granola and gossip girl

With J-Cat out of town for the week, not a whole lot of cooking is happening in my house. As he so accurately predicted, my meals this week have centered on rice, eggs, and that "weird dried pork stuff". That's not to say that I abandon my interest in tasty things when I'm alone, as rice, eggs, and weird dried pork stuff happen to be some of my favorite things. I just must admit that sometimes it's nice to take a break from cooking, especially when it is 90 degrees in late September. I did make some homemade blueberry granola the other day, though, to take to work and sprinkle on my yogurt for breakfast. It was my first foray into granola making and it was not entirely successful, though it was tasty enough. To start with, when trying to get my canister of oats down from the over-fridge shelf, it completely overturned, lid flying off, and about 32 ounces of oats went flying all over my kitchen. Opaw thought this was fascinating. I was not amused. In any case, my issue with the end result was that I think it cooked at too high a temperature and was on the verge of a burnt flavor. I think the key to granola is a really really low temperature and perhaps not spreading it quite as thinly on the baking sheet.

In other J-Cat-is-out-of-town news, it's all about "Gossip Girl" in my house right now. I really thought that I would hate this show, but I can't help it, I love a stupid soapy high school show about bitchy rich kids. Unfortunately, it was revealed in last night's episode that the "not as rich" family lives in Williamsburg. Like the neighborhood needed any more mocking. They must also be pretty retarded since they keep taking the Brooklyn Bridge to Williamsburg when coming from the Upper East Side.

Granola recipe after the jump:

Nutty Blueberry Granola
Adapted from cdkitchen.com

Ingredients
4 cups old-fashioned oats
3/4 cup slivered almonds
1/2 cup chopped walnuts
1/4 cup chopped pecans
1/2 cup packed light brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 cup vegetable oil
1/4 cup honey
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 1/2 cup dried blueberries (raisins, craisins, or any other dried fruits of your choice)

Preparation
Preheat oven to 275 degrees. In a bowl mix the oats, nuts, brown sugar, salt and cinnamon. In a saucepan warm the oil and honey. Whisk in vanilla.

Carefully pour the liquid over the oat mixture. Stir gently with a wooden spoon; finish mixing by hand. Spread granola in a 15x10 inch baking sheet. Bake 40-50 minutes until golden brown, stirring carefully every 10 minutes. Transfer granola-filled pan to a rack to cool completely. Stir in dried fruit. Seal granola in an airtight container or self-sealing plastic bag. Store at room temperature for 1 week or in the freezer for 3 months.

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sweet dreams

Perhaps not the fluffiest of pillows, but my little wonton-stuffing, deep-frying experiment came out pretty well. I decided to come up with some sort of fried wonton-slash-blintz-slash-donut sort of thing and these Sweet Ricotta Pillows were the result.



I wouldn't call this experiment 100% successful since a good number of them leaked their filling and damn, does that oil go crazy when cheese leaks into it. But I felt good enough about it that I think it will go better next time if I can be more careful about sealing them. Those that didn't leak actually puffed up quite nicely, and all crisped wonderfully around the edges.



There really is nothing to this dish, as it should be with deep-fried desserts. Simplicity is what makes them so delicious, hence my great love of the simplest sugar-raised donuts. I finished these with a classic sprinkling of powdered sugar, and meant to make a nice raspberry dipping sauce to go with it, but didn't end up finding any good raspberries at the store.



Recipe after the jump:

Sweet Ricotta Pillows
2 dozen wonton wrappers
1/2 cup nonfat ricotta cheese (obviously, any fat amount is fine, too, as is farmer cheese like a true blintz)
2 tsp honey
vegetable oil for deep frying
confectioner's sugar for finishing

Preparation
Fill a deep, heavy pot with at least 2-3 inches of oil and set over high heat. While the oil is heating, mix together the ricotta and honey in a small bowl. Place a teaspoon of the mixture in the middle of a wonton wrapper, wet the edges with water, and lay a second wrapper on top, sealing the edges well. Fry the wontons in batches until golden brown, about 1 minute each. Remove with a strainer and set on paper towels to drain. Serve with a dusting of confectioner's sugar. Makes about 1 dozen pillows.

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it's been too long since pasta

Right? What was I thinking?! Another relatively quick and surprisingly delicious pasta sauce is this baked tomato sauce, which magically transforms grape tomatoes into a tangy, delicious mess of a sauce. Sliced in half, topped with a bread crumb and cheese mixture, drizzled with olive oil and thrown in the oven for all of 20 minutes, the tomatoes almost disintegrate when tossed with the pasta. 20 minutes is pretty quick in my mind, but once the aroma of the baking garlicky sauce starts wafting through the house, you'll start staring at the timer. Or you can time it like I do, post-workout and desperately in need of a shower. I start the water boiling and the oven heating, then start slicing tomatoes and prepping the sauce. By the time that's ready, the oven's hot, the sauce goes in, I hop in the shower. By the time I'm out, the water's boiling, the pasta goes in. 10 minutes later everything's ready, I'm nice and clean and pajama-ed, and we're ready to roll.



