Book #8: Cravings by Chrissy Teigen

Back after a hiatus of a few years!  Where does the time go?   And was I really the one to write those blogs??  At this rate, it will take me... (8 blogs, 4 years, that's 2 blogs a year...)..500 years to get to 1000 cookbooks.  I'd better speed it up!).

For my return book, I'm highlighting Chrissy Teigen's debut cookbook, Cravings. You may know her as being a Sports Illustrated model (I did not).  I think she's one of those models that is in so many places that you recognize her and say..."Where do I know her from?"  Most recently, I knew her as a cohost from Lip Sync battles, (which is pretty hilarious and over the top, if you haven't seen it).  

 I did not just choose this book because she is hot and hoping I could learn from her.  I mean, if she can be sexy and eat all this crazy stuff, I can too.  She may have started with some different materials though.  So from the show, she is quite charismatic and funny.  This comes through in her book.  It's really hilarious.  (and it's a cookbook!)  She shares a little of herself in each recipe.  I have to say that there definitely are some gratuitous photos of her feeding her husband John Legend, or just showing a whole lotta leg.  Who is this book for???  Is W going to start making these recipes for me??

But seriously, these are some great staple recipes.  It is an American comfort food focus, like potato salad, Dutch Baby's (did we decide that maybe those really aren't American, based on the name?) but with a modernized focus, like Pot Pie Soup w/ Crust Crackers OR Yellow Cake Baked Oatmeal.  (Wait, what?)  But also includes such classics as "Sh*t on toast" and Zucchini Lasagna Bolgnese.  Chrissy is half Thai, so it also has a Thai influence, like Chicken Satay.  Yumm!  And umm...this is not a health book.

For my first attempts at her book, I tried out the Chicken Lettuce Wraps.  Ok, prep time is NOT 15 minutes.  But still worth the time.  They went quickly, and the flavor was sweet and complex.  If I were to compare them to lettuce wraps I have had elsewhere (I am embarrassed to say PF Chang's), I didn't like the flavor balance quite as much, but that may just be tweaking the ingredients.  The water chestnuts provided a perfect crunch, the scallions also a nice variety.  A solid recipe!

My personal learnings while making this recipe...did you know about mother of vinegar?  I had an old bottle of rice vinegar I thought I might use, but it had this crazy thing inside which looked a bit like a potato sliced up and ready for potatoes au gratin.  It was not.  From my main encyclopedic source, Wikipedia (don't tell my students!), " Mother of Vinegar is a substance composed of a form of cellulose and acetic acid bacteriathat develops on fermenting alcoholic liquids....[It] can also form in store-bought vinegar if there is some non-fermented sugar and/or alcohol contained in the vinegar."  Apparently you can still use this vinegar, but since the mother was really taking over (Mom!!), I bought a new bottle and saw instantly (ok, smelled) that the new one actually smelled like vinegar and the old one smelled like...not vinegar.  

Also, don't be thinking you have Thai sweet chili sauce at home, when actually it is the Vietnamese Chili Garlic sauce.  It's all about the sweet!

I also made Chrissy's Creamy Potato Salad with Bacon.  I have been looking for a go-to potato salad recipe, and based on the rave reviews, this may be it.  A good mayo base, scallions ( I think they are in all her recipes), hard boiled eggs, BACON, red onion, gave lots of variety to the salad.  A slight variation on a classic, but a good one.

If this blog is showing me nothing else, it's saying I need to work on my photography skills.  These dishes looked perfectly delicious when I photographed them.  They even looked ok on my phone.  Now they look some sort of mush--except for the bacon of course.

I'd give this cookbook 4.5 stars.  Humor (completely unnecessary in a cookbook), beautiful food photos, solid recipes, and some great variations on your typical home cooked meal.

Book #7: Créme Brülée The Bonjour Way

By Randolph W Mann

I really enjoy this cook book as a source for not just the typical créme brulées.  A huge variety include s'mores créme brulée (ok, what dessert book doesn't have a s'mores variation these days...) , espresso, orange praline, etc..

