Saturday, September 28, 2013

Beef Burgundy-ish

Coming from a place that produces some of the world's best beef (Canada AAA!), perhaps it should shame me to admit that I'm not much for beef. I can hear the collective gasp from my fellow Albertans. I'm not vegetarian/vegan, or any other variation of non-beef eater and I do eat beef on occasion, and today was just that occasion. I saw a recipe for Beef Burgundy in a magazine at a friend's house, and I could totally see myself eating it for dinner. It was moist and tender and flavourful and saucy and the perfect complement to the oven roasted root veggies on the side. That's the thing; if I'm going to eat beef, it has to be flavourful; it has to take on a flavour other than "beef" to floor this girl's palate. 

Beef Burgundy (slightly adapted from Good Housekeeping)

1 tbsp olive oil
~1 kg sirloin steak (original recipe calls for beef chuck, couldn't find it, and the butcher said this might work nicely; and it did :)), cut into chunks
 3 cloves garlic, crushed
1 medium Spanish onion, coarsely chopped
2 tbsp corn starch
2 tbsp tomato paste
3/4 tsp salt
1/2 tsp black pepper
1 1/2 burgundy cooking wine
3 sprigs fresh thyme (from my little herb pot!)
1 package mushrooms (crimini are quite nice, but button will work, too), sliced in half

1. Heat up the oil in a 5 quart Dutch oven over medium-high heat. Make sure to pat the beef chunks "dry", then add these to the Dutch oven and brown on all sides (you'll likely have to do this in batches). Once browned transfer the beef to a medium-sized bowl using a slotted spoon . Preheat your oven to 325 F.
2. You'll have drippings in the Dutch oven; add the garlic and onions to these and cook these until they are browned and tender (7-10 minutes). Stir in the corn starch, tomato paste, salt and pepper and cook for about 1 minute, while stirring. Add in the wine, and let it heat up to boiling. You'll want to be stirring to loosen up the browned bits from the pot. 
3. Put the meat back into the Dutch oven, along with your sliced mushrooms and thyme. Allow the mixture to reach boiling again. Then remove from the stove and pop into the oven for about 1 1/2 hours (meat should be fork tender at that point). Stir once in this  time frame.
4. Remove the thyme sprigs and discard. Plate up the beef with a side and dig in!

Wednesday, September 18, 2013

Cinnamon Buns

I wasn't kidding when I said I was a carb whore. Or maybe just a sweet bread whore.

Cinnamon buns; my kryptonite. I just love a warm, gooey, cinnamon-y, soft and hint of buttery cinnamon bun. When I was a kid there was a single cinnamon bun franchise in my home town; I keep thinking it was Cinnabon, but I really don't remember the name. Then they started closing down and all that was left were the grocery store buns. Some were okay, others meh and others had raisins (I'm sorry, but I don't see how raisins have a place in cinnamon buns!). Then one day, a new place opened in town...CinnZeo (I'm sure most Canadians will be familiar with the name). And I've had Cinnabon in the States, but (I'm sorry), Cinnabon does not trump CinnZeo. Unfortunately (or perhaps fortunately, especially for my waistline) there are only 2 locations in my city, and they're nowhere close to my home...so sometimes I make my own (and I'm sorry, again, but these kind of trump CinnZeo).

Friday, September 13, 2013

Pepperoni and Cheese Soft Pretzels

When I was in the States earlier this year, I was introduced to Wetzel's Pretzels and Auntie Anne's delicious baked pretzels. I'm a carb whore (no shame ;)), so of course I fell in love with the soft, chewy breadiness that both brands had to offer, and I promptly asked the Google if there was any likelihood I would be able to find a Wetzel's or Auntie Anne's in Canada, or at least close to my neck of the woods. And the answer was a resounding no. A few months after I got home, while at the grocery checkout the latest issue of Bon Appetit boasted a recipe for a simple dough that could be used to make (you guessed it) soft pretzels! Let me tell you, it was $5.99 well spent :) You can go crazy with toppings, or add-ins (pearl sugar, anyone?), and this particular time I was hankering for some pepperoni and cheese pretzels (this one might look at bit strange because it was vegan pepperoni and tofu cheese) and they certainly did the trick!

