For Tom Kelly, who asked "Why is cooking such pleasure?"
Doing something simple and useful, with an immediate and gratifying purpose: making things delicious for the ones you love. Putting order to a small chaos of disparate ingredients, making something new out of this and this and this separate thing, synthesizing.
Because my father did all the cooking when I was young, and he loved it. My mother baked but really did not enjoy the trudge of every night dinner. My father taught me how to mince an onion efficiently, how to experiment, not to be afraid of trying some wild new idea from the newspaper. (The Saturday Globe and Mail recipes by Lucy Waverman are always worth a try.)
Pleasure of the kitchen: the smell of coriander and cumin, the brisk crunch of slicing celery, the brilliant colours of red pepper and orange peel and the tenderest green of the interior leaves of Brussels sprouts. Cocoa, bitter and beautiful, the oily talcum feel of Fry's between your fingers. The elastic beauty of bread dough properly kneaded, properly risen, properly punched down. Fiddleheads and squid and pickled beets and butterscotch sauce, how can those things co-exist? But better not to use them in one single recipe, I think.
Making breakfast: poaching eggs to exactly the degree of doneness that pleases you most, drying them slightly before placing them on perfectly-buttered perfectly-browned toast, grinding a fresh dust of pepper over them, and serving them on a good plate with a shiny substantial knife and fork, and a cloth napkin. This is ACHIEVABLE! and it is PERFECT! What else in life can you be so certain of perfecting? And for about 27 cents. Well, 40 if you use organic eggs, which I highly recommend.
When you are finished your work people are nourished and happy, and with any luck the kitchen is not too big a nightmare. And if you are still not convinced about the glory of cooking, make a cake. Here is the best chocolate cake recipe in the world, and I'll follow it with the best carrot cake. Some people are connoisseurs of wine or whiskey or cigars: my area of expertise is cake.
Chocolate Birthday Cake
1 2/3 c flour
1 1/2 t soda
1 t salt
1/2 c becel
1 1/2 c sugar
2 eggs
2/3 c cocoa
1 t vanilla
1 1/2 c buttermilk
Oven 350º Grease and flour two round baking pans, 8” or 9”, or one oblong 9"x13".
Stir dry ingredients together in a small bowl. Beat butter, sugar and eggs together in a large mixing bowl for three minutes. Beat in cocoa and vanilla, then add a third of the dry ingredients alternately with buttermilk (half each time), ending with the last of the dry ingredients. Don't worry if the mixture curdles, it will bake out fine.
Bake 30 minutes for layers, 35-40 for oblong.
You can serve that as it is, with ice cream, or with a shiny fudge icing made by melting 1/2 cup butter in a medium saucepan, stirring in 4 T cocoa until perfectly smooth, then adding 2 cups icing sugar, beating till smooth-ish, and adding 1 teaspoon vanilla and enough boiling water, 1 teaspoon at a time, to stir up a shiny smooth spreadable icing. Water must be boiling to get that gloss.
Or you can make a really fancy, really sweet dressed up cake à la Betty Crocker from the 50s:
Buttermallow Cake
Bake chocolate cake in 9" x 13" pan, let cool. Spread butterscotch filling over the cake, then frost with marshmallow frosting. Melt 1/2 cup chocolate chips or 1 square chocolate, pop into a plastic bag, snip a tiny corner off the bag and draw straight lines lengthwise down the cake. Then draw a clean knife through the lines width-wise to create napoleon markings. Don’t draw the knife down too deeply – you don’t want to mix the butterscotch filling in with the icing.
Butterscotch filling:
1/2 C brown sugar
1/4 C cornstarch
pinch of salt
1/2 C water
1 T butter
Stir sugar, cornstarch and salt together in small saucepan. Add water and cook, stirring constantly, until mixture thickens and boils. Boil gently and stir one minute. Blend in butter. Cool.
Marshmallow frosting
2 egg whites
11/2 C sugar
1/4 t cream of tartar
1 T light corn syrup
1/3 C water
16 large marshmallows, quartered
Combine egg whites, sugar, cream of tartar, syrup and water in top of a double boiler. Place over boiling water. Beat with electric hand mixer until stiff peaks form, scraping pan occasionally (about seven minutes). Remove from heat. Add marshmallows quickly and continue beating until of spreading consistency.
But maybe you don't like chocolate cake?
Here's the Uber Carrot Cake, best I've ever made, after years of trying.
Best Carrot Cake
3 eggs
3/4 c buttermilk
3/4 c oil
2 c dark brown sugar
2 c unbleached flour
2 t baking soda
2 t cinnamon
1 t fresh-ground nutmeg
1/2 t salt
1 c crushed pineapple, drained
2 c grated carrots
1 c good dark raisins
1 c coarsely ground chopped walnuts
3/4 c shredded unsweetened coconut
With electric mixer, beat eggs, buttermilk, oil and sugar till blended. Add flour, soda, spices and salt, and blend. Stir in pineapple, carrots, walnuts and coconut. Pour into two greased 8” square pans or one 9x13” pan and bake at 350º for 55 minutes.
