The Daring Cooks’ April 2011 challenge: Edible containers (featuring a salad inspired by Doctor Who)

Renata of Testado, Provado & Aprovado! was our Daring Cooks’ April 2011 hostess. Renata challenged us to think “outside the plate” and create our own edible containers! Prizes are being awarded to the most creative edible container and filling, so vote on your favorite from April 17th to May 16th at http://thedaringkitchen.com!

Along with this being my Daring Cooks’ challenge, this is also another meal idea for my Doctor Who viewing party for the premiere of the new series next week.  Inspired by our favorite alien time traveler himself and his TARDIS, this spinach, blueberry, and blue cheese salad is dressed in blueberry balsamic vinaigrette and served in individual edible wonton bowls; and because bowties are awesome, the salad also comes garnished with a crunchy deep fried wonton bowtie.

To make the bowls:

You’ll need a package of Egg roll wrappers and a jumbo muffin pan.

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

2. Spray the pan with nonstick cooking spray. Peel a wonton wrapper off of the stack and gently tuck it into one of the holes in the pan, being careful not to tear the wrapper. Keep the other wrappers in the package or covered with a damp towel to prevent them from drying out. Press down the folds in the wrapper to give it the muffin “cup” shape. Repeat with the other wrappers.

3. Bake for 6-7 minutes, or until the wrapper is golden brown and crispy.  Set pan aside to cool.

To make bowties:

1. Cut small rectangular strips of the won-ton wrappers, and a one inch long skinny strip. Moisten the middle of the larger strip and pinch the top and the bottom together, making a crease in the middle.

2. Moisten the skinny strip and wrap it around the middle of the bowtie, overlapping the ends to form the middle of the bow.

3. Heat up an inch or two of canola oil in a small saucepan to 350 degrees F (use a deep fry or candy thermometer) drop a few bows into the hot oil and fry for a few minutes, until golden brown, being careful not to burn them. Remove the bows from the hot oil with a slotted spoon and set on paper towels to absorb excess oil.

Not feeling the won-ton bow crafting? You can also deep fry regular pasta bowties. Just cook and drain according to package directions, then- and this is very important- blot the pasta dry to prevent oil splatters, and fry until golden brown. As always, be careful around hot oil!

For the blueberry balsamic vinaigrette dressing you will need:

1 cup blueberries

Juice and zest of 1 lemon

1 1/2 teaspoon sea salt

1/4 teaspoon fresh ground black pepper

3 Tablespoons Agave Nectar (can use honey to substitute)

1/4 cup water

3 Tablespoons balsamic vinegar

1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil

a jar to store it in (preferably with a screw on lid so you can shake it before serving- I used a canning jar)

To make the dressing:

1. Place the blueberries, lemon juice and zest, salt, pepper, agave or honey, water, and balsamic vinegar into a blender or food processor.

2. Blend the ingredients until smooth, and slowly add the oil as the blender is going.

3. Pour into the jar and set aside until the salad is finished. It makes a lot of dressing, which will keep in the fridge for a week or two- just shake it before using.

For the salad you’ll need:

I bag fresh spinach

1/2 cup (or more, it’s your party!) chopped toasted pecans

4 oz blue cheese crumbles

1 cup of fresh blueberries (you can use thawed frozen berries, but they’ll be kind of squishier)

To make the salad:

1. Julienne the washed and dried spinach. An easy way to do this is to stack the leaves on top of each other and gently roll them up, then slice into ribbons with a chef’s knife.

2. Place the spinach in a bowl, add the pecans, crumbled cheese, and blueberries, and lightly toss with a little bit of the dressing. Don’t use too much of the dressing- you don’t want it to be overpowering! If you like, you can reserve some of the berries, nuts, and cheese and sprinkle over the tops of the salads for looks.

3. Fill each individual wonton bowl with some of the salad, and top with a bowtie garnish. If you set aside some of the nuts, blueberries and cheese to add as a topping, sprinkle them on now.

A recipe for Doctor Who fans: Fish croquettes with vanilla bean aioli (a.k.a. fish custard)

April 23 marks the beginning of series 6 of Doctor Who, and I couldn’t be more excited. For those of you who (like me) are anxiously awaiting the Doctor’s new adventures, I’ve created a few dishes inspired by the show which would be perfect for a Doctor Who viewing party.

First up: My twist on the Doctor’s fish fingers and custard from the Eleventh Hour episode.

Matt Smith certainly made an impression in his first episode as the Doctor! From his quirky personality and old-fashioned 1950′s professor costume, right down to his taste in food, I knew that series 5 was going to be a lot of fun. Who can forget that moment when the Doctor, after having tried everything in poor little Amy’s cupboards (I still can’t believe he didn’t like bacon!),  settled on fish fingers and custard?! Most people probably saw that and thought “oh my, that’s disgusting,” but I have to admit that the foodie in me was curious. I know I’m not the only one however, after reading on many Doctor Who fansites and even on Reddit that many other fans with fearless tastebuds and a keen sense of adventure had tried it themselves. For those of you who read my blog but haven’t seen Doctor Who, here’s the scene I’m talking about:

The funny thing is that sweet and salty actually do work together! Although most people usually enjoy the sweet/salty combo in different ways (salted caramel, peanut butter and jelly or chocolate etc.), fish sticks- as we call them here in America- really would pair well with a semi sweet sauce. Though actual custard would (to me) be too sweet for the fish, I immediately thought of vanilla aioli. Vanilla what??? Aioli is like a type of garlicky mayonnaise. Usually served as a condiment with fried foods, aioli is egg yolk-based (like custard) and pairs very well with seafood. I looked around the internet for a vanilla bean aioli recipe and found this one on ZD Wines’ site. This recipe isn’t particularly sweet, and really relies on the other ingredients in the dish it’s served with for flavor, but it was a good start in finding a good custard substitute to serve with the fish.

