Taste!

My New Favorite Tipple: The Pink Victrola

2011-10-22T16:21:00.001-04:00

So... life is funny and wonderful. I haven't felt like blogging in literally- a few years. I've been so involved with other things that the time and energy that I had to devote to cooking and documenting my cooking, and writing was pretty much nil. However, things have changed once again, and I now am feeling that pull towards fun and creativity that having a little more "me" time affords.
So to avoid boring you with more introspective epiphanies, let's cut to the chase.
I have a new favorite drink.
It all started with a new (for me) gin: Hendrick's gin. Love it. Really. I mean, I could go on about bouquet and roses and cucumber and juniper, but really you have to just try it and see if it's for you. It's definitely for me.
So I went on the Hendrick's site (which is great fun by the way) and started poking around to see if there was a cocktail recipe that jumped out at me. There was: The Pink Victrola.
This is not a super complicated drink recipe. The only fancy equipment you need is a nice glass and a cocktail shaker.

Here's your list of ingredients:

Pink Victrola
1.5 parts gin - Hendrick's is delicious.
1.5 part grapefruit juice - I use ruby red.
0.5 part lemon juice
0.5 part simple syrup* homemade, recipe to follow
1 spoonful of grenadine** homemade, recipe to follow

*Simple syrup is made by combining water and sugar in a 1:1 ratio. You may bring it to a boil and let simmer for a thicker syrup, or you may just let it dissolve for a thin syrup. I heated mine in a saucepan to facilitate sugar incorporation but didn't let it boil for any length of time. This made a nice syrup with a bit of body but not really thick or sticky.

**Grenadine is a delicious syrup made from pomegranate juice. I went out and bought a bottle of POM Wonderful pomegranate juice and added sugar in equal proportion, warmed to just dissolve the sugar and that was that. There is no substitute for real pomegranate juice grenadine- and yes you can tell if it's not there. I tried it without to test, and it is discernibly better with. Plus, it makes it pink. Who doesn't love a pink drink?

There is no substitute for the real deal! And so simple, it's lovely.

Put everything in a cocktail shaker, add ice, do the shake-a shake-a, then decant into a worthy glass.
The final product: delicately pink, frothy on top from your vigorous attention to shaken, not stirred, and utterly delicious!

Enjoy!

Goat Curry

2010-08-22T11:49:00.001-04:00

Goat is a wonderful meat. Even people who don't like lamb usually like goat. I hope we get more goat-eaters in this country soon: goats are inexpensive, ecologically happy animals to raise. They thrive eating plants that other animals can't stand- much less want to eat, such as brambles, briars and ivy. As smaller animals, they obviously don't require the resources larger animals like cows need. Does also produce milk which can be drunk as is, or from which excellent cheese can be made. Goats are awesome!
And tasty... which comes to the point of my post: Goat Curry
yummy stuff.
Goat is often found at the grocers in stew-meat format- usually with the bone. Perfect for this recipe.

Sorry if the photos are a little fuzzy, I took them with my phone. hehe

Firstly, wash the meat, get all the bone-dust off of it, if any.

Then salt and pepper the meat.

Fry the meat really well in a little oil.

Remove from the pan.

Meanwhile, make a paste of garlic, chiles (I used fresh green chiles and sweet red peppers) and fresh ginger. This looks picturesque, but I ended up switching to a stick blender! hehe

Fry some chopped onion in the pan after you have removed the meat. Add some black mustard seeds, cumin seeds, the seeds of a few cardomom pods and fry for a minute until you can smell them, then add a little bit of ground turmeric, and ground allspice. Fry another 30 seconds or so and then add your chile, ginger, and garlic paste.

Have some fresh tomatoes chopped, or use some canned chopped tomatoes. Here I'm using a mixture of sweet cherry tomatoes and a regular tomato and the cherry tomatoes add a hint of sweetness that this curry likes. You might want to add a pinch of sugar to the pot if your tomatoes are not very sweet.

Add the tomatoes.

Add the meat back to the pot. Add a cinnamon stick and water for simmering. Goat cut like this can take a LONG time to get tender. I'm talking as much as 4 hours simmering on low for it to achieve that fall-off-the-bone tender that we are looking for. Trust me, it's worth it. Put the lid on the pot, and have the flame on low. Your house will smell awesome.

Ok! This is our delicious goat curry after our long simmer. I've added a bit of water here and there along the way, and given things a stir from time to time, but other than that, it has done it's thing. Taste to see if it needs a bit of salt and there you have it!

Some tasty ways to serve this are with rice, flat-breads, crusty loaf breads, or with cubed potatoes added into the curry itself. Garnish with your favorite greenery- be it parsley or cilantro or even some minced lettuce for crunch.

Enjoy!

Scrapple and scrappin'

2010-05-26T13:58:00.006-04:00

So, you know after my whiney post from yesterday about how busy I am, I realized that I might not have time to do photo walk-thrus of recipes, but I DO have time to talk! Jeesh >sheepish grin<

So, this weekend I got to talk with some people about different comfort foods and the conversation turned to scrapple.

If you don't know what scrapple is, well, that's a subject up to debate, and there are sites dedicated to it. Some say that it is called scrapple because you use the "scraps" from hog butchering, but I know I've read other theories on that, but honestly, can't remember what they are. The scraps theory works for me. hehe

Anyway, since I don't butcher piggies, I don't have scraps laying around. So, this is grocery store scrapple, but it is still economical and delicious. Some scrapple recipes also use buckwheat flour, but I've always made mine with cornmeal and flour, so that, dear readers, is what I'll pass on to you.

Ingredients:

1.5 cup corn meal

3/4 cup flour

1 lb bulk sausage

1 lb chicken livers or pork liver if you want to be über authentic, or leave it out if you're a wimp

About 2 qts of chicken broth/broth and water mix

spices: black & red pepper, sage, thyme, & salt

So, what you are going to do is cook the meat, and you can fry it, or simmer it in the water or broth. It needs to be chopped into very small pieces regardless. Bring the liquid to a boil, turn the heat down and add the cornmeal and flour. Stir.

What you are looking for at this point is for the cornmeal to thicken. It can take 15 -30 minutes to achieve this altered state. You will know it when it happens. It will also start to hold its "shape", sort of like whipped cream does, when dropped from the spoon into the pot. This is important, because scrapple needs to gel. When the pot has changed texture from soup to, well, like cream of wheat cereal, then it's ready to turn out.

Turn out into a greased loaf pan. This recipe will most likely give you two loaves. Let cool.

How do I eat scrapple? Well, after the scrapple cools, it is now a bonafide solid loaf. Turn it out, slice it, dredge it in a little flour and pan-fry it until golden on both sides.

My preferred method then is to eat with maple syrup. This is not everyone's way, however, and some use ketchup, butter, applesauce, fried apples, or plain with eggs. Honestly, that part is up to you.

Don't turn your nose up at this oft-maligned peasant food. It is really tasty. Pass me the big slice of Americana -with syrup, please.

Life eats my time

2010-05-25T22:46:00.002-04:00

This has been a bad blogging year. Renovating a hundred year-old house, full time college student and full-time Mom extraordinaire- sorry folks, but the foodiness is suffering.

Sometimes I think it's all I can do to put healthful and tasty food on the table for my kids- sometimes, when I'm really tired, I even get tempted to give in to their childish demands of hot dogs and mac n'cheese >shudder<.

I still think about this blog, and when my kitchen is renovated, and my life is more my own I'll get cooking, but just wanted to let people know I was still alive and kicking :)

This new house has a grape-vine. Never had access to fresh grape leaves before....hmmmmm.

Nam Prik Pao and Happy Hubby Sauce

2009-11-17T18:42:00.009-05:00

However you want to spell it, this is some tasty stuff. A delicious dark paste made from deeply caramelized onions and garlic and chiles, it is seasoned with fish sauce and shrimp paste, tamarind and sugar. Sound Thai? It is. And also, I should say, it is traditionally made with shallots and not onions, but I can't get a reliable source for good shallots, so I use onions with good results.

Anyway, this paste has so many uses. My kids use it instead of that nasty seasoning packet in their ramen noodles. I use it in stir-fry noodles, soups, etc, etc. Just try it and taste it, and you too will find a million and one uses for it. It's that tasty.

My disclaimer- this may not be the most authentic or traditional way to make nam prik pao, I'm not really sure, but I get good results, and I definitely think it's better than store-bought.

Nam Prik Pao

1 very large onion, or use two smaller, or use shallots if you can find them

2 heads of garlic

Dried chiles to taste or a mix of chiles and red pepper

1 cup oil

A few Tablespoons of sugar- you can use coconut or palm sugar as well
1-2 Tablespoons thai-style shrimp paste

few Tablespoons fish sauce

few Tablespoons of tamarind

few Tablespoons of water

Slice the onions very thin and fry them in the oil until dark and crisp and then remove. Then fry the garlic- I've fried them, sliced, chopped, and whole, but smashed and I didn't really detect much of a difference, so it's up to you to decide how you want to process them. Remove from the oil.

Then fry the dried chiles for a bit- depending on how small your chiles are and how many you are using. You don't want them to burn, so be careful. I usually replace quite a bit of the chiles for sweet red peppers that I fry because my family only likes things moderately hot at most. Also, removing the seeds of the chiles will reduce the heat.

Puree the onions, garlic and chiles/peppers in a blender. You may add oil and the tamarind and fish sauce and a bit of water as needed to get lubrication for blending.

In your wok or frying pan, fry the shrimp paste in some of the oil until it begins to release it's aroma. (it doesn't smell all that great, but it really adds a great flavor to the finished product) Then add the blended puree back to the wok, add the sugar and anything else you didn't add and cook until dark and bubbly, the texture loosely thick. The sauce will thicken as it stands. Taste the sauce for seasoning. It should be sweet and spicy- but not overly so, with the sweet tempered with the tang of the tamarind, and dark, caramelized, smokey undertones. Add a bit more sugar, or fish sauce or tamarind to suit your taste.

Happy Hubby Sauce is a sauce I created and it became a hit in our house. I make it from a mixture of nam prik pao, hoisin sauce, soy sauce, honey, water and a bit of chile paste with garlic. My husband loves it so much, I named it Happy Hubby sauce for him- otherwise it didn't have a name and I got tired of hey- can you make me that stuff?...

Enjoy!

Well, not New Mexico and Pomegranate Juice

2009-08-18T15:09:00.009-04:00

So I moved- Not to New Mexico.

Ha! How 'bout that, life is interesting!

So I bought a 110 year old house in upstate NY, and am in the process of renovating it, which is a trip in and of itself. It's been taking most of my attention, which has led me to neglect this blog a bit, and for that I apologise.

However, I have been concocting some foodie experiments on the sly. I'm actually quite pleased with how it's turned out. The experiment was spearheaded by the fact that I was contacted by POM Wonderful, and they asked me if they could send me some free product. Well sure! Send away. So I became the proud and happy owner of a box of POM Wonderful pomegranate juice.

So I started think of all the wonderful things I could do with the juice.

The other catalyst was that I found in my new local grocery store a bottle of Bragg's Cider Vinegar which is undistilled or cooked, and still contains the "mother", or, the bacteria necessary for the fermentation of sugar into vinegar.

Can you see where I'm going with this?

Yes! I decided to see if I could turn some of the POM Wonderful Pomegranate juice into pomegranate juice vinegar. Many juice manufacturers add preservatives to juice to prevent it from naturally turning into vinegar on the shelf. The fact that the mother of vinegar culture took hold in the pomegrante juice and started doing it's thing backed up POM Wonderful's claim that their juice does not contain preservatives. Great for vinegar! If you can't get juice from a non-preservative brand, or make your own, frozen juice concentrate is the way to go.

I was unprepared for the onslaught of fruit-flys. I found that I had to rubberband my coffee-filter to my jar and that kept it safe. But wow...they must like the smell of vinegar doing it's thing. Also, mother of vinegar forming is rather unattractive. This is a great article on making vingegar from left-over wine, complete with a photo of the mother.

So, Ya Wanna Make Vinegar From Leftover Wine, Eh?

I found a really yummy recipe using pomegranate vinegar that sounds tasty. I already do something similiar with balsamic. However, pomegranate juice is such a beautiful ruby color, I imagine this has a pretty look to it.

Pomegranate Reduction for Steamed Vegetables

Must note though, homemade vinegar is really strong. Most store-bought vinegar is already diluted, and if I tried to use 1/4c of my homemade vinegar undiluted like the recipe calls for, my mouth would turn inside out. I don't know of any real hard and fast rules for dilution. Most commercial vinegar is diluted to 5% acidity, but I just dilute to taste.

Anyway, enjoy!

Homemade Mayonnaise...easier than you might think

2009-05-05T10:02:00.023-04:00

Everyone has a line drawn in the sand. A point at where you just raise your fist to the heavens and shout "No more!". This, my friends, is what has happened to me. My line was crossed. In the grocery store isles, shopping for mayonnaise, the ugly scene ensued... it went something along the lines of, "Are you freaking kidding me? Over $4 a quart for freaking mayonnaise?"

Freaking indeed.

Now I make my own mayonnaise, because I no longer find it convienant to be fleeced in that particular aspect of my life. Yes I realize I'm fleeced in many other areas that I have no control over. But darn it, I know how to make some darn tasty mayonnaise, and now I'm mad and motivated, and I will share with you :)

First off, I have come to love making mayonnaise. It really is kitchen chemistry at it's finest. It sort of makes me feel like a mad scientist..and not just mad at the cost of store mayo. Anyway, mayo is tempermental ...but only at first. Then it's relatively forgiving. However, you MUST follow the beginning steps or else you will not have mayonnaise. But no worries, I'll get to that.

Mayonnaise is an emulsion of eggs and oil. According to chemistry, an emulsion is "any colloidal suspension of a liquid in another liquid." Thank you dictionary.com. Good eggs are important for taste and also because we're going to use them raw- as in uncooked. You can use pasteurized eggs, and if you're at all sqeamish about raw eggs, that's what you should do. You can use any oil. The Spanish love to make mayo with olive oil for the taste, but in this post I'm aiming to reproduce store-bought mayo, so we want to use a neutral-flavored oil. Pick your favorite.

I like to make mayonnaise in my kitchenaid with the whisk attatchment. It's easiest for me, but you can adapt to a hand beater or a whisk if you're determined to get an arm workout.

Basic Recipe for Mayonnaise

(all seasoning will be tasted for and adjusted up if needed at the end, so you can go lightly)

3 eggs- separated and reserved

1.5-2.5 c. oil approximately

1-2 T. of acid (lemon juice, lime juice, assorted vinegars)

.5-1 t. salt

pinch of sugar if desired

a squirt of prepared mustard or some mustard powder if desired

also: some people enjoy a few drops of hot sauce or pinch of cayenne. It's up to you.

Start with eggs that have been out of the refrigerator for a few minutes.

Ice-cold ingredients can doom your mayonnaise.

We start with the egg-yolks only.

This is the fairly runny mixture of egg-yolk, acid, mustard and salt/sugar.

Now this is where I get serious. With the mixer running,

or you whisking away, start adding the oil to the egg yolks

1/4 teaspoon at a time.

This is literally a few drops at a time, a dribble, a wee bit.

You must do this for at least the first 1/4 cup of the oil

if you want the mayonnaise to form properly.

If you over-dribble, stop oiling and let it beat in for a bit

and pray for the best!!

You can see it starting to thicken some more here.

Yes, it is very yellow at first, but will gradually get

lighter as you keep adding oil. You don't have to be

quite so precise after the first 1/4 cup, but do add

slowly and let it mix in before you add more.

Keep going, but you can see it getting lighter and thicker.

Here I'm scraping down the sides. The downside of

my mixer on high speed is that it likes to kick stuff

onto the sides of the bowl.

It's really gelling here. You can see that the texture is

definately thick. I'm going to add a bit more oil.

Ok, so we're going to stop for a bit. We need to chat mayonnaise. What we have here is called "heavy mayonnaise". Obviously, you can tell from the picture that it is very thick and saturated stuff. It's used in the food industry quite often. It is better for foods like mayonnaise salads that are going to be made ahead of time. It doesn't get as weepy or icky since the moisture content is minimal, it coats very well and doesn't get absorbed as easily as regular mayo. This is useful to know, especially if you are going to make something with mayonnaise and need to hold it for awhile.

