Food Blogger’s Food

Posted by Emily in blog post

What do food bloggers eat? On our blogs you see carefully constructed photos of food bathing in natural light. Maybe you imagine we eat lavishly every night. Or maybe you think it’s all a scam because we often post about our successes and not necessarily our failures – although I try to post it all!

So in an impromptu moment as of 8:19 a.m. on Thursday May 16, I want to show you what a typical day of breakfast and lunch looks like (call me crazy and spontaneous, I know). Below you’ll see my usual cup of coffee or tea; a Luna Bar for breakfast; fruit for snack and leftover beans and rice for lunch. Not too extravagant! That’s it! What are you eating for lunch?

food blogger food

And because it’s almost the weekend, here’s a photo of Roo trying to get at James’ “London Fog” tea drink (essentially a homemade chai) at Scratch Bakery in Durham a few weeks ago.

london fog

Portland Food Review

Posted by Emily in blog post and tagged with , , ,

I got back from Portland a few weeks ago and have ever since been A.) Dreaming of the delicious pastrami sandwich I had and, B.) Dreaming of telling you about the delicious pastrami sandwich I had. That’s what sticks out in my mind so we’ll start there. Kenny & Zuke’s! If you’re in Portland and are a deli-deprived Jew like me, or a deli-deprived anybody, then make a stop there. I was only in Portland for three full days (which would mean three lunches) and I ate two of them at Kenny & Zuke’s. Thankfully I was with my foodie friend Laura so we could split multiple menu items. In the middle photograph notice the tuna melt, cole slaw, lox, pickle AND knish.

kenny and zukes

You couldn’t go to Portland without visiting VooDoo Doughnuts. Their doughnuts are delicious and come in three different styles: cake, traditional or vegan. I had a vegan doughnut! A cream filled, maple glaze vegan doughnut. You would never know the difference! Laura had an ‘Old Dirty Bastard’ (non-vegan), which was a doughnut with chocolate icing, crumbled oreo cookies and peanut butter icing drizzle. I felt a little bad shouting across the store “Laura, you’re getting an Old Dirty Bastard?” in front of families. But what could I do? It’s the name of the doughnut!
voodoo doughnuts

The thing about these doughnuts is that they are huge! Note the overwhelmed look on my face in the top picture, but the very satisfied look below. Side story: we did not order enough doughnuts to warrant getting one of those big, bright pink boxes. Instead, sitting outside the shop, there was a trashcan filled with hardly touched boxes. So I admit that we did a very shallow doughnut dumpster dive to include the box in this photo. That’s how far we go for good doughnuts and pictures. voodoo doughnuts

Besides putting birds on things, what else do you think about when you think of Portland?  Coffee, right?  Continue reading →

Citrus Pound Cake

Posted by Emily in baked goods, cookies, quick breads and tagged with , ,

April is a busy month at work. There are teen art competitions to jury, pop up exhibitions to hang and events to organize. Plus the usual deadlines and meetings. This all usually happens within a two week period. We’ve all been there. We all have busy lives, busy workdays and, ideally, relaxing weekends. But sometimes you can’t wait til the weekend. Well, maybe you can, but I can’t. Last week I came home on Tuesday and needed to bake. On my drive home I was mentally searching through my cabinets to inventory what ingredients I had. I had no desire to go to the store – just bake down the pantry!
cake
And bake, I did. First, I made two kinds of peanut butter oatmeal cookies: one with almond M&M’s (leftover Easter chocolate) and one with chocolate covered raisins (leftover Passover nosh. This is an outstanding combination.Plus, my dad is allergic to tree nuts so I needed a sub). Next I made a Passover-safe coffee cake that I hadn’t used. I knew if I didn’t use the box mix then, it would sit in the kitchen until next Passover and that just would not do. Finally, I made this citrus pound cake. So. good. It was light, fluffy, zesty and tangy. I substituted orange for lemon since James doesn’t like lemon in desserts, but you could easily choose one or the other, maybe even both!

citrus pound cake

James left for the gym right as I started baking and by the time he got back there were two baking sheets, one loaf pan and one 8×8 dish of goodies cooling on the stove. I get into a flow, move quickly and can feel myself decompress with each passing stick of butter or cup of flour I add to the mix.

