The Accommodating Chef

Updates

2009-05-03T19:09:00.001-07:00

There have been a few new recipes we've tried, and when I've had time, I've posted one out of four over at Barefoot in the Kitchen.

Go there for a plethora of yummy ideas!!

Checking In...

2008-11-12T10:45:00.001-08:00

Bathtime 4
Originally uploaded by gaffentine

I know I haven't posted here in a long time...I've been a little busy. :) I hope to have more recipes to try, and more time to try them, in the near future as the days get shorter and the oven begins to do double duty as a way to heat the house!

Hot Chocolate?

2008-09-20T11:14:00.001-07:00

Whipped whites
Originally uploaded by gaffentine

Pudding with Whipped Cream?

Go here to find out what this is (and how to get some for yourself...)!

The Gourmet Pregnancy

2008-09-04T12:16:00.000-07:00

It was a well-balanced meal: tons of vegetables, dairy, starch, protein, and even a little bit of a spicy zing!

Corn, spinach, cheese, yogurt, tortilla, tomatillo, onion, garlic, butter, brown sugar, salt, jalapeno...

Who am I trying to kid? We had homemade kettle corn (corn, butter, brown sugar and salt), cheese-and-spinach quesadillas (cheese, spinach, tortillas and Greek yogurt, which is an excellent substitute for sour cream when you've run out) and salsa verde (tomatillos, onion, garlic and jalapeno).

Matt will probably never again say "Whatever you feel like" when I ask what we should have for dinner.

:)

It's the Little Things

2008-06-09T12:07:00.000-07:00

Gentle Farmer and his glamorous wife came to visit us this weekend. He taught me to make a pie crust. I actually made one all by myself! I think it's probably time to come out with the long awaited (by some) story of the Flying Pie Crust of Rage.

Just need to line up some ducks, first.
Stay tuned...

A New Resource

2008-05-28T20:07:00.000-07:00

For as long as I have been baking, my cookies have been coming out flat and crunchy, and not at all like the moist, chewy goodnesses you get at the open air markets or the coffee shop. Then I found this.

And I made the Alexis' Brown Sugar Cookies, halving the vanilla extract and replacing it with almond extract. And they are HEAVENLY, and there is only one left now, so I might be making more chocolate chip cookies tomorrow...

The Leftover Pasta of Summer

2008-05-23T13:06:00.001-07:00

It's all in the presentation
Originally uploaded by gaffentine

I made dinner from leftovers last night. (And ate THOSE leftovers for lunch today!)

I had some extra steamed asparagus, a few cherry tomatoes going soft, fresh baby carrots (REAL baby carrots: just the tiny ones, fresh out of the ground, not the ones you get in a bag that have been miniaturized with an awl, or something...) fresh radishes, a bit of leftover radicchio and some other greens.

I heated some water for pasta, while I grabbed the rest of a bag of TJoe's frozen shrimp out of the freezer (a weakness of Matt's), and put it in a bowl of cool water. Added some butter and about a half cup of white wine to the shrimp in a pan, and let it simmer for a few minutes, while angelhair pasta boiled away in the pot of water. Drained the pasta, transferred it to another pan and added a pat of butter, the asparagus (cut up) and the tomatoes (halved). Stirred it around a bit, just until the asparagus and tomatoes were no longer cold, and then plated it up with the shrimp over all.

Sliced a few carrots and radishes, sprinkled them over the radicchio and greens, and called it dinner!

Pie-Brain

2008-05-20T21:05:00.001-07:00

So, I've been eating these delicious peaches I got at the Farmer's Market on Monday (note to self, ask Matt about his client with the peach trees, ie, HOW'RE THOSE PEACHES COMIN' ALONG??), and since I still have pie-in-my-mind, I think I'm going to go to the one after Mass tomorrow morning and get a bunch more, and make a PEACH PIE. And then probably eat the whole thing myself.

Here's hoping it's not too hot tomorrow, since I'd also like to make banana muffins again. Not for us, for some people hosting a dinner party tomorrow night. If there's one "hostess gift" that's been a consistent hit, it's providing "breakfast for tomorrow" for the hosts of what will probably be a very late night.

Breakfast Prep

2008-05-16T22:14:00.001-07:00

Breakfast Prep
Originally uploaded by gaffentine

You may find the recipe - and the philosophy behind this method - over here.

This pie was a huge hit, both with our camping buddies, and with our fishing guides, on our recent camping trip. I do recommend a pie for breakfast when you're camping. Nothing better than a slice of pie and a hot cup of coffee (or hot chocolate) on a cool morning.

Preparing for Camping

2008-05-13T15:46:00.000-07:00

So we're off tomorrow into the wilds of North-Eastern California (according to Maps.google, it's almost exactly halfway between here and Death Valley, a coincidence that is not at all lost on me.)

I've been in the kitchen all afternoon, preparing some home-baked supplies for the next three days. This trip is a fishing/camping trip for ourselves and another couple. Matt has been talking about fishing in the early morning, and the early evening, with time during the day for naps and hikes. I plan to get up to start breakfast after he leaves, which means they'll be going off with nothing in their bellies, unless they want to fortify themselves with:

Teresa F.'s Grab-n-Go Breakfast Cookies.

1/2 c. softened butter or margarine
1/2 c. packed brown sugar
1/4 c. granulated sugar
2 eggs
1 tbsp. vanilla
1 14 oz. can crushed pineapple, drained well*
3 c. quick-cook rolled oats
1 c. whole-wheat flour
1 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. ground cinnamon
1 c. raisins, or dried blueberries, or cranberries**
1 c. walnuts, or pecans, or almonds, chopped***

Preheat oven to 350 F. Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper or aluminum foil.

Beat butter and sugars with mixer until light and fluffy. Add eggs, vanilla, and beat to combine. Add pineapple to mixture, and beat to combine.

In large bowl whisk together flour, oats, cinnamon, and baking soda. Add flour mixture to the egg mixture, and beat just enough to combine. Mix in dried fruit and nuts by hand.

Drop 1/3 c. of dough on cookie sheet, leaving 2 inches between each cookie. With a damp hand press cookies to 1/2" thickness. Bake until golden, about 15 minutes. These freeze well.

*I don't like pineapple, and I can't have it anyway (triggers contractions, or something), so I substituted some canned peaches that I ran through the blender real quick.

**I, for whatever reason, was out of raisins, so I chopped up some dried apricots, threw in a handful of dried cranberries, and topped it off with some dried coconut.

***Half cup of chopped pecans, half cup chocolate chips. I couldn't help it...

On the Prowl

2008-05-12T11:34:00.000-07:00

Today, I am hunting for pie recipes. So far, an apple pie looks promising, along with a no bake berry pie...

Mother's Day Lunch

2008-05-11T16:36:00.001-07:00

Mother's Day Lunch
Originally uploaded by gaffentine

Herb Salad with Goat Cheese; Strawberries on Kiwi Slices (Mama T's donation!); Caprese Salad; Cheese-and-Baguette; and (Matt's Favorite) ROUND TABLE TAKEOUT! :)

Holy Crap, you guys.

2008-04-24T19:15:00.000-07:00

I'm speechless.

Also, I want it.

Muffin Mania!

2008-04-19T10:02:00.000-07:00

I've been eating fruit nonstop since we got The News, but even my voracious appetite sometimes has trouble keeping up with the natural process of ripening going on in the fruit bowl. So Thursday and Friday were spent "salvaging" soft fruit, by baking it all into muffins!

On Thursday, I took the soft pears, and made Pear-Walnut-Raisin Spice Muffins. The original recipe can be found here. I used whole wheat flour instead of regular, and added a dash of ground cloves, allspice, and a sprinkling of ground ginger.

On Friday, keeping in mind the bunch of bananas that were never touched, I trawled the pages of Google returns, finally settling here for the PERFECT banana muffins. The recipe calls for white chocolate, and since I had to go out and get white chocolate, (and since Baby Brain is NOT a myth, this first necessitated a shower, and then drying my hair, finding something to wear that would kind of fit, finding my keys when I was looking for my wallet instead, finding my wallet, losing my keys, and then wondering if I'd actually put on deodorant (I probably put deodorant on five times a day, so great is my horror of forgetting)), it was well past noon by the time I got to the drugstore (I'd ordered scans of the ultrasound, and they were being printed there), and then they didn't have ANY white chocolate that didn't have coconut in it, so not only did I use wheat flour, I used white chocolate with coconut in it!

I brought samples of both kinds to my toenail painting appointment, and they were gone by the time I was done, so I suppose they're good! (I've had several of the pear muffins, but I don't usually like baked-banana things, so I haven't tried those yet.)

Here are the remains:

I will definitely fill the cups more when making the Pear Muffins (that's the one sad little one, there, in the middle). I have such a fear of overflowing tins that I usually don't fill them up all the way. The recipe said there would be eighteen muffins, and I ended up with twenty-four, due to my timidity. I did not, as you can see, repeat this mistake with the banana muffins!

Coming Clean (Finally)

2008-04-18T11:04:00.000-07:00

While I *did* have a head cold, and was out of commission for a long time because of it, I am also entering the second trimester of my first pregnancy. (Yay) And since I am a wimp about being sick at the best times, my first ride on the first-trimester roller coaster of smells, sights, talking about food, hearing about food, thinking about food, etc. has been eventful.

