French onion soup

How to Make the Best French Onion Soup http://www.seriouseats.com/2015/01/how-to-make-the-best-french-onion-soup-caramelization.html

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Classic French Onion Soup

• By Admin, community.thehotplate.com
• View Original
• October 24th, 2014

Made with caramelized onions, a splash of brandy and red wine, this traditional bistro favourite is easy to make at home.

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Classic French Onion Soup

Ingredients

2 tbsp (30 mL) butter

5 medium cooking onions, sliced

1/2 tsp (2 mL) salt

1/4 tsp (1 mL) freshly ground pepper

1/4 tsp (1 mL) granulated sugar

1 tbsp (15 mL) chopped fresh thyme

4 tsp (20 mL) all-purpose flour

1/4 cup (60 mL) brandy

1 cup (250 mL) dry red wine

6 cups (1.5 L) beef broth

3 tbsp (45 mL) chopped fresh parsley, divided

2 tbsp (30 mL) chopped fresh chives

8 thick baguette slices, toasted

3 cups (750 mL) shredded Gruyere cheese

1/4 cup (60 mL) grated shredded Parmesan cheese

Steps

Melt butter in a Dutch oven or large saucepan set over low heat. Add onions, salt, pepper and sugar. Cook, stirring regularly, for 70 minutes to 80 minutes or until dark golden brown and caramelized.

Increase heat to medium. Stir in thyme. Sprinkle flour over top. Cook, stirring, for 2 minutes. Slowly stir in brandy and wine. Bring to a simmer. Cook, stirring occasionally, for 5 to 8 minutes or until reduces slightly.

Pour in beef broth and bring to a simmer. Gently simmer for 20 to 25 minutes or until flavours marry. Stir in 2 tbsp parsley and chives.

Preheat broiler on high. Ladle soup into 4 oven-proof crocks. Top each with 2 slices baguette. Sprinkle evenly with Gruyere and Parmesan cheese. Broil 6-inches (15 cm) from heat source for 1 to 3 minutes or until cheese melts and bubbles. Garnish with remaining parsley.

Test Kitchen Notes:

Another mac and cheese

http://suziethefoodie.blogspot.com/2012/03/anne-burrells-killer-mac-cheese-with.html

Anne Burrell's Killer Mac & Cheese with Bacon

Chef Anne Burrell is a rock star. That is obvious in her cookbook Cook Like a Rock Star, published by Random House of Canada. Not just because she is so flippin' awesome but because you can hear her voice in every recipe. Not just in the intro but throughout the directions too. I was so excited to cook with her I could not wait to make one of her fabulous dishes and start my journey into the foodie hall of fame.



I was going to attempt her Spinach & Ricotta Gnocchi with Fontina Fonduta first but there was a lot of prep that I noticed thanks to the "Anne Alert!" box which I really appreciated. I decided instead to make her "killler" mac and cheese:

"Great mac and cheese should be creamy and tangy and luscious... And it's got bacon! What could be better?" ~ Chef Anne Burrell

The Recipe



I divided the recipe in half but will write it in full for you. You will need 1 lb of shells or other short pasta. I used a combo of pastas because I really need to go grocery shopping.



Slice 6 pieces of bacon crosswise into 1/2" strips. Drizzle some olive oil into a large saucepan and add the bacon. Bring pan to medium heat, stirring occasionally. When it is brown and crispy, drain on paper towel. Do not discard bacon fat.

I used turkey bacon which has much less fat that regular bacon. If you prefer turkey bacon then let the oil heat up first and then add the strips. Mine stuck to the pan quite a bit! You may have to also add extra oil to make the sauce.



When you make a cream sauce, you absolutely have to do the "mis en place" prep and have it close by.



Add 3 tbsp of unsalted butter and 1 onion cut into 1/4" dice to the pan and season with salt. Cook until soft and aromatic, around 8 to 10 minutes. Add 1/2 cup flour, stirring frequently for 4 to 5 minutes until mixture looks like wet sand.

I used shallots instead of onions which is why mine caramelized a lot. Thankfully it did not burn but it got close! So if you use shallots, cook for less time.

 

Slowly whisk in 1 quart of whole milk, season with salt and bring to a boil.



It was around this point I added my pasta to salted boiling water. Anne says to cook 1 minute less than packaging instructs but I usually cook it the minimum the package says to. I do not like my pasta to have too much bite.

