Mashed Potatoes

My mother expresses love in many ways, but two are a bit more involved in terms of production.

Christmas bounty

First, she gives gifts.  Every year, my sister and I listen to solemn warnings that this year Christmas won't be as present-oriented as it was in previous years.  This is fine with my sister and me because we are not spoiled brats and because a white Christmas in Maine with the whole family is more than enough.  Especially when pies and flan are wedged into two separate refrigerators while the desserts that do not quite fit line the steps in the garage, and your grandmother buys a two liter bottle of Bailey's for the next seven days.  Nevertheless, when Christmas Day comes, presents still blanket the floor beneath the tree and my mother listens to our protests with a kind of giddy mischievousness.

the heroic banana cream pie-cutting effort

Second, my mother expresses her love through food whether it is via a sympathetic text ("Poor baby. Eat some chocolate." eventually followed by, "Better yet, go for a run") or through every candle-lit dinner we have as a family.

This past December, my mother managed to combine these two tendencies perfectly: she gave me the present of a potato masher with which I could now make my own comfort meals! And it is ergonomically designed for ease-of-mashing.

Score.

Previously, I mashed potatoes and the occasional tomato with slotted spoon and a regular spoon.  It did not work very well.  Not counting the mashing effort however, making mashed potatoes is surprisingly easy and obviously tasty.  And you can make fried potato pancakes with the leftovers!

Mashed Potatoes

from Alice Waters' The Art of Simple Food

3 russet potatoes
1/2 cup potato-cooking water
4 tbs olive oil
salt

Bring a pot of well-salted water to a boil.
Peel the potatoes and cut them into medium-sized pieces.  Cook them in the boiling water for about 15 minutes, or until the insides of the potatoes are dry and flakey, but tender.
Drain the potatoes and set them aside to cool.
In the same pot, heat the oil and potato-cooking water.  Add the potatoes to the pot and mash everything together.  Add as much salt as you want and eat.
Substituting milk for the potato-cooking water and butter for the olive oil will make the potatoes creamier.

boiled and drained

potato pancakes!

***

Right now I am going through a French pop music phase, mostly because my French teacher keeps introducing the class to new songs and I keep buying them.  My current favorite is Zaz's 'Je Veux':

Waters, Alice, Patricia Curtan, Kelsie Kerr, and Fritz Steiff. "Mashed Potatoes." The Art of Simple Food: Notes, Lessons, and Recipes from a Delicious Revolution. New York: Clarkson Potter, 2007. 319. Print.

Soda Bread

I am on a bread stint.  Maybe it is because the soul-crippling doubt of junior year is setting in and I crave comfort food, or maybe it is because I lived off of soup for two weeks and now I need something solid.  So I cracked open a few cook books and started to salivate.  I opted to make soda bread because I was only missing one ingredient (the buttermilk), I had two hours free before work, and I did not have any soda bread at O'Flaherty's two weeks ago.

It turns out that soda bread is the official bread of Ireland, but it is also present in Australian, British, and Serbian traditions.  And making it requires so little effort.  Just mix all the ingredients together and stick them in the oven.  When the baking soda mixes with the acidic buttermilk, a chemical reaction occurs and creates little air bubbles so you don't have to wait for the dough to rise!

There are so many varieties of soda bread, and this recipe is about as simple as it gets.  That is why I like Alice Waters' recipes - they provide the perfect structure to show you the basics of the food so you can be creative and inventive later.  Next time I make this bread, I will probably use whole wheat flour and incorporate nuts and currants.  With this version, I recommend toasting slices of bread and drizzling honey on it for a scrumptious snack.  Nothing is better than homemade bread.

Soda Bread

from Alice Waters' The Art of Simple Food

3 3/4 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
1 tsp salt
1 tsp baking soda
2 cups buttermilk

Preheat the oven to 450 degrees F.
Mix the dry ingredients (flour, salt, and baking soda) in a large bowl.
Make a well with the dry ingredients and pour in about 3/4 of the buttermilk (or 1 1/2 cups).
Stir, slowly encorporating the dry ingredients.  The dough should be soft but not sticky or wet.  If needed, add more buttermilk.  I used about 1 7/8 cup before the dough became unbelievably sticky and I had to add more flour.
Knead the dough on a floured surface just until it comes together.  Do not over mix though because then you'll pound out the air bubbles and your bread will be denser.  Pat it into a round loaf that is about 1 1/2 inches high.
Put the dough on your baking sheet of choice and cut a deep X in the top.  Make sure to cut deeply and all the way to the edges, as this will help the bread rise uniformly.
Bake for 15 minutes at 450 degrees F.  Then lower the temperature to 400 degrees F and bake for another 30 minutes, or until done.  Check the bread's readiness by tapping on the bottom.  If it sounds hollow, it's done.

