Cherry jam

     Last month, I discovered that there are U-Pick cherry orchards in this area.  Considering how much I love cherries (it's a toss up between cherries and strawberries for my favorite fruit), I knew I had to check it out.  After a fun (and relatively short!) time in the cherry orchards, Scott and I ended up picking 11 pounds of fruit!  One of my first thoughts for processing all of those cherries was to make cherry jam, so I looked up a recipe and gave it a go this weekend!

Bing Cherry Jam from http://www.shockinglydelicious.com/blue-ribbon-bing-cherry-jam/

Ingredients:

4 cups pitted and chopped fresh, ripe Bing cherries (about 3 pounds)

½ cup strained fresh lemon juice

5 cups sugar

½ teaspoon unsalted butter

1 (3-ounce) pouch liquid pectin (repeat: liquid pectin)

1 teaspoon pure almond extract

Procedure:

1) In an 8-quart pan, combine the cherries, lemon juice, sugar and butter.

2) Over medium-low heat, stirring constantly, heat the mixture until the sugar is completely dissolved. Increase the heat to medium-high and bring the mixture to a full rolling boil, stirring constantly. Stir in the entire contents of the pectin pouch. Return the mixture to a full rolling boil, stirring constantly. Boil, stirring constantly, for 1 minute. Remove the pan from the heat. Skim off any foam. Stir in the almond extract.

3) To prevent the jam from separating in the jars, allow the jam to cool 5 minutes before filling the jars. Gently stir the jam every minute or so to distribute the fruit. Ladle the hot jam into hot jars, leaving ¼-inch headspace. Wipe the jar rims and threads with a clean, damp cloth. Cover with hot lids and apply screw rings. Process half-pint jars in a 200F (93C) water bath for 10 minutes, pint jars for 15 minutes.

     The results?  Delicious, but unfortunately it didn't gel at all!  So, I now have six (originally seven) jars of a very good cherry syrup.  Reading the reviews for this recipe, it looks like I am not the only one to have this particular issue.  I think I might try a different recipe next time..

It makes for a very dark "jam"

U-Pick cherry orchard in Gilroy, CA

A Scott hiding amongst the cherry leaves

Showing off some of my delicious pickings

Cherries in the tree

Picking cherries

Chocolate sheet cake for Annette

     One of my co-workers (Annette) is leaving after working at The Tech for nearly five years.  To say thank you and as a parting farewell, I wanted to bake a cake for her.  I (not so sneakily) asked her what kind of cake she liked the best, and she said chocolate.  Not being the hugest fan of chocolate cake, I had a bit of a hard time figuring out which recipe would be the best to feed both her and our other co-workers for her final day celebration.  Scanning through my multiple cookbooks, I decided to go with a chocolate cake recipe from The Complete America's Test Kitchen TV Show cookbook.  I inherited this cookbook from our former boss, so I thought it seemed especially appropriate.

So rich and chocolaty!

Chocolate Sheet Cake with Easy Chocolate Frosting (from The Complete America's Test Kitchen TV Show Cookbook)

Ingredients:

For the Cake:

12 tbsp (1.5 sticks) unsalted butter

3/4 cup dutch processed cocoa powder
1 1/4 cup AP flour
1/2 tsp baking soda

1/4 tsp table salt

8 oz semisweet chocolate, chopped

4 large eggs, at room temperature

1 1/2 cups granulated sugar

1 tsp vanilla extract

1 cup buttermilk

For the Frosting:

1/2 cup heavy cream

pinch table salt

1 tbsp light or dark corn syrup

10 oz milk chocolate, chopped

1/2 cup confectioners sugar

8 tbsp (1 stick) cold unsalted butter, cut into 8 pieces

Procedure for the cake:

1) Adjust an oven rack to the middle position and heat the oven to 325 degrees F.  Grease a 13" x 9" baking pan, then line the bottom with parchment paper.

2) Sift together the cocoa, four, baking soda, and salt in a medium bowl; set aside.  Melt the chocolate and butter in a heatproof bowl set over a saucepan filled with 1 inch of barely simmering water, stirring occasionally until smooth.  Whisk together the eggs, sugar , and vanilla in a medium bowl.  Whisk in the buttermilk until smooth.

3) Whisk the chocolate into the egg mixture until combined.  Whisk in the dry ingredients until the batter is smooth and glossy.  Pour the batter into the prepared pan; bake until firm in the center when lightly pressed and a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean, about 40 minutes, rotating the pan halfway through the baking time.  Let the cake cool completely in the pan, set on a wire rack, about 2 hours.  Ruin a small knife around the cake and flip the cake out onto a wire rack.  Peel of f the parchment paper, then flip the cake right side up onto a serving platter.

Procedure for the frosting:

4) Heat the cream, salt, and corn syrup in a microwave-safe measuring cup on high power until simmering, about 1 minute, or bring to a simmer in ta small saucepan over medium heat. 
5) Place the chocolate in a food processor.  With the machine running, gradually add the hot cream mixture through the feed tube; process for 1 minute after the cream has been added Stop the machine; add the confectioners sugar and process to combine, about 30 seconds.  With the machine running, add the butter through he feed tube one piece at a time; process until incorporated and smooth, about 20 seconds longer.
6) Transfer the frosting to a medium bowl and cool at room temperature, stirring frequently, until thick and spreadable, about 1 hour.  Spread the frosting evenly over the top and sides of the cake and serve.

