Birthday Dinner

For my birthday I got to make whatever I wanted. I chose to try a couple of Asian recipes.

Egg Drop Soup
From tasty kitchen

2 cups chicken broth
1 Tbsp corn starch
1 whole egg, beaten slightly
1 dash black pepper
1 dash soy sauce (or more to taste)

1. Bring the broth to a boil. In a small cup, combine the cornstarch with 3 Tbsp of the heated broth and whish to combine. Whisk cornstarch mixture into the broth and boil for a minute or two to thicken the broth. Turn off the heat. Pour in the egg in a thin stream while stiring slowly in one direction. Do not over stir or the egg will break into tiny bits instead of making ribbons. Allow to sit for a couple of minutes before ladling into soup bowls. Season with soy sauce and black pepper to taste. You can also add thinly sliced green onions for garnish.

Makes 2 servings.

Boiling broth.

The finished product: simple and good. This is super fast and quite yummy. It might become one of my go-to meals when I need something fast.

Lettuce Wraps

from tasty kitchen

2 Tbsp oil

1 whole onion, medium

2 whole garlic cloves, minced

1 can (8 oz) sliced water chestnuts, drained and chopped

1 lb ground turkey

1/4 cup soy sauce

1/4 cup ketchup

4 tsp rice vinegar

4 tsp sesame oil

2 tsp red pepper flakes
2 Tbsp brown sugar

1 head Iceberg lettuce, quartered at the core, core removed, leaved separated and torn into approximately 4-inch cups

1/4 cup sliced green onions

1/4 cup chopped peanuts

1. Heat oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add onions, garlic and water chestnuts; saute until onions soften, 3 to 4 minutes. Add turkey; continue to cook, stirring frequently, until meat loses its raw color and most of the liquid has evaporated, about 5 minutes.
2. Meanwhile, mix soy sauce, ketchup, vinegar, oil, pepper flakes, and sugar. Add to the turkey; continue to cook until mixture has thickened to the texture of thick sloppy joes.
3. When ready to serve, warm turkey mixture. Lay out lettuce cups on a serving tray. Fill each with 2 Tbsp of filling, then garnish with scallions and peanuts. Serve.

Makes 24 servings.

The turkey and vegetables sauteing. I forgot to cut up the water chestnuts before adding them to the mix. Oops! It wasn't a disaster but did result in some tedious work and lost time.

Sauce mixture.

Cooking down.

Cooked down. It's smells pretty good.

The finished product: solidly good. These aren't P.F. Chang's lettuce wraps so if that's what you're expecting, you'll be disappointed. These are still very good, though. They are tangy and slightly spicy. I'd recommend them.

Birthday Cake

A couple of weeks ago was my birthday. I made my own cake...because I wanted to. I chose chocolate and peanut butter as my inspiration and a giant cupcake pan as my mold. Woohoo!!

Chocolate Cake
From Hershey's

2 cups sugar
1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 cup cocoa
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1 1/2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
2 egg
1 cup milk
1/2 cup oil
2 tsp vanilla extract
1 cup boiling water

1. Heat oven to 350 degrees. Grease and flour baking pan(s).
2. Stir together sugar, flour, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in large bowl. Add eggs, milk, oil and vanilla; beat on medium speed of mixer 2 minutes. Stir in water. (Batter will be thin.) Pour batter evenly into prepared pans.
3. Bake 30 to 35 minutes or wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool 10 minutes; remove from pans to wire racks. Cool completely.

Cake ingredients ready to be mixed. I chose to use the Hershey's Special Dark Cocoa because I thought a dark chocolate cake would be dreamy (it was a good choice; you should try it).

That's one runny cake batter! It should be moist though, right?

Here is my cake pan. I lost the little sheet that came with it which tells you how to adjust cake recipes to fit this pan (how much to make). I tried to go online to see if I could find such information and ended up just guessing.

I think I underfilled it a little but the final result was just fine.

Peanut Butter Frosting

From here

1 cup powdered sugar

1 cup creamy peanut butter

5 Tbsp unsalted butter, at room temperature

3/4 tsp vanilla extract

1/4 tsp Kosher salt

1/3 cup heavy cream

1. Combine all ingredients except for cream. Beat with an electric mixer on medium low speed until creamy. Add cream and beat on high speed until smooth.

