Mint-Walnut Pea Crostini

It's now the middle of May and somehow almost half of 2013 has escaped us. It feels as if everyone around me is headed away to a sunnier place on vacation, enjoying a fresh sunburn from the beach. I look forward to my escaping point and relaxing on the Pacific soon. I figure the moment I start experimenting with different popsicle ideas, a beach day is necessary. I sit listening to Imogen Heap's 'I Megaphone', realizing it has now been 15 years since it came out. Life may be the longest thing we all do, but recently how quickly time goes by has been becoming more noticeable. 

Tonight my boyfriend and I decided to go out to eat and ended up with mediocre Italian food. The only downside to learning how to cook is going out to eat and being given a dish that you find yourself saying "Ugh... I could have done that". When eating out a I try to always choose something I've never created, and/or want to make soon. I decided to give up on the middle-of-the-road gorgonzola penne I just ordered, and saved room for self serve frozen yogurt a few blocks down. Topped with fresh fruit from their topping bar along with a cherry on top, always.

This week I've been spending a lot of time perfecting my spicy-as-hell Chinese food, putting my newly gifted wok to the test. I'm sure I'll share my successes soon enough. It's been fun experimenting with new flavors, and browsing around different Asian groceries. Last week my work hosted an event which was catered, one of the bite-sized foods put out was a pesto pea crostini. I ate it and immediately fell in love with it wanting to recreate it. The one I had was topped with ricotta cheese which I felt got lost in the pea flavor. I chose to replace this with spreading goat cheese onto the grilled baguette, giving it a tart flavor. 

1 french baguette (cut into 1/2" slices)
12oz frozen peas, thawed
1/2 cup shredded Parmesan
1/4 cup walnuts
1/4 cup chopped green onions
1 tablespoon chopped mint leaves
1 garlic clove
1/3 cup olive oil (extra for baguette)
1/2 teaspoon salt
4oz chèvre
Extra salt + pepper to taste

Crostini:
Heat a grill pan over medium high heat. Brush each side of the baguette slices lightly with olive oil. Place on pan for 1 minutes on each side, until golden brown grill marks appear.

Mint Pesto Pea:

Put defrosted peas, garlic, walnuts, green onion, mint, salt, and half of the olive oil in a food processor. Pulse processor until ingredients start to combine. Pour in the rest of the olive oil and process until everything is combined, forming a bright green spread.

Spread a thin layer of chèvre on each crostini, following up with another thin layer of the pesto pea spread.

Jalapeño Bacon Skillet Cornbread

My grandma has always been by my side as my #1 cheerleader, motivating and helping me grow. My grandparents gave me the technology I needed that created the base foundation to who I am today, but they didn't get to involved with it much. My grandma is about to get her first laptop in the mail from me for Mother's Day (she's back home in San Diego). She's never seen my blog, only hearing about it from others and seeing the photographs I send her. As for a secondary Mother's Day gift, I've decided to coordinate a coffee date between her and my best friend whom will be showing her everything I've done! She's the most excited. If you're reading this, I love you!

Cornbread was a staple in my family growing up, my grandma made it to go with half of the meals she cooked. My grandpa was a southern boy who inhaled it down. I read a ton of different articles about what really is the 'correct' way to make cornbread. The most common opinion out there is that everyone's grandma makes it 'best'. When using a cast iron skillet to make the cornbread, forming a crust on the bottom is key, and adds a lot to the texture and flavor. The maple syrup I used in my maple butter was from a friend, from her father-in-law's cabin in Quebec. She told me they go out there yearly and extract the syrup from the local trees, nothing added. Straight up maple syrup. Unfortunately, after tasting it I won't be able to use anything else.

