File Gumbo--May Daring Cooks Challenge

For this months Daring cooks challenge we were challenged to make a gumbo that included a roux.  This wasn't my first time making gumbo and I'm sure it wont be my last.  While this recipe turned out really good and everyone seemed to like it, I still don't love gumbo.  It was my first time to use file powder and even my first time to use okra and that was exciting, but I think its the flavor combinations that I cant be down with. 

Drew’s Chicken & Smoked Sausage Gumbo

Minimally adapted from My New Orleans: The Cookbook, by John Besh
Serves 10-12
Ingredients
1 cup rendered chicken fat, duck fat, or canola oil
1 cup flour
2 large onions, diced
1 chicken cut into 10 pieces
2 tablespoons Basic Creole Spices or store-bought Creole spice blend
2 pounds spicy smoked sausage, sliced ½ inch thick
2 stalks celery, diced
2 green bell peppers seeded and diced
1 tomato, seeded and chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
Leaves from 2 sprigs of fresh thyme
3 quarts Basic Chicken Stock
bay leaves
6 ounces andouille sausage, chopped
2 cups sliced fresh okra, ½ -inch  thick slices (or frozen, if fresh is not available)
1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
Salt, to taste
Freshly ground black pepper, to taste
Filé powder, to taste
Tabasco, to taste
4-6 cups cooked Basic Louisiana White Rice

In a large cast-iron or heavy-bottomed pan, heat the chicken fat, duck fat, or canola oil over high heat. Whisk the flour into the hot oil – it will start to sizzle. Reduce the heat to moderate, and continue whisking until the roux becomes deep brown in color, about 15 minutes Add the onions. Switch to a wooden spoon and stir the onions into the roux. Reduce the heat to medium-low. Continue stirring until the roux becomes a glossy dark brown, about 10 minutes.

 Add the chicken to the pot; raise the heat to moderate, and cook, turning the pieces until slightly browned, about 10 minutes.Add the sliced smoked sausage and stir for about a minute.  Add the celery, bell peppers, tomato, and garlic, and continue stirring for about 3 minutes.  Add the thyme, chicken stock, and bay leaves. Bring the gumbo to a boil, stirring occasionally.
Reduce the heat to medium-low and simmer, uncovered, for 45 minutes. Stir occasionally, skimming off the fat from the surface of the gumbo every so often.
Add the chopped andouille, okra, and Worcestershire. Season with salt and pepper, several dashes of filé powder, and Tabasco, all to taste.
Simmer for another 45 minutes, continuing to skim the fat from the surface of the gumbo. Remove the bay leaves and serve in bowls over rice. Pass more filé powder at the table if desired.


Blog-checking lines: Our May hostess, Denise, of There’s a Newf in My Soup!, challenged The Daring Cooks to make Gumbo! She provided us with all the recipes we’d need, from creole spices, homemade stock, and Louisiana white rice, to Drew’s Chicken & Smoked Sausage Gumbo and Seafood Gumbo from My New Orleans: The Cookbook, by John Besh.

Chicken Cordon Bleu Crepes ----Daring Cooks April

The theme for this months daring cooks was edible containers, and for once I was completely stumped and out of time.  Finally this past week I thought crepes! For me the Daring Cooks is all about cooking things that I have never made before and while there were great recipes for eggs in cups and polenta cups those are old game for me.  I think I was stirring the polenta for my Dad when I was about eleven. Also, SA and I spent a whole afternoon going through the kitchen getting rid of things that were out of date or we wouldn't use so I am trying my HARDEST to only make things from items I had in the kitchen/pantry.  The pictures do not do this recipe ANY justice.  It was really good, and really filling and the best part was after dinner I mixed the left over chicken with the left over sauce and combined it with some left over pasta from the ghetto pesto and SA and I had great lunches then next day!
Making crepes was awesome too.  Before I started I sternly told the batter that it would NOT act like pancake batter did for me, and I guess I scared it or something because my crepes ALL came out beautifully with out tearing or being ugly or under/over cooked.  I was quite proud!

why must brown/cream things always look so ugly when photographed even if they were delish???

