CASE: Use up the leftover roasted chicken, but do something besides chicken and dumplings. Now, I have never made Brandon my chicken and dumplings, but I just felt like doing something different.
Chicken Paprikash is a Hungarian comfort dish. I used to have Hungarian paprika, which is different from US paprika, but I just used regular paprika in this dish and added some red pepper flakes to up the hotness. The chicken is really supposed to be melty and gooey with the onions, but since I was using leftover chicken, I had to adapt. This is a great cold weather dish b/c it is just so spicy and hot and warming. Brandon loved it!
CHICKEN PAPRIKASH
Make chicken stock from scratch, but I suppose canned stock will be fine.
3 cups chicken stock
2 1/2 cups of chicken pieces
1 1/2 onions
2 T paprika
1 t red pepper flakes
salt
pepper
garlic salt
oil
butter
fresh dill
sour cream
Fry onions in olive oil and a pat of butter. Add all your spices, and more than I did if you like it spicy! Cook over medium to low heat until the onions are almost dissolved. Should take at least 10 minutes. Add the broth and bring to a boil. Add the chicken pieces and dumplings and cook for at least fifteen minutes. Serve with fresh dill and sour cream, stir together and enjoy!
DUMPLINGS
2 cups flour
3 eggs
salt
pepper
1 T paprika
Make a well and then add the eggs. Drop by the teaspoonful into the broth, cook at least 15 minutes in the broth. Kind of dunk them in at one point, so that they cook evenly.
NOTE: The dumplings were dry and heavy. They really need a bit of milk and baking powder or something. They were not fabulous. Other than that, though, the dish was delicious!
VERDICT: Hung Jury. Soup...fabulous. Dumplings...hockey pucks. Just use different dumplings and you'll get your guilty verdict!
Monday, December 29, 2008
Christmas Eve Burgers with Truffle Cheese
CASE: Use truffle cheese to perfection. A work mate and I went to Surfas in Culver City, which is like a restaurant emporium, but tres gourmet. She got fancy puff pastry, demi-glace and foie gras. (!) For her family Christmas dinner. I got truffle cheese, Fox Hills black currant hard cider, and truffle honey. (Which, by the way, I have a fun use for. We're spending New Year's weekend with my friend Judd's family, and I'm planning to make a cheese plate. To serve the honey, I am going to pour it over a wedge of mild, hard cheese and then sprinkle nuts on it. I am also planning on getting blueberry jam, which I think really really goes well with mild hard cheese and truffle honey. With some kind of multi-grain cracker.) Anyway. I wanted to make a really perfect burger since this was our first Christmas eve alone together. Gotta keep up the romance somehow!
I found a recipe out of a United Kingdom paper that suggested putting anchovies in the burger patties when serving with truffle cheese. No kidding. She suggested gem lettuce and tomatoes with the burger. So I decided to try the addition of anchovies, but keeping in line with the James Beard burger recipe (see old blogs). Apparently Grace restaurant here in Los Angeles also does an amazing truffle burger, which is served with a milkshake. Well well. That certainly upped the stakes! So we paired our burgers with fresh raspberry milkshakes (vanilla ice cream, rice milk, and fresh raspberries), frozen waffles fries that we baked in the oven, and of course, the hard cider.
PATTIES
1 package ground sirloin (made us 4 burgers)
2 anchovy fillets finely chopped
1/4 c half and half
2 t finely chopped parsley
salt
pepper
Mix the ingredients up, then fry in a bit of butter. Add your truffle cheese at the very end and put the lid on so it melts. DO NOT MELT TOO MUCH! It loses the delicate truffle flavor. I served our burgers with thinly sliced red onions, mayonnaise and yellow mustard on a kaiser roll, sliced plum tomatoes and romaine lettuce. It was juicy, salty, pungent, sweet and savory, all at once. Truffles...
NOTE: Leftover idea. I took one of the leftover burgers and cooked it with some onion and olive oil. Added leftover spaghetti sauce, and voila, easy Bologonese sauce.
VERDICT: GUILTY! OF BEING DELICIOUS! This was really a great burger! I'm always on the lookout for a good burger recipe, but the James Beard recipe is truly is my favorite. I can only say that this burger was perfect with the cheese.
I found a recipe out of a United Kingdom paper that suggested putting anchovies in the burger patties when serving with truffle cheese. No kidding. She suggested gem lettuce and tomatoes with the burger. So I decided to try the addition of anchovies, but keeping in line with the James Beard burger recipe (see old blogs). Apparently Grace restaurant here in Los Angeles also does an amazing truffle burger, which is served with a milkshake. Well well. That certainly upped the stakes! So we paired our burgers with fresh raspberry milkshakes (vanilla ice cream, rice milk, and fresh raspberries), frozen waffles fries that we baked in the oven, and of course, the hard cider.
PATTIES
1 package ground sirloin (made us 4 burgers)
2 anchovy fillets finely chopped
1/4 c half and half
2 t finely chopped parsley
salt
pepper
Mix the ingredients up, then fry in a bit of butter. Add your truffle cheese at the very end and put the lid on so it melts. DO NOT MELT TOO MUCH! It loses the delicate truffle flavor. I served our burgers with thinly sliced red onions, mayonnaise and yellow mustard on a kaiser roll, sliced plum tomatoes and romaine lettuce. It was juicy, salty, pungent, sweet and savory, all at once. Truffles...
NOTE: Leftover idea. I took one of the leftover burgers and cooked it with some onion and olive oil. Added leftover spaghetti sauce, and voila, easy Bologonese sauce.
VERDICT: GUILTY! OF BEING DELICIOUS! This was really a great burger! I'm always on the lookout for a good burger recipe, but the James Beard recipe is truly is my favorite. I can only say that this burger was perfect with the cheese.
Injajikian Salad Dressing
CASE: Mimic Brandon's Aunt Aghavni's salad dressing. Every time I have dinner with his family, their salad is just amazing. Pungent and salty and citrusy. Very acidic, I guess, but I'm literally SCRAPING the bottom of the salad bowl. Anyway, I tried to re-create it for Brandon because he likes it so much. Apparently Aghavni makes it the best, so the Injajikians always make her make it. I spied and here's what I got. I think the secret is the lemon juice AND vinegar. Also, salt and pepper...so few people salt and pepper their salad and bread. I don't get it! It tastes better! You salt and pepper your food, so why not your carbs and veggies?
INJAJIKIAN STYLE SALAD
3 T red wine vinegar
juice of one lemon
4 T olive oil
salt
pepper
paprika
garlic salt
dried herb, like oregano
thinly sliced onions
thinly sliced celery
additional veggies, like carrots, tomatoes or even broccoli
Ready-Pac salad, any kind is fine
Put all the veggies in the salad bowl. The onions and celery are key to the flavor. (I don't know why, they just are! Stop bothering me!) Sprinkle your lemon juice, vinegar and olive oil. IN THAT ORDER. THEN, and only then, do you sprinkle your seasonings to taste. (I have an answer to this one: the liquid must go on first, otherwise, the dried herbs won't stick.) Once you've sprinkled your seasonings, mix the salad WELL. Really toss it. I mean, really. You have to make sure each leaf is coated with each ingredient. Serve immediately.
NOTE: This is great b/c you don't have to mix the dressing in a separate bowl, thereby necessitating a truly pointless dish-washing later. Make that a truly pointless greasy dish-washing. With this recipe, you only have your salad dish to wash. Love it!
VERDICT: GUILTY! OF BEING DELICIOUS! (OBVIOUSLY!)
INJAJIKIAN STYLE SALAD
3 T red wine vinegar
juice of one lemon
4 T olive oil
salt
pepper
paprika
garlic salt
dried herb, like oregano
thinly sliced onions
thinly sliced celery
additional veggies, like carrots, tomatoes or even broccoli
Ready-Pac salad, any kind is fine
Put all the veggies in the salad bowl. The onions and celery are key to the flavor. (I don't know why, they just are! Stop bothering me!) Sprinkle your lemon juice, vinegar and olive oil. IN THAT ORDER. THEN, and only then, do you sprinkle your seasonings to taste. (I have an answer to this one: the liquid must go on first, otherwise, the dried herbs won't stick.) Once you've sprinkled your seasonings, mix the salad WELL. Really toss it. I mean, really. You have to make sure each leaf is coated with each ingredient. Serve immediately.
NOTE: This is great b/c you don't have to mix the dressing in a separate bowl, thereby necessitating a truly pointless dish-washing later. Make that a truly pointless greasy dish-washing. With this recipe, you only have your salad dish to wash. Love it!
VERDICT: GUILTY! OF BEING DELICIOUS! (OBVIOUSLY!)
Turkey Soup, Mexican style
CASE: I had this really great chicken soup at this Mexican restaurant that I really liked. It was a plain old chicken soup, brothy with few vegetables, but it was how they dressed it up that made it shine. They added fresh chopped onions, fresh chopped cilantro, lime wedges, advocado and warm flour tortillas to put into the soup. Spectacular. Really, spectacular.
Brandon was feeling sick on Christmas day, and so the next day I wanted to make him soup. We had brought home some ham and turkey from his parents' from Christmas day, so I decided to make him Turkey soup but with the nice extra stuff. This is so fabulous. Honestly, if you really don't have the interest or energy to do anything special for dinner, these simple side-ingredients really add interest and pizzazz (to use an eighties word) to rather boring soup.
TURKEY SOUP
STOCK
1 turkey leg, bone in
1 large slice of ham
1 onion (any kind)
2 large pieces of celery
salt to taste
Boil the above ingredients for at least 20 minutes in a can of water and a can of chicken stock. Fish out all the ingredients and then put back in just the turkey meat and ham.
SOUP
6 baby tomatoes chopped in half
2 stalks of celery, chopped in bite-sized rings
1 carrots, chopped in bites-sized half-moons
1/2 red onion chopped in bite-sized squares
5 large slices of turkey meat, chopped in...you guessed it...bite-sized pieces
To taste: red pepper flakes, paprika, pepper
Toss all the ingredients in the stock and bring to boil. No herbs in this dish.
SIDE INGREDIENTS:
Advocado
chopped onion
chopped cilantro
lime wedges
Serve with side ingredients so that each person can add to taste.
VERDICT: GUILTY! OF BEING DELICIOUS! It turned out great! He really liked it! He kept saying "Feed a cold, Starve a fever," over and over again which was driving me crazy. That is to say, since he had a fever he felt he should starve himself. I mean honestly, do you really think while you're sick that you should be starving yourself? Anyway, he did have a big bowl of this soup and it made me very, very happy that he was eating.
Brandon was feeling sick on Christmas day, and so the next day I wanted to make him soup. We had brought home some ham and turkey from his parents' from Christmas day, so I decided to make him Turkey soup but with the nice extra stuff. This is so fabulous. Honestly, if you really don't have the interest or energy to do anything special for dinner, these simple side-ingredients really add interest and pizzazz (to use an eighties word) to rather boring soup.
TURKEY SOUP
STOCK
1 turkey leg, bone in
1 large slice of ham
1 onion (any kind)
2 large pieces of celery
salt to taste
Boil the above ingredients for at least 20 minutes in a can of water and a can of chicken stock. Fish out all the ingredients and then put back in just the turkey meat and ham.
SOUP
6 baby tomatoes chopped in half
2 stalks of celery, chopped in bite-sized rings
1 carrots, chopped in bites-sized half-moons
1/2 red onion chopped in bite-sized squares
5 large slices of turkey meat, chopped in...you guessed it...bite-sized pieces
To taste: red pepper flakes, paprika, pepper
Toss all the ingredients in the stock and bring to boil. No herbs in this dish.
SIDE INGREDIENTS:
Advocado
chopped onion
chopped cilantro
lime wedges
Serve with side ingredients so that each person can add to taste.
VERDICT: GUILTY! OF BEING DELICIOUS! It turned out great! He really liked it! He kept saying "Feed a cold, Starve a fever," over and over again which was driving me crazy. That is to say, since he had a fever he felt he should starve himself. I mean honestly, do you really think while you're sick that you should be starving yourself? Anyway, he did have a big bowl of this soup and it made me very, very happy that he was eating.
Roasted Chicken in a Staub Roaster!
CASE: I got Ann a Staub roaster for Christmas (well, technically it was from me and Brandon to Ann and Thomas, but we all know that it's the girls that did all the work), and we were both jones-ing to try it. I really didn't want to give it to her. As soon as I saw it, I thought--I want this thing. But it was the last one, it was so French and so beautiful that I knew I had to give it to Ann.
If you don't know what a roster is, Thomas calls it "speculum cooking." It's like a dish with a poke up the middle that the chicken sits on. All the grease falls to the dish below. Which is why you put potatoes, carrots and mushrooms in the dish so that it cooks in that chicken fat.
Anyway, we tried it out last night and we had uneven results. First of all, I bought an Empire kosher chicken which was waaaaay bigger than the chicken that the French eat, I think. It was too big! We thought it would stand up on the roaster, or at least sit on it, but it fell right down to the bottom. We propped him up best we could with the vegetables but he was just too darn fat. Anyway, we put the guy in oven, but the result was a bit dry in the breast, which was at the top of the roaster. Ann has an old-fashioned Merrit and Keefe stove, so maybe part of the problem is that it a small space, so the top got inordinately hot. I don't know...We decided we would turn the chicken the other way mid-way. I think another solution might to just tent the breast.
On the plus side, the skin was amazing! Crackling and delicious. Ann buttered up the chicken 10 minutes before "go" time, which made it oh-so-buttery and crispy. Really good. The vegetables also turned out fabulous. Ann used fresh shittake mushrooms, and cut the carrots rather long, which made for a great presentation.
ROASTED CHICKEN WITH POTATOES, MUSHROOMS AND CARROTS
1 Staub verticle cast iron roaster
1 chicken
1 1/2 cups shittake mushrooms
1 potato
2 carrots, chopped into 2-3" sections
butter
salt
Heat oven to 450. Generously salt the inside of the chicken and outside. Force melted butter between the skin and the chicken. Place vegetables in the dish. Cook chicken for 20-30 minutes then bring temperature down to 350. Continue cooking until done. Intermittently baste the vegetables in the dripping fat to keep them moist. Also baste the chicken. If you wish, 10 minutes before finished, butter up the chicken, by taking the stick of butter and rubbing it all over the chicken.
VERDICT: GUILTY! Of being delicious! Honestly, there is something to be said for these old-time cooking utensils. I really think the whole process of cooking made it taste better. That is, the neatness (one-pot!) and comforting (roast chicken is the ultimate comfort) nature of what this roaster is meant to cook. It's such a luxury cooking piece, made for one thing and one thing only. I loved it!