Peanut butter and sugar...this is looking good.

Creamy and dreamy frosting. This is super light and smooth. I could eat it with a spoon.

The two sides of the cupcake all set up.

I got to play with my cake decorating supplies. I haven't really broken them out before so I got ot experiment which was super fun.

The finished product: this was really good. The cake was extremely moist. The flavor of the cake was good but was really a background player to the frosting. This frosting was phenomenal. I'm not really a big frosting eater. It's normally too sweet and dry; a lot of times I will actually eat the cake and skip the frosting. This frosting had awesome texture (light and creamy) and incredible flavor (peanut buttery but not overpowering). It was rich but not so rich that it seemed too much. Seriously, this was the best frosting I've ever tasted in every way.

Chocolate Chip Wonderfulness

Chocolate chip cookies...the classic...the standard...the staples of every American's diet (that might be more true than I really would like to look into right now). Chocolate chip cookies are so ubiquitous in our culture that there's really little left that can be done with them...except to make them magical! This recipe claims to produce the "perfect" chocolate chip cookies. Such a statement needed to be investigated.

"Perfect" Chocolate Chip Cookies
from Cooks Illustrated (June 2009)

1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp baking soda
14 Tbsp butter (unsalted)
1/2 cup granulated sugar
3/4 cup packed dark brown sugar
1 tsp salt
2 tsp vanilla extract
1 large egg
1 large egg yolk
1 1/4 cup semisweet chocolate chips or chunks
3/4 cup chopped pecans or walnuts, toasted (optional)

1. Adjust oven rack to middle position and heat oven to to 375 degrees. Line 2 large (18x12-inch) baking sheets with parchment paper. Whisk flour and baking soda together in a medium bowl; set aside.
2. Heat 10 Tbsp butter in a 10-inch skillet over medium-high heat until melted, about 2 minutes. Continue cooking, swirling pan constantly until butter is dark golden brown and has nutty aroma, 1 to 3 minutes. Remove skillet from heat and, using heatproof spatula, transfer browned butter to large heatproof bowl. Stir remaining 4 Tbsp butter into hot butter until completely melted.
3. Add both sugars, salt, and vanilla to bowl with butter and whisk until fully incorporated. Add egg and yolk and whisk until mixture is smooth with no sugar lumps remaining, about 30 seconds. Let mixture stand 3 minutes, then whisk for 30 seconds. Repeat process for resting and whisking 2 more times until mixture is thick, smooth, and shiny. Using rubber spatula or wooden spoon, stir in flour mixture until just combined, about 1 minute. Stir in chocolate chips and nuts (if using), giving dough final stir to ensure no flour pockets remain.
4. Divide dough into 16 portions, each about 3 Tbsp. Arrange 2 inches apart on prepared baking sheets, 8 dough balls per sheet.
5. Bake cookies 1 tray at a time until cookies are golden brown and still puffy, and edges have begun to set but centers are still soft, 10 to 14 minutes, rotating baking sheet halfway through baking. Transfer baking sheet to wire rack; cool cookies completely before serving.

Makes 16 very large cookies.

Browning the butter. As you may have noticed, this recipe is very specific about the details (which to ensure "perfection" I guess you'd have to be). They were very clear about not using a non-stick skillet to brown the butter since you won't really be able judge the color of the butter very well with one. Unfortunately, all I have is a non-stick skillet so I was left with no other option. If you have the option, use a different skillet.

Browned butter. I don't know if you've ever browned butter. I think I've only done it once or twice before this. It's pretty wonderful. The smell is absolutely amazing!!

First whisking.

Last whisking. All that whisking and resting might seem a bit excessive but look at the difference in the dough between the first and the last whisking. Apparently this process helps with the sugar dissolve better into the moisture and produces a deeper flavor and chewier texture (so don't skip it!).

Finished dough. I didn't have quite enough of the chocolate chunks (apparently someone had been stealing them; stinker!) so I added some regular chocolate chips too. I thought the variety would be interesting (especially since they were different brands and would therefore have different chocolate flavors). Speaking of chocolate chips, Cooks Illustrated did a review of chocolate chips: Ghirardelli and Hershey's scored the best (Hershey's is definitely the bargain though because they are often the cheapest brand as well). Who scored the worst? Everyone's standard, Nestle. Who knew?!!