Chicken "Cordon Bleu" Crepes
For Crepe recipe please visit Alton
Chicken Filling:
1 Tbsp Butter
1 medium onion, chopped
2 cloves of garlic
2 chicken breasts cut into small chunks
1/4 tsp. tarragon
1/4 c. diced ham
1/8 tsp black pepper
Melt the butter over medium heat and add onion and garlic and cook until slightly translucent.  Add chicken , tarragon and pepper and cook until the chicken is no longer pink in the middle.  Add ham and cook another two to three minutes or until the ham is warmed through.

Bechamel Sauce
2 cups milk
1 tablespoons butter
2 tablespoons flour
1/2 cup Parmesan cheese
Pinch nutmeg

Scald the milk in a heavy saucepan over medium heat. Keep on low heat stirring occasionally.
Melt the butter in a separate saucepan over low heat. When it's bubbling, add the flour and whisk three or four minutes or until a golden paste has formed.
Whisking constantly, add the hot milk steadily. Bring the milk to a gentle simmer and continue to whisk until the sauce thickens, about 8 minutes.
Whisk in the nutmeg and the cheese, and pour over filled crepes.




Blog checking lines:
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!

Pappas Rellenas and Sopa de Lima (March Daring Cooks Challenge)

I was on a mission as soon as I read the recipe for the March Daring Cooks challenge.  I was going to find some Purple Peruvian potatoes! Alas I went to every grocery store in the area to no avail.  Finally I went to Seattle for work and got a chance to visit the Pikes Place Market (WHICH I LOVED!!!) In the market I barely had to look, there were my little purple gems. 
Due to being sick with what I am going to refer to as the plague for the last week I just got a chance to perform the challenge tonight for SA and our friends Tiff and Matt. It was fantastic! I used a mixture of spicy sausage, onions,garlic, olives and cheese.

Pappas Rellenas
For the dough:
2¼ lb (1 kg) russet potatoes
1 large egg
For the filling:
2 tablespoon (30 ml) of a light flavored oil
½ lb spicy sausage
6 black olives, pitted and chopped (use more if you love olives)
2 hard boiled large eggs, chopped
1 small onion, finely diced (about 1 cup (240 ml))
1 finely diced aji pepper (ok to sub jalapeño or other pepper – if you are shy about heat, use less)
2 cloves garlic, minced or passed through a press (if you love garlic, add more) 1 teaspoon (5 ml) (4 gm) (1/8 oz) ground cumin (use more if you like cumin)
½ teaspoon (2.5 ml) (2 gm) (1/16 oz) sweet paprika
Salt and pepper to taste
For the final preparation:
1 large egg, beaten
1 cup (240 ml) (140 gm) (5 oz) all-purpose flour
Dash cayenne pepper
Dash salt
1 cup dry (240 ml) (110 gm) (4 oz) or fresh (240 ml) (60 gm) (2 oz) bread crumbs (you can use regular, panko, make your own or use store-bought)
Oil for frying (enough for 2” (50 mm) in a heavy pan like a medium sized dutch oven)
Directions:
In order to save time, you can boil the potatoes, and while they are cooling, you can make the filling. While that is cooling, you can make the potato “dough.” In this way, little time is spent waiting for anything to cool.
For the dough:
Boil the potatoes until they pierce easily with a fork. Remove them from the water and cool.
Once the potatoes have cooled, peel them and mash them with a potato masher or force them through a potato ricer (preferred).
Add egg, salt and pepper and knead “dough” thoroughly to ensure that ingredients are well combined and uniformly distributed.
Forming and frying the papas:
Use three small bowls to prepare the papas. In one, combine flour, cayenne and salt. In the second, a beaten egg with a tiny bit of water. Put bread crumbs in the third
Flour your hands and scoop up 1/6 of the total dough to make a round pancake with your hands. Make a slight indentation in the middle for the filling.
Spoon a generous amount of filling into the center and then roll the potato closed, forming a smooth, potato-shaped casing around the filling. Repeat with all dough (you should have about 6 papas).
Heat 1 ½ - 2 inches (4 – 5 cm) of oil in a pan to about 350 – 375° F (175 - 190°C).
Dip each papa in the three bowls to coat: first roll in flour, then dip in egg, then roll in bread crumbs.
Fry the papas (in batches if necessary) about 2-3 minutes until golden brown. Flip once in the middle of frying to brown both sides.
Drain on paper towel and store in a 200ºF (95ºC) (gas mark ¼) oven if frying in batches.
Serve with salsa criolla (or other sauce of preference) immediately.

