Week 34: Opposite Side of the World - Bacalhau à Gomes de Sã [Cooking]

Intro from Cooking Challenge: It's week 34 already and this week we're taking it to the opposite side of your world! This doesn't mean you have to cook something from the literal opposite side of the world, but this week we're letting you pick the far away cuisine that you would like to try to cook. The general opposite of North America is Australia, but since we already had Australian week, a lot of us may want to try something from another far away place instead. For example, if you live in Canada, try something from South America or something all the way in South Africa. The basic idea is to try something new from somewhere pretty far away. And for those of you that are curious, you can use this as a guide to find the exact opposite from where you live.

As the Intro pointed out, North America is on the opposite side of the world from Australia, and we've already done Australian cuisine for a prior week's challenge.  So instead, I decided to go with the opposite side of the ocean!  If you were to travel straight across the Atlantic from New York City, you would find yourself in Portugal, so I chose to make a Portuguese dish.

Salt cod is a very popular item in Portuguese cooking, and Bacalhau à Gomes de Sã seemed like a good recipe to try.  For those who don't know (like me), you can typically find salt cod in a wooden box in your local supermarket.  If you're lucky to have a specialty store near you, you can get a whole salt cod!  

Unfortunately, I have to say this was not my favorite dish.  Salt cod just isn't my jam.  I found it to be overwhelmingly fishy.  However, the combination of potato, onion, fish, egg, and olive was actually really intriguing, both from a taste and texture perspective.  While I didn't end up liking the dish, it was definitely a fun foray into cooking with a new ingredient and I'm glad I tried it!

Week 33: Savory - Salmon-Stuffed Puff Pastry [Baking]

Intro from Baking Challenge: Hello bakers! This week's challenge is savory. Breads, casseroles (baked jalapeno mac and cheese is my favorite), lasagna, chicken parmigiana - these are just some of many tasty baked dishes that you might conjure up this week. Happy baking!

When I think of savory baking, I immediately think of puff pastry - so for this week's challenge I made a salmon and spinach stuffed puff pastry based on this recipe. I simplified it (and brought down the price) quite a bit by using frozen spinach, which I defrosted in a small pot of boiling water (about 1 cup) and then sauteed with olive oil, minced garlic, and salt & pepper. I removed the skin from the salmon and rubbed it down with some dijon mustard before placing it on the puff pastry sheet, covering with spinach, and folding up. My spinach is on the bottom (compared to the pictures in the original recipe) because I flipped the bundle over so the seam was on the bottom, to prevent the pastry from opening up while baking.

Week 33: Melons - Melon-Mozz-Meat Skewers [Cooking]

Intro from Cooking Challenge: This week is all about melons, the fruits of the family Cucurbitaceae. In addition to the common watermelon, honeydew, and cantaloupe, there's also a bunch of weird stuff. Horned melon, bitter melon, Korean melon, and some other things no one eats. Most melons are usually eaten raw, sliced, and boring. If you want to do something cool, there's a surprisingly large amount of things you can do. Watermelon lends itself surprisingly well to being cooked, fried, grilled or otherwise. I'm pretty sure no one actually eats bitter melon, but you can find it at most Asian markets, and there's an entire website devoted to making it taste less like the sadness of a thousand orphans. In conclusion, I leave you with the answer to the question "Hey, is it Lemon Week?" "No Lemons, no! Melon!"

The only thing better than how delicious these are is how easy they are to make. Each skewer has a hunk of either cantaloupe or honey dew, a slice of prosciutto, a basil leaf, and a mini mozzarella ball.

Week 32: Your Favorites - Thanksgiving Leftover Sandwiches [Cooking]

Intro from Cooking Challenge: This week’s theme is: your favorites! This is like the free space on a bingo card, so you can cook pretty much anything – your mom’s famous meatloaf, Buffalo wings, banana cupcakes with cream cheese frosting, char siu bao, whatever floats your boat. Hopefully this is enough to inspire you!

My favorite meal, by far, is Thanksgiving dinner. I could probably eat an entire turkey myself, along with all the stuffing, mashed potatoes, yams, corn, and cranberry sauce. However, all the prep involved with Thanksgiving is a bit more than I can manage on a weeknight while balancing school and work, so I opted to make leftover sandwiches. Plus, we all know turkey tastes better the day after anyway!

