Category: CMM 240

Hi!

Today marks our last blog post relating to food for CMM 240. It’s been a fun journey to explore my hobby of cooking for credit, however, all good things must come to an end. In this shorter post, I will recap what we have gone over during the past 10 or so weeks and create a directory to organize and link posts so you don’t have to scroll back in time! I’ve loved this journey and am happy to have had the experience of blogging about something I care so much about. Thanks so much to those of you who have stuck around!

Unit 1 – Pasta

Unit 1 covered posts specifically focusing on Italian pastas, and how to make different varieties from scratch. The first post is mainly explaining some history of pasta and how to make a basic dough.. Second shows some noodle types and how to cook them, while the final post goes over adding variety and flavor to your pasta with different techniques/ recipes. Below I will hyperlink all specific posts from our first unit!

1. Dough and Information
2. Noodles and Cooking
3. Spicing it Up

Unit 2 – Sushi

Unit 2 was on our second favorite savory global food, sushi! We focus on mainly maki rolling, but also some sashimi and sushi variations. The first post is on sushi information, and contains a recipe on a simple staple sushi rice. Second is a more in depth dive into ingredients and fish types used for sushi commonly. Lastly, our final post wraps up the unit (literally) by going over combining all of our discussed ingredients to create an actual maki roll, highlighting technique and process. Below I will hyperlink all specific posts from our second unit!

1. Sushi Introduction
2. Fish and Ingredients
3. Rolling Technique

Unit 3 – Desserts

Unit 3 was interesting and different because instead of focusing on one food for 3 posts it focuses on 1 food genre and 3 different food types. I thought it would be fitting to end the blog with a dessert unit, so posts 2, 3, and 4 are on cheesecake, macarons, and mochi (post 1 being purely informational. Each post contains a recipe from a food magazine that I thoroughly enjoy with slightly tweaked ingredients to make them more attainable. I always include the article linked at the bottom incase folks want to follow the recipe(s) exactly. Below I will hyperlink all specific posts from our third and final unit!

1. Dessert Introduction
2. Cheesecake Recipe
3. Macaron Recipe
4. Mochi Recipe

Heyo!

Today we will be starting and finishing a recipe for yet another one of my favorite desserts of all time. Mochi (もち) is traditionally a Japanese dessert and snack that was introduced to the U.S. and became somewhat Americanized, often being paired with ice cream in the states. Today we will be making another BA-inspired recipe for a coconut flavored mochi that you can fill or pair with whatever you desire! Traditional ice cream or mochi flavors used include but are not limited to; red bean, chocolate, strawberry, vanilla, and green tea/ matcha. This recipe is extremely simple, as mochi only contains a few ingredients and is fairly easy to make. The real fun comes when wrapping ice cream in your mochi, or pairing it with different flavors. BA’s recipe I’m referencing today uses a peanut butter mixture to fill the mochi at the end, so if that sounds tasty to you give the link at the end of this post a click!

Notes: The only real special equipment you will need is a silicone baking mat to work the mochi on and ensure it doesn’t stick!

Ingredients

Mochi

• 1 can unsweetened coconut milk ( 13.5 oz )
• 1 1/2 cup glutinous rice flour
• 1 cup sugar
• Cornstarch for dusting

Mochi

1. Whisk to combine coconut milk, flour, and sugar in a medium nonstick saucepan.
2. Cook on medium heat stirring often with a nonstick spatula until a smooth and sticky dough forms, about 5-7 minutes (You’ll know it’s ready when the dough will pull away from the sides of the pan).
3. Dust silicone baking mat with cornstarch, then pour hot mochi onto the mat. Dust the top of the mochi with more cornstarch, then roll it out into a rectangle.
4. Let cool, then mold into any shapes you want! Top with coconut flakes, mold around ice cream balls, etc.

