‘Cause I Watch Shark Week

Last summer my boyfriend and his friends attempted hiking/camping through the Appalachians for a week, and due to unforeseen circumstances (okay, really they probably could have planned for them) they were not able to complete the trek and ended up at my apartment one night. Letting them stay the night (since there was a bet going on to see how many nights they would actually be gone), I let them freshen up with warm running water and good old electricity. And since I was pretty sure they were tired of eating energy bars or jerky or whatever dried non-perishable, high calorie/energy foods, I took them to a local taco joint. Even though it is no longer in town, I swear they had the largest portion of nachos for about five bucks (USD). Regardless everyone was happy, and I figured they were ready to wind down from the days hiking plus the drive time from the Appalachians to Gainesville. While pumping gas, lo and behold – a redbox – and that’s how we ended up with Springbreakers; the movie starring James Franco, Selena Gomez, Vanessa Anne Hudgens, and other people. I’m not going to talk too much about it, but before watching that movie…we found ourselves watching Sharknado first. SPOILER ALERT!!

For some strange reason, Sharknado has left a soft spot in all of our hearts. Whether it be Tara Reid, the concept of a “sharknado,” or the fact that in that world, chainsaws rule – my group of friends and I cannot seem to stop talking about it. It seems to me that all of my favorite parts of the movies involve a chainsaw and Fin pulling out a body/body part out of a live shark. I call dibs that the next movie takes place in a honeymoon venue – Hawaii or Florida anyone?? Anyway, thank you Syfy channel for creating this now trilogy because it brings all of us together at least once a year!! In honor of this great trilogy and the beginning of shark week I carved this watermelon for our party.

Watermelon Shark

1. Place watermelon on flat surface (set it on the side it naturally sits on during growth). I used two knives to create my shark – a paring knife and larger knife to make slices.

2. On the opposite end of the watermelon – the end where there is no vine stump, slice the melon at a 35-45 degree angle about an inch from the edge to create the bottom of the shark. This should expose the red flesh of the melon.

3. Setting the melon on the newly exposed side, on the opposite end of the melon cut a “pie slice” shape creating a gaping mouth. Depending on the size of the melon you want to cut it a little smaller than you want it because you will later add teeth. I did mine about two inches at the apex.

4. Remove the piece you sliced and from the edges of the mouth, use the paring knife to create an outer lip about 1 – 1.5 inches. Make sure not to cut all the way through. Use the paring knife to expose the white flesh only.

5. Remove the rest of the red flesh of the watermelon from the inside. Note: you will be putting it back into the shark afterwards. I used a melon baller.

6.Now that the you have an empty watermelon rind, you can cut little triangles into the white exposed flesh (near the mouth) to create teeth. You want to give the teeth varying sizes from the back to the front of the mouth.

7. The shark is essentially complete at this point, but some people like to add a dorsal fin. Using the pie slice from earlier, cut it in half with a curved edge to fit the shape of the watermelon, and use toothpicks to attach it to the back of the shark.

8. I also added eyes using a paring knife to mark spots for grapes/blueberries as eyes (attached with half toothpicks). Lastly since I had grapes still – my mom thought of the idea of using the grapes as decorative kelp or coral that surrounds the sharks body on the tray. Don’t forget to fill him back up with the watermelon pieces and other fruit!

Tip! You should refrigerate the watermelon pieces separately from the rind for ease of travel and storage. Watermelon tastes sweeter to me when cold 🙂

And since man cannot live on watermelon alone, I also made a variation of Paula Deen’s creamy crock pot macaroni and cheese that does not use a crock pot. This truly is super creamy, cheesy, and my lactose intolerant friend ate it anyway and lived.

Macaroni and Cheese

• 1 box of rotini (pasta)
• Water for cooking pasta
• 4 tbsp butter
• 2 cups shredded cheddar cheese
• 1/3 cup sour cream
• 1 can condensed cheese soup
• 1 cup milk
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 tsp white pepper
• 1/2 tsp mustard powder

1. Cook pasta in boiling water or according to box directions until al dente. I cooked mine for about 7 minutes.

2. Remove pasta to a colander and return empty pot to stove on medium heat. Melt the butter and cheese in the pot and then add the rest of the ingredients (except the pasta) and stir well.