Ingredients
Source: Bon Appetit
1 1/2 cups flour
2 tsp. baking powder
3/4 tsp. kosher salt
1 cup sugar
1 T. finely grated orange zest
3/4 cup whole-milk Greek yogurt (I used fat-free with delicious results)
1/2 cup vegetable oil
2 large eggs
1/2 tsp. vanilla extract

Directions
Preheat oven to 350. Grease loaf pan and line with parchment paper

  1. Whisk 1 1/2 cups flour, baking powder, and kosher salt in a medium bowl.
  2. Using your fingers, rub sugar with orange zest in a large bowl until sugar is moist. Add yogurt, oil, eggs, and vanilla extract; whisk to blend. Fold in dry ingredients just to blend.
  3. Pour batter into prepared pan; smooth top. Bake until top of cake is golden brown and a tester inserted into center comes out clean, 50–55 minutes.

Voila!

p.s. Thank you Mary B. for the graphic/mantra above!

Passover 2013

Posted by Emily in dinner, jewish cooking and tagged with , , , ,

The last time I hosted a big Passover was in 2010 when we lived in Washington DC. Three years later, I’m in Durham, NC, with a new career,  a new dog, and a new niece or nephew on the way!  My whole family, plus James’ parents and grandparents are coming to our Seder. We will have a huge feast with the help of family who is helping to make roasted cauliflower, stuffed peppers, charosis, dessert and drinks. I’m making ‘Mama’s Made with Love’ brisket, matzo ball soup, vegetarian chopped “liver” and all the Seder plate flourishes.

passover

This year James’ grandparents are coming to their first Seder! I am very excited to share this holiday with them since it’s one of my favorites. His family is not Jewish and through our relationship we’ve exposed and included each other, and our families, in different traditions that we didn’t grow up with. We had a primarily Jewish wedding; I celebrate Christmas with his family; his family comes to my parents’ Hannukkah parties and now we’re celebrating Passover together!

passover haggadah

My mom created this Haggadah about 5 years ago. Before that we used a Haggadah that they got at their wedding (I think). It had lots of notes in the margins, which pages to skip, which passages to read. In this new haggadah she put together favorite readings, the traditional prayers, added art and other readings to create a Seder that is both universal and unique to our family.

passover haggadah

And for a little  bonus, here are more Passover recipes that include video! It’s also a chance to see me with short(!) straight(!) hair! Is that even kosher?! I’m embarrassed that I even wore a chef’s jacket to make matzo brei. Really, Emily from 2009? A chef jacket to make what is, essentially, the equivalent of scrambled eggs?

