appetitive behavior

A Salad with Science: Melon Salad Agridolce

2007-06-22T20:17:00.000-04:00

The first week in June, I had the opportunity to attend a super-swank reception for a bunch of sponsors because the boss was giving a wine and food pairing talk, headlining as their entertainment for the night. We keep a few good basic smell and taste demonstrations for these kinds of things, and it was my responsibility to prepare them and help set up. As a reward, I got to stay through an absolutely fantastic catered dinner.
I unfortunately couldn't take pictures of the meal due to the working part, but the salad was so awesome I wanted to recreate it on my own, and here's my attempt and additions.

This beautiful jumble of greens, fruit, cheese and nuts - all of which on their own are good with wine, and together make a great starter or even main salad - is just such an awesome combination. What's really cool about the salad, though, is that it echoed some points she went over in the lecture.
- Salt inhibits bitterness. We do this demo in the lab with raddichio and kosher salt; simply take a bite of raddichio, rate the bitterness, then add a tiny bit of salt, taste and rate again. I like a small sprinkling of salt over my lettuce greens, in addition to the salty note you get from the cheese.
- Fat provides a good opportunity to smooth out tannins. In the lab, we demonstrate this using q-tips soaked in tannic acid, but you can note the dry mouth feel after a very tannic wine, or even the walnuts in the salad. Eating something fatty before or alongside, like the cheese, helps to prevent this a bit. And bread, not water, is your best bet for replenishing the lubricating proteins if you have a very tannic wine.
- A salad with a vinaigrette paired with a wine will make the wine taste vinegary. To avoid this, she recommended using a less harsh vinegar, like balsamic, or replacing the vinegar in the salad dressing with the wine you're drinking. This avoids any conflicts. I actually found the WishBone salad spritzer in the red wine vinaigrette did a good job of getting the light coating and flavor I wanted for an individual salad, but if I were making for a crowd I'd toss the greens with a red wine and olive oil dressing before plating with the fruit.
In case you're curious, the red wine served at the tasting was a Le Colombier Vieilles Vignes Vacqueyras Cabernet Sauvignon, and it was darned good with the salad.

MELON SALAD AGRIDOLCE
Inspired by Provence Catering, Philadelphia

salad for one
two to three large handfuls mesclun greens
red wine dressing or vinaigrette of your liking
pinch of salt and fresh grinding black pepper
1 ripe nectarine
1/5 small honeydew melon, preferably room temperature
1 tablespoon dried wild blueberries, or 2-3 Tbsp fresh blueberries
3-4 thin slices asiago cheese
6 or so toasted or lightly candied walnut halves, broken into pieces

Arrange the greens in a large bowl. Sprinkle with a little bit of salt and grind over some black pepper. Toss with just enough dressing to lightly coat.
Cube or thinly slice the nectarine and melon: the fruit can be arranged alongside or around the greens, or you can toss them together for a less formal but just as tasty rendition. Sprinkle over the blueberries and walnuts. Cheese may be arranged alongside in slices, or can also be shaved over the top of the salad.

**update: for other cool food, wine, and science stuff, check out the 3-part story by Mike Steinberger here, who actually apparently visited Monell and got to do a bunch of our taste-tests. Found through Serious Eats.

Lunchbox: Amansala Ginger Salad

2007-06-07T22:43:00.000-04:00

I've been hooked on the idea of ginger salads since my boss took me to Rangoon to celebrate my acceptance to grad school. She's a decided foodie, and knows all the great spots in the city I've never even heard of, and knows the owners from way back. So while I chimed in on going for the lentil fritters and the pork in pickled mango curry sauce, when she said we simply had to get the tea leaf salad and the ginger salad, both of which Rangoon is well-known for, I trusted her judgment. Both were excellent - similar ingredients, but the tea leaves had a distinct earthy sort of flavor, while the ginger salad was lighter and spunky without the searing taste fresh ginger sometimes has.
Me being me, I wanted to find some way to recreate those delicious dishes, and a few weeks later I noted a recipe on epicurious that sounded a similar base to what I'd had. I tried finding pickled tea leaves to make it even better, but as of yet no luck either finding them or figuring out how to explain what I'm looking for, and it seems the pickling method is a bit involved. Happily, the ginger component - and really, the tea leaves were novel but the ginger just plain tasty - is easy enough to do in home with a bit of patience and makes a great substitute. With a bit of tweaking it comes close to the flavors I enjoyed there. I'm sure some dried shrimp paste or fish sauce would aid in the authenticity, but I decided to go with the dressing epi posted, and it's really wonderful all on its own.
What I love best about this recipe, in addition to the flavor, is that it's listed for one. This is an uncommon feature among most recipes, sadly even my own, but is great for the lunchbox not only so you know the portion you're doling out but so that it's easy to make fresh and quick each night before. If you can find pre-shredded carrots, you'll save yourself a few minutes, but otherwise the components are simple to prepare. This summer salad is also as far as I can tell nutritious, picking up points for the lunchbox.
This is one of my new favorite salads, and also a contribution to Salad Stravaganza, an event by Lis of La Mia Cucina to gather a new salad repertoire.

AMANSALA GINGER SALAD WITH GINGER-SESAME DRESSING
adapted from Bikini Bootcamp via epicurious

salad for one
1 c shredded Napa cabbage
1 c shredded romaine lettuce
1/2 c shredded carrots
5-6 cherry or grape tomatoes
1/2 avocado
3-4 ounces shredded cooked chicken
1 scallion, finely chopped
1 T toasted sesame seeds
10 cocktail peanuts or to taste
1-2 tsp pickled ginger strands

dressing
1/2 c extra virgin olive oil
1/4 balsamic vinegar
2 T low sodium soy sauce
2-3 cloves garlic, minced or pressed
2 Tbsp palm sugar, brown sugar, or honey
2 Tbsp peeled minced ginger
1 tsp toasted sesame oil
2 Tbsp water

ginger, from New Asian Cuisine
3 ounces fresh young ginger
1/2 c lime juice

Combine cabbage, lettuce, carrots, tomatoes, avocado and chicken in a large bowl. Toss with dressing to taste. Sprinkle with scallion, sesame seeds, peanuts, and pickled ginger strands.
To make the dressing: Combine all ingredients in a blender and process until smooth.
To make the ginger: Peel and shred the ginger (the large holes on a box grater work best for this; you want it in shreds rather than grated) and place in a small bowl or a tupperware container you don't mind contaminating with ginger smell. Cover with the lime juice and marinate in the refrigerator for at least three days. Squeeze the shreds from the juice and discard the lime juice. Keeps no more than one week, covered in the refrigerator.

From Retro With Love: Croissants

2007-06-06T22:30:00.001-04:00

A while back I was cruising a used bookstore with Mindy K and got really excited over the possibility of old cookbooks. Not just because cookbooks, old or new, are pretty cool stuff, but because they make very good resources for the Retro Recipe Challenge hosted by Laura Rebecca. Mindy kindly pointed out that although she is a faithful reader of this blog, and generally amused or intrigued by my cooking endeavors, some of my retro recipes have turned out less than appetizing. Duly chagrin, I promptly purchased a 1979 Craig Claiborne New York Times cookbook, figuring maybe this time I could turn things around with such a classy number.
This month's challenge was From Retro With Love featuring foreignish dishes. As per the norm, I did a bunch of paging through before settling on a dish of choice, and what a dish indeed: croissants!

I have always thought of croissants as French, but soon learned that they are in fact Hungarian in actual origin, and that they could be from Mars or Venus and I wouldn't really care because they're tasty. I was also surprised to find out that these little guys are not as excruciating as I'd always thought: yes, they take a bit of time, but they were surprisingly easy. I think this is because of the recipe I followed, and that was a close call. NYTimes' method was more similar to croissant recipes in other books I had, but (a) GH looked easier and (b) it had slightly more butter yet about half the flour NY called for. There was no butter packet, no folding and turning, and no shaping and rising. I was so worried I'd end up with flat hockey pucks of butter - especially since yeast is not my forte - but I was delighted with them. Flaky, uberbuttery, layer-y, crisp on the outside and soft inside, and all told pretty darn awesome. I was kind of hoping for big giant fluffy things, but these made gorgeous little sandwiches all the same. I'd recommend this as a good beginner's recipe: it's probably not the quintessential recipe, but it's fun and a lot easier than the finished product looks.
CROISSANTS
from the Illustrated Good Housekeeping Encylcopedic Cookbook, 1965, Vol.3

1 c milk
1 Tbsp shortening
1 T sugar
1/4 tsp salt
1 pkg active dry yeast
1/4 c very warm water, about 105-110 degrees
about 2 1/2 c sifted flour
1 c cold butter
cream, milk, or half-and-half for brushing

DAY ONE: In small saucepan, just scald the milk. Remove from heat and pour into a large bowl. Stir in the shortening, sugar, and salt. Let cool until lukewarm.
Meanwhile, sprinkle the dry yeast onto the warm water. Stir until dissolved and let stand.
When milk is lukewarm, stir in yeast. Stir in enough of the flour to make a dough that cleans the sides of the bowl.
Turn dough into a large greased bowl and turn once to grease all sides. Cover with a clean towel and let rise in a warm place until doubled in bulk, about 1 1/2 hours. Punch down and then refrigerate about 2 hours.
Next, cream the butter until easy to spread. On lightly floured surface, roll and pat dough into rectangle 1/4 inch thick. Spread with one fourth of creamed butter. Fold one third of rectangle over center third, fold other third of dough over this, like a letter for an envelope, making 3 layers.
Again roll out dough into rectangle 1/4 inch thick; spread with one fourth of creamed butter. Repeat folding, rolling and spreading twice. Fold; wrap dough in waxed paper and refrigerate.
DAY TWO: Divide dough in half. Roll each half into 15x10 inch rectangle. Cut in half lengthwise, then cut each half into thirds crosswise, and cut each third diagonally to make triangles. Roll up each triangle from longest side.
Curve each triangle to make a crescent shape. Place with point of triangle underneath onto ungreased baking sheet (I used a nonstick AirBake pan). Refrigerate 20 minutes.
Meanwhile, start heating oven to 400 F. Brush crescents with cream, milk, or half-and-half. Bake about 20 minutes at 400 F and reduce oven temperature to 350 F and bake 10-15 minutes longer.
To freeze: Cool, wrap in foil, and freeze. For serving, place still wrapped croissants on baking sheet and bake at 400 25 minutes.
Makes 2 dozen smallish croissants.

Lunchbox: Citrus-Roasted Salmon and Asparagus

2007-05-25T21:47:00.000-04:00

The last time at TJ's, I picked up some gorgeous looking sockeye salmon fillets, which have a beautiful color and flavor but are not as prohibitively expensive as the Copper River ones coming up. I dusted off a Martha cookbook I'd asked for for Christmas - somehow the winter recips didn't get me going, but there's some lovely spring entrees hidden in there. This one is a gem, and supersimple to do.

I made this twice during the week - I don't like to keep cooked fish around for very long in the fridge, and it really doesn't take long to put together. The first time (above) I put the asparagus under the fruit. It turned out well, but was slightly overcooked. Second time I roasted the asparagus on top of the fruit while waiting for the salmon to come to room temperature, and this worked much better - you already have to wait around with that time, and the asparagus can be cooked to your liking. If you're like me and planning to reheat it for lunches, undercook it a bit so it won't get destroyed by the microwave. And don't be shy with the white pepper; its kick really put this dish over the top.

CITRUS-ROASTED SALMON AND ASPARAGUS
adapted from Martha Stewart Living Annual Recipes 2005

for two lunch portions:
1 6-7 oz fillet of salmon, boned
1 large navel orange
1 lemon
few drops lime juice or 1 lime
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp sugar
1/4-1/2 tsp white pepper
heaping 1/2 tsp coriander seed
extra virgin olive oil
16-20 asparagus spears
salt and pepper

Pat salmon dry with paper towels and place skin side down in a nonreactive dish large enough for it to lay flat.
In a small bowl, finely grate the zest of the orange and lemon (and lime if using - I forgot, so I just used the juice). Stir in the salt, sugar and pepper. Crush the coriander seed with a meat mallet and add to the bowl. Stir together, along with about four drops of lime juice if using.
Rub spice blend all over salmon flesh. Cover with plastic wrap and let refrigerate for 2 hours.
Preheat oven to 400 F. Wipe spice blend from salmon with paper towels. Let stand at room temperature 20 minutes.
Meanwhile, line a small baking pan with foil or spray with nonstick cook spray. Slice the orange and lemon into about 1/4 inch thick slices and lay in the bottom of the pan. Arrange the asparagus spears over the fruit. Drizzle with olive oil and season with salt and pepper, turn to coat. Roast the asparagus at 400 F about 7-8 minutes or until done to your liking.
Remove the asparagus from atop the fruit slices and set aside. Rub the salmon with some olive oil and transfer to the pan on top of the orange and lemon. If the fillet is not of an even thickness, curl thinner sections under (note the left side above). Roast until cooked through, 15-17 minutes.
Divide the salmon and asparagus into two portions; leftovers reheat for about a minute and forty-five in a high microwave.

Craving in Overdrive: Oreo Cheesecake Brownies

2007-05-23T20:22:00.000-04:00

There are sometimes when a woman just needs chocolate. Lots of it.

In particular, since starting the chocolate craving study at work, I have never wanted chocolate more. There are hundreds of little individual chocolates all around me all day long, and I cannot eat a single one of them. Last week I couldn't take it any longer, and I needed to bake something. Something very much chocolate.
After seeing all the inspired entries for last month's Browniebabe, a new monthly hosted by Myriam of Once Upon A Tart, there are no shortage of recipes I want to try. But I figured as long as I was baking, I might as well blog it too and join in the fun.
There's a standard brownie recipe I almost always use: I like it, it works, and I've never branched out too much after finding it. Eight ounces chocolate, two cups sugar, two sticks butter, six eggs - no wonder it's good enough to keep coming back to. But perhaps due to discovering recently that oreos in milk taste good (yes! crazy, I know), I had oreos on the brain, and started thinking about putting them in the brownie.
It turns out like so many great ideas, many people have done this before. And I appreciate their efforts, but was kind of disappointed that my great original idea wasn't really all that original. But then while idly clicking on images, I came across a description of an oreo brownie and a picture so pretty I didn't just want chocolate, or a brownie, or even an oreo anymore, I wanted that oreo brownie. Go look. You'll see what I mean.
I could not find a recipe for that brownie, and would not be satisfied with anything less - so I made one. It has chocolate in gobs: dark chocolate too, and tons of oreos. Nestled in between the chocolate layers is a thin layer of cream cheese cheesecake mixture, to add excitement and a different texture. It satisfies cravings for chocolate, brownies, oreos, and the baking bug, all in one pan. I hope you enjoy them as much as I do.

OREO CHEESECAKE BROWNIES
adapted from Good Housekeeping's classic brownies and the Betty Crocker Cookie Book

brownies
1 c butter
4 oz unsweetened chocolate, chopped
4 oz unsweetened chocolate, chopped (I used a 70%; the brownies are also good with a semisweet if dark's not your thing)
2 1/4 c sugar
6 eggs
2 tsp vanilla
1/4 tsp salt (I still like vanilla salt for baking)
1 1/4 c flour
24 oreos
cheesecake layer
14 oz cream cheese
1 egg
2 tsp vanilla
1/3 -1/2 c sugar (I used the lower amt)
1 T flour

Preheat oven to 350 F. Generously grease a 9x13 baking pan.
In a measuring cup or large bowl, crush the oreos - I found stomping them with the end of a wooden spoon worked pretty well, just don't reduce them all to bits - to a consistency of your liking. You should have about 2 1/2 cups. Set aside.
For the brownies: In a 3-4 qt saucepan over low heat, melt together the butter and the chocolate, stirring every so often that it doesn't stick or burn. Remove saucepan from heat and let cool until just over warm, about 5-7 minutes.
Whisk in the sugar, then beat in the eggs two at a time and stir until well blended. Stir in the vanilla and the salt. Fold in the flour until just blended. Stir in 1 cup of the crushed oreos.
For the cheesecake: In a mixer bowl or using a handheld mixer, beat the cream cheese on medium high until lightened and smooth. Beat in the egg, vanilla, sugar, and flour and stir until smooth, making sure there are no lumps.
Assembly: Pour about half the brownie batter into the prepared pan. Gently spoon and smooth the entire cheesecake layer over the brownie batter. Pour the remaining brownie batter over the cheesecake layer and carefully smooth it out so the layers remain distinct. Once the top is even, sprinkle the remaining crushed oreos over the batter.
Bake in the 350 oven for 45-55 minutes (cover the pan with foil if it seems like cookies are burning), or until a tester comes out almost fully clean. Cool fully in the pan and cut. Store brownies at room temperature; if keeping for longer than one-two days store brownies covered in the refrigerator. Because of the cheesecake layer, I like these best at room temperature or even from the fridge, when both layers get firm and the cream cheese taste is heightened.

Last Week's Lunchbox: Stories and Mango Salad

2007-05-14T20:02:00.000-04:00

I'm at work right now, using my lunchbreak to make an entry. Work is awesomely busy recently, and while very satisfying to have something to do during the day especially in the countdown to grad school (classes start end of August!) eating has become secondary, something to do on the go between subjects. This is so vastly different from what I'm used to that it is almost puzzling, and I realize I am insanely spoiled by a 35-hr work week in a mildly paced environment. The reason things picked up is because we're currently running a study on chocolate craving, and it's a pretty hot topic. The only thing I don't like is there are literally pounds of chocolate in my office, and I cannot eat any of them but instead must talk to other people all day about chocolate. It is good, but it is also very bad.
Several things involving food happened to me recently.
The first: I totally missed Elena's Muffin Monday 2, and I even made muffins but just didn't get it all together to get them. So here they are: Nigella Lawson's Peanut Butter and Snickers muffins, straight from How To Be A Domestic Goddess. After I let them sit for a day, I can assure you: yes, they are every bit as good as pb and snickers sounds. They are goopy burnt caramelly peanutty bits of delightfulness.

The second: I ate Oreos dipped in milk for the first time ever over last weekend. You know what? They're actually pretty tasty. Seems there's a reason all of America eats them that way. I am still not budging over the milk in cereal thing, though - that's still flat-out wrong.
The third: Last week I took a trip to Trader Joe's to find - of all things - chocolate for work. They didn't have the chocolate, but they did have lots of stuff I wanted including a mango chili vinegar which I'm going to get to later. I went to check out, and the very nice cashier man got all excited when I hit an even dollar amount. I didn't get it, but he explained that that means I got three Tiki Tosses (read: Nerf basketball) and I could win a free item up to $7 if I got it in. I missed horrendously, but the kind manager let me do a total girly underhand throw that somehow wormed its way in. I was torn between being thrilled that I won and embarassed that it took such a wimpy way out to do it, but hey, free stuff makes up for a lot. I sat my groceries down with the cashier and perused the shelves a bit, and ended up with a package of beef. I went to show it off, they were all very excited for me and were about to wave me off. Except that none of us could find my groceries. It seems the woman behind me must've taken my bag. I then had to reshop for all my groceries. Everyone was incredibly sweet about it, laughing with me instead of at me - even while I threw the basketball - and not only did I finally get my groceries and my free bool kogi/bulgogi, the manager gave me a bouquet of mini white roses for my patience. People: seven bucks goes a long way. I'd never heard of this before. I love them.
I have also decided I love mango chile vinegar and urge you to seek it out. It is tasty beyond belief.
Once I had it, I knew it deserved a dish to stand out in. Sometimes, when you think about concocting something in your head without having tried it, you make it and it comes out really, really bad. I know, I've been there, and I've made some really hideous things that originally sound great (beer cheese soup, anyone?).But sometimes you think about it, and you try it, and it's so good I can't be bothered to write more because I want to lick my Tupperware. It is a mango salsa with everything that my grocery store had on sale for Cinco de Mayo, and a conglomeration of several different recipes - I couldn't decide what one sounded best so I threw everything in together. It is loaded. It is sweet. It is spicy. It is savory. It is smooth and it is crunchy. And it is here, pictured sans avocado and tomato so they don't get soggy. It is this week's (ok, ok, last week's) Lunchbox.

MANGO SALAD

2 Tbsp mango chile vinegar, or other fruit or white wine vinegar plus some chile flakes
1 Tbsp lime juice
1 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil
2 cloves garlic, minced or pressed
salt and pepper to taste
1 large ripe mango
1/2 English cucumber
1/2 can black beans, rinsed and drained well
1/2 c frozen sweet corn, thawed
2 scallions, chopped
1/2 bunch fresh cilantro leaves, chopped
2 small ripe tomatoes
1 ripe avocado

In a large bowl, whisk together the vinegar and lime juice. Slowly, while whisking, drizzle in the oil. Using a fork, whisk in the garlic and season with salt and pepper to taste.
Dice the mango. (For useful mango-preparation tips, check out Rachel of Coconut and Lime's recent helpful post - I wish I'd found it sooner!) Seed the cucumber and dice. Add the mango, cucumber, beans, corn, scallions and cilantro to the bowl with the vinegar dressing. Gently fold to combine.
Before serving, dice the tomato (seed it if you like) and avocado and gently fold to combine in with the other ingredients.
The salad recipe makes two very generous portions, and will keep refrigerated and covered for a few days if you don't have the tomato and avocado in already. I ate it with some seared swordfish sprinkled with more vinegar, but it would go well with almost any fish and chicken as well for the summer.

An Appetitive Decision: Staying Put

2007-04-17T19:18:00.000-04:00

Last Thursday, with a total of two acceptances, one rejection, and one who knows, I put in my final choice for the local school over the ivy, and I’m thinking of it as the road less traveled. Academia is a funny profession, and I don’t have the all or nothing mentality to getting the Ph.D.: it’s something I definitely want to do, but it’s not the only thing I want to do, or even my main goal out of life, and I think I've chosen a program that appreciates that. I love the area I’m currently in and I love the idea of being close to those I love. I’ve always excelled at being a student and I’m still naïve enough to think that I can make it in either program, and the material here will be less social neuroscience and more social choose-your-own-adventure. I still need to get out of thinking that this program will be easier – in very many ways I certainly hope it will be but a dissertation is still a dissertation, and awful daunting at that. On some days I still have my doubts as to whether I’m completely crazy to spend the next five years on a crap stipend working statistical equations and preparing for oral presentations. But overall, I feel this is one of the best things I could have done at this point. So come fall, I’ll be back in school, starting in on more research (some of which may possibly be under my avenue of interests), and not moving five hours away. This is absolutely positively thrilling.
With that in mind, the future of appetitive behavior is uncertain. The blog has, at this time, over 100 posts and one year under her belt, and I could not have done it with the wonderful visitors who over that year have offered feedback, encouragement and inspiration. Thank you, thank you, thank you for leaving your kind words and making me a part of your world. The next year remains to be seen: as much as I enjoy my little blog here, I know I’ve become derelict as of late and I also know that (a) I’ll be eating a lot more pb&j than I do now and (b) if psych hwk calls, this’ll be the first free-time to go. I’m really hoping it won’t come to that, and in the meantime, I plan to do a lot of cooking.

Sunday actually I did quite a massive lot of cooking. Being that it was complete crap outside in South Jersey, Sara and I didn’t meet up like we were going to and consequently I had a lot of free time. During the course of the day I crock-potted a chicken with lime and cilantro (from Not Your Mother’s Slow Cooker Cookbook, Beth Hensperger and Julie Kaufman, which I am really enjoying. the chicken is hands-down simplistic and returns big for minimum cost and effort, and came out absolutely freaking awesome. I am amazed at what you can put in a crock-pot) to shred for tacos. For this week’s lunchbox I roasted sweet potatoes in the oven, parcooked some haricot verts, and pounded a pork tenderloin (cut one pound into five; you’ll get about a 3-ounce protein serving and stretch the meat) for pork medallions with chili-maple sauce, straight from this month’s Bon Appetit. Lunch has not been this exciting all month. And for this week’s breakfasts as a respite from eggs, I stuffed pears with sausage.

These are D’Anjou pears, which were a lovely green-skinned pear when fresh and somehow turned rather brown during cooking. Ignore it: these little guys are tasty. The original recipe is here at Chow.com and I think their pears look better but maybe some lemon juice brushed on would eliminate some of the browning. I used lean maple sausage and threw in a bunch of Bell’s poultry seasoning, sage, and some fresh parsley. I also skipped the egg because I didn’t have one but I think it would help the consistency, and went with about half or less the amount of breadcrumb. For breakfast, one small pear (two pear halves) with the sausage stuffing keeps me pretty full and is a really nice make-ahead hot breakfast. I was tired yesterday after a full day’s cooking, but oh-so-grateful this morning. If you're looking for something a bit different and savory and sweet all at once, I recommend giving it a go.

Cure Nostalgia with Chicken and Dumplings

2007-04-17T19:09:00.000-04:00

Chicken and dumplings is not something I ever ate growing up, so I’m not sure you can call it nostalgia per se (which interestingly, according to Wiki, was once a medical condition - I love the random things I learn when blogging) when it’s not a childhood fondness like that. I did have it a few times out at college, when a housemate used to spend her afternoon kindly cooking a house dinner, and she would make the Rachael Ray 30-minute meal version.
But when you want comfort food, this is about it. I’d been thinking chicken soup and somehow wound up wanting this big-time. It’s relatively quick and cheap and easy, but what I also remembered is how the chicken always seemed a bit tough. With all due respect to Liz and Rachael, I kept everything but the chicken for this dish. The chicken I went with whole breasts for poaching. It won't keep you within the 30 minutes, but this, I am convinced, is the ideal in every sense: you’re poaching chicken as you would in a more traditional recipe, which keeps it moist and juicy, but because it’s just the breasts you cut back on the time that a whole chicken would take, plus it’s leaner from skipping the dark meat. Bonus points in that you can buy whole breasts for about half the cost of tenderloins, and if you poach them you take the meat off afterwards which means no raw chicken to handle. I have a thing about raw chicken: I don’t like it.
Bisquick dumplings, I don’t know how to explain. Yes, they’re quick, but logically probably not much less time than from scratch, and I actually do rather like the way they taste, sacrilege or no. They do fall apart made according to the box, especially if you reheat it later on, which is perhaps why RR calls for less liquid in her recipe. Suit yourself on the dumplings. They look rather mushed up in the picture below, but actually they come out quite fluffy, which is a good contrast to the vegetables and creamyish sauce.

This tasted exactly as I remembered it, except much much better. I’m already wanting to make another batch as I write this up.

CHICKEN AND DUMPLINGS
adapted from Rachael Ray and FN

Chicken
Optional: tops of celery leaves, handful baby carrots, 3 garlic cloves (peeled and split), several sprigs fresh parsley, 1 Tbsp butter
4 c fat-free, reduced sodium chicken broth
1 c white wine
about 1.5 lbs split chicken breasts with skin and bone

vegetables (or use pkg frozen mixed vegs, or mix of vegs of your choice)
1 c sliced baby carrots
2 ribs celery, diced
half of a bag frozen whole baby onions
1 heaping cup frozen corn
1 c frozen peas

1 Tbsp olive oil
2 Tbsp butter
2 medium bay leaves
2 Tbsp flour
salt, pepper, and poultry seasoning to taste (I like Bell’s)
reserved quart of poaching liquid (if you do not have a full quart, make up the difference with additional broth or water)
poached chicken

dumplings
2 c bisquick mix
½-2/3 c 1% milk
handful fresh parsley, chopped
tsp or so dried dill

To poach the chicken: if using the optional ingredients, melt the butter in a 3 ½-4 qt pot. Add the carrots, garlic and celery leaves and pan-fry in the butter for about 4-5 minutes (if they start to brown a bit, so much the better). Remove from heat, let cool several minutes.
Scoot the pile of carrots and such to the sides of the pot and place the chicken, skin side up, on the bottom of the pot. Pour the chicken broth and wine over and add in the parsley. The liquid should at least cover the chicken; if not, add a bit more of whatever – broth, wine, water. Remove the chicken to a bowl and place the pot of liquid over medium-high heat. Bring the liquid to a boil, immediately reduce heat to a very gentle simmer, and add in the chicken. Keep at a very low simmer – you should see bubbles in the liquid but they should not break the surface – for 14 minutes. Remove pot from heat and let cool in the liquid in the pot for 30 minutes. After 30 minutes, remove chicken from liquid. Strain and reserve the liquid and discard solids; you should have about 1 qt. When chicken is cool enough to handle, remove skin and bones and chop or shred into small pieces.