3. Add pasta into the pot and toss well. Cover with lid and keep on lowest setting for one and half to two hours stirring occasionally.

It’s best served when hot!!

See you all in 2015 for the next addition to the trilogy/ten year reunion of us meeting for the first time!!

❤ The Food Scientist

Chop, chop!

A while ago, I saw a commercial for chicken parmesan meatballs and ever since, I’ve been yearning to try them! Plus, I started a garden (with basil, green onions, and bell peppers hopefully) in my backyard and have been wanting to use it ever since! 😀 One of my favorite dishes is chicken parmesan, so I adapted my normal recipe to a meatball form of the dish!

Backyard garden!

To start off, prepare some ground chicken. You can buy it but it’s hard to find here or it’s really expensive, so take out some frozen chicken breast and your handy dandy cleaver. Chop vigorously and voila!

 

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Ingredients
For the meatballs
1 lb ground chicken
1 clove of garlic (diced)
Flour
1 egg
Breadcrumbs
Salt & pepper
Parmesan cheese

For the filling
Mozzarella cheese (cubed)
1 onion (diced)
Cherry tomatoes
Fresh basil leaves

For the pasta
Spaghetti
Extra virgin olive oil
Tomatoes (chopped)
Onions (diced)

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First, pre-heat the oven to 400°F. While waiting, prepare the filling by cooking the onions for a few minutes until they are softened. Quarter the cherry tomatoes, throw in with the onions, and then add strips of the basil. Season with salt and pepper, and then put aside. mMMmMMm, savor the fragrance!

To prepare the meatballs, add some diced garlic, salt, and pepper to the ground chicken. Form the chicken mixture into balls. Once you have the meatball, push a Mozzarella cheese cube into the middle. Add the onion/tomato/basil into the meatball, and reform into a ball shape. Coat with flour, put the meatballs through an eggwash, and coat with breadcrumbs. Heat a pan on medium high, and brown the meatballs on all sides (this step should only take a few minutes). Transfer the meatballs onto a baking pan, and bake for roughly 10-15 minutes. Be careful not to overcook!

While waiting for the meatballs, prepare the pasta and sauce. Cook some spaghetti until al dente. For the tomato sauce, cook the onions in a pot. Once softened, add chopped tomatoes and season. Assemble the plate and shave some parmesan cheese as a last step!

Enjoy!

D-Pain

Back to December

Last December seems so long ago. Last December I graduated with my Bachelor of Science in Food Science and Human Nutrition. Last December was filled with the archetypal milestones of a college kid. Last December I had no idea what was next. Last December a local dim sum restaurant opened. Last December I ate turnip cake.

Just the Beginning

The day before my graduation, my HD planned a lunch with me at the new dim sum place. I’m not sure if anyone had been there yet, but rumor had it that it got packed pretty fast, had a small parking lot, and had customer’s cars towed when parked next door. So many logistics went into one lunch. The majority of them lived on my side of town and we planned to drive together, and the other one who lives closer to the restaurant was going to get there early to grab a table. Now this restaurant typically has a line at the door even before it opens, and dim sum is only served at lunch time.

Let me explain something first – dim sum is a Cantonese Chinese term used to describe bite-sized portions of different foods carried in small steamers and pushed around a cart.

In the Middle of the Street

But of course knowing the Etas, silly things were bound to happen. One of them (who didn’t drive a car) would always wait 5 minutes before the meet up time to ask someone (who would already be there) to pick her up. One didn’t wake up to her alarm and had to meet us there. The girl who went to save a table, grabbed the family style table at open, sat there by herself for a good 30 minutes while other families would glare and give her dirty looks for saving it. The rumors weren’t rumors – it was teeming!! Where were the rest of us? Looking for parking. Lo and behold the tiny parking lot was full and we parked across the street. Selfie while crossing the street!

