Neighborhood Blog

Chicken Broth Success

2011-11-15T08:40:00.006-05:00

This Sunday I made chicken broth. It's something I always feel I should do, but it takes a little planning and a fair amount of time. (OK, I know most of the time is passive, but you do need to stick around while it simmers on the stove.) When I took Back to Basics at the Cambridge School of Culinary Arts, we had a whole class on stocks and soups. The instructor extolled the virtues and superiority of homemade stock, as do many a cookbook author and chef. So maybe that's why I'm feeling so pleased with myself. That and the fact that an earlier attempt yielded a watery, flavorless result.

I'm sure there are many out there who are thinking, "What's the big deal? I always make my own stock!" Well, to you I say, "I'm not worthy!" Especially after the last time I tried, I was feeling kind of apprehensive and unsure. If I can't make a good chicken broth, what kind of cook am I? But I dutifully continued to save chicken bones and organs in my freezer. I was starting to run out of room and this weekend I found myself sticking around, so it seemed like the time to try again. I used the instructions from CSCA.

Like the last time, I roasted the bones in the oven, probably the equivalent of two whole chickens. I think I did them at 350 degrees for about an hour. Roasting is supposed to bring out the flavor more. (I think I threw the organs in with them last time, but this time I set them aside during the roasting.) And, like the last time, I barely covered the bones with cold water. But this time I noticed the instructions said to 'Bring to a simmer slowly." I think this is the key. Last time I brought it to a boil over high heat and then turned it down. This time, I put the heat on low and patiently waited for it to come to a simmer, which took about 1 hour. Once simmering, I added a chopped onion (I used a red one I had on hand), two small thickly sliced carrots, and two large celery stalks, chopped roughly. I didn't add salt so that I'd start with a clean slate when using it for cooking and add the salt at that time. I simmered the broth for another couple of hours, then added Bouque Garni (parsley stems, thyme sprigs, and bay leaf) and simmered another hour. After I let it cool down, I discovered the bowl of organs in the fridge (That sounds kind of gross, doesn't it?) so I added them in, brought the broth slowly to a simmer again and continued to simmer for another 30 minutes. I'd skimmed the scum from time to time, but didn't save and strain it to use in cooking like the CSCA instructions suggested. Once the broth cooled, I lined a strainer with paper towel, placed it over a bowl with a spout, and poured the broth through. If my math is correct, it made about 3 quarts of broth. I poured two courts into individual 1-cup freezer containers (I like the Tupperware freezer mates or whatever they are called), put 1 quart in the fridge to make soup, and used the rest to cook last night's rice with dinner.

The result this time was a rich, flavorful broth! I think I might be ready now to tackle veal stock! If you're a seasoned (pun intended) broth maker, please share your tips in the comments!

Sometimes, What Seems like A Good Idea At The Time, Really Is One

2011-05-30T21:47:00.003-04:00

There’s an awful lot of steak in my freezer right now.

Is that a problem?

Well, yes…because it’s CSA steak.

For the most part, I’ve been very happy with the meat we’ve gotten from our CSA. I really do think it tastes better (the chicken tastes more like chicken!), I totally support the farming methods that they use, and I feel good about feeding their stuff to my boys. But for me, the steaks have been, um, tricky to deal with.

I read somewhere (probably on the CSA’s website) that pasture-raised beef is leaner and therefore cooks quicker than supermarket beef. So you need to be careful to not overcook your steaks. No problem, I thought: I love medium rare steak. Getting that perfect medium rare, however, was tricky: my first few victims were sadly overdone (ugh). To be fair to the CSA, it was my lack of experience with beefy behavior; I simply needed enough practice to recognize when the goods were cooked right.

So now I have a plan: when I pull a sirloin from the freezer, it gets a bulgogi-style marinade (i.e. soy sauce, lots of crushed garlic, a bit of sugar, sesame oil, and some chopped scallions) for at least half a day. I get a cast-iron skillet screaming hot, sear the steak on each side for about 3 minutes, then transfer it to a baking sheet (with sides: don’t want to spill tasty beef juices all over my oven). The steaks are usually thick (more than one inch) so they need an extra ten minutes or so in a 350 degree oven to finish cooking. After a brief post-oven rest they are a beautiful medium-rare. I finally feel like I can handle the sirloin.

But one of the quirks of a CSA is that you don’t get to choose the cuts – you take what you get. A couple of months ago, we got a London Broil in our cooler. I eyed it every time I went down to the freezer; having conquered the sirloin so recently, was I ready to tackle another cut? Tonight, I decided, was the night.

In the fridge, I had some gorgonzola cheese and romaine lettuce: a steak salad came to mind. Then I remembered the loaf of bread in the bread box (yes, I actually have AND use a bread box) and envisioned an open-face steak salad-sandwich sort of thing. So I marinated the steak, using this recipe from Emeril Lagasse instead of my usual marinade, because I though the mustard would be good with the gorgonzola. I seared it in the cast-iron skillet but skipped the oven-baking step, since the London Broil was only an inch thick (but I still let the steak rest after cooking). Sliced thin and arranged over cheese and bread, it tasted just as good as I imagined it would. Which doesn’t happen everyday, you know…my imagination has pretty high expectations.

Open-Faced Steak Sandwich (for four servings)

About 1 lb London broil steak
Steak marinade of your choice
Some country-style bread with big holes, lightly toasted (I used Trader Joe’s Tuscan Pane, which has a slight sourdough flavor)
Gorgonzola or other bleu cheese, sliced thin or crumbled
Romaine or other lettuce, or argula, or spinach, washed and sliced into strips
Cucumber, peeled and sliced thin, or some roasted red bell peppers or both
Salt and pepper

Prepare the marinade and place it in a plastic bag, along with the steak. Put it in the refrigerator for 4 hours up to overnight, turning it over once or twice.

About 30 minutes before cooking the steak, take it out of the refrigerator. Heat a heavy skillert (preferably cast iron) over medium heat for about 10 minutes or until very hot. Remove the steak from the marinade and wipe off the excess. Place the steak in the hot skillet and sear for about 3 minutes. Turn the steak over and sear on the other side for another 3 minutes, or until medium-rare. Transfer the steak to a plate or cutting board and cover (I used the lid to a large stockpot) and let rest for 10 minutes. Transfer the steak onto a cutting board, reserving any juices that have accumulated on the plate, and cut it into thin slices (1/4’ thick or less).

Lightly toast one or two slices of bread per person and place them on a plate. Drizzle some of the reserved steak juices over the bread. Arrange some of the Gorgonzola cheese on top, followed by a few slices of steak, then the romaine lettuce or other greens. Add the red bell peppers (if using). Arrange the cucumber slices on top of everything and sprinkle with salt and freshly ground pepper. Eat with a knife and fork!

The Flavor Thesaurus

2011-05-20T09:14:00.006-04:00

Last weekend, I was browsing the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston store after seeing the Dale Chihuly exhibit (breath-taking!). I naturally gravitated to the cookbook section, when I came across a relatively new (2010) book by UK author Niki Segnit called The Flavor Thesaurus. At first glance, I didn't get what it was about, but something made me take a second look and I ended up buying it.

Segnit was motivated by a desire to gain a deeper understanding of how flavors work together and, ultimately, become a better, more improvisational cook. She identifies 99 flavors, from Almond to White Fish, that she organizes around a "flavor wheel" classified by categories she calls "flavor families" such as Fresh Fruity and Sulphurous. You can look up a family, or a flavor within a family and get a list of pairings. For example, looking up cauliflower (grouped under Sulphurous), I find pairings with ingredients as diverse as anchovies, chocolate, and saffron! The entries include descriptions about the combinations. Some entries include recipes. In the back of the book are a bibliography and several helpful indices: a recipe index, a general index, and a pairings index. The latter lists the 99 flavors alphabetically as headings, and then the pairings underneath. BTW, it must have been "translated" to American English, because she talks of eggplant and zucchini, not aubergine and courgette.

Although, based on research of combinations commonly used in different cultures' cuisines and those used successfully by innovative chefs, there is also an element of subjectivity, which she explains forthrightly in the introduction. For example, she does not include one of my favorites, zucchini, because it is not a favorite of hers. (You can find it in the general index, in a pasta recipe under "Basil & Mint,") Nor did I sees spinach or chard and kale gets only a passing mention. But you can always look for something close or browse the flavor family and go from there.

I'm hoping this book will serve as an inspiration, especially as I struggle to deal with the impending bounty of my veggie CSA. I will keep you posted (no pun intended)!

Survival Mode

2011-03-18T21:23:00.002-04:00

I believe that cooking is a habit, and that the more you do it, the easier it gets (or, if you don’t actually enjoy cooking, the more you do it the less onerous it becomes). All those years of cooking for myself, then myself and my husband, came in handy when our first child arrived: dinner carried on. The arrival of our second child, though, has thrown the proverbial wrench in the works.

Too late, I realized how much I depended upon naptime to get a jump on dinnertime. But with two kids on different schedules, there is precious little time alone to think about dinner, let alone cook it. Plus the little nippers are home most of the day so they’re wanting breakfast AND lunch from me, too. It’s a constant carousel of cook, feed, clean, repeat. (And yes you, with four kids and a job outside the home with no help inside the home but who still manages to get supper on the table at 6 o’clock you, I am not you. And I’m OK with that).

Our meals have become noticeably less gourmet. On more than one occasion I have served my children “naked burritos” for lunch: a bowl of brown rice (the shelf-stable, precooked stuff from Trader Joes, warmed in the microwave) topped with canned black beans and pre-shredded cheese. Nutritious? Yes. Fun to cook and eat? Not so much. (But the kids ate it anyway).

On top of the time constraints, I’m locked into this CSA/organic/attempting to be healthy thing, which comes with its own set of constraints. But now that I’m into it, it’s really, really hard to think of going back to the regular old grocery store – darned healthy food/CSA/organic addition has turned into a habit, too. (Last week I joined a fish CSA. When I told my husband about it, he looked at me very seriously and said, “Honey, I think you have a problem.”)

So once again, I’m learning to adapt. Here’s how things have changed:

1. Component cooking. I spend some time at the beginning of the week cooking a few things that can be incorporated into a number of dishes. Thus when it comes time for dinner I am not cooking so much as assembling. Burritos, quesadillas, Korean pancakes, and stir-frys of all kinds make a frequent appearance at our table. Note: I do not meal-plan this, so some weeks it works out better than others. One week was an absolute slam dunk, though: roasted butternut squash, heirloom soup beans, sautéed kale and some roasted chicken were combined in various ways to make a great weeks’ worth of meals that ended in an empty fridge (look ma, no waste!). But then the next day I came down with the flu and…there was no food in the fridge. There’s a dark side to everything.

2. Soup. Hallelujah, my boys like to eat soup. Whip up a little dashi or anchovy stock, add some veggies or frozen dumplings, and dinner is ready. Or put the rice cooker to work – a chicken breast, scallions, ginger and water and hit the magic “chicken soup” button. When it’s done, take out the chicken and while it cools enough to shred, add a package of frozen udon noodles to thaw in the broth. And did you know that you can make chicken broth in that rice cooker, too? Put the carcass from a roasted chicken in, add water and aromatics, and hit the magic soup button again. Too easy.

3. Keep it simple, stupid. Hallelujah again, my boys still eat their veggies. So supper can be as simple as broccoli, noodles, and a protein of your choice. CSA steaks get marinated in soy sauce, sesame oil, garlic, scallions and sugar (say it with me: bul-GO-gi) and seared in the trusty cast-iron skillet. Chicken breast gets roasted in the oven or stewed in the rice cooker. Chicken legs go in the rice cooker too, though sometimes I get fancy and make a sort of stew with carrots and potatoes. Pork chops usually get an adobo treatment. And lamb chops I save for just the hubby and I; I do share the koftas made from ground lamb with the kids, though. Now that I have a fairly predictable list of meats and cuts to choose from, it’s been easier to identify a few simple preparations for the rotation.

4. When you just can’t resist the urge to NOT keep it simple, go back to component cooking. I adore Indian food but sometimes I just don’t have time to wait for the onions to cook properly. So I make an entree or two and a couple of side dishes on the weekend. We eat the freshly prepared stuff that night, and then for the next few days we enjoy the leftovers – along with another dish or two that I make each day. I cook a lot of Korean food this way, too, since the side dishes will usually last in the refrigerator for a few days.

5. And finally, figure out what staples you should have on hand to achieve #s 1 through 4. For me, it’s become: whole milk plain yogurt, cheese, pasta, broccoli, frozen dumplings and udon noodles, dried anchovies and seaweed of various kinds, eggs, rice, and scallions. Oh, and tortillas, too. So the kids don’t ALWAYS have to have their burritos naked.

Working With What You've Got

2011-02-12T21:19:00.004-05:00

I keep meaning to write about my transition from a typical grocery store shopper to CSA junkie. CSA stands for community supported agriculture; the idea is that the farmer organizes their own distribution system and you, the consumer, pay upfront for a season’s worth of whatever the farm produces. Generally, the food costs more than what you’d pay at the supermarket, but the quality is much higher and your food dollars support the farmer directly.

I keep meaning to write a Manifesto about why I chose to go the CSA route, how it’s changed the way I shop and cook, etc. etc. but I finally realized that it’s just too big a topic for a single blog post. Suffice to say that my cooking has shifted away from a meal planning/listmaking approach. I used to think about what I wanted to make; now I think about what I have to use up.

(This approach to cooking was surprisingly liberating. No matter how much I used to “meal plan” for the week, something would invariably throw the plan out of whack. We’d decide go out for dinner one night, or when Thursday came we just weren’t in the mood for goulash. So there I’d be with leftover groceries and no desire or time to use them).

I keep meaning to write more posts in general, but since I’ve gotten into the CSA groove I’ve been making a lot of the same things again and again. That’s a change for me, too, and it’s not all due to the CSAs – some of it’s because it’s just a LOT harder to make dinner now that I’m a Mom of Two. So instead, I’ll going to try sharing some small stories. If nothing else, my experience will hopefully show a CSA-non-believer how to make it work. And with that, I bring you,

The Pork Problem

Everyone who joins a CSA has a few items that they really don’t like. For example, kohlrabi is not my favorite veggie, but it grows well in New England so it shows up in CSA boxes frequently. Most of the time I can foist it off on my hubby by putting it in a salad. But if not and it spoils I don’t feel too guilty putting it on the compost pile.*

The meat, though, is a different story. We get pasture-raised beef, chicken, pork and lamb from Chestnut Farms. Their prices are comparable to other meat CSAs that I’ve looked at – $8 a pound. At that cost, I don’t want to waste anything. The meat comes frozen and will last a while in the deep freeze, but at some point you’ve got to use it all.

I could try to trade the cuts that I don’t prefer with a fellow CSA member, but to me that goes against the spirit of the CSA. Each chicken has just two legs, and there are only so many steaks in each cow.** So I sort of like the challenge of finding a way to use everything that arrives in the cooler each month.

One item that I’ve really struggled, though, with is Breakfast Sausage patties. I love breakfast sausage, but these are very peppery (too spicy for the kids, and almost too spicy for me) and too salty for my taste. The last time we got sausage patties, they hung around in my freezer for quite a while. I’d give them a guilty glance, then quickly grab something else and shut the lid. At last, however, I had a breakthrough and thought of not one! But two! different ways to make this product into a tasty meal:

Solution #1: Tomato gravy. This one was so obvious that I let out a big DUH when I finally thought of it. My favorite recipe for tomato gravy calls for a pound of Italian sausage, sweet or hot. I substituted the breakfast sausage and added a bit of crushed fennel seed. Yummy!

Solution #2: Meatloaf. Some time ago I started messing around with the ratio of ground beef to ground pork in meatloaf. A 2:1 ratio of beef: pork (we get both items in the CSA) worked best – the pork lightened up the loaf, but it still tasted beefy. So I tried swapping the sausage for plain ‘ole ground pork, and it worked great – and the extra seasoning in the sausage compensated for the salt that I forgot to add to the meatloaf mixture. (DUH).

I’m heartened by my small successes. The next time Breakfast Sausage patties make an appearance in the cooler, I’ll be ready. Now I just need to figure out how to cook Flap Meat (hint: it’s beef).

Recipe: Judy’s Tomato Gravy

I found this recipe in Gail’s Recipe Swap. It’s simple to make and oh so yummy. You can make it with you own homegrown or home-canned tomatoes. The sauce can be frozen so you don’t have to use it all at once.

Olive oil
1-2 lbs Italian sausage, sweet and/or hot (or breakfast sausage), casing removed
1 large onion, chopped
2 or more cloves of garlic, minced
2 28-oz cans Italian whole tomatoes
2 8-oz cans tomato sauce
2 6-oz cans tomato paste
2 bay leaves
Dried basil & dried oregano, to taste (I use about a tablespoon of each)
½ to ¾ cup dry red wine

1. Put the tomatoes through a food mill or blender to puree them (if you prefer a chunky sauce, you can just dump them into a bowl and squish the tomatoes with your hands).

2. Heat a large pot and add a little oil. Add the sausage, breaking it up with a fork or spatula, and cook until it is browned. If there is a lot of fat in the pan you can pour some of it off. Add the onion and garlic and cook until soft, stirring often. Add the pureed tomatoes, sauce, and paste and stir well (you can rinse out the cans with a little water and add that to the pot, too). Add the wine, bay leaves and dried herbs and bring to a gentle simmer. Cook, partially covered, over low heat for at least 30 minutes – longer is better, I usually let it go for at least an hour.

Meatsloaf: A guideline

This is loosely based on a recipe for meatloaf in an old "Best Recipes from the Los Angeles Times Cookbook". It’s a lighter loaf, not dense, that is great for meatloaf sandwiches the next day. It makes one big loaf or you can shape the mix into 2 smaller loaves. Eat one tonight and freeze the other for a busy day. Use as many of the different vegetables as you’d like or skip them altogether – but I recommend that you add them. They add a lot of flavor and they help to lighten the loaf.

2-3 slices of bread (or a leftover bagel, English muffin, whatever)
Milk
2-3 eggs
1-2 tablespoons ketchup or 1 tablespoon tomato paste

Olive oil, butter, or rendered fat (pork or chicken)
1 medium onion, diced
1 medium-to-large carrot, shredded
1 salad turnip, or a 2-3” chunk of daikon or Korean radish, peeled and shredded
½ of a red or green bell pepper, or a couple of slices of roasted red pepper from a jar, minced.
1 small zucchini, shredded, or some thinly sliced and chopped green cabbage, or napa cabbage, or kale, or other leafy green from your veggie CSA that you need to use up
As much chopped garlic as you like, or a handful of garlic chives, or a couple of garlic scapes, finely chopped
About ¼ cup dry vermouth or dry white wine, optional

2 lbs ground beef
1 lb ground pork or breakfast sausage

1. Place the bread in a large bowl and rip it into pieces. Add the milk and toss the bread around, letting it soak up the milk while you sauté the veggies.

2. Heat a large skillet and add 1-2 tablespoons of fat, oil, or butter. Cook the onion over medium heat until beginning to soften, stirring occasionally. Add the shredded carrot, radish, and bell pepper and cook until they wilt and soften, about 5 minutes. Add the shredded cabbage or zucchini and continue to cook until the veggie are soft and limp. Add the garlic/garlic chives/garlic scapes and cook for 2 min more. Add the vermouth and bring to a boil; let it simmer for a couple of minutes and then turn off the heat. Season with salt and pepper and then let the veggies cool a bit.

3. Use your fingers to rub the milk-soaked bread into small pieces – they to break up the lumps, unless you like lumps in your meatloaf. Add the eggs and ketchup and mix well with a fork. Carefull add the vegetable mixture and stir well.

4. Add the beef and pork to the bowl, then use your hands to mix everything together. I like to start by squishing with my fingers and then finish by kneading it together. Wipe your hands with a paper towel and then shape the mixture into 1 or 2 loaves. Place in a baking dish and bake at 350 for at least an hour – use a meat thermometer to check the temperature. I cook it to at least 160F.

5. Let cool for ~10 minutes, then slice and serve.

*I should note that I do try to avoid wasting food. Even though I spend more food dollars on CSA veggies and meats, I think less food goes to waste overall in the use-what-you-have approach to cooking.

** Kim, from Chestnut Farms, explained this a lot better in one of their newsletters (scroll down to November 2009, "Prime shares").

Baking Powder vs. Baking Soda

2010-12-20T08:16:00.005-05:00

Yesterday, I began my holiday biscotti baking marathon. I make 14 to 17 batches every year: orange-hazelnut, classic vanilla-almond, and anise pignoli.(See http://www.neighborhood-dish.org/ for recipes). I didn't manage to do any baking last year, so it took me a while to get back into the groove. One of the things I forgot to do was check on my ingredients, so while he first batch was baking the second time, I ran out to Stop & Shop to pick up more flour and eggs, and to replace my almost-expired baking powder. There was a choice of single-acting and double-acting. Afraid the double-acting would raise twice as high, I opted for the former. (This shows you my screwed-up sense of logic.)

That got me to wondering. I know I learned the difference between baking powder and baking soda in high school cooking classes, but 30+ years later, it's slipped my mind. But now, in 2010, we have the internet and a quick search online answered this question and then some. Here are some key points:

Baking powder contains baking soda, which is simply sodium bicarbonate. Sodium bicarbonate is made by combining limestone and salt in ammonia. (Doesn't sound too appetizing, does it?)
Baking soda needs an acid to form carbon dioxide, which is what makes the baked good rise. Baking powder contains cream of tartar, which provides the acid. Usually, it also contains some kind of starch. the one I bought contains cornstarch. Adding liquid activates leavening.
Double-acting baking soda is so-called because it starts leavening when mixed with liquid and then again when it is heated. So when you use single-acting, you need to bake it right away, but when you use double-acting, you can wait a bit. So, I guess I should have opted for the double-acting!
You can substitute baking powder for baking soda (adjusting quantities), but not vice versa. However, you can make baking powder by mixing baking soda (1 part) and cream of tartar (2 parts. I suppose you could add some cornstarch, too.
Both baking soda and baking powder expire. I'd thought it was only baking powder. Use vinegar to test baking soda (1/4 t. baking soda to 1 t. vinegar), and hot water to test baking powder (1 t. baking powder to 1/2 c. hot water).

Well, those are the basics. I'd better go test my baking soda!

Happy Holidays and Best Wishes for the New Year!

My Secret Affair

2010-08-05T20:52:00.003-04:00

I have a confession to make - I’m a little bit in love. He’s short, cute, and has a bit of a belly. He usually keeps things all closed up inside, but sometimes he lets off steam. And he says the cutest little things in Korean.

I’m talking about my new son, right? Well, yeah, I’m in love with him too – but I’m talking about my new rice cooker.

My old rice cooker was cheap but functional. I bought it 20 years ago, at a small appliance store in West Los Angeles that’s no longer in business (I think the store left LA before I did). It cost about 20 bucks and man, I thought that thing was miraculous. How the heck did it know when the rice was done? The whole rice cooker thing, in general, was new to me.

If you don’t have a rice cooker, you may wonder what the big deal is. For me, who tends to use every pot in the kitchen when I cook, the ability to cook rice without using a stovetop burner is incredibly liberating. (This has become even more important now that I have kids and pretty much never use the front burners on my stove – too easy for little fingers to reach). In addition, the rice always comes out so much better than when I try to cook it in a saucepan. After a few uses, I was hooked.

The one drawback to my old cheapo rice cooker was its tendency to burn the bottom layer of rice. We got around this for years by simply unplugging the cooker a soon as the rice was done, but after a while (a long while) I started to think that I deserved better. After all, that burned layer of rice was wasteful, wasn’t it? Even if we got to the cooker in time and it wasn’t totally inedible, it was still stuck to the cooker and we were wasting rice. And then there was the vanity aspect. I am not much for keeping up with the Joneses (or should I say, the Kims?) but for heavens’ sake – I’m over 40, I’m on my second set of good knives (you can’t sharpen them forever, ya know), IT’S TIME TO GET A DECENT RICE COOKER.

And then paralysis set in, once I started to research all the different types of cookers. Fuzzy logic? Is that related to fuzzy math? I’d stand in front of rice cooker displays and my eyes would glaze over. Finally, a friend recommended a brand that is very popular in Korea and (even better) went to Hmart with me to pick one out.

Here it is. I think it is a fuzzy logic/pressure cooker type, but since I still haven’t read the whole manual I’m not too sure:

Isn’t it adorable? It has all these fancy functions, too, for cooking old rice, sushi rice, chicken soup, and multi-cook (which I think is like pressure cooking). The manual came with an English version, but the recipe book did not. So my friend kindly translated a few of the recipes and I have been having sooo much fun learning how to drive this puppy. It makes beef stew in under an hour! AND keeps it hot until you get home! So much better than a crock-pot, in my opinion, which I never really grokked with anyway.

And oh yeah, it makes awesome rice. The best I’ve ever made, anyway. I am blessed with children who think that seaweed and rice is a perfectly acceptable dinner (though they’d prefer if I make some broccoli, too). Since this baby has a timer, I can put the rice in before we leave for swim class, and when we get home, ta dah! Dinner is ready.

A fuuny thing, though, is that my friend who recommended it told me that she hadn’t used many of the fancy-cooking functions –she was only making rice. But now I’ve got her trying out the multi-cook thang, too. I’m not really ready to post a “recipe” because I’m still in the “getting to know you” phase with my rice cooker, but if anyone has some ideas or suggestions for what’s worked in their Cuckoo, I’d love to know.

If You Can't Take the Heat,

2010-07-05T21:59:00.003-04:00

...make something else.

It’s hot here. Too hot to do much in the kitchen except sip iced coffee and complain about the heat. Last week, I took advantage of my husband’s absence and cooked as little as possible for myself and the kids. I made a few meals that were each followed by the highly ceremonial Much Reheating of Leftovers.

Eventually, even I got tired of seeing the same stuff. And I knew that my hubby would be especially appreciative of a home-cooked meal after eating restaurant food for a week. (An aside: you can trick people into thinking that you’re a better cook than you really are by cooking for them when they’re REALLY hungry). So I wanted to make something really tasty but without heating up the kitchen.

The answer to this problem? Thai-style garlic shrimp. There’s a bit of prep work involved, but the actual cooking goes really, really fast. The stovetop was on for less than five minutes. I served the shrimp with rice made in the rice cooker (another trick to keeping the kitchen cool) and that cucumber salad that usually accompanies satay (because we also got a cucumber in the CSA box this week). You could also serve a simple green salad, or this Thai-style slaw.

These recipes come from Real Thai: The Best of Thailand’s Regional Cooking by Nancie McDermott. It’s the first Thai cookbook I bought and remains my go-to whenever I’m in the mood for Thai food. Which hasn’t been very often, of late; I’ve been so wrapped up with learning Korean food that I neglected my first love. The Cilantro Pesto is a great recipe; although I use it often in a marinade for grilled chicken, tonight was the first time I’d tried it with shrimp. Since you can scale up the recipe to make a big batch of pesto, it’s also useful for when you get a big, beautiful bunch of cilantro in your CSA box.

Goong Gratiem (Garlic Shrimp)
From Real Thai by Nancie McDermott

Nancie says, “Thais make this dish with a lot of oil and enjoy it as a savory sauce for rice, but you could make it with just enough oil to keep everything from sticking or burning and still have a tasty dish.”

Karen says, if you want to get out of the kitchen completely, you can grill the shrimp. Just rub them with the pesto and a bit of oil right before you cook them.

3 tablespoons vegetable oil
½ pound shrimp, peeled and deveined
2 tablespoons Cilntro Pesto
1 tablespoon fish sauce
A few fresh cilantro leaves, for garnish

Heat a wok or medium skillet over medium-high heat. Add the oil and swirl to coat the surface. When the oil is very hot but not smoking, add the shrimp and stir-fry until they begin to color on both sides, about 1 minute. Add the pesto and stir-fry until it coats the shrimp and begins to cook, about 1 minute. Add the fish sauce and toss the shrimp for another 15 seconds to mix it in. Transfer the shrimp and sauce to a serving platter. Sprinkle with the cilantro leaves and serve. (2-3 main-dish servings).

Rahk Pahk Chee-Gratiem-Prik Thai (Cilantro Pesto)
from Real Thai by Nancie McDermott

Nancie says, “This simple combination of three intense Southeast Asian flavors is a classic seasoning of Thai cuisine…You may find yourself noticing new ways to use it, tossed with hot poasta or new potatoes, stirred into stocks, or dolloped on soups.”

Karen says, you can make this with a mortar and pestle, or in a food processor. Or sometimes I chop everything roughly on a big wooden cutting board, then get out a meat mallet and whack away at it. It makes a bit of a mess but is much more fun.

1 teaspoon whole white or black peppercorns [or ~1/2 tsp freshly ground pepper]
2 tablespoons coarsely chopped fresh cilantro roots or leaves and stems
2 tablespoons coarsely chopped garlic

Using a mortar and pestle or a spic grinder, crush or grind the peppercorns to a fine powder. Combine the pepper, cilantro roots, and garlic and work the 3 ingredients into a fairly smooth paste in the mortar on in a small blender or food processor. If you use the blender or food processor, you may need to add a little vegetable oil or water to ease the grinding.

Makes about ¼ cup. Note: To increase the amount to 1 cup of pesto, use 1 tablespoon of peppercorns, ½ cup cilantro roots, and ½ cup garlic. Put it in a glass jar, pour a little oil onto the surface to cover it and close the jar. It will keep nicely for about 1 week in the refrigerator.

Cucumber Pickles
from...oh, you know by now where it's from

¼ cup white vinegar [I used rice wine vinegar]
¼ cup water
¼ cup sugar
½ teaspoon salt
1 large cucumber, peeled, cut lengthwise and seeds removed, then sliced ¼” thick
3 tablespoons coarsely chopped shallot or purple onion [or any onion]
1 teaspoon finely chopped fresh hot chili [or a dash or dried chili flakes]
1 tablespoon finely chopped dry-roasted peanuts
A few fresh cilantro leaves

Combine the vinegar, water, sugar, and salt in a small saucepan over medium heat. Bring to a gentle boil, stirring to dissolve sugar and salt. Remove from the heat and cool to room temperature.

