Busy

I have no idea what I'm doing... Its been so busy outside of my kitchen that I actually went out last night for a cheeseburger. If that is not the most ridiculous stress eating, I don't know what is, I dont usually even eat beef, and its a pretty rare day (see what I did there?) that I go out for a hamburger...I also drank two cold, cold, beers (totally needed) and seriously contemplated a brownie sundae.
I (thankfully...?) didn't have any room for it when I was done with my dinner. What can I say? When things get tough, and you stay in your office until seven thirty at night just.trying.to.make.sense.of.all.this...paper! sometimes you have to fold, and go out for a burger. Hopefully this weekend I'll be able to catch up on my Kitchen Cure tasks (you should see the utensil drawer...)and cook up some decent food. I have a broiler chicken that needs our crockpots attention (have you ever tried this?) and another batch of scones (recipe soon I swear!) to make. If I'm good, dinner will be at Jacky's Table on Saturday night. Maybe I'll sneak a few photos for you... More...

Mark Bittman's Molasses Wheat Bread

Truth Time: I dont bake bread. (banana bread doesn't count, its basically cake,) Want a cake? Want a tart? A pie?  sure thing, I'll be over with baked goods in an hour. Want a loaf of bread for morning toast? ....Well then go to the bakery. UNLESS youwant me to make this wheat and molasses flavored loaf. Its easy, and yeast free.

I've been enjoying this sucker toasted, smeared with currant preserves, and dunked in tea. If your inner old woman isnt as active as mine, I think that thick slices of this would work great as the foundation to turkey sandwiches,  because the molasses is just a little bit sweet. This bread is dense, so not too many toppings would be needed. You can make like my dearest friend Samantha and spread the bread with apple jelly and top it with leftover roasted onions, I think it would be delicious.

I would remove the bread from the pan as soon as your fingers can stand it to avoid getting that slimy skin on top (sort of like the banana bread) if you line your pan with parchment paper, leave the sides a bit long and then hoist it right out of the pan and onto a wire rack. then get out of your kitchen so you aren't tempted to pick at it. Or don't, and eat a slice still alarmingly warm with butter.

I won't post the recipe here, because I didnt adapt it, at all. Its the fear of baking thing...Gets me everytime. Next time I might top the loaf wiuth some oats, because Im fixated on starch. Other than that, its pretty delicious for the yeast-phobic, and it might delay my learning to bake a yeast based sandwich  or toasting bread just a little longer.

More...

Weekend Food 10/22 - 10/24

Just some snaps.

 

Running low on time so here's just a quick peek into the weekend in Kitchen75. Lemony drinks, a cranberry tart (look out for a post!) and pumpkin black bean enchiladas. Not pictured here was some delicious Indian take away, (tandoori chicken!) and some cranberry almond five spice scones, I'll post those ones up for you this week. More...

French Fridays: Hachis Parmentier

Real French peasant food. You may feel the need to toil in the feels before sitting down to this one.

Hachis Parmentier ( pronounced: ah she isss Pah ment eee ay) is the French version of shepards pie. Of course its classed up with the addition of sausages, beef brewed in bouillion, and a generous helping of whatever cheese you may have ripening (it would not be like the French to leave out the cheese!)
 I made this for Sunday dinner, (even though it was just the two of us, and yes, I did eat it all week long for lunches). After a chilly day with the windows open, cleaning house and tilling up all the weeds in the flower bed just outside my kitchen door (next years vegetable garden?) this was such a welcome end to the day.

Dorie calls for you to boil cube steak in water with vegetables, I went one step further and boiled in some beef stock and a cup of red wine I had leftover from cleaning out the pantry and freezer. Hot Italian sausage was added for a little zip, and I kept the carrots I boiled the beef with in the mix. I topped the potatoes off with cheddar, and while I wish I'd used a ricer, (per Dorie's suggestion) there is no room in my life (or my kitchen) for another appliance right now. Dorie's recipes are always a hit with the man, and this one certainly delivers.

While we aren't normally beef eaters, this is a hearty and inexpensive meal that lasts and lasts. By laying some spinach between the meat mixture and the potatoes, and keeping the carrots, you still get some vegetable goodness in there. We served our hachis parmentier with some steamed whole green beans, and a zinfandel. It was a lovely (if huge) Sunday (dinner for two).  

More...

Kitchen Cure Week 1

Clean out the fridge and the pantry...

The best part of cleaning out the fridge? I got to really decide what was going to go back into the fridge. In went our fresh veggies, and yes, all of the hot sauces (harissa, frank's, tabasco, and sriracha, if you must know) out went the old half full jars of salsa, out went the old cupcake that even though it was months old, was sitting in tupperware and looked eerily edible (no, i didn't eat it, but i thought about it). Out went a whole lot of moldy leftovers (for shame), odds and ends and things I popped into the freezer for stock months ago. I did, in fact buy a rotisserie chicken on Friday night, (thats a horrible story I'm NOT goint to tell you about. - The night, not the chicken) and made chicken stock with all those frozen leek tops and parsley stems).

