Just kidding! Drunk people are uncouth and not classy! They are obnoxious and silly and they say stupid things and fall all over themselves. Never attractive. Always hilarious. The best way to ring in the New Year? Only if coupled with wonderful friends and family, and vigorous dancing efforts.
That being said, I am ringing in 2010 with all of those components for the first time in my twenty-year-long life. Is it sad that this is my first time? Eh. Better late than never! And much less embarrassing, now that I'm legal and have had a little alcohol practice, am I right? Of course I am. All I have to do for proof is invoke the memory of the first time you puked in your best friend's parent's sink. But enough about you, lets talk about my sister Maegen.
Maegen loves drinks! And she loves me too, for which I am deeply lucky. Not only is she letting me and some friends sleep on her basement floor tonight (or tomorrow morning, whichever way you look at it), she invited us over for drinks before we go out. Yes!
She's a foodie. Arguably one of the key players in my own food interest. So I can't just bring her a box of crackers and some Arbor Mist and call it a hostess gift, can I? made a collect call (via my internet connection, we don't actually know each other) to Mollllllyyyyyyyyyyyyy of Orangette, my best friend that I've never actually spoke to (though she did promptly return an email of mine once!). That caramel corn recipe of hers was screaming my name. But I couldn't, in good conscience, just leave the recipe as-it-was. Who would I be?! God!
Rosemary(!)-Caramel Corn
1/3 cup popcorn kernels
Vegetable oil, enough to coat the bottom of the popcorn pot
1 cup brown sugar
1/2 tsp baking soda
A splash of vanilla
3 sprigs of rosemary, crushed
6 Tbsp butter
Pinch of salt
Preheat your oven to 250ºF.
Popping the popcorn on the stove is actually something that I'd never done before this. Take a large, heavy pot and generously coat the bottom with oil. The kernels should lie in an even layer along the bottom of the pot to ensure maximum popping. Put the pot over medium-high heat and top it with the lid. When there's around seven seconds between pops the corn is done. Transfer to a large mixing bowl, and be careful to pick out any un-popped seeds (not fun to accidentally crunch).
The caramel part is cool and very fast. It's just a pure form of kitchen alchemy, you know? Exactly.
So. Smash the rosemary to release its "essence". Toss it and the butter into the pot and melt over medium-low heat, swirling every once and a while it really get the rosemary-ness in there. Add the sugar and the pinch of salt. Whisk in, increase heat the medium-high. Now, Molly says to not try this without a candy thermometer, but I think that's just too safe. I've made this three times now with no measuring-tool in hand and it has worked each time for me. Free yourself from distractions! Your life and your food will be better! And if you cock it up, then you'll learn for next time. No more crutches! I also just don't have a candy thermometer, and on the ever-present list of things I need to buy (clothes, groceries, dinner, coffee, shoes, lipstick, beer) it just doesn't register. Maybe when I'm making more than $10/hour.
I digress. Let that sugary, rosemary-wafting, buttery mixture get itself all worked up! Once it is bubbling up, time three to four minutes. At the end of those three-to-four, remove the pot from the heat. This is when it gets all kinds of Dinner: Impossible intense. Throw in the baking soda and the vanilla and WHISK, goonface! The baking soda makes the caramel expand a bit, so don't get all freaked out when it rises up a little. God! Maintain your composure, it'll be fine!
Once it settles itself back down, dump it all over the popcorn and, using a rubber spatula, mix it in so it coats the corn.
See, I'd never've assumed that one also BAKES this caramel corn. But you do, so whatever get on with it. Spread the newly coated corn in a single layer on a greased baking sheet and toss it into your 250ºF oven fort 1 hour. You'll want to shuffle the popcorn around a few more times to make sure that it all bakes evenly and whatnot. And when you're done, oh my god, be ready to impress guests and friends all over town. You'll be the toast! Just never show them this post so they can't find out how easy your genius hostess-gift really is. Just kidding show them everything on here, how else am I supposed to get famous and have my own show on the Food Network?
Friday
Love affair
I've been having an absolute love affair with this tomato. I haven't had a good tomato since September, and this one is so tender and sweet and fresh that I just can't leave it alone.
Toad in the hole with tomato and cheese for breakfast!
Waste not want not. Peanut butter and bananas!
Lunch! Crackers with mustard, a basil leaf, cheddar, and tomatoes! Plus a quartered pear. MM.
I'm trying not to think about when this tomato is gone.
I'm trying not to think about when this tomato is gone.
Wednesday
Alors
My french class–which I am no good at–is having a pot luck today. Madame Wadge, you just became human to me.
