Ambitious Delicious(ness)

Daring Bakers is a place where a community of bloggers follow the same recipe, while providing them the freedom to add a new ingredient or two (or four). Then, everyone posts their creations on the same day of the month. I’m simply amazed at the things people come up with!

The February 2009 challenge is hosted by Wendy of WMPE’s blog and Dharm of Dad ~ Baker & Chef. They have chosen a Chocolate Valentino cake by Chef Wan; a Vanilla Ice Cream recipe from Dharm and a Vanilla Ice Cream recipe from Wendy as the challenge.

For this challenge, I wasn’t very creative at all. Instead, I focused on making classic desserts- a flourless chocolate cake paired with vanilla bean ice cream from scratch. I’ve made a flourless chocolate cake before, so I wasn’t too concerned about that. It was the ice cream I was worried about, especially since I don’t have an ice cream maker.

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I bought four pieces of chicken thighs the other day and wanted to experiment with a new recipe. Then I found a lemon in my fridge. But I was scratching my head because don’t even remember what I bought it for!

Do you ever forget about what items are in your fridge? I try to write down what I bought on a notepad attached to the fridge door but it still happens! I’ve found slimy cucumber along with some forgotten fresh basil leaves that had turned black… what a waste!

For this dish, I would recommend using chicken thighs with skin for more flavor. I added a little bit of water to balance out the acidity.

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Every traditional Korean meal contains dishes of ban chan (or side dishes). Ban chan usually consists of different meats or vegetables that are often boiled and then seasoned. Even when you eat at a Korean restaurant, you will notice that every restaurant has different ban chan, depending on the day.

The dishes are smaller in portion, and I often hear people calling it “appetizers.” Technically, this is not the case since it is eaten as a part of your meal, like a side dish, as opposed to before the entrée.

I could eat this dish alone with rice and I’ll be a happy camper. When I was in college, this was one of the must-have items that I would bring back to school.

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Are you wondering why I’m telling you to cook flower petals? If you look carefully, you will see purple sweet potato slices!

I like trying to cook with new produce every chance that I get. I saw these at the grocery store and couldn’t resist!  Then I realized that Blue Terra Chips® are probably from purple sweet potatoes so I decided to try making it myself. (Correction – Blue chips are made from blue potatoes, not purple sweet potatoes!)

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(Above photo credit belongs to Albert @ www.uvhaze.com. Be sure to check out his blog, as he has some amazing photos! -Ambitious)

A couple of years ago, I made a red velvet cake from scratch to take to C’s Christmas party (remember that, ladies?). The cake being hard as brick, not to mention the underwhelming color – I hadn’t used nearly enough food coloring. It was eligible to be featured on Cake Wrecks!

According to Wikipedia, “Common ingredients include buttermilk, butter, flour, cocoa powder, and often either beets, or red food coloring. It is most popular in the Southern United States, though known in other regions.”

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I went to a liquor store and asked for the cheapest vodka they had. The owner gave me a huge plastic bottle of vodka from upstate New York.

Penne a la vodka is one of my favorite pasta dishes to eat. Never mind favorite; it’s actually one of the few pasta dishes that I actually like. I try to stay away from the heavy cream based sauces. They are delicious but sleep inducing for me, especially after eating it at restaurants!

I didn’t have access to a recipe that I found on Food Blog Search (a great recipe search tool, by the way), so resorted to using a recipe from a cookbook by a person I don’t adore so much.

It was Rachael Ray’s 30 minute meals.

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I was walking around and saw a throng of people gathered at a produce cart. I joined them to purchase a bag of red peppers for $1. Do you think there is an ethical reason for me to avoid purchasing produce from carts?

But I digress. This post is not about produce carts. Nor is it about mushrooms. It’s about red bell peppers. And stuffing them.
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My mom used to let us make our own California hand rolls for dinner. We would each get a plate with quartered pieces of nori (seaweed), with the vegetables in the middle of the table. Each person could add whatever ingredients they liked, roll it up and chow down. My favorite was always the ripe avocado.

I used to always complain to my mom that it didn’t look the same as it did at restaurants… so I learned to make it myself.

I love all sorts of sushi and sashimi but it’s hard to enjoy without burning a hole in your wallet. While there are cheaper alternatives, I try to stay away from certain establishments. You can never be too careful when it comes to sushi, especially when it’s dirt cheap! I once saw people selling sushi at the back of Le Croissant shop in Queens, NY and ran the other way.

Making California rolls at home is much more cost efficient, considering that you have the major items like sushi rice and seaweed already. But like with most things you do yourself, you’ll get a lot more bang for your buck!

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