CHOW COOKIN'

[chowcooking]

Adventures with Pumpkin = Pumpkin Pancakes

Holy fall, these pumpkin pancakes are tasty! I dedicated one whole evening after work this past week to take the Sugar Pie pumpkin I got in my farm fresh box and beat it into some fresh pumpkin puree. The Pioneer Woman outlines this process pretty succinctly, which basically involves roasting the pumpkins and then dumping the roasted bits in a food processor. 

Having fresh pumpkin puree in hand welcomes a multitude of potential autumn flavored goodies to make. First I tried making pumpkin butter, which actually came out perfectly, but only after I realized there was no way I was going to be spreading pumpkin butter on everything for the next few weeks. So, with a jar full of pumpkin butter, I headed out-web to see if I could integrate it into another recipe, and decided upon pumpkin pancakes.

These pancakes are rad! Full of that subtle, slightly sweet pumpkin and spice flavor, but in a pancake begging for butter and syrup. If you don't have home made pumpkin butter on hand, use the recipe below. If you do however, substitute all spices, sugar and pumpkin puree for 10-12 tablespoons of pumpkin butter and you're set.

Pumpkin Pancakes (original recipe from Food.com)

Ingredients

1 1/4 cups of all purpose flour

2 tablespoons sugar*

2 tablespoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoon cinnamon*

1/2 teaspoon ginger*

1/2 teaspoon nutmeg*

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 pinch clove*

1 cup 1% low-fat milk

6 (or 10-12) tablespoons of canned pumpkin puree*

2 tablespoons melted butter

1 egg

* If you have pumpkin butter on hand with enough pumpkin pie-esque spices, substitute these ingredients for 10-12 tablespoons of pumpkin butter (which is what I did)

Directions

Whisk flour, sugar, baking powder, spices and salt in a bowl.

In a separate bowl, whisk together milk, pumpkin, melted butter and egg.

Fold mixture into dry ingredients.

Grease a skilled over medium heat and pour 1/4 cup for each pancake.

Cook pancake for approximately 3 minutes per side.

Serve with butter and syrup.

[chowcooking]

Pasta with Cauliflower

I know. You're looking at the title and thinking "What? Cauliflower. I'll skip it." That's what I thought too when I got a large head of cauliflower in my CSA box last week. But, now that I'm all into nutrition (well, sort of, I watched this terrific documentary Food Matters on Netflix and started to think about it a lot more), I checked out Cauliflower and it has some big nutritional props. Antioxidants, vitamins B, C and K and some omega-3 fatty acids. Tons of stuff guys.

So I found this recipe on Simply Recipes and gave it a shot, and it's pretty damn tasty. Even my guy loved it and claimed "This is the most delicious cauliflower dish I've ever had in my life!" (not bad huh). At this point, you might be pumped up enough to give Cauliflower a shot, but then take a look at the addition of anchovies and make a barf face and say "No way! I give up!". Don't! Anchovies are vile smelling little fish things, but this recipe utilizes it as a subtle flavor to saute the Cauliflower in, and it tastes wonderful. I wouldn't be telling you this if it wasn't true. 

So hit the jump for the recipe! (Oh, and this photo is from the original post, since it's a lot nicer looking than any of my cellphone pics!)

Pasta with Cauliflower (originally from Simply Recipes)

Ingredients

1 chopped onion (about 1.5 cups)

2 tablespoons anchovies packed in oil, minced (about 4-6 anchovies)

Olive Oil

1 cup fresh breadcrumbs (optional, for me)

1 large head of cauliflower, core removed and separated into small florets

5 cloves minced garlic

1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes (to taste)

Salt and pepper to taste

3 tablespoons tomato paste

1/2 lb elbow macaroni

1 15oz can of whole/or chopped/or diced tomatoes with juice

1/4 cup chopped parsley (optional, for me)

1/2 cup freshly grated parmesan cheese

Instructions

(optional... for me) Toast breadcrumbs in a skillet with a little olive oil on medium high heat until lightly browned. Set aside.

Heat 2 tablespoons of olive oil in a new skillet on medium low heat. Add onions, garlic and minced anchovies (crush anchovies with a spoon so that they'll smear well over the onions). Cook for about 5 minutes, until onions are soft. While you're doing this, boil water with salt in preparation for the pasta.

