For the newbies, Platinum Chef Challenge started as an activity on a cooking message board to encourage members to create a meal out of 5 selected ingredients. You might think they go together, and you might not. You might have used them before, or maybe not. Maybe you will have a recipe in mind, and maybe you will create a new one. Most likely, you’ll put on your creative (chef’s) hat and whip out something new and exciting.

To play, just create a meal using the five given ingredients and blog about it. Please link back to this post, and feel free to include the event logo in your blog. The meal can consist of 1 or 2 dishes – so you can use all the ingredients in one recipe, or make two. Example: main dish + side, appetizer + main dish, main dish + dessert, etc. But, if more than one dish is created, each dish must use at least two of the ingredients (and, any ingredient may be repeated and used in both dishes if desired). You can add whatever other ingredients you like. Email the link to your blog entry to platinumchefchallenge@gmail.com. At the end of the event, I’ll compile all the entries and choose my favorite. I’ll then ask that person to dream up the next five ingredients.

Sound good? If you’re still reading, I’ll bet you’re dying to know what ingredients I have chosen. So here they are:
*Butternut Squash
*Barley
*Chickpeas
*Cumin
*Vanilla

If you want to play, please email me your entries by March 10th. Happy Cooking!

So, I bet you are still dying to here my fail-proof tips for making mini muffins. Really, they’re rather simple. The first is, just to have a little self-restraint. Actually, I guess that’s not always so easy. Personally, I have a tendency to overfill my mini muffins. I look at the little spoonful of batter in there and think, “there’s no way that can be enough” and add more. This is always a mistake. I swear, you don’t need that much! Otherwise you will certainly end up with ugly, spilled over muffin tops. (And if you are like me and eat up all the scraps of muffins too ugly to serve to guests, you’ll end up with that other kind of muffin top. Not pretty.) Just put less than you think you’ll need, and you’ll be fine. The second tip is to reduce your oven temperature to 325F. Your mini muffins will bake much more evenly the bottoms and sides will not darken. I wish you happy mini muffin baking! Trust me, your friends and coworkers will appreciate your attention to detail
There are just a couple minor changes to the recipe; I added cinnamon to the batter, more vanilla, and changed the streusel a bit. I made 48 mini muffins, because I own 4 pans that make 12 each. I had a bit of extra batter and could have made maybe 4-6 more, but I didn’t feel like making a second batch, and I didn’t want to mess up my muffins by dividing it among the muffins. So, this could really yield 52-54 muffins, if you are so inclined to make them.

Bite-Size Ricotta Coffee Cakes
Adapted from Kevin Weeks’ Apple Ricotta Coffee Cake

Cake
1 3/4 c all-purpose flour
3/4 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 c butter — at room temperature
1 c granulated sugar
2 tsp vanilla
2 ea eggs
1 c ricotta cheese
1 tsp cinnamon

Stresuel
2/3 c brown sugar, packed
1/2 c all-purpose flour
3/4 c quick cooking oats
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp salt
6 tbsp butter — cut into small pieces

Jam or preserves, optional

Preheat oven to 325F. Grease 48 mini muffin cups with nonstick cooking spray.

Place streusel ingredients, except for oats, in a food processor. Add butter. Pulse about 10 times then process for 5 to 10 seconds until there are no visible lumps of fat. Stir in oats by hand. (This is my preference so that the food processor does not break up the oats.)

Mix together 1 3/4 cups flour, baking powder, soda and salt in a medium bowl. Using an electric hand mixer or the paddle attachment on a stand mixer beat 1/2 cup butter for about 30 seconds, then beat in granulated sugar and vanilla. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition.

Alternately add flour mixture and ricotta cheese to batter. Mix on low speed after each addition until combined. Note: this batter will be rather thick and stiff.

Divide batter among mini muffin tins, being careful to fill them just about halfway. If desired swirl in a little bit of fruit jam into each muffin. Divide struesel evenly among muffins. Bake for 20-23 minutes, until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Set pans on a wire rack until cool enough to handle, then carefully remove mini muffins.

