Sunday, November 13, 2011

Polly's Pan-Biscuits





I love my Pan-Biscuit.   I don't know if others do it this way or not, but one morning, I was hungry for a good breakfast with fried eggs.   I didn't not want to have half dozen biscuits, but just one.    So my solution was to pan-bake the biscuit.    After mixing about 1/3 cup of flour and 3/4 tsp of baking powder without aluminum, pinch of salt, rub 2 TB of cold Butter into it and make half mealy dough and and some butter chunk left in pea size.    Then slowly add cold milk a tablespoon at a time and mix into a very soft dough that you can still handle with flour coated hands.   Fold them two times and shape it roughly into a circle.    In a non-stick fry pan (with lid), melt a tsp of butter, and place the dough in the middle of the pan.   Cover with the lid.   Bake in the pan for about 10-12 min over medium low or low high (depending on your gas stove, adjust the time needed to bake through.)   Then, turn it over and bake the other side.    In the mean time, fry your eggs in a separate pan - season with anything you like.     Cool the biscuit for about 2 minutes and then, split the biscuit open, sandwich the eggs in between, wrap and off it goes with you to the office.



Suppli al Telefono with Mushrooms

 This particular Arancini or the Suppli al Telefono is prepared with sauteed chopped button mushrooms and finely minced onions.   They were formed into the balls and coated with flour.   Then packed in vacuum sealed bag and kept frozen until needed.   It gave me a wonderful surprise.    I am not sure because the freezing and defrosting it caused the mixed Parmesan-Reggiano and Fontina cheeses to become more flavorful or what it is, the fried arancini burst with flavor at the first bite into it.    It really is a satisfying snack or eat them as an entree.





 Vacuum packed to freeze for later use or go for the next step . . .
 Dredge it in egg mixture and PANKO bread crumbs and fry it for approx 6 to 8 min.
 Caution the guest or be aware yourself that the content is hot.   Do not bite into it right away.   The content will remain hot and cheese in melted thread state for about 10 minutes after coming out of the frying oil.  

 How long can you stretch it?



Wednesday, November 02, 2011

My Pelmeni - Seiberian Meat Dumpling Adventure

The name of this dumpling caught my attention - "Siberian".     How often do I cook Siberian dish? This is my first try.    One of my favorite blogger, Nobleva made this.    When I saw the photos, I wanted to try.   Nobleva is a great cook, I can tell from her recipes.    And her photos are gorgeous.   Check them out at:    http://nobleva.blogspot.com/2011/10/pelmeni-siberian-meat-dumplings.html 
To make this Pelmeni, I was bit amused  to see how 'familiar' this dish is.    I think you know what I mean without me explaining.    And I noticed my 'learned way' of folding the Pelmeni kicked in as soon as I held the rolled out dough in my hand and filling it with the meat mixture.    I could not help myself, but fingers just start forming the supposedly the Pelmeni the Chinese style.... geeweez!  give me a break.    It's Pelmeni, not GYOZA, but my fingers won't form it the way I want to like Nobleva's.    I think the next time, I will try to make it much smaller like the small wonton size.    That might work.    And also to purchase a much fatter meat.    I used half pork and half beef.   But I am so accustomed to grab a lean meat package when I shop, it was a mistake.   I forgot that the natural meat fat gives this dish its mouthfeel and taste.    It will also alter the looks of the meat filling of the final product.    Mine definitely looks dry.  



 
When I found out about it after making the first batch, I improvised to mix the meat fillings with vegetables - chopped up napa (liquid squeezed out) and the other half with cooked eggplants.     Luckily I was able to redeem it.
Pelmeni with Eggplants  Medley, I baked previously.

 Then, I made Bechamel sauce, sauted chopped mushrooms with garlics, and I added chopped fresh cayenne pepper from my garden.



Okay, so the whole cayenne on the top as a garnish is a bit overkill.    Maybe a chopped cayenne sprinkled on top would have been better.   The taste?   The bechamel sauce gave the dry meat due to 'lean' meat I used a better mouthfeel.    The fresh cayenne pepper gave it some kicks to open your appetite and wants the second and third bites to counter the bechamel sauce that sometimes would give the 'full' filling right away before the next bite.    Sauteed mushrooms added the interesting textures and enhanced  the taste of the creamy bechamel.

Tuesday, November 01, 2011

Indian Flavor - Chappati

I purchased this 25lb bag of Chappati flour quite a while ago when I found it at COSTCO.     I did not read what the label said, but I thought this maybe the secret ingredient to make my favorite NAAN.    I can eat 2, 3, 5 NAAN before I even start eating the main dish.    NAAN is such a great comfort food.   But the sack of flour sat there for many months.    My kitchen lab project wondered off to do all other things, except this bag of Chappati flour.    Then, during my Mediterranean food adventure in my class, the flat bread idea starts to warm up again.    After doing some research and learning how this Chappati flour is used for, I got my hands in making this new simple bread called Chapati.      The ingredients are so simple.   Chappati flour and water with a bit of salt.       
 The rest is all in the kneading and rolling technique.    With some gods' interventions, the thin flat dough would puff up - separating itself from the bottom and top layer as though I have intentionally rolled two pieces of doughs together.   

It is a perfect accompaniment to serve with a bowl of chicken curry, etc.    Unfortunately, I did not have anything to dip it into.     Remembering one of my favorite old movie "Thief of Baghdad" and my favorite actor - SABU eating one of this hot stolen bread or the pancake with honey, I did the same - brushed it with clarified butter and honey from the local bee farm - orange blossom honey.  
   Cooking it was a bit time consuming as I did not have the particular flat iron pan to make it in.    I used my iron skillet, instead of the tawa.   As soon as the dough starts to show some tiny bubbles, it's a sign that the dough has become a bit stiffer - within 30 seconds -  I transferred it directly over the gas flame.     




The heat builds up steam within the dough and starts to separate itself from each other and balloons up.     What a fun to watch them puff up like a inflated hot air balloon.     Out of the 24 chapati, I managed to have one chapati that puffed up pretty much all the way around.    






If I find a burnt hole with steam escaping, I placed the flat surface of a wooden spatula or large spoon with long handle and place it over the hole.    Immediately the steam distributed to the other part of the dough and started to lift the rest.     I've seen other bloggers with a perfect spherically risen chapati.    The key is truly as many  bloggers pointed out is to roll the dough out completely flat and evenly  -- "EVENLY" is very important.     You see what a difference it makes when the dough is rolled out evenly or unevenly.                              (Unevenly rolled dough)

                                       (Thin and evenly rolled out dough)
Serve it as soon as it comes off the stove.   


I noticed, it would change to 'cracker' like crumb when it cools and bit tough to bite into --- this maybe because I am not doing it right?  or the dough mixture needed bit more liquid. . . . . . . .back to the kitchen lab and test some more.    The next time, I will try to make the Poori - fried bread.