Mochi galore

ever go to Red Mango and hit up on those Mochi Balls?  well I am addicted...

so, I decided to make my own.  The recipe is not hard by any means.  The hard part comes later (cutting).  Here is the the recipe.

1lb. (16 oz.) Glutinous Rice Flour (Mochiko)

2 ½ cups Sugar

12 oz. Coconut Milk (Silk)

1 ¾ cups Water

Potato starch for dusting (Cornstarch can be used as well)

 

In a large bowl, sift the Glutinous Rice Flour.  Add the sugar to the flour and mix to combine.  Add the coconut milk and water. Mix together with a whisk until the mixture is smooth and has no lumps. 

 

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F.

 

line a 15 1/2 X 11 1/2 pan or two smaller pans with foil, spray with pam.  Pour mixture into pan or pans.  cover with another greased foil right over the mixture, so that the foil is touching the mixture and seal air tight as you can get it.  Bake for one hour in middle rack.

 

Take out of the oven and let it sit with all the foil on, for another hour. 

 

peel very carefully the foil off the top, lay on cutting surface and dust the top with potato starch.

 

 

I cut away the hard sides, and started with 1/2 inch strips, then cut them into 1/4 inch cubes, keep dusting, and use a sharp bread knife!  I think I cleaned the knife several times!  keep adding more potato starch, to board and your hands, yes it creates a giant mess. 

Ta dah!! you will have more than you need, share some!  They will love you!

HHH wants to make ravioli...  what that means is, I set up and he fills in.  So here we go.  This recipe is modified for a service of 4 for dinner for more like 8 for a first course.

Pasta

2 1/2 cups of "00" flour
2 whole eggs (large)
2 egg yolks (large)
1 Tbsp olive oil
salt
water

on a flat workspace, make mound with the flour, sprinkle some salt and put a well in the middle.  Put all the eggs in the center, with the oil.  With your hands, mix in circles, pulling a little more flour in with your hands as you circle. You can also do this in the mixer, but I like the moisture/dryness control doing it this way.  When a ball forms, you stop pulling in the flour, if too dry, add a few drops of water.  Knead until its smooth and has a bit of a sheen to it.  Wrap it in plastic and let it sit in room temp for 30 min. min. or up to couple hours if you have other stuff to do.

We are making spinach ravioli.  and since I have so much ricotta left, going to make some pear ravioli too.

Spinach filling
3/4 cup Ricotta cheese
1 10oz package of frozen CHOPPED spinach
1/2 cup of grated parmesan cheese
salt and pepper

Cook spinach until mushy but still bright green (dont let it get brown or anywhere near brown, its ugly).  rinse in cold water and squeeze all the water out of it. Put spinach in a medium sized bowl along with the cheeses, mix with a wooden spoon adding salt and pepper to taste. 

Pear filling
3/4 cup Ricotta cheese
1 bartlett pear not too ripe
1/2 paremesan. (better if you can find Pecorino Toscano cheese)
1/4 tsp fresh ground nutmeg

Grade peeled pear right into a medium sized bowl, add the cheeses, and nutmeg. Mix with a wooden spoon.

Ok, so back to the pasta!  I have a kitchenaide attachment so this is really easy for me.  If you dont, you will have to use muscle and roll it out as thin as possible! 
Divide dough into 4 sections, flatten out a bit with your palms and roll it though on level 1 about 3 times.  change setting to 2, pass sheets 2 more times and then finally at 4 pass through a couple times. You should have 4 pretty sheets to fill.

On a floured surface, have the long side of one of sheets facing you. Fold in half legthwise to make a fold, then unfold it. now you have a guide.  Place about 2 tsp of filling every 2.5 inches along the pasta.  Using your fingers, dipp it in water and moisten the exposed pasta around the filling. Fold the front edge of dough over the mounds. With your thumb and forefinger, press and shape the dough, forcing any air out. Use a knife or a crinkle edge pasta cutter and cut into 2 inch squares. HHH did a fabulous job!  They are so pretty Honey!

So let these babies rest for an hour. Make something else like seared Halibut and asparagus to serve with it!  Or just leave the house to watch the BlackHawks (win) with some good friends!

We get to eat!!
Bring a large pot of salted water to boil.  Since you dont want the temperature to drop too much, I only made 8 raviolis at a time.  When water comes to boil, drop 8 in.  From this minute it was about 8 minutes.  They will float, keep cooking, its not done...

This next process is the most important, its what makes the pasta taste so good!  Called the "marriage", you have to marry the sauce with the pasta in a large sauce pan.

Sauce for Spinach Ravioli
3 Tbsp of unsalted butter
2 Tbsp olive oil
2 garlic cloves, sliced thin
6 fresh sage leaves

Over med-high burner, melt butter and oil, add the sage leaves and garlic and toast until the garlic is tan, and butter changes color to somewhat brown.  Time this to, about 3 min before you plan on taking the raviolis out of the water.  Remove the ravioli with a skimmer, drop it in the butter sauce and stir gently to cover, saute about a minute.  Serve immediately.

