1/8 - roasted baby russet potatoes

ingredients:

• baby russet potatoes (sub any potatoes), similar to size of fingerlings...(cut into quarters)
  
• garlic, minced
  
• rosemary, chopped
  

steps:

1. preheat oven to 400
2. scrub and prep potatoes
   
3. bash garlic, rosemary, salt, and evoo in mortar and pestle (consistency should be runny)
   
4. toss with potatoes with several more tablespoons of salt...then spread on a foil lined baking sheet (cut side down)
5. cover and roast til soft...about 45 minutes
6. take off foil and turn oven to 450 and roast til crisp on cut side...about 15 minutes
   

tips:

• with cut side up, the potato does not get crisp, hot pan and oil is what sears it
• add a good amount of salt as potatoes are dense and need to be highly seasoned
• best to cook as fast as possible so potatoes remain as juicy as possible
• very tasty just that mine cooked for too long as i tried to figure out how to sear the cut side up potato pieces...
• love the crisp cut side and texture the skin gives
  

12/19: Samoan Dinner - Pani Popo (bread)

adapted from: http://www.samoa.as/recipe9.htm

Here's the recipe for Pani Popo:

5 3/4 to 6 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 package yeast
2 1/4 cups milk
2 tablespoons milk
1 tablespoon sugar
1 tablespoon shortening, margarine, or butter
1 teaspoon salt

Mix 2 1/2 cups of flour and yeast. In a saucepan heat and stir milk;
sugar; shortening, margarine, or butter; and salt til warm and
shortening almost melts. Add to flour mixture. Beat with an electric
mixer on low speed for 30 seconds, scraping bowl constantly. Using a
spoon, stir in as much remaining flour as you can to make a moderatly
stiff dough that is smooth and easy to pull - 6-8 minutes.
Put some Crisco shortening on your hands. This will add moisture to
your rolls and make it easier to handle. Shape in a ball and put in a
greased bowl. Turn it on both sides to grease the whole ball of
dough. Cover and let rise in the oven on the top rack and below it in
a pan put some hot water. (The steam from the hot water will help it
to rise) about 45 minutes. Punch dough down.

Roll 18 balls and cover for 10 minutes while you make the following
milk mixture.
Mix 2 cans of coconut milk with 1 cup of sugar. (Add more sugar if
you like it sweeter.) In 2 13x9x2 pans, pour in half of the milk
mixture in each pan, put in 9 bread rolls on top (or you can make the
rolls smaller to make more rolls). Bake at 375 degrees in the oven
for 20 minutes or until bread tests done.

My Bread Recipe: (with influence from "bread" book)

• 100% a.p. flour - 434 grams (3 cups)
• 5% milk powder - 21.7 grams
• 5% sugar - 21.7 grams
• 5% butter - 21.7 grams
• 3.5 % heavy cream - 15 grams
• 60% warm water (1/2 hot, 1/2 cold) - 260grams
• 1.8% salt - 7.8 grams
• 2.5% yeast - 10.85 grams

Coconut Milk Mixture:

• 1 can coconut milk
• 2/3 cup of sugar (should have used 1/2 cup if went straight from recipe...my math was wrong)

Procedure:

1. place all ingredients into bread machine
   
2. push "sweet" and "dough"...takes 1 hr 35 min (dough is moderately wet and sticky)
   
3. take out of machine and with only lil flour on fingers, knead dough and into a ball
4. separate into 4 pieces
5. then separate again into 4 balls about 1.5 inch diameter balls
   
6. pour coconut milk + sugar mixture to bottom of a baking pan
7. place dough balls on top of coconut milk mixture
8. sit for 15minutes to rise as oven preheats to 375
9. bake 25 minutes at 375
10. rotate and lower temp to 350 + bake for 15 minutes til done (tops getting dark fast so i lowered the temp)
    
11. end was 205-210 degrees...was 195 at 35 minutes total

Result:

• loved it!
• so airy and light...just like a perfect dinner roll
• coconut milk was excessive..think i can half the recipe yet again...i ate it after reheating and the bottom was soggy because of it...
• think i just want coconut milk to get soaked to the very bottom of bread, not to sit in a pool of it when its done
• ugly look at the bottom as the starch made the coconut milk thick and looking like mashed potato gravy
• everyone liked this a lot
  

12/19: Samoan Dinner - Palusami

adapted from: http://allrecipes.com/recipe/samoan-palusami/detail.aspx

Ingredients

• 2 (10 ounce) bags fresh spinach
• 1 (12 ounce) can corned beef, broken into pieces
• 2 (10 ounce) cans coconut milk

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
2. Make a layer of spinach leaves in the bottom of a 9x13 inch baking dish. Sprinkle with some of the corned beef, then keep repeating layers of spinach and corned beef until you run out of spinach. Don't worry about how full the dish is because the spinach will shrink as it cooks. Pour both cans of coconut milk over the dish, pressing the leaves down with a spoon. Cover tightly with a lid or aluminum foil.
3. Bake in the preheated oven for 45 to 55 minutes, or until spinach has completely wilted and the sauce is bubbly. Cool for 10 minutes before serving.