***

This song was not actually written by an Irishman, but I love it anyway.  Someday soon I'll traipse my way through the Irish countryside.  Steven Earle's 'Galway Girl':

Waters, Alice, Patricia Curtan, Kelsie Kerr, and Fritz Steiff. "Soda Bread." The Art of Simple Food: Notes, Lessons, and Recipes from a Delicious Revolution. New York: Clarkson Potter, 2007. 274. Print.

Roasted Sliced Cauliflower

There are so many things you can buy for less than a dollar per pound: carrots, potatoes, rice, lentils, bananas, oats, eggs, kale, beans.  If you're willing to shell out an extra quarter per pound, the possibilities are endless: apples, milk, tofu, coffee, almost any in-season vegetable, squash...  These are my options for dinner tonight because I just bought a song for 99¢, which brings my savings account to a stunning $2.78 for the next 11 days.  Twenty-five cents per day?  Challenge accepted.

My current solution is to buy a single head of cauliflower and slowly consume it until I refuse to even look at cauliflower.  It turns out that this weird mass of flower stems is packed with vitamin C, vitamin K, choline, and folate.  In other words, if you passed on fruits one too many times and are fighting scurvy, drank too much, can't stop your bones from fracturing, and are now feeling a little blue, cauliflower might just be your solution!  Right now, a single head is about $1.67.  Live it up people.

Roasted Sliced Cauliflower

from Alice Waters' The Art of Simple Food

as much cauliflower as you can handle
olive oil
salt
pepper

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.

Trim and wash the cauliflower and cut across the whole head into slices of about 1/4-inch thickness.  Lay the pieces flat on a baking sheet without overlapping.  Drizzle or, if you're like me, slather with olive oil and season with salt and pepper.  Roast the strange vegetable for about 20 minutes or until it is tender and starts to brown.

***

My sister's gentleman's mother burned her (my sister) a CD of anthems.  You know, songs to get fired up.  In short, the perfect driving CD.  I would like to take this opportunity to note that I have a whole arsenal of incredible dance moves that I can perform while simultaneously keeping a steady foot on the gas pedal.  This is Rusted Root's "Send Me On My Way":

Waters, Alice, Patricia Curtan, Kelsie Kerr, and Fritz Steiff. "Roasted Sliced Cauliflower." The Art of Simple Food: Notes, Lessons, and Recipes from a Delicious Revolution. New York: Clarkson Potter, 2007. 299. Print.

Popovers

It's midterms week!  Insanity is ensuing!  I just put a bag on my head and cut out holes for eyes!  I'm barely beating back the hysteria!  Can you tell?!  My roommate is currently in the hallway writing her paper because the vibes in the room are not conducive to cohesive sentences.  My bag hat and I disagree.

Because there are so many other things that I should be doing right now and because my stomach is rumbling with a particular tonality and resonance, I am choosing this precise moment in time to fondly remember popovers.

Popovers are these weird things that Nor-easterners consume.  (I say this because I am not aware of their Californian presence and the bits of land over which I spend six hours flying have yet to make a culinary impression upon this slightly insane college student.)  They are part croissant, part souffle.  So basically delicious.

they burned (the muffin pan was a mini muffin pan)

Made with eggs and butter and milk (you should be drooling at this point), the popovers rise too quickly in the oven.  This creates warm, gooey innards and a flakey, crisp exterior.  Add (more) butter, jam, whipped cream, hell maybe even some nutella, and all of life's problems will disappear.  Until you realize how many dishes you dirtied and all the popovers are gone.

Popovers!

from The Tassajara Bread Book

1 cup unbleached white flour

1/2 teaspoon salt

3 eggs, beaten

1 cup milk

1 tbs melted butter

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees.

Use a popover pan or regular muffin tins.  Mix ingredients thoroughly.  Grease the muffin tins and heat in the oven for 5 minutes.  When hot, fill each cup 1/3 full with popover batter.

