Cranberry Banana Bran Muffins

Posted on July 5, 2015 by Jack & Barbra Donachy

Super moist muffins bursting with cranberry and banana flavor and , shhhh, healthful bran.

I inherited a bag of bran from a friend who moved from Ulaanbaatar earlier this summer. Had she not explained that the cyrillic words translated to wheat bran, I would have never guessed. There is a section in most grocery stores here in Ulaanbaatar that houses a variety of mysterious products that, I think, come from Russia. Sometimes I can decode the cyrillic and figure out what the items are. In most cases, I leave them alone. Now that I understand the cyrillic word for wheat bran, I can see that this ingredient is readily available in the stores we shop.

A week or so ago, I made my first bran muffins with my new pantry. They came out pretty well. They definitely had a bran flavor, which is to sat that they tasted like they were good for us. Partnered with an egg and a freshly brewed cup of coffee, we enjoyed daily breakfasts with that batch. Our test question when rating our recipes is, “If you got this ____ in a restaurant, would you be happy?” The bran muffins I made were good, but not impressive by any measure.

By contrast, today’s bran muffins are absolutely impressive and we would be delighted were they served to us in a restaurant or café. While there’s still enough bran in them to warrant the title “bran muffin,” the ripe bananas provide moistness and flavor the former muffins lacked and the cranberries add much-needed texture. The soured milk also adds moisture and a buttermilk flavor. When I put all the ingredients together, I was concerned that the batter would be too liquidy. It turns out the bran absorbs some of the liquid, so the ratio of liquid to dry ingredients was perfect. Not only did the muffins pass our test question, we’ve already eaten four muffins in one morning. That’s the true test.

Cranberry Banana Bran Muffins

Ingredients

2 large eggs
2/3 cup packed brown sugar
1 cup ripe banana, mashed
1 cup milk soured with 1 tbsp lemon juice
1/4 cup light oil, such as canola
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 cup wheat bran
1 3/4 cup all-purpose flour
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp ground cinnamon
pinch salt
1 cup dried cranberries

Directions

Grease 12-muffin tin. Set aside.
Preheat oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C).
In a small bowl, mix together wet ingredients. Set aside.
In a large bowl, whisk together bran, flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon and salt.
Pour wet ingredients into dry and whisk until smooth.
Fold in cranberries.
Pour batter into muffin tin. Each muffin cup will be full.
Bake for 20-25 minutes. Muffins will be lightly browned and a wooden pick inserted into the middle of muffin will come out clean when done.
Let cool in pan on wire rack for about 5 minutes before removing.

4th of July Appetizer or Anytime Snack: Who’s Up for a Quail Egg Slider?

Posted on July 4, 2015 by Jack & Barbra Donachy

Inspired by food truck fare, bar menus and backyard grills everywhere, these miniature burgers are the perfect summertime hors d’oeuvre.

Here in Mongolia, it can be tough to find the ingredients we’re looking for. Seafood? Forget it. And if we hadn’t smuggled in… er, I mean brought with us a full collection of spices, we’d be scrambling to find much of anything past pepper, paprika, cinnamon and coriander. Interestingly enough though, fresh quail eggs are easy to come by. Thus, the wheels of invention start spinning.

Tossing an egg on top of a sandwich is a time-honored tradition. And sliders – those miniature hamburgers served as an appetizer or traditionally in sets of three as a main entrée – have been around for decades. But this dressed up version of a classic sandwich, complete with thick bacon, a chipotle-and-soy-sauce seasoned patty, swiss cheese, a nice, big sautéed mushroom cap and topped with a perfectly fried sunny-side-up quail egg brings things up a notch.

As for the quail eggs themselves, they’re loaded with nutrition – research has put them at three to four times the nutritional value of typical chicken eggs. But with comparatively large yolks and shells lined with a tough membrane, they can be tricky to work with. Crack the eggshell on a sharp edge such as the side of your frying pan, then, taking care not to break the yolk, use a small knife to cut the egg open. Cook these eggs at a lower temperature than you would cook a chicken egg; they’ll still cook faster.

