Gingered Pear Danish

 

This gingered pear Danish was my attempt at a sweet treat with puff pastry! It was delicious. I love pears, especially in winter, and I also love ginger. I’m also a sucker for cream cheese and almond, so of course I had to make an almond cream cheese spread to go with the gingered pear filling!

Ingredients (Makes 4 Danishes)

-          Puff pastry (about 1 sheet frozen)

-           1 bosc pear, peeled and thinly sliced

-          1 Tbsp unsalted butter, melted

-          1 Tbsp brown sugar

-          1 tsp fresh ginger, minced (I used a micro-plane)

-          1 tsp pure vanilla extract

-          ½ tsp ground cinnamon

-          ½-1 Tbsp demerara sugar

-          4oz of cream cheese, softened

-          2 Tbsp white sugar

-          ½ tsp almond extract

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. Place the puff pastry on a clean, lightly floured surface. Roll out into a square that is approximately 14-16in on all sides (see photo). Alternatively, you can roll out into a rectangle about 5-6in wide and 16in long. Cut the pastry into 4 roughly even squares. I did not trim the edges but you could do so. 

In a bowl, combine the melted butter, brown sugar, ginger, half the vanilla extract (1/2 tsp), cinnamon, and the pear slices. Mix well. Allow to sit for a few minutes.

While the pear mixture sits, mix the softened cream cheese, white sugar, almond extract, and remaining vanilla extract (1/2 tsp) in a bowl. If you can use an electric mixer, that is great!

Spread the cream cheese mixture on each of the four pastry squares you have. The amount is up to you, but I used about 1 Tbsp per pastry square (see photo below). 

Then evenly distribute the pear filling across the four pastries. You don’t want the pears to go right up to the edge, so you likely want about ¼- ½ in between the edges and the pear mixture. You might find you don’t use quite all of the pear mixture.

Sprinkle the pastries with the demerara sugar.

I then folded up the sides (they will unravel a bit in the baking) to help contain some of the juices. However, as you can see from the picture, I still had some runover of pear juices. It didn’t affect the taste!

You can shape these how you want but I chose to fold up the edges a little into a circle-like Danish.

Place in the oven and bake about 16-18 minutes or until the pastry is golden brown. 

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Beef & Cheddar Turnover

My goal in adventuring with puff pastry was to make both a savory and a sweet treat. For my savory puff pastry adventure, I decided to make a savory turnover. I settled on a beef and cheddar turnover since we had all the ingredients! It was delicious! Mark's final words were "you gotta make this again."

Recipe (Makes 2 turnovers)

- puff pastry (enough for two 5x5in squares rolled out) [cold]

- 1/4 lb. ground beef (I used 85% lean)

- 1/3 cup onion, diced

- 1 large clove of garlic, minced

- 1/2 tsp Dijon mustard

- 1 egg, whisked

- salt, pepper, and smoked paprika to season

Directions:

If you are using store bought puff pastry, you need to defrost it in the fridge. It should be cold but not frozen. 

Roll out your puff pastry until you have approximately a 5x5 or 6x6in square. I then cut the edges so that I did have an approximate square with straight edges.

Heat olive oil in a pan over medium-high heat. Add your onions and cook for about 3-5 minutes (until they are translucent). Then add the garlic and cook for another minute.

Add your ground beef to the pan and season with salt, pepper, and smoked paprika. Cook until the beef is no longer red, or about 5 minutes (more or less depending on how much beef you are actually using).

Add in the mustard and mix to combine into the beef.

Brush the pastry square with the egg, making sure that you get a good coat around the edges.

Add half the beef filling (if making 2).

Fold the puff pastry to form a triangle.

Using a fork, press the edges of your triangle together, making sure that the pastry is well sealed.

Brush the top of the pastry with egg.

Repeat for the second turnover.

Place turnovers on a baking sheet (with a silicone matt or parchment paper) in the freeze for approximately 5-10 minutes while you pre-heat the oven.

Heat the oven to 415 degrees Fahrenheit.

Take the turnovers out of the freezer and bake for 25 minutes. 