But now that I'm getting back on the cooking and baking bandwagon, maybe we'll see a little more action around here!

Updating

2008-02-25T11:39:00.000-08:00

My sinuses have cleared, and I'm actually out of bed. I'm not feeling up to tackling any cooking yet, though, so I'll be going to the Farmer's Market this afternoon to pick up some fresh juice and berries. The berries will be mixed altogether in a bowl with snipped mint leaves. It'll "stew" in the fridge all day, and make a very refreshing appetizer to Matt's Famous Chicken Melts!

Radio Silence

2008-02-17T20:47:00.000-08:00

The only cooking going on around here lately has consisted of "Open can, pour into soup pot, heat, eat, go back to bed".

We've been stricken with The Head Cold From Hell. Catch y'all later.

Apple and Brandied Currant Tart Filling, part two in a series

2008-02-12T15:15:00.000-08:00

Apple and Brandied Currant Tart ~ Chez Panisse

3 pounds baking apples, peeled, quartered and cored. (Reserve skins and cores)
½ c. plus 2 tbs brandy
1 c. currants
10 oz. Galette Dough*
4 tbs unsalted butter, melted
¾ c sugar

Glaze

Reserved skins and cores
1 c. sugar

Preheat the oven to 400.

Peel and core the apples and slice ¼ inch thick and toss with 2 tbs brandy.
In a small saucepan, warm the currants with the remaining ½ c of brandy and ½ c water, over medium heat. Bring to a simmer; remove from heat and leave to plump up.

Remove the pre-rolled dough from refrigerator and place on a buttered or parchment lined baking sheet. Leaving a 2-inch border, arrange the apple slices over the pastry mounding the fruit to a thickness of 3 or 4 slices at the edges. Trim away most of the border, leaving about ½ inch of pastry. (Save the trimmings to make little sugar cookies.)
Finish the tart by folding the exposed border over on itself, crimping to make a narrow pastry rim around the fruit. Brush the edges with melted butter. Sprinkle buttered edges with a tablespoon or so of the ¾ c of sugar, and sprinkle the remainder over the apples.

Bake in lower third of over for 30 minutes, rotating several times to make sure the edges brown evenly. Drain the currants and scatter over the apples. Continue baking 20-30 minutes, until the apples are soft and the pastry edges have begun to caramelize. Slide the tart directly onto the cooling rack, and allow to cool slightly.

While the tart is baking, simmer the cores and skins with 1 c water and 1 c sugar until a thick, rosy syrup is achieved, about 20 minutes.

Strain the syrup and drizzle over the tart just before serving. Serve with vanilla ice cream or creme fraiche.

It was so delicious that by the time I thought to take a picture, there was nothing remaining but some crumbs and a lonely currant on the baking sheet.

The Chez Panisse Themed Dinner Party

2008-02-12T15:03:00.000-08:00

Could have been a disaster, but was not, due to loving friends and their forgiving natures!

The fish was the wrong kind, the grilled endives were over-grilled, the beans in the bean soup were a little...not soft, but the wine was flowing (not for me, DD!) and there was cheese and good conversation!

Here is part one of the two part masterpiece of the evening: Apple and Brandied Currant Tart.

I had put Melanie in charge of it, since she knows how to make a pastry crust, and I think that's why it turned out as well as it did!

Here is the crust recipe, with the filling to follow later.

Galette Dough ~ Chez Panisse

2 c. All-Purpose Flour
1 tsp sugar
¼ tsp salt
6 oz. (1 ½ stick) unsalted butter
½ c. ice water

Combine the flour, sugar and salt in a large mixing bowl. Add half the butter to the mixture and work it in with your fingers until the dough is the texture of think oatmeal.

Add the remaining butter and quickly work it in until the biggest pieces are the size of large lima beans.

Dribble the ice water into the dough in several stages, tossing and mixing in between additions. Don’t try to dampen the dough evenly; it should look rather ropy and rough.
Stop adding water while there are still a few bits of dry flour remaining in the bottom of the bowl.

Gather the dough into 2 balls and wrap tightly in plastic. Press down to flatten into disks.
Refrigerate for several hours or overnight.

Roll each flattened ball in a 14 inch circle on a lightly floured board. Dough should be ¼ inch thick.

Refrigerate rolled dough at least ½ hour before using.

(Rolled out circles can be frozen and used the next day.)

Stay tuned for the filling! Coming up next!

Diving into Lent

2008-02-07T08:06:00.000-08:00

In case you didn't know, Lent began yesterday and this year, we are attending the Byzantine Lenten services, and observing Byzantine Lenten practices. This means that yesterday was a Strict Fast Day: no meat, eggs, or dairy.

Fortunately, little Miss Veganese Chef over here has quite an arsenal of recipes adhering to these restrictions. Unfortunately (for you guys) all I did was The Lentils (yes, again), BUT, I did accompany it with a rousing (and slightly tweaked) rendition of Spicy Cornbread, the recipe of which follows:

"Sassy"* Cornbread.

Prep:
Seed and chop fine 1 red bell pepper
Seed and dice 1 chile pepper
Squeeze two tablespoons of lemon juice (this was 1 meyer lemon)
Cut the kernels off 1 ear of corn (or thaw 3/4 c. frozen corn)

Preheat the oven to 350, and lightly oil an 8x8 pan with olive oil and dust it with cornmeal.

Heat 1 tbs olive oil in a saucepan, and saute the peppers together until tender, about five minutes, stirring occasionally. Remove from heat, allow to cool.

Mix together 1 c. soy milk, the 2 tbs lemon juice and 1/2 cup olive oil in a small bowl.

In a larger bowl, whisk together 1 c. whole wheat pastry flour (I used regular WW flour) and 1 c. stoneground cornmeal, 1 tsp baking powder, 1 tsp baking soda and 1 tsp sea salt. (In place of the chile pepper, I sprinkled a teaspoon of cayenne into the dry mix.)

Add the soymilk mixture and combine, using as few strokes as possible so as not to overmix. Fold in the peppers and corn.

Spread the batter evenly into the pan and bake until a toothpick comes out of the center clean. (20-25 minutes.)

Cool for five minutes. Cut and serve hot or warm.

I found this in a book called May All Be Fed; Diet for a New World. It has some great recipes in it, but at times I found the text to be...I don't know...a little too "OMG! Teh guvermints, it brane-washes teh childrens! Oh noes! Kwesh-tun EBBERY-TING!" You know? (Not that we shouldn't be mindful of our food sources, mind you, but I guess I'm a little overly-sensitive to any hint of hysterical paranoia. Except my own, apparently.)

*Yes. Left out the chile pepper AGAIN. Big fat baby, over here. I blame the potato-loving Irish side of me.

I Wasn't Doing Any Cooking of My Own 2

2008-02-05T10:32:00.000-08:00

Wait long enough and someone else will do your writing for you.

Here is an account, by Rich, of the food we ate at SPQR.

Go ahead. I'll wait.

***

Of course, the person who burned her face on gourmet food was me*. In the unlikely event that anyone was wondering. It was insanely embarrassing, but I'm glad we got a comp out of it, at least. That's me, always taking one for the team!

*Gee, I hope you've already read it!

Just in Time for your Post-Super Bowl Bash!

2008-02-04T08:14:00.000-08:00

How do you show your appreciation for your Super Bowl hosts?

Since we don't have a TV, we have to rely on the kindness of our friends in order to watch the biggest game of the year! And of course, no showing up empty-handed!!

I figured that other people would be taking care of the old favorites (I was right; there were wings, salsa, onion dip, some guacamole, and this really amazing spinach dip that someone had got up early to make!), so I trolled through my stack of recipes-to-try and surfaced with this Hummus variation from theppk.com.

Hummus Amungus

Prep Work:
Chop enough onion to make 1/2 cup
Mince 2-4 cloves of garlic
Chop three tomatoes
Seed one hot pepper, any variety*
Mix together:
1 tsp coriander
1/2 tsp garam masala
1/2 tsp cumin
1/8 tsp cayenne
and set aside.
Juice one lime
Chop 1/4-1/2 cup fresh cilantro.

Saute the onion in 1 tsp oil for five minutes. Add the garlic and the spice mix for an additional 1-2 minutes, stirring constantly to prevent sticking.

Add the tomatoes, then cover and lower heat to simmer for five minutes.

Meanwhile, drain and reserve the liquid of a 15 ounce can of chickpeas. Add the peas to the food processor with just enough of the liquid to blend.

Add the chickpeas to the hot tomato mixture, add the lime juice and cilantro, and stir well to blend.

Can be served hot or cold, and I accompanied mine with mini-pitas and some tortilla chips.

*Am a big fat wuss, so left this out, resulting in a "zippy" hummus rather than a "spicy" one.

I wasn't doing any cooking of my own.

2008-02-02T18:58:00.001-08:00

SPQR
Originally uploaded by gaffentine

We spent the weekend with friends in San Francisco, ostensibly to SEE our friends, but really to eat at SPQR on Fillmore.

Save your pennies, because it is worth every. single. one.

If I can remember, I will soon post the dishes we partook of at this scrum-diddly-umptious restaurant.

What to do with the leftovers from Roast Chicken, if you indeed have any.