See our Slider Bun recipe here: Miniature Slider Buns

For terrific Potato Salad options to serve with these sliders, see: Pennsylvania German Potato Salad or Roasted Potato and Caramelized Onion Salad.

Quail Egg Sliders

Ingredients (for about 9 sliders)

2 1/2″ to 3″ slider buns (Ours averaged 2 3/4 inches. See the recipe here.)
your favorite mustard
lettuce
olive oil
Bacon, enough to cover each bun
1 pound ground beef
1 tbsp soy sauce
1/2 tbsp powdered chili pepper seasoning such as Penzeys Southwest Seasoning. (We used our own blend of equal parts powdered smoked chipotle chiles, powdered ancho chiles and oregano.)
black pepper
slices of Swiss cheese cut to the size of the patties
mushroom caps or slices of mushrooms, approximately the diameter of the buns
smoked sea salt
quail eggs
a few additional pinches of the above chipotle seasoning or similar seasoning (for the eggs)

Directions

Place mushroom caps in a bowl. Toss with a little olive oil and some smoked sea salt and black pepper. Set aside.
Combine the ground beef, soy sauce, powdered chili seasoning and a few grinds of black pepper. Don’t overwork the beef. Shape into patties slightly larger than the buns. Use your finger to put a small indentation in the center of each burger. (This will ensure that as the hamburger shrinks in diameter and plumps up as it cooks that it remains large enough to cover the bun and stays fairly flat.)
Fry bacon in a frying pan. Drain on paper towels and set aside. Keep some of the bacon grease.
Add a little olive oil to the pan along with reserved bacon grease. Heat over medium heat till sizzling hot.
Add the patties to the hot pan. Cook for 2 minutes to get a good sear on one side. Flip, lower the heat a little, place the slices of Swiss cheese on top of the patties and cook for 3 additional minutes. Remove to a plate covered with a paper towel to drain. Cover plate with a pan lid or place in warm oven to keep warm. Save all or some of the grease in the pan.
Add the mushroom caps to the hot pan. Add additional olive oil if necessary. Sauté mushrooms until they begin to soften, but don’t overcook. You want them to retain some firmness. Remove and drain on paper towels.
Meanwhile, as you’re cooking the patties, sautéing the mushrooms and so forth, slice and toast the buns open side down in a pan with a little hot oil. Spread with mustard.
Add a tablespoon of olive oil to a clean, non-stick frying pan. Over medium-low heat, bring the oil to cooking temperature. Carefully crack the quail eggs and add them to the pan. The whites should begin cooking slowly, but these eggs are so small that even on low heat, they’ll be completely done in about three minutes.
Meanwhile, start building your sliders: bun, mustard, lettuce, bacon, burger with cheese, mushroom cap, sunny-side-up quail egg.
Add a pinch of chipotle seasoning to the eggs and serve sliders open-face with a pickle, a slice of tomato, and Pennsylvania Potato Salad or Roasted Potato and Caramelized Onion Salad.

Summertime Salad – Pennsylvania German Potato

Posted on July 3, 2015 by Jack & Barbra Donachy

Sweet and sour, savory custard-like dressing sets this potato salad apart from the traditional.

Summer celebrations, potluck gatherings and warm weather inspire me to prepare delicious cold salads so we’re ready for anything. We enjoyed our roasted potato and caramelized onion salad so much, we wanted to try another potato salad. I thumbed through a 30-year old cookbook a friend gave me from her toss-before-I-move pile. It was one of those community collection recipe books. Many of the recipes were tried and true, but not particularly inspired. But in between a lima bean salad and a recipe for marinating mushrooms, there was a Pennsylvania German potato salad that sounded delicious. Seeing how Jack is the expert on all things Pennsylvania (compared to me, anyway), I asked him if he ever had this salad. He remembered many summertime meals featuring this style of potato salad when he was growing up in Pennsylvania.

Inspired by Janet Jokinen, author of the original recipe, I set out to create my own version of Pennsylvania German potato salad. I cut the sugar and upped the flavors by adding German-style stone-ground mustard, seasonings, and, of course, bacon. My favorite thing about the salad is the dressing. Cooking the egg-based dressing in a double boiler produces a rich, savory custard. We made a double batch of the dressing to keep in the refrigerator in anticipation of future potato salad cravings.

