mmm...i had potato chips yesterday, for the first time in months. potato chips are wonderfully satisfying when you have a craving, if potentially artery-clogging. when i was a kid, my parents used to buy "krunchers" brand potato chips when they went on sale; though they weren't particularly crunchier than other brands of potato chips, i suppose psychologically there was a difference, just because of the name. we also bought them for the flavors: regular, bbq, and jalapeno. after eating a handful of those jalapeno chips, you were doomed: your mouth was literally on fire, but you couldn't stop eating them. and eating them. you see how this is a vicious cycle...
i haven't made much of anything this week, due to apathy. actually, i just keep on scheduling things to do that don't involve cooking (shame on me!). i fully plan to cook for 2 weeks solid once my summer internship is concluded. living 10 minutes away from star market, harvest, and whole foods is a blessing and a curse. in the works: the beaumes-de-venise cake on epicurious.com, a nanaimo bar fest (only viable when mika comes back), blintzes, and various dinner foods (including coq au vin with a real rooster, beef goulash, stovetop mac + cheese, moroccan chicken pie, saag paneer...). oh, and indian pudding. hmm, let's add chocolate angel food cake to that list, too. next week i will have three opportunities to embark on new adventures, with dinner planned for tuesday, wednesday, and thursday. rats. i just remembered that the menu is set for two of those three days. ah, well, i will sneak some surprises in there somewhere.
this week's adventure involves very little originality, unfortunately. i was sitting at work, pondering things to make, and i set upon one thing that i really wanted: the spinach-onion-yogurt thing that celina made for her persian menu. i would have liked to have made the pomegranate-chicken thing, too, but didn't feel like expending all that effort. the recipe for borani esfanaaj is kind of strange at first glance: wait, a whole kilogram of spinach? even when it cooks down...that's two pounds of spinach! however, i like borani esfanaaj. a lot. so, two pounds of chopped spinach later, i was ready to indulge myself. first you saute the onions and garlic, then add the spinach (which i had to add in batches, as the pot wasn't big enough to accommodate the volume of spinach - roughly one and a half times the size of my head). let it cool, then add the yogurt, and some salt and pepper. yum....
borani esfanaaj
2 lbs spinach, chopped
4 cloves garlic, minced
2 onions, diced
1 cup plain lowfat yogurt
salt + pepper
vegetable oil
[1] heat the vegetable oil in a dutch oven or large skillet over medium high heat. add the garlic and onions, and saute until pale golden, ~ 10-15 minutes. add spinach and cook until spinach is cooked through and releases liquid.
[2] let the spinach mixture cool, then add the yogurt. season to taste with salt and pepper.
[makes about 4 cups]
29 juillet 2004
26 juillet 2004
perfect pancakes
i think i may have finally found a recipe for perfect pancakes. it probably needs some tweaking (i like my pancakes on the sweeter side), but i've never had pancakes as thick as these, without being cottony and dense.
yesterday morning, having woken up late, i cast about for something to do. i was about to go watch some episodes of coupling, since we now have a dvd player, but i opened the door to the living room to find ray fast asleep on the couch. so that's why the door was shut. anyway, v was still asleep and mary was on her way out, so i decided to make pancakes for v and ray (it was nearing noon, ie, time to get up). as they were both still asleep, i set about doing so in a leisurely fashion. without my joy of cooking, which is packed up in lmf, i always make up a new recipe every time i make pancakes, based on my vague memories of the recipe in the book. i also decided to beat the egg whites with a fork (but not on a plate, a la little house on the prairie), to see how long it would take.
fifteen minutes later, i had an egg foam that was still slightly runny at the bottom, with no sign of metamorphosing towards stiff peaks. i was too impatient to beat them for longer, so into the batter they went...and the resulting pancakes puffed up more than i've ever seen them puff. they also tasted pretty good, although i'd add a bit more sugar, and probably another tablespoon of butter. these are good pancakes for soaking up maple syrup...mmm.
as we have no ketchup, and one of my really weird food quirks is that i like pancakes with ketchup, i resorted to the homemade ketchup that i'd made earlier in the week to use up our tomato puree. it's a spicy ketchup - perhaps a bit too spicy - but like anything with spices in it, it matured really well in the fridge. it's also better cold than hot. anyway, it was quite good; the recipe is from the boston globe, and is intended to be a hamburger topping. gotta go grab some hamburger meat now...
last on the lineup for the weekend is a coffee cake that i made on saturday. the recipe comes from nigella lawson's last column in the ny times (the one on spatchcocked chicken); it's a sour cream strawberry streusel cake. essentially, there's a layer of strawberry puree in the middle, and streusel on the top that makes the top pleasantly crunchy. i liked this cake, but it wasn't my favorite thing in the world. i think it's worth making if you just add a bit of sugar to the recipe; i found the taste to be slightly cloying...you know, which is probably due to the cornstarch in the strawberry puree mixture (i used rice flour, as i didn't have any corn starch). i wonder if it's really necessary to put the cornstarch in. the bottom layer of cake was too dense, but i didn't mind that too much. however, the crunchy streusel top was really spectacular, and the cake itself looks quite pretty. both roommates and allie seemed to like it a lot, so i'll probably make it again at some point. it's quite easy to put together, although you will need a blender to make the strawberry puree. incidentally, this is another example of me cooking something based on the photo (in this case, it actually turned out looking pretty much like the photo). for your notes, the cake originally had 1 tablespoon of vanilla in the cake instead of 1 1/2 teaspoons, and had 3/8 cup of sugar instead of 3/4 cup.
puffy, ultra-absorbent pancakes
1 1/2 cups flour
2T baking powder
1/2t salt
3T sugar
1 cup milk
2T butter
3 eggs, separated
pinch of salt
[1] mix together the flour, baking powder, 1/2t salt, and sugar in a bowl.
[2] in another bowl, melt the butter in the microwave. let cool to lukewarm, then slowly whisk in the egg yolks so they don't curdle. whisk in the milk.
[3] in a pyrex or metal bowl, beat the egg whites with a pinch of salt, using a fork, until they reach soft peaks.
[4] pour the milk/egg/butter mixture into the dry ingredients and mix. fold in the egg whites.
[5] cook in a greased skillet over medium heat.
[makes approximately 16 5" pancakes]
spicy ketchup
2T canola oil
1 large onion, finely chopped
1T chili powder (ground red chilies)
1/2t cayenne pepper
1/4t coriander
scant 1/4t allspice
scant 1/4t cloves
1 can tomato puree
1/4c brown sugar
3T cider vinegar
1t salt
1/2t black pepper
[1] saute the onions in the oil until very soft, about 10 minutes. add the spices and cook 30 seconds.
[2] add the tomato puree, sugar, vinegar, salt, and pepper. bring to a simmer, then reduce heat and cook for 30 minutes.
[3] let cool, then blend in a blender until smooth.
[makes ~ 2 cups. keeps for a week]
strawberry streusel cake
for the strawberry puree:
8 oz strawberries
3T strawberry jam
2t cornstarch
2t vanilla
for the cake:
3/4c sugar
2c plus 2T flour
1t baking powder
1/2t baking soda
12T cold butter, cut into 1/2" chunks
1c sour cream
1 egg
1 1/2t vanilla
for the streusel:
2-3T dark brown sugar
[1] in a blender, combine all of the puree ingredients. puree until smooth.
[2] preheat the oven to 375 degrees. oil a 9" springform pan and set aside. in a large bowl, combine sugar, flour, baking powder, and baking soda. sprinkle in butter cubes and rub in by hand until the mixture almost reaches the consistency of coarse meal. reserve a half-cup of the mixture in another bowl, then finish mixing in the butter for the rest of the mixture. add sour cream, egg, and vanilla to the mixture and mix well.
[3] using half of the cake batter, drop dollops of batter into the pan. pat batter across the pan and about 1 inch up the sides; mixture will be sticky (be sure to leave it uneven). add the strawberry puree, tilting the pan to let it spread evenly. add the remaining cake batter in dollops; use a spatula to spread the dollops fairly evenly across the top.
[4] to make the streusel, combine the reserved flour/butter mixture and the dark brown sugar and mix well. sprinkle evenly over cake.
[5] bake cake until lightly golden, about 45 minutes. cool completely, then remove from pan.
yesterday morning, having woken up late, i cast about for something to do. i was about to go watch some episodes of coupling, since we now have a dvd player, but i opened the door to the living room to find ray fast asleep on the couch. so that's why the door was shut. anyway, v was still asleep and mary was on her way out, so i decided to make pancakes for v and ray (it was nearing noon, ie, time to get up). as they were both still asleep, i set about doing so in a leisurely fashion. without my joy of cooking, which is packed up in lmf, i always make up a new recipe every time i make pancakes, based on my vague memories of the recipe in the book. i also decided to beat the egg whites with a fork (but not on a plate, a la little house on the prairie), to see how long it would take.
fifteen minutes later, i had an egg foam that was still slightly runny at the bottom, with no sign of metamorphosing towards stiff peaks. i was too impatient to beat them for longer, so into the batter they went...and the resulting pancakes puffed up more than i've ever seen them puff. they also tasted pretty good, although i'd add a bit more sugar, and probably another tablespoon of butter. these are good pancakes for soaking up maple syrup...mmm.
as we have no ketchup, and one of my really weird food quirks is that i like pancakes with ketchup, i resorted to the homemade ketchup that i'd made earlier in the week to use up our tomato puree. it's a spicy ketchup - perhaps a bit too spicy - but like anything with spices in it, it matured really well in the fridge. it's also better cold than hot. anyway, it was quite good; the recipe is from the boston globe, and is intended to be a hamburger topping. gotta go grab some hamburger meat now...
last on the lineup for the weekend is a coffee cake that i made on saturday. the recipe comes from nigella lawson's last column in the ny times (the one on spatchcocked chicken); it's a sour cream strawberry streusel cake. essentially, there's a layer of strawberry puree in the middle, and streusel on the top that makes the top pleasantly crunchy. i liked this cake, but it wasn't my favorite thing in the world. i think it's worth making if you just add a bit of sugar to the recipe; i found the taste to be slightly cloying...you know, which is probably due to the cornstarch in the strawberry puree mixture (i used rice flour, as i didn't have any corn starch). i wonder if it's really necessary to put the cornstarch in. the bottom layer of cake was too dense, but i didn't mind that too much. however, the crunchy streusel top was really spectacular, and the cake itself looks quite pretty. both roommates and allie seemed to like it a lot, so i'll probably make it again at some point. it's quite easy to put together, although you will need a blender to make the strawberry puree. incidentally, this is another example of me cooking something based on the photo (in this case, it actually turned out looking pretty much like the photo). for your notes, the cake originally had 1 tablespoon of vanilla in the cake instead of 1 1/2 teaspoons, and had 3/8 cup of sugar instead of 3/4 cup.
puffy, ultra-absorbent pancakes
1 1/2 cups flour
2T baking powder
1/2t salt
3T sugar
1 cup milk
2T butter
3 eggs, separated
pinch of salt
[1] mix together the flour, baking powder, 1/2t salt, and sugar in a bowl.