NOTE: I think Ann was less impressed with the results, but I don't think either of us walked away believing we couldn't master this. I mean, that's the thing right? Do it a few more times, and then you will have your recipe down p-a-t. Then, Ann will be able to make this with her eyes closed and not even have to think of it during the hour that it cooks. I know, I know. The rotisserie chickens at the gorcery store are cheap and also delicious, right? Why bother with this? Well, lots of reasons: 1. If you have children, then b/c then you know EXACTLY what you're feeding your kids, and you can feed them hormone-free free-range hippie chickens. 2. You get to have the oogey googie buttery vegetables on the bottom that are totally better than the chicken anyway. 3. Nobody ever gets tired of roast chicken. Ever. 4. Once the cooking method is perfect, this is such a great presentation! You could serve this to hubby, girlfriends or even a small dinner party. And when everyone knows YOU roasted it in your Staub roaster, they will be jealous. 5. IT TASTES BETTER THAN THE STORE BOUGHT CHICKENS.
If you don't know what a roster is, Thomas calls it "speculum cooking." It's like a dish with a poke up the middle that the chicken sits on. All the grease falls to the dish below. Which is why you put potatoes, carrots and mushrooms in the dish so that it cooks in that chicken fat.
Anyway, we tried it out last night and we had uneven results. First of all, I bought an Empire kosher chicken which was waaaaay bigger than the chicken that the French eat, I think. It was too big! We thought it would stand up on the roaster, or at least sit on it, but it fell right down to the bottom. We propped him up best we could with the vegetables but he was just too darn fat. Anyway, we put the guy in oven, but the result was a bit dry in the breast, which was at the top of the roaster. Ann has an old-fashioned Merrit and Keefe stove, so maybe part of the problem is that it a small space, so the top got inordinately hot. I don't know...We decided we would turn the chicken the other way mid-way. I think another solution might to just tent the breast.
On the plus side, the skin was amazing! Crackling and delicious. Ann buttered up the chicken 10 minutes before "go" time, which made it oh-so-buttery and crispy. Really good. The vegetables also turned out fabulous. Ann used fresh shittake mushrooms, and cut the carrots rather long, which made for a great presentation.
ROASTED CHICKEN WITH POTATOES, MUSHROOMS AND CARROTS
1 Staub verticle cast iron roaster
1 chicken
1 1/2 cups shittake mushrooms
1 potato
2 carrots, chopped into 2-3" sections
butter
salt
Heat oven to 450. Generously salt the inside of the chicken and outside. Force melted butter between the skin and the chicken. Place vegetables in the dish. Cook chicken for 20-30 minutes then bring temperature down to 350. Continue cooking until done. Intermittently baste the vegetables in the dripping fat to keep them moist. Also baste the chicken. If you wish, 10 minutes before finished, butter up the chicken, by taking the stick of butter and rubbing it all over the chicken.
VERDICT: GUILTY! Of being delicious! Honestly, there is something to be said for these old-time cooking utensils. I really think the whole process of cooking made it taste better. That is, the neatness (one-pot!) and comforting (roast chicken is the ultimate comfort) nature of what this roaster is meant to cook. It's such a luxury cooking piece, made for one thing and one thing only. I loved it!
NOTE: I think Ann was less impressed with the results, but I don't think either of us walked away believing we couldn't master this. I mean, that's the thing right? Do it a few more times, and then you will have your recipe down p-a-t. Then, Ann will be able to make this with her eyes closed and not even have to think of it during the hour that it cooks. I know, I know. The rotisserie chickens at the gorcery store are cheap and also delicious, right? Why bother with this? Well, lots of reasons: 1. If you have children, then b/c then you know EXACTLY what you're feeding your kids, and you can feed them hormone-free free-range hippie chickens. 2. You get to have the oogey googie buttery vegetables on the bottom that are totally better than the chicken anyway. 3. Nobody ever gets tired of roast chicken. Ever. 4. Once the cooking method is perfect, this is such a great presentation! You could serve this to hubby, girlfriends or even a small dinner party. And when everyone knows YOU roasted it in your Staub roaster, they will be jealous. 5. IT TASTES BETTER THAN THE STORE BOUGHT CHICKENS.
Scalloped Potatoes
CASE: I needed to bring a potato dish to Brandon's family potluck. I wanted to patatas bravas, but really didn't have time to experiment, besides, I needed to cook enough for 20 people and was concerned not everyone would want spicy potatoes. Okay. What to make...I then wanted to do a roasted potato dish but then I would have to make it the night before b/c we were expected to be there all day. I jsut didn't think it would hold up. So what did I decide to do? Scalloped potatoes! Fool-proof, I thought. (Wrong!) I didn't want to bake it the night before, b/c I was worried it wouldn't taste good, and I figured I could easily pop it in the oven for an hour and then be done with it. Wrong again! The recipe I followed is below. I used pancetta and used gruyere (what a waste), but otherwise followed it to a T. I had to double the cooking time and then it came out...curdled. There's no other word for it. The half-and-half separated and CURDLED. It looked so gross. Everyone was so kind, and there was nothing to do but serve it, as everyone insisted. This was such a bad experience, I NEVER WANT TO MAKE SCALLOPED POTATOES AGAIN.
SCALLOPED POTATOES
3 Tbsp butter
2 lbs (about 4 medium sized) Russet potatoes, peeled, sliced
1/8-inch thick1 large yellow or white onion, thinly sliced
2 Tbsp chopped fresh parsley
1 Tbsp chopped fresh chives (optional)
2 thick slices of bacon, cooked and chopped
2 1/2 cups grated Swiss or Gruyere cheese (about 8 ounces)1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese (about 2 ounces)
2 1/2 cups to 3 cups of half-and-half (half milk, half cream)Salt and pepper
1 Preheat oven to 350°F. Butter a large casserole dish with 1 1/2 Tbsp of butter. If you use a casserole dish that is about 9x13 (bigger than the one shown) you'll have more surface area, more of the potatoes will brown, and the cooking time will be faster.
2 Layer the bottom of the casserole dish with 1/3 of the potato slices. Sprinkle with salt and pepper. Layer on 1/2 of the sliced onions and 1/2 cup of the Swiss cheese. Layer on 1/2 of the bacon, 1/2 of the parsley and chives. Sprinkle with a little Parmesan.
Repeat by layering on 1/3 of the potato slices, sprinkle again with salt and pepper. Layer on the remaining sliced onions, 1/2 cup of the Swiss cheese, the remaining bacon, parsley and chives. Sprinkle with a little Parmesan.
Top the casserole with the remaining potato slices. Add the half and half. Dot the potatoes with the remaining 1 1/2 Tbsp of butter.
3 Cover the casserole with aluminum foil and bake in the oven for one hour. After an hour, remove from the oven, remove the foil, sprinkle on the remaining Swiss and Parmesan cheese. Return to the oven for an additional 30-40 minutes. When done, the potatoes should be tender, but not mushy, and the liquid should be mostly absorbed.
Serves 8.
VERDICT: NOT GUILTY! This was horrible. I was embarrased to serve it.
SCALLOPED POTATOES
3 Tbsp butter
2 lbs (about 4 medium sized) Russet potatoes, peeled, sliced
1/8-inch thick1 large yellow or white onion, thinly sliced
2 Tbsp chopped fresh parsley
1 Tbsp chopped fresh chives (optional)
2 thick slices of bacon, cooked and chopped
2 1/2 cups grated Swiss or Gruyere cheese (about 8 ounces)1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese (about 2 ounces)
2 1/2 cups to 3 cups of half-and-half (half milk, half cream)Salt and pepper
1 Preheat oven to 350°F. Butter a large casserole dish with 1 1/2 Tbsp of butter. If you use a casserole dish that is about 9x13 (bigger than the one shown) you'll have more surface area, more of the potatoes will brown, and the cooking time will be faster.
2 Layer the bottom of the casserole dish with 1/3 of the potato slices. Sprinkle with salt and pepper. Layer on 1/2 of the sliced onions and 1/2 cup of the Swiss cheese. Layer on 1/2 of the bacon, 1/2 of the parsley and chives. Sprinkle with a little Parmesan.
Repeat by layering on 1/3 of the potato slices, sprinkle again with salt and pepper. Layer on the remaining sliced onions, 1/2 cup of the Swiss cheese, the remaining bacon, parsley and chives. Sprinkle with a little Parmesan.
Top the casserole with the remaining potato slices. Add the half and half. Dot the potatoes with the remaining 1 1/2 Tbsp of butter.
3 Cover the casserole with aluminum foil and bake in the oven for one hour. After an hour, remove from the oven, remove the foil, sprinkle on the remaining Swiss and Parmesan cheese. Return to the oven for an additional 30-40 minutes. When done, the potatoes should be tender, but not mushy, and the liquid should be mostly absorbed.
Serves 8.
VERDICT: NOT GUILTY! This was horrible. I was embarrased to serve it.
Tuesday, November 11, 2008
Leek and Squash Risotto with Pork Loin
CASE: Brandon and I spent the weekend with two other couples, really good friends from law schoool, for the holiday weekend. Emma and Tom and I were good friends in law school, and kept in really good touch. Tom moved to Alaska, I moved to Los Angeles and Emma stayed in San Francisco. So, we started setting up a yearly trip where we basically drank lots of champagne. Emma is married with two kids, and now that Tom and I had significant others (SOs), we decided to try an SO trip. (Actually I insisted. Yup. I told them that if Brandon couldn't come, I wouldn't go. It was like bluffing in a poker game. Scary but worth the risk. Everyone was SUPER nervous about the SO trip because who knows what an SO can do? SOs are prone to misbehaving.) Anyway. We rented a cute home in the outskirts of Portland and basically let the weekend revolve around food and drinking. Portland has amazing food. I don't know why. Just trust me. The food there is amazing. As Tom said, he loved this trip because at any time, he felt like we were about to eat or drink beer. It was always beer o'clock!
Here's how I organized the trip: Each couple was responsible for two meals. One lunch, one dinner. The suggestion was one meal at home and one meal out, since Emma was bringing her newborn and besides, who doesn't want to save money? We had amazing pizza at Apizza Shotts or Apizza Scholls...amazing fish tacos at Por Que No...amazing tapas at Navarre...and amazing beer and Pinot Noir just everywhere.
We went to the Portland Saturday Farmer's Market to get vegetables, and the very first place we saw had chanterelle mushrooms! I know! For $12 a pound! As soon as I saw it, I decided to make risotto with some kind of pork. Since it was November, I figured the squash would add a nice something. Leeks, beautiful doughnut onions and small red onions, big fatty garlic, hearty and fragrant rosemary and sweet shallots and I was done.
Amy (Tom's SO) found these amazing doughnuts--orange and anise. No kidding! Delicious. Oh so delicious.
PORK LOIN
2/5 pound pork loin
1 head of big garlic
2 T fine chopped rosemary
1 finely chopped garlic clove
3 T oil
salt and pepper
2 pounds of nice onions, peeled and quartered
2 T balsamic vinegar
1 T olive oil
salt and pepper
Pre-heat oven to 350. Cut slits into the pork and insert slices of garlic. You want to absolutely COVER the loin with garlic pieces. Top, bottom, sides. Rub the rest of the ingredients into the pork and then pop it into the oven. Cook for 45 minutes then add the onions (which you've tossed in the vinegar, oil, salt and pepper). Cook for about 45 minutes more, or until it registers 155 degrees on the meat thermometer. If you want a nice crust, up it to 400 degrees for the last 15 minutes. Let the meat sit at least 10 minutes, loosely tented with foil.
NOTE: You really want the pork to be at room temperature when you put it into the oven. Cooks better. Beautiful presentation.
LEEK AND DELICATO SQUASH RISOTTO WITH CHANTERELLE GARNISH
Okay. I already put a very long risotto recipe a few weeks ago. So I am not going to do it again. I will summarize. Suffice to say that you should chop the leeks very finely, and use delicato squash. Brandon was so sweet in the kitchen. He peeled all the skin off of them, which isn't really necessary, but in this situation made for a better presentation.
Saute the garlic first til it's starting to brown, then add the leeks and shallots with a bit of rosemary, garlic and olive oil. Salt and pepper. Add the risotto and stir with more olive oil for at least a few minutes. Toss in the squash. Start adding the beef stock and white wine. For flavor, I added a couple of pinches of cinnamon. It really made it more interesting.
I wash my chanterelles. Maybe you should get a brush and brush off the dirt, but maybe you need to get a life. Maybe the chanterelles are too moist and don't get a nice brown when you brown them because they're too wet, but they are still delicious.
Get a pan nice and hot with lots of butter and a bit of oil. Fry them up. They will start to juice, and you should not throw that away. Once you've plated the risotto, add the bits of mushroom to the top and spoon the juice on top.
For garnish, I did a simple watercress salad. Just toss with salt and pepper, balsamic vinegar and olive oil. Lemon oil would work well too. I would garnish with the watercress on the side, since mushrooms were on the top.
NOTE: The only reason these chanterelles were separate was because it turns out Tom hates mushrooms. No kidding. He ended up liking them, though! Must have been Brandon's cooking. Anyway, I would have liked to put the mushrooms into the risotto at the last minute. The only change I would do is chop it up into smaller bits and stir it in at the last minute. I also think sage would have been a nice herb for this dish.
VERDICT: GUILTY! OF BEING DELICOUS! The weekend was so, so much fun. No kidding. Everyone got along so well, and everybody just loved Brandon. In fact, I think we talked about how great he is at every meal. He's just so cute and smart and nice!
Here's how I organized the trip: Each couple was responsible for two meals. One lunch, one dinner. The suggestion was one meal at home and one meal out, since Emma was bringing her newborn and besides, who doesn't want to save money? We had amazing pizza at Apizza Shotts or Apizza Scholls...amazing fish tacos at Por Que No...amazing tapas at Navarre...and amazing beer and Pinot Noir just everywhere.
We went to the Portland Saturday Farmer's Market to get vegetables, and the very first place we saw had chanterelle mushrooms! I know! For $12 a pound! As soon as I saw it, I decided to make risotto with some kind of pork. Since it was November, I figured the squash would add a nice something. Leeks, beautiful doughnut onions and small red onions, big fatty garlic, hearty and fragrant rosemary and sweet shallots and I was done.
Amy (Tom's SO) found these amazing doughnuts--orange and anise. No kidding! Delicious. Oh so delicious.
PORK LOIN
2/5 pound pork loin
1 head of big garlic
2 T fine chopped rosemary
1 finely chopped garlic clove
3 T oil
salt and pepper
2 pounds of nice onions, peeled and quartered
2 T balsamic vinegar
1 T olive oil
salt and pepper
Pre-heat oven to 350. Cut slits into the pork and insert slices of garlic. You want to absolutely COVER the loin with garlic pieces. Top, bottom, sides. Rub the rest of the ingredients into the pork and then pop it into the oven. Cook for 45 minutes then add the onions (which you've tossed in the vinegar, oil, salt and pepper). Cook for about 45 minutes more, or until it registers 155 degrees on the meat thermometer. If you want a nice crust, up it to 400 degrees for the last 15 minutes. Let the meat sit at least 10 minutes, loosely tented with foil.
