Calabacitas - wtf are they?

You know how some grocery stores set up samples and tasting stations periodically? Well, about a week ago The Boyfriend encountered one of these samplers being set up, displaying tortilla chips and a couple of soups/dips to go with them. The focus was the chips, as that was what the store was selling, and the soup/dip had been made by the woman setting up the stand. After sampling a chip with this dip she had made, The Boyfriend was quick to denounce the corn chip as being just fine and dandy but that it was nothing compared to the side. Somehow, through his magical powers of asking nicely, he convinced the woman to share the recipe... Which she for some reason happened to carry printed on a small slip of paper.

The story didn't seem entirely plausible, but The Boyfriend did, in fact, show up with a slip of paper and telling me that we must try the recipe it held.

I asked him to explain it to me, and he said it had corn and squash and was like a chunky dip or a soup or something. That was helpful.

At the top of the paper the recipe was titled 'Calabacitas' - whatever that is - and so, it was off to the internets to consult.

Calabacita (pronounced kala-ba-Seat-a), in Spanish, literally means 'zucchini'. It is used to mean, more precisely, a New Mexican dish of (usually) squash, corn, and peppers. There are many variations, and it is often used as a tortilla topper, a side dish, or as the filling for another dish.

Apparently many traditional versions call for baking it, but this one is done entirely on the stove top. (In fact, I was able to do the whole thing in one cast-iron skillet, which made for easy clean-up - always a plus).

So, never having tasted it and only having a vague idea what it was supposed to look like, I read through the ingredients.

"This has hot peppers... and a half cup of cilantro..." I say, "you don't like cilantro."

He shrugged - this time he did. The plot thickens.

Well, the time came at last that I found myself with all the necessary ingredients, including fresh sweet corn from a road-side stand (doesn't produce always taste better when it comes from a cart by the side of the road?).

Here's the recipe, as given to me, with my notes in italics:

Ingredients (makes 8 servings):

3 Zucchini squash, diced medium

1 yellow squash, diced medium

1 med. onion - I used yellow, but any kind would work.

3 cloves garlic

4 med. tomatoes - I used small-ish heirloom.

2 ears of corn

1 chile pepper, Serrano or Jalapeno, diced w/seeds - I chose a Jalapeno, being the milder of the two.

1/2 cup chopped cilantro - even if you're not a cilantro fan, leave this in. I'll explain more later.

Olive oil

Salt & pepper to taste

Mexican cream or sour cream - I used regular sour cream. There was no measurement given here, so I eyeballed maybe 3/4 cup, and it turned out fine, but you can always add more at the end if you like.

Optional: shredded cheese to garnish (chihuahua cheese or muenster, mozzarella...) - I added halved cherry tomatoes at the end.

Method:

Toast tomatoes, 1/2 the onion, and the chile on a griddle until charred. For this step I roughly chopped the onion into a few big chunks, and cooked it with the chile on an ungreased cast-iron skillet over medium to med.-high heat until they had begun to char. Then I took them out of the pan and added in the tomatoes, quartered and flesh side to the pan, until they got a little blackened. Transfer this to the food processor and blend until almost smooth.

In the olive oil, sauté the remaining 1/2 onion, along with the garlic, until transparent, then add the tomato blend. Once it bubbles, add the squash and fresh corn kernels, cilantro, and sour cream. Let simmer over medium heat for about 30 minutes. For the corn kernels, you can either cut as close to the cobb as you can to get the largest possible kernels, or you can take just the outer half of the kernels and then run the backside of your blade up and down the cobb to press out the 'milk' - using the 'milk' of the corn will help thicken the sauce a little, as that's where the corn starch is, but is by no means necessary. As for the cilantro, my theory is that it's less prominent (and entirely un-soapy) in the finished dish because it's added now rather than at the end. I wouldn't omit it, because it does add to the dish, but it's not overwhelming even to cilantro-haters. Before serving, stir in the sour cream and top with cheese if you like. I also added some halved cherry tomatoes for a little brightness.

After the 30 minutes of cooking the liquid had reduced a fair amount, leaving it more chunky-dip than 'soup'. Had I cooked it covered it would have had more liquid at the end, which, depending on how you want to use it, might be a good thing.

Since it had been served in the sample as a go-along with tortilla chips, that's how I planned to use it.

These are Ann Arbor Tortilla Factory chips, and I would be amiss if I didn't mention them. These are, in my humble opinion, the best chips around - even if I could make really good corn chips, I would buy these instead. They use no preservatives, no trans fats, and are careful to only use non-GMO corn to make these stone-ground flakes of heaven. For anyone living outside of Ann Arbor, I'm sorry. I encourage you to call the factory and ask if they'll ship to you.

(Note to self, I should apply for a marketing position...)

Back to the calabacita, I added a healthy dose of salt, some fresh cherry tomatoes from the garden, and stirred it all together before taking a big scoop on a tortilla chip.

Holy sweet goodness... the corn really shines in this, and the entire thing is just one big compliment of flavors. Nothing is overwhelming (the heat was by no means too much, nor was the cilantro), and it was perfect in combination with the saltiness and crunch of the chips. I stood over the stove, bag of chips in hand, eating straight out of the pan until I literally couldn't take another bite. It's tasty to the point of addictive, but it's hearty and filling and full of wonderful veggies at the same time - kudos to The Boyfriend for getting the recipe, and thank you to the mysterious grocery store lady! I absolutely loved this recipe, and will, without doubt, use it again.

¡Delicioso!

Pie crust, Plush toys, and The Perfect Boyfriend - it's been a busy day, but it's a good kind of tired

Let’s start with the pie, and how to nail the perfect crust on the first try:

*places hand over heart* I swear… I have never made a pie or piecrust before in my life. And trust me, looking at it ain’t nothing like eating it!

For a long while I've been thinking about pie crusts. Learning about it, reading about it, different recipes, methods, techniques, tricks, tips, so much that I've even been dreaming of making the perfect pie. When I mentioned some of this thinking to The Boyfriend, I suggested that I would probably need to just practice with something simple like an apple pie, and somehow this led to him volunteering to do the filling if I did the crust.
Let me just interject, here, that trying to work together in a kitchen and make room for varying opinions on recipe and taste is not an easy task that just any two people can do. That said, there is no one I'd rather have in the kitchen with me.

