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Cooking, Recipe and Food Blog

Archives for May 2010

Delicious Reads: The School Of Essential Ingredients

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The School of Essential Ingredients

My sister, who is aware of my slight obsession with food literature- and an excellent cook herself- gave me this book, The School of Essential Ingredients, which tells the story of Lillian, a chef who holds cooking classes every Monday night at her restaurant.

These are no ordinary classes, of course- each class is interwoven with the personal story of one of its students. From Tom the sad widower, to Chloe the klutzy waitress, to beautiful Antonia who designs kitchens, the characters are well rounded and realistic- many of them similar to people we’ve known, or are.

This is definitely “light reading”- I enjoy its lyrical prose and delicious descriptive passages, but would have liked the author to delve deeper into the stories of each character. As it was, I felt like I was just getting an amuse bouche of each character, without any entrees to follow.

Diet Tip: Sugar Cubes!

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Sugar Cubes

Because I think it would be too difficult to completely eliminate sugar from my diet (I do run a bakeshop, after all), I’ve been looking for ways to lessen my intake of the sweet stuff. And here’s one I’ve been particularly pleased with: sugar cubes!

Here’s the thing about sugar cubes: they’re like pre-portioned sugar, so you know exactly what you’re getting in one or two cubes. One sugar cube is approximately equal to 1 1/2 teaspoons of sugar, and contains around 25 calories (sometimes less, depending on the size of the cube). Sugar cubes were invented by Jakub Krystof Rad, whose wife was tired- literally- of having to cut into sugar “loaves”, which is how most sugar was available in those days (the 1840s). Before packets came along, they were considered the most convenient way of carrying a bit of the sweet stuff around.

So when I have cornflakes for breakfast, I no longer bring out my jar of sugar, spooning away with abandon. Now, I add 3 cubes to my bowl of cereal- and I know I’m only adding 75 calories to my breakfast. Isn’t that cool?

And as for packets- I suppose they could work the same way, but where’s the fun? Sugar cubes can be made into sculptures, colored, and- of course- left out for Santa’s reindeer on Christmas Eve. Then there’s the classic scene in Moonstruck, when Cher and her father toast her engagement by dropping sugar cubes in their champagne glasses (a classic champagne cocktail recipe, apparently).

Blueberries For Breakfast, 2 Ways

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Have I finally reached my limit on breakfast food related posts, dear readers? I hope not, because today I want to post about what we’ve been having for breakfast around here for the past month: fresh blueberries.

On their own, blueberries are awesome, of course- not only are they considered one of the top “superfoods” nutritionally, they’ve got a flavor all their own, sweet and berry-esque and juicy and delicious. However, lately we’ve been having them in 2 amazing ways- which I share with you today:

Blueberry Smoothies

Hooray for breakfast smoothies! Take 1 cup fresh or frozen blueberries, 1 cup milk (or soy milk, if you roll that way), 1/4 cup plain yogurt, and 3 tablespoons sugar, and whizz in a blender. Add ice if it’s a hot day. Pour into 2 large glasses, and dot with extra fresh blueberries.

Blueberry French Toast

I realize that French Toast, when prepared correctly, is perfect on its own (with some maple syrup, of course). But if you have some fresh blueberries around, try tossing in a few tablespoons per toast. Do it just before frying, so the blueberries are still a little crunchy and juicy. Heaven.

Current Obsession: Fresh Tomato Juice

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I’m a little ashamed to say that the very first time I used a juicer was exactly one week ago. That’s right, I’ve never owned a proper juicer before- why bother, I thought, when I had a blender?

This was a gift, handed down by my mother, who is a juice freak and juices all sorts of things- romaine lettuce, bitter melon, you name it- every day of her life. It was an extra one she had in storage, brand new, never used.

With the juicer came a bagful of ripe, organic tomatoes she had picked up for me at the local farmer’s market. So I thought- why not tomato juice? I loved Bloody Maries, after all. And some of the tomatoes were so ripe, they were almost bursting with juice.

Well. Since then, we must have had fresh tomato juice about five or six times. I love the stuff. It’s perfect for breakfast, and is filling enough as a little midday snack.

Fresh Tomato Juice

Fresh, ripe, organic tomatoes
honey to taste

Using your juicer, juice the tomatoes. Add honey to taste, and serve.
If you don’t have a juicer, cut up the tomatoes, put them into your blender, add a cup or two of water (depending on the consistency you prefer) and whizz. Add honey and blend again. Serve.

Oh Honey Honey!

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There’s something to be said about the satisfying crunch of sugar. I must, for example, have sugar on my cornflakes in the morning- otherwise, I’d rather pass on the cornflakes. But there’s also something to be said about honey. Not only is it thick and golden and sweet, it’s a natural product, made from nectar by bees. And it’s good for you, generating heat, energy, and even promote wound healing through tissue formation.

Yes, honey is a winner. My favorite way to have honey is drizzled over some pancakes or french toast (instead of maple syrup), as an ingredient in the best caramel popcorn you’ll ever taste, and as a necessity in homemade Baklava. But here’s another way to have your honey: with your salad.

