We will cook and then eat Greek Food at J and K's.
Watch this space for recipes!
Friday, January 28, 2011
Fondue, January 22nd
It seems that I've skipped a few summaries here. Well, it's certainly not because the food or the gatherings weren't worth talking about! And I wanted to put down my memories of our fondue evening while they were still fresh in my mind.
I brought my camera to dinner, but I didn't use it which is a shame because a friend come over and helped decorate the table which turned out charming and really lovely. There were candles and all the right dishes for serving fondue. It was definitely the nicest fondue dinner I've ever attended.
So, we didn't stick absolutely to the "fondue" theme and started the evening with a salad. Not just a plain old green salad, but something really bright and crunchy to give us a break from Winter's influx of long, slow cooked, rich foods. This salad was bright with orange slices, red wine vinegar and coriander, crunchy with fresh fennel and refreshing with fresh mint. I would love to try it with some of those elusive blood oranges, if I ever find some.
We progressed to our first fondue course - cheese. This cheese fondue was great. It didn't clump at all - the texture was perfect. Some of the many dippers we enjoyed were broccoli, bread and grape tomatoes. I found the tomatoes particularly wonderful with the sharp (Jarlsburg and Guyere) cheese.
Next we cooked up chicken, steak, mushrooms and peppers in oil. Dipping sauces included sweet and sour, some type of spicy (hunan?) sauce and at least two more. Apparently all that cooking has blurred my memory. I think everyone enjoyed cooking their meat exactly to their taste and picking combinations!
Finally we concluded with chocolate fondue. The chocolate tasted really lovely, but unfortunately it seized up on us. It doesn't seem like we introduced any water to it, so it is hard to know the root cause. It was made with a very high percentage chocolate - maybe that contributed? I couldn't be sure of how to reverse a seizure like that (introduce warm cream, at little at a time? I'm just not sure). In any case, it tasted so good we ate it anyway with the strawberries, (home-made!) pound cake and mini-donuts (which we fried up fresh in a fondue pot of oil).
An evening which was more interactive then most, but lovely as usual! And I'm looking forward to the Greek food coming up next!
I brought my camera to dinner, but I didn't use it which is a shame because a friend come over and helped decorate the table which turned out charming and really lovely. There were candles and all the right dishes for serving fondue. It was definitely the nicest fondue dinner I've ever attended.
So, we didn't stick absolutely to the "fondue" theme and started the evening with a salad. Not just a plain old green salad, but something really bright and crunchy to give us a break from Winter's influx of long, slow cooked, rich foods. This salad was bright with orange slices, red wine vinegar and coriander, crunchy with fresh fennel and refreshing with fresh mint. I would love to try it with some of those elusive blood oranges, if I ever find some.
We progressed to our first fondue course - cheese. This cheese fondue was great. It didn't clump at all - the texture was perfect. Some of the many dippers we enjoyed were broccoli, bread and grape tomatoes. I found the tomatoes particularly wonderful with the sharp (Jarlsburg and Guyere) cheese.
Next we cooked up chicken, steak, mushrooms and peppers in oil. Dipping sauces included sweet and sour, some type of spicy (hunan?) sauce and at least two more. Apparently all that cooking has blurred my memory. I think everyone enjoyed cooking their meat exactly to their taste and picking combinations!
Finally we concluded with chocolate fondue. The chocolate tasted really lovely, but unfortunately it seized up on us. It doesn't seem like we introduced any water to it, so it is hard to know the root cause. It was made with a very high percentage chocolate - maybe that contributed? I couldn't be sure of how to reverse a seizure like that (introduce warm cream, at little at a time? I'm just not sure). In any case, it tasted so good we ate it anyway with the strawberries, (home-made!) pound cake and mini-donuts (which we fried up fresh in a fondue pot of oil).
An evening which was more interactive then most, but lovely as usual! And I'm looking forward to the Greek food coming up next!
Monday, January 17, 2011
Chocolate Fondue - January 22nd
This recipe is from here: http://simplyrecipes.com/recipes/chocolate_fondue/
Please visit for pictures and comments.
Ingredients
1 Warm the cream over moderate heat until tiny bubbles show and begins to lightly and slowly boil. Add the chocolate and whisk until smooth and full incorporated.
Please visit for pictures and comments.
Ingredients
- 12 ounces of dark chocolate (chips or roughly chopped if from a block)
- 8 ounces of heavy cream
- A pinch of salt
- Dippables such as strawberries, banana pieces cut into 1-inch chunks, dried apricots, candied ginger, apple pieces
1 Warm the cream over moderate heat until tiny bubbles show and begins to lightly and slowly boil. Add the chocolate and whisk until smooth and full incorporated.
