Kale got you down already? Skip the kale chips and use it for breakfast instead! There's a great breakfast casserole recipe here (thanks to my CSA for passing this along - it's a keeper!). I made it this weekend, and heated the leftovers up this morning, and it was still tasty. I highly recommend serving it with salsa.
And now for something completely different: Lemongrass Consomme with Pea Shoot and Mushroom Dumplings, from The Conscious Cook by Tal Ronnen. Don't ask me what I was thinking when I copied this recipe last year to try - I was probably so deliriously happy to find a recipe that used that mysterious bag of "pea shoots" that showed up in my CSA share that I didn't read the rest of the recipe (which someone was nice enough to post here). Yes, it calls for lots of ingredients, and it takes quite a bit of prep, and making the dumplings is fiddly work that really shouldn't be undertaken on an empty stomach. That being said, YUM. I subbed white button mushrooms for the ones specified in the recipe, and used some lime juice in place of the lime leaf, but it still turned out wonderfully. And you really couldn't taste the "pea-ness" (heh!) of the shoots in the dumplings, so if you wanted to sub another tender green for them when pea shoots were out of season, I don't think it would mess it up too much.
Showing posts with label recipe. Show all posts
Showing posts with label recipe. Show all posts
Monday, June 11, 2012
Tuesday, April 24, 2012
Strike while the iron is hot
It occurred to me while eating dinner tonight that the recipe, which called for both ramps and morels, could really only be made during a two- or three-week timeframe each spring when the seasons for those two ephemeral foraging favorites coincide. Nothing like hanging onto a recipe that's essentially useless 50 weeks out of every year!
I made the recipe to use some of my CSA bag's prolific portion of ramps. But I don't particularly like morels, especially at $60 for a large paper plate full of them from the farmers' market, so I replaced them with some white oyster mushrooms ($10 a pound at the farmers' market). Other modifications to the recipe were based on laziness - I didn't have mascarpone cheese, so I left that out and subbed Parmesan for the Pecorino cheese called for in the recipe. And I didn't have orecchiette, either, so we used cheese ravioli from Ohio City Pasta. I think the creaminess from the ravioli filling helped make up for the lack of mascarpone ... or at least that's what I'm telling myself, that and "Hey, at least you didn't have to make a special trip to the grocery store on a weekend just for one container of cheese and a bag of pasta!"
One thing I learned while making this recipe is that the leaves of the ramps really are very mild in flavor. The recipe has you separate them from the bulbs, cook the bulbs as you would onions or garlic, and add the roughly chopped leaves at the end as you would spinach or other tender greens. The cooked leaves had a delicate onion/garlic flavor, much lighter and less in-your-face than that of the bulbs. I'll definitely keep that in mind, because this time of year it's nice to have some interesting greens to throw into soup or salads.
In other news, IT'S ASPARAGUS SEASON!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I seriously have to stop typing so I have time to drive up to Avon to buy some local asparagus, which I will store in a vase of water at work until I can come home and totally eat an entire bunch myself because Jason isn't coming home for dinner tonight .... bwahahahahahahahaha!
I made the recipe to use some of my CSA bag's prolific portion of ramps. But I don't particularly like morels, especially at $60 for a large paper plate full of them from the farmers' market, so I replaced them with some white oyster mushrooms ($10 a pound at the farmers' market). Other modifications to the recipe were based on laziness - I didn't have mascarpone cheese, so I left that out and subbed Parmesan for the Pecorino cheese called for in the recipe. And I didn't have orecchiette, either, so we used cheese ravioli from Ohio City Pasta. I think the creaminess from the ravioli filling helped make up for the lack of mascarpone ... or at least that's what I'm telling myself, that and "Hey, at least you didn't have to make a special trip to the grocery store on a weekend just for one container of cheese and a bag of pasta!"
One thing I learned while making this recipe is that the leaves of the ramps really are very mild in flavor. The recipe has you separate them from the bulbs, cook the bulbs as you would onions or garlic, and add the roughly chopped leaves at the end as you would spinach or other tender greens. The cooked leaves had a delicate onion/garlic flavor, much lighter and less in-your-face than that of the bulbs. I'll definitely keep that in mind, because this time of year it's nice to have some interesting greens to throw into soup or salads.
In other news, IT'S ASPARAGUS SEASON!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I seriously have to stop typing so I have time to drive up to Avon to buy some local asparagus, which I will store in a vase of water at work until I can come home and totally eat an entire bunch myself because Jason isn't coming home for dinner tonight .... bwahahahahahahahaha!