Bake at 425 degrees for 20 minutes, then reduce the heat to 325 degrees and bake another 10-20 minutes.  Don't open the oven until after 30 minutes!  The popovers may fall as will your hopes and dreams!

But don't burn them like I did.  That may crush your soul.

***

The first time I enjoyed popovers was with my grandmother who lived in France for 25 years and first introduced me to Pink Martini.  The band, thankyouverymuch.  Pink Martini is a group that hails from Portland, Oregon (oh those Oregonians...).  They are fantastic.  My French teacher played this song in class and I cleverly made the connection to my grandmother's globally-oriented Christmas CD... And here's the song, "Sympathique":

Brown, Edward Espe. "Popovers." The Tassajara Bread Book. Boston: Shambhala, 2009. Print.

Margaritas - A Bartender's Secret

Well, folks, in a massive effort to graduate on time, I no longer cook because I do not have the time.  Or, more accurately, I no longer have the time to dream about delicate morsels and hefty dollops of culinary genius, let alone producing said bits of goodness.  I still cook daily, but my diet consists of more baked sweet potatoes than I am willing to admit.  ($.89/lb, in case you were wondering...)  Potatoes and cheese and tea and chocolate with an occasional bag of carrots thrown in there.

Fortunately, I have a whole archive of eateries and past productions that remind me of simpler days when the whisk had to be washed at least one a day...

This recipe is not so much a set of instructions for preparing a particular dish as it is the direct result of my mother's ability to charm the mixologic secrets out of the most tight-lipped of barkeeps.

Margaritas

from Some Unsuspecting Bartender

1 can of Minute Maid Limeade (frozen and concentrated)

Your finest (by which I mean cheapest) available Tequila

the blender you bought freshman year of college

Salt (optional)

Limes (optional)

Dump the entire thing of Limeade into the blender.  Don't destroy the little cardboard tube in the process because it serves as a nice concentrated Limeade-to-tequila ratio-indicator.  

Add however much tequila suits your fancy.  I would start out with anywhere from a half to three-quarters of the container just to get an idea of what you are in for.  

Tequila Reposado all night long

BLEND!  Blend to your heart's desire!

In order to salt the rims, use either a damp cloth or a lime wedge and moisten the lip of your cup.  Dump some (a lot of) salt on a plate and invert the cup/glass/thing.  Push the salt around until the cup is salted appropriately.  Consume.  Preferably while icing the drink with chili pepper-shaped ice cubes.

que delicioso

***

I think "mixologic" sounds too much like "techonologic" to ignore:

Naked Tomato Sauce

One of my favorite Italian restaurants in New York City offers a spaghetti al pomodoro that whisks you off to Rome with a single pasta-twirled forkful.  So I jumped at the opportunity to create my own space-time impossibility when I saw this post on the Smitten Kitchen blog (which I think was inspired by Scarpetta's Spaghetti with Tomato and Basil).  Understandably, my attempt fell a little short of the truly great spaghetti sauces.

In the year that I have officially been feeding myself without the aid of a meal plan or familial relation, I have found it incredibly useful to use recipes as a way to expose myself to a new type of cooking.  Then I can learn the basic principles of, say, pasta sauces and eventually branch off to my own variations.  And we know how much I love really simple, delicious things.

As for making your own tomato sauce from scratch, don't.  Well, don't unless the sauce is meant to exploit the flavor of the tomatoes.  Fresh tomatoes in this recipe works because it is a "naked tomato sauce".  I would stick with cans of crushed tomatoes or canned tomato sauce is you are going to add the whole shebang: meat, peppers, onions, mushrooms.

That's my plug for this recipe.  That, and it was flavorful and tasty enough to not need freshly grated parmesan.  Which I would have grated with the grater that cost almost half of what I paid for for 3 pots, 3 pans, 3 kitchen utensils, and a set of 5 mixing bowls.  But hey, it's an investment...?

Naked Tomato Sauce

from Smitten Kitchen

3 lbs plum tomatoes

3/4 tsp course salt

1 large clove garlic, thinly sliced

pinch of red pepper flakes

small handful of basil leaves

1/4 cup olive oil

3/4 lb dried spaghetti

1 tbs unsalted butter

Peel the tomatoes.  The best way to do this is by cutting a shallow X in the bottom of each tomato, submerging them in water for about 30 seconds, and then shocking the fruit under cold water or with an ice bath.  Peeling off the skins should be pretty easy then.