Pennsylvania German Potato Salad

Ingredients

6 large potatoes, cooked and diced into bite-sized pieces
1 cup chopped celery
3 hard-boiled eggs, diced
chopped chives to taste
4 slices thick cut bacon – diced, cooked, and drained
smoked paprika
chopped parsley

Dressing

7 tbsp granulated sugar
1 tbsp all purpose flour
2 tsp German mustard
1 tbsp salt
2 tbsp dried minced onions
2 eggs, beaten
2/3 cup apple cider vinegar
1 tbsp water

Directions

Bring water to a simmer in bottom of double boiler.
Mix dressing ingredients in top of double boiler.
Stir dressing continuously over simmering water until thickened. Dressing will coat back of wooden spoon when done.
In a large bowl, combine potatoes, celery, diced eggs, chives, and bacon.
Toss potato mixture with dressing.
Garnish with smoked paprika and chopped parsley.
Serve warm or chilled.

Miniature Slider Buns: Perfect for Breakfast, Appetizers and Light Meals

Posted on July 1, 2015 by Jack & Barbra Donachy

Irresistible, soft, fluffy darling buns perfect for sliders. Imagine all the tiny meals you could make. Sliders stuffed with eggs, roasted vegetables, burgers… Think you can eat just one? Good thing they are small!

Jack had that look in his eye as he placed his order for a dozen slider rolls. It’s the look he gets when he has something up his culinary sleeve. I will keep the anticipation going and only reveal that it was a delicious use of these little fluffy buns. Stay tuned for his upcoming recipe.

I use this recipe often for hamburger and sandwich rolls. I really like how the texture. They are soft but have enough structure to hold up to whatever we put on them without caving in. I have shaped the dough to accommodate sausage sandwiches as well. This time, I divided the dough into twelve equal pieces, which gave me perfect slider buns about 2¾ inches in diameter.

Fluffy Slider Buns

Ingredients

1 cup warm water, about 110 degrees F (43 degrees C)
1 tbsp granulated sugar
2 1/4 tsp active dry yeast
2 tbsp olive oil
3 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 tsp salt

Directions

In a large bowl, stir together water, sugar and yeast. Let sit for 5 minutes.
Stir in olive oil.
Stir in one cup of flour and salt.
Add in remainder of flour 1/2 cup at a time. The last half cup will need to be kneaded in by hand.
Turn dough out onto a lightly floured surface and continue to knead until dough is smooth and elastic.
Place dough in an oil-coated bowl and cover with plastic wrap. Let dough rise until doubled in size, about an hour.
Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Set aside.
Knead dough for 2-3 minutes.
Cut dough into 12 equal pieces.
Roll dough into balls.
Flatten balls slightly and place on parchment-lined baking sheet.
Cover dough balls with damp towel and let rise for another 30 minutes.
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
Bake rolls for about 12 minutes. Rolls should be lightly browned on top and on bottom.
Let cool completely on wire rack before cutting.

Dorayaki – Japanese Pancakes Stuffed with Sweet Adzuki Bean

Posted on June 29, 2015 by Jack & Barbra Donachy

Fluffy pancakes sandwiching sweet adzuki bean paste reminded Jack of snacks grabbed on bike rides home from early mornings of fishing or birdwatching when he lived in Japan. Happy memories.

Taking stock of my freezer, I noticed I still had some sweet adzuki bean paste left from my twisted adzuki bean rolls. We love the flavor of these sweetened beans. Eating beans makes you think you are eating something good for you. They are packed with fiber and protein… but, there is quite a bit of sugar in this confection. The batter for the pancakes is sweeter than the pancakes I usually make, but the portions are smaller which alleviates guilt. I scaled the original recipe down to make only seven dorayaki. The odd number will give you one to mess up or one to “test” your batch before you serve it to your guests.

