Recipes & Cooking: May 2005 Archives

I had a success in the kitchen yesterday. I made myself an omelet for lunch and it turned out beautiful! I think they key really was the nonstick pan and the butter; I usually skimp on the fat I cook my omelets in. Filled it with some of the mushrooms I roasted on Wednesday with salt, pepper, olive oil and a few sprigs of the neverending suppy of rosemary. (400 degrees, about 30 minutes.)

I made a 2-egg omelet in my 10-inch skillet, and I liked the thinner results. Whisked the eggs with salt and pepper, then heated about a tablespoon of butter in the pan until it just stopped foaming. Poured in the eggs and stirred them around a bit then let them get mostly set, then topped them with the mushrooms. I fudged the method Julia Child used to fold it, jerking the pan toward me to get the omelet together on the far side of the skillet, then using a fork to guide it into submission. Tilted the pan over the plate to roll the omelet seamless-side up out of the skillet.

I had a success in the kitchen yesterday. I made myself an omelet for lunch and it turned out beautiful! I think they key really was the nonstick pan and the butter; I usually skimp on the fat I cook my omelets in. Filled it with some of the mushrooms I roasted on Wednesday with salt, pepper, olive oil and a few sprigs of the neverending suppy of rosemary. (400 degrees, about 30 minutes.)

I made a 2-egg omelet in my 10-inch skillet, and I liked the thinner results. Whisked the eggs with salt and pepper, then heated about a tablespoon of butter in the pan until it just stopped foaming. Poured in the eggs and stirred them around a bit then let them get mostly set, then topped them with the mushrooms. I fudged the method Julia Child used to fold it, jerking the pan toward me to get the omelet together on the far side of the skillet, then using a fork to guide it into submission. Tilted the pan over the plate to roll the omelet seamless-side up out of the skillet.

So here's the second use I found for all that rosemary: crisp breadsticks for a snack for the moms in our playgroup (I'm hosting tomorrow, which means I need to vacuum the floor!).

I used the dough hook on my new mixer for the first time and wasn't 100 percent happy with the results (a lot of the flour just didn't get incorporated until I dumped everything out and kneaded it by hand). But OK. 2 cups of bread flour, 1 1/2 teaspoon active dry yeast, 1 teaspoon sugar, 1 3/4 teaspoon salt. Mix that together, then add 2 tablespoons minced rosemary, a teaspoon of olive oil and warm water to bring it all together (about 3/4 cup). Knead a couple of minutes, then form into a ball, oil it and place it in a warm spot for an hour, to double in size (mine needed an hour and a half to double in size; I never add hot enough water to the yeast, I think). Cut into 16 pieces and roll the pieces out into thin, foot-long strands. Let rise on oiled baking sheets for 30 minutes, then bake in 325 degree oven about 40 minutes. The breadsticks that I baked on my dark-colored pan got a little too brown on the bottom so some adjustment might be necessary.

I've been doing a lot of cooking in the last couple of days (more than usual, anyway). Friday jambalaya, yesterday tomato, cucumber and feta salad, and last night asparagus and bacon with pasta.

I kind of made up my own jambalaya recipe using what I had on hand: the last of the fresh kielbasa, chicken cubes, wilty celery, jasmine rice. Browned slices of the kielbasa, then removed it from the pan and sauteed the necessary trinity of diced green pepper, onion and celery (I should've used more; I think I had about 1/2 to 3/4 cup of each). Pushed that to the side of the pan and browned the chicken. Then I added 2 cups of water, 1 1/2 cup rice and a 14.5-ounce can of diced tomatoes. Salt, pepper and some ancho chile powder. Stirred, then brought to a boil and dropped to a simmer for 20 minutes. Served with parsley, green onion and hot sauce on top. Next time it definitely needs smoked sausage, but Todd was pretty happy with these results, anyway.

I ordered some Father Sam's mini wheat pitas, and they're good. I heated one in the oven to eat with a salad I made from chunks of peeled cucumber, quartered cherry tomatoes, crumbled feta, vinaigrette, oregano, salt and pepper. Todd doesn't like feta so it was good for lunch and good made in advance while August took his morning nap.

