frites & fries

Thursday, 9:00pm. East Village, New York City. A sweet tooth...

Thu, 02 Sep 2010 23:57:34 -0400

Thursday, 9:00pm. East Village, New York City. A sweet tooth stop at Butter Lane Cupcakes. I bought a strawberry cupcake and a caramel cupcake topped with popcorn. And yes, I did eat both of them.

Cheddar Crusted Cherry Pie

Wed, 01 Sep 2010 01:54:00 -0400

Last weekend, I made a special pie for a pie contest at the Jazz Age Lawn Party on Governor’s Island:

Cheddar Crusted Cherry Pie!

Since cherry season was nearly over [when I made the pie], I’d thought I’d honor American cuisine by using the last cherries of the year and also incorporate good ol’ cheddar cheese into the crust.

Cherry season is technically over now but you can still find frozen cherries at the grocery store. I would thaw it out before making the pie filling. Frozen cherries will save you time because you won’t have to pit the cherries — most frozen cherries do not have pits. I would not bake out of season produce though: the frozen stuff you have access to just doesn’t taste as good as the fresh stuff and it’s especially bad for the environment. If you make the decision to stay seasonal, use baking apples instead of cherries, especially in the fall. The combination with the cheddar crust is phenomenal since cheddar and apples are a classic pair. Just remember to peel, core and dice the apples into small chunks.

For a 9” pie:

Pastry:

2 1/2 c, all-purpose flour
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. sugar
3/4 c. unsalted butter, cut into 1/2” pieces
1 1/2 c. shredded sharp cheddar
1/2 c. cold water
1 egg (to brush the pastry/egg wash)

Filling:

4 c. Bing cherries
1/2 c. sugar
2 tbsp. cornstarch
1 tsp. pure vanilla extract

For the cheddar crust, mix together the flour, salt and sugar. Using your hands, mix in the pieces of butter until the crust begins to look a little mealy- add a little bit of water and mix. Add the rest of the water, and mix it again. Fold in the cheddar cheese and set the pastry aside in the refrigerator.

To make the fillings, pull out the stems from the fresh cherries. Now it’s time to pit the fresh cherries! If you don’t have a cherry pitter, a way to remove the pit is to use a pastry tip, insert it to where the stem use to be:

Gently hold the sides of the cherry with your other hand, and push the pit out carefully. If you don’t have a pastry tip, you can pit it with a paper clip (C’mon! You’ve gotta have a paper clip laying around). When you’re pitting the cherries, place the pitted cherries in a medium sized mixing bowl. Once all of the cherries are pitted, gently stir in the sugar, cornstarch and vanilla extract; Set aside.

Preheat the oven to 375F. Remove the cheddar pastry dough from the refrigerator and roll it out half of the dough on an clean, unfloured surface with a rolling pin. Gently lay the smooth pastry over a 9” pie dish. Pour the filling in. Roll out the other half of the dough — there is enough to completely cover the pie but for the pie I made in the picture, I used a large cookie cutter to cut out shapes instead of covering it or making a lattice.

Once the top of the pie is covered with pastry, brush the pastry with an egg wash (a large beaten egg) so the pie browns and shines when it is done baking. Bake for 45 minutes to an hour until the pastry is golden brown. Let it cool and settle.

As for the pie contest, I had honorable mention. The winner made a bacon and apple pie. As a note to y’all: incorporate bacon into every baking/cooking contest because people are still crazy about it. Even if your apples were a bit overcooked, no one will notice as long as the bacon is there.

Pfft…Am I bitter about it? Nope. Not at all.

[Seriously: I’m not.]

Artful Breakfasts

Tue, 31 Aug 2010 09:33:00 -0400

As you may or may not know, I freelance as a food photographer. I’m always on the lookout for interesting food photographs especially when I’m in a rut or when I’m looking for inspiration. I found Cesca’s Flickr photostream awhile ago and I loved her breakfast photos. The photos show that breakfast can be…

colorful and fun!

…maybe even decorative or visually interesting

…but it can be simple and pretty too.

How can you possibly neglect the most important meal of the day?