NOTE: You really want the pork to be at room temperature when you put it into the oven. Cooks better. Beautiful presentation.
LEEK AND DELICATO SQUASH RISOTTO WITH CHANTERELLE GARNISH
Okay. I already put a very long risotto recipe a few weeks ago. So I am not going to do it again. I will summarize. Suffice to say that you should chop the leeks very finely, and use delicato squash. Brandon was so sweet in the kitchen. He peeled all the skin off of them, which isn't really necessary, but in this situation made for a better presentation.
Saute the garlic first til it's starting to brown, then add the leeks and shallots with a bit of rosemary, garlic and olive oil. Salt and pepper. Add the risotto and stir with more olive oil for at least a few minutes. Toss in the squash. Start adding the beef stock and white wine. For flavor, I added a couple of pinches of cinnamon. It really made it more interesting.
I wash my chanterelles. Maybe you should get a brush and brush off the dirt, but maybe you need to get a life. Maybe the chanterelles are too moist and don't get a nice brown when you brown them because they're too wet, but they are still delicious.
Get a pan nice and hot with lots of butter and a bit of oil. Fry them up. They will start to juice, and you should not throw that away. Once you've plated the risotto, add the bits of mushroom to the top and spoon the juice on top.
For garnish, I did a simple watercress salad. Just toss with salt and pepper, balsamic vinegar and olive oil. Lemon oil would work well too. I would garnish with the watercress on the side, since mushrooms were on the top.
NOTE: The only reason these chanterelles were separate was because it turns out Tom hates mushrooms. No kidding. He ended up liking them, though! Must have been Brandon's cooking. Anyway, I would have liked to put the mushrooms into the risotto at the last minute. The only change I would do is chop it up into smaller bits and stir it in at the last minute. I also think sage would have been a nice herb for this dish.
VERDICT: GUILTY! OF BEING DELICOUS! The weekend was so, so much fun. No kidding. Everyone got along so well, and everybody just loved Brandon. In fact, I think we talked about how great he is at every meal. He's just so cute and smart and nice!
Spaghetti and Meatballs
CASE: What to eat after the banana bread snack? The meatballs are rather time-consuming, but really worth it. Brandon's mom and step-dad are vegetarians, so it was super easy for them to heat up some veggie meatballs and just toss them in. Brandon and I actually like the kind of pasta that looks like tubes for spaghetti. We couldn't find them, so we just used regular spaghetti.
NOTE: I was so worried that it might be too flavorful for the children to eat. Not a problem at all. There is so little red pepper flakes, and it cooks so long, that it was fine for adults and kids.
SPAGHETTI SAUCE
MEATBALLS
1 package veal
1 package pork
1 package beef
2 eggs
1/4 cup chopped parsley
2 cups (or so) of Italian bread crumbs
3/4 cup grated parmesan
1 cup (or so) of milk
1 T Worcestshire sauce
1 squirt of ketchup
1/2 chopped onion
3 cloves chopped garlic
dried oregano
salt and pepper
Saute the garlic and onions with oregano, red pepper flakes, salt, and pepper. Meanwhile, mix the raw meat with the parsley, salt and pepper. Toss in the sauteed garlic and onion mixture when it's cooled off a little bit. Judiciously add the wet ingredients, bread crumbs, grated parmesan and flavorings of worcestshire and ketchup. The cheese is kind of salty, as is the pork, so don't just add a lot of salt without tasting it. You want it super moist, like it's a meat loaf, and yet stiff enough from the bread crumbs to hold it's circumlar shape. It should look moist but hold its shape. Try making a small little meatball and frying it to test its shape and flavor.
Pour a T of oil with a pat of butter. Get the pan pretty warm, medium or medium high, and fry up the little guys. You want to keep them moving, and lower the heat to medium if they start to brown too quickly. They don't have to be fully cooked, because they're going to fully cook in the sauce.
NOTE: I made too many meatballs. Brandon's mom had the great idea of making burger patties and freezing them. I am sure it tasted great! Keham (Brandon's sister's husband) liked these meatballs so much he kept nibbling on them before they got into the sauce. Apparently these are so good they are worth risking salmonella! Also, the three types of meat is key. The veal adds a nice flavor and texture, and the pork keeps it moist. If you want to get fancy, get the ground sirloin, but it really doesn't matter. Also, I have a real preference for tiny meatballs, but it is all up to you. If you like big meatballs, you're probably going to have to pop them into oven because they'll brown too quickly in the pan.
SPAGHETTI SAUCE
1/2 red bell pepper chopped fine
1/2 onion, chopped fine
1 pinch red pepper flakes
3 cups of chopped mushrooms
1/4 cup finely chopped parsley
3 finely chopped garlic cloves
2 big cans tomato sauce
1 big can tomato paste
salt and pepper
Saute the vegetables and then add the sauce. Cook for about 5 minutes, then add the meatballs. Let these simmer for at least 30 minutes, but longer is fine. Just keep the heat really low. You want to see at least a few bubbles, but not excited bubbles. Just a few mellow, happy bubbles. Add the parsley, salt and pepper at the end of cooking. Keep checking for flavor.
NOTE: If it's just adults, then you can add a fair amount of red wine or white wine to the sauce. You can also add the grated parmesan at the end.
VERDICT: GUILTY! OF BEING DELICIOUS! It was a huge hit! The kids were slurping up the noodles. The adults were happy.
NOTE: I was so worried that it might be too flavorful for the children to eat. Not a problem at all. There is so little red pepper flakes, and it cooks so long, that it was fine for adults and kids.
SPAGHETTI SAUCE
MEATBALLS
1 package veal
1 package pork
1 package beef
2 eggs
1/4 cup chopped parsley
2 cups (or so) of Italian bread crumbs
3/4 cup grated parmesan
1 cup (or so) of milk
1 T Worcestshire sauce
1 squirt of ketchup
1/2 chopped onion
3 cloves chopped garlic
dried oregano
salt and pepper
Saute the garlic and onions with oregano, red pepper flakes, salt, and pepper. Meanwhile, mix the raw meat with the parsley, salt and pepper. Toss in the sauteed garlic and onion mixture when it's cooled off a little bit. Judiciously add the wet ingredients, bread crumbs, grated parmesan and flavorings of worcestshire and ketchup. The cheese is kind of salty, as is the pork, so don't just add a lot of salt without tasting it. You want it super moist, like it's a meat loaf, and yet stiff enough from the bread crumbs to hold it's circumlar shape. It should look moist but hold its shape. Try making a small little meatball and frying it to test its shape and flavor.
Pour a T of oil with a pat of butter. Get the pan pretty warm, medium or medium high, and fry up the little guys. You want to keep them moving, and lower the heat to medium if they start to brown too quickly. They don't have to be fully cooked, because they're going to fully cook in the sauce.
NOTE: I made too many meatballs. Brandon's mom had the great idea of making burger patties and freezing them. I am sure it tasted great! Keham (Brandon's sister's husband) liked these meatballs so much he kept nibbling on them before they got into the sauce. Apparently these are so good they are worth risking salmonella! Also, the three types of meat is key. The veal adds a nice flavor and texture, and the pork keeps it moist. If you want to get fancy, get the ground sirloin, but it really doesn't matter. Also, I have a real preference for tiny meatballs, but it is all up to you. If you like big meatballs, you're probably going to have to pop them into oven because they'll brown too quickly in the pan.
SPAGHETTI SAUCE
1/2 red bell pepper chopped fine
1/2 onion, chopped fine
1 pinch red pepper flakes
3 cups of chopped mushrooms
1/4 cup finely chopped parsley
3 finely chopped garlic cloves
2 big cans tomato sauce
1 big can tomato paste
salt and pepper
Saute the vegetables and then add the sauce. Cook for about 5 minutes, then add the meatballs. Let these simmer for at least 30 minutes, but longer is fine. Just keep the heat really low. You want to see at least a few bubbles, but not excited bubbles. Just a few mellow, happy bubbles. Add the parsley, salt and pepper at the end of cooking. Keep checking for flavor.
NOTE: If it's just adults, then you can add a fair amount of red wine or white wine to the sauce. You can also add the grated parmesan at the end.
VERDICT: GUILTY! OF BEING DELICIOUS! It was a huge hit! The kids were slurping up the noodles. The adults were happy.
Banana Bread
CASE: Bring a nice house-warming gift to Brandon's sister. We were set to stay with his sister's family, three kids, as well as Brandon's mom and her husband. What to bring, what to bring? I wanted to bring something that would have a nice presentation, be yummy for adults, and be yummy for the kids. This is my favorite banana bread recipe, from Martha Stewart, but of course I tweak it a little bit. We baked it the morning before we left, and then I wrapped it in clear cellophane bags with a red string. Very pretty.
NOTE: What's so great about this recipe is that it is so basic. One cup, two cups, 1 stick. Really easy and quick to make!
BANANA BREAD
1/4 Pound (1 stick butter), room temp
1 c sugar
2 eggs
1 1/2 c flour
1 t baking soda
1 t salt
At least 1 c mashed very ripe bananas, I use anywhere between 3-5 bananas!
1/2 c sour cream
1 t vanilla extract
1 cup chocolate chips (or more!)
Preheat oven to 350°F, butter 9X5X3" loaf pan. With an electric mixer, cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add the eggs beating well. Sift (yeah right) the dry ingredients together and combine with the butter mixture. Blend well. Add the bananas, sour cream, and vanilla. Stir well. Stir in the chocolate chips and pour into the pan. Bake 1 hour until a cake tester comes out clean. Turn out onto a rack to cool.
VERDICT: GUILTY! OF BEING DELICIOUS! Everyone loved it! Even the kids! I have baked in this in mini-bundt pans and even cupcake pans. Always turns out great.
NOTE: What's so great about this recipe is that it is so basic. One cup, two cups, 1 stick. Really easy and quick to make!
BANANA BREAD
1/4 Pound (1 stick butter), room temp
1 c sugar
2 eggs
1 1/2 c flour
1 t baking soda
1 t salt
At least 1 c mashed very ripe bananas, I use anywhere between 3-5 bananas!
1/2 c sour cream
1 t vanilla extract
1 cup chocolate chips (or more!)
Preheat oven to 350°F, butter 9X5X3" loaf pan. With an electric mixer, cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add the eggs beating well. Sift (yeah right) the dry ingredients together and combine with the butter mixture. Blend well. Add the bananas, sour cream, and vanilla. Stir well. Stir in the chocolate chips and pour into the pan. Bake 1 hour until a cake tester comes out clean. Turn out onto a rack to cool.
VERDICT: GUILTY! OF BEING DELICIOUS! Everyone loved it! Even the kids! I have baked in this in mini-bundt pans and even cupcake pans. Always turns out great.
Wednesday, September 24, 2008
Asparagus & Shitake Mushroom Risotto
CASE: Use up leftover asparagus, lemon, and arugula. In a delicious way. Brandon and I were mucking about at home, totally disinclined to go out and I wanted to use up these leftover items. Here is the result!
ASPARAGUS & SHITAKE MUSHROM RISOTTO
2 handfuls dried shitake mushrooms
1/2 chopped up onion, white or red or even shallots is fine
3 cloves garlic
1 large bunch of asparagus (try to get the thinner ones, they're more tender)
1/2 bottle of white wine (ohhh shush it's delicious. We picked a $10 Joel Gott, can't remember if it was pinot grigio or sauvignon blanc but it was really a great wine to cook and drink)
1 large tin or can of beef stock (use chicken stock if you want, but I don't recommend it!)
1 1/2 c choped zucchini (get a mix, yellow and green, whatver)
1 1/2 cups risotto rice (go to the Italian deli and get the good stuff)
1 c frozen peas
1 T choped cilantro
1 cup fresh arugula (try to get the tender baby arugula, the wilder the better!)
1/2 cup grated parmesan
Boil the dried shitakes and asparagus in the beef stock. When the asparagus is cooked (I would cut it into 1 inch pieces) pull them out and set aside. Slice up your mushrooms, toss 'em back in the stock and keep on simmer.
Fry up your onions and garlic in some oil for a few minutes, then add the risotto. It is critical, and I mean it, that you fry up your risotto too. Add butter if you want, but a well-cooked risotto needs neither butter nor milk, and certainly not any cream. The cheese adds that thickness but it really is just for the taste. So wilt your onions and garlic in 1/4 c of olive oil, then add the risotto and let it cook, stirring around, for at least 3 minutes. Add some lemon zest, and even lemon juice. It adds a certain freshness. Then you add your wine. Glorious smells will emanate from your pot, but it only gets better, trust me! Add it 1/2 cup at a time, and stir it around. Risottos need love, i.e. constant stirring, but too much stirring and it breaks it up and gets mushy. So don't give it too much love. Once you've got a fair amount of wine in there, then add the sliced up zucchini and sliced mushrooms. You have about 15-20 more minutes of cooking to go at this point. Periodically add the stock to the risotto, 1 cup at a time, and stir it in. When the liquid evaporates, add some more. If you run out, don't panic, just start using water...or more wine...but even that is pushing it a bit. Most recipes call for 1/2 cup of wine. Just use water. When it's just about done, add the asaparagus and peas and cheese and cilantro. You can add a bit of worcestshire or even balsamic vinegar if you want to add a little more oomph, maybe 1 T, but I don't recommend it. The lemon you added earlier, with the cilantro, really is enough. Salt and pepper go without saying. And give it one last good bit of love, stirring 'til the cheese melts. Don't worry about defrosting the peas, just pop them in. At the end, once you've ladled it into the bowls, mound the arugula on top and then add a smattering more of the cheese. The lucky eater will be able to wilt the arugula themselves.
NOTE: You do not need to serve this with meat! But you can, and I would say lamb or pork, rubbed with lemon and rosemary and roasted in the oven. It's honestly enough to serve this by itself, and Brandon loved it. He got to finish most of the bottle of white wine which made him even happier!
VERDICT: GUILTY! OF BEING DELICIOUS!
ASPARAGUS & SHITAKE MUSHROM RISOTTO
2 handfuls dried shitake mushrooms
1/2 chopped up onion, white or red or even shallots is fine
3 cloves garlic
1 large bunch of asparagus (try to get the thinner ones, they're more tender)
1/2 bottle of white wine (ohhh shush it's delicious. We picked a $10 Joel Gott, can't remember if it was pinot grigio or sauvignon blanc but it was really a great wine to cook and drink)
1 large tin or can of beef stock (use chicken stock if you want, but I don't recommend it!)
1 1/2 c choped zucchini (get a mix, yellow and green, whatver)
1 1/2 cups risotto rice (go to the Italian deli and get the good stuff)
1 c frozen peas
1 T choped cilantro
1 cup fresh arugula (try to get the tender baby arugula, the wilder the better!)