Tuesday, May 17, 2011
Aphid control?
I wanted to save this idea, so I'm sticking it here in case anyone else is interested:
"Aphids don't like hot peppers, so grow a few extra. If you have aphids, put 2 whole 'Serrano' peppers and one peeled garlic clove into a blender with 2-4 cups of water. Blend well, and spray infested plants with the mixture. If you don't have fresh peppers, cayenne boiled with garlic will make an effective 'anti-aphid' tea."(I was going to add a photo of aphids here, but they gross me out too much. Hate those little suckers!)
- from a little piece of earth by Maria Finn, 2010, by Universe Publishing
Friday, May 13, 2011
Giraffe Krispies
What do you get if you use honey puffed spelt instead of the usual cereal to make rice crispy treats?
Treats that look like giraffe hide and taste like ridiculously sweet Honey Smacks!
Sunday, November 28, 2010
Recipe - Chili Beef Noodles
1 pound ground beef
1/2 cup chopped onion
1 clove garlic, minced
2 teaspoons chili powder
16 ounces canned tomatoes
15 ounces tomato sauce
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon pepper
hot pepper sauce (optional)
8 ounces egg noodles
In a large skillet, brown the ground beef, onion, and garlic. Drain. Stir in the chili powder; add tomatoes, tomato sauce, salt, and pepper. Add hot pepper sauce to taste, if you like your food spicy. Simmer 10 more minutes, stirring occasionally. Meanwhile, cook a whole bag of wide egg noodles according to package directions. Serve meat mixture over egg noodles.
Serves 6, unless you like it as much as I do, in which case you might serve 4 :)
PS - look how pretty my (home preserved) canned sauce and tomatoes looked before they went in the pot:
PS - look how pretty my (home preserved) canned sauce and tomatoes looked before they went in the pot:
Tuesday, November 2, 2010
Recipe - Sausage and Fennel Soup with Pasta
I got this recipe from one of the stalls at the farmers' market last weekend. It was a great excuse to use up the fennel that I didn't snarf down raw over the weekend :)
Sausage and Fennel Soup with Pasta
1 lb Sweet Italian Sausage (bulk)
1 fennel bulb
3/4 cup diced onion
1 1/2 tsp. minced garlic
3 T olive oil
14.5 oz. canned diced tomatoes
14.5 oz. canned crushed tomatoes
4 cups chicken broth
3/4 cup orzo
2 cups fresh spinach
salt and freshly ground black pepper
Saute sausage, breaking it up into small pieces, until well browned. Drain sausage and set aside. Cut the top off the fennel, wash and dice the white part of the bulb. Saute the fennel, onion, and garlic in olive oil until onion is soft and transparent. Add tomatoes and chicken broth. Bring to boil, reduce heat and simmer 25 minutes. Add sausage and orzo and cook until orzo is just done. Add spinach, tearing it into small pieces, and cook 3 minutes. Add salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste. Garnish with Asiago cheese.
Sausage and Fennel Soup with Pasta
1 lb Sweet Italian Sausage (bulk)
1 fennel bulb
3/4 cup diced onion
1 1/2 tsp. minced garlic
3 T olive oil
14.5 oz. canned diced tomatoes
14.5 oz. canned crushed tomatoes
4 cups chicken broth
3/4 cup orzo
2 cups fresh spinach
salt and freshly ground black pepper
Saute sausage, breaking it up into small pieces, until well browned. Drain sausage and set aside. Cut the top off the fennel, wash and dice the white part of the bulb. Saute the fennel, onion, and garlic in olive oil until onion is soft and transparent. Add tomatoes and chicken broth. Bring to boil, reduce heat and simmer 25 minutes. Add sausage and orzo and cook until orzo is just done. Add spinach, tearing it into small pieces, and cook 3 minutes. Add salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste. Garnish with Asiago cheese.
Monday, November 1, 2010
Recipe - Braised Red Cabbage
This recipe is a mash-up of about four different recipes from several different cookbooks. Guess that makes it mine, huh? This is particularly good when served with bratwurst and Stadium Mustard. Mmmmm, artery-clogging autumnal goodness ....
Braised Red Cabbage
4 bacon slices, chopped
1 tablespoon unsalted butter
2 large sweet onions, thinly sliced
3-4 lbs red cabbage, quartered, cored and thinly sliced crosswise
1 apple, peeled, cored and thinly sliced
1/2 cup red wine vinegar
3 tablespoons packed brown sugar
1 tablespoon salt
1 teaspoon black pepper
Cook bacon in a large heavy pot over moderately low heat, stirring until crisp. Remove bacon with slotted spoon and reserve it for use later. Add butter to bacon fat, then increase heat to moderate and cook onions until golden brown, about 12-15 minutes. Stir in cabbage, apples, vinegar, brown sugar, salt, and pepper, and simmer, covered, stirring occasionally, until tender (about 1 1/4 hours). Add bacon and serve warm.