I made a few changes to make the flavor stand out a little more. The first thing I did was heat the oil a little longer than the ten minutes suggested on the site. I wanted to make sure to really get as much of that vanilla flavor as I could without overheating the oil. I think I did 15 minutes on low heat. Be sure to stay close by and keep an eye on it so it doesn’t get too hot. Another thing I did was increase the amount of lemon juice. I started out with the recommended amount and found that it was a little bland and needed a bit of extra zing. Unfortunately, I don’t have an exact amount to recommend. My advice is to start off with 3/4 teaspoon lemon juice and taste it to see what you think. To make the aioli a little sweeter I added a few pinches of light brown sugar. Again- start out with a pinch or two and taste it to see if you need more. Here’s my adaptation of the recipe:

Vanilla Bean Aioli

1/2 garlic  clove, peeled and crushed (I used the tiniest clove I had. Garlic adds great flavor, but I didn’t want it to be overwhelming)

3 large egg yolks

1 1/4 cup canola oil

1 vanilla bean

salt, to taste

1. Using a sharp knife, slice the vanilla bean lengthwise and scrape out the seeds with the tip of the knife. Set the seeds aside for later.

2. Put the seed pod in a small saucepan with the canola oil and heat on low for 10-15 minutes until fragrant. Take the pan off the stove and cool the vanilla oil to room temperature.

3. Once the oil is cool, remove the vanilla pod from the oil. Place the egg yolks and garlic in the food processor or blender, and as it’s running, slowly add the vanilla-infused oil. The mixture will turn opaque and thicken. It’s really cool to watch!

4. Once all of the oil is incorporated into the mixture, pour it out into a mixing bowl, using a rubber spatula to scrape it all out of the food processor bowl. Whisk in the lemon juice, sugar, vanilla seeds, and salt. Be sure to taste it.

Keep it covered in the refrigerator until you’re ready to serve it; just give it  quick whisk before serving.

As for the fish fingers, you could use the frozen fish sticks from the grocery store- but why go through all the trouble making a gourmet vanilla aioli if you’re just going to dip mass produced store bought fish and God-knows-what else in stick-form in it? Exactly. That’s why I decided to fancify (wait…is that a word?) fish sticks/fish fingers and make fish croquettes.

Croquettes are little breaded and fried (or baked) rolls or disks of  fish, potatoes, veggies, or meat. They’ve been around for a long time and originated in France, where “croque” means crunch.

For my version, I added mashed potatoes as a binding agent and they were delicious! I also breaded them in panko (Japanese breadcrumbs) instead of regular breadcrumbs for a little extra crunchiness. Though they’re usually fried, I made up for the…ahem….unhealthiness of the aioli by baking the croquettes. They were still good, but I’m thinking the next time I make them I’ll fry them. Here’s my recipe:

1 pound fresh Tilapia

salt and pepper (to taste)

3/4 to 1 cup mashed potatoes (I used potato flakes-don’t judge me!)

flour (for dredging)

1 egg, beaten, with a splash of milk added

panko breadcrumbs

oil for frying (if frying)

If baking, a baking pan sprayed with nonstick spray

1. Preheat your oven to 425 degrees F. Season the tilapia with salt and pepper and bake for 8-10 minutes, or until thoroughly cooked. Don’t overcook though, as you will be cooking the fish again once you roll it into croquette form.

2. Remove the fish from the oven and cool enough to be able to handle. As the fish is cooling, make your mashed potatoes. You can either make them from scratch, or use packaged potato flakes. If you use the packaged flakes, make enough for two servings using the instructions on the box. You won’t use it all, but you can save the extra or snack on it while you’re waiting for your croquettes to cook

3. Once the fish has cooled enough for you to handle it, use a fork to flake it- or break it up into bits. Don’t break it up too much, a little texture is a good thing. Yum!

4. Mix the fish with the mashed potatoes, first mixing 1/2 cup in and adding more until the fish and potatoes come together into a dough. Cover the potato/fish mixture and cool in the fridge.

5. Form the dough into “fingers” by rolling, and dredge each one in flour. You don’t want too much flour on the croquette, just a light coating. Then, dip each croquette in the egg/milk mixture and roll in the panko breadcrumbs.

6. If you’re baking the croquettes, lower the temperature on your oven to 400 degrees F and bake until golden brown. If you’re frying, heat a pan with two inches of oil to 375, using a deep fry thermometer to check the temperature. Fry two or three croquettes at a time (not too many or it will cool the oil down too much and they’ll turn out greasy) for two to three minutes until golden brown. Remove them from the oil and place on paper towels to drain excess oil. Season lightly with salt as soon as they come out of the oil.

To serve them, I stacked the croquettes on a plate, spooned some aioli into star-shaped silicone baking cups, and garnished with a twist of lemon.

I hope you enjoyed my version of the Doctor’s “fish custard.” For my next post I’m going to show you how to make a salad inspired by the doctor himself (hint…bowties are awesome!) and his TARDIS. Stay tuned!