Few things boost my spirits like eating a ton of different food at the same time. I also occasionally enjoy when I don't have to pack a lunch. I mean, I've had a lot of yogurt containers explode and salad dressings leak. So schlepping a non-blow-uppable cake to school is something of a comfort. If worst did come to worst, I'd way rather eat squished crumbs of out of my bag than try and scrape up spilled yogurt. Sigh. What I wouldn't give for some more reliable tupperware.
I wanted to make something sweet, but not heavy. And lets be honest, I wanted to show off my baking prowess. But instead being diligent last night and doing homework, I made the banner for this blog. So I hit my always faithful, always fast fall-back. I made banana bread.
Mom's Banana Bread
If more people ever start to read this blog, I wonder if I'll be sad that I am sharing family foods. I don't think so, because I hate a secret recipe. Every Christmas I have to struggle against denouncing my Aunt Lorelei, simply because she won't give me the recipe for her amazing salt-candied cashews. I have tried so many friggin' times to recreate it, and I get close. I make a ton of other really good candied cashews, BUT NOT HERS. Raaaagh!
So no. I won't feel bad about hawking off my family recipes. Make this loaf. Think of my Mom. She's really tall and thin, and once someone yelled "OH MY GOD, THAT'S JAMIE LEE CURTIS!" and my Mom laughed and said "No, no. I'm her sister Bessie!"
My Mother's name is Shelley. She is also not related to Jamie Lee. Sigh.
Few things boost my spirits like eating a ton of different food at the same time. I also occasionally enjoy when I don't have to pack a lunch. I mean, I've had a lot of yogurt containers explode and salad dressings leak. So schlepping a non-blow-uppable cake to school is something of a comfort. If worst did come to worst, I'd way rather eat squished crumbs of out of my bag than try and scrape up spilled yogurt. Sigh. What I wouldn't give for some more reliable tupperware.
I wanted to make something sweet, but not heavy. And lets be honest, I wanted to show off my baking prowess. But instead being diligent last night and doing homework, I made the banner for this blog. So I hit my always faithful, always fast fall-back. I made banana bread.
Mom's Banana Bread
If more people ever start to read this blog, I wonder if I'll be sad that I am sharing family foods. I don't think so, because I hate a secret recipe. Every Christmas I have to struggle against denouncing my Aunt Lorelei, simply because she won't give me the recipe for her amazing salt-candied cashews. I have tried so many friggin' times to recreate it, and I get close. I make a ton of other really good candied cashews, BUT NOT HERS. Raaaagh!
So no. I won't feel bad about hawking off my family recipes. Make this loaf. Think of my Mom. She's really tall and thin, and once someone yelled "OH MY GOD, THAT'S JAMIE LEE CURTIS!" and my Mom laughed and said "No, no. I'm her sister Bessie!"
My Mother's name is Shelley. She is also not related to Jamie Lee. Sigh.
3/4 cup sugar
1 egg
1/3 cup + 1 Tbsp canola oil
1 cup flour
1 Tbsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp allspice
2 mashed-up bananas
1/2 cup of one of the following (or a combination! Yes! I love to combine!) millet, raisins, chocolate chips, walnut chunks, pecans, coconut, fresh blueberries! I used millet in this recipe because I love the little crunch they add.
Preheat the oven to 350ºF. Grease and flour a loaf pan.
In a medium sized bowl, mash the bananas into a paste. Beat in the sugar and eggs til creamy. Mix in oil.
In a different bowl, sift together the flour, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, allspice, and whatever added ingredients you have decided upon.
Add wet ingredients to dry, and pour into your greased pan.
Bake for 50 minutes to 1 hour. When a toothpick comes out glossy but clean of crumbs, you're done.
Tuesday
Go time
I haven't had much of a life recently. There is only two weeks of school left in this semester, which may I say, is horrifying. Every once and a while I think to myself I've only got one year left in my undergrad, and then I get the dry-heaves. So in lieu of hating all of the work I have to do, I'm going to try and convince myself that having homework is better than having a mortgage to contend with. I have a niggling, twenty year-old conviction that I am right.
So, some things that take 10 minutes or less to cook, that I've been eating a lot of in these last harried days of the semester.
Coke and Maltesers
Open up a can of cold Coke. Tear off the top of a bag of Maltesers. Alternate sips and bites until the sugar rush gives you the maximum jitters. Go for a run with your newfound energy and feel healthy afterwards.
Anticipating Having to Skip Lunch Breakfast Sandwich
A piece of toast topped with cream cheese, pesto, sliced avacado, and an egg fried in olive oil
Thick as Mud Coffee
I just got a french press, and rather than the recommended two scoops I like to put in about five. It makes for some slap-you-in-the-face caffeine, let me tell you.
