Apple Turnovers--Barefoot Bloggers Bonus Recipe

In addition to the two regularly scheduled Ina Garten, recipes a month we Barefoot Bloggers post on the 2nd and 4th Thursday, there is also an optional bonus recipe, selected by the person who refers or links the most people to the Barefoot Blogger's website (here!). This month it was the wonderful Anne of Anne Strawberry who won and picked: Ina's Apple Turnovers.

Apple Turnovers are a weakness of mine and I will occasionally buy a box of the frozen Pepperidge Farm Apple Turnovers and bake them in the oven. This is because one more time: I AM NOT A BAKER! I really wish I was. I look at all the Tuesday's With Dorie Bloggers (I even have her book) and the Daring Bakers posts, drool and think--I wish I could do that! Quite frankly it intimidates the heck out of me. If anyone ever starts a "Cautious Bakers" or even better a "Wussy Bakers" where those of us baking phobes could start with bar cookies and work our way up to bundt cakes or something count me in but until then i will just admire everyone's baked goods from afar. But, for the apple turnovers, I thought, "Hey, I can do this!" I wouldn't have to make dough or anything, puff pastry comes in a box so I should just be able to throw apples and stuff in and put them in the oven--easy peasy! But alas it just reinforced my NOT A BAKER theory even more.

This was my first time working with puff pastry (remember NOT A BAKER!) and although I have a rolling pin (bought at Ross eons ago), I really needed something to roll dough on. I finally ended up with a flexible cutting board which was just under 12x12--so a little tricky to maneuver. I also probably waited a bit to long after setting the sheets of puff pastry out to defrost before starting on the recipe. To spare you a lot of the gory details, lets just say I ended up with some very assorted sized squares and what I thought would be ugly, misshapen turnovers oozing out filling. I considered scrapping them and going back to the store to buy the puff pastry shells (you don't roll those right?!?) But I stuck my sad little turnovers in the oven and hoped for the best. As it turns out, puff pastry is fairly forgiving. What looked ugly unbaked actually didn't look that bad once they came out of the oven. Sure, there will be prettier, fancier apple turnovers out there but I did something new for me, I am proud of myself and I think Ina would be too! (In my reoccurring dream that Ina and Jeffery adopt me, I think that Ina would show them to Jeffrey and say "Look Jeffery, Deb baked her first apple turnovers aren't they cute?!" Just like a proud parent looking at their preschool child's latest art project would. ;-) Hey, a girl can dream can't she!)

You can find the recipe for Apple Turnovers here at Food Network

Apple Turnovers
by The Barefoot Contessa, Ina Garten

1 teaspoon grated orange zest
3 tablespoons freshly squeezed orange juice
1 1/4 pounds tart apples, such as Empire or Granny Smith (3 apples)
3 tablespoons dried cherries
3 tablespoons sugar, plus extra to sprinkle on top
1 tablespoon all-purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/8 teaspoon ground nutmeg
Pinch kosher salt
1 package (17.3 ounces, 2 sheets) frozen puff pastry, defrosted
1 egg beaten with 1 tablespoon water, for egg wash

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.Combine the orange zest and orange juice in a bowl. Peel, quarter, and core the apples and then cut them in 3/4-inch dice. Immediately toss the apples with the zest and juice to prevent them from turning brown. Add the cherries, sugar, flour, cinnamon, nutmeg, and salt.Flour a board and lightly roll each sheet of puff pastry to a 12 by 12-inch square. Cut each sheet into 4 smaller squares and keep chilled until ready to use.Brush the edges of each square with the egg wash and neatly place about 1/3 cup of the apple mixture on half of the square. Fold the pastry diagonally over the apple mixture and seal by pressing the edges with a fork. Transfer to a sheet pan lined with parchment paper. Brush the top with egg wash, sprinkle with sugar, make 2 small slits, and bake for 20 minutes, until browned and puffed. Serve warm or at room temperature.

Notes/Results: I liked the flavors in this recipe; the tartness of the apples, the addition of the cherries and the touch of citrus from the orange juice and zest. I iced some of my tarts because I like them with icing but they were also perfectly good without it. Would I make this recipe again? Maybe--as I do need to work on my puff pastry skills. If I need them in a hurry to feed a craving i will still probably buy the Pepperidge Farms ones--not as good of course but much faster and easier!

