Notes from the Alpha Test Kitchen

E is for Eggplant. Really.

2011-05-31T12:56:00.000-07:00

Hey there. Hi. Busy spring spent producing MANOS - The Hands of Felt. Ate my brain.

And now we're back.

So, eggplant. Yeah, I have to admit, my past with regards to eggplant is not the greatest.

WARNING: DO NOT BE EATING WHILE YOU READ THIS.

In fact, the first time I encountered eggplant, I managed about three bites before I threw up on my plate. At the table, yes. (I've mentioned I have texture issues? Yeah, well, this stuff was pretty darn slimy.) I don't think my parents ever made it again.

But...I should be able to improve upon this as an adult, yes? I mean, look at The Eggplant. It's so darn pretty. There must be something I can do to it that won't set me off.

So what do I know about eggplant? Not much. I had it in my head it is related to nightshade, which Wikipedia confirms (all hail). Incidentally, this means it's also related to tomatoes, which connects some texture dots for me.

According to many (many) hours of watching Food Network, the most important thing to do to the eggplant is salt it to keep it from being bitter. So I'll be sure to pay attention to that.

And Prodigal Summer by Barbara Kingsolver has some lovely descriptions of pink stripey eggplants that sound really neat. I may venture to Whole Paycheck and see if they have something like that.

Despite jumping in pretty underinformed here, I actually already have in mind what I want to attempt: grilled, moussaka, and baba ganoush.

So we'll see how that goes. And hope for no vomiting.

E is for Excuses, Excuses

2011-01-19T20:26:00.000-08:00

Hey everybody.

Sorry that I've not updated or launched into Plant Eggplant. When I got home from the holidays, my cat was sick. So I've been preoccupied with taking care of him. Fortunately he has stabilized, so I have some attention free for other things again.

Thanks for your patience,
Raej

H is for Holiday Cooking

2010-12-23T21:46:00.001-08:00

I've traveled to see family for the last seven years, so my December holidays find me doing very little personal baking, but plenty of cooking in other people's kitchens.

Like yesterday, when I was urgently requested to make a batch of chocolate chip cookies. They were completely gone within 8 minutes of hitting the plate.

Or take today, when we made five dozen cookies. I'm hoping they last for awhile. A long while.

And then tomorrow I am to whip up some Toasted Ravioli. I'll be using the easy method, which would feel like cheating except

a) my sister doesn't have a pasta maker or a food processor
b) you can buy frozen Toasted Ravioli in the store here, so i'm actually being much less lazy than i _could_ be.

I think Christmas Day I'll be in charge of green beans (casserole style) and gravy. Let's start praying to the gravy god now, shall we? No lumps, no lumps, no lumps.....

Anyway, whether your Christmas finds you up to your elbows in flour and giblets, or being decorative while others do the heavy cooking, I hope you have a happy one!

~ Raej

S is for Sixth

2010-12-23T21:43:00.000-08:00

Hi everybody!

Just wanted to say: Thanks for voting for me in the Iron Foodie Challenge.

I got sixth. Not bad for a relative beginner. It comes with no further prize except a warm and fuzzy feeling. Mmmmm!

I is for Iron Foodie, Prequel 3

2010-12-10T23:59:00.000-08:00

or E is for Easy Toasted Ravioli

Before I launched into my Iron Foodie recipe, I decided to do a Proof of Concept pre-run (Mythbusters fan, yes).

I'd found plenty of easy-ish looking Toasted Ravioli recipes out on the interwebs, but I had no idea whether or not they would wind up tasting like the real thing.

Hey, what better time to take on a completely untried recipe than Thanksgiving? Oh, just about any time, I would normally say. Since I, however, am an experienced member of The School of Turkey Basting, I wind up with a fair amount of free time in the kitchen on Feast Day. So I jumped in.