Roasted Asparagus
I only really like the skinny asparagus, as I find the thicker stalks too woody and fibrous. That being said, it's hard to find good asparagus for cheap in winter. SIGH. I broke my cardinal cheap-produce rule in the interest off fast dinner.
Drizzle some olive oil over asparagus (more or less depending on how much you are roasting), season with salt and pepper. Roast at 400º for 4 minutes or so. My toaster oven works a dream for this, as it heats up so fast. These guys also work really well n the barbeque.
Once crisp-tender, remove from the oven/BBQ. Top with one or all of the following: goat/brie cheese, chopped sundried tomatoes (packed in oil), lemon zest.
Su Choy and Asparagus Asian-Style Scramble
The ugliest thing I've eaten in a while, but so fast and so tasty.
2 Tbsp vegetable oil
1 Tbsp rice vinegar
1 Tbsp soy sauce
2 tsp hoisin (or oyster sauce, if you have it)
1 Tbsp (scant) cornstarch
2 Tbsp grated ginger
3 cloves garlic, minced
5 asparagus spears, broken into bite-sized pieces
1 egg
Pinch of red chili flakes
1 cup of chopped su choy, aka Chinese cabbage, packed
Mix the rice vinegar, soy sauce, hoisin/oyster sauce, and cornstarch together, Set aside. Heat the 2 Tbsp of oil in a skillet. Ad minced garlic and ginger, saute until fragrant–2 minutes. Add su choy and asparagus. Let the heat of the pan let wilt it for about 30 seconds. Add cornstarch mixture and egg. Scramble fervently. Take out your pent-up end-of-term stress out on it! Raaaagh! Add chili flakes! Mix mix mix! Until the egg is cooked, and the mixture has thickened and become a sort of saucey dressing. You'll know it is done when it looks exceedingly ugly. Season with salt, eat fast.
Pumpkin-Pecan Muffins with Dates
Adapted from Gourmet, November 1997 (RIP)
Don't think that I'm staying up late every night to make up a batch of these babies. I made them a few weeks ago and cut them in half, and lucky for me they freeze UNBELIEVABLY well. All I have to do with pop them in the toaster in the morning and stumble around the kitchen until they pop up, spicy and fragrant and speckled with those soft dates
1/2 cup applesauce
3/4 cup pumpkin puree (or squash)
1/4 cup buttermilk (I used 1/4 cup regular milk with a 1/4 tsp of vinegar, as I can't justify buying buttermilk when all I'm going to do with it is bake)
2 large eggs
3 Tbsp molasses
1 tsp vanilla
2 cups flour
11/2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp ground ginger
1/2 tsp all-spice
1/4 tsp nutmeg
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp baking soda
1/2 cup of packed brown sugar
3/4 cup of chopped pecans
3/4 cup of chopped dates
Preheat the oven to 400º and butter a 12-man muffin tin.
In a bowl, whisk the applesauce, pumpkin puree, eggs, vanilla, milk (buttermilk or milk/vinegar mixture), and molasses until well-combined.
In another, larger bowl, sift together all the dry ingredients, including the dates and pecans. I find that giving them a bit of a flour-coat keeps them from sinking to the bottom of the batter. Whisk in the brown sugar last.
Careful not to over mix, add the wet ingredients to the dry and fold together until just combined. Spoon into your muffin tin.
Bake for 20-25 minutes, or until a tester comes out clean. I found that the batter made exactly twelve muffins, but they took EXACTLY 20 minutes to bake. Anymore would have made them dry.
Spread with peanut butter and eat as you run out your door and to the bus stop. Don't cry if you miss the bus. It's give you more time to savor breakfast. And to buy an enormous coffee from the cafe two blocks away, even though you're broke and supposed to be off coffee. Heh.
So, some things that take 10 minutes or less to cook, that I've been eating a lot of in these last harried days of the semester.
Coke and Maltesers
Open up a can of cold Coke. Tear off the top of a bag of Maltesers. Alternate sips and bites until the sugar rush gives you the maximum jitters. Go for a run with your newfound energy and feel healthy afterwards.
Anticipating Having to Skip Lunch Breakfast Sandwich
A piece of toast topped with cream cheese, pesto, sliced avacado, and an egg fried in olive oil
Thick as Mud Coffee
I just got a french press, and rather than the recommended two scoops I like to put in about five. It makes for some slap-you-in-the-face caffeine, let me tell you.
Roasted Asparagus
I only really like the skinny asparagus, as I find the thicker stalks too woody and fibrous. That being said, it's hard to find good asparagus for cheap in winter. SIGH. I broke my cardinal cheap-produce rule in the interest off fast dinner.