1/2 cup grated parmesan
Boil the dried shitakes and asparagus in the beef stock. When the asparagus is cooked (I would cut it into 1 inch pieces) pull them out and set aside. Slice up your mushrooms, toss 'em back in the stock and keep on simmer.
Fry up your onions and garlic in some oil for a few minutes, then add the risotto. It is critical, and I mean it, that you fry up your risotto too. Add butter if you want, but a well-cooked risotto needs neither butter nor milk, and certainly not any cream. The cheese adds that thickness but it really is just for the taste. So wilt your onions and garlic in 1/4 c of olive oil, then add the risotto and let it cook, stirring around, for at least 3 minutes. Add some lemon zest, and even lemon juice. It adds a certain freshness. Then you add your wine. Glorious smells will emanate from your pot, but it only gets better, trust me! Add it 1/2 cup at a time, and stir it around. Risottos need love, i.e. constant stirring, but too much stirring and it breaks it up and gets mushy. So don't give it too much love. Once you've got a fair amount of wine in there, then add the sliced up zucchini and sliced mushrooms. You have about 15-20 more minutes of cooking to go at this point. Periodically add the stock to the risotto, 1 cup at a time, and stir it in. When the liquid evaporates, add some more. If you run out, don't panic, just start using water...or more wine...but even that is pushing it a bit. Most recipes call for 1/2 cup of wine. Just use water. When it's just about done, add the asaparagus and peas and cheese and cilantro. You can add a bit of worcestshire or even balsamic vinegar if you want to add a little more oomph, maybe 1 T, but I don't recommend it. The lemon you added earlier, with the cilantro, really is enough. Salt and pepper go without saying. And give it one last good bit of love, stirring 'til the cheese melts. Don't worry about defrosting the peas, just pop them in. At the end, once you've ladled it into the bowls, mound the arugula on top and then add a smattering more of the cheese. The lucky eater will be able to wilt the arugula themselves.
NOTE: You do not need to serve this with meat! But you can, and I would say lamb or pork, rubbed with lemon and rosemary and roasted in the oven. It's honestly enough to serve this by itself, and Brandon loved it. He got to finish most of the bottle of white wine which made him even happier!
VERDICT: GUILTY! OF BEING DELICIOUS!
Nina's Favorite Cookbooks and Recipes
My friend Nina wrote up a short dissertation regarding her favorite cookbooks and various recipes. (We're all waiting breathlessly for her actual dissertation. Keep us posted Nina! I want to go to your graduation too!) She has made me her pancakes and they are amazing. (John, she is worth EVERY PENNY of that ring.)
Cookbooks:
1) How to Cook Everything by Mark Bittman. The only book one really needs to own in this day and age. To hell with The Joy of Cooking. Risotto-Lightest Pancakes--I made this for John a couple weekends ago, and it was amazing. The key is to beat the egg whites separately from everything. Then you fold them into the pancake batter.-Best Scrambled Eggs Ever-Hummus (though not so much tahini)--really, use all the ingredients he tell you to, but to taste-Corned Beef Hash-his fish recipes are so great, because they are so simple but tasty-banana bread (but cut the sugar in half); add blueberries and walnuts
2) Jean-Georges Cooking at Home with a 4-star Chef by Jean Georges and Mark Bittman http://www.amazon.com/Jean-Georges-Cooking-Home-Four-Star-Chef/dp/076790155X/ref=pd_bbs_sr_2?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1222217697&sr=1-2This is a great book to have because this book is interpreted extremely well by Bittman, who understands the average cook. Also, Jean-Georges is a genius when it comes to combining unusual flavors. -Carrots simmered in OJ and cumin-chicken with olives-warm molten cake; this is the original recipe. It was an accidental discovery. Jean-Georges simply undercooked his chocolate cake. You'll be shocked to learn how easy it is to make, and you will be equally shocked at how bad it is for you. But god, it's good.
3) Essentials of Classic Italian Cooking by Marcella Hazan-best pesto recipe http://www.amazon.com/Essentials-Classic-Italian-Cooking-Marcella/dp/039458404X/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1222217542&sr=8-1
4) Splendid Soups by James Peterson http://www.amazon.com/Splendid-Soups-Recipes-Master-Techniques/dp/0471391360/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1222217924&sr=1-2This book pretty much has every soup recipe imaginable. Plus, they're all good. I discovered this book through the head caterer at Cleary, Gottlieb, where they always had great soups in the cafeteria.
5) The New York Times 60-minute Gourmet by Pierre Franey http://www.amazon.com/New-York-Times-60-Minute-Gourmet/dp/0812933028/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1222220632&sr=1-1John's uncle, a gourmand, recently told me about this book. I've only made one recipe so far (sauteed green beans with parsley), but I liked it. I think this book is promising.
6) Baking with Julia by Julia Child http://www.amazon.com/Baking-Julia-Savor-Americas-Bakers/dp/0688146570/ref=pd_bbs_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1222218030&sr=1-1-Wonderful recipe for popovers in here; one of the most reliable ones
7) Mastering the Art of French Cooking, Volume 1 by Julia Child http://www.amazon.com/Mastering-Art-French-Cooking-Fortieth/dp/0375413405/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1222218081&sr=1-1So, I only have this book because Suvir Saran, an acquaintance and owner of Devi in Gramercy, told me that this is the book that teaches you how to cook. I've never made a single recipe from it because some of them require unusual ingredients, but I thought I'd toss it in here anyway. For an Indian chef to cite a French cookbook as the book to have, the book has to be good.
A word about Martha Stewart's books. She wrote a bunch of them back in the day, when cookbook writers didn't think very much about how the average cook has little time and patience for cooking. Thus, her recipes are difficult and not very tasty. (I think it has to do with the fact that most people don't have access to their own organic, farm-raised foods. However, if you must buy one, I think this is the one. It's been around for ages: http://www.amazon.com/Martha-Stewart-Cookbook-Collected-Recipes/dp/0517703351/ref=sr_1_15?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1222221422&sr=1-15
I have, however, found the recipes she posts online to be quite good. They are tasty and they are not as time-consuming. Unsurprisingly, her new stuff shows how she has adapted to the times. If you didn't want to invest in a lot of cookbooks, my recommendation is to have Bittman's book (and forget his others, they're no good because they just repackage a lot of the recipes already in How to Cook Everything. But do follow his column on nytimes.com), and get a subscription to the bi-monthly magazine America's Test Kitchen (Although it's chicken-recipe heavy, it's great for inspiration. Their baking recipes are usually extremely reliable and good). They're great at taking into consideration healthiness and time. With the internet, there's no really need anymore to accumulate cookbooks.
Recipes I love:
Sesame-Crusted Tuna with Ponzu Sauce: http://find.myrecipes.com/recipes/recipefinder.dyn?action=displayRecipe&recipe_id=682907This takes practically no time at all to make, if you have all the ingredients, and it looks gorgeous when it's done. I actually served this with Jean-Georges' carrots simmered in cumin-dish.
Gingered Soba Noodles: http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/GINGERED-SOBA-NOODLES-13247This is a simple dish and extremely quick to make. You can serve it hot or cold. You can forgo the ginger, or just add some finely minced ginger. But don't bother to extract the juice. Waste of time. Also, when you're boiling the water for the noodles, add eggs (if you like hard-boiled eggs), and during the last five minutes of boiling the eggs, add the noodles. This way, you can have hard-boiled eggs to go with the noodles. Instead of eggs, you can also serve with chicken.
Chicken Colombo: http://www.marthastewart.com/recipe/chicken-colombo-with-purple-jasmine-rice?autonomy_kw=chicken%20colombo&rsc=header_2-Forget the purple rice. It's not all that. Plain jasmine rice can do the trick. This also doesn't take all that much time to make. BTW, don't use coconut milk lite. I found out the hard way, that it's gross. If you like rice and you eat it a lot at home, a rice cooker is definitely a worthwhile investment. If you have a rice cooker, then you can make the following recipe: 7-minute risotto http://discountcookingblogs.blogspot.com/2008/06/7-minute-risotto.html
Beef Tenderloin: http://find.myrecipes.com/recipes/recipefinder.dyn?action=displayRecipe&recipe_id=1809088 I didn't bother with all the herbs, and just used parsley. Very tasty.
Mac and Cheese: http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/giada-de-laurentiis/macaroni-and-cheese-recipe/index.html Who doesn't love mac and cheese? This version is nice because it has other stuff added to it. If you don't have a lot of time, buying Annie's Deluxe Elbow Mac and Cheese is great. To it, you can add chicken, onions, peas/broccoli, and/or anything else to it to make it a bit healthier. (Truth be told, I have a soft spot for Kraft's cheap-o mac and powdered cheese).
Baked Ziti a la freestyle http://www.cooks.com/rec/view/0,1658,128180-250199,00.html This recipe tells you the basics of baked ziti. Follow it but just freestyle it; use cheeses and pre-made tomato sauces you love. I use shredded mozzarella and ricotta with Whole Food's tomato sauce, and the result is divine. To cut down on cooking time and hassle, just use fresh ziti pasta and just throw everything into a baking pan without cooking the pasta.
Chicken Soup: http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/CHICKEN-SOUP-WITH-RICE-232605 Nothing is more comforting than chicken soup when one gets soup. If you're like me, you stock up on Citarella's version, but if you don't have it, then grab a rotisserie chicken (to cut down on cooking time), and make this version.
Italian Wedding Soup:I love this soup. It's not worth the hassle to make. So if you can, just buy the Fairways version and freeze for that day when you crave it. It's the best one I've tasted in the city so far.
Monkey Bread: http://www.cooks.com/rec/view/0,1813,135189-241192,00.html Great for kids and adults. Easy to make with packages of buttermilk biscuits from refrigerated section in the grocery store. Serve with ice cream if you want.
Cinnamon Rolls: http://www.foodnetwork.com/food/recipes/recipe/0,,FOOD_9936_169,00.html This takes a bit of work, but the payoff is huge (especially with kids, especially when they're 30 years old though I haven't made it for John yet). For the icing, just take the 1 lb. of powdered sugar and mix with a little bit of water. Then add some lime juice instead of the butter extract the recipe recommends. The unusual addition of the lime was something my Thai friend's mother came up with--only a Thai person, I think, would have thought to use lime.
Neiman Marcus Cookie: http://www.neimanmarcus.com/store/service/nm_cookie_recipe.jhtml Urban legend, delicious cookie. I never made it myself, but my friend has, and boy is it yummy.
Pasta:When there's no time and I don't want to think, I make pasta but for the most part I don't use boxed pasta (except for Cipriana's spinach noodles). I use the freshly made pastas from Citarella's, which also has great prepared foods in general. (I just recently discovered that you can order from them online and they deliver for $6 to anywhere in the city). Their spaghetti sauces and soups are incredibly tasty. Plus, you can freeze them (along with the pasta) for months on end, and defrost the day you need them (though the pasta doesn't need to be defrosted). To the pasta sauces, I will add chicken or mushrooms sometimes. Whole Foods and Fairways both have their own great tomato sauces that you can similarly enhance with whatever you want.
Cookbooks:
1) How to Cook Everything by Mark Bittman. The only book one really needs to own in this day and age. To hell with The Joy of Cooking. Risotto-Lightest Pancakes--I made this for John a couple weekends ago, and it was amazing. The key is to beat the egg whites separately from everything. Then you fold them into the pancake batter.-Best Scrambled Eggs Ever-Hummus (though not so much tahini)--really, use all the ingredients he tell you to, but to taste-Corned Beef Hash-his fish recipes are so great, because they are so simple but tasty-banana bread (but cut the sugar in half); add blueberries and walnuts
2) Jean-Georges Cooking at Home with a 4-star Chef by Jean Georges and Mark Bittman http://www.amazon.com/Jean-Georges-Cooking-Home-Four-Star-Chef/dp/076790155X/ref=pd_bbs_sr_2?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1222217697&sr=1-2This is a great book to have because this book is interpreted extremely well by Bittman, who understands the average cook. Also, Jean-Georges is a genius when it comes to combining unusual flavors. -Carrots simmered in OJ and cumin-chicken with olives-warm molten cake; this is the original recipe. It was an accidental discovery. Jean-Georges simply undercooked his chocolate cake. You'll be shocked to learn how easy it is to make, and you will be equally shocked at how bad it is for you. But god, it's good.
3) Essentials of Classic Italian Cooking by Marcella Hazan-best pesto recipe http://www.amazon.com/Essentials-Classic-Italian-Cooking-Marcella/dp/039458404X/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1222217542&sr=8-1
4) Splendid Soups by James Peterson http://www.amazon.com/Splendid-Soups-Recipes-Master-Techniques/dp/0471391360/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1222217924&sr=1-2This book pretty much has every soup recipe imaginable. Plus, they're all good. I discovered this book through the head caterer at Cleary, Gottlieb, where they always had great soups in the cafeteria.
5) The New York Times 60-minute Gourmet by Pierre Franey http://www.amazon.com/New-York-Times-60-Minute-Gourmet/dp/0812933028/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1222220632&sr=1-1John's uncle, a gourmand, recently told me about this book. I've only made one recipe so far (sauteed green beans with parsley), but I liked it. I think this book is promising.
6) Baking with Julia by Julia Child http://www.amazon.com/Baking-Julia-Savor-Americas-Bakers/dp/0688146570/ref=pd_bbs_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1222218030&sr=1-1-Wonderful recipe for popovers in here; one of the most reliable ones
7) Mastering the Art of French Cooking, Volume 1 by Julia Child http://www.amazon.com/Mastering-Art-French-Cooking-Fortieth/dp/0375413405/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1222218081&sr=1-1So, I only have this book because Suvir Saran, an acquaintance and owner of Devi in Gramercy, told me that this is the book that teaches you how to cook. I've never made a single recipe from it because some of them require unusual ingredients, but I thought I'd toss it in here anyway. For an Indian chef to cite a French cookbook as the book to have, the book has to be good.
A word about Martha Stewart's books. She wrote a bunch of them back in the day, when cookbook writers didn't think very much about how the average cook has little time and patience for cooking. Thus, her recipes are difficult and not very tasty. (I think it has to do with the fact that most people don't have access to their own organic, farm-raised foods. However, if you must buy one, I think this is the one. It's been around for ages: http://www.amazon.com/Martha-Stewart-Cookbook-Collected-Recipes/dp/0517703351/ref=sr_1_15?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1222221422&sr=1-15
I have, however, found the recipes she posts online to be quite good. They are tasty and they are not as time-consuming. Unsurprisingly, her new stuff shows how she has adapted to the times. If you didn't want to invest in a lot of cookbooks, my recommendation is to have Bittman's book (and forget his others, they're no good because they just repackage a lot of the recipes already in How to Cook Everything. But do follow his column on nytimes.com), and get a subscription to the bi-monthly magazine America's Test Kitchen (Although it's chicken-recipe heavy, it's great for inspiration. Their baking recipes are usually extremely reliable and good). They're great at taking into consideration healthiness and time. With the internet, there's no really need anymore to accumulate cookbooks.
