As Published by the Georgetown Guide-Easy Bake Without the Oven

Easy Bake Without the Oven

Culinary Quips

By Elizabeth Sabol-Jones

Published: Wednesday, March 21, 2012

Updated: Sunday, March 25, 2012 15:03

Original Link

This week’s quip is mainly aimed at dorm-dwellers but will also appeal to readers who either lack a stove or heavily rely on the microwave for meals. 

We have experienced the hassle of packing up our belongings and moving from home back to Georgetown. By the time we’ve packed, we’re already laden with clothes, bedding and books, so why would we want to add a couple of boxes of pots and pans? Unless you really enjoy cooking, you would not have an incentive to bring kitchen supplies when you have delivery, Leo’s and the restaurants of M Street at your disposal. 

As a result, students’ kitchens are sometimes barren wastelands of Easy Mac boxes, random leftovers and communal forks. Luckily, modern technology gave college students the microwave. There are an array of quick, frozen and often unhealthy snacks. Although these quick-fix meals serve their purpose, often something fresh just tastes best. 

The meals and desserts you can make without using the stove would surprise you. So if you’re not fully prepared to step into the world of stovetop cooking, this is a window into the realm of “microwave magic.”

MICROWAVE MAGIC

Scrambled Eggs:

1. In a small bowl, beat together 2 eggs and 2 tablespoons milk with salt and pepper to taste until blended. 

2. Cook eggs on full power for one to one-and-a-half minutes, stirring once or twice, until they are almost set. Stir. If necessary, cover with plastic wrap and let stand for about 1 minute until eggs are thickened and no visible liquid egg remains.

Instant Chocolate Cake:

1. In a large mug, whisk together 1/4 cup flour, 5 tablespoons sugar, 2 tablespoons cocoa powder, 1 egg, 3 tablespoons milk, 3 tablespoons vegetable oil, a pinch of salt and a dash of vanilla extract until smooth. 

2. Microwave until puffed, about 2 minutes. 

The Best Oatmeal:

1. Take a 1/2 cup instant or regular oats (regular take a bit longer in the microwave) and place in bowl.

http://www.restaurantwidow.com/images/oatmeal_1_1.jpg

2. Add a dash of vanilla and teaspoon of cinnamon and begin microwaving on high for 1 minute.

Elizabeth Sabol-Jones is a junior in the College. CULINARY QUIPS appears every other Friday in the guide.

As Published by The Georgetown Guide-Let Them Eat Cake!

Delicious Cake w/ both fruit & Icing

Let Them Eat Cake

Culinary Quips

By Elizabeth Sabol-Jones

Published: Thursday, February 2, 2012

Updated: Thursday, February 2, 2012 18:02

Original Link to The Guide

For this week's quip, I thought I would take readers through a couple of scenarios in which baking a cake can go awry. As a Chinese language major, the nuances of the language bleed into the various facets of my life, including the kitchen.

In Mandarin Chinese, when you run into an unfortunate situation and feel the need to shout out your frustration, zaogao is a pretty common expression. Now, you may be asking yourself, What does a Chinese cry of distress have to do with a foodie column? Here's your answer: Zaogao's direct translation into English is "wretched cake." And honestly, when you think about it, what could be worse in a kitchen than taking the time to make something, especially a cake, only to taste it and realize you messed up.

Fallen Cake

As I wrote in my previous column, cooking and baking are about taking risks. I would definitely propose that when you first start your culinary adventures in the kitchen, you must recognize that success is one part skill, one part intuition, two parts precision and a whole lot of luck. So even if you think you've made a mistake, make sure you try to problem solve a bit before abandoning your culinary efforts.

So, here are some tips for when things get dicey in the kitchen so that you don't have to start over from scratch, literally:

1. If you have noisy roommates who jump around too much or you mistakenly slam the oven door at the wrong moment, your cake could collapse in the center. It could be still tasty, but if you were aiming for presentation, the Chairman from "Iron Chef" would definitely take off points. Your cake goes flat due to the fact that the rising process was disturbed. As the rising agent (baking soda, baking powder, etc.) works its magic, the stability of the cake's structure becomes more sensitive to disturbances that affect the chemical processes.

Remedy: Never fear, icing is here! If you're concerned about the looks of your cake, and you're planning to frost it, the icing will cover up any sunken-in appearance the cake may expose. Additionally, flipping the cake upside down and then frosting it will give you an even surface.If you want to add an extra ingredient to your solution, fruit could be used as a cake topper that fills in the space where the cake went flat.

2. On some occasions, you might sit down with a lovely slice of cake only to realize it's incredibly dry. This usually happens when the cake pan is too shallow for the amount of batter, or if the cake has been left in the oven too long.

