Nescafe Cake

Nescafe Cake

I got a request to make this cake (http://littlelifeofmine.com/2012/07/nescafe-cake.html) by a coworker. Ask and you shall receive. For those of you who don't know what Nescafe cake is, it is very similar to tiramisu except instead of ladyfingers, tea biscuits are used and instead of mascarpone cheese, whipped cream is used. This recipe was super easy so please attempt! 

Twist

It also happened to be another coworker's birthday and she wanted chocolate. Since this recipe was a little too easy , I added a little chocolate twist. I added two layers of chocolate dipped tea biscuits. I used this recipe (http://allrecipes.com/recipe/chocolate-ganache/) for chocolate ganahce  and it yielded almost enough chocolate ganache to dip all the biscuits. This ganache recipe is great and can be used for a variety of things such as chocolate covered strawberries or as substitute frosting for cupcakes. I ended up using about 4.25 sleeves of Kedem brand  tea biscuits for the whole cake recipe of which about 2 where dipped in chocolate.

1. First measure out 9 ounces of chocolate in a bowl that hot cream will  eventually be poured into and biscuits will be dipped in. I used semi-sweet chocolate chips. Also prepare two cooling racks by placing wax paper below and spraying the racks with non-stick spray.

2. Boil 1 cup of heavy whipping cream. Make sure you keep an eye on it. It will bubble up before you know it.

3. When the cream reaches a boil (it bubbled rapidly at the edges, not quite the middle), pour the cream into the bowl with the chocolate.

4. Whisk the chocolate cream mixture until you get a nice smooth ganache. You may also add a little rum or another type of sweet spirit at this stage.

5. It doesn't take long for the ganache to cool down enough so that it doesn't burn you. You want it to be a warm so it can still adhere to the biscuits. Take a biscuit and dip it long side down grabbing the biscuit on a corner. Rotate the biscuit and dip the undipped side grabbing the same corner

6. Place the biscuit on the cooling rack. When all of the biscuits are done, place the cooling racks in the fridge so the ganache can firm up. I dipped 52 biscuits in total which is almost 2 sleeves of biscuits.

Nescafe Cake

1. Start by boiling 2 cups of water in a pot. When the water starts boiling, whisk in 1/4 cup of instant coffee/espresso granules. Take the pot off the burner and let it cool while you prepare the cream. Once the coffee cools, I added a little bit of Kahlua.

2. Place two cups of cream in a stand mixer with the whisk attachment. Whisk on high until the cream gets soft peaks (see http://www.finecooking.com/articles/whipping-soft-medium-firm-peaks.aspx for what soft peaks are), which should take 2-3 minutes.

3.  Fold in 14 ounces of sweetened condensed milk into the whipped cream. Make sure there are no more streaks of condensed milk in the end.


4. In a 9" x 13" dish, place your first layer of chocolate covered biscuits. I would use the biscuits you dipped last since they will likely be the least pretty. Save the nicest biscuits for the top.

5. Pour a little bit of the coffee mixture into a shallow bowl. This is where you'll quickly soak the non-chocolate covered biscuits in. Once the coffee level gets too low, add more coffee.

6. Dip a few biscuits at a time into the coffee flipping them over to make sure both sides soak up coffee. They should be in for about 4 seconds.

(Sorry, bad picture).

7. You'll want to place down two layers of coffee soaked biscuits.

8. Scrape half the cream on top of the coffee soaked biscuits.

9. Add one layer of chocolate biscuits, one (not two) more layer of coffee soaked biscuits, then the rest of the cream.

10. If you want, you can add cocoa powder to the top. A little trick is to place a cleaned cooling rack on top and sift the cocoa powder through the rack. This will give you a nice grid pattern like my cake.

11. You will need to protect this cake with your life, it will go fast!

Deluxe Matzo Brei

Deluxe Matzo Brei

Passover is almost over, thank G-d! For all of you who aren't familiar with Passover, it is a Jewish holiday surrounding the events of the Israelites fleeing Egypt. During Passover, we are not suppose to eat food with flour. More observant Eastern European Jews are not even allowed to have corn, rice, beans... Not eating wheat flour is not a big deal for me, but I do like eating cereal in the morning. During passover I have to find something else to eat for breakfast. One of the most common Passover breakfasts is matzo brei. Matzo is a giant cracker which is the only type of food containing flour Jews are allowed to eat during Passover.