What I Did:

1 egg
2 tablespoons heavy whipping cream
1 cup stuffing cubes
1 pumpkin cookie, stale
frying oil
1 package of Spinach and Cheese Ravioli
1 jar of Vodka sauce

1) Use a fork to mix together egg and cream in a shallow bowl.

2) Put the stuffing cubes and cookie into food processor and mix until the cubes are crumbs. Place in a bowl or on a small plate.

3) Fill a skillet with oil for frying (I like to go about 1/2 inch deep. You do what suits you) and warm over medium heat.

4) Dip ravioli in the egg mixture, shake off excess.

5) Dip eggy ravioli in crumbs, shake off excess.

6) Place ravioli in hot oil. Fry 3-4 minutes per side.

7) Pour sauce into a small sauce pain and warm over low heat.

8) Put fried raviolis on a paper towel-lined plate.

9) Serve ravioli with sauce. Eat. Enjoy!

How Did it Go?
Great! I put this out as an appetizer and people devoured and praised it, despite not having ever heard of it before. (Not a lot of St. Louisians on hand here in Seattle.) So, concept proved as far as I was concerned.

What Would I Change?
- I started heating the oil a little late, so the first couple of ravioli weren't as crispy as I would have liked. I wound up adjusting this for my Iron Foodie recipe.
- The cookie crumbs wound up a little too big. They tasted ok, but it threw the texture off a little. (To me. Pretty sure my friends didn't notice/care.)

E is for Foods that start with E?

2010-12-07T18:50:00.000-08:00

While I wait and hope to become an Iron Foodie, it's also probably time to get back to regular business, yes?

We're on the letter E. Currently under consideration:

- eggs
- eggplant
- elk

Any suggestions from the peanut gallery? I'm open.

I is for Iron Foodie Ingredient Sampling, part 2

2010-12-06T16:35:00.001-08:00

Ideally I'd've talked about this _before_ posting my Iron Foodie entry recipe, but, well, Tech Week interfered. Consider this a prequel. : )

The Marx Foods Box of Mystery contained two ingredients that, in my opinion, needed a platform for useful/accurate tasting:

- Smoked Salt
- Tellicherry Peppercorns

(Of course you _can_ eat pepper and salt plain, but they don't tend to taste very good that way.)

What I did:

1) I equipped myself with a couple of steaks. Salt and pepper are the only things I like to put on a steak (credit to Alton Brown's I'm Just Here for the Food for this preference), so I figured this would make the differences between basic salt and pepper and the gourmet versions pretty apparent.

Salts on the left, peppers on the right. Grinder with the special pepper indicated by the purty pink ribbon.

2) I salted and peppered each side of the steaks and let them sit for 20 minutes while the broiler preheated.

Regular pepper on the left steak, Tellicherry on the right. Smoked salt across the top, regular table salt across the bottom.

3) I put the steaks in the broiler, 5 minutes per side.

4) I let the steaks rest as long as I could bear (seven minutes in this case) and served with sides of my choice (tots! brussels sprouts!)

How Did it Go?
- The Smoked Salt has a really, really strong scent before you cook it, which, to be honest, worried me a bit. It seemed that it could easily be overpowering. Fortunately, this was not the case. Cooking mellowed it out a little, while letting it keep the smokey edge. It worked really well with steak, and I bet would be good with lamb as well.

- The Tellicherry Peppercorns seemed to be both more and less subtle than your average black table pepper. The pepper taste was gentler, but the heat level was cranked up. *Full disclosure: I did go ahead and eat one of each type of peppercorn, just to confirm this impression. Whew. It confirmed both that opinion, plus my notion that eating pepper plain is just not a good idea.

If you'd like to see what I wound up doing with these ingredients, click here to see my Iron Foodie recipe: Toasted Ravioli.

T is for Toasted Ravioli or I is for Iron Foodie Contest Recipe

2010-12-03T16:14:00.000-08:00

Ok, Tech Week almost done, deadline looming, here, finally, is The Recipe.