1 1/4 cup yellow corn meal
3/4 cup all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup sugar
2 cups reduced fat buttermilk
1 egg
12 pickled jalapeño slices (each sliced into quarters)
4 strips cooked smoked bacon 

Cook bacon and reserve the fat in a small bowl (about 2 tablespoons). Crumble bacon strips up and set to the side. Preheat oven to 400. Place cast iron skillet into oven and prepare the batter in the meantime. In a medium bowl whisk together corn meal, flour. salt, and sugar until combined and then set to the side. In a large bowl whisk together buttermilk and the egg. Once combined, pour in cornmeal mixture. Beat together until combined. Stir in jalapeños and bacon.

Remove the skillet from the oven and place on a heat-safe surface. Pour in bacon grease, spreading it around the inside of the pan. Pour cornbread mixture into the skillet. A crust will begin to form from the hot skillet. Place in oven and bake for 20 minutes or until golden brown. Let cornbread and the skillet cool before slicing. 

Maple Butter
1/2 cup softened butter
1/4 cup maple syrup

Use an electric mixture to combine the butter and maple syrup. Chill until solid.

Huckleberry Sour

Here in Seattle the spring sunshine has made an appearance for the foreseeable future. Well, that's what the forecast says. I'm working on breaking my habit of grabbing a jacket from our ever-growing coat rack each morning. In the sunnier months of Seattle construction is at a high, or at least it seems. I have the lucky fortune to have both houses next to my building remodeling their homes. (Hopefully you caught the sarcasm.) It's not a simple remodel either, one of them is literally adding 2/3 more "house" on plus a concrete wall around it. I'm not sure what the other house is doing, what I do know is they prefer to start getting loud at sunrise. 

This cocktail has been a slowly transforming for a couple of weeks now, swapping out different fruits and soda flavors. This lavender berry combination is slightly sour and refreshing, the blackberries give it a bright coloring also. I'm sure I'll make this throughout the summer. I understand that huckleberry vodka is probably a rare find, I was surprised when I saw it. If you swap it for regular vodka then add a splash of blueberry juice.

Also, Happy Star Wars Day!

Makes 20oz.

14oz bottle lavender soda
6 blackberries (extra for garnish)
4 oz huckleberry vodka
2 oz lemon juice
Blueberries

Smash down blackberries in a small bowl, pour into cocktail shaker. Pour in vodka, soda, and lemon juice. Stir (or shake lightly) to combine all ingredients. Using a cocktail strainer, pour into glasses with crushed ice. Put a toothpick through the center of a blackberry and blueberry, place on rim of glass for garnish.

S'mores Pop Tarts

I did it! After scrambling around, it all came together and my photos are framed and up in Starbucks. It's an interesting feeling standing there waiting for my coffee and seeing my kitchen staring at me. Each of them memories reminding me of different challenges and accomplishments I've had in the past 3 months. In some cases even remembering the music I was listening to. It's been a great experience also full of blushing which I didn't know was happening until pointed out. It's been really nice hearing perspectives of my art from so many different people.

This week has been fun. I fell asleep one night along with the sunset, ate lamb for the first time(I know, "how have you never had lamb?!") and filled my first baking order of Nutella Banana Bread. Price? 4 bananas and a jar of Nutella sold to my friend Elle, also the first person to purchase one of my prints. Alongside the bread I made these pop tarts. Toggling between hazelnuts and marshmallow creme is fun(and sticky). This idea formed together while at work, somehow turning into a conversation about deciding pop tart flavors for me to make when I got off. As you can see, s'mores won. I had asked my boyfriend via text what his ideal flavor was, he also said s'mores. I went home determined, new graham cracker box in hand, and made them. I wouldn't recommend making these if you are leaving work at 7pm, unless you too intend to make them until 2am. Oops. A lot of the time was taken by cutting the butter in with my hands, the next day I bought a pastry blender. I brought the pop tarts in the next day and surprised everyone that I actually did go home and make them. A friend took a bite and swallowed as quickly as he could just to tell me that he would leave his fiance to marry these if it was legal. With that being said, these really are delicious. The crust is flaky and takes s'mores to another level. It makes 8 if you roll out the dough you cut off also. I chose to cut them in half when I brought them in since it's only 8. (Everyone also said they were better than the real thing, wink.)