This recipe is a great starter if you haven’t made mochi ever before and want to start, as there are few steps and only a small selection of ingredients. I hope you liked my rendition of Bon Appetit’s Coconut Mochi. Be sure to click the link below for flavoring ideas, as the mochi we made above serves as an easy-to-make base! As always keep cooking, and I’ll see you next week!

BA’s Coconut-Peanut Mochi Balls

Hello!

Today we’re working on a chocolate macaron recipe that’s sure to knock your socks off. I love macarons but have never actually made them, so today I’m posting yet another recipe by Bon Appetit, and changing some ingredients to make the recipe more casual and attainable. Stay tuned for the preparation of these amazing chocolate macarons with orange ganache filling!

Notes: For this recipe, you will need a piping bag with any broad circular attachment to pipe out the cookies.

Ingredients

Cookies

• 2 cups powdered sugar, divided
• 1 1/4 cups almonds, slivered
• 3 tablespoons cocoa powder
• 1/3 cup egg whites, whisked to loosen
• 1/4 cups sugar

Ganache

• 3 1/2 ounces bittersweet chocolate, finely chopped
• 2 tablespoons (1/4 stick) butter, chopped into cubes
• 1/2 cup heavy cream
• 1 tablespoon orange zest
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
• 1/8 teaspoon ground allspice
• 1/8 teaspoon salt

Cookies

1. Preheat the oven to 325˚ and line 3 baking sheets with parchment paper.
2. Pulse in a food processor or crush powdered sugar and almonds until fine dust is achieved. Add cocoa powder and the rest of the powdered sugar and blend well.
3. Sift the mixture through a strainer, remove large almond pieces, then blend and sift again until fine.
4. Using an electric mixer or whisk, beat egg whites in a medium bowl until white and frothy, around 1 minute. Increasing from low to medium-high mixing speed, gradually add sugar. Beat until stiff peaks form.
5. Combine the meringue with the dry powder and fold to mix, then add to a piping bag.
6. Spacing the cookies 1″ apart, pipe quarter-sized medallions of the meringue onto 2 of the 3 baking sheets.
7. Let stand for ten minutes.
8. Bake cookies for around 16 minutes, rotating each baking sheet halfway through. Remove after the cookies look puffed and dry, letting them cook completely.
9. Use the remainder of the batter on the final baking sheet to finish the last batch.

Ganache

1. Place chocolate and butter into a medium bowl.
2. Bring cream to a boil in a small pan over medium-high heat, then remove from heat and stir in orange zest, allspice, cloves, and salt.
3. Pour the hot cream mixture into the bowl with the butter and chocolate and whisk to combine.
4. Refrigerate for 20 minutes or until firm.
5. Fill a small tip piping bag with the ganache, and add a layer of the icing onto the flat side of each cookie. Top each cookie with another (flat side down), to create a sort of sandwich.
6. Store in an airtight container and refrigerate overnight.
7. Enjoy!

I truly hope you enjoyed this somewhat complex recipe for chocolate macarons with a citrus-based filling! I for one am super excited to try this recipe out and enjoyed writing about it with inspiration from one of my favorite food blogs. As always, check the hyperlink below for the original recipe with exact ingredients, as well as the author and food photographer if you’re interested in more of their work. Take care and get reach for next week’s mochi!

BA’s Chocolate Macarons with Orange Ganache

Hey, yall!

Today we will be starting and finishing a recipe that I hold dear to my heart, as cheesecake is one of my favorite desserts of all time! I can’t wait to share this amazing recipe published by Bon Appetit, a food news and journalism company that I follow for their amazing and easy-to-follow desserts, entrees, and appetizers.

Notes: Before we begin this recipe, know you will need a springform pan for this recipe – so grab one if you dont have one! These pans yield a adjustable exterior of a pan, so that when you finish the cheesecake the exterior pan is removable and the cake is easier to cut and store. Another note, the following ingredients are best utilized if room temperature, as this ensures a smoother and cremier consistency to the final cake. This being said, take your ingredients out of the fridge around 2 hours before using them.