Matzo brei is like matzo french toast, matzo omelet, or matzo frittata. This quick recipe is a deluxe version of matzo brei that can be made your way. If you like it enough, you'll be happy to know that matzo is available year round at most supermarkets in the ethnic isle. This recipe was loosely inspired by this recipe: http://allrecipes.co.uk/recipe/4654/matzo-spinach-frittata.aspx

1. First start by cooking your spinach. Any size bag of fresh spinach will work. Although the original recipe calls for frozen spinach, fresh spinach is so much better. There is no thawing involved and you don't have to worry about draining the cooked spinach since most of the liquid will quickly cook off. You can use regular spinach, baby spinach, a mix of spinach and other dark leafy greens. Heat up a pan with a little bit of oil, cooking spray or butter. Add as much spinach in as you can.

You might have to work in batches, but that is okay. Spinach shrinks dramatically when it cooks. You will always need to buy a bigger bag than you think. Mix around the spinach until it shrinks.

This is not a photoshop job, the spinach cooked down that much. Add a little bit a salt to the spinach. Don't worry about cleaning the pan the spinach was cooked in, you will use it right away.

2. While the spinach is cooking, whisk 4 whole eggs in a medium bowl. Once the spinach is done and cooled a little bit, add the spinach into the eggs and whisk again.

3. Add 3 whole matzo crackers that have been broken into pieces no larger than a square inch, though you don't want to break them up so fine that the matzo becomes matzo powder. Mix everything togather.

4. Here is where you make this recipe yours. Mix anything else you would want to put in. I put in pieces of turkey pepperoni, sun dried tomatoes, Parmesan cheese, and shredded cheese. Have fun and experiment. Mix everything together well. Finish with a little more salt.

5. Heat up that same pan you cooked the spinach in on medium high with a little bit of cooking spray. Once the pan is hot enough, pour in your matzo mixture. I like to add a little more Parmesan on top.

6. Cook the mixture until the bottom browns.

7. Try to flip the mixture over in one piece. If you can, you are better at this than me because I haven't been able to. If you have to break it up into smaller pieces to do that, that is okay. Brown the other side.

8. You are done. Even though I could eat cereal three times a day, matzo brei is still a legit breakfast.

Breaded Tofu

Breaded Tofu

 

Another vegetarian dish that makes me think for a second about becoming vegetarian... Don't worry, I love chicken too much. What I am about to share is more of a process than a recipe. Feel free to make it your own.

1. First you have to press the liquid out of your tofu. I showed you how to do this here on the Vegetable Tofu Spread recipe.

2. Cut the tofu in half on the long dimension, then into little slabs about as thick as my finger on what is now the longest dimension.

3. Marinate your tofu in whatever sauce you like. I would recommend a thicker sauce like Soy Vay. I marinated the tofu for 24 hours, but a few hours should be fine.

3. Set up your dredging station and your cooking pan (or in my case a whole stove-top griddle). You may also try baking or frying the tofu as well.

I haven't tried frying tofu, but I have baked it before. What helps when baking any breaded food is to put the breaded food on top of a wire rack that is sitting on a baking pan. This allows hot air circulation all around.

Put eggs in one flat and shallow container and panko bread crumbs in another. You'll need about two large eggs per tofu container. Whisk the eggs very well.

I would preheat your pan. When it is hot enough, Pam it and beginning the dredging process.


3. Place a piece of tofu into the eggs making sure it is well coated.

4. Place the egged tofu into the panko dish and coat it well. Feel free to use your hands to place pack panko on top.

5. Place the breaded tofu on what should be a hot pan and Pam the top of the Tofu with more Pam.

6. Here is where it gets tricky. Flip when the side on the pan starts to brown. You may have to lift a piece up to see if it browned.

If you are doing multiple batches, make sure you Pam the pan generously. Once all your tofu is cooked, you are done.

The recipe is so much more delicious than you would think. Try it today... or tomorrow.

Chicken Chile Verde

Chicken Chile Verde

In honor of St. Patrick's day, I made Chicken Chile Verde. The recipe is healthy and delicious. This chili can be made mild or spicy. Find the recipe at Kitchen Daily: http://www.kitchendaily.com/recipe/chicken-chile-verde?icid=kd|featrec|1

When I served it, I turned it into a salad by adding lettuce, rice, black beans, tomato, and cheese. It helps stretch out the chicken longer.