[2] in another bowl, melt the butter in the microwave. let cool to lukewarm, then slowly whisk in the egg yolks so they don't curdle. whisk in the milk.
[3] in a pyrex or metal bowl, beat the egg whites with a pinch of salt, using a fork, until they reach soft peaks.
[4] pour the milk/egg/butter mixture into the dry ingredients and mix. fold in the egg whites.
[5] cook in a greased skillet over medium heat.
[makes approximately 16 5" pancakes]
spicy ketchup
2T canola oil
1 large onion, finely chopped
1T chili powder (ground red chilies)
1/2t cayenne pepper
1/4t coriander
scant 1/4t allspice
scant 1/4t cloves
1 can tomato puree
1/4c brown sugar
3T cider vinegar
1t salt
1/2t black pepper
[1] saute the onions in the oil until very soft, about 10 minutes. add the spices and cook 30 seconds.
[2] add the tomato puree, sugar, vinegar, salt, and pepper. bring to a simmer, then reduce heat and cook for 30 minutes.
[3] let cool, then blend in a blender until smooth.
[makes ~ 2 cups. keeps for a week]
strawberry streusel cake
for the strawberry puree:
8 oz strawberries
3T strawberry jam
2t cornstarch
2t vanilla
for the cake:
3/4c sugar
2c plus 2T flour
1t baking powder
1/2t baking soda
12T cold butter, cut into 1/2" chunks
1c sour cream
1 egg
1 1/2t vanilla
for the streusel:
2-3T dark brown sugar
[1] in a blender, combine all of the puree ingredients. puree until smooth.
[2] preheat the oven to 375 degrees. oil a 9" springform pan and set aside. in a large bowl, combine sugar, flour, baking powder, and baking soda. sprinkle in butter cubes and rub in by hand until the mixture almost reaches the consistency of coarse meal. reserve a half-cup of the mixture in another bowl, then finish mixing in the butter for the rest of the mixture. add sour cream, egg, and vanilla to the mixture and mix well.
[3] using half of the cake batter, drop dollops of batter into the pan. pat batter across the pan and about 1 inch up the sides; mixture will be sticky (be sure to leave it uneven). add the strawberry puree, tilting the pan to let it spread evenly. add the remaining cake batter in dollops; use a spatula to spread the dollops fairly evenly across the top.
[4] to make the streusel, combine the reserved flour/butter mixture and the dark brown sugar and mix well. sprinkle evenly over cake.
[5] bake cake until lightly golden, about 45 minutes. cool completely, then remove from pan.
23 juillet 2004
deep-fried goodness?
long time no update! i've gotten back into the swing of things, cooking-wise; currently our kitchen is spotless, which certainly makes me very happy. it'll be hard moving back into the messy, less-clean dorms this fall... this week, i've really only cooked on wednesday and thursday. wednesday, v and i made a chicken curry (and a veg curry for mika), and empanadas from v's filipino cookbook. thursday, i made ginger doughnuts and we made milkshakes. theoretically, we made watermelon milkshakes, but we really made regular milkshakes and ate the watermelon because it's been 80+ degrees, hot, and humid in the city.
the chicken curry + veg curry went pretty well; they were essentially the same thing, except that the veg curry had more vegetables in it (both number of vegetables and number of types of vegetables), with potatoes, peas, zucchini, carrots, and tomatoes. oh, and onions. never forget the onions, and always use more than the recipe says, 'cause you can never have too many onions... ;) we were supposed to use a food processor to process garlic, ginger, green coriander (ie, cilantro), and a bunch of spices, but instead we used the blender, which, to our surprise, actually worked. it looked pretty gross though; it was the color of brillo pads, but slightly brighter - essentially it looked like vaguely radioactive/sinister spinach. anyway, there was not one spice mix, but three...we fried some black mustard seeds (which later turned a gorgeous shade of reddish brown, when the curries were done) with turmeric in some oil, then added onions, then the other two spice mixtures. then you add the meat/vegetables, add coconut milk, and simmer for a good long while. nice and easy, once you finish the mise-en-place (this is another recipe where that actually matters). i accidentally added water to the veg curry, where "accidentally" means that i thought the stuff in the pot wouldn't cook through if it wasn't covered with liquid, so i added water. unfortunately, that watered it down...i attempted to thicken it after boiling off some of the liquid, by pureeing part of the mixture, but it only worked to a lower degree. ah, well, can't have everything.
the empanada filling was pretty good, but i think that it needed a little more liquid to moisten the inside of the pastry dough, and to bind it all together (kind of like cream in a potato-onion filling for a pastry like this). the veg version - corn and potatoes with onions - was a bit garlic heavy (and i have a fair tolerance for garlic). the pastry dough was disappointing - it was flour, sugar, water, oil, and salt. it both needed more fat, or maybe butter instead of oil, and to be rolled thinner. rolling the dough thin was a problem because we have no rolling pin, it was really hot, and the dough had a fair amount of gluten in it - it was pretty reluctant to stretch out. still, the empanadas were pretty good. i think we'll end up trying them again sometime, to work out the kinks.
anyway, i was more like v's cooking lackey on wednesday (as much as i can be a cooking lackey), which was relaxing, but of course i needed to cook something on my own as well. enter the doughnuts. i can't remember how i came upon this recipe; i believe it was while looking for recipes to make crystallized ginger, which is really quite expensive ($4 for 12 ounces at Trader Joe's, and that's as cheap as it gets...it's $8 for a spice bottle's worth at your regular supermarket). anyway, it's on epicurious.com. not only do the doughnuts look really pretty, well, ginger doughnuts sound pretty good to me...the last time i deep-fried something sweet was when i made german doughnuts - yeast-raised, jam-filled doughnuts. what were they called? jessica was excited when she found out they were german. :) (if you're reading this, jessica, hello!) anyway, the ginger doughnuts are your typical cake-y doughnut, a la Dunkin Donuts rather than a la Krispy Kreme.
well, let me tell you, it's a bad idea to make doughnuts on a hot day. or maybe it's just these doughnuts. i chilled the dough (which is really, really easy to make...just mix and stir) for an hour and a half, and took it out to roll it (with a wine bottle) on the table...wow, it got sticky in about 3 seconds. doughnut holes it was! even then, my hands got pretty sticky and i'd have to wet them down periodically. back into the fridge they went, until people arrived (because i wasn't going to eat an entire mixing bowl of doughnuts myself). the recipe states that one should use a mixture of oil and shortening for the frying substance. personally, i find shortening to be really gross, and i'm frightened by the idea of trans fats, so i've stopped using it, but i gave in for this time, when i saw organic, non-hydrogenated, trans-fat-free shortening at harvest. i'm not sure how it became shortening if it wasn't hydrogenated, but the sole ingredient is "mechanically pressed palm oil." perhaps i should write a letter to the manufacturer. (waseem? josh?) anyway, frying these doughnuts is like frying anything...the baking powder in them caused the doughnuts to make funny shapes - kind of like a slightly dry cookie dough when you roll it in balls and flatten it - it fractures. however, they still tasted good...i thought they looked pretty soggy when they came out of the oil, but i guess it was just the large amount of oil...doughnuts are just not good for you. however, they crisped up quite a lot after cooling and being rolled in ginger-sugar. incidentally, the ginger in the doughnuts comes from chopped crystallized ginger, as well as ground ginger. i'm sure you could steep the cream in fresh ginger if you wanted, to add even more ginger flavor, but that's overkill.
so, the doughnuts were quite good. i liked them more than regular doughnuts, and the real proof is that ray, who doesn't like eating things that have egregious amounts of fat in them (these are only unhealthy because they're fried; the actual ingredients are not that bad), ate several throughout the evening, while we watched 8 femmes and 101 dalmatians (and then the last 20 minutes of the fifth element, another excellent movie). allie took one for the road, too. :)
i had also bought a watermelon, intending to make watermelon milkshakes per my Gourmet magazine, which had finally arrived from mail forwarding via New House. however, the first people to come by didn't feel like watermelon milkshakes, so we made chocolate-cherry ones, and people ate the watermelon separately (which was better, since it was colder by the time people started eating it). this whole convoluted story goes towards the simple fact that i also tried making a chutney out of the watermelon rind. this is a situation where i judged a recipe by its picture, which, though more reliable than choosing a book for its cover, is still fairly hit-or-miss. but the picture! it was a glass bowl full of this gorgeous, translucent yellow stuff. how could i resist? anyway, i had the watermelon rind and i was just going to throw it out. so, i scraped off any pink stuff, peeled away the green part, and cut up the resultant white part. mix that with ginger, garlic, pepper, salt, cider vinegar, sugar, and water, and you've got your chutney (after about an hour on the stove). yes, it does turn a lovely, gorgeous yellow color, even when you use white vinegar instead of cider vinegar, and ground ginger and garlic powder instead of fresh because you're too lazy (and too broke) to go back to star (i can hear its siren call...). but, wow - take a whiff and it smells all heady, full of vinegar, even though it's all boiled away...i have to admit i was too afraid to taste it. i'll try it today, and let you know...
ginger doughnuts
doughnuts:
3 1/2c flour
1T ginger
1T baking powder
1t salt
3/4c finely chopped crystallized ginger (~4 oz)
2t lemon zest
1 1/4c sugar
3 eggs
1T vanilla
1/2c whipping cream
2T unsalted butter, melted and cooled to lukewarm
topping:
1 1/2c sugar
2t ginger
3c vegetable oil
3c vegetable shortening
[1] for doughnuts: whisk first 4 ingredients in medium bowl to blend. stir in crystallized ginger and lemon peel.
[2] whisk sugar, eggs, and vanilla extract in large bowl to blend well. stir in cream and melted butter. add dry ingredients and stir to blend well (dough will be sticky). cover bowl with plastic wrap; chill at least 1 hour.
[3] for topping: mix sugar and ground ginger in medium bowl to blend.
[4] to make regular doughnuts: roll out dough on generously floured surface to 3/4-inch thickness. using floured 2 1/4-inch cookie cutter, cut out dough rounds. using floured 1 1/4-inch cookie cutter, cut out hole in center of each large dough round, forming doughnuts. repeat process, cutting out more doughnuts until all dough is used up. place doughnuts on baking sheets covered with plastic wrap. to make doughnut holes: grab about 2 tablespoons of dough and roll into a ball. refrigerate until ready to be fried.
