Friday, January 9, 2009
To Do List: Homemade Vinegar
I saw this article on homemade vinegar on the Washington Post website. It sounds intriguing. I did a Google search, and there are a lot of differing opinions on homemade vinegar, including whether to use fruity wines like Cabs or not. A disagreement over the main ingredient would seem to me to be a major point of contention, which tells me that it's really easy to do and get good results, you just have to pay attention to your own likes and dislikes.
Braised Celery
This is another from Alice Water’s cookbook:
1 head celery
2 tbsp. olive oil
1 small onion, sliced thin
2 or 3 thyme sprigs
Salt
1 cup chicken or beef broth
Remove the tough outer stalks of l head celery. Trim the root end close to the bottom of the stalks and cut off the leafy tops. Pull off the outer stalks to expose the pale green heart. Cut the gruup of stalks at the heart in half lengthwise and then in half again as wedges. Line up all the stalks and cut in half crosswise.
Pour oil into a heavy pan and heat to medium. Add onion and thyme. Cook for 5 minutes. Add the celery. Cook for 5 to 7 minutes or until the onions and celery have browned a little season with salt. Add chicken or beef broth. Bring to a boil. Lower the heat to a simmer. Cove the pan and cook until the celery is tender. The sauce should be thick and coat the celery; if not, uncover the pan, raise the heat and reduce the liquid as much as needed. Taste for salt and serve.
Variation: For a milder dish, blanch the celery for 7 minutes in salted boiling water before browning it with the onions.
RESULTS: I know, sounds weird, right? Well, I thought I'd give it a try, especially since celery is one of those vegetables that you can get in the winter. However, I do not think I did this right. I had issues with browning the celery, it just wasn't working, and one of the wonderful things about braising is the carmelization. It could have been because I used a dutch oven instead of a wide saute pan, and the dutch oven (being taller) held more steam in, so they more steamed instead of browned. Unknown.
Also, there is a rather thick line, not thin at all, between tender celery and mushy celery, and I was well on the mush side of that line. I think the problem with this was that I forgot to put aside the tough outer stalks for some future soup and I included those, so by the time the tender stalks were done, the tough ones hadn't even started.
I'm not going to give up on this one. The flavor was really quite interesting, the onions were a great touch, so I will try it again sometime.
1 head celery
2 tbsp. olive oil
1 small onion, sliced thin
2 or 3 thyme sprigs
Salt
1 cup chicken or beef broth
Remove the tough outer stalks of l head celery. Trim the root end close to the bottom of the stalks and cut off the leafy tops. Pull off the outer stalks to expose the pale green heart. Cut the gruup of stalks at the heart in half lengthwise and then in half again as wedges. Line up all the stalks and cut in half crosswise.
Pour oil into a heavy pan and heat to medium. Add onion and thyme. Cook for 5 minutes. Add the celery. Cook for 5 to 7 minutes or until the onions and celery have browned a little season with salt. Add chicken or beef broth. Bring to a boil. Lower the heat to a simmer. Cove the pan and cook until the celery is tender. The sauce should be thick and coat the celery; if not, uncover the pan, raise the heat and reduce the liquid as much as needed. Taste for salt and serve.
Variation: For a milder dish, blanch the celery for 7 minutes in salted boiling water before browning it with the onions.
RESULTS: I know, sounds weird, right? Well, I thought I'd give it a try, especially since celery is one of those vegetables that you can get in the winter. However, I do not think I did this right. I had issues with browning the celery, it just wasn't working, and one of the wonderful things about braising is the carmelization. It could have been because I used a dutch oven instead of a wide saute pan, and the dutch oven (being taller) held more steam in, so they more steamed instead of browned. Unknown.
Also, there is a rather thick line, not thin at all, between tender celery and mushy celery, and I was well on the mush side of that line. I think the problem with this was that I forgot to put aside the tough outer stalks for some future soup and I included those, so by the time the tender stalks were done, the tough ones hadn't even started.
I'm not going to give up on this one. The flavor was really quite interesting, the onions were a great touch, so I will try it again sometime.
Sunday, January 4, 2009
Roasted Cauliflower
Cauliflower is one of those things that Suz always gets at the Farmer's Market, and I always wonder why. I've never jived with cauliflower. You know, it's ok. Whatever. Anyway, I've been wondering about it, wanting to know how to make it interesting. I've also been wanting to come up with more easy veggie sides. So, I was pretty excited when Nancy gave me Alice Waters' Art of Simple Cooking, which has a TON of easy, simple vegetable recipes and, perhaps more important for me, information about the actual vegetable like season, how to clean and prepare, etc.