Since the dough for the crust had to chill before it could be used, that’s what I started on first.

For ages, now, I’ve collected and saved crust recipes from the pros, or that claim to be best, only to realize that the recipe differs very little from the last one I saved, which differs even less from the one before it. And they were all so basic – flour, fat, small amount of sugar, small amount of water… chill, roll, bake… why would some turn out so much better than others?
I’ve seen the Alton Brown pie crust episode, and read about flakiness in CookWise, and I’ve heard all about the importance of chilled butter, but things really started to make sense just recently when I was reading about the ‘pie making weekend’ hosted by The Pioneer Woman and taught by Clayvessel.
First, I read The Pioneer Woman’s taste-test of crusts made with the different types of fat. The winner, of course, was straight-up butter, so my hopes of some fancy combination or alternative being ‘the key’ were dashed. (I should note here that butter is great on its own but there are times when other fats might be called for, like if you plan to chill your dough a long time, using a little shortening or lard in with the butter will keep it more roll-able and soft).
Then I started looking around to see if Clayvessel had posted her recipe, and that’s when I found it. Pie Crust 101 – absolutely read this before attempting any crust. As she says, it’s less about the recipe and more about the technique. That’s what I was missing. All the recipes are similar, as long as they have the right ratio of flour to fat (2.5 parts flour to 1 part fat) it should all turn out okay, but if you take your properly proportioned dough and then roll it out on a floured surface, and dust it with flour so it doesn’t stick, all of a sudden you have the wrong amount of flour to fat.
Her solution? Rolling between to sheets of parchment paper – not only saving your dough, but making for easier cleanup and handy transportation of the dough to the pie pan without tearing. Absolute genius.
I didn’t stop reading there, though. I clicked on to her post Pie Revolution, which outlines one of her biggest pie-making issues (over-incorporation of fat into the flour when using a food processor instead of a pastry cutter) and links to a method which seems to solve those issues (while still using the fast, efficient food processor).

Where she pointed, I followed (seriouseats.com). There I found a fairly basic pie recipe, but which instructed to add only 2/3rds of the flour to the food processor with the cold cubed butter, then add the rest of the flour more towards the end of processing to avoid over-incorporation, and recommends incorporating the cold water in by hand with a rubber spatula, folding and pressing the dough until it comes together. This reminded me of CookWise’s description of flattening the pieces of butter so that when the butter melts, creating air pockets, they will leave behind larger flakes as opposed to crumbs.

I should note here, that if you have a pastry cutter and are only making a pie or two, use that and don’t worry about the food processor.

Alright, enough discussing this, let’s get down to business!

Ingredients:

12.5 oz (by weight) all-purpose flour
2 TBSP sugar
1 tsp kosher salt
2 ½ sticks unsalted butter, cut into ¼ inch pats (or smaller, mine were all over the place because I wasn’t using ‘sticks’ per se, and had to convert 20 TBSP into oz. and measure it)
6 TBSP cold water

Method:

I began by measuring and cutting the butter into chunks, then putting them into the freezer (because I was just about to use them, otherwise I’d have put them in the fridge) since they’d had a chance to warm up.
Then I measured all my other ingredients, including the water which I put in the fridge to stay cool. Then I proceeded:

In the food processor, combine 2/3rds of flour, the sugar and the salt with a quick pulse or two of the blades. Spread (try to break them up with your fingers a little) the chunks of butter evenly over the surface, and pulse until the flour has lots of little ‘pebbles’ of butter. Some of it may look a little sandy, but still some small lumps. Maybe 30 quick pulses. Pour in the other 1/3^rd of your flour and pulse it just 5-6 times. It still looked mostly like flour to me, more than dough, so don’t worry.
Transfer the ‘dough’ to a big bowl and drizzle the 6TBSP cold water over the top. With a rubber spatula, fold and press the dough over onto itself until it starts to come together. Again, I’ve never made crust before, and I kept worrying it was too dry and like it would never hold together. But I kept folding and pressing and folding and pressing and sure enough, it began to hold together. Already I could see the potential for flakiness.
Divide the dough in half, squeeze each portion into a ball-like shape, and then wrap snuggly in plastic wrap. Then press down some with the palm of your hand to flatten out the ball into a disk – this will make it chill through faster and more evenly, and also make it easier to get started rolling later.
Refrigerate at least 2 hours (and I presume up to 3-4 days) before rolling and baking.

To be continued…

_______________________________________________

During the two hours wait, a lot of things happened.

First, I made calabacitas for the first time. I’d never heard of it, never seen it, never tasted it, but I made it and it was fantastic, and will post the recipe and all its gloriousness tomorrow – I can’t believe I managed to fit so much into one day, I’m not even going to try to fit it all into one blog post.

Important enough to mention, however, is this:

Yes, that is a beanie baby/plush hybrid, encephalomegaly afflicted, monkey. No I am not a stuffed animal fanatic, but yes, I love it. I blame it on the fever.

My plan was to quietly place him around the house, moving him every couple of days, to see how long it would take The Boyfriend to notice. Unfortunately I never had a chance to do any location swapping, and he stayed perched atop the fridge like a gargoyle for awhile before anything came of it.

The Boyfriend thinks it’s creepy. I think that’s a very healthy reaction, but tried to dissuade him of it anyway by showing how soft and squeezable the monkey is.
I can’t disagree, though – sometimes the big eyes and that smile are just a little too much, like it could be a cold-blooded psychopath hidden beneath the soft plush exterior.

And its eyes have this way of always seeming to be looking at you...

But that’s all part of the little guy’s charm!

Maybe it’s a little like sweet and salty – sometimes cute and creepy are better together?

____________________________________

Alright, back to the pie. As I finished cleaning up from the calabacitas it had been almost long enough for the dough, and plenty of time to now get started on the filling.

