Chinese Baba

Ethiopian-Style Chickpea Stew

noreply@blogger.com (Jennifer) — Thu, 12 Aug 2010 23:55:00 +0000

Bob's stew with left over pulled beef.

When it comes to cooking, my skill level is less-than-novice at best. I say this because I lived at home for forever and a day (*blush*) and I was extremely lucky to have a stay-at-home mum who cooked every single thing from scratch: bread, pizza, lasagne, pasta, boeuf bourgignon, soup! The list goes on and on and on. Needless to say, I was gate pouri (translation: spoiled rotten). Sure I could bake and make some really kick-ass pancakes, but how was that going to help me survive? I really didn't want pre-made and canned foods to be an option (though I do harbour a soft spot for Kraft Dinner and eating canned corn out of the can - yes, I'm a can eater *GASP*!).

Well, it's been several years and though I'm not great - I'm better than I was before. I have a great palate, I just lack the skill and expertise to cook. It's like art: I enjoy it, but heck if I can draw a stickman to save my life. So please bear with me that I'm sharing with you a simple Ethiopian-style chickpea stew. Seriously, this is probably one of the most flavourful dishes I've cooked up in ages. It's got a lovely amount of heat which is saying something because I'm a total wimp when it comes to hot-hot dishes and I was totally digging the flavours. I stumbled upon this recipe when I was using the Whole Foods app for my iPod Touch, which is a great little app btw. Anyhow, I only had enough for a half portion because I only had 1 can of chickpeas. Here's what I used (and the instructions are from the original recipe):

Ethiopian-style Chickpea Stew - from Whole Foods

Do you see a colourful sea turtle?
Or am I crazy?

1/2 tsp paprika
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp ground all-spice
1/4 tsp ground black pepper
5 cardamon pods
1/4 tsp ground cloves
1/4 tsp ground corriander
1/4 tsp cayenne
1/4 tsp ground ginger
1-19oz can chickpeas, rinsed and drained
3 cloves of garlic, finely chopped
1 small onion, chopped
1-1 inch piece of ginger, finely chopped
2 cups of hot beef broth (I used Better than Bouillon because it's all I had on hand)
1 large tomato, cut into bigger chunks (the bigger the tomato, the better)
1 tbsp herbed tomato paste
2 carrots, peeled cut into one-inch chunks
1 large zucchini cut into one-inch chunks
1 cup of brown mushrooms

Stir together paprika, salt, allspice, black pepper, cardamom, cloves, coriander, cayenne, fenugreek (if using) and ginger in a small bowl; set spice mixture aside.

Heat remaining about 1-2 tablespoons oil in a medium pot over medium heat. Add garlic, onion and chopped ginger and cook, stirring occasionally, until very soft and golden brown, 8 to 10 minutes. Stir in reserved spice mixture and continue cooking, stirring constantly, until spices are toasted and very fragrant, about 2 minutes. Stir in chopped tomatoes and tomato paste and cook for about 2 minutes more.

Stir in broth, carrots, zucchini, mushrooms and chickpeas and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to medium-low, cover and simmer until potatoes and carrots are just tender, about 20 minutes. Uncover pot and simmer until stew is thickened and carrots are very tender, about 25 minutes more. Ladle stew into bowls and serve with flatbread on the side.

The vegetarian option served with naan.

I would have loved to have tried making injera but I was kind of lazy so I opted for naan instead. I loved mine just as it was. For a little more oomph for Bob, I had added some leftover pulled beef he had made earlier. I just can't say no to chickpeas ;)

Girl Crushes + Chicken Pot Pie

noreply@blogger.com (Jennifer) — Tue, 10 Aug 2010 02:13:00 +0000

Nigella Lawson: a foodie girlcrush that resulted in blind devotion. Hypnotized by her carefully chosen foodie words that are both melodious and inviting. Ensnared in her ability to make cooking and baking so easily accesible, she is affable and extremely well-liked. Check out this clip of her in the jungle and making the best out of a bad situation.

Ms. Lawson can talk the talk, but can she walk the walk? I've talked to some people who love her and we all agree that one cannot actually trust her recipes. They always seem to fall short somehow. Maybe it's the execution or too-liberal use of the words "bash" and "smash" when "crush" would have done just fine. This is a woman who is extremely gifted with her image and her brand which makes us vulnerable chumps highly susceptible to her blandishments.

However, dear friends, I have found ONE of her recipes that actually works and is actually quite tasty. In fact, it's one of my Bob's favourites.

Nigella's pot pie involves a lovely trinity of chicken, bacon, and mushrooms. *sings Halleluja, you know which part one I'm talking about*. It's from her Nigella Express book/tv show. I remember watching it and thinking: I could make that! And I did. And Bob fell in love with it.

