just a quick one here...i made this a while ago to eat while watching guys and dolls. i made two cheesecakes, one a classic cheesecake and one a dulce de leche cheesecake from epicurious. my cheesecake wisdom to you: (1) the best crust is a gingersnap crust. (2) if you want a caramel cheesecake, make it with real caramel instead of dulce de leche to get a sharper, more caramel-y flavor. (3) milk products added to the cream cheese always makes your cheesecake more tender. (4) if you don't prebake the crust, it will be softer because it soaks up moisture from the batter. (5) the water bath is key. do not skip the water bath. (6) cheesecake is all about the details - the ingredients being at room temp, the amount of mise en place before you can put the ingredients together, the cooling of the cheesecake with the oven off but propped open....do not skip over the details. (6) making your own dulce de leche is pretty fun.
the classic cheesecake was the best ever: tangy from the greek yogurt i used in place of sour cream, medium light, creamy but not too creamy, perfectly accompanied by the gingersnap crust. this cheesecake will never fail you. the dulce de leche cheesecake was also good, but the layer of ganache i used was too thick, and the flavor was a little muted and muddled. eat your dulce de leche on toast instead of in a cheesecake, or at the very least, use a gingersnap crust to contrast more with the caramel filling.
dulce de leche
1 can sweetened condensed milk (containing only milk, sugar, glucose and sodium bicarbonate)
1 large stockpot (the can should fit inside with lots of room to spare in terms of inches of water above the top of the can)
water
1. place can in pot.
2. fill pot with water. cover top of can with at least 1 inch of water.
3. heat pot until water is boiling. keep at a boil; boil three hours.
4. most important step: as water boils off, keep adding more water so that the can is always covered with at least one inch of water. if you do not do this, the can will explode. do not let the can explode.
5. let cool at least 1 hour before opening and using.
[makes about 1 1/4 cups]
best cheesecake ever!!!
crust
2 packages ginger thins (i used anna's brand from the local supermarket)
4-5T butter, softened
filling
2 lbs cream cheese, room temperature
1 1/4c sugar
4 eggs, room temperature
1c greek yogurt
1/2c whipping cream
10" springform pan, plus a large roasting pan into which the springform pan will fit
1. to prepare the pan, wrap the bottom in tinfoil and then lock it into the ring. place the pan on a large piece of tinfoil and wrap the sides in it, in order to prevent water from touching the pan. place the pan in the large roasting pan. preheat the oven to 325F.
2. for the crust: grind up the gingersnaps in a bowl by hand, or in a cuisinart. it should be finely ground - as fine as it can get, essentially. mix in the butter either by hand or in a cuisinart, and pulse until the mixture looks damp. if it's not looking damp, add a little more butter. press into the pan with your fingers, then compact it with a measuring cup or the bottom of a glass.
3. for the filling: using an electric mixer, beat the cream cheese in a large bowl until smooth. beat in sugar, scraping down sides of bowl occasionally. add eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition. beat in sour cream and whipping cream. meanwhile, boil enough water to fill the roasting pan to come 1 inch up the sides of the springform pan.
4. to assemble: pour filling into crust. pour boiling water into the roasting pan (in all honesty, i did not boil the water and it was ok). bake until filling is set and golden brown on top, about 1 hour 25 minutes. turn off oven and prop open oven door very slightly with a wooden spoon. let cake stand in oven 1 hour.
5. remove pan from water bath. remove foil (but do not remove cake from the pan yet), cover, and refrigerate to cool completely. to serve, slide a knife around the edge of the cheesecake to make sure it won't stick to the sides of the pan, then remove the sides. transfer to a plate.
note: can be prepared up to 4 days in advance, or frozen up to 2 months. if you freeze it, defrost it overnight in the refrigerator.