Sauce for Pear Ravioli
3 Tbsp of unsalted butter
2 Tbsp olive oil
1/4 cup of chopped waluts
1Tbsp chopped fresh parsley

Over med-high heat, melt butter and oil, (salt and pepper if you wish). Toast the chopped waluts until the butter changes color to somewhat brown.  Drop cooked, skimmed pear ravioli in the pan.  Stir gently to cover, saute about a minute. sprinkle in the parsely. Serve immediately.

This Pear ravioli was so yum with the butter walnut sauce, almost sweet like dessert!  One can only eat so much ravioli in one sitting, I had to stop at 5 total!  filling...  ugh.  Now to watch the Bulls win!  Go Bulls!!

Spicy Seafood and Sausage Gumbo

pull this recipe on line;
http://www.williams-sonoma.com/recipe/spicy-seafood-and-sausage-gumbo.html

this is what I used, embellished a little. Read the entire set of directions before you start. Then your meson place before you begin roux.

I used canola/olive oil blend to saute the okra. same blend for the roux as well.  The directions say "4 minutes" for the roux to turn dark brown. NO, more like 20 min. on medium heat.  Add the onions and bell peppers and let it darken even more.

follow the directions to add the ingredients.  one note on the stock. You can buy seafood stock, however if you eat lobster at home, make the stock. 
couple of lobsters
2 Tbsp oil
3 shallots
2 garlic cloves sliced
1 carrot
1 small celery
1/4 cup brandy or madeira
5 cups of water
salt and pepper
bay leaf
saute in oil the chopped carrot and celery for about 7 min.  add the lobster shells, body and all stir for about a minute or two. 
add Shallots, garlic stir and scrape the pan...
 and the brandy, cook for about 3 min
add the water, toss in the bay leaf.
sometimes i add tarragon, parsley and thyme.
cook and reduce to about 4 cups. takes two hours or so.  strain.  freeze if you are not using right away.

and Creole seasoning?  forgot to buy some, so again, made my own... 
since I already started cooking, I did not have time to play around, so I just grabbed it from Allrecipes.com.

2Tbsp Onion powder
2Tbsp garlic powder
2Tbsp dried oregano
2Tbsp dried basil
1Tbsp dried thyme
1Tbsp black pepper
1Tbsp white pepper
1Tbsp cayenne pepper
5Tbsp paprika
3Tbsp salt
thank goodness I had all the ingr on hand~  recipe asks for 2.5 Tbsp of creole seasoning, I used 4!

simmer, stirring occasionaly. taste it, does it have the taste you are looking for?  embellish;
with any combo or all of the following (which is what I had to do to make it to my liking)
2 tsp sugar
1 cup chicken broth
1Tbsp worchesterchire
2 sprigs fresh thyme
1 tsp celery seeds
10 dashes of hot sauce

after 30-40 min. turn off heat if you are not eating right away.  About 15-20 minutes before eating,
-saute your sausage til browned.
-heat up the gumbo, add your seafood and sausage. Discard bay leaf. serve over white rice!  yummy!!

Crazy for coconuts

First you have to find a good coconut.  This is harder than you think. Choose one that is not wet, no green signs of mold on any of the eyes, and no cracks.  shake it, you should hear coconut water!

At home, find the third eye that will allow you to poke it with a cork screw.

work the cork screw intil you have nice hole wide as a pencil.

Drain the coconut water,

now, the fun part.  take the coconut outside, place it on a hard surface. Garage floor works wonders.  grab your hammer and hit the middle of the coconut, the widest part. turn, and repeat down the center until you have the fault line cracked.   and tap it a few more times til it breaks apart.

Smell it. look at it.  it should smell like wonderful fresh coconuts.  look between the hard shell and the meat, should be clean, no green mold.  no pink spots.  touch the inside, should be hard, not slimey. if thumbs up, you are lucky!  sometimes we go through 5 coconuts before a fresh one!
Bring it in, and score the meat into sections, like cutting a pizza. his is for easier release.

almost done....  now drive that cheese knife between the hard shell and meat to pop up your reward!

I love that cheese knife, its a hard worker!  so you should have a mound of odd pieces.  you can just eat it as they are with the brown covers on, or you can peel them off with a sharp knife.  If baking, peel them, its just looks prettier.  Clean them up.  I chose to peel, I have to bake something....
micro plane #one is larger, makes for great toasted coconuts, micro plane #2 is smaller, makes billowy, fluffy mounds of goodness for baking.

lets toast the large shavings for later. meanwhile, take a break and enjoy the coconut water, its so good and good for you. THEY SAY.

OH THEY CAME OUT PERFECT.  so I have enough coconut to make some almond joy, a cake and some muffins.  wow just gained 3 pounds thinking about this stuff.

that will go into the freezer, to be covered later with DARK chocolate (come on, is there any other kind?) The cake is from Blogger Technicolor Kitchen, recipe http://technicolorkitcheninenglish.blogspot.com/2011/05/coconut-orange-tea-cake-and-things-that.html

And the frosting is a simple cream cheese frosting with orange zest. piped on the cupcakes, with the coconut shavings, voila! finaly time to eat!

Test Blog 1/31/2012 opened

When I am done with my 365 assignement in Sept. I will start a food blog, taking pictures of everything I make.  not eat.  that woud be overload...