Daring Kitchen - Pierogi

Blog Checking Lines: In a "celebration" of past Daring Cooks and Daring Bakers challenges, Lisa challenged all of us to search through the Daring Kitchen archives and pick any one we'd like! The REAL challenge was picking which delicious recipe(s) to try!

I went through the all the old posts and figured out there 132 recipes to choose from and that I had already participated in 24.  Since Mom is here visiting we sat her down in front of the list and let her choose the recipe.  She decided on Pierogies.

 After researching a variety of recipes I cobbled together the filling on my own.  We had some cauliflower in the fridge, so I roasted it and mashed it in with potatoes, cheddar cheese and bacon.  It made for a very creamy and delicious filling.  The recipe I found for the dough had a cup of mashed potatoes in it and made for a very delicate and tasty dough.

We even put Mom to work helping to fill the pierogies.

We like our pierogies fried up with onion, mushrooms, celery and bacon.  Some people boil their pierogies first, but we skip that step and add them straight to the frying pan.

And a dollop of sour cream makes everything tastier.

Daring Kitchen - Gnocchi

This month's Daring Kitchen Challenge was to make Gnocchi.  I had only ever made Gnocchi once before, and that was using potato flakes instead of real potatoes. They were okay, but turned out very heavy and sticky.  This time, using not only real potatoes, but sweet potatoes and beets as well, they turned out light and fluffy and quite delicious. 

Blog-checking lines: Todd, who is The Daring Kitchen’s AWESOME webmaster and an amazing cook, is our September Daring Cooks’ host! Todd challenged us to make light and fluffy potato Gnocchi and encouraged us to flavor the lil pillows of goodness and go wild with a sauce to top them with!

I baked all 3 instead of boiling them.  It cuts down on the water content in your dough and gives them a sweeter taste.

I couldn't find our potato ricer, so I used the grater instead.  Other then being very messy, it worked well.

I couldn't conquer the technique of rolling each piece of dough over a fork to give it ridged details.  I went with slightly squashed or disk shaped instead.

After boiling the gnocchi for a few minutes, I tossed them in a brown butter and sage sauce, sautéeing lightly. 

The final dish.  I had planned on also making a spinach version, but I forgot to buy spinach.  I think the green would have looked great mixed in with the white orange and purple.  But 3 batches in one day was enough work, so maybe it was for the best.

Daring Kitchen - Yogurt

Well I'm more then a week late with this post, but better late then never!

Blog-checking lines: The lovely Cher of The Not So Exciting Adventures of a Dabbler was our July Daring Cooks’ hostess and she asked us to create homemade yogurt in our own kitchens! No incubators needed, no expensive equipment or ingredients, just a few items and we had delicious yogurt for a fraction of the cost and a whole lot healthier than what you buy in the stores!

We used to make yogurt every week.  We would eat it with fruit, cereal, strain it and cook with it.  But over the years we moved on to the convenience of simply buying yogurt, even though it's not that hard to make.  We had talked about getting back to making it again, so this challenge was just the push we needed

We made a plain yogurt, then strained it to thicken it and added garlic, cucumber, salt, pepper, red wine vinegar and some sugar and turned it into tzatziki.  We then served it on homemade turkey burgers.

Daring Kitchen - Meatballs

Blog-checking lines: The June Daring Cooks’ challenge sure kept us rolling – meatballs, that is! Shelley from C Mom Cook and Ruth from The Crafts of Mommyhood challenged us to try meatballs from around the world and to create our own meatball meal celebrating a culture or cuisine of our own choice. 

Meatballs are not something we eat very often, but certainly enjoy when we have them.  For this challenge we had turkey meatballs, served with spicy Thai pickles and slices of mango on a bun.  The meatballs were browned in a frying pan to give them a nice crisp sear and then finished in the oven.  I love the mix of the sweetness of the mango, the spice of the pickles and the multitude of flavours from the meat itself.

Daring Kitchen - En Croute

It's been a couple of months since I've participated in a Daring Kitchen Challenge.  First they made salami and then they de-boned a whole chicken.  SHUDDER.  There are some cooking skills that I can manage without!

This month however was something that I was very excited about!  Cooking En Croute.  What is En Croute?  According to this month's hostess, The Monkey Queen,  it is a food that has been wrapped in pastry dough and baked in an oven. I originally planned to make Beef Wellington, something I've wanted to try ever since watching Gordon Ramsey go off on all of his prodigies on Kitchen Nightmares.  Alas, life got busy and I didn't have the time to devote to it.  I did however find time to make The Monkey Queen's recipe of Stuffed Mushroom en Croute.

