The Yellow Apron

English Muffins

2012-01-29T07:16:00.000-08:00

I admit, I made these because there's corn meal on them. I had hoped the corn tortillas used corn meal, and was rather disappointed that I ended up buying a new pantry ingredient instead.

I've made this recipe from the Bible before, and I remember it striking me that this seemed like an awful lot of work for something you could pick up at the market that was about the same quality. But English muffins have become rather expensive, unless the store brand is on sale. One batch of these in the freezer will cost you about a dollar and last for quite a while. They're also great for an easy snack, and make wonderful PB&J.

My oven has a proofer setting! See what happens when you read the manual? It's also the dehydration setting, and I found the muffins came out a touch dry. Next time, I'll experiment with leaving a pan of water in there with the dough. I found a bunch of other features I didn't know about. What I was really looking for was whether or not I could use oven cleaner on the door of a self-cleaning oven. Nope. Gotta clean it the hard way.

2 Tb sugar
*1 Tb yeast (1 package)
1-1/2 C milk
1/4 C butter
5 C flour
1 tsp salt
1 egg
*corn meal
oil for greasing bowl and pan

1. Warm sugar, milk, and butter to 100º. Butter does not need to melt. Stir in yeast and allow to proof, about 5 minutes.

2. In mixer, stir together 2 C flour and salt. Add milk mixture and beat into a batter for about 2 minutes. Add egg and 2 C flour and beat into a soft dough.

3. Turn mixture out onto floured board and knead until almost smooth, about 5 minutes. Turn into a lightly oiled bowl and allow to rise until doubled, at least 1 hour.

4. Punch down dough and turn out onto a board. Let rest for 10 minutes. Place several tablespoons of corn meal in a pie plate and set out two cookie sheets.

5. Roll dough 1/2" thick. Using a 3" round cookie cutter, cut circles out of dough. Unlike with cookies or pie crust, re-rolling the scraps will not make the dough tougher, but you should let it rest for a few minutes before trying each roll-out. Coat each circle very well with corn meal, or it will stick to the cookie sheet. Add more corn meal to pie pan if necessary. Arrange muffins on cookie sheets about 1" apart and let rise until doubled, about 45 minutes.

6. Lightly brush a large skillet with oil and pre-heat over medium. Transfer circles to skillet so they fit comfortably (I got 6 at a time on mine). Cook for 6 to 8 minutes, flip, and cook 6 minutes more on the other side. Both sides should be medium-brown. Brush pan with more oil and repeat until all muffins are cooked. Cool muffins on wire rack, and split with a fork or knife before toasting.

Makes 18

Difficulty rating :-)

Walnut Cake

2012-01-26T07:20:00.000-08:00

There's a lot in the tea book I haven't made. Generally, it's because they have specific ingredients in them and I didn't plan ahead. But I did have what I needed for this one, and whipped it up quickly.

Every so often, a recipe in a cookbook is flawed. You make it exactly how the recipe states, but it doesn't work. Usually, this is because the book was a collaborative effort and everyone just trusted that the others knew what they were doing. I have a Post-it in the Bible over the pita bread recipe that warns me not to make it. Sometimes, there's a typo and an ingredient is accidentally omitted. Anyway, this so-called cake batter was exceptionally thick and came out of the oven more like a cookie. At this point, I became determined to fix the cake. I flipped through the Bible and other recipes in the tea book and wrote a new recipe. This time, it rose like a cake is supposed to and had the correct consistency.

Fortunately, I have a whole bunch of cute, small cake pans of various sizes. The 6" uses half the batter of an 8". When I made Techie Smurf and Writer Smurf's wedding cake, I had to calculate the amount of batter for 6", 10", and 14" pans. It was the most math I had done in a long time, but the layers came out the same height. In this case, I decided to do my waistline a favor and make a 1/3 recipe in the 6" pan and just slice it into two thinner layers, rather than bake two very thin 6" and hope I didn't over-bake them.

A huge tip for any frosted cake: bake it the day ahead. Freeze it. Defrost it halfway, then slice it into layers if you need to, and frost it before it thaws completely. This almost eliminates breakage and reduces the crumbs picked up by the spreader.

3/4 C margarine (not butter)
3/4 C sugar
3 eggs
3/4 C milk
*1/2 C chopped walnuts
1/2 tsp vanilla
*1-1/2 C cake flour
2 Tb baking powder
1/4 tsp salt

1. Cream together sugar and margarine until fluffy. Add eggs, vanilla, and milk in stages and continue to beat until smooth.

2. Grease two 8" cake pans, then line bottoms with waxed paper so cake can be easily removed. Preheat oven to 350º.

3. Sift together cake flour, baking powder, and salt. Stir into wet ingredients, then beat until smooth, about 2 minutes. Fold in chopped walnuts. Pour batter into two pans and bake for 25-30 minutes, until toothpick comes out clean. Cool in pan for 10 minutes, then turn out onto cooling rack and remove waxed paper. Allow to cool thoroughly before frosting or freezing.

Buttercream Icing (Care of Wilton)
1/2 C butter (not margarine)
1/2 C shortening
1 lb powdered sugar, sifted
1 tsp vanilla (use vanilla powder for a whiter icing)
milk

1. Cream together butter and shortening. In stages, whip in powdered sugar and vanilla. If icing is too stiff, beat in milk one tablespoon at a time until desired consistency is reached.

2. Place a dab of icing on cake circle. Trim one cake layer flat if necessary. Place one layer of cake upside-down on cake circle. Spoon a generous dollop on top and spread evenly to make filling layer.

3. Place other layer right-side up on filling. If you trimmed the layer flat, place it upside-down for easier spreading. Spoon remaining frosting on top and work around top of cake and down sides.

4. For smooth, glazed look, refrigerate cake once it's as smooth as you can get it. Once icing is set, heat offset metal spatula over the stove. Use flat side of hot spatula to melt the icing slightly into a smooth coating. It may even sizzle. Garnish with walnut halves and refrigerate until ready to serve.

Makes one 8" layer cake

Difficulty rating :)

Tostada Appetizers

2012-01-23T07:12:00.000-08:00

This is what I did with the corn tortillas. The advantage of making your own tortillas is that you can make them any size you want. These were like those little cantina tacos that El Torito makes on Tuesday nights for a dollar, but I got a little more elaborate.

12 4" corn tortillas
1 batch not-refried beans
1 C shredded cheddar cheese
1 C nonfat Greek yogurt
1/4 C chopped green onions
1/2 C diced tomatoes

1. For soft-taco texture, use freshly cooked tortillas. For crispy, fry tortillas in 1/4" hot oil for 15 seconds on each side. Drain on paper towels before using.

2. On each tortilla, layer 2 Tb warm beans, 1 Tb tomatoes, 2 tsp onions, a generous sprinkle of cheddar cheese, and top with a dollop of yogurt. Serve before the hot tortillas and beans melt the top layer of yogurt.

3. Alternatively, make nachos by cutting the tortillas into wedges before frying and arrange with layers of the ingredients.

Makes 12 individual appetizers, or one large nacho platter

Difficulty rating π

Corn Tortillas

2012-01-20T07:03:00.000-08:00

This is one of those things you try to make just to see if you can. I researched several recipes, because I couldn't believe it was really as easy as the first one made it look. Yep, three ingredients, and one of them is water.

Masa harina is available in nearly every supermarket now. It's probably in the Hispanic or International Foods aisle, but some stores include it with the regular flours. It's about the same thing as finely ground hominy grits, meaning treated with lime to change its chemical structure and nutritional value. I bought the smallest package, but there's still enough left to experiment with flavored tortillas or attempt tamales.

As for the tortilla press... I try to adopt Alton Brown's aversion to Unitaskers, unless I know I'll be performing that one task a lot. I made a mental list of everything I could think of that requires thinly pressing something: tortillas, crust for small pies and tarts, hamantaschen, ravioli, breaking garlic to remove the skins. I already have ways to do that. Two pieces of waxed paper and the GH Illustrated for a weight work just fine.

The brand I bought came not only with a tortilla recipe, it came with a chart for various amounts of tortillas, like the chart on the back of an oatmeal canister. So, here is the 8-tortilla (four serving) version of the recipe.

1 C masa harina flour
2/3 C water
1/8 tsp salt

1. Stir together masa and salt. Add water and knead in until mixture forms a thick paste very similar to Play-Doh. If too dry, add water a tablespoon at a time.

2. Start to preheat a large, ungreased skillet on medium-high heat. Form 8 balls out of the dough.

3. Lay one sheet of waxed paper on the counter. Place a dough ball in the center. Top with another piece of waxed paper. Place the heaviest book you can find on top and press down. (Or use a tortilla press. Whatever.) Remove book and top paper. You should have a 6" round tortilla. If it is thicker than a credit card, put the paper back on and press harder.

4. Carefully transfer tortilla to skillet. Press the next tortilla while it's cooking. Cook for about 1 minute on each side, until slightly browned and a little puffy. Transfer to a plate and cover with a towel to keep warm and moist. Serve hot.

To make tortilla chips: Cut a tortilla into 6 wedges and fry in 1/4" of oil until crisp. Dust with salt or seasonings and serve immediately.

Difficulty rating π

Othello Cookies

2012-01-17T16:00:00.000-08:00

Hi, my name is Lurker Smurf, and I'm a cookie addict.

After having yummies in the house all last month, it's hard to look around and not see anything to munch on. It doesn't help that my new work schedule allows me to sit down to tea nearly every afternoon. I finished the last box of last year's Girl Scout cookies. Now what?

These are an adaptation of the Sponge Drops from The Book of Afternoon Tea. I named them Othello because they look like the game pieces. I'm thrilled that I can finally beat the computer on the difficult setting, so I'm celebrating with a batch of cookies.

The best part of these is that you probably have all the ingredients in the house right now. You don't have any excuses.

1/2 C flour
2 eggs
1/4 C sugar
1/4 tsp vanilla
1 Tb cocoa powder
powdered sugar for icing

1. Preheat oven to 375º. Grease two baking sheets and line with waxed paper.

2. Beat together eggs and sugar until very pale and thick. You can't make meringue because of the yolks, but see how close you can get. Beat in vanilla.

3. Sift flour over whipped eggs and gently fold into a batter. Spoon half into a pastry bag with a 1/2" round tip. On one cookie sheet, pipe 18 1-1/2" circles of batter. Bake for 10 minutes while you're making the other sheet.

4. Gently fold cocoa powder into remaining batter. Pipe 18 circles the same size and bake those for 10 minutes.

5. As the cookies come out of the oven, slide the waxed paper off the baking sheet before it cools and onto a slightly damp dish towel. This will allow you to peel off the cookies when they are cool. A silpat is an acceptable alternative.

6. Whip up a batch of simple icing with 1/2 C powdered sugar and about 2 tsp of water. Make it as stiff as you can still spread. Put a dab on the back of every plain cookie, then sandwich with a chocolate cookie. Allow to rest until glaze hardens, about 1 hour.

Makes 18

Difficulty rating :)

Tomato and Cheese Bake

2012-01-14T19:24:00.000-08:00

I had some fondue cheese left over and decided to overdo the macaroni and cheese concept. Wait, there is no overdoing when it comes to cheese. :)

2 C small pasta like macaroni, shells, farfalle, or rotelli
1 lb shredded cheese (the fondue was a mix of swiss, colby, and monterey jack)
1 Tb corn starch
1 shallot, minced
1 clove garlic, minced
1 C white wine
1 C diced tomatoes
1/4 C bread crumbs

1. In a large pot, boil 2 quarts water. Cook pasta according to directions, drain, and set aside.

2. In a different pot, over medium heat, cook shallot and garlic in the wine until soft. In a bowl, toss cheese with corn starch to coat evenly. Add cheese and stir in until melted.

3. Preheat oven to 350º. Add pasta to cheese and combine. Pour all into an oven-safe casserole. Sprinkle top with diced tomatoes. Scatter top with bread crumbs.

4. Bake until tomatoes are cooked, the topping is crisp, and everything is bubbling goodness - about 20 minutes. Serve hot.

Difficulty rating :)

Meat Cooking Temperatures

2012-01-11T06:52:00.000-08:00

This isn't the most difficult lesson in the ServSafe book, but it's the hardest one you actually have to know in the real world. (The four pages of specific foodborne illnesses, causes, symptoms, and sources is way harder to remember and only really matters if you're a healthcare professional.) It's the only page in the textbook that I have bookmarked.

What may surprise you is that you don't have to cook a turkey to 185º. Please, for the love of the bird, don't cook it to 185º. That's the Butterball people covering their butts. And you'll see that there is a length of time attached to each temperature. So, if a roast or bird is going to rest and continue to cook, you can pull it even earlier. I think I'm posting this not so you'll cook meats long enough, but so that they will not end up overcooked.

Poultry (whole and ground): 165º for 15 seconds
Stuffing or stuffed meat (including fish): 165º for 15 seconds
Soups and casseroles: 165º for 15 seconds
Ground mammal or fish: 155º for 15 seconds, 150º for 1 minute, or 145º for 3 minutes
Injected or brined meats: 155º for 15 seconds
Mammal steaks: 145º for 15 seconds
Mammal roasts: 145º for 4 minutes
Fish fillets or steaks: 145º for 15 seconds
Any meat cooked from raw in the microwave: 165º, and allow to rest for 2 minutes before serving

What these numbers also bring to light is the need for an accurate food thermometer in every kitchen. You can get a digital one for $10 at Target that will last at least two years unless you drop it in the dish water or give it to one of my co-workers. Really cool infrared ones that never touch the food will run you considerably higher. If you don't mind calibrating a thermometer, your basic bi-metallic is the least expensive way to go, and they last the longest.

Think of the temperature list as an excuse to get a new kitchen gadget.

Williamsburg Lodge Corn Chowder

2012-01-08T17:14:00.000-08:00

Like the name says, I got this recipe from The Williamsburg Cookbook. It's rustic, and tastes more like the pork than I thought it would. I don't have a picture because the contrast wasn't very good. I should have used the lavender bowls. Still waiting for someone to comment that I have a seemingly endless variety of dishes and serving platters. Mom was a hoarder.

One thing I changed was that I puréed the soup before serving. Not perfectly smooth, just enough that you didn't have to chew the potatoes. I wanted them in for thickening, but not as a visible ingredient.

I also subbed bacon fat for the salt pork. Maybe that's why I tasted it. If you're anti-lard in soups, sub in olive oil. You'll probably have to add more salt than I did.

3 oz salt pork, cubed
1 large onion, chopped
1 rib of celery, chopped
1-1/2 C potatoes, diced
2 C chicken broth
2 C cream-style corn
2 C milk
1/4 C butter
salt and white pepper to taste

1. Fry the salt pork until brown. Add the onion and sauté over medium heat 5 minutes.

2. Add the celery, potatoes, broth, and 1 C of water and simmer until the potatoes are done.

3. Add the corn and simmer 5 minutes. Add the milk and butter and bring to temperature.

4. Taste and add salt and white pepper as needed. If desired, purée. Serve hot.

Serves 6 as an appetizer, 4 for a meal

Difficulty rating π

Linguine and Clams

2012-01-05T17:21:00.000-08:00

I could have made something super-fancy with the clams from 99 Ranch, but I decided to go with the obvious. It's also an easy and fast dish.

12 oz steamed clams
8 oz clam juice
1 Tb olive oil
2 cloves garlic, minced
4 servings cooked linguine

1. In a frying pan, sauté garlic in oil 2 minutes. Add clam juice and clams and cook over medium heat until boiling.

2. Spoon sauce over pasta and serve hot.

Difficulty rating π

Welsh Rarebit

2012-01-02T13:00:00.000-08:00

OK, so it's just cheese toast. Really, really, really good cheese toast. While you might not serve grilled cheese at a luncheon to guests, Welsh rarebit (or rabbit) is an easy treat.

This version is from The Book of Afternoon Tea.

8 oz sharp cheddar cheese, shredded
2 Tb butter, softened
1 Tb Worcestershire sauce
1 tsp mustard powder
1 Tb flour
1/4 C beer
4 slices of your favorite savory bread (challah in the photo)
cayenne pepper for garnish

1. Preheat broiler. In a bowl, combine all ingredients except bread to make a cheesy paste.

2. Toast bread lightly. Spread cheese on top of each slice to make an open-faced sandwich. Broil until topping is melted, bubbly, and slightly browning. Dust with cayenne pepper and serve immediately

Difficulty rating π

Sticky Buns

2011-12-30T17:08:00.000-08:00

An early Happy New Year to all. I like to make a special breakfast on Christmas, since I know I don't have to go to work. These breakfast rolls can also be that special New Year's treat to get up to in the morning.

This is an adaptation from my first year pastry class. The professional recipe makes several dozen. This one is closer to my chocolate rolls, and gets to use the now-infamous 8" square pan. I use that thing at least once a week.

A note about cleaning said pan. The parchment lining keeps it mostly clean, but there's bound to be some topping dripped onto the pan surface. You're basically making caramel, which will harden on the pan as soon as you take out the rolls to let them cool. Don't panic. Fill the pan with boiling water and let the sugar dissolve. You may have to do it more than once, but don't bother scrubbing. Elbow grease will not get off the caramel, but the Universal Solvent will.

Like the chocolate rolls, you can do the first half the evening before and place the shaped rolls in the fridge until morning.

2/3 C milk
2 Tb butter
1/4 C sugar
2 tsp yeast
2-3 C flour
1/2 tsp salt
1 egg
2 tsp ground cinnamon

1/4 C butter
1/2 C brown sugar
1 Tb honey
1 Tb corn syrup
*1/2 C chopped walnuts or pecans

1. Warm milk, butter, and sugar to 100º. Butter does not need to melt. Stir in yeast and let rest until foamy, about 5 minutes.

2. In stand mixer with paddle attachment, combine salt and 1 C flour. Beat in milk mixture to make a thin batter. Beat in egg and 1 C flour to make a thick batter, about 2 minutes. Beat in 1/2 C flour to make a soft dough, another 2 minutes. Pour out onto floured board and knead until smooth, about 5-10 minutes. Place in lightly oiled bowl and let rise in a warm place until doubled, about 1 hr.

3. Punch down dough and let rest. In mixer, cream together second butter, brown sugar, honey, and corn syrup to make a paste. Line an 8" square pan VERY WELL with parchment paper. Smear paste on bottom of pan, then sprinkle with chopped nuts.

4. With a floured rolling pin, roll dough into a 9" x 18" rectangle. Dust surface with cinnamon, leaving one inch on one long side clean. Roll up dough starting on the other long side, and ending by sealing the clean side. Cut nine 2" lengths.

5. Place pieces cut-side up in pan with space for them to rise and expand. Either cover and refrigerate until morning or put in a warm place to rise until doubled, about 1 hr.

6. Bake at 400º for 20 minutes. Allow to cool in pan until no longer bubbling, then invert onto serving plate and remove parchment paper. Start soaking the pan now.

Makes 9 rolls

Difficulty rating :)

Cha Siu Bao

2011-12-28T06:35:00.000-08:00

My first foray into steamed Chinese food. As adorable as bamboo steamers are, you don't need to go to extra expense for this. Get out that big soup pot and fill it with an inch or so of water. I used a wire pot stand, but you could poke a lot of holes in a sturdy pie tin with a Phillips screwdriver to make a steaming platform. Use your inner MacGyver to improvise until you know that steaming is something you want to do often.

I cheated on the sauce. There was actual cha siu (Chinese barbecue) sauce at 99 Ranch. To do it yourself, see the original recipe I used as my source. I can't think of why I would need 12 ounces of oyster sauce, so I went for the easy way out. You'll also notice in that recipe that the dough recipe has somewhat different amounts. I made one batch following the 24 serving amounts and split it between the red bean buns and these bao, so I estimated the quantities here to match the amount of filling.