Just before serving time, peel and slice the cucumber. Combine the cucumber slices with the vinegar dressing, shallot, and chilies and divide between 2 serving bowls. Sprinkle each serving with peanuts and garnish with a few leaves of cilantro. [Karen’s note: I served it family-style and skipped the peanuts]

Up On A Soopbox

2010-06-29T20:30:00.001-04:00

I’ve got something on my mind..

Exhibit A: A friend stopped by to have coffee this morning, and our conversation turned to food, or more specifically, the preparation of food. I forget exactly where we were in conversation when she made a comment that made me pause. To paraphrase, she sighed wistfully: some people just have an innate ability to know how to put things together. She then went on to say she thought that I was one of those people, whereas she was not.

Exhibit B: Flashback to Thanksgiving 2009, and the whole family is gathering for an epic feast. I offered to do most of the cooking, mostly because only me and one other family member really enjoy cooking, especially for a crowd. During the weekend, two different people thanked me for doing so much of the cooking, but then went on to say that “it’s easier for you, because you like to cook.”

Exhibit C: Flashback even farther to years ago when some people we know had children, and we did not. It was Christmastime and I brought an assortment of cookies. One person looked at those cookies and proclaimed, You won’t have time to cook like this after you have kids! (My snarky yet - wisely - unspoken reply: Yeah, well, you didn’t cook like this BEFORE you had kids).

And my point(s), to all this whining?

Cooking is a learned skill. Yes, my friend from Exhibit A, I now feel that I can mostly “wing it” even if I don’t have a recipe, but that’s because I learned by cooking FROM recipes for the last 20 years. Even someone as thickheaded as me should pick up a few things after that much time. Sure, some people have a greater interest in and talent for cooking than others, but I wish you wouldn’t feel discouraged just because you think you lack some innate ability.

Cooking is work. And although I enjoy cooking, that doesn’t make it less work! It does make the task less onerous. And Exhibit B family, I was oh so happy to hand over the dirty dishes to you – I would much rather cook than clean, but you already know that since you’ve seen my house.

Cooking is a habit. Exhibit C friend, you were right – you do have MUCH less time to cook after you have kids. The arrival of our 2nd made me even more grateful that the cooking habit had been firmly ingrained long before the children arrived. Call me compulsive, but I MUST MAKE SUPPER. I’m also grateful that my kids will eat almost anything – they’re happy with seaweed and rice for supper, though most nights I still manage to throw something half-decent together (ref. Exhibit A). I’m sure that my hubby has noticed a decline in the quality and “fanciness” of the food lately, but hey – it’s still all homemade.

So there you have it: my cooking philosophy. Cooking is a habit that takes effort to learn. Now go make something.

And So It Begins

2010-06-24T21:20:00.003-04:00

I'm talking about CSA season, of course. It's Week Three, which means that we're scrambling for ideas to use up greens. Actually, I signed us up for a late winter/early spring CSA, too, so we've been feelin' the green over here for a couple months already.

I prefer to eat my greens in soup. Kale and sausage is a match made in heaven, but feels too heavy in the summertime. So lately I've been making lots of Asian-inspired soups because they're quick, easy and use lots of CSA produce!
This one is based on a recipe for haddock soup from Aeri’s Kitchen and a cod, chard and potato dish. I made this tonight with flounder fillets and bok choy and it was fantastic.

Korean-Inspired Fish Soup with Greens

For variety, you can add some cubes of firm tofu to the soup at the step when you add the fish. Or place a scoop of cooked rice, some cooked udon noodles or other noodles in each person’s serving bowl and ladle in the soup. Makes 3-4 servings.

6-8 cups of liquid: anchovy stock, fish stock, dashi, vegetable stock, or water
1 small onion, cut in half and sliced thin
~1 cup of peeled, thinly sliced Korean radish, daikon radish, or salad turnips
1 tablespoon chopped garlic, minced together with 1/2 teaspoon of salt (or to taste)
1 small hot pepper or a pinch of dried chili flakes, optional
1 to 1-1/2 pounds of fish fillets, cut into serving-sized pieces
2-3 scallions, cut into 1/2” pieces
A few large handfuls of mild-tasting greens (bok choy, chard, turnip greens, Napa cabbage, etc.), washed and chopped into bite-sized pieces
2-3 garlic scapes, sliced very thinly (optional)

1. Bring the liquid to a simmer in a low, wide pot. Add the onion, garlic, radish and optional hot pepper and simmer for 10 minutes.

2. Add the fish fillets and simmer gently for 5-10 minutes. Skim off the foam that rises to the surface of the soup, if you wish.

3. Add the scallions, greens and optional garlic scapes and simmer for another 5 minutes or just until the greens are tender.

4. Eat and feel virtuous – you used up all those veggies, AND you ate some fish.

Just Don't Forget the Wasabi

2010-04-19T21:00:00.002-04:00

We're back! The trip was great and all went well, food-wise and family-wise. I didn't post any more food videos because we spent Thursday afternoon at the baths (and I wasn't about to record THAT experience) and were too tired to go out again that night for dinner. Friday morning was spent on last-minute errands and then that afternoon, we went to pick up Little Brother.

Sometime last year, I was telling a friend about Little Brother and how he'd be almost a year old by the time we brought him home. The first thing she said was, Gee, he'll already be speaking/understanding the Korean language. I chuckled to myself because MY first thought had been, Gee, he'll already be eating Korean food. That tells you where my priorities lie.

When I finally got to meet Little Brother, one of the questions that I asked his foster mother was, what does he like to eat? She told me that he drank formula (250 ml every 4 hours!) and had a little rice porridge - jook - twice a day. She also said that she would give him a little of whatever the family was having at mealtimes. I did not get the impression, however, that he usually ate considerable amounts of solid food.

Back to Friday - that night's dinner was takeout sushi and bao from the food halls in the basement of the Shinsegae department store. Little Brother had fallen asleep during the taxi ride back to the hotel, so Paula ventured out to forage for our supper. The Lottle Department store has a food court/food hall in its basement too, also full of wondrous stuff: kiosks with bakery, confectionery, sushi, Indian food, etc. The Shinsegae store has an upscale market within (this was the place where I took photos of seaweed and anchovies on our last trip).

Paula set out the victuals on the coffee table and we tucked in. Partway through our meal, Little Brother roused himself and declared that he was hungry. So I promptly warmed up a bottle that his foster mom had prepared, gathered him into my arms, and prepared for the first feeding/bonding moment with my new son. Who looked at the bottle, looked at me, and then...slowly and deliberately...looked at the sushi. Then he looked back at me. The message was clear: why aren't you sharing?

Since we arrived back in Boston, it's become apparent that Little Brother is, in fact, quite used to solid food. Thus far everything that's been put in front of him has gone down the hatch to varying degrees (mostly depending upon the texture of the food - sweet potato and strawberries tend to slip out of his grasp, whereas green beans provide a more secure purchase). He has no interest in spoon feeding, and while I miss that baby-bird look of openmouthed searching, it is much easier to let him finger-feed on whatever we're having for dinner. Because if I give something to Big Brother and don't put it on little brother's plate too...he notices. Oh yes, he notices.

A Little Bit of Thursday

2010-04-08T18:13:00.003-04:00

Wednesday's Snack and Lunch

2010-04-07T10:12:00.003-04:00

A Tale of Two Toilets

2010-04-07T09:35:00.004-04:00

We had an adventure today. We started off by taking the subway out to Suwon where we caught a shuttle bus to the Korean Folk Village. It's kind of like the Korean version of Old Sturbridge Village (or, Williamsburg, for those of you not familiar with O.S.V.): a collection of traditional building with roving re-enactors, craftspeople and entertainers.

I'll post some videos of what we ate today, but first I wanted to tell you about a different sort of experience. Involving toilets. Yes, that's crass, and has nothing to do with food (although I could argue that the topic IS food-related because what goes in...) but it's a good travel story so bear with me. (Or stop reading now - your choice).

Unlike most of the public bathrooms that I've encountered in the US, the restrooms here are pretty darned clean. Even the ones in the train station.So when we arrived at Suwon Station this afternoon, I thought nothing of making a quick stop in the public facilities.

A minor technical difficulty arose: there was no toilet paper in the stall I'd entered. Not an empty dispenser - there simply wasn't any dispenser. Fortunately I noticed this oddity prior to seating myself upon the throne. I left the stall In Search Of...and spotted a giant roll on the wall, next to the entrance. I'm not sure why the restroom was arranged that way (easier to maintain? fewer rolls to change) but, mission accomplished, we went on our way.

My second Adventure in Toileting came later this evening, in a restroom at the Doota Mall. This time it was the toilet seat that took me by surprise - it was warm.Not you-just-sat-down-after-someone-else-was-there-for an-hour warm; that seat was HEATED. Given where I live, this was downright startling. Those of you who have ever used the ladies' room in a Boston restaurant in winter know what I'm talking about: the don't bother to heat the restrooms and the seat are freezing. It's been cool here this week, so I was subconsciously preparing for a chilly tush...et voila, a heated seat! Astounding.

Here's a picture of this technological marvel:

Have you even seen a toilet that had its own control panel? I was in awe. When I finished my business, I tried to determine which button was for "flush." My first guess was the big red one: nope. None of the other buttons produced more than a pleasant, but ineffective, beep. Eventually I noticed this sticker posted above the toilet:

The arrow pointed to a plain-old lever. No autoflush, no electronic whizz-bang at all. I was so disappointed.

But at least I had a warm tushie.

Tuesday's Walking Tour

2010-04-06T04:08:00.005-04:00

A little video of foods at a small, open-air market.

Fancy rice cakes on display in a shop in Insa-Dong.

More rice cake footage...

We stopped for a cup of tea at The Old Tea Shop, a tiny little place that I'd been to on my last visit.

Monday's Supper

2010-04-05T09:25:00.003-04:00

Tonight we ate at the Food Garden within the Shinsegae Department Store: 5 or 6 mini-restaurants within a nice open, seating space. There was a rooftop garden, too, but it was getting dark so we opted to stay inside.

The Only Thing I Could Think of Was Tofu Stew

2010-04-04T22:16:00.002-04:00

After a long and uneventful flight, we ventured out in search of some dinner. We asked at the front desk for a restaurant suggestion but were unable tosuccessfully navigate through the streets in the dark (yes, we have a map, but still...blame it on the jetlag).

It was ~8pm and most places were closed; those that were open were not very busy. We settled on a small restaurant that looked inviting & was relatively busy. They had an area for the traditional, on-floor seating, but we went to a table. After we sat down we realized that there wasn't an English menu (not a problem) and there also wasn't a photographic menu (definately a problem).

Our poor waiter gestured over to what we think was the menu posted on the wall...eventually my brain woke up enough to realize that (1) the table had one of those gas burners built into it, (2) we weren't really hungry enough for barbeque, but (3) the gas burner would be used for stews as well as BBQ.

Fortunately, I could remember the word for stew (chigae). Unfortunately I couldn't remember the other words to specify what KIND of stew, except for kimchee. So kimchee chigae it was!

(Note: the audio is a little quiet on this video clip. The restaurant was not very nusy, and I didn't want to talk too loudly. Also, we're still elarning how to use the camera...).

In Search Of: Dinner

2010-04-04T22:09:00.003-04:00

Lunch on the Plane

2010-04-04T21:56:00.002-04:00

Testing 1-2-3

2010-04-04T21:51:00.002-04:00

In which we attempt to get all the new electronic gizmos working. And oh yes, we eat lunch.

ND Show #10 - Can You Cook Better than an 8th Grader?

2010-04-02T10:55:00.001-04:00

Click to Play

Has Gary made any progress since our last visit? Join us in Gary's kitchen and find out as four young and enthusiastic cooks each teach him a favorite recipe. Featured are: Mac 'n' Cheese, Lime Rickey, Peanut Butter Cookies (with a Kiss), and Pancakes. Can this bachelor be saved?

TMI

2010-03-30T20:40:00.001-04:00

Warning: this post has nothing to do with food.

Well, almost nothing. Soon I will be posting, hopefully a lot, about Korean food, because any day now I’ll be flying off to Seoul to pickup my new baby.

I’ve alluded to the fact that my son is ethnically Korean, but I don’t think that I’ve said straight out that I’m an adoptive mommy - until now, of course. Anyway, we just got The Call that Baby Brother is ready for pickup. So my posting may suddenly get even more sporadic than usual.

Things will play out quite differently than last time. When we traveled in 2006, my parents came along with my hubby & I, and we knew nothing about Korean food. This time the hubster will stay home with Big Brother, I’ve roped Paula into coming along and I am totally in love with Korean food.

The pre-baby shopping is different this time, too. To prepare for Big Brother, we bought a crib and stroller. To prepare for Little Brother, I’ve bought a mini-HD camcorder and netbook. The plan is to Skype daily with Daddy and Big Bro, but also to record our adventures in eating as Paula and I tromp around Seoul. A friend suggested that we also Twitter on our trip, so if I can I figure that one, out we’ll have that going for us, too. Which is nice.

My Trashy Garden

2010-03-28T20:36:00.007-04:00

A friend of mine bought her first house last winter, and she’s very excited about planting a vegetable garden. Gardening has been on my mind, too (or rather my lack of preparation for this years’ garden). Since I've been putting together some ideas for my friend, I thought I would share them here, too: tips for recycling trash into the garden.

I'm not talking about composting, although I do that as well; I mean stuff you would throw away (or recycle) that can be used in, or for, the garden. Since it's mostly things that you don't acquire every day (how often do you get holes in socks?) you need to plan ahead and set these things aside as they accumulate. I present you, therefore, with my list of Handy Trash to hang on to:

Plastic containers (like the ones that cherry tomatoes, berries, and salad greens come in): these make great (and free!) seed-starting containers. The tomato and berry ones are my favorites because they already have small slots in the bottom for drainage. The ones from pre-washed salad greens are bigger and will hold more seeds, but you may have to poke holes in the bottom.

We covered this tip in show #7, but here’s what you do: fill the containers ~2/3 full with pre-moistened seed starting mix (most seeds do better in seed-starting mix than regular potting soil, with some exceptions). Add the seeds to the depth and spacing recommended on the package. Put the filled container in the kitchen sink and gently water the seeds (use the use the sprayer attachment, if your sink has one). I like to add just enough water to "flood" the surface then let it drain thoroughly).

Keep the closed containers on a tray with a rim (to avoid drips) in a warm place until the seeds germinate. They don't need direct sunlight, but they shouldn't be in total darkness either. I leave them on top of the radiator, or above the fridge. Check the containers every day and spritz the soil with a little water to keep it moist, but not soggy. As soon as you see the seedlings begin to sprout, open the top of the container and move it to a brightly lit spot. Sunny windowsills are OK but the seedlings lean towards the light – you will have to rotate the containers every day or two. I use a homemade grow-light setup down in the cellar.

When the seedlings are big enough to transplant (usually defined as having two “true” leaves), move them into 3-4" pots filled with regular potting soil. Dump the used seed starting mix onto the compost pile, rinse the plastic containers and recycle them (with your regular recycling waste - I don't re-use them to start more seeds).

Holey socks: When was the last time you saw someone darn a sock? Do you even know what "darn a sock" means? Those socks with the holes in the toes can be turned into great ties for tomato and other plants: they're stretchy and soft, so they don't damage the plants and they even expand a little as the plants grow. (My mom always used strips cut from T-shirts as plant ties, but my family goes through socks a lot faster than we go through T-shirts).

Here’s what you do: cut the toe and cuff ends off of the sock, then cut the sock into rings ~1/2” wide (see my artful schematic). Cut each ring open to make a flat strip. If you don't want the cloth strips to be obvious in the garden, use black or brown socks. (I prefer white socks because it's easier to locate the strips at the end of the garden season – I cut them off and throw them away. If you wear 100% cotton socks, you can put the used strips in the compost pile).

Newspapers: save the regular print pages, not the glossy-paper ads. Newspapers can be used as mulch in the garden, either shredded into strips, or laid down flat. (If you lay them flat, make sure you use at least 5 pages thick to suppress the weeds). You can add a layer of mulch on top of the newspapers to diminish the trashy look.
Shredded newspapers are also great for adding "carbon-rich" material to a compost pile, or as bedding in your worm bin (I haven't set up a worm bin yet, I'm still accumulating newspaper).

Paper and/or plastic milk cartons: use 'em as "plant protectors." Cut the tops and bottoms off, and when you put your tomato seedlings into the ground, slip a milk carton over it. Push the carton into the ground an inch or so. The carton will protect the plant from cutworms, and if you get a late frost you can gently pack a little shredded newspaper into the carton to add insulation.

Wine corks: put them in the bottom of pots for drainage. They weigh less than rocks, and I know that they take a VERY long time to break down because I tried adding them to the compost pile. Three years later I am still finding intact corks in the garden. Of course, you will have to drink an awful lot of wine before you accumulate enough corks to make a 2” layer in an 18” pot, but these are the sacrifices that must be made.

That's it. Try it out...if nothing else, a bucket of wine corks and pile of socks on the back steps is a sure-fire conversation starter for visitors.

What's Up? Garden Edition

2010-03-22T20:34:00.007-04:00

Last week it was unseasonably warm and sunny. I took the opportunity to run around the garden, pulling off mulch and searching for signs of spring to come. Now that the weather has retunred to reality (40 degrees F and raining), I'm glad that I took these pictures. Knowing that something is happening out these will sustain me until I can get into the garden again.

This is sorrel. Do you know it? It's a hardy perennial that can be used as a salad green, which is why I planted it. Here in zone 6, by the end of March it has usually revivied enough to start spiking salads with its lemony/sour flavor. Later in the year I cook it with spinach, or make sorrel soup.

I use fallen leaves as mulch in the veggie beds - a tip that I picked up from my sis-in-law, Sue. My son "helped" me take the leaf cover off, and what did we find lurking there? A few mache plants (pronounced "mosh" - aka lamb's lettuce, aaka corn salad) planted last fall and apparently forgotten. That mache is some tough stuff.

Another surpising find under the mulch - the chives are sprouting. Well, beyond sprouting and into sprouted. The garlic chives are a little behind them; nothing photogenic yet.

And finally, another perennial (ha, ha) favorite - alpine strawberries. These little fellas rival mache for their toughness. Can you see the reddish crown? By June the plant will be making tiny, fragrant berries continuously until late October/early November.

That's it for now - but all in all, not bad for a very early spring garden. Off to read seed catalogs, and dream.

We've Got the Beet

2010-03-18T21:39:00.005-04:00

Do you know what red beet eggs are? Here's a clue:

In addition to the glorious fruit I bought last summer, I bought 10 lbs of beets. Why? Well, Hubby Dear loves to have salad for lunch everyday, and also loves pickled beets as a salad topping. Since I am trying to eat more "local" food year-round, making my own pickled beets seemed like a good idea (and one that would assuage my guilt at packing his grown-in-California-and-shipped-across-the-country-salad for lunch every day. Yes, I want greenhouses; no, I don't have them yet).

I'll post the recipe if anyone really wants it (but who would that be? Does anyone besides MY Hubby Dear truly LIKE pickled beets??) but the jist of it was as follows: roast beets. Make tremendous mess that permanently stains hands whilst peeling beets. Prepare brine with vinegar and salt and a few other flavorings. Choke on fumes of simmering vinegar, then quarter beets, add to hot canning jars and fill with vaporous hot brine. Process in a boiling water bath in the heat of August while you question your sanity over the decision to revive home canning as a domestic pursuit ( if the hour of roasting at 400 F doesn't get you, the boiling cauldron of water for processing will).

I bought 10 lbs of beets because my recipe said that 10-12 lbs would give me 6 pints of pickled product. Not true...just half of the beets filled up 6 jars on their own. I had to to do the whole thing over again, ending up with 11 pints and change. That, my friends, is a lot of pickled beets.

There is a bright side, well actually two bright sides. The first is that I did, in fact, accomplish my goal: hubby has been happliy eating locally grown, organic beets on his salads all winter long. The other bright side is that some small part of my brain recalled that my mother used to make red beet eggs. I don't know exactly how she did it, but every so often a jar would appear in our refrigerator which contained a few hardboiled eggs and a slice or two of cooked beets.

I decided to try "repurposing" the vinegar brine from the pickled beets to make red beet eggs. It worked out great...after I finsih up a jar of beets, I add as many hard boiled eggs as will fit into the jar (usually just 3-4 eggs). I let them sit in the fridge for a few days, and them...the eggs shrink slightly in size (due to water loss in the salty brine?) and turn a glorious, shocking pink color (see photo above). They also taste great - the vinegar is not overpowering, the salt is just right. Sliced up, the pickled red beet eggs are also great on a salad. And, as I've just discovered tonight, they make a great snack when a martini has made you feel peckish.

Garden Variety Leftovers

2010-03-14T21:15:00.006-04:00

I got a little carried away last fall.

Throughout the growing season, our veggie CSA gives you the opportunity to purchase certain items in bulk. This is a real perk for those of us who love pick-your-own operations but are unable to patronize them due to our toddler’s wanderlust in the orchard. I was, therefore, quite happy to buy raspberries by the flat, peaches by the peck and tomatoes by the ton, all summer long. (Just kidding. I only bought 20 lbs of tomatoes).

The CSA also offers items for winter storage in bulk. With visions of a well-stocked root cellar dancing in my head, I bought a bushel of apples, a bushel of butternut squash, 25 lbs of carrots, 5 pounds of celeriac, 50 pounds of cabbage, 10 pounds of parsnips, 50 pounds of potatoes, 50 pounds of onions, and a half-bushel of sweet potatoes. I told you, I got carried away.

Lugging all that food into the car and into the house was an exercise in, well, exercise. I didn’t attempt to store it all – most of the apples were shortly turned into applesauce (which was frozen), a third of the cabbage was sliced up for saurkraut, and ~12 lbs of potatoes were drafted for emergency duty at Thanksgiving. Still, I had a lot of food on my hands.

The CSA website has some good ideas for stashing veggies around the house. I’d also read Root Cellaring (a book that makes me drool and wish for a real root cellar) so I had some ideas about where to put what. I’d already established that the unheated closet room on the north side of the house was ideal for squash. Root Cellaring recommended that the sweet potatoes be kept in a relatively warm & dry spot, so they went to the top of the cellar steps; the onions prefer cooler conditions and so rested at the bottom of the same steps. That left me with the Four Vegetables of Cold and Wet Conditions: carrot, turnip, celeriac and parsnip.

I set up a veggie storage area inside this scary-looking closet in our cellar:

I suspect that this cupboard was originally built to be a root cellar. (We tried using it as a wine cellar but we kept drinking up all the wine). It’s not quite cold enough in there for carrots – the temp never gets below 40 degrees F, even in the dead of winter. Still, I thought it was worth a try. I’d read that carrots and the like can be stored in damp peat moss, so I bought some cheap styrofoam coolers, loaded 'em up with veggies and covered it all with peat moss. Then, every week or so I poured some water over the peat moss to keep it moist.

Here’s what the setup looked like (this pic was taken a few weeks ago):

How did it work? The veggies kept surprisingly well. I think they would have kept even better had we not experienced unseasonably warm temperatures in November, right after I loaded up my cellar with produce. It was over 50 F in the closet for several weeks before things finally chilled down outside.

I could not fit all of the carrots into the big cooler so some of them went into a plastic bag in the fridge; surprisingly, the carrots stored in the peat moss held up better over time. Another surprise was that the mice that live in the cellar (the house is 130 years old; there’s going to be mice, people) didn’t eat the veggies at all.

You may have noticed - the carrots have begun to sprout. I think this was again due to our warm fall, and the approaching spring has hastened the process. So I am in a rush to use everything up. But what’s everything?

The potatoes are pretty much gone, as are the onions and turnips. I’ve already told you what happened to the squash. What I mostly have left is lots of carrots, parsnips, and celeriac. They are still edible, though the quality has suffered a bit since they’ve been stored in a too-warm area. I don’t want to throw it all onto the compost heap, therefore I am making a really BIG batch of vegetable stock.

Will I do this again next year? Probably. When the coolers are empty, I’ll bring them out to the garden and use the peat moss to mulch my blueberry bushes. I suppose I could re-use it in the cellar but it seems safer to recycle it and give the coolers a good cleaning. I’ve learned that 25 lbs of carrots is entirely too much, so I’ll try to grow them myself instead of doing the bulk order. Also, bulk sweet potatoes AND squash is more beta-carotene than my family can consume, so I’ll grow the squash and order the sweet potatoes. Unless I can convince my hubby to build me a real root cellar, of course.

Two Great Tastes Don’t Always Taste Great Together

2010-03-11T20:31:00.001-05:00

I decided that I need to share more of my misadventures in the kitchen. As I’ve gotten more experience with cooking, they don’t happen as often, but oh yes they do happen. Tonight’s dinner didn’t turn out quite as I’d envisioned – but that’s OK. It was educational! In this case, I tried out two recipes that worked out just fine, they just didn’t work well together.

Recipe #1 was the pork chops with vinegar peppers that Paula posted recently. It was very tasty, just as she promised, and quick and easy to make. Recipe #2 was a baked risotto with butternut squash.

Why, exactly, did I think that the squash risotto would be good with the peppery pork chops? To be honest, I didn’t think it would be good. I didn’t think that it would be bad, either. I had risotto on the brain because I’m trying to clean out my pantry and I had a little arborio rice, and also because I’m trying to clean out the cellar and was making vegetable broth. I also had some squash puree on hand because I’d already cleaned out my closet. And finally, I wanted to try a baked risotto because the stove was tied up with vats of boiling veggie broth.

I poked around on my beloved Internet and found a recipe that looked pretty good. Because I ended up modifying it quite a bit to use the ingredients I had on hand, and because it turns out that some people we know have no love for the Food Network, I’m not going to bother to post a link to the original recipe (unless you really, really want to see it – in that case, click here).

I haven’t tried baking risotto before. I suppose that it can’t possibly be as creamy as the real, laboriously-stirred version, but this was pretty darned good. The squash and the crème fraiche gave it a really creamy texture. It was too sweet and rich, though, to pair well with the vinegary peppers on the pork chops. Next time I’ll try it with chicken or a nice beef stew. I think a pork stew would be OK, maybe this one with fennel. Or that pork confit. Mmmmmm.

Baked Risotto with Squash
(Makes 4 side-dish servings, based on the fact that hubby and I ate half of it for dinner)

2-1/2 cups low-sodium vegetable broth, chicken broth, or water
1 cup arborio rice
1 cup pureed cooked winter squash or pumpkin
~1/4 cup vermouth or dry white wine, optional
~1/4-1/3 cup crème fraiche (or mascarpone cheese, if that's in your fridge)
Salt, pepper, and a pinch of nutmeg
Grated Parmesean or other cheese, optional (Gruyere would be nice)

Preheat the oven to 400 F. Heat the broth in a saucepan on top of the stove, or in the microwave, to warm it up.

Place 2 cups of broth, the rice, squash, and vermouth into a 2-quart baking dish or casserole. Stir well and cover with the casserole lid (or use aluminum foil).

Bake at 400 degrees for about 30 minutes, stirring every 10 minutes or so. If the broth is boiling too vigorously, turn the heat down to 325 F. Bake until most of the liquid has been absorbed and the rice is tender.

When the rice is cooked, stir the risotto. If you are not serving it right away, pour the remaining ½ cup broth on top and set aside (I put it back in the oven, with the heat turned off, until the pork chops were done cooking). When you are ready to eat, stir in the remaining broth, the crème fraiche, and a pinch of nutmeg. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Eat (preferably NOT with vinegar peppers).

Nintendo > Squash

2010-03-05T20:44:00.003-05:00

1. We are awash in squash over here. I had ordered a half bushel of butternut squash from our CSA last fall, and we’d eaten our way through two-thirds of it before I hit a wall and we took a little break from it.

2. My 3-year-old son has had a nasty cold all week. Not bad enough to actually slow him down or induce long naps, but sufficient to meet his school’s criteria for “keep your snotty-nosed kid at home.” So yesterday afternoon we were looking for things to do, and I decided it was time to clean up the house a bit. (This is an Event. I Cook a lot, but I don’t Clean very often).

3. In addition to the nasty cold, my son has some sensory processing things going on. He loves the vacuum cleaner, and it turns out that vacuuming is a “heavy work” activity which improves the vestibular sense. So, for my son, vacuuming is therapeutic. Woohoo!

Yesterday morning, after we’d vacuumed nearly the whole house, we moved on to the little room at the top of our stairs which has housed squash for the last few months. It’s unheated, and if I keep the door closed the ambient temperature hovers around 55 degrees – perfect for squash storage (but a little chilly for ironing, the other major function of the room).

While we were cleaning out the closet room I noticed that some of the half-dozen remaining squash were starting to “go.” Not wanting to waste them, I decided to cook them and freeze the puree for later use. My son very helpfully carried the squash downstairs, one at a time (more heavy work!) and had great fun playing with them in the kitchen. When I cut open the squash, he noticed that the seeds and strings looked a lot like sea anemones (another of his favorite things). I scooped the seeds into a bowl and let him rub his hands in them for - still more - sensory input. (Note: I’m onto something here. The sensory potential of vegetables is completely ignored in “The Out-of-Sync Child has Fun”).

I put the squash in the oven to bake, and while my son napped I scraped the flesh into a bowl. Later, he had great fun helping me make the squash puree by pressing buttons on the food processor. We used some of the puree to make a “pumpkin” pie, and he enjoyed mixing all the ingredients together.

My point? My boy spent almost *all afternoon* playing with butternut squash in its various forms, and had a fine time doing so. This isn't anything new for him, though, as he has akways had a love for vegetables since all he sees mommy doing is cook (remember? I don't clean).

This morning, my son mentioned that a little boy in his class (we’ll call him Benjamin) had a nifty toy with him before school one day. Then he said “Take squash with us.” (We didn’t cook all of them– two specimens are still intact). I asked, Do you want to bring a squash to school to show it to Benjamin? He nodded yes. This was something of a milestone because up until now, he hasn’t really paid much attention to the other kids in his class, let alone wanting to share a squash with them. (Truthfully, I don’t know if he wanted to share the squash, as in “Isn’t this cool!” or show it off, as in “Nyah nyah, I have a squash and you don’t”). At any rate, Mommy got all choked up. My baby is becoming social!