I stuffed a Portebella mushroom cap with a mixture of spinach and Brie, wrapped the whole thing in puff pastry and waited for it to come out of the oven.  It was so very tasty that Hilary and I both ate two!

Blog-checking lines: Our lovely Monkey Queen of Don’t Make Me Call My Flying Monkeys, was our May Daring Cooks’ hostess and she challenged us to dive into the world of en Croute! We were encouraged to make Beef Wellington, Stuffed Mushroom en Croute and to bring our kids into the challenge by encouraging them to create their own en Croute What is En Croute? It is a food that has been wrapped in pastry dough and baked in an oven.recipes!

Daring Kitchen - Cheese

Sawsan from chef in disguise was our March 2013 Daring Cooks hostess! Sawsan challenges us to make our own homemade cheeses! She gave us a variety of choices to make, all of them easily accomplished and delicious!

With so much going on this month, I didn't think I would get a chance to participate in this month's challenge. Luckily I've made cheese before, in the form of Paneer  -  an Indian cheese often used in curry recipes.  A recent magazine that I had featured a recipe for making Paneer from buttermilk and had a wonderful curry recipe to go along with it.

Since we like Paneer so much we doubled the recipe, using 4L of buttermilk.

Boil the butter milk till it starts to separate.

Strain the curd (discard the whey) through cheesecloth.

Press the cheese for about an hour under some weight and then wrap in plastic and refrigerate.

Cut the cheese into bite size cubes.

Fry the cubes of cheese in butter and olive oil to well browned.

Add to a tasty curry and enjoy!

Daring Kitchen - Paté Chinois

I had the honour of hosting this month's Daring Kitchen Challenge.  I introduced everyone to a classic French Canadian dish - Paté Chinois.

Paté Chinois translates from French as Chinese Pie. It’s an odd name for a French Canadian dish that doesn’t have any connection to Chinese food. The history of the name has been traced back to the Chinese cooks who worked at the camps for the railway builders in the late 19th century. Ground beef and potatoes were cheap and a dish could be spread out to feed many people

You can check out the 4 recipes I did up as examples, as well as see everyone else's creations on the Daring Kitchen page.


It was a lot of fun hosting the challenge and seeing all the variations that folks came up with.  I hope to have the opportunity to host again one day.

Daring Kitchen - Brining

Blog-checking lines:  Audax of Audax Artifax was our November 2012 Daring Cooks’ host. Audax has brought us into the world of brining and roasting, where we brined meat and vegetables and roasted them afterwards for a delicious meal!

Hilary has brined food before, and as a technique, it's not particularly difficult - dissolve some salt in water, add some spices, submerge the food to be brined and let it sit for awhile and cook as you normally would.  So the real challenge for me this month was to cook a chicken.  Once upon a time I was a vegetarian, and while I enjoy meat now, I'm still not very good with handling it raw, or in any physically identifiable form.  Hilary is often required to cut up my chicken before serving it to me if we are having thighs or drumsticks.  A nice slice of breast meat that I can't tell at a glance where it came from?  No problem!

So to challenge myself to cook a whole, raw chicken, seemed slightly insurmountable.  What has always happened in the past when I have been faced with no option but to cook something like this, there was simply no way that I could eat it afterwards.  But that didn't happen this time!  Hilary helped with getting the bird ready for the brine, but I ran with things from there.  I even made stuffing and stuffed the bird myself (with my bare hands!  no spoons!)

 

Zipper locked bags* work great for brining.  

The chicken did not brown up as well as I would have liked, but I think that is because I didn't start it off in a very hot oven before lowering the temperature.  It didn't look very appetizing, but it still tasted great (even the skin)

The chicken was super-moist and tasty.  Hilary found it a bit too salty, but she had a drumstick.  I found the (non-identifiable!) breast meat to seasoned just right.  I will confess that I had to have Hilary carve and serve.  If I had done it and the knife had come even close to hitting a bone, I would have had to order in pizza.

Overall, it was a great challenge, and while I still have meat issues, I cooked a whole, from raw, chicken (mostly) by myself!  

* We use the no-name ones, which work just as well, so no need to call out a major brand by name when I don't even use it.