Here you can see the very custard-y texture of the heavy mayonnaise. Like I said, heavy mayonnaise has lots of uses. However, this is not quite the product that we buy in the supermarket when we pick up a jar. (or not if it's $4!!!!) For that type of mayonnaise, we must do a final step.

See what happened? We went from gloopy to creamy, yellow-y to ivory in a single bound by simply adding 2 of the reserved egg whites back into the mix. It's magic, I tell you! See how pretty it is? Now you can taste it and check for seasonings...does it need more lemon juice? more salt? Add it in and mix it up. It's quite forgiving at this point.

So now, all that's left to do is put the delicious, homemade, preservative-free (and cheap, did I mention cheap? as in not $4 a jar?) mayonnaise into a jar and into the fridge. With all the sandwhiches that get made at my house for school lunches, it goes pretty fast and I haven't had a problem with spoilage. However, you can easily make a smaller batch if you have a smaller group to feed.

Enjoy!

Tortilla Española

2009-04-29T11:07:00.004-04:00

I was sitting in class a few weeks ago, and found out a classmate of mine was from Spain originally, and she told everyone about one of her favorite foods, the Tortilla Española. More importantly, she explained to us how to make one, and I'm so glad she did!

Now first off, this is a Spanish tortilla, not a Latin American tortilla, so it's not bread. It's technically an omelet. However, a Tortilla Española is not just a plain old omelet. Somehow, the method of cooking seems to raise it light years above the regular omelet in status and stature. I don't pretend to get it. Ingredient-wise, it's really not that different from the omelet you've been making for years. However, and this is the miracle part of it, it just tastes so good! It IS different. It's delicious eaten hot, I think it's even better warm, and a wonderful snack at room temperature. Can you imagine an omelet as a picnic food- and it being great?! I know, it's weird. The only temperature it doesn't like is cold, as in out of the refrigerator cold. However, if you have a microwave with a warming function, you're back in the game.

Now, I've made this quite a few times since I learned how to, and now again for this post...I know, I know, I sacrifice for this blog. I've diced my potatoes small dice because my friend said to "chop them up" and that's what I thought of. However, if you do a little internet snooping, you will find that in Spain, what chopping means really, is to cut the potatoes in half, and slice them thinly. Since it tastes awesome to me both ways, I'm not sure if the potato shape makes much of a difference, so the preference is yours. However, some people seem to think that letting the already cooked potatoes rest in the beaten raw egg allows the potatoes to soak up some egg and makes for a better tortilla. So, with this school of thought, technically the larger surface area and thinner depth of the thinly sliced potato would facilitate this, which is perhaps why in Spain the slice thin variation seems to win out over the small dice. I will have to say that I've let the potatoes and eggs soak for a varied amount of time, and I really did like how it turnes out when it soaks for an hour or so, and as such, I've started slicing more and dicing less.

There is a tricky thing with this tortilla that seems to freak some people out. You have to flip it. Yep, as in with a plate and then put it back in the pan to cook the other side. Honestly, it was easy, so I don't know why it seems to cause so much consternation. I used a cast iron skillet too, not non-stick, and had no problems. If you put the eggs into a pre-heated skillet, you won't have a problem either. That's the real trick.

Maria's Tortilla Española

2 potatoes "chopped"

1 small onion

8 eggs

olive oil -with a bit of butter if you like, as per Maria

salt and pepper

Optional Sauce:

mayonnaise

sour cream

chives

After "chopping" your potatoes and onions, cook them in olive oil until soft, but keep the heat low, because we're not looking for browning here. You can be a bit generous with the oil if you want to retain some to cook the tortilla in. I seasoned the potatoes, but to do it or not is your call.

Beat the eggs. I used a little milk.

Remove the potatoes and onions and add them to the beaten eggs. I kept stirring as I did this, because I didn't want to really start cooking the eggs in the bowl. If you want to let them rest to absorb some egg, do it now.

Put the pan back on the fire to get it hot again, and then turn the heat to pretty low. Add olive oil if you don't have any in the skillet. Add the egg mixture. Let this cook slowly. I think that's a fairly key step. I used a temp-resistant spatula to make sure it was loose about the edges, and to lift corners now and again to allow liquid egg to run off the top, down under, and cook.

When it's pretty well set, grab your plate and flip the tortilla out of the pan and onto the plate.

Return the pan to the stove, and slide the tortilla back into the pan. I remember Maria saying to let it cook on the other side for "oh, 10 minutes or so", so that should give you an idea of just how slowly this thing should be cooking.

That's it.

You can see I lost a little bit that stuck in the pan, but oh well, it happens to the best of us, and when you flip it again, you won't see it. So there is a chance for redemption!

Then, cut into wedges and serve.

Maria said that in the Catalan region of Spain, a sauce of mayonnaise, sour cream and chives is popular to serve with this, and even though that's not where she is from, she loves it. I love it too. Here, I'm making a sauce with fresh cracked black pepper and sun-dried tomatoes. Another delicious variation I stumbled upon was to use chopped up marinated artichoke hearts. Sigh...divinity.

When I made the tortilla, I played with it, as I always do, can't help it, so I added some fresh red pepper to my potatoes and onions, which was awesome. The second time, I used some chopped tomato. I've since used bacon, mushrooms, ham. They're all great.

Sorry this is a bad photo, but you get the idea.

Tortilla Española is now my favorite semi-quick and easy food fix. And talk about economical! It's cheap, beyond simple, but just so marvelous and versitile! It fits the bill for breakfast, lunch, snack and dinner. What's not to love?

Enjoy!

Eierlikör

2009-02-26T10:42:00.012-05:00

Eierlikör...it's a beautiful thing

OK kids, I realize I've been AWOL for a little bit, but I have a really good reason besides holidays and kids and all that. So guess what?! I'm moving! Yes, I'm going to be leaving the Empire State for the Land of Enchantment...doesn't that sound cool? And for those who don't know the lingo, that's New York for New Mexico. Still New, but it's all in the suffix.

I can officially report, moving is hell, and I haven't even moved yet. This is the pre-move stage. Which I'm sure is a completely different circle of hell entirely from the actual moving and post-move circles of hell that I'm sure await me. If I'm not incinerated, I'll keep you informed.

But anyway, to drown my sorrows- and make it up to you, dear reader, I want to share something wonderful that I stumbled upon!!!

It's called Eierlikör, and it doesn't translate well into English- (can we say Egg Liquor?- yeah I didn't think so either) so just say it in German! It sounds better, and lets your guests enjoy this ambrosia without trying to figure things out too much.

Anyway, as you know, I love cookbooks. I've discovered that many European cookbooks that get translated into English are often are full of interesting recipes and have a tendency to be sold as the "bargain" cookbooks you get at booksellers. I love them! They sometimes have glitches and inconsistencies and ingredients that are not common or translated into something recognizeable, but to me, that's half the fun! It's like food sleuthing! So, when I came upon a cake drizzled with Egg Liquor in a translated-from-German cookbook, I have to admit I was completely intrigued but also scratching my head. But after I put on my foodie version of a Sherlock Homes cap- aka, the internet, I was able to figure it out, and even come up with a recipe to try!

I have to say, I love food sleuthing, but even I was impressed with the super-sleuthing skills of a fellow food blogger named Justin who has a great story to tell here.

Yes, the Chrissy he talks about in his marvelous tale of cookies lost and found, is indeed, your truly, but really, he did all the work :)

I should have posted this before, but man, as I have said, I've been in moving hell!

Back to the Eierlikör! Really, it's delicious stuff. Serve it in pretty little aperitif glasses, the one in the above photo is way too large, but I just liked the way it looks.

**A word about salmonella, because it always comes up when you use raw eggs. If you don't want to use raw eggs, use a pastuerized product, or slowly heat the mix up to 160° and let cool before adding the alcohol. Pretty simple, really.

Step 1: Separate 10 eggs and place the yolks in a large bowl.

Step 2: Add 2 cups of cream, 1 pound of sugar (granulated or powdered, it's up to you) and 2 cups of alcohol. I used a very light rum, which is popular, but apparently brandy is traditional, as it is with alot of old fashioned drinks. I say go with what you like.

Step 3: Mix this well. You can use a blender or a hand mixer or just whisk away.

Step 4: Add some vanilla extract, about a teaspoon or two, and the juice of 1/2 a lemon. I also added a pinch of sea salt.

As you can see, it get really rich and creamy. For this batch, I was intrigued by the notion of using powdered sugar, since I wouldn't have thought of that myself, and so I used it for half of the required sugar. I was able to detect a slightly "starchy" consistency in the drink when tasted. Happily however, after a few days of sitting, the starchyness completely dissapeared and became an absolutely silken mouth-feel. I don't know if the acohol broke it down or what, but yes, it does improve with age.

This was my yield for the above recipe. After letting it rest for a few days, it was my intention to strain and then decant into a pretty bottle. However, I will admit that it never got into that pretty bottle, as once my family tasted it, that was the end of that. Apparently they like mason jars just fine!

Enjoy!

Kitchen Woes- but Tasty Joe-Joe's

2008-12-18T08:26:00.007-05:00

So, it probably one of the most food-tastic times of year, but I'm, sadly, out of the loop. My kitchen remodeling..or should I say demolishing, is taking FOREVER! At this thankful time of year though, I am thankful that now there is drywall over the bare joists. Yay! The next step is painting. However, there's still no floors, sink, counters, stove, you know, things that make a kitchen a kitchen. Good new is, I have become very skilled cooking on a hot plate, master of a toaster oven, and so thankful for my weird electric skillet/crockpot device that is actually like a mini-kitchen all by itself. My sad thing is that we're basically on subsistance-food mode, so holiday cooking is really beyond what we can do camped on the kitchen table.

So, my foodie posts are mostly wanna-be's right now. Like I wanna-be cooking, and am not so much. :(

I have, out of necessity, bought store-bought cookies, which I very rarely do when I have a working oven. As you know, I'm very picky about what sort of ingredients will go in my belly. But I've found some goodies. If you haven't tried Trader Joe's Candy-Cane Joe Joe's..do! They're very tasty! Think Oreo's, with crushed candy-canes in the filling, AND without the High-Fructose Corn Syrup! What's not to love? The only thing is they're seasonal and will disappear after the holidays, so it's a get 'em while they're hot sort of thing.

Anyway, I wish everyone a Happy Holidays, and Happy Cooking!

Gravad Lax

2008-11-03T09:53:00.008-05:00

So recently I bought this cookbook entitled Swedish Cooking- from where else? Yes, Ha. Ikea. However, upon flip-through, I could tell this was not a commercial giant watered-down frozen meatball cookbook! It was also not dumbed-down Swedish cooking for Americans (I HATE books like that!). It has a recipe for Blood Soup. YES! Blood Soup! Any cookbook that has enough culinary gumption to include a recipe for blood anything must be bought -at once.

So now I am the proud owner of Swedish Cooking that includes Svartsoppa, but that's not what I feel like talking about today. What I feel calling to me today is...Gravad Lax.

I love Salmon. I think I started loving Salmon when I lived in Alaska and people kept giving me free Salmon for my freezer which I found to be infinitely better than the free moose-meat that started taking over my freezer. I have discovered though, that I prefer the variety of non-cooked salmon dishes to cooked. Give me smoked salmon lox, gravad lax or salmon sushi rather than a cooked fillet any day of the week. So, it is in homage to raw and semi-raw salmon, that I present the following recipe from my wonderful new cookbood entitled Swedish Cooking that has Blood Soup, (printed in Germany by Naumann & Göbel Verlagsgesellschaft mbH). I'm going to paraphrase the instructions and my comments are in *stars*

Gravad Lax (serves 4) *that's about 1/2 lb fish per person, which seems like alot imo*

3 bunches fresh dill, chopped fine
4 T salt
5 T sugar
2.25 lb or 1kg salmon, boned and filleted, with skin on. *This equals 2 pieces*
1 T. peppercorns *grind*
mustard seed to taste *grind*
allspice to taste *grind*

Spread half of the dill on a plate and lay one half of the fish skin side down in the dill. Using half the salt and sugar, rub into the fish. Then season with the black pepper, mustard and allspice. Repeat with the remaining half. Fold up both pieces with the skin on the outside, wrap up and chill in the fridge for 3 days.

*One point is a little obscure with the recipe...do you put any fresh dill on the flesh of the fish? I think that according to the recipe, the dill might solely be for the skin of the fish- which doesn't get eaten, by the way. However, I love dill, so I think I'd use some on the flesh as well.*

After 3 days of marinating in the fridge, you "extract the marinated salmon from its skin and the spices" (love it!) and slice thin. It is recommended to be served on crispbread with mustard-dill sauce. The sauce is as follows:

Dill-Mustard Sauce
5 T sweet swedish mustard *substitute spicy brown and add sugar to taste, it's sort of a honey-mustard taste- that would work too actually :)*
4 T. vinegar
3 T sugar
1 t salt & .5 t pepper (or to taste)
3/4 c oil
2 bunches dill, chpd fine

Blend the mustard, vinegar, sugar and salt and pepper together and beat until the sugar is dissolved. Add the oil slowly and whisk to incorporate. Stir in the dill and keep cold.

Well, that's that. If you ever wanted to make your own gravad lax, now you know how. It's very tasty, I love it. No, I'm not doing photo today. I'm in an anti-camera mood, mostly because I'm redoing the kitchen and it's a total disaster area- no floors, walls, counters, stove, nothing. Makes cooking interesting! Sorta like camping- but in your house and no s'mores.

I need to find out how to make smoked lox. I know that you use a cold smoke, - hot smoke would cook the fish and you'd have jerky, but I'm sort of a noob when it comes to the ways of do-it-yourself smoking. I'll have to research it further. One day, I'm going to own my own smoke-house where I will be able to produce all sorts of smoked delicacies! One day! Oh, speaking of smoked fish, have you ever had smoked trout? or smoked whitefish? Delicious.

Enjoy the Gravad Lax!

Lovely Lentil Curry and Brown Sweet Rice

2008-10-21T21:15:00.008-04:00

I've fallen in love with brown sweet rice!! The texture is unique, the rice literally "pops" in your mouth with the similar feel of a good barley. I don't really feel the need to extol the vast and varied virtues of eating brown rice, it's been done before..perhaps not with such seriously superb alliteration though, hehe.

However, I do want to tote the virtues of brown sweet rice because it's sooooooo darn tasty! I've tried a few methods for cooking this type of rice, but I think the best method is the boil/steam method. What you do is this:

Bring a generous amount of water to boil, add washed rice and boil until when you taste it, the texture is nearly done. This will vary depending on the age of the rice, hardness of your water, etc, so you really do have to taste it! Then you'll know for next time. Anyway, next... Strain it, put it back inyo the pot on the warm burner, put a lid on it and let it steam in it's own heat for about 10 minutes. You won't be unhappy with the results.

Anyway, I've been promising a friend of mine that I would post something nice and lentilly for him to try. Lentils are like legume fast-food. They're super fast and easy and nutritious to boot. They get a bad rap in some circles for whatever reason. I once read this cookbook on Middle Eastern food and the author had put in a little song translated from Arabic about lentils. It went something like:

"By the life of my father, by the life of my father I will not marry the poor man who will tell me to pound the lentils in the morning. By the life of my father, by the life of my father, I will marry the rich man who will tell me to pound the pastry with fat."

So I remember thinking..so lady, you've still got some guy telling you to pound on something and now you're pudgy to boot.

So now you know that lentils are wrapped up with that great little ditty in my mind which probably has it's own psychological definition or something. See what I get for reading too many cookbooks?

Back to the cooking bit.

Lovely Lentil Curry

Wash 1.5 cups of lentils, and simmer until soft. This is a fairly generous portion of lentils, about 6 to 8 people's worth.

2 T virgin coconut oil (of course you can use something else, but this has nice flavor)
2 t. whole cumin seeds
1/2 t. ground coriander
1 t. ground turmeric
2 t. black mustard seeds
1 onion, chopped
2 garlic cloves, chopped
salt and pepper, red chile flakes to taste
1/2-1 cup coconut milk - Use fresh or powdered and use it to adjust the consistency.
dessicated coconut -optional, but tasty
cilantro, chopped

Fry the cumin and mustard seeds in the coconut oil until the mustard seeds begin to sputter and the cumin release it's fragrance, then add the powdered spices. Add the onion and fry until golden, then add the garlic. Stir for a minute and add the cooked lentils, then coconut milk, dessicated coconut if you're using it, salt and pepper and red chile flakes to taste. Cook for a few minutes to desired consistency, perhaps a little soupier if you're serving with brown rice, perhaps a little drier if it's being served solo, add cilantro to taste and serve.