Braised Red Cabbage
4 bacon slices, chopped
1 tablespoon unsalted butter
2 large sweet onions, thinly sliced
3-4 lbs red cabbage, quartered, cored and thinly sliced crosswise
1 apple, peeled, cored and thinly sliced
1/2 cup red wine vinegar
3 tablespoons packed brown sugar
1 tablespoon salt
1 teaspoon black pepper
Cook bacon in a large heavy pot over moderately low heat, stirring until crisp. Remove bacon with slotted spoon and reserve it for use later. Add butter to bacon fat, then increase heat to moderate and cook onions until golden brown, about 12-15 minutes. Stir in cabbage, apples, vinegar, brown sugar, salt, and pepper, and simmer, covered, stirring occasionally, until tender (about 1 1/4 hours). Add bacon and serve warm.
Friday, August 27, 2010
Pizza sauce recipe
Here's my take on the pizza sauce recipe that came with last week's CSA basket, which turned out really, really well. This made enough for two pizzas, plus leftovers that are probably enough for at least one more pizza (or some really tasty dipping sauce)
5 T olive oil
1 medium onion, diced
1 small carrot, peeled and diced
2 cloves garlic, peeled and crushed
2 T dried basil
large pinch of red pepper flakes
2+ pounds roma tomates, peeled and seeded
In a heavy bottom pan heat the olive oil over medium low. Add the onions, carrot, basil, garlic, and red pepper. Cover and cook for about 20 minutes, stirring often. Lower the heat if vegetables are starting to color.
While the vegetables are softening, peel and seed the tomatoes. Stir them to into the vegetables in the sauce pan and raise the heat to medium. Cook the sauce at just under a boil - it is important to evaporate much of the moisture.
When all of the ingredients have cooked and become very soft run the mixture through a food mill with the smallest screen in place, discarding any solids that remain in the mill. Return the sauce to the pan and place over low heat. Add a little salt and pepper. Cook, stirring occasionally, to thicken the sauce. Remove from heat when desired consistency is reached.
5 T olive oil
1 medium onion, diced
1 small carrot, peeled and diced
2 cloves garlic, peeled and crushed
2 T dried basil
large pinch of red pepper flakes
2+ pounds roma tomates, peeled and seeded
In a heavy bottom pan heat the olive oil over medium low. Add the onions, carrot, basil, garlic, and red pepper. Cover and cook for about 20 minutes, stirring often. Lower the heat if vegetables are starting to color.
While the vegetables are softening, peel and seed the tomatoes. Stir them to into the vegetables in the sauce pan and raise the heat to medium. Cook the sauce at just under a boil - it is important to evaporate much of the moisture.
When all of the ingredients have cooked and become very soft run the mixture through a food mill with the smallest screen in place, discarding any solids that remain in the mill. Return the sauce to the pan and place over low heat. Add a little salt and pepper. Cook, stirring occasionally, to thicken the sauce. Remove from heat when desired consistency is reached.
Wednesday, July 21, 2010
Recipe - Baba Burgers
I made this up as I went along, and I didn't write down any amounts because I was sure I'd remember it. Right. So take the amounts listed below as a guide of where to start, and adjust according to your taste and/or what you've got in your pantry.
Baba Burgers
Take 1 pound of ground beef and break it up into little pieces with your fingers. Add about 2 ounces of crumbled feta cheese, a couple good shakes of zatar, a couple tablespoons of minced fresh oregano, a couple tablespoons of minced green onion, some garlic powder, and some Penzey's Turkish seasoning. Mix it all together with your hands, making sure you distribute the good stuff evenly. Form into four patties.
Grill as you would normal burgers, and toast the burger buns at the same time. When the burgers are done, slather a thick layer of baba ghanouj on the top half of each burger bun before putting them on the patties. If you have any pickled turnips you can throw some slices on there, too, but the burgers are also great without them.
Baba Burgers
Take 1 pound of ground beef and break it up into little pieces with your fingers. Add about 2 ounces of crumbled feta cheese, a couple good shakes of zatar, a couple tablespoons of minced fresh oregano, a couple tablespoons of minced green onion, some garlic powder, and some Penzey's Turkish seasoning. Mix it all together with your hands, making sure you distribute the good stuff evenly. Form into four patties.