My ingredients:

• 3 bunches (about 2 lbs) of taro leaves - 3.89/lb @ sunset super (other recipes called for yam leaves...i think they might be the same thing or mislabeled at sunset super)
• 1 can corn beef (safeway generic brand)
• 1 can coconut milk

My Procedure:

1. preheat oven to 350 degrees
   
2. rips off leaves from stems of taro leaves...wash off all dirt (very dirty)
3. line a tray with taro leaves, then broken pieces of corned beef, and keep repeating til hit the top of the tray.
   
4. pour coconut milk on top
5. bake covered for 50min til bubbly

Result:

• pretty good but still tastes bland...needs to add salt
• corned beef is very tasteless...don't think i need it
• similar to creamed spinach
• can definitely substitute with spinach next time to save money
  

12/19: Samoan Dinner - Samoan Green Banana

from recipe @ http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Samoan-Green-Banana/Detail.aspx

Ingredients

• 3 (13.5 ounce) cans coconut milk
• 1 large onion, chopped
• 6 small unripe (green) bananas

Directions

1. Combine the coconut milk and onion in a bowl; set aside.
2. Bring a large pot of water to a boil over medium heat. Boil the bananas in their skin for 30 to 40 minutes; drain. Run the bananas under cold water until they are cool enough to handle. Remove the bananas whole from their skins.
3. Heat a large saucepan over medium-high heat. Place the bananas in the pan. Pour the coconut milk mixture over the bananas. Cook until the coconut milk is foamy. Allow to cool 5 minutes before serving.

My experience:

• added 2 tbsp of sugar to it as i though it would taste better

Result:

• pretty good...very similar to eating taro. its texture is very similar...not mushy as i expected
• good side dish to a meat dish
• feel the fattiness of the coconut milk
• not many people liked it...think they just can't get over eating unripe bananas...
• should be how plantains taste
  

12/8 - Sweet Potato Gnocchi

For the Gnocchi: Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F.

Pierce the sweet potato with a fork. Bake the sweet potatoes until tender and fully cooked, between 40 to 55 minutes depending on size. Cool slightly. Cut in half and scoop the flesh into a large bowl.

http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/giada-de-laurentiis/sweet-potato-gnocchi-with-maple-cinnamon-sage-brown-butter-recipe/index.html

Ingredients
For the Gnocchi:

2 pounds sweet potatoes
2/3 cup whole milk ricotta cheese
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour, plus 1/3 cup for the work surface

For the Maple Cinnamon Sage Brown Butter:

1/2 cup unsalted butter (1 stick)
20 fresh sage leaves
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
2 tablespoons maple syrup
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

Read more at: http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/giada-de-laurentiis/sweet-potato-gnocchi-with-maple-cinnamon-sage-brown-butter-recipe/index.html?oc=linkback

Directions

For the Gnocchi: Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F.

Pierce the sweet potato with a fork. Bake the sweet potatoes until tender and fully cooked, between 40 to 55 minutes depending on size. Cool slightly. Cut in half and scoop the flesh into a large bowl. Mash the sweet potatoes and transfer to a large measuring cup to make sure the sweet potatoes measure about 2 cups. Transfer the mashed sweet potatoes back to the large bowl. Add the ricotta cheese, salt, cinnamon, and pepper and blend until well mixed. Add the flour, 1/2 cup at a time until a soft dough forms. Lightly flour a work surface and place the dough in a ball on the work surface. Divide the dough into 6 equal balls. Roll out each ball into a 1-inch wide rope. Cut each rope into 1-inch pieces. Roll the gnocchi over the tines of a fork. Transfer the formed gnocchi to a large baking sheet. Continue with the remaining gnocchi.

Meanwhile, bring a large pot of salted water to a boil over high heat. Add the gnocchi in 3 batches and cook until tender but still firm to the bite, stirring occasionally, about 5 to 6 minutes. Drain the gnocchi using a slotted spoon onto a baking sheet. Tent with foil to keep warm and continue with the remaining gnocchi.

For the Brown Butter sauce: While the gnocchi are cooking melt the butter in a large saute pan over medium heat. When the butter has melted add the sage leaves. Continue to cook, swirling the butter occasionally, until the foam subsides and the milk solids begin to brown. Remove the pan from the heat. Stir in the cinnamon, maple syrup, salt, and pepper. Careful, the mixture will bubble up. Gently stir the mixture. When the bubbles subside, toss the cooked gnocchi in the brown butter. Transfer the gnocchi to a serving dish and serve immediately.

