Daring Cooks April 2011 Challenge: Edible Containers

Renata of Testado, Provado & Aprovado! was our Daring Cooks’ April 2011 hostess. Renata challenged us to think “outside the plate” and create our own edible containers! Prizes are being awarded to the most creative edible container and filling, so vote on your favorite from April 17th to May 16th at http://thedaringkitchen.com!

I did not submit my creations to the contest, but you're still welcome to vote if you so desire.

I was at first a little daunted by the idea of constructing an edible container, but couldn't help but be inspired by all of the creations other Daring Cooks came up with and posted. I ultimately decided to make pierogies, which then led to the making of blintzes, and one could say that both of these may or may not technically count as edible containers, but I understand each of them to be sufficient for the challenge. After all, the pierogies do consist of a potato and cheese filling encased in a pasta-type wrapper and the blintzes a cheese filling in a crepe wrapper. So, that settles that.

The story goes that I had been wanting to make the pierogies for a while after coming across a recipe in the Daring Kitchen archive. I was taking some time off from working for spring break, and I made it a goal for the week to make the pierogies. After setting out on a mission to find farmer's cheese, I readied for the cooking action. As it happened, I ended up having a guest chef keeping me company in the kitchen for the evening (his idea), which is a whole other story.

In short, the pierogies took A LOT of time. Kneading the dough could have been a good first date bonding experience, but rolling the dough to 1/8 inch thick, which I took charge of, was not so much. I was definitely breaking a sweat in my 50 degree kitchen. After we got them cut and stuffed, there was still boiling and then frying to do. While I had the dough ingredients ready to go in a bowl and the filling almost mixed, it still took a solid 3 hours before we made it to the dinner table. By that time I was exhausted and my guest was probably a little worn out too.

In the end, the pierogies looked good, but only tasted OK. I felt like they needed a more flavorful filling, and I didn't really see the benefit of making them from scratch over buying some of the frozen. So I guess you could say it was a disappointing evening in many ways.

At this point, I was left with half a container of farmer's cheese, and I certainly wasn't whipping up another batch of pierogies. After some searching, it seemed like cheese blintzes would be the appropriate use for the cheese, which conveniently also fit with the edible container theme. This time I cooked solo, and it was a much more enjoyable experience. Of course, the blintzes take much less time and are much less labor intensive - I mixed up the batter in the blender and made the crepes (who knew I could do make crepes?!?), wrapped them (my technique could use a little work, but I'll get the hang of it eventually), fried them, and topped them with blueberry sauce, and a satisfying dinner was had by all (me).

Not having been much of a cheese blintz eater over the years, I can't say how these would compare with frozen blintzes or other recipes, but I thought the whole package was pretty fantastic. The flavor of the filling was mild, but it was complemented nicely by the blueberry sauce.

So in conclusion: I don't plan on making pierogies again, I would like to make blintzes again, and I don't plan on cooking with or otherwise seeing the guest chef again. But I guess that's what trying out recipes, and men, for that matter, is for.

Ceviche: Daring Cooks March 2011 Challenge

Kathlyn of Bake Like a Ninja was our Daring Cooks’ March 2011 hostess. Kathlyn challenges us to make two classic Peruvian dishes: Ceviche de Pescado from “Peruvian Cooking – Basic Recipes” by Annik Franco Barreau. And Papas Rellenas adapted from a home recipe by Kathlyn’s Spanish teacher, Mayra.

While the Papas Rellenas looked very tasty, I just wasn't able to find the drive to make it this past month. Hopefully, I will find an occasion to make it sometime soon. As it was, since only one of the two recipes was required, I went with the ceviche.

I had made ceviche before, and in fact, after having some amazing ceviche at Oyamel in Washington, DC, went on a ceviche recipe search several months ago. Not finding much online, I discovered two cookbooks: Ceviche! and The Great Ceviche Book. For this challenge, I decided to go with the recipe provided. I visited my fish monger to pick an appropriate fish and went with the mahi mahi, since that was what he recommended based on the criteria that it be boneless and fresh. I am torn about the use of the raw fish in the ceviche with regard to parasites - I am very averse to using defrosted fish, but I'm at a loss as to where to find sushi-grade fish that would be suitable for ceviche. As it is, I took my chances, and I still seem to be doing OK.