[serves 10-12]
27 juillet 2007
26 juillet 2007
review: cha fahn
cha fahn / 763 centre street, jamaica plain / 617-983-3575 / summer hours tues-sun 5pm- / $25 prix fixe on wednesdays / entrees 12-20
small plates
shrimp summer rolls with peanut dipping sauce
pan-fried spicy pork and kimchi dumplings
jasmine tea wilted kale with pine nuts and lemon soy dressing
asparagus, shrimp, and cilantro pesto on seaweed papers
main
szechuan noodles: chilled noodles in a spicy szechuan peanut sauce with fried tofu and crispy lotus roots
beef noodle soup: taiwanese style noodle soup with tender beef slices and spinach
tea-bathed chicken: sauteed chicken breast with a citrus and smoky tea-infused sauce, braised carrots, baby spinach, and pilaf
satay tofu: tofu cutlets with a bracing blend of peanuts, coriander, ginger, and soy sauce, braised carrots, baby bok choy, and pilaf
miso salmon: roasted sake-miso marinated salmon, asparagus, scarlot tea pickled ginger, and pilaf
skirt steak: seared skirt steak with a spicy korean sauce, crispy lotus roots, asian pear, daikon radish, wilted watercress salad and potatoes
garlic-lime shrimp: sauteed shrimp with garlic, ginger, and a soy-lime sauce, sauteed spinahc with golden raisins and pine nuts, and pilaf
for after
orange rooibos creme brulee with candied orange peels, and shredded chocolate
green tea mochi ice cream
seared banana with lychee sorbet
ginger spice tea cake, candied ginger, and wine-reduction berry sauce
-
above is the menu for when we went to cha fahn (yesterday). while a bit of the food is slightly overwrought, there is a huge upside to this place: a lot of great food, a lot of fantastic teas, a quiet atmosphere, and excellent interior design. we went to take advantage of the $25 prix fixe menu, which is above; there are also extensive sake and tea menus. between the four of us, we had most of the food dishes; three of us had tea, mine being a lapsang souchong.
part of the allure of this place is the focus on tea - for tea enthusiasts, who know that tea has as much nuance as wine, this is the only place that acknowledges and exploits the relationship between tea and food. chinese restaurants serve tea with every meal, but little thought goes into how the tea might affect the food, and vice versa. if this idea piques your interest, as it did mine, you will be happy at cha fahn.
i am not a tea expert, and thus can't tell you about the nuances of the tea that we had. however, i did love my tea very much - it smelled like a wood-burning fire, and tasted like a plant's impression of smoke. the food itself was excellent; i had the dumplings, the chicken, and the creme brulee. the dumplings were just barely spicy, at a level that could have been a little higher, but was entirely sufficient to capture the taste of kimchi (another nuanced food product that i cannot expound upon). what wasn't fabulous about the dumplings was that they were a little too salty, and i think a bit more ginger would have balanced them better; what was utterly fabulous about them was the way in which they were cooked - the combination of the cooking method and the texture of the dumpling skin rendered the dumpling bottoms delectably crispy, but not chewy. in this case, the fact that the dumpling skins were on the thin side (not as thin as wonton skins, thinner than dumpling skins) was essential.
i tasted miriam's summer rolls, which were quite good for summer rolls, and better than the ones you get at the typical thai restaurant. these summer rolls were a bit crispier, a bit crunchier, and it was apparent that the chefs were paying more attention to how cooked the shrimp were than at xinh xinh last week.
the entrees were excellent across the board. i think i would have preferred chicken with the bone in, rather than the breast, but the sauce was really citrus-y in a restrained way - i sometimes think of chinese food as a punch in the face, flavor-wise, but this sauce was definitely more carefully planned, along the lines of a japanese tea ceremony. the carrots were perfectly cooked (as someone who doesn't like raw carrots, this matters a lot to me and i always notice how well or poorly the carrots are cooked). the pilaf was also excellent - it had citrus and some unidentifiable spice in it.
in fact, my entree was probably the weakest. miriam's ginger-lime shrimp were fantastic - the ginger and garlic hit you first, then you got a little bit of cilantro, all complementing the flavor of the shrimp. on its own, the ginger-garlic-lime-soy sauce was overly salty, but paired with the shrimp it was everything you could ever ask of shrimp. the shrimp were also deftly cooked - still sweet and juicy. carrie's miso salmon rated a bit higher in my opinion - the miso paired perfectly with the salmon so that it balanced the salmon and brought out the flavor of the salmon, with hints of miso here and there. i would say, though, that josh's skirt steak was the best - absolutely perfectly cooked to order (rare, because there isn't any other way you should be eating your steak), tender, not stringy, flavorful....i don't know where cha fahn is getting their meat, but somebody should ask.
