Assassin's Creed Cake

I've been out of commission for a minute, as I started school and have let my blogging go by the wayside. I didn't stop taking pictures or cooking, however.

A few weeks ago, I made my nephew his birthday cake. He loves Assassin's Creed, an historical video game series that features lots of daring do, sword fights and maps of Rome and Constantinople. So I made him a theme cake, using the symbol from the game. For simplicity's sake, I'll just explain the decorating techniques here. I used two nine inch rounds of white sponge cake (made with vanilla extract and greek yogurt to cut sweetness) and a filling of strawberry jam cooked with honey, cardamom, and a vanilla bean with lemon juice at the finish. I made a standard white eggless buttercream (butter, icing sugar, vanilla and whole milk). I used an icing spatula and a dough cutter, dipped in very hot water, to finish the surface of the cake.

I used red and black fondant (commercial) for the decorations. To make the Assassin's symbol, I used a printed stencil and cut the fondant with a paring knife:

My niece helped make the molded fondant rosettes. Note: always oil that mold and don't let the fondant get too warm, or it will stick. 

I then added the birthday number to the top of the cake, and we were ready to go!

As you can see from the cross section, the cake rose well and the filling is nice and even. 

How I Do My Eggplant

A lot of my friends (including my beloved) tell me they don't like eggplant because of bitterness or poor texture. I think you need to try great eggplant once before you make a judgment about it, because it's a great fruit (technically, but we think of it as a veggie which makes more sense--you wouldn't put it in a fruit salad now would you?)

Eggplant came to us from India, but it wasn't used in the west (per written records) until the 16th century.  Through history, the eggplant has been falsely confused with both potatoes and tomatoes in its taxonomy. It is like neither in taste or preparation, however.

Today I used Japanese Eggplant, but you can use any variety you find in the store. The bitterness comes from the dark seeds. If you slice the eggplant and see dark seeds, remove them immediately and rinse and pat dry your eggplant. I like to slice them into semi-circles if the eggplant is small, or quarters if it is large. Make the slices .5 to 1 inch thick. If a few pieces turn out too thick or too thin, don't stress too much. Spread them out evenly over a sturdy paper towel or clean cloth and salt them well with a ground sea salt or table salt if that's all you've got (I used both).

Now put a sheet of paper towel or clean cloth on top of them. Find a pan that fits and put that on top of the whole lot. Put some cans in the pan to provide weight. The salt will leech water out of the tissues by osmosis, and the pressure from the cans will cause the eggplant to shed the excess water than can make it "mushy."  I used four small cans, as I didn't want to compromise the texture of the eggplant. 

Let that sit about 20 minutes. While it's sitting, you can prepare your dish. Today, I did a quick stir fry with eggplant, ginger, oyster mushrooms and baby bok choy. I heated 2 tbs of vegetable oil until very hot but not quite smoking. Toss in the eggplant and move the pan around very quickly. Cooke for a minute, then dump into a bowl (I used a steel mixing bowl) and let sit while you do the rest. Add another tbs of oil to the pan and cook the ginger and garlic for a second. Then add the mushrooms and toss vigorously. At this point, you can add your own sauce recipe or a commercial sauce. My sauce consists of:

1 tbs rice wine vinegar

1 tbs brown sugar

1 tbs. soy sauce

1 tbs. fish sauce

If you toss this in the mixture, the oil from the pan and veggies should be enough to give the sauce a richness without adding extra fat. 

I finished my stir fry with toasted sesame seed. Very nice aroma and flavor!

Fresh Veggies!!

I got very lucky today when some folks from a local farm knocked on my door offering to sell produce.  Sometimes local independent farmers will come into the city and go door to door, but I usually go to the farmer's market for my seasonal goodies. Anyway, they gave me a decent deal--I got 30lbs of fruit and veggies for $25, all organic, no pesticides, and the best tasting I've had in a long time.

My first thought was that I had to use those glorious tomatoes. So I whipped up a quick fresh corn and tomato salad. It is to die for. Here's the result:

Here's all you have to do:

Shuck two ears of fresh corn, and cut the kernels off the cob with a sharp knife.

Dice two large fresh tomatoes and remove as many seeds as you can (if possible)

Dice half a shallot very, very finely

combine 1 tbs oil (I used canola, you can use olive oil or another kind if you want)
with 1 tbs rice wine vinegar and a squeeze of lemon

Toss the veggies with the oil-vinegar mixture. Now season with fresh black pepper, garlic powder, smoked paprika (if you have it) and sea salt.

Skyrim Recipe Part 2: Sweet Rolls!

So after posting about my blog on Reddit, I got some feedback about sweet rolls. 

When I started formulating recipes from Skyrim, I had intended to just use ingredients listed for the pots and spits. However, I got some feedback about wanting sweet rolls. It just so happens I make sweet rolls and I have a great, basic recipe--one that could totally be made in a fantasy realm where modern-day conveniences are scarce. Here goes--trust me, they are delicious. 