[5] heat oil and shortening to 350 degrees. you can shorcut this by putting a bit of dough in the oil; when it's hot enough it'll start cooking. fry each doughnut until golden brown on both sides, turning with a slotted spoon to cook evenly. let drain briefly on paper-towel lined cookie sheets or plates, then roll in ginger sugar while still warm.
[makes 30-40 doughnut holes. store in an airtight container]
the chicken curry + veg curry went pretty well; they were essentially the same thing, except that the veg curry had more vegetables in it (both number of vegetables and number of types of vegetables), with potatoes, peas, zucchini, carrots, and tomatoes. oh, and onions. never forget the onions, and always use more than the recipe says, 'cause you can never have too many onions... ;) we were supposed to use a food processor to process garlic, ginger, green coriander (ie, cilantro), and a bunch of spices, but instead we used the blender, which, to our surprise, actually worked. it looked pretty gross though; it was the color of brillo pads, but slightly brighter - essentially it looked like vaguely radioactive/sinister spinach. anyway, there was not one spice mix, but three...we fried some black mustard seeds (which later turned a gorgeous shade of reddish brown, when the curries were done) with turmeric in some oil, then added onions, then the other two spice mixtures. then you add the meat/vegetables, add coconut milk, and simmer for a good long while. nice and easy, once you finish the mise-en-place (this is another recipe where that actually matters). i accidentally added water to the veg curry, where "accidentally" means that i thought the stuff in the pot wouldn't cook through if it wasn't covered with liquid, so i added water. unfortunately, that watered it down...i attempted to thicken it after boiling off some of the liquid, by pureeing part of the mixture, but it only worked to a lower degree. ah, well, can't have everything.
the empanada filling was pretty good, but i think that it needed a little more liquid to moisten the inside of the pastry dough, and to bind it all together (kind of like cream in a potato-onion filling for a pastry like this). the veg version - corn and potatoes with onions - was a bit garlic heavy (and i have a fair tolerance for garlic). the pastry dough was disappointing - it was flour, sugar, water, oil, and salt. it both needed more fat, or maybe butter instead of oil, and to be rolled thinner. rolling the dough thin was a problem because we have no rolling pin, it was really hot, and the dough had a fair amount of gluten in it - it was pretty reluctant to stretch out. still, the empanadas were pretty good. i think we'll end up trying them again sometime, to work out the kinks.
anyway, i was more like v's cooking lackey on wednesday (as much as i can be a cooking lackey), which was relaxing, but of course i needed to cook something on my own as well. enter the doughnuts. i can't remember how i came upon this recipe; i believe it was while looking for recipes to make crystallized ginger, which is really quite expensive ($4 for 12 ounces at Trader Joe's, and that's as cheap as it gets...it's $8 for a spice bottle's worth at your regular supermarket). anyway, it's on epicurious.com. not only do the doughnuts look really pretty, well, ginger doughnuts sound pretty good to me...the last time i deep-fried something sweet was when i made german doughnuts - yeast-raised, jam-filled doughnuts. what were they called? jessica was excited when she found out they were german. :) (if you're reading this, jessica, hello!) anyway, the ginger doughnuts are your typical cake-y doughnut, a la Dunkin Donuts rather than a la Krispy Kreme.
well, let me tell you, it's a bad idea to make doughnuts on a hot day. or maybe it's just these doughnuts. i chilled the dough (which is really, really easy to make...just mix and stir) for an hour and a half, and took it out to roll it (with a wine bottle) on the table...wow, it got sticky in about 3 seconds. doughnut holes it was! even then, my hands got pretty sticky and i'd have to wet them down periodically. back into the fridge they went, until people arrived (because i wasn't going to eat an entire mixing bowl of doughnuts myself). the recipe states that one should use a mixture of oil and shortening for the frying substance. personally, i find shortening to be really gross, and i'm frightened by the idea of trans fats, so i've stopped using it, but i gave in for this time, when i saw organic, non-hydrogenated, trans-fat-free shortening at harvest. i'm not sure how it became shortening if it wasn't hydrogenated, but the sole ingredient is "mechanically pressed palm oil." perhaps i should write a letter to the manufacturer. (waseem? josh?) anyway, frying these doughnuts is like frying anything...the baking powder in them caused the doughnuts to make funny shapes - kind of like a slightly dry cookie dough when you roll it in balls and flatten it - it fractures. however, they still tasted good...i thought they looked pretty soggy when they came out of the oil, but i guess it was just the large amount of oil...doughnuts are just not good for you. however, they crisped up quite a lot after cooling and being rolled in ginger-sugar. incidentally, the ginger in the doughnuts comes from chopped crystallized ginger, as well as ground ginger. i'm sure you could steep the cream in fresh ginger if you wanted, to add even more ginger flavor, but that's overkill.
so, the doughnuts were quite good. i liked them more than regular doughnuts, and the real proof is that ray, who doesn't like eating things that have egregious amounts of fat in them (these are only unhealthy because they're fried; the actual ingredients are not that bad), ate several throughout the evening, while we watched 8 femmes and 101 dalmatians (and then the last 20 minutes of the fifth element, another excellent movie). allie took one for the road, too. :)
i had also bought a watermelon, intending to make watermelon milkshakes per my Gourmet magazine, which had finally arrived from mail forwarding via New House. however, the first people to come by didn't feel like watermelon milkshakes, so we made chocolate-cherry ones, and people ate the watermelon separately (which was better, since it was colder by the time people started eating it). this whole convoluted story goes towards the simple fact that i also tried making a chutney out of the watermelon rind. this is a situation where i judged a recipe by its picture, which, though more reliable than choosing a book for its cover, is still fairly hit-or-miss. but the picture! it was a glass bowl full of this gorgeous, translucent yellow stuff. how could i resist? anyway, i had the watermelon rind and i was just going to throw it out. so, i scraped off any pink stuff, peeled away the green part, and cut up the resultant white part. mix that with ginger, garlic, pepper, salt, cider vinegar, sugar, and water, and you've got your chutney (after about an hour on the stove). yes, it does turn a lovely, gorgeous yellow color, even when you use white vinegar instead of cider vinegar, and ground ginger and garlic powder instead of fresh because you're too lazy (and too broke) to go back to star (i can hear its siren call...). but, wow - take a whiff and it smells all heady, full of vinegar, even though it's all boiled away...i have to admit i was too afraid to taste it. i'll try it today, and let you know...
ginger doughnuts
doughnuts:
3 1/2c flour
1T ginger
1T baking powder
1t salt
3/4c finely chopped crystallized ginger (~4 oz)
2t lemon zest
1 1/4c sugar
3 eggs
1T vanilla
1/2c whipping cream
2T unsalted butter, melted and cooled to lukewarm
topping:
1 1/2c sugar
2t ginger
3c vegetable oil
3c vegetable shortening
[1] for doughnuts: whisk first 4 ingredients in medium bowl to blend. stir in crystallized ginger and lemon peel.
[2] whisk sugar, eggs, and vanilla extract in large bowl to blend well. stir in cream and melted butter. add dry ingredients and stir to blend well (dough will be sticky). cover bowl with plastic wrap; chill at least 1 hour.
[3] for topping: mix sugar and ground ginger in medium bowl to blend.
[4] to make regular doughnuts: roll out dough on generously floured surface to 3/4-inch thickness. using floured 2 1/4-inch cookie cutter, cut out dough rounds. using floured 1 1/4-inch cookie cutter, cut out hole in center of each large dough round, forming doughnuts. repeat process, cutting out more doughnuts until all dough is used up. place doughnuts on baking sheets covered with plastic wrap. to make doughnut holes: grab about 2 tablespoons of dough and roll into a ball. refrigerate until ready to be fried.
[5] heat oil and shortening to 350 degrees. you can shorcut this by putting a bit of dough in the oil; when it's hot enough it'll start cooking. fry each doughnut until golden brown on both sides, turning with a slotted spoon to cook evenly. let drain briefly on paper-towel lined cookie sheets or plates, then roll in ginger sugar while still warm.
[makes 30-40 doughnut holes. store in an airtight container]
16 juillet 2004
food heresy
granted, this column from the Seattle Times, called "The Diet Detective," has some valid points, like moderation, but despite these cautions, it simply tells its readers to take all the fun out of eating. i find it utterly offensive. some excerpts:
"A few slices of bread and butter can add as many as 400 to 500 calories. If you can't limit yourself to just one slice, have the basket removed from the table. You can refuse it before it's brought out or ask for a plate of vegetables to munch on instead." maybe people should try to learn some self control, rather than running away from food.
"Avoid anything fried, creamy or served with a sauce and look for "broiled" or "steamed." If you're not sure how it's prepared — ask. Try oysters on the half shell (only about 10 calories per oyster), shrimp cocktail (about 22 calories per shrimp, including the sauce) or a broth-based (not cream) soup. Avoid salad sabotage by asking for the dressing on the side and sprinkle it on with a fork. Try fat-free or low-fat dressing, and avoid high-calorie add-ons like cheese or croutons." first of all, fried, creamy, or sauce-dressed things are fine in moderation. second, a salad includes the things it includes because it's carefully crafted to create a specific taste combination. take one of these things out and you ruin it. if you are allergic to something in the dish, or don't like one of the things in it, either order something else or take a leap of faith, be adventurous, and eat it anyway (this does not apply if you are allergic, though...).
"In fact, many of the steakhouses I called put either butter or oil on their steaks. But don't worry; almost all are willing to make them without if you ask." this is just wrong. you might as well give up on food right now and stick a needle up your arm to get your nutrients by IV. maillard is turning over in his grave.
"Never go to a restaurant without preplanning what you're going to eat." gosh, i guess this means that you're never going to a restaurant where they have no menu. what's the point in going out to eat something new, if you've researched it to death? eating at a restaurant is an adventure; if you plan everything out and refuse to be spontaneous, you're missing out.
"Ask yourself, 'Does the prime rib taste three times better than the sirloin or the filet?' because it often has three times the fat and calories," says Jayne Hurley, senior nutritionist at the Center for Science in the Public Interest in Washington, D.C." yeah, it does taste better - because of the fat.
"Save more than half the calories. These are typically the healthiest items on the menu, especially if you get the sauce on the side and they're not cooked in butter." that "sauce on the side" thing is just offensive.
"A few slices of bread and butter can add as many as 400 to 500 calories. If you can't limit yourself to just one slice, have the basket removed from the table. You can refuse it before it's brought out or ask for a plate of vegetables to munch on instead." maybe people should try to learn some self control, rather than running away from food.