Melt oil and butter together in a large stockpot. Add the carrots, celery, onions and bay leaves and sauté for about 5 minutes or until onions are translucent and vegetables are tender. Season mixture with salt, pepper, and poultry seasoning. Add in the flour and stir for 1-2 minutes. Add in the reserved quart of poaching liquid and bring to a boil. Add the poached chicken pieces and stir.
To make the dumplings: stir bisquick mix, parsley and dill together in large bowl. Add the milk and stir. Dollop dough by spoonfuls on top of boiling chicken stew. Reduce heat to medium-low. Cover and cook for 10 minutes. Uncover and cook an additional 8-10 minutes.
Just before serving, mix in the frozen corn and peas and stir gently to warm vegetables and thicken mixture.

Skillet Frittata

2007-04-04T19:41:00.000-04:00

Monday night, Sara stopped by after doing a catering job for my boss. Seeing as how she scored me brownie points - my boss said she was "perfect" - for being able to help her out on such short notice, the least I could do was offer Sara a couch for the night and breakfast for the morning. And I did the least: she came in around midnight, and I promptly went to bed. I am such a lousy hostess.
But the frittata I left for breakfast went over well. Normally, I'd do quiche, seeing as how we both love it. But frittata works much better when you have a lot of eggs, no milk, and vegetables. I had some frozen spinach I just subbed for fresh, either of which you could throw in as you please, but also had some sauteed fresh zucchini I was going to take for lunches and ended up not liking. I have come to the conclusion that almost any leftover vegetable in the refrigerator may be saved by going into quiche or fried rice, and with a little bit more salt to counteract a bitter note and some nutmeg, it ended up on the end of really quite good. This was my first frittata experiment, which I like a lot better than traditional rolled omelets because I don't have to roll it, and the filling is more dispersed so it doesn't have those annoying 'eggy' spots.
I've been reheating leftovers in the morning in the microwave, which suits me well enough. It's a good breakfast/brunch dish (which you could make better-for-you with egg substitute or more veggies), but it could very easily make the transition to the dinner table or fancy-schmancy appetizer parties.

ZUCCHINI AND SPINACH SKILLET FRITTATA
adapted from Joy of Cooking

2 Tbsp olive oil (may need more if skillet is not nonstick)
1 small to medium sweet onion, thinly sliced
1 lb zucchini, thinly sliced
1 c frozen chopped baby spinach
salt and pepper
5 eggs
pinch of nutmeg
1/8 tsp red pepper flakes
1/2 c reduced fat grated Parmesan cheese (yup, the kind in a shaker jar)
1 tsp dried basil
1 tsp dried parsley

In an ovenproof skillet, heat 1 Tbsp of the oil over medium heat. Add the onions and cook, stirring, until golden brown. Add the zucchini and cook until lightly browned, about five-seven minutes. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Add the frozen spinach and stir until warmed through. Remove to a strainer to drain and let cool. Do not wash the skillet.
Whisk the eggs with a tiny pinch of salt, a pinch of nutmeg and the red pepper flakes. Add the cooled vegetable mixture and mix with a fork gently. Add in the cheese, basil and parsley and mix to combine.
Preheat the oven to 350 F or preheat the broiler.
In the same skillet used to cook the vegetables, heat the remaining Tbsp olive oil and tilt the pan to coat the bottom and a bit of the sides. When hot, pour in the egg mixture. Reduce the heat and cook until the bottom is set. Place under the broiler for 30 to 60 seconds to set the top or place in a 350 F oven for about 12 minutes until cooked through. Loosen the frittata with a spatula and slide onto a plate.

Questions of Science, Science and Progress

2007-04-04T18:21:00.000-04:00

Oh blog, it's good to be back.
Lately, the grad school search seems to have sapped all my energy, and with it all my wanting to cook. For someone who likes cooking, and loves eating, this is a pretty major deal. Last week I didn't even try: at one acceptance, one rejection, and 9-hour round trip drive to Ithaca to check out campus and back, cooking and feeling like cooking were not on the agenda.
But then a happy thing happened: Thursday morning, just as I was tired from driving back Wed, angsty about having one school that didn't seem to fit, and so frustrated I was going to swear off psychology altogether and go into something really drastic that I know nothing about rather than something I'm actually good and accomplished at . . . the phone rang and I got my second acceptance. And just like that, my mood switched, and the day - and life - got better almost instantly. It's not a perfect match. It's a place I almost didn't even send in the application. It will give me a really crappy stipend. It's a recognized name, but it won't have the same allure, resources, or credentials as the Ivy. But it feels better, and I credit gut instinct with a lot. I'm still not always sure I'm doing the right thing, but I didn't quite realize until I'd driven five hours away how long five hours can be. Staying local is a big deal, and this would enable me to stay in roughly the same area - though I'm not sure I'll still be a Jersey girl, what with rent on a grad school budget. I am STILL waiting to hear from one place, but given they have eleven days I'm not holding my breath.
But perhaps the best news was that since then, I've felt like cooking and I've enjoyed it. Hurrah!
I do not get the Food Network anymore since I canceled my cable, and most of the time it doesn't bother me, except that immediately after that they put Nigella on. I am slightly enamored of Nigella Lawson ever since I received How To Be A Domestic Goddess from Sara and have aspired to be Nigella Lawson, or at least a domestic goddess, ever since. The other one I miss is Alton Brown. I don't care much for his cookbooks but I adored Good Eats. Rob gets cable and dutifully reports on Alton back to me, and last week he apparently spent a whole show on how to make a tuna steak.
Right then, I wanted a tuna steak. The idea did not go away. I dreamed of gorgeous red ahi or mellow yellowtail, raw or just lightly seared. So Friday night I went off in search of fish over at the local Asian market, and sadly there was no tuna to be had. But they did have a very nice piece of salmon, and I ended up making it the same way I would've done the tuna. And we loved it. Short of eating it in uncooked slices (we're sushi fiends), this is a great way to do it . . . the fish has loads of flavor and doesn't dry out, and it's superquick. I can only imagine how good this recipe is with just-seared tuna.

TOASTED NORI AND SESAME SALMON
adapted from this recipe on allrecipes.com and Joy of Cooking

1/4 c low-sodium soy sauce
1 Tbsp mirin (sweet rice wine)
1 Tbsp honey
2 Tbsp + 1 tsp sesame oil
1/4 c sesame seeds
1/4 nori fumi furikake (a toasted shredded seaweed and sesame seeds seasoning mix for rice; available in Asian markets)
1 1/4 lb salmon fillet
2-3 chopped scallions

In a measuring cup, mix together the soy sauce, mirin, honey, and 2 Tbsp sesame oil. Pour about half into a bowl large enough to accomodate the salmon. Reserve the rest in the refrigerator, covered.
On a large platter, mix together the sesame seeds and nori fumi furikake.
Carefully dip one side of the salmon into the soy mixture, let drip, and press into the sesame and nori mix to coat. Repeat with the other side. Lay on a plate and drizzle the used soy mixture over and around the salmon and press additional sesame and nori mix onto the salmon. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate until ready to cook.
Preheat the oven to 325 F. Brush the bottom of a Pyrex baking dish large enough to accomodate the salmon fillet with the 1 tsp sesame oil.
Heat a skillet (I used nonstick; if you use anything else heat with some oil; be sure to turn on the kitchen fan either way) over medium-high to high heat. Carefully place the salmon into the pan and sear for about 45 seconds on both sides. Immediately remove to the prepared baking dish. Place in the oven and bake at 325 for about 12-14 minutes, depending on the thickness of the fillet and how well you like fish cooked.

Avocado, Red Onion and Mandarin Salad with Orange-Muscat Vinaigrette

2007-03-20T19:04:00.000-04:00

Blogging has become rather infrequent for me these past weeks, I’ve noticed. Nothing personal – it just seems really draining to air the same frustrations about school online as they are in my head, and it also seems to be pretty much the only thing I’m mulling about currently. Not a pretty situation. It gets reflected in the cooking too I think, and the meals seem more ho-hum, nothing to write about. (This morning: coffee, oatmeal. Lunch: stir-fry chicken and vegs. Dinner: whatever I put in the crockpot this morning. Although the new crockpot is pretty darn terrific.) It’s like all my creative expenditure has disappeared from the plate and gone straight to the what-if section of my brain. Oddly enough, the less control I have in those areas the more comfort I want to seek in those familiar areas like the kitchen, and yet I’m exhausted before I begin.
We did manage a good dinner over the weekend, though. I wanted sort of an orange theme and had planned scallops with an orange-zest risotto and a salad. The risotto did not have quite as much of an orange note as I’d envisioned, largely in part because I bullied Rob into using ground white pepper without mentioning it can be a bit kicky and not quite like black pepper. Turns out (a) I sometimes have major problems sharing my kitchen (I love the idea of someone else cooking for me, and actually, he’s really darn good at lots of things that I can’t make properly . . . but I think sometimes particularly in my own apartment I have a touch of inflated ego and alpha chef syndrome) and (b) there’s really not much you can if you’ve over-peppered a dish. If anyone knows any tricks, I’d love to hear them – Google let us down.
The salad worked itself out though, marred only by too-early tomatoes. The orange there came secondary after I found some lovely avocadoes . . . and paging through a Martha book I came across her recipe for an orange-muscat vinaigrette, which was exactly the type of thing I would’ve tried to concoct myself, but with definite ingredients and better proportions. Nothing overly spectacular, but a nice change with the fruit and very pleasant overall.

AVOCADO, RED ONION AND MANDARIN SALAD WITH ORANGE-MUSCAT VINAIGRETTE
vinaigrette adapated from Martha Stewart Living Annual Recipes 2005

1 head Bibb lettuce
1 ripe but not mushy avocado
several paper-thin slices red onion
1 container mandarin oranges sections, well drained
1-2 small ripe tomatoes, diced
2 Tbsp orange muscat vinegar or white balsamic vinegar
1-2 Tbsp orange juice
1 clove roasted garlic, smashed
1/2 tsp Dijon mustard
salt and pepper to taste
~ 1/3 c olive oil

Wash and dry whole leaves of the Bibb lettuce and divide between two salad bowls. Halve and pit the avocado, dice, and place half in each bowl. Divide the onion, orange sections, and tomato between the two. Pour vinaigrette over each salad and serve.
For the dressing: In a small bowl or measuring cup, combine the vinegar, one tablespoon of the orange juice, the garlic, and mustard. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Pour the olive oil in a slow steady stream, whisking the mixture as you do so, until well combined. Taste and adjust with additional orange juice if desired. Refrigerate any leftovers, covered, and re-whisk before using.

Lesser News, and Croque Monsieur

2007-03-16T16:40:00.000-04:00

Week in review: interviews, 1; rejections, 1.

Just found out today I've been rejected by Ivy #2, which is not entirely surprising. The first reason is that I hadn't heard from them yet (apparently, they had made decisions and someone was supposed to tell me a while ago but didn't), and the second is that they don't actually have the program I'm most interested in. I'm not entirely heartbroken but nonetheless, it kind of stinks being denied. One of the not-so-great things of studying psych is you can instantly recognize all your defense mechanisms, such as: I didn't want to go there because I hate the city anyway, and they're not as good as the other program, and besides everybody gets rejections from someplace. These things may be true, but they're not as comforting when you can categorize the thoughts. Darn you, Freud.
On the other hand . . .
Monday was super-exhausting: all-day on-campus interview with another school. A better fit than I’d previously anticipated, and a better program than I’d been giving them credit for. Not the greatest still perhaps, but not bad at all, local to boot which is a huge factor and I’d like to think I was mildly impressive to them. It was also reassuring to know the other applicants hadn’t heard back from some of their places yet either, and so it’s entirely possible my first choice has either not yet started or has sort of wait-listed me. I wrote to them this morning inquiring how that's going and am waiting nervously to hear back . . . and I should hear back from this one next week-ish.
As much as I really wanted to come back and crash Monday with take-out - I have had this undefeatable urge for French fries - I swung by for groceries on the way home and settled on making a really killer sandwich instead.

Croque monsieur, as far as I can understand, is just a really fancy way of saying ham and cheese. Granted, you can be all traditional, and batter the sandwich, or spread it with butter and then grill it, but when you get down to it you can slap the croque monsieur label on variations that have nothing of the sort. And let’s face it, it sounds a lot cooler. But simply ham and cheese wasn’t quite fascinating enough. A layer of garlic mayo (super-good) and roasted asparagus, however, do wonders for the sandwich. Kick your shoes off, relax, and dig in kind of food – just what you need after ten half-hour interviews in heels.

CROQUE MONSIEUR PANINI
Makes one sandwich.

2 slices suitable panini bread: tuscan pane bread, foccacia, anything with a decent crust and crumb
3 Tbsp shredded gruyere cheese
3-4 oz Black Forest ham, thinly sliced (also great with roast beef)
about 7 or so thin spears oven-roasted asparagus (drizzle with olive oil, sprinkle with salt and pepper, and cook at 425-450 F for about 7-8 minutes)
quick garlic mayonnaise

Preheat a panini press on high heat. Spread one side of each bread slice with garlic mayonnaise; season with pepper. On one slice of bread sprinkle 1 Tbsp of the gruyere. Lay the asparagus spears, alternating tips and ends, on top of the cheese. Fold and pile thin slices of the ham on top of the asparagus. Sprinkle with remaining 2 Tbsp cheese. Lay the second slice of bread, mayonnaise side down, on top of the sandwich.
Carefully transfer to heated panini press. Press and hold down on sandwich for about 45 seconds. Release. Keep lid closed to grill both sides for an additional 3-4 minutes, or until sandwich is toasted to your liking. Serve hot or warm.

QUICK GARLIC MAYONNAISE
I read in Joy of Cooking that to simulate the texture of fresh homemade mayonnaise, you can cheat and stir in crème fraiche or sour cream to lighten it. That tip led me to this.

½ c light mayonnaise
½ c light sour cream
6 cloves roasted garlic or to taste

Mix together the mayonnaise and sour cream. Using a blender or immersion/hand-held blender (works great!), blend in the roasted garlic until smooth or nearly smooth and well dispersed. Stir, taste, and repeat with more garlic as desired. Season with salt and pepper if you like. Cover and refrigerate any leftovers. I wouldn't keep this for more than a few days.

News!

2007-03-07T18:59:00.000-05:00

Offers of admission: one! Hooray! Days until April 15: 39.

As of last night, I was officially admitted into my first grad program, an Ivy no less, for the social psych Ph.D. And let me tell you: it feels good. It feels very confusing, and hopefully the options will become more clear as the days progress, but it’s very nice to have an option, and a leverage point. It is exciting and anticlimactic all at once: after three interviews, you kind of have an idea of where you might stand, and after all the anxiety and angst of doing applications and then interviews, in a very odd way the admission isn’t so much coveted as is the knowing of what you might be doing and where you might be doing it for the next several years of your life, and since that hasn’t occurred yet one admission is simply a step. Granted, it’s a freaking huge step, and it might be that way just for me. For everyone who has supported me in any sense, from you fellow bloggers’ notes of encouragement here on the blog and for those of you who have heard it all and more in the past years and months, I appreciate it more than I could ever put it in words and deeply regret that I will not be shutting up about it just yet, and thank you for your as-yet infinite kindness and patience.
To celebrate, I went out and bought a new crockpot, the kind that has the removable insert. This isn’t exactly a celebration, as I’ve wanted one every time I use my ancient crockpot that does not have the removable inside, and determined to get one since I saw they were on sale at Target this week, but somehow it feels more deserved and less of an indulgence (it’s a perfectly functional ancient crockpot . . .) when I tell myself it’s because of a celebration. I am also hoping it will distract me from trying to buy a new handbag as a celebration: for all the fashion sense I lack, I have expensive taste in handbags. I also bought a Swiffer, which I've also wanted for some time now, and thought it perfectly justifiable in that now I will have a way to clean the kitchen floor properly after I've made a lovely mess cooking.

I actually made this beef curry Monday night and am only getting around to posting it now, but that’s ok because now I can tell you that yes, you could reheat it in the microwave and it won’t disintegrate, not even the peanuts. I’m not sure I could say truthfully that as in the case of stews or some soups that curry gets any better when you let it sit for a day or two, but in this case it’s so good to begin with and it certainly doesn’t get any less appealing. I had been somewhat worried that the sauce might overpower it, increase in intensity, but if anything I think with the time the spice decreases just a smidgeon and mellows a bit. I don’t find it problematic but you may want to account for it. I adapted this ever-so-slightly from the Thai cookbook (simply called Thai) my mother found for me in a BJ’s store or similar – I had been skeptical with its origins, but it’s actually quite a lovely book. I used flank steak instead of round because I had it in the freezer, cut back on the curry paste and omitted red chilies because I thought it’d be fiery enough, and though there’s a recipe on the next page I used a good jarred curry paste. Though the sauce says ‘sweet’ with the palm sugar, there’s no real sweet taste to this dish, just smooth coconut milk shocked into flavor with the curry. The recipe will take slightly longer than you may anticipate – all right, it took longer than I anticipated – about 40 minutes, so start it after you’ve started some rice and dinner will come together easily. Personally I think it could use more peanuts but other than that I really loved this. Adjust the heat to your liking, and don’t stand over the pot to breathe in the aroma as you stir it; the steam could sting your eyes and nose.

THICK BEEF CURRY IN SWEET PEANUT SAUCE
adapted from Thai by Judy Bastyra

1 13.5-ounce can coconut milk (regular or light)
1-2 Tbsp red curry paste
3 Tbsp Thai fish sauce
2 Tbsp palm sugar or soft light brown sugar
2 lemon grass stalks, brusied
1 lb flank steak, cut into thin strips
3/4 c roasted peanuts, ground or crushed with a mallet

Pour half the coconut milk in a large, heavy pan. Place over medium heat and bring to a boil, stirring constantly until the milk separates. Stir in the curry paste and cook 2-3 minutes until the mixture is fragrant and thoroughly blended. Add the fish sauce, sugar and lemongrass. Mix well.
Continue to cook until the color deepens. Gradually add the remaining coconut milk, stirring constantly. Bring it back to a boil.
Add the beef strips and peanuts. Cook, stirring, for 8-10 minutes or until most of the liquid has evaporated. Remove the lemongrass stalks and serve hot with jasmine rice. Garnish, if you like, with Thai basil or kaffir lime leaves.

Inspired Leftovers

2007-02-28T21:12:00.000-05:00

Interviews this week, 2; days until April 15, 46.

Just because it's leftovers doesn't mean it has to be uninspired. Fried rice is perfect clean-out-the-fridge food, in the same way that soups and stews are also good ways to face the same thing gussied up. As a singleton, this gets to be a problem. I haven't quite mastered the idea of cooking for one when I can just as easily cook four nights' worth in the same go and often do it for cheaper. This is a good strategy for weeks like this one, with book club on Monday and interview on Tuesday and errands on Wednesday and driving to the boyfriend's on Thursday so you don't have to drive after the science fair on Friday . . . you get the idea. But when you can't face just putting it in the microwave again or feel like freezing it for later, you can always throw it into the frying pan with some new spices and sauce and get dinner, take two. Easily adapatable to whatever's still good in the fridge - meat, veggies, what-have-you - and super-quick.

FRIED RICE

sesame oil
3 garlic cloves, pressed or minced
1 tsp ginger, minced
3-4 scallions, chopped
2-3 cups cold cooked rice
2 Tbsp rice wine
1/3 c egg substitute (equivalent 1 large egg)
2 tsp or so dark soy sauce
3 baby bok choy, separated into leaves and white parts, chopped
about 2 cups snow pea tips
4 steamed Chinese sausages, sliced

In a wok or large frying pan, heat some sesame oil over medium heat until warm. Add the garlic, ginger and scallions and stir-fry about 20 seconds or so. Add the rice, breaking up any clumps, and toss to combine with the oil. Stir-fry for 2 minutes; add the rice wine and stir-fry for another minute. In a measuring cup, combine the egg substitute with 1/2 tsp sesame oil. Make a well in the bottom of the frying pan and pour in the egg mixture. Immediately begin tossing with the rice so that the egg breaks into small clumps or shreds as it cooks. Sprinkle the soy sauce over the rice and add the white parts of the bok choy. Cook for 1 minute. Add the bok choy leaves and snow pea tips and cook, tossing and stirring, for about 1 minute more. Add the sliced sausages and stir to combine, cooking until heated through.

Muffin Monday: Banana-Coconut Muffins

2007-02-23T20:25:00.000-05:00

I generally have bananas in the freezer. This is because inevitably, one of the bananas will toward the end of the week get just too ripe to eat (I'm more of a just-past-green banana girl myself), so I will throw it in the freezer in a bag with the good intention of not wasting it and thinking I will make banana bread when there are more bananas. There are two problems with this strategy. One is that once I have a banana in the freezer, I'm really conscientious with the next batch so that it doesn't happen again, and two is that I've discovered I really don't like banana bread all that much. For some reason I keep the cycle going anyway.
A few years ago I came across a banana muffin recipe I ended up loving, and it has revolutionized this process. Bananas now have a destination, a goal, when they go into the freezer instead, but it's still usually a long stay because the recipe calls for milk and eggs which are not usual staples in my apartment. When on the fortuituous occasion that there are bananas in the freezer and milk and eggs in the refrigerator, in a manner similar to planets aligning, I know there will be banana muffins. As auspicious conditions go, this week there happened to be such an occurrence - nd a perfect opportunity to showcase them in the Muffin Monday event hosted by Elena - so quite happily, now there are muffins.

I am not quite certain what it is about these that makes them to my mind so much different and better than other banana bread/muffin recipes, but I think it's because they are sweeter and richer to begin with and I always add more banana so they are unmistakably banana-y. This time I subbed whole wheat flour in for half the regular flour, because it's good for you and everything, which I can't say I love just as much but they're still delicious. I also threw in coconut shreds, which obliterates any healthful effects from the whole wheat but is really tasty and gives it a different flair. These are moist and dense muffins (with or without whole wheat) and don't rise very high, but they're extremely good. Leftover muffins, if you happen to have any, are good reheated in the oven with butter or peanut butter.

BANANA-COCONUT MUFFINS
adapted from Bon Appetit, March 1999

3/4 c whole wheat flour
3/4 c all-purpose flour
1/2 c sugar
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp vanilla salt or regular salt
3-4 medium-large very ripe bananas
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 tsp almond extract
1 large egg
1 stick unsalted butter, melted
1/4 c 1% milk
3/4 c shredded coconut

Preheat oven to 35o F. Spray a 12-cup regular muffin tin with nonstick cook spray or line with liners.
In a large bowl, whisk together the flours, sugar, baking powder and salt, making sure to break up any lumps from the baking powder with your fingers, to combine.
In a medium bowl mash the bananas (I find an avocado masher works great for this) to a consistency of your liking. Add the extracts, egg, butter and milk and stir gently to combine. Stir in the shredded coconut.
Make a well in the middle of the dry ingredients and pour in the banana mixture. Stir gently until just combined; do not overmix. Divide the muffin mixture evenly among the prepared cups.
Bake at 350 for about 25-30 minutes, or until a tester comes out clean when inserted into the center of a muffin. Let cool in the tin about 5 minutes and then remove to a rack to cool. Eat warm or at room temperature.

Salt and Pepper Cocoa Shortbreads

2007-02-22T18:16:00.000-05:00

Book club celebrates its anniversary in February and though I’ve only been around one year to its eight, it and its members and have been good to me. And, it was a good justification to bake cookies.
These salt and pepper cocoa shortbreads are from Dorie Greenspan’s Baking, and the first recipe I’ve tried from there. I wanted something a little different that would still stand up to bake ahead and bring along and I liked the idea of the spice with the chocolate. Salted caramels after all are notoriously good, and I remember a chocolate pepper cake my sister once baked for New Year’s which we all thought would have been phenomenal had she not misread tablespoon for teaspoon in the pepper measurement.
You don’t get a huge spicy hit with these, but you do taste a lot of chocolate flavor. They’re dry cookies – don’t eat with them without a glass of water at the least, if not some good tea or hot cocoa – and not as finely crumbly nor crisp as shortbread can be, and somehow intensely likeable.
Also very helpful was Dorie’s suggestion of placing the shortbread logs in a cardboard paper towel roll – I used half of a wrapping paper roll – which helps the cookies keep the round shape as they chill. Brilliant idea: they look so neat and perfect, Rob said they look like slice and bake cookies. Which they are, in a sense, but one cookie’s all you need to know that you don't come across these in with the Pillsburys at the store. If the recipe title sounds good to you, you’ll like these cookies.

Lunchbox: Crockpot Red-Cooked Beef

2007-02-22T18:08:00.000-05:00

Interviews this week, 1; people who claim they want interviews, 2; decisions, 0.

I have a love-hate relationship with my crockpot. I love the fact that I can leave it alone and ignore it all day long and the less I look in on it the more rewarded I am in the end. But it is messy, and I really think we could work things through if it had a removable inner pot. This would allow me to wash the crockpot in the sink, properly, like you do with things you cook with, and not have the cord draping all over the place or be concerned the next meal might taste like soap. I don’t know how to explain this to the crockpot, because really, it does a fine job and is in great condition – it’s just that I know there’s so much more convenience possible with another model. I keep thinking I’ll cave and just get a newer one, but I keep trudging back.
The braising purpose was the reason I gave in this week: there really is no edible way to eat a piece of eye of round unless you braise it, and the crockpot is about the best and laziest way to go about it. Red-cooked beef roast isn’t exactly traditional, but it’s a tasty easy choice that makes lots of leftovers. For a few days I ate the meat warm, with some of the thickened juices and a stir-fry of veggies, but today I ate the shredded meat on top of an impromptu salad of raw snow pea tips and baby bok choy, drizzled with some of Trader Joe’s sesame soy ginger dressing, and it was so simple and so good I may never cook bok choy again.

CROCKPOT RED-COOKED BEEF

1 lb eye of round roast
2 tsp five-spice powder
white pepper
sesame oil
3 cloves garlic, smashed
1 Tbsp finely minced ginger
1 can reduced fat, less sodium beef broth
1/2 c lower sodium soy sauce
1/4 c rice wine
2 tsp brown sugar
1 tsp chili garlic sauce
1 Tbsp oyster sauce
2 scallions, cut into two-inch lengths

Pat the beef roast dry and rub on all sides with the five-spice powder and the white pepper to taste. Heat some sesame oil in a pan over medium heat until hot. Sear the beef roast about 2 minutes per side until well browned. Place in a small (3 1/2 qt) crockpot or slow cooker.
Pour over the beef roast into the crockpot the garlic, ginger, broth, soy sauce, rice wine, sugar, chili garlic sauce, and oyster sauce, and stir to dissolve the sugar and sauces. Place the scallions over the top of the beef roast.
Cook on high for 2 hours. As briefly as possible, open the cooker and turn the roast over. Replace lid and continue cooking on low for six to seven hours, or until beef is fork-tender.
Serve, shredded, hot or at room temperature.

Fresh Homemade Ricotta

2007-02-16T21:47:00.000-05:00

FRESH HOMEMADE RICOTTA
adapted from Gourmet, April 2006

1 qt whole milk
1/2 c half-and-half
1/4 tsp salt
1 1/2 Tbsp fresh lemon juice
Line a sieve with a layer of cheesecloth - if you don't have cheesecloth, a large coffee filter works splendidly - and place it over a large bowl.
Slowly bring milk, half-and-half and salt to a rolling boil in a large pot over medium-low heat, stirring to prevent scorching. When the mixture is at a rolling boil quickly stir in the lemon juice, turn the heat down to low, and simmer, stirring constantly, for about 2 minutes until curds form.
Pour the mixture into the lined sieve and let it sit for one hour. If the ricotta is not to the consistency you'd like and the curds seem dry, fold in some of the liquid, a tablespoon at a time, until it reaches the desired consistency. After discarding the remainder of the liquid, chill the ricotta, covered.
Yields about 1 cup.

Sugar High Friday: Milk Chocolate Brownies

2007-02-16T21:12:00.000-05:00

Whew! Getting in under the wire with this one . . . truth be told, I wasn't sure I was going to get to this month's SHF, hosted by Jasmine. But some days feel more seductive than others, and sometimes an inspiration strikes.
Though we've already celebrated Valentine's last weekend, there can never be enough sweet seduction, or seduction by sweets. I found a recipe for milk chocolate brownies, milk chocolate being Rob's favorite, today and decided to give it a go.
I learned you don't try these sorts of things with untested recipes that you decide to double on a moment's thought: the milk chocolate (Cadbury, if you're interested) seized when it was in the butter - one second grainy, the next a lump of brown sitting in the pot in a sea of melted butter - and no amount of mixing or coaxing was going to mix those two. I forged on though I didn't quite know what to expect, as I've never had that problem melting unsweetened or bittersweet chocolate with butter for brownies. Adding in the sugar only seemed to make things worse, but the eggs, wonderful little peacemakers, brought it back into something resembling brownie batter. I was once again stumped when I needed to add the rest of the chocolate - did I want it stirred in until smooth, or should the batter have chunks of milk chocolate throughout? I tried to compromise by stirring until the chunks were smoother and smaller, but still there. The batter was a bit streaky with unincorporated chocolate and rather thick, but it plopped into the pan, and then refused to let itself be spread. Oh dear.
But I'll be darned if it doesn't look like a brownie and smell like a brownie baking. I cut them just out of the oven to get the picture (probably a bad idea, and the cause of the melting whipped cream, but oh well) - they're dense inside, and though the tester came out clean they have a soft, fudgy inside - but this could also be because they haven't cooled properly yet. The flavor is intense, I still think I'd prefer brownies made with bittersweet chocolate, but the milk is an interesting twist and definitely a sweet choice.

