My Mom Didn't Teach Me To Cook

Guava Cookies

2009-11-25T13:56:00.000-08:00

Since starting this blog I've been bugging my mother to teach me some Puerto Rican recipes and every once in a while she does. Yesterday mom came over and we made guava cookies. They're basically the same shortbread and jam cookies that everyone else makes, except using guava jam instead of the typical raspberry jam.

It's a very simple recipe. You need 2 1/4c. AP-flour, 3/4c. sugar, 3/4 tsp. baking powder, one stick of butter (softened), one egg, 1 tsp. vanilla, and one jar of jam.

Start by pre-heating the oven to 350 and greasing a 9x13 baking pan.

Mix together the flour, sugar, and baking powder in a large bowl. Mix in the softened butter until everything is nice and crumbly. Then add in the egg and vanilla. You'll have a very crumbly dough, but it will stick together when pressed.

Spread half of the dough into the bottom of the pan. Press it down into one fairly firm layer. Then spread on a thin layer of jam. If your jam doesn't spread well you can always heat it over a double boiler until it's thin enough to spread. Then top the jam with the remaining dough in an even layer.

Bake in the oven for 30 minutes. The edges will be golden brown and the center will be blond. These are fantastic with tea.

Easy Roast Chicken with Root Vegetables

2009-11-19T19:59:00.000-08:00

A few weeks ago I went down to Portland, Or to visit with some friends and had several delightful meals. One of those meals was a roasted chicken with root vegetables. It was so delicious that I had to make it once I got home.

I started out by brining the chicken. I made a solution of 7 3/4c. of water, 1/4c. of apple cider vinegar, and a 1/2c. of table salt (near double this if using kosher salt). I stirred this until all the sale dissolved and then set in the defrosted chicken, breasts down. I put a plate on top of the chicken to keep it from floating and set it in the fridge for an hour.

Just before taking the chicken out of the fridge I pre-heated the oven at 375. I always like to let me oven pre-heat for at least five minutes after the oven thinks it's reached temperature - that way the pizza stone that lives at the bottom of my oven can heat through. I then got out a nice big casserole dish (about a 9x13).

I collected a bunch of root vegetables that I had gotten at the farmer's market the day before. I peeled and chopped into roughly 1/4-1/2inch chunks: four medium potatoes, three beets, one rutabaga, four small carrots, and one medium onion. You could also include parsnips, sweet potatoes, turnips, brussel sprouts - whatever's in season. I laid these out evenly in the casserole dish and sprinkled them with a little salt, a little pepper, and some herbs de provence.

I took the chicken out of the fridge, removed it from the brine, and patted it dry. I placed the chicken wing-side up (basically laying on its side) in the middle of the casserole dish - right on top of the veggies. I dotted the chicken with some butter and put it in the oven. I roasted it for 15 minutes on this side, then turned it so that the other wing side was up, dotted it with a little butter again, and roasted it for another 15 minutes. Then I turned it breast up, redotted it butter and stuck a probe thermometer into the thickest part of the breast (careful not to bump up against the bone lest it give a false reading). Then I turned the oven up to 450 degrees. I set the thermometer to go off at 155 degrees (the breast is done at 160 and the thighs at 170). I checked on the bird after about 20 minutes and turned it so that it would cook more evenly.

When the thermometer read 155 I took the dish out and placed it on the counter. I covered the bird with foil and let it rest for ten minutes. During this time the bird came up to proper temperature. I ended up with a juicy, perfectly cooked chicken and some amazingly tender and flavorful vegetables - they soaked up a lot of the chicken's juices. The liquid that the vegetables cooked in could easily have been reduced into a sauce, but I think it was fine as it was.

The whole cooking process took a little under an hour and a half. It was easy and delicious, and it was relatively cheap because I'd got the chicken on sale and the veggies were all from the farmer's market. I love autumnal food.

Cranberry Sauce

2009-11-17T23:25:00.000-08:00

Yes folks it's that time of the year again, the time when all the culinary minds in each family begin to truly freak out. It's almost thanksgiving.

Last year my grandmother, she who makes The Turkey, was ill and didn't have the strength to make The turkey. Now as my mother is the oldest of four sisters one might think that this would be no problem. Surely one of the Figueroa sisters knows how to make a turkey... Um, no. In fact, the only person in the family who would be attending thanksgiving that actually knew how to cook a turkey was me. I had to make a turkey at my house and drive it twenty miles to my family. It was a harrowing but largely successful experience.

This year my Nanny is feeling better and the burden of preparing The Turkey has been reserved for the matriarch. So what am I making this year? Cranberry sauce. I actually like cranberry sauce quite a bit. I like it thick and sour-sweet and made from freakin' berries. None of this cylinder of jello whumped out of a can. That is NOT my idea of food.

I decided to make my cranberry sauce nice and early so I could can it and let the flavors meld for the next week. Hopefully this will maximize the deliciousness.

I got 4c. of fresh cranberries, 1 seedless orange (I contemplated using two satsumas but ate them before I could cook with them), 3c. of sugar, and a handful of crushed pecans.

First you need to zest the orange with a microplane - if you don't have a microplane and have a very steady hand you can attempt to shave off just the orange, but not pith, of the peel with a paring knife, best of luck with that. Then remove the pith (the white part of the peel) and discard it - it's bitter and kinda useless. Cut up the flesh of the orange as finely as you can. Then put the zest and the fruit into a large saucepan with about 3c. of water. Bring it to a boil and then reduce to a simmer for five minutes.

Now add all the cranberries and the sugar. Stir to dissolve the sugar, then bring the whole thing to a roiling boil for 10-15 minutes - basically until it's reached the right consistency. If you like cranberry sauce the consistency of jam you'll cook it a little longer than if you like it a bit more liquidy. Then stir in the pecans (you could use any nut you like as long as it was crushed into very small bits). At this point your house should smell like the holidays.

This will make 4 half-pints of cranberry sauce. You can either use it immediately, put it into the fridge for a few days, or can it (boil for 15minutes) and keep it for whenever you feel like adding something special to a roast bird (it's really good on chicken).

Chicken Green Chile Soup

2009-11-06T14:36:00.000-08:00

The other day I made chili, but I bought too many poblano peppers and had two extra. I also had two big baking potatoes that really needed to be eaten. Now, I always have lots of homemade chicken stock in my freezer, the kind that is a great foundation for any soup. I decided to combine these ingredients to make something yummy.

I started by roasting the poblanos on my gas range. You just put the peppers right on the flame until the skin starts to bubble and turn black. Turn the peppers as they cook to make sure they get evenly roasted. Then stick them in a bowl and cover with plastic wrap - this basically steam cooks them the rest of the way.

Then I thawed about 5c. of chicken stock in a big pot - stick the cube of frozen stock in the pot on medium heat until it melts. While the stock thawed I peeled the peppers - just run them under a little cold water and rub of the blackened skin. Then I diced the flesh of the peppers and threw then in the pot.

