Spatzle

Made the Spatzle from the Wanderlust Kitchen recipe for lunch today and they were fabulous! Only thing I would change is slightly less salt, and perhaps slightly less white pepper.  I cooked them in salted water, and used salted butter, and perhaps this is why tasted a little salty for me.  So in the recipe below, I'm reducing the salt and white pepper.

Otherwise they worked out perfectly. I had tried making spatzle in the past and it had turned out disastrously, even using the spatzle maker. I think the dough I made was too soft. Didn't understand how it worked. This time it worked perfectly. When you load the hollow white slider on the rail, as you slide it back and forth, the dough grips the metal and the edges of the hollow slider, and sort of "rolls" like a wave. And perfect little spatzle pieces fall off. I did use AP flour (not sure if bread flour will work as well) and kosher salt. The "dough" is pretty firm and sticky. 

Spatzle

PREP TIME 5 minutes
COOK TIME 10 minutes
TOTAL TIME 15 minutes

Makes about 6 cups

Ingredients

4 eggs
1/3 cup milk (I used 2%)
1.5 teaspoons kosher salt (originally 2 tsp)
2 cups all-purpose flour
4 Tablespoons unsalted butter
1/2 teaspoon white pepper (originally 1 teaspoon)
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg

Instructions

1. In a small bowl, melt the butter in the microwave, then stir in the white pepper and nutmeg, and set aside. 
2. Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil over high heat. 
3. In a medium bowl, whisk together the eggs, milk, and salt. Add in the flour and stir until well combined. (At this point you can let it rest; I rested 5 min. I wonder how well the batter would keep in the fridge overnight, or for a few days? would it need to come to room temp?) 
4. Place your spaetzle maker over the top, then pour half of the batter into the cup of the device. Quickly slide the cup back and forth to allow the batter to drop through. Repeat with second half of batter, working quickly, until all the batter is cooking in the pot.
5. Set the spaetzle maker aside and give the dumplings a good stir in the pot. Let them cook for 1 to 2 minutes, until floating on the surface. Remove with a slotted spoon and place in a large bowl. Toss with butter-spice mixture. Serve warm.

Cherry jam

Went cherry picking a few weeks ago in Leona Valley. Tried a new orchard (Copelands) that had a bunch of organic varieties, including Utah Giant, Tieton, and Benton, in addition to the popular Bing & Rainier. While their cherries were smaller than another one that we went to, I loved the variety that they had. Can't remember which, but either Tieton or Benton had a much firmer, almost gelatinous texture, maybe higher in natural pectin?

I had some extras, so in lieu of dehydrating them or letting them go bad, decided to try this jam, and was pleased with the result. Color of the syrup that forms is awesome, like a dark purplish red.

Cherry Jam

Makes about 1 cup.

2 cups cherries, mixed varieties* (leave pits in if you want, just watch out for them at the end! )
1/2 cup granulated sugar
Pinch of salt
1/4 cup water
Juice of 1/2 lemon
2 tbsp Maraschino liqueur
1 tsp almond oil
1 tbsp pectin

In small saucepan, combine cherries, sugar, salt, lemon, water, over medium heat. Bring to a low boil, stirring regularly. Reduce heat to low and simmer for 10 min. Stir in maraschino liqueur and almond oil. Bring heat to high & rolling boil, and stir in pectin, stir constantly for 1 minute.

Remove from heat and let cool. Store in container in fridge for up to 4 weeks.

Seattle eats

I've been touring Seattle this weekend, it's been fun! Weather cooperated and got to see and taste a lot. 

Lots of great rock and roll memorabilia at the EMP museum. They had a great Nirvana exhibit. 

Today I went to Capitol Hill to see the Jimi Hendrix statue, which was conveniently across from the Broadway farmers market, held every Sunday. Saw some nice produce, prepared foods and mushrooms! Too bad I'm traveling, no room!  

BTW Jimi is not the only rocker represented. No more than a block or so away, there's a less known bronze statue of Chuck Berry in Seattle, doing his "duck walk", at 1641 Nagle Pl, Seattle, WA. It's in front of the Broadway Building Apartments, on the west edge of Cal Anderson park. I came across it while wandering in Seattle today and couldn't figure out exactly who it was. 

Enjoyed some great shellfish at Taylor Shellfish today, including geoduck clam, which I thought was mediocre. Yes it's unusual but frankly it's more textural (think cartilage) than flavorful. On the right, siphon meat, on the left, belly meat. Belly was surprisingly creamy but crunchy. Siphon was all crunchy chew. 