I’ll say again that I’ve never made a pie before, and certainly never an apple pie, but I’ve seen so many recipes I am already filled with preconceived notions about whether the apples should be cooked first, whether or not to use a splash of lemon juice, how to go about adding flour or cornstarch, etc. – I tried to offer on occasional word of advice based on the things I thought I might know, but for the most part let The Boyfriend do his thing. While I had been so precise and careful with my crust, he, in contrast, took a more flowing approach of putting things together as it felt right. He’s good at cooking intuitively, and it wasn’t hard to trust him.

I peeled, cored, and roughly chopped about 5 apples (though 6 would have fit the crust a bit better). He'd chosen a mix of Braeborn, Pink Lady, and Gala.
They went in a pot on the stove, with a healthy dose of cozy-warm spices like cinnamon and nutmeg, plus a couple tsp of vanilla extract.
For the sugar, he eyeballed about 1 cup of light brown sugar, and maybe 2 TBSP of liquid barley malt – I didn’t see that one coming, but what a great idea!

Then he added a drizzle of good balsamic vinegar, a pinch of salt, and some flour for thickening, stirring it all to combine and letting it cook over low heat for maybe 20 minutes.

Smelled SO good! I never had grandmothers making me pies when I was little, but somehow the smell of apples cooking just is nostalgic, whether you actually have memories of it or not.


While he was cooking his filling, I rolled out my dough.

I unwrapped one of the disks and placed it between two sheets of parchment paper on the counter. At first it was pretty tough to roll, but as the disk got wider things got easier.
Roll from the middle out, rotating the entire parchment/dough sandwich as necessary.
When the dough has been rolled for a bit it gets to a point where it’s gripping the parchment so much it can’t really get bigger. Just peel the top parchment back, then lay it down on top of the dough again. Flip the whole thing over so the bottom parchment is now on top, and peel that back and lay it down again. Continue rolling. I had to loosen the parchment a few times to get my dough rolled thin enough.

The dough had seemed so dry when I’d put it in the fridge, but as the flour absorbed more of water during its chill, and as the butter softened slightly while I rolled, it became much more wet and sticky. With a dough this wet, flouring a surface for rolling probably wouldn’t have messed up the flour/fat ratio too badly, but when it came to transferring the dough into the pie pan I was so glad I’d used the parchment paper method. And when it came to cleaning up later – no flour all over everything.

I laid the bottom sheet, then moved on to rolling the top.

Oooooh, they meet at last – the prim and proper crust and the rebel-with-soul filling.

When I finished the top crust, I used a paring knife to cut a few openings in the top of the pie. You could make leaf shapes or teardrop shapes, or just slits to let out some of the steam.

I brushed the top with an eggwash (one egg, whisked up with about 1 TBSP water) and we put it in a 425f. oven on the middle rack.

Clayvessel’s recipe from her Pie Crust 101, which also happens to be an apple recipe, called for baking for 45 minutes before covering with aluminum foil and baking a further 15 until the filling was all bubbly, but I decided to keep a close eye on things, since her recipe called for uncooked apples.
After a half hour I rotated the pie to make sure it was cooking evenly, but then only let it go for another ten minutes. This finished the crust, and was enough for the apples due to their time spent in the pot.

Now the hardest part of pie making: waiting for it to cool.

It was still up in the air if it would be any good, and I kept telling myself it was okay if it was only so-so, I could live with so-so.

The moment of truth (can I get a drumroll, please?)....

Why... I do declare...

Can I get an Amen!?

The crust was flaky, sweet with butter, and tender around the edge but still sturdy enough on the bottom. I'm the first to say when something I've made doesn't turn out how I wanted, but the only complaint I have here is - I should've been a tad more thorough with the egg wash. Ha! That's my only complaint.

And the filling! Okay, so The Boyfriend can see a few things he would change next time - but the apples were cooked just right, and it was the right amount of sweetness. Adding cinnamon and nutmeg to an apple pie is nothing new, but the combination with the barley malt and vanilla all added up to something so warm and inviting. I don't think I've ever, in my life, enjoyed a slice of pie more than this. Maybe I'm a little biased, but I don't care, I'm sticking to my story.

We finished the evening with a slice of pie and ice cream, and one of our favorite board games to wrap up a truly wonderful day.

*Is content*

What a team we make.

Whisks - a very sleepy story

Let me tell you a little story. It's called: The Tale of Three Whisks.

Once upon a time, there was a metal whisk. This metal whisk was Old and Wise, and did its job better than anyone in all the land. All the forks were jealous, because the whisk got all the babes and all the glory, while they just slopped stuff over the side of the bowl trying to emulate him.

Then one day there came a new alien race of cookware - the Non-Stick Calphalon's! And where once the Wise Old Whisk was used, now he had been replaced by a plastic whisk. This plastic whisk made great friends with the kitchen appliances, as he was Gentle on their surfaces and kind, especially, to the now powerful Non-Stick Calphalon's.

This angered the Wise Old Whisk, because he could see beyond the Gentle Whisk's good intentions and seeming practicalities to the truth - he hardly did his job! He was weak, and lazy, and when sauces began to thicken (as so many sauces do), he'd give and bend beneath their weight! The Wise Old Whisk had to be sly, and very Clever indeed, to earn the respect of the kitchenware who once had revered him.

And so he devised a disguise, changing his face so no one would know. He painted tephlon-safe and heat-proof silicon over his strong and wiry frame, and like a hero in a phone booth his super powers began to show. The all powerful Calphalon's recognized his speed, his agility, and his strength immediately, and soon the other appliances understood as well - that the Gentle Whisk had been nothing but a cheap, lazy, useless excuse of a whisk.

Everyone loved the new, silicon-clad Clever Whisk, and sang him praises which rung ever so sweetly off his brightly-painted tines, creating ripples of love in everything he touched.

Did I mention I'm under the weather? Welcome to my brain, people. Turn back now or... never mind, it's already too late for you.

Anyway, if you got anything from that story it should be this - I looked freakin' everywhere for a whisk that would do what a whisk should do (be metal) but not scratch the surface of a non-stick pot (be plastic) that wasn't a flimsy piece of crap, and found nothing again and again. Then I went to the pharmacy to get some drugs - did I mention I'm ill? - and there, of all places, was this aura-glowing, angels-singing, heaven-opening silicon-coated whisk. Genius.

