Sourdough Bread with Thyme smothered in marinated goat cheese and chimichurri

Challah!

Doughnuts with Homemade Blueberry-Blackberry Jam

Kitchen Notes: we added an extra cup of flour because the batter was super drippy.

Sourdough Bagels from the Bread Baker’s Apprentice

Jailhouse Potato Cinnamon Rolls

Aaron wanted to bake all day!  So, that is what we are going to do!  We will try to keep you updated on what we are making… honestly, I’m not quite sure yet…

So that we would have something for breakfast I made the Pastry Queen’s Jailhouse Potato Cinnamon Rolls for my first Pastry Queen Project.  Having only made Chef Mark’s Southern Comfort Apple Pie, I was excited to start baking my way through the cookbook.

Overall, they were good but I was not blown away.  Like many others, I found the dough to be very soft and difficult to work with.  The potatoes retain so much moisture that the dough flops all over the place. I think it may be helpful to use older mashed potatoes, like with gnocchi, so that some of the water will have evaporated. I do not mind if something doesn’t look pretty as long as it tastes good but I was not completely sold on these. I wanted a heavier dough and much more cinnamon.

Make sure you check out Katy’s blog for the recipe and the Project Pastry Queen blogroll to see how others fared.

Also, check back here through out the day to see our bakefest creations!

Brochettes or Kabobs: In Argentina, Kabobs are called Brochettes. These were composed of chicken, steak peppers, dates and mushrooms, marinated in Italian dressing and grilled.  The addition of dates is excellent.

Smitten Kitchen’s Mango Salsa with Cashews and Mint: A hit! Everyone loved it!


Pepper Bacon-Scallion Mac and Cheese: Click through to read guest post!

Though it was never stated explicitly, JEB is likely a grizzly bear who wandered into Juan’s life and instead of mauling him, offers life lessons over cheeseburgers. He has an unnatural obsession with fresh fruit and seafood, and the nasty little bits of animals people don’t seem to know how to cook properly.

Pepper Bacon-Scallion Mac and Cheese

As adapted from Alton Brown’s stove-top mac and cheese recipe, which is excellent on it’s own.

* 1/2 pound elbow macaroni
* 4 tablespoons butter
* 2 eggs
* 6 ounces evaporated milk
* 1/2 teaspoon hot sauce
* 1 teaspoon kosher salt
* Fresh black pepper
* 3/4 teaspoon dry mustard
* 8 ounces sharp cheddar, shredded
* 2 ounces jack cheddar, shredded
* bunch of scallions*
* mess of bacon**

* A bunch of scallions is defined as around two cups, cleaned, usually about eight scallions, depending on how much of the green you use.

** A mess of bacon is between a third and a half a pound of bacon, depending on how much of it you eat between cooking the bacon and adding it to the mac and cheese.

Prep:

Get bacon. Bacon should be high quality stuff. I prefer bacon that has been crusted in peppercorns prior to smoking, as it mellows the pepper when you cook it; bacon that has been covered in pepper after smoking is acceptable. Bacon that comes in vacuum packed bags at the end of the deli isle next to a single block of souse that exists only so little children can poke it should be avoided unless absolutely necessary (both that variety of bacon, and that block of souse.)

Stick the bacon, along with the blocks of cheese into the freezer. Bacon’s easier to slice when cold and firm, and the cheese is easier to grate. That said, don’t let either freeze. Bacon doesn’t bounce back from freezing well, it takes longer to thaw than to freeze, and grating frozen cheese by hand is worse than having to grate room temperature cheese.

Once firm, dice the bacon. Usually you can use a bland oil like canola, though because it’s bacon, and it’s going to give off a ton of bacon fat (which you will save, this is not up for discussion) you can get away with using cheap olive oil, or or even extra virgin olive oil, but please, not too much of it. You really only need to barely coat the bottom of the pan. Cook over medium high heat until barely crisp. You have to watch carefully, the blackness of the skillet and the oil make it hard to gauge the how browned the diced bacon is. It’s better to leave it a little chewy than to cook it into oblivion, otherwise you’re going to be eating char with scallions in mac and cheese, and that’s disgusting. Remove the bacon with a slotted spoon and drain on paper towels (a sieve would be better, but if you move the bacon and don’t let it sit on the paper towels, you’ll be fine.)