2 Immediately transfer to a fondue pot heated at low or with a low flame, or serve straight from the pot.
3 Arrange the dippables on a platter or plates around the chocolate pot. Use a fondue fork, bamboo skewer, seafood fork, or salad fork to dip the fruit pieces and other dippables into the hot melted cream chocolate mixture. Eat immediately.
If the fondue begins to feel a little stiff, add a tablespoon of heavy cream and stir. It will help it go a little longer. Eventually, it will cook down though and you may need to start a new pot.
Variations
Add a tablespoon or two of Bailey's Irish Cream to the chocolate. Other liquors such as Grand Marnier, Amaretto, or Kirsch are equally yummy.
Add a 1/2 teaspoon of cinnamon and ancho chili pepper for a nice Mexican Chocolate.
The contents of a vanilla pod or some vanilla extract are always a decadent touch to chocolate.
A good pinch of espresso powder can do wonders!
Orange zest or grapefruit zest is nice way to create a slightly fruity chocolate.
A few tablespoons of Torani flavoring syrups (the kind used for coffee or Italian sodas) can add a nice dimension of flavor as well.
White chocolate is always a nice change, and spiked with a little liquor or citrus zest becomes heavenly.
Steeping the cream for an hour beforehand and while heating it can add a nice subtle flavor, lemongrass for white chocolate or a bag of Earl Grey tea for dark chocolate are particularly stylish and contemporary.
Cheese Fondue - January 22nd
This recipe is from here: http://simplyrecipes.com/recipes/cheese_fondue/
Please visit the blog for great pictures and comments about the recipe.
The combination of cheese and wine is delicious but also savvy. The wine contributes two essential ingredients for a smooth sauce: water, which keeps the casein proteins most and dilute, and tartaric acid, which pulls the cross-linking calcium off of the casein proteins and binds tightly to it, leaving them glueless and happily separate. (Alcohol has nothing to do with fondue stability.) The citric acid in lemon juice will do the same thing. If it's not too far gone, you can sometimes rescue a tightening cheese sauce with a squeeze of lemon juice or a splash of white wine.
Ingredients
Method
1 Place the shredded cheese and cornstarch in a plastic freezer bag. Seal, shake to coat the cheese with flour or cornstarch. Set aside.
2 Rub the inside of a 4-quart pot with the cut garlic, then discard. Add the wine and lemon juice to the pot, and bring to a low simmer on medium heat. Bit by bit, slowly stir the cheese into the wine. Stir constantly in a zig-zag pattern to prevent the cheese from seizing and balling up. Cook just until the cheese is melted and creamy. Do not let boil. Once the mixture is smooth, stir in kirsch, mustard and nutmeg.
3 Transfer the cheese to a fondue serving pot, set over a low flame to keep warm. If your pot is thin-bottomed, a lit candle will probably do. If thick-bottomed, you can use a small Sterno.
4 Arrange various dipping foods around the fondue pot. (A lazy Suzan works great for this.)
To eat, spear dipping foods with fondue forks or small forks. Dip to coat with the cheese, and eat.
Please visit the blog for great pictures and comments about the recipe.
The combination of cheese and wine is delicious but also savvy. The wine contributes two essential ingredients for a smooth sauce: water, which keeps the casein proteins most and dilute, and tartaric acid, which pulls the cross-linking calcium off of the casein proteins and binds tightly to it, leaving them glueless and happily separate. (Alcohol has nothing to do with fondue stability.) The citric acid in lemon juice will do the same thing. If it's not too far gone, you can sometimes rescue a tightening cheese sauce with a squeeze of lemon juice or a splash of white wine.
Ingredients
- 1/2 pound Swiss-style cheese such as Jarlsberg or Emmenthaler, shredded
- 1/2 pound Gruere cheese, shredded
- 2 tablespoons flour or cornstarch (use cornstarch if cooking gluten-free)
- 1 garlic clove, halved crosswise
- 1 cup dry white wine (such as Sauvignon Blanc)
- 1 tablespoon lemon juice
- 1 tablespoon kirsch (cherry brandy)
- 1/2 teaspoon dry mustard
- Pinch of freshly grated nutmeg
- Assorted dipping foods such as cubed day-old French bread (skip for gluten-free version), cubed ham (skip for vegetarian option), blanched broccoli, carrots, or cauliflower, cherry tomatoes, chopped green bell peppers, peeled and chopped apples or pears
Method
1 Place the shredded cheese and cornstarch in a plastic freezer bag. Seal, shake to coat the cheese with flour or cornstarch. Set aside.
