Simple Miso Dipping Sauce

From How to Cook Everything:

INGREDIENTS:

• 6 tablespoons miso paste
• 3/4 cup warm water or sake or a mixture
• 1 teaspoon sugar
• 1 tablespoon mirin or white wine
• 1 tablespoon rice vinegar, or more to taste
• Salt

PROCEDURES:

1. Put everything except the salt in a small bowl and whisk together. Taste and add more vinegar and salt if needed.
2. Serve immediately. To use warm, heat gently but do not boil. Or refrigerate for up to a week (and serve warm or cold.)

RESULTS:
I had the ladies over for a sushi night on Tuesday. A wonderful time was had by all, I think we all ate our weight in california rolls. I had thought that it might be good to have something already made to tide us over while we made the sushi, since it does take a while, so I threw together this dip along with some carrots that Tiffany expertly chopped. As a dip it was so-so. The flavor was really nice and simple, but it was just too too runny for a veggie dip. Bittman recommends putting it over food, like as a drizzle over potatoes or meat, but then he shouldn't call it a dip, should he?

Anyway, as dip is was fairly unsuccessful. However, as a salad dressing, mixed with a bit of the tahini I have left in my fridge from a hummus-frenzy this summer, it is fantastic. The earthiness of the tahini really cuts the salt of the miso, and it thickens it up a lot. I had it with a spinach and orange salad with some of the cucumbers and krab leftover from last night.

Alton Brown's Eggnog

Ingredients
4 egg yolks
1/3 cup sugar, plus 1 tablespoon
1 pint whole milk
1 cup heavy cream
3 ounces bourbon
1 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
4 egg whites*

Directions

1. In the bowl of a stand mixer, beat the egg yolks until they lighten in color. Gradually add the 1/3 cup sugar and continue to beat until it is completely dissolved. Add the milk, cream, bourbon and nutmeg and stir to combine.
2. Place the egg whites in the bowl of a stand mixer and beat to soft peaks. With the mixer still running gradually add the 1 tablespoon of sugar and beat until stiff peaks form.
3. Whisk the egg whites into the mixture. Chill and serve.

 Cook's Note: For cooked eggnog, follow procedure below.

1. In the bowl of a stand mixer, beat the egg yolks until they lighten in color. Gradually add the 1/3 cup sugar and continue to beat until it is completely dissolved. Set aside.
2. In a medium saucepan, over high heat, combine the milk, heavy cream and nutmeg and bring just to a boil, stirring occasionally. Remove from the heat and gradually temper the hot mixture into the egg and sugar mixture. Then return everything to the pot and cook until the mixture reaches 160 degrees F. Remove from the heat, stir in the bourbon, pour into a medium mixing bowl, and set in the refrigerator to chill.
3. In a medium mixing bowl, beat the egg whites to soft peaks. With the mixer running gradually add the 1 tablespoon of sugar and beat until stiff peaks form. Whisk the egg whites into the chilled mixture.

 Results:
So much better than store bought, you'll wonder what you've been doing all these years. Play around with the proportions of milk to cream, or replace the cream with half and half, add more spices, use rum instead of bourbon (or in addition to bourbon)--it's a pretty elastic recipe.

* Egg whites are a really poor medium to grow bacteria, so it's not alarming that these egg whites aren't cooked, especially if they're fresh and you washed the outsides of the eggs. However, if you're worried about it, what I think you can do is beat the egg whites into peaks, gently mix it with the yolk and milk and then bring that to 160 degrees. Alton did that on TV the other day when he made wassail. I would think it might be less fluffy, is all. If anyone tries this, let me know!

Tahini Collard Greens

Serves four and prepared in 20 minutes

• 2 Tbs. extra virgin olive oil-I used 2 tbs olive oil and 2 tbs bacon fat
• 1 Tbs. chopped fresh garlic or more to taste
• 1 Lb. Fresh Kale or other dark green leafy vegetable, cleaned with large stems and veins removed and roughly chopped. Pat dry after rinsing.
• 1/2 Cup or more chicken stock or other healthy stock such as vegetable or beef marrow stock.
• 3 Tbs. Tahini
• Sea Salt and freshly ground pepper to taste.
• 2 Tbs. freshly squeezed lemon juice.
• Chopped fresh tomato for garnish (optional)

1. In a large dutch oven or deep covered skillet with a lid, heat oil on medium high until hot. Drop in the garlic and sautee for a few minutes until golden brown.
2. Add the kale and press down and toss to coat with oil. Add in the stock, tahini, and salt and pepper to taste. Stir well and cover to cook until the greens are wilted and tender, which should take about 5 minutes.
3. Uncover and continue cooking on a lower heat, stirring frequently until the greens are very tender, which should take about 5 more minutes. If you need to add more stock to prevent the greens drying out, do so, but you do not want to over do it.
4. Remove the greens from the heat and stir in the lemon juice, tossing well to distribute. Taste the greens and adjust the seasoning to your liking. Garnish with fresh tomato and serve over rice hot, warm or at room temperature.

RESULTS:
This tasted exactly like it seems like it would taste. (I don't know why I sometimes think some recipes will end up tasting like something other than the sum of their parts, especially when there's no baking involved). I mean, it was really good and very filling, and I fully intend to make the variations (one of which is peanut butter, lime juice and ginger instead of tahini and lemon juice), but it tasted just like collards with tahini. You can also use broccoli raab (which, thanks to The Office, I can no longer say without giggling), beet greens, dandelion or turnip greens, chard, bok choy, tatsoi, cabbage, spinach, or something called gai lan.

Fresh Cheese

The day after Thanksgiving, I had apparently not had enough of cooking, because I decided to make fresh cheese. The recipe is from How to Cook Everything. I was toying with the idea of posting the whole recipe here, but the pictures are really crucial to understanding how it works, and the directions are too involved. So, instead, I found it on Google Books. All it takes is milk, buttermilk, salt, and cheesecloth (which you can find at the grocery store).

I'll just give you my impressions. The cheese itself was, I thought, very good. It tasted like a mix between ricotta and cream cheese. I think undersalting it is a definite problem, and I also had trouble with cheesecloth management. I either had too many plies, which made it very hard to squeeze whey out of the cheese, or I had too few plies, which made it very easy to squeeze curds out of the cheese. This can probably be improved with practice. It was actually harder than I thought it would be, squeezing the whey out, and I probably could have benefited from a conspirator or two to help with the squeezing.

turkey breast and roasted vegetables

Thanksgiving dispatch #2

I also made turkey breast and roasted vegetables. The turkey wasn't great. The flavor was excellent, I did the smoked paprika rub again (although this time with butter), with garlic, thyme, and rosemary in the pan, but I think the middle was still frozen when it went in the oven, so it took over an hour longer than it should have, but then it still ended up super dry, drier than how Chris likes it, and he likes it pretty dry. I think part of it may also be quality. I've never cooked just a turkey breast before, and there's an unpleasant something (piece of skin? cartilage?) running through the middle of it, which I'm guessing was the outside of part of the breast which they sort of wrapped around to make the breast into a roast shape. So, if you think about it, a turkey breast isn't a cylinder, but this was wrapped and tied into a cylinder shape, so something's going on there. Anyway, I think that's something you would normally eat around, but because of the wrapping it go folded into the roast, and I didn't like it.

The vegetables (potatoes, butternut squash, onions, parsnips) were, frankly, fabulous. They were in the pan with the turkey, thyme, and rosemary, and I also finished them off with smoked salt, feta, and sliced almonds. The boys didn't like those as much, but I thought they were great.

Cranberry sauce, a la me

Report on Thanksgiving #1:

I was going back and forth between a few different cranberry sauce recipes. The problem was there was a relish, which seemed pretty good because it had interesting additions like oranges and ginger, but it wasn't a real sauce (just chopped up ingredients), which I didn't want. And then there's the traditional sauce, which is just water, sugar, and cranberries. Didn't want that either.

Finally I said, the heck with it, and combined the two. Smelled amazing as it cooked, and it tastes not too shabby, either. I was tempted to have some for breakfast, but thought I should save it for the turkey.

2 cups fresh cranberries, rinsed and picked over
2/3 c sugar (or more if you want it to be less runny)
zest from one orange
1 orange segmented
a bit of grated fresh ginger (whatever looks good)
1 cup water

Put all of the above in a saucepan over medium low heat. Cover and cooks, stirring occasionally, until berries are broken, 10 to 15 minutes. Transfer to a bowl, cool, and refrigerate. Will keep, covered, for a week.

You can also add just a teensy splash of bourbon, which I did. :)

Indian Lentil Stew

Good for a cold, fall rainy day.

