Banging On Pots and Pans

Quick, Easy, Yum!

2011-05-17T10:38:00.005-04:00

Let me preface this by saying that this is NOT a recipe. This is all about coming up with a dessert on the fly with what's available in the pantry/freezer right now. So, we're clear. I'm not claiming that this is a recipe, and I'm not claiming that it's in any way fancy. It's creative assembly, at best. Even so...it's pretty tasty. I give you (drumroll) the Graham Cracker Ice Cream Sandwich!

Seriously, don't underestimate this thing. All you need is a bit of ice cream, a couple of graham crackers, and voila: a tasty dessert in 2 minutes. This is the sort of thing that's super simple but also ridiculously satisfying. Unlike the ice cream sandwiches sold in cardboard boxes at the grocery store, home-assembled Graham Cracker Ice Cream Sandwiches retain the crispy, crunchy bite of a graham cracker. They're not at all soft on the outside, but the inside is quite creamy, of course. I used store-bought graham crackers (Publix brand) and Blue Bell vanilla ice cream, but I'm sure they could be greatly improved by making homemade graham crackers and sandwiching inventive flavors of homemade ice cream. I think salted caramel ice cream would be divine, and I'd also like to try a s'mores ice cream sandwich by making chocolate ice cream with marshmallows and popping that between the cookies.

Store-bought ingredients or not, these are fun and tasty. Give them a shot, and let me know what you think!

First post of 2011

2011-04-28T10:19:00.003-04:00

When I first mentioned starting a blog, my husband, Charlie, said that the major difference between a lot of successful bloggers and those who are not so successful is persistence. Do you see where I'm going with this? It's been almost a year since my last blog post, and I think it's time I jumped back into this thing appetite-first.

It has been an exciting year for me food-wise, and I feel that I've learned so much about food, cooking, what I want to eat, and why any of that matters. These are the things I want to write about on this blog and share with anyone still interested in reading about my culinary adventures and disasters. Stay tuned.

In Season: English Peas

2010-05-21T11:30:00.003-04:00

Right now is the perfect time to buy fresh English peas. They're just coming into season and are so sweet and lovely. I couldn't resist picking up a three-pound bag last week, and I'm sure there will be more tomorrow.

Canned or frozen peas cannot even begin to compete with these. They're so fresh and crisp. Shelling them makes me think of summers at my grandmother's house when I was a little girl. She would pick baskets full and my cousins and I would help shell them until we were bored and ran off to play. She never made it a chore for us so I still enjoy shelling peas in small quantities.

I like their slightly sweet, fresh taste so I prepared them simply with just a little mint and fluffy basmati rice. This is a light dinner for a spring night. I had mine with chilled white wine in a pretty glass, and it was perfect. However you cook them, don't miss English peas this spring! They'll only be here for a short while, and they're so delicious.

Minted English Peas with Rice
a simple dinner

ingredients:
1 1/2 Tablespoons olive oil
1 medium spring onion, chopped
1 1/2 cups English peas (preferably fresh but frozen can be substituted)
6 large mint leaves
3 cups prepared rice
salt and pepper

Heat olive oil in a nonstick pan medium heat. Add onion and gently saute until tender, about 5 minutes.

Add English peas and continue to cook for one minute. Add enough water to just cover peas and simmer for three minutes. Chiffonade the mint leaves and add to the peas. Cook one more minute.

Pour off excess water. Toss with rice and season to taste.

Enjoy with a cold glass of wine and good conversation.

Learning Through Doing

2010-05-17T11:19:00.007-04:00

While chopping mint last night I realized that Charlie and I are nearing the 2-month mark for our year-long locavore project. It's amazing to think we're just shy of being 1/6 of the way through! In that short period of time I feel like I've already learned so much. Since lists are easy to navigate, here's a collection of 10 things I've learned this far into our locavore project.

10 Things I've Learned So Far

1. Eating locally doesn't have to be expensive.
I start with this because it addresses one of the great fears I had when this project began. Going into this I knew there would a number of cooking challenges and that we would have to do without some things, but I didn't know if we would really be able to afford to eat this way for an entire year. Sure, I could put together one local meal, but could we actually eat 80% locally for a year without destroying our budget? It turns out that we can. I've been carefully tracking our food expenses since we started, and we're actually spending about 30% less on food than we did before the project. Yes, you read that correctly -- 30%. Isn't that huge! There are several factors that contribute to the drop in our food costs: we're not eating out as often, we buy fewer "fancy" ingredients (i.e. truffle oil), and we eat almost every scrap of food we purchase (more on that in a moment). Since we're eating seasonally we're planning menus around what we have instead of planning a menu and then hitting the grocery store. It's surprising how cost-effective that can be.
Which leads me to...

2. When it's all local there's less waste
March 20 was the official start date for this project, but we started easing into it last November. I really didn't see any way we could go from shopping and eating like most people to an 80% local diet without a fairly lengthy transition period, and I'm glad that's the way it happened. Aside from the shock of actually saving money I was also happily surprised by how thoroughly we cleaned out the fridge each week without throwing away any food. In November there was only one farmers market available to me (the glorious Morningside Farmers Market), and almost all of our veggies came from my single Saturday trip. I was surprised how much our refrigerator changed throughout the course of a week: on Saturday our refrigerator was packed with fresh vegetables, and by Friday it was almost completely empty! Since our choices were limited, we ate every bite of every vegetable including beet greens and carrot tops. Instead of hitting the grocery store when we want something a little different we now "shop" in our previously-overstocked pantry. We've eaten our way through all the lentils I stocked up on over a year ago (now why did I do that?), bags of dried beans, boxes of noodles, powdered lemonade, and one tasty box of Duncan Hines brownies. The pantry supply lessens every week, and soon we'll be down to nothing but a few sheets of nori and that box of powdered sugar I've been saving for something special.

So, we now have almost no food waste at all. It's a wonderful little bonus this project has given us.

3. Eating locally means giving up some things.

Of course I knew this before we started the project, but I did not know which things would actually be missed. My guesses were things like white sugar, chocolate, bananas, avocados, and ginger ale. Two months in I don't really care about any of those. The things I actually miss the most are popcorn, citrus, seafood (!), and chicken. Yes, chicken. I live in the chicken capital of the world and can't find a decent source of local, free-range chicken! This is like that whole ten thousand spoons when all you need is a knife thing Alanis was talking about.

Bottom line: you can't eat locally without giving up some things.

4. Adventurous eating is a requirement.

Ever tried a rutabaga? I hadn't until this project began. When it's the middle of March and you're staring at the same vegetables you've been eating day in and day out for the last 3 months it's time to try something new. This is how I discovered that rutabagas are amazing! Not just okay -- really tasty! Whole wheat berries, duck eggs, sunchokes, kohlrabi, ruby turnips, watermelon radishes, and tatsoi are also wonderful, each in their own way. I hadn't tried any of these foods until this project began. Not everything has worked out (for example, lamb's quarters -- not my cup of tea), but most of the new foods I've tried have been really great. If you want to eat locally I think adventurous eating is a must.

5. This isn't for everyone.

I'm really enjoying the challenge of eating locally, but I know it's not for everyone. This project would be much tougher if I had kids, dietary restrictions, or didn't like to cook. There are plenty of ways to eat that are ethical, sustainable, and healthy. I believe the local diet meets all of those requirements, but it's a lot of work.

Having said that, however, I do think most people can easily add a few fresh, local foods to their diets. Farmers markets are springing up all over the country, and they offer tons of delicious local goodies. Just changing a few shopping habits (asking about local produce at the grocery store, buying local veggies when you can, planning one meal a week that focuses on a local ingredient, eating in restaurants that buy from local farms) can go a long way toward supporting small-scale farmers devoted to sustainable farming practices.

6. If you want to eat locally you have to cook. A lot.

I really, really, really love to cook. It's one of the few things I still regularly pour my creative energy into, and I find it to be a great stress reliever. Even so, this has tested me. Aside from a salad, everything has to be cooked! There are no potato chips for snacking on, and there's no quick bowl of cereal for breakfast. If I want to eat it then I have to cook it, and that takes a lot of time. Usually I don't mind so much, but it does occasionally feel like a chore.

Not only is constantly cooking a huge part of making this work, there's also a ton of planning required. Here's a very simple example. We didn't have any bread last week. We went out of town the previous weekend, had plans every night, and there just wasn't a 4-hour stretch in which to make it! I would have made quick biscuits instead of a yeast bread, but I didn't have any buttermilk, and it has to be ordered a week in advance. So, no bread for a week. This is not the worst thing in the world. We had plenty of other delicious things to eat, but the bread was blown because of poor planning. These are the challenges this project presents, and I gladly accept them. Still, sometimes it would be nice to just pick up a loaf of bread at the grocery store!

7. Local, fresh produce really is better.

No carrot at the grocery store can ever compare to a sweet baby carrot eaten 6 hours after it was picked. It's just not possible. I've been complaining a little bit about the challenges this project presents, but let me tell you, the food is amazing. Even the simplest dishes are fresh, bright, and flavorful. When this year is over I'm sure I'll go back to buying some things at the grocery store, but I'm sold on fresh, local produce forever.

8. If you eat high quality meat you require less of it.

The majority of the meat we've been eating comes from Riverview Farms. They raise Berkshire pigs using traditional farming methods and grass-fed cows. Wow! I've never been a die-hard carnivore, but I love the meat we've been getting.

My husband, Charlie, sits in a completely different camp from me on the whole meat thing. He requires it and can tear through a steak like no one I've ever seen (slight exaggeration). Even he has been really pleased with the meat and has been satisfied eating less of it. Grass-fed burgers, steaks, pot roasts, and such are more filling than beef that comes from a CAFO. It is more expensive pound for pound, but since we need less of it to be satisfied it works out.

9. Losing weight may be a side effect.

I debated over whether I should even add this to list as weight loss was not a goal of this project. I am at a healthy weight, and I've long given up the idea of being supermodel skinny. Having said that, I have unintentionally lost a little bit of weight since we've started this project. It's not much, maybe 5 - 7 lbs, but my jeans are noticeably looser on my hips. This probably has more to do with knocking processed foods completely out of my diet more than anything else.

Ummm...that's not something that happens to me. I have NEVER accidentally lost weight. Like I said, that wasn't a one of the reasons for doing this project, but I'll take it!

10. Treats are treats.

This could actually be split into two things I've learned: treats are treats and seasonality is exciting. Instead I've decided to put them together because eating seasonally and cutting out processed and non-local foods has changed the way I categorize treats. Before, a treat generally consisted of a bowl of ice cream, a slice of cake, or a Snickers bar. Those are still wonderful treats, of course, but other things now hold spots on the treat list as well. Strawberries, for example, have been the most amazing spring treat, and when I found local, heavy cream from grass-fed cows to accompany them I was in absolute heaven. Each time a new veggie that I love shows up at the market I get that oooooh-I'm-going-to- get-some-cake feeling. I know that sounds ridiculous, but I swear it's the truth. It is a truly exciting day when you find spring onions and new potatoes at the market after going months without. Treats are now treats again for me, and I love that.

So, that's my list for now. What do you think?

Happy Spring Salad

2010-05-03T13:10:00.006-04:00

I'm always looking for something to cook that shows off the fresh herbs I've been growing. This year I planted apple mint in addition to the spearmint I usually grow. It has really taken off in the last few weeks and is now trying its best to escape from its pot and sneak out the window.

Apple mint is a little sweeter than other types of mint I've grown. I like that it adds a bit of freshness without tasting like a tube of toothpaste.

I've also had a lot of success with cilantro this year. Last year it was droopy and didn't do so well, so I was quite surprised when it started going nuts and jumping out of its pot. It even grew a few little flowers which I snipped and used as a garnish for another dish. In the last few days it has fallen over, but I think it's just adjusting to its slightly larger new pot. Hopefully things will straighten out before too long.

Last night the cilantro and apple mint teamed up in a happy spring salad. I had a few English cucumbers and some gorgeous yellow and orange carrots from the farmer's market, and I knew they would benefit from fresh, bright herbs. I roughly chopped the cucumber into large chunks, sliced the carrots into crisp rounds, and tossed them with a little extra virgin olive oil, salt, and pepper. I then cut a handful of apple mint and cilantro from my plants, bruised them a bit to release their flavors, and sliced the herbs into thin ribbons. The mint and cilantro joined the veggies in a big bowl, were gently tossed about, then spritzed with a tiny bit of lemon juice before serving. The salad was just as I'd hoped it would be: light, fresh, and springy. It's not a show-stopper, but it does a little something to brighten a spring meal.

Storybook Eggs

2010-04-29T09:32:00.014-04:00

Stranger I've Almost Forgotten: *Knock, knock*

Me: "Who is it?"
SIAF: "It's me."
Me: "Hmm? You sound familiar, but I've almost forgotten you."
SIAF: "It's me!!! Spring!"
Me: "Oh, of course! Well, in that case come on in, and I'll cook you up!"

Spring. As I'm typing this I can actually hear birds chirping outside my window. Asparagus and strawberries were available at the farmers' market last weekend, green garlic has been here for three weeks now, and the fresh milk I've been buying is thicker than ever. This is the season that always makes me think I should quit my job, pull out my big backpack, and live my life wandering around the countryside. I'm pretty sure I could live on wild onions and forest morels for at least a little while, but that's a fantasy for another day.

Three weeks ago the Dunwoody Green Market opened, which was great news for me. This means easy access to a few different farms that are growing slightly different veggies and such than my friends at the Morningside Market. Several wonderful little discoveries have come out of this market, but one of my favorites is duck eggs. I found them by accident. The day the market opened I loaded up one of my little friends (age 5), and we headed that way to see what we could find. He was very impressed by the white carrots and the free samples, but what most impressed him was a duck wearing a dress. Here's a picture of the duck and her owner:

You will notice that the duck (named Cutie Pie I later learned) is NOT wearing a dress in this picture, which is unfortunate, but so it goes. It cost 5 bucks to take a picture of the duck with the dress on, and I decided that money was better spent on what she'd produced: duck eggs. I'd never tried them before and was curious.

That afternoon I headed home with a dozen little treasures, proudly lifted the top of the carton, and watched Charlie's eyebrows raise in amusement. He suggested we fry them, and I couldn't think of a reason why we shouldn't, so we did!

Before we get into the part of this story that involves cooking and eating, let me take a moment to describe these little stars. The eggs are really beautiful. They're a very pale ivory with a gray tint and a few speckles here and there. They're longer and thinner than chicken eggs and are more difficult to crack. Because they come from water fowl, the eggs must have a slightly thicker shell with a more resilient membrane inside to protect the contents. One good whack on the side of the counter breaks through with no problem, and out slides a beautiful, orangey yolk and nearly-transparent whites. I was amazed by the size of the yolk. It's much larger than the yolk of a chicken egg and (I later learned) has a lot more protein.

What does one do with such a lovely new ingredient? Well, if you're me you create a recipe that features it. And so, Not-Quite-Benedict came to be. I am sorry to say that my stupid camera battery died before I could take a decent photo of the finished dish (that might have been my fault...), but I did manage to snap one not-so-great picture. This doesn't even almost do justice to the pretty eggs, but it's what I have. In fact, I think it looks kind of gross in this picture, so you'll just have to trust me when I say that it wasn't. It was delicious!

See! It's not gorgeous in the photo. Oh well.

Not-Quite-Benedict

serves 4

ingredients:

8 thick slices bacon

4 large duck eggs

8 buttermilk biscuits, recipe to follow

Hollandaise sauce, recipe to follow

salt

pepper

Place bacon slices in a large cast-iron frying pan. Place the pan on your stove-top and gently cook on medium-high heat, turning the bacon after 2 - 3 minutes and continuing to cook until it is cooked through and just beginning to crisp. Remove bacon from the pan and place on paper towels to drain. Do not discard the leftover bacon fat in the pan.

Carefully crack one duck egg in a small bowl, taking care not to puncture or otherwise break the yolk. Heat the reserved baking fat until hot but not smoking and gently slide the egg into the pan.

Allow the egg to cook until the whites set, 2 - 3 minutes, then carefully flip it over with a spatula, again taking care not to break the yolk. Cook another 1 - 3 minutes then remove from pan. Repeat with remaining eggs.

To assemble, split one warm buttermilk biscuit in half, and place two pieces of bacon on the bottom half.

Slide one fried egg on top of the bacon, and top with a generous spoonful of hollandaise sauce. Season with salt and pepper, and serve with an extra biscuit for sopping up the egg and hollandaise sauce. Serve immediately.

Buttermilk Biscuits

ingredients:

1 1/2 cups bread flour

1 Tablespoon honey

1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 stick unsalted butter, cut into 1/2-inch cubes

3/4 cup well-shaken buttermilk

1 Tablespoon milk (for brushing biscuits)

Preheat oven to 425 degrees F.

Sift together flour, baking powder, salt, and baking soda. Blend in butter with your fingertips until mixture resembles coarse meal. Add buttermilk and honey and stir with a wooden spoon until a dough just forms.

Turn out dough onto a lightly floured surface and gently knead several times. Using your hands, form the dough into eight balls and place on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Brush the top of each biscuit with milk, and bake for 12 - 15 minutes or until the biscuits are completely cooked through and are golden on top.

Serve warm.

*Note: If you prefer, biscuits can be cut into perfect rounds using a circular cookie cutter or the bottom of a glass. I just tend to like puffy, cloud-shaped biscuits so I form them by hand. Also, a handful of shredded cheddar and chopped rosemary can be thrown in with the dry ingredients for a more savory biscuit.

This is my wonderful mother-in-law's recipe for Blender Hollandaise. It's so tasty and will keep for 2 days. I used it on steamed asparagus the first night and then used the rest on the Not-Quite-Benedict.

Blender Hollandaise

ingredients:

1/2 cup butter, heated to a bubble

3 egg yolks

2 teaspoons lemon juice

1/4 teaspoon salt

pinch of cayenne pepper

Put egg yolks, lemon juice, salt, and pepper in a blender and blend on low for 10 - 15 seconds. Add the hot butter, and blend 15 - 20 seconds more. Serve immediately.

The Project Begins

2010-04-27T10:06:00.003-04:00

When I first decided to keep this blog my husband, Charlie, gently warned me that the difference between a successful blogger and an unsuccessful one is largely the difference between a persistent blogger and one who is not. I'm sorry to say I've fallen into the second category over the last few months. However, he also reminds me that it is never too late to start again. Doesn't he sound wonderful? He is.

March 20, 2010 marked the official start of our year-long locavore project. We started with a bang, inviting 20 or so of our nearest and dearest over for a Spring Celebration. Even though the pasta machine DID break just a few hours before the party, causing me tremendous anxiety about the homemade fettucini with rainbow chard that was to be the focus of the meal, overall the kick-off was a success. We ate. We drank. We discussed. I was reminded, yet again, of what fantastic friends we have.

And so...we've been ticking along. Over the past few months several of the problems we anticipated have resolved themselves, some were solved after a fair amount of trouble, and some we've just had to deal with (still no poultry!). It's been interesting, and it's a shame I've not chronicled it up to now. Hopefully that will change over the next few weeks. I would like to get this blog up and running again, but I hesitate to make any bold proclamations about what I will or will not do. That seems to be the death of many of my plans and ideas. Instead, let me throw out a plan: I plan on doing better. That's all I've got for now. :)

Adventures in local eating

2010-01-06T18:21:00.005-05:00

Oh...it's been a long, long time since I blogged. Shame on me. It's not because I haven't been cooking or thinking about food. In fact, that's taken up more time than ever. Since Charlie and I decided to take the locavore challenge this upcoming spring we've put a lot of time and effort into reworking our food habits and preparing for the big change. So many foods that we take for granted are difficult, if not impossible, to find locally. Of course, that's taking a negative view of our little project. The fresh fruits and vegetables, locally-sourced grass-fed beef, local Berkshire pork (oh my!), grits and polenta, local honey, and countless other goodies we've found have been amazing. Eating local foods in season has refreshed my palate for sure, and I believe the same is true for Charlie. However, a few problems/challenges keep popping up:

1. Local free-range poultry -- It seems that this would be an easy find. After all, Georgia is the number one producer of chicken in the country. Unfortunately, this fact seems to pertain only to factory-farmed chicken. Yuck. This problem deserves a post of its own.

2. Flour/Grain -- Although this lovely area is quite capable of producing grain, oats, barley, and the like, it seems there is no real market for it. The few local mills I have been able to locate make their flour from Kansas grain. How about that?! (I have heard a rumor that a mill exists in Helen, GA that makes flour out of locally-produced wheat. Is this true? I have no idea. An upcoming weekend trip should settle the question. If that doesn't pan out I don't know what to do. I welcome suggestions.)

3. Dairy -- Oh wait! I think I solved this problem today! Hooray!!!

Okay, so here's the deal. In the State of Georgia it is illegal to sell raw milk for human consumption. Read that again. Human consumption. So, I found a farm that sells raw, grass-fed cow milk for pets. Now, I don't believe for a moment that people are buying this $7/gallon milk for pets. Of course, it doesn't really matter. The label reads "Raw Cows Milk for Pets". After that the consumer is free to do what he or she wishes with the milk. I am going to make yogurt, mozzarella, ricotta, cream cheese, buttermilk, and sour cream out of mine. If that all goes well then perhaps I'll try a few other projects. Just the same, I did hesitate for a moment before drinking a glass of the raw milk. Before gulping it down I hopped on the internet and began googling. The FDA definitely hates raw milk, but I don't trust them anyway. They claim that since 1998 raw milk has sickened 800 Americans. While this is meant to be a deterrent, I took it as an endorsement. Only 800 people have been sickened since 1998? Really?! Please note, that's not deaths. That's an astonishingly low number of Americans. Consider that since its appearance last spring 10,000 Americans have died of Swine Flu.

So, I finished my reading, poured myself half a glass of raw milk (for pets), and happily drank it down. It was absolutely delicious, and I feel just fine. Of course, it's only been an hour so we'll see how this goes.

All I want is a safe, reliable source of local milk from grass-fed cows (with no hormones, antibiotics, etc. added), and I think I've found that. I was also able to purchase a dozen beautiful farm eggs (from free-range hens), raw garlic Colby cheese, and raw mild cheddar. The cheeses are delicious, by the way.

Since I've been discussing dairy, I will leave you with my Mother's fabulous homemade eggnog recipe. This stuff is so good! She made a pitcher over Christmas, and I drank so much I made myself sick. Umm...it was not because of the store-bought, pasturized milk. It was because of my gluttony!

Mom's Eggnog

Ingredients:

4 eggs, separated

1/3 cup plus 1 Tbsp sugar

1 pint milk

1 cup heavy cream

3 oz brandy

1 tsp nutmeg

Beat egg yolks until pale. Add 1/3 cup sugar, and beat until incorporated. In a separate bowl combine milk, cream, nutmeg, and brandy. Add milk mixture to egg yolks, and stir to combine.

Using a mixer, beat egg whites until soft peaks form. Add remaining 1 Tbsp sugar, and continue to beat until stiff peaks form. Spoon egg whites on top of eggnog, and serve.