So on top of joining the kitchen cure to clean, we also bought a new fridge (its almost like cheating)  and now it looks like this:

...talk about an improvement. My homework tonight is to clean the spice cabinet...Then the pantry will be done, and I'll be on to step two.

More...

French Lentils

Every once and a while, the man goes out alone to see friends. Even more rarely, this coincides with having nothing planned for the evening myself. Its times like this that I like to treat myself to some quiet time. Enter the 'single girl for a night' dinner.
Admittedly, when I was a single girl, I consumed mostly a group of foods that come with a 'tm' after the name: Nerd Rope, Red Bull, and Miller Lite. Not exactly the most nutritious, but you'll find it quite slimming for whatever reason. I'm quite sure it had to do with hours of indigestion.
I imagine that if I were single today, I would manage something a bit more graceful than that. Something vegetarian, elegant, and yet satisfying. Comfort food that would at the same time be reasonably healthy and incredibly chic. I would eat it at a bistro set in my Parisian studio apartment, while I looked out over the city of lights. I'm giving myself too much credit here, I know. Instead, I come home, pour wine, wear yoga pants, and clean the pantry while I let little French lentils simmer away in a pot on the stove. I rinse spinach while humming along to the boom box, even though I have a movie on in the next room. (I know its terribly wasteful to run the TV when no one watches, but I come from a big family, when my house is empty I like background noise). I poach an egg, I stir mustard into lentils, dress spinach in acidic champagne vinaigrette, and top the little tower with a poached egg (soft boiled works lovely too). Grasp a hunk of leftover baguette from the fridge, refill your wine, and sit in front of that movie. May I suggest something French?

 

Single Girl French Lentils
Serves one, with a small amount of lentils leftover, for lunch maybe?

1 shallot chopped

1 carrot, chopped

1/2 bulb of fennel, chopped

2 cloves garlic, minced

1 tsp herbs de Provence

1 teaspoon ground mustard

1/2 cup French green lentils

1/2 cup white wine (I never use this)

1 1/2 cups vegetable stock

2 tablespoons Dijon mustard

2 tablespoons of olive oil



Add olive oil to a hot pan over medium flame, add onion, carrots and fennel; sweat the veggies until they are softened. Add garlic and spices, stir for another minute or two or until the garlic is fragrant. Taste and season with pepper, you may want to hold the salt, because you still have to add stock, mustard, and wine (if you are using it) which will add more flavor and salt. Add the lentils and stir to combine. If you are using the white wine, add it to the pan and cook off until almost totally reduced / absorbed. Add the broth to the lentils. You should have at least an inch of broth covering the lentil mixture, if not, add additional water.
Cook until all liquid is absorbed and your lentils yield (remember, they were dry, so they were rocks), It should take about about 30 minutes. When they are softened to your liking, stir in some Dijon mustard and season with pepper and salt.
 About 20 minutes into the lentil's simmer, prepare a poached egg, and dress some spinach with lemon and oil and vinegar. Sometimes I cheat and use some bottled champagne vinaigrette. Top the spinach with the hot lentils (this will wilt the spinach ever so slightly,) and then top the lentils with your poached egg. For the really decadent (in so far as dining alone) I like to pour some wine, grab a heel of bread, and maybe some small hunks of a hard cheese and cozy up to my plate.
More...

Weekend Food

This weekend was 'use it up weekend'. The man and I went out and did something I consider a major step toward adulthood: we bought our first appliance: a fridge. The sales guy at Sears even teased us about it. "Is this your first appliance?" Yeah, it was that big a deal for me. Our old fridge was literally twnety - plus years old, it wasn't energy efficient, and it wasn't going to make it to next summer. So out we went, three times, to price and hem and haw over eighteen cubic feet of cold storage. In the end, we ended up at the Sears counter, totally overwhelmed and just ready to Buy. A. Damn. Fridge. In the end we actually did a good job picking one out, I think.  It came on Sunday morning, and its shiny, its white (not, ahem, 'bone' colored like the former one) and maybe most importantly, I experienced what it is like to really see what it is we eat.

Seriously, all laid out on our table. I wasn't that shocked, organic meats, wedges of cheese, four different kinds of hot sauce...all that I know about. The four jars of pickles, suprised me. All the greek yogurt did too. I'd apparently been hoarding it in the back of our refrigerator, in order to stage a yogurt culture based bid for world domination. I'll come back to cleaning the fridge later this week, as I've signed up for Apartment Therapy's Kitchen Cure (its only been six months since I got my own kitchen and it needs a cure. Thats only a little sad)  On the menu this weekend was a whole lotta leftovers, salmon burgers rescued from the deep freeze, eggs, and fruit. I also made my first loaf of toasting bread. You'll get to hear about that tomorrow. More...