I asked her why she started this whole project but she couldn’t quite pin-point a reason. When asked what inspires her, this is what she told me:

I became obsessed with crockery, cutlery, colours and cuteness, as well as the odd more savoury pancakes and egg dishes. It made me think very creatively and every day, from somewhere, I’d be inspired by a new idea….something I’d seen in the street like a girl on the bus wearing bright red and bright green clothes, or shapes, photos, paintings, it could be anything at all.

As for her favorite breakfast photo?

As far as one I really loved, that’s a hard one, cos I loved loads of them, but some of them from the ‘breakfast portraits’ set, like the Bento Babe Breakfast for my friend Lill was one of my favourites and also hard to shoot.

(Thanks Cesca!)

Aww! A new meaning to food photography: tiny...

Mon, 30 Aug 2010 20:20:54 -0400

Aww! A new meaning to food photography: tiny DSLR cameras perfect for topping cupcakes.

(via)

Lunch at Peels

Mon, 30 Aug 2010 15:51:00 -0400

This new restaurant (from the Freemans people) on Bowery and Bond just opened last week. It’s very, very close to work so it’s tempting to get breakfast here every morning. We went in this afternoon for lunch to have snacks and sandwiches.

[That was the roast beef sandwich with pickled red onions, horseradish crème fraiche and lettuce]

I think the thing I love about this place is that you can get burger and fries packed in a paper bag, just like the beers at The Back Room. It’s a bit unattractive when you first peel open the foil: the bun is squished and the cheese is oozing everywhere. Once you bite into the burger, a perfectly cooked medium rare burger is revealed:

Did I mention how tasty the fries were? If they start serving moules frites, I would eat all the fries in a heartbeat.

[I love photogenic food ;) and I love places with communal tables]

Sunday, 6:00pm. A very French dinner. [P.S. The answer to last...

Mon, 30 Aug 2010 00:01:25 -0400

Sunday, 6:00pm. A very French dinner.

[P.S. The answer to last week’s guessing game was plum wine. Was that too hard? :o]

Monster Cookies

Sun, 29 Aug 2010 18:34:00 -0400

Oh the memories! Monster cookies reminds me of the awkward and trying times in middle school but I still love them.

Monster Cookies are cookies composed of chocolates, raisins, nuts, sugar and quick oats. They are one of the most memorable things I made in my middle school home ec class.

Before middle school, the only “baking” I did was with my mom and grandmother. It ranged from egg custards to porcupine shaped mantou rolls. In 8th grade, I took my first and only home economics class which was mandatory — the school dubbed it FACS, an acronym for the sterile sounding “Family and Consumer Sciences.” Everyone in my FACS class was divided into five groups and there were five mini kitchens (with full stoves and ovens). Since we had 45 minutes of class, the only thing we could do was make cookies and simple appetizers in our little groups. I was quite dumbfounded one day in FACS class when a kid in my group insisted that vegetable shortening could be a substitute for butter. He also insisted that we adhere to his other cooking techniques: it’s okay to double the amount of butter and it’s okay to triple the amount of chocolate. By the end of the semester, our group gained a lot of weight and some of us had awkward growth spurts. Eventually, we figured out why he was pushing his cooking and baking techniques: he was trying to make himself bigger for freshman football next year. [Note: I don’t know how true this actually is.]

Anyways, we decided that we would make Monster Cookies in FACS one day. I remember getting into a heated debate with that [chocolate loving bossy] kid about how much m&m’s one should really add to the cookies — I insisted that recipes, like math and science, are not to be tampered or played with. In fact, the whole class brought out my true colors as a very stubborn baker at the young age of 13. Ever since middle school, I’ve always associated Monster Cookies with 8th grade, FACS class, and that annoying kid. Weirdly and unwillingly, that kid taught me that even though baking is about exact measurements, sometimes it’s fun just to see what happens. Now with a lot more baking experience, I play with recipes to see what I can come up with — the fun ones are usually end up being messy and/or colorful.