Thanks to Anne for a wonderful pick! Because this is an optional recipe, not all the Barefoot Bloggers may have posted it but you can check out who did here. We are up to over a hundred BBs now! Next week we we will be making Cream of Wild Mushroom Soup (yum!) picked by Chelle of Brown-Eyed Baker. Then there are only three recipes to go until I get to make my pick--I can't wait!

Blog Party #38, Birthday Bash: Jelly Donut Cupcakes and a "Red Cooler"

Part 3 of Blog Party #38: Stephanie's Birthday Bash is always my favorite course--dessert! (If you missed parts 1 & 2 they are below). I have been wanting to make the Jelly Donut Cupcake recipe from Veganomicon: The Ultimate Vegan Cookbook by Isa Chandra Moskowitz and Terry Hope Romero. Just listen to this description from the book: "Here is a treat that defies all logic: it's both a tender cupcake and sugared jelly donut at the same time. They're cute, yummy, and deceptively easy to make, too. No need to use a pastry bag to fill the cupcake in order to create its amazing jelly donut effect; the jam bakes right into it, doing all the work for you. Add a sprinkle of confectioner's sugar and you have yourself one heck of a cupcake moonlighting as a jelly donut." Yum and fun too! Sounds perfect for Stephanie.

Jelly Donut Cupcakes

Veganomicon by Isa Chandra Moskowitz and Terry Hope Romero

1 cup soy or rice milk

1 tsp apple cider vinegar

2 Tbsp cornstarch

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

3/4 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp ground nutmeg

1/2 tsp salt

1/3 cup canola oil

3/4 cup plus 2 Tbsp granulated sugar

2 tsp pure vanilla extract

About 1/3 cup raspberry jam or preserves (you can use strawberry or grape if you prefer)

2 Tbsp confectioners' sugar

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Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Pour the soy milk, vinegar, and cornstarch into a measuring cup and set aside. Line a 12-cup muffin pan with paper cupcake liners. In a large mixing bowl, shift together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, nutmeg and salt. Create a well in the center of the flour to pour your wet ingredients into. Stir the soy milk mixture with a fork to dissolve the cornstarch, then pour into the flour mixture. Add the oil, granulated sugar, and vanilla. Stir until well combined. Fill the cupcake liners about three-quarters full with batter.

Place a heaping teaspoon of jam on the center of each cupcake. You don't need to press down o the jam or do anything else; the baking will take care of all that and it will sink in. Bake for 21-23 minutes. You can't really do a toothpick test here because of the jelly filling, but the cupcakes should be done by this point. The tops should be firm. Remove from the oven and let cool completely on wire racks. Once cooled, set them someplace cool and dry, and leave uncovered. If it is winter, leave them in your coldest room. If it's summer, leave them somewhere air conditioned if possible. If it's not possible, don't sweat it--just don't leave them anywhere very warm. Let them sit overnight and preferably up to 24 hours. This will make the tops dry and a little bit crispy and more donut-like. Sprinkle with confectioner's sugar (using a shifter if you have one). Serve with coffee. Makes 12 cupcakes. (The authors note that the cheaper your jam the more authentic your donut will taste).

Results: It went together well but my end result was not quite as pretty as I would like considering the holes in the top of most of the cupcakes. The instructions tell you to use cheap jam or jelly to make it more authentic and that ended up being a on-sale squeeze bottle of Smucker's Strawberry Jam. "How perfect!" I thought as I happily squeezed my best guesstimate of 1 "heaping teaspoon" of jam into the center of each filled batter-filled cupcake liner. Well I think I must have blasted that jam in there like a power-washer hosing down a sidewalk because my jam sunk in but left large craters in the tops of the cupcakes, (a friend described them as "bullet holes"). Not pretty, not perfect (you can only cover so much with powdered sugar) but hey, I think they have some personality! If you want to avoid this issue, I would suggest delicately spooning the the correct amount of jam in. They do taste really good! I don't know that if I was blindfolded and you gave me one I would think it was a jelly donut but it definitely had some of the characteristics. Not quite as sweet as many cupcakes and a bit healthier because they aren't covered in frosting, also they have no dairy if you know anyone who can't have it. I would make these again and my friends at work seemed to like them.