By the way, If you have an opinion on raw milk I would love to hear it!

Roasted Vegetable Pizza

2009-11-20T12:27:00.010-05:00

On Wednesday I went to the Spruill Farmers Market in Sandy Springs (Georgia). It's a nice little market that sets up weekly and sells a variety of produce, dairy, meat, jams, and the like. For $37.50 I was able to get this:

I think that's a pretty nice catch for less than 40 bucks. In case some of it is difficult to see or identify, here's a list of the produce pictured above:
*3 sweet potatoes
*1 bunch rose turnips
*1 bunch carrots
*1 bunch kale
*1 bag braising greens (collards, mustard greens, and kale)
*1 bag chickweed
*1 bag totsoi (not sure I have the spelling correct on that one)
*2 winter squash
*7 1/2 oz fresh mozzarella

Charlie and I took some of the produce pictured above (along with a few other ingredients) and turned it into this:

Now, let me tell you something. I am a lucky woman for many, many reasons. I have a wonderful family, a husband who constantly wows me with his kindness and love, amazing friends, good health, a steady job, and such. All of that keeps me going, and I'm grateful for the good fortune I've had in my life. However, I think (and hope) most of those things are shared by a great many people. There is, however, one thing I have that most people don't, and that's a husband who makes awesome pizza. Isn't that lucky? Also, he has a knack for knowing when I'm exhausted and don't feel like cooking dinner. I love when Charlie calls and says he'd like to make a pizza for dinner. My reply is almost always an enthusiastic "Yes! Please!".
We decided to make a roasted vegetable pizza with some of our farmers market bounty. Charlie started by making dough. He's been working on the perfect pizza dough recipe for awhile, and after dozens of pizzas and constant tweaking I think he's finally achieved it.
While Charlie worked his magic on the dough I roasted vegetables. I decided to go with sunchokes (purchased at the Morningside Farmers Market last weekend), winter squash, and kale. I thought that combination would give the pizza a woodsy autumn flavor. I sliced the squash, tossed it with a little olive oil and kosher salt, then popped it in the oven (preheated to 375 degrees) for about 20 minutes.

I also thinly sliced the sunchokes (with the peel still on), treated them to a little oil and salt, and added them to the oven. They took a little longer to roast -- about 30 minutes total. (Sunchokes are also known as jerusalem artichokes, but they aren't from Jerusalem, and they aren't artichokes so I go with the farmsy (just made that word up!) term, sunchokes.)

Next up: kale! I gently sauteed a large handful in just a touch of olive oil, and then the veggies were ready! Charlie rolled out the dough, and we assembled our pizza.

Oooh...the fresh mozzarella is so tasty and melts into ooey gooey deliciousness. Bagged, shredded mozzarella just doesn't compare.
Charlie slid the pizza onto the preheated pizza stone, and 12 minutes later we had dinner!

Yum! Homemade pizza really is super easy to make and can be topped with anything you like. We've tried all sorts of toppings, from capers (nice and salty but you have to trap them with melted cheese or they just roll off) to anchovies (the fish flavor is intense...use sparingly!). It's a great weekday dinner as long as you remember to start the dough as soon as you get home from work.

Charlie's Pizza Dough

(adapted from Michael Ruhlman's Ratio suggestions)

ingredients:

2 cups semolina flour*

1/4 teaspoon yeast

6 oz water, lukewarm

1 Tablespoon dried oregano

1 teaspoon kosher salt

pinch of red pepper flakes (or more if you want a spicier crust)

1 Tablespoon olive oil (we just use a nice glug), plus additional for oiling the bowl

cornmeal

In a medium bowl combine flour and yeast. Create a well in the center, and add water. Allow to rest 2 - 3 minutes. Add oregano, salt, and red pepper flakes. Mix with a wooden spoon until dough begins to come together then add olive oil. Knead approximately 10 minutes or until dough is smooth, sticky, and bounces back when lightly touched. Lightly oil the inside of a medium bowl, place the dough in the bowl, and turn to coat. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap, and allow to rise 1 - 1 1/2 hours. The dough will not double in size but will swell a little.

Preheat the oven to 450 degrees F. If you have a pizza stone, place it in the center of the oven to preheat along with the oven.

Turn the dough out onto a surface dusted with cornmeal. With floured hands, form the dough into a 8 - 10 inch circle with a flat center and slightly thicker edges (to form the crust), working some of the cornmeal into the dough as you shape it. (Use a gentle hand so you do not tear the dough as you work with it.) In order to prevent tearing, the final dough shaping should occur on whatever you will use to place the pizza in the oven. We use a pizza peel, but if you will be baking your pizza on a baking sheet you should use that at this point.

Top the pizza as you wish and place in the oven. Bake for 12 minutes. Let the cooked pizza rest for five minutes so the cheese and ingredients can settle, then dig in!

*For those of you in the Atlanta area, semolina flour can be purchased at the Dekalb Farmers Market. It can also be purchased in gourmet food shops, and I'm sure it's available for purchase online. Semolina is made of durham wheat and adds a unique texture to the pizza dough. If you are unable to find it, bread flour can be substituted.

Project Locavore: Step One

2009-11-16T06:22:00.010-05:00

The Morningside Farmers Market sets up every Saturday, rain or shine, in the parking lot across from Alon's (in front of Teuscher Chocolates...yumm!). It's beautiful, and unlike a lot of farmers markets, it's open year-round. This past Saturday I went for the first time, which absolutely disgusts me since I live about 2 miles away. Why haven't I been there before? I have no idea. Seriously, I was able to walk there in less than half an hour. It's mostly laziness I suppose. I do love to sleep in on Saturdays.

Here's what I bought:

*2 lovely Berkshire pork chops

*1 giant bunch kale

*1/2 lb sunchokes

*1 winter squash

*1 1/2 heads cauliflower

*2 watermelon radishes

Total cost for all of this wonderful food: $19. And this is what we had for dinner (this is one person's serving):

In case you're unable to tell, the plate above includes:

*1 pan-seared pork chop with apples and onions
*roasted cauliflower and squash
*sauteed kale and dandelion with pine nuts
*roasted sunchokes
*homemade rye

The majority of that dinner came from the farmers market, the exceptions being: olive oil, 1 onion, 1 green apple, pine nuts, dandelion greens, and rye bread (made earlier in the week). Not too shabby, right? It was quite tasty, and we even had leftovers.

Now, time to get down to business. Our household has decided (okay, I decided and poor Charlie is very sweetly going along with my plan) to try a year of living locally. "What does this mean?" you may ask. Well, we're still pounding out the fine points, but here are the main ideas. We're going to attempt to buy at least 80% of our food locally for a full year. We'll begin in earnest this March (when the growing season begins). Until then there's plenty to do. I've been researching local farms, dairies, mills, and such. Fruit and vegetables should be no problem. Local meat, it turns out, is also easy to find. We've already joined a meat CSA -- more on that soon. There's a dairy about 50 miles away that sells milk in a nearby specialty food shop, and I think I've found a mill where we can buy whole wheat flour and grits.

And now for the do-withouts. Obviously, no sugar is grown within 100 miles of Atlanta. This means we'll either have to make a small allowance for sugar, or we'll learn to use honey as our only sweetener. I'm leaning toward honey as it is readily available and a much healthier choice than processed sugar. There are a number of spices that aren't grown near us. We'll have to make some decisions about which we'll continue purchasing even though they aren't local (salt, for example) and which we'll give up (probably cinnamon, nutmeg, and the other lovely holiday baking spices). We are not giving up coffee, but we are looking for a local roaster. Oils are tricky. Olive oil is (maybe) out, but I think we'll be able to get local peanut oil and perhaps a little sesame? Much more research is necessary, clearly.

There will be some exceptions that make up the 20% of non-local products. We'll need yeast for bread baking, and I don't think we can find that locally. I'm also looking into making some cheeses, and the cultures and rennets for those must be ordered. Charlie makes wonderful pizzas, and he needs semolina flour for the dough. I don't think that's available locally (the closest I've found is about 250 miles away), and I'm not asking him to give that up so we'll most likely continue purchasing a brand grown in Michigan.

There's much more to say about this project, but it will have to wait for another day. I leave you with pictures of the gorgeous, tasty watermelon radishes I picked up on Saturday. We ate them hinly sliced on rye bread with a little cream cheese and a sprinkling of sea salt. Delicious.

A map and my opinion of it

2009-10-18T20:41:00.005-04:00

This absolutely disgusts me. The map above displays the McDonald's restaurants currently operating in the United States. Really? Are there THAT many? Yes. It turns out that there are over 13,000 McDonald's in the U.S. I'm pleased to say that I am not one of their customers nor have I been for quite some time. I know I sound hoity toity, but so be it. I think they're disgusting, and I do not wish to participate.

According to Michael Pollan (my personal hero) in his most recent book, In Defense of Food, An Eater's Manifesto, a McDonald's chicken nugget is comprised of no less than 38 ingredients. Gross.

I have much more to say on this topic, but at the moment I'm not up for expounding. It's coming one of these days --- factory farms, corn, the whole bit about processed food in America --- but not today.

I was just reminded to "cop to the fact that my husband will eat a McDonald's hamburger in *snap* nothing flat"(direct quote from Charlie Bennett). True. We're working on that.

Cocktail Time

2009-10-10T12:31:00.004-04:00

I'm a big fan of funky little cocktails, and I found myself in need of a recipe for one at a recent dinner party. The party had a Greek theme, and as I don't particularly care for ouzo (yuck), didn't want to serve beer, and was generally disinterested in a number of other Greek drink options, I decided to make up a specialty cocktail. Thus, Persephone's Kiss was born. There's nothing about this that is actually Greek, but I squeaked by because of the pomegranate. When in trouble always look to myths and folklore!

Persephone's Kiss

ingredients:

1 oz pomegranate juice

3 oz Champagne

1 small scoop pomegranate-blueberry ice cream*

Pour pomegranate juice in a champagne saucer. Top with Champagne and gently in drop ice cream.

*A melon baller makes small, pretty scoops

I love that these were a little fancy and a little like dessert. I had seconds.

Happiness Soup

2009-09-29T06:25:00.005-04:00

It has been very damp and gloomy in Atlanta for the past couple of weeks, and it has affected my attitude quite a bit. I need some sunshine! The other night I felt particularly down so I decided to make a pot of Happiness Soup. The recipe for this comes from Nigella Lawson, and it's very simple. I made it on a weeknight after work, and it took no time at all.

Happiness Soup

adapted from a recipe by Nigella Lawson

Ingredients:

3 medium yellow squash

zest and juice of 1 lemon

3 Tbsp olive oil

1 tsp ground turmeric

4 cups chicken stock*

1/2 cup basmati rice

salt and pepper

Cut the yellow squash into thin rings, then dice. Heat the oil in a medium stockpot and saute the squash along with the lemon zest for about five minutes or until squash has softened. Stir in the turmeric then add the lemon juice and chicken stock. Drop in the rice and bring the soup to a boil. Reduce to a simmer and cook, uncovered, for 20 minutes or until the rice is tender. Serve with crusty bread.

*For a vegetarian soup vegetable stock may be substituted.

The name is, of course, a little silly. However, the cheery yellow in combination with the fresh squash and soft rice do make me happy. There's nothing I'd rather eat on a dreary day.

Gnocchi

2009-09-24T14:33:00.013-04:00

I am gnocchi-obsessed right now. I just can't stop making the stuff! It's so tasty and (too) filling.
This has been an obsession of mine in the past, but my love for gnocchi was rekindled in Italy. I had some fabulous bites in Sorrento and a strong desire to recreate that experience at home.

The picture above is of the dish that fired up this most recent incarnation of my gnocchi obsession. This gnocchi in combination with a glass of wine made for a near-perfect meal. The gnocchi was tiny and smooth with none of the expected ridges or dimples on the side. The chef knew just how to dress the itsy bitsy dumplings -- simply. Rather than piling on a cream sauce or heavy ragu, the gnocchi was tossed with olive oil, a few perfect roasted tomatoes, red pepper flakes, chopped fresh parsley, and a little lemon. It was topped with the most fabulous mussels and clams. I assume once the gnocchi was cooked it was thrown into a sauce pan with the tomatoes, red peper flakes, olive oil, and shellfish (so the mussels and clams could open over the gnocchi and flavor the dish with their juices). It was all so delicious. Everyone else at the table had food envy when the server brought it out.

My travel buddy, Paige, had the gnocchi pictured above on our second night in Sorrento. The color was so shocking when the server brought out the dish! It's a spinach gnocchi dressed in a creamy salmon sauce, and if you look closely you can see the flecks of poached salmon in the picture. Paige said more than once that this was the best thing she ate on the trip, and it's easy to understand why. The creaminess of the sauce complimented the tenderness of the dumplings, and the strong salmon flavor was delightful. I was a little surprised to see dairy paired with seafood, as that is a classic no-no in Italian cooking, but I'm glad they did it! Delicious.

Before I start sharing recipes and posting pictures of homemade gnocchi I would like to clear up a few common misconceptions. The first, most obvious, and most common is that gnocchi is always made from potatoes. This is true sometimes but not always. Gnocchi first appears in Italian cookbooks in the 13th century, predating the arrival of potatoes in Italy by about 300 years. Before the arrival of potatoes it was generally made of semolina flour mixed with eggs and water, and these days just about anything goes. Gnocchi can be made of potatoes, semolina, riccotta, or bread crumbs and can include a variety of other ingredients (spinach, rosemary, pumpkin...). The name refers not to ingredients but to the shape. Gnocchi literally means "lump" and refers to a small, dense dumpling. I think this is great because it leaves it open for plenty of experimentation and can be paired with a number of diverse sauces. Most gnocchi have ridges on the side for sauce to cling to, but (as previously mentioned) even that's not a requirement.

The gnocchi I've been making is ricotta-based and includes some semolina (for texture and added yumminess). I've made it several times and have modified the recipe slightly each time. So, here's the basic recipe with plenty of notes to follow.

Ricotta Gnocchi

ingredients:

2 cups whole-milk ricotta

2 large eggs, lightly beaten

1 cup Parmigiano-Reggiano

1/2 teaspoon grated nutmeg (preferably freshly grated)

1 cup all-purpose flour

1/4 cup semolina flour plus more for flouring work surfaces

Stir together the ricotta, eggs, cheese, and nutmeg. Salt and pepper to taste. Add the flour, stirring to form a soft dough. On a well-floured work space (use the semolina for this), shape the dough into several 1-inch-thick ropes. Cut crosswise at an angle into 1-inch pieces with a very sharp knife. Put in one layer on a parchment-lined baking sheet sprinkled with semolina flour (or all-purpose if you don't have semolina).

Refrigerate the gnocchi for 15 minutes (or up to 24 hours). Bring a large pot of salted water to a rapid boil, and cook the gnocchi in batches. Each batch should take 3 to 4 minutes. (When the gnocchi is fully cooked it will float.) Lift the gnocchi out of the boiling water with a slotted spoon or a small strainer and drain.

That's it! I bet that's a lot less work than you were expecting. Right?!

You may have noticed that the gnocchi pictured above is flecked with green. When I made that batch I decided to throw a handful of chopped spinach into the dough. I was very pleased with the results as the spinach added a splashy bit of color and packed a gentle flavor punch. Other additions I plan on trying out include rosemary, pumpkin and cinnamon, garlic, and lemon zest.

Another thing you may have noticed is the size of my gnocchi compared with the restaurant pictures at the top of this post. I chose to make a larger gnocchi with a more rustic cut. Partly this is because I really like a less refined look, and partly it's because I can be a lazy cook at times. It's much faster to make larger gnocchi and after a long day at work I'm not always patient when it comes to dinner.

So, the next step to making great ricotta gnocchi is dressing it. There are countless things that can be done, but here are a few that I've tried. The first time I slowly sauteed two chopped shallots in a generous chunk of butter until they were caramelized and the butter browned. I then added three cloves of garlic, a sprinkling of red pepper flakes, and some fresh rosemary. I threw the cooked gnocchi in at the last minute and gave the pan a couple of tosses so the gnocchi was well coated. I then plated the gnocchi, topped it with a handful of shredded parmesan (along with sea salt and cracked pepper), and finished it off with a dash of extra virgin olive oil. It was very simple and also quite tasty.

Check out those little bites of deliciousness!

The next batch of gnocchi received a similar treatment. I omitted the rosemary and instead added fresh sage leaves which I fried in the butter along with the shallots. I also sprinkled a few chopped walnuts on top. I don't have any pictures of the finished product, but it was quite pretty and had a more autumnal flavor.

The last time I made ricotta gnocchi I added the chopped spinach. I was so pleased with the results that I decided to try a bowl with nothing more than olive oil, sea salt, and freshly ground pepper.

I liked that very much but decided to punch things up a little. Charlie made a wonderful tomato sauce with plenty of fresh herbs from our container garden so we tried that on the gnocchi with parmesan cheese on top and spinach as a garnish. It looked and tasted beautiful.

Now you know the story of my recent gnocchi adventures. I've had a blast making it and can hardly wait to try out other versions!

Dolmadakia

2009-09-22T14:34:00.007-04:00

Perhaps my favorite thing that I ate while in Greece was dolmades. Before the trip I knew them as stuffed grape leaves, but dolmades (or dolmadakia) is the correct name. I ate them twice on the trip: once with tzatzki sauce and sliced tomatoes and once drizzled with a really thick oil of some sort (I never figured out just what it was, but it was tasty). I was a big fan of both, but I especially dug the freshness of the leaves with the tzatzki. The tomatoes were also a nice flavor booster.
A few nights ago I set out to make my own dolmades, and in the process I learned a little about how they are traditionally served. It turns out that they're usually referred to as dolmades when they contain meat and are served as a main course. I'm sure those are nice, but I prefer mine to be meatless and small -- served as meze (a first course). The recipe I found called for wine-soaked red currants and golden raisins, but I wasn't really in the mood for the dried fruit addition so I left it out. Also, I had some nice mozzarella in my fridge so I substituted that for the Greek cheeses the recipe called for (though I do think a nice salty feta would be very tasty). I added some sauteed scallions and a ton of minced garlic, and soon I'd created my own version of dolmadakia, just a shadow of the recipe. In the future I plan on adding a handful of chopped fresh dill to amp up the flavor a little more and perhaps a little mint for interest.
These are fun treats to make, and they look pretty impressive (I think). If you try them out yourself please let me know how yours turn out!

Dolmadakia

ingredients:
12 oz arborio rice
2 Tablespoons butter
2 Tablespoons olive oil
2 - 3 shallots, chopped
5 cloves garlic, minced
6 oz shredded mozzarella cheese (or crumbled feta)
2 Tablespoons chopped fresh dill
2 teaspoons chopped fresh mint
20 - 30 grape vine leaves packed in oil

Cook the arborio rice according to package directions. Once rice is cooked add butter and stir to incorporate.

Meanwhile, heat olive oil in a small pan and saute shallots on low heat for 10 minutes. Add garlic and cook for 2 more minutes. Add the shallots, garlic, mozzarella (or feta), dill, and mint to the cooked rice. Stir to thoroughly combine.

Remove vine leaves from oil and separate one leaf from the others taking care not to tear it. Flatten the leaf on a clean work surface.

Place approximatel 2 teaspoons of the rice filling in the center of the leaf. Fold the bottom of the leaf upward, over the rice filling.

Fold the sides of the leaf in and over the rice filling. Roll the leaf forward, toward the top of the leaf. As you roll, neatly tuck in any loose pieces of the leaf. When you finish you should have a neat little bundle filled with rice. (Some of the leaves will tear so it's important to have a few extras.) Repeat with the remaining rice and leaves.

Once you have filled all of the leaves with rice and formed neat bundles, pack them in a medium sauce pan. I only made enough to form one layer in the pan I used, but if you have more you can stack them on top to create a second layer of leaves. Pack them tightly in the pan, then cover with water.

Place a lid or plate on top of the leaves to hold them under the water. Bring the water to a boil, then reduce to a simmer. Cook the leaves for 10 minutes. Drain the water from the pan, pressing on the leaves with the lid or plate to remove excess water. Carefully remove the leaves from the pan, place on a platter, and put in the refrigerator. Refrigerate until the leaves are cold, approximately 1 hour.
Serve the grape leaves cold or at room temperature with tzatzki sauce and sliced tomatoes.

The Greeks serve theirs in a star shape. I was pretty pleased with my presentation. The picture above is of the dolmadakia I made at home. The two pictures below were taken on my trip (in actual Greek restaurants). Not too shabby, huh?

I ate these on the island of Santorini. They were my favorites!

I had these on the island of Naxos -- very tasty as well!

I'm a pretty big fan of these little bundles. It takes a few tries to really get down the folding, but once you do it's easy to make a lot of these fairly quickly. Opa!

Branching Out: White Chili with Chicken

2009-09-21T13:22:00.006-04:00

It's raining in Atlanta, and it has been for days and days. Some streets have flooded, and schools are closed in three counties. The whole weekend long we saw gray, gray skies and flashy thunderstorms at night. Everyone seems to be tired of the dismal weather but me. Perhaps it has something to do with the sun-soaked weeks I spent in the Mediterranean not too long ago, but I'm ready for gray, cold weather. It's time for steamy bowls of thick soup, butternut squash, coq au vin, and apple pies! This is my favorite time of year for cooking, and the cool rain is really getting me psyched about autumn!

Charlie and I spent the weekend snuggled up at home. We didn't do a whole lot of anything, which was really nice for a change. In fact, the only productive thing I did this weekend was cook, and I didn't even do a whole lot of that. Last night was particularly dreary so I decided to make some chili before settling in to watch Mad Men (love it!). Anyone who knows me well will be surprised by that last sentence because I don't usually cook things that involve beans. I've never really liked beans, with the exception of green beans, so I don't cook them. Ever. However, I happen to be married to a man who loves Mexican food, chili, and other stewy things involving legumes so I'm trying to branch out a little. I think kidney beans and black beans are the absolute worst (I hate the flavor and the texture) so I decided to make a white chili that had only great northern beans in it. My Mom sent me the recipe a week or so ago, and it also contains chicken, cayenne pepper, and mild chilies -- all things I'm a fan of. It's not a very heavy soup, and I don't think it will give hardcore chili lovers the fix they're looking for, but it does have a nice flavor. I even enjoyed the beans in spite of myself.

This is a really quick and easy weeknight meal. It doesn't take long to prepare and doesn't require much tending. Cornbread is a must to sop up some of the broth.

White Chili with Chicken

ingredients:

2 Tbsp olive oil

2 medium white onions, chopped

3 cloves garlic, minced

2 (4 oz) cans mild green chilies, roughly chopped

2 tsp ground cumin

1 1/2 tsp dried oregano

1 tsp cayenne pepper

6 cups chicken stock (preferably homemade)

4 (16 oz) cans Great Northern Beans

3 chicken breasts, roasted and shredded

2 cups grated monterey jack cheese

sour cream

Heat the olive oil in a stock pot and saute 10 minutes or until soft and golden. Add the garlic, chilies, cumin, oregano, and cayenne pepper. Saute 2 minutes, until fragrant. Add undrained beans and chicken stock. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat to a simmer. Add the chicken and cheese, stirring to melt the cheese. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Serve warm with a dollop of sour cream on top.

