Monday, January 28, 2008

Cake rocks my world

Lessons we have learned:

1. Yes the grater attachment of the kitchenaid can grate chocolate, but be warned it produces a dust-like pile which melts when you try to adhere it to sides of a cake



2. Buttercream icing is far too easy to make, and may negatively effect my low cholesterol levels

3. Powdered sugar makes two of my favorite desserts.

4. Decorate cakes on low surfaces.

5. Mom's trick to hold saran off cakes with toothpick spikes is still the best!


Tonight we made a chocolate cake with chocolate buttercream icing.

Wow-you say-ambitious for a Monday night!

Honestly all pretty easy, AND my house smelled like chocolate, so all in all not a bad endeavor. I'll not get to taste the cake, so I'll have to trust the judgements of my coworkers. I tried to work a bit on my presentation with this one. I kind of like that it looks like one of the cakes in my mom's old Good Housekeeping cookbooks, that it's tilted a bit and the lattice is well-meaning but shakey.

Alora- if it survives the ride in tomorrow- Happy Belated Birthday Todd!

Monday, January 21, 2008

heart of the matter

This past week my family-always a close supportive group-has really rallied, and being physically present with them reminded me all over again how important they are and how very very lucky we are to have each other.

Family is intensely important.

More than just the group of people you are related to by blood though, your family is the community of people you let into your heart, and the community that lets you into theirs.

Family supports you if they see you everyday or once a year, or once every three years.
Family doesn't keep tallies.
Family shares the load- even when you think they aren't.
Family doesn't complain. Not seriously at least.
Family forgets the errors of the past- including bad hair, cavaricci's, exes... they'll even back up your justification that it was cool or "rad" at the time.
Family accepts change.


My family is all over the world right now, and I love you all.

Wednesday, January 16, 2008

comfort foods

OR: a long text post bc I forgot my camera...

Just the title should tell you the timbre of the past few days for me- in the sense of what I crave...NEED... is a few days down and comfort food.

So tonight after hacking thru a yoga class (and last night's dance debacle) I decided on the way home that what I really needed in my life was a big savory bowl of dal and rice with yoghurt on it.

Comfort food is an intensely personal subject. Real comfort food always has a story- this is what my grandmother used to make for me or this is a meal I remember during a very difficult time in my life...

For me, dal and rice is first and formost an amazing sensory experience. Every time I cook it, my house is perfumed with whatever blend of spices I'm craving; hot sharp pepper and ginger or rich heady cinnamon and clove. In that way it's a great canvas for creativity and a great way to use up bits of other meals and ingredients in a new way. Which makes sense considering there are at least 50 types of dal, or dried split beans, in India and Pakistan alone. Some of the best dal I made recently was with the leftover shreds of turkey from thanksgiving, but I've also added veggies, tofu, meat- really the options are endless.

What's the difference between the types of dal? Well some are white, some are small and red, some are kind of a medium size and red, some are black...honestly I have no idea.

No I'm kidding.

The different types of dal (the ingredient) are different types of beans. Pigeon peas, lentils, chickpeas and kidney beans are just a few of the types of dried beans that can be made into dal (the dish). I've never tried making dal from canned beans, but as a big part of the flavor comes from the beans simmered in a broth- I'm not sure I want to try making it with canned beans, they'd just be too watery, and would have lost most of their flavor in the canning process no?

Anyway- the basics of dal-making are about as third world as you can get with a meal. Really it's just the Indian version of cheap protein cooked in water with spice, and then doubled by mixing with rice. Also, it really only requires one pot- and can simmer for hours- freeing you up to milk the cows, clean the house, weave. You know-the rest of your afternoon to-do list. Dal is linked at least in spirit to red beans and rice, hunters stew, cassoulet and the like. It's a side dish, made to accompany a meat or veggie main course, but it can be dressed up or beefed up (literally), and it is in that iteration that I find the perfect week-long meal option!

Tonight, I used the little white dal, added a bit of Amy D's chimichurri spice mixture, roasted frozen broccoli and cauliflower, and a little white wine at the end. I was hungry and can't stay up late intentionally or unintentionally again, so I didn't wait for the lentils break down- but the al dente bean was a nice texture with the rice and yoghurt.

The final thing- which really marks this as a comfort food meal- I mix it all together in my bowl to make "soup".

So... what's your comfort food?

Monday, January 7, 2008

gratin de pommes de terre aux anchois

Julia Child might be trying to kill me.

When I bought the quart of heavy cream I was figuring it would last me two weeks or more- mainly going into the caramels, maybe the mousse.

I just baked potatoes and cream at a near equal ratio. The slight bit less of cream was made up for with three whole eggs. It's times like these I'm glad my mom works at a hospital and can be so helpful in getting my cholesterol checked.

Having said that, let me admit that I am fully aware there are much much healthier versions of these recipes, and that cream in amounts that make me swoon is not required to create a gratin that is delicious. That's not the point here. The point, is to try to create as classic a version of the dish as I can. I want to create and taste the original- and THEN I want to experiment with the modified versions, and try to get them closer to the original. In this case that included an entire shift of my viewpoint. I think of a gratin as a dish mostly of veggies, with a sauce poured over just barely to cover and give the veggies some liquid to cook in. This was somewhere between a gratin and a savory egg souffle. It actually puffed in the oven, and had a cooked egg custard-like top half inch under the thin top layer of browned raclette.