as i said before, the upside of this place is pretty great. and as the meal went on, it got better - average appetizers, excellent entrees, and really fantastic desserts. i love dessert, and i will always eat dessert because i like the idea of dessert. thus i am less affected by how much i like the dessert, despite my high standards. we had the ginger cake and the creme brulee, and while i felt that the ginger cake was probably just above average as a dessert, the creme brulee really hit it out of the park. i'm pretty sure it would be on my top ten list, along with desserts from chez panisse, alinea, aujourd'hui, and various other hoity-toity places. this is, without a doubt, the best creme brulee i have ever had. the texture was nothing short of amazing - silky, creamy, thick. the flavor was well balanced - not too much citrus, not too much tea, and not too sweet - and the bruleed top gave your tastebuds the occasional crunchy burst of orange-y, burnt sugary flavor. if i had a faster metabolism, i'd be eating this every day for breakfast. and it went perfectly with my smoky tea, although i'm not sure if the strong smokiness of the tea destroyed any of my tastebuds' ability to taste the entire range of flavors.
a note on the atmosphere and decor - the tables are carved chinese tables, with really comfortable red cushioned chairs in the middle of the restaurant, and super-high-backed chinese chairs at the tables along the walls. the lighting is ideal - that sort of glowy, softly warm, somehow bright light. and the bathroom is pretty awesome: black tile up to your shoulder, then a wide swathe of black-painted wall, then a wide swathe of white-painted wall to make the space seem taller. this is a place that is aptly called a tea room - it gives you the sense that you can linger over your food and your tea at a slower pace than the rest of your day.
small plates
shrimp summer rolls with peanut dipping sauce
pan-fried spicy pork and kimchi dumplings
jasmine tea wilted kale with pine nuts and lemon soy dressing
asparagus, shrimp, and cilantro pesto on seaweed papers
main
szechuan noodles: chilled noodles in a spicy szechuan peanut sauce with fried tofu and crispy lotus roots
beef noodle soup: taiwanese style noodle soup with tender beef slices and spinach
tea-bathed chicken: sauteed chicken breast with a citrus and smoky tea-infused sauce, braised carrots, baby spinach, and pilaf
satay tofu: tofu cutlets with a bracing blend of peanuts, coriander, ginger, and soy sauce, braised carrots, baby bok choy, and pilaf
miso salmon: roasted sake-miso marinated salmon, asparagus, scarlot tea pickled ginger, and pilaf
skirt steak: seared skirt steak with a spicy korean sauce, crispy lotus roots, asian pear, daikon radish, wilted watercress salad and potatoes
garlic-lime shrimp: sauteed shrimp with garlic, ginger, and a soy-lime sauce, sauteed spinahc with golden raisins and pine nuts, and pilaf
for after
orange rooibos creme brulee with candied orange peels, and shredded chocolate
green tea mochi ice cream
seared banana with lychee sorbet
ginger spice tea cake, candied ginger, and wine-reduction berry sauce
-
above is the menu for when we went to cha fahn (yesterday). while a bit of the food is slightly overwrought, there is a huge upside to this place: a lot of great food, a lot of fantastic teas, a quiet atmosphere, and excellent interior design. we went to take advantage of the $25 prix fixe menu, which is above; there are also extensive sake and tea menus. between the four of us, we had most of the food dishes; three of us had tea, mine being a lapsang souchong.
part of the allure of this place is the focus on tea - for tea enthusiasts, who know that tea has as much nuance as wine, this is the only place that acknowledges and exploits the relationship between tea and food. chinese restaurants serve tea with every meal, but little thought goes into how the tea might affect the food, and vice versa. if this idea piques your interest, as it did mine, you will be happy at cha fahn.
i am not a tea expert, and thus can't tell you about the nuances of the tea that we had. however, i did love my tea very much - it smelled like a wood-burning fire, and tasted like a plant's impression of smoke. the food itself was excellent; i had the dumplings, the chicken, and the creme brulee. the dumplings were just barely spicy, at a level that could have been a little higher, but was entirely sufficient to capture the taste of kimchi (another nuanced food product that i cannot expound upon). what wasn't fabulous about the dumplings was that they were a little too salty, and i think a bit more ginger would have balanced them better; what was utterly fabulous about them was the way in which they were cooked - the combination of the cooking method and the texture of the dumpling skin rendered the dumpling bottoms delectably crispy, but not chewy. in this case, the fact that the dumpling skins were on the thin side (not as thin as wonton skins, thinner than dumpling skins) was essential.