Bring milk mixture to a boil, reduce to a simmer and cook over low heat for 8 to 10 minutes until the mixture is slightly thicker than heavy cream.



Add 2 cups of grated cheddar, 2 cups of freshly grated Fontina and 1 cup of freshly grated Parmigiano. Whisk to combine. Add 1/4 cup Dijon mustard.



Add a few shakes of Tabasco and check seasoning. If sauce is too thick, add more milk. Pour over cooked and well-drained pasta.

I used a President's Choice chipotle hot sauce (that no longer appears to be on their site) which is delicious but the top fell off and I drizzled in a ton, as well as getting it all over my stovetop.



Stir in the cooked bacon and it is ready!

Foodie Conclusion



Killer mac & cheese? You bet it is! Holy macaroni. Or should I call it devilish?!

It was the best mac and cheese Reg and I have ever had. Honestly. And I have made a lot! I found it interesting that she did not put it in a casserole dish, top with breadcrumbs... As a result, this is the sauciest, richest mac and cheese you can imagine.

I served it for dinner in small bowls and Reg loved it so much at the first bite he mourned how little he had (see back bowl). I said, finish it and then see how you feel. Sure enough, by the last bite he was done. Craaaaaaaaaaaaaazy rich. A cheese lover's dream come true.

Source:
http://www.nytimes.com/recipes/12771/Jean-Georges-Vongerichtenrsquos-Fried-Sushi-Cakes-With-Scallops-Honey-Soy-Sauce-and-Chipotle-Mayonnaise.html

and

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/09/19/dining/excellence-on-the-plate-even-without-a-chefs-edge.html?hpw

By MARK BITTMAN

Published: September 18, 2012

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IF you’re a chef — a great one — you will go to almost any length to gain marginal improvement in a recipe. You’ll find the best provider for every given ingredient, and if you can gain an edge by fussing with those ingredients, you will. (Chances are you’re not the one doing the work anyway.) These kinds of differences define the food of the most talented chefs, at least those successful enough to indulge their talents.

Multimedia

Fried Sushi Cakes With Scallops

Recipe

• Jean-Georges Vongerichten’s Fried Sushi Cakes With Scallops, Honey Soy Sauce and Chipotle Mayonnaise

It’s also why their recipes are often as annoying as running out of garlic.

I’ve spent some time trying to make those kinds of recipes more accessible, as often as not with Jean-Georges Vongerichten; we’ve been friends since he moved to New York in the mid-1980s, and have written two books together.

It’s been a while since we worked together, but his recipe here, for fried cakes of sushi-style rice topped with chipotle mayonnaise and raw scallop, then painted with a thin glaze of a soy-honey mixture, was just irresistible. (If I were an award committee, I’d give it “best of the year.”)

As irresistible, for me, was the opportunity to ask J. G. how to make the thing simpler; he knows full well that the subtle differences he’s employed to make this dish near-perfect can be compromised with still-terrific results.

One thing you can’t mess with is the rice itself: perfectly seasoned sushi rice, made simpler by adding the fairly standard seasonings of konbu (kelp), mirin, salt and vinegar before the cooking instead of after. It’s then fried, and this is the genius of the dish; it becomes a sweet rectangle of sticky crunch surrounding a sweet, tender interior. (You could probably sell it at a fast-food place with ketchup and get rich.)

But everything else (and this is per Jean-Georges, not me) is pretty much fair game. The chipotle mayonnaise is spectacular, and making mayonnaise from scratch is simple. (So simple that an essentially noncooking friend of mine, after attending one of the mayonnaise-based picnics I wrote about this summer, is now a homemade-mayonnaise fiend.)

This mayonnaise, seeking that marginal improvement, contains two kinds of oil and three sources of acidity. But there is an alternative: Jean-Georges said that when he made this dish at home, he laced bottled mayonnaise with sriracha and was happy. (I spiked my Hellmann’s with pimentón, or smoked paprika, and a pinch of cayenne, and thought that wasn’t bad.)

Similarly, I noted that the role of the soy-honey-vinegar mixture was so subtle, and played such a small part in the overall picture, that it might be played by plain, high-quality soy sauce; the chef agreed.

But the scallops are the big thing; one of the reasons this dish is so terrific is that the scallops Jean-Georges uses are live and in the shell just before they’re sliced and layered on the fried rice cakes. Few people, myself included, are going to do this at home, or even have the option of doing this at home. What else works, I asked him?