Consider yourself forewarned -- this makes a huge batch of chili! You may want to halve the recipe if you're only serving a few people. I made the whole recipe, and we had a ton left over so I'm going to freeze what's left. I love stocking my freezer with soups and stews for the winter months. When things get really gloomy it's nice to have homemade soup at a moment's notice.

Cakes & Ale

2009-09-19T12:37:00.018-04:00

"Dost thou think because thou art virtuous there shall be no more cakes and ale?" Twelfth Night (Act 2, scene 3)

To celebrate our first anniversary (on September 17) Charlie and I returned to Cakes & Ale, the restaurant where we dined on the day we were wed. This place is beyond amazing. Every bite is a near-magical experience, the service is splendid, and the cocktails are crafted with the utmost care and attention to detail. I cannot recommend Cakes & Ale enough and only wish I could figure out some way to dine there more frequently. Unfortunately neither my pocketbook nor my waistline will allow.

Here's what we had (with plenty of commentary).

Arancini with Citrus and Fennel Pollen

I believe this may just be the best stuff in the whole world. It truly is one of the best things I've ever eaten. You know how people sometimes ask what you would choose if you could only eat five things over and over again for the rest of your life? This is a definite on my list. I especially love how pronounced the citrus is in these little bites. Don't be fooled by the simple appearance of the arancini in the picture to the left. They are extraordinary.

Last month Bon Appetit magazine named the top ten best new restaurants in the country. Much to my delight (and theirs no doubt), Cakes & Ale was selected as one of those restaurants, and

this recipe was included in the magazine. Guess what I'm trying out soon!

House-Marinated Olives

Give me some. Now.

Charcuterie

We had a fabulous charcuterie comprised of the following:

Tomato Gelee -- Imagine the essence of a perfectly ripe summer tomato captured in a gelee. That's exactly what this was.
Rabbit Rillettes with Carrots, Celery, and Onions -- A rillette is basically a rustic version of pate, traditionally made from pork. As the name implies, this one was made of rabbit. I love that the other ingredients reflect the diet of a rabbit. Charlie especially loved this dish.
Coppa -- Coppa is a delicious cut of cured pork that is thinly sliced and quite similar to prosciutto (but better!). The slices presented by Cakes & Ale were just wonderful.
Thinly sliced cured beef -- I don't remember what this was called or any of the specifics, but it was delicious. Again, the meat was sliced thinner than paper and was quite salty. I wish I could remember the name!
Pickled Japanese Melon -- I'm not sure what type of melon was used for this dish, but it reminded me of honeydew. The pickling gave it a sour vinegary taste that was just terrific. I wouldn't want this all the time, but it was a great addition to the plate.
House-Made Pickles -- Yum, yum, yum! I love homemade pickles, and these were no exception.

Gnocchi with Zucchini, Pears, Corn, Green Tomatoes, and Walnuts

This was a really wild dish. I really liked it, though I did feel the gnocchi was overwhelmed by the other ingredients. Having said that, the gnocchi (when eaten by itself) was remarkably light and tender. It nearly melted on my tongue. The toppings were intense, and quite good, though I think they would have been better on their own as a side dish. I like gnocchi simply dressed, and this was a little overwhelming. And yet, I would order it again in a heartbeat. Even the dishes with a few missteps at Cakes & Ale are extraordinary.

Cakes & Ale Burger and Fries

Charlie looked over the menu and noticed the Cakes & Ale burger (and fries). Now, ordinarily a burger is a lousy choice in a farm-fresh restaurant with a seasonal menu, but this was different. The server (Adam) informed Charlie that the burger was made of brisket and bacon, and he was sold. Let me add that the bacon is not on top of the burger; it's ground in with the beef. The result is a masterpiece, and the salty shoestring fries are positively addictive.

Phatty Cakes

We had these on our wedding day as well as our anniversary. Cakes & Ale keeps a large domed cake stand on the counter, quite reminiscent of what one might find in an old general store, and it's always full of phatty cakes. This is the restaurant's signature dessert, and it's easy to see why. The cookies taste of gingerbread, and the filling is comprised of sweetened whipped marscapone. These are the cookies I imagine Donna Reed making for her kids as after school treats -- super fabulous and homey without a smack of pretense.

Tres Leche Cake

This may be what love tastes like. This sweet, milk-based cake is soaked in heavy cream, topped with softly scented cinnamon ice cream, and surrounded by puffs of freshly whipped cream. It's beautiful and light, something out of a dream. Also, it was a lovely anniversary gift from the restaurant.

So, Cakes & Ale is my all-time favorite restaurant. I'm sure it doesn't hurt that Charlie and I have been treated like celebrities each time we've been there, but even excepting that the food is consistently near-perfect. The service is impeccable, and the atmosphere is lovely and understated. If you're anywhere near the Atlanta area please do yourself a favor and go. You will not be disappointed. In fact, you'll probably glow when you leave.

Embracing Fall: Pumpkin Ravioli

2009-09-16T14:42:00.014-04:00

Well, haven't I just been the worst blogger ever for the last few weeks?! I've been a bit overworked and haven't made time for this, but that changes now. I think I'll just dive in and share what I've been cooking lately: pumpkin ravioli!

In Italy I had so many wonderful pasta dishes (especially in the town of Sorrento) and was inspired to make fresh pasta myself. I've made fresh pasta in the past, but I haven't taken a lot of time and care with it so it's never been spectacular. I decided to try a little harder this time and set my sights on ravioli. This was a first for me, and it initially tried my patience. The problem began when I drafted a fairly long list of cooking projects to accomplish on Labor Day. I have few days off work (excepting weekends) and even less time entirely to myself (Charlie had to work on Labor Day) so I decided that I must maximize my alone time and fill it with projects. That's all well and good except that I wasn't really in a cooking mood on Labor Day. When I realized that I should have hung up my hat, settled in for some reading, and saved the projects for another day. Instead, I decided to push myself, and my fun projects turned into a list of chores. This rarely happens to me because I really do love to cook, but this time it did and that's unfortunate.

I started the day's (newly-turned) chores by heading to the farmers market. There I found these beauties. The one on the left is called a sweet dumpling squash and the one on the right is a calabaza. Aren't they gorgeous?!

I took them home, split them, and removed the seeds. They smelled so sweet and good.

I then rubbed them with a little olive oil, placed them face-down on a baking sheet, and roasted them at 400 degrees F for about 45 minutes. Once they cooled I scooped out the flesh, mixed it together, and smushed it with the back of a wooden spoon.

That didn't give me quite the consistency I wanted (too chunky) so I popped it into my food processor and pulsed a few times. I ended up with a beautiful, orange, pumpkiny puree. A sprinkling of salt, pepper, and a splash of olive oil gave it a little more oomph.

I took my lovely pumpkin puree and added about a cup of whole milk ricotta and 8 ounces of crumbly goat cheese then stirred it all up. It was chunky, packed with the fall flavor I was looking for, and super tasty! I couldn't stop eating it by itself! (The photo below isn't beautiful, but the filling was actually sort of pretty in a rustic way.)

At this point I was pleased with what I'd created but was still dragging my feet a bit. The task of making fresh pasta felt overwhelming, but I pulled out my ingredients, cleared a spot on my kitchen table, and got started anyway.

Almost every recipe I've read for fresh pasta (in small batches) calls for 3 1/2 cups of flour and 5 large eggs. This never seems to work for me. For some reason whenever I use 3 1/2 cups of flour I end up with a pasta that's too dry so I tend to use only 3 cups up flour (and 5 large eggs). If making pasta at home you might try it with 3 1/2 cups of flour, as that seems to work for everyone except me. If yours is also too dry then toss it out (there's no saving a bad batch as far as I'm concerned) and try my way.

A word on ingredients: I like to use oo flour for making pasta. It's almost always imported from Italy and is ground so finely that it feels like baby powder. This makes for a really silky pasta that's super light. I buy my oo flour at the Dekalb Farmer's Market (just outside Atlanta), but it can also be found in gourmet food shops, Whole Foods, and Fresh Market. If you're unable to find oo flour (or want to go a less expensive route) all-purpose will also do the trick.

Okay, so the first step to making fresh pasta is dumping the flour on a large work space in a mound. Then, use your (freshly washed) hands to create a well in the middle of the flour. It should look like a volcano with an extra wide mouth. Like this:

Crack the eggs into the well, taking care not to let them escape!

Slowly and carefully pinch the yolks apart with your thumb and forefinger. You want to break the membrane that surrounds the yolks so they will flow into the whites of the eggs. As soon as you've accomplished that (it's kind of fun), start pulling little bits of flour into the eggs. Do so carefully so the eggs don't leave the well. Slowly incorporate more and more flour into the eggs until you have a dough that is able to hold itself together. Form it into a ball and begin kneading, pulling any remaining flour into the ball of dough.

Okay, here's the trick to getting really great pasta: don't be lazy when it comes to the kneading. It's hard work, and you will get tired, but it really should be kneaded for at least 15 minutes. Set a timer and get to work! I've always heard that when you think you're finished you probably should knead for about 3 more minutes. I find this to be true for me. When properly kneaded the dough will be smooth, elastic, and will spring back when pressed with your fingertips.

Once the dough has been kneaded, wrap it in plastic wrap and allow it to rest at room temperature for 30 minutes to an hour. After the pasta rests, take out your pasta machine and get ready to crank out some pasta!

Unwrap the dough and pull off a golf ball-sized chunk. Immediately re-wrap the remaining pasta dough. (It will dry out if not immediately re-wrapped and will have to be thrown away.) Flatten the piece of dough with your hand, and set the pasta machine to its thickest setting. On my pasta machine this is #1, but it varies depending on the maker. Roll the pasta through the machine so that you have a nice, smooth piece of flattened dough. Move the setting up a notch so it will make the pasta slightly thinner on the next roll. Roll the pasta through again. Continue changing the settings and rolling the pasta until you have passed the pasta through the thinnest setting and have a paper-thin sheet of pasta.

My pasta maker has a broken clamp so I have to hold it down while running the pasta through. This isn't that big of a deal, but it quickly became a major stresser when I already felt a bit impatient. By this point I was no longer enjoying the process of making ravioli. Once again, I should have put it away and saved the ravioli for another date, but I didn't.

At this point it's important to work quickly. If you move too slowly the pasta will dry out and you will be unable to form the ravioli. Place the sheet of pasta on the work surface and use a spoon to drop teaspoon-sized dollops of pumpkin filling on the pasta. Allow 1/2 - 1 inch of space all the way around each dollop of filling. Continue placing filling on the pasta sheet until you get about halfway up the sheet of pasta. Fold the pasta in half so that each dollop of filling is covered with pasta. Use your fingertips to press the pasta together, trapping the filling and sealing the pasta around it.

Charlie came home around the time I reached this point. By then I'd had enough. It took a few tries to figure out how best to form the ravioli (and I let several sheets of pasta dry out in the process), and I was ticked off about it. I decided to use a pairing knife to carefully cut out the ravioli. I cut it into squares, taking care to leave enough pasta around the filling to ensure that it wouldn't escape when boiled. This method proved to very effective but not very pretty. When I made it again a few nights later I used a zig-zag pastry cutter to make the edges a little more interesting. That really gave the ravioli a polished look (without spending a ton of money on a mold or specialty press). Unfortunately, I didn't take pictures of that batch.

After cutting out the ravioli I had a pile scraps left over. I certainly didn't want those to go to waste -- this is homemade pasta we're talking about after all! I took my scraps, laid them out, and used the pairing knife to cut them into mismatched strips. I didn't care about keeping everything perfectly uniform, but I did want to make them all about the same size so they would require the same amount of time to cook. Here's what I ended up with.

I allowed the scraps the dry for about 15 minutes then popped them in a ziplock bag for later use. I tossed the ziplock bag in the freezer, and now I can have homemade pasta any time by boiling the frozen pasta for 2 - 3 minutes. (Do not thaw or it will become gummy.)

I finished rolling out the remaining pasta, and made more ravioli (and scraps). The fully formed ravioli was placed on a parchment paper-lined baking sheet for about 10 minutes before cooking. This allowed the pasta to dry out just a bit and secured the seal around the filling before boiling. While the pasta dries, bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Drop a handful of ravioli into the water, and allow it to cook for 4 - 5 minutes or until the pasta is soft but not falling apart. Remove the cooked ravioli from the water, drain, and drizzle with olive oil. Continue cooking the ravioli in batches until the desired amount has been prepared.

Now it was time to dress the ravioli. I browned a little butter, sauteed a minced shallot with some garlic, and tossed in some red pepper flakes and fresh sage leaves for a little extra kick. I then poured the browned butter over the hot ravioli and finished it off with another drizzle of olive oil, sea salt, freshly cracked blacked pepper, a sprinkling of shredded parmesan, and a generous handful of crumbled goat cheese.

Though I'd certainly had a bad attitude about the project, I have to admit that it turned out pretty well. The soft, pillowy ravioli (in combination with plenty of love and affection from my wonderful husband) put me in a very sunny mood. In fact, I felt so good about the result that I tried it again two days later, adding the zig-zag edges, sliced baby bella mushrooms (cooked in the brown butter), and little squeeze of lemon.

One final note before I end my re-entry blog post. There is absolutely no reason in the world why the seeds from any pumpkin or large squash should be thrown out. Instead, toss them with a little olive oil, kosher salt, and any other seasonings you like, and roast at 350 degrees F for about 30 minutes. They'll crisp up a little, take on the seasonings, and provide a yummy, salty snack. I usually toss mine with curry powder and a pinch of cayenne pepper. Bon appetit!

Opa! Opa! Opa!

2009-08-21T04:41:00.005-04:00

Hello to all! At the moment I am on board a Greek ferry between the island of Naxos and Piraeus (the port near Athens). Aaahhhh! The power of the Internet! I am tapping this post oit on my iPhone so it promises to be relatively short.
This has been a wonderful journey thus far, though not without it's complications. We've been forced to abandon our trip to the island of Milos due to ferry cancellations and have basically lost a day to travel. Just the same, the islands we have seen are gorgeous with their sugar cube houses and dramatic coastlines. We've spent time lounging on a black sand beach, riding donkeys up the side of a mountain, and exploring beautiful, winding towns carved into the sides of steep cliffs. And now, Athens awaits us! But enough about that! On to the food!
The best thing we've eaten so far, hands down, is stuffed grape leaves. Grape leaves are tightly wrapped around bundles of soft rice mixed with a little cheese and herbs. The neat little packages can be eaten in two tidy bites either on their own or dunked in tyziki sauce (my favorite!). We've eaten them twice -- once drenched in olive oil and served with kalamata olives and the other time served dry with fresh slices of tomato. When I return home I'm going to do everything in my power to recreate these tasty little bites. Yum! I could go for a plate of them right now!
We've also eaten some amazing cheeses -- soft, salty feta and Saganaki (a new one for me). The feta is unlike anything I've eaten in the USA. It's so fresh and soft. We cut it into pretty little pieces and popped them into our mouths using just our fingers. Wonderful! The Saganaki was a local cheese that was very lightly fried (almost like tempura) in a thin block. We cut it into pieces and were surprised by it's complex, buttery taste. It was rather hard and had a nice flavor from being fried. Also, it wasn't greasy at all. When I return home I'm going to look it up and find out for certain how it was prepared. It really was extraordinary.
We've eaten many other delicious foods and had wonderful local wines, but this will have to suffice for now. I have pictures galore (Paige has been very sweet to wait until I've photographed all the food before diving in) and will post a number of them upon my return. We have two and a half more days in Greece, during which I plan on stuffing myself silly, then we move on to Italy for a week. I'm sure well find a thing or two there that's worth writing home about! Cheers!

Cookies & Cream with Homemade Oreos

2009-08-15T20:31:00.001-04:00

My original plan to post five or six ice cream recipes may have to fall by the wayside. Per usual, the last few days have gone faster than I planned. Instead I'll focus on the best of the best and get as far as I can before I leave on my trip.

When I asked Charlie what type of ice cream he wanted for the ice cream party we had a couple of weeks ago his immediate response was Cookies & Cream. This is an easy enough ice cream to make. You just crunch up Oreo cookies and mix them up with softened vanilla ice cream. Of course, I needed cookies and vanilla ice cream to do that so I set about finding recipes. I've made vanilla ice cream a couple of times this summer, and I've used fresh vanilla beans for a super fresh flavor and the little black specks that I like so much. This time I opted to go another route and use vanilla extract because it's cheaper, and I believe the subtleties of the vanilla bean ice cream would be lost with the addition of the cookies. I made a basic Philadelphia-style Vanilla Ice Cream.

Philadelphia-style ice cream (also called New York Style) is super quick and easy. Unlike custard-based ice creams (also known as French-style), it doesn't contain eggs and requires no cooking. Milk, cream, and sugar are combined, then churned, and that's it! This recipe makes a great base for a variety of ice creams. Try adding fresh fruit, various extracts, nuts, chocolate chunks, or crunched up cookies.

Philadelphia-Style Vanilla Ice Cream

ingredients:

2 cups heavy cream

1 cup whole milk

3/4 cup granulated sugar

1 Tablespoon pure vanilla extract

In a bowl, stir together the cream and milk. Add the sugar and whisk until the sugar is dissolved, 3 - 4 minutes. Test for graininess by tasting a small amount of the liquid; it should feel smooth on the tongue and there should be no sugar visible on the bottom of the bowl when it is stirred or spooned out. Stir in the vanilla extract.

Fill a large mixing bowl halfway with ice cubes and enough water to cover them. Place the bowl with the ice cream mixture into the larger bowl and let cool for 30 - 45 minutes. Remove the bowl with the ice cream mixture and place a piece of plastic wrap directly onto the surface and on top of the bowl. This prevents the formation of a skin on top of the liquid and will keep the ice cream smooth when churned. Refrigerate until mixture is very cold, about 3 hours.

Churn the ice cream in an ice cream maker according to the manufacturer's directions. Place the churned ice cream in a plastic storage container, cover with plastic wrap (again, pressing the plastic wrap against the surface of the ice cream), and freeze until ready to serve. The ice cream will keep for up to a week but is best eaten within two days of churning.

This is a good, easy ice cream recipe. I really like it as a base for Cookies & Cream, but if I were going to make a vanilla ice cream to serve on its own I would go with a custard-based recipe that uses real vanilla beans.

And now for the glamourous part -- homemade Oreos. These were so much easier to make than I anticipated. In fact, these were some of the easiest cookies I've made in a while, and I think the results are pretty impressive. They would be really great with a simple glass of cold milk and would be just lovely for a picnic.

The recipe originates from Retro Desserts by Wayne Brachman.

Homemade Oreos

Makes 25 to 30 sandwich cookies

For the chocolate wafers:

1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour

1/2 cup unsweetened Dutch process cocoa

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 teaspoon baking powder

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 1/2 cups sugar

1/2 cup plus 2 Tbsp room-temperature, unsalted butter

1 large egg

For the filling:

1/4 cup room-temperature, unsalted butter

1/4 cup vegetable shortening

2 cups sifted confectioners' sugar

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Set two racks in the middle of the oven. Preheat to 375 degrees F. In the bowl of an electric mixer thoroughly mix the flour, cocoa, baking soda and powder, salt, and sugar. On low speed add the butter and then the egg. Continue mixing until dough comes together in a mass.

Take rounded teaspoons of batter (it won't look like enough but will spread when baked) and place on a parchment paper-lined baking sheet approximately two inches apart. With moistened hands, slightly flatten the dough.

Bake for 9 minutes, rotating once for even baking. Set baking sheets on a rack to cool.

To make the cream, place butter and shortening in a mixing bowl, and at low speed, gradually beat in the sugar and vanilla. Turn the mixer on high and beat for 2 to 3 minutes until filling is light and fluffy.

To assemble the cookies, spread teaspoon-size blobs of cream into the center of one cookie. Place another cookie, equal in size to the first, on top of the cream. Lightly press, to work the filling evenly to the outsides of the cookie. Continue this process until all the cookies have been sandwiched with cream. Store in the refrigerator for up to a week.

I really wish I'd taken more pictures as they were very pretty. Unfortunately, I crunched up half the cookies for the ice cream, served a number of them, and gobbled down all but the two pictured before photographing them. The two I had left were a little wobbly and uneven, so expect yours to be prettier than those pictured.

And now, for Cookies & Cream! Crush up about 10 cookies and gently fold them into softened Philadelphia-style vanilla ice cream. Serve with a whole cookie.

The Whole Shebang!

2009-08-13T20:40:00.004-04:00

Tonight I fully intended to write about ice cream, but instead I'm going with squid and fried oysters. That's what I cooked for dinner tonight, along with a summery little tomato salad, and it was all fabulous. Squid has been on my to-cook list for quite some time. I've enjoyed it prepared a number of ways in restaurants, but I was a little intimidated when it came to cooking it myself. Now I wonder why. It's so simple! The most difficult part of the entire process was acquiring the squid.

After work I decided to drop by Whole Foods, pick up the squid and other needed ingredients, then go home and cook dinner. This sounds simple enough, but I ran into trouble when the fish monger at Whole Foods informed me that they don't carry squid. (What?! I still think he's wrong.) Whole Foods was also out of tonic water (disappointing!) so I left in a huff, muttering a few ugly words under my breath. I headed to my trusty Publix but was delayed by a fire truck and some serious traffic. Finally, I made it to Publix only to discover that, much to the surprise of the very helpful fish monger there, the calamari was frozen in a block of ice. I meandered around the store and read labels while it thawed, then picked it up, and headed home. Finally. I left work at 5:00 and walked through my front door at 7:00. Ugh.

It was all shortly made okay because dinner was such fun to prepare and so tasty! Also, Charlie is so wonderfully enthusiastic about food experiments. I love that about him.

This whole dinner was planned on a whim. I found the winning recipe for the calamari on Epicurious after sorting through a few dozen others. I really wanted something to showcase the calamari, which means no tomato-based sauces to muddy up the flavors. A simple Italian preparation featuring linguini, anchovies, garlic, and basil won -- so fresh and summery. It allows the calamari to really shine and focuses on fresh ingredients with crisp, clean flavors. It proved to be the perfect choice for tonight as it was also quick to prepare. While wandering around Publix with time to kill I decided to add fried oysters to the menu and a mixed tomato salad (after finding beautiful yellow tomatoes). The salty, fried goodness of the oysters and the cool bite of the salad gently complimented the calamari dish. I would serve these dishes together again in a second. If you decide to try any of these dishes at home I strongly suggest trying all three. None are difficult, and it makes for an impressive spread.

