Wolf's Den

The 2009 October Daring Bakers’ challenge was brought to us by Ami S. She chose macarons from Claudia Fleming’s The Last Course: The Desserts of Gramercy Tavern as the challenge recipe.





I've always wanted to make French Macarons.I've long admired them and have several recipes stored in my favorites links. I just never got around to it, until now.

Talk about a challenge. Yikes.

( On to the Fail Macarons... )

Yeah, so I'm late. Between stressing over Max and accidentally leaving a few ingrediants off my grocery list, as well as running out of time, well, I didn't get it made by the Reveal date.

I did, however, make it yesterday. And man is it good. Besides, it gave me a chance to look over my bowls and realise that I needed to work on my bowl collection now, since I have well over 2 dozen various plates, after all. Heh. I added 6 bowls to my plating collection, with at least 4 more that I want to get. *headdesk*

The October 2009 Daring Cooks’ challenge was brought to us by Jaden of the blog Steamy Kitchen. The recipes are from her new cookbook, The Steamy Kitchen Cookbook.



( Onward!  )

The September 2009 Daring Bakers' challenge was hosted by Steph of A Whisk and a Spoon. She chose the French treat, Vols-au-Vent based on the Puff Pastry recipe by Michel Richard from the cookbook Baking With Julia by Dorie Greenspan.

I've never even considered making my own puff pastry. I'm one of those people who buys the Pepperidge Farms puff pastry sheets and calls it good. In fact, I have a package of THAT in my freezer now, right next to the homemade.

Then of course, time got away from me, Max had a vet appointment where we found that his liver is STILL out of whack, so back onto 3 more weeks of antibiotics via force feeding he went. Yeah, that's fun.

I was, however, determined not to miss out on this Challenge, even if it meant my puff pastry didn't puff and I failed miserably.

( Read On! )

This month's Challenge was chosen by Debyi, of The Healthy Vegan Kitchen.

I've made Dosas before. But the ones I've made used regular wheat based flour.And they most certainly weren't vegetarian/vegan.}:P In fact, this was honestly the first time I've actively tried to cook a vegetarian/vegan meal.

I will freely admit that I did not make the filling in this recipe. However, I DID stay true to the vegetarian requirements. To appease the hubby, I also baked a few herbed chicken breasts and served them along side- otherwise, he'd never even of tried them.}:P

It's a quick post, not near as long as my usual ones, nor does it really have as much acerbic humor as usual. It's been a rough 1.5 months. Next Daring Bakers or Daring Cooks post will be back to normal. I promise.


( Continue! )

The August 2009 Daring Bakers' challenge was hosted by Angela of A Spoonful of Sugar and Lorraine of Not Quite Nigella. They chose the spectacular Dobos Torte based on a recipe from Rick Rodgers' cookbook Kaffeehaus: Exquisite
Desserts from the Classic Caffés of Vienna, Budapest, and Prague.



Oh boy.

When I first heard of the Daring Bakers, I came across this Torte. Well maybe not this particular recipe, but something similar. And I've wanted to make one ever since.

( Onward! )

Better late than never, yes? Due to vacation, then issues with Max kitty- who's STILL refusing to eat on his own, I didn't get to make this before the reveal date, let alone the week of the reveal. BUT, I did make it, I made it last night and I do not regret it.



The Challenge for August was hosted by Olga of Las Cosas de Olga and Olga’s Recipes She chose a delicious Spanish recipe, Rice with mushrooms, cuttlefish and artichokes by José Andrés, one of the most important Spanish Chefs at the moment. Well, so she says.}:P

I hate artichokes.

From what I understand, Cuttlefish is like squid, in taste, and guess what? I detest squid.

So. Yeah.

I had to make acceptable substitutes. In my dish, I used shrimp, sea scallops and asparagus instead. I also used Turmeric, as Saffron is gods awful expensive and after all those vet bills? Yeah, can't afford it. Also used was Arborio rice, as that was the closest I could find to the suggested rices.

( But it was all worth it... )

For the first time since I joined the Daring Cooks and Daring Bakers, I am unable to complete a Challenge.

I have reasons! Honest and for true!

The August Challenge was a Spanish influenced dish- Rice with mushrooms, cuttlefish and artichokes

It was selected by Olga of Las Cosas de Olga and Olga’s Recipes .

However...

I ran out of time initially.

Then I went on vacation to Michigan and was so busy there that I didn't get a chance to even really cook anything.

I fully expected to have a bit of time this week to be able to do the Challenge. Max kitty had other ideas, so there went that time. (He's doing better, so that's a plus.)

Next thing I know, it's reveal day and I only just bought the arborio rice last night. Yeah. It's been a bad week.

Now, I do fully intend to do this Challenge, I just won't be able to do it in time for the reveal date, let alone this week, it looks like.