(Aside: hubby just read a draft of this post and suggested that I play up the “milestone” aspect even more. It was a big, big thing that our little boy wanted to interact – in a positive way - with a kid at school).

So off we went this morning, my son proudly carrying his squash into school. As we walked through the doors, he began calling “Benjamin, Benjamin!” in a sweet, pleading voice. He was just sooo excited about the squash!

And where was Benjamin? With a group of five or six boys, clustered around somebody’s older brother who had brought in …a Nintendo DS.

Splat. No contest.

Show #9: A Valentine's Feast

2010-02-12T13:51:00.001-05:00

Click to Play

Join us in professional chef Petal Joseph-Seale's gorgeous kitchen where we learn to make a Valentine's Day feast fit for a romantic dinner for two or the entire family and how to set a beautiful table for the occasion. Featured recipes include: Lobsert Brulee with Piquillo Peppers; Seared, Herb-Crusted Pork Tenderloin garnished with Sweet and Sour Red Onions; Spaetzle with Chives topped with Swiss Chard; and Nutella-Filled Crepes with Raspberry Sauce. Mmmm.

Mary Had A Little (Ground) Lamb

2010-02-07T20:08:00.003-05:00

The first time that I found ground lamb in the delivery from our meat CSA, I thought, Oh boy, lamburgers! Well, that’s not entirely true; I did think “lamburgers” but not “oh boy.” Lamb patties were in the regular supper rotation at our house when I was growing up. Simply fried up in a skillet and served without buns, I remember them - not fondly - as a little dry and not terribly exciting. I let my little packet of ground lamb languish, therefore, in the freezer for a few months…

…until I was perusing my Indian cookbook and thought, DUH. LAMB.

I tried out this little recipe for Kashmiri-style meatballs and Oh boy! for real. These are really wonderful. The recipe is easy to do and can be made ahead of time, then re-heated. So, it’s a great recipe for when you have a hankering to make a big Indian feast. The only real problem is that these meatballs taste so good you will wish you had made more of them.

I’m going to give you the recipe verbatim from the cookbook, but just so you know: I don’t really do it this way, because the sauce came out so oily. Maybe it’s just me and I’m doing something wrong, or maybe it’s just supposed to be oily. So what I did was: (1) make the meatball mixture, (2) fry it in a little olive oil, (3) add some water, garam masala, salt and pepper and (4) simmer. I didn’t have any dried milk, either. So maybe I didn’t really make Kashimiri Kofta Kari. But whatever it was, it sure was tasty.

Kashimiri Kofta Kari (Curried Meatballs, Kashimiri Style)
From The Complete Asian Cookbook, by Charmaine Solomon

1-1/2 pounds lean minced lamb
1 teaspoon finely greated ginger
2 fresh chilies, finely chopped
1 teaspoon ground coriander
½ teaspoon chili powder
2 teaspoons garam masala
2 teaspoons salt [note: I only used about ½ teaspoon]
½ cup yogurt
3 tablespoons ghee [or olive oil]
1 tablespoon dried milk or khoa
1 teaspoon sugar
½ teaspoon ground black pepper
¼ teaspoon ground cardamom

Put the lamb into a bowl with the ginger, chilies, coriander, chili powder and 1 teaspoon each of the garam masala and salt. Add 1 tablespoon of the yogurt to moisten the spices and help distribute them evenly. A teaspoon or so of the ghee can be added if the lamb is very lean. Mix well and form into small oval shapes.

Heat the ghee in a heavy saucepan, add the dried milk, sugar, remaining yogurt, garam masala and salt. Fry gently, then add a half cup of hot water, bring to the boil and add the koftas. Simmer, covered, until no liquid remains. Turn koftas over, add a half cup more hot water and the pepper, cover and simmer until the liquid is absorbed once more. Sprinkle the dish with cardamom and serve with Indian breads or rice. Cover after adding cardamom so its fragrance will not dissipate.

Serves 6. [6? 6 what??!? Small children, maybe. The hubby & I polished it off all by ourselves].

Confit Me

2010-02-04T20:30:00.002-05:00

Is there a 12-step program for addiction to pork products? I sure hope so – after eating this pork confit tonight, I may need professional help to keep me from making it every week.

It began innocently enough. I had a small package of country-style pork ribs in the freezer and a pint of lard in the refrigerator. The pork was from our meat CSA; the lard, well, that was an impulse buy at the Polish market when I was shopping for Vigilia in December. I didn’t really know what to do with country-style ribs, but the lard got me thinking: meat…fat…confit.

Have you had duck confit? Artery-clogging, hypertension-inducing confit? Sometimes restaurants put “confit” on the menu, but the plate arrives containing a poseur: true confit is very salty, a little dry, and a bit chewy. Heaven in a duck leg, and it’s pretty good with pork, too. I’d first encountered the pork version on a pizza in Boston. I don’t remember the name of the place, and I don’t know if they’re still in business, but this place near the Brigham made an awesome pie with pork confit.

So I decided to have a go at making pork confit. I used Mark Bittman’s recipe as a guideline, but reduced the amounts of juniper and allspice berries in the brine because even I don’t keep a bucketful of those spices on hand. (I did have a bucketful of fennel seeds, though). The recipe calls for ½ cup of salt, but doesn’t specify kosher vs. regular salt. It matters because kosher salt is “fluffier” and is generally used in greater quantities than regular salt for brining purposes. To complicate matters, I was out of kosher salt and wanted to use up my kimchee salt. So I guessed: I used about 1/3 cup of kimchee salt, which I estimate is a little coarser (and a bit “wetter”) than plain table salt.

I let the pork soak in the brine for 48 hours. In retrospect, 24 hours of brining would have sufficed since I was using country-style ribs instead of a whole pork loin or shoulder. I also could have gone with a shorter cooking time: after 2-1/2 hours, the juices had completely evaporated and the meat began to caramelize a bit. So, 2 hours would probably have been enough time for the pork to become tender.

And oh, how tender it was! I started this last week – put the meat into brine on Thursday, cooked it in the fat on Saturday, then let it cool and stored it in the refrigerator. Today I scraped it all out into a pan and warmed it over low heat, then poured off most of the fat (saving it for the next batch of confit, don’t ya know) and added about 3 cups of drained, homemade saurkraut. (This time, it’s the fresh stuff – I never got around to canning this year’s batch of kraut). Cover and simmer for about 30 minutes until the kraut is tender. Eat and swoon.

And try not to do this again next week…

On Meats and Beans

2010-01-31T11:38:00.004-05:00

In addition to the vegetable CSA that I joined last summer, we’ve been doing a meat CSA. For the most part, I love it: we get pasture-raised beef, pork, chicken and lamb (with an option to purchase an Heirloom Turkey at Thanksgiving) on a monthly basis. They charge a flat rate per pound, and you choose the total number of pounds that you want to receive each month.

I won’t get into all the reasons that we decided to go the CSA route for meat – that’s an entire post (or two) in its own right – but I will say that it’s definitely exacerbated my hoarding tendencies. If I’m gonna pay eight bucks a pound for meat, I’m gonna be darned sure that I get as much out of that meat as possible. Every scrap of fat and bone, therefore, gets saved or re-used in some way. It makes for an odd assortment of baggies in the freezer, but that's another story....

…which brings me to Dec 29th, 2009, on which I contemplated a menu for New Year’s Eve. I decided to go with a soup-based meal, since our guests would be arriving at different times and I didn’t want to be locked into the kitchen trying to Make Dinner Happen. I pulled out my favorite soup cookbook – Soups and Stews, by Bernard Clayton Jr.- and began to peruse recipes. The Seven Bean Soup caught my eye because (1) it could be made a day ahead, (2) I had a lot of dried beans on hand and (3) several teenagers were coming to the party and Bernard described the soup as “a large recipe that will feed a boy Scout patrol, a young football team or a crew freshly returned from a sail.”

(Here I will digress about dried beans: I love them for the vegetable garden, because they are soooo easy to grow. Plant them. Water them. Wait for the vines to die off in the fall, then harvest them. I choose which varieties to grow based mainly on what will look pretty in glass jars on the pantry shelf. Oh, all right, I do read the descriptions of taste, too, in the catalogs, but mostly it’s all about the pretty.)

In the pantry, I had some Hidatsa Shield Figure and Good Mother Stallard beans that I grew myself, some Jacob’s Cattle beans from the veggie CSA, and a few other organic varieties that I bought at Whole Foods (black beans, cannellini, and chick peas). I also had a lamb bone in the freezer, leftover from a small leg roast, that I thought would work okay in the broth-making step for this recipe – Bernard says to use veal bones, but I didn’t have any, and there’s another recipe for a lamb and bean stew that made me think the lamb bone just might work here. Some people don’t like the flavor of lamb, but I figured that all the smokiness from the ham hocks and sausage would hide any “game-y” character.

If you don’t have the exact types of beans that are called for in the recipe, you can substitute others, or use different proportions of the cited beans, though the soup does look pretty with all the different shapes and colors. As for my heirlooms, I found that the Hidatsas and the Jacob’s Cattle truly are very tasty beans. The next time I make this I will probably add a little more sausage so that it has a greater presence in the bowl.

Since you make the broth from scratch, it takes a while to complete this recipe. You can do it in stages, however, over the course of a weekend: start soaking the beans and make the ham broth on Friday night, cook the beans on Saturday, and put it all together on Sunday. This soup was really delicious…and it did indeed make enough to feed a crew freshly returned from a sail.

Seven Bean Soup
Adapted from Soups and Stews, by Bernard Clayton Jr.

½ cup of each dried beans: navy beans, pinto beans, cranberry beans, kidney beans, black-eyed beans, garbanzos (chick peas), lima beans
Water
2 smoked ham hocks
1 pound soup bones, preferable veal [or whatever you have in the freezer from your meat CSA]
2 tablespoons butter
2 medium onions, chopped finely
2 medium carrots, chopped finely
4 stalks celery, chopped finely
1 clove garlic, minced
½ cup vermouth or dry white wine, optional
1 28-ounce can tomatoes, including the liquid
1 pound of garlic sausage (Portuguese liguica, Italian sausage, Polish kielbasa or other)
Salt, if desired or necessary [it wasn’t]
Black pepper to taste

Combine the beans in a large bowl and rinse them in cold water, taking care to remove any stones or grit. Add enough water to the bowl to cover the beans by 2” and let them soak overnight.

The next day, place the ham hocks and soup bone(s) with enough water to cover them by 2” – about 10 cups of water. Bring the water to a boil, partially cover the pot with a lid and simmer over low heat for 2-1/2 hours. Skim off any brown film as it collects on the surface.

While the broth is simmering, drain the beans. Transfer them to another saucepan and add water to cover by 2-3” – about 4 quarts of water. Bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer for about 1 hour or until the beans are cooked al dente – definitely not mushy. Drain the beans, reserving some of the cooking liquid in the event it is needed to thin the soup later.

Cut the sausage on the diagonal into ¼”-thick slices. Heat a large soup pot over medium heat and add the sausage slices. Cook until the fat is released and the sausage is browned, about 10 minutes. Use a slotted spoon to transfer the cooked sausage to a bowl lined with paper towels and discard any excess fat in the pan.

Add the butter to the soup pot and let the foam subside, then add the onion, carrots, celery and garlic. Cook over medium-low heat until the vegetables are translucent, but not browned, about 8 minutes. Add the vermouth, if using, and simmer for a few minutes until the liquid is mostly gone. [At this point, you can turn off the heat and wait for the ham hocks to finish simmering].

When the ham hocks are cooked, turn off the heat and remove the hocks from the pot. Let them cool a bit and then cut the meat off of them, removing the layers of fat. Cut the meat into bite-sized pieces and add to the soup pot containing the cooked vegetables. Discard the fat and bones (if you are preparing the broth a day ahead, you can chill it overnight and remove the fat from the surface the next day. Otherwise use a gravy separator to easily de-fat the ham broth).

Pour the ham broth into the soup pot that contains the cooked veggies. Add the tomatoes and the drained, cooked beans. Add the sausage slices, bring to a boil and simmer over medium-low heat for 30-45 minutes. Taste for seasoning. Salt cautiously, if at all, because the ham will have made its contribution. Add black pepper to taste. Serve with a green salad, a nice country bread, and plenty of butter.

What's for Breakfast?

2010-01-25T20:30:00.006-05:00

This post wanders about a bit, but bear with me. There is a point.

You all know that I'm obsessed with breakfast. Not just what I eat, but what everyone else eats all over the world. A while ago, I posited that cultures in which a hearty breakfast was the norm tended to have more skinny people than, say, cultures in which you can find no less than three donut shops within a half-mile radius. (Don't belive me? check out this map. Yes, I live in the donut epicenter of the earth). I set out to test this by eating - you guessed it - a hearty breakfast, hoping that it would fill me up and decrease my consumption for the rest of the day.

The scientists among you will note that my study design is flawed because (1) I did not do a power analysis to determine what the appropriate sample size is to detect a statistically significant different and (2) I'm supposed to attempt to disprove my hypothesis, so what I really should have done was eat nothing at all for breakfast. But, (1) since the Great Computer Crash of '09, I lost all of my bookmarks including that handy sample size/power analysis calculator and (2) since my son started going to preschool every morning, I'm really enjoying the luxury of making myself a nice breakfast after I drop him off.

So what's on my menu? Fried eggs with brown rice, spicy seasoned radish, and roasted seaweed. The radish and seaweed were purchased at Hmart and can I just say, I have become a complete seaweed junkie. It's salty, crispy, and (if you buy that version) a little sweet too. The perfect snack food, and realy, really yummy with a fried egg.

Now I know some of you are thinking, oh Yawn, you just discovered kimchee and eggs? Get with it, will ya! But yes, I did just discover it, and now I'm totally addicted. I see it as a measure of how far I've come: not so long ago, I would have looked at this and thought, What the heck is that? Now I look and start to drool...

I promised you a point to this post, so here it is...actually, there are 2 points. (1) I'm getting better at the food photography thing - I at least have figured out to place the dish on a non-reflective surface, and (2) I have lost no weight whatsoever, despite all those Hearty Breakfasts. I'm not giving up, though...maybe I just need to extend the study for a few more weeks.

Better Late Than Never, and More On That Pancake

2010-01-19T21:59:00.005-05:00

Christmas morning dawned at our house with a pile of presents, eggnog lattes, and total computer meltdown. My poor sister-in-law sat down at the desk to Google something; moments later she was heard to exclaim, “Should the computer be making that sound?” as an ominous warning tone sounded the death knell of our motherboard.

At first, I thought that Santa was playing a trick on me – had I been too naughty this year? Then I suspected my dear husband, who has been wishing for a new computer lo these many months. Finally I chalked it up to bad luck, and the short but happy half-lives of motherboards.

What this has to do with you, dear readers, is that it’s taken us several weeks to recover from the rebuild. (You don’t realize just how many programs you run on a daily basis until you have to reinstall ALL of them). Fortunately, no data were lost; some files just went missing for a while. Like the pictures I took of our Vigila feast. (And upon review, I realize once again that I am a lousy food photographer. Trust me, this all tasted better than it looks). So here you go:

First course, mushrooms stuffed with a mixture of crabmeat, goat cheese, and some panko (Japanese breadcrumbs).

Second course, crabcakes on a bed of baby greens dressed with a Balsamic vinaigrette.

Third course, Korean seafood pancake.

And that’s where the photos end, possibly because I’d had too much wine and couldn’t find the camera, but more likely because, as I mentioned in a previous comment, we got full. I made two of the pancakes and, unbeknownst to me, the Men of the Family had stopped off at a local watering hole for a game of pool and Hearty Appetizers while my sis-in-law and I were out for a nice sushi luncheon. So after we ate up the pierogies, I went ahead and made the seafood stew but we didn’t actually eat it until lunchtime the next day.

After all that food, even the dog was too full for seafood stew.

But more on That Pancake. Oh, how we love the pancake! I’ve made it four or five more times since Christmas Eve – we just can’t get enough of it. I’ve had it at restaurants, and it was good, but it tastes even better when it’s hot right out of the skillet. So get thee to an H-Mart, pick up some mix and try it for yourself. (Of course, you don’t need to buy Korean pancake mix. There are plenty of recipes out there on the ‘net that you can try instead).

Even though most recipes don’t direct you to cook the veggies and/or seafood first, I’m still to chicken to try it that way. So I use cooked, frozen shrimps and whatnot (thaw and drain them well) and saute the veggies until soft. When I have fresh seafood I saute it first, then take it out of the pan before cooking the veggies so the seafood won’t overcook.

I posted a quick version of this before, but because you know I love to be wordy, I’m gonna post it again! With even more instructions!!

Korean Seafood pancake (makes 12” pancake, serves 2 for dinner or 4-8 as an appetizer)

1 egg
¾ cup water
1 cup Korean panckae mix
2-3 tablespoons of oil
1 generous cup of miscellaneous cooked seafood, left whole or cut into bite-sized pieces: shrimp, scallops, shelled clams or mussels, langoustines, fish, calamari, etc.
1-2 tablespoons finely chopped onion or shallot
About 1/3 cup of carrot and/or bell peppers (any color), sliced into thin strips about 3” long
About 1/3 cup of sliced scallions
About 1 cup of finely sliced Napa or regular cabbage, or red cabbage, optional
¼ to ½ cup garlic chives, cut into 1” sections, optional
1 clove of garlic minced (skip it if you are using garlic chives)

Since I’m usually making more than one pancake, I like to have all the veggies arranged in little piles on a large plate. I combine the seafood in a small bowl and mix it all together. Call it the lazy cook’s mise en place.

Place the egg and water in a medium bowl and whisk to combine. Add the pancake mix and stir well until the batter is smooth. Get out a large cookie sheet that has one side without a raised edge that you can use to flip the pancake (you can also use the backside of a sheet that has a raised rim all around, or a pizza pan).

Heat a nonstick, 12” skillet over medium high-heat. Add the oil and onion, carrots and peppers; saute for a few minutes until the vegetables begin to soften. Add the scallions and optional cabbage and chives, and continue to cook, stirring occasionally, until the cabbage wilts. Stir in the garlic and seafood and distribute the ingredients evenly around the pan.

Use a rubber spatula to scrape the pancake batter out of the bowl and into the pan, covering the ingredients completely. If your spatula is also heat-proof, use it to gently wiggle the ingredients a bit so that the batter gets under everything.

Reduce the heat to medium and wait. Let the pancake cook until the top is no longer shiny and “wet” in appearance, about 10 minutes. Shake the pan gently and make sure that the pancake slides about freely; if it doesn’t, lift up the edges gently with a spatula and drizzle a little more oil underneath, then let it cook for a couple more minutes.

Put on a pair of oven mitts and get the cookie sheet ready. (If you have a gas stove, either turn off the flame or do the flipping over the table). Slide the pancake out onto the cookies sheet, then turn the skillet upside-down over the pancake. Put your oven-mitted hand in the middle of the skillet, your other oven-mitted hand on the cookie sheet, press your hands together and flip the whole thing over. Take the cookies sheet off the top and hope for the best. (If the pancake has ripped, push it back into place with a spatula).

Return the skillet to the stove and cook a few more minutes over medium heat. Slide it out onto a large serving platter or cutting board, cut into wedges and serve with your favorite dipping sauce.

Kapusta, Baby!

2010-01-18T20:23:00.005-05:00

I know, I know – I’ve been promising to post this recipe for, like, ever. When I made it for Christmas this year, I finally remembered to make some notes as I went along, although I apparently got distracted halfway through and didn’t write down the entire process. Nonetheless I will attempt now to recount it for you in great detail.

This method is based on what I observed my father-in-law doing on one Vigilia years ago, with a few tweaks stolen from other cultures’ cuisines. (Frying the caraway seeds in oil is straight out of Indian cooking). The exact amount of ingredients is not critical, but I generally aim to use roughly equal proportions of cooked cabbage and saurkraut to keep the sourness in balance. From what I can remember, a 2-lb cabbage cooks down to about 5-6 cups.

It’s a little time consuming but doesn’t require a lot of attention. You can make the kapusta one day, bake it with the kielbasa the next, and serve it on the third day.

I usually prepare this as a component for a main course (baked kielbasa and kapusta), but you can serve it on its own as a side dish. Of course, if you do bake it with the sausage, it begins to resemble choucroute garnie, and if you add another four or five types of meat, presto! you’ve just made bigos (Polish hunter’s stew). So this kapusta is a versatile thing.

Bernie’s Kapusta and (Optional) Mushrooms

Ingredients:
1 to 4 tablespoons fat (ideally, rendered bacon fat or lard, but schmaltz or olive oil will do)
Up to 1 tablespoon caraway seeds
1 pinch of cumin seed, optional
1-2 big onions, cut in half and sliced from top to bottom
A fresh green cabbage, cut into 2” wide wedges then sliced crosswise into 1/3” strips
about 1/2 cup dry Vermouth or dry white wine
Saurkraut, ideally homemade, or at least fermented (look for the stuff in the plastic bags), or in jars from the Polish market
Optionsl: 1-2 oz dried mushrooms soaked in hot water until soft (Polish ones are ideal but porcinis will do)

1. Heat the fat or oil in a very large pot. Add the caraway and optional cumin seeds and cook, stirring, until the seeds start to “pop” in the hot oil.

2. Add the onions and stir. Lower the heat and cook until the onions are soft, about 8-10 minutes, stirring occasionally. Here’s a picture of the seed-onion mixture, just after adding the onions, to give you an idea of the relative seed-to-onion ratio that you’re aiming for:

3. When the onions are soft, add the cabbage and stir well. Cover and cook over low heat, stirring occasionally, until the cabbage is completely wilted and soft. This may take a while, 30-45 minutes. If the cabbage gives off a great deal of liquid you can take the cover off of the pot and raise the heat a bit until the extra liquid boils away.

4. Now it’s time to add the saurkraut. Drain it (I don’t bother with rinsing) and add it to the cooked cabbage/onion mixture in an approximately equal volume. Add the vermouth, too. Stir well, cover the pot and simmer for a few more minutes until everything is well heated. There should be a bit of liquid in the pot – it shouldn’t be soupy, but not completely dry either.

5. If you’re serving this as a side dish, it’s time to eat. You can make it a day or two ahead of time and reheat – it’s just as tasty. But if you’re planning to make baked kielbasa and kapusta, read on…

I’ve made this five or six times and I’ve finally learned to use a LOT more sausage than I think I should. People love kielbasa…so buy an extra pound and find a way to fit it into the pan.

Bernie’s Kielbasa and Kapusta

Ingredients;
At least 2 lbs of smoked kielbasa (Bernie uses Hillshire Farms. If you want to go lower-fat, try Hillshire Farms low-fat or Trader Joe’s Turkey Kielbasa)
A vat of kapusta

1. Transfer the kapusta to a large covered baking dish or pan. When I make a really big batch, I use my roasting pan.

2. Cut the kielbasa into sections. If you are making this for a party, cut the sausages into 3” lengths and slice them lengthwise, for ease of serving. If you are cooking for the family you can leave the sausages intact for single-sausage servings.

3. Arrange the kielbasa on over the kapusta, nestling the sausage into the cabbage as needed to make it all fit into the pan.

4. Cover the pan with the lid, or with some foil, and bake at 350 F for 45 mintues or so, until the kapusta is bubbling hot and there are little browned bits around the edges of the pan.

Don't Check that Email While Cooking!

2010-01-13T13:39:00.003-05:00

In my last post, I mentioned that the pork chops were accompanied by braised red cabbage. What I didn't tell you was that I burned the cabbage. I mean really burned the cabbage.

Those of you who watch Neighborhood Dish might have noticed that I always set a timer. Why? Because I'm easily distracted. I often interrupt one thing to do another. For instance, since Starting this, I've already answered 3 emails, taken a shower, and done the lunch dishes. I chalk it up to preferring Intuition the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (Registered Trademark).

And I did set a timer for the cabbage before checking my email in another room. Really, I did. However, there's something addictive or compulsive about email, and the computer in general. I heard the timer going off. But "Let me just finish this sentence" turned into "Let me just finish this message" to "Let me just see what this person is emailing about." And before I knew it, there was a nice crust -- about 1/4-inch thick -- of burnt red cabbage on the bottom of my nice braising pan! There was enough to salvage on top, which was tasty, although my dinner guest said, "Did you burn the cabbage or something?" It took me two days of soaking and boiling some water in the pan to finallly get it clean.

So, if you're anything like me, the moral of the story is: Never check your email while cooking!

Pork Chops a la Ex

2010-01-11T19:10:00.013-05:00

We get something out of every romantic relationship: I got a love of The Who from my college boyfriend, Keith, an introduction to Jazz from Donovan, and a better understanding of Texans from Kevin.

I've always avoided buying and cooking pork chops. They always seem to come out dry and tasteless when I make them. But I received some pork loin chops in my recent meat CSA haul and thought I'd give them a try (well, I didn't have much choice!). But not without the help of an ex-boyfriend.

Ricky, like most Italians, is obsessed with food. He drove me crazy asking me first thing in the morning what I wanted to have for dinner. And like many people obsessed with food, he's an excellent cook. He often served up some wonderful dishes, such as his Lobster Fra Diavolo or Liguine with Clam Sauce (which unfortunately taught me that I can't digest clams). A dish I particularly enjoyed was his pork chops with vinegar and cherry peppers. So I gave him a call (we're still on speaking terms) and asked for the recipe:

Ricky Chiozzi's Pork Chops with Vinegar and Cherry Peppers

Ingredients

Olive oil

3-4 vinegar peppers (You can find them jarred in the Italian food section of your local supermarket. I used Pastene.)

3-4 cherry peppers (see note above)

1 clove garlic

2 pork chops

Flour

Procedure

Coat a fry pan with just enough oil to cover. Chop the garlic and the peppers with just the liquid that comes along when you spear them out of the jar. (They will give off more juices in the pan.) Saute the garlic for a minute or two on medium heat, until it starts to color. Add the peppers and saute for another minute or two. In the meantime, flour the pork chops on both sides. Fry the pork chops in the pan with the oil, garlic and peppers on medium to medium-high heat so that a nice crust forms on both sides. (Not moving the pork in the pan helps this, too.) Remove the pork chops from the pan and keep them warm. Add enough water to the pan to deglaze it by scraping the bits on the pan with a wooden spoon. Pour the resulting sauce over the pork chops and enjoy!

Results

It was every bit as delicious and tender as I remembered. I love taking up a pepper with a bite of pork. I wish I'd thought to used the grooved side (groovy side?) of my new bamboo cutting board when cutting the peppers to collect the juice. The proportion of cherry peppers to vinegar peppers and their amounts are my own. Experiment according to your own taste. I served this with two recipes I got from the Back to Basics cooking class I took at the Cambridge School of Culinary Arts last spring: Braised Red Cabbage and Quinoa (a word I always mispronounce "kwi-no-a" instead of "keen-wah") with Carmelized Onions and Sauteed Mushrooms.

Now I can't wait to get more pork chops at my next CSA pick up!

The Holiday Menus, or Holy Crap It's Almost Vigilia

2009-12-22T22:24:00.001-05:00

I, like many people I know, am way behind in holiday preparations. I've had vague ideas floating around in my brain about what to serve for Vigila and Christmas dinners, but it wasn't until last night that I sat down to actually think out the menus. (OK, for those of you who are lifelong procrastinators, this may not seem remarkable. But I am a woman who writes out timetables for Thanksgiving dinner and weighs biscotti dough. I am, or at least I used to be, All About Planning. See what having kids does to you?)

Despite my tendency to over-organize prior to an event, I'm not so good at keeping notes on how it all went afterward. Here's where the blogging thing becomes a major bonus: I can check my posts to see what I made for Vigilia (Christmas Eve) last year, and how it came out. (Note to self: don't serve kapusta with cod again).

This year we're going ever farther away from the traditionally meatless Vigilia feast. We'll still be meatless, but I'll be adding two Korean recipes as well: a seafood pancake and a seafood stew. My friend Marta won't be joining us this time; instead, my sister-in-law's family will be with us for the holiday duration. This will be their first Vigilia away from home - my hubby's family usually congregates at my parents-in-law's. We're thrilled that Sis et al. will be making the journey. To keep our nephews happy (I'm not sure how receptive they'll be to Korean seafood stew!) I've kept crabcakes, pierogies (potato-cheese as well as saurkraut-mushroom), and stuffed mushrooms on the menu.

Last night, it occurred to me that (1) although I have eaten several, I have never actually MADE a Korean-style pancake and (2) it might be a good idea to do a trial run before Christmas Eve. So I got out my trusty bag of pancake mix that I purchased at the recently-opened H Mart in Burlington. The instructions couldn't have been simpler: combine pancake mix and water, add seafood, cook. Except that I couldn't stop there and just had to search online for Korean pancake recipes...all of which contained an egg or two. I checked my bag of mix: no egg in the ingredients, no egg in the instructions. Moreover, both the online mix bag instructions directed me to add uncooked veggies and seafood to batter. I was unconvinced that the fillings would cook sufficiently in the time it took to brown the pancake. What to do?

I decided to wing it, of course. One cup pancake mix, one egg, and 3/4 cup water. Veggies (red bell pepper strips, sliced garlic, shredded Napa cabbage, and sliced scallions) and seafood (just shrimp in this trial run) were sauteed until limp/cooked, and then the whole batch of pancake batter was spread on top. Cooked in the skillet until golden, then slid onto a plate and flipped back into the skillet for more golden goodness on the flip side. And it was....yummy. So yummy that I was tempted to make another one tonight. I'm glad I went for it with adding the egg to the batter.

And for Christmas dinner? Very straightforward, just kielbasa and kapusta. With rye bread and creamy horseradish. And some hot mustard. And more pierogies. And...oh, you'll just have to wait and find out what we finally ended up with. It's three days away - I haven't planned my menu yet.

Lo Mein of Lamb & Leftovers

2009-12-03T20:51:00.003-05:00

Some days, things just don't go as planned.

I've been trying hard to cook with what I need to use, vs. what I feel like eating - a necessary skill when you've invested in both meat and veggie CSAs. A quick survey of the fridge last night told me that tonight's supper would be something along the lines of braised tofu with cabbage (and no, it was not CSA tofu).

