So this past week in class was was soups, stocks, and various liquid meals.
Plus (bonus) a couple of amazing salads with the most tender, unbearably subtle tasty shrimp lovingly cradled in butter and parsley. Also, poached chicken! Yum...........
My favorite FAVORITE soup tip: Use a little acid to mellow the flavor, or "brighten". This means vinegar or lemon juice. You won't taste it! Your soup will just taste better.
But first the basics, including Stuff I Guess I Knew But Must Be Taught.
Stock Vs. Broth
Stock is made from bones, has gelatin.
Broth is made from meat and, like the canned food says, meat by product.
So I'll just stop right there and say, what would you rather your liquid meal, or liquid that you basically use anything in cooking, be made with? Me too.
Couple of basic truths a) Chicken stock is the type O blood of cooking -- universal and more flavorful than pretty much anything. Perfect description. Rice with water? Nice. Rice made with chicken stock? When did you become such a good cook? See?
b) anything with hooves takes a hugely long time to make stock from. But it is so damned delicious.
c) fish stock is intriguing and fast.
d) I just didn't process the value of vegetable broth, but it looks easy and very fast.
Helpful hints from my excellent teacher: always add COLD water to the meat or poultry when making stock. Water should barely cover the bones. Richer is better. add veggies and herbs AFTER you skim the stock the first time. SIMMER to keep from getting cloudy (don't boil). DON'T add salt while making the stock because you're gonna add it later in whatever you're making whatever it is you're making with the stock and leaving it out won't pre-determine your destiny.
your bouquet of herbs ( Called bouquet Garni. Okay, as if you needed confirmation that I'm a Francophile) is usually thyme, bay leaves and parsley stems. If you're straining, your, say it with me, bouquet garni doesn't have to be tied together. It can swim freely.
So, shorthand: Buy the stock at Dave's Pasta if you don't have time. Or buy Swansons low sodium at the supermarche but really, get off your ass and make it yourself, okay? Worth it.
Chicken stock:
5lbs chicken carcasses/bones. You can save them from when you make chicken and make stock after you have enough, or you can go to a butcher or supermarket and ask them for it. Inexpensive.
Cold water
1 large onion, peeled and roughly chopped (yay!)
1 medium carrot, peeled and sliced, though I'm not sure peeled is really necessary
2 celery stalks, washed and brusquely chopped
one Bouquet Garni
Rinse the chicken and remove extra fat. Do it now to avoid having lots more fat to remove later.
put in stockpot. shake a bit to settle the bones (Edward Gorey illustration here) Skim the weird stuff off the top occasionally (the recipe calls it scum, but you know, really? should you put the word scum in a recipe?) Add the veggies and Bouquet G. For 3 hours, max. Strain, cool it down in an ice bath (Yes really. Stops the cooking). Save in fridge or freeze.
Now, a few of the actual zuppas.
We made: Southwest Squash Soup with Ancho cream and spicy pumpkin seed garnish, Fennel corn chowder, Chicken soup with noodles and parmesan croutons (my notes from class say simmer foamy = not good), Pappa Al Pomodoro (tomato soup, and essentially the only thing without a cup of cream or cheese) Cream of Potato soup with Peston, Onion Soup Au Gratin.
And me, without my tupperware.
I volunteered to help with the onions for the onion soup made with -- dear God -- veal stock. The smell won out over my morals and desire to be a good student (I haven't eaten veal since fourth grade when I learned what veal was.) Needed the slicing practice. (See Week one: Knives!!) I was never ever a fan of French Onion Soup. This was unbelievable.
And I also did the tomato soup because it took less time than the others, as I was taking up considerable time with the Free Chopping Therapy. It also involves bread and bread crumb making and adding spices "to taste" Muhahahaha. My favorite.
Papa Al Pomodoro:
1/4 cup olive oil (doesn't have to be xtra virgin)
2 TBS minced garlic (Mincing! Awesome)
1 cup of chopped leeks (the white part plus up to an inch of green)
2 28-oz cans I-talian peeled tomatoes with juice, hache (that means with a basil leaf)
4 cups chicken stock (or veggie stock)
1 TBS nicely chopped basil, fresh
2 cups stale tuscan or french bread, grated or satisfyingly pulverized in a food processor
salt, pepper
6-8 large basil leaves, to slice Chiffonade style
Pinch (es) of dried red pepper flakes
xtra virgin olive oil for drizzling and just general joy.
Chop the leeks into tiny bits and then put the whole cup into a big bowl of water. It is the easiest and fastest way to wash leeks, because they are dirty. No wonder I love them. The dirt will fall to the bottom as they sit there floating on the top. Do this before anything else, including the garlic.