i tasted miriam's summer rolls, which were quite good for summer rolls, and better than the ones you get at the typical thai restaurant. these summer rolls were a bit crispier, a bit crunchier, and it was apparent that the chefs were paying more attention to how cooked the shrimp were than at xinh xinh last week.
the entrees were excellent across the board. i think i would have preferred chicken with the bone in, rather than the breast, but the sauce was really citrus-y in a restrained way - i sometimes think of chinese food as a punch in the face, flavor-wise, but this sauce was definitely more carefully planned, along the lines of a japanese tea ceremony. the carrots were perfectly cooked (as someone who doesn't like raw carrots, this matters a lot to me and i always notice how well or poorly the carrots are cooked). the pilaf was also excellent - it had citrus and some unidentifiable spice in it.
in fact, my entree was probably the weakest. miriam's ginger-lime shrimp were fantastic - the ginger and garlic hit you first, then you got a little bit of cilantro, all complementing the flavor of the shrimp. on its own, the ginger-garlic-lime-soy sauce was overly salty, but paired with the shrimp it was everything you could ever ask of shrimp. the shrimp were also deftly cooked - still sweet and juicy. carrie's miso salmon rated a bit higher in my opinion - the miso paired perfectly with the salmon so that it balanced the salmon and brought out the flavor of the salmon, with hints of miso here and there. i would say, though, that josh's skirt steak was the best - absolutely perfectly cooked to order (rare, because there isn't any other way you should be eating your steak), tender, not stringy, flavorful....i don't know where cha fahn is getting their meat, but somebody should ask.
as i said before, the upside of this place is pretty great. and as the meal went on, it got better - average appetizers, excellent entrees, and really fantastic desserts. i love dessert, and i will always eat dessert because i like the idea of dessert. thus i am less affected by how much i like the dessert, despite my high standards. we had the ginger cake and the creme brulee, and while i felt that the ginger cake was probably just above average as a dessert, the creme brulee really hit it out of the park. i'm pretty sure it would be on my top ten list, along with desserts from chez panisse, alinea, aujourd'hui, and various other hoity-toity places. this is, without a doubt, the best creme brulee i have ever had. the texture was nothing short of amazing - silky, creamy, thick. the flavor was well balanced - not too much citrus, not too much tea, and not too sweet - and the bruleed top gave your tastebuds the occasional crunchy burst of orange-y, burnt sugary flavor. if i had a faster metabolism, i'd be eating this every day for breakfast. and it went perfectly with my smoky tea, although i'm not sure if the strong smokiness of the tea destroyed any of my tastebuds' ability to taste the entire range of flavors.
a note on the atmosphere and decor - the tables are carved chinese tables, with really comfortable red cushioned chairs in the middle of the restaurant, and super-high-backed chinese chairs at the tables along the walls. the lighting is ideal - that sort of glowy, softly warm, somehow bright light. and the bathroom is pretty awesome: black tile up to your shoulder, then a wide swathe of black-painted wall, then a wide swathe of white-painted wall to make the space seem taller. this is a place that is aptly called a tea room - it gives you the sense that you can linger over your food and your tea at a slower pace than the rest of your day.
25 juillet 2007
fat and poor
that's what i'll be if i keep getting lunch at davio's. i got macaroons today - a steal at 2 for 75 cents. and you look at these macaroons, which have been piped into a pleasing shape, and they are delectably glossy and crispy on the outside, and really moist and wonderful on the inside. the outside is very much a traditional macaroon, but to be honest, the inside tastes very much like a chinese bakery pastry that consists of chopped peanuts and sugar inside a glutinous rice sleeve, which is then coated in flaked coconut. delicious.
fat and poor, folks.
fat and poor, folks.
19 juillet 2007
odds and ends
i am currently drinking a cup of hot, honeyed, milky (assam) tea, my break from the editing work i'm doing on a professor's manuscript. mostly, with respect to food, i have an assortment of odds and ends:
xinh xinh / 7 beach street, chinatown / 617-422-0501 / 10am-10pm daily / cheap-entrees $6-10
i just went to a vietnamese restaurant, xinh xinh, at washington and beach that was really excellent. the people are really nice there, and the food is really well spiced for asian fusion food. better than almost all vietnamese or thai restaurants i've been to, in fact - it has average fresh spring rolls, but you can get your green tea hot or cold, and my chicken with ginger, onions, and scallions was truly spectacular. rarely have i had a dish with enough ginger to render it spicy, and this not only used a lot of ginger (not too much), but also fresh ginger. mmm. it's the sort of thing you could eat every day.