Ice with orange cream cheese icing: beat one cup soft butter and 2 cups cold cream cheese until creamed. Add the grated rind of one orange, 1 t vanilla, and enough icing sugar (about 1 cup) to make a light icing.
Or make JoY of Cooking’s
Cream Cheese icing
(have the cream cheese cold, straight from the fridge, but the butter at room temperature)
Beat with a mixer until just blended:
8 oz. cream cheese
1/2 cup butter
2 teaspoons vanilla
Add one cup at a time and beat just until smooth:
2 - 2 1/2 cups icing sugar
You can stir in some grated orange rind or cinnamon, if you like.
Refrigerate the cake.
Sunday, October 26, 2008
Salmon Chanted Evening
Salmon again, just can't get enough.
This is a new way: heat oven to 425º and place salmon fillets skin side down in an oven dish. I use a smallish 8" one, which I completely fill with salmon pieces. Salt and fresh-ground pepper the fish. Slice a lemon paper-thin, and arrange the lemon slices, overlapping slightly, over the fish. When the oven is hot, pop the dish in the oven and bake for 12 minutes per inch of thickness. There's just enough time to roast some potatoes if you have a convection oven, as I suddenly do: before you start the fish, slice two or three potatoes lengthwise into eighths, toss with a little olive oil and lay them out on a foil-covered cookie sheet (unless you are against foil, in which case just use the cookie sheet but be prepared to work at the cleaning later), salt and fresh-ground pepper generously, and slide the sheet onto the top shelf of the oven to cook while you get the salmon ready. If your oven is non-convection, or as we call it, Ordinary, then the potatoes will need about 40 minutes. You can turn them half way through but you don't really need to.
The salmon comes out tender and gently lemon-spiked. The potatoes are crisp and slightly wicked. You could steam some green beans or broccoli while the salmon and potatoes are cooking, or just make a big green salad. Equal parts lemon juice and olive oil shaken together in a jar (with a bit of salt and a very small smidge of sugar) make a good dressing.
We feel healthy and holy after this dinner, but it is as good as fish and chips.
This is a new way: heat oven to 425º and place salmon fillets skin side down in an oven dish. I use a smallish 8" one, which I completely fill with salmon pieces. Salt and fresh-ground pepper the fish. Slice a lemon paper-thin, and arrange the lemon slices, overlapping slightly, over the fish. When the oven is hot, pop the dish in the oven and bake for 12 minutes per inch of thickness. There's just enough time to roast some potatoes if you have a convection oven, as I suddenly do: before you start the fish, slice two or three potatoes lengthwise into eighths, toss with a little olive oil and lay them out on a foil-covered cookie sheet (unless you are against foil, in which case just use the cookie sheet but be prepared to work at the cleaning later), salt and fresh-ground pepper generously, and slide the sheet onto the top shelf of the oven to cook while you get the salmon ready. If your oven is non-convection, or as we call it, Ordinary, then the potatoes will need about 40 minutes. You can turn them half way through but you don't really need to.
The salmon comes out tender and gently lemon-spiked. The potatoes are crisp and slightly wicked. You could steam some green beans or broccoli while the salmon and potatoes are cooking, or just make a big green salad. Equal parts lemon juice and olive oil shaken together in a jar (with a bit of salt and a very small smidge of sugar) make a good dressing.
We feel healthy and holy after this dinner, but it is as good as fish and chips.
Saturday, March 15, 2008
Stewing
Reading a review of Patricia Pearson's new book A Brief History of Anxiety (Yours & Mine), which sounds like a short tour through my own mind, I realize that my anxieties don't follow me into the kitchen, and that's probably why I like to cook. Food is also an excellent depression and anxiety medication, although over-dosing one's self is a danger.
Here's one of the best anti-anxiety kitchen remedies: winter stew. Frankly, it's much better than pot roast, described below. My mother's stew was thrown together the minute she slammed home from work, while she stood at the stove in her coat trying to get her five fractious children fed fast, but it's a good one:
First, put the butter in the freezer. Trust me. Next, set a big pot of lightly-salted water on high to boil. Quickly scrub four potatoes, cut into 1 inch dice, and pop into the water, even if it's not yet boiling. Peel and slice 6 carrots (and a couple of parsnips, if you like them) and add them to the water too. Peel and eighth (as opposed to quarter) lengthwise two white onions and toss them into the stewpot.
