Edible Containers - Daring Cooks

For April's Daring Cooks; Challenge we had a creative challenge.    Renata of Testado, Provado & Aprovado! was our Daring Cooks’ April 2011 hostess. Renata challenged us to think “outside the plate” and create our own edible containers! Prizes are being awarded to the most creative edible container and filling, so vote on your favorite from April 17th to May 16th at http://thedaringkitchen.com!

I love chili rellenos, but try to stay away from batter fried food.  I decided to stuff roasted, peeled poblanos.  First, I asked my husband to bring home the straightest poblanos that he could find.

Then, I roasted them and peeled away the blackened skin.   I made a small slit in them to remove the seeds.

After they were peeled, they looked pretty dark.

I roasted some chicken and made a tomato sauce with garlic, tomatoes, onions, cinnamon and cilantro.

I mixed up some mexican cheese, the chicken, some black beans, a little jalepeno, corn, some of the tomato sauce and cilantro and stuffed the peppers.  They were delicious and I am looking forward to seeing what else I can stuff in them!

Poached Eggs - Daring Cooks Challenge

I remember my father making poached eggs.  I don't think that he ever consulted Julia Child before him made them.   I believe that his technique involved dumping eggs into boiling water, cutting some bread for toast, getting the paper and rescuing the egg.  I vividly remember the loose yellow egg yolk.  I was repulsed as a child.


I worked at a small restaurant down the street from where I grew up.  In the summer, they opened the attached ice cream store.  I started working there when I was 15.  In the mornings, I would get ready to open up.  If breakfast was still going on, I would help clear tables and take some orders.  I remained repulsed by yellow runny yolks, which were everywhere.  

It took me years to start eating eggs.  When I went to college, on Sundays they served pieces of large sheets of omelets.  Huge omelets, made from dozens of eggs, on the large grill.  No visible egg yolk there. 

The way cool thing to do when I was in college was to go out to breakfast at the end of the semester at the neightborhood restaurant.  A hopping deli.  With eggs of course.  I think that I started to enjoy omelets for the first time.  But I maintained my aversion to runny yolks.

December's challenge was poached eggs.  I actually was excited.  Time to see what all the fuss was about.  Every one is eating them.  People put them on top of everything.  If I could find some quail eggs, it would be fine dining!

First I checked with Julia.  My water was simmering, with a little vinegar added.  I made a swirl in the water, cracked the egg into a ramekin and gently put it into the simmering water.  When cooked, I removed it and put it into a pan of warm water to rinse the vinegar off.  I trimmed any white tendrils, no kidding...  I think that my dad skipped some steps.

I had made some English Muffins and Hollandaise Sauce.  I whipped up some delicious Eggs Benedict.  Except they weren't delicious.  They had oozy, yellow yolks. 

My husband loved them, but I felt guilty as I heard his arteries closing.  It is back to oatmeal for us.

Souffles - Daring Cooks Challenge

Linda and Dave of Monkeyshines in the Kitchen chose November's Daring Cooks Challenge .  We were to make a souffle.  Sweet, savory, it didn't matter.

Years ago, I went through a souffle stage.   At the end of it,  I concluded that I don't really like souffles.  I generally don't like really eggy dishes.  Flan, quiche, meringue not really my favorites.

 However, a souffle is a wonderful canvas, lots of ingredients can be incorporated into them.  I wanted to make mine from things that I had on hand.

The basil in my backyard is thriving.  We have towering tomato bushes filled with green tomatoes.  The race is on to see if winter's first frost arrives in Texas before red tomatoes...

At some point, I gave away my ceramic souffle dish.  Every so often I go through a decluttering kick.  So I found myself without the perfect pan.  I decided to make four individual ramekins from a three egg souffle for lunch.

I sauteed some garlic in some butter.  I added some flour, cooked it for a bit.  Added milk and made a thick bechamel sauce.  I seasoned it with salt and pepper.  I let it cool for ten minutes.  I added the egg yolks one by one followed by the cheese and basil.

The egg white were beaten and then folded in.  Folding always confuses me.  Too much folding and the wonderful bubbles disappear.  Too little folding and you have large streaks of cooked egg whites.  A delicate balance is needed.

I divided the mixture into four ramekins and put them into the oven, with a burnt out lightbulb.  And hoped that the tops weren't burning.   Because you can't open the oven to check on them.  Because they are souffles...

I served it with some sliced tomatoes.  A delicious lunch, the two souffles left on the counter quickly shriveled away.  Because they are souffles.  Beautiful for a moment only.

Brunswick Stew

I'm late. I've been busy with school. And perhaps I am too old for school Sometimes when it an assignment is due, I find myself thinking, I could be baking bread. Oh well. I finished the recipe earlier but forgot to write it up...

April's Daring Cooks Challenge was a Southern classic, Brunswick Stew. I had never made Brunswick Stew. A quick internet search revealed that I could make the stew with rabbits or squirrels, but I fresh out of both of them. I opted for chicken and pork.