This is a particularly good sauce to pair with homemade pasta because it's simplicity lets good pasta's flavor shine through. But in the interest of time and faux-healthiness, last night I paired it with whole wheat fettuccine. And a DVD of season 1 episodes of the "The Closer". Recipe after the jump:



Baked Tomato Pasta Sauce
Adapted from Epicurious.com

Ingredients
5-6 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
1 pound very ripe cherry or grape tomatoes, halved
1/3 cup plain dry bread crumbs
1/4 cup freshly grated Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese
2 tablespoons freshly grated Romano cheese
2 garlic cloves, finely chopped
Salt and freshly ground pepper to taste
1 pound pasta of your choice
1/4 cup loosely packed fresh basil leaves, torn

Preparation
Preheat the oven to 400°. Grease a 13-by-9-inch baking dish with 2 to 3 tbsp of the oil. Place the tomatoes cut side up in the dish.

In a small bowl, combine the bread crumbs, cheeses, and garlic and toss with a fork to mix well. Sprinkle the bread-crumb mixture over the tomatoes, making sure that each cut side is well covered with the crumb mixture. Sprinkle with salt and pepper, and drizzle with remaining oil. Bake until the tomatoes are cooked through and starting to brown on top, about 20 minutes.

Meanwhile, bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Add the pasta and cook for 8 to 10 minutes, or until al dente. Time the pasta so it finishes cooking about the time the tomatoes are ready to come out of the oven. Toss pasta and sauce together in a large bowl.

Serves 4

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is this really healthy?

Seeing as how I got the recipe from an episode of "Healthy Appetite", I figure it's supposed to be, but the dressing is so lovely and creamy it certainly doesn't seem like it. My guess is that it is truly healthy, but only if you don't eat a whole vat of it. Like we did...

I admit I was surprised at how much I liked this recipe, not because of the salad ingredients - I obsessively love black eyed peas, so I'll try just about any recipe - but because I was somewhat wary of a healthy version of buttermilk dressing. But this was totally satisfying and the apple cider vinegar gave the dressing a wonderful acidic tang. I think lemon juice would work just as well. Granted I had to put my little spin on the recipe, but it was mostly because I had some reduced fat sour cream left over from that pie so I threw some in for some extra creaminess. It was great, but I think it would still be great without it. Recipe after the jump:



Black-Eyed Pea Salad with Buttermilk Dressing
Adapted from "Healthy Appetite with Ellie Krieger"

Ingredients
For the Salad:
2 15-ounce cans black eyed peas, rinsed and drained -OR- 1/2 lb dried black-eyed peas, soaked overnight, and boiled until tender, approx. 1 hour
1/2 cup diced red onion
1/2 cup diced celery
1/2 cup blanched haricot verts, cut into 1/4-inch pieces
4 tbsp chopped fresh chives
4 cups chopped baby spinach
1 cup chopped butter lettuce

For the dressing:
1/4 cup apple cider vinegar
2/3 cup low-fat buttermilk
3 tbsp mayonnaise
3 tbsp reduced fat sour cream
1 1/2 tbsp spicy brown mustard
3 splashes tabasco sauce, to taste
Salt and pepper, to taste

Preparation
In a large salad bowl, combine all salad ingredients. In a small mixing bowl, whisk together dressing ingredients, then pour over salad and toss well. I did end up with a lot of dressing and did not use the whole amount, but I do tend to err on the side of less dressing than most people.

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never enough pie

At least, not in my world. I mean, it's endless, isn't it? The possibilities of what can be made into pie. Any fruit you can imagine, creamy stuff, puddings of all flavors, and don't forget the world of savory pies, which I fully intend to explore as the weather continues to cool off. The other night I returned to an old favorite of mine, perhaps my number one most favorite fruit pie recipe of all time - Sour Cream Apple Pie.



What I love about this pie is that it has it's own built-in creaminess from the sour cream that makes whipped cream or ice cream totally unecessary, plus this pie is so delicious cold the next day, straight out of the fridge. I don't think I can honestly say the same about any of the other fruit pies I've made, and I actually prefer this pie cold to warm. Plus, the walnuts. I love anything with nuts. (Dirty!)



I originally got this recipe out of the classic Silver Palate Cookbook, which Shane gave me many Christmases ago. It may be the oldest real cookbook I own, not counting my mom's old books that she recently gave to me. It looks it's age, as I've had it since before I ever had a nifty cookbook stand. There are many stains from my repeated preparations of this pie and my favorite pork chop recipe.



