East of Eaten

Provençal soupe au pistou

2011-09-05T11:08:00.000-06:00

Looking over my past few posts, I see a trend--a trend that has probably led to my high cholesterol. Oh, the numbers. My total is 235 with the bad cholesterol at 143. Ouch.

Thus the need to find recipes that feature more vegetables and beans and less fat and refined carbs. So, no ice cream or banana cake for a while.

But I love this soup and can live without the goodies when food is this beautiful. The bright green of the zucchini and green beans was achieved by blanching them first and adding them to the soup at the last minute. The pistou on top was a product of the neighbor's basil-based generosity.

The recipe for Provençal soupe au pistou came from Martha Rose Shulman's Ready when you are: A compendium of comforting one-dish meals.

Catching Up

2011-07-31T15:49:00.000-06:00

Real life has been getting in the way of my hobbies, which is why I haven't posted in a while. I will attempt to impress you with my productivity by posting several things that I have made recently that I happen to have pictures of.

Chocolate Ice Cream from David Lebovitz's Perfect Scoop. A custard-based ice cream with cocoa and semisweet chocolate, I found this smooth and not overly sweet. I've used the same base to make coffee ice cream as well.

I made this foccacia after watching America's Test Kitchen. Their recipe starts with a biga, which allows good flavor to develop. You don't knead the dough at all, just fold it, which allows the dough to stay light. They don't include any oil in the recipe, which was surprising, but they have you generously oil the cake pans they're baked in and that turns out to be just the right amount.

Banana Cake from Dorie Greenspan's Baking: From My Home to Yours. Great crumb, great flavor, not greasy. What else is there to say? I have more bananas stockpiled in the freezer. If the cool-ish weather holds, I'll make some more soon.

Chard and Goat Cheese Torte adapted from Rose Shulman's recipe for Spinach Ricotta Torte in Mediterranean Harvest. I used locally made goat cheese and chard from our CSA. The photo shows the refrigerated leftovers, so perhaps it doesn't look as appetizing as it could...

Oven-Roasted Pulled Pork and Western North Carolina-style Barbecue Sauce

2011-06-19T10:41:00.001-06:00

Turns out that I just love pork, which puts to rest all my former pretensions toward vegetarianism. Go ahead. Snicker.

During the last two years, going home to TN/NC requires at least one visit to a great barbecue place. My first forays into the indigenous cuisine were at The Ridgewood (this links to a video that will give a sense of the ambiance of The Ridgewood) and Dixie, where you can get an Alabama white barbecue sauce that is my favorite at Dixie (which sports no less than 6 to choose from).

Just last week I was visiting my parents and got to have great barbecue twice--once at Phil's Dream Pit in Kingport, TN and once at Little Pigs Barbecue in Asheville, NC. Real barbecue requires hickory smoking, which I could never replicate at home, but I thought I would give oven roasting a try. I bought a hunk of pork shoulder, which for some folkloric (I'm sure) reason is actually called Boston butt. Using the Joy of Cooking (75th anniversary edition) as a reference point, I made a dry rub with chili powder, paprika, cumin, garlic salt, and brown sugar. I let that permeate the meat for a couple of hours. Then I seared the meat in olive oil in a large cast iron dutch oven, which then went into the oven for about 2 1/2 hours at 325 degrees. The result was tender and flavorful, if not smoky. But then, I can't always taste the smoke in genuine pit-smoked pork.

The sauce was inspired by two of the sauces I tasted recently. I wanted it to be sufficiently vinegary, but not thin. I wanted the tomato base, but mustard too. Here's the sauce recipe, approximately:
1/2 cup ketchup
2 T. brown sugar
2 T. grainy brown mustard
3/4 cup apple cider vinegar
2 T. smoked paprika
2 T. chili powder
1 t. cumin
1 T. soy sauce
1 T. fish sauce
1 T. olive oil
a splash or two of hot sauce

The trick, really, is to keep tasting it until it tastes right to you. Goes well with a nice Zinfandel, which you can't get at Phil's Dream Pit!

Kale and Quinoa Salad with Arugula Pesto and Beehive Cheese

2011-05-21T12:21:00.001-06:00

I would be a terrible cookbook writer. I don't measure, unless I absolutely must. Case in point--I made arugula pesto today. Here's the recipe:

two cloves of garlic, medium-ish
large handful of walnuts, or whatever nut you have on hand
a bunch of arugula
glugs of olive oil (extra virgin of course)
salt

Blend in food processor until it is the consistency you like. That's it.

Using said pesto, today I made a quinoa and kale salad with
approximately 1 c. of cooked chilled quinoa
1 bunch of Italian kale, cut into ribbons
large spoonful of arugula pesto (1/4 cup maybe?)
a glug of apple cider vinegar
shredded Beehive Promontory Apple Walnut Smoked cheese

I had no idea Italian kale was so tasty. Not bitter, not stringy, easy to eat raw. Both the kale and the arugula came from the Cache Valley Gardeners Market. I got there early today so I wouldn't miss the good stuff!

Later tonight, arugula pizza with provolone piccante (sharp provolone)!

Roasted Parsnips and Brussels Sprouts

2011-05-14T13:20:00.001-06:00

I love roasting vegetables--they become almost sweet, even though they're doused in olive oil and salt. Since Michael is out of town, and he hates Brussels sprouts, and I'm pretty sure he hates parsnips too, I made these.

It seems silly to provide a recipe. Toss your favorite vegetables in some olive oil, salt, pepper, herbs maybe (if you have some), and roast at high heat (450 degrees works for me) until they are nicely brown. With Brussels sprouts, the outer leaves will blacken a bit, but not to worry, the inside is becoming tender, and those black outer leaves taste like potato chips. The parsnips look like potato chips, but the taste is earthy, and the natural sugars in the parsnips provide an undertone of honey.

Carne Adovada

2011-04-23T17:49:00.000-06:00

A good friend of mine grew up in Albuquerque, and she has taught me to love New Mexican cuisine that features green chiles. But more than the green chiles, I fell in love with PORK, specifically carne adovada (or adobada) at the Frontier there in Albuquerque. Interestingly, on their menu, carne adovada is considered a "bulk item."

When our dinner group friends said they were making carne adovada, I got pretty excited. It totally lived up to my expectations, but I have to say that I was even more enchanted by the margarita martinis (or margatinis) they served beforehand.

The carne adovada was also wonderful. The trick to making this is a long marinade and long, slow cooking, which renders the pork into a fork tender dream. If the photo is a little blurry, blame the margatinis.

Moroccan Dinner

2011-02-13T07:57:00.000-07:00

Our dinner group met last night. Two of our guests and Michael went to Morocco a few years ago, and I got very interested in the food even though they didn't find the food all that compelling while they were there. Nevertheless, we decided to serve a Moroccan dinner. We began with appetizers including a sundried tomato hummus, olive tapenade with fig and garlic, almond stuffed olives, and Michael's labor of love, Moroccan pita. He practiced this recipe at least five times in search of the perfectly puffed pita, which he achieved beautifully last night. Served with a fino sherry, this little spread seemed to go over well with our guests.

The main course was a chicken tagine with apricots, sundried tomatoes, raisins, and almonds. I followed nearly the same recipe I provided here, but there was no ginger or garbanzo beans. We served it with an Israeli couscous cooked with butter and saffron. Choices of wine for dinner included a Spanish rioja, a French Côtes du Rhône, and a Californian pinot noir.

