Bakewell Tarts [Daring Bakers]

I love being a part of The Daring Kitchen. Sometimes the challenges turn out well, and sometimes they fail. Regardless of the outcome, I always feel coaxed into new directions, introduced to new techniques and encouraged to explore new territory in the kitchen. I have never heard Bakewell Tarts. I read through the components: shortbread crust (yum!), home-made jam (yes!) and a frangipane top (ooooohhh!). I just knew there was no way for this to go but DESSERT HEAVEN! For those of you unfamiliar with frangipane, it is cake made out of ground almonds, eggs, sugar, flour and butter and it is good stuff.

Homemade anything is better than store-bought. I've been wanting to try homemade jam, but lack the whole jarring/canning equipment and frankly, I haven't the space for it in my kitchen! I didn't realize that you can easily make jam out of any fruit, in your kitchen, without jarring that keeps for quite awhile in the refrigerator! I used a little unflavored gelatin to set the jam, although I don't see why you can't use Pectin. Gelatin was what I had on hand, so gelatin is what I used. Click HERE for my Jam recipes =)

This was EASY, YUMMY and I learned A LOT. Instead of cutting the cold butter into tiny chunks for the dough, I learned to freeze a stick of butter & quickly grate it into the flour. This fast, efficient process means less handling of the dough time, which results in a flakier crust. The shortbread was awesome. I will be using it as a crust, for cookies, for consoling myself after a long week, basically anything. The jam? Yes please, I'd like to be encased in it. The frangipane? Almondy, puffy, soft cake. Aromatic and pleasantly topped with crunchy sliced almonds.

I made my Bakewell Tarts in muffin pans as I am a bit adverse to big slabs of dessert. I like my sweets to be petite sized so that I can pretend they aren't subversively making me into a huge slab of a dessert-loving woman. It's a fact: pretty little desserts make you prettier. And littler.

The June Daring Bakers' challenge was hosted by Jasmine of Confessions of a Cardamom Addict and Annemarie of Ambrosia and Nectar. They chose a Traditional (UK) Bakewell Tart... er... pudding that was inspired by a rich baking history dating back to the 1800's in England.

RECIPE:

Sweet shortcrust pastry

225g (8oz) all purpose flour
30g (1oz) sugar
2.5ml (½ tsp) salt
110g (4oz) unsalted butter, cold (frozen is better)
2 (2) egg yolks
2.5ml (½ tsp) almond extract (optional)
15-30ml (1-2 Tbsp) cold water
Sift together flour, sugar and salt. Grate butter into the flour mixture, using the large hole-side of a box grater. Using your finger tips only, and working very quickly, rub the fat into the flour until the mixture resembles bread crumbs. Set aside.
Lightly beat the egg yolks with the almond extract (if using) and quickly mix into the flour mixture. Keep mixing while dribbling in the water, only adding enough to form a cohesive and slightly sticky dough.
Form the dough into a disc, wrap in cling and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes

Frangipane

125g (4.5oz) unsalted butter, softened
125g (4.5oz) icing sugar
3 (3) eggs
2.5ml (½ tsp) almond extract
125g (4.5oz) ground almonds
30g (1oz) all purpose flour
Cream butter and sugar together for about a minute or until the mixture is primrose in colour and very fluffy. Scrape down the side of the bowl and add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. The batter may appear to curdle. In the words of Douglas Adams: Don’t panic. Really. It’ll be fine. After all three are in, pour in the almond extract and mix for about another 30 seconds and scrape down the sides again. With the beaters on, spoon in the ground nuts and the flour. Mix well. The mixture will be soft, keep its slightly curdled look (mostly from the almonds) and retain its pallid yellow color.
Assembling the tart
Place the chilled dough disc in between two sheets of wax paper. If it's overly cold, you will need to let it become acclimatised for about 15 minutes before you roll it out. Roll the pastry to 5mm (1/4”) thickness, by rolling in one direction only (start from the centre and roll away from you), and turning the disc a quarter turn after each roll. When the pastry is to the desired size and thickness, use a cookie cutter (I think I used a 3") to cut out rounds. Re-roll scraps if necessary to make more. Patch any holes, fissures or tears with trimmed bits. Chill in the freezer for 15 minutes.
Preheat oven to 400F.
Remove tarts from freezer, spread as even a layer as you can of jam onto the pastry base. Top with frangipane, spreading to cover the entire surface of the tart. Smooth the top and pop into the oven for 15 minutes. Five minutes before the tart is done, the top will be poofy and brownish. Remove from oven and strew flaked almonds on top and return to the heat for the last five minutes of baking.
The finished tarts will have a golden crust and the frangipane will be tanned, poofy and a bit spongy-looking. Remove from the oven and cool on the counter.