Remedy: One way to prevent this from happening is to use the "toothpick method." First, make sure you check on your cake a few minutes ahead of the suggested bake time. Often the time a cake needs to bake varies based on the oven, altitude and ingredients, so it never hurts to check a couple of minutes early. Second, stick a toothpick straight into the middle of the cake. If it comes out clean or with a couple of crumbs, you're basically done. If you're very worried about dryness, then don't wait for the toothpick to be clean, and take the cake out when only a few crumbs are left.

Now, if you've already removed the cake and found it is incredibly dry, here's a creative solution: Pour something on it. Yes, it is as simple as pouring a bit of liquid over your finished product to add some moistness back. A bit of orange juice will give it a citrus flavor or a cup of coffee can curb the sweetness while rejuvenating the cake's texture. And, for the over-21 crowd, a little Bailey's never hurt anyone. The sky's really the limit on what you decide to use, but be sure to pour in small increments so as to avoid flooding your creation.

Almost Perfectly Risen Cake

Elizabeth A. Sabol-Jones is a junior in the College. She can be reached at saboljones@thehoya.com. CULINARY QUIPS appears every other Friday in the guide.

As Published by The Georgetown Guide-Cocoa for College Cooking

Cocoa for College Cooking

Culinary Quips

By Elizabeth A. Sabol-Jones

Published: Thursday, January 19, 2012

Updated: Friday, January 20, 2012 14:01

Scared of trying a new recipe? Not quite sure how to make a cake without a boxed mix? Unsure of what to do when you get halfway through a recipe and realize that you're missing two key ingredients? All of us have done something similar before, and we might as well admit to our mini-mistakes now. If you want any hope of getting comfortable with cooking and baking, you should consider throwing caution to the wind — or maybe some salt over your shoulder — and accept your previous kitchen mishaps so you can learn to use them to your advantage.
After testing and developing recipes for Nightly Noms over the past two years and cooking in a college environment where my mom's kitchen is not at my disposal, I've experienced plenty of miniature disasters. From not being able to melt chocolate without its seizing up to realizing that you need an 8x8 baking pan when you only have a 12x6 , you are bound to face both large and small cooking conundrums. Each small mishap that I have encountered since my college cooking days commenced, however, has forced me to become resourceful with what I have on hand. I'm not here to tell you how to bake; I'm here to give you some basic knowledge, random tips and fun recipes that will hopefully make you more comfortable in the kitchen and give you the ability to cook properly in a college environment with an improvisational flare.

Cake Poppers

If you're looking to impress your friends, have something delicious and a bit healthy to snack on, and if you don't want to spend a small fortune at Godiva, chocolate-covered fruit is a tasty option. The cool freshness of the fruit mixes with the smooth, rich chocolate to create a delicious substitute to plain fruit salad or a gigantic slice of chocolate cake. Still, chocolate-covered anything is easier said than done. While some may have luck with melting chocolate in the microwave, if you try melting large amounts of chocolate or become careless, you will soon open your microwave door to find that your chocolate has a grainy consistency, which means it has seized up.

Basically, there are two preferred ways to melt chocolate. If you're new to working with the substance, the microwave or a small pot with a bit of butter is your best option.



If you're using the microwave, make sure to start melting in 20-second intervals and then gradually microwave less as you see the chocolate melting. You really only need to melt until about 80 percent of the chips or chunks of chocolate are melted, since at that point the heat from the already-melted chocolate will take care of the rest.

If you're using your stovetop, make sure you keep the heat on low when you first place your pot on the stove.

Disclaimer: If there's one thing you need to know about melting chocolate, it's that water and too much heat are your enemies.

Remember, cooking and baking are as much about exact measurements and gaining control of kitchen chaos as being creative and taking risks. So push yourself to try something new!

Elizabeth Sabol-Jones is a junior in the College. She can be reached at saboljones@thehoya.com. Culinary Quips appears every other Friday in the guide.

How to: Melt Chocolate

1. Use either two pots, or a bowl and a pot, and place the smaller on top of the other. Fill the bottom pot with enough water to maintain a steady boil, but be cautious that the boiling water does not touch the bowl above it.
2. Turn on the flame to low/medium, add part of your chocolate and a bit of butter. The butter helps temper the chocolate while it melts; however, in most cases, butter is not necessary, so you can decide whether to add it.
3. Keep stirring to help distribute heat evenly and continue adding chocolate as the melting process continues.

4. Stir mixture on-and-off until chocolate melts,
remove from heat and either begin dipping fruit or combining with another mixture or batter.