1 tablespoon olive oil

1 cup chopped onion

1 1/2 teaspoons garam masala (can find on a grocery store, or google for a recipe online)

1 cup chopped plum tomatoes

1 teaspoon ground turmeric

1 teaspoon minces peeled fresh ginger

2 cloves garlic, minced

1 medium eggplant (1 #), peeled and chopped

1 cup dried lentils, sorted and rinsed

2 cups chicken or veggie broth

2 cups water

1 1/2 teaspoons salt

2 bay leaves

2 cups chopped fresh portabello mushroom caps

salt and pepper to taste

Over medium-high heat, warm the olive oil. Saute onion until softened, about 6 minutes. Add the garam masala and cook, stirring, for 1 minutes. Stir in the tomatoes, turmeric, ginger, and eggplant and cook, stirring occasionally, until the eggplant is tender, about 10 minutes.

Add the lentils, broth, water, salt, and bay leaves to the pan and bring to a boil. Cover, reduce the heat and simmer for 15 minutes. Stir in the mushrooms and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat to a simmer and cook until the mushrooms are tender, about 10 minutes. Discard the bay leaves. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Serve hot.

Results:

Pretty darn good, but I added more garam masala for an extra kick. This is the recipe I used: http://www.ochef.com/r75.htm It was a nice, light but hearty soup to prepare oneself for the Thanksgiving onslaught. I could also conceive some leftover turkey making its way into the leftover stew....

For lunch yesterday I had sauteed onions, leftover roasted butternut squash, and salty sundried tomatoes tossed with penne pasta and a little of the pasta water (to pull it all together--you put the water and the cooked pasta into the pan that you're sauteeing the onions in. Also add the squash and tomatoes then to warm through, and toss until the water is mostly absorbed. I saw that on Emeril.). I topped that with some pungent blue cheese and slivered almonds. Really really good.

Tentative Thanksgiving Menu

In case you're curious, here's the tentative Thanksgiving menu. It's going to be Chris, Duane, and me, so we don't need a big turkey. I had initially decided to protest turkeys altogether, but as the time draws near it's getting harder to resist. Lots of words that start with P in there, I wonder if that means anything.

• Roast Turkey Breast with Paprika
• Parsnip and potato rosti (from How to Cook Everything)
• Parmesan-Roasted Butternut Squash (with bacon) (from Epicurious)
• Popovers (from How to Cook Everything)
• Cranberry relish with orange and ginger (from How to Cook Everything)
• Dessert ?? something simple.

Simplest Roast Chicken

I roasted a chicken! I know, amazing. And it turned out fabulously. It was juicy, but cooked all the way through, and the meat was practically falling off the bone. Here's a helpful tip: A roaster chicken is about twice as big as a fryer chicken, which is the size that this recipe calls for. Confusing, but true. This recipe is from How to Cook Everything, and it's actually part of recipe with more variations. I'm just going to tell you what I did, and if you want the other variations, tell me, and I'll know what to get you for Christmas.

Makes 4 servings
Time: About 1 hour

We justifiably associate roast chicken with elegance, but it can also be super weeknight food, cooked in just about an hour. This method works because the high heat provided by the heated skillet cooks the thighs faster than the breasts, which are exposed only to the heat of the oven. It gives you nice browning without drying out the breast meat, and it's easily varied. If at any point during the cooking the pan juices begin to smoke, just add a little water or wine (white or red, your choice) to the pan. This will reduce browning, however, so don't do it unless you must. I suggest serving the pan juices with the chicken (you can call it sauce naturel if you like).

• 1 whole chicken, 3 to 4 pounds, trimmed of excess fat
• 3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
• 1 tablespoon good smoked or sweet paprika
• Salt and freshly ground black pepper
• A few sprigs fresh tarragon, rosemary, or thyme (optional)
• 5 or 6 cloves garlic, peeled (optional)
• Chopped fresh herbs for garnish

[this is Katie here: before starting this process, I decided I wanted to brine the chicken. Bittman doesn't actually recommend brining smaller poultry, so a few hours before I rubbed it down pretty well with a combo of coarse salt (it has to be coarse), minced garlic, and some herb or another, I can't remember. Tarragon maybe. Then I put it back in the fridge on a plate. When I was ready to cook, I rinsed the chicken off really well and patted it dry. Now this is important: if you do this, do not salt the chicken when you put it in the oven. Wait until you cut it up to serve it and see if it needs salt then, or just put some salt on the table. I didn't think it needed any more salt.]

1. Heat the oven to 450°F. Five minutes after turning on the oven, put a cast-iron or other heavy ovenproof skillet on a rack set low in the oven. Rub the chicken with the olive oil mixed with the paprika, sprinkle it with salt and pepper, and put the herb sprigs on it if you're using them. [KV: I didn't]

2. When both oven and pan are hot, 10 or 15 minutes later, carefully put the chicken, breast side up, in the hot skillet; if you're using garlic, scatter it around the bird. Roast, undisturbed, for 40 to 50 minutes or until an instant-read thermometer inserted in the meaty part of the thigh registers 155–165°F. 3. Tip the pan to let the juices from the bird's cavity flow into the pan (if they are red, cook for another 5 minutes). Transfer the bird to a platter and let it rest; if you like, pour the pan juices into a clear measuring cup, then pour or spoon off some of the fat. Reheat the juices if necessary, quarter the bird, garnish, and serve with the pan juices.

Results: 
The only problem, it turns out, is that neither of us like drumsticks. Well, actually, I thought they were delicious right out of the oven, but dark meat leftovers are pretty meh, at best. So I don't know how often I'll roast a chicken, unless it's for a crowd of more than two people, and some of those people are happy to pass on white meat in favor of dark.

Cannellini and Kale Ragout

From Epicurious:
The oversize croutons add a nice crunch to this warming dish, which is a cross between a soup and a stew. Serve with: Romaine salad with sliced oranges, black olives, and balsamic vinaigrette.

Yield: Makes 4 servings

Ingredients:
6 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil, divided
4 1 1/2-inch-thick slices Italian bread, crusts removed, each slice quartered
1 teaspoon plus 1 tablespoon chopped fresh thyme

3 garlic cloves, finely chopped
1/4 teaspoon dried crushed red pepper
5 cups (packed) thinly sliced kale (about 1 large bunch)
1 14 1/2-ounce can vegetable broth
1 14 1/2-ounce can diced tomatoes with green pepper and onion in juice
1 15-ounce can cannellini (white kidney beans) or Great Northerns, drained

Preparation:
Heat 2 tablespoons oil in heavy large pot over medium-high heat. Add bread and 1 teaspoon thyme; cook until bread is golden on both sides, turning with tongs, about 2 minutes total. Transfer croutons to bowl; sprinkle with salt and pepper.

Add remaining 4 tablespoons oil, garlic, and crushed red pepper to same pot; sauté over medium heat 30 seconds. Add kale and broth; bring to boil. Reduce heat to medium-low, cover, and simmer until kale wilts, about 5 minutes. Add tomatoes with juice, beans, and remaining 1 tablespoon thyme. Cover and simmer 15 minutes. Season with salt and pepper. Ladle ragout into shallow bowls. Top with croutons and serve.

Results:
So easy and great for our first snowy weekend. I had to simmer it for a while without the cover because it was a little too soupy for my taste. I think it would also be good with other herbs than thyme, like oregano. So, I had this ragout with the crouton for lunch today, and I plan on mixing it with some pasta to take to work for lunch sometime this week. If you want to turn it into a soup, I would say your could just add more broth.

This was a really interesting article about how foods can (and cannot) affect your mood. I don't necessarily believe what they say about chocolate....

Flour measurements

I found this handy way to convert flour measurements in cookbooks from volume to weight. Food people are always blah blah blahing about how it's more accurate to measure flour by weight than by volume, and it's not a real cookbook unless it does flour by weight. Whatever. It's just easier for me since I got a scale.

• 5.5 ounces per cup for bread flour
• 5 ounces per cup for all purpose flour
• 4 ounces per cup for cake flour

Mushroom Lasagna

From Smitten Kitchen:

Serves 6 to 8 (more as a first course)

• Salt
• Olive oil
• 3/4 pound dried lasagna noodles
• 1 large clove garlic, minced
• 4 cups whole milk
• 3/4 cup (12 tablespoons or 1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, divided
• 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
• 1/3 teaspoon ground nutmeg (the recipe called for 1 tsp)
• 1 1/2 pounds cremini or portobello mushrooms
• 1 cup freshly grated parmesan

Preheat your oven to 375°F. Bring a large, wide (if you use a wide one, you can save a dish later and saute your mushrooms in the bottom of it) of water to boil with salt and a splash of oil, that will help keep your noodles from sticking together as they drain. Add the lasagna noodles and cook for 10 minutes. Drain and set aside.