1 tbs yeast1/4 warm water (around 105 degrees F)

2 sticks butter

1/3 cup sugar1 cup room temperature milk (2% or full fat)

1 egg

4.5 cups sifted all purpose flour

1.5 tsp salt

filling:brown sugar chopped nuts, raisins (if you want) cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger

Put the yeast in a bowl. Add the water. Stir and soak for 10 minutes. It should foam (proves the yeast is alive and all that).

Heat the milk, butter and sugar in a pan until steaming but not boiling. Stir a lot so that it all blends together. Cool. 
Beat the egg. Add it to the yeast, then stir in the cooled milk mixture. Knead in the flour and salt. Put it in an oiled bowl and let rise 90 minutes. 
Roll the dough and form a rectangle. Brush with butter (seriously, this makes it good). Sprinkle it with the brown sugar and spice and nut mixture. 

Now roll it up into a tube! It should look like a long cylinder with a spiral of deliciousness in the middle. Cut it with kitchen scissors or a greased knife into 1.5 inch thick rounds. Place slices in an 8 or 9 inch round greased cake pan. Place one slice in the middle and other slices around it. Press rolls down to even out and fill pan. Let rise until rolls fill the pan.

Bake at 350 for 20 minutes. 


About glazing: powdered sugar was produced in Sicily as early as the 800s. So I can't say that it's "modern." If you want to use it, I make this glaze:
1 c. powdered sugar
1 tbsp. milk


I like to use vanilla, but that wasn't available until the conquest of mesoamerica. If you want to go all old-school, you can just use a mixed of honey, cinnamon and hot mead or hot wine, all mixed into a syrup and poured over the rolls. 

First post for the Skyrim Cookbook

So I want to write a Skyrim cookbook, and here is my first post.
Apple and cabbage stew!!

4 tablespoons unsalted butter (olive oil for vegan)
1 head thinly sliced green cabbage
1 large vidalia onion, roughly diced
Fresh thyme (about 6 to 8 springs, depending on your taste)
1 bay leaf
2 quart chicken stock (veggie stock if you are vegan)
4 small-medium Granny Smith apples, peeled and diced.

Heat butter or oil and sauté the cabbage and onion until soft and onions start to turn a yellow-brown. Add thyme and stir, wait about 5 minutes. Stir vigorously. Add the rest of the butter or oil and then add the diced apple. Saute for another 5 minutes on high heat or until apple pieces appear a little brown. Now add the stock and bay leaf and bring to a simmer. Reduce heat and cook for 10 more minutes. Add salt and pepper to taste.

Corn Chowder--Vegan Style

2 large russet potatoes

2 cups corn kernals 12 cup diced sweet onion 1 clove garlic, minced 1/2 tbs red pepper flakes 1 tsp spanish paprika 2 cups vegetable stock 12 ounces silken tofu salt and pepper to taste.  Peel and dice the potatoes. Cook them quickly in boiling water (just until you can pierce the pieces with a fork, but not all the way done). Drain, and add the corn, onion, garlic red pepper flakes and stock. Cook for ten minutes on medium heat.  Now cut the mixture in half. Puree one half with the tofu. Then add it to the rest and simmer for 5 minutes. You now have vegan corn chowder!

Ribs!

I'm still learning to grill, but I am very proud of my ribs. They're awesome. And I'm going to share the recipe. My beloved's been working out a lot and eating really well, and on Saturday he said, "can we have ribs? Please? Pleaaase?" So we took a break from the quinoa and grilled chicken and got some pork spare ribs.

Here's what you need:

2 racks St-Louis cut pork spareribs (2 to 3 pounds each)

For the rub:

1/2 cups brown sugar

1 tbs chili powder

1/2 tsp cumin

1 tbs. garlic powder

1 tbs onion powder

1/2 tbs smoked paprika

1 tbs kosher salt

1 tbs of your favorite mustard

1/4 cup canola oil

mix the sugar, oil, and mustard together and rub it on the ribs. then rub them with the dry ingredients. They will look like this: 

Let it sit for an hour while you make the sauce. Now, you can make your own sauce, or you can buy it. I made it, but I'm particular:

2 cups ketchup

1/4 cup water

1/2 cup cider vinegar

1/2 cup apple cider

1/4 cup honey

1 tbs Worcestershire sauce

1 tbs soy sauce

1/2 cup dark brown sugar

8 tbs melted butter

1 tablespoon sweet paprika

1 tablespoon chili powder

2 cloves garlic, minced

Whisk it all together and simmer over medium heat (about 20 minutes). Please adjust the sauce to your taste--if you want it sweeter, add more brown sugar or honey. If you want it spicy, add chili powder. Honestly, you cannot screw it up. 

After you heat the grill (you can use a smoker or smoke pouch, if you want. I used a smoke pouch with applewood chips) place the ribs meat side up on the grill and maintain a 250 degree (approximately) temp. Mop the ribs every 30 minutes with some apple cider/vinegar mixed together. Grill for 3 hours. Remove them, then brush with sauce and wrap them in foil and grill for another 2 hours, brushing with sauce every 30 minutes.

Uncover the ribs, toss the foil, and grill for another 30 minutes or so, or until you can slide a dull knife into the meat very easily. Remove them, sauce them again, and let them sit until your friends can't stand it anymore!