Enjoy!

Sweet Potato Curry

2008-09-25T09:29:00.015-04:00

Sweet Potatoes and Coconut...so good together!

I made a curry last night that I want to share. It has all the principles of a family keeper. It was fast,fast, fast, easy and fast. It's so tasty, and the kids loved it. As in I actually got a "Wow, Mom, this is delicious!" Did I mention I got compliments from the kids..as in they ate it all. I almost fell off my chair. On that virtue alone, I post it here. Maybe one of you may be so lucky and get empty bowls without whining!

I based the curry I made on a recipe I found online. Here is the link if you're interested in seeing that version. One of the main differences, I didn't puree the onions in a food processor. I also added chicken because I was making a main dish, not a side dish or vegetarian main. I think it would certainly be delicious without the meat. I also used candied ginger. You could use fresh ginger, but the candied was really superb. Candied ginger has this sweet heat, it really added depth of flavor. This recipe serves 5.

1 onion, chopped
a few pieces of candied ginger, chopped fine
1 T virgin coconut oil (substitute butter, ghee or olive oil)
1-2 t. garam masala + .5 t. whole cumin (I make my own garam masala, but you could use any nice blend of warm spices)
salt and pepper to taste
1 to 1.5 cups coconut milk. Unless you're using fresh, in which I say bully for you! I really recommend using the powdered coconut over the canned stuff. The flavor is so superior, you will forever pooh-pooh the can.
3 smallish sweet potatoes, peeled and chunked. Use more if you're making this vegetarian.
4-5 boneless, skinless chicken thighs, chunked (use breast if you prefer)
3 T fish sauce (nuoc mam, nam pla..etc) If you're veg., use soy sauce.
2 t. turbinado sugar, or to taste

Start the onions working in the coconut oil. You want a little more than translucent, but not really brown. Add the ginger, then the spices. Let this cook a minute or two to take the raw off the spices. Add the coconut milk and then the sweet potatoes, chicken, fish sauce and sugar. Put a lid on it and let simmer until the sweet potatoes are tender.

I served this over a mixture of brown rice and beans (from the garden! hehe). When you use chicken, the meat naturally creates some more broth, so if you prefer a drier curry, I would add mostly cooked brown rice and beans or lentils towards the end of cooking and let them soak up some of the broth. Or add raw lentils straight to the curry, they themselves will soak up moisture. Just check it periodically to make sure there's enough liquid to cook everything nicely.

The sweet potatoes were so good! They developed this silken texture, it was almost like silken tofu with sweet potato flavor. MMMM!

I have to boast and show a picture of some of my latest garden goodies. :)

Boast, boast, boast

Enjoy!

Now that's what I'm talking about!

2008-08-21T20:21:00.015-04:00

I've been waiting all summer for the tomatoes to be ready and now they're here! Yay! There's nothing in the whole world like a tomato off the vine. I have had some real growing experiences this year with my garden, learning alot about the joys and pitfalls of growing food plants. Here are some of the pests, other than weeds, that I've come into battle with this summer.

I nearly had one tomato stripped clean by a tomato hornworm. I can't believe how big that thing was or how many leaves it could eat so fast. As soon as I noticed the top of one of my tomato plants deprived of leaves, I went looking for it. I found it by it's own weight! As soon as I touched the branch it was on I knew because it was so heavy! Unbelievable. Luckily for me, I noticed it quickly and before it ate the whole thing. The plant bounced back, grew new leaves and is now producing. From what I hear, and I believe it, they eat so fast that you most often loose the whole plant.

Another pest I came into contact with is the dreaded squash vine borer. I had two squash plants, one zucchini and one summer squash essentially killed by them. Well, I saved the plants with squash surgery, but they were so mutilated that they won't produce any more this summer, so it prettty much amounts to the same thing. Squash vine borers are revolting creatures that look like maggots. They chew into your squash plants vine and start eating their way up and you know when all of a sudden your beautiful, healthy plant just completely wilts overnight.

Unfortunately, I am too much of a novice gardener to know what had happened quickly enough to extract the borer before it ruined the plant. It took me two days to find out what happened, and by the time I cut into the vine and removed the grub, the damage was done. I buried the vine to encourage new roots, and they're both still alive, but they died back to just a few leaves as opposed to a huge fruit bearing vine, but oh well. Now I know about it, and will know what to do for next year. One thing about gardening, I'm learning, is that you really have to jump in and get your feet wet to learn.

The zucchini on the left weighed over 2.5 lbs! Crazy! And it still was sweet and tender, couldn't believe it. The eggplants are really yummy, and not bitter.

Another pest I had land on my poor squash, again, was the Mexican bean beetle. I saw these bright yellow, spiky things crawling all over one of the plants, and it looked like they were eating the leaves, so I physically removed them. Found out they were the larvae of the Mexican bean beetle, which looks like a yellow ladybug when mature, and is actually a member of the ladybug family, but one of the few non-friendly ladybug types. Usually ladybugs are good, the red kind anyway, they kill aphids that suck the juice out of your plants.

Mmm, raspberries. Didn't have any problems with them, I think their prickles take care of that themselves, and they were tasty!

I grew a beautiful sage plant. The leaves are huge!! If you've never had fried sage leaves, this is the time to try this wonderful delicacy. Pan-fry sage leaves in butter or olive oil, either as is, or dusted with a little flour, until crisp. You will marvel over the oh, so delicate taste, which is quite unlike fresh sage, and the crisp, buttery texture. They cook quickly, and the flavor goes nicely with beurre noisette, in my oppinion. I've seen them offered as is for hors d'oeuvres just by themselves, or as a garni for meat or grain like polenta or scrapple. Try them yourself, see what you can do with them. They are definately a summer-time treat, or anytime you can get nice fresh sage.

Anyway, happy summer eating and gardening!

Really Good Vegetable Curry

2008-07-23T12:10:00.014-04:00

So I had this post all ready to go and I added the photos like I normally do, put in the captions and it all went to hell in a handbasket. And because blogspot autosaves your work for you, which is usually a good thing, all my recipe goodness was lost. I have to tell you it made me so mad I haven't even thought about a redo for a week now.

However, I felt that I should move on with life, and so I'm going to attempt the remake of my last post, however I'm sure it won't be as witty or clever and will be but a poor shadow of it's former self, but such is life when the computer eats your homework.

This first picture is a show-off because I just can't believe that I'm growing anything that lives, much less is producing tasty things I can eat. It is amazing! I want a pair of overalls and a straw hat, pronto! Actually, really I do, it's like the perfect gardening getup. Anyway, so here one of my zucchini plants doing it's thing. I love it!

Ok, so the original purpose of this post was to talk about this really awesome vegetable curry that I found from Gordon Ramsay, who I really like actually. Not the hyper-obnoxious American TV persona, but the Gordon Ramsay who you find from British sources and is a damn fine chef. So one of the mystiques of looking at him from British sources, is translating the recipes. Once we get past the obvious, like courgette=zucchini, the mystery of this recipe was an ingredient called madras curry paste, which is something I'd actually never heard of. I love when that happens! So after a little research I found out that it is a dry spice masala, mixed with a little fresh ginger, garlic and vinegar to form a paste. It's actually sold pre-fab in England, and I'm sure you could order it, but you can certainly whip up your own and stick the extra in a jar in the fridge, which is what I did.

Madras Curry Paste

2.5 T coriander seed
1 T cumin seed
1 t black mustard seed
1 t black peppercorns
1 t red chile flakes
1 t ground turmeric
3 garlic
1 T ginger, grated
3-4 T vinegar
Toast the coriander, cumin, mustard and peppercorns in a dry skillet until they start to release their fragrance. Be careful as they can scorch easily. Next grind the toasted spices, or grind in a mortar. If using a mortar, pound in the garlic. Add the chile flakes, turmeric, grated ginger and moisten with the vinegar until a nice paste consistency. That's all there is to it!

Now for the vegetable curry. I'll post the original, and then I'll tell you what I did. Not because I wanted to mess with it, but because I use what I have on hand, and a good method will embrace that, which it does, so experiment!

Easy Vegetable Curry

2 T oil (I used butter)
1 banana shallot, chpd (I used onion)
1 garlic, chpd (more!)
1 sm celeraic, peeled and chpd (Didn't have this :( Hard to get where I am, next year I'll grow my own!)
sea salt and bl. pepper
3 T madras curry paste
few cardamom pods
1 gr. pepper, deseeded and chpd (I used Hungarian Wax chiles from the garden)
1/2 cauliflower, cut into florets (I had some frozen cauliflower)
400g can chpd tomatoes
1/2 head broccoli, cut into florets (Ihad some nice mixed veggies, edamame, corn and red peppers and some fresh swiss chard that I used instead)
1 large courgette, chopped (Zucchini fresh from the garden)
250ml container Greek-style yogurt (I used Kefir)
chopped fresh cilantro if you want

The method is such, heat the fat and start cooking the aromatics, onions, garlic and chiles, then when they're soft, add the curry paste and cardamom. Next add the celeraic and the cauliflower since they would take the longest to cook, or whatever you're using that would take the longest. Salt and pepper- a little water if the pan is getting too hot. Next add the can of tomatoes, and the other veggies. If you're using greek-style yogurt which is very thick, add a can of water to start it to stew. Since I was using kefir, which is much thinner, I added just a little water, put a lid on the pot to capture the steam, and let it stew in it's own juice since the kefir was going to thin it out considerably. When the veggies are tender to your desired degree, on low heat, stir in the dairy and cilantro.

That's all there is too it. Very tasty!

I've noticed that Gordon Ramsay has a little how-to video of this curry circulating around, so if you want to see it, it's available. The only annoying part is that the camera-man focused mainly on his face and upper torso, but not so far out that you could see what his hands were doing- or the pot for that matter....hello, cameraman, we want to see the food! But other than that, you can get a fairly good idea of the method.

Enjoy!

To the Farm, in dream if not reality

2008-07-09T15:53:00.020-04:00

Hungarian Wax Peppers (rather chiles)

I've been living in suburbia and cities my whole life, with brief visits to the very rural part of Louisiana where my husband spent summers on his Uncle's farm. That hasn't stopped me from realizing that I've been bitten by the farm bug.

Maybe it happened because I love the country. Maybe it happened because the more I read about food production the more I realize that I want to have control over mine. Maybe it happened because I've always wanted to live in a zoo. I have no idea. However, I do know, that sometime in the future, I will have my farm. Until then, I will continue to learn what I can, dream what I may, and have fun with my garden.

I had this sort of surreal experience the other day. I was in Costco, and I discovered that they've created a huge walk-in cooler space for milk and eggs. So I walk through these plastic swinging door-thingies, and I'm in the cooler space, and it's quieter in there, and all around me on gleaming steel shelves are gallons of bright and shiny milk containers, and cartons of eggs, bundled two-by-two in plastic-wrap. As I picked up a gallon of milk and my hand closes around the cold, plastic handle, and grab a bundle of eggs that I couldn't even check to see if they were cracked, I just got this awful, bone-deep sensation of wrongness, of knowing that this was not natural, this was the farthest thing from natural, and with my skin crawling, just wondering what on earth was in this stuff? I started to balk, but unfortunately, or fortunately, or whatever, I sucked it up because where else am I going to get food? I vow, that someday soon, my food predicament will change. I vow that all my eggs are coming from my own happily scratching chickens, not stuffed and caged critters fed whatever crap makes them spit out the most eggs in the shortest amount of time without keeling over. And my milk will be from happy, pastured animals, chewing on whatever they chew on, the milk split between my family and theirs. Sigh..the dream.

The reality...I ate my first home-grown zucchini tonight...I should have taken a picture, but I didn't think about it. I cut it from the vine, cut it into sticks, dusted them in some flour, and fried it in olive oil. Sprinkle on the salt and my-oh-my. It was heavenly. The flavor was so mild, it was pure zucchini divinity. It really tasted different. Maybe because it ripened on the vine, maybe because there were no chemicals used in it's production, maybe it was the varietal. I really don't know the reason.

What I do know, is that I can't wait for my first yellow summer squash. I have one that's only a few days away. I have delicious, brightly colored swiss chard that I am starting to use in many different things. I also have young green tomatoes and baby eggplants growing. It's so exciting to see them start to produce fruit. Amazing!

My first real yield of anything was Hungarian Wax Peppers...they're really chiles. They are early producing here in the northeast, and prolific! I was very pleasantly surprised, they've gotten a big jump start over the sweet peppers I've planted, although the plants themselves look fairly identical. I've got tons of little babies after bringing in a bunch just a few days ago. They have a nice flavor, a grassy, sharp heat when raw, especially with the seeds, but mellower, losing that bright, sharp edge when cooked. I'm going to start pickling them. They seem like they would be perfect for it.

I'm sort of amazed at how much I am loving growing food! I love the planting, the watering, less keen on the weeding, but I know it's necessary, so I do it. I am eagerly awaiting the next fruit of the vine, so to speak. I'll keep you posted.

My Favorite Strawberry Shortcake

2008-06-30T20:59:00.020-04:00

Strawberry Shortcake is one of the delectable delights of strawberry season. There are a few different versions on the same general theme, the biggest difference in the varieties seems to be in the style of cake that comes with it. I will label the two main varieties as the "sponge-cake variety", and the "short-bread variety". I prefer the short-bread variety, and this is my favorite recipe.

Ingredients:
2 cups white flour
1 T. b.powder
3/4 t salt
3 T. sugar
1/2 cup butter
1 egg, beaten
About 1/3 cup milk
4 cups strawberries, sliced, cut in half, or crushed mixed with a little sugar
enough butter to spread on the cake generously
heavy cream

Heat oven to 450*. Mix dry ingredients, and cut in butter with 2 knives or a pastry blender until it resembles corn meal.

The butter cut in

Next add the egg, then add enough milk to make an easily handled dough.

Complete Dough

Next pat the dough into a 1/2" round. Alternately, you can make a rectangle and cut out individual rounds or squares.

Dough rolled 1/2"

Baked pastry

The next step is to split the cake while hot and butter it generously. You can do this in one piece, or in smaller slices, it's up to you. Sprinkle with sugar and fill with berries.

Yum

Whip up some cream... Mmm I love whipped cream.

The complete cake

For serving, top the shortcake with berries and whipped cream, or pass plain cream. My Mom and Gram used to eat this with milk, so there's a few ways to do it. This recipe makes 6 servings.
Enjoy!

Kefir - a picture tour

2008-06-24T13:31:00.024-04:00

Kefir is a cultured milk product, and a wonderful probiotic. It's much less temperamental than yogurt culture, and has a pleasant taste that I think is more akin to sour cream than to yogurt. Taste ranges from very mild, to quite tangy, depending on the proportion of culture to milk. Fermentation time also helps determine the taste of the final product. It is perfect for smoothies and lassi since it's not firm or jelled. Rather it's thick, more like crème fraîche, and very drinkable.

One thing I love about kefir, other than the health benefits, is that it's cultured at room temperature, and you don't have to boil the milk before you add the kefir culture. I simply add the kefir culture, or "grains" to milk from the fridge in a clean jar, put on the lid, and use the next day. Once the kefir is done, it's easy to make a new batch. Watch:

Kefir after 24 hour fermentation

Kefir curds and grains

I've poured the contents of the jar into a strainer with a bowl underneath, so that I can strain out the kefir culture from the kefir.

Straining the Kefir

As you strain, you will start to see the grains emerge from the kefir.

Beginning to see the grains

They rather look like bits of cauliflower to me, however, the texture is sort of more on par with a gooey gummy bear. You don't rinse them off, as you run the risk of damaging them. Simply strain and place into your new milk. These little guys like to eat, and grow quickly. I'm amazed at how many grains I've had to give away in the weeks that I've had them. I was told that they will eat you out of house and home if you let them. However, I've learned to be ruthless. I like my kefir mild, and that means less grains, so I have to get rid of the extras. They are edible, for those of you who really want a probiotic kick.

Kefir grains

Strained Kefir ready to go

The finished product. I swirled the glass so you can see that it does have legs, it's fairly thick, but not jelled. I love to make rosewater lassi with this, it's perfect on a hot summer day. Normally made with yogurt, the kefir works wonderfully. Take 2 cups of kefir, add a teaspoon of rosewater, a crushed cardamom pod and a bit of ground black pepper. Add some honey, jaggery or sugar and sweeten to taste. Pour over ice, or blend with ice in the blender, and you have delicious kefir lassi.