"Avoid anything fried, creamy or served with a sauce and look for "broiled" or "steamed." If you're not sure how it's prepared — ask. Try oysters on the half shell (only about 10 calories per oyster), shrimp cocktail (about 22 calories per shrimp, including the sauce) or a broth-based (not cream) soup. Avoid salad sabotage by asking for the dressing on the side and sprinkle it on with a fork. Try fat-free or low-fat dressing, and avoid high-calorie add-ons like cheese or croutons." first of all, fried, creamy, or sauce-dressed things are fine in moderation. second, a salad includes the things it includes because it's carefully crafted to create a specific taste combination. take one of these things out and you ruin it. if you are allergic to something in the dish, or don't like one of the things in it, either order something else or take a leap of faith, be adventurous, and eat it anyway (this does not apply if you are allergic, though...).
"In fact, many of the steakhouses I called put either butter or oil on their steaks. But don't worry; almost all are willing to make them without if you ask." this is just wrong. you might as well give up on food right now and stick a needle up your arm to get your nutrients by IV. maillard is turning over in his grave.
"Never go to a restaurant without preplanning what you're going to eat." gosh, i guess this means that you're never going to a restaurant where they have no menu. what's the point in going out to eat something new, if you've researched it to death? eating at a restaurant is an adventure; if you plan everything out and refuse to be spontaneous, you're missing out.
"Ask yourself, 'Does the prime rib taste three times better than the sirloin or the filet?' because it often has three times the fat and calories," says Jayne Hurley, senior nutritionist at the Center for Science in the Public Interest in Washington, D.C." yeah, it does taste better - because of the fat.
"Save more than half the calories. These are typically the healthiest items on the menu, especially if you get the sauce on the side and they're not cooked in butter." that "sauce on the side" thing is just offensive.
cooking apathy
alas, last night we were too apathetic to cook, or rather, lmf-en-exil spent 40 minutes trying to decide who should call me to say "where should we go to dinner instead of cooking?" i'm tired of indecisive people, honestly... well, v and i will be making chicken curry and empanadas next week, which should be fun.
i gave in and bought a bottle of muscat. to assuage my guilt i will be making the beaumes-de-venise cake from epicurious.com, once i find some grapes that are good enough to go in the cake (this is one of those things where i don't get to try the recipe multiple times in order to get it right, huh?).
i found out last weekend that i do, in fact, like raw fish. in fact, i think i might be hooked now (sorry for the unintentional pun). my mother made gravlax on saturday, and after a finicky first taste, i tried it again (following the maxim of jeffrey steingarten's that if you eat enough of something you will come to like it). it's very odd knowing that you're eating a piece of raw, well, animal (sorry to the vegetarians). it's much different to eat a raw carrot, for example, because you know that it wasn't about to say something to its sibling when it got caught in a net (or so we like to think). ok, enough with the parenthetical insertions. anyway, i think that sushi with raw fish in it might hold more attraction for me, now that i know that fish, in general, tastes better raw than cooked. i think i had this perception that the raw fish would just taste like a concentrated version of that too-fishy smell that tells you that the fish has gone bad.
anyway, hopefully the cooking apathy will end soon; i think it will. we're planning to picnic sometime this weekend, so that will most likely involve cooking. if it doesn't, i'm going to cry. at any rate, v and i will cook next week, and i'll of course do some desserts. we might visit craigie street bistrot on thursday, to patronize its only-french table.
p.s. lance armstrong is currently 2nd in the tour de france.
i gave in and bought a bottle of muscat. to assuage my guilt i will be making the beaumes-de-venise cake from epicurious.com, once i find some grapes that are good enough to go in the cake (this is one of those things where i don't get to try the recipe multiple times in order to get it right, huh?).
i found out last weekend that i do, in fact, like raw fish. in fact, i think i might be hooked now (sorry for the unintentional pun). my mother made gravlax on saturday, and after a finicky first taste, i tried it again (following the maxim of jeffrey steingarten's that if you eat enough of something you will come to like it). it's very odd knowing that you're eating a piece of raw, well, animal (sorry to the vegetarians). it's much different to eat a raw carrot, for example, because you know that it wasn't about to say something to its sibling when it got caught in a net (or so we like to think). ok, enough with the parenthetical insertions. anyway, i think that sushi with raw fish in it might hold more attraction for me, now that i know that fish, in general, tastes better raw than cooked. i think i had this perception that the raw fish would just taste like a concentrated version of that too-fishy smell that tells you that the fish has gone bad.
anyway, hopefully the cooking apathy will end soon; i think it will. we're planning to picnic sometime this weekend, so that will most likely involve cooking. if it doesn't, i'm going to cry. at any rate, v and i will cook next week, and i'll of course do some desserts. we might visit craigie street bistrot on thursday, to patronize its only-french table.
p.s. lance armstrong is currently 2nd in the tour de france.
14 juillet 2004
late-night pancakes
i had to admit that i'd committed an awful crime. when was the last time i cooked something? hmmm. long, long ago. maybe an entire week ago. the problem was that i went home for the weekend (and whose mother lets them cook when they go home?), then i went and got my hair cut. consequently, food budget zipping along to zero, and i have been living off pasta with pasta sauce, and sandwiches.
granted, i could certainly do something more interesting with what i have on hand; i just haven't felt like it (although, as i say that, i suddenly feel the cooking block dissipate). accordingly, last night i resorted to both sandwich and pasta. feeling guilty, i wanted to make something, but really didn't want to put in much effort, having spent 9 hours at work and walked home in the rain. ok, i had an umbrella, but it was a cold, wet walk home in my flip flops. i had forgotten my sweatshirt that day, consequently freezing to death at work; when i walked out the door from work, i got a nasty surprise: not only was it raining, but it was COLD. normally, i rejoice when it's cold in the summertime, but when i'm already freezing cold, it's not so much welcome as miserable.
and this makes me feel yet guiltier, but really, i had a craving for a nice pancake that could become soaked by maple syrup. maple syrup is just one of my weaknesses...when we were in montreal in april, i definitely ate more than my fair share of maple candy. that stuff is really addictive... ok, so pancakes it was. i justified it to myself by pretending that the pancakes were really for mary, who works 9-5, then has her harvard class from 6-8 (and with the rain on top of that, i'm sure that pancakes are always welcome).
i was going to make the pancake batter before we were meeting to look at a coffee table (which, it turned out, had already been sold), but i was lazy and didn't end up making it until we got back, after a "quick stop" at harvest where i threw caution to the wind and bought two bottles of wine (no, they didn't card me. i must have looked 35 last night): chateau ste. michelle gewurtztraminer, which dave shared with us once and that i liked a lot, although this could have been partly because the vineyard is in washington; and rex goliath cabernet, or maybe it was merlot. anyway, i decided that i wanted to try a new wine i'd never had before (where does one pick up knowledge about wine when it's so expensive, anyway?); this one has a nice french blue rooster on the label. though judging a book by the design of its cover is never really a good idea, it's still a widespread practice (and of course, one that the publishers are banking on), and i'm sure that judging a bottle of wine by its label, paired with my vague knowledge of what to avoid in general, is an accepted practice for many other people as well. unfortunately, the really interesting-looking wines: tokay and muscat (campbells, rutherglen) and the sauternes, were both out of my price range. though i will buy any bottle of wine, regardless of size, if it is $13 or less, i cannot bring myself to spend $20 on 375mL of wine. with no permanent job, it's unfortunately just not something i could do without experiencing that extreme guilt that you would usually experience after buying a pair of manolo blahniks. doubtless, it would have been interesting to taste these wines, and granted, that's not really that expensive for wines imported from australia, but they are just out of my reaches. i even thought about the tokay and the muscat again this morning, but finally rejected them. i'm sure my mood will change once i have gotten paid again (this getting paid weekly thing is probably NOT a good thing).
pancakes are a wonderful comfort food. i was much happier after having eaten my maple-syrup doused pancake, along with the chocolate milk that i bought at harvest. mmm...chocolate milk is also good stuff. since i don't have the joy of cooking with me, i kind of make up a recipe every time i make pancakes, though this really isn't a problem since pancakes are so basic. i like my pancakes sweet, and i usually beat the egg whites to soft peaks if i'm not feeling too lazy (it generates a lot more dishes). hopefully there will be leftover pancakes when i get back from work today.
granted, i could certainly do something more interesting with what i have on hand; i just haven't felt like it (although, as i say that, i suddenly feel the cooking block dissipate). accordingly, last night i resorted to both sandwich and pasta. feeling guilty, i wanted to make something, but really didn't want to put in much effort, having spent 9 hours at work and walked home in the rain. ok, i had an umbrella, but it was a cold, wet walk home in my flip flops. i had forgotten my sweatshirt that day, consequently freezing to death at work; when i walked out the door from work, i got a nasty surprise: not only was it raining, but it was COLD. normally, i rejoice when it's cold in the summertime, but when i'm already freezing cold, it's not so much welcome as miserable.
and this makes me feel yet guiltier, but really, i had a craving for a nice pancake that could become soaked by maple syrup. maple syrup is just one of my weaknesses...when we were in montreal in april, i definitely ate more than my fair share of maple candy. that stuff is really addictive... ok, so pancakes it was. i justified it to myself by pretending that the pancakes were really for mary, who works 9-5, then has her harvard class from 6-8 (and with the rain on top of that, i'm sure that pancakes are always welcome).
i was going to make the pancake batter before we were meeting to look at a coffee table (which, it turned out, had already been sold), but i was lazy and didn't end up making it until we got back, after a "quick stop" at harvest where i threw caution to the wind and bought two bottles of wine (no, they didn't card me. i must have looked 35 last night): chateau ste. michelle gewurtztraminer, which dave shared with us once and that i liked a lot, although this could have been partly because the vineyard is in washington; and rex goliath cabernet, or maybe it was merlot. anyway, i decided that i wanted to try a new wine i'd never had before (where does one pick up knowledge about wine when it's so expensive, anyway?); this one has a nice french blue rooster on the label. though judging a book by the design of its cover is never really a good idea, it's still a widespread practice (and of course, one that the publishers are banking on), and i'm sure that judging a bottle of wine by its label, paired with my vague knowledge of what to avoid in general, is an accepted practice for many other people as well. unfortunately, the really interesting-looking wines: tokay and muscat (campbells, rutherglen) and the sauternes, were both out of my price range. though i will buy any bottle of wine, regardless of size, if it is $13 or less, i cannot bring myself to spend $20 on 375mL of wine. with no permanent job, it's unfortunately just not something i could do without experiencing that extreme guilt that you would usually experience after buying a pair of manolo blahniks. doubtless, it would have been interesting to taste these wines, and granted, that's not really that expensive for wines imported from australia, but they are just out of my reaches. i even thought about the tokay and the muscat again this morning, but finally rejected them. i'm sure my mood will change once i have gotten paid again (this getting paid weekly thing is probably NOT a good thing).
pancakes are a wonderful comfort food. i was much happier after having eaten my maple-syrup doused pancake, along with the chocolate milk that i bought at harvest. mmm...chocolate milk is also good stuff. since i don't have the joy of cooking with me, i kind of make up a recipe every time i make pancakes, though this really isn't a problem since pancakes are so basic. i like my pancakes sweet, and i usually beat the egg whites to soft peaks if i'm not feeling too lazy (it generates a lot more dishes). hopefully there will be leftover pancakes when i get back from work today.