I didn't grill my pork, I did it in the oven. Maybe it was a fluke, but it came out really well. I'm definitely going to make it that way again.

1/2 lb pork shoulder roast
1/2 C cha siu sauce, divided
4 C flour
3 Tb sugar
1-1/3 C water
2 tsp yeast
2 tsp baking powder
1 Tb shortening

1. Cut pork into 2-inch thick slices and coat with half of the sauce. Marinate for several hours.

2. Preheat oven to 350º. Roast pork for 20 mintues, until thermometer reaches 155º. Remove and allow to cool slightly. Chop into 1/2" cubes and toss with remaining sauce. Refrigerate until ready to use.

3. Add sugar and yeast to warm water and let sit until foamy, about 10 mintues. Combine 2 C flour, baking powder, and shortening in a large bowl. Add water mixture and beat into a batter. Add another cup of flour and beat into a dough. Turn out onto a floured board and knead until smooth, adding flour as necessary, about 10 minutes. Set in a greased bowl, cover, and let rise in a warm place until tripled, about 2 hours.

4. Punch down dough and let rest 10 minutes. With a food scale, measure out 2 oz portions. Round pieces into balls and let rest 5 minutes.

5. Press each ball into a 4-inch circle. Place 2 Tb pork filling on each and pinch up sides to make a dumpling with a puckered top. Place on a small square of parchment or waxed paper and let rise 10 minutes.

6. Boil 1 inch of water in a large pot and set up a steaming rack. Place bao in steamer at least 2 inches apart. I got 5 in at a time. Put lid on pot and steam for 12 minutes per batch. Don't worry about the ones left waiting their turn. A little more rising time won't hurt them. Serve immediately.

Makes about 12

Difficulty rating :-0

Red Bean Buns

2011-12-26T18:46:00.000-08:00

I have been wanting to go to dim sum for a few weeks. No one else is quite as interested, and I don't want to go alone. Part of dim sum is trading around the dishes. Besides, that's way too much food.

I picked up some dried azuki red beans at 99 Ranch, before learning that you can buy the paste pre-made. It isn't difficult to make the paste, especially if you're used to making beans from dried. I've also seen azuki at Marina Farms and Sprouts. Look in the Asian aisle of better grocery stores.

I was also surprised that the dough for these buns and bao are just plain white bread. I always assumed there was some special ingredient like rice flour. The white fluffiness of steamed buns is just because there isn't a crust. I decided to bake these instead of steaming them, to make them different than the bao. It was a good choice. Despite being just mashed beans in bread, they taste like a pastry.

A Chinese friend warned me that dim sum is time-consuming, but I found that these and the bao required less effort than hamantaschen.

1 C red bean paste (see below)
2 C flour
2 Tb sugar
2/3 C warm water
1 tsp yeast
1 tsp baking powder
2 tsp shortening
oil for bowl
1 Tb honey
sesame seeds

1. The day before, start the bean paste:

1/ 2 C azuki beans
1/4 C sugar
1 Tb oil

Soak beans in 2 C water for at least 8 hours. Drain, add fresh water, and bring to a boil. Simmer for 2 hours, until soft. Drain. Purée in food processor or blender. Stir in sugar. Heat oil in a frying pan. Cook bean purée in oil until most of the moisture is gone. It should look like dark pink refried beans. Refrigerate until ready to use.

2. For the dough, add sugar and yeast to warm water and let sit until foamy, about 10 minutes. Beat in 1 C flour, shortening, and baking powder to make a batter. Add 1/2 C flour to make a soft dough. Knead on a floured board until smooth, about 10 minutes. Lightly oil a bowl and place dough in it. Cover and let rise in a warm place until tripled, about 2 hours.

3. Punch down dough and let rest 10 minutes. Get out the food scale and cut 1 oz pieces off the dough. Round them into balls and let them rest 5 minutes.

4. Flatten each dough ball into a disc about 4 inches across. Place 1 Tb of bean paste in center and enclose to make a ball. Place buns on a greased cookie sheet or one lined with parchment or a silpat, seam-side down. Let rise for 30 minutes.

5. Preheat oven to 350º. Add 1 tsp warm water to honey and brush tops of buns. Sprinkle a few sesame seeds on top of each bun for garnish. Bake for 25 minutes, until browned. Cool on racks and serve at room temperature.

makes about 12

Difficulty rating :-0

Oreo Truffles

2011-12-24T07:08:00.000-08:00

My hostess at Thanksgiving made these. She didn't have to give me a proper recipe, just the basic how-to. Really, that's all you need. However, I did double-check on the Kraft recipe site for quantities. If you dare, scroll down to the bottom of their recipe page. Don't some of those recipes sound good?

1 8-oz brick of cream cheese, softened
1 package of Oreos
*1 lb semisweet baking chocolate

1. Make Oreo crumbs by processing in the blender or food processor. This is easier if you freeze them for about an hour first. The White Stuff hardens and doesn't get as pasty.

2. Whip the cream cheese with an electric mixer until smooth and fluffy. Combine with 3 cups of the crumbs. It will make a grey, grainy paste. Chill for about half an hour.

3. Melt the chocolate. I recommend the microwave at half power, stirring every 60 seconds, until smooth. Line two baking sheets with wax paper.

4. Make 1" balls of cream cheese (the larger end of a melon-baller) and dip them in the chocolate. I made a dozen at a time, dropping them in the bowl as they were shaped, then warmed the chocolate between batches. I recommend using two forks and rolling the balls between them until coated, so the excess can drip out. Place truffles on baking sheets and dust with remaining Oreo crumbs before the chocolate sets. (I skipped that step, but they probably look better if you do it.) Refrigerate until set, about 1 hour.

5. If not serving immediately, keep refrigerated. Because of the cream cheese, they cannot be left out indefinitely. 4 hours maximum at room temperature, and do not freeze.

Makes about 4 dozen

Difficulty rating :)

Seven-Layer Bars

2011-12-22T06:55:00.000-08:00

This is my year of the cookie. After realizing how few varieties I made last year, I have promised myself to make at least one batch of cookies or finger desserts a week for the rest of the year. It's a tough job, but someone's gotta do it. The project is progressing rather well, and my co-workers look for my little green cookie tin every time I have a shift.

My godmother introduced me to these. While not technically cookies because there's no dough, they are about the right chewiness. (Wow, spell-checker actually recognizes that as a word. Quinoa - nope.)

Yes, there are a lot of ingredients in this one, but it's all in small amounts. Odds are, it will use the last bits of the bag that you bought for something else. And yes, apparently the butter counts as a layer.

To serve these, you need to put them in paper muffin liners. Otherwise, they'll fall apart. This makes them excellent for packing in tins to give as gifts or laying out on a platter at a party. And because they are made from pre-cooked ingredients, they stay moist and fresh at room temperature for at least a week. Yeah, right, a week.

6 Tb butter
1-1/4 C graham cracker crumbs
*1 C chocolate chips
*1 C butterscotch chips
1 C shredded coconut
*1 C chopped walnuts, pecans, or almonds
1 14oz can sweetened condensed milk

1. Melt butter and combine with graham crumbs. (Make crumbs by pulverizing graham crackers in a ziplock with a rolling pin.) The crumbs don't have to be entirely moistened. Spread across the bottom of an 8" square pan.

2. Start making the layers by evenly distributing the chocolate, butterscotch, coconut, and nuts. Pour the condensed milk evenly over all and let it soak in while the oven is preheating to 325º, at least 15 minutes.

3. Bake for 25 minutes. Let sit in pan for 10 minutes, then cut into 2" squares. Allow to cool thoroughly before removing squares from pan. Store in a sealed container.

Makes 16 2" squares

Difficulty rating π

Peppermint Mocha

2011-12-20T06:33:00.000-08:00

Sure, you could get dressed, spend $4, and make a half-hour run to Starbucks. Or, you can make this every morning for pennies while you're deciding what to wear. It's also an excellent after-dinner party drink, easily jazzed up with kahlua, creme de menthe, or chocolate liqueur. To make it easier for the latter, I'll give the four-serving version.

And for those who have noticed, yes, I am working the peppermint extract overtime this month. I like mint.

2 C French roast coffee, brewed double-strong, or 4 shots espresso
2 C milk
1/2 C chocolate syrup
1/8 tsp peppermint extract
whipped cream and crushed candy canes for garnish

1. Once coffee has brewed, add milk directly to coffee pot. Let sit five minutes for the burner to warm the milk. Carefully stir in chocolate syrup and peppermint. If necessary, leave on the burner a few more minutes.

2. Pour into coffee cups and top with whipped cream and candy cane pieces. Serve immediately.

Difficulty rating π

Fudge

2011-12-18T07:02:00.000-08:00

My favorite part of a visit to Solvang is watching them make fudge on the marble table at the fudge shop. It looks like really hard work, turning 20 pounds of fudge with a paddle and working in the air to a creamy texture. I'm not sure if I buy a pound because it looks so good, I know it's fresh, or I want to make the cooks feel valued.

You don't have to go to that much effort to make fudge at home. You can, but you don't have to. The simplest, creamiest, most fool-proof recipe for fudge I know is on the back of a jar of Kraft marshmallow creme. One note: I used chocolate chips instead of chopping 12 ounces of baking chocolate. They didn't melt entirely. After five minutes, I decided to give up and call it a fold-in, and the small chocolate nubs that were left were a really nice addition. Alternatively, you could melt them in the microwave on half-power before stirring them into the fudge.

That will get you as far as basic chocolate fudge. While yummy, there's all sorts of things you can do to it.

Nuts: walnuts, pecans, almonds. Just make sure they are chewable size
Mini-marshmallows: don't stir in until the fudge is almost cooled, or they will melt
Extracts: 1/8 tsp of peppermint extract, and the whole batch will be minty. Add crushed candy canes on top to give a visual cue (that's what I made this time, but using my peppermint-flavored candy cane sprinkles)
Candy: mini M&Ms, a contrasting chip, or crushed hard candies add flair and flavor
Peanut butter or pre-melted white chocolate, swirled in at the last minute

3 C sugar

3/4 C (1-1/2 sticks) butter or margarine

1 5oz can evaporated milk

*12 oz semi-sweet baking chocolate, chopped

1 7oz jar marshmallow creme

1 tsp vanilla

fold-ins of choice

1. Line 9" square pan with foil.

2. Bring sugar, butter, and evaporated milk to a full rolling boil in a large saucepan over medium heat, stirring constantly. Boil 4 minutes, or to 234ºF on a candy thermometer, stirring constantly to avoid boiling over and scorching.

3. Remove from heat and stir in chocolate and marshmallow creme. Stir until combined and chocolate is melted. Add vanilla and fold-ins.

4. Pour fudge into lined pan and allow to cool to room temperature. If it's a warm day, chill in fridge ten minutes before cutting.

5. To cut: Remove fudge from pan by lifting entire foil lining and place on work surface. Peel down the edges to lay flat. With a warm knife, cut 1-1/2" squares. Place in paper liners before serving, especially to kids.

Difficulty rating π

Grenadine and Candied Pomegranate

2011-12-16T11:06:00.000-08:00

This was going to be Pomegranate Jam, but it didn't quite work. I quickly realized that the syrup part was grenadine, which I will add to absolutely any ordinary soda or lemonade. I still order Shirley Temples when I'm the designated driver.

You can liven up the syrup with a shot of vodka, which also serves as a preservative.

1 pomegranate
1/2 C sugar
1 tsp lemon juice or 1 oz vodka

1. Cut open pomegranate and remove the seeds. I could go into detail about this, or you can watch this highly entertaining video:

2. Stir together arils and sugar in a saucepan, breaking as many of the seeds as possible to release the juice.

3. Heat over medium to boiling, stirring and breaking open more seeds with back of spoon. Allow to boil for 5 minutes, stirring to avoid it boiling over.

4. Remove from heat and stir in lemon juice or vodka. Strain syrup into a jar, pressing the seeds to get as much of the syrup as you can. Place seeds in a separate container and use on salads, ice cream, or anything else that you would use dried or candied fruit on.

5. Refrigerate both jars once cool enough to handle. Syrup lasts one month, seeds one week.

Makes about 3/4 C syrup and 1/2 C seeds, depending on size of fruit.

Difficulty level :)

Leftovers

2011-12-14T16:40:00.000-08:00

One thing about the holidays is that you always end up with a lot of leftovers. They can be great for lunches and snacks in the following days, but you have to be careful about what you re-serve.

First, make sure the food is safe before deciding it is leftover-worthy. If you left out a bowl of dip most of the night, toss it. An all-vegetable dip may still be safe, but not anything with dairy, meat, or fish in it. Many people leave out dinner platters when they serve dessert. Try to find room for them in the fridge while you're changing plates and putting whipped cream on the pie. It's ok if the guests spend an extra ten minutes chatting before dessert.

How long can you keep food in the fridge? My general rule is that cooked dishes are good for five days. Uncooked veggies (like salad) get two. And cream pies need to be eaten within a day or two. They start to separate and get icky. If you know you won't finish a cooked dish, like stuffing or a roast, in under a week, freezing is a good solution. First, get the product down to refrigerator temperature to minimize freezer burn. Get as much air out of the freezer bag as possible, using a vacuum sealer if you have one. Label it with the date it was made and put it in the deep freeze. You can enjoy your holiday meal again in January. Fruit pies and most kinds of cakes are freeze-able.

Basically, don't re-serve anything that was sitting out longer than four hours unless it's bread, nuts, or uncut fruit. Everything else requires refrigeration for future meals.

Butterscotch Poppy Seed Cake

2011-12-12T16:23:00.000-08:00

One of my co-workers made this for our Thanksgiving pot luck. When she said she was bringing a poppy seed cake, I assumed it was lemon, nodded, and hoped someone else would bring a dessert. But I love butterscotch, and this was great.

This counts as semi-homemade, but no one is going to care. If you don't have the time to make every single treat from scratch, use this one as the last-minute hostess gift.

It doesn't have an icing in the recipe, and doesn't really need it. However, if you are the sort of person who can't take a Bundt cake somewhere without icing, I'll put one here.

1 box white or yellow cake mix
1 box butterscotch pudding mix
3/4 C vegetable oil
4 eggs
1 C water
1/4 C poppy seeds

1. In a large bowl, combine all ingredients. Beat for about 5 minutes, until light and fluffy.

2. Preheat oven to 350º. Grease a Bundt pan. Pour batter into pan and bake for 45-50 minutes. Cool for ten minutes in pan, then turn out onto serving plate.

3. Ice when cool: Beat together 1/2 C powdered sugar, 1 egg white, and 1/2 tsp vanilla. Drizzle over cooled cake.

Difficulty level π

Gingerbread Cookies

2011-12-10T16:25:00.000-08:00

I didn't make these last year? I must have been distracted by all the batches of Dirty Snowballs I ended up making in a vain effort to win the cookie contest.

These are probably the quintessential Christmas cookie. They make the whole house smell like the holidays. And the dough is versatile enough to make crispy ginger snaps, supple gingerbread men, or solid pieces for house construction. The creamy icing is not necessary, but often helps to cut the tang for those who prefer a more mild cookie.

2-1/4 C flour
1/2 C sugar
1/2 C shortening
1/2 C molasses
1 egg
1-1/2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp ginger
1 tsp cloves
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt

icing and decorations

1. In a large mixing bowl, combine all ingredients. Beat at medium speed until well mixed. Wrap in waxed paper and chill for 1 hour.

2. On a lightly floured surface with a floured rolling pin, roll dough 1/8" thick. These are the thickness which dries best for ornaments. (1/16" for crisps, 1/4" for softer cookies, and 1/2" for construction pieces) Preheat oven to 350º.

3. Cut out shapes with cookie cutters. If making ornaments, poke the string hole before baking. Reroll trimmings to cut out again, but keep in mind that they will get tougher the more times you roll them out. What I usually do is roll out a handful of dough, then add another handful to the scraps, etc, until it has all been used. That will minimize the toughness. Place cookies 1/2" apart on cookie sheets.

4. Bake for about 8 minutes, until edges turn brown. (You'll have to adjust the time for various thicknesses, and ornaments can be slightly overbaked, since they're going to go stale on purpose.) Remove to cooling racks and cool completely before decorating.

Icing

1-1/4 C (or more) powdered sugar
1/2 tsp lemon juice
1 egg white

1. Combine ingredients with a whisk. Let sit in the fridge for 5 minutes for the powdered sugar to absorb the liquid, then beat again. If you want thicker icing, add more powdered sugar.

2. Icing can be spread over cookies, piped into designs, or dipped. It can be colored with food coloring. You can also top the icing with sprinkles that will stay on once the icing is set.

3. It can take as long as 8 hours for the icing to set, even if it is applied thinly. It's best to decorate the night before and to place waxed paper between layers of cookies.

Yield depends on size of cookie cutters and extent of decoration

Difficulty level :)

Rabbit Tagine

2011-12-08T17:16:00.000-08:00

I finally had the chance to go up to the 99 Ranch in Van Nuys. Compared to my old one in Anaheim, it isn't as new and fancy. The bakery is smaller and there isn't a food court. But the deli is awesome. They had whole fried ducks the day I was there, looking like they had just come from a swim through lava. Heads and all. If you wanted one of the very healthy crabs, you practically had to chase it across the store. Those suckers move fast.

Since I had to put the groceries in a cooler in the back seat, live crab was not on my list. But I checked out the deep freezers, where you can find unusual meats and fish. I finally found the seafood medley that I had wanted to use for the risotto. They also had a pound of pre-steamed baby clams for $1.99. And they had whole rabbit, frozen solid.

Um, I didn't notice the "whole" part until the onions were sautéed. It isn't hard to cut one into pieces. It's like quartering a chicken. You just don't want to do it at the last second. At least there weren't any giblets.

Rabbits don't have a lot of meat on them. It's like a Cornish hen, where you think you're getting more than you really are. Plan a healthy serving of sides, like veggie couscous and some harira.

I'm going to lie a touch in this recipe. I planned to use chicken broth, then forgot to buy some. Subbed in 2 cups of Chardonnay. All that Two-buck Chuck isn't going to drink itself.

2 lb rabbit, cut up
1 Tb olive oil
1/2 C chopped onion
1 clove garlic, minced
1/2 C (about 8) dried dates
2 C water
2 C chicken broth
2 tsp cumin
2 Tb lemon juice
1 tsp kosher salt
pinch saffron

1. In a deep frying pan with a lid, sautée onion and garlic in olive oil until tender, about 5 minutes. Add rabbit pieces and sear for one minute. Turn over and sear other side for a minute.

2. Add remaining ingredients and bring to a boil. Lower heat to a simmer, cover, and let the tagine cook slowly for 1-1/2 hours. Turn meat over about halfway through cooking. When done, the meat will practically fall off the bones. Serve over rice or couscous.

Serves 3

Difficulty level π

Peppermint Meringues

2011-12-06T10:25:00.000-08:00

Here's something easy to do with the leftover egg whites from the Chocolate Cream Pie, courtesy of December's Bon Appetit.

I can't stress enough the part about storing them in an airtight container. Meringues will pick up all moisture from the air and get soft and sticky. They are supposed to be crunchy.

*3 large egg whites, room temperature
1/8 tsp kosher salt
1/3 C sugar
1/2 C powdered sugar
1/8 tsp peppermint extract
12 drops red food coloring

1. Preheat oven to 200º. Line a baking sheet with parchment or a silpat. With an electric mixer, beat egg whites and salt on medium-high until white and foamy.

2. With mixer running, gradually add sugar in 3 additions, beating for 2 minutes between each addition. Beat until firm peaks form, about 2 more minutes. Add powdered sugar and peppermint extract, beat to blend, about 1 minute. You want the meringue shiny, but not dry.

