Madhu Knits and Cooks

Recipe, knitting, and sewing project notes

Tag: Cooking — Snacks

  • A Sort-Of Attempt at Roberta’s Pizza Dough

    Roberta's Pizza is a much-heralded pizza-focused restaurant in Bushwick, Brooklyn.  While the waits at Roberta's can be legendary, thankfully the two times I have had Roberta's pizzas have been relatively painless.  The first experience was a Roberta's lunchtime visit (wait = 15 minutes), where we tried two different pizzas.  The pizzas were good, but maybe not to the level of my other Brooklyn favorites (DiFara and Totonno's).  The second Roberta's experience was getting a Roberta's frozen or maybe refrigerated pizza at the Brooklyn Whole Foods, which despite how it sounds, was actually really delicious.  

    When the New York Times recently posted Roberta's pizza dough recipe, adapted from the Roberta's cookbook, I knew it was a must-try.  Unfortunately though, my first attempt at the pizza dough, which included some significant modifications, left a lot to be desired.

    Roberta's Pizza Dough

    The issues were mostly with the process though, than the result which was decidedly "ok."  The process was somewhat laborious because the dough was incredibly sticky and hard to work with, no matter my adding of what seemed like considerably more bread flour while working the dough.  This may have been because of my substitutions of half bread flour and half all purpose flour, for the half 00 flour and half all purpose.  In addition, I did not use a scale to accurately measure the weight of the flour, which could also have been critical.  

    The stickiness of the dough also affected my stretching of the dough after removing it from the fridge for a few days.  The dough was very hard to work with, and resulted in the somewhat odd shape pictured above.

    All in all, a recipe I will probably try again, but with the right flour and a scale!

  • Sour Cream Onion Dip – Homemade is Definitely Better!

    I've never thought about making homemade sour cream onion dip before (completely unclear why), but when I had an unopened family size bag of Ruffles and a nearly whole 16-oz. container of sour cream in the kitchen, it just made perfect sense.

    I ended up cobbling together a recipe from two different Mark Bittman approaches, to fit the ingredients I had at home.  I decided to cook the onions, instead of using raw onions, for a softer flavor though I probably didn't caramelize the onions as much as other recipes I found on the internet (20 minutes of cooking v. 40 minutes to 1 hour).  Regardless though, the result was completely amazing and I definitely think this dip will be a must-serve for future casual parties or weekend snacking – and no chemicals or preservatives unlike the store-bought version!

    Onion Dip

    Sour Cream Onion Dip

    Ingredients:

    • 16 oz. container of sour cream
    • 1 small onion, peeled and minced
    • 1 tbsp. grapeseed oil (approx.)
    • 1/4 cup finely chopped parsley
    • pinch of sugar
    • salt and pepper, to taste

    Directions:

    • Heat grapeseed oil in a wide saucepan on medium-high heat.  When hot, add onions with a pinch of salt and sugar.  Stir for 30 seconds, and then lower heat.
    • Cook on low heat for approximately 20 minutes, stiring occassionally.  Add a bit more oil if onions start to brown (goal is carmelization, not burning).
    • When onions are lightly browned/caramelized, remove onions from heat and let cool.
    • Stir together sour cream, parsley and onion.  Add salt and pepper to taste.
    • You can serve immediately or leave in the fridge for flavors to blend more.  Serve with chips or vegetables.

    Onion Dip with Chip

     

  • Quick and Healthy White Bean Cilantro Dip

    As MadhuKnitsandCooks.com readers already know, I love white bean dips.  I've made white bean dips with garlic and parsley, rosemary, and multiple fresh herbs.  Continuing with this experimentation, I recently made a white bean dip with cilantro to use up some extra cilantro in the fridge.  

    Thankfully, the recipe required minimal prep work – just chopping some cilantro and garlic.

    White Bean Cilantro Dip Chopping

    And then throwing all of the ingredients in the food processor.

    White Bean Cilantro Dip in Blender

    The full recipe follows the image of the completed dip, which turned out wonderfully well.  Creamy; lots of flavor from the cilantro, garlic, cayenne and lime juice; and almost completely guilt free!  I recommend doubling or tripling the recipe if serving this dip for multiple people – the recipe below is perfect for one or two people though.