Heat 4 tablespoons of olive oli in a large skillet on medium high heat, add the cauliflower florets and stir infrequently allowing the edges to brown. Cook until slightly browned, about 3-5 minutes. Add red pepper flakes, salt and pepper to taste. 

Dissolve tomato paste in 1/2 cup of water and lower the skillet heat to low. Add tomato paste, tomatoes, onion, garlic and anchovies to the cauliflower and mix well. Cook uncovered on low head until cauliflower is tender. Begin to cook the pasta.

Drain pasta when finished, according tot he pasta packaging directions. Add pasta to cauliflower. Mix half of the parsley, breadcrumbs, and parmesan into the dish and save the rest for garnishing on top.

Serves 4. Tastes awesome as leftovers!

[chowcooking]

Ancho Chile Chocolate Cupcakes with Chile Cream Cheese Frosting

My former roommates from The Brohemian Kitchen held their second annual Bizarre Foods BBQ this past weekend, with dishes ranging from pork trotters, to grilled lamb hearts, to medium rare kangaroo (which was delicious). I arrived on the scene with an adventurous stomach, but also with two trays of the best mini "bizarre" cupcakes that I could muster. People loved them, so much that I ended up tying for best dish of the evening! So that was sweet...

...and so are these CUPCAKES. I'll start with the recipe for one of the biggest crowd pleasers, these Ancho Chile Dark Chocolate cupcakes with chile cream cheese frosting. The combination of chili powder with dark chocolate packs a sweet bite with the perfect amount of heat. I put these together combining this Cinco de Chile Cupcake recipe from allrecipes.com and this Dark Chocolate Cupcake recipe from Betty Crocker. The cupcakes have a medium cakey kinda density, and the frosting I could eat on its own. 

A quick note: I still don't have an electric mixer, so I creamed all the butter and sugar by hand. Both recipes suggest that you mix the batter/frosting with an electric mixer, but my cupcakes turned out fine!

Ancho Chile Dark Chocolate Cupcakes (Makes 24 Mini Cupcakes)

Ingredients

1 cup all-purpose flour

3/4 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon baking powder

1 1/2 teaspoon ancho chile powder

1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper

1/2 cup butter

3/4 cup sugar

1/2 teaspoon vanilla

1 egg

1/2 cup boiling water

1/3 cup unsweetened baking cocoa

Directions

Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees F

Combine boiling water with baking cocoa in a small bowl, stirring until dissolved. Set aside.

In a medium bowl combine flour, baking soda, salt, baking powder, and chile powders.

In a large bowl, cream butter while gradually adding sugar. Beat in vanilla and egg until well blended.

Slowly alternate between adding flour mixture and chocolate mixture, blending slowly into the batter. 

Pour batter into cupcake tin (use baking paper cups if your pan is non... non-stick)

Bake for 15-20 minutes until a toothpick placed in the middle of a cupcake comes out clean.

Chile Cream Cheese Frosting

Ingredients

1 teaspoon ancho chile powder

1/8 (or more) teaspoon cayenne pepper

1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

4 cups confectioners' sugar

1 8 oz. package of cream cheese, softened

1/2 teaspoon vanilla

small dried red chiles

Directions

Sift powdered sugar, and spices together in one bowl

Cream in butter with cream cheese until frosting is smooth (I actually blended the cream cheese with butter in a separate bowl, and then added the sugar mixture)

Mix in vanilla to taste. If you're looking for a REAL kick, chop ONE small dried chile into the frosting, removing seeds first. (I didn't try this, so good luck if you do!)

Wait until cupcakes are cooled and then spread frosting on top. Add dried chile pepper as a garnish on top.

[chowcooking]

Angel Hair Pasta with Tomatoes

This recipe is one of our favorites.  It's nice and light and can be topped with salmon, tuna, halibut, crab or even simple grilled chicken.  It probably takes about 30 minutes to cook if you have all the ingredients ready to go.  This will serve 3-4 people.

