Ginger Spice Scones

My secretary loves scones, particularly the scones from the Whole Foods at Columbus Circle in NYC.  Now I don't know if these scones are particularly traditional, or just that good.  A few weeks ago I found myself at Whole Foods before work and I picked up a few scones for her in addition to lunch for me.  Ever since I have found myself thinking about scones.  So tonight I decided to actually make some scones, which was a first for me.  I figured scones are a lot like biscuits, which I have made several times in the past, so how hard could they really be?  The answer is, not that hard.  And they are wonderfully adaptable.

For our scones I decided to use crystallized ginger and a combination of Asian spices - cardamom, star anise, cinnamon, and cloves.  Originally I wanted to throw in some dried currants in lieu of the ginger, but the local grocery was out.  So I decided to just stick with crystallized ginger, which might actually have been a better choice anyway.  Alex said that the scones were a little dry, but scones are supposed to be crumbly and a little dry, aren't they?  Otherwise he said they were really good and that he really liked the flavor.  I think they would be wonderful served with some clotted cream, which I think would solve Alex's complaint that the scones were dry.  But where does one buy clotted cream?  I also think they would be lovely spread with a little orange marmalade, but Alex disagrees.  He thinks that the marmalade would mask the flavors of the spices and ginger.  Now that I know how easy scones are to make I will definitely be making more.  Perhaps my next batch will be pumpkin caramel scones for fall.  Or more likely, some raspberry chocolate chip scones.  I might tweak the recipe a little to combat Alex's complaint of dryness, but then again, I might not!

Recipe after the jump!

Baked Eggs with Bacon and Spinach

 

Tonight was another one of those nights where I had no inspiration for dinner, except that I had a few recipes dogeared in the September issue of Bon Appetit.  After looking through those recipes, the only one that we could make with the ingredients we had on hand was this recipe for Baked Eggs with Bacon and Spinach.  I have this thing for baked eggs.  I have made several different varieties with different cooking temperatures, different cooking times, and most importantly, different mix-ins.  One of my favorite versions of baked eggs was this Oeufs en Cocotte, which is creamier and cheesier than this version.  I also really love making baked eggs with Mexican chorizo, minced garlic, scallions, and cilantro - which is amazing when served with little toast soldiers made out of cornbread or a nice rustic bread.

This version of baked eggs was very good.  I liked the combination of eggs, bacon and spinach, but like Alex said, it was missing something.  It was all very tasty, but a little one note.  However, I really liked the idea of toasting the English muffins and layering them at the bottom of the ramekin so that they can really soak up all of the eggy, creamy goodness without becoming overly soggy. 

Recipe after the jump!

Chickpeas with Chorizo

Chickpeas and chorizo are a very standard combination in Spain.  Sometimes you see chickpea and chorizo stews and sometimes you just see chickpeas and chorizo sauteed together.  Every once in awhile you see some spinach thrown into the mix.  Tonight we decided to sautee together chickpeas, onions, garlic, chorizo, and flat leaf parsley, all seasoned with a pinch of sweet paprika and a splash of sherry vinegar.  Together they make a hearty, satisfying meal - one that we served with some pan con tomate and a simple arugula salad.  The bitterness and freshness of the arugula salad helped lighten the whole meal up so that it felt appropriate for a 90 degree summer evening.  I know that some recipes include some toasted bread crumbs in their chickpeas with chorizo and I think we will definitely try that out next time.  I also might throw in some baby spinach to saute up with the chickpeas and chorizo for a little variety.  That would make this dish more of a one pot roughly 20 minute meal, which sounds pretty awesome to me.

Recipe after the jump!

Tomato and Onion Salad with Tahini Dressing

When I started digging through the fridge for dinner what I was envisioning was a tomato-cucumber-onion salad.  Then I discovered we were out of cucumbers and I had to come up with a Plan B.  And Plan B involved this Tomato and Onion Salad with Tahini Dressing by Mark Bittman.  We had a ton of gorgeous tomatoes - including one yellow and red heirloom tomato from Whole Foods, and two beautiful ruby red tomatoes from the CSA.  We tried to take some pictures of them but none of the pictures we took really did them justice.  Oh well.  That's what happens when you cook at night in your NYC apartment with a desk lamp as lighting.

