Experiment: Dessert Calzones

Well, since there was so much interest in these I figured I should post about them next. Before we even get started though, I want to make one point: more experiments are clearly needed. While delicious, these things were a disaster. What I had envisioned were two-bite size calzones, full of sweet goodiness, easy to eat with your hands. What I got were sticky, exploded, two-bite size calzones and you needed to take a shower after eating them. They were tasty though. Details? Sure.

I made four different kinds, peanut butter and strawberry jam, peanut butter and chocolate and the same again but with marshmallow. I made them just like a regular calzone, only much smaller. Maybe three inches by five or so. I dolloped the peanut butter on and then the jam or chocolate and then, if it was getting it, half a large marshmallow. Then I sealed them up, with varying amounts of visual appeal. Brushed them with melted butter and sprinkled them with sugar. Then I baked them like regular calzones, 500 degrees on parchment (if they explode it doesn't get all over your stone). This is what the ones without marshmallow looked like. Sort of, sorry about the pic. I'm sure most of you see at least one problem here. The vent I cut in one of them was way too huge. This was part of my explosion issue. But even the one with smaller vents exploded. What is needed is something to hold up the dough so the filling doesn't ooze out. As you can see in this cross-section, the marshmallow did just this. and the chocolate and peanut butter stayed in. But the marshmallow itself oozed out and completely disappeared. I was thinking maybe chunks of brownie or some other dense cake would work, with some caramel and hot fudge in there. Or maybe nuts. Or even a whole strawberry or chunks of apple. I did make a calzone once that had apple pie filling in it, that worked out well. But like I said, more experiments. Any ideas, kids?

One pleasant surprise: the filling that oozed out turned into a crispy caramel/toffee kind of thing that was quite good.Who'd have guessed?

Experiment: Spicy Ginger Ramen

2 cups broth or stock
1 package ramen (sans seasoning packet)
couple tbls minced onion
1 clove of garlic
1/3 tsp ground ginger
1 dried tien tsin pepper
splash of rice wine vinegar
salt and pepper to taste

Saute the onion for a minute. Then add the garlic and the pepper. Add the stock, ginger, any salt and pepper that is needed and vinegar and bring it to a boil. Add the noodles and cook till done. Remove the pepper before serving.

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Part of my cold is some serious congestion, so naturally I wanted something spicy. I've had these kicking around for months, waiting for me to make kung pao chicken. I haven't gotten around to that yet, but when you want spicy they are the way to go. 60,000 heat units and they still have a lot of flavor. Good times, kids. So I decided to just wing it and make myself some spicy noodles. They came out really good. I used the chicken stock I got in my Emeril package from Foodbuzz (thanks Foodbuzz!).

I'm not really an Emeril fan, I'll admit it. He is a little too... much for me. I don't want to be yelled at while I'm cooking (apparently that's all cooking school is, according to my buddy who went to Johnson and Wales. So I'm glad I never went.) and I don't think yelling at the food makes it any better. Plus he reminds me a lot of a really obnoxious truck driver I used to work with. They're both from Fall River and sound exactly the same, right down to no volume control. Always using their outside voices. Anyway, the stock was good. Not as good as homemade, clearly, but better than the cheapo store brand stock my mom would buy if she didn't have any homemade on hand. I loved the horseradish mustard that came with it, but I haven't tried the spices yet.

Ok, cold medicine induced rambling aside, lets make some spicy noodles! It's wicked easy.

First I sauteed up the onion for a bit, then added the garlic and one (1) pepper. Just one. I could have done more and still been able to eat it, but one was just right. It burned a bit and cleared my sinuses up, but didn't keep me from from being able to taste the dish or promptly going back for more. I love spicy food, but if it's so spicy I can't taste it then what's the point? Oh and these are peppers that are best handled with gloves. Seriously. These little ladies aren't messing around. They aren't the hottest peppers in the world, but they're hotter than cayenne and jalapenos. Oh, and when you're sauteing you want to be careful that it doesn't break, that would move the dish from spicy to weapons grade. Just so you know. But once that's all set you want to add the stock. I tasted it and it wanted salt. Which is another tally on the plus side for the stock, it isn't wicked salty straight from the container. I also added a little black pepper, because I'm like that. And the ginger. I wish I had had fresh ginger for it, but I didn't. But fresh would have been amazing. The stock was quite rich too, also good, so I added a splash of vinegar to lighten it up. Then it was noodle time. I used Top Ramen, I think. I still have the seasoning packet that I didn't use kicking around somewhere, but it doesn't really matter. Any packaged ramen will do fine, this isn't haute cuisine here. But that's it, once the noodles are cooked, a great dish for when you are sick and want something spicy and light. It would be even lighter with broth instead of stock, if you're into that. Some bean sprouts or shredded carrot would have been nice too, or even some chopped cucumber.Oh and you do want to remove the pepper before you eat, even if you are using it as a garnish. Unless you're my dad, then go nuts. Heh.