Drizzle some olive oil over asparagus (more or less depending on how much you are roasting), season with salt and pepper. Roast at 400º for 4 minutes or so. My toaster oven works a dream for this, as it heats up so fast. These guys also work really well n the barbeque.
Once crisp-tender, remove from the oven/BBQ. Top with one or all of the following: goat/brie cheese, chopped sundried tomatoes (packed in oil), lemon zest.
Su Choy and Asparagus Asian-Style Scramble
The ugliest thing I've eaten in a while, but so fast and so tasty.
2 Tbsp vegetable oil
1 Tbsp rice vinegar
1 Tbsp soy sauce
2 tsp hoisin (or oyster sauce, if you have it)
1 Tbsp (scant) cornstarch
2 Tbsp grated ginger
3 cloves garlic, minced
5 asparagus spears, broken into bite-sized pieces
1 egg
Pinch of red chili flakes
1 cup of chopped su choy, aka Chinese cabbage, packed
Mix the rice vinegar, soy sauce, hoisin/oyster sauce, and cornstarch together, Set aside. Heat the 2 Tbsp of oil in a skillet. Ad minced garlic and ginger, saute until fragrant–2 minutes. Add su choy and asparagus. Let the heat of the pan let wilt it for about 30 seconds. Add cornstarch mixture and egg. Scramble fervently. Take out your pent-up end-of-term stress out on it! Raaaagh! Add chili flakes! Mix mix mix! Until the egg is cooked, and the mixture has thickened and become a sort of saucey dressing. You'll know it is done when it looks exceedingly ugly. Season with salt, eat fast.
Pumpkin-Pecan Muffins with Dates
Adapted from Gourmet, November 1997 (RIP)
Don't think that I'm staying up late every night to make up a batch of these babies. I made them a few weeks ago and cut them in half, and lucky for me they freeze UNBELIEVABLY well. All I have to do with pop them in the toaster in the morning and stumble around the kitchen until they pop up, spicy and fragrant and speckled with those soft dates
1/2 cup applesauce
3/4 cup pumpkin puree (or squash)
1/4 cup buttermilk (I used 1/4 cup regular milk with a 1/4 tsp of vinegar, as I can't justify buying buttermilk when all I'm going to do with it is bake)
2 large eggs
3 Tbsp molasses
1 tsp vanilla
2 cups flour
11/2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp ground ginger
1/2 tsp all-spice
1/4 tsp nutmeg
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp baking soda
1/2 cup of packed brown sugar
3/4 cup of chopped pecans
3/4 cup of chopped dates
Preheat the oven to 400º and butter a 12-man muffin tin.
In a bowl, whisk the applesauce, pumpkin puree, eggs, vanilla, milk (buttermilk or milk/vinegar mixture), and molasses until well-combined.
In another, larger bowl, sift together all the dry ingredients, including the dates and pecans. I find that giving them a bit of a flour-coat keeps them from sinking to the bottom of the batter. Whisk in the brown sugar last.
Careful not to over mix, add the wet ingredients to the dry and fold together until just combined. Spoon into your muffin tin.
Bake for 20-25 minutes, or until a tester comes out clean. I found that the batter made exactly twelve muffins, but they took EXACTLY 20 minutes to bake. Anymore would have made them dry.
Spread with peanut butter and eat as you run out your door and to the bus stop. Don't cry if you miss the bus. It's give you more time to savor breakfast. And to buy an enormous coffee from the cafe two blocks away, even though you're broke and supposed to be off coffee. Heh.
Monday
Salvage
Since the Bagna Cauda, I've mostly been eating eggs and muffins. I've got an enormous project due tonight at midnight, in times of stress, I always revert to breakfast food. I think it makes me feel like I've just woken up, and that I have a whole stretch of time. It's a fleeting, but delicious trick, and it has kept me happy(ish) for the past week or so.
After my dinner of scrambled eggs and salsa last night, I was putting the milk back in the fridge when I saw, buried beneath a stack of carrots, that little radicchio. I looked sad, the edges of its leaves slightly wilted.
Now, not only did I spent a lot of money on that little thing, but before the Bagna Cauda and my introduction to anchovies, I'd never eaten radicchio either. And even though I loved the saltiness of the anchovies, and the sexy, slippery egg yolk, the radicchio never really got to prove itself. Which is why I've decided to just cook it up by itself and really give it the attention it deserves.
