A Gourmet Who Thinks of Calories is Like a Tart Who Looks at Her Watch

For Lesley

Had to make a quick post for my cousin, who was one to partake in my baking escapades a few weeks ago. I came home with a mammoth golden zucchini and made 6 loaves of bread; three with chocolate chips and three without. I didn't think to take a picture, but here's one of my banana chocolate chip bread that looks pretty similar, just missing the gorgeous green and gold flecks of zucchini.

I usually top my banana bread with turbinado sugar and occasionally a shot of Malibu coconut rum, but I leave my zucchini bread plain on top. However, when they're both done they're sweet and dense and studded with chocolatey goodness.

CHOCOLATE CHIP ZUCCHINI BREAD

(Makes 3 loaves)

4½ cups all-purpose flour
3 tsp. ground cinnamon
1½ tsp. baking soda
3/4 tsp. baking powder
3/4 tsp. salt
3/4 tsp. nutmeg
3 cup sugar
3 cup finely shredded, unpeeled zucchini (One BIG one)
3/4 cup cooking oil
3 eggs
1 bag chocolate chips

Grease bottom and sides of 3 loaf pans. I use the disposable ones for easy gifting.
In a medium mixing bowl, combine dry ingredients. Set aside.
In another medium mixing bowl, combine sugar, zucchini, oil, and eggs. Add dry mixture to zucchini mixture & stir until moistened. Fold in chocolate chips.
Spoon into pan and bake at 350 for 55-60 minutes until a toothpick comes out of the center clean. Cool on a wire rack for 10 minutes. Remove from pan and cool completely on rack.

Makes enough to keep one for yourself and feed two friends (or sisters!)

Enjoy!

Kick Out the Jams

Summer's abundance has visited my little apartment several times over so far this year, thanks the wonderful weather, a good, wet spring, and to Aunt Jackie and her green thumb.

Also, for the first time since I left California I saw people selling fruit on the side of the road this summer.

I bought these lovelies from a guy on the side of the road for $7. Excellent deal in these parts, and only 3 were moldy!

The berries were my inspiration to try my hand at jam for the first time, yet another thing I've been afraid of. I'm still not whole-hog on the idea of home canning, with all it's accoutrement, sterilizing and margin of error, but freezer jam seemed easy enough for a noob like me.

I bought some Sure-Jell pectin and followed the instructions, starting with cleaning and trimming my berries.

Next I mashed up my berries with a potato masher (jam should have fruit bits), added lemon juice, corn syrup and sugar and prepared the pectin. It was super easy.

Isn't it pretty? That was pretty much all there was to it. I put it in some Ziploc containers to sit on the counter and set before freezing.

The squeeze bottle went into the freezer in the kitchen for easy access. The three pint containers were split up into freezer safe glass jars and went into the deep freeze along with the single cup containers. I figure the jars are for giving and the bowl are for keeping.

After a few days I tried it out. It was a little soupy but super fresh tasting! Not too sweet, definitely not too sour. After another week in the freezer the squeeze bottle came out to adorn biscuits and it had set up quite a bit more.

The success of the strawberry inspired me to make some raspberry as well, with the berries my mom and I picked from my aunt's garden. It started out a little more difficult since the instructions recommended to sieve half of the fruit (if desired) to remove raspberry seeds. I decided half way through that I had a stronger desire to keep the seeds and not have to sieve than to go through the extra process and sacrifice a bunch of the pulp that went along with the seeds. I like seedy jam, though, and it turned out pretty good.

With the raspberry I cut out the middle man of letting the jam rest before transferring to glass jars. It didn't seem to make any difference in the long run in either the flavor or texture.

I will brave the heat canning sooner or later, it's about time to get out there and pick some blackberries and blueberries, if there are any left on the bushes. We'll see how brave I feel once I get them home.

Southern Comfort

First off, I'd like to thank the closet gods that finally relinquished my camera cord; it's been missing for about 3 weeks. I have no idea how it ended up in the closet, but I'm happy to have found it.

Anywho...

There's been a widespread hankerin' for some home cooking lately, so I feel compelled to submit. The weather has been changing rapidly and autumn is making it's final descent into the great northwest. Fried chicken is in order.

I've never been really interested in frying chicken on the bone; it always seems so intimidating! I can whip out some chicken breast tenderloin strips like no other, but taking to task bone-in, skin-on chicken is daunting; the varying cooking times due to size, shape, body part (body part?! Gross!) and the bone itself, not to mention the amount of time it sits in the oil and hence fear of burning, etc etc etc. Cringe-worthy.

But we've entered the season of poultry and I was able to get three hind quarters with thigh and leg for $2.44. We're in a recession, people. I'll take what I can get.

Due to my innate fear of failure, I had to spend a little time researching how to fry chicken on the bone. Here is what I've learned:

- Season your meat, don't just leave it up to the flour for the flavor. I rubbed mine down with some Johnny's Seasoning Salt and Poultry Seasoning before any dredging occurred. I prefer the Johnny's that includes MSG. In case you don't remember from my Yankee Delights post, I am of the opinion that MSG really doesn't hurt you.

