November 2009 Daring Baker's Challenge

The November 2009 Daring Bakers Challenge was chosen and hosted by Lisa Michele of Parsley, Sage, Desserts and Line Drives. She chose the Italian Pastry, Cannolo (Cannoli is plural), using the cookbooks Lidia’s Italian-American Kitchen by Lidia Matticchio Bastianich and The Sopranos Family Cookbook by Allen Rucker; recipes by Michelle Scicolone, as ingredient/direction guides. She added her own modifications/changes, so the recipe is not 100% verbatim from either book.

As usual, I had fun with this challenge! As I was in the middle of preparing for major exams, I just used the provided recipe for the ricotta filling but will try other recipes in the future! It was a real workout rolling out the dough as it kept springing back in shape everytime I rolled it out and I perhaps did not persevere enough to roll them out flat enough but I think the outcome was pretty decent.

The empty shells after deep frying. Maybe not as thin as they should be.

After filling with the ricotta and pistachio filling. Yummy!

A closer look.

It was a good snack after a long day of studying. Will definitely try it again when I have more time in the future!

November 2009 Daring Cook's Challenge

The November 2009 Daring Cooks challenge was brought to you by Audax of Audax Artifex and Rose of The Bite Me Kitchen. They chose sushi as the challenge.

Sushi (寿司 or 鮨 or 鮓) is much appreciated for its delicate taste and exquisite appearance. Sushi actually means vinegared rice, which is the essential ingredient in every sushi recipe. Sushi is simple and cheap to make at home, needs no special equipment and is an excellent way to use left overs.

Although sushi in various forms has been around for fourteen centuries, the modern version was invented in Japan in the 1800’s where a 'hand-formed' sliced fresh fish and vinegared rice ball was eaten as a snack food. Nowadays, sushi is made with various seafood, meats and vegetables, raw and cooked.

Sushi is one of my favourite foods and this is not the first time making sushi but it is my first time making the more challenging dragon roll and nigiri sushi. I had great fun and the product was yummy and it was a good break from studying for my exams!
 

Dragon roll with unagi. I did not have enough unagi and so I wasn't able to cover the top as much as I would have like to.
 

Close up of the dragon roll.
 

 
Assorted platter of sushi
 

  
Unagi Nigiri sushi, this was a challenge trying to shape the rice and getting it to hold together to assemble it with the unagi and nori.
 

 
Sushi roll with crab meat, cucumber and smoked salmon
 

Cucumber nigiri sushi
 

Spiral sushi roll with cucumber, smoked salmon and avocado
 

 
Kanimayo gunkan sushi
 

Finally, sushi roll with unagi, smoked salmon, cucumber and avocado.
 
I had a blast with this month's challenge with one of my most favourite foods. Looking forward to the next!

October Daring Baker's Challenge

The 2009 October Daring Bakers’ challenge was brought to us by Ami S. She chose macarons from Claudia Fleming’s The Last Course: The Desserts of Gramercy Tavern as the challenge recipe.

I have always wanted to try making macarons and boy was it a challenge! It was a pretty busy month for me and hence I could only do it the day before the reveal date.

The piped macaron mixture.

The baked product. Did not turn out as well as I would have like it to be. They were not smooth and they did not have any feet. Tasted alright though.

I decided to make a dark chocolate hazelnut ganache to fill the macarons. Unfortunately the ganache split after I put it together and I managed to fill a few and they tasted pretty good.

Not a perfect outcome, but I will try making macarons again soon when I have more time!

October Daring Cook's Challenge

The October 2009 Daring Cooks’ challenge was brought to us by Jaden of the blog Steamy Kitchen. The recipes are from her new cookbook, The Steamy Kitchen Cookbook.

Chicken Pho

The garnishes

And for dessert, Deep Fried Nutella Wantons

September Daring Baker's Challenge

The September 2009 Daring Bakers' challenge was hosted by Steph of A Whisk and a Spoon. She chose the French treat, Vols-au-Vent based on the Puff Pastry recipe by Michel Richard from the cookbook Baking With Julia by Dorie Greenspan.

Here are the pictures of my first completed Daring Baker's challenge! Puff pastry was intimidating before I made it but it was pretty manageable! Really enjoyed making it and the product was really yummy!

The empty shells.

Egg salad and smoked salmon

Chicken and mushroom

Strawberry fool

Looking forward to the next challenge!