Buckwheat Pancakes

I'm smitten with buckwheat pancakes. I've only ever tried cooking whole buckwheat grains, never with much success - there are so many tastier grains out there, no reason to choke this down just to be able to say I eat buckwheat. So, I'm always a bit skeptical when there's a new round of buckwheat recipes hitting the cooking websites I watch.

THIS is why people rave about buckwheat. Skip the whole grains, go straight for the pancakes. Recipe is from here: http://awhiskandaspoon.com/2010/02/11/winter-buckwheat-pancakes/

The batter is weird. Stretchy, gluey, very dark, speckled and SO thick. As soon as the pancakes started cooking (on my new electric griddle - thanks Mama!) this great nutty aroma filled the kitchen. They cooked maybe 50% longer than a regular pancake.

These are delicious! They were fluffy, but felt substantial and they lasted so much longer than a standard pancake. I can't imagine how good they'd be if I whipped the egg whites first!

Daring Cooks - Risotto

Risotto has been on my to-make list for years, so I was really excited about this month's challenge. I've tried to make it once before, with awful results. I was making a wild mushroom risotto and somehow I ended up with a dish that looked like lumpy gray glue that, while actually still tasty, was incredibly unappealing. This one was much more successful.

Usually making stock means saving up the bones from a chicken, and I don't put in too many vegetables. This was a great excuse to go all out though, and the meat made for a great chicken salad the next day!

It's amazing... as soon as onions start to fry, everyone is amazed at how good whatever the dish is will be. I didn't take the onions out, as the recipe called for since we all love onions. The rice required more stock than I expected to get to that lovely tender stage. I'd been reducing the stock to amplify the flavor, and just barely had enough.

The shrimp in Texas were amazing... so fresh and tender. The last few stages of the risotto went quickly to keep the shrimp from overcooking. And then of course the parmesan...

Risotto. Tender, flavorful and nothing even remotely resembling glue. This may become a frequent dinner in our house!

The 2010 March Daring Cooks challenge was hosted by Eleanor of MelbournefoodGeek and Jess of Jessthebaker. They chose to challenge Daring Cooks to make risotto. The various components of their challenge recipe are based on input from the Australian Masterchef cookbook and the cookbook Moorish by Greg Malouf.

Blueberry Muffins from Cooks Illustrated

These were incredibly fancy compared to my normal Betty Crocker blueberry muffins. They were delicate, and the swirl of blueberry jam really amped up the flavor. I'll try to get the recipe on here at some point!

Snowed in for Christmas - 2008

We had a HUGE snowstorm in December of '08 leaving me stranded at home for about 2 weeks, including over Christmas. Since Kat was working, I spent the day (surprise surprise) cooking.

 First off: Turkish Delight. MASSIVE FAILURE. It didn't taste bad, but it never firmed up like it should have. I was trying a recipe that only used corn starch, no gelatin and it just wasn't right. I made a pan of vanilla and a pan of citrus, both with nuts in them.

Next up, Divinity. Now, I've never made, seen or eaten Divinity. Turns out, this is NOT what it's supposed to be like at all. Mine was gooey, sticky, tasty but nearly impossible to eat. It was fun watching the chickens eat it though!

These are Yema - Filipino egg candies. They were fun to make, especially since the chickens had just started to lay and the filling was such and incredibly rich yellow. They were a bit too sweet and rich though, which seems to be the case with a lot of candies from other countries. (Hello Greece!) We ate a few, and gave the rest to the chickens. sigh.

Finally, homemade Marshmallows. These were far and away the darlings of the day. They were surprisingly easy to make and SO soft and fluffy. This is what marshmallows should be like. This recipe used a lot of egg whites, but I'd also like to try some that don't use eggs at all. That day I made regular and chocolate, and I want to try making some fruit marshmallows during the summer.

Baklava

This is my first post about Baklava, with hopefully more to follow as I work out the recipe. Baklava has been my pet work in progress for about 2 years and it's ranged from soggy to crispy, too sweet to not quite sweet enough, perfectly golden to nearly black on the bottom. However, each time it improves and the recipe is getting closer to perfected. What I've learned so far:

• Almonds aren't quite right. So far the best mix is 75% walnuts and 25% pistachios, mixed with brown sugar and cinnamon. 
• The butter needs to be clarified - this makes the phyllo MUCH crisper and golden. With the  milk solids left in, the bottom layers get soggier and the top just isn't as pretty.

• No rose water in the syrup, and I use only about half of what most recipes call for. Traditional baklava is just horrifically sweet. Syrup made with honey and water, boiled with a good half of a lemon (peel included) and a cinnamon stick. The citrus cuts the sweetness too.
• I like multiples of 3. I don't think this necessarily adds to the quality of the final product, but it makes me happier with the baklava. Bottom layer - 15 sheets of phyllo, 3 middle layers - 6 sheets each, Top layer - 15 sheets (or 18, depending on what's left.)

Fish Baked in a Salt Crust

 

This was a great experiment and I'll definitely cook fish this way again. This is for WHOLE FISH only - I used trout. The skin keeps the flesh from absorbing too much of the salt. For these 2 fish, I mixed one whole box of kosher salt with 2 egg whites (to bind the salt) and put a layer down in the bottom of the baking sheet. The fish were stuffed with herbs and lemon sliced and were laid on top and covered with the remaining salt mixture. Pack it tightly! This was a while ago... I think I then baked it all at 400F for about 30 minutes until the crust was browned:

This is the fun part: Crack it open! We used a hammer since the crust was SO hard.

The eyeballs fused to the salt crust and were yanked clean out. Gotta love dinner with a gross out factor.

Here they are, completely uncovered. The fish was incredibly moist and well seasoned. It was a bit messy to eat, but really really good. And it's worth it just to get to take a hammer to your dinner.