Heat the olive oil in a saucepan. Add the minced (!) garlic and leeks and saute over low heat until they look tender. Learn from my mistakes: if you stick your finger in a hot oily pan to test the tenderness, you will get burned. Pretty good advice in general, metaphorically speaking. Add the tomatoes, stock, and chopped basil. Simmer for about 30 minutes, season once.
Stir about 1/4 of your grated/or now submissive bread at a time into the soup, whisking vigorously after each addition. The mixture should resemble oatmeal in consistency, but will be a bit lighter texturally speaking. Taste. Add more spices, do not fear the salt or pepper or pepper flakes, especially if you're using Kosher salt. If it tastes like it needs something else but you're not sure about salt, squeeze in the juice of 1/2 a lemon (did I mention the instructor is a __genius__?) That will do it.
pull off the fire. Put your Chifonadded basil on top, and leave the bottle of oil out for drizzling. Apologize for eating all the leftover bread!
I will post other soup concoctions if folks like. The corn chowder was to die for.
A kind person in class lent me some tupperware; I had some tonight. Yummy,
Next week! Braising and meats! Yum.
Thursday, March 4, 2010
Tuesday, February 23, 2010
How I Learned to Make Souffle Almost as Good as Louise's !
So this past week's class was Eggs! poaching, scrambling, quicheing, frittattaing, crepeing, mayo-naiseing, eggs hollindaise, just fab. Instead of going home to nap for six hours afterwards I went to the gym. Oy that was rough.
First, a couple of excellent egg-tricks and USEFUL factoids:
breaking them: use a flat surface, not the surface of the bowl. Gives you a cleaner crack and few shells. Separate using your hands, using 3 bowls: one for your already separated whites, one for yolks and onefor whites as you separate. That way, if you've cracked a dozen eggs and are on egg 12 and the yolk goes hurling into the bowl by accident, you don't have to start over. Huh, I thought.
Our intrepid instructor Christine noted a statistic that people far more often get salmonella from mishandling of raw chicken than eggs. Blame the adults. I like it.
Poaching: -- SLIDE The egg into the SIMMERING water. The fresher, the more the white will stay compact. leave them in for 3 to 4 minutes. That's it. They come out perfectly.
For a lot of eggs, put white vinegar in the water, and store them in ice water until ready to use, then slip them back into the warm water for a minute before use.
Second, a useful bit of info: most recipes call for large eggs, not extra large. so check! you could mess up the chemistry otherwise (this explains my flat but very rich tasting cake for lexa's baby shower -- skim milk and extra large eggs with butter cream frosting. oh well, it's all about the frosting, right?)
Third: random observation: mayonaise is super-easy! I'll post it another time. Everyone did theirs by hand. Exercise! (for my right bicep). I had visions of lemon and garlic and all kinds of madness. Then I remembered: I really haven't eaten mayo in about 5 years. It is one cup of oil infused into lemon juice and eggs. One. Cup.
You can save egg whites in the fridge for up to a week and they still respect the whisk or the egg-white omlette preparation! Or you can freeze them. Who knew?
AND NOW, THE SOUFFLE:
First, a word on the personal goal thing of this: I have never ever been able to make a good souffle. Ever. Not once. My friend Louise is the Goddess of Souffles. She visited once and she and my pal Janelle took over my kitchen and made the most amazing souffle I've ever had. J and I still talk about it. I still think about it at random moments unexpectedly, it was that good. *pause*. Oh, I'm sorry, did you say something?
Anyway.
Louise, also the goddess of all things cheese (she is tied with my friend LoriJeane for this), does this thing with parchment paper that basically looks like a chef's hat around the rim of the dish, causing anything souffle like to come out spectacularly perfect. I was determined to do half as well and learn my flaw.
You may be shocked, shocked to discover that it turns out I don't have the patience.
The easy recipe:
You need:
3 egg yolks
4 egg whites
2 tbsp butter, softened
2 tbsp grated parm
1/2 cup grated cheese. My cooking partner and I used 1/4 smoked mozerella and 1/4 fontina
for the bechemel
3 tbsp unsalted butter
3 tbsp flour
1 cup milk, warm
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp ground white pepper
nutmeg
cayenne pepper. Recipe says pinch. that ended up being about a teaspoon for what we did. yum.
Preheat the oven to 350. An oven thermometer is handy, depending on the ferocity of your oven.
*THE KEY* do not, and i repeat do not, open it, think about opening it consider opening it, think you can fool it by distracting the oven and opening it, before 23 minutes. It is MAGIC.
Butter a 4 cup souffle dish (ours was I think a 6 cup, thus, no hat)
roll the parmesean around on the buttered dish to coat. don't start calculating calories.
To make the bechamel:
in a saucepan, make a roux by melting the butter. when the foam subside,s remove from heat and add the flour, mixing well with a whisk. Put the pot back on the heat and cook for about 2 minutes while whisking. add the mil in two parts, whisking after each. Bring to a boil. This is confusing, since it will be slightly globbish. just wait for it to resemble something in Ghostbusters, about 90 seconds or less. Reduce until it's thickened, turn the heat off, pour the spices in. Taste. it should taste a little TOO spicy. Remember, there's gonna be lots of air added to this, so you need it to be a bit too strong so that it spreads out over all that air.