Then I peeled the two big baking potatoes and diced them into 1/4inch pieces. Normally I like bigger chunks of potato, but I planned on blending this soup and the small pieces are easier on my immersion blender. I then added 3 cloves of garlic, minced and one chicken breast. I used a boneless-skinless breast because my stock has enough gelatin in it already. If you're using store bough stock, like Kitchen Basics, then I'd use a bone-in breast to enhance the stock.

Bring the soup to a boil on high, then reduce to low and cover. Let simmer for an hour of two - until the potatoes are soft and the chicken is cooked. Then remove the chicken breast and shred it. Before you put the chicken back in, take a stick blender to the soup until you've got a smooth, velvety texture. Add the chicken back in and add 1/4-1/2c. of frozen corn (or fresh if you've got it). At this point I like to add about 1 tsp of adobo for extra flavor (you can use cumin and mexican oregano if you can't get adobo). Let simmer for another 15-20 minutes, add salt (about 1-3tsp) and pepper to taste.

Eat with a slice of crusty bread and a dollop of sour cream.

Cheap Lunch - Fillet of Sole

2009-11-02T12:47:00.000-08:00

Yesterday I spent some time perusing the fish counter down at Central Market. I came upon some dover sole. Sole is a plain white fish but it caught my eye because it was cheap ($7.99 lb) and because it was incredibly thin. I've been experimenting with breading and frying fish, but I've had trouble getting it cooked properly.

My last attempt was with catfish. Catfish is a fairly thin fillet (about 1/2 - 3/4 inch at the thickest), with a tougher texture. I had some spectacularly delicious fried catfish when I was down in New Orleans, so I had high hopes. It turned out edible, but it wasn't great. The breading turned golden brown, but the inside of the fish just wasn't cooked. I ended up finishing it in the oven to make sure it was cooked, but this affected the texture of the breading. I think my problem was not having the oil at a high enough temperature when the fish went into the pan.

The sole I got was thin - probably a 1/4 inch thick or less. It was so thin that I figured panko breadcrumbs would completely overwhelm the fish. Instead I decided to just dredge the fillets in seasoned flour. I put maybe a cup of AP flour on a plate and sprinkled it with a generous amount of salt, about a full teaspoon. Then I added a fair dusting of black pepper, and a dash of old bay. I mixed this with a fork until blended.

All the while I had a thin coating of oil heating up in a cast iron skillet. I let the oil heat up to the point where a drop of water would spit and sizzle when dropped in the oil. Then I dredged the fillets in the flour, shook off any excess, and laid them in the pan - being careful not to let them touch or overlap. I cooked them for a minute or two per side. I flipped them when I saw that the outer edges of the fish became opaque. I cooked them until the fish was lightly browned and just starting to crumble when flipped.

Once done I took them out of the pan and laid them on a paper towel lined plate to drain. I then seasoned them with a little lemon juice and scarfed them down. They were delicious. I got two small fillets for $2.38 and it took maybe ten minutes to cook. Quick, easy, cheap. This could also easily be adapted to a larger meal by making more fish and adding a side or two, like boiled new potatoes and green beans. Yum.

Pressure Canning

2009-10-28T14:42:00.000-07:00

As you know, I've been making small forays into the world of canning. I've learned that high-acid foods, like fruit, are canned by the water bath method. This is the method I always thought of when I though of canning - putting things in jars and boiling the heck out of them. Apparently that just won't do for low acid foods like soup and vegetables, those have to be pressure canned.

I use a lot of chicken stock in my normal cooking, so I make my own. Normally I freeze it and try to use it all within a few months. But there are a few drawbacks to frozen stock. First and foremost, I freeze stock in soup batch sized containers. Lately I've been making a lot of recipes that call for just a cup of stock, so it seems silly to thaw out a quart of stock for a recipe. Also, defrosting takes time and lets face it, I'm impatient. The other big thing is that if the power were to go out for more than a few days, I'd lose all my stock. I live in earthquake territory, so I try to be fairly prepared for emergencies. So, I decided that I needed to start canning my stock. I ordered a pressure canner from amazon and got to it.

I decided to start off with a small batch of beef stock because I don't use beef stock as often, so having it in a container that will keep for a year is handy. I found the whole process much easier than I expected. I made my stock the normal way. I got 4-5lbs of bones, roasted them for an hour in the oven, then threw them in a pot with some onion, carrot, celery, some herbs, and covered it all with water. I let it simmer for about 7 hours and then added some salt to taste. I strained out all the solids and put the whole batch in the fridge until the fat solidified and could be easily removed. Then I put it back on heat until boiling, put it in sterilized jars and put them in the canner.

All of the books I've read say that you need to follow the directions that come with your pressure canner religiously, so I did. I put 3 quarts of boiling water in the canner, then put in the jars, and sealed it. I let it vent steam, fairly vigorously, for ten minutes. Then I put the regulator on and let it come up to just between 10-11 lbs of pressure. Then I fiddled with the heat to maintain that pressure and let it go for twenty minutes. Then I turned off the heat and left it alone until the pressure went down to zero. Then I took off the lid and ever so slightly scalded myself - I wasn't expecting the gout of steam, I will be more careful in the future. I let the jars sit in the canner for another 5 minutes with the lid off, then put them on a cutting board to cool. The lids popped just like they always do and now I have stock.

I also made a batch of tomato sauce yesterday. The recipe I was following was for a typical water bath canner, however I ran out of lemon juice in the middle of making it. The lemon juice was the essential acid that would allow the sauce to be canned safely at the lower temperature of the water bath. Instead of freaking out and running to the store, I decided to just pressure can the whole thing. I figured that would make up for the lack of acidity - the higher heat would kill any possible bacteria that might survive the lower acid environment.

I followed the same basic procedure as for the stock, but following my pressure canner's directions, cooked it for 15 minutes instead of the 20 for the stock (my canner came with a fairly thorough recipe book that included low acid tomato sauce). All in all it was a very satisfying day.

Salmon in Green Pipian

2009-10-26T19:06:00.001-07:00

Last night I sat looking through my cookbooks, trying to find a new way to cook salmon fillet. My local market has beautiful wild silver salmon on sale right now, which means I've gotten quite a bit of it. Much as I love salmon simply grilled with salt, pepper, and a little lemon, it does get old after a while.

In my search I vaugely remembered seeing an interesting salmon recipe in Mexican Everyday. It was salmon in green pipian. It looked easy enough so I decided to try it. The recipe calls for 2c. of tomatillo salsa. It does have a recipe for making it yourself, but I knew that my local market had Frontera salsa - a company owned by Rick Bayless, the cookbook author. I figured I'd save myself 15 minutes and just buy a jar of their Green Tomatillo Salsa with Chipotles - yummy stuff.

You puree the salsa in a blender until smooth and pour it into a wide sauce pan and boil it down until it's the consistency of tomato paste. Then you add a cup of chicken stock and 3 tbs of tahini. Mix this together and let it simmer for 10 minutes. Then add about 1/2 tsp of salt and 1/3 tsp of sugar. Put 2-4 single serving salmon filets in the sauce, put a lid on it and cook on med-low. I cooked about a pound of salmon, 6 minutes on one side, six minutes on the other, until it was cooked through. Plate the salmon with a generous amount of sauce, sprinkle liberally with peas and serve.