Nigella Lawson's Chicken Mushroom and Bacon Pie

10 strips of bacon cut into 1-inch strips
2 cups of mushrooms (brown, white, you make the choice!) cut into 1/4-inch pieces
1 tsp garlic-infused oil (if you don't have it, I don't see the harm in chopping up a clove of garlic and cooking that with the oil when it gets to temp)
8 oz chicken breast cut into 1-inch cubes
2 1/2 tbsps all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp dried thyme
1 tbsp butter
1 1/4 cups hot chicken stock
Quick Pastry Dough

Please click on the link to get the low-down on how to execute this recipe. It's quite straight-forward that writing it here in my own words would seem redundant. I've only made a few modifications.

This time around, rather than use store-bought puff pastry (because I actually didn't have any), I decided to use Stella from The Witchy Kitchen's quick pastry dough. After rolling out the pastry dough, I just used a couple of the squares and used those to top the pot pies.

OH. MY. SO much better than using the store-bought puff pastry!!! Not only were the tops light and fluffy, but they did such a great job at soaking all the lovely chicken, mushroom and bacon flavours. The puff pastry from the store did not even come close. I liked it with the puff pastry. But I LOVED it with Stella's pastry dough.

A Nigella Lawson recipe that works and is tasty does exist. They seem to be a rare breed. Hopefully I'll be able to find another hidden little gem in the many that she's churned out. For now, my Bob seems quite content with this one. The way to a man's heart is through his stomach?

P.S.: OK, in case you've never seen Ms. Lawson before, this is what she really looks like:

Picture from The Daily Mail
Article: Nigella Lawson's recipes look easy as pie,
so how did Quentin Letts go so wrong?
Looks like someone else isn't all that impressed by her either!

Radiohead's Creep, a cover.

noreply@blogger.com (Jennifer) — Fri, 06 Aug 2010 21:29:00 +0000

I am a HUGE Radiohead fan. HUGE!!!

Last night, friends and I went to go watch Dinner for Schmucks. I expected SO much more from Paul Rudd and Steve Carrell. Luckily, Jemaine Clement was there to save the day. He was by far my favourite character in the movie.
Anyhow, The Social Network trailer played and Radiohead's "Creep" was covered. Such a beautiful rendition. Had to share with you guys.

Hope you have a lovely weekend.

Super Lemon Lovers

noreply@blogger.com (Jennifer) — Mon, 02 Aug 2010 22:11:00 +0000

Don't you just hate when you get so excited for a recipe only to have it kind of fail after first attempt? Ok, I know that you can't get Everything right on first try, but it would be nice. This is one of those stories.

It starts off with a flight to Los Angeles this past January. In need of reading material (Pride & Prejudice & Zombies hadn't taken footing in my head so I left it home), I picked up the January issue of Food & Wine ~ The Judge's Issue. I fell in love with the Lemon-Curd Cakes with Poppy Seeds recipe. Mmmmm.... a nice spongy bottom with a curd-like top, topped with a lovely dollop of creme fraiche whipped cream. My heart skipped a beat. How can you go wrong with such a combination? And does this not look amazing???

Picture by John Kernick,
Food & Wine January 2010.

I recently bought a 3-lb bag of lemons and they had been sitting in my fridge for almost a week. I decided it was time to let them shine in this recipe. So I happily started and everything seemed to be going really well. I went to bed happy.

Dinner had finished, mum was teaching Bob and I how to make homemade pasta and afterwards I started plating dessert. To my horror, this is what came out:

I almost started crying.
Mum: Oh, I'm sure it's fine. Let me taste it.
Me: I don't think it's safe.
Mum: Don't be silly. {Tastes} It tastes fine, we'll be ok with this. {This must be one of those mum things... "Don't upset the child!" moments.}
Me: Are you crazy? No, I'm not serving this to you. We just won't have any dessert.
Mum: Why don't you just put them in the microwave?

So we did, and they actually turned out ok in the end. Not as gorgeous as in the magazine, but at least edible.

My lumpy, ugly step-sibling version.

The original recipe can be found here on Food & Wine's website. Lesson learned:
- increase the cooking time by 10 minutes. The 20 minutes stated in the recipe simply was too short (for my oven). My mum also suggested just using a cake tester or tooth pick to check for doneness. The recipe says if the tops are firm to touch, you're good. I thought I was fine. *sigh* Why doesn't someone manufacture clear ramekins?

Verdict: despite undercooking the buggers, it's actually a lovely and light dessert after a nice meal. It is, however, a recipe that is extremely lemony. It's a recipe for those who love the intensity, the pucker, and tang of lemons. It is not for the faint of lemon-hearts. I shared one with Bob and he could only have a couple of mouthfuls. I, on the other hand, devoured the rest with very little trouble.

