Mexican Salad ala Cook's Illustrated

I would imagine that many of us have had a Mexican style salad whether it is called a taco salad or what have you. I have made taco salad many times because it is one of my favorite salads, but decided to try this magazine's rendition of a Mexican salad. Now that summer has hit, I don't want super heavy meals and am starting to not want the casseroles and things I normally make. Since the Cook's Illustrated magazine I bought is specifically for summer, I've been trying some of the recipes. Some have been good, some have been flops. This one is simple, and a winner. I loved how simple steps made the salad more special such as roasting the corn. Never have I done that for a salad before, but it added an extra kick.

My first step for any salad is chopping and washing the lettuce. This salad called for radishes too, so I chopped those as well. I was surprised to see the radishes, but I think they are a great addition to any salad.

Then I cooked the corn. An extra step, but worth it!

This is what it looks like after. It's much darker due to the charring but also has chili powder!

Always need cilantro for Mexican food.

I normally buy rotisserie chickens at Costco because they tend to be larger and less expensive than grocery store chickens. I always pick one up whenever I'm there because it is so convenient and versatile.

  And the final product. Black beans were also added and it was dressed in ranch dressing. This salad is able to be dressed with any dressing you like because it doesn't have any strong flavors that would combat dressings. I normally dress my taco salad with simple salsa and that would also be a good dressing for this salad. It was delicious and hit the spot on a hot summer night.

Mexican Chopped Salad

2 Tablespoons plus 1/2 cup olive oil

1 cup frozen corn, thawed

1/2 teaspoon chili powder

salt and pepper

1 avocado (I didn't use because my husband doesn't care for it and I find that if used, any leftovers would be brown and mushy)
1/4 cup cilantro

1 (16oz) can black beans, drained and rinsed

6 radishes

1 rotisserie chicken (about 2 1/2 lbs), skin discarded, meat shredded into bite-size pieces (about 3 cups)

2 romaine hearts, chopped into bite-sized pieces

1. Heat 2 tablespoons oil in large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat until just smoking. Add corn and cook, stirring occasionally, until golden and beginning to brown, about 3 minutes. Add chili powder and cook until fragrant, about 30 seconds. Season with salt and pepper to taste and transfer to large bowl.
2. Chop lettuce, radishes, and avocado. Combine lettuce, radishes, avocado, black beans, cilantro, cooked corn, and chicken.
3. Dress with the dressing of your choice. I recommend ranch! When I make taco salad, I dress it with salsa and I think that would also work here along with crushed tortilla chips if you so desire.

Bread Baker's Apprentice Challenge

I was given (to borrow) The Bread Baker's Apprentice by Peter Reinhart *cough* last year *cough* and still have yet to get through the book. I started reading this amazing book, but once school started back up, it went to the back burner. While browsing some other cooking blogs, I noticed people attempting a Bread Baker's Apprentice Challenge where they want to make one recipe from the book every month until they get through the entire book. I was very impressed and encouraged by this challenge to get back into really reading this book! However, there are many down-sides to this particular challenge. There are TONS of formulas for making bread in this book and to do one every month seemed like a long and rather weighty commitment. Plus, I felt my friend would like her book back...within the year at least, so that particular challenge was out. I decided to come up with my own challenge of sorts. I quickly went through the book and picked out the breads I have some interest in making and compiled my own list of bread challenges which include 18 formulas:

Anadama Bread
Bagels
Poor Man's Brioche
Challah
Ciabatta
Cinnamon Buns and or Stcky Buns
Cinnamon Raisin Bread
Corn Bread
English Muffins
Focaccia
French Bread
Italian Bread
Kaiser Rolls
Lavash Crackers
Wheat Bread
Pizza Napoletana
Potato Rosemary Bread
Sourdough

Now to decide on a time-frame. I don't want to limit myself to one bread a month because it would take me well over a year just to get through my choices of breads. I also don't want to require myself to make something every week because that might be too much for some weeks. This is my final decision: I will make at least 2 types of bread each month in order to get through my list in 6 months. This still seems like a long time, but It allows me some wiggle room as well as a deadline that seems as though it ends. I also like that I can get through the lesson part of the book, make copies of the formulas to use during the challenge and FINALLY give my friend back her book so maybe she could make bread with me! Just a thought since she has a blog too. ;-)