I have many a time considered myself a bit of a culinary MacGyver, making due with whatever I've got on hand -in some situations this works out quite well for me, but more often than not I find that having the right tool in the kitchen can make a world of difference. Like the first time I used a microplane instead of the small side of a box grater. Or that time I realized the difference between rolling pasta with a machine v.s. by hand. Or all of the times, past and future, where I've wanted to temper eggs, make an emulsion, or beat yolks only to be frustrated by a flimsy plastic whisk or a sloppy, not-enough-air-incorporating fork. Being resourceful and knowing how to make due with nothing but a paperclip and some Seran wrap is always a good skill to have, but having the right tool never hurt.

Peanut Butter and Jelly Cobbler - sometimes I'm a genius

You remember that post I made last week about Peanut Butter Cookies, and how the 'dough' reminded me of a crumble topping? Well, I'm following up on my idea to make a fruit crumble with a peanut butter topping. Simple enough for me to make while sick, and comfort-foody enough to make me feel a bit better.

Now, I don't mean to spoil the ending for you, but it was pretty amazing.

There it is, just out of the oven - look at all those hot, bubbly, overflowing juices! In the haze of my illness, I count the foresight to put a baking sheet under the ramekin before putting it in the oven as one of my most brilliant ideas ever.

I used a 50/50 mix of fresh raspberries and strawberries, because either of those would be my first go-to's for a classic PB&J sandwich.

Okay, tangent with me for a moment, here... (and yes, I'm using 'tangent' as a verb. You got a problem with that?)

In this instance, when I say 'fresh' berries, I mean 'not frozen in a bag' berries - not that I went and picked them myself. I've been noticing, however, the extent to which the word 'fresh' has been abused. It's as though all it ever means is 'not frozen', and sometimes it doesn't even mean that - I keep seeing pre-packed and preservative-packed things labeled as 'fresh'. It reminds me of skepticisms I had several years ago about foods being labeled 'organic', and how the standards seemed so low that nearly anyone could slap on the label 'organic' and sell their product for double the price. I digress.

But this is different... it isn't that we're trusting food labels, because I hope we're all level-headed enough to see past the big letters that say 'Made With Real Cheese' down to the word just below it: 'flavor'; but this... this is not just the misuse of a word for the purposes of advertising, this is the loss of a word! The word 'fresh' has died, lost it's original meaning, and now resembles something more like 'tasty' or 'good' in the contexts it's used in.

Okay, clearly this has been eating at me for awhile, so here's the thing that pushed me over the edge: The other day I was driving, listening to the radio, when this add comes on for Wendy's. It's boasting about their new 'wildberry frosties', and has what sounds like blond, scantily-clad teenage girls on a beach proclaiming how good the frosties are (did I mention this was on the radio? I'm just saying... this is what it sounded like). Then one of the girls says this: "It really tastes fresh, you can definitely tell the berries were just hand-picked," ... *cringe* This is where I wonder if the girl has ever tasted a hand-picked berry in her life, and where the logical part of me chimes in with unwavering certainty that Wendy's uses frozen berries. I know it's just an actress, and it's advertising, and normally I'm pretty okay with lies in marketing, but when it's so clear to me it hurts... it's not good advertising anymore! I like Wendy's (well, as far as fast food chains go), but this makes me like them a little less. Ouch.

Alright, that is a very long rant for a topic that probably doesn't deserve so many words, but there you have it. That's how I feel. I'm using the word 'fresh', and I'm putting a disclaimer that what I mean is 'not frozen'.

On a side note, the berries were quite tasty.

[/Tangent]

Back to the cobbler!

Mmm! Smells like peanut butter and jelly!

So here's what I did:

First I put the 'not frozen' berries in my ramekin (I specifically used a shallow one so that I could have a more PB&J like ratio of crumb to berries in each spoonful. This is serious business), and sprinkled over about a TBSP of sugar. I tossed it together a bit and let it sit to macerate.

On to the crumble:

I used the peanut butter cookie recipe as a baseline, only halved (which still turned out to be about twice as much as I needed - the ramekin was small, though. All the amounts will vary depending on the size of your dish).

Half a cup of peanut butter (natural, creamy)

1/4 cup brown sugar (dark)

2 TBSP granulated sugar (I did lesson the sugar from the amount used in the cookies, here, but I would definitely use even less next time - too sweet)

1 small egg

1/2 tsp. baking soda (I feel like this really helped make that crumbly texture)

1/2 cup finely chopped up roasted peanuts (to help dry it up a bit and add some texture)

When chopping up the peanuts you have a few options.

A. There's the fun (and therapeutic) way, where you put the peanuts in a zip-top bag, get all the air out (or else it'll burst) and then thwack it with a flat-bottomed pot or pan a few times.

B. Or there's the boring way, where you pulse it in the food processor a few times.

C. Then there's the normal person way, where you pour them onto a cutting board and chop to the desired consistency. Unfortunately I wasn't feeling well enough to do option A, so settled for C.

I sprinkled a hefty helping of crumble topping to the fruit, then added some more. The fruit wasn't visible when I was finished (again, I was going for a more classic ratio of peanut butter to 'jelly').

Remembering how quickly the cookies baked, I covered the whole thing with aluminum foil before inserting (on a baking sheet to catch the drips) into a 350f. oven, so the top wouldn't burn.

I let it go for maybe 20 minutes, then removed the aluminum foil (refer back to the bubbly goodness pictured earlier) and baked for another 15 or so.

Smells good. Looks good. But something's missing...

Aha! What every good PB&J needs: a cool glass of milk! You thinking what I'm thinking?

NOW we're talking!

Now, I know I said it in the first paragraph, but it bears repeating: this was pretty frickin' awesome. If I made it again I'd use significantly less sugar, and more chopped peanuts to keep the texture.

You could make it with pretty much any fruit you like, too - just think what jam or jelly you'd go for on a peanut butter and jelly sandwich.

Nom!