Enjoyed the Fig N Pig burger at Lil Woody's, which was wonderful. The big dollop of sweet and tangy balsamic fig jam, Gorgonzola blue cheese and thick bacon strips all work very well together. 

Cuban-style pork roast for Cubano medianoche sandwiches

Got interested in making some Cubano medianoche sandwiches this weekend, after reading all about them on TFL. Based on a few recipes online and a video on Youtube, I came up with this version of roast pork that is redolent of garlic and citrus. The marinade is dirt-simple to make and packs tons of flavor. Sour oranges are hard to come by on the West Coast, so the orange/lime/lemon combo is a nice substitute.

Cuban-style Roast Pork for Medianoches

Ingredients

• 10 garlic cloves
• 1 tbsp oregano
• 1 tbsp cumin
• 3 sour oranges; OR
  1 orange, zested and juiced +
  1 lime zested and juiced +
  1 lemon zested and juiced.
• 4 bay leaves, crushed
• 1 tbsp table salt
• 1/2 tsp black pepper
• 1/4 c. vegetable or neutral oil
• 4-5 lb pork shoulder/boston butt (boneless is preferable)
• Butchers twine for tying the roast

1. In food processor, blend all ingredients in bowl. 
2. Poke holes in flesh with sharp knife
3. Rub marinade all over meat
4. Let rest covered in fridge for 4-24 hours (I think at least overnight is best, I went 24h)
5. Tie up the roast using butchers twine. 
6. Drain and reserve marinade. If desired, cook reserved marinade in small saucepan for 5 minutes with 2 tbsp. honey and 1 tbsp of apricot preserves to make a glaze.  
7. Preheat oven to 375F
8. Roast at 375F SKIN SIDE UP, until internal temp reaches 150F. I like to use an uncovered dutch oven for the roasting. If desired, apply optional glaze (see step 5) every 10 minutes during last 30 minutes of roasting. 
9. Remove from oven and let rest for 30 minutes uncovered before slicing.  
10. Slice thin for sandwiches.

Really really really good! Super flavorful. I would make this again in a heartbeat. The first time I made it, I cooked it to 140F, which left it rosy pink and juicy in places, similar to roast beef. Delicious but slightly scary if you're squeamish about pink roast pork. Cooking to 150F should eliminate that problem.

To assemble your Cubano, you'll need:

Cuban bread (basically a soft
Butter (for outside of the crust, to press on a grill)
Ham
Sliced pork roast
Swiss cheese
Yellow mustard
Pickle chips or strips (dill is traditional, I prefer sweet pickles)

Assemble: ham, roast pork, cheese, pickle chips, then spread yellow mustard on top bun.
Melt butter and paint it on the crust with a brush.
Cook in a grill press, panini press on medium heat about 3 minutes per side.
Slice sandwich at a steep diagonal, so the slices are like two very sharp long triangles.
Enjoy!

beignets update

After my post in 2011 about Cafe Du Monde beignets, been reading more about beignets and trying to unlock the secrets. Sometimes I get a bit obsessive about fried foods, and beignets and donuts have been on my mind a lot (just got Lara Ferroni's donut book last week).

Some other sites have reported that Cafe Du Monde (CDM) uses a blend of flours, which includes rye flour. I don't know about that, but it's worth exploring.

I'm now thinking that some kind of choux paste is used in the making of the beignets. That is, cook flour with butter, buttermilk, sugar and salt until it forms a roux, then beat in the eggs one by one. Maybe they do this and then fry.

Something like this recipe here from Baker Bette, adapted:

Cafe Du Monde Beignet Prototype
Makes about 1 dozen beignets

1/2 cup water (8 fl oz, 240 ml)
1/2 stick unsalted butter, cut into pieces (1/4 cup)
1/8 tsp kosher salt (omit if using salted butter)
1 tbsp granulated sugar

2 tbsp dried buttermilk powder
1/2 cup (+ 1/4 cup reserved) all-purpose flour

1/4 cup rye flour
2 large eggs

1/4 tsp yeast

oil for frying (cottonseed is the most traditional, peanut or canola)
powdered sugar for topping