Pepperoni and Cheese Soft Pretzels (just barely adapted from Bon Appetit April 2012)

For the dough:
1/2 cup milk (recipe calls for whole, I used 2% skim)
4 tablespoons, sugar (divided)
1 3/4 teaspoons active dry yeast
2 large eggs, at room temp.
2 3/4 cups all purpose flour, unbleached
1 teaspoon salt 
1/2 cup (or 1 stick) unsalted butter, at room temp; cut into 1" pieces
an extra 1/2 tablespoon of butter, melted

Toppings:
1 package of pepperoni slices (or your choice of meat)
1 package of mozzarella cheese, grated

1. Heat the milk in a small saucepan over medium heat until the temperature of the milk reaches 110-115 degrees. Transfer the milk to a 2 cup measuring cup and stir in 1 tablespoon of sugar. Sprinkle the yeast into the milk; whisk to blend. Let it sit until yeast foams (~5 mins). Then add eggs and whisk until smooth.
2. Break out the stand mixer and pop in your dough hook. Combine the 3 tablespoons sugar, flour and salt in the mixer's bowl. Add milk mixture to dry ingredients and start the mixer. Add the butter, one piece at a time, mixing well between each addition. Mix on medium speed for 1 minute, then knead on medium-high speed until the dough looks soft and silky (~5 minutes). 
3. Grab a medium-sized bowl and brush the melted butter onto it; place the dough in the bowl and brush the top with melted butter. Cover bowl with plastic wrap.
4. Allow the dough to rise in a warm, draft-free area until it's doubled in size (~1-1 1/2 hours). 

Making the pretzels:

1. Line 2 large baking sheets with parchment paper. Punch down the dough and divide into 12 equally sized pieces.
2. Take one piece of dough (cover the rest with a tea towel) and roll it on a lightly floured surface into a (approx.) 17" rope. Form the rope into a U; lift the top left end and fold it over (or under) the opposite side. Gently press it together about 2/3 of the way down from top right side. Lift the right end up and fold it over (or under) and press it in; it should look like a pretzel :)
Now do the same thing with the 11 other pieces of dough.
3. Place 1/2 of pretzels on each sheet spaced ~ 2" apart and loosely cover them with plastic wrap. Let them rise again (warm, draft free area!) until they're puffed, but not doubled (~30-45 minutes).
4. Arrange the racks in the upper and lower thirds of the oven and preheat the oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit (~190 Celsius).
5. If you want glossy pretzels, beat an egg white with 2 teaspoons warm water and brush this egg wash on the pretzels prior to arranging pepperoni on the pretzel. Sprinkle with grated mozzarella.
6. Pop your pretzels in the oven and bake for ~10 minutes; rotate the baking sheets and continue to bake until they're golden (~6-8 additional minutes). Let cool on wire rack and enjoy!




Thursday, September 5, 2013

Welcome!



Ah, the inaugural post. Is it silly to think that all beginnings should involve cake? First word: cake; first day of school: cake; first child: why not some cake? "Firsts" are a cause for celebration, and cake is associated with celebration. So, in honor of this first post (of many, I hope), there will be cake. And a fun fact: I’m not all that crazy about frosting/icing. I’m a strange one, I know. I love me some {good} cake; it’s just the dollop of frosting on top usually gets scraped off. Maybe it’s because I haven’t come across any frosting that’s really wowed my tastebuds (most are just greasy and gross and others toothache sugary), or maybe it’s because they just put too much on there. Has anyone tried those "two-bite" cupcakes; half cupcake and half greasy sugar? Seriously, the ratio of frosting to cupcake is like, 1:1, and I feel like just a smear is enough sometimes. Just a little something to complement the cake. 
I had a hankering for chocolate cupcakes the other day, so I went to the Google and one of the top hits was this recipe. Really, the pictures suckered me in; they looked so lovely, I just wanted to grab one right out of the picture. The recipe calls for vegetable oil; with only olive oil on hand (I like it for cooking, not-so-much for baking), I substituted what I did have….yogurt. The result: slightly gummy, nice and chocolatey cupcakes. Oh, and I took the frosting on a test drive too (for some odd reason there was a can of coconut milk in the pantry); it was pretty darn good; there may be hope for me yet.
Sometimes some whip and strawberries are all you need :)
  
Chocolate Cupcakes (adapted from Vegan Chocolate Cupcakes

 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 cup granulated sugar
3 tablespoons cocoa powder
1 1/2 teaspoon instant coffee powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 teaspoon vinegar
1/4 cup yogurt
1 cup water

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit (or 180 Celsius) and break out the muffin tin and liners.
2. Whisk together the dry ingredients in a mixing bowl, then add the wet ingredients and mix together until the batter is nice and smooth with your weapon of choice (spatula, wooden spoon).
3. Pour an equal amount of batter into each muffin cup and place in the over for about 20-25 minutes (or when a toothpick inserted in center of muffin comes out clean).
4. Remove from the oven to cool to room temperature (although nothing beats a warm muffin with a swig of cold milk ;) )