Sweets and more sweets.

I haven't been having cravings, friends. No, I have yet to experience that awesomeness. Instead, I am just perusing cooking magazines and blogs and trying to find things that look palatable. Many times the answer includes the word(s) 'cake'. Or 'giant cookie'. Or 'fudge sauce'.

Basically, I have been in the mood to whip up desserts. Which is saying something because, as of late, my mood has not involved the desire to do much of anything except lie on the couch and say "Ughhh..." while I sniff through my congested nose. Sorry for that graphic description. Anyhow.

Here is a recipe for a Giant Chocolate Chip Cookie that I tried the other day and which turned out remarkably well. I thought for many months now that my oven is cursed because the many types of cookies I've tried to bake in said oven have all turned out less than yummy. The only type that turned out well were the gingersnaps and oh, heaven help me, they were delicious. So, I thought when I decided to make this recipe that it would probably be another disappointment.

I was wrong.

And here you go:

Giant Chocolate Chip Cookie

1/2 c. white sugar

1/2 c. brown sugar (I used dark)

1/2 c. butter, melted & cooled

1 egg

1/2 t. baking soda

1/2 t. salt

1/2 t. vanilla (my vanilla was kind of mixed with some rum extract and WOW it added a nice flavor)

1 1/2 c. flour

1/2 c. chocolate chips (I know I used more than 1/2 c. ..)

Preheat: 350

Cream sugars and butter. Add egg, mix well. Add dry ingredients, mix. Fold in chocolate chips.

Line a large (11x17) baking pan with foil. Press dough into a circle.

The original recipe noted that a 9" dough circle should bake into an 11" cookie, but I just pressed it until I thought it was a good thickness.

Top with anything you want, like m&ms, etc., if you decide not to do chocolate chips.

Bake 13-16 minutes or until light golden brown. Let the cookie cool completely on the baking pan. This will help stabilize it so it can be easily lifted.

This was one darn good cookie.

Greek Salad

After getting back from a cruise and eating basically nothing but red meat and dessert for a week, I'm happily munching down on lots of green things. I improved a delicious Greek salad yesterday and here are the results.

GREEK SALAD

1 bunch each: Romaine lettuce and green leaf lettuce, washed and torn or chopped into bite-sized pieces

2 large cucumbers, chopped, peeled, and deseeded (to do this easily, cut each cucumber into halves and run a spoon down the seeded portion)

3 Roma tomatoes, deseeded and diced

1 medium red onion, very finely diced

8-10 artichoke hearts, chopped

Kalamata olives, chopped, to taste (they are very briny, so I only like 10-15 in a salad this size)

4 oz. feta cheese, crumbled

Dressing (makes 4 servings, approx)

3 Tbsp. olive oil

1/2 tsp. each: Onion powder, garlic powder, oregano, basil, pepper, salt, and dijion-style mustard

1/4 c. red wine vinegar

Direction:

1) Chop up veggies and toss together

2) Whisk dressing ingredients together briskly and pour over a serving of salad. This recipe makes a lot, so refrigerate the rest and dress as needed.

Apple Crisp

Apple crisp is a remarkable food to me. It takes apples (good of their own right) and makes them transcendent. I've eaten an absurd amount of the stuff this weekend as I had a flat of apples I had to go through before going here on Saturday. Of course I love the stuff right out of the oven, but it's also great cold for "breakfast" (hey! it has lots and lots of apples! And oatmeal! That makes it practically health food!) or other snack.

I adapted this from Mark Bittman's recipe in How to Cook Everything.