Any recipe that starts with sauteed bacon is on its way to tasty goodness. After the bacon was removed, I sauteed some serrano chiles and some poblanos. They were removed and then I seared the chicken and pork.

The pan was deglazed with stock. The stock was reduced and then more stock,bay leaves, celery, potatoes, chicken, pork, bacon and chiles were added and simmered for 1.5 hours. The chicken, and pork were removed and shredded. The bay, celery, chiles and bacon were discarded. Carrots, onions, butterbeans, corn and tomatoes were added and simmered for 30 min with the meat. At the very end, vinegar and lemon were added.

This was a tasty stew. I'm glad that I was able to find the traditional butter beans, like huge squished lima beans with less of the pasty taste.

Mezze, The Daring Cooks Challenge

This month's daring cooks challenge was proposed by Michelle from Veggie Num Nums. The challenge was to prepare a mezze table, a collection of small dishes from the Mediterranean. What a fun challenge. I have a number of Mediterranean cookbooks and was looking forward to trying out some recipes. Michelle had one stipulation, we must use her hummus and pita recipe.

Her hummus recipe was delicious. The recipe calls for a little more lemon juice than I usually add, but we all enjoyed it. Apparently, pitas should puff when you cook them, like blowfish. Some of mine puffed, some didn't. I wasn't sure if the baking stone lost heat between patches or I needed to roll them out thinner.

Michelle had a couple of ideas for some dishes for the mezze table. She had a shot of a jar of preserved lemons. Preserved lemons are a condiment used commonly in Morrocan cooking. Most recipes take several weeks. I found a quick preserved lemon recipe on Cooking Light's web site.

I washed and quartered two meyers lemons and boiled them in 1 cup of water with two tablespoons of Kosher salt for 30 mins.

The lemons were a big hit. Unusual, tart and delicious.

I used the recipe that Michelle had posted for The Cucumber Raita

*Optional Recipe: Cucumber Raita – Recipe adapted from The Indian Grocery Store Demystified by Linda Bladholm
Prep time: Approximately 15 minutes

1 medium cucumber, peeled and most of the seeds removed
1 teaspoon cumin seeds (.1 ounce/3 grams) OR use a small pinch of dried cumin—to taste
2 cups plain whole milk or Greek yogurt (17 ounces/473ml)
1 garlic clove, peeled and minced
fresh coriander or mint, chopped, a couple pinches or more to taste
cayenne pepper or paprika, just a pinch to use as a garnish (optional)

Directions:
1. Peel cucumber, de-seed, and dice. Blot off moisture with paper towels.
2. Toast cumin seeds for a few seconds in a small, heavy frying pan over high heat.
3. In a bowl, stir yogurt until it is smooth.
4. Mix it with the cumin, garlic and coriander or mint leaves (I used some grated radish instead).
5. Stir in the cucumber and sprinkle with cayenne or paprika, and chill before serving.


I decided to try one of my newest cookbooks, The New Mediterranean Diet Cookbook but Nancy Harmon Jenkins. All of the recipes that we tried we delicious. After pouring through the cookbook, I came up with a menu for my mezze table.


Going clockwise in the picture above, start with preserved lemons, seasoned olives, cucumber raita, humus, melitzanasalata (spicy grilled eggplant dip), grilled pork, feta, tunisian aijjah with spicy potatoes .


Tunisian Aijjah with Spicy Potatoes
Adapted from the New Mediteranean Diet Cookbook by Nancy Harmon Jenkins

1 lb small new potatoes, peeled and diced
3 T olive oil
½ t sea salt
½ t ground caraway
2 garlic cloves, crushed
2 T tomato puree
1/2 c warm water
1T harissa
ground pepper
8 eggs

(harissa is a hot sauce made of a variety of dried chilies, coriander, cumin, caraway, cloves and olive oil. Available in some Middle Eastern stores, I used Sriracha hot sauce)

In a large skillet, med heat, sauté the potatoes in 2 T o.o, until softened and browning, about 15 mins.

While they are cooking, pound the salt and caraway to a powder in a mortar, then add the garlic and form a paste. Dilute the tom puree with the warm water, stir in the hot sauce, combine with the garlic paste. When the potatoes are done, at this to the pan, stir for 5 – 10 mins, until liquid is reduced to thick sauce. Taste and adjust seasoning. Beat the eggs with a fork, add to pan, lift to let eggs run under pan. When eggs are at desired consistency, remove from heat and serve.

Perhaps our favorite was the Melitzanasalata. We poked an eggplant with a fork a dozen times and then grilled it for about 20 mins. We blackened 2 poblanos. When they had cooled, we combined their flesh with 1/2 cup plain yogurt, 2 T olive oil, juice of half a lemon, clove of crushed garlic and salt. I used an immersion blender.

This was such a fun challenge.