Madhu Knits and Cooks

Joining the Craze - Alison Roman's Salted Butter and Chocolate Chunk Shortbread

For those who are not heavy consumers of food-related social media, Alison Roman's new book Dining In is THE new food sensation. 

To tell you the truth, I'm not quite sure why (the problem with social media is that I look at the pictures and read, you know, 140-characters), but I saw enough posts of Roman's Salted Butter and Chocolate Chunk Shortbread Cookies that I knew I had to try them.

Wowsa.  I even messed these up when I prepared them, but they were still great - rich chocolate flavor, great savory tingles on your tongue from the salt, and the perfect amount of crumble.

I messed these up by omitting the salted butter, and instead of following the recipe instruction to add 3/4 tsp. kosher salt to the flour instead, I forgot to add salt until the dough was already together.  Well, no harm, no foul as when I added the salt in late, it seemed to still result in a strong cookie.

Like all shortbread cookies, you prepare the dough, roll it into a log, and then chill the log before baking.

With this recipe though, before you cut the cookies for baking, you roll the dough log in demerara sugar to get crispy, sweeter edges.  The recipe calls for bathing the dough in egg wash before rolling in demerara, but I rolled sans egg wash without any issues.

Bake and enjoy!

Vegan Noodle Soup - A Madhu Knits and Cooks Original, Revised

This post will be a short one focused on an oldie, but a goodie Madhu Knits and Cooks improvised recipe.  That recipe - Vegan Noodle Soup - is as great as ever, as a recent attempt proved.

I made just a few slight modifications to my first attempt - notably substituting parsley in for the cilantro, and omitting the thyme as I didn't have any on-hand.  I added in a half cup of orzo, and served the soup with a healthy amount of parmesan, which was a great slightly salty and rich touch, albeit a non-vegan one.

The other modification I made was to use my newly acquired Better than Bouillon No Chicken Base in place of bouillon cubes.  Now I understand what the great reviews are about - this will definitely be a staple in my kitchen moving forward.  Similarly, this soup is making a comeback in my kitchen as well, and I can't wait to continue to experiment with it (next up - adding beans?).

Baked Cauliflower Pakoras - A Healthier Yet Time-Consuming Snack

Be still my heart - a healthier version of an Indian restaurant favorite? 

Yes! 

The Pinterest-fueled rumors are true.  There is a breaded and baked version of cauliflower pakoras that is actually quite good.  The only downsides of these quite crispy and yummy treats is that they take a decent amount of hands-on time to prepare and are only really great when hot.  When the pakoras cool, they lose some of their crispiness making them not an ideal personal snack (too long to prepare) nor a great party snack (too long to prepare + best when out of the oven).  

So while I may not be making these pakoras again, I am glad I halved the recipe on a recent weekend day and gave them a try. 

The most time-consuming part of the preparation is the individual piece dredging in the foamy, club soda-based marinade and then rolling each piece in panko.

After completing this process many a time, you are ready to bake these in the oven for approx. 20 - 25 minutes.  

When they are browned and crispy, they are ready to be served with a healthy amount of salt and pepper to punch up their flavors!

Flour, Yeast, Salt, and Water = Crusty Bread Perfection

I didn't realize that there could be an easier bread approach than the famed Jim Lahey No Knead Bread recipe (I believe it is still the most viewed NY Times Cooking online recipe).  However, when searching for a different bread inspiration recently, I found the insanely easy Simple Crusty Bread recipe, also from the NY Times. 

You don't even knead this bread once - rather, just stir together the four necessary ingredients (flour, yeast, salt, and water) and let the dough rise. 

The original recipe yields 4 loaves and the dough can stay in the fridge, covered, for two weeks (!).  I halved the recipe for my first effort, which produced two hearty, crusty loaves that were the perfect accompaniment to winter soups.

To form the bread post-rise, just cut off the portion of the dough you want to bake (for me, 1/2 of the halved dough recipe was a great side portion for 3 - 4 people) and let is rest for ~40 minutes while you heat a pizza stone in the oven.  Dust the dough with some flour and score it before baking on the hot pizza stone. 

To make the resting and baking less messy, I placed the shaped dough on parchment paper, which I then transferred directly to the stone.  You also put some water into a pre-heated broiler pan just below the bread as well to give the dough enough moisture during baking.