09 juillet 2004
moroccan@44
(sorry, no witty title; i think i'm just not gifted in that respect.)
one of these days, i will actually get around to planning a real dinner party, where all of the details are planned out, but the whole shebang is still nice and relaxed. specifically, what i really want is a coffee table to put in the middle of the living room, so we can eat around it instead of on plates in our laps. i also believe in carpets (or at least a swiffer to clean our circa-1900 hardwood floors).
the menu last night:
* djej m'chermel (chicken tagine with lemon and olives)
* vegetable tagine
* vegetable couscous
* ice cream with homemade hot fudge sauce, fresh cherries, and fresh blueberries
i had intended to go to star (how is it that i end up going there every other day? i'm so spoiled...) on wednesday evening, before heading over to lmf to make cookies. instead, i fell asleep for an hour. then, i intended to go to star on the way back from lmf - i was going to leave at 10 p.m. instead, i left at 11:30 and crashed into bed. so before my head hit the pillow, i set my alarm early enough to get myself to work at 8a.m.
it's surprising how different it feels to leave work early (at 4 p.m.). i don't feel that i arrived at work significantly earlier (i usually arrive between 8:30 and 9, depending on when i can drag myself out of bed), but i sure felt like i got to leave really early, as if i were on holiday or something. anyway, short trip home to change, and off to star i went.
when i got back, i started my mise-en-place right away. usually i wouldn't bother, but given the time restraints (about an hour and a half to make dinner), i needed to actually be efficient. in general, anyway, a mise-en-place is useful when cooking, not as useful when baking. at any rate, it's usually separating eggs and measuring out spices that's the annoying part, rather than chopping things.
once i had chopped everything for the vegetable tagine, josh arrived with allie, to help cook. :) with their help, dinner was ready by 7:30, on our slightly lame stove with only 3 working burners. lots of pot and pan juggling there - between the two tagines (which you can think of as stews), the vegetables for the couscous, and the couscous itself - there was a lot to do.
not so much was remarkable about the actual preparation of the food - both tagine recipes are from the new york times, and the couscous recipe is from epicurious. we put extra cooking liquid from the vegetables for the couscous in the liquid (vegetable broth instead of water) for cooking the couscous. (not only is it fun to say "couscous," it's such a fun grain to eat...)
in regards to the vegetable tagine, i think this is the first time that i've eaten fully cooked chickpeas. i had never really liked their texture before when people put them in chili and various other dishes, and last night i realized that is was because they weren't cooked through anyway. instead of being hard, they were firm on the outside, but creamy on the inside, with a remaining bit of bite. small food revelation there. :)
i think the vegetable tagine went best with the couscous; i didn't quite like it on its own. i'll have to go back and taste it, but it just didn't seem like it had enough depth of taste. maybe the spices weren't quite right; it was the sort of thing where you just want to add a whole bunch of potatoes - as a whole, the stew just didn't have enough oomph. it could have also just needed some salt. i'll have to try it again and see (lucky for me that things with so many spices in them only get better as they age - until that threshold of impending mold, of course). oops, i just realized that i told fred the wrong spices when he asked which ones were in the chicken. since i had no idea where to get zaatar (i have a vague inkling that formaggio kitchen might have it, as they have the most exotic spice collection i've ever seen), i used the suggested substition - ground sesame seeds and dried thyme. unfortunately, i only had regular sesame seeds, so i pretended to grind them a bit in a bowl with a spoon for a while...anyway, the zaatar went into the vegetable tagine, not the chicken tagine.
i really liked the chicken tagine, though. the addition of the lemon zest at the end added some depth to the flavor, and in my opinion, really improved it. since i like olives, the addition of olives was also a good thing. the spice combination was also just right - gotta remember that one. the chicken had simmered for a long time, so it was almost falling off the bones.
the vegetable couscous was good as well; we used zucchini and carrots as the vegetables for it. it was a great base for the rest of the meal, in which everything really just got mixed together. we used regular raisins instead of golden, but if you make it, go for the golden - i don't think there's really a taste difference, but there is a psychological difference. somehow i like eating golden raisins with couscous, much more than regular raisins. hmm. they look prettier, too.
dessert was just ice cream with some toppings. when i went to star, i bought yet another carton of ice cream - vanilla - to join the grashopper pie, butterscotch blast, and chocolate. currently we have a wall of ice cream in our freezer... i made a hot fudge sauce (also from the new york times) to go with the ice cream, and it turned out quite well. it had a bit too much cocoa powder in it even though i put in less than the recipe called for, but as it cooked a bit more, got better, and was really good over the ice cream. there's nothing healthy in that sauce, of course, but it acted just like it should have, which is just very pleasing, for some reason - it hardened as it hit the ice cream and everything.
as a whole, i enjoyed this evening more than i've enjoyed any of our past gatherings at 44 columbia (including our enormous parties, where all i seem to be able to do is tire myself out for the 10 hours preceding our party, so that i feel antisocial during the actual party; gotta work on that one). probably because it went so smoothly kitchenwise - we even got to clean up as we went, so there wasn't an enormous pile of dishes at the end of the night. i think choosing a simple dessert (read: no work) was a good thing as well. guests were lmfers, plus caitlin from 4.101 and her boyfriend steve, who's course 6 at harvard (giving him, keith, josh, AND mary lots to talk about).
and now, the recipes. this is the first time i've tried any recipes from the new york times (there are no readers' reviews!), and i'm quite happy with the way things turned out.
NOTE: all spices are always ground, unless otherwise specified (ie, "1/2t cumin seeds"). all ginger is ground ginger (the spice) if a teaspoon or tablespoon measure is mentioned. raw, fresh ginger would be something like "1" worth ginger, minced." parsley should always be flat-leaf, rather than curly.
djej m'chermel (chicken tagine with lemons and olives)
3-4 lbs chicken (either thighs and drumsticks, or an entire chicken, cut into 8 pieces; you can add the liver and giblets if you want)
4T butter
2 large onions, minced (because more onions never hurt)
2 cloves garlic, finely minced (i omitted this due to a lack of garlic at the apt)
2t paprika
1t ginger
1/2t cumin
1/4t turmeric
4T cilantro, chopped
4T parsley, chopped
1t salt
1/2t freshly ground black pepper
1/4c extra-virgin olive oil (i would recommend using a bit less)
1 1/2c water
peel from 1 preserved lemon, pulp discarded, cut into long narrow strips (use zest of 1 lemon if you can't get preserved lemons)
1c green olives, pitted
juice of 2 lemons
[1] in a large saucepan or dutch oven, over high heat, brown the chicken in the butter, skin side down, until the skin is golden brown. reduce the heat to medium low and add the liver + giblets (if using), onion, garlic, all spices (including salt and pepper), and olive oil.
[2] warm gradually, turning the ingredients for a few minutes, then add enough water to cover (don't add too much more than 1 1/2c though). bring to a boil, then reduce the heat and simmer uncovered, occasionally turning the chicken in the sauce, until almost tender, about 30 to 40 minutes.
[3] add the lemon peel or zest, olives, and lemon juice and continue to cook until the chicken is very tender, about 15 minutes longer. (this recipe can be prepared in advance up to this point; allow to cool, refrigerate, and serve within a few days). taste the seasonings and adjust if necessary. serve immediately.
[serves 4, generously]
vegetable tagine
2T butter
2 onions, diced
2 fresh small chili peppers, thinly sliced (i substituted a teaspoon or two of ground chili peppers, available in any indian food store)
1T paprika
1/2t cayenne pepper
1t ground cumin
1c dried lentils
4 tomatoes, chopped
1/2c tomato puree
1 can chickpeas, drained
1c carrots, cut into a 1/2" dice
3 small zucchini, sliced into 1/2" disks and quartered
3/4c green peas, frozen
1/2c parsley, chopped
1T zaatar (use equal amounts ground sesame seeds and dried thyme as a substitute for this)
salt and pepper to taste
[1] in a medium or large saucepan over medium heat, warm the butter. add onions and chilies and cook until the onions begin to soften, about 10 minutes.
[2] add the dried spices and continue to saute until the onions are tender and fragrant, a few minutes longer.
[3] add lentils, tomatoes, and tomato puree, then water just to cover. simmer for about 20 minutes.
[4] add chickepeas, carrots, zucchini, and peas. simmer until tender, 15-20 minutes more. add parsley and zaatar during the last five minutes of cooking. season to taste and serve immediately.
[serves 6 to 8]
moroccan couscous
1T olive oil
3c mixed cut-up vegetables (red onions, carrots, zucchini, cauliflower, etc)
1 1/2t cumin
1 1/2t coriander (i had none, so substituted with a bit of turmeric and a bit of ginger)
1c dry white wine
1/3c golden raisins
3/4c canned vegetable broth
extra cans of vegetable broth
1 5- to 7-oz box couscous
[1] heat oil in skillet over medium-high heat. add vegetables, cumin, and coriander; saute until vegetables just begin to soften, about 3 minutes. add wine and raisins. boil until wine is reduced by half, about 3 minutes. add broth. partially cover skillet, and simmer until vegetables are tender, about 6 minutes. season with salt and pepper.
[2] make couscous according to package directions, substituting vegetable broth (and leftover liquid from vegetables if there is too much liquid) for the water.
[3] mix together vegetables and couscous in a large bowl. serve immediately.
[serves 4]
hot fudge sauce
2c heavy cream
4T butter
1/2c dark brown sugar
3/8c sugar
4-6 oz bittersweet chocolate (i used chocolate chips so i wouldn't have to chop refrigerated chocolate)
3/4c good-quality cocoa
1/2t vanilla
[1] in a medium saucepan, combine cream, butter, and sugars. bring to a simmer over medium-low heat (this takes about 10 minutes). simmer 45 seconds, then add 4 oz of chocolate and whisk to dissolve. reduce heat to the lowest setting, and add the cocoa powder, whisking to get rid of lumps.
