touche, souffle.

since getting married and moving to guam, i've been a little apprehensive about making the turkey for thanksgiving this year. it's just one of those things that new wives always worry about, i think...making sure that the turkey isn't dry like hell. so, i did a little research and decided to brine the damn thing for a few days. and not only that, i decided to also do my mother's bourbon ham. over-achiever much? lol.

to be fair though, we had a few people coming over and i was worried that i wasn't going to have enough turkey. it doesn't look like it, but that turkey is just a little bit bigger than a large chicken. being over ambitious, i also did a cool little appetizer plate that sadly did not get the attention it deserved...i guess it was just a little too fancy for this crowd. *sigh* oh, to be an entertainer.... :'( (oh, and of course, guess who forgot to take the gizzard bag out? urgh...damn you, gizzard bag!!!)

seriously though, after the thanksgiving ordeal, we had plenty of leftovers. the following days have been consisting of ham sandwiches, turkey enchiladas (yum!), and some creative cooking. as the leftovers started dwindling down, one thing that i really wanted to try was my mother's turkey casserole.

i remember when she first started making it about ten years ago that there would never be anything left on the plates. she's the kind of gal that collects recipes as a hobby and she pulled this little gem from a magazine clip from 1979. it's homey and a little bit classy, and definitely hails from old school that was delicious back then as it is still now. and what an awesome way of finishing off the turkey in the fridge!

Souffle-Topped Turkey Casserole
(from Family Circle Magazine, November 20, 1979)

1/4 cup (1/2 stick) butter or margarine
1/4 cup flour
3/4 tsp kosher salt
1/8 tsp fresh ground pepper
Dash cayenne
2½ cups milk
2 cups cubed cooked turkey
1 tbsp butter or margarine
1 small onion, chopped
1/2 cup sliced celery
1/4 pound mushrooms, sliced
1/2 cup grated parmesan cheese
2 eggs, separated

Make the Sauce:
Melt the 1/4 cup butter in a medium-size saucepan; stir in flour, salt, pepper, and cayenne. Cook 1 minute. Pour in 2 cups of the milk; heat, stirring constantly, until sauce thickens and bubbles. Continue cooking and stirring 3 minutes longer. Remove from heat. Measure 1/2 cup sauce into a medium-size bowl; reserve.

Make the Filling:
Add turkey and remaining 1/2 cup milk to sauce in pan. Melt the 1 tbsp butter in skillet; saute onion, celery, and mushrooms just until soft, about 5 minutes. Combine with turkey. Spoon into bottom of 6- to 8-cup shallow baking dish. Bake in a moderate oven (375 degrees) for 5 minutes or until bubbly around the edges.

Make the Souffle and Finish the Casserole::
Stir Parmesan cheese into reserved sauce. Beat in egg yolks, one at a time. Beat egg whites in small bowl with electric mixer until stiff but not dry; fold into yolk mixture. Remove baking dish from oven; spread souffle mixture over turkey. Return to oven and bake 30 minutes longer or until puffed and brown. Serve at once. Makes 6 servings.

naan the better.

last night i decided that i was going to try my hand at making some curry and naan bread again. i really love indian food with all it's spices and robust richness. trouble is...i really can't seem to get it quite right. so frustrating. the last time i made some indian food, i ended up with a less than satisfying concoction that really frustrated me (the naan in particular). the curry itself was alright, the naans just sucked. :/

this time around, it was switched...i got the naans perfect but the curry recipe i tried was okay. definitely a more "inspired" dish than actual indian. and i think i really prefer a vegetable, fish, or chicken curry as opposed to beef. it was okay...again not what i was looking for.

well, to be fair, i didn't really follow directions for the beef curry. i felt it was all meat so i added some more veggies (namely the chunks of onion and green bell peppers) and used a full can of coconut cream. AND i threw it in a slow cooker. *sigh* the naans, however, were delicious! i deviated just a little bit from the recipe by adding some coconut oil to the mix (see a theme here? lol), subbing 1/2 cup with some whole wheat flour, and gave it a thirty minute second rise before rolling out the dough. i think that helped with making it soft and chewy and much easier to work with. also, i think by adding the coconut oil, it was easier to roll between two sheets of wax paper as opposed to adding more flour which could've possibly made it more dense. the naan recipe was killer and i'm definitely going to keep it as my go-to for naan bread!

