bacon bread

i'm unable these days to really take on any big cooking projects, due to exhaustion from school. anything that requires more than an hour is pretty much out of the question right now, unless i don't have to babysit it - making chicken stock comes to mind. in the past few months i've either split any slightly involved projects over multiple days, or more likely, i just haven't thought about them seriously at all.

i've been thinking about this bread, though, and talking it up enough since it came out in bon appetit a few months ago that i finally decided to make it. that is, a week ago i decided to make it, while shopping for dinner with mary. i made the bacon-onion-dried pear mix actually about 10 days ago (maybe i shouldn't be telling you this, but there you go). and i had bought the dried pears about 3 weeks before that. so this bread has been in the works for a while.

i finally went to look at the recipe on epicurious, only to find that the reviews were less than stellar - people complained that the bread was dry and bland. multiple people offered suggestions for substitutions, which i duly noted. i mean, if you're going to go to all the trouble of procuring bacon, cheddar and dried pears, all at the same time, it better be good, right? beyond the rarity of all of those stars aligning (the only place at which i have found dried pears is arax, where we happened to stop by after brunch at delux town diner one day), there's the expense of the ingredients.

i was determined to ensure that this bread was neither dry nor bland, so i made quite a few alterations to the original recipe, none of them based in the science that is probably well documented in on food and cooking. first, i replaced the olive oil with melted butter - this was suggested by a few of the reviews, and i agreed, as i have often found that olive oil-based cakes are oddly on the dry side. to bolster any lingering dryness issues, i increased the milk to a 1/2 cup and added a stonyfield container's worth of yogurt (it was fruit on the bottom, so i added everything except the fruit jam). i threw in a bit of extra cheese - i got an 8-oz brick of cabot seriously sharp, and threw in the ounce and a half i had left of an extra-sharp brick. to balance the savory ingredients, i added a little dark brown sugar. i used rosemary instead of sage, because that is what we had on hand when i was making dinner with mary - you must make sure that it is very fresh, so it's still soft. i increased the amount of pears and threw in some onions for good measure.

the result is a long list of ingredients, but i promise you that it's worth it. this bread comes out a crusty golden brown at the edges and on top from the cheese - a slightly flaky, browned cheese type of golden brown. the crumb is very moist and soft - you might not need all of the yogurt - but holds up well to the "fill." i imagine that it would taste good toasted, since the edges will get even crustier. and, quite honestly, this bread is more than the sum of its parts - i had tasted the dried pears they tasted a bit vinegary to me, but that just meant that they go well with the bacon. typically i use whole foods maple-cured bacon, but this time i got niman ranch bacon because it was slightly cheaper. i hate to encourage the crazy yuppie foodies who insist on everything organic from a farmer whose name they know, but the niman bacon is actually better than the whole foods stuff - its flavor just permeates whatever you put it in. i think it was even better in this bread than it was when we ate some after cooking it. do make sure that you use a good thick-cut bacon when you make this, as opposed to a typical thin-cut supermarket bacon.

p.s. i know you would all love to see photos - because, face it, we're all much more likely to make something if we can see what it can and should look like. when i get my life back, consider it a done deal that there will be more photos.

bacon-cheddar-pear bread
1 3/4c flour
1/2t salt
1/4t pepper
1/4c dark brown sugar
1T baking powder
1 c cheddar, grated, plus 1/2c cheddar, in 1/4" cubes (8 to 10 oz)
3 eggs
1/3c yogurt
1/2c whole milk
1/2c butter, melted and cooled to room temp
8 oz bacon
1c diced dried pears
1/2c onions, diced
1/2t fresh rosemary, chopped fine
1/4t dried thyme (optional)

1. heat a large skillet on medium; cut the bacon slices in half and cook until crispy, 15-30 minutes depending on the thickness of the bacon. remove from pan with tongs and drain on paper towels. pour off all of the fat except 1 tablespoon and add the onions, rosemary, and dried pears. while the onion mixture is cooking, cut into small pieces with kitchen shears or a knife, then add back into the onion mixture. cook until onions are cooked all the way through and transfer to a bowl to cool. (this step can be done in advance; cover the bowl and refrigerate until using, within a week.)

2. grease two 5"x9" loaf pans and line with parchment paper. preheat oven to 350F. in a large bowl, combine the flour, salt, pepper, dark brown sugar, and baking powder, stirring with a fork and breaking up any lumps of brown sugar. add grated and cubed cheeses and stir with a fork or your hands to mix completely, making sure that the cheese doesn't clump together.

3. in a medium bowl, whisk together the eggs until well. add whole milk and yogurt and whisk until combined. to add the butter, pour in a slow stream into the egg-milk mixture while whisking. add wet ingredients to dry ingredients and mix just until completely combined. the batter will be on the wet side. add the bacon-onion mixture and thyme (if using) and stir until thoroughly combined.

4. using a rubber spatula, scrape the batter into the prepared loaf pans and bake 45-55 minutes, until golden brown on top and a tester comes out with a few crumbs clinging to it (make sure to test in the batter, not in a piece of cheese or pear). serve immediately, or toast the next day.

[makes 2 loaves, about 15-20 slices]

gettin' my mojo back

for the entirety of this summer, i have been trying to convince myself and my health that i am on vacation, and that life is normal again. for about a year - since june 2008 - i haven't had a real break, one where i puttered around the house doing nothing but maintaining the rituals of daily life, and thinking about cooking. and by the rituals of daily life, i mean really mundane things: doing laundry, making my bed, putting away clothes, vaccuming the carpet, cleaning the kitchen counters. every now and then, given the privations of grad school and employment, i need at least a week of doing nothing - waking up whenever, doing whatever.

i expected to get a break this summer, but apparently it wasn't meant to be. there were trips to lowell for work, a site visit for thesis, training sessions for my teaching job, teaching at the bac, then more work at lowell and an attempt to work on thesis...you get the point. and although these commitments don't come close to those that i maintain during the school year, they were enough to deprive me of any chance to really get back up to speed and feel like i was motivated to do anything. and i do mean anything - it has taken two and a half months, but i am finally motivated to cook regularly again. i haven't done very much thesis work in the past two days, even though our first review is in a few weeks, but i have woken up late and cooked a lot, and i feel vastly better right now than i have since that happy time of rejuvenation in june 2008.

and so i have a few recipes here as a reward for reading through this angst-ridden post. i made dinner for roommates tonight: creamed leeks and tomatoes, chicken in milk, and hide bread. we had the brownies for dessert, and then i have a new cookie recipe for you.

the leeks and tomatoes are pretty standard technique, so i won't include those here - basically, olive oil, saute the leeks, add the tomatoes and a bit of whatever cream or half and half you have on hand. the chicken in milk is a jamie oliver recipe i found on thekitchn, and it is quite good and fairly easy - wonderfully aromatic, a bit different from a traditional roast chicken. it is a bit cool tonight, so i thought it would be a good night for roast chicken. this is the second time i've made this particular chicken, and it was better this time around - i think last time we couldn't get sage at the supermarket, but this time i put in the whole package, with more garlic. the chicken is steamed and roasted in milk, with lemon zest, sage, and garlic - i think i would add even more lemon zest, because this time around, the sage and milky-cream flavor dominated, with notes of lemon and cinnamon. i think we got the cinnamon right, but it could use 1-2 more lemons. fyi, the lemon zest causes the milk to curdle into a thickish sauce. it tastes better than it sounds... also, once we stripped all of the meat from the bones, i dumped them into a pot of broth that i have been periodically mixing and strengthening with broths and bones from additional chickens. as most of the chicken i have been cooking this summer is asian, it's flavored with ginger and garlic, and now lemongrass, sage, and cinnamon...i have to say, it smells pretty good now and should be pretty chicken-y.