MILK CHOCOLATE BROWNIES
adapted from Gourmet, February 2007

2 sticks unsalted butter, plus some for the pan
18 oz. milk chocolate, chopped
1 c packed light brown sugar
2 tsp vanilla
4 large eggs
1 1/2 c flour
2 Tbsp unsweetened cocoa powder, plus more for pan
1 tsp vanilla salt
1/2 tsp baking powder

Preheat the oven to 350 F. Butter a 9x13 inch pan well and dust the bottom and sides with cocoa powder, tapping and shaking the pan to remove the excess.
Melt the butter and half of the chocolate in a 3-quart saucepan over low heat, stirring, until smooth (if it seizes or separates, ignore it no matter how bad it looks, and press on). Remove from heat and let cool to lukewarm. Stir in the vanilla and brown sugar. Add in eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition.
Whisk together the remaining ingredients and then stir into the chocolate mixture. Stir in the remainder of the chopped chocolate.
Spread batter into the prepared pan and bake until a tester in the center comes out with only a few crumbs attached, 25-30 minutes.

A Snow Day, And Soup, Both With Some Detours

2007-02-14T18:41:00.000-05:00

I woke up this morning and checked my email and called work before hitting the shower, but despite the fact that it was still hailing there was nothing announcing a change in status quo. So I hit the shower and got myself fully woken up, which is in fact one of the best ways to ensure that you will then have that joyous little note, and sure enough it announced the delayed opening. So I stuck around here, blogged a bit myself and checked around, which was how I discovered Alanna's Soup, Glorious Soup! event post and figured maybe I could get to it next week. I then spent twenty minutes breaking up a quarter-inch-thick sheet of ice off the car, managed to get to the train station without careening into anything, got on the train and then the subway, trudged up to the office, and greeted the women next door, who told me they were sorry I was in. I said I was too. They said no, really; there's been another email and they closed the center for the whole day. Go home. Which I believe now counts as the Murphy's Law corollary to the shower-delayed opening correlation; that going into work when it's ridiculous is possibly the best way to get the full snow day. I tried not to be too peeved because ultimately they made the right decision, in my humble opinion.
But I figured if I had the rest of the day, it was not going to go wasted. I swung by the grocery store and picked up soup-making materials. There was a slight problem: the recipe called for fresh ricotta, and the only place I've found that is at Trader Joe's, about twenty minutes away and completely out of the question with the roads. So - and here is where we take a slight detour in the soup-making story for just a moment - I decided I'd just make some.
I'd bookmarked the recipe a while back on Epicurious because fresh ricotta is just really, really good (and it never occurred to me that one could make things like that at home) and luckily remembered it vaguely enough to pick up some milk at the store. I didn't remember anything else it called for, but that turned out to be ok. There are some negative reactions on the site, but my experience - with different ingredients and materials - is that it's incredibly easy, yummy, and cheaper than the carton. Definitely would do again.
I felt slightly silly about that, making fresh ricotta but cheating by using canned beans for the soup instead of going full-on, all-out and soaking and boiling, but I won't tell if you won't. The eggplants roasted while I finished a movie and napped on the couch. After that, it's just twenty to thirty minutes to soup.
This soup is really more stew-like than it is soup, and to that end tastes better after even just an hour's sitting. It's a good soup freshly made; it's nearly extraordinary if you let it rest. I went back for a second bowl later and reheated it; the chili flavor is more pronounced and really helps to mix the smokiness of the eggplant with the smooth undertons. I liked it much better on that second bowl and am hoping that after a day or so it's even more improved. My only real disinclination with it is the color. I'd been hoping for something resembling a white chili, but it's more murky, flecked with eggplant seeds and bits of seasoning, especially after pureeing. If you're ok with a homely, humble soup, this will be perfect to cheer your winter nights.

CREAMY EGGPLANT, CANNELLINI BEAN AND RICOTTA SOUP
adapted from The Naked Chef by Jamie Oliver

3 large eggplants
1 Tbsp olive oil, plus several teaspoons for garnishing
4 cloves garlic, minced or pressed
1/2 medium sweet onion, finely chopped
2 small dried red chilies, crushed
1 tsp dried parsley
1 tsp dried basil
1 15-oz can cannellini beans, drained
2 c chicken broth
2 Tbsp sherry
1/2 x 2" piece Parmesan rind (not waxy. optional)
1 recipe fresh ricotta cheese
salt and black pepper

Preheat the oven to 475 F. Prick the eggplants with a knife, lay them on a rimmed baking sheet, and bake them whole for about 40-45 minutes.
Heat the olive oil in a deep pan and cook the garlic, onion, chilies, parsley and basil unti the garlic is softened but not colored (about 3 minutes or so). Cut the baked eggplant in half and scrape all the insides, breaking them up as you go, into the pan. Add the beans and broth. Bring to a boil and then simmer for 20 minutes.
Remove about half the soup, puree it and return it to the pot. Stir and season well. It should be creamy, gutsy, and reasonably thick. Season the ricotta with salt and pepper, break it up and stir it into the soup.
I served as Oliver recommended, with some olive oil drizzled over the top and warm toasted bread.

Because Sometimes You Feel Like A Nut

2007-02-14T08:19:00.000-05:00

So much for diet and exercise.

When I got up yesterday it had been a pretty crappy night, and was shaping up to be a fairly crappy day. I haven't baked, really baked, for just the sheer enjoyment of it in what felt like forever and it seemed like a really good time to remedy that. It's not really that I want cookies, it's that I want to bake cookies. Usually this means I'll end up eating a lot of cookies anyways, because then they're there, but this isn't always a good thing so I try to find other people or places to bring them to. I'd planned on baking later in the week for Val, Rob's awesome landlady who gave us free tickets to the Philadelphia Auto Show, and I think the majority of these are going to go to her. I guess I'm lucky at least I'm an emotional baker and not say an emotional shoe shopper, because cookies and brownies you can give away but people might think it weird if I started offering them new stilettos or something.
Somehow during the day it came into my head that the unopened jar of cashew butter sitting in the pantry needed to be made into cookies. I bought it a week or two ago - it's one of those things I've always been intrigued by but seemed unnecessary until that shopping trip - but didn't really know what I was going to do with it despite the fact that I can think of tons of things to do with regular ol' peanut butter. Most prevalently yesterday, cookies came to mind, and particularly really absolutely disgustingly rich comfort food cookies, and it just kind of snowballed. I started out with my favorite pb cookie recipe and added in all the things that sounded essential: honey-roasted cashews, dark chocolate, and butterscotch chips for that sort of caramelly flavor.
Incidentally, cashew butter tastes like the equivalent of a culinary soulmate: I opened the jar and it was like, where have you been all my life? I don't believe it's that tasty and no one told me before.

CASHEW-CASHEW BUTTER COOKIES
adapted from Betty Crocker's Cookie Book

2 c packed brown sugar
1 c cashew butter
1 c (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
2 large eggs
2 1/2 c flour
1 1/2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp vanilla salt
1 c honey-roasted cashews
1 c dark chocolate chips (I used Ghiradelli 60%)
1 c butterscotch chips

Heat oven to 375 F. Beat together the sugar, cashew butter, butter and egg in large bowl with electric mixer on medium speed. Whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt in a medium bowl. Stir into the cashew butter mixture. Dough will be slightly stiff. Carefully fold and mix in the cashews and chocolate and butterscotch chips.
For giant cookies: using an ice-cream scoop or 1/4 c measure, scoop out balls of dough and place on ungreased cookie sheet. Flatten slightly with the palm of your hand. Bake about 11 to 13 minutes or until light brown. Cool 5 minutes; remove from cookie sheet to wire rack. Makes about 21 giant cookies.
For still-hefty-but-more-manageable cookies: shape dough into 1 1/4-inch balls and place on ungreased cookie sheet; flatten slightly if desired. Bake about 8-10 minutes or until light brown. Cool 5 minutes, remove from cookie sheet to wire rack. Makes about 5 dozen cookies.

Retro Recipe: Cinnamon-Nut Rolls

2007-02-08T20:25:00.001-05:00

Last year for Valentine's Day I baked five or six dozen #16-scoop size cookies. They were all ginormous, and there were an awful lot of them. This was no easy feat considering at the time I only had one baking sheet. And I guess I kind of went overboard, because we ended up eating cookies for at least two months. Oops.
This year, I took heed from Good Housekeeping:
. . . everyone (particularly men) likes something good and simple.
I forewent the oodles of cookies in favor of another good bakery item, and a simpler one to make with the retro recipe: cinnamon-nut rolls. Cinnamon is highly appropriate as a food of love: it may be an aphrodisiac, depending on who you ask; it may be even more of one when paired with the scent of baked goods, and finally, in sentimental value, I know cinnamon rolls already go over well.
These were not exactly what I had in mind.

They smell really, really good. But I was not quite pleased when I pulled them out of the oven: at best, I think they look like misshapen and burned miniature hot dog rolls, and at worst they look like turds. Not particularly romantic either way.
For the sake of blogging I ate one, part warm. They are actually quite tasty if you eat them all but straight out of the oven, and if you're not superficial about your food. These don't taste like cinnamon rolls - they taste like biscuits rolled in cinnamon. But that's really not such a bad thing, if you like biscuits and you like cinnamon. They are not worth a second glance fifteen minutes out of the oven once they've cooled. Probably the tastiest part is the bits of buttered pecans and hardened cinnamon sugar left on the baking pan - so maybe you should just skip the biscuits. Leave the nuts whole, toss them with butter and then the cinnamon-sugar mix and then bake on a sheet for about 10 minutes: you'll get all the tantalizing smells and the best part of the recipe. I'd hoped these rolls could do for a tantalizing breakfast-in-bed, but probably you should stick with Pillsbury in a can. After all, what's more swoon-worthy than no extra dishes to wash?

CINNAMON-NUT ROLLS
from The Illustrated Good Housekeeping Encyclopedic Cookbook, 1965, Vol.1

Start heating oven to 425 F. With hands, roll each refrigerated pan-ready biscuit into stick 4" long. Roll in melted butter, then in this mixture: 1/4 cup brown sugar, packed; 2 Tbsp granulated sugar; 1/2 tsp cinnamon/ 1/4 c chopped nuts. Bake 10 min.

tags: RRC #6

Claudia's German Sauerbraten

2007-02-06T19:48:00.000-05:00

I happen to work in an office next door to Claudia, who is from Germany by way of the rest of the world. When she gets homesick one of the things she misses most is the sauerbraten, which I’ve determined to be like pot roast but even better, and naturally one day while we were talking I had her write ingredients (zutaten – isn’t that a great word?) down for me.
The list has been on my refrigerator since last July, and I have had very good intentions of making it, but was not fully spurred on until the recent influx of ridiculously cold weather, which all but demands some warm and rich comfort food, and Claudia’s return after the holidays. Because she knows I adore these sorts of things, I have a lovely little box of tea from her and also a package of actual authentic German-as-it-gets pickling spice. Just look at that – she is so Charlie’s Angel turned gherkin-making domestic.

Sauerbraten was in the long list of things I’ve heard of but never made, and the spice package was a perfect incentive – so I had Claudia iron out proportions with her mum and gave it a go. Claudia’s version uses red wine and balsamic vinegar, which gives almost anything a really, really good start. I improvised slightly on her directions for use of a crock-pot because I’m lazy – I think mine could’ve used more braising time to tenderize, but the flavor is absolutely there and yummy. The meat is slightly sweet, slightly sour, a bit peppery, and is even better the next day. Your kitchen may smell like vinegar and onions for a night, but these things happen.
Claudia was very particular on a few points, so I’ll pass them on to you as well: Liquid for the brine should be 3 parts plain to 1 part vinegar (red wine and balsamic, water and plain white vinegar, broth and cider vinegar, etc), and sweetened with 1 Tbsp to about 250 mL/about 1 cup of total liquid. Taste the brine before you put the meat in. The longer you brine the beef, the better. Whether cooking it on the stove, in the oven or in the slow cooker, you must absolutely brown the meat on all sides first. And finally, don’t go overboard and make sauerkraut with it, because there will be too much sauer for one meal.

CLAUDIA'S GERMAN SAUERBRATEN

brine
1 pickling spice package or about 1/2 jar pickling spice*
1 large bay leaf
1 medium onion, cut in large dice
6 cloves garlic, cut in thin slices
½ c balsamic vinegar
1 ½ c red wine
2 ½ Tbsp sugar
pinch of salt
beef
2 ¼ lb untrimmed meat suitable for pot roast, such as bottom round, eye of round or brisket
1 Tbsp olive oil or bacon grease
1 ½ - 2 onions, thinly sliced
about 1/3 – ½ c juice (any juice you like – apple, orange, etc will work. Claudia likes mango nectar because then you don’t have to thicken the sauce. I couldn’t find any, so I used the white cranberry peach in my fridge.)
2-3 Tbsp flour mixed in a slurry with 2-3 Tbsp water
small amount (1/4 c or so) light sour cream

In a nonreactive saucepan, mix together the brine ingredients. Bring to a boil to dissolve the salt and sugar and stir. Let simmer for three minutes. Remove from heat and let cool, about fifteen to twenty minutes.
Pickling spice in brine looks like this:

Place the meat roast in a large Ziploc bag set in a bowl. When the brine has cooled, carefully pour the brine over the roast into the bag. Turn to coat. Seal the bag, pressing out the air. Place in the refrigerator and turn the bag over every 12 hours or so. Let the meat brine for two-four days.
Remove the meat from the bag and place on a doubled paper towel; pat the meat dry with paper towels. Strain the brine through a sieve and reserve about 1 cup of the brine.
In a medium skillet, heat about 1 Tbsp of olive oil on medium – medium-high heat until hot. Brown the meat well on all sides and ends, about 2 minutes per.
Place the onions in the bottom of a slow cooker. When the meat is browned, place the meat on top of the onions. Pour in the reserved brine and the juice. Cover the slow cooker and cook on high for 4 hours or until fork-tender.
Remove the meat from the slow cooker and tent with foil to keep warm. Stir in the flour mixed with water. Cover the cooker again and cook on high for about 15 minutes. Remove sauce from the slow cooker and stir in small amount of light sour cream to thicken and to taste.
Cut the beef in long thin slices with the grain and serve hot with the sauce. Store leftovers in the sauce.

*If you use a jarred pickling spice, try to get one that does not contain cinnamon. You can also mix together your own spices for pickling. The package Claudia gave me contains mustard seed, peppercorns, dillseed, crumbled bay leaf, ginger, cloves, allspice, and two small dried red chilies.

Onion Soup

2007-01-31T19:44:00.000-05:00

I made this last Thurs for a Friday night dinner with broiled steak and twice-baked potatoes with goat cheese (bit of an indulgent meal to start the weekend off right). I've been wanting onion soup for quite some time and was inordinately pleased with this as a first effort. Credit goes to Rob for the crowning touch, though. When he was on business in Italy, a ginormous hunk of real Parmesan came across his way and has since found itself in my refrigerator after I begged him to save me the rinds so I could make minestrone later on. When I mentioned Friday's proposed menu he asked if this was the reason I wanted the rinds. It hadn't been, but what a brilliant suggestion. After sitting for a day and reheated slowly with a chunk of Parmesan rind, the soup was incredible and umami-rich. It's a slight annoyance letting the onions caramelize, but rewarding in the end. You want to make this.

ONION SOUP
adapted from Gourmet, December 2006

roughly 2 lbs onions, thinly sliced (plain yellow worked wonderfully)
1 large bay leaf
3 sprigs of thyme (optional - I didn't use them, but would have had I been able to get them)
3/4 tsp salt
1/2 stick butter
2 tsp flour
3/4 c red wine (I used a good Merlot)
4 c good-quality low sodium beef broth
1 c low sodium chicken broth
1/2 c water
grinding black pepper
1 heaping tsp Dijon mustard
2-3 tsp balsamic vinegar
2x1-inch piece Parmesan rind (not waxy)

In a 4-5 qt Dutch oven or similar heavy pot, melt the butter over medium-low heat. Add the onions, bay leaf, (thyme sprigs) and salt and toss gently to combine. Cook slowly over medium to medium-low heat, stirring frequently, leaving the pot uncovered, until onions are very soft and a deep golden brown, about 45 minutes.
Add the flour and cook, stirring, for 1 minute. Stir in the wine and cook for 2 minutes. Add the broths, water, pepper, mustard, vinegar and Parmesan rind and simmer uncovered, stirring occasionally, for 30 minutes. Serve hot.

Lunchbox: Spicy Shrimp and Cucumber-Chickpea Salad

2007-01-24T17:35:00.000-05:00

Successfully completed grad school interviews, 1; number of other interview requests, 0; days to wait until hearing back, seemingly endless very large number.

I made this salad last night for dinner and have lunches now for the rest of the week. Super-simple recipe, but really freaking good. There's definitely a hit of spicy in it but not overpowering so you're not breathing fire afterwards. Somewhere there's a bitter note - I think I may have gotten a not-quite-right lime - but overall I'm gushing over it. I didn't think I'd eat today because of the interview stomach butterflies but I pulled this out of the fridge and downed every bite. It's tasty whether served warm or cold.

SPICY SHRIMP AND CUCUMBER-CHICKPEA SALAD
adapted from two combined Self magazine recipes, via Epicurious

salad
1 large cucumber
1/2 c plain nonfat yogurt
1/4 tsp chili powder
1/4 tsp garam masala
1/2 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp dried cilantro
sugar to taste (I used 1 1/2 tsp)
zest of 1 lime
1 15-oz can chickpeas, rinsed and drained
1/2 c julienned roasted red bell pepper
juice from 1/2 lime
1 tsp minced ginger
2 scallions, thinly sliced
1/8 - 1/4 red onion, thinly sliced
1-2 bags baby lettuce blend
shrimp
2 tsp olive oil
2 tsp sesame oil
2 tsp minced ginger
3-4 cloves minced garlic
12 oz frozen medium to large size shrimp, thawed
2 Tbsp chili garlic sauce
1-2 Tbsp lemon juice

For salad: Halve the cucumber lengthwise and scoop out seeds with a spoon. Cut each half into quarters lengthwise and dice. Place in a colander and toss with some salt; let drain for at least ten minutes.
Whisk together yogrut, chili powder, garam masala, cumin, cilantro, sugar and zest; set aside. Gently combine chickpeas, bell pepper, lime juice, ginger, scallions and red onion in a bowl. Add drained cucumbers. Pour the yogurt dressing over and toss to coat thoroughly. Season with salt and pepper to taste.
For shrimp: Heat olive and sesame oils in a medium skillet over high heat. Add the ginger and garlic and saute about 45 seconds. Add shrimp and chili paste, tossing to cook evenly, about 3-4 minutes until shrimp are pink and cooked through. Add lemon juice, stir, and remove from heat.
For each portion: arrange a bed of lettuce on a large plate or bowl. Top with 1/4 of the chickpea-cucumber salad and drizzle a little of the dressing around the greens. Top with 1/4 of the shrimp. Yields 4 servings.

What's In Your Basket?

2007-01-22T21:42:00.000-05:00

Rachel (she of the Food Maven and also the highly enjoyable Coconut & Lime) kindly invited me to participate in her What's In Your Basket? event to share my grocery list. Would I? Gladly. I love grocery shopping. Sometimes my friends make fun of me. I'm actually trying to cut back.
I would like to preface, even disclaim, this by saying I feel this is a rather misleading grocery trip, for several reasons. One, I went after book club Monday night meaning it's late and the store - Genuardi's, about a minute drive - didn't have everything I wanted but I'm also not about to make another trip elsewhere at this hour for nonurgent things (such as ground turkey) I nevertheless would have bought had they been there. If I end up at Trader Joe's later in the week I'll be sure to addendum the damage to my wallet. Two, some meal components are things already in the pantry and I'm still working off the impulse buys from the last time (Quaker Quakes Rice Cakes which are single-handedly going to destroy my diet - I'm kind of addicted - and Nabisco 100-calorie cookie packs in three unnecessary flavors, I am so looking at you) and so the totals are down. Three, and perhaps most importantly, I realized my loot looks really deceptively healthful. I'm not a vegetarian, but you might not know that from this run. And lest you get the wrong impression about all that produce, I'm eating leftover takeout pizza as I blog. Mmm, greasy cheesy goodness.
Ok. I feel better.
Here we go:

2 cans of chickpeas, on sale for fifty cents each
8 oz bar Nestle Chocolatier bittersweet chocolate and 1 can evaporated skimmed milk, for this month's Sugar High Friday
1 container of fake eggs, on sale for 2.49. I like them best perhaps because they don't taste like real eggs. For many that's probably a downside to them, but it's a bonus for me.
1 small container plain nonfat yogurt
1.83 lbs bananas
2 kiwi
1 lime
1 cucumber
2 bunches of scallions. Don't leave the grocery store without them.
2 not-even-close-to-ripe avocadoes, 2 for $3
2 green-skinned pears
5-lb box of clementines, and they better be seedless for 7.99
2 bags baby lettuce blend, on sale for $2 each
1 bag baby spinach, on sale for $2
8 oz fat-free feta block. Buy the block and crumble it yourself and you get 2 oz more than you would buying pre-crumbled for the same price.

grand total: 39.25.

I Dream of Quiches

2007-01-18T20:02:00.000-05:00

Tasty things come in small packages.

Sara and I made quiche this past weekend, and although I had it for breakfast three days straight, I could not get it out of my head. We went overboard with the veggies, so much so that we had it to split the filling among two crusts, and it came out just the way I like eggs: combined with so much other good stuff you barely notice them. But even all the other things - zucchini? Normally I don't even like zucchini. But nestled in there with a tangle of spinach and othher vegs, it was perfect.
Too perfect. I sent Sara home with the other quiche in an effort to restrain myself, but all for naught. I came home from work in the kind of mood that only cooking cures, got out my too-cute-for-words mini pie pans, the eggs and our leftover vegetables (sadly, all the zucchini went), and got on with it.
Not half an hour later, I had four tasty small packages and breakfast for the next few days. Better yet - the crustless version means it's virtuous (right? right?) and ridiculously easy. Sara, I owe you one for the inspiration.

CRUSTLESS VEGGIE AND MOZZARELLA MINI-QUICHES

3 large eggs, room temperature
1/2 c 2% milk, room temperature
3 oz reduced-fat mozzarella cheese (the string cheese kind comes in 1-oz portions)
1 Tbsp flour
1/2 red pepper
1/4 red onion
2 cloves garlic
1 ripe tomato, thinly sliced
salt
white pepper
2 tsp italian seasoning blend
nonstick cook spray

Preheat the oven to 400 F. Set four miniature pie pans on a baking sheet and spray each pan lightly with nonstick cook spray.
Finely dice the pepper and onion and mince the garlic. Place in a small nonstick skillet over low heat and cook for about five to seven minutes or until beginning to soften. Season with salt and white pepper to taste and the 2 tsp italian seasoning. Cook for one minute more, then remove from heat to cool.
Shred the mozzarella and toss in a small bowl with the flour.
In a large measuring cup, whisk together the eggs and milk. When the vegetables have cooled, gently add to the egg mixture and stir. Stir in the cheese-flour mixture. Stir well as you divide the quiche mixture among the four prepared pans evenly. Slip one tomato slice under the surface of each quiche until just covered with egg and top with another slice.
Bake the quiches at 400 F for about fifteen minutes, or until set. Let cool in the pans at least ten minutes. Gently slide a small spatula around the sides of the pie pans and slide onto a plate. Yields 4.

Scrap Iron Chef Indian

2007-01-18T18:57:00.000-05:00

I hosted the charming Mindy K. this past weekend in a girls’ day in. She brought a bottle of peach wine and took us out for ice cream, and I stuck to the things I do best: gossiping, cooking, and falling asleep during movies (was anyone else severely disappointed by the Pierce Brosnan version of The Thomas Crown Affair? I’m glad I didn’t miss much).
City suburbs can be tough for girls with discriminating palates and low budgets. So I challenged myself into making the meals we would’ve had, had we gone out to eat, and seeing what I could make the most of from my pantry and buying the least to supplement it. After perusing her hypothetical eating options, Mindy chose Coriander Indian Bistro and I started getting creative. Allez cuisine, indeed.

Spending just over ten bucks (woo woo) I gathered together a semi-authentic Indian dinner: chicken tikka masala, I learned, is apparently actually a British-Indian concoction, and the coconut milk is possibly just shy of blasphemy. The sticking point though was the garam masala – I didn’t have it, didn’t find it anywhere, and wasn’t going back to the grocery store after I realized there actually isn’t cardamom in my spice stash. I subbed in five-spice powder, which though cardamom-less, had fennel, ginger, clove, cinnamon and star anise, all ingredients which I’ve found in one version of garam masala or another. Min said it tasted as good if not better than the restaurant tikka masalas she’s had. As I’d never eaten it before, I can’t say the same, but it’s darn tasty stuff. I can’t decide if the cucumber salad needs more of a kick or not, but we nearly ate all of it anyhow: the peanuts are awesome and make it entirely different from the Thai cucumber salad I also love.
Yesterday while cruising Reading Terminal Market on a work errand, I located the elusive garam masala. My work handbag and my kitchen cabinet are now both wonderfully spicy-smelling, and I’m one more spice prepared for my next scrap Iron Chef experience. Bring on your challenges!

CHICKEN TIKKA MASALA
adapted from allrecipes.com

Marinade
1 ½ tsp cumin
1 tsp cinnamon
1/8 tsp or so red pepper flakes
ground black pepper
1 tsp salt
heaping ¼ tsp coriander seeds, crushed
½ tsp turmeric
½ tsp five-spice powder
1/8 tsp nutmeg
1/8 tsp ground cloves
1 c plain non-fat yogurt
1 T lemon juice
1 T minced ginger
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 ¼ lbs boneless skinless chicken breasts, cut into thin 2-inch long strips
sauce
8 oz tomato sauce
1 c light coconut milk
1 bay leaf
1 tsp cumin
1 tsp paprika
few dashes curry powder
cilantro (I just threw it in, maybe a tsp?)

For the marinade: mix all spices and stir until combined well. Stir in the garlic, ginger, lemon juice and yogurt and mix well. Place the chicken strips in a large plastic bag and pour in the marinade. Turn the chicken to coat. Seal the bag, squeezing out the air, and refrigerate for eight hours.
Preheat an indoor electric grill to medium.
In a saucepan set over medium-low heat, mix the sauce ingredients and heat, stirring, for twenty minutes. Do not boil.
When the grill is hot, remove strips and shake off marinade. Place chicken on the grill and cook for three minutes. Turn and cook for an additional three minutes. Check the chicken, cooking longer if necessary. As chicken strips are done, remove them from the grill to the saucepan and cook for two minutes, turning to coat in sauce. Serve hot.

INDIAN CUCUMBER-PEANUT SALAD
adapted from allrecipes.com

2 large cucumbers
salt
¼ red onion, thinly sliced and separated into strands
1 Tbsp olive oil
1 Tbsp lemon juice + more to taste
1 tsp sugar
½ tsp cilantro
3 Tbsp dry-roasted peanuts

Wash the cucumbers, cut off the ends, and halve lengthwise. Scoop out the seeds with a spoon. Thinly slice and place in a colander in the sink or over a bowl. Add some salt and toss to combine. Let the cucumbers drain in the colander ten minutes.
In a bowl large enough to accommodate the cucumbers, whisk together the olive oil, lemon juice, sugar and cilantro. Add the onion strands and drained cucumbers and toss to coat. Sprinkle with chopped peanuts.

Lunchbox: Tuna, Tomato & Haricot Verts with Mustard Vinaigrette

2007-01-10T21:49:00.000-05:00

This week's sandwich alternative comes by way of my new Martha cookbook and by my being sadly seduced by the bizarrely warm weather into thinking it was summer enough to make it. As luck would have it, the climate turned over the weekend, and today I ate my lunch at my desk staring at errant snow flurries.
Ultimately, I've decided that while the haricot verts make an acceptable workday lunch, they are far better suited to not traveling and being served still warm-ish, instead of needing to be refrigerated and sort-of-brought-to-room-temp. In addition, the tuna was frozen and thawed, which was good because it was cheaper and easier (you can thaw as much as you need at a time, and cook up a bit at a time throughout the week instead of all at once so it’s not gross still eating this on Friday) and still tasty, but I have to confess to being utterly superficial here. Tuna when not pumped full of all sorts of weird preserving things changes color when frozen. I suppose I should be grateful that I didn’t ingest all the weird preserving things, and know that it’s natural and good and all that, but a little (ok, a lot) of me can’t help but feel that this would be so much more appealing with tuna seared just so on the outside and left all red and rare on the inside even if it's through artificial means. So overall chalk this up to experience, and when actual summer comes around I'll try it again.

