genuine food. (pretentious title. unpretentious food.)

Oat and Maple Syrup Scones (tip of the hat to smittenkitchen.com)

2011-03-27T08:50:00.000-07:00

I love Deb at smittenkitchen. Her writing is lovely and descriptive and down-to-earth and funny, and the recipes she chooses to showcase are, if not always simple, then certainly straight-forward and with an emphasis on Real Food. She takes risks on opening herself and her family up to the anonymous millions of Internet-world, in a really honest way that I respect. Her blog is probably the biggest influence on my own writing. Also: her kid is adorable. And you should buy her cookbook when it comes out.

So when I read her latest post, I got a Craving and I Had. to Make. SCONES. So I sent the Bald Guy out on a mission for milk and eggs (because we just got back from a short vacay and the only thing in the refrigerator at the moment is a half-container of old yogurt and a very loud echo). After much sorting and flour and kneading and general kitchen chaos, what emerged were nine light, flaky, not-too-sweet scones of the Afternoon Tea variety. I might add some dried fruit (apricot, maybe?) or other flavor/texture brightener, but really, with a little honey and some butter, these are just about perfect. And relatively easy.

This recipe ain't mine. It actually ain't even Deb's, as she acknowledges on her blog. It's adapted and then adapted again from the cookbook Breakfast, Lunch, Tea: The Many Little Meals of Rose Bakery. But I cribbed it from Deb.

Makes 8-10 reasonably sized scones.

Ingredients
1 3/4 cups (260 grams) all-purpose flour, plus extra for dusting kneading surface
1/2 cup (80 grams) whole wheat flour
1/2 cup (35 grams) rolled oats
1 very heaped tablespoon baking powder
1 very heaped tablespoon superfine (caster) or granulated sugar (It could stand a little more, if you like your scones sweetish)
1/2 teaspoon table salt
Scant 3/4 cup (160 grams) unsalted butter, cut into pieces
1/4 cup maple syrup
1/4 cup milk, buttermilk, or English-style soured cream (as in, runny)
1 egg, beaten (for glazing the tops)

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F (200 C). Line a baking tray with parchment paper (or butter or spray it with non-stick spray or something).
Whisk the dry stuff together in a large bowl. With a pastry blender or your fingertips, work the butter into the dry ingredients until the mixture resembles fine breadcrumbs. If you've never done this before, it took me a WHILE by hand - at least five minutes - of rubbing and scraping bits off my fingers and rubbing some more. Keep going. Don't leave big ol' lumps of butter in there. Also, note to self: take wedding ring off BEFORE you start...oy.
In a small dish, combine the milk and syrup, then add these liquid ingredients to the butter/flour mixture. By hand or with a non-metallic spoon or spatula, bring everything together to form a softish dough. I found it easier to do by hand. Plus. your hands are already messy, so you might as well. If it feels too dry, add a LEETLE more milk, but not enough that the dough is sticky. Deb quotes the cookbook here: "The dough should not be sticky at all."
On a lightly floured surface, pat or roll the dough out until it is 1 1/4 inches (3 cm) tall. Using a 2-inch cutter (or a glass dipped in flour or an empty fruit salad can - those little ones work really well), cut the dough into rounds and place them on the prepared tray. Brush the tops of the scones with beaten egg (this makes them brown and shiny and delicious) and bake for 20 to 25 minutes until they're lightly golden and the kitchen smells goooooood.
Serve warm, with butter or jam or honey or cream cheese or...nom...I wonder if there are any left...

Sweet Potato Puff Pastry Pizza

2011-03-21T05:37:00.000-07:00

I've been recuperating from surgery for the past couple of weeks, and while some very kind people have brought over yummy dinners for the Bald Guy and me, I've really missed the creativity and flow of being in the kitchen. This is the first thing I've made worth writing about since I've been able to stand up long enough to cook.

I stole this from the February 2011 issue of Food and Wine magazine, but substituted out several of their ingredients and added some of my own - mostly because that eggplant lurking in the back of the refrigerator was about a millisecond away from becoming a science experiment if it didn't get eaten, and because I enjoy using EVERY cooking utensil in the house to make something I could have with a touch of a few phone or computer buttons.

Anyhoo. In addition to being nommy, the bits that are noteworthy (to me - maybe you've been using these ingredients for years. If so, don't tell me. My ego is fragile.) are the puff pastry crust and using sweet potato purée instead of tomato sauce. This recipe can be easily modified for vegetarian purposes, but I don't know what sorts of grains lurk in puff pastry, so y'all gluten-free people may miss out. I do have some gluten-free pizza dough mix the Bald Guy bought on a whim (Bless.) that needs to be used...if it turns out well with the sweet potato sauce, I'll let you know.

Ingredients

1 eggplant, diced in about a 1/2 inch dice (maybe a little smaller)

2 tablespoons olive oil

1 sheet frozen puff pastry (original recipe calls for pre-baked pizza crust)
A little all-purpose flour, for dusting
1 egg, lightly beaten, or a little melted butter, for brushing (optional)
1 sweet potato, medium/large-ish size (or you can use "mashed sweet potatoes from a store," according to the recipe), peeled and cut into 1/2 inch dice
About 1/4 to 1/2 cup fat-free plain yogurt
1 teaspoon thyme leaves (1/2 teaspoon if dried)
A little knob of butter and a little swirl of olive oil (about a tablespoon of each, give or take)
1 large red onion, very thinly sliced (recipe calls for white. I scoff. Scoff!)
1 tablespoon oregano, a little less if dried
1/4 cup balsamic vinegar
1 orange or yellow bell pepper, sliced thinly
4 ounces (ish) of thinly sliced soppressata, proscuitto, or parma ham. Try not to eat the entire package while waiting for the dough to bake.
1.5 cups (or thereabouts) of shredded mozzarella
About a quarter cup shredded fresh basil leaves, if you've got 'em
(Obviously you can add or subtract as many toppings as you want. This is not a dictatorship. I'm more of a socialist monarchist, myself. SHARE, DAMNIT!!)

Thaw the puff pastry sheet according to package directions.
Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.
Toss the eggplant in a little olive oil, salt and pepper. Spread out on a cookie sheet or pan and roast for about 20 minutes, or until just turning golden-brown (and not burnt. Ooops.) Take out of the oven and transfer to a bowl or something to cool.
Lightly flour your kitchen counter or pastry board. Be sure to include your feet in their felt slippers (that flour will never come off), the front of your jeans, and the cat for good measure.
With a rolling pin (or, you know, a can of soup or a large juice glass or the cat), roll out the puff pastry rectangle until it's about 10 x 15 inches or thereabouts. If the pastry dough comes separated at the pre-perforated folds, just dampen your fingers with a little water and pinch it back together. It will be fine. Don't freak out.
Fold the edges in about a half-inch to form a raised rim for your pizza. Brush those neatly folded edges with a little egg, for a glossy brown shine (if you're into brunette pizzas). Prick the inside of the neat geometric shape you've just created with a fork a bunch of times so it doesn't puff up too much in the middle while it's baking (mine puffed anyway, but I squished it with the weight of the ingredients).
Transfer your puff pastry rectangle to a cookie sheet (I used parchment paper to keep it from sticking) and bake for about 10 minutes until the pastry's golden-ish and nearly baked.

Meanwhile (back at the ranch)...

In a large saucepan, boil the sweet potato until tender and easily pierced with a fork. Drain and transfer sweet potato to a food processor and process ('cause that's what you do with a food processor) until smooth. Add a bit of fat-free plain yogurt if it's too dry, up to 1/2 cup. Season to taste with thyme, salt and pepper.

Meanwhile MEANWHILE...

Heat up that butter and oil in a skillet until nice and melted, over medium heat. Add your onions oregano and sizzle, stirring occasionally, until softened. Add a couple of tablespoons of water to the skillet and cook until the onion is caramelized, about 10 minutes (mine took about 5 minutes. Watch that sucker like the proverbial bird of prey!) Add the balsamic vinegar and cook, stirring occasionally, until it has evaporated, about 10 minutes (again, mine took about 5 minutes to get to a nicely caramelized, glossy, balsamic-y state).

Now. After dirtying nearly every dish in your kitchen for what is essentially a convenience food, you're ready to assemble your pizza!

Spread the sweet potatoes over the pizza crust. Add the onions. Then the eggplant. Arrange pepper slices, then top with basil leaves, cured meat product and mozzarella. You can use a schmancy pizza stone, or you can bake directly on the oven rack (um. I will not come clean up your oven if you use this method.) but I just used the cookie sheet the puff pastry was baked on originally, and it turned out fine. Stick the pizza in the oven and bake for 10-12 minutes, until bubbling and golden in spots.
Eat. Eat Eat! Nom!

Extra bonus photo because I couldn't choose and because this shows the pretty pattern of the peppers (and because don't you think it looks vaguely like a WinDoze logo? Creepy how marketing gets in your head...)

Bald Guy's Birthday Cake

2011-02-28T02:35:00.000-08:00

It was BG's birthday yesterday. He turned 45. BG's aged remarkably well (I keep looking for the portrait stashed in the back of his closet, but all I find are mis-matched socks and shoes he no longer wears). It's a big year for us - we're planning for lots of transitions, not least of which is moving back to the States; BG's graduation from undergrad, retirement, and beginning grad school; beginning a family (hopefully); resolving some health issues for me; renovating the house BG grew up in...the list seems endless of all the things we hope to accomplish this year. And knowing that the surest way to make The Great Whoever laugh is to make plans hasn't slowed us much (although it's kept me awake at night).

With all that going on, BG has said that he would have forgotten about his birthday had I not reminded him. There's just too much else going on to pay attention to one silly little birthday, says he. Nonsense! say I! Birthdays need to be acknowledged, and celebrated, and written in the Book of Days because they are important occasions, no matter what the number. It's your natal day! The Day of You! Celebrate with cake!

"Devil's food cake?" BG asks hopefully.
"Er, sure," says I and scuttle off to the Internet to find a recipe...

This cake is particularly gooey and nommy and chocolate and OMG SO NOT LOW-FAT. Do not even think about trying to make this anything other than what it is, which is to say, ridonkulous, as the kids say, for you.

I wish the photos had turned out better, but my camera battery was dying, so the focus was doing strange things, and there is only so long one could blow at a candle before one gets wax everywhere and runs out of breath. But the image is too good not to share:

This recipe is from chef and author David Lebovitz's blog about Parisians, desserts, and the sweet ex-pat life - but this devil's food cake about as American as it gets. I haven't tweaked his recipe much, so I should emphasise that this isn't my own recipe - but if I make it again, I may use a toothpick to poke a few holes in the cakes and drizzle a little Kahlua or other liqueur over 'em before I assemble the final product, or add some tiny mini-chips to the batter to boost the chocolate for my sweet Bald Chocoholic.

Ingredients
For the cake:
9 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
1½ cups cake flour (not self-rising) (I used regular all-purpose flour and it turned out fine)
½ teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
¼ teaspoon baking powder
4 ounces (1 stick) unsalted butter, at room temperature
1½ cups granulated sugar
2 large eggs, at room temperature
½ cup strong coffee (or water)
½ cup whole or low-fat milk

For the ganache frosting:
10 ounces bittersweet or semisweet chocolate, coarsely chopped
½ cup water (or cream)
¾ cup (1½ sticks) unsalted butter

1. Adjust the oven rack to the center of the oven and preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

2. Butter two 9″ x 2″ cake pans. Mr. Lebovitz suggests lining the pans with parchment paper. I thought that was far too faffy - until I tried to remove the suckers. I was using buttered non-stick pans, and the durn cake was still a pain to get out. So if you've got parchment paper and can be bothered with such things, you may want to line the bottoms of the pans. If not, butter it extra good. You're not counting calories with this anyway.

3. Sift together the cocoa powder, cake flour, salt, baking soda, and baking powder in a medium-large bowl. By "sift," you can use a sifter specially made for...sifting, but you can also stir the stuff up with a fork 'til it's nice and blended. Most flours come pre-sifted these days, so you're really just combining the dry ingredients well and adding some air in.

4. In the bowl of a standing electric mixer, or by hand, beat together the butter and sugar about 5 minutes until smooth and creamy. [Note: I used one-a-them stick mixers, and let me tell you - use a BIG bowl with HIGH sides. Otherwise you'll be picking bits of sugary butter out of your hair and the coffee maker and the spice rack and the counter and quite possibly the ceiling. Trust me on that.] Add the eggs one at a time until fully incorporated. (If using a standing electric mixer, stop the mixer as necessary to scrape down the sides to be sure everything is getting mixed in.)

5. Mix together the coffee and milk. Resist the urge to drink it because you are addicted to coffee. Stir half of the dry ingredients into the butter mixture, the add the coffee and milk. Finally stir in the other half of the dry ingredients.

6. Divide the batter into the two prepared cake pans and bake for 25 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Cool completely before frosting.

7. To make the frosting, melt the chopped chocolate with the water (or cream) in a heatproof bowl set over a pan of barely simmering water, stirring occasionally until melted. Remove the bowl from the pan of water.

8. Cut the butter into small pieces and whisk them into the chocolate until completely melted and the ganache is smooth. Cool until spreadable, which may take about 1 hour at room temperature. I should have waited longer, as my frosting was really liquidy still. You can try to stick it in the fridge for a few minutes if you're in a hurry. You don't want it TOO stiff (or it will be unspreadable) but not too goopy, either.

To frost the cake (You know - in case you need directions for this part):
Run a knife around the inside of each of the cakes which will help release them from the pans. Tilt one cake out of the pan, remove the parchment paper from the bottom and invert it back onto a cake plate. Spread a good-sized layer of icing over the top. Top with the second cake layer and spread the top and sides with the remaining icing as decoratively as you want.

It's the little things - Taiwanese sesame cucumbers

2011-01-28T04:54:00.000-08:00

This week I've been concentrating on appreciating the things I usually take for granted. It's been a long, cold winter, and it's not over yet. If I don't concentrate on ordinary miracles at least a little bit, the season creeps into my bones and my spirit, and I tend to take it out on myself and my loved ones.
This week, in no particular order, I noticed:

The true and unconditional affection of Fearless Fraidy Cat, as he snuggles up to me in a warm blanket of orange fur. I know that it's when he stops purring - completely at ease on my lap, totally asleep - he's truly at home. And I made that home for him.
Our comfortable bed, with its down comforter and nice sheets, and the husband who went out of his way to find those nice sheets, for us, because he loves the home we've created together.
The sharp air in my lungs as I run - each step longer than the last, heels pushing me along the pavement. The fact that it gets a little easier each time I run. I can climb Otley Road to the Cooperative grocery store now without looking at my watch every two seconds, hoping against gasping hope that time is up.
The brilliance of an orange peel against the glittering gray of the pavement, glowing in the evening light
A briefly, blindingly clean kitchen (which lasts about a nanosecond in our house - best to appreciate it while you can)
The quality of the early morning light on the plowed fields, as viewed from the train window on my way in to York
The City of York in general - the ancient mixed with the modern - the opportunity to walk, on my way to a training class, past the medieval city walls, over an 18th Century bridge, through Micklegate Bar, with a view of the 14th Century towers of York Minster.
Clean, pure water and the feeling of it as it hits my stomach

So it's with this spirit of appreciating the small things that I made the following, cribbed from the November 2010 issue of Food & Wine magazine, with thanks to Boston chef Joanne Chang for sharing her family's recipe. Serve this little pickle alongside just about anything - I found it especially good paired with pork. And later with tilapia. And again with a turkey sandwich. Nom.