Aren't yellow poppies pretty? I love summer!

Another great use for kefir, especially for the stuff that's a bit tarter than you like (too many grains!) is to make a marinade for chicken. Use your favorite garam masala, the kefir and a bit of salt and pepper and let it all set for a few hours in the fridge. I love it! I have an aversion to grilling chicken with the skin on...it's so flammable, it chars, it's fatty, but the chicken can get dry without it. I've found the kefir gives the meat wonderful flavor and keeps it moist so you can lose the skin. It's really tasty. Grilltastic, even!

Anyway, I definitely recommend kefir. It is a delicious, versatile cultured milk product, super easy to maintain and keep happy and productive, and fantastic for your internal flora. I'm glad I started keeping the little buggers. They're better than hermit crabs or sea monkeys, I swear.

Enjoy!

It's easy to make kids happy...Cone Cupcakes

2008-05-28T09:01:00.010-04:00

Kid-tastic Cone Cupcakes

Here it is... Voilà! or is it Eureka? Either way, this is the perfect Kid Party Cupcake!!!

Isn't it frightful? My son's kindergarten class loved them!!

One box of cake mix made enough for the whole class. The method is easy. Fill the cupcake cones about 1/2-2/3 full. I used that vanilla cake-mix with the colored bits in it, usually well-received by the kids AND those garishly colored ice-cream cones to add to the effect. These cupcakes cook quickly, only about 20 minutes. The biggest trick for me to figure out was how on earth to bake them so they don't fall over? Well, I used a glass lasagna pan and carefully placed them in that. It worked fine, none of them tipped over. I cooled them on a wire rack as normal.

For the maximum kid-love I used half-chocolate, half-vanilla frosting, dabbed on the little sprinkles that came with the frosting, and draped on a gummy-worm for a truly kid-tastic effect.

They're horribly delicious

Talk about sugar-bombs, but they certainly are colorful!

Enjoy!...well, at least your kids will.

Gjetost

2008-05-22T16:34:00.006-04:00

Picture of Ski Queen Gjetost sold in the US

I have been made me a happy camper :)

Oh, before I start, I created a new look to the blog...I actually went in and changed the code..pretty simple to do, but I still get all excited about it. Me...changing code. Haha!

Anyway, back to the food. I've started making my own kefir, so I'm getting into things dairy, and on one of the message groups I belonged to, someone who shall remain anonymous, yet lauded from afar, mentioned that you can make Gjetost from whey AND provided the link for an awesome site that I hadn't been to in years that now possesses said information.
I did not know that you could make Gjetost from whey, and you can do it at home, rather easily! And I love Gjetost, it is the weirdest cheese on the planet. It is brown, soft, salty and sweet, it tastes like caramel cheese or like cajeta cheese.

Ski Queen Gjetost on Toast-hehe

This is the link to how to make Gjetost. It's located on a site called FANKHAUSER'S
CHEESE PAGE which has some other really cool recipes for cheese like blue cheese and marscapone, mozzerella, and feta.

Gjetost Cheese Making Page

Enjoy!

Photos gratefully lifted from the Norwegian Cheese website.

April Showers

2008-04-26T22:47:00.011-04:00

So I've been a bad blogger, I realize that. But sometimes life gets in the way of peaceful moments to myself when I can sit and type and revel in foody things. I haven't been completely off my game, it's not like I've stopped cooking. I've made a few nice lasagnas - hubby's fav food and all, and I have a minute to sit and reflect on the art of making lasagna. I used to think that it was an involved process, but really, they're quite simple to throw together. I've picked up a few tricks along the way that I'll share.

First, the noodles. You have slight variations in noodle shape, but nothing drastic. Pick your favorite dried pasta. I've been using whole wheat pasta noodles because I try to watch my fiber intake and keep it at a good level- which can be easier said then done, but I don't find it effects the lasagna negatively. I don't pre-cook my noodles. Now don't get me wrong, I used to, but honestly, now I can't be bothered. It comes out just as nice without the pre-cooking. The trick is to thin down your sauce a bit with extra water, and then let the lasagna set after cooking, and you're good to go.

I like to use italian sausage as my meat of choice. I'm just not a big fan of ground beef, but I do love meatballs. Go figure.

I like to use spinach mixed with caramelized onions and eggplant cooked in olive oil and garlic as nice vegetable additions. I don't even get murmuring from the kids on this- probably because they don't know it's in there. haha

I use ricotta cheese, and if that's not possible I use homemade chenna cheese made from a gallon of milk and a few tablespoons of cider vinegar. It's super easy to make and makes a delicious alternative to ricotta. Please don't even think cottage cheese. No kidding, I once ate a lasagna that was made with cottage cheese and pimento spread (ten points if you know what that is). No, I am not making this up! However, if we're sticking to a sort of traditional version, you'd be better off with the ricotta or chenna.

Sometimes, I like to mix the ricotta with a little salt, beaten egg, parsley, things like that. Sometimes just a little salt. Sometimes a bit of garlic. Sometimes some parmesan or grana padano or chevre.

Ok, the assembly. Put in a generous amount of your watered-down sauce on the bottom of your pan. Put in the dry noodles, don't worry if they don't meet the whole way, they will expand so it's ok to allow for that.

Next is the meat layer. The meat is usually the heaviest component and if you put it up top it will press on your other stuff and squish it out. Now you can leave it just a meat layer, or put some veggies on top of the meat, or some cheese if you want a 2 cheese layer, a little more sauce, it's up to you.

Next, another layer of noodle. Put your ricotta, then sauce.

Top noodle, sauce and then shredded mozzarella.

Cover with foil and bake at 350* for about an hour. Try and tent the foil or it will stick to the cheese and that's a sad thing. After baking, let it set, I'd say at least an hour. The longer you let it set the better, as it will firm up considerably and not be all oozy when you cut into it. I've even made a lasagna a day in advance, reheated it before serving the following day and it was perfect. But whatever you decide, leave enough time for it to set-up properly or you won't be happy with the results.

Enjoy!

Beef Shanks

2008-03-18T10:42:00.014-04:00

Meat is a blessing, in my not-so humble opinion, and as such, I take great pains to learn how to utilize every cut. It's part of my personal philosophy on the usage of meat. However, this knowledge comes especially in handy when there's a sale, with meat prices such as they are. I was very pleased the other day to find a sale on beef shanks. The shank is the portion of meat that comes from the legs of the animal. They are round cuts, with a marrow bone, very easy to identify. Being a leg-portion, and therefore well-used muscle, the shanks need a long, moist-cooking process to tenderize and become palatable. When they're done, though, oh heaven! Shank meat is amazingly delicious, rich and flavorful, and the opposite of dry and stringy.

A few tips on preparing shanks. I always wash and dry my meat before use, I think that's especially important for a shanks since there might be bone dust on them.

Beef Shanks, washed and ready for the next step

Then salt and pepper the meat well, and then dredge in flour, shaking off the excess.

Next, give them a really good browning and remove them from the pan.

What I like to do next is have ready a rough chopped mirepoix, that is, carrots, celery and onion. Alot of times, I like to make my shanks in a sort of osso bucco style, however I don't feel required to stick to any one recipe, and I can used the finished meat in a variety of ways, however back to the action.

Rough-cut Mirepoix:carrots, celery and onion ready for the pan

After I remove the meat from the pan I brown the veggies. I like to get a really good caramelization on the veggies, and then add a tablespoon or two of tomato paste and get that cooking.

Ready for the tomato paste

Then deglaze the pan with red wine, add the beef shanks back to the pan and bring up to about half-way up the shanks with water or beef stock, and bring up to a simmer. Put a lid on it and pop it into the over at 350* for and 1.5-2 hours, even longer, depending on how tough the beef was to begin with. Flip the meat over every 30-45 minutes so you can see how it's coming along, and so each side gets equal gravy opportunity.

This is pretty much a standard osso bucco recipe, with the exception that veal is the meat most often used for that dish. Served with a gremolata, you'd be on your way to osso bucco heaven.

Beef shanks, however, can be eaten in a few different ways. Serve with potatoes, rice, noodles or bread, or use as a base for other recipes like beef stew or chili, or make into an interesting stroganoff. The veggies can be left whole or pureed with the gravy. No matter what you decide to do with it, it will be delicious. Sorry I don't have a picture of the finished product, but we ate it. hehe

And don't forget the marrow for all you marrow lovers- you know who you are.

Happy Leap Day!

2008-02-29T07:50:00.005-05:00

I just have to wish everyone a Happy Leap Day! It only happens once every four years you know. I've always found this day interesting, a testament to bad mathematics and keeping with traditions...even if said traditions are not as efficient as they could be. But hey, if we as a society placed great emphasis on efficiency over tradition, we'd all being using the metric system, driving hovercraft that run on gravity and speaking Esperanto. No worries on that, so fear not, all you inch-and-pound-loving masses out there!
No recipe today, sorry kids, just a snarky commentary on Leap Year. Be good!

Candied Orange Peel

2008-02-25T10:00:00.009-05:00

This book really has useful information

My oh My! This has been a crazy month, I tell you. Maybe you've noticed my conspicuous absence, and maybe you haven't, but I've missed me! lol Even today I don't have alot of time to chat, so I decided to post a vintage recipe for candy. I love my old cookbooks, filled with food from a bygone era. Food definitely has fashions, and recipes go in and out of style. Also, frugality is a fashion that comes in and out of style as well, depending on the economics of the times. I personally respect recipes that are frugal, and come up with clever uses to make the most from our food. All food is life and I feel that I owe the life I consume, and I have a responsibility to, at the very least, make the best use of it we can and not waste. So that's why I appreciate recipes like I'm going to share for Candied Orange Peel. Yes, as in peel, that you normally throw out, being made into something tasty! That's my kind of frugal.

This cookbook, part of a set, belonged to my Grandmother, and my Mother thought she remembered that they were obtained via coupons that were given out at grocery stores for purchasing food back in the day. Edited by Ruth Berolzheimer, the director of Culinary Arts Institute, (unfortunately, I couldn't find out any other information about said lady and said institute apart from other cookbooks) my book was printed in 1954, but there was a copyright for 1941 & 1949. It really has a wealth of useful information, such as tables of sugar temperatures, syrup tests, how to blanch nuts, clarify syrup, make fondant and marzipan, spin sugar and dip chocolates. I think that candymaking is sort of a fickle, and laborious process and that's probably why it's mostly bought today, rather than homemade. However, with the increase of questionable ingredients in our food supply, it might be kinda nice to know exactly what's in the candy we eat. So worth making at home kids!

Candied Orange Peel

4 large navel oranges
sugar
cold water

Peel oranges and cut the rinds into pieces of uniform size, about 1 inch long, by 1/4 inch wide. Place in a saucepan, cover with cold water, and bring almost to the boiling point, but do not boil. Pour off the scalding water and repeat this process two more times. Add to the peel its own weight in granulated sugar, cover with cold water, and boil until no sirup shows in the saucepan when it is tipped. Spread on a buttered platter, and roll in sugar when partially cooled.

Lemon peel may be candied in the same way.

The peel of oranges, lemons or grapefruit may be candied in larger pieces as halves or quarters if a longer cooking time in the sirup is allowed. Dry thoroughly before packing in airtight containers.

Best Chocolate Chip Cookies

2008-02-05T22:01:00.001-05:00

Hershey's Chocolate Town Cookies "They're Different!"

This is the recipe for the best chocolate chip cookies in the Universe, Multiverse, or any Verse you can come up with. I don't like soggy, cakey chocolate chip cookies, and these cookies are the the cure for that. Delicate and crisp, mmm pure chocolate chip cookie delight. This old bit of paper has been the recipe that my Mom and my Gram have used for my whole life- I know you can't tell by it's wonderful, pristine state of preservation. Anyway, I'm not sure how old this recipe is, and I'm not telling you how old I am, so...go make some cookies. They're good, but use butter. Shortening is nothing but a blob of goo assaulting your recipe with it's fatty taste!-lessness!!!

Hershey's Chocolate Town Cookies

Cream...1/2 cup shortening (Butter, butter, butter!!!!)
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar, firmly packed
1/2 teaspoon vanilla, ...until light and fluffy

Fold.......1 egg well beaten and beat entire mixture

Sift.........1 cup and 2 level tablespoons sifted flour, 1/2 teaspoon soda, 1/2 teaspoon salt

Add........Sifted dry ingredients to creamed mixture and stir in 1/2 cup chopped nuts, 1 package Hershey's Semi-Sweet Dainties and mix thoroughly.

Drop.......By small spoonfuls on greased baking sheet.

Bake.......In moderate oven 375* F, about 10 minutes.

Yield.......50 cookies.

Yogurt and a How-To

2008-01-25T09:13:00.001-05:00

Left to Right: Greek-style cow's milk yogurt, Sheep's milk yogurt, Goat's milk yogurt

I have a love for cultured foods, and by cultured I mean fermented, probiotic, or otherwise microorganism enhanced and wonderfully metamorphosed food. Researching cultured foods of the world has become a passion of mine, and I've been working on collecting information for a cookbook on the topic. But enough of that! Today I want to talk yogurt.

Yogurt is probably one of the easiest things in the world to make. There seems to be a lot of mysticism surrounding the process, and lots of gadgets you could buy to make it "foolproof". I think it's relatively foolproof without the gadgets, to be honest, and I'll tell you how I do it. But first, I bought a few interesting types of yogurt to contrast and compare my findings. The yogurt was made from sheep and goat milk. I couldn't resist. I wanted to see what the taste and texture differences were between the two, especially since I've never tasted sheep milk before. I also tried a cow's milk greek-style yogurt as well, so three different types of milk were represented.

The sheep milk yogurt was made by the Old Chatham Sheepherding Company located in Old Chatham, NY, which is less than 125 mi from my location in southern Westchester, so I appreciated the almost-local nature of it. I also really liked that it is made from plain sheep milk and cultures, and that's it, no stabilizers or additives. Texture was nice and smooth. That said, I was very wow'd by the "lamby" taste to the milk. Having never eaten a sheep dairy product before, that lamby taste is something I've only ever associated with lamb meat, so it threw my taste buds into a bit of a connundrum. I can't say that I liked it, but to be fair, I think I'll have to try it again now that I know to expect the lamby taste .

The goat milk yogurt was made by Redwood Hill Farm and Creamery located in Sebastopol, CA. It says on the carton that it was the first goat milk dairy in the US to be designated Humane Raised and Handled, which is very much appreciated. This yogurt does have tapioca and pectin in it, which I wasn't particularly happy to see, but to be fair, I have never made yogurt from fresh goat milk, so I'm not sure if it perhaps sets up very runny and needs a bit of a firming agent. Anyhow, the texture was smooth, and firmer than the sheep yogurt. I really liked the taste. It was tangy and delicious. It wasn't unusual to me as I eat and enjoy fresh goat cheese quite frequently and the taste is along those lines.

The Greek-style yogurt that I tried is the Trader Joe's brand. I very much appreciate that their dairy products are rBST free, and that there were no added ingredients, except for nonfat milk. I really liked the texture, it was creamy and thick, and would work as a delicious sour-cream substitute. Adding nonfat milk powder is a trick you can use to thicken yogurt without adding non-dairy thickeners, which brings me to the how-to portion of todays entry.

How to Make Yogurt

1 qt. milk
Plain yogurt of your favorite brand containing live cultures
dry milk powder, optional

The most important thing in making yogurt is to have clean utensils. This will include your hands. Bring the milk to a boil in a pot that has a lid, and then remove from the heat.

Let the milk cool until you can stick your finger in the milk and count to 10 before it's too hot to stand.

Whisk in 2-3 T. of your plain yogurt into the milk. If you want thicker yogurt, whisk in 1/4-1/2 cup or dry milk powder.

Put the lid on the pot and put in a warm place for about 5 hours. What I use for a warm place is my oven that I turn on the lowest it will go for a minute or two, and then turn off. If your oven isn't gas with a pilot light, wrapping the pot in a towel to keep it cozy might be an idea, or just wrapped in a towel on your counter if your kitchen is very warm . Keep in mind the whole idea is the same as rising bread...warm let's the little cultures grow and turn your milk into yogurt, hot kills them, and cold makes them inactive. Use your best judgement, and if you look after 5 hours and it's still milk, don't go crazy, just re-use the milk and try again.

