Madhu Knits and Cooks

Sichuan-Style Eggplant - Third Time was Almost a Charm!

Eggplant is perhaps my top cooking enemy, and Sichuan-style eggplant in particular is a feared foe that out masters me every time.  I have tried and tried again, but my homemade eggplant always has a tough, unappealing consistency.  It's almost like eating something that isn't actually edible - simultaneously overcooked and raw.

So when some eggplant arrived in a recent vegetable delivery, my heart stopped a bit.  What was I going to do with these rotund evil bulbs??

Not so much driven by determination to vanquish Sichuan-style eggplant as just a lack of creativity on my part, I re-opened the Madhur Jaffrey World Vegetarian cookbook and turned to the Hot and Spicy Sichuan-Style Eggplants recipe.   And instead of trying to improvise this recipe - at least in terms of technique - I set out to chop and steam the eggplant as directed, an approach I haven't tried before.

Surprisingly the texture was soft and almost melted in my mouth, without having a stringy or tough texture!  Yay, I have mastered eggplant or so I thought to myself.

Unfortunately the disappointment came with the flavoring mix, which resulted in an overly tangy recipe that lingered on my mouth, followed by a slight stomach upset hours later.

My unvetted theory is that inclusion of red wine vinegar in the recipe was particularly problematic, as it most likely caused the over-tanginess of the dish.  However, the whole dish seemed off - slightly sour, somewhat spicy, nothing quite coming together, and just completely unappealing for my palate. 

But at least I mastered an eggplant preparation technique!  I'll take that as a win after years of trying!

King Arthur Flour's No Knead Bread - Another Great Bread Recipe

Could there be an even better version of my favorite bread recipe?  Thanks to King Arthur Flour, the answer is yes!  The KAF No-Knead White Crusty Bread recipe draws from my recent favorite Simple Crusty Bread approach, and provides more detailed guidance to result in a perfectly baked loaf.

The more detailed KAF guidance provides both weight measurement guidance that I followed as well as details on how to substitute a dutch oven for the baking itself.  I also followed related guidance to keep my standard inclusion of rye flour to only 20% of the overall flour weight as to not depress the bread rise too much.

(hello scale, I love you!)

By following the weight guidance instead of the volume measurements, I ended up with a much thicker and dense dough than my usual no knead doughs, which are quite loose and shaggy.

Like my preparation of the original recipe, I did half the amount of dough I made to ultimately produce two loaves instead of four.

I baked the loaf in a 7 1/4 quart dutch oven, pre-heated in a 450 degree oven (480 in our new, not-quite-calibrated oven).  I baked the bread for 28 minutes in the covered dutch oven, and then an additional 8 minutes with the cover off.

The result, when cooled, was great - full of decent holes, great crust, and a much better rise than when you bake on a pizza stone.  I'll be making this again!

Peppermint Chocolate Shortbread - An Almost Complete Disaster

Two years ago, I discovered a fantastic chocolate shortbread recipe from King Arthur Flour.   The cookies - named Chocolate Dreams - lived up to their designation as they were rich, chocolatey, and had a great flaky texture.  

As the cookies were in the oven those years ago, I browsed the KAF comments to see what others thought of the recipe.  A few intriguing comments mentioned adding peppermint extract to the dough, which apparently provided the cookies a Thin Mint-like flavor.  

Those comments have stayed in my head over the past few years, and I recently decided to make this recipe modification myself.  I purchased what I thought was peppermint extract and then made this simple dough.  I didn't notice anything was awry with this alteration until the cookies were baking in the oven and overwhelmed our kitchen with a consuming peppermint smell.

I checked my tiny bottle of peppermint extract and discovered that in fact it was peppermint oil.  Two very different things my frantic internet search immediately told me.  With of course, the latter being far more powerful than the former.

As the cookies cooled, my husband and I still decided to give them a try.  My husband said they tasted like Altoids, which seemed pretty spot on as I hesitantly ate a small cookie myself. 