Apple Crisp

INGREDIENTS:
APPLE MIXTURE:
6 cups semi-tart apples, sliced thinly (I don't see the point in using Granny Smiths because I just end up adding a bunch more sugar anyway; I used pink ladies for this and it turned out great)
Splash lemon juice
1 Tbsp. brown sugar
1 Tbsp. fresh ground cinnamon
3 Tbsp. brandy (optional, but it adds of ton of flavor)
2 tsp. vanilla (don't bother with vanilla extract; get the real Mexican stuff with tequila or make your own with 6 months of stewing split vanilla beans in vodka or other colorless/flavorless alcohol)
CRUMBLE:
2/3 c. brown sugar (add more to taste if using particularly tart apples)
1/2 c. instant oats
1/2 c. flour
1/2 Tbsp. fresh ground cinnamon
1/4 fresh-grated nutmeg seed (or about 1/4 tsp. ground nutmeg)
Pinch of salt
5 Tbsp. cold butter

DIRECTIONS
NOTE: Because I like a crumble that's on the barely browned side, I cook this for less time than the original recipe indicated. I compensate for this by cutting the apples razor thin (no really, you could see through them) with my Global Chef Knife. I wouldn't attempt this with anything other than a wickedly awesome sharp knife. If you don't want to do this, add 5 minutes to the cooking time.
1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
2. Peel, core, and slice apples. It took me about five large Pink Lady apples to mostly fill the 9X9 baking pan. Squeeze 1/2 lemon or splash pre-prepared lemon juice over those puppies. Dump in brandy, 1 Tbsp. brown sugar, cinnamon, and vanilla. Toss to coat evenly and set aside.
3. If you use a food processor, dump in the crumble ingredients and pulse a couple of times until well-incorporated but not uniform. If you don't have a food processor, it's okay. Just cut in the butter into the dry ingredients and combine with your fingertips or a fork. Be careful not to handle the butter too much or the crumble won't be as flaky.
4. Spray or grease a 9X9 square baking dish. Add in apples and make sure they are evenly distributed (if you let them sit in the brandy for about 20 minutes, the apples will have soaked up much of the liquid). Pour on crumble mixture evenly and pat down gently.
5. Bake for 25 minutes (or longer if you are using thicker apples and/or want a darker crumble). Serve with Cool Whip or vanilla bean ice cream while warm. Let cool completely before refrigerating.

Snickerdoodle Scones

I had a hankering for some biscuits tonight. And just when I was thinking this blog had a biscuit recipe on it, I remembered this AMAZING scone recipe and I immediately shifted gears and made a batch of these delicious little things. They are still in the oven, so I have yet to find out if my cream of tartar substitute works out, (I'm praying it does!) but while I'm waiting I am going to share the recipe. (I know, I know, it's been AGES since I've posted on here. My humblest apologies.)

Snickerdoodle Scones

*from Baking Bites

2 cups all purpose flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp cream of tartar
1/4 tsp salt
6 tbsp sugar
6 tbsp butter, chilled and cut into pieces
6-8 tbsp milk or cream
1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract

1/4 cup sugar
1 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon

Preheat oven to 400F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.

In a large bowl, whisk together flour, baking soda, cream of tartar, salt and sugar. Add butter to the flour mixture and use your fingertips to rub it into the flour, breaking the butter down into pieces smaller than a pea.

Combine milk and vanilla in a small dish and add about 6 tablespoons to flour mixture. Stir with a fork until dough comes together into a slightly sticky ball. If necessary, add additional tablespoon or two of milk. Dough should not be too wet. *Note: I ended up adding about 7 Tbsp. of milk.

Divide dough into six even balls.

In a small dish, whisk together 1/4 cup sugar and ground cinnamon. Roll each ball of scone dough in the cinnamon sugar mixture and flatten slightly on to prepared baking sheet.

Bake for about 15 minutes, until scones are set and edges begin to brown.

Cool on a wire rack before serving.

Makes 6 large scones.

These really are yummy. Snickerdoodles happen to be one of my most favorite cookies, and these are just the right amount of sweet. Yay for scones.

Spring Rolls

Spring Rolls are surprisingly easy. With fresh veggies and herbs--how can you go wrong, really? I use these measurements as a guideline based on my preference, and you should too.