However, the mustard vinaigrette is really freaking good - I don't think I've ever wanted to eat green beans so much in my life, and for that it's bloggable. Martha's version didn't have quite enough mustard or vinegar for me, but with some adjustments I wanted to lick the bowl. Yum.

TUNA, TOMATO AND HARICOT VERTS WITH MUSTARD VINAIGRETTE
adapted from Martha Stewart's Living Annual Recipes 2005

1 lb tuna fillets
2 lbs frozen haricot verts
2-3 good-size ripe tomatoes
2 large shallots
2 Tbsp red wine vinegar
1 1/4 heaped tsp Dijon mustard
8 tsp olive oil
salt and pepper

Heat a nonstick pan over high heat. Pat the tuna dry and spray with nonstick cook spray or lightly brush with oil. Season with salt and pepper. Sear the tuna on both sides until cooked to desired doneness(if serving right away, go rare; if it needs to travel, medium-rare - it will hold up better). Remove to a plate.
Finely chop the shallot and season with salt and pepper. Stir in the red wine vinegar and let sit for fifteen minutes. Whisk in the mustard. Whisk in the olive oil, one teaspoon at a time.
Place the haricot verts in a large dish with several tablespoons of water. Cover and microwave on high for about seven minutes until cooked but still crisp. Drain well. Seed the tomatoes and dice them, or dice them and leave in a colander for several minutes to drain off some of the water.
Mix the haricot verts with the vinaigrette gently in a bowl. Add in the tuna and tomatoes and sprinkle with additional vinegar to taste.
Yields a workweek's worth of lunches.

Chili-Vanilla Shrimp with Avocado Salsa

2007-01-10T19:40:00.000-05:00

When I first began blogging, I was really excited because I had convinced myself, much in the same way that when younger I convinced myself that simply getting a keyboard for my birthday would enable me to play the instrument and achieve rock-stardom, that I would now become an absolute whiz with digital photography, because, hey, I had a camera and now routinely things to take pictures of. Easy as pie – actually, I think pie is easier.
I still have not mastered the art of food photography, and I still haven’t become a rock star. The keyboard has a bunch of dust on it, and although the camera is well-used sometimes I beseech you just to trust me on these things, because I know they’re so much better than I make them look. It's not the food's fault.

I made this over the weekend, when Rob was craving seafood and I had the urge to put vanilla salt (all credit and thanks to Jasmine at Confessions of a Cardomom Addict) in something other than baked goods. And I had avocadoes and tomatoes, and after a bunch of Googling I ended up making a mixture of things which worked wonderful together (the failures I don't let you read about!) and totally loved. I like the contrast of a little bit spicy, a little bit sweet in the shrimp with the rich avocado cut by the lime. The only change I'd make next time would be to use larger shrimp - I think they have better flavor to begin with.

CHILI-VANILLA SHRIMP WITH AVOCADO SALSA

shrimp
12 oz peeled deveined shrimp, thawed if frozen
1 c white wine
2 Tbsp grapeseed oil
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
3/4 tsp vanilla salt
1/8 tsp white pepper
2 cloves garlic, minced or pressed
splash - about a tsp - lemon juice
1 tbsp chili powder
salsa
4 Tbsp lime juice
2-3 Tbsp grapeseed oil
3 cloves garlic, minced or pressed
1 1/2 tsp salt
small amount minced jalapeno to taste
3 scallions, finely chopped
2 tsp cilantro
2 small-medium ripe tomatoes
2 medium-ripe avocadoes (it helps if they're still somewhat firm)

For the shrimp: in a large bowl, mix together the wine, oil, extract, s&p, garlic, lemon juice and chili powder. Add in the shrimp and turn to coat. Cover and refrigerate at least one hour but no more than six.
Make the dressing: In a measuring cup, mix the lime juice, oil, garlic, salt, jalapeno, scallion and cilantro. Let sit at room temperature for at least half an hour to meld.
When ready to cook: Seed and dice the tomatoes and place in a medium bowl. Halve, pit, and dice the avocado and add to the bowl. Whisk the dressing to mix and pour over. Carefully, without smushing the avocado into a mass of green, toss the mixture together to coat. Sprinkle over a little additional lime juice to prevent browning.
Drain the shrimp from their marinade and cook in a very hot pan until shrimp are pink and cooked through.
Serves 2 really hungry people.

Lamb With Eggplant and Onions

2007-01-05T20:27:00.000-05:00

It's no secret I’m a fan of lamb. That being said, it’s often not around because of either the price or it comes in massive legs that I never know what to do with. Apparently, a while back I had the foresight to buy one of those said massive legs on sale and cut it into pieces to use separately. I thought there were no more left, until one came bounding out in a freezer avalanche the other night and nearly clobbered me on the head. Finding lamb in the freezer, especially when it does not actually hit you in said avalanche, is kind of like rooting through your closet and discovering a purse or jeans you left twenty bucks in one night – what a great surprise!
I love this stir-fry of lamb (I’ve done beef in the past, which is also good here) and eggplant because I love both major components of it, and because their use here in the stir-fry is semi-Asian and semi-spicy. There’s no need to do anything annoying with the eggplants either: no skinning, no salting, and if you watch the pan carefully over the high heat relatively little oil used for a vegetable that can soak it up like a sponge, and so I think you get a much cleaner and more smoky eggplant flavor. The whole thing takes about forty-five minutes (minus time for the baking soda if you use it; I liked it here for tenderizing particularly because it was frozen and thawed meat), which will give you just enough time to make some brown rice for going with it. It makes what looks like a pile of food for one, but you’ll either have meals for a few days or find yourself sneaking cold pieces of the sauced eggplant from the fridge, which trust me is oh-so-tasty.

LAMB WITH EGGPLANT AND ONIONS
adapted from Williams-Sonoma Kitchen Library: Stir-Fry

Baking soda (optional)
1 lb boneless leg of lamb, cut into small chunks or slices suitable for stir-frying
1 egg white
1 Tbsp cornstarch
2 Tbsp soy sauce
3 Tbsp rice wine vinegar
3 Tbsp hoisin sauce
2 Tbsp chili sauce with garlic
2 Tbsp broth or water
1 tsp toasted sesame oil
2 eggplants, total weight about 2 ¼ lbs give or take
2 small to medium onions
5 scallions
~ 5 Tbsp vegetable oil

Optional: Place the lamb slices in a bowl and cover with baking soda to cover. Toss and rub in the baking soda until all is lightly covered. Refrigerate for at least 15-20 minutes or up to a few hours. When ready to begin, carefully rinse all baking soda residue from the lamb in a strainer under cold running water and shake dry.

In a bowl, mix together the egg white, cornstarch and soy sauce to dissolve the cornstarch. Place the lamb in the bowl and turn to coat well with the mixture. Cover and refrigerate for at least 15 minutes.
In a small bowl or measuring cup, mix together the rice wine vinegar, hoisin sauce, chili sauce, broth and sesame oil.
While the lamb is marinating, rinse the eggplants and cut off either end. Split lengthwise and cut each half into sticks, each about 2-3 inches long and a ¼-inch thick. Set aside.
Peel the onions and cut lengthwise, then slice each half into thin half-moon slices. Set aside in a separate bowl. Cut off the ends of the scallions and then cut each into lengths of about 2 inches and set aside.
Heat 1-2 Tbsp vegetable oil in a large skillet, wok or frying pan over high heat. When the oil is hot but not smoking, add about half of the eggplant. Cook, tossing and turning every 20-30 seconds for about five minutes, until the eggplant is cooked all the way through. Remove to a large bowl and repeat with the second half of the eggplant, adding a bit more oil if needed.
Lower the heat to medium and add a scant Tbsp of oil. Add the onion slices and cook, tossing and turning so they don’t brown too much, until hot and still just a little crunchy, about five minutes. Add the scallion pieces and cook, turning, for another thirty seconds. Remove to the bowl with the eggplant.
Add 1 Tbsp of oil to the pan and increase the heat back to high. Add the lamb in their marinade to the hot pan, tossing in the oil so they don’t stick, and cook until browned on all sides, about five minutes. Lower the heat to medium-high. Quickly stir the reserved sauce and add to the pan. Add in the eggplant and onion mixture and mix together with the lamb and sauce, turning to coat. Cook, turning, for about 2-3 minutes until all is heated through and sauced. Serve hot.

Lunchbox: Salad with Grilled Marinated London Broil

2007-01-05T20:19:00.000-05:00

I’m not usually a fan of London broil, seeing as how it has a tendency to be monstrously tough, but there is something to be said for its good beefy flavor and relative cheapness. Back before the holidays, I’d tried to find flank steak but ended up having to settle. Armed with a slew of good reviews for the marinade both on Epicurious and the Food Network, I set out the ingredients. One day of marinating turned into two – and I’ve come to the conclusion that I would never let the London broil go for anything less than that, and never cook it longer than medium rare at most. Had it for dinners back before the break and froze the rest to use now for lunchtime salads.
The leftover beef slices got thrown cold into a colorful mix of romaine, radish slices, carrot shreds, scallion and tomato and topped off with TJ’s sesame soy ginger vinaigrette, which pairs well with all the flavors in the beef. Aside from the two days to marinade, which I found made an exceptional difference to improve taste and texture when using such a cheap cut like this, it’s an absolute snap. I love this marinade.

GRILLED MARINATED LONDON BROIL
Straight from Gourmet, May 1994

2 to 2 ½ lb London broil, trimmed
4 large garlic cloves, minced
4 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
4 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
3 tablespoons Dijon mustard
1 1/2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
1 tablespoon soy sauce
1 teaspoon dried oregano, crumbled
1 teaspoon dried basil, crumbled
1 teaspoon dried thyme, crumbled
1/2 teaspoon dried hot red pepper flakes
2/3 cup olive oil

Place the London broil in a large Ziploc bag. Mix all marinade ingredients in a measuring cup or bowl and whisk together well. Pour over the meat. Press the air out of the bag and seal. Set the bag on a plate or in a dish and refrigerate for 2 days in there, turning the bag over every 12 hours or so.
When ready to go: preheat your grill and remove meat from marinade; let the meat stand for a bit to take the chill off (this will help to give a more accurate temperature reading on the meat thermometer). Pat dry with paper towels and rub each side with a little vegetable oil. Grill meat to desired doneness. Let stand 10 minutes before slicing.

Christmas Eve, and More Biscotti

2007-01-05T19:50:00.000-05:00

Back into the new year, hello '07, and back into the swing of things with cooking! Hoping you all had lovely holidays . . .
Though Christmas is now past, I can’t let everything go by without putting up some of the food memories.
My family’s big on food, family and tradition at the holidays, and though it’s evolved some to accommodate my numerous discovered allergies and my parents’ recent adoration of South Beach, Christmas Eve dinners have remained relatively the same since my childhood. I wouldn’t have it any other way - there's something so comforting about the familiarity, and in having the family traditions.
For appetizers, there’s smoked salmon with red onion and capers, herring, shrimp with homemade cocktail sauce and in more recent years breaded calamari (it took so long one year to do hand-cut, hand-breaded that we’ve caved to sensibility and sanity and just buy Contessa frozen – it works for me well enough). This year I brought along the leftover black pepper parmesan biscotti: draped with smoked salmon, it’s a thing of beauty.
Every year, my father relates the story of going home with my mother back in college when they were dating, and helping her mother, my grandmother, grate the potatoes for potato pancakes. He now uses a Cuisinart to do the dirty work, but this marked his 34th year of helping or making the pancakes. They’re never quite the same year to year, but they’re always phenomenal. Dinner is broiled flounder or shrimp scampi and potato pancakes. Vegetables, while always there, are sort of an after-thought to our stars of the show.Dessert this year was phenomenal, above and beyond. My mother puts out whatever goodies she gets from her students, my father makes miniature mince tarts in a muffin tin. This year my friend Sara, who joined us for festivities, brought home an absolutely delectable bread pudding with cherries in port and white chocolate sauces from Mumford’s.
It’s been my job since high school, when I received a copy of Williams-Sonoma’s Cookies and Biscotti, to bring chocolate chip biscotti. Last year I worked with a bit of a chocolate drizzle on top and was feeling the need for something different, a new tweak, and came up with these: they’re enhanced by cinnamon and employ one of my latest baking favorites, cacao nibs.
Christmas Day, whatever there is for dinner at my aunt's, there is leftover scampi and kielbasa before. It is simply not quite Christmas without kielbasa. Preferably, real Polish kielbasa. Sometimes they will travel an hour or more out of their way for the kielbasa. We’ve had some poor ones before, not quite up to par, but this year’s came from my mother’s cousin, possibly by way of a farmer’s market somewhere. It was excellent: honest real smoked kielbasa, actual chunks of pork, peppery and garlicky, cooked my mother’s way with tons of dilled sauerkraut. I’m hoping we’ll score some more of it for Easter, which is the other big kielbasa occasion during the year.

Between everything else in the course of the days, I can also say I’m now a proud owner of the it book Baking: From My Home to Yours by Dorie Greenspan, and given everyone else’s raves can’t wait to break it in. Next year's biscotti might come from there; for now, I'll leave you with these.

CHOCOLATE CHIP BISCOTTI WITH CINNAMON AND CACAO NIBS
adapted from Williams-Sonoma Kitchen Library: Cookies and Biscotti

2 c flour
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
2 tsp cinnamon
1/8 tsp vanilla or regular salt
1/2 c unsalted butter at room temperature
1/2 c firmly packed light brown sugar
1/2 c sugar
2 eggs
1 12-oz bag (about 2 c) dark/bittersweet chocolate chips
3/4 c cacao nibs
cinnamon sugar (1/4 c sugar mixed with 3/4 tsp cinnamon)

Preheat an oven to 325 F and butter two baking sheets.
Sift together the flour, baking powder, cinnamon and salt in a bowl; set aside.
Combine the butter and sugars in a large mixing bowl. Mix on high speed until light and fluffy. Mix in the eggs, one at a time, and beat until light and fluffy.
By hand, mix in the chocolate chips and cacao nibs. Add the flour mixture and mix by hand just until incorporated.
Divide the dough in half. Place each half on a prepared baking sheet. Lightly flour hands and form each half into a log, about 3" wide and 3/4" high. Sprinkl;e the loaves well with cinnamon sugar; press gently into the top.
Bake until firm to the touch, 25-30 minutes. Remove from the oven and let cool for 5 minutes. Leave the oven set at 325.
Using a spatula, carefully transfer logs to a large cutting board. Use a serrated knife to cut on the diagonal into slices about 1/2" thick. Arrange the slices cut-side down on the baking sheets and bake until bottoms are brown, about 10 mintes. Remove from the oven and carefully turn slices over. Bake until the bottoms are brown, about 10 minutes. Transfer to wire racks to cool.
Yield: about 3 dozen.

Biscotti As the New Little Black Dress

2006-12-14T22:49:00.000-05:00

Rob and I are traveling down this weekend to the fabulous casa de Mindy K. (and roommate Mallory) for a holiday cocktail party. It's pretty major - he's even promised to dig out a tie for the event, and this is a man who hates ties with a passion and a vengeance, so much to the point that he was going to petition to ban them in the office. I for one am rather excited, because I like ties. Then again, I don't have to wear one.
I did, however, have to find just the right hostess gift for the event: a homemade edible, able to withstand travel, and suitably dressy enough to impress for the occasion. These beautiful, bite-size biscotti caught my eye, and I am oh-so-glad.

Better than a traditional cracker or cheese straw, savory biscotti is a new avenue for me - but I already have plans to make them again next week to bring home for Christmas Eve nibbles. Like the quintessential little black dress, these are going to be my new go-to for swank functions and events. They'd be wonderful with just about any appetizer spread, fancy or not, but I think they'll be right at home debuting at a semi-formal affair. The small biscotti are crisp and golden-brown, flecked throughout and on top with coarse pepper and shreds of Parmesan to offset the spice. Not much more time-consuming than regular biscotti - they do take a bit, but well worth the investment.

PARMESAN BLACK-PEPPER BISCOTTI
just barely tweaked from Gourmet, December 2006

1 Tbsp and 2 tsp whole black peppercorns
4 c all-purpose flour
2 tsp baking powder
2 tsp salt
2 1/4 c grated Parmesan (I used a Grana Padano)
1 1/2 sticks (3/4 c ) cold unsalted butter, cut into small cubes
4 large eggs
1 c whole milk

Put oven racks in upper and lower third of oven and preheat oven to 350 F.
Place 2 cups of grated Parmesan into a large bowl. Using a pepper mill to produce coarse grinds, grind 1 Tbsp of the whole peppercorns into the bowl; toss to mix. Whisk in the flour, baking powder and salt into the cheese mixture and make sure it's well combined. Blend in the butter with a pastry blender until the mixture resembles fine meal. Whisk 3 of the eggs with the milk and add to a well in the flour mixture. Stir with a fork until a soft dough forms.
Turn dough out onto a lightly floured surface and quarter dough. Flour hands and form each quarter into a slightly flattened 12-inch-long log (about 2 inches wide and 3/4 inch high). Transfer logs to 2 large ungreased baking sheets.
Grind the remaining 2 tsp peppercorns into a bowl with the remaining 1/4 c cheese and toss to combine. Whisk remaining egg and brush some over logs, then sprinkle tops of logs evenly with cheese mixture. Bake, rotating the sheets 180 degrees and switching position of sheets halfway through baking, until logs are pale golden and firm, about 30 minutes total. Cool logs to warm on sheets on a rack, about 10 minutes. Reduce oven temperature to 300 F while logs are cooling.
Carefully transfer a warm log to a cutting board and cut diagonally into 1/2-inch-thick slices with a serrated knife. Arrange slices, cut sides down, in a single layer on baking sheet. Repeat with remaining logs and transfer slices to sheets. Bake, turning over once, until golden and crisp, 35 to 45 minutes total. Cool biscotti on baking sheets on racks, about 15 minutes.
Keep in an airtight container at room temperature.
Mine yielded a little less than the given estimate - maybe about 4 1/2 dozen biscotti.

Retro Recipe: Scarlett O'Hara

2006-12-13T21:20:00.000-05:00

A Scarlett O'Hara, according to legend, was created in 1939 as a tie-in or tribute for Gone With The Wind, and the first drink created for that purpose. (There is also a site I found that suggests it may actually have been more like the 1950s, and for promoting cran juice instead of the movie, but this is less interesting and so I'm ignoring it.) This was the first time I'd learned of the drink, but I was instantly captivated by the name and the playful use of Southern Comfort.
This month's Retro Recipe Challenge is Boozy Holiday. I've determined that a Scarlett in hand is perfect for the holidays - with it you can conjure up Scarlett's willful selfishness and wonderful denial of reality: "I can't think about that right now. If I do, I'll go crazy. I'll think about that tomorrow." If it's been quite the distressing day you may start to channel your inner Rhett Butler: "I'm very drunk and I intend on getting still drunker before this evening's over." And of course, it gives you license to say quite freely, "Frankly my dear, I don't give a damn!" to almost anything - and (feel like you can) get away with it. All very good mantras to get you through.
My first attempt at a Scarlett came from Webtender (1.5 oz each Southern Comfort and cranberry juice, 1 oz lime juice), which turned out to be wayyy too limey for my taste - and I like lime. I evened mine out with just a touch more of SoCo and filled the glass with cranberry juice, which seemed to make an admirable drink, but you can also check here and here for other suggested proportions. I also made mine with light cranberry juice already lurking around in the fridge, and it amuses me to dub it a Scarlett O'Hara in a Corset.
Classy-sounding and classic, suitably retro, somewhat scarlet, and boozy-sweet with a tart kick going down, I highly recommend it.

Tag: RRC 5

Lunchbox: Broccoli Rabe, Cannellini and Chicken Sausage

2006-12-12T20:20:00.000-05:00

Application status: DONE for Friday, minus the receipt of transcripts (slightly worrisome). Days until next due date: 27.

I haven't had broccoli rabe in ages, but got a major craving for it last week. So be it, I said, and went off in search of the rabe.
The only times I've had broccoli rabe was how my mother made it, and she got the idea from an Italian coworker who simply steamed it in the microwave and then sauteed it in uber-garlicked olive oil and finished it with fresh lemon juice. Anemia runs in my family, so we indulged any leafy green veggie ideas, even though the rabe seemed to differ vastly in bitterness depending on the batch.
Oddly enough, the dish I ended up going for never used broccoli rabe at all; it had escarole, but it was one of my mother's favorites as well. I guess in some senses that makes this comfort food, with all the home memories flooding back, and that was probably more what I really wanted. I blame the applications for my sudden overbearing nostalgia.

My mother's dish, which I believe but am not certain hails from Joy of Cooking, was an oriechette pasta dish, with crumbled pork sausage, cannellini and the escarole. To adapt it for the lunchbox, I nixed the pasta and focused on the broccoli rabe itself as the main component. I kept the cannellini, but switched to chicken sausage, and presto, homecooked hearty winter meal for the week, and it turned out to be exactly what I wanted.

a work in progress: beans and greens in a tupperware throne.

The broccoli rabe has a really minerally taste to it but this one isn't bitter - I don't know whether I can attribute this to my awesome cooking skills or whether it's the batch. This particular one was already washed, cut, and bagged - I'm slightly apprehensive about bagged vegs at the moment, given all the press this year, but this does make the whole task infinitely easier. The disadvantage is you then cannot cook the stems separately from the leaves, but it's not troubling me any. Crucial to this are the lemon juice and saltiness, both of which reduce the bitter taste of the broccoli rabe.

BROCCOLI RABE, CANNELLINI AND CHICKEN SAUSAGE

2 Tbsp olive oil
2 12-oz bags pre-washed and cut broccoli rabe
2 Tbsp lemon juice plus more as needed
1 15-oz can cannellini beans, well rinsed and drained
3/4 c reduced sodium low fat chicken broth
5 chicken sausages (12 oz total), any flavor, but I like garlicky or Italian-style ones for this
reduced-fat parmesan cheese
salt and pepper to taste

In a large pot heat the olive oil over medium-high heat. Add the broccoli rabe, as much as will fit in the pot at a time, stirring to wilt it down so you can add more - if you haven't got a large enough pot (I used a 5 qt sautuesse) just do it in batches, and add it all back to the pot once cooked.
Meanwhile, start the chicken sausages in a grill pan or skillet over medium-high heat. Grill or brown well on all sides.
Sprinkle over the lemon juice and season well with salt or pepper, toss to combine. Pour in the chicken broth and add the beans to the pot, mix well. Let the mixture come to a simmer, reduce heat until at a gentle simmer, and cover the pot to let cook for just on three minutes (there may be some liquid left; add it in spoonfuls to your container to keep each portion moist when reheating for lunch). Carefully taste and adjust the lemon and pepper. Remove broccoli rabe mixture to a bowl to cool a bit.
For each portion: take the broccoli rabe mixture and sprinkle in some of the parmesan; mix well. Slice one of the chicken sausages and add to your container. Cover when reheating.

Close the refrigerator door - there's salad dressing!

2006-12-06T19:31:00.000-05:00

This post has two purposes: to wax poetic about how absolutely wonderful clementines are, and to brag that I made salad dressing.
First off, the clementines. They have to be my favorite winter fruit, and are doubly exciting because no citrus fruit has yet to win me over quite like them. I can never get into oranges fully because they take too much effort for too little reward, tangerines have seeds, grapefruits have their moments but not enough of them, and while I love lemons and limes I can't eat them quite like a clementine. No, I am convinced that clementines are pretty much darn near perfection, easy and quick to peel, generally seedless, sweet as anything, and still fruit, therefore, it can't be a bad thing. I was talking with Sara about this last night and we agreed pretty much the only downfall is that they have yet to figure out how to get them year-round.
Now that I've got that out of my system . . .

The other winter fruit I adore are cranberries. I generally like really tart things, so whole fresh cranberries don't bother me and I like storing them in the freezer, where they keep for ages, so I can make cranberry scones and muffins (and I know I want to get to Peabody's Cinnamon Cranberry Cake and Rachel's Cranberry Bread, and right now I'm going through a loaf of Cranberry-Dark Chocolate Chip Pumpkin Bread - yum yum yum) throughout the year. But there's not much of a venue for poor cranberries outside of cranberry sauce and baked goods.
Enter food processor. Food processors are my equivalent of a power tool: I don't use it nearly as often as I might want to, though it's indispensable when I need it, and really, it's kind of a thrill to lug out this big huge thing that makes a deep loud noise and finishes the job in seconds. Though that's probably just me.
Though I originally made the dressing for a salad with apple slices and baked goat cheese, as I discovered last night it is also fantastic tossed in a salad with some clementine slices, scallions, reduced-fat parm and walnuts - looks a bit psychedelic, but tastes great. I do recommend making it at least a day ahead, so the tartness comes out nicely - if you're making it to serve right away, I'd reduce the oil down to about 1/2 cup.

CRANBERRY VINAIGRETTE
adapted from Bon Appetit, November 1995

1/4 c fresh or frozen and thawed cranberries
1/4 c orange muscat champagne vinegar
1 large shallot, chopped
1 Tbsp brown sugar
1 tsp Dijon mustard
3/4 c grapeseed oil
salt and pepper to taste

Puree cranberries in processor until smooth. Add the vinegar, shallot, brown sugar and mustard and process until well blended. With processor running, gradually add oil and process until well blended. Transfer to bowl. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Refrigerate, covered, for at least a day before using. Whisk well before serving.
Yield is about 1 1/4 cups dressing.

Baked Is Better

2006-12-04T17:36:00.000-05:00

Gosh, it feels like it's been a while. I wish I could blame it on being busy with the grad applications, the first round of which are now due in twelve days, and say I've been running here and there frantically trying for last-minute polishing of boasts . . . but to be perfectly honest, I alternate between an alarming panic and a blissful apathy towards applications, and have not really looked at them at all since the last round of personal statement edits. However I feel about them at the given time, busy doesn't really describe it.
It occurred to me I just haven't done much cooking these past two weeks. This is, in part, from knowing that I'd get in from Erie superlate after Thanksgiving, not have the time to cook and so relied on leftovers from the freezer all last week. But this is also in part due to the lame, half-assed effort I've been making to not be so lazy when I get in from work at night. This has resulted in less time in front of the computer, less time at the stove, and more time, ironically, in front of my television, kickboxing and Pilateing my way along with the woman on the screen. This marks an landmark exciting week seven of that, and I've peppered in some changes in eating habits, which has led me to the conclusion that (a) everything I know about food cravings and monotonous diet is absolutely true (b) there are definitely not enough low-fat reduced-sodium soups on the market and (c) reduced-fat mozzarella, especially when it comes in those nifty string cheese forms in perfect pre-packaged one-ounce servings, is really and truly offensive to the dairy industry as a whole.
Happily, I have discovered Hungry Girl, and she is showing me the alternatives that don't suck.
I won't lie to you - I was somewhat intimidated initially. At first glance, the moniker evokes some really awful superhero image I still can't quite get past. At first read, she has Rachael Ray's insane enthusiasm, peppering words like "Whooo!" into reviews of fat-free ice cream and throwing out recipes for mashed faux-tatoes.

But I really have to give it to her on the onion rings. As soon as I saw her description, I wanted them so bad. While they're not quite her version given what I had on hand (and I don't know how that alters them nutritionally), they're still the baked-not-fried and lighter than the usual, so it seems a good start. Usually, baked-not-fried is an awful tease of a food for me, because it doesn't come close enough to mimicking the food to be satisfying. Her replacement and alteration technique I don't think would work for everything (in my mind, there is simply no point to calling it a chicken sandwich if there's no chicken), but she is absolutely right here - these are super-easy, and actually better than the fried ones. I kid you not. I even went ahead and double-dipped some (egg, breadcrumb, more egg, more breadcrumb) but preferred the single-coated ones. Double-dipped look more like typical onion rings, but single-coat is crunchier.
Amazing.