Nowadays, I've made the pie so many times that I don't have to refer to the book, and as I'm wont to do, I've adjusted little details here and there. Recipe after the jump:

Sour Cream Apple Pie
Adapted from The Silver Palate Cookbook

Ingredients
1 recipe basic pie crust for a 2 crust 9-inch deep dish pie

For the pie filling:
5-6 granny smith apples
2/3 cup reduced fat sour cream
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 egg, beaten
3 tbsp all-purpose flour

For the topping:
1 1/2 cups chopped walnuts
3 tbsp dark brown sugar
3 tbsp granulated sugar
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground nutmeg
1/4 tsp ground clove

Preparation
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Peel and slice apples very thinly and set aside in a large bowl. In a small bowl, whisk together sour cream, sugar, vanilla, egg, and flour. Pour the mixture over the sliced apples and toss to coat well. Line the pie plate with the bottom crust and fill with apple mixture. In another small bowl, combine the topping ingredients, then sprinkle evenly over the top of the apples. Place the top crust (I usually do a lattice for this pie when I'm not lazy, so you can see the lovely walnut topping.) Bake in the preheated oven for 50-55 minutes until crust is golden brown. Allow to cool completely before serving.

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i can do that!

Forgive my absence this last week, my loyal readers. I was off gallivanting in the Hamptons "for work". Here are some myths I can confirm/dispel regarding just how much you get to eat when shooting a travel food show in the field:
1. You get to eat a lot - So not true. So don't have time to eat.
2. You get to eat food you ordinarily wouldn't get to eat - I'll say yes simply because I would have no other reason to be in the Hamptons but for work, and I probably couldn't afford that dinner that I got 3 bites of.
3. You get some "special" food - Not really. I did get a donut fresh off the donut machine, which was totally awesome and worth the whole trip, but it's not like something nobody else gets. Giada did offer me a donut that she had licked the cinnamon sugar off of, and I considered taking it and trying to sell it on eBay.

Anyway, it was loads of fun on hardly any sleep and I got to eat soup on camera and discover that red soup is so not cool to eat on camera when wearing a white top. It was good soup though. And the one meal I did actually get to sit and eat was so good that I decided to recreate the dish last night, except that in my world it was merely a starter and not the only real meal I would eat the entire day.



It was a salad at Babette's in East Hampton, on their specials for the day, made up of greens, haricot verts, roasted beets, a lemon vinaigrette, and goat cheese wontons.



The wontons, of course, being the best part. I never deep fry at home because it's really hard to get myself to use so much damn oil, but I decided I should just suck it up and try it. The upside is that the wontons came out perfectly and were ridiculously easy to do.



The downside is that it was so successful that J-Cat is now into the idea of stuffing wonton wrappers with anything and everything and deep-frying it.

The rest of the salad was pretty straightforward, although my vinaigrette was somewhat different from what I had at Babette's because theirs used preserved lemon and mine didn't. Also, I laid mine on a bed of butter lettuce because I love butter lettuce. Apparently Opaw does, too, because she stole some off of J-Cat's plate.


Recipe after the jump!

Beet Salad with Goat Cheese Wontons
Inspired by Babette's of East Hampton

Ingredients
1 head butter lettuce or greens of your choice
1/2 pound haricot verts, blanched
1 large beet
2 ounces goat cheese
10 wonton wrappers
a whole lotta oil for deep frying
juice of 1 lemon
extra virgin olive oil
salt and pepper

Preparation
For the salad:
Scrub the beet, then wrap in foil and roast in a 400 degree oven for 45-1 hour, until fork tender. Remove and set aside to cool before peeling and cubing. Blanch the haricot verts in boiling water for 1-2 minutes, then plunge into ice water to stop the cooking. Assemble the salad with greens on the bottom, haricot vert laid on top, then the cubed beets scattered on the plate.

For the dressing:
Whisk olive oil into the lemon juice to emulsify. Add olive oil to taste, then salt and pepper. Set dressing aside until ready to serve.

For the wontons:
Place a teaspoon of goat cheese in the middle of a wonton wrapper. Using water on your fingertips, wet the edges of the wrapper. Fold the wrapper over diagonally to make a triangle and press the edges together to seal. Bring the two bottom edges of the triangle together, wet, and press together to seal. Heat at least 3 inches of oil in a deep pot. The oil is hot enough when a small chunk of white bread is tossed in and sizzles. Drop the wontons in the hot oil and fry until golden brown, about 1 -2 minutes. Remove and drain the wontons on paper towels. Dress the greens and beets, then lay the wontons on the edges of the plate.

Continue Reading "i can do that!"

top of the muffin

To You!!



