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Jalapeno Poppers

Comments (0) | Saturday, January 22, 2011

It's a beautiful Saturday in Portland OR, and I have finally gotten into the swing of living in a house off campus. Our kitchen is small, but it's mine so I'm not going to complain. I don't have to worry about someone stealing my knives when I leave them in the kitchen. I'm also loving my housemates, so that's good too.
Today, my cooking in crime companion, Eddie, and I decided to throw health to the wind and pull out the deep fryer my mom gave me. This is the first time I've used it since I got it 4 months ago. It just sat in my dorm room ominously staring at me from below my desk.
But we used it and none of us got burnt (too badly, Eddie said he kept feeling it hit his chin).

This recipe is easy and tasty, we used pepper jack cheese instead of the Cheddar found in the original recipe.

Jalapeno Poppers

8 Jalapeno, seeded
3 tbsp cream cheese, softed
3 tbs pepper jack cheese cut into long rectangular sticks the size of each of your Jalapenos
1/2 C milk
1 C crushed panko
1/3 C flour
oil for deep frying

Coring the jalapenos can be a bit of trouble. Using a small knife works really well and don't worry about cutting the sides of the pepper, it doesn't create much of a problem. 
Spoon the cream cheese into the jalapeno and then shove a stick of pepper jack into each jalapeno. Dip the stuffed jalapeno first into milk and then into the flour. Wait for several minutes for the flour dry out slightly. Then, dip it into the milk again and now into the crushed panko. You can repeat the milk & panko step twice to get a nice thicker panko crust. Wait for the coat to dry out slightly between the steps. In a medium pan, heat the oil to 365F and deep fry the jalapeno for 2-3 minutes or until golden brown.

Total Time: 20 minutes  
(Picture taken by Eddie Barksdale)


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Pâte à Choux or French Cheese Puffs

Comments (0) | Sunday, January 2, 2011

I had a really low key New Years this year. I got home from a family vacation the same day and I was really tired, so I just had a couple of girlfriends over. I still wanted to make something of course, it being New Years and all. Since I was tired, I wanted to make something simple, yet tasty, so I signed on to the trusty FoodGawker, looked up appetizers and these little tasty treats showed up.
First off, these are really easy to make. Feel free to use whatever your favorite sharp cheese is (I just used a sharp cheddar this time, but I'll probably try a different cheese next time). There's very few ingredients and you can add more or less of the flavors. At first I was a little bit wary of using Cayenne pepper, but it really adds a depth to the flavor of the puffs.
These can be either made as an appetizer or paired with a soup or salad (my mom thinks they would go very well with the Lentil Soup.

I did very little to change this recipe, I used scallions instead of chives and decided on an actual measurement of cayenne pepper, rather than a "large pinch," so it's easier to replicate the recipe.

Pâte à Choux
1 cup (250ml) water
6 tablespoons (80g) unsalted butter
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon of cayenne pepper
1 cup (140g) all-purpose flour
4 large eggs
1/3 cup scallions or chives finely-mince
1 1/2 cups (about 6 ounces, 180g) finely grated sharp cheese like Gruyère or sharp chedder

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F.  Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
Heat the water, butter, salt, and cayenne in a saucepan until the butter is melted, don’t let it simmer or boil because you will lose too much water. Pour in the flour all at once and stir vigorously until the mixture pulls away from the sides into a smooth ball.
Remove from heat and let rest two minutes.
Transfer the dough to a bowl or a standing mixer and beat in the eggs one at a time. The batter will first appear lumpy, but after a minute or so, it will smooth out and become glossy. Add all the chives and about 75% of the cheese and stir until well-mixed. Scrape the mixture into a pastry bag or plastic bag with the corner cut out (that’s what I use).  Pipe the dough into mounds, evenly-spaced apart about the size of a rounded tablespoon (this size is suggested, but you can make them larger or smaller, the bigger you make them, the more air will be trapped inside the pastry). Top each puff with a bit of the remaining cheese.

At this point, you could refrigerate the dough on the sheet for several hours before baking.  You could also freeze the dough on the sheet and then transfer the frozen mounds to a ziplock bag to store for up to three months.

About half an hour before you want to serve these.  Pop them into a hot oven at 425 degrees F for 10 minutes (12 if you are baking from frozen), then turn the oven down to 375 degrees F and bake for an additional 20 minutes.  These are best served warm,  but they still taste good at room temperature.

Total Time:  About 1 hour


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