- Be liberal with the seasoning in the flour. Because the crunchy crust should be delicious. I went really basic with just Johnny's, I didn't want a lot of garlic or anything overpowering. Also, I imagine dried herbs would burn in the long, hot frying process, so an aioli or dipping sauce on the side can be served it you want to 'fancy it up.'

- Give your dredged chicken some resting time to allow the flour to absorb some liquid from the skin and egg wash. It will create an almost batter-like coating which will adhere to the chicken so you get crispy skin in each bite. No slippery skin on your first bite, where it takes all the good crunchies off and then you're left with sad, naked chicken for the rest of dinner.

- Shortening makes a good frying fat, keeping in mind: 'Fry- life, mouthfeel, product appearance, specific product requirements, ease of handling and cost are the major criteria for selecting a frying fat for a given application.' I learned this from an article from Oklahoma State University. I'm telling you, I researched. I used a mix of 2:1 regular vegetable shortening and Butter Flavored Crisco.

- Don't. Be. Afraid.

I seasoned my chicken, dipped it in an egg/milk wash and dredged it in seasoned flour.

I let it rest for about 10 minutes while I worked on some side dishes; corn on the cob, biscuits, mashed potatoes and gravy. I will be the first to admit that while I put on my 'from scratch' gloves for the chicken and the biscuits, I used OreIda Steam 'n' Mash plain russets as my 'tatoes. I'm convinced it's the most amazing product on the planet and they usually do a better job than I would, anyway.

A quick anecdote: I love corn season. When I was growing up I spent a lot of time at my grandparent's farm in Selah. In the late summer Grandma would walk us down to Al Calvert's; Al owned potato and corn fields. We would get spuds and corn to bring back for dinner and we'd shuck it on the back porch and feed the husks to the neighbors horses.

Once in a while Al's wife would take us out to her pea patch in the middle of the corn field and we'd pick peas to bring home with our corn and potatoes. They also had a creek that ran through their property that trout ran in and we'd go fishing. My life was like a Country Time Lemonade commercial. Good times.

Anyway, after the chicken rested and the shortening melted and was good and hot I put in the chicken and LEFT IT ALONE.

In the meantime I put together my biscuits.

Since the biscuits and potatoes only take 10 minutes to cook I got them going right after I flipped my chicken; it cooked for about 10-12 minutes on each side. This had just about everything finishing at once, just the way I like it. When the chicken was fully cooked, which I checked with my nifty digital meat thermometer, I let it rest and drain. One important thing to remember is, if your oil is the right temperature (good and hot but not smoking) then your food won't absorb much oil and you aren't adding as much fat to your meal.

I was pleased with how the chicken turned out, and of course I loved the biscuits! I never pass up an opportunity to photograph my biscuits, because I love them. I love making them, baking them and eating them.

Everything came together pretty well. I would have liked to included something green, and I did make a cucumber salad with some beautiful cukes from my aunt's garden and a homemade creamy garlic dill dressing, but it was forgotten and left in the fridge. Oh well, it will be a good lunch tomorrow. The dinner was delicious, with some sweet tea and some freezer jam, which I'll post about soon.

For dessert, I went the quick-and-easy route with a fresh pear crisp. Pears don't get a whole lot of glory compared to apples, but they deserve it! The pears were fresh from my aunt's place as well (I picked them up with some amazing peaches that ended up in crisp last week. They were the most delicious peaches. Ever. The crisp went too fast to get a picture!)

The recipe was simple; just peel and thinly slice the pears, I used 7 medium-small ones. Mix in a baking dish with a quarter cup each of white and brown sugar, cinnamon and nutmeg to taste (I use a lot), a teaspoon or two of vanilla, a dash of salt, 3 tablespoons of flour and a tablespoon of butter, dotted about the place. Then top it off with some universal crisp topping (we usually double this recipe):

UNIVERSAL CRISP TOPPING (Courtesy of T.G. Nottingham and his mom)
1 cup sugar (sometimes I sub half with brown sugar)
3/4 cup flour
1/2 tsp. cinnamon
1/4 tsp. nutmeg (I'll sub both of these seasonings with a full tsp. of pumpkin pie spice when I'm in a pinch)
Dash salt
1/2 cup butter
Mix dry ingredients and cut in butter until mixture is coarse, pea-sized crumbs.

Bake at 350 until awesome (Usually 20-40 minutes, depending on the fruit, until gold and bubbly ).

It turned out rich and gooey and crispy and perfect for ice cream. All in all it was a real homey meal that makes me want to cuddle up on the couch and watch Steel Magnolias. A great way to take advantage of the weather change.

Calling All Cars...

Just a quickie - Does anyone have a good, tried and true recipe for lumpia? I've had a craving lately... Also, chicken and/or shrimp adobo?

Last week was Hawaiian week at Uwajimaya. Love! We had some Loco Moco (Hilo side, represent!!!). My pic didn't turn out, but it looked almost exactly like this, only with green salad instead of mac salad. I don't like mac salad. Sorry.

