Garlic Pull Apart Bread - G - Alphabet Challenge

This week is G and to me that means GARLIC! Garlic is such a versatile ingredient and it's in almost every savory dish to add a layer of flavor. This week I had intended to do a chicken dish instead - 40 Cloves and a Chicken. Unfortunately the chicken came out way over cooked so I switched it up. (Luckily I got some garlic confit out of my mistake). 

This pull apart bread was incredibly easy to make and would be a fun appetizer to bring to a party since it can be enjoyed warm or at room temp. I served mine with a garlic cream sauce or you could do a more traditional marinara (store bought is fine). 

Garlic Bread:

1 can refrigerated biscuit dough 
1 stick butter
3 cloves of garlic minced
1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese
1 tsp Italian seasoning
1 tsp salt
1 tsp black pepper 
 
Dipping Sauce:
1/4 cup mayonnaise 
1/4 cup sour cream 
6 roasted garlic cloves 
1 tsp salt
1 tsp black pepper 
1 tsp red pepper flake 
1 Tbsp chives, finely diced 
 
Directions: 
 
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. 

2. Mince garlic and add to a microwave safe dish big enough to hold all ingredients. Cube the butter and add to garlic. Microwave on high for 30-60 seconds until the butter is melted. 

3. Add the Parmesan cheese, Italian seasoning, salt and pepper to butter mix. Stir to combine. 

4. Cut each biscuit into 6 equal wedges. Add to butter and gently mix to get all of the dough covered in the butter mixture. 

5. Add biscuit and butter mixture to a Bundt cake pan. Cook for 22-25 minutes until biscuits are cooked through and outside is nicely golden brown. 

6. While bread cooks, make dipping sauce. Combine all dipping sauce ingredients in a small container but chives. Use an immersion blender to blend the mix together. Fold in chives. Place in a small dish for serving and set aside. 

7. Once cooked allow pan to rest for 3 minutes. Place a plate over top and using oven mitts quickly turn it 180 to flip the bread out of the pan and onto the plate. 
 

Fennel and Fish - F - Alphabet Challenge

This week in the alphabet challenge is week F and I wanted to try a new ingredient - fennel! It's very versatile, you can braise or roast the bulbs, pickle the stalks, and use the fronds as garnish. I also recently finished a plating class and wanted to try to make the plate as artistic as possible. Turns out, to make a pretty plate you have to have the design idea BEFORE cooking and you'll need a few extra garnishes, purees, herbs, or sauces to add color and texture. This part definitely added to the dishwashing at the end of the meal, but the plate was beautiful to me. 
 
For this post I'm doing it a bit differently - I'm going to write the recipes for each component so you can mix and match as you please. 
 
Seared Salmon Fillet
1 Salmon Fillet, skin and bones removed
Salt and Pepper
3 Tbsp. butter
1 Tbsp. avocado oil 
1 lemon
 
1. Drizzle avocado oil in a large non-stick sauté pan over medium high heat. Once oil is shimmering, add the salmon fillet. Cook on each side for 3-4 minutes until a nice crust has formed. 
 
2. Once seared on both sides, lower the heat on the pan to medium low. Add the butter to the pan and baste the fish to continue cooking. Baste for another 2-3 minutes until salmon is done to your liking. (For thicker pieces, you can finish the salmon in the oven). 

3. Remove from pan and squeeze about 1 tsp lemon juice over the fish. Allow to rest on paper towels for 2 minutes.
 
Roasted Fennel Bulb
2 bulbs of fennel
Olive oil spray
Salt and Pepper
3 Tbsp. grated parmesan cheese
 
1. Cut stalks from the fennel (reserve if planning to use for garnish). Cut the fennel bulb in half and remove the tough outer layers. Slice fennel into wedges, making sure to cut through the core of the fennel so the wedges stay together. 
 
2. Add fennel wedges to a parchment paper lined baking sheet. Spray all over with olive oil and season with a pinch of salt and pepper. Roast in a preheated 400 degree oven until slightly browned, about 7-9 minutes.
 
3. Remove pan from oven and top fennel with parmesan. Place back in oven for 2 minutes until the cheese is melted. Set aside until ready plate. 
 
Pickled Shallot:
1 large shallot, thinly sliced 
2-3 Tbsp red wine vinegar 
1/2 tsp sugar
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper 
 
1. Place thinly sliced shallots in a small container. Cover shallots with red wine vinegar. Add sugar, salt and pepper. Allow to sit and meld for at least two hours in the fridge or overnight. 
 
Potato Purée
 
This is just a fancy way to say mashed potatoes lol 
 

Eggs Benedict with Lobster - E - Alphabet Challenge

This week is E and I wanted to utilize one of the most versatile ingredients - eggs! This dish uses a poached egg as well as eggs in the creamy hollandaise sauce. I'm breaking the rules of this challenge just a bit since I've made this dish before but I did a new twist - adding lobster and poaching eggs. 

I am TERRIBLE at poaching eggs. They either don't stay together (whites all over the place) or the eggs are undercooked/overcooked. I watched 10 poaching videos on youtube and decided to give it a try. The secrets I found that I've been doing wrong before:

1. When you create the "whirlpool" in the simmering water with white vinegar, you don't want it spinning too fast. If it's too fast it basically spins the egg whites off of the yolk. 

