Chef Mik's Gingerbread Cookies

Gingerbread cookies are some of my absolute favorite cookies in the world! Which speak to winter an open fire, mulled wine, companionship the cheer and laughter greeted by the rich bouquet of spices and scents wafting through the air. This is what these cookies represent to me. More over Sweden has a rich history dating back to the middle ages when they were baked by nuns who sometimes even hung them as decorations. Though Armenians may have first baked gingerbread, the cookie is Swedish through and through, it is also one of the countries national cookies.

Some fun facts; while commonly referred to as gingerbread here in the States it is also sometimes known in Europe as pepper bread this is impart due to how valuable pepper once was here’s were a little marketing and branding can really sell a product. Back in the 1400’s anything with any spice at all would tend to be labeled pepper even if there was no pepper in it to begin with. It’s why the chili fruit became the chili pepper, you see when Columbus introduced the chili to Isabella the closest thing he could compare it to was, pepper. Horseradish is another spice sometimes referred to as root pepper or pepper root. Ginger also happens to be one of the five categories in the fiery spices the others being the fore mentioned pepper, mustard, horseradish and of course chili peppers

There are several types of cookies such as the ‘drop cookie’, a chocolate chip cookie is a good example of a drop cookie as the name would suggest the cookie dough once prepared is simply scooped out and dropped onto the sheet pan and baked in the oven. The gingerbread cookie on the other hand is a so called ‘rolled cookie’ which is dough that is placed in the refrigerator first to rest before being rolled out and cut into a shape and baked. Knowing this, I cheat doing one thing slightly different, once I have formed my dough it is still very pliable because the butter hasn’t yet settled, I take advantage of this fact and roll the dough out and cut it first before refrigerating it almost like an ‘ice box cookie’ which is cookie dough shaped into a log and refrigerated before being simply sliced into round cookies and baked. 

One last note, some recipes call for egg others call for cream, I am using cream here but if you would like to try it substituting egg, here's a quick reference; 1 large standard egg is equal to one deciliter (dl)

Shopping List

Butter

Heavy cream

Syrup, I use a lighter beet sugar verity   

Bakers or caster sugar

Unbleached all purpose (AP) flour

Baking powder

Ginger

Cloves

Cinnamon

My Mad Method

Ready to enjoy!!

Start by melting 175g unsalted butter; add 200g sugar and 1.5 dl syrup

Transfer to a mixed and add 1.5 dl cream pulse to combine

Add 700g AP flour, ½ to ¾ tsp baking powder, 1 tsp ginger, 1 tsp ground cinnamon, 1 tsp ground cloves and puree to create a cohesive dough

When dough is achieves transfer to a lightly dusted work surface and let rest 10 to 15 minutes

Divide the dough, then roll the dough out about 3 to 5 mm thick, making sure to keep the dough as even as possible, remove or seal any rips or tears

Cut out the shape you like and lay them on a sheet pan that has been covered by greased parchment paper  refrigerate overnight, then bake 8 to 10 minutes or until done in a 225c preheated oven

When they come out of the oven let them cool on a wire wrack

Ready to serve!!

Here’s a shot of some we were baking for the Holidays a couple years back, in total we baked 8,000!

 

 

Chef Mik's Pad Thai

Today I’m preparing Pad Thai, which is a super simple dish to make, from Thailand via Vietnam though in some respects it is perhaps closer to Chinese cuisine in so much as it is a fried noodle dish. One of the main differences between Chinese and Thai food however is Thai food tends to be sweeter as Thailand uses a lot of palm sugar or other sweeteners in their food preparation. The dish is typically garnished with shrimp, peanuts, cilantro, scallions, sometimes cucumbers, tomatoes and pickled vegetables

One thing I like about Pad Thai is that you can make the sauce ahead of time, you can also make more then you need as it will keep for at least a week or two in the refrigerator. What I normally do is make at least a liter at a time, then pour enough for a serving into a squeezey bottle, and just refill accordingly. 

You can also prep the main components separately ahead of time such as the chicken, shrimp, egg scramble and noodles then simply assemble a la minute in a pan or wok when need be. When you are working the line in a busy eatery, cooking for a large group or party or simply cooking for family and/or friends on the go this is a great alternative, that said try it this way at least once first to get a good feel for the dish.

This recipe calls for tamarind, which is basically a pod sort of fruit used in many cultures around the world. In the case of Pad Thai instead of going out of your way looking for the pods and processing them you can use ready made paste, concentrate or juice all of which work fine, though you can also substitute simple broth or stock if you like or don’t have access to tamarind. I will be using both stock and tamarind today.

Pad Thai also calls for rice noodles now there is a seemingly endless verity of rice noodles to choose from, if you get lucky like I did at the store they will be labeled “pad Thai noodles” assuming this is not the case then for this dish what you should look for are flat noodles about 1/2cm wide.

