eat.sweet

fig & goat cheese tart

Originally uploaded by oh_hello

I’m still here.

This fig & goat cheese tart was made on a whim and looks totally fancy. The figs were on sale because they were getting soft, the pita bread had been in my cabinet for a little too long, and the goat cheese was leftover from making roasted beet salad. It’s a little burnt because I heard my Tweetdeck chiming with @replies and I stepped away from the broiler for a minute. Oops!

I’m digging tofu lately. I’ve been cooking with it for a while, just pressing it, seasoning it, and throwing it into things. I’ve never tried marinating it, which most people say is the only way you should eat tofu. The tofu that I get at the Chinese market is from a bulk bin and rather soft, even too soft to press. I found this “Dry-Fry & Marinate” method and gave it a try. It was great! I didn’t let the tofu dry out as much as they did in the picture because I didn’t want it to be too rubbery. After the tofu marinated long enough, I started to make a stir-fry and threw the marinade liquid in there as the seasoning for the stir fry. It was a success. The texture & flavor of the tofu were great, and the All-Purpose Marinade reduction was yummy.

I went shopping yesterday but I left the receipts in my car, so I’ll post it tomorrow.  It the meantime, I wanted to share this awesome soup that I made for dinner.  It tastes really rich and filling while still being low in fat and with an acceptable amount of protein from the chickpeas – and not expensive to make.  We ate it with a side of bacon brussels sprouts.  

Here is my version that I adapted from a couple of different recipes.

Pasta e Ceci

2 Tablespoons olive oil
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 carrot, diced
1 stick celery, diced
1 Tablespoon fresh rosemary (or 1 tsp dried) 
(optional: some sprinkles of other Italian herbs such as oregano, thyme, basil)
2 cans of chickpeas
3 cups of chicken broth
1/4 cup marinara/spaghetti sauce 
1 cup of uncooked small pasta such as ditalini or elbow pasta; or spaghetti broken into short pieces

In a big pot, heat the olive oil on medium-low heat.  After a couple of minutes, add the garlic, carrot, celery, and rosemary.  Saute them on medium-low until they get soft, around 10 minutes.

While you’re waiting, drain and rinse one can of chickpeas.  Put them in a blender, food processor, or in my case the Magic Bullet, and add 1 cup of broth.  Blend it up until it’s smooth and set it aside.

When the vegetables are soft, turn the heat up to high.  Add the remaining two cups of broth, the tomato sauce, and the pureed chickpeas.  Stir it well so that everything is combined.  Drain and rinse the other can of chickpeas and add them to the pot.  Also add other herbs if you’re using them (I added dried basil and white pepper) Bring it to a rolling boil.  Dump in the pasta and let it boil until the pasta is soft, around 8 minutes.  Makes about 4 servings.

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You could let the soup simmer longer before you add the pasta (and add more water or broth if needed), but it was really flavorful even without simmering.  Other people have substituted a few Tablespoons of pesto instead of marinara sauce which also sounds delish.

I chose this recipe specifically because I had the extra rosemary and I’m glad I did.  I wish I could grow an herb garden because the fresh herbs taste soooo good but when I buy them at the store, I can’t use it up fast enough and it ends up being a waste.  I still have a ton of rosemary left and tried to freeze a couple of sprigs, so hopefully that will work out.

I love Good Eats and I love cupcakes so I was super excited about a brand new cupcake episode, especially since there hasn’t been a new one in many months.  I follow a few cupcake blogs but I had never heard of the Chiffon Cupcake method.  It involves beating egg whites and folding them into the batter.  I was pretty nervous about how this souffle-like cake would bake in my oven.  They came out lovely and perfectly domed, even though my oven was 25 degrees too hot whenever I checked the temp.

The frosting recipe wasn’t posted on Food Network, so thank goodness for the DVR.  I had never heard of making buttercream this way.  Check this out:

• 6 oz butter, room temperature
• 2 oz vegetable shortening, room temperature
• 1 egg, also room temperature
• 1 pound of powdered sugar
• 1 tsp vanilla

Beat the butter & shortening together with the mixer on high until they are well blended.  Add the egg and beat until it is combined, about 2 minutes.  Turn the mixer to low and add the sugar in 1/2 cup increments, waiting until the portion is all worked in before adding more.  When you’re done adding the sugar, add the vanilla.  Beat on medium high for 3 mins, until it is light and fluffy. 

Yes, it has a raw egg in it. I don’t really like buttercream frosting that much; I prefer whipped cream or cream cheese style but this one was good! It wasn’t grainy or gritty at all, and didn’t taste like it would melt your teeth off (though in reality, it still would).  It was so much lighter and tastier than all of the other buttercreams that are just butter + sugar + milk.  

Alton Brown told us the history of the cupcake and encouraged us to bake them in actual cups – a cup-cake.  How novel!  Even though my mugs don’t say “oven safe” everything worked out fine.  These coffee mugs hold 6oz, which is enough for a small cup of coffee or a Texas-sized (or bakery sized) cupcake.  (I was not able to eat the entire cup-cake)

This was also my first time using my sweet Wilton cake frosting tips set, which I got at Michael’s for $4.  It was pretty easy to get the hang of.  I think it was harder to figure out how to fill the pastry bag without making a mess than it was to make the swirls.

Taste:  The cake had a great texture, the best I’ve ever made.  Crumbs weren’t falling all over the place, but it wasn’t spongy like angel food cake either.  The taste was different though.  It wasn’t very sweet; kind of salty or savory.  I didn’t notice it under sweetness the frosting, but I still think I will cut back on the salt next time.  I realized that my theory on cupcakes is this:  A good cupcake will taste totally amazing at first bite and you’ll enjoy every second of eating it, but you might struggle with the last bite and you definitely don’t want to have room for another one right away.  What do you think?

Emeril’s Potato Leek Soup recipe was a winner and a keeper. I wanted to eat the entire pot. We ate it with mixed baby greens salad and a Belgian style beer.  It wasone of the best meals I made in a while, and a great way to have soup of a beautiful Spring day.  What was also good was that this version doesn’t use any cream, but still tastes really creamy. Roughly divided, each serving had the equivalent of 1 strip of bacon and less than 1 teaspoon of butter, so I think the amount of fat in it is realistic. (I could totally be wrong though.)

My modifications:
- cut the recipe in half; it still made enough for 4 big servings
- used all chicken broth instead of beef
- left out the white wine
- used 4 strips of bacon instead of pancetta; next time I might even use less bacon.
- used 1 Tbsp of butter
- pureed in a food processor
- didn’t bother with the fried garnishes

Usually if I make a giant soup recipe, I freeze a bunch of it in smaller portions for later. This time I didn’t because potato-based soups tend to get really gross after you freeze them.