I got lazy and didn't process the sesame seeds. It turned out fine, but looking back, I can see why they did it [picks bits of sesame seed and red pepper out of teeth]. I also halved this recipe, because with just the two of us, that would have been a lot of pickle.

Ingredients
3 seedless cucumbers, chilled in the freezer for 10 minutes (why? I don't know.)
1/2 cup toasted sesame oil (I used plain sesame oil, and I probably cut it by more than half - a little sesame oil goes a LONG way)
1/3 cup rice vinegar
Kosher salt
1/2 cup sesame seeds
1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper
4 scallions, coarsely chopped (I didn't have scallions. Ah well.)

Cut cucumbers lengthwise into eights, then cut them crosswise into 2-inch-long sticks (In other words, make them into little spearses).
In a large bowl, combine the sesame oil, vinegar, and a large pinch of salt. Add the cucumbers and toss well. Let stand for 10 minutes, tossing a few times (for any English readers who are cringing at the thought of tossing in the vomitorious sense, just stir the damn things).
In a mini food processor, combine the sesame seeds, crushed red pepper and 1 1/2 teaspoons of salt (that's a lot of salt. I recommend starting with 1/2 teaspoon and then up the quantity to taste). Process until the sesame seeds are coarsely chopped. (Or crush these ingredients in a mortar and pestle. Or skip this step altogether.)
Add half of the mixture to the cucumbers and toss (ew) well. Arrange the cucumbers on a platter (or leave them in the same bowl you're stirring them in, like I did. No need to get all fancy. It's a freakin' pickle). Sprinkle with the remaining sesame seed mixture and the scallions. Serve. With or without toothpicks.

Nordic Winter Vegetable Soup

2011-01-23T13:22:00.000-08:00

I like soups. The Bald Guy probably gets sick of all the myriad variations of something-swimming-in-liquid dinners I prepare, especially in winter. Enter Food & Wine magazine - joy in the morning! Soups galore! I like to dissect each issue (that and Cooks Illustrated are my magazine candy). The January 2011 issue has an interesting section on Nordic food - I know, an odd juxtaposition of words there, "Interesting" and "Nordic," but as Trina Hahnemann, the chef on display in this article, notes, the natural diet of the Scandinavian region is "very healthy and could help people lose weight." I don't know about that bit, but this soup is pretty tasty.

This recipe is pretty much straight from the magazine - I didn't modify it much, other than substituting a chicken stock cube for vegetable stock and dried thyme for the thyme sprigs, because that's what I had in the house.

Ingredients
2 T. extra-virgin olive oil
1 large onion, thinly sliced
2 leeks, white and tender green parts only, thinly sliced*
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 cup pearled barley
8 cups low-sodium vegetable broth
4 cups water
10 thyme sprigs (or 2 T. dried thyme)
2 bay leaves
1 1/2 pounds celery root (celeriac), peeled and cut into 1/2-inch cubes
1 pound parsnips, peeled and cut into 1/2-inch pieces
Salt and freshly ground pepper
1 pound baby spinach
1 t. grated nutmeg

Heat oil in a large (LARGE) pot. Add onion, leeks and garlic and cook over moderate heat, stirring occasionally, until tender, about 5 minutes. Stir in the barley. Add the vegetable broth and water, thyme, and bay leaves and bring to a boil. Add the celery root and parsnips and season with salt and pepper. Simmer over moderately low heat until the barley and root vegetables are tender, about 40 minutes. Stir in the spinach and nutmeg and simmer another 5 minutes. Season with a little more salt and pepper, to taste, and serve.

*I suspect that the American concept of leeks is very different from the British version, which tends to be a couple of inches in diameter, with thick, tightly wound concentric leaves. If you have robust leeks, you may want to slice lengthwise down them and then slice thinly crosswise. Or do as thou wilt. You have been warned.

Stilton Quinoa Bake - a loosey goosey recipe

2010-10-18T00:56:00.000-07:00

It's not unusual for me to make up a recipe out of the necessity to get rid of things in my fridge. In this case, the food in question was a vast amount of quinoa I'd cooked for another purpose, for which only a tiny amount was used. D'oh! Quinoa overload! Little curly-cue bits everywhere! Ack!
Also: we had Stilton cheese. Mmmmmmm...cheeeeese...

(Of note: this recipe is not low-fat)

For those of you who aren't fans of stinky moldy cheese, you can make this bake sans the Stink. But it won't be Stilton Quinoa Bake. It'll be Some Other Cheese Product Quinoa Bake.

As this recipe is totally made up and I've only baked it once, ingredients and cooking times are, at best, approximate. Feel free to substitute at will. Because Stilton cheese is such a strong flavor on its own, I didn't spice this dish up with a lot of extra seasoning - just a little nutmeg and paprika, plus salt and pepper to taste. The parsley adds brightness and cuts the richness somewhat. I used these cute little ramekins with glass lids that showed up randomly in our house, but you could use a regular casserole dish - I'd lower the temperature slightly, expect it to take longer to cook, and watch it like the proverbial bird of prey to make sure the top gets browned and the inside is fully heated through.

Ingredients
Leftover cooked quinoa (or rice). I had about 4 cups.
A knob of butter (did I mention this recipe is not low-fat?) - about 2 tablespoons or thereabout
A spoonful or two of all-purpose flour (about 2 tablespoons)
Some cream or milk. Maybe approximately a cuppish.
Some Stilton cheese (or other stinky well-melting cheese) - maybe about 1/2 cup, crumbled, with a little more for the top.
Bread crumbs. I cheat (!) and use the Italian Bread Crumbs that come in the blue cylindrical box. You could be schmancy and make your own, or panko bread crumbs would give some nice extra crunch.
A little paprika, a little salt and pepper, a dash of nutmeg
Parsley. A couple of tablespoons. Preferably fresh. Finely chopped.

Preheat oven to 400 or so and grease up a casserole dish or ramekins.
In a saucepan, over medium heat, melt the butter. Stir in the flour, keeping your spoon moving the whole time, until the flour's all nicely mixed in with the butter and there are no lumps, creating a roux.
Slowly stir in the milk, again keeping the spoon moving, making sure no lumps are hanging around.
Add in a handful of Stilton, a little paprika, a dash of nutmeg, and most of your parsley, stirring until the Stilton's well mixed in with the sauce. Season with salt and pepper to taste.
Fold in the quinoa and stir gently to incorporate.
Pour the Stilton sauce-quinoa mixture into your baking receptacle. Sprinkle with a decent layer of bread crumbs - probably about 1/2 cup - and whatever Stilton you have left over.
Bake covered with a lid or foil for about 20 minutes, then uncover and bake until browned on top, about 10 more minutes. Because the quinoa and sauce are already cooked, watch your cooking time. You really only need to heat it through and brown on top.
Remove from oven and sprinkle the remaining parsley on top. Let sit for a few minutes to settle, then serve hot.

Lemony Thumbprint Scones

2010-10-15T05:47:00.000-07:00

I don't always like Bon Appetit magazine - the recipes tend to be over-inflated with too many steps, ingredients that aren't easy to track down (at least in North Yorkshire, England), and (strangely) weird short-cuts like using pre-packaged or processed foods. It's like their test kitchen doesn't exist on a normal plane of existence - or their editor takes naps at inappropriate times.

Howsomever.

The recipe for Double-Lemon Thumbprint Scones in the September 2010 issue is actually pretty wonderful - with the small exception that you really don't need to grate THREE large lemons to get 6 teaspoons of zest. Also: you don't need to cut the scones so big. If you want to reduce the calorie count to something a little more manageable, use a 1 1/2 inch diameter cookie cutter instead of the recommended 2 1/2 inch cutter - or do what I did and use an empty little can from a fruit cup, with the bottom cut out*. As the recipe helpfully suggests, the trick with scones is to mess with them as little as humanly possible. Mix the ingredients just enough to combine; knead just enough to bring the dough together; and pat or roll the dough just enough to get it flat enough to cut into circles. The resulting scone is so light, so fluffy, so melt-in-your-mouth delicious that you'll have trouble not eating the whole pan yourself.

I was lucky enough to have a jar of home-made rhubarb-strawberry jam from Alaska, but if you're not blessed with friends who grow or catch things, squish them into jars, and send them thousands of miles to you in a package along with a pretty card, you can use whatever sorts of preserves you have abandoned in the back of your fridge or cupboard. The husbandface suggested using poppy seed paste next time. Hrm. I think he's just angling for me to make these again...

I added a couple of ingredients, but you can stick with the original five-ingredient recipe if you don't feel like rummaging through the cabinets or trekking to the store.

Ingredients
2 or 3 large lemons
2 cups self-rising flour
1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons sugar
1 1/4 cups plus 2 tablespoons chilled heavy whipping cream (double cream in the UK)
1 teaspoon almond extract (optional)
1 teaspoon orange flower essence (optional)
2 tablespoons (about) cherry, raspberry, or strawberry preserves

Preheat oven to 425F.
Line large heavy-duty baking sheet with parchment paper.
Finely grate enough peel from lemons to measure 6 teaspoons. Squeeze enough juice from 1 lemon to measure 1 tablespoon (do something creative and interesting with the other denuded lemons).
Whisk flour and 1/2 cup sugar in medium bowl to blend. Add 1 1/4 cups chilled whipping cream, 1 tablespoon lemon juice, 1 teaspoon almond extract and 1 teaspoon orange flower essence (if using), plus 4 teaspoons finely grated lemon peel. Stir gently to combine all ingredients.
Gather dough together and turn out onto lightly floured work surface (this will be a little tricky, as it really doesn't stick together very well. If the ingredients are totally not coming together, add a little ice water, just a wee bit at a time (like, maybe a teaspoon) until you can form a very loose, scrappy dough.
Knead briefly - 4 to 5 turns only. Pat or roll out dough to 1 inch thick round (if you're going to cut smaller scones, pat out a little thinner - like, 3/4 inch or so) and cut out rounds using a 2 1/2 to 2 3/4 inch diameter cookie cutter or biscuit cutter dipped in flour. Re-roll dough scraps gently and cut out as many scones as you can get out of what's left.
Transfer all your little dough rounds to that baking sheet, spacing about 1 inch apart. Now for the fun bit (this would be good to do with kids): using your thumb or the back of a melon-baller, push down center of each scone to make a deep indentation. Spoon about 1/2 teaspoon preserves into indentation of each scone.
Whisk remaining 2 tablespoons sugar, 2 tablespoons heavy whipping cream, and 2 teaspoons finely grated lemon peel in small bowl to blend. Brush top of scones generously with lemon glaze. Bake scones until golden and a toothpick poked into one comes out clean - about 18 to 20 minutes.
Transfer thumbprint scones to rack and cool slightly. Serve warm or at room temperature (if they last that long).

*Cutting the bottom of your impromptu cookie cutter out (as well as the top) stops suction from forming from the trapped air and makes it easier to pop your little dough rounds out. Make sure you use a can opener that leaves smooth edges, or be very careful with any sharp edges created. This is kind of a one-use trick, as cans can and will rust if you're not really careful when you dry them, and Whiff of Rust is not really a flavor you should strive for.

The Best Roast Chicken Ever. Ever!

2010-10-10T03:49:00.000-07:00

Seriously. Ever.

I don't remember my first roast chicken, but I haven't done all that many. Maybe a handful of fowls have met their ultimate end in my roasting pan. Modern American cooks are not as likely as their forebears to choose a whole chicken in the grocery store or butcher. The lure of the ready-made is too appealing - the slick packaging of neat pink slabs of boneless skinless chicken breasts, injected with hormones antibiotics and water and artificial colouring, are hard to resist. I still buy the occasional pack myself. And there's no guarantee that buying a whole chicken is any better for either you or the chicken. There is something to be said, however, for less processing of the chicken's mortal remains. Even though it means subjecting the thing to further indignities (detailed below), at least a human hand is doing it, rather than a machine. It certainly puts you more in touch (literally) with your food.

I would love to remain here on my high horse, but the view is a little vertiginous, so I'll climb down carefully and say that I tend to buy my chickens at the Commissary, because they are cheap and readily available, so I'm not exactly Miss Righteous about where my poultry's been hanging out and how meaningful its last hours on Earth were. That said, I've been told that chickens purchased from local butchers, who've been gently reared and hand-fed their grubs and corn, were much happier and are therefore much tastier. Get your chickens where you will - dead is dead, in the long run.

One other advantage to buying whole chickens instead of chicken parts is that whole chickens are MUCH cheaper per pound, they can feed more for a lot longer, and you can even make chicken stock with the carcass - not just a healthy thing for the budget-conscious but also for those who want to put every bit to good use.

There are about six thousand ways to roast a chicken, and everyone thinks they've discovered the True Path to Chicken Enlightenment. Liquid in the pan, liquid in the chicken, totally dry, totally wet, to brine or not to brine - a cook can get positively dizzy thinking of all the poultry possibilities! A paltry (poultry?) pun, I know. I'll stop now. Maybe.

I think I experimented with dry roasting (which always turns out...well, dry...for me, although some people swear by that method) at first, but stumbled upon this way of roasting because I wanted to substitute fatty butter for something a little healthier. Enter my favorite secret ingredient: plain low-fat yogurt! This method yields the tenderest, tastiest, meltiest-in-your-mouthiest chicken Ever. Ever, I say!

This method involves removing chicken bits, sliding your hands under the skin and squishing around yogurt under it, and (to be indelicate about it) shoving lemons and onions up the chicken's nether regions. If any of that makes you squeamish, you'd probably be better off stopping here and reading one of the vegetarian recipes.