One cauliflower recipe was for roasting them. Very simple, cutting across the whole head into 1/4-inch slices (I cut up half of one and I could only get two or three nice big slices; everything else was little slices of individual florets). Then, you just put them on a cookie sheet, brush with olive oil or melted butter, sprinkle with salt and pepper and toss in a 400 degree oven until tender and starting to brown (about 20 minutes for the big pieces). It's hard to describe the flavor, sort of buttery (even though I used olive oil) and also a little carmel... It's good! It doesn't look pretty, but it's a surprisingly tasty side.
One cauliflower recipe was for roasting them. Very simple, cutting across the whole head into 1/4-inch slices (I cut up half of one and I could only get two or three nice big slices; everything else was little slices of individual florets). Then, you just put them on a cookie sheet, brush with olive oil or melted butter, sprinkle with salt and pepper and toss in a 400 degree oven until tender and starting to brown (about 20 minutes for the big pieces). It's hard to describe the flavor, sort of buttery (even though I used olive oil) and also a little carmel... It's good! It doesn't look pretty, but it's a surprisingly tasty side.
Saturday, December 20, 2008
Risotto with Acorn Squash (Risotto con Zucca)
Another from my Mario Batali cookbook. What can I say, I've been on a risotto kick lately.
Serves 4
1/4 c extra virgin olive oil
1 medium onion, cut into 1/4 inch dice
1 small acorn squash, peeled, seeded and cut into 1/4 inch dice
1 1/2 cup Arborio rice
1/2 cup dry white wine
8 cups chicken stock, heated until hot
4 tbsp unsalted butter
1/2 cup grated parmigiano reggiano, plus more for serving
salt and pepper
In a 10-12-inch saute pan, heat the olive oil over medium heat until almost smoking. Add the onion and squash and cook until the onion is softened and translucent but not browned, 8 to 10 minutes. Add the rice and stir with a wooden spoon until toasted and opaque, 3 to 4 minutes.
Add the wine and then a 4 to 6 ounce ladleful of stock and cook, stirring, until the liquid is absorbed. Continue stirring and adding the stock a ladleful at a time, waiting until the liquid is absorbed each time before adding more, until the rice is tender and creamy, yet still al dente, about 18 minutes.
Remove the pan from the heat, add the butter and parmigiano and stir until well mixed, about 25 seconds. Season with salt and pepper. Divide the risotto among four plates and serve with additional cheese.
RESULTS: I can't tell you if this recipe is good or not, I didn't follow it too closely. First of all, Chris and I have been talking a lot lately about knife safety, in that I have none, and especially after cutting the tip and part of the nail off my left thumb for the second time in as many months I've been forced to agree that he may have something there. Regardless, I really don't know many people who would want to peel (is that even possible with the giant ridges?) an acorn squash and then cut it, the hardest vegetable known to man, into quarter-inch pieces. That's insane. Why don't you just cut a tire into quarter-inch pieces, or perhaps an acorn squash-sized rock? Instead I microwaved if for a minute, let it cool, cut it in half, took the seeds out, roasted it for a while (my saute pan is oven safe, so I didn't even dirty an extra dish), let it cool, and took a melon baller to it (thanks for the melon baller, Jean!). Since it was already mostly cooked, I waited to add it with the broth.
Second, I put a dash of rosemary in with the onion. Who doesn't like rosemary with acorn squash?
Third, I've come to the conclusion that Mario Batali uses too much cheese. I didn't add any cheese or butter at the end, and I really didn't miss it. I did add a drizzle of olive oil after I took it off the heat. That also instantly made this whole thing a lot healthier since the only fat was from olive oil and whatever little fat is in squash, none of it saturated. Thus I had less compunction eating two servings of it. :)
Fourth, it tasted good, but it was a mush of rice and squash. I'm still working on my risotto technique, it's supposed to be creamy not mushy. Roasting the squash instead of sauteing it probably also contributed to the mushiness. Anyway, to rescue the mush that I had turned it into, and I know it's really really not traditional (Betsy, don't read this), I added a tiny squirt of lime juice. It was delicious. After I mixed it together, I didn't taste the sourness, but it did seem to make the whole thing less like a mush even though it didn't improve the texture. I did still get a little of the lime flavor, but I love lime. I'm not saying other people would like it with lime (I did occasionally eat my hot dogs with peanut butter as a child, so I certainly won't claim to have universally appealing tastes), I'm just saying I enjoyed it with lime.