anyway, the star of the night is the hide bread - in addition to a desire for roast chicken, i chose this particular recipe because it involves plentiful sauce that would soak into the bread. these scone-slash-rolls are named for a person, not because they are in any way close to jerky in texture. they are from a recipe from the big sur bakery, via 101cookbooks, and are essentially very seedy scones that actually taste good. typically, perhaps because i grew up on super-seedy bread, i hate seeded breads, but this one is quite good. and it's quite good for you, i imagine - it's very seedy and fiber-y: oat bran, flax seeds, sesame seeds, pumpkin seeds, amaranth. it is closer to scones than rolls in technique, as you mix together all the dry ingredients, then stir in the wet until just combined. i made a half-recipe, because some of the comments on 101cookbooks noted that theirs came out like hockey pucks, but we really enjoyed them. they are a bit hard on the outside, and you are supposed to split them and toast them, then slather them with butter. however, if you have good teeth, these would make a wonderful breakfast with a bit of butter and sugar, or jam. if you don't, well, they soften quite nicely in a sauce, providing a healthy but delicious option for carbs and starches at dinnertime.

and finally, i have a fabulous new cookie recipe for you. it is easiest made in a food processor, but you could probably make do without one. these cookies made me appreciate what a food processor can do for you, because it literally takes five minutes to put them together. i have been wanting to try these earl grey tea cookies for quite some time, since i saw them on thekitchn in september 2008. they're basically a shortbread cookie with tea in them; i used tea from tea bags as recommended, with fabulous results. these cookies are perfectly crisp, and imbued with great tea flavor. i made two batches - one with earl grey, and one with jasmine. as expected, both taste better the day after they were baked. the jasmine cookies taste more jasmine-y, while the earl grey cookies have mellowed out a bit.

which reminds me - i have one last cookie recipe for you as well - brown-butter shortbread cookies. it seems like i've been making quite a lot of shortbread-type cookies these days, and for good reason - they are always crispy, stay crispy for longer, and don't go stale nearly as fast as chocolate chip cookies. i've made these brown-butter cookies a couple times now - they were good the first time, but even better the second. i had made the dough, then as has happened frequently this summer, i didn't have the energy left to actually make the cookies. i let the dough languish in the fridge for a little over a week before finally baking them, and disbursing them to roommates and family. they went over pretty well, in part due, i think, to a a longer stay in the fridge for the flavors to develop, and also because i let the butter brown for longer than i usually do. i was convinced that i had accidentally burned it, in a fortuitous instance of forgetfulness, but forged ahead anyway.

and without further ado, here are the recipes:

chicken in milk

(adapted from jamie oliver)

1 roasting chicken, about 5 lbs or so

salt and pepper

3T butter

2T olive oil

1/2 cinnamon stick

1 pkg of fresh sage, leaves picked from the stems and torn coarsely

zest of 3-4 lemons

15 cloves of garlic, smashed and skinned (smash them with the flat of a chef's knife to skin them)

2 1/2c milk

1. preheat oven to 375F. melt the butter and olive oil in a dutch oven and when it's hot, sear the chicken all over, at least a few minutes each side until you get it nice and browned. use a pair of tongs (or a couple of pairs of tongs) to move the chicken to a plate, then pour off the fat in a ramekin. (the original recipe instructs you to discard the fat, but i think you could easily cook other things with it, so i saved mine.)

2. return the chicken to the dutch oven, breast side up, and scatter the sage, lemon zest, cinnamon stick, and cloves of garlic around it. add the milk, then put the lid on and slide it in the oven. cook for an hour with the lid on, then a half hour with it off (it was getting a bit late for dinner, so instead i did 45 minutes with the lid on, 25 minutes with it off, and it was properly cooked temperature-wise). every now and then, take the lid off and spoon the liquids over the chicken.

3. remove chicken from the oven, and serve immediately. we ate it right out of the dutch oven (ie, carving by each person as they served themselves), but if you are making this for a nice dinner party, or a party where you care more about etiquette, then you could use a nice serving bowl and carve the chicken into it, then spoon all the sauce around it. i wouldn't recommend serving the sauce in a gravy boat or anything, though.

[serves 4-6]

note: i'm not quite sure how many this recipe will serve. the original recipe serves 4, though i have used a larger chicken, and we have about 2 cups of shredded chicken in leftovers, so it could quite possibly serve 6 people if you really carve the chicken well, or if you are not as hungry as we were!

hide bread (super-seedy scones)

(adapted from big sur bakery)

5 cups all-purpose flour, plus extra flour for dusting

1/2 cup flax seeds

1/2 cup sesame seeds, toasted

2 cups oat bran

1/4 cup sunflower seeds (i used pumpkin seeds, as i don't like sunflower seeds)

1/2 cup amaranth, quinoa, millet, or poppy seeds (i used amaranth because i have never had it before, but you can use any combo of these...i think think amaranth and poppy seeds would be good - the amaranth was still quite crunchy after baking)

1 teaspoon kosher salt

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons beer

2 1/2 cups buttermilk, half-and-half, milk, or water (i used half and half...i would not use water in these)

1. preheat oven to 375F. line a baking sheet with parchment, or use a silpat (really, i just used the silpat because i had it on hand, and the batter is very sticky so i wanted to make sure the scones would come off the pan).

2. mix together all of the dry ingredients in a large bowl.

3. make a well in the center of the dry ingredients, then add the wet. stir with a wooden spoon until a thick, sticky dough/batter forms. plop handfuls of the dough onto the baking sheet, leaving at least 2 inches in between; your handfuls will be about 3.5-4" in diameter, 1.5" thick. if you don't do too much shaping, then the cragginess of the dough will form a crunchier top when baked. don't make them too small - stick to the recommended yield - or you will get hockey pucks that are inedible. these are somewhat denser than the typical scone, but not too heavy.

4. bake for 45 minutes, or until they are golden on top. if your tops are very craggy and not smooth, then they may not look like they are completely golden on top, but make sure you do not overbake. you can eat these either on their own, or as recommended by the original recipe - split, toasted, and slathered with butter. store in an airtight container.

[makes 14 scones, though this recipe is easily halved to make 7]

tea-flavored shortbread cookies

1c flour

1/4c sugar

1/4c confectioners' sugar

5-6 teabags' worth Earl Grey (or other) tea leaves

1/4t salt (i was a bit more generous with the salt, which provides a nice counterpoint to the sweet in this cookie)

1t water

1 stick (1/2c) butter

1. preheat oven to 375F. if you are using a food processor, pulse together all of the dry ingredients until the tea leaves are pulverized.

2. add vanilla, water, and butter, and pulse together until a dough forms. the dough will be on the wet side of a shortbread dough. dump the dough out onto a piece of wax or parchment paper, and form it into a log about 2-2.5" in diameter. wrap the wax paper around it, and chill for 1 hour or overnight.