Ingredients

Crust

• 9 ounces graham crackers
• 1 tablespoon sugar
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup ( 1 stick ) unsalted butter

Cheesecake / Assembly

• 20 ounces cream cheese
• 3/4 cups sugar
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 2/3 cups sour cream
• 1/4 teaspoon lemon zest
• 2 large eggs

Preparation

1. Preheat your oven to 325˚
2. Pulse or smash graham crackers into a fine crumb.
3. Add sugar, salt, and butter and stir until the crumb reaches the consistency of wet sand.
4. Transfer crumb to springform pan and use the bottom of a glass to pack it down and spread it evenly around the surface and 2″ up the sides of the pan’s interior.

Cheesecake / Assembly

1. Mix cream cheese, sugar, and salt in a stand mixer, food processor, or by hand until smooth.
2. Add vanilla, sour cream, and lemon zest, then mix until smooth.
3. Add eggs and quicky mix to combine, then scrape mix into the crust shell.
4. Bake cheesecake for 35-40 minutes until the edges are set but the center is wobbly.
5. Chill until firm, about 2 hours.
6. Enjoy!

I hope you all enjoyed this weeks’ quick and simple cheesecake recipe inspired by one of my favorite food journals! Check out the original recipe below for exact ingredients – as I changed a few to make it more attainable. Stay posted for next weeks’ recipe on macarons!

BA’s Best Cheesecake

Hello!

For this week’s blog post we will be going over “Sushi Grade” fish, how to prepare it, and other ingredients needed to make delicious sushi!

What is Sushi Grade?

“Sushi Grade” is a classification and regulation given to fish that is utilized and prepared in many forms for sushi. It essentially requires the fish to be edible when consumed raw, with different fish needing different preparation. The most common sushi fish types are salmon and tuna, both having their own traits.

Salmon – Develops parasites very easily and early in their shelf life, and the fish often have them after being caught. This is why salmon is often frozen after being caught to kill any parasites living in the fish. Cooking also achieves this, however, we’re talking about sushi after all. Work quickly when using salmon because parasites can develop after it being unrefrigerated for only a couple of hours!

Tuna – Is often called “chicken of the sea” because it’s common, easy to catch and eat, and readily available at most supermarkets. Tuna, unlike salmon, don’t naturally carry any parasites! This means you could catch a tuna, kill it, and consume it safely right then and there. If you’ve ever seen or read The Life of Pi, this is why they are able to eat a tuna right out of the water when surviving on a boat.

Important Ingredients

• Soy Sauce
• Pickled Ginger
• Wasabi

The ingredients above are commonly used as garnishes or are served with sushi. Soy sauce is traditionally used to dip your sushi into, to add some extra salinity. Ginger is eaten in between bites of different sushi and acts as a palette cleanser, however, it’s common in America to eat the ginger with the sushi. Wasabi is a spicy root vegetable that is traditionally added to sushi pieces in order to give a little kick spice-wise.

• Nori Seaweed
• Toasted Sesame Seeds
• Avocado
• Cucumber

The ingredients above are traditionally found in sushi. In maki rolls, nori seaweed is used to package all of the rice and fillings, like wrapping paper. Sesame seeds are added to the exterior of uramaki (a maki roll where the rice is on the outside), for flavor and texture. Avocado and cucumber are commonly used as filling with fish for rolls and will be used in our example coming week 3.

Note: To make rolling the sushi easier, I recommend a bamboo rolling mat (I’ll include a link below to buy one). They allow you to uniformly rolly your sushi tightly and are recommended for beginners instead of using your hands!

Sushi Starter Kit

I hope you enjoyed this quick briefing on what ingredients we will be using during our assembly and preparation process next week! Stay tuned for my following post on making Maki, Sashimi, and Nigiri. As always, happy cooking, and I’ll see you next week!

Hello Again!