I served this with tortilla chips and guacamole that we had leftover from Saturday's Halloween party. It was quick, easy, and muy delicioso. I'll definetly make this again.

Shepard's Pie

2009-10-24T00:50:00.000-07:00

Today we had some torrential rain. I'm talking biblically heavy rain. It was an absolutely perfect day for comfort food, so I decided to make Shepard's Pie for dinner. I'd never made it before, but it's a dish I've always enjoyed. Last week I saw a re-run of the Good Eats episode in which Alton Brown makes Shepard's Pie and it looked tasty and pretty simple, so I decided to give it a try.

The ingredients are nice and simple: ground meat, potatoes, onion, carrots, broth, peas, corn, herbs, and tomato paste. As a bonus, they're also cheap. The recipe calls for ground lamb, but I decided to change it to ground sirloin instead because Ty isn't a big fan of lamb.

The recipe is fantastically easy. Make some mashed pototaoes, and while they cook saute some onions and carrots, add some meat, season with salt and pepper, and brown gently. Then add some flour to absorb the liquid and thicken it into a nice gravy. Add some beef broth, herbs, a dash of worcestershire, some tomato paste, and simmer 10-15 minutes until it thickens. Put the whole thing in a baking dish - I used a 9x9 because it's what I've got (the recipe calls for a 7x11).

Then you smear the mashed potatoes across the top, sealing the edges with the potatoes so it doesn't bubble over. Back the whole thing in the oven at 400 for about 25 minutes, let cool, and enjoy.

Simple, cheap, and hearty.

Pears

2009-10-21T15:49:00.000-07:00

I love pears. I really love pears. But, as Eddie Izzard says, they're gorgeous little beasts but they're ripe for half an hour. I decided to try my hand at canning them. I followed the directions in my Ball Book of Home Preserving, but I'm not sure they anticipated the size of local pears in season. Bartlet pears can be kinda enormous.

The recipe called for one batch of light syrup - 2 1/4c sugar, 5 1/4c water. I made this in my enormous stockpot, knowing I'd have to put pears in with it. However, this much syrup will not completely cover one layer of pears in my stockpot - it's too wide. Next time I'll either do it in a much smaller pot or use a double batch of syrup.

I cooked the pears in the hot syrup for five minutes and then put them in jars. Pint jars. One large Bartlet pear is all that will fit in a pint jar I discovered. Next time I will use quart jars if I want halves pears. I ended up dicing some of them to fit more pear in each jar. Was this wise? Only time will tell.

After packing all the pears I had tons left over, so I put them in a big flip top jar and shoved them in the fridge. I like pears, I should be able to each six of them in a week - no problem. Then I boiled my jars for 20 minutes, took them out to cool, and listened to the lids pop. They're something very satisfying about hearing those lids pop, like a bletch after a really good meal. (Yes, I'm a bit crude.)

Cochinita Pibil

2009-10-20T00:02:00.000-07:00

Glorious cochinita pibil, sounds awfully exotic doesn't it? If you're a Robert Rodriguez fan it might even sound oddly familiar. Yes, cochinita pibil is the dish that Johnny Depp's character obsesses over in Once Upon A Time in Mexico. Not the greatest movie ever made, but a lot of fun.

Years after watching that movie, I found a recipe for pollo pibil (the same as cochinita pibil except you use chicken instead of pork) in Authentic Mexican by Rick Bayless. I really, truly love this man's cookbooks, because right in the margin of the book were instructions on how to convert the recipe from chicken to pork. Now, I love pretty much all things porcine and since I learned that my husband doesn't love pork chops the way I do, I've been looking for fun pork recipes.

I was expecting some hugely complicated master recipe that would take all day, but it was surprisingly simple. The only "exotic" ingredient you need is achiote, which I found in a local mexican tienda but is easily obtainable online. Other than that you need some citrus fruits, a pork shoulder, an onion, a tomato, some chiles, and some banana leaves (easy to find in an asian market or well stocked grocery store - gods bless Central Market).

I began by cutting a 2lb pork shoulder roast into chunks, about the same size as you would for stew. Then I slathered the meat in a paste made from the achiote and citrus juice and let it marinade overnight. This gives the meat a deep red color and wonderfully vinegary aroma. I did learn that this is a process best done while wearing gloves, unless you want the beds of your fingernails to be orange for a few days.

About three hours before I wanted to eat I preheated the oven to 350 and lined a dutch oved with two sections of banana leaf. The I sauteed a large onion that I'd cut into very thin strips. While the onion browned, I sliced four anaheim chiles (these were avaioable at my local farmer's market, but next time I may add something with a little more heat) into very thin strips. Once the onions had browned I removed them from the pan and put them in a bowl with the chile strips. I also sliced a large tomato into 1/4inch slices.

Next I made the package for roasting. You put the pork on top of the banana leaves, in the dutch oven. Top that with the onions and chiles, and then top that with one layer of tomato slices. Pour a little extra grapefruit juice over the top and then seal the whole thing with two more sections of banana leaves. Put the lid on the dutch oven and pop the whole thing in the oven for 2 1/2 hours. About an hour and a half into cooking, your house will start to smell like banana leaves. I kinda like it.

When the timer goes off take out the pot. The pork should be fork tender, juicy, and delicious. If you need extra time, you can keep the pot on the counter while you fix any side dishes and it stays warm for a while - banana leaves are amazing insulators. I suggest serving this with some well seasoned black beans and some spanish rice, maybe with a lime wedge on the side.

The Farmer's Market

2009-10-18T12:57:00.000-07:00

It's Sunday morning, for me that means going to the farmer's market. Now, most of the seasonal markets have closed down for the year, but there are still a few year-round markets. Luckily for me, there's a year-round farmer's market within a reasonable drive from my house - the Ballard market.

I went to the market with a list of ingredients for cochinita pibil (Yucatecan roasted pork) and managed to find everything I needed except for a few citrus fruits that just don't grow around here. I managed to get a nice pork shoulder from some people that raise grass-fed, fully organic, happy animals that are humanely slaughtered.

I got some fresh anaheim peppers from some crazy people. I call them crazy because they also had a huge box of fresh ghost chilies. Who buys ghost chiles, honestly? They're the hottest peppers in the world, about ten times hotter than habaneros. Who cooks with these things? I'll stick to my nice mild peppers thank-you very much.

I also picked up some glorious raw milk. There's a wonderful farm out on Vashon Island that sells fresh milk, butter, cream, bacon, and some nice meats. It's the same guy every week that sells it and I'm getting to know him. There's something really wonderful about getting to know the people that produce your food. I highly recommend it.

Chowda

2009-10-14T22:15:00.000-07:00

If you've been reading this blog, then you've probably figured out that I'm a big fan of Good Eats. I picked up the new Good Eats: The Early Years cookbook the day it came out and I've already made a few of the recipes. Today I decided to try out the recipe for clam chowder.