3. when you're ready to bake it, slice the log into 1/3" thick pieces (i got exactly 24 cookies). place on baking sheets, about 15 (3 cookies x 5 cookies) at the most, since the cookies do spread quite a bit. if you chill them longer, they will retain their edges better and not spread quite as much. bake 10-13 minutes, until the edges are just brown. (i baked some until the edges were just brown, and some a bit longer, and the recipe was spot on - bake until the edges are just brown - they will still be crisp.)

4. let cookies cool on the sheets for five minutes so they can firm up, then transfer to a plate to cool completely. store in an airtight container up to about 2 weeks.

[makes 24 cookies]

brown butter shortbread cookies

(adapted from Gourmet via smitten kitchen)

3/4c (1 1/2 sticks) butter

1/2c dark brown sugar, packed

1 1/3c flour

1/4t kosher salt

1. cut the butter into a few pieces and cook in a small, heavy-bottomed saucepan over medium heat. stir frequently, scraping the bottom of the pan, and cook the butter until it smells kind of nutty, and the particles that have settled on the bottom turn a medium brown. the particles are the milk solids (you would discard these to make ghee, or clarified butter) and basically they are caramelizing; this is browned butter. you don't want the particles to get too dark - that means that they're burned - but neither do you want them to be too light, because the cookies will be less flavorful. the particles should be about the color of hazelnut shells. anyway, once the butter is browned, remove it from the heat and scrape into a small bowl. let cool to room temp, then stick it in the fridge to chill it back into a solid. it should be just firm, and good to go in about an hour.

2. beat together butter and brown sugar with an electric mixer until pale and fluffy (do actually use the electric mixer for these cookies). mix in flour and salt at low speed until just combined.

3. transfer dough to a sheet of wax paper or parchment and form into a 12-inch log, 1.5-2" in diameter. chill, wrapped in wax paper, overnight (alright, if you must have these sooner, chill until firm, 1-2 hours, but these are much better if you let the dough's flavors meld) or a few days.

4. preheat oven to 350F. slice the dough into 1/4" thick slices, then place on a baking sheet (lined with foil if you want, or a silpat) about 1.5" apart - these cookies spread less than the tea cookies did, probably because they were chilled for longer. bake until the surface looks dry and edges are slightly darkened, 10-15 minutes. cool on the pan for 5 minutes so the cookies set up, then transfer to a plate. they will be a bit crumbly in a sandy way, but they will be delicious so it's ok. store in an airtight container for up to 2 weeks.

[makes 20-30 cookies]

pork products (again)

just a brief rundown of recent dinners:

posole (pork and hominy stew)
buttery cornbread with caramelized corn and scallions
made this with c - she made the posole and i made the cornbread. one really shouldn't take as long making cornbread as i took, but i ended up making some caramelized corn/onions to add to the mixture, along with some chopped scallions. i also scrambled the extra egg white into the caramelized corn, so as not to waste it. the cornbread and posole went really well together, and make me wonder that i ever hated cilantro. fyi, i hated cilantro enough to pick it out of the batter my mother would use on homemade chicken nuggets. it's all very strange because now i love cilantro. back to the food: the posole awakened a love for hominy; i've had hominy before in cape verdean food, and i've liked it, but not as much as this. makes you appreciate having something to chew, in some odd, primal way. oh, also - i've adjusted the original cornbread recipe to reflect a little less butter, and do make sure you cook it long enough, so it's not doughy in the middle.

crispy pork (enough said)
c made this one night when i had dinner plans already; i ended up eating some both before and after my dinner engagement. oof. it was that good - essentially an easy version of carnitas. just envision this: pork fried in pork fat. yeah. i could never be a vegetarian 'cause i'd miss my pork products.

layered chicken enchiladas with tomatillo sauce
i made this last week, having made it once before many years ago when i was working in chicago. i remembered it as being excellent, and i think it was pretty good upon second try, though not quite all i wanted. i roasted my own chicken, but i suppose i'm just a pork product kind of girl.


adapted recipes below:

posole (pork and hominy stew)
1 large head garlic
12c water
4c chicken broth
4 lbs country-style pork ribs
1t dried oregano (preferably Mexican), crumbled
chili powder and paprika
1 1/2c boiling-hot water
1/2 large white onion
1t salt
1 1/2 30-ounce cans white hominy
about 1 1/2 cups vegetable oil

potential accompaniments: diced avocado, thinly sliced lettuce, chopped onion, diced radish, lime wedges, hot pepper

1. peel garlic cloves and slice. in a dutch oven (c used a le creuset enameled cast iron one), bring water and broth to a boil with sliced garlic and pork. skim surface and add oregano. gently simmer pork, uncovered, until tender, about 1 1/2 hours.

2. transfer pork with tongs to a cutting board and reserve broth mixture. shred pork, using 2 forks, and discard bones if using bone-in meat. rinse and drain hominy. return pork to broth mixture and add oregano, chili powder, paprika, hominy, and salt. simmer pozole at least 30 minutes, until thickened.

[serves 8]

buttery cornbread
1 1/3c coarse stone-ground yellow cornmeal
1c unbleached all purpose flour
1/4c sugar
2t baking powder
3/4t coarse kosher salt
1c plus 2T buttermilk
7T butter, melted
1 large egg plus 1 large egg yolk, beaten to blend

1. butter a 9x5x3 metal loaf pan or a 9x9 pyrex dish. mix together cornmeal, flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt in a large bowl. add buttermilk, melted butter, and beaten eggs. stir with wooden spoon until well blended.

2. add any additional ingredients (scallions, corn, etc). let batter stand 30 minutes to absorb liquid; preheat oven to 375F.

3. pour batter into prepared pan and bake until browned around the edges and tester comes out clean, ~40 min. let bread rest 5 minutes, then turn out of pan and cool.

[serves 10-12]

crispy pork (carnitas con salsa de aguacate y salsa mexicana)
4lbs boneless country-style pork ribs
2c (or more) water
1 1/2c fresh orange juice
6 garlic cloves, peeled
2t salt
1t grated orange peel

1/4c brandy

warm corn tortillas
avocado salsa
fresh tomato salsa

1. cut pork pieces crosswise into thirds. cut off any big chunks of fat from pork and reserve; leave small pieces of fat attached to pork. combine pork, reserved fat, 2 cups water, and next 4 ingredients in deep 12-inch skillet (c used the dutch oven again). bring to boil. reduce heat, cover, and simmer until pork is tender, stirring occasionally, about 1 hour 45 minutes, adding more water by 1/4 cupfuls if necessary to keep pork partially submerged.

2. uncover skillet; boil pork mixture until liquid is reduced by half, about 10 minutes. stir in brandy; boil until liquid evaporates and meat browns and begins to get crisp, stirring often, about 15 minutes. cool meat slightly; discard any loose pieces of fat. tear meat into strips; return to skillet.

3. season pork with more salt, if desired; transfer to bowl. serve with warm tortillas, avocado salsa, and tomato salsa.