I made a few modifications to this recipe. Calamari should be cooked gently, much like a scallop or shrimp. The rubbery texture that is sometimes encountered is generally the result of overcooking. The original recipe suggested cooking the sliced squid for a total of 6 minutes which I believed to be too long. In order to avoid the rubber band texture I switched the order in which several ingredients are cooked. Let me pause to say that I am a sushi eater -- the raw stuff -- and a believer in erring on the side of undercooked when it comes to seafood. It was easy for me to risk undercooking the calamari because I don't really care if it's fully cooked and would rather risk that than an unpleasant texture. Just the same, it turned out well -- neither rubbery nor too raw. If you are made uneasy by the possibility of undercooked seafood, then by all means cook it a little longer, but expect it to be chewy.

Linguini with Calamari and Garlic

serves 2

ingredients:

1/2 lb linguini (look for a brand that is imported from Italy and lists only durum semolina flour and water as ingredients)

4 rolled anchovies with capers, from a 2-oz tin; anchovies crushed, oil reserved

1/2 lb cleaned calamari (squid), thinly sliced crosswise)

3 large garlic cloves, chopped

1/4 tsp dried crushed red pepper

3/4 cup dry white wine

1/2 cup thinly sliced fresh basil leaves

Check out the calamari before I sliced it. Cool, huh?

Cook pasta in a large pot of boiling salted water (it should be as salty as the ocean) until just tender but still firm to bite, stirring occasionally. Drain pasta, reserving 1/2 cup cooking liquid.

Meanwhile, heat reserved oil from anchovies in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add garlic, crushed red pepper, and crushed anchovies with capers and stir 1 minute. Add calamari and toss until just opaque, about 1 minute.

Add white wine; boil until sauce is slightly reduced, about 3 minutes. Mix in basil.

Add pasta to mixture in skillet. Toss until heated through and sauce coats pasta, adding reserved cooking liquid by Tablespoonfuls if pasta seems dry, about 2 minutes. Divide pasta and calamari between two plates and serve.

If I were to make this again I would double the anchovies and add 2 - 3 Tablespoons capers. Just the same, it's delightful as is.

On to the oysters! This was my first go at frying oysters, and it was a success! They were so delicious and will most certainly make an appearance at an upcoming dinner party. The batter is fluffy, crisp, and light. Anything heavier would be too much with the richness of the oysters. Charlie and I marveled at how delectable they are and discussed making an aoili to accompany them next time just for kicks. Tonight they were flavored with a simple squeeze of lemon, and that truly was enough. Anything else might just be showing off.

We only fried 6 oysters (1/2 lb), but I'm including the party-sized recipe. If you want to make fewer nothing really changes -- just make less batter.

Fried Oysters

Batter:

1 1/2 cups bread flour (or other high-gluten flour)

1 1/4 cups cold water

1 tsp salt

2 Tbsp baking powder

2 Tbsp peanut oil

salt, for seasoning

lemon

5 cups peanut oil

20 medium-sized fresh oysters (removed from shells, patted dry, and dusted with flour)

The oysters were quite shocking before I cooked them. Wowzer!

And here they are dusted with flour

Combine all batter ingredients in a bowl. Heat oil in a wok or stock pot over high heat until it reaches 375 degrees F. Dip each oyster into the batter until well coated. Carefully lower the oysters into oil. Deep fry 5 at a time until light brown, about 3 minutes. Remove oysters from the oil and drain on paper towels. Sprinkle with salt and spritz with lemon juice. Serve immediately.

Here's an inside shot.

Don't forget the tomato salad...so pretty with the lacy lettuce and the bright colors. Only make this during the summer when tomatoes are at their peak. Otherwise you're just teasing yourself.

Simple Tomato Salad

serves 2

Ingredients:

8 fresh cherry tomatoes

1/2 large yellow tomato

2 handfuls lacy spring mix lettuce

2 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil

1 Tbsp balsamic vinegar

sea salt

freshly cracked black pepper

Quarter the cherry tomatoes and thinly slice the yellow tomato. Divide and place into two shallow bowls. Top each with a handful of spring mix and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Drizzle with olive oil and balsamic vinegar. Serve immediately.

Altogether this was one of my favorite meals of the summer. It was lovely in the sun room with ice cold vodka tonics and The Heartless Bastards playing in the background. A lovely meal for a lovely night!

This one's for Ted...

2009-08-13T07:06:00.005-04:00

I don't have any new pictures of food ready, so here's something else to look at today. This is a Sweetie Monster I made named JoJo.

I have been neglectful of this blog for the last couple of weeks. It started when I just didn't post for a couple of days, and it quickly snowballed into two weeks. I've been a little distracted. My aim is to make up for that a little bit this weekend by posting a ridiculous number of ice cream recipes along with instructions and ruminations on several savory dishes. And then...another dry spell will come along. How do I know this? I know this because I am going to Greece and Italy for two weeks with my best friend, Paige. We leave on Monday, and I'm super duper excited, as you can probably imagine. My plan is to eat my way through the entire trip, and I will proudly accept any weight I may gain over the next two weeks. (Of course, we are backpacking so I will probably drop a little as I have in the past. The point is I don't care either way.) I'm sure there will be plenty of food excitement to share when I return, and a Greek-themed dinner party will certainly be in order some time in September, shortly followed by a Naples-themed (pizza anyone?) gathering. But for now, I shall focus on ice cream.

Charlie and I had an Ice Cream Social a couple of weeks ago, and it was a smashing success. Over the course of a week I made nine different homemade ice creams and a small accompaniment for each. Here's the menu:

Olive Oil Gelato with Balsamic Strawberries
Salted Caramel Ice Cream in Almond Tuile Bowls
Mandarin Orange Ice Cream with Sesame Brittle
Lemon Curd-Blackberry Swirl Ice Cream with Blackberry Sauce
Cookies & Cream Ice Cream with Homemade Oreos
Basil Ice Cream with Blueberries
Profiteroles with Honey Lavender Ice Cream and Warmed Honey
Lime Sherbet
Root Beer Floats (with Jones Soda Root Beer and homemade vanilla ice cream)

We had our party on the last day of July (which is national ice cream month I've learned), and 13 of our nearest and dearest joined us. For those of you who have been to my apartment you can probably imagine how snug we were, but that added to the fun. I've always enjoyed seeing just how many people I can cram into my place and feed. Floor pillows and a card table usually help a lot.

So, the fifteen of us embarked on a tasting menu of ice creams, and it was loads of fun! Fortunately, I have a gazillion tiny bowls and saucers, so the ice cream was served in courses. I used a melon baller to scoop the ice cream and placed three small scoops (along with the appropriate accompaniment) on a tiny dish and distributed. Even with the tiny servings we were unable to make it through the whole menu. We stopped after the basil, and it took some finagling to get people to stuff that last one in. Three tiny scoops of nine types of ice cream (along with cookies, brittles, tuiles, and such) adds up to a lot of food!

There is much more to say about the ice cream party, and I have a serious collection of recipes to post, but right now I'm out of time. I have two more days of work before my trip (and I must go so I can afford my trip), and I've got to go! Starting tonight the ice cream recipes will begin pop up so be on the look out.

1080: Cauliflower Pie. Oh yeah.

2009-07-25T09:05:00.013-04:00

I like funky savory pies -- crawfish pie, tomato pie, shepherd's pie, and the like -- so when I found a recipe for Cauliflower Pie in 1080 I knew what had to happen. When I first saw the recipe I pictured a deep, crusted pie full of whole cauliflower flowerets, a rich creamy sauce, and a few bites of chunky carrots. I suppose I pulled my idea from a chicken pot pie minus the bird, but the actuality is much more satisfying than my imagined dish. It's light, creamy, and full of air. Imagine a savory flan than melts into buttery polenta and you're getting close.

Before we get into the recipe, a little information regarding how to choose fresh cauliflower is in order. When selecting cauliflower, for this dish or any other, look for a head with green leaves still attached. The leaves are not eaten but their presence is a good indicator of the vegetable's freshness. Look for cauliflower that is crisp, very white, and has tightly clustered florets.

Cauliflower Pie

ingredients:

1 cauliflower, about 1 1/2 lbs, separated into florets

juice of 1/2 lemon

2 1/4 cups milk, plus a little to cook the cauliflower

2 1/2 Tbsp butter, plus extra for greasing

2 Tbsp sunflower oil

3 Tbsp all-purpose flour

pinch of freshly grated nutmeg

4 eggs

scant 1 cup grated gruyere

salt

*NOTE: When cooked, cauliflower releases magnesium and potassium, causing an unpleasant smell. To counteract this add a couple of bay leaves to the water. A tablespoon of milk will also lessen the smell.

Rinse the cauliflower florets in cold water mixed with the juice of 1/2 lemon. Bring a large pan of salted water to a boil. Add the florets and a little milk and cook, uncovered, for about 20 minutes, until tender.

Drain well, then refresh under cold running water. Pour onto a clean dishtowel to drain once more. Transfer to a bowl and mash with a fork.

(At this point you could just add a little butter, salt, and pepper and serve the mashed cauliflower as a side dish. It has a similar taste to mashed potatoes without all the starchiness. I'm a big fan.)

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F. Grease a tart pan with butter. Melt the remaining butter with the oil in a pan. Stir in the flour and cook, stirring constantly, for 2 minutes. Gradually stir in the milk, a little at a time. Add the nutmeg, season with salt, and cook, stirring constantly, for 8 minutes. Remove the pan from the heat. Beat two of the eggs, then beat them into the bechamel sauce. Repeat with the remaining eggs. Stir in the gruyere and when thoroughly incorporated, add the cauliflower.

Pour the mixture into the prepared pan and place the tin in a roasting pan. (I didn't have a roasting pan that was large enough so I used a cookie sheet with a high lip. Don't skip this step. The water bath ensures even cooking throughout the pie.)

Pour in boiling water to come about halfway up the sides of the roasting pan and bake for about 1 hour, until set. The pie should be firm and golden on top.

To serve, run a round-bladed knife around the edge of the tart pan and turn the pie out onto a round serving dish.

Serve immediately. (I plopped a little parsley on top just for kicks.)

My pie turned out beautifully. It easily slid out of the pan and held its form with no trouble. It's simplicity and the pale color reminded me of a goat cheese tart that I made earlier in the year. The goat cheese tart held its shape perfectly when sliced and looked lovely on a plate, though it did lack in flavor. I suppose I expected this pie to behave in the same ladylike manner so imagine my surprise when it collapsed upon slicing! I found it impossible to cut a pretty piece from the pie.

By the time a piece made it to a plate it had lost its shape completely and resembled a serving of grits or polenta. The texture followed suit. It's very creamy and rich because of the milk and gruyere, but the texture isn't quite as smooth as I expected, and I'm glad. It's much more interesting with a little grit.

I could not stop eating it. Seriously. I devoured this pie with very little help from anyone else. How can I possibly explain how luxurious this pie was? I had a couple servings the night I made it and enjoyed it tremendously then stuck in the fridge. Over the next few days I somehow managed to forget how sumptuous it truly is. Lucky me! I was blown over again when I reheated a little in a bowl with a sprinkling of sea salt, and after that it was all over. I consumed the remaining pie in ten minutes flat. I know this baby looks plain jane, but it packs a mean, buttery punch.

The recipe suggests pouring homemade tomato sauce on top of the cauliflower pie, but I think that would be overkill. This pie shines on its own. If I poured anything on top I think it would be pesto or something equally fresh, but it's probably best to just leave it as is. I'm still a little surprised by how much I loved this recipe. It spoke to my love of all things salty, starchy, and creamy. If you like cauliflower at all (or butter, or gruyere, or deliciousness...) try this.

1080: Green Beans in Vinaigrette

2009-07-22T07:08:00.004-04:00

One reason I like this month's cookbook club pick is because of the many and varied recipes for vegetables. A number of vegetables have entire sections devoted to them which include information on the origin and season of the vegetable, selection, nutrition, a basic how-to-cook, and tricks particular to the vegetable. I love that sort of thing. I really do want to know how to glaze shallots, tricks for peeling carrots, and why the ancient Egyptians and Greeks loved fennel. That's good stuff!

So, when I wanted a fresh, vegetable side dish I turned to this book and found Green Beans in Vinaigrette. This recipe is as simple as the title suggests, and it's just bursting with freshness. I served the beans as an accompaniment for dinner one night and sandwiches the next day for lunch. Again, this is very simple but also very satisfying. This recipe makes a lot so either half it, plan on having a crowd over, or take it along on a picnic to share.

Green Beans in Vinaigrette

ingredients:

3 1/4 lbs fresh green beans, trimmed

2 Tbsp white-wine vinegar

6 Tbsp sunflower oil (extra virgin olive oil can be substituted)

1 Tbsp chopped shallot

1 tsp chopped fresh parsley

2 large firm tomatoes, sliced

salt

Fresh green beans are so lovely.

If the beans are large, cut them into smaller pieces. Bring a large pan of salted water to a boil. Add the beans, bring back to boil, and cook, uncovered for 10 - 12 minutes, until tender, then refresh in cold water.

Drain immediately and pat dry.

Make a vinaigrette by combining the vinegar, oil, and salt and whisking vigorously.

Put the beans in a serving dish and sprinkle with the chopped shallot and parsley. Pour the vinaigrette over the beans and toss to mix. Lightly season the tomato slices and use to garnish the beans.

I made a couple of slight modifications, per usual. I was out of white-wine vinegar so I substituted champagne vinegar, which was lovely. I also decided to chop the tomatoes and add them to the green beans so they were more incorporated. Delicious.

Make Mine A Double Scoop

2009-07-19T11:17:00.006-04:00

Summer demands homemade ice cream, and I am happy to oblige. A few weeks ago I made this fabulous double chocolate ice cream for my Dad. My wonderful sister found the recipe on a fellow blogger's site, and it turned out just beautifully. A ripple of peanut butter revs up the richness of this fantastically decadent treat, but you can leave it out if you'd rather stick with just the chocolate.

Double Chocolate Peanut Butter Ice Cream

courtesy of Joy the Baker

ingredients:

2 1/2 cups whole milk

1 cup sugar

1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder

pinch of salt

3 Tablespoons cornstarch

1/2 cup heavy cream

3/4 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

1/2 cup smooth peanut butter (all-natural is the best!)

In a sauce pan over medium heat stir together 2 cups whole milk, sugar, cocoa powder, and salt. Heat until the milk starts to steam but before it boils.

In a small bowl stir together the remaining 1/2 cup of whole milk and the cornstarch until no lumps remain.

Add the cornstarch mixture to the heated milk and chocolate mixture and bring to a low boil. Boil until thickened. The mixture will have the consistency of chocolate pudding. (This is a good time to sample the beginnings of your creation!) Remove from heat.

In a small sauce pan heat 1/2 cup heavy cream. Once boiling, remove from heat and pour over the chocolate chips. Let sit for 1 minute then stir the cream and chocolate mixture until incorporated.

Stir the cream and chocolate mixture into the cooling chocolate ice cream base. (Another perfect moment to pause and try a spoonful. It's delicious. In fact, it's so good you could simply chill it and serve as a pudding with a little whipped cream.) Place in a bowl, cover with plastic wrap, and put in the fridge until cool.

Once cool, follow the manufacturer's directions on your ice cream maker to churn. Once the mixture has chilled and thickened in the ice cream maker slowly drizzle 1/4 cup of peanut butter. (Notice the velvety texture of the all-natural peanut butter. Also, there's no pesky high fructose corn syrup.)

Transfer the ice cream into a freezer-safe container and fold in the remaining 1/4 cup of peanut butter. Cover with plastic wrap and press the plastic wrap so it touches the surface of the ice cream. This prevents ice crystals from forming in the ice cream. Freeze for at least two hours before serving.

Get ready for an intense chocolate experience. This stuff is going to knock your socks off!

I think the chocolate base of this ice cream would be tasty with other things in it as well. Ever tried Ben and Jerry's Phish Food? It has crunchy fish-shaped chocolate bits sprinkled throughout, gooey marshmallow cream, and caramel. Some day I'm going to add all of those things to this ice cream along with some peanut butter chips and see how that works out. :)

Banishing HFCS: Margaritas

2009-07-17T21:53:00.007-04:00

I think high fructose corn syrup (HFCS) is the devil, and I'm on a mission to remove it from my diet altogether. Sometimes this is simple, but it seems that I really run into trouble when I try to find drink mixers sans HFCS. This was recently the case when I set out to find sweet and sour mix for margaritas so I decided to make my own.

Sweet and Sour Mix

ingredients:

3 cups water

3 cups sugar

2 cups lime juice

2 cups lemon juice

Combine water and sugar in a stock pot and stir to dissolve sugar. Bring to a boil then remove from heat. You now have simple syrup. Allow the simple syrup to cool. Add lime and lemon juice. Refrigerate until cold.

I like my margaritas on the rocks with plenty of lime and no salt. Feel free to modify to fit your particular likes and dislikes. (Charlie always goes for the salt.) Here's a loose recipe.

Margarita

Fill a low-ball glass with ice. Combine one part tequila and two parts sweet and sour mix. Top with a splash of orange liqueur (I like Patron Orange) and a slice of lime.

An Old-Fashioned Shortcake

2009-07-07T20:15:00.016-04:00

Strawberry Shortcake is my absolute favorite cake, so when my mother asked me to make her a birthday shortcake with strawberries, blueberries, and peaches I was thrilled. This is a towering, fancy-looking cake that is quite simple to make. It's also quite special to me because the basic cake recipe is my great-grandmother's. Isn't that neat?

Here is a copy of the recipe in my mother's hand. As you can see, it has been well-loved through the years.

I love strawberries with cream, and this is a beautiful, fluffy cake version of just that with peaches and blueberries to add a little pop. To make a shortcake you need three basic things: two 9-inch cakes, whipped cream, and fresh fruit. Before we look at any of those things, let's take a moment to examine pan preparation. You'll need two 9-inch cake pans for this recipe.

Many people grease and flour their pans to keep the baked cake from sticking, but I prefer to line my pans with wax paper. I don't always do this when I bake, but I always do so when I bake this cake. Here's my favorite way to create the perfect wax paper liner.

1. Flip the cake pan over so the bottom is facing up. Place a sheet of wax paper on top of the pan.

2. Run the blunt side of a butter knife around the rim of the pan, creating an impression on the wax paper.

3. Remove the wax paper and cut out the circle impression left behind. Place the cut-out in the pan. Voila!

You can purchase pre-cut liners at gourmet shops and baking-supply stores, but it's much more cost-efficient to do it yourself. At this point you can flour the cut-out for extra assurance if you like. I generally leave them as they are, and it works for me. Now that the pans are ready, it's cake-baking time.

Mama Holley's Basic Cake

ingredients:

2 1/4 cups self-rising flour

1 cup milk

1 1/2 cups sugar

1/2 cup shortening

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

2 eggs

Mix all ingredients thoroughly. Bake at 325 degrees F until brown.

That's the original recipe in its entirety. Isn't it beautiful? I like how simple and old-fashioned the recipe is, but there are a few little tricks that will help when baking this cake. Most important is the order in which the ingredients are combined. I begin by mixing the flour and sugar, then working in the shortening with my hands. This will help ensure even distribution of the ingredients. In a separate bowl mix the milk, vanilla extract and eggs, then add to the dry ingredients.

Another helpful piece of information that's missing from the recipe is the bake time. My great-grandmother would probably have recommended baking it "just until it looks about right" if pressed for a time. I'll try to be a little more specific. :) At 325 degrees F in 9-inch pans this cake takes approximately 30 minutes to bake. It may take a little more or less time depending on your oven. It should be golden on top, and a toothpick should come out clean when inserted in the center.

After the cake has cooled a little, gingerly peel off the wax paper. Take care not to be too rough or you risk tearing the top of the cake.

Lovely, isn't it? This cake has a coarse crumb that I adore.

Using a long bread knife, split each cake horizontally so you have two layers per cake.

Now your cakes are ready, and you'll need some fresh whipped cream. Whatever you do, don't reach for the Cool Whip! Try this instead.

Fresh Whipped Cream (a guide, not a recipe)

1 pint (16 oz) heavy whipping cream

approximately 1 Tablespoon confectioners' sugar

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

Using a stand mixer or hand-held electric mixer, beat cream until light and fluffy. Add confectioners' sugar and vanilla extract. Beat until fully incorporated.

Spread a covering of whipped cream on the first layer of cake. Top with sliced fresh fruit of your choice. Place the second layer on top and repeat. You should have a total of four layers.

That's it for a shortcake! As I mentioned, my favorite shortcake has only strawberries and cream. I love the simplicity and the intensity of the strawberries in summer. The addition of peaches and blueberries was nice, and it certainly made a bright, festive birthday cake. Check out the damage!

The best way to eat this cake is very early in the morning, on a back porch with a cup of black coffee. It's the best breakfast imaginable.

1080, Take One: Salmon Medallions Cooked in Egg and Bread Crumbs

2009-07-02T18:15:00.007-04:00

Recipe modification. We all do it, and there's no shame in that. However, it is important to remember that it isn't the recipe's fault when a modified version flops. In this case it didn't flop, not even a little bit. It was actually very good. It just lost a piece of its soul. Rather than following the recipe to the letter and deep-frying the salmon like it said I made the healthier choice.

Boy, if I have a pet peeve about cooking it's when someone modifies a recipe then complains that the food isn't any good because the recipe was bad. I know one person in particular who regularly substitutes skim milk for heavy cream, omits butter, uses fat-free versions of anything she can get her hands on, and leaves out any ingredients that she hasn't heard of. Needless to say, her food isn't very good, and I often bite my tongue when she blames the recipe for the failure. Don't worry, I'm not going to do that. Like I said, it wasn't bad, just lacking in depth.

Here's the deal. Last night I chose a recipe from 1080 Recipes (this month's Cookbook Club pick!) and prepared it for dinner. After some consideration I chose Salmon Medallions Cooked in Egg and Bread Crumbs. Charlie very sweetly offered to run by the grocery store on his way home from work (an offer I took him up on) and brought home a lovely piece of salmon along with the other needed ingredients. Then I read the recipe. Hmm...what's wrong with this story? If this story was drawn out in steps, printed on cards, then placed before a child for sequencing, a smart child would put "Read the recipe" before "Send husband to the store for ingredients". In this story the smart child outsmarts the lady.

After reading the recipe I learned that the salmon medallions should be deep-fried, and I wasn't up for that. I didn't want to smell up the kitchen, and I didn't want to eat deep fried food, so I modified. I pan-fried, and I (probably) killed the thing that makes this dish special. Like I said, it was still very good. Charlie really enjoyed the sauce (creamy and tart -- very nice), and I found the pan-fried salmon paired nicely with the mushrooms. I'd really never considered breading and frying salmon in any way, and it was tasty.

Salmon Medallions Cooked in Egg and Bread Crumbs

*modified from a recipe in 1080 Recipes

ingredients:

8 oz mushrooms (I used baby bella)

2 Tbsp butter

juice of 1/2 lemon

1 egg

1/4 cup all-purpose flour

1/2 cup bread crumbs

3 Tablespoons olive oil

1/2 lb salmon fillets, skinned

3/4 cup light cream

salt

*NOTE: The original recipe serves six. In addition to changing the preparation of the salmon, I also modified the recipe to serve 2.

Put the mushrooms, butter, lemon juice, and a pinch of salt into a pan and cook over medium heat, shaking the pan occasionally, for 6 minutes.

