summer rolls!

I have been wanting to be a bit more adventurous in the variety of food I am making. I have also been craving foods that are representative of warm weather. Hence; the summer roll. It is a rice paper roll, packed with fresh vegetables and rice noodles. I also made an easy peanut sauce to accompany them.

It has been a remarkably grey and cold spring, so these summer rolls brought me a bit of needed color and vibrancy.

I call them summer rolls. Also known as spring rolls. They are fun to make, stuffed with good and fresh things, and so fun to eat. Serve them with a peanut sauce, or a sweet chili sauce.

Vermicilli Noodles and Chopped Carrots

Chopped Cucumber

Avocado, Mango, Cucumber, Parsley, and Lime

Add ingredients

Add noodles and more ingredients

Roll up rice wrapper, folding in sides.

One Done!

 

And many more!

With a homemade peanut sauce.

Summer Rolls:
8-10 Rice Paper Wrappers (you can find them in the Asian section of the grocery store)
4oz Vermicilli Noodles (rice noodles)
Fresh Lime Juice
Assorted Vegetables, Chopped
I used Carrots
Cucumber
Avocado
Mango
Freshly Chopped Parsley
Bean Sprouts

Boil a quart of water. Pour over the noodles and soak for 15 minutes. While they are soaking, chop your vegetables in either a food processor or by hand. Sprinkle with fresh lime juice.

After 15 minutes, rinse the noodles in cold water.

Take a rice paper wrapper, and soak in a shallow bowl of water for about 15 seconds, or until pliable. Remove from water and place on a plate. On the bottom third of the paper, place an assortment of fillings. Top with a handful of noodles and then additional fillings. Roll up the paper, tucking in the sides. Continue until all your rice papers are filled and ingredients are gone. Makes about 8 to 10 summer rolls.

Eat immediately, or refrigerate for up to two hours.

Homemade Peanut Sauce:
1/2 cup peanut butter
1/2 cup hot water
3 Tablespoons soy sauce
1 Tablespoon lime juice
3 teaspoons sugar

Stir together hot water and peanut butter until mixed well. Add soy sauce, lime juice and sugar. Mix well. Just before serving, top with crushed peanuts.

simple love.

Happy Easter everyone.

My sister has a favorite cookie. Its a simple one, but its classically Easter for us. We make them at most holidays, and this Easter was no exception.

There is no love like I have for my sister. Honestly, she is probably reading this, but I have to brag and say she is one of the most talented, beautiful, thoughtful women I know. She is great. And simply being with her brings me joy... Especially when it involves good food.

Hershey Kiss Thumbprints

So here is a simple cookie, one that represents comfortability, but also greatness.

Hershey Kiss Thumbprint Cookies
1/2 cup shortening
3/4 cup peanut butter
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1 egg
2 teaspoons vanilla
2 Tablespoons milk
1 1/2 cups flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
36 Hershey Kisses

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.
Mix the shortening, peanut butter, and sugars. Add the egg, vanilla, and milk. In a separate bowl mix the dry ingredients. Stir into the wet ingredients. Roll into 1-inch balls, roll in granulated sugar and place on a cookie sheet. Bake for 8-10 minutes, or until golden. While they are baking, unwrap the kisses. When you remove them from the oven, place a kiss and press into each hot cookie. Remove from cookie sheet and let them cool a bit before eating.

Easter Themed Kisses

Make the dough

Roll into 1-inch balls

Roll in sugar and place on cookie sheet

While the cookies are baking, unwrap the kisses

When they come out of the oven, place a kiss in the hot cookie and press lightly

Yummy.

And this is a tribute to Nick and Dinny. Our ultimate addiction.

the babka.

Yum.

The Babka.
Its a delicious rolled chocolatey bread.
I don't know why its called that, but its amazing.
My only regret with this one is not making it sooner.
It is a new favorite. I got greedy with it. I shared about four slices, and then ate the rest. It is really that good.

The Babka:
DOUGH:
1 teaspoon sugar
1 package yeast (2 1/4 teaspoons)
3/4 cup warm milk
6 Tablespoons Sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 egg yolk
2 2/3 plus 1/4 cup flour
5 Tablespoons butter, cut into pieces, and room temperature

FILLING:
1/2 cup sugar
3 Tablespoons Cocoa powder
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon salt
4 oz chopped chocolate

STREUSEL:
2 Tablespoons powdered sugar
1 Tablespoon flour
1 Tablespoon Butter, softened

Chop the chocolate

Sprinkle on filling

Roll up like a jelly roll

Twist like wringing out a towel

Squeeze in pan, then let it rise. Add streusel topping before baking.

Bake for 40 minutes, or until perfectly golden.

 
Dissolve teaspoon of sugar and yeast into warm milk. Let it stand 5 minutes.
Whisk in 6 tablespoons sugar, vanilla, salt, and egg yolk.
Add flour, but withhold 1/3 cup. Mix until combined.
Add chopped butter, and using your hands, combine well. This is messy! But fun.
Sprinkle counter with remaining 1/3 cup of flour, and scrape dough out onto flour. Begin to knead, until all the flour is incorporated. Knead for 10 minutes, adding more flour to the counter if the dough is sticking too much.
Place in a greased bowl, cover, and let it rise for 90 minutes.