 

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Khao Soi (Northern Thai Curry Noodle Soup with Chicken)

Overview

Khao Soi is a Northern Thai specialty that is both exceptionally flavorful and filling. This dish is found throughout Northern Thailand, but is incredibly difficult to find at any restaurant in the United States. However, for those of you who have had the privilege of having it once in Thailand, you will crave it for the rest of your life.

Khao Soi is a curried noodle soup featuring egg noodles, a boiled or simmered chicken drumstick, a uniquely spiced curry paste, and a coconut milk infused broth. The noodle soup is then topped with fried noodles, pickled mustard greens, shallot, and Thai roasted chile paste.

The key to making Khao Soi is the curry paste. Imitation recipes often call for a mix of store-bought yellow and red curry pastes, but nothing can replace a true Khao Soi curry pasted. It is a unique blend of spices (black cardamom, coriander, cumin, turmeric), aromatics (ginger, garlic, lemongrass, galangal, shallot, and cilantro stem or roots),  and chile peppers. All of these ingredients, and a few others, are pounded together in a large granite mortar and pestle to create the unbelievable, yellow-red curry paste.

The following recipe is our best recreation of Khao Soi as enjoyed in Thailand. The recipe draws from a few sources, including a cooking class taken in Thailand (Cooking with Ann), Andy Ricker's Pok Pok cookbook, Erin's personal experience of living in Thailand, and a few other recipes from blogs and food magazines. With the abundance of global ingredients at both conventional and specialty grocery stores, this dish is within reach for the home cook. The only special tool required is a large Thai-style granite mortar and pestle.

Ingredients

Khao Soi Curry Paste

• 6 whole cloves
• 6 allspice berries
• 1/2 Tbsp black cardamom seeds
• 1 1/2 Tbsp coriander seeds
• 1 1/2 tsp cumin seeds
• 1" piece of turmeric, fresh, cut into a few pieces
• 1 1/2" piece of ginger, fresh, cut into a few pieces
• 3" piece of lemongrass (from 1 stalk), cut into small rounds
• 4 rounds of galangal, 1" diameter, no more than 1/8" thick, sliced against the grain
• 12 coriander (cilantro) stems (or roots if you have them)
• 4 oz shallot, sliced against the grain
• 1 oz garlic cloves, halved
• 4 red thai chile peppers, fresh, stems removed
• 4 dried red chile peppers, seeded and de-veined
• 1 tsp kosher salt (or 1/2 tsp fine sea salt)

Khao Soi Curry

• 1 1/2 Tbsp vegetable oil
• 1 Tbsp Khao Soi curry paste
• 14oz can coconut milk (unshaken)
• 2-3 Tbsp coconut cream (from top of unshaken coconut milk can)
• 1 Tbsp palm sugar, grated
• 2 Tbsp fish sauce
• 4 small skin-on chicken drumsticks
• 1 cup water

For the dish

• 1 package egg noodles (Chinese egg noodles work well)
• vegetable oil for frying noodles
• drained and chopped pickled mustard greens (Thai preferably, but Chinese work, too)
• 1/2 cup small shallots, cut into pieces
• a few small lime wedges
• Thai roasted chile paste
• Thai fish sauce
• [optional] coarsely chopped cilantro (thin stems and leaves)

Instructions - Curry Paste

1. Combine cloves, allspice, cardamom, coriander, and cumin to a small pan and dry roast over low heat until spices are fragrant, stirring and tossing often. Remove from heat and let spices cool slightly.
2. Add spices to granite mortar and pestle then pound/grind them to a medium-coarse powder. Scoop spices out and set aside.
3. Combine dried and fresh chiles in mortar and pestle with the salt and pound firmly until chiles are broken down into a paste.
4. In order, add one at a time then pound to incorporate into existing ingredients, the cilantro roots or stems, lemongrass, galangal, turmeric, ginger, garlic, and half of the shallots.
5. Add the reserved spice powder and pound to combine, then the remaining half of shallots, pounding to combine.
6. Use immediately or store in an airtight container in the refrigerator for about a week or the freezer for up to 6 months.

