French Raspberry Macarons

So most of the credit here must go to Food and Wine for their December issue with a bunch of macaron recipes in it. The Macaron Made Easy I think is what it was called. Anyways, mine are still a bit of a work in progress, i.e. they tasted great but the artistry department needs a little work. Mostly because I needed to let them sit a little longer before they went in the oven so they could set and be nice a pretty, which I should have realized since the humidity was up outside....meaning eggs take longer to set in a hard form like to whip eggs till stiff peaks and such. I don't know, all you bio majors figure it out for the science-y explanation. And then I didn't put in enough food coloring for the nice pink POP that macarons should have. So note to self is to add more next time. :)

Here we go! I shall put another post up when I make the chocolate ones. mmmmm.

Ingredients:

1 cup confectioners sugar (Lien that = powdered sugar)

1 cup almond flour (this is hard to find. probably need a specialty store. and EXPENSIVE!)

3 large egg whites, at room temp (this is key to getting them to whip the right way)

1/2 c. granulated sugar (so plain old sugar)

2 tablespoons of water

3-4 drops of red food coloring

1/2 c. raspberry jam

Here is what separated eggs look like:

Start by preheating the oven to 400. You will want your oven racks to be at 1/3 intervals in the oven, so separating the oven into three equal parts. This is to give more air space between the racks so that way the tops of the bottom pan of cookies gets cooked.

Then line two baking sheets with parchment paper.

Then take a big bowl and a rubber spatula, mix the almond flower, confectioners sugar, and ONE egg white together. You want all of your dry materials to be just moist with the egg white. This is called your macaronade.

Next in a small saucepan (so a little pot), combine the water and regular sugar so you can create your syrup. This will help make the egg whites stay stiff in the almond flour mixture. Bring it to a boil and let it cook over high heat until it reaches 240 degrees on a candy thermometer. (I know you don't have that at school Lien...but well, you know you would just be waiting for me to make these for you anyways.) While the syrup boils brush down the sides with a pastry brush and water as it will keep sugar crystals (or chunks) from forming and messing up your syrup.

I did this next part while my syrup was boiling since I knew that would not take long, however if you do this next part at the same time make sure you let your syrup sit for a tiny bit so that way it does not start to cook your egg whites. So while your syrup is cooking in another metal or plastic (not copper!) bowl beat your last two egg whites at medium high speed until they start to form soft peaks. That means that when you pull the beaters up (they are OFF at this point) from the egg whites the whites will come up with the beaters and then for the most part hold their shape but still droop down slightly. Then while keeping your mixer at high speed slowly pour in the hot syrup from the stove and beat the egg whites till they are firm and glossy. They will truly be glossy, and firm means they hold their shape when you lift the beaters out of them. Lastly beat in your food coloring so you will have bright pink cookies. Yes use the food coloring this is one of the wonderful things about macarons!

Stir in one fourth of the egg whites into the almond macaronade. This means to actively mix the two so it is a lot more forceful than the next step. Then FOLD in the rest of the egg whites. That means with a rubber spatula sort of flip the batter over onto itself so it is like you are actually trying to "fold" the batter up. This way you do not break up the little air pockets you have created in the egg whites, allowing the cookies to be puffy and meringue like.

Then transfer your batter to a large ziplock bag and snip off one corner so you will have about a 1/2 inch tip (in diameter that is). Then pipe into little mounds on your baking sheets so they are about 1 1/2 inches in diameter and 1 inch apart. This was the most difficult part for me as I think I cut my opening too large, but don't worry if they don't look perfect here. After you are done, tap the pan, like sort of gently knock it against the back of the counter or something, so that way the little mounds turn into a more circular shape. Then let the cookies sit for about 15 minutes. You can let them dry longer if it is really humid out too. It will help the cookies to get a slightly protective shell on them to ensure they do not crack while baking.

Take your cookies and place them in the oven. Turn off the heat (otherwise they burn). Bake them for 5 minutes with the heat off. Then turn on the oven again to 400 and bake for 8 more minutes so that they puff up and are firm and glossy. Take them out and let them cool completely. Add your jam to half of them and place together, matching the top and bottom sizes. For the jam, you can pipe it but I just spooned it and it worked fine.

