polished all eight of these off in short order. They're easily reheatable in the microwave and lasted about a week in the fridge. The Husband also gives his approval for these: "Oh, those are tasty." Sweet.

Peanut Butter Granola

I figured this could be a mutli-purpose recipe that would serve both the dessert and breakfast tastes. I immediately found a breakfast option, and dessert can't be far behind.

Peanut Butter Granola

Prep: 15 minutes
Cook: 3 minutes
Bake: 20 minutes
Cool: 20 minutes

3 C uncooked oats
½ C dry-roasted peanuts
½ C sweetened flaked coconut
3 T sesame seeds
½ C creamy peanut butter
½ C firmly packed brown sugar
¼ C butter
1 T light corn syrup
¼ t salt

Preheat oven to 350˚. Toss together oats through sesame seeds. Cook peanut butter through salt in a small saucepan over medium heat 3 minutes or until smooth. Stir peanut butter mixture into oat mixture until blended. Spread mixture in a single layer on a lightly greased, aluminum foil lined 17x12 inch jelly roll pan. Bake 20 minutes or until lightly golden, stirring after 10 minutes. Transfer to wax paper and cool completely, about 20 minutes. Serve with vanilla yogurt and sliced bananas. Makes 6 cups.

Like I said, this immediately became a breakfast food. I had a recipe for a yogurt parfait that I found right around the time I decided to make the peanut butter granola, so I figured the best possible idea was to combine the two. Otherwise, I would not have had any use for the granola. It held up well when it was all being mixed together and there were even some small clumps that loosely formed. And when I spread it all out on the parchment paper, I was shocked at how much there really was. I mean, there was a ton of this stuff.

But it cooked nicely, and again with my oven, I could have backed the time off by about two minutes. There was a small burned taste when it all came out of the oven, but it wasn't very strong and was easily masked by the yogurt. It's probably not substantial enough to be used as a granola-type cereal, and I guess it could be a topping for some kind of apple crisp. But for me, it worked well as a parfait. I used Yoplait Vanilla yogurt and sliced up some banana and layered it all in a glass. Perfect! And portable, too. I took some in the mornings when I left for work and I was able to sneak in a few bites at stop lights. Maybe not the safest thing to do while driving, but I was fairly responsible about it, only driving with my knees when absolutely necessary.

And there you go! I'm sure there are a lot of other ways to use this granola, but the parfait was the easiest thing for me. And in the immortal words of Donkey from Shrek, "Everybody loves parfaits!"

Goat Cheese Mashed Potatoes

Come on - how can this not sound delicious? You have potatoes, you have heavy cream, you have goat cheese. Plus, this recipe came out of an Emeril Lagasse cookbook so you know it's going to be good.

Goat Cheese Mashed Potatoes

Serves: 8

4 C peeled and diced white potatoes
1 ½ t salt
¾ C heavy cream
¼ C unsalted butter
½ pound goat cheese, crumbled
1/8 t freshly ground white pepper

Combine the potatoes and 1 teaspoon of the salt in a large saucepan. Cover the potatoes with water, bring to a boil and cook over medium heat until fork tender, about 20 minutes. Drain.

Return the potatoes to the saucepan and, over low heat, stir them with a fork or wire whisk for about 2 minutes to dry them. Add the cream, butter, cheese, the white pepper and the remaining ½ teaspoon salt. Mix well. Serve hot.

I cannot tell you how much this hit the spot. I had been craving potatoes for the longest time and I couldn't wait much longer before making this. As far as the ingredients, I went pretty far off the rails this time when I was throwing it together. I didn't measure a thing, just eyeballed it, and it turned out more than fine. It was fantastic. I only had two potatoes, which didn't equal four cups of diced potatoes, so I reduced the other ingredients accordingly. I also used fat-free half and half instead of heavy cream, which didn't pose any problems. Same with the butter, goat cheese and white pepper - I just threw in however much I thought looked like a good amount. Sometimes I don't even know why I bother with a recipe.

In the "mix well" portion of the recipe, it's referring to the actual mashing of the potatoes though it's not specifically stated as such. A wonderful little tool I've found works great to mash potatoes is a pastry cutter. A blender can be too rough and a fork just doesn't do it. The pastry cutter lets you work at your own speed and determine how chunky or smooth you want the potatoes to be.

This is the finished product. If you look closely you can see little white specs - that's the goat cheese. I'm only slightly ashamed to admit that I mostly ate this straight from the pot I cooked it in - it was that good. These were rich without being overpowering and creamy without being runny. A perfect combination.