Ingredients
One chicken. 2-4 lbs-ish
About 1/2 c. low-fat plain yogurt
1 lemon, halved or quartered (depending on the size of the lemon and bearing in mind where it will be)
1 small white onion, peeled and sliced in quarters
Seasoning mix (about 1/2 T. each)
Curry powder
Ground cumin
Paprika
Ground coriander
Chili powder (not that much)
Kosher salt (about 1 T.)
Freshly ground black pepper

Preheat oven to 400F.
Pat your chicken nice and dry with some paper towels. Check inside the bird to see if the shop where you got it put the heart, liver, and gizzard in a little plastic bag. If they did, remove the bag and save for another use. I have forgotten this step before, and trust me - the plastic bag doesn't hold up well in the oven!
Combine all the spices above in a little bowl. If you want to experiment with other spices or use a pre-blended mix of something you really like, feel free. These ingredients are just suggestions. I bet the bird would be really good with Cajun seasoning, for example!
In another bowl, combine the yogurt and a couple of teaspoons of the mix you just made and stir well.
Figure out which end of the chicken is...well, the end. Squeeze a little of the lemon into the cavity, then insert the onion and the lemon into it.
Next, take some of that seasoning mix and rub it good and well all over the chicken. Really get into all the crevices, like between the wings and thighs. Get it nice and seasoned!
Now, very carefully so as not to tear the skin, slide your fingers or a dull knife under the skin to loosen it away from the body, just enough so that you can take a spatula or a spoon (or your fingers) and schlurp the yogurt mixture UNDER the skin. Work the yogurt as far as it will go under the bird's skin, taking care not to tear it.
If you didn't buy a bird that came with the legs pre-tied together, truss 'em now with some butcher's twine. Here's a little guide for you (I've always been lucky enough to have the chicken come pre-tied).
Gently lift the bird onto a roasting pan and cover loosely with foil.
Roast for about 45 minutes, then remove the foil. Continue roasting (monitoring to make sure the little guy doesn't burn) for another 15-20 minutes.
Remove from the oven and test for doneness - a meat thermometer inserted into the thickest part of the breast should read 165 degrees F.
Let the bird rest for 10 minutes or so, loosely covered with the foil (you didn't throw it away, did you?).

You should be able to get about 3 meals for 2 out of the chicken, plus whatever you choose to do with the bones.

Potato Leek Soup

2010-10-03T07:33:00.000-07:00

I get a hankering for this soup every once in a while, which is a good thing, since it's a) healthy; b) cheap; and c) really easy and quick. Easily vegan-able, even, for those of you who lean that way! Spice it up or add extra cream - either way,it's a wonderful light dinner with some crusty bread and maybe a little green salad. There are hundreds of recipes out there for this soup - whatever you do, RUN SCREAMING from any that suggests you use half and half! Nastiness.

Makes 6-8 servings, give or take.

Ingredients
2-3 tablespoons butter or olive oil
4 leeks, washed and sliced
salt
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 teaspoon chopped fresh thyme or 1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
1/4 teaspoon chili powder
6 cups (1.5l) chicken stock, vegetable stock, or water
1 1/4-pounds (600 g) potatoes, peeled and cubed
2 bay leaves
1/2 teaspoon freshly-ground white pepper
2 tablespoons per bowl (give or take) of light cream, for swirliness

In a large pot or Dutch oven, heat the butter or olive oil over medium heat.
Add the slices leeks and season with salt. Cook the leeks over moderate heat for 5-7 minutes, stirring frequently, until they’re completely soft and wilted.
Add the thyme and chili powder, and stir for about 30 seconds, cooking them with the leeks to release their flavors.
Pour in the water or stock, whichever you're using, and add the potatoes and bay leaves.
Cover and simmer until the potatoes are tender when poked with a sharp knife. Depending on which potatoes you used, it could take anywhere from 15 to 30 minutes.
Pluck out the bay leaves and puree the soup with the white pepper, seasoning with more salt if necessary. I use an immersion (stick) blender, but if you use a standard blender, be sure not to fill it more than half-full and secure the lid, and cover it with a tea towel when blending, to avoid hot soup or steam for causing problems. Don’t use a food processor as that will make the potato purée gummy.
If the soup is too thick, add a bit more water, until it’s the desired consistency.
Ladle soup into bowls, sprinkle with a little fresh chopped thyme or parsley, and swirl a little light cream in (if you're feeling fancy).

Polenta Triangles

2010-09-19T09:43:00.000-07:00

I had an Event to go to last Friday that involved hanging around a bunch of people I barely knew and Making Nice. I don't do either of these things well, especially recently, when I've been most comfortable hiding as far away from Other People as humanly possible. When confronted with an Event of this nature, I tend to go into hyper-cook mode ("Hey! I may be socially awkward and visibly uncomfortable, but at least I cooked something tasty for you!"), and last Friday was no exception. I made: hummus, red quinoa salad, meringues (which turned out to be cookies. Oops.), sandwiches, crudités, and these polenta triangles. There are lots of takes on these flavorful bites out there; this one was adapted from a recipe from Yotam Ottolenghi's recipe on The Guardian, but I left out the gooseberry relish nonsense in favor of a schmear of zahatar spread and a dusting of grated parmesan. I think you should use whatever gooey yumminess strikes your fancy - cheese, some sort of tapenade or relish or chutney or syrup, etc. Whatever you think would complement your other appetizer selections the best.

Ingredients
750ml water
3 t. salt, divided into 1 t. and 2 t.
170g quick-cook polenta
Grated zest of 1 lemon
About 3 tbsp olive oil
1/2 - 1 t. each of paprika, freshly ground pepper, cumin
Schmear, cheese, or chutney of your choice

Method

In a small pan, bring the water and 1 teaspoon of salt to a boil and, stirring with a wooden spoon while you pour, slowly add in the polenta.
Reduce the heat and keep stirring until the polenta forms a ball and comes away from the edge of the pan – three to five minutes.

Remove from the heat, stir in the lemon zest, the rest of the salt, other seasoning, and a tablespoon of the oil, and tip into an oiled, heatproof dish or roasting pan (I used wax paper on one of those cookie sheets with a 1/2 inch edge, but use whatever you can find that works). Level with a spatula so you get an even, 1cm-thick layer. Leave to cool completely.

Preheat the oven to 200C/400F. Tip the set polenta on to a board and cut into six triangles (or 12 half-size ones, if you prefer). Or just cut it in the pan, taking care not to scratch the surface, because those things are expensive to replace.

Heat a frying pan with about a tablespoon of olive oil until it starts to smoke, then fry the polenta in batches for two minutes a side, until golden brown, then transfer to a tray lined with baking paper.

Crumble or grate cheese over the polenta if you wish, then bake until the cheese begins to melt – two to three minutes. Transfer to plates, spoon a tablespoon of chutney, relish, or schmear of something or other on each wedge and sprinkle with an herb, perhaps. Like chopped parsley or basil. Serve warm or at room temperature.

Red Quinoa Salad

2010-09-12T04:24:00.000-07:00

Quinoa's a funky little grain. It looks like a bunch of tiny round balls. With tails. Little curly-cue tails. It tastes a little bit nutty, a little bit grainy. Originally from South America, this weird little grain is an ancient source of high-quality, unusually complete protein (at 12-18%, with a high concentration of amino acids compared to wheat or rice). It's also a good source of dietary fiber, phosphorous, magnesium and iron - and is gluten-free. But the best part about eating quinoa is that it goes really well with feta cheese. Mmmmm...cheeeeeese....

The trick with quinoa is that, in order to make it palatable for human consumption, it has to be processed to remove the bitter saponin coating. You really want to soak or rinse the grain well before you cook it, to remove any lingering bits of the coating that weren't removed in industrial processing (especially as the soapy nature of saponin makes it act as a mild laxative! Ulp.) Rinsing can be on the annoying side, as quinoa when it's wet is kinda sticky and gets everywhere. I recommend using a strainer with tiny holes, or maybe some cheesecloth. I can report that uncooked quinoa grains spilled on a hot stove smell alarmingly like burnt microwave popcorn. If any of my .83 readers have suggestions or tips for how to rinse quinoa without it getting everywhere, I'd love to hear them!

This salad is adapted from a recipe on Tara Austen Weaver's award-winning blog Tea & Cookies. I dumped in perhaps a bit more feta cheese than is really required, and I added diced cucumber to the mix (mostly because I was short a few radishes...now that's an interesting euphemism!). I also reduced the olive oil and upped the red wine vinegar, because 1/3 cup seemed a bit extravagant, especially with the cheese I'd...um...added. If you find your salad a bit too dry, however, add another drizzle in.

Ingredients

1 c. organic red quinoa

2 c. water

6 radishes chopped in a medium dice - about 1.5 cups

Half a small red onion, cut into small dice

1 large tomato, diced, or 1 cup cherry tomatoes, cut into quarters (or halved, depending on their size)

1/2 cucumber, diced

3/4 c. crumbled goat cheese (or the majority of the container, which somehow miraculously slips from your fingers and dumps the contents into the salad bowl. Oops!)

2 T. capers, chopped coarsely

2 T. chopped fresh oregano (I used parsley, which was really good)

For the dressing

1 T. Dijon mustard (I used stone-ground, 'cause that's what I had on hand)

1/4 c. red wine vinegar

3 T. olive oil

Salt and pepper to taste

Method
Rinse the quinoa well in whatever manner you choose.

Bring the water to a boil and pour the quinoa in. Reduce heat to just-above-simmer and cook until all water has been absorbed and the quinoa is done - about 15-20 minutes. You can also cook quinoa in a rice cooker.

Let the quinoa cool and then toss with all the salad ingredients except the cheese.

To make the dressing: in a small bowl, whisk the mustard and vinegar together until smooth. Drizzle the olive oil in, whisking constantly, until the mixture is emulsified. Add salt and pepper to taste.

Alternately, dump all the dressing ingredients into one of those Hidden Valley cruet thingies or into a container with a lid that you trust will stay tight on, and shake the hell out of it 'til it's all blended nicely.

Pour dressing over salad, toss to mix, adjust seasonings. Fold cheese in carefully at the end. Or dump in a bunch unceremoniously. You know - by "accident."

Serves 6-8 at about 3/4 cup apiece.

175 calories, 7.8g fat, 19 grams carbohydrates, 6.9 grams protein.

Chicken Soup with Matzo Balls

2010-09-10T03:48:00.000-07:00

Mmmm. Chicken soup. The weather's getting a little cooler, a little rainier, the nights growing incrementally longer...time for soup. I loves me some soup, and this recipe (despite its many steps) is actually very easy and relatively healthy. If you're not into the matzo ball thing, add noodles if you wish - my preferred method is to cook the noodles according to package directions, but halve the cooking time and add to the soup when you add the chicken to finish off.

Ingredients for Soup
2 T. olive oil
1 white or yellow onion, finely chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 carrots, diced
2 celery stalks, diced
2 medium potatoes, cut into 1/2 inch cubes
8-10 cups of chicken stock (or 4 cups chicken stock plus water)
2-3 cups of roasted chicken, cut or broken into bite-size pieces
2 t. salt
1 T. fresh rosemary, finely chopped
1 T. fresh thyme, finely chopped
Dash of cayenne pepper (optional)
Ground black pepper, to taste
Bay leaf or two

Matzo Ball Ingredients
Manischewitz Matzo Ball Mix (1 packet)
2 eggs
2 T. vegetable oil
2.5 quarts cold water|
2 t. salt (optional)

Chicken Soup Method
1. Heat olive oil over medium heat in a large stock pot. Add onion, celery, carrot and garlic and slowly cook, stirring often, about 10 minutes or until onion and celery are translucent but not browned.

2. Add stock and/or water, potatoes, salt and pepper, bay leaf and other seasoning, and bring to a simmer for 20 minutes.

3. Add chicken last and simmer another 10 minutes (you don’t want the chicken to cook too much, just warm through, because it’s already cooked, and tough chicken is a wasted bird).

Matzo Ball Method
4. Meanwhile, make your matzo balls. I use packaged mix, but you can make your own mix if you’re feeling super-authentic. In a small bowl, whisk together the eggs and oil. Add the matzo mix and stir with a fork until evenly mixed.

5. Place bowl in refrigerator for 15 minutes.

6. Meanwhile, bring water to a boil in a LARGE pot (okay, the next-largest one you have, since the largest one’s holding the soup) with the salt. Matzo balls will EXPAND in the water, so you really want to use a big pot.

7. Take the mix out of the refrigerator and spray your hands with cooking spray (you can try with just wet hands, but trust me – it makes for a sticky mess!). Form batter into balls about 1 inch in diameter and drop into the boiling water. You should get about 9-12 balls out of the batter.

8. Reduce heat, cover tightly, and simmer for 20 minutes. Matzo balls can be made ahead. Lift out of the water with a slotted spoon and store, refrigerated, until soup is done. Re-warm gently just before adding to soup.

9. When you’re ready to serve, put a couple of matzo balls into your soup bowls and ladle soup on top.

Chicken Stock

2010-09-10T03:31:00.000-07:00

I never really thought I'd be the kind of person who makes home made chicken stock, yet here I am. There's something very...cosmic and "Whoa! Dude." about using very bit of a chicken, giving that bird one last chance to shine, with the parts we'd normally throw away. It takes a bit of time with the simmering, but honestly, the putting together portion of making stock is really easy. This is only the most basic of recipes, as well - you can save up all sorts of veggie scraps to add to stocks. That said, it's not recommended to use celery leaves in stock, as it imparts a bitter taste, as do certain chicken internal organs. So if you're using the leftovers from that chicken you roasted for Sunday dinner and from which you carefully saved the plastic baggie of innards (rather than cooking it IN the chicken, as....someone, I don't know who...has actually done...ahem), use the gizzard and heart, but save the liver and kidneys for another use.*

That said, PLEASE don't think you have to be all Annie Pioneer and actually use organ meat for making stock! The batch I made most recently was the final resting place of a rotisserie chicken the Bald Guy had picked up on a night when we both were too tired to bother with cooking.

Ingredients
1 chicken carcass, any size, plus any chicken bits, skin, or bones you might have saved from previous cooking adventures (minus liver or kidneys)
1 onion, cut into quarters, skin still on
4-5 (or more) garlic cloves, peeled
1-2 carrots, cut into large chunks
2 celery stalks, cut into large chunks
Some whole cloves (8-10ish)
Some black pepper corns (10-15ish)
2 bay leaves
Fresh herbs if you have any – some stalks of rosemary, for example
Water
Optional secret ingredient: black cardamom. This isn’t the sweet green cardamom you might use in baking desserts, this is the black insect-looking pod that gives nightmares to small children and smells like a house that’s recently burned down. Popular in Indian cooking. Amazing stuff!

Special Equipment
1 large stock pot with lid

Method

Put the chicken, vegetables, and seasoning into a large stock pot.
Cover with water so everything is immersed.
Simmer, with lid on but partially askew – NEVER BOIL – for hours. How long do you have? That’s how long. The longer, the better. As long as it never comes to a boil – NOT ONE LITTLE BUBBLE – you’re good. Keep it at ALMOST boiling for as long as you can. Last time I made stock, I let it sit overnight on the stove. Of course, I didn’t sleep well the whole night wondering if I was going to poison us all with salmonella or burn the house down, but the stock turned out amazing. (Why never boil? Boiling releases gristle from the chicken and creates a cloudy stock instead of a nice, clear liquid)
Oh fine. If you must have a timeframe, say 2-3 hours.
Scoop out the solid bits from the stock using a slotted spoon and discard (trust me – you don’t want to try and use those vegetables for anything else). Then get a big bowl and a strainer and strain the whole shebang to remove all the extra stuff from the liquid.
Let cool before you put in the refrigerator, or divide into smaller containers to refrigerate (large containers of hot meat products take too long to cool in the refrigerator and can create colonies of unsavory characters).
Use in risotto, soups, or other dishes that require chicken stock.