In my neverending quest for a breakfast that is not only healthy, tasty, and satisfying, but that I might actually also remember to eat on a regular basis, tonight I developed a recipe for some little mounds of fibery goodness - Cranberry-Walnut Bran Muffins. I think these babies might fulfill some of my breakfast needs. They are easily portable, reasonably satisfying, totally healthy, and perfectly tasty. Most of the time when I see muffins at cafes or at one of the numerous bakeries at Chelsea Market in the morning, they are either as big as my head, sickly sweet, or probably full of fat. The only way to control all of these things seems to be to make them myself. Recipe after the jump:

Cranberry-Walnut Bran Muffins
Ingredients
2 1/2 cups whole wheat flour
1/2 cup packed dark brown sugar
1/3 cup granulated sugar (I used a little less than this, as I don't like anything particularly sweet for breakfast. The amount I give here still gives you a low amount of sugar while maintaining a nice sweetness. You could also substitute honey for sugar for a nice flavor.)
1/2 tsp salt
2 1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp ground clove
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground nutmeg
1 cup dried cranberries
1/2 cup orange juice
1 1/3 cups chopped walnuts
4 cups bran flake cereal (look for high fiber and low sugar. I used Arrowhead Mills Organic Oat Bran Flakes)
2 cups lowfat buttermilk
2 eggs
1/2 cup canola oil
1 tbsp orange zest

Preparation
Preheat oven to 400. In a small bowl, combine the dried cranberries with the orange juice and set aside to soak while you prepare the other ingredients. In a large mixing bowl, combine the flour, sugar, salt, baking soda, spices, walnuts and bran flakes. Drain the cranberries and fold into the dry ingredients. In a separate medium bowl, whisk the two eggs, then add the buttermilk, orange zest, and canola oil and whisk until well combined. Make a well in the dry ingredients and add the wet mixture. Stir until just combined.

Line a muffin tin with muffin papers or spray the cups with cooking spray. Using an ice cream scoop, drop a rounded mound of batter into each paper. Bake in the preheated oven for 15-20 minutes depending on the size. Cool on a wire rack. Makes 24 small or 18 medium muffins.

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health tackle

If you eat a healthy dinner, you can have a decadent dessert, right? After my successful vanilla ice cream run this weekend, I decided that we needed the proper vehicle for that ice cream. In keeping with my fruit pie theme for the summer, I rang out the season with another classic - Blackberry Pie.



The method is the same here as with every fruit pie I've made. Macerate in sugar, dump in a pie shell, bake. Total no-brainer.



I probably should have made a lattice crust for some variety, but I was engrossed in a marathon of The Closer and didn't want to spend too much time watching from the kitchen.


Recipe after the jump:

Blackberry Pie

Ingredients
1 pie crust recipe for a 2-crust, 9-inch pie
5 cups blackberries, picked over and cleaned
3/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup flour
2 tbsp lemon juice
1/4 tsp salt
3 tbsp quick-cooking tapioca
2 tbsp cold unsalted butter, cut into small cubes

Preparation
Preheat oven to 450º. Combine the berries, sugar, flour, lemon juice, and tapioca in a large bowl and set aside for 15-20 minutes while you prepare the crust. Line a 9-inch pie plate with the bottom crust and fill with the berry mixture. Dot the top of the berry mixture with the butter cubes. Cover with top crust, crimp edges and cut vents in the top. Place in preheated oven for 15 minutes, then lower heat to 350º and bake an additional 30-35 minutes until crust is browned and juices are bubbling. Allow to cool well before serving.

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health kick

It's a start. At least it's brown rice. Granted between dressing the rice salad and marinating the chicken I used almost an entire bottle of Italian dressing. But it was a pretty giant bowl of salad, so I figure that the fat spreads itself out pretty well.

This is a concoction that I came up with to approximate a semi-healthy lunch that I used to eat at the Pita Grill with my BBC peeps. Now there's a Pita Grill on 8th Ave right near my current job, but my homemade rice salad is so satisfying that I don't feel the need to go get it. There really aren't too many components to this salad - brown basmati rice, cucumber, red onion, golden raisins, crumbled feta cheese, and Italian dressing. For some protein, I marinated chicken breasts in the same dressing, then threw them on a grill pan, sliced them up, and threw them on top. For lunch today, I'll just eat the salad with no chicken.