salty and sweet
parmesan muffins. parmesan muffins, you ask? yes. decidedly so. because if there were no parmesan in these muffins, they would have no opportunity to develop the delectably golden, crispy exterior that makes these so good. these muffins are salty-sweet, moist yet crusty on the outside. their main ingredients are zucchini, parmesan, and basil. zucchini muffins are one thing. the addition of parmesan is nice, but expected. but the introduction of the basil is spectacular, as is the abnormally high amount of sugar for savory muffins. in fact, i would say that the basil is secondary to the sugar, though ever since i visited shanghai last summer, i get the feeling that my capacity for salty-sweet is much higher than that of the average person. your average person cares a lot about the balance of salt and pepper; i care about the balance of salt, pepper, and sugar.
calzosas
last week carrie and i made calzosas, which we named in honor of the entirely american practice of combining real words into nonsense words. we wanted to make something kind of like a calzone and kind of like a samosa - the filling would be more vegetal like a calzone filling and less potato-y than a samosa filling, but would be the size of a samosa rather than a calzone. this definitely goes back to the pleasure of eating something with your hands. what makes a calzosa a calzosa, however, is that the wrapping is neither calzone nor samosa. instead, it's a phyllo dough. so i suppose these are closer to small bisteeya, huh? well, calzosa is more fun to say. ours had a filling of bacon, onions, apples, a bit of potato, peas, and ricotta cheese. the original idea was bacon, onions, and apples, with the ricotta to act as a binder. then the peas are to balance the heavier flavors, especially the bacon, and the potato was to add a bit of body and texture. we used both storebought and organic farm-raised whole foods bacon, and found that there is a definite and significant upside to the whole foods bacon. i would maybe try slicing it a bit thinner, but the whole foods bacon had a much better, more bacon-y flavor, and did not have any preservatives in it. there was simply more meat, and it was much better than the supermarket thick-cut bacon as well, which tends to be too thickly cut. it does take much longer to cook, though, but i'm willing to wait. luckily for us, the $6.99/lb price will keep us from eating too much of it.
portable barbecue
barbecue is a very summery sort of thing, and we were planning to spend a summer evening out in chelsea to see a free play in the park. i had bought some pork ribs earlier in the week because i had leftover marinade from the last time i made barbecued pork ribs, so i thought i'd do something with them for the play. the last time around, the marinade was too thick, so i thinned it with cider vinegar, and strained it to get rid of the pineapple pulp. i roasted the ribs without steaming them first, brushing them repeatedly until the sugar started burning, for about an hour. then i let them cool, and shredded the meat off the bone. my original idea was to combine the shredded meat with peas and pasta, with some sort of vinaigrette type of dressing, all towards the goal of making the ribs portable and not messy. i made the vinaigrette, but as i pictured it with the other ingredients, i will say that it was not an appetizing picture. what i wanted was something a little piquant and tangy to tie everything together, but i was just getting images of "oily" instead. so what i did was i started by mixing in some yogurt to make it creamy without using mayonnaise. that seemed still a little off, so i added the pan juices that i'd gotten from the ribs - i'd had to suck them off the roasting pan with a turkey baster so the ribs would roast and not steam. and that was it, and it was fantastic - a meaty, somewhat tangy dressing that bound everything together. the mistake that i made, i discovered later, was that i had burned some of the coriander seeds i put into the dressing, and while not wholly unpleasant, it tasted a bit like popcorn. if you make something along these lines, i would recommend using country-style ribs, bone-in. when you shred the meat you'll have to pay close attention so you don't leave bone shards in the meat, but the quality of the meat is much better. we used the curly macaroni with ridges, which worked well.
parmesan-basil-zucchini muffins
2 eggs
3/4c milk (we used buttermilk that was leftover from butter we made last week)
2/3c cooking oil
2 1/2c flour
1/4c sugar
1T baking powder
2t salt
2 cups shredded zucchini
6T minced fresh basil (this means 6T after it has been minced)
1/2c grated Parmesan cheese, plus more for garnish*
1. butter a 12-cup muffin tin (also makes 6 extra-large muffins). preheat the oven to 425F.
2. in a medium bowl, beat eggs, then add milk and oil. in another bowl, mix dry ingredients.
3. add dry ingredients to egg mixture, 1 cup at a time, and stir until it becomes a thick, moist batter.
