10:59
Basically the bottom three were all totally pathetic, but Jill sealed her fate with her lame explanation. Inexplicably, Ariane seems way more upset than Jill as she weeps in Carla's arms. Jill says she'll always be cooking, but I hope she stays away from ostrich eggs. Next week, the chefs are making Thanksgiving dinner for the Foo Fighters, so get ready, because even though I'll be at home, I'll still be logging to share my thoughts.
10:52
After the judges praise Carla, they begin to lay the compliments on Fabio, but he misunderstands and begins to make excuses. It's kind of cute, I guess, but he's already grating, and I think he'll be around for a while. He wins the elimination challenge, unsurprising considering that he hogged about half of this episode's screen time. Props to Gail for calling out Jill's pathetic defense of her nasty quiche. That may be enough to drop her below Ariane on the elimination ladder.
10: 40
I'd just like to interrupt this regularly scheduled blog to say how excited I am for the Real Housewives of Atlanta reunion on Tuesday, seriously, best show ever. Ok, back to my second favorite show. Ok, Fabio is funny, or whatever, but why does he get to talk so much? I haven't even half of these strangers since their introductions last episode, and he's talking about dragons and princesses every other second. These diners are just like I expected, overly critical and just plain annoying. "You go on Top Chef and you make meatloaf. I mean, come on," says one of them. You don't make it on Top Chef and all you can do is make fun of meatloaf. I mean, come on, at least come up with a better insult to entertain me. I wasn't going to comment on the individual dishes yet, but that avocado mousse looks repulsive. Rhadika is lucky that she has immunity. I'm calling Ariana to go with her "violently sweet" lemon meringue martini.
10:22
So the elimination challenge is to create a three course New-American lunch menu. I always love watching the chefs shopping for groceries. Scratch that, I love watching the faces of the other people in the store who either ignore the camera or look extremely confused. Jill's making an ostrich egg quiche, and it's appropriate, because she actually kind of looks like an ostrich with that long neck. Tom comes in an drops the bombshell that they'll be cooking at Craft, his restuarant, and even better, that the chefs will be cooking for people who tried out for the show but didn't make it. It will be nice to see these not-quite-talented reality show hopefuls be as critical as possible.
10:11
Ok, so we're back for another week, and we get a quickfire hot dog competition right off the bat, and they actually have to make the hot dogs. Ew, I don't think I want to see this. Yeah, I didn't need to see the sausage stuffing, but some of the chefs came up with some innovative stuff. Eugene's sushi dog actually looks foul, and based on the look on the guest judge's face it tasted that way too. Radhika won with her Indian-inspired dog, which looked delicious, although I find it funny that last episode she said that she wanted to venture away from Indian cuisine, yey she's already resorted to it once or twice.
Wednesday, November 19, 2008
Live Blogging - Top Chef Season 5: Episode 2
Top Chef Live Blogging Tonight!
Tuesday, November 18, 2008
Bagels: My First Yeasted Dough
Photo by Olivia CoffeyI bake all the time but I rarely leave the realm of muffins, cupcakes, cookies, or brownies. The only times I've used yeast were for challah, which we make in the bread machine at my house (don't gasp, we just make the dough in there and then braid it and bake it in the oven).
So I decided to try my first real yeasted dough - for bagels! I got the recipe from this post on Baking Bites, which is my go-to for any kind of baked good. In fact, we've posted about that blog before on Penn Appetit. If you go to the original post, there are great instructional photos for how you should shape the dough. I also consulted Mark Bittman's How to Cook Everything about adding toppings and such.
The recipe is reprinted below, with my notes in italics. I made poppyseed, onion, plain, and poppyseed-onion bagels, and ate them with lox and cream cheese. Damn good.
Homemade Bagels (from Baking Bites)
makes 1 dozen
Ingredients:
1 tbsp. active dry yeast (I actually used Perfect Rise Yeast which claims to be a "fast rising active dry" yeast)
1 tbsp. sugar
1 3/4 c. water, warm, about 100-110F (I didn't have a thermometer so I just guessed. I found a website that claims it's better to have the water too cold than too warm.)
4 c. bread flour
1 tbsp. salt (again, I would cut this down to 1 or 1 1/2 tsp.)
1 egg, for egg wash
Directions:
In a large bowl combine yeast, sugar, and water. Let stand for 5 minutes, then stir in flour and salt. Mix dough thoroughly until it comes together in a large ball, pulling away from the sides of the bowl. Add an additional tablespoon of flour or water, if needed.
If kneading by hand, turn dough out onto a lightly floured surface and knead until very smooth and elastic, about 10 minutes. If using a stand mixer, knead dough with the dough hook until elastic, about 8 minutes on a low speed. Place dough in a lightly greased bowl, cover with plastic wrap and let rise for 1 hour, or until doubled in size.
Bring a large pot of water to a gentle boil and preheat the oven to 400F.
When dough has risen, turn the dough out onto a very lightly floured surface and divide into 12 equal pieces (first quarters, then thirds). Shape each piece into a tight ball (as shown in the photos on the Baking Bites blog) pinching the corners together at the bottom of the piece of dough. When all the balls are shaped, let the dough rest for 30 minutes covered with a clean dish towel.