Cut the tomatoes in half and scoop out the innards (the seeds and juices).  Strain everything and keep the juice.  You can discard the seeds.  Crush the tomato slices in a saucepan that can hold the sauce and the pasta.  Crush them using a potato masher, a slotted spoon, an immersion blender.... OR your hands!

Turn the heat onto medium-high until the tomatoes start to boil and then turn it to medium-low and let simmer for 35-45 minutes.

hand-crushed, baby

Meanwhile, combine the olive oil, garlic, red pepper, and basil in a tiny saucepan and bring to a boil as slowly as possible.  Infuse the olive oil.  When it boils, remove immediately from the heat and strain into a small ball.  Set aside for later.

After about 25 minutes of tomato-simmering, make the pasta but cook until it is very al dente because it will cook a bit more with the sauce.  Save about 1/2 cup of the pasta water to bring the sauce and pasta together.

Combine the pasta and infused oil in the tomato pot and add a little bit of the pasta water to bring everything together.  Consume.

***

This past week I was unbelievably able to attend the final match of the US OPEN!  Aanndd, Paul Simon was there!  So here's Paul Simon's "Cecilia":

Perelman, Deb. "Naked Tomato Sauce." Smitten Kitchen. 31 Aug. 2011. Web. 16 Sept. 2001. <http://smittenkitchen.com/2011/08/naked-tomato-sauce/>.

Carrot Cake Muffins

Trader Joe's sells these really fantastic carrot cake sandwich things (think a carrot cake whoopee pie).  These are not that type of muffin.  This particular recipe is from the Recipes for Health section of the New York Times.

As Martha Rose Shulman (the woman who developed and published this recipe) writes, "These spicy whole-grain muffins are just sweet enough, unlike most cloying carrot cakes."  Troublesome as it is, I have no problem with sweetness, cloying or otherwise.  The more the better, general health and well-being be damned.

ah, the healing powers of California's
natural light

Over the years, many people have argued that muffins cannot in fact be limited to one meal, but these carrot cake muffins are definitely of the breakfast variety.  Packed with fiber and protein, they are a healthy but delicious way to start your day.  Plus, they make the whole house/apartment/dorm smell like Christmas.

what a delicious, welcome mess

Carrot Cake Muffins

by Martha Rose Shulman

2 1/2 cups whole-wheat pastry flour

2 tsp baking powder

1 tsp baking soda

2 tsp ground cinnamon

1 tsp freshly grated nutmeg

1/2 tsp ground allspice

1/2 tsp ground cloves

1/2 tsp salt
2 eggs
1/3 cup brown sugar
1/3 cup canola oil
1 1/3 cups buttermilk
1 tsp vanilla extract
2/3 cup golden raisins tossed with 1 tsp flour
1 1/2 cups grated carrots (this is maybe 4 large carrots)

eggs straight from my sister's farm... that's right folks,
straight from chicken rump to counter top

wet ingredients

I peeled way too many carrots

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees, making sure the racks occupy the top 1/3 of the oven space.  Grease the muffin tins.
Sift together the whole-wheat pastry flour, baking powder, baking soda, spices, and salt.
Separately, beat together the eggs, sugars, oil, buttermilk, and vanilla.  Use a whisk or spatula to stir in the dry ingredients until well-combined.  Make sure not to beat as a few lumps are fine, but there should not be any flour at the bottom of the bowl.  Fold in the raisins and carrots.
Spoon into muffin tops, filling them so they are just below 4/5 full.  Bake for 25 minutes or until lightly browned and well risen.

just into the oven

***

Because I am a poor, starving college student, I do not have the luxury of blowing many many dollars on music.  Yes, I could download music illegally, Youtube it, open myself to Pandora's incessant ads, and now Spotify it.  Moral issues aside, I am in all honesty just too lazy.  Not only do you have to find your preferred fountain of tunes, but you have to screen it for obnoxious promos, URL's to God-knows-what stored in all sorts of places, not to mention the issues with downloading something you do not want to download.

However, the upside is that I get to rediscover music in my library.  For example, this song, "Let's Live For Today" by the Grass Roots, is on a CD of anthems that my sister let me steal/borrow:

Shulman, Martha R. "Recipes for Health: Carrot Cake Muffins." The New York Times. 1 Mar. 2011. Web. 10 Aug. 2011.

