Cooking Misc.: August 2003 Archives

I've been eating out a lot, and no one place was really very exciting, but I'll sum them up here:

At home I had lettuce, crumbled blue cheese, walnuts and scallions, which I felt was on its way to being a good main-dish salad but not quite there. The deli around the corner from where I work, Belly Delly (yes, it's spelled like that), always has a whole turkey breast, sliced but still on the bones, on its steam table for lunch. So I got a few slices of that. (Fresh turkey for just over $1 - you can't beat that. And I don't want to hear about the food safety issues.)

Tossed the greens with a homemade balsamic vinaigrette and put them on plates, then tossed the turkey, which I had pulled into strips, with the vinaigrette that was left in the bottom of the salad bowl. Topped the greens with that, then with the cheese, toasted walnuts and scallions.

Yes, Todd was foraging around the kitchen for more food an hour later (sometimes I have to make a me-size meal).

One book I really enjoyed is Appetite for Life, a biography of Julia Child. I know it's been said over and over again, but she really takes an appealing approach to food: She's curious, passionate and rarely intimidated, or intimidating. Reading about her life was fun - she came to cooking relatively late, if I remember correctly.

I've now stumbled upon another chef biography, that of Julia's colleague, Jacques Pepin: The Apprentice. His story is a bit more daunting for the novice cook, because he's been working in kitchens since before he was 13 years old. I haven't gotten very far in it yet, but I'm hooked. It's easy and enjoyable to read so far.

He was a child in France during WWII, but he touches on the hardships with a very light hand, instead seeing how his summers spent as a city kid hosted by farmers gave him an early understanding of the superiority of fresh, simple food. He comes from a restaurant family and had an opportunity to apprentice at a hotel restaurant, but so far he's still a playful child.

One book I really enjoyed is Appetite for Life, a biography of Julia Child. I know it's been said over and over again, but she really takes an appealing approach to food: She's curious, passionate and rarely intimidated, or intimidating. Reading about her life was fun - she came to cooking relatively late, if I remember correctly.

I've now stumbled upon another chef biography, that of Julia's colleague, Jacques Pepin: The Apprentice. His story is a bit more daunting for the novice cook, because he's been working in kitchens since before he was 13 years old. I haven't gotten very far in it yet, but I'm hooked. It's easy and enjoyable to read so far.

He was a child in France during WWII, but he touches on the hardships with a very light hand, instead seeing how his summers spent as a city kid hosted by farmers gave him an early understanding of the superiority of fresh, simple food. He comes from a restaurant family and had an opportunity to apprentice at a hotel restaurant, but so far he's still a playful child.

This is what a real tomato should look like. Big, knarled, dirty and red, red, red all the way through. I bought this Jersey tomato at the Union Square farmers' market. I've been trying to prepare meals with no meat, dairy or eggs, and this is what I came up with last night. First you combine 1 cup dry bulgur with 3/4 cup boiling water, cover it and let it sit 15 minutes. (I didn't think it'd be enough water, but it was. The bulgur ended up kind of chewy, which was nice.) Add a diced tomato and cucumber, 3 sliced scallions, a couple tablespoons chopped parsley, salt, pepper, a drained can of garbanzo beans and lemon vinaigrette (1/4 cup each lemon juice and olive oil, salt, pepper and a pinch of cayenne). Let it chill for at least an hour (it was better today for lunch than it was last night for dinner, so the longer you can leave it to chill, the better).

Todd's mom is a great cook. So whenever Todd goes home to Durango (which only happens about once every three years) he always has some dish he wants her to make for him. This time, it was huevos rancheroes. For various reasons, he didn't get his dream breakfast until the last day we were there, right before we left for the airport for our 8 a.m. flight. Can't say that eggs and refried beans are the best thing to have at 6 a.m., but they did keep me full almost the entire six hours we were traveling (a good thing, too, because among the indignities United subjected us to on this trip was a terrible snack instead of the simple lunch that anyone flying a premium airline from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. deserves - they lost our luggage, too).

Anyway, the huevos rancheros is pretty simple, but a satisfying combination. Flour tortillas fried in a thin layer of very hot oil just a few seconds, until crispy; refried beans; a fried egg; and enchilada sauce. Top it all with Cheddar cheese and salsa. I usually poach my eggs and toast corn tortillas in the oven when I make it - I still prefer the poached egg, but the fried flour tortilla definitely beats a dried out corn tortilla.

That's Todd's mom's, actually (or I could've called them Crisco's peanut butter cookies, but that doesn't have quite the same ring). They're about two inches across and thin and crispy (but not crumbly), with tiny bits of peanut throughout. They're the kind with the crisscrossed fork marks on top (ah, childhood). Linda (Todd's mom) suggests flouring the fork if it sticks to the cookies when you press them down.

Cream together 3/4 cup crunchy peanut butter, 1/2 cup shortening, 1 1/4 cups light-brown sugar, 3 tablespoons milk and 1 tablespoon vanilla. Add 1 egg and mix. Combine 1 3/4 cups flour, 3/4 teaspoon salt and 3/4 teaspoon baking soda, then add that to the creamed mixture. Drop by heaping teaspoonfuls and then flatten with a fork, making perpendicular marks. Bake in a 375 degree oven 7 or 8 minutes until browned around the edges. I haven't made these myself, but I have eaten a large enough number of them to be able to recommend the recipe (and to have gained a pound or two, too, I would think).