2008-01-25T08:45:00.001-08:00

Chicken Pot Pie!
Originally uploaded by gaffentine

Even though Matt's brother was there for the Roast Chicken, we managed to have leftovers, so I turned back to my old friend Google, and started compiling all the returns for "chicken pot pie" into one convoluted yet cohesive whole. I did not want, for instance, to make a bottomless pie in a pie tin, but I did want to use celery. I didn't want to make a biscuit-top...thing in the cast iron skillet, but I did want to use white wine.

I also had to account for the fact that no one on the Internet seems to make a chicken potpie with fresh vegetables. Most of the recipes called for a "16 oz bag mixed frozen vegetables". Ew. I did, however, end up throwing a handful of frozen peas, the ones that I keep on hand to break up the monochromatic appearance of the Favorite Lentils EVER, into the skillet at the last possible minute!

ANYWAY. After I turned the oven to 425, I cut the meat off the chicken (we ended up with a breast, a thigh and a leg), then washed, skinned and chopped two potatoes and three carrots, and diced and sliced one onion and three stalks of celery, respectively.

Sauteed the potatoes and carrots in a cast iron, and therefore oven proof skillet, with a tablespoon of butter for about five minutes, then added another pat of butter and the "soft" vegetables: the onion and celery. After another three minutes, I tossed the chicken in with everything else, and turned off the stovetop.

Rolled out the (Trader Joe's) piecrust (nope, still can't make my own), and used a tiny cookie cutter to make four decorative "steam holes" in it, tossed a handfull of frozen peas into the pie, and then had Matt drape the crust over the top of the skillet (with his mad pizza-making skillz, he is much better at draping crusts than I am!), and then I brushed it all over with melted butter.

Into the over for about 15 minutes, and then under the broiler for about five, et voila!

It was pretty good.

Finger-lickin' Roast Chicken

2008-01-23T14:44:00.000-08:00

I used to think that a Roast Chicken was a Roast Chicken was a Roast Chicken, but then I realized that no on made Roast Chicken quite like Mama fixed it, and then I tried to replicate the tastes myself (why I didn't just ASK her, I'll never understand, although I'd prefer her recipe for Chicken and Rice Casserole...hint, hint) and then I did a little Google action and saw just HOW MANY* variations there are so I picked one at random and made it when Matt's brother came to visit.

I selected this result, and here is the paraphrasing:

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees.

Take 1 five and a half pound free range chicken, remove the giblets, rinse with cool water and pat dry.

In a small bowl, combine 1/4 pound of softened butter with one half handful each of fresh thyme, oregano and parsley, chopped fine, and just mash them all together in there. (Might as well use your hands, because that's how this stuff gets to the chicken, anyway! It's quite a messy and fun operation!)

Rub the herbed butter under the skin, and all over the outside of the chicken. Sprinkle with salt and pepper, and stuff the cavity with a halved orange, a half a clove of garlic and a halved onion. Place the bird in the baking dish breast side up and add one whole onion to the bottom of the dish. Arrange six slices of onion across the breast of the chicken, and roast for 25 minutes.

Remove the bacon, baste the chicken with the drippings, and roast another 25 minutes, until the skin is brown and a thermometer in the leg reads 165.

Remove to a platter and let stand ten minutes, to let the juices settle.

This is when I scraped the drippings into a saucepan (my baking dish is glass, so I couldn't put it on a stovetop burner) over medium heat, added 2 tablespoons of flour, and stirred in 1 1/2 cups of chicken broth. Once the flour was all dissolved, I put in the 1/4 cup of dry sherry, and dashed in some salt and pepper.

Matt carved the chicken, while I rescued the orange halves from the cavity and squeezed them over the pieces of chicken on the serving plate.

The flavors of orange and thyme were particularly interesting together, in a very good way, while the buttered outside made for a crispy skin with a VERY juicy meat. This is definitely something I'll be making again!!

*I didn't actually see each and every one of them, but that particular Google return was quite extensive.

The Black Bean Chili of Bliss

2008-01-21T11:15:00.000-08:00

So, I can't remember where I found it (typical) but I bought (secondhand, duh) a copy of this book called "Sacramental Magic in a Small-Town Cafe", mostly because the subtitle was "Recipes and Stories from Brother Juniper's Cafe", and if there is anything I love more than recipes, it is a story that goes with it, and even more than a story, I do love me a monk. Then I go and buy Brother Juniper's Bread Book, and then a few MORE cookbooks at a Friends of the Library book sale*, and then Matt sighs and shakes his head and encourages me to log in some hours at The Job.

So, anyway, apparently Brother Juniper was not a REAL person running this cafe; it "is dedicated to the spirit of a famous Franciscan monk (ed note: hoo-rah! monk!) named Brother Juniper...The original Brother Juniper is chronicled in the legends (ed note: !) of St. Francis of Assisi. He was St Francis' favorite monk because he was simple, humble and generous..." (Prologue, "Sacramental Magic in a Small-Town Cafe") Very cool.

One of the chapters was titled "The Zen of Black Bean Chili", and I followed the recipe and made some awesome black bean chili, but, as with any new recipe, I didn't feel very Zen about it until everyone** had tasted and pronounced it good.

And here it is!

Black Bean Chili, from Brother Juniper's Cafe.

#Wash and check over 4 cups of raw dried black beans, and put them to soak in 10 cups of water at room temperature for at least four hours, but preferably overnight.
Drain beans, and discard water.

#In a heavy stockpot*, bring the beans and12 cups of water to a boil. Reduce to a simmer, cover, and cook, stirring occasionally until the beans begin to soften, about 1 ½ hours.
Cooking time depends on the size of the beans, so keep any eye on ’em while you do your prep work!

#Dice 2 medium onions, mince or press 8 large cloves of garlic, and dice enough chilies to make 2 cups. (Mild, medium or hot is up to you.) Dice 1 ¾ pounds of tomatoes (or take the 28 oz can shortcut, WITH juice), and pour or prepare** a cup of beef (or vegetable!) stock. (They actually recommend 1 tablespoon beef stew base, but I couldn't find any Better Than Bouillon, which is the same thing, so I improvised using the cartons of stock they sell at Trader Joe's. It came out a tiny bit soupier than I would normally like, but what can you do?)

#Toast 1 tablespoon whole cumin seeds in a dry frying pan over medium heat, stirring constantly until they begin to crackle and pop, about 1 minute. Remove the seeds from the pan, pour in 2 tablespoons of olive oil and turn the heat to High.

#Once then oil is hot, add the onion, garlic and chilies, and sauté until onion is translucent, about 3 minutes. Stir in the cumin seeds and immediately remove from heat. Cover the pan, so that everything can steam together.

#When the beans are soft, stir in the onion mixture and add the tomatoes and 1 teaspoon of fresh ground pepper. Stir in 1 tablespoon salt, the stock, and 4 tablespoons of soy sauce.

#Simmer until liquid is reduced, and the chili has a consistency between soup and gravy. Add more soy sauce if necessary; those bean really soak up the saltiness!

#Serve with a dollop of creme fraiche or sour cream, garnish with freshly chopped cilantro and a spoonful of red or green salsa!

(Serve bowls of crème fraiche/sour cream and salsa on the side, so people more or less adventurous than you can make adjustments!)

*This usually goes without saying, but I’m just saying: avoid aluminum, because you will be using tomatoes, and that’s a nasty reaction!

**I use the jars of Better Than Bouillon chicken, Beef or Vegetable paste to make my stocks. They last a LOT longer than anything I can make from scratch, unless I freeze it, and when I freeze things like stock I usually forget about it until we’re out of ice, and grab THAT ice cube tray, and I say, “Oh, right, this stuff…” So I don’t even bother, anymore!

Bon Appetit!

*Ten cents each, y'all. I am not even joking!

**I made it at Anna B.'s house for her, her mom and her brother.

I should retitle this The Hypocrite Chef

2008-01-04T08:25:00.000-08:00

So much for getting back on the healthy-eating bandwagon*.

Two nights ago, instead of making cous-cous and a goat cheese salad, I let Matt talk me into ordering a pizza and watching back-to-back Law and Order (via Netflix Watch Instantly program, which is swiftly defeating the purpose of not having a television0.

I think I'm resigned to the fact that we're in hibernation, but that doesn't mean pizza and TV for the rest of the winter. We'll just be a lot less adventurous in the culinary department. For example, today I am making this. AGAIN.

*I did make the tahini sauce, but it came out weird, mostly because I tried to "liven it up" with garlic and parsley, and it ended up tasting...garlicky and parsley-y, and not at all in a good way. :(

OMG, you guys, don't wake me up!

2007-12-29T18:54:00.000-08:00

I am siting down to a year's worth of Gourmet and Cooking Light, EACH, with a pencil and notebook and a HUGE stack of post-its.

I'll be awhile.

(Thanks to Mrs. Branch for the donation!!)