Quickly we all took a seat while calming down the slightly panicked one and then the carts came. Grabbing dishes and dishes of char siu bao (pork stuffed buns), ha gao (shrimp dumplings), phoenix claws, shaomai, and spareribs, we feasted. One of them goes, is that a peanut in the fried rice? It was a peanut, and her lip swole. Then all of a sudden, this small plate with three speckled white squares with a golden brown coating lands on our table. “Turnip cake!” someone said.

I split mine with the girl next to me, and I wished I hadn’t.

Daikon, not Chinese Radish

Turnip Cake

• 2 ½ pounds shredded daikon
• water (enough to cover daikon in pot)
• 2 tsp salt
• 3 tbsp dried shrimp
• 3 whole shiitake mushrooms
• 1 tsp garlic
• 4 oz. ground turkey (traditionally Chinese sausage is used)
• 1 tbsp white pepper
• 1 tsp soy sauce
• 1 ¼ cups rice flour

1. Place the dried shrimp and shiitake mushrooms in a bowl of water to rehydrate for at least 2 hours.
2. Meanwhile peel the daikon and use a food processor, mandolin, or (as I did) a grater to shred the daikon into matchsticks.
3. Put the daikon in a large pot and fill with enough water to submerge the daikon. Heat the pot to medium to high heat for 15 minutes – daikon should soften.
4. As the daikon cooks, remove the shrimp and shiitake mushroom from the water. Remove the stems of the mushrooms and mince the caps and shrimps together.
5. Saute the garlic, ground turkey, minced shiitake, and shrimp together in a large pan with a splash of oil until the turkey is cooked (or Chinese sausage). Add the white pepper and soy sauce into the pan.
6. Drain the daikon and reserve at least 1 cup of the water. Place the daikon and cooked mixture in a separate bowl. Add rice flour and stir – you can add water if a paste does not begin to form. The mixture should be thick and is ready when it no longer falls off the spoon.
   

   Bain-marie

7. Fill a 9 inch loaf pan with this mixture and place in a bain-marie for 45 minutes. Bain-marie = place loaf pan in a pot larger and fill large pot with water 1 inch high. Heat to medium heat.
8. Once turnip cake is done, remove from bain-marie and cool to room temperature.
9. At this point, you can eat the turnip cake, but a lot of people refrigerate it overnight and pan fry ½ inch slices the next day.

The Food Scientist ❤ HD

At graduation

Too fast, too frozen: potato slicing.

Ever since I injured my knee (temporarily named Dragon 2 – thanks to Chef Bleucheese) and have been hobbling on crutches (go ahead and say “hobble” aloud), cooking has been difficult. I’ve been pretty fed up with eating fast food and frozen food. Instead of going to Wendy’s to get more chicken and fries again, I made something simple with a potato. As you may have seen recently on Facebook/internet, sliced baked potatoes are super simple but delicious.

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Ingredients

1 potato
Slices of cheddar cheese
Diced onion
(Turkey) bacon
Basil + whatever seasonings you’d like to add

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Just slice a potato however you’d like and toss it in the oven at 425°F for about 30 minutes.

While the potato is baking, dice and sautee the onions. Cook the bacon and then chop it into small pieces to top the potato. Take the potato out and separate each slice of potato slightly. Carefully add basil and the onion/bacon mixture in between the slices. Top the potato with the cheese and add more onion/bacon (nom).

Return the potato to the oven and wait for the cheese to melt. After a few minutes, you can enjoy this lil ditty.

Not the prettiest but it’s a nice reprieve from frozen pizzas and microwaveable dinners…

Sidenote: I do NOT encourage cooking with crutches. I’ll be taking a brief break from this blog while learning how to train my Dragon 2 hah 😉 (credit to bleucheese!)