I served the Pappas Rellenas with Sopa de Lima:

Sopa de Lima (Tortilla Soup with Lime)
delightfully borrowed from Home Sick Texan
1 medium yellow onion, quartered
10 cloves garlic
2 quarts of chicken broth
1/4 teaspoon ground allspice
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon oregano
1/4 teaspoon ground cumin
Pinch of cayenne
1 cup chopped cilantro, divided
2 teaspoons lime zest
2 cups shredded cooked chicken
Salt and black pepper to taste
1/4 cup lime juice
1/2 cup shredded Monterrey Jack cheese (4 ounces)
Crushed tortilla chips
2 jalapeños, stems and seeds removed, diced
1 avocado, pitted and peeled, cubed
1 lime, cut into slices

Place the quartered onion and 10 cloves of garlic under the broiler. Cook until blackened, about 10 minutes, turning once. Place the cooked onion and garlic into the blender, along with 1 cup of the broth. Pour into a large pot.
Add the rest of the chicken broth to the pot, and stir in the allspice, cinnamon, oregano, cumin, cayenne, 1/2 cup of the chopped cilantro and lime zest. Bring to a boil and then turn down the heat and simmer uncovered for 10 minutes. Add the shredded chicken and cook for 5 more minutes. Taste and add salt and black pepper to taste. Adjust seasonings, and then stir in the lime juice.
Serve with Monterrey Jack, crushed tortilla chips, diced jalapeños, remaining 1/2 cup of chopped cilantro, avocado and lime slices.
Blog Checking Lines:
Kathlyn of Bake Like a Ninja was our Daring Cooks’ March 2011 hostess. Kathlyn challenges us to make two classic Peruvian dishes: Ceviche de Pescado from “Peruvian Cooking – Basic Recipes” by Annik Franco Barreau. And Papas Rellenas adapted from a home recipe by Kathlyn’s Spanish teacher, Mayra.

Cassoulet--Daring Cooks Challenge Jan. 2011

This month's daring cooking challenge was for cassoulet.  I had my severe reservations about this dish before starting it, while doing it and even about to take my first bite.

First of all I had difficulties finding the ingredients. Maybe I was just not looking in the right places, but I couldn't find the duck fat for the confit.  However I persevered! And in the end was GREATLY REWARDED!
"Cassoulet is a rich, slow cooked stew or casserole that originated in the south of France during the 14th century. It traditionally contains pork, sausages, and white beans as well as a duck or goose confit and then topped with fried bread crumbs or cracklings. The dish is named after its traditional cooking vessel, the cassole, which is a deep, round earthenware pot with slanted sides. This is a dish that traditionally takes about three days to prepare, but is oh so worth all the effort!! A confit, in case you don’t know, is one of the oldest ways to preserve food. It is essentially any kind of food that has been immersed in any kind of fat for both flavor and preservation. When stored in a cool place, confit can last for several months! Typically meats (most often waterfowl) are preserved in fats, while fruits are preserved in sugar."