[serves 6-8]

layered chicken enchiladas with tomatillos
2lbs tomatillos, husked, rinsed, halved (quartered if tomatillos are particularly large)
1 1/4c chicken broth
10 garlic cloves, peeled
2c sliced scallions
2c (packed) very coarsely chopped fresh cilantro (1 1/2 bunches)
1 large serrano chile, sliced (with seeds) (substitute 1 medium jalapeno without seeds for those who like less heat)

12 5- to 6-inch corn tortillas
1 roasted chicken, torn into strips (~4c)
1 lb whole-milk mozzarella cheese, cut into strips
1 cup whipping cream

1. reheat oven to 450F. in a large saucepan, combine tomatillos, chicken broth, and garlic cloves. cover and bring to boil. reduce heat; simmer gently until tomatillos are soft, about 10 min. transfer hot mixture to food processor. add sliced green onions, chopped cilantro, and sliced chile; blend mixture to coarse puree.

2. overlap 6 tortillas in 13x9x2-inch oval or rectangular baking dish (i used 2 9x9 pyrex dishes). top tortillas with half of chicken strips and half of mozzarella strips. pour 2c tomatillo sauce evenly over. top with remaining tortillas, chicken strips, and mozzarella. pour 1 1/2c tomatillo sauce over, then whipping cream. sprinkle with salt and pepper. bake until bubbling, about 25 minutes.

[serves 6-8]

tomato love and dilled chicken stew

so i found out a couple days ago that i got a full-tuition scholarship for this coming school year (!!!), and celebrated by cooking for the entire evening. i had chicken thighs that i needed to use, and i was envisioning chicken in a dill cream sauce as i walked over to star. i also wanted to try slow-roasting tomatoes - where slow means 6-8 hours slow.

the chicken with its dill cream sauce turned into something completely different, but the slow-roasted tomatoes looked like this coming out of the oven. the darker flecks are thyme, except around the edges of the tomato where it has caramelized. carrien and i plan to eat these on sandwiches or pasta. they smell wonderful when they come out of the oven, too - they actually smell like caramelized tomatoes.

the chicken with dill started out innocently enough - i bought onions, dill, thyme, celery, mushrooms, chicken stock, and some cream to go with the chicken. i intended to have chicken thighs, tender so the meat falls off the bone, with a thickish, chicken-based cream sauce with lots of onions and dill. so a cream sauce like that would generally be white, right? i don't know why i was in the mood for white food at the time, but it turns out that the browning of the chicken thighs at the beginning of the whole thing caused it to turn brown. this wasn't a problem, just surprising. i had cooked the vegetables in the rendered chicken fat, and then added the chicken broth and chicken thighs back in (classic braise-style), and i wanted the chicken to be more tender than it was in the chicken cacciatore, so i cooked it for a while. i'm not exactly sure how long it was, but it was probably about 2 hours, boiling away in the chicken-y sauce. i also wanted a sauce with some heft to it, so i let it simmer until the sauce reduced by a few cups. turns out, when you cook chicken that long in a more watery sauce, it falls off the bone for you. so i took all the bones up and the whole thing became a stew. where's the cream, you ask? i added it at the end with some sour cream and let the whole thing simmer a little bit more, to thicken it. i had also made some rice as the chicken cooked, and i had just started thinking about what size tupperware each one would need when i realized that i should just mix them. so there you have it - not what i was expecting, but equally good, if not better.

dilled creamy chicken and rice stew
3 1/2 lbs chicken thighs (about 8), patted dry and dredged in flour
1/2 bunch of dill, leaves picked off stems and chopped fine
2 large onions, sliced into thin strips, about 1/4"x1 1/2"
2 packages mushrooms, sliced thick
1 can chicken stock
1/2 bunch celery, sliced
sour cream and heavy cream
1 1/2c (dry) short-grain rice, cooked

1. heat 4T butter in a large skillet over medium-high heat. brown the chicken thighs on each side, until crispy on both sides. remove chicken thighs to a plate, and pull off skin and discard.

2. add onions to the skillet and reduce heat to medium. use a wooden spoon to scrape up browned bits off the bottom of the skillet. cook onions until translucent, then add celery. add half of dill and stir. let cook 10 minutes, then add mushrooms. cook 5 minutes, then add broth.

3. add chicken back into skillet (transfer to larger pot if necessary) and add remaining dill. add water if chicken isn't covered by liquid. let simmer until meat falls off the bone, about 2 hours. remove bones and cartilage and shred the remaining meat.

4. add cream (heavy and sour) to the mixture until it reaches the desired consistency, about 1 cup of cream total. add rice and stir. remove from heat and serve.

[serves 8-10]

oven-roasted tomatoes
4 lbs vine-ripe tomatoes, halved, cored, and seeded
5T olive oil
thyme (optional)

1. preheat oven to 200F. toss tomatoes with olive oil and thyme to coat. place on a baking sheet (crowding them is fine) in one layer.

2. roast tomatoes 6-8 hours, until tomatoes are caramelized on the edges but haven't fallen apart. let cool. keep the juices to cook with.

[makes about 1 1/2 to 2 cups]

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]

a little speed (homemade ricotta)

no, not speed with respect to the homemade ricotta, but rather, with dinner made from the ricotta. however, despite the lengthy instructions, the actual production of the ricotta is very easy and short. most of the work is prep work. the best ricotta i have ever had was in a salad at chez panisse (the restaurant, not the cafe) - it was light, creamy yet with definitely definable curd, pressed into a triangular slice. i think it was drizzled with olive oil, which is, i have to say, a really excellent way to eat ricotta. but if my memory is failing me, then i definitely had ricotta drizzled with olive oil on bread at some restaurant in the past.

i was thus particularly excited about homemade ricotta because it looked so easy to make. i shouldn't have been surprised, as jessica and i made paneer in much the same way in our cooking class (paneer is a slightly different mix of milk and yogurty ingredients, and is pressed and weighted instead of allowed to drain). this ricotta is richer than supermarket whole-milk ricotta, even though it's also made with whole milk, but is a bit hard in the curd - i wonder if letting it drain less would have been more ideal.

the accompanying recipe that uses the ricotta is pretty fast (maybe half an hour at most) and is prety excellent. the rotini is key, unless you have a suggestion for another pasta shape that holds ricotta as well as it does. the bell peppers and shallots provide some counterpoint to the ricotta, and the pasta essentially acts as a starch...you could also just spread the ricotta-pepper mixture on bread.

homemade ricotta (adapted from michael chiarello)
1 gallon whole milk (or some mixture of 2% and whole milk)
1 quart buttermilk
1 package of cheesecloth
candy thermometer (optional)
herbs (optional)

1. combine whole milk, buttermilk, and herbs (if using) in a large saucepan (ideally, some kind of stockpot). heat over high heat, scraping bottom of the pot with a rubber heatproof spatula to prevent the milk from scorching. it will seem like the heat is too high, but it's not. it would be good to use a heavy-bottomed pot. set up a large-bottomed colander lined with a large piece of cheesecloth, folded to a thickness of 5-6 layers (it will be about 1 1/2 feet square).

2. when the milk is warm, stop stirring it (you can give it a stir very infrequently if you're a compulsive stirrer) so the curds can form.

3. when the milk reaches 175-180F, the mixture will curdle so that you can clearly see white curds and slightly cloudy clearer liquid (the whey) around the edges of the pot. the surface will look like a white raft of foam and curds. remove from heat immediately. place the colander in the sink and ladle the curds and whey into it, making sure you don't break up the curds. when most of the liquid has drained, tie the ends of the cheesecloth over the faucet and let the curds drain weighted by its self-weight for about 15 minutes.

4. scoop ricotta into an airtight container and let cool. when cool, cover and refrigerate. the ricotta will keep for about a week.