Fig, Olive Oil and Sea Salt Challah

Posted by Emily in breads, jewish cooking and tagged with , ,

Ever since I started making challah about four years ago, I’ve used the same recipe.  I got it from my mom who learned from her friend. The loaves are golden brown and busting at the seams with warm dough. Spread a little butter and sprinkle a little salt and we can all call it a night. Why fix it if it’s not broken, right? The only time I strayed from this tried and true recipe is when I made a seasonal pumpkin challah. The idea of a pumpkin challah seemed so novel and unusual that I had to try it. It was perfect to make around the fall holidays like Sukkot, Rosh Hashanah or Yom Kippur. So when I saw this fig, olive oil and sea salt challah on Smitten Kitchen, it had the same effect on me. The ingredients seemed unusual, daring, yet enticing. It’s good to step out of your comfort zone in the kitchen (or life, I suppose!), take risks, learn to fail, learn your lessons. Except I didn’t fail (ha!). I’m glad I took that risk because this challah was amazing.
fig olive oil and sea salt challahI saw the recipe a few weeks ago and then had a chance to see Deb Perelman at Quail Ridge Books in Raleigh! I wondered if her bubbly and candid personality online would be true to the actual person. It was! She was so sweet and welcomed lots of questions. I haven’t bought her book, but I did bring my cookbook to the event (which was standing room only!). However, I turned the wrong way to get in the book signing line and by the time I found it I felt like Steve Martin in Father of the Bride when he gets in line for food. People were snaking through the aisles. The line got so immediately long that I headed out. One day she’ll sign my cook book. For now, I can just enjoy this delicious challah. Plus, look at that cool braid action! Written directions for how to braid it are below, but if you also need visuals, she posted photos on her blog.
shabbat tableI made Shabbat dinner for my parents. Thus, I doubled the recipe. The quantities below are for ONE loaf, but it’s easily doubled to make two. I’m so glad I made two loaves because between James, my parents, my brother Jeremy (who also came), and me, there’s only one left. It’s the kind of challah you can’t stop eating even when there’s a plate of food in front you. Given, we were eating rice and beans, but they were good beans! I felt funny inviting my parents over for Shabbat and offering such a seemingly bland meal. I couldn’t even write it in an email. I had to call my mom and explain that I was using dried beans and planned on soaking them overnight then simmering them for hours in herbs and spices. Of course they were happy, but I felt the need to justify. “Thanks mom and dad for raising me and making delicious dinners. Here’s some rice and beans.”
roo at the windowAnd then there’s Roo. He’s just cute and hangs around my feet in the kitchen when I’m cooking. Although in this moment he got distracted by a noise outside. He could just barely see over the ledge and the shade. Ever since I started giving a taste of butter from an empty wrapper he hangs out hoping for a taste.

Ingredients
Source: Slightly adapted from Smitten Kitchen

2 1/4 teaspoons (1 packet) active dry yeast
1/4 cup plus 1 teaspoon honey
1/3 cup olive oil, plus more for the bowl
2 large eggs
2 tsp. flaky sea salt, such as Maldon, or 1 1/2 teaspoons table salt
4 cups bread flour (all-purpose is fine, too)
1 jar fig spread (I used ‘Dalmatia‘ from Whole Foods. Although any brand will do. You can also make your own fig filling, found on the original SK post.)

Egg wash
1 large egg
Coarse or flaky sea salt, for sprinkling

Directions

  1. Whisk the yeast and 1 teaspoon honey into 2/3 cup warm water (110 to 116 degrees), and let it stand for a few minutes, until foamy, 5-10 minutes.
  2. In a large mixer bowl, combine the yeast mixture with remaining honey, 1/3 cup olive oil, and eggs. Add the salt and flour, and mix with a wooden spoon until dough starts to come together. until dough begins to hold together. Turn the mixture out onto a floured counter, and knead for 5 to 10 minutes, until a smooth and elastic dough is formed. Transfer the dough to an olive-oil coated bowl, cover with plastic wrap, and set aside for 1 hour, or until almost doubled in size.
  3. After your dough has risen, turn it out onto a floured counter and divide it in half. Roll the first half of the dough into a wide and totally imperfect rectangle. Spread half the fig filling evenly over the dough, stopping short of the edge. Roll the dough into a long, tight log, trapping the filling within. Then gently stretch the log as wide as feels comfortable (appx. 3 feet), and divide it in half. Repeat with remaining dough and fig filling.
  4. Arrange two ropes in each direction, perpendicular to each other, like a tight tic-tac-toe board. Weave them so that one side is over, and the other is under, where they meet. So, now you’ve got an eight-legged woven-headed octopus. Take the four legs that come from underneath the center and move the leg to their right — i.e., jumping it. Take the legs that were on the right and, again, jump each over the leg before, this time to the left. If you have extra length in your ropes, you can repeat these left-right jumps until you run out of rope. Tuck the corners or odd bumps under the dough with the sides of your hands to form a round.
  5. Transfer the dough to a parchment-cover heavy baking sheet, or, if you’ll be using a bread stone, a baker’s peel. Beat egg until smooth, and brush over challah. Let challah rise for another hour, but 45 minutes into this rise, preheat your oven to 375°F.
  6. Before baking, brush loaf one more time with egg wash and sprinkle with sea salt. Bake in middle of oven for 30 to 35 minutes. It should be beautifully bronzed; if yours starts getting too dark too quickly, cover it with foil for the remainder of the baking time.