    White Bean Cilantro Dip Completed

    White Bean Cilantro Dip (Modified from Sunny Anderson's Food Network Recipe)

    Ingredients:

    • 1 can white/cannellini beans, washed and drained
    • 2 cloves garlic
    • 1/4 bunch cilantro, washed
    • 1 tbsp. olive oil
    • 1 tsp. lime juice
    • 1 tsp. cayenne pepper
    • 1 tbsp. reduced fat sour cream
    • salt, to taste
    • ground black pepper, to taste

    Directions:

    • Chop the cilantro and garlic.
    • Add all ingredients to a food processor, and process using pulses until you reach your desired consistency.
    • Add salt and pepper to taste.  Recommend letting the dip rest for 20 – 30 minutes for the flavors to blend.  
    • Serve with pita chips, toasted bread wedges or vegetables.

  • Thick Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies

    An expiring carton of rolled oats = excuse to try a new oatmeal cookie recipe!  For this new effort, I decided to go with a Cook's Illustrated recipe (shocking, I know) – the January 1997 Chocolate Chip Oatmeal Cookies.  

    Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies CI

    Unlike many Cook's Illustrated recipes, this was a super simple approach to cookie-making and putting together the ingredients took virtually no time.  The only modifications I ended up making were that I ended up with 22 cookies instead of 18, and I baked the cookies for less time than the 22 – 25 minutes called for in the recipe.  I took out the tray that started on the bottom rack after 17 minutes, and turned off the oven at that point for the other tray in the oven, which was baked for 20 minutes.  I also used sea salt instead of table salt because I ran out of table salt at some point.

    Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies Close Up

    These cookies are definitely best after resting for at least 30 minutes.  Right out of the oven, you can't really experience the full flavors and texture of the cookies, which have a wonderful slight nutmeg flavor.  The cookies also had a great shiny exterior.  I would eat them within a day or two after baking though because they dried out a little too much after that period.  Definitely a must-bake again!

  • Simple Roasted Broccoli – Very Easy Weeknight Side Dish

    I've been recently simplifying my cooking attempts.  These new, quick meals have been inspired partly because of time and partly because I want a new set of weeknight staples to avoid ordering out.  My first new simple recipe attempt was roasted broccoli, to accompany a simple pasta-and-marinara-sauce main course. 

    Roasted Broccoli Served

    The inspiration for trying roasted broccoli, as opposed to re-using my beloved roasted cauliflower, is the amazing version that The Little Beet, a restaurant by work, produces.  The Little Beet seriously chars their vegetables, but somehow not too much to destroy the essence of the vegetable flavor.  

    My roasted broccoli attempt, while not to The Little Beet-levels, was really fantastic.  The broccoli pretty well browned (though an additional 4-5 minutes in the oven probably would have been nice), nicely salted from the parmesan, and the lemon juice really helped make the dish feel light as well.  My recipe follows the picture of the seasoned raw broccoli, ready for the oven, below.

    Raw Broccoli for Roasted

    Weeknight Roasted Broccoli

    Ingredients:

    • 2 small heads of broccoli (one bunch), chopped into large bite size pieces
    • 2 tbsp. olive oil, with additional olive oil available if desired
    • crushed red pepper flakes, optional/to taste
    • 3 cloves garlic, minced
    • 1 tsp. fresh lemon juice
    • sea salt, to taste
    • black pepper, to taste
    • 2 tbsp. grated parmesan

    Directions:

    • Pre-heat oven to 425 degrees, and line one baking sheet with aluminum foil
    • Toss broccoli with olive oil, minced garlic, few pinches of crushed red pepper flakes (to taste), and salt and pepper (to taste).  Recommend starting with 1/2 tsp. salt and 1/4 tsp. black pepper.
    • Spread broccoli on lined baking sheet, so that the broccoli makes an even layer across the sheet.
    • Place in oven, and roast for 10 minutes.  
    • Stir broccoli on pan, while ultimately retaining an even layer, and turn pan around so front of pan is now in the back of the oven.
    • Turn off oven, but keep broccoli in the oven for another 5 – 10 minutes (to desired browning).
    • Remove broccoli from oven, and place in a serving bowl.  Let sit for 5 – 10 minutes, then add lemon juice, parmesan and another 1/2 tsp. salt.
    • Let sit for another 5 – 10 minutes for flavors to blend before adjusting flavors to taste.  At this stage, you can also add more olive oil for more moisture if you prefer.  Note: if you adjust the flavors too soon after the broccoli comes out of the oven, you may over spice the broccoli, particularly with the lemon juice, because it takes a bit for the flavors to combine.
    • Serve warm or cold.