We also need a good, refreshing drink to wash it all down with. My drink of choice is a palate cleanser from Teany Book: Stories, Food, Romance, Cartoons and, of Course, Tea by Moby and Kelly Tisdale. (Yep it is that Moby, the musician who also has a tea store in New York). I know Stephanie is a tea fan, so I thought this drink would be fun to have amongst all the alcohol at the party. Plus it could work with some vodka mixed in too.

Teany Red Cooler

Teany Book by Moby and Kelly Tisdale
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You will need equal parts of:

mint tea

any black tea that has been flavored with a red, tart and sweet fruit: like plum or raspberry

cranberry juice
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You can make this recipe in any quantity, because it calls for equal parts of all three ingredients. Steep the mint tea for 5-10 minutes. You want to make the tea very strong and you don't have to worry about it turning bitter because it's herbal. Steep the black tea for 3 minutes, and no longer because it will turn the whole mixture bitter. Pour equal parts of all three liquids in a container and refrigerate. Garnish with mint if you are feeling fancy.

Results: Very refreshing! I love the combo of the mint and the tang of the cranberry juice and fruited black tea. I used a favorite, Tevana's "Sweet Cranberry Black" tea in mine. Since I bought an unsweetened organic cranberry only juice, I did add a couple teaspoons of agave syrup to the tea so it was not quite so pucker inducing.

I want to wish Stephanie a Happy Birthday as well as wish a terrific Birthday Month to her and all the other September Birthday people! I look forward to seeing all the delicious offerings everyone will be bringing to Blog party. If you want to check them out, visit Stephanie at Dispensing Happiness after Saturday 9/20 to see the round-up.

International Mezze Plate for Blog Party #38, Birthday Bash--Part 2: Curried Carrot Dip and Potato Skordalia

For Part 2 of Blog Party #38--Birthday Bash, celebrating the wonderful Stephanie (see Part 1 below) we have two different flavorful and exotic dips that complete the mezze platter.

The first is Curried Carrot Dip from Veganomicon: The Ultimate Vegan Cookbook by Isa Chandra Moskowitz and Terry Hope Romero and Classic Skordalia from The Olive and the Caper: Adventures in Greek Cooking by Susanna Hoffman (this is not a vegetarian cookbook but has lots of great recipes for grains and vegetables).

I thought the bright orange color of the carrot dip would be nice on the platter and anything with cumin and curry has a big flavor punch.

Curried Carrot Dip

Veganomicon by Isa Chandra Moskowitz & Terry Hope Romero
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1 pound carrots, peeled and cut into 1/2" chunks

1/4 cup roasted sunflower seeds (salted are OK, just add less salt)

2 tsp grapeseed or other vegetable oil

1/2 tsp minced garlic

1 tsp curry powder

1/2 tsp ground cumin

1/4 tsp salt

1 Tbsp fresh lemon juice
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Bring a small pot of water to a boil. Boil the carrots for 7-10 minutes, until soft. Drain and let cool just until they are no longer steaming. Place the sunflower seeds in a blender or food processor and process until crumbs. Add all remaining ingredients and blend until smooth, scraping down the sides of the processor as you go. Taste for salt and adjust the spices and lemon. Transfer to a covered container and refrigerate until ready to use (at least 30 min.) Makes 2 Cups.
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Results: Great flavor. The authors note that they use only a touch of garlic as raw garlic can overpower the other ingredients and caution you to taste first. Knowing I like lots of garlic, I upped the amount as well as the amount of lemon juice and thought it brightened the flavor and gave it more of a punch. The combination of spices add layers of flavor to the carrots and the ground sunflower seeds add interesting texture.

