Six-layer Black Forest Cake

Six-layer Black Forest Cake

(They were very small layers)

Matcha Raspberry Mousse Cake

Kristal's birthday cake this year:

 Two layers of raspberry sponge, a layer of matcha mousse, and a layer of white-chocolate and raspberry swirled mousse.

Hogwarts-inspired Gingerbread Castle 2013

This year we made a Hogwarts-inspired gingerbread castle (inspired by the book, not the movies, since trying to bake as many cylindrical pieces of gingerbread as would be required to copy the movie Hogwarts was intimidating).

The recipe for the gingerbread was a Dorie Greenspan recipe, taken from NPR (here); it made a lot of dough, enough to make the entire castle (minus towers) with a single batch. We used melted sugar instead of royal icing to connect the pieces, however. Those amber spheres on the pointed roof are leftover melted sugar, rolled by hand into a ball. The towers are Rice Krispie treat, painted with chocolate. The stained glass windows (the colours are hard to see in the picture) are melted jolly ranchers. The Christmas lights strung along the towers and the front parapet are leftover jolly ranchers, melted and then rolled into shape. The other windows are Werthers Chewy Caramels, but that wasn't a great idea since they loose their shape after a couple of days. The clock was a cinnamon sugar cookie, covered with fondant and painted with edible paint. Hedwig was also made of fondant, and painted with edible paint.

Fish paste stuffed lotus root

Ingredients

Lotus root

Fish paste

Chinese salted ham 

Cilantro

White pepper

Salt

1. Mince chinese salted ham, chop cilantro and mix into fish paste with white pepper to taste.

2. Slice lotus root very thin (butterfly if possible), and sandwich fish paste mix between two slices.

3. Dust with corn starch.

4. Shallow fry or pan fry.

5. Salt as then come out of the pan.

Enjoy !

Pork shoulder braised in apple cider

Ingredients:
- 5lb pork shoulder boneless cut into 6 pieces
- 2 onions sliced
- 1 1/2 cups fresh apple cider
- 2 tbsp apple cider vinegar
- 3 lbs honey crisp apples sliced
- 1/2 tsp mustard
- 4 ounces bacon sliced
- 3 parsnips sliced
- 3 carrots sliced

Directions:
1. Heat oven to 325F
2. Brown bacon until crisp and pour off fat.
3. Season pork shoulder with salt and pepper. Brown on all sides in batches. Transfer to plate
4. Saute onions until soft
5. Add apple cider, apple cider vinegar to pot and scrape up brown bits. Add in mustard.
6. Add pork shoulder back into pot and add parnsips and carrots. Put in oven for 1 hour.
7. Turn pork over. Put back in oven for 40 minutes.
8. Add apples. Cook for another 20 minutes.

Umami Burger

Want to try making this....

Adam Fleischman’s Umami BurgerMakes 4 burgers

Umami Ketchup1 32-ounce can San Marzano tomatoes
1 medium onion, chopped
3 tablespoons olive oil
2 tablespoons tomato paste
½ cup packed dark brown sugar
½ cup cider vinegar
1 teaspoon salt

Purée the tomatoes with the juice from can in a blender until smooth. Cook the onion in oil in a heavy saucepan over moderate heat, stirring, until softened, about 8 minutes. Add the puréed tomatoes, tomato paste, brown sugar, vinegar, and salt and simmer, uncovered, stirring occasionally, until very thick, about 1 hour. Purée the ketchup in a blender until smooth. Chill, covered, overnight for flavors to develop.  Then add the umami seasonings to taste and chill the ketchup until needed.

Umami Seasonings2 salted anchovies, cleaned
Tamari
Worcestershire sauce
Marmite
Truffle salt
Harissa

Combine the anchovies with the remaining ingredients to taste. Blend in a mortar and pestle or, for larger quantities in a blender or food processor. Set aside.

Oven-Dried Tomatoes1 tablespoon brown sugar
1 tablespoon tomato paste
¾ teaspoon soy sauce powder
½ teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
2 pounds ripe tomatoes, sliced

Preheat the oven to its lowest temperature setting. Stir the brown sugar, tomato paste, soy sauce, and Worcestershire sauce together; brush on the sliced tomatoes. Put the tomatoes on a line sheet pan; dry in the oven overnight.

Caramelized Onions
2 pounds large onions
1 tablespoon unsalted butter
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
½ teaspoon table salt
2 star anise

Cut the onions in half from pole to pole; peel and slice across the grain to ¼-inch thickness. Heat the butter and oil in a 12-inch nonstick skillet over high heat; when the foam subsides, stir in the salt and star anise. Add the onions and stir to coat; cook, stirring occasionally, until the onions begin to soften and release some moisture, about 5 minutes. Reduce the heat to medium and cook, stirring frequently, until the onions are deeply browned and slightly sticky, about 40 minutes longer.

Parmesan Crisps
3 ounces Parmigiano-Reggiano

Preheat the oven to 375°F. Using the largest holes on a box grater, coarsely shred enough cheese to measure 1 cup. Line a large sheet pan with a nonstick liner, like Silpat. Arrange tablespoons of cheese 2 inches apart on the liner. Flatten each mound slightly with a spatula to form a 3-inch round. Bake in the middle of the oven until golden, about 10 minutes. Cool for 10 minutes on sheet on a rack; then carefully transfer each crisp with a metal spatula to a rack to cool completely.

To Assemble and Serve
1 ½ pounds assorted cuts of well-marbled beef (short rib, flap, skirt, brisket or hanger)
Vegetable oil
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 tablespoon butter
6 ounces shiitake mushrooms, stems removed
4 soft buns (potato or Portuguese), halved

Grind the beef coarsely in a meat grinder or food processor. Put 6 ounces of meat into a 4-inch ring mold and gently tap down to form into a patty. Heat a cast iron skillet on high for 5 minutes. When it’s very hot, pour in a drop of vegetable oil to lubricate the pan. Season the patties liberally with salt and pepper. Add the patties to the skillet and sear on one side for 3 minutes; flip once and sear for 2 more minutes for medium rare.

In another skillet, add half of the butter and sauté the mushroom caps for until soft, about 2 minutes. Set aside. Remove the beef patties to rest. Wipe the mushroom skillet and toast the buns cut side down with the remaining butter.

Remove the buns when toasted and add spread about 2 tablespoons of the umami ketchup on both halves of the bun. Stack a beef patty with 1 tablespoon of the caramelized onions, a parmesan crisp, 2 mushroom caps and 2 slices of oven dried tomato. Serve immediately.

Shredded Pork, Beansprouts, Yellow Chive Chow Mein

Ingredients
- 1/2 lb pork, slivered
- 2 cups bean sprouts
- 2 cups yellow chives - 3 inches
- 1 package egg noodle

Marinade
- 1 tsp soy sauce
- 1 tsp dark soy sauce
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1/2 tsp sugar

Sauce
- 1 cup chicken broth
- 1 tbsp oyster sauce
- 1 tsp sesame oil
- white pepper
- salt
- cornstarch slurry

Directions
1. Marinate pork in marinade for 10 minutes
2. Boil noodles for 30 seconds then drain well
3. Fry pork in oil (half done), then remove
4. Fry noodles in oil (optional), then remove
5. Add pork and beansprouts to pan. Add sauce and thicken with cornstarch slurry. Stir until thick. Add yellow chives last. Pour sauce over noodles