[2] taste the sauce (it will thicken) and add more chocolate if there is too much of the cocoa taste. simmer for a minute or two longer, whisking constantly to prevent lumps from forming. remove from heat and whisk in vanilla. serve immediately. to reheat sauce, warm in a saucepan over low heat, stirring constantly (do not let boil).
[yield : 3 cups]
web links to recipes:
djej m'chermel
vegetable tagine
quick vegetable couscous
homemade hot fudge
a side note: i have officially fallen in love with the tour de france. i suppose it's a combination of my love for les triplettes de belleville, as well as patriotism regarding lance armstrong, but i've become addicted to the new york times' live multimedia dealie...
one of these days, i will actually get around to planning a real dinner party, where all of the details are planned out, but the whole shebang is still nice and relaxed. specifically, what i really want is a coffee table to put in the middle of the living room, so we can eat around it instead of on plates in our laps. i also believe in carpets (or at least a swiffer to clean our circa-1900 hardwood floors).
the menu last night:
* djej m'chermel (chicken tagine with lemon and olives)
* vegetable tagine
* vegetable couscous
* ice cream with homemade hot fudge sauce, fresh cherries, and fresh blueberries
i had intended to go to star (how is it that i end up going there every other day? i'm so spoiled...) on wednesday evening, before heading over to lmf to make cookies. instead, i fell asleep for an hour. then, i intended to go to star on the way back from lmf - i was going to leave at 10 p.m. instead, i left at 11:30 and crashed into bed. so before my head hit the pillow, i set my alarm early enough to get myself to work at 8a.m.
it's surprising how different it feels to leave work early (at 4 p.m.). i don't feel that i arrived at work significantly earlier (i usually arrive between 8:30 and 9, depending on when i can drag myself out of bed), but i sure felt like i got to leave really early, as if i were on holiday or something. anyway, short trip home to change, and off to star i went.
when i got back, i started my mise-en-place right away. usually i wouldn't bother, but given the time restraints (about an hour and a half to make dinner), i needed to actually be efficient. in general, anyway, a mise-en-place is useful when cooking, not as useful when baking. at any rate, it's usually separating eggs and measuring out spices that's the annoying part, rather than chopping things.
once i had chopped everything for the vegetable tagine, josh arrived with allie, to help cook. :) with their help, dinner was ready by 7:30, on our slightly lame stove with only 3 working burners. lots of pot and pan juggling there - between the two tagines (which you can think of as stews), the vegetables for the couscous, and the couscous itself - there was a lot to do.
not so much was remarkable about the actual preparation of the food - both tagine recipes are from the new york times, and the couscous recipe is from epicurious. we put extra cooking liquid from the vegetables for the couscous in the liquid (vegetable broth instead of water) for cooking the couscous. (not only is it fun to say "couscous," it's such a fun grain to eat...)
in regards to the vegetable tagine, i think this is the first time that i've eaten fully cooked chickpeas. i had never really liked their texture before when people put them in chili and various other dishes, and last night i realized that is was because they weren't cooked through anyway. instead of being hard, they were firm on the outside, but creamy on the inside, with a remaining bit of bite. small food revelation there. :)
i think the vegetable tagine went best with the couscous; i didn't quite like it on its own. i'll have to go back and taste it, but it just didn't seem like it had enough depth of taste. maybe the spices weren't quite right; it was the sort of thing where you just want to add a whole bunch of potatoes - as a whole, the stew just didn't have enough oomph. it could have also just needed some salt. i'll have to try it again and see (lucky for me that things with so many spices in them only get better as they age - until that threshold of impending mold, of course). oops, i just realized that i told fred the wrong spices when he asked which ones were in the chicken. since i had no idea where to get zaatar (i have a vague inkling that formaggio kitchen might have it, as they have the most exotic spice collection i've ever seen), i used the suggested substition - ground sesame seeds and dried thyme. unfortunately, i only had regular sesame seeds, so i pretended to grind them a bit in a bowl with a spoon for a while...anyway, the zaatar went into the vegetable tagine, not the chicken tagine.
i really liked the chicken tagine, though. the addition of the lemon zest at the end added some depth to the flavor, and in my opinion, really improved it. since i like olives, the addition of olives was also a good thing. the spice combination was also just right - gotta remember that one. the chicken had simmered for a long time, so it was almost falling off the bones.
the vegetable couscous was good as well; we used zucchini and carrots as the vegetables for it. it was a great base for the rest of the meal, in which everything really just got mixed together. we used regular raisins instead of golden, but if you make it, go for the golden - i don't think there's really a taste difference, but there is a psychological difference. somehow i like eating golden raisins with couscous, much more than regular raisins. hmm. they look prettier, too.
dessert was just ice cream with some toppings. when i went to star, i bought yet another carton of ice cream - vanilla - to join the grashopper pie, butterscotch blast, and chocolate. currently we have a wall of ice cream in our freezer... i made a hot fudge sauce (also from the new york times) to go with the ice cream, and it turned out quite well. it had a bit too much cocoa powder in it even though i put in less than the recipe called for, but as it cooked a bit more, got better, and was really good over the ice cream. there's nothing healthy in that sauce, of course, but it acted just like it should have, which is just very pleasing, for some reason - it hardened as it hit the ice cream and everything.
as a whole, i enjoyed this evening more than i've enjoyed any of our past gatherings at 44 columbia (including our enormous parties, where all i seem to be able to do is tire myself out for the 10 hours preceding our party, so that i feel antisocial during the actual party; gotta work on that one). probably because it went so smoothly kitchenwise - we even got to clean up as we went, so there wasn't an enormous pile of dishes at the end of the night. i think choosing a simple dessert (read: no work) was a good thing as well. guests were lmfers, plus caitlin from 4.101 and her boyfriend steve, who's course 6 at harvard (giving him, keith, josh, AND mary lots to talk about).
and now, the recipes. this is the first time i've tried any recipes from the new york times (there are no readers' reviews!), and i'm quite happy with the way things turned out.
NOTE: all spices are always ground, unless otherwise specified (ie, "1/2t cumin seeds"). all ginger is ground ginger (the spice) if a teaspoon or tablespoon measure is mentioned. raw, fresh ginger would be something like "1" worth ginger, minced." parsley should always be flat-leaf, rather than curly.
djej m'chermel (chicken tagine with lemons and olives)
3-4 lbs chicken (either thighs and drumsticks, or an entire chicken, cut into 8 pieces; you can add the liver and giblets if you want)
4T butter
2 large onions, minced (because more onions never hurt)
2 cloves garlic, finely minced (i omitted this due to a lack of garlic at the apt)
2t paprika
1t ginger
1/2t cumin
1/4t turmeric
4T cilantro, chopped
4T parsley, chopped
1t salt
1/2t freshly ground black pepper
1/4c extra-virgin olive oil (i would recommend using a bit less)
1 1/2c water
peel from 1 preserved lemon, pulp discarded, cut into long narrow strips (use zest of 1 lemon if you can't get preserved lemons)
1c green olives, pitted
juice of 2 lemons
[1] in a large saucepan or dutch oven, over high heat, brown the chicken in the butter, skin side down, until the skin is golden brown. reduce the heat to medium low and add the liver + giblets (if using), onion, garlic, all spices (including salt and pepper), and olive oil.
[2] warm gradually, turning the ingredients for a few minutes, then add enough water to cover (don't add too much more than 1 1/2c though). bring to a boil, then reduce the heat and simmer uncovered, occasionally turning the chicken in the sauce, until almost tender, about 30 to 40 minutes.
[3] add the lemon peel or zest, olives, and lemon juice and continue to cook until the chicken is very tender, about 15 minutes longer. (this recipe can be prepared in advance up to this point; allow to cool, refrigerate, and serve within a few days). taste the seasonings and adjust if necessary. serve immediately.
[serves 4, generously]
vegetable tagine
2T butter
2 onions, diced
2 fresh small chili peppers, thinly sliced (i substituted a teaspoon or two of ground chili peppers, available in any indian food store)
1T paprika
1/2t cayenne pepper
1t ground cumin
1c dried lentils
4 tomatoes, chopped
1/2c tomato puree
1 can chickpeas, drained
1c carrots, cut into a 1/2" dice
3 small zucchini, sliced into 1/2" disks and quartered
3/4c green peas, frozen
1/2c parsley, chopped
1T zaatar (use equal amounts ground sesame seeds and dried thyme as a substitute for this)
salt and pepper to taste
[1] in a medium or large saucepan over medium heat, warm the butter. add onions and chilies and cook until the onions begin to soften, about 10 minutes.
[2] add the dried spices and continue to saute until the onions are tender and fragrant, a few minutes longer.
[3] add lentils, tomatoes, and tomato puree, then water just to cover. simmer for about 20 minutes.
[4] add chickepeas, carrots, zucchini, and peas. simmer until tender, 15-20 minutes more. add parsley and zaatar during the last five minutes of cooking. season to taste and serve immediately.
[serves 6 to 8]
moroccan couscous
1T olive oil
3c mixed cut-up vegetables (red onions, carrots, zucchini, cauliflower, etc)
1 1/2t cumin
1 1/2t coriander (i had none, so substituted with a bit of turmeric and a bit of ginger)
1c dry white wine
1/3c golden raisins
3/4c canned vegetable broth
extra cans of vegetable broth
1 5- to 7-oz box couscous
[1] heat oil in skillet over medium-high heat. add vegetables, cumin, and coriander; saute until vegetables just begin to soften, about 3 minutes. add wine and raisins. boil until wine is reduced by half, about 3 minutes. add broth. partially cover skillet, and simmer until vegetables are tender, about 6 minutes. season with salt and pepper.
[2] make couscous according to package directions, substituting vegetable broth (and leftover liquid from vegetables if there is too much liquid) for the water.
[3] mix together vegetables and couscous in a large bowl. serve immediately.
[serves 4]
hot fudge sauce
2c heavy cream
4T butter
1/2c dark brown sugar
3/8c sugar
4-6 oz bittersweet chocolate (i used chocolate chips so i wouldn't have to chop refrigerated chocolate)
3/4c good-quality cocoa
1/2t vanilla
[1] in a medium saucepan, combine cream, butter, and sugars. bring to a simmer over medium-low heat (this takes about 10 minutes). simmer 45 seconds, then add 4 oz of chocolate and whisk to dissolve. reduce heat to the lowest setting, and add the cocoa powder, whisking to get rid of lumps.
