Madhu Knits and Cooks

Milk Street Black-Eyed Pea Fritters - An Easy Party Snack

I've been eating a lot of black-eyed peas this past year, mostly in tacos.  I really like these flavorful, versatile beans which are also a cinch to prepare with their short cooking time.  When I recently saw Milk Street's West African Black-Eyed Pea Fritters, I thought these would be a logical extension of my new black-eyed pea love.  

These fritters couldn't have been easier to make - no bean cooking required - and the final result was good, though not great.  The fritters tasted like what you'd expect a fried black eyed-pea snack to taste like, nothing more, nothing less.    

While I am not sure if I will make these treats again, I did enjoy the crunchy exterior coupled with the moist and soft interior and the subtle black-eyed pea flavor.  

The fritter batter starts by soaking the beans before throwing them in a food processor.

Then stir in the other herbs to make the final batter.  Finish by dropping spoonfuls into the 350 degree oil. 

Three modifications I made to the Milk Street recipe:  I inadvertently soaked the peas for 27 hours, I halved the recipe, and I subbed jalapenos or serranos for the fresnos, which generally aren't available in our store.  The final fritters also required a fair amount of extra salt for the bean and chile flavors really come out.

America's Test Kitchen French Onion Dip - "Just OK"

Although I previously created a "completely amazing" Sour Cream Onion Dip, several Cook's Illustrated / America's Test Kitchen online onion dip recipes enticed me to try something new. 

The resulting Cook's Country French Onion Dip was good, but not nearly as good as I remember my original dip.  The Cook's Country dip featured not only caramelized onions, but also balsamic vinegar and mayonnaise, which made the dip super tangy despite my reductions of all three (1.5 onions, only 2 tbsp. balsamic, and 2 tbsp. of mayonnaise).  The dip was also sweeter than I expected from both the onions and balsamic, which I didn't quite enjoy.

A strike in favor of sticking to what works, instead of constantly trying new things!

Post 600! Cook's Illustrated Chocolate Sour Cream Mini-Bundts Inspired by Min Jin Lee

Cooking inspiration comes to me in predictable ways.  Sometimes it's smelling what a neighbor is cooking, the memory of a meal I particularly enjoyed, the weather, or perhaps the most frequent inspiration - seeing a delicious recipe photo on the internet.  My latest baking attempt - Chocolate Mini-Bundt Cakes - came from a completely unexpected source, an interview with the author Min Jin Lee.

I had just completed Lee's masterpiece Pachinko and in the library e-book version I read, an interview with Lee appeared after the book text.  In it, Min Jin Lee spoke about how baking the Cook's Illustrated Chocolate Sour Cream Bundt Cake helped her overcome homesickness for the U.S. when she lived in Japan, in turn allowing her to write Pachinko.  

I haven't used my mini-bundt pan in at least 4 years (the only bundt pan I own), but I thought if this recipe helped Min Jin Lee write this masterpiece, maybe it'll inspire me in some way as well?  

After trying many recipe adjustment calculations to try to achieve the perfect amount of batter for my 6 mini-bundt pan, I decided to keep things simple and just half the recipe.  I figured I could make a smaller cake or cupcakes with the leftover batter from the bundts, which I knew would use less than half of the batter.  In practice, halving the batter resulted in 6 mini-bundts and 4 cupcakes.

First coat the bundt pan in a cocoa-butter mixture to prevent sticking.

The batter process is fairly easy, though unfortunately it is a three-bowl, and not one-bowl, operation.  

I baked the mini-bundts for 25 minutes, and the cupcakes for 20 minutes.  The cupcake baking time was perfect, but I think the mini-bundts were slightly overbaked as they ended up drier than I had hoped.  So I will reduce the baking amount by a few minutes the next time I make them.

These cakes didn't knock my socks off, but it might be because of the slight overbaking.  While I am not sure if I will make them again, I appreciate the inspiration from Lee and look forward to using my unearthed mini-bundt pan more often.

Pret a Manger's Dark Chocolate Chunk Cookies Come Home!

I have started to miss sandwiches.  I never make them at home, and I haven't been to any work-proximate sandwich locations in some time.  My mind started to wander of late to sandwiches, as did my google searches.  I am glad they did because through that wandering, I found that Pret A Manger, the UK-based sandwich chain, has published their chocolate chunk cookie recipe, one of my favorite work-proximate treats.