Whole Lemon Bars

It took me a little while to warm up to lemon bars.  Most of my exposure to them came through the various bake sales of my childhood, and who would have lemon bars when there are brownies, cupcakes, and cookies, oh my?  Fortunately my taste matured.  Still, lemon bars can frequently be something of a wild-card.  Sometimes they are too sweet, sometimes the crust is just lacking, sometimes the lemon offers only a hint of flavor.

this would be an occasion to splurge
for the sifter

On the same day that Elizabeth and I made the Coconut Red Lentil Soup, we made these Whole Lemon Bars.  Oh, they were perfect.  The bars had the zing of the citrus and a shortbread-like crust.  Not to mention they are just plain ol' purdy to look at.

now that's what I'm talking about

This recipe uses an actual whole lemon that is pulverized by a blender or food processor.  For that lemon, Mr. Lebovitz (the man who developed this recipe) recommends using an organic lemon because everything (pith, pulp, peel, and all) goes in the lemon bars.  One organic lemon is not very expensive either.  As for the lemon juice, I think two lemons should be more than enough to produce 3 tablespoons of juice.

Whole Lemon Bars

by David Lebovitz

Crust

1 cup flour

1/4 cup sugar

1/4 tablespoon salt

8 tablespoons melted unsalted butter

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

Lemon Topping

1 lemon, organic or unsprayed

1 cup sugar

3 tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice

3 large eggs, room temperature

4 teaspoons corn starch

1/4 teaspoon salt

3 tablespoons melted unsalted butter

Optional: powdered sugar, for serving

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

Overturn an 8-inch square pan on the counter and cover the inside of the pan with foil, shiny side up.  A good way to do this is by first wrapping it around the outside of the pan to get the shape.

Mix the crust ingredients together and stir until just smooth.  Pour the batter into the pan, making sure to spread and smooth it so it is level.  Bake for 25 minutes, or until it's golden brown.

While the crust is cooking, cut the lemon (this would be the organic one) in half, remove the seeds, and cut it into chunks.  Blend the lemon chunks, sugar, and lemon juice until the lemon is no longer chunky.  Add the rest of the lemon topping ingredients and continue blending until almost smooth.

When the crust is out of the oven, reduce the heat to 300 degrees, pour the lemon mixture over the crust and bake for 25 minutes or just until the filling stops jiggling and is barely set.

Take it out of the oven and let it cool completely.  Then carefully remove the golden wonder by lifting the foil.  Cut into the desired shape and sift powdered sugar over the top before serving.  Voilà!

***

At the moment, I am in Delaware with my aunt and uncle and cousins.  My first-cousin-once-removed (although who knows if that is right) is now 3 years old and loves The Who.  To the point that he wants to be called Roger (the lead singer's name).  Currently, his favorite song is "Baba O'Riley" and, man, has this kid got the rhythm down.  So in honor of him, here is "Baba O'Riley" by The Who:

Lebovitz, David. "Whole Lemon Bars." David Lebovitz: Living the Sweet Life in Paris. 17 Feb. 2011. Web. 14 June 2011. <http://www.davidlebovitz.com>.

Basil and Parmesan Cheese Flakey Biscuits

The first part of my summer was full of hiking and cooking and life-maintenancey bits (dentist, anyone?), while the second part was all work and class and no play.  Fortunately, a trip to Oregon to visit my older sister, Ingrid, and Heart Wheel Farm divided the two parts.

finished product

It was an amazing trip.  I was so glad to get the chance to spend time with both my sisters, especially because it has been about a year since I had seen Ingrid and it will probably be another year before we see each other again.  The night before we left, I made these flakey biscuits with basil and parmesan.  They are savory biscuits and probably taste best with soup or lentils or something.  We ate them as a side to dinner with a little bit of drizzled pesto sauce (which I also made using this recipe).

Basil and Parmesan Cheese Flakey Biscuits

from The Tassajara Bread Book

1 cup unbleached white flour

1 cup whole wheat flour

3 tsp baking powder

1/2 cup butter

2 eggs

1/2 cup milk

1 1/4 cups grated Parmesan cheese

2 tablespoons minced fresh basil leaves

before

and after!

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees.

Combine the flours, baking powder, and salt.  Cut the butter into dry ingredients (this can be done with two knives or by rubbing the butter between your hands until pea-sized pieces of butter are formed).  Add the parmesan and minced basil leaves.

