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Loaf du Jour
Mar. 15th, 2014 11:39 am
Today I'm making bread out of the third and final ball of last weekend's dough. The first loaf went into the toast you see there. Close to the first time I've made toast out of home made bread -- usually such a rarity it's gone before it's cold, or else it's scones, which don't toast well. The middle ball went into a Chicago-style pan pizza (another first) mid-week. BJs' dough is sweeter, but other than that, mine was a pretty fair approximation of West Coast immitation-Chicago-style pizza. Anyway, it was noms and we ate the whole thing.
I'm also playing with a sort of intermediate version of scrambled eggs -- not as much ever-lovin' fuss as French-style scrambled eggs, these were, but still similarly rich and silky. So that's a win.
And even as I type this, the "Curt Phillips for TAFF" anthology zine should be done and out in the world, or reasonably soon thereafter. Get yours today, and Vote for Curt!
Not Actually Torta Rustica
Oct. 30th, 2013 04:44 pmOne of the things I had wanted to post here, as an aide memoire to myself, is this recently unvented recipe for torta-rustica-esqe quiche, a sort of riff on the wonderful torta rustica at Tweets Cafe in Edison, WA.
1 pie crust (made or bought -- I bought mine)
1 package sliced prosciutto
1 package hard salami
1 wedge Beecher's Flagship cheese
1 wedge Red Apple smoked gruyere cheese
1 wedge Dubliner cheese
Herbed feta cheese
fresh-cracked pepper
6-8 cloves garlic smashed
4 eggs
Half-and-half
Several sprigs fresh thyme
Pre-heat oven to 400°
Grate about half each of the three grateable cheeses. In the prepared, unbaked pie crust, layer the meats and cheeses and garlic thus:
Layer 1: sliced salami to cover
Layer 2: grated cheeses, crumbled feta, and garlic cloves generously distributed
Layer 3: prosciutto to cover
Layer 4: grated cheeses, crumbled feta, and garlic cloves generously distributed
Layer 5: mixture of salami and prosciutto to cover
Layer 6: grated cheeses, crumbled feta, and garlic cloves generously distributed
In a mixing bowl, whisk together 4 eggs until uniformly mixed, grind in black pepper to taste, add the leaves from the thyme, and then mix in a sufficiency of half-and-half to fill your pie shell. Fill your pie shell to just over the level of the top cheese layer.
Shove that puppy in the oven for 15-20 minutes. Lower oven temperature to 325° and continue baking for an additional 30 minutes or until crust golden brown and a knife inserted in the center pulls out clean.
Let cool 30 minutes. Nom that nommy thing.
1 pie crust (made or bought -- I bought mine)
1 package sliced prosciutto
1 package hard salami
1 wedge Beecher's Flagship cheese
1 wedge Red Apple smoked gruyere cheese
1 wedge Dubliner cheese
Herbed feta cheese
fresh-cracked pepper
6-8 cloves garlic smashed
4 eggs
Half-and-half
Several sprigs fresh thyme
Pre-heat oven to 400°
Grate about half each of the three grateable cheeses. In the prepared, unbaked pie crust, layer the meats and cheeses and garlic thus:
Layer 1: sliced salami to cover
Layer 2: grated cheeses, crumbled feta, and garlic cloves generously distributed
Layer 3: prosciutto to cover
Layer 4: grated cheeses, crumbled feta, and garlic cloves generously distributed
Layer 5: mixture of salami and prosciutto to cover
Layer 6: grated cheeses, crumbled feta, and garlic cloves generously distributed
In a mixing bowl, whisk together 4 eggs until uniformly mixed, grind in black pepper to taste, add the leaves from the thyme, and then mix in a sufficiency of half-and-half to fill your pie shell. Fill your pie shell to just over the level of the top cheese layer.
Shove that puppy in the oven for 15-20 minutes. Lower oven temperature to 325° and continue baking for an additional 30 minutes or until crust golden brown and a knife inserted in the center pulls out clean.
Let cool 30 minutes. Nom that nommy thing.
