My sister bakes too!

Looks like I wasn't the only one busy in the kitchen this weekend. My sister sent me some pictures to show off her baking skills. This one caught my eye, a pistachio coffee cake. Doesn't it look good?

PISTACHIO NUT SWIRL CAKE
Cake:
1 package (2 layer cake size) yellow cake mix
1 package Pistachio Instant Pudding
4 eggs
1 Cup sour cream (the real stuff, not light)
1/2 Cup oil
1/2 teaspoon almond extract
1/2 Cup sugar
1/2 Cup brown sugar
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 Cup chopped pistachio
1/2 Cup chopped walnuts

Topping:
Powder sugar (optional)
1/4 cup finely chopped pistachio

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

Combine cake mix, pudding, 4 eggs, sour cream, oil and the almond extract in large mixing bowl. Blend just enough with spoon to get it lightly mixed. Beat at medium speed with electric mixer for 2 minutes. Batter will be very thick. Combine sugars, cinnamon, and nuts in a bowl.

Pour 1/3 of batter into a greased and floured 10" bunt pan; sprinkle with of sugar mixture and top with remaining batter.

Bake in 350 oven for 40 minutes or until cake test come out clean. Cool for 15 minutes before removing from pan. When completely cooled dust with powder sugar & finely chopped pistachios.

Schezuan Beef Noodle Soup

Lots of cooking in the kitchen this weekend. As much for the need to eat and prep my Daring Baker's May challenge as it was to relieve stress. While I can't say what I prepped for the Daring Baker's challenge, I can report that we have several containers of strawberry jam that I made yesterday.

Today was the DB prep as well as noodle for some Schezuan Beef Noodle Soup that Jim cooked up. We've only had this dish at restaurants and wanted to make it at home but never found the right recipe. Today while surfing the net, Jim came across a recipe that looked good. Using it and several others he put together a soup that was slap your momma good. I know.....terrible term to use on Mother's Day but it's true, this soup was great! And there is enough leftover for dinner tomorrow night.

To go with it, I also made scallion pancakes, another elusive recipe that I've tried to make several times before with limited success. But after looking at several, I made one that came as close to the real thing as ever.

Scallion Pancakes
2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup warm water
1 tsp salt
1 bunch scallions, finely chopped
vegetable oil

Mix the flour, water and salt in a bowl until a ball is formed. Turn out onto a flat surface and knead for about 5 minutes or until smooth. Add flour or water as needed. Cover the dough and let it rest for 15 minutes.

Unwrap the dough and divide into 6 sections and roll into balls. Keep covered until ready to roll out. One piece at a time, roll out the dough into a circle about 1/8" thick and brush with oil.
Scatter about 1-2 tbsp of the scallions on top of the dough.
Roll up the dough like a cigar.
Then coil it up .Cover and repeat with the remaining pieces of dough. When all are done, take out one piece and roll it out to about 1/8" thickness. (don't worry if it squishes out green onions)Heat a skillet over medium heat with 1 tsp oil. When hot add one pancake and cook until the bottom is golden brown, flip over and brown the other side. Repeat with remaining pancakes. Slice into 4-6 pieces and serve.


Egg Free Chinese Noodles
3 cups all-purpose flour
2 tsp coarse salt
2 tsp corn or peanut oil
1 cup water

Mix all the ingredients and knead by hand for about 5 minutes or until the dough is smooth and elastic. Cover with plastic wrap and set aside for 30 minutes.

Unwrap the dough, cut into 4 equal pieces. Cover set aside. Take one piece at a time and flatten with your hands into a disc. Roll out to a 14 inch square (and less than 1/8" thick), dusting with flour as needed. Move the dough to a cloth or paper towel to dry while you work on the other three pieces.

Taking the first piece you rolled out, liberally dust both sides with cornstarch, smoothing it out with your hands. taking opposite edges, fold the dough into thirds. Using a pizza cutter, slice the dough into even strips about 1/8" in width (or slightly wider if you like). Unroll the noodles by tossing them with your fingers. Spread them out on a cookie sheet to dry for 15-20 minutes. You can cook them at this point or put them in a plastic bag and refrigerate or freeze them.

To cook them: Place in boiling soup or water for about 3 - 4 minutes or until desired tenderness.