I love garlic and potatoes and have had the classic Greek appetizer Skordalia marked to try for awhile now. In Greece, it is served as an appetizer but also can be stirred into soups or served on vegetables. It always has garlic but can be made with bread instead of potatoes

Classic Potato Skordalia

The Olive and the Caper, Susanna Hoffman
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1 large russet potato, peeled and cut into 1" pieces

1/3 cup blanched almonds

15 cloves garlic

1 cup olive oil

1 Tbsp red wine vinegar

1/2 tsp salt
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Place the potato in a small saucepan and add water to cover. Bring to a boil over high heat and cook until soft all the way through, about 10 minutes. Drain. Transfer the potato to a food processor. Add the remaining ingredients and blend until smooth. Use right away or cover and store in the refrigerator for as long as overnight. Makes about 2 cups. (The author notes that you can make the skordalia by hand; using a mortar and pestle for the almonds, mashing the potato with a fork or potato masher and mixing it all together, blending well).

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Results: Make sure whoever you plan to get close to eats this as well as the garlic is pretty strong. It would definitely keep any wandering vampires away! The flavor is delicious and once you get over the fact that the texture is a bit like wallpaper paste, it is good. I did find it needed a bit more salt than asked for in the recipe.

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Both of these dips/spreads are easy to prepare and along with the Chapatis and Dukka from yesterday add different dimensions of taste, texture and color to the mezze plate.

What birthday party would be complete without cake (or cupcakes) and something great to drink? Come visit tomorrow for Jelly Donut Cupcakes and a refreshing Teany "Red Cooler" with teas and fruit juice to wash it all down with. You can check out all the details on Blog Party here.

International Mezze Plate for Blog Party #38, Birthday Bash--Part 1: Chapatis and Dukka

Its time for Blog Party #38! Hosted by Stephanie at Dispensing Happiness, Blog Party is a virtual party where bloggers make an appetizer and a drink, post it on their blog and it's all gathered together for one big party at Stephanie's Blog. This is an extra-special Blog Party because it celebrates a VIP's Birthday, our wonderful Stephanie of course--who deserves a party like no one else I know, between hosting this event and also the very cool Blogging By Mail! (which if you have not signed up for yet you better do it soon because this is the last week for sign ups!) Although Stephanie is a vegetarian, she told us to bring whatever we want but hey--its her Birthday, I want to make things she likes and can eat and drink. I have a plethora of vegetarian and vegan cookbooks and being the multi-tasking girl that I am thought it was the perfect time to pull some of them out and also work on my "Cook from Each Book" initiative. Thus I ended up with an International Mezze Plate featuring Indian Chipatis, Middle Eastern Dukka, an Indian inspired Curried Carrot Dip and a Greek Potato Skordalia. I'll also be bringing a fun retro-style dessert, vegan "Jelly Donut Cupcakes" and to drink a "Red Cooler", a tea and fruit juice mocktail (the die hard drinkers can throw a bit of vodka into it if they want!). Since that's 6 different recipes, I thought I would space it out a little post 2 recipes a day for three days. A good friend of mine says you don't have a Birthday, you have a Birthday month, so I am sure Stephanie won't mind if I celebrate her for a few days!

For today, we will start with the backbone of my international Meze plate--some quick Grilled Chapatis from Mark Bittman that I found in the New York Times and some Dukka from The Essential Best Foods Cookbook by Dana Jacobi.

Chapatis are an Indian flatbread, unleavened, made from whole wheat flour and grilled or browned on both sides. The appeal of this bread and Mark Bittman's recipe for me is the ease of prep and no yeast to mess with. (For baking-phobes like me this is huge!) The dough goes together in a couple minutes in the food processor and then you roll it out and slap it on the grill or in your grill pan. Bittman recommends them as the base for pizza or to serve with most anything.

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Grilled Chapatis

Mark Bittman

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2 1/4 cups whole wheat flour

1 cup flour, plus more for dusting

1 tsp salt

1 cup warm water, plus extra if needed

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Mix flours in food processor; add salt and, with machine running, pour in 1 cup warm water. Process for 30 seconds, then remove cover. Dough should be in a well-defined, barely sticky, easy to handle ball. If too dry, add warm water a tablespoon at a time and process 5 to 10 seconds after each addition. If too wet, which is unlikely, add a tablespoon or two of flour and process briefly.
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With floured hands, shape the dough into a ball and cover with plastic and let rest at least 30 minutes. (Or wrap dough tightly in plastic wrap and refrigerate up to a day; bring to room temperature before proceeding.)