    Roasted Broccoli

  • Coffeecake Muffins – Amazing Idea, Failed Execution

    For a recent brunch gathering I decided to incorporate a sweet offering to complement the otherwise savory egg, bread, rice/lentil and salad options.  Not surprisingly, I turned to Cook's Illustrated to find a recipe, and was incredibly happy when I found their Coffeecake Muffin recipe.  

    I am a big fan of nut-free coffeecake (I am allergic to nuts), and the muffin approach seemed like a great way to ensure a not-dry cake because the smaller cakes could presumably bake more evenly.  Unfortunately though, the concept was better than reality for at least the first time I made it.

    I followed the recipe mostly as is, omitting the pecans and using low-fat sour cream instead of full-fat.  I used 13 muffin cups though because the quantity of dough was WAY more than 12 cups would allow.  In fact, I think I should have used 18 cups or so because I definitely overfilled each cup, which led to a baking disaster.  Each cup's dough eventually spilled over the sides, covering the entire outside of the cup.  So halfway through the baking, I had to scoop up the dough on the baking pan, and off of the sides of the silicon cups.  

    Coffeecake Muffins

    When I took the muffins out of the oven, some were partially baked and sunk in while cool, and others were overbaked.  The flavor was outstanding though – great spices and dark brown sugar combined with the sour cream for a rich, dense taste.  So while I definitely look forward to making them again, this was yet another reminder to never overfill muffin cups while baking!

    Coffeecake Muffins Close Up

  • Mardi Gras King Cake – Definitely Worth the Annual Effort!

    We happened to be in New Orleans during the first weekend of Mardi Gras this year, and had a fantastic time.  The daytime neighborhood parades and festive, communal spirit were really amazing to experience in person.  And in a sign that a Mardi Gras celebration of sorts would make perfect sense for us when we returned to New York, I received a Brooklyn Public Library notice the day we left NOLA that the John Besh cookbook I placed on hold a few weeks back was ready for pick-up!

    We ate at John Besh's restaurant August during our latest New Orleans trip, and had a wonderful, five-course meal (more details will be available soon on my other blog), so I was particularly excited to open up this cookbook.  The first recipe I decided to try because of the Mardi Gras tie was Besh's King Cake recipe.  

    Upon first glance, the recipe seemed fairly simple to construct, and the user comments for the online version of the recipe on Epicurious provided some helpful tips as well.  I also made several other alterations to fit what I had on hand and/or the techniques I thought would be best.  For the cake, I used 2% milk and placed the dough on a parchment paper-lined cookie sheet for baking.  For the icing, I substituted 2% milk for the sweetened condensed milk (simply because I didn't know what to do with all of the leftover condensed milk), reduced the amount of powdered sugar to 1 cup (to reach the consistency I wanted), and dyed the colored sugars at home using regular evaporated cane sugar instead of buying colored sugars.  And per the Epicurious comments, I reduced the baking time to 22 minutes, which led to a "healthy" browning on the bottom of the cake.  In the future, I'll probably go down to 20 minutes?

    Braided King Cake

    Otherwise though, I followed the recipe as is, and while I somehow got confused during the braiding process (key = use a large surface to roll out of the dough and carefully do the braiding!), it did in fact turn out to be pretty seamless to put the cake together.  The result tasted really great too – lots of cinnamon and citrus flavor, perfect amount of moisture v. breadiness that other king cakes can have, and a nice amount of sweetness from the icing.  I think the icing may have been a little lemon-y for at least Andy's tastebuds though, so I may reduce that fresh juice in the future or add a bit of fresh orange juice as well for a different flavor? 

    King Cake

    This will definitely be an annual tradition though – and the best part is that you get SO much cake from this recipe, that you absolutely need to throw a Mardi Gras party to consume it!

  • Five-Minute Mexican-Inspired Layer Dip

    I love dips.  I particlarly love bean-based dips, no matter what they are comprised of – white/cannelini beans, chickpeas, black beans, pinto beans, etc.  And so for our small Super Bowl get together, I knew I would make a dip – the only question was which one.