Remove from the heat and keep warm. Beat the egg in a shallow dish, pour the flour into another shallow dish, and pour the bread crumbs into a third. Heat the olive oil in a saute pan over medium-high heat until the oil shimmers and a cube of day-old bread browns in 30 seconds. (At this point you may choose to heat 4 cups of sunflower oil in place of the olive oil in order to deep-fry the salmon.)

Cut the salmon fillets into medallions and season with salt.

Coat first in the flour, then in the beaten egg, and finally in the bread crumbs.

Add the fish to the hot oil, in batches, and cook until golden brown.

Remove from oil and keep warm in a serving dish while you cook the remaining fish. Return the pan of mushrooms to low heat, gradually stir in the cream, and heat gently but do not let boil.

Pour the mushroom sauce over the salmon and serve immediately.

It was better served over soft basmati rice. The rice absorbed the sauce and tamed its acidic qualities. Steamed broccoli also made a nice accompaniment.

Don't get me wrong! It was good! It's just that I think I removed a tiny piece of its midnight-dinner-before-the-club, deep-fried, tapas-loving soul. So, I have this to say. Make this dish. Make it any way you like. But, if you want it to speak to you, deep fry the damn fish.

Cookbook Club - review and new pick

2009-07-01T07:21:00.006-04:00

Charlie and I spent last weekend in New York traipsing around the city and joining friends for a wedding celebration. We had a glorious time and enjoyed delicious food that ran the gamut from French bistro fare at Les Halles to oversized slices of street corner pizza in the village. In between we also had Asian fusion at Shi in Long Island City, moussaka and octopus salad at Opa Souvlaki, peach and pistachio gelato in Little Italy, and the most decadent tri-chocolate mousse you can imagine at French Roast. We're talking about going back this fall, and when we do I'm going to eat my way through the whole city.

Here are a few food-related pictures from the trip.

Opa Souvlaki's outdoor dining area

Greasy New York pizza -- a perfect dinner

Candlelit tri-chocolate mousse

And now for a cookbook review. Last month's Cookbook Club pick was Martha Stewart's Cooking School: Lessons and Recipes for the Home Cook. My book club picked this because we believed it would be accessible for everyone in the group and would offer inspiration for weeknight dinners. That didn't work out quite as planned. While this is certainly a worthwhile volume for a cookbook collection it did not serve me well as a go-to for inspiration. Instead it offers a wealth of information on technique, including full-color step-by-step photographs for a number of operations. So, while I'm glad to own this cookbook, I don't think it's the best cookbook club pick we could have made. I give the cookbook itself four stars, but as a cookbook club pick it gets only three. Some of the dishes I cooked from this cookbook include: profiteroles, spatchcocked chicken, and herbed rosti with wild mushrooms. Charlie also tried out the chocolate cupcakes, buttercream frosting, and french fries. The profiterole recipe is definitely a keeper, and I'm sure I'll try a few other things from this book in the coming months.

I'm super excited about this month's pick, 1080 Recipes by Simone and Ines Ortega. It's a collection of Spanish recipes and includes the loveliest hand-drawn illustrations. Dozens of ingredients are spotlighted and include information regarding seasonality, proper storage, and suggested food pairings. This book is a monster and, I believe, has a little something for everyone. I've already enjoyed flipping through and bookmarking a handful of recipes. Last night I cooked a little something out of the new pick, and it was interesting and tasty with a twist I wouldn't have come up with on my own. I love it when that happens. :) I have a feeling this one's going to really going to be spot-on for a cookbook club pick.

Tomato Pie and a Tiger

2009-06-25T07:13:00.003-04:00

Last night my book club gathered for a discussion of our most recent book pick, Life of Pi by Yaan Martel. Our book club meetings are potluck, and we usually have a food theme. This time it was easy: pie (or something else relating to the book).

I decided to make a tomato pie. My Mom used to make these, and I've always loved them! I was a bit surprised when I began looking up recipes online and found that most of them included a cup or more of mayonnaise. I know that's what adds all the great flavor to the tomato pies I'm accustomed to, but I wanted to go for the same richness without the mayo. Thus, Kasie's Tomato Pie was born. For the record, I did not achieve the flavor-packed creamy goodness of my Mom's tomato pie. Just the same, I was pleased with what I turned out. My tomato pie was fresh and light. It's probably closer to a tart than a pie, but I'm not changing the name.

This is a great way to use up delicious summer tomatoes from your garden. My tomato plants haven't produced a tomato yet, but I'm sure they're coming! :)

Kasie's Tomato Pie

ingredients:

1 pie crust (store bought or homemade)

1 Tablespoon olive oil

1 large Vidalia onion, thinly sliced

2 medium ugly tomatoes, thinly sliced

4 oz crumbled goat cheese

3 oz shredded mozzarella cheese

1 teaspoon whole grain mustard

2 Tablespoons fresh basil, chopped

salt and pepper

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Roll out the pie crust and fit into a pie plate so there is a one inch overhang. Place a sheet of parchment paper over the crust and weigh down with pie weights or dry beans. Blind bake for 15 - 20 minutes.

Don't be like me! I got in a hurry and didn't thaw my pie crust. What a mess! I had to throw it away and start over.

While crust bakes, heat the olive oil in a saute pan over medium heat. Gently saute the sliced onions until caramelized and sweet. Remove the crust from the oven. Put onions in the pie crust. Top with 2 layers of sliced tomatoes.

Sprinkle goat cheese, mozzarella, whole grain mustard, and basil on top. Season to taste with salt and pepper.

Cover the edges of the pie crust with aluminum foil to prevent burning. Bake an additional 15 minutes and serve warm.

The tomato pie really is summery and fresh. I think I'll make it again, perhaps tinkering around with other cheeses. A salty feta would be delicious.

And finally, my friend Hannah is a fabulous baker. She must have tremendous reserves of patience with piping and the like because her cupcakes are always perfect! For our book club meeting she prepared Richard Parker Cupcakes. (Richard Parker is the tiger's name in the book.) They were too cute not to share.

Aren't they cute?! Delicious too.

It's personal now...

2009-06-22T23:23:00.008-04:00

This has been a difficult year for my family. My older brother suffered a traumatic brain injury in March, and things changed for every member of my immediate family in a number of different ways. My brother, of course, has tremendous challenges ahead of him. Already he's fought so hard and has beaten the odds, but there is much more ahead for him, his wife, and his two daughters. Books have been written about such challenges, and I'm not here to dwell on them. He has always been a stubborn person, for better or for worse, and now is the time when that hardheadedness becomes useful.

Origionally I didn't plan on writing about this at all. It hasn't appeared in any of my status updates on facebook, I haven't sent out an email, and have only vaguely mentioned a disruption on my blog. It felt exploitative at first, but as time has passed I see that this event is part of my life too. I'm not exploiting my brother by discussing how his illness has affected my life. I'm not asking for pity or *hugs* (I hate that). So, from time to time there may be a reference here. It has changed the way I live, and it has changed the my family.

So, what does this have to do with food? Plenty, I believe. For starters, I've used cooking to relieve a lot of stress over the past few months. Baking bread, in particular, soothes me. I'm certainly not the first to say this, but kneading can be a highly therapeutic activity. It's rhythmic and gently feeds a lot of senses. Concentration and patience are required, but not so much that one's thoughts can't wander. And, oh, the metaphors...

Over the course of this experience Charlie and I have had a lot of company, mostly my family. All of our visitors have been very kind, and it's a comfort knowing such loving people will step up in times of need. Charlie, too, has been remarkable. We are still in our first year of marriage, and I've asked a lot of him this year. Not once has he failed me, and I know what a lucky woman am to have him. And, I'm drifting...back to my point. We cooked for a lot of people, in March and April especially. Many people were concerned about the amount of work that meant for Charlie and me, but what a wonderful escape it has been! After hospital visits all day it was a good thing to gather for a family dinner and discuss what was happening. A lot was sorted out around the table.

Don't worry, this isn't going to turn into a personal journal about my feelings. :) It's still a food blog, and here's a recipe to prove it. My brother and I made these chocolate chunk muffins for my Dad for Father's Day. Making the muffins with my brother was a strange experience. For a while I didn't think we would ever have that opportunity again. He's made such progress, and I'm so proud of him. Oooh...it's sounding like a feelings journal again, isn't it? I'm turning into a sap. :) Let me just get to the recipe.

Chocolate Chunk Muffins
*perfect for Father's Day

ingredients:
3 oz unsweetened chocolate, coarsly chopped
10 oz semisweet chocolate chunks
1 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2/3 cup whole milk
1 stick unsalted butter, softened
1 cup packed light brown sugar
2 large eggs

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line 12 muffin cups with paper liners. Melt unsweetened chocolate and 1/2 cup semisweet chocolate chunks in a metal bowl set over a pan of barely simmering water, stirring. Remove bowl from heat and cool slightly.

Whisk together flour, baking soda, and salt. Whisk vanilla into milk in another bowl.

Beat butter with brown sugar in a large bowl with an electric mixer until pale and fluffy, then add eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition. Add melted chocolate and beat well. Mix in flour and milk alternately in batches, scraping down side of bowl and beginning and ending with flour. Fold in remaining chunks.

Divide batter among lined muffin cups. Bake 22 to 25 minutes or until a tester comes out clean. Cool muffins in pans on racks 15 minutes, then invert onto racks to cool.

These are a delight. They are muffins rather than cupcakes simply because they are not frosted. Don't expect a breakfast muffin from this recipe! The chocolate chunks contrast texturally with the cake, and all of the ingredients really work together. My Dad loved these, and I did too. :)

Rye Bread: Part Two (Pastoli)

2009-06-22T20:33:00.006-04:00

Pastoli! Do you know what that means? I didn't either because Charlie made up the word. :) I needed a name for the filled rye sandwiches I made with leftover rye dough, and he came up with pastoli. I decided to keep the name when it passed the google test (it doesn't mean anything terrible and it isn't any sort of brand name as far as I can tell).

This is a loose recipe for pastoli with salami, provolone, pickles, and spicy mustard. The ingredient quantities aren't exact because of the playful nature of this dish, and a zillion variations are possible. I think rosemary bread with brie, sliced turkey, and granny smith apples would be tasty. Maybe something with pesto? If anyone tries these at home please let me know what fillings you used and your level of success.

Rye Pastoli

ingredients:

1/2 recipe rye dough

8 slices provolone cheese

12 thin slices salami

spicy mustard

sliced pickles

1 egg

kosher salt

Make the rye dough and allow to rise for approximately one hour (first rise).

Take a large handful of rye dough and stretch it into a small square. Using a rolling pin, flatten the dough into a rectangle approximately 8 x 10 inches in size. (It doesn't have to be a perfect rectangle so don't stress over that.)

Place a small spoonful of spicy mustard in the center of the rectangle and spread around the center.

Top with pickle slices, 2 -3 slices of provolone cheese and 3 -4 slices salami.

Fold the short ends toward the center, leaving about 1/3 of the filling uncovered. Fold one of the long ends toward the center. Take care not to tear the dough.

Put a little water on your fingertips and wet the edge of the last side a little. Fold it over and press against the opposite edge to seal. You should have a neat little packet of dough.

Make four packets and place them seam-side down on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Allow to rise a second time for approximately one hour.

I think they look pretty great at this stage! Also, this is the point at which you can refrigerate them. Keep reading for more info on that.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Beat an egg with 1 Tbsp water and lightly brush over each packet. Cut three slits in each bundle and sprinkle with kosher salt.

Bake for 20 - 25 minutes or until bread is baked through and tops are golden.

Take a deep breath while the pastoli bakes because your house is going to smell amazing! Cut each pastoli in half and serve while still warm.

I love how unfussy, yet somewhat impressive, these are. Also, they can be assembled up to one day ahead of time and refrigerated until ready to bake. Just let them come back to room temperature and rise for about thirty minutes.

I think they would be perfect for taking on picnics because they're so self-contained. I happen to know they're great around the pool, and everyone I've made them for (only four people so far, but they'll make an appearance at a larger gathering I'm sure) really likes them.

I think rye bread is perfect for these, but I made another batch a few days ago using different dough and they were good too. Still, as far as I'm concerned rye is the way to go.

A Shout Out from Casual Kitchen

2009-06-19T11:21:00.003-04:00

Here's a special thank you to Daniel at Casual Kitchen for his inclusion of Banging on Pots and Pans on today's CK Food Links. Click here to see what he has to say!

Rye Bread: Part One (Loaf and Rolls)

2009-06-16T11:53:00.012-04:00

A couple weekends ago I assisted a wonderful class on baking bread at The Cook's Warehouse. Chef Doris Koplin, an amazing baker and a delightful person, instructed the class and over the course five hours produced an abundance of flavorful yeast breads. Everything she baked was melt-in-your-mouth good, but I was particularly taken with her rye. It had all the complexity that rye demands while still being light on the tongue.
Flash forward a week -- I decided to bake some rye at home so I could try out a few new techniques and the wonderful new recipe I have. I love this dough. It's so easy to work with, it smells great, and it makes really terrific bread. Also, it's quite versatile (as you will see). Here's the basic recipe.

Rye Bread
adapted from a recipe by Doris Koplin

ingredients:
6 cups bread flour
2 cups rye flour
3 Tablespoons caraway seed
1/4 cup sugar
2 packages (approximately 5 Tbsp) yeast
1 cup warm water
2 cups milk, heated to room temperature
1/4 cup canola oil

Measure dry ingredients (flours, caraway seeds, and sugar) into a bowl. Place the yeast in the warm water and allow to sit for approximately five minutes or until mixture becomes foamy. This is called proofing the yeast. Combine the oil and milk and add to the dry ingredients. Add the proofed yeast (including the water) and mix well with a large wooden spoon. Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface, and knead until smooth and elastic. This should take approximately five minutes.

Place dough in a lightly oiled bowl. Cover with a damp kitchen towel and set aside to rise until doubled in bulk, about one hour.

Punch dough down and shape as desired (more to come on that). Place breads on baking pan which has been covered with parchment paper and cover again with the damp towel. Allow to rise again until doubled in bulk, about one hour. Brush breads with a beaten egg to glaze, sprinkle with caraway seeds and a little coarse salt. Bake in a preheated 350 degree oven, 25 to 30 minutes for loaves, 15 to 20 minutes for rolls.

You might have noticed that this is going to produce a tremendous amount of dough. Eight cups of flour! What could you possibly do with that much rye bread? Plenty. Here are some suggestions.

The most obvious thing to do is bake rye loaves. This is certainly a worthwhile thing to do with the dough, and you'll have plenty to freeze for later. The recipe above will yield three loaves of rye. To make a loaf, divide the dough into thirds (after the first rise). Using one piece of the newly-divided dough roll out an 11 by 9 inch rectangle. Fold the 9-inch ends toward the center, about one third of the way. Now move to one of the 11-inch sides and carefully roll it toward the center until you have a nice tight loaf. Gently place the dough into a greased bread pan, seam-side down. You may need to gently press the ends of the dough toward the center in order to ensure a comfortable fit. It should look like this:

I have no idea why I didn't photograph the other steps, as it would really help to have a few visual aids here. The next time I bake bread (probably this weekend) I'll try to remember to take photos and update this post.

Cover the loaf with a dish towel and allow to rise approximately one hour or until doubled in size. Brush with an egg wash (one beaten egg with a splash of water) and sprinkle with your choice of caraway seeds or coarse salt (or both!). Bake the loaf in a preheated oven at 350 degrees F for 25 to 30 minutes or until the loaf is golden brown on top and sounds hollow when thumped on the bottom. That's it! Now you have a yummy loaf of rye bread.

If you're feeling a little more adventurous you can make rolls. I think rolls are so much fun to make. There are a zillion ways to shape rolls, my favorite being fancy tucked knots. The entire dough recipe given above will make approximately 3 dozen rolls small rolls or 18 large rolls.

To make one fancy tucked knot roll, pull off a handfull of dough. Using your palms, roll it into a long, thin rope. (This is kind of like making snakes with playdough when you're little.) Don't worry if it isn't perfect.

Now, take the rope and tie it into a knot. Don't make this too complicated! It's just a knot. :) Also, try not to break the dough or stretch it too much in the process. Just go with the flow.

Now take the ends of the rope (sticking out on either side) and tuck them. Go in the direction they're already tending toward. Don't worry if it doesn't look perfect when you finish. They'll rise a little more and that will cover a number of flaws. You can see that mine isn't perfect in the photo below.

Now you have a roll. Place the formed rolls on a baking sheet covered with parchment paper, then cover them with a damp dish towel. Allow to rise for approximately one hour or until doubled in size. Glaze with an egg wash and sprinkle with caraway seeds and/or coarse salt. Bake in a preheated 350 degree F oven for 15 - 20 minutes or until golden and cooked through. You can use a toothpick to test doneness just as you might do with a cake. If the toothpick comes out clean they're done. If has dough stuck to the sides they should bake a little longer. Pictures of the rolls before the go into the oven:

And after baking:

Yum, yum, yum!

There's one other thing I did with my rye dough, but it will have to wait until later. It's quite wonderful. And we call it...a pastoli! Stay tuned!

Green Meanies

2009-06-15T21:01:00.008-04:00

Today I was in serious need of green vegetables. I had a few vodka tonics last night and there was a horrible smell in the common area of our apartment building this morning. (It's been building since Saturday. I think something must have died in a utility closet. Yuck.) Those two things in combination with a long commute and not enough sleep last night left me craving something fresh and bright -- something very green.

The dish I concocted is very simple, but it packs a powerful punch. I chose brussel sprouts, broccoli, and summer squash as the main components of my lunch. As the vegetables cooked and the colors brightened in the pan I felt my mood becoming lighter. A few dashes of cumin brought the earthiness I was looking for, and crunchy pecans gave me a pleasing contrast in texture. I felt the need for nutmeg so I sprinkled a little on top and sat down to a plate full of happy-looking vegetables. Three bites into it and any queasiness left over from the morning had vanished.

Green Meanies (to fight the queasies)

ingredients:

1 small head broccoli

6 brussel sprouts

1 medium yellow squash

2 Tablespoons olive oil

1 teaspoon ground cumin

a sprinkling of cayenne pepper

3 Tablespoons chopped pecans

a sprinkling of ground nutmeg

Cut the broccoli into bite-sized florets, quarter the brussel sprouts, and slice the squash into long thin strips. Heat the oil in a medium saute pan over medium-high heat. Once the oil is hot add the broccoli, brussel sprouts, and yellow squash. Saute approximately two minutes.

Add the ground cumin and cayenne pepper then saute an additional two minutes. Remove from heat and top with chopped pecans. Sprinkle with nutmeg and serve immediately.

A Few Changes and Updates

2009-06-14T10:49:00.003-04:00

Right now I'm tinkering with my blog a little. I've changed the name from Yes, But Can She Cook to Banging on Pots and Pans. There was some confusion over the difference between the title and the URL so I decided to just make things simple and switch over. So, Banging On Pots and Pans it is!

Also, you might notice that I've added a drop-down list of recipes. I'm really in love with this feature, and I'm excited to watch it grow as I blog more and more! If anyone has any suggestions as to how I can improve the drop-down list (such as other categories I should add) please send me an email or leave a comment. I'm completely open to and would, in fact, love to hear suggestions from you!

Finally, I'm working on adding a new feature that I think I'll call Currently Cooking With that features three or four cookbooks and/or cooking gadgets that I really like. My cookbook club's Cookbook Of the Month will always be featured so you can join virtually if you like. These picks will be linked to amazon.com in case you would like to purchase them yourself. :)

Again, any feedback would be great! Hopefully these small changes will make my site a little easier to navigate and a little more fun to explore.

The makings of brunch

2009-06-13T12:55:00.006-04:00

Brunch on the weekends is such a lazy, decadent treat. Every now and then I rise early on a Saturday or Sunday morning and rush to prepare a complicated or time consuming dish, but usually it's a time for simple and easy-to-prepare food.

Eggs and pancakes -- that's the way to go. Something savory and something sweet. I try to stick to that rule when making brunch, and it serves me well. Sometimes I go with straight-up scrambled eggs and buttermilk pancakes, and sometimes I play around with it a little. Today the pancakes took a turn and became Creme Brulee French Toast with Strawberries. I wanted something I could prepare fairly quickly then toss in the oven while I made a fruit salad and cooked eggs and bacon. I tinkered around in the kitchen for awhile before coming up with a recipe, and boy am I pleased with the result. It's light, fluffy, sticky, and gooey all at once. It's sweet but not overwhelming, and the flavors all blended perfectly. Also, my quick and easy plan worked. This is a no-fuss fancy dish. :)

Creme Brulee French Toast with Strawberries

ingredients:

1/4 cup butter

1/2 cup dark brown sugar

1 Tablespoon vanilla sugar, plus 1 teaspoon

4 slices challah bread (sliced 1 1/2 inches thick)

3 eggs, plus 1 eggwhite

1 cup half-and half

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 teaspoon orange liquer

pinch of salt

1/4 cup heavy whipping cream

1 cup sliced strawberries

confectioners sugar (for dusting)

fresh mint sprigs (optional)

Melt the butter in a small pan on medium heat. Add the brown sugar and 1 Tablespoon vanilla sugar (recipe to follow). If you do not have vanilla sugar add 1 Tablespoon of sugar and 1/8 tsp vanilla extract. Stir constantly until sugar has melted and mixture is smooth. Pour into the bottom of an 8x8 baking dish.

Place challah slices in one layer on top of sugar mixture, gently squeezing to fit.

In a medium bowl whisk together the 3 eggs, half and half, vanilla extract, orange liquer, and salt. Pour over the challah. Allow to sit at room temperature for one hour. It may sit for up to 1 day but should be refrigerated and allowed to return to room temperature before continuing.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. In the bowl of an electric mixer, whisk the egg white, heavy cream, and 1 teaspoon vanilla sugar (or regular sugar) until it just begins to thicken (before stiff peaks are formed). Pour over the challah.

Bake for 35 minutes or until french toast is puffy and golden. Remove from oven and allow to rest for five minutes. Top with sliced strawberries and confectioners sugar. Serve and garnish with mint.

This type of food makes me feel like I'm cooking in the country. It's so warm and homey with the sticky bottom and the light top. Bacon compliments this dish. The sweet and salty play off one another quite nicely.

One last little thing before I finish the mimosas still on the table. Vanilla sugar is a real treat to have around and is very simple to make. After scraping the seeds out of a vanilla bean (and using them for something else) place the pod in a jar and fill with granulated sugar. Put the top on and shake it up a little. In a couple of days the vanilla will have infused the sugar, and you'll have vanilla sugar! It's a wonderful thing to have around and can be used in a variety of ways. Add it to coffee and use it in place of regular sugar when baking. It adds that little something extra to the recipe above.

Baja Fish Tacos

2009-06-11T07:06:00.005-04:00

My friend Stacey made the most delicious fish tacos last night so I decided to try them at home. Charlie jumped on board the Baja Project, and soon we had tilapia frying, mayonnaise coming together, and tortillas browning on the stove. Fun!