Make a well in the center and add the eggs and milk.  Beat the liquid with a fork until smooth, then continue stirring and slowly incorporate the dry ingredients, until all is moistened.

On a floured board, knead the dough just enough to bring it together.

Roll the dough until a rectangle 1/2 inch thick.  Fold in thirds.  Rotate the dough a quarter turn, and repeat rolling and folding.  Repeat once more.  This maximizes the flakey layers of the biscuits

To make the biscuits, roll out the dough again to a 1/2 inch thickness.  Cut into rounds with a floured cutter or glass.

Place on an ungreased sheet, and bake for about 8-10 minutes until the bottoms are browned lightly and the tops are slightly golden.  Make sure not to bake them too long because they will dry out.

Serve piping hot!  Or cart them on an eight hour drive and have them that night.

***

This is a version of the old John Denver classic "Take Me Home, Country Roads" that Ingrid put on a CD for me.  I love folksy songs, and the percussion just adds a whole new dimension to it:

Brown, Edward Espe. "Basil and Parmesan Cheese Flakey Biscuits." The Tassajara Bread Book. Boston: Shambhala, 2009. 94. Print.

Coconut Red Lentil Soup

For my birthday this year, my mother gave me a stock pot (SCORE) because most of my pots at school are of the cooking-for-a-single-person size and one of the best, easiest ways to feed yourself is through massive, whatever-is-in-the-kitchen soups.  My grandmother has perfected this method of cooking and inspired me to learn.  One giant hurdle in this process has been lentil soups.

Lentils are apparently a type of edible pulse (a leguminous crop) that are incredibly healthy, but people also tend to be a little picky about flavoring and such.  Earlier in the summer, I spent one glorious day cooking with my friend Elizabeth, and we attempted this recipe.  Lordy, was it good.

Elizabeth took the photos, which
is why they are so good!

Coconut Red Lentil Soup

from 101 Cookbooks

1 cup yellow split peas

1 cup red split lentils (masoor dal)

7 cups water

1 medium carrot, diced

2 tbs fresh ginger, peeled and minced

2 tbs curry powder

2 tbs butter or ghee

8 green onions (scallions), thinly sliced

1/3 cup golden raisins

1/3 cup tomato paste (this is one of those little cans)

14 oz canned coconut milk

2 tsp sea salt

one small handful of cilantro, chopped

Rinse the split peas and lentils and put them in a large soup pot with 7 cups of water.  Bring it to a boil and reduce heat to a simmer.  Add the carrot and a quarter of the ginger.  Cover and simmer for 30 minutes, or until the split peas are soft.

In a small dry pan, toast the curry powder over low heat.  (This will open up the flavoring in the curry powder - just don't let it burn.  It is going to smell delicious.)  Set the curry powder aside.

Melt the butter in a pan (let's be honest... you should just use the same pan as the curry powder - without the curry powder) over medium heat, add half of the green onions, the rest of the ginger, and the raisins.  Stir constantly and let it cook for two minutes.  Next, add the tomato paste and cook for another one to two minutes.

green onions

Add the curry powder to the tomato paste, mix, and add it all to the simmering lentils with the coconut milk and the salt.  Uncover and simmer for another 20 minutes.

final product with the chapati that I love so much

Sadly, I don't remember what music was playing at the time, but we're going to go with some Red Hot Chili Peppers today.  This is the classic "Zephyr Song":

Swanson, Heidi. "Coconut Red Lentil Soup Recipe - 101 Cookbooks." 101 Cookbooks - Healthy Recipe Journal. 15 Mar. 2010. Web. 14 June 2011. <http://www.101cookbooks.com/archives/coconut-red-lentil-soup-recipe.html>.

Artichoke

My dad occasionally talks about the various things that my mother taught him when they met.  They met when he was well into his adult life, and yet he still did not know how to open a bottle of wine, appreciate a meal NOT made from a can or some sort of frozen dinner, or eat an artichoke.  I guess the artichoke thing is kind of acceptable, but I have grown up on these weird vegetables (turns out they are vegetables) so I think it is a little strange.

Artichokes are actually flower buds that have not yet bloomed and are technically thistles.  They are really low in calories but have something like 16 essential vitamins and minerals.  Now we know that artichokes (carciofo in Italian... isn't that a great word??) are full of antioxidants, but historically people have used them for everything from aphrodisiacs to deodorant.  Yay..