Lastly a word about Galangal which is similar to ginger though perhaps with a bit more of a peppery profile first used in the kitchens of Indonesia it is also commonly used in Eastern medicine. Galangal is a wonderful ingredient not used enough in Western cooking. Look for tight vibrant roots, absent blemishes or any sign of either decay (slime and/or mold) or withering (dried out appearance), sometimes it is sold grated prepackaged.

Shopping List

Chicken, I am using thighs but breast are fine

Shrimp, heads and shells removed

Eggs

Limes

Scallions

Thai chili

Cilantro

Galangal, but ginger is fine

Garlic

Sprouts

Peanuts

Tamarind

Chili sauce or paste, I am using sambal oelek

Chicken stock or broth, I am using a prepared Asian stock

Fish sauce

Soy sauce, I am using mushroom soy

Sugar, I am using palm sugar but brown sugar is fine

My Mad Method

Ready to serve!!!!

Take a look at the ingredients so you have a basic idea what to look out for when you go shopping  

Prepare sauce: 2dl chicken stock or broth, 1dl tamarind concentrate, 2 garlic cloves, 3 TBSP fish sauce, 2 tsp soy sauce, 1 tsp chili paste, the juice from half a lime and 2 to 3 TBSP sugar place all ingredients in a small pot, bring to boil melt sugar adjust flavor to taste

Portion scant 75 to 100g chicken per serving, season with soy sauce set aside

Boil a pot of water off the heat add rice noodles consider about 75g per serving steep for about 5 to 6 minutes drain, shock in ice bath to stop cooking and prevent sticking

Shell and devein shrimp and consider 4 to 6 per serving depending on size

Heat wok add 2 TBSP peanut, canola or olive oil heat though, add 3 Thai chilies chopped, 1 TBSP galangal grated, 2 garlic cloves minced and a small handful scallions (white parts only stir fry 30 seconds

Add chicken and cook until ¾ finished

Add shrimp continue stir frying about a minute or so longer or until shrimp has turned pink orange and add two eggs beating it as it cooks when cooked through toss with other ingredients in the pan

Add the noodles along with 1 dl sauce stir to combine, as the sauce dissipates (about 2 minutes) add 1 more dl sauce and repeat until that has been absorbed check consistency to determine if the dish requires any additional cooking if so add additional sauce

Add the sprouts continue cooking for about a minute or so longer until the sprouts have softened adjust seasoning to taste  

 

Chef Mik's Biscotti

Today I’m baking biscotti which is the plural, the singular being biscotto an Italian cookie whose heritage can be traced to the Northern Port city of Genoa. The city itself is also famous for giving the world pesto and salami and the Italian sea captain turned explorer Cristoforo Colombo or Christopher Columbus in English. The name biscotti refers to the cookie being twice baked or cooked much like ricotta which derives its name from the cheese curd having been cooked twice. Biscotti similar to the English term biscuits which refers simply to cookies themselves

Biscotti is quite similar to the Yiddish or Eastern European cookie mandelbrodt or almond cookie in English in so much as they are both crispy, often filled with a wide verity of varying ingredients and they are both prepared and baked first as a loaf before being sliced much like bread then baked again

The cookies themselves are quite easy to prepare and lend themselves well to interpretation which is great for the more advanced and avid risk takers or those with certain food restrictions that may dictate what ingredients can be used.

We here at FoodPerfected offer a wide verity of biscotti, however when I bake them for myself I like to keep it simple. That said some bakers I know like to beat their egg whites to stiff peeks before incorporating them into the batter which is fine but by no means mandatory, others are very particular about the type of flour used as well as the fillers. While still others dip them in chocolate or decorate them after they have been baked. My advice as always is stick to the basics first and master them before biting off more then you can chew.

Shopping List

Almonds

Sugar

Butter

Eggs

Galliano

Vanilla extract

Flour

Baking powder

Anis seed

Salt

My Mad Method

Ready to serve!!!

Cream together 2.5 dl sugar and 115g butter

Add two eggs, one at a time and whisk until fluffy

Add wet ingredients: 2 TBSP Galliano and 1 tsp vanilla extract whisk until well incorporated

Add dry ingredients: 6 dl flour, 2 tsp baking powder, 1 TBSP anise seeds (crushed) and ¼ tsp salt mix until you have a good semi moist cookie dough

Fold in 2 dl toasted cracked almonds

Form a uniform loaf on a sheet pan that has been covered with well greased parchment paper

Bake 30 to 40 minutes in a 175c preheated oven, when done allow it to rest 20 to 30 minutes before slicing it, reduce the oven temp to 150c

When you have sliced the loaf arrange the cookies on the same parchment paper and bake 10 minutes flip the cookies and bake ten minutes longer or until golden brown and crisp