[makes 3-4 cups]


rotini with ricotta and red peppers
1 lb pasta
1 T olive oil
2-3 large shallots, chopped finely
2 red bell peppers, sliced into small 1/4"x1" batons
1 1/2 to 2c ricotta, either whole or part-skim, or homemade
salt and pepper, and a little bit of sugar

1. heat water in a large saucepan to boil, for the pasta. add 1/2T of olive oil to a medium skillet and heat on medium-high. add shallots and saute, stirring every now and then, until shallots are translucent, about 8 minutes.

2. add remaining 1/2T oil to the skillet with the shallots in it, and then add the bell peppers. saute until soft (but not too soft), about 10-15 minutes. when water boils, add pasta and stir every now and then.

3. if your ricotta is fairly hard (this will be the case with the recipe for homemade ricotta), add to the bell pepper mix in the skillet and heat to soften for about five minutes. keep the mixture warm over medium-low heat.

4. when pasta is done, drain and return to saucepan. add bell pepper mixture; if you have not yet added the ricotta, add it now. season with salt and pepper, plus a bit of sugar to balance the salt. serve while warm.

[serves 4-6; can be halved]

preoccupations : the meat pie

looks like a muffin, but really it's a nicely flaky crust shaped like a muffin that contains a mixture of pork, beef, onions, carrots, peas, and other sundry things. and baked together for close to an hour, it definitely hits the spot. if we consider the shape of the pie, i find it a bit lacking - i think what is really needed is a muffin top pan (or, no pan at all) so that the pie is shallower.

but let me start from the beginning. what i was aiming for was basically comfort food - but luscious, stick-to-your-ribs, mind-blowing, "this is just a meat pie??!" comfort food.

i especially love things that you eat with your hands, and that is what a meat pie is (yes, i realize the photograph has a fork in it). we eat with forks and knives so often that it's surprising and completely sinful to eat something with your hands, which hide the food object while you consume it furtively. a meat pie is different from buns, muffins, cookies, rolls, all of those other things that we eat with our hands. you can cradle it in your hands, and there is something about
a completely sealed pastry enclosure that makes you think it must hold something wonderful inside. because it's handheld, you can be completely selfish and keep it all for yourself, unless you're a generous soul, and this makes it all the more sinful because you don't want to share it with anyone. and this is what a meat pie should be.

i would say the pastry lived up to what the pastry should be: buttery, flaky, slightly thick so it was crispy on the outside, soft on the inside where the juices cooked into it. and the meat pie is one of the cases in which i will use an egg wash (fruit pies get the whole milk and sugar treatment). mmm. i used the pastry recipe from richard sax's home desserts, which is to say, i got the ingredient amounts from it; i always make the pastry the same way. and i'll tell you - i thought that it was going to be tough and rubbery this time because the dough was a little stretchy, but i think it was just that i didn't chill the dough sufficiently (it was on the top level of the fridge for an hour). unfortunately, the pastry was a little ugly shapewise, because i didn't cut the pastry into identical shapes and kind of patched them together, but i think i could work out a good system in the future.

the filling wasn't as good as the pastry, but i thought it did the job pretty well - it just didn't reach the heights that the filling is supposed to reach. once you've committed to doing the work to bite into the thing, whatever is inside better be good. i originally was going to leave the house and get some potatoes, so i could blend the mashed potatoes with the ground beef/pork mix that i had, but i decided not to because i was lazy (and poor). so i did some onions in bacon fat and thyme, with a bit of a sherry reduction as the onions browned. then i did the beef, adding some of the leftover pizza sauce (reduced crushed tomatoes, basil, and onions) i'd made for new year's and some sour cream to keep it from getting too tough. i did a bit of peas and carrots (frozen, sorry...) and mixed all of it together with a couple of eggs and breadcrumbs mixed with sour cream and the meat juices, and a couple tablespoons of maple syrup for good measure. fold that up into the pastry and pop it in the oven for an hour until the pastry is browned, and you've got your meat pies.

so let's talk about this filling. flavorwise, i thought it was great - the seasoning was right, and the meat to veggie ratio was good (i think it could have used a bit more veggies). i was particularly pleased that there was about the right amount of liquid in the meat pie - which is to say that there wasn't too much at all, so you don't bite into it and spill it all over yourself. but i think it was the wrong decision to use the ground meat - there's something about a meat pie that wants you to really be able to bite into it, and the ground meat just isn't quite assertive enough. so maybe little bars of steak with a little more chew would have been appropriate in this case. let me differentiate here between two different kinds of meat pies: the type i made today are handheld, but there is also the type that's large and that you eat slices of. the larger ones, i think, are best made with ground meat because it will slice more easily; however, for a handheld little beauty, i think it would be better to use more discrete pieces of meat.

and there you have it: my first try at meat pies. i think the most disappointing thing was the shape of the pie, and in the future i'll make them by hand without a mold, instead of using a muffin pan.

since the meat pie was such a hodge podge of stuff, i'm including just the recipe for the pastry here:

go-to pie and pastry crust
2 1/2c flour
1/4t baking powder
2T sugar
1/2t salt
2 sticks butter
5-8T cold water

1. mix all of the dry ingredients together in a bowl. cut half the butter into small pieces and toss in the dry ingredients. mix together the butter and dry ingredients with your hands, two knives, or a pastry blender (i prefer my hands) until it resembles coarse meal. it will turn slightly yellow. if you use your hands, then the motion you want is basically rubbing the flour and butter together between your fingers to moosh them together.

2. cut the other half of the butter into small pieces and toss into butter-flour mixture. rub into the flour mixture with your hands or a pastry blender until the butter is in pieces the size of small peas - the mixture will turn slightly more yellow.

3. add 5 tablespoons of cold water one tablespoon at a time, sprinkling the water into the mixture and turning it over so the water is somewhat evenly distributed. toss dough together until it comes together, adding more water by the tablespoon if you need more. the dough shouldn't feel overly wet - just very slightly damp.

4. divide mixture in half and press into a ball. flatten the ball into a disc on top of a large (18" long) piece of plastic wrap, then wrap tightly. make sure the edges aren't cracked - push the edges of the crack together. chill at least an hour. when you roll it out, put another piece of plastic wrap on top of the disc so you don't need to use flour (cheap trick, yes, but it does work wonderfully well).