Artichokes

however many artichokes

splash of vinegar

Pour a decent amount of water into a pot that will hold all the carciofi.  The artichokes will float, so there should be enough water that they are comfortably chilling.  Splash a bit of vinegar into the pot as well (this will prevent the artichokes from browning unpleasantly).  

Bring the water to a boil, cover, and let it simmer for 20 minutes or until they are done.  You'll know that the artichokes are done when you can slide a knife through the center and the artichoke meat is tender.

Remove them from the water and eat hot or cold, possibly with something in which to dip such as mayonnaise or melted butter.  

(You eat an artichoke by scraping the meat off the leaves with your teeth.  When you get towards the center, you can remove all the remaining leaves at once and eat the ends.  Then scrape all the chokey bits off with a knife and enjoy the artichoke heart - the BEST PART.)

it is actually kind of frustrating that they float

***

I will forever associate this song with San Francisco because of some movie that the deeply impressionable me watched when I was younger.  There was a giant shot of the city's skyline as the opening riff to Glenn Miller's "In the Mood":

Vegetarian Pad Thai

I think it is really interesting how different people having different cooking styles - if that is the way to describe it.  For example, my mom is all about the stir-fries, with a side of meat, and some sort of starch like rice or potatoes.  There are tons of vegetables and everything is seared to perfection.  My grandmother, on the other hand, does not have a microwave and lived in France for 25 years.  She makes quiches and all sorts of other things that - instead of getting reheated in the microwave - inevitably end up in a stew that she just "threw together."

vegetarian pad thai

I think that part of learning how to feed yourself means mastering a few really simple things and learning how to manipulate those dishes to suite your needs.  As for me, I've spent the better part of the last year imitating my mother and my grandmother's cooking by learning how to make the things they usually feed me.  Only since coming home have I started to branch out, such as with this version of pad thai.

we love peppers...

A couple notes though: I think the ratios of pasta to vegetables to sauce/dressing, as presented here, is a little off.  I would suggest a lot more vegetables and more sauce/dressing, or less pasta.  All in all, it is a really great starter recipe for pad thai.  From here it is easy to branch out and get creative.  Also, I used a wok here, but a decently sized frying pan would also do the trick.

veggies

Vegetarian Pad Thai

from The Complete Asian Cookbook

13 oz flat rice-stick noodles

2 tbs peanut oil or canola oil

2 eggs, lightly beaten

1 onion, cut into thin wedges

2 garlic cloves, crushed

1 small red pepper, thinly sliced

3.5 oz fried tofu, cut into thin strips

6 spring onions (green onions), thinly sliced

1/8 cup chopped dried coriander leaves

1/4 cup soy sauce

2 tbs lime juice

1 tbs soft brown sugar

2 tsp sambal oelek

1 cup bean sprouts

3 tbs chopped roasted unsalted peanuts

Cook the noodles (the packaging should say how).  Drain and set aside

Heat a wok (or a large frying pan) over high heat and add enough peanut or canola oil to coat the pan.  When it starts to smoke, add the eggs and swirl to form a thin omelet.  When it sets, roll it up and thinly slice it.

Heat the rest of the oil in the wok, add the onion (not the spring/green onions), garlic, and pepper and cook over high heat until the onion is soft (about 3 minutes).  Add the noodles and toss everything well to mix.  Then add the omelet, tofu, spring/green onion, and the coriander.

Combine the soy sauce, lime juice, sugar, and sambal oelek.  Toss to coat the noodles and then add the bean sprouts and crushed peanuts.

***

Here is Wayne Newton's "Danke Schoen," which a lot of people probably recognize from Ferris Bueller's Day Off:

The Complete Asian Cookbook. Sydney, N.S.W.: Murdoch, 2002. Print.

Coconut Macaroons

I wouldn't call this particular effort a failure in any way, but it did get a little messy towards the end - I think mostly because we didn't completely follow the recipe.  (My ridiculous and time-consuming fastidiousness occasionally pays off...?)

I've been hearing all these things about gluten-free baking lately and when a friend of mine suggested we make coconut macaroons, I got really excited.  Someone suggested we try dipping half of each cookie in melted chocolate, which did not really work because the cookies hadn't cooled completely and therefore had not set.  So we ended up having bits of the macaroons floating in a giant bowl of melted chocolate.  We managed to deal with that though.

coconut macaroons with an
enormous dollop of melted chocolate

Coconut Macaroons

adapted 500 Cookies

2 cups shredded or flaked coconut

4 egg whites

3/4 cup superfine sugar

2 tsp vanilla

pinch of salt

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.  Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper.