I couldn’t find the original recipe I used in middle school but I’m positive that the middle school monster cookie recipe was an adapted Pillsbury recipe (because we were Minnesota kids and it’s a Minnesota company?). To make something close to the original recipe the middle school me used, the adult me adapted a recipe from a Pillsbury cookie cookbook.

Makes 5 dozen cookies (adapted from Pillsbury’s Best Cookies Cookbook):

1 c. sugar
1 c. light brown sugar
1 c. peanut butter
1/2 c. butter, softened
3 eggs
4 1/2 c. quick oats
2 tsp. baking soda
1 c. semisweet chocolate chips
1 c. m&m’s
1/2 c. peanuts, (shelled, salted, and halved)
1/2 c. raisin

Preheat the oven to 350F. In large bowl, combine sugar, brown sugar, peanut butter and butter; beat until light and fluffy. Add eggs, 1 at a time, beating well after each addition. Add oats and baking soda; mix well.

Note: The thing to remember about oats is that the one for this recipe are quick oats, not instant or rolled oats. The difference has to do with how much the oats have been steamed, grounded or flaked. Quick oats are good for cookies in general because it’s quite thin (easier to bake) but also chewy, while other kinds of oats are more appropriate for granola and breakfast oatmeal.

Stir in chocolate chips, m&m’s, peanuts and raisins. Drop dough by heaping tablespoonfuls about 2 1/2 inches apart onto parchment paper covered cookie sheets. Bake at 350F for 11 to 14 minutes in the center of the oven until the cookies are light golden brown. Let it cool; remove from cookie sheets.

The cookies seem to get bigger as I get older.

Things I Did This Weekend: Jazz Age Lawn Party

Sun, 29 Aug 2010 13:34:00 -0400

Everyone was dressed up to go to a Great Gatsby themed party this weekend on Governor’s Island. There was a pie contest (which I entered), tons of dancing, music and almost everyone brought their own picnic food.

My friends wore dresses and pearls, my friend Cameron wore a suit and I had on a floral drop waisted dress. It was like a step back in time!

We brought our own fantastic picnic spread consisting of macarons, tea sandwiches (I made pb&j and cucumber sandwiches) and strange sodas:

Stephanie brought the macarons for me as a surprise. I have more photos on Flickr just because I can’t cram all the great pictures in one post!

Saturday, 3:00pm. Governor’s Island, New York City. Jazz...

Sun, 29 Aug 2010 01:47:34 -0400

Saturday, 3:00pm. Governor’s Island, New York City. Jazz Age Lawn Party.

Friday, 6:00pm. Nolita, New York City. Dinner, wine and pretty menus at Epistrophy.

Sat, 28 Aug 2010 00:38:00 -0400

Friday, 6:00pm. Nolita, New York City. Dinner, wine and pretty menus at Epistrophy.

Guess What This Is?

Fri, 27 Aug 2010 12:27:00 -0400

Hint: Two for one! [Answers will be posted on Monday.]

Friday, 9:00am. Greenwich Village, New York City. Friday...

Fri, 27 Aug 2010 12:25:27 -0400

Friday, 9:00am. Greenwich Village, New York City. Friday mornings are always kind of awful because you have to wait for your weekend to begin.

Appropriately related to my embarrassing marshmallow baking...

Thu, 26 Aug 2010 16:13:00 -0400

Appropriately related to my embarrassing marshmallow baking disaster I posted earlier today, ThinkGeek is selling super special Ghostbusters gourmet marshmallows. In every $20 box, you get:

16 marshmallow squares with 100 mg of caffeine (similar amounts to a cup of coffee) in each square
an awesome reference to the 1984 classic, Ghostbusters
a box that “rubbery with a marshmallow feel, for fun after you eat all the mallows.”

Replace that coffee with a marshmallow!

Marshmallow Filled Cupcakes [Disasters]

Thu, 26 Aug 2010 12:43:00 -0400

What do you do with a bag of oversized marshmallows? Make marshmallow filled chocolate cupcakes.

The idea sounded crazy and fun (albeit irrational) at first because I really wanted to find interesting ways to use up the peach-sized marshmallows instead of making gigantic s’mores or roasting them somewhere (probably illegally) in New York City.

I mean, look how huge they are!