Divine Honey Mustard Salad Dressing

1 1/4 cups mayonnaise (the good stuff. Hellmanns or Best Foods)
1/3 cup raw honey
1 tablespoon red wine vinegar
2/3 cups vegetable oil (Sunflower, Olive OIl)
1 tablespoon red onion or shallots, minced fine
2 tablespoons fresh parsley, minced fine
2 tablespoons mustard
salt & pepper to taste

Whisk all ingredients together until smooth and creamy. Toss into your favorite green salad, or serve on the side.

Make It Yourself: Pesto

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Make Pesto at Home

Once you make your own pesto at home, you will never again buy pesto in a jar, bottle, or tube. I guarantee it. Making pesto is so unbelievably simple- see the photo above? That’s all you need to start making pesto. Really.

Like most simple recipes, of course, it matters that you use the best ingredients possible. In the case of pesto, this means fresh, bright green basil, young garlic, good extra virgin olive oil, parmigiano reggiano, and the freshest pine nuts you can buy.

Pine nuts, by the way, go rancid horrifyingly fast- so you probably don’t want to use that bag you’ve had in your pantry for a year. Get fresh, well-packed pine nuts. And if you can’t, use walnuts. Or pecans.

On to the pesto making: I like to use a mortar and pestle mostly (after all, pestle and pesto are derived from the same word, “pesta”, which means “to pound”) but have been known to pull out the trusty food processor- especially when there’s company for dinner and/or we’re making a lot of pesto.

Finally, here is my no-fail, you’ll-never-use-store-bought-again pesto recipe. Mix it with pasta, serve as a dip… you know what to do with it.

Pesto

3 cups fresh basil leaves
1/2 cup Parmigiano-Reggiano, grated (or, use regular Parmesan or Romano)
1/3 cup extra virgin olive oil
1/3 cup pine nuts, walnuts or pecans
4 cloves fresh garlic, minced
salt and pepper to taste

Start by pounding the basil leaves and pine nuts together. Add (in this order) the garlic, olive oil, cheese, and salt and pepper to taste. Either buzz this all in the food processor, or grind in your mortar with pestle.

And that’s it! This pesto keeps beautifully in the fridge.

Tips for Painless Breadmaking

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Bread

In my last post, I sang the praises of my favorite Crocs shoes for baking, which never fail to ensure that my legs and feet are taken care of during particularly grueling baking marathons. What I didn’t pay enough attention to, apparently, was what all the kneading was doing to my back and shoulders.

Until last night. I awoke at 3:30 a.m. in agony. My left shoulder burning, I could barely move my arm. Pain, pain, pain. I remember thinking, groggily, that “pain” meant “bread” in French- and how appropriate it was. Yes, I ordinarily think this way.

It was my fault, of course. I hadn’t done upper-arm exercises in weeks months, so what was I thinking jumping right into half an hour of kneading extremely heavy dough?

I’m much better today, thanks to visualization techniques (and a good dose of painkillers), and I’m chalking it up as another lesson learned.

Tips for Painless Breadmaking

  • Be smart about kneading. If I had more upper-body strength (and, I’m sure, less butter-fat), I would have breezed through the hardcore kneading session yesterday. I should have waited until my heavy-duty mixer got back from the shop (tomorrow!) before attempting a breadmaking spree.
  • Make changes carefully. Despite having made that bread recipe nearly a hundred times perfectly, I decided yesterday to replace more than half of the usual all-purpose flour with some nice, gluten-rich bread flour. It made the dough extra heavy, and a little too dense.
  • Timing is everything. Because I wanted to serve at least one of the loaves of bread for lunch, I didn’t let the dough rise enough on its first rise (it’s a double-rise recipe). This, too, probably contributed to its heaviness.
  • Get help. When I was nearly done kneading the dough, my husband walked into the kitchen and asked if I needed any help kneading. He took over for the last few minutes, but I should have had him take over much earlier. He does, after all, have all those “guy muscles”.

Do you bake bread regularly? What are your tips for easy homemade breadmaking?

My Favorite Baking Shoes

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I’ve just prepared two loaves of bread. Because my heavy-duty mixer is off being repaired, I did it the old-fashioned way- by hand, kneading for half an hour, blasting Nirvana on the kitchen speakers to get my mind off the burning in my arms. My hands are sore, my back is aching- yet my legs and feet are surprisingly fine. Why? Because of these shoes:

These are the crocs Women’s Tully Clog (in “Mushroom/Dahlia” style) and they’re all I ever wear nowadays on baking days. No laces to tie, no clasps to do or undo, they slip on so easily I’m hardly aware of them- and, most importantly, soft, soft, soft.

I used to favor open-toed shoes, until I spilled one too many hot liquids on my feet. These are close-toed, but with little holes to ensure your feet stay cool in them. Plus, they’re much prettier, imho, than the regular “clown-y” looking Crocs. I’ll even admit that I’ve worn these out of the house a few times- to run to the grocery, or to grab an after-dinner Haagen-Dazs with the husband. The subdued color of this style means they don’t draw too much attention to themselves.

Do you wear special shoes for baking or cooking?