The base:
To the bechemel: add the egg yolks, one at a time so they don't scramble, mixing WELL after each addition. mix in the cheese. Only eat one or two pinches of it, okay?
In a copper bowl, or a mixer which is way easier, whisk the egg whites until stiff and glossy. if you're using an electric mixer, throw in 1/2 to 1/4 tsp of cream of tartar. If not, don't.
Stir in 1/4 of the egg whites to the bechamel mixture to lighten it. Yes, you are sacrificing egg whites. They are there to throw themselves on the altar of food chemistry for you so the mixture can take in the rest.
with a rubber spatula of questionable size, fold in the remaining egg whites. Here's how the instructor showed us to fold: draw the spatula down the middle of the bowl, in one motion, fold the whites over once. Give the bowl a quarter turn, repeat. GENTLY.
Once done, Immediately spoon the soufle mixture into the dish to about 1/2 an inch from the top.
Bake on the bottom rack for about 30 minutes OR LONGER IF YOUR OVEN ISN'T FIERCE!
When we looked at 23 minutes, because that's what I saw as the end time, bummer. No souffle. This was, of course, as everyone was plating their lovely dishes, including the marscapone-filled crepes with amazing carmelized brandy and orange reduction.
I had secretly sprinkled the remaining parmasean on the top. I am a bad person. I ruined such well-tended optimism in my lovely partner, who confessed that she could barely boil water at the begining of this class. This was her Mt. Everest. Of Egg Whites. And my goofy thought of yummy parm topping was about to crush her budding confidence back into the vault from where it came.
But fear not, humiliation did not await us.
Here's the thing: the souffle wasn't brown. It wasn't close to done, even: we left it in for another 20 minutes! And it came out super-yummy and light and perfectly seasoned.
Phew.
First, a couple of excellent egg-tricks and USEFUL factoids:
breaking them: use a flat surface, not the surface of the bowl. Gives you a cleaner crack and few shells. Separate using your hands, using 3 bowls: one for your already separated whites, one for yolks and onefor whites as you separate. That way, if you've cracked a dozen eggs and are on egg 12 and the yolk goes hurling into the bowl by accident, you don't have to start over. Huh, I thought.
Our intrepid instructor Christine noted a statistic that people far more often get salmonella from mishandling of raw chicken than eggs. Blame the adults. I like it.
Poaching: -- SLIDE The egg into the SIMMERING water. The fresher, the more the white will stay compact. leave them in for 3 to 4 minutes. That's it. They come out perfectly.
For a lot of eggs, put white vinegar in the water, and store them in ice water until ready to use, then slip them back into the warm water for a minute before use.
Second, a useful bit of info: most recipes call for large eggs, not extra large. so check! you could mess up the chemistry otherwise (this explains my flat but very rich tasting cake for lexa's baby shower -- skim milk and extra large eggs with butter cream frosting. oh well, it's all about the frosting, right?)
Third: random observation: mayonaise is super-easy! I'll post it another time. Everyone did theirs by hand. Exercise! (for my right bicep). I had visions of lemon and garlic and all kinds of madness. Then I remembered: I really haven't eaten mayo in about 5 years. It is one cup of oil infused into lemon juice and eggs. One. Cup.
You can save egg whites in the fridge for up to a week and they still respect the whisk or the egg-white omlette preparation! Or you can freeze them. Who knew?
AND NOW, THE SOUFFLE:
First, a word on the personal goal thing of this: I have never ever been able to make a good souffle. Ever. Not once. My friend Louise is the Goddess of Souffles. She visited once and she and my pal Janelle took over my kitchen and made the most amazing souffle I've ever had. J and I still talk about it. I still think about it at random moments unexpectedly, it was that good. *pause*. Oh, I'm sorry, did you say something?
Anyway.
Louise, also the goddess of all things cheese (she is tied with my friend LoriJeane for this), does this thing with parchment paper that basically looks like a chef's hat around the rim of the dish, causing anything souffle like to come out spectacularly perfect. I was determined to do half as well and learn my flaw.
You may be shocked, shocked to discover that it turns out I don't have the patience.
The easy recipe:
You need:
3 egg yolks
4 egg whites
2 tbsp butter, softened
2 tbsp grated parm
1/2 cup grated cheese. My cooking partner and I used 1/4 smoked mozerella and 1/4 fontina
for the bechemel
3 tbsp unsalted butter
3 tbsp flour
1 cup milk, warm
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp ground white pepper
nutmeg
cayenne pepper. Recipe says pinch. that ended up being about a teaspoon for what we did. yum.