Then this morning I arose with, ugh, a sore throat and sniffles. (It is not, I believe, the Dreaded Flu). I was also dismayed to discover that I'd used up the last of my Korean ginger-honey tea concentrate - nothing whacks a sore throat upside the head like a good dose of ginger. So in I went to our local Hong Kong Market (formerly Super 88) in search of more tea, but instead walked out with some fresh shitake mushrooms and a nice bunch of garlic chives. (They were out of the tea).

(An aside: for years, I avoided fresh shitakes. I was introduced to the dried version by a Chinese-American friend who told me to never buy the fresh ones because they have little flavor. I stuck by that for years, until I discovered bibimbap and learned that yes, Virginia, fresh shitakes do have a place on the plate).

Why did I buy the 'shrooms and chives? It's not like I *needed* them; the fridge is already too full. We are still finishing up the Thanksgiving feast, although that (thankfully) is at last down to the final bits of turkey & wild rice soup. I really think I must have some kind of grocery shopping compulsion...at any rate, I knew I was gonna have to face the music when I put the new booty away. As I opened the fridge, the produce stared me down, as if, how could you? There's two-week-old kale in here!

Which brings me to the recipe/method for this post: lo mein. It, along with fried rice, enchiladas and curry of miscellaneous vegetables is one of my standard, clean-out-the-fridge tricks. Because yes, in addition to veggies I didn't need, I bought noodles I didn't need. A friend got me onto using thick, chewy udon noodles for lo mein (which maybe means that I shouldn't be calling it lo mein, if I use a different noodle? I am no expert, for sure, in the nomenclature of noodle dishes). You can find ones that are pre-cooked, which saves a step at dinner time and a dirty pot at cleanup time.

The basic method is to chop up some garlic and onions, whatever veggies you have on hand, and whatever leftover meat you have (or use tofu, or just skip it). Stir-fry the veggies in a little peanut oil or sesame oil, adding the longer-cooking veg to the skillet or wok first. When all the veggies are cooked, dump them into a bowl. Add a little more oil to the pan, add the garlic and cook for a few seconds, then add the meat/tofu/nothing. When the meat is heated through, add that to the bowl. If you are feeling highly motivated, scramble an egg in the pan, turn it out on a plate and chop it with a knife. Finally, add a little more oil to the pan, add the noodles and some seasoning (soy sauce, fish sauce, rice wine vinegar, black vinegar, brown bean sauce, all of the above) and a little water and cook to soften the noodles. Dump the cooked veggies, meat, and egg on top of the noodles and use a big spatula or chan to turn everything over and combine. Taste for seasoning and add some chopped green onion, cilantro, or basil as a garnish.

What was different about tonights lo mein was the leftovers I had to work with: the two-week-old purple kale (which looked surprisingly fresh. Must be something about buying direct from the farmer there!) and a mostly-consumed small leg of lamb. I don't think I've ever seen lamb and kale together, but what do I know, anyway? And then it occurred to me, lamb goes well with garlic, so why not garlic chives? I decided to go for it. Then while I was cooking, the words "hoisin-glazed lamb" surfaced from somewhere deep in the back of my head.

The final result was (surprisingly) tasty, and quite pretty. The purple kale turned almost black when cooked, making a nice contrast with the thick white noodles, the green chives and some red bell pepper (that also needed to be used up). Unfortunately, I don't have a photo to show you because I forgot to take a pic before dinner, and then - we ate it all up.

Of course, I'm still left with the cabbage and tofu, which means that's got to be on the menu for tomorrow night...with mushrooms.

Lo Mein with Leftover Lamb

peanut and sesame oil
1 small red onion (or 1/2 large), sliced
about 1/2 cup red bell pepper, diced
6-8 fresh shitake mushrooms, stems removed, caps sliced
1/2 small bunch purple kale (or other greens), washed well and chopped
about 1 cup diced cooked lamb
about 1/2 cup garlic chives, washed and cut into 1" lengths
1 pound fresh udon or other noodles, cooked 9and drained, if you can't find the precooked variety)
1-2 tablespoons each of soy sauce, hoisin sauce, and ice wine vinegar or black vinegar

Heat a wok or large frypan over high heat. Add a little peanut oil (~1 tablespoon) and the onion and stir-fry for a few minutes, then add the bell pepper. Stir-fry until the onion and pepper are beginning to soften, then add the mushrooms. Stir-fry for a few more minutes, then add the kale and a little water to the pan. Let the veggies simmer, turning occasionally and adding a little more water as needed until the kale is just tender, about 5 minutes (longer if you have tougher or older greens).

Add the lamb and cook for a minute or two, then place the noodles in the pan and pour the soy sauce, hoisin sauce and vinegar on top. Turn down the heat to medium and use a pair of tongs or a wooden spoon to gently nudge the noodles apart. Turn everything over to mix gently, adding the garlic chives. Add a little more water if the pan seems dry or you want a thinner sauce. Taste and correct seasonings (the sauce will be sweet from the hoisin). Eat.

Make 2-4 servings, depending on how hungry you are and if you are making other dishes.

Notes:
(1) You can, of course, use dried shitakes for this. Save the water that you soak them in (strain it through a coffee filter set in a funnel or sieve) and add it to the wok when you cook the kale. (2) If you can't find garlic chives, or don't want the angst of trying to use up the leftovers, substitute a couple cloves of garlic, finely chopped, and some green onions/scallions cut into 1" sections. Add the garlic to the pan with the meat and the green onions with the soy sauce.

Good Soup Recipe

2009-11-05T12:46:00.005-05:00

We just began the extended season of our CSA this week, and received a beautiful bunch of kale. Back in the Spring, I started to run out of ideas of what to do with it, as we had several weeks of kale in a row. Then I remembered about the Portugese kale and linguica soup. A search on the Food Network website's Recipe tab turned up some Spanish recipes with chorizo. I made Bobby Flay's recipe yesterday (click blog title to link to recipe) and it was delicious and comforting -- a keeper. I had a dinner guest who is not fond of beans, so I substituted diced sweet potato, also from the CSA. There is also a recipe for tomato-garlic toast, but I just sprayed slices of ciabatta on both sides, toasted them and then rubbed them with cut garlic (that is, I made crostini). The recipe is time consuming, but you could probably just use jarred sun dried tomatoes as a shortcut. If I did this right, you should be able to link right to the recipe by clicking the title of this blog post. Now I just need to figure out what I'm going to do with the rutabagas and parsnips!

An Impromptu Salad

2009-09-10T09:29:00.002-04:00

Although I don't dislike it, I don't go crazy about edamame like some people seem to. So I was a little skeptical when it was one of the items in our CSA this week. And I must admit that after I boiled them up and started eating them, they were kind of addictive! We also got more corn, which I've been really enjoying over the past couple of weeks, especially since this is one of the few foods you really need to eat in season.

These two ingredients inspired an impromtu salad this morning, which at 9:33 AM, I've almost completely devoured. I had a left over corn on the cob, and scraped the kernals into a bowl to do something with later. Then I spied the bowl of edamame pods on the counter. I shelled them into the bowl with the corn until it looked like they balanced each other. I remembered I had some red onion, so I diced about a tablespoon and added it to the bowl, too. "Hmm. Some olives would go nice in here, too." So I diced and added some black cured olives as well. It still needed something. Tomatoes! And there were the green zebras from last week's CSA haul. In they went. I stuck in the spoon to taste for seasoning, thinking I'd add some olive oil, maybe a little vinegar, and salt and pepper. But it was so good -- the olives added a wee bit of oil and salt -- I just kept digging in with the spoon.

I guess the moral of the story is that you can make some pretty tasty dishes just by looking around the kitchen and seeing what inspires you. Plus, it's fun to improvise!

More Things You Can Make in a Skillet: Fishy, Fishy, Fish

2009-08-08T21:13:00.003-04:00

Now that you've dusted off that oven-proof skillet, here's a main-dish-type thing to make in it. This is my favorite way to cook salmon since it's so speedy (and tasty, of course). You can muck about with side dishes, if you wish, while the skillet is pre-heating; once the fish goes into the oven, dinner is less than 10 minutes away. If you have a cast-iron skillet, all the better because it will retain heat and keep your fish from getting cold whilst you herd your guests to the table.

This cooking method can be used with other types of fish. It works well with skin-on fillets - put them skin side-down in the pan and the fillets will easily slide off the skin when they are cooked. You can cook the fish as is, marinate it, or add a glaze. If I could remember where I first read about this method, I would give credit - the strategy is not original but the tweaks are all mine.

You can also do this on the grill - perfect on a hot summer day when you don't want to heat up the kitchen. I have a gi-normous, 16" cast iron skillet that my in-laws gave me as a gift. My stove can't distribute BTUs evenly over that much surface area, but it's great on the grill. Leave the skillet on a gas grill while you pre-heat (if you're using charcoal, put the skillet on the grill for 10 minutes after the coals are ready).

(A Note: some gas ovens will automatically shut off for a short period of time when the broiler has been on for ~15 minutes. This is normal, and it will turn back on again when the oven temperature cools down a bit).

(A note on my Note: I found out about that gas-oven-shutting-off-automatically thing when I called the oven repairman because I thought that my new oven was broken. What did I know about fancy new thermostats and new-fangled ovens? The last time I lived in a house that had a new oven, I was 3 years old and they didn't let me cook).

With salmon, I like to use a Korean-style marinade (see below) and serve with rice and a mushroom/cabbage saute. But it would be good with any green veggie, or even just a salad and some good bread. Here's the general guidelines for broiling fish in a skillet (and the salmon marinade recipe from the Boston Globe):

Broiled Salmon

1. Get a skin-on fillet of salmon (preferably wild-caught, if you can find it and your budget allows). A 1.5-lb fillet will serve 3-4 people, depending on what else you make as accompaniments.

2. Get out your largest, oven-proof skillet - a cast-iron one is perfect. Make sure that the salmon fillet will fit into the skillet. If the fillet is too large, cut it into two (or more) pieces that will fit comfortably in the skillet.

3. Turn the broiler on high and put the skillet into the oven. The top of the skillet should be 4-6 inches below the flame, so move the oven racks if needed. Let the skillet heat under the broiler for 10 minutes, then CAREFULLY take the skillet out and put it on top of the stove (use hot pads, of course).

4. Place the salmon, skin side down, into the skillet. The salmon will immediately start sizzling. Put the skillet back in the oven and broil the salmon until it is cooked (i.e. the flesh is opaque when you poke at it with a fork). Because the fish is cooking from the top and the bottom at the same time, it should be done in 10 minutes or less.

5. If you want to add a glaze, take the skillet out when the fish is almost done cooking and brush some teriyaki sauce on top of the salmon. Put the fish back under the broiler for a minute or two until the glaze starts to bubble.

6. Eat.

...and here's a marinade for salmon that's based on a recipe that is based on bulgogi...the recipe appeared in the Boston Globe Sunday magazine, by Adam Reid. (An aside: I love Adam Reid's columns. So nice to see more international influence in recipes). One time when I made this, I didn't have green onions, so I left them out. It was fine. But here's the original recipe:

For 2-1/4 lbs salmon fillet (6 servings):
8 scallions, thinly sliced (about 3/4 cup)
8 medium garlic cloves, minced
1-1/2 tablespoons minced fresh ginger
2-1/2 tablespoons sugar
2/3 cup sake (I used a combo of vermouth and dry sherry, since I didn't have sake)
1/3 cup soy sauce (I used the light soy sauce - not low-salt, tho)
3 tablespoons sesame oil
1 tablespoon chili oil (I used Korean chili paste, since that's what I had in the fridge)

Combine everything in a food processor or blender (I didn't bother, just mixed it in a bowl). Place the salmon in a large baking dish and pour the marinade over it, turning to coat the fish. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for 1-2 hours, turning the fish occasionally. Let the excess marinade drain off the fish before you place the fillets in the hot skillet.

The Work-at-Home Lunch Dilemma

2009-08-05T12:46:00.007-04:00

Since I started working at home three years ago, my biggest challenge hasn't been finding reasonably-priced health insurance, or finding ways to keep from feeling isolated. It's been "What to have for lunch?" It has to be quick. After all, when you work for yourself, time is money. It has to be nutritious. The big advantage of working at home is the flexibility and balance you can maintain in your life so you can better take care of yourself. It has to be satisfying. You don't want to keep hopping up during the afternoon looking for snacks (see "time is money" and taking care of yourself).

Over the winter, I find myself having soup a lot. My best laid plans went awry this year and I mostly ate canned soup rather than the homemade I'd envisioned (will have to share my easy chicken-escarole soup recipe when the temperature changes). Doesn't work so well in the summer, unless I'm on the ball enough to make a cold soup (one of my favorites: the fennel soup from the book Under the Tuscan Sun. Can be served hot or cold.) One strategy that works year-round is the creative use of leftovers. In the winter, I use them to make quesadillas. Sometimes I just reheat them as is. Now that it's finally hot here in New England, I've been doing a lot of salads lately.

Here's how it worked recently: Monday for dinner, I grilled some wild coho salmon I couldn't resist at "Whole Paycheck" (as my friend Doug calls it) and served it with potatoes coated with olive oil and sprinkled with rosemary. (The rosemary taste wasn't as strong as I'd like. Is there a trick to it?) I also made a Marcella Hazan broccoli recipe where you dip the steamed or boiled florets in egg, then dredge in plain bread crumbs and fry in vegetable oil. On Tuesday, we got more green beans for our CSA share, and I still had last week's in the fridge! We also got cherry tomatoes this week. So yesterday's lunch was a green salad (lettuce and cukes also from CSA) with the leftover salmon and broccoli. Today, I steamed last week's share of the green beans, cooled them with cold water and cut them into bite-sized pieces. Then I added the leftover potatoes (cubed), halved cherry tomatoes, capers, Italian tuna, and I even found some small (Niciose?) olives lurking in the back of the fridge. In both cases the dressing was olive oil, red wine vinegar, salt and pepper. I'm not a fan of creamy dressings by and large, so it's mostly oil and red wine vinegar and an occasionally Dijon vinaigrette. If I use balsamic, it's usually a small portion mixed in with the red wine vinegar. Otherwise too sweet for my taste. I do love using lemon juice in place of vinegar, especially refreshing in the summer, and with fennel. But I digress. Here is what we in our family call "Vera's Dressing," named after its creator, a gourmand friend of our father and excellent cook:
Vera's Dressing
1 part olive oil (I like extra virgin, but my Mom prefers regular olive oil)
1 part red wine vinegar (the important thing is the acidity -- I look for 6 or 7%)
1 teaspoon salt
liberal grindings of pepper
1/8 to 1/4 teaspoon garlic powder

I must admit that my motivation for writing, more than wanting to share a particularly satisfying lunch, is the hopes that readers will give me some new ideas! I'm not someone who can have yogurt for lunch. That's dessert. Or the snack you end up having mid-afternoon. So those of you that work at home, please share your favorites!

CSA Week Number...Oh Lordy, I Have No Idea What Week It Is, But Here's A Tasty Recipe That Uses Lots of Veggies

2009-08-02T14:56:00.001-04:00

I make this quick little curry thing a lot. Last week, I served it to a friend for lunch, and told at least two other friends about it, so I figured it was time to write it down and share it with the masses. (Or, ummm, the small group of people who read this blog). It's nice as a side dish with other curries, or meat or chicken (roasted, grilled, baked, whatever you like). Make a big batch of it; it keeps in the fridge for a few days. Serve it over hot rice with a fried egg and some hot sauce; instant dinner! (and yes, that IS a rip-off on bibim bap. I never claimed to be a purist).

This is a clean-out-the fridge recipe, which makes it perfect for a CSA post. There is not strict rule about which vegetables to use, except that you should use veggie you like to eat, of course. For maximum eye appeal, aim to have something red (hot or sweet red peppers), something green (zucchini, green beans, green bell peppers, green peas, broccoli, spinach or other leafys), and something orange (carrots, sweet potato or winter squash) along with something white (potatoes and/or cauliflower), but almost any combination of veggies will work. Mushrooms are quite good in this, too. And chick peas! Or white beans! You get the idea.

Since the version I made this week is most fresh in my mind, that's what I'll write, with the following note: don't get too hung up on amounts. The point of this "recipe" is to use up what you have on hand. So, it says to use 1/2 of a cauliflower because I had already used the other 1/2 for something else. The quantity can be scaled up, and you can add more curry powder if the flavor is not strong enough for you. Just be sure to add the veggies that take longest to cook first; the quicker-cooking ones go in last.

Mixed Vegetable Curry
(A more or less Original Recipe)

1-2 tablespoons olive oil
1 onion (small, med or large, depending on how much you love onions), chopped
1 tsp or more Madras brand curry powder (I use about 1 tablespoon, but I like spicy salty food)
a few tablespoons of dry sherry, optional
1 can diced tomatoes (don't drain them) or ~2 cups fresh tomatoes, chopped
1 pound red-skinned or Yukon gold potatoes (leave them whole if small, cut into 1-2" chunks if large)
1/2 head of cauliflower, cut into small floweretts
1/2 lb green beans, cut into 1" pieces
1/2 red bell pepper, cut into strips.
1 small zucchini, cut into strips 1/2" wide and 1" long
chopped fresh cilantro or flat-leaf parsley, optional
lemon or lime juice, optional
salt and pepper to taste

1. Heat the olive oil in a large pan (skillet, unless you are adding fresh leafy greens - in that case, use a large pot with a lid so you have room to add the greens). Add the chopped onion and cook until soft, about 5 minutes. If you have time, lower the heat and continue cooking the onion until it is light golden in color, about 20 minutes longer - not necessary but it will give added flavor to your curry.

2. Add the curry powder to the pan. Stir and cook for about a minute over medium heat, until the curry powder is fragrant or someone wanders into the kitchen and says, "mmm what smells so good?"

3. Add the sherry (if using) and stir to combine, then add the tomatoes. Stir well, then simmer over medium heat for about 10 minutes. At this point, you can turn off the heat and go do something else for an hour or two.

4. Reheat the pan (if needed) and add the longest-cooking veggies that can take a little overcooking: potatoes (or carrots). Stir well, then cover and simmer for 5 minutes.

5. Add the medium-cooking veggies that you'd prefer to not overcook: cauliflower, green beans and red bell pepper. Stir well, cover and simmer for 10 minutes

6. Add the delicate veggies that turn to mush when overcooked: zucchini (or yellow squash), baby spinach. Stir, cover and simmer another 5 minutes.

7. Poke everything with a fork to make sure it is cooked. Add chopped cilantro or parsley and a squeeze of lime or lemon juice, then season with salt and pepper.

Things You Can Make in a Skillet

2009-07-23T15:41:00.002-04:00

I'm talking about a 10-inch-diameter, oven-proof skillet. The one I end up using all the time is cast-iron, but a stainless steel or other oven-safe pan will do. They can be prepared ahead - during naptime, for example - and eaten at room temperature or re-warmed for supper. Leftovers are good the next day (keep them in the fridge overnight). These types of dishes are great for using up whatever bit of veggies you have on hand - perfect for the day before your next CSA pickup!

1. Frittata: You will need 8 eggs and about 1-1/2 cups of leftover cooked veggies. Chop the veggies and warm them in a little butter or oil in the 10" skillet. If you have some leftover cooked chicken, ham, bacon etc. add that too (about 1/2 cup).

Mix the eggs together in a large bowl and add a little salt and pepper. If you have some fresh herbs, mince a couple of tablespoons and add those, too. Pour the eggs over the veggies in the skillet and stir gently with a wooden spoon or heat-proof plastic spatula. If you want to add a little cheese, sprinkle that on top. Cook the frittata gently over low heat until the top is almost set, 10-15 minutes depending on the volume of ingredients in the skillet. Then transfer the skillet (carefully!) to a preheated oven and bake at 350 F for ~10 minutes, until the top is set and starting to brown. To serve, you can attempt to flip the fritatta out of the skillet and onto a plate, but I usually just cut wedges and serve from the skillet directly.

2. Quiche: Don't have enough eggs to make a frittata? Make a quiche instead. In "The Way To Cook," Julia Child says that you don't need to make a crust to have quiche - though you really ought to try her recipe, just once. (Note: you don't need the ovenproof skillet for the quiche with crust, but I'm including it anyway in case you only have 3 eggs and a crust in your freezer).

If you are making a 10" quiche with a crust, you will need 3 eggs and enough milk or cream to make a total of 1 1/2 cups liquid. If you are skipping the crust, use 4 eggs and enough milk to make 2 cups of liquid. (Get it? That's 1/2 cup liquid per egg, including the egg). Most of the time I use whole milk but you should try it just once with cream, on a special occasion.

Melt a little butter in the skillet and spread it around, or use olive oil. Add the chopped leftover veggies (1/2 cup for the crusted quiche; 2/3 to 1 cup for the crustless) and warm them up a little. Add some leftover cooked meat (see about; about 1/3 cup) if desired, to the skillet.

Whisk the eggs and milk or cream in a large bowl and pour over the veggies (or into a prebaked quiche crust). Stir gently; sprinkle on a little cheese if you like. Bake in a preheated oven for ~30 minutes at 375 F, until puffed and browned.

3. Gratin: I wish I could remember where I first saw this idea. The original might be hiding in a pile of recipes somewhere in my kitchen; if it ever surfaces, I'll give full credit.

You'll need some potatoes (the thin-skinned ones, like red-skinned or Yukon gold work best), a couple of zucchini and/or yellow squash, about 1 cup of shredded Swiss (Gruyere is great) or Parmesean cheese. Fresh thyme or other herb is nice to use, too.

Drizzle a little olive oil in the skillet and cover the bottom with a layer of thinly sliced potatoes - 1/8" thick, or as thin as you can get them. Season with salt and pepper. Place a layer of sliced zucchini or squash over the potatoes. Sprinkle on a small handful of shredded cheese and a tablespoon of fresh thyme leaves (or shredded basil leaves, chopped parsley, etc). Drizzle a little more olive oil over everything.

Repeat this layering until (1) the pan is full, (2) you run out of some ingredient, or (3) you run out of patience. Ideally, you will end up with a layer of potatoes on top, but it's not essential. Sprinkle a final bit of cheese over everything and add a little splash of dry vermouth, if you like. (If you have some Parmesean cheese rinds in the fridge or freezer, place them on the top). Cover the pan with foil and bake at 375 F for about 40 minutes, or until the potatoes and squash are very tender. If you want a crispy top, remove the foil and bake another 5-10 minutes.

Top Five Reasons I Haven't Been Blogging Much

2009-07-20T13:46:00.003-04:00

5. Too busy cooking up tasty veggies from CSA; recipes to come soon.

4. Actually working on a short-term project for pay; surprised at how hard it is to squeeze 10 hours out of my week.

3. Compulsive need to re-watch seasons 1 & 2 of Mad Men.

2. Fun activities with visiting family and friends who are out of school for the summer.

1. Compulsive need to be outdoors as much as possible, now that summer weather has finally arrived in New England.

CSA Week 3, Continued: Three Little Cabbage Recipes

2009-06-25T21:14:00.001-04:00

This week we got a beautiful red-veined kale, fennel, lettuce, scallions, and Napa cabbage. I haven't tackled the kale yet but I'm thinking about a kale and mini-meatball soup (thanks to Kate for the inspiration). The fennel and lettuce went into hubby's lunch salads, along with lemony sorrel from the garden and goat cheese with macerated strawberries (thanks Paula). Scallions are everywhere in my cooking so they'll get used up over the course of the week.

As for the cabbage, I buy that frequently anyway and so was thrilled to get a beautiful, big ole Napa cabbage this week. I usually end up using half of it in Korean cabbage salad (see below); the rest gets shredded and put into Asian-style soups, lo mein, or fried rice. For a really fast soup, make some anchovy stock, add shredded or finely sliced Napa cabbage, and sliced fresh mushrooms (or dried ones, after soaking them in hot water). If you have some frozen dumplings, add those too. Instant dinner!

If you like to define cole slaw as a cabbage salad, then here are three different slaw recipes. They are very flexible and you will see that you can omit some ingredients, if you don't happen to have them on hand, and still have a tasty dish. All three can be made ahead of time, and while there's a fair bit of chopping and slicing involved, no heating is necessary - great for hot summer days (if only we would have some of those...).

We eat the Korean cabbage salad as a side dish in bibim bap, or with Korean barbeque (and sometimes with rice for breakfast). The Thai-style slaw is based on a green papaya salad and is great with Thai-style grilled chicken, which I'll get around to posting one day, or other grilled meats. Leftovers are really tasty eaten as a sort of salsa, with tortilla chips. Finally, the Citrus Cucumber relish is meant to be used as a condiment in fish tacos - a quick, easy summer meal that won't heat up your kitchen, especially if you grill the fish.

Napa Cabbage Salad
Adapted from Korean Cuisine by Young Sook Choi

1 lb Napa cabbage
¾ cup sliced Chinese chives (I think they are also called garlic chives)
½ teaspoon minced garlic clove
½ teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon minced ginger root
2 tablespoons Korean red pepper powder
1 tablespoon Korean anchovy sauce (Thai fish sauce is a good substitute)
¾ tablespoon sesame oil
1 teaspoon rice wine vinegar
1 teaspoon sugar
Toasted sesame seeds

1. Wash and drain the cabbage. Cut or tear cabbage leaves lengthwise into two or three strips. [Note: I usually cut the pieces smaller than that, for easier eating].

2. Mix the remaining ingredients together in a large bowl. Add the cabbage and mix well to coat. Sprinkle with toasted sesame seeds and eat!

Thai-Style Slaw with Chilies and Lime
Adapted from "Real Thai," by Nancie McDermott

6 fresh kii noo chilies, sliced, or 2 fresh serrano chilies thinly sliced, or any amount of fresh or dried hot chilies that you prefer
1 tablespoon coarsely chopped garlic
1/4 teaspoon salt
about 3 cups finely sliced or shredded Napa cabbage
9 green beans, end trimmed and cut into 2-inch peices
1 teaspoon palm sugar or sugar
2 tablespoons fish sauce
1/2 lime, quartered lengthwise
7 cherry tomatoes, quartered lengthwise (or ~1/2 cup red bell pepper, cut into thin slivers)
fresh cilantro leaves, as desired

1. On a cutting board, mince the garlic together with the salt, using the flat side of the knife to bash them together into a paste. Transfer the garlic to a large bowl and add the sugar and fish sauce and stir, Squeeze the juice from the lime into the bowl and stir, reserving the lime rinds.

2. Add the chilies, cabbage, green beans and tomatoes (or red bell pepper) and mix well. Add fresh cilantro, chopped, as desired or garnish with whole cilantro leaves. If desired, slice the squeezed lime thinly and add it to the bowl. Taste the "juice" in the bottom of the bowl and add salt, sugar, lime juice, or chilies as desired to balance the sweet, salty, sour and hot flavors to your liking.

Citrus Cucumber Relish
Adapted from "Mesa Mexicana," by Mary Sue Milliken and Susan Feninger

3 small "pickling" cucumbers, or 1 regular cucumber, ends trimmed and peeled
1/2 small red onion, sliced thin
3 Roma tomatoes, cored and sliced into strips (or ~1 cup cherry or grape tomatoes, sliced in half lengthwise)
1 cup shredded white cabbage (any cabbage will work, but since this post is about Napa, you should use Napa)
1-2 serrano or other chilies, stemmed, seeded if desired (to make the relish less spicy) and finely chopped (optional)
1/2 cup orange juice
2 tabelspoons grapefruit juice (optional, though it's great if you have it)
1 tablespoon lime juice
1 teaspoon salt

1. Cut the cucumbers into thin slices, then into fine julienne strips. Place in a bowl and add the other ingredients. Mix well and let stand for 30 minutes or longer. Keeps in the refrigerator for up to 2 days.

To make fish or seafood tacos, grill, broil or bake fish or seafood (Mary Sue and Susan recommend lobster, crab, shrimp or salmon; I generally use a white fish like Tilapia or cod). Warm up small corn tortillas by wrapping in foil and placing in an oven set to 300 F. On each tortilla, place a small piece of lettuce, a bit of the fish or seafood, and ~ 2 tablespoons of the cucumber relish. Add any (or all) of the following: sliced ripe avocado, sour cream, sweet green peas, sliced radish, cilantro leaves, a squeeze of lime juice, a drizzle of olive oil. These are messy to eat but oh so good!

CSA Week 3: Too Many Recipes for Just One Post

2009-06-24T13:15:00.003-04:00

I'm short on time and long on ideas for this week's bounty, so I'm gonna blurt things out here as I think of them. Our share this week included a bunch of scallions, which I use all the time so I was happy to have them. If you're not such the scallion freak, try using them in these pancakes: they are deliciously buttery, mildly onion-y, and one batch will use up your whole bunch of scallions.

I've had this recipe for ~15 years, in a binder of full of recipes clipped from various cooking magazines. Unfortunately, I didn't make a note of the original source, but based on the style of font in the clipping I think it came from Gourmet magazine. The original recipe suggests serving these pancakes as a side dish with fried chicken, but we usually just eat them for breakfast with maple syrup. Leftover pancakes can be frozen.

Green Onion Pancakes
Source: Gourmet magazine, I think….

2/3 cup finely chopped scallions
1 recipe cornmeal pancake batter (see below), reducing the sugar from 2 tablespoons to 1 teaspoon
Bacon fat for frying [or you can use oil, but they are sooo much better with bacon grease!]

1. Stir the scallion into the pancake batter. Heat 1/8” depth of fat in a heavy skillet until hot, but not smoking. Fry tablespoons of the batter in batches for 1 minute or until the undersides are golden. Turn the pancakes, fry them for 1 minute more. Makes about 24 pancakes [I think it makes a bit more than that, I can’t remember though…]

Cornmeal pancake batter

1 cup cornmeal
½ cup all-purpose flour [can be whole wheat flour]
2 tablespoons sugar [can be omitted altogether, if you prefer less sweet pancakes]
2 teaspoons baking powder
½ teaspoon salt
2 large eggs, beaten lightly
1 ¼ cups buttermilk [buttermilk tastes the best but you can substitute ¾ cup plain yogurt plus ½ cup milk]
2 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted and cooled

1. Sift together the cornmeal, flour, sugar, baking powder, soda, and salt. In a separate bowl, beat together the eggs, buttermilk, and butter. Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and stir until the batter is smooth. Let the batter stand at room temperature for 10 minutes.