Whole Wheat Bread, Round 3

This is my third go 'round for Whole Wheat Bread. The first attempt went really well and the bread was delicious. The second time was a disaster, though I was pretty sure I had duplicated the same recipe I used the first time. But here was the issue: I previously used Arrowhead Mills Stone Ground Whole Wheat flour which was perfect, but the second time I used another brand, Hodgson Mill. What I didn't know was that the Hodgson Mill bread was gluten free, or something similar. When I used the bread recipe on the Arrowhead Mills package, but used the Hodgson Mill flour, the result was a crumbly mess that absolutely fell apart when I sliced into it. There was no saving the bread and it was a complete waste. I couldn't figure it out until I finally looked on the side of the Hodgson Mill package at their bread recipe, which calls for wheat gluten. So this third time, I followed the recipe on the Hodgson Mill package, used the wheat gluten, and voila! Delicious bread once again.

Basic Whole Wheat Bread

2 C warm water
2 packages of yeast
3 T brown sugar
1 T Hodgson Mill Vital Wheat Gluten
3 C Hodgson Mill Whole Wheat Graham Flour
1/4 C vegetable oil
1 t salt
3 to 3 1/2 C bread flour, divided

Put water in a large bowl. Add yeast, stir to dissolve. Add brown sugar, gluten and whole wheat flour. Beat well, about 200 strokes. Let yeast develop for about 10 minutes. Add oil and salt; mix thoroughly. Add two cups of the bread flour; beat well. Work in enough of the remaining bread flour to form a soft dough.

Turn out onto a lightly floured surface and knead 6 to 8 minutes, or until dough is smooth and elastic. Place in large oiled bowl and turn to coat. Cover bowl with a clean towel. Let rise in a warm, draft free place for about one hour or until doubled in bulk.

Punch dough down. Divide dough into two equal parts and form each piece into a loaf. Place in greased 9x5x3-inch loaf pans. Cover and let rise about 45 minutes, or until nearly doubled. While dough is rising, preheat oven to 400 degrees. Bake loaves about 35 minutes or until top is golden brown. Bread is done when it slides easily from the pan and sounds hollow when tapped on the bottom. Let cool on wire racks. Yield: 2 loaves.

This time I didn't try to include nuts and seeds to the dough as I was going for simplicity. As far as the 3 to 3 1/2 cups of bread flour, I think I only used the two the recipe calls for in the first paragraph. When I was kneading the dough it got very dry on me and semi crumbly. I just continued working it and it eventually came together, but there was no way I needed an extra cup or more of bread flour at that point.

Also when I divided the dough I wasn't completely careful with making sure both amounts were sized the same, nor did I shape them into a loaf before I put them in the pans. As a result, my loaves were a tad misshapen but again, they still tasted fantastic. And I didn't use a bread maker with this recipe. Just the good old oven. It's not hard to make bread, but it's just something that takes ultimate precision. Much like ensuring your flour isn't gluten-free.





It's so good to pop a few slices in the oven for a few minutes and then slather them with real butter. Yes, REAL butter. None of that fake stuff, yogurt butter or whatever else is on the shelves. Those products have their place in the cooking world, but fresh hot bread and real butter is a combination like no other. And the smell of fresh hot bread baking is unreal.

And while baking bread is a very precise science, it's not so difficult that it can't be done. I've never used a bread machine and as long as you follow the directions and know exactly what your recipe calls for, you too can have bread success!

Cream Cheese Dumplings

This was such a fun recipe and another great option for party appetizers or a way to experiment with these different fillings and tastes. I knew this recipe was something I wanted to make, but I also thought plain cream cheese was a bit ho-hum. But by digging through the fridge and pushing the limits a bit, I was able to create some pretty awesome taste combinations.

Cream Cheese Dumplings

Heat olive oil (about 2 inches) in a large, deep skillet
Take two blocks of cream cheese and mix them with any of the following:
Feta cheese
Goat
cheese
Garlic
Basil
Oregano
Sun dried tomatoes (in oil, drained and minced)
Salt
Pepper

Take wonton wrappers and lay them on a flat surface. Place a small spoonful of mixture in the center of the wrapper and lightly wet seams all the way around with water.

Pinch corner to corner to seal (will make an X pattern when looking straight down at it). Place wontons in oil and fry on each side until brown. Drain on paper towels

The only thing about this recipe that I didn't care for was the fact that my house smelled like the back of a greasy diner for a day or two after making the dumplings. I even had the vent on when the frying was taking place and it didn't trap all of the smell. But they were absolutely worth it.

The recipe says to use olive oil for frying, but I used canola oil. I also used low-fat Philly Cream Cheese and it turned out completely fine. I normally wouldn't advocate using fat-free in something like this, just because you never know about the consistency, but the low-fat was great. For the fillings, I followed a few of the choices from the actual recipe but I also threw in a few of my own:

Cream Cheese, Sun Dried Tomatoes and Basil
This kind of tasted like a pizza, only better. The sun dried tomatoes (packed in oil) had a nice warmth and the basil (fresh from my little potted plants outside) gave it that bite.

Mozzarella, Turkey Pepperoni and Basil
Here I used a mozzarella string cheese stick that I cut into chunks, and I cut the turkey pepperoni slices into quarters, and slivered the basil. It worked really well, except that the cheese didn't hold up as well as I had hoped. It melted and expanded in the hot oil, of course, but then it cooled down significantly and kind of turned into a blob. It tasted good, though.