*For those of you completely squicked out now by the mention of internal organs, my sincere apologies.

Stewed Victoria Plums

2010-09-08T10:10:00.000-07:00

I don't know why I decided that stewing fruit seemed like a great idea, but the finished product turned out pretty yummy, so I guess it's a win-win.* This is the second batch I made - the first was too sweet and a little too liquid for my liking.

Top yogurt, ice cream, cakes or other bread products, or even your morning oatmeal with this slightly tart, sweet, complex concoction.

Ingredients

Victoria or Damson plums (or any tart early variety of plum. You don't want them too sweet or the dish will become one-dimensional)
250g sugar per kg of fruit (what this translates to is about 1/8 - 1/4 cup for about 20 fruits, but use your judgement or your sweet tooth)
Vanilla pod

Cinnamon stick

A couple of star anise (optional. But just look at its perfectly symmetrical alien wonderfulness! Don't you want to use it??)

Some orange zest. Yes, about that much. Maybe a little more. (Okay, about 1 tsp. Ish.)

A little splash of orange or grapefruit juice. That's enough!

Water

Method

Halve the plums and remove the stones.
Put the plums in a big, heavy pan with the sugar, vanilla pod, cinnamon stick, star anise, zest, fruit juice, and enough water to cover the bottom of the pan.
Heat gently until the juices run, then simmer for 10 to 12 minutes, until the fruit is soft and pulpy. Remove the fruit with a slotted spoon.
Continue to simmer remaining juices and bits until it reduces and thickens, stirring occasionally to prevent scorching.
Cool completely, pick the spices out, pour back over fruit, and serve with yogurt or ice cream. Or heffalumps. Whatever suits your fancy.

*Mini-rant: I wish the people that live along my street would use this recipe or others to cook the fruit that's falling, wasted, in the road and in their yards or turning to little zombie plums and apples and cherries on their trees. It's criminal how much is just left to rot. Starving children in Africa, people! You have a responsibility when you have a good fruit tree on your property to do something with it. Grr!

Maggie's Wise Mashed Potatoes

2010-09-06T01:46:00.000-07:00

I really have no comment about these potatoes, except for this: they are so much better than boxed, you'll never go back. I had a moment, in the middle of a very bad day, when it occurred to me that I'd made something Good. Wholesome. Delicious. The sort of food that tastes bad for you but isn't. It certainly helped my mood. This is the sort of side dish where you want to just mound a big lump of it on your plate and call it dinner. Heck, if you want to do just that, go ahead - I won't tell.

Fat-free plain yogurt is your friend here. Don't peel the potatoes to keep the nutrition in the skins.

Ingredients
8 medium red potatoes, washed and scrubbed but not peeled. (I used Red Desiree potatoes. I know I'm lucky in some ways, because there are so many varieties of potato here in England, all cleverly labelled for their best use. These were marked for mash, but I didn't notice 'til after I was cooking them. How fortuitous! In any case, you don't want to use potatoes that are too small and waxy, because you won't get a good texture.)
1 cup fat-free yogurt
1 tbsp butter or margarine
1/2 cup skim milk
3 tbsp fresh sage, finely chopped
3 tbsp fresh rosemary, finely chopped
2 tsp kosher salt or to taste
1 tsp freshly ground black pepper

Method

1. Boil potatoes in salted water until very tender, 20-30 minutes. Drain.
2. Squish the potatoes into submission using a large fork or a potato masher or your fists, depending on how much catharsis you're needing.
3. Mix in other ingredients one at a time, adding milk slowly, until it’s the consistency you want.
4. Adjust seasoning to taste.
P.S: They're called "wise" because they have a lot of sage in 'em. Get it? Get it?

Hummus is Yummus.

2010-08-30T02:19:00.000-07:00

Oh, hummus has been done, you say! EVERYONE knows how to make hummus! Well, not necessarily. I had to look it up the first time I made it. I've experimented a lot with different hummus recipes since then, but I've always come back to this standard. The great thing about this version is that it's a good base palette with which to expand your hummus...er...painting (awkward metaphors are my speciality). Add roasted red peppers, add pine nuts, add cilantro, whatever you wish. This version will sustain a lot. You can also tweak the standard ingredients. The Bald Guy really likes a hummus that's heavy on the tahini and not so much with the lemon, so I adjust accordingly.

It amazes me that hummus has been made for many centuries - and still is being made - without the benefit of food processors. If you feel passionately that hummus should be ground out the old-fashioned way, with a mortar and pestle, then I will admire your powerful arm muscles and smile ingratiatingly.

I've also seen people painstakingly pick the skins off their chickpeas (it's really easy - just pick the chickpea up between thumb and forefinger and squeeze gently. The chickpea will go shooting across the room and you'll be left holding a little translucent skin). This is actually very therapeutic if you like soothing repetitive motion. I've been known to indulge in a little chickpea-skinning, myself. I don't personally think it makes a hill of garbanzos difference to the taste of the hummus, but do as thou wilt.

Oh - and if you're insistent on soaking and boiling dried chickpeas to make your hummus, this little blog is probably not for you.

Adapted long ago from a recipe found on Simply Recipes.

Ingredients
4 garlic cloves, minced and then mashed (or don’t bother, as it’s all going in the food processor anyway)

2 15-oz. cans chickpeas, drained and rinsed

2/3 c. tahini

1/3 c. lemon juice (freshly squeezed is best)

½ c. water

¼ c. olive oil

½ teaspoon salt

1 t. cumin

1 T. paprika

1 t. red pepper (optional)
Garnishes – extra swirl of olive oil, some parsley, toasted pine nuts, more paprika, etc.

1. Do whatever you’re going to do to the garlic. It probably helps to at least chop the garlic so you don’t accidentally end up with crunchy garlic bits. Unless you like that sort of thing.

2. Dump chickpeas, garlic, lemon juice, seasoning, and tahini in a food processor.

3. Whiz for…a while. Say, 3 minutes. With the machine running, add olive oil and water slowly in through the top. Add water last, a little at a time, until the hummus is the texture you want it. Some people like their hummus nice and smooth like a goopy paste, and others like theirs chunky, with bits of chickpea still hanging around.

4. Taste often and adjust seasoning to your preferences. Lick the spatula if necessary. You want to be as scientific as possible about these things and take lots of measurements. Evidence-based cooking!

5. Scoop it all into a pretty bowl, garnish with whatever you want to garnish it with, and serve with pita, cut veggies, olives, etc.

Serves 12, if you’re not piggy about it.

A good idea for a quick light dinner: stir hummus into cooked whole-wheat noodles along with chopped cilantro or parsley, pine nuts, and red pepper. Top with a little shaved Parmesan cheese.

Green beans with fennel & cherry tomatoes

2010-08-23T01:41:00.000-07:00

This is what happens when I look in the refrigerator and realize that massive quantities of strange vegetables need to be eaten NOW or we will wake up with whole civilizations of mold and ick taking over the interior of the fridge. Wars won and lost, epic tragedies, joys and heartbreak, played out on the stage of our crisper by rival gangs of Aspergillus, Cladosporium, Fusarium, and Mucor.

So without further ado, I leaped to the task of throwing together a bizarre concoction of "Super fine beans," as Sainsbury's calls them; parti-colored (or party-colored) cherry tomatoes; a bulb of fennel; and some extra fennel leaves (fronds? bits?) that a friend had given us. What appeared was something I didn't expect - a veggie dish that's actually really yummy.

Ingredients
1 lb. fresh green beans
About 1 c. cherry tomatoes, sliced in half (preferably red and yellow)
¼ bulb fennel, thinly sliced
3 T. fresh fennel fronds, finely chopped
1 T. olive oil
1 T. red pepper flakes
salt & pepper to taste

Steam the green beans and sliced fennel until the beans are bright green and al dente. Don't actually cook them all the way through - just soften 'em up a bit, because you don't want the heat from the frying to kill the tomatoes before the beans are cooked.
Heat the olive oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Combine green beans with fennel, tomatoes, and seasonings along with the chopped fennel leaves. Toss gently to coat vegetables in oil. Cook, stirring constantly, until the tomatoes have just softened.

Serve immediately.

Serves 4 as a side dish.

Whole-Wheat Blueberry Pancakes

2010-08-22T04:40:00.000-07:00

These pancakes are made disgustingly healthy by using whole wheat flour and a dollop of plain yogurt, which adds richness and piquancy without adding heaviness. I also threw in a tablespoon of wheat germ, just for giggles. Use whatever spices are at hand, or don't use any. I really like the touch of saffron, which provides a little bit of exotic flavor to what could otherwise be...very whole-wheat.

Ingredients

1 1/4 c. flour
2 tsp. baking powder
1 egg
¾ c. milk, plus more if necessary
½ c. plain low-fat yogurt (or use more milk, up to 1 ¼ cup)
½ tsp. salt
1 T. sugar
½ c. blueberries or other seasonal berries

Optional
2 tsp. cinnamon
½ tsp. nutmeg
a few strands of saffron
1 T. wheat germ

1. Sift together flour, baking powder, and optional spices and set aside.

2. Beat together the egg, milk, yogurt, salt and sugar in a bowl.

3. Stir in flour mixture until just moistened, add blueberries, and stir gently to incorporate.

4. Preheat a heavy-bottomed skillet over medium heat, and spray with cooking spray.

5. P
our approximately ¼ cup of the batter into the pan for each pancake. Cook until you see little bubbles in the center and the edges look dry. Turn and continue cooking until golden brown.

Cook's note: You may need to use more milk than 3/4 cup. The batter should be thin enough so that it pours, but not so thin that it's runny. I’ve found that 1/4 cup additional milk is about the maximum needed.

Cheater Vegetarian Chilli

2010-03-02T12:53:00.000-08:00

The hardest work in this recipe (if you wish to dignify it by calling it a recipe) is turning the handle of the can opener. This quick vegetarian chilli is perfect for a night when you can't be bothered to pick up the phone to dial Domino's, but you've been feeling guilty about eating a full English breakfast for four days straight whilst on holiday in Salisbury (Ahem. Not that I would know anything about that.) and want to eat a bit healthier.

Ingredients

1 T. olive oil

1 c. diced white onion (I used frozen diced onion for this recipe, which is one of the greatest cook's cheats EVAR. Stock up on frozen diced onions. It will make your life better.)

1 T. minced jarred garlic

2 cans red kidney beans

1 can chick peas

1 can diced tomatoes

1 can yellow corn

1 T. fresh minced hot pepper (because I had it lying around)

Seasoning, to taste: oregano, basil, cumin (goes especially well in chilli), salt & pepper, chilli powder, cracked California bay leaves

In a large skillet, heat oil over medium-high heat. Add onion and sizzle for about five minutes, until onion is A) no longer frozen (because frozen is not a taste you should go for in chilli) and B) translucent-ish.
Add garlic and minced hot pepper (if using) and cook, stirring, for another minute or two.
Meanwhile, open your cans.
Drain (some people rinse as well) the beans and chick peas and dump 'em in. Drain the corn, too, and toss that in. DON'T drain the diced tomatoes - splosh the whole can in.
Stir.
Add the seasoning. A little-a this, a little-a that.
Pop on a lid to the pan and simmer for about a half-hour, stirring occasionally. If you're getting hungry and the chilli looks too watery, take the lid off and crank up the heat a notch to let the liquid boil off some.
Serve over brown rice, with grated cheese and a dollop of sour cream or plain yogurt if you're feeling fancy.

This chilli is even better the next day, so make sure you save enough for lunch. Serves at least four.

Sausage, Brown Rice and Leek Frittata

2010-02-21T03:57:00.000-08:00

So the Bald Guy and I like to cook a leisurely brunch-type meal on weekend mornings. This morning, as we discussed the various merits of oatmeal versus pancakes while standing huddled in front of the open refrigerator door, I had a Vision - of using leftover brown rice with sausage, egg and leek to create a Sunday Morning Frittata.

I would have gotten a decent photo, but we ate most of the results.

Serves 2 generously, 4 if you're serving other things with it.

Ingredients

About a third of a package of ground sausage, your choice of flavor. I used Jimmy Dean Hot Flavour Pork Sausage
1 c. brown rice (optional, but I like the way it texturizes the frittata and gives it a little more oomph)
4 eggs
Splash of milk
Half a leek - mostly white part, sliced thinly
2 garlic cloves, minced/pressed/squished. Or 1 t. jarred minced garlic (Hey. It's a Sunday morning and I'm lazy.)
Three or four white button mushrooms, sliced
About 1/4 c. dry white wine (optional - you could use white wine vinegar or even cider vinegar if you wanted to. I used a splash of the sauvignon blanc that was sitting on the counter)
Seasoning: I used between 1/2 t. and a teaspoon each of garlic powder, Israeli paprika (which is a little sweeter than Hungarian), black pepper, kosher salt, and cumin (go light on the cumin - it's such a powerful taste!). You could add a little more green in with some parsley flakes or basil, but with the leek and spring onions and sausage already competing for flavors, you don't want to add too much extra stuff.
2 spring onions, green part only, sliced thinly

Get yer skillet and heat it up to medium-hot. Add in the sausage and cook until browned, breaking up the sausage into crumbles as you cook it.
When the sausage is cooked, use a slotted spoon or spatula to dump it out of the pan and onto a plate lined with a paper towel (to drain the grease) and set aside.
Leaving the sausage grease in the pan, dump in your leek and cook, stirring occasionally, for five minutes or so.
Add the sliced mushrooms and cook another 3-4 minutes, then add the wine and let simmer for 5-6 minutes or until the liquid is mostly absorbed.
Meanwhile, in a large bowl, whisk the rice, eggs and milk together. Add the seasonings and the sausage and mix until blended.
When the leek and mushroom is nearly dry (as in, all the moisture from the wine or vinegar has been absorbed), add them to the egg/sausage mixture slowly (you don't want to dump all the hot ingredients in with the eggs at once, because that'll cook your frittata before you're ready)
Wipe out your pan and add a little more oil to it - I used spray oil.
Splunk the whole shebang into the pan and cook at medium-LOW heat (you don't want the bottom to get burned) until the top is set.
Optional: I got tired of waiting for the top to cook while I listened to my stomach growl, so I heated up my broiler and stuck the whole pan under it for about 5 minutes, once the frittata was mostly set. ONLY do this if you're using a skillet that can go from stove top to broiler! Watch it really carefully; I've been known to burn the heck out of a frittata because I got impatient, stuck it under the broiler, and then forgot about it. ALSO (and I know I'm silly with the warnings, but I speak from experience): when you take out the skillet from the broiler, REMEMBER THAT THE HANDLE IS FREAKIN' HOT and use an oven mitt.
Serve with a little dollop of sour cream and an extra sprinkle of sliced green onion, if you wish. Read the Sunday comics and watch the snow fall. Or frantically write a paper on finance (while procrastinating by writing a foodie blog).