Ingredients:

1 tbsp. olive oil

2-6 cloves garlic (depending on your love of garlic)

3/4 c. chardonnay

1-2 lemons, juiced (no seeds)

1 c. chopped roma tomatoes (2-3 tomatoes)

8-12 oz. angel hair pasta

1/4 c. fresh basil, ribbon-cut

fresh grated parmesan cheese

freshly ground black pepper to taste

filet of salmon, approx. 1 1/2 lbs. (leftovers are always good on salads)

lemon pepper seasoning, preferably without salt added

Directions:

Clean garlic cloves and mince, set aside.

Juice lemons, also set aside.

Chop tomatoes into a small bowl.

Fill pasta pan with water and bring to a boil.

Use a 12-14 inch saute pan and set on low; warm olive oil in pan.  Cook garlic in olive oil for a couple minutes, do not let it brown.  Increase the temperature to high and immediately add wine to pan.  Simmer for a few minutes until the liquid is about half in volume.

When water for pasta is boiling, add the angel hair pasta to pan, cook according to directions.

Cook Salmon while you are finishing up the pasta.  If you bake the salmon, heat oven to 425 degrees (place pan in oven to heat up while the oven comes up to temperature), spray baking pan with Pam and place salmon on pan.  Lightly salt and pepper the filet.  Place salmon in oven and cook for about 12 minutes.  Take salmon out and sprinkle with lemon pepper seasoning.  Return to oven for about 2 more minutes.

Back to pasta . . . sauce . . . . after the wine has reduced, take the pan off the stove and add lemon juice and the tomatoes.  Give it a stir and then place a top on the pan.  When the pasta is done, drain the pasta and add it to the garlic, wine tomato sauce.  Put the top back on to keep warm.

When the salmon is done, you are ready to dish up the pasta.  Add the basil and pepper to the pasta, place pasta in individual bowls and place a slice of salmon on top of the pasta.

Serve with fresh parmesan cheese.

If you do not want to use wine, you can substitute it with chicken broth.

I have also changed this recipe around a bit by using mango instead of tomatoes and replacing the basil with mint.  Pretty yummy  : )

[chowcooking]

Focaccia with Garlic and Olives

With huge thanks the yeast gods and my ability to gauge water temperature without a thermometer, I successfully baked my first bread ever this past weekend. I wasn't planning on it, but after seeing my friend Beau's photos of a freshly baked focaccia bread, I asked for the recipe and went for it.

This focaccia with garlic and olives is very simple to make. It takes a few hours for the dough to rise and whatnot, but aside from that it's dead simple and delicious! And who doesn't want fresh focaccia popping out of their oven? It's awesome.

Thanks to Beau for the recipe! You can follow his cooking blog at Chez Beau. 

Recipe after the jump!

Focaccia with Garlic and Olives

Ingredients

4 cups flour (plus approximately 1 cup of flour while kneading the dough)

2 teaspoons salt

7 grams yeast (I got 7 grams from one packet, Beau lists two packets on his blog though)

1 1/3 cup of warm water (not too hot! or it'll kill the yeast)

1 cup green or black olives

3 + tablespoons of olive oil

6-10 cloves of crushed garlic

small handful of chopped parsley

3 tablespoons of fresh thyme (I used dried and it was fine :)

1 tablespoon of sea salt flakes (I used regular sea salt)

handfull of cornmeal 

Directions

Combine flour, salt and yeast in a bowl.

Mix together with spatula at medium speed while slowly adding the warm water.

Kneed dough. You can use a kitchen aid mixer with a dough attachment, or you can do it by hand (like I did). Add flour as necessary, until dough is very soft.

Scrape dough from bowl and add more flour until it's in a nice ball.

Cover and leave bowl in a warm spot. Let the dough rise until twice its size for 30 to 45 minutes.

When dough is ready, oil the bottom of your baking pan with olive oil and sprinkle out cornmeal.

Spread dough into pan. Flip over and spread again to make sure both sides are oiled and cornmeal-ed!

Pre-heat oven to 425 degrees F. Cover the pan and let the dough rise again for 25-30 minutes.

Remove cover, and push olives and crushed garlic cloves directly into the dough.

Drizzle with a little more olive oil. Sprinkle thyme, parsley, and salt. Go easy on the salt!

