Madhu Knits and Cooks

Hetty McKinnon Obsession Continues - NYT Silken Tofu with Spicy Soy Dressing

As recent posts have shown, I've been on a true Hetty McKinnon kick the past few months.  The latest?  Not from one of her wonderful cookbooks, but instead a NYT Cooking recipe.  

I slightly freestyled this recipe for Silken Tofu with Spicy Soy Dressing because I was using a partial block of leftover silken tofu, but the result was really wonderful. 

Salty from the soy sauce, savory from the sesame oil, slightly sweet from the sugar and rice wine vinegar, spicy from the chile oil, and crunchy from the scallions - yum. 

A benefit of using a partial leftover block of silken tofu is that it had naturally drained in the fridge, making prep that much more of a cinch. 

The tofu I used had been out of the fridge for an hour or two, so slightly more room temperature than cold, which I liked a lot.  

My First Chia Pudding - Matcha Chia Pudding by Hetty McKinnon

I finally bought some chia seeds and made my first chia pudding, despite having rarely, if ever, eaten chia pudding before.

I think part of my hesitation of jumping on this health food favorite is my worry that the consistency may not be to my taste, similar to rice pudding.  I prefer smoother textures (e.g., smoothies or yogurts) to moist and dense grain-filled dishes. 

However, the pictures and description of Hetty McKinnon's matcha chia puddings in her To Asia, With Love cookbook were so delectable that I put my hesitations to the side and embarked on this (quite simple) journey.

I stirred together the ingredients, chilled the mixture, and as promised, the oat-milky mixture congealed and became a thicker pudding within a few hours.  The slightly bitter and herbal flavor of the matcha was quite pronounced in the pudding, but nicely offset by the sweet maple syrup. 

However, I ended up not eating the entire amount that I prepared because ultimately the textures were not to my taste.  I just don't enjoy  tiny, slightly mushy seeds working their way through my mouth sadly.    

I do have a whole package of chia seeds in my cupboards, so I'll need to try something with them again - any reader recommendations welcome!

My First Crumb Coffeecake - A Brunch or Tea Time Must Bake!

I checked out the King Arthur Flour All-Purpose Baker's Companion bake book from the library on a whim, and to be honest, I am not sure what my logic was.  When I saw the book, I thought that it was likely was just a compendium of KAF's online recipes. When I took it off the shelf, it was also relatively heavy, so not sure why I thought lugging the print version home would make more sense than their easy-to-navigate website.

Well, despite that mystery of my intentions, at least one of my assumptions was proven wrong in that the bake book does contain recipes that are not found on the website.  How did I find this?  Through making their Crumb Coffeecake, which does not appear on the KAF website (though the cake base itself is within this recipe).  

This recipe resulted in what may be the perfect first crumb cake attempt in history - deliciously moist, slightly savory, and pleasantly multi-textured.  And super easy to prepare at that (I halved the recipe for one 8-9 inch round cake), with the texture and flavors remaining intact in the days that followed.  A bit of almond extract in the crumb mixture added a nice, unexpected almost-floral element as well.  

I look forward to making this simple and delicious cake over and over again in the years ahead!

Guittard's Original Chocolate Chip Cookies - Doesn't Replace My Favorites

I have returned to my pre-pandemic behavior of getting a cookbook - or three - on a whim when I pick up books from the library.  One of the latest is the Guittard Chocolate Cookbook.  This cookbook has been a ton of fun to flip through, but after renewing the book for the maximum three times, I have only made one recipe - the Classic Chocolate Chip Cookies (called the "Original Chocolate Chip Cookies" on their website).  

The cookie recipe wasn't the best or the worst that I've ever made.  I would have preferred the cookies to be slightly crispier and more buttery, like my King Arthur Flour go-to recipe.  A few modifications to the original recipe - I used the convection session on my oven, and as such, reduced the temperature to 350.  I baked the cookies for 11 minutes.

One important difference btwn. the online and cookbook recipes - the flour cup measurement is the same (2.5 cups) but the online recipe states that is 382 grams whereas the cookbook recipe states that is 300 grams.  That's a pretty big difference!  I followed the cookbook recipe.  

Lisa Fain / The Homesick Texan's Salsa Tatemado - Mild, Smokey Tomato Salsa

With Cinco de Mayo fast approaching, I decided that I wanted to up my salsa game and turned to the excellent Homesick Texan for advice.  I settled on Lisa Fain's salsa tatemada recipe because it seemed sufficiently different from other salsas that I've made.

The salsa ended up being quite easy to prepare, even with my substitution of tomatoes on the vine for plum tomatoes and my use of a foil-lined quarter baking sheet instead of a skillet.  You basically roast the heck out of the ingredients before blending the ingredients with salt and water.

