Wednesday, August 29, 2012

Minnesota Fair Season

It's fair time in Minnesota! Where I grew up in central Minnesota, we had a great little county fair. I live in a much bigger town now but our fair here is pretty awful, which I attribute to our rocky terrain, therefore, a lack of a farming community here. This year I discovered that Barnum, which is in Carlton county just south of Duluth, has a fair very much like the one I remember as a child.

We traveled to the Barnum fair in mid-August, then to the Twin Cities for our state fair last week.












So now that we've seen the fairs of 2012, we've had the pleasure of seeing that despite the drought, there is a harvest happening somewhere out there. Though it has suffered and that we could see in agriculture entries at both the county and state level.

Here are some gems of the State Fair, including the Princess Kay of the Milky Way butter head sculpture, which is agreeably kind of odd and funny. But let me tell you, people love it! And if you're a fan of Cheese Curds, I know how to make them and you can find my recipe here!




We watched a demolition derby at the Barnum fair, which is basically bumper cars using real cars and the last car alive and running wins. It's insane! Our goal is to find the biggest, loudest demolition derby out there- preferably one where they serve beer. If you are aware of something that fits this description, let me know!


And we saw lots of beautiful farm animals; the thing we look forward to most at the fairs. Besides the food!


At the State Fair, we ran into some Grunzkes that I didn't know, recognizing them only because they had family shirts made for when they went through judging with their sheep! That was probably the most exciting part of our State Fair visit, which says a lot. Our State Fair is awesome. But we Grunzkes are a lively bunch and we get pretty excitable when we discover distant family that share our name.


I wrote a piece about the Minnesota State Fair and my experience in the 4-H program as a kid. The story is currently featured on the Daring Kitchen website. Here's a teaser and a link:


A Minnesota Tradition

It's an exciting time in Minnesota when we hit the dog days of summer. Our dog days are not defined by a period of lethargy. When we aren't mowing the lawn or squeezing in every possible drop of fun before the snow flies, we are bringing in the harvest. The county fairs are in full swing and we put in for our vacation days to migrate the short distance to our own state fair. The roots of farming and agriculture run deep here in Minnesota. It's no surprise our State Fair has grown to be one of the biggest in the country, 2nd only to Texas, with a current annual attendance of nearly 1.8 million people.




Do you non-Minnesotans have any county or state fair traditions? Let's hear all about it!

Monday, August 27, 2012

Almond Paris Brest with Apricot French Buttercream


Paris Brest, profiterole, croquembouche, éclair, cruller, beignet, gougère...all these fancy pastries are typically made of the same dough, called pate a choux. It's surprisingly easy to make and fun to pipe out into any shape you can imagine. The real magic happens in the oven when they blow up about three times their unbaked size, creating a hollow center for a delicious filling.










Kat of The Bobwhites was our August 2012 Daring Baker hostess who inspired us to have fun in creating pate a choux shapes, filled with crème patisserie or Chantilly cream. We were encouraged to create swans or any shape we wanted and to go crazy with filling flavors allowing our creativity to go wild!

For this challenge, I decided to make a Paris Brest, a round filled pastry of pate a choux that is piped into a ring. I piped individual dollops out next to each other so when baked, it came out in a connected circle. Kind of cool, but really just for looks. You could use this same recipe and pipe around a couple turns or keep two inches of space between your dollops to make profiteroles.


I might have bent the rules on this challenge by filling my pastry with a french buttercream though by no means out of laziness. French buttercream is an investment (not so much in skill but in time). I found the same to be true of the Paris Brest. Not really hard to do at all, but in total this project took a good chunk of time (with pleasure!). I will definitely be taking what I learned today, using these recipes pared down to simple mass produced profiteroles for future catering gigs.



The recipes below can be used for any form of baked choux pastry. You can alter the baking time and filling as you wish. The french buttercream can also be tinkered with quite easily and used for filling or frosting many desserts.

Wouldn't this little guy be awesome as an almond choux with pear filling??











Almond Paris Brest with Apricot French Buttercream
You can find the original Daring Bakers challenge recipes for pate a choux swans and pastry creams here.

Choux Pastry (pate a choux)
Use a large pan for this. When you whisk in the eggs you'll want plenty of room to groove.

½ cup butter
1 cup water
¼ teaspoon salt
1 1/2 teaspoons almond extract
1 cup all-purpose flour
4 large eggs, room temp

Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Preheat oven to 375°F.