Grill as you would normal burgers, and toast the burger buns at the same time. When the burgers are done, slather a thick layer of baba ghanouj on the top half of each burger bun before putting them on the patties. If you have any pickled turnips you can throw some slices on there, too, but the burgers are also great without them.
Friday, July 2, 2010
Recipe - Whole Wheat Spaghetti with Bacon and Greens
I adapted this from a recipe in In the Green Kitchen by Alice Waters, using chard in place of the kale, and following the modification that used bacon in place of some of the oil. I also monkeyed around with the amounts a little bit so that we wouldn't end up with 18 gallons of pasta. Super easy, super tasty, and the little bit that wasn't inhaled immediately reheated well.
Whole Wheat Spaghetti with Bacon and Greens
1 bunch of chard, tough stems removed, and leaves coarsely chopped
Salt
1/2 pound whole-wheat spaghetti, cooked al dente
3 tablespoons olive oil
1/4 pound diced bacon
1 medium onion, peeled and thinly sliced
1 large pinch of dried chile flakes
2 garlic cloves, peeled and chopped
Parmesan or Romano cheese
Heat a large, heavy saute pan over medium-high heat. Add the olive oil and bacon, frying the bacon until it is slightly crisp. Remove the bacon from the pan, leaving the remaining oil and bacon grease. Add the onion, chile flakes, and a pinch of salt. Cook, stirring occasionally, until the onion is tender and lightly colored, about five to seven minutes. Add the chard and cook, stirring and tossing, until the chard is wilted and tender, about 3 minutes. Add water to the pan of the greens are dry, and if the greens are on the sturdy side, cover the pan briefly to steam them. Add the garlic, seaon with salt, and cook for 2 minutes more. Take care that the garlic does not brown.
Add the cooked pasta and bacon to the pan and toss to combine. Loosen with a splash of water, if needed, and taste for salt. Transfer the pasta to a warm platter or serving bowls, and drizzle a thin stream of olive oil on top. Garnish with shavings of Parmesan or Romano cheese, and serve immediately.
Whole Wheat Spaghetti with Bacon and Greens
1 bunch of chard, tough stems removed, and leaves coarsely chopped
Salt
1/2 pound whole-wheat spaghetti, cooked al dente
3 tablespoons olive oil
1/4 pound diced bacon
1 medium onion, peeled and thinly sliced
1 large pinch of dried chile flakes
2 garlic cloves, peeled and chopped
Parmesan or Romano cheese
Heat a large, heavy saute pan over medium-high heat. Add the olive oil and bacon, frying the bacon until it is slightly crisp. Remove the bacon from the pan, leaving the remaining oil and bacon grease. Add the onion, chile flakes, and a pinch of salt. Cook, stirring occasionally, until the onion is tender and lightly colored, about five to seven minutes. Add the chard and cook, stirring and tossing, until the chard is wilted and tender, about 3 minutes. Add water to the pan of the greens are dry, and if the greens are on the sturdy side, cover the pan briefly to steam them. Add the garlic, seaon with salt, and cook for 2 minutes more. Take care that the garlic does not brown.
Add the cooked pasta and bacon to the pan and toss to combine. Loosen with a splash of water, if needed, and taste for salt. Transfer the pasta to a warm platter or serving bowls, and drizzle a thin stream of olive oil on top. Garnish with shavings of Parmesan or Romano cheese, and serve immediately.
Saturday, June 26, 2010
Best. Cornbread. Ever
This week I made the best batch of cornbread ever, using local eggs, local milk, local cornmeal, local whole wheat flour, etc. I didn't mine the salt out from under Lake Erie, and goodness only knows where baking soda comes from, but everything else was either local or organic or both. I ate it with dinner, warm with pumpkin butter on top. I had it for breakfast cold from the pan. I even had it for dessert tonight, split and topped with sugared black raspberries and (local) vanilla ice cream. There's one piece left, and I'll personally take down any person who stands between it and me tomorrow morning.
Have I mentioned that I like cornbread?
Anyway, the recipe is from a cooking forum post by "Holly" from years ago, which I attempted to find but couldn't. I consider that due diligence, so I don't feel at all bad about sharing the recipe now. This makes a sweet cornbread with a sticky/crunchy top, and I swear I have to be physically restrained from eating the entire pan by myself.