3. Dot surface with food coloring. Do not stir; it will swirl in the pastry bag. Spoon meringue into a disposable pastry bag or ziplock with a 1/2" round tip, using a metal spoon. (Between the peppermint and the food coloring, this will be the least damaging to your pastry equipment.) Pipe into 1" rounds on baking sheets.

4. Bake meringues until dry, about 2-1/2 hours. Turn off oven, open door a crack, and allow to cool slowly for 1 hour. Store at room temperature, placing waxed paper between layers, in an AIRTIGHT container.

Makes about 60

Difficulty rating π

Chocolate Cream Pie

2011-12-04T16:21:00.000-08:00

Because I wanted one.

This recipe is a lot like thickened ice cream. Most cream pies are really pudding in a crust, but this one is more so.

I had a terrible time finding an Oreo crust. I could have bought chocolate grahams or Oreos and made it myself, but the store-bought graham crust was on sale.

This recipe is courtesy of the Bible.

1 9" prebaked pie crust or crumb crust
1/2 C sugar
1/3 C flour
1/4 tsp salt
2 C milk
2 squares unsweetened dark chocolate, coarsely chopped
3 egg yolks
3 Tb butter
1 tsp vanilla
whipped cream for garnish

1. In a medium saucepan, stir together sugar, flour and salt. Add milk and stir until absorbed and there are no lumps.

2. Stir in chocolate and warm over low heat. Stir constantly to avoid scorching until chocolate is melted.

3. Raise heat to medium and continue to stir. Cook until mixture boils, about 10 minutes, and becomes thick. Remove from heat.

4. In a separate container, beat egg yolks until smooth. Add about 1 C of hot pudding mixture and beat together to temper the eggs so they don't curdle.

5. Pour egg mixture back into saucepan and stir rapidly to spread it through the pudding. Return to a low heat, but do not boil or the eggs will curdle. Cook until mixture becomes very thick and mounds when dropped from the spoon.

6. Remove pudding from heat and stir in butter and vanilla. Pour into pie crust and cover surface with plastic wrap to prevent a skin from forming. Chill at least 4 hours before serving.

Serves 8

Difficulty rating :)

Hand Washing

2011-12-01T16:10:00.000-08:00

I consider this the number one most important part of food safety. You can start with the best ingredients and follow every other rule of safe cooking, but if you contaminate the food with dirty hands, it is unsafe.

What is proper hand-washing? It involves using soap and the hottest water you can stand. It takes about 20 seconds of lathering, getting the palms and back of your hands, wrists, between the fingers, and under the nails. Sing "Happy Birthday" to yourself three times. And don't turn off the water with your now-clean hands. Remember, a dirty hand turned it on. Use a paper towel.

It also involves washing every time you have a contaminating event:

Before beginning to cook
After using the restroom
After blowing your nose or covering a cough or sneeze
After eating, drinking, or smoking (saliva contamination)
When transferring from raw to cooked food
When transferring from high-risk food like meat to low-risk like vegetables that will not be cooked
After touching your hair, face, body, or clothing
Both before and after doing dishes
After doing any sort of cleaning project like sweeping, taking out trash, or picking up something off the floor
After touching anything that may be unsanitary, like a damp sponge or used dish towel
Every 20 minutes, even if there have been no contaminating events

And now for my opinion on foodservice gloves. I, and many professional chefs, don't like them. They actually discourage hand sanitation. When you can't feel debris on your hands, you don't realize they need washing. Cooks also use them instead of washing, and often do not wash when they change the gloves. But the public thinks they look more hygienic, so it has become standard practice in many establishments to use them. It is not California state law. Proper hand washing is.

Vegetable Soup

2011-11-28T10:04:00.000-08:00

I'm trying to figure out why most vegetable soups have beef, or at least beef broth, in them. And the ones that don't, have zucchini as a main ingredient. The great thing about being a grown-up is that you don't have to eat zucchini if you don't like it. That's it, I'm going off the grid.

Vegetable soup is a good way to clear out the crisper while making something healthy. Feel free to adjust to your own tastes. For example, subbing in a russet potato for the parsnips. I had a cold and just wanted something hot and good for me.

1 C dried Navy beans
1 yellow onion, minced
4 celery stalks, chopped into bite-sized pieces
4 medium carrots, peeled and chopped into bite-sized pieces
1 lb parsnips, peeled and chopped into bite-sized pieces
2 C fresh green beans, ends snapped, cut into 1" pieces
1 large (28 oz) can diced tomatoes
1 Tb olive oil
1 bay leaf
salt and pepper to taste

1. Sort Navy beans, rinse, and soak overnight in cold water. Drain. In a medium saucepan, cover beans with water two inches deep. Bring to a boil, then reduce to a simmer. Cook for 2 hours.

2. In a large soup pot, sauté onion in oil until soft. Add 3 C water, celery, carrots, parsnips, green beans, and bay leaf. Drain beans and add to pot. Bring to a boil, then simmer for 30 minutes.

3. Add canned tomatoes with their juice and bring back up to a simmer. Stir, taste, and add salt and pepper as necessary. Discard bay leaf before serving.

Serves 6

Difficulty rating π

Part VI: Safe Cooking

2011-11-25T08:11:00.000-08:00

AKA, how not to poison your guests.

I've done a few posts on food safety, but this section will go into a bit more detail. The holidays are a fun time to share food, but more people contract foodborne illnesses in November and December than in the rest of the year.

To check out some previous topics:

Temperatures
Things That Don't Expire
Why you shouldn't hoard food: Exhibit A, Exhibit B, Exhibit C
Freezer Burn
Label Stuff

Most of the lessons I'm going to be boring you with are from ServSafe Essentials, the food safety textbook of the National Restaurant Association. I don't have this newest version, but anything that has changed will be to make it more lenient than what I know, not more strict. A lot of it is common sense, and the rest is stuff that you feel like you should have known, but no one ever told you. I'm not going to go into any of the picky stuff that you'll never need to know. This is about how to be a successful home cook with food safety in the back of the mind. All of these lessons will become second nature after a while.

Don't worry, there will still be plenty of recipes. It is baking season, after all.

This also means that I've finished the crackers and matzoh! Yay, me!

Bison Meatballs

2011-11-22T16:52:00.000-08:00

I really need to stop buying ground meat just because it's on sale. Cuts, sure, I can do something with those. Ground meat just gets worked into some sauce until it doesn't matter what it was originally.

But, come on, 75% off a $9 package of an unusual meat? It ended up cheaper than ground beef would have been, just because I had to use it the same day I bought it. I do that anyway.

Bison is leaner than beef. Look at a one-pound package of ground bison and one of lean ground beef. It is considerably smaller. So, I had to use filler. Yes, I had some leftover bacon fat, but what's the point of buying lean meat just to add fat to it? Out came bread crumbs. And I did have some spaghetti and sauce lying around. Fine, spaghetti and meatballs it is.

Another thing I've always wondered about is why you have to brown meatballs in a pan to cook them. They never remain round, and tend to cook unevenly. Would the world end if I simmered them instead? It turns out, the answer is no. They did not fall apart, and cooked evenly in the same amount of time it took to boil the spaghetti and warm the sauce. I would say that you can use this method any time you do not care if the outside of the meatball is crispy.

1 lb ground bison
*1/3 C Italian bread crumbs
1/4 C milk
*1 tsp Italian seasoning
1 clove minced garlic
1 egg
1 can beef broth
1 bay leaf

1. Soak bread crumbs in milk until they absorb all of it. Add ground bison, egg, Italian seasoning, and garlic. Knead thoroughly and let sit in refrigerator at least 15 minutes, for flavors to meld.

2. Boil beef broth and two cups water in a pot with the bay leaf. Reduce to a simmer. Get out the meat mix and start making 1-1/2" balls. I got 20 out of my batch. Drop them in the simmering water. When all are in the pot, add more water, if necessary, to cover. Maintain at a simmer for 15 minutes. I stirred them once, to make sure nothing was stuck to the bottom and they cooked evenly.

3. Drain, discard bay leaf, and serve.

Difficulty rating π

Radish Dip

2011-11-19T08:23:00.000-08:00

I had some radishes left over from the calamari salad. Dip time.

Most of the recipes I found involved a brick of cream cheese. Really? Is that the cop-out when you can't figure out how to turn a veggie into a dip? Back to the nonfat Greek yogurt, with some feta to bring out the bite in the radish.

*1 bunch red radishes (about 8)
1 C nonfat Greek yogurt
4 oz crumbled feta chese
1 tsp cracked black pepper
1/4 tsp dill

1. Trim off stem and bottom of radishes, then cut into quarters. Chop in food processor. Add remaining ingredients and process until a chunky dip forms. Chill until ready to use.

makes about 2 cups

Difficulty rating π

Bacon Pie

2011-11-16T06:56:00.000-08:00

Bet that got your attention.

This is one of those things that comes to you in the middle of the night. Does bacon pie exist, and if it does, what's in it? I did a Google search, which produced some interesting ideas, including this gorgeous bacon lattice, but they weren't what I had in mind. Then, this month's Bon Appetit arrived and one of the recipes solved the problem for me. Hash brown crust. Yes! That's what this idea needs.

Technically, this is a quiche. I tried to come up with some way not to make it a heart attack waiting to happen, but broccoli doesn't work for breakfast. The best I could do was to leave the skin on the potatoes. If your goal is to make this a stuffed potato in pie form, go for the broccoli.

3/4 lb russet potatoes, shredded or grated
1 Tb oil
1/2 lb bacon, excess fat trimmed, chopped into bite-sized pieces
1/2 C finely chopped onion
1 C shredded cheddar cheese
2 eggs
1 C milk
salt and pepper

1. Heat oil in a skillet. Add shredded potatoes, onion, and a little salt and pepper. Cook hash browns until browned and crisp. Press into a pie plate to form the crust.

2. Fry bacon in the skillet until done. Place bacon in crust, then sprinkle with cheese.

3. Preheat oven to 375º. In a bowl, beat together milk and eggs. Season with pepper, then pour on top of cheese. Let custard settle a bit before placing pie in oven.

4. Bake pie 45 minutes, until egg is set. Allow to cool slightly before serving.

Serves 6

Difficulty rating π

Apple-Stuffed French Toast

2011-11-13T11:08:00.000-08:00

We had some leftover round raisin challahs at work after the High Holy Days, so I took one home. Not being a huge fan of raisin challah, but a big fan of French toast, this was a no-brainer.

It's very important for stuffed anything to cut your own out of a large piece. This applies to bread, chicken, loin, roast, and veggies. Buy an unsliced loaf of challah or brioche for any French toast, slice it to the thickness you want, and let it sit out overnight to dry out slightly. It will absorb the egg better that way.

4 2"-thick slices of challah
1 apple, cored and thinly sliced
1 Tb brown sugar
2 Tb butter
1/2 tsp cinnamon
2 eggs
1 C milk

1. In a skillet, melt 1 Tb butter. Add apple slices and cook over medium heat until soft, about 10 minutes, add brown sugar and cook one more minute. Set aside.

2. While apples are cooking, slice a deep pocket into the challah pieces. Make a slit in the bottom and cut all around, leaving about half an inch to the crust to hold the slices together. In a bowl, beat together milk, egg, and cinnamon.

3. Divide apple and stuff each pocket with its portion. Place all of the slices in a baking dish and pour the custard over them. Let soak 5 minutes, then turn over the slices and soak again, until all of the custard is absorbed and the pieces are evenly soggy.

4. Preheat a large skillet over medium heat and melt remaining tablespoon of butter. Transfer bread slices to skillet and cook about 5 minutes on each side, until egg is cooked. Serve dusted with powdered sugar and syrup on the side.

This method also works with pears, peaches, cherries, bananas, and just about any fruit that you might want to stuff inside a piece of bread.

Difficulty rating :)

Tequila Chicken

2011-11-10T12:14:00.000-08:00

Yes, I have a very well-stocked liquor cabinet. I had never even had tequila, but this recipe from the Barefoot Contessa sounded interesting. And I was going up to the produce stand in Ventura again anyway. They have limes at 4/$1.

I figured I should taste the tequila before soaking the chicken in it. I had the tiniest sip. Have you ever seen "The Three Amigos!"?

After getting tipsy from less than a teaspoon of the stuff (I'm really a lightweight), I cut the amount in the marinade by half. I don't care if very little of the marinade actually makes it into the meat and most of that cooks off.

This is really a recipe for grilling. I found a cool frying pan with grilling ridges and used that to get it started before putting it in the oven.

This also works better with boneless chicken breasts, or even chicken tenders. Hey, it's what I had in the freezer.

1 lb chicken breast
2 Tb tequila
2 limes, zested & juiced
1 lemon, zested & juiced
1 tsp chili powder
1 clove garlic, minced
1 tsp kosher salt
1/2 tsp ground pepper
1 Tb olive oil

1. Prepare marinade: Combine tequila, lime and lemon juice and zest, chili powder, garlic, salt, and pepper in a bowl. Add chicken. Refrigerate for at least 8 hours, turning periodically.

2. Preheat grill or a frying pan and the oven to 325º. Brush oil onto grill or fry pan.

For grill: Cook for 3 minutes on each side, and continue turning until meat thermometer reaches 160º. Baste periodically with marinade, but stop before the last time you turn the meat.
For stovetop: Pan-fry for 3 minutes on each side, basting each side with marinade. Transfer to a baking dish and cook in oven until meat thermometer reaches 160º, about 20 minutes.

Serves 3 to 4

Difficulty rating :)

Banana Bread

2011-11-07T13:08:00.000-08:00

This is what happens when I forget I bought bananas. I prefer mine almost green. Once a banana has a few spots, I don't like the texture anymore and save it for cooking.

I still feel bad about that almost-homemade muffin post way back at the beginning of this blog. I am so glad the original Pantry Project is a distant memory. This is an actual from-scratch recipe. It's from Sunset Easy Basics for Good Cooking. The version I have is out of print, and I seriously doubt it was one of the expensive versions Amazon lists. I don't think I've used this cookbook ever, but it has extremely easy-to-prepare recipes.

One thing I noticed is that most banana bread recipes ask for 3 bananas, but then they say 1 cup of mashed banana. I have a feeling the size of the average banana has increased significantly since most banana bread recipes were written. I'm going with the one-cup measure.

You don't have to do the rum-soaked raisins, especially if children will be eating this. I have inherited a very well-stocked wine collection and liquor cabinet, and I'm not much of a drinker. Might as well cook with it.

*1 C mashed, very ripe bananas (2 or 3)
1 C sugar
1 egg
1/4 C butter, melted and cooled to room temperature
1-1/2 C flour
1 tsp each salt, baking soda, and baking powder
*1/2 C raisins
1 Tb rum

1. Preheat oven to 325º. Lightly grease a 9" x 5" loaf pan. (I used 2 of my minis). Soak raisins in rum. You may have to soak them in hot water first if they're a little older. Otherwise, they won't absorb the rum.

2. In one bowl, combine bananas, sugar, egg, and butter. In another, combine flour, salt, baking soda, and baking powder.

3. Pick a bowl and pour the other into it. Stir until just combined. You don't have to get rid of all the lumps. Add raisins. (With the rum, if you feel like it. Otherwise, drain them first.)

4. Pour batter into prepared pan. Bake until toothpick comes out clean, 50-60 minutes for a full loaf, 30-40 for mini pans, and 20-25 for muffins. Cool in pan on a rack until you can handle the pan. Remove bread from pan; it may require a spatula. Cool until room temperature, then let it sit out another half hour.

5. Banana bread tastes better the next day. Wrap in plastic wrap and store in refrigerator. The easiest way to slice it is with a very sharp knife, through the plastic wrap. It keeps it from disintegrating. Warm to room temperature for serving.

makes 1 loaf

Difficulty rating :)

Fennel & Calamari Salad

2011-11-04T12:56:00.000-07:00

Fennel tastes like celery and licorice had a baby. Calamari is squid. If this doesn't appeal to you, move along. For those who like the light, fresh taste of a mild seafood paired with a crisp salad, please continue reading.

There are two ways to cook calamari so it is edible. The first is to fry it for the shortest time possible. The other is to poach it for five to ten minutes, until it is opaque, but you're not completely sure it's done. We're doing the second today.

This is also an amazingly low-calorie salad. Even with the two slices of olive bread I had with it (btw, excellent choice with the fennel), the meal came in well under 400 calories.

1/2 lb calamari (steak or whole, either will work)
1/2 lb fennel bulb
4 oz greenleaf lettuce
2 radishes
1/4 C lemon juice
1/2 Tb olive oil
salt and pepper to taste

1. To a 6" frying pan with sloped sides, add 2 C water, 1 tsp lemon juice, and a dash of salt. Bring to poaching temperature, which is just under a simmer. You don't want it to boil.

2. Slice calamari into 1/2" strips for steak or 1/2" rings for whole, and cut the tentacles in half. Place in frying pan and poach for at least 6 minutes. Turn every minute or so, to avoid the bottom cooking more quickly than the top. Remove from water and chill until ready to use.

3. Slice fennel bulb thinly in rings. If you have a mandoline, that's great. I would love one. Tear lettuce into salad-sized pieces. Slice radishes thinly. Need a mandonline....

4. In a small bowl, combine remaining lemon juice, oil, and a touch each of salt and pepper. Whisk dressing until oil is broken into small beads.

5. Place greens on two plates. Arrange radish slices on top of greens. Arrange calamari pieces on top of salad. Drizzle with lemon dressing. Serve promptly.

Serves 2

Difficulty level π

Spinach Dip

2011-11-01T13:44:00.000-07:00

Crackers and dip are really fattening. As if the crackers didn't have enough fat and calories in them, whatever dip you use probably has more.

Not this one. There's a touch of oil used to sautée the onions and garlic, but the rest is non-fat and actually very good for you. Guilt-free dip! Now I need to find guilt-free crackers.

10 oz frozen spinach
1/2 C finely chopped green onion
1 Tb olive oil
1 clove garlic
1 tsp salt
1 tsp lemon pepper
1/2 tsp dill
1 tsp lemon juice
2 C non-fat Greek yogurt

1. Defrost spinach. Microwaving is fine. I specified frozen for its texture, but it needs to be defrosted before you can use it.

2. In a medium fry pan, sautée onion and garlic in olive oil until soft. Add spinach and combine. Season with salt, lemon pepper, and dill. Cook until excess liquid has evaporated. Remove from heat and allow to cool to room temperature.

3. In a bowl, combine spinach mixture and yogurt. Stir in lemon juice. Chill until ready to use, and do not let it sit at room temperature more than 2 hours. I recommend putting out smaller bowls of it as necessary.

Makes about 1 quart

Difficulty rating π

Quinoa-Stuffed Peppers

2011-10-29T12:39:00.000-07:00

The cats are ticked that I've been eating vegetarian the past couple of weeks. No particular reason, just haven't been feeling the need for meat every night. Maybe when it starts to get cold.

Most of the stuffed-pepper recipes I found online include canned tomatoes. After the whole thing with the risotto being too tomato-ey, I decided to do without. It was plenty flavorful, and slightly sweet from the corn I substituted. There is easily enough filling for four split-open peppers, and you'll probably have some left over. The filling would make an excellent stuffing for poultry, as well. I would have no qualms about serving this as a vegetarian entrée at Thanksgiving. Leave off the cheese, and it's vegan.

4 red bell peppers
3/4 C dry quinoa
1/2 C dried black beans
1 C finely chopped red onion
1 clove garlic, minced
1 Tb olive oil
4 crimini (baby portobello) mushrooms
1/4 C corn kernels
1/2 C chopped carrot
salt to taste
1 tsp Italian seasoning
2 Tb grated Parmesan cheese

1. Rinse & sort black beans. Place in saucepan with 2 C water. Soak for 6 hours or overnight.

2. Drain and rinse beans. Return to saucepan and add 2 cups fresh water and a touch of salt. Bring to a boil, then reduce to a simmer. Simmer for 2 hours, drain, and set aside. If you need to pre-soak your quinoa, this is a good time to do it.