Small Eureka Moment
Aug. 14th, 2013 11:11 pmI've puddled around with trying to make a decent own dipping sauce for Trader Joe's gyoza, and never been quite happy with the result, but I think having knuckled under and finally added sugar, I may be closer to something like what I was wanting. Here, mostly for my own reference, and that of anyone else who may care, is today's recipe:
Pretty Good Dipping Sauce
1/4 C Soy Sauce
Juice of 1/2 good sized lime
2 heaping tsps minced garlic
1 tsp sugar
1 1/2 tsp Gourmet Garden Ginger Spice Blend (or comparable quantity fresh grated ginger, if you got it)
Whisk all ingredients together. Dip your damn' gyoza. Nom.
Pretty Good Dipping Sauce
1/4 C Soy Sauce
Juice of 1/2 good sized lime
2 heaping tsps minced garlic
1 tsp sugar
1 1/2 tsp Gourmet Garden Ginger Spice Blend (or comparable quantity fresh grated ginger, if you got it)
Whisk all ingredients together. Dip your damn' gyoza. Nom.
Another Promise - This One's For Jenn
Sep. 9th, 2012 10:28 amI thought I had already blogged a version of this salad/dressing recipe but now I can't find it, so I'm (re-?)posting for my own reference -- this time with adequate tagging!
Cilantro Cabbage Slaw with Asian Dressing
• 1/4 cup sesame seed
• (1/3 cup sliced almonds, or chopped walnuts, or hulled pistachios)
• 1/4 cup rice vinegar
• 2 teaspoons sugar
• 1 tablespoon minced garlic
• (1 teaspoon grated peeled ginger)
• 2 tablespoons toasted sesame oil
• 1/4 cup regular sesame oil
• Soy sauce
• (1 fresh serrano chile, finely chopped, with seeds)
• 1 small head Napa cabbage or green cabbage, finely chopped
• 1 bunch scallions, sliced
• ½ yellow onion, cut to small ribbons
• 1/2 cup coarsely chopped cilantro
• fresh ground pepper to taste
Parenthetical ingredients are optional. Liquid ingredient amounts are VERY approximate -- adjust to taste. But don't skimp on the cilantro. It's critical.
Toast nuts and seeds in oven on a cookie sheet. Mix oil and vinegar with sugar, a dash or two of soy sauce, garlic, and, if using, ginger and chopped peppers. Whisk to emulsify.
Toss together cabbage, scallions, onions, and cilantro, and dress with the oil & vinegar mixture. This salad actually benefits (imho) from being allowed to sit and percolate in the fridge *after* it’s dressed, so at this point you can cover and refrigerate until the rest of the meal is ready, or add the nuts,seeds, and pepper immediately, and serve.
If you have leftovers, save them. The dressed salad is even better the next day.
Cilantro Cabbage Slaw with Asian Dressing
• 1/4 cup sesame seed
• (1/3 cup sliced almonds, or chopped walnuts, or hulled pistachios)
• 1/4 cup rice vinegar
• 2 teaspoons sugar
• 1 tablespoon minced garlic
• (1 teaspoon grated peeled ginger)
• 2 tablespoons toasted sesame oil
• 1/4 cup regular sesame oil
• Soy sauce
• (1 fresh serrano chile, finely chopped, with seeds)
• 1 small head Napa cabbage or green cabbage, finely chopped
• 1 bunch scallions, sliced
• ½ yellow onion, cut to small ribbons
• 1/2 cup coarsely chopped cilantro
• fresh ground pepper to taste
Parenthetical ingredients are optional. Liquid ingredient amounts are VERY approximate -- adjust to taste. But don't skimp on the cilantro. It's critical.
Toast nuts and seeds in oven on a cookie sheet. Mix oil and vinegar with sugar, a dash or two of soy sauce, garlic, and, if using, ginger and chopped peppers. Whisk to emulsify.
Toss together cabbage, scallions, onions, and cilantro, and dress with the oil & vinegar mixture. This salad actually benefits (imho) from being allowed to sit and percolate in the fridge *after* it’s dressed, so at this point you can cover and refrigerate until the rest of the meal is ready, or add the nuts,seeds, and pepper immediately, and serve.
If you have leftovers, save them. The dressed salad is even better the next day.
First Trip to an American Classic
Aug. 19th, 2012 09:00 pmWell, not bad for a first try.