For the second family Thanksgiving (with W's family) I wanted something not quite the typical pumpkin pie.  Enter pumpkin créme brülée.  Wow, it was delicious.  It is quite similar to pumpkin pie, but even smoother.  The crunchy sugar on top is the perfect touch--I'd be tempted to add that to every pumpkin pie.  

A surprising discovery--I know it says to serve immediately, but a couple ramekins I decided to torch even though they wouldn't be eaten right away.  When I ate one two days later, lo and behold, the crunchy sugar crust had disappeared!!  It was like a light sugar syrup on top.  In the trend with unflattering photos, here is one without the crust!

  

I searched on this recipe and found many others enjoyed his recipe also as the go-to pumpkin créme brulée.  

Pumpkin Crème Brûlée

Makes 4 servings

1/4 cup canned pumpkin or pumpkin puree
1/4 cup sour cream
3 egg yolks
1/4 cup light brown sugar, firmly packed
2 tbsp granulated sugar
1/8 tsp ground allspice
1/8 tsp ground cinnamon
Pinch nutmeg
Pinch salt
1/2 cup whipping cream (35% MF)
6 tsp granulated sugar, for caramelizing

Preheat oven to 300º F.  In small mixing bowl, combine all of the ingredients except for the hevy cream.  Stir the pumpkin mixture with a small whisk or spoon for a full minute.  Set aside.

Pour the mixture through a fine strainer into a large measuring cup or another bowl. Place 4 (4-ounce) shallow ramekins in a hot water bath. Fill with the pumpkin mixture and place on an oven rack slightly below the middle of the oven.  Bake for 35 to 40 minutes or less if centers are softly set.

Cool the ramekins in the hot water bath until comfortable to handle. Then cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate from 1 hour to 2 days before using. When ready to serve, remove from fridge and sprinkle 1 1/2  tsp sugar on top of each ramekin and torch to caramelize.

Serve immediately.

Book #6: Fleischmann's Yeast: Best-Ever Breads

I love any Fleischmann's book.  Really it comes down to loving bread, and that fragrant yeast smell that reminds you how fantastic fresh bread can be, not to mention poring over the pages and salivating over all the different forms that most delicious bread can take.  

For Thanksgiving, I made the Classic Dinner Rolls, which can be shaped into a variety of shapes.  I chose knots.  I had just previously that day tried my hand at some whole wheat rolls and they were rising very badly, so I was quite tentative and concerned with this attempt.  Talk about paranoid.  These rolls  turned out fine and my need to rise them extra long was unwarranted.  

I love that the link on the image takes you to an amazon page offering the cookbook for $1000.  A worthy price!

Unfortunately, as always, the Thanksgiving prep was a rush, and when finally sitting down to lunch, did not take the time to take a quality photo--but at least I remembered one.  Here is my artwork, resting atop the rest of dinner.  Not necessarily a flattering shape, but I'm not picky when eating bread!

The recipe is pretty similar to what I found here, but somehow slightly different, I guess modernized?  Like, who needs more than a dozen rolls?  (ME!  If you're going to the trouble to do something as antiquated and time consuming as bake rolls, it had sure better make dozens and dozens!!)

Classic Dinner Rolls

Makes: 11/2 - 2 dozen rolls 

4 to 4-1/2 cups all-purpose flour

2 envelopes Fleischmann's® Active Dry Yeast ( 4 1/2 tsp)
1/4 cup sugar
1-1/2 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup warm milk  (105° to 115°F)
3/4 cup warm water (105° to 115°F)
2 eggs
Poppy or sesame seed, optional

Directions
In large bowl, comine 1 1/2 cups flour, sugar, undissolved yeast, and salt.  Gradually add warm milk, warm water, and butter to dry ingredients; beat 2 minutes at medium speed of electric mixer, scraping bowl occasionally.  Add 1 egg and 1/2 cup flour; beat 2 minutes at high speed.  With spoon, stir in enough remaining flour to make soft dough. Grease top; cover tightly with plastic wrap and refrigerate 2 to 24 hours.