When ready to grill, pinch off a piece of dough (walnut or golf ball sized) and roll as thin as possible. Dust lightly with flour to keep from sticking and cover with a damp cloth while you roll out remaining dough. (Overlapping is OK but don't stack them.) Or just roll as you grill.
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Grill until they start to blister, char and puff up a bit, a minute or so. Turn and repeat. Serve immediately. Makes 8-12.

Results: Good! Mine didn't get particularly puffy--not sure why, but they had great flavor and texture, much like a whole wheat pita. I made them somewhat small so they could be taken individually and torn into smaller pieces for the dips. I am going to buy a tortilla press as that would have made the process even easier and I have been wanting one anyway. I will make this again and in fact I am making some Indian inspired pizza this week with them. Mark Bittman also says you can add additions such as herbs, spices, garlic, onions, etc. to the dough to give your Chapatis additional flavor.

Dukka, is an Middle Eastern mix of spices, toasted seeds and nuts. Depending on the country (Egypt, Lebanon, Israel. etc.), it can be used to season hummus or vegetables, be baked onto crackers or pita or it is often served with a small bowl of olive oil so the bread can be dipped into the oil and then into the Duuka.
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Dukka

The Essential Best Foods Cookbook by Dana Jacobi
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2 Tbsp blanched almonds

2 Tbsp raw pumpkin seeds

2 Tbsp sesame seeds

1 tsp coriander seeds
3/4 tsp crushed, dried mint leaves, optional

1/4 tsp freshly ground pepper, optional
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In a dry skillet, set over medium heat, combine the almonds, pumpkin seeds, sesame seeds and coriander seeds. Cook, stirring constantly, until the pumpkin seeds puff and the sesame seeds start to pop, 2-3 minutes. The almonds will not color. Spread the mixture on a plate and cool completely.

Whirl the toasted mixture in a mini food processor until the almonds are mostly ground with some chunks, and the pumpkin seeds are finely chopped. The spices and sesame seeds will be partially ground. Mix in the mint and/or pepper if using. Cover and refrigerate any leftover dukka for up to 3 days. Makes 3/4 cup
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Results: Yum! I used both the dried mint and the the black pepper and I loved the exotic, slightly spicy flavor of this mixture. If using it as a dip, make sure you use a good quality olive oil to dip the bread in first.

That kicks off Part 1 of Stephanie's Blog Party Birthday Bash! Happy Birthday Stephanie!

Tune in tomorrow for two simple but exotic dips: Curried Carrot and Potato Skordalia and then come back Wednesday for dessert and drinks! You can check out what the other party guests will be bringing to the bash on Stephanie's blog here, after Saturday, September 20th

Lime Frozen Yogurt

The weather doesn't know what it wants to do today, the sky going from blue with clouds to gray and overcast. It poured down rain early this morning so today is pretty humid and warm and I am craving something cool and tart. I was looking through the Moosewood Restaurant Celebrates cookbook and saw this recipe for Lime Frozen Yogurt. I love lime and the recipe is quick and easy to throw together so it sounded perfect for a muggy day.

Lime Frozen Yogurt

Moosewood Restaurant Celebrates

2 cups non-fat plain yogurt (I used Greek yogurt)

6 Tbsp fresh lime juice

1/4 tsp freshly grated lime peel

1 cup sugar
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Beat together the yogurt, lime juice, lime peel and sugar in a bowl for about 2 minutes, until the sugar dissolves. Pour the mixture into an ice cream maker and freeze according to the manufacturer's directions.

Yields 1 quart frozen yogurt. Serves 6 (it would be six pretty small servings)

Results: Delicious and refreshing! It's tangy and tart but the sugar keeps it from being sour. I put a bit more zest in it and I might cut the sugar down just a little next time. Since it is non-fat, I wish I had been making it all summer. Try it paired with one of these.

6 Random Things Meme and an Award

T.G.I.F.! Why did it seem like such a long week?! So you don't hate me too much, the weather did not look like this when I left work today--it was actually gray and dumping down rain which is supposed to happen sporadically throughout this weekend. The good thing about Hawaii however is that in between the dumping the sky will be blue with rainbows!

I have been a bit behind with a couple of things, a meme I was tagged with a few weeks ago and an award I received a few days ago. Why not post them both and ease my guilty conscience!

