Brazilian Cheese Bread (Pao de Queijo)

Picture taken from simplyrecipes.com

My apologies for my blogging lethargy :-/. Excuses can be made, such as, "oh I was busy moving", "oh, my sister's wedding", "oh, I'm just super lazy and forgetful". Yeah, probably the latter is mostly true...my bad! Anywho, I recently made this amazing and incredibly easy brazilian cheese bread this week and who better to share the recipe with than me fellow food bloggers. If you haven't heard of or visited Espetus in Hayes Valley, then I highly recommend you satiate your carnivorous itch and try this place. It is like a Brazilian, ALL-YOU-CAN-EAT meat buffet. Well, sort of buffet. Waiters circle your table with different cuts of meat for you to choose from, including chicken hearts. There is also a wonderful salad bar to accompany the meal, which may be overkill with the amount of meat that they serve you.

While waiting for our first round of meat, they bring out these absolutely great cheese bread appetizers for you to snack on. They were so good that our table requested multiple plates, in addition to the meat and salad bar. They were chewy, cheesey, puffy goodness.

Luckily, while perusing the food blogging world, I stumbled upon a recipe for pao de queijo. I love recipes that take no time to make and come out so great that you are likely to impress your friends with your "culinary skills".

Recipe Taken from http://simplyrecipes.com/recipes/easy_brazilian_cheese_bread/

Ingredients:

1 egg (room temp)

1/3 c. olive oil

2/3 c. milk

1/2 c. tapioca flour (found at Whole Foods - Bob's Red Mill)

1/2 c. packed grated cheese - used Queso Fresco

1 tsp. salt

Special Equipment: mini cupcake tin

Preheat oven to 400 degrees and lightly greaser cupcake tin.

Blend all ingredients in a food processor until smooth. The batter will be a smooth, runny consistency - more so than pancake batter.

Spoon 1 tablespoon of the batter into each cupcake holder.

Bake for 15-20 minutes (I did full 20 minutes) until puffy and golden. Be sure not to open the oven a lot cause the puffs will deflate.

When done, cool on rack and then consume immediately =).

**You can store extra batter in the refrigerator for up to a week.

Coconut Date Smoothie

Blend together following for a mighty refreshing smoothie:

- 8 oz. coconut water
- 10 ice cubes
- 3 tbl spoons almond butter
- 8 dried dates (chopped)
- splash of vanilla extract
- pinch of salt

Tricolor Salad

This recipe is also from one of Martha Stewart's Everyday Food magazines (LOVE THEM!). This salad is beautiful with the mixture of color, light, but yet hearty with the Parmesan.

Ingredients: (Serves 4)

Salad

• 2 c. corn kernels (from 3 ears) - I just used 1 can of corn
• 1/2 English cucumber, sliced into .25 in half-moons
• 1 small head of radicchio, cut into 1-in pieces

Dressing

• 2 TBS red-wine vinegar
• 1 TBS EVOO
• 2 TBS grated Parmesan
• 1 tsp honey

1. Mix all dressing ingredients together thoroughly
2. Mix all salad ingredients, and then toss with mixed dressing. You can prep everything up to a day before (be careful, as the water from the cucumber will come out) and then mix the salad and dressing together right before serving.

Nutrition:
122 cal; 5 g fat (1 g sat fat); 4 g protein; 18 g carb; 3 g fiber

Frozen Lemon Souffle

I got this from one of those little Martha Stewart's "Everyday Foods" magazines (they're AWESOME!). Made it for 4th of July. Originally to be topped with only raspberries, but why not add some blackberries and blueberries to make it more festive, eh?!

Ingredients:

• 1 c granulated sugar
• 1 TBS finely grated lemon zest + 3/4 c lemon juice (From 3 lemons)
• 8 large eggs, whites and yolks separated
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 2/3 cup cold heavy cream
• 1.5 c raspberries (6 oz)
• confectioners' sugar, for dusting

Recipe:

1. Wrap outside of a 3.5 c. souffle mold or 4 6-oz ramekins with parchment, extending 2-3 inches above rim (it should fit snugly). Secure with tape; set aside. Note: I just used whatever souffle pan i had available :) and did not put the parchment paper since it didn't overflow like it would in the 3.5 c souffle
2. In a medium saucepan, whisk together granulated sugar, lemon zest and juice, egg yolks, and salt over medium-high. Cook, whisking constantly until mixture is thick enough to coat the back of a spoon and small bubbles form around edge of pan, about 5 min (do not boil). Immediately remove from heat while continuing to whisk. Pour through a fine-mesh sieve into a heatproof bowl, pressing on lemon curd with a rubber spatula. Note: I squeezed 3 lemons but didn't have 3/4 c. of lemon juice, so just used whatever came out (might be why it was so sweet)
3. Place plastic wrap directly against surface of curd and refrigerate until cool, about 30 min (up to overnight). Note: I just let it sit in the fridge for 30 min.
4. In a large bowl, using an electric mixer, beat egg whits on high until stiff peaks form, about 2 min. Gently fold egg whites into cooled lemon curd. In the same large bowl, beat cream on high until stiff peaks form, 1-2 min. Gently fold whipped cream into lemon curd mixture. Pour into mold and freeze until firm, 6 hours (or up to overnight). To serve, remove parchment, top with raspberries, and dust with confectioners' sugar. Note: I let it sit overnight and added blueberries and blackberries to the mix to make it red/white/blue for Independence Day
   

Kettlecorn!

My recent obsession, inspired by SMT's groupons to KettlePop, is kettlecorn. Fortunately, kettlecorn is easy to make on the stovetop!