2. I've always placed eggs in a small ramekin first but I used to just dump the egg into the water. The key here is to place the egg in the water slowly. (Make sure not to burn your fingers in the hot water!). 

3. Lastly, the time for the egg to cook. I found a 3 minute egg in simmering water gave me the perfect consistency - set egg whites but a runny egg yolk. For a medium poach I would do about 1 minute to the cooking time. If you're doing a hard poach, just do a hard boiled egg. 

Since I've made this dish before I've posted links to the original recipes. Making the hollandaise in the blender is the way to go. Much simpler then whisking endlessly to incorporate the butter. For the lobster I simply warmed it in butter in a small pan over low heat until it was cooked through. If poaching eggs is to intimidating or just isn't going well, make a simple egg over easy in a saute pan to top the english muffin. 

Hollandaise in a Blender - http://kleinanddine.blogspot.com/2017/02/hollandaise-sauce-in-blender.html

Eggs Benedict - http://kleinanddine.blogspot.com/2016/09/eggs-benedict.html

Doughnuts - D - Alphabet Challenge

It's week four of this challenge and so far it's been really fun. Pushing myself to try to make a new dish every week has been both hard and exciting. I choose to make doughnuts this week since this is something I typically buy since it's time consuming to make and there are a lot of great doughnut shops. I had to decide two important things: what type of doughnut to make and should I spell it donut or doughnut. 

The spelling was the easier thing to decipher. It turns out it's doughnuts in the dictionary and over time in America is simply got shortened to donuts. As a board game lover, especially scrabble,  it was easy to choose the dictionary/official answer. 

The type of doughnut was the harder question - cake doughnut vs yeast doughnut. The cake doughnut I consider more traditional and old school The yeast doughnut is a lighter and fluffier texture. Since my favorite doughnut is a twist doughnut covered in sugar (no glaze) I went that route. 

This dish ended up being really fun to make and the dough could be made a day in advance and the doughnuts cut and fried in the morning if you have time to make breakfast. You can also store them in an airtight container once fried and enjoy later but I found eating them warm and fresh was the best way to go if possible. 

This recipe is enough for 24 doughnuts (2 dozen)

Ingredients:
 
Doughnut Dough:
1 ⅛ cup whole milk - warm
¼ cup sugar
2 ¼ teaspoons Instant Or Active Dry Yeast (one package)
2 whole large eggs lightly beaten
1 ¼ sticks unsalted butter, a total of 10 tablespoons, melted
4 cups all-purpose flour
½ teaspoon salt
Shortening/oil for frying
 
Glaze:
½ cup butter, melted
2 teaspoons vanilla
4 cups powdered sugar
Enough cream or milk to thin about 3 tablespoons
Dash of salt
 
Directions:
1. Warm the milk in a small pan over low heat until it is about 105-110 degrees. Add the milk to a mixing bowl or the bowl of your stand mixer. Add the sugar and stir to dissolve. Add the yeast and stir to combine. Let the yeast rest for 5 minutes. Make sure you see bubbles in the liquid before continuing, this means the yeast is doing its job. 
 
2. Add the beaten eggs and melted butter to the bowl and stir to combine.
 
3. While the mixer is running at its slowest speed, add the flour and salt and mix until the dough comes together. Mix for a whole five minutes once the dough is combined to work the dough well. Turn off the mixer and let the dough sit in the bowl of the mixer for 10 minutes.
 
4. After the rest period turn the dough out into a lightly oiled bowl, cover the bowl with plastic wrap and allow the dough to rest for at least 2 hours in the fridge but up to overnight. The goal is to get the dough cold enough to work with easily and have the butter solidify.
 
5. When you are ready to form the doughnuts: Remove the dough from the fridge and roll out one half on a lightly floured surface until it is ½ to ⅓ of an inch thick. Use a three-inch donut cutter to cut out the donuts. (You can use two small ring cutters or just make a free form donut shape). 
 
6. Place the cut doughnuts and holes on a parchment lined baking sheet. Repeat with the remaining dough.
 
7. Cover the doughnuts and let them rise on the counter until doubled in size, about one hour. The doughnuts will be very puffy and airy looking.
 
8. While the doughnuts rise it’s a great time to make the glaze. Melt the butter in a medium bowl. Add the vanilla and stir to combine. Add the powdered sugar and stir to form a thick paste. Thin out the paste with milk, one tablespoon at a time, until the mixture is about as thick as school glue. The glaze will get thinner when it melts on the doughnut. 
 
9. When you’re ready to fry the doughnuts: Heat a few inches of oil or shortening in a large cast iron skillet or fryer pan over medium heat until the oil reaches 350 to 375 degrees (use a thermometer!). Carefully add the doughnuts to the hot oil and fry until golden brown, about 1 ½ minutes per side. The doughnut holes will only take about 30 seconds per side.
 
10. Use a slotted spoon or chopsticks to remove the donuts from the hot oil and place them on a paper towel lined baking sheet to remove extra grease. Let them cool slightly. Dip the hot donuts in the glaze, top with any sprinkles or other decorations while the glaze is still wet. Enjoy right away while the doughnuts are still warm.