French Fridays: Vietnamese Spicy Chicken Noodle Soup

Who would think a can of coconut milk could bring so much to the table? As part of French Fridays with Dorie, I made her Vietnamese Spicy Noodle Soup on over the long weekend. I've documented how the man loves Asian food before, so you all know how many points I won with this recipe selection. Lots. And Lots. I'm hoping to for some nice earrings for Christmas, and if I keep cooking soup like this, I might just get them...

I started by brewing up a poaching liquid that will later become the base of the soup. Poaching bone-in chicken (Dorie calls for skinless chicken breasts, but I subbed in some thighs and legs, with the skin removed). Chilis, coconut milk, chicken stock and spices go into a soup pot, and simmer away to gently poach the chicken parts. The result is a flavorful broth and chicken that has taken on a subtle coconut flavor.

 Noodles (again, Dorie calls for Chinese egg noodles, but I prefer rice noodles, and we had then on hand, always a bonus) are prepared in boiling water while I shredded that delicious chicken (I did this while the man - a notorious chicken picker - was still at work) chicken returns to the pot, and I chopped cilantro, mint and basil. I spooned rooster sauce into a fancy little dish. Fish sauce and hoisin made an appearance. The man called to tell me he was stuck in traffic, so I make salad...to kill time more than anything else. When I heard the man's obnoxiously loud car in the driveway, I lit some tea lights - can soup be romantic? - yes soup this good can definitely be romantic.

The broth is at the same time rich and aromatic as it is refreshing,  I'm sure the generous squeeze of lime has something to do with it. It was a winner with the man, and with me as well. Definitely easy, and definitely a soup I'll make again, perhaps with Dorie's suggested curry paste next time? I don't buy many cookbooks (ok, thats a blatant lie, sorry) but Around My French Table has proven repeatedly that its full of classy, simple, and delicious fare. Plus, PICTURES! I love to be able to look at the photo in a cookbook and see if it looks 'right'. I cannot reccommend it enough. More...

Quick Bite Dinners

Or, how to make dinner in 20 minutes.

The other night I got home late, and had to be out the door again in 40 minutes for an appointment. I was (characteristically) ready to eat my own arm off, and in need of something filling and delicious (and maybe just a bit spicy?) but most more importantly I needed it fast. I threw a 'take and bake' frozen baguette in the oven and opened the fridge. Enter spicy pork sausages, conveniently thawed in my fridge (and intended for a different meal).

In our pantry, there are about ten different varieties of canned or dried beans, french lentils, rice noodles, wheat pasta and enough vinegars and sauce bottles to make your brain explode. Come over and look in our fridge, nine times out of ten, its very nearly empty (except for the crisper drawers) but the door is completely fulll of condiments, we have a mustard addiction. On this particular evening I reached for some cannellini beans, remembering some sort of stew recipe I had read from about thirty different sources. In fact, you see incarnations of this stew all over the internet, mostly with chicken sausage and escarole to make it 'South Beach Diet' friendly, but the only chicken sausages that our grocery store sells are heavily processed, par-boiled and give off a slightly chemical aroma. I'll take the pork fat over that any day, thankyouverymuch.  So this is my short-cut version of the same idea, I got it on the table in 20 minutes, from fridge door to plate, including chopping a shallot and half a bell pepper. These veggies cook down, so if its not your most beautiful, regular dice, noone will notice...and if they do, and have the audacity to say anythng, then why are you feeding them?

This was delicious with a hunk of bread, a big salad (extra points if you can get the man to chop the salad while you make the stew,) and a grating of Romano. In the end I was full, and I had time to spare. We don't really have a rotation of regular meals in our house, (except of course for Melissa Clark's shrimp with broccoli, making a regular appearance), but I'm sure this is a dinner that we'll build on or return to a few times this winter.

Super Fast Spicy Sausage & Cannelini 'Stew'

Serves four, or two for dinner with lunches left over

3 hot sausages, removed from their casing

1 can of cannellini beans

1 pint jar of tomato sauce (i used some leftover sauce in our fridge,)

1 medium shallot, diced

1/2 bell pepper, diced

2 plum tomatoes, seeded and diced

1 Tablespoon dried Italian herbs

2 Tablespoons of olive oil

fresh basil and grated Romano cheese to taste

Heat a medium skillet over medium heat and add oil. Add the sausage and stir to break up to a medium 'crumble' brown the pieces ligtly and remove from the pan. Add the shallot and pepper and cook, stirring frequently until the onion is softened. add the tomato and return the sausage to the pan, add the tomato sauce, and dried herbs, check for seasoning and add salt and pepper if desired. If you find it gets too sticky, reduce the heat slightly and add some chicken stock, veggie broth, or water.