While my cookies didn't turn out as darkly browned as the Pret store versions, this was a great recipe.  Simple to construct, great crisp exteriors, and a solid cookie flavor.  Interestingly though, this recipe didn't call for vanilla extract.  While I didn't notice the lack of vanilla flavor, I intend on using vanilla the next time to try to get an even deeper flavor to these cookies.

I measured the ingredients using a scale, and followed online advice to add baking soda to all-purpose flour as we don't generally have self-raising flour in the U.S.

I baked the cookies for 2 - 4 minutes longer than the recipe called for, despite producing 10 cookie balls instead of the recipe's 8.  I still wasn't getting the browned Pret store look so decided to remove them when lightly golden brown.  I probably could have baked them another 2 minutes without compromising the taste, though I am not sure if I would have reached the deep brown Pret store color in that time.

Thank you Pret!  Look forward to making these cookies again as I miss your in-person offerings!

Baked Buffalo Cauliflower - Wow, A Great Homemade Bar Snack

If you can't go to the bar or restaurant, try your favorites at home - volume 2.  This latest effort features a healthier version of one of my bar/restaurant favorites, buffalo cauliflower, which I found I couldn't order on any of our local restaurant delivery apps.  

I found a few recipes online and settled on the Frank's Red Hot version because of its glowing website reviews.  I also decided to use Food Network's blue cheese dip recipe instead of a store bought dip.

While the final result was pretty good - great Frank's spicy sauce flavor offset by the tangy dip - I learned some good lessons that will help make this good dish even better the next time.

First was that I should have used two baking sheets to allow the cauliflower to really crisp up instead of steaming from the pieces being too close to each other.  Second was that I should have used the full amount of Frank's called for in the recipe - 8 tbsp. instead of the 5 tbsp. that I used.

The third and fourth lessons are related - no need to add in panko bread crumbs, which didn't make a difference.  And I will likely retain my 50% substitute of besan or chickpea flour for the all-purpose flour as I thought it added a nice, subtle flavor to the batter.

Finally, for the dip, I will add a lot more blue cheese because that flavor was far more diluted than I would have liked from the Food Network recipe.

King Arthur Flour Hot Spinach Dip - An Adaptable Solo Treat or Party Snack

If you can't go to a dinner party or bar for a hot appetizer dip, try the homemade option!  While many homemade dips feature complicated  steps and/or result in too much dip for one person to eat, the King Arthur Flour Hot Spinach Dip recipe produces a great solo or a small group snack.

The recipe has three steps - pre-heat the oven, mix the ingredients together, and bake.  Couldn't be easier, and as I found through my two attempts at halved versions, very adaptable to shifting the ingredients.

Both times I made the dip I used low fat sour cream, low fat mayonnaise and fresh mozzarella.  The first time I made this recipe, I used slightly more mozzarella in the halved dip (measured ingredients with a scale), and second time, I dramatically reduced the mayonnaise and increased the sour cream a bit.  I didn't notice either time anything I disliked about the dip, which was thick, creamy and savory from the spinach and salted ingredients.

This dip will be a winter feature in my kitchen, and I hope in yours as well!  It tastes particularly good with carrots, but also works great with bread, chips, and crackers.

Sichuan Pickled Cucumbers - Gourmet Cookbook, Who Knew?

A decade ago, I found a heavily discounted version of the Gourmet Cookbook on a bookstore shelf and immediately took it to the register, figuring that I had beat the store in realizing its mistake. 

In the years since, I have made a few recipes from the cookbook, which probably ensures the cookbook was worth what I paid for it, but it's rarely my first turn for any type of recipe.  On a whim, I changed that approach when I had a bounty of delicious summer cucumbers in my fridge.  

While I have made a few Chinese cucumber recipes in the past, this recipe intrigued me because it involved cooking the marinade before  pickling the cucumbers.  

The recipe seemed pretty easy to construct, so without much thought, I started the preparation process.  First, I cut, salted, rinsed and then drained the cucumber slices.

The pickles got a light coating of sugar and vinegar after they have drained, while I then cooked the marinade.  I used slightly less sesame oil than the recipe called for because I find sesame oil has such a strong flavor, and I also used 4 broken-in-half Indian dried red chiles.