I also very much appreciate the simplicity of these recipes. It really forces me to think about every ingredient, and try to add the best possible, and also not add too much. most of the seasoning is just salt and pepper, so you really taste the elements of the dish, and how they work together. Sitting here trying to think about it, there is no one ingredient in the dish that stands out- each is a layer of flavor that plays it's role.

This is the kind of rich heady dish you might have as the side to a juicy roasted chicken-something that picks up on the main dishes sweetness, but has it's own dimension (anchovies).

The texture is beautiful-the kind of silky light custard you can only get from that much cream-from cream period. The flavor and the texture are linked- the fluffy eggs and cream, the potatoes that hold together more for for the looks of the dish, dissolving in your mouth so you only get ten seconds to identify the food before it's blended with the creamy custard that's carrying the sweet rich flavors of onions and anchovies. And ultimately, you devour the entire portion- because it's a side dish.

Or, like me, you go back to the full pan with a spoon after your much-more sensible chicken and rice entree and scoop up one more sweet rich spoonful as dessert.

Sunday, January 6, 2008

magic!

I made pasta.

from scratch.

magic!

and so delightfully easy! The entire process from ingredients in bowl to strands drying took maybe 30 min tops, and that was mostly bc I didn't know what I was doing and went slow. I wanted to try two different recipes-a white flour one and a semolina to compare, but my sous-chef was more interested in dinner being eaten than made... so semolina will wait...

The dough was retardedly simple. Flour and egg. can't screw that up. I FINALLY used the pasta roller attachment for the kitchenaid (I love that thing), and it was really really easy. Actually we got a little crazy with it, and prob made the sheets thinner than was advisable. Here's an action shot of the dough magically being flattened into HUGE noodles:



SO after the fun with the rolling attachment-we switched to ANOTHER attachment that cuts spaghetti tubes. They were kinda long, and kinda stuck together...but nothing ten minutes of hand separating didn't fix, and the result is this lovely pasta tree!(turn your head)



Now let me sadly admit that yes- I bought that drying rack, and fully acknowledge that was the biggest waste of $15 I've spent on a kitchen gadget in a while. It's raw pieces of wood that barely fit together requiring a rubber mallet to assemble-which instantly discredits the box claim of "folds for easy storage." The only time it folded for easy storage was the year I kept it in the box after purchasing...

Perhaps now- knowing how simple it is to make fresh pasta though, it will get more use. There is the appeal of trying other types- semolina, whole wheat, spinach, pepper, sweet potato... the possibilities are damn near endless. I also have some gluten free flour I want to experiment with (Amy). And how about rice flour tortellinis filled with red bean paste (iron chef dessert idea!) And what else besides eggs can I use? Olive oil? Other oils with flavor? Walnut oil and butternut squash pasta? This is going to be fun...

Of course the other big question-how did it TASTE. Pretty good, much silkier than regular dried pasta. I let it mostly dry before cooking, really just long enough to prep everything for the carbonara sauce. Which is another example of simple combination that is really really good. Egg, cheese and tarragon tossed with hot pasta, and then sauteed ham added. The result is a creamy rich-tasting sauce that not too sweet on delicate pasta strands, studded with crispy pieces of salty pork.



I would love to be able to take a little container to work for lunch tomorrow to brag about my homemade pasta and sauce-but we ate the whole damn pot.

And this is one of the parts of cooking and food that I love. Pasta is simple to make-and really cost effective. But the process-watching it come out of the roller is amazing. I was so proud of it-of this thing that I made from scratch. But as proud as I was, there's nothing left now. And that's cool too! It's great to create something beautiful, and I enjoy the act of creation. But I also really enjoy the ENJOYMENT of my creation...

Friday, January 4, 2008

I'm full and feel greasy

So- all fired up to use my new cookbook, I came home, ready to make something creamy and decadent with chicken and butter. I got MOST of the way there... achievement though- I made a three-way meal with only stuff already in my kitchen (ta-da!)

I started with Julia's recipe for supremes de volaille a brun (chicken breasts sauteed in butter). a few things off the bat I wasn't going to do:

1. use clarified butter. Sure it's got a higher burn point but I also wasn't
2. using four whole chicken breasts. I had "medallions."
3. use port for the sauce- red wine will do just fine thank you.
4. serve this with a veggie covered in butter (see note below)

So we start with the chicken- easy prep, just salt and pepper and dredge. Easy, just lots of dishes. The aforementioned chicken gets sauteed gently in what Julia calls 1/16 an inch of butter.

I used 2/3 a stick.

whatever- my kitchen smelled AMAZING.

The coating on the chicken was nice and even, and the butter saute really brings out how damned sweet chicken is (iron chef dessert idea). I would feel a little queasy had I gone with Julia's suggestion of buttered any-kind-of-veggie as an accompaniment, but the quinoa with cheese was a good nutty contrast. Plus it-like the plain green beans-soaked up the excess sauce.

The sauce- well... the sauce was...difficult. I'm not sure if it got too hot or it was the bit of olive oil I put in bc I didn't have clarified butter to saute off the breast initially. But the damned thing would not emulsify. It's delicious-the scallions and red wine add just enough vinegar to offset the sweet chicken and the 2/3 A STICK OF BUTTER they were sauteed in (so good. but it is ugly- chunky deep brown with a golden pool of fat.

So how do you keep sauces emulsified- and can you fix them when they go south- the hunt is on!