I don't know if I should confess this (or if not, which part is more dubious) but I've never in my life made that classic of American cookery, the Campbell's cream-of-something casserole, or what I believe the Minnesotans refer to as 'hot dish.' But today I had one of those wild hare moments, and wanted something with rice, chicken, and cheese. Since I had some leftover chicken that needed using up, and a few sorts of cream of whatsit in the cupboard from the last time I had a fit of funeral potatoes, I figured, what the hell? So I looked up a recipe online, diddled it a tiny bit to fit what I had, and, again, mostly for my reference, today's experiment:
1 can Campbell's Cream of Chicken with Herbs
1 1/4 cans water
1 cup uncooked long-grain white rice
1 package Green Giant Antioxidant Blend vegetables
1 1/4 chicken breasts, pre-cooked plus whatever else I could pick from the carcass, diced small
1/2 cup shredded garlic Cheddar cheese
1/4 cup shredded Parmesan mozzarella blend
small handful fresh basil
some fresh-ground pepper
Whisk the soup and water together in an 11 x 8 x 2-inch baking dish, mix in rice, chicken, most of the garlic Cheddar, basil, pepper and frozen vegetables. If you're smarter than me, you break the vegetables up better before opening the bag. It's harder to break them up once they're in the soup. Top the rice mixture with the rest of the Cheddar and the Parm/mozz mix. Turn the oven on to 400 (hoping for eventual 375) and pop the whole mess in on a cookie sheet in case anything wants to bubble over.
Bake for 50 minutes or so.
All in all, this was tasty, but the rice was undercooked because I didn't preheat the oven. I should have upped the baking time. Alternatively, next time I could use a round casserole dish and partially pre-cook the rice in the microwave to cut the cooking time, given that I'm using pre-cooked chicken. Next time add more basil. Otherwise very worthwhile. Kudos, Minnesota.
ETA - 8/27 - Tried this again last night with pre-microwaving the rice for about 12 minutes. That works quite well (though I need to keep the water level lower so it doesn't boil over in the microwave next time) and the oven time can be reduced to 30 minutes, no problem -- could probably go less. Veg this time was the Roasted Red Potatoes, Green Beans & Rosemary Butter Sauce Steamers, and not worth seeking a repeat. Not actively bad, just too bland and starchy and not enough crunch or variety in the vegetables. But sometimes you cook with the vegetables you want, sometimes you cook with what you have in the freezer...
I don't know if I should confess this (or if not, which part is more dubious) but I've never in my life made that classic of American cookery, the Campbell's cream-of-something casserole, or what I believe the Minnesotans refer to as 'hot dish.' But today I had one of those wild hare moments, and wanted something with rice, chicken, and cheese. Since I had some leftover chicken that needed using up, and a few sorts of cream of whatsit in the cupboard from the last time I had a fit of funeral potatoes, I figured, what the hell? So I looked up a recipe online, diddled it a tiny bit to fit what I had, and, again, mostly for my reference, today's experiment:
1 can Campbell's Cream of Chicken with Herbs
1 1/4 cans water
1 cup uncooked long-grain white rice
1 package Green Giant Antioxidant Blend vegetables
1 1/4 chicken breasts, pre-cooked plus whatever else I could pick from the carcass, diced small
1/2 cup shredded garlic Cheddar cheese
1/4 cup shredded Parmesan mozzarella blend
small handful fresh basil
some fresh-ground pepper
Whisk the soup and water together in an 11 x 8 x 2-inch baking dish, mix in rice, chicken, most of the garlic Cheddar, basil, pepper and frozen vegetables. If you're smarter than me, you break the vegetables up better before opening the bag. It's harder to break them up once they're in the soup. Top the rice mixture with the rest of the Cheddar and the Parm/mozz mix. Turn the oven on to 400 (hoping for eventual 375) and pop the whole mess in on a cookie sheet in case anything wants to bubble over.
Bake for 50 minutes or so.
All in all, this was tasty, but the rice was undercooked because I didn't preheat the oven. I should have upped the baking time. Alternatively, next time I could use a round casserole dish and partially pre-cook the rice in the microwave to cut the cooking time, given that I'm using pre-cooked chicken. Next time add more basil. Otherwise very worthwhile. Kudos, Minnesota.
