Green Onion Pancake - Weekend Herb Blogging

This week is my first foray into Weekend Herb Blogging, hosted this week by Glenna of A Fridge Full of Food, and I’m featuring my favorite herb, the green onion. The green onion, also called the scallion or spring onion (or shallot in Australia), is a member of the allium family which includes the onion, garlic, leek, and many others. Technically speaking, scallions are younger and do not have a bulb whereas green onions have a small partially formed bulb, but for the most part, the names are used interchangeably. The green onion is an herb that’s indispensable in Chinese cooking and it’s the one herb I always have in my fridge. The green part is milder in flavor and is much like an herb whereas the white bulb is stronger and more oniony. Green onions are often served raw, but one thing I learned from my dad is to slice and panfry them quickly in a little bit of oil. He calls it “bao,” which means to burst. The flavor of the green onion bursts in hot oil, which changes the flavor and releases the aroma. Raw green onions can be a bit harsh and sometimes soapy tasting, but heating them in oil cuts the harshness, rounds out the flavor, and makes it much more aromatic. You’ll notice a big difference in the smell; raw green onions don’t really smell like anything but after panfrying, it smells amazingly fragrant. The green onions and hot oil is then added on top of foods like tofu or tossed in a salad.

Green onion pancakes (cong you bing) are a breakfast and snack staple in China and Taiwan. Unlike a traditional pancake, it is made with dough instead of batter. The end result is a chewy flatbread. Panfrying the pancakes releases the aroma from the green onion and makes them smell irresistible. Boiling hot water is used to gelatinize some of the gluten in the flour making a chewy pancake. A combination of hot and cold water creates a dual textured, chewy and crispy pancake. Whether you use all hot water or both hot and cold is up to you. Traditionally lard or peanut oil is brush the dough but I used butter instead.

Green Onion Pancake

2 1/2 C AP flour
3/4 C boiling water
1/4 C cold water
1/2 tsp salt
About 3 Tbsp butter, softened
About 3 Tbsp finely chopped green onion, 2 – 3 green onions
Oil for pan frying


Add flour and salt to a bowl, pour in hot water and stir to combine. Let the dough cool down a bit then add the cold water and knead the dough until smooth. You can do this in a standing mixer, food processor, or by hand.

Put the dough in an oiled bowl, cover, and let rest for an hour.

Roll the dough into a snake and divide into 8 pieces. This will yield 6 in pancakes about 1/4-in thick. You can divide the dough into more pieces for smaller, cuter pancakes.

Take one piece of dough, leaving the rest covered, and roll it out into a large and thin circle, the thinner the circle the more layers the pancake will have. Spread a very thin layer of softened butter on the dough, about 1 teaspoon. Sprinkle or spread about a teaspoon of chopped green onions on top of the butter.

Roll up the dough into a tight tube. Then take the tube and form a coil and pinch the seam shut.

Do this to the remaining pieces of dough, so you have 8 rolls. You can chill it in the fridge for a few minutes to solidify the butter or just proceed to rolling them. Roll out each bun into a pancake, depending on the thickness you prefer. For a chewier pancake keep the pancake a little thicker; if you want a crispy thin pancake, roll it out thinner.

You can stack the pancakes in between sheets of plastic wrap and freeze the extras.

Heat some oil in a skillet over medium heat and fry each side of the pancake for a few minutes until it’s crisp and golden brown. Drain on paper towels to blot away excess oil. Cut into wedges and serve with soy sauce or soy paste if desired.

Yields: 8 6-in pancakes about 1/4-in thick.

Weekend Herb Blogging is a wonderful event created by Kalyn of Kalyn’s Kitchen and this week it’s hosted by Glenna of A Fridge Full of Food.

Waiter There's Something in My... Bread! - Pecan Sticky Buns

“These are really good,” Steven said for the fourth time, as he unrolled and tore off pieces off his sticky bun. Rarely does he give something so much praise but these sticky buns were exceptional. I’m always happy when he likes the food and I was particularly happy and relieved today because the buns took half the day to make. As the buns were baking, Steven went from room to room and opened all the doors. I asked what he was doing. He replied, “I want the whole house to smell good.” They came out of the oven right before dinner time so we officially ruined our appetites.

I was a bit intimated by this month’s WTSIM because I don’t bake bread. My first and only bread was a loaf of no-knead bread. Originally I wanted to try to make a brioche but I really wanted to try this sticky bun recipe. It even has a brioche-like dough so it was perfect! Unfortunately being a total bread novice, I accidentally misread teaspoon as tablespoon and added 3 times more yeast. Yikes! No wonder the dough rose so quickly. So I froze that yeasty abomination, hoping to be able to salvage it someday and started over with a new dough. This time adding the right amount of yeast and everything went swimmingly, sorta (in my rush to remake the dough, a few eggs rolled off the counter... I hope that's not bad luck).