The interesting thing about this dish, for me at least, is that the golden raisins and the feta cheese go so well together. As far as a recipe goes, I didn't measure anything, but I'll throw together some approximations after the jump:

Brown Rice Salad with Feta and Golden Raisins

Ingredients
(all of these amounts are approximate and should be adjusted to taste)
2 cups uncooked brown basmati rice
1 medium cucumber, diced, about 1 cup
1 small red onion, about 1/3 cup
1/2 cup crumbled feta cheese
1/2 cup golden raisins
1/3 cup Italian dressing

Preparation

Cook rice according to directions, adding a tbsp of butter or olive oil to keep grains separate. When rice is cooked, set aside to cool while you prep the other ingredients. In a large mixing bowl, combine all ingredients and toss to distribute the dressing. Serve at room temperature or cold. Grill marinated chicken, fish, steak, or tempeh as an accompaniment. Makes a giant bowl.

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ice creamed: part 2 - time to churn!

The only real negative to making your own ice cream is the waiting time. After cooking up the custard, it had to chill in the fridge for at least a couple of hours before I got to break out the new machine and churn away. It's a good thing I was able to lick the spoon that I stirred the custard with or I might have gotten really cranky. And that is only the first waiting period. The actual churning of the ice cream was really pretty fun to watch. I mean, I didn't watch it every second but I admit I kept checking on it every couple of minutes. In just a half hour, my custard went from this:



To this:



That's pretty awesome. And I also admit to sticking a spoon into the opening here and there to grab a taste as it was churning. After about 30 minutes, I had another long wait. I transferred the soft ice cream to a container and in it went to the freezer to set up for another couple of hours. It's a good thing J-Cat went out to get donuts in the interim. But finally, after all that waiting, the creamy, custardy, vanilla-y, icy goodness:



This recipe was, admittedly, extremely rich, and probably wouldn't be my choice for classic vanilla ice cream in the future. It was delicious, incredibly smooth, and the texture was perfect, but the flavor and sweetness was more intense than my personal tastes. J-Cat really liked it, though he likened it more to a frozen custard than a traditional ice cream, which is accurate. Using the vanilla bean instead of vanilla extract was definitely noticeable and totally worth it. The next time I try a vanilla ice cream, I think I will go with a non-custard recipe and see how I like it. But before I do another vanilla, I have to seek out a recipe for my personal favorite flavor - pistachio. Recipe after the jump:

PREMIUM VANILLA BEAN ICE CREAM

Ingredients
1 1/2 cups heavy cream
1 1/2 cups whole milk
1 vanilla bean pod, approx 6 inches long
2/3 cup sugar
2 whole eggs
3 egg yolks

Preparation
Combine the cream and milk in a heavy saucepan and set over medium-low heat. Split the vanilla pod lengthwise. Using the back of a knife-blade, scrape out the beans. Add the beans and the split pod to the saucepan. Bring to just below a boil, stirring frequently, then lower the heat to maintain a very low simmer for 30 minutes, stirring frequently.

While the milk mixture is simmering, combine the eggs, yolks, and sugar in a mixing bowl. Using a handheld mixer, beat until light yellow and frothy. When the milk mixture has finished simmering, slowly add about 1 cup to the egg mixture, mixing constantly with the mixer. Once it is fully incorporated, slowly add the egg mixture back to the saucepan, stirring constantly. Simmer on low heat until it begins to thicken. Strain the custard through a fine sieve to remove and curdles. Transfer custard mixture to a bowl, cover with plastic wrap on the surface of the custard, and chill in the refrigerator for at least 2 hours. After it has thoroughly chilled, follow the manufacturer's directions for churning in the ice cream maker. Makes approximately 1.5 quarts.

Continue Reading "ice creamed: part 2 - time to churn!"

ice creamed: part 1

It sounded odd to me to say the other day that I had never made ice cream from scratch before. Never! The simple reason being that I never owned an ice cream maker before, but didn't seem like much of an excuse. I don't know why I never bought one. Gene has had one for a couple of years and has made countless excellent gelatos, and every time I would taste one I would say "I really need to get an ice cream maker!". Add to that Burt's updates on the myriad unusual flavors that Chris has cooked up and I have had serious home made ice cream envy. So I finally did it, and I decided to be a purist with my first batch out - Vanilla Bean Ice Cream.



And there it is, perhaps one of the most expensive single ingredients out there, but also the most worth it. Look how many lovely little seeds that one pod provided:



The recipe I used was - against all my normal instincts - straight out of the user's manual that came with the machine. This was a custard-based ice cream, and I wanted to do it perfectly, so I spent some time straining the custard before cooling:



Smooth custardy goodness:



Coming up in part 2, the machine gets its first use, I watch it like it's magic, and J-Cat eats too much ice cream. Stay tuned!

Continue Reading "ice creamed: part 1"

losing it

This is an excerpt from an email I just wrote to one of my producers regarding Circus Peanuts:

But why banana? Like whoever came up with the idea just said "Hey, we should make giant marshmallows shaped like peanuts! And you know what would be great? If we made them taste like bananas!" Because it's such an obvious leap in logic from peanuts to bananas. Why didn't they shape them like bananas instead of peanuts? I mean, call me crazy, but giant fake food should taste like the food they are made to look like! It breaks all the rules of food made to look like other food!