ETA - 8/27 - Tried this again last night with pre-microwaving the rice for about 12 minutes. That works quite well (though I need to keep the water level lower so it doesn't boil over in the microwave next time) and the oven time can be reduced to 30 minutes, no problem -- could probably go less. Veg this time was the Roasted Red Potatoes, Green Beans & Rosemary Butter Sauce Steamers, and not worth seeking a repeat. Not actively bad, just too bland and starchy and not enough crunch or variety in the vegetables. But sometimes you cook with the vegetables you want, sometimes you cook with what you have in the freezer...
Box Mix Apple Spice Cake Cupcakes
Aug. 12th, 2012 06:32 pmToday I'm trying to salvage some more of this year's apple crop and so I hauled out the juicer extractor and am making apple juice with some of the windfalls. It's a bit dismaying how little juice and how much discarded pulp the extractor produces, so I'm also using some of that leftover pulp for another go at apple spice cake with a box mix. In hopes of being able to reproduce it later if it works well, here's this week's recipe
1 stick butter softened
1/4 cup sugar
cream these together in the mixer
3 eggs
1.5 cups apple sludge from the extractor (presumably apple sauce can be substituted)
add these to the mixer and blend in until smooth-ish (within reason, given apple chunks)
1 box yellow cake mix
A goodly amount of cinnamon
A lesser amount of nutmeg (ground)
A comparable (lesser) amount clove (also ground)
add dry ingredients to wet and mix until integrated
A sploosh of milk to get batter-like consistency - oh I dunno 1/2 a cup or so? Use judgment.
mix on medium high until more-or-less homogeneous batter-like consistency achieved
Spoon out into 24 cupcake papers and bake in muffin tins at 350F for 20 minutes
Find some way to keep the hell away from Kaylee until cool enough to frost.
Contemplate making a pie with the quart and a half of blackberries gleaned from the weedy bit on the slope. Or crisp? Should I make crisp instead?
1 stick butter softened
1/4 cup sugar
cream these together in the mixer
3 eggs
1.5 cups apple sludge from the extractor (presumably apple sauce can be substituted)
add these to the mixer and blend in until smooth-ish (within reason, given apple chunks)
1 box yellow cake mix
A goodly amount of cinnamon
A lesser amount of nutmeg (ground)
A comparable (lesser) amount clove (also ground)
add dry ingredients to wet and mix until integrated
A sploosh of milk to get batter-like consistency - oh I dunno 1/2 a cup or so? Use judgment.
mix on medium high until more-or-less homogeneous batter-like consistency achieved
Spoon out into 24 cupcake papers and bake in muffin tins at 350F for 20 minutes
Find some way to keep the hell away from Kaylee until cool enough to frost.
Contemplate making a pie with the quart and a half of blackberries gleaned from the weedy bit on the slope. Or crisp? Should I make crisp instead?
Random Stuff, with Gratuitous Baby Ducks
Apr. 18th, 2012 09:35 pmSo dinner was particularly nice today, and I was especially pleased with my experimental variant on the Asian-style dressed salad:
1/2 Small white cabbage chopped small
1/4 of a sweet onion, ditto
1/3 bunch cilantro, ditto
Tossed together thoroughly, and dressed with a mixture of sesame oil (both regular and toasted), rice vinegar, minced garlic (jar kind will do, but lots of it), soy sauce, and tiny bit of sugar, all whisked together. Poured over the greens and tossed again with a goodly blessing of sesame seeds on top and allowed to marinate together while I made the schnitzels.
I was also pleased to discover that for pounding out the pork, a rolling pin works just fine in lieu of a meat tenderizer, which I don't have and don't want to waste precious drawer space storing anyway.
The cool tang and crunchy complexity of the salad made a really nice counterpoint to the fresh, crisp-coated meatiness of schnitzels. Panko breadcrumbs work a treat for the second dredge. Must do this again some time.
While this morning I realized that physics still works. I came to my desk to find my teacup from the day before standing in a pool of tea. Yes, I had left most of a cup of tea sitting overnight, but the cup is newish, and not cracked, so why the puddle? Well, the cup also still had the tea bag in it (this is what happens when I fetch myself a fresh cup at 4:30 in the afternoon, when the tea barely has time to cool to drinking temperatures before it's time to leave work), and perhaps most significantly, the paper tag was off the end of the tea bag string. Overnight, wicking had done its mysterious magic, pulling tea up out of the cup and over the rim to where it could then freely drip down the side. Presumably this doesn't normally happen because I don't leave nearly so much tea sitting untouched overnight.