In a large sauce pan, combine butter, water, and salt. Heat over medium until the butter melts, then remove from stove. Let this cool off the heat for 2 minutes.

Add flour all at once and beat the mixture fiercely with a whisk until the dough pulls away from the sides of the pot.

Add one egg, and beat until well combined. Add remaining eggs individually, beating vigorously after each addition.

The mixture should be somewhat glossy, very smooth, and very thick but not stiff.

If desired, prepare your parchment by tracing coins or poker chips set in perfect circle with a dark pencil. Flip your paper over and you'll be able see the pattern from above. Pipe dollops of dough that are barely touching each other with a half inch round tip or a bag with the corner snipped off.

Bake for 20 to 30 minutes until golden and puffed. Remove from the oven and release the steam from the side of each puff with the tip of a knife or a skewer. Slice in half horizontally with an intact top layer if possible, or slice the cap off each puff. Remove any excess clumps of dough from the centers and return to the oven, doughy side up, for several minutes to dry up a bit. Cool completely on a wire rack before filling.

Apricot French Buttercream

5 large egg yolks, room temp
1/4 cup white granulated sugar
1/4 cup honey
1/2 melted apricot jam, pressed through a wire strainer to remove lumps (a 10 ounce jar will produce this amount) or use apricot syrup
1¼ cup (2½ sticks) unsalted butter, room temp
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 teaspoons flavorful liquid of choice (fruity wine, juice, milk or cream)

Put the egg yolks in a mixing bowl. Beat at high speed until the yolks have doubled in volume and are lemon yellow.

Put the sugar, honey and apricot syrup in a pan and cook over medium heat, stirring until all the sugar is dissolved and the syrup reaches exactly 235°F (or thread stage) on a digital thermometer.

With the mixer on high, very slowly pour the syrup down the side of the bowl, until all has been added. Be careful as the very hot syrup could burn you if it splashes from the beaters. Continue beating on high until the mixture is ROOM TEMPERATURE (about 15 mins).

Still on high, beat in the butter a tablespoon at a time. Add vanilla and 2 teaspoons of liquid after you beat in the butter.

Refrigerate the buttercream for at least an hour, and whip it smooth just before you use it.

Assembly:
Pipe buttercream using a round tip onto the center of each circle that creates your ring. Place the top on your Paris Brest and press lightly, keeping some of the buttercream exposed. Dust with a mixture of one part ground cinnamon and one part powdered sugar. Pipe one little spot of buttercream onto the center of each circle and place 2 almond slices into the cream in a pattern.

Tuesday, August 21, 2012

Creamy Sauteed Mushroom and Rutabaga Soup

I LOVE SOUP!


The weather has cooled a bit, the leaves are changing or thinking of it, the county fairs are wrapping up and the state fair is just around the corner. I must make soup, I've missed it so!

This is one of my best soup recipes. Earthy and creamy, thickened perfectly with oatmeal (of all things- try it!)...it's an easy and relaxing dish to whip up after work on a crisp day.


Creamy Mushroom and Oatmeal Soup:

The ingredients in this recipe can be easily modified.

For my version, you will need:

Oil and butter
Salt and pepper
Dried or fresh thyme
1/2 of a smallish medium rutabaga, peeled and cut into a large dice
1 medium onion, diced small
2 heaping cups of mushrooms; sliced, roughly chopped and diced small. I use cremini, oyster and enoki mushrooms.
5 cloves garlic, roughly chopped
Flour, about 1/4 cup
4 to 6 cups broth, any kind, see here for an easy homemade recipe
1 cup chopped cooked chicken (can be omitted for vegetarian)
1 cup old fashioned oats
Heavy cream, about 1/4 cup

Using a wide-bottomed soup pot, cover the bottom of the pot with a thin coat of oil and add 2 tablespoons of butter. Over medium heat, lightly brown your rutabaga with a pinch of kosher salt, about 5 minutes. Add your onion and cook for about another 5 minutes, stirring often, until the onions are starting to color as well.

Push the rutabaga and onion to the edges of pot and throw your largest pieces of mushroom into the center (not the small diced mushrooms yet). If there's no fat in the center of your pan, add a tablespoon of butter in with the mushrooms. Stir them around in the center for a minute, then let them brown on one side without stirring for several minutes. Add your small diced mushrooms and garlic. If using dried thyme, add a pinch (about 1/2 teaspoon) at this point. Add another pinch of kosher salt. Stir everything in the pot together and cook until the color is a dark golden brown and the rutabagas are still firm but tender.