The final product with sprinkles

     This recipe was much easier to make than I thought it would be, although I will admit I did make a huge mess while making it.  I ended up being a little lazy/pressed for time and had parchment paper not only on the bottom of the pan but around the sides as well.  This actually made the cake really easy to remove from the pan (no knife needed!), so I'm glad I ended up doing it that way!  The cake was very rich, chocolaty, dense (but not too dense), luscious, and delicious!  Best of all, Annette liked it (she had two slices when I couldn't even finish one!) and was really appreciative that I made it for her.  We'll miss you, Annette! 

Dolsot Bibimbap

Dolsot Bibimbap

     Years and years ago, Scott and I accidentally discovered the Korean dish dolsot bibimbap (dolsot means stone pot and bibimbap means mixed rice) while looking for a pho place before (or after?) a concert at the Shoreline Amphitheater in Mountain View, CA.  We saw a place called "Sunny Bowl" and mistakenly thought that they serve pho there.  We went inside and found out that, instead of serving pho, this family owned place was Korean, not Vietnamese, and specialized in a delicious dish called bibimbap.  Never having heard of bibimbap before, let alone eaten it, we didn't quite know what to do.  Fortunately, we were helped out by our very nice waitress (the daughter of the owners, if I recollect correctly) and figured out how to order bibimbap and enjoyed it at once.  Scott's favorite part was how the meal was served in a super hot bowl and how he could use that bowl to sear the raw tuna he got in his dish.  I fell in love with the delicious flavors of the dish and the homemade kimchi.  After seeing how much Scott enjoyed it then (and continued to enjoy it every time we went over the years), I thought that it might be nice to try to create this dish home for him.  After discovering that there is a Korean grocery store relatively close to where I live and visiting it on an impulse yesterday, I knew that today was finally the day to make Scott's bibimbap dreams come true.

Dolsot Bibimbap (inspired from a recipe in Cook Korean! by Robin Ha)

Ingredients:

8 oz spinach

8 oz sprouts

4 oz dried fern*

1 medium zucchini

8 oz shiitake mushrooms

1 carrot

salt

1 teaspoon soy sauce

5 teaspoons toasted sesame oil

2 cups cooked sushi rice

4 eggs

bulgogi**

toasted sesame seeds

toasted seaweed, crushed

For the sauce:

1/3 cup gochujang

3 tablespoons rice vinegar

2 tablespoons sugar

1 tablespoon toasted sesame oil

Procedure:

1) Soak the dried ferns the night before.

2) Cook the sushi rice.

3) Set a large pot of water to a boil.

4) While water is boiling, start cutting up your vegetables.  Cut the zucchini in half lengthwise and then cut into 1/4 inch pieces.  Remove the stem from the mushrooms and cut them into 1/4 inch pieces.  Cut the carrot into small matchstick pieces.

5) Once the water is boiling, add some salt and separately blanch the spinach, sprouts, and carrot.  When they are done, season them separately with 1/2 teaspoon salt and 1 teaspoon of the toasted sesame oil.

6) Boil the reconstituted ferns.  Drain and cut them into 2 inch long pieces.

7) Saute the ferns with 1 teaspoon of sesame oil and 1 teaspoon of soy sauce.

8) Separately saute the zucchini and mushrooms with salt and a dash of sesame oil.

9) Cook the bulgogi.

10) Cook the eggs sunny side up.

11) Mix the ingredients for the sauce together.

12) Heat up to 4 of the pots over high heat with 1/2 tablespoon water and 1 teaspoon of sesame oil.  Wait until you see the oil shimmering and then add in the rice and vegetables/meat.  When you hear the rice start to pop, lower the heat to medium and cook for 4 more minutes.

13) Add the egg on top and garnish with crumbled seaweed and sesame seeds.  Serve with the sauce.

Katie's notes:

*I wasn't the biggest fan of the dried ferns, and ended up using about half of what I reconstituted by soaking.  The original recipe calls for gosari, the stems of young ferns which are found in the refrigerated grocery store of Korean grocery markets.  However, at the time I went shopping, I didn't find them so bought the dried ones instead.  I think it might have been better with the already prepared ones.

**Bulgogi can be purchased from Korean grocery stores.

Assembling the ingredients

Boiling the reconstituted ferns

Heating up the bowls and getting ready to assemble the bibimbap

Almost ready

Everything is all put together

My not quite as beautiful bowl

Scott's beautiful bowl

Mixing everything together and enjoying!

  This dish did come out delicious.  It was easier to make than I had expected, but it was a pain in the butt with all of the parts of the meal cooking separately and then having to be stored separately.  I didn't get my rice quite as crispy as I would have liked, but I also played it a bit cautious and heated the bowl for two minutes, instead of the recommended four.  I loved the sauce and I loved having this meal with some kimchi on the side.  Thankfully, after all that work, I have enough leftovers to easily have this dish for dinner tomorrow.  Best of all, Scott absolutely loved it and loved me for making it!  Yum!