Once dough balls have rested, the bagel shape can be formed. Using your fingers, poke a hole through the center of each dough ball. Stretch out the dough into a ring with your fingers and be sure to make the hole a little larger than you want the finished bagel to have, as it will shrink slightly while the bagel is expanding during the baking process. Let bagels rest for about 10 minutes.
Working four at a time, drop the bagels carefully into the boiling water. Boil for 2 minutes on the first side, then flip and boil for an additional minute. Using a slotted spoon or strainer, transfer bagels to a clean towel to drain for a moment, then place on a parchment-lined baking sheet. (At this point, you can dip the bagel in poppyseeds, sesame seeds, sauteed onion, etc.) Repeat process with remaining bagels.
Brush boiled bagels with lightly beaten egg (only if they don't have toppings!) and bake for 20-24 minutes, until golden brown. Cool completely on a wire rack.Tweet
Sunday, November 16, 2008
Upcoming Food Events
Saturday, November 15, 2008
Friday, November 14, 2008
Friday Blog Lovin' - Fabulous Fall Gnocchi
Blog: flagrante delicia
Gnocchi finally gets its just desserts! This Chestnut gnocchi with hazelnut and milk chocolate sauce is a creative twist on the Italian favorite. Check out this blogger's other tantalizing treats!
Note: Click here to see the original post.
Wednesday, November 12, 2008
Live Blogging - Top Chef Season 5: Episode 1
11:14
Ok, so we've learned that inspiration is more important than execution, and Patrick is eliminated second, although I'm sure that the judges will contradict that at least six or seven times this season. The season preview looks fantastic, with appearances from Martha Stewart, and Philadelphia's own Stephen Starr, or so I hear. Padma wraps things up with "That rice was appalling." I can't wait for next week.
11:07
I'm calling it now, Stefan is going to be the cocky success story of this season, at least one of them, as there are usually more than one. I mean just look at that smug grin as Gail tells him that she adores his lemony hummus. I think that they're being a little harsh on Ariane; only one aspect of her dish was off. Patrick should be a goner, thanks to those gooey black rice noodles. Uh oh, Ariane may have just done herself in with that book comment. Master Tom is not happy.
10:57
God, the first sight of this food makes me hate my daily meals at Commons that much more. Three teams down, and no huge disasters yet. Come on people, it's early so feel free to crash and burn. Ok, Jeff's plate looks just pathetic. He might have considered spending less time on his hair and more time on his plating, but apparently his dish still tasted good, because he won his duel. Where was Padma's "This is not risotto" from the preview? She needs to throw down a little more if she wants to recapture my affection.
10: 40
Nice opening elimination challenge, taking advantage of the plethora of ethnic neighborhoods in New York. Carla the caterer, preparing to cook a Russian dish, decides to "let the spirits guide [her.]" Ok, you just do that Carla. I'm also thinking that some of these groups got a little screwed. Most of them would probably have a wider knowledge of Middle Eastern or Italian cuisine than Jamaican...right? I'm surprised that there are so many salads coming through, as I thought that some of these chefs would want to bring out the big guns from the get go.
10:25
Well I was wrong, big surprise, but I'm relieved that I don't have to listen to that grating accent for an entire season. The digs are nice, as usual, but I'm convinced that they just live in the same place every season and teleport to the challenge sites. At least that's what it looks like. And we're not even halfway through the first episode and some of these egomaniacs are already arguing about the differences between a vinaigrette and an emulsion. Oh how I've missed this.
10: 15
Woohoo, it's finally back! After a little bit of getting to know the contestants, Padma and Tom wasted no time in laying down the law with the first quickfire challenge. At first the thought of watching the chefs peel apples seemed pretty mundane, but the combination of incredible speed and a little bit of blood quickly got me interested. I'm predicting that Patrick is going to go after the break, but both of those dishes looked pretty lackluster.
PS - I'm excited to know that they were as excited about seeing Padma as I was.
Hearts of Palm (aka palm heart or palmito)
These delicious cylindrical “hearts” come from the inside of palm trees. With the look of a chestnut, texture and flavor of an artichoke – they add a lovely touch to a salad (and can also be used to make dips). Since the harvesting of palm hearts originally killed the trees they come from, they were expensive and salads that included them were deemed “millionaire’s salads”. However, what you find now comes from trees with multiple palms, so that when one section is chopped off, the tree continues to live.
Why eat them?
It’s simple. They’re tasty and healthy, a rare combination. The amount of nutrients packed into one cup, which is 41 calories worth, is incredible: iron (25% of your daily value), protein (7%), vitamin C (19%), folate (14%), magnesium (14%), potassium (9%), and zinc (11%)! The only downside is the amount of sodium – 622mg (26%), which is mostly due to preservation needs and is comparable to the amount of sodium found in other canned vegetables.
Ready to try?
Tuesday, November 11, 2008
Guacamole
If you can chop, dice, and mix - you're capable of making guacamole.
Here's what you'll need to do it:
2 ripe avocados
1 medium tomato diced
1/3 cup of chopped onion
1 tablespoon of fresh cilantro chopped
1/4 of chopped jalapenos OR 1/8 cup of serrano peppers
Lime juice
Salt
Directions:
Mash the avocado separately. Then, add the rest of the ingredients and mix. Add the lime juice and salt to taste. I recommend 1-2 teaspoons of lime juice, it brings all the flavors together.
Monday, November 10, 2008