Combine all the ingredients except the cherries in a heat-proof bowl.  Put the bowl over a pan of simmering water and stir constantly for about 6 minutes or until the egg whites start to thicken (and the batter holds its form and the consistency is the same throughout).

Remove the bowl from the pan, add the cherries, and crop large spoonfuls on the baking sheets.  Bake for 15 minutes or until the macaroons are golden.

Slide the parchment papers onto a wire wrack and allow to cool completely.

coconut globules

this was our problem...
the egg whites were not thick enough so they seeped out

Timo working hard at scraping those cookies

The Tony awards took place the other night.  It was strange and exciting to watch this award ceremony that included all these amazing shows and performers that I saw a month ago.  On the other hand, I was incredibly frustrated because there are still so many shows that I did not have time to see during finals.  So here's a song from Jersey Boys, my first Broadway show even if it was not part of the Tony Awards. It is a song by Frankie Valli and The Four Season called "Beggin'":

Vanstone, Philippa.  500 Cookies: the Only Cookie Compendium You'll Ever Need.  Portland, Me.: Ronnie Sellers Productions, 2005.  Print.

Chocolate Soufflé

Back in middle school and high school, I played a decent amount of basketball.  In the beginning, I had practice regularly two nights a week.  One night I threw on my practice jersey, put on my shoes, and prepared to get into the car with my dad.  We shouted our goodbyes up the stairs and opened the front door as my mother cried out a semi-hysterical and shrill, "What?!"  I ran back up the stairs just in time to see my mom pull a perfectly-crisped and puffy cheese soufflé out of the oven.

my chocolate soufflé

Soufflé, for those of you that are not familiar, is a light baked dish made up of a base and whipped egg whites.  The base is made out of la roux (milk, flour, and butter), egg yolks, and flavored with anything from cheese to chocolate to Grand Marnier.  The two parts are then folded together and baked so that it rises... and falls after 5 to 10 minutes out of the oven.  My mom makes a killer souffle.  It is one of those favorite and famous meals in my family.

egg whites

chocolate and egg yolks

So there we all are in the kitchen as my mom carefully extracts the most impressive and puffy soufflé she has ever made.  And we have to leave just as the soufflé hisses its hiss of deflation and falls.  This is one of the great tragedies in our family lore - that we could not enjoy .  In my first attempt, I decided to make chocolate soufflé.

just before the oven

Chocolate Soufflé

from The New York Times Cookbook

2 tbs butter

2 tbs flour

3/4 milk

pinch o' salt

2 oz unsweetened chocolate

1/3 cup sugar

2 tbs cold coffee

1/2 tsp vanilla

3 egg yolks, lightly beaten

4 egg whites, stiffly beaten

whipped cream (if desired, which is should be)

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.

In a small pot, melt the butter, add the flour and stir with a wire whisk until blended.  Meanwhile bring the milk to a boil and add it all at once to the butter and flour.  Combine with the whisk and add the salt.

Melt the chocolate with the sugar and the coffee over hot water (...or in the microwave).  Stir the mixture together and add it, plus the vanilla, to the butter, milk, and flour.  Beat in the egg yolks one at a time and let it cool a bit.

Fold in the stiffly beaten egg whites.  This step has the greatest possibility for messing up your soufflé.  The goal is to mix everything together without beating out the little pockets of air bubbles in the egg whites.  When I did this part (with my mother looking over my shoulder), I folded just until everything was mixed, but there were still little flecks of white egg whites throughout.  Butter and sprinkle with sugar a 2-quart casserole dish and pour in the soufflé mix.  Bake for 30 to 45 minutes or until everything is puffy and brown.  Serve (immediately) with whip cream.

***

Making a soufflé can be stressful, especially for the first time.  As my roommate knows well, Barry Louis Polisar's "All I Want Is You" is a song that always helps me release stress.  Barry is a children's songwriter and author for things like Sesame Street (what up, Cookie Monster?):

Claiborne, Craig. "Chocolate Soufflé." The New York Times Cookbook. New York: Harper & Row, 1961. 605. Print.