Dishes of Comfort: Tuna Noodle Casserole

2006-11-15T19:45:00.000-05:00

Ivonne of Cream Puffs in Venice and Orchidea of Viaggi e Sapori joint-hosted the Dishes of Comfort event to blog about meaningful culinary comfort. Comfort food can be a little difficult to define. There's no shortage of things I'll turn to when I'm feeling that need (they don't call it emotional eating for nothing), including probably most prominently these days sushi and chocolate.
But my childhood comfort food absolutely has to be tuna noodle casserole. It's one of those dishes I think that you're innately not supposed to like, especially as a child. But I've always loved it, and in particular my mother's version. I can't really say why, and it's not linked to any one particular memory food-wise or other. It's certainly nothing gourmet, nothing requiring great culinary demand, and given that I won't ordinarily eat tuna out of a can kind of strange. But I could - and certainly have been known to - eat it for breakfast, lunch and/or dinner. On breaks when I'd come home from college, I'd always request it, and often my parents were nice enough to make a separate pan for me to take back.
Their version was creamy with cheese, a bit crunchy from the vegetables, and slippery noodles were stuck all in between. I have my mother's recipe stuck in between pages of a cookbook somewhere, but I learned the basic proportions ages ago - my job used to be opening the cans of tuna, and then I graduated to chopping, then stirring, and somewhere along the line I could make it on my own. It's as good as I remember, and as always, even better with lots of Old Bay or salsa on top.

TUNA NOODLE CASSEROLE

1 12-oz box mafalda noodles or lasagna bits
1 large onion, finely diced
4-5 ribs celery, finely diced
2 cups frozen peas
1 7-oz jar roasted peppers, drained and chopped
2 cans condensed cream of celery soup
16 oz low-fat sharp Cheddar (such as Cabot Light)
1/3 c chopped fresh parsley
worcestershire sauce to taste
white pepper to taste
4 cans water-packed tuna
4 Tbsp butter
2/3 c dry breadcrumbs

Preheat the oven to 350. Spray a deep 9-10x13 pan with nonstick cook spray.
In a large pot of boiling salted water, boil the noodles according to package directions until al dente, about 8-9 minutes. Drain well and toss into the prepared pan.
Meanwhile, place the onion and celery in a skillet with a bit of oil. Saute until beginning to soften. Add the frozen peas and cook for about four minutes. Add the vegetables to the pasta. Add the chopped peppers to the pasta.
In a separate pot, melt together the soup and cheese. Stir in the parsley, worcestershire sauce and white pepper. Add the drained tuna, flaking it apart with a fork, and stir well to combine. Pour the cheese sauce over the noodles and vegetables, and mix well. Smooth the surface.
In the skillet used for the vegetables, melt the butter. Stir in the breadcrumbs until the crumbs are well buttered to ensure they do not burn. Carefully spread the breadcrumbs over the surface of the casserole.
Bake, uncovered, for about 30 minutes.

Tag: dishes of comfort

Practice Makes Pies: Part III, We Have A Winner

2006-11-14T20:12:00.000-05:00

It's getting down to the wire for Thanksgiving - how did November disappear so quickly?
Given the lack of success with last week's pie, I was determined to make one more effort and hopefully evade goopiness. Let's recap:
The crust thing was also really starting to get to me. I pre-baked, I partial-baked, and this time I thought, less effort - we'll see what happens and I didn't bake the darn thing at all. I tried out one more recipe, a basic butter flaky pastry crust from the Essentials of Baking. It came together rather well, had an even appearance, and rolled out dutifully enough. I shielded it from the beginning of baking. The crust didn't shrink, and it didn't overbrown. Certainly, it seems, not baking is the way to go for pecan pies.

The recipe itself became sort of a Hail Mary last effort. I couldn't decide on a particular recipe, so I took the parts that sounded best and just assembled them all together. Thankfully, this is not too difficult an effort with pecan pie, which seems to remain largely the same in terms of ingredients and differs only with respect to proportions. The one tip I'd really like to pass on was from the first effort with Paula Deen, who mixes the melted butter with the sugar before adding other ingredients. Not only does this make the sugar easier to mix with everything else, it also ensures that the butter does not unmelt and harden into little clumps if for instance the eggs are not fully at room temperature. Without the butter seizing like that, the mixture is easier to stir and the butter is more evenly distributed in the filling. I'm a fan.

I used light brown sugar and corn syrup because I very much liked the caramel buttery taste of the last unfortunate pie, but also because they were what I had on hand. Contrary to what I would've thought here, it doesn't result in a much lighter filling - which is a good thing, it looks like what I imagine pie should look like. There's no cross-sectional pictures so you'll have to take my word, but the filling held on its own, slicing beautifully. Joe, my taste-tester this time around, noted that it seemed if anything just slightly overbaked, but this is easily remedied and I'll take it out just a bit sooner. ladies and gentlemen, I'm convinced of this one.

PERFECT PECAN PIE

unbaked 9-inch pie crust
2 1/2 cups pecan halves
4 Tbsp butter
1 c packed light brown sugar
1/2 c light corn syrup
3 large eggs, room temperature or close to it
1/2 tsp vanilla salt or regular salt
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 Tbsp bourbon

Toast the pecans in a skillet over medium heat until they are fragrant, about five to seven minutes, turning every so often so that they do not brown or burn. Remove from heat and let cool.
Preheat the oven to 350.
Measure the sugar into a large bowl. Melt the butter and add to the sugar; stir until the butter has been absorbed. Add and mix in the corn syrup, eggs, salt, vanilla, and bourbon until the mixture is smooth. Add the toasted pecans and gently stir to coat.
Pour the mixture into an unbaked 9-inch pie crust. Place a pie shield or place strips of foil over the edges of the pie to prevent over-browning. Bake the pie in the 350 oven until the filling has set (if you're good enough, you can go by whether the middle jiggles or not; I erred last week and so this time tested the filling by inserting a knife in the center), about 45-50 minutes. Remove the pie pan to a rack to cool. Allow to sit at least an hour before slicing and serving.

Five-Spice Char Siu

2006-11-14T19:54:00.000-05:00

At any given dinnertime I feel like there are at least eight million things I could do with a pork tenderloin. Absolutely marvelous stuff.
I had been going back and forth between two recipes, but settled on this one, in part because I was really craving the soba noodles to go with it. It's one of those things that ends up being more Asian-inspired than Asian itself, but this doesn't bother me - it came remarkably close to the strips of pork hanging in the butcher area at my favorite Asian grocery store, and that's good enough for me.
Be sure to put enough water in the bottom of the pan so the drippings don't burn.

FIVE-SPICE CHAR SIU
adapted from Simple Chinese Recipes

2 tsp five-spice powder
2 Tbsp sugar
2 Tbsp oyster sauce
2 Tbsp hoisin sauce
2 Tbsp reduced-sodium soy sauce
1 tsp chili sauce
2 tsp sesame oil
2 Tbsp light rum
2 Tbsp black bean garlic sauce

2 pork tenderloins, each about 1 lb

3/4 c or more boiling water

Mix the marinade ingredients together. Place the pork tenderloins in a large Ziploc bag and pour in the marinade. Squish it all around to coat and seal, pressing out the air. Refrigerate and let marinade for at least 2 hours.
Preheat the oven to 425 F.
Place the tenderloins in a rack on a baking pan, reserving the marinade. Place the pan on a rack in the oven and pour the boiling water into the bottom of the pan. Roast at 425 for about 15 minutes.
Brush the pork on all sides with the marinade and turn the pork over. Reduce oven temperature to 350 F. Let roast for another 15 minutes.
Turn the oven off and let the pork sit in the hot oven for another 10 minutes. Remove, slice, and serve.

Lunchbox: Chickpea-Kidney Salad with Parsley, Lemon and Dried Tomatoes

2006-11-08T20:44:00.001-05:00

Psych GREs: Done.

The weekly effort against sandwiches was sustained.
Salads have been a tricky thing as of late, and I have to confess I haven’t been reaching for the lettuce lately what with all the don’t eat this, don’t eat that FDA restrictions. So I set my sights on looking for distinctly different, non-lettuce salads.

I like this because it looks like a summer’s burst of color on days that have been all too dreary with the rain and the early darkness (daylight savings is sometimes just really depressing). What’s also good is with all the canned and jarred ingredients, I’m still getting vegetables at a time when the peppers and tomatoes have not been at their brightest in the produce section.
To sum up: all the things a good lunchbox should be – quick, healthful, easy, and good for the whole week. To cut back a bit, I used the bagged dried tomatoes instead of oil-packed ones and cut the oil for the dressing in half. I also spiked mine a bit with more seasoning as I think it needs the spice to wake it – and me – up, but that said it’s missing just a touch of something, more cumin, maybe some lemon zest, to give it the real zip I’m looking for. Even so, it’ll join the lunchtime rotations.

CHICKPEA-KIDNEY SALAD WITH PARSLEY, LEMON AND DRIED TOMATOES
adapted from Bon Appétit, July 2002

1 15.5 oz can chickpeas
1 15.5 oz can kidney beans
1/2 c chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley
1/3 c thinly sliced dried tomatoes
1 12-oz jar roasted red pepper, thinly sliced
1 bunch/6 scallions, thinly sliced
1/4 c lemon juice
2 Tbsp olive oil
2 garlic cloves
~ 1/2 tsp dried hot red pepper
1 tsp ground cumin
cucumber

Rinse and drain the chickpeas and kidney beans well and place in a large mixing bowl. Add in the chopped parsley, tomatoes, roasted red pepper and scallions and mix gently to combine. Pour over the lemon juice and olive oil. Press the garlic cloves directly into the bowl Sprinkle over the hot red pepper and ground cumin. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Mix gently to combine well and refrigerate.
For each lunch serving: I use about ½ of a medium to large cucumber daily with the bean salad, but don’t like adding it in directly because it will go all watery. The night before or the morning of, peel, seed, and dice ½ cucumber and add in to your portion of salad.

Practice Makes Pies: Part II, Thomas Keller

2006-11-07T19:20:00.000-05:00

The second trial of pecan pie-making was set last week. Originally, I’d planned on going with the filling recipe from Joy, and at the last minute perusing the internets last week I found a pie recipe from Thomas Keller. With more pecans, more eggs, and more sugar, it just seemed so lusciously over-the-top that I scrapped the plans for Joy and moved on.
Like the previous pie, I encountered some difficulties.
Let’s start with the crust: this time around, I decided I wanted to make a cream-cheese crust. It sounds rich, tangy, and was touted as remaining tender no matter what you did. Sounds good to me. The crust itself was easy enough to mix, or so I thought – when I shaped it into a disk, I kept noticing mottled patches in the dough – but I’d cut it in to the required texture. The dough also seemed noticeably ornery to roll out the following day; it didn’t tear, but it didn’t seem to want to move anywhere either. The crowning insult came when I tried to pre-bake it again. I thought I’d be smart, clever, and merely pre-bake the crust for several minutes so it wouldn’t burn like the last time. After five minutes in the oven, I removed the pan and took a peek. The entire crust, so prettily edged around the pan, had completely slipped down the sides and looked greasy. I almost stopped right there.
Inadvertently, it ended up making a pretty pie – with no upper crust edging, the filling rose even with the top of the crust and looked very full. This was an illusion. Once cut, the pie gushed filling and drooped. The outside held, but towards the center the pie was goopy. I thought it had a rather nice caramelly flavor to it, but overall it didn’t do it for me, and it didn’t quite pass with Rob or Joe either.

Good points on this pie include the high rise of the filling, the mild flavor, and that the pecans on top can be meticulously arranged (not shown) to be pretty if you’re so inclined because they’re not mixed in with the filling. Detractions include the filling that’s more sauce than set (it improved after being cut and let sit for a day past that) and the fact that because the pecans are not mixed with the filling, they don’t have a crunchy sugary coating on them. A good choice if you're not finicky about really pretty slices, but it won't be coming to Erie.

THOMAS KELLER'S PECAN PIE
adapted from Thomas Keller via NYMag

crust for a 9-inch pie
2 1/2 c pecan halves
4 eggs
1/4 c granulated sugar
1/4 c light brown sugar
1/2 c light corn syrup
1 c brown sugar corn syrup
2 Tbsp butter
1 tsp vanilla
1/4 tsp salt

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Coarsely chop half the pecans and set aside. Combine the eggs and sugar in a bowl, then add the corn syrups, butter, bourbon, vanilla, and salt, and mix together until smooth. Add the chopped pecans. Pour the mixture into a 9-inch pie crust. Arrange the remaining pecan halves over the top and bake in the oven until the crust is golden and the filling is firm to the touch, about 40 minutes (I had to let mine go about five minutes more, but it may not have been enough. Cover the top with the foil if the pecans are browning too much). Allow to cool for about an hour before cutting.

Retro Recipe: Susan's Macaroni, Tomato, and Cheese

2006-11-02T19:32:00.000-05:00

When the Fall Favorites Retro Recipe Challenge came along, I was tempted by the roast chicken picture, and toyed with the idea of potpies, but really I was in the mood for baked, casserole-y, and cheesy goodness. Don’t get me wrong – I think cheesy goodness goes down admirably any time of year – but as the leaves change, winds blow ferociously, and it gets darker every evening, hearty comfort food sounds particularly comforting.

I recently had the excellent good fortune to find at our local library annual sale a near-pristine, full three volume set of The Illustrated Good Housekeeping Encyclopedic Cookbook (a total steal at three dollars!) from 1965. I thought it would be excellent for retro challenges and the sheer amusement factor. It has not disappointed me, with some truly atrocious pictures, or rather good pictures of atrocious things, and entertaining recipe categories such as The Stag Party and recipes like Banana-Ham Casserole, Cheese Sauce.

The macaroni and cheese hails from its pages, and the only snafu encountered was with the cheese itself. I had difficulty finding the ‘process Cheddar’ it required, which apparently is different from process cheese food or process cheese product. The book also notes that Cheddar is "sometimes called American or American Cheddar" - to me, there is a world of difference between Cheddar and American cheeses, but perhaps I am wrong.

There were only pre-packaged singles of American, which I could have melted, but it seemed kind of like a pain. The Velveeta, which I figured would be next best, only came in a huge 2lb block. I finally settled on reduced-fat cheddar, one because it was the right size and five bucks cheaper (retro thriftiness did me in) and two because although I am sure process Cheddar is not reduced anything, low-fat cheese was more likely to give a plasticy texture. However, 8 oz. of the cheese gave me about three loose cups shredded; one more than I should have had according to the recipe. I lived dangerously and used it all.
I was a bit surprised when I tasted it – I didn’t think the sauce would be thick enough, or that it would reach all of the noodles – but it’s good. I went back for seconds. Normally, baked tomatoes I think are kind of weird, but they reminded me of how good a grilled cheese with tomato is, and their addition in the middle definitely brings in more flavor. The sauce is just on the thin side (possibly because of the milk; I used the 2% in the fridge rather than buy whole; possibly due to the cheese) and needs a touch more pepper, but it really worked here to make a creamy coating. The whole baked thing looks messily homey and tastes just as comforting.

SUSAN'S MACARONI, TOMATO, AND CHEESE
adapted from The Illustrated Good Housekeeping Encyclopedic Cookbook, 1965, Vol.2

2 c elbow macaroni
1 1/2 Tbsp butter
3/4 c dry breadcrumbs
4 tsp minced onion
2 Tbsp butter
1 Tbsp flour
1/4 tsp dry mustard
3/4 tsp salt
dash white pepper
2 c 2% milk
3 c grated reduced-fat Cheddar cheese (8 oz)
2 medium tomatoes, cut in 1/2-inch slices

Start heating oven to 400 F. Cook macaroni as package directs; drain.
Meanwhile, in double boiler melt the 1 1/2 Tbsp butter; toss with the breadcrumbs and set aside on a plate or waxed paper. In the same double boiler combine the onion, the 2 Tbsp butter, flour, mustard, salt and pepper; stir in milk; cook, stirring often, until smooth. Add 2 cups of the cheese; stir until melted.
In 1 1/2 qt casserole (mine just made it, but i did have the slightest spill-over of the sauce during baking - either use a slightly larger, or place dish on a baking sheet to catch any drips), place half of macaroni, all but 2 or 3 tomato slices, then rest of macaroni. Pour on cheese sauce; sprinkle with rest of cheese and buttered crumbs; arrange rest of tomato slices on top. Bake for 20 minutes.

tag: RRC4

Lunchbox: Stuffed Acorn Squash

2006-10-30T20:23:00.000-05:00

Let me start off by saying: I know you have to dig into these to eat them, and tear off the skin to get to the squash, and in doing so it completely destroys the ready-made bowl such to the point that I might as well have diced the squash and made it simpler. But. I could not help myself.

Acorn squash are just too cute.

For starters, they really do look like ginormous acorns, except for the whole green and streaked-orange coloring, and in that they are squash. And second . . . like a lot of vegetables, you can scoop out the interiors and have a wonderful little vessel to stuff. There is something about these individual portions, self-contained, that makes me happy, and as culinarily cutesy as it may be, it makes opening up my Tupperware at lunch that much cooler. I am such a dork.

I love winter squashes, and the acorn squash here gets made into a meal in itself by the addition of a stuffing. I made some changes (using leaner sausage and cooking it prior to stuffing drains off some fat, and adding some extra veg and cutting out some breadcrumb) to make at least a nod to a more healthful effort. Squash itself is already a pretty excellent vegetable, being low-ish in calories, high in fiber and vitamin-filled with things like zeaxanthin, which as it turns out is not a made-up word. The glaze for the squash is made a bit better by replacing half the sugary liquid with broth and given more interest with some balsamic vinegar (imho, balsamic is good on just about anything, but it’s so good on squash). My only thing here is next time I might probably reduce the sugar part further and up the vinegar, as I’m particularly fond of the flavor, but as it stands it’s not really sweet. Portion-wise divided it’s about 3 oz or 1 serving of protein from the sausage, and I don’t pay attention to vegetables except if I’m not eating any.

As I noted, it is rather fussy to take apart at first, but the squash bakes so tender you can scrape it off the skin with a fork. And the stuffing . . . oh gosh, I was convinced I was going to eat it all before I got around to putting it in the hollows! It’s a little bit spicy, a little bit moist, and goes very well with the squash. Success.

STUFFED ACORN SQUASH
adapted from Bon Appetit, November 1996

5 acorn squash, each about 4-5 inches in diameter
1/3 c brown sugar corn syrup (maple syrup or molasses would work, but it was open from pecan pie)
1/3 c reduced sodium/fat free beef broth
1 Tbsp balsamic vinegar
1 lb lean spicy turkey sausage
1/2 c diced red bell pepper
1 small onion, diced
1 c frozen small peas
grinding black pepper
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 c dry breadcrumbs

Preheat oven to 400 F. Take the squash and carefully with a serrated knife cut off the tops and bottoms of the squash. Scoop out the seeds and stringy flesh in the interior so you have a hollowed-out squash shell; discard innards. Place squash in a foil-lined roasting pan. Mix together the corn syrup, broth and balsamic and brush about half of the mixture on the interior sides and the tops of each squash bowl. Place the squashes in oven and bake for about 30 minutes.
Meanwhile, in a skillet over medium-high heat break up the turkey sausage and let cook until just about done. Drain, reserving the drippings in the skillet, and remove to a large mixing bowl. In the same skillet cook the red pepper, onion, and peas in the drippings about 3-4 minutes or until tender. Add to the bowl with the sausage.
To the sausage mixture add a good grinding of black pepper and the salt. Spoon in 4 Tbsp of the broth/syrup/vinegar and sprinkle in the breadcrumbs. Mix together gently, but breaking up the larger pieces of sausage as you go, until you've reached a moist filling that compacts easily.
Once you can start piercing parts of the squash easily with a fork, remove the pan from the oven but keep it at 400. Brush the interiors of the squash again with the syrup mix. Divide the turkey sausage mix among the squash hollows (at least 2/3 of a cup; a larger squash may hold more), pressing the mixture in to fill the inside. Brush the tops of the squash and filling again with the syrup mix and return pan to the oven.
Bake until squashes are fork-tender . . . if the filling begins to brown, crimp some foil over the pan but continue baking until squash is done.

Elegant Eating, For One

2006-10-29T14:31:00.000-05:00

With Rob still in Italy and the girls working or otherwise away, this weekend I found myself with the very rare occurrence of having no places to go or people to see. So instead of sulking, I opted to take Saturday night as the opportunity to have some quality 'me time' - or, if you will, I had a date with myself.

Dating yourself is quite possibly the most satisfying way to date. You know from the start that you're building a relationship that will last. You don't have to worry about infidelity. You always get to choose the restaurant, and you never have to pretend you're in the mood to see Baywatch or anything else.
~ Cameron Tuttle, The Bad Girl's Guide to Getting What You Want.

I cleaned the apartment, chilled some white wine, lit a candle, and settled in for the night with a cozy blanket and the classic film noir Double Indemnity. And I made myself an absolutely delicious, even decadent, dinner for one.

ROASTED SOFT-SHELL CRABS WITH BUERRE NOISETTE
adapted from the all-new Joy of Cooking

two soft-shell crabs, fresh or thawed if frozen
(optional: buttermilk and Old Bay seasoning)
2 tsp grapeseed oil
salt and pepper
2 Tbsp unsalted butter
1/2 tsp orange muscat champagne vinegar (or white wine vinegar, or lemon juice)
1-2 scallions, finely chopped

Optional step: Particularly if they've been frozen, as these were for quite some time, I like to soak the crabs in seasoned buttermilk or milk to cover for at least an hour - I think it adds a bit of flavor in sweetening them and eliminates any fishy or other smells they might have from the freezer. Clean the crabs before soaking.
Otherwise . . .
clean the crabs and carefully pat dry. Line a small baking pan with foil, shiny side down, and preheat the oven to 500 F. Lightly brush the crabs on both side with the grapeseed oil and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Place on the prepared pan, shell-side up, in the preheated oven and roast for 4-6 minutes or until the shells have turned color and are crisp.
Meanwhile, make the buerre noisette: in a small skillet or saucepan melt the butter over medium-low heat. Shake the pan from time to time to swirl the butter about as it cooks. Be particularly careful as it foams not to let it burn. Let it cook until it smells toasted nutty and is colored a light brown. Immediately transfer to a small measuring cup or bowl and whisk in the vinegar and some salt and pepper to taste.
Pour the brown butter sauce over the hot crabs and sprinkle with scallions.
The quantities for both crabs and butter sauce can be easily multiplied; however, the cooking time for the crabs remains the same.

Buttermilk, and Thursday night baking

2006-10-26T22:41:00.000-04:00

Buttermilk always seems to linger in my fridge - I've heard it stays good for quite some time, so I'm not all that worried, but even so I wanted to find something more for it than just pie crust. And I am easily swayed by vanilla, which is so much more than the plain-jane the name can connote.
This cornbread scores points for ease, quick assembly, and no weird substitutions or trips to the grocery store to make. There's something about it though that keeps me from being overly enthused . . . I've certainly had sweeter cornbreads, so it's not that. It's just rather moist, and I think I'm used to a bit drier cornbread. Mine also has a very smooth texture due to using fine cornmeal, but it gives it a very nice crumb. It does also have an excellent crust, with a bit of crunch on the bottom and around the sides, and the top is firmer. I'm thinking sliced and toasted might be the way to go.
Overall though, I love the vanilla scent and the idea of using vanilla for a savory pairing. Recent googling has come up with a beautiful and informative listing of make-your-own vanilla _____ at Confessions of a Cardamom Addict, and I know I'm going to be referring to it often - vanilla oil and vanilla salt have me highly intrigued.

LA BETH'S VANILLA CORNBREAD
from Vanilla.com by way of the Food Network

1 c yellow cornmeal
1 c all-purpose flour
3/4 c powdered sugar
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 1/4 c buttermilk
2 large eggs
1 Tbsp vanilla
6 Tbsp unsalted butter, melted

Preheat oven to 350 F.
In a large bowl, whisk together the cornmeal, flour, sugar, salt, and baking powder and soda.
In a small bowl, whisk together the buttermilk, eggs and vanilla. Add to the dry ingredients. Pour the melted butter over the top of the batter. Stir just until all ingredients are moistened and thoroughly blended.
Pour the batter in a greased 8x8 Pyrex baking dish.
Bake in the 350 oven 40-45 minutes, or until golden around the edges and a tester in the center comes out clean. Let stand 15 minutes before cutting.

Lunchbox: Pumpkin and Sage Risotto

2006-10-26T21:56:00.001-04:00

After three days, I'd had it with larb. Maybe I made it incorrectly, maybe bamboo shoots were just way too out there, but for whatever reason the recipe just didn't do it for me.
So I stared at the pantry and was thankful for the random collection of fun stuff it yields. Seeing as how I'd even forgotten the jar of pumpkin pesto was in there, now seemed a good a time as any to use it up.

Nowhere near as healthful as the previous effort for the week, but a darn sight tastier.

apologies . . . tupperware isn't very photogenic.

PUMPKIN AND SAGE RISOTTO
adapted from the bottom of the Bella Cucina jar

4 c low sodium/reduced fat chicken broth
2 Tbsp truffle oil
1 small onion, finely chopped
1 Tbsp minced garlic
2 tsp rubbed sage
1 c Aborio rice
1/2 c white wine
1 6-oz jar pumpkin pesto (pumpkin puree should also work; just up and adjust your seasonings)
1/4 c grated Parmesan and Asiago blend
1 Tbsp cream cheese

In a saucepan, heat the chicken broth over medium heat and bring to a simmer. Adjust to keep warm.
In a separate saucepan, heat the oil over medium heat. Add the onion, garlic and sage and saute about five minutes until onion is softening. Add the rice and stir for two minutes.
Add the white wine to the rice saucepan and stir until the wine is absorbed. Add the chicken broth, 1 cup at a time, stirring after each addition until liquid is absorbed and rice is tender, about 20 minutes.
Remove from heat and fold in the pumpkin pesto. Add the cheese and cream cheese and stir well until cream cheese is melted into the rice.
I'll probably take some roasted pumpkin seeds to sprinkle over the top.

Let There Be Quiche

2006-10-25T20:51:00.000-04:00

For someone who doesn’t like eggs, I feel like I’ve been eating an awful lot of them as of late.

This creation evolved itself from a request to find a good quiche recipe. I’d started off simple, classic, with the idea of a quiche Lorraine in mind. It was the picture that sold me – halo of golden crust, pale golden quivery top crusted with bits of browned melted butter – and it seemed so convenient. I cannot think of this as a leftovers meal, but ostensibly it was a really good way to clean out the fridge: half a pie crust from last week, stray strips of bacon, and eggs left in the massive carton I’d purchased. But soon enough in too went the remains of the Fontiago (TJ’s cross of fontina and asiago), and the cream and whole milk were shunned for the 2% already in there. By the time I’d picked up extra scallion and tomato at the store, Lorraine had long since made her exit.

The miniature pie pans are an indulgence to be sure, and anytime I make anything in cute individual portions I cannot help thinking of Bridget Jones, who on one of her more intrepid streaks contemplates fulfillment by volunteering in a soup kitchen, but wishes to make as her friend Tom suggests, darling mini-bruschettas with pesto. I am completely helpless at the sight of darling mini-just about anything, and somehow having made four smaller versions makes me feel so much more accomplished and elegant than one larger one. Completely ridiculous, but there you are.

I am also extremely pleased to note that the quiches have restored my faith in the buttermilk pie crust recipe. The dough is an absolute dream to work with, rolling out easily and not a single tear on draping it in each pan, and now I know can be used for either savory or sweet fillings without adaptation. I pre-baked them slightly and finished them off filled on a baking sheet for easy transfer. The crust came out golden, buttery, rich and tender, and was just crisp enough to keep its shape out of the pan and provide a contrast for the creamy egg mixture – the whole thing will literally melt in your mouth. Forgive me for my effusiveness – this is phenomenal.

DARLING MINI-QUICHES
adapted from Quiche Lorraine in Essentials of Baking

1/2 recipe (1 crust) Buttermilk Pie Crust Dough
4 slices thick-cut bacon
4 Tbsp shredded Fontiago or fontina cheese
2-3 large roma tomatoes, seeded and diced
5 scallions, thinly sliced
3 large eggs
1 - 1 1/2 c 2% milk
1/2 tsp salt
1/8 tsp white pepper
pinch nutmeg

Have the dough divided into fourths. Roll each fourth into a slightly-larger-than six-inch circle and gently drape into a 3-inch miniature nonstick pie pan. Fold over the edges around the rim of the pan and crimp with a fork. Prick the interior and sides of the crust with a fork. Repeat to form four crusts. Refrigerate for at least 30 minutes.
Preheat an oven to 400 F. Place the pie pans on a baking sheet and place in the oven. Bake the crusts for 4-5 minutes. Remove the crusts from the oven and reduce oven temperature to 350 F.
Meanwhile, microwave (I hear it removes more of the carcinogens) on paper towels for 2 minutes on high at a time until crisp. In a large measuring cup, beat the eggs. Add milk to eggs, along with salt, pepper, and nutmeg, and whisk together well.
Crumble a slice of bacon and line the bottom of a crust with it. Over the bacon, sprinkle 1 Tbsp shredded cheese. Sprinkle over about a Tbsp of diced tomato and then a sprinkling of scallion. Pour some of the beaten egg mixture into the crust over the layers until the filling has just about reached the rim. Repeat with the remaining pie shells. (I had a bit of ingredients and egg leftover; poured into silicone molds and baked at 375 for about 30 minutes it made a delicious if slightly runny version of Kalyn's Egg Muffins. If you use the lesser amount of milk, you should be able to divide the egg evenly between the four pans with no problems.)
Place the crusts on their baking sheet back in the oven at 350 F. Bake for 30 minutes, turning the pie pans during baking so that crusts brown evenly.
Leftover quiches may be reheated slowly in a 300 F oven for about 15-20 minutes.