Under the weather, in bed, and between the pages

I'm sick. I've been sick. It's a long story that doesn't really need to be gone in to (which has never stopped me before, mind you), but I'll spare you this one time. The only pertinent point is, I feel awful - so awful that I can't even make myself soup to feel better. This morning, I had a plan. My day was etched out to include cleaning up the kitchen from the night before, a trip to the grocery store, and making something I could share with you all. However, I've been sick for awhile now, and even as I was formulating said plan I knew it would be difficult if not impossible for me, and not at all worth trying. What I needed (and need more of still) was rest.

And so, I scratched my laborious plans of shopping and cooking for something I could handle.

The other night over dinner The Boyfriend told me he had a cook book, one which had a lot of interesting and helpful information about how food and cooking works, and that if I were interested I could read it. What? I said, you have a cookbook? More than one, he told me. What!? Where were these 'cookbooks' he spoke of? Where was he hiding them and why had he kept them from me? The gall! I was astounded.

He led me into the kitchen, where he showed me, tucked away behind the dog treats, there were indeed cookbooks. As he pulled the book he'd been telling me about from its walled-off nook, I began to feel a flutter of excitement.

"This book is dedicated to everyone who has ever wondered "Why?" " - Shirley Corriher

The book of which he spoke was CookWise: the Hows and Whys of Successful Cooking, by Shirley Corriher.

Corriher has the perfect mix of classic French culinary training paired with expertise in biochemistry, endowing her with magical powers of knowing things like why acidity will keep fruit from oxidizing, or how if you refrigerate cut potatoes for 24 hours before baking them some of the starches turn to sugars and they'll end up browning and caramelizing better.

I'm under the impression that anyone who's a fan of Alton Brown (in fact, Corriher has made more than one appearance as a food-consultant on his show 'Good Eats') or who has read anything by Harold McGee, would love this book. In fact, I'm under the impression I will love this book. And that's why I'm gonna read it!

What better way to spend time, if not cooking or eating, than reading and thinking about cooking and eating? On top of gaining useful information, there's the added benefit that, just maybe, The Boyfriend and I could pick a recipe from the book and he could go out to do the shopping - I may feel like crap, but give me the right ingredients and I can still cook! Besides, I hear standing over the stove or oven while spiking a fever is good for the soul.

But, in the meantime... back to reading!

(Also, an interesting note, Corriher has a second book titled BakeWise, similarly information-packed and recipe filled)

Chinese Orange Chicken, and my new kitchen toy

Isn't it lovely? Almost as lovely as my shiny new 6-quart enameled Dutch oven!

Enter, Bessie LeRouge:

I'nt she perty?

Bessie arrived just days ago, at a healthy 13.4 lbs., and already I have dreams of her future. Ah, I can almost taste it: the beef bourguignon braising, crusty bread baking, doughnut deep-frying, and hearty stew simmering... what fun we'll have together!

But for now, baby-steps. She's resting now, after the exertion of helping me fry up that orange-chicken. In fact, while she's asleep...

*lowers voice to a whisper*

She's a Lodge brand enameled cast-iron Dutch oven. I did a fair amount of research before deciding what to get, and as far as I can see there are only a few downsides Bessie has to the insanely-more-expensive Le Creuset. Besides the fancy show-off name, Le Crueuset's Dutch ovens have a sharper corner between the bottom and the sides, which would help when braising meat, among other things. The Lodge's bottom edges are rounded pretty significantly, which may prove to be awkward from time-to-time.

Also, the Lodge comes with (although so do a lot of the more expensive ovens) a plastic knob on top that's only oven-proof up to 400f. This is easily fixed with either a metal drawer-pull from a hardware store, or a metal replacement knob offered by Le Creuset (and fits the Lodge just fine, aside from having the logo laser etched on it). Either option will make the Lodge oven-proof to any temp., just as a Dutch oven should be.

I've heard stories of the enamel chipping (though only on the outside, so it would be an aesthetic issue), but have read just as many reviews saying that the Lodge's enamel holds up just as well as the more expensive ones. I suppose this has a lot to do with how you handle it, and what kind of wear-and-tear is being put on it. I suggest if you plan to be rough with a Dutch oven to get one that's bare cast-iron instead of enameled.

Speaking of which, here are some of the reasons I chose enameled over bare:

A. I wouldn't have to season it, ever, and I'm a lazy.

B. If I were to make a sauce, or jam, or whatever, the sides would be easier to scrape down

C. having a lighter colored interior makes it easier to see the food - for instance, if you're making caramel (which you probably wouldn't do on bare cast iron, either) and you're waiting for the sugar to turn golden, you're not going to see it in a black-bottomed pan.

and D. I've heard little to no downsides with things like braising, developing a good fond, etc. in comparison with cast-iron

Oh, and did I mention it's pretty? Very important.

Now, I know you all keep scrolling up to look at the Orange Chicken (or scrolling down to see when I get to the good bits of this post), so I'll bore you no longer.

I found the recipe, and followed the instructions of, Local Kitchen, but the recipe originated at http://blogchef.net/. I didn't make any changes, so I'll just leave you with the links - http://blogchef.net/orange-chicken-recipe/ or http://localkitchenblog.com/2011/03/27/chinese-orange-chicken/ - you can copy/paste if the hyperlink doesn't work for you.

Pretty much all the ingredients are things you probably already have on hand, and you don't need any special equipment (I used my new Dutch oven to do the frying in, and a spider-strainer to fish out the chicken from the oil, but a deep sauté pan and a slotted spoon would work just fine). It's such an easy recipe to follow, and the results are pretty amazing. The only change The Boyfriend and I could think of was to use a little less orange zest - the recipe calls for the zest of an entire orange, which, when you have a small-grapefruit sized navel orange, is a little much. Adjust as you feel necessary, but it was still delicious.

Quick, easy, inexpensive, and perfect for sharing: Peanut Butter Cookies made without flour or butter - intrigued?

*drool*

I love peanut butter. I love it in all its iterations, I think - peanut butter and jelly, peanut butter on toast with honey, peanut butter on a banana or apple, peanut butter straight off the spoon... peanut butter cookies are no exception. And yet, somehow, I've never made them before.

