Soft Wrap Bread

I made homemade pitas several months ago, but never got around to posting them. They were alright, but were more like pita pocket bread, which is not what I had intended. Then I saw this wrap bread on Skinny Bovine's Kitchen (which she got from My Kitchen Cafe). She made it to go with the chicken gyros. This is the recipe I will stick with it from now on - it is so much better for gyros in my opinion. The original recipe comes from King Arthur Flour and was made to replicate Taco Bell gorditas, but I think it would be great for any kind of sandwich.

The first time I made these, I thought I did something wrong. The dough was very dry and didn't rise much. Luckily I stuck with it and finished them, and they turned out fantastic! After this, I found the original recipe on the King Arthur blog, which has step-by-step pictures. It's so helpful for this recipe since it's not your typical yeast dough. Once you get to the step where you roll the dough out, it is very easy to work with - no fighting back!

This last time making these I froze half of the dough balls (after the rise times, so through step 7 below). I will give an update once I've thawed and used them to confirm it's good, but I read an article on Cook's Illustrated online where they tested freezing dough - they say it's best to let it rise and then freeze and it doesn't affect flavor (rather than freezing before rising which may kill or affect the growth of the yeast). If you are making gyros or any kind of sandwich that requires a pita, try these out!!!

My gyros here definitely don't look as good as they did before (I decided to bake the chicken so I could use my meat thermometer - big mistake! Just doesn't get the same color and texture as when you use the broiler.)

Soft Wrap Bread

Ingredients:

3 cups unbleached all-purpose flour, divided

1 1/4 cups boiling water

1/4 cup potato flour (or flakes or buds)*

1 1/4 teaspoon salt

2 Tablespoons vegetable oil

1 teaspoon instant yeast

*If you use flakes/buds, I might recommend processing them in the food processor so they are more the consistency of flour. The first time I made these I did not do this, and I found it difficult to incorporate them into the dough.

Directions:

1. Place 2 cups flour in a large mixing bowl and stir in the boiling water. Stir until smooth. Cover the bowl and set the mixture aside for 30 minutes.

2. In a separate bowl, combine the potato flour with the remaining 1 cup flour and the salt, oil, and yeast.

3. Whisk until crumbly. Add to the cooled flour/water mixture.

4. Stir together. It will seem dry at first but the dough will eventually pick up the flour/potato mixture. Scrape the bowl as necessary to facilitate this process.

5. Knead by hand, mixer, or bread machine for several minutes. The dough will remain soft and somewhat sticky, and finally become smooth.

6. Transfer the dough to a greased bowl or container. Cover and let rise for 1 hour (it will not rise as much as a typical dough because of the small amount of yeast).

7. Divide the dough into 8 equal piece (using a digital kitchen scale will make this much easier). Roll each piece into a ball, and cover them. Let the dough balls rest for 15 to 30 minutes.

8. Using your hands, flatten each ball into a circle measuring about 5 inches in diameter. Using a rolling pin, roll the circles to about 7" to 8" in diameter.

9. Heat a skillet over medium heat (no oil necessary). Place the bread into the skillet one at a time (or two at a time if you have a double burner pan). Cook until brown underneath, about 1 minute. The bread will puff up a bit. Turn over, and cook until the other side is brown, about 1 minute. If any air bubbles develop, prick them to release the air. The bread will flatten under the pressure of a spatula.

10. As the bread comes off the skillet, stack them on top of one another to keep them soft and moist. When cool, store in a plastic bag (if there's any left!)

Source: Adapted from King Arthur Flour, seen on Skinny Bovine's Kitchen and My Kitchen Cafe

Blue Cornmeal Pancakes

My sister and her boyfriend Steve spent New Year's with us in Chicago. They have been talking about these blue cornmeal pancakes for a while, so I convinced Steve to make them for us. It was a big pain actually finding the blue cornmeal - I actually wasn't able to find it in Chicago at all. Luckily a grocery store back home carries it so I picked up a bag over Christmas. The brand we used is Bob's Red Mill.