You should be able to see fat bubbling all around in the pan. If not, add a couple tablespoons of butter. Sprinkle the top of the veggies with flour to cover most of them with a light dusting (about 1/4 cup). Stir the flour in and cook for a couple minutes, stirring here and there.

Add enough broth to cover everything by an inch or so, raise the heat and bring to a boil while stirring vigorously, scraping the bits off the bottom as you do. Reduce the heat to medium low and simmer for several minutes.

Stir in oatmeal, chicken and if using fresh thyme, add about a small tablespoon of the leaves at this point. Simmer for 5 minutes.

Remove from heat and add cream. Salt and pepper to taste. This soup is good with lots of pepper and grated sharp cheddar. And like most soups, it's better the next day. If you're making this for company, do it the day before and reheat over low with a splash of milk if it seems too thick. The soup keeps in the fridge and also the freezer.

Sunday, August 19, 2012

Summer Vegetable Sides

Wilted Lettuce
and
Creamy Dilled Zucchini


These two recipes are my absolute favorite vegetable sides on the planet!

Wilted lettuce is a dish I grew up on. The hot fried bacon pieces are simply hit with vinegar and sugar to create a delicious warm dressing for the garden lettuce to wilt into. I could eat this every day over anything, hands down.

This zucchini dish is all at once fresh, rich and creamy; made with a dressing of sour cream, mayo and milk with a handful of fresh dill and lot of cracked black pepper. I love dill in the summer and this is one of my favorite uses of the fresh herb.

Wilted Lettuce:
For one head of chopped lettuce (wilts down to the amount pictured):

I use a nice leafy green lettuce for this. You can use romaine or spring greens or even fresh spinach.

Chop 3 strips of good thick cut bacon into pieces and brown over medium heat in a large skillet. Deglaze the pan with 1/4 cup of wine vinegar or rice vinegar. Don't stick your nose or eyes in there at this time! You will regret it if you do! Stir in 2 tablespoons of sugar and taste. Adjust vinegar and sugar and add salt to taste. Reduce your heat to low and toss your chopped lettuce into the sauce. Continue to toss until the leaves are beginning to wilt and the size of your pile of greens has reduced by half. Add cracked black pepper to taste. Remove from heat and rest, tossing here and there for about five minutes. The greens will continue to wilt off the heat (especially if you're using a cast iron pan). Season with salt and pepper if needed. This is good anywhere from hot to barely warm.


Creamy Dilled Zucchini:
To fill an 8 by 8 pan.

Preheat your oven to 400F.

Slice a medium sized zucchini into one inch discs. Place them in a pan in a single layer.

In a small bowl, whisk together 1/2 cup sour cream, a dollop of mayo and enough milk or cream to create a thick but pourable sauce. Fold in 1/8 cup fresh dill, finely chopped.

Pour the sauce over the zucchini slices and sprinkle with a generous pinch of kosher salt and lots of cracked black pepper. You may also want to add a few cloves of chopped garlic at this point.

Bake until the top is browning; about 20 minutes. Remove from the oven and cool for a bit until it's able to be eaten. Season with salt and pepper on the plate.

Enjoy!

Sunday, August 12, 2012

Brown Sugar Casted Chocolates

Brown sugar is the perfect medium for casting poured chocolate in a homemade mold. This simple project will set your imagination wild!



Press any convex object of choice firmly into packed brown sugar, pour melted chocolate chips into the mold and wait for it to set up.

You can flavor your chocolate with spices, citrus zest- or even salt and pepper!

I am picturing chess pieces, stones, vintage buttons, little hands and feet...all in different shades of chocolate...




This is a fun project for kids- especially since it takes very little set up (or clean up) and there's not a lot of waiting around to see your results. My girls used shells, legos and various little figurines for their molds. Some of the girls' chocolates didn't turn out like they imagined but no problem- just remelt your chocolate, reset your sugar and try again!


I love projects that aren't tedious and don't have a lot invested so there's not that fear of a failed product. Get your creative juices flowing and enjoy!

Brown Sugar Casted Chocolates:
You can find a blurb about this technique in the amazing SprinkleBakes book (highly recommended!) highlighted here.

The brown sugar will create a grainy texture on the surface of your chocolates. There's no way around this as far as I know.