There are the veg cooking, now the meat: cube and brown, in a large frying pan, one pound of round steak, and toss a couple of tablespoons of flour into the frying pan as the meat approaches browning, so that the flour has time to brown and cook a little too. Add enough flour to absorb the fat released by the meat, making a kind of roux around and among the meat cubes. Salt and ground pepper in now, but go easy on the salt. Open a large can of diced tomatoes and use the can lid to help drain the juice into the frying pan, stirring well to smooth out all the flour/roux lumps. Add vegetable water from the stewpot to make a gravy, and add the diced tomatoes to the vegetables in the stewpot. When the gravy is smooth, check the vegetables in the stewpot: there should only be about the same amount of water in the pot as volume of gravy in the frying pan. If necessary, remove (and reserve, because you might want to add it back later) some of the water in the stewpot. Then pour the frying-pan-full of meat and gravy into the stewpot, turn down the heat to medium, and let it all bubble away melding while you throw some biscuits in the oven.
Cheese Biscuits made FAST
(Also known as Current Biscuits, after Azana)
Heat the oven to 450º
2 cups flour
2 tablespoons sugar
1 t salt
3 t baking powder
Fluff all that with a fork. Grate 1/3 cup of freezing cold butter into the flour, using the medium grater, not the lemon zest size. Stir lightly, so that the butter gets coated with flour. Dice enough cheddar cheese to make about half a cup, and toss that into the bowl, turning to coat as well. You can add half a cup of washed currants, too, if those please you; or some chopped parsley and green onions, if you want to go mad. Once all the dry ingredients are stirred together, pour in 3/4 cup of cold milk—maybe as much as a cup, depending on the humidity and the flour—and mix very gently just until all the dough is damp. Drop the batter from the mixing spoon onto a cookie sheet lined with a silpat mat, and bake for 10-15 minutes on the top rack until the biscuits are risen and browned.
When the biscuits are done, toss a cup of frozen green peas into the stew, and call those children to the table.
Here's one of the best anti-anxiety kitchen remedies: winter stew. Frankly, it's much better than pot roast, described below. My mother's stew was thrown together the minute she slammed home from work, while she stood at the stove in her coat trying to get her five fractious children fed fast, but it's a good one:
First, put the butter in the freezer. Trust me. Next, set a big pot of lightly-salted water on high to boil. Quickly scrub four potatoes, cut into 1 inch dice, and pop into the water, even if it's not yet boiling. Peel and slice 6 carrots (and a couple of parsnips, if you like them) and add them to the water too. Peel and eighth (as opposed to quarter) lengthwise two white onions and toss them into the stewpot.
There are the veg cooking, now the meat: cube and brown, in a large frying pan, one pound of round steak, and toss a couple of tablespoons of flour into the frying pan as the meat approaches browning, so that the flour has time to brown and cook a little too. Add enough flour to absorb the fat released by the meat, making a kind of roux around and among the meat cubes. Salt and ground pepper in now, but go easy on the salt. Open a large can of diced tomatoes and use the can lid to help drain the juice into the frying pan, stirring well to smooth out all the flour/roux lumps. Add vegetable water from the stewpot to make a gravy, and add the diced tomatoes to the vegetables in the stewpot. When the gravy is smooth, check the vegetables in the stewpot: there should only be about the same amount of water in the pot as volume of gravy in the frying pan. If necessary, remove (and reserve, because you might want to add it back later) some of the water in the stewpot. Then pour the frying-pan-full of meat and gravy into the stewpot, turn down the heat to medium, and let it all bubble away melding while you throw some biscuits in the oven.
Cheese Biscuits made FAST
(Also known as Current Biscuits, after Azana)
Heat the oven to 450º
2 cups flour
2 tablespoons sugar
1 t salt
3 t baking powder
Fluff all that with a fork. Grate 1/3 cup of freezing cold butter into the flour, using the medium grater, not the lemon zest size. Stir lightly, so that the butter gets coated with flour. Dice enough cheddar cheese to make about half a cup, and toss that into the bowl, turning to coat as well. You can add half a cup of washed currants, too, if those please you; or some chopped parsley and green onions, if you want to go mad. Once all the dry ingredients are stirred together, pour in 3/4 cup of cold milk—maybe as much as a cup, depending on the humidity and the flour—and mix very gently just until all the dough is damp. Drop the batter from the mixing spoon onto a cookie sheet lined with a silpat mat, and bake for 10-15 minutes on the top rack until the biscuits are risen and browned.
When the biscuits are done, toss a cup of frozen green peas into the stew, and call those children to the table.
Wednesday, January 09, 2008
Rot Post
Making pot roast this morning I had rot-post running through my head. Probably because of a rotten tooth which has been cleaned out — "Have you got all the necrotic tissue, doctor?" the dental assistant politely inquired — and while simultaneously thinking about rot and helping Will tune his guitar with a web tuner, I burned the oil in the beautiful Le Creuset pot, which is all you need to make pot roast.
There's the crux: the pot makes the roast. Winners/Homesense sells Le Creuset seconds from time to time (how I got mine, of course) which are pretty prime for seconds.
