Cooking Digest 6/23-6/29

Below the fold: Bête Noire Bars and other thwarted cooking projects, Mexican Slaw, and Cherry Vinegar:

Cooking Digest 6/15-6/22

Below the fold: Whole Wheat Sesame Bagels, Minted Marinated Carrots, and Hellfire Jerk Chicken with Rummy Pineapple.

Cooking Digest 6/8-6/15

Below the fold: Orange Pull-Apart Loaf, my own Deconstructed BLT Tart, Gallopinto, Potato Pancakes, and Gingered Swiss Chard Omelet.

Paul's Pie: Deconstructed BLT Tart

Deconstructed BLT Tart

Paul wanted a bacon crust. 

"Do you want bacon in the crust?" I asked.

"No," he answered.  "I want a crust that IS bacon."

I happily googled "bacon crust recipe" and discovered this very promising recipe.

"How about this?" I asked.

"No," Paul said.  "I want crust AND bacon crust."


Well!  I do like a culinary conundrum, but folks who know me know that I cook more comfortably from recipes.  Still, I wanted to satisfy Paul's quest for pie.  Since it's already June and a crust + bacon crust seems pretty heavy to me, I decided to fill the crust with seasonable vegetables rather than something quiche-like--and backing away from bacon and eggs led me to the BLT, which always tastes best with summer tomatoes.

What follows is my first effort to make a seasonal version of Paul's Pie, which cobbles together the recipe above and vamps on David Lebovitz's French Tomato Tart recipe, which I've made several times with stupendous results.  The bacon comes from Godfrey Bros. Meats, the arugula from my Sterling Farm CSA share on the advice of Jonathan Darby, and the tomatoes from Brogue Hydroponics, who manage to grow delicious tomatoes in early June!  The spinach and oregano were from my tiny shady garden.

Side view of a slice.

This recipe, like many, is pretty easy but takes both time and patience--and you have to trust your own cooking judgment, which I know from personal experience can be hard.  I'm sure you could use a store-bought pie crust instead of making your own tart or pie crust, but I encourage you to make your own.  Crusts are very easy to make, and the recipe below has always worked for me AND is big enough for the 10" spring-form pan.  I've taken lots of photos to guide the beginner.  Humidity really affects baking, since the more water there is in the air, the less you need to add to your recipe.  When I made this, it was so humid that 2 Tablespoons of water was almost too much!

Local and Seasonal: Pumpkin Stuffed With Everything Good

Pumpkin fresh from the oven.

It's September 2010.  My friend Stacie calls me, and in a voice full of excitement, tells me, "NPR just did an interview with a chef who makes a recipe you have to try.  It's called Pumpkin Stuffed With Everything Good.  I know you'll love it!"  Stacie was correct, and that was the day I discovered and fell in love with Dorie Greenspan.  This recipe comes from Around My French Table, which I am very sorry to say I still don't own.  That day, though,  I went to google.com, and a quick search yielded up a version of this recipe on Epicurious.com, (which I encourage you to use if you have not already tried it, though I prefer allrecipes.com's ratings system). 

Flash forward to October 15, 2011, when I'm on my second go with this recipe since the pumpkin season hit.  While pumpkin growers in the Northeast had their crops devastated by Hurricane Irene and Tropical Storm Lee, I still managed to find two PA pumpkins at the Whole Foods in Mt. Washington, MD, and I shipped them back home with me.  I like the "bonne idée" section at the end of the recipe; both times I've used chard, the first time I subbed in 1.5 cups of brown rice, and this time I left out the thyme and added in about a tablespoon of ginger to complement the Star Anise and Ginger Chicken that I'm going to have as the main with my stuffed pumpkin tonight.

Try this recipe!  If enough people eat Pumpkin Stuffed With Everything Good, maybe stores will carry pie pumpkins after Halloween!

Found Food: Spiced Kuri Squash and Chicken Stew

When one impulse buys a 4-pound Kuri squash, it then behooves one to find a recipe that uses it.  This is the recipe that I found--and since I have a habit of finding food before I find the recipe, I'm creating a new tag.  

The amazing Red Kuri Squash

All of the vegetables and the chicken are local; the broth, while not homemade, has made use of leftover broth from my roomie's fabulous pilaf that she made me two nights ago.  I placed the onion, garlic, and ginger ends and peels in my freezer bag o' stock scraps. 

ETA: This recipe was originally posted in September 2010; it's now 2 October 2011, and I made this again deboning 2 lbs of leg quarters--NOT for the timid but an excellent way to get bones for the freezer hoard for future broth--to get 1.25 lbs of meat.  I also took photos!  Next time I make this, I may use coconut milk in place of the broth, since I bet that's worth the calories.