    In preparation for our pre-game trip to the grocery store, I decided I would make a Mexican-inspired layer dip (not a surprise for the Super Bowl!).  My usual go-to layer dip recipe is from a many-years-old Cooking Light magazine, and it calls for baking the dip for a warm served result.  I thought a baked dip would be a bit iffy for the Super Bowl though, both because the dip would get cold relatively quickly during this multi-hour event and because the I haven't quite figured out how to bake the sour cream without it getting an unpleasing consistency.  

    I ultimately decided to forge my own way with the dip, and made some game time decisions at the grocery store (pun intended).  I purchased a can of vegetarian refried black beans, jarred organic salsa on sale, light sour cream, scallions, cilantro, and a block of cheddar cheese.  To make the dip itself, I mixed the black beans with a bit of chile powder and minced garlic, and made this mixture the first layer.  I then added some sour cream to make it at least appear as a coherent layer, did the same with the salsa, cheddar cheese, and sprinkled some cilantro on top.  I added the chopped scallions as a side addition to the dish because one of our guests does not like scallions, but that would have otherwise gone on top of the dip as well.

    The dip turned out as one would expect – rich, flavorful and maybe a bit acidic because of the jarred salsa.  In the future, I will probably spend an extra five minutes to make a fresh pico de gallo salsa to reduce both the acidity of the dip and create a more fresh, light taste.  Otherwise though, I think this is the perfect five-minute dip to throw into an otherwise busy party preparation process.

    Mexican Layer Dip Top

  • Roasted Chickpeas – Healthy, Extremely Cheap Snack, Though Perhaps Too Laborious for Party Preparation?

    While searching for Super Bowl and Downton Abbey watch party snack recipes, I came across the James Beard Foundation's website, which I never had realized had so many fantastic recipes (thanks @beardfoundation on Twitter).  I immediately "pinned" the Roasted Chickpeas recipe by Allison Tozzi Liu because of it's apparent ease and use of ingredients I almost always have in my cupboard (dried chickpeas, olive oil, smoked paprika, cayenne, cumin, and salt – yup, that's it!).  

    As I started to prepare the dish though, and began putting thought into how to prepare it simultaneously with the other dishes I was planning on making for the party, I began realizing how much work it was taking for a relatively simple snack.  Not only did I need to cook the dried chickpeas, let them cool down and dry, but I also needed to stir the chickpeas every 10 minutes while they were taking up my oven from other dishes I wanted to bake.  The chickpeas took about 50 minutes – 1 hour to roast in the oven (instead of the 40 minutes called for in the recipe).

    Roasted Chickpeas

    The chickpeas were ultimately a fine party snack – light, crunchy, salty and healthy.  But given the amount of work that went into preparing them, I think I'll probably not make this dish again.

  • Another White Bean Dip and More Lessons Learned

    With a small party coming up, some leftover dried cannelini beans in the cupboard, and lots of fresh herbs in the fridge, I naturally decided to make a white bean dip a few weekends ago.  Instead of defaulting to the white bean dip recipes I have relied on this past though, including the Giada de Laurentiis version and the Cook's Illustrated rosemary white bean spread, I decided to try to find a new version that would make use of those plentiful herbs – fresh cilantro, parsley, chives, thyme AND rosemary – in my fridge.  

    I found the David Lebovitz version online, and both the ease and flexibility of the recipe appealed to me.  However, in loosely following the recipe instructions, I failed to heed the first, and most important, piece of advice Lebovitz had for his readers – use good beans!  The leftover cannelini beans in my cupboard have been there for…I don't remember how long.  That should have been sign number one to go buy some fresh beans.  Sign number two was when the beans took at least 3 – 4 hours to cook, and still didn't have the right consistency. 

    "Oh well," I thought to myself as I drained the beans and added them to the food processor with parsley, chives, rosemary and other accompaniments.  I also added 1/4 – 1/2 cup of the bean cooking liquid to the food processor without first trying to process the beans a bit to see how much liquid the dip would need for a good, dipping consistency.  Sign number three I had a problem was when after giving the ingredients a whirl in the processor, it was clear the dip was too watery.  

    Throwing caution to the wind, I decided to still serve the bean dish with store-bought pita chips.  The dip was actually pretty tasty in terms of flavor, but the texture was too watery for my preference and the beans didn't quite taste right, even pureed.  My guests also enjoyed the dip flavor, and somehow didn't seem to mind the texture issues that I had with the dish, which I guess could be considered an inadvertent success?

    I have learned my lesson though – use good beans and puree the beans first before adding more liquid!

    White Bean Dip Liebovitz