Madhu Knits and Cooks

A Very Bad Attempt at Using the Instant Pot as a Slow Cooker - Undercooked Black Bean Chili

The title of this post says it all.  Almost. 

Yes, I tried to use my Instant Pot as a slow cooker for the first time. 

Yes, it was an uncooked disaster. 

But did I utilize a poor approach to adapt the Instant Pot to slow cooking?  Yes.  

I think I committed three fatal errors on this first attempt.

First, I used a random glass lid which "seemed" to fit over the inner Instant Pot stainless steel pot, but it was not a perfect fit. 

Second, I opened the pot to stir the mixture once or twice because it seemed to my naked eye that water had evaporated too much from the pot.  It hadn't.  I subsequently read that removing the lid during a slow cook can disrupt the cooking process by letting too much heat escape from the pot.  Oops.

Third, I used Rancho Gordo's Chiapas Black Beans which I have found require a VERY long cook time compared to other black beans.  

Unfortunately, even though I halved the recipe, the beans just weren't that cooked after 8 hours.  So then I did two rounds of pressure cooking, at 5 minutes a piece, but the beans were still not that cooked!

So maybe I will attempt a slow cook again, but only with a proper fitted lid and perhaps with non-dried beans (either canned or at least soaked overnight). 

And/or a 10+ hour cook time.  Just to be safe.

Food Processor Pizza Dough Take 3 - Over-proofed but Decent

I recently tried to adapt my standard, no scale (gasp) pizza dough recipe to a food processor version, to experiment beyond my first two food processor pizza dough attempts. 

The main changes I made to the original recipe were to combine the dry ingredients before slowly pouring in the bloomed yeast / warm water + cold water mixture to the running food processor.  

While all seemed to go well in producing a smooth, glossy dough, the challenges started pretty quickly during its fridge cold rise.  The dough balls just over-proofed by tripling if not more (quadrupling?) in size.  I tried to resuscitate the dough by deflating it and letting it rise again.  The crust did still rise nicely in the oven, but I found it to be ultimately too chewy.  That was a similar result to our first food processor dough attempt.

What's my diagnosis?  My early theory is too much yeast.  This recipe calls for 1 tsp. of yeast for 2 dough balls, and a number of other recipes I've used call for smaller amounts of yeast, even for fridge cold rises.  With the proper kneading from the food processor, which is probably more than I do by hand, I think yeast just activated more quickly and then led to the result? 

But...who knows?  After nearly 20 years of pizza dough making, I still feel like a novice in a lot of ways!

Pizza Dough with a Food Processor? If Chris Kimball Says So...I Will Try!

I have one tried-and-true pizza dough recipe that has yet to be displaced, despite many attempts at new dough preparations.  Could I be narrowing in on an alteration that could take this recipe standard to the next level?  Cautiously, yes. 

The recipe innovation?  Kneading the dough in the food processor instead of by hand, a tip we picked up listening to Christopher Kimball's Milk Street podcast.  Kimball made a passing reference to using a food processor for pizza dough, sparking our minds that this could be the accelerant to extra delicious dough.

Fueled by this tip, I found a Williams Sonoma food processor dough recipe online.  I added 3 teaspoons of the King Arthur Flour pizza dough flavor to this fairly standard recipe.  With a regular metal food processor attachment - not a special dough attachment - I developed very smooth and glossy dough in just under a minute of processing.  I then halved the dough into two balls, covered them in olive oil, and put them in the fridge for a 24 hour cold rise.  The dough balls rose significantly in the fridge, perhaps even more than doubling?

When I prepared the pizzas themselves, I found the dough less easy to roll than my standard dough, even at room temperature.  I used my fists to drape the dough over as I found gravity more helpful than anything else I was trying.  

I then did my standard pre-baking of the dough on a heated pizza stone before adding the toppings to place ~4 inches away from the broiler.  The result was a chewier dough than we are used to, but not one that was unpleasant.  The crust held up to the toppings, and had a nice yeasted flavor.  

I think my next step is to try my standard pizza dough recipe (with King Arthur pizza flour) using the food processor and going from there.  Excited to see what this innovation, that is so much easier on my arms, results in!

Out of Pie Practice - A Brown Butter Pumpkin Pie Mess

Pie doughs have generally caused me trouble in the past.  But boy oh boy, was my latest pie dough attempt a disaster!  Don't let the pretty pictures below deceive you :-)

First, I didn't work the butter into small enough pieces - there were far too many larger-than-pea-size chunks in the dough.  Second, I used too much liquid from the iced water and apple cider vinegar which obscured that the butter needed to be worked more.  I promptly ordered a pastry cutter following this effort so I can work the cold butter in faster and more uniformly, and not end up with a tough unappetizing baked crust.