3. Bring quinoa, 1-1/2 C water, and a dash of salt to a boil. Reduce to a simmer and cook until most of the liquid is absorbed, about 15 minutes.

4. While quinoa is simmering, sautée onions and garlic in olive oil in a large frying pan. Discard stems of mushrooms and slice caps into thin slices. Add to pan and continue to cook until mushrooms are soft. Add quinoa, black beans, corn, carrot, Italian seasoning, and about 1/2 tsp salt. Combine over very low heat. Taste and adjust seasonings if necessary. Remove filling from heat and set aside.

5. Preheat oven to 350º. Wash bell peppers. Split in half lengthwise. Discard stems, seeds, and ribs (those white membrane things). Arrange peppers in a casserole with the cut ends up. Fill each half with as much of the filling as it will hold.

6. Bake for 45 minutes, until peppers start to look soft. Sprinkle tops with Parmesan cheese and bake 10 minutes longer, until cheese browns. Allow to sit a couple of minutes before serving.

Serves 4 as a main dish, 8 as a side

Difficulty rating :-0

Matzoh Pizza

2011-10-26T13:15:00.000-07:00

Yes, I still have matzoh. What part of 5-lb box did you miss?

This is actually some of the best thin-crust pizza you will ever have, and you get to make it at home! I would even serve it to guests. At any time of year, it's a good way to use up that last bit of spaghetti sauce you always seem to have left over. It can also use the last bits of some veggie in the crisper that you forgot about.

*1 piece of matzoh
1/4 C spaghetti sauce
1/2 C shredded cheese of choice
pizza toppings of choice (frozen spinach in photo)

1. Preheat oven or toaster oven to 375º. Run matzoh under hot water for a few seconds to wet surface. Do not soak.

2. Place matzoh on foil-lined baking sheet. Spread spaghetti sauce over surface. Top with shredded cheese and toppings of choice.

3. Bake for 10-15 minutes, until cheese is melted.

serves 1

Difficulty rating π

Corn Bread

2011-10-23T17:00:00.000-07:00

I can't believe I haven't made corn bread in over a year. Especially with all the corn meal I have lying around.

I use the recipe off the Alber's corn meal box. Their site has a lot of great recipes. I prefer to make the sweet corn bread instead of the regular corn bread. The latter comes out a bit dry and tastes like grits. I guess it depends upon how much butter you're willing to use. The sweet corn also uses two eggs, so you can do half a batch if there's a smaller gathering. You can also make them into muffins, freeze them, and have your picnic's corn muffins done days in advance.

1-1/2 C flour
2/3 C sugar
*1/2 C corn meal
1 Tb baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1-1/4 C milk
2 eggs, beaten
1/3 C vegetable oil
3 Tb butter, melted

1. Preheat oven to 350º. Grease an 8" x 8" pan or line 20 muffin cups. The bread in the photo was made in a really cool 10" casserole I have. Bake 5 minutes less, and it won't rise as high as one made in a smaller pan. (If you're really brave, just grease the muffin cups and don't line them. Warning, these will not travel as well as paper-lined.)

2. Combine all dry ingredients in one bowl. In a separate bowl, beat together milk, eggs, oil, and melted butter. Stir wet and dry ingredients until combined, but do not beat until smooth. The smaller lumps will disappear on their own as the bread bakes. Over-mixing produces large air bubbles. Maybe someday I'll explain the science behind it. Pour into prepared pan for bread, or fill muffin cups 2/3 full.

3. Bake for 35 minutes (20 for muffins), or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Serve bread from pan, or it will fall apart. Leave muffins in their paper liners.

Serves 12

Difficulty rating π

Pepitas

2011-10-20T14:29:00.000-07:00

Maybe I should make a category for nuts or seeds. I'm calling this a salad garnish, even though most people just eat them as snacks.

This is what you do with the seeds out of the pumpkin you have sacrificed for Halloween. It's either this or the trash. It helps that they're a yummy snack and beyond easy to make...not counting the getting them out of the pumpkin part.

One pumpkin's worth of seeds
1 Tb olive oil
2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp chili powder

1. Rinse as much of the guts off the seeds as you can. Shake off excess water. Toss in oil. Add salt and chili powder and toss again.

2. Preheat oven to 300º. Spread seeds in a single layer on a rimmed baking sheet (so they can't escape). Bake about 30 minutes, until golden brown, moving them around every ten minutes or so. Add more salt after cooling if desired. Store in an airtight container for up to a week.

Difficulty rating π

Chicken Pot Pie

2011-10-17T14:16:00.000-07:00

Ah, comfort food. Pot pies are basically stews with a crust. I like this version because you don't have to make a pie crust. Scone dough is much more forgiving. I'll give you a how-to for cooking the chicken, but any leftovers will do.

If the crust looks unusual, it's because I used half whole-wheat flour.

1 lb chicken breast or assorted meat
1 batch white sauce base
1/2 C diced onion
1/2 C frozen peas
1 C frozen sliced carrots
1 5oz can sliced mushrooms
salt and pepper to taste
1/2 batch scone dough

1. To roast chicken: Season meat with salt, pepper, and garlic powder. Roast at 350º for 45 minutes, or until center reaches 160º. Cool enough to handle, cut meat from bones, and chop or shred into bite-sized pieces.

2. Prepare white sauce base. Add onion, peas, mushrooms with their juice, and carrots and bring back up to a simmer. Taste and add salt and pepper as necessary. Stir in chicken.

3. Preheat oven to 400º. Prepare scone dough and roll thin. Place chicken stew in an 8" x 8" baking dish. Cut strips of dough and place on top of stew, covering entire top. (For individual pies, divide stew into ramekins and cover with a round of dough.)

4. Bake pie for 15 minutes, until crust is done and stew is boiling. Allow to cool slightly before serving.

Difficulty rating :)

Pumpkin Crepes

2011-10-14T13:53:00.000-07:00

This is the reason I bought the marscapone cheese in the first place. Putting it in the risotto was an afterthought.

The idea for this dish came from Princess Cruises. It was the vegetarian entrée on the night that everything looked amazing. Since none of us was going to order it on the night they had beef Wellington, rack of lamb, and lobster, we made Melody Smurf order them and passed everything around.

The first thing you will notice is that these are not sweet. We tend to add sugar to anything with the word "pumpkin" in it, but these are savory.

When choosing a pumpkin for eating, don't get one of the big ones with ridges all over it. Those are the ones you carve up and stick on the porch. They don't taste very good. Get the little one marked "sugar" or "pie" pumpkin. It should weigh no more than five pounds.

I cheated on the crepes this time and bought some. They were very thin and slightly sweet. It was ok for the pumpkin's flavor profile, but I wouldn't use them again for anything savory.

1 small pie pumpkin (about 3 lbs)
1/4 C butter
1/4 tsp each nutmeg, cumin, and paprika
8 8" crepes
1/2 C marscapone cheese
2 Tb milk

1. Wash skin of pumpkin and cut in half. Not as easy as it sounds. Scrape out seeds and strings. (Keep seeds for making pepitas.)

2. Preheat oven to 350º. Place pumpkin, cut side down, on a baking rack in a roasting pan. You may want to line the pan for easy cleaning. Roast pumpkin in oven for 45 minutes, until soft. Surprisingly, mine smelled like roasted seasoned potatoes when it was done. Allow to cool slightly. Using a spoon, scrape flesh off of skin and place in a bowl. Mash, either with a fork or a potato masher.

3. Place pumpkin in a medium saucepan. Over low heat, add butter and seasonings. Stir until warmed and creamy.

4. Beat together marscapone and milk until smooth enough to drizzle off a spoon.

5. Lay a crepe on a plate. Spoon 1/3 C pumpkin mixture in center and spread into a line. Roll crepe to one side. Repeat with a second crepe to make one serving. You should get 8 crepes out of a 3 lb pumpkin.

6. Drizzle with marscapone and garnish either with candied walnuts or pepitas.

Difficulty rating :)

Seafood Risotto

2011-10-11T13:28:00.000-07:00

I decided to make some kind of risotto, so I went to the local supermarket to buy arborio rice. Wow, it's expensive for something I'm not sure I'll make again. So I made something else and waited until Sprouts was having a 25% off bulk items sale. I got a cup of it out of the bins for a dollar. That's plenty for 4 to 5 servings.

Arborio rice is very short grain. It is similar to calrose rice, which is what you usually think of as the sticky rice in sushi, but more refined. And it soaks up a lot of liquid. What you end up with is something with a creamy, cheesy taste, even if there's no dairy in the dish. That said, I did use cheese here, mainly because the tomatoes were a bit overwhelming. It was a balancing flavor, not to add creaminess.

Risotto does take patience. You have to add the liquid in stages, or the grain gets overwhelmed. However, you don't have to stir it constantly. That's an old tradition. You have to stir it almost constantly. You can take half a minute off every so often. And it's going to take at least half an hour to cook. This is the price you pay for a unique texture.

For the seafood, I was hoping to find something called "seafood medley", which is kind of like all the little odds and ends that the fish counter can't use for anything. They were out, but any assorted seafood can be used, as long as the total weight is about a pound. I ended up using half shrimp and half mahi-mahi.

1 C arborio rice
1 C (8oz bottle) clam juice
2 C water
*1/4 C dry sherry or white wine
1/2 C diced onion
1 Tb oil
*2 tsp Italian seasoning
*1 tsp dried parsley
1 15oz can diced, no-salt tomatoes
2 C chopped spinach leaves (or 1 C frozen spinach)
1 lb mixed seafood, cut into bite-sized pieces
1/4 C marscapone cheese
salt to taste

1. In a small saucepan, heat clam juice and water to a simmer. Keep warm on the side.

2. In a larger saucepan, cook onions in oil until translucent, about 5 minutes. Add rice and sautée for two minutes, until lightly toasted. Add 1 C of cooking liquid and stir lightly until absorbed. Every addition of liquid will require several minutes of cooking time.

3. Add sherry and the can of tomatoes, including the liquid. Stir until absorbed. Add the spinach, Italian seasoning, and 1/2 C of cooking liquid. Continue adding liquid when needed until entire amount has been added. At this point, add seafood and stir until cooked thoroughly. If rice begins to look dry, add another 1/2 C of water.

4. When rice is creamy and seafood is cooked, remove from heat. Stir in marscapone. Garnish with parsley before serving.

Serves 4 to 5

Difficulty rating :)

Pantry Remodel

2011-10-08T16:51:00.000-07:00

It used to look so much neater

The pantry has taken a downturn from its glorious organization. I realized this when I almost dropped the food processor on my head. Why was it on the highest shelf I can reach? It was time for some serious redesign.

First, I had to conquer the spice cabinet once and for all. At 5:30 on a Saturday morning, I decided enough was enough and I was going to get that plastic shelf out. Only four screws held on the door, and they weren't even hard to get out. The plastic thingy made it through the opening with a millimeter to spare. Getting the door back on was a touch harder. I really needed a third arm. Still, I managed to set it evenly and the entire project took me a whopping 15 minutes.

Ah, that's better

Next up was how to put the spices back in. I decided that duplicates were no longer allowed. Ground spices on the bottom shelf, herbs and whole spices in the middle, and seeds and extracts on the top. Everything fit with loads of room to spare and nothing was difficult to find.

So, what to do with all the duplicates? Went out and bought some plastic boxes. Placed them in the boxes neatly and kept multiples of the same item together, labeled the lids, and snapped on the top. Which brought me to my main project of the pantry, where these boxes needed to be kept.

Everything came out again. Wiped down all the shelves again. Scrubbed the floor again. Sorted out stuff to throw away or donate for Yom Kippur again. And then it was time to put it back.

I bought a small wire shelf to put opposite the wine rack, even though I'm really not fond of putting things on the floor. It's just that the first built-in shelf is so high that you lose a lot of storage space. The wire shelf is for cat food, to protect it from the ants that found the pantry. Sidebar, the most environmentally friendly way to deter ants is to pour table salt over their point of entry. Another thing of which I have way too much. Close to four pounds. Two tablespoons of it got rid of the ant problem in about three hours.

All the heavy stuff like the food processor, ice cream maker, and my canning jars went on the bottom shelf, even though I don't use them very much. The foods I use regularly moved up to the second shelf, leaving the baking supplies on the third one, where they've been since the last sorting. The top shelf became storage for rarely-used, lightweight items like sprinkles, party sugar, and the duplicate spices from the spice cabinet.

Fall cleaning accomplished

It will take a little getting used to, like any change. But, now I know for sure that there is only one of each kind of spice in easy reach, and where to look if I run out of something, rather than run out to buy more.

Which reminds me, I discovered that my baking powder is six months expired, and here we are approaching baking season....

Black-Currant Jam

2011-10-05T18:46:00.000-07:00

I've never tried to make a jam from dried fruit before. I wish I had chosen a fruit that did not taste so much like prunes, but the technique should be sound.

There's some cheating involved in this. I wasn't sure this would set up, so I used some orange marmalade as a contributing flavor. It was from one of those cute little jars you get at a hotel breakfast. And I only needed one ounce to make this work.

1/2 C dried currants
1/2 C sugar
1/2 C water
2 Tb (1 oz) orange marmalade

1. In a small saucepan over medium-low heat, warm water and sugar until sugar dissolves and it begins to boil.

2. Add currants and stir together. Allow to boil until currants have plumped, the water has taken on some color, and the bubbles are at least a quarter of an inch in diameter. Stir every minute or two to prevent scorching.

3. Remove from heat. Stir in marmalade. Chill.

Makes 1 cup

Difficulty rating π

Venison Terrine

2011-10-02T17:31:00.000-07:00

Sprouts had ground venison. I've had venison steak, but never worked with it ground. They also have ground antelope and several cuts of bison. I'm starting a new catchall category for every uncommon meat.

Terrines are fancy meatloafs that are served cold and take two days to make. Other than that, they're easy. You can use a regular bread loaf pan if you don't have a terrine mold. Because I wanted something the right size to put on crackers, I used the three mini-loaf pans I bought this summer. Generally, there should be more fat in a terrine, to keep it tender. I subbed in bread crumbs because I don't care if it isn't buttery smooth. There's a lot of cream to supply some fat.

Yes, there are a whole lot of ingredients in this one. However, you're only using a few at a time. I'll try to break it up to make it more manageable.

1 lb ground venison
marinade ingredients (see below)
top garnish (see below that)
1/4 C breadcrumbs
1 C heavy cream
1 egg
1/4 C pine nuts, pan-toasted
1/4 C dried cranberries, plumped in 1 Tb red wine

Marinade
1 tsp ground peppercorns
1 tsp dried thyme
1 tsp dried rosemary
1 clove garlic, minced
2 tsp kosher salt
2 Tb (1 oz) red wine
1/2 tsp Worcestershire sauce

Top Garnish
2 shallots (1/4 lb), thinly sliced
6 baby portobello (crimini) mushrooms, thinly sliced
1 Tb balsamic vinegar
1 Tb oil
1/2 tsp salt

1. Combine marinade ingredients. Knead marinade into meat. Cover and place in refrigerator at least 8 hours or overnight.

2. The next day, sauté mushrooms and shallots in oil until very soft, about 10 minutes. Add balsamic vinegar and salt. Cook one more minute. Set aside. Try not to eat out of pan.

3. In food processor, place marinated meat, bread crumbs, cream, and egg. Process until a very smooth paste forms. Transfer to a mixing bowl. Fold in pine nuts. Drain any liquid from cranberries and fold them in.

4. Preheat oven to 300º. Place terrine mold in a 3"-deep roasting pan. Start boiling a whole lot of water. If desired, line mold with heavy plastic wrap to make it easier to turn out the terrine and clean the pan.

5. Spread onion mixture on bottom of mold. This will be the top when you turn out the terrine. Drop forcemeat paste on top of onions. Spread evenly throughout the mold. Wrap top of mold tightly in heavy foil. This prevents steam from getting into the mold and upsetting the moisture balance. Place roasting pan setup on oven rack. Add the boiling water at least halfway up the side of the mold, for gentle cooking.

6. Cook terrine until thermometer reaches 160º, about 1-1/2 hours if using a loaf pan, slightly less for a terrine mold. The mini-loafs took less than 45 minutes. When you pull out the thermometer, the juices should run clear instead of red. Remove from oven and from roasting pan. Remove foil and allow to cool to 120º on the counter.

7. Place plastic wrap on top of terrine mold, then add a weight which fits the pan. I suggest another loaf pan if that's what you're using, and weigh it down with something like jars of tomato sauce or soda cans. What you're doing is forcing the liquid fat in the pan to disperse evenly within the terrine and on the bottom. Place the pressing terrine in the refrigerator for 6 hours or overnight, until thoroughly chilled.

8. Half an hour before service, turn out of mold onto serving plate and allow to warm slightly. If it sticks, loosen edges with a thin spatula and/or use the warm-water Jello unmolding technique. Once the fat gets a little warm, it will fall right out. Use as a spread or serve as an appetizer with currant jam.

Serves 8 to 12 as an appetizer

Difficulty rating :)

Fig Preserves

2011-09-30T17:05:00.000-07:00

As I was driving up to Ventura, Melinda Lee was talking about fig season. Before I came home, I had to stop at a roadside stand and buy some.

Figs have a short season because they are highly perishable. They also do not ripen any further off the tree, so make sure the ones you get are soft.

Figs are great in salads. I had fig ice cream in Greece. There was a one-pint jar of whole fig preserves at the stand for $8.99. I don't care if it did win a blue ribbon at the Ventura County Fair, the four figs I bought to make nearly the same amount were only $2.

I'm using the skillet jam method because these are moist fruits. The preserves will be chunky, because preserves are generally whole fruits. I cut these in pieces to make them easier to serve. Jam is generally crushed or puréed fruit. Jelly is from the juice of a fruit, with no pulp. The way I put preserves in containers is to put in the whole fruit first, then add enough juice to cover. Any remaining juice, I boil a couple of minutes more and put it in a separate jar as jelly. Jellies make good glazes, sauces, and even pancake syrup.

1/2 lb (about 4) whole figs
1/2 lb sugar
1 tsp lemon juice

1. Cut figs into quarters. If pieces are still large, cut them again.

2. Put figs and sugar in a saucepan. Over low heat, bring to a low boil. Stir frequently to avoid scorching. Cook until juices are clear, at least 5 minutes. Stir in lemon juice and refrigerate 8 hours or overnight.

3. Have clean storage jars ready. Pour jam into an 8" skillet. Bring to a boil. Skim off any impurities. Boil until bubbles begin to get large and clear. Spoon into jars, cool to room temperature on the counter. Cover and refrigerate until ready to use.

Makes about 1-1/2 cups

Difficulty rating π

Crepes

2011-09-27T05:25:00.000-07:00

I bought too much milk again.

This particular entry is devoted to the pancake part of crepes. I'll give you some filling suggestions, but actual filling recipes will come along whenever I do them.

Most of the recipes I found included buckwheat flour. I couldn't find any, even at Sprouts. That was surprising. I've always made this recipe with just plain AP flour, so it doesn't matter to me. You could use whole-wheat flour for part of it to make it more on the savory side. The recipe I'm posting is neutral, for either sweet or savory. It's also the single-egg proportion. Feel free to double or triple the recipe if needed.

I also tend to make my crepes in a 6" skillet instead of the more common 8". They're easier to flip. It depends if you plan to serve just one or several per person. A smaller crepe is ideal for desserts and uncomplicated fillings.

The first crepe is usually a loss, as the pan is either too hot or too cold, and you won't know it until you pour some batter into it. Don't stress, just move on. If you're not using the crepes right away, separate them with wax paper, seal in a plastic bag, and either refrigerate or freeze. They can be reheated in a low oven until they regain their crispy-ness.