The possibilities of creating crazy baking experiments! I had a good chocolate cupcake recipe but could you bake them in a cupcake? Would they explode the cupcakes? An inquiring mind wanted to know.

Marshmallow filled cupcakes do exist technically but most recipes that claim to be marshmallow filled actually use marshmallow fluff to fill in already baked cupcakes. What’s the fluff? Marshmallow fluff is a brand name commonly associated with marshmallow creme.

Marshmallow creme is a sugary spreadable confection. Contrary to the name, marshmallow creme is not made of marshmallows although the ingredients are somewhat similar to the ingredients used to make marshmallows (i.e. sugar, vanilla, egg whites and corn syrup). The biggest and most obvious difference between the two is the form: gelatin helps marshmallows maintain its shape. Thus, commercially available marshmallows contain gelatin and most marshmallow cremes on the market do not contain it.

Instead of using fluff, I was curious to see if I could make cake covered marshmallows happen. I mean, I’m not an idiot: I know that marshmallows expand in heat. Curiosity overrides real science and my baking experience. I secretly wanted to see an explosion in my oven but I wanted to know what would happen if there was 10% batter and 90% marshmallow in each of the individual cupcake cases.

First, I covered the bottom of each paper baking case with some chocolate cupcake batter, put in a marshmallow in each one, and covered the marshmallows in batter. Then, I baked it. Super simple but in the end, this baking experiment resulted in a goopy mess all over my baking pan. The cleaning part was not so simple. Bake Fail. Thankfully, the oven didn’t need to be cleaned. I had to cover it with frosting to mask the ugliness:

Well, I tried. You can still make non-gigantic-marshmallow-mess chocolate cupcakes though because it’s pretty tasty. In fact, it was still tasty with the marshmallow mess.

For a dozen cupcakes (adapted from The Complete Magnolia Bakery Cookbook)

2 c. all-purpose flour
1 tsp. baking soda
1 c. butter, softened
1 c. granulated sugar
1 c. light brown sugar
4 large eggs
6 oz. semi-sweet chocolate, melted
1 c. milk
1 1/2 tsp. cream of tartar (KC₄H₅O₆for the science nerds)
1 tsp. vanilla extract

To melt the chocolate, place in a double boiler over simmering water on low heat for 5-10 minutes (about; stir occasionally until completely smooth and no pieces remain; remove from heat and let cool 5-15 minutes or until lukewarm. Line two 12-cup muffin tins with cupcake papers; set aside. n a glass, stir together the milk and cream of tartar; set aside. In a bowl, sift the flour and baking soda together; set aside. In a mixing bowl, cream the butter and the sugars together; add the eggs…

…one at a time, beat well after each addition. Add the chocolate, mixing until well incorporated. I Add the dry ingredients, in three parts, alternating with the “special” milk and vanilla. With each addition, beat until ingredients are incorporated but do not over mix. Carefully spoon batter into cupcake liners; fill 3/4 full. Bake in a 350F oven for 20-25 minutes or until pick comes out clean. Let it cool before topping it with frosting.

The most important thing to remember about this recipe is that you should not add gigantic marshmallows because you will end up with a mess.

Double Chocolate Cherry Cookies

Tue, 24 Aug 2010 01:49:13 -0400

Lately I’ve been so busy with work that it seems like that the only time I get to bake is on the weekends — that’s why you haven’t seen a lot of baking posts. This weekend, I made cupcake (specifically color barf/tie-dyed/Grateful Dead cupcakes) and these double chocolate cherry cookies:

The original recipe calls for milk chocolate, but I like dark chocolate. Sometimes I’ll use half dark chocolate and half milk chocolate depending on my mood. Regardless, the cookies come out ooey, gooey and chewy.

It’s best when paired with milk or a giant scoop of ice cream!

For two dozen cookies (adapted from Gourmet, 2007)

1 1/4 c. all-purpose flour
3/4 c. unsweetened cocoa powder
3/4 tsp. baking soda
Scant 1/2 tsp. salt
1 1/2 sticks unsalted butter, softened
1 1/2 c. packed light brown sugar
2 large eggs
4 oz. dark chocolate, cut into 1/2-inch chunks
1 c. dried unsweetened cherries

Preheat oven to 375F with racks in upper and lower thirds. Whisk together flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, and salt in a small bowl.