The result was smokey, mildly spicy, and had an unexpected herbiness from the fresh cilantro blended into the salsa.  I added extra salt to to get more of the ingredients' flavor to come out, and moving forward I will likely play with the cilantro ratio.  There was something  unpleasant I found about the fresh cilantro blended in with the roasted ingredients, even though I otherwise like cilantro. 

Regardless, this will likely be a recipe repeat this summer!

Simple Same Day Bread - A Great Use for Bread Flour

I haven't used my bread flour in several months as I've fallen in love with the King Arthur Flour pizza flour blend.  Looking for an excuse to use up my remaining bread flour, I found King Arthur Flour's "The Easiest Loaf of Bread You'll Ever Bake" recipe and to the kitchen I went. 

Unlike most of my bread and pizza go-to recipes, this bread can be made the same day with just two short rises - 1-2 hours and then 45 minutes after shaping.

The recipe also seems to be pretty flexible as well - I halved the recipe, potentially messed up the amount of bread flour that I measured (oops), and baked the bread seam side up instead of down.  After 21 minutes of baking, I held the oven open with a wooden spatula for 5 minutes as directed.

The bread was very good - not as great as my longer fridge rise doughs, but definitely a bread that could be served to a crowd (or myself!) the same day.

My First Yeasted Crackers - KAF Soda Crackers

I keep ordering King Arthur Flour (KAF) flour, which means I have needed to use up my existing flour to open up pantry space!  Enter the KAF Gourmet Soda Crackers recipe to use up the last bits of my KAF Italian-Style Flour Blend.  

This recipe had the added benefit of being my first attempt at yeasted crackers.  The dough was incredibly easy to construct, just whisking the dry ingredients together and then adding melted liquids.  I did end up using approx. 30g of all-purpose flour because I ran out of the Italian blend (yay - mission accomplished!).

Then let the dough rise in fridge overnight before resting and rolling out.

I didn't get the dough as thin as called for in the recipe, perhaps because I used a tapered rolling pin instead of one of my (many) flat pins.  I also didn't have pizza seasoning or smoked / seasoned sea salt, so subbed instead mostly Italian seasoning, dried thyme, and Maldon sea salt (approx. 1 tsp. total of seasonings).  I probably could have added a lot more flavoring as the baked crackers seemed like they could have handled more bold flavors.

I baked the crackers for approx. 8 minutes instead of 10 because I was worried about overbaking them after they became golden.  That amount of time was perfect for the smaller crackers, but not the larger pieces, which ended up slightly soft post-cooling.

However, I would definitely make these crackers again.  They were flavorful with a nice yeasted flavor lightly complemented by the salt and herbs.  I also bought some herbes de provence which I think will be great on these crackers.  And the prep was super easy to boot!

El Paso Chile Con Queso - Another Lisa Fain Success!

Feeling insecure about not using my cookbooks (a frequent occurrence as regular blog readers well know), I turned to my shelves several weeks ago for inspiration (and to assuage my guilt).  While I could have easily selected the cookbooks I have never used, or those that have been gathering dust for years, instead I chose the easiest way out - the Lisa Fain (Homesick Texan) Queso book.  

Unlike the queso dips that I have been making from this wonderful book, the recipe that caught my eye was the El Paso Chile Con Queso.  This queso recipe produced more of a queso fundido, or a thicker queso for spooning into tortillas rather than one for scooping up with tortilla chips.

This queso recipe as a cinch to make, basically sautéing the vegetables, adding a bit of heavy cream, and then throwing in shredded Muenster (my choice) or Monterey Jack cheese until it melts.

 

I modified this recipe by halving the ingredients and substituting approx. 2 frozen, roasted Hatch chiles for the 3 poblanos, assuming that the Hatch chile would be much spicier than the poblanos.

I probably could have increased the chile though because while the final queso was well-spiced, tangy, and salted from the tomatoes, garlic, onion, and chile, it could have been a bit spicier for our tastes.  I served this queso with tortillas, stewed black-eyed peas, and fresh chopped jalapeno for additional heat.  I would definitely make this queso ago for a fundido-style queso, albeit with more chile for our spicy tastes.

Irish Soda Bread with Caraway Seeds - An Earthy, Slightly Sweet Treat

Several years ago, I had a fantastic caraway seed and raisin-studded bread at a friend's brunch.  Within days, I had purchased my own jar of caraway seeds...which have remained sealed since.  Well, no time like cleaning out the pantry shelves to finally ask for the recipe!

This Irish soda bread recipe was a cinch to make and to alter to our preferences (namely, omitting the raisins).  The recipe also ended up being dummy proof as I messed up halving the salt and baking powder to produce one loaf instead of two, and my hasty spooning out of those doubled ingredients (along with some flour) didn't ruin the bread.

The baked bread was incredibly moist, earthy from the caraway seeds, and slightly sweet from the sugar.  Yum - this was a perfect breakfast bread, and also made an excellent toast over the coming days.  I look forward to making this soda bread again and again!

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.