Voila!

Bonus Voila Fact! My great-great aunt Eva was an award winning challah maker in Chicago!

 

Three Types of of Hamantaschen

Posted by Emily in baked goods, cookies, jewish cooking and tagged with , ,

I like hamantaschen when they are free formed and overflowing. One of my pet peeves is biting into a dry, under-filled hamantaschen. As you can see, I took “free formed” quite literally.

hamantaschen

Buzzfeed recently posted a list of 32 crazy hamantaschen flavors. Up to a couple weeks ago, the only flavors I knew could go into hamantaschen were: preserves, prunes, nutella or poppyseeds. Now Buzzfeed introduces savory flavors like “French Onion Soup” and “Mediterranean.” The post also described “Coffee Cake” and “Rose-Water Almond” and “Truffle Pops.” You see, this blew my mind. Whoever thought of these, I applaud you for thinking “outside the triangle.” I used a chocolate cookie base for three new flavor fillings: peanut butter honey, raspberry coconut, peanut butter and jelly.

hamantaschen

Look at that oozing, delicious preserves flowing out of the cookie! Although, because it all flowed out there wasn’t as much left inside – talk about your backfire! I rolled out the dough fairly thin – less than 1/4″ thick. Next time I would leave it a little thicker to allow for a more buttery, crumbly cookie. However, my parents said they loved the thin cookie; it’ll just depend on who I’m baking for! I’d also use a smaller cookie cutter – although, that would mean using something other than a margarita glass.

hamantaschen

Ingredients
Sources: Adapted from Shiksa in the Kitchen, Baking and Mistaking, The Jewish Week and Socal Sustenance

Dough
3/4 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
2/3 cup sugar
1 egg, room temperature
1 tsp. vanilla
1 tsp. grated orange zest
2 1/8 cups flour
2 T. cocoa powder
1/4 tsp salt
1-5 tsp water or orange juice (if needed)

Raspberry coconut
Raspberry or other mixed berry preserves
1/4 cup coconut flakes

Peanut butter honey
1 cup peanut butter
2/3 cup milk
1/8-1/4 cup confectioners sugar (depending on how sweet you want it)

Peanut butter and jelly
3/4 cup peanut butter
1-2 tsp. confectioner’s sugar
strawberry, blueberry, mixed berry preserves

Directions
Dough

Preheat oven to 350 and line baking sheets with parchment paper.