Daring Kitchen - Feijoada

Blog-checking lines: Rachel Dana was our October 2012 Daring Cooks' Challenge hostess! Rachel brought Brazil into our lives by challenging us to make Feijoada and Farofa along with some other yummy side dishes traditionally served with Feijoada, which is a delicious black bean and pork stew.

I don't think that I had ever eaten Brazilian food, let alone cook it before this challenge.  Let's just say that it was so tasty (and relatively easy) that I will be doing both again soon.  Feijoada is a traditional black bean and pork stew, served over rice.  Rachel's recipe called for smoked/salted meats that I couldn't find, so I went with a plain old piece of pork roast, along with spicy sausage and chirizo.  I was doubtful that the overall stew would have a lot of flavour, given the simplicity of the ingredients, especially the lack of a lot of spices.  But I was pleasantly surprised.  It was full of flavour and richness.  

The Farofa is an odd dish that is hard to explain for both taste and texture.  The recipe called for Yucca (manioc) flour, but that was just not be found in Halifax.  Our hostess suggested that corn flour (not corn meal) could be used to substitute.  Since we had a lot left over from making tamales, I was all set.  Farofa is basically fried onions that you fry an egg on top of, add already cooked bacon, a whole lot of butter and then the flour.  So you really end up with flavoured fried flour.  It tasted great, especially alongside the stew, but it did have an odd flour-y consistency. 

The other 2 sides were sautéed greens (we had farm fresh Swiss Chard) and a vinaigrette which was very much like a fresh salsa.  All the flavours complimented each other well and made for an overall delicious meal.

A strange coincidence happened the same day that this challenge came out.  I got a Groupon email for a 50% a Feijoada meal at a local Brazilian restaurant.  Of course I signed up for the coupon  right away.  We haven't had a chance to use it yet, but I look forward to seeing how my meal compares to the real deal.

You can check out Rachel's original recipes at Daring Kitchen.  And for those of you who have asked about joining up and participating in their monthly challenges, check out this page.  I would love to have some friends along for the challenges.

Daring Kitchen - Paella

Blog-checking lines: Our Daring Cooks’ September 2012 hostess was Inma of la Galletika. Inma brought us a taste of Spain and challenged us to make our very own delicious Paella! 

One of the things that I find amusing is that whenever one of these cooking challenges calls for a slightly obscure or random piece of kitchen ware, it often turns out that we already own it.  Homemade pasta?  No problem, we have a pasta roller.  Need to steam something in a bamboo steamer? Sure thing.  Need to cook rice in a huge, shallow pan that serves no other purpose?  Of course we have one of those too.

Hilary inherited her Paella Pan from her Granny.  She's made wonderful Paella's a few times over the years, but now it was my turn to give it a try, thanks to this month's Daring Kitchen Challenge.

Paella is a rice dish that usually includes chicken, pork, and seafood, but can contain a variety of proteins.  I used chicken, chirozo sausage, shrimp and mussels.  Unfortunately I didn't let the mussels cook long enough and we ended up tossing most of them.  Luckily they had been on sale so I was only out $2.00.  Even without the mussels it was delicious.

Be sure to check out the full recipe with step by step pictures over at the Daring Kitchen.

Daring Kitchen - Cornmeal

Blog-checking lines:  Rachael of pizzarossa was our August 2012 Daring Cook hostess and she challenged us to broaden our knowledge of cornmeal! Rachael provided us with some amazing recipes and encouraged us to hunt down other cornmeal recipes that we’d never tried before – opening our eyes to literally 100s of cuisines and 1000s of new-to-us recipes!

We use cornmeal in a few different recipes already.  We enjoy grilled polenta and cornbread.  But this challenge was to find new ways to use cornmeal.  So I decided to see if I could make a whole meal out of cornmeal.   And I did!

I started with an appetizer of deep fried pickles.

I've never had deep fried pickles before.  I love dill pickles, so it seemed like a good choice. The hold their crunch and have a nice flavour.  Hilary didn't enjoy them as much, but she's not a huge pickle fan to start with.  I don't think these will become part of our regular repertoire, but I'm glad I got to try them.

Then I made a rustic cornmeal and spinach soup.

It was only Hilary and I enjoying this meal so I cut the recipe in half.  Unfortunately the chicken broth I used was too salty for the quantity of water I had. But since I made the soup in the morning, it thickened as it cooled and I had to add some more water to thin it out before serving, so that helped.  It was a really great tasting soup, but one better suited for a cool fall day rather then a hot summer one.  This recipe will definitely be one that we do again.  It was very quick, something you could make after work and have ready within 30 minutes.

