Daring Cooks - A Cheese of a Challenge

I was beyond thrilled to see the February Daring Cook's challenge -- homemade cheese!  And so I embarked on never-ending research on how to make the perfect feta.  And somewhere between  flipping through a beautiful cheese making book and waiting for the supplies to arrive, I stumbled upon a recipe for a Peppered Cashew "Goat Cheese” from C'est La Vegan. 

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Date & Walnut Scone

In the past, I have trekked to the closest Whole Foods store just to get their Date Walnut Scone.  At times they were out, and I vowed again and again that I will figure out how to make them myself.  There is nothing like starting the day with a freshly baked scone and a cup of coffee.  I am forever grateful to VeganBakingMama for recreating this amazing scone.  I have made it twice in the last week and my family cannot get enough of it either. 

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Although I can live solely on crackers, it never occurred to me to actually make them from scratch. So, when I came across February Daring Bakers' challenge, I just could not resist. Since I am particularly fond of rice crackers, I was tempted by Tes's recipe here.

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The Daring Kitchen: The Sausage

I keep coming back to the Daring Kitchen challenges from time to time and was thrilled to see the current challenge. After turning vegetarian, the concept of a veggie sausage for a while did not make any sense, but now Italian veggie sausage sautéed with onions and peppers is now once of my favorite quick dinners.

Since I was always curious about sausage-making; veggie-type seemed too quick and easy and I had no excuse to pass on this challenge.

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Povitica

I have never have povitica before and was very excited to try it.  In my mind, I was envisioning something like a bread version of baklava.  Although the final result looked nothing like the some of the beautiful pictures of povitica I saw on the web, it quickly became a family favorite.  Thank you, Jenni, for a great challenge! 

 The Daring Baker’s October 2011 challenge was Povitica, hosted by Jenni of The Gingered Whisk. Povitica is a traditional Eastern European Dessert Bread that is as lovely to look at as it is to eat!

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Return to the Daring Kitchen - Moo Shu

It has been a really long time since I participated in a Daring Cooks and Bakers challenges.  One thing I could not pass was Moo Shu.  How can you not love the moo shu?  I was very apprehensive about making it, as the dish I typically would get in a Chinese restaurant looked like a lot of work.  It was adventure from the beginning to the end – things did not worked out as planned (the pancakes stuck together, scrambled tofu was ended up completely breaking down while cooking and nothing really tasted as expected).  Despite the challenges, it was a fun experience, though, and I might try making moo shu some time in the future again. 

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Cassoulet -- a daring challenge with a French flare

I came across this quote and it was simply perfect:

"Cassoulet, that best of bean feasts, is everyday fare for a peasant but ambrosia for a gastronome, though its ideal consumer is a 300-pound blocking back who has been splitting firewood nonstop for the last twelve hours on a subzero day in Manitoba."

-Julia Child, Julia Child and More Company, Cassoulet for a Crowd


Our January 2011 Challenge comes from Jenni of The Gingered Whisk
and Lisa from Parsley, Sage, Desserts and Line Drives. They have challenged the Daring Cooks to learn how to make a confit and use it within the traditional French dish of Cassoulet. They have chosen a traditional recipe from Anthony Bourdain and Michael Ruhlman.


I can't remember anything else I ever made that required this level of planning, preparation and effort. And I definitely can't recall when all of that time and effort paid off with such a bang.

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