Bring a little peanut oil to swirling hot but not smoking, and brown a good piece of chuck roast on all sides, sitting the roast down and not moving it for a good three minutes to create that worthy brown crust, then shifting to another face for more. Don't walk away and tune a guitar while you're doing this. Once it's browned, set it down again flat on the pan bottom, and pour in a large can of crushed tomatoes and the last half of the bottle of red wine from the other night, and about a tablespoon of Worcestershire sauce. You might like more of that, but I go easy on it at first. Depending on the tomatoes, you might also wish to salt the sauce. Certainly add a good grinding of pepper. Toss in a big onion, roughly chopped, and a carrot and a piece of celery, both chopped, if you have room. You can also add those later when things have cooked down a bit.
Put the lid on, and either leave it on top of the stove to simmer or pop it into the oven at 275º for most of the afternoon. This is stew, really. But it's good, when the wind blows down the chimney flue.
There's the crux: the pot makes the roast. Winners/Homesense sells Le Creuset seconds from time to time (how I got mine, of course) which are pretty prime for seconds.
Bring a little peanut oil to swirling hot but not smoking, and brown a good piece of chuck roast on all sides, sitting the roast down and not moving it for a good three minutes to create that worthy brown crust, then shifting to another face for more. Don't walk away and tune a guitar while you're doing this. Once it's browned, set it down again flat on the pan bottom, and pour in a large can of crushed tomatoes and the last half of the bottle of red wine from the other night, and about a tablespoon of Worcestershire sauce. You might like more of that, but I go easy on it at first. Depending on the tomatoes, you might also wish to salt the sauce. Certainly add a good grinding of pepper. Toss in a big onion, roughly chopped, and a carrot and a piece of celery, both chopped, if you have room. You can also add those later when things have cooked down a bit.
Put the lid on, and either leave it on top of the stove to simmer or pop it into the oven at 275º for most of the afternoon. This is stew, really. But it's good, when the wind blows down the chimney flue.
Saturday, March 24, 2007
Meringue/Meringo
Sarah is making meringue at her house: Nigella Lawson's chocolate pavlova. Very clever, she uses balsamic vinegar and cocoa powder and grated chocolate, bakes it at 180º (down to 150º once you've put it in the oven) and says serve it with raspberries.
But I was wondering if whipping cream and berries are really the best thing to top it.
Creme fraiche and dark cherries?
Maybe a spoon of coffee ice cream with espresso drizzled over the top?
Haven't hit the right thing yet. I will have to think.
In the meantime, I dance the meringo, marengo, fandango, ola!
But I was wondering if whipping cream and berries are really the best thing to top it.
Creme fraiche and dark cherries?
Maybe a spoon of coffee ice cream with espresso drizzled over the top?
Haven't hit the right thing yet. I will have to think.
In the meantime, I dance the meringo, marengo, fandango, ola!
Soul
Forgot about sole: try it again.
Fresh sole fillets should not fall apart when you lift them from the package.
About 3 T flour, lots of salt and pepper, mix in a shallow dish. Then—and only then—heat a knob of butter and a dollop of olive oil in a good sauté pan. Dredge each side of each fillet lightly and brush off excess, and once the flurry of the butter has subsided, fry on each side for a little longer than you think, until the flour goes golden. Once cooked, remove them to a serving dish and fry the next few fillets. Don't over-crowd the frying pan or the fish will steam instead of frying. Wipe out the pan with paper towel in between batches if you don't like that browned-butter taste.
When the fillets are all done, sprinkle them with a squirt of lemon and serve them quickly. We made potato boats beforehand (the innards of the potato mashed with light cream cheese, a beaten egg and a little green onion, then put back under a low grill to get toasted) and threw together a salad while the sole was cooking.
It was delightful.
Fresh sole fillets should not fall apart when you lift them from the package.
About 3 T flour, lots of salt and pepper, mix in a shallow dish. Then—and only then—heat a knob of butter and a dollop of olive oil in a good sauté pan. Dredge each side of each fillet lightly and brush off excess, and once the flurry of the butter has subsided, fry on each side for a little longer than you think, until the flour goes golden. Once cooked, remove them to a serving dish and fry the next few fillets. Don't over-crowd the frying pan or the fish will steam instead of frying. Wipe out the pan with paper towel in between batches if you don't like that browned-butter taste.
When the fillets are all done, sprinkle them with a squirt of lemon and serve them quickly. We made potato boats beforehand (the innards of the potato mashed with light cream cheese, a beaten egg and a little green onion, then put back under a low grill to get toasted) and threw together a salad while the sole was cooking.
It was delightful.
Monday, March 12, 2007
chowdah
Nothing but fish will do for the last few days. Baked fish at Bonnie's house, halibut chowder last night. Tuna on rosemary-pecan crackers for lunch. Fish and chips for the children tonight. The fish chowder is very good in a changeable climate, quick to make, and tastes fresh but soothing on a suddenly snowy evening.