(Here's Marx Food's Iron Foodie Contest explained, in case you're just now tuning in.)

Toasted Ravioli is a local specialty in my hometown of St. Louis, Missouri and is very hard to find elsewhere. In fact, most people who haven't spent time in StL have never even heard of it. This is their bad luck, because it's very very very good. How good? The only hometown food I miss more is White Castle.

Since, as I mentioned earlier, I was already thinking in an Italian/meat-ward direction, Toasted Ravioli was a most acceptable brain wave. As usual, I hit the internet for some recipe theory research, and found some useful stuff.

In fact, I did a sort of proof of concept experiment as a Thanksgiving appetizer. It was definitely well received. But I decided Iron Foodie deserved no less than true, complete insanity. So, I made mine from scratch. Research debts also in the direction of Cooks dot com and Betty Crocker's New Cookbook (the 1st cookbook I owned as an adult).

What I Did:

~ Pasta ~
1/3 cup of macerated Dulse Seaweed*
2 large eggs
1 TBLSP olive oil
1/2 tsn Smoked Salt*
2+ cups flour

0) Soak the seaweed in boiling water for 15 minutes (this is macerating. big word, simple concept.)

1) Combine eggs, seaweed, oil and salt in a food processor until blended.

2) Put the flour on a decent sized flat surface and create a well in the middle (a sort of volcano shaped thing; the crater is to hold the liquid.)

3) Slowly work the flour into the liquid until completely combined. (This gets messy. No worries.)

4) At this point you will most likely have to adjust your pasta dough. If it is too dry (crumbly, not sticking together, i.e., what happened to me), gradually incorporate little bits of liquid (TBLSP at a time) until you achieve a nice dough consistency. If it is too sticky, gradually incorporate bits of flour.

5) Knead the dough on a lightly floured surface for 5-8 minutes.

6) Plastic wrap the dough and rest in the fridge for several hours.

~ Filling ~
1 cup cubed squash
2 TBLSP olive oil
1 lb. ground pork
1/2 tsp Smoked Salt*
1/2 tsp ground Tellicherry Peppercorns*
1/3 of a medium sized onion, chopped
1/4 cup fresh sage
2 TBLSP fresh parsley
2 cloves garlic, SMASHED!
1/4 cup white wine
1/3 cup macerated Dried Wild Porcini Mushrooms*
1/2 cup cottage cheese

7) Parboil squash

8) Cook oil, pork, salt and pepper in a skillet over medium heat until pork is thoroughly cooked.

9) Add all other Filling ingredients (except cottage cheese) to skillet, cover and reduce heat to low; stir occasionally.

10) Cut one third off of the chilled pasta dough.

11) Roll it through a pasta machine on the widest setting. (If you don't have a pasta machine, use a rolling pin and skip ahead to step 15.)

12) Fold the pasta sheet in on itself from the ends, roughly into thirds. Sprinkle lightly with flour. The idea is to get it to a width where you can turn it 90 degrees and run in through the pasta machine again.

13) Click the pasta machine down one setting and run the pasta sheet through again.

14) Repeat 13 until you get the pasta as thin as you want it. (For me, this takes it down to the narrowest setting. So you can read through the pasta. Your taste may absolutely vary.)

15) Turn the heat off on the filling.

16) Lay the pasta sheet out on waxed paper. Cut pasta circles out of it with an upside down glass. (There are other ravioli cutting methods, but this one best appeals to my innate sense of laziness.)

17) Add filling and cottage cheese to food processor. Pulse for about 20 seconds, until everything is just combined.

18) Spoon small heaps of filling on one pasta circle.

19) Wet the entire edge of the circle (use water, butter, milk, whatever really…..I used the water from macerating the Porcini Mushrooms).