I liked how in this recipe all the marinade ingredients were combined and then tossed with the fish and the sliced red onions were placed on top only for the marinading process - I find they give the ceviche too harsh of a flavor when diced and added to the marinade. Since the recipe made enough for two pounds of fish, and I am only one person, I cut down the recipe by quite a bit and saved some extra marinade to make another serving another day with fresh fish. In hindsight, I should have set the extra marinade aside before added the cilantro, since it didn't hold up very well already mixed with the other ingredients.

All in all, I thought it was a tasty ceviche recipe, and I look forward to having ceviche again in the near future.

Cold Soba Salad & Tempura: Daring Cooks February 2011 Challenge

The February 2011 Daring Cooks’ challenge was hosted by Lisa of Blueberry Girl. She challenged Daring Cooks to make Hiyashi Soba and Tempura. She has various sources for her challenge including japanesefood.about.com, pinkbites.com, and itsybitsyfoodies.com.

This month's challenge consisted of two recipes, a cold soba salad and tempura.

I teamed up with my partner in crime, the Inconvenient Food, to handle the tempura part of the challenge, as I get a little intimidated by any sort of frying and since eating all that tempura on my own would be a daunting task. We chose a variety of vegetables to use for our tempura: zucchini, onion, mushrooms, and carrots. We mixed up the batter and added the veggies, and once the oil was heated, in they went. We let them cool on a splatter screen over some paper towels. We couldn't resist tasting the first veggies to come out of the oil, and they were crisp on the outside and cooked on the inside, just like any tempura should be.

In the heat of the moment, we continued with frying, stacking our fried veggies on top of one another on the splatter screen.

This was a bad idea. Since the mass of fried veggies became one large pile, we were left with soggy, "limp and flaccid" (the IF's apt description) tempura - not nearly as exciting as what we had first prepared. So, lesson learned - next time we'd move them to a rack in the oven on one layer.

The next recipe was for the cold soba salad. I had tried soba before and remember not liking it very much, so I was tempted to go with another noodle. Nonetheless, I thought it was worth another shot, so I went with the soba - I picked a variety that was actually a blend of buckwheat and wheat since it was much more affordable than the all buckwheat variety at Whole Foods.

For a topping for the soba, I first made the egg pancakes mentioned in the challenge recipe. I had tasted these sweet egg pancakes before as a sushi component, but never really thought about how making something so delectably delicious could be so easy. It is just a mixture of beaten egg, water, salt, and sugar, strained through a sieve and cooked to be a thin pancake. I found that about one egg's worth (2 pancakes) was a good serving size per person. To serve the pancake, I rolled it up and cut it into strips.

I made the soba according to the recipe instructions, and it cooked perfectly. I also make the spicy dipping sauce, which was very tasty. I topped the soba with the egg pancake strips and added some toasted sesame seeds. I definitely enjoyed the soba, and I think it would make a great meal for an easy summer dinner party. Looking forward to making it again and enjoying it with friends!

CASSOULET: Daring Cooks January 2011 Challenge

Our January 2011 Challenge comes from Jenni of The Gingered Whisk and Lisa from Parsley, Sage, Desserts and Line Drives. They have challenged the Daring Cooks to learn how to make a confit and use it within the traditional French dish of Cassoulet. They have chosen a traditional recipe from Anthony Bourdain and Michael Ruhlman.

Being a mostly vegetarian, I prepared the vegetarian version of the cassoulet from Gourmet with a leek confit. At first, I was nervous that the recipe wouldn't be anything more that just a bean stew, but after preparing it, I thought the flavors came together in a beautiful way that was distinctly French.

The leek confit was more or less just leeks and butter, and what could be wrong about that?

I added the confit to carrots and celery along with seasonings of thyme, parsley, garlic, cloves, and a bay leaf, which gave the dish a very tasty flavor. Finally, it was topped off with some garlic crumbs for a little contrasting flavor and texture. Yum!