Home for the weekend

Bright and Simple

Roasted asparagus was mentioned in the frittata post but I just can't get enough. Once they're cooked, I eat them like French fries, and accompanied by one of my favorite things - roasted tomatoes - you really can't go wrong. I'd eat the two things on a plate with a hunk of bread and a slab of butter. That would be for a meal alone, so I guess I had to think of something else instead:
Here is everything roasted after about 20 minutes, maybe less, at 450 degrees. They have different roasting times, I suppose, but 15-20 minutes was fine.

Whole wheat pasta, sauteed spinach, blob of ricotta. YES.

Guest Cook!

Well, he's not exactly a guest. And who am I kidding? I don't do ALL of the cooking around here. There are some nights, like tonight, when I'm so tired and drained of all normal human capabilities that I send out a message such as this one: im hugnry pls cooktonite. Luckily for me, there's someone on the other end of that message who usually follows through with quite an impressive dish. In precise order, Karl listed the ingredients of his new favorite meal to make as I unpacked my swim bag and collapsed on the couch. I had him repeat everything once we were sitting down to eat because, again, I was incapable of accurately listening (oops, I sat in the steam room too long at the Y). So, here it is, "Down-home jamboree freestyle cookin'" as Karl called it. "It's fried rice; appropriated from random stuff." Ah, yes, random stuff indeed:
Onion, garlic, carrot, oil: saute. Add cut up chicken breast, peas, and cook. Add precooked rice, dried basil, salt, pepper, Tabasco sauce, and a small dash of honey. Oh! Add some chopped walnuts in there with the rice for a nice crunch.
MMMMMMMMMMMMMMM!

I've been baking bread...

I've been baking bread all week like a crazy woman and today was just more of the same. Pictured is the loaf I made with white flour fresh out of the oven. I'll try to run you through this very easy, delightful process:
Pictured above is bread dough using whole wheat flour and below (I tried to get these damn pictures to show up side by side but Blogger didn't want to grant me such a privilege) is dough with regular all-purpose flour. This is what the dough looks like after rising for eight hours. For each batch, I mixed 3 cups flour, about 2 teaspoons kosher salt, about 1 teaspoon dry instant yeast, and 1 and a 1/3 cups lukewarm water. Once the ingredients are mixed, cover the bowl with plastic wrap. They should sit until the dough doubles in size, so in this case, about eight hours. I managed to completely rearrange my bedroom during this time, but I wouldn't necessarily recommend this.

After the first rise (described above in the bowls), remove the dough from the bowl and place it on a floured surface. Also, flour a towel or cloth napkin (like the ones pictured). Fold the dough a few times to shape it and cover it with flour. Then place it in the floured towel and wrap loosely. The wrapped dough should sit for about 2 hours (I watched an episode of The Tudors). At about 1-1.5 hours into the second rise, preheat the oven to 475 degrees and also place a large oven-proof pot in the oven. I used my relatively new dutch oven (was told that it's best for baking bread) that I found at the Brooklyn Kitchen for $42.50!!
Once the oven is preheated and it has been about two hours (or the dough has clearly risen), unwrap the towel and carefully place the dough in the pot or dutch oven covered (you don't have to cover it, but I have bad luck with oven smoke and smoke alarms and the lid seems to prevent this). After about 30 minutes (your house/apartment/closet/shack will start to smell like BREAD), remove the bread from the oven. It should pop right out! Let it cool. Eat. Eat. Eat.

Article: Life of the Restaurant Critic

I don't usually post articles, but I read about food on a daily basis - during those short minutes between lunch and back to work, or a quick read in the morning as I sip my coffee - and find most food-related articles entertaining, well-written, and appetite-inducing. 

This week's article by Sam Sifton, the New York Times' restaurant critic, elaborates on what we all imagine a food critic's life to be. It seems there's a lot more than just eating good food all of the time. He runs everywhere to keep the pounds off - even from restaurant to restaurant - takes the stairs, and bikes. As someone who has a job that can be nicely tucked away after 6pm, or on those ever-shrinking weekends, it's hard for me to wrap my head around a job that fully dictates one's diet and lifestyle. 

Anyway, it's an appetizing read that had me considering a second lunch. I went for a walk instead. 