Oven-Braised Raddichio with Balsamic and Thyme
1 sad head of raddichio, cut into quarters
1 tsp of minced fresh thyme (the only thyme in my backyard is lemon thyme, but it was good too)
3 T or so of olive oil
Drizzling of balsamic
S&P
Silly easy. Dress the raddichio wedges with the olive oil, thyme, and salt and pepper. Toss gently to coat everything. Pop them in a hot oven (roughly 400ºF? I used a rickety little toaster oven, and it melted the plastic appliance on top in the cooking process. So 400ºF should be about right) and cook for 12 minutes on one side. Flip, bake 8 minutes more. Once they're done they look silky and wilted, the edges slightly caramelized.
Drizzle some balsamic on top and enjoy by themselves. Raddichio's fantastic bitterness is buttressed by the smoothness of the olive oil and thyme. These wedges became downright sexual on a piece of toast with some melted brie. YES PLEASE.
After my dinner of scrambled eggs and salsa last night, I was putting the milk back in the fridge when I saw, buried beneath a stack of carrots, that little radicchio. I looked sad, the edges of its leaves slightly wilted.
Now, not only did I spent a lot of money on that little thing, but before the Bagna Cauda and my introduction to anchovies, I'd never eaten radicchio either. And even though I loved the saltiness of the anchovies, and the sexy, slippery egg yolk, the radicchio never really got to prove itself. Which is why I've decided to just cook it up by itself and really give it the attention it deserves.
Oven-Braised Raddichio with Balsamic and Thyme
1 sad head of raddichio, cut into quarters
1 tsp of minced fresh thyme (the only thyme in my backyard is lemon thyme, but it was good too)
3 T or so of olive oil
Drizzling of balsamic
S&P
Silly easy. Dress the raddichio wedges with the olive oil, thyme, and salt and pepper. Toss gently to coat everything. Pop them in a hot oven (roughly 400ºF? I used a rickety little toaster oven, and it melted the plastic appliance on top in the cooking process. So 400ºF should be about right) and cook for 12 minutes on one side. Flip, bake 8 minutes more. Once they're done they look silky and wilted, the edges slightly caramelized.
Drizzle some balsamic on top and enjoy by themselves. Raddichio's fantastic bitterness is buttressed by the smoothness of the olive oil and thyme. These wedges became downright sexual on a piece of toast with some melted brie. YES PLEASE.
Sunday
Dying properties
I made this soup the other day.
It was one of those one-off soups, because I had all of these odds and ends lolling around in my fridge that I wanted to get rid of so I could have a really satisfying, expensive grocery shop. I wasn't paying attention to how much of what went in, but this is the basic stuff:
Now-I've-Got-A-Clean-Crisper Soup
or
Beets-Dye-Everything-Wasteland/Lipstick-Pink Soup
A quarter of a musty old beet, chopped
A can of diced tomatoes, plus juices
Two (?) carrots
Half an onion
Rosemary
Pinch of red pepper flakes
1 cup or so of chicken broth
Olive oil, for the initial saute
That last splash of red wine
S&P
Basically saute the veggies and rosemary, add the tomatoes and chicken broth, boil furiously, and then blend up. It was earthy, warm, and sweet with the tiniest pinch of heat. Perfect for a procrastinating Friday afternoon. Plus, I love that aggressive color. it reminds me of being a thirteen year old Avril Lavinge skater grrl with arm-warmers and shoes that I drew on. SIGH, those were the DAYS.
Also:
Now-I've-Got-A-Clean-Crisper Soup
or
Beets-Dye-Everything-Wasteland/Lipstick-Pink Soup
A quarter of a musty old beet, chopped
A can of diced tomatoes, plus juices
Two (?) carrots
Half an onion
Rosemary
Pinch of red pepper flakes
1 cup or so of chicken broth
Olive oil, for the initial saute
That last splash of red wine
S&P
Basically saute the veggies and rosemary, add the tomatoes and chicken broth, boil furiously, and then blend up. It was earthy, warm, and sweet with the tiniest pinch of heat. Perfect for a procrastinating Friday afternoon. Plus, I love that aggressive color. it reminds me of being a thirteen year old Avril Lavinge skater grrl with arm-warmers and shoes that I drew on. SIGH, those were the DAYS.
Also:
My friend KChan stabbed a whole bunch of leaves on her walk home from the bar. I thought this was cute. Cute, no?
Wednesday
This one's for Maeggy
I've been having a lot of exciting, beautiful things come
into my life lately.
Firstly, it's almost Hallowe'en (!), which doubles as my good friend
KChan's birthday (!!!), and she's twenty (!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!) this year.
She's coming to Victoria to celebrate, and she's dressing up
like a 60s house wife.
If you know KChan, and understand her commitment to all
things cute and kitsch, you will understand how perfect that costume is for her.