Chef D-Pain

Jiaozi From Another Mother

This week’s ingredient roulette: peppers, cheese, turkey, and mushroom! Luckily for me, I had bought ground turkey on BOGO (buy one get one) last week…which is the same instance that I bought too much meat, and ended up making this: surf ‘n’ turf pizza. It’s not really too post worthy since I didn’t make the crust, but I did make the sauce and seared my own steak (brownie points, right?) 😀

I wasn’t really craving anything, but I needed to use at least one package of the ground turkey soon – I had already thawed it -_- And since burgers/tacos/spaghetti/other-recipe-that-uses-ground-beef-typically required too many props I did not have (eg. buns, tortillas, pasta), I remembered something really quick and easy to make, which some may find daunting – jiaozi AKA dumplings.

Last summer I studied abroad in China, and one of the staple foods that everyone ate, could be found anywhere, and everyone seemed to know how to make since they were in the womb were jiaozi. Jiaozi are steamed, pan fried, or boiled with a traditional pork and shredded cabbage filling and served with a vinegar-soy dipping sauce on the side. The correct pronunciation by the way does NOT rhyme with title completely, but it does kind of if you say it fast, and read it like, “Gee-yao-zuh From Uh-nuh-thuh Muh-thuh.”

Dumpling Making with Students

Anyway we attended some classes at Jiangnan University in Wuxi, an hour outside of Shanghai, and one day was purely a cultural lecture. And given we were on the trip under a functional food grant, there was food to be had! Hands on learning at its finest: the first time we were given the wrappers and the filling pre-made by other students, and they just taught us how to wrap them – shaped like suns, moons, “wontons”, triangles, coins, and the traditional dumpling shape served at most restaurants. Rumor had it that the more folds you could fold on a jiaozi, the more marketable you are for marriage! (I can do 8 – 10 folds D:) The second time we made the filling ourselves, and from there I wanted to go pro! Okay, not really, but I became a little obsessed with making them when I got back to the States. Also another life-changing decision occurred after returning from China – I wanted to attend graduate school for Food Science.

Back to the present! I had a lot of turkey, no wrappers, and an indecisive mind for the filling, so I made three different fillings and my own wrappers. Note: recently, three-way (fill in food item here) have been trending in our kitchen, so don’t be surprised if Microchip also posts a three way (She prefers the term (fill in food item here) roulette, though).

Wrapper (makes 12-16)

• 1 cup of flour
• Pinch of salt
• 1/3 cup of water

1. Mix the flour and salt together in a bowl. Slowly add the cup of water, one tablespoon at a time, mixing with a spoon/hand until a soft, NOT sticky, dough starts to form. You do not need to add all the water. Knead dough into a smooth ball, and let it rest for 30 minutes.
2. Roll the dough out into a coil about ½ inch thick and cut it into 12-16 pieces. Form each piece into a ball and use a rolling pin to roll it into a round shape about 3 inches in diameter. If not using immediately, use squares of wax or freezer paper to separate the wrappers.

I doubled this wrapper recipe to use all of the filling below by the way.

Filling I (Asian inspired)

• 1/3 of a 20 oz package of ground turkey
• 1 cup kale leaves (stems removed, roughly chopped)
• 1 tsp minced garlic
• ¼ cup diced onions
• 2 tsp of soy sauce
• 1 tsp rice wine vinegar
• ½ tsp of sesame oil
• salt&pepper

Filling II (Tex-Mex inspired) #ingredientroulettefulfilled

• 1/3 of a 20 oz package of ground turkey
• 1 tbsp chili powder
• 1 tsp garlic powder
• ½ tsp paprika
• ½ tsp cumin
• 1/3 cup of shredded monterey jack cheese
• ¼ cup diced tomatoes
• salt&pepper

Filling III (Indian inspired)

• 1/3 of a 20 oz package of ground turkey
• 1/3 cup boiled potatoes (diced)
• ½ tsp minced garlic
• 1/3 cup diced onions
• 1 tbsp curry powder
• 1 tsp asafoetida
• 1 tsp cumin
• salt&pepper

For all the fillings, just mix the respective ingredients together in a separate bowls per filling. You can make up your own, too! That’s the best part!