Preheat the oven to 350. An oven thermometer is handy, depending on the ferocity of your oven.
*THE KEY* do not, and i repeat do not, open it, think about opening it consider opening it, think you can fool it by distracting the oven and opening it, before 23 minutes. It is MAGIC.
Butter a 4 cup souffle dish (ours was I think a 6 cup, thus, no hat)
roll the parmesean around on the buttered dish to coat. don't start calculating calories.
To make the bechamel:
in a saucepan, make a roux by melting the butter. when the foam subside,s remove from heat and add the flour, mixing well with a whisk. Put the pot back on the heat and cook for about 2 minutes while whisking. add the mil in two parts, whisking after each. Bring to a boil. This is confusing, since it will be slightly globbish. just wait for it to resemble something in Ghostbusters, about 90 seconds or less. Reduce until it's thickened, turn the heat off, pour the spices in. Taste. it should taste a little TOO spicy. Remember, there's gonna be lots of air added to this, so you need it to be a bit too strong so that it spreads out over all that air.
The base:
To the bechemel: add the egg yolks, one at a time so they don't scramble, mixing WELL after each addition. mix in the cheese. Only eat one or two pinches of it, okay?
In a copper bowl, or a mixer which is way easier, whisk the egg whites until stiff and glossy. if you're using an electric mixer, throw in 1/2 to 1/4 tsp of cream of tartar. If not, don't.
Stir in 1/4 of the egg whites to the bechamel mixture to lighten it. Yes, you are sacrificing egg whites. They are there to throw themselves on the altar of food chemistry for you so the mixture can take in the rest.
with a rubber spatula of questionable size, fold in the remaining egg whites. Here's how the instructor showed us to fold: draw the spatula down the middle of the bowl, in one motion, fold the whites over once. Give the bowl a quarter turn, repeat. GENTLY.
Once done, Immediately spoon the soufle mixture into the dish to about 1/2 an inch from the top.
Bake on the bottom rack for about 30 minutes OR LONGER IF YOUR OVEN ISN'T FIERCE!
When we looked at 23 minutes, because that's what I saw as the end time, bummer. No souffle. This was, of course, as everyone was plating their lovely dishes, including the marscapone-filled crepes with amazing carmelized brandy and orange reduction.
I had secretly sprinkled the remaining parmasean on the top. I am a bad person. I ruined such well-tended optimism in my lovely partner, who confessed that she could barely boil water at the begining of this class. This was her Mt. Everest. Of Egg Whites. And my goofy thought of yummy parm topping was about to crush her budding confidence back into the vault from where it came.
But fear not, humiliation did not await us.
Here's the thing: the souffle wasn't brown. It wasn't close to done, even: we left it in for another 20 minutes! And it came out super-yummy and light and perfectly seasoned.
Phew.
Monday, February 15, 2010
Chicken tangine with apricot and dates
I tried to re-create this this weekend. Not too shabby, actually
Ingredients I remember:
1/2 a medium sized red onion, sliced
6 garlic cloves seriously minced or made into paste
(note here, paste is a knife trick i learned in class, it is most excellent)
About 3 tablespoons olive oil
salt
pepper
tumeric
cumin
1 cinnamon stick
2 tablespoons fresh grated ginger
Cilantro
1/2 cup ground tomatoes (just tomatoes.)
2 cups chicken stock
1 whole chicken, quartered and boned, cut into big pieces
2 carrots cut into bite-sized pieces
1 medium sized potato, cut into 1/2 inch chunks
1/2 a butternut squash cut into about 1/2 inch chunks
1/4 cup turkish apricots (the soft kind, NOT the co-op dehydrated within an inch of their lives kind) cut in quarters
1/4 cup dates, cut in quarters
salt
peppah
1/8 cup honey
rose tea
1 lemon to zest and squeeze
1 box cous-cous. Near East's cooks in 5 minutes.
1/4 cup almonds. chopped up or slivered.
Really, it's not as complicated as that list makes it look. I swear.
Heat the oil, onion, tumeric, cumin, a little chopped cilantro, ginger, about 1 teaspoon lemon zest in a deep frying pan at medium-high. Yeah I know you're supposed to have a Tangine oven.....this works just as well, apparently!
Stir around until the onions are soft. salt and pepper the chicken and put in pan. Brown the chicken, about 3 minutes each side. Add the garlic mince or paste and stir for another 30 seconds or so, until the garlic disappears.
add the chicken stock and tomatoes. stir. Taste and decide you need a little more cumin. add.
add potato, carrots, squash. cover on medium-low, toss in the cinnamon stick, and resist urge to tinker. Stir every 10-15 minutes or so for about 45 total minutes, or until the root veggies have that last trace of crunch in them, but are almost at that soft but firm state.
in another small pot heat about a cup of water, the juice of half your lemon, the honey, the apricots, the dates, and sprinkle in about half a teaspoon of the rose tea. steep and stir for about 10 minutes. Drain the liquid.