Remove from refrigerator.  Punch dough down.  Remove dough to lightly floured surface. Shape as desired. Place rolls, about 2 inches apart, on greased baking sheets (or in other pans as directed). Cover; let rise in warm, draft-free place until doubled in size, about 20 to 40 minutes.

Beat remaining egg; brush on rolls. If desired, sprinkle with poppy or sesame seed. Bake at 375ºF for 15 to 20 minutes or until golden brown. Remove from sheets or pans; let cool on wire racks. 

KNOTS: Divide dough into 24 equal pieces. Roll each piece to 9-inch rope. Tie loose knot in center of each rope.

Book #5: The Ultimate Slow Cooker Book: Pulled Pork

The Ultimate Slow Cooker Book, 

Better Homes and Gardens

This is Better Homes and Gardens' version of a slow cooker book.  This time, I tried a Pulled Pork recipe.  It was an interesting idea.  There is a master recipe which cooks the pork with chili sauce and some seasonings.  Once you've made that, there are six other recipes which you can do to mix it up.  For instance, mole pork and green olive quesadillas, shredded pork salad, spicy pulled pork, etc.  It's not clear if the original recipe is meant to be eaten as is or ONLY as a base for the other recipes.  Rather than risk it, since I was preparing for a group, I did one of the add on recipes (apricot pulled pork hoagies to be specific).  I like the idea, for those that actually prepare ahead, and cook for a whole week, they can do one main recipe and then eat it in different ways throughout the week.

The net of the pulled pork was that I was impatient.  After being in the slow cooker for 10 hours (it asked for 10-11 on low), the pork was still not easily pulled.  Since I was counting on it being ready, and I was only able to pull about a third of it, I ended up cutting the rest.  The taste was still great.  Some debate over whether it was too sweet or just right, but I enjoyed the flavors.  I love a good pulled pork and thought it was a good starting point.  I ended up with a ton of liquid left in the slow cooker--I probably should have kept more of it with the meat rather than dump it out.

A fun find--I found a coupon for a free year of Better Homes and Gardens at the back of the book.  Hmm, it expired in 2012, I wonder if I can still swing it.  However, with my love hate relationship with magazines, maybe it's a sign I shouldn't even try!

Book #4: Wild About Muffins by Andrea Clubb

Wild About Muffins by Andrea Clubb

This is one of my go-to muffin books.  After all, when I'm thinking of muffins, there are a ton of cookbooks with muffins in them, but this one has so many variations--even savory, why look anywhere else??  I think this was a bit before the (current) health craze (from 1985), as you may see with excessive amounts of oil or butter.  It does however include many whole wheat and other flour recipes.

Today I made "Blueberry Bran Wheat Germ" muffins.  I was figuring out what to do with my extra bran flakes.  I actually used the cereal and removed the raisins (what is scary than biting into something thinking it's a blueberry and it is actually a raisin...).  I wasn't sure if it was ok to use the flakes, so I tried to crunch them up a bit.  I found as I was mixing ingredients some big brown spots.  I thought I had missed some raisins, but instead, they were clumps of brown sugar.  Note to self: always smush that up first!  What a pain to try to break them up later.

I experimented with a new ingredient today...whey!  It was a byproduct of making ricotta...which, no, I don't do regularly.  I'm taking this food science class online (a MOOC--massively open online course) which Harvard/MIT is nice enough to offer FREE.  I finally did the second lab and made ricotta.  Not too difficult!  (But it sure is easier to buy it...)  Anyways, there were 2 cups of leftover whey afterwards, and I had to search to figure out what to do with it.  I ended up substituting it for the buttermilk in the recipe.  

I also substituted olive oil for the oil.  I probably should have gone with coconut oil instead, the olive oil flavored it a little bit.

Now the recipe says 12-18 muffins.  I don't know how it could ever be 12 unless you have super giant muffin tins as I filled mine to the brim and it was still 19.  Granted the sili-cups were smaller.

Now the final product turned out pretty...

Except when I tried to remove them from the tin...too many blueberries maybe?  This is the crumbled mess it made.  Butter made everything better though.