Make béchamel: Bring the milk and garlic to simmer in a saucepan, or heat it in your microwave, and set it aside. Melt 1/2 cup (8 tablespoons or 1 stick) butter in a large saucepan. If your name is Deb, you will probably brown this butter, too. Add the flour and cook for one minute over low heat, stirring constantly with a whisk or wooden spoon. Pour in the hot milk, a little at a time at first and stirring until combined. Once you’ve added half of it, you can add the second half all at once, along with 1 1/2 teaspoons table salt, the pepper, and nutmeg. Cook over medium-low heat, stirring or whisking frequently, for 3 to 5 minutes, or until thick. Set aside.

Prepare mushrooms: Discard portobello mushroom stems and/or trim the ends of the cremini stems. Slice mushrooms 1/4-inch thick. Heat 2 tablespoons olive oil and 2 tablespoons butter over medium in the bottom of the large, wide pot you used to cook the noodles earlier, or in a large sauté pan. Cook the mushrooms with a couple pinches of salt for about 5 minutes, or until they are tender and release some of their juices, tossing to make sure they cook evenly. Repeat with additional oil and butter, and remaining mushrooms.

Assemble lasagna: Spread some of the sauce in the bottom of an 8 x 12 or 9 x 13 baking dish. (Ina recommends the former, I only had the latter; if you’d like to freeze or give this dish as a gift, remember to use a foil pan). Arrange a layer of noodles on top*, then more sauce (about 1/4 of what remains), 1/3 of the mushrooms and 1/4 cup grated parmesan. Repeat two more times then top with a final layer of noodles, your remaining sauce and last 1/4 cup of parmesan.

Bake for 45 minutes, or until top is browned and the sauce is bubbly. Let sit at room temperature for 15 minutes before serving. To freeze for future use, allow it to cool completely and wrap two to three times in plastic wrap before freezing.

RESULTS:
Holy nutmeg Batman! The recipe called for 1 tsp. I used 3/4 tsp, and it was a lot of nutmeg still. In the recipe above I reduced the amount. Otherwise this was very good. I would also recommend caution with cooking the mushroom. I overcooked them, so they released a LOT of their juices, and it left them a little dried out in the lasagna, but with a runny mushroom juice (I poured the juice in the final layer thinking the pasta would soak it up, but it didn't).

I'm procrastinating and thought I'd assemble some recent thoughts on and realizations about food.

Things I used to like and now, for various reasons, don't

Turmeric: There was an incident involving me and the wrong end of a practical joke. I'd rather not go into it at the moment, but let's just say a perfectly good white shirt was no longer white. [Chris wanted me to say that he had nothing to do with this particular incident.]

Scallops: It could be that I just thought I liked scallops because the chefs on Top Chef are always cooking with them, but I've decided that they just don't have any flavor and the texture isn't great. Meh. No wonder the chefs who cook with scallops tend to get sent home that episode.

Ground Beef: I think this is a case of me just cooking dishes with ground beef wrongly over and over that now I don't like it, at least when I make it. I like it when other people make it, say in chili, hamburgers, or sauce, but not when I make it.

Things I still don't like, and may never like

Arugala: It's just mean. You think you're going to get lettuce--nice, sweet, simple lettuce. And then BAM! You get socked in the jaw with this impostor lettuce, this sneaky spicy assassin lettuce that gets you when you least expect it. Pass.

Radishes: See above. I'll leave the radishes to the fraggles.

Raisins: I get creeped out just thinking about raisins and that awful grit that they have sometimes. Yeesh. Gives me the willies. And they're so cloyingly sweet. My dislike of raisins eclipses my dislike of any other food, which is to say that I will eat them when I have to, or when it would be rude to not, or if they are covered in a lot of chocolate, but given my druthers they would drop off the face of the planet.

Beets: This one might be iffy. I liked beets when Jean made them for me once, and I like borscht. I just never like them when I make them, they always seem to taste like pickled beets, which I do not like.

Things I have always liked, but now I like more

Cherry Tomatoes: Once I discovered how good home-grown tomatoes are, warm from the sun and sweet, I've bought so many fewer grocery store tomatoes. It's just a completely different animal, and so much less fun than my own.

Pickles: The freezer pickles I made have been heaven. I could eat an entire pint in a sitting if I didn't remember how much salt and sugar is in a pint.

Things I used to not like, but now I do, and why

Eggplant: I think I primarily didn't like eggplant because I never cooked it long enough so I didn't like the texture, and I didn't like the flavor. So basically, I just hated it. When they were visiting, Dave and Kathy told me about the trick of salting the cut-up eggplant, letting it sit for a while, and then rinsing it off to get rid of the bitterness (also works with cucumbers, apparently, although I've always liked the way they taste). I also tried some eggplant Parmesan that I liked a lot, although what doesn't taste excellent smothered in tomato sauce and cheese? Regardless, now I loooove eggplant! I've been getting the long, skinny kind, but might soon branch out to the more eggplant-y shaped.

Chives: Mostly, I think that I like that I grew these chives (which I planted for their pretty purple flower in early spring). The chives, shall we say, thrived, and now I have to like them as I am my father's daughter and can't let food go to waste. They're growing on me, especially with mushrooms.

Brussel Sprouts: All it takes is one good recipe, I think.

Harper the Killer

Only tangentially related to food. I was in the front yard harvesting some chives when I hear Harper barking from the backyard. It was the same bark she uses when she's playing with another dog, and the dog is taking a time out and lying down and refusing to run around. It's sort of her, "come on, play with me!" bark, and is usually accompanied by a play bow. I go to the back to see what the ruckus is and I see Harper poking and barking at a rather dead mouse. Since she left it alone rather quickly once I yelled at her and hadn't already tried to eat it, I'm guessing she didn't see it as a food source, but rather as a playmate (it is very difficult to separate Harper from food. Not that she's protective of it and growls, just that she gulps food down so quickly there's no opportunity). I don't know if I would be more disturbed by her actually going after a mouse to kill it on purpose, or that she accidentally killed what she thought was a playmate.... well, either way, that's one less mouse that we have to worry about getting into the house!

No-Time Bread

4 1/2 teaspoons active dry yeast (two packets)
1 tablespoon sugar
1 1/2 cups water
3 1/2 cups bread flour
1 1/4 teaspoon salt
3/4 teaspoon balsamic vinegar

• In the bowl of a heavy-duty stand mixer put the yeast, sugar, and water and let it sit.
• Heat the oven to 450°F. Put a Dutch oven (or one of these alternatives) in to warm as the oven heats. Get out your flour, salt, vinegar, spray oil, and anything else you need.
• Now that the yeast has had a few minutes to bubble up, add 3 cups of the flour as well as the salt and vinegar and beat for several minutes with the paddle. Add the last 1/2 cup of flour and switch to the dough hook and beat for seven minutes. Alternately, knead vigorously for five minutes, or until the dough becomes extremely elastic. This will still be a wet dough, but not goopy. The dough will clear the sides of the bowl but still stick to the bottom.
• Lightly grease a microwave-safe bowl with vegetable oil and transfer the bread dough to it, rolling it in the oil. Cover the bowl with a very wet towel. Cover the whole thing with a dry towel and put in the microwave. Microwave on HIGH for 25 seconds.
• Let rest in the microwave for about five minutes.
• Microwave on HIGH for another 25 seconds, then remove.
• Let rest and rise for another 15 minutes.
• Shape into a ball and plop into the preheated pan. Quickly slash the top with a knife. Cover and bake for about 30 minutes, then remove the cover and bake for another 10 minutes, or until the crust is golden brown and the internal temperature hits 210.

RESULTS:
Chris and I are both sick, and our food supplies are awfully low, so bread seemed like a good thing to make. I was more intrigued by this recipe than expecting it to be good--I mean, how can you beat good old regular bread? First impression is that calling it "no-time" bread is a bit of a misnomer. I mean, it still takes about an hour to come together, which is certainly shorter than regular bread, but it's not like you can just pull it together last minute. It's also certainly not simpler than regular bread. I also think it could have used more salt.

Quick Pickled Zucchini

Just the other day I was wondering, "I wonder if I can pickle zucchinis?" and then Beth emailed me this recipe from 101 cookbooks.

Ingredients

• 3 medium (1 pound) zucchini, thinly sliced

• 1 medium white onion, thinly sliced

• 3 shallots, thinly sliced
• 1 1/2 tablespoons fine grain sea salt or pickling salt
  
• 1/4 cup (small handful) fresh dill sprigs
• 1 small fresh red chile pepper, very thinly sliced
• 1/2 tablespoon yellow mustard seeds
• 
3/4 cup cider vinegar

• 3/4 cup white wine vinegar

• 1/3 cup sugar

Directions
Toss the zucchini, onion, shallots, and salt together in a colander and place over a bowl to catch the liquids. Cover the bowl and refrigerate for at least a couple hours. Toss once or twice along the way. You're aiming to get as much liquid out of the zucchini as possible.