We ended the meal with a Morrocan baklava with pistachio and cinnamon. I got the recipe from The Spice House. Using good European butter and high-quality cinnamon (I honestly can't remember now if I used the Ceylon or the Cassia) seemed to make a difference. Oh, and somewhere in there we squeezed in some champagne to celebrate our friends' recent accomplishments.

After the baklava, we drank sweet, sweet green tea with mint--very much in the Morrocan style--poured from a great height with Moroccan flair.

Tagine of Chicken, Apricots, and Almonds

2011-01-24T07:37:00.001-07:00

From my reading of many tagine recipes, all manner of proteins and vegetables are used, but it is the spices that really matter. So don't take the recipe below as a prescription. Any sturdy protein could be substituted. Use the vegetables you have around and like. Some recipes have raisins. The almonds are optional. I also don't have a traditional tagine--the clay vessel that is traditional. I used my Le Creuset enameled dutch oven, which worked just fine.

Not optional are traditional Morrocan spices. The ras el hanout in this recipe is from The Spice House in Chicago, and their mixture contains Tellicherry black pepper, cardamom, salt, ginger, cinnamon, mace, turmeric, allspice, nutmeg, and saffron. I added a little more cinnamon, also purchased recently from The Spice House--a Cinnamomum Zeylanicum, or True Ceylon cinnamon. Another secret ingredient is harissa, a paste made of chiles, garlic, sundried tomatoes, coriander, and caraway.

Served with a traditional buttered couscous, the taste was mesmerizing.

Tagine of Chicken, Apricots, and Almonds

1 large onion, sliced into 2-3 inch strips
1 or 2 T. olive oil
a pound or so of chicken thighs
ras el hanout, about a tablespoon
harissa to taste (I used about a tablespoon)
a knob of ginger, minced
some garlic, to taste, crushed and left whole
1/2 c. chopped apricots
1/2 c. blanched slivered almonds
1 red bell pepper, sliced into thin strips
14 oz. can diced tomatoes
14 oz. can of garbanzo beans, drained and rinsed
some salt
handfuls of cilantro, chopped

Brown the chicken in chunks in olive oil. Toast the almonds in the oil with the chicken. Remove and saute the onions with salt. Return the chicken to the pot and add ras el hanout and let the flavors meld a bit. When the mixture seems dry, add a little water to get the browned bits up from the pan. Add garlic, ginger, apricots, harissa, bell pepper, and tomatoes. Let this mixture stew for 20-30 minutes, covered. Add garbanzo beans and cover for 10 more minutes. Taste and adjust seasonings. I added a little more cinnamon. Stir in chopped cilantro at the end, reserving some for garnish.

Four Cheese Pizza

2011-01-23T12:50:00.000-07:00

Growing up, my family had pizza most Saturday nights. My father made the dough, producing a floury cloud as he loudly pounded the dough on the counter. My mother and I grated the cheese (often frozen blocks of mozzarella) and sliced the pepperoni, or cut up the lunch meat. Olives and green pepper rounded out the ingredients.

In college, I began to try to make my own pizza. The first attempt was a nightmare that ended in tears and my boyfriend's suggestion that we go to the pub for a burger. He didn't last. But the pizza tradition did.

Nearly thirty years later, I make pizza every Saturday night (except when it's too hot to turn on the oven). My favorite is probably four cheese pizza. Thank goodness, I still have pesto leftover from last summer (and one more in the freezer). The cheeses are mozzarella, maytag blue, romano, and provolone.

The photo is perhaps worse or perhaps better because of an experiment with a light tent (aka cardboard box, notebook paper, white napkin, and clip-on lamp) and a bit of manipulation in Picasa.

The crust is something I've been experimenting with a bit lately. I've discovered that my lovely pizza stone turns a crust into a hard, difficult to cut, tasty, but kind of unpleasant item. To get a more tender crust, I've taken to using half water and half milk as the liquid base.

Whole Wheat Pancakes with Yogurt and Blueberry Sauce

2011-01-22T10:22:00.000-07:00

In an effort to lose those post-Thanksgiving, pre-Christmas pounds that crept on, I often turn away from butter and syrup on my weekend pancakes. In addition, I try to increase the ratio of whole grains in my diet. When I can wrestle away the pancake making privileges from Michael, I like to make these:

Whole Wheat Pancakes

1 cup whole wheat flour
1/2 c. all-purpose unbleached flour
1 T. baking powder
1T. sugar or honey
1 T. light flavored oil
2 eggs
1 c. lowfat milk
1/4 c. lowfat or nonfat yogurt

Throw this all together in the usual manner, dry ingredients with dry, wet with wet, stir well, but not too well, and cook in medium skillets (we like our well-seasoned cast iron ones) two at a time for optimal eating while hot.

I topped mine with more yogurt (slightly strained nonfat) and blueberry sauce (aka runny blueberry jam). Delightful.

Lasagna with Chard

2011-01-17T09:47:00.000-07:00

Back in August, the CSA was giving me lots of chard, and I was in no mood for chard, so I blanched it and froze it. This week I made two dishes with chard--a garlicky sauteed chard with polenta and gorgonzola, and then this lasagna with chard.

I mixed in the chard with ricotta and egg, then layered with homemade tomato sauce and mozzarella (why is the shredded cheese cheaper than the cheese in a block?). After a good long bake at 375 (45 minutes) I topped it with romano and more mozzarella and baked it for 15 minutes more. After a 10-minute rest, it served up nicely. I used no-boil lasagna noodles, and the thing about them is that they absorb the extra moisture in the tomato sauce, which I like. I don't want tomato juice running all over the plate when I lift out a serving.

Over the holidays, I read a lot of food blogs, including one called Will Write for Food, in which the blogger gives advice to food bloggers, including "adjusting a recipe doesn't make it yours." Well, I guess, but then again, food is folklore. There are no recipes that are completely yours, that didn't begin somewhere with someone else.

But the blog entry that really got to me and kept me from blogging for a while was one called Is Food Blogging to Much Work? which ended with the question, "should hobbyists get a pass on quality because they want to have fun?" The blogger gives food blogging workshops, and she is frustrated by attendees who want good traffic and comments on their blog but whine that her advice means too much work for them.

Having thought about the debate that ensued among this blogger's commenters, I decided that my blog is indeed a hobby. I would like to have traffic and comments, but if I don't, that's okay. I also think that my writing and photos are of a high enough quality to pass the test. But I don't need the blog to be more than a hobby. Recently, it has scored me a couple of dinner invitations, so I'm feeling like it has paid off in ways I never anticipated! And that unexpected reward has motivated me to post again today. So there.

Pies, locally grown

2010-11-26T10:49:00.000-07:00

I read quite a few food blogs, and some are quite amusing. Mine is not. I don't seem to be able to find an amusing rhetorical stance. Straight ahead non-fiction recount. Oh well. It's all about pictures for me, anyway. So I hope these photos do justice to the pies I made to take to our friends' house for Thanksgiving.

This year I made two pies, both from locally grown produce. The pumpkin came from our university greenhouse and cost a whole $1.20. The apples came from the fruit farm down the hill from our neighborhood--ten pound bag for $8.00. Both cooked up beautifully.