Holly's Cornbread
1/2 cup butter
2/3 cup sugar
2 eggs
1 cup buttermilk
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup flour (either white or whole wheat - both work fine)
1 cup cornmeal
Preheat over to 350 degrees. Melt the butter in a 9x9 pan in the oven (this greases the pan and melts the butter for the recipe). Meanwhile, combine flour, cornmeal, salt and baking soda in a bowl.
Beat eggs, sugar, and buttermilk in a second bowl, then add melted butter.
Incorporate dry ingredients into the wet mix just until combined.
Bake at 350 degrees for 25 to 30 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out with a few moist crumbs on it.
According to my recipe software, 1/12th of this recipe has 210 calories (almost 40% of which come from fat), which could explain why they taste so very, very good.
Have I mentioned that I like cornbread?
Anyway, the recipe is from a cooking forum post by "Holly" from years ago, which I attempted to find but couldn't. I consider that due diligence, so I don't feel at all bad about sharing the recipe now. This makes a sweet cornbread with a sticky/crunchy top, and I swear I have to be physically restrained from eating the entire pan by myself.
Holly's Cornbread
1/2 cup butter
2/3 cup sugar
2 eggs
1 cup buttermilk
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup flour (either white or whole wheat - both work fine)
1 cup cornmeal
Preheat over to 350 degrees. Melt the butter in a 9x9 pan in the oven (this greases the pan and melts the butter for the recipe). Meanwhile, combine flour, cornmeal, salt and baking soda in a bowl.
Beat eggs, sugar, and buttermilk in a second bowl, then add melted butter.
Incorporate dry ingredients into the wet mix just until combined.
Bake at 350 degrees for 25 to 30 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out with a few moist crumbs on it.
According to my recipe software, 1/12th of this recipe has 210 calories (almost 40% of which come from fat), which could explain why they taste so very, very good.
Recipe - Sesame Noodles with Baby Bok Choy and Roast Chicken
We had this for dinner this past week, and it was incredibly easy and tasty! We didn't have bok choy, so we substituted the kaboko cabbage from the most recent CSA basket, and we used local whole wheat linguine in place of the Asian noodles - and it still worked wonderfully.
Sesame Noodles with Baby Bok Choy and Roast Chicken, from Eating Local by Janet Fletcher.
1 pound baby bok choy (about 8)
1/3 cup peanut oil
Kosher or sea salt
1 pound fresh Chinese egg noodles or dried udon (Japanese wheat noodles)
2 tablespoons fish sauce
2 teaspoons Chinese chile oil, or to taste
1 cup thinly sliced green onions (white and green parts)
1 cup coarsely chopped fresh cilantro
1/2 cup coarsely chopped dry-roasted peanuts
1 tablespoon toasted sesame oil
2 cups hand-shredded roast chicken or duck, with or without skin
Sesame Noodles with Baby Bok Choy and Roast Chicken, from Eating Local by Janet Fletcher.
1 pound baby bok choy (about 8)
1/3 cup peanut oil
Kosher or sea salt
1 pound fresh Chinese egg noodles or dried udon (Japanese wheat noodles)
2 tablespoons fish sauce
2 teaspoons Chinese chile oil, or to taste
1 cup thinly sliced green onions (white and green parts)
1 cup coarsely chopped fresh cilantro
1/2 cup coarsely chopped dry-roasted peanuts
1 tablespoon toasted sesame oil
2 cups hand-shredded roast chicken or duck, with or without skin
- Separate the bok choy leaves, with ribs intact, from the central core. Discard the core. With a paring knife, separate the leaves from their ribs. (You can leave the smallest inner leaves with ribs whole.) Tear large leaves in half lengthwise. Cut the ribs crosswise into 1-inch pieces. Pat the leaves and ribs dry.
- Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil over high heat.
- Heat the peanut oil in a large skillet over moderate heat. Add the bok choy, season with salt, then stir to coat with the oil. Cover and cook until just tender, about 3 minutes.
- Meanwhile, add the noodles to the boiling water and cook, stirring occasionally with tongs, until al dente. In a small bowl, stir together the fish sauce and the chile oil.
- Drain the noodles in a sieve or colander and return them to the hot pot. Add the bok choy, green onions, cilantro, peanuts, sesame oil, chicken, and fish sauce - chile oil mixture. Toss well with tongs and serve immediately.
Monday, June 14, 2010
Spaghetti alla Alfredo Carbonara
Mash-up two recipes from How to Cook Everything
, add a dash of "whatever I've got on hand," and voila! Wonderful dinner (which didn't look nearly as good as it tasted, so just use your imagination in lieu of a photo).