Cream Cheese, Feta Cheese and Diced Garlic
Another delicious one! The feta really broke through and overpowered the cream cheese, which is exactly what I was hoping would happen. The garlic was great, too, after being super heated with the hot oil.

Diced Shrimp and Hoisin Sauce
Ooh, you weren't expecting this one, were you? Hoisin sauce is a Chinese dipping sauce, like soy sauce or plum sauce. I had this sauce on hand for a recipe I found in Cooking Light, Hoisin Glazed Beef Kebabs. I used frozen cooked shrimp that I thawed and diced into small pieces and mixed them with a teaspoon or so of the hoisin. Pretty good, but I think it was a solid third place as compared to some of the other mixtures I tried.

When the dumpling is folded, you see the "X"

Cooling on the wire rack after coming out of the oil

Now I can't imagine these are all that good for you, but they're certainly fun to make and they definitely taste good. I used a large pot to fry in, but a deep fryer would also be the best choice. The wonton wrappers I used are Nasoya Wonton Wraps and I was able to find them at a few stores in town. They're refrigerated and usually found in the produce section, at least in my area. They're about 2"-3" square and come in a pack of 60 or so. When they go into the oil, they literally take no more than three or four minutes until they are crisp and brown and ready to come out. Please resist the urge to eat one immediately and do give them time to cool off.

I will definitely make these again and I'll do a few more combinations. I'd love to do one with chocolate, but I don't how well it would respond to the high temperatures since chocolate can burn easily. I think fruit might be good, too. Or, you can cut the wrappers into strips and fry them. From there, they can be used to top soup or just put out in a bowl for people to snack on. Pretty versatile!

Prosciutto and Parmesan Gougères

For the Husband's birthday last year, I surprised him with a class at our local Viking Cooking School. The theme was "Date Night in New York City" and we cooked different dishes particular to New York City establishments. This little gem was part of that class. We made these ourselves and then took the recipe home for future attempts. They're perfect for a party or appetizers before a holiday meal.

Prosciutto and Parmesan Gougères


½ stick unsalted butter (4 T) cut into small pieces
½ C water
¼ t fine salt
1/8 t granulated sugar
¾ C all-purpose flour
3 large eggs (plus one lightly beaten egg)
½ C finely grated Parmesan cheese (2 oz)
6 T finely chopped prosciutto (about 1 ½ oz)
1 pinch freshly grated nutmeg
1 pinch paprika

Preheat oven to 400 degrees; place a rack in the center of the oven.

Combine the butter, water, salt and sugar in a medium sauce pan over medium-high heat; bring to a boil. Immediately remove from heat and add the flour, beating vigorously with a wooden spoon until smooth.

Place the pan back over medium-high heat; cook, stirring constantly, until a smooth mass forms and pulls away from the sides of the pan, about two minutes. The bottom of the pan will be coated with a thin crust.

Transfer the choux paste to the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. On medium speed, add the three eggs, one at a time, mixing well after each addition. Add the parmesan, prosciutto, nutmeg and paprika.

Using a pastry bag fitted with a ½-inch round tip, pipe the warm choux paste onto parchment-lined baking sheets, forming mounds about ¾-inch in diameter. (Note: you may need to use a knife to cut off the choux paste when piping.) Lightly brush just the tops with the beaten egg, then gently smooth with wet fingers. (Note: Be careful to avoid dripping the egg down the sides of the mounds, as this may inhibit rising.)

Place in the preheated oven and bake for 15 minutes. Reduce oven to 375 degrees and continue baking until puffed and golden brown, about 20 minutes more. Transfer the gougères to a wire rack, cool slightly and serve warm or at room temperature.

Now even though I'm not necessarily known for following a recipe to a tee, and have sometimes made bizarre substitutions in place of ingredients I don't have on hand, that doesn't fly when it comes to precision baking like this. Every measurement, every iota of flour and eggs and salt has to be included or you risk dire consequences. And there are too many good things in this recipe for it not to turn out well.

This recipe honestly is more simple than it appears. It's very straightforward and shouldn't pose a problem for someone who wasn't born to bake. The choux paste, for instance, is nothing more than a dough. As for using a piping bag, I used a quart-sized Ziploc bag with a small corner of the bag snipped off. Just dollop the choux paste into the bag and pipe the dough onto the parchment lined baking pan. The freshly piped gougères looked like this:

When they bake, they don't rise all that much. They mainly become airy and much like puffs. Like this:

The recipe says to bake them for an additional 20 minutes once you reduce the heat, but I actually put mine back in for about another 5-8 minutes when I took them out at the 20-minute mark to taste test them. The inside was still a little wet and hadn't dried out, so I let them go a little while longer. That extra few minutes really did the job, and they were fantastic! The egg glaze is what makes them so glossy, and it's really easy to pop three or four at a time until you realize the entire batch has been demolished. These would really be great for a pre-Thanksgiving appetizer or for a housewarming party.