Anyway, just to be clear, I will not be posting the formulas to the breads to my blog like I normally do for other recipes. This is because I noticed the other members of the Bread Baker's Apprentice Challenge decided not to have those floating around on the web and I will follow that as well. It is such a great book that I hope the fact that the recipes aren't online, that you will go buy the book yourself! Here's a link to the book for whenever you're ready to buy it:

http://www.amazon.com/Bread-Bakers-Apprentice-Mastering-Extraordinary/dp/1580082688/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1279435076&sr=8-1

I wanted to give you all a heads-up on what is to come and I have decided to start my challenge with Cinnamon Raisin Bread, so keep a look out for that post coming soon. :-)

Cherry Muffins

I've been making my favorite banana bread (posted earlier in this blog) for a while and now that winter is well behind us, banana bread seems too heavy for summer. I tried thinking of something light, fresh, and different than what I have been making. That's when I remembered making cherry muffins for Valentine's Day this year and suddenly really wanted them! I dug out the small cookbook I had with the recipe, and here it is:

The ingredients, but you also have to have milk. The recipe I have for some reason doesn't list milk in the ingredients, so I didn't have it in the picture. 

Batter never looks appetizing to me, but here's what it looks like.

These last two pictures came out more yellow, but the muffins are actually a pink color. The light wasn't very good by the time I took them out of the oven, but they are delicious!

Cherry Muffins

2 cups all-purpose flour

2 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

2/3 cup sugar

1 egg, beaten

1 teaspoon vanilla

1/3 cup vegetable oil

1/3 cup milk (or more depending on the consistency. I didn't measure.)

2/3 cup maraschino cherries, drained and chopped

Preheat oven to 350. Grease muffin pan.

Combine dry ingredients in a mixing bowl. In a seperate bowl, blend egg, vanilla, oil, and milk. Pour liquid mixture over dry ingredients, stirring with several quick strokes until combined and moistened. Stir in cherries. Spoon batter into prepared muffin cups. Bake 20-25 minutes.

Makes 12 muffins.

5th Birthday Party!

It has been so long since I have updated this blog! It's not that I haven't been cooking or baking, it has just been a stressful time and the blog just got off of my to-do list. I plan on changing that! I have some big plans for this blog and plan on getting much more involved and begin posting things more frequently. To kick-off my new enthusiasm and new look to the page, I want to share the birthday cake my sister-in-law and I made for her son's (my nephew) 5th birthday party. I wasn't there when she actually baked the cake, but she made a red velvet cake, and I was there to help with the decoration. I love being able to be at my nephews' birthday parties and love being the aunt that helps make their birthday cakes. :-)

The cake cut, frosting colored gray, and we're ready to begin. 

Now he's frosted, has fins (that stayed straight!) and a smile.

Now he's in water.

Close-up.

Now he has teeth, gills, and eyes. Really looks like a shark now. 

We added cupcakes that say the birthday boy's name and has fish on the ends. 

The finished product!

It was a great party and the birthday boy really liked his silly shark cake. :-)

New Things

Today in particular has been full of cooking. (One of my favorite ways to spend a day!) I've been trying some new things lately and would like to share them with you.

I received a bread-maker for Christmas and finally broke it in by making "Beer Bread". It wasn't anything special, just the recipe from the recipe book that came with the maker, but it was delicious and made the house smell like fresh bread. Delicious! I can see myself putting that thing to good use!

I also have been having an obsession with my slow cooker lately; maybe it's the cold weather, but I'm really enjoying it. I received a new cookbook for Christmas specifically for the slow cooker and attempted to make salmon in the slow cooker. I was a little nervous, but LOVED it! I got it from my cookbook, but this website is where the author started it all:


http://crockpot365.blogspot.com/2008/07/crockpot-jamaican-salmon.html

The only difference I can see from the website and the cookbook is that there is no cayenne pepper to add in the cookbook. It was sooooo good and the two hour time was perfect! I will definitely make it again and I'm going to try to find more recipes like this because I liked it so much.

I've also tried this recipe:


http://www.bakerella.com/thaaank-you-betty/

Be warned- it was so rich that you don't need much of it to get your fill! I thought it was delicious although I didn't like the idea of making something from a box. I was surprised that with the ganache, it didn't taste like it was from a box.  I didn't take pictures of mine because I couldn't wait for the ganache to cool before I HAD to dive in. Hers look much prettier than mine anyway. One thing I was pleased to find was you don't need to buy one box of brownie mix and one bag of cookie mix because now they put them both in one box specifically for this recipe. The frugal voice in me was extremely pleased to discover that. :-)

Dutch Apple Pie Verdict

Without a doubt, this was the favorite pie I made for Thanksgiving. The two chocolates were close, but nothing says Thanksgiving like an apple pie, and the crumb on top was to die for.