Roasted asparagus frittata and that car-shaped bread

There was some roasted asparagus hiding in the fridge this morning (ahem, afternoon) and I'd almost forgotten about it. Initially, I wanted to make a quiche, but had also almost forgotten about the bread I made, and needed to use it up (quiche and bread for breakfast? too much for me). To the frittata I added 1 shallot, 4-5 chopped up roasted asparagus spears (roasted for 10 minutes with salt, pepper, oil at 450), cheddar, and grated parmesan. Mix ingredients with 3-4 eggs, salt and pepper. Pour into skillet and let it cook until the edges start to cook and the middle starts to simmer a bit. Then place in 350 degree oven until the eggs are puffy and starting to brown around the edges.

Bread time

We were out of bread, so I made some. This loaf kind of looks like a '98 Toyota Camry.
Num, num, num! It's stale now, so I will probably make bread pudding.

Pecan Squares (oh my!)

Yeah, these pecan squares are a new favorite. I don't usually post desserts because, as I mentioned in my tart post, baking makes me delirious.
However, with the much needed help of my friend, Angie (featured stirring the pecan mixture), I was able to get through this particular dessert-making process unharmed (Total lie. I burned my forearm and now have a hideous scar.)
You, my loyal reader, won't be surprised to know that this is not my recipe. It is Ina Garten's. Because she is a genius. Although, next time I'll try the recipe without the lemon and orange zest. I might want to make it more salty-sweet instead of sweet-sweet-sweet.

Bolognese for Days

This should last a few days, no? There are three other containers in the fridge. Needless to say, I went a little crazy tonight making bolognese.

At the kitchen on Sunday, someone asked what I enjoy making the most and, not prepared for the question, I blurted out sauces. It seems my subconscious was right because the more I thought about it, the more accurate my answer. When I was a kid - oh maybe between the ages of 8-10 - I loved making "mixes" or "potions" - I'm not sure what I called them. They weren't for eating but for the simple pleasure of combining ingredients at random; ketchup, maple syrup, chocolate syrup, gummy bears, dirt, milk, you name it. Now that I can combine ingredients and make them taste good, well, it's much more pleasurable.

One thing remains the same and that would be the mess. Someday next month I'm sure to find an old splattering of bolognese hiding behind the coffee maker or on top of the fridge. By then, it'll be time for a new batch.

Double boiled eggs: a creamy, fluffy mass

Coq au vin

These little suckers are annoying to peel, which is why some people buy them prepackaged. I followed Julia Child's recipe fairly closely with the exception of a couple ingredients, such as cognac. The onions are sauteed in butter (approx. 2 tb) for close to 30 minutes, at which point you get:
It was hard to keep the onions from losing their form; many of them wanted to break apart.
Into the pot they go with browned mushrooms, bacon (duck bacon!), broth, more butter and oil, thyme, bay leaf, five cut-up chicken pieces (what you would use for fried chicken) and, of course, red wine. One thing I learned was that you don't have to use a nice ($10-$12) bottle of Cote du Rhone for the recipe. Instead, the man at the wine store advised me to use a "drinkable" red wine and even suggested a box wine called Bandit ($6-7). He told me that too many people think they have to cook with nicer wines for stews. Bandit was actually better than some red wines I've had and it has 30% more than a bottle!

Once everything cooks together for at least 30 minutes, the chicken is taken out and the sauce is thickened with flour and more butter. The chicken is placed back in until fully cooked. I prepared the onions and mushrooms the night before so that I'd have enough room on the stove top. Other than the preparation and overall cooking time, this dish is one of my favorites and oh-so rewarding.

A Vegetarian Mouthful

Kelly gave me one watermelon radish and a bag of wheat berries; two things I've never cooked. The hand-off was perfect timing because I've been meaning to post a vegetarian meal. The last few posts have been either meat-heavy and/or just heavy. Plus, I knew coq au vin was in the forecast this week (post to come), so I wanted to start the week off with something healthy and meat-free.
Wheat berries are usually added to things, like salads or breads, but I was willing to try them as a simple, flavorful, mound on my plate. After they cook for about an hour, wheat berries are chewy with a bit of a crunch.
At first I wasn't sure if I should roast the watermelon radishes, or boil, or saute. I settled on sauteing (with a diced shallot, green pepper, and butter) and they were cooked through within ten minutes.
I knew I would need something more than just a grain and sauteed vegetables. As my last post mentioned, I enjoy large amounts of Parmesan, so I looked up a quick topping (technically, it was under "dips"); Mark Bittman has you roast a small eggplant at 500 degrees until they look like the picture. Then, let them cool, remove the skins, chop them up really well until the eggplant chunks resemble mush. Add 1/2 cup of Parmesan cheese, a little oil, a squeeze of a lemon (or in my case, lime juice) and pepper. As a larger portion, prepared in a food processor as opposed to with a soup spoon, this dip would be quite tasty on warm pita bread.