I got my Hawaii fix, but didn't think far enough ahead to pick up stuff for a good Filipino meal. So if you have a good recipe please, send it on over!

The Kind U Find in a Second Hand Store...

I own one of these

It doesn't get a whole lot of use; it's usually packed in the back of the some god-forsaken cupboard, the bowl has to sit in the freezer for 24 hours before it's used, it takes up a lot of counter space and by the time I remember I have it I've usually already purchased ice cream.

But it's been hot. And I've been craving sweet treats without the heaviness of milk and cream. Therefore I submit for your consideration Sorbet!

Sorbet, as opposed to sherbet, is generally not a dairy based frozen treat and is typically fruit reliant. My favorite sorbet in the world was Ben & Jerry's Purple Passion Fruit. You can see it here in their flavor graveyard. Boo. I settle now for Berried Treasure, but it's an expensive fix. I haven't found many other store-bought sorbets that I like. If you have any to suggest, please do!

(Also, for more on Sorbet vs. Sherbet, check this out.)

So, Ben & Jerry make a premium product worth the premium price, this we know. However, they also have a book of their premium recipes that, by the grace of the gods of frozen ambrosia, I found at a yard sale for under a dollar. You can find it here on Amazon for a decent price.

I thought I'd take advantage; the furthest we've ever really delved into the literature in our household has been the sweet cream base recipes. They're great for re-creating some former Baskin Robbins hits that have been sent to the Deep Freeze. It helps to have some former scoop jockeys to recreate the flavors.

I checked out the seasonal fruit at H&L and decided on raspberries. In my opinion it's still a little early in the season for bush berries here, but I thought I'd take a chance, they looked so vibrant! I also picked up some Izze Sparkling Blackberry Juice, because why not? I used my Ben & Jerry's cookbook as inspiration; here is my altered version of Raspberry Sorbet:

3/4 pound fresh raspberries
1 1/2 cups sugar
Juice of 1/2 lemon
1/4 cup light corn syrup
1 bottle sparkling blackberry juice

Combine berries, sugar and lemon juice. Refrigerate covered at least 1 hour.
When ready to freeze, add corn syrup and sparkling juice and stir gently until blended.
Transfer the mixture to the ice cream maker and follow manufacturer's directions.

I'd like to add, ex post facto, that it helps to mash that sugar into the raspberries. The ones I had were a little too sour and could have used some macerating. Other than that, the sorbet was soft, light and smooth with a bright effervescence left on the tongue. Also, it was a very pretty color and flecked with little ruby raspberry studs.

Refreshing, no? I encourage you to go treasure hunting at a local second hand store for an ice cream maker, or even an ice cream ball and give it a try. I have mine running right now, giving an encore performance with a couple cans of Hawaiian Sun. Guava Strawberry Passion, anyone? I'll let you know how it goes.

It's What's for Dinner

Steak is delicious. Enough said. When the Prime Rib Eye goes on sale at Costco, it's a happy day for all in the household.

When I get to sink my talons into a good piece of meat I like to do as little as possible to it in regards to flavor and cooking.

With the newly sprung season we have rediscovered our outdoor grill. Living in a apartment, there are rules about these things. As much as the charcoal smell equates delicious picnic foods and the controlled fires of a gas grill conjures visions of flame-licked sweet and sticky chicken breasts, we must abide. But it's not so bad, thanks to George Foreman.

I made a quick marinade with some brown sugar, apple cider vinegar, garlic, shallots and lime and let my steaks sit for about half an hour while I let the grill heat up and threw together a salad. Then was grilling time.

Super easy. 8 minutes on each side, a quarter turn after 4 mintues to get good grill marks. I threw the juiced lime skins on the grill, too, to get the last delicious bits of juice and pulp broken down. I squeezed them over the steaks just before taking them off the grill to rest.

After the grilling was done and the meat rested for about 20 mintues under it's aluminum foil tent we dug in and enjoyed. A little bit of hibachi sauce on the side and it was easy and awesome.

Hibachi Sauce

1-1/4 cup mayonnaise
1/4 cup water
1 teaspoon tomato paste
1 tablespoon melted butter
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
1 teaspoon sugar
1/4 teaspoon paprika
dash cayenne pepper

Using a fork or a whisk, blend all ingredients together thoroughly until well mixed and the sauce is smooth. Refrigerate overnight to allow flavors to blend. Bring to room temperature before serving.

Soup & Sandwiches

Sometimes comfort food is simple food. Especially when your schedule is hectic and you want something delicious that you don't have to work very hard for. Hence soup and sandwiches.

It doesn't take very much to make something that sounds so mundane a delectable masterpiece. Just a little creativity. Sometimes boredom helps, too.

The soup is simple; Campbell's Tomato, or in our house 'Mato Soup. It's one of a handful of things I don't settle on generic brands for. For every can of soup, half a can of fat free Half & Half and half a can of water (or a whole can of 1% milk, but that's too milky for me), some garlic powder, Italian seasoning, throw it in pan until it's hot.