Apparently the blue cornmeal is manufactured separately from all the other Bob's Red Mill products, so just because your store carries the products doesn't necessarily mean they will have the blue cornmeal. I've heard it's easier to find in the southwestern U.S...

If you do find it, these pancakes are fantastic! And really you could make them with regular cornmeal and I'm sure they'd taste practically the same. The texture reminded me of the blueberry ricotta pancakes in that it was very soft and light, but you still get the firm pieces of cornmeal. For a new twist on pancakes (and a pretty blue color) these were great!

If you're wondering what to do with your leftover blue cornmeal, I just discovered that the Bob's Red Mill website has other recipes too!

Blue Cornmeal Pancakes

Ingredients:

3/4 cup blue cornmeal (medium grind) OR traditional cornmeal

1 teaspoon salt

1 Tablespoon sugar

1 cup boiling water

1 egg, beaten

1/2 cup milk

2 Tablespoons butter, melted

3/4 cup unbleached white flour

2 teaspoons baking powder

Directions:

1. In a medium bowl, mix together the blue cornmeal, salt, and sugar. Stir in the boiling water until all of the ingredients are wet. Cover, and let stand for a few minutes.

2. In a measuring cup, combine the milk, egg, and melted butter. Stir the milk mixture into the cornmeal mixture. Combine the the flour and baking powder in a small bowl. Stir this into the cornmeal mixture until just mixed. If the batter is stiff, add a little more milk until the batter flows off of the spoon thickly, but smoothly.

3. Heat a large skillet over medium heat, and grease with a dab of oil or butter. Use about 2 Tablespoons of batter for each pancake. When the entire surfaces of the pancakes are covered with bubbles, flip them over and cook until golden.

4. Serve immediately with maple syrup or fruit preserves.

Serves 4 (we had a few leftover so it may actually serve 5)

Source: Bob's Red Mill blue cornmeal package label

Monkey Face Cookies

My great friend Jenny is expecting her first baby in March, and her baby shower was yesterday. She and her husband Jeff have decided not to find out the sex of the baby, so she's tried to design her nursery around a gender-neutral theme - monkeys! All of the things for the nursery are so adorable! Unfortunately I couldn't make it to town for her shower, but I wanted to do something special, so I decided to make some sugar cookies with royal icing in the shapes of monkey faces.

I started by finding a cute cartoon picture of a monkey face (although he kind of makes my cookies look less cute!):

I needed a monkey-face shaped cookie cutter, but the only ones I could find were online and wouldn't get here in time. I decided to wing it and use a series of shapes to build the monkey face.

Although I've worked with royal icing once before, I looked to a great tutorial Annie recently posted. Since I don't have a particular sugar cookie recipe I always use, I used her favorite one. Bake at 350 has also been posting some FAQ's on royal icing and helpful hints.

This ended up being a long, long, and did I mention LONG day! Over 18 hours to be exact. My problem was that I wasn't sure how many cookies I would get out 1 batch of dough and instead of erring on the side of caution and making 2, I just made 1, and 1 batch of royal icing. I then discovered I would need more of each, so I had to make them again separately. That combined with the fact that I'm new to piping and the drying time makes for a very long day. I did take 1 break for dinner and to go to Target. I know it would NOT take this long next time (or if any of you decide to make these) - because I have the steps down and know how much it makes. I was kind of making up how to do it as I went along. Plus, you can always make the royal icing, dough, or even bake the cookies ahead of time instead of cramming it all into 1 day.

Knowing that I was sending these cookie to my parents' house, I knew I needed to include a cookie for my dad. He has this idea that he should get to try any dessert that comes through their doors :) Since my dad is a huge Cardinals fan - the baseball team and the birds themselves - I bought this Cardinal cookie cutter this past fall with the intent of making him Cardinal cookies...I decided to just make him 1 since I needed the rest of the dough for the monkeys. I think it turned out pretty good, except my flooding icing was not thin enough so it was a little clumpy in some spots (I didn't care at that point because I had been making and decorating cookies for almost 18 hours!)