20) Place a second circle on top, and gently press edges together all the way around.
***It's right about here that this becomes the longest recipe I've ever done on this blog. HUZZAH FOR IRON FOODIENESS!***

~ Sauce ~
1 macerated Aji Panca Chili*
1/2 heavy whipping cream
1 clove garlic SMASHED!
1 can tomato sauce
1 tsp oregano
1 tsp basil

21) Slice open the chili and scrape out the seeds and membranes.

22) Chop chili and add it, garlic and cream to a small sauce pan. Warm over low heat.

23) Just as the cream wants to try boiling, turn off the heat.

24) Dump saucepan contents into food processor. Blend until completely mixed.

25) Return sauce to pan. Add tomato sauce, oregano and basil and warm over low heat, stirring occasionally.

~ Toasted…ing…ness…stuff... ~
1 egg
3 TBLSP heavy whipping cream
2 cups stuffing cubes
~ 1/4 cup parmesan cheese, grated
oil for frying

26) Fill a skillet with oil for frying (I like to go about 1/2 inch deep. You do what suits you.) and warm over medium heat.

27) Use a fork to mix together eggs and cream in a bowl.

28) Put the stuffing cubes and cheese into food processor and mix until the cubes are crumbs. Place in a bowl or on a small plate.

29) Dip ravioli in the egg mixture, shake off excess.

30) Dip eggy ravioli in crumbs, shake off excess.

31) Place ravioli in skillet. Fry 3-4 minutes per side.

32) Put fried raviolis on a paper towel-lined plate.

33) Serve ravioli with sauce. Eat. Enjoy!

How Did It Go?
It went surprisingly well, given the large number of new things i was trying (ingredients and techniques), and considering that I've not made scratch ravioli in a long long time. Texture was right on, flavor was pretty nice. Mostly a win here.
Also:
- The seaweed gave a really neat color to the pasta dough.
- The mushrooms rounded out the taste of the pork in a way that surprised me.
- The chili sauce wound up being not too hot for me, which is something of a miracle, frankly. And not being in pain, i was able to appreciate the flavor.

What Would I Do Differently?
- More filling! I put about a teaspoon's worth of filling in each ravioli, which wound up being not quite enough. The pasta to filling ratio was too high, which buried a lot of the flavor of the filling when everything was put together. Lacked balance.

- More vegetables! I think I'd up the butternut squash ratio a bit, just to get more vitamins involved. I mean, since you're eating something fried, it's nice to strike a blow for Stealth Health when you can.

I is for Iron Foodie Ingredient Sampling

2010-11-29T23:16:00.000-08:00

Two of the items in The Marx Foods Mystery Box were
- Dried Wild Porcini Mushrooms
and
- Dried Aji Panca Chilies

Neither of which I had ever, to my knowledge, eaten. Yay for new food!

First things first, before I could really taste them, I had to macerate them...

...in this case, with boiling water.

And then wait 15-20 minutes.

The porcini mushroom had a nice intense flavor that, in weight, reminded me a bit of chicken liver. The texture was a bit chewy, so it's clear that I can't use these "raw".

The chili bits were, ummm, weeeeeell, I considered them spicy, but I tend to order a one-star at Thai and Indian restaurants. Even I can admit they were not really painful. And I could actually taste the red chili flavor. So "mild" is probably an accurate description.

Odds are good that we will find both of these ingredients in my Signature Recipe. :)

T is for Tech Week

2010-11-29T00:12:00.000-08:00

The show I'm rehearsing is heading into Tech Week. (For those of you not in theatrrr, this means every waking moment, which will include more of those than usual, will be focused towards getting together a performance-ready piece by the end of the week.)

So I'm spending the evening working on my Iron Foodie recipe. Stay tuned.

T is for Egyptian Turkey

2010-11-26T16:20:00.003-08:00

The way I do the thanksgiving turkey winds up looking like I'm preparing it for the afterlife.

Which I guess I am, in a way.