Well, basically, anything you’d use for sushi: avocado, which is incredible. Good salmon (if you can find it) or tuna — or almost any other fish for that matter. Cucumber, whose cool crunch adds a different dimension. And so on.

These are not “lesser” versions. They’re just the kinds of things nonchefs or chefs cooking at home do when they don’t have every possible advantage.

RECIPE

Jean-Georges Vongerichten’s Fried Sushi Cakes With Scallops, Honey Soy Sauce and Chipotle Mayonnaise

TOTAL TIME

About an hour, plus resting time

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FOR THE RICE CAKES

• 1 and 1/2 cups short-grain sushi rice
• 2 tablespoons mirin
• 1 and 1/2 tablespoons rice-wine vinegar
• 2-inch piece konbu
• 1 tablespoon salt.

FOR THE CHIPOTLE MAYONNAISE

• 1 egg yolk
• 1 teaspoon red-wine vinegar
• 1 and 1/2 teaspoons orange juice
• 2 teaspoons lime juice
• 1 tablespoon chipotle in adobo, including some of the liquid
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 3/4 cup grapeseed oil
• 1/4 cup olive oil.

FOR THE HONEY SOY SAUCE

• 1/2 cup light soy sauce
• 1/2 cup honey
• 2 tablespoons sherry vinegar
• 1 tablespoon rice-wine vinegar.

FOR FRYING AND ASSEMBLING

• Grapeseed oil
• Coarse salt
• Minced scallions
• 6 big scallops, each sliced into 4 pieces
• Minced cilantro.

PREPARATION

1.

Combine sushi rice, mirin, rice-wine vinegar, konbu and 1 tablespoon salt in a medium saucepan with 3 cups of water and bring to a boil. Cover with a lid wrapped in a damp cloth and reduce to a simmer. Cook for 20 minutes or until done. (Alternatively, use a rice cooker.) Remove from the heat and let sit for 15 minutes.

2.

Line an 8-by-8-inch baking dish with plastic wrap. Firmly press the rice into the pan. Refrigerate until set, preferably overnight. Remove the rice from the pan and, using a chef’s knife dipped in hot water to prevent sticking, cut into 1-by-3-inch rectangles.

3.

Make the chipotle mayonnaise: Combine the egg yoke, red-wine vinegar, orange juice, lime juice, adobo and liquid and 1 teaspoon salt and purée in a food processor or blender. Add the 3/4 cup grapeseed oil and the olive oil in a drizzle and process until smooth, thick and creamy.

4.

Make the honey soy sauce: In a small saucepan, bring the soy sauce, honey, sherry vinegar and 1 tablespoon rice-wine vinegar to a boil and stir until smooth. Cool before using.

5.

Heat grapeseed oil in a pan, deep enough to just about cover the rectangles. A broad skillet will require more oil than a deep saucepan, but will allow you to cook more pieces at once. Allow oil temperature to reach 350 to 360 degrees. Cook the rice rectangles until golden and crispy, about 5 minutes total, turning once; transfer to paper towels and season with salt

6.

Combine chipotle mayonnaise and scallions. Top each rectangle with a bit of the mayonnaise, then drape with a piece of raw scallop. Brush or drizzle with honey soy, then garnish with a bit of cilantro and a tiny pinch of salt.

YIELD

24 cakes, 6 to 12 servings.

Korean Fried Chicken

Source

http://norecipes.com/blog/korean-fried-chicken-recipe/

Korean Fried Chicken (Yangnyeom Chikin)

• YIELD: 4 Servings
• PREP: 10 mins
• COOK: 30 mins
• READY IN: 40 mins

Crackly skinned Korean Fried Chicken (양념치킨) with a fiery sweet glaze.

Ingredients

• 2 pounds chicken wings wingtips and drumlets
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 3 tablespoons dark brown sugar
• 1 tablespoon gochujang Korean sweet chili paste
• 1 tablespoon soy sauce
• 1/3 cup soju Korean liquor
• 3 large cloves garlic grated
• 2 teaspoons ginger grated
• 1 teaspoon sesame oil
• gochugaru (ground Korean chili pepper) to taste
• 1 tablespoon potato starch
• vegetable oil for frying
• 1 teaspoon toasted sesame seeds for garnish

Instructions

1. Sprinkle the salt over the chicken wings, cover with plastic wrap and leave them in the fridge for 24 hours. This not only seasons the chicken, it draws out extra moisture from the surface of the chicken making it easier to crisp. 
   