Add the mixture to the main dish and stir. Cover for another 10 minutes
cook cous-cous, as directed.
When you take the cous-cous off the heat, take some minced almonds and put them in the broiler until toasted, 1-3 minutes depending on your broiler.
dish the stew over cous cous and sprinke almonds and fresh chopped cilantro.
Ingredients I remember:
1/2 a medium sized red onion, sliced
6 garlic cloves seriously minced or made into paste
(note here, paste is a knife trick i learned in class, it is most excellent)
About 3 tablespoons olive oil
salt
pepper
tumeric
cumin
1 cinnamon stick
2 tablespoons fresh grated ginger
Cilantro
1/2 cup ground tomatoes (just tomatoes.)
2 cups chicken stock
1 whole chicken, quartered and boned, cut into big pieces
2 carrots cut into bite-sized pieces
1 medium sized potato, cut into 1/2 inch chunks
1/2 a butternut squash cut into about 1/2 inch chunks
1/4 cup turkish apricots (the soft kind, NOT the co-op dehydrated within an inch of their lives kind) cut in quarters
1/4 cup dates, cut in quarters
salt
peppah
1/8 cup honey
rose tea
1 lemon to zest and squeeze
1 box cous-cous. Near East's cooks in 5 minutes.
1/4 cup almonds. chopped up or slivered.
Really, it's not as complicated as that list makes it look. I swear.
Heat the oil, onion, tumeric, cumin, a little chopped cilantro, ginger, about 1 teaspoon lemon zest in a deep frying pan at medium-high. Yeah I know you're supposed to have a Tangine oven.....this works just as well, apparently!
Stir around until the onions are soft. salt and pepper the chicken and put in pan. Brown the chicken, about 3 minutes each side. Add the garlic mince or paste and stir for another 30 seconds or so, until the garlic disappears.
add the chicken stock and tomatoes. stir. Taste and decide you need a little more cumin. add.
add potato, carrots, squash. cover on medium-low, toss in the cinnamon stick, and resist urge to tinker. Stir every 10-15 minutes or so for about 45 total minutes, or until the root veggies have that last trace of crunch in them, but are almost at that soft but firm state.
in another small pot heat about a cup of water, the juice of half your lemon, the honey, the apricots, the dates, and sprinkle in about half a teaspoon of the rose tea. steep and stir for about 10 minutes. Drain the liquid.
Add the mixture to the main dish and stir. Cover for another 10 minutes
cook cous-cous, as directed.
When you take the cous-cous off the heat, take some minced almonds and put them in the broiler until toasted, 1-3 minutes depending on your broiler.
dish the stew over cous cous and sprinke almonds and fresh chopped cilantro.
Sunday, February 7, 2010
How to cut an onion and stuff I learned in class yesterday! Plus Risotto.
The class did NOT disappoint. Awesome. The instructor was fabulous, low-key and really gentle.
Cool people in the class also.
First, you have to hold the knife correctly! Who knew (all those years after college using only a paring knife...yikes) here's a pretty good illustration, though for me it was much easier to get in person:
http://culinaryarts.about.com/od/knifeskills/ss/knifegrips.htm
The one thing she said that made the MOST sense to me was to use the knife like the extension of your own arm. And pay attention above to the knuckle/claw instruction. Takes away a lot of the fear. She also pointed out that chefs go really fast on tv because they do this __for a living__. I type pretty fast -- because I do it all day long. Typos= occasional cut.
The other revelation was the onion. LEAVE THE ROOT END ON WHILE YOU DICE! Wild. Here's a pretty good approximation for dicing, step 2 is important.
http://www.sweetonionsource.com/dicinganonion.html
We also learned to make garlic paste and other cool stuff.
Making risotto tonight because I have a lot of rosemary I need to use up. Recipe below (calls for chopping onions!!)
Tomato risotto
1 cup risotto rice or sushi rice actually works too. weird huh.
1/4 cup olive oil
salt
pepper
fresh herbs: rosemary, basil, oregano, parsley.
garlic (a couple of cloves)
1 medium yellow onion
1 can peeled whole tomatoes
2 cans chicken broth or about 3 1/2 cups stock
red wine
parmesan cheese to garnish.
you can also add veggies and other random bits like chicken or shrimp.
heat the chicken broth/stock on low in a small pot.
get out the big pot you have, the kind you'd use for stew.
dice the onion (yay!)
mince the garlic
open and drain the can of tomatoes
open wine, pour glass for self (optional of course)
chop up the herbs keeping the parsley separate
dried herbs are also fine, but fresh rosemary in particular is best for this. when done, I just put them in the can over the tomatoes.
heat the olive oil and cook the onions until translucent, on medium-high. Don't forget to keep an eye on them.
when they're almost ready, throw in the garlic. stir. then Immediately throw in the cup of rice, stirring constantly to toast, about 2 minutes max, but you'll know when to stop because the pan will start to brown, which you DON'T want. (I don't know why this works to help the rice absorb more liquid, but it does. It also makes the risotto have this slightly toasted flavor that's fantastic.)