The recipe looked simple enough, so I made a list of what I needed and headed to Central Market, my glorious local supermarket. The recipe called for a 14oz can of minced clams. I could only find 6.5oz cans, so I got two and hoped for the best. I also got a 10oz can of baby clams to substitute for the fresh clams called for in the recipe. Yeah, my market has fresh clams, but they're kinda expensive. If I were making the recipe for company and wanted to look fancy, then I'd get the fresh clams. But for just Ty and me, canned would do.

The recipe also called for salt pork. The only salt pork I could find looked...well...kinda gross, and it was a large package and I only needed 3oz. I went for some slab bacon instead because it was local, fresh, and I would actually use the leftovers.

Groceries at hand, I went home and got cooking. The recipe calls for mincing the bacon into small cubes and sauteing until golden. I did this in my trusty cast iron soup pot (I really, really love this pot), so I wouldn't have to dirty more than one pot. After crisping the bacon I removed it to a small plate and put it in the microwave so it wouldn't get too cold. I then sauteed an onion in the bacon fat. The bacon must have rendered more fat than I realized, because when I rather incautiously plopped in the onion I splashed some very hot fat onto my hand. It hurt.

While the onions cooked, I finely diced three russet potatoes. The recipe calls for leaving the skins on, so I did so. However, I'm not happy with what they did to the final texture of the soup - more on that later. Once the onions were translucent I dumped in the potato and about three cups of whole milk. I brought it to a boil and then turned it down to a simmer for a little over ten minutes. Once it had simmered for a while, I added the liquid from the canned clams. This gave the soup a pleasantly clammy, but not overpowering smell.

After the soup had simmered I took an immersion blender to it. Here's where I dislike those potato skins. I like my chowder thick, like almost paste thick, so I blended the heck out of it. The potato all but disintegrated into a rich, thick, creamy pot of deliciousness - except for the skins. The skins remained whole and when I ate it later I would have velvety chowder with strips of potato skin floating in it. If I had left more of the potatoes intact it would have been fine, but I didn't.

After blending, you fold in the clams and add salt and pepper to taste. I topped this with some fresh parsley from my garden. It made a delicious soup. About halfway through our first bowls I realized that I had forgotten about the bacon. Do not forget the bacon. The soup is amazing by itself, but with a few cubes of crispy, salty, unctuous bacon it becomes sublime. Mmmm, soup.

Apple Butter

2009-10-09T15:00:00.000-07:00

On Wednesday my mom came over with a cloth grocery bag filled with apples from my parents' apple trees. There were about ten pounds of apples in that back, about six of which were good - not buggy or too bruised. I figured I'd take advantage of this bounty and experiment with it. So, yesterday I made Apple Cider Butter. The recipe was from the Ball Complete Book of Home Preserving.

You basically boil down six pounds of apples, immersion blend them until smooth, then add sugar, cinnamon, and cloves and let the whole thing boil down until it thickens. This apple butter is basically thick spiced apple sauce. Thick spiced apple sauce is something I make all the time, so I figured this would be a breeze. Wonder of wonders, it was in fact a breeze. I ended up with eight 1/2 pints of apple butter sitting in shiny jars on the counter (well, one jar is now in the fridge because I opened it).

Oh yes, family and friends you are getting homemade preserves this holiday season.

Adventures in Canning

2009-10-07T20:11:00.000-07:00

I've wanted to learn to can for a long time. Growing up we had apple trees, pear trees, and a plum tree that always produced way too many plums. Every fall my mom would make applesauce, apple crisp, apple pie, and one time we rented a cider press and made cider. But every year fruit would go to waste and it always seemed like such a shame.

As a grown up I now go to farmers markets and see tons of beautiful produce and I always wished I had a way to preserve it. Yes, you can buy canned pears on the cheap at the supermarket, but there's a certain allure to doing it yourself. If I can my pears then I know where they came from, I've talked to the farmers at the market, and I know what's been done to preserve them.

Instead of just wishing, this year I decided to do something about it. I bought a couple of books on canning, read about a zillion websites and watched several video demonstrations on youTube. Today my canning kit arrived and I got started.

I did two different recipes. The first recipe was Pear, Port, and Thyme Conserve from Well-Preserved. I got some nice looking bosc pears from the farmer's market and the thyme from my garden and figured that would be a good start for this year's Eat Local Challenge. I followed the recipe exactly and I think it turned out pretty well. You simmer the corsely chopped pears in brown sugar, vinegar, orange juice, lemon juice, lemon zest, and spices. I'm not sure my pears were quite ripe enough because I ended up with a sort of chutney texture, rather than the mush I was expecting. I put it in sterilized jars and boiled them for twenty minutes. When I took them out all the lids popped, indicating that a proper vacuum had formed. I want to let these mature for a week or two to let the flavors meld before I open the first jar.

The second recipe I made was Blueberry Pepper Jam. I used some frozen blueberries that I happened to have in the freezer and fresh peppers from the market. This recipe tastes fantastic, but I'm not sure if it gelled properly. I followed the instructions quite carefully and put in the amount of pectin that was called for, but I think there might have been a greater volume of peppers in my batch than in the batch that was tested with this recipe. I think the jam might have needed another 3-5 minutes on the boil. It's still cooling, so I'll have to wait and see.

Fried Fish

2009-10-06T00:20:00.000-07:00

The other day I was at the market and rockfish was on sale. I'd never eaten rockfish, so I asked the gal at the fish counter how to cook it. She suggested dredging it in flour and frying it. I like fried fish, so I bought some rockfish. I'd never fried fish before either, but from watching countless hours of the food network I knew that fried things are crunchiest when breaded in panko (Japanese-style breadcrumbs). I decided that I'd try two new things in one and got some panko.

Tonight I decided to make that rockfish. I got out a small baking dish and poured in some panko, a tablespoon or two of AP flour, some salt, pepper, and some italian seasoning. I made a light batter our of two eggs and a dash of milk. I put the fish in the batter, shook off the excess, and then breaded the fish. The panko crumbs are kinda big, so I had to pack them onto the fish quite firmly. I heated some oil in a cast iron skillet on medium-high and waited until it shimmered. I put in the fish for a few minutes on each side, until the breadcrumbs were golden brown. When I took out the fish they weren't quite done, so I put them on a cookie sheet covered with a silpat and put them in a 350 degree oven for just a few minutes, until the fish was opaque in the center.

It turned out pretty well for an experiment. The fish was crunchy on the outside and flaky-tender on the inside. The fish itself didn't have a lot of flavor, so the panko could have been more heavily seasoned. But, with some lemon juice it was pretty tasty. Hooray for tasty preparations of cheap fish.

Fresh Pasta

2009-10-04T17:38:00.000-07:00

A few nights ago I tried my hand at making fresh pasta. The dough is easy enough to make (just a 1:1 ratio of flour to eggs with a little olive oil and some salt), but using the pasta machine took a little getting used to.

I got a simple, hand-cranked pasta machine that you clamp onto your counter and it rolls the dough into sheets. You adjust the rollers to be closer and closer together each time you pass the dough through, to make the pasta see-through thin.