I actually made a 2/3 recipe because I was afraid the whole recipe would have been too much. I also made the mistake of baking a 2/3 recipe in an 8 x 8 pan, which is half the size of a 9 x 13, so the buns were really cramped. So either make a 2/3 recipe in a 9 x 9 pan or make the whole recipe in a 9 x 13. Cutting the recipe in half is really tricky since there are so many ingredients (like the eggs) that are hard to divide in half. But these are so good and if you’re going through all the trouble, it’s probably best to make the whole recipe. You can freeze or give away the extras to friends and family and they’ll love you for it. The original recipe called for corn syrup but I didn’t have any so I used honey instead. Honey is sweeter than corn syrup so I cut back on the sugar. If you choose to use corn syrup you may wish to add a bit more brown sugar. Toasting the pecans separately keeps them crispy and you avoid steaming them underneath the buns. The recipe is a bit labor intensive but oh so worth it. As for the botched dough in the freezer, I’m open to any suggestions as to what to do with it.

Update: I made these again (full recipe) in a pyrex and they were done in under 30 minutes. Even though I didn't use a pizza stone the caramel still cooked pretty evenly. Being able to look at the bottom of the bun was really handy, don't let the caramel get too dark otherwise it'll get hard like candy. If you find that the caramel is cooking too fast move the buns up a rack. But for me lower middle rack worked just fine.

Sticky Buns with Pecans, recipe for a 9 x 13 pan (recipe for 9 x 9 at the end)
Adapted from Cook’s Illustrated

Dough
3 eggs, room temp
3/4 C buttermilk, room temp
3 Tbsp granulated sugar
1 1/4 tsp salt
Package of instant yeast, 2 ¼ tsp
4 to 4 ¼ C AP flour
6 Tbsp melted butter

Caramel Glaze
5 Tbsp butter
1/2 C brown sugar
3 Tbsp honey
1.5 Tbsp milk
Pinch salt

Cinnamon Sugar Filling
1/2 C brown sugar
2 tsp cinnamon
Pinch salt
1 Tbsp butter, melted

Pecan Topping
3 Tbsp butter
3 Tbsp brown sugar
3 Tbsp honey
1 pinch salt
1 tsp vanilla
3/4 C pecans, toasted and chopped


Whisk together the eggs, buttermilk, sugar, salt, and yeast. First add half of the flour and melted butter and stir into a loose batter. Using the dough hook of a stand mixer, add all but 1/4 C of the flour, and knead on low speed for 5 minutes then check the status of the dough. Dough should be moist but not sticky. The dough should be sticking to the bottom of the bowl (the little round divot at the bottom of the bowl) but should not stick to the sides. If it sticks to the sides of the bowl, add more flour. Knead for another 5 minutes. Then turn the dough out to a lightly floured board and knead another minute by hand and bring the dough into a ball. Dough should be smooth and a tiny bit tacky. If you do not have a stand mixer, you can knead by hand but knead twice as long, for 20 minutes.

Transfer the dough to a bowl lightly sprayed with nonstick spray. Then spray the top of the dough so it doesn’t dry out. Cover tightly with plastic wrap and put in a warm, draft-free place until doubled, about 2 to 2 1/2 hours. I use my huge 2 quart pyrex measuring cup to measure dough rise. The markings on the side are perfect for telling me when my dough has doubled.

For the glaze, combine all the ingredients in a small saucepan and whisk together over medium low heat until the butter has melted. Pour into your baking pan and spread the mixture evenly over the bottom of the pan and set aside.

Combine all the ingredients for the cinnamon sugar filling and set aside.

When the dough has doubled, gently turn it out to a lightly floured surface. Roll it out to a rectangle. If using a 9 x 13 pan, roll out into a 16 x 12 rectangle. If using a 9 x 9 pan, roll out into a 12 x 12 rectangle. Melt a tablespoon of butter and brush the dough, leaving a 1/2 in border on the top edge. Using the remaining butter to butter the sides of the baking pan.

Spread the cinnamon sugar evenly over the dough, leaving a 1/2 in border along the top edge. Smooth and gently press the filling on the dough. With the edge closest to you, start rolling the dough into a cylinder; keep the roll very taut and tight. Pinch the seam shut. The log may be thick in the middle and taper out to the sides. Press the ends in and gently roll and stretch out the log until you have a log of uniform thickness, 18 inches if using a 9 x 13 pan or 13 inches if using a 9 x 9 pan. Using a serrated knife, gently saw through the log to cut even rolls, 12 for 9 x 13 or 9 for 9 x 9.

Place each bun, cut/pretty-side down on the filling in the pan. Cover with plastic wrap and let the rolls rise until they are puffy and pressed against each other, about 1 1/2 hours. At this point you can put them in the fridge overnight and bake them the next morning (overnight instructions are at the end).

