Challahback Girl

I think my big city snobbery is wearing thin on my friends and family here at home. 'What do you mean the library's closed Sundays AND Mondays?' 'What do you mean the traffic lights turn off after midnight?' 'What do you mean there's no Jewish bakery??' The last one however can be compensated for. St. Viateur Bagel from Montreal (the best of all the bagels, in my opinion) delivers to a local grocery store, making for easier access than in Toronto. As soon as I have access to a freezer of my own aka when I sort of grow up, it will be stocked with mail-ordered bagels, ice cream and booze. Somewhat surprisingly, I am not in fact obese.

But bagels are only one part of the equation. Homemade challah is something I've made several times and never falls short of delicious.

Challah (Cook's Illustrated)

• 3 1/4 cups all-purpose flour, extra for dusting workspace
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 1 envelope (2 1/4 tsp) instant yeast
• 1 1/4 tsp salt
• 2 large eggs + 1 yolk
• 4 tbsp/1 stick/56 g unsalted butter, melted (I hate butter conversions)
  
• 1/2 cup + 1 tbsp hot water
• 1 egg white
• 1 tsp poppy or sesame seeds (optional, but adds deliciousness)
  

1. Whisk together 3 cups flour, sugar, yeast and salt. Mix together 2 eggs, yolk, melted butter, and 1/2 cup water in bowl of standing mixer fitted with dough hook (if a KitchenAid mixer with all the attachments is the only reason you would get married, except possibly for EU citizenship, and that day has yet to come, use your hands-it works for me). Add flour mixture to wet mixture; knead at low speed until dough ball forms, about 5 minutes, adding remaining 1/4 cup flour, 1 tablespoon at a time, as needed to prevent the dough from sticking (this will take a bit longer by hand). Whisk reserved egg white with remaining 1 tbsp water in small bowl, cover and refrigerate.
2. Transfer dough to lightly oiled large bowl, turning dough over to coat with oil. Cover with plastic wrap and let rise until doubled in size, 1 1/2 to 2 hours. Gently press dough to deflate, cover with plastic wrap, and let rise until doubled in size again, 40-60 minutes. (Rising will go quicker in a warm area, I always end up sticking the bowl on top of the fridge-warm air rises and all that)
3. Lightly grease large baking sheet and set aside. Transfer dough to lightly floured workspace. Divide dough into 2 pieces, one roughly half the size of the other. Divide large piece into 3 equal pieces. Roll each piece into 16-inch rope, about 1 inch in diameter. Line up ropes side by side and pinch ends together. Braid, and pinch other ends together. Place braid on baking sheet. Do the same with the smaller piece of dough, brushing some of the egg white mixture on the top of the larger braid before placing smaller braid on top, as shown. Loosely drape loaf with plastic wrap and let rise until loaf becomes puffy and increases in size by one third, 30-45 minutes.
4. Heat oven to 175˚. Brush loaf with remaining egg wash and sprinkle with poppy or sesame seeds, if using. Bake until loaf is goldern brown and instant-read thermometer inserted into side of loaf reads 190˚, 30-40 minutes. Place baking sheet on wire rack. Cool loaf completely before slicing.

Green Tea Ice Cream

Damn, matcha powder is expensive. It compensates by being absurdly potent, I guess. After sushi comes green tea (or red bean, or sometimes mango or ginger) ice cream, and I knew this was one step of the sushi experience I could recreate.

Once again I am using the Perfect Scoop as my ice cream bible, it has yet to wrong me.

Green Tea Ice Cream

• 1 cup whole milk
• 3/4 cup sugar (don't skimp, you could even add a bit)
• pinch of salt
• 2 cups heavy cream
• 4 tsp matcha powder (can be found in fancy supermarkets/tea shops/asian groceries)
• 6 large egg yolks

Warm milk, sugar and salt in a medium saucepan. Pour cream into a large bowl and whisk in matcha powder. Set a mesh strainer on top.
In a separate medium bowl, whisk together the egg yolks. Slowly pour the warm mixture into the egg yolks, whisking constantly, then scrape the warmed egg yolks back into the saucepan.
Stir constantly over medium heat until you reach custard consistency, coating the spatula. Don't let it boil! Pour the custard through the strainer and stir it into the cream, whisking vigorously to dissolve the matcha. Stir until cool over an ice bath.
Chill in the refrigerator overnight, and freeze according to your machine's intructions.

Strawberry Shortcakes

Strawberry season is coming to an end so you should be able to get lots of delicious berries for cheap, perfect for baking.

The biscuits are not that fussy and a huge improvement over supermarket yellow/orange-y sponge 'shortcakes'. Whipped cream is pretty much whipped cream, no real need to DIY. You can macerate the berries and prep the dough before dinner, whip the cream while they're baking and have them assembled within 1/2 an hour.