So, here it is. The dip, admittedly, looks awkward but I assure you it was exactly what the wheat berries needed - a little oomph!

Tonight called for one thing and one thing only - my favorite combination, my comfort food of choice these days, and above all, something of ease. It wouldn't usually look anything like the picture. It'd be a mound of noodles slathered with cheese and topped with a heaping helping of steamed spinach (then add another mound of Parmesan to that.) It's actually somewhat embarrassing typing that out. Like a confession. There's only one person who knows how to properly prepare it for me and he'll go unnamed.

Certainly, there are worse things to have on a regular basis, which brings me to the twist I put on my Mondays-suck-so-I'll-drown-my-fatigue-and-dread-in-pasta-and-cheese dinner: Alfredo sauce, sauteed spinach with garlic, a non-dieter's amount of Parmesan cheese, and, as you can see, lasagna noodles (I didn't realize until I opened the box that the noodles were non-boil!)

I did learn to add a bit of flour to an Alfredo sauce, which helped, but everything else was done in a haze, as an afterthought to so many other thoughts swirling around in my Monday brain. I didn't even bother taking a picture of the post-oven lasagna. Let's just say it resembled something you'd want to stick your face in and eat...privately. Luckily, someone joined me.

Texas: health's vacation

Well, I didn't cook this. I'm deviating from my blog's flow (flow?) Sorry.

I'm happy to report that the sampler plate above was split between three people, though I did happen to notice a number of diners picking away at an entire plate on their own. I suppose I shouldn't be surprised. The majority of my Texas vacation was spent eating food at otherwise non-eating hours on otherwise too large of plates. I ate and ate. Even fast food, but I won't go into that.

All kidding aside (actually, not kidding, I ate a lot), Texas has no doubt the best enchiladas and barbecue I think I've ever had (other than my Pop's barbecue in Memphis, of course). The featured plate of various meats (you can't seem them, but ribs are hiding under the sausage and brisket) was found at Ironworks in Austin. My aunt and uncle from Indiana (uncle is originally from Texas) said that it was some of the best barbecue they had yet to find in Austin and I would agree.

The first meal I cooked upon returning to New York was a healthy, vegetarian, vegetable-loaded soup. Within the week, I hope to post something new and exciting that may or may not have something to do with a restaurant idea I thought of today. Suspenseful, isn't it?


(PS: Karl wants me to mention that the aforementioned enchiladas were, specifically, from Pico's Mex-Mex in Houston.)

English breakfast with a side of dogs

We are house sitting in Chelsea this weekend and taking care of two BIG collies. They are fluffy and sweet. Scout (above) mostly flops on the couch and cuddles. Sadie follows me around and begs for food. I'm also taking advantage of Amy and Ben's kitchen, so today I made an English breakfast for my valentine.
I woke up early to find one thing: Heinz beans. As you can see, I technically found what I was looking for (after going to five different places) but this isn't exactly what I needed. The original can is blue with black lettering; a label that looks like it was made in the forties and never really changed. The beans I found are pretty much the same except vegetarian.
We took the dogs to Union Square yesterday, to the dog park, and then I needed some things at the farmers market.

It's basically a plate full of grease and cholesterol which, I promise you, is delicious.
This is Sadie. She knows what cholesterol smells like.

Cooking up a (snow) storm

A couple years ago, I was disappointed to hear that multi-tasking can have detrimental effects and no one should attempt it, which is too bad because I'm pretty damn good at it. Today, while working-from-home in the midst of Blizzard 2010, I made the following:
These are kumquats split in half with the seeds removed. Bring to a boil 3 times, with 3 separate batches of water. Then make a simple syrup to cover boiled and drained kumquats. Jen at Liddabit taught me this.
I'd used this poach pod to make mini omelets a while back, but I'd yet to actually poach an egg in it. Does it work?
Here's what the reduction looks like. Sweet, tangy, a little bitter, mmmm!
It works!
Oh, right. I almost forgot. I made rice pudding, too.

And hollandaise sauce...