Fill a bowl or pan with an inch or two of brown sugar. Smooth it flat and press it lightly (not loose but not very tightly packed).

Press clean items that are convex in shape firmly into the sugar. Do not twist or turn- pull straight out so you don't break any ridges on the way out.

Melt chocolate chips in a double boiler (or a heat-proof bowl set in a pan of shallow boiling water, not letting the bowl touch the water). Or you can heat the chocolate in the microwave in half minute intervals until it's all melted.

Add spices, zest or sprinkles to the mold before pouring chocolate if you want them to appear on the surface of the candy. Pour melted chocolate into the impression made in the brown sugar. Place in refrigerator or freezer until firmly set (20 minutes to an hour depending on size).

Pull out the candy with its surrounding sugar and run the hardened chocolate under cold water to remove the sugar. If you have many you can place them in a pan of cold water for a few minutes, then rinse with cold water and pat dry. I found it useful to use a soft toothbrush to gently remove the sugar as I ran cold water over each piece.

I hope you try this project at home and have fun with it! Enjoy your day!

Saturday, August 4, 2012

Creamy Garlic, Portabella and Potato Pizza

This pizza is a beautiful sight and would you believe it tastes better than it looks?!





I've seen lots of tedious recipes for potato pizza that involve soaking potatoes in multiple changes of water or precooking them or making the white sauce separately. You won't believe how easy this recipe is (none of the above) and the outcome is both pretty and impressively tasty. I also like how this recipe begs for subtle variation in flavors- about a million come to mind!








In she goes


and out she comes!


Creamy Garlic and Portabella Potato Pizza:
For my version, you will need:
yeast
sugar
water
salt
flour
oil
potato (russet)
garlic
heavy cream
fresh nutmeg
cheese (cheddar and parmesean)
portabella cap
salt and pepper
(for your version you can reduce, increase or substitute as you wish!)

You can use any favorite pizza dough recipe. Here's mine:

Overnight Pizza Crust:


Mix together 2 tablespoons active dry yeast, 1 teaspoon sugar and 3/4 cup warm water in a medium bowl. Let it rest several minutes until foamy.

Add a half teaspoon of salt, one tablespoon oil and up to 2 cups of bread flour, one half cup at a time, and mix with a wooden spoon until the dough pulls together in a wad around the spoon. Turn it onto a well-floured counter, sprinkle the dough with flour and knead for several minutes or until the dough is smooth and not sticking badly to clean hands as you knead (add sprinkles of flour as you knead until the stickiness subsides).

Place the dough in a lightly oiled bowl and cover with greased plastic wrap. Place in the refrigerator overnight or do this in the morning and leave it in the fridge until dinner. An hour before you start prepping for the pizza, punch down the dough and knead it a couple times. Put it back in the bowl to rest at room temperature. When you're ready to start prepping the pizza, spread the dough out onto a well-greased 15 inch pan or pizza stone (preferred), using your fingers. Try to make the dough as thin as possible and push it all the way to the edges.

For the pizza:

Preheat your oven to 450F. Put one rack in the center of the oven and one on the lowest level possible.

Slice one large russet potato, with the skin, very thin and uniformly. Roughly chop 6 cloves of garlic. Thinly slice one large portabella mushroom. Shred one half cup sharp cheddar and one quarter cup parmigiano-reggiano.

Lay out the potato slices on your unbaked crust, starting in the center and slightly overlapping as you go in a circle. Stop an inch before the edge. Lightly sprinkle with kosher salt and lots of black pepper. Shave a very small bit of freshly grated nutmeg over the potatoes (or none if you don't have fresh!). Drizzle heavy whipping cream to lightly cover most every inch of the potato slices. Sprinkle with the chopped garlic and all of the cheese. Lay the mushroom slices on the pizza in your desired pattern and sprinkle lightly with kosher salt again. Fold the inch of dough around the edge up and over the edge of the toppings. Drizzle the mushrooms lightly with olive oil.

Bake for 25 minutes in the center of your oven. When it's golden brown, move to the bottom of the oven and finish baking until the under-side of the crust is well browned, up to 10 minutes more. If your cheese looks well browned before the crust is done, open your oven so the bottom heating element stays on continuously (if you have a standard electric oven). This will slow the cooking of the top and speed up the browning of the bottom.

I like mine with one more sprinkle of salt and pepper, served along side a green salad. Eat warm and prepare to swoon.

Enjoy!
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