Sauté one minced white onion, with a finely-minced stalk of celery and a little of the greens, in about 2 T oil (I use half olive oil, half butter, because you'll see a bit of it later on the surface). As soon as they're sautéeing away, roughly chop 2 or 3 unpeeled yukon gold potatoes and add, stirring them around for a while. Because it's been a long winter, a little fine-dice red pepper won't do it any harm.
Stir all these in the soup pot until everything's gently glowing, then pour in half a litre of organic chicken broth from a tetra pack and half a bunch of parsley, tied with a little linen string, and let it all simmer for ten minutes. Take out the old parsley, stir in three or four halibut or haddock fillets, chopped about the same size as the potatoes (and frozen is delightful in this case), about half a cup of cream, and half of the remaining parsley, finely minced. When the fish looks done, it's done. Don't let the potatoes get too mushy—they and the fish should be about the same consistency. You might like to add more cream, or use whole milk—don't try this with skim though. No no no.
Sauté one minced white onion, with a finely-minced stalk of celery and a little of the greens, in about 2 T oil (I use half olive oil, half butter, because you'll see a bit of it later on the surface). As soon as they're sautéeing away, roughly chop 2 or 3 unpeeled yukon gold potatoes and add, stirring them around for a while. Because it's been a long winter, a little fine-dice red pepper won't do it any harm.
Stir all these in the soup pot until everything's gently glowing, then pour in half a litre of organic chicken broth from a tetra pack and half a bunch of parsley, tied with a little linen string, and let it all simmer for ten minutes. Take out the old parsley, stir in three or four halibut or haddock fillets, chopped about the same size as the potatoes (and frozen is delightful in this case), about half a cup of cream, and half of the remaining parsley, finely minced. When the fish looks done, it's done. Don't let the potatoes get too mushy—they and the fish should be about the same consistency. You might like to add more cream, or use whole milk—don't try this with skim though. No no no.
crummy
In England we made key lime pie, and it turns out to be very easy for a travelling dish. And reminded us, too, of sweetened condensed milk. I seem to remember that there was often an open can in our Nova Scotia fridge, with a teaspoon stuck in it. Maybe it's sovereign for a rainy climate.
Key Lime Pie
In a plastic bag, bash 20 graham crackers, or about as many digestive cookies as you think looks right, into crumbs. Stir in 1/3 or maybe 1/2 cup melted butter, whatever the crumbs demand, and 2 T white sugar and mix well, then press into the bottom and a little up the sides of a 9" springform pan. Bake for 10 minutes at 350º
While the crust bakes, mix 4 egg yoks, 1 can of sweetened condensed milk (just called condensed milk in Britain) and the juice of three limes. You can use as much zest as you like, but just stir this together, don't let it get bubbly. It will thicken a little. Pour the filling into the crust hot from the oven and put it back in for 12 minutes, just long enough to set the eggs. Stick in the fridge for at least 8 hours, and there you are. Not much mess in somebody else's kitchen, either.
These are those old bars made with Bordens. The ingredients list is more of a guideline than a rule—use whatever you happen to have on hand for toppings.
Marvel Bars
3 cups finely ground graham crackers or chocolate wafers, or a combination
1/4 cup sugar
3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks) butter, melted
1 cup pecan pieces
1 cup semisweet chocolate chips or chunks
1 can (14 ounces) sweetened condensed milk
1 1/2 cups sweetened shredded coconut
Preheat oven to 375°. Lightly splash a 15-by-10-inch rimmed baking sheet evenly with water, then line with parchment paper. Do not neglect this step or you will be sorry. In a large bowl, stir together cookie crumbs, sugar, and butter until combined. Evenly press onto bottom and up sides of prepared baking sheet. Bake about 10 minutes. Transfer to a wire rack; cool, about 20 minutes. Sprinkle cooled crust evenly with pecans and chocolate. Pour condensed milk over the top, spreading to cover completely (do not let it drip over the edges). Sprinkle with coconut. Bake until coconut is toasted, 10 to 15 minutes. Transfer to rack; cool completely. Trim edges, if desired, and cut into equal-size bars.
But only eat one. Your teeth will ache.
Key Lime Pie
In a plastic bag, bash 20 graham crackers, or about as many digestive cookies as you think looks right, into crumbs. Stir in 1/3 or maybe 1/2 cup melted butter, whatever the crumbs demand, and 2 T white sugar and mix well, then press into the bottom and a little up the sides of a 9" springform pan. Bake for 10 minutes at 350º
While the crust bakes, mix 4 egg yoks, 1 can of sweetened condensed milk (just called condensed milk in Britain) and the juice of three limes. You can use as much zest as you like, but just stir this together, don't let it get bubbly. It will thicken a little. Pour the filling into the crust hot from the oven and put it back in for 12 minutes, just long enough to set the eggs. Stick in the fridge for at least 8 hours, and there you are. Not much mess in somebody else's kitchen, either.