I liked this salad.  I thought it was light and fresh, and really different.  It wasn't perfect - I wish you could taste the lemon juice more, instead of mostly tasting the tahini.  And I think in the future we will seed the tomatoes a little because otherwise it's just gets a little too watery.  Alex said all he could taste was the parsley and he wants to cut down on the amount in the future, but as I've said before, I love parsley.

Recipe after the jump!

Macaroons

I know that for some people, macaroons are an acquired taste.  Boy have I acquired that taste.  I find it really difficult to resist a nice fluffy, moist coconut macaroon - chocolate-dipped or not.  I'm not sure where my love of coconut macaroons stems from because I can't ever remember eating them when I was younger and I'm not sure what possessed me to try them as I got older, but I am sure glad that I did.  I know that some recipes use sweetened condensed milk, but I really wanted to stick to the traditional macaroons before branching out and using condensed milk (although I bet that macaroons made with condensed milk instead of egg whites are fabulously rich).

These macaroons have a really nice almond flavor to them.  If you don't like almonds, or marzipan, I would recommend using all vanilla extract and leaving out the almond extract, or just cutting down on the amount of almond extract.

Recipe after the jump!

Zucchini Pancakes

This summer I am trying harder than ever to make sure that Alex and I have at least one vegetarian meal a week.  We just have so many veggies in the fridge from our CSA, it is impossible to use them all without having at least one vegetarian evening per week.  The problem with our vegetarian nights is that they often involve a ton of carbs - pasta, bread, etc.  But tonight we decided to make zucchini pancakes from a recipe I found on the NY Times website, and serve it with some caprese salad.  Lots of vegetables (and cheese), but no carbs!  Good for us.

These pancakes were really good.  They had nice flavor and I really liked the yogurt sauce with them.  I also thought they were a novel way to use up more zucchini.  After all, you can only eat so much pasta with zucchini and/or zucchini bread.  But Alex and I both agreed that we would prefer the Thai Corn Fritters we made a few weeks ago to these pancakes, mostly due to the texture.  These pancakes had a nice crispy exterior, but they got soggy fast and the interiors had little to no texture.  The Thai Corn Fritters retained their texture better - mostly due to the profusion of sweet corn kernels, and they had more explosive and fresh flavors.  They just tasted so much brighter, probably due to the sweet chili dipping sauce and the amount of cilantro.  But since these zucchini pancakes were so different, it's hard to compare them to the Thai Corn Fritters.  If I were to make these pancakes again, I would tweak them to give them more texture and more fresh, herbal flavor.

Recipe after the jump!

Banh Mi Sliders

I'm not sure where I came up with the idea for these sliders.  Sometimes the genesis of a particular recipe is clear, but this is one of those instances where we had ground beef defrosted for no particular purpose, and two nights ago I decided while laying in bed that we should make Vietnamese-inspired burgers.  So I started listing the ingredients that I wanted to include in my burgers until Alex basically told me to go to sleep.  Haha.  Originally I wanted to make actual full-size burgers, but after looking at the width of the baguette I picked up from Sullivan Street Bakery, we realized that there was no way a burger would fit.  So we decided to make some cute little sliders instead.   

We seasoned our sliders with fish sauce, soy sauce, sriracha, shallots, and brown sugar.  Fish sauce sounds like a really strange addition to a burger, but it didn't make it fishy at all.  Instead the fish sauce gave the meat great depth of flavor and replaced the kosher salt I usually throw in my burgers.  The brown sugar gave the meat a nice subtle sweetness that I thought was a very pleasant counterpoint to the other more savory flavors of the burgers.  I have to give credit to Alex there because the brown sugar was his idea.  The sliders were really juicy from the fish sauce, soy, sriracha and shallots, which was awesome because it's very easy to dry sliders out since they are so little.  There is nothing worse than biting into a slider and realizing that the meat is so overcooked and dry that you might as well be chewing on a hockey puck.  I'm not sure that you could taste the sriracha, but every once in a while when you had a bite there was a hint of spice that I don't think came from the jalapenos although it's really hard to say.  The toppings were a really nice touch as well.  I love being able to customize your burgers.  I also love adding things like quickly pickled carrots and daikon because they cut through the rich fattiness of the burger and give it a really nice freshness.  The same goes for the cilantro, jalapeno, and the cucumber.  All of those toppings are traditional banh mi toppings, as is the mayonnaise, although it's not always kewpie mayonnaise.  These might not be my favorite burgers that I have ever made, but they are definitely up there.

Recipe after the jump!