I picked up a turkey breast and covered it in a marinade of minced garlic, dry mustard, thyme, rosemary, basil, salt, pepper, olive oil, and lemon juice. I roasted it in an oven preheated to 325F for about two hours with a cup of red wine. Once the turkey had rested, I put it in the fridge. A few days later, I baked puff pastries and made sandwiches with sliced turkey, mashed sweet potatoes, and a sliver of cranberry sauce!

Week 31: Breading/Dredging - Panko-Sesame Crusted Cod [Cooking]

Intro from Cooking Challenge: Plainly and simply, breading is the process of coating a food with a dry, grain-based coating to achieve a crispy exterior when cooked. This contrasts with battering, which involves a liquid coating. Coatings could include anything from bread crumbs or cornmeal, to even crazier things Cap'n Crunch or Cheetos. You could go a classic route and try some Classic Fried Chicken, or maybe make your own Mozzarella Sticks. There are countless things you can bread, those to come to mind pretty quickly though.

Breading definitely takes some practice to get the dry hand/wet hand method down, but becomes very easy once you get a rhythm going.
After patting the cod down with a paper towel, I dredged them through:

1. Flour
2. Two eggs whisked
3. A mixture of panko breadcrumbs, roasted sesame seeds, garlic salt, and pepper

After they were coated, I left them in the fridge for about an hour. This is definitely not necessary (I only did it because I wasn't quite ready to eat), but I found the breading stayed on better after firming up in the fridge. I pan fried the fillets in some coconut oil on the stove for about three minutes, browning both sides, and then moved the whole pan to the oven and baked for ten minutes at 425F, flipping once halfway through.

They're served with jasmine rice and a drizzle of balsamic glaze.

Week 32: Donuts - Cinnamon Baked Donuts [Baking]

Intro from Baking Challenge: Hello bakers. I can't believe it is already August! Time flies..like an arrow. Fruit flies like a banana. Heyooooo. Anyway, this week's challenge is...donuts! Or, doughnuts, depending on your spelling preference. There are so many kinds. There are yeast or cake varieties of batter. There are tons of recipes for baked or fried donuts. If you're not feeling the traditional ring-shaped or filled donuts, how about some donut holes or some zeppole? (fill these with Nutella and eat them while they're still warm, you won't be disappointed!) Be as simple or creative as you feel. Nobody can deny the awesomeness of a simple powdered or glazed donut, but if you're feeling a bit saucy you could try something a little different - like these droolworthy maple bourbon glazed donuts topped with bacon or these french toast cake donuts. Happy baking (and frying)!

After a pretty terrible attempt at frying donuts earlier this year, I decided to make use of my mom's donut pan and bake them this time.  I found this recipe and followed it pretty much to the letter; I came out with about 18 delicious donuts.  And since they're baked, we can pretend they're healthier!

Week 31: Tanabata Festival - Shrimp Okonomiyaki [Baking]

Intro from Baking Challenge: The Tanabata Festival is on Saturday so it's time to expand your baking skills into Japan! Tanabata Festival is the wishing star festival so maybe try making some SPACE JELLY . Or if you want something savoury takoyaki and okonomiyaka are very common festival foods. As for general Japanese desserts, try things such as mochi, cotton soft cheesecake, or melon pans (a bun wrapped in cookie dough!). There's also about a million recipes using green tea, black sesame, or red bean paste. Get out there and make something awesome!

I somewhat followed the recipe here, although I had to make a lot of substitutions based on availability: regular flour and water instead of the Okonomiyaki flour; chopped cabbage, broccoli, and carrots for the veggies; and I added shrimp. I used coconut oil to fry the pancake and had a lot of issues with the batter sticking to the pan. Not sure if that was the fault of the coconut oil, but I might try something different in the future. Also, I wasn't able to find Okonomiyaki sauce, so I followed this recipe to make my own with ketchup, Worcestershire sauce, and soy sauce.

Bonus action shot of my pancake falling apart while cooking

For as sloppy as it looks, it actually came out really tasty! It made for a very filling lunch to share.