Folding:

I don’t know how to explain this well in words, and I didn’t shoot a video. I also don’t think I’m an expert at folding jiaozi. But here’s the idea: In the middle of one wrapper, place about a teaspoon or two teaspoons of filling in the middle. Fold the wrapper over, thus creating a half moon shape, and pinch the dough at the apex (the middle of the semi-circle). From each side you can start folding inwards creating a fan like shape. Start with one or two folds per side.

Other shaped dumplings you can make – place filling in the center of the wrapper. Gather the excess wrapper, creating a knapsack shape (like one you would attach to stick if you were running away from home when you were six) and pinch at the top.

Empanada shape – Fold over half -moon style and use a fork to create the creases along the semi-circle edge.

There are so many ways to folding the dumpling, so have fun!!

Cooking Method: I fried/steamed mine which resulted in the pot sticker effect.

1. Heat a pan to medium heat and add enough oil to just cover the bottom of the pan.
2. Sit the jiaozi in the pan with the skirt and bump side touching the oil (these are made up terms – see photo for details).
3. After the edge starts to brown, grab the lid, add a 1/3 cup of water (depending on the size of the pan – mine is a 9 inch skillet) and close the lid quickly – so not to burn yourself.
4. Keep the lid on, and continue cooking until the noise/steam dies down, about 3-4 minutes, and remove them from the pan. (They might stick to the pan, hence pot stickers, but you can use a spatula to ease them off without breaking the dumpling.)

I’m thinking about Italian inspired next time with a pesto or marinara dipping sauce! Wait, isn’t that called ravioli?!

❤ The Food Scientist

Island in the Sun

Alright, I haven’t actually listened to Weezer in a while… but this post is going to be featuring the wonderful food from the Philippines! I’m Chinese-Filipino, and most of my extended family currently resides in the Philippines. As a first generation American, growing up was quite interesting. My parents are multilingual and speak Hokkien, Tagalog and English. Hearing a combination of all 3 languages was the norm for me, so it wasn’t until college that I was able to start distinguishing which traditions belonged to which culture.

Perhaps it is because I will soon be moving to a location with a very small Asian population, but I’ve been going through phases of craving different types of ethnic food. This week (and probably next, as well) has been centered around Filipino cuisine. I’ve been too lazy to post recipes for all the goodies I’ve made, but here’s a quick summary of the recent treats:

Mango Bars

Maja Blanca (Coconut pudding with corn)

Ube Macapuno Empanadas (Purple yam and coconut)

Ginataang Mais with Langka (Sweet rice dessert with corn and jackfruit)

Some of my pictures didn’t turn out too well, so I had to rely on Google to find photos from other chefs. If I remake them, I’ll definitely make sure I take better photos to share with you all!

I think The Food Scientist already mentioned this, but I brought back a bunch of calamansi after my most recent trip home. One of the only times I ever use calamansi is to squeeze fresh citrus juice over some yummy pancit palabok (also known as “fiesta noodles” at Jolibee). This is a bit of a comfort food for me because I didn’t like a lot of Asian foods when I was a child. This frustrated my parents greatly, but they soon discovered that I would eat almost any noodle dish…so palabok was good in my book. 😀

Today was my first time making this dish by myself, so my night consisted of cooking small parts of the dish… and then calling my mom to make sure I was doing it right. I based the recipe off of one found on Panlasang Pinoy.