4. stir in zucchini basil, and parmesan until just combined - do not overbeat.
5. spoon into tins and sprinkle extra cheese on top. bake 20 to 22 minutes, until golden brown.
*It's ok to microplane the parmesan for the batter, but for the garnish, use the finer-grating side of your box grater.
[makes 12 muffins]
xinh xinh / 7 beach street, chinatown / 617-422-0501 / 10am-10pm daily / cheap-entrees $6-10
i just went to a vietnamese restaurant, xinh xinh, at washington and beach that was really excellent. the people are really nice there, and the food is really well spiced for asian fusion food. better than almost all vietnamese or thai restaurants i've been to, in fact - it has average fresh spring rolls, but you can get your green tea hot or cold, and my chicken with ginger, onions, and scallions was truly spectacular. rarely have i had a dish with enough ginger to render it spicy, and this not only used a lot of ginger (not too much), but also fresh ginger. mmm. it's the sort of thing you could eat every day.
salty and sweet
parmesan muffins. parmesan muffins, you ask? yes. decidedly so. because if there were no parmesan in these muffins, they would have no opportunity to develop the delectably golden, crispy exterior that makes these so good. these muffins are salty-sweet, moist yet crusty on the outside. their main ingredients are zucchini, parmesan, and basil. zucchini muffins are one thing. the addition of parmesan is nice, but expected. but the introduction of the basil is spectacular, as is the abnormally high amount of sugar for savory muffins. in fact, i would say that the basil is secondary to the sugar, though ever since i visited shanghai last summer, i get the feeling that my capacity for salty-sweet is much higher than that of the average person. your average person cares a lot about the balance of salt and pepper; i care about the balance of salt, pepper, and sugar.
calzosas
last week carrie and i made calzosas, which we named in honor of the entirely american practice of combining real words into nonsense words. we wanted to make something kind of like a calzone and kind of like a samosa - the filling would be more vegetal like a calzone filling and less potato-y than a samosa filling, but would be the size of a samosa rather than a calzone. this definitely goes back to the pleasure of eating something with your hands. what makes a calzosa a calzosa, however, is that the wrapping is neither calzone nor samosa. instead, it's a phyllo dough. so i suppose these are closer to small bisteeya, huh? well, calzosa is more fun to say. ours had a filling of bacon, onions, apples, a bit of potato, peas, and ricotta cheese. the original idea was bacon, onions, and apples, with the ricotta to act as a binder. then the peas are to balance the heavier flavors, especially the bacon, and the potato was to add a bit of body and texture. we used both storebought and organic farm-raised whole foods bacon, and found that there is a definite and significant upside to the whole foods bacon. i would maybe try slicing it a bit thinner, but the whole foods bacon had a much better, more bacon-y flavor, and did not have any preservatives in it. there was simply more meat, and it was much better than the supermarket thick-cut bacon as well, which tends to be too thickly cut. it does take much longer to cook, though, but i'm willing to wait. luckily for us, the $6.99/lb price will keep us from eating too much of it.
portable barbecue
barbecue is a very summery sort of thing, and we were planning to spend a summer evening out in chelsea to see a free play in the park. i had bought some pork ribs earlier in the week because i had leftover marinade from the last time i made barbecued pork ribs, so i thought i'd do something with them for the play. the last time around, the marinade was too thick, so i thinned it with cider vinegar, and strained it to get rid of the pineapple pulp. i roasted the ribs without steaming them first, brushing them repeatedly until the sugar started burning, for about an hour. then i let them cool, and shredded the meat off the bone. my original idea was to combine the shredded meat with peas and pasta, with some sort of vinaigrette type of dressing, all towards the goal of making the ribs portable and not messy. i made the vinaigrette, but as i pictured it with the other ingredients, i will say that it was not an appetizing picture. what i wanted was something a little piquant and tangy to tie everything together, but i was just getting images of "oily" instead. so what i did was i started by mixing in some yogurt to make it creamy without using mayonnaise. that seemed still a little off, so i added the pan juices that i'd gotten from the ribs - i'd had to suck them off the roasting pan with a turkey baster so the ribs would roast and not steam. and that was it, and it was fantastic - a meaty, somewhat tangy dressing that bound everything together. the mistake that i made, i discovered later, was that i had burned some of the coriander seeds i put into the dressing, and while not wholly unpleasant, it tasted a bit like popcorn. if you make something along these lines, i would recommend using country-style ribs, bone-in. when you shred the meat you'll have to pay close attention so you don't leave bone shards in the meat, but the quality of the meat is much better. we used the curly macaroni with ridges, which worked well.