Pour in about 1/4 of your heated broth. stir constantly until absorbed, the rice should look like porridge and be thickened. This happens faster than you expect.
Repeat.
At the halfway point, add the tomatoes & herbs, and a slug or two of wine. Stir until absorbed.
Add another 1/4 of the stock.
Repeat. If you're going to add meat or fish, do so now. don't add a lot, keep it to a quarter cup or half cup of something chopped.
Once you've put all the liquid in, keep stirring until it almost looks like risotto.
take it off the heat.
You can now a) stir in about 1/2 a cup of parmesan OR b) sprinkle parm on top or c)put it on the table.
Put the risotto in bowls, sprinkle with the chopped parsley and if you want, shaved parmesan.
Refill wineglass and enjoy!
Cool people in the class also.
First, you have to hold the knife correctly! Who knew (all those years after college using only a paring knife...yikes) here's a pretty good illustration, though for me it was much easier to get in person:
http://culinaryarts.about.com/od/knifeskills/ss/knifegrips.htm
The one thing she said that made the MOST sense to me was to use the knife like the extension of your own arm. And pay attention above to the knuckle/claw instruction. Takes away a lot of the fear. She also pointed out that chefs go really fast on tv because they do this __for a living__. I type pretty fast -- because I do it all day long. Typos= occasional cut.
The other revelation was the onion. LEAVE THE ROOT END ON WHILE YOU DICE! Wild. Here's a pretty good approximation for dicing, step 2 is important.
http://www.sweetonionsource.com/dicinganonion.html
We also learned to make garlic paste and other cool stuff.
Making risotto tonight because I have a lot of rosemary I need to use up. Recipe below (calls for chopping onions!!)
Tomato risotto
1 cup risotto rice or sushi rice actually works too. weird huh.
1/4 cup olive oil
salt
pepper
fresh herbs: rosemary, basil, oregano, parsley.
garlic (a couple of cloves)
1 medium yellow onion
1 can peeled whole tomatoes
2 cans chicken broth or about 3 1/2 cups stock
red wine
parmesan cheese to garnish.
you can also add veggies and other random bits like chicken or shrimp.
heat the chicken broth/stock on low in a small pot.
get out the big pot you have, the kind you'd use for stew.
dice the onion (yay!)
mince the garlic
open and drain the can of tomatoes
open wine, pour glass for self (optional of course)
chop up the herbs keeping the parsley separate
dried herbs are also fine, but fresh rosemary in particular is best for this. when done, I just put them in the can over the tomatoes.
heat the olive oil and cook the onions until translucent, on medium-high. Don't forget to keep an eye on them.
when they're almost ready, throw in the garlic. stir. then Immediately throw in the cup of rice, stirring constantly to toast, about 2 minutes max, but you'll know when to stop because the pan will start to brown, which you DON'T want. (I don't know why this works to help the rice absorb more liquid, but it does. It also makes the risotto have this slightly toasted flavor that's fantastic.)
Pour in about 1/4 of your heated broth. stir constantly until absorbed, the rice should look like porridge and be thickened. This happens faster than you expect.
Repeat.
At the halfway point, add the tomatoes & herbs, and a slug or two of wine. Stir until absorbed.
Add another 1/4 of the stock.
Repeat. If you're going to add meat or fish, do so now. don't add a lot, keep it to a quarter cup or half cup of something chopped.
Once you've put all the liquid in, keep stirring until it almost looks like risotto.
take it off the heat.
You can now a) stir in about 1/2 a cup of parmesan OR b) sprinkle parm on top or c)put it on the table.
Put the risotto in bowls, sprinkle with the chopped parsley and if you want, shaved parmesan.
Refill wineglass and enjoy!
Friday, February 5, 2010
Because I'm thinking about my Grandma tonight.
Here it is, the not so secret recipe.
Grandma's Shredded Wheat Bread:
You need:
6 cubes of Shredded Wheat
2 sticks of butter (get over it, okay?)
half a jar or so of Grandma's black strap molasses
2 tsp salt
2 packets of yeast
flour (about six cups)
water
bread pans
a pastry brush
To make:
Put the yeast in a mug or small bowl and cover with LUKE WARM water. Dissolve and set aside.
Put the shredded wheat, molasses, salt and 1.5 sticks of butter in a bowl.
boil about 4-6 cups of water
Pour boiling water over the shredded wheat until it covers the mixture.
Set aside and click on On Demand exercise menu. Do pilates for 20 minutes while the mixture cools. You'll thank me later.