For the pumpkin, my strategy is to roast the pumpkin so that it isn't watery. The recipe I followed can be found here. Despite my usual tendencies, I followed the recipe nearly exactly, except for doubling the spices because I am pretty sure my spices aren't full potency anymore.

The crust recipe was Dorie Greenspan's "Good for Almost Everything Pie Dough" in Baking: From My Home to Yours.

For the apple pie, I followed Dorie's "All-American, All-Delicious Apple Pie" recipe, except I did a crumb topping. Because the crumb topping had sugar in it, and there was sugar mixed in with the apples already, it made the whole thing too sweet in my opinion, but others found it not unpleasant. The apples, Empire, stayed firm-ish, which redeemed the whole enterprise for me.

Blueberry Jam

2010-10-24T11:29:00.000-06:00

Okay, so I cheated and used frozen blueberries from the grocery. Sue me. What I got out of it was jam with the perfect amount of jiggle and sweetness. Most blueberry jams you buy in the grocery store are too stiff, too sweet, and contain too many whole blueberries, the latter of which makes spreading the jam on toast a bit of a challenge. The jam was brilliant on Michael's sourdough pancakes this morning.

For those of you who care, assuming anyone really reads this blog, I did use the low-sugar/no-sugar pectin when making this jam. In the midst of things, I searched for a good book on jam-making and discovered a movement in favor of not using pectin at all. So I bought The Joy of Jams, Jellies, and Other Sweet Preserves to learn more about the no-pectin method.

Cinnamon Apple Scones

2010-10-23T13:49:00.000-06:00

After reading about Apple Cheddar Scones on the Smitten Kitchen blog, I really wanted to make them myself. But I didn't have any cheddar cheese, and besides, I like the combination of apple and cinnamon better. So instead of going down to the local gourmet pastry and bread shop for breakfast, I made these little puppies this morning.

Cinnamon Apple Scones
2 apples
1 1/2 c. whole wheat pastry flour
1 t. cinnamon or to taste
freshly grated nutmeg if you like it
1/4 sugar plus a little for sprinkling on top (I used white sanding sugar for the top)
1/2 T. baking powder
6 T. butter, chilled and cut into cubes
1/4 c. milk (whatever you have will work, I used skim)
1 large egg

Peel and core apples and cut them into 1/16ths and bake them in a 375 degree oven for 15-20 minutes until they're drier. Let them cool. I stuck them in the freezer to cool quickly. Leave oven on.

Put flour, sugar and baking powder into bowl of standup mixer and combine. Add the butter chunks and incorporate using the paddle attachment (or do this by hand with two knives like my mother taught me or a pastry tool). Chop up the apples and add them too. Then add the milk and mix until everything is kind of wet and starting to stick together. Don't overmix.

Flour your countertop and dump out the dough. Form the dough into a disk about 6 inches across. Cut into fourths or sixths, whichever you prefer. Transfer to a baking sheet with a silicone liner or parchment paper.

Brush the tops of the scones with milk and sprinkle with sugar. Bake for 30 minutes. Let them cool at least 5 minutes before eating them.

Gazpacho

2010-09-19T13:11:00.000-06:00

In Spain, you can buy gazpacho in the grocery store (photo on the top). This tasty concoction is made primarily of tomatoes, red bell pepper, cucumbers, sherry vinegar, and olive oil. Since we've been back, we've been making it at home (photo on the bottom). It doesn't come out as smooth and red, mostly because of the air that is churned into it as it blends. But the taste is just as divine as the grocery store brand, if not more so. Because it is meant to be eaten cold, it is the loveliest thing to eat/drink on a hot day.

Beets

2010-09-19T12:37:00.000-06:00

I love beets, but, alas, Michael does not. So I made this salad for myself. The beets were roasted for an hour in the oven, in a Pyrex baking dish, covered in foil. No oil or salt. The vinaigrette consisted of 2 t. olive oil, 1 t. vinegar, 1/2 t. sugar, a little salt, pepper, and a tiny dollop of mustard. I tossed the greens in the vinaigrette first, then tossed the yellow beets in the leftover vinaigrette, and finally the red beets. I didn't want the red beets to bleed all over the yellow beets. Then, to make this a meal, I added a small handful of toasted walnuts and a few shavings of parmesan cheese. Lovely, healthy, tasty.

The benefit of being a grownup...

2010-09-05T18:58:00.000-06:00

is that you can eat whatever you want for supper. So, we had two desserts for supper. First, we had tourte aux blettes, which is, unbelievably, a pie made with swiss chard, apples, pine nuts, brown sugar, and egg. It's only mildly sweet, which is why it seemed perfectly acceptable to then have blackberry cobbler with homemade vanilla ice cream for dessert.

Desayuno en Español

2010-07-19T16:12:00.000-06:00

Many of the days we were in Spain, I ate the perfect breakfast (not nutritionally speaking of course). It consisted of café con leche and a napolitana (what we might call a chocolate croissant). There’s just something about this combination that really works (worked) for me. The best was when I could get a warm napolitan, but then, the place where they served them still warm was also the place where there was a tad too much milk in the café con leche. It’s a bit tricky working out the perfect combination. The two together cost about 2 euros (about $2.60). Hard to beat that!

But every time I had one of these little flaky babies, it was delicious—cold, warm, with lots of sprinkles, with hardly any, on a plate with knife and fork, out of my hand when walking down the street—all amazing.

And the discovery I’ve made about coffee is that I like a really short one, shorter than any of these behemoths that Starbucks sells. And I like the combo of espresso and milk, with one hit of sugar. Sublime. I’ve ordered a little electric machine to see what I can replicate here at home. I don’t think it is possible to replicate the napolitan, but that doesn’t mean I might not try.

No-Work, No-Knead Bread

2010-07-01T08:56:00.000-06:00

I bought a new bread book--Jim Lahey's My Bread: The Revolutionary No-Work, No-Knead Method. This necessitated buying a new pan too--a 5 1/2 quart Le Creuset. Clever, huh? The actual making of the dough took all of 5 minutes including weighing the ingredients, and then, as instructed, it sits out for 12-18 hours. Because I made it at noon on Tuesday, I knew that I wouldn't want to be baking it at midnight, so I refrigerated it until the next morning. Then I took it out and left it out all day. Last night, I started it on its second rise at about 7 pm so that I could bake it at 9 pm, late enough that I could open up the kitchen and let all the heat out overnight.

The bread was out of the oven at 10:15 and gorgeous! But you shouldn't cut into hot bread--it just ruins it. Luckily I was having trouble sleeping, so at 11:15 I got up and had a couple slices. Divine! And then more for breakfast. The outside is crusty and crunchy, but not too thick like some artisan breads are.

This first loaf was all white flour, all purpose King Arthur flour. Next time I will make one with 25% whole wheat, which the author says is just the right amount. I would love to do 100% whole wheat and see how it turns out. Maybe with whole wheat pastry flour it won't end up like a door stop.

Salade Niçoise

2010-06-07T20:03:00.000-06:00

Summer means salade niçoise. It was sunny and warm when I started this, but rainy and chilly by the time we actually sat down to eat it. C’est la vie!

