Tomato and Corn Pie

A late Merry Christmas to everyone and a very HAPPY 2013 to all of you!! I have been eying this Tomato and Corn Pie from Closet Cooking for a little while now. I was thinking of making this one night and when I told Mr. G what was to be our dinner, he was not excited...to say the least.

Ignoring his comments, I decided to make it anyway. The results?! This pie was GOOOOOOOD!! Mr. G ate his words and half the pie!! =P

The pie crust is a savory yummy biscuit, and inside is a yummy tomato and corn filling with a bit of kick from the cayenne. Overall a wonderful yummy pie!! Although the name (and the picture) does not scream, "make me now", it really was a very good savory pie and I will definitely make this again!! Try it and let me know what you think!

Tomato and Corn Pie
from Closet Cooking

1 1/2 cups corn, about 3 ears
1 1/2 pounds beefsteak tomatoes, about 4 medium, diced
2 strips bacon, cut into small pieces and cooked (see note)
1/4 cup mayonnaise or sour cream
2 green onions, sliced
2 tbsp fresh parsley (see note), chopped
1 1/2 cups cheddar cheese, grated
1/4 teaspoon cayenne
salt and pepper to taste
2 pie crusts pastry or biscuit (recipe follows)
1 tablespoon butter, melted

1. Mix the corn, tomatoes, bacon, mayo, green onions, basil, cheddar cheese and cayenne and season with salt and pepper.

2. Fit one of the pie crusts into a 9 inch pie plate, pour in the corn and tomato mixture and fit the remaining pie crust on top folding it over the edges of the bottom one and crimping to seal in the juices.

3. Brush top of the pie with butter and cut 3-4 1-2 inch slits in the crust to let out the steam.

4. Bake in a preheated 350F oven until the top is golden brown and the filling is bubbling, about 30-40 minutes.

Biscuit Pie Crust
from Closet Cooking

2 cups flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
3/4 teaspoons salt
6 tablespoons unsalted butter, cold and cut into 1/4 inch cubes
3/4 cup milk
1 tbsp dried oregano(see note)

1. Mix the flour, baking powder and salt in a food processor.

2. Add the butter and pulse until it resembles coarse meal (you can also do this with pastry cutter or two knives).

3. Add the milk and pulse until it forms a dough.

4. Split the dough in half and roll each out on a well floured surface one at a time.

Notes:

• *The original recipe calls for four strips of bacon, I only used two because I really wanted the tomato and corn to shine and not be overpowered by the bacon flavor.
• *The original recipe calls for a handful of basil, I didn't have basil but had some parsley, so I substituted that instead.
• *For the crust, the original recipe calls for 2 tbsp of basil, I decided to use 1 tbsp of dried oregano instead.

Sweet Bread French Toast

Before seeing this recipe, my French toast consists of drenching bread in lots of beaten eggs. I would use at least one egg per piece of bread. It was okay....but not quite like the ones from the restaurant. I was browsing my The New Best Recipe cookbook from Cook's Illustrated and thought I would try this!

What surprised me is there's only one egg for four servings of French toast!!! Is it just me or is that crazy? I ended up using some sweet bread for the French toast and it was so delicious!! It was nice and fluffy, not too eggy, and the perfect crisp to soft ratio. Yum!! It's also so easy, it's really doable even for a weekday morning.

Sweet Bread French Toast
from The New Best Recipe

1 large egg
2 tbsp unsalted butter, melted
3/4 cup milk
2 tsp vanilla extract
2 tbsp sugar
1/3 cup all purpose flour
1/4 tsp salt
4 to 5 day old challah or sweet bread, 3/4 inch thick (see note)
unsalted butter for frying (1 tbsp per batch)

1. Heat a 10 or 12 inch skillet (preferably cast iron) over medium heat for 5 minutes. Meanwhile, beat the egg lightly in a shallow pan or pie plate; whisk in the melter butter, then the milk and vanilla, and finally the sugar, flour and salt, continuing to whisk until smooth.

2. Soak the bread without oversaturating, about 40 seconds per side for challah and 30 seconds per side for sandwich bread. pick up the bread an allow the excess batter to drip off; repeat with the remaining slices.