 

Indian Spiced Beef Curry
(from Ocado)

900g lean beef, cut into bite-sized pieces
1 tsp ground coriander
1 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp ground turmeric
1 tsp garam masala
1 tbsp sunflower oil
1 onion, roughly chopped
2 garlic cloves, peeled
2½ cm fresh root ginger, peeled
4 tomatoes, skinned and roughly chopped
2 fresh hot red chillies, deseeded and finely chopped
150ml double cream
1 handful fresh coriander, finely chopped (optional)

1.) Put the beef, ground coriander, cumin, turmeric, garam masala, and oil in a bowl, and mix thoroughly. Heat a large frying pan over a medium heat. Add the spiced beef, and sauté for about 10 minutes until cooked through. Remove from the pan, and set aside.

2.) In a food processor, whiz the onion, garlic, ginger, tomatoes, and chillies until minced. Add to the same frying pan as used for the beef, and cook for about 5 minutes over a medium heat. Stir in the cream, add 150ml (5fl oz) water, and bring to the boil. Return the meat to the pan, reduce the heat slightly, and simmer for 15–20 minutes.

3.) Stir through the chopped coriander (if using), and serve immediately.

 

Yeasted Naan
(from Journey Kitchen)
Makes 6

2 cups bread flour or strong white flour or all purpose flour* (subbed 1/2 cup with whole wheat)
1 tsp sugar (used pure cane sugar)
1 tsp salt (used kosher)
1 tsp active yeast
2 tbsp ghee (didn't have any, used regular butter)
5 tbsp yogurt (used plain greek yogurt)
1/2 cup lukewarm water
3 tbsp or so extra virgin coconut oil plus more for greasing

Author's Note
* I use bread flour whenever I have it around because it creates much better naan but when I don't all purpose flour works just fine. Sometimes I also use 1 cup chapati flour instead of all white flour for nuttier flavor.

Mix the water, yeast and sugar and leave for 10 minutes for the yeast to come alive. It’s necessary that you don't get confused between a yeast that mixes and rises to the top and an yeast which actually proofs with bubbles of air forming.

Add salt to the flour and keep aside. Once the yeast has proofed, add it to the flour along with yogurt and ghee (also added the 3 tbsp coconut oil here). Knead the dough well for about 10 minutes. The dough may feel sticky at first, apply some ghee (used coconut oil) on your hand and keep kneading till it’s soft and supple. Keep it in a greased bowl covered with wet towel to rise (preheated oven to 200 then turned it off when it was at temp--let rise covered with loose saran wrap). It may take any where between 2-3 hours to rise (mine doubled at the hour mark).

Once it rises, knead it for another 5 minutes and divide it into equal size balls (here i let them rest for another 30 minutes in the warmed oven before going further). If you want to make garlic or cumin flavored naan, add it while kneading the dough at this point. Roll each piece into a flat ball. Dust the work surface with flour and start rolling the balls with a rolling pin. After the intial rolling it become much easier to handle it with hands. Try to give it a tear drop shape by stretching it from one end. Don't stretch too much as it may tear. (skipped the fouring part--i rolled the dough into 1/8 inch thin rough ovals between two sheets of wax paper)

Heat the pressure cooker or skillet on high heat for 3 minutes. Put this rolled naan on the skillet and cover with a lid. If using a pressure cooker, remove the whistle and tighten the lid. In less than a minute bubbles with pop up. Reduce the gas to medium high, flip the naan on the other side and cook for few seconds till the bubbles char. Alternatively, with tongs take the naan and put the other side on an open flame to cook and char the bubbles. Naan cooks very quickly at this point so don't let it be on flame for more than 30 seconds. (used the skillet method and slightly deviated--didn't cover, let cook until bubbles formed then flipped and charred the other side until i thought it was done, about two minutes or so at most? they cooked real fast!)

Brush immediately with butter and sprinkle with chopped coriander leaves. (i buttered them and sprinkled a little bit of garlic powder on them...worked just fine and they turned out perfectly awesome with just a hint of garlic. :D)

carrot-y goodness.

i had too many carrots in the fridge. initially, i thought that i would make a carrot cake of some sort. But that seemed a little boring and since it was just going to be me eating this, a whole lot of cake didn't seem like a good idea. So i went looking for a carrot quick bread to make instead. unfortunately, all the recipes i found involved tons of sugar and was pretty much a cake rather than a quick bread. *sigh*

then i had a brilliant idea...! what if i caramelized the carrots like i would onions and put it in a regular bread?! The idea of a savoury carby treat instantly got my attention and decided to see if there was any recipes i could try. Surprisingly, i didn't really see anything that came close to what i was looking for...apparetly caramelized *onions* is a more common thing in bread than it is carrots. :/ So, i decided to turn to my go-to bread recipe and try to make one myself.

what i ended up getting was a nice and slightly savoury bread with a chewy crumb texture similar to french bread. The crust was nice and crunchy without being too crusty. also, the bread left a pleasant carrot-y aftertaste that went well with a strong, aged white cheddar that i happened to pair it with. Munchity happiness! This would be an awesome vehicle for a kick-ass sandwich or served plain alongside a fruit/meat/cheese platter. what a fantastic experimental success!!