Cassoulet
inspired by Anthony Bourdain's recipe
5 white beans
1 large ham hock
1 pound thick cut bacon
1 two pound pork roast, slow cooked and shredded
1 onion, cut into 4 pieces
1 bouquet garni
salt and pepper
6 pork sausages
3 onions, thinly sliced
1 garlic clove, thinly sliced
4 confit chicken breasts (confit in olive oil)
1 c. panko

Place the beans in the large bowl and cover with cold water so that there are at least 2 or 3 inches of water above the top of the beans. Soak overnight. Drain and rinse the beans and place in the large pot. Add the ham hock, the quartered onion, 1/4 pound of the bacon, and the bouquet garni. Cover with water, add salt and pepper to taste, and bring to a boil. Reduce to a simmer and cook until the beans are tender, about an hour. Let cool for 20 minutes, then discard the onion and the bouquet garni. Remove the ham hock,strain the beans and the bacon and set aside, reserving the cooking liquid separately.

In the sauté pan, heat tbsp of oil from the chicken confit over medium-high heat carefully add the sausages and brown on all sides. Remove and set aside, draining on paper towels. In the same pan, over medium-high heat, brown the sliced onions, the garlic and the reserved squares of bacon from the beans. Once browned, remove from the heat and transfer to the blender. Add 1 tablespoon/14 g of the remaining olive oil and puree until smooth. Set aside.
Preheat the oven to 350ºF. Place the uncooked bacon in the bottom of a deep ovenproof earthenware dish. You're looking to line the inside, almost like a pie crust. Arrange all your ingredients in alternating layers, beginning with a layer of beans, then sausages, then more beans, then pork roast, beans, chicken confit and finally more beans, adding a dab of the onion and pork rind purée between each layer. Add enough of the bean cooking liquid to just cover the beans, reserving 1 cup in the refrigerator for later use. Cook the cassoulet in the oven for 1 hour, then reduce the heat to 250ºF and cook for another hour. Remove from the oven and allow to cool. Refrigerate overnight. Preheat the oven to 350ºF and cook the cassoulet for an hour. Break the crust on the top with the spoon and add 1/4 cup of the reserved cooking liquid. Reduce the heat to 250ºF and continue cooking another 15 minutes. Add panko to top and dot on a bit of the chicken confit oil.

Blog Checking Lines: Our January 2011 Challenge comes from Jenni of The Gingered Whisk and Lisa from Parsley, Sage, Desserts and Line Drives. They have challenged the Daring Cooks to learn how to make a confit and use it within the traditional French dish of Cassoulet. They have chosen a traditional recipe from Anthony Bourdain and Michael Ruhlman.



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Daring Cooks Challenge: Poached Eggs/ Huevos Hollandaise

DARING COOKS CHALLENGE: POACHED EGGS!
I was sooo not looking forward to poaching an egg.  Gross. Runny Yolks. No thank you! However, the night I made this I was craving huevos rancheros but thought I would just suck it up and make the the poach eggs (and get it over with) but it was amazzzzzzzzzing!
This recipe kind of evolved as I was making it and ended up quite over the top.  BUT OVER THE TOP TASTY!
Its kinda hard to tell in the picture but on the bottom there are my own version of borracho beans topped with a garlic toasted muffin, then a sausage patty, poached egg(I promise its there!), crumbled cotija cheese, green salsa and homemade hollandaise. (and now I am going to go work out, LOL!) It was sooooo stinking good that even my husband who detests runny eggs finished his bowl and my leftovers. The yolk was so good when it mixed in with the beans and the cheese.
HECK YES to HUEVOS HOLLANDAISE! and I've been converted!

Borracho Beans(or drunken beans)
1 pound dried pinto beans, washed

2 quarts chicken stock
1 tablespoon salt
1/2 tablespoon ground black pepper
1  can or bottle beer
1 can diced tomatoes, drained
1 white onion, diced
3 pieces of cooked bacon
6 cloves garlic, chopped
3 bay leaves
1 1/2 tablespoons dried Mexican oregano
1/2 cups chopped fresh cilantro
1 teaspoon of cumin
1 1/2 teaspoon chili powder
1/2 teaspoon of cayenne

Soak beans over night in a large pot of water, or just do what I did and follow the directions on the back of the bag for a quick soak!