The other thing I like to do with 'Mato Soup is something I learned working for a soup & sandwich cafe and it's super simple:

Tomato Basil Soup

1-10 3/4 oz can of condensed tomato soup

1-14 oz can of chopped or stewed tomatoes (I prefer S&W Italian Recipe Stewed)

1/4 cup butter

1 handful fresh basil leaves

1/2 handful fresh oregano leaves -or- 1 TBSP dried oregano

Garlic powder and Italian seasoning to taste

Julienne basil and oregano leaves (it's easy, just stack the on top of each other, roll them up and slice little ribbons).
Melt butter over medium heat in a small pot or sauce pan, whatever you usually cook soup in.
Add garlic powder, basil and oregano and cook until leaves are wilted, being careful not to scorch your garlic powder
Add tomatoes with their juice to butter; if using whole, halved or stewed tomatoes crush them with your hands before you put them in. (If they're diced don't worry about it).
Cook tomatoes until heated all the way through, stirring occasionally.
Add condensed soup and stir until all is combined.
Bring soup to a simmer, cover and turn heat down to low.
Allow to simmer for 30 minutes before serving.

If the soup is too thick for your liking use a little water, veggie or chicken broth to thin it out. It's easy to correct the flavor with a little salt or lemon juice. It's excellent topped with some julienned basil, shredded Parmesan or provolone and some sourdough or focaccia croutons

On to the sandwich!

There is an art to making a good sandwich. Anyone who has ever made them for a living can tell you this.

You have to have a good spread on the bread; something that will add but not overpower flavor, that will seal the bread from getting wet from wet ingredients. You have to have a good balance of wet to dry ingredients; usually meat and cheese to veggies. But first you have to choose a good bread.

The way I see it, you can take some mediocre fillings, put it on a great bread and make a decent sandwich. However, the best meat and cheese in the world put on crappy bread will make a pasty, disgusting mess.

I usually choose either a tasty sandwich roll, like sourdough, dutch crunch or french. I save the sliced white bread for my PB&J and the occasional old school tuna salad.

This time I made GIGANTO SANDWICH!!!

The bread is an Albertson's French loaf. For the spread I used a mix of mayo, Beaver Sweet Hot Mustard and a touch of honey thinned out with a little pickle juice. Like I said, be creative

As far as meat and cheese goes, we've got some sliced beef, brown sugar ham and honey turkey breast, some cheddar and some Swiss. For veggies some black olives, Mezzetta roasted red bell peppers and chopped peperoncini, some sweet onion and plain ol' shredded lettuce.

I tried sneak in some tomatoes, since I'm the only one that really likes them. I marinated them for about an hour in a blend of balsamic vinegar, dried oregano a little olive oil and some kosher salt. They were yummy but didn't mesh well so I saved them for a salad.

A word of caution to anyone making a sandwich that's going to be eaten by others - TASTE EVERYTHING FIRST. If there is one bad ingredient it's going to spoil the whole thing. And if it's what's for dinner it's going to piss everyone off.

I cut the heels off my loaf for two reasons; because we were hungry and wanted to eat them, and because nobody likes getting the heel end of the sandwich. Some construction tips:

Apply spread to both sides of the bread. Don't go crazy, but make sure there's enough to cover all the way to the crusts
Layer meat and cheese on one side and alternate. That way you don't get the gross block-o-cheese bite or the gut busting "oh god, that was all meat" bite.
Lay your dry veggies on before your wet veggies on the opposite side of the meat. This is your bread protection
If you're going to add a dressing like vinaigrette or tapenade or even just extra spread or mustard do it on top of your meat/cheese layer. That way it will apply to the veggies on contact but not sink into the bread.

Delicious. A slice of that and a cup of soup and you've got a pretty simple middle of the week dinner and probably a couple lunches, too :)

Yankee Delights

Last Sunday I decided to make a super-tradish Sunday dinner for me and my peeps. I made a beef roast and some awesome biscuits with peach crisp for dessert! Very typical Leave it to Beaver dinner.

I like my roast to be almost steak-like when it's carved. This is not the way I remember my mom's or my grandma's; the stringy, sometimes dry, covered in delicious gravy, awesome on a piece of white bread with ketchup roasts of my youth. This is how my peeps recall their roast fondly as well. So I had to do my best to not fancy anything up. It took great restraint, but I feel I succeeded.

I chopped up some russet potatoes and fresh Thyme (I had to put a little something fancy in there!) as well as some white onions and mixed them with some baby carrots. Then I greased up my roasting pan with a little vegetable oil and tossed all my veg in and rolled 'em around to get coated. I shook my Johnny's Seasoning Salt all over the place, like ya do. (For anyone who uses Johnny's, I find it's always best to get it from the regular grocery store, not Costco. The bulk sizes they put in Costco don't have the MSG and that MSG is what makes that dependable, consistent Johnny's flavor. And if you're one of those people who's all CRAZY about MSG, and you don't have a confirmed sensitivity to it, , perhaps you need to do a little more research on the matter.)

I took my roast, around 3 or 4 pounds of beef rump, and seared it off in a hot pan on all sides in some leftover sausage fat. Just like grandma used to make, no?

