Buttery Biscuits for Brunch

I have this friend Abbe and she’s amazeballs. I met Abbe through the wonderful world of running (surprise, surprise!) and in the year that I’ve known her, she’s become one of my most favoritist people. I am so freaking lucky to consider her a true friend!

Aside from being beautiful, strong and generally fabulous, Abbe is also an amazing chef. Seriously, the girl can cook. And she cooks for me often, whipping up fantastic gluten free pasta dishes (check out here recipes here!) that often inspire me to go home and try them out myself. Although they’re never the same; somehow Abbe gets the flavors just right. Must be culinary school or something. Or when I’m having a crappy day and need some tender loving care, she invites me over for Chocolate Martinis and an impromptu Michael Jackson dance party. Nothing like a good dance party to put a smile on my face.

The other day, I decided I wanted to treat Abbe to something yummy. I mean, the girl is always cooking for other folks so someone should cook for her, right? And cooking for a chef is no big deal, right? Um, yeah, sure. So, I shot Abbe an email suggesting a short Sunday run followed by brunch at my place. I think her response was something like “YES”. Abbe likes to scream at me in capitals. I quickly decided that I wanted to make biscuits, having drooled over them at Bubby’s in Tribeca last weekend, and started researching recipes. I found this one, that looked easy enough, and decided I would substitute the all-purpose flour with the gluten free mixture from the amazing Gluten Free Artisanal Cooking cookbook and take it from there. I then built the rest of the brunch menu around the buttermilk biscuits: crème fraiche, smoked salmon, some sort of jam, breakfast potatoes, fresh fruit, and freshly squeezed orange juice (mimosas?!?). Hello YUMMY!

Brunch! Mimosas with freshly squeeze orange juice? YES PLEASE!

When Saturday came around, I realized that I probably wouldn’t have time to run with Abbe and then prepare brunch so I suggested she just run over and have brunch the following morning. I would run my 8 miles later. And then I set to preparing for Sunday’s brunch. The pressure of baking for a chef… where do I begin? Last time I made biscuits, they were a bit dense (the words “hockey pucks” come to mind) and I wanted these to be light and flakey. So I dug deep in my brain for what I learned in Food Science when I was studying nutrition at NYU, and remembered that the key to flakey baked goods is very cold butter. Small bits of cold butter within the dough, melt and create steam which create pockets of air in the pastry. The goal is to incorporate butter into your flour, without it melting until it’s in the oven. So, I did everything in my power to keep my butter cold! I placed the butter in the freezer the night before, and kept all my other ingredients & tools, including mixing bowls and grater, in my refrigerator. And it worked! Although my biscuits didn’t rise as much as I wanted them to, perhaps because of the lack of gluten to build a structure, they were light and fluffy and Abbe gave them her approval!

FLAKEY buttery buttermilk biscuits! The frozen butter did it's magic! With a dollop of creme fraiche & smoked salmon :)

These biscuits are a great base and I can’t wait to make them again. Next time, I might add some fresh herbs or cheese, or maybe both, to kick em up a bit. But this time, they were absolutely perfect with just a bit of apple honey butter and crème fraiche. And now for the recipe…

Gluten Free Buttermilk Biscuits
adapted from Completely Delicious
makes 8-10 large biscuits

2 cups Gluten Free Flour Mix (I used this mix)
2 teaspoon Gluten Free Baking Powder
1/2 teaspoon Baking Soda
1/2 teaspoon Coarse Salt
1/2 cup Unsalted Butter, frozen
¾ to 1 cup Buttermilk, chilled, plus additional for brushing

Preheat your oven to 425 degrees F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
In a medium bowl mix together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Using the large holes on a grater, grate your frozen butter into the flour as quickly as possible so that it doesn’t melt. Toss together so that the butter pieces are covered in flour. Add ¾ cup of buttermilk and stir until the dough comes together in a ball, adding more a bit at a time if needed (the original recipe called for ¾ cup but I had to add an additional ¼ cup until my dough would stick together).
On a lightly floured surface, gather the dough into a bowl and knead gently 6 times. Pat dough into a 10 inch circle about 1/2 inch thick. Cut dough into three inch rounds with a lightly floured cutter (I used my ravioli cutter that I bought to make this recipe). Place on the prepared baking sheet about 2 inches apart. Brush with buttermilk.
Bake until golden brown, about 12 to 15 minutes. Transfer to a wire rack to cool and then devour.

Abbe Lew reaching for another flakey buttery buttermilk biscuit. She just couldn't get enough of em!