Serves 4
1/4 c extra virgin olive oil
1 medium onion, cut into 1/4 inch dice
1 small acorn squash, peeled, seeded and cut into 1/4 inch dice
1 1/2 cup Arborio rice
1/2 cup dry white wine
8 cups chicken stock, heated until hot
4 tbsp unsalted butter
1/2 cup grated parmigiano reggiano, plus more for serving
salt and pepper
In a 10-12-inch saute pan, heat the olive oil over medium heat until almost smoking. Add the onion and squash and cook until the onion is softened and translucent but not browned, 8 to 10 minutes. Add the rice and stir with a wooden spoon until toasted and opaque, 3 to 4 minutes.
Add the wine and then a 4 to 6 ounce ladleful of stock and cook, stirring, until the liquid is absorbed. Continue stirring and adding the stock a ladleful at a time, waiting until the liquid is absorbed each time before adding more, until the rice is tender and creamy, yet still al dente, about 18 minutes.
Remove the pan from the heat, add the butter and parmigiano and stir until well mixed, about 25 seconds. Season with salt and pepper. Divide the risotto among four plates and serve with additional cheese.
RESULTS: I can't tell you if this recipe is good or not, I didn't follow it too closely. First of all, Chris and I have been talking a lot lately about knife safety, in that I have none, and especially after cutting the tip and part of the nail off my left thumb for the second time in as many months I've been forced to agree that he may have something there. Regardless, I really don't know many people who would want to peel (is that even possible with the giant ridges?) an acorn squash and then cut it, the hardest vegetable known to man, into quarter-inch pieces. That's insane. Why don't you just cut a tire into quarter-inch pieces, or perhaps an acorn squash-sized rock? Instead I microwaved if for a minute, let it cool, cut it in half, took the seeds out, roasted it for a while (my saute pan is oven safe, so I didn't even dirty an extra dish), let it cool, and took a melon baller to it (thanks for the melon baller, Jean!). Since it was already mostly cooked, I waited to add it with the broth.
Second, I put a dash of rosemary in with the onion. Who doesn't like rosemary with acorn squash?
Third, I've come to the conclusion that Mario Batali uses too much cheese. I didn't add any cheese or butter at the end, and I really didn't miss it. I did add a drizzle of olive oil after I took it off the heat. That also instantly made this whole thing a lot healthier since the only fat was from olive oil and whatever little fat is in squash, none of it saturated. Thus I had less compunction eating two servings of it. :)
Fourth, it tasted good, but it was a mush of rice and squash. I'm still working on my risotto technique, it's supposed to be creamy not mushy. Roasting the squash instead of sauteing it probably also contributed to the mushiness. Anyway, to rescue the mush that I had turned it into, and I know it's really really not traditional (Betsy, don't read this), I added a tiny squirt of lime juice. It was delicious. After I mixed it together, I didn't taste the sourness, but it did seem to make the whole thing less like a mush even though it didn't improve the texture. I did still get a little of the lime flavor, but I love lime. I'm not saying other people would like it with lime (I did occasionally eat my hot dogs with peanut butter as a child, so I certainly won't claim to have universally appealing tastes), I'm just saying I enjoyed it with lime.
Tuesday, December 16, 2008
Red Wine Risotto with Radicchio and Asiago
From my Mario Batali cookbook:
INGREDIENTS
1/4 cup olive oil
1 medium onion diced
1 1/2 cups arborio rice
1 cup dry red wine
8 cups stock (chicken or vegetable)
1 head radicchio, cut into 1/2 inch ribbons
4T butter
1/4 cup Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese
1/2 cup Asiago cheese
DIRECTIONS
In a saute pan, heat olive oil until almost smoking. Add onion and cook until softened, about 8 minutes. Add rice and stir until toasted, about 4 minutes. Add wine and a ladleful of stock and cook until liquid is absorbed. Add more stock to cover rice and bring to a boil. Add radicchio and stir well. Continue cooking and adding stock a ladleful at a time, waiting until the liquid is absorbed each time before adding more. Cook until rice is tender and creamy, about 18 minutes. You may have stock leftover. Remove pan from heat, add butter and cheeses and stir until well mixed. Serve with additional cheese.