This recipe attempt wasn't a complete disaster though in the sense that when I took them to work the next day, a lot of people seemed to actually like them!  Even said they tasted just like Thin Mints.  Well, to each her own!

Simple Hard-Boiled Egg Arugula Salad with Balsamic Vinaigrette - A Few Firsts

This salad - which I prepared way back when - provided me a series of firsts.  It allowed me to finally try some fantastic balsamic vinegar a friend had brought us from Modena, to attempt hard-boiling eggs, and to try my first "60-Minute Gourmet" recipe. 

Until I had stumbled upon this recipe, I was completely unaware of the 60-Minute Gourmet series, Pierre Franey's weekly New York Times column which ran from 1976 to 1993.  It was interesting to find this piece of recent culinary history as I think it may prompt a new exploration in my kitchen - what recipes have withstood trends of modern America and can really live through the ages?

Part of that new exploration may be because this simple arugula salad with balsamic vinegar was pretty bland for my taste.  The ingredients, which individually were flavorful, didn't quite come together.  Basically, it tasted like arugula with red onions and a hardboiled egg.  With some balsamic vinaigrette on top (tasty vinaigrette though to be clear).  

In addition to trying a new, solid salad dressing recipe that was pretty easy to put together, I also got to learn how to make a hardboiled egg, which I found easy on my first go after extensive how-to research.  I followed the Simply Recipes approach, which was pretty easy and I will likely default to in the future.

An Instant Pot Version of a Madhu Knits and Cooks Favorite - Gujarati Dal

In addition to making new recipes in the Instant Pot, I also have been wanting to to experiment with some of my favorite standbys in this time-saving gadget.  I finally did so with the Gujarati Dal I really enjoy making - could the Instant Pot actually improve this recipe?

Sadly, my verdict is one of disappointment.  While it was nice to not have to stand over the stove while this dal was cooking, the ultimate texture was one of...mush.  Mush that was well-flavored to be sure, but mush nonetheless. 

I used approx. 3/4 cup of a mix of toor, masoor, and split moong dal, with approx. 1.5 cups of water.  I cooked this recipe at 15 minutes on high pressure, allowed 12 minutes for natural depressurization.

I think my flaw was perhaps that this was just too much cooking time, or the Instant Pot may not be as good to use for these thinner, faster cooking lentils.  Or maybe even I should have cooked at low pressure instead of high.  In any case, I was so dismayed with this Instant Pot effort that I may not even try to perfect this approach moving forward.  Oh well, back to the heavier Instant Pot beans!

An Instant Pot Version of a Madhu Knits and Cooks Favorite - Gujarati Dal

In addition to making new recipes in the Instant Pot, I also have been wanting to to experiment with some of my favorite standbys in this time-saving gadget.  I finally did so with the Gujarati Dal I really enjoy making - could the Instant Pot actually improve this recipe?

Sadly, my verdict is one of disappointment.  While it was nice to not have to stand over the stove while this dal was cooking, the ultimate texture was one of...mush.  Mush that was well-flavored to be sure, but mush nonetheless. 

I used approx. 3/4 cup of a mix of toor, masoor, and split moong dal, with approx. 1.5 cups of water.  I cooked this recipe at 15 minutes on high pressure, allowed 12 minutes for natural depressurization.

I think my flaw was perhaps that this was just too much cooking time, or the Instant Pot may not be as good to use for these thinner, faster cooking lentils.  Or maybe even I should have cooked at low pressure instead of high.  In any case, I was so dismayed with this Instant Pot effort that I may not even try to perfect this approach moving forward.  Oh well, back to the heavier Instant Pot beans!

The Instant Pot Enters Madhu's Kitchen - Initial Projects

The Instant Pot has finally arrived in my kitchen!  After eyeing this pressure cooker slash electric pot slash yogurt maker slash many-other-things for several months, my indecision about what type of Instant Pot to purchase finally lifted.  And lifted not because I did proactively did to end my indecision, but instead a friend gave me his Instant Pot that he tried but wasn't a fan of.