 

Harry Potter Sweets: "Cauldron Cakes"

Hello Nomsters,
With the release of the final Harry Potter movie less than 48 hours away, I thought this would be a good time to cook up some Harry Potter favorites as a tribute to the epic adventure we've experienced by following "The Boy Who Lived" for the past fourteen years. From the books we read throughout our childhood, to the movies we anticipated during our teen years, it would be neglectful to not take note of the influence that JK Rowling's universe has played in our generation. I'm sure most of us are thinking "how can it actually be the last movie?!" Now, while I know not everyone may be a fan of the series, I can say that this blog and those closely connected to Nightly Noms are in the least Potter fans, if not complete and utter "Potheads."

With billboards scattered around cities with the slogan of "It All Ends," we can't quite help but feel that a huge part of our own childhoods are ending. Just think, for those of us who just turned twenty, it won't be until we're around thirty that we can say that we haven't spent more than half of our life following a certain boy wizard and his friends' adventures. So, in honor of my personal obsession with the adventures of Mr. Potter, and due to the fact that I'm going to see the midnight premiere with friends, I've decide to tweak, bake, and invent some of my own Harry Potter sweet recipes.

I thought that cooking up some Cauldron Cakes would be a fun experiment and spent some time debating about the best way of executing a recipe. Should we make a lava cake? Chocolate vs. Cinnamon? Cauldron shaped vs. the traditional baking pan? In the end we decided to go with a recipe of chocolate cinnamon cupcake with a caramel cream cheese filling (to mimic a bubbling over effect.") We hope you enjoy these Potter-inspired recipes and look out for an upcoming post for Butterbeer Ice Cream Floats


"Cauldron Cakes"
Cakes
Ingredients

-1 1/4 Flour (sifted)
-1/2 cup Cocoa Powder (sifted)
-2 to 3 tsp Cinnamon (sifted)
-1 1/4 cup Sugar
-1 cup Milk (room temp, can be 2% or whole, if you only have skim, you can use that and add a bit of cream)
-1/2 tsp Baking Soda
-1/4 tsp Salt (sifted)
-Vanilla
-2 Eggs (room temp)
Along with the Cauldron Cakes, Exploding Bon Bons sounded like a good challenge so we've included a recipe for our version of those also.

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Line a standard cupcake pan with baking cups (or spray with pam, or use saran wrap and rub butter to avoid sticking).

2. Sift together the flour, baking soda and salt into a bowl/measuring cup.

3. Place the butter in the bowl of a stand mixer or hand-held electric mixer. Beat on medium speed until fluffy. Stop to add the sugar; beat on medium speed until well incorporated.. Add the eggs one at a time, mixing slowly after each addition.

4. Combine the vanilla extract and milk in a large liquid measuring cup.

5. Reduce the speed to low. Add one-third of the flour mixture to the butter mixture, then gradually add one-third of the milk mixture, beating until well incorporated. Add another one-third of the flour mixture, followed by one-third of the milk mixture. Stop to scrape down the bowl as needed. Add the remaining flour mixture, followed by the remaining milk mixture, and beat just until combined.

6.Add the sifted cocoa powder and cinnamon, beating (on low speed) just until incorporated.

7. Use a standard-size ice cream scoop to fill each cupcake paper with batter, so that the wells are about 1/3 to 1/2 full. Then, using a spoon, place a dollop of your filling into the center (don't push down!) Bake for 15 to 20 minutes (start checking at 15 minutes) or until a toothpick inserted into the center/side of a cupcake comes out clean. Transfer the pan to a wire rack to cool completely. If you use a mini bundt pan and can't get them out without smooshing them, then place a piece of saran wrap over a cookie tray, place it on top of the bundt pan, and flip it. Then, lightly tap the tin in an attempt to get them loose.

Filling/Icing
Ingredients
-1 8oz package Cream Cheese
-1/4 to 1/2 stick Butter
-1 tsp Vanilla
-1/4 package of Instant Vanilla pudding mix OR 1/2-1 cup of Confectioners (Powdered) sugar
-4 to 7 Tbsp Maple Syrup (sweeten to taste, but in small increments to monitor filling consistency)

Method
1. place your softened cream cheese and butter in a bowl, use a hand or stand mixer to incorporate them into each other. Add roughly a tsp of Vanilla, mix,
2. Add either your pudding mix or the confectioners sugar and mix well,
3. Add in maple syrup and mix until creamy
4. See Cake recipe above for filling prodecure

Now, I have to admit that I was a bit worried about how these would come out; but, in the end they came out better than I could have imagined. In the end, you could actually keep them upright or flip them right side up (since I used a decorative bundt pan). Originally I had planned to use a cupcake pan with baking cups, but after rummaging around my kitchen I found the perfect pan, so I decided to use that rather.