Poached salmon with fennel and orange

2010-02-14T11:09:00.000-08:00

This dinner was tastier than I expected. Hindward viewing being what it is, I would make sure the fennel is very finely sliced, separating the little arches as necessary, to create a thinner more uniform effect. If you can get one with a nice bunch of those dill-like leaves still attached, I think they'd make an excellent addition.

I didn't bother to totally de-membrane the orange, a) because I think that's more of a pain in the patoot than a quick Sunday night dinner warrants and b) because I was using a mineola orange, which doesn't lend itself well to de-membraning (which sounds like something you'd do to an alien, but anyhoo).

I poached the salmon. It was good that way. If you insist upon grilling it or broiling it or pan-frying it, more power to ya.

I halved this recipe (mostly because I'd already used half the one fennel bulb I had in another recipe.)

Adapted from the January 2010 edition of Bon Appetit, p. 50.

Ingredients

1/4 c. sugar (I used half of this and it was fine. Just fine. Thank you.)

1/4 c. unseasoned rice vinegar

2 whole star anise*

4 c. cold water (why you need this much is beyond me. I used the amount of two coffee cups, which is considerably less than 4 cups)

1 1-pound salmon fillet with skin (or without skin. Whatever.)

2 navel oranges

1 cup small fresh mint leaves

2 tablespoons olive oil

Place sugar, vinegar, star anise, and cold water in a large deep skillet. Season with salt and pepper. Bring to boil over high heat, stirring until sugar dissolves. Admire the pretty star anise spinning in the boiling water.
Add salmon fillet, skin side up, to skillet (or whatever side you pull out of the package, in the event that your salmon, like mine, has been flayed. What an interesting and kind of gross word, nay?)
Cover skillet and remove from heat. Let stand 10 minutes. Using slotted spoon, turn salmon over; cover and let stand until salmon is just opaque in center, 5 to 6 minutes longer. Remove salmon from liquid and cool.
OPTIONAL: Coarsely flake salmon into medium bowl, removing bones and skin; set aside. I didn't do this. I served the fennel stuff on top of my fillets. But then I wanted more of a "this is actually dinner not some frouffy salad-y" feel to the dish. You might like the frouff.
Cut top and bottom 1/4 inch off each orange. Stand 1 orange on 1 flat end. Using small sharp knife, cut off peel and white pitch. Working over large bowl, cut between membranes, releasing segments into bowl. Repeat with remaining orange.

(OMG you guys I so didn't do that.)

Add salmon, fennel, mint and olive oil. Gently toss to combine. Season with salt and pepper.

*Star-shaped seedpods that make you wonder if they're actually alien. Score two for me for mentioning aliens twice in the same recipe.

I served this with herbed parsnip mash and sauteed spring greens, which officially made the whole thing disgustingly healthy. Also, this is not a good representative photo, since the salmon's buried under the fennel stuff. But you're out of luck, because the subject matter is now being digested.

Fennel and Red Cabbage Slaw

2009-10-27T08:35:00.001-07:00

I love how colorful this easy slaw looks on the plate. I served this for dinner as a side dish, but it would be delicious as a lunch with some grilled sliced chicken or something thrown in as well. If you haven't used fennel much, this is a good recipe to try it in - its slightly licorice crunch really complements the tang of the red cabbage.

Ingredients

1 large fennel bulb, sliced very thinly
About 3 cups of red cabbage, shredded
1 large carrot, peeled and shredded
1/2 cup Vidalia or other sweet onion, sliced very thinly

1/3 cup olive oil
1/3 cup white balsamic or white wine vinegar
1 tablespoon snipped fresh parsley
1 tablespoon coarse-grain brown mustard or Dijon-style mustard
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1 teaspoon grated orange zest
1 to 2 teaspoons sugar
Coarse salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste (about ½ teaspoon ea.)

Chop/shred veggies and dump in a large bowl. Stir to combine.
In a smaller bowl, whisk together remaining ingredients. Stir into veggies, and toss to combine thoroughly.
Let sit at least 15 minutes for flavors to mingle. Serve at slightly chilled or at room temperature.

Wino Wednesday

2009-07-08T00:57:00.000-07:00

I ain’t no wine snob. I don’t know hardly anything about wine except what I like – and what I don’t like. So if I sing the praises of a white zinfandel or wax eloquent about a Little Penguin merlot, then you’ve been forewarned. But I do like to drink wine and I’m trying to train my taste buds a little bit more to distinguish the good from the nearly-vinegar. ‘Course, if you drink enough wine, it all tastes just fine…

Palo Alto Sauvignon Blanc Reserva 2008
Price: $13-14 (It’s on sale at Sainsbury’s for £4.99, for my UK readers)
Red, White, or Pink?: White

Pairs with: lighter seafood dishes, salads
Maggie’s Grade: B-

If there’s one thing I can be certain of in my skimming through reviews of the Palo Alto Sauvignon Blanc Reserva 2008 from Chile, it’s that nobody agrees. I’m getting the feeling that this is true with a great many wine connoisseurs – or those who style themselves as such.

This pale white wine hails from the Maule Valley in Chile, is made from 100% Sauvignon Blanc grapes and aged 2-3 months in stainless steel tanks, and is 12.5% alcohol. It won the 2009 Wines of Chile Awards Bronze medal and the 2008 International Wine and Spirits Competition Bronze medal. Good on it! Oh – and it’s got a screw-cap. I think we’ve gotten past the point where the type of stopper/topper indicates the quality of the wine, but it’s worth noting.

So the web sites I skimmed with reviews of their own of this wine list words like:
grapefruit
hay
“refreshing acidity”
“almost no acidity”
“lime, lime, lime”
“oily”

I definitely tasted the citrus, but not the hay. (Hay?! Lord, wine people are weird.) It’s a crisp, light wine with not a lot of body – to me, there’s not a lot of there there. There’s just…not much to it. It doesn’t linger on the tongue particularly, nor does it provide any nice flavor burst at the beginning. There’s an almost-floral bright grapefruity citrus note right in the middle of the taste, and then in fades to nothing except a memory of the alcohol content.

My conclusion: it’s maybe slightly above average, but not much. You can probably find a more fun sauvignon blanc for the retail price – roughly $13-14 – but it might be worth getting on sale if you’re having a light salad or seafood dinner or don’t want anything too heavy.

La Couronne des Plantagenets Vouvray 2007
Price: £5-6 ($9-10)
Red, White, or Pink: White
Pairs with: dessert, aperitif, heavier seafood
Maggie’s Grade: A-

I really enjoyed this wine. It’s a little bit sparkly, with some rich honey notes – definitely on the sweeter side (the bottle says “demi-sec” - half-dry). The taste is complex; the honey notes linger on the tongue. For once I agree with the few other reviews I’ve seen – complex, drinkable, reasonably priced, and refreshing.

The packaging notes: “this medium-sweet wine comes from the appellation of Vouvray – situated on the north bank of the Loire…Produced from the Chenin Blanc grape…the resulting wine possesses a honey and apple aroma with mellow fruit flavors, balanced by a refreshing acidity.”

Yeah, I’ll buy that.

Conclusion: Nomnomnom. More please.

Sainsbury’s Corbières
Price: £3-4
Pairs with: anything, if you drink enough of it. Or use it in cooking. It’s certainly cheap enough.
Red, White, or Pink: Red
Maggie’s Grade: C

The Sainsbury’s Corbières is pressed from Grenache, Syrah and Carignan grapes from the limestone hills between Carcassonne, Narbonne and Perpignan in the south of France. Reviews use words like “plummy” and “meaty” to describe it – I didn’t get that at all. What I did get was a big ol’ mouthful of tannins that even leaving the glass to breathe for a couple of hours didn’t fix. To me, this wine was far too tart – to the point of being vinegary. I didn’t care for it at all. I’m even wondering if the particular bottle I got was somehow off. I really enjoy a full-bodied red – this seemed…well, it needed some more meat on its bones to be classified as the kind of Rubenesque that I appreciate in reds. It almost tasted burnt.

My conclusion: I may try it again, because the price was ridiculously right, and other reviewers have such a different opinion of it that I wonder if it’s maybe me.

Crème Fraîche - Ooh La La!

2009-07-06T02:21:00.000-07:00

On a recent visit, my friend Kim passed along a recipe for crème fraîche, which I made and got rave reviews for at an Independence Day BBQ.

Despite its complicated diacritical marks and general air of French aloofness, crème fraîche is remarkably easy to make. It's also delicious, versatile, and an excellent bulk-builder for those of you trying to gain weight (seriously - it's 28% butterfat. Which is why it tastes so good!)

Cool things about crème fraîche :

You can whip it, whip it good (thank you, Devo, for leaping unbidden into my head)
You can use it in sweet or savory dishes
It won't curdle in recipes - although you should still add it at the end of cooking, and don't use light crème fraîche for cooking.
It keeps for 7-10 days in the refrigerator

Crème Fraîche Ingredients:

2 c. heavy (or "double," in the UK) cream - NOT ultra-pasteurized!

3 T. buttermilk

Heat the heavy cream verrrrry gently over a low flame until just warmed.
Stir in the buttermilk.
Transfer to a glass jar; leave for 24 hours, stirring occasionally.
Stir, then put in the refrigerator for a few more hours, to cool.
Whip with a bit of sugar and a dash of vanilla; mix in savory ingredients for a delicious chip dip; stir into borscht, asparagus soup, black bean chili, scoop over baked potatoes - basically, anything you'd use whipped cream or sour cream for, you can use Crème fraîche.

*Note: My crème fraîche became increasingly thicker as time went on, so by the time the Bald Guy and I ate the last of it, it was very thick indeed - like softened margarine. Still absolutely delicious!

WokkyWokky Steamed Bok Choy Plus Peanut Saucy Noodles

2009-07-03T13:12:00.000-07:00

WokkyWokky!
I just like saying that.
Bokkybokky! bokbokbok. Also fun to say!

Ahem.

I don't actually own a wok, but I have a very wok-like pan. Anyway, this recipe calls for a wok but not for the high temperatures normally associated with the Asian cooking tool staple.
I made pork chops (average. Sigh.), wok-steamed bok choy, and noodles with peanut sauce tonight. I was disappointed with the pork chops, and the method I used to cook it was nothing extraordinary, so we're skippin' the meat and going straight to the sides.

I got the bok choy recipe from this amusing site, with only very minor tweaking - steamykitchen.com. Her photos are much better than mine and document every plot twist and turn in the steaming (steamy?) saga.

Bok Choy Ingredients
1.5 pounds bok choy or baby bok choy (I used baby bok choy)
1.5 T (or a couple of swirls around the pan) of olive oil
1-2 cloves garlic, finely minced (I used jarred garlic - a teaspoon)
1 teaspoon grated fresh ginger (Hell yes, I used jarred ginger!)
3 T broth, water, or a splash of wine and a tablespoon or so of water
Salt to taste
1/2 t. sesame oil

Trim the stem off the bok choy - just the end. Separate the leaves but keep the tender center intact. Clean leaves under running water.
If you use fresh garlic cloves and/or ginger, grate with a microplane grater.
Add garlic and ginger to the pan with the oil. Turn heat on to medium-high. Cook the ginger and garlic gently until they become fragrant and light golden brown, then add the bok choy leaves.
Toss very well to coat each leaf with the garlic/oil.
Pour in broth/water/wine.
Immediately cover and let cook for 1 minute.
Take off the heat and put on a plate! Very important - otherwise your veggies will continue cooking by the heat of the pan and you'll end up with bleh-k choy.
Season with salt and drizzle with a bit of sesame oil on top.

I found the following yummy peanut sauce recipe at another blogspot.com site, cookingwithamy. I'm not sure who Amy is yet, but I'm sure I'll continue checking out her informative site.

Peanut Sauce Ingredients
1/4 c. peanut butter (natural, no sugar added)
2 t. soy sauce
1 T. brown sugar
1 T. fresh lemon or lime juice
1/4 c. coconut milk (can use lite coconut milk or substitute water)
1/4 c. water
red chili flake to taste
chili garlic sauce to taste, or 1 clove crushed garlic

Optional:
sesame oil
curry paste
rice wine vinegar
fish sauce
grated ginger

Dump everything into a saucepan over low-to-medium-ish heat. Stir until sauce begins to bubble and thicken, and peanut butter has smoothed out into the sauce. Toss with your favorite noodles. Or spoon over ice cream. Or eat it on Ryvita toast. Whatever makes your little peanut-sauce-crazed self happy.

Not-Feelin' Guilty Confessions: I used bottled lemon juice, water instead of coconut milk, and added sesame oil, fish sauce (just a LEETLE BIT!), and jarred minced ginger, and tossed it with regular al dente thin spaghetti, and it was delicious.

Butternut Squash Risotto

2009-06-29T23:14:00.000-07:00

(Note on the photo: I took this photo after the risotto had been sitting out for a while; it was actually much moister in person. (heh.) (sorry. can't help it.))

This dish is probably more appropriate for winter, rather than the steamingly hot Yorkshire summer day we had yesterday. OMG you guys! It was 85 degrees! That's, like, SUMMER! I haven't had one of those since I lived in South Carolina. Sorry, Alaskans - 70 degrees is not summer, no matter how pretty it is. Talk to me when you need to take another shower the minute you step outside.

The well-written and homey SimplyRecipes.com is my source for this one-dish vegetarian meal. My husband was skeptical - it's vegetarian, it involves...squash...and...did I mention the squash? But he took one bite and made a noise that prompted me to check and make sure there were no Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Editions lying around.

Risotto is labor-intensive but not particularly time-consuming. The hardest part for me was figuring out how to "finely dice" a butternut squash. I had to microwave the dang thing just to get it soft enough to the point where I could cut it without a Sawzall - and then the bits were too hot to handle well. Also: how does one go about peeling a butternut squash with any success? There are several web sites devoted to this theme (here's one), but unfortunately I'd already grabbed the knife by the...handle...and proceeded apace, so what I got was a bit of a hacked-up mess. My sins admitted and forgiveness requested, I actually think it turns out better to have up to a 1/2 inch dice on your butternut squash, rather than fine-dicing. As my husband pointed out, he likes to be able to identify what he's eating. Also: if you don't get all the peel off, it won't kill you. I promise.

Also a time-saver: I used frozen diced onions. But I don't know if I'd do that again - the onions really should be finely chopped - I can't say the risotto didn't taste great, but I think the idea is to minimize the impact of other textures and flavors. There's not even any garlic in this recipe! The horror!

