Posted by Anita on 08.15.06 9:24 PM
I don’t talk about it much, but I’m rarely in the mood for breakfast foods in the morning. For years I tried to find pleasure in cultured boutique yoghurts, angelic buttermilk waffles, and steel-cut oats with berries… to no avail. Even my breakfast dream team — chilaquiles, corned-beef hash, eggs benedict, the sausages at Lola — leans to the savory side.
Finally, I just had to admit it: I’m not a breakfast gal. Now that I’ve made peace with this awkward reality, I’m much happier. In a pinch, I’ve been known to make a morning meal of dinner leftovers. But when time allows, I often eat what most people would consider lunch.
As I cleaned out the fridge last night, I noticed a couple of strips of bacon languishing all alone. I’d also bought a small bag of avocados at Trader Joe’s, and then turned right around and bought three more at the farmer’s market — oops. And I was making salsa this morning for tonight’s dinner, so I had an excuse to hijack a slice of heirloom tomato. Add two slices of toasted Acme pain de mie, and you’ve got yourself a midsummer B-A-T sandwich, with a side of leftover mac salad. Perfect breakfast chow, no?
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* Edited to add: We removed the link to the Cook’s Illustrated macaroni salad recipe in July 2008 in protest of their bullying tactics.
breakfast, recipes
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Posted by Cameron on 08.14.06 4:32 PM
I get a little goofy when it comes to braising, and a lot goofy around variety meats. So when I saw oxtails on sale at our local pan-Asian supermarket for $2.50 a pound on Saturday, I grabbed an armload of whole, skinned tails out of the butcher’s case and ran up and down the aisles cackling like Vincent Price while blood dripped on the floor and everyone stared at the crazy gweilo.
At least, that’s what I wish I did. The staring part was true, but that happens whenever I go to 99 Ranch because I’m the only bald white guy in there.
I like Mario Batali’s oxtail ragu recipe out of The Babbo Cookbook. The picture is of my five pounds salted, peppered oxtails ready to be dredged lightly in flour and thoroughly browned in olive oil in a dutch oven on the stovetop. When the meat was seared, I set it aside on a platter and dumped some thickly sliced onions into the hot oil. When they were brown, the meat went back in with some red wine, Basic Tomato Sauce (Mario again), chicken stock, and thyme. Cover tightly and into the oven at 300 degrees for four hours or so. The cookbook says 375 degrees for 90 minutes, but that’s too hot and not near long enough.
When all was loosey-goosey and falling apart, I pulled out the oxtails and picked off the meat. At every moment I was attended by my faithful dogs, overcome as they were by love and devotion for me. The loose meat went back into the cooking liquid and thence into the fridge. Tuesday I’ll boil it down and freeze it for low-impact dinners.
cookbooks, cooking, Italian, meat, recipes, shopping
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Posted by Anita on 08.11.06 8:34 AM
This post has been brewing for a while. Originally it was going to be called “What’s wrong with my custard?” or “Gourmet gone bad” or something along those lines.
Early in the week, I attempted to make this luscious-sounding caramel ice cream with flaky sea salt from the July 2006 issue of Gourmet magazine. I made a deep caramel, I added it to a custard that I thickened to a precise 175 degrees and then strained through my finest seive. I cooled it in a metal bowl over an ice bath, then moved the chilled custard to the fridge overnight to temper.
The next night, I hauled out the trusty Cuisinart ice-cream maker, and poured in the custard to freeze during dinner. I can’t even remember what we ate… I was so distracted by the thought of this dessert. So you can imagine my disappointment when I peeked into the freezer bowl 30 minutes later and found nothing more than some very chilly custard. Hmm…
I let it keep on spinning for another half hour, until the chiller bowl started to be not very chilly. I spatula’d the whole thing back into the storage container, and vowed to try again tomorrow.
Two nights ago, I tried it again, with identical results. I decided that this was as frozen as it would get in the ice-cream maker, scraped the contents into the storage toot, and put it into the freezer to try and firm it up.