Do you have a favorite gluten free biscuit recipe? Or a favorite brunch menu? Leave a comment & let me know. I love new ideas! This week, I’ll be having brunch in the park with Jess of Fit Chick in the City and I’m working on a gluten free vegan quiche recipe for the occasion. Stay tuned for the recipe!

Still Grateful... a Year Later

On Sunday, I ran 8 miles. Another post-injury milestone, the longest I've run since last Spring. In fact, the last time I ran 8 miles was on February 20th, 2011. Here's how I logged that workout in dailymile over a year ago.

There's so much I love about this post. These people are still in my life, some more than others, and I've since made so many more incredible running friends.

I love that my friends inspired me to drag my butt out of bed to run and that I'm doing my best to replace the term "I'm jealous" with "I'm inspired" from now on.

I love that I LOVED my new Brooks Launch sneakers, since replaced with these Newtons which are now my beLOVEd running sneakes.

I'm amused that my right hip hurt and I chose to ignore it; until I looked at this post, I didn't realize that I was ignoring an injury for so long. Hmm... food for thought.

I love that it took me 1:21 to run 8 miles last year... and this Sunday, it took me just under 1:12.

I love that I ran a sub 9 minute mile pace for 8 miles on Sunday, without any hamstring or hip pain. And I finished with a smile on my face.

I love that prior to running the 8 miles this weekend, I fueled with buttery biscuits & mimosas (recipe tomorrow!). Not the best pre-run meal, but again, I had a smile on my face.

Sunday's 8 mile run was in preparation for my next race, a 15k in Central Park on April 1st. I signed up, not even thinking about the fact that I would actually need to train for it. The last time I ran a 15k was a few weeks after the Philadelphia Marathon and I knew I could run 9.3 miles. But at this point in my running, 8 miles is once again considered a "long run" for me and that feels a bit strange. I remember back when 8 miles was a midweek run, and 18 was considered long. So, instead of focusing on my speed, I did my best to maintain a steady pace for the entire run.  I started with music, but then realized that I was allowing the music to influence my pace, and turned it off just into the second mile. I'm now planning on running the 15k without music and am looking forward to the sound of my fellow racers' feet pounding the pavement around me. It also took a good 2 miles for my legs to warm up, for my pace to feel comfortable, and for me to relax into the run. But once I did, it was smooth sailing. Time flew and although it didn't feel easy, it did feel right.

This morning, my legs were tired so I'm going to shake them out on the bike tonight. Tomorrow is speed work with Abbe & Baker and I'm pretty excited about that. I'm back and it feels pretty darn good :) A year later, still grateful.

Monday Mantra

Claire, This One's For You

After writing about my gluten free ravioli making adventure last week, Claire, who Will Run for Beer, asked me to post a recipe more her speed (as in really quick): Chocolate Sandwiches. Given that I absolutely adore Claire, and am impressed by how many days in a row she can consume chips & some sort of dip for dinner, I was happy to oblige.

On a sort of (un)related note, last weekend, mom flew in for a Mother/Daughter birthday bonding weekend and I decided to bake cupcakes. I should mention that I decided to bake them at midnight Saturday night and mom was only too happy to taste test with me. But this meant I had leftover chocolate frosting that could not go to waste. Chocolate sandwiches seemed like the logical solution to use up the extra frosting! And so, a new recipe was born:

Ingredients:
Bread (I used Udi's Gluten Free multi grain- the multi grain to make it extra healthy)
Chocolate Frosting (or Nutella would be perfect too...mmmm)
Banana
Cinnamon

Instructions:
Take 2 slices of bread. Spread a large glop of chocolate frosting on one of the pieces of bread. Cover with sliced banana and sprinkle with cinnamon. Top with the other slice of bread. Devour.

Yes, I did just write a blog post about spreading chocolate on bread. Dude, it's my blog; I can write whatever I want. And besides, isn't it a lovely looking sandwich?

Monday Mantra

Adventures in Ravioli Making

Finally, another blog post. When I was in Florida a few weeks ago, my cousin Jen asked me to start blogging recipes again. I think her basic message was "Your running is cool & inspiring & sh*t... but I miss the recipes. Please post recipes." Ok Jen, here ya go!

I've always wanted to make my own fresh pasta. About 12 years ago, when I lived in Soho, there was this cute little Italian place close by that served amazing fresh pasta. That was before I was gluten free and I ate there at least once a week. So yum. But since I was diagnosed with celiac in July 2003, I haven't had fresh pasta and I've missed it. Every few months over the last few years, I decide I'm going to make it. So I shop around for pasta makers, do the research on gluten free pasta recipes and then my something else gets my attention and it falls to the back of my to do list.