On a positive note, we tried Liren's (from Kitchen Confidante) Pineapple Rum marinade the other night on these beef ribs and they were delicious! Check 'em out!

The only saving grace of the meal.

Caramel Macchiato Ice Cream

noreply@blogger.com (Jennifer) — Sat, 31 Jul 2010 13:26:00 +0000

A frozen ode to Starbucks.

If you haven't noticed in my previous website, I am a huge fan of homemade iced treats. Examples of it are here, here, and here. Currently, I am using an older version of Cuisinart's ICE-21. I saw on a guest post that Lazaro from Lazaro Cooks! has a beautiful White Mountain ice cream maker that makes mine look like a child's toy in comparison.

Even though having an ice cream maker makes making ice cream that much easier, you actually don't need to have an ice cream maker to make ice cream.

This recipe is a hybrid of two that I absolutely love: Caramel and Coffee. A happpy accident of joining two friends and making them superfriends. To me, it tastes like Starbucks's Caramel Macchiato.

Caramel
1 cup of Sugar
1/3 cup of water
1 1/4 cups of heavy, whipping cream

The original recipe states to "heat 1 cup of sugar in a dry 10-inch heavy skillet over medium heat, stirring with a fork to heat sugar evenly, until it starts to melt, then stop stirring and cook, swirling skillet occasionally so sugar melts evenly, until it is dark amber." This method didn't work for me.

I just use a medium-sized sauce pan and put the sugar and 1/3 cup of water on medium heat. I stir with a wooden spoon until the sugar has dissolved and leave it alone. If you get sugar on the sides, use a pastry brush and water and just remove the excess. Eventually the sugar will start to bubble, boil, and change colour. This will probably take about 20 minutes. Once it turns colour, you have to watch it carefully because the burning process is extremely quick.

I'm a fearful cook, so once the sugar is to the desired amber-ness (if such a word exists), I'll remove it from the heat and slowly add the whipping cream. Once the sputtering and steaming subsides, I'll put it back on the heat and add the remainder of the whipping cream. I wouldn't recommend doing this part with children. I've gotten burnt a couple of times already because the steam is just so intense.

Eventually you'll get a lovely caramel. Put in a heat proof bowl to cool down then put in the fridge. I'd recommend making this earlier in the day or at least the night before you want to make the custard (there are only so many hours in the day).

Coffee Ice Cream by Williams-Sonoma

6 large eggs, separated
1 large, soft vanilla bean
1 1/2 cups of whole milk
1 1/2 cups heavy whipping cream, divided
3/4 cups sugar
1/4 cup smashed espresso beans, or dark roast coffee beans

Split the vanilla bean in two, scrape out the seeds.
If you have a coffee grinder, you can coarsely grind the 1/4 cup of coffee/espresso beans. If not, I just use a sandwich bag and smash them with a rolling pin. I find, if the pieces are bigger, you won't need cheesecloth in addition to a fine mesh sieve while straining your mixture.

In a medium saucepan, combine the milk, sugar, 1 cup whipping cream, vanilla beans and pod, and the coffee beans over medium heat. Stir with a wooden spoon until the sugar has dissolved.

In a separate bowl, whisk the egg yolks with the remaining 1/2 cup of whipping cream.

Once the vanilla/coffee is hot to the touch (very scientific, non?), it's time to temper the eggs. Slowly pour 3/4 of the warm/hot mixture into egg/cream mixture while slowly whisking the eggs/cream. {I cannot stress the slowly part enough. Because if you've poured too quickly, you may get "scrambled eggs". What does this mean? Sadly, it means you have to start again.} Pour everything back into the sauce pan and return to the heat. Usually by this time, your custard is pretty much ready to go. Just in case, coat the back side of the wooden spoon and run your finger down the middle. A "trail" should form and stay there for a while. If the "trail" closes too quickly, your custard isn't done. If the former, then you're ready to strain your mixture.

You'll need another bowl with a fine mesh sieve. If you think you've ground or smashed your coffee beans too much, I'd recommend putting some cheesecloth on the sieve. Pour your custard and strain removing all the extra bits. Then add in all of the caramel that you had made earlier. ~ If you've used all your bowls, I'll recommend pouring some ice cubes into one of your sinks, and filling with water as a water bath. Cool down your mixture completely and cover the custard with cling film. Leave in the fridge at least three hours or better overnight.

When you're ready, churn according to manufacturer's directions.

OR

Pour your mixture into a metal baking tin. Freeze it. After it's frozen, scrape it out and blitz in your food processor. Consume. See you don't need an ice cream maker to make frozen treat awesomeness ;)

Buttermilk Panna Cotta

noreply@blogger.com (Jennifer) — Thu, 29 Jul 2010 01:14:00 +0000

I've only ever had panna cotta once in my life and I had purchased it in the frozen food section of the grocery store. Since I didn't have any point of reference in terms of taste, I thought that it was alright. It's one of the desserts I've been wanting to make for ages but haven't made much time for it.