When you're finished draining the zucchini, shake off any water. At this point you want the zucchini as dry as possible. Place in a 1 liter / 1 quart jar along with the dill, chile pepper, and mustard seeds. Alternately, you can cram them into a 3/4 liter Weck jar like I do, but it's always a bit snug in the jar.

Combine the ciders and sugar in a small saucepan over medium heat. Bring to a simmer, stirring until the sugar dissolves, and continue to boil for a few minutes. Pour the liquid over the zucchini and seal the jar. Let cool, then refrigerate. The pickles are good for a week or so.



Makes one quart.

Results:
Unknown. I'm in Stevens Point right now for a conference and I put these together right before I left. At first whiff, they smelled like McDonald's pickles, but better.

Addendum:
These are pretty good! They go really well with, of all things, tuna fish. They don't keep tremendously long, only a couple weeks, so don't hold back when you're eating them.

Peanut Butter-Banana Oatmeal

From the Washington Post:

Summary:

The banana and peanut butter flavors in this creamy oatmeal are quite subtle. It tastes even better the next day, so you might want to make a double batch and keep it in the refrigerator; reheat with a little extra milk.

2 to 3 servings

Ingredients:

• 1 cup old-fashioned oatmeal (do not use quick-cooking or instant)
• 2 1/3 cups water
• Pinch salt
• 2 tablespoons creamy peanut butter
• 1 banana, cut into 1/4-inch slices
• 1/3 cup low-fat milk
• 1/2 teaspoon unsalted butter

Directions:

Combine the oatmeal, water and salt in a medium saucepan. Bring to a boil, stirring, over medium-high heat, then reduce the heat to medium and cook, stirring occasionally, for 5 minutes, until thickened and creamy. Add the peanut butter, banana, milk and butter; mix gently to combine. Cook for 1 minute. Divide among individual bowls and serve hot.

Results:
There's already a chill in the air here in the Great Northwoods. The mornings have been brisk, to say the least, and as I don't have to be anywhere today until 9:30, I thought I'd make myself a nice hot breakfast. Peanut butter and banana are in my top most favorite flavor combinations of all time, but I was a little disappointed. They're definitely "subtle," as the recipe claims, in this dish. I kicked it up by adding a little bit of homemade jam that my friend Sally gave me. And it is certainly creamy. I'm not sure how necessary the butter is, I bet you can leave that out.
Addendum:
Having gotten to the end of the bowl, I'm not sure I'd make this again. It was just TOO creamy, if that's possible, and not quite to my taste. But you might like it. :)

Harper does not like Frank Lloyd Wright

Chris and I said goodbye to summer with a trip down to Chicago for a wedding. The wedding was awesome, but also cool was the neighborhood we stayed in, Oak Park. Birthplace of Hemingway and proud show-er off-er of many Frank Lloyd Wright homes and his studio. It was amazing. We stayed at the Write Inn (which accepts dogs, by the way, and it fairly reasonably priced for it's location) which is right at the edge of the Wright houses (quick, how many homophones were in that sentence?). While Chris was helping get the wedding reception music set up, Harper and I went for a walk around this fabulous neighborhood. There were tons of tourists wandering around, and even the houses that weren't Wright homes were amazing. This house in the photo was his first independent contract after leaving his firm.

We also came across a bust of Wright, which had these hollow soulless eyes. Harper did NOT like this bust. She had an immediate distrust of it. It wasn't until I went up to the head and started poking it that she would approach it and sniff it, but she still didn't like it.

Chris was gone this weekend, so....

Items put up this weekend:

• 1 qt raspberries (frozen)
• 5 lbs roasted roma tomatoes (frozen)
• 6 pints pickles (frozen, thus bringing the season total for freezer pickles up to 12 pints)
• 20 pints crushed tomatoes (canned--it was a group effort, I'm getting 5 jars)

Items unsuccessfully attempted:

• 10 lbs apples sauce from crab apples (I don't have a food mill, and I wasn't going to peel all those tiny apples, but I thought maybe a sieve or a potato ricer would work to separate the peels from the apple mush. They didn't. Luckily, I tried it with only 2 lbs first, so I only have a little bit of skin-on apple mush to work through. It tastes very good with yogurt!)
  

Sweet Corn Pancakes

I got to go to the farmer's market for the first time in weeks yesterday. I went a little overboard and bought enough to feed a family of four vegetarians. Contributing to this was my mistakenly buying a dozen ears of corn instead of my usual 6 (I must have been checked out yesterday because when he gave me the corn and I noticed how much heavier the bag was than usual, I thought it was due to all the rain we've been getting. It didn't occur to me until I was home that it was heavier than usual because I had bought twice as much corn). However, this is a happy thing, to have too much corn, especially when it is literally the tastiest corn I have ever had in my life. Very, very sweet. But what to do with it all?

Enter the recipe below. It was good, it pretty much tastes like pancakes with corn in it, but that's a fun twist, no? From Smitten Kitchen.

Makes about 9 to 10 4-inch pancakes

2 tablespoons butter (1 ounce or 28 grams), plus additional for brushing pan
3/4 cup kernels cut from one large ear sweet fresh corn
1/8 teaspoon (1 gram) salt plus additional for seasoning corn
1 large egg
1 1/4 cups (296 ml) buttermilk
1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 tablespoon (13 grams) sugar
3/4 cup (3 3/8 ounces) all-purpose flour
1/4 cup (3/4 ounce or 22 grams) cornmeal, any kind
1 teaspoon (5 grams) baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda

Melt butter in a large cast iron skillet or griddle pan over medium heat. Add corn and saute for 4 to 5 minutes, until it begins to brown ever-so-slightly. Sprinkle with salt and set aside to cool. Wipe out skillet.

Lightly beat egg in the bottom of a large bowl, then whisk in buttermilk, corn, vanilla and sugar. In a smaller bowl, whisk flour, cornmeal, baking powder, baking soda and 1/8 teaspoon salt. Stir dry ingredients into wet, mixing until just combined but still lumpy in appearance.

Reheat your skillet or saute pan to medium. Brush the pan with butter and ladle 1/4 cup batter at a time, 2 inches apart. When the pancakes have bubbles on top and are slightly dry around the edges, flip them over and cook them until golden brown underneath. If they seem to be cooking too quickly (dark on the outside, raw centers) turn your heat down to low for the next batch and inch it up as needed. Repeat with remaining batter, and serve immediately with a pat of salted butter and a healthy dose of maple syrup.

Corn Chive Pudding

From Gourmet cookbook. This recipe is the reason I bought the cookbook. Suz would make it and it would be heavenly. You can use fresh corn or frozen corn. Make sure you stick to the amount of corn (20 oz) as if you have too much corn, the pudding will be loose and runny.

Serves 8

Ingredients

• two 10-ounce package frozen corn kernels, thawed
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 1 1/4 teaspoons salt
• 2 cups milk
• 4 large eggs
• 1/2 vanilla bean, split lengthwise and seeds scraped, reserving pod for another use
• 1/2 stick (1/4 cup) unsalted butter, melted and cooled
• 3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
• 1/4 cup chopped fresh chives
• a pinch freshly grated nutmeg

Garnish:
Garnish: 3 tablespoons chopped fresh chives

Preparation:

1. Preheat oven to 350°F. and butter a 1 1/2-quart quiche dish or pie plate.
2. In a food processor pulse half of corn until chopped coarse. In a bowl stir together chopped corn and remaining corn kernels and sprinkle with sugar and salt, stirring until combined well.
3. In another bowl whisk together milk, eggs, vanilla seeds, butter, flour and chives and stir into corn until combined well. Pour pudding into quiche dish or pie plate and sprinkle with nutmeg. Bake pudding in middle of oven until center is just set, about 45 minutes. Garnish pudding with chives.

I might start a new tool on the blog, quotes from Chris. Here's one installation:
"I'm pretty enamored with the idea of swamp people, in general."

Nothing like pickles in the morning

I got up early today to finish up a batch of freezer pickles before work (is that weird? Maybe). I think they'll turn out ok. The recipe called for a ton of sugar. I only used 2/3rds of what it called for, but I was afraid to cut it out because I didn't know what functional use sugar serves in pickling. Any? None? More research is required. Anyway, if you, too, are interested in making freezer pickles, here's the link I used from the UW Extension office. See page 54. If you want to can your own pickles, you may want to see if your local state university has an extension office with tips. It seems that altitude is really important. I also just really like the UW Extension. Always handy with a good tip.

Went berry picking

Raspberry Brown Sugar Gratin

In honor of Dave and Kathy's visit, and of the nearly six pounds of berries I picked, I made this gratin. Except, I didn't use raspberries, I used blueberries. And I didn't use creme fraiche, I used thickened yogurt. And I didn't even use half of the sugar, nor did I put it through a sieve because that didn't work. So of the three ingredients, I used none of them correctly. It was still tasty, though.

