Okay, I’m back. 

This challenge is from October and I’m not really sure why I haven’t posted it yet.  I actually had been sick for about 5 weeks during the challenge and had refused to take anything (cold meds to antibiotics) to kick it.  I was actually relying quite a bit on bone broth soups to get me thru.  That and boxes and boxes of tissues.    So of course I was thrilled about Octobers Challenge.  I even made it several times.  But didn’t find the time to post it.  *scratches head*  Go figure.  Just have a lot going on, with a healthy dose of lazy I guess.

October’s Daring KitchenChallenge is soup - chicken noodle soup - with a twist.  This soup is Pho Ga.  Huh?   PHO GA.  Vietnamese chicken and noodle soup.  The recipe and challenge comes from Jaden of Steamy Kitchen, a totally scrumptious blog that you must check out if you like Asian foods and fantastic photography.  And come to think of it, if you are a fan of Asian foods and fantastic photography, you should check out her first book The Steamy Kitchen Cookbook  (yeah Jaden, you rock).  So consider this recipe a preview of many tasty recipes in her cookbook and make sure you visit her site, too.

That said, this was not my favorite Vietnamese soup.  I much prefer another soup I make with prawns and pork.  But I learned so much and many of the ideas of this soup were fantastic (and will be repeated).  First, the long cook broth with roasted ginger and onions is pure genius as it imparts unbelievable flavor.  Also the idea of  balancing all your flavors in the bowl with lime, fish sauce, sriracha and hoisin is nothing shy of brilliant!  Talk about personalizing your flavors. 

On the down side, I discovered that I really don’t like cloves and bean sprouts.  Something I didn’t know.  And I learned to not use a cleaver and a thin plastic board directly on my granite counter tops.  Ouch.  I have nice big cuts in the island now.

So go forth and make soup… It is the perfect time of year.

Jaden’s long cook version of this soup is available on her website.  It is the version that I chose to cook and would recommend you try as well.  It is available here.

And don’t forget to check out what the other Daring Cooks have done as well.

Tomorrow expect to see the November Daring Kitchen posting (it’s good) and more things later this week.

~Blondie

So my family was brave enough to suffer through 10 days of Chinese food in January.   I had this crazy idea, that will probably not surprise many who actually know me, that to celebrate the Chinese New Year I would cook Chinese Food and introduce a little Chinese culture to my family.  I say they suffered because I had never cooked Chinese food before.  I say they suffered because it was 10 days of never before attempted Chinese food.  I say they suffered, but they didn’t.  And on day 5, when I thought they might start to suffer, when I thought they might beg me to stop all the madness and cook something from our normal repertoire, I made this crazy pizza for them.  And they were real happy.

Blondie’s Peking Chicken Pizza

• 1 recipe pizza dough
• 2 cups cooked chicken, shredded
• 3 cups mozzarella cheese
• 1 red bell pepper, cut into strips
• 1 yellow or orange pepper, cut into strips
• 3 scallions/green onions, sliced on a diagonal
• 1/4 cup cilantro, roughly chopped
• hoisin sauce
• fried won-ton strips (optional)

Preheat oven to 400F.  Roll out dough into 8″ pizzas, spread with hoisin sauce (I like hoisin and used about 2 tablespoons as a base).  Top with mozzarella, chicken and pepper strips.  Bake on a pizza stone for about 10 minutes or until pizza is browning on bottom and bubbly on top.  Remove from the oven and drizzle with more hoisin sauce, scatter with green onions and cilantro and fried won-ton strips.  Slice and serve.  (Note to self : you are out of won-ton wrappers).

Pizza Dough from Barefoot Contessa Parties

• 1 1/4 cups warm water (100 - 110 degrees)
• 2 packages dry yeast (5 teaspoons)
• 1 Tbl honey
• 3 Tbl good olive oil, plus extra to oil bowl
• 4 cups all-purpose flour, plus extra for dusting
• 2 tsp kosher salt
• corn meal (for pizza peel)

For the dough, combine water, yeast, honey and olive oil in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a dough hook.  Add 3 cups flour, then the salt, and mix.  While mixing, add 1 more cup of flour, or enough to make a soft dough (I used 1/3 -1/2 cup).  Knead the dough on low to medium speed for 10 minutes, adding more flour if necessary to keep it from sticking to the bowl.  When the dough is ready, turn it out onto a floured board and knead by hand a dozen times.  It should be smooth and elastic.  Place the dough in a well-oiled bowl and turn it several times to cover it lightly with oil.  Cover the bowl with a kitchen towel.  Allow to rest at room temperature for 30 minutes.

Divide dough into 6 equal parts and roll each one into a smooth ball.  Place the balls on a baking sheet and cover them with a damp towel.  Allow to rest for 10 minutes.