2 Rub the inside of a 4-quart pot with the cut garlic, then discard. Add the wine and lemon juice to the pot, and bring to a low simmer on medium heat. Bit by bit, slowly stir the cheese into the wine. Stir constantly in a zig-zag pattern to prevent the cheese from seizing and balling up. Cook just until the cheese is melted and creamy. Do not let boil. Once the mixture is smooth, stir in kirsch, mustard and nutmeg.
3 Transfer the cheese to a fondue serving pot, set over a low flame to keep warm. If your pot is thin-bottomed, a lit candle will probably do. If thick-bottomed, you can use a small Sterno.
4 Arrange various dipping foods around the fondue pot. (A lazy Suzan works great for this.)
To eat, spear dipping foods with fondue forks or small forks. Dip to coat with the cheese, and eat.
Minted Orange, Fennel and Red Onion Salad - January 22nd
Note from K: I think you could try this with ground coriander and skip the toasting/grinding step when making the dressing.
Minted Orange, Fennel and Red Onion Salad
Serves 8
Ingredients:
2 teaspoons coriander seeds
4 tablespoons fresh orange juice
4 red-wine vinegar
1.5 teaspoon salt
6 tablespoons olive oil
2 medium-large red onion
2 large fennel bulb (sometimes called anise, about 1 pound)
6 large navel oranges
1/4 cup loosely packed fresh mint leaves
Directions:
Make Dressing:
Heat a dry small heavy skillet over moderate heat until hot and toast coriander seeds, stirring, until fragrant and a little darker, about 2 minutes. With a mortar and pestle or in a spice grinder or cleaned electric coffee grinder, grind coriander to a coarse powder. In a bowl, whisk together coriander and remaining dressing ingredients.Dressing may be made 1 day ahead and chilled, covered.
Prepare Salad:
Slice onions crosswise as thinly as possible into rings. In a bowl of ice and cold water, soak onion (separate rings if necessary) 15 minutes.
Trim stalks from fennel and thinly slice fennel bulbs crosswise.
With a sharp knife, cut a slice from top and bottom of each orange to expose flesh and arrange cut side down on a cutting board. Cutting from top to bottom, remove peel and pith. Cut oranges crosswise into 1/4-inch-thick slices.
Drain onion well and pat dry between paper towels.
Arrange fennel, onion and orange decoratively on a platter or individual plates and scatter with mint. Whisk dressing and drizzle over salad.
Minted Orange, Fennel and Red Onion Salad
Serves 8
Ingredients:
2 teaspoons coriander seeds
4 tablespoons fresh orange juice
4 red-wine vinegar
1.5 teaspoon salt
6 tablespoons olive oil
2 medium-large red onion
2 large fennel bulb (sometimes called anise, about 1 pound)
6 large navel oranges
1/4 cup loosely packed fresh mint leaves
Directions:
Make Dressing:
Heat a dry small heavy skillet over moderate heat until hot and toast coriander seeds, stirring, until fragrant and a little darker, about 2 minutes. With a mortar and pestle or in a spice grinder or cleaned electric coffee grinder, grind coriander to a coarse powder. In a bowl, whisk together coriander and remaining dressing ingredients.Dressing may be made 1 day ahead and chilled, covered.
Prepare Salad:
Slice onions crosswise as thinly as possible into rings. In a bowl of ice and cold water, soak onion (separate rings if necessary) 15 minutes.
Trim stalks from fennel and thinly slice fennel bulbs crosswise.
With a sharp knife, cut a slice from top and bottom of each orange to expose flesh and arrange cut side down on a cutting board. Cutting from top to bottom, remove peel and pith. Cut oranges crosswise into 1/4-inch-thick slices.
Drain onion well and pat dry between paper towels.
Arrange fennel, onion and orange decoratively on a platter or individual plates and scatter with mint. Whisk dressing and drizzle over salad.
Buttermilk Donuts -January 22nd
Note from K:
We halved the original recipe for dinner, thus the crazy 1/2 yolk in the ingredient list below. We did take an egg yolk from a separated egg and quickly halved it and dropped half in the batter. Also, we made the dough and shaped the doughnuts before we came to dinner and they kept fine until we fried them at dessert time.
Buttermilk Doughnuts
Makes a whole bunch of tiny (two to three inch) donuts.
The dough can be made by hand, using a bowl and wooden spoon, or with a mixer and the paddle attachment. Doughnuts rolled from scraps will be a little drier and less crisp than those stamped from the first roll. These are best eaten very warm.