Schezuan Beef Noodle Soup
3 1/2 lbs beef short ribs bone-in
2 1/2 quarts water
1/2 cup aji-mirin (or shaoxing and additional brown sugar if needed)
1/2 cup soy sauce
2 tsp five spice powder (or 5-6 whole star anise pods)
2 tsp whole szechuan peppercorns
1 tsp red pepper flakes
4 inch piece of ginger, cut into several pieces and crushed with the back of a knife
6 green onions, green parts chopped, white parts crushed with the back of a knife
6 cloves garlic, crushed with the back of a knife
10 cilantro stems, leaves separated from stem pieces

Soak beef in cold water for 20 minutes to remove blood, then dispose of water
Bring 2 1/2 quarts of water to boil in stock pot.
Add beef, return to boil, skim foam and impurities from surface.
Reduce to simmer, add aji-mirin, soy sauce, five spice powder, szechuan peppercorns, pepper flakes, ginger, white part of green onions, garlic, and cilantro stems.
Simmer for 2 1/2 hours. Remove beef, then strain solids from soup and add soup back into pot. Debone the beef, then remove fat and cartilage and add back into pot.

Return to boil, use soup to cook chinese wheat noodles (store-bought or use recipe here). Also, if desired add steamed greens or use broth to cook baby bok choy or watercress. Serve in soup bowls with cilantro and green onion tops for garnish.

Chicken Enchiladas

I made these last week and just now got around to posting it. But the timing is great as today is Cinco De Mayo. So pop a few Pacifico's in the fridge and start cooking.

I modified this recipe that I found in the Dec. 07 Cooking Light. If was very easy to make and very, very tasty.

Green Chile Chicken Enchiladas
3 cups chicken broth
1½ cups finely chopped onion, divided
2 teaspoons dried oregano
½ teaspoon salt
4 (6 oz) skinless, boneless chicken breast halves
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 bay leaf
½ cup sour cream
3 cups Green Chile Sauce (see recipe below)
Cooking spray
16 (6 inch) corn tortillas
¾ cup (3 oz) shredded Monterey Jack cheese
½ cup (2 oz) shredded cheddar cheese

Combine broth, 1 cup onion, and next 5 ingredients in a large saucepan; bring to a boil. Reduce heat, and simmer 15 minutes or until chicken is done. Remove chicken from pan; chill 15 minutes. Shred chicken into bite sized pieces. Combine chicken, remaining ½ cup onion, and sour cream in a bowl, stirring well.

Preheat oven to 350°. Spread ¼ cup of the Green Chile Sauce in the bottom of 2 (11” x 7”) baking dishes coated with cooking spray. If the tortillas are stiff, warm them according to package directions. Spoon about 1/3 cup chicken mixture down center of each tortilla; roll up. Place 8 filled tortillas, seam-side down, in each dish; pour 1¼ cups of remaining Green Chile Sauce over filled tortillas in each dish. Combine cheeses in a bowl. Sprinkle half of cheese mixture evenly over filled tortillas in each dish. Bake at 350° for 18 minutes or until thoroughly heated.

Serves 4

Green Chile Sauce

6 Anaheim chiles*
1 tablespoon canola oil
2 cups chopped onion
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 tablespoon all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon ground coriander
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 (14-ounce) can fat-free, less-sodium chicken broth

Preheat broiler.** Place chiles on a foil lined baking sheet; broil 14 minutes or until blackened and charred, turning after 7 minutes. Place in a zip-top plastic bag; seal. Let stand 15 minutes. Peel and discard skins. Cut a lengthwise slit in each chile. Remove and discard seeds and tops. Chop chilies to measure 3/4 cup.

Heat canola oil in a medium saucepan over medium-high heat. Add onion to pan; sauté 5 minutes or until tender. Add garlic; sauté for 1 minute. Stir in flour; cook 1 minute. Add chiles, coriander, salt, and broth; bring to a boil. Reduce heat, and simmer 15 minutes, stirring occasionally. Remove from heat. Using a stick blender, blend the mixture until smooth; stir well. Cool completely.

* I used poblano chilies.

** I used the gas stove top to char the chilies. I placed each one on a serving fork and held it over the open flame, turning as the skin .

Say Cheese! Cheesecake Pops - Daring Bakers April Challenge

When I found out that this months Daring Bakers Challenge was cheesecake pops I was excited. Cheesecake is one of my favorite desserts to make. I've even won a second place in a local baking contest years ago when I was living in Tennessee. It was a white chocolate-raspberry swirl cheesecake. (and not to be out done, I won first place the following year with dark chocolate raspberry brownies)

For those of you who do not know who the Daring Bakers are, let me tell you. We are a group of avid cooks and bakers who all receive the same recipe at the beginning of the month. We have most of the month to make this recipe but we wait until the same day at the end of the month to post. Until that day, our challenge is a secret.