Instructions - Khao Soi Curry

1. Heat the vegetable oil in a large, heavy bottomed pot (such as a dutch oven) or wok over medium-low heat until it shimmers.
2. Add the curry paste and fry, breaking up the paste and stirring frequently, until the paste is very fragrant and loses the smell of raw garlic and shallot.
3. Add the coconut cream, increase heat to medium, and fry for about a minute, then add the chicken drumsticks, fish sauce, and palm sugar. Stir to coat chicken and fry another minute or two, stirring and turning the chicken a handful of times.
4. Lastly, add the coconut milk and water, stir to incorporate, bring to a simmer, then simmer covered for 45 minutes, until the chicken is cooked through and tender.

Instructions - Serving

1. After the curry and chicken has simmered, reduce heat to warm (or turn off) and cover to keep warm.
2. Heat about 3/4" to 1" of oil in a large saucepan or pot over medium-high heat. Heat the oil to 350F. You can use a thermometer or drop a piece of noodle into the oil, which should turn golden brown in about 20 seconds.
3. When the oil is at temperature, put a small bundle of noodles in. They will expand quite a bit while frying, so start small and see how many will fit in your pot. Let the noodles fry for about 10-15 seconds then flip over once and let fry another 10-15 seconds. Noodles will take about 20-60 seconds per batch. Once golden brown, transfer to a paper towel lined plate to drain.
4. Bring a large pot of water to a rolling boil. Add remaining noodles and cook, stirring occasionally until noodles are fully cooked. Drain and divide into serving bowls.
5. To each bowl, add a chicken drumstick, ladle in about 1 cup of the curry, and top with a small bundle of fried noodles.
6. Serve bowls with a plate of pickled mustard greens, shallots, lime wedges, cilantro, if using, fish sauce, and roasted chile paste on the side for everyone to garnish as desired.

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Curry Vegetable Pie

 This is an excellent vegetable pie recipe that we adapted from Mark's brother! It has a lot of great flavor (is not spicy!) and is a great way to use root vegetables. 

Ingredients:

- 1 cup sweet potato, peeled and cut into ½-in chunks

- ¾ cup butternut squash, peeled and cut into ½-in chunks

- ½ cup red potatoes, peeled and cut into ½-in chunks

- 1 cup parsnips, peeled and cut into ½-in chunks

- 1 cup carrots, peeled and cut into ½-in chunks

- 1 leek (just the white part), washed and sliced

- 1 cup of frozen peas

- ½ yellow onion, chopped

- 1 tbsp olive oil

- 1.5 tbsp unsalted butter

- ¾ cup vegetable broth

- ¼ cup milk

- 2 tbsp flour

- 2 tsp curry powder

- 1 deep dish pie crust, frozen.

- Optional (but delicious): puff pastry for the top

- Salt and pepper to taste

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F

2. In a bowl, toss sweet potato, red potato, butternut squash, leek, carrots, parsnip in the olive oil and season with sea salt and black pepper. Spread evenly on a roasting pan and roast in the preheated oven until vegetables are slightly softened, 20 minutes.

3. With about 5 minutes left on the roasting vegetables, heat ½ tablespoon of butter in a large pot over medium heat; cook and stir the onion until slightly softened, about 4-5 minutes.

4. Simultaneously, heat together the vegetable broth and milk in a small, separate saucepan over medium heat until the mixture is almost at a boil.

5. Add the roasted vegetables to the onions and add the remaining 1 tbsp of butter and season with salt and black pepper. Cook and stir until the butter is melted.

6. Add the peas to the pot of vegetables.

7. Place the pie crust into the oven and pre-bake for approximately 8-10 minutes.

8. Stir the flour and curry powder into the pot of vegetables until evenly coated.

9. Gradually pour the broth mixture into the vegetable mixture and stir until the liquid has thickened, about 3 minutes.

10. Remove the pie crust from the oven.

11. Fill the pie crust with the mixture and top with puff pastry (however you choose)

12. Bake until the pastry is golden brown and puffed, about 20 minutes.

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Adventures in Puff Pastry

 Inauguration Day seemed like a good day to try something new (and tasty)! So I decided to make some puff pastry. It is actually surprisingly easy! You need cold butter. I used butter straight out of the fridge (not freezer) and that worked very well. 

Ingredients:

• 2 cups of flour
• 1 tsp. salt
• 1 1/4 cup of cold butter (2.5 sticks)
• 1/2-3/4 cup of cold water

Whisk together the flour and salt in a large bowl. Cut the cold butter into 1/4-in chunks. Add to the flour and toss to coat. 