Big ole' dough balls. They are smooth...and huge! They tailored this recipe to this size cookie though, so changing the size will affect the texture.

Big ole' cookies. They smell dreamy and bake up to a lovely, golden brown.

Finished product...Mmmm. These cookies are really, really good. The texture is awesome: crispy on the edges yet chewy throughout. The flavor is phenomenal: buttery and rich with caramel undertones. Seriously, these cookies are outstanding. One might even call them perfect.

Lasagna (and noodles)

Lasagna is one of those classic comfort foods that is perfect to pull out on a cold day. Since this winter seems to be stretching on forever, try it out and enjoy!

Homemade Pasta
from Better Homes and Gardens

2 1/3 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp salt
2 beaten eggs
1/3 cup water
1 tsp cooking oil or olive oil

1. In a large bowl stir together 2 cups of the flour and salt. Make a well in the center of the flour mixture. Ina small bowl combine eggs, water, and oil. Add egg mixture to flour mixture; stir to combine.
2. Sprinkle a clean kneading surface with the remaining 1/3 cup flour. Turn dough out onto floured surface. Kneading until dough is smooth and elastic (8 to 10 minutes total). Cover and let dough rest for 10 minutes.
3. Divide the dough into 4 equal portions. On lightly floured kneading surface, roll each dough portion into a 12-inch square (about 1/16-inch thick). Let stand, uncovered, about 20 minutes. If using a pasta machine, pass each portion through machine according to manufacturer's directions until dough is 1/16-inch thick. Let stand; cut as desired.

Makes 1 lb pasta.

Ready to mix the dough.
Ready to knead the dough.

Kneaded dough.

I used my pasta machine. Here are the four portions resting and waiting to be cut up.

I got a pastry cutter for Christmas and this was my first time using it. It made some pretty noodles.

Cooking the noodles.

Lasagna

from Better Homes and Gardens

12 oz bulk Italian sausage or ground beef

1 cup chopped onion (1 large)

2 cloves garlic, minced

1 (14-oz) can diced tomatoes, undrained

1 (8-oz) can tomato sauce

1 Tbsp dried Italian seasoning, crushed

1 tsp fennel seeds, crushed (optional)

1/4 tsp black pepper

6 dried lasagna noodles

1 beaten egg

1 (15-oz) container ricotta cheese (or 2 cups cream-style cottage cheese, drained)

1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese

6 oz shredded mozzarella cheese

1. For sauce, in a large saucepan cook sausage, onion, and garlic until meat is brown. Drain.
2. Stir in undrained tomatoes, tomato sauce, Italian seasoning, fennel seeds, and pepper into meat mixture. Bring to boiling; reduce heat. Simmer, covered, for 15 minutes, stirring occasionally.
3. Meanwhile cook noodles according to package directions (2 to 3 minutes if using homemade). Drain noodles; rinse with cold water. Drain well; set aside.
4. For filling, combine egg, ricotta, and the 1/4 cup Parmesan cheese. Set aside.
5. Spread about 1/2 cup of the sauce over the bottom of a 2-quart baking dish. Layer half of the cooked noodles in the bottom of the dish, trimming or overlapping as necessary to fit. Spread with half of the filling. Top with half of the remaining sauce and half of the mozzarella cheese. Repeat layers. If desired, sprinkle additional Parmesan cheese over top.
6. Place baking dish on a baking sheet. Bake in a 375 degree oven for 30 to 35 minutes or until heated through. Let stand for 10 minutes before serving.

Makes 8 servings.

Meat mixture.

Meat mixture with sauce.

The noodles stayed a little bent as they cooled. I would probably try to lay them flat if I can't immediately start layering them after they are drained.

The finished product: delicious. I love this recipe for lasagna. I'm sure there are more exotic and fancier lasagna recipes out there but this is certainly a good compromise between the familiar and the fancy. The ricotta is crucial to this recipe (don't switch it out for the cottage cheese). The sauce has a good amount of chunk to add interest and overall it has good flavor. Next time I think I'll roll the noodles out just a little thinner (I'll go to level 3 instead of 4) but that's the great thing about making them yourself: you can cater them to your preferences.