Recipes I love:
Sesame-Crusted Tuna with Ponzu Sauce: http://find.myrecipes.com/recipes/recipefinder.dyn?action=displayRecipe&recipe_id=682907This takes practically no time at all to make, if you have all the ingredients, and it looks gorgeous when it's done. I actually served this with Jean-Georges' carrots simmered in cumin-dish.
Gingered Soba Noodles: http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/GINGERED-SOBA-NOODLES-13247This is a simple dish and extremely quick to make. You can serve it hot or cold. You can forgo the ginger, or just add some finely minced ginger. But don't bother to extract the juice. Waste of time. Also, when you're boiling the water for the noodles, add eggs (if you like hard-boiled eggs), and during the last five minutes of boiling the eggs, add the noodles. This way, you can have hard-boiled eggs to go with the noodles. Instead of eggs, you can also serve with chicken.
Chicken Colombo: http://www.marthastewart.com/recipe/chicken-colombo-with-purple-jasmine-rice?autonomy_kw=chicken%20colombo&rsc=header_2-Forget the purple rice. It's not all that. Plain jasmine rice can do the trick. This also doesn't take all that much time to make. BTW, don't use coconut milk lite. I found out the hard way, that it's gross. If you like rice and you eat it a lot at home, a rice cooker is definitely a worthwhile investment. If you have a rice cooker, then you can make the following recipe: 7-minute risotto http://discountcookingblogs.blogspot.com/2008/06/7-minute-risotto.html
Beef Tenderloin: http://find.myrecipes.com/recipes/recipefinder.dyn?action=displayRecipe&recipe_id=1809088 I didn't bother with all the herbs, and just used parsley. Very tasty.
Mac and Cheese: http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/giada-de-laurentiis/macaroni-and-cheese-recipe/index.html Who doesn't love mac and cheese? This version is nice because it has other stuff added to it. If you don't have a lot of time, buying Annie's Deluxe Elbow Mac and Cheese is great. To it, you can add chicken, onions, peas/broccoli, and/or anything else to it to make it a bit healthier. (Truth be told, I have a soft spot for Kraft's cheap-o mac and powdered cheese).
Baked Ziti a la freestyle http://www.cooks.com/rec/view/0,1658,128180-250199,00.html This recipe tells you the basics of baked ziti. Follow it but just freestyle it; use cheeses and pre-made tomato sauces you love. I use shredded mozzarella and ricotta with Whole Food's tomato sauce, and the result is divine. To cut down on cooking time and hassle, just use fresh ziti pasta and just throw everything into a baking pan without cooking the pasta.
Chicken Soup: http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/CHICKEN-SOUP-WITH-RICE-232605 Nothing is more comforting than chicken soup when one gets soup. If you're like me, you stock up on Citarella's version, but if you don't have it, then grab a rotisserie chicken (to cut down on cooking time), and make this version.
Italian Wedding Soup:I love this soup. It's not worth the hassle to make. So if you can, just buy the Fairways version and freeze for that day when you crave it. It's the best one I've tasted in the city so far.
Monkey Bread: http://www.cooks.com/rec/view/0,1813,135189-241192,00.html Great for kids and adults. Easy to make with packages of buttermilk biscuits from refrigerated section in the grocery store. Serve with ice cream if you want.
Cinnamon Rolls: http://www.foodnetwork.com/food/recipes/recipe/0,,FOOD_9936_169,00.html This takes a bit of work, but the payoff is huge (especially with kids, especially when they're 30 years old though I haven't made it for John yet). For the icing, just take the 1 lb. of powdered sugar and mix with a little bit of water. Then add some lime juice instead of the butter extract the recipe recommends. The unusual addition of the lime was something my Thai friend's mother came up with--only a Thai person, I think, would have thought to use lime.
Neiman Marcus Cookie: http://www.neimanmarcus.com/store/service/nm_cookie_recipe.jhtml Urban legend, delicious cookie. I never made it myself, but my friend has, and boy is it yummy.
Pasta:When there's no time and I don't want to think, I make pasta but for the most part I don't use boxed pasta (except for Cipriana's spinach noodles). I use the freshly made pastas from Citarella's, which also has great prepared foods in general. (I just recently discovered that you can order from them online and they deliver for $6 to anywhere in the city). Their spaghetti sauces and soups are incredibly tasty. Plus, you can freeze them (along with the pasta) for months on end, and defrost the day you need them (though the pasta doesn't need to be defrosted). To the pasta sauces, I will add chicken or mushrooms sometimes. Whole Foods and Fairways both have their own great tomato sauces that you can similarly enhance with whatever you want.
Monday, August 18, 2008
Osso Buco with Polenta
CASE: Make dinner for Brandon's dad and stepmom. Brandon's father has a small esophagus and Brandon loves bone marrow. Solution? Osso Buco! I feel like restaurants normally pair Osso Buco with pasta, and while I can see how that's perfectly tasty, I really prefer this dish with creamy, cheesy polenta. Call me a wannabe Italian, but I think the pasta takes away from the richness of the meat and sauce. The polenta makes you focus on the tomatoey, thick texture of the Osso Buco, as opposed to pasta, which soaks up the sauce and tries to compete for attention. This is probably the only time in history that I will discourage the consumption of pasta!
POLENTA
1 box of Italian-made polenta
1 handful grated parmesan cheese
5-10 basil leaves roughly chopped
salt and pepper
Boil water and cook polenta to the directions, make it as soup-y or thick as you'd like. Add the rest of the ingredients right after you turn off the heat, making sure to stir the polenta until all the cheese melts.
OSSO BUCO
1/2 stick butter
6 veal shanks, about 3 lbs total
1 large carrot, diced
3 stalks of celery, diced
1/2 large onion, diced
4 cloves diced garlic
4 T olive oil or vegetable oil
3/4 c flour
2 cups dry white wine
32 fl oz beef stock
1 large can of chopped tomatoes
1 small can tomato paste
4 fresh bay leaves
3/4 T thyme
salt and pepper
Saute your sofrito in the butter. Use a nice wide, flat Dutch oven. When the vegetables are soft (5 minutes) add your garlic and cook a few more minutes. Set aside. In the same pan, pour in your oil and get it really hot! Dry off your shanks and flour them right before frying. Brown deeply. Set aside. Pour wine in and get up and all the bits (there shouldn't be much oil when you take out the shanks, if there is a lot of oil, take some out so that the wine doesn't splatter too much and just discard the extra oil). Simmer the oil, then add the rest of the ingredients and stir. Once it's simmered and nice and hot, pour into another container. Then, in your same Dutch oven, place your vegetables down and place your meat on top. Then pour your broth all back on the shanks. Make sure the shanks are well immersed in the liquid, if not, add more stock, tomato sauce, wine or even water. Simmer a few minutes, put the lid on, and then pop into the oven and 350 degrees for 2 hours. Check a couple of times to make sure they're still covered, and be sure to baste them if not. The meat should be falling off the bone.
NOTE: This is so, so easy to make. It's about 15 minutes of cooking, and then 2 hours of napping. The polenta cooks in 5 minutes. I served this with bread, fig jam, goat cheese, and prosciutto as an appetizer. Couldn't have been a better meal for a dinner party. I didn't bother with salad.
VERDICT: GUILTY! OF BEING DELICIOUS! (We made some pappardelle for the kids to eat with the Osso Buco. Brandon's little sister, who 's 9 and recently became a vegetarian, accidentally got a little meat on her plate. She said she would eat around it. Well, the next thing she said was that she would just eat this little bit. That was the last we heard from her because she completely finished it off! In fact, all the kids LOVED this dish, which is such a great thing to know. It's good for adults and kids, be they 9 or in high school.)
POLENTA
1 box of Italian-made polenta
1 handful grated parmesan cheese
5-10 basil leaves roughly chopped
salt and pepper
Boil water and cook polenta to the directions, make it as soup-y or thick as you'd like. Add the rest of the ingredients right after you turn off the heat, making sure to stir the polenta until all the cheese melts.
OSSO BUCO
1/2 stick butter
6 veal shanks, about 3 lbs total
1 large carrot, diced
3 stalks of celery, diced
1/2 large onion, diced
4 cloves diced garlic
4 T olive oil or vegetable oil
3/4 c flour
2 cups dry white wine
32 fl oz beef stock
1 large can of chopped tomatoes
1 small can tomato paste
4 fresh bay leaves
3/4 T thyme
salt and pepper
Saute your sofrito in the butter. Use a nice wide, flat Dutch oven. When the vegetables are soft (5 minutes) add your garlic and cook a few more minutes. Set aside. In the same pan, pour in your oil and get it really hot! Dry off your shanks and flour them right before frying. Brown deeply. Set aside. Pour wine in and get up and all the bits (there shouldn't be much oil when you take out the shanks, if there is a lot of oil, take some out so that the wine doesn't splatter too much and just discard the extra oil). Simmer the oil, then add the rest of the ingredients and stir. Once it's simmered and nice and hot, pour into another container. Then, in your same Dutch oven, place your vegetables down and place your meat on top. Then pour your broth all back on the shanks. Make sure the shanks are well immersed in the liquid, if not, add more stock, tomato sauce, wine or even water. Simmer a few minutes, put the lid on, and then pop into the oven and 350 degrees for 2 hours. Check a couple of times to make sure they're still covered, and be sure to baste them if not. The meat should be falling off the bone.
NOTE: This is so, so easy to make. It's about 15 minutes of cooking, and then 2 hours of napping. The polenta cooks in 5 minutes. I served this with bread, fig jam, goat cheese, and prosciutto as an appetizer. Couldn't have been a better meal for a dinner party. I didn't bother with salad.
VERDICT: GUILTY! OF BEING DELICIOUS! (We made some pappardelle for the kids to eat with the Osso Buco. Brandon's little sister, who 's 9 and recently became a vegetarian, accidentally got a little meat on her plate. She said she would eat around it. Well, the next thing she said was that she would just eat this little bit. That was the last we heard from her because she completely finished it off! In fact, all the kids LOVED this dish, which is such a great thing to know. It's good for adults and kids, be they 9 or in high school.)
Ann's Eggplant Parmigiana Sandwiches!
CASE: My first fan mail post! This is Ann's recipe, verbatim. Ann first made me these sandwiches a few years ago, and I have re-created them many, many times. I always add the basil and garlic to the tomato sauce, and add fresh basil leaves to the sandwich itself. As for those cutlets, they're perfect for vegetarian lasagna.
Eggplant Parmigiana Sandwiches
1 box frozen eggplant parmesean breaded cutlets
1 can organic tomato sauce
Thinly sliced or shredded mozzarella cheese
Chiabatta rolls
1. Cook eggplant cutlets according to box instructions until crispy as you don't want the tomato sauce to make them soggy. Keep oven warm.
2. Meanwhile, warm up tomato sauce in a saucepan on stove top (for extra spice you can add minced garlic or basil slivers; not too much spice as the cutlets are already seasoned).
3. Slice rolls in half and scoop out extra bread filling from top half so sandwich is not too tall to eat (I could have described it in less decorous terms but you get the picture).
4. Assemble sandwich by placing as many cutlets on bottom half of roll as you like (I recommend 3-4, depending on size). Pour 2-3 Tablespoons of tomato sauce over the cutlets and sprinkle/place slices of cheese on top. Put sandwich in warm oven to melt cheese (on foil lined tray for easy clean-up). When ready, place top half of roll on top to finish the sandwich.
NOTE: Yeah yeah yeah. So you like how organized Ann's writing is, and you wish I would number my directions as well. Tell it to the judge! I ain't doing it! You're just going to have to keep muddling through my jumbled directions. Sniff.
VERDICT: GUILTY! OF BEING DELICIOUS!
Eggplant Parmigiana Sandwiches
1 box frozen eggplant parmesean breaded cutlets
1 can organic tomato sauce
Thinly sliced or shredded mozzarella cheese
Chiabatta rolls
1. Cook eggplant cutlets according to box instructions until crispy as you don't want the tomato sauce to make them soggy. Keep oven warm.
2. Meanwhile, warm up tomato sauce in a saucepan on stove top (for extra spice you can add minced garlic or basil slivers; not too much spice as the cutlets are already seasoned).
3. Slice rolls in half and scoop out extra bread filling from top half so sandwich is not too tall to eat (I could have described it in less decorous terms but you get the picture).
4. Assemble sandwich by placing as many cutlets on bottom half of roll as you like (I recommend 3-4, depending on size). Pour 2-3 Tablespoons of tomato sauce over the cutlets and sprinkle/place slices of cheese on top. Put sandwich in warm oven to melt cheese (on foil lined tray for easy clean-up). When ready, place top half of roll on top to finish the sandwich.
NOTE: Yeah yeah yeah. So you like how organized Ann's writing is, and you wish I would number my directions as well. Tell it to the judge! I ain't doing it! You're just going to have to keep muddling through my jumbled directions. Sniff.
VERDICT: GUILTY! OF BEING DELICIOUS!
Monday, August 11, 2008
Boiled Potatoes
CASE: Create the perfect counter-point to coq au vin.
BOILED POTATOES
5 pounds medium-size or large Yukon gold potatoes
5 garlic heads, halved
5 bay leaves
3 T black peppercorns
1 cup white wine
1/2 stick butter
Put potatoes with the garlic, bay leaves, and peppercorns into a big pot with unsalted cold water. Bring to a boil and simmer til nice and soft. Drain, then slice up to big chunks, 3x bite size. Quickly pour the white wine over, and stir gently or toss until it’s all soaked up. Then top with butter. Season with salt and pepper. The potatoes should break up a little bit, and have mashed bits. It should NOT look like chunky mashed potatoes, so be gentle with them. Use a plastic spatula.
NOTE: Brandon was responsible for making the boiled potatoes. He did such a great job! Perfect. Just like him! He was concerned for a little bit that the potatoes wouldn’t soak up all the wine. Just be patient and keep gently tossing the potatoes. Also, we kept the skin on, in keeping with the rustic nature of this dish. BTW, I just got him the Chez Panisse Café Cookbook and asked him to make me a meal from it. I can’t wait! (Hey, at least I didn’t give him a Charlie Trotter cookbook!) So I’ll keep you posted on what he makes me. Oh, and this recipe was a compilation of several “ideas.” I haven’t seen a recipe like this out there, so you saw it here first!
VERDICT: GUILTY! OF BEING DELICIOUS! (Honestly, the white wine boiled potatoes are the ultimate counterpoint to the coq au vin. They soak up that oogy googy sauce and yet retain a brightness that’s lacking in dish, as is supposed to. It lends a nice freshness, seriously, to the coq au vin. I am ALL about these boiled potatoes! Brandon said his favorite thing I’ve ever made him are blue cheese soufflés, but that this was his next favorite!)