...and in closing, a completely unrelated photograph of the neighborhood cat that has adopted us.

JAM!

Homemade jam. HELLO!

As .ЯR. would say, "This does not suck!" As part of my Daring Baker's challenge I had to make jam. While strolling through Grower's Ranch, I picked out a bunch of apricots and a flat of strawberries. I did a little googling and found this recipe for quick pan jam. In the article, Mark Bittman touches upon some of the basics of jam, tossing around quantities of sugar that I don't understand the need for and words like 'acidity' and 'boiling' sometimes 'reducing' and always 'thickening'. I could have done more research. I could have bought a canning set. Instead, I thought about how to shortcut the process even further to really balance out my Domestic Goddessnesslikeness (it's a word, I checked) with my Complete and Total Laziness. Enter: unflavored Gelatin.

Horse-hooves, Jello-Jigglers and Bill Cosby; Jello means a lot to us who grew up eating it. Today, at the ripe age of 28, jello means that my jam will set in record time. How was my jam? OUTSTANDING. The apricot was my favorite, but the strawberry was mighty delicious. In fact, we just made more strawberry & a batch of fresh blueberry jam. It takes about 30 minutes to cook and a few hours to cool & set.

INGREDIENTS:

• 2 cups fruit
• 1/2 cup+ sugar
• 1 packet unflavored gelatin

DIRECTIONS:

1. Mix fruit & sugar in saucepan and bring to gentle boil over medium high heat.
2. Reduce heat and simmer 5-10 minutes
3. Remove from heat & cool slightly
4. Mix gelatin with a touch of water to dissolve.
5. Stir into jam.
6. Cool completely, covered in fridge until set.

Sweet Corn Cakes with Chili-Rubbed Scallops & Avocado-Mango Salsa!

CANCEL ALL YOUR DINNER PLANS AND MAKE THIS.

Fresh corn sings summer like little else in the realm of food. Neat rows of ears, tightly wrapped in their husks, line up to be sold at every market and farm stand. They just beg to be thrown on a grill or tossed in a summer salad or put in these delicious corn cakes!

I love pancakes and I love corn. Did somebody say corn pancakes? I'M IN! We had a bag of frozen Japanese scallops from Trader Joe's (it's a weekday...) and I made a quick stop at Grower's Ranch for the rest of the ingredients. Using frozen sea scallops made this meal low-cost and low-effort.

I had to experiment a bit with the pancakes, and I wasn't sure how they would turn out. Corn ear sizes vary, so you have to do some of this by eye rather than by strict measurement. You want the batter to be lumpy; more corn than flour/milk. We found that the best way to cook them was to pan fry them to form a nice crust and finish baking them through in the oven. We will be making many kinds of vegetable-based cakes like this all summer. Finally, something new in the oft-neglected starch sector of our plates!

The natural sweetness of fresh white corn beautifully balanced out with the spiciness of the chili powder. The mango & avocado salsa was absolutely divine. The dish also has a variety of color and textural differences, making it really stand out to both the eye and the palate. The scallops?! Tender, succulent and sweet! The chili powder forms a nice crust on the scallop so that the outside becomes slightly crispy and caramelized while the inside retains the silken consistency and juicy sweetness of a good scallop. The best way to ensure a nice crust and an evenly cooked scallop is to thoroughly pat them all dry, or leave them on a layer of paper towels to absorb any excess moisture. Gently toss the scallops in seasoning and they're ready for the fire!

Enjoy!