Bake for 25-30 minutes, until the top has a nice crust. To test if the bread is finished, stick knife in. If it pulls out clean, it's done!

Eat when warm, it's delicious!

[chowcooking]

Summer Salad: Arugula Edition

A simple recipe, but I thought I'd share nonetheless! The Chows have always had tasty and complexly flavored salads, thanks to the guidance and mastery of one Mama Chow. Now that I have a family of my own to feed (well, a family of one guy who likes to eat my cooking) I try to experiment with salad combinations of my own.

Arugula is a bitter lettuce, but ultimately I think it compliments mellow or tangy salad ingredients really well. Here's an arugula salad you can try yourself!

Summer Salad : Arugula Edition

Ingredients

organic baby arugula (by pre-washed at Trader Joes!)

organic orange cherry tomatoes

goat cheese

canned artichoke hearts (soaked in water)

slightly salty cashews

Godess dressing by Trader Joes (optional, but TO DIE FOR)

Directions

halve cherry tomates and quarter artichoke hearts, add to bed of arugula

crumble or chop a small handful of cashews, sprinkle on top

crumble goat cheese for flavor (not too much! just enough for a good taste)

add dressing (or olive oil + salt + pepper) and toss!

Last night I substituted the artichokes for chopped avocado, and it was still delicious. Enjoy!

[chowcooking]

Horchata Cupcakes with Cinnamon Frosting

Now that I have a mini cupcake tin it's a bit less daunting to try out a cupcake recipe every now and then. In the case something goes wrong, you only have mini mistakes to worry about.

The Horchata Cupcake was a mini success, however! I had to improvise a little since I couldn't kind sweet rice milk (I added simple syrup to unsweetened rice milk instead) but the consistency and flavor of the cake turned out absolutely perfect.

Until I have a big party to bake for, I halve all the cupcake recipes I find so I only make about two dozen mini cupcakes or so (normally you get four or six dozen with a full recipe). I've posted the full recipe below, but don't be afraid to halve it!

 The Horchata Cupcake recipe is originally from food.com, and the cinnamon frosting was lifted from this recipe on Group Recipes. Good luck!

Horchata Cupcake Recipe

Ingredients

1/2 cup of butter, softened

1 1/2 cup of sugar

2 cups all purpose flour

2 tsp baking powder

1/2 teaspoon of salt

1 cup sweet rice milk (or in my case, rice milk sweetened with simple sugar, for taste)

1 tsp vanilla extract

1 tsp cinnamon

4 large egg whites

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.

Beat together sugar and butter in one bowl until smooth, about 2-3 minutes.

In a separate bowl, sift flour, baking powder, cinnamon, and salt together. (If you don't have a sifter, stir and separate with a fork!)

In yet another separate bowl, mix vanilla and sweetened rice milk.

Add flour mixture and horchata mixture to the sugar/butter mixture in three parts, alternating between the mixtures and beating well to mix after each addition.

In another bowl, mix egg whites until soft peak forms (more about soft peaks here!)

Fold egg whites into batter.

Scoop batter into cupcake tins.

Bake approximately 10-15 minutes. Cupcakes are done when toothpick is inserted and comes out clean.

Cinnamon Buttercream Frosting

Ingredients

1 stick of butter

3 and 3/4 cup of confectioners sugar

3 tablespoons of milk (or more)

1 tsp vanilla

1 tsp cinnamon

Directions

Beat butter in bowl until fluffy.

Add confectioners sugar, milk, and vanilla. Mix until well blended.

Add cinnamon and blend again until fluffy. Add more milk if frosting is stiff!

Top with some powdered sugar and cinnamon, and you're good to go!

[chowcooking]

I've recently had the urge to eat Tofu (I get odd cravings sometimes) so I decided to go with this recipe from allrecipes.com for Tofu Parmigiana! I made a couple of changes (see parenthesis) but overall it was a big success (my roommate approved) and it was quick and easy to make taking less than an hour total. My only suggestion would be to freeze the tofu before and thaw it slightly so it will be firmer. I bought my tofu right before so I didn't have that option. Super yummy though and a dish carnivores will even enjoy!