Well, his loss was certainly my gain as I LOVE my new Instant Pot.  I've only made a few items in it so far, but the results have been fantastic.  Dried chickpeas cooked in 10 minutes; lentil soup in 6 minutes; and my only repeat to date, steel cut oats in 4 minutes.  

The steel cut oats are definitely my favorite because I like making steel cuts oats in bulk for the work week, but it's kind of a pain to watch the pot on the stovetop for 30 - 45 minutes, ensure the oats at the bottom of the pot aren't burning, and then clean up all of the messy oat water that spills out of the pot as the oats cook.  Just that last stove top feature - the clean up - has been enough to dissuade me from making oats as much as I would otherwise like.  

When I first made oats in the Instant Pot, I followed some internet guidance to spray some oil along the bottom of the pot so that the oats wouldn't stick to the cooking bowl.  It led to a slight flavor in the oats that I didn't totally love, but was fine when honey or brown sugar were added to the oats.  The second time I made the oats, I completely forgot about this oil spray first step, and it turned out the oats were totally fine!  So no more oil in the future.

On my second oats attempt as well, I realized that I didn't quite like my standard 3 - 1 water to oats ratio I use when making oats on the stovetop.  It leads to a slightly watery outcome, so I think I am going to move to a 2.5 - 1 ratio moving forward.  I'll update if that ratio does the trick to produce the hearty, toothy cooked oat texture that I prefer.

Finally, another feature of the Instant Pot that I love is that when your item is cooked, you don't need to really do anything right away.  You can just leave the pot sitting there while you go about your other business.  So unlike stove top items that need to be cared for when done (turn off the heat, stir, etc.), you really can just forget about what's in the Instant Pot until you are ready to deal with it.  Another major bonus for my busy kitchen!

Ricotta Gnocchi - Not as Quick as Promised but Great Weeknight Meal

For years, I've admired a Serious Eats recipe that claims you can make fresh ricotta gnocchi in "under ten minutes" or "in less time than it takes to cook dried pasta."  I hoped that Serious Eats wouldn't pull a 30 Minute Meals-type claim (in which prep, proper cooking, etc. takes up far longer than the 30 minutes promised), but I was still incredulous that ten minutes could actually be real for gnocchi.

Well, recently I found myself with a decent quality container of ricotta and a pretty free Friday night, so I decided to give this recipe a go.  While I wasn't able to quite make the dish in under ten minutes, I do think this was certainly a 30 - 40 minute meal from start to finish (including making a simple sauce).  

 

My gnocchi was creamy and light, but paired poorly with my default tomato sauce (loosely based on the recipe version, but with canned fire-roasted tomatoes, which may have been the problem).  I'd rather a lighter cream or herb/butter sauce than an overpowering tomato sauce.  

The gnocchi itself was also somewhat uneven - many pieces had an even, smooth consistency and others were slightly lumpy.  One possible explication is that I made some inadvertent modifications to the dough.  I don't have a scale, so I kind of improvised the ricotta and flour ratios.  I used approx. 1.5 cups of the ricotta (instead of scaled measurements), and padded dry using the SE technique, hoping it would get rid of the amount of moisture I needed to expel.

I then started with approx. 1/2 of flour to make the dough, though ultimately used approx. 3/4 cup in total with flouring the work surface, etc.

I rolled the requisite number of logs, though I ended up with 10-inch logs instead of the 12-inch ones called for in the recipe, maybe because my dough was less voluminous than anticipated?

I then added the pieces to a large pot of salted, boiling water, but may have overcooked some of the gnocchi first thrown in the pot (perhaps explaining the textural inconsistencies?).  I should have been a little less shy in taking them out of the water!