Post-Holiday Meltdown

2007-12-28T07:37:00.001-08:00

We've spent the past week eschewing vegetables and grains in favor of Mom's Christmas Treats (you would, too!!!), including, but not limited to, fudge, chocolate chip meringues, peanut-butter bon-bons, kielbasa, cheese - and also cabbage - pierogi (best eaten cold, with your fingers, on Christmas morning while your myriad nieces and nephews disappear in a blizzard of wrapping paper and flying bows), lasagna (which had spinach in it, so that was unavoidable!!), pork roast with cherry coulis, and Rum Cake! All this sandwiched between two days on the road, to AND from, filled with In-n-Out, Pringles (for some reason, I only ever eat these when we travel by car. Any other time, I can't stand the sight of them!), fast-food breakfast sandwiches (Matt, not me. Sometimes I don't even let him eat them in car, I hate them so much!), and a chicken-fried steak that for some God-awful reason sounded like a good idea at the time (see above re: bizarre road-trip munchies). Throughout the car trips, though, I was taking great comfort in V-8's promise of "3 servings of vegetables per bottle!" and pounding them almost continuously.

Even so, we feel a little, how you say, BLOATED, so I'm back in action, trawling Teh Interwebs for some clean-you-out raw-food recipes.

This is good, (I've made it before; it's kind of a more crunchy hummous) and I could even serve it as an appetizer tonight, when Sarah and Matt and Baby Rebekah bring Grandma and Grandpa Harvey for dinner.

This sounds kinda summery, but we DO live in California. Compared to the snowy, blowy weather we encountered over Christmas in Colorado, it's positively tropical, here!

And who doesn't like falafel? (I wish I had a dehydrator.)

We'll see how all of this goes...

(This post has been hastily written out of guilt for the long absence, goaded in part by a new link from the ladies at Barefoot in the Kitchen, which made me realize just how long it's been since I've tended to my OWN virtual kitchen!)

Perfect with Sparkling Wine

2007-12-14T07:20:00.001-08:00

12-07 156
Originally uploaded by gaffentine

Cumin Shortbreads
2 cups (280 grams) all-purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon (2 grams) salt
1 tsp cumin seeds, crushed in mortar
1 tsp ground cumin
1 cup (2 sticks) (226 grams) unsalted butter, room temperature
1/2 cup (60 grams) powdered (confectioners or icing) sugar
1 teaspoon (4 grams) Pure Vanilla Extract

Shortbreads: In a separate bowl whisk the flour with the cumin seeds, ground cumin and salt. Set aside.
In the bowl of your electric mixer (or with a hand mixer), cream the butter until smooth (about 1 minute). Add the sugar and beat until smooth (about 2 minutes). Beat in the vanilla extract. Gently stir in the flour mixture just until incorporated. Flatten the dough into a disk shape, wrap in plastic wrap, and chill the dough for at least an hour.
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (177 degrees C) with the rack in the middle of the oven. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper.
On a lightly floured surface roll out the dough to 1/4 inch (.5 cm) thick. Cut into rounds or whatever shapes you wish using lightly floured cookie cutter. Place the cookies on the prepared baking sheet and place in the refrigerator for about 15 minutes. This will firm up the dough so the cookies will maintain their shape when baked. Bake for 8 - 10 minutes, or until cookies are lightly brown. Cool on rack.
Shortbread will keep in an airtight container for about a week or frozen for several months.
Makes about 20 shortbread cookies.

busy, busy

2007-12-07T08:40:00.001-08:00

busy, busy
Originally uploaded by gaffentine

Overheard in the kitchen

2007-11-22T08:48:00.000-08:00

After spending the afternoon making cranberry-tangerine sauce, two cakes and a pumpkin pie:

Erin: No, I'm not done in here yet.
Rich: Wait, WHAT?
Erin: I still have to make that layer cake I promised for the church bake sale on Friday.
Rich: You don't HAVE to to do that, it's CHURCH, not the GesTAPo.
Erin: Po-tay-to, po-tah-to.

Yet another BAKING recipe

2007-11-20T08:23:00.001-08:00

We had borscht at Matt and Sarah's last night, and I'll be doing a bit of preparing for all of the Thanksgiving guests who have suddenly and slightly last-minutely accepted our invitations, so I've not been doing a lot of cooking. (Although this looks delicious...)

What we have been doing is decluttering our house, starting back when we thought we'd be moving from our current two-bedroom sprawler into a refrigerator box with no storage, and continuing, even after we got the stay-notice, through this weekend, when we realized how satisfying it's been!

The suddenly large rooms with minimal furniture and no surface clutter had left me, at the end of the weekend, feeling a little frazzly about my "workspace", most specifically my spices and recipes area. I have two spice areas, since the first area we set up was too small for my incredible collection of pretty much every spice there is except for...(Hmm...I can't think of one I don't have. Challenge me, anyone? I'm about spices like some women are about shoes and if there's one I don't have, I'd sure like to know about it so I can get it! I even have REAL Hungarian paprika, thanks to Emma!) The two areas are on opposite sides of the baking counter, and sometimes the Basil would be here, sometimes it'd be over there, but mostly it's wherever I put it down the last time I used it. (Which would be in a precarious balance on the edge of that narrow shelf by the stove, because I'd just made soup...) Rinse, repeat for every other bottle and jar.

Yesterday I organized the spices. Baking spices on the right hand side, above the jars of flour, sugar, salt, baking powder and soda, and the weeny jar of crystallized ginger I use for muffins, cooking spices on the left, farther from the stove, but there's more room for them there.

Today, I bravely unhooked my recipe clipboard from its nail between the spice shelves, and spent the morning sorting through the pile of recipes that have been accumulating for a looooong time. "Keep and file", "keep, and copy into my little notebook I put The Favorites in, and file", or "realize that this particular project will never happen and recycle it to someone else".

In the process, I found this recipe for Apple Cake that Matt Newhall helped me make the last time he was here. Which was the end of October, and that paper was not even halfway down the stack! I think it's from allrecipes.com.

Apple Cake

Preheat the oven to 350 and grease and flour a Bundt pan.

Combine 2 c peeled, cored and diced apples with 1 tbs white sugar and 1 tsp cinnamon, and set aside.

Sift together 3 c flour, 3 tsp baking powder, 1/2 tsp salt and set aside.

In a large bowl, combine 2 c white sugar (I usually use half white half brown, actually, when baking with apples of pears), 1 c vegetable oil , 1/4 c orange juice, 2 1/2 tsp vanilla extract and 4 eggs. Beat until smooth.

Stir in the flour mixture, then fold in 1 c chopped walnuts.

Pour a third of the batter into the pan, and top with 1/2 the apple mixture. Repeat. Top with remaining third of batter.

Bake 55-60 minutes, or until the top springs back when gently touched. Cool in pan ten minutes before turning onto rack.

Sprinkle with 1/4 cup of confectioner's sugar. (We actually did not do this.)

This cake was moist and delicious, with a crispness to the edges that was absolutely dreamy!

Pushing the Envelope

2007-11-18T17:53:00.000-08:00

Nothing is affirmed yet, but Matt think we should do deep fried turkey this year. If we can get a 32 quart deep fryer in three days, without buying one, that is. Stay tuned.

Update: Probably not. Unless, of course, some kind soul answers my ad on Craigslist...

The rest of the story

2007-11-18T13:05:00.000-08:00

Well, Sarah and I are a rousing success as bakers! Two different people told us we should open our own bakery, especially when they found out that the goodies that they were scarfing down were mostly vegan!! (There are quite a lot of older people in our parish, and we were being cholesterol-conscious!)

Bonus recipes, for you.

Amazing Apple Cake from allrecipes.com

1 1/4 cups white sugar
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
2 teaspoons baking soda
2 eggs
1/2 cup vegetable oil
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 cup chopped walnuts
5 1/2 cups chopped apples

I added a half cup of cranberries, only used 2 1/2 c. apple, and used half white, half brown sugar.

Preheat oven to 325 degrees F (165 degrees C).
In a medium bowl, stir together the sugar, flour, cinnamon, and baking soda. Add the eggs, oil and vanilla, mix well. Add the nuts and apple, mix until all of the apples are evenly coated. (Apparently, you DON'T have to oil the pan, because it doesn't say to, and I didn't...) Pour into a 9x9 inch pan.
Bake for 45 to 50 minutes in the preheated oven. Serve warm or cool.

Vegan Alert!!
Cinnamon Raisin Bread from theppk.com.

Oil 2 loaf pans, preheat oven to 350.

Soak 1 1/2 c. raisins in 1/2 c. apple or orange juice.

Whisk together 3 c flour, 3 tsp baking POWDER, 1 tsp baking SODA, 1/2 tsp salt, 3 tsp cinnamon, 2 c. oats and 1 1/2 c brown sugar.

Add 2 1/2 c applesauce, 1/2 c vegetable oil, 4 tbs ground flax seed mixed with 12 tbs water {which equals 4 eggs}, and 1/2 c soymilk (I used almond milk for the nuttier flavor).

Mix until just combined. Fold in raisins/juice. Divide into loaf pans, and bake 50-60 minutes, until a knife comes out clean. (I don't know if it was necessary, but I did rotate the pans halfway through the baking process.)

There were NOT many leftovers!

Business and pleasure

2007-11-16T08:53:00.000-08:00

It's my turn to provide the refreshments for the church coffee social. I have been hoarding the leftover fruit from the Guest House and downloading and testing all sorts of cake, muffin and quick bread recipes from The Internet. Here's one I made yesterday, which I found here.

It is sitting in the freezer, alongside a loaf of Cinnamon-Apple Bread and Cinnamon-Apple-Pear bread (same original recipe, but I had a LOT of pears, and limited apples).

