Too Much Food » American

Baking at Home: Mulberry Scones for the Weekend

Pinjing — Thu, 08 Sep 2011 05:41:52 +0000

Weekends were made for savoring a quiet breakfast; I can’t imagine a better way to spend a Sunday morning than with a cup of coffee and a freshly-baked scone.

Not much to say here about this recipe, it’s a classic amongst the blogosphere; it’s simple and the results are beautiful. The only change I made was that instead of using dairy cream, I used a vegan cashew cream (I had made cashew cream earlier in the week and wanted to see how it’d perform as a substitute for the non-vegan alternative). That being said, these scones still aren’t vegan, but if you substitute a vegan butter/margarine (such as Earth Balance) for the butter, you’d have an animal-friendly breakfast pastry.

Mulberry Scones
Inspired by K. Miller Photographs and recipe adapted from Savory Sweet Life .
Makes 8 regular sized scones or 16 mini scones

What you’ll need:

9 oz. or 252g or 2 cups all-purpose flour (I recommend the kitchen scale when baking, always!)
50g or 4 Tablespoons sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 oz. or 4 Tablespoons cold unsalted butter, cut into cubes (preferably as cold as possible, frozen is best)
6 fluid oz. or 3/4 cup dairy cream or cashew cream
1 egg, slightly beaten
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 – 3/4 cups of frozen mulberries or your frozen fruit of choice
raw sugar for sprinkling
1 teaspoon of honey for wash

The procedure:

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees and line a baking sheet with parchment paper.

Combine the vanilla and the beaten egg in a small bowl and set aside.

Combine the flour, sugar and salt in a large bowl. Whisk so that all the dry ingredients are thoroughly combined.

Using your fingertips or a pastry cutter, work the cold butter into the dry mixture until you get pea-sized crumbs of flour-coated butter. You don’t want to overwork the dough as this will contribute to tough, flat scones. Optionally, if you have a food processor, you can cut the butter in by pulsing the mixture a few times, one second each time.

Pour the cream and egg into the dry mixture all at once, and using a spatula, give it a few quick folds until the dough is evenly moistened and there aren’t any visible puddles of cream or egg. Add the mulberries and fold them in gently.

Pour your dough out onto your baking sheet and pat it gently into a circle that is 3/4″ in height. Using a sharp knife or bench scraper, score the dough into 8 pieces. Separate them slightly if you wish.

Mix the honey with a splash of warm water and mix to combine. Using a pastry brush, brush the tops of the scones and sprinkle with the raw sugar.

Place the baking sheet in the oven and bake for 18 – 22 minutes, or until the tops and bottoms of the scones are a nice golden brown.

Enjoy them hot from the oven with some clotted cream or jam. As with all scones and biscuity things, these are best the day are made. However, you can freeze the unbaked scones and just bake one whenever the craving hits; just pop the frozen scone directly into a preheated oven and bake for 5 – 8 minutes longer.

Enjoy!

Eating Out: True Food Kitchen, Newport Beach, CA

Pinjing — Mon, 05 Sep 2011 23:28:41 +0000

A few meals that I had recently at True Food Kitchen in Newport Beach. A restaurant concept by Dr. Weil, which features healthy, organic and functional foods that are light yet delicious. It’s become a new favorite of mine and if it weren’t such a drive from home, I’d go there more often.

The restaurant is immaculate and features an open kitchen where you can see the chefs preparing the food. There’s also an area with large tables, where they do demonstrations and lessons sometimes, I believe.

Cucumber Refresher: Cucumber and Honey Lemonade.

Hangover Rx: Coconut water, orange juice and pineapple.

Tuscan Kale: Lemon, parmesan and bread crumb. I’m used to eating kale cooked down and braised, but this crunchier, raw version was a good change from the usual.

Caramelized Onion Tart: Smoked garlic, black fig and gorgonzola. I’ve always loved the combination of a salty cheese with fruit, so I naturally loved this one. Put caramelized onions on top of anything == instant tasty.

Edamame Dumplings: Daikon radish and white truffle oil. My favorite of the night. Edamame and daikon were pureed to a silky consistency and dressed in a light broth, these were filling without being heavy. Highly recommend this one. Not sure of the truffle oil is real, but my tastebuds aren’t sophisticated enough to tell yet.

Wild Ahi Sliders: Wasabi aioli, radish, avocado and cucumber.