One thing I did not skimp on is vegetable stock - I actually made my own. Making vegetable stock is ridiculously easy, but it takes about an hour, so if you want to go that route instead of using pre-bought chicken or veggie stock, budget the time for it. There's a great, easy-to-follow recipe on allrecipes.com - but the short answer is:

cut up a couple of onions, carrots, celery stalks (minus the leaves), peppercorns, and a whole bulb of garlic (with cloves peeled)
toss, along with maybe some potato scraps or leftover veggie peelings, into a big ol' pot with a bunch of water
bring to a boil
turn down the heat to low and let simmer for an hour (not too much longer, or the stock will taste...wilted)
strain and use.

Risotto Ingredients:

6-8 cups chicken or vegetable stock

5 T. unsalted butter, divided into 4 T. and 1 T.

1 small onion, finely chopped (ha!)

2 cups butternut squash, peeled and finely diced (whatever.)

2 cups arborio rice (can substitute medium-grain white rice, but you should use arborio. It will make you feel chic and sophisticated. Or at least poorer.)

1 cup dry white wine such as Sauvignon Blanc (I think I used a Pinot Grigio - it was el cheapo)

1 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese

2 T. chopped chives or garlic chives*

Salt to taste

Heat your stock or broth up on a burner turned way down low, just to keep it warm.
Melt 4 T. of butter in a large saucepan; add onion and butternut squash. Cook over medium heat until onion is translucent, about 5 minutes.
Add rice to onion and squash. Cook 1-2 minutes. Add wine. Cook, stirring constantly until wine has been absorbed by the rice or evaporated. This will make your kitchen smell like the back-end of a bar, but I'm tellin' you, it's worth it.
Add a few ladles of stock, just enough to barely cover the rice. Cook over medium heat until broth has been absorbed.
Lather, rinse, repeat - keep adding stock and stirring and waiting 'til the moisture's absorbed, adding a little bit at a time...cook..stir....cook...stir....etc. until the rice is tender but still firm. This should take about 15-20 minutes.
During the last couple of minutes of cooking, add that remaining tablespoon of butter, about 1/3 cup Parmesan, your chives, and salt to taste (I used about a teaspoon of kosher salt).
At this point the rice should have a creamy consistency. I'm not even going to bother attempting an off-color joke with that one - it's too easy.
Serve with remaining grated Parmesan.

*Looking back over this recipe and the results, I think I would add another herb besides or instead of chives - chives kind of get lost in the taste, to me - but maybe that's because I used dried chives (which I don't recommend, btw - they taste like pencil shavings, only less aromatic). Maybe a wee bit of dill? Thyme? If anyone makes this recipe, let me know the herbs you used. It needs something colorful, that's for sure.

breaking through a blogging rut, and blogging last night's dinner: the shake n' bake edition

2009-06-28T23:09:00.000-07:00

So I got my knickers all in a wad these last few weeks because I developed blogger's anxiety. No, that's not in the DSMIV, but I contend that it should be diagnosable - that dreaded feeling of having nothing worthwhile to say really turns a girl off of sharing her innermost thoughts about pork products (nom.) or rhubarb (possibly nom.) or cauliflower (ew). I kept thinking, who'd want to read my meanderings about cooking? I'm nothing special when it comes to the kitchen. There are millions - possibly billions - of people the world over who are better cooks than I. I'm inexperienced at best; I make lots of mistakes. I don't know things that other cooks learned in their cribs. You know - like how to boil an egg.*

But then, the words started getting bottled up and I had a couple of minor culinary successes and I started to re-evaluate why I started this blog in the first place. So let me set some things straight, just for my own amusement if nothing else:

I didn't start this blog because I'm good at cooking. I'm sharing the process that I'm undergoing because I'm relatively novice at the ol' applying-heat-and-chemistry-to-food-substances thing, and each day really is kind of a discovery. I'm going to make mistakes and give you the chance to laugh at me. I'm going to act all excited over a "discovery" that you might have learned when you were three. I'm going to use substitute ingredients; I'm going to use short-cuts. I may even use the microwave occasionally.

And I'm going to write about it. And people might read it, or they might not. They might get bored or disgusted and wander off to go do something more productive with their days.
And that's okay.

Because I'm not writing this for anyone but myself.

That was an important realization - or reminder - for me.

So, as Ellen DeGeneres says, "Aaanywaayyy..." Now that we've got the Manifesto out of the way...Last night, I fixed a pretty amazing meal. Oven-fried buttermilk chicken breasts, fried potatoes, and Brussels sprouts.

This is my favorite bald guy, trying to parse out what was in that amazing chicken:
It was fairly easy - the whole meal was done in about half an hour, minus the sittin' time for the poultry.

Chicken Ingredients:
A couple or three boneless skinless chicken breasts
About 1/2 c. buttermilk
A few tablespoons of cornmeal
1 T. salt and a few grinds of fresh pepper
1/2 t. each (or to taste) paprika, garlic powder, cumin, fenugreek, cayenne pepper (go easy on that one)
1 T. fresh rosemary, finely chopped (or 1/2 T. dried)
1 T. fresh thyme, finely chopped (or 1/2 T. dried)

Preheat oven to 375 degrees (about 180 C)
Plop the chicken breasts in a bowl or something and pour the buttermilk over them. Let them sit for about half an hour, stewing in the buttermilk. I don't know WHY it works, but it makes the chicken breasts nice and tender and moist (insert inappropriate joke about breasts here).
When you're ready to cook, combine all ingredients from cornmeal down in a bowl that's big enough to scoot the chicken breasts around in.
Kinda shake the excess buttermilk off each breast and dredge the chicken around in the cornmeal seasonings. Put yer now-coated breasts (heh) in a baking dish of some description (darker pans require shorter cooking time, so be careful. I used a 9x13 pyrex baking dish). You might want to spray the pan with PAM or some grease equivalent to keep 'em from sticking.
Stick the chicken in the oven for 20 minutes. Then flip 'em over and bake for another 10-15 minutes (approx. time based on my experience with a convection oven - for food safety, check your chicken's internal temperature with a meat thermometer; it should register no less than 165 degrees. Food temperature information can be found at the USDA's web site).
Nice, crispy-on-the-outside, tender-and-moist-on-the-inside chicken breasts are now yours!

Potatoes Ingredients:
Uh, potatoes. I used Jersey Royals new potatoes, but use whatever waxy, not-too-flaky potatoes you want (in other words, steer clear of the giant Russet baking potatoes, because those will just fall apart). I used 6 smallish (child's fist size) potatoes, and it fed 2 people pretty well.
3 T. all-purpose flour
salt, pepper, a little chili powder if you're feeling bold, mebbe some herbs, but not too much (I used zahtar, because it's one of my favorite "secret" ingredients) - about 1/4-1/2 T. each
About 2 T. olive oil (a couple of swirls around the skillet)
Spray oil or an extra T or two of olive oil

Wash your potatoes and scrub any little unpleasant bits off. Poke a couple of holes in each with a fork and microwave those suckers until just tender - about 2:30 or thereabouts.
While the potatoes are sizzling and whining away in the nuke-box, mix your flour and seasonings in a bowl big enough to accommodate the cut-up taters.
When the potatoes have finished cooking, remove them carefully and cut until 1/2 inch chunks (you need asbestos-coated fingers for this, or just be patient and wait 'til they've cooled off a little)
Heat your skillet to medium-high heat and add your olive oil.
Spray the cut potatoes with oil - or toss gently in a bowl with the extra olive oil, depending on your preference.
Toss those greasy potatoes in the flour mixture, just to coat.
I then (and this is an extra step born of expediency that you may not need to do) dumped the coated potatoes in a sieve/colander, just to get the extra floury bits off of them, so it didn't all end up in the frying pan.
Dump the taters in the pan, and cook over medium-high heat until nicely browned - about 10 minutes.

Brussels sprouts:
Simplest thing in the world. I used frozen Brussels sprouts. Steam them (about 8 minutes) until just tender and bright green, and toss with butter, about 2 T. balsamic vinegar, salt and pepper.
Bingbamboom dinner.

*So about this boiled egg thing. Ever since I moved to England, I've had serious trouble getting eggs to boil so that the shells are easy to remove. I end up with eggs that look like they had an unfortunately bad case of teenage acne that left them pockmarked and socially awkward. I've tried many recipes - starting from cold water, plunging them into boiling water, bringing the pot to a boil and then turning it off and letting it sit, adding a teaspoon of vinegar to the water...all of those things, and STILL shells that refuse to peel off genteelly. I'm beginning to wonder if it isn't the eggs I'm buying or something - I don't remember having this trouble back in the States. If anyone has any thoughts about stubborn boiled egg-shells, lemme know. I'd be most grateful.

Blueberry Lemon Loaf

2009-06-01T03:26:00.000-07:00

Yeah, sure. I don't bake. Unless, as mentioned before in the short little annals of this blog, I'm feeling social anxiety.

So, dear Reader, what the hell do you get somebody for a birthday present that you don't know very well? Personally, I bake. Because it's a) (more or less) guaranteed to please (if it turns out okay. And if you don't include known allergens); b) it's inexpensive; and c) it takes time and energy, which, in my mind, is one of the better presents you can give someone.

So I brought this recipe to a recent shindig. I think it went over okay, once the birthday girl got over her confusion over getting a loaf of bread...hrm...

Sources:
Beranbaum, Rose Levy. The Cake Bible. William Morrow & Company, Inc. New York: 1988
Bon Appetit Magazine, August 1991
Joy of Baking.com - recipe tweaked by Stephanie Jaworski

Ingredients
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 t. baking powder
1/4 t. salt
1/2 cup unsalted butter, room temperature (just nuke it 10 seconds or so)
3/4 cup granulated white sugar
2 large eggs
1/2 t. pure vanilla extract (I bumped it up to 1 t. at least)
1 T. grated lemon zest
1/2 cup milk
1 1/2 cup fresh or frozen blueberries

Lemon glaze:
1/3 cup granulated white sugar
3 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
1/2 t. Cointreau, vanilla extract, or brandy (optional)

Preheat yer oven to 350 degrees F (180 degrees C) and place the oven rack in the center of the oven. Butter (or spray with a non-stick oil spray) the bottom and sides of a loaf pan (9x5x3 inch, or 23x13x8 cm, for you Metricheads out there). Set aside. Don't let the cat lick it. EW.

I read in another recipe a recommendation to cut a piece of parchment or wax paper to fit the bottom of your loaf pan. I did that, but I didn't see that there was any real point to it. But if you feel like being uber-conscientious about getting the loaf out of the pan, you could try it. I found that tip here.

In a separate bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder and salt. Set aside.

In a little bowl, dump your blueberries and a couple of small handfuls of flour and gently toss the blueberries 'til they're coated with flour. This (supposedly) helps keep your blueberries from sinking to the bottom of your bread - thus avoiding the dreaded Blueberry Bottom, which is a deeply embarrassing personal problem. Just ask Violet Beauregarde.

In the bowl of your electric mixer, or with a hand mixer, or with really good arm muscles, beat the butter until softened (about 1 minute). Add the sugar and continue to beat until light and fluffy. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Beat in the vanilla extract and lemon zest. Add the flour mixture a little handful at a time; between handfuls, add the milk a little at a time - you want to make sure that the flour's totally incorporated, but you don't want to OVERbeat, because then your bread will be tough. And then you'll have to cough up bail money and get it into rehab and pay for its psychotherapy and drive it to group work, and who wants that for anyone's bread, really.

Gently fold in the blueberries - use a plastic spatula or something. You don't want to squish the blueberries too much.

Scrape the batter into the prepared pan and bake for about 55 to 65 minutes, or until the bread is golden brown and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean (or just slightly besmirched with blueberry guts, but not bready bits).

Meanwhile (back at the ranch), in a small saucepan, bring the 1/3 cup of sugar and hte 3 tablespoons of lemon juice and your little dash of something extra (if you choose to use Cointreau or almond or vanilla extract or whatever) to a boil, stirring until the sugar dissolves.

When the bread is done, remove from oven and place on a wire rack. Pierce the hot loaf all over with a toothpick or a leftover chopstick from Chinese take-out or some other pointy bit and then brush the top of the loaf with the hot lemon glaze. Cool the loaf in the pan for about 30 minutes and then remove from the pan to let cool completely on the wire rack.

As with the banana bread recipe I posted earlier, this recipe is very forgiving - you could add nuts, extra flavoring, etc. It takes about 20 minutes with the preparations, plus baking time, so you can have delicoius and not-very-good-for-you cakey-bread pretty quickly. And it makes you look like a jeen-u-wine bakerperson. Yay!

Black Eyed Peas, Rice & Burnt Onions

2009-05-12T06:02:00.001-07:00

I discovered black eyed peas this week. I'd thought they were the kind of beans you had to soak overnight, which of course takes more prior planning and forethought than I usually put into dinner. But lo and behold, you can just throw these cuties into a pot, cook for 45 minutes, drain and go!

Black eyed peas are, of course, a staple of Southern cuisine. They were originally cultivated in West Africa and brought through the West Indies to the Southern United States by Africans; by the 1700s the crop was widespread through the South. It's very drought and heat-tolerant, which makes the plant easy to grow in the American South. The planting of crops of black-eyed peas was promoted by George Washington Carver because, as a legume, it adds nitrogen to the soil and has high nutritional value. Those little suckers have a TON of protein (9 g. per serving), fiber and calcium, and they're very low in fat! Yay!

When I was a child, my grandmama would cook the traditional black eyed peas and rice (they expand in water - just like your prosperity throughout the year) and collard greens (they're green, like all the money you'll make!) on New Years Day, for good luck. These "good luck" traditions supposedly date back to the "Recent Unpleasantness," or "The Wawar," as it was still known in my great-grandmother's household. The story goes that Sherman's troops would strip everywhere they went of all food, crops, and livestock, and sow the soil with salt - they'd burn and destroy everything in their path. BUT they wouldn't touch the black eyed peas - called "field peas" - or the corn, because that wasn't fit for human consumption anyway, just as cattle fodder.

(Side note: my mother would "clean my room" for me about once a year, which she called a "Sherman's March" - where she would throw away everything that was on the floor or out of place. She probably burned my sheets, too. I wasn't a very clean child. )

I found this recipe through one of my favorite foodie sites, Cheap Healthy Good. This recipe has also been sighted in this New York Times column by Mark Bittman; the emphasis is on the burnt, crispy onions. I like to think of the black eyed peas as being the star of this dish, but apparently burning onions creates a magical cacophony of flavor bursts in your mouth, so don't skip on 'em. I also spiced it up a bit - added two cloves of garlic, some fenugreek and fresh basil. You can tweak the seasonings as you see fit. This recipe is easily expandable, and black eyed peas and rice freeze well.

Ingredients

1 cup cooked brown rice

1 cup cooked black eyed peas

1 medium onion, sliced thin (or 2 onions, if you REALLY like onions)

2 cloves garlic, very thinly sliced (or you can mince them, but I like the more solid presentation in this dish)

2 medium carrots, diced

a couple of handfuls of baby spinach (about a cup)

2 T. torn fresh basil leaves

1 T oil (I used olive oil, but whatevs)

3 T balsamic vinegar, or to taste

Salt n' Pepa (no, not the band)

1 t. ground fenugreek

1/2 t. Vietnamese chili garlic sauce* or to taste (optional)

Heat yer oil in a pan over medium-high. When it’s good and hot, add the onions (they should sizzle). Add a little salt.