Monkey Face Cookies

Yield: 28 large cookies

Ingredients & equipment:

2 batches sugar cookie dough of choice

1 large and 1 small round biscuit cutters

2 batches royal icing (recipes here or here)

Gel icing colors: black, brown, and ivory

2 squirt bottles

Disposable pastry bag fitted with a #3 tip

Directions:

1. Roll dough out on well-floured surface to a thickness of 1/4-inch. I used two wooden dowel rods set up like this to guide my rolling and it worked so well! I am SO glad I bought these rods because I always have trouble rolling evenly, especially on the edges.

2. Use the large and small round biscuit cutters to cut out circles and transfer to a cold cooking sheet lined with parchment paper. Use a knife to slice the smaller circles in half as shown:

Then overlap the half circles onto the large circle to create the appearance of ears on the monkey face as shown above.

3. When all of the ears have been secured, give them an extra press to make sure they are attached, and bake the cookies according to recipe directions. When you remove them from the oven, let them sit on the cookie sheet for about 2 minutes, then carefully transfer to cooling racks. Cool completely. (Ignore that the ears in the picture below are underneath the face - it worked much better with them on top!)

4. Meanwhile, color your outlining icing: Take about 1/2 cup royal icing into a fresh bowl and color first with brown icing gel, then add black icing gel to achieve a deep, black color. Fill a disposable pastry bag fitted with a #3 tip. Set in a glass filled with a few millimeters of water so that the tip contacts the water (this prevents the icing from drying out).

5. Using the cooled cookies, carefully pipe the black icing as shown (or with an even steadier hand!):

6. Set cookies aside to dry for 1 hour. Meanwhile, prepare your flooding icing: Take about 3/4 cup of royal icing into each of 2 bowls. Add water by the teaspoon to achieve a thin consistency. You want the icing to run off the back of the spoon and the drips to disappear back into the icing below within 5 to 10 seconds. Once you have achieved the right consistency, add brown coloring gel to one of the bowls. This may take quite a bit of gel to get a nice, dark color. Then add the beige to the next bowl - this will take much less so add it slowly.

7. Once you are satisfied with your colors, add each of them to one of two plastic squirt bottles. Use a small piece of plastic wrap to cover the opening if your bottles aren't equipped with a cap. The bottles are now ready to flood.

8. After the outlining has dried for at least 1 hour, flood the sections as shown:

Use a toothpick to help guide the icing to the edges if necessary.

9. Let cookies dry for several hours or overnight (I did overnight). You can just let them sit out at room temperature, uncovered. You may also leave the black piping icing in the bag as long as there is enough water in the bottom of the glass it's in (maybe a quarter-inch).

10. After the cookies have sufficiently dried, use the black frosting to pipe a face onto the monkey as shown:

11. Allow icing to dry for at least an hour, if not more. I did my face piping in the morning and let them sit out all day before packaging them up for mailing.

Source: Sugar cookie and icing recipes, as well as many helpful tips, from Annie's Eats, cookie design by You're Gonna Bake It After All

Coconut-crusted Chicken Tenders

A few months ago Bob and I were walking by The Goddess and Grocer and realized that, although we've driven by it a million times, we've never actually been inside! So we strolled in and found an awesome selection of pre-made items (like Chicken Marbella!), sandwiches, and specialty foods and drinks. One of the items in the case was Coconut-crusted Chicken. What a great idea! I've never heard of it before but immediately decided I would make a version at home. I though crusting in coconut alone might be a bit much, so I did a 50/50 mix of toasted Panko and toasted coconut. Instead of using the traditional egg dip for breaded chicken, I used light coconut milk. We really, really liked this chicken!!! The chicken stayed moist, the crust was crispy and slightly sweet from the coconut. Took us right back to Hawaii!

For my birthday back in October I bought myself an instant read digital thermometer at Williams-Sonoma. It has been SOOO nice not having to cut into chicken multiple times to see if it's done! Especially with strips like these, it can really ruin the presentation of the dish to have big cuts throughout the chicken tender. This thermometer leaves the most inconspicuous hole that practically closes itself!