Remove the dough and roll out into a 16x16 circle.
Combine all of the filling ingredients, and evenly sprinkle over rolled out dough, leaving a 1/4inch border. Roll up the dough like a jelly roll. Then, twist the dough as though you are wringing out a towel.
Line the bottom of 9x5 inch bread pan with parchment paper. Grease the sides with cooking spray. Manuever the bread to fit it into the pan (see above).
Cover, and let it rise for another 45 minutes.

Mix streusel ingredients until crumbly. Sprinkle over the top of the bread.
Bake at 350 degrees for 40 minutes.
Remove from pan and let it cool for 10 minutes before removing from the pan. Let it cool completely before slicing and serving.
It is best warmed up and spread with butter.

Be prepared to encounter greed.

easy summer corn chowder.

Summer is coming. It doesn't feel like it outside, but it has to come, right?
Here is a simple corn chowder that is perfect as we move into warmer weather. Serve with homemade croutons and top with some cheese. I served mine with a basic roasted veggie flatbread (below).

Easy Summer Corn Chowder, with homemade croutons and meunster

Saute the zucchini and onions

 Easy Summer Corn Chowder
1 Tablespoon Olive Oil
2 garlic cloves, chopped
2 small zucchini, chopped
1 small red onion, chopped
salt and pepper
3 cups frozen corn, divided
2 1/2 cups milk, divided
1 cup homemade croutons
4 slices meunster cheese

In a large pan, heat the olive oil. Saute the garlic, zucchini, and onions for about 8 minutes, or until the veggies are tender.
Set one cup of corn aside. In a blender, combine remaining corn and 1 cup milk. Blend until smooth. Add remaining milk, couple shakes of salt and pepper, and blend until combined. Pour blended mixture, corn, and sauteed vegetables into a soup pan. Heat well, for about 10 minutes, stirring constantly. Ladle soup into four bowls.
Top with homemade croutons and muenster cheese.

Roasted Vegetable Flatbread

banana beignets.

Say it like "ben-yays".
It is like a little banana doughnut, or fritter.
Amazing and simple.

Banana Beignets

The batter is lumpy and almost like cookie dough

Banana Beignets
2 tablespoons vegetable oil, plus more for frying
1 1/2 cups flour
1 Tablespoon Corn Starch
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1/3 cup plus 1/2 cup granulated sugar
1 large egg
1/2 cup milk or cream
1 large overripe banana, mashed
1 teaspoon vanilla

Whisk together the flour, corn starch, baking powder, salt, and cinnamon. In a separate bowl, stir together the sugar, egg, milk, banana, vanilla, and 2 Tablespoons of oil. Blend the dry ingredients into the wet, until just mixed. The batter will be a bit lumpy.

Heat 2 inches of oil in a fry pan, until it reaches 375degrees. I don't have a thermometer, so I heated it until a piece of bread dropped in the oil sizzled and turned golden in about 15 seconds.

Drop the dough by rounded spoonfuls into the hot oil. Fry on each side for about 15 seconds, or until a rich golden color. Remove from the oil with a slotted spoon, and place beignets on a paper towel. Roll in a mixture of cinnamon and sugar. Serve warm.

Crepes Again. But Savory.

Crepe Egg Bake

Crepes

Stuffed With an Egg, Veggies, and Cheese

Folded Up to make a sqaure, then baked.

Crepe Egg Bake

Crepes:
1 1/3 cups milk
1 cup flour
3 large eggs
3 Tablespoons butter, melted
1 teaspoon sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
In a blender, combine all of these ingredients until smooth.
Heat a skillet. Spray well with cooking spray. Pour a fourth of the batter on the pan and circle around to coat the pan. Cook about 15 seconds on each side, and repeat, making four crepes.

Crepe Filing:
4 eggs
Assorted Vegetables
1 cup Shredded Church, or 4 slices of cheese
Cooking Spray

Heat the oven to 375degrees
Grease a large baking sheet.
Lay one crepe on the baking sheet. Crack an egg onto the crepe, top with veggies and 1/4 cheese. Fold up the four corners of the crepe (see above).
Repeat with all four crepes. Place in the oven and bake about 10-12 minutes, or until egg is cooked.

food and art.

Cranberries, Cinnamon, Sugar and Almonds, to fill a beautiful bread

Braided Berry-Almond Cream Cheese Loaf. So pretty.

My friend Cynthia and I are currently in the process of starting a wedding consulting company. Today I met with our attorney to begin the process of incorporation. As I sat down to tell him about the business model, he asked me to just give him the vision, or the story behind starting a company. As I did, I found myself explaining to him the passion that both Cynthia and I have for beauty. We love to make things beautiful; especially in relation to people. It is so fun to figure out what someone loves; and then help them create a space and an event that is representative of who they are.