As I said last year, I get my turkey method from The Joy of Cooking and, after 8 years, I'm a true believer. I know a lot of people are becoming converts to The Church of Brining, but the barding/basting 1-2 punch has never let me down, so I don't see changing it up any time soon.

But I can live in harmony with my brining brethren. 'Cause, really, isn't that what The Thanksgivinging is all about?

T is for Egyptian Turkey

2010-11-26T16:20:00.001-08:00

I is for Iron Foodie Thoughts

2010-11-22T19:57:00.000-08:00

Not to give too much away before the actual recipe, but I've been chewing on the contest a bit (pun intended) and here's where I am:

- Everything in the box is essentially a spice (not technically, granted, but due to the dried-ness of things that would otherwise be more feature-able). This is both a great thing and a scary thing. (Yay, I can do anything! Whoa, I could do anything. Like that.)

- What do I like to cook? I ask myself, in order to narrow things down a bit. Answer: breakfast, dessert, Italian food, meat. I'm likely to do something in one or more of those categories.

- The fennel pollen is The Ingredient Least Likely to be Used. It's basically a more intense fennel experience. And, well, I kind of hate fennel. Not bell pepper level hate, but.....it reminds me of licorice (they're not related), which reminds me of NyQuil, which reminds me of unpleasant times.....you see the problem.

- Next up will be some ingredient tastings. Every time a cheftestant on a cooking reality show doesn't do this, I get very indignant at them (from the safety of my couch; yeah, I'm totally an armchair sous chef). So it's be pretty stupid of me not to. I'll keep you posted.

I is for I still -heart- South Park

2010-11-18T00:09:00.000-08:00

I'm sitting here watching the episode of South Park mocking the Food Network (and Food Network addicts...er, like me) and it's just so wrong but oh-so-right at the same time.

They had me at the late-nite Food Network HOTline:

"Do you want to deglaze this pan with me?"
"Oh yeah, I'm gonna deglaze that pan with you so good."
"It's searing hot..."
"Oh yeah. Do you have a wooden spoon?"
"Yeah, baby, I have a spoon and it's really hard."

hee!

W is for What's In The Box??!? part 2

2010-11-17T18:25:00.000-08:00

Other items in The Mysterious Marx Foods Box of Mystery:

~ Dried Aji Panca Chilies ~
The label says they are "mild". Being a spice wuss, I'm betting a more accurate assessment is "comparatively mild".

~ Dried Wild Porcini Mushrooms ~
Massive score!

~ Tellicherry Peppercorns ~
I did some pepper taste experiments a few years back, which is what led me to the wonderfulness that is White Pepper. I look forward to seeing how this one compares.

~ Dulse Seaweed ~
Reply hazy. Try again later.

~ Maple Sugar ~
Oh baby. This ingredient is in serious danger of not making it into recipe consideration because I may just have to eat it. I'll put it in one of those giant straws like I used to get at the roller skating rink and then ride the sugar high for the next 12 hours.

W is for What's In The Box??!?

2010-11-15T17:00:00.001-08:00

Turns out The Mystery Box of Mysterious Iron Foodie Ingredients was on my doorstep when I got home Friday:

It was, without contest, the best smelling box I've ever opened.

Alas that there was no elk.

Ah well. All of the ingredients were dry, so it would've had to've been elk jerky, anyway. Try as I might, I just can't make myself feel too bad about a lack of elk jerky in my life.
So there we have it. The strongest scented ingredients were the vanilla bourbon beans, the smoked salt (smells like BACON!) and the fennel pollen. More on the, ahem, subtler ingredients tomorrow.

(Not to worry. In the meantime, I'll be busy formulating my evil, contest-winning plan! Er, I mean, recipe. Yeah. Mwah ha ha ha ha!)

Z is for ZOMG! Iron Foodie Contest!

2010-11-12T17:43:00.000-08:00

Well hey howdy hi, I got chosen to compete in the Marx Foods Iron Foodie Contest!

Squee!!!

