March 2006 Archives

Last time I ordered from Penzey’s I picked out some broken-up pieces of cassia cinnamon, but I’ve had some trouble finding a use for them. Until now. It kind of has some heat, and I found it was the perfect thing to use in a recipe for chai I found in The New American Cooking by Joan Nathan (which I was not so excited about when I first started leafing through it, but now I’ve found a few recipes in it I love, including this one and a recipe for banana overnight French toast that I’ll write up eventually). This recipe is from Teaism in D.C. It’s all about the technique.

You start by bringing 2 ½ cups cold water to a boil, then add 1 broken-up cinnamon stick (or the equivalent in cinnamon pieces), 5 crushed cardamom pods and 5 whole cloves. Let that boil for 2 minutes, then sprinkle 2 teaspoons of loose tea over the top and add ½ cup milk and 1 ½ teaspoon sugar (or less, if you don’t like it so sweet). Bring it back up to a boil, then strain and serve.

We've been moving into a new apartment over the last two weeks and that's why I've been missing for so long. Now we're finally getting settled in, but my only Internet access is dial-up, so it's kind of painful getting on. And cooking isn't really happening, what with all the boxes. I do have a bigger and better kitchen, which I hope you'll be seeing some of soon.

Meanwhile, I did make a Italian meatball and escarole soup that August absolutely devoured. Got some chicken stock boiling, then formed some sweet Italian sausage into marble-sized meatballs (which I cut in fourths for the baby) and dropped them in the broth. Boiled that for about 20 minutes, then added some diced tomatoes (from a can) and chopped fresh escarole. Tore up a day-old ficelle and threw that in, too, and let it get soft. I topped the bowls with shredded hard cheese. It was easy and good. (And popular. August kept signing "more" so I ended up giving him about half of Todd's portion, too.)