Phyllo Feta Torte: Entertaining Menu Option

Guests are very often my kitchen guinea pigs, since I normally use them to debut new recipes that have captured my fancy. Thankfully, my choices are seldom failures--it's a bit risky to mix a new recipe and company. I've been a cooking fiend in recent weeks but got too busy to post. This is a catch-up with some truly must-try dishes that I've made recently.

When my friend Missi was here, I pulled out all the stops for a dinner I hosted for her. Not only did I make the Phyllo Feta Torte mentioned in the title, but I had her teach me how to grill by making Beef Andouille Burgers, and I did Epicurious's Lemon Curd Tart for dessert, which I highly recommend.

The Phyllo Feta Torte is one of my NYT finds. Apparently it's traditional fare at Greek Orthodox Easter celebrations. It's also the single easiest way to use phyllo dough that I have encountered (spanakopita is the hardest, baklava relatively easy). In fact, the whole recipe is a cinch to make, yet everyone gasps at its beauty when you unmold it. While it doesn't hit my cooking-for-myself trifecta of easy, healthy, and yummy, it more than meets my cooking-for-guests trifecta of easy, gorgeous, and yummy. This dish may well be the winningest I have.

When I made it the first time, I was delighted with how it tasted plain, but then I bravely tried the honey--yes, honey with feta and dill!--and ZOMG it was transcendent! A light to heavy drizzle of local honey really should be a requirement for this impressive and easy dish, and everyone who likes flaky pastry and a complex array of flavors should give this baby a go. 

Spanish Lamb Chops: Menu

I happened upon twelve beautiful lamb loin chops at GIANT: original price $33.18, scavenged price $19.03.  It was definitely time not only for my wonderful Spanish lamb chop recipe, but to make Voluptuous Vegan's Fennel, Orange, and Pomegranate Salad.  (Second only to unveganing a vegan recipe is serving it with baby animal, since both please my warped sense of humor.)

Friday's Tip: Egg-cellent Advice

A Tip  Today's post is all about the glorious, wonderful, incredible, edible egg.  I feel sorry for my egg-eschewing friends, since these little guys are really quite an amazing package:

• They are the perfect protein.  Really, there is nothing better nutritionally.
• They are the cheapest animal protein you can buy, even if you get organic eggs.  Let's say you buy a dozen eggs at $4.00, and you eat 2 at a time--that's a whopping $.67 per meal.  Thankfully, I can get local, pastured eggs cheaper than that.  Serious Eats recently confirmed my suspicion that eggs taste like eggs regardless of how footloose and fancy-free the chickens are, UNLESS they're pasturized (and then they suck).  
• At about 70 calories per large egg, they are an excellent low-calorie, low-fat, high-protein snack, particularly if you are cutting calories, hungry, and don't want to sabotage your weight-loss goals.  Protein is very filling!  I've been keeping boiled eggs in the fridge just for this purpose, and they really do the trick.

Here are some tips to help you get the most out of these little powerhouses:

1. Fresh eggs are desirable for baking, particularly if you need to separate white from yolk.  Less fresh eggs taste the same, but the white deteriorates with age and is less separable.
2. Older eggs are preferable for boiling, since the peels will come off easier.  Boiling, in fact, is an excellent use of eggs on the verge of passing their Best By date.
3. Not sure if your eggs are fresh?  Fill a large pot or bowl with water, and put them in.  If they sink, they're good; if they float, very delicately but decisively throw them out (the reason they float is that they have begun oxidizing).
4. Don't pay more for egg-shell color, which is determined by chicken color and does not affect taste or quality; instead, pay more for eggs from humanely-kept chickens!
5. How to hard-boil eggs with energy efficiency in mind: Fill a pot with cold tap water.  Place eggs in.  Sprinkle liberally with the cheapest salt you own (egg shells can crack, and the salt fills the cracks to keep the insides from leaking out).  Cover (optional step, but it helps them boil faster so saves energy).  Bring to a full rolling boil.  Cover if you haven't already and turn off heat.  Let sit 12 minutes.  Uncover and add a tray's worth of ice cubes.  Let sit 10 minutes.  Remove from water and place in fridge.  N.B.  This process takes less than 30 minutes, but requires you to hang out in the kitchen.
6. Secret ingredient to boil fresh eggs to help with peeling: 1 teaspoon baking soda. (h/t Summer Tomato for this excellent video--I always buy farm-fresh eggs and was losing lots of white when peeling.  This trick seriously works!)
7. Secret trick to separate eggs: Do it when they're cold and the whites are at their firmest, and then bring to room temperature to bake.
8. Have extra egg whites?  Eat them within 2-3 days, or freeze them in ice cube trays and store till ready to use in freezer.
9. Have extra egg yolks?  You can freeze them, too, but you need to liberally sprinkle them with sugar OR salt so that they keep their consistency--if you plan to make a lemon curd or flan with them, for instance, choose sugar.  You have to have a plan in mind for them to know which to choose.
10. Finally, don't be afraid of the cholesterol or other bad press eggs have gotten.  They are a great food for everyone but truly a dieter's friend. 