Depending on how much filling you place in the baking cup/batter, you get a larger "hole" in the center, giving them their Cauldron-like appearance! I personally made up the recipe for my filling, but I'd probably play with it a little more to perfect the taste, or I would use cream cheese frosting. As you can see from the pictures, I used some of the left over icing to give the cakes a "bubbling" effect. That just requires the use of a steady hand, or a self-made piping bag. My friends and I will be munching on these tonight as we anxiously wait to head to the theater, so hopefully I'll be able to post more feedback in my next post :)


Finally, before Potter fans around the world dress up, line up, and excitedly chatter about all of the insanely wicked memories they have that relate to world of Harry Potter, we raise our Cauldron Cakes in honor of some of the best adventure stories of our time and hope for many more!

nox, 


The Georgetown Foodie


We always love comments, please take the time to leave one below :)

Restaurant Week Feature: Decadent Brunch @ Co Co. Sala

Hello Nomsters,

As most of you know, this past week was DC's Restaurant Week, which means tantalizingly tasty 3- course meals for lunch ($20.11) and dinner ($35.11) at many of DC's finest restaurants. Of course living on a typical college budget, you don't normally want to spend more than needed on a meal, but a little self indulgence never hurt anyone and my roommates and I decide to partake by making a reservation at Co Co. Sala, a chocolate bar and restaurant on F. street and 10th (near the Verizon Center). Co Co. Sala was one of the few restaurants that was offering a brunch restaurant week special, and after perusing the menu and seeing items like "French Toast S'mores" and "Crispy Creole Crabcake" as options, it was hard to not run to the cutesy chocolate lounge.

Arriving at Co Co. Sala for our 11:30 reservation, we were seated in the chocolate and pink accented colored lounge to be handed our menus for the Restaurant Week Special. Needless to say, we couldn't go wrong with our options. Each of us started with the Amuse Bouche of the Day, which was a small artichoke tart with tomato confit. The tart was perfectly warm and the crust had an excellent taste, just a little sweetness to offset the taste of the artichoke. Following our tarts, Sarah favored a more savory entree, so she ordered the Aztec Cheese Enchilada with an avocado, guava, and fennel salad with chocolate ganache and guava-lime vinaigrette. Both Gina and I opted for the ultimate indulgence and ordered the "French Toast S'mores" as our brunch entree. After having the well-presented plate placed in front of me and taking my first bite, all I could think was "yum." The french toast was cinnamon brioche stuffed with melted marshmallows and warm dark chocolate, a graham shortbread layered with mousse and warm bananas in caramel sauce accompanied the entree. The french toast literally melted in your mouth as the flavors of each component melded together. I would order this item again in a heartbeat, and as an a la carte option you can experience the deliciousness for about $12. By the last couple of bites, both Gina and I were struggling, but there was no way we would leave a piece on our plate. Completely satisfied by each of our meals, our sever cleared our plates as we took a breath and prepared ourselves for dessert....yes, I know what you're thinking, "who could even contemplate dessert after all of that?!"

Both Sarah and I ordered the Onyx, a vanilla creme brulee encased in dark chocolate mousse with salted caramel on top, basically chocolate overload. The mousse was perfectly smooth and the creme brulee did an excellent job of preventing us from going into a chocolate overdose. Gina ordered the Stolen Heart, which was a white chocolate strawberry mousse with chocolate crispy pearls; naturally, all of these desserts found their way into our already fulls selves. We barely ate the rest of the day.

Co Co. Sala is a great place for brunch or dessert, they also offer dinner too (don't worry, not everything has chocolate in it!). Although some of the items are a little pricey, the brunch was definitely worth the commute and price. The presentation on each dish was flawless, and the overall tastes definitely give Co Co. Sala an edge over other restaurant's desserts. While I would definitely order the French Toast S'mores again, the Breakfast Flatbread looked like a pretty great savory option also. I may pass on the mousse though and opt for the PB Cheesecake instead, but that may have just been because I was coming out of a food coma from the french toast. This restaurant is great for dessert and drinks out with the girls (they offer a variety of cocktails and hot cocoas) or for a date. Either way you'll swoon for the flavors Co Co. Sala offers. They also have a "Chocolate Boutique" in case you was a box of chocolates to take home!

Co Co. Sala

MENU
929 F STREET NW,
WASHINGTON, DC 20004
P 202.347.4265

Transport:
1. g'town ->union station circulator, get off at about K st. and 11th, walk to F and 10th
2. Any train to Metro Center, walk to F and 10th