I used a packet of McCormick Slow Cookers Savory Pot Roast seasoning for the first time ever, putting blind faith in the fact that the gravy on the front of the packet looked like my mom's. Then I covered the whole thing super tight with about 8,000 (actually 5) layers of foil to do my best to simulate a dutch oven.

Sidenote: I need a dutch oven. My birthday is coming up. I want the Le Creuset 9 quart enameled cast iron French Oven in Sonoma Green which you can only find at Williams Sonoma. It's only a million dollars.

Once my roast was nearing its finish I whipped up some biscuits. My method to making awesome biscuits is one part my mom, one part my mother in law, one part America's Test Kitchen and the rest Better Homes & Gardens cookbook under Biscuits Supreme. My own contribution is using evaporated milk instead of regular milk.

I make by dough and dump it out onto a floured surface before it fully comes together. Then I knead and fold, knead and fold until it's fully combined. When I roll out the dough I fold it in half twice before each roll so there are lots of layers when I cut out my biscuits. Then when I use my cutter I push straight down and do one half turn. I pick them up and put them on my ungreased baking sheet and LEAVE THEM ALONE. When I put them in the oven they're little disks about a quarter to a half an inch high. The come out around two inches high and are awesome.

The roast came out delicious and stringy, slightly dry on the ends and paired well with plain ol' ketchup.

The 'tatoes and carrots were soft but not mushy after 3 hours in the oven and the onions were sweet and practically melted. And everything was knee-deep in gravy.

Our dessert was a super-simple peach crisp. I make crisp topping probably once or twice a year; it's basically flour, brown sugar, cinnamon and baking powder or something along those lines. I keep it in a gallon sized Ziploc with the instructions on the front: "Mix one cup with one stick of butter. Dump it over fruit. Cook at 375 until done."

The fruit I chose were a couple cans of sliced peaches that have been neglected in the cupboard for million years. I drained them and tossed them in a buttered pan with a couple teaspoons of vanilla, a shake of cinnamon and a tablespoon of brown sugar, squished everything up a little and let that sit for about an hour. Once it was a fragrant, juicy mess, I dumped my crisp mix over them and cooked it until it looked golden and delicious. And it was when topped with some vanilla ice cream.

A nice homey Sunday dinner for a cold late-winter evening. And leftovers for a week! Although, I must admit, as good and traditional and nostalgic as it was, I still can't wait for the farmer's markets to start up. I need some non-root vegetables!

Fish Tacos... Ambrosia of the Sea

Here's me applying some lime to my little bundle of yummy, Ala Rubio's.

Mexican food is delicious. That's a no brainer. Fake Mexican food is also delicious. Hence Qdoba, Chipotle, Taco del Mar and Chevy's. Fake Mexican food at home... it doesn't always come out right.

Luckily fish tacos came out so, so right.

I started out with some awesome cod fillets that I purchased from, you guessed it, Whole Foods. I dredged them in flour seasoned with Goya Hot Adobo and fried them in a little vegetable oil. No wet dipping, no batter, no deep frying.

As the pieces turned golden brown and crispy I put them on a wire rack in the oven over a drip tray to complete the cooking process and added fresh pieces to the hot oil. A little fish cooking assembly line.

As far as tortillas go I love love love these little corn flour ones from La Tortilla Factory. They're not brittle, don't need steaming to stay soft and they're a little thicker and more toothsome than a plain flour tortilla. We had both the yellow and white corn flour varieties.

To make the tradish taco sides (rice and beans) I am a super cheater. I use one can of Embasa Salsa Mexicana and a half cup of water for every cup of Minute Rice plus a teaspoon or two of McCormick Hot Taco Seasoning to taste.

Samesies with the beans; a can of salsa + taco seasoning and/or Taco Bell hot sauce to a can of drained black beans.

It has to simmer down a bit and it turns out pretty tasty, especially for at home fake Mexican food. By far not the best beans I've ever had, but I can't seem to find those in the states.

For fixin's we went with a mix of shredded cabbage and lettuce, some homemade salsa Rojas and salsa Verde (which will be another post), a little Tillamook cheddar jack blend and some sour cream. Oh, yes, and the oh-so-important squeeze of lime!

Yummeroo! All you need is an icy pomegranate margarita and some fried cheesecake burrito dessert and you have yourself a fake Mexican fiesta! Oh-lay!

Soup for the Sick

9.2.13 Note - Due to mishaps in the blogosphere many pictures were deleted from this blog. I've done my best to add them back in but, unfortunately, the ones for this post pre-date my laptop. Please imagine everything to be perfectly mouthwatering - Jessie

We were off to a strong start, weren't we? And then a week of no posts at all... Well, Sunday was the Superbowl; not a lot of mystique in hot dogs and Doritos (although I may have to share some potato salad goodness at some point), and since then I've been getting/having a bad head cold. I don't cook much when I'm sick because I don't eat much when I'm sick. Also, I use my sense of smell an awful lot when I'm cooking, and when that's screwed up I might as well do everything with my eyes closed. It would all come out the same amount of crappy.