The problem I had was that the dough is kinda sticky. I had to thoroughly flour the dough between each pass, or it would stick to itself as soon as it had passed through the machine. After doing about four rounds of dough, I think I finally got the hang of doing it.

I ended up making paperdelle (which I think must be Italian for "rough and unevenly cut, yet tasty." I laid the noodles on a sheet pan until I was ready to boil them, and then cooked them for about five minutes. They ended up looking...odd, but tasting pretty darn good.

In the future I think I may save the homemade pasta for things that call for sheets of noodles, like lasagna or manacotti.

Comfort Food and Spice

2009-09-10T00:25:00.000-07:00

Today was a day for both adventurous cooking and comfort food - odd combination no?

The comfort food I made was my famous applesauce. Yes, I know applesauce is not the most complicated thing in the world, but I do it exceedingly well if I do say so myself. I fill a pot with peeled, cored, and sliced apples and put them on low heat. Depending on the size of the batch I'll add 1/2 - 1 cinnamon stick, 3-5 cloves, approximately a teaspoon of vanilla, and orange zest (if I happen to have it). I let that simmer for a few hours, stirring occasionally. Once the smell of apples fills the house I'll go back to the pot and add 1-3 tablespoons of brown sugar, maybe a little honey, and a little lemon juice to taste. Then I let it continue to simmer until the apples break down into a chunky sauce. You can serve this hot or cold and it's lovely.

My adventurous cooking was making Pork Tinga Tacos from Mexican Everyday by Rick Bayless (I've had great luck with this book). Basically you put dice some nice waxy potatoes and put them in a crock pot, then layer in about 2lbs of cubed pork shoulder and cover it in sauce and cook on low for 6-8 hours. The sauce is a combination of diced tomato, chipotles, onion, garlic, worstestershire, and oregano. Once combined I pureed the whole thing using an immersion blender to give it a nice smooth texture. After everything had simmered for about 5 hours I started occassionally skimming off the excess fat. Once it was done I shredded the pork and served it on home made tortillas with avacado and some queso fresco. It was spicy and delicious and I will definetly be making it again.

Chili and Cornbread

2009-09-01T11:19:00.000-07:00

Yesterday was my husband's birthday and he decided that he wanted chili and cornbread for dinner. I've made chili a few times, but it's always been from "chili mix" rather than from scratch. This time I went to one of my favorite cookbooks, Alton Brown's I'm Just Here for the Food.

The recipe did several things that I hadn't done before. First, it used chuck steak cut into 1/2 inch cubes instead of ground beef. The nicely browned meat then stewed in the chili liquid and ended up with a really fantastic texture.

The next really different thing was that instead of using pre-mixed chili powder, this called for a single chili powder (I used ancho powder), dried california and ancho chiles, and roasted red bell peppers. This was the first chili I've ever eaten that actually tasted like chili peppers instead of a more homogenous mix. The end result was a rich, complex flavor that had a nice bit of heat that was pleasant without being painful.

The other thing this recipe did (genius in my opinion) was to saute the onions, peppers, chilies, tomatoes, etc, and then hit them with a stick blender so that it had a really nice smooth consistency. Then you add in the meat and beans (if you want them) and simmer for about an hour. It was the best chili I've ever made.

I also used an Alton Brown recipe for my cornbread. It called for baking it in a cast iron skillet, which gave it a really nice crust all the way around. It also called for grinding coarse corn meal in a food processor rather than buying generic cornmeal. What this really did I have no idea. But the end result was a good, simple cornbread. Much tastiness

2009: A Spice Oddessy

2009-08-19T22:08:00.000-07:00

Yes, I know. It's been a while. There was this little thing called the bar exam that swooped down and ate my soul. After a few weeks I've managed to finally wrestle it back from the beast and have gotten back to what I truly love - cooking.

After starting this blog I complained to my mom that she never taught me how to cook. A bit affronted, she offered to teach me now. You see, I know how to cook now, pretty much. But what I don't know is how to make the food my mom grew up with: Puerto Rican food.

The other day my mom and I went on a trek to the spice market and the Spanish Table and I came out with the motherload. I got fresh adobo, annatto seeds, a yucatan rojo spice blend, and harissa.

For those of you unfamilar with latin cooking, annatto seeds are primarily used to make annatto oil (just simmer a handful in some oil for about five minutes). That oil is then used in flavoring meats. If you've ever had puerto rican food in any way shape or form, you've probably eaten this without even realizing it.

Adobo is a mix of garlic and onion powder, cumin, salt, pepper, and a few other spices. Put it on virtually anything and it becomes scrumptious. I like it on bbq and in beans with a little epazote.

The yucatan rojo blend is essentially a non-paste version of achiote, a classic mexican spice mix. It's rather difficult to describe the taste. Just get some and slather it on a pork chop; that's what I had for dinner tonight. Yyou can get it and everything else here: http://www.worldspice.com.

Harissa is a North African spice blend that's based around smoked paprika. It's stupendous mixed with a little olive oil and slathered on lamb. I put it on grilled lamb chops (cooked to just about 120 degrees) yesterday and then put the chops on top of a little couscous. It was amazing. How did I ever live without this spice?

Go forth and spice things!

Cinnamon Brioche

2009-04-14T16:24:00.000-07:00

Last week I took a walk between classes and found myself at Sugar, a wonderful bakery/cafe up on Capitol Hill. I was in the mood for something sweet, so I bought a cinnamon brioche and took it back to school to nibble on while I studied. Yes, it's a glorified cinnamon roll. But at the same time, it's so much more. The pastry is richer and denser (hooray for butter and eggs), but at the same time is less sweet and somehow more grown up. The intense flavor comes from the molten cinnamon-sugar in between the layers. And it's finished with a simple glaze on top, not an inch thick layer of frosting. I was hooked.

I decided that I simply must figure out how to make them myself. A few years ago I learned that most of the ground cinnamon sold in the US is not actually cinnamon, but is instead ground cassia (for more info see the wiki). Since then I've been itching to try the real stuff and see what's actually better. What better excuse to go down to the spice market and get some real cinnamon than cinnamon brioch? As I mentioned in my previous post, I went down to World Spice and got some true cinnamon sticks and a spice grinder. True cinnamon is much lighter in color than cassia and smells oddly like red hots. True cinnamon in hand, it was time to look up brioche recipes.

After an exhaustive five minute google search I realized that all the recipes just call for inserting a brioche dough into a cinnamon roll recipe. Now, I've made brioche and I've made cinnamon rolls - how difficult could combining the two be? I went to my favorite book for all things bready, The Bread Baker's Apprentice, and looked up both brioche and cinnamon buns. Rather handily, the section on cinnamon buns actually gave a suggested brioche recipe for making cinnamon brioche.

Start by making a sponge of 2.25oz of bread flour, 2 tsp of instant yeast, and 4oz of warm milk. Stir it until the flour has absorbed all the milk and then let it ferment for about 40 minutes (a little less if your kitchen is warm). Then put the sponge into the bowl of a standing mixer. With the paddle attatchment, add in five eggs.