For the Noodles:

• 1 lb of rice noodles (I used pho noodles because they cooked faster)

For the Sauce:

• 2 Tbs vegetable oil
• 1 Tbs minced garlic
• 1 Tbs annatto (achiote) powder
• 3 cups pork broth
• 1 piece shrimp broth cube
• 3 Tbs corn starch
• 2 Tbs fish sauce
• 1/2 tsp black pepper

For the Garnish:

• Hard boiled eggs
• Cooked shrimp
• Chicharon flakes
• Scallions (green onions)
• Calamansi

First, prepare the rice noodles according to the package directions. Some of them require a pre-soak, but since I chose to use pho noodles… all I had to do was boil them for 6-8 minutes until they were done! Next, start making the sauce. Saute the garlic in the vegetable oil in a large pan or wok, if you have one. In another bowl, dilute the annatto powder in pork broth. Then pour this mixture into your saucepan and bring it to a boil. Add the shrimp broth cube and stir. Simmer for 3 minutes. While whisking thoroughly, add the cornstarch. Afterwards, add the fish sauce and ground black pepper. Simmer until the sauce becomes thick. Since it’s used as garnish, I like to prepare my shrimp separately. I thawed some frozen shrimp by putting them in a bowl for water for ~10 minutes. Once they were ready to use, I sauteed 1 Tbs of vegetable oil with about a teaspoon of minced garlic (really, I just eyeballed it…). Then I added the shrimp to the pan and arranged them in one layer so that they would all cook evenly. As they were being cooked, I ground some sea salt and fresh black pepper over them to give them a bit more flavor.

You can tell when shrimp is done because they turn pink and look opaque in color. Mine took about 2-3 minutes per side.

After I prepared the rest of my chosen items for garnish, it was time for plating! Here’s what the final product looks like:

Side note: Palabok normally has tinapa (smoked fish) flakes added to it, but I couldn’t find any after searching a couple of the Asian stores in town. If I had found them, then I would definitely add them for a more authentic Filipino taste. There’s also a couple more ingredients you can add to the dish to make it more savory. Some like to add ground pork or beef to the sauce, but my favorite parts have always been the egg and shrimp… so I was content with just those two.

Hope you enjoyed this small journey to the east! What foods have you been craving lately?

– Chef μChip

GOT SPICE!? Curry Chicken and Potatoes!

So Jungle Jims had a spice sale… and I went crazy.

Ingredients List:

Potatoes
Curry Powder
Paprika Powder
Cayenne Pepper Powder
Garlic
Onion
Potatoes
Whole Star Anise
Coconut Milk
Chicken Stock
Ginger
Rice
Soy Sauce
Corn Starch
Brown Sugar
Chicken Thigh
Bay Leaves
Cardamom

Marinade:
Marinade the chicken thighs with a little olive oil, a little corn starch, and a little soy sauce.

Curry Ingredients:
Mix some paprika, curry powder, and cayenne pepper powder together. Throw in a couple bay leaves and some star anise for good measure.

Rice Ingredients:
I’m sorry mom 😦 I cooked rice with something other than water this time. Wash the rice, add water, and put a whole star anise and cardamom in the mixture. I cook rice in a pot nowadays… so bring water up to a boil and then set to low setting and leave it to steam.

Chopping:
Chop up some onions, garlic, and ginger and start to sauté them in some olive oil and then add the chicken in to brown. When ready add the curry ingredients,  chicken stock, and then coconut milk. Finally put the potatoes in, bring the heat to a low-medium setting and braise!

-Chef BloO

Got Goat?

Last month I was at a conference, the IFT (Institute of Food Technologists) Annual Meeting – my first one, might I add – and it was probably one of the most overwhelming yet fulfilling (literally filling because of all the food samples which exhibited new products or ingredients taking the world by storm) experiences of the food science realm so far. Imagine being Charlie, going on Willy Wonka’s Factory Tour, where the tour covered an area one mile long by half of a mile wide, with gastronomic innovation, professionals, and science everywhere you glanced (versus just candy). It’s no wonder photos are not “allowed” inside the exhibit area – you’d have to come experience it for yourself!