With a pina colada dipping sauce. I found the sauce recipe online, but it wasn't that great so I'm not posting it.

Coconut-crusted Chicken Tenders

Ingredients:

1 package boneless, skinless chicken tenders

1/2 Tablespoon vegetable/Canola oil

3/4 cup panko bread crumbs

3/4 cup shredded sweetened coconut

1/3 can light coconut milk

1/2 cup flour

1 Tablespoon salt

1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

Directions:

Preheat oven to 400F.

1. Heat oil in a non-stick skillet. Add panko and cook until golden. Remove to a shallow dish to cool.

2. Using the same skillet, add coconut and brown slightly - do not overdo or the coconut will burn in the oven when the chicken is baked. Toss coconut with panko in the shallow dish.

3. Pour coconut milk into a second shallow dish. In a third dish, combine 1/2 cup flour with salt and pepper.

4. Line a baking sheet with foil and spray with cooking spray. Wash chicken and dry with paper towels. Dredge in flour, then dip in coconut milk, followed by coconut/panko mixture. Place on baking sheet.

5. Bake for 15-20 minutes or until cooked through (I used my instant read thermometer to cook to 165 - 170F and it worked PERFECTLY!) Make sure to keep on eye on them because the coconut can burn if you don't watch it.

6. Serve with dipping sauce(s) of choice, if desired!

Perfect Crispy Potatoes and Anytime Skillet

When Kerstin and I met for breakfast at Yolk, I got a "Skillet Your Way," which consists of diced red potatoes sauteed with 3 ingredients of your choice, sprinkled with cheddar cheese, and topped with two eggs cooked your way. My ingredients were turkey sausage, onion, and green pepper. I wanted to add tomato as well, but didn't want pay extra! My choice for the eggs was poached, with the idea that I could break the yolk over the rest of the skillet components. It was fantastic! I knew I had to recreate this one at home because it's such a simple concept. As the holidays approached, this fell to the bottom of my to do list, but thankfully was not forgotten.

My first order of business was to find a good potato recipe. My mom was raving about Melissa d'Arabian's Perfect Crispy Potatoes, and I decided those would be a great fit for the skillet. Once this recipe was chosen, the rest fell into place.

I served this as a dinner for Bob and I and we both LOVED it! First of all, Melissa's potatoes are, as their name suggests, PERFECT! So crispy and actually pretty quick. They are a great stand-alone side dish for any dinner - and the possibilities for seasoning are endless - add some chili powder, some Italian herbs, etc.. I definitely plan to make them again as a side dish and in skillet form.

I really just love this skillet. I think the combination of ingredients works so well together. I had intended to add shredded cheddar cheese on top but ended up forgetting and it was delicious regardless. I hesitate to call it a breakfast skillet because it's good for any meal, hence the "anytime skillet" title. One of my favorite parts is breaking the egg yolk and watching it run over the potatoes. If this is your type of thing, you'll love this recipe!

Anytime Skillet

Ingredients:

1 batch Perfect Crispy Potatoes (recipe below)

6 links turkey breakfast sausage, casing removed if desired (I used Jennie-O)

2 vine-ripened tomatoes

1/2 yellow onion, diced

1/2 green bell pepper, diced

grated cheddar cheese, optional

salt and pepper to taste

1 - 2 eggs per person

Directions:

1. Prepare the Perfect Crispy Potatoes as directed below. While they are baking and using the same pan in which the potatoes were sauteed and steamed, heat onion and green pepper over medium-low heat until softened. Lightly season with salt and pepper. The residual butter and oil from the potatoes should be enough for the veggies; if not add a little more oil. Add tomatoes and stir. Cook for a few minutes until heated through. Remove from heat and set aside.

2. Prepare poaching liquid: Fill a straight-sided pan with 2 inches of water and 1 Tablespoon white vinegar. The white vinegar helps keep the egg from spreading in the water. Heat to a boil and then reduce to simmer.

3. Meanwhile, cook the turkey sausage in a small skillet until cooked through. Transfer to a plate lined with paper towels to drain. When cool, slice.