From Smitten Kitchen:

There are a lot of ways you can play around with this — flavoring the sour cream with lemon, vanilla, cinnamon or almond; using a mix of berries, etc. — but it is flawless the way it is. Want to fancy it up for fancy people? Make it in individual ramekins or tiny gratin dishes.

[Updated to add] Ooh, I just had an idea — Swap thick, full-fat Greek-style yogurt swapped for sour cream and serve it at a brunch to what I have to imagine would be a round of applause. Or at least I’d applaud.

1 pint (2 cups) fresh raspberries (or your choice of berry)
1 pint (2 cups) sour cream (or crème fraîche)
1 cup dark brown sugar

Preheat broiler. Gently fold raspberries and sour cream together in a shallow 1-quart dish. Press the brown sugar through a sieve or mesh colander so that it sprinkles evenly over the dish. (I tried using a sifter; don’t bother, it doesn’t work.) Run the dish under the broiler until the sugar just starts to caramelize. Eat at once.

Keeping: The leftovers might look like something died in your fridge but I can assure you, are equally delicious.

Smoothies!!!

Here's my favorite smoothie recipe. I think you can use it as a base and then add/subtract things you'd rather have:

In a blender, add the following: 

• A handful of ice cubes (maybe a cup's worth?)
• Half to a full avacado - I use this instead of banana because I loathe the taste of banana. I love how this makes the smoothie nice and creamy. I honestly don't think that you can taste the avacado, but some may.
• 1 serving of protein powder - My favorite is the vanilla burbon flavor by Tera's Whey that I've found at Whole Foods here in Madison. If you get one that has a lot of fake sugars in it, it will make your smoothie extra sweet, maybe too sweet. So adjust according to sweetness preference. I like mine less sweet. 
• 1 cups or so of frozen mixed berries - Or substitute with your favorite frozen fruit. I think using frozen is key so you get that smoothie texture. 
• Some sort of milk or milk alternative to cover - I prefer a vanilla flavored or unsweetned rice milk. This choice too will add/subtract sweetness and creaminess to the smoothie. You could also try juice here if you prefer.

Then blend and add more milk/alternative to desired thickness and enjoy!

You could also add other 'boosters' for health. For example, I like to add ground flax seed for fiber and omega-3s. Or you could add vitamin or wheat grass powder. The choices are endless.

Hope this helps get you started!!!!

Uses for Old Bay

Dear Emily in Moscow (Russia, not Ohio), posted this on my Facebook:

A friend sent me Old Bay!! (A GOOD FRIEND). Please post your favorite Old Bay (not crab or seafood that I can't get) uses on your blog. I know how you love it!

So, everyone, what are your favorite Old Bay uses? Em, here are mine below:

1. on corn
2. zucchini or other summer squash. also acorn squash in the winter
   
3. on popcorn (REALLY GOOD)
4. shrimp
   
5. really, any kind of fish
6. REALLY good in tuna fish sandwiches
7. any preparation of potatoes
8. bloody mary's
9. chicken
10. EGGS
    

Am I missing any greatest hits?

Pickled Sugar Snap Peas

How's this for irony? I just got back from the doctor, where I apparently have a TMY, or strained jaw joint. I'm to eat soft foods for a week. The irony is twofold. 1) I have some anti-inflamatory medicine that I absolutely have to take on a, quote, "very full stomach," (not easy to do when all I can eat are soft foods, and have a cold coming on to boot), and 2) my pickles are ready. SIGH! Here's the recipe for you to enjoy below. From Smitten Kitchen.

Ingredients

• 1 1/4 cups white distilled vinegar
• 1 1/4 cups cold water
• 1 tablespoon kosher or pickling salt
• 1 tablespoon sugar
• 1 pound sugar snap peas, stems trimmed and strings removed
• 4 garlic cloves, sliced
• 1 or 2 small dried chile peppers, slit lengthwise or a couple pinches dried red pepper flakes

Directions:

1. In a nonreactive saucepan, heat the vinegar with the salt and sugar until they are dissolved. Remove from the heat, and add the cold water. (This gives you a leg up on getting the liquid to cooling the liquid.)
2. When the vinegar mixture is cool, pack the sugar snaps, garlic and chile peppers or flakes into a 1-quart jar or bowl, and pour the brine over it. Cover with a non-reactive cap, or, er, plastic wrap.
3. The original recipe suggests you store the jar in the refrigerator for two weeks before eating the pickled peas, but good luck with that. They’re quite delicious and already lightly pickled by 24 hours later.

Results:
Just what you would imagine them to be. Trust me, though. Go easy on the red pepper flakes. It seems to get spicier over time. I've been sampling these all along, but it's hard to have to go a week without them. By the way, "non-reactive" means no aluminum, and I don't know about non-stick (I used my enamel coated dutch oven, I think that's non-reactive), and no plastic storage. Use a glass jar.

Pad Thai and Thai Mango Slaw

I cooked dinner for my semi-new boyfriend last night. This isn't the first time, but I thought it would be better then the other 2 times. The first time was pancakes-for-dinner on my new stove-top skillet. Lesson learned: when they tell you that it is pre-seasoned and stick-free, it isn't. The second time was crab cakes, but I forgot to look for shells in the meat. This third time, I thought I'd be a kitchen wiz. Sigh....

Minimalist Pad Thai (from Mark Bittman, NY Times)

4 ounces fettuccine-width rice stick noodles

1/4 cup peanut oil

2 to 4 tablespoons tamarind paste

1/4 cup fish sauce (nam pla)

1/3 cup honey

2 tablespoons rice vinegar

1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes, or to taste

1/4 cup chopped scallions

1 garlic clove, minced

2 eggs

1 small head Napa cabbage, shredded (about 4 cups)

1 cup mung bean sprouts

1/2 pound peeled shrimp, pressed tofu or a combination

1/2 cup roasted peanuts, chopped

1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro

2 limes, quartered.

1. Put noodles in a large bowl and add boiling water to cover. Let sit until noodles are just tender; check every 5 minutes or so to make sure they do not get too soft. Drain, drizzle with one tablespoon peanut oil to keep from sticking and set aside. Meanwhile, put tamarind paste, fish sauce, honey and vinegar in a small saucepan over medium-low heat and bring just to a simmer. Stir in red pepper flakes and set aside.

2. Put remaining 3 tablespoons oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat; when oil shimmers, add scallions and garlic and cook for about a minute. Add eggs to pan; once they begin to set, scramble them until just done. Add cabbage and bean sprouts and continue to cook until cabbage begins to wilt, then add shrimp or tofu (or both).

3. When shrimp begin to turn pink and tofu begins to brown, add drained noodles to pan along with sauce. Toss everything together to coat with tamarind sauce and combine well. When noodles are warmed through, serve, sprinkling each dish with peanuts and garnishing with cilantro and lime wedges.

Yield: 4 servings.

Mango Slaw with Cashews and Mint (from Smitten Kitchen)

2 mangoes, peeled, pitted and julienned
1 to 1 1/4 pounds Napa cabbage, halved and sliced very thinly
1 red pepper, julienned
1/2 red onion, thinly sliced
6 tablespoons of fresh lime juice, from about two limes
1/4 cup rice vinegar
2 tablespoons oil of your choice
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes, or to taste (or omit this and whisk in a chile paste to taste)
1/4 cup thinly sliced fresh mint leaves
1/4 cup toasted cashews, coarsely chopped

Toss mangoes, cabbage, pepper and onion in a large bowl. Whisk lime juice, vinegar, oil, salt and red pepper in a smaller bowl and pour over slaw. You can either serve this immediately or leave the flavors to muddle for an hour in the fridge. Before serving, toss with mint leaves and sprinkle with cashews.

About your mango: This salad will work with almost any variety or ripeness of mango, whether sour or sweet. Use the one you can get, or that you enjoy the most. In general, a firmish not overly ripe mango (unlike the very ripe, sweet one I used) holds up best but all will be delicious in this salad.

Results:

Well.....first off, make sure that your local store has the tamarind paste for the Pad Thai before you do anything. We couldn't find it in my local Safeway (the "Social Safeway" in DC nomenclature). Beau even recruited the staff to help us look. At this Safeway, they are very dedicated to costumer service and at one point, we had a 20-year old shelf-stocker, a check out lady with her 6-year-old kid in tow, and an elderly fish monger from Jamaica all helping to find this one item. Nope, no luck. We still thought we'd wing it. Beau's good at winging it.

The other thing you need to make sure of is that you have peanuts. I thought I did, but turns out I was wrong. I also thought I'd just substitute cashews for peanuts. I knew I had cashews, and they are in the other dish as well. What I didn't know until AFTER I had made everything was that this summer's excessive heat and humidity had turned the cashews moldy.

We couldn't find mung bean sprouts, so I substituted regular sprouts. If you do this, I recommend putting them in last, as when I put them in with the cabbage, they overcooked.