Spaghetti alla Alfredo Carbonara
Serves two
4 ounces thick bacon, diced
1/4 of an onion, diced
a clove of garlic, minced (or one garlic scape, diced)
about a cup of lightly cooked vegetables (I used broccoli)
1 egg
1/4 cup heavy cream
1/2 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese
1/2 pound spaghetti or other long pasta
salt and pepper to taste
Put the bacon in a medium skillet over medium heat. Cook, stirring occasionally and adding the onion and garlic after about five minutes, until the bacon is crisp. Remove from heat and stir the vegetables in, mixing well to get the veggies covered in bacon grease.
Meanwhile, bring a large pot of water to a boil. Warm a large bowl in the oven, or by filling it with very hot water.
Beat the eggs, cream, and Parmesan together in the warmed bowl. Add salt (not too much, if you're using salty bacon) and pepper.
Salt the boiling water and cook the pasta until it is tender but firm. When it is done, reserve about 1/2 cup of the pasta water, then drain the pasta and toss it immediately with the egg/cream/cheese mixture. Add the bacon and veggies, plus any fat remaining in the skillet. Add a little of the pasta cooking water if necessary to keep the mixture moist.
Serve immediately, passing more grated Parmesan at the table.
, add a dash of "whatever I've got on hand," and voila! Wonderful dinner (which didn't look nearly as good as it tasted, so just use your imagination in lieu of a photo).Spaghetti alla Alfredo Carbonara
Serves two
4 ounces thick bacon, diced
1/4 of an onion, diced
a clove of garlic, minced (or one garlic scape, diced)
about a cup of lightly cooked vegetables (I used broccoli)
1 egg
1/4 cup heavy cream
1/2 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese
1/2 pound spaghetti or other long pasta
salt and pepper to taste
Put the bacon in a medium skillet over medium heat. Cook, stirring occasionally and adding the onion and garlic after about five minutes, until the bacon is crisp. Remove from heat and stir the vegetables in, mixing well to get the veggies covered in bacon grease.
Meanwhile, bring a large pot of water to a boil. Warm a large bowl in the oven, or by filling it with very hot water.
Beat the eggs, cream, and Parmesan together in the warmed bowl. Add salt (not too much, if you're using salty bacon) and pepper.
Salt the boiling water and cook the pasta until it is tender but firm. When it is done, reserve about 1/2 cup of the pasta water, then drain the pasta and toss it immediately with the egg/cream/cheese mixture. Add the bacon and veggies, plus any fat remaining in the skillet. Add a little of the pasta cooking water if necessary to keep the mixture moist.
Serve immediately, passing more grated Parmesan at the table.
Wednesday, June 9, 2010
Busy days = barking dogs
Today, I used leftover juice to make Popsicles, made peanut butter cookies and tried out my new bread maker. I still need to cook dinner.
I'd like to sit down now, please.
** Don't remember where I read the idea, but here's what I did to make about 6 cups of stock:
- Take the leftover chicken carcass, including all the juices and skin and gross bits but with all the usable meat picked off, and stuff it in the crock pot. Add all of the following, roughly chopped: one carrot, one stalk of celery, one onion or shallot, a couple cloves of garlic. Throw in about a half a teaspoon of salt, maybe four peppercorns, and a bay leaf or two, plus a couple sprigs of whatever fresh herbs you've got around (I used thyme).
- Add water to get to about 1/2" below the top of the crock (I think it was about three or four pints for mine). Cover, turn the crock pot to low, and let it go overnight (or all day if you want it to be ready when you get home from work).
- When it's done, shut off the crock pot, use a fine strainer to pull out all the gross stuff, and transfer the stock to storage containers. If possible, refrigerate it for a few hours so that you can skim the congealed fat off the top before you freeze it. Use it within a few days if you keep it in the fridge, or freeze it for a month or more.
Sunday, May 23, 2010
Cheese straws
Have I mentioned that we like our cheese around here? Liza eats virtually nothing but string cheese some days, and Jason and I have to be careful to avoid doing the same with more "adult" flavors of cheese. If Jason was going to get a tattoo, "Everything is better with cheddar" would probably figure prominently in it somewhere. And cheese-flavored crackers are a big deal around here, often opened and finished in the same day.
So figuring out sources for local cheese has been a priority for me. I'm still working out the details - it shouldn't be hard, as Amish country isn't too far south of us, so there's a whole tribe of bearded cheesemongers not far away. And cheese crackers - how hard can they be to make?