I went searching for this cookbook to see if it was still for sale.  Then I found this book, with the author's name spelled wrong!  What a letdown to finally publish a book and then to have them spell your name wrong.  I don't know how that could get it out, so maybe it's only a draft.

Since this cookbook is only available from resellers, here's the recipe.

Blueberry Bran Wheat Germ

Makes 12 Large or 16 Medium
Preheat oven to 400 degrees (200 C) and prepare pan.

In large bowl add and combine well:
3 eggs
1 cup (190 g) brown sugar
1/2 cup (125 mL) oil
2 cups (425 mL) buttermilk
1 tsp. vanilla
1 cup (85 g) raw wheat germ
1 cup (60 g) bran

In smaller bowl combine well:
2 cups (280 g) all-purpose flour
2 tsp baking powder
2 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt
1 1/2 cups (250 g) whole fresh or frozen blueberries

Combine wet and dry mixtures and fold together gently until just mixed.  Bake at 400 degrees (200 C) for 20 to 25 minutes.  Remove from pan and cool on rack.

Book 3: Joy of Cooking

It has been a pretty slow pace.  Two posts a year?  It's not that I haven't done ANY cooking.  Just that when I have cooked from a cookbook, I've forgotten to take photos, or other nonsense excuses for posting.  I am back with a classic and maybe some new motivation.

So the Joy of Cooking is somewhat of a cooking bible.  I don't end up going to it all that much as I prefer the cookbooks with the tempting photos.  I go to it for those classic American recipes that it does best (except this upcoming recipe may be a bad example, as it's not really American).  I go to it when I don't need a picture to remind me how it's supposed to turn out...lasagna, french toast, pancakes...and Dutch Babies.

I hope you have been lucky enough to have a Dutch Baby before.  They are light as air, eggs puffed up into a dreamy breakfast.  They border on dessert, so it's really an excuse to have dessert for breakfast.  You can top them with powdered sugar and lemon juice for a tart and sweet combo. 

The "Baby" puffs up and then deflates quickly, so you need to serve it right away.  I managed to take a photo of it on the plate, but once I got the powdered sugar & lemon juice on it, I inhaled so no final photo!

I recognize that this is not a flattering photo.  You'll have to trust that it's delicious.  It is also super-fast...what took the most time was waiting for the oven to preheat.  

I'm still struggling to figure out if I feel ok recreating the recipe in my post, since typically you'd have to pay to buy the cookbook instead.  I'm still not, but I can point you to a similar recipe here since I figure that this is somewhat a classic recipe: TasteBook's Dutch Baby  I am pushing the limit of how little butter I can use and just used 3 T for this time.

  

Book 2: Mexican (Cookshelf): Chicken Tostadas

So far this blog is off to a super slow start!!  Second in my cookbook series is part of the really cute Cookshelf series, Mexican.  It's a part of a bunch of really small books.  In fact, this picture may be about actual size!  (Depending on just how big your screen is...)

I have three books in this series and I guess they are just big enough!  I made the Chicken Tostadas with Green Salsa & Chipotle.  Except for the chipotle part, I was afraid of the heat!  Honestly, I made it well over a month ago, but since this is only my second recipe from a cookbook...well, I'm not going to miss posting it just because I'm on the slow side.

Usually I don't make tostadas because they seem impractical to me.  They are meant to be eaten with your hands, but what kind of grace and precision do you need to balance all the toppings (especially if you have gone overboard!!)   without making a ruinous mess of salsa and beans everywhere.

I also feel like such recipes are not really recipes at all, but assembly instructions.  Did I really "make" them, or did I just put everything on top of the shell in the right order?  Well, I did make the chicken part--I followed the instructions of boiling, although that sounded on the gross side, as I had read a lot of suggestions on how boiling chicken is the right way to go!  The texture was fine, I probably would have put in a little more flavoring though as they were just boiled in stock and garlic.

What I think really made these tostadas superb were the black beans (with some added cumin) and the cotija cheese.  That cheese is fantastic!  Just a crumble here and there, and yum!  It's like a slightly salty version of ricotta cheese.

Here is the pre-assembly:

and after...

Making me hungry!  Need to go make me some dinner!