In the meantime, stop on by the Daring Kitchen, and check out the slide show of other Daring Cooks' Challenge entries. Just make sure you eat first.}:P

**** Remember- FireFox does not like my posts. So if you can, try using IE8, or viewing this post in ‘compatibility mode’. Thanks!****

The July 2009 Daring Bakers' challenge was hosted by Nicole of Sweet Tooth.
She chose Chocolate Covered Marshmallow Cookies and Milan Cookies from pastry chef Gale Gand of the Food Network.

I really wanted to like this Challenge. Really, I did. After all, Milanos are one of my absolute favorite cookies.




But... I don't like Mallow cookies. Sure, I like marshmallows, I like cookies, I love dark chocolate. But... unless it's a s'more, I can't stand eating them together.

So I procrastinated doing this Challenge. Then I thought I'd just do the Milan recipe of it. Then I went ahead, and about 1.5 weeks out from posting/reveal day, I bit the bullet, tracked down Xathan Gum powder, and resolved to make the Mallows as well.

( Read on! )

**** Firefox HATES my long posts. So if you use FF, it will apparently cut off on you. IE seems to work otherwise. Thanks Audax for the heads up.****


This month's Challenge was hosted by Sketchy, of Sketchy's Kitchen. And it's a doozy.

In fact, when I first read what the Challenge was, my reaction was holy shit. It took a few weeks to get around to doing this Challenge. It was actually about 2 weeks before the reveal date that I even started on aspects of this one. Unusual for me, to say the least.

The main issue was trying to find actual Skate. That turned out to be impossible here. So I went with 'Previous Frozen fresh Cod, wild caught'- an oxymoron if you ask me. How can it be fresh if it was previously frozen? Hmmm.. Anyway...



As with any Challenge or baking/cooking excursion, I gather everything I think I'm going to need... and then some. And it took 2 days.

( Onward, with a guest appearence! )

**** If you get cut off on viewing the post here, it's possible that IJ is having server issues, as they were moving to new servers this weekend. In which case- try here-
http://dantesspirit.dreamwidth.org/604864.html

Otherwise, I have no idea why it's cutting off at a certain point. I'm using IE8, and it works fine for me.}:( ****

The June Daring Bakers' challenge was hosted by Jasmine of Confessions of a Cardamom Addict and Annemarie of Ambrosia and Nectar. They chose a Traditional (UK) Bakewell Tart... er... pudding that was inspired by a rich baking history dating back to the 1800's in England.

Be forewarned- this is my longest Daring Bakers Challenge post yet. I lost count at 75 photos. Yeah.



Gathering of the cast of charactors. You see, I had several jars of local made jams and jelly in the cupboard. So I figured, what better way to try them! And I love almonds. Perfect match, I should think, almonds and cranberries, or wild black raspberries, or blackberries, or cherries, or homemade apple butter, or lemon curd or lime curd, or...

Yeah.

I got abit carried away. As you'll see.

And after the actual Challenge recipe, I included a Bakewell Tart Pudding made with almond paste instead of almond meal/flour.}:P It was the first one I really made, you see. But paste wasn't what the Challenge called for, so...

( Onward we go! )

This month, Jen from Use Real Butter, hosted the Daring Cooks Challenge.
She chose a doozy, let me tell ya, in Chinese dumplings/potstickers (aka gyoza in Japanese).



( Hungry? Read on! )

The May Daring Bakers’ challenge was hosted by Linda of ‘make life sweeter!’ and Courtney of ‘Coco Cooks’. They have chosen Apple Strudel from the recipe book Kaffeehaus: Exquisite Desserts from the Classic Cafes of Vienna, Budapest and Prague by Rick Rodgers.



I’ve never made Strudel before. And this is really, really long, with lots of photos, so settle in. Got your Tea? Good…

( On with the show... )

So, last month, I posted about joining The Daring Bakers, with my Dark Chocolate-Green tea Cheesecake.

Well, with this post, I announce that I've also joined The Daring Cooks!



The Daring Cooks is a new group, affiliated with the Daring Bakers, and also resides at The Daring Kitchen. This is the very first Daring Cooks Monthly Challenge, EVER. WooHoo! Party time!

So for this Challenge, CreamPuffs in Venice and La Mia Cucina, the Founders of The Daring Kitchen, chose a recipe from The Zuni Cafe Cookbook, Zuni Ricotta Gnocchi.

Well, what a way to inagurate the Daring Cooks, let me tell ya. I'd never made Gnocchi, let alone even eaten it. Yes, yes, I know, where the devil have I been, in a cave?

I've always wanted to make homemade ricotta though, and guess what this recipe calls for? Go on, guess! }:P

( Continued! )

The April 2009 challenge is hosted by Jenny from Jenny Bakes. She has chosen Abbey's Infamous Cheesecake as the challenge.

Mmm, Cheesecake....

I love cheesecake. So when I finally joined the Daring Bakers and was eligible for the April Challenge, imagine my delight to find that the challenge recipe was cheesecake. I haven't made cheesecake in quite sometime. This would be fun!



( Onward to the recipe and photos! )