Not terribly difficult, as it turns out. I followed the recipe for cheese straws from Mark Bittman's How to Cook Everything, which is basically the same as this one, only with 1 lb of cheddar cheese in place of the blend in the online recipe. Once I coerced our food processor into shredding the cheese, the rest was a piece of cake. Five to eight minutes later, I had a whole stack of these babies:
Beautiful cheese straws, even if they do look exactly like french toast sticks. And the best part? Liza won't eat them, so Jason and I have them all to ourselves! Of course, after a few weeks of the "no goldfish, no Cheese-Its" diet, she may get desperate enough to try them again, but until then, all the salty, cheesy goodness is just for us grown-ups. Bwahahahahahaha!
Sunday, May 16, 2010
Ramp-a-riffic? Ramp-tastic?
So, ramps.
I don't remember where I first heard about them, but up there with fiddlehead ferns, ramps seem to be one of those vegetables that only food snobs and redneck locavores seem to know about. Personally, I'd never seen one (a ramp, not a redneck locavore - I'd seen plenty of those at farmers' markets when we lived in Kentucky).
But yesterday a guy at the farmers' market at Crocker Park had them for sale. I think I paid $4 for a bunch of them (scandalous for something he probably ripped out of the woods behind his house the night before*), then I scurried home and did some research to figure out what the heck I was going to do with these things.
The consensus seemed to be that I should fry them in bacon grease along with some combination of potatoes, eggs, and cheese, which is what I ended up doing. While I was getting every pan in the house dirty and creating a cloud of rampy bacon grease in the bedroom (we have weird ventilation in our house), Jason browsed through the recipe I had left open on the laptop, commenting that it was nice that they didn't specify if the "streaked meat" was supposed to be bacon, beef, or that pesky McCoy kid from the next holler over. Ha, ha - your SW Virginia relatives will really appreciate that joke, dear.
Anyhow, the fried potatoes with ramps and cheese were a moderate success. I'm not a big fan of fried sliced potatoes, and the flavor of the ramps wasn't really noticeable - until an hour later, when it made regular recurrences in my throat for the rest of the morning. Urp.
I still had a mess of them left over, so I cooked what had to be the biggest travesty of expensive organic ingredients ever - tacos made with ramps and the first organic ground beef I've ever bought. I know, I know - such a waste to use the ingredients where I couldn't actually taste them, sort of like using $4/half gallon organic milk to make instant pudding or something. But the tacos were good, and I could honestly tell Jason that they came from happy cows - or at least from cows that had been happy right up until they were slaughtered. And the ramps and ground beef were both from Ohio, something I definitely couldn't have said if I'd bought onions and a pack of ground beef at the grocery store instead of the farmers' market.
* Now that I know what they look like, I'm fairly certain that we actually have one or two of these things growing in our front yard. Mixed in with the crocus are a few plants that I always thought were tulips that were too old to bloom anymore - we get the foliage and nothing else. Well, the foliage on ramps is virtually identical to that of tulips - so maybe next year I'll pull one up and fry it up in some rendered Shirtless Redneck Neighbor, just for fun.
I don't remember where I first heard about them, but up there with fiddlehead ferns, ramps seem to be one of those vegetables that only food snobs and redneck locavores seem to know about. Personally, I'd never seen one (a ramp, not a redneck locavore - I'd seen plenty of those at farmers' markets when we lived in Kentucky).
But yesterday a guy at the farmers' market at Crocker Park had them for sale. I think I paid $4 for a bunch of them (scandalous for something he probably ripped out of the woods behind his house the night before*), then I scurried home and did some research to figure out what the heck I was going to do with these things.
The consensus seemed to be that I should fry them in bacon grease along with some combination of potatoes, eggs, and cheese, which is what I ended up doing. While I was getting every pan in the house dirty and creating a cloud of rampy bacon grease in the bedroom (we have weird ventilation in our house), Jason browsed through the recipe I had left open on the laptop, commenting that it was nice that they didn't specify if the "streaked meat" was supposed to be bacon, beef, or that pesky McCoy kid from the next holler over. Ha, ha - your SW Virginia relatives will really appreciate that joke, dear.
Anyhow, the fried potatoes with ramps and cheese were a moderate success. I'm not a big fan of fried sliced potatoes, and the flavor of the ramps wasn't really noticeable - until an hour later, when it made regular recurrences in my throat for the rest of the morning. Urp.
I still had a mess of them left over, so I cooked what had to be the biggest travesty of expensive organic ingredients ever - tacos made with ramps and the first organic ground beef I've ever bought. I know, I know - such a waste to use the ingredients where I couldn't actually taste them, sort of like using $4/half gallon organic milk to make instant pudding or something. But the tacos were good, and I could honestly tell Jason that they came from happy cows - or at least from cows that had been happy right up until they were slaughtered. And the ramps and ground beef were both from Ohio, something I definitely couldn't have said if I'd bought onions and a pack of ground beef at the grocery store instead of the farmers' market.