Lunchbox: Larb

2006-10-22T21:57:00.000-04:00

countdown to psych GREs, 13 days; countdown until first due dates for applications, 62 days.

Sara chastised me last week for admitting that I was taking cold cuts for lunch. Granted, it was Healthy Choice, and I brought along carrot and celery sticks and a small peach and plum, but still, it's cold cuts, and that's pretty much unacceptable from where she stands. I do my best, but some weeks making an awesome lunch just doesn't happen. Once you start blogging, there's a lot of pressure to produce. Sara keeps me in line.
So this week I pulled my act together and am getting back to making it from scratch. I've been somewhat enamored of Thai food as of late, having made a bastardized version of Thai barbecue turkey tenderloin (and I can't wait to try it with chicken thighs), complete with Thai cucumber salad, and a sort-of Thai coconut chicken soup all last weekend. In the midst, I've done a lot of browsing through the Thai cookbook and so this week I went with one of the dog-eared pages for something quick, easy, and remotely healthful.

I've never had larb before per se, although Pod does this absolutely amazing beef and chicken lettuce wraps with peanut sauce, which was why larb sounded good and sort of familiar. More interesting than your basic tortilla-based wrap or a sandwich, and bonus creativity points for sneaking in lettuce outside of a salad. The galangal may be a bit strong on first impact, but it's growing on me - I'd start with a bit less if you're not a big sour/ginger fan, as it does have a lingering piquancy. The bamboo shoots and water chestnuts were meant to be stretching vegetables - I was really looking for fresh bean sprouts, and on reflection julienned carrots I think would be super in here, but the veggies are an optional add-on anyhow so suit yourself.

LARB
adapted from Thai and from this egullet recipe

6 Tbsp low-fat/reduced sodium chicken broth
1 lb lean ground chicken
1 small onion, finely diced
1 8-oz can sliced water chestnuts
1 8-oz can sliced bamboo shoots
1/4 tsp or so white pepper
1/4 tsp or so garlic powder
1/4 tsp or so salt
3 kaffir lime leaves, very finely slivered
zest of 1 lemon (standing in for lemongrass)
4 scallions, finely sliced
1 tsp powdered galangal
1 Tbsp roasted rice powder
4 Tbsp fresh lemon juice
2 Tbsp lime juice
3 Tbsp fish sauce
about 15 Thai basil leaves, torn
butter/Boston lettuce

Heat the chicken broth in a large skillet over medium-low heat. Add the ground chicken and stir to moisten, breaking up with a spoon, and cook about 5 minutes. Add the onion and stir to combine; cook an additional 2 minutes. Add the water chestnuts and bamboo shoots, stir to combine, and cook for 1 minute.
Sprinkle over the white pepper, garlic powder, salt, kaffir lime leaves, lemon zest, and scallions. Toss gently to combine. Sprinkle over the galangal and rice powder and stir to combine well, dissolving any powder. Raise the heat to medium-high and add the lemon and lime juices and fish sauce. Stir well and cook, stirring, until sauce thickens and coats the chicken mixture. Add the torn basil leaves and stir to wilt.
Remove whole lettuce leaves and gently wash and dry (a salad spinner will work well for this). Pack whole leaves flat between paper towels in a container. Take the chicken mixture separately. Eat room temperature or warmed chicken mixture in the lettuce leaves.

Practice Makes Pies: Part I, Paula Deen

2006-10-19T22:30:00.000-04:00

Through a series of telephone calls and other events, it has finally transpired that I�m going to Rob's for Thanksgiving. Thanksgiving is a pretty big deal over there, with him and his brothers going back home, and in quite the opposite of my family where my father is the only male, his mother is the only female . . . except for me this year. I don't mind admitting I'm slightly nervous (and by nervous, I mean mildly terrified) at the prospect of making a good impression on The Boyfriend's Mother. Rob and I are on our second go-round of being a couple, nearing a year and doing infinitely better than we did several years ago, but I believe there are negative marks against me for that first time.

Because I'm basically intruding on what is otherwise a family affair, I wanted to bring something - a peace offering, if you will - some hostess gift, some little token of affection, something that shows you're thoughtful and you care and you appreciate being there. So in another series of telephone calls and other events, it was settled on pecan pie.

This is very good, because you cannot hold a grudge on people bearing pie. It's not right.

And then I started thinking. I have not ever made a pecan pie. I think actually it's been at least if not more than a year since I've made any kind of pie - I'm hoping it is rather like riding a bicycle, where you don't really forget. Pecan pie is The Boyfriend's Mother's favorite. Add to that the need to get out of the red and back into black, and I'm feeling some pressure: This has got to be one damn good pecan pie.

So Rob was, as it turns out, entirely kidding when he said I could practice making pies, but I was serious. Greatly inspired by Laura's recent success with apples - and noting that even a good baker comes across a recipe that in theory sounds great and just doesn't produce, I thought it made incredible amounts of sense to start baking pecan pies like no other in time to find one worthy.

I want to make a good, straight-forward, traditional pecan pie. I think pecans, I think South; I think South, I think Paula Deen. Paula, unfortunately, does not specify a crust recipe, leaving me to scramble on my own . . . but I figured buttermilk also sort of evokes Southern images (plus it sounds good) and therefore the two make an appropriate start. Paula specifically says unbaked pie crust, but being that at least two cookbooks I tend to respect (the new Joy and W-S’s Essentials of Baking) called for it to pre-bake and that made sense to me given that it’s more similar to a custard pie . . . I pre-baked it.

Oh, Paula. How wrong I was to doubt your guidance. I dutifully cut my tinfoil to cover the sides of the crust, put in my pie weights, and baked along with Joy’s directions. It’s way too long a time for something that goes back into the oven. I blame that, and not the crust - although the crust did shrink a little, I think this is due more to the pre-baking than the dough, which rolled out and transferred beautifully. I haven’t decided yet whether I’ll simply not pre-bake the next crust, or freeze and bake it for less time (Joy calls for refrigerating; Essentials for freezing for 30 min; both state for 400 F for at least 15 min and then additional time, though Essentials reduces the oven temp and Joy does not), or whether I want to give the buttermilk recipe another shot with one of those methods before moving to another crust. I think the crust has a lot of potential.

The pecan pie filling itself is ridiculous easy. I honestly had no real notion before this (with my mother’s nut allergy, we never had pecan pies, and so my exposure with them is limited to a fantastic Derby Pie down in Kentucky) of what exactly went into pecan pie, and the basic answer is less than five minutes’ effort to make a filling. Perhaps to make up for ignoring her on the crust, I followed the filling recipe exactly – this is something I don’t often do with recipes – even with the 2 Tbsp bourbon. I was a little hesitant after the first tablespoon, it has a very powerful odor, but I figured, to hell with it and dumped it in anyways.

I cannot explain to you how good this pie smells. Maybe all pecan pie smells this good; I'll let you know. It took an awful lot of restraint not to cut into it right away - and as you can see, it has a bald spot where I couldn't stop myself picking off a pecan. But I was good, in part because that wouldn't be very nice, and in part because due to travel issues the pie will need to be made at least a day and possibly two before, and I need to know how it will hold up.

First obliging taster was the lovely and gracious Mindy K., who oh-so-appropriately threw a redneck party this weekend, and happens to love pecan pie. We dug into slices round about one a.m. Saturday after several rounds of "All My Exes Live in Texas". The crust definitely was overbaked. Min's roommate Mallory kindly said that that was exactly what you needed, a bit of bitter in contrast to the sweet, but overall I think it can do better. The filling is quite good - not overpowering bourbony, as I thought it might be, and sweet but not cloying sweet. Fresh-baked out of the oven, or even the day of, I think I'd have no qualms in bringing it anywhere; that crunchy pecan off the top was just excellent! Paula's version will be in the running, but we've got a ways - and some more baking - before Thanksgiving.

PAULA DEEN'S BOURBON PECAN PIE
from Paula Deen via the Food Network

1 c sugar
3 Tbsp unsalted butter, melted
1/2 c dark corn syrup (I used Karo with brown sugar instead of the real dark stuff)
3 large eggs, beaten
2 c pecan halves
2 Tbsp good-quality bourbon
1/2 recipe (1 crust) Buttermilk Pie Crust Dough

Preheat the oven to 375 F.
In a medium bowl, stir together the sugar and melted butter. Add the corn syrup, eggs, pecans, and bourbon, and stir until all ingredients are combined. Pour mixture into the pie shell (Paula uses an unbaked shell and places the pie dish on a baking sheet). Bake for 10 minutes at 375. Lower the oven temperature to 350 and bake for an additional 25-30 minutes or until pie is set. Remove from oven and cool on a wire rack.

Buttermilk Pie Crust Dough

2006-10-19T22:18:00.000-04:00

BUTTERMILK PIE CRUST DOUGH
adapted from Bon Appetit, November 1991

2 1/2 c all-purpose flour
2 Tbsp sugar
1 tsp salt
1/2 c (1 stick) unsalted butter
1/2 c shortening (I used Crisco's new trans-fat-free version)
1/2 c buttermilk, divided

Dice the butter and the shortening. Place in a bowl and freeze for 10 minutes.
Meanwhile, whisk together the flour, sugar, and salt.
Cut in the butter and shortening with a pastry cutter until the mixture resembles fine meal. Add six tablespoons of the buttermilk and mix together with a fork until moist clumps form. Continue adding the buttermilk, a little at a time, and mixing with the fork until the dough comes together.
Press together to form a dough ball. Divide dough into two. Gather the dough into separate balls and flatten or roll into a disk; I like a six-inch size. Wrap separately and chill at least 1 hour before using.
Makes 2 crusts; each enough for a single 9-inch pie.

To Those Who Wait

2006-10-19T19:32:00.000-04:00

I’ve never been so good with being patient. As much as I don’t like saying it’s just not in my nature . . . it’s just not in my nature. Metaphorically speaking, I run the red lights, I jump the gates, and I read the last page first.

So I don’t know what possessed me to think braised beef – that’s not true, actually; it’s that Marcella Hazan makes things sound fantastically good, and taken in by the minimal ingredients and ridiculous ease of the recipe, I skip right over the step that says three and a half hours.

I’ll warn you right now: this is a pretty stupid thing to do. I ended up spending about half an hour on prep, and then having to ask Sara to hold on the phone every half hour as I turned the roast, and then having to defend myself when at 930 I had not yet eaten dinner why I wasn’t just going to make a pb&j and be done with it.

But my point, if I have one, is to butcher Phil Collins: You can’t hurry braised beef; no, you just have to wait. Perhaps not surprisingly, I caved when at 10pm I still hadn’t eaten and took the roast out. It was definitely done – the meat thermometer shot way up – but only the ends were that silky fork-tenderness that you want in a good pot roast. I shoved it in the refrigerator, left the dishes for the next day, and went to bed.

it is difficult to explain, when it photographs like that,
all medusa-looking with the onions, why this is so utterly good you
should try it, but really, it just is.

I think the results could have been achieved if I’d just waited a tiny bit more for it to cook Tuesday, but letting it sit works just as well – and fools you into being patient. As if by magic, the middle slices of beef I’d thought looked tough that night have become tender, moist, and full of flavor - even when reheated in the microwave. I can't actually vouch for how it tastes the first night it's made since I gave up, but I can assure you it's delicious a day or so after.
This dish goes fantastically with oven-roasted sweet potatoes. My major note is that this is probably much better started on a weekend afternoon than a weekday evening.

BEEF ROAST BRAISED WITH ONIONS
adapted from Marcella Hazan's Essentials of Classic Italian Cooking

~ 1/4 lb reduced sodium hardwood smoked bacon
3 1/2 lbs boneless beef roast (such as round rump)
5 medium onions sliced thinly
salt and black pepper

Preheat the oven to 325 F.
Cut the bacon into narrow strips about 1/4 inch wide. Use half the strips to lard the meat: assuming you don't have a larding needle (I certainly don't) insert a thin, long knife along the grain of the meat to make a puncture. Using a hard chopstick, or your fingers if you get desperate, push the slice of bacon into the meat.
Choose a large Dutch oven or other ovenproof pot. Spread the sliced onions on the bottom of the pot (don't panic if it looks like you won't have any room left) and distribute the remaining strips of bacon over the onions.
Season the beef roast well with salt and pepper and nestle on top of the bacon-covered onions. Cover the pot tightly - if the lid does not provide a tight fit, place a sheet of aluminum foil between it and the pot and crimp down a bit to cover. Put on the uppermost rack of the preheated oven.
Cook for about three and a half hours, until the meat feels tender when prodded with a fork -- alternatively, cook the meat for two to two and a half hours, get frustrated because you're hungry already, eat a breadstick and put the roast in the refrigerator for the next day. I swear it's magic. Turn the roast after the first 30 minutes, and every 30 to 40 minutes thereafter.
When done, remove and slice the meat. Drain some fat from the pan with a turkey baster. Pour the remaining contents of pan juices, drippings, and onions over the meat and serve warm.
To reheat: take slices of the meat, either left whole or peeled along the grain with your fingers into strips, cover with onions, and microwave for two minutes or so on high.

Chicken Soup for the Sinuses

2006-10-16T18:07:00.000-04:00

Last week, I felt like poop. A sinus headache for nearly a whole week left me drained, exhausted, and extremely congested. Come the weekend, all I wanted to do was lie on the couch curled up in a ball and sleep. I watched a few movies with Rob, made some cocoa (from scratch - oh my gosh, I had no idea it was so good), and most importantly, made soup. It just seems right.
This recipe comes from the simply titled Thai by Judy Bastyra, which I believe my parents picked up for me in a Costco. At first I couldn't find too much in it, but after several porings over I realized I have nearly every other page dog-eared and I've turned to their ingredients section for spice information - it's been quite a find. The galangal, chicken and coconut soup I had been hoping would be similar to Lemongrass's, which I get every time I go there with Sheila from work. It's not quite the same flavors - the restaurant's is a bit milder, but with our added hot pepper and garlic this had a more spicy-sour note that was perfect for giving me back a sense of smell. Delicious, nutritious, and a powerhouse.

GALANGAL, CHICKEN AND COCONUT SOUP
adapted from Thai

1 Tbsp dried lemon grass
zest of 1 lemon
1 medium onion, peeled and quartered
4 garlic cloves, peeled and quartered
2 dried Thai chiles
2 14-oz cans coconut milk
2 cups chicken broth
3/4 - 1 tsp galanga/galangal powder
black pepper
5 kaffir lime leaves, torn
4 boneless skinless chicken tenderloins
1 can cut baby corn cobs
6-8 oz. frozen haricot verts/thin green beans
4 Tbsp fresh lemon or lime juice
3 Tbsp Thai fish sauce
about 12 Thai basil leaves

In a large pot, toss in the dried lemon grass, zest, onion, and garlic. Carefully split the chiles and shake over the pot so the seeds are loose. Add the coconut milk and chicken broth. Grind over a good quantity of black pepper, and stir in with the galanga powder and kaffir lime leaves. Set the pot over medium heat and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat to low and simmer gently for 15 minutes or so, stirring occasionally (don't be tempted to heat it on high; coconut milk foams up very quickly).
While the soup is simmering, cut the chicken into thin strips.
Strain the soup into a clean pot and return it to a low heat. Let it come back to a near simmer. Stir in the chicken strips, corn cobs and haricot verts. Simmer gently, stirring occasionally, for 5-7 minutes or until the chicken is cooked.
Stir in the lemon or lime juice and fish sauce. Tear up the basil leaves and add to the soup. Stir for one minute and then remove from heat. Serve warm.

Note: You're not likely to find all the ingredients in your regular supermarket unless it's truly awesome or an Asian market, but I've had good luck with importfoods.com and next order will be getting my lemongrass in from them - in the absence of fresh, zest a lemon. I also skipped with powdered galanga for fresh, but if you don't have either of those fresh ginger slices with a bit of white pepper and some extra lime juice will come close to mimicking the flavor.

Retro Recipe: White Bean and Pork Chili

2006-10-11T17:47:00.000-04:00

Ah, 1987.
I just ran through wikipedia looking for really memorable events . . . and big surprise, I don't actually remember really any of them. I was four, and Raffi was pretty cool stuff.
I didn't find anything much for 1983 (my actual birth year, that being the theme for this month's Retro Recipe Challenge), but a few years' leeway allowed me to find a recipe for White Bean and Pork Chili which fits in nicely with my personal current theme of using up things that are already in my kitchen. When I was four, I guarantee you I never would have eaten anything at all like this recipe, which --- eee-yew! -- has different kinds of foods mixed and touching each other. Not that I was a picky eater, but stews were pretty much just completely out of the question, and soup even was out of the question unless it was Campbell's. To my parents' chagrin, I refused to touch their homemade chicken noodle. This was probably because the different types of food were readily identifiable as being of vegetable, chicken, noodle, et cetera, whereas Campbell's not necessarily. I thought it would be nice to take a good fall-ish recipe like chili from that time to see how far I've come.
Turns out, my childhood instincts with this recipe were rather dead-on; the ingredients would be better separate than together. Not that it's bad, just not very interesting. In staying true to the retro, I resisted urges to doctor it up and play around with it (with exception to the bay leaf, which I added before I realized it didnt actually call for one, and the seasonings, which just went straight in the pot as there wasn't anything to deglaze). As is, it's a fairly mediocre affair, which led me to several conclusions . . . .One: it is really difficult to take an appetizing-looking photo of something like chili.
Two: At a 1/2 inch dice, the pork was cooked through before it had really even browned, resulting in slightly tough meat with not much meat flavor to it. This dish could be a contender if made with a more well-marbled, less lean bit like pork shoulder or boneless country ribs, cut in 1-2 inch chunks and dredged in seasoned flour before browned.
Three: There's not enough liquid. The one cup of broth called for was gone at the 1/2 hour mark, and after pouring in the rest of the can there was barely any at the end to coat all the beans. Another 1/2 cup at least of liquid - broth, wine, water even - plus the full can would be more on target.
Four: The meager seasonings get lost in here. Start off with the triple the chili powder and cumin, and don't bother enticing me in with the word 'sage' unless you mean it.
Five: Speaking of a lack of flavor, 2 cans of rinsed, drained beans added just before serving did nothing for me. Add them 30-40 minutes into the hour to allow them to break down and absorb a bit.
Six: Keebler TownHouse Cornbread crackers are awesome. They and monterey jack cheese saved the chili.

UPDATE: After massive amounts of seasonings and two days later, it's actually a pretty decent thing. I don't tend to use celery and carrot in chili, so it was a nice addition. The meat is a bit more tender now, but the flavor would still be improved with another cut. I recommend, if you can, making a day ahead to let it meld.

WHITE BEAN AND PORK CHILI
from Bon Appetit, June 1987

3 Tbsp olive oil
1 medium onion, chopped
~ 1 c chopped baby carrots
2 medium celery stalks, chopped
2 large garlic cloves, minced
1 pound pork loin, cut into 1/2 inch dice
1 tsp chili powder
1/2 tsp cumin
1/2 tsp dried oregano, crumbled
1/8 tsp sage
1 bay leaf
1 standard can beef broth
1 14 1/2-oz can peeled diced tomatoes (undrained)
2 15-oz cans cannellini beans, rinsed and drained

heat 2 Tbsp oil in heavy large saucepan over medium heat. Add onion, carrots, celery and garlic and cook until tender, about 10 minutes.
Meanwhile, heat remaining 1 Tbsp oil in heavy large skillet over high heat. Pat pork dry. Add the skillet, season with salt and pepper and cook until browned, stirring frequently, about 6 minutes (I don't know where they get that number).
Add pork to vegetables. Blend the seasonings and stir. Add the broth. Add tomatoes with liquid and bring to boil. Reduce heat, cover and simmer until pork is tender, stirring occasionally, about 1 hour.
Add beans to mixture and stir until heated through. Serve warm, topped with shredded cheese.

Tags: RRC3

Pantry Raid

2006-10-10T17:22:00.000-04:00

One can of solid pack pumpkin: $1.29.
One quart of organic beef stock: $3.29 (and totally worth it, for its being the only low-salt, no-fat beef broth out there. Chicken seems to have the monopoly on the broth aisle . . . but I digress).
Package of roasted pumpkin seeds: $1.49.

Feeling virtuous for clearing out the cans of black beans in the pantry and not letting the half ham steak and red onion in the refrigerator go to waste: priceless.

I always feel like the state of my kitchen is stuck between the two extremes of what looks like no food or a heck of a lot of leftovers. I also feel that lately in a quest for diversity and entertaining meals, I’ve ignored the things that I have on hand. Not only is this wasteful and impractical, it means I have run out of room on the lower shelf of my pantry – the crucial one, as it’s about the only one I can reach without being on tiptoes. Time for a proper pantry raid. It’s kind of like a scrap Iron Chef on your own kitchen scavenger hunt – finding as much as you can in the kitchen already and buying the bare minimum.
Along the way I found a new favorite of the alcohol substitutions , which offers both useful other alcohol and non-alcoholic stand-ins for what isn’t in your pantry. I can’t say how close a mix of red wine and apple cider comes to sherry, but it worked for me.

BLACK BEAN PUMPKIN SOUP
adapted from Gourmet, November 1996

three 15 1/2 oz cans black beans
1 14 1/2 oz can diced tomatoes, well-drained
1/2 large red onion, cut in 1/8 inch dice
1 small yellow onion, cut in 1/8 inch dice
5 garlic cloves, minced or pressed
1 Tbsp cumin
scant 1/2 tsp salt
black pepper
1/2 stick (4 Tbsp) unsalted butter
4 c low-salt, fat-free beef stock
1 15 oz can solid pack pumpkin
1/3 c merlot plus 3+ Tbsp apple cider to equal 1/2 c liquid
8 oz ham steak, cut into 1/8-1/4 inch dice
2 Tbsp balsamic vinegar
1 Tbsp red wine vinegar
for garnish: sour cream, scallion, and roasted pumpkin seeds

Rinse and drain 2 cans of the black beans and place in a food processor with the drained tomatoes. Coarsely puree together. Rinse and drain the remaining can of black beans and mash slightly with an avocado masher or fork.
In a large heavy soup pot cook the onions, garlic, cumin, and salt and pepper in the butter over moderate heat, stirring, until the onion is softened and beginning to brown, about 4-5 minutes. Stir in the bean puree and mashed beans. Stir in the stock, pumpkin, and merlot/apple cider until combined. Simmer, uncovered, stirring occasionally, about 25 minutes or until thick enough to coat the back of a spoon.
Meanwhile, warm the ham briefly in a skillet over medium heat, about 2-3 minutes.
Before serving, add the ham and vinegars to the soup and simmer for another minute or so or until heated through.
Serve soup garnished with a dollop of sour cream, some chopped scallion and pumpkin seeds.

Pure Gold

2006-10-10T16:47:00.000-04:00

Remember when I needed to use up eight egg whites?
That's because you need eight egg yolks to make Gold Cake.
Rich, vanilla-y, beautifully pale yellow, and makes even thin layers that go hand-in-hand with a dark chocolate frosting.

Happy birthday, baby - I love you.

GOLD CAKE
adapted from the all-new Joy of Cooking

2 1/2 c sifted cake flour
2 1/s tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
12 Tbsp unsalted butter
1 1/4 c sugar
8 large egg yolks
2 tsp vanilla
1/2 lemon extract
3/4 c milk

Have all ingredients at room temperature. Preheat the oven to 375 F. Grease and flour the bottom and sides and three 9x2 round cake pans.
Sift together the cake flour, baking powder and salt three times.
Beat the butter on high until creamy, about 30 seconds. Gradually add the sugar and beat on high speed until lightened in color and texture, about 3-4 minutes.
In another bowl, beat together the egg yolks and extracts on high speed until thick and pale yellow. Beat the egg mixture into the butter mixture.
Add the flour mixture in 3 parts, alternating with the milk in 2 parts, into the batter on low speed.
Divide the batter among the three prepared pans and spread evenly. Bake until a toothpick in the center comes out clean, about 20 minutes (check after about 15). Let cool in the pans on a rack for 10 minutes. Slide a thin knife around the cake to detach it from the pans. Let cool right side up on the racks, and cool completely before frosting.

notes: be sure to use whole milk, and watch the pans - because the layers are so thin, they bake quite quickly. I took mine out at 17 and I think I could've done with even less than that. Because of the thin layers, you want thinly spread frosting between them as well. If you go with homemade, you'll need about 2 1/2-3 cups; if you're using storebought, you'll need just over one tub.

A Crack in My Shell

2006-10-04T20:00:00.000-04:00

It is a completely novel thing for me to be thinking about eggs, and far more to be eating eggs, and beyond that even to be blogging eggs. Sure, they had their uses, in muffins and breading and brownies, but up until recently I had considered eating eggs on their own as pretty darn preposterous. Every Easter, I'd dye eggs with my sister, but never saw the point in having them as anything but decoration. I remember wanting to like eggs very much when I was a lot younger, but this was mostly due to the fact that we had some splendid little yellow duck soft-boiled egg holders, and the egg would sit in this hollow above their wings. I ruined several breakfasts for my mother by insisting on having eggs and then letting them sit there in the little ducks. In my defense . . . these were some really cute egg cups.
Recently, if you'll forgive the term, there have been cracks, little gaps of logic in my theory that I dislike eggs immensely. This started some weeks ago, when I had some eggs leftover from baking and in a spur of domesticity asked Rob if he wanted an omelet. He did, and this was working brilliantly until I realized I had no idea how one makes an omelet. Seriously. He took over, and I was so intrigued by the process that I stole bites of his. I kind of liked it. I've eaten two more since. It confuses me.
This week, I've been scouring over cookbooks trying to find an appealing recipe, as I knew I'd be coming into leftover egg whites shortly - but that post is for another day. Macaroons didn't seem to use quite enough and I didn't need more cookies, but I'm not used to thinking outside the box when it comes to eggs and was running out of ideas. Luckily, today's New York Times snagged my attention with a gruyere puff, quite conveniently also solving the problem of what to do with the other night's leftover gruyere.
The egg whites are more of a concession to the leftover business (you could use the original 3 whole ones it calls for) rather than healthfulness, and any inkling of that is cut short by the ridiculous amount of butter and a mountain of shredded cheese (I find this, in addition to tons of seasoning, is a very good remedy for reducing characteristic eggy taste). I don't think it's quite a puff per se anymore, which is always the difficult thing to know if it looks like it's supposed to when you make a recipe for the first time but alter the heck out of it and use a wider pan, but it has a yummy crisp exterior and a melting inside (it firms up a bit upon standing to cool for a few minutes).
You know what? It's eggs. And it tastes good. Who knows what's next?

EGG WHITE AND GRUYERE-CHEDDAR PUFF
adapted from the New York Times Dining, October 4, 2006

8 large egg whites
1/2 c 2% milk
1/2 c flour
1/2 tsp onion salt
lots of cracked black pepper
~ 1/2 tsp each onion powder and garlic powder
~ 1 tsp dried dill
1 c shredded gruyere cheese
1 c shredded sharp white cheddar
3 Tbsp unsalted butter

Preheat the oven to 400 F.
In a large bowl whisk together the egg whites, milk, flour, and seasonings. Whisk hard until there are no flour lumps remaining and the mixture is a bit foamy and smooth. Stir in the cheeses.
Melt the butter in a 9 or 10-inch ovenproof skillet over low heat. Swirl to coat all sides of the pan thoroughly. Pour in the batter and transfer pan to the oven.
Bake for about 30 minutes until a bit puffed and dark golden on top. Let cool just a few minutes in the pan before loosening around the edges with a plastic spatula. Carefully slide out onto a plate and serve hot or warm.

World Bread Day: Herb Flatbread with Ham, Red Onion and Gruyere

2006-10-02T18:27:00.000-04:00

Thanks to Zorra for blogging World Bread Day.

I've been wanting to make a flatbread concoction since Rob found this frozen one at Trader Joe's a month or two back. Flat like a tortilla flat, it was as thin and crispy as matzo, had ham and red onion and was positively smothered in gruyere cheese.
The flatbread recipe itself comes from a NYTimes Dining recipe, originally intended for Stilton-Tomato Pizza. I stole it for this on the advantages that is both a yeast bread and still relatively quick. Plus, no pizza stone required! If you knead the dough in a stand mixer, the thing practically makes itself.
The end result is somewhere between TJ's superthin crisp and what I think of when I think of pizza: the bread doesn't rise all that much, and the edges and bottom have a satisfying crunch that is still decidedly bread and not matzo-like. It's not at all doughy, and entirely scrumptious.