Do I have to say this? I almost hate to do it. I was passing through Madison Square Park at lunchtime today, so I stopped by the hot dog stand to try their New York hot dog. I had tried the Chicago dog a little more than a week ago.

I think it's kind of overrated. I know, it's a hot dog, so how great can it be? But with all that stuff on top, you can hardly taste the dog. The New York dog comes with a big gooey mess of onions, sauerkraut, mustard and ketchup, which kind of hides the hot dog taste and texture (maybe that's the point, but if you don't like hot dogs, you just shouldn't eat them).

The Chicago hot dog is kind of nice. It also has a little too much stuff, but it's fresh, clean-tasting stuff, like lettuce, tomatoes and hot peppers, neon green relish and atomic yellow mustard. The crunchiness of the toppings is a nice contrast to the snap and bite of the meat (am I allowed to call it meat?).

That's not to say I wouldn't be there often if I worked in the area. And the price is really right for both. I'm just finding that I might be a bit of a hot-dog purist. (That's quite a contradiction in terms, isn't it?)

It can be done. I did it yesterday. I made pasta by hand, with only flour, salt, eggs, a rolling pin and a knife. It helps to have some very strong arms (the pasta that Todd, taking pity on my, rolled out turned out much better than my too-thick pasta). The dough started to get kind of rubbery toward the end of the rolling, and would contract back after every roll. I think letting it rest for a few minutes helped, but it would have been even better if I were a more patient and persistant person.

I think I've decided to go ahead and get a hand-cranked pasta machine, since they don't seem to take up that much space. Homemade pasta is so different from anything else, and it'd be so easy with a machine. I have a little bit of pasta dough left, and I think I'm going to experiment with some other shapes for my dinner tomorrow (I made ravioli yesterday).

The ingredients to the ice cream I just made, as they would appear on the side of the package: peaches, heavy cream, sugar, lemon juice, vanilla extract, salt. I can't bring myself to buy vanilla beans, especially if vanilla isn't the primary flavor. Here, the flavor's peach, all the way through. It's a recipe I cut out of a New York Times Magazine.

First you peel and coarsely chop the peaches. I had three sad-looking, wrinkly peaches that inspired me to make the ice cream, because every time I walked by them, I'd get a tease of their aroma, but they didn't look very appetizing. They were heaven, though. The skins peeled right off, without a knife or blanching, and then my knife went right through the flesh, which came right off the pitt. Add 1/4 cup sugar, a sprinkling of salt and a squeeze of lemon juice, then let them sit and macerate for half an hour.

While that's doing, combine 2 cups heavy cream with 6 tablespoons sugar and heat until the sugar dissolves. Then add a teaspoon vanilla and let it cool. When the peaches' half hour is over, pour the cream over them and put it in the fridge to chill. (Here's where things got frustrating for me. I had started chilling my ice cream maker canister about 8 hours before, and it wasn't enough time, but I started making the ice cream anyway, and it just wouldn't freeze. It may be obvious to most, but make sure the ice cream canister is frozen and the mixture is chilled before proceeding. I just put the mixture back in the fridge and refroze the canister, trying again at about midnight last night.) Do the ice cream maker thing to it, and then chill it in the freezer for some extra time or go ahead and eat it soft-serve.

I do think, next time, I might use fewer peaches, and cut them into smaller chunks. The chunks get kind of sorbet textured, frozen and cold, inside the creamy ice cream. The peaches release all this juice so everything ends up tasting like peach, and the ice cream part gets this pale peachy color. You've gotta love summer.

I've decided on a menu for the World-Record-Breaking picnic in Bryant Park tomorrow (see entry below): steak salad with blue cheese, red onion, walnuts and greens, almond madeleines (which I made yesterday) and lemonade.

The madeleine recipe I used is from Ladies' Home Journal. I don't know if it's the recipe or the weather, but even though they taste good and have a nice, fluffy texture, they've become a little sticky on the side that was up top during baking. I guess it's been pretty humid here, so I shouldn't blame the recipe.

Mix 1/2 cup sugar with 3 eggs, then add 3/4 cup flour, 1/4 cup finely ground almonds, 1/2 teaspoon baking powder and 1/8 teaspoon salt. Mix until combined, then pour in 1/2 cup melted unsalted butter and 1/2 teaspoon each vanilla and almond extract. Let it sit, covered, at room temperature 20 minutes, then spoon into madeleine mold (I had found a mini-madeleine mold on the giveaway table at work, so I ended up making almost 100 little cakes instead of the 24 specified in the recipe - it was one of those rubbery "pans," and I think I approve, even though I was skeptical at first - the madeleines popped right out, and I hear that getting them out of the pan is usually a big problem with traditional pans).

Made the lemonade same as last time, then stuck it in the freezer in plastic bottles so it'll be cold for the picnic.

Oh, and we didn't go to Dos Caminos the other night. The reservation was late, so I made an earlier one at Noche, then Todd decided he'd rather have barbecue so we went to Virgil's instead. We love Virgil's (well, Todd loves it, and I'm kind of a fan). It's not fine dining, but I love the cheesy grits, which are the epitome of comfort food to me, and the ribs are good and plentiful so you're eating them for the whole week (at least, the next day).