For the main dish I made a cornmeal crusted chicken breast.

I didn't follow this recipe exactly.  I soaked the chicken breast in the buttermilk for about 30 minutes before cooking it.  I then omitted the egg wash and went straight to dipping it in the cornmeal mixture.  I also didn't have any cajun spice, so I simply added my own spices.  After tasting it, I realized that I could have been more liberal with the spices.  It was still tasty but would have supported more. I think my favorite part of this recipe is that it isn't only fried, but finished off in the oven.  It keeps it's crispiness without being oily.  Another recipe that we will revisit.

And for desert I made strawberry-rhubarb cobbler.

 

I was a little iffy about a cornmeal topping for this.  I thought it would be too heavy and too gritty.  I was pleasantly surprised, it was light and airy.  The only thing I didn't like was that the baking soda gave it a fuzzy, bubbly feel when you bit into it.  When I make it again I think I will cut down on the amount I use.  I also found that the rhubarb was a bit under cooked, even though the topping was already browned.  

Overall, this was a great challenge and I'm glad to have found some new recipes that we enjoyed.  I will actually be making this whole meal again in a few days for friends.  I love to share the Daring Kitchen challenges with friends of ours, but we couldn't coordinate our schedules to get together before the DK due date.

As always, I can't wait to find out what our next Daring Kitchen challenge is going to be!

Daring Kitchen - En Pappillote

Blog-checking lines: Our July 2012 Daring Cooks’ host was Sarah from All Our Fingers in the Pie! Sarah challenges us to learn a new cooking technique called “Cooking En Papillote” which is French and translates to “cooking in parchment”.


I did something completely different for this challenge.  I cooked it for just myself!  Usually I like to invite friends over to share, or at the very least I cook for Hilary and I.  But Hilary is in BC visiting family, and I'm home on my own.  I had originally thought that I was going to sit this month out since I didn't have anyone to cook for, but then I figured I have to eat too.

This month the challenge was a cooking technique using parchment paper to hold in all the juices and goodness while your food steams.  It's a very low fat, healthy way to cook, which is just what I need.

 
I cooked asparagus, shallots, carrots, broccoli and shrimp for my dinner.

All arranged on the parchment.  I was having fun taking the pictures, so I forgot to season the food before folding it up.  I added it after it cooked and it tasted just fine.

All sealed up and ready to go in the oven.

I found that the shallots were a bit to raw for my liking, but everything else was cooked to perfection.

It only took 12 minutes to cook, and maybe 5 minutes to prep.  This is definitely a technique that I will use again.

Daring Kitchen - Canneloni

Blog-checking lines: Manu from Manu’s Menu was our Daring Cooks lovely June hostess and has challenged us to make traditional Italian cannelloni from scratch! We were taught how to make the pasta, filling, and sauces shared with us from her own and her family’s treasured recipes!

Having made pasta once before for another Daring Kitchen Challenge, I was not freaked out by the idea of making home made Canneloni.  I dove right into it one Sunday afternoon and had it all ready to go in no time. I'm not a huge fan of tomato sauce, so I'm all for any pasta dish that is made with Béchamel sauce.  It has such a fancy name for being just flour and butter with a hint of nutmeg.

I kept things simple and traditional and made a spinach and ricotta cheese filling.

 

I like to have friends over to enjoy my challenges (or not as is sometimes the case!) but the timing of this challenge just didn't work out.  So I'm going to make it again this weekend!  My Mom arrives on Friday and we are having 2 other couples over for dinner.  So I will be making cannelloni for 7 this time....with a twist.  One of our friends has Celiac Disease, so I will be making a batch of Gluten Free Pasta.  I found a recipe from Gluten Free Girl that has some good comments and looks pretty yummy.  Here's hoping!

Daring Kitchen - Boeuf Bourguignon

Blog-checking lines: Our May 2012 Daring Cooks’ hostess was Fabi of fabsfood. Fabi challenged us to make Boeuf Bourguignon, a classic French stew originating from the Burgundy region of France.

My first Julia Child recipe, and a classic one at that!  Boeuf Bourguignon is a beef stew with mushrooms and onions, cooked in red wine, preferably from the Burgundy area of France.  It is a relatively simple stew to make, and like most stews, does well to sit for a day or two so that the flavours can develop.

I served the stew with garlic mashed potatoes and Frenched green beans

Be sure to check out the full recipe at The Daring Kitchen.  There is even a vegetarian version!