P.S. Macerating Strawberries

2009-06-24T10:45:00.002-04:00

A delicious way to do this is to drizzle sliced strawberries (0r any type of berry, I would think) with balsamic vinegar -- as good a quality as you can afford. You don't need much. I sometimes add sugar or honey, but for me the berries are sweet enough without them. I'm guessing the vinegar probably helps keep the berries, too.

A Long-Awaited Post About Anchovy Stock

2009-06-23T20:24:00.006-04:00

First, I give you the recipe for anchovy stock, to show you how quick and simple it is to make.

Per cup of water: 1 small dried anchovy and 1 piece of dried dashima (kombu), about 1x2"

Place water, anchovies, and dashima in a pot. Bring to a boil, turn down the heat and simmer for 10 minutes. Remove anchovies and dashima before using.

That's it. Now here's the backstory (there's always a backstory).

When we traveled to Seoul in 2006, I spent a fair amount of time browsing around markets and food halls. I took several pictures of impressive displays of things like this:

and like this:

without knowing what they were, or what they were for. Well, okay, the items in the first picture were obviously small silvery fish sorted into piles according to size, but what they were for was a mystery. Similarly, I surmised that the long black bar-like things in the second picture were seaweed, but had no idea how to cook it - or even get it into your car. (Some pieces were ~6 feet long - maybe the store staff sliced off sections for you?).

Fast forward a couple of years during which I acquired several Korean cookbooks. The piles of fish were probably anchovies, to be used with the seaweed to make anchovy stock (please correct me if I'm wrong, dear readers).

I love anchovy stock now and use it in lots of Asian-style dishes, not just Korean food. It's quicker to make than dashi (no soaking of bonito flakes required). It also works as a substitute for fish stock in Western-style recipes. The flavor is very light and not at all "seaweed-y" which is great for my hubby - something about the iodine in seaweed usually tastes too strong to him. He won't touch nori or the roasted seaweed (kim) that I buy for my son's snacks, but he likes anchovy broth just fine.

There are a lot of little variations on this recipe - some books tell you to pre-soak the seaweed, or to behead and gut the anchovies before cooking them. My palate is not so refined as to notice differences in the finished product, so I skip those steps. I am careful, however, to heed warnings of overcooking the anchovies and I only simmer the brother for 10 minutes. And if I happen to have a daikon radish on hand, I'll throw a slice of that in the broth, too.

Look for dried anchovies at an Asian market. The ones I bought are about 2" long; I store them in the fridge in a zip-top bag. The seaweed to use for this is kelp, known as dashima or kombu (the Japanese name for dashima). They sell it at Whole Foods as well as Asian markets.

And just what can you do with this little marvel? Other than make kimchee stew or brasied tofu, I use it in soup. I can make the stock while I'm prepping other ingredients (Napa cabbage, sliced daikon radish, etc...bit of foreshadowing here for this week's CSA post) and have a tasty meal ready in half an hour.

More Recipes for Spring Produce

2009-06-22T14:35:00.004-04:00

I too, like Karen, signed up for a half-share in the CSA, but unlike Karen, I do not have two other mouths to share it with. So for me the challenge of what do with all those greens was compounded. So my first thought was to consult my vegetarian cookbooks (for the record, I’m an omnivore). Several years ago a friend, and roommate at the time, gave me Annie Somerville’s Field of Greens cookbook as a Christmas gift. It contains recipes from the highly-rated, vegetarian Greens Restaurant in San Francisco. I haven’t made as many recipes as I’d like because many are labor intensive, but I did adapt the following recipe the other night. I didn’t have kale or currants, so I omitted the former and substituted craisins for the latter. Brown butter is made by melting butter over low heat and then simmering gently for about 8 minutes. Then strain it through cheesecloth or paper toweling.

Winter Greens with Currants, Pine Nuts, and Brown Butter
2 to 3 T. brown butter
¼ hot water
6 c. hot water
6 c. shard leaves with a few stems
6 c. spinach leaves
1 T. olive oil
1 finely chopped garlic clove
¼ cup water
Salt and pepper
1 T toasted pine nuts
While the butter is cooking, soak the currants in hot water to plump. Separately , tear the kale and chard leaves from the stems, reserving a few of the chard stems. Discard the stems and any browned or yellowed spinach leaves. Wash all greens separately in a salad spinner. Thinly slice the chard stems.

Heat the oil in a large pan. Add the chard stems, garlic water and a pinch each of salt and pepper. Sauté for about a minute. Add the kale and sauté for another minute. Add the chard, ¼ t. salt, and a little more pepper. Toss the greens until just tender, about 2 to 3 minutes. Lower the heat and add the brown butter, spinach, currants and pine nuts. Cook until the spinach is just wilted. Season with salt and pepper. Include the pan juices when serving.

Serves 4.

She also had a simpler recipe for Wilted Spinach with Pine Nuts. You use olive oil instead of brown butter and include lemon juice. I might try that next.

Unlike Karen, I never tire of green vegetables cooked in olive oil and garlic – as long as it’s not the same green veggie over and over! One recipe I like for chard is Marcella Hazan’s Erbette Salate per la Piadina (sautéed greens for Piadina). Piadina is a roman flatbread that I confess I have yet to make. I serve the greens as a side. I won’t give the whole recipe here, but it’s basically a mix of par-cooked Swiss chard, broccoli rabe, and Savoy cabbage, then tossed in olive oil and garlic heated in a pan. You can substitute spinach for the chard (but don’t par cook it of course), and dandelion or other bitter field greens for the broccoli rabe.

And for the strawberries, I reprised a recipe I had during the Back to Basics course I recently took at the Cambridge School for Culinary Arts (that experience for a future blog): spread Nutella on a crepe, top with sliced strawberries, and roll them up in the crepe. Very easy, once you make the crepes. I found if I added butter to the non-stick pan, the batter globbed up instead of making a nice thin round. Looked more like a moth eaten doily! I think they might have added a little milk to the Nutella because mine didn’t seem to spread as easily. Also, you could macerate the strawberries first.

Enjoy!

Braised Greens with Sausage

2009-06-18T20:23:00.001-04:00

I ended up making this for lunch today - I couldn't hold out until dinnertime. Plus, my son was occupying himself nicely so it seemed prudent to seize the opportunity and get cooking.

You can use almost any types of greens in this, and almost any type of sausage. I had collards and turnip greens on hand from this weeks' CSA delivery. I put the collards in the pot first and let them wilt down before adding the turnip greens, since the collards take a bit longer to cook. As for sausage, I prefer smoked pork ones like kielbasa; chorizo and linguica are really good too. But any type of sausage would probably do - whatever you have on hand (or is on sale). If you get a low-fat variety, keep an eye on it during the browning step - it seems like lower-fat sausages burn more quickly (maybe the add extra sugar to the cure?). If you're in a hurry, you can skip the sausage-browning step altogether. It does add a lot of flavor, though, so I do it whenever I have time.

Leftovers make a great soup - cut the sausages and greens into bite-sized pieces. Add chicken stock (or a stock made from shrimp shells - YUM) and some cubed potatoes or white beans (aka cannellini), simmer until the potatoes are cooked and EAT.

Braised Greens with Smoked Sausages
Serves 2-4 people, depending on how hungry you are

a few tablespoons olive oil or bacon grease
1 pound smoked sausage, cut into 3-4" long pieces and sliced in half lengthwise
1 medium onion, cut in half and sliced thin
3-4 big cloves of garlic, peeled and smashed down with the side of a chef's knife or small plate (or minced, if you prefer)
a splash of vermouth
2 bunches of greens (collards, kale, turnip, mustard, etc), washed and coarsely chopped

1. Heat the oil in a large stockpot (8-quart) set over medium heat. Add the sausage pieces, cut side down, and cook until they are starting to brown. Flip them over and let brown a bit on the other side, keeping an eye on the drippings in the pot - you don't want them to burn.

2. Take the sausages out of the pot and set them on a plate. Add the sliced onion and garlic to the pot and cook, stirring occasionally, until the onion starts to soften. Add a splash of vermouth or water and stir to get up the good browned stuff.

3. Put the chopped greens in the pan and cover. Let them cook for a few minutes, then uncover the pot and stir to bring the greens from the bottom up on top. Cover and cook until all of the greens are wilted (5-10 minutes, total). If you have a lot of greens, you may need to add half of them, cook until wilted, and then add the other half.

4. Uncover the pot and lay the sausages back on top of the greens. Sprinkle with ground black pepper and simmer, covered, over medium-low heat until the greens are tender, another 10-20 minutes (taste the greens after 10 minutes to see if they are done to your liking. The stems of the collards should be tender). Taste for seasoning (I don't usually add salt, because the sausage is salty enough) and serve with some good crusty bread.

CSA Week 2: A Case of Fairly Bad Timing

2009-06-17T21:14:00.003-04:00

Another one of my little concerns with going the CSA route was, will I use everything up each week? One reason that I've stopped "meal planning" a week's worth of meals at a time is that things often change and you end up eating out one night, or you just can't work up the energy to make borscht another, and then there you are with all those beets. Even though I'd signed up for a half/single share with the CSA, I was still worried about having too many veggies. So it was with great relief, and no small quantity of smugness, that I used the last of last week's share on Monday.

Then on Tuesday, a nice man came to our house and repainted our circa-1940's glazed-enamel kitchen sink. This was significant because Tuesday is also the day for our weekly veggie pickup. Usually I like to wash some of the greens right away - prewashing them gets a somewhat messy and time-consuming step out of the way, and most greens will be OK for a day or two if you dry them well before you store them in the fridge. On Tuesday, however, the whole kitchen was masked off to protect it from paint spray, and we were under strict instructions to refrain from using the sink for the next 10 hours: conditions not ideal for washing, let alone cooking, a big haul of leafy greens. Plus, my hubby had a business dinner, and I was too tired from the day too even think about cooking. No veggies, therefore, were consumed on Tuesday.

On Wednesday, my hubby jetted off on a three-day business trip, leaving me with a head of lettuce, a bunch of collard greens, a bunch of baby turnips, two wicked big bunches of bok choy, and two garlic scapes all to myself. (Well, okay, my son is here, but three-year-olds aren't generally known to be voracious veggie eaters). What to do?

What to do. The collards are pretty young, so a quick braise with some garlic and kielbasa should do nicely for them. I like sausage-and-greens dishes, because the leftovers keep well and when you think you can't eat them anymore, they can be sliced up and turned into soup (add some diced potatoes or cannellini beans). So that's on the menu for tomorrow night. The bok choy should be able to hold out until Friday when I'll stir-fry it with a Player To Be Named Later. Thanks to the trusty Internet I've just learned that garlic scapes can be stir-fried (and also, what the heck garlic scapes are). But how about those turnips? They were billed as "salad turnips," meaning that they can be eaten raw, such as sliced up in a salad. They still have their greens attached, so I'll add those to tomorrow night's collards and kielbasa. I sliced up a turnip to taste a sample and it reminded me of daikon radish, and that made me think of radish kimchee.

I love radish kimchee. Sometimes I buy it in a jar, but mostly I make it at home using a recipe from Korean Cuisine by Young Sook Choi (note: I bought this book in the English/Chinese version from Amazon, but currently only the Korean edition is listed. Caveat emptor). It's not really a fermented kimchee - it only sits out for a day - but it's easy, quick and oh so yummy. (Well, if you like spicy food). I usually serve it as a side dish when I make Korean food or any Asian-style barbequed meat for dinner. You can also use it as one of the veggie dishes in bibim bap. Or for a really fast dinner, cook some rice, add a fried egg and some radish (or any other, for that matter) kimchee. Sometimes I even eat it with a little leftover rice for breakfast. And, radish kimchee can be kept in the refrigerator for a week - and if you have any left by then, you can add a little anchovy broth to whip up a kimchee stew (or a modified radish soup, which I'll post someday). (And now I really need to write that post on anchovy broth!).

Since the salad turnips tasted so much like radishes, I decided to give this a whirl. I think it's pretty tasty. One note; I don't think there's a substitute for Korean red pepper powder; you can try it with other red chilies but I just don't think it'll be the same. Make space in your cupboard for some go chu ga ru (red pepper powder) and in your fridge for some go chu jang (Korean hot pepper paste; not used in this particular recipe but in many others that I love); with those two things, you can make a lot of really great food.

Turnip Kimchee

A warning: this stuff is pretty addictive. I've eaten about a third of the batch, just while I was writing up this post. So much for "preserving the harvest."

8-10 oz baby turnips (1 small bunch, about 7 2-3" baby turnips), washed but not peeled, sliced thin
1 scallion, chopped into small pieces (1/2" or less
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon Korean red pepper powder
1/4 teaspoon sugar
1 teaspoon fish sauce
1 small garlic clove, minced
1/2 teaspoon minced or finely grated fresh ginger (optional).

Mix everything together. Transfer into a sealed container and let it sit around at room temperature for a while (up to overnight). Keeps refrigerated for one week.

Recipe Report, and More on What to do with Chard

2009-06-14T20:58:00.003-04:00

So here's my review of Cod with Swiss Chard and Potatoes, in a nutshell: It was good. It was easy. I'll make it again.

More details, you say? OK, I'll spill, but be forewarned: this will read like one of those reviews I've poked fun at before (if I'm gonna give it, I guess I've gotta take it, too). Here's what happened: as predicted, I didn't use the fennel and basil called for in the original recipe. I didn't end up using the sorrel that I *thought* I would go with, either, because it turns out that that can of fire-roasted tomatoes in my cupboard also had roasted chilies in it. Hot chilies, not the mild green ones. I decided to skip the sauce-reducing step and served the whole thing in bowls...it came out kind of like a spicy fish stew. I should have added some smoked Spanish paprika, but thought of it too late.

I still had a bunch of chard in the fridge, so tonight I decided to try something out. This is very loosely based on a recipe for kimchee stew - not because it has kimchee in it, but because of the general method of preparation. I've mentioned before that I've been searching for a way to cook tofu so that my meat-and-potatoes-loving hubby will eat it. Both of us prefer the texture of firm tofu that's cooked gently in liquid, but if fried tofu is your idea of heaven then by all means, go ahead and fry it before you add the broth in this recipe. I need to write a separate post on anchovy broth, 'cause it's really simple to make and pretty good for you too, but that will have to wait and for now I leave you in suspense.

This came out really, really well. Manly meat-eating hubby even commented that he's starting to really like tofu. The Swiss chard was of the red variety, and it turned the broth a lovely shade of pink - made a very pretty contrast with the white tofu and green chard leaves. And it comes together fast: you can wash the chard during the first 2 steps of cooking, so dinner can be ready in 20 minutes. It's also, I daresay, a Ludicrously Healthy recipe. I'll definitely be making this again and trying out other types of greens as the season progresses.

Braised Tofu with Swiss Chard
Makes about 4 main-dish servings

1-2 tablespoons olive oil
1 small or 1/2 large onion, cut in half and sliced thinly
1-3 cloves of garlic, minced (or pressed)
1 1/2 cups anchovy broth, chicken broth, or water
1 lb (drained weight) firm tofu, sliced into 2x3x1/2" pieces
1-2 tablespoons soy sauce
1 tablespoon rice wine vinegar
a dash of hot pepper flakes (optional)
1 bunch Swiss chard, washed, stemmed, and leave torn into 2-3" sized pieces
1 scallion, chopped finely
ground pepper and possibly salt (I didn't think it needed any).

1. Heat the olive oil in a large (6-quart or bigger) stockpot over medium-high heat. Add the onion and garlic and stir until the onion starts to soften, about 5 minutes.

2. Pour in the anchovy broth and bring it to a simmer. Lay the slices of tofu into the broth, and add the soy sauce, vinegar, and hot pepper flakes, if you're using them. Bring to a simmer and add the Swiss chard.

3. Cover and cook until the chard is wilted and tender, 5-10 minutes, depending on how large your chard leaves are (younger chard cooks faster). You may need to use a pair of tongs to turn the chard over if the pot is very full).

4. Uncover the pot, sprinkle on the chopped scallion and season with pepper (and salt, if you think it needs it). Serve in large bowls with a scoop of hot rice.

CSA week 1: Lots of Leafys

2009-06-11T21:37:00.003-04:00

The veggie CSA that we're participating in started up this week. I was excited to see what we'd be getting, though I knew that, with this being New England and all, the selection would be limited. We ended up with lettuce, Swiss Chard, and spinach (and also strawberries and rhubarb, since I purchased a fruit share in addition to the veggies). Everything looked great and really fresh. (One of my pet peeves about "certified organic" produce is that it often suffers from a lack of proper storage. If you're going to all the trouble to grow "organic," why not keep the potatoes at a proper temperature until you sell them? It's not rocket science; it's a root cellar).

What to do with this bounty? This question seemed especially important since it's likely that the same players will be featured in next week's share, so I need to be ready. My hubby likes to have a salad for lunch everyday so I wasn't too worried about using that up. And I make Korean food often enough that the recipe for sesame spinach (also known as spinach salad) has full occupancy in my brain (and better yet, uses up a lot of spinach). My son ate the entire quart of strawberries within a day, and I found a good recipe for rhubarb bread, so those two were taken care of, too.

But the Swiss chard...I love the taste of leafy greens, but I hit a cook's block (kind of like a writer's block, but in the kitchen) when it comes to remembering ways to cook them. One can eat only so much chard sauteed with garlic. Then I remembered this recipe that was published in the Boston Globe Magazine (who hopefully won't hunt me down and sue me since I credit them fully). As a service to my fellow CSA members (who are also challenged by chard) and myself (who is just plain forgetful) I'm reposting the recipe here.

I must disclose that I haven't made this recipe yet - I'm going to make it for dinner tomorrow night. I'm posting it now, though, because (1) I have made other, very similar recipes and I liked them a lot, so I'm brashly confident that it'll turn out okay (I'll probably skip the fennel 'cause I don't have any right now, and use sorrel instead of basil because that's what's in the garden), (2) this recipe was one of the winners in a "one-pot meals" cooking contest, and (3) there will be wine with dinner tomorrow night, which means I'll be too sleepy to post it after I eat it. Therefore, I will take the risk and post an untested recipe: eater beware.

Cod with Swiss Chard and Potatoes
Source: The Boston Globe, February 17, 2008
Serves 6 (note: can be scaled down to serve fewer people)

2 1 1/2-pound skinless cod fillets
Salt and pepper, to taste
1/4 lemon
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 large onion, cut in half and thinly sliced
1 bulb fennel, cored and thinly sliced
1 can (28 ounces) diced tomatoes, drained
3 medium Yukon Gold potatoes, thinly sliced and set aside in a bowl of water
3 cups low-sodium chicken broth
6 cups coarsely chopped Swiss chard
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
2 cups chopped fresh basil (optional)

Rinse the cod, pat dry, and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Squeeze the lemon over the fillets and set the fish aside.

In a large saute pan over medium heat, heat the olive oil. Add the onion and fennel, season with salt and pepper, and cook until vegetables are soft, about 5 minutes. Mix in the tomatoes and simmer the mixture for about 5 minutes.

Remove the potato slices from the water, dry them on paper towels, and arrange them on top of the tomato mixture. Season with more salt and pepper, add the chicken broth, cover, and simmer until the potatoes are tender, about 10 minutes.

Lay the cod fillets on top of the potatoes and put the Swiss chard on top of the fish. Cover again and cook until the chard is wilted and the fish is cooked through, about 10 minutes.

Take the pan off the heat and divide the chard among 6 plates. Divide the fish into portions and place on top of the chard, then divide and arrange the potatoes around the fish.

Put the pan back on the heat, add the butter to the sauce, and stir to mix. Reduce for about 2 minutes, then adjust seasoning with salt and pepper. Add basil, if using, to the sauce, stir to mix, and spoon over the fish. Serve immediately.

Mmmmm Muffins

2009-05-15T21:29:00.002-04:00

Dish Gal was looking for some healthy muffins, so I decided that I would post these two recipes that I developed when I wanted to make some healthy baked goods for my son. The term "healthy" can mean different things to different people, so first I offer up my philosophy:

1. I mostly try to make nutritious food. That means I'm willing to keep the fat in a recipe if there are other nutritious elements (i.e. protein, fiber, vitamins, minerals).

2. I prefer to develop recipes around the items that I use frequently, such as whole-milk yogurt. It saves me money when I don't have to throw away a container of fat-free sour cream that I didn't finish, and mental anguish when I don't have to figure out how to use up a container of fat-free sour cream. (I don't buy sour cream, fat-free or otherwise, much at all anymore. In most cases, whole-milk yogurt works just fine - try it on a baked potato sometime). To use up leftover buttermilk from these recipes, you can always make waffles or soda bread.

3. I try to include whole grains in my baking, but again, I don't want to have a lot of extra stuff lying around that I won't use up. So, these recipes as well as my waffles include a little whole-wheat flour along with unbleached white flour and some other grains. If you want to go all-whole-grain, try out the "white whole wheat" flour from King Arthur; it has a lighter texture than regular whole wheat flour.

4. With respect to muffins, you may have to adjust your expectations. Starbucks does not make muffins in Life-Sustaining Portions. Have you looked at a muffin tin lately? A 12-muffin muffin tin? It holds about 1/3 cup of batter in each muffin. So don't get carried away with portions; respect the muffin for what it is. I like to think of them as nutritious snacks for me and my toddler (and sometimes they double as entertainment).

Most muffins taste best on the day that they are baked. I freeze the leftovers: pop them in a zip-top bag and eat them all week (20 seconds in the microwave, or a couple of hours in your purse while you commute to work is sufficient to thaw them). If you want to store them longer, wrap them individually in foil or plastic wrap before you store them in the zip-top bag and freeze.

Pumpkin Bread or muffins
Recipe adapted from livinglowfat.com

1 cup pumpkin or squash puree (canned, homemade, whatever)
½ cup light brown sugar, packed
2-3 tablespoons walnut oil (or olive oil)
½ cup all-purpose flour
1 cup whole wheat flour
1 ¼ teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
½ teaspoon ground nutmeg
½ cup buttermilk
1 egg

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

2. Grease a 9x5” loaf pan or muffin tins (6 large, 12 regular or 24 mini-muffins).

3. Combine dry ingredients in a large bowl.

4. In a medium bowl, whisk the pumpkin, brown sugar, buttermilk, egg and oil until well blended.

5. Pour the wet ingredients over the dry and stir well to combine. Use a rubber spatula to scrape the bottom and sides of the bowl. Pour the batter in to the loaf pan or spoon it into the muffin tins.

6. Bake the loaf for 1 hour, muffins 20-35 minutes depending on size until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.

Blueberry corn muffins
Recipe adapted from cooksrecipes.com

1 cup all-purpose flour
1 cup yellow cornmeal
1/3 cup sugar
1 ½ teaspoons baking powder
½ teaspoon salt
4 tablespoons butter
1 large egg
1 cup buttermilk
1 ½ cups fresh blueberries, dredged in flour

1. Heat oven to 375 F. Grease a 12-cup muffin or 24-cup mini-muffin tin.

2. In a large bowl combine flour, cornmeal, sugar, baking powder and salt. Cut in the butter until the mixture resembles coarse meal.

3. Add the egg and buttermilk, mix only until absorbed. Fold in the berries.

4. Pour the batter into cups, making each cup 2/3 full.

5. Bake 15-20 minutes or until browned and the center springs back when gently pressed. Cool on a wire rack.

Stalking Asparagus

2009-05-15T21:05:00.002-04:00

Tidbit #1: I'm one of those strange people who actually enjoys grocery shopping. (Maybe I shouldn't say "one of those" people - for all I know, I'm the ONLY person who enjoys grocery shopping). I don't know why, exactly; there's just something enticing about all that food on display. Whenever I travel I always make sure to visit a local grocery store, just to "see what they have," and I usually end up bringing home more than a few items. (This is actually a good strategy for souvenir shopping). It's become a bit of a problem in that I've had to learn to steel myself to not overbuy, even if the asparagus is on sale, or I end up with much more food than I have time to cook.

Tidbit #2: I recently joined a couple of CSAs (community supported agriculture). As someone who grew up with a vegetable garden in the backyard and home cooked dinners on the table, this is not a terribly radical thing to do - the sad truth is that, despite my best efforts, my current backyard garden just isn't putting out enough. (I have read several of those books lately that exhort us to get back to the land, eat seasonally and locally, etc. etc. The politics of this is discussed extensively on the web, so I won't get into it here). We do have a farmer's market in Malden and other towns nearby, and I plan to keep visiting them as well.

What links those two tidbits? More food from a CSA = less shopping. And I love grocery shopping. As much as I look forward to picking up my bag of locally grown organic produce every week, I can't help but wonder - will I miss the thrill of the hunt? The challenge of planning the week's meals around fennel, only to discover that the fennel is dreadful but the rapini is dreamy (and maybe, just maybe, I could swap in zucchini)? I'm not sure what this says about me as a person (and if it's a good idea to reveal it on the Internet) but I really enjoy that aspect of shopping and cooking. If I don't get my fix at the grocery store, am I going to be making excuses to go out and shop anyway?

We had a preview of our CSA this week, though, and I think it's going to be OK. I happened to be sitting at my computer one afternoon when an email came in that some asparagus was going to be available. This was a special, additional thing to the usual bag-o-goods; the total amount of asparagus to be released, and when, was nebulous and weather-dependent. Excited, I replied immediately to put my name on the list.

What happened next is that I compulsively checked my email for two days, waiting for the word that I had made the cut - there are 240 members in this CSA, and not that much asapargus. When the announcement finally came, I was thrilled to see that I was #7 on the list (I did say that I was sitting at my computer when the asparagus email arrived) and that, barring a freakish hailstorm in the next 24 hours, I should be among the lucky recipients in the first round of asparagus delivery . I happily announced to my parents (who happened to be visiting) that fresh asparagus would be on the menu tomorrow night!

The following day, I checked the CSA website even more compulsively to see when the spears would be available for pickup. With each update, my anticipation grew: at 9 am - asparagus is being harvested! At noon - they've left the farm! At 3 pm - they're in Marblehead! At 5 pm - they're in Salem! At 5:30 pm - my parents grumble because we realize that the asparagus will be arriving at our depot pickup too late for tonight's supper! At 6 pm - the spears are in Melrose! The minute my hubby got home from work, I zipped off to make the pickup. Truth be told, I felt a little funny walking up onto someone's porch, signing my name to a clipboard and walking off with my precious little bundle. In some neighborhoods that I've lived in, that would be construed as an entirely different sort of activity. Nonetheless I found completion in the thrill of the hunt for our very, very fresh asparagus.

I know it won't always be like that, but I'm feeling more optimistic about the CSA experience. Maybe the excitement of opening "the bag" will be enough to keep me going through the summer months. Or maybe the quality of the vegetables will make up for my grocery store longings - that was some mighty fine asparagus. (I drizzled it with olive oil, salt and pepper, and roasted it in a 425 F oven for about 10 minutes, and we ate it out of hand. And yes, my parents got to have some. Just in case you were wondering).

This Little Piggy (Shoulder) From The Market

2009-03-11T21:43:00.003-04:00

A few weeks ago, I wanted to make this recipe for pork stew with butternut squash and fennel. Butternut squash was one of the success stories of last year's garden and I still have a few of them lounging around in my laundry room. I mostly use the squash in soups and muffins, but I was yearning for a change (must be the coming spring). Plus, I've been buying a lot of fennel lately, to put into salads, so this stew seemed quite the thing to make.

When I buy pork shoulder (a.k.a. Boston butt or picnic shoulder), it's usually to make pulled pork. So the fact that this cut comes with the skin still intact isn't a problem - the skin slips off easily after the pork is slow-cooked for hours and hours. For this stew, though, the skin needs to be removed and the meat cut into pieces prior to cooking. It's been a while since I last made the stew and I forgot how tricky it could be to trim the meat...in this case it was even trickier because my pork shoulder contained the actual shoulder joint - not so easy to remove, that. And, I couldn't decide whether it was better to remove the skin and then cut out the bone, or to remove the bone and then cut off the skin. (For the record: remove the skin first. Hopefully I'll remember that, next time).

The shoulder is an (relative to pork loin) inexpensive cut of meat - I paid $1.49 per pound; sometimes it goes on sale for just $0.99/lb. After trimming off the skin and fat, and cutting out the bone, I was looking at a sizeable pile of stuff that was NOT going into my stew. Ever curious, I got out my trusty kitchen scale. The total weight of the roast was 5.34 lb. Of that, the skin and trimmed-off fat weighed almost a pound, and the bone itself weighed 1 lb. Sooo the remaining ~3lb of pork meat for the stew actually cost $7.96 (total cost for a 5.34-lb roast) / 3 lb of stew meat = $2.65/lb.

What to do??!? The bone was a no-brainer: it went into the freezer to be added to a stock someday. The skin and fat, well, I tried to render the lard out of the pork skin like I render the fat out of duck skin: slice the skin into strips and place it in a heavy pan with a little water, a little vermouth, and a couple of bay leaves. Heat over low heat until it simmers and cook for a couple of hours until the fat is rendered and the skin is crispy and browned. It sort of worked: I was expecting to produce something like pork rinds, but the pig skin never really got all that crispy (unlike the duck skin). I did get about a half-cup of rendered pork fat, which I stored in the fridge and used to fry some potatoes later in the week.

A bit of extra effort, but I got the most out of that little shoulder. Oh, and the stew itself was delicious...but after the fact, I realized that this recipe is not the one that I'd made before, after all. I dimly recall that the other recipe directst you to saute the fennel with the onions; it cooks so long in the stew that it practically melts away. If I can find that recipe again, I'll post it here. In the meanwhile, you can enjoy this one.

Brownie Follow-Up

2009-03-10T21:04:00.002-04:00

I made them again today.

I will try my best to NOT eat the whole pan, this time.

FYI, I tried using two whole eggs in the batter, instead of one egg and two whites. It worked just fine, and I didn't notice a big difference in the brownies (although the two-egg version may have been slightly fudgier).

I also tried sprinkling a little bit of Fleur de Sel (a.k.a. wicked expensive sea salt) over the batter just before baking. Still haven't tried those Sea Salt Brownies from Trader Joe's, but I'm guessing they must be something similar. The hubby was a bit dubious about salty brownies, but it works - kind of like those Sea Salt Caramels that are suddenly everywhere.