Clean and dice the scallions. If you can’t figure out how to clean (rinse under cold water, remove damaged bits, roots and the leathery green tops) or dice (cut) scallions, you’ve probably suffocated while reading this recipe, since it does not regularly remind you to breathe.

Set the bacon and scallions aside.

Shred the cheese. I like to put a bowl in the freezer along with the grater in advance, then put the bowl of shredded cheese back in the fridge while the pasta cooks, and take it out when you drain the pasta, so the cheese isn’t too cold going into the pasta, but isn’t clumping back together either.

Whisk together the eggs, milk, hot sauce, salt, pepper, and mustard. I like to add a a pinch of cayenne as well, again, don’t over do it. It’s basically a bechamel sauce, which makes this more of a carbonara than anything, but don’t tell people it’s carbonara, they’ll be mad that it’s not mac and cheese. People are stupid when it comes to labeling things. If you time this right, You will be tempted to check seasoning levels. It’s unlikely you’ll get sick from tasting this mix, even though the eggs are raw, but it’ll also taste terrible, since it’s made of evaporated milk and eggs. It’s binder, it’s not supposed to taste good on it’s own. If you’re worried about salt levels err on the side of less, the cheese and bacon were both salted before you got them. Worry more over whether or not there’s enough pepper.

Boil the pasta like you would boil any pasta, more water than you think you need, plenty of salt. Rolling boil, add pasta, turn down the heat, stir so nothing sticks. Drain the pasta before it becomes mush. Most recipes say “al dente” which just means don’t cook it all the way. People seem to think pasta magically goes from crunchy and brittle to soft and pliant. Like all pasta dishes, stop it just before it hits soft and pliant. Drain the pasta, saving a half cup of the pasta water in case the pasta looks dry.

At this point, at a bit of the butter to the pot, usually a tablespoon, cut up into pats. I like to start melting the butter in the pot before adding the pasta back in to prevent it from sticking to the pot. Hot, dry pot plus hot, drying pasta makes for crusty, unappealing bits. Once the butter has melted, add the pasta back in, and add the rest of the butter, stirring to melt it all and coat the pasta evenly. Again, if the pasta looks too dry, add the pasta water back in a tablespoon at a time. It is very unlikely it should come to that, as the scallions will bring moisture after the fact. Then add the egg and milk mixture. Stir to coat evenly. Start adding cheese by the fist full, stirring to incorporate. The cheese will melt, and become mortar-like, which is really the desired effect. Once all the cheese is in, add the bacon and scallions. Mix them in well.

Serve in bowls, possibly with Lipitor. Feel free to obtain and laugh derisively at a blue box while eating. This may cause shame at your mocking a major childhood icon, and you will end up eating seconds or even thirds to quell your guilt. This is OK, it happens sometimes. Instead, laugh derisively at a box of breadcrumbs you didn’t need to coat the top of a casserole. Don’t piss off the breadcrumbs entirely, if you want to use them to make fried mac and cheese days later. Yes, I am deeply concerned over the opinion a shelf bound box of panko has of me. These things happen.

Aaron and I decided to use this as an opportunity to use pomegranate juice for Tasty (Kitchen) Tennis… I’ve already shared the Cumin Turkey Breast with Pomegranate Sauce. Now, I give you pomegranate truffles (yummy!). This round was more of a group effort… due to some really creative ideas that just failed in execution… so Top Chef of us…

Next up… Green Tomatoes for Brunch!

Pomegranate Chocolate Truffles
(adapted from Tartine)

1/2 pound dark chocolate chocolate, chopped
1/3 cup heavy cream
2.5 tablespoons butter
2 tablespoons pomegranate juice, warmed
1/2 cup dried pomegranate seeds
Cocoa powder or powered sugar (for rolling)

1. Heat the heavy cream in a sauce pan until it begins to bubble.
2. Pour over the chocolate and stir until melted.
3. Mix in the butter until melted.
4. Stir in the pomegranate juice and seeds.
5. Set in the fridge for at least an hour to become solid.
6. With a spoon or melonballer, spoon out about a tablespoon of the ganache and roll it into a ball. Roll in the chocolate cocoa powder or powered sugar.

Disclaimer: POM sent me a case of pomegranate-blueberry juice that was used in this dish.