No-Knead Caramelized Carrot Bread
(makes one large loaf)

3 cups grated carrots
1 tsp sugar
3 1/4 cups bread flour
1 1/2 or so cups warm water
2 tsp active dry yeast
2 tsp salt
olive oil

On medium-high heat, warm oil until hot. Add the grated carrots and sprinkle sugar on top. Cook carrots until soft and slightly browned. Transfer to a bowl, let cool, then cover and set aside.

In a large bowl, combine flour, salt, and yeast. Add the warm water (about 100 degrees in temp) and mix to create a shaggy dough. If the dough is too dry, add water little by little until the dough is no longer dry but still sticky and shaggy. Transfer to an oiled bowl, cover and let rise until doubled (about an hour). Prepare a sheet of parchment paper to use for the dough later on.

When doubled, add the caramelized carrots and knead the dough in the bowl just until the carrots have been incorporated into the dough. Transfer to the parchment paper, cover and let rise again until doubled (about 30 minutes).

Meanwhile, ready a cast iron pot with a lid in the oven on the middle rack and preheat to 450 degrees. Once the dough is ready and the oven is hot, carefully place the dough and parchment paper in the cast iron and cover immediately with the lid. Bake for 35 to 40 minutes. Reduce heat to 425 degrees, carefully remove the lid, and bake an additional 20 minutes until top is golden brown. Once done, transfer the bread to a cooling rack and let rest 20 minutes before serving.

rockin' the boat.

spaghetti squash is pretty awesome. it's definitely not something that i ate growing up. But ever since i tried it a couple of month ago, i've really started to like it. i had it microwaved the first time and it was okay. But this time around, i got off my lazy butt and roasted it in the oven. it turned out ten times better, got caramelized around the edges, and was fantastically awesome! bye bye, microwaved squash and hello oven-roasted goodness!!

Sausage, Kale, and Spaghetti Squash Boats
(from Paleo Grubs)

1 medium spaghetti squash or 2 small spaghetti squash
1 1/2 lbs. Italian chicken sausage, casings removed
1 yellow onion, diced
4 cloves garlic, minced
1 bunch kale
3 tbsp extra virgin olive oil, plus more for drizzling
Salt and pepper
2 tbsp pine nuts, roasted
2 tbsp fresh parsley, chopped

1. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. Place squash in the microwave for 3-4 minutes to soften. Using a sharp knife cut the squash in half lengthwise. Scoop out the seeds and discard. Place the halves, with the cut side up, on a rimmed baking sheet. Drizzle with olive oil and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Roast in the oven for 45-50 minutes, until you can poke the squash easily with a fork. Let cool until you can handle it safely.

2. Meanwhile, prepare the kale by removing the center stems and either tearing or cutting up the leaves. Heat the olive oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add the onion and garlic and sauté for 4-5 minutes. Add the chicken sausage and break apart with a spatula to crumble. Cook for 10-12 minutes, stirring regularly, until the sausage is browned and cooked through. Add the kale and stir. Cook for a few minutes more to wilt the kale. Remove from heat and set aside.

3. Once cooled, scrape the insides of the spaghetti squash with a fork to shred the squash into strands. Transfer the strands into the skillet with the sausage and toss to combine. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Divide the mixture among the squash shells, and then top with pine nuts and parsley to serve.

creature comforts.

after about three months here on the island, i feel a little homesick at times. especially since my last birthday, i really miss my family and especially my twin sister. it's wierd what you take for granted and how things change. back when i was in san diego, i bitterly missed my fiance and now things are the opposite. i've always been a little bit strong, though, so i've been keeping myself busy with hobbies and cooking. granola was my favorite snack back home and iit still is now. unfortunately, things here are a little bit more pricey so i've made do with making stuff homemade. granola was no exception.

Cranberry Maple Granola
(adapted from Bon Appetit)

3/4 cup dark brown sugar
1/2 cup pure maple syrup
1 egg white
1 tbsp vanilla extract
1 tbsp ground cinnamon
3 cups old-fashioned or quick cooking oats
1/4 cup ground flax seeds
1/2 cup flaked coconut
1 cup dried cranberries

Position rack in bottom third of oven and preheat to 325°F. Generously coat heavy large rimmed baking sheet with nonstick spray. Stir together sugar and syrup. Whisk in egg whites, extracts, and spice. Add oats, flax seeds, and coconut; toss well.

Spread mixture in even layer on prepared baking sheet. Bake 35 minutes. Using metal spatula, turn granola over (bottom will be brown). Bake 10 minutes. Cool granola completely in pan. Sprinkle in cranberries then store in airtight container.