Original source: Allrecipes

Ingredients/tools:

• Stock pot with snugly-fitted lid
• 1/4 cup - popcorn kernels (these are cheapest in the natural food section-- just get about $1/worth)
• 1/4 cup - canola oil
• 1/4 cup - sugar (probably less-- just eyeball it)
• Salt

Steps:

1. Pour the oil in the pan and place on medium-high. Add in three kernels of corn.
2. When the kernels pop, the oil is hot enough. Add in the remaining popcorn kernels. Add in the 1/4 cup sugar, distributing in the sugar equally across the bottom of the pot. Place the top on the pot.
3. Immediately lift the pot about 1 inch above the stove and begin shaking the pot over the heat. The idea is that you don't want the kernels or sugar to crystalize in any one place on the pot. After about a minute, the kernels will begin to pop.
4. Be careful-- popcorn creates steam, so steam will try to escape the pot, particularly when you remove the top!
5. When the popping slows, remove the pot from the heat and sprinkle liberally with salt to taste.

Enjoy!

Veggie Frittata (Spinach, Tomato, Mushroom, Potato)

(Sorry if it doesn't look too appetizing in this photo :\ it's really good!)

I found the basis of this recipe on good ol' allrecipes.com but made some adjustments and made my own rendition of it. I simply used the recipe to understand the steps but then added some additional ingredients (just bc I liked the additional ingredients and who can say no to more veggies?!). In all honesty, whatever veggies you have on hand, add them in if you think they'll add to the flavor or if you just like them and would like to throw them in, Try it out! That's what cooking is all about! So here is my rendition below, feel free to check out the allrecipes.com version for the original recipe.

Ingredients:

• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 3-5 small red potatoes, sliced
• about 3 cups fresh spinach
• about 2 cups cremini mushrooms, chopped
  
• 1 medium-sized tomato, diced (feel free to use more or different types)
  
• 3 cloves minced garlic
• 3 cubes of frozen basil from Trader Joe's (freezer section); feel free to use dry/fresh basil
  
• salt and pepper to taste
  
• 3 eggs, and liquid egg whites to makeup 3 additional eggs
  
• about 1/3 cup milk
• 1/2 cup shredded Cheddar cheese (or whatever cheese you have on hand. I had a Mexican blend on hand, so just used that and just enough to sprinkle on top of the frittata)
• Recommended: spices for potato (garlic powder, onion powder, cayenne pepper, Lawry's Seasoned Salt)
  

Recipe:

1. Take sliced potatoes and toss them around in a bowl with some oil, salt/pepper, and whatever spices you have on hand (I used garlic powder, cayenne pepper, onion powder, and Lawry's Seasoned Salt)
2. Heat olive oil in a medium skillet over medium heat. Place potatoes in the skillet, and cook about 10 minutes, until tender but firm. (Note: may take longer)
   
3. Add in chopped mushroom and cook until they have browned a bit, about 3-4 minutes (and if you're adding other veggies, add them to the mix in the order of longest time to cook to shortest time to cook).
4. Mix in spinach, tomatoes, garlic, basil. Season with salt and pepper. Continue cooking 1 to 2 minutes, until spinach is wilted.
   
5. In a medium bowl, beat together eggs and milk. Pour into the skillet over the vegetables. Sprinkle with cheese on top. Reduce heat to low, cover, and cook 5 to 7 minutes, or until eggs are firm. (it took a while for my eggs to completely cook throughout the frittata. I ended up cutting it open to see if the insides were done, took longer than 5-7 minutes)

Chana Masala

Sorry for my delay in posting something new. I've been wanting to contribute but haven't had a chance to really cook anything really substantial since I've moved into SF in March! Major fail on my end.

Well, I was really determined to post something so I decided to make chana masala, partly to use a pile of dried chick peas that I've had for awhile and also to use some spices I had bought in Berkeley at Vik's Chaathouse awhile back. I found a recipe off smittenkitchen.com that looked really doable and quite yummy.

Substitutions: I substituted a half lemon for the amchoor powder as she had suggested in the recipe. I also used a can of diced tomatoes that I cut up further. Instead of ground coriander, I had whole coriander that I tried to ground up, but that wasn't too successful. Next time, I'd definitely buy ground coriander. Also, I used 4 teaspoons of ground cumin instead of 2 tsp ground cumin and 2 tsp toasted cumin seeds.

The recipe is here: http://smittenkitchen.com/2010/02/chana-masala/. (picture is from my iPhone, so sorry for the quality)

1 tablespoon vegetable oil

2 medium onions, minced
1 clove garlic, minced
2 teaspoons grated fresh ginger
1 fresh, hot green chili pepper, minced
1 tablespoon ground coriander
2 teaspoons ground cumin
1/2 teaspoon ground cayenne pepper (I used a quarter of this because my cayenne is extremely hot)
1 teaspoon ground turmeric
2 teaspoons cumin seeds, toasted and ground
1 tablespoon amchoor powder (see note)
2 teaspoons paprika
1 teaspoon garam masala
2 cups tomatoes, chopped small or 1 15-ounce can of whole tomatoes with their juices, chopped small
2/3 cup water
4 cups cooked chickpeas or 2 (15-ounce) cans chickpeas, drained and rinsed
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 lemon (juiced) (see note; I used a whole lemon to swap for the amchoor powder)

Heat oil in a large skillet. Add onion, garlic, ginger and pepper and sauté over medium heat until browned, about 5 minutes. Turn heat down to medium-low and add the coriander, cumin, cayenne, turmeric, cumin seeds, amchoor (if using it), paprika and garam masala. Cook onion mixture with spiced for a minute or two, then add the tomatoes and any accumulated juices, scraping up any bits that have stuck to the pan. Add the water and chickpeas. Simmer uncovered for 10 minutes, then stir in salt and lemon juice.