Finally, the other things to make sure of is that your dinner guest likes shrimp. 'Nuff said.

So to recap: No tamarind paste. No peanuts. No cashews. Overcooked bean sprouts. Beau don't do shrimp.

I can't comment on the Pad Thai, it just wouldn't be fair. The mango slaw, however, was a fantastically flavorful dish. Almost too flavorful (I think I went overboard on the red pepper flakes). It was very refreshing, and you could really taste the mint. The cashews would have been great with this dish, just to mellow everything out. We used ripe mangos which were a great foil to the onion, and I think that unripe mangos might even be too much. If you try it, let me know!

Beth

Roasted Lemon Zest Powder

Thanks to Suz for pointing me towards the Chocolate and Zucchini blog. Here's a tip for Roasted Lemon Zest Powder. I haven't tried it yet, I'll do a full post on it when I do. I just didn't want to lose the tip. If anyone tries this before me, do tell!

Bok Choy

It was way too hot* to stand over a hot stove, but I had to use up some bok choy I got at the market LAST Saturday. This turned out really well, I'll definitely make it again. I added some red pepper flakes. Supposedly, this is from Mark Bittman, but I just got the recipe from some yahoo on the Google, so who knows. It seemed simple enough, so I decided to try it.

*Uh, relatively speaking. I'm fully aware that many of you currently gripped in a month long heat wave would laugh at me for this. It was about 77 inside,** but I didn't want to turn on the A/C because it's so nice and breezy out, and the house has been closed up tight for days due to rain every day. So it was too warm inside to be cooking comfortably, really. I swear. The irony is that the lower level of our bi-level is about 10 degrees cooler. When you're standing at the front door you can feel the cold radiating up as if from some sort of underground catacombs. Chris is down there watching TV bundled up in a blanket. If only the kitchen were downstairs. Hmmm....

**Yes, I'm bragging just a little bit about the summer being so nice here. Hey, we suffered through months of below zero temps for this glorious weather. Harper had to wear a coat all winter, and next year we'll have to try getting her to submit to the winter booties. I think we earned a pleasant summer, no?

Ingredients
1 T sesame oil
1 T garlic minced
1/2 large onion
2 t ground ginger
1 head bok choy
1 t stock,chicken,concentrated
1 c water
1 T soy sauce

Directions

1. Heat oil in wok or large frying pan over medium-high heat.
2. Add garlic and ginger and cook for 15 seconds.
3. Add onion and cook for another 30 seconds.
4. Add bok choy and cook, stirring constantly, for 3 minutes.
5. Add chicken stock concentrate dissolved in boiling water.
6. Cook over medium high heat til sauce is reduced and bok choy is tender, stirring frequently.
7. When liquid is almost gone, add soy sauce, toss, and turn off heat.
8. Salt and pepper to taste.

German Potato Salad

From the Washington Post: This is the potato salad Food contributor David Hagedorn grew up with in Alabama; his stepmother, Barbara, always made a Tupperware vat of it. Whether there were six people or 20, he says, there was never any left over. It is best served at room temperature, and it gets better over the course of a few days. Hagedorn has made a couple of modifications over the years, substituting smoked paprika for regular paprika for a more robust flavor and seasoned rice vinegar for white vinegar.

Makes 8 cups

Ingredients:

• 3 1/2 pounds red bliss potatoes or Yukon gold potatoes
• 3/4 cup canola oil
• 1/2 cup seasoned rice vinegar (if using unseasoned rice vinegar that does not contain sugar, add 1 1/2 teaspoons sugar)
• 1 medium red onion, thinly sliced
• 1 teaspoon salt, or to taste
• 1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
• 1/2 cup chopped parsley
• 1 teaspoon smoked Spanish paprika

Directions:

In a large pot of salted water over medium-high heat, add the potatoes. Bring to a boil and cook until fork-tender, 25 to 35 minutes. Drain the potatoes in a colander and peel while they are as hot as you can handle. Cut one-third of them into 1/2-inch-thick slices directly into a large resealable food storage container. Drizzle one-third of the oil over them, then one-third of the vinegar. Top the potatoes with one-third each of the onions, salt, pepper and parsley, in that order. Repeat the process twice. Sprinkle the salad with the paprika. Cool to room temperature, then cover and refrigerate at least overnight.

Turn the container over for several hours so the juices permeate the potatoes. When ready to serve, bring the potato salad to room temperature and serve with a slotted spoon.

Results:

Those among us who do not like onions would not like this potato salad, but I found that it was a nice alternative to mayonnaise-y salad. Personally, I don't understand all that canola oil. I know it's supposed to keep it moist or something, but it was just way too much. Next time, I'll use less oil, and make it olive.

roasted corn

Oh my gosh. Kathleen and I roasted some corn on Saturday with the grill (basically, we shucked the corn completely, rolled it in a little olive oil, salt and peppa and then put it on the grill for a while). There were some left over ears. I just cut the kernels off of one of them and put the corn in a salad. Wowy wow wow. Especially good are the blackened parts, the kernels sort of caramelized and it tastes smokey and sweet. I might just have another ear for dessert. Nice work Kathleen!

Grilled Trout

Kathleen (and Barry, Duane and Pete) came up this weekend. We're having a fabulous time, but I wanted to share a technique Kathleen showed me for grilling fish. So you take your fish, you brush it with EVOO, salt and pepper. Then you take a folded up paper towel and dip it in olive oil and rub it on the grill. Be thorough. Put the fish on the grill (skinless side down). When it releases easily, flip it and grill the other side until it releases (Kathleen put the lid on for both sides). I think she had about 5 minutes per side. And then it's done! We used the steelhead trout, but she said it would work with a number of fishes. The key is to be patient until it releases easily. It was very very tasty, I highly recommend.

I find these parts of Wisconsin to be subtly stunning. I mean, it's not going to whack you over the head with amazing scenery like the mountain out west will, but if you take the initiative and look around, it really is something. I love driving south in the morning because it's just lovely, with the green rolling hills, black and white cows, and barns (for some reason it's not as impressive coming back north). On Sunday I went kayaking on a river north of here and it was just beautiful. Besides a lot of turtles and some funny looking ducks, we saw four eagles (!), my first eagles in the wild ever, and apparently the really impressive wildlife doesn't really show up until you go a little bit farther north. Well, I was plenty impressed.

Pasta Revelation

I can tell you without irony that this post will change your life (unless you don't eat pasta). I came across this examination of the techniques behind cooking pasta that doesn't require a rolling boil. I had my doubts, but tried it last night and it absolutely worked. I can't tell you how much of a pain it has been making pasta on an electric stove, because if I had the pasta on at high, it was really hard to get the other burners up to speed. No more!

Shakshuka [Eggs Poached in Spicy Tomato Sauce]

Adapted from Saveur, stolen from Smitten Kitchen (notes about chiles in ingredient list are from SK)

Serves 4 to 6

1/4 cup olive oil
5 Anaheim chiles or 3 jalapeños, stemmed, seeded, and finely chopped (I was nervous and only used 2 Anaheims; I would go for 3 or 4 next time for a more moderate but still gentle kick)
1 small yellow onion, chopped
5 cloves garlic, crushed then sliced
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1 tablespoon paprika
1 28-ounce can whole peeled tomatoes, undrained
Kosher salt, to taste
6 eggs
1/2 cup feta cheese, crumbled
1 tablespoon chopped flat-leaf parsley
Warm pitas, for serving

Heat oil in a 12-inch skillet over medium-high heat [KV: I thought this was a bit too hot on my stove top]. Add chiles and onions and cook, stirring occasionally, until soft and golden brown, about 6 minutes. Add garlic, cumin, and paprika, and cook, stirring frequently, until garlic is soft, about 2 more minutes.

Put tomatoes and their liquid into a medium bowl and crush with your hands. Add crushed tomatoes and their liquid to skillet along with 1/2 cup water, reduce heat to medium, and simmer, stirring occasionally, until thickened slightly, about 15 minutes. Season sauce with salt.

Crack eggs over sauce so that eggs are evenly distributed across sauce’s surface. Cover skillet and cook until yolks are just set, about 5 minutes. Using a spoon, baste the whites of the eggs with tomato mixture, being careful not to disturb the yolk. Sprinkle shakshuka with feta and parsley and serve with pitas, for dipping.

RESULTS:
You know me, I'm all about following the directions (um, just ignore the last three years of blog posts, ok?). Yep, that's me, ol' Follow the Recipe KV. But I just couldn't find the right kind of chiles, okay? I got Anchos. There are a lot of letters in common with Anaheim. They're also both mild to medium heat, but I suspect that if anaheims are the same size as jalepenos, then anchos are much bigger than anaheims. So anyway, because of this, I really can't tell you how many chiles you should use, other than what's written in the recipe. I used three dried anchos (seeded), and the sauce is definitely on the upper end of what I would consider comfortable and starting to immigrate into the Land of Inedible if I eat too fast. I probably have a lower tolerance for heat (well, non-old Bay heat) than your average 20-50 year old, so take that for what you will.

