Rosh Hashanah roast chicken

A loose variant of the Salt Fat Acid Heat buttermilk roast chicken. It turned out even juicier and with crispier skin than the original, but not sure which of the many changes to credit. Photo is of the challah I made with it looking pretty, and the chicken looking like I don't know how to carve a chicken. Chag sameach!

1 whole chicken

1/2 c milk

1/2 c apple cider vinegar

1 T salt

1 T honey

1 small red cabbage

1 onion

2 apples

salt and pepper

The morning of, take the chicken out of the fridge, rinse and dry, and salt. Let sit while you mix the marinade ingredients (milk through honey) in a small bowl. Continue to let sit while you mix up a batch of challah dough. Put the chicken in a gallon ziplock, add the marinade, and put in the fridge.

2.5 hours before dinner, when you're putting the challah in the oven, take the chicken out of the fridge. Cut the cabbage, onion, and apples into thick slices. In a cast iron, lay the cabbage and 1 apple worth of slices around the edge, and pile the onion slices in the center. Drizzle with a little olive oil, and season with salt and pepper.

When the challah is out of the oven, preheat the oven to 425F. Take the chicken out of the marinade, drain any in the cavity, and lay over the bed of onions. Stuff the cavity with the second apple worth of slices. Roast following Samin's instructions (20min at 425F, 40min at 400F) (but maybe my oven wasn't holding temp because I needed to roast for an additional ~15min to get the skin browned all over).

Pour the juices from the chicken cavity into the pan, and transfer the chicken to a cutting board. Remove the apples from the cavity and add to the pan. While the chicken is resting, put the pan over medium heat to cook off most of the juices, stirring occasionally. Season the cabbage with salt and pepper if needed. Carve the chicken, and serve with the cabbage and challah.

Smashburgers and friends

 

2 day recipe, 4 component recipe. One component is a hike on the second day.

Morning of day 1: Mix up the dough for King Arthur's brioche burger buns as written. As advertised, this took 20-25 minutes kneading by hand to come together. Let rise until puffy. (This took longer than expected for me, so I ended up not having time to refrigerate for even a couple hours like I was intending to. They still turned out delicious and weren't a problem to shape.)

Afternoon of day 1: Shape and bake into 8 buns as written.

Also afternoon of day 1, or some other convenient time: Attempt homemade mayo as written. The first attempt failed, the second attempt worked. Changed quite a few variables in between, including using a Talenti container, pouring in the oil while mixing, and subbing vinegar for lemon juice since we're low on lemons. (Will have to do more experiments another time to figure out what matters here.)

Morning of day 1: Head out for a long day hike. We enjoyed this one in Purisima Creek, starting from the downhill parking spot. Don't really eat lunch, just some trail mix and snacks.

Evening of day 1: Return from hike. Make smashburgers as written. Non-beef ingredients: homemade buns, homemade mayo, Sonoma Brinery bread&butter pickles, chopped lettuce, TJs american cheese, plus KSA on the side. Cooking utensils: cast iron skillet to cook on, mostly-flat metal pan lid to smash, bench scraper to flip, regular metal spatula to lift and transfer. Anna was happy after one burger and overly full after 1.5; Matt was happy after two burgers and overly full after finishing the rest of Anna's second.

Actual wedding cake!

Passionfruit lemon curd
7x batch of this. Made in one go on Mon 4/18

300g deseeded frozen passionfruit cubes
260g lemon juice (half regular, half meyer)
28 egg yolks
350g sugar
1/2 t salt

Zest and juice the lemons, and reserve the zest for cake. Separate the eggs, and reserve the whites in 7 batches of 4 whites each for buttercream.

Whisk all ingredients together over a double boiler until thickened. Transfer to a 2-quart freezer-safe container, cool to room temp, then freeze. Makes ~6 cups.

Coconut swiss meringue buttercream
4.5 double batches total. 3 double batches made on Tue 4/19 using the egg whites left over from the curd. The remaining 1.5 double batches made at the last minute on Fri 4/29, and ideally would have been made earlier.

For each double batch:

8 egg whites
400g sugar
5 sticks butter
1/2 c coconut milk powder
10 drops Peychauds
2 t mezcal

Make into swiss meringue buttercream. Each double batch makes ~8c.

