Daring Bakers' Challenge: January 2011

The January 2011 Daring Bakers’ challenge is hosted by Astheroshe from the Blog, accro. Astheroshe chose Joconde imprime /entremets as the challenge for the month. Her challenge recipe is based on recipe from Chef John O, from The International Culinary School in Atlanta, Georgia USA.

Enchanted Broccoli Dome... er, Heap

The evening of Wednesday, January 19 marked the beginning of Tu B'Shevat, the new year of the trees.
Tu B'Shevat originally marked a new year for the purpose of calculating the age of trees for tithing but now serves as a way to celebrate the gifts of the natural world in general and trees in particular.

In the 16th century, Kabbalists created a seder for Tu B'Shevat modeled after the seder for Pesach that offers a means for discussing and contemplating the spiritual aspects of the day.

Mark Bittman Inspires a Stir-Fry

Tuesday, I ran across this article by Mark Bittman, which urges people to cook more food at home. (Amen!) Anticipating the protest "but, I don't know how to cook!", Bittman suggests that knowing three simple recipes is enough to get anyone making delicious and nutritious meals in no time at all. The three recipes?

1. a stir-fry
2. a chopped salad
3. rice and lentils

The article wasn't really a revelation for someone devoted to the art of inconvenience, but it did make me think: "Mmm. I could really go for a stir fry right now."

So, I did.

Kale and White Bean Stew and "Semi-Homemade with Inconvenience"

When I receive kale in my farm box, I usually make kale pie (from Mark Bittman's How to Cook Everything Vegetarian). For some reason, I don't feel the love for kale that I do for Swiss chard, which I've come to prefer even over spinach. But stick that kale in a lovely biscuity crust made with whole-milk yogurt and mayonnaise, and I can eat it every day.

Others who share my dislike of kale seem to find it edible roasted into chips, but when I received kale in my last box, I decided to try the stew smittenkitchen posted that week. Not surprisingly, smittenkitchen swapped out the kale from the original recipe for chard, so I just swapped it back.

Spanish Souffle Cake

A.k.a: Frittata in a Bundt Pan. I made this dish for a New Year's brunch because, you have to admit, it looks spectacular. With red bell peppers, kalamata olives, artichoke hearts, and a handful of cheddar, it also tastes great. The recipe comes from Earthbound Farms' cookbook Food to Live By.

The one trouble I keep having with the recipe is that no matter how well I butter the pan, the frittata ends up sticking, leaving large chunks (often the entire middle section) stuck inside. Since the presentation is the point of baking a frittata in a bundt pan, I'm tempted to give it up as a lost cause. However, I think the problem may lie in my particular pan, which has sharp edges and a deeply fluted interior. I think I'll give the recipe one more chance in a rounder, less cathedral-like mold. Either that, or I'm going to have to come up with something good to put in the middle to hide the carnage.

Chorizo-Spinach Sopes



Chorizo-Spinach Sopes. As you can see, I so anxious to sink my teeth in that I forgot to take the photo.
Better late than never!


Saturday night, my pan-pal the Gastronomist Economist and I made a dinner using recipes from Terry Hope Romero's Viva Vegan!, a cookbook with vegan latin food recipes. Rather than taking meaty Latin recipes and swapping in beans for the pork, Romero offers several recipes for home-made seitan. Unlike any seitan recipes I've seen before, the recipes include both chickpea flour and nutritional yeast in the gluten flour mix. While I avoid commercial meat substitutes (too much sodium and way too many unpronounceable ingredients), I was intrigued by Romero's seitan preparation.

Chocolate Chip Cupcakes

Needing to use up some delicious dark chocolate frosting that was languishing in my freezer, I made a batch of Martha Stewart's Chocolate Chip Cupcakes.

Here they are, fresh out of the oven. I also made a batch of minis, but this recipe doesn't really lend itself to mini-cupcakes; the chocolate chips in the batter overwhelm the small bites.

An Abundance of Apples

For some reason, my mother amasses large quantities of food that she then needs to foist on me. Recently, my mother bequeathed pounds and pounds of apples to me. Since I already have quite enough eating apples from my Full Circle Farms box, I began using apples in every recipe I could.

First, I made applesauce.