4. Poach the eggs: Break each egg individually into a small bowl. Swirl simmering water with a spoon to create a little whirlpool. Hold bowl containing raw egg close to the simmering water and, using a quick motion, dump each egg into the water. Cook approximately 3 1/2 minutes. Remove each egg from water using a slotted spoon and carefully place on a plate covered with paper towels to drain.

5. Assemble the skillet: Toss the crispy potatoes in the pan with the onion, peppers, and tomatoes. Add turkey sausage, and toss to combine. Add cheddar cheese, if desired, and allow to melt. Plate the mixture and top with the poached eggs.

Serves: 2 - 3

Source: Inspired by a skillet I created at Yolk

Perfect Crispy Potatoes

Ingredients:

2 Tablespoons vegetable/Canola oil

2 large russet potatoes, washed, peeled, and diced into equal 1/2-inch cubes

Kosher salt and freshly ground pepper, to taste

2 Tablespoons water

1/2 Tablespoon unsalted butter

Directions:

Preheat oven to 375F.

1. In a large saute pan, heat the oil over medium-high heat. Add the potato cubes, and season with salt and pepper, to taste. Saute, stirring frequently, for 5 minutes.

2. Turn the heat up to high. Add the water, stir, and cover pan with a lid. Steam the potatoes until the water evaporates, about 3 or 4 more minutes. Every 1 to 2 minutes, open the lid long enough to stir the potatoes so they don't stick.

3. Lower the heat to medium, and saute another 1 to 2 minutes until all traces of water are gone. (I did this without the lid). Toss in the butter and stir to coat the potatoes.

4. Spread the potatoes out on a baking sheet. Bake in the oven until the potatoes are crisp and browned to your liking, about 15 to 25 minutes.

Source: Adapted from Melissa d'Arabian

Raspberry Sorbet

One of the biggest reasons I wanted the Cuisinart Ice Cream Maker is for homemade sorbets. When I saw raspberries on sale at the grocery store, I knew that Raspberry Sorbet was in order. My Ben & Jerry's cookbook had a recipe that really intrigued me, particularly because it has red wine in it.

I had some trouble with this recipe, but I think I've worked out the kinks, and it should be perfect the next time I make it. My first problem was that the recipe says to gently stir the ingredients and then dump in the ice cream maker. It felt wrong not to mush up the raspberries or blend them in a food processor, but I went with it. Big mistake. The raspberries started to freeze and the sugary liquid stayed liquid. I tried smashing up the frozen raspberries, but by that time the ice cream machine was starting to thaw. I finally just ended up putting the mixture in the fridge, re-freezing the ice cream maker, processing the mixture in the food processor the next day, then putting it back in the ice cream maker. This worked very well.

Bob and I both loved the flavor of this sorbet! We thought the red wine added a great flavor, although it's not a prominent wine taste, which is a good thing in my opinion. If you don't like wine, I'm sure you could add either grape juice or water in its place. Our only complaint was the raspberry seeds - they were so annoying! Next time I will strain them out before freezing. Then the sorbet will be excellent!

Raspberry Sorbet

Ingredients:

12 ounces fresh raspberries
1 1/2 cups sugar
juice of 1/2 lemon
1/4 cup dry red wine
1/4 cup light corn syrup
1 cup cold water

Directions:

1. Combine the raspberries, sugar, and lemon juice in a mixing bowl. Refrigerate covered at least 1 hour.
2. When ready to freeze, add the red wine, corn syrup, and water, and stir gently until blended. Here is where I disagree. I recommend transferring to a food processor or blender and process until smooth. I also recommend straining the seeds at this point.

3. Transfer the mixture to an ice cream maker and freeze following the manufacturer's instructions.

4. Transfer the frozen mixture to an airtight container and freeze until ready to enjoy. I preferred the texture of the sorbet after it had been frozen at least overnight.

Make 1 quart.

Source: Adapted from the Ben & Jerry's Homemade Ice Cream & Dessert Book

Baked Ricotta Cavatelli in a Mascarpone Cheese Sauce

Back in October when Bob's and my families came to Chicago for my thesis seminar, we went to Carmine's restaurant. Carmine's is located on one of the hottest streets in Chicago, Rush Street, very close to what is referred to as "viagra triangle." I don't need to get into that, but basically it's a premium location.