 

Stir in the water (start with 1/2 cup) until a thick dough like the picture below forms. I found that I actually needed to add a bit more water (so I added closer to 3/4 cup in total) to get a dough ball that I could work with. 

Gather the dough into a ball, flatten it into a disk, and wrap it in plastic wrap (or beeswax if you are eco-conscious like me!). Chill the dough for one hour in the fridge. 

                                 

Dust your work surface with flour. Unwrap the dough and roll into a rectangle (as best you can...mine was more an oval). Fold the dough in thirds, like an envelope. Then turn 90 degrees, roll it into a rectangle again, and fold in thirds again. I repeated this two more times. 

Wrap the dough again and chill in the fridge for 2 hours before using. 

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Hearty Vegan Corn Chowder

 This is a recipe that we adapted from Mark's mother to be meat-free and dairy-free. While the original recipe calls for half-and-half, milk, and white wine, these are not often things that we have readily on hand. We also have people who are either vegetarian or dairy-free in our family and friend groups and so this is a really great, easy recipe that easily accommodates lots of people in our lives!

Key, however, is using a hearty vegetable broth. When using store bought broth, we always use Pacific Foods Low Sodium Vegetable Broth! I appreciate that it is low in sodium and that the ingredient list is short and lists nothing that I myself wouldn't recognize easily as being included in a vegetable broth! It's also a very hearty vegetable broth. 

Vegan corn chowder topped with fresh cilantro, green onion, and avocado!

Prep your onions, red pepper, and potatoes before you begin. Sauté your onion and red pepper in olive oil over medium-medium high heat for about 10 minutes. Add flour before the broth to coat the pepper and onion - this makes a 'rue' to make this chowder a bit creamier and heartier!

Then add your broth and thyme and bring to a boil. Once it is boiling, add the potatoes. I also like to season with a little salt and pepper at this stage. Bring to a boil again and then reduce the heat to a simmer for about 10 minutes (you may decide you need a few more minutes depending on how big you cut your potatoes and how cooked you like them). Lastly, add the corn and simmer another 10 minutes!

We like to to the soup with some chopped up cilantro and green onion and some slices of avocado. We also often add a few drops of hot sauce for a bit of a kick! If you are wanting this dish to have a little meat, it is also excellent topped with some chopped bacon (note: if you are not cooking this to be vegetarian/vegan, then you can cook your bacon first, remove the bacon from the pan, and sauté your onion and red pepper in the bacon fat).



Ingredients (~8 servings)
1 tbsp olive oil (preferably extra virgin olive oil) [you could also use butter]
1 yellow onion, finely chopped
1 red pepper, finely chopped
2 tbsp of all-purpose flour
4 cups (1 32oz container) hearty vegetable broth (we use Pacific Foods Low Sodium)
1 lb red-skinned potatoes, unpeeled, cut into 1/4-1/2in pieces
1 tsp dried thyme
1 16oz bag of frozen corn
chopped green onions (for topping)
chopped fresh cilantro (for topping)
slices of avocado (for topping)


Steps
1. Heat the olive oil in a large Dutch over over medium-medium high heat (a large pot also works well).
2. Add onion and red pepper and sauté until onions are soft (and a bit translucent).
3. Add flour and stir until the onion and red pepper are coated and slightly browning (~2 min).
4. Pour in broth, add the thyme, and bring to a boil.
5. Add potatoes, bring to a boil again, and then reduce to a simmer for 10 minutes (or until potatoes are cooked).
6. Add frozen corn and simmer about another 10 minutes.
7. Ladle into bowls and top with chopped cilantro, green onion, and slices of avocado if you desire. You can also add a few drops of hot sauce if you want a little kick!

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No-knead Bread

A lovely boule!

Like seemingly everyone else, we ventured into bread making over the past year. Despite its chart-topping popularity, it took us a long time to come across the No-Knead Bread recipe by Jim Lahey and Mark Bittman. But, eventually, thanks to some good friends, we discovered the wonders of the overnight rising, no-knead loaf. The recipe can also be found freely available on Epicurious. The rest of this post contains our adaptation and method, which is a cross between the NYT and Epicurious recipes. Whether you make this bread using our recipe, the NYT one, or the Epicurious one, we highly suggest watching this YouTube video from the NYT. Not only is it a great throwback to the days before high-definition video, it is a great visual aid for the process.