Dutch Apple Pie:

1 recipe Single-Crust Pie Dough, partially baked and still warm (recipe below)

Streusel:

1 cup all-purpose flour

1/3 cup packed light brown sugar

1/3 cup granulated sugar

1 tablespoon fine-ground cornmeal

6 tablespoons (3/4 stick) unsalted butter, melted

Filling:

2 tablespoons unsalted butter

2 1/2 pounds Granny Smith apples (5-6), peeled, cored, and sliced 1/4 inch thick

2 pounds McIntosh apples (4-6), peeled, cored, and sliced 1/4 inch thick

1/4 cup granulated sugar

1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

1/8 teaspoon salt

1 cup golden raisins

1/2 cup heavy cream

1. After removing the partially baked pie crust from the oven, adjust the oven rack to the lowest position and leave the oven set at 375 degrees. (The crust must still be warm when the filling is added.)

2. For the streusel: Mix the flour, sugars, and cornmeal together in a medium bowl, then drizzle with the butter. Stir the streusel with a fork until roughly combined. 

3. For filling: Melt the butter in a large Dutch oven over medium-high heat. Stir in the apples, sugar, cinnamon, and salt. Cover and cook, stirring occasionally, until the apples have softened, about 5 minutes. Stir in the raisins and continue to cook, covered, until some of the apples have begun to break down, about 7 minutes longer.

4. Transfer the apples to a large bowl using a slotted spoon, leaving the apple juices behind in the pot. Add the cream to the pot and bring to a boil over medium-high heat. Cook until the cream is thick and sticky and has reduced by half, about 3 minutes. Toss the thickened cream with the cooked apples.

5. Spread the apple filling in the warm, partially baked pie crust. Sprinkle with the streusel. Bake until the crust and streusel have browned, about 25 minutes. Transfer the pir to a wire rack and cool to room temperature before serving.

Single-Crust Pie Dough:

  

1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour, plus extra for rolling out the dough

1 tablespoon sugar

1/2 teaspoon salt

3 tablespoons vegetable shortening, cut into 1/2-inch pieces and chilled

4 tablespoons (1/2 stick) unsalted butter, cut into 1/4-inch pieces and chilled

4-6 tablespoons ice water

1. Process the flour, sugar, and salt in a food processor until combinde. catter the shortening over the top and continue to process until the misture has the texture of coarse sand, about 10 seconds. Scatter the butter pieces pver the top and, using short pulses, process the misture until it resembles coarse crumbs, about 10 pulses. Transfer to a bowl.

2. Sprinkle 4 tablespoons of the ice water over the mixture. Stir and press the dough together, using a stiff rubber spatula, until the dough sticks together. If the dough does not come together, stir in the remainging water, 1 tablespoon at a time, until it does. Form the dough into a 4-inch disk, wrap tightly in plastic wrap, and refrigerate at least 1 hour.

3. Let the chilled dough soften slightly at room temperature before rolling it into a 12-inch circle and fitting it into a pie plate. Trim, fold, and crimp the edges and freeze the unbaked pie crust until firm, about 30 minutes, before filling or baking.

4. Adjust an oven rack to the lower-middle position and heat the oven to 375 degrees. Line the chilled crust with aluminum foil anf fill with pie weights. Bake until the pie dough looks dry and is light in color, 25-30 minutes. For a partially baked crust, transfer the crust to a wire rack and remove the weights and foil. For a fully baked crust, remove the pie weights and foil and continue to bake until the crust is a deep golden brown, about 12 minutes longer. The pie crust may be cooled completely or used warm, according to the particular pie recipe.

All recipes are from America's Test Kitchen Family Cookbook (Just go out an buy it now!)

Cranberry-Chocolate Tart Verdict

I really liked this pie, but think I made some small mistakes that could have made it amazing. I don't think I added enough butter to the crust which made it stick to the bottom of the pan, and I'm not sure if I followed the directions correctly when mixing the cheese layer. With that said, my first reaction to the pie was: "Wow that's a huge cranberry taste!" and I wasn't sure if I liked that. After eating more, I decided the blend of the chocolate with the cheese layer really complemented the cranberry taste well. I don't know if it was because most people had left the party I brought the pie to or if it was too fancy for the crowd, but not very many people ate it. Anyway, I liked it and would suggest the fancy cooks try it.

Instead of typing the recipe out for you, I thought I would direct you to the bon appetit website so you can surf their collection of recipes even further:

http://www.bonappetit.com/recipes/2007/11/cranberry_chocolate_tart