From Baking Illustrated: Serves ~8

Fruit

• 8 cups strawberries (~2 1/2 pounds), hulled
• 6 tbsp sugar

1. Place 3 cups of the hulled strawberries in a large bowl and crush with a potato masher (or spoon). Slice the remaining 5 cups berries and stir into the crushed berries along with the sugar. Set the fruit aside to macerate for at least 30 minutes and up to 2 hours.

Shortcakes

• 2 cups all-purpose flour+extra for dusting workspace
• 5 tbsp sugar
• 1 tbsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 8 tbsp cold unsalted butter, cut into 1/2-inch cubes
• 1 large egg, lightly beaten
• 1/2 cup plus 1 tablespoon whole milk or half-and-half
• 1 large eggwhite, lightly beaten

1. Heat oven to 425˚. In a food processor (or by hand) mix the flour, 3 tbsp of the sugar, baking powder and salt. Scatter the butter pieces over and process (or mix) until the mixture resembles coarse meal, about 15 1-second pulses. Transfer to a medium bowl (if using a processor, duh).
2. Mix the beaten egg with the whole milk in a measuring cup. Pour the egg mixture into the bowl with the flour mixture. Combine with a spatula until large clumps form. Turn the mixture onto a floured workspace and lightly knead until it comes together.
3. Use your fingertips to pat the dough into a 9 by 6-inch rectangle about 3/4 inch thick, being careful not to overwork the dough. Flour a 2 3/4 inch biscuit cutter and cut out 6 dough rounds (you can probably get a couple more). Place the rounds 1 inch apart on a small baking sheet, brush with the beaten egg white, and sprinkle the remaining 2 tbsp sugar. (Dough rounds can be covered and refrigerated for up to 2 hours before baking.)
4. Bake until the shortcakes are golden brown, 12-14 minutes. Place the baking sheet on a wire rack and cool the cakes until warm, about 10 minutes.

Whipped Cream: If you want to take a shortcut, this is the place-canned whipped cream, cool whip, etc., are all acceptable

• 1 cup heavy cream
• 1 tbsp sugar (superfine/confectioners preferred)
  

1. You will get better results if you chill the bowl and beaters in the freezer for at least 20 minutes before starting. Using a hand-held or stand mixer, combine the sugar and cream and beat on slow, then medium until it looks like the consistency of whipped cream. Taste and add more sugar if you want.

Assembly:
Spilt the shortcakes in half (they will likely have a slight natural crack). Place each bottom on a plate, spoon on some berries, then cream. Top with the tops. If you wanna get crazy but some more berries and cream up top, or venture into the world of multi-decker shortcakes if you dare. Serve immediately.

Restrictions, schmrestrictions

Tonight I made dinner for a friend with both a gluten and lactose allergy. Thank god she is no longer vegetarian. Really, this isn't that limiting. I even made cookies for dessert (meringues) but they were less than photogenic so maybe I'll catch them on a repeat.

I barbecued sirloin medallions rubbed with rosemary, oregano, salt and pepper and olive oil.

The salad is awesome and often made. Even salad/vegetable haters love it. The dressing is key, if you're saving leftovers make sure to save dressing as well or plan to make more.

Chopped Salad (serves 8)

• 2 large orange or red bell peppers
• 2 ears fresh corn or 230g frozen kernels
• 1 tbsp olive oil
• kosher salt & ground pepper
• 2 large ripe tomatoes, cored, seeded, cut into small dice
• 1 small jicama (Mexican root vegetable, not a strong flavour but crunchy), peeled and cut into small dice
• 2 large firm-ripe avocados, peeled, pitted and cut into small dice
• 1 can black beans ~15 oz
• fresh cilantro, coarsely chopped

Vinaigrette

• Garlic, 1 small clove
• 1/4 tsp Kosher salt
• 45 ml lime juice
• 45 ml orange juice
• 1 shallot, finely chopped
• Spoonful of honey
• 4 ml cumin seed, toasted and finely ground
• 60 ml extra-virgin olive oil
• fresh ground pepper

1. Roasting peppers and corn (A): Position the rack in the centre of the oven and heat to 425˚. Line a heavy-duty rimmed baking sheet wil foil. Cut the peppers in half lengthwise and remove the stem, core, and ribs. Put the pepper halves on the sheet cut side down. Husk the corn and put the ears on the baking sheet. Drizzle the oil over the peppers and corn, and rub around to coat the peppers and kernels evenly. Sprinkle the corn with salt and pepper and roast in the oven until the peppers are soft and slightly shriveled and browned and the corn kernels are lightly browned ina few spots, about 20 minutes (rotate the corn occasionally as it toasts). Let them rest until cool enough to handle. Cut the kernels from the cobs. You should have about 1 1/2 cups. Scrape away the charred pepper skin and cut the flesh into small dice.

