the best cupcakes ever!

Posted on March 21, 2009 by jentarantino
it seems as if all my friends were born this week. i have 3 birthdays to help celebrate so i thought i’d make my famous cupcakes to give as gifts. these cupcakes not only make a great little gift, but i really believe they have healing powers. people seem to become instantly happy when they eat them. i hope they have the same effect on your friends. i developed this recipe quite some time ago, but i haven’t shared it until now.cupcakes (makes 2 dozen)

15 1/2 ounces all purpose flour
1 1/4 teaspoons baking soda
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder (use a high quality cocoa)
13 ounces sugar
1 1/2 cups vegetable oil
1 1/2 cups buttermilk
3 eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla

for the frosting (it’s a hybrid of butter cream and cream cheese frosting):

1- 8oz package of cream cheese (room temperature)
1 stick of unsalted butter (room temperature)
1 lb of powdered sugar
1 tablespoon vanilla

preheat oven to 350. sift together flour, baking soda, salt and cocoa powder into a bowl and set aside.
in a mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, mix oil, sugar, buttermilk and vanilla until combined. add eggs, one at a time. add the dry ingredients and mix until just combined. (don’t over mix or the cupcakes will be tough).
line 2, 12 cup muffin pans with paper liners. scoop batter into liners and bake for about 25 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. take cupcakes out of the muffin pans immediately and let cool on a wire rack.
while the cupcakes are cooling, make the frosting. put all the ingredients in the bowl of a mixer fitted with the paddle attachment and blend on low until combined. increase the speed to med-high and continue to blend until creamy, occasionally scraping the sides and bottom of bowl. frost the cooled cupcakes. this frosting recipe makes just enough to frost 24 cupcakes. it will seem like you won’t have enough, but if you don’t over-frost, (which you shouldn’t), you’ll be fine.

i like to dye my frosting light pink. something about light pink frosting on top of a chocolate cupcake reminds me of old school bakeries. you certainly don’t have to make your frosting pink, but don’t knock it until you try it. happy baking!
Posted in desserts, recipes | 3 Comments

shrimp risotto

Posted on March 20, 2009 by jentarantino
i decided to make shrimp risotto after watching a television special on venice, italy. the chefs there were making seafood risotto that looked so beautiful i had to try my hand at it and make my own version. the liquid you use to make your risotto is super important. it’s best to use the same stock as the protein or vegetable you are using as your main ingredient. (e.g. use chicken stock for poultry risotto or vegetable stock for veggie based ones). that being said, my first order of business is to make a shrimp stock. here is my recipe…
shrimp stock (makes about 8 cups)
shells from about 3 lbs of shrimp
1 cup of chopped celery
1/2 cup of chopped carrot
1 cup of chopped onion
1/2 bunch of parsley, coarsely chopped
1 bay leaf
1 lemon, quartered
4 garlic cloves, peeled and smashed
1/8 cup black peppercorns
1 tablespoon kosher salt
put all the ingredients in a small stock pot and cover with about 8 cups of cold water. bring to a simmer and skim off the foam that rises to the top. continue to simmer for 45 minutes. strain through a fine mesh strainer or chinois. at this point, you can cool and freeze the stock or keep it warm on the stove and use it right away. you can still freeze whatever stock you have left over. i ended up using half of my stock for the risotto tonight and freezing the other half for shrimp bisque that i will share with you in a future post!
now you have the key ingredient to make your shrimp risotto. here is my recipe…
shrimp risotto (makes 4 servings)
1 lb peeled and deveined shrimp
4 garlic cloves chopped fine (you can use a garlic press for this)
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
2 tablespoons butter
4 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
1 small spanish onion, diced
1 cup carnaroli or arborrio rice (i prefer carnaroli)
about 5 cups shrimp stock (keep warm on the stove)
1/2 cup fresh peas (you can use frozen)
2 tablespoons chopped italian parsley 

marinate the shrimp in 2 tablespoons olive oil, garlic, salt and pepper for about an hour. in a heavy bottomed sauce pan, (i used a 3 1/2 quart le creuset french oven) heat the remaining 2 tablespoons of olive oil and the butter. add the marinated shrimp and saute until it just turns pink. (about 4 minutes). remove the shrimp and set aside. in the same pan, saute the onion until soft and translucent. add the rice and stir to coat in the fat. saute for about 2 minutes. don’t brown! start adding the warm stock, 2 ladle-fulls at a time. stir with a wooden spoon and let the rice absorb most of the liquid before adding more. you’ll repeat this step about 5 times. when the rice is creamy, but still al dente, add the shrimp back in along with the peas. cook, stirring occasionally, for about 5 more minutes. (the risotto should be creamy and oozy, but not runny). season to taste with salt and pepper, transfer to a serving platter and sprinkle with the chopped parsley.
making good risotto is definitely an exercise in patience. at some point in the process you may wonder if all your hard work is worth it. it is! once you taste the finished product you’ll forget about the work and your mind will wander to your next risotto adventure. maybe mushroom or even lobster will be on the menu next!
Posted in pasta, recipes, seafood | 5 Comments

craving cookies

Posted on March 17, 2009 by jentarantino

another cold, rainy day in seattle has me longing for something sweet and baked. since i’m alone with my little oscar today, i’m going to keep it simple and make some oatmeal raisin cookies. i am a fanatic for super chewy oatmeal cookies. i like them over-flowing with raisins with no nuts in sight. (i don’t like nuts in almost any of my cookies) i wrote this recipe last week and i haven’t tested yet, so we’ll see how they come out.