3. Swirl 1 tbsp butter in the hot skillet. transfer the prepared bread to the skillet in a single layer; cook until golden brown, about 1 minute 45 seconds on the first side and 1 minute on the second.. serve the French toast immediately. Continue adding 1 tbsp butter to the skillet for each new batch.

Note:

• *You can also use sandwich bread instead of challah.  You will need about 6 to 8 slices of day old sandwich bread.  You will want to cook it for 30 seconds on the first side instead of 40 seconds. 

Cornflake Chocolate Chip Marshmallow Cookies

This cookie comes from the great Christina Tosi of Momofuku Milk Bar. I was so excited when I saw this book, I took a look at the Momofuku cookbook that came out before, but I wasn't too excited about it. Everything in there had so many steps; it just wasn't for the everyday cook. When it comes to baking though, I am willing to be in the kitchen all day!!

I love the recipes in this cookbook, I want to make everything. There's a recipe for Kimchi Croissant with Blue Cheese (eew?!) and Lap Cheong Foccacia!! Crazy!! I can't wait to make every single thing! For the inaugural recipe though, I chose this "simple" cookie. It doesn't sound that magical, maybe just your run of the mill kitchen sink cookie, but it really is a lot more sophisticated than that. The key is the CORNFLAKE CRUNCH!!

What is cornflake crunch? It's cornflakes mixed with milk powder, butter, sugar and salt and baked until it becomes this yummy goodness. Added to the cookies, it creates this crunchy, caramel-ly cookie that's out of this world! haha. Try it!! The only warning is YOU MUST REFRIGERATE THE DOUGH BEFORE YOU BAKE IT!! Don't skip this step or it won't come out right. Otherwise, make this and come join me in cookie heaven!

Cornflake Chocolate Chip Marshmallow Cookies
from Momofuku Milk Bar

16 tablespoons (2 sticks)/225 g butter, at room temperature
1 1/4 cups/ 250 g granulated sugar
2/3 cup/ 150 g tightly packed light brown sugar
1 egg
1/2 teaspoon/ 2 g vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups/ 240 g flour
1/2 teaspoon/ 2 g baking powder
1/2 teaspoon/ 1.5 g baking soda
1 1/2 teaspoons/ 5 g kosher salt
(3 cups)/3/4 recipe Cornflake Crunch (recipe follows)
2/3 cup/ 125 g mini chocolate chips
1 1/4 cups/ 65 g mini marshmallows

1. Combine the butter and sugars in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment and cream together on medium-high for 2 to 3 minutes. Scrape down the sides of the bowl, add the egg and vanilla, and beat for 7 to 8 minutes.

2. Reduce the mixer speed to low and add the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Mix just until the dough comes together, no longer than 1 minute. (Do not walk away from the machine during this step, or you will risk overmixing the dough.) Scrape down the sides of the bowl with a spatula.

3. Still on low speed, paddle in the cornflake crunch and mini chocolate chips just until they’re incorporated, no more than 30 to 45 seconds. Paddle in the mini marshmallows just until incorporated.

4. Using a 2.-ounce ice cream scoop (or a 1/3-cup measure), portion out the dough onto a parchment-lined sheet pan. Pat the tops of the cookie dough domes flat. Wrap the sheet pan tightly in plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 1 hour, or up to 1 week. Do not bake your cookies from room temperature—they will not hold their shape.

5. Heat the oven to 375°F.

6. Arrange the chilled dough a minimum of 4 inches apart on parchment- or Silpat-lined sheet pans. Bake for 18 minutes. The cookies will puff, crackle, and spread. At the 18-minute mark, the cookies should be browned on the edges and just beginning to brown toward the center. Leave them in the oven for an additional minute or so if they aren’t and they still seem pale and doughy on the surface.

7. Cool the cookies completely on the sheet pans before transferring to a plate or to an airtight container for storage. At room temperature, the cookies will keep fresh for 5 days; in the freezer, they will keep for 1 month.