Adapted from Chow

9 graham crackers (1 package)
1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup (2 sticks) cold unsalted butter cut into 1/2 inch cubes
2 large egg yolks
1/2 cup 2% milk
Flour for surface
1 large egg
1 teaspoon water

1 cup marshmallow creme
4 oz chopped 60% dark chocolate

Put graham crackers in a gallon freezer bag, roll over them with a rolling pin until they are fine and uniform (it will make 1 1/4 cup finely ground crumbs). Whisk and combine the flour, graham cracker crumbs, and salt in a large bowl. Put the cubed butter into the mixture, toss with your fingers to coat all sides of the butter. Using a pastry blender* cut in the butter until reduced to pea-sized pieces.

*You can also use your hands. The first time I made this, I used my hands to cut in the butter which definitely a lot of work without a pastry blender. I went and bought one the next day, $10 and worth it.

Whisk egg yolks and milk in a small bowl until combined. Combine the egg mixture and flour mixture with your hands until a sticky dough forms. Cut the dough into 2 equal portions and shape into a rectangle, cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for 1 1/2 hours.

Preheat oven to 375, line a baking sheet with parchment. Roll the first rectangle of dough into a 12"x10" rectangle. Cut the rectangle into 6 smaller rectangles (3 1/2"x4 1/2"). Place all 6 rectangles on the baking sheet 2" apart and put into the fridge. Whisk egg and water in a small bowl until combined and set aside. Roll out the 2nd dough into the same dimensions as the first. Remove baking sheet from fridge, brush a thin layer of the egg wash over the chilled rectangles. 

Spread 2 tablespoons of marshmallow creme onto each of the rectangles. Sprinkle a pinch of chopped dark chocolate on top of the creme. Place the non-chilled rectangles on top of the marshmallow creme, press on the edges to stick the 2 rectangles together. Press lightly on the tops of the pop tarts to flatten. Dip your fork in flour and crimp the edges of the tarts. poke the top of the tarts with the tip of the fork 3 times, giving 12 holes total in the center. Place in refrigerator for 15 minutes, until dough has stiffened slightly.

Bake in oven until golden brown and the marshmallow creme has puffed up. Cool on baking sheet for 5 minutes, then onto a wire rack to cool completely.

Melt chopped chocolate with a double-boiler or microwave. Once the chocolate is warm (may have to chill the chocolate slightly), place into a pastry bag or use a spoon to drizzle chocolate over the tops of the cooled pop tarts. Chill chocolate to harden quickly.

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My world recently:

Mini Eclairs

Here I am again: chaotic coffee shop, salad, espresso, and The XX playing through my headphones to drown out everything else. This place is packed, but it's Seattle and every coffee shop is packed. Last week when I said it was my busiest week, I lied. My world is more scheduled but still filled with the unexpected. I'm a big fan of surprises and lately I've stopped trying to expect anything and I've become happier. I'm trying to bump my organizational skills up a notch too. I've been juggling a few different things, but the most exciting right now is from a call I received on Monday. Short phone call even shorter: I get to hang my photographs up on an 8ft. wide art wall in a high traffic Starbucks. With this being said, I had a week and not even a single print. So far I've narrowed down my choices, learned how expensive 12 frames are, and have begun ordering my prints. T-3 days, I'll post a photo of the final product. 

