All About Butter

So if you can't tell, I've been in a baking and...butter mode? Last weekend, it started out with having some spare pastry dough inside a sandwich bag that was saved from Christmas. I opened my pantry and realized I had dark chocolate chips and pecans. What better way to use all three, than to create little pastry puff purses of chocolate and pecans! (picture on the lower half).

 

This weekend roles around, and there's still a whole unopened box of puff pastry. What's been sitting in my pantry for a month? Dried figs! I reconstituted the figs in simmering water for 45 minutes, added honey, cinnamon and pecans and blended them in my Vitamix blender. Then piped them onto a puff pastry sheet, layered another sheet on top, and cut them into strips. Baked and frosted. Voila! Grown up fig bars (picture top left)

Oh, what's the picture on the top right?? BUTTER! I had too much heavy cream on hand and wanted to make something other then lots of whipped cream. Instead, I looked up how to make butter using my Vitamix. With some caress and questioning of whether I was doing right or not, I ended up with fresh tasty butter. The liquid drained from the butter ended up being buttermilk. Looks like I'll be making some buttermilk blueberry scones. 

Puff pastry is fun with work with whether you choose to do something savory or sweet. Be a little adventurous...buy a box of puff pastry and then see what's in your kitchen you can create a filling with. Most importantly, always have fun with food!

Cultural Food Exploration: Vietnam

Last night's cultural exploration took us to Vietnam. None of us had ever had a Banh Mi Ga Nuong - a Vietnamese Roasted Chicken sandwich. So I made it at home served with a side of pumpkin curry soup. 

The sandwich recipe came from a food blog I recently discovered and absolutely love - The Culinary Chronicles.  I'm not only a big fan of the eclectic mix of food she creates, but also her beautiful photography. 

I had always wondered why the marinade/seasoning to most Vietnamese chicken, pork and beef dishes were distinctive from the soy sauce based marinades for many Japanese and Korean meats. The difference? Using Maggi seasoning with a combination of five spice seasoning. Maggi seasoning is still a very salty sort of sauce like soy sauce....but different in taste I can't exactly put into words. 

There was definitely a bit of preparation to the sandwich. I actually made French baguettes from scratch using this recipe. You don't have to of course, but I happened to have a lot of bread flour from the holidays that I need to use up. I julienned a carrot and a daikon radish and then placed them in a pickling solution as described in the recipe. Also made the mayonnaise, thinly sliced cucumbers and chopped cilantro. Marinating the chicken for an hour or two is definitely a must. I used boneless chicken thighs, although the recipe did call for chicken thighs bone-in. The combination of texture and flavor of this simple sandwich was AMAZING. The savory chicken paired well with the pickled veggies, cilantro and cucumber which was then rounded out with the cilantro garlic mayonnaise. The freshly baked French baguette brought it all together to create the most unique sandwich flavors I've experienced. My husband actually composed TWO sandwiches and said I should make it again in the future. Win!

Next Vietnamese dish I have yet to master: Vietnamese Curry.









 

Sunday Brunches and Monthly Cooking Theme Ideas

 

Something new to do this year....Sunday brunches for our household. Today's brunch was banana muffins, bacon and eggs. Nothing special about that one, but it did inspire me to research brunch ideas stemming away from the usual eggs/bacon/whatever starch is around the kitchen. So, I planned out three brunches for the remaining Sundays in January. It would be kind of fun to invite people ever so often for a brunch. It's casual and less stressful than a dinner party. We'll see. 

Want to change things up in your normal family cooking routine? Create a month long theme of some sort. For us, it's Brunch Sundays. Maybe next month, every Hump Day Wednesday will be Fancy Sandwich creations. Doing themed cooking activities not only aids in menu planning, but also opens up doors to what is out there along the chosen theme. You know those Pinterest recipes so beautifully displayed you say you're going to make but never do?? Maybe create Pinterest Tuesdays for a month where you only choose Pinterest recipes you've pinned. The ideas are endless!!

Anyway, have a wonderful week. Cheers to new ideas!