Now I'm off to the grocery store to pick up more flour, sugar and apples and pears, and some soy yogurt and vegan butter, so I can make "heart-healthy" muffins.

Fresh Pear Bread

* 2 or 3 fresh pears
* 1/2 cup salad oil
* 1 cup sugar
* 2 eggs
* 1/4 cup sour cream
* 1 teaspoon vanilla
* 2 cups flour -- sifted
* 1/2 teaspoon salt
* 1 teaspoon baking soda
* 1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
* 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
* 1/2 cup walnuts -- chopped

Pare, halve and core pears; chop to make 1 cup. In large mixer bowl, beat oil and sugar until well blended. Beat in eggs, one at a time; add sour cream and vanilla. Sift together flour, salt, soda, cinnamon and nutmeg. Add to oil-sugar mixture and continue to beat until well blended. Add nuts and pears; mix well with a large spoon. Spoon into well-greased 9 x 5-inch loaf pan. Bake at 350 degrees for 1 hour, or until toothpick comes out clean. Cool in pan 10 to 15 minutes. Turn out and cool on rack.
From "Just a Spoonful" by Phyllis Harper

To-Do Thursday

2007-11-15T11:34:00.000-08:00

There are three doubled breakfast bread recipes waiting for me in the kitchen. That's where I'll be.

Ta!

New things with old stuff.

2007-11-11T14:30:00.000-08:00

An undisclosed friend of ours in an undisclosed location received a still for his birthday from another friend of his, whom we don't know (but beLIEVE me, we are angling for an introduction!), and whipped up a batch of grappa as his first experiment. Matt and Andrew, who was still with us at the time, LOVED the 375 ml bottle of it that we were given. I still have my reservations about it. I think it smells like grape-turpentine and tastes like grape-nail polish remover*. There's about half that bottle left, at the moment.**

But then I carted home a fruit bowl's worth of "not-perfect" pears from work, googled pear recipes and found this. Move over, rum-cake! (Text below, in small, in case the link dies.)

It smells HEAVENLY in this house right now. I cannot WAIT until after dinner (chicken pot-pie at Matthew and Sarah's) to see how it tastes!

(And, yes, there will be an update to let y'all know!)

UPDATE: Yeah, it was awesome.

*Not that I know what that TASTES like, but...
**Even with the cake in the oven!

For pear cake:
1 1/4 cups plus 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 stick (1/2 cup) unsalted butter, softened
1 1/4 cups plus 1 tablespoon sugar
3 large eggs
1/3 cup milk
1 tablespoon grappa
1 firm-ripe Bose pears
1/2 cup raisins or chopped pitted prunes
1/2 cup pine nuts, toasted lightly and cooled

For grappa sauce:
2 large eggs
3/4 cup sugar
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 stick (1/2 cup) unsalted butter
1/4 cup heavy cream
1 tablespoon grappa
Preparation
Make pear cake:
Preheat oven to 350°F and lightly butter and flour an 8 1/2-inch springform pan, knocking out excess flour.

In a bowl whisk together flour, cinnamon, and baking powder. In another bowl with an electric mixer beat together butter and 1 1/4 cups sugar until light and fluffy and beat in eggs, 1 at a time, beating well after each addition. Beat in flour mixture and milk alternately in batches, beginning and ending with flour mixture and beating until just combined after each addition, and stir in grappa. Peel and core pears and cut into 1/2-inch dice. Fold pears int batter with raisins or prunes and pine nuts.

Pour batter into prepared pan and sprinkle top with remaining tablespoon sugar. Bake cake in middle of oven until a tester comes out with crumbs adhering to it, 45 to 50 minutes. Cool cake in pan on rack and remove side of pan.

Make grappa sauce:
In a bowl with an electric mixer beat together eggs, sugar, and cinnamon until thick and pale. In a metal bowl set over a pan of barely simmering water melt butter and stir in egg mixture. Cook sauce, stirring constantly, until thickened and it registers 165°F on a candy thermometer, about 7 minutes. Remove bowl from pan and stir in cream and grappa.

Serve cake with warm sauce.

Fettuccine and Saffron Butter with Spinach and Roasted Peppers

2007-11-07T08:46:00.000-08:00

From The Greens Cookbook.

Slice 2 bell peppers in half, removing seeds and cores, and brush both sides with light olive oil. Bake cut side down in hot oven until skins are wrinkled and loose. When they are cool enough to handle, scrape off skins and cut them into narrow strips.

While peppers are baking, put the pasta water on to boil. Cream 6 tbs unsalted butter with 1 large shallot, diced fine, 1 tbs fresh marjoram or basil and 1 tbs parsley, roughly chopped, 1/8 tsp saffron thread, soaked in 1 tsp hot water, a pinch of cayenne pepper, grated peel of either 1 lemon of 1/2 orange and 1/4 tsp salt. Cover and set aside.

Stem one bunch of spinach, wash well and cut into wide strips. Quarter and slice thin one red onion. Chop finely three cloves of garlic.

Add 1 package fettuccine to boiling water, gradually, to avoid sticking. (Fettucine is one sticky pasta.)

Fry the onion over medium heat in 1 tbs olive oil for one minute, then ass 1 cup water, garlic, and 1/2 tsp salt and a few grinds of pepper. Cook together another minute, and then add the spinach. Stir with a pair of tongs until the spinach wilts. Lower the heat and add all but a tablespoon of the saffron butter. (Add a little more water if the first cup has evaporated, so that the butter and pan juices create a sauce.)

In a smaller pan, over medium heat, toast 1/4 cup pine nuts until golden.

Add the cooked noodles to the vegetables, along with the remaining tablespoon of saffron butter. Mix well, transfer to serving bowl, top with pine nuts and freshly grated Parmesan cheese.

Nom nom.

New Things for Fall

2007-11-06T06:50:00.000-08:00

In-depth research has shown that there is a Farmer's Market somewhere within a twenty mile radius EVERY DAY OF THE WEEK. (Except Sunday, that one's forty miles away.) Sometimes there's two. Or three.

The past several Mondays have seen trips out to the sleepy little beach town of Los Osos with Sarah and Baby Rebekah, with lots of raspberries that don't make it back to the car unconsumed, and some mild heckling from those really annoying people who stand at the entrances to these markets trying to get you to sign something (and most likely being paid for it rather than really caring about the issue. I really dislike those people). We never buy the baked goods, though, because we've also been meeting up at the house for "Baking Days". I don't know how to make bread, which makes the gas oven kind of wasted on me; she was having the devil's own time making their bread in the electric oven at their house. It's kind of a perfect partnership that way.

Our bibles are The Greens Cookbook (mine), the Laurel's Kitchen books (hers, and I'm jealous, but not for long, seeing as there's now a second income in this house...), with a smattering of Ranch House wisdom and Julia Child. (And, of course, the internet.)

Our next big project is the baked goods for the coffee social at church a week from Sunday. Last year I hadn't prepared nearly enough food*. Here's hoping this year is different with an extra set of hands.

Her husband, Matthew, shot a deer last hunting season, so our job is also to help them eat it, since she's getting tired of preparing it. You can all imagine how thrilled my husband was at the prospect of handling and preparing WILD GAME!! Like a kid in a candy store, he got down HIS cookbooks and started downloading recipes for sauces and reductions like a house afire. He's hoping Matthew will bag another one this year, so that the fun will never stop.

I'll keep you posted.

*At least, according to the kids, when we ran out of chocolate chip cookies and all that remained were molasses and applesauce-walnut. The horror!

The Sassiness of the Seasons

2007-10-30T19:39:00.000-07:00

We love GINGER. We love it in lemonade in the summer, in cookies and muffins in the winter, and in tea after dinner.

The other day, I stumbled across a recipe for a lemon-ginger infused simple syrup, complete with (of course) suggestions for mixing it with alcohol.

I went and purchased a knob of fresh ginger (I usually substitute powdered in any recipe that calls for fresh...) and a pound of lemons and Matt and I chopped and zested and simmered away an afternoon.

Here's how:

Three inches fresh ginger, peeled and sliced fine
2 cups water
1 3/4 cups sugar
1 cup lemon juice
zest of one lemon

Pile the sugar and ginger in a saucepan with the water. Bring to a boil and reduce heat, simmering for five minutes, stirring frequently. Allow the syrup to cool.

Squeeze a cup of lemon juice (about four lemons), first zesting one of them into a small bowl. (It is easier, we found, to zest a LEMON as opposed to two halves of the empty peel...)

Pour off the cooled ginger-slices syrup into the blender and puree. (This will take a couple of minutes, due to the strings in the ginger. And you will STILL get strings in the finished product, but oh WELL!)

Strain the pureed syrup into a glass jar, add the lemon juice with the zest and shake vigorously.

Immediately rim a martini glass with 1/4 powdered ginger, 3/4 sugar (we keep a mix of this in our spice rack, nom nom deee-lishus). Pour 2 oz syrup and 2 oz vodka into an chilled cocktail mixer, add ice and shake. Pour into rimmed glass. Place glass jar of lemon-ginger syrup in the fridge, where it will keep for a week. (Two weeks in the freezer.)

Sit down and enjoy your lemon-ginger martini. The dirty blender, sticky saucepan, lemony zester and messy countertop can wait.

Salut!