parmesan-basil-zucchini muffins
2 eggs
3/4c milk (we used buttermilk that was leftover from butter we made last week)
2/3c cooking oil
2 1/2c flour
1/4c sugar
1T baking powder
2t salt
2 cups shredded zucchini
6T minced fresh basil (this means 6T after it has been minced)
1/2c grated Parmesan cheese, plus more for garnish*
1. butter a 12-cup muffin tin (also makes 6 extra-large muffins). preheat the oven to 425F.
2. in a medium bowl, beat eggs, then add milk and oil. in another bowl, mix dry ingredients.
3. add dry ingredients to egg mixture, 1 cup at a time, and stir until it becomes a thick, moist batter.
4. stir in zucchini basil, and parmesan until just combined - do not overbeat.
5. spoon into tins and sprinkle extra cheese on top. bake 20 to 22 minutes, until golden brown.
*It's ok to microplane the parmesan for the batter, but for the garnish, use the finer-grating side of your box grater.
[makes 12 muffins]
01 juillet 2007
another foray into the world of pork
as you know, i like pork. last week carrien and josh had gone to market basket to procure beef to grind it at home for burgers, and they picked up some pork ribs as well. ...unfortunately, by the time that i actually had the time to cook it, it had gone slightly green and iridescent, a good sign for something, i'm sure, but not meat. luckily, i had bought extra pork ribs at star to augment the ones in the fridge, and not that many people came to dinner, so it was fine.
i've been a little scattered with respect to cooking, having not been in the mood to do anything all that adventurous. accordingly, i'm afraid i was a little bit neglectful of what i made on friday evening: barbecued pork ribs, cornbread with corn, corn on the cob, onions, and ham in it, peas with thyme and onions, and apple "strudel" (really, apple turnovers). most of the neglect came from not really planning it out with respect to timing - oops. luckily, it all worked out anyway. i would say that if i did it over again, i would pay more attention to the ribs. i had picked out a recipe i used some time ago (maybe last fall?) but i couldn't remember exactly how much of the recipe i had used until after i made them the second time... it turns out that while i stuck more to the recipe this time - basically, you steam the ribs en papillote with pineapple juice for an hour, then baste them with the glaze on a grill for a short period of time - as opposed to the last time, when i had no pineapple juice and not much honey, so i just roasted them in the oven and kept basting them. luckily, it takes rather a lot to ruin pork, so i would say that the disappointment i felt was really from the fact that my expectation of the final product was not what i actually got. but in fact, both versions were good: the original version i made was crispier on the outside and benefited flavor-wise by the basting, while the second version was more punchy with the flavor and was really tender from its steaming in the foil packets. i would say that you would want to use a medium-fat pork rib if you're going to steam them, otherwise the fat doesn't have enough time to completely render out of the pork and they end up a little greasy. i would say that the consistency of the glaze was also a bit gloppier than i wanted because they were in the oven and not on a grill; also, i had added the pineapple puree to the glaze after i strained out the juice to steam the ribs in, which i think made the glaze slower to cook and crisp.
luckily the evening was not without a culinary hit - the strudel was really quite good. i didn't have a recipe except for the basics: apples for the inside and phyllo for the outside. making real strudel dough is fun, but really only if you have many people or it gets old quite fast. as a rule, i don't like adding spices to apples, which generally make them taste less like apples and more like canned apple pie filling, so all i did to the apples was really toss them with sugar and lemon zest, and saute them in a bit of butter until they were browned. then i wrapped small handfuls of the apples in phyllo, two sheets to each handful. a sprinkling of sugar, then they went in the oven for about 20 to 25 minutes - and presto! some really apple-y turnovers.
apple strudel
1/2 package of phyllo
6-8 large apples
~1/2c sugar - enough to coat the apples
1 lemon, zested and juiced
1 stick plus 1 1/2T butter
1. peel, core, and slice the apples (the slices should be on the thick side). place in a bowl and toss with the lemon zest and juice. toss the apples with the sugar.
2. melt half of the 1 1/2T butter in a large skillet over medium-high heat; when it foams, add half of the apples and saute until golden brown, stirring occasionally, about 10-15 minutes. let the apples get good and golden brown - they'll taste better. repeat with remaining apples and butter. let apples cool to room temperature.