These are those old bars made with Bordens. The ingredients list is more of a guideline than a rule—use whatever you happen to have on hand for toppings.
Marvel Bars
3 cups finely ground graham crackers or chocolate wafers, or a combination
1/4 cup sugar
3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks) butter, melted
1 cup pecan pieces
1 cup semisweet chocolate chips or chunks
1 can (14 ounces) sweetened condensed milk
1 1/2 cups sweetened shredded coconut
Preheat oven to 375°. Lightly splash a 15-by-10-inch rimmed baking sheet evenly with water, then line with parchment paper. Do not neglect this step or you will be sorry. In a large bowl, stir together cookie crumbs, sugar, and butter until combined. Evenly press onto bottom and up sides of prepared baking sheet. Bake about 10 minutes. Transfer to a wire rack; cool, about 20 minutes. Sprinkle cooled crust evenly with pecans and chocolate. Pour condensed milk over the top, spreading to cover completely (do not let it drip over the edges). Sprinkle with coconut. Bake until coconut is toasted, 10 to 15 minutes. Transfer to rack; cool completely. Trim edges, if desired, and cut into equal-size bars.
But only eat one. Your teeth will ache.
Solace
Sometimes (perhaps after a hard week around grant app time) you just need chocolate sauce. This makes a thick, glossy sauce, with very deep flavour. Like a sundae from the Harris Quick & Tasty, only not the actual sundae, the one in a dream ten years later.
HOT FUDGE SAUCE
2/3 cup whipping cream
1/2 cup light corn syrup
1/3 cup packed dark brown sugar
1/3 cup unsweetened Dutch-process cocoa powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
6 oz fine-quality bittersweet chocolate (not unsweetened), finely chopped
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
1 teaspoon vanilla
Bring cream, corn syrup, sugar, cocoa, salt, and half of chocolate to a boil in a 1 to 1 1/2-quart heavy saucepan over moderate heat, stirring, until chocolate is melted. Reduce heat and cook at a low boil, stirring occasionally, 5 minutes, then remove from heat. Add butter, vanilla, and remaining chocolate and stir until smooth. Cool sauce to warm before serving.
Makes about 2 cups.
You can make it a week ahead, cool completely, then chill in an airtight container or jar. Reheat before using.
(But don't do what we did: at Ian and Kanchan's house I handed the jar to their daughter Nisha and Rachel, saying 'pop this into a bowl of warm water to heat it up,' and then by some graceful accident happened to wander into the kitchen as they were pouring the thick chocolate sauce out of the jar into the warm water. It worked out all right, we just poured the water off into the sink and the sauce was hardly any thinner, and still gorgeous.)
HOT FUDGE SAUCE
2/3 cup whipping cream
1/2 cup light corn syrup
1/3 cup packed dark brown sugar
1/3 cup unsweetened Dutch-process cocoa powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
6 oz fine-quality bittersweet chocolate (not unsweetened), finely chopped
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
1 teaspoon vanilla
Bring cream, corn syrup, sugar, cocoa, salt, and half of chocolate to a boil in a 1 to 1 1/2-quart heavy saucepan over moderate heat, stirring, until chocolate is melted. Reduce heat and cook at a low boil, stirring occasionally, 5 minutes, then remove from heat. Add butter, vanilla, and remaining chocolate and stir until smooth. Cool sauce to warm before serving.
Makes about 2 cups.
You can make it a week ahead, cool completely, then chill in an airtight container or jar. Reheat before using.
(But don't do what we did: at Ian and Kanchan's house I handed the jar to their daughter Nisha and Rachel, saying 'pop this into a bowl of warm water to heat it up,' and then by some graceful accident happened to wander into the kitchen as they were pouring the thick chocolate sauce out of the jar into the warm water. It worked out all right, we just poured the water off into the sink and the sauce was hardly any thinner, and still gorgeous.)
Friday, March 09, 2007
Bright
Because it's almost spring we made fresh salsa, we love that:
Chop three or four good tomatoes: on-the-vine or Roma
Add 1 or 2 minced jalapenos (we take out the seeds, because we want the salsa generally-acceptable, no choking guests, tears pouring down their faces, begging for water)
1/2 a large white onion, minced
2 finely-chopped green onions
1/2 an English cucumber, finely chopped
(last night we used an organic garden cucumber, but peeled it)
a big red pepper, chopped fairly fine
Stir all that up and see what you've got. If it's pale add another tomato; if it looks like the right mix, add the juice of two limes, a bunch of cilantro (use scissors to chop it in, if you like), a dollop of good olive oil and enough salt to fix it all.
Our friend Greg serves the best corn-chips for salsa: they're Lays, but organic stone-ground Lays.