Roll out the dough

Sometimes I feel that way about cooking; it is a form of beauty, a form of creating, that gets to represent to the world a little bit of who I am. I have only a month left of grad-school, and life seems to be speeding up without the hope of rest anytime soon. In addition to being a creative outlet, food is also therapeudic for me. So I carved out some time for the kitchen this week, and did a little bread baking.

Breads are fun, because they force you to slow down. You can't force a dough to rise faster, no matter how hard you try. To get the right consistency, you have to be patient with kneading and patient in waiting. With this specific bread, you then have to roll it out, fill it, let it rise again, and then wait for it to bake. It is a process; but one I promise is worth engaging in.

Make a filling

Cut out the corners and top it with filling

Cut the sides into strips, and top with extra goodness

Braid!

The finished loaf. Now let it rise again!

Braided Berry Almond Cream Cheese Loaf:
Serves 8. Adopted from Smitten Kitchen.

Be prepared to have your patience tested.

The dough:

6 tablespoons warm water
1 teaspoon sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons instant yeast
1/4 cup unbleached all-purpose flour
Mix these ingredients in a bowl; cover loosely with plastic, and set aside for about 15 minutes.

6 tablespoons sour cream
1/4 cup butter, softened
1 large egg, beaten for dough
1/4 cup sugar
1 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons almond extract
2 1/2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour

In a large bowl, whisk together sour cream, butter, egg and sugar. Add above mixture and combine well. Stir in salt, extract, and flour until combined. Pour dough out on a well-floured surface and knead well for about 10 minutes.

Place the dough in a lightly greased bowl, cover with plastic, and let it rise for about 90 minutes, or until doubled.

The filling:
4 oz cream cheese (I used strawberry flavored, but you can use plain as well!)
3 Tablespoons Sugar
1 Tablespoon Milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 Tablespoon Flour
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 cup dried cranberries
Combine all ingredients until well mixed and spreadable.

In a separate bowl, stir together the extra goodies:
1/2 cup dried cranberries
1/2 cup sliced almonds
2 teaspoons cinnamon
3 Tablespoons Sugar

Assemble the bread.
After the dough has risen, roll it out into a 10x15 inch rectangle.
Transfer the dough to parchment paper (VERY important).
Cut out the corners of the dough (see above) and then fill the middle third of the bread with the first part of the filling. Top with the extra goodies.
Next, slice the dough sides into strips, making sure you have an even amount on each side.
Tuck the first end, and then begin to braid the strips, completing the braid at the other end (see above).
Loosely cover the bread with plastic wrap, and let it rise again, for about 45 minutes to an hour.

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.
Beat 1 egg with 1 teaspoon of water, and brush the bread with this mixture.
Sprinkle with extra sugar, almonds, cranberries, and cinnamon for astetic appeal.
Bake for 25-30 minutes, or until golden brown. Don't overbake!
Remove from the oven, let it cool for 10-15 minutes, and then serve warm.

curry and crisps

Sweet Potatoes for the Curry

For dinner club this Thursday, we did an easy chicken curry. My friend Eunice was in from Georgia visiting. She arrived just in time for supper club, and jumped right in to our weekly ritual. Its pretty remarkable thing to have friends who can so easily slide into life with you. I am grateful for friendships that have lasted, and grown through our changing 20s.

Easy Chicken Curry
Feel free to tamper with this recipe! It is great to use vegetables, potatoes, or any kind of meat you like.  And remember, I was feeding 8... It makes a LOT.

1 onion, sliced
4 cloves garlic, chopped
3 Tablespoons Olive Oil
2 cups chopped chicken (use leftovers from a Rotisserie!)
2 potatoes, peeled and chopped
1 sweet potato peeled and chopped
4 cups vegetables chopped (zucchini, carrots, mushrooms, peppers)
2 cans coconut milk
3 cups chicken broth
1 cup cream
4 Tablespoons Curry Powder
1 teaspoon cinnamon
Salt and pepper to taste
4 cups cooked white rice

A pot filled with good things.

Up close and personal

In a large soup pot, heat olive oil. Add onions and garlic, and saute until golden, about 3 minutes. Add chicken broth, cream, coconut milk, cinnamon, curry powder, potatoes and carrots. Bring to a boil, and simmer for about 12 minutes. Add remaining ingredients and simmer until chicken is heated through and vegetables are tender. Serve over white rice and season with salt and pepper.

With cream, coconut milk, and remaining vegetables

Balsamic Crisps
(I inherited this recipe from a former boss. It is so adaptable; you simply need stale bread, olive oil, balsamic, and any kind of cheese)
Stale bread, sliced (For these pictures, I used old bagels!)
1/2 cup olive oil
1/2 cup balsamic
cheese

An easy, and delicious side

Mix the balsamic and olive oil in a bowl. Dip each slice of bread into the mixture, coating fully. Place on cookie sheet and top with cheese. I used provolone this time. Bake in the oven at 450degrees for about 12 minutes, or until cheese is bubbly.

Golden, Delicious, Crispy