While at Home Depot a while back, I flipped through a Bon Appetit magazine and found a lovely yoghurt panna cotta. The food-nerd within was super excited and when I got home, I searched for it on their site. Close down the list of searched items, I stumbled upon a buttermilk panna cotta. Though I had a couple of tubs of plain yoghurt, I also had a litre of buttermilk sitting in my fridge that was dangerously close to its expiration date *cringes!*. (Originally, it was intended for a raspberry-buttermilk sorbet, but for some strange reason the desire to make it disappeared.)

I'm sorry that this isn't the nicest version to plate this gorgeous and satiny dessert, but I didn't want to put white on white. Funny enough, if you click on the link to the recipe you'll find that Bon Appetit did do "white on white" for their plating. I've come to the realization that I need more coloured plates/bowls, and I want a new camera.

If you eat it on its own, it's pretty sweet rather cloying for my tastebuds. After topping it with passionfruit, the sweetness mellows out and it becomes difficult to not have seconds. Loves! Cannot wait to give the yoghurt version a go.

In Bon Appetit's own words, their Buttermilk Panna Cotta

Ingredients

2 tablespoons water
1 1/2 teaspoons unflavored gelatin
Nonstick vegetable oil spray

1 cup whipping cream
1 teaspoon finely grated lemon peel
1/2 cup sugar
2 cups buttermilk
2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Assorted frozen berries (such as blackberries, blueberries, and raspberries), thawed

Preparation

Pour 2 tablespoons water into small bowl; sprinkle gelatin over. Let stand until gelatin softens, about 10 minutes. Lightly spray six 3/4-cup ramekins or custard cups with nonstick spray.
Heat cream, lemon peel, and sugar in medium saucepan over medium-high heat, stirring constantly until sugar dissolves. Increase heat and bring just to low boil, stirring occasionally. Add gelatin mixture; remove from heat. Stir until gelatin dissolves. Cool mixture to lukewarm, stirring often. Stir in buttermilk and vanilla; divide mixture among prepared ramekins. Refrigerate panna cotta until set, about 4 hours. DO AHEAD Can be made 2 days ahead. Cover and keep chilled.
Using small sharp knife, cut around panna cotta in each ramekin. Place plate atop each ramekin and invert, allowing panna cotta to settle onto plate. Top with berries and serve chilled.

Farmer's Market + Hot Dogs

noreply@blogger.com (Jennifer) — Sun, 25 Jul 2010 15:25:00 +0000

I've decided to ease my way into my new home by starting off with a nice picture post. Saturday was busy with a trip to St. Norbert's Farmer's Market, an afternoon matinee of Inception (which you MUST see), and a family dinner of tubed-mystery meat at Skinner's for their "world famous" hot dogs.

Lovely coloured carrots, burgundy beets, and scarlet radishes.
I have no idea what's beside them.

Gorgeous and crimson, these currants were calling out to me.
Lesson learned: bring a cooler on next visit.

Nature's Farm pasta.

I was intrigued and bought a pound of their cocoa chili fettuccine.
Can't wait to share the results with you all.

@ Skinner's World Famous Hotdogs.

They were hot dogs.

The Lockport locks.

Family portrait. Left to Right: Dad, me, Bob, and Mum.

Welcome! Version 2.0

noreply@blogger.com (Jennifer) — Sat, 24 Jul 2010 15:30:00 +0000

Morning mullets and coffee.

Hi Everyone,

You're probably wondering why I jumped Defunkt Gourmet and decided to start anew. Or maybe not. If you're willing to listen, keep on reading. If not, well... maybe you can come over and we can watch movies and bake some bread; maybe an Almodovar movie-a-thon; discuss the latest on horrible celebrity plastic surgery; or perhaps some bowling?

I started Defunkt Gourmet randomly, out-of-the-blue but mainly as a writing exercise. I seriously did not think much of it. And then things started going quite nicely, meeting exceptional people, learning so much more than I could have ever on my own. Lately, however, I've started questioning the Gourmet part of the name. Defunct is defined as "no longer in use, inactive." But I was never gourmet to begin with so how could I have become inactive in something I was never active in before?

Hmmm... I'm more of a comfort food kind of girl. So I thought I would start anew with an entirely new name that would suit my cooking style (if there is such a thing). I've decided on Chinese Baba as an homage to my mum who makes wicked-good Ukrainian pierogis. (I know - a Chinese woman making Ukrainian food!) My mum always made sure we had meals on the table and did it with love.

In between the foie gras, the caviar, the gourmet... we always want something comforting.

Thanks for stopping by. Are we still friends?
xoxo