3. preheat the oven to 350. melt and cool the stick of butter. unroll the phyllo and mound some of the apples on the top sheet. brush with butter and roll/fold up, making sure that all layers of phyllo are stuck together with butter. try to work relatively quickly so the phyllo doesn't dry out, or rip from the moisture in the apples. use two to three sheets of phyllo per apple packet. when done wrapping, brush the packet with butter on all sides, and place on a baking sheet. sprinkle the top with sugar. repeat with remaining apples.
4. when done making packets, bake at 350 for about 20-25 minutes, until they are golden brown. eat immediately. let any leftovers cool completely, then pack into an airtight container. to reheat, toast in a toaster oven - strudel can get soggy.
[makes 10-12 individual strudels]
i've been a little scattered with respect to cooking, having not been in the mood to do anything all that adventurous. accordingly, i'm afraid i was a little bit neglectful of what i made on friday evening: barbecued pork ribs, cornbread with corn, corn on the cob, onions, and ham in it, peas with thyme and onions, and apple "strudel" (really, apple turnovers). most of the neglect came from not really planning it out with respect to timing - oops. luckily, it all worked out anyway. i would say that if i did it over again, i would pay more attention to the ribs. i had picked out a recipe i used some time ago (maybe last fall?) but i couldn't remember exactly how much of the recipe i had used until after i made them the second time... it turns out that while i stuck more to the recipe this time - basically, you steam the ribs en papillote with pineapple juice for an hour, then baste them with the glaze on a grill for a short period of time - as opposed to the last time, when i had no pineapple juice and not much honey, so i just roasted them in the oven and kept basting them. luckily, it takes rather a lot to ruin pork, so i would say that the disappointment i felt was really from the fact that my expectation of the final product was not what i actually got. but in fact, both versions were good: the original version i made was crispier on the outside and benefited flavor-wise by the basting, while the second version was more punchy with the flavor and was really tender from its steaming in the foil packets. i would say that you would want to use a medium-fat pork rib if you're going to steam them, otherwise the fat doesn't have enough time to completely render out of the pork and they end up a little greasy. i would say that the consistency of the glaze was also a bit gloppier than i wanted because they were in the oven and not on a grill; also, i had added the pineapple puree to the glaze after i strained out the juice to steam the ribs in, which i think made the glaze slower to cook and crisp.
luckily the evening was not without a culinary hit - the strudel was really quite good. i didn't have a recipe except for the basics: apples for the inside and phyllo for the outside. making real strudel dough is fun, but really only if you have many people or it gets old quite fast. as a rule, i don't like adding spices to apples, which generally make them taste less like apples and more like canned apple pie filling, so all i did to the apples was really toss them with sugar and lemon zest, and saute them in a bit of butter until they were browned. then i wrapped small handfuls of the apples in phyllo, two sheets to each handful. a sprinkling of sugar, then they went in the oven for about 20 to 25 minutes - and presto! some really apple-y turnovers.
apple strudel
1/2 package of phyllo
6-8 large apples
~1/2c sugar - enough to coat the apples
1 lemon, zested and juiced
1 stick plus 1 1/2T butter
1. peel, core, and slice the apples (the slices should be on the thick side). place in a bowl and toss with the lemon zest and juice. toss the apples with the sugar.
2. melt half of the 1 1/2T butter in a large skillet over medium-high heat; when it foams, add half of the apples and saute until golden brown, stirring occasionally, about 10-15 minutes. let the apples get good and golden brown - they'll taste better. repeat with remaining apples and butter. let apples cool to room temperature.
3. preheat the oven to 350. melt and cool the stick of butter. unroll the phyllo and mound some of the apples on the top sheet. brush with butter and roll/fold up, making sure that all layers of phyllo are stuck together with butter. try to work relatively quickly so the phyllo doesn't dry out, or rip from the moisture in the apples. use two to three sheets of phyllo per apple packet. when done wrapping, brush the packet with butter on all sides, and place on a baking sheet. sprinkle the top with sugar. repeat with remaining apples.
4. when done making packets, bake at 350 for about 20-25 minutes, until they are golden brown. eat immediately. let any leftovers cool completely, then pack into an airtight container. to reheat, toast in a toaster oven - strudel can get soggy.
[makes 10-12 individual strudels]
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