Recipe

 1. Start by roasting your two poblano chilies until they are charred. I roasted them directly over my gas stove rotating them with tongs. It wasn't messy at all. You can also broil them in an oven or bbq them.

2. Once they are done, immediately put them in a bowl and cover.

3. While the chiles are cooking you can prep the rest of the vegetables. This includes:

• Husking (take the outer leaves off), washing, and quartering your 1 pound of tomatillos. The leaves come off pretty easy if you've never worked with tomatillos before.

• Mince 1 onion
• Chop 1 large jalapeño pepper. If you take out all the seeds, it will not be a spicy chili. If you include them, it will be spicy. Just a FYI, your nose might burn a little when chopping the pepper and washing the seeds the down the sink.
• Peel, but do not chop two cloves of garlic. I of course doubled the amount of garlic.
• Wash and measure out 1 cup of cilantro leaves.

4. Combine 3 cups of water, the 1/2 the minced onion (the other half will be used later), the chopped jalapeño pepper, and the garlic (not the cilantro) in a small pot. Bring to a boil, then bring down to a simmer. Cook for 5-7 minutes.

5. When the vegetables are done boiling, strain the vegetables out, but keep the water. You need some of it later. The rest will make great vegetable stock. If you want to make rice to go with your chili, use that stock instead of water.

6. Put the cooked vegetables, the cilantro, and 1/2 a cup of the vegetable stock into a blender. Puree. Salt and pepper the sauce for your taste buds.

7. Chop your 1.5 pounds of boneless skinless chicken thighs into 1/2 inch chunks. Trim any fat as well. Season with salt and pepper.

8. Chop up the poblano chilies, which should of cooled by now. Keep as many seeds as you want.
Put the poblano chiles in whatever container the onions are in.

9. Heat two tablespoons of vegetable oil in a deep skillet. I used a dutch oven. Once it is hot, add the chicken in and brown for 5 minutes on high.

10. If your chicken yields too much liquid, drain the liquid out. Add in the onion and poblano peppers and cook for 5-7 minutes until the onion is browned.

11. Stir in the sauce and bring to a boil. Cook for about 5 more minutes until the chili thickens.

You are done! Let me know how you liked the recipe. I really liked how it came out. I think I was a little too conservative with the chili seeds.

Bastilla

 Bastilla

 

See the original recipe here: http://www.tv3.co.nz/The-Ultimate-Chicken-Pie---Bastilla/tabid/938/articleID/79495/Default.aspx

Now I know most of you are familiar with chicken pot pie, but have you heard of Bastilla? It is a Moroccan version of chicken pot pie, except not like chicken pot pie at all. It is more like a meat baklava. I decided to make Bastilla as my savory entry to a Pi Day pie contest. I made a Nutella and Meringue Tart for the sweet entry. The recipe is available here: http://bellanutella.com/2012/02/06/riciollina-nutella-and-meringue-tart/)

I did not to create a full post the tart because I am missing some critical pictures, but here are the highlights:

 

Notice the almond Nutella layer in the middle.

I had a lot of issues rolling out the tart dough and thought it would come out terrible, but it was well received at the pie party. There were many young kids who asked for seconds and thirds. Goes to show that you should keep baking, even if you think you failed because it still may turn out well. Baking teaches you so much about life.

Okay back to the Bastilla. I have not heard if any of my entries one, but I update this post once I find out. Making Bastilla looks intimidating, but it is totally doable and you don't need any expensive equipment to make it.

Recipe

Special Note 

Depending on how long you think it will take you to finish making all the fillings, you do need to make sure your oven is preheated to 350 degrees Fahrenheit and your phyllo dough is defrosted according to the phyllo dough's instruction. Mine said it should be out of the freezer for at least 2 hours.

Chicken

1. First you have to cook your raw chicken. A bonus from the recipe is that you end up with chicken stock. In a large pot, place:

• 1 onion that has been peeled and quartered
• 4 chicken drumsticks (the recipe said whole chicken legs so maybe it is 4 drumsticks and thighs, who knows)
• 1 celery stock that has been chopped
• 1 teaspoon of salt
• 1 teaspoon of black pepper

2. Fill the pot with water until everything is covered. You don't want to fill it too much. That will dilute the chicken stock.

3. Bring the water to a simmer (gentle boil) and cook the chicken for 30 to 45 minutes, until the chicken is cooked through and almost falls apart to the touch. Once the chicken is done, fish the chicken out and put it into a separate container so it cools down faster. Filter out the remaining liquid because it is homemade chicken stock. You will need some (not all) of the stock for the rest of the recipe. Save the left over stock for another use.