The premise of this recipe is simple: four ingredients and a minimal amount of effort leads to an excellent loaf of bread. All you need is flour (ideally bread, but AP works great, too), a little bit of salt, a tiny amount of yeast, water, and time. Our current favorite flour to use is King Arthur Unbleached Bread Flour, and we typically use fine ground sea salt instead of kosher or table salt. The yeast comes from a packet of instant yeast (you know the ones - they come in a three pack) from the grocery store baking aisle. Each standard 1/4 oz packet, which is approximately 2 1/4 tsp, is good for 8 or 9 loafs bread.

Tools

• your hands
• a large bowl or container for mixing and rising
• plastic wrap or similar to cover bowl
• 4 1/2- to 5 1/2-quart heavy pot with lid (we use an enameled cast-iron dutch oven)
• cotton or linen tea towel (not terry cloth)

Ingredients

• 430g bread flour (or AP flour), plus more for dusting
• 1/4 tsp instant yeast
• 1 tsp fine sea salt
• 1 1/2 cups water

Instructions

• Combine bread flour, yeast and salt in a large bowl. Mix with your hand to combine.
• Add 1 1/2 cups water and mix together dough with your hand or a wooden spoon. Dough will be wet and sticky.
• Cover bowl with plastic wrap and let rise on the counter for at least 12 hours, but ideally 18 to 24 hours. We like to mix the dough around dinner time and let rise overnight. Dough is ready when the surface is dotted with bubbles.
• Lightly flour a work surface then lightly flour your hands and turn out the dough onto the surface. The dough will be sticky and loose, clinging to the bowl in long strands. Don't add more flour, even though you will be tempted!
• Using lightly floured hands, form a dough ball by grabbing the edge of the dough, lightly stretching it out a little, then folding it into the center. Repeat this action around all sides of the ball. You can give the dough a few pinches in the center where all the edges have been gathered in if desired.
• Place your cotton or linen tea towel on the work surface and generously dust with flour. With your lightly floured hands, gently lift the dough ball onto the towel, placing it seem side down. Dust the top of the dough ball with flour and fold the towel over the dough. Let rise for 2 hours.
• After 1 1/2 hours, preheat your oven, with your heavy pot inside it on a rack in the lower third of the oven, to 450F.
• After the 2 hour rise, carefully remove the pot from the oven (using oven mitts - it is hot!) and remove the lid. Rip off a piece of parchment paper large enough for the dough ball and so that some will come up the sides when it is in the pot. Unfold the towel covering the bread, lightly dust the top if needed, then carefully flip the dough onto the parchment paper so the seem side is up. Carefully lower the dough (now on the parchment paper) into the heavy pot and cover the pot with its lid.
• Bake, covered, for 30 minutes then uncover and bake for another 15 to 20 minutes. The bread should be a pleasant pale golden after the initial 30 minutes, and it will be finished when it is a deep chestnut color, but not burnt.
• Remove pot from oven and place bread onto a wire rack to cool. Let cool for at least 1 hour.
• Enjoy! We particularly enjoy dipping these loaves into infused olive oil mixtures or olive oil and balsamic vinegar. Sliced 1/4" thick it makes outstanding sandwiches.

Notes

• This recipe is incredibly forgiving. No bread flour? Not a problem. Only 12 hour rise? No problem!
• Placing the dough ball onto parchment paper before placing into the pot for baking makes easy work of both inserting the dough and removing the baked loaf.
• After uncovering during the bake, the loaf will take anywhere from 15 to 30 more minutes. Our oven usually takes only 15 more minutes to produce a crusty, but not overly hard crust, that creates an excellent dipping or sandwich bread. The crust is there but it won't impale the top of your mouth if you bite it the wrong way.
• You must let the loaf cool for at least an hour! This might be the most painful experience of your day, but it is totally worth it to create that perfect bread texture.

Dough after mixing - wet and shaggy

Dough after rising overnight (~18 hours)

Dough ball before baking

The finished product - sliced and ready to eat!

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