INGREDIENTS:

Corn Pancakes:

• 2-3 ears fresh corn, shucked and sliced off the cobs
• 1/2 cup reduced fat milk
• 2 whole eggs
• 3/4 cup+ all purpose flour
• cracked pepper & salt
• 1/4 cup thinly sliced green onion

Scallops:

• enough scallops for two people (depends on size of the scallop)
• chili powder & blackening seasoning
• 2 TBSP olive oil

Salsa:

• 1 ripe mango, peeled & cut into 1/2" chunks
• 1 ripe avocado, peeled & cut into 1/2" chunks
• 1 small shallot minced
• 1 clove garlic, minced
• juice of 1 lime
• 1 TBSP minced red jalapeno
• 3 TSBP minced cilantro

DIRECTIONS:

1. Thaw scallops (if frozen) and pat dry.
   
2. Mix all salsa ingredients gently and refrigerate.
3. For pancakes, preheat oven to 250'.
4. Mix eggs & milk together until smooth. Stir in salt, pepper, corn, and green onion. Add flour and mix until dry ingredients are incorporated. You want a nice chunky, lumpy batter. If it's too wet, add more flour. Too dry? Add more milk.
5. Heat olive oil in pan and drop in pancake batter by the spoonful (the more you put it, the bigger the cake!)
6. When golden on the bottom, flip and cook other side.
7. Remove to baking sheet and keep warm in oven until ALL batter is gone.
8. When all the cakes are in the oven, crank the heat up to 350' to cook them through.
9. Season the scallops with chili powder, cayenne, blackening seasoning...whatever hot powder you've got.
10. Heat oil in frying pan until hot. Sear scallops, shaking pan occassionally, about 4 minutes per side. Finish with a nice squeeze of lime over the top of the hot scallops in pan.
    
11. Serve cakes on plate, scallops on cakes and salsa on top!
    

Sea Bass with Cucumber Salad & Soy-Mustard Dressing

This is not the prettiest picture. ::hangs head in shame:: In my defense, I wasn't at home, didn't have my own camera or my sweet Lowel EGO lights. I just can't seem to make .ЯR.'s camera work for me. It's a nice camera, it just doesn't like me.

That aside, this meal was delicious! I based it on this one. Light, healthy and perfect for a mid-week dinner. We started off with the Shrimp & Vegetable Spring Rolls which made a nice transition to this as a main course. I will definitely be making this recipe again!

Ingredients

• 3 tablespoons soy sauce
• 3 tablespoons rice vinegar
• 1 tablespoon mirin
• 1 tablespoon sake
• 2 teaspoons whole-grain mustard
• 3 garlic cloves, coarsely chopped
• 6 tablespoon vegetable oil
• 1/2 medium seedless cucumber, peeled and halved crosswise
• One 3-inch piece of carrot, peeled
• One 3-inch piece of daikon, peeled
• 1 medium shallot, thinly sliced crosswise
• Two 6-ounce skinless sea bass fillets
• Salt and freshly ground pepper
• 1 long red fresh chile, cut into long, fine strips
• Toasted sesame seeds, cilantro leaves and finely chopped chives, for garnish

Directions

1. In a bowl, mix the soy sauce with the rice vinegar, mirin, sake, mustard and one-third of the garlic. Blend with immersion blender and slowly pour in 3 tablespoons of the vegetable oil and blend until smooth.
2. Using a mandoline, thinly slice half of the cucumber lengthwise. Finely julienne the remaining cucumber half as well as the carrot and daikon. In a medium bowl, toss the julienned vegetables together.
3. In a large skillet, heat the remaining 3 tablespoons of vegetable oil. Add the sliced shallot and the remaining garlic and cook over until golden brown, about 3 minutes. With a slotted spoon, transfer the shallot and garlic to a paper towel–lined plate to drain.
4. Season the fish fillets with salt and pepper and add them to the skillet. Cook over moderately high heat until browned on the bottom, about 4 minutes. Turn and cook over moderate heat until just white throughout, about 2 minutes longer.
5. Spoon 1 tablespoon of the soy-mustard dressing in the center of each plate. Fold the cucumber slices and arrange them on the dressing. Set the grouper fillets on the cucumbers, browned sides up, and top with the julienned vegetables. Drizzle with the remaining dressing. Garnish with the fried garlic and shallot, the chili strips, toasted sesame seeds, cilantro leaves and chives and serve right away.

Make Ahead

The soy-mustard dressing can be refrigerated overnight. Bring to room temperature before using.