To speed cooling, put in refrigerator, but check frequently you don't want it to get below room temperature, and only do the 10 minute pilates one.
Once mixture has cooled, add the yeast and set oven to 425.
knead in flour until it becomes, well, like bread dough, adding one cup at a time at first, then with your hands.
cover the bowl with a damp towel and put ontop of the stove to let it rise.
When dough has doubled in bulk, punch down and knead again, adding flour as necessary.
Butter and flour bread pans. This means you smear a thin layer of butter on the pans, then scoop in some flower, swirl it around and dump out the excess.
Separate and put dough into bread pans, filling about 3/4 from the top. Punch down. Cover with damp cloths and let double in bulk. If you don't have pans, fashion the dough into loaves or blobs that look like rolls.
When dough has risen, melt butter and brush the loaves
Put in oven for 10 minutes, then lower heat to 350.
It's done when a knife comes out clean, usually about 45 minutes to an hour, depending on your oven.
mmmmm. shredded wheat bread.
Wednesday, February 3, 2010
Chicken Soup Two Ways: The hippie from scratch way and the lazy way
So I'm home under the weather today, and have busted out the frozen chicken soup. I actually have two bins in my freezer, one made using a whole chicken carcass (mmmm chicken) and one using regular old chicken breasts and stock bought at the store.
*Doing it the hippie way (with apologies to my parental units)*:
Roast a chicken (I'll post this recipe someday), eat the meal, and when you're done with that, use your hands to remove all the extra meat. Once you've cut off what you can in whole chunks, I just use my hands to do the rest. While doing this, take the skin off too. That's important. cut the leftover, skinless meat and set aside in a bin/bowl/whatever you have handy. Cover and put in fridge.
Even if you've already herbed up your bird in its previous incarnation as a nice roast chicken, set aside for the stock/broth:
fresh if you can, especially the parsley
about 1/2 cup parsley chopped (set aside about 1/8th to put on top when soup is done)
a couple of sprigs of thyme
basil, chopped
salt
pepper
majoram or oregano (majoram is milder and some day I'll learn to spell it right).
Put together something like this. Put the chicken and herbs, salt, pepper plus one stalk of chopped celery in the basket and cover with water. (most of it, don't overdo it if it's too close to the rim) cover and simmer for a couple of hours. While your kitchen is in its state of cooking, chop up:
two celery stalks
one mediumish onion,
one wicked large carrot or about a cup of small peeled carrots that you can get in the store,
about 1/2 a cup of pasta or rice (I like to use bows or wild rice. don't use both. Starch city)
one small potato, sometimes I go wacky and use a sweet potato.
set aside. Clean up the mess. Go about your business while the bones stew away. After a couple of hours, check on the stock. it should taste good, possibly require another dash of salt and pepper. Remove the chicken and dispose of the bones.
Let the stock cool in the fridge for another hour, or, stick it in the freezer and check on it in about 20 minutes. The fat will rise to the top. skim it off and put the pot back on the stove. (don't forget to wipe off the bottom!)
put your chicken, pasta and rice, and veggies into the soup and cook for about 40 minutes. If it looks like chicken stew Don't Be Afraid! That's good too! Or add more water. Yum.
*The Lazy Way*
2 boxes of chicken stock or broth at the supermarket
2 chicken breasts, bone in or bone out (bone in gives you more flavor)
two celery stalks
one mediumish onion,
one wicked large carrot or about a cup of small peeled carrots that you can get in the store,
about 1/2 a cup of pasta or rice
one small potato
2 tbsp olive oil
fresh if you can, especially the parsley
about 1/2 cup parsley chopped
a couple of sprigs of thyme
basil, chopped
salt
pepper
majoram or oregano
sautee the chicken in the bottom of your pan (without the basket) in the oil on medium to low heat with the onion and all but about 1/8th of the chopped parsley for about 15 minutes. Don't worry if the chicken isn't 100 percent cooked through, it will also cook in the soup.
remove the chicken and let cool.
pour the stock into the (not rinsed) pot that you sauteed the chicken in and put it back on the stove, again medium to low heat. chop up your veggies, set aside.
Your chicken should be cool enough to peel the skin off and cut the meat off the breastbones. Chuck the breast bones and cut the chicken into chunks.
Put the chicken, pasta or rice, and the veggies into the soup and cover on low to medium heat.
Go about your business and come back in 20-30 minutes. Serve with Parsley.
*The REALLY Lazy way*
Use cooked chicken breast, chop it up and skip the sautee.
*Doing it the hippie way (with apologies to my parental units)*:
Roast a chicken (I'll post this recipe someday), eat the meal, and when you're done with that, use your hands to remove all the extra meat. Once you've cut off what you can in whole chunks, I just use my hands to do the rest. While doing this, take the skin off too. That's important. cut the leftover, skinless meat and set aside in a bin/bowl/whatever you have handy. Cover and put in fridge.