In a separate bowl, mix together 13.75oz of bread flour, 2 tbs of sugar, and 1 heaping tsp of salt. Slowly add the dry ingredients to the eggy sponge until all the flour is incorporated. Once mixed, let the dough sit for five-ish minutes to rest. Then slowly add 1 c. of unsalted butter (roughly a quarter stick at a time), while mixing on med-low. Your life will be easier if the butter is nice and soft, but not liquidy. Continue mixing until everything is nice and homogenous.

Now the dough needs to be refridgerated overnight (or at least 12 hours). To make your life easier, before you refridgerate, shape the dough into a rough rectangle and put it on a piece of partchment on a sheet pan. Mist the top of the dough with spray oil and cover with plastic wrap. Then refridgerate.

The next day mix up some cinnamon-sugar, about 6 tbs sugar and 1 tbs cinnamon. Get out your dough. Flour a work surface, then flour the top of the dough, then flour your rolling pin, then flour your hands (noticing a trend yet? The dough is STICKY). Roll out the dough until it's a rectangle about 1/2 thick. Brush of an excess flour and then spread the cinnamon sugar in an even layer to cover the surface of the dough. Leave about half an inch at the top of the dough uncovered. This strip will help seal things when you roll the dough. Carefully roll the dough into a log, making sure the finished seam ends up on the bottom.

Cut the dough into 9-12 rolls. The easiest way to cut such tender dough without smooshing it is to use floss. Yes, unflavored waxed dental floss. Slip the floss under the log, cross the ends and pull. It slices perfectly through the log without smooshing the finished roll. Place the rolls on a cookie sheet (either on a silpat or a piece of partchement), leaving about an inch betweent the rolls and let them proof for about 90 minutes.

As the buns proof, preheat your oven to 350. Bake the rolls for about 25 minutes, or until they're just golden. While the buns are still warm (but not blazing hot) top them with a simple glaze. I mixed about 6 tbs of powdered sugar, 1-2 tbs of milk, and a pinch of meringue powder into a loose paste and drizzled it on top of the buns.

Fish

2009-04-11T12:09:00.001-07:00

I love fish. All forms of fish. In fact, I've yet to meet I fish for which there exists no tasty preparation. I was fortunate to grow up in the Pacific Northwest - land of tasty fish - and as a kid we went to fish restaurants all the time. When I went to Boston for undergrad I found that many people on the East Coast didn't like salmon. I found this baffling. Salmon is like the best fish ever! Then I went to a seafood restaurant and ordered salmon. All was explained. It was the most bland and insipid fish I had ever had. It was but a ghost of what salmon is meant to be. Atlantic farm-raised salmon has nothing to do with what salmon should taste like. Nothing compares to an in season wild pacific salmon. I often have mouth-watering dreams about the fish at the beginning of Copper River Salmon season. So for those of you who think you don't like salmon, please reserve judgment until you've had the good stuff. If you have the good stuff and still don't like it, well...more for me I say.

I really love fish, particularly when it's prepared very simply. In the summer I love to fire up a charcoal grill and lay an entire side of fish fillet across the coolest part of the grill. I'll dress it with a kiss of olive oil, some lemon slices and the barest dusting of salt. The I cover it and let the charcoal work its magic.

This winter I've discovered my new favorite way of making a single serving of fish inside. I'll heat up a well-oiled cast iron skillet until water dances in the pan. Then I'll lay in a small piece of fish, skin side down. I'll sprinkle some salt and lemon peel across the top and then put a pat of butter on top to melt. I let the fish cook for just long enough for the bottom 1/3-1/2 of the fish to turn opaque. Then I'll slide the piece of fish out of the pan and onto some heavy duty aluminum foil and put it under the broiler until it's cooked through. (This means the fish can be cooked on both sides without flipping, so there's no danger of it falling apart.) I have no magical way of checking fish for doneness - I have to take a fork and peer inside to look at the color. I try to take it out the second it becomes opaque in the middle - nothing spoils a beautiful piece of fish like over cooking.

So go forth and enjoy a summer of beautifully cooked fish.

Shopping!

2009-04-09T20:26:00.001-07:00

So, there's this wonderful store in Seattle called The Spanish Table. As one might imagine, it sells cookware and foodstuffs from Iberia (and Latin America and North Africa - a little less logical, but whatcha gonna do?). My mom has been dying to go there for ages. Last night I decided that I wanted to pick up a real paella pan, so I called my mom and asked her if she wanted to go. She was thrilled.

Today I went and picked up my parents and took them downtown to shop for cookware. I picked up a Spanish-made carbon steel six serving paella pan. It's purty. Now I just need some people to make paella for - I wonder wherever shall I find people who want to eat my food? My mom went a little crazy and got pickled peppers, saffron, some grains, and some honest to gods Iberico ham. Alas, they didn't have my mom's favorite Latin treat, guava paste, because they were out of stock. I'll have to pick some up for her next time I go in.

Since we were in the area we popped into World Spice, mecca of all seasonings. One step into the store and both my dad and I promptly sneezed. The combination of smells that live in that store can be overwhelming at first. My dad elected to stand outside, away from the odiferousness. I picked up a bunch of true cinnamon (most of what's sold as cinnamon in the US is actually cassia, a similar but not quite identical spice). I'm going to attempt cinnamon brioche for Easter, so why not splurge and get real cinnamon? I also picked up a spice grinder because the idea of using a mortal and pestle to grind a half cup of cinnamon sticks does not appeal to me.

Now my paella pan is seasoning in the oven (carbon steel isn't exactly dishwasher safe) and my new spice grinder is happily in a cupboard. I look forward to using them for many culinary adventures.

Old Standby

2009-04-01T11:27:00.000-07:00

One of the staple meals in my grab bag is Chicken Quesadillas. They're simple, tasty, and if you plan a little they can be very quick.

I like to start my quesadillas with homemade beans. Now, if you don't have four hours to spend simmering a pot of beans, you can use refried beans from a can - but I don't recommend it. Canned refried beans tend to taste of nothing other than salt and can often contain chemicals and preservatives that I'd just as soon not consume. My homemade beans aren't really refried beans, it's more of a tasty bean paste.

Beans

Making a pot of beans is about the easiest thing in the world. Get ahold of some dried pinto beans, 1/4-1/2 an onion, garlic, oil (canola or peanut works best for me), and some dried epazote if you can get it (can usually be found in better markets in the same place as the dried chiles or in any latin specialty store).

Put a heavy saucepan or small pot on medium heat and add a tablespoon or so of oil (enough to thinly coat the bottom of the pan). As the oil heats, roughly dice your onion and mince your garlic. Add the onion to the pan and saute until just translucent. Add garlic and stir. Now add approximately 1 c. of dried pinto beans and enough water to cover the beans. Add around 2 tsp epazote if you have it. I also add about 1 tsp of salt at this point. Bring the heat up to high until the pot just starts to bubble, then lower to low-med or low to simmer uncovered.