Shrimp & Vegetable Spring Rolls

I love a wide variety of ethnic food, and go out for phở regularly. When I do, these spring rolls are a must! Something about the combination of translucent noodles, crunchy vegetables, the zing of fresh herbs and a slightly sweet sauce just make my tastebuds happy. They are light and healthy, provided you ignore the appalling amount of peanut sauce we slather on them.

I tried making spring rolls before, only to have my dreams turn into a nightmare of starchy, sticky rice paper wrappers. This time would be different. This time I'd get it right. The trick is to bring the soaking water to a simmer and then add cold water so the temperature is very warm but NOT HOT. Too hot and the wrapper shrivels into itself and practically disappears into a clear lump of sticky rice goo. Too cold and the wrappers do not soften. It has to be juuuust right.

There are a million variations you could make of these spring rolls, besides the traditional shrimp or pork Vietnamese filling. Shrimp with mango and chiles? Yes! Salmon sashimi with lemon, Sriracha, and cucumber? Love it! Ahi sashimi with avocado, toasted sesame oil, and soy sauce? Yum! The possibilities are endless and I plan on making endless platters of these rolls this summer.

I think you should too! =)

Adapted from Food & Wine

Makes 4

INGREDIENTS:

• 1 carrot, shredded
• 1 small red onion, thinly sliced
• 1/4 cup rice vinegar
  
• 1 tbsp sugar

• 2 garlic cloves, smashed
• 1/2 cup rice vinegar
• 1-2 tbsp sugar
• 1 tbsp asian fish sauce
• 1 slice red jalapeno with seeds

• 4 - 8" rice paper wrappers
• cilantro sprigs
• 1 small head boston or butter lettuce, leaves separated
• 12 shrimp, deveined, boiled, peeled & halved legnthwise
• 1/2 yellow bell pepper cut into thin strips
• 3.5 oz thin bean thread vermicelli, soaked in hot water until pliable, drained & chopped

DIRECTIONS:

1. In a bowl, toss the carrots, onion, 1/4 cup of the vinegar and 1 tablespoon sugar. Let stand until the vegetables soften, 30 minutes. Drain.
2. In a bowl, mix the remaining vinegar, sugar and garlic. Microwave at high power for about 30 seconds, until the sugar is dissolved. Add the fish sauce & chili slice and set aside for 30 minutes; discard the garlic.
3. Meanwhile, soak 1 rice paper at a time in very warm water until pliable, about 10 seconds; transfer to a work surface.
4. Set shrimp halves on the lower third of the rice paper and top with some cilantro sprigs and lettuce leaves . Top with some of the yellow pepper, vermicelli and the pickled vegetables; roll up tightly, folding in the sides.
5. Place the roll on a platter and repeat with the remaining ingredients. Halve the rolls and serve with the sauce for dipping.

Mussels Steamed in White Wine & Herbs with Pommes Frites

We were hungry & in a hurry so I snagged this photo from the interwebs, I forget where! oops!

Mussels steamed in Sauvignon Blanc, fresh herbs and garlic? In a word? YUM.

This dish is fast, fresh and delicious! My best and most lasting impression of mussels comes from my short time spent on the northwestern coast of Italy. .ЯR., however, has been to France where moules a'la mariniere are a staple in the brasserie. Fresh, flavorful mussels get scooped up with a light sauce and devoured straight from the shell! Although they are traditionally served with pommes frites (french fries), I have an aversion to deep frying anything so I toss my matchstick-cut potatoes in olive oil, sea salt, and pepper then bake them to crispy perfection. This is an elegant-looking meal that requires little effort. I suggest serving with a nice cold bottle of Sancerre. (regional French Sauvignon Blanc)

For Two

INGREDIENTS:

• 1/4 cup olive oil
  
• 3 cloves garlic, thinly sliced
• 2 shallots, minced
• salt & freshly ground pepper
• 2 lbs mussels, scrubbed & debearded
• 1 1/2 cups Sauvignon Blanc
• 3 Tbsp unsalted butter at room temperature
• 1/4 cup chopped flat leaf parsley
• 2 Tbsp minced chives
• Dash of red chili flakes
• 2 Large Potatoes, peeled & cut into long, even matchsticks
• 1/4 cup olive oil

DIRECTIONS:

1. Preheat oven to 400°
2. Line two short drinking glasses with wax paper (for pommes frites).
   
3. Toss potatoes with oil, sprinkle with salt & pepper and arrange on a baking sheet.
4. Put potatoes in oven and bake for 10 minutes, flip and continue to cook until crisp. You can keep on low or reheat if necessary.
5. Heat 1/4 cup olive oil in a deep pot. Saute garlic & shallot for 2 minutes until slightly browned and fragrant.
6. Add mussels and cook, stirring for 1 minute.
7. Add wine and bring to a boil.
8. Cover & steam until mussels open about 5-8 minutes.
9. Discard any mussels that do not open.
10. Remove mussels from pot and place in wide bowls.
11. Turn up heat on broth and boil 1-2 minutes.
12. Turn heat off and add butter & herbs to broth, swirling or whisking until butter melts.
13. Pour broth over mussels.
14. Divide fries between two glasses & serve!!!

Potstickers with Homemade Wrappers [Daring Cooks]

June's Daring Cooks Challenge is brought to us by Jen Yu at Use Real Butter, one of my favorite food blogs in the entire blogosphere! I was quite excited to see what she had picked for our second challenge (the first was Ricotta Gnocchi). To my delight Jen picked Potstickers with handmade wrappers! I've made these countless times and felt like I was really up to this challenge after getting my ass handed to me by the Daring Baker's Strudel Challenge (ouch!). I lived at home with my mom during college and one of our fondest memories together is the nights we spent making potstickers. My mom would sit on the counter, we'd open a bottle (or two) of wine, and I would cook batch after batch of pan fried and gently steamed dumplings.

.ЯR. and I intended to get a head start on the day by going to Mitsuwa for our ingredients early so we could get to cooking by late afternoon. Sometimes the time gets away from us: This time Mitsuwa stole it! We had a nice sashimi lunch, but it was probably the new bottle of Ken sake we bought... and a few tall Asahi's... and maybe one of these:

Moving right along... Now it's late afternoon and I'm finding that making my own dumpling skins is definitely a new challenge. Flour... water... and that's it. After reading a number of the comments from those who finished the challenge early, I decided to use a 'hot water' dough. I mixed boiling water into the flour to form a glutenous mass before stirring in the rest of the room-temperature water. Surprisingly, the dough came together beautifully and rolled out quite nicely. The filling is a traditional filling of ground pork, shrimp and finely minced vegetables.

All in all, it was a great challenge and a big success. We had a fantastic night making these, although by the time the potstickers were ready we were exhausted, covered in flour and food and a wee bit tipsy. We had a small disagreement about how best to cook our dumplings: I had attended The University of Pan-fry and Steam while .ЯR.'s alma mater is Pan-fry on All Three Sides College. He broke out his All-Clad Stainless Pan and I brandished my Calphalon Wok. I'm not completely sure, but it's possible headbands were tied on and maybe someone yelled,

"DUMPRRIIIIING CHARRENGE!!!!!!!"

I will hand it to him, his 3-sides-fried potstickers did come out better with the homemade skins. A small setback in the kitchen for me, one of very few my friends, very few. All in all, I enjoyed the challenge. I love making potstickers and I think you most definitely should give it a go. I would, in the future as in the past, use store-bought wonton wrappers. The homemade version was delicious, but the work-to-reward ratio was a higher than necessary. Seriously, there is nothing like a night at home making hand-made potstickers... Even with store-bought wrappers, it's a guaranteed good time. Just make sure you have plenty of help and plenty of beer. :)

INGREDIENTS & RECIPE:

Chinese Dumplings/Potstickers

Filling:
1 lb (450g) ground pork

1/2 lb minced shrimp
4 large napa cabbage leaves, minced
3 stalks green onions, minced
7 shitake mushrooms, minced (if dried - rehydrated and rinsed carefully)
1/2 cup (75g) bamboo shoots, minced
1/4 (55g) cup ginger root, minced
3 tbsp (40g) soy sauce
2 tbsp (28g) sesame oil

dough: (double this for the amount of filling, but easier to make it in 2 batches - or just halve the filling recipe)
2 cups (250g) all-purpose flour
1/2 cup (113g) warm water
flour for work surface

dipping sauce:
2 parts soy sauce
1 part vinegar (red wine or black)
a few drops of sesame oil
chili garlic paste (optional)
minced ginger (optional)
minced garlic (optional)
minced green onion (optional)
sugar (optional)

Combine all filling ingredients in a large mixing bowl and mix thoroughly (I mix by clean hand). Cover and refrigerate until ready to use (up to a day, but preferably within an hour or two).