Spring Rolls
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 thumb-size piece ginger, grated
• 2 green onions, sliced into matchstick pieces
• 1/2 cup shredded or finely chopped cabbage
• 4-6 shiitake mushrooms, cut into matchstick pieces
• approx. 1 1/2 cups bean sprouts
• 1/2 cup fresh coriander, roughly chopped
• 1/2 cup fresh basil, roughly chopped
• Optional: 1/2 C chicken or tofu, diced
• 2 Tbsp. oil, plus more for deep-frying
• 1 pkg. small spring roll wrappers (thawed if frozen)

Stir Fry Sauce
• 2 Tbsp. regular soy sauce
• 2 Tbsp. fish sauce (if vegetarian, substitute vegetarian oyster sauce, or extra soy sauce)
• 2 Tbsp. lime juice
• 1/4 tsp. sugar
• 1 Tbsp. sake or sherry

Serve with
• Thai sweet chili sauce
• or 2 parts soy sauce to 1 part rice vinegar with sriracha to taste
• or 1/3 cup plum sauce with 3 Tbsp. soy sauce. Add cut fresh chili or cayenne pepper if desired.

Directions

1. Place 1 Tbsp. oil in a wok or large frying pan over medium to high heat. Add garlic, ginger, and shallots. Stir-fry until fragrant (about 1 minute). Add a little water to the pan if it starts to get dry.
2. Add cabbage and mushrooms (and chicken or tofu if you choose). As you stir-fry, add the sauce. Stir-fry 1-2 minutes, until vegetables have softened.
3. Remove from heat and add bean sprouts, coriander and basil tossing to mix in.
4. Do a taste test for salt, adding 1 Tbsp. more fish or soy sauce if not salty enough.
5. Set up for assembly--have a bowl of water for your fingers and a clean, dry working surface for the rolls. To assemble rolls, place a spring roll wrapper on the clean working surface. Place one heaping Tbsp. of the filling on the wrapper (if using large wrappers, you will need more). Spread the filling lengthwise along the spring roll wrapper nearer the end closest to you. Also, try not to include too much of the liquid left in the bottom of your wok/pan (a slotted spoon works well for this - drier filling is better.
7. Fold the left and right sides of wrapper over filling, then lift up the wide end nearest you and tuck overtop. Roll to the other end. Secure the roll by dipping your fingers in some water and wetting the end, "pasting" it shut.
8. To fry spring rolls, place some oil (about 1 inch deep) in a wok or deep-sided frying pan over medium-high heat. Oil is hot enough when you flick water at it with your fingers, and the water dances.
9. Using tongs, place spring rolls in oil, allowing them to fry a little less than 1 minute on each side. Spring rolls are done when they turn light to medium golden-brown (see photo). Place on paper towels (or a clean dish towel) to drain while you finish frying the rest. It might take one or two rolls to get the oil at just the right temperature--you don't want the rolls soaking in the oil, but you don't want them burning, either.
10. Serve spring rolls while still hot with Thai Sweet Chili Sauce, or your own dipping sauce.

Buttermilk Biscuits

Biscuits: a famous, occasionally daunting quick bread. My association with biscuits is often how long they can take to assemble—especially for a "quick bread" that doesn't need to rise. I like this recipe because it is quick and approachable. In terms of fluffiness and flakiness, these biscuits can't beat meticulously cutting in a pound of butter into flour. However, for taste and convenience (start to coming out of the oven, this recipe took 35 minutes), I highly approve. All hail Alton Brown.

Ingredients:

2 c. flour

4 tsp. baking powder

1/4 tsp. baking soda

3/4 tsp. salt

2 Tbsp. butter

2 Tbsp. shortening

1 c. buttermilk, chilled

Directions:

Preheat oven to 450 degrees.

In a large mixing bowl, combine flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Using your fingertips, rub butter and shortening into dry ingredients until mixture looks like crumbs. (The faster the better, you don't want the fats to melt.) Make a well in the center and pour in the chilled buttermilk. Stir just until the dough comes together. The dough will be very sticky.

Turn dough onto floured surface, dust top with flour and gently fold dough over on itself 5 or 6 times. Press into a 1-inch thick round. Cut out biscuits with a 2-inch cutter, being sure to push straight down through the dough. Place biscuits on baking sheet so that they just touch. Reform scrap dough, working it as little as possible and continue cutting. (Biscuits from the second pass will not be quite as light as those from the first, but hey, that's life.)