Unfortunately, following the 3-hour pickling process, I found these pickles to be "ok."  None of the flavors were that strong, and while the hot spice flavor was there, it was more of an undertone than a main feature of each bite.  As the days went on, the pickles became spicier, but remained underwhelming.  I wish I added garlic or something else that would give these cucumbers sharper flavor. 

Oh well, at least I had an excuse to reacquaint myself with this otherwise great encyclopedia of cooking!

Lisa Fain's Austin Diner-Style Queso - Not My Favorite Queso, But Sometimes You've Got to Vary Your Melted Cheese Routine

Slowly, but surely, I am making my way through Lisa Fain's fantastic Queso! cookbook.  My latest attempt was Lisa Fain's Austin diner-style queso, which was also my first time cooking with American cheese.

This queso was great with the fresh pico stirred in.  The bright acidic chunks of tomato and onion balanced out the thick American cheese flavored dip quite well.  Some bites actually felt...healthy?  Such are the warped thoughts of a queso addict!

While I prefer the flavor of cheddar to American cheese, my husband - an apparent American cheese lover - loved this dip.  And a major bonus is how easy this queso is to construct.

I halved the recipe, substituted 2% milk for whole, and used 0.63 pounds of American cheese instead of 0.5 pounds.  Apart from those minor changes, I followed the recipe as is.

Like many of Fain's recipes, this recipe involved a roux, which came together pretty easily.

Super easy - cut some vegetables, make a simple roux, and melt in the cheese.  Yum!

No-Knead High-Gluten Flour Sesame Bread - Saving This Flour for Bagels

During the great (but brief) flour shortage of 2020, I ordered any flour that was available from King Arthur Flour's website.  Some of the new flour types I purchased were fantastic - the Pizza Flour Blend in particular - but others, I've struggled with.  The High-Gluten Flour falls into that category.  The pizza dough I made with it was just ok, and King Arthur's No-Knead Everything Bread, which seems adapted to this flour in particular, also was just ok.  

I initially thought the issue may be my continued use of a large Dutch oven to bake high-hydration no-knead doughs instead of a smaller bread pot which would allow the bread to rise more than spread.  This problem plagued me with Jim Lahey's No-Knead Bread recipe. The fridge-rise, less-hydration Jeff Hertzberg approach and its variants generally produce must better loafs.  However, I tried this flour with the King Arthur-version of Hertzberg's approach and also ended up with a slightly (but not that much) lower rise bread.

So the issue seems to be the flour or more likely, my unfamiliarity with it.  In any case, this recipe, which I halved and used just sesame seeds instead of an everything spice blend, will probably not be a repeat. 

While the bread dough was easy to prepare, as all no-kneads are, I really don't like handling gooey, non-fridge rise doughs like this.   

These doughs are just far messier to shape and transfer to a baking pot.

The upside of this bread is that it tasted wonderful - yeasty, slightly crusty on the outside, and soft in the middle.  It was gone within the day!

Lemon Almond Pound Cake - Star of a Future Brunch Party

I've had my eye on the Milk Street Lemon Almond Pound Cake ever since I saw it featured on one of their PBS episodes.  This cake not only looked gorgeous, but also seemed like a great way to use up my leftover almond flour that doesn't have a long shelf life.

When I finally made the cake, it turned out fabulously well.  The lemon flavor was subtle through the cake, but quite sharp under the top surface, where a lemon-sugar glaze had sunk in.  The cake was dense and moist, with the sliced almonds on the top providing a light crunch.  

The only downside of this cake is how big it is.  This is a recipe for a party, not a household of two.  But we soldiered through, eating the entire cake within 3 days.  And we did enjoy all of the slices!

I followed the recipe as is, except that I didn't have the right loaf pan size (used a 10 x 7 Le Creuset instead of a standard 9 x 5) and I used unsalted butter, so threw in a bit more kosher salt to compensate.

The batter began with mixing together the sugar and lemon zest until the sugar absorbed the citrus smell.

I then added the rest of the dry ingredients.

Then the wet ingredients.

I baked the cake for approximately 42 - 45 minutes, about 10 minutes longer than called for by the recipe, to get a toothpick to come out clean from the middle of the cake.  Thankfully, the cake didn't seem overly baked after it cooled slightly and I coaxed it out of the pan to fully cool.

The last step was glazing the cake with a lemon-sugar glaze I made while the cake was in the oven.  Very easy to brush on.  The cake then cooled for another hour or two before we served it.  Yum!