RESULTS
I would say, hold back on some of the cheese until you have a chance to taste it, I could have gone with about half as much cheese, and I halved the butter. Otherwise, very tasty, one of those things that takes an hour to make and about a minute to eat because it's so good.
I'm starting to get a little better with risotto, I think it's partly because I'm also trying to make myself be patient with it. This was the first time I've made risotto when it wasn't still at least a little crunchy in the middle.
INGREDIENTS
1/4 cup olive oil
1 medium onion diced
1 1/2 cups arborio rice
1 cup dry red wine
8 cups stock (chicken or vegetable)
1 head radicchio, cut into 1/2 inch ribbons
4T butter
1/4 cup Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese
1/2 cup Asiago cheese
DIRECTIONS
In a saute pan, heat olive oil until almost smoking. Add onion and cook until softened, about 8 minutes. Add rice and stir until toasted, about 4 minutes. Add wine and a ladleful of stock and cook until liquid is absorbed. Add more stock to cover rice and bring to a boil. Add radicchio and stir well. Continue cooking and adding stock a ladleful at a time, waiting until the liquid is absorbed each time before adding more. Cook until rice is tender and creamy, about 18 minutes. You may have stock leftover. Remove pan from heat, add butter and cheeses and stir until well mixed. Serve with additional cheese.
RESULTS
I would say, hold back on some of the cheese until you have a chance to taste it, I could have gone with about half as much cheese, and I halved the butter. Otherwise, very tasty, one of those things that takes an hour to make and about a minute to eat because it's so good.
I'm starting to get a little better with risotto, I think it's partly because I'm also trying to make myself be patient with it. This was the first time I've made risotto when it wasn't still at least a little crunchy in the middle.
Monday, December 8, 2008
Peanut Chocolate Toffee
Peanut Chocolate ToffeeThe transformation of butter, sugar, and salt into toffee is culinary alchemy at its best. This version is studded with cocktail peanuts and a decadent layer of bittersweet chocolate.
Yield: Makes about 3 poundsActive Time: 45 min
Total Time: 1 3/4 hr
4 sticks (1 pound) unsalted butter, cut into pieces
2 cups sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt
4 cups whole cocktail peanuts plus 1 cup chopped (1 pound 10 ounces)
7 to 8 ounces 70%-cacao bittersweet chocolate, finely chopped
Equipment: a 15- by 10- by 1-inch baking pan; a candy thermometer; a metal offset spatula
2 cups sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt
4 cups whole cocktail peanuts plus 1 cup chopped (1 pound 10 ounces)
7 to 8 ounces 70%-cacao bittersweet chocolate, finely chopped
Equipment: a 15- by 10- by 1-inch baking pan; a candy thermometer; a metal offset spatula
Butter baking pan and put on a heatproof surface.
Bring butter, sugar, and salt to a boil in a 4- to 5-quart heavy pot over medium-high heat, whisking until smooth, then boil, stirring occasionally, until mixture is deep golden and registers 300°F (hard-crack stage; see Kitchen Notebook, page 240) on thermometer, 15 to 20 minutes.
Immediately stir in whole peanuts, then carefully pour hot toffee into center of baking pan. Spread with spatula, smoothing top, and let stand 1 minute, then immediately sprinkle chocolate on top. Let stand until chocolate is melted, 4 to 5 minutes, then spread over toffee with cleaned spatula. Sprinkle evenly with chopped peanuts, then freeze until chocolate is firm, about 30 minutes. Break into pieces.
Cooks' note:
Toffee keeps, layered between sheets of parchment paper, in an airtight container at cool room temperature 2 weeks.
Cooks' note:
Toffee keeps, layered between sheets of parchment paper, in an airtight container at cool room temperature 2 weeks.
RESULTS: Love! I made these for a cookie exchange/charity for the poor grad students in our office to take home. They were pretty excited about it, so I think it turned out ok. I decided to make the toffee because I just don't think I use my candy thermometer enough. With Epicurious, I always check the reviews of other people, and those people had some really good tips for keeping the butter from separating (using salted butter instead of unsalted and leaving out the extra salt, boiling it for longer over lower heat, etc). They also recommended cutting back on the whole peanuts to 2 cups (in addition to the 1 cup of chopped nuts), which I did (I mixed regularly salted cocktail peanuts and lightly salted), and I added vanilla extract, which was delicious. I think you could do 3 cups of whole peanuts, but I don't think I would like 4 cups of whole peanuts, plus the chopped. Too many peanuts. Here's a link to the website so you can check them out for yourself.
