Mango & Tomato

12/22/08

Macaroons with Dark Chocolate & Almonds

I have been wanting to make cookies for the last few weeks, but just haven't had the time (okay, I was too busy sitting on the couch watching TV). This weekend, however, I had a perfect excuse to bake: Saturday Anna and I went over to Anna S's (aka the engaged Anna) and Nathan's for dinner with Wendy, and tonight Anna and I are going over to Cindy's for Hanukkah. I wanted to bring a fun dessert and found a recipe for Paradise Macaroons on Dragon's Kitchen blog. This recipe was adapted from Alton Brown, and I made further changes. The ingredient list and directions below are my adaptations of the recipe. Enjoy!

Macaroons with Dark Chocolate & Almonds

Ingredients
4 large egg whites at room temperature (very important not to use cold egg whites)
14 ounce package sweetened shredded coconut
2 ounces sweetened condensed milk
1 pinch kosher salt
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
5 ounces granulated sugar
12 ounces dark chocolate chips
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
1/4 cup almond slivers, toasted

Directions
1. Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F.

2. In a stand mixer or using a hand mixer with a whisk attachment, beat the egg whites until foamy. While continuing to beat the whites, gradually add sugar and continue to whip until the mixture turns glossy and you have medium white peaks (This took me about 8 minutes).

3. In a separate bowl combine coconut, condensed milk, salt and vanilla. Carefully add the coconut mixture into the egg white mixture and fold just till combined. Do not over-mix!

4. Using a spoon or an ice-cream scoop (Thanks, Anna!) make mini mounds on parchment paper. Turns out these cookies don't really expand much, so feel free to space them pretty close together. Bake the cookies in the oven for about 20-25 minutes, until golden brown. (I found it useful to rotate the baking sheets halfway through the process).

5. Meanwhile, melt the chocolate chips and the butter in a double boiler.

6. Once the cookies come out of the oven, cool them on wire racks completely before the next step.

7. Once the cookies are cooled, dip them into the dark chocolate mixture and sprinkle them with almonds. Let the cookies set before packing them or eating them :)

Thoughts: when I first tried these cookies, I thought they were incredibly sweet. Good thing I like dark chocolate, because the slight bitterness of the dark chocolate did a marvelous job of offsetting the sweetness from the coconut and condensed milk. However, as the cookies sat for a while, it almost seemed as if the sweetness diminished: magic! Anna thinks that if you are not into very sweet things, you could easily use unsweetened shredded coconut.

Overall, this was a fun and easy baking project with very satisfactory results!

P.S. I love sweetened condensed milk. In fact my mom made a cookie in a shape of a nut with a filling of condensed milk when I was little. Unfortunately, she no longer has the special molds for those cookies. The condensed milk is great in iced coffee, but be careful not to be too eager about getting every single drop of the milk from the metal can: I tried doing it and cut my finger in the proceess.

12/18/08

I was chosen!

Today I received an email from Michelle of foodieview. She told me that my Surprise: Frozen Food That Actually Tastes Great was chosen as one of the photographs for Foodie Views of the Day! (Special Thank You to Ashley for voting for me).

This made me really happy. The funny thing, though, is that I did not even make this dish...unless you count cooking something from a frozen package as "cooking," which I know some of you do :)

Regardless, it's always nice to get a shout out!

P.S. I promise to post something that I've actually cooked myself soon (as opposed to frozen food, my dad's guest blog and this post).

Guest Blogger (MY DAD) presents Baked Trout with Vegetables

I'm sure I've written before about my parents' cooking abilities. Perhaps that is where Anna and I get our mad skills :) Seriously, though, ever since I was a little girl I remember both my parents sharing the kitchen duties. Perhaps that's why I find it nice when a guy I'm dating is able to cook (thanks, dad, for setting the bar high!).

A few days ago, my dad called me and said he will be emailing me a few photographs of a fish dish he made. Honestly, I was slightly worried. Was he trying to compete with me? Of course not! Today in the morning, I finally received the attached photographs and was so impressed! Not only did the fish look delicious, but the photographs themselves were in focus, sharp, and only needed a bit of cropping.

That's when I decided to have my dad be a pseudo guest blogger! Why pseudo? Because it's actually me writing up this post, but my dad did give me the directions for this Baked Trout with Vegetables dish. Please note that none of the measurements are exact: in my family we just wing it!