Last month, my fantastic friend Nancy gifted me with a gluten free cookbook as a thank you for being so awesome ;) As I flipped through the pages, a gluten free pasta recipe caught my eye and once again, making fresh pasta was on the top of my list. The recipe seemed really easy and so, there I was, shopping for pasta dough rollers. Then I had a brilliant idea: why not just try the recipe once by rolling out the dough by hand. If I liked it, I would then invest in a quality pasta roller. So that's what I did. And I learned a giant lesson: NEVER roll out pasta by hand. OMG. Seriously. The overall experience of manking my own pasta was both rewarding and hysterical. It went something like this.

I piled the flour on my counter (as instructed in the recipe I'm posting below) and then poured the eggs in the center. But maybe my mound wasn't high enough or I didn't use the right technique to mix in the eggs because the minute I started combining, the eggs poured out in streams and started dripping down my counter. I panicked and using both of my entire hands, and maybe a little chest, started scooping up the eggs and combining into an insanely messy dough. Then I realized I'd probably lost too much liquid, tried to measure how much I might need to add... and put the entire mess in my cuisineart, added another egg and pressed the dough button. Hooray for modern technology! Luckily, I was able to form a successful dough and let it rest to absorb the liquid while I mixed my ravioli filling (I might have forgotten to mention I was making ravioli. Now you know.)

And then it was time to roll the dough... and to roll, and roll, and roll. I spent about an hour rolling just half of the dough, trying to get it as thin as possible. I started sweating, my arms were tired and sore. It was the hardest workout of my week. The entire time I kept thinking, these ravioli better be awesome.

Good news: they were pretty awesome! I texted my friend Melissa, who just happens to live across the street and is also gluten free, a pic of them and within a half hour, she was over to enjoy. I'm happy to report that Melissa agreed that they were pretty good, the flavor was there and that they just needed a bit of finessing. But for my first try, I was pretty excited with the result!

So here's what I learned:
1. It's imporant to open a good bottle of red wine and enjoy a glass or two while you're making the pasta because it makes the whole experience more authentic. Or at least that's the excuse I told myself.
2. Using modern technology isn't cheating. It's necessary for nice Jewish girls like myself who don't have an Italian grandma to show her how to make fresh pasta
3. Rolling out pasta dough on your own is insane. It takes forever and it's pretty difficult to get the pasta thin enough (as you'll see in the last image below). I'll definitely be investing in my pasta roller asap!

And now for the recipe.... I decided to go with my new favorite flavor combo: Ricotta, Pumpkin (or squash), and Sage. My very wonderful, talented, beautiful friend Abbe first introduced me to this combo a few months back and I can't get enough. I even used it in my recent Mac n Cheese recipe! For more incredible pasta recipes, check out Abbe's blog. She's awesome & wonderful.... I know, I repeat myself.

Gluten Free Pasta Dough
adapted from Gluten Free Artisanal Cooking
1 1/4 cups Brown Rice Flour
3/4 cup Sorghum Flour
2/3 cup Cornstarch
1/4 cup Potato Starch
1 tbsp + 1 tsp Potato Flour
3 tsp Xanthan Gum
1 tsp Salt
4 Eggs, beaten

Sift together the flours & the xanthan gum until they are well incoporated. Following your cuisinart instructions for mixing dough, add all the ingredients & well, make the dough. Or, if making the dough the old fashioned way, make a mound of the flour on your work surface with a very deep well in the center. Add the salt & the beaten eggs to the center. Using a finger or two, carefully swirl the eggs around, incorporated the flour mix, and adding more & more flour until all is incorporated. Knead the dough for a few minutes and then let it rest while you prepare the filling.

Pumpkin Ricotta Ravioli Filling
1 cup Ricotta
1 cup canned Pumpkin (pure pumpkin, not pumpkin pie filling!)
salt to taste

Combine the the ricotta (please use the good stuff, not the fat free yucky stuff... you don't want yucky ravioli after all this work!) and the canned pumpkin. Season with salt to taste. Set aside.

Assembling & Cooking the Ravioli
Fill a large pot of water, add a drop of oil to prevent the pasta from sticking together, and bring to a boil.
Roll your pasta dough into long rectangular strips. Place a tablespooon of filling about 2 inches apart, fold the dough over, and using a ravioli cutter, cut each one out. Of course, the assembling process will vary based on the shape of ravioli you want to make, etc... But this is how I did it. Carefully drop the ravioli into the boiling water and cook about 5-7. You'll know they are done when they float to the top.
Butter Sage Sauce
4 tbsp Butter
4-5 Sage leaves, chiffonade
While the ravioli is cooking, melt the butter in a saucepan and add the sage leaves. Remove from the heat before the butter burns, and pour over the cooked pasta. YUM.

Monday Mantra