Currently at home, ready to write about how tasty and easy to eat these eclairs are but I'm unable to see my screen due to Pico (my cat) walking back and forth in front of my monitor. Dropping into dead-weight when I pick him up to move him, then hopping right back up. Now he's decided to stay sitting on the printer. So, the eclairs. Like I said, they are very easy to eat which is why I am posting these in mini size. I initially made these as the larger and more familiar eclair size. The recipe I adapted this from wrote to pipe the pastry the same size as a jumbo hot dog. It's really rare that I eat hot dogs, so I learned quickly that I wasn't too sure how big a jumbo one was specifically. The first batch ended up huge, oops. My next grocery trip I was sure to pay attention. I chose to make them smaller and more sausage link sized (when piping the pastry). Having them smaller is also intended for portion control, taking a little versus filling yourself full of custardy chocolate (custardy is not a word, but it should be). But let's be real, I ate more of these than I should have. I've recently been noticing myself starting to gain more arm muscle, but only in my right arm. I blame recipes like this one, and all of it's heavy whisking. Like the photos below this one, taking it from egg yolk + sugar to the fluffy togetherness in the other photo is tougher than it looks. Like I said, I have the muscle to prove it. Hopefully any arm wrestling in my future will be with the right arm.

Adapted from Food Network

Ingredients
Filling
2 cups 2% milk
1/2 vanilla bean, split lengthwise
6 egg yolks
2/3 cup sugar
1/4 cup cornstarch
1 tablespoon cold unsalted butter

Pastry
1 cup water
1 stick unsalted butter (8 tablespoons)
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 teaspoons sugar
1 cup all-purpose flour
4 eggs

Egg Wash
1 egg
1 1/2 teaspoons water

Chocolate Topping
1/2 cup heavy cream
4 ounces dark chocolate chopped coarsley

Custard Filling
Heat the milk and vanilla bean in a medium saucepan and bring to a boil over medium heat. Once it boils remove off heat immediately, cover and let vanilla bean infuse for 15 minutes. Whisk the egg yolks and sugar in a medium bowl until light and fluffy, once there add the cornstarch. Whisk vigorously getting rid of all of the lumps.

Whisk in 1/4 cup from the hot milk mixture until incorporated. Continue whisking in the rest of the milk mixture. Pour the mixture through a sieve into a bowl, then back through the sieve into the saucepan it was originally in. Bring the heat to medium-high and whisk constantly until the mixture has thickened and is at a slight boil. Remove from the heat and stir in the butter.

Allow the custard to cool slightly and then cover with plastic wrap. Press the plastic wrap lightly on top of the custard, this will prevent a skin from forming. Refrigerate for a minimum of 2 hours. Refrigerate until 1 hour before using.

Pastry
Preheat the oven to 425. Bring the water, butter, salt and sugar to a rolling boil over medium-high heat. Immediately remove the saucepan when it boils. Add all the flour at once and stir hard with a wooden spoon until all the flour is all mixed in (about 60 seconds). Return to the heat and cook for 30 seconds stirring constantly. Put all of the mixture into a mixer using a paddle attachment on medium speed. Add all 3 eggs one at a time while the mixer is running. (the original recipe recommended you to stop mixing after each egg addition to scrape the sides of the bowl but my paddle attachment has a built in scraper. If yours doesn't, then stop after each.) Mix until the dough is smooth and glossy, all  ingredients completely incorporated. The dough will be thick and will fall slowly from the paddle when you take it off of the bowl.

Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Use a pastry bag to pipe 3" long and 1" wide strips of dough (sausage link sized). (For regular sized eclairs pipe jumbo sized hot dog size pastry).

Egg Wash
In a small bowl, whisk the egg and water together. Brush the tops on each of the eclairs with the egg wash.Smooth out bumps with your fingers.

Bake the eclair pastry for 15 minutes at 425 and then reduce the heat to 375 degrees. Bake until puffed up and light golden brown (about 25 minutes more). Cool on the baking sheet. Poke a hole in one side of the eclair with a straw, then fill with the custard filling using a pastry bag, I used Wilton tip 230.

Chocolate Topping
Heat the heavy cream over medium heat. Immediately turn off the heat once it boils. Chop up your dark chocolate and place in a medium bowl. Pour the hot cream over the chocolate and whisk until it's all melted and smooth. Set aside and keep warm. Cover and refrigerate until ready to use and then warm it to reuse.

Drizzle chocolate on tops of eclairs, chill for 1 hour to set the chocolate.