Remove to a container with a lid for storage in the fridge.

Don't forget to leave a little bit in the container to use for your next batch!

Some variations to think about:

Add lemon zest, juice and a bit of sweetener to the milk, and then add your culture, proceed as above, and voila! lemon yogurt. You can make vanilla and chocolate yogurt in this fashion as well.

A delicious Indian variation is to use condensed milk, which you can boil down yourself if you so choose, and jaggery, which is unrefined sugar. Dissolve it in the hot milk, let it cool to the appropriate 10 second temperature, and then add the culture and proceed as normal.

After the yogurt is done, stir in some of the fruit jam of your choice for flavored fruit yogurt like you could buy in the store.

Like to make homemade butter? Fresh buttermilk makes really tasty yogurt.

I love to eat yogurt plain with some honey drizzled on it. Heavenly!

Microwave Bacon Rocks!

2008-01-16T10:30:00.001-05:00

I'm a crunchy bacon person, and I'm telling you, there is probably no better way to cook brainlessly easy, perfectly crisp and crunchy bacon, than to cook it in the microwave. I don't consider myself a microwave cook, I don't use the microwave for anything really, other than to reheat food- oh, and melt chocolate. I do use it for that. But I absolutely love it for bacon!
When you use a skillet, there are always places that are softer than others. Baking bacon in an oven is a fairly standard way to make large quantities of bacon, and actually, if you want to keep the bacon grease, I would recommend it. It's super simple, you put your bacon strips on a half-sheet pan, and bake it in the oven until the desired doneness is achieved. However, for breakfast bacon quick, easy and relatively mess free in the morning, the microwave is the way to go.
I use a microwave plate thingie that I don't even know how I ended up with it, but it works beautifully. I've also used a regular plate with satisfactory results, so no specialty equipment is required. So here is a step-by-step to make perfect microwave bacon.

Step 1: Choose your plate

Step 2: Place a paper towel, then bacon on the plate

It doesn't matter if your bacon overlaps a bit, as shown here in the photo. Too much overlapping and they might start to stick together, but this is fine.

Step 3: Fold the edges of the paper towel up and over

The biggest hazard, in my opinion, of cooking bacon in the microwave is the potential for bacon grease dripping all over your turntable. However, folding the edges of the paper towel up and over, as shown, doesn't allow the greasy paper towel to touch the turntable at all, and so voila! No greasy mess.

Step 4: Place a paper towel over the bacon and tuck under the edges

You want the top paper towel to be tucked under the bacon and lower paper towel as the weight will keep it in place, and again, no hanging edges or grease mess.

Step 5: Cook by increments. This is after 2 minutes

If your microwave is über powerful, you might want to cook by 1 minute intervals. Some people like to eat their bacon in this limp, floppy format. However, if this gives you the heebies, press on!

After 4 minutes

After 6 minutes

For me, this is almost perfect. One more minute I think...

After 7 minutes

Ah, crunchy bacon perfection. Let the bacon sit for a minute- it gets crunchier as it sets, and if the paper has stuck to it for any reason, it will come off as it cools. Remove the bacon and throw out the paper towels. That's all there is to it! The best part is, you get bacon quickly, and no messy microwave. Enjoy!

Braised Lamb

2008-01-11T19:01:00.001-05:00

Browning Lamb Neck Bones

When I was growing up, lamb was considered a special occasion meat. At 2, 3 or even 4 times the cost of beef or more, it wasn't economical. However, with beef prices raised to where they are, I am constantly suprised (happily, that is) by just how affordable lamb has become.

I love braised lamb dishes. I love lamb shanks and using meaty lamb neck bones in a variety of ways. These were once, and heck, still are, considered the more undesireable, and therefore less expensive cuts of the lamb. However, in my oppinion, there are no undesireable parts. Everything depends on how you prepare the meat. I love these cuts, because through the moist cooking process, the meat becomes just meltingly tender and oh, so flavorful. It's lovely.

So, the other day I was in the market, and I came upon lamb shanks AND meaty lamb neck bones and was stunned to see them for approximately $2.50 a pound. Done. Sold. Market happiness. I brought them home and made some delicious braised shanks. There are unlimited variations on how to make this dish. It's a fairly standard methodology, with variations on ingredients. However, I'll share how I made the ones in my, sadly, fuzzy photo. Bad camera.

Braised Lamb Shanks

3 or 4 lamb shanks - 1 per person is common, but that's alot of meat for me, personally
2 med, or 1 large onion
3-4 cloves garlic
3-4 carrots
1/2 c. red wine, or to taste
3-4 T. tomato paste diluted in 1/2 c. water. Feel free to use other types of tomato product, this is just what I had on hand. Canned or fresh tomatoes will produce alot of liquid which would be perfect.
1/2 t. allspice and 1/4 t. nutmeg or to taste
salt and pepper to taste
Throw in some fresh thyme if you have it, or italian parsley

Start browning the lamb shanks in a little butter or olive oil. Really let these things go to a nice, dark golden brown. This usually takes between 15-20 minutes.
Remove the shanks unless you have a lot of room in your pan, and start cooking the onions. When they have softened, add the carrots and then garlic. Deglaze the pan with the red wine, if the onions haven't already, add the tomato product, and the spice. Add the lamb back in, cover, and simmer for 1 to 1&1/2 hours, or until tender. If you want a thicker sauce, let it simmer for 1/2 hour with the lid off. Adjust your seasoning and there you go!
This is great with a starch of some kind, such as boiled potatoes, cooked rice, noodles, or even a nice baguette. You want something nice and neutral that will pair with the sauce. Enjoy! :)

Braised Lamb Shanks

Ooh ooh! Did you notice? I can now add captions to my pics! Hooray for me! I feel so accomplished.

Bärenjäger

2008-01-04T20:56:00.000-05:00

Have you ever had Bärenjäger? (spelled Baerenjaeger without the umlauts) If so, you know the love. If not, then you are in for a treat because this is some delicious stuff. It's like liquid honey- with a kick. It comes in a bottle with a cap shaped like a beehive. How great is that? But you know me, I need to know where this stuff comes from, and can you believe it? I found recipes to make your own. Apparently it's pretty common in Germany.

It's an old Prussian drink, in fact, according to some information from Germany, it is the national drink of East Prussia. It's based on an ancient drink called Meschkinnes, which was a honey homebrew that farmers made. In Germany today, it appears to be more oftenly called Bärenfang, which means Bear Bait, however I've seen Meschkinnes too. Maybe it's a regional thing, I'm not sure. Bärenjäger, meaning Bear Hunter, is what this drink is called in the States, and actually appears to be a brand name from the Teucke & König Company. It was created, and I couldn't find out when to my dissapointment, by the Teuke & König company back when they were the Teucke & König Bear Trap Company. Honest! As in made bear traps- to catch bears in. Apparently, they dropped the business of making Bear Traps and just kept up the Bear Hunting Juice. I even found a couple of poems- in German- dedicated to Bärenfang but they really didn't translate well. I also found some testimonials, and recipes for mixed drinks using Bärenjäger which seems to be the most readily available brand for purchase in the States. However, what I really wanted to know was how to make my own Bärenfang. Hehe. This is what I found.

This was found on the Ostpreußen .net website and was translated in an erm..interesting way by google translation.

Meschkinnes ist ein ostpreußischer Seelentröster

Zutaten:
250 g Blütenhonig, ½ Liter Wodka, 1 Zimtstange, Schale einer ungespritzten Zitrone

Den Honig in etwas Wodka bei milder Hitze auflösen, dann kalt werden lassen. Den restlichen Wodka, die Zimtstange und die dünn geschälte Zitronenschale dazugeben. Bei Zimmertemperatur etwa eine Woche lang fest verschlossen stehen lassen und dabei täglich gut durchschütteln. Anschließned den Likör in eine Karaffe füllen und verschlossen und dunkel aufheben.

Na dann: Prost!

Meschkinnes is a ostpreußischer Revitalising

Ingredients:
250 g honey, ½ liters of vodka, 1 cinnamon stick, a cup lemon ungespritzten

The honey in a little vodka with mild heat dissolve, then cold. The rest of vodka, cinnamon stick and the thinly peeled lemon peel add. At room temperature for about a week are tightly closed and the daily well to churn. Anschließned the liqueur into a carafe and fill locked and dark repeal.

Well then: Cheers!

Now let me try to translate the translation. What this says to me, is that on low heat, you dissolve the honey in a just a little of the vodka. Then let cool. Add the remaining vodka, cinnamon and lemon peel to a sealed container that you agitate everyday for a week. Then strain off the sediments and decant into a clean bottle, seal it, and store in a dark place.

Another version I found comes from the website of the German Embassy in D.C. Yay for diplomacy! http://www.germany.info/relaunch/culture/life/baerenfang.html

Ingredients:

2 cups honey
1 pint grain alcohol
2 cups plus 4-1/2 teaspoons Moselle wine
Directions:

Carefully heat the honey until it has turned to liquid. Remove from heat. Stir in the alcohol, then add the wine (or water). Fill into bottles and let the liqueur stand for several weeks. The longer it stands, the better the taste.

Mmm. Sounds straightforward enough.

Another version was described to a blogger named Schneelocke. The ingredients were "rape" honey, "lab" alcohol that was 98% pure, distilled water and nothing else. That alcohol sounds serious, since 35% alcohol is 70 proof! Also, I'm not sure what type of honey that is, but here, you can read for yourself. schnee.livejournal.com/592676.html

One more version found here: rezeptzentrum.com/Recipe.asp?code=273304 is entitled East Prussian Bärenfang and is pretty much the same type of recipe. The differences here are along with the honey and vodka, you add a cinnamon stick, a vanilla bean, 4 cloves and 1/2 a lemon peel. This recipe recommends a period of 8-10 days for the infusion, and then decanting.

One interesting way to use the Bärenfang was in a cup of hot tea, or with hot water. Sort of a honey hot toddy, and supposedly good for colds and other winter-time ailments. I'm telling you, that sounds fantastic right now because I've been freezing my butt off for the last two days.

Anyhow, that's about enough on that! I hope you get to enjoy some of this honeylicious liquor sometime soon, and if you've ever swung a stein while singing Ein Prosit then Zicke-zacke, zicke-zacke, Hoi, Hoi, Hoi!

Ye Olde Christmas

2008-01-01T16:53:00.001-05:00

I love history. I also, as you know, love food. So I’m sure that you don’t find it that outrageous that I love food history and historical recipes. In keeping with the entire Christmas and New Years season, which will officially leave us on January 6th as the Day of the Epiphany or Three King’s Day, I’ve been wanting to post some old fashioned Christmas recipes that perhaps will inspire us next season!

In this vein, I went on a quest for an antique typeface, not really expecting much of a result, but my ideal would be to post some of these old gems in a typeface that would have been used in the 1700’s when some of these recipes were first put into print in English. One of my favorite cookbooks is “The Williamsburg Art of Cookery” compiled by Helen Bullock in 1938 and based on a book that had been printed in Williamsburg, VA in 1742. I started looking at it for information on what period typeface they used, and found out that it is printed in the Caslon typeface, which is, indeed, an eighteenth century typeface.

Enter the very excellent work of Mr. David Manthey, whom I’ve never met, but is my hero of the hour. He created a free for personal-use font, based on Caslon, that can be used on the computer. Not only that, but a button that can be installed in Word to take your typing into the 18th century- or undo it. It’s beautiful! His work can be found at his page entitled 18th Century Ligatures and Fonts. Thank you David!

This recipe first appeared in “Mrs. Bradley’s British Housewife” published in London, England in 1756. Apparently, from the narration, it was an ancient recipe at that time, and sort of old-fashioned. I find this concoction absolutely fascinating- ah, though not enough to actually try it. I think some mincemeat recipes might have originated along these lines. I’ve always imagined mincemeat pie to be a sort of throwback to medieval cookery, considering the spices used. But anyway, please, please, please, if some historical fanatic, er, intrepid soul makes this recipe please let me know! Take pictures! Tell the tale! Onward Mrs. Bradley!

It's come to my attention that not every browser can read the recipe in the Caslon typeface automatically. However, you can add the font to your computer from the html version of David Manthey's 18th Century Ligatures and Fonts page, click here. If you don't want to do that, I've added a scan so you can at least see what it looks like. :)

Plumb Porridge

This is a famous old EngliÈ diÈ, and though at preÇent diÇuÇed in London, yet as there are many Families in the Country who Ìill keep up the CuÌom of HoÇpitality, and admit this among the Entertainments of the SeaÇon, we Èall not leave the Cook at a LoÇs how to make it.

ChuÇe a Äne and ÅeÈy Leg of Beef with the Shin, crack the Bone in Several Places, and put it into a clean Copper with eight Gallons of Water: Let there be a moderate Fire; add nothing to the Meat and Water, but let them boil together till the Meat is ready to fall from the Bones, and the Broth is very Ìrong; then Ìrain it out, preËing the Meat hard to get out the laÌ of the Gravy.

Wipe the Copper, and pour in the Broth.

Cut oÁ the Tops and the Bottoms of Half a Dozen Penny-loaves, Êice them, and put them into a Pot with as much of the Broth out of the Copper as will cover them; let them Ìand half an hour to Çoak, and then Çet them over the Fire to boil.

When the bread is thoroughly Çoft pour the Whole into the Copper to the ReÌ.

Let this boil up a quarter of an Hour.

While this is doing waÈ and pick Äve Pounds of Currants, put them in, and make it boil up again.

While the Currants are boiling in the Broth, Ìone Éx Pounds of RaiÉns, and a Pound and half of Prunes, put theÇe in, and let them boil till they are plumped up and perfeÀly tender.

Then put in ten Blades of Mace, a Dozen and a half of Cloves, and half an Ounce of Nutmegs, all bruiÇed together in a Mortar.

When the Spices have boiled up two or three Times take away the Fire, and let the Whole cool: When it is Ço cool that it can be taÌed put in three Pounds of double-reÄned Sugar powdered, Çome Basket Salt, and a Quart of Sack.

Stir it all about, and then taÌe it. The Salt is the nice Article; take Care that it be neither briny nor inÉpid; when it is rightly ÇeaÇoned put in a Quart of red Port Wine, and Çqueeze in three Lemons.

Stir all up very well together, and taÌe it once again to Çee if it be rightly ÇeaÇoned: The Palate muÌ judge this; if there want more Wine, more Sugar, or more Lemon Juice, add theÇe till it is right; if it be too Èarp a little Sugar takes that oÁ, and if too Çweet the Juice of Lemon is a Remedy for that: When it is thus well Çuited to the Palate, ladle it out into earthen Pans, and Çet it by: A proper Quantity is to be heated occaÉonally, and Çent up to Table.

The French laugh outrageouÊy at this old EngliÈ diÈ, and to be Çure it is an odd Medley: It puts one in Mind of thoÇe famous Medicines of Antiquity, the Mithridate and Venice Treacle, into which the Inventors Ìrove to put every Thing that was good, without conÇulting how the Çeveral Things would agree with one another; there are, however, yet many good old EngliÈ Palates which are well aÁeÀed to the cordial Broth.

Mmmm Mussels

2007-12-31T19:37:00.000-05:00

Happy New Years!!! Almost!!! I had mussels for dinner tonight, and they are so good and so easy, I wanted to share this super quick and simple way to a seafood feast. No straining involved, I promise. Trust me, I spent the day at the Met herding my kids (Tapestry exhibit is marvelous by the way!), so the last thing I wanted to do was anything involving large amounts of effort. You will enjoy this.

5 lbs. mussels
3 T. butter
2 T. extra virgin olive oil
6 oz. white wine
3 cloves garlic
2 stalks celery, or the heart of the celery, with leaves
Italian parsley if you have it

If you buy your mussels from a good seafood purveyor, then they should be scrubbed and ready to go. All they should need is a nice rinse.
Mince the garlic, and cut the celery paper thin, and chop the leaves small. Chop the parsley if you're using it.
In a nice big pot, heat the butter and oil and sweat the garlic and celery, reserving the leaves. When soft, you can add the leaves and then the wine.
Bring the wine to a boil, add the mussels and put the lid on the pot.
Steam the mussels until they open.

I like to serve this with a nice baguette to sop up the delicious broth that will be created, and a nice white wine.