Last night: Ta-dah! It wasn’t really ice cream, but it definitely was frozen to a desserty consistency. And really, the serving shown in the photo was probably excessive — Cameron even said that one scoop would be plenty for a dinner party. And that’s probably good, since it didn’t make very much ice cream.
cooking, dessert, recipes
2 Comments »
Posted by Anita on 08.11.06 8:15 AM
I figure we drink enough foofy cocktails that we should be able to post one every Friday. Let’s see if we can keep it up…
Today’s cocktail, like so many we love right now, comes to us courtesy of Murray Stenson, bartender to the stars at Seattle’s Zig Zag Cafe. This is a good drink for folks who like their cocktails on the sweet side. For the record, Cameron isn’t one of them…
Canton Cocktail (aka Chinese Cocktail)
2 oz. Jamaican rum — Murray suggests Appleton VX
1 teaspoon Maraschino liqueur
1 teaspoon Cointreau
1 teaspoon quality grenadine
1 dash angostura bitters
Place all ingredients into a cocktail shaker with ice, and stir. Strain into a chilled cocktail glass.
If you can’t find good grenadine, it’s easy to make your own. Buy a bottle of unsweetened pomegranate juice (Trader Joe’s sells a nice one), heat a cup of it over medium-low heat until it’s reduced by half, and then add sugar to taste — usually about 1/2 cup — and stir until dissolved. Cool before using in cocktails or Shirley Temples.
Drink of the Week, drinks, recipes
3 Comments »
Posted by Anita on 08.09.06 8:27 AM
Steve’s comment on the hash post got me thinking of chilaquiles, one of my favorite foods. I love ’em so much, I’ll eat them in just about any way they’re prepared, from haute to humble, rojos or verdes.
As I nodded off to sleep last night, I remembered that I had some leftover Flor de Junio beans in the fridge, and probably a small handful of good, thick tortilla chips. This morning, with no time to make salsa from scratch, I reached for a small can of the pretty-good stuff: Embasa salsa verde. I like it better than jarred salsas because it actually tastes like tomatillos, not citric acid, and you can see chunks of white onion in it. Alas, no crema on hand, but luckily a new round of queso fresco.
If you love chilaquiles but don’t ever make them at home, you should start. It’s a really simple process: For a single serving, put about a quarter cup of smooth-ish salsa in the bottom of a medium skillet — red or green, as you like it. Let it heat until it’s warmed through and sizzling, then add a handful of chips. Depending on their size and flatness (or lack thereof) you may need to break them up a little, and possibly add some more sauce. You don’t want them dripping, but you do want a good coating on all surfaces. Toss the chips with the salsa until heated through, then top with cheese: Queso fresco is good, as is any Mexican melting cheese, or even Monterey Jack in a pinch. Drizzle with crema, or a little sour cream thinned with milk, and cover for a couple of minutes until the cheese melts and the crema settles. (You can also wait and add the crema when you plate them; Chilaquiles is really an idea more than a recipe, and even in Mexico there are as many ways to make ’em as there are cooks.) Take them to the plate, consider topping with some chopped white onion, a little chopped cilantro, or nothing at all. I like ’em served with soft-scrambled eggs, or a side of homemade refritos.
UPDATE: As if this post wasn’t already enough of a Rancho Gordo advertisement… I sit down to eat my chilaquiles, and who do I find in Chron’s food section? Yup, Steve himself, waxing eloquent about heirloom beans. Talk about your synchronicity…
breakfast, cooking, Mexican, recipes
2 Comments »
Posted by Anita on 07.09.06 6:18 PM
On Saturday, we harvested our first bergamot from the new tree. It was very light and probably overripe, so I didn’t think it’d be worth juicing it, and frankly we have plenty of bergamocello (from commercial bergamots) this year, so no need for the zest. I decided to make a quarter-batch of Lucy’s belle-mere’s Vin d’Orange with it.
I also found green walnuts at the Alemany Farmers Market, and bought 4 pounds of them to make nocino. It turned out I had a few extras, so I also made a small batch of Paula Wolfert’s vin de noix.
Now I just have to wait 40 days to find out how they come out.
drinks, farmers markets, preserving & infusing, recipes
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Posted by Anita on 04.24.06 4:41 PM
In honor of spring finally springing in my hometown, and also Arbor Day (April 28) and Green Day (no, not the band — Japan’s Midori no hi, April 29), let’s investigate all manner of green soups.