Normally when I get an idea I look around at dozens of different recipes, until I feel like I understand the basics, then I take the things I like from different ones and put them together. Sometimes, especially if it's particularly detailed or complicated, I'll follow a recipe exactly the first time or two and then make adjustments as I feel necessary. Here, however, I did no looking around. I found the recipe from Joy the Baker (though it's originally from The Gourmet Cookbook), and knew this was the one I had to try.

Unlike virtually every other cookie or cookie-like recipe out there, these are made completely without flour or butter. It's just 4 ingredients (5, if you add chocolate on top, or a dollop of jam) and super-simple to make. This fit the bill not only for my level of competence, but also for my intended use of the cookies: to share with a room full of hungry board-gamers. All the ingredients worked out to be about twenty five cents a cookie. If you walk up to someone and hand them a quarter there isn't much they can do with it - twenty-five cents doesn't even buy a newspaper anymore. But hand them a cookie, and their whole day just got a little brighter. That's a well spent quarter, if you ask me.

Peanut-Butter Cookies

(from The Gourmet Cookbook)

1 cup all-natural peanut butter, smooth or chunky (the natural stuff will hold together better - I also wonder if the recipe wouldn't work with almond or other  nut-butters)

1/2 cup granulated sugar

1/2 cup packed brown sugar (I recommend dark brown, if you have it)

1 egg

1 tsp baking soda

Method:

Preheat the oven to 350f. and grease up a baking sheet (or two - it says the recipe makes ~24 cookies, but they're pretty small. My batch only made 20, so your mileage may vary).

In a stand mixer, or with a handheld, blend the peanut butter and sugars until thoroughly combined.

Add the egg and baking soda and mix again for another couple minutes.

At this point my 'dough' looked very crumbly:

And I couldn't help but think: peanut butter crumb topping? What about *gasp*... PB&Fruit crumble!? Stay tuned, people, stay tuned.

Right, back to the cookies. Squeeze small fistfuls of the dough in your hand, rolling into small balls. Again, the recipe says it should make two dozen, so about the size of a cotton ball each.

Space them out on a cookie sheet with at least a half inch between them, and then go around and press a criss-cross pattern onto the tops with the back of a fork.

Bake for 10 minutes, or until the edges start to darken only slightly. Let them cool (they're pretty mushy while they're hot) for a few minutes before diving in.

These cookies are surprisingly good for a four ingredient fix - they're firm on the outside, soft in the middle, and taste like sweet peanut buttery goodness. They're a little delicate and dry, but depending on your preference that may not matter. Maybe not the world's best PB Cookies out there, but they're tender, and tasty, and it was a force of will not to eat them all before taking them to the hungry hoard of gamers. Oh, peanut butter, what wonders you possess.

Crusty Bread and Classic Basil Pesto - appreciating the simple things

Making homemade bread and pesto may not sound like a simple endeavor, but I assure you it can be.

I feel like I need a disclamer here, because I do enjoy the process of mixing and kneading dough, being covered in flour up to my elbows (and beyond), letting it rise, and knowing when I've finished that I have a loaf of bread packed full of my time and caring. This recipe requires very little time and effort, but still yealds decent results. It's no muss, no fuss; no mess, no stress; no pain... still gain. Okay, enough with the rhyming, I mean it.

...Anybody want a peanut?

Okay, moving on. (For those of you who got the Princess Bride reference, *highfive*)

This easy and crusty no-knead bread recipe comes from Artisan Bread in Five Minutes A Day, which looks like an awesome book for anyone interested in making simple and fantastic bread, but is, unfortunately, not a book I own. I first found this recipe from IvoryHut's post, which I highly recommend reading.

I changed things only slightly, by halving the recipe and adding some whole wheat flour to boost the nutrients a bit. Here's what I did:

Bread Recipe

(adapted from Artisan Bread in Five Minutes A Day)

3 cups all purpose flour

1/4 cup whole wheat flour

3/4 TBSP dry yeast

3/4 TBSP kosher salt

1 1/2 cup warm water (tap is fine)

Pour the warm water over the yeast and salt in a very large mixing bowl. Let it sit for a few minutes for the yeast to do it's thing, then go ahead and pour all the flour in. Stir (wooden spoon works well, here) until it is thoroughly combined. It'll be really shaggy at first, but just keep going until there aren't any dry spots left. Cover the bowl lightly with plastic wrap and let it sit for about 3 hours. That's it - no 24hour resting and rising this time.

The dough will puff up really big (be sure it's a really BIG bowl), then deflate a little, then you can put it in your fridge to use over the next few days or use it right away. Because it expands so much, you'll wind up with quite a bit of dough - just tear off a chunk the size you need to make a loaf, or rolls, or whatever.

When you're ready to make your loaf, pull off a chunk the size you need (softball?) and form a ball (or oblong shape, if you like) tucking the dough under itself to create a smooth surface. This stuff is super-sticky at this point, so flour your hands liberally. Set the dough on a plate or cutting board dusted with flour, corn meal, etc. and let it sit for ~40 minutes.

Preheat your oven to 450f, with a pizza stone, baking sheet, or cast iron skillet inside on the middle rack and a baking pan or rimmed baking sheet on the rack below it.

sprinkle a little flour (or cornmeal) over the top of your loaf and then cut a couple diagonal or criss-crossing slits in the top, about 1/4'' deep - this is to help the dough expand as it bakes, plus it looks nice once it's done.

Once the oven is fully pre-heated, carefully slide your dough onto/into your (in my case) cast iron skillet, and pour ~1 cup of water into the baking sheet below it. Close the oven door. The steam will help give the bread a nice crust.

Baking time will vary depending on the size and shape of your loaf, but the internal temperature should be about 190-200f. and the top of the loaf should look golden. My loaf took about 35 minutes, but was a little on the small side.

If you're anything like me, you'll probably spend the next fifteen minutes bouncing up and down and wringing your hands together in anticipation of slicing into your freshly baked bread. Do your best to let it cool a bit before cutting - or do what I did and make pesto! 

So, I had a bunch of basil and some pine nuts left over from the tomato-basil pesto I made the other day, and figured what better way to use it than in a simple, classic, Basil and Pinenut Pesto?