Tonight I used a lovely baguette that had whole garlic baked in. I toasted it on an open griddle, and paired this all with a nice Traminer Riesling. Oh yes! This was a great way to say farewell to the old year and to prepare for the new one! Can't wait for fondue tonight!...it's a midnight thing.

Chicken Liver Pâté with a Difference

2007-12-29T11:52:00.002-05:00

This is a delicious pâté that was the most popular at Christmas Dinner. I was surprised actually, because it's not what I consider a normal pâté, in that it contains fruit soaked in alcohol. But maybe that was the trick!

The original recipe calls for currants, and you're welcome to try it that way, but I have to say, I used dried sweetened cranberries and it was fantastic. I also used rum and creme de cassis instead of cognac and port, used less butter in the pâté than the recipe called for, and made ghee for the top, which I think has a much nicer flavor than simple clarified butter. The original recipe comes from the 1995 edition of "The Martha Stewart Cookbook" and it's called Chicken Liver Pâté with Currants. This is my version.

1/3 c dried sweetened cranberries
5 T mixture of rum and creme de cassis, or cognac and port, or other sweet and/or fruity alcohols of your choice
4 T butter
1- 1&1/4 lb. chicken livers
1 garlic clove, minced. Use a nice generous one.
sea salt and pepper to taste
a little minced thyme

Soak the cranberries in the alcohol overnight.
Clean and wash the livers. If the livers are very dark and bloody, soaking them in a strong salt water will improve them.
Sauté the livers in the butter until lightly done, meaning the interiors are still pink. Remove the livers from the pan, leaving the pan juices. Drain the alcohol from the cranberries and add to the skillet with the garlic, salt, pepper and thyme. After pan is deglazed, remove from the heat.
Purée the livers as smooth as you like your pâté to be, adding the liquid from the skillet.
Mince the cranberries, and stir them into the pâté. Pack into a crock or terrine or bowl or whatever you want. Seal with the ghee, a depth of about 1/4 " is perfect and let this pâté sit in your refrigerator for 2 days before serving. The flavor really does improve with the sitting.

Enjoy!

You know, I was just thinking that pâté is one of those weird things that is usually considered a special occasion, fancy dish, which usually means time consuming and expensive, but it's really quite easy and inexpensive to create. Did chicken livers used to be a more expensive meat? Perhaps because pâté de foie gras is pricey? Did you know that using fancy accents on every French import word is fun?

Sorry about the fuzzy nature of this photo, but it's the only one I took of this pâté for whatever reason.

My Christmas Dinner or Gooses Geeses

2007-12-27T23:49:00.000-05:00

I have been off enjoying myself and I hope everyone has had a fantastic holiday! I had a wonderful Christmas. Family, friends, food... it was great! I wanted to talk Goose and share a couple of photos. I also wanted to share a recipe for pâté that turned out fantastic, so I'll post that tomorrow. Back to the Goose. This is a Roast Goose which was one of the traditional foods my family likes for Christmas. To me, Goose is very Dickens...and God bless us, every one! The meat is very dark, if you've never had goose before, and the bones and joints are not like a chicken, so be forewarned if you're going to try and joint the thing. Another thing about a goose is the enormous amount of fat that bakes off of the bird. Use a deep roasting pan to make sure that the rendered fat has somewhere to go other than all over your oven. I removed a lot of the visible fat from around the goose cavity when I was preparing the bird, but still got quite a bit in the bottom of the roaster. Also, you want to prick the skin of the goose gently with a fork to help the fat render out, especially on the breast.

The rub is equal parts ground fennel, coriander and white pepper. The cavity is stuffed with 2 oranges, quartered, and some fresh thyme and rosemary.

Here is the Goose still in the roasting pan.

Here is some sliced and on a plate.

I've decided to make Rillettes out of the goosey leftovers. Mmmm. That's almost better than the original. :)

Orange and Cardamom Rice Pudding

2007-12-20T12:13:00.002-05:00

I made rice pudding last night. There's something very relaxing and homey about rice pudding. Comfort food, if you will, though I know that term gets bandied around quite a bit. But back to the pudding, I was asked by the church I've been attending to donate a dinner for two, so I wanted to make something that would please a large palate spectrum, and something that would be cheerful and comforting.

I started making a plain vanilla rice pudding, and it smelled very nice, but I thought it could use a bit of spicing up, a bit of Christmas-y flavoring. So I ground fine in my mortar two pods of cardamom and added that to the simmering milk and arborio rice, and zested an orange and added that with the sugar. The result...a very delicious rice pudding with hints of orange and cardamom that I hope you enjoy.

2/3 c. arborio rice
5 c. milk
1 vanilla bean, seeds scraped out or 1/2 t. vanilla extract
2 cardamom pods, seeds ground fine
pinch of salt
1/2 c. sugar
1 orange, zested

Bring the milk and rice to a boil, then lower the heat, add the cardamom, salt and vanilla bean, if you're using it and simmer until the rice is soft. This takes about 30 minutes, and please give a stir often. Then add the sugar and orange zest and vanilla extract if you're using it, and simmer another 10 minutes until thick. Yay! It's done...well, almost.

If you want a richer, thicker pudding, you can add a beaten egg or two. Laison the egg, by adding a bit of the hot milk to the eggs whilst stirring, and then adding it all back into the pudding. This will keep the eggs from curdling. A good time to do this would be at the same time you add the sugar and zest.

Now take that orange that you zested, and make supremes (segmented oranges that have all the peel and pith removed) for a lovely garni and there you have it. Isn't this stuff terrific? So simple. Old technique as well, to make a dessert that doesn't need to be baked, back before household ovens were commonplace. Puddings are sort of old fashioned in that way, but I think that's part of their charm.

Svenska Köttbullar (Swedish Meatballs)

2007-12-17T15:02:00.003-05:00

Swedish Meatballs with Cranberries and Dilled Potatoes

Today, I'm writing about last night's dinner. A most delicious concoction called Svenska Köttbullar, or the ever-tasty, Swedish Meatballs. This the most well known name for the dish in the States, though as you can imagine, Scandinavian regional varieties abound, and even within the Swedish genre you will find multiple variations. I liken this phenomena to meatloaf. Meatloaf is meatloaf, but not all meatloaves are of the same ilk. One could ask...Are you of the ketchup variety meatloaf? or the brown gravy variety meatloaf? with or without chunks of onions and peppers? breadcrumbs or oatmeal? and on and on, ad infinitum, and most likely ad nauseum. However, I digress. I'm talking meatballs!

I've been wanting all things Christmas-y in keeping with the season, and Swedish Meatballs are a traditional Christmastime favorite in Scandinavian countries. Probably because they're darn tasty.

Anyway, this recipe makes wonderful, wonderful meatballs. A really good technique is to use your kitchenaid and let the paddle beat the meat mixture fluffy. I'm going to give you the basic recipe and tell you what I did, however, the recipe does allow for some improvisation.

For Meatballs:
2 lbs. ground meat. I used beef, pork and veal in equal thirds.
3 slices fresh bread. I used whole wheat.
6 oz. (3/4 c) milk. I used evaporated milk (ran out of milk!) and a splash of cream.
1 onion, minced and sweated in butter w/a pinch of salt
1 egg
sea salt
black pepper
1/4-1/2 t. fresh grated nutmeg
1/4-1/2 t. allspice (I also threw in 2 cloves and a cardamom pod..mmm)

For Gravy:
1/4 c. white flour
3 c. beef broth
1/4 c. cream. I used about 2 T.cream and 2 T. greek-style yogurt
chopped fresh dill

For Lingonberries and Substitutions a few ways:
Use store-bought Lingonberry jam
or
Simmer fresh lingonberries,cranberries or red currants until they start to burst, about 10 min and then add sugar to taste, and continue to cook until the sugar is dissolved.
or
Mix fresh lingonberries with sugar, about 1/2 c. per pound, and let sit for at least two hours and then use.
or
Just cover 1/2 c. dried sweetened cranberries in cold water, let soak while you are making the meatballs, and then microwave for a minute or two. The reconstitued berries (without the water) are wonderful on top of the meatballs.
or
Use red currant jam, or cranberry sauce

Tear the bread into pieces, and then soak the bread in the milk until absorbed. This can take 30 minutes, so in the meantime prep your onions. I used my kitchenaid to mix everything, so I gave the bread and milk a good beating first. Then I added the egg, onion, spices, gave it a whirl, and then added the meat and let it go until fluffiness achieved.
Easiest way I've found to form the balls, is to wet your hands and have go. It's the fastest in my oppinion. These aren't large meatballs, about walnut sized should do it.
Fry the meatballs in a little butter and then remove from the pan. Make a gravy with the pan-drippings, adding a bit of butter if you need too. If you need a step-by-step for gravy, then add the flour to the pan and stir until a nice golden brown. This is called a roux. This is a french term, so to pronounce just pretend the x isn't there. Then add your broth and stir or whisk until smooth. Lower the heat, add the dairy and the fresh dill and then add the meatballs back to the pan and simmer together until everything is nice and hot. Serve with the lingonberries or appropriate faux berry.

So what the heck is a lingonberry, anyway?
Good question. The latin name is Vaccinium vitis-idaea. It's the product of an evergreen, creeping shrub with a berry that is red, tart, and smaller than a cranberry. Found naturally in colder climes, this plant has more pseudonmyms than a romance novelist! It's called, just in English mind you, besides lingonberry, cowberry, red whortleberry, bog cranberry, alpine cranberry, red bilberry, lingberry, foxberry, mountain cranberry, northern mountain cranberry, whimberry, dry ground cranberry, rock cranberry, partridgeberry, and lowbush cranberry.

A Little Salt

2007-12-14T11:12:00.000-05:00

Today was the second time in two days that I've seen on the television a report on how specialty salts make a great Holiday gift. And you know what? I'd be completely ecstatic to get a collection of salts for Christmas. Being the picky person I am, I would prefer the collection of the minerals themselves from various location rather than the salt blends of say...one kind of salt with herbs, or truffle bits, or what have you.

One of the best lessons I ever had in Culinary School was the day my Chef did his salt comparison. I had never really before given salt much of a consideration. I guess I thought they were pretty much all the same, I mean, it's a mineral with a distinct chemical makeup. Well..yes and no. Table salt is technically sodium chloride, but true mined salt or sea-harvested salt has different make-ups and therefore different tastes. This opened up a whole new world to me.

We first prepared different foods to taste the salt with. Everything from hard-boiled eggs to fresh sliced tomatoes, to meat and grains. We tasted the salt by itself, and then with the different foods. I tasted salt from France- a few different varieties, harvested in different ways and all with different flavors. There was Japanese salt and Hawaiian salt which were both of a red-pink color, but with different tastes and size of crystals. I tasted Indian black salt which is a greyish color and had hints of sulfur and pepper in it that tasted fantastic with tomatoes. I tasted American salts, Carribean salts, Atlantic and Pacific salts, as well as inland mined salts, all from different parts of the world with different grains, textures and tastes. I tasted regular old table salt which became as nice-tasting as old rubber boots in comparison to the other salts which had some real Taste! to them. Until that time, I had not known that some salt was "saltier" then others! That you could alter the taste of food with different salts. That some foods tasted better with a certain variety of salt as opposed to others. That all salt is not created equal.

It was that day that I realized that you really must taste all your ingredients if you want to know how they're going to work in the finished dish. You need to taste your salt! You need to taste your butter, your olive oil and your molasses because they're not all the same, and accommodating your ingredient's unique flavor can really make a huge difference in your final product.

The picture above is of a French Atlantic sea salt. You can see that the grains are variegated crystals, they lean towards an off-white, greyish-beigy color, and are moist and a bit clingy to each other. I took the picture where you could see the snow in the background to get the color-comparison, though I think the reflected light brightens them up a bit. This particular salt has a very sharp salt taste and I like to use it when I want something to have a taste of salt, but not actually use a lot of salt, if that makes sense, or if I want to give a surprising salty-pow! :)

Musings on (what's in) Chocolate

2007-12-12T23:01:00.000-05:00

Lately, because of different circumstances and people in my life, food ingredients and purity of ingredients has really been in the spotlight for me. I've been learning so much about different food additives, and also about how our bodies process what we eat, sugars and carbohydrates in particular. It's fairly mind-boggling. This in turn is redefining what I consider quality food products, and what I will and will not buy. My health is very important to me, and so is the health of my family and my clients. The more I know, the more I realize I have to know, because there is no one out there going to take the responsibility for my health and safety. I have to know what's good, and I can't rely on governments or food manufacturers to do my homework for me, or be in my health's best interest. Especially when that best interest comes into direct conflict with the bottom line.

So, a few days ago I talked about Chocolate, one of my favorite foods on the planet. I gave information on the "Don't Mess with our Chocolate" campaign, which I wholeheartedly support. But now I want to talk about what is currently in our chocolate. I've done a lot a research on what is added to the chocolate in particular. The two main additives that can be questioned are soy lecithin and PGPR. From what I can gather, soy lecithin, a chocolate emulsifier, of itself is not a problem. The problem lies in the fact that soy lecithin can be made from Genetically Modified Soy(GMO), and/or it can be manufactured by a chemical extraction process. The optimal soy lecithin for consumption is made by organically grown, non-GMO'd soy, manufactured by a mechanical process. As you can imagine, this is also the priciest lecithin product out there, so... good luck, label watchers.

PGPR is another emulsifier that is being used in chocolate. Polyglycerol polyricinoleates (PGPR's) are produced from esterification of polyglycerols with polymerised ricinoleic acid. Doesn't that just sound delicious?

Anyway, this product is supposedly derived originally from castor oil (which is something I love, personally, as a skin oil as long as it's cold-pressed) but which I'm not too impressed to find in some weird chemical soup in chocolate. It says right on Danisco's website (one of the European manufactures of PGPR) that "It can replace fat (cocoa butter) in chocolate while maintaining the same flow properties during production. Thus, when thin-flowing chocolate is required for enrobing or when producing hollow products, e.g. Easter eggs, GRINDSTED® PGPR can be used as a cost-effective alternative to a higher fat content."

Yay! Who needs cocoa butter, that pricey, pricey stuff, when you can use this new goop and cut costs and still get chocolate! Well, sort of, but that's OK. Americans will eat it!

Some pages worth reading:

"Organic Rules Tightening on Lecithin" By Ken Roseboro, Editor The new proposed labeling requirements actually made me happy. However, it's also disappointing to understand that as soon as labeling laws change, the first things companies do is try and figure out ways around them. They seem less interested in making their products safer or healthier. It's a little sobering to realize that even in health-food stores with health-food products, you can't just blithely throw items in your cart, secure in the knowledge that the higher price tag guarantees you quality. Because it doesn't.

'How to order "The Non-GMO Sourcebook"' Listed on The Organic and Non-GMO Report website. This website also has some good information on soy lecithin.

Twango's Tidbits Blog: "The Shopper's GMO guide", by Twango
I love the information on this page, and I want the book she's talking about! Very much worth a read.

Polyglycerol "Polyricinoleate (PGPR) Popping Up In Sugar-Free, Low-Carb Chocolates", by Jimmy Moore I'm not really on the low-carb bandwagon- I'm more on the eat the correct types of carbohydrates and in the correct proportions wagon, but this article has some good information.

Mad Holidays

2007-12-11T13:00:00.000-05:00

So, Christmastime is approaching, (like you didn't know!), and so I've been busy thinking about gifts, and food, and gifts of food, which are some of my favorite gifts to give! That's a suprise, eh? In past years, I've made homemade bitter-orange marmalade and other jarred wonders, but I do love baking Christmas cookies. I've been narrowing down the contenders for Chris's Christmas Cookie Plate 2007.

So, let's see, of course I'm going to have the Melt-in-the-Mouths, because of their status as reigning champs in the Christmas Cookie division, but I've got some other ones that I think will be delicious additions. I have this recipe for a sesame seed cookie that really makes a great cookie. They're not sickly sweet, so it's sort of a nice break for holiday-overburdened sugar receptors.

I also have an adaption for Nanaimo Bars that I love, created out of necessity, the best mother of invention! I became addicted to Nanaimo Bars during a stint on Vancouver Island, BC. Not always having the traditional ingredients on hand during a nanaimo snack attack, I had to get a little creative. My favorite adaptation also reduces a bit of the sugar, but any Nanaimo Bars recipe should not be considered health food by any stretch! These things should be renamed Butter Sugar Bombs. Oh, they're so good! But anyway, I was reminded of them because every year I always subscribe to the Food Network's 12 Days of Cookies newsletter, and this year they had a recipe for a Nanaimo Bar. (I like mine better!)I need to work out the measurements so I can post it here, as it stands right now, it's just in my head.