I don't know why I am ranting at my producer about Circus Peanuts. I think I should probably call it a day.

UPDATE - Here is his response: Corn dogs don’t taste like popsicles.

What a freak!!

Continue Reading "losing it"

ready for the freeze

I've been feeling mildly uninspired regarding weekday dinners these last couple weeks, as I'm sure is obvious by my paucity of posts. This is mostly due to the fact that I've been trying to be very good about working out most days, and for some strange reason J-Cat at the same time has been trying to be good about finishing up with work at a reasonable hour. The result is that I start getting dinner together later than usual, and J-Cat starts poking around the kitchen and snacking earlier than usual. Hence, super-quick dinners without much thought put into them. Like tacos. I made tacos. With taco seasoning. In a packet. Actually the taco seasoning didn't really taste like much of anything, I was surprised. I thought it would be really salty or something. But I have to admit to the semi-homemadeness of that meal.

THE SHAME!!

Another odd development in the kitchen is J-Cat's interest in cooking. On Sunday he made a big brunch for me, comprised of giant omelets with cream cheese, onions, peppers, ham, and smoked gruyere, plus roasted potatoes and sausage. It was really pretty good. Of course, it wasn't ready until about 2 PM, but it was still nice that he cooked for me.

In any case, I really have to be good about working out, especially because I just got an ice cream maker yesterday. So I will definitely be devoting a large part of the holiday weekend to making ice cream and I'm trying to decide what my very first flavor should be. The purist in me thinks that I should go for vanilla bean to break it in.

Continue Reading "ready for the freeze"

sunday supper: tremblingly delicious

Have I ever mentioned how much I love coconut? It's up there with blueberries for one of my favorite flavors. Pretty much any dessert that focuses on coconut is going to be awesome in my book. Coconut cream pie, Mango with coconut sticky rice, coconut ice cream, whatever. When I'm feeling lazy and want some coconut dessert, I often buy the Goya powdered Tembleque mix. Just mix with milk, heat, pour into a dish and refridgerate for a couple of hours. Couldn't be easier. Except, making real tembleque from scratch is just as easy. Who knew?



Mmmmm smooth, creamy goodness. I was surprised that there is actually no dairy in traditional tembleque. The creaminess comes entirely from coconut milk.

Yesterday was apparently the day for disturbing images with plastic wrap. What does it say about my psyche that whenever I see something covered in plastic wrap I think of serial killers? It can't be a good thing.



You're technically supposed to unmold the tembleque, but who am I kidding? I'm not trying to impress anyone, I just want my coconut fix. I'm happy to scoop. I guess if you don't unmold it, you don't get so much of the trembly effect that gives this dessert it's name. Speaking of which, The Joy of Cooking mistakenly calls this dessert "trembleque". Whoops.



Recipe after the jump:

TEMBLEQUE - Coconut Pudding
Adapted from The Joy of Cooking

Ingredients
5 cups unsweetened coconut milk (3 13.5 oz cans is perfect)
1/2 cup sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract, optional
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 cup cornstarch
cinnamon for sprinkling

Preparation
In a medium saucepot, combine all but 1/2 cup of the coconut milk with the sugar, vanilla, and salt. Bring to a simmer, stirring constantly. In a bowl or measuring cup, combine the remaining 1/2 cup coconut milk with the cornstarch, stirring until well combined. Add the slurry mixture to the saucepan slowly, stirring constantly. Continue to stir and simmer for another minute or two. The mixture will start to thicken. Pour into a 2 quart greased mold or baking dish. Cover with plastic wrap, pushing the wrap down onto the surface of the pudding to prevent a skin forming. Refrigerate for at least 3 hours. If you intend to unmold it, it is best to refrigerate even longer so that it doesn't fall apart when you turn it. Serve cold with a sprinkle of cinnamon. It is also delicious topped with fruit or nuts.

Continue Reading "sunday supper: tremblingly delicious"

sunday supper: beat up some chickens

This weekend I suddenly decided that my awesome meat mallet has been sadly neglected. I don't know why I don't take the opportunity to pound some meat to a pulp on a more regular basis, it is actually quite satisfying. So I started to think about what dish requires pounding, and decided to make one of J-Cat's favorites: Chicken Francais.

I've never made it before, so I googled around for recipes and found that it is really pretty simple, and pretty artery-clogging. It doesn't seem quite as unhealthy as it apparently is. But I'll get to that later, first I get to make some noise.



I pounded two chicken breasts to about 1/4 inch thick. One of the breasts was really huge (I'm thinking DD at least), and as I pounded it out it just kept spreading like some kind of mutant chicken breast creature. I thought it was going to swallow the entire island. I got scared.