Otherwise, the dish sure looks really pretty. I'm not sure I can tell you what it tastes like. Thanks to my cold I definitely can't tell you what it smells like. But it's pretty. By the way, I had no pitas, so I'm eating this with some leftover rice, which helps a (very) little with the heat.

Beth, Jean and I were pondering over the issue of leftovers. When you're cooking this sort of dish for less than 4 people, how do you save some for later? Other than simply halving the recipe, we decided it would work if you make everything up until the egg. Portion the sauce out and freeze or refrigerate those portions. When you're ready to eat them, just thaw and bring them up to a simmer and add the egg and cheese. As for the portion you're eating the day you make it, move that into a smaller saucepan or pot before adding the egg so there's enough liquid. I haven't frozen and then thawed the sauce yet, so I don't know if this would work, but I freeze tomato sauces all the time and it turns out.

Also, as a side note, do make sure before you put it on the food that your old feta isn't growing un-authorized mold or mildew. That may help you get over your cold, but in this case the cure would be worse than the, uh... illness? I forgot the phrase. You know what I mean.

Simplest Split Pea Soup

Feeling a cold coming on, so soup seemed the way to go. This is from How to Cook Everything, and it's really simple, er, as the name implies. I'm sure I've mentioned this before, but what I love (LOVE) about this book is 1) the index is awesome. If you don't know what I'm talking about, then you haven't seen a fantastic index. Those of you who have are thinking, "man, I love me a good index." 2) He'll give you the basic recipe and then tell you how you can change that up. But, it's not just that. He'll give you ways to change up entire families of recipes. So the variations he gives for the pea soup are also variations for any bean soup. It's fantastic.

And the soup turned out fantastically. Bethie got me hooked on a particular dry pea soup mix that we saw in the grocery store. This is not as good as that (or, not yet), but it is cheaper and almost as easy.

INGREDIENTS

• 2 cups split peas (1 lb), rinsed and picked through (look out for rocks!)
• 6 cups chicken or beef stock or broth, or water
• salt and pepper

DIRECTIONS

1. put the peas and the liquid in a heavy pot over medium high heat until boiling, reduce heat to low and partially cover. Simmer until peas are very soft, 45-60 minutes.
2. Mash the peas with a potato masher, or run it through a blender/immersion blender for a smoother soup.
3. Adjust liquid (add more if it's too dry, simmer some off if the reverse), and salt and pepper to taste.

Variations:
there are too many to list here, but basically towards the end I added some smoked paprika (that was my idea), a carrot chopped up, frozen corn, a Parmesan rind, and a minced garlic clove. When I served it I drizzled a little olive oil on top. My cold is still with me, but at least I'm not hungry anymore.

Kale Chips a la me

I've been tweaking and experimenting, and this is the kale chip recipe I've decided I like.

• 1 bunch Organic Kale (ie, enough to be laid in a single layer on two baking sheets).
  
• 1.5ish TBS Extra Virgin Olive Oil
• 1 small glug sesame oil
  
• 1 tsp Balsamic Vinegar
  
• 1/2 tsp table salt

1. preheat oven to 300 degrees
2. Rinse kale and pat dry with a paper towel or take it for a spin in a salad spinner. Cut off stems and tear leafs off of the rib. Throw away the center rib pieces and set aside.
3. In a large bowl whisk together oil, vinegar and salt and add the kale. Gently AND THOROUGHLY toss. The kale has to be evenly coated or you'll get giant salt deposits. Not good.
   
4. Divide kale among two baking sheets (parchment paper unnecessary, but I would wash the sheets not too long after using them). It's important that the kale is in a single layer or you'll get soggy kale.
   
5. Bake for 20 minutes until crispy. If you have some pieces that aren't dried yet, take off the ones that are and stick the undone leaves back in for a couple minutes.

NOTES: Jean asked me if I thought this recipe could be used with other leafy greens. I didn't try it with spinach, but I think that wouldn't work out well at all (too weak). Tonight I tried it with collards and it turned out pretty comparatively. The only thing was that, at my grocery store at least, a bunch of collards is about twice the size of a bunch of kale. Adjust the dressing amount accordingly.

Jean was also wondering if they could be made with chard. I have a love-hate thing with chard. Sometimes I really dig when you make something with the leaves and then you have the ribs left over to do with what you will. Bonus vegetable! But other days those ribs are a burden, and I feel shackled by the responsibility of having to do something with them so soon after using the leaves. So I haven't tried it, but you are welcome to. Let me know.

Hello from South Carolina!

I'm lying in bed here in Charleston, trying to figure out what we'll do en route from Charleston to Myrtle without waking Beth up. I'll have to do that eventually because breakfast ends in an hour, but not yet. Bethie and I are having a great time. The weather has been just hot enough to make me appreciate Wisconsin. Highlights so far have included: lots of Spanish moss, 8 alligators (one that, had we wanted, we could have gone up and touched. We didn't.), lots of jasmine, and no bugs. Yesterday we went on a walking tour of the city and then spent the afternoon at a plantation outside of town with a fantastic romantic-style (or informal) garden. In the evening we went on a wine stroll through a formal garden (think Jane Austen) at a neighboring plantation. We figure the plantation owners must not have much liked each other, their gardens were like night and day. Yesterday we walked around the city some more on our own and saw the insides of two old historic houses, one preserved (meaning, it's all crumbly and old looking) and the other restored (meaning it looks like how it did when it was built in the 18th century). Both were very cool. We also went to the Exchange Building, which has a ballroom on the top and a dungeon on the bottom. Spooky. Lots of pirate talk at that building. We went window shopping, and ate at the same haunted restaurant (Poogan's Porch) that Chris and I ate at 10 years ago. Today we're driving up to Myrtle for Marisa'a wedding!

Seafood successes

Our favorite coffee shop also does fresh seafood. On Tuesday we get an email asking if we want one of the items they are offering that week, and on Thursday we get to pick it up. Last week I made Steelhead Trout, which, to me, was almost identical to salmon in every way expect it's much cheaper. Highly recommend. And yesterday we got two pounds of PEI mussels, which I thought turned out fantastically, although 2 lbs was too much for two people along with artichokes, cheese, and bread.

What I've been liking about these is that the seafood is really easy to cook. For the trout I just marinated it for less than an hour in olive oil, salt and pepper, and then I broiled it in a cast iron skillet. The mussels were even easier. I just had to clean them and then steam them in a dutch oven with garlic, some wine and some beer. I felt like a real chef, even though both of those were probably easier than half the pasta dishes I make.

My first cover story!!

I got my first cover story! It's in the Spring 2010 edition of the Chippewa Valley Business Report and it's about a guitar maker (or luthier) in Eau Claire. He wrote me last night (which is how I knew that the issue was out) to say that it was the best article he'd ever had written about him, which was very very sweet of him. The pictures are cool, too!

This is shameful, only a handful of posts this month. Sorry folks! I've been busy working in my garden. We have a shade garden in the back of the house that was more or less created by the people who lived here before us, by which I mean they created the flower bed, mulched it, and planted a few perfunctory plants that have mostly died because they are sun-loving plants. Accordingly, I've been working to fill this huge space with shade-loving plants. It's a big space. I also created a flower bed (which I plan on expanding over the years) in the front of the house, which was, in my opinion, barren and character-less without some flowers. That bed had I had to create myself, which has been much more work than I thought it would be. We'll see if it pays off. I'm lucky to work with a lot of gardeners who need someone to pawn their plant divisions off on. So far, I've gotten hostas, two kinds of day lilies, and two kinds of irises, all with the claim that they are "very hardy" and "impossible to kill." Humph, we'll see about that. I also planted some echinacea and icelandic poppy seeds, both of which I'm very excited about but don't have high hopes for because the seed packets (which I also got for free) expired in 2009. We shall see.

I also joined a paddling club. No, not some weird sorority with hazing rituals, but a local club for people who like canoeing and kayaking. I've only met a few of them so far, but they all seem to not only own their own boats, but in fact own several. Which is good because they're happy to let me borrow their boat until I save up for my own and decide what kind I want (there seem to be endless variations of kayaks out there). I'm looking forward to actually getting on real water and paddling, and not just around a middle school pool.

Posting this for a dear friend, for whom I wish I could do more:

National Infertility Awareness Week is a movement to raise awareness about the disease of infertility which affects 7.3 million Americans. Do you know someone struggling with infertility? Go to resolve.org to learn more.

