Monday, October 31, 2016

Paneer Tikka Masala, Bonus Veggies Version

[guest post by Amy]

Happy Halloween!
This is a bit of tweak on a recipe I loved from Cook's Hideout, Kashmiri Tikka Masala. I had the best paneer tikka masala ever recently, with tons of spices, raisins and almonds in the dish.  Added vegetables because dating a vegetarian, and trying to sneak veggies into more things!

Marinade: Mix together and divide in half.
.5 c greek yogurt
1 t chili powder
1 t Garam masala
.5 t cumin
1 T lemon juice
salt and pepper to taste, about .5 t each

Add to: (seperate bowls)
1 c paneer
1 head of cauliflower
Let sit for at least 30 minutes, preferably an hour.

Masala sauce:
3 T ghee
1 red pepper
1 red onion
2 cloves garlic (opt)
.25 c almonds
.25 c raisins
1 c tomatoes
.25 c whipping cream
.5 t chili powder
.5 t Garam Masala
.25 t cumin
1 T Sriracha, or cayenne to taste
.5 t salt

Garnishes and optional:
1 c peas
Basmati rice
Naan
Preserved lemons/guava (Anna had some by chance, it was a great addition!)
3 T cilantro (I leave it as a garnish, for people to add as they wish)

Heat ghee in heavy bottomed pot, then add onion, garlic, pepper, almonds, and raisins. Cook until soft, about 10 minutes. Try not to be distracted by trick-or-treaters. While that's cooking, sauté cauliflower on high heat, stirring occasionally and covering with whatever pot lid you have lying around. Add remaining ingredients and blend with immersion blender. Put back on stove on low heat,  taste and adjust seasoning, add peas if using, and griddle paneer on each side until golden brown. Add to sauce, and you're all set!

Friday, October 28, 2016

Boulevardier cupcakes

Happy birthday John! At the birthday boy's request: cupcakes based on the boulevardier cocktail. Turns out, subbing out most of the liquid in a cake for booze works pretty well, at least in mini cupcake format. (I can imagine the texture might get a bit gummy in a full layer cake though.) And the tangy dark chocolate frosting sets off the edge of complex bitterness of the cupcake delightfully.

Makes about 4 dozen mini cupcakes. This amount of frosting was just barely enough—if you'd rather have too much than too little, you can scale up the frosting recipe. I kind of wish I had, because then I'd have an excuse to try this frosting as a donut filling... next time!


cake:
2 c flour
3/4 t baking soda
1 t baking powder
1/2 t salt
1/4 c bourbon
1/4 c red vermouth
1/4 c Campari
1/4 c milk
1 stick butter, softened
1/2 c sugar
1/2 c brown sugar
2 eggs

Preheat the oven to 350F and put liners in the cupcake pans. Mix together the dry ingredients (flour through salt) and set aside; same with the liquids (bourbon through milk). Beat together the butter and sugars until fluffy, then beat in each egg one at a time. In 3 alternating additions, beat the dry and liquid ingredients into the batter until just combined. Fill cupcake pans and bake for 10 min or until a tester comes out clean.


frosting:

1/2 bag Guittard extra dark chocolate chips, melted
1/3 c cream cheese, softened
2/3 c sour cream
2 T corn syrup
pinch salt
a few dashes Fee Brothers barrel aged bitters

Melt the chocolate chips until smooth, eg in a double boiler. Beat together the other ingredients until smooth and fluffy. Slowly pour in the chocolate, beating as you go. Pipe onto the cupcakes.

Saturday, April 23, 2016

Brown butter bundt cake

San Diego kinda sucks for food, which was especially disappointing when I was there with some of my favorite foodies (John, xtina, Toni) last month. But! Bake Sale had this amazing brown butter espresso muffin, with little flecks of coffee, vanilla bean, and brown butter inside, and lots of cinnamon sugar on top. Perfect for Laura's bachelorette brunch.

I thought I was going to have to be creative coming up with a recipe to match it, but this does the job splendidly. One batch makes one bundt cake (baked for 45 min), or half a batch makes 2 dozen mini muffins (baked for 12 min).


10 T unsalted butter (1 1/4 sticks)
1 c sugar
1 vanilla bean
2 eggs
2/3 c milk
2 T bourbon
2 1/4 c flour
2/5 t baking powder
1 t salt
1 t instant espresso powder (or finely ground coffee)
turbinado sugar

Butter and flour a bundt pan, and preheat the oven to 350F.

Put the butter in a small saucepan over medium heat. The butter will melt, then start foaming, then the foam will subside and little brown bits will collect on the bottom. Keep cooking until the liquid starts to get a little bit of color, then turn off the heat and let cool.

Put the sugar in a large bowl. Slice the vanilla bean open and scrape the seeds into the sugar if you can, or toss the bean into the sugar and rub the sugar into the bean to get out the seeds if you can't. (Laura says the even easier way is to put the whole vanilla bean and the sugar into the food processor and grind them up together, which also seems reasonable.)

Beat the eggs, milk, and booze together in a medium bowl. If you futzed around with the vanilla bean as long as I did, the butter should be fairly cool now, so beat it into the wet ingredients too.

Stir the dry ingredients into the sugar, then stir in the wet ingredients until combined. Pour into the bundt pan and sprinkle heavily with turbinado. Bake for 45 min.