Serve with a genrous garnish of basil and Romano, alongside a green salad and some warm
bread.

More...

Long Weekend Edition

I had Monday off, in honor of Columbus Day. Nenner-neener.

The long weekend found us in New Hampshire, visiting my parents. We were pumpkin picking, apple cider donut eating, and generally enjoying fall sunshine in scenic New England (the foliage is so much better up there). It was too cold for an outdoor fire, which is a sign that fall is really settling in. When its thirty eight degrees at 8pm, you know winter is around the corner....and you can justify eating three (three!??) meatballs. They were small, sort of...The man went into his office on Monday, and that left me to my own devices, making chicken stock in a crockpot, and then turning it into a delicious soup, (one you'll hear more about later this week!) Not photographed (in typical bad blogger-style) was Friday night's taco party. We had guests coming for dinner, and I had no idea what to make. The man put a vote in for chicken tacos, and since I couldn't think of anything else, (and because on a Friday night when you get home from work at 6 and dinner is at 7, you need something fun and quick) tacos won out. I was actually glad that they did, I hadn't time to marinate the chicken we were planning to use, I devised a sort of 'dry - rub' before we put it on the grill. It was a (suprising) hit, and I'm thinking of toying with it on a smaller scale...chicken wings perhaps...? Leftover jalepenos and cheese made an appearance on Saturday's 'huevos rancheros' in the first picture. I bought the man some poaching cups, and now there will be poached eggs...on everything. Forever.

More...

Cheese-y

La Tur. I'm wishing this was my lunch today. More...

Plum Ginger Cake

I have been trying to post this recipe for 2 days, I've lost the three (slightly) different posts, and Im feeling a leeetle burnt out on blogger. Its raining. Thats what I'm using as my excuse. Apparently I'm a delicate flower, and when it rains for more than three days, I get cranky.

The silver lining? I have cake. Ive been eating it for breakfast (using the same excuse of 'its raining') and its been delicious. Click the link below to get the recipe, without any of the adorable stories about the man eating bites off my plate even though he hates sweets, no ponderings on ginger's restorative powers. Just delicious cake. Why? Because, its raining.


Ginger Plum Cake
Adapted from Bon Appetit

I highly reccomend eating this warm, because the smell of the warm ginger cake is enough to put you through the roof. I also find that because it has way less sugar than half the cereal I eat, that this cake in a small wedge with a great big cup of tea is lovely not only in the afternoon, but also on your way out the door in the morning.

1 1/4 stick unsalted butter, room temperature
1/2 cup packed golden brown sugar
10 small 'prune plums' halved, pitted


1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/3 cup crystallized ginger, finely diced
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup sugar
2 large eggs
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 cup milk


Preheat oven to 350°F. Stir 3 tablespoons butter, brown sugar  and a pinch of the crystallized ginger in a saucepan over low heat until butter melts and sugar creates a sludge-y syrup. Transfer to 9-inch-diameter cake pan greased, lined with parchment and greased again. Arrange plums in to cover the surface
Combine the dry ingredients, including ginger in a medium bowl. Cream the remaining butter, adding the sugar and vanilla and beat until creamy. Add eggs one at a time. Add dry ingredients alternately with milk, mixing just until blended. Spoon batter evenly over plums, it will be thick, but don't worry about it, it spreads and rises really well. Bake cake until a tester inserted into center comes out clean, I started testing at 45 minutes. Cool 30 minutes.
Place platter atop the pan. Invert cake. Gently lift off pan, and peel away parchment. Serve cake warm with powder sugar (or at room temperature for breakfast!).
Click Here For A Printable Recipe
More...

Weekend Food

A busy weekend in and out of the house. I ran around like a chicken with my head cut off all weekend. I couldn't make the farmers market. I didn't get my pate brisee ready for Tuesday's mustard tart. I honestly can't remember what we did Friday night. Seriously. It may have involved pizza and the Home Depot. Its fuzzy. Thankfully by Sunday afternoon things had quieted down somewhat and I managed to visit the chain grocery store. Chilled to the bone, and inspired by some Italian prune plums on sale, I decided we needed spicy food to warm us up and a spicy-sweet cake to finish the night. Enter leftover asian spiced chicen and rice noodles from the previous nights dinner, plus some veggie stock, and aromatics, it became a spicy warming soup.We followed it up with a ginger laced plum upside down cake. I ate it for breakfast again this morning. Sturdy and spicy and only mildly sweet, it tastes like fall. Lookout for a post on this lovely dessert (or, ahem, breakfast) later this week. More...