Dorayaki – aka Japanese Pancakes Stuffed with Sweet Adzuki Bean Paste

Ingredients

2 large eggs
1/3 cup sugar
1 tbsp honey
½ cup and 2 tbsp all-purpose flour
½ tsp baking powder
½ tbsp water
½ tsp vegetable oil
6 oz homemade sweet red bean paste (see recipe below)

Directions

In a medium bowl, whisk together eggs, sugar, and honey.
Sift flour and baking powder into bowl with egg mixture and mix well.
Let dough sit for 15 minutes.
Stir in 1/2 tbsp water to dough in order to thin slightly.
Heat a non-stick frying pan over medium heat.
Take the vegetable oil and coat the frying pan. Wipe pan off to remove the oil. This will prepare surface to cook dorayaki evenly.
Pour 3 tbsp of batter onto center of frying pan. In order to have pancakes come out the same size, I used a large cookie scoop to collect consistent amounts of dough to pour on the pan. The pancakes should be about 3 inches in diameter (8 cm).
Cook pancake for about a minute. You will see bubbles appear on surface.
Flip pancake and cook for another 30 seconds. Both sides should be golden brown.
Pair up pancakes. Spread sweet adzuki bean paste on one pancake. Sandwich its pair on top of the adzuki covered pancake.
Enjoy this delicious snack right away or pack it in plastic wrap to take on the road.

Sweet Adzuki Bean Paste

Ingredients

1 cup dried adzuki beans
1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
water

Directions

Place beans in a medium pot and add 3 cups fresh water. Cover, bring to a boil, then lower heat and simmer for 1 1/2 to 2 hours. Add more water if needed. Beans should be covered by water during cooking.
Beans are finished cooking when they are easily squashed between thumb and finger.
Discard water but leave beans in pot.
Add sugar to the pot.
Cook beans and sugar on medium high heat, stirring constantly.
In about 10 minutes beans will form a thick, glossy paste.
Paste can be stored in the refrigerator for a few days or indefinitely in the freezer.

Hana Restaurant, Ulaanbaatar: a Trip to Japan Without the Passport

Posted on June 27, 2015 by Jack & Barbra Donachy

Sushi?… In Mongolia?! Heck yeah! Slightly crunchy in the best possible way, herring roe paired with mackerel is a sumptuous favorite at the Hana Japanese restaurant in Ulaanbaatar.

Jack’s birthday. What to get a man with a serious fish addition in a country where canned Alaskan salmon is pretty much the only palatable fish to be found? We’d heard a couple of good reports from a relative newcomer to Ulaanbaatar’s rapidly growing restaurant scene. Hana was said to have the best sushi – in fact the best fish of any description – in town.

Crisp, light and slightly malty, when it comes to pairing a beverage with sushi, it’s tough to beat a traditional Japanese rice lager such as these frosty glasses of Sapporo. Hana also features a decent wine list as well as locally-brewed beers.

On a whim, we’d stopped in for lunch at Hana the previous day during a walk of the city. I thought we were just getting in out of the mid-day heat for a bite to eat. I know now that Jack was vetting the place for a possible birthday meal. We each ordered a set menu. My chirashi-zushi, an assortment of beautifully-sliced salmon, tuna, sea bass, prawn and mackerel on top of a bowl of sushi rice surprised with its fresh and delicate flavors. Jack went with a nigiri-zushi set (which should have tipped me off that he was up to something). Like my bowl of chirashi-zushi, Jack’s meal was beautifully presented and fresh. Our bowls of miso soup, too, were spot on. We’d tried the sushi at a couple of other Ulaanbaatar restaurants, and had found it to be OK. But our lunch experience at Hana was authentically good.

As bright and fresh as maguro in Japan, this tuna flank was amazing.

Anytime we visit a good restaurant, we start by asking available waitstaff, chefs, managers and owners what they recommend. On the night we visited Hana, the consensus was that the tuna, recently flown in from Hana’s Japanese supplier, was superb. We began our meal with a plate of maguro sashimi and were not disappointed. The translucent-ruby slices were served with a traditional salad of shiso leaf and julienne daikon, radish and squash. It was absolutely delicious.

Perfectly ripe, creamy avocado, crisp garden salad, seared tuna flank and a house-made sesame dressing came together beautifully. In the background, our chef is shaping the nigiri-zushi that would follow.