HERB FLATBREAD WITH HAM, RED ONION AND GRUYERE
adapted from the New York Times Dining, July 12, 2006

flatbread
1 packet active dry yeast
1 c water, divided
1 tsp sugar
3/4 tsp sea salt
ground black pepper
1 tsp dried Italian seasoning or mixed dried herbs (recommended: thyme)
2 Tbsp olive oil
3 c flour

2 Tbsp olive oil
1 1/2 red onions, sliced in half moons
2 Tbsp wine or chicken broth
1 tsp dried parsley
~ 6 oz ham steak, cut 1/4" thick and then in matchsticks about a 1/2" long
2 1/2 c shredded gruyere cheese
~ 1/2 c shredded fresh mozzarella

Mix the yeast and sugar with 1/4 c of warm water (110 degrees F) in large bowl. Set aside five minutes until foamy. Stir in 2 Tbsp olive oil, the salt, pepper to taste, and the herbs. Add 3/4 c water and mix.
Mix in 2 c flour. Continue adding flour until dough can be gathered together. Knead with floured hands in the bowl or use the dough hook on a stand mixer (be careful not to overmix if using the mixer), adding more flour as needed, until dough is smooth, elastic, and just a bit sticky. Put dough in a bowl brushed with oil, cover with a clean towel and set aside until doubled in volume, about 1 hour.
Oil or spray with nonstick cook spray an 11x17 jellyroll pan or rimmed baking pan.
While the dough rises, heat the other 2 Tbsp olive oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add the onions and cook until softened a bit but not browned. Add the wine or broth, sprinkle the parsley and some salt and pepper over to taste, and briefly increase the heat to high. Cook, stirring, until the onions have absorbed some of the liquid and softened a bit more. Remove from heat.
In a separate smaller skillet cook the ham matchsticks over medium-heat just briefly until they are fragrant and warm. Do not brown.
Preheat the oven to 500 F with the rack in the lowest position. Punch the dough down. Roll and stretch the dough on a lightly floured board (like the back of a large cutting board) to fit pan, leaving the border just a smidgen thicker than the middle. Put dough in the oiled pan.
Mix the cheeses together and spread a thin layer, about a cup or so, over the dough, leaving a border bare. Spoon and spread on the red onions, then sprinkle the ham over. Top with the remaining cheese. Bake about 20 minutes or until crust is brown.

Conquering Broiling

2006-09-27T18:29:00.000-04:00

Minutes spent doing psych GRE review, 0; minutes spent working on the incredibly lame beginnings of a personal statement, 15; minutes spent reading Northanger Abbey, 150.

Like many good stories I know, this one starts not with my own experiences but with someone else's. I was testing with a coworker, and he was relating to me his very eventful night, which included winning at a poker tournament he was trying to lose at because he wanted to leave and then getting drunk at a local bar and challenging the bartender to a cook-off. I then asked whether he knew how to cook at all, and he answered that he doesn't, really, actually - but sometimes he'll just make something up out of nowhere, like once he marinaded chicken in pomegranate juice and then sprinkled the seeds over. As far as I know, the bartender hasn't called him to schedule the cook-off, but I was really more intrigued by the pomegranate idea anyway.
You know how sometimes something sticks in your mind, and resists being a fleeting thought? There needed to be pomegranate chicken.
A online search brought up almost immediately a post on words to eat by (the first blog I ever started reading, way before appetitive came to be), which sounded beautiful. I can't hold a candle to Debbie's photos, but mine came out rather prettily as well if I do say so myself.

I did sneak a taste of marinade before the chicken went in, and adjusted the juice up a bit to counteract the balsamic. It's really tasty. (POM juice has an online site with a bunch of other recipes to try as well, if you're like me and now are wondering what to do with the rest of a giant juice bottle . . . the grilled eggplant, pomegranate vinagrette, and pretty much any of the drinks are ones I'd go to first.) This was actually the first time using the broiler on this particular oven, and I am still mystified by it being so close to the floor, but it did a splendid job on the chicken keeping it nice and moist. Though I like the chicken as is, I don't think this fully comes into its own until you have the sauce with it - oh my gosh, that's good.

POMEGRANATE CHICKEN
adapted from Debbie's recipe at words to eat by

1/4 to 1/2 c pomegranate juice
2 Tbsp balsamic vinegar
2 scant Tbsp honey
1/4 c olive oil
2 large cloves garlic, pressed
1/4 medium onion, finely chopped
1 tsp thyme leaves
1-2 bay leaves
1/4 tsp salt
cracked black pepper
boneless, skinless chicken breasts

In a large measuring cup or bowl mix together all the marinade ingredients. Taste and adjust the pomegranate juice and other seasonings. Place the chicken in a ziploc bag and pour the marinade over. Seal the bag tightly and place in a bowl; let marinade in the refrigerator for at least half an hour (mine was in 2 hours).
Preheat the broiler. Cover a broiler pan with foil and spray with nonstick spray. Place the chicken on the broiler pan and cook for about five minutes a side. When the chicken's done, remove from the pan and let rest for five minutes.
While the chicken is cooking, place the marinade in a small saucepan and bring to a boil. Let boil for several minutes until it reaches a suitable consistency. Serve the chicken with the sauce spooned over.

Quaker Has Nothing on Alton Brown

2006-09-26T19:41:00.000-04:00

You know, I completely racked my brain trying to write this post today (you can tell it was a verrrrry slooooooooooow workday), and I came up with nothing.
Oatmeal, you see, is simply not going to be gussied up and paraded around. Oatmeal is comfort food, when it's cold out in the morning; it is substantial food, when you have an early morning drive ahead of you; and most importantly, oatmeal, as I found out, is lazy food. This is not the only reason to make this recipe - for instance, you get better quality oats and far better taste and far less strange-sounding preservative-related words than a regular packet of instant - but it's definitely a selling point for me.
Granted, you do need to start this the night before, but with about a minute of prep time it's not that big a deal. I had a moment of panic the next morning when I spooned it out of the crockpot and found it just slightly sour, but the lightest sprinkle of salt and a half-spoonful of brown sugar later - magically delicious. I'd advise you to taste first before that though; I found out my parents had tried the same recipe last winter and found it too sweet. I'm not certain if this is because I used a bit less fruit, or because I and AB share a sweet tooth, but either way. I have never really been a fan of your so-called breakfast foods (I maintain that the three best things to eat for breakfast are, in no particular order, leftover pizza, leftover Chinese takeout, and leftover tuna casserole), but the next time oatmeal crosses my mind, this is definitely going to be it.
There are no pictures here (sorry, Adam) sadly, in part because when you are rushing around in the morning it is not the optimal time to be playing around with the camera, and secondly because well, oatmeal isn't the most photogenic of foods to begin with.

OVERNIGHT OATMEAL
adapted from Alton Brown via the Food Network

1 c steel-cut oats (such as McCann's Irish)
3/4 c dried cranberries
3/4 c dried tart apples
4 c water
1/2 c half-and-half
1 good slug of vanilla extract, probably about a tsp or so

Spray the inside of a small (mine is 3 1/2 qt) crockpot with nonstick cook spray. Pour in everything a stir a bit to combine. Cover and set the crockpot to low. Let cook for eight to eight and a half hours.
Happily, leftover oatmeal can be refrigerated and individual size portions can be reheated successfully in the microwave, on high for about 2 minutes (stir well after heating; you may want just a splash of milk or butter when reheating).

SHF: Chocolate Merlot Cupcakes

2006-09-21T20:44:00.000-04:00

I sort of put off this SHF for some time, mainly because I'm indecisive like that. And in a flash of inspiration suddenly, I thought I'd just make an unusual paired flavor thing - namely, these chocolate cabernet cupcakes I've always been intrigued by. Only there was no cabernet, but by that point I was too far sold on it, so off I went in search of alternatives. Lo and behold, there seems to be one single recipe for chocolate merlot cake on the entire web, so I thought that clearly that must be the one.
I had visions of perfect, lovely little cupcakes, with a luscious chocolate taste and a background of winey-ness - and not only that, a surprise inside of black cherry and wine jelly nestled in as an extra treat.
Well. Life is full of surprises. Not to be too anthropomorphic about it, but the cupcakes apparently had other plans and ideas of their own on how to be presented, and did not feel like cooperating. The tops came out nicely, as did the bottoms, but unfortunately not at the same time. Surprise!

the stubborn, sorry lot of misfits

Somehow, when you unmold a whole cupcake and split it down the center to reveal its insides, it can be artsy and elegant; when the cupcake does it for you, especially not in the direction you might have chosen, it is rather less so.
Following the advice of previous recipe reviewers, I did add more butter than originally called for, though I don't think that's the culprit - I think here overfilling is the problem. Perhaps, with filling the cups less full, it might have solved the splitting problem. Nearly every one split in the same place, at the juncture of the well and edge, and with less filling, less overflow, maybe less splitting.N.B.: you may wish then to make additional wine jelly to ensure you can fill all the cupcakes. I did have some leftover batter, which I used to make some miniatures. Though it's not quite a good comparison, I did fill the cups less full and they turned out better. With these I didn't bother buttering and cocoacing, but sprayed it with nonstick spray. I actually think the butter/cocoa does a better job of it, but might also consider dabbing a bit of spray or butter above and around the edges of each well to prevent tops from sticking also.

the rather more well-behaved relations, sans jelly filling

Lest you be put off by their unruly appearances, I do feel obligated to say on behalf of the cupcake components that they're really quite tasty - dark and close-to-but-not-dense fudgy, with the gorgeous red-brown crumb from the cocoa. I'd have no hesitation in making the full cake with the wine jelly sandwiched between for an impressive and unusual finale, but perhaps they weren't at full potential here.

CHOCOLATE MERLOT CUPCAKES
adapted from Anne Willan's Chocolate Merlot Cake recipe and reviewer comments on Epicurious

2 c flour
3/4 c good-quality Dutch cocoa
1 1/4 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
2 sticks/1 c butter
1 3/4 c sugar
2 eggs
1 1/2 tsp vanilla
1 1/4 c Merlot wine
wine jelly
heaping 1/2 c Polaner black cherry all-fruit spread
3 Tbsp Merlot wine

Preheat the oven to 350 F. Butter (at least 12, and likely more) standard muffin tins and dust with cocoa powder.
Make the wine jelly: carefully melt together the all-fruit spread and wine in a small saucepan over medium heat until smooth, about 7 or so minutes. Remove and let cool a bit.
Sift twice together the flour, cocoa, baking soda and salt.
In a mixer cream together the butter and sugar for about 5 minutes on medium-high speed, stopping to scrape the beater, until combined (light and fluffy and pale golden). Add in the eggs one at a time and beat well after each addition. Mixin the vanilla and cream together an additional minute or two until all is smooth.
Sift a third of the flour mixture over the butter mixture and fold in carefully. Pour over and fold in a third of the wine. Repeat, alternating the remaining flour mixture and wine in two batches.
What I did: fill the muffin tins about half full and push batter to the sides to make a small well. Add about 2 tsp of the wine jelly mixture. Spoon over batter to fill the rest of the cup to the brim. Additional batter may be used to make small cupcakes.
What I suggest you do instead: fill the muffin tin about a third full, pushing batter to the sides to make a small well if you like. Add 1-2 tsp jelly as you like. Cover with batter to fill each tin about 2/3 full.
Bake in the heated oven about 20 minutes, checking after 15. If you make miniatures, they will take just about 10-12 minutes.
Let cool in the pan for 10 minutes before, very carefully, attempting to turn them out onto a rack to cool fully.

A Meme!

2006-09-21T20:07:00.000-04:00

I got tagged by Ellie for my first meme, and am completely tickled pink by this. Thanks!

I am thinking about: how much I miss my car. First it was leaking and they replaced a faulty seal. But then it kept leaking, and turned out they nicked a hose while they were replacing a seal. So they ordered a new one. But the hose they ordered was wrong and didn't fit. So they ordered a new new one. But the new new one didn't have the right holes. So they ordered a new new new one again. I haven't seen her in a week. Mindy says they're taking it out for joyrides and I sincerely hope she's wrong.

I said: "would you excuse me, please" about a thousand times trying to make it onto the morning subway.

I want: a puppy.

I wish: graduate school and applications were an easier decision process.

I regret: not seeing my girlfriends as often as I'd like.

I hear: O.A.R.'s Love and Memories. It sticks in your head something fierce.

I am: attempting to re-grow my hair long enough so that it can all be pulled into a braid or ponytail.

I dance: along with my little workout dvds in the living room.

I sing: in my car. I am one of those people who go all out with it, drum solos on the steering wheel and everything, alarming other drivers, and am of the school that if you can't sing well - you sing loudly.

I cry: at almost anything that could be construed as a chick flick, whether they deserve it (the reunion scene in Wicker Park, In Her Shoes, Spanglish) or not (The Wedding Singer), and when the Eagles have an excellent lead but then decide to be complete idiots and throw it out the window.

I am not: not addicted to caffeine.

I am: a Jersey girl.

I write: lists, and on anything nearby - I'm not above paper napkins and coffee filters, but bound lined index cards are my downfall.

I confuse: easily.

I need: a copy of Peter James Quirk's Trail of Vengeance, which is the selection for the Yours in Crime (my nerdy mystery book group) author talk Monday, which I haven't yet read.

I also regret perhaps that I don't really know if I've got enough readers that I can specifically tag anyone else to continue . . . but if you're reading, well, consider yourself tagged - and leave me a note so I can then visit you. I love discovering new (to me, at least) blogs.

Not Basic Leftovers

2006-09-20T20:38:00.000-04:00

I've made this recipe with just sage and onion for some years now (the original recipe calls for porcini thrown in there, but the mushroom allergy prevails against this), as I'm a huge fan of both. Recently though I've decided this is also now my favorite medium for leftover roast chicken. Having the chicken at room temperature and then stirring it into the hot rice ensures it doesn't dry out. Being the resourceful one that I am, the leftover onions of the other night got plopped into here as well - rather than overpowering the rest of the risotto (they are rather winey), they mellow out and just add a nice soft undercurrent of extra flavor.

ROAST CHICKEN, CARAMELIZED ONION AND SAGE RISOTTO
adapted from Williams-Sonoma Kitchen Library: Risotto

7 c chicken broth
2 Tbsp unsalted butter
2 Tbsp truffle oil or olive oil
1 1/2 onions, thinly sliced
~ 1/2 c or so leftover cipollino in agrodolce (optional)
2 c Arborio rice
1 c white wine
2 tsp dried sage
2-3 c diced roast chicken (white and dark meat), room temperature
1 1/2 c grated Parmesan cheese

Pour the broth into a saucepan and bring to a simmer; adjust to keep hot.
In a large heavy saucepan over medium-high heat, melt the butter with the oil. Add the onions and saute until browned, about 10 minutes. Add the rice and stir until white spots appear in the middle of the grains, about 1 minute Add the cipollini and the wine and stir until the rice is absorbed, about 2 minutes. Add the sage and a ladleful of broth. Reduce heat to maintain a simmer and cook, stirring constantly, until the liquid is absorbed. Continue adding broth a ladleful at a time and stirring, until the rice is tender to your liking and the mixture is creamy, about 25 minutes.
Add the diced chicken and fold in gently. Add the Parmesan and stir gently to mix well. Serve while still quite warm.

Autumn Classics II: Back to (Quasi) Basics

2006-09-18T18:05:00.000-04:00

After last week’s introduction to autumn, I was left wondering what other seasonal dishes would be appropriate to begin serving up. Amazingly enough, both Rob and I started thinking about roast chicken, when it occurred to me that I never have actually made a roast chicken. I have a habit of assuming I can make pretty much any recipe I can read, and so it wasn’t exactly a daunting thought to tackle something like that – I’ve cooked two massive turkeys successfully for group Thanksgivings; how difficult could a chicken really be?

The final answer is not very at all, actually, but the devil in the details is that there seem to be thousands of ways to roast a chicken, perhaps more variations than I have seen of roast turkey. While roasting a chicken is in itself darned simple, finding a recipe is perhaps, for a novice, just shy of overwhelming. To make it easier, I started sorting the recipes in one of three categories: Basic, which are unpretentious and seem to be more what you’ve actually seen your relatives make and eat for a meal; Not Basic, which is a backlash category against Basic recipes, and may involve famous chefs, novel seasoning combinations or ethnic-style variations in order to make plain ole chicken interesting; and Quasi Basic, which is a backlash category against Not Basic recipes, and resemble Basic recipes except they’re likely to be sort of snooty because they have returned to the true quintessential chicken after rejecting Not Basic things, and they can’t quite help themselves from trying to vary upon and one-upping the Basics.

This recipe would fall into the Quasi Basic category, written for fellow novice roasters. There is some seasoning to be done, some temperature changing, some basting; but no flipping (sidenote: has anyone ever flipped a chicken with lemons or stuffing inside? Is it difficult? Inquiring minds want to know if real people do these things - without burning themselves), no brining, no de-boning, no trussing.

Since I cannot fathom roast chicken without gravy, there is a recipe for that as well. Gravy is supersimple, as the not-so-secret is simply to whisk the hell out of it and there won’t be lumps. This one did produce a rather dark gravy, but if you want a light one forego the pan juices and just use broth.

QUASI BASIC ROAST CHICKEN

1 6-7 lb chicken

4 Tbsp unsalted butter, softened

2 lemons

~ tsp garlic powder

~ tsp dried sage

~ tsp dried thyme

Bell’s poultry seasoning to taste

Salt and pepper

2 c chicken stock or broth (low-salt, fat-free if you’re using canned)

½ c white wine

2 Tbsp honey (optional)

30 minutes before: Preheat your oven to 450 F. Spray a roasting rack with nonstick cook spray and place inside a roasting pan.

Make your herb butter: Microplane or finely grate the zest of 1 lemon. Add to the softened butter, along with the garlic powder, thyme, sage, Bell’s, and some salt and pepper. Mix well to combine.

Take the chicken out of its packaging. Stick your hand inside and take out any packets inside, making sure you’ve got everything out of the cavity – you can either dump these in the garbage or roast them alongside. Turn the chicken on its neck and let it drain. Sprinkle the chicken inside and out with salt and rinse it off in cold water, again letting it drain. Set it down on a good large size plate and pat dry with paper towels.

Loosen the skin on the chicken by sliding at first a finger or two between the chicken and the skin at the top of the breast by the neck cavity, and working in until you can fit several fingers or maybe your palm. Turn the chicken around and repeat from the opposite end going towards the breast. The skin should now be loose over the top and towards the sides of the chicken. Take small portions of the herb butter and slide it under the skin, rubbing over the meat to coat and sliding the skin back into place. When you’ve used about a third to half of the butter, take small portions again and smear over the entire chicken, including the drumsticks, wings, and thighs. Sprinkle a small pinch of salt over the surface of the chicken. Take the other lemon and quarter it and stuff it inside the cavity.

Set the chicken on the prepared rack in the pan. Place it in the 450 F oven for about 20-25 minutes (you may wish to turn the pan around halfway through). The skin should be beginning to color. Reduce the heat to 325 F.

Open the oven and carefully add the chicken broth and wine to the pan. Baste the chicken with the pan juices. Let roast at 325 for 30 minutes and baste again. Let roast for another 30 minutes and check the temperature though it will likely need more before it has reached 170 F. Baste and let roast for 15 minutes, and check again. Suck up some pan juices and place in a small bowl with the honey. Stir to combine and thin the honey a bit. Brush on the skin of the chicken all over. This will brown the chicken a bit more and leave just a hint of flavor, but at this point the honey shouldn’t burn. I like a rather dark chicken, but feel free to skip that. Let roast again 15 minutes and at this point it should be done and registering 170 F. Take the roasting pan out and let the chicken sit uncarved for about fifteen to twenty minutes, which is plenty of time to make . . . .

BASIC GRAVY

2-3 Tbsp pan drippings from 1 roast chicken

2-3 Tbsp flour

2 ½ c pan juices from 1 roast chicken, plus broth or wine to make up any difference

To get pan drippings, transfer the chicken out of the pan to a safe spot. Scrape the bottom of the roasting pan (this is really easy if you have a nonstick roaster) and carefully pour the liquid and scrapings into fine strainer set over a gravy separator or wide-mouth bowl. Take 2-3 Tbsp of the pan drippings and place in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Take an equal amount of the flour and whisk in the drippings to make a roux, the paste that forms. You probably want a light colored one for chicken, so cook it just 30 seconds maybe until it is a deep golden but not yet brown. Have your liquid measured out. While you are whisking like crazy, carefully in a steady slow stream pour the liquid in. Keep whisking furiously for a minute or two, at which point it should be all incorporated. Bring to a boil and then lower to a slight simmer to keep warm; if you want thicker gravy, simply boil it a bit longer, if you want thinner gravy, whisk in some more hot liquid.

Onions, On Their Own

2006-09-18T17:48:00.000-04:00

Following up on the success of Martha's soup, I turned to her again for an innovative side with my first attempt at roast chicken. I don't often think of onions as a vegetable in and of themselves; I tend rather to use them as a background aromatic note to enhance something else. Here, they have a starring role and I must say it's a rather nice change.

The onions have some tannic aftertaste from the wine, yet I don't think it's too overpowering. I had to resort to jarred pearl onions, which may have some residual flavor left from that process. Although they worked wonderfully, I can't help but feel that this will be even better in a month or two when packages of small onions come out in the market.

CIPOLLINI IN AGRODOLCE
adapted from Martha Stewart Living Annual Recipes 2005

2 lbs cipollini or pearl onions OR 2 jars (15 oz each) whole pearl onions
2 scant Tbsp olive oil
1 bay leaf
~ tsp dried thyme
1/3 c red-wine vinegar
~ 1/3 c red wine (I used Merlot)
1 heaping Tbsp sugar
1 scant tsp salt

If using fresh onions: bring a large pot of water to boil. Trim the root ends of the onions and add to the water; reduce heat to medium-low. Simmer onions until tender, 25 to 30 minutes. Drain, let cool, and peel onions.
If using jarred onions: make sure you have not bought cocktail onions by mistake. Rinse and soak the onions in 2-3 changes of cold water; drain well.
Heat the oil with bay leaf in a saute pan over medium heat. Add the thyme. Add the onions and cook, stirring, until deep golden brown in spots, about 5 minutes (resist the temptation to increase the heat; mine didn't color until just the last few moments).
Stir together vineger, wine, sugar and salt; add to pan. Reduce the heat to medium-low. Cook, stirring occasionally, until the liquid is syrupy and the onions have glazed, 20 to 25 minutes. Season with pepper and additional thyme.

Now With Indexed Goodness

2006-09-15T21:01:00.001-04:00

When one has to start googling one's own blog to see what one did on particular recipes, one clearly is in need of a better organized blog. Appetitive has become not only an expression of my cooking, but also a convenient way to avoid having to keep track of a thousand pieces of paper with recipes written down on them, littering up the apartment.
And so I present to you, a work in progress, the Supercool Very Exciting Appetitive Behavior Recipe Index.

SOUP
Fresh Pea Soup
Chilled Cream of Tomato Soup
Corn Chowder
Spinach and Polenta Soup
Black Bean Pumpkin Soup
Galangal, Chicken and Coconut Soup
Onion Soup
Creamy Eggplant, Cannellini Bean and Ricotta Soup

SALADS
Beans and Tuna Salad (Lunchbox)
Basil Green Bean Salad (Lunchbox)
Watermelon Salad (Lunchbox)
Greek Salad with Chicken (Lunchbox)
Spinach and Chickpea Salad (Lunchbox)
Thai Cucumber Salad
Salad with Baked Goat Cheese
Chickpea-Kidney Salad with Parsley, Lemon and Dried Tomatoes (Lunchbox)
Cranberry Vinaigrette
Tuna, Tomato and Haricot Verts with Mustard Vinaigrette (Lunchbox)
Indian Cucumber-Peanut Salad (scroll down)
Avocado, Red Onion and Mandarin Salad with Orange-Muscat Vinaigrette

CHICKEN & TURKEY
Coconut Chicken
Summer Stuffed Chicken Breasts with Lemon Herb Buerre Blanc
Chicken and Snap Peas with Orange Sauce
Quasi Basic Roast Chickenwith Basic Gravy
Roast Chicken, Caramelized Onion and Sage Risotto
Pomegranate Chicken
Chicken Tikka Masala
Chicken and Dumplings
Turkey Calzones (Lunchbox)
Turkey Thai Basil (Lunchbox)
Spicy Turkey Meatballs (Lunchbox)

BEEF & LAMB
(East-Coast) California Casserole
Asparagus Beef with Oyster Sauce
Beef Roast Braised With Onions
Grilled Marinated London Broil
Claudia's German Sauerbraten
Crockpot Red-Cooked Beef
Thick Beef Curry in Sweet Peanut Sauce
Lamb and Couscous with Light Dill Tzatziki
Lamb with Eggplant and Onions

PORK
Pork Loin Braised in Milk (Lunchbox)
Pork Loin with Cherry Gravy
Pork with White Wine Marinade/Sauce
Sage Pork Tenderloin
White Bean and Pork Chili
Five-Spice Char Siu

SEAFOOD
Crab Fondue for Two
Mussels in Saffron-Garlic Broth
Mussels with Basil Cream Sauce
Warm Mussel Sauce with Pasta
Shrimp in Tomato-Wine Scampi Sauce
Roasted Soft-Shell Crab with Buerre Noisette
Tuna Noodle Casserole
Chili-Vanilla Shrimp with Avocado Salsa
Toasted Nori and Sesame Salmon

EGGS
Egg White and Gruyere-Cheddar Puff
Darling Mini-Quiches
Crustless Veggie and Mozzarella Mini-Quiches
Zucchini and Spinach Skillet Frittata

VEGETATIVE MATTER & SOME SIDES
Grilled Eggplant Rolls with Shortcut Amatriciana Sauce
Cider Apples and Roasted Squash and Potatoes
Coconut Risotto
Sesame-Roasted Vegetable Soba (Lunchbox)
Cipollini in Agrodolce
Pumpkin and Sage Risotto (Lunchbox)
Stuffed Acorn Squash (Lunchbox)
Hungry Girl's Baked Onion Rings post and recipe
Broccoli Rabe, Cannellini and Chicken Sausage (Lunchbox)
Fried Rice

QUICK BREADS . . . AND SOME OTHER STUFF
Quick Cinnamon Buns with Buttermilk Icing
Cappuccino Walnut Scones
Tomato and Goat Cheese Muffins
Herb Flatbread with Ham, Red Onion and Gruyere
La Beth's Vanilla Cornbread
Parmesan Black-Pepper Biscotti
Banana-Coconut Muffins

MISCELLANEOUS
Overnight Oatmeal
Scarlett O'Hara
Fresh Homemade Ricotta
Croque Monsieur Panini
Quick Garlic Mayonnaise

DESSERTISH THINGS
Gingered Coffeecake
Frozen Gianduia Mousse
Caramel Macchiato Ice Cream
Irish Pecan Brownies
Fresh Plum Kuchen
Chocolate Merlot Cupcakes
Gold Cake
Buttermilk Pie Crust Dough
Paula Deen's Bourbon Pecan Pie
Thomas Keller's Pecan Pie
Perfect Pecan Pie
Chocolate Chip Biscotti with Cinnamon and Cacao Nibs
Cashew-Cashew Butter Cookies
Milk Chocolate Brownies

A Real Thirty-Minute Meal

2006-09-14T20:11:00.000-04:00

Number of schools which have not written back yet, 2; number of professors not taking students, 1; additional possible options yet to look into, 3; number of times this week have considered scrapping psychology entirely, approximately 4 billion.

This week’s been rather busy, and it’s been a week of quick meals and leftovers, mainly. To my credit, I have not once eaten popcorn or chex mix for dinner, though it has come close. In a measure of true desperation the other night I ate an omelet for dinner. This is a noteworthy event because for twenty-three years now I have maintained that I don’t like eggs. This was eroded by tortilla española in Spain, and since then I’ve been slowly breaking ground into soufflés and quiches and other things where if you put so much else into them they don’t taste really like eggs at all and are therefore ok. It came to me as a great shock this past weekend when I actually asked for an omelet for our version of brunch, and packed with leftover steak and onion and tomato and cheese it was fantastic. The other night was egg and hashbrown potatoes and spinach and cheese. I don’t really understand where all this egg-liking came from all of a sudden. It’s like my bizarro food world.