So what's the most comforting thing to have when you're sick? Soup! Luckily I've had some on hand. I made some delectable French Onion soup last week and just finished it up yesterday. It was like a warm, silky blanket of love on my cold, itchy throat.

I don't have a recipe for this one since I just make it by feel but I can show-and-tell... I like to use different kinds of onion for more depth of flavor. I don't know what it is, but lately, for the past six months or so, I've seen a boom in the population of sweet onions in my local grocery stores. So I used some Mayan Sweets, some regular white onions and a big shallot along with some fresh thyme:

I like some good-sized pieces of onion in my soup so I did a pretty rough chop on the sweets, finer on the whites which are smaller and then thin slices of shallot. Thyme is a pain in the ass if you want the actual bits of herb in the soup; you have to scale the leaves off of the stem. When I have it kitchen twine or cheesecloth on-hand I put my thyme and dried bay leaf into a bouquet garni but no such luck this time. So I peeled off the tiny little leaves for my soup.

I sweated the onions in some butter and olive oil for awhile until the delectableness and intensity of the aroma was virtually unbearable. I could have smeared it on bread and been done with it, but I was hell-bent on soup. Typically French Onion soup has beef stock and broth and red wine, but I was in the mood for something lighter so I chose a rosé.

This is a 2008 Mulderbosch rosé of cab; very fruity and slightly floral which plays well off the sweet onion, fresh thyme and dried bay leaf. To keep the lightness I finished it with Swanson beef and chicken broth with a ratio of 2:1. It simmered for a good hour before gracing a heavy bowl laden with Gruyere cheese and a crusty crouton made of Grand Central Bakery's Como bread from Metropolitan Market; my south sound substitute for Whole Foods when I'm feeling uppity.
I wish I had more pictures but my camera died pretty early in the process. Needless to say it was delicious and soupy and worth the smell of onions lingering in the kitchen for days after. I wish I had some right now, but will have to settle for other leftovers. Lasagna anyone?

Beans & Cornbread (Not a veggie friendly post)

I have a long history of not following directions very well when it comes to cooking. Obviously. Luckily this has very rarely been to my detriment; I believe that what makes food good is leaving room for interpretation. I taste as I go and I tweak to my liking or to the liking of those I'm serving. I feel that recipes are outlines that point you in the right direction, not the gospel of food. Unless it's baking, that's science. Maybe adding a little almond extract here or substituting dark chocolate for milk chocolate there, but never any big, grand gestures.

The one exception to this rule that I've found so far is cornbread. In a pinch, I've been known to doctor up canned or frozen elements to create some quick and tasty potluck items on a shoestring budget and last minute notice.

This epiphany dawned upon me when I was invited to an annual event a couple years ago:

That's right. An event called Pork-A-Palooza. A 24 hour festival of pig, Pabst, potluck and people I've never met. I fear feeding people I've never met so I knew I had to come up with something tasty, barbecue compatible and cheap since I actually had to borrow the gas money from my mom to get to the get-together.

A trip to my local Grocery Outlet yielded 6 bags of generic cornbread mix for $1.00. This is not even on par with Jiffy; it's essentially bags of cornmeal mixed with dry milk. Now is a good time to mention I had never before made cornbread. Correction: I'd never made cornbread before that wasn't Jiffy. Jiffy was my base line.

The instructions were very similar to Jiffy; add this and that, bake for this long, yadda yadda. When I dumped the packet into the bowl I stared at the paltry dust of meal and milk and had an overwhelming Richard Dreyfuss moment... We're gonna need a bigger boat.

On hand I had some frozen corn, some awesome Snoqualmie Valley Honey of the Thistle variety (my favorite; the bees didn't make it last summer, damn this global warming), brown sugar and a dream. I mixed them all up with the mix and some evaporated milk and a metric butt-ton of butter. It turned out like this:

Awesomeness. Sweet, tender, studded with tiny bursts of corniness, nice crisp top and bottom and cute little swirlies that I made with a bamboo skewer. This was my test batch and it turned out better than I could have hoped! I made two half hotel pans, one with corn kernels and one without. Because I ran out of corn and couldn't afford more. We're in a recession, you know.

I had some Van de Camps Pork & Beans as well ($0.10 a can, righteous) that I doctored with some brown sugar, honey, Dijon mustard, Frank's RedHot and bacon ends and pieces bought for insanely cheap from Stewart's Meats in McKenna; a beautiful example of local meat marquetry founded in the depression era by Emmet Stewart. Worth the drive, stock up your freezer.

Both cheap-as-free dishes paired very well with the main course:

At the end of it all both dishes were well received. Around midnight there were drunken men, young and old, sitting around a kitchen table sopping up bean sauce with cornbread crust and muttering about "fatback" and obsessing over drips and crumbs. So much for hangover leftovers.

Lesson learned: Never be afraid of a small budget, a large crowd or an opportunity to express yourself creatively in a medium of discount groceries.