If you wish to make these yourself you'll need a handful of recipes which, when put together, add up to a very tasty taco with a little kick.

First up is something that's delicious with a gazillion other things as well. It's delicious on sandwiches, as a dipping sauce for fries, and used in chicken salad. If you've never made mayonnaise you are in for a real treat. Actually, you're in for a real treat either way. :)

Wasabi Aioli with Lime

ingredients:

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon water

2 teaspoons lime juice

1 egg yolk

1/2 cup vegetable oil

1/2 - 1 teaspoon wasabi powder (to taste)

Whisk together the salt, water, lime juice, and egg yolk. Starting with one drop and whisking vigorously, slowly add the vegetable oil. Continue whisking as you very slowly add more oil. It is important to add the oil slowly. If it is added too quickly the mayonnaise will break. Once you have added about half the oil and the aioli has begun to thicken, add the wasabi powder. Continue adding oil until it has all been incorporated and is thick and creamy. Store in the refrigerator until ready to serve.

If you prefer, you can use store-bought mayonnaise. Simply mix the desired amount of wasabi powder and a few squirts of lime juice and mix. Also, Trader Joe's sells a wonderful pre-made wasabi mayonnaise. Homemade is fresher, tastes better, and contains no preservatives, but store-bought will do the trick. But seriously, don't be afraid of this recipe! Just be vigilant when whisking.

Now that you've got that down you're ready for beer-battered tilapia! This too is delicious on it's own and very simple to make. The beer batter can also be used to make onion rings. Change the seasonings for a little variety.

Beer-Battered Tilapia (with Baja flair)

ingredients:

1/2 - 1 qt peanut oil (depending on size of stock pot or frier)

1 lb fresh tilapia

1 cup bread flour (all-purpose can be used also)

1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper

1 teaspoon garlic powder

1/2 teaspoon kosher salt (plus extra for seasoning cooked fish)

1 cup beer

Heat oil in a large stock pot (or deep frier if you have one) on medium-high heat until the surface begins to move rapidly or it reaches 325 degrees F. You only need approximately 2 inches of oil to fry the fish in so adjust the amount depending on the size of your pot.

Cut the tilapia into 2-inch strips taking care to cut against the grain. (Cutting against the grain allows the fish to break apart easily when you're eating it thus guarding against a stringy bite.)

In a medium bowl mix together the flour, cayenne pepper, garlic powder, and salt. Add the beer. (You can use any beer you like. I chose Dos Equis Amber because I like the flavor, and I knew I would drink the remaining bottles of beer.) The beer will fizz when first added. Stir until smooth and thoroughly combined.

The beer batter can rest for up to an hour before use. Put several pieces of fish in the batter and turn to coat completely. Once oil reaches the desired temperature drop in one piece of batter-covered fish to test. If should immediately sizzle, float to the top, and turn golden brown within 1 minute. Once you have determined that the oil is the correct temperature place 6 - 7 pieces of fish in the oil. Do not crowd the pot. Allow the fish to cook for approximately 2 minutes. Remove from hot oil with tongs and allow to drain on paper towels. Sprinkle with salt.

Allow the oil to return to desired temperature and repeat the process with remaining pieces of fish.

Doesn't that look tasty? Believe me. It was.

To make the tacos we had you'll also need homemade tortillas (which I have, conveniently, already blogged about). Again, you can use store-bought tortillas, but where's the fun in that?

So, put it all together and here's what you get!

Baja Fish Tacos

ingredients:

8 - 10 homemade tortillas

1 batch beer-battered tilapia (with Baja flair)

wasabi aioli with lime

2 medium tomatoes, chopped

1 bunch cilantro, roughly chopped

2 serrano chilis, chopped

lime wedges

Place a tortilla on a flat surface and fill with fish, tomatoes, cilantro, and chilis in desired amounts. Drizzle with wasabi aioli and a squeeze of fresh lime. Roll up and enjoy!

Charlie, rightly, suggested that these would also be tasty with a little chopped cabbage. Maybe turned into a coleslaw with the wasabi aioli? I may have to try this.

The photos aren't great but, seriously, this is yummy summertime food. The tacos are especially good served with grilled corn on the cob, guacamole, and margaritas!

Fentimans Tonic Water

2009-06-09T10:14:00.004-04:00

Charlie and I have been on a quest to completely knock high fructose corn syrup out of our diets. Sometimes this is easy: don't buy Gatorade, drink water; always read labels; eat whole foods.
We cook a lot of our food from scratch and enjoy the process so that helps tremendously. However, there has been one product we haven't been able to find without high fructose corn syrup. Tonic. I love a super-cold vodka tonic with a slice of lime. There really is no equal (or substitute) for that particular drink. Charlie and I tried to fake our way past the HFCS problem by creating a new drink, but club soda and extra lime just really don't cut it.
SO, when we found Fentimans Tonic Water this weekend we were overjoyed. The ingredient list includes actual sugar. Wonder of wonders! We stumbled upon Fentimans while perusing Belly General Store, a wonderful gourmet food and coffee shop in our neighborhood. They had the tiny bottles of chilled tonic snuggled in with other gourmet sodas. We snatched two bottles, purchased them, and took them home to try.
Boy was I impressed! The flavor does not even compare to other tonic I've tried. It's so crisp, clean, and natural. Even with Smirnoff vodka (reputable but not top shelf) it was easily the best vodka tonic I've ever had. So, problem solved, right? Wrong. The adorable bottles contain 125 ml of tonic -- enough for one drink. At $2.76 a pop they're just too expensive for casual use. I checked online to see if I could order a case at a discount rate, but it seems that this option is currently only available in the UK. Too bad! For now it will have to be a special occassion drink, and I'll continue searching for another brand that uses sugar.
Belly is the only place I know of in Atlanta that carries Fentimans. If you live in town and enjoy tonic you should really do yourself a favor and pick up a few bottles. They are expensive but also delicious!

Spatchcocking a Chicken or How to Crash and Burn

2009-06-05T07:23:00.006-04:00

This week's theme for girls night was Grills Gone Wild! Yes, that's right. My friend Gabi had everyone over, and we grilled out on her rooftop swimming pool deck that overlooks the city. It was beautiful!

I decided to take a brined spatchcocked chicken to grill and checked this month's cookbook club pick (Martha Stewart's Cooking School) for instruction. Brining sounded difficult but proved to be very simple. Preparing the chicken (I refuse to say dispatching the cock, which is technically accurate) was also a snap. Everything went super well until I got to the actual grilling part. I'm a lousy griller. I can use my indoor grill pan like a pro, but real grills freak me out, and I never feel confident using them. In this case I was reminded of why I should not be confident when grilling.

But...back to brining. Brining is done to keep the chicken juicy and tender. A very simple brine can be made of only salt, sugar, and water, and that will work, but what not spice it up a little? I used the brine suggested by M.S. and was not disappointed.

For brine:

finely grated zest of one orange

finely grated zest of one lemon

3 Tablespoons sugar

1/2 cup coarse salt

2 teaspoons whole black peppercorns

2 garlic cloves, crushed and peeled

4 cups water

4 cups ice cubes

Place all ingredients except ice cubes in a large stock pot and heat, stirring occasionally, until sugar and salt have completely dissolved. Remove from heat, add ice cubes, and stir until completely cooled.

Not a beautiful picture but that's what it looks like! Also, it smells pretty great. If you can handle that then you can brine. Now you need a spatchcocked chicken.

How to spatchcock a chicken:

Place the chicken on a clean work surface, breast side down. Use kitchen shears (make sure they're sharp!) to cut along both sides of the backbone and remove it.

Flip the chicken over and press firmly to flatten.

And...that's it. So far everything was going really well. I had brine. I had a spatchcocked chicken. Great! Let's keep going.

As directed, I submerged the chicken in the brine, breast side down. The chicken should stay in the brine for at least one hour but no more than three. Any less than an hour and it won't have enough time to do its thing. Any longer than three and the texture of the chicken can become unpleasant. I put the brine and the chicken in a portable container and set out for Gabi's beautiful apartment. Once there we heated up the grill and plopped it on, breast side down. I then drizzled a citrus glaze (1/4 cup honey, 3 Tbsp orange juice, 3 Tbsp lemon juice beat together) on top. It smelled great!

A few minutes later I opened the grill to check on it and...

it was sort of on fire. Bummer. This picture was taken after we put out the fire and flipped it over.

So, after flipping it we closed the grill top again and waited another 20 minutes. The grill hissed a little as the glaze dripped off the chicken, but after a few minutes it was silent. Of course I didn't notice that it wasn't making any sound because I was gabbing with my friends. The twenty minutes passed, and I checked on the chicken only to discover that the grill was no longer on because somewhere along the line it ran out of fuel.

I have no idea how to change the gas tank on a grill, and, frankly, I don't care to learn. Fortunately, there were other people around who do know how to do those sorts of things and ten minutes later we were back in business. I had no idea how long the grill worked before running out of fuel so I decided to cook the chicken for another ten minutes and call it a day.

After ten minutes I took it off and cut into the brined, glazed, spatchcocked, blackened chicken to make sure it was cooked through. Of course by now the sun had set and I had only the light of a tea light candle and the warm glow of my iPhone. It looked like it was probably cooked. Maybe. Really, I have no idea.

The girls discussed and decided it was probably cooked. We cut it up, passed it around, and everyone marveled at how tender and juicy it was. Everyone agreed that it had been on the grill for awhile and it was probably fully cooked. Surely it was so tender because of that wonderful brine!

It did have a nice flavor, and no one got sick so I must assume I did alright. Still, not exactly a success story.

There's nothing quite like thinking you might be serving your friends raw chicken. I really need to work on this grilling-out thing.

Profiteroles

2009-06-04T21:23:00.005-04:00

Keeping with the cookbook club plan, I decided to make profiteroles last weekend. Profiteroles are nothing more than cream puffs. I just like the slightly fancier name. :)

This was not a particularly difficult undertaking, but it did take several hours to make the cream puffs. Also, the mastery of a few (simple) techniques is necessary to make it a smooth and enjoyable process. It was definitely worth all of the trouble. I ended up with beautiful puffs full of a satiny, not-too-sweet vanilla cream.

Before even thinking about the pastry, pastry cream must be made. Pastry cream can be used in a variety of confections including eclairs, napoleons, and cream pies. I'm sorry to say it's also delicious on it's own, and I couldn't keep my fingers out of it.

Pastry Cream

ingredients:

2 cups whole milk

1/2 cup sugar

1/2 vanilla bean, split lengthwise and seeds scraped

pinch of salt

3 large egg yolks

3 Tbsp plus 1 1/2 tsp cornstarch

2 Tbsp unsalted butter, cut into small pieces

1/2 tsp vanilla extract

Bring the milk, 1/4 cup sugar, vanilla seeds, and salt to a simmer in a saucepan over medium heat, whisking to disperse seeds.

Whisk egg yolks and remaining 1/4 cup sugar in a medium bowl. Whisk in cornstarch, 1 Tablespoon at a time.

Ladle 1/2 cup hot-milk mixture into yolk mixture, whisking. Add remaining milk mixture, 1/2 cup at a time. This process is called tempering and is very important. If you simply add the eggs to the warm liquid they will curdle, and you will have to start over. By slowly adding the warm liquid to the eggs and whisking constantly you will end up with a smooth mixture with no lumps.

Pour mixture into pan, and heat over medium-high, whisking constantly, until mixture comes to a full boil and is thick enough to hold its shape when lifted with a spoon, about 2 minutes.

Stir in butter and vanilla extract. Remove from heat and pour mixture into a bowl; place plastic wrap directly on surface to prevent a skin from forming. Refrigerate until cold, at least two hours (or up to two days).

I, being me, forgot to make sure I had enough cornstarch before I was halfway through the recipe. Rookie mistake! I had approximately 2 Tbsp of cornstarch, and I used all-purpose flour to make up the rest. It's the starch that's important so this will work, but it's much easier to deal with cornstarch and it produces a much silkier texture. Just the same, if you end up in a similar predicament you can use all-purpose flour, but you must take extra care with the whisking.

Let me repeat one thing: pastry cream is delicious on its own! Make this while others are around, or you may find yourself licking the bowl. Consider yourself warned!

So, now you have the pastry cream, and it's time to work on the actual profiteroles! This is where the fun really begins because cream puffs are made of pate a choux. Pate a choux refers to a type of dough that is cooked on the stove. When baked, it puffs up and creates a little pocket inside which is ideal for filling with cream, chocolate, or any number of other yummy, gooey things. It's a lot of fun to work with and isn't to make as it at first appears.

Cream Puffs

ingredients:

1 cup water

1/2 cup unsalted butter

1 tsp granulated sugar

1/2 tsp table salt

1 cup all-purpose flour

4 to 5 large eggs

1 large egg

1 Tbsp water

1/3 cup heavy cream

1 recipe pastry cream (see above)

confectioners' sugar (optional)

*Note the breaks between the ingredients. The first set will be be used for the pate a choux. The remaining ingredients will be used for the rest of the recipe.

Heat oven to 400 degrees F. Line two baking sheets with nonstick baking mats (such as Silpat).

Combine the water, butter, sugar, and salt in a medium saucepan over medium-high heat. Bring to a boil, and immediately remove from heat.

Using a wooden spoon, stir in the flour.

When flour is combined, return to heat. Dry the mixture by stirring constantly over heat until it pulls away from the sides and a film forms on the bottom of the pan, about 4 minutes, maybe a little less. (At this stage it reminds me of homemade playdough.)

Transfer the mixture to the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment and mix on low speed, about 2 minutes, until slightly cooled.

Add eggs, one at a time, on medium speed, letting each one incorporate completely before adding the next. Test the batter by touching it with a flexible spatula or your finger, then lifting. It should form a string. If the string does not form, lightly beat the last egg and add it, a teaspoon at a time, until the batter is smooth and shiny. If you have added all the egg and the batter still doesn't form a string, add water, 1 teaspoon at a time, until it does.

Fill a pastry bag fitted with a plain round 3/4-inch tip with pate a choux, and pipe 1 1/2 inch rounds onto baking sheets.

**NOTE: I hate using pastry bags. They are such a pain to clean, and I don't really use them often enough for it to matter if I keep one around. Instead, I use a gallon ziplock bag. Just snip off the corner and fit the coupler and pastry tip on the end just as you would with a pastry bag. Then when you're finished just toss the ziplock in the trash. Be sure to save the coupler and pastry tip!

Beat together egg and the water; use your fingertips to rub egg wash over entire surface, being careful not to let it drip onto the baking sheet, and flatten tips.

Cover one sheet with lightly oiled plastic wrap, and place in refrigerator. Bake the other sheet 15 minutes; reduce the oven heat to 350 degrees F. Bake about 20 minutes more, or until puffs are golden brown.

Transfer to a wire rack to cool completely. Return oven heat to 400 degrees F, and repeat process for remaining batch.

Whip heavy cream to medium peaks in a small bowl. Stir pastry cream to soften. Add whipped cream to pastry cream in two batches, folding to combine after each.

Fill a pastry bag (or ziplock!) fitted with a coupler and plain round tip. Insert tip into the underside of each cream puff, and fill. (I found that when I filled the pastries from the bottom they leaked a little so after a few puffs I began filling them from the side. It creates a slightly more rugged look, but they are easier to manage, and they still look great!)

Cool completely before dusting with confectioners' sugar, as desired.

Store any leftover (ha!) cream puffs in the refrigerator.

Voila! Homemade profiteroles! I just loved making these, and I was very pleased with the finished result. I served them with brunch, and they looked lovely piled on a cake stand in the center of the table. And they taste so good!

Planting a Little Garden

2009-06-03T09:16:00.006-04:00

I've been dying to plant a garden for the last year, and my desire only increased with the announcement of the White House garden. I love my apartment (truly), but there's no space for a garden outside. I really want a huge garden full of lettuces, tomatoes, peppers, squash, and the like, but that isn't possible right now so Charlie and I decided to plant a little herb garden in the sunroom. Last Saturday we traipsed to our local Ace Hardware (only a few blocks away) and picked up a few plants. We plopped them in pots, watered them, and placed them in the windowsill. They were beautiful! Here's what we have:

2 tomato plants (actually on our tiny patio AKA fire escape off the kitchen)
basil
dill
coriander
cayenne pepper
mint
oregano
rosemary (a gift from my Mom about a month ago)
lavender

Everything looked just great the first day. In fact, the plants looked so good that we moved a few into the living room window sill. It was so pleasant opening the front door and seeing the little pots in the window, but when we returned from work yesterday we were met with a sad little discovery. Everything was droopy. Very droopy. So....back to the sunroom they went! Charlie and I are hoping that it was the air conditioned air that made the plants droop (and not some other failure on our part).

We've already used a few basil leaves in our cooking, and it was so great snipping them off the plant! If all goes well we will have fresh herbs galore this summer and our cooking will be the better for it!

Herbed Rosti with Wild Mushrooms

2009-05-31T16:26:00.005-04:00

So...the picture doesn't do it justice. I made a rosti the other day, and it was splendid...earthy and texturally interesting. But wait! I'm getting ahead of myself; let me back up a little.

**NOTE: I'm drinking sweet tea vodka lemonade while writing this so if it goes a little haywire, well, what can I say?!

A girl friend of mine recently suggested the formation of a cookbook club, and several friends (including me) jumped on the idea. Our first pick is Martha Stewart's Cooking School. For the next month everyone who is participating in the cookbook club is supposed to cook from the selection as much as possible. At the end of the month we will meet, discuss what we cooked, and bring a dish we've prepared (from the cookbook) to share. Sounds like fun to me!

I've tried a few things from the cookbook, including this rosti. Honestly, I had never even heard of a rosti until I flipped through the book, found a picture of one, and said "Hey! That looks tasty!". I have since learned that a rosti is a German/Swiss dish consisting primarily of potatoes that are shredded and pan-fried. In a nutshell, it's a giant latke. Mmmmm...

Without further ado, here is the recipe with pictures and commentary:

Herbed Rosti with Wild Mushrooms

Ingredients:

2 large russet potatoes (about 1 1/4 lbs)

1/2 small leek, while and pale green parts only, washed and cut into julienne

1 tsp finely chopped fresh thyme leaves

coarse salt and freshly ground black pepper

2 Tbsp unsalted butter

2 Tbsp olive oil

2 Tbsp unsalted butter

1/2 small leek, while and pale green parts only, cut into julienne and washed

4 oz fresh chanterelles, wiped clean (halved if large)

1/4 cup chicken stock

2 oz fresh goat cheese, softened

Heat oven to 400 degrees F. Peel potatoes and grate on the large holes of a box grater. Soak in water to cover for five minutes. Lift out with your hands, and squeezed out liquid, then squeeze out excess liquid in a clean kitchen towel or paper towels. You should have three cups potatoes.

Toss together the potato, leek, and thyme, and season with 3/4 tsp salt and 1/4 tsp pepper.

Melt 1 Tbsp each butter and olive oil in a 10-inch ovenproof pan over medium-high heat, swirling to coat evenly. Add potato mixture, and cook, pressing down lightly with a large spatula, until bottom is golden and releases easily from pan, about 4 minutes.

Invert rosti onto a plate. Add remaining 1 Tbsp each butter and oil and swirl to coat pan. Carefully slide rosti back into pan uncooked side down and cook until starting to brown underneath, about 3 minutes.

Transfer to oven and cook until deep golden brown and cooked through (it should offer no resistance when pierced in the center with the tip of a paring knife), 12 to 15 minutes.

Meanwhile, saute mushrooms. Melt the butter in a medium skillet over medium-high heat. Cook leek until translucent, stirring, about 1 minute. Add chantererlles, season with salt and pepper, and saute until golden, about 3 minutes.

Stir in stock and cook until reduced and slightly thickened and the mushrooms have softened, 2 to 3 minutes.

Slide baked rosti out of pan onto a serving platter. Spoon dollops of goat cheese in center of rosti and spoon mushroom mixture over top.

Cut into wedges and serve immediately.

I served the completed rosti with baked flounder (tossed with a little lemon juice, paprika, salt, and cayenne pepper) and a green salad (spinach, Belgian endive, Bibb lettuce) with blueberries, sunflower seeds, and a honey-lemon vinaigrette (pictured below).

The rosti was delicious. The actual potato pancake was crispy on the outside with a tender inside, and the leeks added a quiet sweetness. The goat cheese and mushrooms brought out a woodsy quality that grounded the dish. Adding a salad with nuts (well, seeds) and berries added to the earthy quality of the meal. Mmmm...I could eat this every night!

Storing Bakeware

2009-05-17T18:48:00.003-04:00

I really love my apartment. It's in a great area of the city, has a fabulous sun room, and it's just the right size for my husband and me. My only real gripe is a common one. There isn't quite enough storage space, and I have a LOT of stuff -- especially kitchen stuff. So when Charlie suggested that we put magnets on the pantry walls and stick our bakeware to the magnets I was all about it. We went around and around about what type of magnets we should use, and we tried a few types, but none of them worked as well as we'd hoped. Then one day I put away one of our cheese knives and realized that the answer had been staring us in the face the whole time.

We keep some of our knives on a long, thin magnet above the kitchen sink. It's the same type of magnetic knife rack commonly used in professional kitchens, and it's also perfect for storing bakeware in the pantry. Take a look:

Oh wow, I'm so pleased! Charlie did a wonderful job of installing the magnets, and we were able to free up an entire shelf in the pantry. We bought the magnets at Ikea, and they cost $9 apiece -- totally worth it. Also, (according to Charlie) they were simple to install. If every inch of storage space matters where you live I highly recommend giving this a shot. The sound the pans make when the magnets suck them in is pretty cool as well.

Dip Night with the girls

2009-05-15T14:31:00.009-04:00

My friend Stacey had a brilliant idea this week: to have a girls night centered on dips. We did, and it was fantastic. Each of the following dips made an appearance:

Caramelized Vidalia Onion Dip served with crostini
Reuben Dip served with chunky bread
Jalapeno Popper Dip served with corn chips
Spicy Peanut Dip served with chicken satay and bell peppers
Ranch dip with veggies
Chocolate Sauce (dip) served with strawberries and bananas

I made the Spicy Peanut Dip, which was pretty good. I had a feeling there would be a number of (delicious) creamy dips, and I wanted to take something a little different. Here's the recipe:

Spicy Peanut Dip

ingredients:

1 large shallot, chopped
1 Tablespoon minced fresh ginger
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 teaspoon curry powder
1/8 teaspoon dried crushed pepper
1 cup chicken broth
1/2 cup creamy peanut butter
4 teaspoons fresh lime juice
1 Tablespoon soy sauce
1 teaspoon brown sugar

Heat oil in a nonstick skillet over medium heat. Add shallot, ginger, and garlic; saute until shallot is tender, about 3 minutes. Add curry powder and crushed red pepper. Stir until aromatic, about 15 seconds. Stir in chicken broth, peanut butter, lime juice, soy sauce, and brown sugar; whisk to blend. Simmer until mixture thickens, whisking constantly, about 3 minutes. Season with salt and pepper. Transfer to a bowl and allow to cool, whisking occassionally to prevent separation. Serve at room temperature, and sprinkle with curry powder just before serving.

