The 2009 October Daring Bakers’ challenge was brought to us by Ami S. She chose macarons from Claudia Fleming’s The Last Course: The Desserts of Gramercy Tavern as the challenge recipe.

I have always enjoyed making macaroons, though they don’t always turn out well because of the lovely humid weather in Singapore. I realised, through a couple of tries, that the Italian Meringue method of making macaroons seem to yield more consistent results. The problem with those are that there is sometimes an air pocket between the base and the shell.

Anyway, since this challenge involved the French meringue method, I decided to give it a shot, yet again. To be honest, even though I was disappointed that I didn’t get macaroons (what resulted after the baking hardly qualify as macaroons to me), I wasn’t quite surprised. The meringue started to bleed pretty quickly, and no feet formed. Even though the bottoms were nice and slightly crisp, the top didn’t have that flat, smooth look that I love.

I made some lovely passion fruit jivara ganache, but decided not to use it. Instead, I chose to fill these macaroons with macadamia ice cream. Hopefully this week, I would have some time to bake up proper macaroons using the Italian meringue method, and fill them with the passion fruit milk choc ganache.

The October 2009 Daring Cooks’ challenge was brought to us by Jaden of the blog Steamy Kitchen. The recipes are from her new cookbook, The Steamy Kitchen Cookbook.

I made this last Saturday for lunch, to fulfill the Daring Cooks October Challenge. This is my first challenge, and so I was quite excited about it! I had most of the spices, and thankfully, it’s really quite easy to find them in this part of the world. I had some trouble finding the rice noodles though, for some weird reason.

I decided to try the longer version of the recipe, which can be found here. Hubby helped with the chopping of the chicken and the smashing of the marrow. The soup was very fragrant and clear. I only wonder if I should have added slightly more fish sauce and sugar, as it was fairly bland initially. One could however, taste the flavour of the chicken in the soup. All in all, it was a fairly simple, yet refreshing meal.

Below is Jaden’s recipe for the simple vietnamese chicken pho. I went ahead and did the more complex version, which requires one to make your own chicken stock.

Preparation Time: 45 cooking time + 15 minutes to cook noodles based on package directions

Servings: Makes 4 servings

Ingredients:

For the Chicken Pho Broth:
2 tbsp. whole coriander seeds
4 whole cloves
2 whole star anise
2 quarts (2 liters/8 cups/64 fluid ounces) store-bought or homemade chicken stock
1 whole chicken breast (bone in or boneless)
½ onion
1 3-inch (7.5 cm) chunk of ginger, sliced and smashed with side of knife
1 to 2 tbsps. sugar
1 to 2 tbsps. fish sauce

1 lb. (500 grams/16 ounces) dried rice noodles (about ¼ inch/6 mm wide)

Accompaniments:

2 cups (200 grams/7 ounces) bean sprouts, washed and tails pinched off
Fresh cilantro (coriander) tops (leaves and tender stems)
½ cup (50 grams/approx. 2 ounces) shaved red onions
½ lime, cut into 4 wedges
Sriracha chili sauce
Hoisin sauce
Sliced fresh chili peppers of your choice

Directions:

1. To make the Chicken Pho Broth: heat a frying pan over medium heat. Add the coriander seeds, cloves and star anise and toast until fragrant, about 3-4 minutes. Immediately spoon out the spices to avoid burning.
2. In a large pot, add all the ingredients (including the toasted spices) and bring to a boil.
3. Reduce the heat to medium-low and let simmer for 20 minutes, skimming the surface frequently.
4. Use tongs to remove the chicken breasts and shred the meat with your fingers, discarding the bone if you have used bone-in breasts.
5. Taste the broth and add more fish sauce or sugar, if needed. Strain the broth and discard the solids.
6. Prepare the noodles as per directions on the package.
7. Ladle the broth into bowls. Then divide the shredded chicken breast and the soft noodles evenly into each bowl.
8. Have the accompaniments spread out on the table. Each person can customize their own bowl with these ingredients.

I had loads of left over eggwhite that I was saving to make macarons. I never found the time to make them and figured that using them for meringue was so much faster, and simpler. I served my meringue basket with freshly whipped cream and some blueberries and strawberries. You can use whatever fruit you desire.

Recipe:

3 egg whites
175g caster sugar
1 tsp lemon juice or white wine vinegar
1 tsp corn flour
300 ml whipping cream, whipped
Blueberries and strawberries

Method:

1. Whisk egg whites at high speed till dry.
2. Add in half the sugar slowly, while whisking.
3. Carefully fold in the vinegar, corn flour and remaining half of the sugar.
4. Fill a large piping bag with the meringue.
5. Prepare a tray lined with baking paper.
6. Pipe out a spiral base, then pipe circles around it to build a nest.
7. Bake at 120°C for 40 minutes to an hour.
8. If you do not want the meringue to brown, block out the top heating element with another tray.
9. Remove from tray. Allow it to cool and fill with whipping cream and fresh fruit.
10. Serve immediately.