If you have a couple of good avocados, mash them in a bowl with the juice of a lemon and some salt, and sit the small bowl of guacamole with the large bowl of salsa.
Perhaps we need a mojito...
Chop three or four good tomatoes: on-the-vine or Roma
Add 1 or 2 minced jalapenos (we take out the seeds, because we want the salsa generally-acceptable, no choking guests, tears pouring down their faces, begging for water)
1/2 a large white onion, minced
2 finely-chopped green onions
1/2 an English cucumber, finely chopped
(last night we used an organic garden cucumber, but peeled it)
a big red pepper, chopped fairly fine
Stir all that up and see what you've got. If it's pale add another tomato; if it looks like the right mix, add the juice of two limes, a bunch of cilantro (use scissors to chop it in, if you like), a dollop of good olive oil and enough salt to fix it all.
Our friend Greg serves the best corn-chips for salsa: they're Lays, but organic stone-ground Lays.
If you have a couple of good avocados, mash them in a bowl with the juice of a lemon and some salt, and sit the small bowl of guacamole with the large bowl of salsa.
Perhaps we need a mojito...
Sunday, November 26, 2006
Cookies
Seems like a long time since we've made cookies, and now three times in the last week. It's because we're hosting school sessions and they've got to be fed, and none of these people are allergic to wheat.
Oatmeal cookies made with 1/3 white sugar, 2/3s brown; add sweetened flaked coconut and don't forget to use some ghastly soft (but at least non-hydrogenated) margarine instead of butter if you want the cookies to stay soft for a few days. That's shelf-life for you: requires the compromise of all one's principles.
Fresh grated nutmeg in the coconut/oatmeal cookies was perfect, too. Not so much that you could identify it, just a mysterious scent of acerbic reality. A damp measuring-cup bottom to flatten the cookies slightly made them look strangely professional.
Better than anything you could buy, let's face it.
Oatmeal cookies made with 1/3 white sugar, 2/3s brown; add sweetened flaked coconut and don't forget to use some ghastly soft (but at least non-hydrogenated) margarine instead of butter if you want the cookies to stay soft for a few days. That's shelf-life for you: requires the compromise of all one's principles.
Fresh grated nutmeg in the coconut/oatmeal cookies was perfect, too. Not so much that you could identify it, just a mysterious scent of acerbic reality. A damp measuring-cup bottom to flatten the cookies slightly made them look strangely professional.
Better than anything you could buy, let's face it.
Friday, March 31, 2006
hors d'oeueueuevre
We wandered through the Williams-Sonoma appetizer/hors d'oeuvre/starter cookbook the other day, thinking we might have to buy it—but were happy to discover that we already make everything in it, and do it very well, we think; except for the scallops. We have yet to find scallops in mid-continent that seem acquainted with the sea.
One reliable pre-dinner treat is Artichoke Dish, which we will make again tomorrow afternoon to take to a reading. Well-made, it's surprisingly good for how simple it is. The ingredients are reliably available and it takes eight minutes from start to shoving it into the oven.
ARTICHOKE DISH
Pre-heat oven to 375º
Drain one 8-oz jar of artichoke hearts in oil and chop into small dippable bits. In a medium bowl, mix 1 cup decent mayonnaise (low-fat does not work) with 1 cup very good freshly-grated Parmesan cheese. The better the cheese, the better the end result. When the cheese and mayonnaise are well-blended, stir in the chopped artichoke and turn the whole thing into a 3-cup baking dish. Don't bother flattening out the top, it will melt down during baking. Bake 20 minutes or so till the whole dish is bubbling and golden brown. Serve warm with sturdy crackers or other strong handles: celery and carrot sticks work, but not cucumbers. Bread is too soft.
Salty and complex, this is an adult dish.
One reliable pre-dinner treat is Artichoke Dish, which we will make again tomorrow afternoon to take to a reading. Well-made, it's surprisingly good for how simple it is. The ingredients are reliably available and it takes eight minutes from start to shoving it into the oven.
ARTICHOKE DISH
Pre-heat oven to 375º
Drain one 8-oz jar of artichoke hearts in oil and chop into small dippable bits. In a medium bowl, mix 1 cup decent mayonnaise (low-fat does not work) with 1 cup very good freshly-grated Parmesan cheese. The better the cheese, the better the end result. When the cheese and mayonnaise are well-blended, stir in the chopped artichoke and turn the whole thing into a 3-cup baking dish. Don't bother flattening out the top, it will melt down during baking. Bake 20 minutes or so till the whole dish is bubbling and golden brown. Serve warm with sturdy crackers or other strong handles: celery and carrot sticks work, but not cucumbers. Bread is too soft.
Salty and complex, this is an adult dish.
Tuesday, March 28, 2006
Brownies
Preheat oven to 350º and generously butter a 9" x 13" baking pan.