Here are some recipes that I recommend, all of which are easy and yummy:
A lowfat Egg Salad.
A lowfat version of Eggs in Purgatory.
My current favorite dessert, Lemon Curd Tart with Olive Oil.
A great use for summer's cherry tomatoes, Cherry Tomato Frittata (I use only half the parmesan, and then add hot sauce).

Do Not Punish America's Poor: Sodas and SNAP

I don't drink sodas or other sugared drinks, since I limit my liquid (and thus not satiating) calories as much as I can.  Still, I cannot get behind movements that locate such habits in the poor and seek to punish them.  I wonder how many sugared-drink imbibers there are out there who see no irony in hitting the poor with this kind of ruling--one thinks of glass houses and stones.

I simply cannot be a fan of a policy that singles out the poor, as if they are the only Americans who drink these things, the only Americans plagued by obesity, or the only Americans who deserve no treats in their already impoverished lives.  Pass a soda tax or remove the subsidies that make these noxious concoctions so cheap--that would be more even-handed and effective.

#AmericaNutritionFail

This article from the Washington Post captures what's wrong with the way we approach nutrition: we create a single image that cannot help but be mired in conflicting messages thanks to all the interests it must appease.  I agree that most Americans don't want to be told what not to eat, but an alarming number have no idea what they should be eating.

The simple truth is that the Food Pyramid will not solve anything, though a healthier articulation of it would help poorer Americans, whom it help feeds.  What we need to do is teach our children how to eat, whether it's a return of Home Ec or a nutrition class, and stop subsidizing processed foods so that they are no longer appealing for their price, or worse, placed on SNAP when they do anything but assist nutrition.

A Tip and a Tool for Friday

TIP  A full freezer is an efficient freezer, and here are some excellent, cost-effective ways to fill it!  Use a gallon-sized freezer bag to save all of your veggie scraps (such as garlic, onion, carrot, and celery ends) rather than throwing them in compost, or worse, throwing them away.   Just pull the bag out of the freezer and toss in these scraps whenever you cook!  When the bag is full, you can use these to make a brilliant homemade vegetable stock.  These bits are actually the best-tasting parts for making stock--so not only do you get more bang for your veggie dollar (more significant if you buy organic), you get some mighty good and pretty dang easy-to-make broth.

I normally combine the veggie-scrap bag with a chicken carcass bag (see below, though you can skip the chicken or add another set of meaty bones) in a large pot, add water to cover, bring to a boil and then simmer for hours. I make sure I add ginger if I have it (that freezer bag is a good place for ginger peels), and herb stems like parsley along the way (though don't get too crazy with the herbs), and peppercorns to the stock.  I never add salt, though.  Strain the broth when you're done, reserving the liquid and tossing all solids in the trash,  and then measure off amounts into glass jars (which I conserve rather than recycle).  Place them in the fridge for a few hours before placing them in the freezer to prevent glass-jar explosion, which spoils all the cooking love. (You can also fill ice cube trays with stock and then store these cubes in quart-sized freezer bags.)

If you prefer chicken stock, use another gallon-sized freezer bag to store raw or cooked portions of chicken.  Since whole chickens are cheaper anyway, simply buy one, chop it up for the usual parts, and throw the rest in the freezer bag.  Then throw leftover bones in there, too, rather than throwing them out. 

TOOL  If you work with dough at all, anything that needs to rest from corn tortillas to bread, King Arther's Dough Whisk will be your new best friend.  I confess I got mine in a happy accident--for some reason, it was included in a box of goodies I'd ordered, and I keep thanking the generosity of the employee every time I use it!  It is So. Much. Better. than a regular whisk--not only does its circular shape mix up dough faster and more thoroughly, but less dough sticks to it (and what does stick is much easier to clean off).  Truly one of my favorite favorite baking tools and a must have for any baker!

Oh SNAP!, or Failures in Feeding America's Poor

Good commentary and horrific visuals of Before and After purchasing power of Food Stamps, the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program with the deceptively cute acronym SNAP.  Not only are their too few calories, too many of what's there are white rice and white potatoes, which manage to be filling, and maybe even fattening, but not nutritious.

As John Cole says, these rations would drive a person to sell them for liquor and cigarettes instead.

Me and Harold McGee

Nobody beats Harold McGee on the science of cooking--his On Food and Cooking is a must have for anyone who is a serious cook.

How wonderful that he has a new book!  Here's a teaser interview.

Lazy Yakatori Steak

I defrosted a beautiful 1 3/4 lb. sirloin that I got on sale at Whole Foods for $6.99 a pound.  I found this easy recipe for Yakatori Steak so that I could get one more go on the grill before it gets too cold, which I decided to make even easier by using red wine vinegar instead of lemon juice to save a step and not cubing or slicing up the steak to thread on skewers.  Lazy! 