Today we will be starting our in-depth dive into America’s favorite Japanese food: Sushi! Sushi is another one of my favorite foods, therefore I have made it a good amount and can say it’s interesting compared to other cooking methods. This is because the most time-consuming part isn’t even cooking anything, it’s mise en place ( preparation ), and assembling your prepared ingredients. Sushi is more dependent on your knife skills, food safety knowledge, and experience ( my first few rolls I made were horrendous, you really need to be careful! ) than any cooking skills. Today we’re doing to start with one of the most important parts of any good sushi, the rice. Next week we will go over toppings, fish types, and other ingredients. In our final week, we will go over different sushi types and how to assemble them. Let’s begin below with a basic sushi rice recipe to get you started, as well as a briefing on different types of sushi.

Note: This recipe is assuming you have a rice cooker, without one the rice cooking process is very difficult and I would not recommend it to beginners.

Ingredients

• 2 cups short-grain rice ( using sticky short-grain is important regarding the texture and structure of your sushi )
• 2 cups water
• 1/4 cup unseasoned rice vinegar
• 4 tsp sugar
• 1 tsp fine sea salt

Instructions

• Rinse your rice in a collander using cold water until it runs clear through the rice, to ensure no starches remain.
• Put the rinsed rice in your rice cooker and pour the water over it.
• Cook the rice for 30 minutes or following the instructions on your device.
• While the rice is cooking combine rice vinegar, sugar, and salt in a small bowl and stir with a mini-whisk or fork until the sugar and salt are dissolved.
• Add the seasoning mix directly to the rice after its done, and fluff to combine.
• Let the rice cool, then enjoy!

Sushi Styles/ Definitions

Maki Roll – The most famous type of sushi, classified as when raw fish or other ingredients is rolled up in nori seaweed ( usually using a bamboo rolling mat ) and sushi rice then cut into thick medalions.

Nigirizushi ( or nigiri ) – Another iconic type of sushi that is more simple and traditional than maki. Nigirizushi is classified as thinly cut slabs of fish formed over rice, and is hand made.

Sashimi – This isn’t technically sushi because it doesn’t include rice, but its often sold and prepared at sushi restaurants. Sashimi is essentially just slabs of assorted raw fish and seafood, usually served with soy sauce.

I hope you enjoyed our intro to the basics of sushi making, next week we will continue with fish types and various ingredients important to the preparation of a good sushi roll! Until next time, and as always happy cooking!

More Information on Sushi Types: https://delishably.com/meat-dishes/The-Different-Kinds-of-Sushi

Sushi Rice Recipe ( If you don’t have a rice cooker ): https://www.gimmesomeoven.com/sushi-rice/

Hello all!

This post will wrap up our pasta unit by going over some simple but effective ways to season your pasta! Whether that be prepping the dough or a simple sauce, I’ll show you some of my all-time favorite ways to make your already amazing pasta somehow more amazing. We’re going to start off from the last post assuming we have pasta dough ready and for the basic sauce even cooked noodles! That being said make sure you check out my last posts on making pasta dough and then cutting and cooking noodles. The first technique we will go over is laminating, the second is a dish called Spaghetti Aglio e Olio, a widely known traditional pasta dish known for its simplicity and utilization of inexpensive, readily available ingredients.

Lamination

Laminating dough is a super-easy way to make your pasta more interesting textually and flavor-wise. It is done by picking out a fresh herb of your choice ( today we’ll be using basil leaves ) and laying them out between 2 sheets of pasta. Instructions:

1. Begin with 2 sheets of pasta, with 1 side of each not floured.
2. Arrange a fresh herb of your choice on one side of either dough sheet, then place the other dough sheet sticky side down on top of the herb layer.
3. Run this “Pasta Sandwich” through the machine or roll it once more to seal the herbs into the dough.
4. Now that you have a sheet of usable pasta dough, you can make this herb-infused pasta into noodles, lasagna, or any shape or variant you choose.

Note: Cook the laminated pasta the same you would for the basic dough we made two weeks ago, and be prepared to blow your friends and family away with this amazing but easy trick! Next, I’ll cover one of my go-to easy but delicious recipes to flavor your spaghetti.