I think my favorite part is the potatoes, which when drenched (no), bathed (no), drizzled, (not quite) in a nice vinaigrette with a little dijon in it are just the tastiest thing ever. Tonight, I forgot the tuna until we were sitting down. I had been planning to use a good quality tuna packed in olive oil. Green beans are traditional, but I like asparagus much better. And really, the olives should be niçoise, but kalamata olives are easier to find and reliably good.

Snackies

2010-01-18T11:20:00.001-07:00

Spiced Nuts

1 T. olive oil per two cups of nuts
garam masala to taste (I used a Punjabi style garam masala from Penzey’s)
salt

Sesame Crackers (adapted from recipe on Epicurious)

yield: Lots!

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 cups whole wheat flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
2 teaspoons salt
1 stick (1/2 cup) butter, cut into pieces
1 cup plain yogurt
1 cup sesame seeds, toasted
1 large egg, beaten

Pulse together flour, baking powder, and salt in a food processor until well mixed. Add butter and pulse until mixture resembles coarse meal. (Alternatively, whisk together dry ingredients and cut in butter with a pastry blender.) Transfer to a bowl and stir in yogurt and 1 cup sesame seeds until mixture forms a dough. Divide dough into quarters, wrapping each in plastic wrap. Chill 10 minutes.

Preheat oven to 350°F.

Beat eggs until they can be applied with brush to cracker tops.

Roll out dough and cut into strips and then into squares. Transfer to cookie sheets with parchment or Silpat. Brush strips with glaze. Scatter salt over the top.

Bake in upper and lower thirds of oven, switching position of sheets halfway through baking, 20 minutes total, or until glaze is golden brown and crackers are crisp. Transfer to racks to cool. Make more crackers in same manner.

Curried Broccoli Salad

2010-01-03T16:27:00.001-07:00

My new year’s resolution is to eat more vegetables. While I like broccoli, I am not a fan of eating it raw unless it has some kind of lovely creamy (fattening) dressing. However, while in the village of Wauwatosa I ate at the One Way Cafe and had a really wonderful curried broccoli salad. It was made with mayonnaise, but I substituted a combination of sour cream and nonfat yogurt with spectacular results.

2 T. sour cream
1/2 c. nonfat yogurt
curry powder to taste (about a teaspoon)
1 T. honey
2 T. apple cider vinegar
3 broccoli crowns with stems
1/2 c. golden raisins

I use the stems of the broccoli because once you have peeled them they are sweet and tender. Mix together the wet ingredients, combine with the broccoli and raisins. Eat. Enjoy.

Eat more vegetables

2010-01-02T20:02:00.001-07:00

In an effort to eat more vegetables (my New Year’s resolution), I offer these two ways: Pasta with broccoli, gorgonzola, and pancetta and a spinach mushroom Chicago-style deep dish pizza.

The pasta needs little explanation, but the combination of broccoli and gorgonzola works really well. A nice splash of fruity olive oil makes the medicine go down.

The pizza needs a little explaining. Because I spent more time in the Chicago airport over Christmas than planned (ahem), I had the opportunity to eat two kinds of Chicago style pizza. Once on the way to Milwaukee and once on the way back. This made me have a hankering for a homemade version where I could be in control of the level of fat. The dough was a successful experiment.

1 cup water
2 t. yeast
2 t. sugar
4 T butter, room temp
salt
enough flour to make the dough stiff, but still slightly sticky

This particular pizza was assembled in one of the traditional Chicago ways, with the cheese at the bottom (a la Garcia’s or Papa Del’s). I then added sautéed spinach and mushrooms and topped with a spicy tomato sauce. Bake the heck out of it (as hot as your oven will go) until the crust is golden brown.

Sticky Buns

2010-01-02T19:44:00.001-07:00

This is a Christmas tradition in our house, but I’m just now getting around to blogging about it. This is a sweet dough made with milk, sugar, butter, yeast, and flour.

The pecans are from my birthplace, Fort Deposit, Alabama.

Yes, that’s a lot of sugar and butter.

Ready to proof.

Fully proofed.

Ready to eat.

Chocolate & Ginger Truffles

2009-12-16T19:17:00.001-07:00

This is the sort of thing that can pack on the holiday poundage, but if you practice portion control, you can still indulge in the occasional decadent treat.

Apparently, some truffle recipes use butter and some don’t. My inspiration for these was from Food Blogga, my favorite food blog.Her recipe is just chocolate, cream, and chopped candied ginger. But I bought 60% cacao Ghirardelli chocolate to make these and saw that their recipe on the package calls for butter. Why not? So here is what I used to make these:

16 oz. 60% cacao chocolate of good quality
2/3 c. heavy cream
6 T. butter
1/2 c. or more of chopped candied ginger
1/3 c. dutch process cocoa

Bring cream to a simmer in a saucepan. Add butter and stir until melted. Add chocolate to saucepan. Stir until completely melted and smooth. Cool, cover, and refrigerate until firm. Overnight is too long, as I discovered. Recipes suggest 90 minutes to 2 hours of chill time. Roll into 1” balls and roll each ball in cocoa.

These were a big hit at the office supplemental holiday lunch potluck today.

Quinoa Croquettes and Sweet Potato “Fries”

2009-12-13T19:58:00.001-07:00

It’s been a long time since last I blogged. Life does get in the way of one’s hobbies. This meal came together because I wanted to make sweet potato fries. But what to have with them? Chicken? Eh. But, then I thought, wait, I have some quinoa that I need to figure out how to use. Let’s make it the center of the meal—it’s a protein after all… And thus was born, this meal. Not bad with a glass of sauvignon blanc. Worth making again.

Quinoa and Potato Croquettes

1 cup of cooked quinoa
1 Idaho baker, steamed or boiled until mashable
1 small onion
1 clove of garlic
1 t. cumin
1 t. coriander
2 t. paprika
1 t. oregano
1 T. olive oil
chopped parsley
1 egg
1/3 cup of jack cheese

Sauté onion until soft. Add spices and garlic and cook a minute longer. Combine with mashed potatoes and quinoa. Stir in egg, parsley and cheese. Form into patties and press them into bread crumbs before pan frying in olive oil.

The fries are oven baked with a light coating of olive and salt. Yum.

Plum Cake

2009-09-13T17:59:00.001-06:00

One of my favorite websites for finding recipes is Epicurious. Type an ingredient or the name of a dessert or entree into the search box, and you get many recipes to choose from. Reviews of the recipes are helpful too. I wanted to make this cake because of another blog I had read that featured plum kuchen. Plums are in season here, and these beauties came from the local gardener’s market.

The taste is rustic and sweet, but not in an overpowering way. The mint, though intended as garnish, makes for a tasty bite when forked up along with the cake.

Spiced Pears

2009-09-07T19:17:00.001-06:00

2 pounds pears (4 large or 8 small)
1 t. cinnamon
1 t. cloves
4 T. butter
1/2 c. brown sugar
1/4 c. brandy, the cheap stuff

It's best if the pears are a bit firm. Not really ripe, you might say. Peel, core, and quarter the pears. Toss with cinnamon, cloves, and brown sugar. Distribute butter in little clumps. Pour in the brandy. Bake for 30-40 minutes in 400 degree oven. Serve alone, or with ice cream. Either way, they're heavenly.