Autumn Treats

2007-10-27T09:11:00.001-07:00

As promised, one of the recipes from our Young-uns Gathering here at the house:

Pumpkin Spice Bread

Preheat oven to 350, and grease a loaf pan

Sift together, in a larger bowl (since the wet ingredients are being added TO the dry, in this one):
2 c whole wheat pastry* flour
2 tsp baking POWDER
1 tsp baking SODA
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground/powdered ginger
1/4 tsp ground allspice
1/8 tsp ground cloves.

Combine, in another bowl:

2 c canned pumpkin
1/2 c pure maple syrup
1/4 c apple butter **
1 tbs canola oil
1 tsp vanilla extract

Pour the wet ingredients into the dry and mix until everything is evenly moist. (The batter will be stiff.) Fold in 1 c golden raisins.

Evenly spoon the batter along the length of the pan, but don't press down or spread it to the edges, as it expands during the baking. (And beLIEVE me, you do not want this to stick!)

Bake 50 minutes to an hour, until a knife comes out clean.

Remove from oven and turn out onto a cooling rack. Slice when cool.

Leftovers, if any, should keep in an airtight container for about a week.

From The Post Punk Kitchen.

* WW all-purpose is also fine, but bread is slightly more dense
** Substituted the same amount of apple sauce, because I had no apple butter.

Next up: Mocha Chip Muffins with Peanut Butter Chocolate Frosting!

Breakfast goodies

2007-10-23T18:27:00.000-07:00

This is a placeholder until I can retrieve, from under the piles of flour and cookware, all the recipes I used for this past week's "young people's get-together" we held at our house after church. It was not a big crowd, as the "youngsters" (the under-forties) number about seven, including one six-month old baby girl, but it was still a challenge as it turned out that one of our guests is a long-time vegan!

I love baking vegan recipes, though, since they always turn out light and slightly nutty in flavor; never rich or heavy. I ate three mocha-chip muffins, guilt free, knowing there were no eggs or butter or anything remotely fattening or heart-unhealthy in them at all!

Recipes later. My chicken needs to come out of the oven!

Man proposes, God disposes.

2007-09-16T15:15:00.000-07:00

Tomorrow morning I am going to wash a five pound chicken and put it in a bag with 1/2 cup fresh squeezed lime juice (I guess that I will also be squeezing several limes) 1/4 cup oliv oil, 1 tablespoon minced garlic and 1 tablespoon grated onion (or 2 tsp. onion powder...) 2 tablespoons minced cilantro and 1/2 tsp chile powder, and stick it back in the fridge.

Then I'll make a salsa verde, and let it sit in the fridge all day, to absorb.

About 6:30 p.m., I'll heat the oven to 450 and remove the chicken from the marinade, rinsing off the cilantro (so it doesn't burn) and roast the chicken breast, 15-20 minutes per pound.

I'm making bread right now.

When the chicken is done, I'll remove it from the dish to a cutting board and let it sit for ten minutes.

Meanwhile, I'll heat a tablespoon or two of olive oil and saute a clove or two minced garlic until almost toasted. Throw in a handful of string beans and stir until just wilted, then remove to a covered dish on the back of the stove to keep warm.

Then, set out the salsa verde with a serving spoon for pouring over the otherwise bland string beans, slice up some day-old homemade whole wheat bread, and call the men* to dinner.

Let's see how well this pans out.
*Andrew is still here, and we have a church friend coming over tomorrow night.

Getting rid of ALL THOSE TOMATOES

2007-08-17T13:18:00.000-07:00

We have a visitor, so while Matt worked this morning, I made several pots of coffee, and egg-tomato-bakes. (We're not sure what they're really called, but I'm trying to come up with a better name...)

Cut off the bottom teeny bit of tomato, so it can stand on end, and then slice off the top (and pop it in your mouth, if you are like me!) and hollow out the seeds and stuff. (I put these aside for later.) Chop up and pop in some garden fresh basil, grind some salt and pepper over them, and then CAREFULLY crack an egg into the basil-pepper-salt hollow of tomato. Place on baking sheet in 450 oven, top with grated cheese (some delish sheep's milk that someone left here on Wednesday night) and pop into the oven. Cook until cheese is throughly melted. Place in a bowl (MESSY!) and cut the tomato away from the egg, letting the yolk run EVERYWHERE. Scoop the mess, bite by bite, onto a slice of freshly made whole wheat bread and chomp away. Use the crusts of the bread to soak up every last bit of basil-tomato-cheese-yolky goodness. Nyam!

(The seeds and stuff I added to this latest batch of stewed tomatoes. All GONE! Until someone else harvests theirs...)

Life hands me lemons pretty much every day.

2007-07-21T09:43:00.001-07:00

Had a surplus of lemons and limes, and also a box full of glass bottles to be filled with something (we use them for simple syrup and homemade kahlua), sooooo:

Juice two ripe* lemons, strain out seeds, separate pulp. Add 1 1/2 cups of sugar to 1/2 cup of water, boil down, stirring constantly, for simple syrup**. Add the lemon juice and pulp, if desired. Congratulations! You now have lemonade concentrate that you made yourself!! Chill until ready to use. Add 4 1/2 cups of ice water for ready-to-go, homemade lemonade!!

(I made another batch using four limes and one lemon, + 1 1/2 c. simple syrup, calling it lemon-limeade.)

*My lemons were overripe, so I did not have to do this, but this recipe recommended softening them either by poking holes in them with a fork and sticking them in the microwave, which we do not have, or dunking them in boiling water for thirty seconds and rolling them around the counter top.

**See above re: bottles of simple syrup; I added 1 1/2 cups of our pre-made simple syrup from the fridge.

With a Cherry on Top

2007-06-12T08:27:00.001-07:00

With a Cherry on Top
Originally uploaded by gaffentine

Sinfully delicious artichokes

2007-05-26T17:05:00.000-07:00

Last night, we hosted an international dinner. Four of the guests were a Chilean family, one guy was Canadian, and the rest were American of varied backgrounds. Pretty much everyone agreed that the artichokes were phenom, so we re-resurrect this blog to bring you the Ranch House version of heart attack on a plate:

Prepare 4 artichokes (we adjusted the recipe for six) the normal way (tops down in three inches of water with olive oil and garlic, covered, boil for thirty-forty-five minutes). If you are like me, you always over cook them, but this is good, because it is then easier to spread the leaves, which you do after draining them and placing them on a baking sheet.

While the chokes boil, put four tbs of olive oil, four tbs of butter, one clove of garlic (minced) and two cups of fine white bread crumbs (I made my own from a loaf of stale rye, seemed to work out alright) into a pot, and stir until browned.

Toss the bread crumb mixture with 1/2 tsp herb salt* and 1/2 tsp dried marjoram.

Divide the mixture among the artichokes, making sure it gets down in there among all the leaves. Place in a warm oven to keep warm (I put a bowl of water in with them so they wouldn't dry out too much).

Served with an herb-salt-butter dipping sauce, and I was sure our cholesterol skyrocketed, but it was WORTH it!

*I keep a jar of this stocked up: 1 tsp garlic salt, 2 tsp onion salt, 1/2 tsp dry parsley, 1/8 tsp dry basil, 1/8 tsp marjoram, 1/4 tsp celery salt, 1/8 tsp thyme, all ground up in the mortar.

All's well that ends well!

2007-03-13T08:24:00.001-07:00

Cake,
originally uploaded by gaffentine.

This was supposed to be a three-layer cake for our birthday celebration, but I was blissfully unaware, until the night before the party, that while we may or may not have registered for layer pans, we do not actually have any. So I had to improvise, and I filled a springform pan about two-thirds of the way, and then made cupcakes of the rest of the batter. Unfortunately, since I did not have three layers to frost and stick together, I had a TON of icing left over. Fortunately, Anthony did as he was bid and brought strawberries, which we dipped into the icing and ate.

I culled this recipe from the New York Times.

Red Velvet Cake.

The night before the party, after realizing that we do not have layer pans*, I whipped 2 cups of cold heavy cream, and set aside in the fridge. I then blended 12 ounces of room temperature cream cheese with 12 ounces of marscapone (hello! expensive!) until it was smooth, then added 1/2 teaspoon vanilla and 1 1/2 cups confectioner's sugar and blended. I added the chilled whipped cream, folded it in, and placed the (covered) bowl in the refrigerator. Then I went to bed.

The next morning, after coffee, I preheated the oven to 350, and dropped a tablespoon of unsalted butter into my springform pan. I put the pan in the oven for a few minutes, watching very carefully. When the butter started to melt, I took out the pan and brushed the butter all over the bottom and sides of the pan, then lined the bottom with parchment paper and set it on top of the stove so that the butter wouldn't cool and congeal.

Then I whisked together 3 1/2 cups of cake flour, 1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder, not Dutch-process (I subbed in carob powder, in case someone was allergic to chocolate...not much I could do about the dairy, at this point!), and 1 1/2 teaspoons salt.

With an electric mixer, I beat together 2 cups canola oil and 2 1/4 cups of granulated sugar. Added three eggs, one at a time. Turned the mixer down low, and SLOWLY added "6" tablespoons of red food coloring (which is three ounces, which is a lot, and more than I had. The cake came out more pink than red, which was fine as this was a party for the girls. If it had been a party for the boys, I would have put my apron over my head and cried, and then ordered a pizza.) Then added the flour mixture alternately with 1 1/4 cups buttermilk, in two batches. Scraped down the sides of the bowl, and beat just long enough to combine.