The next item that was recommended to us was an appetizer salad featuring a balance of impeccably ripe, thinly sliced avocado and lightly seared tuna. Searing the tuna gave it a sweetness which was deliciously complimented by a quick dip in soy sauce. The chef’s sesame sauce gave the avocado and garden salad a savory-sweet dimension. In California, restaurant goers take avocado as good as this for granted. Here in UB, this kind of quality is evidence of the effort and attention to detail that separates Hana from other establishments.

A delicious, authentic assortment of steamed vegetables, pickled seaweed and other appetizers appeared next.

Among the appetizers, our favorite was this konbu tsukudani. This savory bite is made of kelp cut thin, cooked in soy sauce and mirin, and served with sesame seeds. Jack felt like he was back in Japan.

With enough food for two or three people, the sushi assortment platter is a good place to start if you’re visiting Hana.

When it came to choosing our main entrée, we opted for the assorted nigiri-zushi for two.

The plate featured the obligatory cooked shrimp, tamago (egg), and a sushi roll that didn’t excite us. The tamago was quite good – but not something we typically would order á la carte. The remainder of our plate took us to Japan.

Although the hamachi lacked the butteriness we expect, it was impeccably fresh and beautifully presented with wasabi-cured flying fish roe.

The sea bass, sliced translucently thin (you can see the wasabi beneath it) and dressed with a dollop of flying fish roe, was excellent. Given that the fish is fresh, what really makes and breaks sushi is the quality of the rice. Delicately flavored sea bass is unforgiving. At Hana, the sushi rice is excellent. Former Alaskans, we appreciate the difference between good, really good and excellent salmon. Fresh and melt-in-your-mouth buttery soft, the salmon sushi at Hana is perhaps the best fish available in Ulaanbaatar.

We were on the verge of leaving when the chef brought out a treat appreciated by true aficionados of Japanese cuisine and by few others. Natto. Sticky, gooey, fermented soy beans. In most restaurants, natto is served on rice, perhaps accompanied by a raw quail egg. On Jack’s birthday, the chef served it on a bed of tuna sashimi. I let him have the bowl to himself. The perfect end to the perfect birthday dinner.

Ulaanbaatar is not a foodie mecca. But restaurants like Hana are working to change that.

Sweet Coconut Rice with Mango Purée

Posted on June 27, 2015 by Jack & Barbra Donachy

Rich coconut-cream-infused rice topped with scrummy mango purée. Take a bite, close your eyes, and imagine life in the Tropics.

When we are finished teaching in Mongolia, we plan to fully embrace the tiny house movement and live full time in our Lance truck camper traveling all around North America. We have spent several summers living in our camper, which gives us a clear understanding of exactly what 120 square feet of living space means. Primarily relying on electricity generated by driving and by our solar panel has a big influence what type of equipment we use inside our tiny home.

In preparation for living large in a tiny kitchen, we are using this time in our small Mongolian apartment to vet products in order to see if they will meet our needs in our future full time tiny kitchen. Limited electricity, size, durability and multi-function are the top criteria we use to vet products. An additional criterion is whether or not we use a given item on a regular basis. At the end of the day, with a small oven, a small three-burner cooking range and limited counter and storage space, we give a good deal of thought to what we can live without.

Many people all over the world make rice on the stovetop. To eliminate the rice cooker we have relied on for many years, we decided to learn to make rice this way, too. Oh dear. My rice came out consistently bad – mushy, overcooked or undercooked – no matter what I did. With one epic failure after another, I handed the rice-making baton to Jack. He was more successful, but we both agreed that our rice just wasn’t as fluffy as the rice from our rice cooker had been. So we broke down and decided to buy a rice cooker. Now we’re convinced that we need to figure out a way to add this tool to our tiny mobile kitchen.

Our main criterion for a rice cooker was simple – it had to be small. After all, there are only two of us. Standard-sized rice cookers take up too much space and use too much energy. Since we live in Asia, finding a rice cooker shouldn’t be difficult, right? And finding rice cookers was easy. But in shop after shop, most of what we saw were massive in size. The average “small” rice cooker had a 10-cup capacity. Finally, after nearly giving up, we found a dust-covered, last-one-in-stock no-long-in-production Zojirushi rice cooker with a 3-cup capacity. Score!