As I type, apparently a box of 8 tasty food items is winging its way to me. I will need to use (at least?) 3 of these items in a Signature Recipe.

Since the box has already been sent, I have no scruples about telling you I'm crossing my fingers for Elk. I mean, "E" is next on the agenda, after all.

Oh, and truffles. Just because, hey: TRUFFLES.

D is for Duck Liver Pâté

2010-11-11T21:06:00.000-08:00

Once upon a time a blogger bought and cooked a duck.

Many moons later she blogged about it.

Two point five moons after that she finally got around to doing something with the duck liver.

Sooooo, I was _planning_ on following this recipe I found on epicurious pretty darn closely. Because making a pâté seemed like a fairly complex undertaking.

However, typically, I didn't have all the ingredients I needed, (FAIL!) so I had to make a couple of substitutions on the fly. (Remind me later to tell you about the time I got halfway through a batch of Toll House Cookies before realizing I was out of eggs. Sigh.)

What I Did:

bacon fat (approx 3 ounces)*
1 shallot
1 duck liver (approx 3 ounces)*
1/4 teaspoon herbes de Provence
1 clove garlic, peeled and crushed
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1 teaspoon sweet vermouth
toast

*I had to guesstimate the amount. Unless the ingredients in question are coming from a can, 'ounces' aren't a recognized unit of measurement in my kitchen. I used an glob of bacon fat that appeared to be about the same size as the liver and crossed my fingers.

1) Place bacon fat in a skillet, and cook over medium heat for 4 to 5 minutes, until the fat melts.

1.5) Chop the shallot, garlic and liver while waiting for the fat to melt.

2) Add the shallot to the fat, cook for about 30 seconds, stirring once or twice.

3) Add the liver, herbes and garlic, and cook over medium heat for two minutes, stirring occasionally.

**This is about when I realized that no part of making the pâté would be visually appealing. It smelled really good, though.

4) Add the salt and pepper. Remove from heat.

5) Throw everything into the food processor, add the vermouth, and blend until liquefied.

6) Cool in the fridge for about 30 minutes. Make toast during the end of this time.

How Did it Go?
Not too bad. Yeah, I think I can say that. It wasn't a pretty food, but it was definitely yummy. (Maybe this is where I should mention that I like braunschwager, just to give you a reference point for my taste.) It was probably a bit flat compared to Professional Pâtés, but I'm working from memory here, so I can't say for certain sure what the difference was.

What Would I Do Differently?
Where to start? Um…

- The original recipe called for a much longer cooling time. So I'd be interested to see if that was different taste-wise, or was just a texture thing.

- I'll admit that serving this on toasted pre-sliced sandwich loaf felt a little ghetto. If sharing with guests I'd definitely get a schmancier bread involved.

- Given duck livers enough and time, I'd try making several pâtés with several different alcohols. The vermouth was fine, but I find myself wondering about scotch…

D is for Duck Liver

2010-11-09T18:56:00.000-08:00

Ok, hold onto your hats, kiddos. I think I'm going to try a little duck liver pate this evening.

I Wanna Be an Iron Foodie! (I Wanna Live a Life of Duty)

2010-11-05T17:46:00.000-07:00

- Why do you want to compete in this challenge?

Besides the fact that I would adore the chance to be on Iron Chef someday (Iron Chef Fantasy Camp! Who's with me?), messing about with new ingredients is absolutely why i started this blog. It's a love match!

- Limitations of time/space notwithstanding, whose kitchen would you like to spend the day in & why? Julia Child, Thomas Keller, Ferran Adria, James Beard, Marie-Antoine Careme, or The Swedish Chef?

Totally The Swedish Chef. Not only does he personify the combination of my two greatest passions (cooking and puppets), but he was just such a pioneer in the field of Ballistic Gastronomy; it would be an honor to learn from such a master.

- What morsel are you most likely to swipe from family & friends’ plates when they aren’t looking?