Roll and stretch the ball into a rough 8-inch circle and place them on baking sheets sprinkled with cornmeal.  They are now ready to top.

I have to say that this is currently my favorite pizza.  I have been experimenting with many different pizza doughs, from CPK’s cookbook to different things on-line, but also in a pinch I have used Trader Joe’s ready-made dough, and last year the tube version at the market!  all in anticipation of our pizza oven being completed.  I must say that this is the best dough to date (sorry CPK) it is very uncomplicated (comes together quickly) and rolls real thin, has a nice chew and good flavor.  Next week I will try it with whole-wheat.  I’ll keep you posted…

~Blondie

Okay, so the beautiful thing about having a brand new blog is that you really have nothing to loose.  Hypothetically speaking, a person with a new blog could throw caution to the wind, could post or not post, she could check the new blog obsessively to see if anyone has read her first post - or not.  She could cook naked - or not.  And she could even enter a food blog competition *gasp* like she actually knows what she is doing!  Perhaps cooking naked would be easier?

Lets back up a little… It all started a couple of weeks ago when I was reading about food photography on Rasa Malaysia’s blog (www.rasamalaysia.com)  and in her Q&A about photography she mentioned Donna Hay and the clean, beautiful, simple food photography featured in her cookbooks, magazines and web site.  Huh, Donna who?  I’m a “whose that?” kinda girl so I searched further and I’m glad I did.  Donna Hay is sort of the Aussie version of Martha (geez, I’m sure that statement will inspire both nods in agreement and spit wads in disgust), and she is my new favorite cooking and lifestyle guru.  Such talent.  (Hello Donna, so nice to meet you, where have you been all my culinary life?)  Then I discovered (last week) this little food competition in her honor -  Hay Hay it’s Donna Day - and I knew I had to give it a go. 

The hostess (Soma at www.eCurry.com) this month selected Chicken and Roasted Capsicum Pasta, and the photograph (oh I have such photo envy) reminded me very much of my favorite pasta dish at The La Quinta Cliff House called Pasta Borracho (now called Cactus Grill Penne - whatever, it’ll always be borracho in my heart).  A delicious penne pasta with chicken, roasted corn and red bell peppers in a creamy borracho sauce (that’s tequila sauce to you gringos).  Delicioso.

So my challenge was to figure out how to translate this pasta dish with the guidelines provided (not cheesy, not creamy, not sauced, no-no borracho) and then photograph it, post it, e-mail it… oh yeah, and get my blog and running in a couple days (thank God the deadline was moved a week!).  If I had more time I would have attempted to incorporate the tequila into the dressing somehow, but as I was feedin the fam, and I couldn’t very well add a shot without first cooking out the alcohol and I have never done that before - ya know in a dressing… (read: if anyone knows how to do this call me and you’ll be my new best friend). 

So here it goes…  Not So Borracho Pasta

2 chicken breasts with skin on and ribs attached
2 ears of sweet white corn, husks and silks removed
2 red bell peppers
1 large white onion, quartered
3 roma (plum) tomatoes, quartered
1 cup fresh baby spinach
1 pound penne rigate, cooked

Dressing:
Juice from 1 lemon and 1 lime 
An equilvelent measurement of extra virgin olive oil (1:1= lemon/lime:ev olive oil) 
1 clove minced garlic
3 Tbl minced cilantro leaves
1 Tbl cumin
Salt and Pepper

Garnish :
Cotija (mexican cheese)
Cilantro
Pepitas (mexican roasted pumpkin seeds)
Lime wedges

Directions:
Season the chicken on both sides with salt and pepper and cumin, sprinkle with olive oil and place on the grill over medium heat.  Grill until no longer pink in the center, about 15-20 minutes.  Grill corn and red peppers until charred and tender, about 15 minutes (note: I do not peel my peppers after I prepare them - I like the skin and all).  Place the onion and tomatoes in a grill basket and cook until charred and tender.

In the mean time prepare the dressing.  I placed all ingredients in a jar and shook it up - easy style.

Pull the cooked chicken from the bone and discard bone and skin (I think this makes for a tastier and more moist end product).  Shred the chicken, slice the corn off the cob and julienne the peppers, tomatoes and onions.  Toss chicken, grilled veggies and dressing  in a large bowl with the steaming hot pasta and fresh cold spinach.  Top with cotija, pepitas, cilantro and lime.

It was a lighter version of Pasta Borracho and every bit as yummy!  So a big thank you to the facilitator, Bron at http://bronmarshall.com and the hostess, Soma at www.ecurry.com and I look forward to doing more challenges.  It was great fun. 

And don’t worry, as for the borracho, well I can remedy that.