Make the dough: Place the flour in the work bowl of a food processor with the dough blade. Run the processor and pour the warm water in until incorporated. Pour the contents into a sturdy bowl or onto a work surface and knead until uniform and smooth. The dough should be firm and silky to the touch and not sticky.[Note: it’s better to have a moist dough and have to incorporate more flour than to have a dry and pilling dough and have to incorporate more water).

Rolling Out: Knead the dough about twenty strokes then cover with a damp towel for 15 minutes. Take the dough and form a flattened dome. Cut into strips about 1 1/2 to 2 inches wide. Shape the strips into rounded long cylinders. On a floured surface, cut the strips into 3/4 inch pieces. Press palm down on each piece to form a flat circle (you can shape the corners in with your fingers). With a rolling pin, roll out a circular wrapper from each flat disc. Take care not to roll out too thin or the dumplings will break during cooking - about 1/16th inch. Leave the centers slightly thicker than the edges. Place a tablespoon of filling in the center of each wrapper and fold the dough in half, pleating the edges along one side. Keep all unused dough under damp cloth.

To pan fry (potstickers): Place dumplings in a frying pan with 2-3 tbsp of vegetable oil. Heat on high and fry for a few minutes until bottoms are golden. Add 1/2 cup water and cover. Cook until the water has boiled away and then uncover and reduce heat to medium or medium low. Let the dumplings cook for another 2 minutes then remove from heat and serve.

To freeze: Assemble dumplings on a baking sheet so they are not touching. It helps to rub the base of the dumpling in a little flour before setting on the baking sheet for ease of release. Freeze for 20-30 minutes until dumplings are no longer soft. Place in ziploc bag and freeze for up to a couple of months. Prepare per the above instructions, but allow extra time to ensure the filling is thoroughly cooked.

To serve: Serve dumplings or potstickers hot with your choice of dipping sauce combinations.

Xiǎolóngbāo - Soup Dumplings

"What the hell is... How do you say that again?!?"
"Xiǎolóngbāo! Chinese Soup Dumplings!"
"Ohhhhkay...."
"They are so good and we have to make them!"
"Okay, but what are they?"

.ЯR. experienced Xiǎolóngbāo at Joe Shanghai in New York and promptly fell head over heels for them. I have never been to New York, nor even heard of Xiǎolóngbāo, but I do understand the epicurean fire that is lit inside at the first bite of something totally new, delicious, and exotic. Food (for some of us) is one of the main reasons to travel. He's been raving about soup dumplings since I met him. Knowing my penchant for challenges, he kept teasing me with,"One day we need to, we have to, we must make these dumplings!"

It's never easy to plan a meal that you've never tasted, let alone never seen! Sure, I've made pot stickers, but never my own dumpling dough and never this mysterious dumpling. When I looked at the recipe and the procedure I was shocked and slightly horrified. You make a soup stock to start: Mixed meats, vegetables, water, boiled and strained; nothing new there. I can do this! Then, you add GELATIN to the stock and make a funky soup jello. Huh?!?!

Soup Jello. Let's take something comforting and nice and warm and make it into a creepy, goopy rendition of its former self. Shocked, I re-read the recipe. I was able to see past the jello thing to the end goal, really I was. Then you make dough (stirred with chopsticks, mind you) and roll it out. Then create a basic filling and then wrap the jello and filling inside your newly made fresh dumpling wrappers. Sounds a little odd, but I can do this. Then... you... steam them. Pot stickers are easy, I pan fry them and steam them slightly, but I never just steam things. Think of all that water bullying my soft little dough, threatening to break it, to make it soggy, to not let the insides cook! FEAR!!!

At the table, Xiao Long Bao translates roughly to this:

1. Gently scoop up each steamed dumpling onto a Asian style soup spoon.
2. Open the delicate dumpling and the 'soup' (melted soup jello) gushes forth onto the spoon.
3. Add a touch of dipping sauce and then proceed to eat this self-contained beautiful, tender dumpling.
4. We served ours along side sushi rice topped with this delicious rice seasoning and sheets of seasoned laver (seaweed).