Beat together butter and brown sugar with an electric mixer at medium-high speed until pale and fluffy, then add eggs 1 at a time, beating until combined well. Reduce speed to low and add flour mixture, mixing until just combined. If you don’t have a mixer, use the ol’ bowl and spatula mixing/stirring method; this works fantastically as long as the batter is smooth and creamy.

Fold in chocolate chunks, and cherries and mix until just incorporated.

Drop 2 level tablespoons of dough per cookie about 2 inches apart onto 2 ungreased large baking sheets. Flatten cookies slightly with the back of a spoon. Bake for 12 to 14 minutes. Transfer the cookies to a cooling rack to cool.

Monday, 12:30pm. East Village, New York City. Lunch!

Mon, 23 Aug 2010 16:12:03 -0400

Monday, 12:30pm. East Village, New York City. Lunch!

Things I Did This Weekend: Made Cupcakes

Mon, 23 Aug 2010 00:00:00 -0400

On Saturday, I posted a picture of a mystery item and asked everyone what it was. It just so happens that the mysterious [edible] item was the outcome of this colorful batter:

…and a few oversized marshmallows.

Here is a picture of one in a regular sized cupcake case for comparison:

I saw these in the grocery store right next to the normal large sized marshmallows and I just had to buy them. Impulse purchase! So now you know the two components of the mystery item (and the dead giveaway from the post title), it’s safe to assume the mystery item is a cupcake. A lot of people thought it was a souffle! I guess the ramekin tricked you huh? ;) One person had the right idea (via Tumblr):

So close! This whole baking experiment would not have happened if my right hand woman, Stephanie, did not assist me in the kitchen. First, we made a basic white cake batter (you can use cake mix or use this wonderful recipe) and divided it into thirds:

Chef will probably be really mad seeing these pictures because…

…we mixed the different food colorings in his wine glasses just to be extra fancy. Sorry!

Primary colors! Just for the primary elections!

For the actual baking process, we layered the colors in each of the individual cupcake cases. The blue batter was spooned into the cases first, then the yellow layer, and finally the red. After the cupcakes were done baking, they looked like PET scans:

They’re tie-dyed cupcakes! Instead of icing it with a traditional buttercream, genius me thought it would be an excellent idea to use the oversized marshmallows I had purchased and melt it down to “ice” the cupcakes. Needless to say, I accidentally roasted them. Campfire roasted:

They look like hamburger buns; it made the cupcakes visually disappointing and unappealing since it made it look more like color barf and less like tie-dye. The insides of the cupcakes were pretty colorful and cheery though:

The colorful mess just demonstrates the hilarity of the situation…

I think I will call these [tie-dyed cupcakes] Grateful Dead cupcakes to gain bad ass points for my baking experiment gone awry.

Make your own tie-dyed cupcakes and let me know how it goes!

"‘Celebrity chef’? It’s really an oxymoron for true Chefs! Nothing is glamour[ous]..."

Sun, 22 Aug 2010 19:32:32 -0400

““‘Celebrity chef’? It’s really an oxymoron for true Chefs! Nothing is glamour[ous] in a real kitchen. It’s mentally & physically very challenging.””

- Eric Ripert. Preach.

Sunday, 3:35pm. Kips Bay, New York City. Misery loves company on...

Sun, 22 Aug 2010 16:20:00 -0400

Sunday, 3:35pm. Kips Bay, New York City. Misery loves company on a rainy day. [Yes, the cab ran away from her.]

These pictures were taken by accident because I was playing with my camera while waiting for a batch of cookies to bake. I love this city.

My best friend, photographer extraordinaire, finally posted our...

Sun, 22 Aug 2010 15:05:00 -0400

My best friend, photographer extraordinaire, finally posted our downtown food adventure! I’m sad that she didn’t post the picture of Chef in his chef tiara (aka obnoxious green colored bandanna).