There are several folding techniques. The easiest is to fold it over the filling like an omelet. Next up is folding it in quarters. That's how it is usually served in France, so you can put the crepe in a paper cone. I've even had it open on a large plate with the fillings on top. You fold it yourself. The rolled version that most people think of for crepes is actually rarely used.

Fillings can be savory or sweet, with or without sauce. Today, I put in some brie, fresh spinach, candied walnuts, and oven-dried tomatoes.

*3/4 C milk
1 egg
1/3 C flour
oil for greasing pan

1. Beat together milk and egg. Pour into pitcher containing flour a little at a time until thoroughly incorporated. Let rest in fridge for at least an hour, or even overnight. This allows the gluten to develop slowly and dissolves lumps.

2. Stir batter. It should be the consistency of heavy cream. If too thick, add a little milk. The thinner the batter, the crispier the crepe, but it has to have a little body.

3. Preheat skillet, preferably non-stick, at medium heat. Grease with a few drops of oil. Generally, I pour about a tablespoon of oil, swirl it, then drain it to a heat-safe container. I continue to re-use this oil in the same manner for the whole batch, and it's usually enough.

4. Stir batter briefly. Pour several tablespoons of batter into pan and quickly swirl until bottom of pan is coated. Continue to swirl until batter is set in a thin layer, then place pan back on burner. Allow to cook until edges are browned, about 2 minutes. Loosen with a spatula and flip (the easiest way is to use your fingers). Cook an additional 30 seconds, or until parts of underside are browned. Set aside on warm plate and cover with a clean towel. Re-oil pan and start again, stirring batter before each crepe.

Note: if you decide to use two pans to cut your time in half, stagger when you pour the batter. Also, two pans probably will not hold heat the same way. I tried it, and one of the pans wasn't very good. It makes good scrambled eggs, just not so much with the crepes.

Makes about 5 or 6 6" crepes

Difficulty rating :)

Candied Walnuts

2011-09-24T13:22:00.000-07:00

Candied nuts make great accents for salads. They aren't bad to snack on, either. All the ones at Sprouts were heavily salted, so I decided to make my own.

*1 C walnut halves
1/2 C powdered sugar
1/8 tsp salt
1/8 tsp cayenne pepper
2 Tb olive oil

1. Preheat oven to 400º. Toss nuts in olive oil until evenly coated. Stir together powdered sugar, salt, and cayenne. Toss together nuts and sugar.

2. Spread coated nuts in a single layer on a parchment-lined baking sheet. Bake for 10 minutes, then stir with tongs to expose more sides. Continue to bake in 5 minute increments until nuts are dark brown and the sugar is caramelized. Cool and break apart. Store in a dry, airtight container at room temperature for up to two weeks.

Makes 1 cup

Difficulty rating π

Split-Pea Soup

2011-09-21T17:22:00.000-07:00

I'm constantly surprised by how many comfort foods I haven't gotten around to making yet. On the first rainy day of the fall, I decided to make some hot soup.

Split-pea soup is a bit of a magic act. You dump everything in the pot and come back in an hour. It still kind of looks like it did when you left it, only steaming. Then you give it a quick stir, and it becomes exactly what you were expecting.

Some people think the main flavoring is the ham. That supplies the salt. Honestly, I don't know why they don't make pork-flavored salt. To me, the bay leaf is the primary flavor enhancer. If you omit the ham for a vegetarian version, it will still taste like it is supposed to. You just have to add salt to it, instead of it coming out of the meat.

This is the Bible's version, more or less intact.

1 ham bone with about 1-1/2 C meat on it
*1 16-oz package dried split peas
2 carrots, thinly sliced
1 medium onion, chopped
7 C water
1/4 tsp whole allspice
1/4 tsp whole peppercorns
1 bay leaf
salt to taste

1. In large soup pot or Dutch oven over medium heat, heat bone, peas, carrots, onion, and water to boiling.

2. Tie allspice, peppercorns, and bay leaf in piece of cheesecloth. Add to bone mixture.

3. Reduce heat to low; cover; simmer 1 hour. Discard spice bag; add salt if necessary.

4. Remove ham bone and cut off all meat. Discard bone.

5. Cut meat into bite-sized chunks and return to soup for serving.

Serves 6

Difficulty rating π

Chicken Salad

2011-09-18T10:46:00.000-07:00

I don't like when people ask me for recipes like chicken salad. Most of the time, I just had leftover chicken that I put other leftover things into. In this case, I made the effort to make it from scratch already knowing that was what I was going to do with the chicken.

1 lb (one) chicken breast
1 C celery, diced
1/4 C diced green onion
*1/2 C raisins
*2 Tb white wine
1/4 C mayonnaise
salt and pepper to taste

1. Place chicken in a large saucepan with water to cover. Sprinkle with a little salt and pepper. Bring to a boil, lower heat to simmer, and cover. Cook for 1 hour. Drain off water and let chicken sit until cool enough to touch.

2. On a cutting board, remove any bones, skin, or gristle from chicken. Chop into small pieces and shred with two forks. Chill until ready to mix.

3. In a small bowl, combine raisins and wine (apple or grape juice is ok). Let sit until raisins are plump. Drain off liquid. This can be done while chicken is cooking.

4. Combine chicken, celery, onion, and raisins until evenly distributed. Season lightly with salt and pepper and stir again. Add mayo and combine until everything holds together, but isn't drippy or mushy. Chill until ready to serve.

Difficulty rating :)

The Forest of Mint

2011-09-15T10:21:00.000-07:00

This sounds like some fun fantasy story. It is not. Stephen King could make his next best-seller with this title.

Remember way back in Mint Sauce, when I talked about keeping mint in a pot? I wasn't kidding. There is some in my front yard, which decided to take over because I had way more important things to deal with. The gardener either gave up or thought I liked it. I finally realized it was a problem and decided to rip it out.

If any of you have mint planted in the ground anywhere on your property, go now and rip it up. As in, leave your seat immediately and do it. I don't care if it's night, or raining, or 200º outside.

Mint does not simply grow, have a root, flower, and make baby mint plants from seeds. There are flowers and seeds, but it does most of its propagation through stolons, or runners. These runners branch out just below the surface and give rise to what look like new mint plants several feet away. That's why you can't just cut off the parts above ground, which would kill most herb plants. All of the roots must be removed. When you start to rip out the plants, and get to a runner, you have to pull the whole thing out. And the runners have roots, and the new plants beget more runners. You know how they say the only creatures that will be alive after World War Three are cockroaches? Well, they're going to be eating mint.

The runners also get themselves entangled in the roots of plants that you would rather not rip out. It's a defense mechanism, I think. I've already sacrificed several bushes, and a small tree may end up as collateral damage. I'm hoping to save the roses. It's taking a toll on the concrete edge of the planter, and may be partially responsible for a crack in the driveway. If I can get it down to isolated areas, I can use weed killer for the sprouts in hard to reach places.

And once you have removed all of the visible mint and pulled the roots down to three inches, you have to keep coming back to check on it every couple of weeks. Forever. Short of digging out all the dirt in your yard or planter to a depth of two feet, it's going to keep coming back.

The moral of the story: don't plant mint in the ground.

Bacon and Apple Pancakes

2011-09-13T06:43:00.000-07:00

I bought some bacon trimmings because they were cheap. I thought I'd make bread or scones with them. Then I got an idea to put them in pancakes. And while I was at it, put apples in there, too.

I love the internet. Turns out, this is a Scandinavian specialty. There are two ways to make it. One is to make the pancake first, then top it with the bacon & apple mixture. I chose to mix the flavorings into the batter. It isn't as pretty, but it works. Makes it easier to freeze the leftovers for later. If there are any....

I'm basing this on Paula Deen's recipe. She considers butter to be a food group all on its own. Yes, it adds flavor and richness, but I can't do it and live with myself. My version also cooks the apples. And I diced them instead of grating. It was 6 am. I'm not grating anything that early.

As the pancakes were frying, I realized it would have been even better if I'd put in 1/4 C diced onion. I'm not putting this in the recipe now because I haven't tried it. Just leaving it as an option.

1-1/2 C flour
1 Tb sugar
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
1/4 tsp cinnamon
1/8 tsp nutmeg
2 eggs
3/4 C milk
1/4 C butter, melted
1/2 lb bacon, chopped into bite-sized pieces
2 apples, petite diced
oil for frying

1. In a skillet, cook bacon over medium heat. When it is about half done, add the apples. Stir in and continue to cook until bacon is done and apples are soft. Set aside to cool slightly.

2. In a large bowl, combine dry ingredients. In a small bowl, beat together milk, eggs, and butter. Combine the mixes and let batter stand 10 minutes. Fold in bacon & apple mixture until evenly distributed.

3. Preheat skillet over medium heat. Add 1 Tb oil. Spoon batter in 1/4 C mounds and cook until underside browns, about 4 minutes. Flip and cook other side until browned. Set on warm, paper-towel lined plate until ready to serve. Serve hot with maple syrup.

Seves 4 to 6

Difficulty rating :)

Lentil Cakes

2011-09-10T12:29:00.000-07:00

I went into this intending to make the South Indian Lentil Cakes with Raita out of this month's Bon Appetit. Then I took out the jalapeños because I can't eat them, then the Raita became tzatziki sauce, then I substituted bulgur wheat for the rice because I had some in the pantry... and it kept going from there. The flavor profile is about the same, minus spicy.

I did notice the fatal flaw in the recipe from the first reading. This gluten-free dish did not contain anything to hold the cakes together. The rice, I guess, but how much can rice do once it has been through the food processor? I put the cakes in the pan as instructed anyway. They were pretty. Then I went to flip them, and ended up with what I'm calling fried salad. Complete disintegration. Tasted good, though. One egg and a little Parmesan cheese, and the rest held together just fine. That's the version I'm going to publish.

*1/4 C medium grade bulgur
*1/2 C dried lentils
*1/2 C shelled edamame (I used frozen)
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 C fresh baby spinach leaves, chopped
1 medium scallion, chopped
1 egg
2 Tb grated Parmesan cheese
2 Tb chopped fresh mint
1 tsp kosher salt
1 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp lemon juice
1/2 tsp black pepper
olive oil for frying

1. Place bulgur in a bowl. Add 1/4 C water and allow to soak for 1 hour.

2. Place lentils in a saucepan with water to cover. Bring to a boil, then lower heat to a simmer. Cook for 20 minutes. You're just par-cooking them. It's ok if they're still a little crunchy. Drain.

3. Place all ingredients except the oil in the food processor. Pulse until combined, but not puréed.

4. Heat 1 Tb oil in a medium skillet. Scoop up 1/4 C of mixture in a measuring cup, then press down lightly to make the cake. Invert into skillet and start on the next one. Cook for about 4 minutes, flip with a pancake turner, and cook another 4 minutes. Remove to paper towel lined plate and re-oil pan for the next batch.

5. Serve hot with tzatziki sauce

Serves 4 as main dish, 8 to 12 as an appetizer

Difficulty rating :)

Tzatziki Sauce

2011-09-08T12:23:00.000-07:00

This yogurt-cucumber sauce is a creamy accompaniment for anything heavily seasoned. Jerk meat, gyros, blackened fish, or even seasoned veggies. It doesn't erase the flavor of the seasonings, just balances them with something creamy.

1 C Greek yogurt
1/2 C peeled, seeded, and finely diced cucumber
1 clove garlic, minced
2 Tb finely chopped mint leaves (fresh)
1 tsp kosher salt
1 Tb lemon juice

1. The easiest way to seed a cucumber: cut in half lengthwise and get out a melon-baller. One good swipe down the center should do it.

2. Stir together all ingredients. Taste, and add more salt or lemon juice if necessary. Chill until ready to serve.

Makes 1-1/2 C

Difficulty rating π

Tamale Pie

2011-09-05T15:58:00.000-07:00

Let's be clear. This doesn't taste like a tamale. It's fancy taco filling with a cornmeal crust. This Tex-Mex tradition is basic comfort food. And a whole lot less work than an actual batch of tamales!

I started with the recipe off the box of Albers Corn Meal. Kind of went off from there. For one thing, I wish I had put most of the cornmeal on top, instead of making the bottom crust so thick. It also would have been nice to put more flavoring in the crust. A small, drained can of diced chilis would do it, for those who can tolerate chilis. I used extra olives instead, which helped some.

Crust
*1-1/4 C corn meal
1/2 tsp salt
1-3/4 C milk
3/4 C water

Filling
1 lb ground beef
1 clove garlic, minced
1 C diced onion
1/4 C diced green bell pepper
1 C corn niblets (I used frozen)
1 3.8 oz can sliced black olives, drained
1 15 oz can diced tomatoes, partially drained
1 Tb chili powder
1 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper
1/3 C shredded cheddar cheese.

1. Preheat oven to 425º. Grease an 8" square baking dish.

2. In a saucepan, stir together corn meal, salt, milk, and water. Over medium heat, cook until thick. Stir constantly. A Teflon pan helps later with cleanup, if you have one. Set aside 1-1/2 C. Pour rest into casserole and coat bottom and sides. A spoon will save your fingers. Bake for 10 minutes, then set aside.

3. Brown ground beef, garlic, onion, and pepper in a large skillet. Drain off grease. Add corn, half of the olives, tomatoes, chili powder, salt, and pepper. Mix well and cook until heated through. Spoon into cornmeal crust.

4. With a spoon, drop reserved corn meal on top of meat. Spread around to cover evenly. Sprinkle with remaining olives and the cheese. Return casserole to oven and cook for 15 minutes, until crust is done and cheese is melted.

Serves 4-6

Difficulty rating :)

Chocolate Matzoh Brei

2011-09-02T12:46:00.000-07:00

Some time before next Passover, I will finish the matzoh. Why do 5-lb boxes come free with a minimum purchase, while a single one-pound box costs $2.99?

I got this idea from the blog The Bitten Word, then simplified it for an easy breakfast for one. The big difference is eliminating the oil and only putting a little margarine in the pan, which removes over 200 calories and 25g of fat per serving.

To make this absolutely awesome, peel a banana. Mash half of it and add to the mix before frying. Slice up the other half and decorate the top before serving.

*1 piece of matzoh
1 egg
2 Tb milk
*1 oz (about 2 Tb) chopped dark chocolate
1/8 tsp salt
1/2 Tb margarine

1. Break matzoh into small pieces and place in a heat-proof bowl. Boil a cup of water and pour over matzoh. Let soak while you whip up the egg base, then drain.

The banana version

2. Beat together egg and milk. Add chocolate and salt (and banana) and beat them into the mix. Add drained matzoh and let soak for up to 5 minutes.

3. Preheat a 6" skillet. Add margarine. Once it melts, pour in matzoh mix. Allow to cook for at least 30 seconds before trying to push it around. At that point, treat it like scrambled eggs. Once the egg is cooked, it's ready. Serve hot.

Serves 1

Difficulty rating π

Herbed Chevre with Pears

2011-08-30T14:53:00.000-07:00

How come everyone is so impressed with "goat cheese" on something? Have they ever met a goat? They're not the cleanest animals, and they will eat just about anything, including T-shirts. However, goat is the most consumed meat worldwide, so their milk and cheese are inevitable. It's just appalling how much stores charge for it because it's trendy.

I saw the opportunity to use some of the Charles Shaw for poaching the pear. You can cook it in apple juice if you don't want to use alcohol. You can even introduce the pears raw, but only if you intend to finish the cheese within 24 hours of preparation. It may turn odd colors or dry out.

5 oz chevre (goat cheese)
1 Tb Greek yogurt
1/4 C pine nuts
2 Tb chopped green onions, green parts only
1 pear
*1/2 C white wine
1 tsp dried basil flakes
salt & pepper as needed

1. Peel pear and cut into small dice. Bring wine to a simmer in a small saucepan. Add pear and simmer for 15 minutes, until tender. Remove from heat, drain liquid, and refrigerate until needed. The yield is around 1/2 C.

2. Preheat a small frying pan. Add pine nuts and a sprinkling of salt. Moving pan constantly, toast pine nuts until evenly browned. Remove to a side dish and keep at room temperature until needed.

3. In a bowl, use a fork to crumble the chevre. Add a dusting of freshly ground pepper and half a pinch of salt. Work in pine nuts and pear pieces. Add yogurt and combine until mixture holds together.

4. Lay out a piece of plastic wrap. Sprinkle wrap with chopped onion, basil, and more pepper. Spoon cheese paste on top of onion and roll into either a log or a ball. I used my sushi rolling mat as a guide, and it made it very easy. Wax paper would also provide some stability. Chill until ready to serve.

6. To serve: unwrap onto serving plate. Serve with crackers, celery sticks, or cocktail rye.

Serves 4 to 6

Difficulty rating :)

Oven-Dried Tomatoes

2011-08-26T16:06:00.000-07:00

I found this in The Essential Appetizers Cookbook, which has some amazing and impressive appetizers in it. There aren't really any spread recipes that I haven't already done, but these tomatoes can go well on crackers. They are even better accents for salads. I can see myself just going at them with a fork, too. Think sun-dried tomato, but you made it yourself, and they aren't rubbery like some of the sun-dried ones can get.

4 Roma tomatoes
1 tsp dried thyme
pepper & kosher salt
2 Tb olive oil

1. Preheat oven to 300º. If you have a convection oven, go for 250º with the fan on. Line a baking sheet with foil for easy cleanup, then set an oven-safe rack on it. Quarter the tomatoes and place skin-side down on the rack.

2. Sprinkle tomatoes lightly with pepper, salt, and thyme. Bake for 1-1/2 hours, turning tray every half hour so they don't burn.

3. In a bowl, toss with olive oil. Place in a non-metallic storage container and refrigerate for 24 hours. Allow tomatoes to come up to room temperature before serving.

Difficulty rating π

Tuna Salad

2011-08-23T14:39:00.000-07:00

OK, it isn't exactly a spread, but I like to have mine on crackers.

Most people, when they think of tuna salad, think of a mush of tuna, mayo, relish, and spices. Mine is more of a salad which happens to have tuna in it, with a mayonnaise dressing. You don't get this pretty confetti look by mashing stuff together.

You'll also notice the complete lack of added salt. Celery is salty. Even tuna packed in water has about 10% daily value of salt. Onions and bell peppers don't contain as much salt, but their flavor takes its place.

Whenever I can get away with it, I use Smart Beat spread instead of real mayo. It's basically whipped corn starch, but you can't taste the difference in a composed salad or deviled eggs. It probably doesn't hold up as a sandwich spread if you're used to real mayo.

10 oz (2 cans) or 1 12-oz can albacore tuna in water
4 stalks green onion
2 ribs celery
1 small red bell pepper
1/4 C mayonnaise
pepper to taste

1. Open cans and set tuna in a sieve to drain.

2. Finely chop green onions. Split celery ribs in half and cut crosswise into 1/4" pieces. Cut bell pepper into strips, then dice into pieces the same size as the celery.

3. In a bowl, toss together vegetables. Add tuna and distribute evenly, breaking up larger chunks of fish.

4. Stir in mayo until combined. It does not need to stick together completely. Season with pepper to taste. Chill until ready to serve.

Difficulty rating π

Teriyaki Stir-Fry

2011-08-20T11:10:00.000-07:00

I put this under Beef because that's what I used in it. This stir-fry is easily adaptable to chicken, shrimp, or even as a vegan entree.

A word about stir-frying. It's called that because you don't let the food just sit there and stew. By moving it around frequently, you can get it to cook more evenly. It prevents any portion from becoming over-cooked. And it doesn't sit there soaking up the oil, either.

The wok was invented for a reason. The shape allows oil and juices to collect at the bottom. From there, they can be evenly distributed or become easy to avoid when you're serving the dish. A wok is not required for this dish, but you might as well use one if you have it.

When cooking stir-fry, or most Asian cuisines, it is important to cut all the pieces about the same size. That way, they all cook in about the same amount of time.