1. Stove-top roasting the peppers and frozen corn niblets (B): The peppers can be roasted on a screen over a stove-top gas burner over a high flame: keep turning until most of the skin is blistered. Put in a deep bowl and cover with a lid or plate until cooled enough to handle. When the vegetables are done, let them rest until cool enough to handle.
You can start from frozen corn kernels, pan-roasting them on the stove top in a cast-iron or non-stick frying pan on high heat. Add a bit of oil to the hot pan, add the corn frozen or thawed, and salt and pepper. Stir from time to time until a fair portion of the kernels are slightly browned.
Scrape away the charred pepper skin and cut the flesh into small dice.

2. Make the vinaigrette: Mince and mash the garlic to a paste with the slat. In a medium bowl whisk the garlic paste with the lime and orange juices, shallot, honey and toasted cumin. Slowly add the oil in a thin stream, whisking until well blended. Season to taste with black pepper and more salt and honey, if you like.

3. Chop all the salad ingredients up to 4 hours ahead and store them in separate covered containers in the fridge. Make the vinaigrette ahead as well if you want.

4. Assemble the salad: Artfully arrange strips of the corn, tomatoes, peppers, jicama, avocado and black beans on a small platter or other wide shallow serving dish. Sprinkle with the chopped cilantro. Serve the vinaigrette in a pitcher. Encourage guests to spoon elements of the salad onto their plates and drizzle on some of the vinaigrette. Or drizzle the vinaigrette over the whole salad just before serving.

(obvi my dad's writing)

So yes, a lot of prep work, chopping practice, but basically simple, looks impressive, tastes awesome, great summer-y food.

Raspberry Swirl Ice Cream

From David Leibovitz's The Perfect Scoop.

The ice cream-maker possibly older than I am started to show it's age during this operation-motor stalling, strange noises. Thankfully it made it through.

This ice cream is divine, and luckily I bought enough extra berries to eat some Amélie-style before getting started. Like most ice creams, I started making the custard the night before so it could chill for 8+ hours.


Ice Cream (night before)

• 1 cup whole milk (homo milk in Canada)
• 2/3 cup sugar
• Pinch of salt
• 1 1/2 cups heavy cream (whipping cream)
• 5 large egg yolks (this means meringues coming up soon)
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
  

1. Warm the milk, sugar, and salt in a medium saucepan. Pour the cream into a large bowl and set a mesh strainer over the top.
2. In a separate medium bowl, whisk together the egg yolks. Slowly pour the warm milk into the egg yolks, whisking constantly, then scrape the warmed egg yolks back into the saucepan.
3. Stir the mixture constantly over medium heat with a heatproof spatula, scraping the bottom as you stir, until the mixture thickens and coats the spatula. Pour the custard through the strainer and stir it into the cream. Add the vanilla and stir until cool over an ice bath (put bowl into larger bowl filled with ice/ice water). Chill thouroughly (ideally overnight) in the refrigerator.

Raspberry Swirl

• 1 1/2 cups raspberries
• 3 tablespoons sugar
• 1 tablespoon vodka (tempura, ice cream, who knew?)

1. An hour or so before churning the ice cream, make the raspberry swirl by mashing the raspberries together with the sugar and vodka with a fork, until they're juicy but with nice-sized chunks of raspberries remaining. Chill until ready to use.

Go Time
1. Freeze the ice cream custard in your ice cream maker (in my case, this means buying a bag of ice, crushing it up, packing the ice cream maker with said ice and coarse salt, and putting the custard in the inner container to churn.) As you remove it from the machine, layer it in the container with spoonfuls of the chilled raspberry swirl mixture.

Breakfast for dinner

Possibly the ultimate lazy/delicious dinner: breakfast. The meal so nice I ate it twice.

Poached eggs on toast + bacon=heavenly and ready in 5 minutes. Poached eggs have become my thing lately. My mom always ate them and the texture grossed me out, I preferred my 'scrambled egg on toast', not really scrambled eggs but an egg fried into toast shape and then pre-cut (egg and toast!) by my dad...Poached eggs on toast is my way of proving I'm almost a grown-up now.

Real ICE CREAM post tomorrow.

Oprah Burgers

Okay, really, they are turkey burgers. But they come to me via oprah.com. Apparently Oprah dedicated a show to sandwiches, and had Gayle drive across the country eating. Why oh why do I have to work a day job? That is my kind of tv, and sounds way better than James Frey confessionals and car give-a-ways.


They were not as epic as Oprah promised, although I did scale down the recipe for 3 and the proportion of stuff to burger was a little high, and I didn't have time to let them firm up in the fridge. But they were pretty tasty (served with apricot and jalapeño chutney) and I intend to re-attempt. Grilling next to them are eggplant and red peppers served with mint-cumin dressing that was pretty much the bomb.com, courtesy of Cook's Illustrated.