In a separate dish, I combined 2 1/2 teaspoons white vinegar with 2 teaspoons baking SODA. Added this to the batter, with the mixer still going, beating for ten seconds.

Then, I was supposed to fill the pans (or, pan and muffin tin), and place them in the oven and bake until cake tester came out clean (recipe says 40-45 minutes. The cupcakes took about fifteen or so).

Let cool in pans for twenty minutes, then remove, peel off parchement paper and cool completely before constructing/frosting the cake.

It was a huge hit. Also, I was glad I made the cupcakes, because some people had to leave early, so we sent them off with "cake"!

*which should have tipped me off about not making so much icing! Duh.

Adventures in Culinary Art

2007-02-21T13:40:00.000-08:00

This tickled me exceedingly.

A snippet:

"Artists were also invited weekly to serve as guest chefs, and the whole dinner was considered a performance art piece. One of the most fabled, costing $4, was Matta-Clark’s 'bone dinner,' which featured oxtail soup, roasted marrow bones and frogs’ legs, among other bony entrees. After the plates were cleared, the bones were scrubbed and strung together so that diners could wear their leftovers home."

Warm weather eatin'

2007-02-18T10:03:00.001-08:00

Finished,
originally uploaded by gaffentine.

Yesterday being as warm and sunny as it was, I made an unscheduled trip to the store to stock up on the key ingredients for our favorite warm-weather food: Gazpacho. There are a number of different ways to make it, and hundreds of recipes to choose from, but we kind of tend to do our own thing with this. For example, one recipe called for 4 cups of tomato juice. I had never, before yesterday, put more than a half cup of (spicy) tomato juice, aka Bloody Mary Mix, into my gazpacho. I like it to more chunky than soupy. Another recipe told me to put *everything* into the blender until it was all pulverized. I see this as a form of cheating: instead of forty-five minutes of peeling, seeding, chopping, dicing and mincing, you have five minutes of blender action! I did cheat this time and put about a fifth of the ingredients into the blender, but the result was...BROWN, and so I am glad I didn't do it with the whole thing!! Without further ado:

Slice two stalks of celery extra thin.
Seed and dice two yellow bell peppers (I used three mini ones that were on sale!)
Dice one purple onion
Dice one shallot
Quarter eight tomatoes. Remove the seed beds, and reserve for the blender action.
Peel, seed and dice one large cucumber.
Throw about a fifth of these ingredients into the blender with 1 cup spicy tomato juice.
Slice and dice the remaining tomato parts into 1/8 inch pieces. (See?! Time-consuming!)
Chop two green onions into 1/4 inch chunks.
Mince four cloves of garlic.
Take a handful of cilantro, wash thoroughly, pat dry and mince fine.
Add all ingredients to pulpy stuff in a non-metal bowl, stir VERY well.
Grind salt and pepper over top, squeeze the juice of one lime over it, and drizzle a bit of olive oil over all, and stir again.
Refrigerate overnight to let the flavors absorb.
Serve with slices of lemon as garnish, and make Tapatio available for the more adventurous!

The first time I made gazpacho, I was doing it mostly from memory, having had an excellent serving of it the night before at a now-closed restaurant downtown. (It's always the good ones...) I also did not know about the overnight-absorbing thing, so I kept tasting it and adding garlic! I could not figure out why it tasted so mild!!! When I took it out to serve the next night at dinner, though, boy howdy. I had quickly chopped up several more tomatoes and added regular tomato juice to try and cut the GARLIC MONSTER rearing out of the bowl!! Thankfully, all of our guests were garlic-fiends, so it wasn't so bad...

Amuse bouche? Not hardly. Update.

2007-02-17T09:18:00.000-08:00

Another food-related non-recipe post. Matt and I went out with some friends last night, to a local wine shop that has tastings on Friday nights. They usually have a local winery pour their latest and/or greatest, with the winemaker there to talk about it etc. Last night, though they had a tasting of South American wines. They were pouring Montes Cabernet, with which we are familiar, and a Viognier that was absolutely to DIE for, called Tupungato Mendoza. (What does that mean in English? Am intriqued.) It's from Argentina. The evening ambled on, and suddenly we were all hungry, so we decided to go to a nearby Italian Bistro, a place that I have heard a lot about, and where Matt goes for lunch quite often. We were kind of excited to try this place for the first time. It's a family restaurant, and quite pretty. The menu looked amazing, and we ordered our pasta dishes and opened a bottle of Pinot that Hangover brought (what, did you think we ever go anywhere without him? Psh.) and settled in for a long, warm evening of fun and relaxation.

Except.

We were kind of a big group (about ten), so the restaurant had set up a table in the middle of the room, rather than along the wall, which was fine. The only problem was the table I was facing, a four-cover table with two young men sitting at it, obviously at the tail end of their meal. Obviously at the tail end of their bottle of wine, as well. They were talking rather loudly, which normally isn't a problem for anyone, especially in a crowded restaurant, but their volume made it impossible to ignore their language. If I closed my eyes I could almost convince myself I was in a truck stop, it was *that* bad. Literally (and I don't use that word lightly!) every. other. word. started with F. It was incredbile.

Can you believe I actually lost my appetite?

Reconnoitering in the ladies' room, we (the girls, not Hangover and Matt and I) just hoped that they would pay their check and go. They ended up not leaving until just before we did, and we took our sweet time, too.

What do you all think? Should we have said something to the manager? (There were only two other tables in that room, so it might have been obvious who had complained, and that kind of drama is not the kind we like, so...)

Updated to ask: What do they do about this in China?

Bummer

2007-02-16T10:28:00.000-08:00

In an attempt to de-clutter and streamline our lives, we are cleaning out the freezer, and so, no interesting dinner last night. Just Trader Joe's Frozen Pork Potstickers, which, according to someone who ought to know, have been DIS.CON.TIN.UED since the last time we bought them. Which was a couple of months ago.

Saaaaavooooooor the potstickers!!!

(Also a green salad.)

Today is a baking day

2007-02-15T12:09:00.000-08:00

On the recipe clip board:

Applesauce Cookies, from California Herb Cookery.

Cream together 1/2 lb room temperature butter and 2 c. sugar.

Add, and beat in well, 1 egg.
Mix together, then beat in,
3 c. flour,
1 tsp. cinnamon,
1/2 tsp powdered/ground cloves,
1/8 tsp. salt,
1 tsp. baking soda.

Add and stir in well
1 c. unsweetened applesauce and
1 c. chopped walnuts (optional).

Drop onto greased cookie sheet, flatten slightly (I've found this goes faster if you keep your fingers wet) and bake at 425 until brown. (My gas oven does it best between 350-375 for 10-12 minutes).

Makes about 36 biggish cookies.

Housekeeping meme

2007-02-07T09:16:00.001-08:00

Fortunately, I already had it drafted!! Tagged by Nutmeg.

Aprons – Y/N?
Always. I am also always looking for “frilly” ones. The only ones we can find in the “big box” stores are those standard (aka BORING) bar-b-q style aprons.

Baking – Favorite thing to bake:
Muffins, cupcakes, cookies. I once made an angelfood cake from scratch that turned out very well.

Clothesline – Y/N?
Yes. It needs to be re-strung, though.

Donuts – Have you ever made them?
No.

Every day – One homemaking thing you do every day:
Wash Dishes.

Freezer – Do you have a separate deep freeze?
Not yet.

Garbage Disposal – Y/N?
No. We're working on a compost pile.

Handbook?
California Herb Cookery

Ironing – Love it or hate it?
Love it. Taking a page from my MIL's book, I let it pile up, and then watch a movie while I iron. The only downside: no foreign films while ironing!!

Junk drawer – Y/N? Where is it?
Sort of. It's more a “batteries/scissors/allergy medicine for our allergic-to-cats-friends” drawer.

Kitchen: Design & Decorating?
This Is A Baking Kitchen. Lots of cabinets and drawers, nasty old linoleum, butcher block island. All white, except for the nasty linoleum, which will never be white again!

Love: What is your favorite part of homemaking?
Making it look like a magazine, whether it's the food ro the room.

Mop - Y/N?
Oh yes. Every week, sometimes more.

Nylons - Wash by hand or in the washing machine?
Washing machine. That is, if they make it through one wearing without snagging or running! (I don't wear nylons very often...)

Oven - Do you use the window, or open the door to check?
Ours doesn't have a window. :( I try to wait until the minimum suggested baking time before opening the door, though.

Pizza - What do you put on yours?
Cheese, bacon, pepperoni, peppers, mushrooms, GARLIC, vodka sauce.

Quiet- What do you do during the day when you get a quiet moment?

Read a book. Surprise!

Recipe card box- Y/N?
No, I have a filing system.

Style of house-
1930's "ranch", aka "slapped together with no foundation, can't believe it's still standing, are you sure we're supposed to be living here" style.

Tablecloths and napkins- Y/N?

Placemats and napkins.

Under the kitchen sink- Organized or toxic wasteland?

Compost bin, cleaning rags and white vinager

Vacuum- How many times a week?

2, sometimes more, right kitty?

Wash- How many loads do you do a week?