The first time I baked the bread, I took it out of the oven after only 26 minutes (instead of 30) because the bread looked well browned at that point.  However, the next time, I kept it in for approx. 28 - 29 minutes which led to more consistent browning and crustiness around the bread.  The differences between bread #1 (slightly underbaked) and bread #2 (more fully baked) are noted below.

(Bread #1)

(Bread #1 Bottom)

(Bread #2)

(Bread #2 Bottom)

This recipe will absolutely be a staple in our kitchen for the years and decades ahead!

A Messy First Attempt at Frittata - Broccoli Cheddar Frittata

As the post title indicates, my first attempt at frittata was a bit of a mess.  Thankfully, it ended up tasted great, but not only was the process a mess, the final output was also a bit...messy.  

The challenge I had is that the saute pan I used was not oven safe to the temperature I needed, so I decided midway to use the Serious Eats flipping method.  But instead of actually using that full flipping method - which I was ultimately too scared to do - I decided to weakly semi-flip the frittata onto a plate to then slide the undercooked side back into the pan.  

In short, I kept changing my mind on what to do, and did each resulting step with such a heavy amount of hesitancy that the appearance of my frittata was largely doomed.  But soldier on I did, and the resulting frittata was one that I will make again (though with more certainty, gusto, and perhaps a different pan to just finish in the oven!). 

I settled on a broccoli cheddar frittata largely because I had the ingredients on hand and I thought this would be a good way to use frozen broccoli.  I also wanted to make a frittata that was more vegetable than egg-heavy, and given that broccoli is my favorite vegetable, it felt like the perfect way to anchor a vegetable-heavy frittata.

The hot frittata achieved my flavor combination perfectly.  When cooled though, the frittata was a bit more eggy than I generally prefer - but still, it's an egg-based dish, so what else would I expect?  

Recipe and instructions follow the picture below.

Broccoli Cheddar Frittata

Ingredients

• 4 eggs
• 2 - 3 tbsp. milk (my milk went bad, so I couldn't use it, but I will in the future)
• 10 oz. bag frozen chopped broccoli
• 1 tbsp. olive oil
• 1/2 tsp. lemon juice
• 2 tbsp. water
• 3/4 cup shredded cheddar
• red pepper flakes, to taste
• salt and pepper, to taste

Directions

• Defrost frozen broccoli according to bag instructions, and drain any excess water.
• Heat olive oil in a medium-t0-large saucepan on medium high heat.  When hot, add drained broccoli, red chili flake, salt, pepper, and lemon juice.  Saute for approx. 5 - 7 min or until hot and fully cooked.

• In a bowl, lightly beat eggs with milk, salt, pepper, and then add cheddar, stirring to combine.

• Add to the hot pan with the broccoli and shift the pan around for the egg to evenly coat the pan.  Let sit for approx. 6 minutes, and then flip into a prepared plate.  Slide the undercooked side back into the pan, and then cook for another 2 - 3 minutes.

• You can then flip another 1 - 2 times if you would like (I did this with messy results), and then serve when the eggs are cooked to your liking.  Season generously with salt and pepper, and serve!

King Arthur Flour Chocolate Cake - Great Weeknight Bake

Some expiring eggs and milk in the fridge = impromptu weeknight bake session!  The vessel I chose for my use-up-stuff-in-the-fridge effort was King Arthur Flour's Chocolate Cake recipe, which the KAF team promised would be "tender and moist."  

The cake lived up to that billing, and also had the nice surprise of developing a nice, shiny slightly hard shell on the top.   I decided to just serve the cake without frosting, and while a sweeter accompaniment would make it a complete dessert, it was a great snack on its own.

I halved the recipe to produce one 9-inch cake, and the process itself was quite easy.  Sift together the dry ingredients in a large bowl, and then start adding the wet ingredients.  I used a fork to blend in the initial wet ingredients so that I wouldn't have a flour explosion from using a hand mixer with mostly dry ingredients.

The batter will be very thin, but that is the intention.  Pour into a floured pan and bake. 

I slightly reduced the baking time to 27 minutes because my oven was slightly hotter than intended, but it seemed to result in a great moist texture.  This will be a recipe repeat in my kitchen!