Ingredients
1 3/4 cups flour
1/2 cup sugar
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
3/4 teaspoons freshly grated nutmeg
3/8 cup buttermilk
2 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
1 eggs, beaten
1/2 egg yolk
about 6 cups vegetable shortening or vegetable oil (for frying)
Directions
1. In an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, if you have one, combine 1/2 cup flour, sugar, baking soda, baking powder, salt, and nutmeg.
2. In a bowl, combine the buttermilk, butter, eggs, and yolk. Pour the wet ingredients into the flour mixture, and beat on medium speed for 30 seconds or until smooth. Decrease speed to low.
3. Add remaining 1 1/4 cups flour and mix for 30 seconds or until just combined. Stir batter once or twice with a wooden spoon or rubber spatula to make sure that all liquid is incorporated. (The dough will be tacky, a cross between cake batter and cookie dough.)
4. Set a candy thermometer on the side of a cast-iron kettle or large, heavy-bottomed soup kettle; gradually heat the shortening over medium-high heat until it reaches 375 degrees.
5. Meanwhile, turn the dough out onto a floured counter. Roll dough with a floured rolling pin to a 1/2-inch thick round. Stamp out dough rings with heavily floured doughnut cutter (we used a small biscuit cutter and a pen cap to cut out the holes), reflouring between cuts. Transfer rounds to rimmed baking sheet. Gather scraps and gently press into disk; repeat rolling and stamping until all dough is used. (Cut doughnuts can be covered with plastic wrap and stored at room temperature for up to 2 hours.)
5. Carefully drop dough rings into hot fat several at a time, so there's room around each one. As the rounds rise to the surface, turn them with tongs, a Chinese skimmer, or a slotted spoon. Fry the doughnuts about 50 seconds on a side or until golden brown.
6. Meanwhile, line a wire rack or plate with paper towels. Turn the doughnuts out onto the paper towels. Bring the fat back to the correct temperature and repeat the frying process.
We halved the original recipe for dinner, thus the crazy 1/2 yolk in the ingredient list below. We did take an egg yolk from a separated egg and quickly halved it and dropped half in the batter. Also, we made the dough and shaped the doughnuts before we came to dinner and they kept fine until we fried them at dessert time.
Buttermilk Doughnuts
Makes a whole bunch of tiny (two to three inch) donuts.
The dough can be made by hand, using a bowl and wooden spoon, or with a mixer and the paddle attachment. Doughnuts rolled from scraps will be a little drier and less crisp than those stamped from the first roll. These are best eaten very warm.
Ingredients
1 3/4 cups flour
1/2 cup sugar
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
3/4 teaspoons freshly grated nutmeg
3/8 cup buttermilk
2 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
1 eggs, beaten
1/2 egg yolk
about 6 cups vegetable shortening or vegetable oil (for frying)
Directions
1. In an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, if you have one, combine 1/2 cup flour, sugar, baking soda, baking powder, salt, and nutmeg.
2. In a bowl, combine the buttermilk, butter, eggs, and yolk. Pour the wet ingredients into the flour mixture, and beat on medium speed for 30 seconds or until smooth. Decrease speed to low.
3. Add remaining 1 1/4 cups flour and mix for 30 seconds or until just combined. Stir batter once or twice with a wooden spoon or rubber spatula to make sure that all liquid is incorporated. (The dough will be tacky, a cross between cake batter and cookie dough.)
4. Set a candy thermometer on the side of a cast-iron kettle or large, heavy-bottomed soup kettle; gradually heat the shortening over medium-high heat until it reaches 375 degrees.
5. Meanwhile, turn the dough out onto a floured counter. Roll dough with a floured rolling pin to a 1/2-inch thick round. Stamp out dough rings with heavily floured doughnut cutter (we used a small biscuit cutter and a pen cap to cut out the holes), reflouring between cuts. Transfer rounds to rimmed baking sheet. Gather scraps and gently press into disk; repeat rolling and stamping until all dough is used. (Cut doughnuts can be covered with plastic wrap and stored at room temperature for up to 2 hours.)
5. Carefully drop dough rings into hot fat several at a time, so there's room around each one. As the rounds rise to the surface, turn them with tongs, a Chinese skimmer, or a slotted spoon. Fry the doughnuts about 50 seconds on a side or until golden brown.
6. Meanwhile, line a wire rack or plate with paper towels. Turn the doughnuts out onto the paper towels. Bring the fat back to the correct temperature and repeat the frying process.
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