BOILED POTATOES
5 pounds medium-size or large Yukon gold potatoes
5 garlic heads, halved
5 bay leaves
3 T black peppercorns
1 cup white wine
1/2 stick butter
Put potatoes with the garlic, bay leaves, and peppercorns into a big pot with unsalted cold water. Bring to a boil and simmer til nice and soft. Drain, then slice up to big chunks, 3x bite size. Quickly pour the white wine over, and stir gently or toss until it’s all soaked up. Then top with butter. Season with salt and pepper. The potatoes should break up a little bit, and have mashed bits. It should NOT look like chunky mashed potatoes, so be gentle with them. Use a plastic spatula.
NOTE: Brandon was responsible for making the boiled potatoes. He did such a great job! Perfect. Just like him! He was concerned for a little bit that the potatoes wouldn’t soak up all the wine. Just be patient and keep gently tossing the potatoes. Also, we kept the skin on, in keeping with the rustic nature of this dish. BTW, I just got him the Chez Panisse Café Cookbook and asked him to make me a meal from it. I can’t wait! (Hey, at least I didn’t give him a Charlie Trotter cookbook!) So I’ll keep you posted on what he makes me. Oh, and this recipe was a compilation of several “ideas.” I haven’t seen a recipe like this out there, so you saw it here first!
VERDICT: GUILTY! OF BEING DELICIOUS! (Honestly, the white wine boiled potatoes are the ultimate counterpoint to the coq au vin. They soak up that oogy googy sauce and yet retain a brightness that’s lacking in dish, as is supposed to. It lends a nice freshness, seriously, to the coq au vin. I am ALL about these boiled potatoes! Brandon said his favorite thing I’ve ever made him are blue cheese soufflés, but that this was his next favorite!)
White Wine Sangria
CASE: For pre-dinner cocktails, I was thinking a French 75 or a French martini to keep the theme in a fun way. But then, I decided that it would be too strong. So although I was initially against serving sangria, as it is way, way too Spanish, I decided it would lend a nice, light touch to the heavy red wine of the coq au vin. So I recipe shopped (there are a LOT of sangria recipes out there), and created the recipe below. The dinner turned out fabulous, Susie loved her meal, and everyone had a great time.
SUMMERY WHITE WINE SANGRIA
1 cup of gin
1/2 cup Triple Sec
1/4 cup Chambord
1 sliced navel orange
1/2 cup red seedless grapes cut in half
1 red pluot, sliced thinly
1 sliced yellow peach
1 gala apple sliced and de-seeded
1 T powdered sugar
1 bottle Sauvignon Blanc (Do NOT use Chardonnay!)
1 cup Seltzer or soda water
Pick really ripe fruit. Marinate the fruit in the hard alcohol for about an hour at room temperature, and sprinkle the sugar to taste. Add the wine and fizzy water right before people get there and serve over ice. You can definitely play with the portions to make it taste right.
NOTE: This is closest to a recipe I found in Martha Stewart, but hers was vodka-based. I served it both ways at my party and promptly finished off the gin one before everyone at the party got to try it. I mean, it tastes fine with vodka, but gin gives it a gingery goodness and sweetness. (I know gin doesn’t have ginger, but I am telling you, the result tastes…gingery!) Martha’s recipe also included raspberries, and again, I don't. I think Chambord is much, much better, because it gives this sangria a nice peachy color. It also makes it look like the fruit has been marinating much longer than it has, so it’s a nice visual trick. Raspberries have too strong a taste, and would make the drink look more girl-y than summery. If this was a bridal shower, I would have gone with the berries, though. I mean, the truth is, you could really get away with using any fruit in this recipe. You just have to keep a bit of citrus, because the point of sangria is a citrus and wine. Oranges AND lemons are the classic additions; some recipes go so far as to suggest squeezing them into the recipe by the cup. I think the oranges AND lemon work in a red wine sangria, but in a white, it overwhelms the flavors of the sauvignon blanc, so I judiciously left out the lemons. This drink is incredibly beautiful, and was a total hit. I will be serving it again and again!
VERDICT: GUILTY! OF BEING DELICIOUS!
SUMMERY WHITE WINE SANGRIA
1 cup of gin
1/2 cup Triple Sec
1/4 cup Chambord
1 sliced navel orange
1/2 cup red seedless grapes cut in half
1 red pluot, sliced thinly
1 sliced yellow peach
1 gala apple sliced and de-seeded
1 T powdered sugar
1 bottle Sauvignon Blanc (Do NOT use Chardonnay!)
1 cup Seltzer or soda water
Pick really ripe fruit. Marinate the fruit in the hard alcohol for about an hour at room temperature, and sprinkle the sugar to taste. Add the wine and fizzy water right before people get there and serve over ice. You can definitely play with the portions to make it taste right.
NOTE: This is closest to a recipe I found in Martha Stewart, but hers was vodka-based. I served it both ways at my party and promptly finished off the gin one before everyone at the party got to try it. I mean, it tastes fine with vodka, but gin gives it a gingery goodness and sweetness. (I know gin doesn’t have ginger, but I am telling you, the result tastes…gingery!) Martha’s recipe also included raspberries, and again, I don't. I think Chambord is much, much better, because it gives this sangria a nice peachy color. It also makes it look like the fruit has been marinating much longer than it has, so it’s a nice visual trick. Raspberries have too strong a taste, and would make the drink look more girl-y than summery. If this was a bridal shower, I would have gone with the berries, though. I mean, the truth is, you could really get away with using any fruit in this recipe. You just have to keep a bit of citrus, because the point of sangria is a citrus and wine. Oranges AND lemons are the classic additions; some recipes go so far as to suggest squeezing them into the recipe by the cup. I think the oranges AND lemon work in a red wine sangria, but in a white, it overwhelms the flavors of the sauvignon blanc, so I judiciously left out the lemons. This drink is incredibly beautiful, and was a total hit. I will be serving it again and again!
VERDICT: GUILTY! OF BEING DELICIOUS!
Sunday, August 10, 2008
Coq Au Vin
CASE: So Susie turned 29 last night, and I decided to throw a dinner party for her (perfect 8). I personally love cooking for 8. If it's just four people, I think you can achieve a much more intimate dinner party, where people really get to know each other. And that's great too. But there is something about the 8-10 number that allows the cook to really go all out, and to make something really spectacular without worrying too much about the volume of food. Now, I hate cooking during dinner parties. Just hate it. So I always have an eye out for recipes that can be made in advance. There is so much to do at a dinner party without worrying about the food. First and foremost, I like to have fun! I like to drink at my own dinner parties! And if I have to cook or chop, I am definitely not drinking. Because drinking while cooking = burns and cuts. Now my cousin Ann is obsessed with all things French, and as a result, Susie and I have developed a partiality to French cooking. Ann makes The Most Amazing Cassoulet, so I certainly wasn't making cassoulet, besides which, I think it takes a week to make her cassoulet. So I wanted something I could cook in advance, and I wanted something French. I toyed with the idea of making a really fruity, summery menu, filled with peaches and watermelon and tomatoes. But I just couldn't get jazzed about it because I don't own a BBQ grill. A summery menu has to have something grilled. It's like a law. Hum. So while coq au vin is extremely heavy and rich and comforting, I thought, it really does fit the bill nicely and when will I ever again make coq au vin since it takes three days? I mean, it had really better be a special occasion to go to such an effort. And I felt sure Susie would love the dish, because her favorite thing that I make is chicken and dumplings. Coq au vin is not all that far off from chicken and dumplings, in my humble opinion.
So. I decided to go with the coq au vin, and there's a place in downtown LA's Chinatown that sells freshly killed chickens. I'm not kidding. And I really want to try it! It's called Peking Poultry and it's on the 600 or 700 block of Hill Street. Anyway, I didn't have time to go, such I just got some lovely chickens from Whole Foods in Pasadena instead. My plan is to make drunken chicken with those fresh chickens one of these days.
I wanted to make it a really French meal, so I decided to do a real cheese plate. The Whole Foods in Pasadena has The Best Cheese Selection in LA. No kidding! And amazing olives AND amazing bread points AND amazing fresh vegetables. I had a hand-crafted goat cheese (I want to say it was Haymarket Farms), a beautiful creamy decadent French cheese in its own little pot (it was called something like Marcellin), an amazing aged English white cheddar, and a creamy British blue...the blue was called something that starts with an "R" and is apparently incredibly famous. Anyway, the Whole Foods there was lucky to get two wheels of the stuff, so go fast! (BTW, I have about half the blue cheese left so I have big plans to make Brandon some hamburgers with it if we meet up during the week. I think some fresh arugula, caramelized onions, and a nice toasty brioche-type bun would be perfect. Either that or I might surprise him with a blue cheese cheesecake. Now THOSE are fun. They're so rich you make a little mini one and serve it with crackers and cheese. Add one of those rotisserie chickens from the market and pre-washed bag of spinach with a simple vinaigrette and you’re DONE.) Anyway, I picked up some fabulous green French olives, flat crispy bread, amazing salami and lomo-type meats, and decided to serve it with fresh grapes and fig jam. Pretty good right? I didn't want to do nuts (although I was tempted to add walnuts), and to keep it simple. It was a big hit, and everyone’s favorite was the hand-made goat cheese. (Well, I forgot to put out the fig jam, so maybe a different one would have tasted better. In any event, you will soon see a recipe involving fig jam!)
NOTE: I personally like making a schmancy dish less schmancy by making it fun. Susie and I went to Costa Rica and she loved it. So I put out monkey and gorilla napkins and paper plates with the cheese plate. I also put little plastic butterflies all over the cheese, the joke being to remind her of all the bugs in Costa Rica. My feeling is that it makes the whole thing less stuffy. Same feeling for serving sangria—it was so light and sweet, I think it made a nice counterpoint to the heavy wine feeling of the coq au vin.
COQ AU VIN
NOTE: This recipe is a combination of Anne Willan's classic coq au vin and Larousse Gastronomie. If you feel the need to make it with morels, as is classically required, please do! Myself, I just didn't want to pay like $400 a pound for the dried ones. Who knows how much the fresh ones cost. Especially at a Whole Foods!
Marinade
1 bottle of a full-flavored red (I used a Nebbiolo)
3 chopped garlic gloves
1 smashed garlic clove kept whole
3 stalks of onions, chopped in thin ringlets
1 large carrot, thinly sliced
1 T black peppercorns (I added an additional 2 t of white peppercorns too)
1 yellow onion, roughly chopped (I actually used 5 shallots. Big mistake. Sauce needed it.)
10 pounds of dark meat, add a breast or two if you'd like. Meat must be bone-in with skin
Saute your vegetables in a bit of oil, add the wine, and simmer for a good five minutes. Let it cool, then pour it all over your raw chicken in a non-metal pot. Marinate up to 3 days. Note, the longer you marinate, the more likely you'll be serving purple chicken. But if you like the taste of wine...
NOTE: I marinated 1 day, and then let the chicken sit for 1 day before serving. You can wait another 3 days after you've made this dish to really let the flavors meld.
Sauce and Chicken
1 pound of thick bacon or lardons (I used a combination of smoked and fresh, thickly cut)
1 bouquet garni (handful of parsley, 4 fresh bay leaves, 8 thyme sprigs)
3/4 c flour
1 whole box of chicken stock or make your own, you'll need at least 5 cups
Separate chicken from your wine and vegetables. Dry chicken thoroughly. In your dutch oven, saute bacon in a bit of olive oil until it's leaked its oil. Reserve bacon for garnish. Brown the chicken in the dutch oven, cooking approximately 15 minutes. 10 minutes initially, 5 minutes after the flip. (You can coat the chicken in flour too.) Don't crowd the chicken. Let it brown nicely, a dark rich brown, not burnt, but with yummy brown bits. Rest the chicken. Then saute just the vegetables from your marinade in that grease til they're nice and soft. Add your flour and stir it up. Cook for a few minutes to develop your roux. Then add your wine and let it thicken. Simmer 5 minutes. Add your chicken stock and bouquet garni. Season with a bit of salt. Really taste your sauce at this point, because it's really not going to taste drastically different than the way it does at this point. If you feel it's not wine enough, add some! If you feel it's not onion-y enough, add some onions. If it's too thin, reduce. If it's too thick, add more chicken stock. Remember, at the very last stage of this dish you can add cold, unsalted butter to make it glossy and delicious. But at this stage, it has to taste right.
Once you're happy with the taste, add the chicken and simmer a few minutes. Add the cover, and pop into a 325 degree oven for about an hour. The chicken should be falling off the bone, it’s so tender. At this stage, you can serve it and start on the recipes below, or let it sit for up to 3 days in the fridge.
Garnish
2 cups brown mushrooms kept whole, slice a little “X” in the top of the cap
1 1/2 cup button mushrooms thickly sliced
3 cups FRESH pearl onions
Saute onions in butter until they have a nice browning. Season with salt and pepper. Add to your reserved bacon. Sautee the mushrooms in butter til nice and brown until, again, they have nice cripsy brown bits. Season with salt and pepper. Add to your reserved onions and bacon. Toss gently together, adjust for salt and pepper to taste. These should look shiny and crisp, and taste perfectly delicious on their own. In fact, you know you did it right if you want to eat them on their own.
NOTE: I tried the recipe with both fresh and frozen pearl onions. Fellow cooks, it is well worth the effort to use fresh pearl onions, even though they are a mighty pain in the butt to peel. Seriously. And, contrary to what I’d hoped, you can clearly see the difference between the two kinds of onions: one is white and round, the other is oblong and grey. The fresh onions were fresh, oniony and crisp. The frozen ones were water-logged, translucent and mushy. They gave the crunch, but not in a crisp way. I mean, honestly, they still tasted delicious, but not as delicious as the fresh. Sorry!
SAUCE
2 shallots, sliced
2 T cold unsalted butter
If your chicken was in the fridge, get rid of any fat on top and warm up. Pull out the chicken from the sauce, carefully removing any vegetable bits. Strain the sauce, preferably pouring it into wherever you browned your onions and mushrooms. Anyway, brown your shallots in the pan, then add the sauce. Put the chicken back in, and gently re-heat.
To serve: Spoon your boiled potatoes on a plate. (See post above.) Put chicken at a nice angle, slightly atop the potatoes but still touching the plate. Pour some sauce on the chicken and potatoes til its pooling in the plate. Then add a nice big ladle of the garnish on top. Lastly, put a pretty thyme spring on top of the garnish. DEFINITELY serve in French plates, I use dark pinky-red toile plates. If you like, you can remove the skin and bones. I didn’t. I don’t like the idea of having chicken bits floating on the potatoes—I like that people can cleave the meat from the bones on their own and see just how tender the meat is. Honestly, I don’t have much patience for people who are grossed out by bone-in chicken, or the floppy chicken skin. OK, maybe the skin is kind of gross. I should have removed it.
