daring cooks challenge - home made pasta

Steph from Stephfood was our Daring Cooks' July hostess.  Steph challenged us to make homemade noodles without the help of a motorized pasta machine.  She provided us with recipes for Spätzle and Fresh egg Pasta as well as a few delicious sauces to pair our noodles with!

I had just returned from Italy and there was a dish that we had in a restaurant on the last night in Florence pappardella with wild boar sauce, that I really wanted to recreate so it was a challenge made in Heaven.

pappardelle with "wild boar" ragu

Ok I didn't find any wild Boar on the Sunshine Coast, but at the Oak tree Market I did find some really good fairly lean pork shoulder.

You really want pork shoulder or some other tougher kind of pork with some marbeling as if it is too lean it will not fall apart and shred as it should, on the other hand you do not want gobs of fat in it.

2 tablespoons  olive oil
1 pound cubed wild boar, may substitute pork shoulder, if desired
1  diced onion
4 diced carrots
2 stalks of celery chopped
2 garlic cloves sliced
1 small can of crushed tomatoes
1/2 bottle of  red wine
1 bay leaf
1 sprig rosemary
1 sprig thyme
1 sprig sage

Daring cooks challenge - Healthy potato salad

Jami Sorrento was our June Daring Cooks hostess and she chose to challenge us to celebrate the humble spud by making a delicious and healthy potato salad. The Daring Cooks Potato Salad Challenge was sponsored by the nice people at the United States Potato Board, who awarded prizes to the top 3 most creative and healthy potato salads. A medium-size (5.3 ounce) potato has 110 calories, no fat, no cholesterol, no sodium and includes nearly half your daily value of vitamin C and has more potassium than a banana!

I love potatoes cooked in any way but potato salad really is one of my favourite dishes so this was a easy challenge, the only thing that made it a bit harder was trying to make it healthy, obviously that cuts out the traditional potato salad heavy with mayonnaise North American style.

One of my go to potato salads is one based on a recipe from John hadmuscin and is a pesto potato salad. In the original recipe he adds peas and yellow bell pepper, and though those both go well, I usualy make it with just potatoes and green oinion.

Daring cooks -gumbo

Our May hostess, Denise, of There’s a Newf in My Soup!, challenged The Daring Cooks to make Gumbo! She provided us with all the recipes we’d need, from creole spices, homemade stock, and Louisiana white rice, to Drew’s Chicken & Smoked Sausage Gumbo and Seafood Gumbo from My New Orleans: The Cookbook, by John Besh. I even have a copy of this book myself as my husband bought it for me after our visit to New Orleans last year. So I used the recipe out of the book.

Of course I did not follow the recipe completely not only because I am incapable of doing that, but because I could not find all the ingredients.  Okra was no where to be found, but I am not sure I really tried as do not like the slimy texture of okra that much and it was fine with out.  Also file powder does not appear to be readily available, I am sure if I had tried harder I would have found it, but I did not start to look until the afternoon I was cooking it.

Daring cooks challenge - food containers

Renata of Testado, Provado & Aprovado! was our Daring Cooks’ April 2011 hostess. Renata challenged us to think “outside the plate” and create our own edible containers! Prizes are being awarded to the most creative edible container and filling, so vote on your favorite from April 17th to May 16th at http://thedaringkitchen.com/!


So we are to make food served in editable containers, it is wide open and we can make any food and any container and as many as we want.  She did suggest the food container should go well with the contents.

Fish taco served in corn tortilla cups

This is cheating a bit as I blogged this dish last month, See fish taco's but I also made some in corn tortilla cups with this challenge in mind.


First I softened the corn tortillas in a little oil in a frying pan.

This doesn't take much oil or much time just long enough to warm them up maybe 30 seconds.  Then I pushed them gently inside a custard cup and placed them on a cookie sheet

              

I baked them in a 350 oven for about 10 minutes until they were crisp and just turning brown on the edges.

Cooked tortilla cups

In the bottom of the tortilla cups I put in the fish which I cooked with a spicy rub on it and topped them off with home made salsa. I served them on a bed of spring greens with some lime wedges.

Finished fish tacos

I really liked the presentation and they tasted great. You could use the same cups for any mexican style filling such as shredded pork or taco fillings etc.

This challenge was a lot less work than others that I have done, but as usual made me do something new and I am always glad for that.

Had I not gone away for 2 weeks and worked killer hours at work the last month I would have tried another one, but oh well.

Daring cooks challenge - Papas and ceviche

Kathlyn of Bake Like a Ninja was our Daring Cooks’ March 2011 hostess. Kathlyn challenges us to make two classic Peruvian dishes: Ceviche de Pescado from “Peruvian Cooking – Basic Recipes” by Annik Franco Barreau. And Papas Rellenas adapted from a home recipe by Kathlyn’s Spanish teacher, Mayra.