Yesterday was a bit different. Sandwiched in between nights of doctor appointments and sitting at the garage waiting for them to fix and re-fix the car, Wednesday seemed the only possible time before the weekend to get errands and a bit of proper cooking done. I picked up my new glasses, bought some sweaters before I’m allergic to everything that’s out, and had a lovely perusal around the grocery store stocking up. When I got home, I turned to one of the pages I’d bookmarked in Martha Stewart Living 2005 collection, a real find due back at the library all too soon. Though it’s a bit strangely laid out, organized in recipes by month rather than courses, I find that just encourages me to page through often. It’s one of the first cookbooks in a while I actually intend to buy, in part because so many recipes are actually ones I’d use rather than just drool over.
Case in point with the spinach and polenta soup. With total time in about half an hour, I was able to grill some sausages on the side and then curled up with a lovely meal and the rest of Bend It Like Beckham. The soup's filling but not heavy, with a silky texture from the cornmeal and a sweet smell of garlic oil, and forgiving when I put in all the olive oil at the beginning instead of splitting it up throughout. It's a very simple recipe and though not one I've had as a combination in soup before, it came together beautifully. Well done, Martha.

SPINACH AND POLENTA SOUP
basically from Martha Stewart Living Annual Recipes 2005

1/2 c olive oil
3 garlic cloves, pressed
6 c water
1/2 c fine yellow cornmeal
1/2 c finely grated Parmesan cheese
3 cups baby spinach leaves, torn into pieces
1 tsp sea salt
ground pepper to taste

Heat the oil and the garlic in a medium saucepan over medium heat until the garlic is fragrant, about 1 minute.
Add the water and bring to a boil. Whisking constantly, add the cornmeal in a slow steady stream (works well if you sift it through your fingers). Reduce heat to medium and cook, stirring occasionally, until the soup has thickened slightly, about 8 minutes. Add the cheese and cook for 1 minute longer.
Stir in the spinach and salt and cook, stirring, until the spinach is bright green and wilted, about 1 minute more. Season to taste with pepper and serve while still quite warm.

An Autumn Classic

2006-09-13T19:36:00.000-04:00

This was a beautiful weekend to kick off fall: sun shining, the breeze coming through with just a hint of coolness in it, and best of all, Rob’s stove was working.

I love the word autumn – it’s beautiful to say, elegant to write, and sounds as crisp and clean as the outdoors is at this time. I could go on and on, but I realized I love autumn in particular for two things, the fact that it is Goldilocks weather in not too hot, not too cold and I can be comfortable but not yet need long sleeves, and the cooking: edging into winter without yet feeling like it mandates something hot and heavy to warm up with, but just pleasantly cozy. We ate this with all the windows open and it was just beautiful. The apple cider was my first taste for this season; a tall glass of it makes a great accompaniment.
While this may look like a lengthy recipe, the whole shebang takes just over an hour - quick and easy.

SAGE PORK WITH CIDER APPLES AND ROASTED SQUASH AND POTATOES

About 1 ½ to 2 lbs assorted small potatoes (TJ’s confetti mix uses baby Yukon golds, red bliss, and purple)

20 oz peeled butternut squash, cut into largeish chunks

2-3 Tbsp olive oil

1 tsp dried sage

salt and pepper

2 lbs pork tenderloins, well trimmed

2 Tbsp olive oil

3 Tbsp white wine

1 tsp dried sage

½ tsp salt

pepper

3 Tbsp butter

3 large white boiling onions

2 very large apples (we used huge Braeburns, but anything crisp and sweet or sweet-tart is good)

1 ½ tsp lemon juice

½ - ¾ c apple cider

salt and pepper to taste

Place the tenderloins in a 9x13 Pyrex baking dish. In a small bowl, mix together the oil, wine, sage, and salt and pepper until well combined. Pour over the tenderloins and turn to coat, smearing both sides with seasonings. If you’ve got time, cover and let sit in the refrigerator; if not, let marinade at room temperature for fifteen minutes.

Preheat the oven to 450 F and have two racks in. Spray a very large or two smaller Pyrex or similar roasting pans with nonstick cook spray. Wash and gently dry the potatoes and cut into halves or even quarters. Add the butternut squash to the pan. Toss the vegetables with the oil, sage, and salt and pepper. Place on the lower rack in the oven and bake for 15 minutes.

Check on the vegetables and move around gently with a spoon. Place the dish with the pork in the oven at this time and let both of them roast together for 20 minutes. Check the pork at this time and remove to let rest if ready; the potatoes and squash can take another five or so to brown.

While the pork and vegetables are in the oven, prepare the apples: peel and core the apples. Slice each apple lengthwise into twelve pieces; each should be no less then ½ inch at the thickest part. Slice the onions into half-moon pieces.

Melt the butter in a sauté pan over medium-low heat. Add the onions and cook without browning until beginning to soften, just on three minutes. Add the apple slices gently and press down into the butter (they can brown if you like) and gently turn as needed, just about a minute or two. Sprinkle with the lemon juice and season with salt and pepper. Add the apple cider and increase the heat slightly until it reaches a gentle boil. Stir the apples in the pan gently to coat. Cover and let cook for three to four minutes, until liquid has reduced and apples are tender.

Serve medallions of the pork tenderloin with the cider apples poured over and the sage roasted squash and potatoes on the side.

Lunchbox: Turkey Thai Basil

2006-09-11T23:12:00.000-04:00

Contacts sent, 5. Replies that made me panic I hadn't written a good enough letter, 1; incredibly overwhelmingly positive replies after writing different letter, 1.

Appetitive was sorely and sadly neglected the past two weeks. It just didn’t happen. In the wake of the frantic graduate school application business, everything else sort of got pushed aside. I skipped book club. I overslept forty minutes every day. I didn't do all the vaccuuming - ok, maybe that's not such a unique thing. It was not a pretty week. I’m trying to be rather upbeat about it, as my current non-psych reading material, The Highly Effective Detective by Richard Yancey, hit home with a well-placed dryly noted mental meandering of the detective: Cynicism is easy; optimism takes real effort. Never let it be said I do anything the easy way.
Getting back on track with the entries – and the cooking! - then, this week’s Lunchbox is actually the second effort of a recipe I made two weeks back I’d meant to blog but just never found the motivation for. After the Great Plant Fiasco, I decided my life would be incomplete without Thai basil from here on out. Among myriad other essentials in my freezer there are now two ginormous bags of frozen Thai basil stalks and a separate bag of Kaffir lime leaves. The hint about freezing the basil whole came from some skilled googling and a comment on Is It EDible? from a while back. There doesn’t seem to be so far any of the messiness of regular basil, that demands all sorts of fussiness with grinding it in food processors with oil and freezing it in little bits so it doesn’t turn black. I actually debating experimenting with this in terms of taking a ton of the Thai basil leaves, whirling them up with sesame oil and freezing them in that matter, but took my chances on simply Ziplocking them in. So far, so good – they start to thaw instantly and not very prettily, so you need to know what you’re doing with them before you even open the freezer door. But if they go straight to the pan, they cook just as well as fresh ones with no textural or taste difference, and it is nice to have them in whole leaves rather than tiny bits.
Two points of importance here: the lime leaves really need to be very finely slivered here (you can see them in the picture below, much finer than that is needed); otherwise I found them to be a bit waxy-tasting and strange. And despite the recipe's seasonings quantity, it's actually spot-on. First time I was hesitant with the fish sauce, as the bottle just smells so sweetly fishy to me I think it's a mistake to put any in and then I end up dashing more on the plate later. It seems so strange, given that smell is such a huge component of flavor, that I could like the taste and not the smell, but I’m not letting it keep me up nights. Nor do I let the fact that this has an unholy amount of garlic in it stop me from taking it to work - I figure I've already gone and stunk the building up with mercaptans once, they can handle garlic emanating from the microwave.

TURKEY THAI BASIL
varied only slightly from here

2 Tbsp canola oil
10-12 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 sweet onion, sliced in thin half moons and then cut down the centers
1 1/4 lb lean ground turkey
6 dried Thai chilis, cut in half
2 kaffir lime leaves, very finely slivered
1 Tbsp soy sauce
2 Tbsp fish sauce
1 tsp or so lime juice
leaves and flowers from 3 full stalks frozen Thai basil

Heat the oil in a nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Add the garlic and stir around for 20 seconds; add the onion and cook for about a minute and a half. Add the ground turkey and break up using a plastic spatula; cook until just no longer pink.
Add the dried split chilis and the lime leaves. In a small bowl stir to combine the soy, fish sauce, and lime juice and sprinkle over. Toss well to combine and then add the frozen Thai basil. Increase the heat if necessary to maintain a boil of the liquid and stir-fry another three minutes so that little if any liquid remains in the pan. Serve with hot jasmine rice. Extremely addictive.

La Festa al Fresco: Fresh Plum Kuchen

2006-08-29T17:53:00.000-04:00

Plums, I think, are severely underrated.
This kuchen showcases some of the plums which are in-season around here. I couldn't resist them at the market - they looked better than the peaches and nectarines alongside, and their bluish-black skins evoked memories of the tart-sweet taste. The kuchen is a great seasonal in-between for fruit desserts: lighter than a cake, a bit heavier than a crumble, and plenty flavorful with the slices of plums tucked between the two. The recipe's a combination from the Joy of Cooking and How to Be a Domestic Goddess, two of my baking favorites.

FRESH PLUM KUCHEN

batter
1 c flour
1 Tbsp baking powder
1/8 tsp salt
1 stick/8 Tbsp unsalted butter
3/4 c sugar
2 large eggs
1/2 tsp each vanilla and lemon extracts
2 large sliced plums
topping
1/2 c flour
1/4 c light brown sugar
1/8 tsp salt
1/4 tsp cinnamon
1/2 stick/4 Tbsp unsalted butter, diced
1 c pecan pieces

Preheat the oven to 350 F. Lightly grease a 9x2 round pan.
Whisk together thoroughly the flour, baking powder, and salt. In a stand mixer beat the butter and sugar together on medium speed until light and fluffy. Beat in the eggs, one at a time, and then the extracts.
Stir the flour mixture into the butter mixture until just all combined. Scrape the batter into the pan and spread as evenly as you can. Lay the plum slices over the top.
To make the topping, in a small bowl mix together the flour, brown sugar, salt and cinnamon. Add the butter and mix with your fingers or cut in until you have pea-sized clumps. Add the pecan pieces and mix together. Sprinkle the topping evenly over the fruit and batter.
Bake until the topping is slightly brown (you may wish to cover with foil if it goes too quickly) and a tester inserted comes out clean of batter, about 35 to 40 minutes.

Lunchbox: Turkey Calzones

2006-08-27T19:49:00.000-04:00

Ground turkey is fantastic. It's cheap, it's lean, it's protein. But there are perpetually two problems I have with it. One is the fact that when I think ground meat, I think: loaf, chili, balls, or burgers, and then I'm fairly stymied as to what other form you could put it in. The second problem is that turkey seems dry, although I think this is more or less based upon one unfortunate turkey burger recipe I got growing up and I really shouldn't generalize, as I had some luck with it recently.
There are, in my opinion, some really awful endless variations in an attempt to make the four possibilities more interesting and appetizing. However, this recipe was just different enough to give it a spin, and I'll have you know the lunchbox this week is attracting co-worker envy.

TURKEY CALZONES
adapted from eatturkey.com

1 Tbsp olive oil
1/2 Vidalia onion, finely chopped
~ 1/2 lb ground lean turkey
2 cups shredded part-skim mozzarella
1 tsp each dried oregano, parsely, and basil
3/4 tsp salt
fresh ground black pepper
1 3/4 lbs pizza dough
egg wash, made with 1 large egg and 1 Tbsp water

Preheat the oven to 450 F. In a skillet, saute the onion in the olive oil until beginning to soften, about five minutes. Add the ground turkey and break up with a wooden spoon. Cook the turkey through and drain.
Transfer the onion and turkey into a large bowl. Add the tomatooes, herbs, and seasonings and combine well. Once cooled a bit, add in the mozzarella cheese and stir well.
On a large surface sprinkled with flour (I used a silicone pastry mat) divide the pizza dough into balls of about 3 1/2 - 4 oz. Roll or stretch and pat each ball into a 6-inch round.
Place about 3 heaped Tbsp or so turkey filling in the middle of each round. Fold in half so the filling is covered. Seal the edges, then fold over and pinch closed again (the filling wants to leak out). Brush the tops of each calzone with some egg wash and arrange on a lightly greased baking sheet. Bake at 450 for about 15 minutes or until golden brown. Serve with marinara sauce on the side.

Lamb Is A Four-Letter Word

2006-08-24T19:48:00.000-04:00

I had my first taste of lamb the summer after my senior year in high school, at someone else's family backyard cookout. They called them spiedies, these lamb-chunk and vegetable laden skewers, after the particular marinade/sauce that went with them. While I’ve never been particularly neophobic, novel animal meats more so than novel vegetables and fruits cause the most reluctance in people asked to try new foods. I nibbled, cautiously, but there was no hesitation soon after: the meat was tender, gently seasoned and roasted, and eaten fresh from the grill in the summer sunshine of New York, lamb opened me to a whole new player in the butcher case.

My parents have never understood my liking for lamb, teasingly treating it much the same way as they have my recent enjoyment of football (“who are you? What have you done with Emily? Where, oh where, did we go wrong?” It was my father who told me it’s a four-letter word – that’s probably my favorite of the bunch). They said they could never stand the smell of cooking lamb, memories of their childhood of mutton. Back in the day, they let me indulge if they would be out of town for several days, and if I promised to keep the windows wide open. They are not keen on trying it again, despite their well-developed palates and the availability of better-quality younger lambs, and no amount of coaxing or cajoling on my part has convinced them. This is a very good example of how pervasive and persistent both odor memory and taste aversions can be. From a psychological standpoint, it’s both sensible and fascinating; from a culinary perspective, I keep thinking, come on – just once.

I don’t understand it. Lamb, to me, has a mild but rich-promising aroma and the meat seems to be less brash, smoother than beef, and with a hint of gaminess perhaps in its flavor that makes it more interesting to cook with. If lamb isn’t your cut of meat, however, this can be made with another lean ground meat instead.

LAMB AND COUSCOUS WITH LIGHT DILL TZATZIKI
adapted from Cuisine at Home magazine, August 2004

3 Tbsp olive oil
1/2 large Vidalia onion, diced small
3-4 cloves garlic, minced
1 lb ground lamb
1 red bell pepper, diced small
2 Tbsp lemon juice
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground nutmeg
1/2 tsp black pepper
1/2 c scallions, chopped
4 oz lemon and herb feta cheese, crumbled
1 c large (Israeli) couscous
1 1/4 c chicken broth
tztaziki
6 oz plain non-fat yogurt
8 oz light sour cream
1 medium cucumber, peeled, seeded and diced
1 1/2 tsp dill
1 tsp garlic powder
3/4 tsp salt
ground black pepper

In a saucepan, start the chicken broth boiling for the couscous. When the broth boils, add the couscous. Reduce the heat to maintain a simmer and cover. Cook for ten minutes. Remove from heat and keep covered.
Meanwhile, heat oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat and saute onion 3 minutes. Add the garlic and saute an additional minute. Stir in the ground lamb, breaking up the pieces, and cook 5 minutes or until browned. Add the bell pepper, lemon juice, and seasonings; cook 1 minute.
Remove the lamb mixture from heat and spoon off any excess fat. Stir in the couscous and cool 5 minutes. Stir in the scallions and feta.
To make the tzatziki: let the cucumber drain in a colander to remove any excess water. Open the yogurt and sour cream containers and skim off any liquid at the top. In a medium bowl, mix together the yogurt, sour cream, cucumber and seasonings.
Serve the lamb and couscous with tzatziki on top or alongside.

Lunchbox: Spinach and Chickpea Salad

2006-08-23T17:42:00.000-04:00

A local radio station by me currently is running “Zero Brain Cell Trivia” that I catch on the way to work. It’s so much more entertaining than simply being caller number nine, and feels better because it’s not just sheer random luck - the person (sort of) had to do something in order to win. Someone gets on the air, and the DJ asks a question that contains the answer (yesterday’s: the Teen Choice Awards aired last night. In what demographic range are the voters?), and of course they get it right and there’s a lot of mock cheering for intelligence before they announce whatever prize the person’s won. I love it.

The lunchbox this week falls under the category, then, of "Zero Brain Cell Recipes": I could have come up with it on my own, but since there's a recipe, I don't have to. I've sort of done something, but with about as little effort as possible to produce what passes as a meal. Thank you, Rachael Ray.

SPINACH AND CHICKPEA SALAD
adapted from Rachael Ray via the Food Network

shopping list:
2 5-oz. containers baby spinach
1 15-16 oz can chickpeas/garbanzo beans
1 bunch scallions
sliced or slivered honey-roasted almonds

per salad:
Take a large double handful (about 2-3 oz.) spinach leaves. Add about 1/4 - 1/3 c chickpeas. Slice over 2 scallions. For a super-simple vinagrette, pour 2 tsp balsamic vinegar into a small bowl. Whisk in 2 tsp olive oil. Just before serving, add the dressing and top with sliced almonds.

Stir-Fry, Despite the Possessed Stove

2006-08-22T18:33:00.000-04:00

We had a great weekend – Saturday we drove into Reading to see the PostSecret display at the museum and took a side trip for the pagoda, which affords a view over the city. Sunday, of course, was Snakes on a Plane. Surprisingly well-developed plot and entertaining.

Meals, however, were of another matter.

Rob’s stove has taken an immediate dislike to me, apparently – we had trouble with it a previous time we attempted to make dinner, and maintenance came and fiddled with it and it had been fine. Until we tried to make dinner Friday night. Rob and I were all set – I came bearing a microplaner and zester, and he had fresh ingredients. We happily chopped and grated and marinated. The stove was having none of it though, and not a thing – not even the oven, with which we managed before – would produce heat. After another call to maintenance, we stowed our stir-fry efforts in the fridge and ended up at Liki for gorgeous sushi (sadly no pictures this time, though a new one – the Angel Maki, a warm crab-topped scallop roll and possibly beating out my previous favorite Lemonade, is indeed a work of art).

Saturday night, in between dashes in and out, we tested the range quickly and it heated up. Excellent. After coming home, we put some broth on to boil for rice and waited. And waited. The burner kept steady for a while, and then would turn itself on and off without rhyme or reason. Dinner took nearly two and a half hours and most of our patience to make. After some experimenting, it seems you need to turn the oven up to 400 F and let it heat with the door open, then you can close it and turn on the stove, at which point the oven heat can be reduced. If the burner stops working, you turn the oven up and you hit the back of the stove. I cannot explain the utter aggravation – if it were my kitchen, I’d probably cry. Val, the landlady next door, has advised him to just break it entirely so he can get a new range, and I’m thinking that’s a great idea.
For all the stove's efforts, we managed quite a good stir-fry. The chicken was silkily tender after its 24-hour marinade, though according to the original recipe it can be tossed together about five minutes before you put it in the pan. With a normal stove, the cooking time shouldn't be much more than about fifteen minutes or so, more if you're making a side of rice also.

CHICKEN AND SNAP PEAS WITH ORANGE SAUCE
adapted from Williams-Sonoma Kitchen Library: Stir-Fry

sauce
1/2 c orange juice
zest of one orange
1 Tbsp soy sauce
2 tsp peeled grated fresh ginger
1 clove garlic, minced
1/4 onion, finely chopped
2 tsp honey
1 tsp Dijon mustard
marinade
1 egg white
1 Tbsp white wine
2 tsp soy sauce
1 Tbsp cornstarch

1 lb boneless skinless chicken tenders, cut into 1 1/2 inch chunks
2 Tbsp vegetable oil
8 oz fresh or frozen sugar snap peas
1 c canned sliced water chestnuts, drained

To make the sauce: combine all sauce ingredients in a small bowl and mix well. Set aside.
To make the marinade: combine marinade ingredients in a bowl and stir to dissolve the cornstarch. Add the chicken pieces and toss to coat evenly. Set aside.
In a frying pan over high heat, warm 1 Tbsp of the oil, swirling to coat the pan. Add the peas (careful if they're frozen) and stir and toss until just tender, about 2-3 minutes. Add the water chestnuts and stir and toss for 1 minute longer. Transfer to a dish and set aside.
Reduce the heat to medium-high and add the remaining 1 Tbsp oil. Add the chicken pieces and stir and toss until firm and no trace of pink remains, about 4-5 minutes. Stir the reserved orange suace and add to the pan. Bring to a simmer and stir and toss until the sauce thickens slightly, 1-2 minutes. Return the snap peas and water chestnuts to the pan and toss to coat with the sauce. Cook for 1 minute longer.

Brownies (gasp!) from a box

2006-08-17T18:19:00.000-04:00

Mindy, if you’re reading, the credit goes to you on this one for alerting me to your raspberry brownies.

I’ve been told that most people actually generally make brownies from a box mix, rather from scratch, and don’t feel ashamed of this but in fact see it as being normal. I seriously want to believe that scratch is unquestionably better, but I know enough people who swear Betty Crocker just is the way to go and that they don’t actually even like homemade brownies. I promised to bring brownies once to a party and ended up not having motivation to bake so I picked up a box of mix and figured people would forgive me. I accidentally left out an egg, and people totally raved about them. One wanted the recipe. Kind of reminded me on Friends when Phoebe swears her grandmother makes these secret-recipe awesome chocolate chip cookies, and Monica being the food snob we can all relate to goes through dozens of different batches fiddling with cardamom and cinnamon trying to replicate the cookie Phoebe gave her. Punch line is it’s the Toll House cookie recipe on the back of the bag. You can feel her pain.

But Sandra Lee has a made a career out of doing it, and these are seriously good eats and much cheaper than a homemade batch of brownies will set you back.

IRISH PECAN BROWNIES

1 c chopped pecans

1 box dark chocolate brownie mix

2 eggs

½ c oil

2 tsp vanilla

3 Tbsp Irish Cream liqueur

scant Tbsp water or another Tbsp Irish Cream (optional)

Preheat the oven to 350 F. Spread the pecans in the bottom of an 8x8 baking pan. Toast the pecans in the oven about 7 minutes. Remove the pan from the oven and turn the heat down to 325 F.

Dump the brownie mix into a large bowl and make a well in the center. In a mixing cup whisk together the eggs, oil, vanilla, and Irish Cream. Pour the mixture into the well and stir well to combine using a spoonula. Add the water or additional Tbsp Irish Cream if the brownie mixture is not smooth after the requisite 20 to 30 strokes. Add the toasted pecans and mix to combine. Pour the batter into the pan and smooth over the top; tap the pan on the counter to eliminate any air bubbles trapped in the batter. Bake at 325 F for 50 to 55 minutes or until a tester comes out clean. Let cool and cut carefully into pieces. These taste good (sadly) still warm, at room temperature, or even partially thawed from the freezer.

Bye Bye, Basil

2006-08-17T17:50:00.000-04:00

I started this blog with a few plants and a lot of hope. And as of today, no more. I am giving up on apartment gardening. I am trying to put a positive spin on this and think that it’s not really so much that I’m bad at keeping plants alive, as it is that I’m just that much more phenomenal at keeping little crawling things alive, but it’s not consoling me too much at the moment. In the absence of anything else living in my apartment, I’d actually grown rather attached to my plants, in a large part for the culinary aspect, but also because they made it look more homey and pretty. I kind of miss them, and I’m kind of worried on how this bears on me (if you cant keep a freaking plant alive, can I expect to be doomed if I ever get a puppy?). There have always been two things I really wanted for a superkitchen, an herb garden and a wine cellar, and I think clearly this is a sign of in which direction to focus my efforts.

Back in July, the boss brought me back a Key lime tree seedling as a souvenir of Florida – SSIB was there this year, and funding never made it through for me to go and present the poster with the prof. Let me tell you: I was excited. I’d seen them on Amazon and always sort of half wanted one, in that wow that’s exotic and would be nifty but is clearly not a necessity and therefore cannot be in the least bit justified sort of way. So you’re supposed to take this little seedling tree and repot him, water and feed him, and he’ll grow and possibly even bear you little Key limes. So off I went, gathered myself a pot for him, and another one for the cayenne plant (the cilantro, at this point, had long since joined the garden invisible) because it was straining its confines. I planted them and put them by the patio for the sun and watered them.

One week later, I go and water them. And I notice that there are little funny webby things on my cayenne plant. And the webby things have little tiny yellow specks. That are moving. And my plant leaves are drooping and brittle. While I promptly began freaking out about little things getting all over my carpet, Rob did some googling and found that I had spider mites. And they’re really hard to kill and more prolific than bunnies. Out went the cayenne plant. Upon close inspection, there were three little mites running around the edge of the Key lime tree, so after deliberation out it went. The tomatillo plant also landed in the dumpster for the sake of being thorough and because to be honest it hadn’t ever done much of anything anyways. We threw a baking soda solution on the carpet, because baking soda is awesome and does just about everything, vacuumed it up, and I sprayed some anti-bug stuff around to make me feel better.

And then there were two. After close inspection, they seemed fine – the Thai basil had a few little black spots on its leaves for the first time, but they weren’t moving and there were no webs, and the plant had been absolutely thriving. I swear they punished me for going away. I come back, and I see there are more little black specks. On webs. And yesterday some of the black specks started moving, and I’m calling it quits. I can’t prevent the mites, and I won’t keep a plant if I’m not going to eat it. I don’t know whether it’s something in the pot that happened when I replanted the cayenne and Key lime, or maybe it’s something by my window that landed on the basils. I bought all the pots at different times, and the mites are different colors so it doesn’t appear to have crossed over, but whatever - I’ve got a layer of baking soda on my windowsill to prevent anything around there (we found actually some very good tips from a cannabis growers’ site – those people are passionate about protecting their plants and are therefore highly dedicated to eradicating mites) but the plants are in the dumpster.
The basils were my favorites. I think my current plan is to get a large package of fresh leaves from TJ's and see if I can chop and freeze them without totally destroying the color and flavor. The Thai basil I really loved, in part for its novelty but also for its heady perfume, and rice would simply not be the same without it. So I did the only thing I could do, which was to get immediately onto importfood.com and order myself up a mess of Thai basil leaves, along with some Kaffir lime leaves (for all you skeptics, these ARE necessities), and look up how to freeze them. Wish me better luck.

Jason Perlow Is A Genius

2006-08-16T21:47:00.000-04:00

Just found through sautewednesday: foodie motivational posters. While all of them really are rather amusing, I have to say Mimosa and Jersey Tomatoes win it for me.
Ha-freakin-larious.

Best. Marinade. Ever. Or at least my favorite.

2006-08-16T18:28:00.000-04:00

I've written previously about the dangers of grocery shopping sales as a single girl, and despite all sorts of attempts I'm still making a valiant effort to use up the ginormous amount of pork that is in my freezer. I think there's only one package left to go now. I am so superexcited to see what next week's circulars will hold so I can stock up . . . kidding. Kind of.
Luckily, I have the world's most awesome marinade (or at least I think so) that will make even the umpteenth meal of pork delectable. I really, really like it with pork tenderloins, but cooked in the oven with the loin starts the marinade into a sort of sauce for the pork slices. This, I have learned, is completely key when you cook a pound of anything all at once to be consumed in lots of leftovers throughout the week.
I'm also currently addicted to this orange muscat champagne vinegar I found at Trader Joe's. It is completely obnoxious to type out its name, but it deserves the full title even as pompous as it sounds. It's kind of sweet, kind of orange-y, definitely vinegar, and this beautiful pale sunrise color that just makes me want to put it in absolutely everything that could call for a touch of vinegar. The marinade doesn't need it, I've made it times before without, but I do kind of like how it mixes with the onion for the sauce.

PORK WITH WHITE WINE MARINADE/SAUCE
adapted from the all-new Joy of Cooking

1/4 c white wine (whatever you've got lying around will do)
1/4 c vegetable oil
1/2 large Vidalia onion, finely chopped
~ 1/4 tsp each of whatever herbs you feel like throwing in (I like thyme best, but savory, marjoram and tarragon all work, plus a bit of parsley and basil)
1/4 tsp salt
generous grinding black pepper
1 Tbsp orange muscat champagne vinegar (optional)
1 lb pork loin
1/4 c chicken broth

Mix together the wine, oil, onion, herbs, salt and pepper and vinegar well. Let stand at room temperature one hour before using. Whisk together well again.
Place the pork loin, well-trimmed, into a large Ziploc bag. Pour the marinade over the pork. Press the air out of the bag and seal. Marinade the pork in the refrigerator for at least an hour, preferably more.
Preheat the oven to 450 F. Place the pork in an ovenproof skillet (about 10 inches should do) and pour the marinade over the pork. Use a spoon to position some of the onions directly on the loin. Roast the loin at 450 for about 10 minutes. Turn the oven down to 250 F and roast for an additional 15-20 minutes. Remove the pork to a warm platter to rest.
Place the skillet with the marinade over medium heat and add the chicken broth. Gently scrape the bottom of the pan to loosen any browned bits. Bring the marinade to a boil and let boil for 2-3 minutes or until it thickens. Slice the pork and serve with the white wine sauce spooned over.