Actually, all of my roommates have fantastic costumes this year:
Siz is being a house elf (from Harry Potter),
Tsuki is being a garden gnome,
and I am being Lambchops.
Party Lambchops to be specific.
into my life lately.
Firstly, it's almost Hallowe'en (!), which doubles as my good friend
KChan's birthday (!!!), and she's twenty (!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!) this year.
She's coming to Victoria to celebrate, and she's dressing up
like a 60s house wife.
If you know KChan, and understand her commitment to all
things cute and kitsch, you will understand how perfect that costume is for her.
Actually, all of my roommates have fantastic costumes this year:
Siz is being a house elf (from Harry Potter),
Tsuki is being a garden gnome,
and I am being Lambchops.
Party Lambchops to be specific.
I'll look like that, but instead of an arm I'll be wearing black
men's pants with suspenders.
A few other exciting things?
These boots. This month I've been hemorrhaging money, and these
boots did not help my situation. I'll be broke, but fabulous.
I got a job at a wonderful clothing boutique! See "hemorrhaging
money"–my discount is is too good to be true,
This website. I've renewed my commitment to my camera because
of her. Fortunately, my love for breakfast never wavered in the first place.
I'm excited about crafts again. I managed to get a sample of some
furry material, and I'm going to make earrings. And headbands.
I bought a little ($3.99/lb aaaaagghh) radicchio! I tried to grow
some over the summer, but lets just say the slugs ate well.
I tried anchovies. For what might be my first recognized time.
I mean, I've had anchovies in stuff before. I've been aware of their presence.
But frankly, I've been a bit squeemed out by the idea of a tiny little hairy
fish that i chop up and savor. Which is stupid, cause I love fish. I also needed
to use that afore mentioned (super cute and compact) radicchio.
So I ignored Siz's obvious disgust with the anchovies, and thought of
my sister Maegen, who's an amazing cook. She likes anchovies,
I thought. They must be at least interesting. But once the fry pan
started to sizzle and waft, all of anyone's doubt went away.
But frankly, I've been a bit squeemed out by the idea of a tiny little hairy
fish that i chop up and savor. Which is stupid, cause I love fish. I also needed
to use that afore mentioned (super cute and compact) radicchio.
So I ignored Siz's obvious disgust with the anchovies, and thought of
my sister Maegen, who's an amazing cook. She likes anchovies,
I thought. They must be at least interesting. But once the fry pan
started to sizzle and waft, all of anyone's doubt went away.
Pasta with Egg, Bagna Cauda, and Wilted Radicchio
Supposed to serve four, but I ate half by myself.
¼ cup extra-virgin olive oil
15 anchovy fillets(I used a generous squirting of anchovy paste,
because it was cheaper)
8 large garlic cloves, minced
¼ cup finely chopped parsley
12 radicchio leaves, torn into bits
Grated zest and juice of half a lemon
S&P
8 ounces pasta (I used whole wheat spagettini)
15 anchovy fillets(I used a generous squirting of anchovy paste,
because it was cheaper)
8 large garlic cloves, minced
¼ cup finely chopped parsley
12 radicchio leaves, torn into bits
Grated zest and juice of half a lemon
S&P
8 ounces pasta (I used whole wheat spagettini)
To make the bagna cauda, heat a skillet over med-high.
Add the olive oil, anchovies (whatever medium you've chosen) and garlic to the pan.
Saute gently–don't let the garlic get much color on it, otherwise
it'll surely burn later. The key is to keep the tempurature loooow and
mellow. This helps the anchovy to break down into creamy salty
saucey goodness. Turn off heat, season with salt and pepper.
Add the olive oil, anchovies (whatever medium you've chosen) and garlic to the pan.
Saute gently–don't let the garlic get much color on it, otherwise
it'll surely burn later. The key is to keep the tempurature loooow and
mellow. This helps the anchovy to break down into creamy salty
saucey goodness. Turn off heat, season with salt and pepper.
Cook your chosen pasta in boiling water until al dente. I find my
magic boiling time to be around 8 minutes, but I lessened it a bit
(approx. 6 min) for the spagettini cause it's so petit.
magic boiling time to be around 8 minutes, but I lessened it a bit
(approx. 6 min) for the spagettini cause it's so petit.
When your pasta is getting close to done, turn your
skillet of sauce back on, over high heat this time. Take an
egg and crack it into a cleared spot in the pan. You're almost
braising this egg in olive oil. So. Delicious.
If you're doing more
than one egg (ie: if you're making this dish for more than one person,
or you just love eggs a lot) let the first one's edges set before you crack the next.
Makes them easier to separate.