they came out perfect. really really chewy with lots of raisins! here is the recipe for you to try…
chewy oatmeal raisin cookies (makes 2 dozen large cookies)

 

1 stick of softened butter
3/4 cup light brown sugar, packed
2 eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup rolled oats
1 cup raisins (i like california golden for this recipe) 

preheat oven to 350°F
in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream together the butter, brown sugar, eggs and vanilla until smooth. in a separate bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, baking powder, cinnamon and salt and set aside. add the flour mixture to the wet ingredients in the mixing bowl, stirring until just combined. stir in the oats and raisins.
spoon, 2 inches apart, onto cookie sheets covered in parchment paper. bake for about 12 minutes, just until they start to brown around the edges, and let cool on the cookie sheets for about 5 minutes before you move them to a wire rack to cool completely.

i think this recipe would work well with the addition of a tablespoon of orange zest and about 3/4 cup of mini, bittersweet chocolate chips. nolan (the husband and chief food taster) really liked these, so i don’t think he’d be opposed to a fresh batch again next week. i’ll let you know how they turned out.
Posted in desserts, recipes | 2 Comments

baking bread

Posted on March 14, 2009 by jentarantino
i’m taking advantage of this gloomy, rainy day to develop some new sandwich recipes for my lunch box delivery business that i will be launching soon. i have some friends coming by tonight to munch away on my creations and give me their opinions. it’s not soooo bad to be my friend on days like this!
the first sandwich i’m working on is a nod to the classic combination of chicken and waffles. i want the bread to be a little sweet to counter the savory, salty fried chicken, so i’m making sweet potato rolls. after searching high and low for a good recipe, i found James Beard’s recipe and, no offense to James Beard, i tweaked it just a little. it needed more sweet potato (which, in turn upped the flour content) and i used brown sugar instead of white. here is my version… 

sweet potato rolls (makes 12 sandwich sized rolls)

2 packages of yeast
1 tablespoon sugar
1/4 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup water (it should be the temperature of a nice bath)
3 tablespoons melted butter
1 tablespoon salt
3 eggs, one of which is beaten together with 2 tablespoons heavy cream
4 to 5 cups flour
1 large roasted sweet potato mashed

in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a dough hook combine yeast with 1 tablespoon of sugar and warm water, let proof for 5 minutes.
add brown sugar, butter, salt, mashed sweet potato and 2 of the eggs to the yeast mixture, stir to blend well. add the flour, 1 cup at a time.
turn out onto a floured surface and knead for 2 to 3 minutes adding only enough flour to prevent it for sticking to the board. when the dough is smooth and springy, shape it into a ball. place in an oiled bowl, and coat the dough completely with oil. cover bowl with a kitchen towel and let sit in a warm place until it doubles in size, about 2 hours.
punch down the dough and shape into 12 balls. place them on a cookie sheet covered in parchment about 2 inches apart. cover and let rise until doubled in size.
preheat oven to 375° .
brush the rolls with the beaten egg and cream mixture.
bake for about 25 minutes.

this is what the rolls look like before you bake them. 

this is what the rolls look like after they come out of the oven. 

the next sandwich on my menu for the evening is served on pretzel bread. i’ve tested this recipe several times. i’ve found that instead of using a modified soft pretzel recipe; just use an actual soft pretzel dough recipe and shape the dough into 12 balls instead of rolling out ropes and tying them like pretzels. i don’t make splits on top of my rolls either. i found it to be an unnecessary step. the rolls split on their own in the oven and end up looking homemade and beautiful. i much prefer a little imperfection, don’t you? here is the recipe i have developed… 

soft pretzel rolls (makes 12 sandwich sized rolls)

2 cups warm water (it should be the temperature of a nice bath)
1 tablespoon + 2 tablespoons sugar
2 packets active dry yeast
4 to 5 cups bread flour
1 tablespoon kosher salt
canola oil spray
1/4 cup baking soda
1 egg beaten together with 2 tablespoons of water
course sea salt

in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a dough hook combine yeast with 1 tablespoon of sugar and warm water, let proof for 5 minutes.
add 1 cup flour to yeast, and mix on low until combined. add salt and remaining 4 cups of flour 1 cup at a time. beat on med-low until dough pulls away from the sides of bowl. turn out on floured board and knead until smooth and elastic.
put in oiled bowl and turn to coat. cover with a kitchen towel, and leave in a warm spot for 1 hour, or until dough has doubled in size.
preheat oven to 450°.
punch down the dough and shape into 12 balls. place them on a cookie sheet covered in parchment about 2 inches apart. cover and let rest for 15 minutes.
fill large, shallow pot with 2 inches of water. Bring to a boil. Add baking soda (it will foam up a little) and remaining 2 tablespoons sugar. Reduce to a simmer; transfer three to four rolls to water. poach 1 minute on each side. use slotted spoon to transfer rolls back to baking sheet.
beat egg with 2 tablespoon water. brush rolls with egg glaze. sprinkle with salt. bake until golden brown, 12 to 15 minutes. let cool on wire rack, or eat warm. rolls are best when eaten the same day, but will keep at room temperature, uncovered, for two days. do not store in covered container or they’ll get soggy.

the pretzel rolls look amazing!

i worked with a chef once who said that the most honest things a cook can make are bread and soup. i must be the most honest cook on the planet by now because those are the things that i make most often. enjoy baking bread and i’ll keep sharing my recipes with you.

Posted in breads, recipes | 6 Comments