If you want to make your own teriyaki sauce, add sugar and a bit of ginger to some soy sauce and reduce over medium heat until it is the consistency you like. I just buy Kikoman Baste & Glaze.

4 stalks of green onion

1 red bell pepper

2 heads baby bok choy

1 package (about 6 oz) mung bean sprouts

1/2 lb flank steak

1 package firm or extra-firm tofu

1/2 C teriyaki sauce

1 Tb grated fresh ginger root

1/4 C peanut oil

1. Early in the day: Place flank steak and 2 Tb teriyaki sauce in a sturdy ziplock bag. Press out all the air, seal, and place in fridge to marinate.

2. Cut everything into similar-sized pieces. I recommend about 2" x 1/4". This includes the meat. I happened to buy pre-diced tofu. Tofu works better cubed. It tends to break if you cut it in strips. Rinse the bean sprouts in a collander. I don't care if the package says pre-washed. All sprouts are high-risk for e. coli.

3. Add oil to wok (or a metal stock-pot). As it warms, add ginger. When hot, add onion, pepper, and bok choy. Keep them moving with tongs or a wooden spoon until they start to soften.

4. Add beef strips and bean sprouts. Continue to toss ingredients until the beef is seared. You don't have to worry about it cooking all the way through. The thin strips are done as soon as it is browned.

5. Add remaining teriyaki sauce and tofu. Work in until all pieces are evenly coated. The water from the bean sprouts has been added to the sauce by this time. If it boils, it's done. Serve over rice, with additional teriyaki sauce on the side.

Difficulty rating :)

Cornish Hens with Apricots in Reduction

2011-08-17T14:20:00.000-07:00

Aw, they're so cute.

Cornish hens aren't baby chickens. They're a breed that only grows that big. I bought a couple out of the freezer section on a whim. As always, I had to decide what to do with them.

I have a bunch of dried apricots for some reason. I saw the opportunity to use up a bottle of the Charles Shaw and went for it.

One thing about reduction sauces is that you need to have a lot of patience. This is not a race. If you try to boil them down too quickly, they're going to scorch. The timing in this recipe is for wine, which evaporates more quickly than juice. If it's done before the hens, just turn off the heat until shortly before serving.

As for how much to serve, use your judgment. If you're having an opening course like soup, salad, or an appetizer, half a hen per person should be enough. If you are only serving the meat and one or two sides, spring for a full hen apiece.

2 Rock Cornish Game Hens, thoroughly defrosted
salt and pepper to taste
1/2 yellow onion, coarsely chopped
1 Tb vegetable oil
1 C dried apricots, chopped
*2 C white wine, white grape juice, or apple juice
1/4 C corn syrup

1. Preheat oven to 350º. Rub hens with oil. Sprinkle liberally with salt & pepper, inside and out. Stuff with onion. Either truss legs or place in a steeply angled baking rack to hold the shape, breast side up. Place in oven and bake until juices run clear and the legs feel loose when you wiggle them, at least 1 hour. Larger hens may have enough on them for you to use a meat thermometer. In that case, 165º.

2. While hens are roasting, bring wine to a simmer in a saucepan over medium heat. Add apricots and corn syrup. Stir to combine, and keep at a low boil to reduce. Stir periodically. When the volume of the apricots is greater than that of the wine (reduced by half), it has reduced enough. Turn off heat until shortly before service.

3. Remove hens from oven and let rest 5 minutes. Drain off any remaining juices and plate. If serving half, cut with a sharp knife down the breastbone. One half will be slightly larger than the other, but not enough to notice.

4. Serve with several spoonfuls of apricots on top.

Serves 2 or 4

Difficulty rating :-0

Strawberry Ketchup

2011-08-14T16:42:00.000-07:00

Bear with me on this one.

All kinds of ketchup are sweet-and-sour sauces with a fruit base. We're just used to the tomato one. When you buy ketchup in the store, almost all brands identify it as Tomato Ketchup. Ketchup has a very long history that I'm not going into. Suffice it to say, the tomato version has only existed for two or three hundred years.

So, this one is based on strawberries. You can use a variety of vinegars for the sour part, but cider vinegar seems to make the most sense. Definitely taste and adjust the vinegar-sugar balance near the end. It will depend entirely upon the sweetness of the berries.

*1 lb fresh or frozen strawberries
1/2 C diced onion
1/4 C cider vinegar
1/4 C light brown sugar
1 bay leaf
1 cinnamon stick
salt, white pepper, and paprika to taste

1. Place strawberries and onion in a medium saucepan. Simmer over medium-low heat until berries and onion are cooked soft and most of the water has evaporated, about 20 minutes. Stir periodically.

2. Purée softened berry mixture in the blender. Return to saucepan and add remaining ingredients. If you don't think you'll be able to find the leaf and stick, put them in a cheesecloth pouch first. Stir and continue to simmer for half an hour, until mixture is thick and has absorbed the herbs. Taste and adjust levels of seasoning, vinegar, or sugar. Discard bay leaf and cinnamon stick, and refrigerate until ready to use.

Makes about 1 cup

So, what do you do with it? You could use it to dip apple or banana chips. Serve it on a salad as a strawberry vinaigrette. I made some bizarre, mediterranean-inspired tacos and used it instead of salsa:

Difficulty rating :)

Mutant Pygmy Corn

2011-08-11T14:53:00.000-07:00

That's it. I'm done trying to grow vegetables. This is why grocery stores were invented.

How do you manage to grow corn that doesn't even sprout all its kernels? I mean, even if you grow veggies that are smaller than the ones in the market, they're complete pieces. These were so awful, I didn't even try to eat them. One was so scary, I didn't even finish taking off the husk.

I'm going to stick to the cooking part of the food chain from now on.

Sfeeha

2011-08-08T14:11:00.000-07:00

I bought some ground lamb because it was on sale. The only cuisine that comes to mind which uses ground lamb is Mediterranean rim.

I found this recipe in Mideast & Mediterranean Cuisines, but there are several versions floating around. Sfeeha are often called Lebanese pizza. I'm giving you the dough recipe, but you can use store-bought pizza dough.

Rose Dosti's version of folding is hamantaschen-shaped. You can make it four- or five-pointed, or pucker it up like a shiu-mai dumpling. Size is also up to you. The twelve this recipe instructs makes pies about as big as a McDonald's hamburger. For appetizers, just make them half the size and get two dozen out of it.

Dough
1-1/4 C warm water
1 package dry yeast (1 TB)
1 Tb salt
3+ C flour
1 Tb olive oil

Filling
1 lb ground lamb
1 medium onion, diced
1/4 C lemon juice
1/4 C plain yogurt
1/4 C pine nuts
salt & pepper to taste
Olive oil for brushing

1. Place 100º F water in a bowl. Sprinkle with yeast and allow to dissolve. Stir in 1 C flour to make a batter. Add salt, 1 Tb oil, and 1 C flour. Stir to make a soft dough.

2. Turn dough onto floured board. Knead until smooth, adding as little flour as needed. Round dough and place in a lightly oiled bowl. Allow to rise in a warm place while you make the filling. Set timer for 1 hr.

3. In another bowl, combine lamb, onion, lemon juice, yogurt, pine nuts, and salt and pepper. (If desired, toast nuts before adding to mix.) Knead together like a meatloaf. Place in fridge for flavors to meld until the dough is done proofing.

4. Once dough has doubled, punch down dough and allow to rest for 10 minutes. Divide into 12 portions by weight. Heavily oil two rimmed baking pans. If you have parchment paper, use that, and still grease it. On a floured surface, roll out each piece into 6" circles. It's ok if they shrink back a bit.

5. Preheat oven to 375º. Fill each circle with scant 1/4 C of lamb mixture. Pull up three sides to make a three-cornered shape, leaving a venting hole in the middle. If necessary, pinch the edges closed. Place pies six to a sheet and bake for about 25 minutes, until golden.

6. Remove from oven, brush lightly with olive oil, and remove to wire racks to cool. Serve while still warm.

Makes 12

Difficulty rating :-0

Eggplant-Lentil Dip

2011-08-06T12:20:00.000-07:00

I swear, I need an index label just for eggplant.

This item is inspired by a mezze I had at a lunch in Turkey. That was just lemon-marinated eggplant. I added the lentils for some contrast and to make the nutrition value a little more balanced.

Once thing I discovered was that the lemon juice zing doesn't really last if there's leftovers. It's best to make this on the day.

1 large eggplant

1/2 C dried lentils

1 clove garlic, minced

1 tsp kosher salt

1/4 C FRESH lemon juice (1 normal-sized lemon)

1. Preheat oven to 400º. Pierce eggplant in several places and bake until soft, about 1 hour. Meanwhile, rinse lentils. Place in a saucepan with 2 C water, the garlic, and 1/2 tsp salt. Bring to a boil, then reduce to a simmer. Continue to simmer until eggplant is done, 45 min to 1 hr.

2. Allow eggplant to cool until it is safe to handle. Peel, then finely chop flesh and seeds. Drain and rinse lentils and combine with eggplant in a bowl. Add salt and lemon juice and stir to combine.

3. Can be served immediately at room temperature, or chill until ready. Serve with crackers or khubz bread. Serves 6 to 8

Difficulty rating π

Part V: Gone Crackers

2011-08-04T08:35:00.000-07:00

Papa Smurf didn't leave me with nearly as many unusual items in the kitchen as my mom did, since I had been doing most of the grocery shopping and cooking for the past four months. I just took the opportunity to throw out all the really old salad dressings and condiments that he had never let me. Mayo that expired in 2008?

What I'm stuck with now is two-and-a-half cases of Two-Buck Chuck (Charles Shaw's finest Chardonnay) and a boatload of crackers. There are six boxes of fancy kinds, several ziplock baggies of partial boxes, and an unopened Costco box of Wheat Thins. I like crackers as much as the next person, but that's a lot. And they do get stale if you don't make an effort to finish them. Plus, I still haven't finished the Passover matzoh.

So, for a while, I'm going to be posting a lot of dips and spreads. Maybe I'll find sections of cookbooks that I've never read, since my hors d'oeuvres tend to be of the canapé sort, instead of crackers and cheese.

Roasted Parsnips and Carrots with Herbs

2011-08-01T14:52:00.000-07:00

On his last visit, Techie Smurf left me with about a pound of parsnips in the fridge. I had never bought parsnips before, much less cooked them, and was totally at a loss.

I vaguely recalled an episode of Good Eats using parsnips, so I went to the Food Network website. I didn't feel like making any of Alton Brown's, but there was another recipe for roasted veggies with thyme. I took some of the comments in mind and fiddled with the recipe to make the carrots come out softer.

*1/2 lb parsnips
1/2 lb carrots
2 tsp dried thyme
2 tsp dried parsley
1 Tb olive oil
1 tsp kosher salt

1. Start a 2 quart pot of water boiling. Peel parsnips and carrots and cut into even pieces. I got three lengths of of mine. The pointy end stayed whole, the middle one I cut in half, and the base one cut in fourths, so they were all about the same size.

2. Preheat oven to 350º. Place carrots in boiling water. After two minutes, add the parsnips. After two more minutes, drain and run under cold water. You're just blanching them to par-cook them. Otherwise, root vegetables take forever in the oven.

3. Toss carrots and parsnips in oil. Add thyme, parsley, and salt and toss again. Spread in a single layer in a casserole. Place in oven and bake until parsnips are slightly browned, about 15 minutes. Serve hot.

Difficulty rating π

Tomato Soup

2011-07-27T11:25:00.000-07:00

Yes, it's a little hot out this summer for hot soups, but that's when the tomatoes ripen.

I was amazed that the Bible doesn't have a recipe for this basic soup. I was even more surprised that NONE of my cookbooks had a tomato soup recipe that fit my tastes. Off to the internet for a quick survey of popular recipes.

Most tomato soup recipes include carrot for sweetness and as a flavor enhancer. I didn't feel like going back to the grocery store and skipped it, opting for more basil instead.

I did like the opinion of one site that has you put in the tomatoes with the skin on, then strain the soup after puréeing to get out the seeds and skins. Whoever first decided that tomatoes should be peeled had way too much time on his hands. It isn't difficult to peel a tomato, just more time-consuming than not doing it.

2 lb fresh tomatoes
1/2 C chopped onions
1/2 C chopped celery
1 Tb olive oil
2 cloves garlic, chopped
2 C water
2 Tb fresh basil or 2 tsp dried basil
salt & pepper to taste

1. In a large saucepan, sauté the onions and celery in the oil until the onions are softened, but not brown. Add the garlic and cook for another 5 minutes.

2. Roughly chop the tomatoes and add to the pot. Add the water and basil. Bring to a boil, then reduce to a simmer. Cover and simmer until tomatoes are completely cooked, 30 to 45 minutes.

3. Remove from heat. Purée in the blender (you may need to do it in two batches). Return to pot via a mesh strainer to remove seeds, skins, and "strings". You can use a spoon to press through as much liquid as possible.

4. Return soup to a simmer. Taste, and add salt and pepper as needed. Serve hot.

Difficulty rating :)

Gazpacho

2011-07-24T06:09:00.000-07:00

And now to finish off page 129 of GH Illustrated.

Gazpacho is kind of like a soup version of salsa. You can make it as mild or hot as you want. And the best part is you just chop the veggies into smallish chunks and toss them in the blender. Takes about five minutes to make.

This soup, being all veggies, is considered a first-course soup. I have made it into a main dish by adding cooked fish, chicken, lentils, or the wanna-be crab in the photo. Served with bread or chips on the side, it is a refreshing lunch on a hot day.

I used low-sodium V8 instead of tomato juice to add a touch of complexity. And because there wasn't any low-sodium tomato juice available. Just leaving it out there as an option.

And I got to use my own tomatoes!

3 C tomato juice
2 Tb olive oil
1 lb tomatoes
1 cucumber, peeled
1/2 onion
1 small green pepper
1 clove garlic
salt and pepper to taste
1 small jalapeño (optional)

1. Chop all veggies into pieces no larger than 1-1/2". Working in two or three batches, purée veggies, juice, and oil in blender. Taste and add salt and pepper as needed. Pour into large serving bowl. Cover and chill until ready to serve.

Difficulty rating π

First harvest

2011-07-22T06:37:00.000-07:00

I never thought it would happen, but the tomatoes finally ripened! It started when the sun came out more than three hours one day. The first ones I picked totaled up to a whopping four ounces. That's about 50¢ in the market. And they weren't much bigger than grape tomatoes. I did pick them too soon, and they were kind of, shall we say, solid. I waited until they had been red for a couple of days after that.

Mainly, I'm glad they ripened at all before the plant died. All that enthusiasm and optimism after the first few weeks is turning into the familiar "killed it again" mantra. I've gotten 22 ounces of tomatoes off the plant, and a few green ones are still hanging on for dear life.

After a slow start, the eggplants started growing very well. Then that plant also started dying.

The corn is nowhere near the height of an elephant's eye, so I thought it was a bust. Then, on the same day, they all started to bud, or whatever those tassel-like things are. Guess I'm growing pygmy corn. Except for the one stalk that someone - possibly the gardener - stepped on. And the other stalk that flat-out died.

So, my $40 investment has resulted in maybe $3 worth of tomatoes. Maybe I should just stick to pulling gigantic lemons off the well-established lemon tree.

On Hiatus

2011-07-03T06:40:00.000-07:00

The day after my tea party, Papa Smurf died unexpectedly. I had already written and scheduled posts up to this point, so I just let them run while I dealt with stuff. Yes, I pre-write when I've been cooking a lot and hold on to the posts for when I'm uninspired.

Now I'm taking a couple of weeks off. Please enjoy the previous posts. Maybe look at the history to discover something you missed. I'll be back before the end of July.

Vodka-Cured Salmon

2011-07-01T08:08:00.000-07:00

This is another one of those very easy, massively impressive dishes that you have to start way in advance. As in two days. But it really is one of the easiest things I've posted.

When buying a salmon fillet, you want to look for a good color that runs clear through the meat, but any farm-raised salmon will have been fed food to make it as pink as possible. For cured salmon, I suggest the freshest piece of fish you can find, free of blemishes, and sushi-grade if possible. YOU ARE NOT GOING TO COOK THIS FISH. If the idea of eating raw fish freaks you out, you might as well stop reading now.

I am basing this recipe on Emeril Lagasse's, but simplifying it a tad and scaling it for four. His recipe serves 8, which is better for the average dinner party, but I had one pound of salmon in the freezer, so that's what I made.

Serving the salmon is another trick. Once you have it thinly sliced (and I recommend doing this in front of your guests so they can be impressed that you actually made this yourself), what do you do with it? You can serve it alone, with a drizzle of olive oil or a light vinaigrette. Or, do what I did and create a salad to make it a main dish. Since I was zesting a lemon, I used the juice to make a lemon vinaigrette (olive oil, lemon juice, salt, pepper, and a touch of sugar).

And it is VERY salty, which makes sense because you're pressing a quarter-cup of salt into it. If any of your guests have issues with salt, maybe you should plan this for another gathering.

I swear that's a lemon

1 lb salmon fillet
1/4 C Kosher Salt
1/2 Tb Sugar
2 Tb Fresh Dill or 2 tsp Dill Weed
3 Tb grated lemon zest (2 normal supermarket lemons)
2 Tb Vodka (lemon or another citrus flavored, if possible)

1. Place salmon skin-side down on a layer of plastic wrap. Remove any pin-bones with kitchen pliers (as opposed to the ones you keep in your garage for dirty work).

2. In a bowl, combine curing ingredients to make a paste. Spread cure evenly over flesh. Cover with another piece of plastic wrap, then wrap up the whole thing in more plastic wrap to make a tight package.

3. Place fillet in a baking dish, skin-side down. Find something heavy, like a brick, diving weights, gold ingot, or that ugly ceramic platter you got last Christmas from someone who meant well. (I used a one-gallon can of paint.) Wash the weight if possible, wrap the bottom of it in plastic wrap, and place it on the fish. You're going to force the liquids out of the salmon so it cures in only one or two days. Without the press, you're looking at a week.

4. Put the whole shebang in the fridge for 24-48 hours. Unwrap and rinse off all of the cure. You can feel that the texture is more leathery than when you started, but it shouldn't be hard.

5. On a flat cutting board, slice the salmon crosswise into very thin slices on a steep angle. This cuts the connective tissue so it's easier to chew. Arrange on plates and serve.

Serves 4 as a main dish, 8 as an appetizer.

Difficulty rating :)

Baked Beans

2011-06-28T19:32:00.000-07:00

I made some black beans a while back and only cooked them an hour, so they would be a bit firm. That's how many black beans for salads are cooked. Papa Smurf didn't like that. He wanted soft, mushy beans. I can do that.

This recipe is for your basic barbecue-style baked beans. The best beans ever were from a restaurant called Love's that went out of business years ago. I was surprised that these came pretty close. It's all about the rich, thick sauce against the creamy softness of the beans.

Just because this recipe is easy, doesn't mean it's fast. Plan 16-20 hours ahead. I'm serious.

1 C dry Navy or Great Northern beans
1/4 C minced onion
1/4 C tomato paste
2 Tb brown sugar
1/2 tsp salt
4 whole cloves

1. Sort beans to remove any stones or shriveled beans and rinse. In a large casserole, cover dried beans with two inches of water. Let sit 8 hours or overnight.

2. Drain off water. Stir in remaining ingredients and turn on oven to 225º. When oven is ready, pour 1 C boiling water into casserole. Stir to combine. Cover and place in oven.

3. Bake beans 8-10 hours. Check every 3 hours or so and stir in more water if beans start to look dry. Sauce should be very thick, but there will be some water at the bottom of the pot that you can stir into the rest of the casserole. Allow to rest 15 minutes before serving.

Difficulty rating :)

Guacamole

2011-06-25T08:27:00.000-07:00

Avocados are in season, so I made a simple guacamole. This one is flavored entirely by spices, kind of like those packets in the market. I use less salt.