On the upside, the flavor of the pie was very good and unique thanks to the included carrot juice, which added a sweet yet earthly flavor to the pumpkin.  Thank you my favorite pie book from the Elsen sisters!  However, to finish off the set of disasters, the custard didn't fully set even after 58 minutes of baking which I think might be due to an oven calibration issue.  So that's another thing to fix before my next pie attempt!

Jim Lahey's Pizza Dough - Very Good, But Doesn't Displace My Favorite Recipe

I loved Jim Lahey's pizza restaurant Co. when it was open in NYC, and was so sad when it closed.  It was a regular go-to whenever I was anywhere near that side of town.  And so when I saw that Jim Lahey had a pizza recipe book while browsing my local library stacks, I grabbed it with high excitement.  

The resulting two pizzas I made from the half portion of his no-knead dough recipe were very good with nice salty and yeasty flavors in every bite.  I didn't follow any of his pizza topping recipes, rather just the dough and baking method.

The dough required an 18-hour room temperature rise, which led to a slightly sticky dough that was hard to stretch out nicely.  I imagine my lack of experience shaping pizzas by hand v. rolling probably contributed to this difficulty though.  

What I most liked about Lahey's pizza approach is that he calls for pre-heating a pizza stone 8 inches from the top of the oven at 500 degrees before then turning on the broiler to bake the pizza.  That high heat leads to a nicely cooked pizza in just a few minutes. 

Moving forward, to really make use of this technique, I should pre-heat the broiler for longer before putting in the shaped pizza and leave the dough in the oven slightly longer until there are more black spots across the pizza.  I will probably continue to pre-cook the dough, which I generally do, before adding toppings to avoid the toppings overwhelming the thin dough.  

What I least liked about this pizza was the relatively small pizzas that his portions led to.  One Lahey pie is enough for slightly more than one person, but not quite enough for two.  As a result, for the slightly higher effort of an 18-hour room rise instead of a forget-about-it fridge rise, I think I'll probably continue to default to my standard pizza dough recipe, but now coupling it with Lahey's broiler bake approach.

Churro Brownies - Great Idea, Terrible Execution

Ah, the self-generated errors that I thought I was past in year 13 (!) of this blog.  This latest one was a doozy - not adjusting the recipe to accommodate a Pyrex glass baking dish instead of a standard metal brownie pan. 

The result - an underbaked, gooey mess.  And because I was on my way to an event, I didn't have time to properly attempt to save it, instead just put it back in the still-hot oven to cook a bit more as the oven cooled down.

At least using that method, some of the edges were cooked through when we came home.  The edible edges were fairly tasty too, though definitely overbaked while the center remains a bit gooey.

So I don't really have much to say in this post, except that the batter came together fairly easily.  Especially with microwaving butter, no need to use an electric mixer, just a rubber spatula to combine everything together.

Hope to attempt this the proper way in the months ahead, with perhaps slightly less cinnamon and sugar to accommodate my preference!

My First Quiche - Improvised Spinach, Red Pepper, Goat Cheese, Onion and Chive Version

I have a lot of food guilt.  On top of regular guilt.  My food guilt comes in a variety of forms, from ongoing fear / guilt that I don't eat enough fruit and vegetables, to guilt about not eating at home enough, and to a disheartening feeling that I waste too much food, whether it's at restaurants or home.  

While this guilt usually just sits in my stomach and doesn't change behavior, I recently marshaled my guilt to good with the most frequent source of food waste in our apartment - eggs.  I only really use eggs in baking, and while I try to only buy eggs in half-cartons, I still find that they frequently end up in the trash.  I decided in the spring that this could no longer be my status quo, and I decided to put together an egg-heavy recipe that had the potential to become a staple in my kitchen - quiche.

I modified two recipes I found online, a Cook's Illustrated Leek and Goat Cheese Quiche and a Spinach, Red Pepper, and Feta Quiche recipe from Epicurious.  The result, a spinach, red pepper, goat cheese, onion (why not?), and chive quiche was actually quite good, albeit heavy.  

I made two critical mistakes while making this quiche - 1) I didn't roll the quiche dough wide enough, so the edges didn't quit cover the edges of the pie pan and the dough fell, 2) I used a lot of goat cheese, which I think made it taste a little too rich and sinful (swapping one guilt for another!).  I think if I make slight adjustments for the next round though, I'll have a versatile recipe that can easily use up whatever leftover eggs, vegetables, and herbs are in my fridge.