I've also been pondering the idea of including a truffle of some sort. Something with chocolate and orange perhaps. I also want a butter cookie- something that has a delicious, buttery taste and that delicate, sandy texture that sort of crumbles in your mouth.... If anyone has a cookie that fits that description, share! lol

So that's where I'm at with the cookie plate so far. I want them to be fresh, so I'm not going to make them anytime soon. I've also started thinking about Christmas dinner. I'm probably going to have Roast Goose or Duck, and probably a Beef Roast for my not-so-fowl-ly inclined sister-in-law. I'm really in the mood to have some Duck Confit on hand, so maybe I'll make the duck.

Anyway, it always helps to get my thoughts organized by writing them down. I'll probably change my mind a time or two before it's over, but that's part of the fun of the whole thing.

Calamari Fritti

2007-12-05T14:37:00.000-05:00

Sigh...I just had the best lunch. I even took a picture it was so tasty! I went to the grocers for a bit of seafood for a gumbo that I'm making, (I'll tell you about that later), and I noticed that they had an excellent deal on calamari. Suddenly the craving hit, especially after chatting with the fish guy and he was telling me his favorite way to eat calamari was fried, with just salt and lemon. How 'bout that! Mine too! It's so simple too. Let me tell you how I do it.

Just a few words in prelude.
1. I'm going to assume that you have cleaned, whole calamari. Many seafood shops will also include the tentacles as well. Personally, I think it's harder to find calamari that hasn't been cleaned, but I'm sure they're out there. I have seen several sites with squid-cleaning instructions online, fyi. However, if you need help let me know.
2.I'm going to assume you know how to fry. That being said, you have two choices. You can deep-fry, or you can pan-fry. Deep-frying is fool-proof and easier, the down-side being you use more oil. If you're confident in your frying abilities, you can pan-fry with excellent results, especially with a small batch. The only key is to make sure both sides are golden. I pan-fried my lunch today because I wanted to use extra-virgin olive oil for the taste and I didn't want expensive waste oil.

Calamari Fritti

oil for frying
calamari, rinse calamari and cut the body into rings. Let excess water drain.
white flour
sea salt
fresh lemon, cut into wedges

Place the calamari into the flour and mix until coated. Place them into a sieve and toss gently to remove excess flour.
Add to hot oil and cook for a few minutes until golden. This really doesn't take long, under 5 minutes for sure.
Sprinkle hot calamari with sea salt and serve with the lemon to be squeezed on as you like.
Serve immediately.

A few words in addendum:
I've seen recipes where people like to add herbs to the flour like basil, italian parsley or thyme, both fresh and dried. I've also seen thicker batters for the calamari that include egg and sometimes milk. I am a fan of the simple and straightforward for this dish and prefer to have the taste of the calamari shine unadulterated. You, however, can do what you want!

Enjoy!

Melt-In-The Mouth Cookies

2007-12-03T09:20:00.000-05:00

Ok, foodies. I'm here to get into the season! No more bah humbugs for me. Let's eat some cookies! This particular recipe has been a Christmas favorite with my family since I can remember Christmas cookies. I believe it was my Grandmother who clipped this page along with a few others from a magazine who knows when. I'm going to guess it was a Women's Day magazine because it says Women's Day Kitchen, but you never know. The originals are in pretty delicate condition by now. I have no idea what actual year they're from, but the coloring is the kind that looks like a black and white photo that was inked in common in the 50's. Well, see for yourself, I've scanned in a copy of the original. Below is an exact copy of the recipe. These cookies are wonderful. Enjoy!

Melt-In-The-Mouth Cookies

Makes about 8 dozen
Women's Day Kitchen

1/2 cup butter
1 cup light-brown sugar, packed
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 egg
3/4 c sifted flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup finely chopped nuts

Cream butter, add sugar, vanilla and egg; beat until light. Add sifted dry ingredients and nuts. Drop by scant teaspoonfuls onto cookie sheets. Bake in hot oven, 400* F., for about 5 minutes. Cool for 1/2 minute. Remove to wire racks.

HFCS and Bah! Humbug!

2007-12-01T11:18:00.000-05:00

Well, it's December now and it's snowing out which is nice, but I'm feeling a little peeved. Actually, I'm feeling a lot peeved and more than a little poisoned. I'm getting extremely tired of finding newer and scarier concoctions added to my food. I'm tired of being on guard every second of every day to try and limit my poison intake. I don't even hope to be able to really purify my food. I've accepted that the reality is I can do my best, but I don't have absolute control over the food that I eat. I do have to rely on the integrity of others to place the quality of their product in a higher position than the bottom line. Touch the cashflow? Oh my! No wonder it seems like a futile, and never ending battle!

High fructose corn syrup is high on my hit list for it's varied and numerable offenses, synthetic sweeteners for the same reason, soy lecithin is suspect as the most vast and inexpensive supply of said soy lecithin is from GMO'd soy. Forgive me for being suspicious, but honestly, how many times do we have to be taught the lesson that the more you process and chemicalize our food, the worse it is for us and the scarier the results are? I mean, it's mind boggling how much "stuff" I have to look out for to avoid. The high fructose corn syrup alone knocks off an amazing amount of food from all major brands in the US, not to mention the synthetic sweeteners, modified food starches, hydrogenated oils, and synthetic this and that.

Remember when butter was bad for you and hydrogenated margarine was the saviour of mankind? Now it's come out that trans-fats are bad, very bad. Remember when low-fat was king and it was good for you even if it had a million carb calories and half a dozen chemicals as long as it had no fat? and then no sugar? Then it came out that the carbs and synthetic sweeteners are killing us. Notice a trend? High fructose corn syrup has replaced natural sugar in just about every commercial product that I look at that's not specifically made not to include it. It just amazes me that the connection between the recent trend of American obesity and the Type 2 diabetes running rampant through our population and this product isn't being shouted from every rooftop. Instead, I feel that the lines are being drawn between the increasingly paranoid, health-conscious, label-reading "conspiracy nuts" like me, and the rest of the population who contently or uninformatively consume high fructose corn syrup by the pound every month.

I found three good articles on the topic of health and high fructose corn syrup and added them for you viewing pleasure. I think they do a good job of transferring information.

"High Fructose Corn Syrup: It's everywhere", by By Keecha Harris, Dr. P.H., R.D.
"Sugary Sodas High in Diabetes-Linked Compound", By Theresa Waldron
"Sickeningly Sweet: The Effects of High-Fructose Corn Syrup", By Marin Gazzaniga

More ranting:
According to the website "Don't Mess with Our Chocolate" , which I highly recommend taking a peek at, the U.S. Chocolate Manufacturers Association whose members include Hershey's, Nestle's and ADM, along with 11 other food industry associations, have joined with the Grocery Manufacturers Association in petitioning the FDA for approval to change what the legal definition of chocolate is so that they can remove the cocoa butter (too expensive! it's cutting into the profit margin! wah!) and replace it with hydrogenated and or/ modified cheaper vegetable fats and other wonderful things like milk substitutes and synthetic sweeteners and still call it chocolate. Ooooh joy. Apparently, up for review are the current requirements for a number of food categories, of which chocolate is included. I would love to learn what else they're trying to do to the unsuspecting consumer and what garbage they're trying to shove down the American gullet. The petition is recorded with the FDA as Docket # 2007P-0085.

Oh, but definate kudos to Guittard Chocolate Company and Mars, Inc for saying that they are opposed to removing the cocoa butter in chocolate for other ingredients, though they are members of the Chocolate Manufacturers Association. In fact it is Mr. Guittard who is responsible for the "Don't Mess with Our Chocolate" website. It's nice to see someone in the commercial food business who cares..like a diamond ring sparkling at the bottom of a cesspit, a glimmer of hope in the toxic sludge that has become our food supply. Sound dark to you? Bah! Humbug!

I remember being in elementary school when the big joke was "Hey- did you know that a McDonald's milkshake has all the ingredients minus one used to make plastic? Hahaha!"

Sigh...kids. Why did we find that so funny? I mean, even if that's remotely the case, then the joke's on us.

Incarnations of Kir

2007-11-26T17:44:00.000-05:00

My sister and I were standing around chatting and eating Thanksgiving snacks du jour- ah..devilled pate eggs and artichoke dip are surely food of the Gods! when I noticed the drink in her hand of a very becoming shade of violet. "Sister dear" says I, "what, praytell, is gracing your wineglass?" "It's called Kir," says she. "Shall I make one for you?"

So she grabs the Chambord and splashes in a bit, and then tops it off with Chardonnay. Ah, the lovely purple pleaser is now mine! Mwah haha. It was actually quite charming. The Chambord did a nice job of taking the edge off of the Chardonnay. I'm personally not the biggest fan of Chardonnay, I get displeased when I find my mouth making that peculiar pucker when I taste dry and oakey in excess.

The origin of my sister's Kir is from her good friend's husband that hails from France. This is what he called it, however, in 90% of the Kir recipes that I could find, Kir is made with Creme de Cassis and not Chambord. Most popular seems to be the Kir Royale, made with Creme de Cassis and Champagne or sparkling wine. I even found a recipe for one called a Kir Cardinale that uses red wine instead of white. Oh yum! I made it with a drinkable, but not spectacular Cab, and it transformed into a really fruity, really porty-licious glass of Wow!

I look forward to more experimentation with Kir in all it's incarnations.

Kir Cardinale

It's Squash-o-licious

2007-11-20T23:49:00.001-05:00

You're in for a treat. This is one of my favorite recipes for winter squash. You're lucky I'm sharing! You don't have to use butternut squash in this recipe, you could use acorn, pumpkin, delicata, even spaghetti, but I'd prepare it a little differently in that case.

Alrighty, with winter squash in hand, let's proceed. You have a choice, you can split the squash into halves and cook and serve it that way, or peel it and cube it and allow for spoon serving.

Ok, ok, you recipe exacters, you're not going to like me for this, but you know, for once, I'm just going to go for it and risk the wrath. This recipe is not an exact science..I wing it. *gasp* I do "what looks good". *double gasp* So...there it is. Maybe I'll get around to doling out some precision, but until then, hold on to your desk chairs, cuz here goes!

Bacon, diced
Dollops of butter
Fresh rosemary, minced
Maple syrup
salt and pepper

Heat oven to 350* However you've decided to cut your squash, place on a baking sheet -parchment is nice, always- and drizzle on the above listed ingredients. I find it easier to control the proportions to my taste by melting the butter and mixing it with the syrup and rosemary. The bacon I just sprinkle on raw. If you must have absolutely crispy bacon, I would recommend cooking it first and then sprinkling it on, but more towards the end of cooking. If your squash is in halves, sprinkle the mixture on the cut side and then bake cut side down. About half-way through, say, 20 minutes or so, flip them over and make sure there are goodies on the top and continue baking until done. If your squash is in cubes, take it out of the oven periodically and toss to facilitate even distribution of the goodies and even cooking of the squash.
If you're making this ahead of time, I would recommend cubing your squash, as it's very easy to store in a casserole and reheat at serving time without deterioration. The halved squash I would take immediately to the table.

Believing that this dish has its origin in Germany, genießen Sie Ihre Mahlzeit und wischen Sie Ihr Kinn ab!

Pecan Pie - with NO corn syrup!

2007-11-17T17:06:00.004-05:00

Well, it's just about that Thankful time of year, and people are making plans, gathering their old favorite recipes and planning the big meal ahead. There's plenty of really well-qualified people out there who can tell how to perfect a turkey, and make stuffing, but what I want to talk about is Pecan Pie. Pecan Pie that has pre-toasted, crushed pecans for the maximum ratio of nut-flavor per bite of pie. More importantly, Pecan Pie that is absolutely corn-syrup free.

***This is actually a picture of THE PIE that I made for Thanksgiving. I hope you enjoy it as much as we all did!***

Pecan Pie Extraordinaire- sans corn syrup!

1.5 c pecans -toasted and chopped
4 large eggs
1 tsp vanilla
3/4 cup water
1 lb. dark brown sugar -Use real cane sugar and weigh it. Not all sugar is created equal. (~2 cups by volume)
1/4 cup butter
pinch of salt
pastry for 1 bottom pie crust

Prick the bottom of your pie crust with a fork all over and bake for about 10 minutes, or until lightly golden in a 400* oven. Remove pie crust, and lower the oven to 275*.
Combine the sugar and the water and stir until sugar dissolves over low medium heat. Bring to a full boil for about 3 minutes. Remove from heat source and let it cool off a bit while you proceed. Add the butter to the sugar and let it melt in and continue to cool. Toast pecans in a dry skillet on medium heat, stirring fairly often to prevent burning. Alternately, you can toast them in the oven. Let the nuts cool and chop up. In a separate bowl, beat the eggs until frothy and slowly whisk the hot butter syrup into the beaten eggs. Add vanilla extract, salt, and chopped pecans into the mixture. Pour into your previously made golden pie crust and let bake for 1 hour.

**Note, if you can only find light brown sugar, which I know happens to the best of us, add 1 T. of molasses or even Grade B maple syrup and that will give it a bit more flavor.

Enjoy!!!

Nutella

2007-11-12T17:07:00.003-05:00

Ah, nutella. Elevating the humble hazelnut into a thing of beauty. Transforming boring lunchbox sandwiches into a serious bartering tool and popularity booster. Giving chocoholics everywhere yet another reason to nip o' wee bitty. Makes a pretty darn good dessert sauce too...which is what I'm going to talk to you about.

The other day I was given a pound cake as a gift. Fairly random, but always welcome. I was telling my Mother about it, who instantly told me to try a nutella chocolate sauce for the topping, because she really liked it and Oh by the way, can you have it ready for dessert at 7 with some Earl Grey? Ah, yes ma'am!

Nutella will seize up like other chocolate if you melt it first and then try to add milk or cream to it. The trick is to put the nutella and cream or milk together first and then heat it up, which you can do in the microwave by zapping it for 15-20 seconds at a time and then stirring. This is how you can easily melt chocolate chips as well, especially if your recipe calls for the chocolate to be combined with butter or cream.

Giada de Laurentiis in her book "Everyday Italian" recommends this ratio for nutella sauce: 1/3 c. nutella and 3 T. cream microwaved until melted for about 1 minute, stopping and stirring every 20 seconds. A fine sauce, a fine sauce indeed.

OK, for those of you who meticulously read labels like me and will not eat high fructose corn syrup in any shape or form, or other nasties, nutella stands up pretty well- considering it is a sweet chocolate concoction. It uses sugar, so bonus points for no artificial sweeteners, modified palm oil, so no trans fats- though I want to find out exactly what the "modified" means, cocoa, so no added chocolate fat, and skim milk which completes the nut protein and makes me happier when my little bunchkins want some "atella". Reduced minerals whey- pretty much what it says, produced by drying whey with some of the minerals physically separated out, according to ADPI- the American Dairy Products Institute by "precipitation, filtration, or dialysis" It has a whey, hence, dairy flavor, but I'll bet it's used because of cost factors, IE: it's cheaper than milk. Soy Lecithin, I've heard some debate on this one, concocted from soy, a common emulsifier in chocolate, and a good surfactant, which is the nerdy way to say it helps it spread well. Some extol it's virtues, some say it's horrible, I say research it yourself. The old way to get this sort of emulsification and spreadability was to use an egg yolk, which yes! you guessed it, contains naturally occurring lecithins. Granted, it's also very perishable, so I don't know how viable an option it is in commercial production of an unrefrigerated product. But, now, if you want to make homemade nutella yourself, you know what to use. They do get a ding on using vanillin- come on Ferrero USA! Real vanilla extract is the way to go! But all in all, I'll eat it. Most likely because I can't help myself!

So open that jar of chocolate hazelnut wonder and start cracking.