Cornflake Crunch
from Momofuku Milk Bar

1/2 (12-ounce) (5 cups)/ 170 g box cornflakes
1/2 cup/ 40 g milk powder
3 tablespoons/ 40 g sugar
1 teaspoon/ 4 g kosher salt
9 tablespoons/ 130 g butter, melted

1. Heat the oven to 275°F.

2. Pour the cornflakes in a medium bowl and crush them with your hands to one-quarter of their original size. Add the milk powder, sugar, and salt and toss to mix. Add the butter and toss to coat. As you toss, the butter will act as glue, binding the dry ingredients to the cereal and creating small clusters.

3. Spread the clusters on a parchment- or Silpat-lined sheet pan and bake for 20 minutes, at which point they should look toasted, smell buttery, and crunch gently when cooled slightly and chewed.

4. Cool the cornflake crunch completely before storing or using in a recipe. Stored in an airtight container at room temperature, the crunch will keep fresh for 1 week; in the fridge or freezer, it will keep for 1 month.

Caramel apple cheesecake bars

A thanksgiving greeting to all of you who have been so supportive during my hiatus. I am hoping to have regular posts from now on (maybe I shouldn't have put that in writing =P). On this thanksgiving, I am most thankful for my friends. When my family moved from Hong Kong to Hawaii, we left most of our family. It is the friends that I've made since that have become my family. So from me to you, THANK YOU!

This is a great dessert for the holidays! It isn't too hard to make, and it's such a great fall dessert. It's a nice change to pumpkin pie, I think. The most time consuming part is cutting the apples in small dices. Don't skip it though, it's worth the effort. The small dices of apples complements the creamy texture of the cheesecake perfectly. I love the crispy streusel and crusts too! For the caramel sauce, I decided to make the caramel sauce from Ina Garten instead. It's just a personal preference, I don't tend to like caramel sauce made with brown sugar. I think it's because the brown sugar caramel sauce is not as smooth and creamy as the granulated sugar variety. That's just me...

Caramel Apple Cheesecake Bars
adapted from Mel's Kitchen Cafe

Base:
2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup firmly packed brown sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1 cup (2 sticks) butter, softened

Cream Cheese Layer:
2 (8-ounce) packages cream cheese, softened
1/2 cup sugar
2 large eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Apples:
3 Granny Smith apples, peeled, cored and finely chopped
2 tablespoons sugar
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg

Streusel Topping:
1 cup firmly packed light brown sugar
1 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 cup quick cooking oats
1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, softened

Caramel sauce (recipe below)

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

2. In a small bowl, stir together chopped apples, two tablespoons sugar, cinnamon, and nutmeg. Set aside.

3. In a medium bowl, combine all the streusel topping ingredients and mix until crumbly. Set aside.

4. In a medium bowl, combine flour and brown sugar. Cut in butter with a pastry blender or two forks until mixture is crumbly but combined. Press evenly into a 9X13-inch baking pan lined with aluminum foil. Bake for 10 minutes or until lightly browned.

5. While the crust is baking, in a large bowl, beat cream cheese with 1/2 cup sugar until smooth. Then add eggs, one at a time and then the vanilla. Mix well. Pour over the warm crust.

6. Spoon the apple mixture evenly over the cheesecake layer. Sprinkle the streusel topping over the apples. Bake for 30 minutes until the filling is set.

7. Cool the bars to room temperature. Drizzle with the caramel topping (or plate individual slices and drizzle with topping one by one).

Caramel Sauce (1/2 recipe)
from Ina Garten

3/4 cups sugar
1/6 cup water
3/4 cups heavy cream
1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

1. Mix the water and sugar in a medium heavy-bottomed saucepan. Cook over low heat for 5 to 10 minutes, until the sugar dissolves. Do not stir.

2. Increase the heat to medium and boil uncovered until the sugar turns a warm chestnut brown (about 350 degrees F on a candy thermometer), about 5 to 7 minutes, gently swirling the pan to stir the mixture. Be careful – the mixture is extremely hot! Watch the mixture very carefully at the end, as it will go from caramel to burnt very quickly.

3. Turn off the heat. Stand back to avoid splattering and slowly add the cream and vanilla. Don't worry - the cream will bubble violently and the caramel will solidify.