These pictures of the chicken breast under the plastic wrap are kind of disturbing me. This may be because I've been reading the first Dexter book. It's suffocating. Recipe after the jump:

CHICKEN FRANCAIS
Adapted from Epicurious.com

Ingredients
2 skinless half chicken breasts, approx 1 lb total
1/4 cup vegetable oil
1 cup flour
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper
2 large eggs
1/4 cup butter
1/2 cup dry white wine
1/2 cup low sodium chicken broth
juice of 1 whole lemon
1/4 cup chopped parsley

Preparation
Pound chicken breasts to about 1/4 inch thickness. In a large flat plate or pie dish, combine the flour, salt and pepper. Beat the eggs in another flat plate and place the two plates near the stove. Heat the oil in a large saute pan. While the oil is heating, dredge the chicken breasts in flour, shaking off excess, then dip the breasts in the beaten egg, shaking off excess. Place the breasts in the pan and fry for about 2 minutes per side. Remove the breasts to a paper towel-lined platter and cover with foil to keep warm.

Discard the used oil. Over a medium low heat, melt the butter. When the foam subsides add the wine, chicken stock, and lemon juice. Bring to a simmer and let it reduce to about 1/2 cup, approximately 6-10 minutes. Add the chopped parsley, then adjust for salt and pepper. I served the chicken over white rice and poured the sauce over the whole thing.

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sunday supper: a taste of brazil

It's like my favorite Le Creuset French oven was crying out to be used, waiting patiently for the days of unbearable heat to pass so that it could be dusted off, called upon again to slow simmer, braise, roast, be filled with unusual cuts of meat. The temperature took a much-needed break this weekend, as did the sun, and the result was a sunday supper worthy of December. After watching Anthony Bourdain in Sao Paulo last week, I spent the last few days dreaming of the heartiest of hearty meals - Feijoada Completa, Brazil's National Dish.



Feijoada is, quite simply, a bean stew, chock full of whatever flavorful, inexpensive cuts of meat are around. There are endless numbers of feijoada recipes that vary from region to region and family to family. The supposed origin is even under dispute, though I have most commonly heard that it is a dish of the slaves and the poor, a way to extend whatever scraps of meat and bones into a full and hearty meal.



I've eaten feijoada plenty of times but only saw it properly prepared once in person, by Liv at May's house in Niteroi. My version is mostly informed by her preparation. Not having access to some of the more traditional meat components - like carne seca or Brazilian linguica - I cobbled together a collection of smoked meats, bones, and sausages to approximate it as well as I could. My pot was filled with smoked ham hocks, pork bones, smoked andouille, spicy chorizo, and smoked slab bacon.



Of course, to truly be feijoada completa, you also need the traditional accompaniments, namely farofa, or toasted yuca (manioc) flour. I was thrilled to find this in a shop in Little Brazil called Buzios Boutique. The farofa is toasted in a pan with oil and sprinkled on top of the feijoada, or just about anything you eat. The salty crunch is, at least for me, the best part of the whole production. Again, I followed Liv's lead and rendered fat from slab bacon instead of using straight oil.



Feijoada must always be accompanied by sliced oranges. Why, I don't really know, but the sweetness and acidity probably helps you digest the incredibly heavy dish. And finally, in case you thought that there was nothing healthy to be had, it is also not completa without couve, sauteed greens. In my case, I used very finely sliced collards, but flat kale is also appropriate. This is very simply sauteed in olive oil or butter, and I chose to add slivered garlic as well.



All of these components are served over white rice, which I have yet to cook correctly. I can cook Asian rice, but this long grain stuff that's supposed to be all fluffy and separated, I can't seem to get that right. My recipe after the jump:

FEIJOADA COMPLETA
The meats used will vary widely based on region. Use whatever is inexpensive and available, as long as it is flavorful.

Ingredients
1 lb dry black beans
1 smoked ham hock
1 lb pork bones (ribs, neck bones, whatever is available)
1/2 lb Portuguese Linguica (I used a spicy chorizo)
1/2 lb Smoked pork sausage (I used smoked andouille)
1/2 lb carne seca (I used slab bacon)
2 bay leaves
2 tbsp olive oil
1 Spanish onion, chopped
4 cloves garlic, minced
1 minced very hot pepper (optional)
salt and pepper

Preparation
The night before you will be cooking, place dry beans in a large pot and cover by several inches of cool water. Let the beans soak overnight. In another pot, cover the smoked ham hock with cool water and also leave to soak. You can change out the water for the ham hock a few times over the soaking period. If using carne seca, it can also be soaked in cool water overnight.