Cake

3 4x batches of practice cake, aka 3 double batches adapted from this cake. All made on Sun 4/24.

For each batch:

4 c milk + 1/2 c lemon juice
4 c cake flour (840 g AP flour + 120 g cornstarch)
4 t baking powder
3 t baking soda
2 t salt
4 sticks butter, softened
4 c sugar + 1/4 c lemon zest (750 g + 75g lemon zest sugar)
2 T vanilla
8 eggs

Preheat oven to 325F. Butter the pans, line with parchment, and butter the parchment. Combine milk and lemon juice in a 4c pyrex. Mix together dry ingredients (flour through salt) in a medium bowl. Cream together the butter, sugar, and lemon zest. Add eggs one at a time, beating after each one. Beat in lemon. Add dry ingredients and lemon milk in alternating additions, mixing until almost combined after each addition.

For the first two batches: Put about 3.5 c, 7 c, and 11 c batter in the 6", 9", and 12" pans, respectively. Put the 6" and 9" pans on the upper rack in the oven, and the 12" pan on the lower rack. Bake for 40-45 min, 50-55 min, and 60-65 min, respectively, rotating the pans a quarter turn every 10 min and switching the 12" to the top rack when the 6" is done.

For the last batch: Divide the batter evenly between two 9x13" pans. Switch top and bottom and/or rotate a half turn every 10min. Bake for 55-65 min.

Cool completely, place on cake boards, wrap in several layers of plastic wrap, and freeze. Stash in the freezer at work ;)

Assembly

all curd

all buttercream

all cake

cake boxes

bamboo skewers for dowels

limoncello for brushing

coconut flakes for decorating

cake board and ribbon for presentation

ooni pizza pan and large spatula for stacking

On Thu 4/28, transfer the curd and buttercream from the freezer to the fridge.

On Fri 4/29, fetch all cake layers from the freezer at work. Put the rectangular layers in the freezer and home, and leave out the 6 square cake layers to defrost a bit. For all square layers: level the top, torte, fill with curd, and brush the top with limoncello. (Reserve a quarter of the curd for the sheet cake.) For each size: choose one layer to be the bottom, and frost the top with buttercream. Flip the other layer on top, leveled side down, brush the top with limoncello, and frost the top and sides. Transfer to a cake box and insert dowels. Bring the cake boxes to Pizzaiolo, where they lived in the fridge overnight.

On Sat 4/30 (wedding day!) around noon, go over to Pizzaiolo with decoration, presentation, and stacking supplies, plus extra buttercream and frosting spatula for touchups. Remove the cake boxes from the fridge and stack the cakes on the board. Touch up all frosting. Cover the exposed tops of all layers with coconut. Wrap ribbon around the base of each layer. Go get dressed, go get married, and come back a few hours later to enjoy at the reception! At midnight, bring the leftovers home and leave on the counter.

On Sun 5/1, remove the 2 rectangular cake layers from the freezer. For each layer: level the top, torte, fill with the remaining curd, and brush the top with limoncello. There was enough buttercream left to fill the middle and cover the top but not the sides, which was all I felt like doing at this point anyway. So, fill the middle, stack, frost the top, and cover the top with coconut. Transfer to a cake box, and bring that plus Saturday's leftovers to brunch. Brunch people polished off Saturday's cake and about half of the rectangular cake; bring the rest home and leave on the counter.

On Mon 5/2, eat a bit more cake, then wrap up a nice square of the remaining cake in plastic wrap and freeze for a future celebration.

Lemon passionfruit cake (take 1)

This was a winner! I'm going to do one more trial, tweaking a couple things: more lemon zest in the cake (this will definitely be good), a bit of coconut milk powder in the cake (unsure about this but curious), and using frozen deseeded passionfruit for the curd (texture with the seeds was weird).

 cake:

1 c milk + 2-3 T Meyer lemon juice (2 lemons)
2 c cake flour (210 g AP flour + 30 g cornstarch)
1 t baking powder
3/4 t baking soda

1/2 t salt

1 stick butter, softened
1 c sugar (200 g)

1 T Meyer lemon zest (2 lemons)
1 t vanilla
2 eggs

Preheat oven to 325F and butter+parchment 2 8" round cake pans. Stir dry ingredients (flour through salt) together in a small bowl. In a large bowl, beat butter and sugar together, then beat in vanilla and eggs until fluffy. Beat in the milk and dry ingredients in alternating additions. Pour batter into pans (440g each) and bake for 23 min until a toothpick comes out clean.

curd:

42g passion fruit goop (1 passion fruit)

45g lemon juice

4 egg yolks

50g sugar

pinch salt

Whisk all ingredients together over a double boiler until thickened.

buttercream:

4 egg whites

200g sugar

3T coconut milk powder 

2.5 sticks butter

5 drops Peychauds

1 t mezcal

Make into swiss meringue buttercream.