I was very excited to do this challenge, I know nothing about Peruvian cooking, so of course I had to do some research, and this is what I found. Potatoes are big in Peru this is where they came from, thank you Peru I am for ever grateful as they are really my favourite food.  Corn, quinoa and fish are also popular so this challenge had both potatoes and fish and added a salad with corn and quinoa.

The finished Papas rellenos

First a confession many potatoes lost their lives in the making of this dish.  The first batch of mashed potatoes were just too wet and we all decided it would be a train wreck if we tried to use them.  So as someone quoted "when life gives you soggy potatoes make potato scones"  so I did.  So after a traditional Scottish potato-scones for an appetizer we got right back on that horse after sending my very hungry and obliging son out for some more potatoes.

Soba noodle salad and Tempura - Daring cooks challange

My heart sank a little this month when I saw two Japanese dishes were the challenge.  Don't get me wrong I am sure there is much good Japanese food out there and I have had my fair share of California rolls and tempura but it is just not a food I have ever been able to be very enthusiastic about.

To make matters worse one of the dishes was a cold noodle salad and cold noodles is one thing I really don't care for, on the upside I do like tempura any way here goes.

The February 2011 Daring Cooks’ challenge was hosted by Lisa of Blueberry Girl. She challenged Daring Cooks to make Hiyashi Soba and Tempura. She has various sources for her challenge including japanesefood.about.com, pinkbites.com, and itsybitsyfoodies.com

I decided to make the best of this challenge, keep an open mind and invite some friends over. Connie and I headed over to TNT supermarket that sells all things Asian, always an interesting experience, and picked up the ingredients we needed, including the soba noodles dashi and fixings for making sushi.  If we were going to have a Japanese meal then we would go all out and added chicken karaage and sushi to the two dishes mandated.

soba (buckwheat noodles)

Daring Cooks challenge - Duck confit in cassoulet



Finished Cassoulet

 Our January 2011 Challenge comes from Jenni of The Gingered Whisk and Lisa from Parsley, Sage, Desserts and Line Drives. They have challenged the Daring Cooks to learn how to make a confit and use it within the traditional French dish of Cassoulet. They have chosen a traditional recipe from Anthony Bourdain and Michael Ruhlman.

Duck confit

I was so pleased to see this challenge as duck confit is one of my favourite things to order when I go out and I have never made it.  Now having done it I would do it again it was not hard to do and tasted wonderful.  I checked out many different recipes and as usual I took different things from different recipes to suit my timing and ingredients. This is the second time I have done a posting on cassoulet, see Comfort food at it's best - Cassoulet. But this one is using just the duck confit and lamb.  I did not use sausages as My good friends who are Jewish were coming to dinner and I could not find any decent non pork sausages out here in the burbs.  I also did not use tomatoes as I forgot to buy any and many recipes do not include them any way.

Daring Cooks challenge - Eggs benedict

Jenn and Jill have challenged The Daring Cooks to learn to perfect the technique of poaching an egg. They chose Eggs Benedict recipe from Alton Brown, Oeufs en Meurette from Cooking with Wine by Anne Willan, and Homemade Sundried Tomato & Pine Nut Seitan Sausages (poached) courtesy of Trudy of Veggie num num.


I chose to do the eggs benedict as I love them and it is something I never make. I varied the recipe slightly as I was cooking for a crowd, two of whom do not eat pork so I used smoked salmon to replace the ham (often done here on the west coast)

There were several people who not only poached the egg and made the hollandaise sauce, but also made the English muffins.  I am afraid I bailed on that and bought the muffins.


My recipe for hollandaise sauce is from my text book from when I was going to college back in 1977 learning classic french cooking.  This method is not for wimps as there is no double boiler you have to regulate the heat by pulling off and on the burner, and you need a good pot with a heavy bottom (which is what you will have if you eat these too often)


Hollandaise sauce.


1 tablespoon of white wine vinegar
Juice of 1/2 a lemon
Fresh ground pepper
1/2 lb of butter Melted(yes half a pound)
2 egg yolks


Place vinegar, lemon juice and fresh ground pepper in a small heavy bottomed pot and reduce to half.  1 1 tablespoon of cold water, allow to cool.


Mix in the yolks with a whisk and return to a gentle heat  and whisking continuously cook until they are thickened about the consistency of whipping cream. Remove from the heat.


Then very gradually whisk in the melted butter a little at a time until all the butter has been absorbed and it has the consistency of sour cream .