Even if you've already herbed up your bird in its previous incarnation as a nice roast chicken, set aside for the stock/broth:
fresh if you can, especially the parsley
about 1/2 cup parsley chopped (set aside about 1/8th to put on top when soup is done)
a couple of sprigs of thyme
basil, chopped
salt
pepper
majoram or oregano (majoram is milder and some day I'll learn to spell it right).
two celery stalks
one mediumish onion,
one wicked large carrot or about a cup of small peeled carrots that you can get in the store,
about 1/2 a cup of pasta or rice (I like to use bows or wild rice. don't use both. Starch city)
one small potato, sometimes I go wacky and use a sweet potato.
set aside. Clean up the mess. Go about your business while the bones stew away. After a couple of hours, check on the stock. it should taste good, possibly require another dash of salt and pepper. Remove the chicken and dispose of the bones.
Let the stock cool in the fridge for another hour, or, stick it in the freezer and check on it in about 20 minutes. The fat will rise to the top. skim it off and put the pot back on the stove. (don't forget to wipe off the bottom!)
put your chicken, pasta and rice, and veggies into the soup and cook for about 40 minutes. If it looks like chicken stew Don't Be Afraid! That's good too! Or add more water. Yum.
*The Lazy Way*
2 boxes of chicken stock or broth at the supermarket
2 chicken breasts, bone in or bone out (bone in gives you more flavor)
two celery stalks
one mediumish onion,
one wicked large carrot or about a cup of small peeled carrots that you can get in the store,
about 1/2 a cup of pasta or rice
one small potato
2 tbsp olive oil
fresh if you can, especially the parsley
about 1/2 cup parsley chopped
a couple of sprigs of thyme
basil, chopped
salt
pepper
majoram or oregano
sautee the chicken in the bottom of your pan (without the basket) in the oil on medium to low heat with the onion and all but about 1/8th of the chopped parsley for about 15 minutes. Don't worry if the chicken isn't 100 percent cooked through, it will also cook in the soup.
remove the chicken and let cool.
pour the stock into the (not rinsed) pot that you sauteed the chicken in and put it back on the stove, again medium to low heat. chop up your veggies, set aside.
Your chicken should be cool enough to peel the skin off and cut the meat off the breastbones. Chuck the breast bones and cut the chicken into chunks.
Put the chicken, pasta or rice, and the veggies into the soup and cover on low to medium heat.
Go about your business and come back in 20-30 minutes. Serve with Parsley.
*The REALLY Lazy way*
Use cooked chicken breast, chop it up and skip the sautee.
Tuesday, February 2, 2010
Six More Weeks of Winter? Six Cans of Beans!
Bean Concoction
you need:
one can of each:
black eyed peas
garbanzos
white beans (pea or kidneys)
red kidneys
black beans
peeled tomatoes
2 cans or 3 cups chicken stock
one yellow onion
2 cups of short cut tube pasta
3 cloves garlic (optional but so yummy)
rosemary
basil
oregano
2 bay leaves, crumbled
parm. cheese, grated, about 1/2 a cup to taste
salt
pepper
3 tablespoons olive oil
1 tbsp sugar
1 tbsp cumin
resist the urge for potatoes of any kind.
dice the onion and chop the garlic, and chop the spices if fresh. Put in bottom of big pot and sautee for a few minutes.
Turn the heat up, put the stock and pasta in, simmer until stock comes to a shallow boil. Turn the heat down.
add the beans and tomatoes, and a pinch more salt.
mix up with a big wooden spoon and cover. let simmer for about an hour or two on low heat.
when ready to serve, shave the parmesan over each serving and put a sprig of rosemary or basil on top. a blob of greek yogurt or sour cream is a nice topping also.
you need:
one can of each:
black eyed peas
garbanzos
white beans (pea or kidneys)
red kidneys
black beans
peeled tomatoes
2 cans or 3 cups chicken stock
one yellow onion
2 cups of short cut tube pasta
3 cloves garlic (optional but so yummy)
rosemary
basil
oregano
2 bay leaves, crumbled
parm. cheese, grated, about 1/2 a cup to taste
salt
pepper
3 tablespoons olive oil
1 tbsp sugar
1 tbsp cumin
resist the urge for potatoes of any kind.
dice the onion and chop the garlic, and chop the spices if fresh. Put in bottom of big pot and sautee for a few minutes.
Turn the heat up, put the stock and pasta in, simmer until stock comes to a shallow boil. Turn the heat down.
add the beans and tomatoes, and a pinch more salt.
mix up with a big wooden spoon and cover. let simmer for about an hour or two on low heat.
when ready to serve, shave the parmesan over each serving and put a sprig of rosemary or basil on top. a blob of greek yogurt or sour cream is a nice topping also.
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