VERDICT: GUILTY! OF BEING DELICIOUS!
So. I decided to go with the coq au vin, and there's a place in downtown LA's Chinatown that sells freshly killed chickens. I'm not kidding. And I really want to try it! It's called Peking Poultry and it's on the 600 or 700 block of Hill Street. Anyway, I didn't have time to go, such I just got some lovely chickens from Whole Foods in Pasadena instead. My plan is to make drunken chicken with those fresh chickens one of these days.
I wanted to make it a really French meal, so I decided to do a real cheese plate. The Whole Foods in Pasadena has The Best Cheese Selection in LA. No kidding! And amazing olives AND amazing bread points AND amazing fresh vegetables. I had a hand-crafted goat cheese (I want to say it was Haymarket Farms), a beautiful creamy decadent French cheese in its own little pot (it was called something like Marcellin), an amazing aged English white cheddar, and a creamy British blue...the blue was called something that starts with an "R" and is apparently incredibly famous. Anyway, the Whole Foods there was lucky to get two wheels of the stuff, so go fast! (BTW, I have about half the blue cheese left so I have big plans to make Brandon some hamburgers with it if we meet up during the week. I think some fresh arugula, caramelized onions, and a nice toasty brioche-type bun would be perfect. Either that or I might surprise him with a blue cheese cheesecake. Now THOSE are fun. They're so rich you make a little mini one and serve it with crackers and cheese. Add one of those rotisserie chickens from the market and pre-washed bag of spinach with a simple vinaigrette and you’re DONE.) Anyway, I picked up some fabulous green French olives, flat crispy bread, amazing salami and lomo-type meats, and decided to serve it with fresh grapes and fig jam. Pretty good right? I didn't want to do nuts (although I was tempted to add walnuts), and to keep it simple. It was a big hit, and everyone’s favorite was the hand-made goat cheese. (Well, I forgot to put out the fig jam, so maybe a different one would have tasted better. In any event, you will soon see a recipe involving fig jam!)
NOTE: I personally like making a schmancy dish less schmancy by making it fun. Susie and I went to Costa Rica and she loved it. So I put out monkey and gorilla napkins and paper plates with the cheese plate. I also put little plastic butterflies all over the cheese, the joke being to remind her of all the bugs in Costa Rica. My feeling is that it makes the whole thing less stuffy. Same feeling for serving sangria—it was so light and sweet, I think it made a nice counterpoint to the heavy wine feeling of the coq au vin.
COQ AU VIN
NOTE: This recipe is a combination of Anne Willan's classic coq au vin and Larousse Gastronomie. If you feel the need to make it with morels, as is classically required, please do! Myself, I just didn't want to pay like $400 a pound for the dried ones. Who knows how much the fresh ones cost. Especially at a Whole Foods!
Marinade
1 bottle of a full-flavored red (I used a Nebbiolo)
3 chopped garlic gloves
1 smashed garlic clove kept whole
3 stalks of onions, chopped in thin ringlets
1 large carrot, thinly sliced
1 T black peppercorns (I added an additional 2 t of white peppercorns too)
1 yellow onion, roughly chopped (I actually used 5 shallots. Big mistake. Sauce needed it.)
10 pounds of dark meat, add a breast or two if you'd like. Meat must be bone-in with skin
Saute your vegetables in a bit of oil, add the wine, and simmer for a good five minutes. Let it cool, then pour it all over your raw chicken in a non-metal pot. Marinate up to 3 days. Note, the longer you marinate, the more likely you'll be serving purple chicken. But if you like the taste of wine...
NOTE: I marinated 1 day, and then let the chicken sit for 1 day before serving. You can wait another 3 days after you've made this dish to really let the flavors meld.
Sauce and Chicken
1 pound of thick bacon or lardons (I used a combination of smoked and fresh, thickly cut)
1 bouquet garni (handful of parsley, 4 fresh bay leaves, 8 thyme sprigs)
3/4 c flour
1 whole box of chicken stock or make your own, you'll need at least 5 cups
Separate chicken from your wine and vegetables. Dry chicken thoroughly. In your dutch oven, saute bacon in a bit of olive oil until it's leaked its oil. Reserve bacon for garnish. Brown the chicken in the dutch oven, cooking approximately 15 minutes. 10 minutes initially, 5 minutes after the flip. (You can coat the chicken in flour too.) Don't crowd the chicken. Let it brown nicely, a dark rich brown, not burnt, but with yummy brown bits. Rest the chicken. Then saute just the vegetables from your marinade in that grease til they're nice and soft. Add your flour and stir it up. Cook for a few minutes to develop your roux. Then add your wine and let it thicken. Simmer 5 minutes. Add your chicken stock and bouquet garni. Season with a bit of salt. Really taste your sauce at this point, because it's really not going to taste drastically different than the way it does at this point. If you feel it's not wine enough, add some! If you feel it's not onion-y enough, add some onions. If it's too thin, reduce. If it's too thick, add more chicken stock. Remember, at the very last stage of this dish you can add cold, unsalted butter to make it glossy and delicious. But at this stage, it has to taste right.
Once you're happy with the taste, add the chicken and simmer a few minutes. Add the cover, and pop into a 325 degree oven for about an hour. The chicken should be falling off the bone, it’s so tender. At this stage, you can serve it and start on the recipes below, or let it sit for up to 3 days in the fridge.
Garnish
2 cups brown mushrooms kept whole, slice a little “X” in the top of the cap
1 1/2 cup button mushrooms thickly sliced
3 cups FRESH pearl onions
Saute onions in butter until they have a nice browning. Season with salt and pepper. Add to your reserved bacon. Sautee the mushrooms in butter til nice and brown until, again, they have nice cripsy brown bits. Season with salt and pepper. Add to your reserved onions and bacon. Toss gently together, adjust for salt and pepper to taste. These should look shiny and crisp, and taste perfectly delicious on their own. In fact, you know you did it right if you want to eat them on their own.
NOTE: I tried the recipe with both fresh and frozen pearl onions. Fellow cooks, it is well worth the effort to use fresh pearl onions, even though they are a mighty pain in the butt to peel. Seriously. And, contrary to what I’d hoped, you can clearly see the difference between the two kinds of onions: one is white and round, the other is oblong and grey. The fresh onions were fresh, oniony and crisp. The frozen ones were water-logged, translucent and mushy. They gave the crunch, but not in a crisp way. I mean, honestly, they still tasted delicious, but not as delicious as the fresh. Sorry!
SAUCE
2 shallots, sliced
2 T cold unsalted butter
If your chicken was in the fridge, get rid of any fat on top and warm up. Pull out the chicken from the sauce, carefully removing any vegetable bits. Strain the sauce, preferably pouring it into wherever you browned your onions and mushrooms. Anyway, brown your shallots in the pan, then add the sauce. Put the chicken back in, and gently re-heat.
To serve: Spoon your boiled potatoes on a plate. (See post above.) Put chicken at a nice angle, slightly atop the potatoes but still touching the plate. Pour some sauce on the chicken and potatoes til its pooling in the plate. Then add a nice big ladle of the garnish on top. Lastly, put a pretty thyme spring on top of the garnish. DEFINITELY serve in French plates, I use dark pinky-red toile plates. If you like, you can remove the skin and bones. I didn’t. I don’t like the idea of having chicken bits floating on the potatoes—I like that people can cleave the meat from the bones on their own and see just how tender the meat is. Honestly, I don’t have much patience for people who are grossed out by bone-in chicken, or the floppy chicken skin. OK, maybe the skin is kind of gross. I should have removed it.
VERDICT: GUILTY! OF BEING DELICIOUS!
Monday, August 4, 2008
Lobster Rolls
CASE: B Cat had never tried a lobster roll, or at least not one that he could think of. Which is basically the same as saying, "I've never had full-fat yogurt. But I HAVE had Key Lime Flavored Yoplait!" Now, cousin Ann and I have an unhealthy fixation on lobster rolls. One year for Susie's b-day we were determined to serve lobster rolls, mainly because Ann was having a hankering for them. She purchased hers at the Santa Monica Seafood Company for price of $39.99 a pound. (I know, right? For God's sake, just make it $40!) After her initial sticker shock, she conservatively estimated a 1/2 pound of lobster per person. There was enough lobster leftover for me to say, "I can see how people in Maine could get sick of lobster after a while." Anyway, I re-made them with the same lobster from the Santa Monica Seafood Company, and in my greediness, I ordered not 1/2 pound of lobster per person, but 5/8 of a pound per person. I'm not kidding. We each had two lobster rolls, and another for lunch the next day, and STILL had leftovers! Then again, the abundance of lobster made me feel really happy. The following recipe sounds ridiculous, I know, because there's almost no cooking involved. Whatever! Guilty of being delicious!
Fresh chunks of cooked lobster
Expensive hot dog rolls
butter
1/2 c finely chopped celery, not diced, but in nice half-rings
homemade mayonnaise
butter lettuce
tomatoes
Toast the hot dog rolls in butter til they have nice, crisp brown bits. Meanwhile, toss the chunks of lobster with the mayonnaise and celery bits. Layer the lobster in between the butter lettuce and tomatoes. Sprinkle with a fresh ground black pepper and serve with a lemon.
NOTE: I have made fresh lobster one time. It was very sad and very unpleasant. I think I also somehow cut myself. I prefer to just buy the lobster meat. You're probably also thinking, "Expensive hot dog buns? Does that exist?" Well, as a matter of fact, you can just check with Whole Foods if you think that hot dog buns cannot too be overpriced! But seriously, cheap buns just disintegrate in the mouth. They taste gritty. Expensive hot dog buns taste like fluffy Wonder Bread. They taste creamy and have a slightly chewy texture. And, at $3.99 for 6 in a bag, I really think it's worth the $1 splurge. Also, I personally like my lobster roll with butter lettuce and nothing more. B Cat liked his with tomatoes too, and in all honesty, tomatoes in a lobster roll is a pretty classic combination. The other thing we experimented with was a bit of fresh herbs. Chopped basil or tarragon feel right, because they go with the fresh mayonnaise so well. Anything more, and you're really ruining the lobster roll.
Homemade Mayonnaise
1 egg white
2 egg yolks
1 c plain oil, like canola
1 1/2 t dijon mustard
1 t white vinegar
Juice of one lemon
salt
pepper
Bring eggs to room temperature. Break up egg yolks with a whisk. Then whisk in some oil. Dump it all into a blender, and then slowly add the rest of the oil and other ingredients, all the while blending on high in between. I personally like a little olive-oil-y taste, so I use a little olive oil.
FINAL NOTE: The best way to serve these is with KFC re-engineered cole-slaw on the side, lemonade, and potato chips. Natch.
VERDICT: GUILTY! OF BEING DELICIOUS! (Honestly, this *just* might be The Best Thing I Ever Made For B Cat. He got really quiet while eating it and - now this is this is the real bit of hard, cold evidence - he ate more than me!)
Fresh chunks of cooked lobster
Expensive hot dog rolls
butter
1/2 c finely chopped celery, not diced, but in nice half-rings
homemade mayonnaise
butter lettuce
tomatoes
Toast the hot dog rolls in butter til they have nice, crisp brown bits. Meanwhile, toss the chunks of lobster with the mayonnaise and celery bits. Layer the lobster in between the butter lettuce and tomatoes. Sprinkle with a fresh ground black pepper and serve with a lemon.
NOTE: I have made fresh lobster one time. It was very sad and very unpleasant. I think I also somehow cut myself. I prefer to just buy the lobster meat. You're probably also thinking, "Expensive hot dog buns? Does that exist?" Well, as a matter of fact, you can just check with Whole Foods if you think that hot dog buns cannot too be overpriced! But seriously, cheap buns just disintegrate in the mouth. They taste gritty. Expensive hot dog buns taste like fluffy Wonder Bread. They taste creamy and have a slightly chewy texture. And, at $3.99 for 6 in a bag, I really think it's worth the $1 splurge. Also, I personally like my lobster roll with butter lettuce and nothing more. B Cat liked his with tomatoes too, and in all honesty, tomatoes in a lobster roll is a pretty classic combination. The other thing we experimented with was a bit of fresh herbs. Chopped basil or tarragon feel right, because they go with the fresh mayonnaise so well. Anything more, and you're really ruining the lobster roll.
Homemade Mayonnaise
1 egg white
2 egg yolks
1 c plain oil, like canola
1 1/2 t dijon mustard
1 t white vinegar
Juice of one lemon
salt
pepper
Bring eggs to room temperature. Break up egg yolks with a whisk. Then whisk in some oil. Dump it all into a blender, and then slowly add the rest of the oil and other ingredients, all the while blending on high in between. I personally like a little olive-oil-y taste, so I use a little olive oil.
FINAL NOTE: The best way to serve these is with KFC re-engineered cole-slaw on the side, lemonade, and potato chips. Natch.
VERDICT: GUILTY! OF BEING DELICIOUS! (Honestly, this *just* might be The Best Thing I Ever Made For B Cat. He got really quiet while eating it and - now this is this is the real bit of hard, cold evidence - he ate more than me!)
Chickpea Stew
I love chickpeas!
CASE: This is a great wintry stew for cold nights, or for when you know you'll want leftovers for days. It's especially fun to make when all those dark, rich leafy greens are in season. I made this for Ann and Susie one day. I think I had leftover bacon and bread, and of course lots of cans of chickpeas. I just felt like eating something I could dunk the bread into and have it be hot and spicy and greasy and delicious. And honestly, I think one of these days I'll make a vegetarian version. I really think it could work.
1 large onion, finely chopped
4 garlic cloves
2 t finely choped rosemary
2 bay leaves
1/2 pound chorizo
1/2 pound bacon
1 pinch of red pepper flakes
1 28 oz can of chopped tomatoes
1 can tomato paste
1 cup chicken broth (store-bought is fine)
2 cans of chickpeas
Lots of leafy vegetables chopped up, even spinach is fine, but I prefer kale, mustard greens, even collard greens.
Saute the onion in olive oil and a bit of butter. Add the garlic, rosemary and bay leaf and cook for a minute or two more. Add the chorizo and bacon, cook for a minute or two. Add the chopped tomatoes and cook until it gets hot! Add the pepper flakes, salt, tomato paste and chicken broth to taste and visual preference. (Myself, I like it looking brothy. I also prefer this soup spicy, although I am not a spicy food person.) Stir in chickpeas, and then stir in greens until they wilt up. Simmer and stew until it tastes right. I like a longer stew, so 30 minutes for me, but 10 minutes should be fine.
Serve with a nice chunk of bread. I *suppose* you could make big croutons and dump them on the top, but I like eating with my hands, thank you very much.