Chutney

2009-09-01T19:28:00.001-06:00

Nothing goes with a curry like chutney. This chutney was inspired by the chutneys my aunt made back in the 60s and 70s. Hers were usually apple or pear-based, with lots of cloves and cinnamon. This chutney contains very tart plums, peaches, and mango. I dumped all this fruit into a large pot to which I added sugar, vinegar, fresh ginger, cardamom (whole), cloves (whole), a cinnamon stick, and mustard seeds. To create this chutney, I used a combination of recipes I found here.

Caprese salad

2009-08-23T09:19:00.001-06:00

I’m always surprised by how long it takes to get fresh local tomatoes. I mean, it’s nearly September! Can’t these things be ready when I want them—say in July? Somehow, summer seems nearly over by the time the tomatoes come in, probably because school starts on Monday. These particular tomatoes are lovely little orange cherry tomatoes that are so sweet I had to restrain myself from eating the entire lot in one go, standing over the sink where I just finished rinsing them. Most of them did make it into this salad, along with fresh sweet basil, fresh mozzarella, salt, pepper, and olive oil. Food of the gods.

Cookies and Cream Ice Cream

2009-08-22T08:12:00.001-06:00

So, the other week, I made mocha ice cream. It had a pretty strong coffee component, of course. Just the thought of it made Isaac wince. To make up for that self-indulgence (I love coffee ice cream), I made him his favorite. I used the recipe in Making Artisan Gelato, but I thought it called for a ridiculously small amount of cookies (5!), so increased that to about 12, which I froze before chopping into chunks and stirring into the finished ice cream. You can see all thank chunky hydrogenated vegetable oil laden goodness in the photo. I discovered, by the way, that big chunks of stuff will stop the Cuisinart from churning. Who woulda thunk?

The ice cream was a big hit. He said something like “this is a cut above store-bought.” Without thinking, I answered, “I should think so!” Immediately I realized how awful that sounded and added on some fawning thank-yous.

Diet Cookies

2009-08-18T19:45:00.001-06:00

How do you make diet cookies? Put something in them that you hate. For me, that’s coconut. What would you add (that is edible and tasty to some people) to a basic chocolate chip cookie that would make it inedible for you?

Panzanella

2009-08-10T18:11:00.001-06:00

August and September are the time to celebrate tomatoes. And this is one of my favorite ways to do that.

A deconstructed sandwich. A caprese salad with chunks of bread added. Bread salad. All of these are useful ways to describe panzanella. This is best made with slightly stale bread, the freshest tomatoes (nothing from the grocery store will do), and lots of basil. The cheese can vary, but my favorite is fresh mozzarella.

First, chop the tomatoes into bite-sized chunks and salt them. Let that sit for a while so that the juices of the tomatoes run out a bit. You'll want all that flavorful liquid in the salad, though, so don't throw it away.

If your bread isn't stale, cut it into chunk and let it sit out in the air until it's somewhat dried out (this is easy in Utah).

Meanwhile, prepare your favorite vinaigrette. Mine is 2 parts olive oil, one part decent vinegar. For this, a red wine vinegar is okay (or champagne vinegar), but not balsamic. I think it ruins the color.

When the tomatoes have released some liquid, the bread is stale enough, toss these together with bite-sized chunks of fresh mozzarella (or a roughly shredded not-too-soft cheese like Fontina), and vinaigrette. Don't be stingy with the vinaigrette—this is supposed to be kind of soggy.

Strawberry Gelato

2009-08-03T19:00:00.001-06:00

Are you sick of ice cream/gelato posts yet? I hope not, because I’m not fat enough yet to quit making it and eating it.

The lovely mauve color came from frozen organic strawberries that I pureed with sugar and a tiny bit of vodka. The base was made using the gelato recipes in Making Artisan Gelato. As promised in the definition of gelato in this book, this stuff is not hard as a rock, but instead is light and fluffy, while still being completely frozen. The texture isn’t totally smooth, but I think that is the tiny air pockets, not an excess of watery crystals or, heaven forbid, seeds (they were strained out).

Mocha Gelato

2009-08-01T10:59:00.001-06:00

The difference between gelato and ice cream is, well, there is no difference. Gelato means something like frozen stuff. Some claim that gelato has lower fat content overall. Whatever. I think the main difference is the temperature at which it is served. Gelato should be, I think, a little less hard when served than ice cream so that you really get to enjoy the texture. In gelato stores, the freezers keep the gelato at an optimum temperature for scooping and eating.

I accidentally achieve this texture with this mocha frozen dessert. I made it and processed in the Cuisinart ice cream maker but only had time to let it harden up in the freezer for about an hour. This turned out to be the perfect length of time. Also, I didn’t get in a hurry with the Cuisinart. I let that sucker keep running until the mixture was totally bound up in the beaters. It was at its maximum frozenness before I hardened it in the freezer.

Coffee ice cream is one of my favorites. This recipe achieved coffee deliciousness by steeping a cup and a half (!) of whole beans in hot milk and cream for an hour. Then I reheated it a bit and made a slurry of it in the blender and let that sit for a while longer. After straining out the beans (but leaving little flecks of bean), I made the custard with it, carefully tempering the eggs before adding them in. I looked at the custard and thought, “This needs chocolate.” I had made some chocolate syrup with dutch process cocoa, sugar, and water. Several globs of this added to the warm custard gave the whole mess a lovely mocha glow.

After the aforementioned freezing process, five of us ate all of it in one sitting. Heaven.

Recipe was derived from The Perfect Scoop and Making Artisan Gelato.

Homemade Granola

2009-07-26T12:59:00.001-06:00

The recipe for this granola came from a new blog that I’ve recently discovered called Kiss My Spatula. The recipe can be found here.

I decided to make this after reading Kiss My Spatula, and I thought about the 25 pound bag of oats I have. Oatmeal is my breakfast of choice in winter, but not in summer. I have also been reading about the glycemic index of various foods, and oats are really excellent in terms of the glycemic load. The nature of the fiber in oats is such that one metabolizes them more slowly, thus they stick with you longer and keep you feeling satisfied longer. This, I need.

But the best part is how really wonderful this freshly made granola tastes.

Chai Tea Ice Cream

2009-07-22T20:01:00.001-06:00

Oh boy. This is good stuff. I modified a recipe for Black Currant Tea ice cream from the David Lebovitz book, The Perfect Scoop, changing it to a chai tea base. This involving steeping Darjeeling tea, nutmeg, black pepper, cinnamon, cardamom, and cloves in milk, sugar, and heavy cream for an hour. If I had had fresh ginger around, I would have thrown that in there too. If you’re interesting in formulating your own chai tea recipe, this website was very helpful.

This is a custard-based ice cream, but the extra trouble that takes is very much worth it. There isn’t a crystal of ice to be found in it. Michael and Isaac used words like luscious and creamy. Well, Isaac also said palatable. Later he told me that he is now converted into a chai tea fan. I suggested to him that it was a gateway drug into stronger forms of caffeine.