I first felt that I needed to pick a meat or fish to be my “main ingredient” – something to tie all the flavors around. I went with salmon. I then decided that my salmon needed a crust – I first thought grated butternut squash, which I still might try sometime, but ultimately went with roasted chickpeas, which I seasoned with a bounty of fragrant goodies, including cumin of course. For the side dish (or, under-dish in this case – is that a term?) I went with a lightly spiced barley risotto with butternut squash. The squash was roasted with vanilla and honey. To round out the meal I made a side of peas with parsley – neither are Platinum Chef ingredients in this round, but it brought that necessary green to the plate.

Overall, we were really pleased with this meal. The roasted chickpeas made a fantastic crust- very crunchy and flavorful, and I imagine with would be great with chicken as well. Of course, this is a healthy alternative to breadcrumbs. Also, the roasted chickpeas are great to munch on. The spices all worked really well together, but I’m not quite sure I could taste the vanilla in the squash. The barley risotto was certainly warm and mellow compared to the spicy crusted salmon, which is what I was going for, and I think the vanilla provided some of that warmth.

Roasted Chickpeas
1 can of chickpeas, drained, rinsed, and patted dry
2 tbsp olive oil
2-3tsp seasonings, your choice – I used cumin, saffron, cinnamon, cayenne and salt

Preheat oven to 375F. Roast chickpeas for about 40 minutes, shaking pan a few times throughout. Heat oil over medium heat and stir in seasonings. Toss chickpeas in seasonings and return to pan. Increase heat to 450F. Roast for another 5-10 minutes, until crunchy.

Salmon
Preheat oven to 350F. Prepare a broiler pan or cooling rack set on top of a baking sheet, coated with nonstick cooking spray. Grind roasted chickpeas in a food processor (I used 1/2 cup for 3 salmon filets, 4-6oz each). Place crumbs on a plate. Lightly beat an egg with a bit of water. Dip filets first in egg, then in crumbs, and gently set on top of rack. Bake for 20-25 minutes, until opaque in the center.

Roasted Squash
Toss peeled, cubed butternut squash with a bit of vanilla, olive oil, and salt. Roast at 400F for about 30-40 minutes, until tender, tossing a few times throughout. For the last 10 minutes, drizzle squash with a bit of honey and toss around.

Barley Risotto
This is made in the same manner as traditional risotto with arborio rice – it’s a slow cooking process during which you add warmed broth in small portions, letting each bit absorb before adding the next. I needed about 4x as much broth as dry barley, and it took about 40-50 minutes. I began by sauteing some minced onion in a little butter until soft, then added the barley and let it toast up for a few minutes. I then started my broth additions, stirring often. You can tell when it is time to add more broth when you scrape the bottom of the pan and the creates a path, in other words, you can see the pan. I seasoned the barley risotto with a bit of cinnamon, salt, and saffron. When it was just about done, I stirred in a few tablespoons of pecorino romano and gently folded in the roasted squash.

Preheat oven to 375F. Place a cooling rack on top of a baking sheet and spray with nonstick cooking spray. Or, just use a broiler pan.

Stir together coconut milk and curry powder, and pour over fish in a shallow baking dish. Turn fish to coat both sides and let sit for about 10 minutes.

Pulse peanuts and panko together in a food processor or blender; season with salt and pepper. Pour the crumbs onto a plate. Remove fish from coconut milk and press both sides into the crumbs, then gently place on the cooling rack.

Bake for about 20 minutes or until opaque in the center. If desired, turn on broiler for the last couple of minutes to get the top extra-crispy.

For this meal, I involved my husband since I would need him to do the grocery shopping while I was out busy with other plans. We settled on the recipe for Mellow Meatballs, a dish involving red curry, butternut squash, and chickpeas. Nigella, the Domestic Goddess herself, insists that is it quite ok to use pre-packaged meatballs in this dish, but I had no problem mixing up my own. I used turkey to keep it healthy, but I imagine ground lamb would be delicious with the other flavors here too. One little instruction I didn’t quite understand was the cooking of the curry paste with the oil; I tried this but just ended up with burnt curry paste, so I instead mixed it with the coconut milk and added it later. Other than that, we quite enjoyed this dish and my husband is already asking for it again. Considering I halved the recipe, I still have coconut milk leftover. He just might get his wish later this week.