Cook onions, stirring occasionally, until they start to brown. Lower the heat a little, and keep cooking, stirring more frequently.

In the meantime, combine black eyed peas and rice in a big bowl. Add S&P to taste. Add balsamic vinegar, fenugreek, and chili garlic sauce, and set aside.

When the onions are pretty shriveled, about 15 minutes or so, add the garlic and carrots, and cook until onions are blackened and blistered in spots. (Add your carrots earlier if you like them more cooked.)

Stir in spinach to the onions, garlic & carrots, just until it’s wilted (like, 30 seconds. Seriously. Don't leave the stove.)

Add veggies to rice and beans mixture as a topping.

Say "Omnomnomnom!" as you wolf this dish down.

*Vietnamese chili garlic sauce (NOT sriracha! That stuff's for wimps. I mean this savory-spicy goodness) is one of my favorite not-so-secret ingredients. Go easy on it; it's got a kick that will sneak up and bite you on the tuchus if you're not very judicious in its application. I like it in everything from spaghetti sauce to eggs. Just...not ice cream. Wouldn't go well with ice cream. Blech.

Ethical Foodie Blogging

2009-05-06T07:36:00.000-07:00

http://foodethics.wordpress.com/the-code/

I've wondered about the ethics of modifying, using and posting recipes online; where does one draw the line at crediting sources? Generally speaking, if I make something up off the top of my head, I'm not a good enough cook to have created something so spectacularly original that it hasn't been done before in many different ways (let me tell you about my baked chicken from the other night....oh, wait - are you snoring?). I'll often glance at several different recipes for the same dish and come up with something that's just slightly tweaked. Should a foodie blogger cite all potential sources? There are thousands of people who enjoy food who post recipes online around the world - where does the idea of creative commons come in? How much should we care?

Also of note: the section about reviewing restaurants and the link to the Association of Food Journalists online code of ethics.

I'm curious about your opinions.

Wild about Wild Rice: Mini-Review

2009-05-06T07:15:00.001-07:00

Back from "vacation," which was more like "attempt to play referee between feuding family members and fail"-cation, along with "let's ride in pathogen tubes 30,000 feet in the air for 4 straight days!"-cation, with a dash of, "sure, another drink sounds like a SWELL idea"-cation. Not much foodie deliciousness was enjoyed during said trip to South Carolina and to Vancouver, with a notable exception:

Wild Rice in Vancouver is a pretty amazing place. Atmosphere, modern-casual. Service, friendly, cute, and knowledgeable. It's family-style Chinese tapas (I know! Yay for confusing cultural trends!). My dining buddy and I decided to order fancy drinks; he had a "Buddha's Caesar" drink, a deeply spicy concoction of horseradish infused vodka, clamato, cilantro, lemon and a dash of soy (which somehow I can't see the Buddha enjoying, but we took advantage of our non-enlightened status and slurped it up), while I indulged in an Orchid, which consisted of appleton rum, ginger beer, ginger ale, fresh lime and bitters. Delicious. But the real delight came when the wonton soup arrived - a revelation of complex miso flavour, hand-made dumpings with locally raised pork, and crisp spring onions. It will change your opinion about what wonton soup should taste like. The spring rolls (vegetarian, with a sweet grapefruit/chili dip) and the Beef Shanghai were both really good - but the soup topped it all. Our total bill, with frou-frou drinks, the soup and two mains, was $53.53 (Canadian). Slightly pricier than we'd intended, but I don't begrudge them a cent.

If you're visiting Vancouver, venture to Wild Rice. It's worth it.

pitapitapita

2009-04-13T03:47:00.001-07:00

I am so proud of myself!

Probably inordinately so, given the ease of this recipe.

Pita bread is filling, low-calorie, and ridiculously easy to make. It's a fun project for kids, too, since it can be done quickly and you get cute little pockety breads.

Mine didn't turn out perfectly - I think my whole wheat flour's gone off a bit (ew). I also think I'd roll out the dough a bit thinner, and cook a little bit longer. But toasting saved even the mushy ones, so it's all good.

Pita only calls for 6 ingredients, and the recipe is quite forgiving. You can use sugar or honey, 100% whole wheat flour or 100% white flour, or any combination thereof; I used active dry yeast, but if you don't want to bother with dissolving and proofing, you can use rapid rise just as easily. You can use whatever oil you have in your house, but if you want to be all authentic, use olive oil.

Makes 8 pitas.

Ingredients

3 cups flour (I used 2 cups white and 1 cup wheat, and that seemed just about right)

1.5 t. salt

1 T. sugar or honey

1 packet yeast (or if you're using rapid rise, 2 t.)

1.25 - 1.5 cups room temperature water

2 T. olive oil, vegetable oil, butter or shortening

If you're using active dry yeast, follow the instructions on the packet to get it going, then add it to your dry ingredients. Otherwise, mix the yeast in with the flour, salt and sugary-substance. Add the olive oil and water and stir together with a wooden spoon. All of the ingredients should form a ball. If some of the flour won't stick, add a tablespoon more water until you get the right consistency.

Once it's all in a big ballish glop, dump it out on a lightly floured work surface and knead the dough for about 10 minutes, or until your arms fall off. If you're using an electric mixer, mix at low speed for 10 minutes (I personally don't think it takes this long - I kneaded for exactly 7 minutes). You want the dough to become stretchy and elastic and smooth (so where it bounces back when you press it with your widdle finger).

Once the dough's been pummeled, form it into a ball and put it in a big ol' bowl that's been lightly coated with oil. Roll it around a little (or cheat and use a spray oil like I did) so that it's lightly coated with oil on all sides. Cover the bowl with a damp towel and set it aside to rise until it's doubled in size, approximately 90 minutes.

Once you've done the laundry, picked your nose, called your Aunt Millicent, run to the store to pick up tampons, taken a 20 minute nap, and yelled at the cat, punch the dough down to release some of the trapped gases and divide it into 8 mini-balls (heh). Cover the ballspawns with a damp towel and let them rest for 20 more minutes.

Meanwhile (back at the ranch), preheat the oven to 400 degrees. If you have a baking stone (I don't), put it in the oven to preheat, too. If you're a mere mortal and don't have a baking stone, turn a cookie sheet upside down and place it on the middle rack of the oven while you're preheating it.

After the dough has relaxed for 20 minutes (charge it spa fees), spread a light coating of flour on a work surface, take your balls (heheh), sprinkle a little flour on top of the dough, and use a rolling pin, a big glass, or your hands to stretch and flatten the dough. Roll those suckers out to between 1/8 and 1/4 inch thick (I think on the thinner side produces better results). If the dough doesn't want to stretch sufficiently, slap it upside the head and let it rest another 5-10 minutes, then try it again.

If you have a spray bottle in the kitchen, spray a light mist of water onto your baking surface (i.e., the cookie sheet in the oven) and close the oven for 30 seconds. I have a "cat blaster" spray mister bottle that works really well for this. Getting the oven moist (heh heh again. I know - I'm terrible) reduces blistering on the outside of your pitas. You can skip this step if you don't have a spray bottle handy. No biggie.

Open the oven and toss as many pitas as will fit onto the baking surface. Bake 'em for 3-5 minutes. They should puff up some. Watch them carefully - my first batch was underdone, but you don't want them to be too browned, either. I did mine in batches because I couldn't fit all 8 in the oven at once. Given that they're done so quickly, it wasn't a big deal to do them in stages.

That's it! You're done! Don't burn your fingers when you pull them apart to put butter & honey, homemade hummus, or tuna salad in 'em.

This recipe is modified from this (very cool and informative) site: http://www.thefreshloaf.com/recipes/pitabread

So here's a thought: Savory pancakes

2009-04-05T14:11:00.001-07:00

The Bald Guy and I enjoyed a delicious Indian meal at Rajput Restaurant (http://www.rajput.co.uk/) on Friday night. The food was very tasty and reasonably priced, and the service, while a bit disorganized at times, definitely had a "we live here" feel; Perveen, the proprietor and Chef Emerita, conversed with our table for a good five minutes. So far, it's the only Indian restaurant in Harrogate that doesn't seem to be afraid to use spices. The mango pickle especially was delicious (though not to the Bald Guy's liking).

Anyhoodle. That's not the point.

We ended up with two containers of doggie-bag slop (which is also VERY unusual for English restaurants - the waiter even offered the take-away boxes to us! We were impressed). Last night, the Bald Guy had made a delicious Chinese-style stir-fry with the rest of our London Broil, but he made a LOT of it. So tonight was leftover night at the Love Shack. What to do with all this sloppy yummy Indian goodness, though? Rice = takes too long for hungry Loves. Noodles didn't seem quite right. So we decided to make savory pancakes. And lemme tell ya, they were great.

Now, confession time: we used Bisquick. Yes, I said it. Bisquick. Worse: it was generic Bisquick. I know, I know. Anathema. Whatevs.

So, modified from the Bisquick (or generic thereof) back-of-box recipe:
2 c. baking mix
1 1/3 c. milk (actually, I added a little more milk to make the pancakes thinner - probably more like 1.5 c. milk)
1 egg
1/3 c. cheddar or parmesan cheese
1 T. thyme
1 T. garlic salt
Fresh ground black pepper, to taste

Heat griddle (or large skillet) to 375 degrees F (or medium-high). Stir all ingredients together in a large mixing bowl. I used a hand mixer, but I'm sure you don't have to - just make sure all the lumps are gone. Make sure you wipe off the coffee maker from all the splatters you've thrown across the kitchen using the hand mixer ill-advisedly, because you are a small-machine-impaired moron (oh wait. That only applies to me). Bake on hottish, lightly greased (I used one of those pressurized spray bottles filled with olive oil. They come in quite handy! I don't really recommend a whole lot of kitchen gadgets, but make-yer-own-oil-sprayer thingies get the Maggie Burned Thumb Up Seal of Approval) using a little less than 1/4 c. batter for each pancake. Cook until edges are dry and bubbles break towards the middle of the pancake surface. Flip, cook until golden, remove, repeat. Make a REALLY REALLY BIG ONE with the extra batter at the end (come on! You know you want to eat a gigantic-ass pancake!)

I served our leftover ethnic cuisine on little beds of savory pancake. Super delicious and relatively easy.

Or you can just make rice. How boring.

Hunk O' Meat: London Broil

2009-04-02T13:43:00.000-07:00

I loves me some cow muscle. I wish I didn't; I'm sure I'd be a much healthier and quite possibly richer person if the thought of consuming large portions of cow thighs and haunches and backs and sides didn't appeal to me so damn much. But there you have it: I'm a carnivore.

I got a London Broil (2.5 pounder) on sale at the commisary recently. Tonight the Craving took hold (Meat Meat Meat Meat Meat!!), so I marinated and broiled away. I made rice (average) and brussels sprouts (delicious! recipe to follow) on the side.

Ingredients for Marinade
1/4 c. oil (I used EVOO)
1/3 c. balsamic vinegar
3 T. tamari (soy sauce. I use the reduced sodium version)
splash of red wine, if you have it
3-4 cloves garlic, minced, plus an extra, sliced, just for giggles
3 T. brown sugar
1 onion, chopped or diced - cut up into little tiny hunks, however you want to define that.
1 T. jarred minced ginger
a whole buncha black pepper
a leetle salt

Take yer hunk o' meat (this recipe is specific to London Broil, but you can use any thick-cut cow product you'd like, I'm sure) and wipe it down real well, and sprinkle it with salt and pepper. Let it sit a few minutes mooing at you while you prepare the marinade.

Take a big ol' plastic zipper bag. Dump all your marinade ingredients in it and squuush it around a bit, to mingle up the flavors and get it all nice and combined. Take yer meat and splot 'er in there. Close up the bag, pushing all the extra air out as best you can, and massage the meat (heh. Hehheh.) so that the marinade gets all up in its proverbial face. Now refrigerate the bag o' meat for as long as you can stand it - at least a few hours, or overnight if you can. I didn't start this project 'til mid-afternoon, so mine only marinaded about 3 hours, and it turned out fine, but I'm sure the longer you let it go, the better.

Heat your broiler to Superhot (gas 3 en anglais). When you're ready to cook, slop your Hunk onto a broiler pan-thing (mine has a little removable grill; I usually put a layer of aluminum foil underneath because I'm a lazy biatch who hates to scrub pots and pans). Make sure a portion of the garlic/onion bits are hanging out on top of the meat. Put it in the broiler for FIVE minutes (NO MORE!) Now take it out and flip it over. You may want to find some tongs for this - I made a bit of a mess trying to flip the damn thing with a spatula. Now broil the other side for FIVE minutes (NO MORE!)*

While the meat is broiling, take that leftover marinade, add an extra splash of red wine and maybe a bit of beef stock and heat it up in a skillet. I added some chopped mushrooms, because the Bald Guy thought it would be BRILLIANT to add mushrooms. As usual, he was right. Let the sauce simmer/low boil for a few minutes until it's thickened a bit.

Take your London Broil out of the broiler and let it rest for at least 5 minutes, and preferably 15. Carve into slices against the grain (IMPORTANT! If you cut with the grain, your meat will be tough and chewy. No, I don't know why. I only know it's true, having had my share of Meat Chewing Gum before). Serve the slices with the sauce.

*Okay, so maybe a little longer if your oven is not as hawt as mine gets. Food safety guidelines specify steak at medium should be no cooler than 160 degrees F, 145 degrees F for medium rare. Use a meat thermometer to get an accurate temperature.

Served with:
white rice (boring! It would have been better with roasted potatoes)
Lemony Fennelly Brussels Sprouts
(basic recipe: heat up some butter in a pan. Dump in some brussels sprouts when the butter melts. Add some fresh lemon zest, a little red pepper flakes, some salt & pepper, a dash of nutmeg, and about 1/4 t. fennel seeds. Cook over medium heat until done, stirring occasionally. I am not ashamed to say I used frozen brussels sprouts for this - a fraction of the preparation, and really, just as good)

Nomnomnom. Meatmeatmeatmeatmeat.

Bonus:
For a side dish, we had Cat Fricassee.Don't worry - we washed the cutting board. Stoopid cat.

Orzo Stuffed Peppers

2009-03-24T02:29:00.000-07:00

When I asked the Bald Guy what he thought of when he pictured stuffed peppers (after he snickered at whatever Beavis joke was running through his head..."heheh...she said 'stuffed'" - we're such a perfect match), he pulled a Billy Idol sneer and described soggy green bell peppers filled with an unappetizing and oversalted mush of cheap ground beef, rice, and bland seasonings.

Well, said I. THIS stuffed pepper's gonna be different, By Golly!
And Gee Willickers!