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The Meme:

Tinker from Tinker Culture tagged me with the "6 Random Things About Me" meme. Her blog is great, lots of yummy, mostly healthy recipes and her cat Tugger is pretty darn cute. I think I have been putting this meme off because of the intimidation factor: 1) Does anyone really want to know 6 random things about me? and 2) How to pick six random things that are not "over sharing" and don't make people think of me as that "really strange blogger from Hawaii." Trust me I have A LOT of little quirks!

OK...here goes nothing!
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1) I hate pumpkin! The smell, taste and the texture. (The seeds I like but that is about it) As a matter of fact, people think I am strange because my favorite holiday is Thanksgiving yet I have a dislike of a long list of fall and winter holiday foods: the aforementioned pumpkin, eggnog, gingerbread, nutmeg, allspice, mace, molasses, yams and sweet potatoes just to name a few.

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2) I read Pride and Prejudice every year in January--it's a tradition, along with watching Bridget Jone's Diary sometime during the New Years Weekend. I also own about 5 versions of film adaptations of the book. Jane Austen was a genius!
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3) Two places where I can hang out for hours and spend a LOT of money--good grocery or natural foods stores and bookstores. My overstocked pantry and bookshelves support this fact. Because the grocery stores in Hawaii are not great (except we finally got a Whole Foods this week but more about that later), whenever I visit my family in Oregon, I spend hours visiting the stores there. Actually anywhere I travel I love to go to grocery stores and look at the local/regional items even more than I like to go to museums or historical sites

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4) Although I often can't remember where I parked the car or put my cell phone, I have a strange ability to remember random facts and trivia especially about movies, books, celebrities and pop culture. I kick butt at Trivial Pursuit and any other trivia games. It is so bad that friends and family call me to settle arguments or to ask me who was in such & such movie and the vast majority of the time I can answer them.
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5) I once ate most of a bowl of raw chicken. I was in Japan with some people from work having dinner when a small bowl of thin sliced sashimi on ice was put in front of me. I started eating it and couldn't figure out the texture and quietly asked the waiter what kind of fish it was. He said: "No fish!" so I asked again; "No fish!" I tried one more time; "No fish! Chicken!" Down went the chopsticks--I couldn't help thinking I just ate a bowl of salmonella!!! Nothing happened; actually Japan, home of eating the deadly, poisonous fugu fish is probably one of the safer places to consume raw chicken meat but it was a bit much for me. I had a really hard time eating chicken for quite some time and it still isn't my favorite protein to cook or eat today.

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6) I am an incredibly fast reader. You can't tell since I am slow pretty moving on changing the currently reading and just read gadgets on the side of my blog but usually I am reading 2 to 3 books at once and have finished half a dozen or so before I change the gadget. When I was young one of my older brothers would never believe I actually read books because I finished them so fast so he would read a chapter and "test me" to see if I really read it. Of course by the time he finished that chapter, I was half way through another book--no joke. I read anything and everything and in addition to stacks of cookbooks you'll find all kinds of books of many different genres in the bookshelves and in stacks in my house.

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OK--that's 6 random and very wordy things about me! I am not going to tag anyone as it seems most of my food blogging buddies have done this one. But please feel free to leave a comment and tell me something random about you and make me feel better about my little random quirks!

The Award:

My friend, Natashya of Living in the Kitchen with Puppies, presented me with the "I Love You This Much Award".

She said I make her happy and the feeling is oh so mutual! Natashya and I started blogging about the same time and she is a fun, talented blogger who I admire so much for her incredible cooking abilities and photography skills. She has a great sense of humor and we seem to agree on a lot of things! I love to get comments and emails from her and she has really become a good friend. If for some reason you have never visited her site, I suggest you go and check it out here and you will see what I mean!

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Since Natashya passed it on to two of us, I am going to repeat that process and pass it on to two deserving bloggers out of the many of you out there who continue to make me happy by your wonderful blogs and your support and friendship.

The first goes to Teresa at Mexican-American Border Cooking. Teresa is such a warm, friendly and supportive person to so many--she leaves me comments that make me feel happy. I love her site and learn a lot about Mexican cooking, history and culture from it, not to mention the delicious recipes. She has another great site, Mexican Chocolate Lore and More about one of my favorite subjects of course, that you should visit--but be warned, it will start some serious cravings!