Never one to turn down a challenge, I prepared for the dumpling duel of the century. Night 1 was Saturday night (which will be posted Thursday) and Night 2: Xiao Long Bao night. .ЯR. bought a double-decker bamboo steamer from Chef's Toys (my personal shopping Mecca) and we headed to Mitsuwa to gather an assortment of fresh vegetables and miscellaneous animal parts.

We prepared the soup Saturday and it was EASY! A fragrant, meaty aroma permeated the house, tantalizing us with the next night's meal. We let it cool to room temperature, skimmed it, and made our soup jello. The next morning I was relieved to see that it had set properly. The dough came together easily, the filling was a breeze, and the wrappers practically rolled themselves out. Feeling self-assured, we invited company over to dine! These dumplings were going to be a piece of cake!

To be honest, as the afternoon continued, we were dumpling-ed out. The previous night of rolling, filling, pinching and cooking other dumplings had taken its toll. The trouble began when (per recipe) I rolled the dough out and cut them into 3" rounds. We realized they needed to be 4-5" rounds so we stretched them out thinner and larger, resulting in the right diameter but dangerously thin skin (error #1). The dumplings need a thick enough skin that they won't tear, melt, or allow the filling to burst through. The recipe we were following said to simmer over medium heat. Medium heat made these thin skinned dumplings disintegrate, allowing the explosion of soup and filling to occur well before they hit our hungry mouths (error #2).

In the future, we will aim for thicker, larger skins. We will steam them over higher heat. We will also change something in the recipe. The recipe calls for the soup jello to be cut into tiny pieces and mixed into the filling. Per .ЯR.'s experience at Joe Shanghai, he thinks that the best procedure is to surround a small meatball with the soup jello and wrap it up. I think they came out wonderfully. The flavor was intense and unique, the dumplings were soft and tender, and although the soup 'explosion' didn't occur in one's mouth on most of the dumplings, they were outstanding. For a first try on something a bit challenging, we did great. Next time, however, they will be perfect!

The recipe is LONG and I have a nasty cold, so I am going to post a link to it here instead of retyping. Please keep in mind our two changes in the paragraph above, if you wish! Also, please peruse Jaden's wonderful website for more outstanding recipes!

Enjoy!

Addendum:

Anyone in the Bay Area check out Yank Sing for a similar experience to Joe Shanghai!

Banana-Hazelnut Muffins

.ЯR. left a bunch of aging bananas at my house the other day and spotty bananas are good for only one thing... Banana Nut Muffins! (EH-HEMM! Banana Bread!?!? ~.ЯR.) I couldn't resist the pull of warm, subtly-spiced muffins laced with chocolate chips and hazelnuts. This is a low-maintenance recipe; no special equipment required! You may bake a loaf of banana bread by increasing the baking time to 1 hour, or just use a muffin tin like I did. (I'll shut up now... ~.ЯR.) Moist, delicious, and slightly sinful, they're one of the tastiest things you can create with only a bowl and a spoon.

Do yourself a favor... make these. Then send me a few ;)

Adapted from Joy the Baker who credits Smitten Kitchen who credits SimplyRecipes.

INGREDIENTS:

• 4 small bananas, mashed
• 1/3 cup of combined melted butter & vegetable (or nut: macadamia, almond, etc..) oil
• 3/4 cup brown sugar
• 1 egg beaten
• 1 generous tsp vanilla
• 1 Tbsp bourbon
• 1 tsp baking soda
• pinch of salt
• Heaping 1 tsp of cinnamon
• 1 tsp freshly grated nutmeg
• pinch of ground cloves
• 3/4 cup all purpose flour
• 3/4 cup whole wheat flour
• 1/2 - 3/4 cup nuts (I used hazelnuts)
• a big spoonful of chocolate chips

DIRECTIONS:

1. Preheat the oven to 350'
2. Line muffin tins with cups or with squares of parchment paper.
3. Mash bananas with oil & butter.
4. Mix in sugar, egg, vanilla, bourbon, and spices.
5. Sprinkle the baking soda and salt over and mix in.
6. Stir in flour and mix until lumpy but combined.
7. Gently stir in the nuts & chocolate chips (if using).
8. Spoon into muffin cups.
9. Bake about 12-15 minutes or until toothpick inserted in centers comes out clean.
10. Enjoy!!!