Dinner last night was good, too. While I cooked some short, twisted pasta I also sauteed about 1 1/2 slices thick-cut bacon, then took that from the skillet and drained some of the fat. I discovered that I didn't have an onion, so I sliced up four pearl onions and sauteed those in the bacon fat. Then added asparagus cut in 1/2-inch pieces and sauteed to what I considered done (Todd likes his cooked a little more than me and I knew it would get more cooking at the next stage). Then added some pasta water (quite a bit, like 1/2 cup) and the almost-done pasta and boiled a bit to get the flavors off the bottom of the pan into the pasta, then added the bacon back in with a huge pile of grated pecorino-romano. This was pretty, too. I should've taken a picture.

I feel like one of those housewives in the frilly aprons who would moan that the roast had dried out because hubby was late from work, because that's what happened to me last night. It wasn't a roast, it was fresh sausage with carmelized onions and pierogies, but it was a whole lot better when I ate it at 8 than when Todd ate it at 9. At least I didn't wait for him, because I ended up burning the bottom of the pan the sausage and onions were in, which didn't actually burn the food but gave it a burned taste.

I'll have to try this recipe again for him, though, because it really was good. I cut the sausage (fresh kielbasa -- is that an oxymoron?) in 3-inch lengths, then browned it in a deep skillet. Threw in a small sliced onion and browned that, then added some water and braised the whole thing for an hour. Then I added 3 frozen pierogies to the skillet and put the lid back on. Eight minutes later they were done, and I ate them topped with onion. When I cut the sausage in half, though, it was still pink, so I left that in to cook longer (I actually think, now, that something in the sausage made it stay pink and that it was cooked through). Would've been good all together, I think.

Fresh Direct gets apples from Red Jacket Orchard, but since all the orchard has are mushy old apples from last year (I presume), they're offering good apple butter. I'm on my second jar. It's great with almond butter on a sandwich, but I also had it with ham and Cheddar.

Last night I wanted to finish up some brie we had and figured, Why not? What's better with brie than a nice, crisp Granny Smith?

Turns out it's a thick coat of apple butter. This took the form of a baguette sandwich with a generous wad of brie, apple butter and Boston lettuce. The classic pairing of apples and brie was really nice with the crunchy bread and buttery lettuce.

Another fast, fast, fast one. Todd wasn't too thrilled, but I liked it. And it made three tons so I better like it because I'll be eating it for a while.

I realized too late that the pasta in the leftovers would swell if I left the soup as it was, so I drained it and stored the solids and the liquid in the fridge separately. It works fine, but now I'm out of liquid and still have about 1 1/2 tons of beans, pasta and vegetables left.

I sauteed a chopped onion in oil until soft, then added a big can of Italian-seasoned diced tomatoes, 2 cups chicken stock, half a box of frozen peas and carrots and half a box of frozen string beans. Heated that through, then just before Todd got home I added a cup of ditalini and a 15-ounce can of rinsed kidney beans, seasoned liberally, then cooked until the pasta was done.

I've been harping on Todd about Mother's Day (I'm doing him a favor; it really is very important to me this first time, and Todd can sometimes drop the ball on birthdays, anniversaries and holidays). So when a gigantic box arrived from Cooking.com, I knew it could only be one thing. The much coveted KitchenAid mixer. So I starting a subtle campaign of hints, "I want to make muffins, but it's so hard with the baby," etc., until he caved and let me open it early, with the understanding that it means nothing on Sunday. You can see from the photo what my focus here really is. The mixer is a revelation, like when I got my new stove. It's like having another set of hands. (Even though we don't have room for it, which was always my way of talking myself out of getting one.) Woohoo for motherhood.

So August and I took it on its maiden voyage to make some lemon poppyseed muffins for Todd's return from London, which for some reason I have this idea Todd likes.

First we sifted dry ingredients (1 1/2 cups flour, 1 1/2 teaspoon baking powder, 1/2 teaspoon baking soda, 1/2 teaspoon salt) onto a sheet of wax paper. Then we got to fire up the mixer, to beat an egg with 1/2 cup sugar. Added to that a 6-ounce container vanilla yogurt and a spoonful of plain (it was supposed to be 8 ounces of lemon, but the convenience store didn't have that), a few drips of lemon extract, 1/4 cup lemon juice and the zest of one lemon and mixed that together, then put the mixer on stir to add 1/4 cup poppyseeds and the dry ingredients. Baked at 400 degrees F for 15 minutes, the brushed liberally (like 5 times) with a mixture of 1/2 cup sugar dissolved into 1/4 cup lemon juice and the zest of one lemon (I heated it in the microwave to dissolve).