Another dinner, a few months later. It was my birthday and I decided I wanted to revisit because I was craving the edamame ravioli.

(L): The Natural – Fresh ginger, agave and soda. (R): Medicine Man – Olivello juice, Pomegranate juice, Cranberry juice, black tea, soda water and blueberries.. I ordered the Natural; really gingery and spicy. I don’t like my drinks overly sweet, so this was good. Others, however, felt it was a bit too spicy for their taste. My dad and sister both ordered the Medicine Man, which apparently is an antioxidant powerhouse due to the combination of olivello, pomegranate and cranberry juices. Others enjoyed this more, but I felt it was a bit too sweet for my taste.

Top: Heirloom Tomato and Watermelon: Goat cheese, roasted cashews, and cold pressed olive oil. So refreshing and delicious. The classic combination of watermelon and feta cheese paired with fresh heirloom tomatoes was a bit hit, hitting all the right notes of sweet, savory and acidity. Bottom: Tuscan Kale. We had to get this again.

Spicy Shrimp and Asian Noodles: My dad’s dish. I didn’t try this, but he remarked that it was good.

Roasted Asparagus: Smoked mozzarella, red onions and marjarom. My sister’s dish. Another new favorite, the pizza dough was chewy and was nicely crisped on the bottom.

Pan Seared Halibut: Snap peas, asparagus, purple potatoes and umami. I’m not sure what they meant by “umami” (perhaps this?), but this dish I felt was only ok; the halibut, while it was fresh, was slightly overcooked and bordering on rubbery. I also felt that it was underseasoned; I’m trying to remember what it tasted like and my mind comes up with a blank. The purple potatoes were slightly undercooked, resulting in some bites that were fine, and some that were crunchy. I would probably not order this again.

Overall, two lovely meals at a lovely place. I highly recommend recommendations if you have a large party as this place tends to be very popular for dinner.

True Food Kitchen
Fashion Island
451 Newport Center Dr.
Newport Beach, CA 92660
(949) 644-2400

Hours:
Monday – Thursday: 11 am to 10 pm
Friday: 11 am to 11 pm
Saturday: 10 am to 11 pm; Brunch served until 3 pm
Sunday: 10 am to 9 pm; Brunch served until 3 pm

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OC Restaurant Week: Cedar Creek Inn, Laguna Niguel

Pinjing — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 06:27:33 +0000

Here’s a recap of our lovely meal at Cedar Creek Inn, as promised!

OC Restaurant Week offers diners prix fixe lunches and dinners (lunch can go as low as $10, dinner as low as $20) and it’s a fantastic way to try new restaurants that you normally wouldn’t visit. It took place last week and my family decided to try Cedar Creek Inn, a local restaurant that is literally five minutes from our house (yet we’ve never been there in the 3+ years that it’s been open).

After viewing the menu, all of us opted for the Baby Iceberg Wedge (Blue cheese, vine-ripen tomatoes, chopped egg and Applewood smoked bacon) over the Lobster Cappuccino (creamy lobster bisque with brandy-cream).

This was an excellent rendition of the classic wedge salad: generous portions of iceberg lettuce, lightly dressed with just the right amount of egg, tomatoes and bacon. While the Lobster Cappuccino sounded intriguing, we wanted something light before we dug into our main courses.

My dad and godsister both chose the “Surf & Turf” ($30): Petite Filet Mignon and Maine Lobster Tail (6oz):
Char-grilled bacon-wrapped filet mignon and a roasted cold-water lobster tail with grilled lemon, melted butter and three-cheese potato gratin and summer succotash.

This was a huge plate! I tried a bit of the lobster and I have to say, it was possibly the best lobster tail that I’ve eaten to date; tender, buttery, without the rubbery-ness that plagues too many lobster tails at restaurants nowadays. The three-cheese potato gratin was sumptuous; very-thin slices of potato layered with a mixture of cheeses and broiled until it got a nice, crispy crust. This was delicious, but could have been an entire meal in itself, it was so rich. I didn’t try the filet mignon, but my dad assured me that it was delicious.

My mom ordered the Roasted Rack of Lamb ($30): Herb-roasted rack of New Zealand lamb with a tarragon-Pinot Noir reduction and garlic mashed potatoes, served with summer succotash.