[2] taste the sauce (it will thicken) and add more chocolate if there is too much of the cocoa taste. simmer for a minute or two longer, whisking constantly to prevent lumps from forming. remove from heat and whisk in vanilla. serve immediately. to reheat sauce, warm in a saucepan over low heat, stirring constantly (do not let boil).
[yield : 3 cups]
web links to recipes:
djej m'chermel
vegetable tagine
quick vegetable couscous
homemade hot fudge
a side note: i have officially fallen in love with the tour de france. i suppose it's a combination of my love for les triplettes de belleville, as well as patriotism regarding lance armstrong, but i've become addicted to the new york times' live multimedia dealie...
06 juillet 2004
an attempt to keep up with the baking
an update on the past several days! on thursday, v and i made dinner for some of v's friends (or, more accurately, v made tinadtad, a filipino dish, and i made this really unhealthy-looking chocolate cake). specifically, the cream cheese turtle cake on epicurious.com.
though this particular cake uses a cake mix (in general i disapprove of doctored cake mixes), i was at work and happened to be hungry, and the picture (see the link above) looked far too good to pass up. this is a chocolate cake with cream cheese swirled through it, with nuts sprinkled on top and both chocolate and caramel drizzled on top. i assume you can see why it had such appeal. :) as it turns out, the cake was pretty good, although you could tell that it was made with a cake mix. it seems like it would be great (although messy) for a kid's birthday, and takes little brainpower to make. it's best warm out of the oven, when it's nice and gooey, but not too gooey.
i also spent thursday evening making luis' birthday cheesecake, also a recipe from epicurious: the mango-pineapple-lime cheesecake. absolutely screams "luis," doesn't it? making the crust was a pain because i was crushing fairly hard gingersnaps without a food processor (this is one of the few times where i think it's ok to use a food processor to make the crust for something. graham cracker crusts made of food processed crackers are never as good as the ones made by hand. it has to do with the crumbs being too fine or something). it went into the oven shortly after our dinner guests left, and baked for what seemed like an eternity - we cleaned up the apartment in the meantime. having not had a 10" springform on hand, i bought a disposable casserole dish - the aluminum/foil ones. thus the cheesecake was about 4 1/2" tall, explaining why it took somewhere between 1 1/2 and 2 hours to bake. it took so long that i had forgotten that it was in the oven, remembering only before i was about to go to sleep. heh. it probably STILL could have baked a little longer, but i judged it to be done (basically, i wanted to go to sleep).
the cheesecake (eaten two days later, on saturday) was pretty good. for me (and mary) the best part was the crust. mmm, butter and gingersnap crumbs. i like it so much that it might become the crust i use instead of graham crackers. the cheesecake was pretty good - creamy and on the light side, but wasn't firm enough, in my opinion. i wonder if it would have gotten firmer had i baked it longer - i suppose we'll never know, since i have no desire to make a cheesecake that tall, ever again. more entertaining was lighting the candles on the cake. i had bought these really skinny (1 mm in diameter or so) candles at a party store (with luis, in fact) and decided to use them on this cake. i stuck all 20 candles in the middle of the cake and proceeded to light them. shortly thereafter we realized why people don't usually do this: you end up with a massive flame in the middle of the cake. i rushed over to the living room with a cake, and then we sang happy birthday rather fast. all's well that ends well, though.
finally, friday afternoon i left work early to go home and clean my room before luis arrived. i had been wanting to make banana cream pie for a few weeks now, and finally got around to it that afternoon, in a nice leisurely fashion. the crust, according to the recipe, took 8 hours to soften - something about the combination of mashed banana and sugar (plus graham crackers and butter) made it really hard. and, in fact, it was really hard. i suppose it didn't help that i brushed the crust with chocolate after it cooled; when we went to ate the pie about 6 hours later, it was hard as anything. but good.... the filling of the pie was supposed to be sliced bananas layered with vanilla pudding, but i tasted the pudding as i cooked it and wasn't impressed, and accordingly, added 3 mashed bananas to it. unfortunately, the custard was slightly grainy - i inevitably err on the side of too short a cooking time, leaving the custard runny, and wanted to try cooking it longer - but the addition of the mashed banana was quite good. the pie, despite the longer cooking time for the custard, stayed messy like nothing else. i topped it with whipped cream and we ate the filling out of the crust. later, we pried the crust out of the pyrex pan and it turned out to be quite good. perhaps i'll try a nonstick pan next time. here's the recipe; incidentally, i didn't have cornstarch so i used about a third cup of flour. that may also have contributed to the graininess problem.
and finally, saturday i ended the week's baking with some sticky buns and french toast. it was intended to be breakfast for our houseguests (luis and mary's friend eamon), but they were both late, so it was breakfast for mika, matt, mary, v and i. hmph. we enjoyed it very much without our guests... mmm, maybe i'll have pancakes for dinner tonight. anyway, the sticky buns were somewhat failed - the caramel started dripping onto the oven and burned, so we took 'em out before they were done. they were also absolutely enormous, even though i put in the normal amount of yeast - they filled the entire 9x13 pan and were each as big as your (well, my hand at least) hand.
next up: i haven't decided what to bake this week. i'm going to make some brownies, cookies, and granola for care packages this week. on thursday, i'm making moroccan food: chicken tagine and vegetable tagine. i kind of want carrot cake, but it doesn't seem like the right dessert for either tagine. however, i might make it anyway, depending on how much i want carrot cake. :)
though this particular cake uses a cake mix (in general i disapprove of doctored cake mixes), i was at work and happened to be hungry, and the picture (see the link above) looked far too good to pass up. this is a chocolate cake with cream cheese swirled through it, with nuts sprinkled on top and both chocolate and caramel drizzled on top. i assume you can see why it had such appeal. :) as it turns out, the cake was pretty good, although you could tell that it was made with a cake mix. it seems like it would be great (although messy) for a kid's birthday, and takes little brainpower to make. it's best warm out of the oven, when it's nice and gooey, but not too gooey.
i also spent thursday evening making luis' birthday cheesecake, also a recipe from epicurious: the mango-pineapple-lime cheesecake. absolutely screams "luis," doesn't it? making the crust was a pain because i was crushing fairly hard gingersnaps without a food processor (this is one of the few times where i think it's ok to use a food processor to make the crust for something. graham cracker crusts made of food processed crackers are never as good as the ones made by hand. it has to do with the crumbs being too fine or something). it went into the oven shortly after our dinner guests left, and baked for what seemed like an eternity - we cleaned up the apartment in the meantime. having not had a 10" springform on hand, i bought a disposable casserole dish - the aluminum/foil ones. thus the cheesecake was about 4 1/2" tall, explaining why it took somewhere between 1 1/2 and 2 hours to bake. it took so long that i had forgotten that it was in the oven, remembering only before i was about to go to sleep. heh. it probably STILL could have baked a little longer, but i judged it to be done (basically, i wanted to go to sleep).
the cheesecake (eaten two days later, on saturday) was pretty good. for me (and mary) the best part was the crust. mmm, butter and gingersnap crumbs. i like it so much that it might become the crust i use instead of graham crackers. the cheesecake was pretty good - creamy and on the light side, but wasn't firm enough, in my opinion. i wonder if it would have gotten firmer had i baked it longer - i suppose we'll never know, since i have no desire to make a cheesecake that tall, ever again. more entertaining was lighting the candles on the cake. i had bought these really skinny (1 mm in diameter or so) candles at a party store (with luis, in fact) and decided to use them on this cake. i stuck all 20 candles in the middle of the cake and proceeded to light them. shortly thereafter we realized why people don't usually do this: you end up with a massive flame in the middle of the cake. i rushed over to the living room with a cake, and then we sang happy birthday rather fast. all's well that ends well, though.
finally, friday afternoon i left work early to go home and clean my room before luis arrived. i had been wanting to make banana cream pie for a few weeks now, and finally got around to it that afternoon, in a nice leisurely fashion. the crust, according to the recipe, took 8 hours to soften - something about the combination of mashed banana and sugar (plus graham crackers and butter) made it really hard. and, in fact, it was really hard. i suppose it didn't help that i brushed the crust with chocolate after it cooled; when we went to ate the pie about 6 hours later, it was hard as anything. but good.... the filling of the pie was supposed to be sliced bananas layered with vanilla pudding, but i tasted the pudding as i cooked it and wasn't impressed, and accordingly, added 3 mashed bananas to it. unfortunately, the custard was slightly grainy - i inevitably err on the side of too short a cooking time, leaving the custard runny, and wanted to try cooking it longer - but the addition of the mashed banana was quite good. the pie, despite the longer cooking time for the custard, stayed messy like nothing else. i topped it with whipped cream and we ate the filling out of the crust. later, we pried the crust out of the pyrex pan and it turned out to be quite good. perhaps i'll try a nonstick pan next time. here's the recipe; incidentally, i didn't have cornstarch so i used about a third cup of flour. that may also have contributed to the graininess problem.
and finally, saturday i ended the week's baking with some sticky buns and french toast. it was intended to be breakfast for our houseguests (luis and mary's friend eamon), but they were both late, so it was breakfast for mika, matt, mary, v and i. hmph. we enjoyed it very much without our guests... mmm, maybe i'll have pancakes for dinner tonight. anyway, the sticky buns were somewhat failed - the caramel started dripping onto the oven and burned, so we took 'em out before they were done. they were also absolutely enormous, even though i put in the normal amount of yeast - they filled the entire 9x13 pan and were each as big as your (well, my hand at least) hand.
next up: i haven't decided what to bake this week. i'm going to make some brownies, cookies, and granola for care packages this week. on thursday, i'm making moroccan food: chicken tagine and vegetable tagine. i kind of want carrot cake, but it doesn't seem like the right dessert for either tagine. however, i might make it anyway, depending on how much i want carrot cake. :)
01 juillet 2004
dinner with nora
another adventure in cooking meat! that is, meat that requires actual attention and possibly skill (up for debate). on the menu: sauteed pork chops with sour cherry sauce, boiled corn, and the oat-granola pie that just won the pillsbury bakeoff contest (curiosity...).
unfortunately, nora and i were too full by the time we were finished with the pork chops and corn to actually eat the pie, which involves butter, sugar, corn syrup, crushed granola bars, and oats. weird, eh? that's what i thought, too. i'll have some when i go home after work today...
the pork chops were a hit! well, at least, with me and nora. mary didn't like the sauce, i think - which had a savory-sweet taste to it. i liked the addition of the cinnamon, which at first smell was too much, but mellowed out as you added the stock and simmered it for a while. i was surprised that the flour didn't clump; in my experience it always does. perhaps the clumps are all hiding at the bottom of the pan... anyway, back to the sauce. lots of depth, and i do believe this is due to more chicken stock than the recipe called for (what is the logic of selling stock in 2-cup cans, if you only ever need 1 cup???) and deglazing the chop pan into the sauce. we also used onions instead of shallots, white wine instead of red, and omitted the lime juice and cornstarch (this was a recipe from epicurious) and it came out great.