Grilled Tuna Salad "Sandwich"

2009-07-19T17:04:00.000-06:00

Sherry and Mike Hebert are good friends of mine who live in Minneapolis. Sherry and I taught school together back in the early 90's in Illinois. But then I moved to Utah, and she moved to Minnesota. Soon after, we began having an annual trip to hang out. On one of the early trips, we ate this salad at Anthony's Pier 4 in Boston. We re-created it tonight in Minneapolis. This "sandwich" consists of grilled tuna, served on top of salad greens, with lots of vinaigrette. The olives and avocado are optional, but really nice. In this case, the olives were genuine nicoise olives from France. The vinaigrette is made from 2 parts olive oil to one part vinegar (we used Trader Giotto's balsamic), plus a little mustard, sugar, salt, and pepper. We grilled the bread (a sourdough boule from Lund's), which goes underneath the salad. The original salad did not have grilled bread, but it was a nice touch. Served with an Argentinian chardonnay on the deck, with the kitties close by for little bites of tuna.

Strawberry Frozen Yogurt

2009-07-14T18:50:00.001-06:00

You can’t buy this stuff. You can only make it. It has intense strawberry flavor, from, duh, real strawberries. Whole milk yogurt with a touch of honey and no weird thickeners makes a lovely base. The recipe is from my newest cookbook acquisition: The Perfect Scoop by David Lebovitz. He occasionally posts some of the recipes from this book on his blog, which is where I got the teaser recipes that forced me to buy this wonderful book. I won’t post the recipe here, because I would rather not deprive an author of income that might result from the purchase of a book.

Lamb Burgers with Gorgonzola in a Pita Pocket

2009-07-12T20:49:00.001-06:00

1 lb. ground lamb (grass fed from Lau Family Farms)
1/2 a large red onion, chopped
chopped fresh herbs (whatever you’ve got around)
pepper
salt
olive oil
gorgonzola or blue cheese

Saute the onion in olive oil until soft. Combine onion, lamb, salt, pepper, and chopped herbs. I made 3 patties.

Before laying them on the grill, rub olive oil on them so they don’t stick—the lamb is pretty lean. Let them rest while you warm the pita pockets on the grill, which gives them a little flavor and softens them up nicely. Layer the burger and the gorgonzola inside the pita pocket for a nice tidy little package that’s easy to eat. Because the meat has rested a minute, the juices won’t run all over your hands when you bite into this decadent burger.

Serves 3 people with normal appetites.

Sourdough Pancakes

2009-07-12T20:36:00.001-06:00

Nearly every weekend, Michael makes sourdough pancakes from sourdough that he started over 30 years ago (when he was married to someone else—because I was 13 and too young to marry at the time). He started it with whole wheat flour, honey, milk, and a little bit of yeast. His father, the old man of the mountains, came to visit him in Flagstaff in 1976, and they hiked into the Grand Canyon a little ways and hiked back out. To celebrate this rare occasion of his father leaving Alaska, he started this batch of sourdough and made him the first batch of pancakes.

The sourdough starter doesn’t have to be started with yeast. He cheated. You just leave whole wheat flour and water in a warmish place. There are wild yeast beasties in the whole wheat, especially if it is stone ground organic flour. (If you want to buy starter, here’s a good place to get it.)

Each time you use it, you must feed it a bit. Michael uses flour and milk or water. Occasionally he adds honey if he hasn’t used it in a long time.

Michael learned to make sourdough pancakes from his father, who learned it, maybe, from his grandmother. Michael is now waiting for his children to show an interest so he can pass it on to them.

To make pancakes he flops some of the sourdough into a bowl and adds more flour, more milk, honey, eggs, oil, and a little bit of baking powder. The consistency should be like runny yogurt. The pans, preferably cast iron skillets, should be hot, but not smoking hot.

We put cheater syrup on it, made from brown sugar, water, and maple flavoring. Once in a while we splurge and buy real maple syrup, or someone gives it to us for Christmas. Michael puts straight molasses on his. I really like to have yogurt and fruit on mine. Isaac is a strictly no butter, plenty of syrup guy. Nancy, when she was little, liked hers with honey.

Chicken Burger on a Brioche Bun

2009-07-05T20:14:00.001-06:00

The thought of a regular hamburger made from CAFO beef just doesn’t do it for me. So I looked at the ground turkey, but couldn’t feel much assurance that it was much better than CAFO beef. So, I thought, why not grind my own chicken? I decided to use the organic free range chicken, which I can only hope is raised and slaughtered in less mass-market industrial ways. 'Course, I bought it at Smith's, so it is still a mass-market product. It seems we can only make better choices, and rarely find food that isn't tainted in some way by the way it was produced or transported or sold. Sigh.

To make the burgers, I chopped a shallot in the food processor, threw in some rosemary and thyme, and then the chicken thighs. I whirred those babies up, and it turned into pink goo. I formed the patties grillside, rolling them in olive oil before flattening them and laying them gently on the grill. They cooked up (or in chef-speak, grilled off) pretty quickly, turning into lovely burgers, which I put on these incredible brioche burger buns.

The recipe for the buns came from Smitten Kitchen, which in turn came from an article in the New York Times. If you like reading food blogs and seeing lovely photos of homemade cooking, you’ll like Smitten Kitchen. Deb, the blogger, tried many recipes before finding this one. And she’s right—it’s perfect. I didn't use the bread flour as called for, but I was using King Arthur unbleached all purpose, which has a high protein level (11.7%) like bread flour (which has 12-14% protein) and is made from hard wheat like bread flour. I'm pretty sure the magic of these buns really came from the one egg inside and the eggwash applied to the outside just before baking.

Morrocan Lamb Kebabs with Golden Couscous

2009-07-05T12:53:00.001-06:00

We bought lamb from Lau Family Farms last week at the Gardener’s Market. The most suitable use of them had to be kebabs. I searched the Epicurious website for a good recipe and found this. I didn’t use as much garlic as it called for, and that was probably a mistake. More mint would have been good too, but all in all it was pretty tasty. Isaac loved the grilled onions, and the grilled apricots were an interesting note.

The couscous had sauteed onions in it, plus broccoli and toasted almonds. I wish I had remembered to salt the water when I put it in with the couscous. I had to add salt later, which never works out quite as well.

There are three tidy little ferkins of leftovers for lunches this week. Nice.

Birthday Cheesecake

2009-07-02T19:25:00.001-06:00

Using Dorie Greenspan’s Baking, I fashioned this lovely cheesecake for my husband’s birthday—his request when I said, “What do you want for your birthday dinner?” So we had a strawberry spinach salad

for our entree (Isaac loved the balsamic vinaigrette due to the use of brown sugar, I think) and cheesecake for our “protein.”

The cake is made from four hunks of cream cheese, sour cream, eggs, vanilla, a little lemon zest, and lemon juice (not so much as to turn it into a lemon cheesecake, just enough to give it a little oomph). The crust is a traditional graham cracker crumb crust, made with Nabisco Honey Maid graham crackers because they were the only brand of three available that contained actual molasses.

The raspberries are from Bear Lake, via the truck parked near Wellsville. Perfectly ripe, picked this morning, they are a treasure unto themselves. The obligatory sprig of mint is from the backyard—one without so much bird poop on it.

Lemon Basil Sorbet

2009-06-18T17:24:00.000-06:00

An intense lemon flavor from four lemons, including the rind thinly shaved and soaked in the simple syrup coupled with a moderate amount of basil makes this sorbet to die for--in my humble opinion.

Here's the recipe:
2 1/2 cups water
3/4 c. sugar
zest of one lemon (preferably Meyer, but I've never even seen one)
1 c. fresh lemon juice
1/4 c. champagne or 2 T. vodka (I used the latter)

Heat together the water, sugar, and lemon zest until the sugar has completely dissolved. Cool to room temperature.