And it was. There are so many ways you could tweak this recipe and get a fun, presentable dish, either for a light main course or an elegant side. I was pleased with the flavor of these, and the richness of the colour makes for a fun splash of vibrancy on your plate. A partial list of different optional ingredients is listed as well - you can put just about anything in these peppers!

This recipe is significantly altered from one by Giada De Laurentiis.

Orzo Stuffed Peppers

Ingredients
1 can diced tomatoes, well-drained (OR one can fancy salsa with one diced fresh tomato, 'cause that's how I roll. And what was in the cabinet)
1 carrot, shredded (use a box grater, like you do for cheese)
1/2 c. shredded cilantro. Or mint. Or basil. Something fresh and green and...shredded. (DON'T use a box grater! Unless you want to lose your fingerprints. Use a knife or just rip the leaves by hand.)
1/2 c. parmesan or other flavorful cheese, plus more for sprinkling (I used a parmesan/romano mix inside the peppers and feta to sprinkle on top)
1/4 c. extra virgin olive oil plus 1 T. for sauteeing
1/2 c. red onion, finely chopped
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 t. salt
1 t. black pepper*
4 c. chicken broth
1.5 c. orzo pasta
4-6 sweet red or yellow bell peppers
(the number could vary depending on how many people you're feeding, how big the peppers are, and how much the gnomes that inhabit your pots and pans expand the orzo when you're not looking. I swear we had orzo for DAYS out of just 1.5 cups)

Optional Ingredients:
1 t. chopped fresh thyme
1/3 c. chopped pecans or walnuts or almonds
1/2 c. toasted pine nuts
Grated zucchini
Diced ham or chopped bacon
Flaked salmon
The tops and bottoms of the peppers that you chop off, finely diced

Preheat the oven to 400F.

In a small pan, gently sautee the chopped onion in a T. of oil on medium heat until just translucent (2-3 minutes), then add the garlic and sautee until the garlic is just golden (1 minute or so). Remove from heat and let cool for a couple of minutes.

In a large bowl, stir together the tomatoes, carrot, chopped fresh basil/mint/cilantro/whatever, cheese, olive oil, and the onion and garlic.

Meanwhile, bring the chicken broth to a boil in a medium saucepan over high heat. Add the orzo and cook for 4 minutes (which will be shorter than package directions). The orzo should be only partially cooked. Use a fine mesh sieve to transfer the orzo to join its yummy ingredient-mates in the large bowl. Imagine how the orzo greets the other ingredients in a high, squeaky voice. Say, "What??" defensively when your husband lifts an inquisitive eyebrow at your oddness.

Transfer some of the warm chicken broth to a 3-quart baking dish - enough to fill it about 1/4-1/3 full.

Slice the tops off the peppers and remove the ribs and seeds. Cut a very thin slice from the base to help the peppers stand up.

Fill 'em up with the yummy mixture and plop 'em into the baking dish. Cover the dish with foil and bake for 45 minutes. Remove the foil, sprinkle some cheese and maybe a few extra little shredded herby bits on top, and continue baking until the cheese is nice and golden, about 15 more minutes. Remove from the oven and carefully transfer the stuffed peppers to your plate, and then your belly.

*When I say, "ground black pepper," I mean get out your little pepper grinder that your well-meaning Aunt Tiffany gave you when you finally got your own apartment, and use it. If you're using pre-ground black pepper, you might as well be scraping the dust off the boxes in the back of the attic and using that as seasoning. I ain't picky about much, but using freshly ground black pepper's one of them.

Chocolate Chip Cookies & Banana Bread

2009-03-16T02:18:00.000-07:00

I have long been one to decry baking. Can't stand it. All that...measuring! And...timing! I never felt like I could experiment; there wasn't a sense of "creating" with baking - just with following directions. At which I've never been particularly gifted. It felt too much like chemistry, only with flour.

Lately, though, I've had a few minor successes in the baking area. I've baked challah bread from scratch twice, which turned out lovely, and this weekend, I made both banana bread and chocolate chip cookies from scratch. This baking extravaganza was mostly due to social anxiety - faced with a weekend alone with a bunch of Army spouses, I armed myself as best I could with baked goods. I also made hummus, but that's another post entirely. What is it about the prospect of confinement with a bunch of women I don't know well that sends me into a frenzy of food preparation?

The cookie recipe is from the original Nestle Tollhouse Semisweet Morsels package version, but tweaked slightly - I tripled the vanilla, melted the butter instead of just letting it soften on the counter, and chilled the dough before putting it on the baking sheets. These extra steps were gleaned from various foodie websites across the Intersphere - little tips and tricks here and there.

The banana bread recipe is much more forgiving; I added a swirl of Amaretto and an extra dash of nutmeg. You could also add chopped walnuts or pecans, or cranberries, or tricycles or old socks, but I don't think those would improve the flavour much.

Chocolate Chip Cookies
Ingredients
2 1/4 c. all-purpose flour
1 t. baking soda
1 t. salt
1 c. (2 sticks, 1/2 pound) butter, gently melted
3/4 c. granulated sugar
3/4 c. packed brown sugar
1 T. vanilla extract
2 eggs
2 c. (12-ounce package) semi-sweet chocolate morsels (can also use Heath Bar bits, toffee bits, chopped nuts, or other small chunks o' sugary-chocolatey-goodness. I'm a bit of a purist when it comes to chocolate chip cookies)

COMBINE flour, baking soda and salt in a small bowl. Beat butter, granulated sugar, brown sugar and vanilla in large mixer bowl. Add eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition; gradually beat in flour mixture. Stir in morsels and bits (not "nits," as I originally typed. Crunchy, but the flavour's icky). Refrigerate dough for half an hour or so until slightly chilled. Drop by rounded tablespoon, leaving at least 1 - 1.5 inches between each, onto ungreased baking sheets.

BAKE in preheated 375-degree F oven for 9 to 11 minutes or until golden brown. Let stand for 2 minutes; remove to wire racks to cool completely. Make sure you eat at least one cookie from each baking sheet to...you know...test for doneness.

Easy Banana Bread
Ingredients
3 or 4 ripe bananas, mashed (we'd saved a bunch of bananas that were just going off, and I pulled them out for this recipe. They thawed just fine)
1/3 c. melted butter
1 c. sugar (can easily reduce to 3/4 c.)
1 egg, beaten
1 T. vanilla
1 t. baking soda
1 t. cinnamon
1 t. nutmeg (optional)
Pinch of salt
1.5 c. all-purpose flour
1 T. Amaretto, Tia Maria, or other liqueur (optional)
You could probably add nuts or other fun stuff to this recipe, too

No need for a mixer for this recipe. Preheat the oven to 350 F (175 C). With a wooden spoon (I used a plastic spoon, and lightning didn't strike me down. Steer away from the metal spoons, though), mix butter into the mashed bananas in a large mixing bowl. Mix in the sugar, egg, vanilla, spices and liqueur, if using. Sprinkle the baking soda and salt over the mixture and mix in. Add the flour last, and mix. Pour mixture into a buttered 4x8 loaf pan. Bake for 1 hour. Cool on a rack. Remove from pan and slice to serve.

Unintentionally Blackened Pork.

2009-03-12T04:19:00.000-07:00

Mistakes are just part of the game in cooking. Sometimes you want to slap yourself over the head with a large center-cut bone-in pork loin chop. Others are probably the fault of an over-zealous recipe. This little creation combined both. Sigh.

Things we learned:

Make sure your pan is centered on the burner.
When checking for doneness on the bottom of the meat, make sure you lift up more than just a corner.
When a recipe calls for 24 hours of brining, take it seriously when it says to RINSE the meat before cooking. Otherwise you'll exceed your sodium intake for the next 2 years and your once-lovely pork chop will end up tasting like very old bacon.
Marry a man who will eat ANYTHING. Wait - that wasn't a mistake.

HAGGIS!! Or: Don't Think, Just Eat.

2009-03-11T03:47:00.001-07:00

The Bald Guy and I enjoyed a short vacation to Edinburgh, Scotland this weekend to celebrate our one-year anniversary. We had a grand time poking around the back alleys of the Old Town, getting lost at Edinburgh Castle, marveling at Early European Masters at the National Gallery, and getting goosebumps during the ghost tour of Greyfriars Kirkyard. But by far the most fun we had was eating (and drinking) our way across Edinburgh, one bistro at a time.

We can certainly recommend the following restaurants:
Hanam's Kurdish/Middle Eastern Restaurant (http://www.hanams.com/)
Try the bayengaan - Slow roasted baby aubergines, stuffed with rice, yoghurt & traditional spices. We also had the lamb tashreeb and the qaysi. But save room for dessert! My favorite was the saffron and cardamom ice cream. The Bald Guy didn't like it as much as I did, but then, I'm kind of a cardamom nut. It was delicious! And the whole meal came out fairly cheaply without alcohol.

Maxie's Bistro & Wine Bar (http://www.maxies.co.uk/)
Conveniently located right next to Hanam's, just off the Royal Mile near the Castle. Funky cellar bistro with great atmosphere - candlelight, Art Deco-style painted glass, pillows strewn about. The proprieter was very attentive, although we did have to go up to the bar to order. The port and honey was a good choice, considering the blustery day. The duck and mango salad were good, as was the lentil soup; my avocado and bacon salad was delicious (but then, I think anything with bacon is great), except for the liberal use of white onions and iceberg lettuce. Ick. The dessert, however, made up for it - rich, thick chocolate cake a la mode, with a fudge sauce over it. Prices were reasonable.

Vittoria's Restaurant On the Bridge (http://www.vittoriarestaurant.com/onthebridge/)
We were blown in here late after our ghost tour by a gale-force wind accompanied by driving needles of icy rain that was threatening to knock us off our feet. I may be impressed with the eateries of Edinburgh, but it can keep its bloody weather, thanks. A good restaurant with a moderate chain feel. I had the squid ink pasta with seafood, and it was very good. The Bald Guy enjoyed his beef stroganoff - it didn't look like the typical stroganoff my mother used to make, with its primary ingredient of Campbell's Cream of Mushroom Soup (thank the jebus). A good wine recommendation of a very dry pinot grigio from our Italian waitress definitely prepared me to face the blustery evening again. There were at least 3 Italian families dining there (judging by overheard snippets of conversation and using the 3 nanoseconds of Italian classes I slept through in college), which, for an Italian restaurant, I'd take as a positive sign.

The Halfway House (http://www.halfwayhouse-edinburgh.com/)
Voted Scotland's Pub of the Year in 2005, and self-proclaimed Edinburgh's Smallest (and Friendliest) Pub, the Halfway House is tucked away in an alley between Market Street and the Royal Mile, a little gem hidden from tourists. We didn't eat there, but we did enjoy a beverage; I had the Talisker single malt whisky 18 Year(very peaty and smoky), and the BG nursed a pint of some dark bitter brew that he loved. Definitely worth a stop-in (if it's not too crowded - there aren't very many seats available!)

The Doric Tavern (http://tinyurl.com/bxm5pj)
We ate here for our one-year anniversary dinner. Probably the best restaurant we had the opportunity to visit on this trip. The bistro (or "gastropub") is upstairs. Nina Simone was on the stereo. There was only one other table occupied (it was a rainy Sunday evening). We ordered a bottle of pinot noir, which, given our criteria of "second cheapest on the menu," didn't surprise us with its mediocrity - but we still managed to finish the bottle. Our appetizer was HAGGIS! Actually, it was baked haggis filo parcels with plum sauce, which has quickly become the Edinburgh signature dish. It was originally created by Stac Polly, a fine Edinburgh restaurant institution (that we didn't get to because it's closed on Sundays, sigh). I was glad to see it on the menu at the Doric as well. If you're curious, the recipe can be found here: http://tinyurl.com/bkbo4c from Cooking the Books, a foodie blog by a Londoner named Joshua. The rest of the food was delicious (including the made-in-house vanilla & apricot cheesecake). We probably shelled out a little more than our other dinners, but we did split a bottle of wine, and the service, presentation, flavour and atmosphere made it all worth it.

foodie blogs unite!

2009-03-10T06:17:00.000-07:00

I like this one: http://cheaphealthygood.blogspot.com/
I found it this morning, and it meets my self-imposed criteria of:

a) Funny. Very. Well-written, even.
b) About good food
c) Modifies recipes from other sites to make 'em at least semi-healthy
d) (Bonus) Encourages creativity, spontaneity, and other words that end in 'y'.

Here's what the contributors to Cheap Healthy Good say about the site:

"Cheap Healthy Good is a blog dedicated to the advancement of frugal, nutritious food in everyday life. All of our recipes, links, and articles go back to that main subject matter. Occasionally, we throw in some pop culture references for fun."

I have the feeling that I'll be adapting recipes from this site a lot - with proper credit, of course. Because plagiarism sucks. Even on the Intarwebs.

Green n' Cheap Kitchen Cleaner

2009-03-04T03:50:00.000-08:00

Note: Some of my posts won't be about food. I know you're disappointed.

If there's one thing I hate, it's that fake-chemical smell of Lysol cleaners. If there's one thing I hate more, it's paying $4 for a bottle of the stuff. Plus, knowing I'm doing my little part to help make the planet a barren wasteland makes me oh so happy. So I poked around the Intarwebs, combined/tweaked a couple of recipes for "green" cleaners, and came up with the following combination. Vinegar has been proven in many studies to eliminate 99% of bacteria from kitchen surfaces. The smell makes me think of dyed Easter eggs, but it's better than Lysol. I used tea tree oil - which is also a powerful antibacterial - which helps mitigate the urge to argue with my sisters over who gets to use the purple food coloring and the white crayon.

Ingredients for Cleaner
1 part white vinegar (you know - the kind that's $.99 for a gigantic jug)
1 part water
3-4 drops dish soap (not too much!)
3-4 drops essential oil (I used tea tree, but you could also use lavender, bergamot, or other smelly stuff.) (optional)

Put all the stuff in a spray bottle (I took great glee in using an old Lysol Multipurpose Cleaner bottle) and shake it up a little.

Now go forth and...scrub.

Easy Healthy Vegetable Dip

2009-03-03T04:04:00.000-08:00

1/4 c. Stonyfield Farms low-fat plain yogurt (or other plain yogurt of your choosing)
1/3 package Lipton Recipe Secrets Vegetable Soup & Dip Mix
1/4 t. curry powder (or to taste)
Leetle squirt of lemon juice

Mix all ingredients and let sit for a while. Say, an hour. Or a day. You want the flavors to blend and the dip mix to soften in the yogurt.

Serve with veggies or whole wheat pita triangles or something. You know - stuff you'd dip...into dip. I ate mine with celery and carrot sticks.

Makes 2-3 servings. Unless you lick the bowl. Tacky, tacky [wipes bit off chin].

Nutrition Information Per Recipe:
Calories 61
Fat 1 g
Sodium 337 mg
Fibre 2 g
Protein 3 g
Carbohydrates 8 g