And those are my favorite dessert. :D

Shepard's Pie

When my sisters came home for the three day weekend, they wanted me to make Shepard's pie. I've never made it before, but basically it's like a pot pie but mashed potatoes instead of pie dough on top. This recipe comes from Paula Deen on foodnetwork.com. It doesn't sound the like the traditional pie, but then again, I'm not an expert. This one has mashed potatoes on the bottom, meat and veggies in the middle, and then biscuit on top. Also, it has tomatoes, which I don't think of when I think of pot pie. All in all, it didn't taste bad...it just made a lot. The recipe is supposed to fill one 9x9x2 dish. It ended up filling two dishes...one rectangular pan and one souffle dish. One of my sisters was cleaning out the kitchen in the house she shares with other college people. No one claimed the souffle dish, so she took it back home with her, haha.

Shepard's pie - makes 12-15 servings

1 onion
1 1/2 pounds ground beef
16 ounces tomato sauce
1 1/2 cups assorted veggies
1 cup gravy (I made it from an instant gravy mix)
6 potatoes
1 1/2 cups milk
12 tablespoons butter, separated into 4 and 8
1/2 cup sour cream
2 cups Bisquick

1. Scrub the potatoes thoroughly. Cube the potatoes and make sure they are all about the same size. I cut them to one inch cubes. Put the potatoes in a pot and fill the pot with water until the potatoes are covered with a one inch layer of water. Add some salt, put a lid on the pot, and heat on high.

2. Cook the potatoes for about 15 minutes. If the starch starts to bubble up too much, leave the lid off. To see if the potatoes are ready, take one cube out and smash it with a fork. If it gives easily, then the potatoes are done. Once done, drain the water out and place the potatoes back in the pot.

3. While the potatoes are cooking, heat olive oil in a large pan. Add onions and cook on medium-high heat until browned. I also cooked some of my veggies at this time. I had a bag of frozen veggies, and some chopped celery, so threw in the celery after the onions were browned. Add all of the ground beef. Use a spatula to break up the meat and mix the meat around occasionally. Cook until the meat has browned up a bit.

4. Add the tomato sauce, cook for one minute, and turn off the heat.

5. Heat 1 1/2 cups of milk and 8 tablespoon butter. I just microwaved them together. In a separate container, melt 4 tablespoon of butter.

6. The potatoes should be done by now. Use whatever tool you have to smash the potatoes. You can use an electric hand mixer too.

7. Once the potatoes are mostly mashed, add the heated milk and butter, and the sour cream. Continue to mash until it's smooth. Add salt and pepper to taste. If it's too dry, add some more milk.

8. Preheat the oven to 375. In a medium mixing bowl, combine 2 cups Bisquick with 1 cup of milk. The mixture will be thinner than usual, but not runny. Small lumps are okay.

9. Grease your baking dish. Layer the bottom with the mashed potatoes.


10. Add your veggies.


11. Then the meat.

12. Pour the biscuit batter over the top. Try to spread it evenly, then pour the melted butter over the top.


13. Bake for about 45 minutes until the top is nice and brown.


Oi, so many carbs.

Sardines with toast

I was watching one of my favorite shows, Good Eats. I saw this recipe on one of the episodes, called sherried-sardine toast.

2 3.75 ounce cans of sardines
2 tablespoons finely chopped parsley
1 tablespoon sherry vinegar (I used rice vinegar)
1/4 teaspoon lemon zest from one lemon
a few thin slices of onion (optional)
salt and pepper to taste (coarse salt is preferrable)
4 thick slices of bread
1/2 avocado

1. Open the cans of sardines. Drain the oil from one can into a small bowl and reserve. Drain the oil of the second can in a medium bowl.

2. In the medium oil, whisk with vinegar, parsley, zest and pepper. Add all of the sardines and onions. Toss to coat allow to marinate for at least one hour.


3. When the hour is over, use the remaining oil to brush the bread and toast until nice and brown.
4. Cut your avocado in half. Use a fork to smash the avocado and spread onto your toast.


5. Spread some of the sardines on top of the toast.

6. Finish it off with some lemon juice, salt, pepper. Add more parsley if you want to.

Fried Rice

I had a craving to make fried rice. To start off, you have to you leftover rice that has been in the fridge. If it's fresh rice, it'll be too sticky to cook with. I also made two kinds, a soy-sauce one and a curried one. You can put whatever you want in your fried rice. Also, you can do a lot of prep the day before to make it easier on you.