sauteeing the pork chops was also fairly successful. i would like to add a point here, that nonstick pans are the devil (in addition to kitchen aids and bread makers). you will never get as beautiful a fond or as wonderful browning with nonstick as you will with a normal pan (this is actually proven). anyway, the chops sizzled nicely, and browned better than any pork chop i've cooked before. come to think of it, i have never made pork chops before. we had some issues figuring out if they were done, though. in the end, we stuck a knife into the middle of each one and peered inside as if we were about to start surgery or something. we couldn't just press the meat and see if the juices ran pink because the fond turned the liquid tan. i don't know how this happened, but we ended up not overcooking them. and they were lovely! i wonder if it would make a difference to brine the chops beforehand.
oh, this is unrelated to this post, but on the rhubarb cake: it tasted much better when all of the components were combined...actually it was quite good the day after - all moist from the compote.
our version of the recipe:
sauteed pork chops with sour cherry sauce
2 1 1/4-inch thick pork chops (really you could make 3 or 4 chops)
salt and pepper
vegetable oil
3T balsamic vinegar
3T sugar
1/2c minced onion
3/4c white wine
1/2t to 1t cinnamon
1 can chicken broth
1 lb cherries, halved and pitted
1/2c flour
[1] heat the balsamic vinegar and sugar in a large saucepan and reduce the mixture to a glaze. add onion, white wine, and cinnamon (i can't remember how much i added...3-4 shakes - don't add too much!), and cook until reduced to 1/4c.
[2] add chicken broth and cherries and let simmer to reduce the sauce while you cook the chops. stir occasionally.
[3] heat 1 1/2 to 2 tablespoons oil in a skillet. rub each chop with oil, then salt and (freshly ground) pepper. cook the chops on medium to medium-high heat, 5-6 minutes each side. remove to a plate and tent with foil.
[4] deglaze the pan with either wine or water; pour the fond liquid into the sauce.
[5] let sauce simmer down to about 3-4 cups of liquid. cherries should be fully cooked and limp. sprinkle flour in by small handfuls, stirring to make sure flour doesn't clump. continue to add flour until sauce reaches desired consistency (1/2c in my case). let cook 1-2 minutes further to fully cook flour.
[6] arrange chops on a plate and spoon sauce over. you will have leftover sauce, but that is never a problem...
unfortunately, nora and i were too full by the time we were finished with the pork chops and corn to actually eat the pie, which involves butter, sugar, corn syrup, crushed granola bars, and oats. weird, eh? that's what i thought, too. i'll have some when i go home after work today...
the pork chops were a hit! well, at least, with me and nora. mary didn't like the sauce, i think - which had a savory-sweet taste to it. i liked the addition of the cinnamon, which at first smell was too much, but mellowed out as you added the stock and simmered it for a while. i was surprised that the flour didn't clump; in my experience it always does. perhaps the clumps are all hiding at the bottom of the pan... anyway, back to the sauce. lots of depth, and i do believe this is due to more chicken stock than the recipe called for (what is the logic of selling stock in 2-cup cans, if you only ever need 1 cup???) and deglazing the chop pan into the sauce. we also used onions instead of shallots, white wine instead of red, and omitted the lime juice and cornstarch (this was a recipe from epicurious) and it came out great.
sauteeing the pork chops was also fairly successful. i would like to add a point here, that nonstick pans are the devil (in addition to kitchen aids and bread makers). you will never get as beautiful a fond or as wonderful browning with nonstick as you will with a normal pan (this is actually proven). anyway, the chops sizzled nicely, and browned better than any pork chop i've cooked before. come to think of it, i have never made pork chops before. we had some issues figuring out if they were done, though. in the end, we stuck a knife into the middle of each one and peered inside as if we were about to start surgery or something. we couldn't just press the meat and see if the juices ran pink because the fond turned the liquid tan. i don't know how this happened, but we ended up not overcooking them. and they were lovely! i wonder if it would make a difference to brine the chops beforehand.
oh, this is unrelated to this post, but on the rhubarb cake: it tasted much better when all of the components were combined...actually it was quite good the day after - all moist from the compote.
our version of the recipe:
sauteed pork chops with sour cherry sauce
2 1 1/4-inch thick pork chops (really you could make 3 or 4 chops)
salt and pepper
vegetable oil
3T balsamic vinegar
3T sugar
1/2c minced onion
3/4c white wine
1/2t to 1t cinnamon
1 can chicken broth
1 lb cherries, halved and pitted
1/2c flour
[1] heat the balsamic vinegar and sugar in a large saucepan and reduce the mixture to a glaze. add onion, white wine, and cinnamon (i can't remember how much i added...3-4 shakes - don't add too much!), and cook until reduced to 1/4c.
[2] add chicken broth and cherries and let simmer to reduce the sauce while you cook the chops. stir occasionally.
[3] heat 1 1/2 to 2 tablespoons oil in a skillet. rub each chop with oil, then salt and (freshly ground) pepper. cook the chops on medium to medium-high heat, 5-6 minutes each side. remove to a plate and tent with foil.
[4] deglaze the pan with either wine or water; pour the fond liquid into the sauce.
[5] let sauce simmer down to about 3-4 cups of liquid. cherries should be fully cooked and limp. sprinkle flour in by small handfuls, stirring to make sure flour doesn't clump. continue to add flour until sauce reaches desired consistency (1/2c in my case). let cook 1-2 minutes further to fully cook flour.
[6] arrange chops on a plate and spoon sauce over. you will have leftover sauce, but that is never a problem...
rhubarb addendum : recipes
rhubarb streusel pie
1 pie crust
for the filling:
1c sugar
3T quick-cooking tapioca
1/2t vanilla
5c 1/2-inch chunks fresh rhubarb (slightly over a pound)
2T butter, cut into bits
for the streusel:
1/2c brown sugar
1 1/2c flour
4T butter
1/2t cinnamon
[1] roll out the dough to 1/8" thickness and place in a 9" pie pan. Line with foil and weight with rice, and bake in a preheated oven at 425 for 10 minutes. Remove foil and rice and bake 3-5 minutes more, until pale golden.
[2] stir together all of the filling ingredients in a large bowl; let stand 15 minutes.
[3] mix together dry ingredients for streusel in a bowl. add butter and rub into dry ingredients until it resembles coarse meal and the mixture clumps.
[4] sprinkle streusel on top of filling. bake at 450 for 15 minutes, then 350 for 50-60 minutes, until rhubarb is tender.
strawberry-rhubarb courting cake
cake:
2 sticks butter
1c + 2T sugar
4 eggs
2t vanilla
2 3/4c flour
4t baking powder
1t ground nutmeg
1t salt
1/4c milk
whipped cream:
1 1/2c chilled whipping cream
6T sugar
1t nutmeg
1t vanilla
compote:
4c 1/2-inch thick slices rhubarb (slightly over a pound)
1/2c sugar
2T water
1 pint strawberries, sliced
1/2t vanilla
1/2t nutmeg
[1] make cake: preheat oven to 350F. Butter 2 9" cake pans and line with parchment paper. Cream together butter and sugar. Add vanilla extract, then eggs 1 at a time. Mix together dry ingredients in another bowl and fold into butter mixture. Fold in milk. Divide batter between pans and bake, ~25 minutes.
[2] cool cakes 10 minutes, then release from pans and split each cake in half horizontally (to create 4 layers). Let cool completely.
[3] make compote: mix together rhubarb, sugar, and water in a large saucepan. cook over medium heat until the mixture boils, then reduce the heat to medium low. cover and cook until rhubarb reduces and liquefies. remove from heat and add remaining compote ingredients.
[4] make whipped cream: whip cream to soft peaks. add nutmeg, vanilla. add sugar gradually and whip to stiff peaks.
[5] assemble cake: put bottom layer of one cake on cake plate. spread with 3/4c compote, then 1c whipped cream. repeat with 2 more layers, then top with bottom layer of second cake. dust with powdered sugar and serve, or chill several hours.
1 pie crust
for the filling:
1c sugar
3T quick-cooking tapioca
1/2t vanilla
5c 1/2-inch chunks fresh rhubarb (slightly over a pound)
2T butter, cut into bits
for the streusel:
1/2c brown sugar
1 1/2c flour
4T butter
1/2t cinnamon
[1] roll out the dough to 1/8" thickness and place in a 9" pie pan. Line with foil and weight with rice, and bake in a preheated oven at 425 for 10 minutes. Remove foil and rice and bake 3-5 minutes more, until pale golden.
[2] stir together all of the filling ingredients in a large bowl; let stand 15 minutes.
[3] mix together dry ingredients for streusel in a bowl. add butter and rub into dry ingredients until it resembles coarse meal and the mixture clumps.
[4] sprinkle streusel on top of filling. bake at 450 for 15 minutes, then 350 for 50-60 minutes, until rhubarb is tender.
strawberry-rhubarb courting cake
cake:
2 sticks butter
1c + 2T sugar
4 eggs
2t vanilla
2 3/4c flour
4t baking powder
1t ground nutmeg
1t salt
1/4c milk
whipped cream:
1 1/2c chilled whipping cream
6T sugar
1t nutmeg
1t vanilla
compote:
4c 1/2-inch thick slices rhubarb (slightly over a pound)
1/2c sugar
2T water
1 pint strawberries, sliced
1/2t vanilla
1/2t nutmeg
[1] make cake: preheat oven to 350F. Butter 2 9" cake pans and line with parchment paper. Cream together butter and sugar. Add vanilla extract, then eggs 1 at a time. Mix together dry ingredients in another bowl and fold into butter mixture. Fold in milk. Divide batter between pans and bake, ~25 minutes.
[2] cool cakes 10 minutes, then release from pans and split each cake in half horizontally (to create 4 layers). Let cool completely.
[3] make compote: mix together rhubarb, sugar, and water in a large saucepan. cook over medium heat until the mixture boils, then reduce the heat to medium low. cover and cook until rhubarb reduces and liquefies. remove from heat and add remaining compote ingredients.
[4] make whipped cream: whip cream to soft peaks. add nutmeg, vanilla. add sugar gradually and whip to stiff peaks.
[5] assemble cake: put bottom layer of one cake on cake plate. spread with 3/4c compote, then 1c whipped cream. repeat with 2 more layers, then top with bottom layer of second cake. dust with powdered sugar and serve, or chill several hours.
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