Next time I make these, I want to try baking the batter in mini-muffin pans - to approximate those Two Bite Brownies sold in chichi grocery stores. Stay tuned...

Suggest A Show

2009-03-10T20:54:00.002-04:00

Do you live in Malden? Have a special recipe that you'd like to share? Let us know! Heck, you don't even have to be a resident to suggest a topic for a show - we're interested in all ideas. (Of course, since it takes us 2-3 months to tape and edit each episode, you may have to wait a while before your great idea makes it into our schedule...we are volunteers doing this in our free time, after all).

We're especially interested in featuring local cooks from diverse backgrounds - in fact, the Malden Cultural Council funded our grant application to do just that. So send us an email, or make your suggestion in the comment section below. We look forward to hearing from you!

Guestbook

2009-03-10T20:50:00.003-04:00

We can't put an "official" Guestbook up on our website just yet, so we're using this post as a work-around. Please leave your message in the comments section below. Thanks for visiting!

The Gauntlet Has Been Thrown

2009-03-06T20:42:00.003-05:00

A few clips from the guy's shows to help you decide...don't forget to vote in the poll!

Saturday, and Beyond

2009-03-06T20:18:00.001-05:00

I bought my first waffle maker in the early 90s. Why did I buy a waffle maker? I'm not all that sure, actually. I think it was because I'd read a recipe for raised waffles (as in, made-with-yeast-waffles, not resurrected waffles) and wanted to try it. In those days, I was the sort of person who bought a kitchen gadget just to make a specific recipe (as in, a youngish person who has not yet overstuffed their kitchen with gadgets).

As I recall, I carefully researched options and decided upon a classic round waffler with nonstick finish. I think I sunk about 50 bucks into that waffler, which was a lot of money back then. Five batches of waffles later, I finally realized that "nonstick finish" does not mean "waffles will not stick." Even though I kept spraying the grids with cooking spray, it still took some time for that sucker to build up what I like to call seasoning or, to be even more euphemistic, patina. I'm still not sure what kept me from carrying out my threat to toss the waffler out the window, but I'm glad that I hung in there. Waffle batter #6 was my lucky batch; we've been waffling ever since. (Note: if you do not currently own a waffle maker and are considering buying one, don't be put off by this story. I'm sure that waffler coating technology has advanced in the last 15 years).

My waffle-making made great technical advances when I discovered the book, "Waffles: From Morning To Midnight" by Dorie Greenspan. Here I learned that, by heating one's oven to ~180 F, already-cooked waffles could be kept warm and waiting. Thus it was possible to make a whole batch and then serve everyone at once, including the waffle slave. This opened up a whole new realm of waffle consumption...for a couple of years, we'd get together every Saturday morning with friends to watch cartoons, drink too much coffee, and take turns making breakfast. (We called it the CAB club for caffeine, animation, and breakfast). When our turn was up we'd often make waffles.

After its CAB heyday, the waffle maker sat idle for a few years. I rediscovered it when my son was ready to start eating solid foods and I wanted to include more whole grains in his Recommended Daily Serving Of Starch. So, I started tinkering around with a couple of recipes from Ms. Greenspan's book. To be honest, though, there wasn't that much tinkering to be done; a couple of her recipes almost fit the bill as-is.

I usually have either buttermilk or plain yogurt in my fridge, so I developed a recipe for each one. (Buttermilk comes in low- and non-fat options; either will work. I usually buy whole milk and whole-milk yogurt but I think you could sub in the low-fat versions). I like a waffle that stands up to its syrup, so both recipes produce a fairly sturdy waffle although the yogurt one is a bit softer. Buttermilk will keep for a couple of weeks in the refrigerator; if you don't want to make waffles again the next weekend, try this recipe for Brown Soda Bread from Bon Appetit to use up the extra.

Each recipe makes 5-7 waffles, depending on how much batter you need for your waffle maker. (Mine takes a little more than 1/2 cup per waffle). Leftover waffles can be frozen in zip-top bags and reheated for quick breakfasts during the week - pop them into the toaster for a few minutes, or microwave them, or wrap them in foil and put them in your diaper bag for an on-the-go toddler snack. (My son eats them, still frozen, straight from the freezer). Waffles make great snacks for toddlers because they don't crumble and make a big mess.

A note about oats: I always have "old-fashioned" rolled oats in the pantry because that's what I use to make granola. (Yes, I do have four different kinds of salt, but I only buy one kind of oats...well actually two because there's the steel-cut oats for oatmeal, but I digress). I soak the oats in milk (or whatever liquid the recipe calls for) just so that there aren't any dry oat bits in the final product. The soaking step is not essential. And, if you have "quick" rolled oats, the soaking isn't necessary. Just don't use "instant" oats. (Actually, I've never tried these recipes with instant oats, so I don't know what would happen - if you do try it, let me know).

And another note about sweeteners: I like to use maple syrup, but you can use honey, sugar, brown sugar...whatever you like. You can even skip the sweetener altogether, as I found out last weekend when I forgot to add the syrup: the waffles still taste pretty OK, especially if you put syrup on top. The vanilla and cinnamon add a hint of sweetness on their own.

Multigrain Buttermilk Waffles
Adapted from “Waffles from Morning to Midnight” by Dorie Greenspan

4 tablespoons butter
1 cup old-fashioned oats (not instant oats)
½ cup all-purpose flour (preferably unbleached)
½ cup whole wheat flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
½ teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
Pinch of nutmeg
3 tablespoons maple syrup
1½ cups buttermilk
2 large eggs
½ teaspoon vanilla
Optional: 2 medium-size ripe bananas, thickly sliced crosswise or 1 cup blueberries, washed and drained

1. Place the buttermilk in a medium bowl. Add the oats and stir well; set aside for the oats to soak while you prepare the rest of the ingredients. (Letting the oats soften in the buttermilk makes them chewier in the waffles).

2. Preheat the oven to 190 F. Place the oven rack in the upper and lower third of the oven and set a couple of cooling racks on them.

3. Melt the butter in a glass dish in the microwave (about 30 seconds) on in a small pot on the stove.

4. In a large bowl, combine the flours, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon and nutmeg with a whisk.

5. Crack the eggs and add them to the bowl with the oats and buttermilk. Add the maple syrup and vanilla to the same bowl. Use a fork to beat the eggs together, then stir everything in the bowl together.

6. Pour the wet ingredients over the dry ingredients. Use a spatula to mix and fold everything together until it is almost completely mixed. Drizzle the butter over the batter, add the optional fruit, and fold it in.

7. Let the batter rest for a few minutes while you preheat the waffle iron. The batter will puff up and increase in volume; it will become quite thick.

8. Lightly grease the grids on the waffle iron or spray with cooking spray. Scoop out a generous ½ cup of batter onto the waffle iron and use the measuring cup or a spatula to spread the batter over the grid. The batter is very thick; you will probably need ~1/3 more than the manufacturer’s recommended amount of batter for each waffle.

9. As each waffle is cooked, transfer it to the oven rack to keep warm until serving time. This recipe makes a sturdy waffle, but the oven-resting step can help to crisp up a soft waffle.

Multigrain Honey-Yogurt Waffles
Also adapted from “Waffles from Morning to Midnight” by Dorie Greenspan

3 tablespoons unsalted butter
1/2 cup flour
1/2 cup whole-wheat flour
1/2 cup old-fashioned oats
1/2 cup cornmeal
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 1/4 cups milk
3/4 cup plain yogurt
1/3 cup honey
2 large eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Proceed as in the above recipe, letting the oats soak in the milk while you prepare the other ingredients.

New Poll, and a Very Special Episode

2009-03-03T20:23:00.002-05:00

We've been promising a new poll, and at long last it's arrived. The last two episodes of our show featured prominent Malden bachelors learning their way around the kitchen. Since these men are also friends and colleagues, it's not surprising that a little good-natured rivalry has blossomed. Now it's time for the viewers to decide: which bachelor reigns supreme??

For those of you who are not familiar with the shows, a brief summary: in the first installment, City Councillor Gary Christenson graciously invited us into his home, where we helped him get acquainted with his kitchen by showing him two easy recipes. Part II of the bachelor cook-off featured fellow MATV member (and host of "Giving Back" The Bread of Life Television Show") Mike Cherone learning to make lasagna, like he rememebred from his childhood Sunday suppers. Both gentlemen did an excellent job.

We've been a bit slow at getting our shows up online, but you can watch Mike's episode by visiting his blog for "Giving Back." (Click on the picture of the lasagna. If you want to see Mike interview us about his appearance on our show, click the link for Episode 10). Hopefully we'll get Gary's episode online soon, too.

thanks for watching, and don't forget to vote!

The Brownie Made Me Do It

2009-02-21T20:05:00.004-05:00

I was ambushed by a box of brownies today. There I was, happily shopping at Trader Joe's, filling my basket with all manner of healthy foods when I turned a corner and there they were: small, dark and fudgy. Made with sea salt! Sea salt brownies, of all things. The sneaky little devils almost made it into my hands but then reality set in. Brownies are easy to make - did I really want to drop five bucks on something so simple?

Back at home a few hours later, I remembered this wonderful recipe from Alice Medrich's "Chocolate and the Art of Low-Fat Desserts." I don't usually try to make dessert low-fat, but I do like this book. These brownies, in particular, are quick and delicious, and the low(er)-fat part is just the, uh, icing on the cake (sorry...). Alice instructs you to melt the butter, mix the wet and dry ingredients in separate bowls, and then combine everything together, but you can mix everything in one pan if you're careful to let the butter cool before you add the eggs. One-bowl, low-fat brownies? Yes, dreams do come true.

I'm also posting a companion dessert to use up the 2 egg yolks that are leftover from the brownie recipe. (I told you, I'm not into low-fat desserts, per se, and I don't like to waste food). Granola pudding is (1) better than it sounds, and (2) a variation on Grapenut Pudding. I had never heard of Grapenut pudding until a few years ago but I'm totally addicted to it. I don't usually have Grapenuts in the house, whereas I do have granola; I therefore give you Granola Pudding.

Michael's Fudge Brownies

1 teaspoon instant espresso coffee granules (optional - you can omit it if you don't have it on hand)
1 teaspoon hot water
1 1/4 cups sugar
5 tablespoons butter or margarine -- melted
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 egg whites -- lightly beaten
1 egg -- lightly beaten
1 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 cup Dutch process cocoa
1/4 teaspoon salt (use sea salt, for a more expensive brownie)
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
Vegetable cooking spray

1. Melt the butter in a medium-sized saucepan over low heat (or in a large, microwaveable bowl). Let the butter cool a bit, the stir in the sugar, vanilla, egg whites and egg. Combine the coffee granules and hot water in a small bowl; add to the egg mixture and stir well.

2. Add the flour, cocoa, salt, and baking powder; stir well with a fork or wooden spoon. Use a rubber spatula to scrape the bottom of the pan or bowl to make sure that everything is well combined.

3. Spread batter into an 8" square baking pan coated with cooking spray. Bake at 350°F for 25 minutes; let cool in pan. Yield: 16 brownies (serving size: 1 brownie). (Uh, don't know about you, but I can't stop at 1 brownie!)

Granola Pudding
The custard recipe is Baked Vanilla Custard, from Marion Cunningham's "The Supper Book"

2 egg yolks
3 eggs
1/2 cup sugar (I prefer 1/3 cup)
3 cups very hot milk
1 tablespoon vanilla
1/2 cup homemade granola (I like this recipe from Bon Appetit)
nutmeg
salt to taste

1. Heat the oven to 325 F. Butter an 8-inch square baking dish. Set a shallow pan large enough to hold the baking dish in the oven, and fill it with 1 inch of hot water (I use a large frying pan).

2. Mix the yolks and eggs together until just blended. Stir in the sugar and salt and slowly add the hot milk, stirring constantly. Add the vanilla. Strain into the baking dish and sprinkle the granola over the top.

3. Put the dish or ramekins in the shallow pan and bake for about 45 minutes; the custard is set when a knife inserted in the center comes out clean. Be careful not to overbake; remove it from the oven when the very center of the custard still trembles a little bit. Serve warm, at room temperature or chilled (it will keep in the refrigerator for a few days).

Tofu and Broccoli in Black Bean Sauce

2009-02-20T19:57:00.001-05:00

Some smart cook once said that if you don't like something, you should figure out a way to prepare it so that even you will eat it.

I've never been all that crazy about tofu. Not that I have anything against it, exactly, I'm just not a big fan. Nevertheless, I've been trying to eat more of it lately, for a number of reasons that I won't go on about right now. My husband is even less enthusiastic than I am about tofu, but he's being a good sport and eating along. (My son, on the other hand, loves it and that's one reason that I'm using it more...but then I said I wasn't going to get into that. Oops).

Most of the tofu that shows up on my table appears in Korean dishes such as kimchee chigae (a kind of soup/stew) or soy sauce braised tofu. In a pinch, I give it to my hungry toddler to eat as is, straight from the package. We've eaten enough of the stuff that I now have an idea of how to prepare it so that we'll all enjoy it - even if my hubby doesn't exactly shout "Hooray, it's tofu night!" when I tell him what's for dinner. I made this recipe tonight in an attempt to branch out into other tofu dishes. It's based on a recipe for chicken and asparagus in black bean sauce, from an old Sunset Magazine cookbook on Chinese food.

I first met fermented soybeans (aka the black beans in black bean sauce) through a roommate when I was in grad school. Fermented soybeans are small, dark, and smelly; my roomie taught me to store them in a sealed glass jar in the refrigerator. In small doses, however, they make a mighty tasty sauce when smashed up with a little garlic and soy sauce.

Back in those grad school days, when I first started trying to cook Asian food, I made dishes in black bean sauce a lot. As my repertoire expanded into Thai, Indian, and Korean the realities of limited storage space pushed those beans out of my refrigerator - I just didn't use them often enough to justify their tying up prime real estate. I got thinking about fermented soybeans again, though, when a friend asked for recipes that use tofu, and I picked up a jar of black bean sauce with garlic. A few days later, with bean sauce on hand and tofu and broccoli needing to be used, I tried out the following dish. It turned out tasty enough that I'm even willing to post it here.

This was quick, easy and because there are so few ingredients, prep work was fast. Get your rice cooker started just before you start heating the wok, and dinner will be ready in 20 minutes. You can substitute other green vegetables, such as asparagus or zucchini, for the broccoli. You can also substitute chicken for the tofu, since that was the original recipe, but then you won't be eating tofu now will you. If you want to be a purist and not use a purchased black bean sauce, smash 2 tablespoons of fermented black soybeans with ~1/2 teaspoon of minced garlic, a pinch of salt and add an extra tablespoon or so of soy sauce.

(A note: there are no pictures to go with this post for a reason. I am learning that I am not a particularly good food photographer. This is bad news, because one of the great things about blogging is that you can show all these wonderful pictures...assuming that you have the necessary skills to get wonderful pictures of your food. I'd rather that you have to use your imagination than look at a less-than-appetizing photo of my recipes).

A few tablespoons of sesame oil (or peanut oil, or whatever you have on hand)
1 small onion (or 1/2 of a large onion)
4 fresh shitake mushrooms (or ~1 cup of any fresh mushroom), sliced
1 cup chicken or vegetable broth, or water
2 tablespoons soy sauce
14 oz firm tofu, cut into cubes
1 small head of broccoli, cut into florets
1 tablespoon cornstarch mixed with 1-2 tablespoons of water

1. Cut the root and stem ends off of the onion. Cut the onion in half and then slice it into thin strips.

2. Heat a wok over high heat and add a tablespoon of sesame oil. Swirl the oil around in the wok to coat the surface.

3. Add the sliced onion to the wok and stir-fry until the onion starts to soften or "wilt."

4. Add the mushrooms to the wok and stir-fry until they soften and begin to shrink (they may give off some liquid, but if the heat is high enough this will evaporate quickly).

5. Take the wok off of the heat and let it cool for a moment, then add the broth and soy sauce. Add the tofu and black bean sauce and gently stir so that all of the tofu is partially submerged in the liquid. Return the wok to the burner and bring the broth to a boil. Turn down the heat a bit and simmer for 5 minutes.

6. Arrange the broccoli on top of the tofu and simmer for another 5 minutes, or until the broccoli is partially cooked. (You can cover the wok to help steam the broccoli but it's not absolutely necessary).

7. Stir very gently to combine everything (a big spatula works well to turn the ingredients over, without breaking up the tofu) and simmer another minute or two.

8. Add the cornstarch-water and stir gently again to combine everything. Stir one or two more times as the sauce thickens.

Current episode is now online!

2009-02-05T19:04:00.002-05:00

We keep meaning to get our shows up on Google video, but haven't quite figured it out yet. Fortunately, the guest on our current episode is much more Web-savy and he posted it for us. Visit http://givingbacktvshow.blogspot.com/ to see Mike Cherone, fellow MATV member and the host of "Giving Back: The Bread of life Television Show" in his cooking-show debut!

Ode to an Easy Oatmeal

2009-01-27T17:03:00.001-05:00

One of these days I'm going to surprise you all and just post a recipe without a long-winded tale to introduce it. Today is not that day...in fact this may be a Personal Best Post in terms of the wordy-background-to-short-recipe ratio.

I'm always interested in learning about what other people eat. I'm especially interested in what people in other countries feed to their kids, since one of my hopes for raising my son is that he will appreciate the wondrous array of foods that the world has to offer. So, when I get to know someone from a different cultural background, I like to ask them what they have for breakfast.

Although this is not a carefully controlled study, I can't help but notice an apparent correlation between countries full of skinny people and eating a hearty breakfast. By "hearty" I mean almost anything except the processed-type of cereals, donuts, muffins and other sweet things that have crept onto the American breakfast table. Some cultures have eggs and tortillas, some have rice and fish, some have a nice big pork chop - my point being that breakfast truly is a meal that nourishes the body after the long break since dinner.
Does having a hearty breakfast sustain you longer into the morning than a bowl of cereal, with the net result that you eat less all day? I bet those Special K folks sure hope not.

Since I am trying to be a little more skinny myself, I am doing an experiment that throws American dietary advice out the window and treating myself to bigger morning meals. Last night's (homemade) veggie lo mein and kimchee stew with rice made surprisingly good breakfasts. I'm not sure I'm ready for the breakfast pork chop, though; I love bacon and sausage but I guess I have too much culinary bias to try chops for breakfast. (Isn't that odd? Maybe it's because I was raised with pork chops on the dinner plate, whereas the lo mein and kimchee entered my kitchen when I was an adult). At any rate, this observation, coupled with our horribly cold weather of late, has me hankering after hot breakfasts. But sometimes there are no leftovers, and sometimes I just want something more familiar as breakfast food. Which brings me to my point: oatmeal.

I wasn't a Big Oatmeal Fan until I discovered steelcut, or Irish-style oats. If you've never tried them, they have the same general flavor as rolled oats, but they aren't rolled - the grain is mostly intact, so they're bigger and chewy-er. (I'm not doing a good job of describing this...just take my word for it, they taste better!). oats are one of those food that I classify as Ludicrously Healthy, plus they taste good. The downside to the steel-cut variety is that they cost a little more than rolled oats (though you can find them in bulk at Whole Foods or other "natural" grocery stores) and they take a lot longer to cook. So it would seem that hot oatmeal is not an option for the whole hearty breakfast thing on a busy weekday.

But wait! Thanks to Marion Cunningham, author of "The Breakfast Book," there is a way to have your oats and eat them on a weekday, too. I call this "Overnight Oatmeal."

For 3-4 generous servings:
3 cups water
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup steel-cut oats

Put the water in the top half of a double boiler. Bring the water to a boil and shake in the oats and salt. Reduce the heat to medium and simmer for 5 minutes. Meanwhile, fill the bottom of the double boiler with water and bring that to a boil, too. When the 5 minutes of oat-simmering have elapsed, cover the pan and transfer it to sit in the hot water in the bottom of the double boiler. Leave it on the stove overnight and in the morning, the oats will be cooked. You can re-heat the oats by turning the heat on low to bring the water in the bottom of the double boiler to a simmer (let it simmer for ~15 minutes to heat the oats), or by scooping out individual servings into bowls and heating them in the microwave.

That's it. For ~15 minutes' effort in the evening - most of which is waiting for water to boil - you can have hot oatmeal waiting for you in the morning. If you don't have a double boiler, you can place the covered pan with the oats in a larger pan of water. Alternatively, you can use a small Crock-pot or put the oats and water in a covered dish and bake all night at 225 F (no need to pre-boil the oats with these methods).

I do love this recipe. Add some fruit and a little yogurt, cream, brown sugar or maple syrup and you're in breakfast heaven. (I should note that Marion says you can cook regular rolled oats in the same way. So if you don't want to deal with steel-cut, you don't have to).

You don't have to limit yourself to oats, either. I messed around with this a lot when my son was in the mushy-food stage, and tried out various grains and combinations. I came up with what I like to call the Rule of Threes, to make it easy to remember the recipe: (1) use three cups of water for every cup of oats, (2) up to 1/3 of the oats can be substituted with another type of grain, and (3) don't use more than 3 kinds of grain.

The last two rules came into being because I was trying to come up with a multigrain-type of porridge. Through trial and error I found that adding too many different types of grains muddled the flavors, and too much volume of different grains affected the consistency of the porridge. My favorite combinations are 2/3 cup oats with 1/3 cup (total) of millet and cracked wheat, millet and barley, or cracked wheat and quinoa. If you can find it, get "hulled" barley instead of "pearled" barley; the germ has not been removed from hulled barley. This gives an extra "snap" to the cooked barley that goes really well with the oats.

So give it a try, and let me know what combinations you like...or at least what you like to eat for breakfast :-)

Cashew Chicken Two Ways

2009-01-24T21:22:00.000-05:00

I made Indian food for dinner tonight, by which I mean that I spent all afternoon making Indian food and we ate it for a late dinner this evening. I really like Indian food so I don't mind spending a lot of time on it. I usually make a big meal with a curry or two, rice, dal, and accompaniments, then either freeze the leftovers or eat them for the next few days (sometimes both!).

This recipe for curried chicken with cashews is from one of my favorite cookbooks: "The Complete Asian Cookbook" by Charmaine Solomon. The book has recipes from 15 different countries, although I mostly use it for the Indian recipes. We really love the "gravy" in the curried chicken and you don't need too many special ingredients to make it. You could make your own curry powder, but I adore the Madras brand that comes in a can so I don't bother. Likewise, you can make your own garam masala, but they sell it at our local Indian market, and I saw several brands at Whole Foods today so you should be able to find that in a store, too. I always have whole-milk yogurt in my fridge - I eat it for breakfast, use it in baking, and put it on baked potatoes and burritos instead of sour cream - so for me, this recipe is a "pantry-staple."

I don't have quite so many uses for raw cashews, though. So, I decided to post this Chinese-style cashew chicken recipe (from Everyday Food magazine) as well. In contrast to the curry, it's a quickly-put-together dish for a fast weeknight dinner. Yeah, you do need to have hoisin sauce on hand, but hoisin sauce is another thing that's just so yummy that I think it's worth giving up the fridge space. So, if you can squeeze a jar of hoisin sauce in your refrigerator, tins of curry powder and garam masala in your cupboard, and a bag of raw cashews on the shelf (or in the freezer, if you need to store them longer than a couple of months), you'll get a lot of good eating in return.

Curried Chicken with Cashews (Kaju Murgh Kari)
adapted from: The Complete Asian Cookbook, by Charmaine Solomon

6 Servings

1 3 1/2-lb chicken, cut into pieces (or ~ 3 lb assorted legs, thighs, and breast pieces)
3 tablespoons ghee (clarified butter) or oil
2 large onions, finely chopped
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 1/2 teaspoons finely grated fresh ginger
3 tablespoons curry powder (I like Madras brand)
1 teaspoon chili powder, optional
3 teaspoons salt (I use ~ 1 teaspoon)
3 ripe tomatoes, peeled and chopped (or 1 14-oz can diced tomatoes)
2 tablespoons chopped fresh coriander or mint leaves, plus additional for garnish
2 teaspoons garam masala
1/2 cup plain yogurt (preferably whole-milk yogurt)
4 oz raw cashews, finely ground (use a food processor or blender, or chop very fine with a knife)

1. Cut chicken into serving pieces. For curry, the pieces should not be large so separate the drumsticks from thighs, wings from breasts, and cut the whole breast into four pieces.

2. Heat the ghee or oil in a large saucepan and gently fry the onion, garlic and ginger over low heat until soft and golden. Stir occasionally. This will take a long time - maybe 45 minutes. (I sometimes do this step earlier in the afternoon, and leave the cooked onions in the pan at room temp until I'm ready to finish cooking the dish).

3. Add the curry powder and chili powder and stir for 1 minute. Add the salt, tomatoes, chopped herbs, stir with a wooden spoon and cook to a pulp (or just bring to a simmer).

4. Add the legs and thigh pieces to the pan and stir well to coat with the spice mixture. Cover the pan and simmer over low heat for ~15 minutes. Uncover the pan and add the breast pieces, if you are using them. Stir again, cover the pan and cook for another ~30 minutes. Stir once or twice during cooking to make sure that the chicken does not stick to the pan.

5. Uncover the pan and sprinkle on the garam masala. Add the yogurt and stir to combine. Simmer, uncovered, for 5 minutes.

6. Add the ground cashews, stir well and let the dish heat through. Garnish with additional chopped coriander or mint. Serve with rice, naan or other Indian breads.

Cashew chicken
From Everyday Food magazine

1 ½ pounds boneless, skinless chicken breast, cut into 1-inch cubes
1 tablespoon cornstarch
Salt and pepper
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
6 garlic cloves, minced
8 scallions, white and green parts separated, each cut into 1-inch pieces
2 tablespoons rice vinegar
3 tablespoons hoisin sauce
¾ cup raw cashews, toasted
White rice for serving

1. In a medium bowl, toss chicken with cornstarch until chicken is coated. Season with ¾ teaspoon salt and ¼ teaspoon pepper

2. In a large nonstick skillet, heat 1 tablespoon oil over medium-high heat. Cook half the chicken, tossing often, until browned, about 3 minutes. Transfer to a plate.

3. Add the remaining oil and chicken to skillet along with the garlic and white parts of scallions. Cook, tossing often, until chicken is browned, about 3 minutes. Return first batch of chicken to pan. Add vinegar; cook until evaporated, about 30 seconds.

4. Add hoisin sauce and ¼ cup water. Cook, tossing, until chicken is cooked through, about 1 minute. Remove from heat. Stir in scallion greens and cashews. Serve immediately over white rice, if desired.

Rice Cake Soup for New Year's

2009-01-23T19:54:00.003-05:00

We had the playgroup this morning, and the bibim bap was a hit. With the Mommies, anyway; I'm not sure the kids sat still long enough to eat any of it...

We also made a beef soup with rice cakes, which is traditional for New Year in Korea. (Not the Quaker, puffy-rice-type of rice cakes! The chewy, rice-flour-dough kind). I was going to post the recipe but then I saw that Aeri already did that on her blog, in her usual, beautifully written and illustrated way. So go visit Aeri's Kitchen (http://aeriskitchen.com/2009/01/korean-lunar-new-year-soup-%eb%96%a1%ea%b5%adtteokguk/#more-1957) and read about rice cake soup!

Bibim bap

2009-01-20T11:06:00.002-05:00

Bibim Bap, adapted from "Korean Cuisine" by Young Sook Choi

I was typing up this recipe for a friend - she's making it for our sons' playgroup this week, to celebrate New Year - so I thought I would post it here, too. There are a lot of recipes out there for bibim bap, and they're all good! This one's adapted from "Korean Cuisine," by Young Sook Choi. It's my first Korean cookbook and the one I still use all the time.

This recipe is not as intimidating as it seems - most of the steps are accomplished quickly. I like to chop up a lot of garlic (~1/3 cup) and put it in a bowl, then scoop some out as I prepare each side dish. Any garlic that's left after everything else is assembled gets cooked along with the beef.

The hot sauce can be made well in advance (like a week) and the spinach, daikon, and bean sprout salads can be prepared several hours ahead of serving time. Cook the rice while you prepare the garnishes, then cook the mushrooms, beef, and eggs.

To assemble the bibim bap: put some hot rice in a large soup bowl and place a fried egg in the middle. Arrange the side dishes in little piles around the egg. You can put all the components together in each serving bowl, or present bowls of hot rice topped with an egg and let each diner add the side dishes and garnishes to their own preferences. Leftovers are good the next day, and even the day after.

The seaweed garnish is optional. You really only need to add two ingredients to your pantry to make this: sesame oil and Korean chili paste. (Yes, some of the side dish recipes call for Korean chili powder as well, but you can skip it if or use another chili powder for these dishes). Korean chili paste is so delicious that you may find your self sneaking it onto other things. We love it in breakfast burritos. So no excuses! Go make some bibim bap!

1. Hot sauce (bibim bap sauce)
1/2 cup of hot pepper paste (gochu jang)
1 1/2 tablespoons cola or water (I use water)
1 tablespoon beef stock (or additional water)
1/2 tablespoon red wine
1/2 tablespoon sesame oil
1/2 tablespoon sugar
1/2 teaspoon paprika
1/4 teaspoon minced garlic clove

Mix everything evenly into a paste.

2. Shredded lettuce (use ~1/2 cup per serving of bibim bap)

3. Shredded cucumber (~1/4 cup per serving)

4. Shredded seaweed (cut sheets of nori or roasted seaweed with scissors into fine shreds)

5. Spicy daikon salad (1/4 cup per serving)
2/3 pound (total) of shredded daikon radish and carrot
1 teaspoon salt (I use much less)
4 teaspoons sugar (I use ~3 teaspoons)
1 tablespoon rice vinegar
1/4 teaspoon red pepper powder

Mix everything together in a bowl.

6. Bean sprout salad (use 1/4 cup per serving)
2/3 lbs mung bean sprouts (I prefer regular bean sprouts)
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon sesame oil
1/4 teaspoon minced garlic clove

Bring a pot of water to boil and blanch the sprouts (a few minutes in the boiling water, until they get a little limp). Drain the sprouts and rinse them, squeezing out the excess water. Put them in a bowl and add the salt, sesame oil, and garlic.