[makes enough for a 9" pie - top and bottom crusts]

dill, dill, and more dill

did you know that trader joe's (at least the one on boylston) now carries a brand of herbs called "infinite herbs"? if only the "infinite" were true. at any rate, the herbs are perfectly good and a whole 60 cents cheaper than herbs at star or whole foods, so i might have to make weekly treks out to trader joe's. sadly, when i moved in june, i moved closer to star and harvest, but farther away from trader joe's and the river street whole foods ("the mother ship"). when i went to get my hair cut i stopped by and made the herb discovery, and pounced on some thyme and dill. thyme is my reigning favorite herb, with tarragon a distant second.

i bought the dill because i like the way it smells. i have had it infrequently in the past few years; notably in a warm green bean salad carrie made for a menu once, and when my mother makes little toasts for special events - she spreads the toasts with cream cheese that has been blended with onions, ham, and dill, and puts a slice of tomato on top of that. carrie and i, needing to use it, decided on a tunisian fish soup, the green bean salad, and some dill-cheddar biscuits. all right, carrie decided to make the soup, and i made some things to go along with it.

the fish soup is a typical tunisian soup : spices, tomatoes, broth, and cilantro/parsley simmer for a while, then you add the fish. it smells undeniably tunisian in a very appetizing way. while carrie was in lab, i made the biscuits as i also made sugar cookies for rob's christmas present, which was longtime overdue. i have discovered the joys of having the tv on when i cook - it provides a source of background noise that's rather pleasant. i could also turn on music, but it's nice to have something to look at once in a while.

the biscuits are from a recipe on epicurious and i didn't really change anything. i did use "mediterranean style" yogurt from trader joe's, because that's what i had on hand. the difference? the mediterranean style yogurt is sharper in yogurt flavor, and is much thicker - more like a thick sour cream, really. it's somewhat close to creme fraiche. anyway, i got enough of it into the biscuit dough before i polished off the rest of it with some honey. yogurt and honey is an excellent combination, especially for those of us who still need to acquire the taste of really strong yogurt.

i would really recommend this biscuit recipe, although i would say that they're more like a cross between biscuits and scones. they are wonderful right out of the oven - all crispy on the outside - but they absorb moisture overnight, even when packed into an airtight container, so you might want to toast them in the toaster oven before consuming the leftovers the next day. i might also increase the dill a bit next time i make these, but that's just because i like dill. i've been eating them broken up in soup...bread soaked with soup is such a lovely wintertime food.

i also really like the green bean salad. suffice it to say, i am no great hand at steaming vegetables because i have no patience. still working on that. the green beans were a bit crunchy, but the dressing is good, and i like adding tomatoes to this salad quite a lot, both for flavor and visual pleasure. it's supposed to be a warm salad, but i like it better cold - the leftovers, after having sat in the fridge for twenty-four hours, were simply fantastic.

oh, and for the record - i drank parmalat straight for the first time (i've been using it for baking) and the verdict is in...suffice it to say i will not be buying parmalat any time soon. it just doesn't taste like milk. it tastes like milk that has been incubated in cardboard for a very, very long time. ew. i like it when milk tastes like milk.

tunisian aromatic fish soup with potatoes
4c water
1 lb potatoes, peeled, halved lengthwise, cut crosswise into 1/2-inch-thick slices
2 medium tomatoes, peeled, quartered
3 garlic cloves, chopped
2T chopped fresh mint
1 1/2T fresh lemon juice
1t paprika
1/2t ground cumin
1/4t dried crushed red pepper
1/3c plus 1T finely chopped cilantro or parsley
1 lb 1-inch-thick firm white fish fillets (such as cod, haddock or sea bass)
3T olive oil

1. combine first 9 ingredients in large pot. add 1/3 cup cilantro and bring to boil. reduce heat, cover and simmer 20 minutes. uncover and simmer 10 minutes.

2. add fish and olive oil and simmer until fish is cooked, about 10 minutes. using back of spoon, break up fish into smaller pieces. season soup to taste with salt and pepper. ladle soup into bowls. sprinkle with 1 tablespoon chopped cilantro and serve.

[makes 4 servings]

cheddar-dill biscuits
2c all-purpose flour
2t baking powder
1t sugar
1/2t baking soda
1/2t salt
5T cold unsalted butter, cut into bits
2 oz coarsely grated extra-sharp cheddar (3/4 cup)
1 1/2T chopped fresh dill
3/4c whole-milk plain yogurt
1/3c whole milk

1. in a large mixing bowl, place flour, baking powder, sugar, baking soda, and salt and stir until well combined. add butter and pulse until mixture resembles coarse meal.

2. add cheddar and dill stir until combined.

3. whisk together yogurt and milk, then add to dry ingredients and stir with a spatula until just combined and dough comes together. don't over-mix, or your biscuits will be tough.

4. spoon 12 (1/4-cup) mounds of dough about 2 inches apart onto an ungreased large baking sheet and bake until puffed and pale golden, 12 to 15 minutes.

[i scaled this by 1 1/2 and it made 24 normal-sized biscuits]

green bean and tomato salad with dill
2 lbs green beans, trimmed and halved
3 tomatoes, chopped or sliced however you like them in salad (i sliced them, then halved the slices)
2T cider vinegar
1/3c olive oil
2t dill seeds (i omitted these because i didn't have any)
1/4c chopped fresh dill

1. in a steamer set over boiling water steam the beans, covered, for 6 to 8 minutes, or until they are just tender.

2. while the beans are steaming, in a blender blend together the vinegar, the oil, the dill seeds, the chopped dill, and salt and pepper to taste. alternatively, whisk together the dressing ingredients in a bowl; if you're using the dill seeds you may want to crush them a bit before you put them in the dressing.

3. transfer the beans and tomatoes to a serving bowl and toss them with the dressing.

[makes 8 servings]

and last but not least, here is the recipe for rob's cookies. they're basically linzer cookies minus the cough-and-choke-inducing powdered sugar. this recipe combines my favorite (and standard) butter cookie recipe with a raspberry jam filling.

rob's favorite cookies
for the cookies
2c all-purpose flour
1/2t salt
1/4t baking powder
2 sticks (1 cup) unsalted butter, softened
1c sugar
1 large egg
1/2t vanilla
1t almond extract (for regular sugar cookies, omit the almond extract)

for the filling
1 large jar seedless raspberry jam (i use smucker's)
1t lemon zest
1/2c amaretto or raspberry liqueur (optional)

1. make the cookies : in a large bowl, cream the butter, then mix in the sugar until well combined. add the egg and mix until well combined; then add the vanilla and almond extracts. add the flour, baking powder, and salt and mix until the dough comes together and is mixed well. while you want the dough to be a uniform texture and color, you don't want to overmix or your cookies will be tough. divide the dough in half and form it into two discs. wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate at least an hour.

2. preheat the oven to 350F. roll out one of the discs of dough between two sheets of plastic wrap, to about 1/8" thickness (slightly thicker is ok, but 3/16" is as thick as it should be). slide onto a cookie sheet and place in the freezer for 10-15 minutes, until the dough is stiff. put the dough on your work surface and peel off the top layer of plastic wrap. use cookie cutters to cut out your cookies (i'm partial to 3" and 2" square fluted cookie cutters). i find that the best way to do this is to cut all 3" cookies and transfer them to the cookie sheet, then cut out the middles of half of the cookies once they're on the cookie sheet. you'll get more nicely-shaped cookies that way. when you're cutting the middles of the cookies out, press the cutter down and leave it there. to get the middle out, lift the cutter so that one corner is still stuck in the cookie, and basically dig the middle out - this will lift the corner of the part you're cutting out so that you can lift it out entirely, without messing up the rest of the cookie. i like to have four cookies across on the cookie sheet, alternating top and bottom, so they cook evently.

3. when you're done filling a cookie sheet, stick it in the freezer for 5-10 minutes. bake in the middle of the preheated oven for about 10-12 minutes, until they're pale golden (and golden on the edges). you might want to watch them so they don't overbake. if they do overbake, it's purely an aesthetic consideration - the cookies will still be quite good. let cool for a few minutes, then transfer to a plate. reroll the scraps of dough and finish making cookies.