4. Once the chicken is all cooled down, take the skin off and shred the remaining meat with two forks or your hands.

5. In a small bowl, measure out and combine:

• 1 teaspoon of ground ginger 
• 1 teaspoon of turmeric 
• 2 teaspoons of cinnamon 
• 1 teaspoon of saffron threads which is optional, but adds a lot of flavor
• 1 teaspoon of salt
• 1/2 teaspoon black pepper

6. Dice 3 peeled onions. I used a food processor because it makes it a lot easier and I don't like to know I am eating onions, so I like to dice them really fine. You don't need a food processor to chop the onions.

7. Heat 3 tablespoons of oil in a large pan. The recipe called for rice bran oil, but I used olive oil. I think another vegetable oil would of worked fine as well. When heating oil in a pan, I like to heat the pan a little bit without oil first. It makes swirling the oil around easier. I would put the heat on medium or medium high.

8. Add the onions in and cook them until they are soft.

I forgot to take a picture without the spices, but here is how soft onions look like.

9. Add in the spices and mix until the spices are well combined with the onions.

10. Add in the shredded chicken and 1/2 a cup of the chicken stock you made. Cook until combined and most of the chicken stock has mostly evaporated.

11. Try a little to see if you want to add more seasoning. If all is well, set aside and let it cool.

Egg Mixture

1.  Chop about 1 cup of fresh parsley.

2. Heat up 1 cup of the chicken stock you made. Don't make it boiling, just hot.

3. While the chicken stock is heating up, crack and beat 4 eggs in a separate bowl.

4.  Once the stock is hot enough, add in the parsley and the eggs.

5. Keep whisking until the mixture resembles scrambled eggs. You don't have to whisk vigorously, but you do want to make sure the heat is well distributed so the mixture cooks evenly. It will seem almost sudden when the mixture cooks enough.

6. There will be some excess liquid. Strain the liquid out of the egg mixture and let it cool.

Almond Filling

1. Combine 1 cup of ground almonds, 2 tablespoons of granulated white sugar, and 3 tablespoons of oil. For the ground almonds, almond flour works or make your own ground almonds with a food processor. If you do make your own ground almonds, make sure you don't overprocess the almonds. It will turn into almond butter, which is good, but not what you want. For the oil, I used olive, but you can use any other oil that doesn't have a strong taste. Usually olive oil is considered to have a strong taste, but I thought it would go well with this dish.

I used a fork to combine the almond filling ingredients. In the end, it should resemble coarse paste.

Assembly

1. Your oven should be preheated to 350 degrees Fahrenheit and your phyllo dough should be defrosted according to the phyllo dough's instruction.

2. Melt  5 tablespoons of butter (salted or unsalted) and have a pastry brush available.

3. Line the bottom of a 10 inch pie tin with 7 sheets of phyllo dough. Make sure you butter each and every sheet of phyllo dough. You should be rotating the pan as you place the phyllo dough so the entire pan gets lined. Be generous with the butter. In addition,  place the phyllo dough so that some of it overhangs on the edge of the tin. Phyllo dough is delicate, but not impossible to work with. You might tear a few sheets, but they come in large packs. Just be careful and you should be fine.

4. If you aren't working with the opened pack of phyllo dough at the moment, cover it with a damp towel to prevent if from drying out.

5. Once the tin is all lined, add your fillings into the tin. Start with chicken, then the egg, and top with the almond filling. Make sure you flatten out each layer with a spatula so each layer is even.

6. Encase the filling with the overhanging phyllo dough and place 3 more sheets of phyllo dough onto to fully close the filling. Tuck in the top layers of phyllo dough. Make sure you butter the phyllo dough.

With some of the broken sheets of phyllo dough, I wrapped them into a roll to create a Pi letter. Get creative with yours. It will bake fine as long as you butter the outside.

7. Baked your Bastilla for 20 to 30 minutes, until it is golden brown. Mine took about 30 minutes.

8. While the Bastilla is still hot, brush some honey that has been warmed up on top and sprinkle some sliced almonds.

I know this looks like a crazy difficult dish to make, but it is not so bad and worth it. Make some Bastilla for your next get together. Let me know how it came out. Also, feel free to request the next dish I put on my blog via comments.