Read more at: http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/giada-de-laurentiis/sweet-potato-gnocchi-with-maple-cinnamon-sage-brown-butter-recipe/index.html?oc=linkback

12/5 - Potato Gnocchi (1st attempt)

used combination of recipes, but technique was mainly from an online website:

http://rouxbe.com/recipes/117-gnocchi-with-warm-sage-butter


notes:

• reason for ricer is to get flour on as much surface area as possible (WRONG!)
• real reason for ricer is to get smooth potatoes without mashing them (mashing makes it harder to incorporate flour evenly with least amount of kneading)
• basically we want to have the egg and flour really well incorporated into the potato without having to work the flour much...best way is to rice it and fluff it as in this recipe
• all other recipes (giada, batali, jamie, and lydia) all ask for the well method which i feel would work the dough way more than the tossing technique the above uses...kind of ruins the need to rice if just use well method
• without a ricer, u have to extrude through a strainer
• ideally, u should use as little flour and kneading as possible...3/4c - 1 1/4 c of flour per pound of potato
• next time, don't worry about it being wet, just as long as its incorporated and able to be shaped into a log
  

tips online:

• http://www.italymag.co.uk/italy-featured/guarda/how-make-gnocchi (video included...simple instructions)
  
• http://www.istrianet.org/istria/gastronomy/osteria/gnocchi.htm
  

ingredients: (yield about 180 pieces)

• 4.2 lbs of russet potatoes (weight is unpeeled)
• 1 tbsp salt
• 1 whole egg + 1 egg yolk
• approx 2 cups of flour
  

my technique:

1. baked potatoes at 425 degree oven for 45-50 min with 1/2 cup of water and covered with foil on a baking sheet til a knife can be inserted and taken out without lifting the potato (if add oil to the water, the potatoes won't stock to the sheet pan)
   
2. slice in half and peel or scoop out the insides and toss into big metal strainer (with bigger holes)
3. mash and push the potato through the bottom holes of the strainer into a big pot (which has been dusted with flour at its bottom) with a wok spatula...lots of hard work
4. after we get a good 1 inch layer at the bottom of the pot, pour out onto lightly floured table to cool
5. keep doing til finished...
6. when cool, add salt, then flour liberally
7. lift and fluff and distribute flour all over with a dough scraper
8. add beaten egg and flour then fluff again...
9. keep adding more flour and fluff til u can squeeze it with our hand and it no longer sticks...(about 1 cup of flour per 2 lbs of potato)
10. shape into a rectangle
11. knead gently a few times to get smooth
    
12. cut into strips as thich as pointer finger (about 3/4 in)
13. add more flour and roll into long smooth ropes about as thick as pointer finger (3/4 in diameter)
14. line up with other ropes and cut about length of thumb (3/4 in)
15. more flour, then roll the gnocchi on the front side of a fork til u can see ridges on back and indendation on other side...OR u can use the back of a fork to roll it...(i used 2nd way)
16. put onto floured sheet pan andfreeze
17. to cook, put into salted boiling water and when floating, about 2 min, it is done and should be strained and placed into sauce and mix then serve

evaluation: Grade B

• smooth but not exactly as pillowy as i hoped
• i didn't fluff the flour that well...i chopped more than fluffed
• in the beginning, i was messy and inefficient with the straining of potatoes so i think texture suffered because of it
  

12/6

served with quick sauce made with butter, olive oil, and 4 smashed cloves of garlic (sauteed on med heat with 1 tsp salt) that was later thickened with pasta water after the gnocchi was added....also added strips of smoked salmon and black pepper for flavor

roasted yams

problem:

• too wet
• doesn't have the same texture as mom's

solution from mom:

• blanching golf ball size yams in cold water til it boils and is slightly soft...
• drain and place onto a baking sheet sprayed with butter spray
  
• put knobs of butter with brown sugar all over the yams and cover with foil.
  
• then roast in 400 degree oven til it dries out a big and gets soft.
  
• when its soft enough to be poked with a chopstick, take off the foil and cook til no liquid on the botton and edges darken and firm up

tips:

• yams never dry out so don't worry to roast longer
• roasting takes about an hour so allow time for it
• can cook at any temperture if u need to share space with other items in oven
• if blanch longer, don't need to cover and just roast til firms up and dries
• mom suggests butter and brown sugar early
• i think better to boil til soft, then brush on butter, then add brown sugar and roast for 30min til dry (350-400 degree oven)
  

11/28 - Gravy (for turkey, mash, etc)

keypoints:

• first saute aromatics (onion, celery, mushroom, etc), then add flour, then add alcohol, and finish off with broth
• if too thin, add hot water to a tablespoon of flour in a bowl and whisk til smooth, then add to gravy mixture
• to get more flavor, add onion powder and / or garlic powder

usage:

• great when add turkey to it and mix up to serve for leftover open faced turkey sandwich