Ingredients

  1/2 cup seasoned bread crumbs   (I used panko bread crumbs with a bit of table blend)

5 tablespoons grated Parmesan cheese

2 teaspoons dried oregano, divided

salt to taste

ground black pepper to taste

1 (12 ounce) package firm tofu

2 tablespoons olive oil (I used sesame oil instead)

1 (8 ounce) can tomato sauce

1/2 teaspoon dried basil

1 clove garlic, minced ( I'm not a huge fan of a lot of garlic so I only used a segment of a clove)

4 ounces shredded mozzarella cheese

  Directions

In a small bowl, combine bread crumbs, 2 tablespoons Parmesan cheese, 1 teaspoon oregano, salt, and black pepper.

Slice tofu into 1/4 inch thick slices, and place in bowl of cold water. One at a time, press tofu slices into crumb mixture, turning to coat all sides.

Heat oil in a medium skillet over medium heat. Cook tofu slices until crisp on one side. Drizzle with a bit more olive oil, turn, and brown on the other side.

Combine tomato sauce, basil, garlic, and remaining oregano. Place a thin layer of sauce in an 8 inch square baking pan. Arrange tofu slices in the pan. Spoon remaining sauce over tofu. Top with shredded mozzarella and remaining 3 tablespoons Parmesan.

Bake at 400 degrees F (205 degrees C) for 20 minutes.

[chowcooking]

Perfect Guacamole

This recipe was a total hit at our recent fourth of july party! Though I more or less followed this "Perfect Guacamole" recipe from Simply Recipes, I doubled the number of avocados and added less red onions and a little more cerrano peppers than suggested by the original recipe.

I think there's a lot of improv that goes into making the best guacamole. Sometimes you want it spicier, sometimes you want a little more lime.

Warning! When cutting cerrano peppers, be sure to wash your fingers thoroughly and avoid rubbing your eyes, otherwise you're at risk of getting all that spice up in your face! Gloves might help.

"Perfect" Guacamole

Ingredients:

4 ripe avocados

1/2 to 1/4 cup of chopped red onions

1-2 cerrano chiles, with innards and seeds removed (that's the super spicy stuff!)

2 tablespoons chopped cilantro

1 or 2 wedges of limes for juice (or 1 tablespoon of fresh lime juice)

kosher salt to taste

grated pepper to taste

2 chopped tomatoes with pulp removed

Directions:

Halve avocados and remove skins and pits. Place halves in bowl and save two pits on the side for later

Mash avocado halves with a fork, but not too much. You want it to be chunky, not pureed.

Add onions, peppers, cilantro and mash a little more. Careful with the peppers. Taste every once and a while to make sure the heat is what you want!

Squeeze lime juice, salt, and pepper to taste

If you're saving the guacamole for later, plop in the pits and cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate, adding the tomatoes later when you serve. Otherwise, add tomatoes and pits (to show off its home made) and serve!

Cool fact!: Keeping the pits in the guacamole prevents it from browning too quickly!

[chowcooking]

Red Velvet Mini Cupcakes

Using this recipe for red velvet cake on Epicurious.com, I made a batch of 69 mini cupcakes for fourth of july! The recipe was relatively easy to make, though it's yet to be seen whether people enjoyed them or not... I'll update this post later with the results!

Update: By the end of the night, only one cupcake was left! They were a hit, from what I can tell, and plenty of people asked for seconds. Frosting recipe added down below!

A few notes before we begin:

The original recipe is for a cake, however the below recipe differs in baking time and temperature. To cook a two layer cake with this recipe, baked at 350 degrees F for approximately 27 minutes.

Based on user reviews, I sifted the flour mix twice. From what I can tell this makes the consistency of the cake very fine and light, but not dense. I would prefer a denser cake in the future!

The color of the cakes are a darkish chocolatey maroon color, not vibrant red, though red enough to get the red velvet feel.

Users also suggested baking the cake a day before consumption to let the cakes set.

