It was a pretty good weekend for making food, I’d say. Here’s what I was working on:
Date (Fig) Bittmans
-those date cookie numbers I wrote about in my previous post—-on the list of Food to Work On
Carrot Cake Cupcakes
-also a Mark Bittman recipe, and chock full of things like pineapple and golden raisins (my addition), and lots of carrots, obviously
-had quite a journey with these, cooking time-wise: turns out the perfect time is 15 minutes, turning the tin at 8 minutes
Those poor things at the top, taken too soon from the oven and collapsing in on themselves from the weight of underbaked batter. But the 2nd batch, the bottom 3 rows there, were cooked all the way through, and were moist with a bouncy crumb. Not overbaked at all, and not overly sweet, but…should the crumb be bouncy? Or tender? And should they rise more? Have more of a dome at the top? I like the browning, personally. Not sure if that’s right, though.
-I made some cream cheese coconut frosting, which came out pretty tasty. Because the coconut milk tends be solidified at the top of my store-bought cans, it was easy to just scoop out 2 TBSP of that creamy stuff to add to the cream cheese and butter. Of course, I reduced the amount of confectioner’s sugar by a lot.
Crispy Crowns
-those amazingly addictive, crispy, crunchy, fatty disks of frozen potato that are equally delicious after a drag through barbeque sauce, blue cheese dressing, or good old ketchup
-one of the most satisfying foods to eat, if you can accept the faint shame of eating no less than half a bag at a time
Confit Garlic
-did not really turn out
-lack of equipment and/or need to make a huge batch of this led to its failure…I used this recipe for reference and reduced it by a third
-wish I trusted my palate more, but I’m not sure if this garlic is too dark…does it taste too bitter? I hate bitter, so pretty much anything even a little bitter is too bitter for me.
Garlic Aioli
-used Kewpie mayo, 2 cloves of not-really-confit-garlic, and lemon juice
-wasn’t as smooth as I’d like, but got the mortar and pestle back in action! (I really need an immersion blender)
-pretty punchy flavor—-can’t wait to try with my beloved Crispy Crowns!
-ugh, I hate tahini—but I do love chipotle, so I was game for this
-took a GREAT deal of balancing and adapting, because tahini is gross and I hate it
-ended up adding some sour cream and maple syrup, and more chipotle, and…not bad 🙂 just not sure what it goes on…
Overnight Oats
-longtime favorite of mine, but first time making in awhile—also added to Food to Work On—this is a good one to have in the regular rotation collection
-ratios were a bit off with this recipe—-I’ve added yogurt before, and should’ve learned not to add it again (results in the oats being too thick and gluggy)
-topped with longtime family favorite, Special Apples, and Honey Nut granola
Paneer Butter Masala
-this one is worthy of a longer, dedicated post, so look for that in the future
-definitely adding to my list of Food to Work On—-I think I will end up creating a recipe culled from many different sources, based on my ability, work space, equipment, and available produce :)—here’s the recipe off which I based My Version #1
-paneer was purchased at an Asian market in Burlington—-Chloe and I spent a day over there before she went back to school after Winter break—-I bought 4 bricks of the stuff, and this is its debut recipe 🙂
-probably my biggest Win of the Weekend 🙂
Rebellious Belly 