2. To make the sauce, combine brown sugar, soy sauce, gochujang, soju, garlic, ginger and sesame oil in a pan and boil until it starts to get syrupy. Taste the sauce and add gochugaru until it's the spiciness you want it. Strain the sauce through a fine mesh sieve to remove the solids. This is important as the solids will tend to clump on the surface of the chicken causing the skin to lose its crispness. 
   
3. Add about 2" of vegetable oil to a heavy bottomed pot and heat to 320 degrees F (160C). 
4. Take the chicken out of the fridge and use paper towels to remove as much moisture from the surface of the chicken as possible. It's important that you get the chicken very dry as it will spatter in the hot oil making a mess, and the skin won't crisp up as nicely. 
5. Sprinkle on the potato starch, and toss the chicken to evenly coat each piece with a thin layer of starch. 
6. Fry the chicken wings for 10 minutes in batches. You can actually cram quite a few wings in, as long as they are fully submerged. Transfer to a plate and continue frying the rest of the wings. 
   
7. Increase the heat of the oil to 375 degrees F (190C). Fry the chicken again until the wings are golden brown (about 2-3 minutes). 
   
8. Transfer the wings directly to the bowl of glaze and quickly toss to coat lightly with the glaze. Transfer immediately to a serving platter. If they sit in the sauce too long they will soak up too much liquid and loose their crispness. 
   

Cornflakes baked chicken

http://mykitchenantics.blogspot.co.uk/
Cornflake crusted chicken and announcing the World's Biggest Coffee Morning

I have exhausted almost everything from my drafts and this was a recipe I hadn't planned on posting, not because the recipe was a failure, but because I wasn't too happy with the pictures. Since I hadn't fed my blog in a while, I thought, why not, lets get it out there. 

My last set of guests have left and I must say its awfully quiet around here. No rushing between houses, no early morning sightseeing and no travelling in the car (which I dread completely. Hail the London Underground). I haven't cooked in a reaaaallly long time and as always, its a slow start. Even with taking pics and stuff, I haven't really got down to it and I hope it wont be long before I'm up and about with the camera and props.

 

Anyways, this cornflake crusted chicken was the after effect of a cornflake over dose, more like, I want to finish it off as soon as possible so I have to think of recipes to use them in. So dinner on one night was taken care of with these crispy, crunchy chicken which I served with a healthy salad. I still had some more remaining which I force fed my sister-in-law when she stayed with us for a month :) :)

Its an easy peacy recipe and quite tasty for a picnic and such. It wont go soggy on you if you store it in an air tight container. I even used up the boneless crusted pieces of chicken in a sandwich the next day and it was just as good. So go on, try it and I'm sure you'll thank me later. Don't judge the recipe by the pics, it was waaaay better tasting than it looks :)

Recipe adapted from here

 

Chicken- 1/2 kg (mix of drumsticks and thighs, cut into large pieces)

Buttermilk- 300ml

Cumin powder- 1 tsp

Kashmiri chilli powder- 1 tsp

Spicy chilly powder- 1 tsp (paprika)

Black pepper powder- 1/2 tsp

Garlic powder- 1 tsp

Salt- to taste

Cornflakes- 3 cups (crushed using a rolling pin. Don't powder it)

Parmesan cheese- 3 tbsp (grated)

Salt and pepper- to season

Whisk together the buttermilk with cumin, chilli powders, pepper, garlic and salt. 

Place the chicken pieces in a non reactive bowl and pour the marinade over. Mix well and keep it covered in a refrigerator for a minimum of 3 hours or overnight.

When ready to cook, pre heat the oven to 220C.

Place a wire rack over a baking tray and keep aside. You can place a sheet of foil on the baking tray to catch any juices or crumbs falling off the chicken. Less cleaning that way :)

Season the crushed cornflakes with the Parmesan and salt and pepper. Mix well and keep ready in a shallow bowl.

Shake off the excess marinade from the chicken, keeping some on for the cornflakes to stick and then roll the pieces in the crumb mix properly, making sure they are completely coated.

Place on the wire rack and into the oven. 

Bake for about 25 minutes, making sure you check the chicken pieces every 10 minutes and turning them around if required. They should not brown too much.

To check if its done, slice through to the bone and if the juices run clear, and the meat is not pink, you are good to go.