I also tried a bit of the lamb; again, this was really well-done, the lamb was fresh, gamey but not unpleasantly so and very tender.

Being that I’m not a huge meat eater, I opted for the Angel Hair Pasta Pomodoro ($20): Angel hair pasta with extra virgin olive oil, fresh basil, tomatoes, garlic, goat cheese and toasted pine nuts.

I wasn’t sure whether getting a vegetarian pasta as my main would be a good idea; my parents expressed concern that my dish would be “one-note” or “boring”, but this pasta was delicious; the angel hair was cooked perfectly; al-dente so that there was a nice bite. The tomatoes were ripe, seasoned just enough so that their natural acidity and sweetness balanced each other nicely. Bbasil and pine nuts added a nice nutty and floral aroma and great textural contrast; and what I loved was that the chef was thoughtful enough to place the goat cheese in a single sphere in the center of the pasta so that I could eat it as I wished, scooping up bits of the soft, tart cheese and swirling it into strands of pasta for every bite.

As if all this food wasn’t enough, we still had our final course to go. Three of us opted for the Chocolate Ganache Tart (Rich chocolate ganache on a pecan crust layered over caramel creme). Beautiful dessert and insanely rich. I love chocolate, but after one bite I was done and ended up packing the rest for some other time.

My mom got their signature dessert: the Coconut Supreme Cake: Cedar Creek’s famous coconut cake, served warm with vanilla bean ice cream.

Ohemgee this was delicious. Warm, fluffy layers of vanilla cake with toasted coconut buttercream frosting, paired with a scoop of quality vanilla bean ice cream = party in my mouth. I’d come back and just order this for my appetizer, entree and dessert. Too bad we only got one for the table! If I had to recommend only one thing from this night’s dinner, this would be it.

All in all, I was very pleasantly surprised by my experience here. Service was attentive and friendly and the quality of the cooking here is excellent; definitely worth a return visit.

Whole Wheat Dill Beer Bread

Pinjing — Sun, 28 Feb 2010 23:40:22 +0000

Here’s the recipe for the beer bread pictured in the previous post; this is a super easy, quick-to-put-together quick bread. I love how it only takes one bowl and a few ingredients that you probably have in your pantry. After a bake in the oven, you have yourself a crusty, savory and moist bread that you could dunk in a bowl of hot soup or eaten at breakfast with your choice of spread (maybe a sundried-tomato,fig, and caper balsamic jam, perhaps?).

As with most of my baked goods, I opted to use white whole wheat flour. Since this is a quick, not yeasted, bread, I substituted half the portion of white whole wheat with whole wheat pastry flour to avoid a heavy texture. This worked out quite well; the bread was hearty, but not gummy or dense. As for the taste, the whole wheat added a welcome nutty flavor that complimented the yeasty aroma of the beer. As for the beer that I used, I just used a can of Kirin Ichiban, as that was what I had on hand.

Whole Wheat Dill Beer Bread
Recipe adapted from Farmgirl Fare’s Beyond Easy Beer Bread.
Yields one 9″ x 5″ loaf.

What you’ll need:

180g (1 1/2 cups) whole-wheat pastry flour
180g (1 1/2 cups) all-purpose or white whole wheat flour
1 Tablespoon granulated sugar
1 teaspoon salt
1 Tablespoon baking powder
2 Tablespoons dried dill
1 cup grated cheese of your choice (I used Trader Joe’s soy cheese)
12 ounces beer
1 egg beaten with 2 teaspoons water, optional, for glaze

The procedure:

Preheat the oven to 375F. Prepare your loaf pan either by oiling/buttering it or lining with parchment paper. Set aside.

In a large bowl, mix all ingredients except for the beer until well combined. Pour in the beer and mix, trying not to overmix (similar to when you are making muffins, you don’t want to develop too much gluten which could result in tough bread). Mix until just combined. The batter will be thick.

Pour into the prepared loaf pan and if using the glaze, brush the top of the bread with the glaze and place in the oven. Bake for approximately 45 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center of the bread comes out clean. The crust will be golden brown. If you feel like the crust is browning too quickly, you can place a piece of tin foil over the top as a tent.

Remove from the oven and let cool for 10 minutes before turning out on a rack to cool completely. Slice and enjoy!

This recipe is super versatile as well; you could add any number of herbs (I used dill in my case), cheeses, nuts or dried fruits. Get creative!

Enjoy!