31 March 2010

April Showers Bring... New Living Arrangements?

 So I have gone silent, but I promise I have not forgotten you or my blog.  I am in the midst of utter chaos.  I am getting my house ready to put on the market.  In a word: AGGGGGGGHHHHHHH!  I haven't cooked myself a decent (blog-worthy) meal in a few weeks, and it may still be a few more before I get back in a kitchen.


So I wish you all a lovely April Fool's, Easter and Passover and whatever else you may be celebrating (like today is my big brother's birthday! Happy Birthday Chris!).   I promise to be back soon with actual food!

20 March 2010

More Peanut Butter Chocolate Goodies?

I have been on a peanut butter chocolate tear lately.  As much as I enjoy the flavor combination, it isn't a favorite of mine so it is kind of funny that I keep on baking with it. I recently took a weekend trip to Cleveland to visit one of my best friends.  This friend used to be a frequent recipient of my baked goods since we shared an office. Unfortunately for me, but fortunately for her, she moved to Cleveland to be with her boyfriend fiance. Since I knew I would be crashing on her couch, I figured a baked good was in order.


Last time I visited her, I brought these delicious peanut butter chocolate "brownies".  She and her fiance were quite enthused with the flavor combination, so I decided to try a new peanut butter chocolate recipe out on them.  I think they were quite happy with my offering. 


The blondies bake up very chewy and crazy-rich. Speaking from personal experience, they make a lovely 2 a.m. post-bar nibble.  The bars were easy to transport and hold up well over a few days. 


The addition of peanut butter keeps the blondies really moist. I think pushing whole peanut butter cups into the top of the hot-from-the-oven blondies was gilding a pretty darn spectacular lily, but it got them out of my house so I wouldn't snack on them.  I found the recipe over at my sister's blog, The Spiced Life.  (If you have a hankering for chocolate and peanut butter, her blog is a great place to start - she has a lot of reviews posted!)


 Rich & Chewy Peanut Butter Squares A.K.A. Best Peanut Butter Blondies EVER
Adapted from Baking By Flavor via The Spiced Life

1 cup (126 g) AP flour
1/4 cup cake flour
3/4 t baking powder
1/8 t salt
1/3 cup smooth peanut butter
8 T (1 stick) unsalted butter, melted and cooled to tepid
1 cup firmly packed light brown sugar
1 large egg
1 large egg yolk
1 t vanilla
1 cup chopped Reese's Peanut Butter Cups, plus more for topping (optional)
3/4 cup peanut butter chips
1/4 cup semi sweet chocolate chips

Spray an 8X8 baking pan and line it with parchment paper or foil that overhangs the sides (you will use it to lift the blondies out of the pan). Preheat the oven to 350 F.

Sift together the AP flour, cake flour, baking powder and salt. Set aside.

In a medium sized mixing bowl (this is easily done by hand) whisk together the melted butter and peanut butter. Whisk in the brown sugar, egg, egg yolk and vanilla. Switching to a wooden spoon or a spatula, mix in the sifted flour mixture. Stir in the chips and peanut butter cups. The dough will be thick and chunky.

Scrape the dough into the prepared pan and spread it in evenly. Bake for 25-30 minutes, rotating front to back halfway through. The bars are done when the dough is set and golden. Optional: you can press as many peanut butter cups as you want into the surface of the blondies while they are still warm. Let the pan and bars cool completely on a cooling rack. Slice the bars into 4 quadrants--and then slice each quadrant into 4 squares. Try not to eat them all.

11 March 2010

David Chang is a Pork God.

I have no idea if David Chang, of Momofuku fame, would be thrilled with me anointing him a Pork God, but honestly, it is one of the biggest compliments I could pay him. I have never been fortunate enough to actually eat at his restaurants.  And I don't even own the cookbook where this recipe can be found.  But I do believe that this one experience with a Momofuku recipe, following excruciatingly simple instructions (that I still muddled with), transforming a cheap piece of meat into something sublime, qualifies him for the title. 


I found this recipe on Sticky Gooey Creamy Chewy, a visually stunning blog that inspires me regularly.  In fact her header design actually helped inspire my recent renovation to my blog.  I recommend adding her to your must-read list.  The instructions for this pork are so simple, it was hard not to tinker with them.  In the end, I was forced to tinker slightly but only minor cooking time/temperature changes to make my life easier.  The original recipe was written to be cooked throughout the day, and I adjusted it so I could cook it overnight by lowering the cooking temperature and extending the cooking time.  The end result is the most tender, succulent shredded pork.  