The second goes to Foodycat. Like many of you, I started this blog to be able to connect and share my passion for cooking and the comments, feedback and good vibes that I receive really mean a lot. Foodycat is always out there, spreading positive comments and good cheer. She makes interesting and incredible dishes on her site and I love to dash over there for a peek at what she is up to. I have to have a tissue nearby to wipe the drool off my keyboard.

I love the sense of community out here in the food blogging world and these two are wonderful examples of it!

Max and I wish you all a happy Friday and a great weekend!

Ina's Grown Up Mac & Cheese (Barefoot Bloggers) Vs. Jamie Oliver's Macaroni Cheese

Great minds do think alike! I was craving macaroni and cheese and had decided to try Jamie Oliver's Macaroni Cheese from his Cook With Jamie cookbook when Heather from Randomosity and the Girl selected Ina's Grown Up Mac & Cheese as the first Barefoot Bloggers recipe for September. Since I had already purchased the cheese for Jamie's recipe and they were different from the cheese for Ina's, I decided to go ahead and make both and see which one I liked best. So here is my extremely unscientific "Mac & Cheese Battle."

My judging criteria is: 1) Ease of Preparation 2) Appearance 3) Taste & 4) The all important "Reheatability" factor and each factor will be rated from 0 to 4 "Noodles". May the highest score out of the 16 possible Noodles and the best Mac & Cheese win!

Since I made it first, lets start with Jamie Oliver's Macaroni Cheese. In the book, Jamie notes that: "This is my twist on the old-school frumpy dish of macaroni cheese. Using these four different cheeses together, each one with its own characteristics works really well. For the classic finish, it has to be popped under the broiler to crisp up and go brown on top--lovely. Once you see how quick and easy it is, you won't be making any bechamels or claggy old sauces for a long time." (Can't you just hear him saying that?)

Macaroni Cheese

Cook With Jamie, Jamie Oliver

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1 lb 2 oz good quality macaroni

sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
a knob of butter
a small bunch of fresh oregano or marjoram leaves
3 1/2 oz Parmesan cheese, freshly grated, plus extra for grating
3 1/2 oz fontina or taleggio cheese, roughly torn
3 1/2 oz mascarpone cheese
Sea salt + freshly ground pepper
1/4 of a nutmeg, grated
a small ball of buffalo mozzarella cheese

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Preheat your oven to 400 degrees F. Cook the macaroni in a pan of salted boiling water 2 minutes short of timing recommended on the package instructions, then drain in a colander and reserve a little of the cooking water. Heat the butter in a large heavy-based frying pan. When it starts to foam, add the marjoram or oregano and fry for a minute until it starts to crisp up, then turn off the heat. Add your cooked pasta to the marjoram or oregano butter, along with a couple of spoonfuls of the reserved cooking water and the Parmesan, fontina or taleggio and mascarpone. Return to medium heat and toss and stir around until most of the cheese has melted and you have a lovely gooey sauce--you may need to add a little more of the reserved cooking water. Season to taste, then tip it all into an earthenware dish. Grate over the nutmeg, tear over the mozzarella and sprinkle over the extra Parmesan. Bake the macaroni cheese in the preheated oven for about 10 minutes, finishing up with a quick whack under the broiler until golden brown and crispy on top. Makes 4-6 servings.

Results:

1) Ease of Preparation: One pan to cook macaroni, one pan for the sauce and a bowl to grate the cheese--pretty simple. A little grating and a bit of melting, aided by a little stirring. Not much harder than using packaged mac & cheese (4 Noodles)

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2) Appearance: Not much in the way of color except the flecks of green from the oregano. The "whack" under the broiler adds some interest (2 Noodles)

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3) Taste: First off it wasn't until I was grating the cheese that I started thinking "where is the "wow" flavor going to come from. All of the cheese offer different qualities and textures but none of them have a really stand out flavor. There just wasn't a lot of flavor in the dish and the texture as it cooled was a bit "rubbery". I kind of wished for some "claggy old sauce" to give it a bit more moisture and flavor. (1 Noodle)

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4) Reheatability: Not good. Even as it cools down the cheese "glumps" together. To reheat it, I had to cut it into triangles in the round dish and lift it out and even warmed up it still remained clumpy. (0 Noodles)

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Total Noodles: 7 out of 16 (and that was being generous!): Sorry Jamie, the only thing that stood out in the recipe was the ease of making it, I wouldn't make this recipe again.