In a medium saucepan, melt 1 cup of non-hydrogenated margarine, like Becel or Olivina. As it melts, add 6 tablespoons Fry's cocoa and 2 C white sugar. Take off the heat and mix till smooth. Beat in, all at once, 4 eggs. When fairly smooth, add 1 1/4 C unbleached flour, 1 teaspoon baking powder and 1 teaspoon celtic sea salt. Stir just to combine, till there's no white showing. Pour into prepared sheet pan. Bake for 20 minutes. Do not overbake. When cool, or nearly cool, ice with Fudge Icing.
Fudge Icing:
Put the kettle on to boil with a small amount of water. In a small saucepan, melt 3/4 C butter. Stir in 6 T Fry's cocoa until smooth. Take off the heat, and stir in 2 C icing sugar till smooth but stiff. Add 1 teaspoon good-quality vanilla and 2 tablespoons boiling water, stir till smooth and glossy. Add water 1 teaspoon at a time until the icing reaches the right consistency. If it's not glossing up, add a little more boiling water. Spread icing on brownie quickly, because it sets up. Like fudge.
In a medium saucepan, melt 1 cup of non-hydrogenated margarine, like Becel or Olivina. As it melts, add 6 tablespoons Fry's cocoa and 2 C white sugar. Take off the heat and mix till smooth. Beat in, all at once, 4 eggs. When fairly smooth, add 1 1/4 C unbleached flour, 1 teaspoon baking powder and 1 teaspoon celtic sea salt. Stir just to combine, till there's no white showing. Pour into prepared sheet pan. Bake for 20 minutes. Do not overbake. When cool, or nearly cool, ice with Fudge Icing.
Fudge Icing:
Put the kettle on to boil with a small amount of water. In a small saucepan, melt 3/4 C butter. Stir in 6 T Fry's cocoa until smooth. Take off the heat, and stir in 2 C icing sugar till smooth but stiff. Add 1 teaspoon good-quality vanilla and 2 tablespoons boiling water, stir till smooth and glossy. Add water 1 teaspoon at a time until the icing reaches the right consistency. If it's not glossing up, add a little more boiling water. Spread icing on brownie quickly, because it sets up. Like fudge.
What's for supper?
Baked salmon, spinach with lemon, mashed sweet potatoes
Simple, delicious, good for you, and beautiful on the plate.
Forty-five minutes before dinner, turn the oven on to 425º
While the oven heats, spike a sweet potato with a long nail or a skewer: cuts the cooking time in half. Put the sweet potato on the bottom oven rack. One large sweet potato will do for two—spike more if you need them.
Fifteen minutes before supper, place a fillet of fresh wild salmon skin-side-down on a piece of foil. Turn up the sides of the foil and squeeze about half of a lemon-half on the salmon. Fold the foil tightly, leaving a little air-room inside there, and place the package directly on the oven rack. Let bake/steam/roast for 12 minutes per inch of thickness in the salmon fillet.
Grate the lemon zest from the other half of the lemon, put it in a medium bowl and squeeze the remaining juice into it.
Steam two packages of spinach until bright green and soft, drain. Squeeze the other half of the lemon into the spinach and add a dollop of olive oil, some celtic sea salt and ground pepper. Stir to combine and warm the oil.
Take the sweet potato out of the oven, slice open, scoop out the flesh into the lemon-zest bowl, and mash to combine. Salt lightly with celtic sea salt.
Open the salmon package—the salmon should be opaque pale pink and steaming with lemon.
Serve the salmon leaning on a bed of spinach, with the darker orange potato beside it.
Simple, delicious, good for you, and beautiful on the plate.
Forty-five minutes before dinner, turn the oven on to 425º
While the oven heats, spike a sweet potato with a long nail or a skewer: cuts the cooking time in half. Put the sweet potato on the bottom oven rack. One large sweet potato will do for two—spike more if you need them.
Fifteen minutes before supper, place a fillet of fresh wild salmon skin-side-down on a piece of foil. Turn up the sides of the foil and squeeze about half of a lemon-half on the salmon. Fold the foil tightly, leaving a little air-room inside there, and place the package directly on the oven rack. Let bake/steam/roast for 12 minutes per inch of thickness in the salmon fillet.
Grate the lemon zest from the other half of the lemon, put it in a medium bowl and squeeze the remaining juice into it.
Steam two packages of spinach until bright green and soft, drain. Squeeze the other half of the lemon into the spinach and add a dollop of olive oil, some celtic sea salt and ground pepper. Stir to combine and warm the oil.
Take the sweet potato out of the oven, slice open, scoop out the flesh into the lemon-zest bowl, and mash to combine. Salt lightly with celtic sea salt.
Open the salmon package—the salmon should be opaque pale pink and steaming with lemon.
Serve the salmon leaning on a bed of spinach, with the darker orange potato beside it.
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