Cheese + tapioca flour = deliciousness

We've started "Sunday Funday" which pretty much means a lazy Sunday at someone's apartment and copious amounts of food. Vonatron (this is your new name now on my blog) donated her apartment this time. Last time she tried to make Pao de Queijo but apparently it failed. This time I tried my hand at it. I used a different recipe (pretty much the most basic one I could find) and they came out totally legit. At first I was super worried when I was trying to beat in the tapioca flour since it was really hard to incorporate it (also made a huge mess). But in the end it all worked out and after reading the recipe reviews, it seems that I could've done half butter, half oil and also upped the amount of tapioca flour in the recipe. The dough is extremely sticky, so I kinda just plopped down chunks of dough onto a baking sheet. We had made some bacon in the oven so I just reused the bacon fat greased baking sheet.

End results: delicious.

Pao de Queijo

adapted from food.com

2 cups tapioca flour

1 cup milk

1/2 cup butter*

1 tsp salt

1 1/2 cups Parmesan cheese**

2  large eggs

Preheat oven to 400F

Bring the milk, salt and butter to a boil and then remove from heat. Make sure not the burn the milk.

Slowly add the tapioca flour, constantly stirring with a wooden spoon until incorporated. It might take a while but it will work. You can add up to 1/2 cup more of tapioca flour if you want to be able to form actual balls at the end.

Next add the two eggs, one at a time, followed by the cheese. Stir until everything is incorporated. If the dough is not too sticky, you can knead it. I didn't and it was fine.

Make balls or drop lumps (this is what I did) onto a well greased baking sheet and sprinkle with some more cheese. Bake 20 to 25 minutes until lightly golden brown on top. Eat while still hot!

* You can apparently substitute half the butter with oil as this is more traditional

** Some reviews also said that you should substitute half the Parmesan with a softer fresh cheese, like queso fresco for more moisture but you can probably use any kind of cheese

In a cooking frenzy - Part 2

I learned a new french word last Sunday. I can't believe I didn't know the word for watermelon! It's pastèque, which, to me, does not make me think of watermelon but whatever. I won't judge. I decided I'd be strong enough to lug 1/4 of one back to my apartment when I went to the market on Sunday (they sell them by the quarter at markets, and they're still huge). Result? Watermelon, feta and basil (with a touch of olive oil) salad for lunch. Delicious. Why did I not do this before?!

In a cooking frenzy - Part 1

I went on a cooking frenzy after going to the market. Cherries and apricots are both in season so I got a bunch, among other things.

I can't resist when sweet, juicy apricots are €2 per kilo! Of course, most bruised and I was forced to make them into jam!

It was my first foray into jam making. Pretty tasty so far but a little too sweet. I was also afraid I wouldn't boil it long enough and it would come out soupy but no. Its quite the opposite...but the taste is there. I swear!

Recently I had a panna cotta-like fromage frais 0% fat dessert somewhere so in my attempt to recreate it, I got some fromage blanc (I couldn't find fromage frais) and mixed it with some gelatin and now its sitting in the fridge. We'll see how it turns out. And I think I'm just going to stick with this as my yogurt from now on. So sad hasn't been in my life for the past 5 months!

I also got some broccoli. I used to really dislike it (its a texture thing) but its recently grown on me and it makes a very satisfying and filling dish (especially when making it with garlic and red pepper flakes and pairing it with some parm, bacon (!), toasted almonds). I burnt the garlic, as always. I ate it as a main but you can make it as a side or toss it with some pasta.

Spicy broccoli with other stuff

Broccoli cut into florets
1/2 cup of lardons, or diced bacon
1 large clove of garlic, minced
1 tablespoon of red pepper flakes (I like mine spicy!)
Small handful of toasted almonds
Parmesan or other hard cheese

Bring a pot of salted water to a boil. Add the broccoli and remove to an ice bath after 3-4 minutes. While the broccoli is blanching, you can mince the garlic.

Fry up the diced bacon (the key is doing it on low-medium heat otherwise it smokes because bacon fat has a fairly low smoking point). Remove and let drain on a paper towel.