Zojirushi is a brand we’ve had great success with in the past, so we wasted no time grabbing this cooker. As is the custom here, the sales clerk plugged it in, showed us that it indeed was in working order, and pointed out the six-month store warrantee. Once home, I immediately made a batch of rice to test our new gadget. Hot, steamy, fluffy, perfect rice. Yum!

Remembering a delicious rice dessert Thai friends had turned me on to, I recreated it using the batch of rice “I” just cooked. It is a simple dessert which is not too sweet, is packed full of tropical flavors, and is quick to make.

Sweet Coconut Rice with Mango Purée

Ingredients

1 cup Japanese style short-grained rice, cooked and hot
2/3 cup unsweetened coconut cream (or substitute with coconut milk)
2 tbsp granulated sugar
1 cup cubed mango
honey, to taste
toasted sesame seeds and crystallized ginger to garnish

Directions

Put hot, cooked rice in a medium-sized bowl.
Heat coconut and sugar over medium heat until sugar is dissolved.
Pour coconut mixture over rice and mix well.
Let coconut mixture sit for 30 minutes, until coconut cream is absorbed into rice.
Purée mango.
Mix in honey to taste.
Scoop coconut rice onto individual serving plates.
Hollow out a bit of the top of the rice in order to make a well for the mango purée.
Fill well will purée and garnish with toasted sesame seeds and crystallized ginger.

Roasted Potato and Caramelized Onion Salad – A New Picnic Favorite

Posted on June 25, 2015 by Jack & Barbra Donachy

Roasted potatoes, caramelized onions and salty, smoky bacon tossed in a tangy sweet dressing make for a fantastic summer meal ready for a picnic. Or keep a stash in the refrigerator for a night when it is too hot to cook!

We’re not against mayonnaise, per se. As a matter of fact, we make our own mayo from scratch when recipes call for it – which, in our opinion, has a way better taste and texture than the store-bought variety. But picnic salads and mayonnaise are not a good combination, especially if the weather is hot. So skip the mayo and try this warm potato salad on your next hike or bike ride. It is perfectly portable and is perfectly tasty served at any temperature.

Cutting the potatoes into chunks and roasting them gives each bite a crispy exterior with a pillowy soft interior like a mashed potato. The caramelized onions take some time to make, but they add an essential sweet/savory layer to the salad. The dressing pulls the whole thing together by covering every ingredient in the tangy and sweet flavors of mustard and vinegar. And the bacon? Well, needless to say, bacon just makes everything taste better. The rendered bacon fat is the dark horse in the dressing, adding a delicious flavor and texture… I never said this was a healthful recipe.

With temperatures consistently into the mid-80’s F (high 20’s C) in Ulaanbaatar, we’ve been enjoying meals featuring cool salads for dinner. Don’t scoff. Our blood is still Alaskan. These temperatures are really warm for us. This salad is a great way to keep our kitchen cool. We are on our second batch of this cool, summer salad and ready to make a third!

Roasted Potato and Caramelized Onion Salad

Ingredients

1 1/2 lbs potatoes, use a waxy variety such as red or Yukon gold, cut into bite-sized cubes
extra virgin olive oil (have a tbsp measure handy)
1 tsp smoked sea salt
4 grinds of black pepper
1 large onion, cut in half, then thinly sliced
1 tbsp granulated sugar
6 strips thick cut bacon, cut into small pieces
2 tbsp flat leaf parsley, chopped

Dressing

3 tbsp apple cider vinegar
generous tsp granulated sugar
1/2 tsp mustard, dijon or brown
large pinch Italian seasoning
a few grinds of black pepper
generous pinch salt
bacon and rendered fat (from above)
1 tbsp olive oil

Directions

Cover baking sheet with aluminum foil. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C).
Toss cubed potatoes with about 4 tbsp extra virgin olive oil.
Toss potatoes with sea salt and pepper.
Evenly spread potatoes on prepared baking sheet.
Roast potatoes for 35 minutes, until golden brown and tender. While potatoes are roasting, crisp bacon and caramelize onions.
In a large, non-stick pan set over medium heat, add 2 tsp extra virgin olive oil.
When oil is hot, add sliced onions and toss with granulated sugar.
Caramelize onions by stirring them in pan for about 15 minutes, until they become soft and caramel-colored.
While onions are caramelizing, cook bacon pieces in another pan.
Prepare the dressing.
In a large bowl, combine all dressing ingredients.
Toss potatoes in dressing.
Mix in caramelized onions.
Toss in chopped parsley.
Serve immediately, or refrigerate to keep longer.