The brown sugar creates a delectable crust that I found myself seeking out.  The long visit with a salt and sugar rub beautifully flavor the pork.  In fact, the pork was so perfectly seasoned that I didn't salt the end result it at all.  The shredded pork tasted just like the salty-sweet perfection of bacon.  Seriously. A pork shoulder transformed into bacon.  Pork God, I told you.


I served this dish plain in a bun alongside coleslaw.  The original recipe calls for a variety of other goodies to make a Korean Lettuce Wrap of sorts. I am not sure if the name of the recipe, Bo Ssäm, refers to the lettuce wrap or the pork, but be sure to check out the Momofuku Cookbook or Sticky Gooey Creamy Chewy for the original serving suggestions.


Shredded Pork
Bo Ssäm adapted from Momofuku via Sticky Gooey Creamy Chewy

Ingredients

1 (4- to 6-pound) bone-in pork shoulder or pork butt
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup plus 1 tablespoon coarse salt
4 tablespoons light-brown sugar


Directions

1.  Place pork in a large bowl or roasting pan. In a medium bowl, mix together granulated sugar and 1/2 cup coarse salt. Rub sugar mixture all over pork and cover bowl with plastic wrap; transfer to refrigerator for at least 6 hours and up to overnight.

2.  Preheat oven to 270 degrees.  Discard accumulated juices from roasting pan that pork is in. Transfer roasting pan to oven and cook, tightly covered, for approximately 9 hours (overnight).

3.  In the morning, increase oven temperature to 300 degrees.  Uncover pork and baste meat with accumulated juices every 10-15 minutes for about 1 hour.

4.  Meanwhile, in a small bowl, mix together remaining tablespoon coarse salt and brown sugar.  Rub mixture all over pork.

5.  Increase oven temperature to 500 degrees. Return pork to oven until sugar has melted into a crisp crust, about 10 to 15 minutes.

6.  Shred pork with forks and serve as barbeque pork or in Korean Lettuce Wraps, or just eat it like it is bacon - be careful not to burn your fingers! 




05 March 2010

Spring Fever? Make Slaw!

Apparently I am in the midst of a bout of spring fever, which I doubt is all that unusual.  Are you itching for flip flops and mud?  Yearning for the first crocus and daffodil to poke through the earth? Rolling your window down because it is sunny (and who cares that it is only 38 degrees out)?  I can answer yes to all these questions and more.  I am ready for sunshine and longer days.  The ugly brownish snow from our record-setting-February can take a long walk off a short pier. Bring on the wicked rain storms that mean spring in Ohio. 


Oh, and the food, bring on the barbeque and coleslaw!



I may not be able to control the weather, but I can control the food.  So I whipped up a meal of pulled pork and coleslaw that tasted like summer. I will start by sharing the coleslaw, which I found on Smitten Kitchen, while searching for basic creamy slaws.  I have made some killer Carolina vinegar based slaws, but I have never been able to master a creamy coleslaw.  To be fair, I wasn't sure I liked creamy coleslaw until fairly recently, so I haven't been trying for that long.


 Nonetheless, this recipe tasted exactly how I wanted - a little tangy, lightly saucy, not too creamy and just a hint of sweetness.  The best part is that the tangy-ness and sweetness are totally controllable by adjusting slightly to your taste.  The slaw retained a lovely crunch even after a day in the refrigerator.  It was the perfect side dish to the pork sandwiches, which I will soon share.

Now if only I could control the weather, I'd be a perfectly content blogger...

Simple Slaw
adapted from Gourmet, June 2008 via Smitten Kitchen
serves 4-5

1 to 1 1/2 lb green cabbage, finely shredded (1/2 of one large head)
1 large red bell pepper, finely chopped
1 large carrot, coarsely grated
1/2 cup mayonnaise
3-4 T cider vinegar, to taste
2-4 t sugar, to taste
salt and pepper, to taste

Toss all vegetables in a large bowl with salt and pepper. Whisk together mayonnaise, vinegar, and sugar, then toss with slaw. Be sure to taste dressing and adjust vinegar/sugar to own preference. Chill, covered, stirring occasionally, at least 1 hour (for vegetables to wilt and flavors to blend). 
Slaw can be chilled up to 1 day.