* Now that I know what they look like, I'm fairly certain that we actually have one or two of these things growing in our front yard. Mixed in with the crocus are a few plants that I always thought were tulips that were too old to bloom anymore - we get the foliage and nothing else. Well, the foliage on ramps is virtually identical to that of tulips - so maybe next year I'll pull one up and fry it up in some rendered Shirtless Redneck Neighbor, just for fun.
Sunday, May 9, 2010
Now I've gone and done it
I made my first foray into the world of organic and/or local foods, courtesy of a trip to Heinen's. In case you haven't heard of it, Heinen's is a small Cleveland grocery chain - fewer than 20 stores scattered around the Cleveland suburbs - that caters to shoppers who are looking for high-end foods. If you want fair trade chocolate, or a ridiculous selection of imported cheeses, or locally produced prepared foods, it's the place to go. I don't usually make the 20-minute trek up to the closest location unless I've got a compelling need for something I can only buy there, but I have a feeling I'm going to become a much more regular customer in the coming months.
That's because Heinen's does a pretty good job of labeling the sources of their foods, and a fine job of stocking foods from Cleveland and Ohio sources. Today I found Asiago Pepperoni bread from the Stone Oven Bakery in Cleveland Heights, chevre from Mackenzie Creamery in Hiram, fettuccine from Ohio City Pasta downtown, and milk from Snowville Creamery in Pomeroy. My best find of the day? Sort-of local sugar from Pioneer Sugar in Michigan. Who would have thought I'd find locally grown sugar??
It's only Day 1 of my preparations for the summer and already I've run into the "local vs. organic" question. Is it better to choose locally produced, non-organic items, or organic items that have been shipped from far away? It's not exactly cut-and-dried, especially once you get past the "dirty dozen" foods that you really should try to buy organic. For right now, I'm going with organic stuff that's as close to local as I can. After all, I'm sure the pasture-fed organic beef is great, but what they sell at Heinen's is shipped from Australia, for goodness sake. That's a ridiculous distance, especially for something I'm sure I can buy locally once I know where to find it.
And today I decided to start trying a few of the foods that I predict will show up in our CSA basket when that starts next month. Today's new food: Swiss chard. It sure looked pretty in the store, and sliced up, ready to hit the frying pan.
I used a simple recipe to make sure we could actually taste the vegetable, not just the preparation. The verdict was mixed - Liza took one bite and wouldn't finish the rest of the leaf, Jason was diplomatic but not impressed. It's definitely a different taste - sort of tasted like dirt, to be honest with you, but it sort of grew on me.
It's not something I would want to eat this way every day of the week, but it was pretty and inoffensive and I think I can work with that.
That's because Heinen's does a pretty good job of labeling the sources of their foods, and a fine job of stocking foods from Cleveland and Ohio sources. Today I found Asiago Pepperoni bread from the Stone Oven Bakery in Cleveland Heights, chevre from Mackenzie Creamery in Hiram, fettuccine from Ohio City Pasta downtown, and milk from Snowville Creamery in Pomeroy. My best find of the day? Sort-of local sugar from Pioneer Sugar in Michigan. Who would have thought I'd find locally grown sugar??
It's only Day 1 of my preparations for the summer and already I've run into the "local vs. organic" question. Is it better to choose locally produced, non-organic items, or organic items that have been shipped from far away? It's not exactly cut-and-dried, especially once you get past the "dirty dozen" foods that you really should try to buy organic. For right now, I'm going with organic stuff that's as close to local as I can. After all, I'm sure the pasture-fed organic beef is great, but what they sell at Heinen's is shipped from Australia, for goodness sake. That's a ridiculous distance, especially for something I'm sure I can buy locally once I know where to find it.
And today I decided to start trying a few of the foods that I predict will show up in our CSA basket when that starts next month. Today's new food: Swiss chard. It sure looked pretty in the store, and sliced up, ready to hit the frying pan.
I used a simple recipe to make sure we could actually taste the vegetable, not just the preparation. The verdict was mixed - Liza took one bite and wouldn't finish the rest of the leaf, Jason was diplomatic but not impressed. It's definitely a different taste - sort of tasted like dirt, to be honest with you, but it sort of grew on me.
It's not something I would want to eat this way every day of the week, but it was pretty and inoffensive and I think I can work with that.
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