Recipe adapted from the Cozy Apron.

A Continent Away From Brandade of Walleye: Delicious & Easy Fish Casserole

Posted on June 24, 2015 by Jack & Barbra Donachy

Bread crumbs tossed in olive oil and baked to a crisp give a pleasant crunch to this classic Mediterranean dish which traditionally features salted cod and potatoes in a mousse-like entrée.

Full disclosure. Here in Ulaanbaatar, we are about as geographically removed from the nearest walleye as could be possible. In fact, as the crow flies we’re over 6,000 miles (10,000 kilometers) from the Walleye Capital of the World, Lake Erie, in my former stomping grounds of western Pennsylvania. So I used cod in this classic brandade-inspired dish. In fact, this dish originated in regions around the Mediterranean Sea such as Italy and France where at certain times of the year the only fish readily available was preserved salted cod. The steps in preparing this dish do a nice job of masking the strong flavor of preserved fish, something you won’t have to worry about if you have access to fresh walleye, rockfish, striped bass, crappie or similar fish.

And it’s delicious – the kind of fish dish even people not particularly crazy about fish enjoy. Experiment with seasonings to give it some heat, herbiness or lemon flavors. Brandade can be baked in an oven-safe frying pan, a casserole dish, or, perhaps best of all, in individual ramekins such as the one we used in the above photo. Dress it up with a little chopped parsley and a dollop of lumpfish roe, pair with a Riesling, and dinner is served.

Brandade of Walleye (or virtually any white-meated fish)

Ingredients (serves two)

1/2 pound of skinless walleye fillet, rinsed and patted dry
1/2 pound of potatoes, boiled till they’re soft, and sliced into cubes (Skin removed or not, chef’s choice. We prefer skin on.)
1 tin (2 oz/60 g) anchovies, chopped fine. Or use anchovy paste.
1 cup milk (approximately)
1 tsp Penzeys Chesapeake Bay Seafood Seasoning (or use 1 tsp dry tarragon and a dash of sea salt)
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 oz shallots, minced
2 tbsp lemon juice
1/2 tsp smoked chipotle powder (or use espelette pepper or whatever you prefer)
1/2 tsp smoked paprika
extra virgin olive oil
1 tsp white truffle oil (optional)
1 cup bread crumbs
chopped parsley
lumpfish or salmon roe (optional)

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (190 degrees C).
In a skillet over medium-high heat, add fillet, enough milk to cover, and Penzeys Chesapeake Bay Seafood Seasoning or tarragon and salt. Poach just until fillet easily comes apart with a fork. Remove fillet and use a fork to go through fish to make sure there is no skin or bones remaining.
Using a food processor or stick blender, briefly pulse the fish. Don’t over process. Meat should look somewhat fibrous. Scrape into a bowl and set aside.
Heat a tablespoon of olive oil in a small skillet over medium heat. Add garlic, shallots, smoked chipotle powder and paprika and cook just till garlic and shallots turn translucent and become aromatic. Scrape mixture into bowl with fish.
Use a food processor or stick blender attachment to purée the potatoes. Don’t over process or potatoes will become sticky.
Add puréed potatoes to fish. Add anchovies, heavy cream (or sour cream thinned with milk), lemon juice and truffle oil. Mix everything together thoroughly. Use a food processor or stick blender to again briefly process. You want a consistency that is somewhat mousse-like. Give it a taste and add salt and seasonings as desired.
Use a spatula to place mixture in ramekins, casserole dish or oven-safe frying pan. Mixture will rise slightly during baking.
Toss bread crumbs in extra-virgin olive oil. Use just enough oil to allow the crumbs to soak it up without becoming overly saturated. Spoon onto top of potato and fish mixture.
Bake uncovered for 10 minutes. Bread crumbs will be golden brown and crisp when done.
Garnish with chopped parsley and fish roe. Serve hot.