The original recipe specified to bake these on a pizza stone, but since I was using a Pyrex pan I was a bit wary of putting Pyrex on a hot stone so I didn’t use one. If using a pizza stone, adjust your oven rack to the lowest position and preheat the oven to 350°F while the dough rises. The pizza stone takes a while to warm up. If not using a stone, adjust your oven rack to second lowest position and preheat the oven to 350°F but you don’t need to preheat as early.

Bake the buns for about 25 to 30 minutes, the tops should be golden brown and the center should read 180°F. If you’re using a glass pan, you can sneak a peek at the bottoms to make sure they’re done before you take them out of the oven.

Cool the tray on a wire rack for 10 minutes. While the buns cool, you can toast your pecans in the oven if you haven’t toasted them earlier. Then invert the pan onto a platter or cutting board. Scrape any goo in the pan onto the buns.

Prepare the topping as the buns cool. Heat butter, brown sugar, honey, and salt in a small sauce pan over medium heat whisking occasionally until bubbly. Then off heat, stir in vanilla and toasted chopped pecans. Spoon a dollop over each bun and serve.

Recipe for 9 x 9 pan
Dough
2 eggs, room temp
1/2 C buttermilk, room temp
2 Tbsp sugar
3/4 tsp salt
1.5 tsp instant yeast
2 1/2 to 2 3/4 C flour
4 tbsp butter, melted

Caramel Glaze
3 1/2 Tbsp butter
5 Tbsp brown sugar
2 Tbsp honey
1 Tbsp milk
Pinch salt

Filling
5 Tbsp brown sugar
1.5 tsp cinnamon
Pinch salt
2 tsp butter, melted

Topping
2 Tbsp butter
2 Tbsp brown sugar
2 Tbsp honey
1 pinch salt
3/4 tsp vanilla
1/2 C pecans, toasted and chopped

Overnight Sticky Buns
After shaping the buns, refrigerate overnight. The next morning, place them in a warm water bath for 20 minutes, and then continue with the 1 1/2 hour rise in a warm place. Proceed with the rest of the recipe.

Last bite!


*note to self: I need to find more places to take pictures. My dining table is getting a little boring. :P

Links:
A big thanks to Andy over at Spittoon Extra for hosting this month's WTSIM. :)

Truffled Scrambled Eggs

This is the first dish in which I used my new white truffle oil. As much as I love pure and unadulterated scrambled eggs (Steven not so much), adding a few drops of truffle oil transforms a simple and homey to a complex and luxurious dish. Steven couldn't stop raving about these eggs, when normally he doesn't care for scrambled eggs.

Truffle Scrambled Eggs
3 eggs
2 Tbsp milk
salt and pepper (about 1/8 tsp salt and 1 grind of pepper)
2 tsp butter
a few drops of white truffle oil (about 1/4 tsp)

Beat eggs with milk, salt, and pepper. Do not overbeat; stop when all the yolk is incorporated.

Heat butter in a 8 in nonstick skillet over medium high heat. It is key to use an appropriately sized pan for the number of eggs you're cooking. Pour in eggs before foaming has subsided.

Push and fold the eggs from the outer rim into a mound in the center. Do not swirl or break up the egg as it cooks. Keep the eggs constantly moving. Cook until eggs are no longer runny but still wet and shiny (almost underdone), only about 30 seconds to a minute. Remove from heat, add truffle oil, fold a few more times to incorporate into the egg. Eggs will continue to cook off heat so serve immediately.

Serves 2.

The recipe can be doubled to serve four. The eggs will need to be cooked in a larger skillet 10 in or 12 in and for a longer amount of time about 1 - 1 1/2 min.
Be careful not to overbeat or overcook scrambled eggs, otherwise they will be tough.

Links:
Check out these gorgeous scrambled eggs by Bea of La Tartine Gourmande

I'm submitting this for Weekend Breakfast Blogging #9. Thanks to Sig for hosting and letting me know about the event!

Banana Bread

jump to the new blog for banana bread recipe

Poached Egg Trick

I had the most beautiful poached duck egg at Campagne. The yolk was completely encapsulated in a delicate white orb. This method for poaching eggs produces a morespherical egg rather than a flat poached egg.

What you'll need is a pot of simmering water, an egg, a small cup or bowl, and microwavable plastic wrap.

Bring water to a boil then reduce to a simmer. Use a small bowl or cup and push a piece of plastic wrap into the cup.

Crack an egg into the plastic wrap and tie the top with a small strip of plastic wrap or a piece of twine.

Gently lower the egg into simmering water.

Poach in simmering water uncovered: 3 minutes for runny yolks, 4 minutes for slightly firm runny yolks.

Use a fork or tongs to fish out the egg and gently slide the egg out of the plastic wrap.

I was a little hesitant about using the plastic wrap but it did not melt so it seems fine to me. One way to minimize the time the egg spends in plastic wrap is once the white has solidified enough, you can cut the plastic wrap and slip the egg out into the water but I haven't tried this. If you have health concerns, there are other ways to poach an egg.

Elise has another poached egg trick on her blog Simply Recipes.