The lemon juice is more a preservative than an ingredient, which is why I suggest squeezing an actual lemon instead of using bottled juice, but I liked the sourness it added. You can substitute lime.

2 very ripe avocados
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp onion salt
1/4 tsp granulated garlic
1/8 tsp cayenne pepper
1/8 tsp chili powder
1 tsp fresh lemon juice

1. Slice avocados in half and scoop out flesh into a bowl. Mash with a fork.

2. Work in seasonings, taste, and adjust if necessary. Squeeze lemon juice into bowl and work into dip.

3. Serve immediately, or store in refrigerator with plastic wrap touching any surface of the dip which would be exposed to air.

Difficulty rating π

Chocolate-dipped Strawberries

2011-06-22T21:05:00.000-07:00

I debated whether it was worth posting this as a "recipe". But there are tricks you should know before making chocolate-covered strawberries at home.

First of all, these do not keep. You get 24 hours maximum before the berry separates from the chocolate. Make these last when you have a party.

Always wash the berries before beginning, then pat dry. Very dry. Moisture will not only prevent the chocolate from sticking, it will accelerate the spoilage process.

You can melt the chocolate in the microwave. Put semi-sweet chips on Defrost for 1 minute at a time, stirring after each minute. Once you can stir it smooth and it falls in ribbons, you're ready to go. It can be reheated if it starts to firm up before you're done.

Before starting, cover a cookie sheet or plate with waxed paper and put it in the freezer for 15 minutes. This will make the chocolate set up faster and coat more evenly.

The fancy tuxedo design is very easy to do. You need two bowls, one white chocolate, one dark. Dip the berry in the white first and let it harden. Then dip it quickly in the dark on an angle once for one lapel, then once on the other side, leaving a V of white to represent the shirt. With a piping cone, add button dots and even a bow-tie in dark chocolate. You could also do stripes, by dipping the berry in a base color, letting it harden, doing another color, etc. Or roll the berry in crushed nuts before the chocolate hardens, or sprinkles. Still, nothing beats the classic plain, dark chocolate coating.

Difficulty rating π

Blender Cheesecake

2011-06-19T06:26:00.000-07:00

Cheesecake is not difficult to make. And it impresses the hell out of your guests. It does require one special piece of equipment, a spring-form pan. Otherwise, you're never getting the thing out.

Many cooks are afraid of the dreaded cracks in the top of the cake once it cools. It happens if the cake is cooled too quickly, and is why you should leave it in the oven once the oven is turned off for at least half an hour. Still, sometimes cracks appear even before the cake has finished baking. That's why sour cream icing was invented. No one will ever know.

This is something you can, and should, do ahead. It's great to get the dessert out of the way the day before you need it. But don't ice it until shortly before your guests arrive, or the icing may dry out.

One cheesecake will serve at least 12 people. If that is way more than you need, I have made this version easy to cut in half or thirds. One half will make a shorter 8" or 9" cake. One third of the recipe will fill a 6" spring-form.

Crumb Crust
1-1/2 C graham cracker crumbs (measured after pulverizing in a ziplock with a rolling pin)
1/2 C butter, melted (3 Tb for the 1/3 version)
6 Tb sugar

1. Combine all ingredients into a crumbly paste.

2. Press into a thin layer in a 9" or 10" spring-form pan. The bottom and the lower rim of the spring-form must be completely coated so nothing leaks out, then see how far up the sides you can get.

Cake Batter
3 8-oz packages of cream cheese (the brick, not whipped. "lite" is ok.)
6 eggs
3 6-oz containers (2-1/4 cups) of plain nonfat yogurt
1-1/2 C sugar
2 Tb cornstarch
2 tsp vanilla extract

1. Preheat oven to 350º. Place spring-form pan with crust on a rimmed baking sheet. Just in case anything leaks.

A happy blender

2. Place all ingredients in a large blender. I recommend putting in the cream cheese last. Depending on the strength of your blender, you may want to incorporate the bricks one at a time.

3. Pulse until all ingredients are combined, then let 'er rip. Whip batter for one minute on medium.

4. Pour into prepared spring-form pan. Bake for one hour, or until center is no longer liquid. It can still have a little shake to it, but should spring back when touched lightly.

5. Shut off oven with cake inside. Leave in oven with door shut for half an hour. Open oven door a crack and let the cake cool to room temperature. This may take another hour.

6. Carefully slide a spatula around the edges before popping spring-form. Remove the rim, loosen crust from bottom of pan, then slide the cake onto a serving platter. Chill until ready to serve.

Sour Cream Icing
1-1/2 C sour cream (fat-free is ok)
1/4 C sugar

1. Whip together sugar and sour cream until well mixed. Shortly before serving, spread over top surface of cheesecake only, until all cracks, dents, and bumps are evened out.

Difficulty rating :)

Deviled Eggs

2011-06-16T20:49:00.000-07:00

Deviled eggs are a summer favorite. Some versions are very complex, but I like mine basic. I also keep them fairly low fat by using a soy-based mayo substitute. You cannot taste the difference.

You can buy plastic deviled-egg plates at party stores that look almost as nice as glass ones. There are also cases, so you can take them to picnics.

When making a large number, at least a dozen, you can put the filling in a pastry bag with a flower tip and squirt it into the hole for a pretty effect. There is also nothing wrong with spooning it for a rustic look.

4 hard boiled eggs
2 Tb mayonnaise
salt & paprika to taste

1. Slice eggs in half and pop out yolks. Arrange whites on an egg platter.

2. Either with a fork or electric beater, mash yolks. Beat in mayo, salt, and a touch of paprika until the mixture is very smooth.

3. Fill egg whites with yolk mixture. Dust with paprika and serve chilled.

Difficulty rating :)

Cucumber-Dill Tea Sandwiches

2011-06-14T08:39:00.000-07:00

Last year, I took it for granted that everyone knew what a cucumber sandwich was. There seems to be more than one kind.

I have a personal rule that I can't buy a loaf of bread until I've finished all of the Passover matzoh. It doesn't usually take me this long. The rule does not prevent me from baking a loaf of bread. I picked up some very cute mini loaf pans so I wouldn't have to cut the sandwiches in quarters like I usually do with full-sized bread.

1 medium cucumber
8 oz reduced-fat cream cheese
1 tsp dill weed
bread slices

1. Peel cucumber in strips, or use a zester, to create contrast. Slice thinly.

2. Beat together cream cheese and dill. The consistency of reduced-fat cream cheese will make it smooth. If you must use regular cream cheese, beat in 1/4 C sour cream to achieve the same consistency.

3. Spread cream cheese in a light layer on two slices of bread. Place a layer of cucumbers on one slice and close the sandwich. Repeat with remaining bread, cream cheese, and cucumber. If desired, cut in half or quarters.

Serves about 8

Difficulty rating π

Tea Party 2011

2011-06-12T07:27:00.000-07:00

Part of having the same people over every year is trying not to repeat myself, while still presenting favorites. There are always cucumber sandwiches and scones with cream and some kind of homemade jam, but I rotate the rest of the menu. For last year's, look at Tea Party.

First Course
Cucumber Sandwiches
Deviled Eggs
White bean hummus with celery sticks

Second Course
Scones with whipped cream and blackberry jam

Third Course
Cherry Cheesecake
Chocolate-Dipped Strawberries

Cherry Streusel Pie

2011-06-09T14:44:00.000-07:00

I love cherries. Not fond of pitting them, but why else do you own a cherry-pitter? They're fabulous little gadgets that also work on olives. It's silly, but I like the little x mark they leave.

So, I have a pie crust and extra streusel topping in the freezer and a bag of cherries in the fridge. Doesn't take a genius to see where this is going. And, if you don't mind the half hour it takes to do the pitting, this is a very easy dessert to prepare.

1 Pie Crust for 9" pie
1 C streusel topping
1/2 C quick oats
1 Tb brown sugar
5 C cherries, measured after pitting
1/2 C sugar
1/4 C corn starch
1 Tb lemon juice
1/2 tsp salt
1 Tb butter

1. To pit cherries: Scrub kitchen sink clean and fill halfway with cold water. Dump in cherries. One at a time, place cherries in hand-pitter, stem side down, and punch away. Once you have 5 cups of pitted cherries, pull out sink drain just enough to let out water. The stems and pits will remain in the sink and are easy to throw out. Moving on...

2. Taste one cherry of average darkness to adjust sugar level. If tart, increase sugar to 3/4 C. If very sweet, lower to 1/3 C. In a bowl, toss together cherries, sugar, corn starch, lemon juice, and salt. Allow to rest in the fridge for at least several hours or overnight, so the natural juices can mingle with the dry ingredients.

3. Preheat oven to 350º. Set crust dough in a pie pan and set on a rimmed cookie sheet that has been lined with foil (in case anything boils over). Mix together generic streusel topping, oatmeal, and brown sugar and set aside. Pour cherry mixture into pie shell. Dot top with bits of butter. Sprinkle streusel evenly on top. Bake for 40-50 minutes, until brown and crispy and the cherries are boiling in their own juice. Allow to cool slowly to room temperature before serving. Goes well with a side of vanilla ice cream.

Makes 1 pie

Difficulty rating :-0

Individual Meat Pastries

2011-06-06T07:11:00.000-07:00

This recipe is inspired by the beef empanadas from the June 2011 Bon Appetit, the Individual Beef Wellingtons from the Bible, and a desire not to go grocery shopping. I did this all with items on hand; except for the puff pastry, most home cooks have the ingredients lying around. The chili powder was a substitute for tomato paste, and the dates were for canned mushrooms. Some day I will try the Beef Wellington. If ground beef can end up this good, imagine what the treatment would do to a nice cut of meat!

And I know it looks a little intimidating, but start-to-service was less than 45 minutes.

1 lb ground beef
*1 package (2 sheets) puff pastry dough
1/2 C minced onion
*1 Tb chili powder
1/2 tsp salt
*1/2 C dates or other dark dried fruit like prunes or raisins, chopped
1 egg

1. Defrost pastry sheets according to directions.

2. Brown beef and onions in a skillet. Resist the urge to drain off the fat and add the salt and chili powder. Lower heat to simmer while you prepare the dough.

3. Preheat oven to 375º. Line two cookie sheets with parchment paper (there's an egg wash). Carefully open pastry sheets and roll out on a lightly floured board to 12" x 12" sheets. Cut each sheet in fourths (6" squares).

4. With a slotted spoon, so most of the drippings stay in the pan, divide the ground beef mixture evenly among the eight squares, keeping it as close to the center as possible. Add chopped dates to each package.

5. Prepare an egg wash by beating the egg. Moisten the edges of each square and pull up the corners to the center. Pinch the seams closed completely, but open the top to allow venting. Transfer each package to a cookie sheet with a spatula. Brush on egg wash and place in oven. Bake for 20 minutes, until dark golden brown. (The beef is pre-cooked, so you're just baking the pastry.)

Serve two pieces per person. To serve as a plated appetizer, allow one per person and garnish plate with caramelized onions and beef gravy.

Difficulty rating :)

Monthly Farm Report

2011-06-04T07:27:00.000-07:00

How long does it take a tomato to ripen? I have something like 30 in various stages, and at least 6 full-grown, but the only color change so far is to a slightly yellower shade of green. It doesn't help that the tomato plant is fighting some kind of disease. Several branches seem to be winning. Started looking up recipes for Green Tomatoes, just in case.

At last count, there were three eggplants growing. A new purple bloom appears every couple of days.

Artichoke is still putting out leaves, but is in no rush.

At the rate the corn are growing, they should be ready to pick sometime around Thanksgiving. Maybe they need warmer weather. After a spring heat wave in March or April, Southern California doesn't get warm until the first of July.

Eggplant Nuggets

2011-06-02T11:39:00.000-07:00

I don't know why eggplant has such a reputation for - how should I put this - not tasting good. You just have to come up with exciting ways to prepare it. Eggplant is a lot like tofu, in that it tastes like whatever you put on it. In this case, that is a crispy coating.

1 large eggplant
1/2 C corn starch or matzoh cake meal
1 tsp salt
1/4 C oil

1. Preheat oven to 350º. Dice eggplant into 1-1/2" cubes. In a pie pan, combine corn starch and salt. Heat oil in a large skillet until water droplets dance.

2. Rinse eggplant cubes and dredge in corn starch. Fry in skillet until coating is lightly browned, turning often.

3. Transfer cubes to a nonstick cookie sheet. Bake until cubes begin to soften, about 15 minutes. Serve hot, accompanied by marinara or tahini sauces.

Difficulty rating :)

Shrimp Scampi

2011-05-30T11:35:00.000-07:00

While researching the proper way to make scampi, I was surprised by two things. One, it doesn't refer to the pasta dish, just the shellfish part. And two, lobster can be called shrimp scampi. Huh?

I got this recipe from the Food Network, but I'm using more butter so it also works as a pasta sauce. If serving the shrimp by themselves, only use 2 Tb. And I did use actual butter because I didn't want the result to be oily. I upped the garlic, because you can never have too much :). While most versions of the recipe have you broil the shrimp, these are pan-fried. They look and taste almost the same, so why bother with the oven?

Like anything with shrimp in it, this cooks quickly. If you're having it over pasta, wait until the pasta is half done before heating the skillet. Everything should finish around the same time.

The nice thing about scampi is that you probably have all the ingredients for the sauce lying around. Just pick up some raw shrimp, and you're 15 minutes away from dinner.

1 to 1-1/2 lb jumbo shrimp, peeled and deveined (butterflied optional)
kosher salt and pepper
1/4 C butter
2 tsp parsley flakes (or 1 Tb chopped fresh flat-leafed parsley)
4 cloves garlic, minced
1 Tb fresh lemon juice, plus 1/4 tsp lemon zest
1/4 C dry white wine or vermouth

1. Place prepared shrimp on a pie plate and pat dry with a paper towel. Sprinkle with salt and pepper.

2. Heat large skillet over medium. Melt butter, raise heat to high, and add shrimp all at once in a single layer. (Food Network recommends inverting the pie plate to let them drop into the skillet. I had marginal luck with that.)

3. Cook shrimp without stirring for 1 minute. Add garlic and cook another minute. Turn shrimp over and cook for 2 minutes on other side. Remove shrimp to a clean plate while you make the sauce.

4. Add wine and lemon juice to pan. Allow to boil until slightly thickened, about 30 seconds. Use a wooden spoon to scrape any clinging bits from the bottom of the pan. Add lemon zest and parsley. Arrange shrimp on serving plates (or on top of pasta) and drizzle with sauce.

Difficulty rating π

Vichyssoise

2011-05-28T07:41:00.000-07:00

Vichyssoise is kind of a fancy name for potato-leek soup, but it also implies a creaminess that you don't get with every potato soup. I usually make this with russet potatoes, but I had some baby red ones on hand and used them instead. Smoothest, creamiest vichyssoise I've ever had. Pain in the rear to peel because of the indented eyes, but worth the trouble.

Traditionally, this soup is served chilled. However, it tastes just as good piping hot. My only caveat is to watch the salt. You taste salt more when a food is hot than when it's cold. If you season this to have it cold, then heat it up, it may be too salty. I'd rather have it slightly under-seasoned and put a shaker on the table.

I'm not sure why all the recipes I've found lately for vegetable soups use chicken broth. I used it for this, and it did give it body. For vegetarians, I'm going to assume a veggie broth will work.

I broke with the rule about garnishes being from one of the ingredients because Papa Smurf wanted green onions. My mom always put them on her vichyssoise. You should use very thin slices of leek as a more appropriate garnish.

This is loosely based on the Bible's recipe.

1 medium leek
1 Tb butter
*1 lb red potatoes
1 15 oz can chicken or vegetable broth
1/2 C half-and-half
salt and white pepper to taste

1. Cut leek in half lengthwise and rinse thoroughly. Slice very thinly crosswise only the white and light-green parts to make 2/3 C. Slice a bit more and reserve for garnish.

2. Peel red potatoes and remove eyes. Slice 1/4" thick, and leave slices in a bowl of cold water until ready to use.

3. Melt butter in a 2-qt saucepan. Add leeks and cook until soft, about 5 minutes. Add potatoes and broth. Heat to boiling, reduce heat to simmer, cover, and allow to cook 30 minutes.

4. Purée mixture in a blender until completely smooth. Strain into serving container. Add half-and-half, taste, and add salt and white pepper as needed. Chill until ready to serve.

Makes 4 12-oz appetizer servings

Difficulty rating :)

Salad Dressings

2011-05-25T11:22:00.000-07:00

I haven't gone on a hoarding-related rant in a while.

I'm not all that into salads, but Papa Smurf is. He thinks they're as good as eating your veggies. Sometimes they are, but not when you buy those bags of chopped Iceberg with shreds of carrot and cabbage in them. Mostly, bagged salads are a nutritional black hole. Then, you go and put highly fattening dressings on them. Store-bought dressings average 100 calories per tablespoon, and those calories are often all fat.

So, how do you improve on this standard of the appetizer world? For starters, use a leafy green as your base. Spinach, green-leaf lettuce, even Romaine is better than Iceberg. That's just cellulose-encased water. Next, garnish with something beneficial like grape tomatoes, beets, or even green beans. And once you've composed the salad, make your own dressing.

My favorite dressing is balsamic vinegar. Not vinaigrette, just the vinegar. Lots of flavor, no fat. Lemon or tangerine juice with a small amount of olive oil, salt, and pepper comes in a close second. For creamy dressings, you can use nonfat sour cream, nonfat yogurt, or soy-based mayo to create ranch or bleu cheese.

I guess what I'm trying to explain is that a salad is its ingredients, not whatever you put on top to mask their flavor. A dressing should be just that, a subtle flavoring to enhance the ingredients and bring them to a logical conclusion. There is no reason an entire shelf of a fridge should be taken up by an array of store-bought dressings. Besides, dressings do have expiration dates on them. You shouldn't keep them indefinitely, especially because all that fat will make them go rancid, even in the fridge.

Steamed Artichoke

2011-05-23T11:02:00.000-07:00

Artichoke season is upon us. These rather expensive veggies are the unopened bud of a type of thistle that is grown mostly in mediterranean climates... You know what, if you care that much, here's the Wikipedia page. And don't cut your artichokes open like the photo unless you have a plan. I just thought it looked cool.

It's kind of daunting when you get one of these things home, then have to figure out what to do with it. That's why canned artichoke hearts exist. If you're making a salad, go ahead and use that. Steaming them yourself is for when you want to serve them whole.

Generally, I allow two people per whole artichoke, and don't count them as part of the calorie makeup of my meal. Whatever dressing you use (mayo, lemon butter, balsamic vinaigrette, etc) will supply more calories than the actual veggie. Feel free to serve a second green veggie, or use this as your appetizer.

2 large globe artichokes
dressing of choice

1. To prepare artichokes, slice off stem so that they sit flat and don't roll. With a serrated knife, slice top flat so that inner choke is exposed (see photo). With sharp kitchen shears, snip off points from all remaining leaves.

2. Place artichokes in a casserole large enough to hold them comfortably. Add 2" of water and wrap tightly with plastic wrap. Microwave for 6 minutes, rotate, and microwave for 4 more minutes. Allow to sit until cool enough to handle.

3. Remove artichokes to work surface. With a spoon and your fingers, work around the middle of each artichoke until the fibrous choke and softest leaves pull out, leaving the heart and thicker leaves intact. If using a thick sauce like mayonnaise or hollandaise, you can fill the cavity with the dressing. For thinner sauces, serve them in a side cup. Plate and serve.