Now to our girl Ina's Recipe: From Food Network (here), featured on the "Home Comforts" episode, where Jeffery comes home from a "long haul trip" and Ina whips him up some great, fast comfort food. (Once again Jeffery is a lucky man--I wonder if they would adopt me?!)
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Grown-Up Mac & Cheese

Barefoot Contessa, Food Network
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4 ounces thick-sliced bacon

Vegetable oil

Kosher salt

2 cups elbow macaroni or cavatappi

1 1/2 cups milk

2 tablespoons unsalted butter

2 tablespoons all-purpose flour

4 ounces Gruyere cheese, grated

3 ounces extra-sharp Cheddar, grated

2 ounces blue cheese, such as Roquefort, crumbled

1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

Pinch nutmeg

2 slices white sandwich bread, crusts removed

2 tablespoons freshly chopped basil leaves
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Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.
Place a baking rack on a sheet pan and arrange the bacon in 1 layer on the baking rack. Bake for 15 to 20 minutes, until the bacon is crisp. Remove the pan carefully from the oven - there will be hot grease in the pan! Transfer the bacon to a plate lined with paper towels and crumble when it is cool enough to handle. Drizzle oil into a large pot of boiling salted water. Add the macaroni and cook according to the directions on the package, 6 to 8 minutes. Drain well. Meanwhile, heat the milk in a small saucepan, but don't boil it. Melt the butter in a medium pot and add the flour. Cook over low heat for 2 minutes, stirring with a whisk. While whisking, add the hot milk and cook for a minute or 2 more, until thickened and smooth. Off the heat, add the Gruyere, Cheddar, blue cheese, 1 teaspoon salt, pepper, and nutmeg. Add the cooked macaroni and crumbled bacon and stir well. Pour into 2 individual size gratin dishes. Place the bread slices in a food processor fitted with a steel blade and pulse until you have coarse crumbs. Add the basil and pulse to combine. Sprinkle the bread crumb mixture over the top of the pasta. Bake for 35 to 40 minutes, or until the sauce is bubbly and the macaroni is browned on the top. Yields 2 servings.

Results:

1) Ease of Preparation: OK, call me lazy, call me a baby but geez, Ina must have assistants that do all her dishes!!! The recipe is not hard by any means but be prepared to use and wash a lot of pans, dishes, etc. Almost everything is done separately then combined. The recipe says 10 min prep, 1 hour cook and they should add 20 min cleaning up. (Because good things take effort and its been several days since I made it and the pain has subsided a bit, I am giving her an extra noodle than I would have the day I made it) (2 Noodles)

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2) Appearance: Bacon, basil, breadcrumbs, add up to a bit more color and visual appeal. I used a smaller pasta than I should have, using a small penne because I thought I had some macaroni in my cupboard but that is not Ina's fault. (3 Noodles)

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3) Taste: One word: BACON! Ina had this one from the start. Also there were more "Wow" flavors in the cheese. I had an option of a large Roquefort or Gorgonzola or a small Maytag Blue Cheese so I went with the smaller (much cheaper) Maytag Blue and I think that was a good choice as the blue cheese did not over power the other flavors and added a richness. It wasn't particularly saucy but the flavors were very good together and very adult--living up to its name. (3.5 Noodles)

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4) Reheatability: I don't know where the two servings came from Ina!? I got two mini gratin dishes (for me) out of it as well as a small baking dish that went to work. It reheated nicely the next day and the day after that too without clumping up and the bread crumbs remained crisp. (4 Noodles)

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Total Noodles 12.5 out of 16

The winner is...Ina! (Sorry Jamie--I still love you and will try other recipes from your book!) Overall Ina's was a great Mac & Cheese recipe and I would make it again, even with all the dishes to wash. A great pick from Heather and my Mac & Cheese craving is officially satisfied for quite awhile I think!

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