The restaurant has a nice ambiance. The first floor has a bar area that is louder than the table-only upstairs. Our party of 10 was seated upstairs away from the windows, but I can imagine that a table by the windows would give you an incredible view of Rush Street.

I ordered the most delicious pasta dish called the "Cavatelli al Forno," described as "Homemade ricotta dumplings simmered in marinara with imported cheeses, topped with mozzarella and baked." The cavatelli had a texture almost gnocchi-like; dense but soft. I loved everything about this dish. It was super rich, but unbelievably tasty. Coincidently, I had a recipe for ricotta cavatelli saved on my laptop desktop for quite some time before this visit to Carmine's, and this was just the push I needed to try making it at home. I decided to try to recreate the entire dish, or at least my interpretation of it.

I've never made my own pasta before, and although this is a tad different than most homemade pastas, I really enjoyed the experience! Shaping the cavatelli took quite a bit of time, but it was fun. This was a really delicious dinner! It's very rich, filling, and satisfying. My only problem was that the cavatelli recipe doesn't call for salt. I figured this was not a problem given the ricotta and the fact that the pasta is bathed in cheesy tomato sauce and topped with mozzarella, but I thought that the actual cavatelli themselves were a little bland. A sprinkle of salt into the dough would have made a big difference, so I've added it to the recipe below.

I definitely recommend this dish!

Handmade Italian Ricotta Cavatelli

Ingredients:

3 cups (1 pound) all-purpose flour

1 pound ricotta cheese

2 large eggs, lightly beaten

Salt, if desired (this recipe suggests 1/2 teaspoon)

Directions:

1. Put 2 1/2 cups of the flour into a bowl, make a well in the flour, and add the cheese and eggs (add salt at this point if desired). Gradually work the mixture together, adding more flour if necessary, to make a soft but not sticky dough.

2. On a lightly floured surface, knead the dough until it is smooth. Let the dough rest at room temperature, covered with an inverted bowl or wrapped in plastic, for 30 minutes.

3. Form the dough into a round and cut into quarters. Working with one quarter at a time (cover the remaining dough with an inverted bowl to keep the dough from drying out), on a lightly floured surface, roll the dough into a rope 1/4-inch in diameter (mine was closer to 1/2-inch).

4. With a knife, cut the rope into 1/2-inch pieces (mine were closer to 1-inch). With your index and middle fingers held together, gently press down on each piece, beginning at the top and moving down toward the bottom, dragging your fingers toward you and causing the pasta to roll over on itself.

Will look something like this:

5. Transfer the formed pasta to a lightly floured jelly-roll pan and let dry at room temperature for at least 30 minutes. Meanwhile, bring a saucepan of water to a boil.

6. Salt the water, and add the pasta. Cook until the cavatelli are al dente, 6 to 8 minutes. They are done when they float to the top (mine took closer to 4 minutes or even less!) Drain and proceed with recipe below, add your favorite sauce, or freeze.

Source: Adapted from FoodNetwork

Baked Ricotta Cavatelli in a Mascarpone Cheese Sauce

Ingredients:

1 batch Handmade Italian Ricotta Cavatelli (see above)

~23 ounces of your favorite pasta sauce (I used Prego Traditional)

8-ounces mascarpone cheese

grated Parmesan cheese

8 slices mozzarella cheese, or enough to cover the dish

olive oil for greasing baking dish

Directions:

Preheat oven to 400F.

1. In a large saucepan, melt mascarpone cheese over medium heat. Stir in pasta sauce. Season with a little Parmesan cheese, if desired.

2. Add ricotta cavatelli to sauce and stir to coat. Transfer to a 13 x 9-inch baking dish that has been lightly greased with olive oil. Top with mozzarella slices.

3. Bake until cheese is melted, approximately 20 minutes.

Source: Inspired by the Cavatelli al Forno at Carmine's