Baklava

Baklava is something that I have had many times but never attempted to make myself. Oddly enough, for how much I like Baklava, I'm not a huge fan of nuts. Therefore I decided to make apple baklava in an attempt to have less nuts and a spin on the traditional form. 

I found this recipe through an app on my phone, which if you like to cook and try new recipes, and also have a smartphone, you should probably get. I believe it is simply titled "recipes" and the icon is a green square with a measuring cup inside it. After picking this recipe I set out gathering the ingredients and my culinary partner in crime, Danielle. 

We followed the instructions of the recipe to the T, but quickly found out that a few things were off. The recipe called for 6 each of 2 different kinds of apples, which took copious amounts of time to peel, core, and slice. We used maybe 1/3 of this mixture and found ourselves with a large bowl of apples left over with no purpose in the recipe.  We hit no further snags in the creation of the baklava until it came to cooking time. We finished assembly and popped the pan in the oven to wait for it to transform into delicious sweet baklava. However, like a fool I forgot to take into account the fact that my oven, like all other appliances in my apartment, is a beast at it's job. The recipe called for 35-40 minutes in the oven, and I probably only needed about 30-35 minutes so the edges of our baklava came out a little extra flaky and crunchy.

Once we allowed it to cool and tasted it, the end result was fairly delicious, despite the extra time in the oven. We also discovered that once it had sat for a day in it's container, the moisture had softened it a bit, making it even better. The time that was required to assemble this particular recipe was a bit of a deterrent to want to make it often, but definitely a good special occasion treat for something a little out of the ordinary.

Apple Baklava Rating: 8/10

With the holidays coming up, I'm not sure what i'll be trying next. When I find something awesome, I'll be sure to post it.


Below is the recipe and instructions for Apple Baklava:
*note the apple quantity necessary has been edited by me to avoid the superfluous amount of apples that I ended up with. 

Ingredients:
2 Golden delicious apples
2 Granny smith apples
2 Tbsp. Unsalted butter
6 Tbsp. Sugar
1/2 tsp. Cinnamon
Nut Mixture:
2 1/2 C Walnuts, chopped
1/2 C Sugar
1/2 tsp. Grated lemon peel
1/2 tsp. Cinnamon
20 Sheets phyllo dough
6 Tbsp Unsalted butter, melted
2 Tbsp. Plain dry bread crumbs (optional)
2 Tbsp. Honey

Assembly:

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F
2. Peel & slice apples
3. Melt butter in pan, then add apples, sugar & cinnamon. Cook until tender (about 10-15 minutes) Let cool.
4.  Combine ingredients for nut mixture (walnuts, sugar, lemon peel, & cinnamon)
5. Brush jelly roll pan with butter, place 1 phyllo sheet on pan and brush it with butter
6. Repeat layering 4 phyllo sheets, brushing each with butter
7. Spread 2 C nut mixture on top of phyllo, then repeat layering with 5 more phyllo sheets, buttering each.
8. Spread apple mixture over phyllo, repeat layering with 5 more phyllo sheets
9. Sprinkle remaining nut mixture on top, and sprinkle with bread crumbs. Top with 5 remaining phyllo sheets, buttering each.
10. Cut baklava into diamonds or squares
11. Bake for 30-40 minutes or until slightly golden (make sure it's not too well done at this point, since it will be baking an additional 5 minutes)
12. Drizzle with honey and bake an additional 5 minutes
13. Cool on wire rack, and serve warm with additional honey if desired.

Final Product:

Finished baklava fresh from the oven!

Shooter Sandwich a.k.a Sandwich of Awesome

I tried to determine what would be the best recipe to start off my cooking quest and with help from a good friend, it was decided that a shooter sandwich would be a great starting point.

I feel a little background on this epic sandwich is in order for those who have not yet come across it. I discovered the shooter sandwich on the website Reddit, I was browsing through the pictures tab and came across this photo album showing the steps in creating this glorious piece of edible art. From that point I wanted to make one, but couldn't find the right time or person to make it. Enter Danielle. I told her about the sandwich that starts out normally and transforms given time. It essentially boils down to a giant bread bowl with a steak in the bottom, a filling of sauteed vegetables on top, another steak and then the bread bowl lid. Seal it up and wait 8 agonizing hours until you unwrap it and are finally able to eat it.

So here's what we did:

• Determined that this sandwich needed to be created right that moment despite the fact that it was 1am
• Went to the store to procure the few items we didn't have in stock
• Gathered our ingredients and got busy making our sandwich

 To make a shooter sandwich, you start with a large round loaf of bread, cut off a lid,  and hollow it out like a giant soup bowl. Then you cook 2 steaks (or in our case 1 large steak) in whatever seasonings you find appealing, depending on what kind of flavor you're hoping the sandwich to have. While the steak is cooking make a filling of whatever strikes your fancy, we chose red pepper, onion, and garlic.  Chop them pretty finely and cook until tender (we cooked them in some of the dripping of the steak, which I highly recommend) We determined about 3-4 cups of filling is needed, depending on how thick you want the layer to be. Once everything is to your desired level of doneness it's time to start the assembly. Put a steak (or half of a large one) into the bottom, fill around the sides and on top of the steak with a god thick layer of the filling, top with the remaining steak, and put the lid back on. Have butcher's paper on hand or parchment paper to wrap the sandwich in and tie with a string (or if you don't have string we discovered duct tape works nicely in a pinch) Wrap the whole thing in 2 layers of tin foil, then set out finding a lot of weight. We used a marble chessboard with a large bowl on top and then we filled the bowl with an assortment of heavy items from textbooks to hand weights. We even used a level to ensure that our sandwich would come out flat and not lopsided. Then you wait.

After about 8 hours, the sandwich has sat what I consider the minimum amount of time. Unwrap the sandwich and cut it into how many pieces you want (depending on if you want to share a lot of it or not) It doesn't really need any condiments, as it is particularly flavorful on it's own, and moist. We discovered that it does however go pretty fantastically with homemade french fries!


The shooter sandwich was a great success and made a perfect Endeavor 00, Pictures below show the process. Next up: Apple Baklava

Shooter Sandwich Rating: 10/10