Add some olive oil to the same pan used for the bacon, and on low heat, saute the red pepper flakes with the garlic until fragrant, about 30 second to 1 minute. Add the broccoli (which, I hope, you remembered to drain...I didn't so I kinda added it wet and things splattered because hot oil and water aren't friends). Saute for a few more minutes but don't burn the garlic like I did.

Put it on a plate, add the bacon, add the toasted almonds, and top with some freshly grated Parmesan. Alternately you can chop the broccoli and mix it with some pasta along with the bacon, almonds and cheese (add some reserved pasta water to bring it all together).

New Year's Eve Menu

New Year's Eve was a major opportunity for me to use my friends as guinea pigs and try out a bunch of recipes I've wanted to make. I have a whole big bookmark list on firefox that's just waiting to have a dent put in it. Here's half the menu (apart from the Brazilian cookies I brought over and JP arranged, the majority of which barely passed as edible, unfortunately, but apparently proved to be fantastic chasers):

Cheese Straws (adapted from Ina Garten)

1 sheet thawed puff pastry

3/4 cup grated gruyere

1/3 cup grated parmesan

Paprika

Salt and pepper

Garlic powder

1 egg beaten with 1 tbsp water

Preheat oven to 375F. Combine the grated gruyere, grated parm, and whatever spices (I used paprika and garlic powder, but you can also use dried herbs, and you can use whatever hard cheeses you have on hand) you want, along with salt and pepper. Roll out puff pastry on parchment paper. Brush with the egg wash and sprinkle with the grated cheese and spice mix. Use a rolling pin to press the mix into the puff pastry. I like to put the puff pastry in the freezer now to make it easier to cut (about 15 minutes), but you don't have to.  Cut 1/2 inch thin strips of the puff pastry and twist in opposite directions from the ends (like you're twisting string). Place on a parchment-paper lined cookie sheet. Bake in the oven for 10 minutes until the straws are puffy and lightly browned, turn once, and bake for another 3 - 5. Make sure the cheese doesn't burn! Oh, and I forgot to take a picture.

Turkey Lettuce Cups (adapted loosely from PF Chang)

1/2 lb ground dark meat (turkey or chicken)

1 small box of cremini mushrooms, finely diced 

1/2 sweet yellow onion, finely diced

4 garlic cloves, finely diced

2 tbsp soy sauce

2 tbsp brown sugar

1/2 tsp rice wine vinegar
1 head of iceberg lettuce

Heat large skillet on medium-high and sautee the ground meat until lightly browned and no red remains (light pink is OK, otherwise you will overcook it later). If you use turkey, you might want to add some olive oil to the pan first but chicken has enough fat in my opinion. Meanwhile, mix the soy sauce, brown sugar and rice wine vinegar in a separate bowl. If you want this to be spicy, add some cayenne or red pepper flakes.

Add the mushrooms, onions and garlic to the meat and sautee for 2 - 3 more minutes. You can add other veggies like celery and carrots but you basically want whatever you're putting in the ground meat to be of a small, uniform size so everything mixes together. Then add the stir fry sauce and sautee for 1 - 2 more minutes. Done!

Pull apart the iceberg lettuce leaves (I found this tricky and kinda failed) and wash them, then spoon some of the ground meat onto each leaf, arrange on a platter and serve! I recommend sriracha as an accompanying sauce but you can make a dip.

Zucchini Ricotta Tart

1 sheet thawed puff pastry

1 cup ricotta (you can use part-skim)

1 zucchini, thinly sliced into circles

3 sliced cremini mushrooms

10 halved cherry tomatoes
Gruyere

Preheat oven to 350F. Roll out puff pastry on parchment paper. Spread ricotta (you can add herbs to this if you like, or spices) over the puff pastry, leaving a thin border of about a 1/2 inch. Arrange zucchini circles on the puff pastry, top with slices mushrooms and cherry tomatoes. Grate some gruyere (or any hard cheese) over the top. Place in the oven for about 10 - 15 minutes until the edges of the puff pastry are puffy and golden brown. I like to cut this so that each slice has a zucchini circle on it. Serve warm.

Red Velvet Cake Balls (adapted from Bakerella)

I used two packages of white chocolate chips for this (slowly melted over a double boiler) instead of the bark, and half a package of semi-sweet chocolate chips. I also added some lemon zest to the cake batter. JP fed the remains to his co-workers.