And also this morning, on the way to the train, I spotted the first clutch of baby ducks of the season down on the creek. For a while now all the visible ducks have been a group of bachelor drakes, so I figured the paired ducks were off doing what mated pairs do, and now we have confirmation. They're just ordinary mallards, though the duck of the parent pair was some sort of hybrid, since she had a very dark head and a white blaze in the middle of her breast. And of course the babies are, inevitably, charming. I do really love my little walk through the neighborhood down to the train. Now that it's light again especially, there's always something interesting to see.
1/2 Small white cabbage chopped small
1/4 of a sweet onion, ditto
1/3 bunch cilantro, ditto
Tossed together thoroughly, and dressed with a mixture of sesame oil (both regular and toasted), rice vinegar, minced garlic (jar kind will do, but lots of it), soy sauce, and tiny bit of sugar, all whisked together. Poured over the greens and tossed again with a goodly blessing of sesame seeds on top and allowed to marinate together while I made the schnitzels.
I was also pleased to discover that for pounding out the pork, a rolling pin works just fine in lieu of a meat tenderizer, which I don't have and don't want to waste precious drawer space storing anyway.
The cool tang and crunchy complexity of the salad made a really nice counterpoint to the fresh, crisp-coated meatiness of schnitzels. Panko breadcrumbs work a treat for the second dredge. Must do this again some time.
While this morning I realized that physics still works. I came to my desk to find my teacup from the day before standing in a pool of tea. Yes, I had left most of a cup of tea sitting overnight, but the cup is newish, and not cracked, so why the puddle? Well, the cup also still had the tea bag in it (this is what happens when I fetch myself a fresh cup at 4:30 in the afternoon, when the tea barely has time to cool to drinking temperatures before it's time to leave work), and perhaps most significantly, the paper tag was off the end of the tea bag string. Overnight, wicking had done its mysterious magic, pulling tea up out of the cup and over the rim to where it could then freely drip down the side. Presumably this doesn't normally happen because I don't leave nearly so much tea sitting untouched overnight.
And also this morning, on the way to the train, I spotted the first clutch of baby ducks of the season down on the creek. For a while now all the visible ducks have been a group of bachelor drakes, so I figured the paired ducks were off doing what mated pairs do, and now we have confirmation. They're just ordinary mallards, though the duck of the parent pair was some sort of hybrid, since she had a very dark head and a white blaze in the middle of her breast. And of course the babies are, inevitably, charming. I do really love my little walk through the neighborhood down to the train. Now that it's light again especially, there's always something interesting to see.
Alton Brown Rocks My Christmas
Dec. 26th, 2008 09:59 am
On the upside, the Swedish meatballs for Christmas dinner were really fine. Ditto the ham. All thanks to more tips from Good Eats. The trick with the meatballs is the third type of mince. Typical Swedish meatball recipes call for equal parts ground beef and ground pork. Alton Brown's recipe uses equal parts beef, pork, and lamb, and oh my goodness does the lamb ever make a difference. The meatballs don't really wind up tasting lamb-y, but the flavor is rich and deep and complex in a way that normally isn't true at all. Also, the trick of using a melon-ball-sized ice cream scoop to get uniform meatballs is genius.
The main trick with the ham was tenting it with the giant-size sheet of aluminum foil for the 3-hour initial baking, which made the final result amazingly juicy, and adding the layer of brown sugar on top of the mustard, and the spritz of bourbon in the crust. Admittedly, I haven't baked a lot of hams over the years, but this was far and away the best one ever. What I can't get over is the consistently good results I get when following Brown's Good Eats recipes. Best turkey ever, best ham ever, best meatballs ever. I can hardly argue with results.
Now I just need to figure out where I can keep my Very Shiny new KitchenAid mixer -- Empire Red, natch -- which was my big prezzie for this year. So, having buried the lede, I have to say that
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libertango also rocks my Christmas. Meanwhile last night's movie prodded me to finally figure out what to do with the leftover pumpkins, since I don't much care for pumpkin pie. Soup! Pumpkin garlic soup! With toasted pignolas! Alas, I don't have any Good Eats episodes on the subject, so I'll have to wing this one...
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