I planned to make the cheesecake a couple of weekends ago but my plans were set aside when we had to take Sophie to the emergency vet. Thankfully she's ok but I was wiped out so no baking. The following weekend was less hectic so the cheesecake was made and set in the fridge to await pop making.

I soon figured out that freezer side of my skinny side by side fridge was way too narrow to fit my cookie sheets. Rats! I had to improvise by using a smaller baking dish and freezing only eight naked pops at a time, letting them set up, moving them to another small baking dish and repeating the process until all 40 pops were formed.

Similarly, I also did this when Jim and I dipped them in chocolate. We could only do about eight at a time because of the skinny freezer space. But once we got a rhythm going all went smoothly. I had an assortment of toppings for the pops set on the counter and Jim stood command at the stove to dip.

We had an assortment of toppings like crushed macadamia nuts, coconut, crushed almonds, mini M&M's and shaved dark chocolate and some pops were just dipped without any extra topping. It took about 2 hours to get all the pops done dipped and back into the freezer. The next day I brought them into work for my staff. Needless to say, they didn't last long and my staff are looking forward to next month's challenge.

And to see other Darking Bakers pops check out the blogroll.

Win Stuff! A Bloggy Giveaway

If you like to win stuff (and really, who doesn't), head on over to the Clean Plate Club to enter two bloggy giveaways. The first one is for a Williams-Sonoma Gift Card and the second one is for a cake decorating cookbook.

Let me know if you win!

Skillet Fried Corn

Having three ears of corn sitting in the fridge for a week, I knew I needed to use them and fast before they spoiled. Simply boiling them would have been tasty but messy and I wasn't in the mood for messy. So I did what any good Southern cook would do, I cut the corn kernels off the cob and fried them up in a skillet.

First I cut off the kernels and with the back of the knife, scrapped off all the pulp still left on the cob. Setting that aside, I finely diced half a small onion and cooked them over medium heat until they were lightly browned then tossed in two cloves of finely diced garlic, some salt and black pepper. Once all that was combined together, I added the corn and about 1/4 cup of chicken stock and let it cook over medium heat until most of the liquid was nearly cooked away.

I served it with some sauteed bok choy and pork chops.

Spicy skirt steak

Kudos to Joe over at Culinary in the Country for this recipe. I saw it last Wednesday and immediately printed it out and made for dinner that night. I substituted skirt steak (or flap steak) for flank steak but otherwise I followed the recipe to the letter. It was so easy to make and tasted absolutely wonderful. All the flavors were perfectly balanced. According to Jim, the leftovers heated up quite nicely the next for lunch.

Check out Joe's recipe and picture here.

I've also copied the recipe below.
Flank Steak with Hot Peanut Sauce
(from Culinary in the Country)

1/3 cup chopped green onions
1/3 cup soy sauce
1 tablespoon brown sugar
1 tablespoon minced fresh ginger
1 tablespoon fresh lime juice
2 teaspoons toasted sesame oil
1 teaspoon crushed red pepper
2 garlic cloves, minced
16 ounces trimmed flank steak, sliced diagonally into thin pieces
1/2 cup water
1 tablespoon crunchy peanut butter
1 teaspoon cornstarch
2 teaspoons canola oil

In a small bowl, whisk together green onions, soy sauce, brown sugar, ginger, lime juice, sesame oil, crushed red pepper and garlic. Place 1/4 cup of the sauce into a zip-loc bag along with the sliced steak. Seal the bag, move the steak around so the pieces get coated and place in the refrigerator to chill for at least 2 hours.

In a small saucepan, add remaining soy mixture, water, peanut butter and cornstarch. Bring to a simmer - cook for 1 minute, stirring. Remove from the heat and keep warm. Remove steak from the marinade and discard any excess liquids.

Heat 2 teaspoons canola oil in a large skillet over medium-high - add beef and cook 2 minutes on each side, or until they are as done as you prefer. Serve with the peanut sauce and hot cooked rice, if desired.

Makes 4 servings.