Ingredients
trout, scales removed, washed and patted dry
kosher salt
3 garlic cloves, finely minced
ground black pepper
2 tablespoons mayonnaise
vegetable oil
potatoes, peeled, cut into chunks
carrots, peeled, cut into chunks
red pepper, core removed, cut into chunks
lemon juice, optional

Directions
1. Preheat the oven to 375-400 degrees.
2. Season the fish inside and out with salt. Smear the mayonnaise on the inside of the fish (not only do we Russians love mayonnaise, but it also helps to keep the fish moist).
3. Make 4 slits on each side of the fish (be careful not to go too deep). Combine minced garlic and ground pepper with a little bit of salt and fill the slits with this mixture. If you have any mixture left over, add it to the inside of the fish.
4. Coat a Pyrex rectangular dish or a metal rectangular dish with oil. Place the fish in the middle of the dish.
5. Coat potatoes, carrots and red peppers with oil, salt and pepper and place them in the dish around the fish. [Fish and dish rhyme!]
6. At this point you can sprinkle the entire concoction (my word, not my dad's) with lemon juice.
7. Bake the fish and the vegetables for about 40 minutes until everything is cooked through and the skin of the fish is crisp.

Unfortunately I have not tasted this dish, but be assured that it is quite tasty! My dad said the fish is also good served cold the next day.

This is quite a versatile dish, because you can use whichever vegetables you like. Feel free to also experiment with the spices: add red pepper flakes, dry basil, tarragon, or lemon pepper.

I hope you enjoyed this look into what is cooking at my parents' house! If you would like to be a guest blogger next, please let me know!

12/17/08

Can frozen prepared food be good?

This has been a pretty busy weekend: shopping, dancing, eating out, more eating out, and napping. Needless to say, there was no grocery shopping involved.

When Anna and I were coming back from dancing Sunday night (close to midnight!) we decided to stop at the grocery store and pick up a few things. I decided to try Voila Shrimp Scampi from the frozen section.

My original plan was to take this frozen entree for lunch to work. Monday morning, however, when I woke up, I decided I needed a mental day off. So I stayed home, chilled out, and made Shrimp Scampi for lunch (following the recommended directions: stove-top instead of microwave).

I rarely buy frozen food at the store, so did not know what to expect. Plus, I was a bit worried about the frozen peppers (when I bought a bag of frozen peppers in the past, I found them tasteless and watery; the texture was rather horrible: soggy). However, I was rather pleased with the final product! The pasta and the shrimp were perfectly cooked, the sauce was garlicky and flavorful, and the peppers and peas still had a bit of a bite to them. The best part? Even if you eat the entire bag (I shared mine with Anna!), you are still only consuming 475 calories!

12/16/08

Great Peruvian Food with Great Friends

As if having Mexican for brunch on Saturday wasn't enough, Jenn, Anna and I went to a Peruvian Restaurant on Sunday after 4 hours of shopping: what can I say? It was a fun weekend! Jenn was the one who recommended Machu Picchu in Falls Church, VA, and we decided to trust her judgment, because she is the one who told me about my favorite sushi place: Yamazato. Once again, Jenn did not disappoint :)

The restaurant looked a bit questionable on the outside, but I guess just like when it comes to people, it's what on the inside that really counts. The menu was pretty long, and we were starving, so it was a nice touch when our waitress brought us a basket of fresh hot bread and a bowl of spicy green sauce.

Oh, here's a picture of Jenn and me (and my new red vest). The next photo shows some of the decor, and if you look closely, you can see a reflection of Anna (with her straight hair: super cute!) and Jenn in the mirror.

Luckily, all three of us love food and are quite happy to share different dishes. To start off, we ordered Ceviche Mixto: fish, shrimp, octopus and squid marinated in lemon juice, served with sweet potato and corn on the cob. The dish was lovely! I could have eaten the whole thing by myself. The seafood was well flavored, the sweet potato provided a nice balance to the lemon juice, but the corn was a bit starchy (it must have been a different type than the one we buy at the grocery store). Oh, and the amount of red onions was overwhelming: we left most of them on the plate. Still, a very promising start!

Instead of ordering an entree for each of us, we choose a chicken and a beef dish and also ordered a side of plantains. For the chicken we chose Pollo Saltado: fresh boneless chicken sauteed in olive oil with red onions and tomatoes and served with French fries, fresh herbs and white rice. For the beef we chose Seco de carne a la Huachana: pieces of beef in a stew flavored with cilantro, served with rice and beans. And of course there were the plantains.

As you can see by the last photograph above, we absolutely loved the food! The chicken (even though it was dark meat) was awesome. The seasoning reminded me of Russian shashlik. And of course I love anything with tomatoes and fries. The rice was cooked perfectly! I wish I was as capable.