Bake until biscuits are tall and light gold on top, 15 to 20 minutes.

Easy Marinara

3-6 oz olive oil (good quality, but need not be extra virgin, save your money. The more oil you add the more flavor it will have. Beyond 6 oz will make it seem oily though.)
2-3 cloves of garlic, minced (don't use the pre minced crap, it has a bitter taste)
1 14.5 oz can diced tomatoes (find a good brand that doesn't have too many seeds, skins, or other unwanted crap)
1-2 fresh leaves of basil
or
5-8 fresh leaves of Italian parsley.
3/4 to 1 lb of pasta

Directions:
1. Start the water for the pasta to boil. For this recipe I use a big pot, and a little bit less than a gallon of water. Salt it with about four teaspoons of salt, don't skimp on the salt, you can always tell when pasta hasn't been salted correctly and there is no remedy after it's cooked.
2. In a 14 inch skillet or a deep sided 10-12 inch saute pan heat the oil to a medium temperature. The size of the pan is important (more on this later). Add the garlic and let it cook for a few minutes. Do not let any of the garlic get brown, at that point it's overcooked which makes it bitter.
3. Add the tomatoes and stir together with a wide, flat wooden spoon or spatula. Bump up the heat to medium high until it starts bubbling and then back it off back to medium.
4. At this point the water should be close to boiling, when it is, add the pasta. This recipe will make up to a pound of pasta, but it's best with just a bit less than a pound. Cook it until it's just al dente.
5. While the pasta is cooking you want to take your spoon/spatula and smash the tomatoes up with the flat side. Do this until it becomes somewhat smooth and the chunks are not noticeable. Depending on how much the tomatoes have cooked before you start it shouldn't take but a few minutes to get it to the right consistency, which for me is not chunky, but definitely not a smooth paste.
6. When the sauce is at this consistency it's basically done, cooking it any more will not help it. You can add a lot of different things at this point or you can leave it like it is and just add the basil or the parsley. If you just want the simple tomato sauce then turn off the heat and add the chopped basil. If you like a bit more acid, try a dash of basalmic vinegar (I'd recommend investing in a decent quality one from Caputo's in Salt Lake . . . they have this white truffle-infused number that's delicious). We will do a dash or two of Tabasco at this point, too.

This recipe is quite adaptable to various types of seafood, particularly shellfish. Use parsley instead of basil of using seafood.. When the pasta is done, the dish is done. Drain it and then put it into the saute pan with the sauce still in it. This is key to getting the best flavor from your sauce. A lot of people make the mistake of cooking their sauce in a small pan and then pouring it over the pasta in a separate dish or in the big pot, thus leaving a lot of the flavor that has been built up in the sauce (the oil that stays in the pan holds the flavor). This is one reason why it's important to cook your sauce in a large pan, you want to be able mix the pasta with it while it's still in the pan. The other reason is that it with more surface area it will cook faster, which is a big part of this recipe's convenience.

A word on serving and garnishing

Italians always eat pasta in bowls. A standard place setting includes a dinner plate with a pasta bowl on top. Pasta is always a first course, so when it's done you clear the bowls and you have a clean plate to serve your second course (which for us is usually a simple salad).

Garnishes
The most common garnish for pasta is of course Parmigiano Reggiano cheese. A few other good cheese options include Grana Padano (very similar to Parmigiano Reggiano) or pecorino romano, which is goats cheese and therefore much more pungent. Sometimes when I'm making just a simple tomato sauce I'll add a small pat of butter while I'm mixing it with the sauce. It gives it a nutty flavor that goes well with the cheese.

An Italian would never add cheese to any dish that had any sort of fish in it. It's seen as repulsive and a big no no in Italian cuisine. To garnish the sauce with seafood you can add a few drops of a high quality, robust and fruity extra virgin olive oil to each individual dish and maybe a bit of fresh pepper. I really like Greek olive oils for this (Hygea is a favorite brand) because they are similar to a lot of strong southern Italian oils.

There you have it a great meal in 30-40 minutes depending on how long it takes you to boil water and cook pasta.