Magical All Fruit Ice Cream with a Quick Hot Fudge Topping

Posted on June 22, 2015 by Jack & Barbra Donachy

A tropical triple sundae created with all-fruit coconut, mango, and banana ice creams topped with homemade hot fudge and crystallized ginger. Happy Summer Solstice everyone!

Recently, I came across a recipe for one-ingredient ice cream. As big fan of homemade ice cream, I was curious, so I clicked. Bananas! We used to freeze bananas and dip them in carob when I was a kid (the carob thing is a whole other story). I loved that refreshing summertime treat. This memory brought about other childhood memories of eating all-fruit popsicles. In all of my custard and milk based ice cream making adventures, I don’t know why it never occurred to me to try making an all-fruit “ice cream.” It certainly is more healthful to eat a banana than a cream-based, sweet frozen custard concoction, not that I’m planning to give those up!

I had bananas in my kitchen that were just past the perfect-to-eat stage, which made the banana flavor stronger and sweeter. I sliced the bananas into coins, laid them out on a baking sheet and froze them. After an hour, I popped the frozen pieces into the tall cup that came with my stick blender. It did take some work for the stick blender to smooth out the frozen bananas. But after a couple of rounds of stirring and puréeing with the stick blender, I scooped pure magic into bowls. The consistency of the banana ice cream was creamy and the flavor was sweet and rich. One ingredient ice cream is delicious!

My culinary sense of adventure and curiosity got the best of me while eating this creamy frozen snack. A banana is a snack, after all. By adding one more ingredient to this creamy base, I could create chocolate banana or peanut butter banana ice cream. From here, my thoughts took off, adding many more ingredients. And toppings. This recipe is versatile!

I thought that since bananas worked so well, other fruits might prove equally appropriate. Here in Ulaanbaatar, we don’t get a huge variety of fruit. But I happened to see frozen mangos at the store. I work with what I can get. The frozen mango worked as well as the banana. The batch of frozen mangos I purchased was on the sour side, so I did add some honey and crystallized ginger to sweeten up the ice cream and give it some pizzazz. This was no longer a one-ingredient recipe, but I was experimenting. It was delicious and tropical.

A proper sundae needs three different flavors, in my opinion. I froze small cubes of coconut milk and processed the frozen cubes just as I had processed the fruit. The coconut milk came out icy, so I added a bit of regular milk to smooth the texture. And since coconut milk doesn’t have much natural sweetness, I added two tablespoons of powdered sugar. The resulting ice cream was tasty and perfectly complemented the mango and banana ice creams.

In order to create the ultimate all-fruit sundae, I whipped up some hot fudge (there goes the healthful dessert), sprinkled some crystallized ginger to finish it off and voilà, a cool, beautiful, tropical summertime dinner… I mean dessert. (Well, in all honesty, we did eat it for dinner.)

Frozen Fruit Ice Cream

Ingredients

small chunks of fruit of your choosing, frozen
(optional) other flavorings to enhance the fruit like vanilla, ginger, cocoa powder
sweetener, to taste (if needed add honey, maple syrup, sugar, etc.)

Directions

Place frozen fruit in food processor or cup of a stick blender and process scraping down sides occasionally until fruit is thick and creamy and there are no chunks remaining.
Mix in optional ingredients.
Serve immediately.

Quick Hot Fudge Sauce

Ingredients

1/3 cup boiling water
4 tbsp unsalted butter
3/4 cup sugar
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1 cup powdered milk

(or substitute the above with 14 oz sweetened condensed milk)

1/2 cup unsalted butter
1 cup chocolate chips

Directions

Place first 5 ingredients in the metal cup that came with your stick blender to make sweetened condensed milk.
Blend until well mixed and thickened. Set aside.
In medium pan, with medium heat, melt 1/2 cup butter.
Stir in chocolate chips.
Add milk mixture and stir until smooth and silky.
Store leftovers in covered container in the refrigerator.