The beef dish surprised us a bit: there were still bones in the pieces of meat, and there was a weird membrane on each side of the meat. However, once all that extra "stuff" was removed, the meat was tender and well seasoned! The beans, though, were the bomb! I think these were the best beans I've ever had [sorry, Laura :) ].

Alas, the plantains were a bit disappointing. I had plantains for the first time when I became friends with Laura, who is Puerto Rican. Every single time I visit her, she makes fried sweet plantains. She cuts them on a diagonal and then fries them in oil. They are so insanely good that we need to count the slices to make sure each one gets the same amount. The plantains in the restaurant were cut in half and then cooked. Maybe they weren't ripe enough or did not soak up enough oil, but they just did not taste quite right. Anna and Jenn, however, liked them.

We were pretty stuffed, but I never (or very rarely) say no to dessert. We chose fried doughnuts served soaked in a sweet syrup. Again, this dish reminded me of a Russian dish: ponchiki (fried doughnuts). I'm glad we chose just one order: any more, and we would have had to leave the food behind.

Overall, I would definitely recommend this restaurant to others. The service was courteous, but not intrusive, and the food was definitely solid.

Another award :)

Melissa from Schweet 'n Savory gave me an Uber Amazing Blog award: YAY! Thank you!

She's only 17 and already has such a great blog.

12/14/08

Brunch at Alero with Friends

This past Saturday Anna and I met up with my friends Jason, Theresa, Adrienne and Wendy for brunch at Alero. I love Mexican food, and was looking forward to trying this restaurant, especially since Cindy has sang it high praises.

The decor was quite festive, but not kitchy (sp?). And of course I was happy when our waiter brought a few baskets of chips and a few bowls of salsa for the table! I just wish the chips would have been warm.

The menu had your typical Mexican brunch items, but what caught my attention were the $3.25 mimosas! How could I pass that by? We ordered mimosas and coffee and were happy with both.

We all chose something different (other than Anna and me) for our entrees. I ordered Fajita Maria with beef, and it was spot on! The meat was tender, juicy and flavorful. The rest of the plate wasn't overwhelmed by the cheese and grease (as is typical of many Mexican restaurants). The only thing missing was the guacamole (I guess you had to order that extra) and the potatoes...the menu said the potatoes came along with the entree, but they were nowhere to be found. Oh well, the food was good, the company was fun, and everyone had a great time!

And then there was time to go shopping!

12/12/08

Fried Vegetable Wontons with Red Pepper Salad

Have you missed me? I definitely missed all of you and sharing my food adventures with you. I guess I haven't done too much cooking this week.

Today at work I was thinking about making mushroom stuffed wontons. Hilariously, when I came home, Anna was sauteing a mixture of mushrooms, ginger, garlic, onion, carrots and cabbage: we are so on the same wavelength.

To go along with the wontons I made a quick red pepper salad with soy sauce, sesame seed oil, mirin, cilantro and toasted sesame seeds.

Ingredients for wontons
mushrooms, finely chopped
ginger, minced
garlic, minced
onion, finely chopped
cabbage, shredded
carrot, shredded
seasoning: salt, pepper, soy sauce
store-bought wonton wrappers
vegetable oil

Ingredients for the Red Pepper Salad:
Red bell pepper, thinly sliced
cilantro, chopped
seasoning: soy sauce, sesame seed oil, mirin, cilantro

As far as the amounts: you just have to wing it!

Directions
1. In a pan saute mushrooms, onion, garlic and ginger. Once everything is pretty well cooked and the moisture has evaporated, add carrots and cabbage. Saute for a few minutes. Let the mixture cool slightly.
2. Take one wonton wrapper. Put it on a plate. Put a small amount of the filling in the center.

3. Dip your finger in a bit of water and "draw a border" on the inside of the wonton wrapper. Fold the wrapper in half, pressing the seams. For a fun little twist, crimp the edges.

5. Pour enough oil to cover the bottom of a pan by about a quarter of an inch. Fry wontons for about 1.5 minutes on each side. Remove them from the pan and let them rest on a paper towel to soak in the extra oil.

6. For the salad, combine all the ingredients together.

This was such a satisfactory dinner! The vegetables inside the wontons and the salad almost make you feel like you are eating something healthy: not quite true since the wontons are fried!!!

You can obviously have a dipping sauce to go along with this dish, but the filling came out a bit on a salty side, so there was no need for extra soy sauce.

For extra suggestions, check out my earlier post for Asian Chicken Dumplings.

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