With it I will grill salt and vinegar potatoes and local eggplant that I bought yesterday at Sonnewald.  I'm very excited to get a chance to make the potatoes, though of course rice is the obvious (and lazier) accompaniment to the steak.  La!

A Winning Recipe: Tortilla Espagnola

(Updated: I was too busy last week to make this, get the photo, and submit it to NYT, but it's still a winner.  I wrote this post on 9/20.)

The NYT Well Blog is putting together a round-up of readers' potluck recipes and photos, deadline 24 September.  I at first felt like I had nothing to submit, but my friends reminded me that very few recipes are truly original--we're all vamping on someone else's idea.  Besides, the entry form asks for the source--hurray for such explicit protection of intellectual property!

I first thought I'd go with a tart, since I have been the Queen of Tarts this summer.  They are impressive--edible at any temperature and with crusts that often permit them to become finger food, which is something of a win.  But I hesitated, because my tarts are seasonal, and I felt a winning recipe should be for all seasons.

And then I remembered Epicurious's Tortilla Espagnola, which I revised pretty heavily and with great success for preparation in my iron skillet.  Not only is it even more of a finger food than tarts, it creates more individual bits, tastes best at room temperature, and is a very easy prep that leaves you with lovely flavored olive oil to use when you cook.  A win!

Found Food: Roasted Squash Seeds

While I am perfectly happy to compost my food scraps and reuse them that way, the best foods are those that have further edible iterations.  The kuri squash that I used to make the Spiced Kuri Squash and Chicken Stew yielded some plump, beautiful seeds that begged to be roasted.  Since these will be higher calorie and a huge temptation, I'm taking them to a neighbor's tonight along with a bottle of Portguese wine.

Roasted Squash Seeds
Makes 2 cups

Seeds from a winter squash such as Kuri
1 tablespoon olive oil
1/2 teaspoon kosher or fine sea salt
1/2 teaspoon smoked paprika
1/2 teaspoon cumin
1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper

1)  Take seeds scooped from squash and rinse in colander to get rid of as much squash fiber and meat as possible.  Spread on baking tray and dry out.

2)  Preheat oven to 375 F.

3)  Place seeds in a mixing bowl.  Add oil and stir.  Add spices (improvising as necessary or desired) and stir.  Spread seeds evenly on baking sheet.

4) Place baking sheet full of seeds in oven and bake 20-30 minutes or until seeds begin to brown.  Adjust salt as desired.

Why Won't Americans Eat Their Veggies?

The NYT just published this interesting article about how Americans, despite all efforts to convince them otherwise, refuse to eat their vegetables (I combine the exception categories in one curved swoop: an older, well-educated, better-paid woman).

This fascinates me on a purely rhetorical level: here we have serious efforts of persuasion that fail, and fail again, and then fail some more.  I am also delighted by the Rockin' Baby Carrot Campaign, though I think reimagining baby carrots as junk food is probably NOT the wisest decision.  But who knows what works with kids these days? 

The two points that stand out for me beyond all the whining excuses are these: vegetables are expensive, and they require work to integrate them into a meal.  If we want more Americans to eat veggies, we first need to make them cheaper--rather than subsidizing processed foods that at once fatten us while starving us of vital nutrients, we should apply those subsidies to make vegetables cheaper (and the logical first place to start this is Food Stamps).  I really think that's the quickest and best fix.  But it'd also be good to teach America's children more about good eating habits--there is a clarity of mind in young people, who see things in Black and White, that makes them amenable to clear arguments about healthy choices, and they would take this propaganda home with them (childless that I am, I might be romanticizing America's youth--still, I have seen 9-year-olds that are remarkably receptive to anti-smoking arguments, for instance).  In the longterm, these children would also have the education about food to make better choices and avoid fad diets--this could be a comprehensive win.

All of this is fantasy territory, however.  The corporate food producers fattened and fed by subsidies will never let Congress make such a change, and even I can see that America's education system needs other fixes first, as we slide ever lower in reading and math.

Ikea's New Cookbook: Delightful, Delicious, Delovely

I am still swooning over the clever visuals in this cookbook. *want*  (h/t David Lebovitz)

There are Many Ways to Starve a Child

Jim Weill's post on the Hill Blog captures perfectly the impractical and immoral decision Congress may make to rob food stamp funding to pay for school lunches.  A mean decision considered by itself, comparing it to the TARP bailout makes me nauseated.  How stupid are our Congress critters even to consider willfully depriving our children and their families of adequate daily calories and nutrition, especially given where unemployment stands right now?  Healthy countries want healthy citizens and invest in that health.  I pray that this bill doesn't pass.