The chicken satay was a tasty and aesthetically pleasing accompaniment, and the crunchiness of the bell peppers contrasted nicely with the other textures. Overall a good solid dip that I will make again.

A weeknight Indian dish -- at last!

2009-05-12T09:44:00.006-04:00

Indian food, if properly prepared, has such a rich, complex flavor that I can't get enough of. I've taken several classes at The Cooks Warehouse on North Indian cooking, and all that I've tried at home has been delicious, BUT it takes a lot of prep work and a lot of cook time -- not ideal for a weeknight after a long day at work. So, I was very pleased when I found the following recipe for Sindhi Chicken Curry. It has all the complexity of a slow-cooked, time-consuming Indian chicken dish without the hour of prep work, three hours of marinating, two hours of slow cooking, etc. In fact, the whole thing took a little under an hour to prepare. Check it out:

Sindhi Chicken Curry

Ingredients:
1 cup plain yogurt -- room temp, stirred to a creamy consistency
1 teaspoon cornstarch
2 Tablespoons oil (I used olive oil)
2 cups finely chopped onions
1 Tablespoon ginger root, peeled and minced
1 Tablespoon garlic, minced
4 teaspoons minced serrano chilies
12 large chicken thighs
1 Tablespoon coriander powder
1 1/2 teaspoons cumin powder
3/4 teaspoon turmeric
3/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
28 oz diced tomatoes in liquid
1/2 cup cilantro, chopped
2 teaspoons salt, or to taste
1 1/2 teaspoons garam masala
1/4 cup cilantro chopped

*NOTE: I know this is a long ingredient list, however, once you have all of the spices in your spice cabinet it isn't too bad. I buy mine in bulk at the Dekalb Farmer's Market.

1. Stir yogurt and cornstarch together until smooth. Set aside.

2. In a large saucepan with a tight-fitting lid, heat oil over medium-high heat. Add onions and saute until beginning to color, 6 to 8 minutes. Reduce heat to medium and saute onions until dark golden brown, 10 to 12 minutes longer.

The onions should look like this when you start:

They should look like this after caramelizing:

3. Stir in ginger, garlic, and chilies. Saute for two minutes. Increase heat to medium-high. Add chicken and brown well, 6 to 8 minutes.

My pan was a little crowded, but I managed to get all the chicken thighs in!

Here they're starting to brown.

4. Reduce heat to medium. Sprinkle coriander, cumin, turmeric, and cayenne pepper over top of chicken. Mix well, and cook for 2 to 3 minutes.

The spices before they are added:

And the chicken after they've been stirred in:

5. Add tomatoes, yogurt mixture, 1/2 cup cilantro, and salt. Mix well. Cover and bring to a boil.

6. Reduce heat to low and simmer until chicken is no longer pink inside, about 25 minutes.

7. Turn off heat. Stir in garam masala and 3 Tablespoons cilantro (or more to taste).

8. Garnish with remaining cilantro before serving. Serve with rice or any Indian bread.

As you can see, I served it atop basmati rice. I was very pleased with the result. It had a little heat, but that was cut by the yogurt. A few cashews or slivered almonds on top might liven up the texture, but it was very good as it was. AND totally do-able on a weeknight! (That's my favorite part -- can you tell?)

And now, a couple of notes:

It is important that the yogurt be at room temperature. If it is cold it has a better chance of curdling when it hits the hot pan. Just pull it out of the fridge when you start making the dish, and it should be ready by the time you need to add it. Removing it from the yogurt container and placing it near the warm stove should help speed up the process.

If you double the recipe, do not double the turmeric. It will make the dish too bitter if any more is added. (As a general rule, the amount of turmeric used should never be increased when doubling recipes.)

I enjoy eating the chicken thighs with the bone in, but some people find this to be too messy. There's no reason why you can't use boneless chicken thighs (or even chicken breasts, though they won't have the same depth of flavor) if you want a more fork-ready dinner.

Get ready for leftovers! This recipe makes a ton of food!

Mussels and Shrimp in a Spicy Tomato Broth

2009-05-11T06:03:00.004-04:00

What a bad blogger I've been! It's not that I haven't been cooking, I just haven't been photographing my creations, and I don't want to post without at least a few pictures. I recently made a lovely meal consisting of Mussels and Shrimp in a Spicy Tomato Broth, Arugula and Edamame Pesto on Crostini, Caprese Salad, and Stuffed Mushrooms. I also tried out Vodka Rosemary Fizzes which were beautiful (and it's a real shame I didn't snap a couple photos of those). So, here we go. Over the next few posts I'll dive into the dishes listed above.

For starters, the Mussels and Shrimp were just fantastic. I used plenty of white wine and garlic for the broth, then added a fair amount of heat with crushed red pepper flakes. Next time I'll toss the whole thing with linguini, but even as it is this recipe's a keeper.

Mussels and Shrimp in a Spicy Tomato Broth

adapted from a recipe by Giada de Laurentis

ingredients:

1/4 cup olive oil

7 garlic cloves, minced

2 bay leaves

1 - 2 teaspoons dried crushed red pepper flakes (depending on how spicy you want it)

1 cup white wine (I like a slightly sweet white wine with the seafood)

1 28 oz can diced tomatoes with juice

1 1/2 lbs mussels, debearded and scrubbed

1 1/2 lbs shrimp, peeled and deveined

1/2 cup torn basil leaves

In a large, wide pot, heat the oil over a medium flame. Add garlic, bay leaves, and red pepper flakes, and saute until the garlic is tender, about 1 minute. Add the wine and bring to a boil. Add tomatoes and their juices and simmer, stirring often, until the tomatoes begin to break down and the flavors blend, 8 - 10 minutes. Stir in the mussels, then cover and cook until they open, about 5 minutes.*

Using tongs, transfer the opened shellfish to serving bowls. Add the shrimp to the simmering tomato broth, and simmer until they are just cooked through, about 1 1/2 minutes. Do not overcook! Stir in the basil, and remove the bay leaves. Divide the shrimp and tomato broth among bowls and serve with crusty bread. OR toss with linguini and sprinkle with additional chopped basil.

*When cooking mussels, always discard any that do not open after cooking!

I wish I had a better photo of the finished dish because it was just beautiful. Mussels always make for a dramatic presentation, and the bright red of the tomatoes really makes them pop. This is a quick, simple dish perfect for a weeknight meal and inexpensive to boot.

Focus on: Senor Juguera

2009-05-03T16:49:00.002-04:00

Please meet the acquaintance of my favorite juicer ever. He's a lot of trouble to wash, somewhat inefficient, and the only juicer I own. Love it.

I scream, you scream...

2009-04-28T09:29:00.002-04:00

My lovely little sister, Savannah, is visiting from her current residence in Kigali, Rwanda, and we've so enjoyed spending time together. One of our favorite "sister activities" is cooking (of course) so we spent part of Saturday in the kitchen making strawberry ice cream. Neither of us are huge sweets fans, but ice cream is tough to resist. I could've eaten the entire quart we made on my own!

Vanna's Strawberry Ice Cream

ingredients:
1 3/4 cups heavy cream
3 long strips fresh lemon zest
1/8 teaspoon salt
2 large eggs
3/4 cup sugar
1 lb strawberries (3 cups), trimmed and quartered
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice

Combine cream, zest, and salt in a heavy saucepan and bring just to a boil. Remove from heat and discard zest.
Whisk eggs with 1/2 cup sugar in a bowl, then add hot cream in a slow stream, whisking. Pour back into saucepan and cook over moderately low heat, stirring constantly, until slightly thickened and an instant-read thermometer registers 170°F. Do not let the mixture boil. You will know the custard is ready when it coats the back of a spoon.
Immediately pour custard through a fine sieve into a metal bowl, then cool to room temperature, stirring occasionally. Chill, covered, until cold, about 2 hours, and up to 1 day. (You can speed up this process by placing the metal bowl in an ice bath and vigorously stirring the custard.)
While custard is chilling, purée strawberries with remaining 1/4 cup sugar and lemon juice in a blender until smooth, then add to the chilled custard.

If you dislike strawberry seeds in your ice cream you may force the pureed strawberries through a fine sieve before adding to the custard.

Freeze in ice-cream maker, then transfer to an airtight container and put in freezer to harden.

Unfortunately I don't have a picture of the completed ice cream. My camera battery ran down, then I couldn't find the charger, and it turned into one of those things. Oh well! The finished product was beautiful, creamy, and retained the gorgeous color you can see in the photographs above. We served it with fresh strawberry slices on top.

Savannah really did all of the work on the ice cream. I simply photographed and sampled at various stages...not a bad job to have! It really did turn out to be quite delicious. It was very light and had a super fresh taste that you just can't get from ice cream purchased at the store. I think it would be absolutely delicious as the filling for an ice cream sandwich. I may make it again soon along with some chocolate/vanilla shortbread cookies. A neopolitan ice cream sandwich would be so cute and yummy.

Finally, a few tips on storing homemade ice cream. I always place a sheet of plastic wrap on top of the surface of the ice cream so there is no air between it and the plastic wrap. This prevents freezer burn (which is just the development of large ice crystals that occurs when air gets into the ice cream). Also, storing the ice cream in the back of the freezer will keep it fresher for longer. Not that you'll have this for very long...

Pizza and North Indian Butter Chicken -- what a lunch!

2009-04-25T14:25:00.006-04:00

Charlie and I just made such a fantastic lunch, and I'm still buzzing from it. We made a quick run to the Dekalb Farmer's Market this morning to pick up groceries for the weekend, and while we were there we decided to grab a pizza crust and some tomato sauce. Now, I (we) usually try to make most everything that we eat. BUT, the pizza crust and the tomato sauce were so beautiful and fresh (made today at the farmers market with all whole foods -- no preservatives) that I just thought oh, what the hell, and we threw them in the cart.

We had three raw chicken thighs in the refrigerator so Charlie heated up a cast-iron pan (on the stove), sprinkled the chicken with kosher salt and cracked pepper, and seared the thighs for about 5 minutes on each side. Then the pan went into the oven at 350 degrees for about 5 more minutes. As the chicken cooked I topped the pizza crust with the spicy tomato sauce (full of basil, rosemary, onions, and the like), tossed on some mozzarella cheese, fresh basil, and minced garlic. We then tore some of the chicken into bite-sized pieces and placed that on top. We shredded the remaining chicken and tossed it into a small baking dish with some leftover Indian Butter Sauce that I made a few days ago. Everything went into the oven for ten minutes, which is just long enough to split a cold beer, and lunch was ready. Delicious!

What a quick, easy, and thoroughly satisfying lunch. As we enjoyed the pizza and the chicken we discussed keeping homemade pizza dough on hand. It's so simple to make, but you do have to plan ahead as it takes some time. The New York Times recently ran a fabulous article on making your own pizza, and now it's all I want to eat! I'm going to get to work on that, and we're having a pizza party soon.

This North Indian Butter Sauce is so flavorful and keeps in the refrigerator for up to a week. It takes a bit of time to make, but it's definitely worth it. Charlie says it tastes like something from a good restaurant, and I agree. It also smells terrific as it simmers on the stove. Try it on chicken, fish, or eggplant. It's super great on tandoori chicken.

North Indian Butter Sauce

ingredients:

1/4 lb butter (1 stick) plus 2 Tbsp

5 Tbsp canola oil

1 bay leaf

2 Tbsp ginger and garlic paste

10 oz tomato puree

2 tsp ground cardamom powder

4 Tbsp ground cashew nuts made to a fine paste

1 cup chicken broth

salt

2 tsp red chili powder

1 tsp cayenne pepper plus 1/2 tsp

2 - 3 tsp salt (to taste)

1 cup whole milk

2 cups heavy cream or half and half

1/2 tsp garam masala powder

pinch of tandoori masala

2 Tbsp fenugreek leaves

Heat butter and oil together in a wok, add a bay leaf, stir for a few seconds, and add the ginger and garlic paste. Cook until most of the liquid evaporates.

Add the tomato puree and the cardamom. Let it cook until the puree dries and the fat separates. Add the cashew paste and stir for a few seconds. Add the chicken stock and bring to a boil, stirring constantly. Salt to taste. Cover and cook for 10 to 15 uminutes or until the masala turns a bright red color. Add milk and cream, continuing to stir, then add the garam masala and a pinch of tandoori masala.

In a separate pan make a tempering by heating 2 Tbsp butter then adding the fenugreek leaves and 1/2 tsp cayenne pepper. Cook for 30 seconds then add to the sauce. Pour the sauce over chicken, fish, or eggplant, and serve warm with naan.

California Flatbread Salads with Balsamic Strawberries

2009-04-18T11:26:00.005-04:00

Spring has sprung, and I've been seriously craving fresh veggies.

I made tortillas recently but realized as I started gathering my ingredients that I had only a little all-purpose flour. Instead of throwing my hands up in despair I decided to use 1 1/2 cups of whole wheat flour and 1/2 cup all-purpose. This resulted in crispy, cracker-like flatbreads -- not exactly a tortilla but still delicious.

Instead of trying to roll up the "tortillas" and fill them with meat, cheese, and the like, I piled the flatbreads with fresh greens, sliced almonds, bleu cheese, red onion, and balsamic strawberries. I enjoyed this creation so much that I've decided to repeat the process and use the flatbreads as a base for fresh salads on a regular basis. The finished product has a very California kitchen feel to it.

Here is a loose recipe for the salad I threw on top of the flatbread.

California Flatbread Salads

ingredients:

6 - 7 strawberries, sliced

2 Tablespoons balsamic vinegar

1/2 head Romaine lettuce

2 large handfuls baby spinach

1/4 cup diced red onion

Honey Lemon Vinaigrette (recipe to follow)

4 - 5 whole wheat tortilla crisps

1/4 - 1/2 cup crumbled bleu cheese

1/4 cup sliced almonds

Place the sliced strawberries in a small bowl and pour the vinegar on top. Allow the strawberries to marinate while you make the rest of the salad.

Tear the Romaine into bite-sized pieces and mix with the spinach in a large wooden bowl. Add the diced red onion and use your hands to evenly distribute the greens and onions. Drizzle the dressing on top of the salad and toss to coat the leaves. Place each tortilla on a plate and top with a generous serving of the salad. Top each serving with a sprinkling of bleu cheese and almonds. Drain the strawberries and place on top of the salad. Serve immediately.

Honey Lemon Vinaigrette

ingredients:

2 cloves garlic, minced

2 Tablespoons dijon mustard

1 squeeze fresh lemon juice

2 teaspoons honey

2 Tablespoons apple cider vinegar

1/3 cup extra virgin olive oil

coarse kosher salt

freshly ground pepper

In a small bowl mix the garlic, mustard, lemon juice, honey, and apple cider vinegar. Stir vigorously until fully combined. Starting with a single drop, slowly add the olive oil. Continue pouring in a steady stream, vigorously stirring the vinaigrette as you add more oil. Mix until the dressing is full combined. Season to taste with salt and pepper.

Once-a-year Lasagna

2009-04-16T09:06:00.006-04:00

Last fall some (wonderful) girl friends of mine put together an amazing bachelorette party for me the weekend before I got married. My friend Stacey very generously allowed us to use her lake house, and we had an absolute blast! One of games we played that weekend involved a list of questions about our relationship. Charlie answered the questions before we arrived then I answered the same questions (the penalty for answering incorrectly being that I had to take a shot and the reward being that I got to open a gift). Well, I'm certainly not tackling the entire list of questions publicly, but there was one that applies to this blog. Jenna asked what answer Charlie gave when asked what his favorite dish is that I cook. Breaking the rules, my sister then lunged across the table and shouted "Once a year lasagna!!!". She was correct.
That's right. I only make lasagna once a year. Why? Because the first time I made it for Charlie he ate half the pan in one night! It is for HIS HEALTH and general wellbeing that I established this rule (although I'm not sure that he appreciates it). In return, he gets to choose when I make the lasagna, and a few days ago the request was made. True to my word, I whipped it up. As expected, it was gone in two days.
What is it about Once-A-Year-Lasagna that he loves? I'm sure I don't know. I, for one, don't really love cheesy, tomatoey, pasta dishes. All of those things individually are fabulous, but put together I think they disappoint. He, however, does not.

See how happy he is?

Tiny flower biscuits

2009-04-14T10:50:00.005-04:00

I made the cutest little biscuits the other day. They weren't fluffy southern-style breakfast biscuits but rather something more like an accompaniment for tea. I cut them into flowers before baking and ended up with something along the lines of a savory cookie. I think I'll make these tiny treats again for brunch and serve them with an assortment of jams, honey butter, and lemon curd.

A Modest Proposal

2009-04-12T11:03:00.011-04:00

I seem to have taken Jonathan Swift's A Modest Proposal somewhat to heart. A few nights ago my three-month-old niece, Sofia, came over for a visit. I couldn't resist putting her in a stock pot and taking photos. She's just the right size!

Next time I'm going to dress her as a lobster and give her a stick of butter to hold onto.

”I have been assured by a very knowing American of my acquaintance in London, that a young healthy child well nursed is at a year old a most delicious, nourishing, and wholesome food, whether stewed, roasted, baked, or boiled ...”

from Jonathan Swift's A Modest Proposal

C is for Cookie

2009-04-11T10:04:00.002-04:00

The word Chocoholic was invented for my Dad. He also loves bananas, walnuts, and cookies. So when I found a recipe for Banana-Walnut Chocolate-Chunk Cookies I knew I was on to something. I made the cookies and ended up with a gooey, chocolate chunk cookie with a hint of banana bread and a nice crunch from the walnuts. The chocolate chunks left big pockets of melty chocolate, and the addition of rolled oats (old-fashioned oatmeal) contributed a soft but substantial texture. The finished product was delightful. Everyone oohed and aahed after the first bite, and the flavors deepened the longer they sat. My Dad, in particular, loved them. :)

Here's the recipe:

Banana-Walnut Chocolate-Chunk Cookies

ingredients:

1 cup all-purpose flour

1/2 cup whole wheat flour

1 teaspoon coarse salt

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

3/4 cup unsalted butter, room temperature

1/2 cup granulated sugar

1/2 cup packed light brown sugar

1 large egg

1 1/2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract

1/2 cup mashed ripe banana (about 1 large)

1 cup old-fashioned rolled oats

8 oz semisweet chocolate, coarsely chopped into 1/4-inch chunks

1/2 cup coarsely chopped walnuts (about 2 ounces), toasted

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Whisk together both flours, salt, and baking soda in a bowl.

Put butter and both sugars into the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment; mix on medium speed until pale and fluffy. Reduce speed to low. Add egg and vanilla; mix until combined. Mix in banana. Add flour mixture; mix until just combined. Stir in oats, chocolate chunks, and walnuts.

Using a 1 1/2 -inch ice cream scoop, drop dough onto baking sheets lined with parchment paper, spacing about 2 inches apart. Bake cookies, rotating sheets halfway through, until golden brown and just set, 12 to 13 minutes. Let cool on sheets on wire racks 5 minutes. Transfer cookies to wire racks; let cool completely. Cookies can be stored in airtight containers at room temperatures up to 2 days (if you have any left after 2 days!)

I know you're not supposed to eat cookie dough if it has raw eggs in it, but I couldn't stop. It's so good!

Gourmet to the Rescue!

2009-04-08T09:20:00.004-04:00

Oh wow, I've been shirking. Things have been super crazy lately, and I have all but abandoned this blog! Well, no longer. I'm back in the game and will be posting on a daily basis from now on if at all possible.
My brother has been in the hospital for going-on three weeks so Charlie and I have had a lot of company and a lot going on. This means I've been cooking quite a bit but relying on old stand-bys that I know are tasty and will please a crowd rather than experimenting with new recipes. I did make an exception on Monday for the Pasta in Garlic-Almond Sauce featured in April's issue of Gourmet magazine. I found it in the Every Day Quick Kitchen section of the magazine, and it intrigued me. What a find! True to Gourmet's promise it was quick and easy...also quite tasty and fresh! Here's the recipe:

Pasta In Garlic-Almond Sauce

ingredients:
3/4 cup whole blanched almonds (4 oz)
3 garlic cloves, smashed
3/4 cup water
1 lb cavatappi or other small tubular pasta
2 Tbsp extra-virgin olive oil
3 Tbsp unsalted butter, divided
1 (10-oz) package frozen peas
1/2 cup grated Parmigiano-Reggiano, plus additional for serving
1 Tbsp fresh lemon juice
1/2 cup basil leaves (torn if large), divided
1/3 cup mint leaves (torn if large), divided
1/3 cup chopped roasted almonds (2 oz)

Puree blanched almonds and garlic with water and 1/4 teaspoon salt in a blender until smooth. Cook pasta in a pot of boiling salted water until almost al dente. Reserve 3 cups pasta-cooking water and drain pasta.
Meanwhile, heat oil and 1 Tbsp butter in a 12-inch heavy skillet (preferably straight-sided) over medium heat until foam subsides. Add almond puree and simmer, whisking occasionally, until thickened, about 3 minutes. Add 2 1/2 cups reserved cooking water, 1/4 teaspoon salt, and 1/2 teaspoon pepper and simmer, whisking occasionally, until slightly thickened, 3 to 4 minutes. Whisk in remaining 2 Tbsp butter until melted. Add pasta and peas and cook, stirring occasionally until pasta is al dente (sauce will be thin), 2 to 3 minutes. Add cheese and lemon juice and stir until combined well. Remove from heat and stir in half of basil and mint and salt and pepper to taste. Serve in pasta bowls topped with chopped almonds, remaining herbs, and additional cheese.

Tasty, tasty! Everyone just loved this pasta. The almonds, garlic, mint, and basil work together to create a complex flavor that's still fresh and light. Also, it's very creamy without having a drop of milk or cream in it! I'm going to keep this recipe as a new stand-by quick dish for sure.
Charlie also thinks it's really good served cold as a pasta salad, but I prefer it hot and fresh out of the pan.

Will I ever learn?

2009-03-31T23:11:00.005-04:00

One problem constantly creeps up on me when I'm cooking. It's ridiculously simple to avoid, but I can't seem to learn my lesson!

Tonight I decided to play around with phyllo. I wanted to put flakey strips of phyllo in a muffin tin and place layers of spinach, mushrooms, and roasted garlic between the sheets. I planned on gathering the phyllo at the top and giving it a fancy little twist so I would have a b'steeya-like mini-muffin (except instead of rabbit it would be full of veggies). Mmmmm...sounds yummy still.

After work I dashed to Publix, fought the crowd of post-work zombies like myself, and hurried home so I would have plenty of time to put together my dish and tweak as necessary. Boy, it was going to be so good....too bad I forgot the phyllo dough! Instead I had sauteed mushrooms and spinach, roasted zucchini with feta, couscous with pine nuts, and a salad comprised of tomatoes, cucumbers, and dill. Not a bad dinner UNLESS you were planning on something ELSE!

Grrrr....I need to be more conscientious! I am the queen of forgetting to purchase (or make sure I have at home) a crucial ingredient. I suppose the stress of the last week and a little sleep deprivation aren't helping.