Experiment: Wicked Simple Apple Coffee Cake

3/4 cups sugar
1/2 cup (1 stick) softened butter
2 eggs
1 1/2 cups flour
3/4 tsp salt
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 cup plus 2 tbls milk
2 apples
1 tsp vanilla
3 tsps (or so) ground cinnamon
3 tsps (or so) sugar

Butter an 8x8 pan and line it with a parchment sling. Preheat the oven to 350. Peel, core and chop the apples. In a bowl, combine the chopped apples with one (of the 3) tsps of cinnamon and sugar. Set them aside. Cream together the butter and 3/4 cup of sugar. Add the eggs and vanilla, mix to combine. Add the flour, salt and baking powder and mix that in well. Add the milk and mix for a couple minutes. Pour of any juices the apples have put out and fold them into the batter. Pour the batter in the prepared pan and sprinkle the remaining cinnamon and sugar on top. Bake till a toothpick comes out clean or with a few crumbs, about 35-45 minutes.

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So I had some apples that needed using. Plus those duck eggs that I wanted to make a cake out of. An apple coffee cake seemed in order. I was feeling lazy though and didn't want to make struesel. Now, I love struesel but it can be a pain in the ass. Then I remembered reading in a Cooks Illustrated (I think) that you can get a decent topping with just cinnamon and sugar and decided to try it out. The main cake part is just a half batch of cocoa ripple ring, since that cake is pretty hardy and could handle the fruit. Although I also took some steps to reduce the amount of liquid the apples would put out, but we'll get to that later. Unless you cheated and read the recipe first. Which you probably did. So we'll just get right to it then.

First, prep an 8x8 pan. Butter it up and then put a parchment paper sling in there. The sling is great if you want to take the cake out of the pan before cutting it. It's not really necessary, but it's kind of fun and makes things a lot easier. You should also start macerating your apples in a teaspoon or so of sugar and cinnamon.I only used one apple, but I wish I had done it with two. Now you want to cream your butter and sugar. Then add the eggs and vanilla. Duck eggs, baby. Look at those yolks! See how dark that is? That means rich taste kids. Because it's almost all fat. Yeah. Next the dry ingedients, then the milk. Mix it for several minutes. Now you want to pour off any liquid that the apples put out. All that liquid that came out of them is moisture that isn't going into the cake. This helps keep it from getting gummy. The macerating might even be something you want to start a half hour or so before you get the batter ready, but I didn't have any problems. Course, I also only used one apple. What to do with all that macerating liquid you ask? Well... I just drank it. Mmmm, appley.Anyway, fold in the apples and pour it all into the prepped pan. Now sprinkle the top with a couple teaspoons of cinnamon and sugar. I didn't measure it, but next time I'm going to add more. At least more cinnamon. Maybe even totally cover the top with it, but I'm not sure yet. Now it's just bakies and there it is. A wicked simple apple coffee cake. It was very good. Sure, streusel is a better topping, but it's nowhere near as easy. And this was actually quite nice, it came out a little crispy and had plenty of flavor, even if didn't have any body to speak of. So, if you're in a rush(or just feeling lazy, heh), this topping will do just fine. But if I have the time and patience, I'm going to make streusel.

Experiment: Crash Hot Potato, Egg and Cheese Bake

crash hot potatoes
cheese (I used cheddar/mozzarella)
eggs

add in ideas: bacon, peppers, onions, prosciutto, salsa, sausage, garlic, cream cheese, pineapple, spicy shredded chicken,white sauce, ham, jalapenos, cream,
more butter

Preheat the oven to 450. Heavily butter a 7-8 oz ramekin and place a crash hot potato on the bottom. Put as much cheese as you want, plus anything else you're putting in, on top and toss it in the oven to start the cheese melting, maybe 3 minutes or so. Take it out of the oven and let it cool a bit, then put 1-2 eggs on top, depending on the size of the ramekin. Place in the oven in a hot water bath and cook for 10-15 minutes. Serve.

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This will look somewhat familiar to some of you since I basically stole the idea from a post over at Culinary Alchemy. I saw it and thought "That looks awesome. I have fresh eggs. I'm making it tomorrow." And I did, sort of. Something like it anyway. I didn't have cream so I couldn't do that, more's the pity. And I used a different kind of cheese. And instead of sliced potato (Shane either has bad ass knife skills or a mandolin) I used a crash hot potato. So I suppose we could say I adapted it, that sounds better than stealing. Heh.