Take out of the oven and serve when still hot.

Notes: You can basically add any spice of choice and then coat the chicken with cornflakes.

To get a much crispier version, place under the broiler towards the end. Again, make sure you don't burn it.

Sri Lanka curry egg

source http://mykitchenantics.blogspot.co.uk/
Sri Lankan egg curry

How are you all doing??? Embracing the last few days of summer? Well, I am and I think I'm now ready to let go and welcome gloomy, chilly days and sweaters and pull overs. Last week was depressing with rains and winds and gloomy weather and I almost got out my night socks. Good thing I didn't because for the last 4 days we have been having brilliant weather, warm and sunny and still summer like.

Since I am still getting into the groove of cooking and stuff, it is an effort to make dinner. I am still exhausting stuff from my freezer and realised if I didn't start cooking soon I'd just get used to it and even worse ignore my blog and photography and such. So last week when we were a bit under the weather (literally) I brought out this new cook book called Serendip by Peter Kuruvita which has an array of Sri Lankan recipes and some gorgeous gorgeous photographs.

This is my current fav book and I have already tried out a couple of recipes which have all been fruitful. Usually my first trial at new recipes are always a failure and it very rarely tempts me to make them again, but this one somehow has managed to hit the spot and I have so so so many awesome recipes to try from the book. The book costs quite a bit and if I didn't use it as much as I promised Ro, I am never gonna hear the end of it. So for the past couple of days anything on the dinner table is Sri Lankan in nature. (I plan on doing it till Ro tells me, enough with it already!!!)

 

Truth be told, the picture of this egg curry tempted me more than the recipe. The fact that I'm impulsive doesn't really work always. I had already put the eggs to boil and then decided to go through the recipe which is when I realised it had 3 ingredients I hadn't even heard of and wondered, what now??? I still decided to go ahead with the recipe, omitting the two and it still was a welcome change to the usual Kerala egg curry. Very few ingredients are used and seriously, how can anything with coconut milk ever taste bad??? 

I had picked up some frozen idiyappams from the Indian store a while back and served it along with the curry. It was a brilliant combo and I'm kicking myself for not picking up a few more packs. Ro was quite thrilled to see them and asked where I got it from to which I pretended to be insulted and said what do you mean, I slogged it out in the kitchen and made them from scratch. How did you do the strings without the press was his next question. I avoided it saying there was a technique I'd learnt on youtube which I shall explain later and he bought that. And then just when we were about to eat I opened my big mouth and said, 'hey just check if the idiyappams have been cooked through, it was frozen.' Ro who usually doesn't listen to crap I say, picked this one up immediately. I will be teased about it for quite a while. Dammit!! :)

Recipe adapted from Serendip: My Sri Lankan Kitchen by Peter Kuruvita

 

Eggs- 4, plunged into boiling water for 5 minutes and then refreshed in cold water.

Oil- 1 tbsp + enough to shallow fry the eggs

Cumin seeds- 1/2 tsp

Cinnamon stick- 1 inch piece

Onion- 1 medium, thinly sliced

Green chillies- 2 small, slit lengthwise

Curry leaves- a sprig

Chilli powder- 1 tsp

Turmeric powder- 1/4 tsp

Maldive fish flakes - 1/2 tbsp

Pandanus leaf- 1 inch piece

Dill seeds- 1/4 tsp

Coconut milk- 1 cup

Salt- to taste

 

Peel the cooked eggs, prick them all over with a fork and lightly salt them.

Heat enough oil in a pan and fry the eggs until golden, flipping sides as and when required. Drain on paper towels and keep ready.

Into a wok, tip in all the other ingredients and simmer for about 8 to 10 minutes or till the onions have become soft and the sauce has slightly thickened.

Add the eggs and continue to cook for 5 more minutes.

Season with enough salt, give a final stir and take it off the fire.

Serve with appam, idiyappam, roti or even bread.

 

Notes: I didn't have the fish flakes, pandanus leaf and the dill seeds which I presume were the main ingredients that gave the curry its distinct taste.

I also sautéed the onions with cumin, cinnamon, chillies and the powders till the onions grew soft and then added the coconut milk and let it simmer for about 5 to 6 minutes.

Although I'd pricked the eggs with a fork, I found that the masalas hadn't caught on to it. So next time I would halve the egg and throw it into the curry.

The base curry is perfect for a fish molee and even vegetable curries.