Classic Lasagne, Bolognese Style

From Mark Bittman's How to Cook Everything

Makes about 6 servings
Time: 45 minutes (with premade sauce)

• At least 5 quarts water
• 1 recipe Spinach Pasta or other fresh pasta or 12 dried lasagne noodles
• 1 recipe Béchamel Sauce, about 1 1/2 cups
• 3 cups, more or less, Meat Sauce, Bolognese-Style (Ragu)
• 2 tablespoons softened butter or extra-virgin olive oil
• 1 1/2 cups freshly grated Parmesan cheese
• Freshly ground black pepper to taste
• Salt, if needed

1. Set at least 5 quarts water in a large pot over high heat. When it comes to a boil, salt it.
2. Meanwhile, if you are using fresh pasta, roll it out. Cut to fit the dish.
   
3. Cook the noodles a few at a time; keep them underdone (if they are fresh, this means little more than a minute in cooking time; for dried pasta, no more than a few minutes). Drain carefully in a colander, then allow to rest on towels while you prepare the béchamel sauce. Preheat oven to 400F
4. Smear the bottom of your baking pan with the butter or oil, then place a layer of noodles, touching but not overlapping. Trim any overhanging edges. Cover the noodles with about one-quarter each of the béchamel, meat sauce, and Parmesan, then with a light sprinkling of black pepper (between the meat sauce and the Parmesan there should be enough salt, but if you feel it is under-seasoned, add a little salt to each layer also). Make four layers, ending with a sprinkling of Parmesan. (The dish can be prepared in advance up to this point, then well wrapped and refrigerated for a day or frozen for a month; defrost in the refrigerator for a day before cooking if possible.)
5. Bake for about 20-30 minutes, until the lasagna is bubbly. Remove from the oven and let rest for 5 minutes before cutting and serving. Or let cool completely, cover well, and refrigerate for up to 2 days, or freeze for up to a month.

RESULTS: It's weird. I normally have trouble following recipes (as you may have noticed), and I thought for sure it would be worse cooking from a book like How to Cook Everything, which offers a handful of variations for just about every recipe. It's like it's not just giving me permission to improvise, but encouraging it. This cookbook is an enabler. The weird thing is, though, that I almost always follow his recipes to the letter. Even the cooking times, and it always turns out perfectly. The only thing I did differently with this was the ragu. I left out the onion, replaced the bacon with paprika, and accidentally forgot the milk. it still turned out great, but I did notice that it could have been more sauce-like. Anyway, Duane and Barry are here for Easter, and they loved it, and that's the important thing.

Originally I was thinking of making something like lamb or ham, but opted instead for the "traditional" Easter lasagna. A woman at my work is curing her own ham. It has to sit in a 5-gallon bucket for a week covered in curing spices. She said if she's not in work tomorrow, then we'll know how it turned out. After hearing that, the lasagna seemed safer.

Béchamel sauce

From Mark Bittman's How to Make Everything

• 2 tablespoons butter
• 2 tablespoons flour
• 1 1/2 cups milk

1. In a small saucepan, heat the butter over medium-low heat. When the foam begins to subside, stir in the flour. Turn the heat to low and cook, stirring with a wire whisk almost constantly, until the flour-butter mixture darkens, at least 3 minutes. You can cook it longer if ou would like a darker color and slightly more complex flavor.
2. Stir in the liquid, a little bit at a time, still using the whisk. When about a cup of the liquid has been stirred in, the mixture will be fairly thick. Add more liquid, a little at a time, until the consistence is just about a little thinner than you like, then cook, still over low heat until the mixture is the thickness you want.
3. Season to task and serve immediately or keep warm over gently simmering water for up to an hour, stirring occasionally.

Bolognese Sauce (Ragu)

From Mark Bittman's How to Make Everything
Makes about 1 quart

• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 small onion, minced
• 1 carrot, peeled and minced
• 1 celery rib, minced
• 1/4 cup minced bacon or pancetta (or some smoked paprika)
• 1/2 pound lean ground pork (or use all beef)
• 1/2 pound lean ground beef
• 3/4 cup dry white wine (or juice from the tomatoes)
• 1 (28- or 35-ounce) can whole plum tomatoes, drained (reserve juice, if needed instead of wine)
• 1 cup beef or chicken stock, preferably homemade
• Salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
• 1 cup cream, half-and-half, or milk
• Freshly grated Parmesan cheese (optional)

1. Put the olive oil in a large, deep skillet or saucepan. Turn the heat to medium-low and, a minute later, add the onion, carrot, celery, and bacon or pancetta. Cook, stirring occasionally, until the vegetables are tender, about 10 minutes.
2. Add the ground meat and cook, stirring and breaking up any clumps, until all traces of red are gone, about 5 minutes. Add the wine or tomato juice, raise the heat a bit, and cook, stirring occasionally, until most of the liquid is evaporated, about 5 minutes.
3. Crush the tomatoes wit a fork or your hands and add them to the pot; stir, then add the stock. Turn the heat to low and cook at a slow simmer, stirring occasionally and breaking up the tomatoes and any clumps of meat that remain. After an hour or so, add salt and pepper. Cook for at least another hour, until much of the liquid has evaporated and the sauce is very thick. (This sauce may be covered and refrigerated for a day or two, or put in a closed container and frozen for several weeks. Reheat before completing.)
4. Add the cream, half-and-half or milk and cook for another 15 to 30 minutes, stirring occasionally; taste and add more salt and/or pepper as needed.

You know that first warm day, when you know that winter is finally over and you can breathe a sigh of relief? Well, that's not going to happen this year because, we've had our first warm days--tomorrow is going to be about as warm as it got last summer--but we allllll know that it's not going to last and we might just be smacked in the face with snow yet. It's very confusing. Do I take out the summer clothes and put away the winter sweaters? Have both sets out? Not do anything until it sorts itself out? Climate change and El Nino make things very confusing.

I'm just going to enjoy the warm weather for the next couple days, but I'm trying not to get too attached to it.

Espinacas con Garbanzos (Spinach and Chickpeas)

From Smitten Kitten:

One of the reason I blended recipes was because I wanted the approachability of Ximena’s version but also some of the extras in Moro’s — the vinegar, paprika and the fried bread, mashed to a paste. Except, in hindsight, I think I’d also enjoy this recipe without the bread. It would be a bit thinner and saucier and possibly harder to slop onto a piece of toast, but also a bit lighter — in weight, not just calories. If you’re bread-averse or think you’d enjoy it without the crumbs in the sauce, give it a spin and let us know how it goes.

Tomato sauce, by the way, is emphatically not traditional in this dish but after making Ximena’s version with it — she says “you don’t have to use tomato in this recipe, but it’s so much better with it” — I can’t have it any other way.

Last note: This recipe is flexible. If you end up with a little less spinach or a little more sauce, or if you want it with a little less this or a little more that, so be it. Enjoy it. Have fun with it.

• 1/2 pound (230 grams) dried chickpeas, cooked until soft and tender or two 15-ounce cans of chickpeas, drained and rinsed
• 6 tablespoon olive oil
• 1 pound (450 grams) spinach, washed
• A hefty 1-inch slice from a country loaf or about 2 slices from sandwich loaf bread (2.5 ounces or 75 grams), crusts removed and cut inset small cubes
• 1/2 cup (4 ounces) tomato sauce, or whatever
  
• 3 garlic cloves, thinly sliced
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
• Pinch of red pepper flakes
• 1 1/2 tablespoons red wine vinegar
• 1/2 teaspoon smoked paprika
• Salt and freshly ground black pepper
• Lemon juice, to taste

1. Place a large saucepan over medium heat and add half the olive oil. When it is hot, add the spinach with a pinch of salt (in batches, if necessary) and stir well. Remove when the leaves are just tender, drain in a colander and set aside.
2. Heat 2 more tablespoons olive oil in a frying pan over medium heat. Fry the bread for about 5 minutes or until golden brown all over, then the remaining tablespoon of oil and the garlic, cumin and pepper. Cook for 1 minute more or until the garlic is nutty brown.
3. Transfer to a food processor, blender or mortar and pestle along with the vinegar, and mash to a paste. Return the mixture to the pan and add the drained chickpeas and tomato sauce. Stir until the chickpeas have absorbed the flavors and are hot. Season with salt and pepper.
4. If the consistency is a little thick, add some water. Add the spinach and lemon juice and cook until it is hot. Check for seasoning and serve with paprika on top, or on fried bread toasts (as the Spanish do).

RESULTS: this is definitely making it into the rotation. I included Smitten Kitten's notes at the top. Those of you who are trying to avoid gluten, you can definitely make this without it. Jean did and she said it was great. Other than the thrill of having my food look just like the picture posted on the website, I'm not sure that the bread contributed much to it.

Personally, I wouldn't bother making this if you don't have smoked paprika. There'd be no point, for me. Feel free to disagree!

Variations I can think of would include bacon or other cured meats, onions, different green leafies, replacing or augmenting the beans with small cubed potatoes,... anything as long as it would go with smoked paprika. :)