On the last day of the conference I attended a presentation about the miracle berry. Ever heard of it? The miracle berry originated from Africa and contains a protein – miraculin that essentially renders your bitter/sour taste buds inert for a certain amount of time leaving your sweet buds at work! We were instructed to take this pill that melted on your tongue to release the miraculin on the tongue, and then…suck on a lemon. Now that might not seem too crazy, especially if you like lemons, but I absolutely despise the taste of just lemon. My strength of dislike for it is so strong that I will send back my water at restaurants if there is a lemon in it; Yes, I could remove the lemon from my water, but the flavor is so potent. Anyway there I was, sucking on a lemon slice. It tasted like lemonade. How wild?! At the end of the presentation we were given a list of other items to taste while under the miraculin spell as well as sample tablets to take home. First thing I thought of – date night!

So a couple of nights ago, I had the chance to spend some time with my boyfriend #LDRlife, and I said, “Babe! We have got to try this! It’ll be fun!” Later that day we went grocery shopping to get some of the stuff on the list to try – dark stout (supposed to taste like chocolate milk), hot sauce, pickles (I hate pickles >.<), a variety of fruits and vegetables, goat cheese, and a few other things. By the time we got back from this party and after the Judd Apatow movie marathon…we were too sleepy to get into it. That’s how I ended up with goat cheese.

I’ve never used goat cheese before. I always thought it would be too…gamey. But after trying this out, I really like it! It has a mild flavor (at least the kind I have) and works well with other savory foods as well as complementing sweet/tart flavors.

Goat Cheese Tartlets Three Ways (makes about 12 tartlets)

Crust (adapted from foododelmundo.com)

• 1 cup + 2 tbsp flour (sifted)
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/3 cup butter (cold)
• 5 tbsp milk

1. Combine flour and salt in a bowl. Cut butter into cubes and using an electric beater, and cut the butter into the flour mixture until there are pea-sized pieces of butter or smaller.
2. Add the milk, one tablespoon at a time, fully incorporating it into the flour. (Note – pie crusts do not appear “sticky” like cookie dough.) Use your hands to gently mix the dough in the bowl. At this point if the butter is beginning to melt, place the dough into the fridge for an hour – this will maintain the buttery flaky goodness of pie crusts!
3. Place the dough on a heavily floured surface and use a rolling pin to flatten it out ~ ¼ of an inch thick. Since we are making tartlets, I used a round cookie cutter (or cup rim) slightly larger than your pan to form the crusts. Before placing crusts in the pan, make sure to grease them first.
4. Before baking I would advise you to poke some holes with a fork to prevent the crust form puffing up. Depending on what you’re making you can bake this crust ahead of time – for fillings that are already edible or only need to “melt,” no real cooking time necessary. For that I would estimate about 10-15 minutes at 350 degrees F or until light brown.

Custard

• 1 egg
• 2 tbsp half & half

Simply whip these two ingredients together in a bowl.

Spinach & Caramelized Onion

• goat cheese
• spinach (chopped)
• caramelized onions
• parmesan

 

Tomato & Basil

• goat cheese
• tomatoes (sliced or diced)
• dried basil
• dried parsley
• parmesan

Apple & Honey

• goat cheese
• apples (sliced)
• crushed almonds
• honey

 

This part is pretty simple and flexible – which I love! Basically I started with the base as some goat cheese (I have the crumbled kind), and then layered the other toppings on top. Any of the spices condiments or spices I would layer last and sprinkle them on top. But you can do whatever works for you! Once your toppings are stacked, spoon on top about 1 tsbp of the custard mixture into each tartlet. Bake these at 350 degrees F for 20 – 25 minutes, making sure the custard is cooked through!

Feel free to share your own filling ideas!

❤ The Food Scientist

Who’s that Recipe?

Hey everyone!

This week has been tough for me so I wanted to unwind/lose myself in some cookin’. Problem is I didn’t know what to cook. I ventured on Publix’s website to see what food was on sale or bogo and low and behold, a wild recipe appeared! A lvl 9. Chicken with Buffalo Cream Sauce. Flipped my cap on backwards, printed out the recipe, and HM 02 my way to the closest Publix. Fun fact! The ingredients for Publix’s featured recipe are usually on sale.