  1. Slice room temperature butter into small chunks and place in a large mixing bowl. Add sugar to the bowl. Use an electric mixer to cream the butter and sugar together for a few minutes till light and fluffy.
  2. Add the egg, vanilla, and orange zest to the bowl. Beat again till creamy and well mixed. Sift flour and salt into the bowl. Mix with the electric mixer on low speed till a crumbly dough forms.
  3. Begin to knead dough with hands till a smooth dough ball forms. Try not to overwork the dough, only knead till the dough is the right consistency. If the crumbles are too dry to form a smooth dough, add water or juice slowly, 1 teaspoon at a time, using your hands to knead the liquid into the dough. Knead and add liquid until the dough is smooth and slightly tacky to the touch (not sticky). If you are using coconut, add the flakes here.
  4. Form the dough into a flat disk and wrap in plastic wrap. Place in the refrigerator to chill for 3 hours to overnight.
  5. Before you begin to assemble the hamantaschen, choose and make your filling and have it on hand to work with. Lightly flour a smooth, clean surface. Unwrap the dough disk and place it on the floured surface. The dough will be very firm after chilling.
  6. Use a rolling pin to roll the dough out to 1/4 inch thick. When the dough reaches 1/4 inch thickness, scrape the dough up with a pastry scraper, lightly reflour the surface, and flip the dough over. Continue rolling the dough out very thin (less than 1/8 of an inch thick). The thinner you roll the dough, the more delicate and crisp the cookies will turn out. If you prefer a thicker, more doughy texture to your cookies (less delicate), keep the dough closer to 1/4 inch thick. Lightly flour the rolling pin occasionally to prevent sticking.
  7. Use a 3-inch cookie cutter or the 3-inch rim of a glass to cut circles out of the dough, cutting as many as you can from the dough.Gather the scraps and roll them out again. Cut circles. Repeat process again if needed until you’ve cut as many circles as you can from the dough. You should end up with around 35 circles (unless you’ve kept your dough on the thicker side, which will result in less cookies).
  8. Place a teaspoon of filling (see below!) into the center of each circle. Cover unused circles with a lightly damp towel to prevent them from drying out while you are filling. Assemble circles into triangles.
  9. Pinch each corner of the triangle gently but firmly to secure the shape. If any cracks have formed at the places where the dough is creased, use the warmth of your fingers to smooth them out.
  10. Repeat this process for the remaining circles.
  11. When all of your hamantaschen have been filled, place them on a lightly greased baking sheet, evenly spaced.
  12. Place them in the oven and let them bake at 350 degrees for 20-25 minutes, till the cookies are cooked through and lightly golden. Cool the cookies on a wire rack. Store them in a tightly sealed plastic bag or Tupperware.

Fillings

Raspberry coconut

Peanut butter honey

  1. Beat together the peanut butter, milk (or soy milk) and confectioner’s sugar until smooth. Add filling to the dough and follow steps 8-12 above.

Peanut butter and jelly

  1. Soften peanut butter for 15 seconds in microwave, and mix in confectioner’s sugar. Spoon small (less than 1 tsp) rounded scoops of peanut butter onto a wax paper lined plate using a small spoon or melon baller. Make 20 small scoops, and place plate into freezer.
  2. Add 1 tsp. of preserves into hamantaschen dough circles. Then place one scoop of peanut butter in the middle of the preserves. Add filling to the dough and follow steps 8-12 above.

Voila!

5 Year Blog-aversary

Posted by Emily in Uncategorized

I have officially owned this blog for 5 years. 5 years! I’ve ranged from posting 3 times a week to once a week. I’ve posted videos and photos. I’ve tried vegetarian months. I’ve goofed on recipes and I’ve been successful. My parents published a cookbook of my recipes. My hair has gone from short and straight to long and curly. You’ve seen it all! To commemorate the past five years I have finally purchased a domain name so it’s just voilawithemily.com (it’s .05 cents/day, I didn’t have any more excuses) And I’m revisiting the top five, most viewed  posts  on my blog with added, retroactive commentary. Counting down from the 5th most popular…

5. Turkey burgers with avocado and goat cheese (April 2010)

turkey burger
What’s interesting about this post is that I don’t make turkey burgers anymore. They used to be such a staple!  In fact, I don’t even eat turkey anymore. I’ve moved away from “feathers” food in the past year, including chicken and now only eat beef or fish when it comes to meat. Even so, I rarely, if ever, cook meat in the house. I got out of the habit of cooking hamburgers when we lived near the now-closed Ray’s Hells Burger and never picked up since. As for other cow-meat options, I leave it to the restaurants. I do enjoy cooking fish “in house” as it were. In the future I may return to chicken and turkey, but for now neither are on our grocery list. Otherwise, veggie burgers, goat cheese, avocado, sweet potato fries – they are all very common!