A note of warning, there was a LOT of stirring. Also, it's really helpful to have everything chopped that needs to be chopped before the sugar and butter hit the heat. And some toffee-making music, as there was a LOT of stirring. A LOT.
One final tip: The only pan I had that was even close to being as big as this recipe called for was that enchilada pan I got from CVS, but it was still too small and the toffee came out too thick to break into small pieces in some spots. The toffee "batter" had a fairly high vicosity, so I was thinking I might try putting it on a cookie sheet next time, as those are pretty long and wide, even though they don't have edges to keep everything in. I just won't spread to the edges.
Wednesday, December 3, 2008
Potatoes Roasted with Garlic Cloves (Patate al Forno)
This one's for Pete, who's experimenting with french fries. From Molto Italiano, by Mario Batali
The blanching step helps develop the crusty, crunchy texture that makes these irresistible. (No one ever had to tell you to finish your potatoes, did they?)
Ingredients
6 large waxy potatoes, such as yukon gold
1 head garlic, separated into cloves but not peeled
1 bunch rosemary, leaves finely chopped
¼ cup extra virgin olive oil
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
Directions
1. Preheat the oven to 425°F.
2. Bring 4 quarts of water to a boil in a large pot. Cut the potatoes into 1-inch cubes. Blanch in the boiling water for 2 minutes; drain.
3. Put the potatoes on a baking sheet and toss with the garlic, rosemary, and olive oil. Season with salt and pepper and spread out on the baking sheet. Bake for about 30 minutes, until golden brown. Serve hot.
RESULTS: When I first got this book, I was flipping through the pages feeling rather overwhelmed at all the fancy-pants ingredients, thinking I'd never find anything to make in there. I mean, where am I going to find a boar shoulder, much less a boneless boar shoulder, in Indiana? But the other day I encountered the vegetable section, which has lots of familiar items in it (including a fair percentage of artichoke recipes), and what could be more familiar than potatoes?
This it now my favorite roasted potato recipe, even better than the home fries recipe from Martha Stewart that I posted last year. The potatoes take less time to cook over all because of the blanching, and they really do get much crunchier on the outside. I do not mind having to wash an extra dish for these results. (Besides, Chris does the washing up.) That said, I did leave them in the boiling water and in the oven for a tad longer than the directions said to. I think it's harder to overcook a potato than undercook it, especially when you're roasting them.
Other things I now like about this cookbook are that he included the Italian name of every dish, and the pictures are pretty.
The blanching step helps develop the crusty, crunchy texture that makes these irresistible. (No one ever had to tell you to finish your potatoes, did they?)
Ingredients
6 large waxy potatoes, such as yukon gold
1 head garlic, separated into cloves but not peeled
1 bunch rosemary, leaves finely chopped
¼ cup extra virgin olive oil
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
Directions
1. Preheat the oven to 425°F.
2. Bring 4 quarts of water to a boil in a large pot. Cut the potatoes into 1-inch cubes. Blanch in the boiling water for 2 minutes; drain.
3. Put the potatoes on a baking sheet and toss with the garlic, rosemary, and olive oil. Season with salt and pepper and spread out on the baking sheet. Bake for about 30 minutes, until golden brown. Serve hot.
RESULTS: When I first got this book, I was flipping through the pages feeling rather overwhelmed at all the fancy-pants ingredients, thinking I'd never find anything to make in there. I mean, where am I going to find a boar shoulder, much less a boneless boar shoulder, in Indiana? But the other day I encountered the vegetable section, which has lots of familiar items in it (including a fair percentage of artichoke recipes), and what could be more familiar than potatoes?
This it now my favorite roasted potato recipe, even better than the home fries recipe from Martha Stewart that I posted last year. The potatoes take less time to cook over all because of the blanching, and they really do get much crunchier on the outside. I do not mind having to wash an extra dish for these results. (Besides, Chris does the washing up.) That said, I did leave them in the boiling water and in the oven for a tad longer than the directions said to. I think it's harder to overcook a potato than undercook it, especially when you're roasting them.
Other things I now like about this cookbook are that he included the Italian name of every dish, and the pictures are pretty.
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