Spaghetti Aglio e Olio

This pasta dish is native to Naples, Italy, and is famous for its use of widely available, inexpensive ingredients. We will walk through the ingredients and instructions below to create this quick and tasty dish.

Ingredients

1-2 Cloves of Garlic, minced ( to taste )

1 Tsp Red Chili Flakes ( or more if desired )

2 Tbsp Extra Virgin Olive Oil

Fresh Parmesan Cheese, grated ( to taste )

Salt and Pepper ( to taste )

Instructions

1. In a large pan add the oil, minced garlic, and red pepper flakes.
2. Heat on medium until garlic starts to sizzle. Note: Adding the garlic and chili to the cold oil heats up the ingredients with the oil, preventing burning and infusing the oil with the flavors.
3. Using tongs after the garlic is golden brown, add cooked fresh spaghetti and toss to coat with the olive oil.
4. Let simmer with ingredients for a couple of minutes to incorperate the flavors but not overcook the pasta, then remove from heat.
5. Top with fresh grated parmesan to taste, salt, pepper, and enjoy!

I hope you find these fun and easy ways to spice up your pasta exciting and interesting! With our pasta unit coming to a close with this post, I want to say how much I enjoyed writing this pasta trilogy, as the food is so dear to me and I love making it. Thankfully, our next unit will be on Japanese Sushi, another food that I thoroughly enjoy and hope you will too! Thanks for following along with me, happy cooking, and I’ll see you next week!

Hello all!

Today’s post will be on one of the most simple yet favorite food dishes of all, pasta! Reigning from Italy and consisting of just flour and water, pasta has become an American favorite for tons of people, including myself. Pasta is one of my comfort foods, to eat and to cook. Making pasta from scratch is a labor of love, yet doing so is such a rewarding process and the final product is incomparable to box spaghetti. We’re going to cover a very basic pasta dough that you can shape and cook into anything you desire, or simply freeze and store for six to eight months!

Ingredients

• 1 Cup All Purpose Flour (or ’00’ Semolina Flour if you have it!)
• 2 Large Eggs
• 1 Tablespoon Olive Oil
• Salt to Taste

Yup, that’s it!

Note: Semolina flour isn’t necessary, but is finer than all-purpose and therefore yields a silkier and more manageable dough. Also, the salt and olive oil are optional and based on taste, however, olive oil can help in the kneading process. For an easy gluten-free option, you can simply replace the all-purpose flour with almond flour at a 1:1 ratio. Different flours have different structures, so if you are using some other alternatives make sure you may need to add extra egg or flour to get the consistency right.

Instructions

1. In a large bowl or on a cutting board, create a well with flour by poking a hole inthe center where your eggs will go.
2. Add eggs, oil, and salt to the center and begin to slowly pull the flour into the center well from all sides using a fork.
3. Working slowly, being to stir with the fork until a shaggy dough forms, then go in with your hands!
4. Knead the dough thoroughly ( ≈ 10 minutes ) until everything is combines and you have a springy and smooth dough.
5. Place the dough in a bowl ( if not already ) and cover with plastic wrap to let rest, then, put the covered bowl in the refridgerator for 30 minutes to let the gluten relax and soften.

Note: Be sure to flour surfaces that the dough will be touching ( cutting board, bowl, etc. ) generously to make sure it doesn’t stick to anything!

Now that you have a cohesive dough ball, you can chop it or form it into whatever pasta shapes you desire! Specific techniques for shaping dough and pasta shapes will be released in my next blog post. However, if you have a machine, you can simply roll out the dough and run it through to create sheets, noodles, and more!

Thanks for Reading!

If you by any chance make spaghetti or fettuccini ( or any noodle variety ), you can follow one of my all-time favorite pasta recipes below. It was posted by the food magazine Bon Appétit, and developed by talented food writer Molly Baz.

https://www.bonappetit.com/recipe/pasta-al-limone