And now you let those beans simmer until they're tender, adding more water as necessary to keep the beans covered. I tend to add a fair bit of water, so that the beans are covered by about half an inch, so that I can walk away for an hour or so and know they won't dry out. After about two hours, fish out a bean and taste it. If it isn't soft, keep simmering. I like to let my beans cook until they're quite soft.

Once they're about right I let them simmer until the water evaporates enough so that the beans are just starting to poke out. The I get out my trusty potato masher and have at them. If the texture isn't quite right give them a few minutes with a stick blender until they've become a paste. If the texture is too thick, add a little oil or water to thin. Give them a taste and add salt and pepper as needed.

If you're not going to use them right away, just stick them in a covered bowl in your fridge for up to 5 days (I've pushed this up to a week and been fine).

Quesadillas

For the quesadillas you'll need tortillas, cooked chicken, shredded cheese, your favorite barbeque sauce, and beans. If you have fresh locally made tortillas available to you (I find them in the deli section), use them! The cooked chicken can be leftovers or just a sliced up chicken breast. I use cheddar cheese, but you could use just about anything. The beans can be either refried (or other paste-like substance) or whole.

Heat a heavy skillet over medium heat (I like using my 12 inch cast iron skillet) with a light coating of spray oil. As the pan heats, assemble your quesadilla. For convenience, make sure you assemble your quesadilla on a surface the is mobile and relatively flat, like a cutting board or plate.

Take a tortilla and spread a thin layer of beans to act as a base. If you're using whole beans you'll add them later. Place small chunks of cooked chicken into the beans, allowing some space between the pieces. If you're using whole beans, sprinkle a few over the quesadilla now - but be careful not to completely cover the bottom tortilla. Cover with shredded cheese. Use just enough cheese so that when the it melts it acts as a glue between the top tortilla, the chicken, and the bottom layer of beans (which itself acts as a glue). Get out another tortilla and cover with a thin layer of barbeque sauce - and I do mean thin layer, you want a hint of flavor not a gloppy mess.

Slide the bottom layer into the skillet and lightly press the top toritlla (sauce side in) onto the bottom. Let the quesadilla cook until the cheese is mostly melted. If your cheese isn't melting very fast you can cover the pan to trap in some extra heat. After 2-4 minutes the bottom tortilla should be just golden brown (use a wide spatula to carefully check if you're unsure). Coat the top tortilla with a thin layer of spray oil and flip. The oil promotes browning. Let this side cook just until golden, 1-2 minutes. Remove from pan.

You can make these assembly line style until you've got enough to feed as many people as you need to. Let each quesadilla cool for a minute or two before cutting or you'll end up with molten cheese on your fingers (molten cheese = napalm). These can be served with salsa, avacado, and/or sour cream. They also reheat nicely the next day, but they won't be as crunchy.

Under the weather

2009-03-31T08:26:00.000-07:00

Ah springtime. For most people this is a wondrous time of shaking off winter inactivity. For me it is a time of headaches, sneezes, and fatigue. Yes my friends, I have allergies. Basically I tend to feel like I'm in the process of getting a cold for the entire season. Allergy medicine takes care of the sniffling and a lot of the sinus pressure, but not all of it. So regardless of what I do, I feel less than my best. Thankfully, feeling crappy is something that my mom did teach me to deal with. Oh yes, feeling under the weather means making chicken soup.

For me, chicken soup is the liquid embodiment of all good things. It's love and comfort in a bowl. I was a picky eater as a kid, so this is a very simple recipe, but damn it's good. You must start out with really good stock, either homemade or the kind from a carton. If you make your own stock I strongly recommend putting a green bell pepper in your stock. It adds something really lovely. Also, I don't tend to salt my stock - I find that this makes it easier to properly season finished dishes. If you use store bought stock I recommend Kitchen Basics.

Start your soup by putting about 32oz of stock in a big pot (I've got a big enameled cast iron soup pot) and heat on med-high. Add two chicken breasts. Ideally, I like using bone-in chicken because it adds more robust flavor (it's a must if you're using store bought stock). Then add 2-3 peeled russet potatoes, cut into chunks. Add a peeled and sliced carrot.

Take one medium sized onion, cut in half through the root end (the root end will keep it together). Peel the onion and put it in the soup (you will remove it before serving). If you didn't put a green pepper in your stock, add half a green pepper to the soup (you will remove it before serving).

Add 2-4 cloves of garlic, minced. The more garlic you add the more sinus clearing power the soup will have.If you like celery you can add a rib or two - I tend not to. Add about 2 tsps of herbs de provence (or some fresh thyme, rosemary, and savory).

Bring everything to a simmer, put the lid on the pot, turn the heat to low and walk away for about an hour. Check on the soup occasionally to see how the chicken is coming. When the chicken breasts are cooked remove them from the pot. Shred the chicken into bite-sized pieces and return to the pot. Discard any bones or skin.

Let the soup continue to simmer for 1/2-1 hour. When the potatoes are at your desired firmness the soup is ready. I tend to cook it until the potatoes fall apart when pierced with a fork. At this time remove the onion and green pepper, discard. Salt to taste. If I've used unsalted stock I usually add 1-2 tbs of kosher salt. Ladle into bowls and top with several turns of fresh ground black pepper (the more congested you are, the more pepper you should add). Enjoy.

Of Cabbages and Kings

2009-03-26T21:36:00.000-07:00

Well, not kings really. Talking about cabbage always makes me think about Alice in Wonderland, the Disney movie. There's the scene with the Walrus and the Carpenter and the song has some lyric about cabbages and kings. This was pretty much my most constant exposure to cabbage as a child. The only time I can remember my mother making cabbage was a less than thrilling attempt at corned beef and cabbage. Irish we are not. The whole house reeked of overcooked cabbage for days. Or at least that's how I remember it.

The first time I remember eating cabbage and liking it was in college. I was having dinner at a professor's house and his wife made a really delicious red cabbage dish. I have no idea what was in it or how it was cooked. I just remember having seconds and then thirds. The cabbage was soft but still had some structure, rather like properly cooked pasta. It was both sweet and savory and there was nary a waft of sulfur to be found.

It wasn't until very recently, last week in fact, that I ever attempted to cook cabbage myself. It simply hadn't occurred to me to do so. But given my desire to at least attempt to eat more vegetables I thought I'd give it a try, though the fact that green cabbage was on sale for 18 cents a pound was probably the deciding factor. So there I was standing at my kitchen counter wondering what on earth I could do with it. Coming up with nothing I turned to one of my kitchen fail safes - The New Best Recipe from America's Test Kitchen. This is my favorite and most frequently used cook book. Only once has is failed me (we'll talk more about my ill fated pound cake later I'm sure), so I have great faith in it. I flipped to the index and scrolled for the letter "C." My first thought had been to simply saute the cabbage in a little butter with a few slivers of apple (I vaugely remembered cabbage and apple being a common pairing). However, the book pointed to braising as a better way to infuse flavor into the bland vegetable and a good way to keep the bottom bits from overcooking before the top was done. I can braise, so why not?