Cook until whites are set and the yolk is sunny/runny.
skillet of sauce back on, over high heat this time. Take an
egg and crack it into a cleared spot in the pan. You're almost
braising this egg in olive oil. So. Delicious.
If you're doing more
than one egg (ie: if you're making this dish for more than one person,
or you just love eggs a lot) let the first one's edges set before you crack the next.
Makes them easier to separate.
Cook until whites are set and the yolk is sunny/runny.
Drain the pasta and quickly toss it–still drippy–into the skillet
(but don't pierce your egg yolk!). Toss everything around,
cook for two more minutes. Turn off your heat. Divide the
pasta and each egg between plates. Sprinkle with parmesan
cheese. Crack the yolk.
(but don't pierce your egg yolk!). Toss everything around,
cook for two more minutes. Turn off your heat. Divide the
pasta and each egg between plates. Sprinkle with parmesan
cheese. Crack the yolk.
A request: don't be weirded out by the egg.
I know you're thinking "Look, I'm alrady trying ANCHOVIES, okay?
Let me ease into this." And whatever, I mean,
go at your own pace.
I know you're thinking "Look, I'm alrady trying ANCHOVIES, okay?
Let me ease into this." And whatever, I mean,
go at your own pace.
BUT you'll really miss a luxury if you skip the eggs.
It's lucious and custardy and smooth and wholesome.
Try it, pleeeeeease!
It's lucious and custardy and smooth and wholesome.
Try it, pleeeeeease!
Friday
Yammy
My friend Maciel is an amazing cook, and a fellow eating enthusiast. We were discussing a friend's potential love interest when Maciel told me that she "harbored an innate distrust of people who don't eat". The girl in question had drank water all night. I agreed whole heartedly. I have similar confusion towards people who claim they forget to eat. But that's probably because I keep my body in an almost-constant state of full, eating once every twenty minutes or so.
Carrying on, Maciel and I decided to create a mexican feast. She was going to make Tinga, a slow cooked pork shoulder with an array of delicious spices, for burritos and I was going to make some kind of vegetable dish, because I tend
to feel guilty if I don't have some veggies with dinner. I remembered that Bon Appetit had recently run a feature on Mexican food, but as I was mentally scrolling I decided that I was very boring and should really get a life and try to make something myself. So I picked up some yams, six poblanos and a can of chipotle peppers and scurried over to the kitchen to dump them all together.
This recipe ended up being deeply simple. Even my friend Grady, who boils pasta every night and eats it with hot sauce, thought he could make this! I don't know why I'm surprised. I should get a little confidence.
Chipotle Yam Stuffed Poblanos
6 poblano peppers, halved and seeded, piths cut out
2 yams, peeled and chopped into 1 inch pieces
2 canned chipotles, more if you like the heat, minced
About 2 tsp cinnamon (I just sort of tasted and added more as I went)
S&P, for seasoning
Butter and milk/cream (for creamy purposes)
Preheat the oven to 400ºF.
Peppers
Place the halved peppers round side up on a baking sheet and oil lightly with canola. You don't have to wait for the oven to heat up entirely. Just pop them in an keep an eye on them while you toss together the yams. When their skin appears crepe-y and charred n spots, take them out to cool.
(My Mom always taught me that after you take roasted peppers out of the oven, put them in a paper bag and twist the top. The skins come off easier that way. I don't ever have paper bags on hand, but it's a fun matrilineal tip, don't you think?)
Yams
Drop all pieces of yams into a salted pot of boiling water. Boil until each piece can be easily pierced with a fork. Drain water, turn off heat. Add the cinnamon, minced chipotle, plenty of salt and pepper, and butter and cream/milk to fulfill your creamy liking. I am an occasional lactose-intolerant, so I used milk. Whip everything around till it's got a nice smooth texture.
Peel the skins from the poblanos and lay them open-side up. Drop spoonfuls of the yam mixture into the poblano. The slight bitterness of the roasted poblano compliments the sweet and spicy yams really well, especially with some cold beer, or tequila if you're fancy. Or looking to get drunk.
And don't worry about those chipotles–they're not scalding by any stretch. Grady was eating them straight out of the can while I made this, and he could still taste dinner.
*Note: When I make this again, I definetly think I'll crumble a little queso cheese on top and then broil the whole mixture all together. Even though I was happy with the flavors, I might have liked a little crusty on the top, and then the velvety yams.
My piture taking has been down lately. So above is my roommate Andrea picking apples in our neighbor's yard.
Need a little protien in my life
Meatloaf has long been the poster child for by-product. My own mother never made our family the dish because her childhood experiences had scarred her so: meatloaf became the hole where soft tomatoes, barely-salvaged green peppers, vegetable steamed limp and watery, and any leftover that was deemed otherwise unsuitable for consumption–from stale pasta to chicken legs–went to die. Meatloaf was a menace that was only tolerable through a hearty mask of ketchup.