Difficulty rating :)

Chocolate Chip Coffee Cake

2011-05-20T12:30:00.000-07:00

Papa Smurf is addicted to Einstein Bros / Noah's Bagels chocolate chip streusel coffee cake. He was running low on the ones in the freezer, so I decided to reverse-engineer one based on the list of ingredients in the nutritional information. The batter and crumb are manufactured by a company in New York state called The Magnificent Muffin, and it's trans-fat free. Mine might not be, but you can easily find ingredients to make yours that way. Bear in mind, there's still a bunch of fat, and the calorie count is absurd.

I based the quantities on my Apple Coffee Cake, modifying as I went along for the different ingredients. This is a more liquid batter, and works equally well for muffins. I decided to buy egg whites in a carton because I wasn't sure how many I'd end up using. They're more liquid than if you separate an egg, but the batter came out the consistency I was hoping for.

I did make one big change by stirring half the chips into the batter. The only reason I don't like the cakes at Einstein's is because the flavoring is only on the top. When I bring one of those home, I flip it over and slice off half of the cake. I eat the topping, crumb, and enough cake to hold it together. Better topping-to-cake ratio, in my opinion. And I prefer the apple or berry cakes, as much as I love chocolate.

Don't go out to buy vanilla powder if you don't have it. Extract will make the crumb a bit more moist, but it should come out fine. I just happened to have some in the spice cabinet.

You can easily alter the recipe to fit any flavoring. The crumb and batter are all-purpose. Just replace the chocolate chips with berries, nuts, or whatever and change the vanilla to the spice or extract which works best.

And 1/8 C is 2 Tb, or one ounce. You can use a coffee scoop, jigger, or shot glass with a line.

Crumb Topping
1/2 C flour
1-1/2 Tb shortening
1-1/2 Tb margarine
1/8 C sugar
1/2 tsp vanilla powder or extract
dash salt

1. Cut shortening and margarine into flour to make coarse crumbs.

2. Stir in sugar, vanilla, and salt. Refrigerate or freeze until ready to use.

Cake
1 C flour
1/2 C sugar
2 egg whites (1/3 C)
1/4 C soybean (or vegetable) oil
1/4 C sour cream
1/8 C (2 Tb) corn syrup
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
*1 C semisweet chocolate chips

1. Preheat oven to 350º and spray an 8" round cake pan with pan spray. In a bowl, sift together flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt.

2. In a separate bowl, combine egg whites, oil, sour cream, corn syrup, and vanilla.

3. Combine dry and wet ingredients. Mix until almost smooth. Stir in 1/2 C of the chocolate chips.

4. Pour batter into cake pan. Spread crumb topping evenly over batter. Sprinkle topping with remaining 1/2 C of chocolate chips. Bake for 35 minutes at 350º, until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Allow to cool to room temperature before removing from pan.

Molly helps with the dishes

Makes one 8" cake

For muffins: Place muffin liners in muffin pan, and use pan spray. Fill cups 2/3 of the way, top with about 1 Tb of streusel, and sprinkle with chips. Bake 20-25 minutes, until toothpick comes out clean. Makes about 12.

Difficulty rating :)

Chilled Cucumber Soup with Mint

2011-05-17T07:37:00.000-07:00

It's that time of year again. Cold soups are great when it's hot out. One bit of advice: to keep your guests from thinking that you forgot to reheat the soup, make sure it is very cold. Maybe 15 minutes before serving, put the soup and bowls in the freezer. That way, it will be colder than just refrigerated when it is served. Some chilled soups are served in a double-bowl, with the bottom one filled with ice. Another neat way to serve them is in a wine or daquiri glass placed on a small plate. I highly recommend garnishes, so they don't look like smoothies.

This recipe started as a half-batch of the Bible's, then I messed with it.

2 C chopped cucumber (about 1 large)
1/2 C chopped green onion
2 Tb butter
2 Tb flour
1 15-oz can chicken or vegetable broth (reduced-sodium or low-salt is ok)
1 Tb fresh mint, finely chopped
1/2 C half-and-half
salt to taste

1. In a deep skillet, melt the butter over medium heat. Add cucumbers and onions. Cook until onions are tender, about 5 minutes.

2. Sprinkle flour into pan. Stir until pan juices have been absorbed by the flour. It will look pasty. Slowly add broth. Bring to a boil and stir frequently until mixture thickens. Add mint and stir into mixture. Cover, reduce heat to simmer, and allow to cook for 10 minutes.

3. Cool soup in refrigerator, about an hour. Purée in blender until very smooth. Pour through a mesh sieve to remove any larger pieces. Stir in half-and-half. Taste and add salt if necessary. Remember, the taste of salt is dulled the colder a food is. The soup shouldn't taste very salty, but it will bring out the flavor of the onions.

4. Chill until ready to serve. Add mint sprigs or cucumber slices to garnish.

Makes 4 12 oz appetizer servings

Difficulty rating :)

Taco Night

2011-05-15T15:38:00.000-07:00

Darn, I forgot the salsa.

For Cinco de Mayo, I decided to do tacos. Kind of went overboard, but it only took half an hour to put everything together.

At the market, I looked at the packets of taco seasonings. I had all that stuff in the spice cabinet and decided to do it myself. Chili powder, onion salt, paprika or cayenne, salt and pepper to taste. I threw in some Lawry's Seasoned Salt for good measure. Just brown up the ground beef, add spices shortly before it's done, and you're good to go.

The rest of the fillings:
Not-Refried Beans
Shredded cheddar cheese
Sour Cream
Guacamole (store-bought because avocados were $2 each)
Diced Tomatoes
Chopped Green Onions
Chopped Cilantro
Shredded Lettuce
Sliced Olives

It's great to have everything laid out on the table, so everyone can make exactly what they want. A selection of either soft flour tortillas or crunchy corn shells will round out the special treat.

Difficulty rating π

Fish Cakes

2011-05-12T07:38:00.000-07:00

Papa Smurf brought home a Costco-sized container of rockfish fillets. It then became my job to figure out how to cook it.

First up was a simple coat of seasoned bread crumbs, pan fried. Good, easy, but not really memorable. Next, he wanted them breaded in corn meal before frying. Not so good. I baked them with freshly squeezed lemon juice, salt, and pepper another time, which is how I usually do salmon. This was when we both realized that rockfish doesn't really taste good without some serious help.

With two fillets to go, I was up for anything. The secret seemed to be adding a lot of strong flavoring. I took a crab cake recipe and jazzed it up. Perfect. I had mine with lemon wedges, but Papa Smurf liked the pseudo-tartar sauce I whipped up, so I'll put that here, too.

*1 lb rockfish (or another white fish like tilapia or snapper)
2 Tb lemon juice
1 tsp kosher salt
*1/2 C bread crumbs
2 Tb mayonnaise
1 Tb chopped fresh parsley or 1 tsp parsley flakes
1 tsp worcestershire sauce
2 tsp deli mustard (or dijon)
*1 tsp white horseradish
1/4 tsp each salt and pepper
1 egg
1/4 C butter
lemon wedges and tartar sauce for serving

1. Fill a frying pan 1" deep with water. Add lemon juice and kosher salt and bring to a simmer. Add fish and simmer until opaque, about 10 minutes. Remove from heat, drain, and allow to cool. (You can rinse out the pan and use it later, saving yourself 1 dish.)

2. Flake fish into very small pieces in a bowl. Add bread crumbs, mayo, parsley, worcestershire, mustard, horseradish, salt, and pepper. Stir until evenly mixed. Beat egg slightly and add to fish mixture.

3. In a clean skillet, melt the butter over medium heat and watch to keep from scorching. Add fish mixture in 1/4 C dollops. Fry each patty until browned on the bottom, about 3 minutes. Flip, press down slightly, and fry 3 minutes on other side.

4. Serve hot, accompanied by lemon wedges and tartar sauce.

Tartar sauce

1/2 C mayonnaise
1 Tb parsley or 1 tsp parsley flakes
1 Tb sweet pickle relish
1/2 tsp dill weed
1/8 tsp salt

1. Stir together all ingredients until evenly mixed. Chill until ready to use.

makes 1/2 cup

Difficulty rating :)

Grilled Cheese

2011-05-10T15:29:00.000-07:00

Grilled cheese sandwiches are really more of a concept than a recipe. I was inspired by the blog Grilled Cheese Social to have one.

The sandwich in the photo is Stilton with pears and apples on sourdough. Papa Smurf bought the cheese, then decided he didn't like it, so I've been finding uses. Some went in a quiche, and I think the rest will end up in sandwiches.

The parts of your basic grilled cheese are as follows:

1. Bread - It doesn't have to be Wonder White with Velveeta in a grilled cheese. Sourdough, rye, whole grain, and just about any sliced bread works. I'm trying to use up my Passover matzah. Technically, a quesadilla is a type of grilled cheese sandwich. Open your horizons.

2. Cheese - Again, don't be afraid to experiment. And you can use more than one type of cheese in the sandwich. The softness of Brie may be just what it takes to make a hard cheese like Parmesan melt properly. Pretty much anything you can find in even the fanciest markets would work, if paired correctly with the appropriate bread.

3. Garnishes - This is anything between the slices that is not cheese. I put minced green onions on this one. A lot of people like tomatoes. You could go all outre and use truffle shavings or leftover barbecued chicken. (Actually, that sounds pretty good.) Consider your bread and cheese choices, and go for it.

4. Butter or oil - The bread will not brown when you heat it without some kind of fat. The two main methods are a) coat the pan and then put in the bread, or b) spread the butter on the bread and then place it in the hot pan. I prefer the latter, because it's easier to control the amount used.

Now, for the basic how-to:

1. Preheat skillet over medium heat. Spread 1 tsp butter on "outer" sides of two slices of bread. Place bread butter-side down in skillet and lower heat to medium-low. By keeping the heat low, the cheese has time to melt before the bread gets too dark.

2. Add cheese to each slice. I usually use about 2 oz of cheese in a sandwich. If you like it thick, gooey, and oozing all over the plate, go for more.

3. When cheese is mostly melted, add garnish. It will not cook inside the sandwich, so have it prepared the way you intend to eat it before it goes in.

4. Carefully close sandwich using a spatula. Continue to cook until bread is browned on both sides just as dark as you like it. Serve hot.

Makes 1 sandwich

Difficulty rating π

Garden Update

2011-05-07T17:22:00.000-07:00

One month in, and nothing died.

The tomato plant is going to town. So are the bugs in the neighborhood. I had hoped to raise organic veggies, but I'm not a fan of bugs when they eat more than they pollinate. Out comes the spray. I triple-checked that it's safe to use on vegetable plants. I have many, many flowers, and about a dozen little, green, wanna-be tomatoes. A week-long heat wave helped things along immensely. The two largest tomatoes are bigger than my thumb nail. No idea how big they're going to get or how long they take to ripen once they reach that size. I'm hoping for gazpacho by Memorial Day.

The eggplant is equally happy, and one of the flower buds is about to open. It seems less tasty to local pests. Little FYI, eggplant buds have thorns. So do lemon branches, and those hurt a lot more.

As a reminder, here's how they started:

I'm not as sure about the artichoke. First of all, a quick trip to wikipedia would have told me not to expect anything edible for a year. This one is a long-term project. Second, the pot it was in did not have adequate drainage, and it was choking to death. Third, bugs seem to love the leaves. It's trying, it really is, so I transplanted it into the ground. If this is a slow-growing plant, it needs a proper home. It almost died the first day after the transplant, but is fighting to hang on. At least the gardener didn't think it was a weed and rip it out.

Meanwhile, since things were going so well, I decided to sink in another $6 for some corn seedlings. That's 12-18 ears of corn, for those keeping track. There was a patch of ground next to the lemon tree not doing anything. After I got the seedlings home, I found out why. Hard, sandy soil. I found some better dirt in a corner behind the lemon tree for half of them, and a less-than-ideal patch of somewhat sandy soil on the other side of the yard for the rest. Both sets seem to like their environments, but the lemon tree neighbors are taking off faster. Could have to do with the quality of sun exposure.

Mashed Butternut Squash

2011-05-04T16:46:00.000-07:00

You can buy pre-peeled and diced butternut squash! Yes, it's about twice the price per pound of whole squash, but it is SO worth it! This was one of those things I bought simply to tell the manufacturers to keep making the product. (A side note: one year, I emailed Dannon that I appreciated them making a KLP yogurt, and they sent me a bunch of coupons, some of them for free stuff. It never hurts to give a company a compliment.)

Anyway, I decided that mashed butternut would be a good counterpoint to mustard pork chops. (Same recipe as the regular pork chops, but you smear on a grainy deli mustard before coating in bread crumbs.) The recipe also goes very well with poultry as an alternative to mashed potatoes.

1 lb butternut squash, diced in 1" pieces
1/4 C butter
1/4 C milk
1 Tb brown sugar
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp ginger

1. Place squash in a saucepan and fill with water to cover. Bring to a boil, then simmer until squash is tender, about 15 minutes. Drain.

2. Transfer cooked squash to a mixing bowl. Beat with electric beaters to break up chunks. Add remaining ingredients and beat until creamy. If dry, add a little more milk. Serve hot.

Difficulty rating π if you buy pre-cut squash, :-0 if you cut it yourself

Buttermilk Pancakes

2011-05-01T10:52:00.000-07:00

I was still using up buttermilk, and these seemed to be the quickest way to do it. The recipe was from allrecipes.com, which is a great site because you can scale any recipe to serve just how much you need.

Pancakes are easy, and people like them. Best reason to make them.

2 C flour
2 Tb sugar
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
*2 C buttermilk
1/3 C milk
2 eggs
1/4 C butter, melted
vegetable oil

1. Sift together flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. In a separate bowl, beat eggs. Add buttermilk, milk, and butter and beat together.

2. Preheat frying pan or pancake griddle. Grease lightly with oil.

3. Stir together wet & dry ingredients. Mix until just combined. Don't worry if there are still some dry lumps; they will disappear before you get to the bottom of the bowl.

4. Spoon 1/4 C of batter onto griddle for each pancake. Let cook until bubbles stop coming up and underside is lightly browned, about 2-3 minutes. Flip and cook other side until lightly browned. Transfer to warm platter, re-oil griddle, and go at it again. Repeat until all batter is used. Do not store batter to use later; it will not rise.

Makes about 2-1/2 dozen

Difficulty rating π

Buttermilk Biscuits

2011-04-28T10:46:00.000-07:00

The problem with buying a quart of buttermilk for one recipe is that you have to find other uses for it, or throw it away. The good news is that biscuits freeze perfectly for later. This recipe from the Bible is super-easy to make, and you can have warm biscuits for breakfast in half an hour.

These are slightly darker than normal and be-flecked because I added wheat bran flakes. All white-flour will make for lighter biscuits.

To make them with regular milk, use the same amount of milk, one tablespoon of baking powder, and omit the baking soda.

2 C flour
2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
1/4 C shortening
3/4 C buttermilk

1. Preheat oven to 450º. Mix together flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. With pastry blender or well-washed fingers, cut in shortening until mixture resembles coarse crumbs.

2. Add milk and combine until mixture just comes together. Do not over-mix.

3. Turn onto lightly floured surface and knead several strokes to make the dough smooth. Roll out to 1/2 inch thick.

4. Using a floured 2-inch round cutter, cut out biscuits and transfer to ungreased cookie sheet. For softer biscuits, have rounds just barely touching. Press scraps together and reroll until all of the dough has been used.

5. Bake 12 to 15 minutes, until well-risen and golden

makes 12

Difficulty rating π

Roasted Red Potatoes with Rosemary

2011-04-26T10:40:00.000-07:00

The advantage of doing roasted potatoes is that you can put them in the oven at the same temperature as most roasted meats. The downside is that they often take longer to cook than the meat. Even small red potatoes are going to be in there a while. Just a warning to start these first.

1 lb new red potatoes
1 Tb olive oil
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper
1 tsp dried rosemary

1. Preheat oven to 350º. Scrub potatoes clean and quarter them.

2. In a bowl, toss potatoes in oil. Sprinkle with salt, pepper, and rosemary, and toss again to coat evenly.

3. Line a baking dish or cookie sheet with foil (to make cleaning easier. Not required for recipe.) Arrange potato quarters in a single layer and place in oven. Bake for 1 hour, or until insides are tender when pierced with a fork and cut surfaces are lightly golden.

Difficulty rating π

Skillet Jam

2011-04-24T14:06:00.000-07:00

This is the method of making jam recommended by the Los Angeles Times. They reprint the recipe almost every year. It is definitely easy, and works best with berries. The main difference between this and the other way of making preserves is that you do not have enough time to skim off impurities from the surface while it is boiling. This doesn't really affect the taste. The top may have a bubbly, soapy look after it sets. You can skim that off.

1 lb fresh berries (strawberries, blackberries, etc)
1 lb sugar
1 Tb lemon juice

1. Wash fruit and prepare by removing stems and cutting larger pieces to bite-sized. For blackberries or raspberries, cut in half through the tough core. Smash blueberries just enough to break the skin.

2. Combine berries and sugar in a saucepan. Over medium heat, bring to a low boil. Cook until sugar is fully dissolved and juices run clear, about 5 minutes. Stir in lemon juice. Refrigerate for 8 hours, or overnight.

3. Preheat an 8" skillet with rounded sides. Have cleaned containers ready. (You don't have to do the full canning process. The shelf-life of jam is about 1 month in the refrigerator.) Pour jam into skillet and bring to a boil. Boil, stirring constantly, until a spoonful drizzled on a frozen plate firms up in seconds. Another way to tell is that the bubbles get larger and clear, nearly one inch in diameter.

4. If not canning, but just storing as a regular prepared food item: Pour into prepared containers, but do not cover until it stops steaming. Then, place lids on containers, but do not seal. Allow jam to cool to below 150º before refrigerating (you can pick up the container with your bare hand). Secure lids once jam is chilled.

makes 1 pint

Difficulty rating :)

Hard-Boiled Eggs

2011-04-21T14:27:00.000-07:00

I know this feels like something everyone already knows. Yet, few of us boil eggs on a regular basis. I know I always have to look it up. Good Housekeeping to the rescue.

Use fresh eggs. I know this sounds stupid, but it's important. The older an egg gets, the more air gets inside the shell. Air pockets make it easier to remove the shell, but the egg isn't as pretty with a flat bottom.

1. Place desired number of raw eggs in a saucepan large enough to allow plenty of room between them. You don't want them knocking against each other more than necessary. Fill pot with cold water, enough to cover by one inch.

2. Over medium-high heat, bring water to a full boil. Once it is boiling, remove from heat and cover pot tightly. Let eggs sit in hot water 8 minutes for soft-boiled, and a full 15 minutes for hard-boiled.

3. Pour off hot water and replace with cold water to stop the eggs from cooking. You can even add ice cubes. Store in the shell, refrigerated, for up to a week.

4. To peel: everyone has their own method. I tap the bottom end to open up the air pocket. Break the thin membrane "skin". Using the side of your thumb, go around in a spiral, peeling off only what comes easily. It takes about four revolutions to get to a point where the rest slides off.

Difficulty rating π

Charoset

2011-04-18T11:07:00.000-07:00

Charoset is the fruit-and-nut mixture served at a Passover seder to remind Jews of the mortar used to build the Pharaoh's cities. Some people take it to the extreme and use the food processor to achieve a muddy paste. I prefer mine chunky enough that you can tell what's in it.

Like most Jewish foods, every cook makes this differently. Sephardim often use dates and other dried fruits. Ashkenazi versions usually include apples. Feel free to make adjustments.

Charoset is good as a snack with matzah, or as part of a leafy salad. I generally make enough to send everyone home with a little, but this recipe will give you plenty for a seder of up to 12.

2 sweet apples (I prefer Gala)
1/2 C finely chopped walnuts
1 tsp cinnamon
2 Tb sweet red wine or grape juice

1. Peel apples, if desired. Core, then dice into 1/4" chunks.

2. Stir in walnuts and cinnamon. Drizzle wine and stir together to combine. Chill until ready to serve.

Difficulty rating π