Here are a few I came up with, off the top of my head:
– cucumber gazpacho
– new mexico green chile soup
– avocado soup
– pea soup (fresh spring peas or split peas)
– posole verde
– cream of asparagus
– fava bean & artichoke
– herb soups like sorrel, watercress, etc.
– cream of spinach or broccoli
You could even do a chilled melon dessert soup.
But, in the end, I decided to make my friend Jan’s Creamy
Pea, Lettuce & Leek Soup with Lemon Crème Fraiche and Chive Oil.
Not only did I forget to take a photo, but neither did anyone at the Seattle party where this soup made its debut… so I can’t even poach one! Trust me, it was gorgeous. I’m so glad I was making it for a dinner party, or I might not have bothered with the creme fraiche or the chive oil — and they definitely made the dish much better.
cooking, recipes, Seattle, Soup o' the Fortnight
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Posted by Anita on 04.22.06 1:44 PM
I started out canning just to see how it was done, mostly dill pickles and pickled beets, and the occasional fruit preserve. Then I started pickling and preserving a few batches of produce from my friends’ gardens, as a way of helping them cope with overabundance — 2 years ago, in Seattle, it was a huge batch of brandied plums, and a batch of pickled serranos and carrots.
Last year was a tough year, as we were moving long distance from Seattle to SF, and living in a furnished apartment without access to our own kitchen gear. I did manage a very small batch of tomato-bourbon jam, and my first batch of nocino (green walnut liqueur).
Now I’m hooked: I preserve at home now mostly to get flavors I can’t get from retail products. And a lot of what I preserve ends up being holiday presents and hostess gifts.
I just took a marmalade class this past weekend with June Taylor, a local preserving maven — unfortunately, the citrus season is almost spent, but I may put up a batch of something simple, just so I don’t forget what I learned.
And we’re about to plant a bunch of fruit-bearing trees and plants with the express intention of preserving and infusing. It was fun coming up with all kinds of different plants, from trees to shrubs to vines to groundcover, that will give us something to eat. Most of our yard will be edible in one form or another.
As far as books go, I like Georgeanne Brennan’s The Glass Pantry, which you can get used online for about $2, and Linda Amendt’s Blue Ribbon Preserves. I just recently purchased Putting Food By, which many consider the bible of preserving, but I found the authors’ writing style horrifically pedantic… it set my teeth on edge and I slogged my way through it wondering what people see in this book. It is remarkably complete, so if you need a recipe for somethings really specific and unusual, it may be the only way to go (as ad-libbing in preserving is a definite no-no — you really want an expert to have sussed out all the biohazard stuff, and changing from one fruit or vegetable to another can throw that all out of whack).
cookbooks, drinks, preserving & infusing, recipes, Seattle
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Posted by Anita on 03.31.06 4:33 PM
I made the Cream of Cailiflower and Stilton Soup from Epicurious, replacing the stilton with Irish blue cheese. (I had found other Irish cauliflower-cheese soups elsewhere, but they didn’t sound as good.)
We served it with corned beef sandwiches.
It was delicious, and I can’t wait to have the leftovers for lunch!
cooking, recipes, Soup o' the Fortnight
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Posted by Anita on 01.30.06 4:01 PM
We ate a lot of soup in thailand… many were noodle soups, as one-dish meals, and we also had soup just about every night with dinner. Some of them were the hottest dishes of the evening!
Chiang Mai-Style Curry Noodles (Kao Soi) is actually more like a brothy noodle dish than an actual soup, but I loved them so much on the trip that I feel compelled to include a recipe.
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Update:I finally managed to scare up all the ingredients I needed to make Kao Soi! I pounded the curry paste this morning (and have the bright-yellow turmeric-stained digits to prove it).
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Update again: The kao soi turned out a bit too thick. It was nice, but it definitely didn’t qualify as a soup, or even “soup noodles”, so I thinned it with about 1 cup of chicken broth before refrigerating the leftovers.
At breakfast this morning, it was just like I wanted it.
cooking, recipes, Soup o' the Fortnight, Thai, travel
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