Preserved lemons

2009-03-30T23:19:00.005-04:00

A few years ago I became obsessed with Moroccan food and decided I was going to master that cuisine as soon as I got a tagine. Well, I still don't have a tagine. I just never found one that spoke to me so I'm still waiting for the perfect fit. I still adore the savory-sweet tastes found in Moroccan food, and I hope some day to rededicate myself to cooking it. For now I satisfy that craving by making preserved lemons and keeping them on hand to salt and brighten a variety of dishes. Preserved lemons are a traditional Moroccan condiment, and they are used in a wide variety of dishes including pastries, tagines, salads, and stews. You can find them in specialty shops, but they are often quite expensive. Bedsides, they're so simple to make at home that it seems like a real shame to purchase them.

Preserved Lemons

You will need:

a large bag of unwaxed lemons (meyer lemons are best if you can find them)

kosher salt

a wide-mouth medium-sized jar (sterilized)

Scrub the lemons with water and a cloth to remove any dirt then pat them dry. Set a lemon on one end and make a vertical cut 3/4 of the way through the lemon. Do not cut it in half. Turn the lemon upside down and make a second vertical cut at a 90 degree angle to the first cut, again not cutting all the way through the lemon. Pack each cut with as much salt as it will hold. Carefully place the lemon in the jar.

Proceed in this manner with several more lemons until the jar is tightly packed with lemons. Push the lemons tightly together, fitting as many as possible in the jar. Squeeze fresh lemon juice from the remaining lemons and add it to the jar, completely covering the salt-stuffed lemons.

In a few days time the lemon rinds will begin to soften, and it may be necessary to add more fresh lemon juice. Any piece of lemon that is not covered in juice may mold. If this happens, simply cut off the mold and discard.

The lemons are ready to use when the rinds are tender, in four to six weeks.

To use, remove the lemon from the juice and slice off a bit of rind. Rinse any remaining salt and add to soups, stews, tagines, salads, or pastas for a bright, salty accent. The pulp may be incorporated into sauces and salad dressings. Enjoy!

This is my super-cute lemon juicer. My Mom gave it to me several years ago, and it's the only juicer I own. Isn't it funky and cool?!

Could you please pass the....lamb butter?

2009-03-29T23:16:00.003-04:00

Has anyone else seen the lamb-shaped butter for sale at the grocery store? It kind of creeps me out.

I looked it up, and it turns out that lamb-shaped butter is sold by a company named Keller during March and April, turkey-shaped butter is sold in October and November, and Christmas tree-shaped butter is sold in December. I also found out that this making lamb-shaped butter is a tradition for many people celebrating Easter. I have never heard of this! Am I alone in thinking this is odd? Have I somehow just missed the boat on this one?

Check it out for yourselves, and let me know what you think!

The Secret Ingredient

2009-03-28T23:17:00.004-04:00

Chicken salad has never really been my thing, but Charlie loves it. So, I've been making a point to make it for him. I usually make a very traditional version with pickles, eggs, onion, mayo, and mustard, but last week I thought I'd try a curried chicken salad. (It seems that I'm on a real curry kick right now. Maybe it's the weather?) I pulled out a recipe from an old magazine and checked the fridge. I had most of the ingredients so I decided to go ahead and cook it, making some omissions and substitutions. Here is the recipe with my modifications.

Curried Chicken Salad

ingredients:

1 whole chicken

6 Tablespoons vanilla yogurt

1 Tablespoon mayonnaise

2 teaspoons freshly squeezed lemon juice

2 teaspoons curry powder

2 teaspoons thinly sliced scallions

1 Tablespoon coarsely chopped cilantro leaves

1 small Granny Smith apple, cored and cut into 1/2-inch chunks

1/4 teaspoon coarse salt

freshly ground pepper

Put the chicken in a medium stock pot and add enough water to cover the chicken. Bring the water to a boil then turn down the heat and simmer until the chicken is cooked through, about 20 minutes. Remove the chicken from the pot and let cool. (Save your stock for something else!) When the chicken is cool enough to handle shred it into bite-sized pieces.

Stir together the yogurt, mayonnaise, lemon juice, curry powder, scallions, cilantro, apple and salt. Season with pepper. Add the chicken and stir to fully coat.

Did you spot the secret ingredient? It's the vanilla yogurt. The original recipe called for plain Greek yogurt, which would be very good I'm sure, but I didn't have that in my refrigerator. I did have vanilla yogurt on hand so I substituted that and ended up with a lovely and unexpected flavor. I think it's great, and I'm going to make it that way from now on!

It's not the most beautiful thing I've ever made, but here's a photo anyway.

What a week...

2009-03-27T12:32:00.006-04:00

Boy, this has been a lousy week (understatement). My family has had a very tough time of it the last few days due to a medical situation involving my brother. It has been an emotionally up-and-down time, and I am humbled and inexpressibly grateful for the outpouring of love we have received from friends and family. My family and I are so lucky to have such caring, good people in our lives.
During this time I've continued blogging, and it's really helped me keep my sanity. It gives me something to do that is unrelated to my troubles and gives me a measure of peace. Also, I've really turned to food and cooking as a way of comforting myself and others. There isn't anything I can do to change the situation we are facing, but damn it, I can cook dinner! Having something productive to do that also nourishes those around me has been...i don't know. Helpful is the only thing I can think of, but that doesn't seem to encompass all that I feel or mean.
So, this post isn't really about food or cooking, but I am reminded of how food can bring people together when times are tough, and I'm grateful to have something to hold on to.

Throwing it all together

2009-03-25T09:45:00.003-04:00

It's always great to have a couple of super simple salad recipes in your pocket. One of my favorites is a chickpea, bell pepper, and cucumber salad. It's quick, delicious, and healthy.
There isn't really a recipe, and it can be tweaked a zillion different ways. I like to use a can of chickpeas, 1 bell pepper, and 1 cucumber. Dice the bell pepper and the cucumber then toss them all together in a medium-sized salad bowl. After that it's up to you -- I usually make a quick vinaigrette of apple cider vinegar, honey, a squeeze of lemon, mustard, and olive oil. The sweetness of the honey pairs nicely with the little bit of bite the pepper provides. While red bell peppers are the prettiest I usually opt for green, simply because they're much cheaper.
That's a great little salad on its own, but it's even better on top of bitter greens. I love dandelion greens tossed in a little balsamic vinegar and olive oil. Bibb lettuce is also good if you want something a little sweeter. (The photos show bibb lettuce.)

In the future I want to soak and boil dried chickpeas. Of course, that takes away some of the quick-and-easy of this yummy little salad.

A very tasty curry

2009-03-24T09:10:00.005-04:00

I recently purchased a cookbook called Curry Cuisine: Fragrant dishes from India, Thailand, Vietmnam, and Indonesia. It's a collection of curries from a number of contributors, and I've been itching to try a few of them. I started with Green Shrimp Curry with Fresh Dill (Gang Keo Goung), but I modified it considerably. The results were terrific, and I changed it up enough that I feel I can call it my own.

This is a wonderful spring dish, and the curry tastes surprisingly complex considering how simple it is. If you try it out yourself, please let me know what you think!

Shrimp Curry with Fresh Dill

ingredients:
3 Tbsp vegetable oil
5 Tbsp red Thai curry paste
1 Tbsp sugar
2 cups coconut milk
2 cups chicken stock (preferably homemade)
1 teaspoon lime zest
1 - 2 Tbsps fish sauce, or to taste
2 large yukon gold potatoes, peeled and cut in 1-inch pieces
1 1/2 lb raw tiger shrimp, peeled
1 bunch dill
basmati rice, as an accompaniment

Heat the oil in a pan over moderately high heat and stir-fry the curry paste for about 2 minutes or until just golden and fragrant. Add the sugar and stir fry for 1 minutes or until fragrant. Reduce the heat and add the coconut milk, chicken stock, lime zest, and fish sauce. Add the potatoes, cover the pot, and cook for 20 minutes.

Add the shrimp and stir well, then cover again and cook for about 5 minutes or until they turn pink. Serve hot, garnished with fresh dill.
This is best served over basmati rice.

If you've never tried a curry, this is a good place to start. It's simple, and the results are very satisfying. I can hardly wait to try out a few other recipes from the cookbook. I may have a lot of curry dishes ahead of me this spring!

Roasted Cauliflower

2009-03-23T10:49:00.002-04:00

I just love cauliflower. It has such a nice texture, and it isn't fussy. However, until recently I had no idea it was so yummy when roasted. Roasting cauliflower is super easy, and it brings out a more complex flavor. The sugars caramelize, and the vegetable becomes nutty and very creamy. It really is just fabulous and so easy to do that you don't need a recipe, but here's one anyway.

Roasted Cauliflower

ingredients:
1 head cauliflower
kosher or sea salt
freshly ground black pepper
olive oil

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit. Break the cauliflower into large florets and season generously with salt and pepper.
Drizzle the cauliflower with olive oil then use your hands to rub the oil and coat the cauliflower. Roast the cauliflower for 30 - 35 minutes or until the edges have browned and begun to caramelize. Serve immediately.

For a nice variation on this recipe use lemon-infused olive oil and toss the roasted cauliflower with pitted calamata olives and capers. The saltiness of the olives and capers paired with the sharpness of the lemon is really nice.

Coming Home to Chicken Thighs

2009-03-21T08:43:00.007-04:00

Last night I returned from my trip to Florida, happy but tired. My wonderful husband, Charlie, was on top of things and picked up groceries before I arrived so he could make me dinner. He's the absolute best.
And make dinner he did. Not just any dinner either but my favorite thing that he cooks. While we were dating he decided to come up with a recipe to call his own. The result of those efforts is a fabulous dish called Chicken Thighs with Orange Juice and Cilantro. I just love it. Here's the recipe:

Chicken Thighs with Orange Juice and Cilantro

ingredients:

2 cups orange juice

2 cups white wine

1 clove garlic, minced

1 cup loosely packed cilantro, roughly chopped

1 pound bone-in, skin-on chicken thighs

salt and pepper

2 Tablespoons olive oil

In a large bowl combine the orange juice, white wine, garlic, and cilantro. Add the chicken thighs and marinate in the refrigerator for 30 minutes.

Remove the chicken thighs from the marinade and season with salt and pepper. Heat the oil in a sauce pan on medium-high heat. Add the chicken and sear, approximately 4 minutes on each side or until the skin is nicely browned.

Add the orange juice mixture and bring to a simmer. Simmer for 6 - 8 minutes or until the chicken is cooked through.

Serve the chicken over basmati rice with a large spoonful of the sauce.

You may notice the absence of fresh cilantro in the photos. Charlie forgot to pick it up at the grocery store (he blames the chaos of rush hour) so he substituted a Tablespoon or so of ground coriander. Coriander is the dried, ground seed of the cilantro plant. It doesn't have the minty flavor of fresh cilantro leaves and is much milder. Coriander is not generally interchangeable with cilantro, but in the case of this marinade it worked beautifully. I prefer fresh cilantro, but the dish was still delicious with the substitution.

Serious Comfort Food

2009-03-20T10:20:00.004-04:00

Last Saturday was so rainy and cold, and I really needed some comfort food to warm me from the inside. I decided to try out the Red Lentil and Rice Soup from Arabesque. It gave me exactly what I was looking for -- creamy, homey, filling soup. It's what I imagine the three bears' porridge tasting like.
This isn't a glamorous soup. It's a muddy brown color, and it isn't beautiful. BUT, it's delicious. Try it on a cold, rainy day. You won't be sorry.

(I've tweaked the recipe a little.)

Red Lentil and Rice Soup

ingredients:
2 large onions, diced
3 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil
7 1/2 cups chicken stock (homemade tastes best)
1 cup red lentils
1/2 cup arborio rice
black pepper
2 tsp ground coriander
salt
1 tsp ground cumin
3 Tbsp lemon juice

Fry the onions in the oil. Cover the pan and cook over low heat, stirring occassionally until they soften. Then cook over high heat, stirring often, until they are very brown and caramelized. Drain on paper towels and set aside.
Bring the stock to a boil then add the lentils and rice. Season with balck pepper, and add the coriander. Simmer for 35 - 45 minutes, or until the lentils and rice fall apart and the soup has a creamy texture. Season again with salt and pepper, to taste.
Just before serving add the cumin and lemon juice. Top each bowl with the fried onions, an extra sprinkle of cumin, and a lemon wedge.

The promised recipe

2009-03-18T21:41:00.004-04:00

Here is the promised compound butter recipe. It's really quiet delicious on bread and pasta.

Shallot-Parsley Butter

ingredients:
8 Tablespoons plus 1/2 Tablespoon unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 large shallot, minced to yield 3 Tablespoons
1 Tablespoon dry white wine
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1 Tablespoon finely chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley

Heat the 1/2 Tablespoon butter over medium heat in a small skillet. Add the shallots and cook until soft, 1 to 2 minutes. Add the white wine and cook until the liquid has evaporated, about 30 seconds. Remove from the heat and stir in the salt. Cool completely.
Placed the remaining 8 Tablespoons of the butter in a medium bowl. Add the shallot mixture and the parsley. Smash with the back of a fork or wooden spoon until well combined.
Transfer the butter mixture to a sheet of parchment or wax paper. Roll into a 1-inch log and refrigerate until ready to use.

Charlie made this last week, and it was just wonderful. It could certainly be changed up by adding different herbs and spices.

More on the muffins

2009-03-17T12:17:00.002-04:00

Peanut Butter Muffins

ingredients:
2 cup all-purpose flour
1/3 cup firmly packed brown sugar
1 Tbsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
2/3 cup smooth peanut butter (I use Trader Joe's all-natural peanut butter)
1 1/3 cups mik
1/4 cup unsalted butter, melted, plus extra for greasing
2 eggs
1/2 cup chopped, roasted peanuts (salted or unsalted)

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. Greaste muffin pans to make 16 muffins.

In a bowl, stir together the flour, brown sugar, baking powder, and salt. Set aside. In another bowl, beat the peanut butter and a few spoonfuls of the milk until smooth then beat in the remaining milk. Beat in the melted butter and eggs. Stir in the peanuts. Add to the combined dry ingredients and stir until just blended.

Spoon the batter into the prepared muffin pans, filling each cup about three-fourths full. Bake until a toothpick inserted in the center of a muffin comes out clean, about 15 minutes. Let cool in the pans for 3 - 5 minutes, then remove.

**These are great with fresh butter, honey butter, and jams of all kind.

Tale of the Traveling Peanut Butter Muffins

2009-03-16T22:04:00.005-04:00

Right now I'm on a five-day trip to Captiva Island, Florida with three young children (two 6-year-olds and a 4-year-old) so I decided to bake a snack for the trip before I left. I chose peanut butter muffins because they travel well, they're kid-friendly, and they are somewhat filling. Oh, yum! I made a good choice.
I'll post the recipe soon, but for now here are a few photos.

The batter was super good. I couldn't stop eating it!

I discovered that if I served a little blueberry jam on the side I ended up with a grown-up version of a PB&J. It was super tasty.

One thing I really like about the peanut butter muffins (aside from how easy they are to make) is their versatility. They aren't super sweet so they lend themselves to savory dishes as well as sweet spreads or toppings. They would be really good served alongside a curry dish or noodles with a peanut sauce. As a surprise element I might even throw them in a basked of mixed bread to serve at a dinner party.
They aren't flashy, but they're definitely good to have on hand. The kids loved them too!

This Week's Bread

2009-03-14T22:06:00.003-04:00

This weekend I chose to bake Honey and Bran Bread and German Pumpernickel Bread, both from William Sonoma's Baking cookbook. Both recipes called for wheat bran, but I substituted oat bran since I was unable to find what was called for (see previous post). Here are the recipes with photos.

Honey and Bran Bread

ingredients:

2 1/4 teaspoons quick-rise yeast

2 1/2 cups lukewarm water

3 cups whole-wheat flour

2 - 2 1/2 cups bread flour

2 cups wheat bran

1/4 cup honey

1 Tablespoon corn oil

1 1/2 teaspoons salt

1 egg yolk beaten with 1 teaspoon water

In a small bowl, dissolve the yeast in 1/2 cup of the lukewarm water and let stand until bubbles start to rise, about 5 minutes. In a large bowl or the bowl of an electric stand mixer, combine the whole-wheat flour, 1 cup of the bread flour, and the bran. Stir in the remaining 3 cups lukewarm water, honey, oil, salt, and yeast mixture. Gradually stir in enough of the remaining bread flour to make a soft dough that holds its shape.

Knead by hand or with a dough hook, adding bread flour as kneaded. Knead by hand until smooth and elastic, about ten minutes; knead by hook until the dough pulls cleanly from the bowl sides, 6 - 7 minutes. Form the dough into a ball and place in a clean, greased bowl, turning the dough to coat all sides.
Cover with greased plastic wrap and let rise in a warm place until doubled, 45 - 60 minutes.

Grease two 8 1/2 by 4 1/2 inch loaf pans. Turn out the dough onto a lightly floured work surface and press flat. Cut in half. Using a rolling pin, roll out each half into a 12 by 7 inch rectangle.
Starting at a long side, roll up tightly and pinch the seams to seal. Place in the prepared pans, seam sides down.

Cover with a clean kitchen towel and let rise in a warm place until doubled, about 45 - 60 minutes. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.

Brush the loaves with the egg-yolk mixture. Bake until well browned and a thin wooden skewer inserted into the center of the loaf comes out clean, 30 - 35 minutes. Transfer the loaves to a wire rack to cool.

The honey and bran bread has a very subtle nutty flavor that I just love! I think the oat bran tastes just fine, but I still want to try wheat bran and see what difference that makes. The dough was very dense and heavy, which surprised me, and the finished loaves are quite dense. I'm interested in seeing how it lends itself to making sandwiches, but for now it's just great with a little fresh butter smeared on a slice.

German Pumpernickel Bread

ingredients:

3 cups rye flour

1 cup wheat bran

2 1/2 - 3 cups bread flour

2 1/4 teaspoons quick-rise yeast

1/2 cup lukewarm water

2 Tablespoons dark or light molasses

3 Tablespoons corn oil

2 teaspoons salt

2 cups plain low-fat yogurt, warmed to 110 degrees F

cornmeal for sprinkling

In a bowl, whisk together the rye flour, bran, and 2 cups of the bread flour. In a large bowl or the bowl of an electric stand mixer, combine the yeast, 1/2 cup of the flour mixture, and the lukewarm water; let stand until bubbles start to rise, about 10 minutes. Stir in the molasses, oil, salt, and yogurt. Gradually stir in 4 cups of the remaining flour mixture to make a stiff but workable dough. The dough will be sticky.

Knead by hand or with a dough hook, adding the remaining flour mixture and more bread flour as needed. Knead by hand until smooth and elastic, about 15 minutes; knead by dough hook until the dough is not sticky and pulls cleanly from the bowl sides, about 10 minutes. The dough will be slightly heavy. Form the dough into a ball and place in a clean, greased bowl, turning to coat on all sides. Cover with greased plastic wrap and let rise in a warm place until doubled, 60 - 75 minutes.

Turn the dough onto a lightly floured work surface and press flat. Cut in half, knead briefly, and form each half into a ball, stretching the sides down and under.

Sprinkle a baking sheet with cornmeal and place the loaves on it. Cover with a clean kitchen town and let rise in a warm place until doubled, 45 - 60 minutes. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

Uncover and bake until browned and the loaves sound hollow when tapped on the bottoms, about 1 hour. Transfer to wire racks to cool.

This is the first time I've ever attempted pumpernickel, and I really enjoyed it! The dough is just gorgeous and handles very well after enough flour has been added (up until that point it's very sticky). The photos don't really do the finished loaves justice. They're beautiful in a very rustic way. I tried a slice last night with a little butter, and it had the same dense, moist texture as the honey and bran bread. I wonder if that's because of the oat bran (?). Does anyone know?

I have a feeling that as it sits the flavors will deepen and it will have a more traditional pumpernickel flavor. I certainly hope so because I just love a good, deep pumpernickel flavor!

Searching for wheat bran

2009-03-14T13:56:00.006-04:00

Two of the bread recipes I plan on trying out today call for wheat bran which sounds like a simple enough thing to find. I usually make the hike to the Dekalb Farmers Market on Saturdays, but today it's rainy and I don't really feel like getting out and doing much so I decided to just go across the street to Publix instead. It turns out that it is super difficult, if not impossible, to find wheat bran at Publix. I'm not sure if they carry it, but I was unable to find it if they do. However, I did find the following similar-sounding things:

Oat bran
Raisin bran
All-Bran cereal
Wheat germ
Cream of wheat

I really debated over just scratching the recipes I'd chosen. Ordinarily I would just throw up my hands and go to either Whole Foods, The Fresh Market, or the farmers market, but I just didn't feel like it today! Instead, I decided to choose one of the other things I found and make a substitution. I have no idea if this will work, as I haven't even started baking yet, but I'm going to give it a go.

I first looked at the oat bran. It's a hot cereal made by Quaker, and the only thing listed in the ingredient list is oat bran. This pleases me because it suggests that it is a whole food with no additives.

Next I checked out the raisin bran. I knew I wouldn't go this route, but I wanted to read the ingredient list and hopefully learn a little something. Well, raisin bran contains all sorts of things I try to avoid, including high-fructose corn syrup, niacinamide, and a collection of vitamins. I know it sounds great that Kellogg's adds vitamins, but I prefer to get them naturally through fruits and vegetables.

All-bran cereal sounded promising so I checked the label. The first ingredient listed was wheat bran (!). So far, so good! Unfortunately, seventeen other ingredients followed. Again, a highly processed food containing high-fructose corn syrup.

Wheat germ is all wrong, so I quickly marked it off my list along with cream of wheat. I was left with nothing else to examine so I decided to go with the oat bran. I know this will change the texture and taste of my bread, but I'm going to give it a shot! With the oat bran I know what I'm substituting is a whole food with no preservatives or other additives.

Since I had so much trouble finding wheat bran I decided to do a tiny bit of research and find out just what I was looking for. I learned that a bran (such as wheat bran or oat bran) is the hard outer layer of a grain that becomes a byproduct when the grain is processed. Good to know! I'll keep looking for it when I'm out and about, but for now I'm going with the oat bran!

Yakitori Jinbei

2009-03-13T22:21:00.004-04:00

Tonight my girl friend, Stacey, and I headed out of the city to try out Yakitori Jinbei in Smyrna (Georgia). Stacey had heard tales of the delicious ramen dishes available there, and we were not disappointed! We ordered two ramen dishes and shared, but I think the Tonkotsu Ramen was the winner! It was creamy, complex, and warmed me up from head to toe! If you live in the Atlanta area and are looking for delicious Japanese food, take the time to drive out to Smyrna. It's definitely worth the trip!

Here's the restaurant info:

Yakitori Jinbei
2421 Cobb Parkway
Smyrna, Georgia 30080

We also split a Cherry Blossom Salmon roll that was delightful. The fish was fresh, and it was pleasantly spicy. Oooh...I wish I had some right now!