4. make the filling : in a saucepan, combine the raspberry jam, lemon zest, and liqueurs (if using). heat over medium heat and simmer until the mixture is reduced by half. stir every now and then so the sugar in the jam doesn't burn; you will want to watch this fairly carefully. this takes maybe 20 minutes or so, depending on whether you add liqueur - it will take less time if you don't use the liqueur.

5. assemble the cookies : while the filling is still warm, take a cookie top, flip it over and brush its underside with filling. place on a cookie bottom and spoon a teaspoon of filling in the cutout, spreading it to fill the cutout. since the filling will be hot, take care that you don't drip it on the cookie. place on a plate and let cool. don't stack the finished cookies while they're cooling, or they'll stick together. if you aren't going to serve these at once, you might want to sprinkle the exposed filling with granulated sugar once the cookies have cooled, since the filling will still stick to anything, including reynolds release wrap. do not use powdered sugar. store in an airtight container. the cookies, after they've cooled, will retain their crispy nature but will absorb a bit of moisture from the filling and end up as crispy-chewy.

[makes about 2 1/2 dozen 3" square cookies]

salted lemons...

with your sugared dates! ok, i've seen one too many disney movies.

i have begun incubating my preserved lemons, and have every hope that they turn into real preserved lemons at some point in the next 30 days. my other curing project for the month of january is bacon, to be made at some point later this month when i find a good butcher.

the calm before the storm

alright, i've been staring at my computer since 6:30am, trying to make my portfolio reach that mythical land of completeness; i need a break. oddly enough, not one from the computer, but at least one from the portfolio because i'm falling asleep.

i shouldn't have done it, but yesterday careen and i made dinner for 44 and assorted friends. hm. i really did know it was going to be bad for me, and it will mean that i will sleep much less this week, but i did it anyway. i guess i don't really know about moderation. it was quite wonderful...quite an orgy of cooking. i'm still learning which one to use when; for example, the wusthof for chopping chocolate; the mac is really just for vegetables. i've started to be able to feel the differences in the knives when i use them - i can actually feel the brittleness in the mac, whereas the i feel that i could use the wusthof forever and it would always be the same.

i also got to make pie crusts; i could make pie crusts all day. i used a slightly different recipe (less butter, essentially) because i was blind-baking them for pumpkin pie. brushing them after they came out of the oven with a beaten egg white did the trick again for keeping the crust from getting soggy. i do like soggy crust in a way, but not leaden crust. it's not a surprise that the egg white works, but it's something that i never would have thought of. good ol' saveur...

anyway, this is what we made, for about twelve people (recipes included for the stuff we didn't make up) :

roast turkey with prosciutto, rosemary, and thyme
apple, sage, sausage, and parsnip stuffing
broccoli with a fontina cheese sauce
butternut squash risotto with peas

chocolate pudding (with my trusty callebaut chocolate and valrhona cocoa)
pumpkin pie x 2
spiced poached pears

i had no idea really what kind of spices to put in the pears, which got poached in a dessert wine, water, and sugar, so i went to harvest. i ended up getting white peppercorns, star anise, cinnamon sticks, and cloves. pretty standard except for the white peppercorns, which i quite liked - it added a bit of a kick. i got lazy (this whole production took maybe 7 hours straight of cooking) so i didn't make a chocolate sauce. of course, there was chocolate pudding so that went with the pears fine. the chocolate pudding tasted better today, after a day. i'm not surprised, since that's what chocolate things are wont to do; but it definitely tasted like it was of the campfire variety yesterday when i made it. faintly so, and not enough so that i wouldn't serve it (and eat lots of it), but i was annoyed all the same. "campfire," by the way, if lmf lingo for "slightly scorched." anyway, today the taste was completely gone. go figure. it was also almost black - it was, hands down, the darkest chocolate pudding i have ever seen, due to the dark color of the cocoa. valrhona cocoa - go get it from whole foods. it'll change your life.

the pumpkin pie was excellent, probably because it's really hard to mess it up. have you ever had a bad pumpkin pie? ok, let me rephrase: have you ever had a bad pumpkin pie, made from scratch? yeah, that's what i thought. they don't exist.

the turkey was pretty damn good. it was my first time roasting a turkey, though at this point i'm convinced it's not as hard as the food magazines make it out to be every year. we stuffed prosciutto-herb butter underneath the skin, put an onion and some garlic inside, and roasted it for maybe three hours. i think it must have been just the turkey that was good, because it tasted more turkey-like (gamier, i guess) than the turkey i had at home for thanksgiving. the gravy was excellent, too, with the addition of a lot of pan juices. mmm, pan juices...it's amazing, the amount of gravy one can eat, and the range of things one can eat it with.

i hadn't cooked for a bunch of people for a while, so it was probably the best thing i could have done saturday night. the cooking time was well-paced and not rushed for a rather impromptu affair (i planned and went shopping on saturday morning). if i measure my level of stress by the strength of my tendency to abandon work to cook as therapy, i would say that my stress level is off the charts this semester. formerly, i was able to go a few weeks without cooking anything; now i seem to be able to go about a week and then i give in. but i already knew that.

well, i am sure this will be my last post until xmas break. if i am still alive after that, and i haven't totally ruined my health with forced poor sleeping habits, i'll live to cook another day. but right now i am going to go eat a poached pear. poached pears are undoubtedly one of the most gorgeous foods known to man. all translucent, golden brown on the outside and cream-colored on the inside, and so wonderfully spicy...how could you not love them? they instantly redeem any mediocre pear.

chicken gravy

and also for the recipe junkies, here is how i made the chicken gravy which i liked so much. again, like i did for the chicken stew, i eyeballed the amounts of things in this recipe, since i used what was around to make it. it was more of an experiment than an actual stated desire to have gravy for the chicken. you don't have to add pan drippings but it will make the gravy better. the nice part of the recipe is that you can make the gravy without ever disturbing the chickens as they roast - ie, you don't have to wait for the chickens to be done before making the gravy.

chicken gravy #1
butter
chicken innards from the package (heart, liver, neck, etc - pull the skin + gross vein off the neck and rinse all of the pieces with cold water; pat dry)
red wine
2 medium onions, diced
vegetable or chicken stock (about 3 to 4 cups)
pan drippings
cornstarch
balsamic vinegar

[1] heat a few tablespoons of butter in a large skillet on medium-high heat. when it stops frothing, add the chicken innards, and saute until some fond starts to develop. don't forget to turn the pieces over (tongs are easiest) to make sure they brown on all sides.

[2] when the fond is a rich brown but isn't burning, add a cup or two of red wine to the skillet. scrape the bottom of the skillet with a wooden spoon (NOT anything metal) to deglaze the pan. add some vegetable/chicken stock and let simmer. add some liquid from the chicken roasting pans with the baster.

[3] after about 15 minutes, remove the chicken pieces from the pan and discard (unless you want to eat them). add the onions and let cook until the onions are cooked through. if you want to be really fancy you can sieve the gravy before adding the onions, which will make your gravy smoother.

[4] if the gravy looks thin, put 1 to 2T cornstarch in a small bowl or cup and add an equal amount of water; stir with a fork to dissolve. add that to the gravy (do NOT skip the dissolving step) and stir; it should thicken right away.

[5] whenever you decide that you like the consistency of the gravy, add a bit of balsamic vinegar to taste (i think i added somewhere between 1/4 and 1/3 cup) and let some of the alcohol cook off (~5 minutes?). taste and season with salt and pepper.