Cook your rice. I made two big batches of rice, about 3 cups of uncooked rice for each. Store overnight in the fridge.

Soy-sauce fried rice
3 cups uncoooked rice
6 dried shitake mushrooms
2 tablespoons oyster sauce
1 cup frozen veggies
1 cup cooked chicken (1 chicken breast)
1/4 cup soy sauce

1. Soak shitake mushrooms in water overnight. The next day, drain the water out. In a wok, heat some oil on high heat. Add the mushrooms and oyster sauce. Mix until the mushrooms are coated. Add enough water until the mushrooms are halfway underwater. When it comes to a boil, reduce the heat to low. Stir occasionally and heat until all of the water has evaporated. Put the mushrooms in a container and when they are cool, slice or dice the mushrooms. I did this the day before I made the fried rice.

2. Cut chicken breast into bite-sized cubes. Add more oil into the wok (I don't clean the wok in between) and cook the chicken on medium-high heat until thoroughly cooked. I also cooked the chicken the day before.

3. Prepare anything else you want to add. If you have frozen veggies, thaw them out. Slice up some green onion, or make some scrambed egg, etc.

4. Add more oil to the wok and heat on high. Put all of your cold rice in and use a spatula to break up the pieces.

5. Add each ingredient one at a time and stir to mix and reheat. Add the soy sauce a little bit at at time. I didn't measure out how much soy sauce I used...I just added a little bit, mixed it, and looked at the color/tasted it until I liked it.

There's your basic fried rice.


And now for curried fried rice.

3 cups uncooked rice
1/4 cup soy sauce
4 tablespoons curry powder
1 cup chicken
1/2 cup assorted veggies
1/2 cup pineapple

1. Cook your rice and refrigerate overnight.

2. Prepare all of the ingredients you want to add. I cubed another chicken breast and cooked it in some oil and salted it. I thawed out frozen veggies and cut some pineapple into bite-sized pieces.

3. Again, add oil to the wok on high heat. Add your cold rice. The first time, I added the soy sauce after I added all of the other ingredients. It's probably easier to add the soy sauce now. The soy sauce coats the rice more evenly and you can tell by the color if you want more soy sauce or not.
4. Add the curry powder, and mix together. Try to break up the rice as much as possible.

5. Add the chicken, and mix it around to reheat the meat.

6. Add the veggies and mix. Then, add the pineapple and mix.


The curried fried rice was more yummy.

Sushi - nigiri and maki

For Christmas, I got a sushi making set from my sister. Here is our first time trying to make sushi...me, my sisters, and Lionel.

Spicy mayo:
enough for 2 or 3 maki rolls
1/2 cup mayo
1 tablespoon sriracha (more if you want it spicier)
3/4 teaspoon soy sauce

Just mix it all together!


Sushi rice:
Enough for 2 maki rolls or about 8 nigiri
1 1/2 cups rice
2 cups water
1/6 cup vinegar
1 1/2 tablespoon sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt

1. Cook the rice in a rice cooker.
2. While the rice is cooking, heat the vinegar, sugar, and salt on low or medium heat until everything is dissolved. Remove from heat and let the liquid reach room temperature.
3. Spread the rice in a large bowl. Supposedly using a metal bowl is a bad thing (??).
4. Sprinkle the vinegar over the bowl. Fold the rice quickly, trying not to smash the rice. If you can, use a fan to help cool the rice quicker. When the rice is body temperature, the rice is ready.


So it's best to use the rice immediately after it's prepared, so have everything else ready. We chopped up a bag of imitation crab and mixed it with the spicy mayo. We also bought sashimi and seaweed.

Here is our best-educated guess on making maki sushi. You take your seaweed and spread rice, but leave a 3/4 inch border on one edge.


Then, add your fillings and roll! I tried to take pictures of the rolling, but all of the pictures were blurry.



For making the nigiri, wet your hands first, so the rice doesn't stick. Scoop some rice and shape the rice. Put some wasabi on the rice and then put on the fish.

Ta da! Not a whole lot of variation...just spicy crab rolls and nigiri.