4. Caramelized Onion and Leek Pizza with Tomato Pesto (August 2009)

caramelized onion and leek pizza with tomato pesto sauce

caramelized onion and leek pizza with tomato pesto sauce

What’s fun about revisiting old posts is reminding myself what I’ve cooked! I haven’t made this pizza since this post but it sure looks good! I think I’ll make it again soon. In all these five years I have never made my own pizza dough. People, readers, Italians: is it worth it? Should I make my own? Is it as easy as everyone says it is?

3. Layered Eggplant, Zucchini and Tomato Casserole (March 2010)
layered eggplant, tomato and zuchini casserole

Food photography can be hard. When I look back at earlier posts, I notice that photos might have been taken at night and I tried to fix the light in iPhoto. It rarely worked. Natural light, people. That is the way to shoot food. The recipe might be a disaster or delicious brown sauce on a plate, but if its photographed in natural light, it will (almost) always look good. This casserole for example looks like it was photographed in natural light but touched up later. It just strikes me as a strange photo. When I showed James this post he asked, “did I like that?” And I believe we both did! And here’s a confession: in the post I said it was a staple. I think that was wishful thinking because I don’t know if I made it more than once!

2. Parmesan Crusted Tilapia with Peach Salsa (April 2009)

tilapia with peach salsa

tilapia with peach salsa


I mentioned earlier that we stopped eating “feather food” in the house. I still make fish because it is delicious. Tilapia, salmon and catfish are common staples to be had with side salads, tacos, rice, quinoa. My new favorite way of cooking salmon is poaching it in 1/2 cup wine, 1/2 cup water, shallots and dill. It’s so easy and does not make the house smell like salmon for days on end.

1. Greek Orzo Salad (May 2010)
greek orzo salad

Drumrolllllllllll! The number one most viewed post on my blog is Greek Orzo Salad. This seems so random to me. A simple orzo salad? Really? Among all the baked goods, cakes, quick breads, cookies, smoothies, pasta‘s – this post has over 4,000 views! To be completely honest, the number one viewed page on the blog was the homepage but this countdown I wanted to chart the specifics. I wonder how certain posts get so many views. Is orzo salad a really sought after recipe? News to me!

Reflections

The most popular posts are between 2009 and 2010. Why? Who knows. The 6-10 spots, for those of you wondering, are as follows:

6. Mama Mia! It’s a Meat Sauce! (August 2008)
7. Flank Steak Panini’s (June 2009)
8. Homemade Frappucino (March 2012)
9. Mama’s Challah (November 2009)
10. Dark Chocolate Kahlua Truffles (February 2009)

I really enjoy food blogging. My goals for the foreseeable future are to maintain a consistent posting schedule and write more. Looking back on these posts, I only get snippets of information about the experience surrounding this food. What makes a food blog worth reading? I want to know! Leave comments!

Ultimately, if you’ve made it this far, thank you for reading. Whether it’s your first time on Voila or you’ve been with me since the beginning, thanks.

Blueberry Cranberry Ginger Compote

Posted by Emily in side dishes and tagged with ,

This can be used anyhow, anywhere, anytime. Want to stir it into your breakfast granola or top it on pancakes? Do it! Want to add it to ice cream or brownies? Yes! Let the natural sweetness of these berries shine through with a hint of ginger for some extra punch. I added 1/2 tsp. of ginger, but I wish I added more. Try it, test it and see what you think.

bluebberry cranberry ginger compote

Ingredients
Source: Me

2 cups frozen blueberries2 cups frozen cranberries
1/2 – 1 tsp. fresh ginger, minced, to taste
2-3 T. sugar, to taste
1/4 cup water

Directions

  1. Pour all ingredients into small saucepan and turn to medium- high heat. Stir to coat cberries with sugar and distribute ginger.
  2. Bring to a boil, then turn down heat to simmer for 10-15 minutes. Remove from heat and let cool to room temperature. Serve immediately or store it in the fridge.

Voila!