New Kitchen Gadget!

I will soon be the owner of a fun new(hopefully super helpful!) 12 cup Kitchenaid food processor! Woo Hoo!!!! Hopefully it gets here before the wedding we're attending next weekend~ I've offered to make white bean dip for 75 people. I would prefer not to blend everything by hand!

Here's my new kitchen baby:

KitchenAid Professional 12-Cup Food Processor, White | Williams-Sonoma

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Dumplings...on a week night?

So these dumplings were super yummy, but not exactly quick weeknight supper. I should have used my better judgement and waited until a Saturday evening, but I actually was on the blogroll for "The Daring Kitchen" a whole month before I thought I'd be!  I certainly don't want to look like a slacker- just misunderstood how long the "induction" process was for "Daring" :)

So let's get down to the nitty gritty. I chose to make the pork gyoza with wheat wrappers & a wonderful soy dipping sauce.

Pork filling: 

• 1 lb (450g) ground pork 
  
• 4 large napa cabbage leaves, ~I substituted Savoy cabbage & it was fabulous~
  
• minced 3 stalks green onions, 
  
• minced 7 shitake mushrooms, ~You'd figure I could find shitake mushrooms- I live in a pretty culinarily diverse area, after all. But I couldn't. I used cremini, again, made for a great substitution.~ 
•  1/2 cup (75g) bamboo shoots, minced
  
•  1/4 (55g) cup ginger root, minced 
  
• 3 tbsp (40g) soy sauce 
  
• 2 tbsp (28g)sesame oil 
  
• 2 tbsp (16g) corn starch 
  

Combine all filling ingredients in a large mixing bowl and mix thoroughly (I mix by clean hand). Cover and refrigerate until ready to use (up to a day, but preferably within an hour or two). 

Dough:

(double this for the amount of filling, but easier to make it in 2 batches - or just halve the filling recipe) 

• 2 cups (250g) all-purpose flour
  
• 1/2 cup (113g) warm water flour for work surface 
  

Dipping sauce: 

• 2 parts soy sauce 
  
• 1 part vinegar (red wine or black) ~I used rice wine vinegar~
  
• a few drops of sesame oil chili garlic paste (optional) 
  
• minced ginger (optional)
  
•  minced garlic (optional) 
  
• minced green onion (optional) 
  
• sugar (optional)
  

Make the dough: In a large bowl mix flour with 1/4 cup of water and stir until water is absorbed. Continue adding water one teaspoon at a time and mixing thoroughly until dough pulls away from sides of bowl. I had a firm dough that was quite smooth.

 Knead the dough about twenty strokes then cover with a damp towel for 15 minutes. Take the dough and form a flattened dome. Cut dough into 1 1/2 inch wide strips and revert back to kindergarten when you made play dough snakes! Cut 3/4 inch chunks and use your palm to flatten out the pieces. I used a tapered rolling pin, but given a choice would use a traditional straight pin. I do feel it would have been quite a bit easier. Roll the dough into a round, about 1/16 of an inch think(make sure your edges are slightly  thinner than the middle). Put about a tablespoon of the pork mixture in the middle of the wrapper and crimp the edges in toward the middle(it should look like a drawstring coin purse).

 

Steaming: Place dumplings on a single layer of  cabbage leaves or on a well-greased surface in a steamer basket with lid. Steam covered for about 6 minutes. I used my wok with about 2 inches of water and a petal steamer(I lost my bamboo steamer in a move). They did stick together a bit- should have oiled them lightly. 

Frying: I heated up my skillet with a little canola oil & placed the dumplings flat side down. Fry them until golden brown & crispy- about 5 mins.

* I only ended up making one batch of the dough, while the dumplings tasted wonderful, they were extremely labor intensive for a Wednesday night. So I steamed some broccoli & had the leftover fried up pork filling for lunch the next day. The Dude and I totally dug into these while indulging in some "Bizarre Food" with Andrew.

Happy Noshing!

First Day of School...or Blogging!

So, I figure I'll start out chatting about the Fresh Peachie Cupcakes with Banana-Grapefruit Cream Cheese Frosting that I made last night. 

I was all set to whip up some Peanut Butter Cupcakes with Banana Marshmallow Creme Frosting, but I had 5 small peaches and a slowly shriveling grapefruit that I had kind of forgotten about. So the peanut butter was put back in the cupboard and I started peeling peaches! 

Though the cupcakes were pretty fabulous, they could have had a stronger peach flavor and I couldn't find my microplane grater to add the grapefruit zest to the frosting. When I make these next time, I'll add a little natural peach flavoring to the cakes & definitely add some zest to the frosting. 

Without further babbling, the recipe~

Peachie Cupcakes 

Preheat oven to 350˚ ~  Makes about 24 cupcakes(with a little leftover batter for a mini breakfast cake)

3 cups all purpose flour

2 cups sugar

1 tablespoon baking powder 

¾ teaspoon salt

2 sticks of unsalted butter(room temp)

4 large eggs(room temp)

1 cup whole milk(room temp)

1½ teaspoon vanilla extract

4 small peaches~skinned & finely diced

*An easy way to skin peaches~ drop into boiling water for about a minute and then dunk in ice water and they peel SO much easier!

Blend all dry ingredients in separate bowl & set aside. Cream butter, sugar & vanilla for 4- 5 minutes, add eggs, one at a time, then peaches.  Add dry ingredients to butter mixture one cup at a time & let mix thoroughly(Don't overmix!). 

I just learned to use a freezer bag to dispense the batter, a gallon bag works best. I just snip the corner and it makes it so easy to measure into the muffin cups. 

Bake for about 17 to 22 minutes(my oven is a little wonky ☺), the cakes will be very moist slightly golden on top. Let cool completely before frosting.

Banana-Grapefruit Cream Cheese Frosting

1 package of cream cheese(room temp)

1 stick unsalted butter(room temp)

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

½ squeezed grapefruit

1 ripe smashed banana

1 lb. powdered sugar(about 3½ cups)

*grate a little grapefruit zest into the mix 

Cream butter, cream cheese, vanilla extract, banana & grapefruit juice. Add powdered sugar by the cup, until it's thoroughly mixed. I refrigerated the frosting for about 30 minutes to let it solidify a bit, making it easier to frost the cakes.