Instructions

1. Place water, butter, sugar, and salt in a sauce pot over medium high heat. Stir until butter is melted and everything comes to a boil.
2. In a separate small bowl, whisk flour and buttermilk powder together.
3. Reduce heat to medium. Add flour mixture into the hot butter-water all at once while stirring quickly. Continue to stir and cook off the moisture in the dough until it pulls away from the sides and starts to form into a ball. This should take about 30-60 seconds.
4. Place dough into the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment or a large bowl if using a hand mixer.
5. With the mixer on medium speed (speed 3-4), add eggs in one at a time. Do not add another egg until the one before has been completely absorbed into the batter. The batter will look smooth and glossy when ready.
6. Chill the batter in the refrigerator for 10 minutes (or at room temp), until temp comes down to less than 100F. 
7. Now sprinkle on yeast and remaining 1/4 cup of flour. 
8. Knead using dough hook at medium speed (KitchenAid speed #4) for 1 minute. Will still be a sticky dough. 
9. Cover and let rest at room temp for 30 minutes. 
10. Refrigerate for 30 minutes to make handling easier. (FYI at this point you can refrigerate overnight until the next morning.)
11. In a heavy cast iron pot, heat at least 2" of oil to 360F
12. On a HEAVILY floured surface (1/2 cup of flour on surface!), add dough, sprinkle liberally with at ~1/2 cup flour, roll out to about 1/2" thickness. 
13. Using a pizza cutter, cut into 2" squares. 
14. Using a brush or your hands, carefully remove excess flour from top of dough. 
15. Fry 2-3 pieces at a time, 4 minutes total, flipping as they brown, try to maintain at least 350F temp at all times. They should be a fairly dark brown. 
16. Drain on rack, dust with powdered sugar.  

RESULTS:
Crumb was very ethereal and custardy. Internally, the texture was very light and very good. I think CDMs are more chewy, slightly less tender, but closely custardy.
Crust was pretty smooth, not craggy like CDM. I fried for 2-3 min at around 360-370F, and the crust was very very thin. Also tried frying some of the battered, unrolled dough. These balls had a more even texture.
Flavor was pretty buttery...delicious but not that traditional.
Rye enhances a certain sweetness, but I would dial it back more.

NOTES:
Yeast didn't do anything this time, didn't seem to dissolve into dough. Better to dissolve in a bit of water for 5 min, then add with flour.
Very soft dough, almost goopy, but no problem to roll and handle with the amount of flour specified. 

Thoughts for the future:

• Try real buttermilk. 
• Make roux with some high gluten flour? Or add high gluten flour later?
• Somewhat less butter...or use oil?

Same basic approach could be used to make doughnuts.

Baguette!

I've always wanted to try the Anis Bouabsa baguette that Janedo, David, breadbakingbassplayer and others on TFL have written about and tried. Here's the basics:

Makes 4 baguettes

500g flour (Anis uses T65 supposedly; this time, I will use 425g AP flour, 50g Caputo 00, and 25g whole wheat)
375g cool water
1/4 tsp instant yeast (about 0.8g, make it easy and round up to 1g)
10g kosher salt

1. In KA stand mixer, add water, and flour.
2. Mix for 1 min at lowest speed, scrape bowl, and rest for 20 min. 
3. Now add yeast and salt. 
4. Mix at speed #4 for 5 minutes. 
5. Fold every 20 minutes for 1hr (3x): leave dough in mixer, run mixer for 10 seconds at speed #1, just until dough almost completely gathers around the hook. 
6. Cover and refrigerate in mixing bowl for 21-23 hours. (This time, I will pull earlier because I have to bake by 3pm tomorrow; went in at 610pm on Sat). 
7. Divide right out of refrigerator and pre-shape. 
8. Rest for 45 min. 
9. Shape and place onto baguette pan.
10. Preheat oven to 550F
11. Proof for 45 minutes
12. Score 
13. Bake at 550F for 2 min, reduce heat to 480F and bake for 18-20min.

Aerosol whipped cream expiration date - is it bogus?

Lots of info on the web, generally very conservative..."use no more than 3 weeks after sell-by date"

Well, I found a full can of ultra-pasteurized Reddi-Whip aerosol that has been sitting patiently in my fridge for a couple of years!

Yes, the sell-by date reads Oct 2012.

So after some research, I decided to give it a shot. The best guiding principle is "use your senses". Smells bad? Looks wrong? Tastes sour? Then throw it out. Geez, if you feel squeamish about it in the first place, don't do it.

Sprayed it into a bowl. No separation, no funky smell, no odd yellowish color. Pure white, like when it's new.

Next step: dip my finger and taste.

It tasted fine! Just goes to show that if it doesn't look moldy or gross, you should try to trust your own senses to determine if something is bad or not. In this case, it tasted bad IN NO WAY.

I've had containers of buttermilk 3-4 weeks past the expiry date still be fine.

Those expiration dates are often just a guideline...use your senses to figure out what's good and what's not.