I finished by briefly cooking the gnocchi in the simmering tomato sauce, and served the pillows with a healthy amount of parmesan.  I look forward to making gnocchi again, albeit with a scale, a better sauce, and a less shy eye when it comes to cooking time!

Petits Fours - The Grand Finale

The last (or first) item I prepared for my Downton Abbey finale party was dessert.  

Namely, I used the party as an opportunity to make petits fours - small, baked cakes in a homemade fondant glaze.  The petits fours were definitely the most time-consuming of my party offerings, with me starting the preparations about 36 hours in advance of the actual finale viewing.  While I wasn't entirely pleased with the outcome (more details below), this attempt was certainly a major step forward for my baking career.

My guide throughout this process was the exceedingly clear and helpful King Arthur Flour (KAF) Petits Fours with Poured Fondant Icing guide.  

I started the process by baking a sheet cake, and chose the KAF chocolate cake recipe as my base.  

The only change I made to the cake recipe was to bake the cake for approx. 31 minutes because the 28 - 30 minutes didn't seem quite enough for the cake to settle.  

I then froze the cake overnight, per the KAF guide, to make it easier to cut the cake into the shapes I wanted.  

I thawed the cake the next day in the fridge for 15 minutes before preparing the cake for cutting.  Per the picture below, I tried to smooth the top of the cake a bit for an even, flat surface to pour the icing over.  

And so began the cutting...which was difficult, to say the least.  I think the biscuit cutters I used were not the best, most sharp instruments for the cake cutting.  The cake itself also had a lot of air pockets, which made cutting even cakes that much more difficult.  

I also should have made smaller cakes for better control and consistency (mine were maybe 1.5 inches in diameter).  But ultimately, the mini-cakes - from the top at least, turned out ok.

I then began the process of cutting the cakes in thirds to put in some simple whipped cream filling, which also wasn't as easy as I would have hoped because of the air pockets in the cake.

A thicker, sticky filling like a fruit compote probably would have been better then whipped cream to bind the cakes together.  With the whipped cream, the cake pieces were a bit slippery and didn't quite help make one, combined cake to make frosting easier.

I then refroze the cakes as I prepared the KAF Poured Fondant Icing, which was relatively straightforward to prepare, but without a handy candy thermometer I had to guess what the best consistency for the icing was.  I added a few drops of blue food coloring for a pastel blue frosting.

Now began the hardest part of the process - getting an even layer of the poured frosting on the cakes, without a dipping fork or a plastic fork large enough to hold these slightly too-large cakes.  It was a messy, laborious process, though the outcome looked good from the top of the cakes (accented with some sparkly green sprinkles).

The sides were another story...

Before serving is also where the process got a bit tricky.  I wanted to keep the whipped cream frosting chilled, but poured fondant is not supposed to go in the fridge.  I was ultimately more worried about food spoilage, so refrigerated the cakes a few hours before serving, which ultimately didn't hurt the frosting consistency.

Would I make petits fours again?  Maybe.  I think I would need smaller cakes, a different cake batter (or more whipped one without the air bubbles), perhaps an altered frosting (the fondant was super, super sweet), and a different, stickier filling besides whipped cream.  That may result in both a better looking and less time consuming party dessert.

New Go-To Roasted Broccoli Approach

I find roasting vegetables to be a great, low-intensity approach to add vegetable sides to any meal.   I usually just make up my roasting approach, but inspired by a very pretty Cook's Illustrated picture, I decided to try an actual recipe for my latest broccoli roasting attempt.  

The Cook's Illustrated Roasted Broccoli with Optional Garlic recipe produced a really great roasted broccoli.  The broccoli had the texture of a perfectly roasted vegetable, but retained the flavor of fresh broccoli.  

The bit of sugar added to the broccoli pre-roasting also added some great sweetness and crispness to the broccoli edges.  The only modification I would make in the future is to use more than a tablespoon of minced garlic to have that flavor come out more.  Otherwise, this will definitely be my go-to approach in the future.