Drain beans, and refill the pot with chicken stock and enough water to cover the beans with 2 inches of liquid. Season with salt and pepper. Cover, and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to medium-low, cover, and cook for 1 1/2 hours.
In another skillet, cook the bacon over medium heat untill done, and remove from pan being careful to save your bacon grease, add onions and cook untill translucent.
Stir beer, tomatoes, onion, bacon, garlic, bay leaves, oregano, chili powder, cayenne, cumin and cilantro into the beans. Continue to cook uncovered for 1 hour, or until beans are tender.
With a potato masher, crush the beans slightly to thicken the bean liquid. Adjust the seasonings with salt and pepper to taste.

Hollandaise
modified slightly from Alton Brown's Recipe
3 egg yolks

1 teapsoon water
1/4 teaspoon sugar
12 tablespoons cut into small pieces
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1/8 teaspoon cayenne pepper
Pour 1-inch of water into a large saucepan; over medium heat, bring to a simmer. Once simmering, reduce the heat to low.

Place egg yolks and 1 teaspoon water in a medium mixing bowl and whisk until mixture lightens in color, approximately 1 to 2 minutes. Add the sugar and whisk for another 30 seconds.
Place the mixture over the simmering water and whisk constantly for 3 to 5 minutes.
Remove the bowl from over the pan and gradually add the butter, 1 piece at a time, and whisk until all of the butter is incorporated. If your butter isn't melting, put the bowl back over the simmering water so that it will melt. Add the salt and cayenne pepper.
I was talking to one of my friends about this recipe and he recommended after you whisk the egg yolks, water and sugar  simply pouring the mixture in a blender and adding softened butter.  I'm not sure if that would work but I think its worth a try!


Blog-checking lines: Jenn and Jill have challenged The Daring Cooks to learn to perfect the technique of poaching an egg. They chose Eggs Benedict recipe from Alton Brown, Oeufs en Meurette from Cooking with Wine by Anne Willan, and Homemade Sundried Tomato & Pine Nut Seitan Sausages (poached) courtesy of Trudy of Veggie num num.

November Daring Cooks Challenge: Souffles!

My first daring chefs challenge was quite scary:
SOUFFLES!
But they fall! They are difficult! I only have small ramekins!  I'M SCARED! These were all thoughts going thru my head when I saw what the challenge was to be (should I accept it).  In the end I persevered and learned that it was actually quite easy and something I will be adding to my repertoire more often.
     This was a perfect recipe for the SA and I, it made three nice size souffles so there was one for each of us and one that we just so happened to share with two hungry pirate princesses and their parents.

Chocolate Mint Souffles
2 eggs

1 teaspoon plus 4 tablespoons sugar, divided
2 tablespoons  Cocoa
1 teaspoon cornstarch
Dash salt
1/3 cup fat-free milk
2 tablespoons semisweet chocolate chips
1/8 teaspoon mint extract

Separate eggs. Place whites in a small bowl; let stand at room temperature for 30 minutes. Place yolks in another bowl; set aside.


Coat two 10-oz. ramekins or custard cups with cooking spray and lightly sprinkle with 1 teaspoon sugar; place on a baking sheet and set aside.
In a small saucepan over medium heat, combine 2 tablespoons sugar, cocoa, cornstarch and salt. Gradually stir in milk. Bring to a boil, stirring constantly. Cook and stir for 1-2 minutes or until thickened.
Remove from the heat; stir in chocolate chips and extract until chips are melted. Transfer to a small bowl. Stir a small amount of hot mixture into egg yolks; return all to the bowl, stirring constantly. Cool slightly.
Beat egg whites on medium speed until soft peaks form. Gradually beat in remaining sugar, 1 tablespoon at a time, on high until stiff peaks form. With a spatula, fold a fourth of the egg whites into chocolate mixture until no white streaks remain. Fold in remaining egg whites until combined.
Transfer to prepared ramekins. Bake at 375° for 18-22 minutes or until tops are puffed and centers are almost set.

A spooky pirate princess waiting for a bite of souffle!