4. Simmer over low heat, stirring constantly, until the caramel dissolves and the sauce is smooth, about 2 minutes. Allow to cool to room temperature, at least 4 hours. It will thicken as it sits.

Carrot Velouté-Chilled Carrot and Orange soup

One of my all time favorite restaurants in Hawaii is Chef Mavro. Since it's such a splurge to go to Chef Mavro, I try to get my dose of him through his website, twitter, and his blog!! When I found out he was doing a cooking demonstration at Macy's, I jumped at the opportunity. If nothing else, just to bask in his glory!!

He was gracious enough to share two recipes during that cooking demonstration, a recipe for Carrot Velouté, a chilled carrot and orange soup and a scallop escabeche. We also got to taste what he made and it was sooo good!!

On top of everything else, he shared some great tips for making great food. Just from listening to him, you can see how passionate he is about food. He takes such great care to making everything delicious, even the very minute details. Here are some tips I learned from Chef.

• *When using garlic in a recipe, remove the little stem in the middle of the clove. According to Chef Mavro, that is the part that gives you garlic breath. I have been doing that since then and I notice that the garlic no longer takes over the entire dish. The dishes no longer have that harsh, pungent garlic taste.
•  
• *To make sure your diced onions are all the same size and in turn cook evenly, cut the onion at an angle. It's hard to explain, so I found this for you at the Kitchn.
•  
• *Good food takes time to cook. If you don't have time to cook, you shouldn't, just go to his restaurant! =)
•  
• *Use good salt when cooking! His favorite salt is the salt of Hanapepe in the Island of Kauai. Apparently you can't buy it anywhere, you just have to know someone. He goes to Kauai once in awhile to get salt for his restaurant. His second choice is La Baleine sea salt. I haven't been able to find it in Hawaii yet. He said the ones in the blue round carton is only good for salting the floor after a spill. haha =)
•  
• *Last but not least, life is too short to eat bad food!!

For a recent get together, I made his Carrot Velouté. I absolutely loved it. I think the ladies loved it too, but the men did not seem to care for it. I have no idea why. I thought the texture was smooth and divine, the taste was very fresh. It's a great soup for the summer!

I did make some small changes to the recipe. The recipe called for coconut foam made with coconut milk. Chef Mavro had this fancy whipped cream maker that's able to make coconut foam from just coconut milk. I only had my stand mixer and try as I may, no foam came from the milk. I used whipped cream instead. His recipe was also very simple and hid some of the steps that he did while in person. I added a bit more details so you can replicate it at home.

Here's the recipe.

Carrot Velouté
adapted from Chef Mavro

2 lbs carrots, peeled and finely sliced
1/2 of a medium sized onion, finely diced
water
1 small potato, peeled and finely sliced, reserved in water
1 sprig fresh thyme
1 sprig Italian parsley
1 dried bay leave
4 tbsp butter
2 tbsp sugar
1 cup fresh squeezed orange juice
1 cup whipping cream (see note)
1 tsp Madras curry powder
sea salt
white peppercorn, freshly ground

1. In a stock pot, saute the onions, carrots and sugar in 2 tbsp of butter. Cook until carrots and onions are slightly soft. Put enough water to barely cover the vegetables. Allow the water to come to a boil. Lower the temperature and allow it to simmer, covered, for 15 minutes.

2. Tie the thyme, parsley and bay leave together with some kitchen twine and put it in with the vegetables. Add the orange juice and potatoes into the carrot mixture and simmer for another 12 minutes.

3. Remove the herb bouquet from the soup. Blend the soup with the remaining butter in a blender until very smooth. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Chill the soup until the soup is icy cold.

4. Whip the whipping cream to soft peaks. Save half of the whipped cream for the topping. Fold the whipping cream into the soup. Serve in chilled soup bowls or plates, garnish on top with whipped cream sprinkled with curry. Enjoy!!

Notes:

• *If you happen to have one of those fancy whipped cream maker, by all means, use coconut milk. I think it tastes better with the coconut foam. I only used regular whipped cream.
•  
• *The printed recipe has 1 tbsp of cumin seeds. There aren't any instructions on when to use the cumin seeds in the procedures, and I don't remember seeing him use it in the demonstration. hm....