Pesto

ingredients (these are approximate, as I kind of just threw everything into the food processor)

1 1/5 cups lightly packed fresh basil

1/4-1/2 cup lightly toasted pine nuts

1 head roasted garlic (entire bulb, oven roasted)

1/2 - 3/4 cup fresh grated Parmesan

Extra-virgin olive oil, as needed

Salt, to taste (Kosher)

Method

In your food processor, combine all except olive oil and salt. Pulse a few times, then set it on high and drizzle in olive oil until you get the consistency you want. You may need to scrape down the sides of your food processor a couple times. Do a taste test, and salt as needed.

Note: A fun way to brighten it up might be to zest/juice a little bit of fresh lemon into the pesto. I haven't tried it, but I think I will next time.

Now for the moment of truth!

After a half hour, I sliced into the bread to reveal a soft, still-warm interior beneath its (surprisingly) hard crust. The crumbs resulting from said crust had no intention of staying on or anywhere near the cutting board, so beware while slicing it. My loaf didn't have as much rise as I'd hoped for, and didn't result in the 'open crumb' style I was expecting from reading other's experiences, but that may have to do with the addition of whole wheat flour.

I spread on a hearty spoonful of pesto and sunk my teeth into crispy/chewy/warm/tender deliciousness. Mmm - who says simple and rustic can't be wonderful?

Need I say more?

This bread would be great with a soup or stew, or warmed up and eaten with a pat of butter, or jam. It's a little too crusty to be the kind of loaf you'd just tear into, but if you like a crunch to your bread this recipe will definitely do the trick.

(Update: the next day the crust had softened to be much chewier and less crumbly - definitely tear-into-able)

Project Pizza: homemade skillet pizza with tomato-basil pesto sauce

In beginning this blog, I think it's only fitting for my first food topic to be on something new and uncharted for me. In this case: Homemade Pizza. I've often considered attempting this one, but always back down with excuses like: 'but it's so easy to order one!', and 'besides, how could my first try ever live up to the pizzeria standards my taste buds have come to expect?'.

All fears and excuses aside, though, I knew it had to happen someday - and that someday was now. With bunches of fresh tomatoes from the garden, and a brand new (pre-seasoned) cast iron skillet waiting to be broken in, it took only seconds for my master plan to resolve in my mind.

First up: roasted tomato-basil pesto.

Roasted Tomato-Basil Pesto

ingredients:

1 1/2 cups sun dried or oven-dried tomatoes (grape/cherry variety)*

1 large bulb (yes, whole head) of garlic, roasted**

1/2 cup lightly toasted pine nuts

3/4 cup packed-down fresh basil leaves

1 cup grated Parmesan, fresh if you have it

extra virgin olive oil (it doesn't have to be too fancy, but try not to use the cheap stuff here)

salt and pepper to taste

(Note: I meant to use a dash of balsamic vinegar, but forgot entirely - whoops!)

*For the tomatoes:

I took a bunch of cherry and grape tomatoes from the garden and sliced them in half (length-wise for the grape), then laid them on a baking sheet skin-side down. Now, I did this two ways on a couple pans, though either way would work fine on its own. First was to turn the oven down to it's lowest temp (185-200 degrees F. usually) and bake them, rotating every half hour to an hour, until they start to look shriveled and gummy. Method 2 was to toss the sliced tomatoes in olive oil, salt, pepper, and finely minced garlic before spreading them on the pan and roasting at 300f. for a couple hours, rotating every half hour, until shriveled and turning brown around the edges. Either way is fine, or you can just use store bought sun-dried tomatoes - if they're dry packed soak them in olive oil for a bit, if they come packed in oil use it in your pesto for the added flavor.

**For the garlic:

To roast a head of garlic, take the entire head and cut off the top end with a sharp knife, exposing all the cloves inside. Drizzle with a healthy dose of olive oil, wrap in aluminum foil (pinching it shut at the top) and bake on a baking pan (or in a muffin tray) at 400f. for 30-40 minutes. They'll be super hot when they come out, so be sure to let them cool, and then you can pretty much just squeeze the cloves out of their shells like butter!

On to the pesto:

Add all ingredients except oil and salt/pepper to your food processor, and pulse it a few times. Then turn it on high and let it blend while drizzling olive oil in, slowly. Watch the texture/consistency until it looks right. I made mine pretty thick, but you may want yours thinner, and more sauce-like. You might have to stop from time to time to scrape down the edges of your food processor. Once you're close to the consistency you're looking for, do a taste test and add salt and pepper as needed.

Voila!

This stuff has pretty intense flavor - if I were using it as a straight-up pesto I think I'd thin it out with a bit more oil, but as it is it can be added to sauces/marinades/doughs/whatever to add some punch. I used it as the base of my pizza sauce.

Pizza Sauce

ingredients:

1/4 cup tomato-basil pesto

1/4 homemade or store-bought pasta sauce (yeah, I used the stuff from the jar)

1 big handful of green olives (mine were marinated in garlic and herbs, but whatever kind you like is fine)

Method:

Blend all the ingredients in the food processor until smooth.

Pizza Crust - this always seems like the scary part, for me. How to get a good crust.

(adapted from HappinessInAPot, and using the skillet method from Vaughn Tan's article in The Atlantic)

ingredients (enough for 1 crust, but if you wanted to double it and save half the dough in the fridge I'm sure it would last at least a few days):

1 1/8 tsp instant or rapid-rise yeast (or about 1/2 of one of those small packets)

1/2 cup warm water

1/2 TBSP honey

1 cup all-purpose flour (though I'm sure you could substitute)

1/4 cup bread flour or whole wheat flour

1 TBSP olive oil (plus a little for greasing a bowl)

1/2 tsp salt

optional, for flavoring the crust: crushed red pepper flakes, grated parmesan or other cheese (asiago would be nice!), ranch dressing powder, cajun spice seasoning, etc.

Method:

In a cup or bowl, stir honey into warm water until thoroughly combined. Pour over dry yeast, and let it sit until it starts to get foamy on top (about 5-10 minutes). Once it's good and foamy add the salt and olive oil, stir.