7. Spinach salad (use 1/3 cup per serving of bibim bap)
2/3 lb spinach
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon sesame oil
1/4 teaspoon minced garlic clove
pinch of sugar
pinch of toasted sesame seeds

Bring a pot of water to boil and blanch the spinach (until it wilts). I sometime just steam the spinach, or cook it in a pot with very little water, stirring often, until it wilts. Drain the spinach and squeeze out the excess water. Chop the spinach coarsley (if the leaves were large), put it in a bowl and add the salt, sesame oil, and garlic.

8. Mushrooms (2 mushrooms per serving, though I love mushrooms and use more)
1 teaspoon sesame oil
4 shiitake mushrooms, shredded (or sliced)
pinch of salt

Heat sesame oil in a frying pan and add mushrooms and salt. Stir-fry over high heat until cooked. Transfer mushrooms to a bowl and set aside.

9. Beef (~1/3 cup per serving)
1 pound shredded beef (or ground beef)
1 tablespoon soy sauce
1 tablespoon sesame oil
1 tablespoon sugar
pepper and minced garlic, as desired

Mix seasonings with beef. Re-heat the frying pan and cook the beef mixture until the color changes and beef is cooked. Transfer the beef to another bowl (or put it next to the mushrooms, in the same bowl).

10. Eggs (1 egg per serving)
1 teaspoon sesame oil
2 eggs

Heat the oil in the frying pan and then fry the eggs to your liking (I like over easy).

In Praise of Pot Roast

2009-01-16T22:02:00.003-05:00

Ah, the lowly pot roast. Not very glamorous, but quite tasty and satisfying on a day when the high is 18 degrees F. It's also a great recipe for many reasons: at-home moms like me can get it started at naptime and it'll be ready by dinnertime, with minimal attention needed in the afternoon. People with jobs outside the house can make it on the weekend and eat it anytime before Wednesday. Or freeze it and eat it months later.

This is based on the Fannie Farmer Cookbook recipe. It was cheap (I bought a bottom round roast on sale), easy to prepare (the instructions for searing are copious, but not complicated - just trying to be complete), and everything was in my house already (the roast was in the freezer). The cooking liquid makes a nice, tomato-y gravy that has a bit of "body" to it - it's not too thin, and you don't need to muck about with flour to thicken it. The leftover meat is good reheated with the gravy, or sliced thin for sandwiches.

Searing the meat is optional but it does add depth of flavor that I like. You can do this recipe, minus the searing, in a crockpot - just throw all the ingredients in, turn it on, and come back in ~6 hours (I would turn the meat over once or twice while it cooks).

1 hunk of meat, 3-4 lbs of bottom round roast or other roast labeled "braise" or "pot roast"
olive oil
salt
pepper
1 big or 2 medium onions, sliced or chopped (depending on how you like your onions)
2-3 tablespoons each of dry sherry and vermouth (or substitute red wine, whiskey, my hubby's 'old secret ingredient' --Jack Daniels-- or skip it altogether)
1 14-ounce can tomato sauce (or 2 8-ounce cans, or canned tomatoes, or even tomato juice)
1-2 bay leaves
fresh or dried thyme
some potatoes, carrots, or other "root" vegetables
some cabbage (sliced) or any other vegetable that you need to use up

Have the onions sliced (or chopped) and waiting in a bowl next to the stove.

Get out a large, deep pot with a heavy bottom that is big enough to hold the roast (the roast should not be touching the sides of the pot, or peek up above the rim of the pot). Place the pot on the stove, turn the heat on medium-high, and let the pot heat up while you prepare the roast. (If your pot has a thin bottom, don't start heating the pan until you've completed the next step). Do NOT put any oil in the pot - you will put the oil on the meat.

Put the roast on a cutting board or large plate and pat it dry with paper towels. Drizzle some olive oil over the roast and give it a good rubdown; the meat should be completely coated with oil, but not dripping with it. Sprinkle salt and pepper all over the meat.

Check that the pot is good and hot: sprinkle a few drops of water on the bottom of the pan - they should skitter across the surface. If they bubble and steam first, let the pan heat up a few more minutes.

Carefully place the oiled roast into the hot pot. You should hear a "searing" noise immediately. After a few minutes, check to see if the meat has seared completely - you should be able to lift it up off of the pan's bottom fairly easily (or, at least with just a little tugging). A big pair of kitchen tongs works well to lift the meat. If the roast is stuck firm, let it cook a little longer. If there are juices starting to come out of the meat and accumulate in the pan, turn up the heat to high. When you can easily lift the meat, look at the bottom - it should be a nice, dark brown color (i.e., caramelization). There will be some caramelization on the bottom of the pot, too.

Flip the roast over onto another side and repeat the searing process, until it is seared on all sides. If an area of the pot bottom is getting too brown, just put the meat back on top of the dark areas to keep them from burning. When the roast is seared on all sides, or when you are tired of doing this step, use the tongs to lift the roast out of the pan and onto a plate.

Turn the heat down to medium and add the onions to the pan. Stir immediately, and often, to keep the caramelized bits in the bottom of the pot from becoming charred bits. When the onion begins to soften (look translucent), add the sherry & vermouth or whatever liquid you're using. Stir with a wooden spoon and scrape up the caramelized bits from the bottom of the pan. Reduce the heat to medium-low and cook until the onions are soft (limp).

Add the entire can of tomato sauce/tomatoes/tomato juice to the pot. Add a little water to the can (about 1/2 canful) and swish around with a spoon, to rinse the can and add that to the pot, too. Turn the heat up to medium-high, add the bay leaf and the roast, and wait until the liquid is bubbling briskly. Then, put the lid on the pot, turn the heat down low and cook for ~ 3hours, or until the meat is very tender. You want it to cook slowly, so there should be gentle bubbling in the covered pot. Flip the meat over once or twice so that each side of the roast gets bathed in the gently bubbling tomato broth (sounds soothing, doesn't it?).

When the meat is cooked, you can (A) let it cool and put it in the fridge, and finish cooking it sometime in the next two days or (B) add the thyme and whatever vegetables you are using (i.e., whatever you have on hand). If selecting option B, keep simmering for an additional length of time until the veggies are cooked to your liking. For small potatoes and carrot chunks, simmer for about 25 more minutes.

Eat (serve with bread, rice, noodles, potatoes, etc.), or let it cool and refrigerate, then eat sometime within the next 2 days.

Canning In The Off-Season

2008-12-31T23:12:00.001-05:00

For the last two months I've had a one-gallon crock of saurkraut sitting on the counter. There's a lot of other stuff sitting around on that counter, so a big jar of fermenting cabbage didn't really stick out the way you might imagine it would. Still, it was long past time to move the kraut to a more permanent home.

When I was growing up, my mom didn't exactly celebrate the domestic arts. She was a good cook but never really enjoyed it the way I do. Nonetheless, mom was a faithful canner of tomatoes from our garden and jelly-er of grapes from my nearby grandparent's vines. Every summer, my distant grandparents would arrive with bushels of fresh peaches and Lodi apples. I remember my mom and great-aunt working in the kitchen for hours, peeling, slicing, freezing, and saucing. (Was I helping? Mostly not. I was probably busy being a surly teenager). My point being that, despite the frequent appearance of Spam at our supper table, home preservation of fresh, local foods was part of my family's food culture.

In spite of my initially unhelpful attitude, I've done a bit of canning myself. The summer after I graduated college I decided to grow pickling cucumbers in my parents' garden. Two weeks into my post-graduation trip my mom called to say that the cucumber vines were taking over. Sure enough, those suckers were quite productive and kept me busy harvesting, pickling and canning for the rest of the summer.

Every few years I have the urge to can again. In grad school it was jellies and jams, then for a while I flirted with canning tomatoes and peaches. The saurkraut habit started as a side effect of owning too many books about pickling: I browsed through the fermented pickles chapter once too often. I tried a small batch a few years ago and, having met with success, gave it another go this year.

It's really pretty easy to make: if you can slice cabbage and measure salt, and tolerate a large crock that occupies prime counter space for two months, you can make saurkraut. The kraut probably finished fermenting several weeks ago but I just didn't make the time to deal with it. Plus it was fun to skim off the "bloom," some fungus or whatnot that appears on the surface of the brining liquid, and watch it grow back again. You've just gotta love a recipe that directs you to remove surface scum every three weeks.

Canning saurkraut is not a very traditional New Year's Eve activity, at least not in any tradition that I'm aware of. It's not really necessary to can it anyway, if you have a nice spot in your house that's a constant 38 degrees for kraut storage. But it had reached the point where the kraut had to be tended to, so that the counter would not have been occupied in vain. Truthfully, it felt a bit odd to get out the canning gear on the same day that I shoveled 10" of snow. Canning is supposed to be a summertime sport. It was rather nice, however, to boil a huge cauldron of water on a cold, dry day. Too bad there's no way to make tomatoes wait until winter.

Go Play With Your Food

2008-12-26T21:17:00.002-05:00

My son has never really had a "lovey," some kind of stuffed animal or security blanket, that he carries everywhere. He does like to take various objects with him whenever we go out, though. When he was about a year old, he liked to hang on to a spoon when I took him out in the stroller. Now that he's a big boy (all of 2.75 years) he's broadened his objects of desire to include the occasional toy, but more likely than not he'll be clutching a piece of produce when we walk out the door.

For the last few weeks my son has been fixated on potatoes. Part of it stems from his recent mastery of the concepts involving "one" and "two." It was inevitable, therefore, that when Mommy unpacked the big bag of potatoes from the grocery sack, he immediately begged for me to give him just one potato. (Well, what he actually said was "wah, wah, wah!" but I knew what he meant). Having obtained just one potato, he immediately began lobbying for another.

The two potatoes have been everywhere. They roamed around the house, danced to music, rode along in the car (in the cup holder, of course). They even misbehaved when my son had the brilliant idea of using the potatoes to push things off of the table, when I told him to stop doing that himself. (I then found myself uttering words that I never, ever envisioned myself saying: "Do I have to put that potato in a Time Out?"). One potato even got wrapped up in a cozy foil blanket: I was wrapping burritos to re-warm in the oven and my son cried out for some foil to play with. Wrapping the potato seemed like the thing to do.

A few weeks ago, the foil-wrapped potato came along to a playgroup. We walked into our local Family Network and the nice lady kindly asked, "What've you got there?" when my son proudly brandished his pet. "It's a potato," I replied. "Oh...a baked potato?" was the still-kind, but puzzled response. "No," I sighed, "It's a raw potato. He just wanted to wrap it up in foil." I'm sure the kindly lady put this down as typical, odd toddler behavior, or at least I hope she did.

Another mom's comment has me reconsidering the meaning of my son's love affair with food as playthings. The mom has a young child as well as a job, and mentioned that she'd rather spend time with her son than be tied to the stove. Now granted, since I'm not working an outside job (in addition to being mommy), I probably spend more time cooking than I would otherwise. And, my son is usually playing in the kitchen alongside me while I cook, unless he can't keep to our safety rules and has to be sent to the adjacent playroom for a little while. Nevertheless, he likes to do what mommy is doing, and mommy is in the kitchen an awful lot.

My son also loves to play with a bar of soap - the kind that comes in a box. great entertainment that is, opening the box, taking the soap out and putting it back. My son carries soap everywhere, too, and it's certainly NOT because he sees Mommy cleaning all the time. So maybe, just maybe, it really is typical, odd toddler behavior.

Wigilia - The Director's Cut

2008-12-25T13:52:00.005-05:00

Here's the final menu from our Christmas Eve feast:

Crabcakes; wild mushroom soup; roasted cod with arugula; kapusta (saurkraut) with mushrooms; potato-cheese and saurkraut-mushroom pierogies; fruit compote, Panforte di Siena and rugelach for dessert.

My cookbooks tell me that the Wigilia feast should have an odd number of courses (or dishes, I guess) - seven, nine, or eleven. If you count all the desserts as one course, it brings the total to seven. I had also picked up the ingredients to make cucumbers in sour cream (a favorite of my hubby) and cauliflower baked in a cream sauce (because I felt compelled to have another vegetable). The thought of nine courses for just four people was a bit much, however, so I saved those recipes for another day.

We ended up doing a simple treatment with the cod, based on an Epicurious recipe. The cod was seasoned with salt and pepper, fried on one side in a hot cast-iron skillet, then flipped over and finished in a 400F oven for about 5 minutes. We served it with a simple arugula salad, dressed with olive oil and balsamic vinegar, and the kapusta. The arugula went surprisingly well with the cod; the kapusta, not so much - the flavors were too strong for the fish. In retrospect, it might have worked better to serve the kapusta as a separate course with the pierogies, perhaps as an appetizer. Although that would have brought us to three appetizer courses!

I found a recipe for Polish Dried Fruit Compote (Kompot) on About.com, and then - as usual - ignored most of the instructions. I did stick with the 1 1/2 pounds of dried fruit, 8 cloves and 2 cinnamon stick directives, but added much less water (~3 cups instead of 8) and sugar (1/3 cup instead of a whole cup; I think dried fruit is sweet enough). I also added a splash of brandy (works for fruitcake - why not fruit compote?).

The recipe's notes say that compote was originally made with twelve dried fruits, to represent the twelve apostles. It took some scrounging around the pantry, but we came up with 12 (mostly) different fruits: figs and prunes, which were purchased just for this recipe; dried currents, dried pineapple, golden and regular raisins, which were leftover from holiday baking; dried cranberries, apricots, and peaches, which we have on hand for my son's snacks; dried lychees and red dates, which I use to make Eight-Treasures Tea; and finally dried chestnuts, which I bought to make Korean ginseng-stuffed chicken (but never did).

OK, you caught me - the chestnuts are not really fruits. Or maybe they are? I don't know enough of chestnut tree biology to address that question. The recipe author on About.com (and my husband) wondered which of the twelve fruity apostles was supposed to be Judas; I'm thinking that if it has to be someone, the chestnuts are it. At any rate, the stuff smelled delicious whilst it was simmering in the kitchen, and the chestnuts came out quite tasty.

Altogether, dinner lasted about four hours (not counting the snacking we did all afternoon on cheese, bread, nuts, and olives). We took our time with it; most of the dishes were prepared during the day and re-heated as we went. I was still pretty full when I woke up this morning.

...but we somehow managed to eat a little breakfast. I'd bought a huge Panettone that sufficed to feed us while our son opened his presents. Later in the morning, I used the Wigilia leftovers to make a big breakfast based on a specialty at a local diner: crabcakes benedict. I toasted some baguette slices and topped them with some arugula. I warmed a couple of leftover crabcakes were re-warmed in a skillet then placed on top of the arugula. I put fried eggs on the crabcakes, and topped the whole thing off with some mushrooms from the soup. Yum. We were so busy eating last night that I forgot to take pictures, but I did get a shot of our breakfast this morning.

Now off to cook more food. Today will be easy; I'll bake the leftover kapusta with some kielbasa. More pierogies are awaiting their fate in my freezer; it's simple enough to fry them up. I might even get around to making those cucumbers in sour cream.

Functionally Polish

2008-12-23T21:45:00.002-05:00

I don't remember what my family used to eat on Christmas Eve. Probably, I was too excited about the next morning to pay much attention to what was on the dinner table. I do recall, however, what was served on Christmas Day for many years: a Pennsylvania Dutch concoction called "Dutch Goose," which is comprised of a pig's stomach stuffed with sausage and potatoes. My generation was sufficiently removed from the family's farm that Dutch Goose held a maximum ick factor - I used to eat the filling within a one-inch border around the hog casing. In later years, the Dutch Goose was replaced with a crown roast of pork - much more kid-friendly, with its top hat-like paper frills.

In my husband's family, Christmas Eve is a big event. They still have a traditional Polish Wigilia feast (say "Veel-ee-yah"). As I understand it, Wigilia means "vigil" as in waiting for the Christ child. The meal is traditionally meatless.

My father-in-law does most of the cooking for their family and prepares fish cakes, stuffed mushrooms, homemade pierogies - both potato-cheese and saurkraut, - boiled shrimp, and more. The first few years that we were married, my hubby and I would make it to the feast on alternate years. Now that we have our little guy, however, we've been staying home for Christmas. Since I don't have a strong emotional attachment to Christmas Eve foods, I'm happy to make a Wigilia feast for my husband. (Heck, even if I did have a strong emotional attachment I'd probably be up for making the feast anyway. Let's call a spade a spade - I'm a cooking junkie).

I had my first truly authentic Polish Wigilia a few years ago, prepared by my friend Marta (the guest cook in our paczki episode). While we were enjoying that delicious meal it became apparent that some of my husband's family traditions differ from Marta's. Subsequent conversations with other Polish-American families have revealed further divergence from the homeland. Such as, whether or not to serve soup (my hubby's family: no, Marta's family: why, of course).

Marta is joining us for Wigilia supper this year and I'm a little worried about what to make. I bought pierogies and saurkraut at a Polish deli, so I've got that covered, and Marta is making a mushroom soup - but I need to come up with a fish thing. I like fish but it's one of those things that I can't quite get right when I try to cook it. Or at least, when I try to cook it Polish-style.

I can handle a basic saute, or baked fish recipe, and I have a couple of Indian and Korean recipes that work OK for me, but my Polish cookbooks leave me stymied - all the recipes call for fish types that I can't seem to find. When was the last time you saw pike in the market? Or carp? Last year I decided on tilapia and stood patiently in line with the rest of the horde at Super88 on Christmas Eve to get a freshly-killed fish. I passed the time by consulting with a fellow shopper on how much fish I needed to feed 4 people. She recommended a 2-lb tilapia. Well, that might have worked out all right if I'd cooked the fish whole, but when I brought the little fella home and my hubby tried to fillet it, there just wasn't that much fish. I guess that tilapia is not a big filleting fish? I ended up sending the hubby out to the grocery store for supplemental tilapia.

Frankly, I'm a bit tempted to sneak in one of those Indian or Korean fish recipes to our Wigilia supper, since I know that they will turn out OK. Marta's husband is Korean-American, and my son is ethnically Korean, so it's not such a wild idea, really. These days, many families are culturally blended; does it really matter if our traditional Polish feast is not 100% Polish? There's a trend amongst adoptive parents with children of international origins to refer to the whole family as Chinese-American, or Irish-Ethiopean, etc. - basically applying the cultural sum of the family members to the family as a whole, to help create a family identity. In that vein, our full family identity is Polish-American-Korean-WASP, but we jokingly refer to ourselves as Functionally Polish since that's the type of food I'm usually cooking for holidays. As I learn more Korean dishes, however, that's likely to change; my son's last two birthday parties have been billed as "kimchee and kapusta" events.

At any rate, my menu is almost set and cod was the winning fish. I picked it up this morning when I was running errands; after the weekend's storm and other events, I don't have the fortitude to face the Super88 fish counter tomorrow. Marta's coming over early to make the soup, so maybe I can get her to help me pick a recipe for the fish. I'll let y'all know how it all comes out.

A Quick Note Between Errands

2008-12-23T14:13:00.002-05:00

Just stopping by briefly to let you all know that we added a few more cookie recipes to the Neighborhood Dish website (see http://home.comcast.net/~yateczak/ndrecipes.html). We had planned to re-broadcast our first-ever show, Holiday Cookies, for the rest of December. The show is the same but we've added our groovy graphics and a plug for the extra recipes on the website. As of last weekend, however, the bachelor episode was still running. Hopefully, Holiday Cookies will make it into the lineup for MATV's holiday programming - if not, no big whoop...the main thing is that I wanted to get the word out about the recipes.

Off to run more errands...Happy Baking, and Happy Holidays!

Panforte di Siena

2008-12-18T15:32:00.007-05:00

Why don't more people like fruitcake? Maybe they would if more people made them from scratch. Maybe they would if more fruitcakes had chocolate in them.

This is yet another recipe I collected during the heyday of Gail's Recipe Swap. It was originally posted by Julie R - WA. I made one today because I'm still trying to use up leftover ingredients, but it's usually on my to-do list of goodies anyway. (I was trying to not go overboard this year, and now I'm a bit worried that I won't have enough. More baking!).

As usual, I've taken a relatively simple recipe and added copious instructions - all to help ensure success in your kitchens. Can't have users posting comments that the recipe didn't work, now can we :-) Please don't be put off by my lengthy notes; this fruitcake has a wonderful, chewy texture rich with chocolate and apricot flavors. A little goes a long way so in my opinion it's worth the effort.

I also do a few things that are probably not traditional, but I'm OK with it. You have some latitude with this recipe, too - last year I forgot to add the almonds, so I just pressed them on top after the batter was spread in the pan. If you don't have dried apricots or candied pineapple, you could substitute dried peaches, pears, or cranberries. I used dried pineapple today.

I like to add wedges of this to my cookie plates - the light color of the nuts contrasts prettily with the dark chocolate of the batter. If you have a set of those individual cheesecake pans - the 4"-diameter springform pans - you can make 5 mini-panfortes to give as gifts (the baking time is about the same).

4 ounces almonds
4 ounces hazelnuts
2 ounces dried apricots
2 ounces candied pineapple
2 ounces of candied orange and lemon peel
2/3 cup flour
2 tablespoons cocoa powder
1 teaspoon good ground cinnamon
2 ounces semi-sweet baking chocolate, broken into pieces or coarsely chopped [chocolate chips are fine; I usually use whatever semi- or bittersweet chocolate that I have on hand]
1/3 cup sugar
1/2 cup honey
powdered sugar (for sprinkling)

[I start by toasting the almonds and hazelnuts for 10 minutes at 350 F. They can go onto the same baking pan but keep them in separate piles; when the nuts have cooled, rub the skins off of the hazelnuts. You can rub them individually or wrap them in towel and rub the whole bunch at once].

Prepare an 8-inch cake pan by greasing well. [I like to use a springform pan. I butter the pan, lay a round of parchment paper on the bottom of the pan, and then butter the parchment].

Preheat the oven to 300 F.

Chop the almonds, hazelnuts, apricots, pineapple, and candied peels.
Put the sugar and honey into a small saucepan. Stir over medium heat until sugar is dissolved, then reduce the heat and simmer 5 minutes.

Meanwhile, put the chopped fruit and nuts in a large, heavy glass or ceramic bowl (this will make it easier to mix the dough). Add the flour, cinnamon and cocoa and mix well.

Turn off the heat under the pan, add the chocolate and stir until it melts. Pour the chocolate mixture over the fruit-nut mixture (drizzle it all over to make it easier to incorporate) and stir with a really heavy wooden spoon. You can use a rubber spatula to scrape the chocolate out of the pan, but it will not be strong enough to stir this dough.

The batter is VERY heavy, like clay...after a few turns with the wooden spoon I usually give up and "knead" it with my hands. The batter is also sticky (to itself, not so much your hands). There is basically just enough dough to hold all the fruit and nuts together.

Transfer the batter to the prepared pan and press it into place. Use the back of your fist to push it out into an even layer, or as even as you can get it.

Bake for 35 minutes. The batter will still look "wet" over most of the surface of the cake - it's important to not overbake it or the edges will be dry. If you see little holes appear over the surface of the cake (from releasing steam), it's done.

Let the cake cool in the pan. Remove the cake, wrap it in foil, and it stand overnight. The cake will keep for weeks if it is wrapped in foil (you do not need to refrigerate it). To serve, sprinkle the cake with powdered sugar and cut into wedges. I use a big 10" chef's knife and cut it in half, then into quarters, then each quarter into 6 wedges.

A Couple of Ways To Go Nuts

2008-12-16T21:26:00.001-05:00

I always seem to overbuy ingredients for my holiday baking. One of these years I just might figure out exactly how many cookies I truly need and therefore be able to shop more accurately. Until that happens, there are a few recipes I rely on to consume the leftovers.

These are two of my favorite recipes that use up lots of nuts. Both can be prepared ahead of time and frozen, so you can make them now and get them out for your next party. The Union Square bar nuts are especially nice when they are warm from the oven.

Candied Curried Pecans (from Bon Appetit magazine, Nov. 2002)

1 1/2 teaspoons onion powder
1 1/2 teaspoons garlic powder
1 1/4 teaspoons coarse kosher salt
3/4 teaspoon curry powder
1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
2 tablespoons (1/4 stick) unsalted butter
2 tablespoons honey
3 cups pecan halves

1. Preheat oven to 250°F. Line large rimmed baking sheet with foil. Mix onion powder, garlic powder, 1 teaspoon salt, curry powder, and cayenne pepper in small bowl to blend.

2. Melt butter and honey with remaining 1/4 teaspoon salt in heavy medium saucepan over medium heat. Add pecan halves and stir to coat; remove from heat. Add spice mixture and toss to coat pecans evenly. Spread pecans in single layer on prepared baking sheet.

3. Bake pecans until dry and toasted, about 40 minutes [in my experience, the baking time is closer to an hour. The nuts should get darker and will be crisp when they are cool. Since they are not crispy while they are still hot, I take one or two off of the pan and taste them after they've cooled a bit to be sure that they're done]. Cool completely. Separate pecans. (Can be made 1 week ahead. Store airtight at room temperature.)

The Union Square Cafe's Bar Nuts

2 1/4 cups (18-ounces) whole unsalted nuts [I like to use cashews, hazelnuts, walnuts, almonds and pecans. You can also add peanuts and Brazil nuts. Oh, and if all you have is salted cashews, you can either give them a quick rinse in a colander to remove some of the salt, or you can just not worry about it and use a little less kosher salt in the recipe].
2 tablespoons coarsely chopped fresh rosemary leaves
1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper
2 teaspoons dark brown sugar
2 teaspoons coarse sea salt or kosher salt
1 tablespoon unsalted butter, melted

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

2. Spread the nuts out on a baking sheet (with a rim) that is large enough to hold them in a single layer (a 9x13" cake pan will do). Toast in the oven until the nuts are fragrant and light golden brown in color, about 10 minutes.

3. In a large bowl, combine the rosemary, cayenne, sugar, salt and melted butter.

4. Add the toasted nuts to the bowl containing the spices and butter and mix well. Serve the nuts warm, or let them cool and store in an airtight container (zip-top bag) for a few days.

Something Pithy About Baking

2008-12-15T21:20:00.001-05:00

(Sorry about the lame-o title; for once I'm at a loss for words. Maybe i'll think of something better later).

I've never contributed user comments to a recipe on Epicurious, but I do love to read them. Call me lazy for benefitting from others' work without contributing, but really, most recipes have enough user comments already - what else is there for me to say?

Some recipes are downright controversial - half the users love it and think it's the easiest thing ever, the other half say it's a complete disaster. What's really interesting is when one user attempts to diagnose the problems encountered by other users. Case in point: I just made a chocolate biscotti recipe. Some people said that the cookies came out perfectly, whereas others complained that the dough was much too wet and spread all over the place. Enter the sleuths: one user surmised that those plagued by runny dough were adding all 4 eggs (as listed in the ingredients) to the batter, instead of using the 4th egg as a wash for the prepared loaves (as instructed in the directions). Fascinating - now there's a cook that knows a thing or two about cooking. And about how other people cook.

The failure to follow directions can't explain all of the negative reviews for a recipe, but the diagnosis of that problem is a good reminder to read the recipe carefully :-) For the record, my biscotti came out just fine - no issues with sticky dough.

My main objective was to use up some hazelnuts and a chocolate biscotti seemed like a good match (all those people eating Nutella can't be wrong). I swapped out the candied ginger for candied orange peel (because I was trying to use that up, too) and the taste is OK but in retrospect, I would have preferred the ginger. I also skipped the drizzling-with-white-chocolate part, because I wanted to differentiate them more fully from the Cranberry-White Chocolate biscotti on the cookie plates (see the Puttin' on the Spritz post for more on my obsession with attractive arrangements of cookies).

Which brings me to another thing I love about user reviews: cooks who make so many changes that they end up preparing something altogether different from the published recipe. Don't get me wrong, I'm a major tinkerer myself; the thing that I am fascinated with is why someone would take the time to write, "I loved this recipe! I used a grapefruit instead of the almonds, substituted chicken for the wild boar sausage and cooked it over a slow grill rather than stir-fry, and it came out PERFECT." I'm being more than a little facetious but you get the idea...the well-meaning user has actually reviewed a different recipe. Fascinating stuff, indeed.

Anyway, here's the biscotti recipe: http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Chocolate-Hazelnut-and-Ginger-Biscotti-102709 (and no, I haven't yet figured out how to embed html links into text). These cookies have a nice chocolately taste, and they can be baked well ahead of time because there isn't any butter. (The cranberry-white chocolate biscotti, which have lots of butter, will remain at their prime for about 3 weeks). The batter is easy to work with and would probably do well with a variety of ingredients: almonds, pecans, cranberries...hmm maybe that's what all those creative user review-writers are getting at.

Biscotti Baking Tips

2008-12-09T20:49:00.006-05:00

These are also posted on our website, http://www.neighborhood-dish.org/, under the Recipes section.

• Make sure the biscotti dough is well mixed - take it out of the mixer bowl, dump into another bowl to be sure there isn't a puddle of wet ingredients at the bottom
• Use a scale to weigh the batch of dough, then divide by the number of "logs" the recipe calls for (i.e., 2 pounds of dough, 4 logs = 8 oz per log or 1/2 lb)
• If the dough is very sticky, you can wrap the portions in plastic, shape into a thick, short log and put in the fridge for a while to firm up a little. Then roll the dough out of the plastic and onto a floured surface to do the final rolling into a log. (Roll the logs in cocoa or sugar for a chocolate biscotti recipe)
• Most doughs need to be flattened a little after the logs are shaped, to get the most even baking throughout the loaf.
• Use parchment paper to line baking sheets. A piece of parchment can be re-used a few times.
• Slices can be baked "standing up" on the cookie sheet. This saves your fingers from trying to flip hot cookies and also takes up less space. The baking time is the same as if you flip them (i.e. 10 min, flip, 10 min = 20 min when standing).
• To decorate with melted chocolate, put wax paper down to cover the counter and set a couple of cooling racks on top. Place biscotti on cooling racks. The cookies should be lying on their sides and be spaced close together, but not touch each other.
• Put chocolate chips (or chopped chocolate) into a zip-top quart-size freezer bag. Melt the chocolate in the bag by microwaving it for 15 seconds at a time; smoosh the chocolate around between bursts of microwaving by squeezing the bag (this is really fun). When the chocolate is evenly melted, smoosh all of the chocolate to the bottom of the bag and snip off the tip of the corner. Now use the freezer bag like a pastry bag and rapidly move the bag back and forth over the cookies while gently squeezing the bag, so the chocolate drizzles all over. (I usually go at a diagonal). It is important that all of the chocolate is melted, or the chunks will block the opening in the bag.
• Let the chocolate set up completely (put the cookies in the fridge for a few minutes, if you have to) and then store in tins between layers of waxed paper. This is a really easy way to make your biscotti (or any other cookie) look much harder to make than they actually were. I always use white chocolate for biscotti - you don't need to worry about tempering it, because a cocoa butter “bloom” won't be visible.
• Let the loaves of biscotti cool COMPLETELY before attempting to cut into slices. Especially important if there is chocolate chips in the dough.
• Use a serrated knife to score the tops of the loaves, then cut the slices with a sharp chef's or utility knife (I like the utility knife because the blade is thinner).