Add the lemon juice and the champagne or vodka. Chill the mixture thoroughly, then freeze in an ice cream maker according to the manufacturer's instructions.

A bountiful harvest

2009-06-07T18:38:00.000-06:00

We harvested the backyard rhubarb today. From that I made rhubarb berry jam using the recipe posted by David Lebovitz here. I was trying to get it up to temperature, which never happened, and it scorched. I tried not to get the black bits in it, and for the most part I succeeded. But it tastes great, and I made five jars of it. Nevermind that in the photo it looks like salsa--it's not.

We also got a 9 by 13 pan of strawberry-rhubarb crisp out of it. This goes down really easy, I must say. I used frozen strawberries, which seems like cheating, but whatever. The topping is the most important part. It is made with one cup of brown sugar, one cup of flour, one cup of thick oats, and one stick of melted butter. To this, going on a Dorie Greenspan recipe for strawberry-rhubarb crisp, I added ground ginger.

I put away another 3 pounds of rhubarb in the freezer for another crisp another day.

Mother's day breakfast

2009-05-10T18:25:00.000-06:00

Inspired by Foodblogga, I requested bagels with lox and cream cheese for breakfast today. The bagels weren't New York City good, but they were very good Grist Mill bagels. The chives were from our yard. And the dill was organic baby dill from the grocery store--the kind that comes in that little plastic clamshell. And the whole deal was lovingly prepared by Michael.

Fish tacos

2009-05-10T18:21:00.000-06:00

I love a good fish taco. A good fish taco has cabbage and lime and a lightly panfried whitefish of some sort. The one shown here was made with tilapia. We buy it rock hard frozen to ensure that it is truly fresh, not inland "fresh." Ew. The guacamole isn't completely necessary, but it brings a certain richness and lovely texture.

carrot and raisin salad, Morroco style

2009-05-03T17:19:00.000-06:00

I love carrot and raisin salad. I grew up eating it with Miracle Whip. But these days I prefer to use a vinaigrette. Today I experimented by using paprika, cumin, cinnamon, and cayenne to flavor the whole thing. And the vinaigrette was lemon juice and olive oil--applied with a light hand. I also added very thinly sliced celery. It is beautiful to look at and crunchy, healthy, and satisfying to eat. I have recently put on a little weight due to end-of-semester stress and busyness, and I'm hoping that by eating more vegies this week and cutting down on the alcoholic beverages and fatty desserts I'll drop those pesky pounds.

Garbage Pizza

2009-05-03T17:05:00.000-06:00

Garbage pizza is adorned with ingredients that, if you were to wait a few more days, would end up in the garbage. In this case, I had mascarpone cheese, feta, and mozzarella--all in a partially used state. In other words, they were going to go bad if I didn't use them soon. The sundried tomatoes were purchased for the purpose, to complement the cheeses I had on hand. Not really. I really wanted to make a goat cheese and sundried tomato pizza, but while I was at the store contemplating the goat cheese, I though, ooh, I better use up that other cheese first.

The dough was a bit of an experiment too. I recently saw an episode of America's Test Kitchen on PBS where they made a pizza dough that was very wet. I attempted to replicate that, without, of course, looking up the recipe. It turned out pretty much like I thought it would. With this kind of dough, there's no point in trying to put in on a pizza peel and slide it into the oven. It would never make it. Instead, you spread it out in a rectangular pan with a Silpat and a liberal amount of olive oil. You "bake it off" (as the chefs on TV say) for about 10 minutes. Then you top it with the ingredients you like. Tomato sauce optional.

Polenta with garlicky greens

2009-04-28T19:34:00.000-06:00

Michael made this for Sunday night supper last week. It was fabulous. The recipe, which is from Jack Bishop's Complete Italian Vegetarian Cookbook, goes something like this:

Wash and chop or tear chard or spinach or whatever your favorite green is. Amounts vary depending on the number of people. For the 3 of us, a pound will do.

Heat a tablespoon or so of olive oil in a large saucepan. Saute a thinly sliced opnion until translucent. Stir in garlic, if you like garlic. Amount varies according to taste and heat of garlic variety.

Add the green to the pan. Stir to coat the leaves with oil. Cover and cook, stirring occasionally, until the greens are tender. Remove lid and allow most of the moisture to evaporate.

Serve on polenta, the preparation of which depends on whether you have the long-cooking kind or quick kind. Be sure to use some butter in that polenta. The rich taste and mouthfeel are worth a few extra calories, gosh darn it.

For us, this is a whole meal.

Lettuce pizza

2009-04-19T09:12:00.000-06:00

I made a thin, crackery crust for this week's pizza. I baked it for about 5 minutes, and then I added pesto and baked it 5 more minutes. Then I topped it with storebought lettuce, the mixed baby lettuces that come in those plastic clamshells, and blue cheese. Back it went into the oven for 5 more minutes until the lettuce was beautifully wilted and the cheese was melted and a bit runny. I like it runny.

Milwaukee's finest

2009-04-19T09:00:00.000-06:00

No, not beer. Gin. I've been enjoying this Rehorst gin in my springtime G&Ts. It really does taste amazing. Also, I've discovered that store brand tonic water just doesn't taste as good as Schweppe's. I also can't abide diet tonic water. The photo looks crooked, not because I was well into my 2nd or 3rd G&T, but rather because I was experimenting with a tripod. The tripod wasn't even. Honest.

This week's pizza: asparagus and mushroom

2009-04-05T19:53:00.000-06:00

It's spring, right? So what's more fitting than asparagus pizza? On a base of half whole-wheat, half white flour pizza dough, homemade pesto from last summer, cheapo shredded pizza cheese, the white button mushrooms and asparagus just sunk in and got right at home. I've started baking my pizzas on my silpat silicone baking pan liner, which allows me to really pile on the ingredients. If I tried to do that on the pizza peel and slide it onto the pizza stone, I'd have half the ingredients on the bottom of my oven. In fact, the bottom of the oven shows much evidence of previous mishaps.

Curried lentil and potato soup

2009-04-05T19:49:00.000-06:00

This was another dish inspired by Mark Bittman's Food Matters. It has red lentils, potatoes, celery, carrots, coconut milk, and tomatoes. The leftovers have been better than the original, since the flavors have had time to properly meld.

Healthy whole cheap food

2009-04-05T19:42:00.000-06:00

I cooked dry pinto beans for these quesadillas, which I bullied Isaac into using on his night to cook. That was the truly cheap part. The accoutrements add up a bit, admittedly. But the salsa, sour cream, olives, and avocado are what make eating this food fun and tasty. Oh yeah, and a glass of wine. It was a cheap one that night--lately our liquor store has been featuring bottles at $4.99, which works out really well in these uncertain economic times.

High altitude baking, revised

2009-03-29T13:55:00.000-06:00

I made lemon pound cake again, but this time I decreased the baking powder and sugar and increased the flour. Instead of a valley of cake, we have a lovely hill. I was concentrating so much on the high altitude adjustments that I forgot to think about the lemon. I got the lemon zest in though, but lost the opportunity somewhere along the line to put in some lemon juice. Oh well. It's still pretty yummy, or so says Isaac.