Macaroni & Deliciousness

There are many things in the culinary world that I find insanely and often unjustly intimidating. For example; Pâte à choux, Hollandaise Sauce and anything that involves beating egg whites into stiff peaks. It was my unreasonable fear of Roux that prevented me from ever making Macaroni & Cheese from scratch. But a fearless friend of mine told me that it's much easier than it looks, and that if I can make white gravy I can make Macaroni & Cheese.

Coming from a bloodline that has made it's course through many a bacon clogged artery, I am no stranger to a basic white gravy. There have been many, many (shamefully many) mornings where I have bared witness to the starchy, creamy, pepper flecked sauce (laden with Jimmy Dean sausage) being ladled bountifully over fluffy, dense biscuits. I know how to make it, I've made it since I was old enough to stand on a step stool and hold a whisk. I bleed gravy.

Not literally, that's gross.

Around the same time my friend gave her words of encouragement I had an outrageous craving to try something new, delicious, and made with goat cheese. You know me, I love goat cheese. I found this simple recipe on the Southern Food website that worked great and have played off it a million times since. It tricked me into making a Roux by never referring to it as a Roux. Great tactic. And I trust the South can make some Roux.

Here are my beginnings. I was going for blonde, but this is quickly after the butter began to sputter and the flour was soaked up:

I chose to use some chive & herbed chèvre, Tillamook Vintage White Extra Sharp Cheddar and some grated Parmesan. I omitted the herbs, since my cheese was herbed, and I used evaporated milk in lieu of 2%. It was not orange enough for my liking, so I added some red food color gel. Here it is before I put it in the oven:

Not everyone is a fan of breadcrumbs on Mac & Che so half way through cooking I topped it off with the next best thing; more cheese. This time I went for the plain ol' shredded cheddar, probably Kraft or Sargento, and more Parmesan:

I don't have any after pictures because it went so fast. I must have done something right.

The first batch was a little grainy, I think I used some cheap Parmesan. Since then I've played around with some different cheeses, especially after our trip to Tillamook last summer:

Gorgeous sunset, no? Anyway, we got some awesome little loaves of roasted garlic, cracked pepper and smoked Cheddars and habanero and Monterrey jacks. I've tinkered and tampered and experimented and once, and only once, failed, like ya do. Some tips I can share are:

Don't over do your Roux. Medium blonde is good enough, but brown starts to taste too much like beef stew or something
The finer the shred, the quicker the melt. Obviously. But if you have a thick shred on a soft cheese and a fine thread on a hard cheese they can usually balance out a bit
A daub of cream cheese can really help balance out a sauce that you fear may turn out to be grainy. So can a blob of sour cream, but that pairs better with medium cheeses
The Parmesan that comes in a green can in the pasta aisle (aka "Shakey Cheese)... Yea, not so much.

Here's the recipe, I urge you to visit your local cheesemonger and make something yummy!
Ingredients:
8 ounces elbow macaroni (about 2 cups raw)
2 tablespoons butter
2 tablespoons flour
2 cups milk, 2% is fine
1 to 2 tablespoons fresh chopped mixed herbs, or 2 teaspoons dried leaf herbs (thyme, sage, chives, etc.)
1/2 teaspoon salt, or to taste
1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
4 ounces goat cheese with herbs or plain
8 ounces sharp cheddar cheese, shredded
4 ounces shredded Parmesan cheese, divided
1 cup soft bread crumbs
1 tablespoon melted butter
Preparation:
Grease a 2-quart baking dish. Heat oven to 350°.

Cook macaroni following package directions; drain, rinse, and set aside.

In a large saucepan, melt butter over medium-low heat. Stir in flour until well blended and bubbly. Gradually add milk, stirring constantly; continue cooking and stirring until slightly thickened.
Add the herbs, salt, and pepper, then stir in the goat cheese and Cheddar. Stir in about 3 ounces of the Parmesan cheese. Continue cooking and stirring until cheeses have melted.

Stir in the drained macaroni and turn into the prepared baking dish.

Combine bread crumbs with melted butter and toss with the remaining Parmesan cheese. Sprinkle over the casserole.

Bake for 25 to 30 minutes, until bubbly and nicely browned.Serves 4 to 6.

OhMyGod I love CURRY!!!

So one benefit of working in a downtown high rise is having the luxury of a gazillion hole-in-the-wall, chain and one-off restaurants within walking distance. There is a Thai restaurant in the lobby of one such high rise that has me craving it at least weekly. Specifically their Panang Curry.

A good friend of mine, with whom I lunch often, is just learning the ways of the Thai food so it's not always at the top of the list. Which I wholeheartedly accept; it's an acquired taste for most people and can be VERY hit and miss from place to place, and even from dish to dish in one place. So last week, in lieu of curry we had burritos. Which were also awesome and may end up in another post.

Burritos are not curry. I don't know how I can stress this enough. So when you crave curry you will continue to crave it until you get it. Therefore I was drawn to figure out how to make it at home.

It was a last minute sort of "let's make this for dinner" deal, so I didn't have everything on hand and, of course, I improvised a lot. I used it with lots of sweet onions, some red bell pepper, baby bok choy and chicken thigh meat. It was delicious. I love it! Originally for dinner we ate it with rice and some bomb Naan I bought from Whole Foods. I've been eating the leftovers for three days; over rice, over Phad Thai noodles... Yummmmmmm...