A sick pup and weekend meals by Jim

I'm glad Jim's been in the mood to cook this weekend. I'm exhausted from being up all night with a sick doggie. Sophie had me up almost all night panting, scratching and acting very hyper. Turns out she was having a bad allergic reaction to something. By 9:00 this morning she was covered in welts and miserable. I'd given her an antihistamine during the night but it didn't seem to help so we put her in the car and took her to the Alexandria Animal Hospital which is, thankfully, about 2 miles from home.

They gave her a shot of Benadryl, we got a bottle of pills to give her for the next 10 days and we were on our way. She slept most of the day from the Benadryl and is now welt-free. I, however, am exhausted. Only 3 hours sleep is not near enough for me. I was dragging my ass all day. But at least our little girl is feeling better. In fact she's curled up next to me while I write this and snoring. I'll be doing the same shortly myself.

But getting back to Jim's cooking this weekend. Yesterday we went to Wegman's and saw them filleting a huge halibut. We picked out two pretty pieces, got some morel mushrooms (gads those things are expensive) and Jim began to put together a plan for dinner. He made a sauce for the halibut out of onion, white wine, a touch of cream and the morel mushrooms. Then he cooked the halibut in an iron skillet while he cooked some pasta. Once it was all done, he plated the pasta and put a piece of the halibut on top then poured some of the sauce over it. We also had a fresh baguette was also on the table to sop up the sauce.
The meal was great. The halibut was fresh and flavorful and topped with the sauce made it out of this world. The sauce had just enough creaminess to it from the cream to give it a nice mouth feel and flavorwise everything was perfectly balanced. The only thing Jim would do different next time would be to use a stick blender to puree the onions and make the sauce completely smooth.

Tonight he prepared a couscous paella. It was fairly easy to put together which made me happy since it meant I could zombie out on the couch with a still sleepy dog. The recipe is a true creation of Jim's that he made using what he thought would be good together and he was spot on. For the meat, he used a smokey chorizo sausage and chicken legs. Poblano peppers, onions and saffron joined the party to boost the flavor. Served with a nice sauvignon blanc, it was absolutely fabulous. I told him to write this recipe down so it can be made again and I'm posting it here to share with everyone.


Halibut with with morel chardonnay cream sauce
Cooked pasta (I used campanelle, other short pastas would work as well)
1 onion, diced
1-2 tablespoons Smart Balance spread (you can use butter)
6 large morel mushrooms
1 cup chardonnay (or other dry white wine)
1 cup chicken stock
1/2 cup cream
2 large halibut fillet pieces with skin (about a half-pound each)
Italian parsley

Sautee onion in Smart Balance (This is the only thing that is healthy in this dish). Slice morel mushrooms longways, wash gently on inside and out. Place in skillet with the onions, cook for about 5 minutes. Remove the mushrooms, put wine and chicken stock in skillet. Reduce with onions until liquid is reduced by 1/2.

While this is reducing, heat olive oil iron skillet over medium-high heat until it is hot but not smoking. Salt and pepper halibut fillets. Add halibut pieces meat side down and cover. After 5 minutes, flip fillets to skin side, reduce heat and cook for 5-10 minutes until done. Skin may stick; that's ok, just take the meat right off and leave the skin in the pan.

After sauce has reduced, add cream, stir, then add mushrooms. Cook for a short time on low heat to let the mushrooms absorb some of the sauce.

To plate, put pasta on plate. Spoon chardonnay cream sauce, with onions and mushrooms, on to pasta. Sprinkle with chopped Italian parsley. Place halibut fillet on top.


Couscous paella
4 chicken legs
4 oz Spanish chorizo (dry sausage)
2 poblano peppers
2 small or 1 large onions
3 cloves garlic
1 box (10 oz) couscous
2 cups chicken stock
large pinch saffron
1 lime

Heat olive oil in skillet over medium-high heat. Salt chicken legs then brown in olive oil, about 5 minutes on each side. Remove.

While chicken legs are browning, dice onions and poblano peppers, rough chop garlic and slice chorizo into 1/4 inch slices. Sautee onions and poblano peppers until they start to brown, then add chorizo and garlic. While this is sauteeing, put the large pinch of saffron in a little (1 oz or so) hot water to let it bloom.

After chorizo gets a little crispy and brown around the edges, add 2 cups chicken stock and saffron and water. Return chicken legs to skillet. Braise covered for 10 minutes, then flip chicken legs and braise for another 10 minutes. Remove legs, strip meat from legs and return meat to pan. Return pan to boil. Add couscous to skillet, turn off heat and let sit for 5 minutes. Add lime juice and salt to taste.