Mellow Meatballs (serves 4-6; I cut the recipe in half for the two of us)
from Nigella Express
3 tbsp red curry paste
2 tbsp vegetable oil
40 organic mini meatballs*
1 tsp ground ginger (I used grated fresh ginger)
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1 14oz can coconut milk (I used light coconut milk)
1 14oz can chopped tomatoes
1 14oz can chickpeas, drained
12 oz diced butternut squash and sweet potato (this can be purchased from the supermarket; I used squash only)
2 cups chicken stock
2 tbsp honey
cooked rice for serving
1/2 cup chopped fresh cilantro

Heat curry paste in oil in a large wide pan and when it starts sizzling, add the meatballs, turning them in the red oily mixture. Sprinkle over the ginger and cinnamon and fry the meatballs for a couple of minutes. Add the coconut milk, tomatoes, and chickpeas. Stir in the diced squash and sweet potato, then the stock and honey. Bring the pan to a boil then simmer for 20 minutes. Serve with rice and decorate with chopped cilantro.

*I made my own quick and easy turkey meatballs, using 8 oz of ground turkey, some minced garlic, onion, parsley, salt, pepper and breadcrumbs, and I used my smallest cookie scoop to form them.

3 large eggs
1 cup sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
3/4 teaspoon almond extract
3 cups all purpose flour
1/2 cup chopped toasted almonds
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt

Preheat oven to 350°F. Grease 18x12x1-inch baking sheet. Combine first 4 ingredients in bowl of heavy-duty electric mixer fitted with paddle attachment. Beat until well blended. Mix flour, almonds, cinnamon, baking soda and salt in medium bowl. Gradually add to egg mixture, beating until blended (dough will be soft).

Turn dough out onto floured surface and gather together. Roll dough between palms and work surface into 16-inch-long log. Transfer to prepared sheet. Flatten log to 1-inch thickness. Bake until light brown and cracked on top, about 30 minutes. Transfer sheet to rack; cool log 10 minutes. Reduce oven temperature to 325°F.

Transfer warm log to work surface. Using serrated knife, cut log on sharp diagonal into 1/4- to 1/3-inch-thick slices. Arrange on baking sheets. Bake 10 minutes per side. Transfer to racks and cool (biscotti will harden while cooling). (Can be made ahead. Store airtight up to 1 week.)

I’ve just discovered I love pizza even more by taking on the additional challenge of making my own dough. Yup, I was a pizza dough virgin, but am no longer. I’m not sure what my hesitation was; perhaps the idea of making something for a weeknight dinner that involves a whole hour or more of waiting. Because I go to the gym just about every day, I get home late and want a quick dinner – I just don’t have time to wait around for that! But lately I’ve been building my collection of DVD’s to work out at home. And it just so happens that if I came home and started my dough and left it to rise, I have the perfect amount of time to go do a challenging workout in the basement before coming back to finish my pizza. Perfect!

To find a dough recipe, I turned to a blogger I know and trust: Shawnda, the Foodie Bride. She’s always turning out beautiful food and seems full of knowledge and experience on all kinds of techniques, both the basics and beyond. Shawnda swears by a recipe from Gourmet. Now, I know I already said I trust her – and that’s the truth – but as you know I can never stick a recipe just as written. I changed this up just a bit by replacing half of the flour with whole wheat, and using a bit of honey in place of sugar. Using my stand mixer with the dough hook attachment for kneading made it perfectly easy too. It turned out wonderfully, and produced a thin, crispy, yet tender and flavorful crust. Thank you Shawnda for the recipe!

I topped my pizza with a quick and easy homemade chunky tomato sauce with toasted garlic, crushed red pepper, and a pinch of brown sugar. Slices of tender roasted eggplant and sweet yellow roasted peppers, studded with dollops of creamy goat cheese completed the pie. What more is there to say? Thanks Elly for dreaming up this event and challenging me to both think about food in music and try something new in my kitchen.