Red Velvet Cake Recipe

Ingredients:

2 1/4 cup sifted cake flour

3 tablespoons of unsweetened coa coa powder

1 teaspoon of baking powder

1 teaspoon of baking soda

1/2 teaspoon of salt

1 cup buttermilk

3 tablespoons of red food coloring

1 teaspoon of distilled white vinegar (I used raspberry vinegar, and others used apple vinegar similarly)

1 tablespoon of vanilla extract

1 1/2 cups of sugar

3/4 cups (stick and a half) of room temperature, unsalted butter

2 eggs

Directions:

Pre-heat oven to 325 degrees

Sift flour and then measure. Mix flour, coa coa, baking powder, baking soda and salt together. Set aside.

Whisk buttermilk, food coloring, vinegar, and vanilla in a small bowl. Set aside.

Use an electric mixer to blend sugar and butter in a separate bowl.

Add eggs one at a time to sugar and butter mixture, blending after each egg.

Beat in flour mixture in 4 parts and buttermilk mixture in 3 parts, alternating between the two.

Use small ice cream scoop to drop batter into cupcake pan. Batter should be about a half a centimeter away from the edge of the cupcake foil (this creates a little overspill top).

Bake for 10 minutes

Cream Cheese Marscapone Frosting

Note: This recipe is an interpretation of basic cream cheese frosting with some marscapone (italian cream cheese). The marscapone made the frosting a little more subtle, and a little less cream cheesy, and some people weren't a huge fan of it but others loved it.

I made a 1/2 recipe for the 69 cupcakes and made enough to thinly layer the tops, so I think next time I'll make a full recipe. Full recipe below!

Ingredients:

2 sticks of unsalted butter at room temperature

8 oz. (1 cup) of cream cheese at room temperature

2 cups powdered sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

pinch of kosher salt

8 oz. (1 cup) of marscapone cream cheese

Directions:

In a large bowl use an electric mixer to beat the butter, cream cheese, and sugar until light and fluffy.

Stop using the mixer and switch to a spatula, gently stir/fold in the marscapone until combined (too vigorous stirring may cause the frosting to curdle). 

Stir in the vanilla extract.

Bonus: Top with crushed peppermint candy for a refreshing garnish!

[chowcooking]

Tuna Campanelle Pasta

What I usually do is buy fresh tuna, double the amount I need for one dinner, so that I can use the left overs for this recipe.  You can use canned tuna in replacement of this though, in fact the original recipe calls for that wonderful canned tuna in oil.

So! I'll get down to business:

INGREDIENTS:

1/2-1 lb. of campanelle pasta (any shorter pasta will do)

1-2 Tbsp. of olive oil

3-6 cloves garlic, minced

juice of one lemon

1/4 cup white wine, chardonnay preferably or chicken stock

1 (6 oz) can Italian tuna in oil, such as Flott, drained

1-1/2 pints (2-3 cups) cherry tomatoes, halved

1 can artichoke hearts, quartered

2-3 Tbsp. chopped fresh thyme leaves

salt and pepper to taste

DIRECTIONS: 

Before you start cooking, prepare your ingredients:

Skin the garlic (wrap up in plastic); wash, dry and halve the cherry tomatoes; drain, rinse and quarter the artichokes (try to gently squeeze liquid from the chokes); remove the thyme leaves from the stems and wrap the thyme leaves in some plastic wrap.

Drain the tuna, set aside.  Mince the garlic into a small cup.  Chop up the thyme, wrap back in the plastic.

Start a large pot of water to boil for pasta.  While that is coming up, set a 12" skillet on the stove and heat to medium heat.

Add oil to warmed skillet and after one minute, add garlic to skillet.  Cook garlic for 1-2 minutes, but don't let it brown.

Add wine and increase heat to high, just until the wine simmers for a couple minutes then reduce back down to medium.

Add the lemon juice along with tomatoes, artichoke hearts, tuna and thyme.  Cook, stirring occasionally, until the tomatoes begin to soften, about 6-8 minutes.

When the water in the large pot boils, add some salt (about 1 tsp.) to water along with the pasta.  Cook pasta according to directions on package.

When the pasta is cooked al dente,  drain (try to save some of the pasta water) and combine pasta with the tuna tomato mixture in the skillet.  Add some pasta water if the skillet is drying out, to thin the sauce. 

Add salt and pepper to taste along with parsley if desired.  Transfer servings to bowls and enjoy.

Any of the ingredients can be reduced or increased as you like!