Spinach, Red Pepper, Goat Cheese, Onion, and Chive Quiche

Ingredients:

• 1 pre-baked pie shell (I used a Cook's Illustrated recipe)
• 1/3 medium onion, finely chopped
• 1/2 cup diced red pepper, with additional red pepper set aside for garnish if desired
• Approx. 1.5 cups of spinach, chopped
• 4 - 5 chives, chopped into 1/2 inch pieces, divided
• 2 tbsp. olive oil
• 4 oz. herbed goat cheese, roughly cut into 1/2 chunks
• 3 whole eggs
• 1.5 cups half and half
• salt and pepper to taste

Directions:

• Start by preparing a pie dough, if you are making your own.  And dough is cooked, adjust oven temperature to 375 degrees.

• Heat olive oil on medium heat in a large saute pan.  When glistening and hot, add onion and red pepper.  Stir periodically until onion is translucent and the red pepper is softened.

• Then add spinach and 1/2 chopped chives, and stir periodically until spinach is just wilted.  Season with salt and pepper.

• Pour mixture into pre-baked pie dough.

• Then whisk together 3 eggs and half and half, and pour on top of quiche mixture.  Sprinkle remaining chives on top of dish, and decorate with other vegetable pieces as desired (e.g., my poor red pepper slices below).

• Place quiche into oven, and bake for approx. 32 - 35 minutes or until center is set.  Serve when warm or at room temperature, and store leftovers in the fridge.

Complicated-Sounding Dessert in 10 Minutes - Blueberry Compote

Leftover berries and a desire to do something different with them?  Try a fruit compote! 

The process for me to make at least a blueberry compote could not have been simpler.  I loosely followed this Cook's Illustrated approach, but really all I did was put some washed blueberries in a small saucepan (I don't even know how many) and then turned the gas on to medium-low.  After the blueberries started to break down, after about 5 minutes, I added in a bit of sugar (maybe 1/4 tsp.), a squeeze of lemon juice, and a pinch of salt.

I cooked the mixture for another few minutes, or until the blueberries fit my view of what a tasty compote would look like, and then served with a scoop of vanilla ice cream.  

The flavor was fantastic - sweet, slightly tart, and very potent blueberry notes.  I can't wait to make this simple dessert for guests in the future!

KAF Chocolate Dreams - Great Shortbread Wafers Shaped with My New Geometric Stamps

I have to admit that I've been on a bit of months-long shopping spree at King Arthur Flour's online store.  Among my recent purchases have been a Chocolate Butter Cookie Set, huge 16 oz. container of vanilla extract, biscuit cutter set, and a pasta flour blend.  

What prompted this rash of (impulsive) purchases?  The absolutely delightful geometric cookie stamps that have perhaps transformed me into an actual cookie baking enthusiastic.  The first time that I used these stamps to fashion homemade cookies convinced me that I may be starting a new phase in my baking life.

My first use of these tools were on an almost equally awesome KAF recipe, Chocolate Dreams.  Chocolate Dreams is a simple chocolate shortbread recipe that produces a slightly crisp and dense cookie.  I think their rich chocolate flavor makes them particularly good for adults, though my five-year old niece ate several in succession one afternoon!  

I made just a few modifications to this recipe - I made the cookies slightly larger, resulting in 38 cookies instead of 48, and reduced the baking time to 16 minutes to get slightly softer cookies.  

Out of the oven, they were slightly soft (yet firm) and crumbled a bit.  The next day, they were certainly more crispy and flaky.  And thankfully, both days, they were rich with chocolate flavor and delicious!

Blizzard Lasagna...Desperate Times Call for Desperate Measures

NYC was hit by a blizzard earlier this winter.  The blizzard was accompanied by nonstop TV news and weather app broadcasts of stern warnings against venturing outside during the projected 24 - 48 hour period.  

While we generally have an overstocked kitchen, and I did an extra grocery run to prepare even more, somehow I wasn't prepared for what I wanted to make during the blizzard - lasagna.  Among the critical missing ingredients were mozzarella (instead use some white cheddar cheese squares and a cheddar cheese snack, broken up - yes, desperate), an adequate amount of canned tomatoes or tomato sauce (had 2/3 of a cup left), not completely dried out parmesan (mine resulted in grated cardboard flakes), and compliant frozen vegetables.

But the real point of this post is to make two points.  First, as I learned years ago during the "kitchen sink" lasagna episode, it's actually not hard to cobble together a decent tasting lasagna.  Pasta, sauce and cheese can make almost anything taste good!  

Second, a notable exception to that rule-of-thumb is frozen spinach.  This recipe helped me fully understand my dislike of frozen spinach.  I just hate the taste of it, whether it's sautéed, microwaved or baked.  It just tastes too chalky, grainy, and has the flavor of wet grass.  I think the only preparation of frozen spinach that is passable is that used in spinach pappu, and even that dish tastes far better with fresh spinach.  So while this lasagna ended up being passable, the thawed and squeezed spinach, which was mixed with cottage cheese to fill the lasagna, just didn't work.

So note to self - don't use frozen spinach in the future!