On average, about four or five. Depends on how many home-improvement projects we've done.

X's - Do you keep a daily list of things to do and cross them off?
No, unfortunately. With FlyLady's help, though, I am hoping to get out of my ADD cleaning style...

Yard - Who does what?
Matt mows. He also carts the heavy stuff around, and the patio is his project. I do weeding and planting, but I can't bring myself to even go out there right now...all our plants froze and died. :(

Zzz's - What is your last homemaking task for the day before going to bed?
Clean the kitchen.

A little affirmation never hurt anyone

2007-02-01T16:58:00.001-08:00

You Are an Excellent Cook

You're a top cook, but you weren't born that way. It's taken a lot of practice, a lot of experimenting, and a lot of learning.
It's likely that you have what it takes to be a top chef, should you have the desire...

Are You A Good Cook?

Weekenders

2007-01-29T19:26:00.000-08:00

This weekend, we hosted the newest installment of Froula, seen here in the "barrel room" at the winery closest to our house.

They came with us to our Catechism class, followed by Mass, and then we returned home for a lazy Sunday afternoon, capped off with a late lunch, which was prepared thusly:

While Matt and Justin dusted off the backgammon board and set up shop in the living room, Rose and I prepped the kitchen for lunch-making, she by washing the breakfast dishes and I by preparing the chicken. (Free-range organic, of course!)

Heat the oven to 400. Remove the giblet-things from the 3-4 lb chicken, and rinse it in cold water, patting dry with a clean rag. (We buy plain white bar-towels in bulk, to save paper-towel waste.) Rub all over with olive oil and salt, and place in a glass dish in the oven. Mix one 1 lb bag of frozen sliced peaches (if fresh are not available, which they are not right now) with six halved shallots, 1/4 cup balsamic vinegar, six sprigs of fresh thyme, 1 tsp salt and 1/4 tsp pepper. If the peaches are fresh, use four, halved, and add the mixture to the dish immediately. If not, add this mixture to the chicken about a half hour into the roasting time. Total roasting time is about one hour, ten minutes, or until thermometer in the thigh registers 180.

Forty minutes into the roasting time, I washed, peeled, cut and boiled four Japanese sweet potatoes*. While they boiled, I trimmed 1/3 lb of green beans and set them aside. Then, I diced two shallots and one clove of garlic, browning them in a tablespoon of butter. Add the green beans, and, while they sizzle, squeeze the juice of one lime over all. When the beans got tender (about five minutes) I placed them in a covered dish on the table. The yams were ready, and I added 1/4 cup heavy cream (forgot to buy milk, oops!) 1 tbs butter, and mashed them up. By this time, the chicken was done and had been resting for ten minutes, so we sat down to eat!

The potatoes were VERY dry: I wish I had remembered to buy milk; then I could have put more in and they would have been creamier. The chicken was perfect: tender, juicy, the peaches added sweetness, and the balsamic vinegar kept the sweetness from being too cloying. The lime in the beans added a bit of zing to our plates.

This meal is definitely one that we will be serving again!!

*I'd planned on sweet potatoes for this meal. At the store, there were these "Japanese Yams" which I thought would be fun. They turned out to be a pale yellow color, and a little stringier than I liked, but the taste was pleasing.

Link "repair"

2007-01-27T10:07:00.000-08:00

Much to my disappointment, the Post Punk Kitchen's website is down (looks like a domain-expiration thing) and all my links to them are consequently irrelevant. Because of this, I am posting in its entirety the recipe I linked to in my first post. I mentioned earlier that I was having difficulty finding one of the ingredients, fenugreek, and my mother has sent me some, and so I re-made it last night, and let me tell you, that fenugreek makes a HUGE difference! Gives it quite a kick...

Ethiopian Spicy Tomato Lentil Stew

Boil 1 cup brown lentils for 45 minutes, or until tender. (I have used green lentils, with no disastrous results.)
Prep: Dice 1 large yellow onion and peel and dice 2 carrots. Grate two tablespoons of fresh ginger, and mince 4 cloves of garlic. Mix together: 2 tsps ground cumin, 1 tsp ground fenugreek (I ground mine in the blender), 1/2 tsp dried thyme, 1/4 tsp ground cardamom, 1/2 tsp ground coriander, 1/8 tsp ground all-spice, 1/8 tsp ground cloves, 1/8 tsp ground cinnamon, 1/8 tsp cayenne pepper, and 1/2 tsp salt. Open and measure out 1/2 c tomato paste, measure out 1 cup vegetable stock, and quarter four large tomatoes (or halve eight cherry/plum tomatoes).

In a large pot, over medium heat, saute the onion and carrots. Add the garlic, ginger and spices. Saute 5 more minutes.

Add tomato paste and mix, add vegetable stock and tomato pieces and simmer until bubbling. Add the cooked lentils and 1 cup frozen peas, simmer 15 more minutes.

This takes me a little less than an hour to make. The peas may sound optional, but without them, this stew looks...um, well, it looks unappetizing, and if you have small children, they will fill in the details for you! ;)
We think this is the perfect lunch AND dinner for a Friday in the wintertime! Very warming and filling.
Enjoy!

Announcement

2007-01-26T09:13:00.000-08:00

Two things.

Number one: My dear mother found me some Fenugreek, and sent it to me. It smells SO good! (The wrappings it came in smell good, too!) Thank you, Mom!

Number two: We are entertaining this week, and I have to try the Ethiopian Stew again, to see what difference the fenugreek makes. Stay tuned...

The Latest Challenge

2007-01-20T13:02:00.000-08:00

OK, last night, my best friend turns to me and says, "So, the doctor thinks I'm allergic to wheat."

I'll keep ya'll posted.

The Bloody Aftermath of the Holiday Season.

2007-01-19T10:16:00.000-08:00

Unfortunately, I STILL feel like it's the holidays. Maybe something to do with the fact that we haven't been home for longer than three days together since, well, ThanksGIVing???! We've been pretty much running in the door, cycling through four loads of laundry, repacking our bags, and running out again, with Wallace in the background going "What the HELL???" like the bystanders in the Tasmanian Devil cartoons. Anyway, I guess it's over, and so I've thought back to the pre-Christmas preparations and dug out one of the more popular "Christmas Treat" recipes. Also from the PPK.

Gingerbread Cupcakes with Lemon Frosting.
(Preheat oven to 350 F. Line tins with paper cupcake liners.)

Sift together 1 ¼ cups flour, 3 tsps ground ginger, 1tsp ground cinnamon, 1 tsp baking powder, ½ tsp baking soda, ¼ tsp ground cloves and ¼ tsp salt.

Whisk together ½ cup vegetable oil, 1/3 cup molasses, ½ cup maple syrup, ¼ cup soymilk and 2 tbs soy yogurt until well emulsified.

Fold dry ingredients into wet, whisking to combine.

Fold in 1 ½ tsps lemon zest and ¼ cup crystalized ginger, finely chopped

Pour into tins, 2/3 of the way.
Bake 17 - 22 minutes, until top springs back when touched or a toothpick comes out clean.
When fully cooled frost them with frosting below.

Prepare the frosting
In a round bottom bowl cream ¼ cup soybean margarine and ¼ cup vegetable shortening with a strong fork. (Make sure they are thoroughly blended and smooth.) Add 1/3 cup confectioner sugar and mix, gradually adding ¼ cup soymilk. Add juice of one lemon, and keep creaming away until everything is perfectly smooth. Refrigerate until cupcakes are ready for frosting.

My favorite thing about their dessert recipes is that they taste and feel good. We regularly eat their cupcakes for breakfast.

***every time I made these, the centers would fall a little. I'm not sure why; maybe the yogurt I was using was too heavy or something...

Christening the Accommodating Chef

2007-01-18T09:55:00.000-08:00

The other night, we had some friends over for dinner. He is a big meat and potatoes Mid-West guy. She is a native Oregonian and hard-core vegetarian. What to eat?

I marinated lamb LOIN chops (not regular chops; loin is more tender) in olive oil, fennel seed and cumin for two hours.

In the meantime, I put this together. Although we have been unable to locate fenugreek anywhere, it came out alright. I undercooked the lentils a bit, but it ended up working out perfectly, since I started it too early. It's a stew, so it's not supposed to sit around simmering for an hour, unlike other lentil soup recipe we like. One word of advice: I feel that I should have prepped the ingredients for every stage before I dove in; it's kind of hard to grate two tablespoonfuls of fresh ginger when the onions are beyond caramelized. I usually do it as I go, but that didn't work out so well this time. That's what those miniature bowls in the mixing set are for, I guess.

While the stew was heating through one last time, I shaved three medium-sized carrots into strips, and then we scraped the fennel seeds off the lamb and heated olive oil in a cast iron skillet medium high. We seared the chops, one-two minutes per side, and then transferred them to a baking sheet in a 350 oven.

I dumped a 15 ounce drained can of garbanzo beans into a pan, on medium, stirred them around for a few minutes and then added the carrot strips, stirred around a few more times and put them in a serving dish. (This is supposed to the bed which the chops are served on, but I've found that vegetarians are "no-touch" when it comes to meat and their food.)

Dish up the lamb chops, garbanzo beans/carrots on the side, with an entree of lentil stew for the veggie-girl, and Bon Appetit.

A big hit all around, with madeleines and ginger tea for dessert.