This brings me to my dinner tonight. My husband was out with a friend so I had the kitchen to myself. Whenever I'm only cooking for myself I always have the dilemma of whether to bother "cooking" or just heat up prepared foods or just snack all night. I just finished reading Food Matters by Mark Bittman which urges us all to eat more vegetables and actually cook for ourselves in the interest not only of our taste buds and health, but for the planet as a whole. In the face of such a recent admonition I just had to actually cook. I opened the refridgerator door and what did I find - oh yes - the cabbage!

I put a small dutch oven on medium and threw in a pat of butter to melt. As the pot heated, I diced a bit of onion (maybe 1/4 cup worth). I tossed these in the warm pot and stirred until all the pieces had a nice coating of butter. While those cooked I took out the cabbage and cut it into ribbons. Looking back to the onions I stirred them occasionally until they started going translucent and a few pieces started getting a tad brown. Then I tossed in the cabbage (about 1/3 of a head) and poured in maybe 1/2-1 cup of chicken stock. Then I popped a lid on the pot and walked away.

About 8-10 minutes later I went back to the stove to check on the cabbage and gve it a good stir. The cabbage on the bottom was softening and absorbing some of the stock. Now that it was wilted I could stir the cabbage, making sure that the most crisp looking bits got to the bottom. At this point the cabbage was taking on a nice flavor, but was still a bit crunchy. I added a small pinch of salt and several turns of fresh ground black pepper, stirred them in and put the lid back on.

As I stood there thinking about my impending meal, I recognized that if all I had for dinner was cabbage that I would end up very hungry by about 10pm. I contemplated dicing some apple into it. While that would have been tasty (I really do love the contrast of sweet, salty, and savory that gives), I wanted something more substantial. I wanted protein. It was then that I remembered, on a whim, buying a kielbasa sausage. I thought to myself - well, the Germans eat a lot of cabbage and they eat a lot of sausage, so surely they must go well together. Fuzzy logic - yes, incorrect conclusion - no (though I admit the conclusion didn't exactly flow from the premises). So, while the cabbage finished cooking I cut a roughly 4 inch section of sausage into slices and then cut those slices in half and tossed them in a small skillet. I cooked the sausage until it was piping hot and had some nice browning.

I took the cabbage off the heat when I they had a texture I liked (no crunchy bits left). I tast cabbage constantly during the end of the cooking process because I have a mortal fear of overcooking it and releasing the sulfides within. A stinky kitchen isn't exactly conducive to a pleasant meal.

Once both the cabbage and sausage were done I piled the cabbage high in a bowl (allowing any excess moisture to stay in the pot, not in my bowl) and topped it with the sausage. I highly recommend letting is sit for a minute so that some of the kielbasa's juices can seep out and then mixing them into the rest of the cabbage - so tasty!

Improvising Lunch

2009-03-24T20:16:00.000-07:00

On Tuesdays this term I get home nice an early (around 11:30am), so I get to have a nice homemade lunch. On the bus ride home I was thinking about what to have for lunch and I just couldn't think of anything that I had at home (fridge full of nothing syndrome). I didn't want to go to the store because I knew I'd just end up getting bread and cheese - not that there's anything wrong with bread and cheese, but I'm really trying to actually cook for myself as much as possible. Homemade food is satisfying and is often both more nutritious and cheaper than ready made or fast foods.

I get home and start rummaging through my fridge. Deep in the depths of my veggie drawer I find a small paper bag with four crimini mushrooms. Now, I love mushrooms. I love mushrooms to a really rediculous extent, but I rarely eat them. So how could I make lunch out of four mushrooms? Well, I've always got various kinds of pasta in the house so I pulled out some vermicelli and decided to turn it into lunch.

I sliced the mushrooms into relatively thick slabs, maybe 1/4-1/3 of an inch thick. I put a little butter in a nine inch enameled cast iron pan. I let the butter just begin to brown and then chucked in the mushrooms on medium heat. To the side I started a pot of water for the vermicelli. I noticed that the mushrooms weren't really wilting so I decided to toss in about 3 tbs of chicken stock to soften them. The mushrooms started giving up their liquid and the stock started reducing into a thick chickeny-mushroomy sauce.

I cooked the pasta until it was al dente and let the mushrooms saute until they had sucked up all the remaining stock. I dressed the pasta with a little sesame oil, tossed in the mushrooms, and then topped it off with a few toasted sesame seeds. It was delicious. It only took about fifteen minutes total and was much better than a sandwich from the refrigerator case.

Sourdough

2009-03-21T15:35:00.001-07:00

My latest foodie project is learning how to make my own sourdough bread. I have had a passionate love for sourdough ever since I was a kid. When I was little we went out to eat a lot and one of our favorite restaurants served sourdough rolls. I would go through an entire basket of rolls and then have no room for my fish when it came around. As an adult I've had trouble finding really good sourdough, so I decided to take matters into my own hands.

I've made bread before to varying degrees of success. I can make a decent baguette, decent white sandwich bread, and tasty (if oddly shaped) challah. I tried making sourdough a few years ago and failed - I mean really failed. I tried to cultivate my own wild yeast starter. It took about two months and while it made the bread nice and sour, it also had the texture of a slab of wood. Back to the drawing board.

This time I decided to cheat and buy a starter. After looking online at company after company I decided to go with the tried and true King Arthur. They had two different starters available and I went with the classic. Not only did I get a starter that I knew would actually raise bread, I got the little crock to store it in so that I'd have less of an excuse to give up on it. The starter came with two pages of instructions on how to feed, use, and store the starter; along with two different bread recipes.

I decided to start of with the simple recipe that made a nice rustic white bread with just a hint of sourness. The recipe made quite decent bread, but I think it expected you to know the basics of bread making before hand. It didn't explain how to knead or proof the bread. Thankfully, after much trial and error I've figured out how to knead bread (with a Kitchen-Aid *yes it's cheating, no I don't care*). I've also figured out how to get bread to rise during a Seattle winter. Since there's no place in my entire house that maintains a seventy degree temperature during the winter I like to turn the oven on to its lowest setting with a pizza stone in it. I let the oven heat up and then turn it off and open the door. This lets the hot air out, but the stone retains a lot of the warmth, without being too hot (yeast doesn't like it above ninety). Then I plunk my dough in the oven, close the door, and come back after an hour or two to nicely doubled dough.

Here are my results:

Welcome

2009-03-21T13:16:00.000-07:00

Well hello there. For those of you that don't know me, I'm Kalla and I love food. I love food in a way that is a little bit frightening to some. I am a foodie. I take food, shopping for food, preparing food, and eating food very seriously. There's just one little problem. My mother didn't really teach me to cook.

It's not that my mom is a bad cook, it's just that she worked full time when I was a kid and didn't have the time or energy to cook. It just wasn't a priority for her. So I've had to learn from watching cooking shows, obsessively reading cookbooks and books on food, and taking the occasional class. And I've become a decent cook. I can make just about any recipe you put in front of me, but I don't really know the secrets - how to freeze leftovers, how to stretch a recipe when you don't have quite enough of an ingredient, how to substitute, that sort of thing.

This blog will be about my journey in learning how to cook and eat properly without years of maternal guidance.