Puttin' On The Spritz

2008-12-09T20:46:00.002-05:00

I baked some Christmas cookies today. I love to bake cookies, even though I usually have a lot of "technical difficulties." I try to make detailed notes about each recipe but as the season rolls around again each year I find myself in the kitchen facing a messy bowl of batter, half of which has been used up trying to get the cookie size and baking times just right.

I know, I know - I need to let go of my obsession with wanting all of the cookies in each batch to come out looking the same. I'm not a professional, and I don't really aspire to be, but it would be nice if I could get all the biscotti to be approximately the same length. (Actually, biscotti are one cookie that I've gotten pretty good at; I'll post my biscotti-baking tips later).

Another issue with which I grapple is the need to have a pleasing "composition" on the cookie plate. The cookies have to taste good, of course, but I want that visual appeal as well. That means there can be only so many round, oblong, or square cookies. Ya gotta mix it up! I also like to work in a little "punch" of color.

"Spritz" butter cookies seemed like the ideal answer to both problems - if you use a cookie press, you can make any number of differently-shaped cookies, and you can add food color to the dough. After many batches of those cookies, however, I can state with some authority that those spritz can get you into trouble.

Start with the dough itself - too loose and the cookies spread out, losing the details in their shape; too tough and the cookies don't taste as good. I finally found a recipe that I can work with - the cookies are very rich, buttery and have a nice "bite" to them. It's Rose Levy Beranbaum's recipe for butter spritz and if I remember, I'll post it later too.

The real trouble began when I tried to spruce up my spritz - which was the reason, you may recall, that I was baking them in the first place. Apparently I do not have an eye for color when it comes to cookies - there's some magic formula involving food color and cookie dough that I haven't quite determined. Last years' batch of hot pink cookies was not terribly appetizing; neither are the grey-tinged green trees I produced today. (See the photo - they actually look more appealing here than in real life. More like green arrowheads than trees, really - maybe I'll save them for St. Patrick's Day...)

Fortunately I've learned from my mistakes and know that the occasional flash of pink on a plate of traditionally-dressed cookies isn't as startling as the whole herd of Pinky Tuscaderos, so I didn't panic (too much) about my ailing trees.

As for different shapes, I've almost given up on that. You know that plate on the cookie press that makes little flower-shaped cookies? And how the center of the cookie just cries out to be filled with a chocolate chip? Well if your cookies dough recipe is one of those that spreads and loses details when baked, the cookies come out being a striking resemblance to, ah, shall we say - a body part that is not found on a man. That's not what I had in mind when I said that I wanted to spice up my cookies!

One More Thing To Do With Turkey

2008-12-01T05:50:00.003-05:00

We had a non-traditional Thanksgiving dinner this year - an all-day appetizer fest, which I'll write more about later - so I didn't make a roast turkey until yesterday. Which is too bad, because I also forgot about this recipe, which is great to use up leftover turkey meat. The recipe was orginially posted on a now-defunct forum called Gail's Recipe Swap on the Epicurious website. Gails' is archived here : http://boards.epicurious.com/category.jspa?categoryID=7 and is somewhat searchable, although that function doesn't always work.

At any rate, here's the recipe. I'll be making this later today...enjoy!

Pumpkin Turkey Black Bean Chili

From: Gail’s Recipe Swap, posted by Jackie in PA

2 T oil
1 medium onion, chopped
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 cup yellow bell pepper, seeded and diced
1 small jalapeno pepper, seeded and diced
1 ½ t dried oregano
1 ½ t ground cumin
1 ½ t chili powder
3 cups beef broth (I use homemade turkey stock)
1 can (15 oz.) black beans, drained
1 can (14 ½ oz.) diced tomatoes, not drained
1 can (16 oz.) pumpkin
2 ½ cups chopped cooked turkey
½ cup cream sherry
¼ t salt
Dash of ground pepper

Heat oil in Dutch oven or large pot over medium heat. Add onion, garlic, and peppers. Saute until quite soft, about 8 minutes. Stir in oregano, cumin, and chili powder and cook for 1 more minute.

Add broth, beans, tomatoes, pumpkin, turkey, sherry, salt and pepper. Bring to a boil while stirring constantly. Lower heat to a simmer and cook for 45 minutes, over low heat.

You say potato, I say tuber

2008-11-14T15:10:00.001-05:00

“You can see a lot by just looking.”

I forget who said that – Yogi Berra, maybe? I’ve been putting information together to update our website. Our current episode features a prominent bachelor in his gleaming, sparkling clean kitchen (well, it was clean at the start of the episode…). In addition to the recipes demonstrated on the show, I like to include information from the web to inform and (hopefully) inspire our viewers. This time, a search for “bachelor-friendly recipes” revealed some surprising findings.

First, “bachelor-friendly” is a broadly defined term. My initial idea of a bachelor-friendly recipe was something that could be put together with little more effort than a microwaveable dinner – I was equating “bachelor” with “cooking novice.” But, as some bloggers point out, bachelor-friendly can also mean budget friendly. Most ingredients are packaged and recipes are designed to serve several people. If you’re not into leftovers - which I am, so I don’t identify with this – this presents a problem. (When I was single I used to cook big meals and Sunday and eat leftovers until Wednesday). In those blogs, some knowledge of cooking by said bachelor is implicit. Other blogs and recipes I found took the level of cooking knowledge higher - detailed enough to set heads a-spinning on many people I know, singles or not.

Second, there are not many blogs devoted to bachelor cooking. I found lots of entries in non-bachelor-specific blogs tagged with bachelor-friendly as a keyword. I didn’t try searching under “cooking for singles” or another gender-neutral title, because I wanted to see what the bachelors were doing. If they’re cooking, however, they’re apparently not blogging about it.

Third, of the few blogging bachelor cooks that I found, most of them focused on Indian cuisine. Which got me thinking: when you’re yearning for the food that you grew up with, you’re at a bit of an advantage if you grew up with mac ‘n cheese vs. chicken biryani: mac ‘n cheese is a lot easier to make. I love to prepare Indian food but it does take some time (so I usually make a LOT and we eat it for several days…maybe things haven’t changed much since my single days, after all).

If anyone knows of a good food blog geared towards bachelors and singles, please post it here. I’d love to know if they’re out there…in the meanwhile, I’m thankful that the few I found expanded my narrow view of bachelor cooking. And I feel for all you hungry bachelors out there…now go get into your kitchens and cook!

Terrible Twos and the One-Armed Webmaster

2008-11-07T12:56:00.002-05:00

The long-awaited episode featuring a certain City Councillor is finally airing! And many of you have been logging onto our website, no doubt in search of the recipes that Gary (who was a really, REALLY good sport about the whole thing) learned to make.

I must ask for your patience - the website will be updated in the next week or so. Things have been a little nuts around here because our webmaster (a.k.a. my hubby) had a little run-in with a broken faucet handle and the handle won...he's OK but the surgery and rehab for his hand put him out of commision for a little while. Meanwhile I've been doing double-duty with our son, who is acting every bit of his 2 1/2 years.

Not that I'm whining about it! I just wanted to let y'all know that we just haven't been able to coordinate everything to get the website updated...but we will, soon!

Duck, duck...lobstah!

2008-11-06T13:47:00.002-05:00

I’ve been playing with lobsters for the past few days. Lobster is one of those things that I’m going to make the most of, given the time and expense to prepare it for dinner.

My routine goes something like this: Day One, cook and eat lobsters. Save some of the cooking liquid and the non-nibbled-on shells and put into the refrigerator or freezer. Day Two, make a broth using a recipe that is loosely based on Julia Child’s sauce for Lobster Americaine. Day Three (Part A), make soup out of said broth and lobster cooking liquid, along with any leftover bits from the lobster boil itself (sauage, potatoes, etc. – more on this later). Day Three (Part B), use the remaining lobster broth to (1) make Lobster sauce and freeze it (use it later on pasta, or atop poached eggs for a Lobster Benedict) and/or (2) freeze the rest of the broth for future use in soup, risotto, or paella.

Sounds like a lot of work? Well, yes, except that you can do the steps on different days, and four lobsters can end up feeding you for a week. Lobster is kind of a “duck of the sea” in that regard – you can keep using and reusing the same critters to create several meals.

The lobster carousel is a little different with each ride, depending on how I cook it and what else I make with it. (Note to readers: extensive cooking details follow, skip to the end if you’re not into it). This time, the lobsters were steamed with potatoes, corn (yes, corn in November – what was I thinking!), and linguica (a type of sausage), a là a stove-top “lobster bake.” I started by making a broth out of water, two bay leaves, a small handful of coriander seeds, a tablespoon of black peppercorns, a whole head of garlic (sliced in half, across its equator), a whole onion, and a piece of dried kelp (a.k.a. kombu). The broth was simmered for ~30 minutes, then the potatoes and corn went in. When the broth was boiling again, the four lobsters went in (headfirst) and the linguica was piled on top. About 30 minutes later, the lobsters et al. were served with oodles of clarified butter and exuberantly applied Old Bay seasoning. After dinner I saved the lobster shells, leftover sausage and potatoes, lobster cooking liquid (it was strained to get rid of the spices and whatnot), and even the extra clarified butter in the refrigerator

The next day, I sautéed the lobster shells in a little peanut oil in a very large pot over high heat. When they were good and smokin’ I added a large onion (chopped) and two stalks of celery (also chopped) and sauteed them for a little longer, until the onions started to soften. (If I’d had a carrot I’d have added that too). Next, ~1/3 cup of cognac and ~1/2 cup of vermouth went in to deglaze the pot, and then enough water to cover the shells. Finally, I added a can of diced tomatoes, two bay leaves, a tablespoon of dried tarragon (don’t leave this out, even if you’re not crazy about tarragon – it totally makes the broth) and a head of whole garlic, unpeeled but sliced open across its equator. Everything was brought to a boil and then simmered happily over low heat for 1-1 2/ hours. When it was done, I fished out the head of garlic and set it aside, then strained the broth and chilled everything in the refrigerator.

Still with me? I promise, this is worth it…on Day Three I started a soup by sautéing a large onion and one green bell pepper (both chopped) in a couple of tablespoons of the leftover clarified butter. When the veggies were soft I added a couple of tablespoons of flour and continued cooking, while stirring the flour and veggies around. Next, I added ~ 2 cups of the lobster cooking liquid (which was fragrant from both lobster and linguica), ~4 cups of lobster broth, the leftover linguica and potatoes (both diced into ½” pieces) and a can of cannellini beans (drained). Oh, and some extra sweet Italian sausage that I was cooking for something else that day. Since all the ingredients were cooked, the soup came together very quickly. I made a garlic spread by smashing the garlic that was cooked in the lobster broth with about an equal amount of the leftover clarified butter and a splash of lobster broth, for an extra lobster oomph.

One of my favorite things to eat is that lobster-garlic-butter, spread on toasted bread, and dipped into the rich, lobster-y soup. (When Conan was asked, What is best in life? He meant to say “Why, it’s lobster butter garlic toast in lobster broth, of course…”).

Back to the lobster tale: I simmered down some of the remaining lobster broth, added a tablespoon of tomato paste and thickened it with a mixture of flour and (you guessed it!) more leftover clarified butter – about one tablespoon of each, mixed together, per cup of broth – to make Lobster Sauce. And after all that, I still had a quart of lobster borth left to freeze and enjoy another day.

Total count from four lobsters: lobster dinner for four people; 1 ½ quarts of lobster-y sausage and bean soup; 1 quart of Lobster Sauce (enough for 4 breakfasts over eggs, or 2 pasta dinners); and 1 quart of lobster broth for a recipe to be named later. Plus too many yummy sounds to count.

Greetings from the Wormy Pear Emporium

2008-09-11T20:57:00.002-04:00

It’s been quite a while since we’ve made any posts. I never thought that blogging could be seasonal, but I noticed that the date of my last entry corresponds to the week that I started the first seedlings for my garden. I was so busy planning, and then working in the garden that blogging fell down a few rungs on my to-do list. Our production schedule for the show slowed down, too, as summer came on, but now we’re back with a new episode on air, and are busy filming the next one.

Ah, back in February the garden was so full of promise…this is our fourth year in this house and I’ve been busy studying our light, water, and wind patterns over the seasons. I thought for sure that I’d figured out a good plan of attack for vegetables in the raised beds, flowers in the side yard, and a mix of both in the front. Well of course I was wrong.

I’ll spare you a complete litany of woes; suffice to say that it wasn’t a banner year. Yes, I grew enough beans and broccoli to feed my toddler all summer long, but toddlers don’t eat much beans and broccoli, do they?

There were a couple of successes: the alpine strawberries (also known as wild strawberries, I think) and Butternut squash. I put six strawberry plants in a raised bed in early April; we started picking berries in June and the plants have been going strong ever since. Well, going as strong as an alpine strawberry goes: they are not heavy producers. But again, my son has been able to go “berry picking” almost everyday and I enjoy watching him almost as much as he enjoys eating them. Hopefully the plants will make it through the winter and repeat their magic next year.

The Butternut squash were intended as a defensive maneuver against squash vine borers. Between the vine borers and the powdery mildew rampant in our yard, I cannot grow zucchini. (Hard to believe, but true). I’d read somewhere that Butternut squash vines are tough so that borers can’t get in. Sure enough, I only spotted one borer which promptly met its demise. The squash crop was not without its casualties, however, thanks to an overzealous husband wielding a gas-powered line trimmer…

I am starting to close up shop in this year’s garden. In some cases, it’s time to move the exhausted plants on to my greater reward (aka the compost pile); in others, I’m just giving up (the tomatoes never really got going at all). I am switching over from production mode into consumption mode. Always challenging, it’s also a little depressing this year because I don’t have much to work with. Last year at this time, I picked ~ 3 bushels of Bartlett pears from our ancient tree. The fruit was certainly not perfect, but enough of it was worm-free to make dealing with the wormy tolerable. This year, the tree put out about a half bushel of worm-ridden pears. I can’t work up much enthusiasm for dealing with the poor things, even to make sauce (which I did lots of last year, and my son loved. He still gets excited when he sees one of the empty freezer containers. Hmmm, maybe I should start putting the broccoli in one of those containers).

At any rate, putting the garden to sleep means that I should have more time now for blogging. And dreaming about next years garden.

Darn you, W. K. Kellogg!

2008-02-17T20:57:00.001-05:00

My son loves fruit. Usually, this is one of those things that I feel incredibly fortunate about; I mean, there are a lot less healthy things out there that my boy could go crazy over, right? Every now and then, however, his fruit obsession causes me problems.

Marketing gurus have apparently decided that plain old cereal in a bowl just doesn’t look appetizing. Thus, there are snazzy photographs of cereal garnished with luscious-looking fruit on the outside of the box. Thanks, Madison Avenue; it has taken me MONTHS to convince my toddler that there really aren’t any raspberries inside that box of Oatios. Even now, he points hopefully to those glistening red jewels at breakfast time, hoping for a miracle. Try explaining what “serving suggestion” means to a toddler.

Enter Special K with Red Berries…I just knew that I could never let my son learn that this box of cereal was different. Any time he requested that cereal, a curious atmospheric phenomenon occurred whereby the aforementioned Red Berries mysteriously stayed behind, while the flakes were transferred to his bowl. (More berries for Mommy, that way). Did I feel guilty for withholding berries from my baby? Well, I might have, except that this child can put away a pint of dried strawberries in nothing flat and then frantically sign for more. Cooking extra meals I might be, but I will NOT pick out berries from a whole box of cereal. We all have our standards. (And it would be very expensive way to buy dried strawberries).

I was content in my duplicity until this morning, when…Daddy let the big red berry out of the bag. It’s my own fault for not including him in my deceit. At least I wasn’t in the room at the time, so I didn’t have to endure seeing the light of wonder in my son’s eyes turn to cruel understanding that Mommy has been lying. Maybe I can airbrush those raspberries off of the Oatios box.

The Mouths of Babes, Part II

2008-02-13T22:05:00.001-05:00

I always swore that I wouldn’t be one of those moms who make separate meals for their kids. My master plan was to introduce a variety of flavors early on, so Junior wouldn’t experience culinary culture shock when he made the leap from baby food to table food. So, I started adding small amounts of curry powder, soy sauce, and other flavorings that I cook with regularly so that he’d get used to the flavors in the food served at our house.

For over a year I’ve been strategizing, cooking, and serving him a healthy, balanced diet that includes a dizzying array of fresh fruit and a decent number of vegetables. Some examples: I use an overnight method to cook organic, steel-cut oats for his breakfast porridge (enhanced with unsweetened applesauce, almond butter, and sometimes ground flaxseeds). While he naps, I cook organic green veggies (broccoli or kale; frozen green beans or Brussels sprouts in a pinch), roast a Butternut squash, or microwave sweet potatoes to use at lunch or dinner, or even as snacks. The freezer is always stocked with kiddie-sized portions of homemade soups, stews, lasagna, muffins, and waffles for meals and snacks when I didn’t have time to cook during the day.

In other words, an embarrassingly large portion of my time is spent to ensure that an overabundance of healthy food is available to serve to my child on a moment’s notice.

In the middle of a cooking frenzy one day, it dawned on me that I was doing the very thing I’d vowed to avoid. I AM making separate meals for my child, but not because he’s a picky eater. The sad truth is that Mommy is a picky eater and she eats, well, poorly. As long as my son will accept it, I’ll keep giving him plain yogurt with tahini and wheat germ. But I’ll also keep sneaking bites of donut when I go into the pantry to get his organic, high-fiber crackers.

Discovering a dirty little secret about oneself is one thing; actually doing something about it is, well - is it necessary to do anything? If I’m making extra meals in the name of health, rather than catering to a picky toddler, it’s okay, right? With the way our schedules run, we don’t really have a family meal at our house, so we have some time before Junior discovers that Mommy and Daddy eat according to different rules. The day of reckoning will come, though, and I suspect that in the end, my boy will join his father (and me) on the Dark Side. Hopefully the positive effects of his current, über-healthy diet will carry on long after he begins to think of Cheetos an orange vegetable.

The Mouths of Babes

2008-02-13T21:50:00.002-05:00

I’d heard that having children changed your life, but I didn’t realize that included my perspective on food. For example: serving sizes. I vaguely recall hearing my friends grumble about the tiny amounts of food that they could coax their children to eat. So, I wasn’t completely surprised to discover that 3/8th of a mini-muffin are more than sufficient to fuel my toddler for an entire morning. What did come as a shock, though, was the reason why: a mini-muffin is much larger than it innocently appears to be.

Don’t believe me? Try this: place half of a mini-muffin on a plate. Cut the half into quarters, then - and this is the key step - use your fingers to carefully squish each piece into crumbs. (It’s a delicate operation. You want to break up the muffin without compressing it. If you can’t master the technique, borrow someone’s toddler and have them do it for you). Magically, the muffin half will grow into an enormous pile of fluffy muffin bits. It’s a huge portion! No wonder our little ones full up so quickly.

Still not convinced? Take the plate into your living room and shake the crumbs all over your couch. Now measure the surface area of the muffin-coated regions and back-calculate to get the total volume of muffin. Or, just trust me when I tell you that those muffin bits will have mysteriously multiplied into a full-sized muffin.

It turns out that the food professionals who write baby food cookbooks are wise to this bit of infant wizardry and have built correction factors into their recipes. I remember thinking that Ruth Yaron (author of “Super Baby Food”) must be nuts for suggesting that my baby would consume ½ to 1 cup of yogurt in a meal (even if he didn’t eat anything else). The actual amount of yogurt that goes down the hatch, however, is on the order of 2 tablespoons, leaving plenty for him to spread around. (And did you all know that it’s possible to cover every surface in your kitchen with less than half a cup of yogurt? More food magic, brought to you by your friendly neighborhood toddler).

For my part, I’m thinking that eating like a toddler just might be the key to a successful diet plan. It takes a lot longer to eat a muffin when you have to hunt down each crumb. If you have a dog you’ll eat even less because you’ll be competing for muffin bits as you search all over the couch. Ah, but the symbiotic feeding habits of dogs and babies is a topic for another post.

Loss and Translation

2008-01-21T15:43:00.001-05:00

Yesterday, my friend Marta came over to make paczki, a Polish donut that is traditionally prepared before the Lenten season. My husband, Jeff, is Polish-American and his family also makes them, though they usually have their paczki closer to Easter.

Like many treasured family recipes, Jeff’s family really didn’t have an exact recipe for paczki – his grandmother (Babci, in Polish) just knew when the stop adding the flour, when to stop kneading, when the dough was ready. Fortunately Jeff’s parents had the foresight to sit down with Babci and figure out just how much flour was being added and to describe, in some detail, how the dough looked when it was ready. Thus the treasured family recipe was preserved.

…until they started tinkering with it. Can you use more whole eggs, fewer yolks? Can you cut back on the butter? Some cooks just can’t resist altering a recipe (myself included). In this case, the paczki recipe got somewhat leaner for a while, then slid back toward its original all-egg-yolk glory (what’s the point of trying to make low-fat dough that’s going to be deep-fried, after all). I doubt that the paczki being made this year are strictly according to Babci’s original recipe. I also doubt that, in the end, it truly matters. So many things affect our perceptions of taste; would any paczki, other than those made by Babci herself and eaten when we were children, ever taste just like Babci’s?

The paczki themselves seem to differ from one family to the next. Most paczki lovers, it seems, dream of jelly donuts as the season approaches. Jeff’s family adds raisins to the dough, shapes it into balls for frying and skips the jelly. One family I know fries balls of dough, then splits them in half and fills them with both jelly and whipped cream. (Talk about decadent…).

The paczki we made yesterday were filled with plum butter. Marta brought her cookbook from home and translated the recipe as we worked, so I’m thinking that those paczki must be pretty darn authentic. Unless we missed something in the translation. I must admit, I preferred them to the raisin-studded version of Jeff’s childhood, and I’ll probably switch over to the new recipe from here on. It might turn out for the best – just having paczki in the house should be enough to bring back memories of childhood treats, but since the recipe is so different, Jeff won't be sad that they aren't just like Babci's.

Holiday Eating Tips

2007-12-28T17:35:00.000-05:00

Happy Holidays,
My sister forwarded these to me via email. Perhaps you've already seen them. Karen and I thought they were worth sharing. Enjoy!

1. Avoid carrot sticks. Anyone who puts carrots on a holiday buffettable knows nothing of the Christmas spirit. In fact, if you see carrots, leaveimmediately. Go next door, where they're serving rum balls.
2. Drink as much eggnog as you can. And quickly. Like fine single-maltscotch, it's rare. In fact, it's even rarer than single-malt scotch. You can'tfind it any other time of year but now. So drink up! Who cares that it has10,000 calories in every sip? It's not as if you're going to turn into aneggnog-alcoholic or something. It's a treat. Enjoy it. Have one for me. Havetwo. It's later than you think. It's Christmas!
3. If something comes with gravy, use it. That's the whole point ofgravy. Gravy does not stand alone. Pour it on. Make a volcano out of yourmashed potatoes. Fill it with gravy. Eat the volcano. Repeat.
4. As for mashed potatoes, always ask if they're made with skim milk orwhole milk. If it's skim, pass. Why bother? It's like buying a sports car withan automatic transmission.
5. Do not have a snack before going to a party in an effort to controlyour eating. The whole point of going to a Christmas party is to eat otherpeople's food for free. Lots of it. Hello?
6. Under no circumstance should you exercise between now and New Year's.You can do that in January when you have nothing else to do. This is the timefor long naps, which you'll need after circling the buffet table while carryinga 10-pound plate of food and a vat of eggnog.
7. If you come across something really good at a buffet table, likefrosted Christmas cookies in the shape and size of Santa, position yourselfnear them and don't budge. Have as many as you can before becoming the centerof attention. They're like a beautiful pair of shoes. If you leave them behind,you're never going to see them again.
8. Same for pies. Apple. Pumpkin. Mincemeat. Have a slice of each. Or,if you don't like mincemeat, have two apples and one pumpkin. Always havethree. When else do you get to have more than one dessert? Labor Day?
9. Did someone mention fruitcake? Granted, it's loaded with themandatory celebratory calories, but avoid it at all cost. I mean, have somestandards.
10. One final tip: If you don't feel terrible when you leave the partyor get up from the table, you haven't been paying attention. Reread tips; startover, but hurry, January is just around the corner.
Remember: Life should NOT be a journey to the grave with the intention of arrivingsafely in an attractive and well preserved body, but rather to skid in sideways,chocolate in one hand, margarita in the other, body thoroughly used up, totallyworn out and screaming WOO HOO what a ride!

One cook's garam masala is another baker's gingerbread

2007-11-27T20:46:00.000-05:00

One of the secrets to making great-tasting cookies (or great-tasting anything, for that matter) is to start with really good ingredients. But, you may not want to spend big bucks for premium vanilla and whatnot, especially if you are not into baking year-round. I thought that I would share some of my favorite places to buy ingredients for holiday goodies.

I like to buy spices such as cinnamon, ginger, and coriander at an Indian market. There’s one right in Malden center, on Pleasant Street. The quality is soooo much better than that brand that starts with an “M,” and the price is much better too –~$4 for a 4-ounce bag of cinnamon. (If you think you can’t use that much cinnamon, go shopping with a friend and share everything). Indian markets are also good places to get golden raisins (for fruitcake!) and cashews (for nut brittle, mixed nuts, spiced nuts…).

Trader Joe’s has good prices on good-quality spices, nuts, dried fruit, and chocolate. I like their 4-ounce bottles of vanilla for ~$5 – swanky brands of vanilla are nice, but unless you’re making a cookie in which the vanilla is the main flavor (like a butter cookie), I think it’s a waste of money. Also Marty’s Liquors in Allston used to carry vanilla, chocolate and some nuts; I haven’t been there in a while but I got some good deals in years past.

If you want to spend a little more money for premium nuts and dried fruit, go to Dairy Fresh Candies in the North End. It’s a tiny little store that’s a baking junkie’s heaven. They also have chocolate, almond paste, and marzipan. Polcari’s, which is also in the North End, carries some nuts and dried fruit in bulk as well.

If price is no object, then try one of the mail-order companies offering everything that your little baker’s heart desires. Check out Penzey’s, or the King Arthur Flour Baker’s Catalog for a dizzying array of ingredients (just how many kinds of vanilla are there, anyway?). Maybe Santa will put a Penzey’s gift certificate in my stocking this year.

Some thoughts on upcoming holidays

2007-11-13T23:23:00.000-05:00

For many people, things start to get crazy busy this time of year. Family dinners to plan, holiday parties to juggle, and maybe some shopping to do. So this year, we’d like to remind everyone who feels overwhelmed by the whirlwind to remember to stop and… well, just…stop.

That’s right – Relax! Everything will be fine. Somewhere along the line, preparing a holiday dinner turned into a competitive sport. It’s time to take a deep breath and let go of all that. No matter how well prepared you are, how many lists you’ve made (or spreadsheets – I’m one of those spreadsheeters) or timetables you’ve developed, something will probably go wrong.

Every Christmas, we bake hundreds of cookies. We make the same recipes from year to year and you’d think that we’d have everything down pat by now. Nonetheless, a few key points are always forgotten on one or two types of cookies. After much gnashing of teeth and shouted colorful expressions those essential bits of information finally pop back into the conscious mind, and at least part of the batch is usually salvageable.

The point is, nobody’s perfect. Television chefs have an army of assistants and food stylists to make everything look perfect (and they still run into trouble sometimes). Unless you’re willing to get out the blowtorch for touch-ups, that Thanksgiving turkey is probably not going to be perfectly golden brown. And we say, that’s okay.

Lights, Action, Camera!

2007-10-30T18:31:00.000-04:00

We've begun production of our first program, due to broadast sometime in December. The show theme is Holiday Cookies. Join us in Karen's kitchen as we show you how to make biscotti the old-fashioned way and decorate cookies and cakes with icing -- without the mess. Karen shares a family favorite, handed down through generations. Then we'll take you inside Cookies by Miss Jackie's, a Salem Street favorite!

Our Website (www.neighborhood-dish.org) is also under construction. Bookmark it now to easily access featured recipes, videos of previous shows (once we have them) and some of our favorite links and resources.

Have an idea for a show theme or recipe? Want to share your culinary heritage with your Malden neighbors? Post a comment here.

Welcome to the Neighborhood

2007-10-11T08:16:00.000-04:00

Welcome to the Neighborhood Blog, the official blog of Neighborhood Dish, MATV's newest cooking show. Why? Because all communities have eating in common. We hope to bring Malden's diverse community together by sharing our culinary heritage, encouraging you to prepare and enjoy delicious wholesome food, introducing you to food-related businesses and organizations in the Malden area, and having fun along the way.

Neighborhood Dish is produced and directed by two Malden residents, Karen Yates and Paula Spizziri. We're currently producing our first two episodes -- stay tuned for details as they emerge.

Neighborhood Blog is a place where Malden residents can share their:

Thoughts on food, including their cultural experiences with food
Their opinions and recommendations about area food-related businesses, e.g., restaurants, supermarkets, and ethnic groceries
Feedback on and suggestions for Neighborhood Dish programs

Karen and Paula are excited to share their love of cooking and eating, and breaking bread with friends and family.

Be part of our Neighborhood. Visit the Neighborhood Blog and participate by voting on our polls and posting comments.