[makes ~3 cups gravy]

restaurant trendiness

it's been a long time since I last wrote, pretty much because it's been so darn hot that turning on the stove and/or oven just isn't an option. however, the past couple of days have been quite favorable towards cooking, so I got back into swing pretty fast. wednesday, v and i made carrie's smothered chicken, stir-fried cauliflower, and lemon granita; last night nora and i made a bolognese sauce to go with our pipette pasta, roasted carrots, and indian pudding. not the most adventurous of outings, but pretty solid on new experiences.

carrie's smothered chicken is well-traveled territory, ever since I got the recipe from her. it was intended for my sister, firsthand, but then i had the recipe myself, naturally. since then, i've made it twice. sorry to those who want the recipe; I don't think it's up to me to give it out, but here is a basic description, since "smothered" can mean so many different things, food-wise. chicken thighs (I still haven't figured out if it would be better to skin them; do NOT use boneless anything) get browned, then baked in a mixture of barley, peppers, onions, spices, chicken stock, and, with my variation, sliced mushrooms. there is always leftover barley mixture that gets cooked on the stove (probably because of the added volume of mushrooms), and it always surprises me that the leftover barley tastes so different from the chicken barley. who would have thought that some chicken bones would make such a difference?

the stir-fried cauliflower is, well, stir-fried cauliflower.

the lemon granita, which I rushed home to make (it takes 3 hours to freeze), turned out fairly well. it was one of those things where you didn't get the flavor quite right, but you'd like to try the method again. granitas are quite easy: make a sugar syrup, add the flavoring, and freeze, breaking up lumps every now and then. the recipe I used was apparently an authentic sicilian recipe (from epicurious.com), and involved zesting lemons by peeling off the yellow part with a vegetable peeler. I suppose that vegetable peeler should be a sharp one, because the granita, while the lemon taste was great, and the texture was wonderful, had a bitter aftertaste from the lemon pith, presumably. I would also recommend trying a bouquet garni of lemon zest, zested the old-fashioned way. incidentally, the best way to juice a lemon without a juicer is to cut them in half, and just dig your fingers into a half to squeeze out all of the juice. messier, but juicers in general are messy. regular sugar, instead of confectioners sugar, is also a must - the taste from regular sugar is more intense and purer, because it has no cornstarch as an additive (it prevents clumping).

thursday dinner was quite late, as we started cooking on the later side; we sat down to eat at about 9:30. i don't know why this bolognese sauce was called "weeknight" bolognese, because it sure takes a while to prepare. after you've made it once, you can cut the time down to about 40 minutes, but that seems like a while for spaghetti sauce.

both gourmet and cook's illustrated are always complaining about the authenticity of bolognese sauces (apparently the stuff at bertucci's isn't authentic. who woulda thought?). as far as I can tell, the ingredient that authentic sauces are always missing is carrots. after having made the sauce, i have absolutely no idea what the carrots do for the sauce, but at least there's the nutritional benefit. the basic method for this sauce is as follows: saute some diced bacon, then add the onions, carrots, and mushrooms (reconstituted dried ones); then add the ground meatloaf mix, following it shortly with milk, which tenderizes the meat. simmer that off (it's quite brown at this point) and add the tomatoes and tomato paste (finally it turns red). some fancy aspects of this recipe include the reconstituted mushrooms; we couldn't find porcini mushrooms, so we used polish cepes. pungent is an understatement. the other fancy, and as far as i can tell, useless, addition was a sweet white wine, reduced. it added some depth of taste that i am unable to detect. however, the sauce was great, once we made some adjustments: we added a little more tomato paste and some sugar, which made it taste more tomato-y.

the thing I liked most about the bolognese is the combination of milk and meat. for reasons unknown to me, the milk actually does a great job of rendering the meat tender, instead of the scary, tough tendrils of grayish-brown matter that cooked ground beef so often resembles. i would nix the mushrooms next time, because i think they somewhat overpowered the sauce (this is also partly due to the type of mushrooms we used) - and the carrots. however, in support of the sauce, it goes really well with pipette pasta, eaten out of a bowl with a spoon.

you might think that the selection of indian pudding as dessert was random, and I suppose it was - I saw a photo in a Globe article, and my curiosity was piqued. first of all, the ingredient list is short and simple: milk, cornmeal, molasses, and ground ginger. surprisingly, it tastes like its ingredients; whether this is a good thing or not is an issue for discussion. after two hours in the oven, it had developed a crust that, unsurprisingly, was mika's favorite part. :) because of the molasses and ground ginger, it was very reminiscent of pumpkin pie, and was accordingly quite good with vanilla ice cream and maple syrup. indian pudding seems to be very much a comfort food, rather than the overdone, prettified stuff that restaurants turn out en masse. i would say that it's vulnerable to restaurant syndrome, though - that process where restaurants take something that's good, and simple, and "reinvent" into all sorts of disgusting things. it becomes chic and trendy, and suddenly it's everywhere. it's as if you had always worn blue sunglasses, but then they became trendy and everyone had them: your staple fashion statement has been stolen from you, and now you're not chic any more, just a poser trying to be chic, because you don't have the date you started wearing the sunglasses tattooed on your forehead. sometimes good things can come of this reinvention business, but more frequently it turns out like madonna (or rather, esther).

lemon granita
2-3 lemons
1 cup filtered or bottled water
1/2c sugar

[1] zest the lemons and tie into a bouquet garni, or peel off the yellow part with a sharp vegetable peeler. squeeze the juice out of the lemons (you'll want 1/2c of juice).

[2] heat the water and sugar together and stir occasionally, until all of the sugar has dissolved.

[3] remove from heat and stir in zest.

[4] cool the syrup, leaving zest in, then stir in lemon juice.

[5] freeze in a 9x13 metal pan, stirring and breaking up lumps every 30 minutes, until the mixture is slushy but not too liquidy, about 3 hours.

[serves 4]

bolognese sauce
2 carrots, grated
1/2 small onion, diced
3 oz bacon or pancetta, diced
1 can (28 oz) whole tomatoes with juice, chopped
1 can (14.5) oz diced tomatoes with juice
1 1/2T unsalted butter
1 small clove garlic, minced
1t sugar
1 1/4 lbs meatloaf mix
1 1/2c whole milk
3T tomato paste
salt and pepper to taste

[1] heat the butter in a 12" skillet until foaming, over medium-high heat. add the bacon/pancetta and saute until browned. add the onion, garlic, and carrots and saute until soft, about 4 minutes.

[2] add the meatloaf mix and break up into 1" pieces. cook the meat for 1 minute, then add the milk and break up the meat further. when the milk has almost all cooked off, add all the tomatoes with their juice, and the tomato paste. simmer 20-30 minutes, until thickened.

[3] add sugar, and season with salt and pepper.

[makes about 6 cups]

indian pudding
1 quart whole milk
1/2c yellow cornmeal
1/2c molasses
1t ground ginger

[1] scald the milk: heat until little bubbles appear at the edges (don't stir).

[2] mix the cornmeal into the milk and heat in a double boiler for 20 minutes, until thickened to the consistency of...oatmeal? porridge? just stick to the 20 minutes.

[3] stir in molasses and ground ginger.

[4] pour into a buttered 2-quart baking dish and bake for 2 hours at 300F. Serve with vanilla ice cream, drizzled with maple syrup.

[serves 4]