Sunday eats

2009-03-29T13:28:00.000-06:00

Like most Sundays, today began with sourdough pancakes, from sourdough that Michael has been feeding and using for more than 30 years. I can't believe I used to be able to eat 4 or 5 of these. Two in quite adequate these days.

Lest you think that all we eat is carbs, I've been inspired by Food Matters by Mark Bittman. I made the chopped cabbage salad, going the Asian route, using walnut oil, sesame oil, cider vinegar, and rice wine. The recipe said to salt the cabbage and let it drain in a colander, which would help it become tender. It did become tender, but it didn't let off any liquid. Very tasty stuff, full of vitamins and antioxidants.

New camera!

2009-03-28T20:13:00.000-06:00

I got a royalty check the other day for my textbook. I'd been lusting over a digital SLR camera, doing my research, and all that. And voila! Here's a picture taken with my new Nikon D60. I barely understand it, but plan to have fun learning all its features.

Orthodox pizza

2009-03-28T19:41:00.000-06:00

Pepperoni, mozzarella, black olives, mushrooms, red bell pepper, supported by a foundation of tomato sauce. I can do it. I can make traditional pizza. In fact, it's cheap. Great recession fare.

Artery clogging ice cream

2009-03-27T19:58:00.000-06:00

As if ice cream weren't fattening enough, I made this vanilla ice cream with half and half and heavy cream, instead of milk and heavy cream. But the tasty part was the honest to gosh vanilla bean that I lovingly soaked in vodka for a couple of weeks and then scraped before adding it to the hot half and half and sugar mixture.

The dangers of high-altitude baking

2009-03-22T08:29:00.000-06:00

I wanted to make a lemon pound cake, having been inspired by a video I watched on America's Test Kitchen TV on demand website. I followed their suggestions about using lemon zest, as well as lemon juice. I used the zest of 3 lemons, chopping it fine and adding it to a 1/4 cup of juice. But I forgot to adjust for our high altitude here in Logan--5,000 feet. I should have added a couple of tablespoons more flour and used less sugar. Fortunately, in spite of that valley in the middle, the cake tastes divine. It's not even gummy there in the middle. Go figure.

Chocolate Marble Cake

2009-03-21T10:48:00.001-06:00

Doesn't it look pretty? I wish it had tasted as good as it looked. The yellow part was moist and fairly tasty, but the chocolate part was dry and not too tasty. I think I may have overmixed it when adding in the melted chocolate to half of the batter, which is probably why it seemed dry. Vanilla ice cream, as an accompaniment helped a lot, but it really needed to be soaked in rum or something to truly redeem it. The recipe came from Dorie Greenspan's book, Baking. I don't think the way it turned out is her fault...

Personal Pan Pizza, my way...

2009-03-15T14:00:00.000-06:00

I was home alone on Saturday night this week, so I decided to make a personal pan pizza. The leftover dough will be great for a full-size pizza on Sunday night with Isaac, and he can choose the toppings. So I used what I had on hand: homemade pesto, provolone, pine nuts, and parmesan cheese. For some reason, I really prefer a pizza without tomato products of any kind. This is one of my favorites. I decided to up the protein by adding the pine nuts; you can't see them since they're hiding under the cheese, but they made for a delightful surprise when I bit into them. Accompanied by a glass of decent cabernet and an episode of House, this was a perfect meal.

Happy Birthday to Me!

2009-03-14T19:25:00.000-06:00

I shared this lovely Italian Lemon Cream Cake with my father at a nice restaurant in Blowing Rock, North Carolina just a few days ago. All cakes should be this good. The cake itself was light, yet moist. The filling was lemony and sweet, but not too lemony or sweet. A sweet end to a good meal.

Black and White Cookies

2009-03-08T12:50:00.001-06:00

This recipe combines pulverized almonds with a modest amount of flour, butter, sugar, chocolate, and bourbon to make a bite of delicate yumminess. The balls of dough are rolled in granulated sugar and then powdered sugar. When they bake, fissures form that allow the gorgeous dark interior to peek through. This is another recipe from Room for Dessert by David Lebovitz.

Caramel Ice Cream

2009-03-06T15:58:00.000-07:00

I've never made caramel from dry sugar. But that's how you do it when you follow the directions in the recipe for Caramel Ice Cream in Room for Dessert by Dave Lebovitz. Those brown stick things are pieces of vanilla that were too dry to cut lengthwise, so I just chopped them in pieces and hoped for the best. As the sugar heated, it began to melt and become liquid--a fabulously sweet toasty liquid. A dangerously hot liquid, to which you add heavy cream, which steams up something fierce. A real show stopper. Then you add more half and half, and eventually egg yolks. Chill thoroughly and freeze in an ice cream maker. I added bittersweet chocolate pieces. I don't think I will do that next time. They freeze too hard and ruin the lovely smooth texture. Swirls of melted chocolate would be better if one has to have chocolate with their caramel. I can live without it. This stuff is fabulous.

Campari Spritzer

2009-03-05T13:46:00.000-07:00

I'm so suggestible. I saw Ina Garten make these on her show recently. She served them before an anniversary dinner with adorable, hobbity hubby, Jeffrey. It looked so good, I had to buy Campari and make them that very day. Never mind that it is still winter and these look more appropriate for a hot summer day.

Campari Spritzer
2 oz. Campari
2 oz. orange juice
6 oz. sparkling water
ice

Saturday night pizza

2009-03-01T08:17:00.001-07:00

Yes, we're a carboholic family. Every Saturday night, following a semi-regular tradition that my family had when growing up, we have pizza. This time I made a French-style pizza, with pesto, potatoes, fontina, and mozzarella. I make my own dough, which I do so automatically now that I have to think in order to tell anyone how to make. The secret for me is to start with the amount of water, then add flour, olive oil, and salt. I keep adding flour, using a standup mixer, until I get the consistency I want. Leave it to rise for several hours, covered with plastic wrap. Then, about 30 minutes before Isaac and Michael get home from aidiko, fire up the oven to 495 F and begin to assemble. By the time they get home, I'm sliding it in the oven and pouring the wine.

Homemade yogurt

2009-02-28T11:02:00.001-07:00

Homemade yogurt is not too difficult to make, but it's important to save a bit from the last batch. And a good thermometer is important. This new one I have alerts me when the milk has reached the requisite 180 F and again when it has cooled down to about 116 F, the point at which the "old" yogurt is added. Then I put the plastic container inside another plastic container, which contains a water bath that keeps the yogurt at just the right temperature. I use whole milk, but the whole thing still comes out a bit runny, so I pour off the whey each day when I spoon some out for my daily jar of yogurt and blueberries.

Saturday morning scones

2009-02-28T10:56:00.000-07:00

Using Dorie Greenspan's recipe for Oatmeal Nutmeg scones from Baking, I only made a couple of adjustments to make these tender, tasty scones. One: I added raisins. Two: I ran out of oatmeal and topped off the measure with some oat bran. So that makes these healthy, right?

Ginger Cake

2009-02-27T21:42:00.000-07:00

Ginger cake with real ginger. Who'da thunk? Dave Lebovitz, that's who. In his book, Room for Dessert. An odd recipe, I thought. Not the ginger, but a whole cup of oil. And you dissolve the baking soda in boiling water. But wow, does it turn out tasty. And with a little Haagen-Dazs vanilla bean ice cream, the textures and temperatures complement each other wonderfully.