Here’s is what you’ll need:

Nonstick aluminum foil
1 egg, beaten (or 1/4 cup egg substitute)
1 (8-oz) package Buffalo sauce & coating mix (French’s)
1 3/4 lb boneless, skinless chicken breasts
3/4 cup plain nonfat Greek yogurt
1/4 cup sliced green onions

Now time for the WobbuPrep! :

1. You will need two bowls, one for the beaten poke egg and one for the coating mix, & a baking pan wrapped with aluminum foil, sprayed with non stick spray.

2. Preheat oven to 400.

3. You then lather your chicken with the beaten egg. And then coat the egg yolk covered chicken with the coating mix to give it that breaded shell. Tasty sharply rose!

4. Once you have coated all your chicken, place them in the baking pan and into the oven.

5. Let it cook for 10-15 minutes.

6. After that flip the chicken over and place it back into the oven for another 10-15 min.

7. While you are waiting, you can make the Buffalo Cream Sauce by adding 3/4 cup of nonfat Greek yogurt, 1/4 cup sliced green onions, and one packet of buffalo sauce into a bowl and mix.

3 Pokeball waggles later..

Your Buffalo chicken is ready! Note: Make sure the chicken is fully cooked (i.e no signs of pink/rawness). Alright! You know how to cook Chicken with Buffalo Cream Sauce!

Here’s some pics for style points:

The second pic is the chicken with the buffalo cream sauce and a salad. Yum…

Deliciousness Super Effective!

Thanks for reading. Hope you try this out!

–Professor Dip

 

 

Wanna Piccata?

Yes, this title is a rip off of the ever-popular Wendy’s commercial, but I figured it was good enough for my first, real non-dessert post. If you’ve been following my posts from the very beginning, then you’ll know that I used to work in the catering industry (as did my roommate, The Food Scientist). Back in those days, my main jobs were focused on appetizers and desserts, so I’m much more accustomed to making small plates. However, consistent with the rest of my SASE-related experiences, I figured I would step out of my comfort zone and try my hand at some real cooking with a simple entrée known as “Lemon Chicken Piccata.”

The word “piccata” refers to a food preparation method. The meat is sliced, coated, and sautéed before being topped with a sauce. I believe that veal is typically used in European countries; but here in the States (especially the Southern ones), we like our chicken.

Recipe (adapted from Giada de Laurentiis):

• 2 skinless and boneless chicken breasts, butterflied and cut in half
• Sea salt
• Ground black pepper
• Garlic powder
• 1/2 cup all purpose flour
• 5 Tb unsalted butter
• 5 Tb extra virgin olive oil
• 1/4 cup white wine
• 1/4 cup lemon juice
• 1 1/2 cups chicken broth
• Fresh parsley

Begin by mixing in the salt, pepper and garlic powder with 1/2 cup of all purpose flour. I didn’t actually measure the seasonings I added, so I just kept adding ingredients until it smelled good to me. Dredge the chicken breasts in the flour and shake off the excess.

Next, melt 2 Tb of butter with 3 Tb of olive oil. When it starts to sizzle, add 2 pieces of chicken and cook for about 3 minutes per side. Melt another Tb of butter and add 2 Tb of olive oil to the pan and cook the rest of the chicken in the same manner.

For the sauce, add the lemon juice, wine and chicken broth in the same pan you cooked the chicken in, making sure to scrape up some brown bits for extra flavor. Return the chicken to the pan and simmer in the sauce for 5 minutes.

Once the chicken is finished cooking, remove it from the pan. Add the 2 remaining Tb of butter and whisk it in vigorously. Taste the sauce and see if it suits your palate. If not, do a little experimenting by adding some more chicken broth or seasonings to the pan. I personally added a couple cloves of minced garlic and a splash of more chicken broth because it was a bit too lemony for my liking. When I finally deemed it edible, I poured the sauce over the chicken and garnished it with parsley.

Stay tuned for more cooking adventures!

– Chef μChip