First, I whipped up some crash hot potatoes. I'll take any excuse to make these bad boys. These were very simply seasoned, just butter on top (instead of olive oil), garlic powder, onion powder, salt and pepper. Then I buttered the hell out of a 2 cup casserole dish. I was going to use my 7 oz ramekins, but I didn't feel like fiddling with more than one dish. Next came about a potato and a half. If I had been using the ramekins it would have been one per. Then I put a mixture of extra sharp cheddar and a little mozzarella on top and baked it for a couple minutes at 450. Just to get it a bit melty. I let it cool for a couple minutes and then cracked in some eggs. I used three because they were tiny. Three in the palm of my hand tiny. Here I ran into my major problem (other than not having cream). You see, crash hot potatoes aren't very smooth. So the eggs wanted to escape down the sides. I actually lost a yolk to the bottom of the dish. Next time I'm going to be a bit more careful about that, level out the top a bit, make a well or something. But you can't put eggs back in the shell, so I put the whole mess in the oven. Is that a real saying? "Can't put eggs back in the shell"? Seems like I've heard it before...

Anyway, I put it in a hot water bath, although I don't think I did it right, and cooked it for... a while. I kind of lost track of time. I think ten minutes would have been ideal, but it was a bit longer than that. The yolks were a little more done than I wanted, but still creamy. Overall it was awesome. Even if it looked like a chicken, in a Ren & Stimpy kind of way. Next time I'm going to have cream on hand, maybe add some garlic and onion too. And bacon. It's got to have bacon.

Experiment: Pan Seared Brown Butter Peaches

Yeah. I don't have a recipe for this one either, sorry. This is the first incarnation of what will probably be many. I did it on a whim and while it was good, it wasn't... complete. Next time (probably tomorrow) I will use brown sugar instead of white and maybe some cinnamon. I'm also tempted to add a pinch of salt, to both heighten the flavor and pull out some of the juices. I have this vision of peach juice, melted brown sugar and browned butter turning into a faux caramel mixture kind of thing. I don't know if that's actually going to happen, but I'm going to try. For those of you who are keeping score at home, here is what I did.

First, I got my butter going (I used about a half tablespoon). I figured it should be just starting to brown when I put the peaches on, otherwise it runs the risk of burning. That took just a couple minutes. Then I cut a peach in half. I figure one peach is a portion (fruit is good and all), but you could do half per person and still have it be fine. I sprinkled them with some sugar and plopped them onto the pan. I used nonstick heated to medium/medium high for this. Once they had browned up I plopped some in a bowl, poured the browned butter in the convenient hollow where the pit had been and thought "This could use some ice cream". So I put some ice cream on there. It was Hagen Daaz caramelized pear and pecan. It went really well with it. I think making a reduction with the browned butter, whatever juices the peach puts out, any leftover sugar and a sweet wine would be good. More experiments are clearly needed.

Experiment: Black Tea Rice Pudding

3 cups whole milk
1/3 cup basmati rice
2 tbls sugar
1 egg
2 bags of black tea like English Breakfast
pinch of salt

Pour the milk into a pot, put the tea bags in, bring it to a simmer and let reduce until it's about 2 1/2 cups. Add the rice, salt and sugar and let cook until the rice is tender, about 20 minutes, stirring frequently. Whisk the egg and add a couple tbls, one tbl at a time, to it, whisking the whole time. Slowly add the egg mixture to the rice and milk, again stirring the whole time. Cook for another minute or so, until thick. It's best hot.

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This was one of those things that seemed like such a good idea at the time but just didn't quite work out the way I had hoped. I was looking for a light, creamy dessert that tasted like a good cup of tea. What I got was some wicked thick goo that tasted like... something else. It's not that it was horrible, it just wasn't that good. I'm going to try it again at some point, make some changes and see how it goes. For one I don't think I'm going to put an egg in next time, I think that is what did in the texture. I also might not use basmati, but that was the only rice I could find around here and I didn't feel like going to the grocery store. The nutty flavor was actually pretty good with the tea, but I think it might have been too competetive. Anyway, here is what I did.

First, as the recipe states, I poured the milk in a pot. Tossed in the tea bags and let it simmer for a while. Another thing I might change next is instead of infusing the milk with the tea using a half a cup or so of very strong brewed tea. Then I added the rice, sugar and salt and let it cook until it was tender. I didn't get shots of whisking the egg, or whisking some of the hot rice mixture into it but I assure you that that's what I did next. I took the tea bags out at this point. Then I poured it slowly into rice, stirring constantly. I used a whisk for this and it broke up some of the rice, which kind of sucked. But it also reincorporated the skin that had formed when I walked away for about three seconds while it was cooking and that was good. So I cooked and stirred until it was thick. Very thick. Much thicker than I thought it would be. But there it is, black tea rice pudding. It wasn't great, but I think with some changes it could be. More experiments are clearly needed.