Below is the recipe that inspired me from a website called On Thai Time. It should be known that I am often inspired by recipes but rarely use them word for word unless I'm baking. So I left things out (including the leaves and peas), I added some stuff (some peanut butter and a little brown sugar to name some), I encourage anyone to be creative and do the same. And I also recommend the Chiang Mai curry powder blend that can be found at World Market.

Panang curry paste ingredients:
Chili peppers
Galangal (a root)
Lemongrass
Coriander
Cumin
Garlic
Shallots
Peanuts
Shrimp paste
Salt

The ingredients for our Panang curry recipe are as follows:Ingredients
Your choice of chicken, beef, pork, shrimp, or any other meat (or none)
2 cups rice
2 cans coconut milk (use light coconut milk if you prefer)
1.5 Tbsp panang curry paste
3 Tbsp brown sugar
2 Tbsp fish sauce
1/2 cup peas
4-6 Kaffir lime leaves
Sweet basil leaves (for garnish)
Some water (to thin out and make more soupy, less thick)

Bring the coconut milk, curry paste, sugar, and fish sauce together in a pot, bring to a boil and let it boil for 5 minutes. Next, add your meat or fish (optional), peas and kaffir lime leaves and simmer for an additional ten minutes. Before you remove from heat, make sure the meat or fish is cooked all the way!

Introduction... And Scones...

I believe food is incredible. I'm a foodie; I love it, I love learning about it, I love cooking it, I love sharing it with others. It's a passion, an artistic release and a form of therapy. Personally, I find it astounding that one of the most baser instincts and necessary-to-life needs can be transformed into literal works of art. I know that a philosophical argument can be made that all art is necessary to life and so on, and I'm not arguing against that point, but truly; what other art form can you think of that, if made to do without, may cause irreparable physical damage and in some cases, death?

So yes, there is a reverence to food in my household. There's always some new recipe, technique, gadget, kitchen experimentation either occurring or being cooked up by any one of us at any time. It can be very exciting; like when I learned how to make the world's best ever Cranberry Orange Scones (recipe will follow). There are also times when it's scary and occasionally dangerous, like when we sauteed some Serrano chiles and the acrid smoke made us all choke and die.

Tangent: The dish those Serranos went into was absolutely delicious. Unfortunately you couldn't eat more than one bite, though, since your tongue would be singed right out of your mouth.

The downside to having a house full of foodies is that after the celebration we call dinner, there's clean up and leftovers. The clean up is never that bad, it's always manageable and contained mostly in the kitchen and surrounding areas, but the leftovers... The leftovers.

I believe it stems from a genetic script that drives many women to cook for 8-10 people, even when there are only 3 in the house. No matter how hard you fight it, it's virtually impossible to overpower: "We... MUST... make... two... pans... of... Macaroni and CHHHEEEEEEESSSEEEEE!!!" Who on Earth is going to need that much Macaroni and Cheese? Seriously.

Things end up in the freezer, they are given away to friends or they are wrapped in foil to sit in the fridge until someone either takes one for the team or it just rots away. I hate the rotting away part, but having leftovers for dinner strips me of the opportunity to build another work of art!

So leftovers are typically left for solo meals when one of us has to eat something and doesn't want to cook and there isn't anyone there to cook for us. Hence dinner last night; a tuna sandwich and leftover enchiladas. A strange yet poignant combination that may evolve... Fish tacos, so obvious... but fish enchiladas? Enchilada sauce in tuna salad? We'll have to see what comes of it.

Best Ever Cranberry Orange Scones
Makes 8 Scones
Oven at 450
Scone:2 ½ C. Flour
2 tsp Baking Powder
4 Tbsp Sugar
½ tsp Kosher Salt
6 Tbsp Shortening
½ C. Craisins
3 tsp Orange Zest
¾ C. Milk
1 tsp Vanilla

1. Sift together Flour, Baking Powder, Sugar and Salt.
2. Work Shortening into dry ingredients with fingers.
3. Add Craisins and Orange Zest to mixture. Combine until Craisins are coated in flour.
4. Add Milk and Vanilla. Combine until dough begins to form.
5. Turn out onto a floured board. Gently knead until fully combined and divide into two equal pieces.
6. Roll or pat into dough into rounds to the thickness of biscuits- ¾ to 1 inch.
7. Cut into wedge shaped quarters and bake for 15 minutes at 450 degrees on an ungreased baking sheet.
8. Allow to cool on wire racks until just warm to the touch. Top with Orange Glaze.

Orange Glaze:
1 C. Powdered Sugar1 tsp Orange Zest
¼ tsp Vanilla
1 Tbsp + 1 tsp Milk

Combine Powdered Sugar, Orange Zest and Vanilla. Slowly add 1 Tbsp of Milk while stirring with whisk. Add add'l tsp of milk as needed until mixture is of proper drizzling consistency.

If glaze is too sweet for your taste just split open the scones while they're warm and eat them with some butter and jam!