Chai, blood orange, and nocino cake

It's that time again—wedding cake time! But this time for me!! (Also for Matt.)

Each component of this cake tasted good on its own as soon as it was made. But trying a slice right after assembling it, the flavors didn't meld well—the blood orange curd was too sharp, the chai cake was too "pumpkin spicy", the nocino buttercream didn't stand up against the other two. However, it tasted much more balanced and mellowed the next day. So, a good place to start, but not the final cake.

cake:

1 c milk
4 chai tea bags
2 c cake flour (210 g AP flour + 30 g cornstarch)
1 t baking powder
3/4 t baking soda

1/2 t cardamom

1/2 t allspice
1/2 t salt

1 stick butter, softened
1 c sugar (200 g)
1 t vanilla
2 eggs

Preheat oven to 325F and butter+parchment 2 8" round cake pans. Put tea bags in milk, microwave for 2 min, then let steep for another 15 min. Stir dry ingredients (flour through salt) together in a small bowl. In a large bowl, beat butter and sugar together, then beat in vanilla and eggs until fluffy. Beat in the milk and dry ingredients in alternating additions. Pour batter into pans (440g each) and bake for 25 min until a toothpick comes out clean.

blood orange curd:

4 egg yolks
1/4 c sugar (50g)
1/2 c citrus juice (6 T blood orange + 2 T Meyer lemon)

1 T Grand Poppy
pinch salt

Whisk together the egg yolks and sugar in a small saucepan, then whisk in the juices and salt. Cook over low heat, whisking constantly, for several minutes until thick. Pour through a sieve into a small bowl and put in the fridge until needed.

swiss meringue buttercream:

4 egg whites
1 c sugar (200 g)
2.75 sticks butter, slightly softened and cut into chunks
2 T nocino
pinch salt

Bring some water to a simmer in the bottom of your favorite double boiler substitute. In the top, place the egg whites and sugar. Beat constantly for 7 minutes until thick and glossy. Pour the mixture into the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, and whisk at medium speed for 4-6 minutes until the bowl is a neutral temperature and the meringue holds stiff peaks. With the mixer running, add the butter one chunk at a time, mixing until it looks like frosting. Toss in a bit of salt and the nocino, and beat briefly to combine.

Cornmeal blueberry pecan pancakes

Just like all our other breakfasts these days, pancakes too must contain TJs dried wild blueberries and pecans.

2/3 c flour

1/3 c cornmeal

1/3 c almond flour

1/3 c TJs dried blueberries

1/3 c chopped pecans

2 T brown sugar

1/2 t baking soda

1 t baking powder

1/4 t salt

2 eggs

3/4 c greek yogurt

3/4 c milk

1/4 c oil

splash of vanilla or whiskey

Mix together dry ingredients (flour through salt) in a medium bowl or 4c pyrex. Mix together wet ingredients (eggs through vanilla) in a 4c or 2c pyrex. Stir wet into dry until combined. Cook like pancakes (heat griddle to 400F, brush with butter, reuse the 1/3 c measure to drop batter onto griddle).

Radicchio & pomegranate salad

This salad played the role of both salad and cranberry sauce for Thanksgiving this year. The dressing would be cloying on a lettuce salad, but is just right with the bitter radicchio. I've also done something similar with kale instead of endive, and that worked great too.

Place in a serving bowl:

1 head radicchio, thinly sliced

4 endives, leaves torn off

2 carrots, thinly sliced

seeds of 1 pomegranate

generous amount of pistachios

Mix together to make a dressing:

4 T walnut oil

2 T pomegranate molasses

2 T balsamic vinegar

2 T honey

salt & pepper

Toss the salad with the dressing (you'll probably want most of the dressing, but you may not want it all).