The next day, drain and rinse the beans, then transfer to a large, heavy cooking pot and cover by about 3 inches of fresh water. Add the bay leaves, bring to a boil, then lower to a moderate simmer and cook for 2 - 2 1/2 hours. Skim any foam that collects off the surface, and stir the beans occasionally to prevent sticking to the bottom of the pot. In the meantime, prep the meats by slicing the sausages into 1/2-inch rounds and cubing the slab bacon.

In a separate pan, saute the onion and garlic in olive oil until translucent. Add two ladles of the beans to the onion and garlic mixture and mash with the back of a spoon. Add this mixture to the simmering beans. The mashed beans will thicken the feijoada.

When the beans have about an hour of cooking left to go, add the ham hock and pork bones. About 30 minutes later, all the rest of the meat. Continue to simmer until the beans are tender, adjust for salt and pepper. Serve with sliced oranges, sauteed collards or kale, white rice, farofa, and hot sauce on the side. Serves at least six.

[Note: Some people apparently cook the meats separately from the beans, which makes no sense to me as the meats have so much flavor to add to the beans. When the meats are cooked with the beans, they are traditionally removed and served separately, which also makes no sense to me because you're going to pile it all onto your plate together anyway.]

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butter brilliance

When we were up in Vermont last month, we all kept reading and passing around a catalogue from the Vermont Country Store that someone had left there. I was really bummed that the actual store was so far away, because there are a lot of cool, old-fashioned things in there. There are also lots of styles of granny panties. But the coolest thing was this butter keeper.

This is apparently an old French trick of keeping butter without having to refrigerate it, even if you take a while to get through a whole stick like I do. There's some part in the base that you pour water into so that it makes an airtight seal when you put on the cover. It keeps your butter fresh at room temperature so it's always soft and spreadable. Nifty! I'm totally getting one.

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jury doodie

The ordeal of jury duty didn't turn out to be that bad after all. I was only there for the one day, had a pretty long lunch break and a great cheeseburger, got out at 4, and only had to sit through one voir dire. My out on the case was pretty much handed to me on a silver platter; it was a civil negligence suit against a home health care attendant. When the lawyer asked if any of us had any experience with home health care, I told them that we had had home health care for my dad just before he died. The lawyers actually looked like they felt like jerks when they asked me how recently it was and I said May. They even took me out of the room to tell me that they would definitely dismiss me from this case but they wanted me to sit for the rest of the voir dire so that the other jurors didn't know that I was dismissed. I wasn't even trying to play a sympathy card, I was just honest. I will admit, however, that I wasn't thrilled at the idea of sitting a case about suing a home health attendant when I knew that I was just going to sit there and think of my dad. I didn't even tell them that we donated a bunch of money to the agency. It was a good way to get out of a case, but not as good as the hospital nurse who started ranting about certain private home nurse companies that she'd had experience with. The lawyers were trying really hard to shut her up but she was loud. I was laughing.

After that, I didn't get called for another case, I just sat there, freezing my ass off and reading a Spenser novel. By the way, Robert B. Parker novels are the perfect length for the single-day jury duty, I started it as soon as I got there and had only 5 pages left when they let us go. Off the hook for 8 years!

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the citizen

I have jury duty on Thursday. This will be my first time serving in Brooklyn, the last time I got called I was still living in Manhattan. I ended up getting called in for jury selection on two different cases but not selected for either, I think in one case I started ranting about the Rockefeller laws, in the other I said something about entrapment, and was summarily dismissed from both with no fuss. In the end, I was there for 2 and a half days, mostly spent reading a book cover to cover, Wonder Boys by Michael Chabon. It was the perfect length, I read the last page about 30 minutes before we were told that we had served our duty. All in all, it wasn't a big deal, and the upside was the long lunch breaks and proximity to Chinatown. But this time no Chinatown, so it could definitely suck worse. I also heard that you aren't supposed to wear jeans for jury duty, is that true? Cause that sucks. Why does that matter? If you end up on a jury, aren't you sitting in the jury box where they probably can't see your legs anyway? I really need to figure out what book will get me through it and what restaurant will have the best lunch. I guess at least there's a Barnes & Noble right near there for when they give us 90 minutes for lunch and it only takes 20 minutes to eat.

When I first got the summons, I was dreading jury duty, but now I actually feel ambivalent about it. I've never been selected for a jury and I must admit that I'm pretty curious, although I'd much rather get selected for a criminal case than a civil case. To be honest, the thing I'm really dreading isn't so much the jury part as the fact that I have to be there at 8:30 AM. I don't even get up at 8:30 AM...

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oh brother

I bet you're really glad that you are out of town right now and your car was parked in my neighborhood this morning. Because this is what happened to the cars in your neighborhood:



Today may go down in history as the most body-odorly day in NYC ever.

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