In a seperate bowl mix together the different flours. Add maybe 2/3 of the flour to the yeast mixture, and stir until it starts to come together, adding more flour as needed. Once the dough pulls away from the sides of the bowl and holds together in a ball, turn it out onto a floured work surface and knead, adding flour as you go, until you have a very elastic but not sticky dough. You may or may not need all the flour - if you don't use it all, save the extra for dusting your cutting board with later.

Place the dough in a lightly oiled bowl and cover with plastic wrap for about an hour while it rises. Once it's doubled in size it's ready to use.

When the dough is almost done rising, get all your ingredients sliced and ready on a plate so you can top quickly.

Preheat your oven to 450f.

Give the dough one good punch in the middle to de-gas it, then peal it out of the bowl (it shouldn't stick with the oil) and lay it down on a lightly floured surface (only let the flour touch the one side of the dough - this will be the bottom). Stretch the dough by lifting it and rotating in the air, holding on to the edges and letting the weight of the dough pull itself. Or, if you're brave, you can try throwing it in the air like the pros - I did this several times and managed not to let the dough land on the floor, but I can't say I recommend it. Stretch the dough to about 10-12 inches round (my skillet is 12'', so that's what I went for, but it might be safe to go a little smaller than that). Lay the dough flat on a lightly floured cutting board (or pizza peel if you have one) and go around the edges making sure they're raised up a bit so as to make a nice crust.

Before you start topping, turn the heat on high under your dry, un-greased skillet. Any oven-safe skillet should work, but cast iron is best if you have it. The article says to pre-heat the skillet for 8-10 minutes, but depending on what skillet you use, and if you have gas or electric, that may be too long. Mine was perfect between 6-8 minutes. If you feel like it's pretty blazing hot before the 8 minute mark, I would say stop there so you don't get a blackened crust.

While the skillet is heating up, top your pizza.

First the sauce (I only needed about 1/4 cup of what I'd made): spread with the back of a spoon or spatula right up the edge of your raised crust. I'm always surprised when I see the pros making pizza at how little sauce it looks like on the dough, but it always turns out to be plenty once it comes out of the oven. If you over-sauce it, it may get soupy, so be careful.

After the sauce add whatever toppings you'd like - in my case this was sliced heirloom tomatoes (again, from the garden), fresh mazzerella cheese, and fresh torn-up basil leaves. A 'margarita' or caprese-style pizza.

Brush the outer rim of crust with olive oil, and if you're using any crust seasonings (garlic, cheese, cajun spices, etc.) sprinkle and lightly press them onto the crust now.

Alright, now comes the tricky part. Give your cutting board a jiggle to make sure the dough slides easily on the floured surface. Then lift the cutting board and carefully (a second pair of hands would have been awesome here) transfer the pizza into your blazing hot skillet. Immediately turn off the heat on the skillet, and place it in the oven for 7-8 minutes.

Once the time is up, reach in and turn the skillets handle so it's pointing the opposite direction, just to make sure it's baking evenly, and turn your oven from bake to broil. I turned on the oven light at this point so I could keep an eye on it and make sure things didn't get too burnt. You want to see the cheese getting brown and bubbly, but be careful not to char the crust. I had mine under the broiler for about 2-3 minutes.

Remove from the oven (carefully!) and let it rest for a couple minutes before sliding out onto a cutting board or plate.

If you're wondering why it looks so deformed, it's because I botched sliding it into the skillet. Toppings were slipping everywhere and the dough was getting caught on things - this is why it's so important to flour your cutting board, and would be useful to have help guiding the pie into the pan.

Luckily for me, though, looks aren't everything.

Just as I was finishing admiring my cast-iron skillet's inaugural pizza, The Boyfriend came home with stomach a'rumbling. We cut the pie into quarters, and for the first few bites there was nothing but guttural noises of approval. Then, as our composure returned, he said to me: "wow - this is better than Anthony's" - very high praise, indeed! The man loves Anthony's Pizza so much, he's gotten to know the owner and half the delivery guys who work there. Ha! I thought, Project Pizza, a success!

Although I was a little astonished by his compliment at first, this pizza really was amazing. The flavor was incredible, which is something I've always found a little lacking in similarly topped pies. The intensity of the tomatoes, I'm sure, can be attributed to the pesto.

The entire pizza was gone in record time, leaving us in a haze of tasty satisfaction, basking in the magical after-glow of a good slice.

This method for the crust was so simple and worked so well I'm sure I'll use it again. I can hardly wait to play around with different topping combinations - anything I want, however I want it! That's the way pizza should be.

Molto saporito!

Leaving the kitchen and entering the blogosphere

Well, not leaving so much as taking it with me.

The idea of food blogging has been simmering in my mind for a good half of a year, now. Hours spent browsing tastespotting.com, scrolling through David Lebovitz and The Pioneer Woman (among others), drooling over images and bookmarking recipes - but that's only half of it. The time spent cooking up my own kitchen wonderfuls (and of course, the more-than-occasional kitchen disasters), and seeing how I could combine my hobby of photography with my love of food are the real reasons that have led me here. What gave me that extra little push was when my mom handed me, from a magazine she found, a bumper sticker reading: 'Love people. Cook them tasty food.' I read this and thought, absolutely, that's what I should do! For me, sharing food can be just as good as eating it. Better, even! Well... lets not get too carried away.

It's always difficult for me to figure out new beginnings. Doing something is never all that difficult, it's the getting started where I get stuck. I believe the term 'procrastinator' applies here. I am, however, a strong believer in trying new things, and pushing the boundaries of my comfort zone. Like trying a new recipe I'm not sure I can handle - sometimes it doesn't turn out as I hoped, and my heart deflates for a moment as I stand in the midst of my post-apocalyptic looking kitchen - but then I begin to see my mistakes, and learn from them, and soon my mind is brooding on all the improvements that could be made the next time. These are the experiences I learn the most from. Of course, things going right is always nice, too.

So here I am, hoping for the best. I love people, and tasty food, and am eager to share my (glorified) kitchen adventures!

~Willow