Taste of New York 2007

2007-11-06T12:44:00.000-05:00

OK everyone! I went somewhere really fun last night!! Yes, I got out of the house and then some. I went to the Taste of New York event at the Puck Building. Ah- foodie heaven. It was crowded, it was noisy, it was really a lot of fun.
Quick overview: Lots of restaurants and vendors (51) get to set up tables, and show off their goods by wining and dining the crowd. What could be better than that? And then, to top it off, I got to take home a really very nice goodie bag.
Some highlights that stand out in my mind:
Butter: Chef Alexandra Guarnaschelli - The little lamb popsicles with Green olive tapenade, Romanesco and crispy Rosemary were very, very tasty, the meat had a mild curried tang which of course just loves lamb, and Chef Alexandra Guarnaschelli is a doll!
Allen & Delancey: Chef Neil Ferguson, offered Onion Knish with puree soubise. This was very nice- the little knish had a sliver of salt-preserved lemon and a few jewels of salmon caviar on top. Mmmm
Gordon Ramsay at the London: Chef Josh Emett, his offering was Butternut squash veloute with pan roasted sea scallops. Lovely soup, served in little plastic cups- lol! Simple and straightforward, that was the appeal. The broth was creamy, perfectly nappe and the scallops were sweet and tender. I just kept thinking- nice job, nice job!
Restaurant Daniel: Pastry Chef Dominique Ansel presented Light hazelnut cream with Gianduja biscuit and milk chocolate mousse. Oh my, oh my, oh my! I have to admit, I asked Chef Ansel how one would pronounce said biscuit, and I still can't reproduce it like he said with his charming accent, but it was heavenly. The biscuit itself was a crispy concoction of chocolate and hazelnuts and the whole thing was just mousse heaven. I had to remind myself of the finer points of personal restraint and decorum not to do another fly by or two on that table!
WD-50: Chef Wylie Dufresne's popcorn soup, pear, cranberry and anise hyssop deserves a mention just for sheer creativity. I asked Chef Dufresne how one went about making popcorn soup, and he explained how he pureed popped popcorn with water, added some butter and salt and voila. It was nice and smooth so I imagine it had been strained, and it certainly was creative. It was surprisingly maizey and nicely neutral. Similar to me in taste to masa.
Ouest: Chef Tom Valenti presented Gruyere and prosciutto custard with bitter greens. Wow, this was so delightful! The custard was everything a custard should be, soft and buttery, and the prosciutto in very small dice scattered throughout burst on your tongue with their little bits of salt and flavor. The small, fresh greens on the side were a nice foil for the rich custard.
Ciao Bella Gelato: Chef Danilo Zecchin, had 4 choices of gelato: maple gingersnap, chocolate hazelnut, cranberry orange sorbetto and the Lebanese yogurt which is what I tried- I was getting really full at this point! Very nice, very creamy, sweet, but still had a yogurt tang and was nicely palate cleansing.
Rickshaw Dumpling Bar:Chef Anita Lo. OK, this was cool. You know those Chinese sesame seed covered rice balls with the sweet bean paste inside that I love? Well, imagine this with black sesame seeds on the outside, and molten chocolate on the inside! In love yet? Believe it or not, there was almost too much chocolate! I know, I know, this does not sound like me, and I don't have a fever! I actually had to dump a little of the chocolate out to be able to eat this without chocolate disaster- though I think I did see a few people sporting bibs. Admittedly unstylie, but very smart for this dish.
Pegu Club: Chef Audrey Saunders offered two mixed drinks. I tried both actually....hehe. The Jamaican Firefly was nice and gingery, but I was convinced by fellow guests to go back and try the Gin-Gin Mule which was minty and even better actually!
Alto & L'Impero: Chef Michael White presented Sicilian-style Mediterranean sardines. It was an interesting dish because the sardines were large, not the small little things you think of when you think sardine, and fresh-pickle marinated, similar in taste to me to pickled herring but not as strong. I liked it.
Blue Hill and Blue Hill at Stone Barns: Homemade V8 juice and buttermilk panna cotta. This was neat because everything presented had come from their farm. There was a thin little cracker across the little cup of V8 and panna cotta that seemed to me to have greens and edamame in a light vinagrette. It was crunchy, tasty and gone in two bites. The juice was herby and earthy and the buttermilk panna cotta had a surprising sweet note. It was light and refreshing all told.
Tocqueville Restaurant: Chef Jo-Ann Makovitzky presented Truffled Grits with Coddled Quail Egg. OK, I have to tell a story. My husband's family is from the Southern and Western parts of the United States and there has been more than one occasion when out to breakfast with hubby and pater-in-law that I have had to cringe and keep my eyes on my plate so as to not accidentally catch glimpse of them "prepare" their grits (typical southern fare, by the way) by smashing their softly cooked eggs with their forks and slopping it all together on their plate. So, when I was presented with essentially this homely grits and eggs smash- albeit with a nice slice of prosciutto and a fancy quail egg, I wasn't sure I could critique it with a non-biased judgement. However, I tried to push aside all past connections with anything resembling this dish and found it homely, but not un-tasty. The prosciutto, however, was by far my favorite part.
City Harvest: Yay! The non-profit partner of Taste of New York. I had a lovely chat with Daniel, the volunteer manager and I'm seriously interested in volunteering for this worthy cause. As someone who loves food- and wants everyone to have enough of it, and hates waste as all food comes at a cost, this charity really speaks to me. I'll keep you updated.

There were of course, offerings that didn't speak to me, a few that I felt were just mediocre foodstuffs wrapped in Chefly gibberish..you know the type. The large, grandiose explanations of ingredients that sort of repeat themselves in different languages, IE: au jus with juice, or genmai cha tea or use terms that don't really fit what they've put together except by a really far stretch of the imagination -but it sure sounds nifty! However, I'm not here to bash anyone, or be a naysayer, nor can I do a blurb on everyone, whether I liked their offering or not.

So, there it is. A little insight into the mind of Chris and a glimpse of Taste of New York 2007. Mwahaha. Enjoy! and you bet your bippy I'm doing this again next year!

Armenian Food

2007-11-04T11:57:00.000-05:00

I love perusing the cookbook section of libraries and book stores. You can find some wonderful gems. I was in my local library the other day when I stumbled on a cookbook from the 70's on Armenian cooking. It's called "The Cuisine of Armenia", by Sonia Uvezian. From the recipes I've found in the book, Armenian food is really intriguing. It seems to have elements of Mediterranean cooking, middle eastern cooking, and eastern European cooking. Many of the ingredients are very familiar, but prepared and put together in different ways. I'm excited to continue researching and exploring this cuisine and I'll keep you updated.
So, I made an Armenian dinner, and it was so so, so so good. Let me tell you what I cooked. I roasted a boneless leg of lamb, studded with garlic. The lamb was accompanied by Noushov PrintzPilav which is an almond rice pilaf and Hunkar Beyendi, a delicious eggplant puree with sharp cheese. I used grana padano which worked very well. For a green vegetable, I served a simple mix of green and wax beans with baby carrots. All in all, a wonderful introduction to Armenian food. I'm going to enjoy my work here!

La Dia de los Muertos

2007-11-01T10:46:00.000-04:00

La Dia de los Muertos or the Day of the Dead is probably one of the coolest holidays that I've never observed. I keep meaning to integrate it into my autumn spooktivites, but honestly I get wrapped up in Halloween and I've never gotten around to making the little skeletal joys of La Dia de los Muertos. In my thinking though, decorated Candy Skulls are very festive looking, and Pan de Muertos which is the Bread of the Dead, other than sounding very Goth, is actually quite tasty.

When I lived in Las Vegas, I used to enjoy going to Panaderias to buy mexican pastries, and of course during this time of year, Pan de Muertos was everywhere. The loaves are round, sweet, and scented with orange and anise. They are decorated with bread "bones" on top and sprinkled with sugar. They even have smaller versions, more of an individual loaf (or kid-sized), dotted with colored sprinkles. This year, I'll make my own.

Pan de Muertos

1/2 c. butter, melted
1/2 c. milk,warm
1/2 c. water,warm
5.5 c. white flour
2 t. yeast
1 t. salt
1 T. anise seeds, whole
1/2 c. sugar
4 eggs, beaten
Glaze for the top **

Mix butter, milk, and water together and heat until butter is melted.
In a large mixing bowl, combine sugar and 1/2 c. flour and add the butter and milk mixture. Add the yeast, salt and anise seed and eggs.
Add the flour one cup at a time until the dough is soft but not sticky. .
Knead lightly until smooth and elastic.
Let rise in a warm place until doubled in bulk, about 1 1/2 hours. Punch down and shape into 1 large or 2 smaller round loaves, using some dough to form "bones" for the top. Let rise for 1 hour.
Preheat the oven to 350°F. Bake the loaves on a sheet pan for 40 minutes, or until the tops are golden.
Brush with the glaze of your choice.

**There are a few different choices for glazes. The first one is to brush the top of the bread with melted butter and sprinkle with sugar. The sugar can be colored which looks festive. Go bright. Another tasty option is to bring 1/3 c. orange juice, 1/3 c. sugar and 1-2 T. of orange zest to a boil for a minute or two and then brush it on while warm. You can also add colored sprinkles for the kiddies. Yum.

Follow this link to a nifty photo of decorated candy skulls and Pan de Muertos and it leads to other rather cool photos of Day of the Dead accoutrements.

If you want to see some excellent photos of decorated Candy Skulls and perhaps try your hand at making a few, click here for a site that sells supplies.

Feliz Dia de Muertos!

Tea for Me

2007-10-30T14:27:00.000-04:00

With the weather finally getting into chillier zones, I've started thinking about warming foods- especially since yesterday I could not get rid of my cold hands until I finally wizened up and wrapped them around a big mug of tea. This got me thinking about my favorite teas.

I'm very partial to GenMai Cha which is a Japanese tea made of green tea leaves and roasted brown rice. I've heard it referenced as Popcorn Tea, because according to tea sellers, some of the rice is supposed to pop during the roasting process. However, the brand of GenMai Cha I buy contains popped millet seeds mixed in with with the toasted brown rice and green tea leaves. I'm not sure if there are multiple variations, or if the addition of millet changes the name, but in any event, it's delicious. The tea is smooth, mellow and toasty, and actually works well with milk (stop cringing you tea purists!). I happen to like dairy in my tea- you can keep the lemon, thanks. I'm thinking about experimenting and making my own blend of GenMai Cha. I'll let you know how that works out.

This brings me to one of my other favorite tea drinks that I do make my own blend of. It's Chai! -of the Indian Subcontinental variety. The type of chai that I make is an almost-instant version compared to the traditional method which involves brewing a large amount of chai at once. With this method, you make a chai-spiced milk that you can add to your individual cup of tea so you can make just one or two cups at a time.

The spice blend is as follows:

1/2 t. ground cardamom
1/4 t. ground allspice
1/4 t. ground cinnamon
1/4 t. ground cloves
1/8 t. ground black pepper - I usually use double this amount for myself cuz I like the heat :p

12 oz. of milk **See the note

Place the milk and spices into a very clean jar and let sit for 24 hours in the fridge for the flavors to develop. Use a few tablespoons of the spiced milk per cup with the tea and sweetener of your choice.

**For a more "traditional" flavor, use evaporated milk, however any sort of milk can be used here- nonfat, soy, regular milk, 2%, half n' half. Be aware of the age of your milk and if it's been sitting open for awhile. Bringing it to a boil to kill bacteria might be a good idea if it's not so fresh. Watch out for boil-overs. :P

This Chai blend makes me very happy. It can be dressed in so many ways..green tea and honey, irish breakfast tea and turbinado sugar, oolong tea and jaggery, white tea and evaporated cane juice..so many teas, so many sweeteners, so little time....

Anyway, enjoy this chai recipe and tell me what you think!

Spicy Anchovy

2007-10-29T15:44:00.000-04:00

I've never been much of a journal writer because I find it dull as Hades trying to go on and on about me. Dear Diary, today I woke up. Today I tied my shoelaces in a new knot...that sort of snorefest. This writing about food thing, though, this is exciting!

So today's topic is ...Spicy Anchovy.

My Mom and I went on a shopping spree and enjoyed ourselves by perusing through a predominantly Chinese market. I have to tell you that shopping in an international market is probably one of my very favorite things to do. Really, this is my idea of a grand adventure. Anyway, this market had a very nice selection of pre-made foodstuffs for sale. We ordered boba tea and snacked on jin dui- those wonderful sesame-seed coated, fried glutinous-rice balls with the sweet red-bean paste inside. They were very good, and perfectly made, fried large and golden, crisp on the outside, chewy on the inside with the filling only slightly sweet. I was glad I ordered only one, or I probably would have eaten all within my sticky grasp.

Snack accomplished, we began to browse and decided to find something unusual for my Father, fine connoisseur of many things strange and wonderful. We came across something that just had to be bought, because honestly, I couldn't imagine it what it would taste like. It was labeled Spicy Anchovy (Ready to eat). The ingredients are: anchovy, hot pepper, sugar, peanuts, dried tofu and seasonings. (?) As you can see from the photo, the anchovies are whole, tiny, crispy little fishies, tossed with chile flakes and sugar crystals. The tofu is in thin, chewy slivers and the whole thing is liberally sprinkled with whole peanuts. All in all, one of the most interesting dishes I've tried lately. The sweet, salty, crispy, chewy, fishy, peanuty tastes all work together, but are strong. I think this dish works best as a condiment for rice, but my Mom munched on it straight, so to each their anchovy own.

The Cucumber Trick

2007-10-28T23:57:00.000-04:00

A few years ago I had an unexpected, fairly random and completely wonderful culinary adventure literally drop on my doorstep with grocery bags in hand. Her name was Natiya, we met for the first time the day before, and exchanged a fun conversation about Thai food and how much I love it! Natiya being from Thailand, and excited about my interest in her country's cooking, said that she would have to come over and cook me a Thai meal. I nodded politely and murmured something affirmative...sounded good to me, but people say things like that all the time and I didn't really take it literally. I have to admit, I was pretty surprised when she showed up the next day at my house at lunchtime, groceries in hand, prepared to cook us lunch. So, after my initial surprise at seeing her there I became ecstatic! I mean honestly, how cool is that?!

After she was done cooking, what we ended up with was two delicious coconut milk curries. One was green and one was red, with chicken, eggplant and potatoes being the main ingredients. These were scented with fresh basil leaves added right before serving, and accompanied by steaming jasmine rice. To those of you who are unfamiliar with Thai curries, they are really very different from what you might be thinking, especially if what you might be thinking contains that ubiquitous, dry, yellow powder stuff or cooked golden raisins (don't get me started). Traditionally, Thai curries are a pounded blend of herbs like cilantro, and lemongrass, roots, rhizomes and alliums like coriander root, galangal, ginger, shallots, and garlic, chiles, either red or green, spices like cumin, turmeric and coriander, and ingredients such as ga pi (shrimp paste made of fermented shrimp and salt) or nam pla (fish sauce of fermented fish and salt). Purists say the ingredients should be pounded, not ground, in a mortar and pestle, and in a certain order to bring out maxim flavor, and the shrimp paste should be toasted before use. This is all good information, and makes for a curry par excellence. However, Natiya brought out two containers of Mae Ploy brand curry paste, one red and one green and proceeded from there. I'm not going to argue that fresh and homemade isn't best, or that homemade coconut milk doesn't taste better than the powdered or canned kind, but sometimes there are different factors to consider such as time, equipment, availability and quality of ingredients, and skill level. This curry paste did a nice job, and would be very easy for just about anyone to duplicate. Of course this hasn't stopped me from acquiring a slew of homemade Thai curry paste recipes or making my own coconut milk..wink wink.

But back to my tale of lunch. Natiya dished us up her masterpieces, and we proceeded to eat. It was wonderful, but I have to say, this was some hot stuff, and I consider myself a lover of hot food. I was thoroughly impressed as Natiya added dried red chile flakes to her own bowl. Then, amidst all this bliss, disaster struck. Somehow I managed to get the chile heat on the outside of my lips. It was horrible. I was certain they were going to catch fire any second. I shamefully admitted to Natiya that my mouth was burning, and she laughed and said simply, "That's because you're not eating any cucumber." I think I must have been staring at her rather blankly, because she pointed to the raw cucumber between us that she had been slicing and eating the whole time. She told me that the cucumber cut the heat. I had never heard of this before, but I was very much game for anything at that point and grabbed a slice. I was sold when I rather desperately rubbed the cucumber on the outside of my mouth and was amazed as my lips stopped burning. I took a bite, and behold! it worked inside too! Cucumber conclusion: Forget milk or bread, cucumber does the job right!

So this is the story of the Cucumber Trick - and one of my best lunchtime surprises. Natiya had another one for me a few weeks later involving Pho, but I'll save that for another time.