Fortunately, I will try anything once, and I thought that hit was especially weird that I hadn’t ever tried meatloaf. I figured that I like hamburger, so a meatloaf would sort of be like having a lot of a really good thing.
When I started researching recipes, however, it became clear that a huge tin of hamburger probably wasn’t going to be very appetizing. Especially if I was stuck eating it for a few days.
It is important to have at least a quarter of the ingredients be fresh. Their bright color helps just as much as the sprightly flavor. If you were to make a meatloaf using entirely cooked or canned ingredients, it will probably taste akin to rotting tires and have about the same consistency. Secondly, it is important to think about how “meatloaf” sounds, and steer your product away from that. Adding a starch–such as bread or potatoes–right into the batter not only stretches the finished product, it makes it light–all the better to pile masked potatoes on top of.
I made the following recipe in muffin tins. The smaller size is more portion friendly, cuter, and it cooks faster. I had none of that in mind when I made it, I simply couldn’t find my loaf tin. Happy accidents all around.
Turkey and Friends Meatloaf
I took a slightly more discerning “clean-the-fridge” attitude when I made this. If you look at this and feel intimidated b a list of ingredients you don’t have, don’t panic. No parsley? Use spinach or kale, or just leave it out. Don’t like mushrooms? Chunks of carrots or, if you’re fun, rutabaga, will be delicious as well. As long as you keep the ingredient in the same species as the one suggested, you will have good results. And if not, there is always ketchup.
1 package of ground turkey breast
2 eggs
¼ cup onion, minced
1 cup chicken broth
2 cups of stale bread, cubed
¼ cup sun dried tomatoes, diced
½ cup mozzarella cheese
1 cup mushrooms, sliced
2 Tbsp olive oil
2 tbsp parsley, minced
1 Tbsp thyme, minced
2 tsp salt
1 tsp pepper
Preheat the oven to 350ºF. Soak the bread chunks in the chicken broth until all the broth is absorbed. Add all the other ingredients and mix with your hands until it is all loosely combined. Scoop fistfuls of batter into the muffin tins. If there are any empty muffin tins, fill them half way with water. This ensures that the other meat-cakes will bake evenly. Bake for 55 minutes. Make sure to check doneness (no pink or redness) before serving. If you are making this in a loaf pan, cook for 1 hour and 25 minutes.
Also AMAZING in sandwiches! Especially grilled cheeeeeeeese with lots of KETCHUP. Sometimes it's really too bad that this meat loaf is tasty. My love for ketchup is so great that I really wouldn't mind drowning some mystery meat in it every once and a while.
Sunday
Reccomendation!
Yesterday I had SUCH a delicious brekkie that I had to come and share it with everybody. It was partly great because I got to go out for breakfast with my Mom and my sisters, and then it was secondly partly great because it was a place I'd never been before, and it was THIRDLY partly great because it was so GREAT. The host was cute and Australian (always a bonus), and we had LAVENDER lattes. I know. I just about fell off my seat too when I heard that. Stay tuned for my attempt at making lavender simple syrup, which I'm pretty sure was their secret.
So: if you're ever around Beatty street in downtown Vancouver, hit up the sweet, brick-fronted gem called Medina. It's between a cooking school called The Dirty Apron and the faithful Vancouver stand-by, Chambar. Those Chambar guys have got a good thing going. In addition to a block party thrown in the restaurant's honor earlier in the month (it was their 5 year anniversary!), they actually own Medina's and the cooking school. So don't knock em. They must know something.
Medina's is the sort of joint that I love because in addition to super cute decor and wait staff, they encourage healthful, huge helpings. Don't misunderstand- the dishes are portioned nicely; not at all intimidating. Those helpings that I mentioned come into play by their idea that one orders a main dish (most are egg-centric OH A CLEVER PUN), and once you've conquered that, you move on to a "dessert": a perfect little waffle, dusted with powdered sugar and served with your choice of sauce. You can get syrup if you're boring or a stout traditionalist. My Mom chose the raspberry caramel. There was also orange-coconut creme, and lavender milk chocolate. And about ten other amazing choices. Oh my god. I know. Aaaaah!
Me, I had the fricasse. I was feeling carnivorous. It came served in a cast iron skillet: bubbling at the bottom was a tousled layer of slow-cooked beef and caramelized onions. Cheddar puckered softly around chunks of apple and potato, adorned with fresh arugula and two perfect eggs, sunny side up.
Go now. Experience it and tell me what you think!
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