NOTE: This started from a Catalonia-n recipe, so it starts with a sofrito, and it's pretty important to not just toss it all in together. I am quite convinced that a sofrito is a critical step in building a "guilty" soup. It just makes the flavors have more depth and oomph. If you're adding collard greens, use your brain, stew it for longer or add them earlier.
VERDICT: GUILTY! OF BEING DELICIOUS!
CASE: This is a great wintry stew for cold nights, or for when you know you'll want leftovers for days. It's especially fun to make when all those dark, rich leafy greens are in season. I made this for Ann and Susie one day. I think I had leftover bacon and bread, and of course lots of cans of chickpeas. I just felt like eating something I could dunk the bread into and have it be hot and spicy and greasy and delicious. And honestly, I think one of these days I'll make a vegetarian version. I really think it could work.
1 large onion, finely chopped
4 garlic cloves
2 t finely choped rosemary
2 bay leaves
1/2 pound chorizo
1/2 pound bacon
1 pinch of red pepper flakes
1 28 oz can of chopped tomatoes
1 can tomato paste
1 cup chicken broth (store-bought is fine)
2 cans of chickpeas
Lots of leafy vegetables chopped up, even spinach is fine, but I prefer kale, mustard greens, even collard greens.
Saute the onion in olive oil and a bit of butter. Add the garlic, rosemary and bay leaf and cook for a minute or two more. Add the chorizo and bacon, cook for a minute or two. Add the chopped tomatoes and cook until it gets hot! Add the pepper flakes, salt, tomato paste and chicken broth to taste and visual preference. (Myself, I like it looking brothy. I also prefer this soup spicy, although I am not a spicy food person.) Stir in chickpeas, and then stir in greens until they wilt up. Simmer and stew until it tastes right. I like a longer stew, so 30 minutes for me, but 10 minutes should be fine.
Serve with a nice chunk of bread. I *suppose* you could make big croutons and dump them on the top, but I like eating with my hands, thank you very much.
NOTE: This started from a Catalonia-n recipe, so it starts with a sofrito, and it's pretty important to not just toss it all in together. I am quite convinced that a sofrito is a critical step in building a "guilty" soup. It just makes the flavors have more depth and oomph. If you're adding collard greens, use your brain, stew it for longer or add them earlier.
VERDICT: GUILTY! OF BEING DELICIOUS!
Judd's Green Goddess Dip
Who knew, anchovies!
Judd, BBQ Extraordinaire, made this for me and I spent the better part of 2 hours trying to guess the ingredients. All wrong! I thought it was a dill-based dip the whole time. Needless to say, Judd enjoyed himself immensely with my utterly wrong guesses.
3/4 c mayo
1 T anchovy paste (or use canned ones you've dried off)
3/4 c various herbs, snipped chives, parsley, basil, tarragon.
1 small garlic clove
1 scallion
3/4 c sour cream
1 T lemon or lime juice
salt
freshly-ground black pepper
Blend.
NOTE: This really tastes best with thick-cut fried potato chips. I suppose you could serve it with a crux d'ete, but why would you want to do that?
VERDICT: GUILTY! OF BEING DELICIOUS!
Judd, BBQ Extraordinaire, made this for me and I spent the better part of 2 hours trying to guess the ingredients. All wrong! I thought it was a dill-based dip the whole time. Needless to say, Judd enjoyed himself immensely with my utterly wrong guesses.
3/4 c mayo
1 T anchovy paste (or use canned ones you've dried off)
3/4 c various herbs, snipped chives, parsley, basil, tarragon.
1 small garlic clove
1 scallion
3/4 c sour cream
1 T lemon or lime juice
salt
freshly-ground black pepper
Blend.
NOTE: This really tastes best with thick-cut fried potato chips. I suppose you could serve it with a crux d'ete, but why would you want to do that?
VERDICT: GUILTY! OF BEING DELICIOUS!
The Best - and I mean BEST - Red Velvet Cupcake You Will Ever Have
(Just ask my cousin Susie!)
CASE: Susienificent and I wanted to do something schmancy for Valentine's Day one year and for some reason decided to make red velvet cupcakes. Needless to say, Susie ate most of them and hoarded the remaining precious few. I created this recipe out of a hodge-podge of recipes, and felt convinced that a good red velvet cake must be all of the following things: slightly chocolate-y, moist, a bright brilliant red, and dense-loooking yet spongy. I nixed any recipe that did not contain chocolate powder or buttermilk, and any recipe that contained less than 2 oz. of red food coloring. This is, after all, a Southern dessert. Also, I noticed the best recipes were for cake, not cupcakes! So I edited accordingly. As for the cream cheese frosting, it needed to be sweet and thick but not crusty. The result is a creamy red cupcake of utter goodness that is so red, if you accidentally crumble a cupcake on a towel later it will stain it red!
Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees.
2 1/2 c flour
1 t salt
1/2 c butter (soft)
1 1/2 c sugar
2 eggs
2 T cocoa powder
2 oz. water
2 oz. red food coloring
1 c buttermilk
1 t vanilla
1 t white vinegar
1 t baking soda
Cream butter and sugar until fluffy. Add eggs to the mixture. Separately, in a little cup or something, make a paste out of the cocoa powder and food coloring. Add your red paste to the butter. Separately sift the flour and salt. Add dry into wet. Then...one at a time...add the buttermilk, vanilla and water. Separately, in a different little cup or something, combine the vinegar and baking soda. It will fizzle in a most exciting way. When it's done fizzling, fold it into your batter. Don't beat it! Fold it in gently. Pour a nice amount into each cupcake cup. Bake for 15-20 minutes, cool for 10 minutes in the tin, then off to a rack.
Cream Cheese Frosting
1 lb cream cheese
4 c sifted flour
2 sticks of butter, or 1 cup
1 t vanilla
Mix the first three ingredients, then beat on high for 5 full minutes. Stop mixing, add the vanilla and raise the speed again.
NOTE: Clean your hands right away. My cookbook still has red fingerprints and drips. Also - don't think I wasn't going to mention this Susie Pooh - but you really need to read the recipe before cooking this. You can't just go about recklessly adding food coloring and baking soda. This is a very technical recipe, and if you do not follow it, the result will not be creamy red cupcake of utter goodness that is so red, if you accidentally crumble a cupcake on a towel later it will stain it red. You will have to do the recipe over. And over. And over again. Yes, my young bright pup Susie and I made this 3 times. I won't say whose fault it was, but I will say that I made her swear not to tell anyone that we had over for dinner that night!
VERDICT: GUILTY! OF BEING DELICIOUS!
CASE: Susienificent and I wanted to do something schmancy for Valentine's Day one year and for some reason decided to make red velvet cupcakes. Needless to say, Susie ate most of them and hoarded the remaining precious few. I created this recipe out of a hodge-podge of recipes, and felt convinced that a good red velvet cake must be all of the following things: slightly chocolate-y, moist, a bright brilliant red, and dense-loooking yet spongy. I nixed any recipe that did not contain chocolate powder or buttermilk, and any recipe that contained less than 2 oz. of red food coloring. This is, after all, a Southern dessert. Also, I noticed the best recipes were for cake, not cupcakes! So I edited accordingly. As for the cream cheese frosting, it needed to be sweet and thick but not crusty. The result is a creamy red cupcake of utter goodness that is so red, if you accidentally crumble a cupcake on a towel later it will stain it red!
Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees.
2 1/2 c flour
1 t salt
1/2 c butter (soft)
1 1/2 c sugar
2 eggs
2 T cocoa powder
2 oz. water
2 oz. red food coloring
1 c buttermilk
1 t vanilla
1 t white vinegar
1 t baking soda
Cream butter and sugar until fluffy. Add eggs to the mixture. Separately, in a little cup or something, make a paste out of the cocoa powder and food coloring. Add your red paste to the butter. Separately sift the flour and salt. Add dry into wet. Then...one at a time...add the buttermilk, vanilla and water. Separately, in a different little cup or something, combine the vinegar and baking soda. It will fizzle in a most exciting way. When it's done fizzling, fold it into your batter. Don't beat it! Fold it in gently. Pour a nice amount into each cupcake cup. Bake for 15-20 minutes, cool for 10 minutes in the tin, then off to a rack.
Cream Cheese Frosting
1 lb cream cheese
4 c sifted flour
2 sticks of butter, or 1 cup
1 t vanilla
Mix the first three ingredients, then beat on high for 5 full minutes. Stop mixing, add the vanilla and raise the speed again.
NOTE: Clean your hands right away. My cookbook still has red fingerprints and drips. Also - don't think I wasn't going to mention this Susie Pooh - but you really need to read the recipe before cooking this. You can't just go about recklessly adding food coloring and baking soda. This is a very technical recipe, and if you do not follow it, the result will not be creamy red cupcake of utter goodness that is so red, if you accidentally crumble a cupcake on a towel later it will stain it red. You will have to do the recipe over. And over. And over again. Yes, my young bright pup Susie and I made this 3 times. I won't say whose fault it was, but I will say that I made her swear not to tell anyone that we had over for dinner that night!
VERDICT: GUILTY! OF BEING DELICIOUS!
My Cousin Ann and Thin and Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies
CASE: My pretty cousin Ann loves thin and chewy chocolate chip cookies, and I can't say I disagree. Then again, all her cookies are delicious, so I don't know what to say about that. Ann is the person I cook the most with. Get used to seeing recipes with her! We had mighty big plans to publish a cookbook, which may still happen. This is my favorite cookie she ever made...
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. The batches will cook for about 10-12 minutes.
1 1/4 stick butter
1/2 c sugar
1/2 c brown sugar
1/4 t salt
1 1/2 t vanilla
1 large egg
1 c 2 T flour
1/2 t baking soda
1 cup chocolate chips
Beat the butter with the sugar, add vanilla and salt. Beat in the eggs. Whisk the dry ingredients, add to the wet.
NOTE: These cookies look best when in a basket with a pretty dish towel.
VERDICT: GUILTY! OF BEING DELICIOUS!
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. The batches will cook for about 10-12 minutes.
1 1/4 stick butter
1/2 c sugar
1/2 c brown sugar
1/4 t salt
1 1/2 t vanilla
1 large egg
1 c 2 T flour
1/2 t baking soda
1 cup chocolate chips
Beat the butter with the sugar, add vanilla and salt. Beat in the eggs. Whisk the dry ingredients, add to the wet.
NOTE: These cookies look best when in a basket with a pretty dish towel.
VERDICT: GUILTY! OF BEING DELICIOUS!
Nina & Shanghai Dumplings
CASE: I first had shanghai dumplings in New York, at an amazing corner restaurant famous for them (Shanghai Cafe http://www.menupages.com/restaurantdetails.asp?neighborhoodid=0&restaurantid=5483). I went with my equally amazing friend Nina, whom is newly engaged and probably moving to Baltimore and working on her dissertation and speaks five languages. She always knows the best restaurants and we have come a far way from being college roommates who loved to cook. (Nina, don't you miss the days when we'd buy each other a fancy dinner?) They are amazing, hot and steamy, you bite into them and this delicious hot broth bursts into your mouth. I could eat a hundred of them, and was desperate to figure out how they trap the broth in the dumpling. Solution? Aspic!
Need:
bamboo steamer (more about this later...)
1 package round dumpling wrappers, thicker the better
aspic:
2 cups chicken broth (made by reducing 10 cups of water, smashed garlic, ginger pieces, onion, soy sauce, and rice wine)
1 package gelatin
filling:
1 lb ground pork
1 small can water chestnuts
1 small can straw mushrooms
1 cup chopped green onion
1 raw egg
4 T soy sauce
4 T rice wine
1 pinch salt
2 chopped garlic cloves
2 T chopped ginger
3/4 cup choped Napa cabbage
Reduce chicken stock, be sure to remove ginger if the stock seems to be getting bitter. Strain out the vegetables. Add gelatin packet, then pour into a square pan. Refrigerate until firm, and then chop into little cubes.
Mix filling ingredients then add cubed aspic. Let sit for at least 3 hours.
When you make the dumplings, keep them covered with a damp towel and for heaven's sakes don't layer them. They stick.
Set bamboo steamer in hot water, line with green parts of Napa cabbage. Cook thoroughly, approximately 15 minutes. Serve hot.
These are also good frozen! Just freeze them carefully: don't let them touch, don't let them get too hard, and don't freeze them in a glass container because they don't want to come back out.
NOTE: If you get a brand-new bamboo steamer, they need to be seasoned! I did not season mine and ended up with bamboo-y tasting dumplings. I also used thin, square dumpling wrappers from the regular grocery store--big mistake! These need to be pressed together like a little cup; you cannot have them be that oblong, football shape. The result was a sideways mess! You could see the liquid through the wrapper; that is, if it didn't leak through the steamer already! And it didn't burst in your mouth like a hot delicious Shanghai dumpling...it dribbled.
VERDICT: Not Guilty. Cheaper and better in a restaurant. Then again, mine obviously tasted like bamboo and I honestly couldn't bear to eat my second batch. I am not a panda.
Need:
bamboo steamer (more about this later...)
1 package round dumpling wrappers, thicker the better
aspic:
2 cups chicken broth (made by reducing 10 cups of water, smashed garlic, ginger pieces, onion, soy sauce, and rice wine)
1 package gelatin
filling:
1 lb ground pork
1 small can water chestnuts
1 small can straw mushrooms
1 cup chopped green onion
1 raw egg
4 T soy sauce
4 T rice wine
1 pinch salt
2 chopped garlic cloves
2 T chopped ginger
3/4 cup choped Napa cabbage
Reduce chicken stock, be sure to remove ginger if the stock seems to be getting bitter. Strain out the vegetables. Add gelatin packet, then pour into a square pan. Refrigerate until firm, and then chop into little cubes.
Mix filling ingredients then add cubed aspic. Let sit for at least 3 hours.
When you make the dumplings, keep them covered with a damp towel and for heaven's sakes don't layer them. They stick.
Set bamboo steamer in hot water, line with green parts of Napa cabbage. Cook thoroughly, approximately 15 minutes. Serve hot.
These are also good frozen! Just freeze them carefully: don't let them touch, don't let them get too hard, and don't freeze them in a glass container because they don't want to come back out.
NOTE: If you get a brand-new bamboo steamer, they need to be seasoned! I did not season mine and ended up with bamboo-y tasting dumplings. I also used thin, square dumpling wrappers from the regular grocery store--big mistake! These need to be pressed together like a little cup; you cannot have them be that oblong, football shape. The result was a sideways mess! You could see the liquid through the wrapper; that is, if it didn't leak through the steamer already! And it didn't burst in your mouth like a hot delicious Shanghai dumpling...it dribbled.
VERDICT: Not Guilty. Cheaper and better in a restaurant. Then again, mine obviously tasted like bamboo and I honestly couldn't bear to eat my second batch. I am not a panda.
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