Pickles. Can't get enough of them. (NOT PREGNANT, don't even suggest it.)

- Sum your childhood up in one meal.

Hamberger Casserole. Made in a classic Corningware dish, this family favorite recipe included not only mashed potatoes, but also Campbell's Tomato Soup and Velveeta. The cooking in my house growing up was all about the balance between comfort and convenience. (Frankly, I'm still a fan of this approach, though Mr. Husband draws the line at Velveeta.)

- The one mainstream food you can’t stand?

Bell. Peppers. Horrible, Fascist vegetables. The teeniest little amount of of bell pepper in a dish and BOOM! the flavor just takes over everything. Bleh and double bleh. Also, they give me gas. That's not good for anyone.

B is for Blogroll

2010-11-05T17:43:00.000-07:00

Hey Campers. I've just joined The Foodie Blogroll! Look for more frequent blogging in the very near future.

Z is for Zucchini Chicken Parmigiana

2010-09-17T13:38:00.000-07:00

I love Italian food, but one thing about it puzzles me: You often seem to have to choose between meat and vegetables. Meat Lasagna or Vegetable Lasagna. Chicken Parmigiana or Eggplant Parmigiana. Beef Ravioli or Cheese Ravioli.

I say bollocks to that.

What I Did:

1 medium size zucchini
3 boneless, skinless chicken thighs
1 egg
dash of water
flour (approx 1 cup)
Stove Top stuffing mix (approx 1 cup)
frying oil

1 can of tomato sauce
1 cup of red cooking wine
3 cloves of garlic, smashed or chopped
1 TBSP each of: garlic salt, white pepper, dried basil, dried oregano, olive oil

2 servings of pasta of your choice (I like thin spaghetti, myself)
1 cup of cooking wine

cheese

0) Preheat oven to 375

1) Put about half an inch of frying oil in your favorite frying vessel and warm it over medium heat.

2) Mix the egg and water in a bowl to create the Egg Wash Step in your Breading Station.

2.5) Place the flour and Stove Top crumbs in separate containers (small plates are totally fine for this). This completes the Breading Station.

3) Bread the chicken:
- dip in the egg wash
- shake off excess
- dip in the flour
- shake off excess
- dip back in the egg
- dip in the Stove Top crumbs

4) At this point the oil should be hot enough to fry the chicken. Cook approx. five minutes per side.

5) While the chicken cooks, combine the tomato sauce, wine, garlic and spices in a baking dish large enough to hold all the chicken and zucchini.

6) Drain the fried chicken on a plate covered with a paper towel.

7) Quarter the zucchini and slice off enough of the outside so that they can sit basically flat. Repeat the breading and frying steps with the zucchini.

8) Drain the zucchini briefly on the paper towel plate. Add the chicken and zucchini to the baking dish and place the dish in the oven.

9) Set oven timer for 15 minutes.

10) During baking, start boiling the water (plus 1 cup of cooking wine) for the noodles. When the water is boiling, add the noodles (you know the drill).

11) After 15 minutes of baking, add shredded cheese of your choice to the tops of the chicken and zucchini. (I used Parmesan and American. You should use what you like. It's cheese; very hard to go wrong here.) Put back in the oven for another 5 minutes.

12) Remove dish from oven, drain noodles (this timed out really well for me), put on plates and serve. Nom!

How Did it Go?
I'll repeat my 'Nom!' here. I learned from my previous mistakes and it all worked much better. Crispy outsides to the chicken and zucchini, tender juicy insides.

What Would I Do Differently?
Allegedly there's a method for breading things that keeps your hands from getting gloppy. I have soooooo not mastered this. I've heard the "One hand for the dry ingredients, one hand for the wet ingredients" Principle, but I always get stymied at the point where I'm moving the item to be breaded from a wet dish to a dry dish (or vice versa). One hand inevitably winds up both wet and dry and then i just give it all up for lost. So, that's a skill I'd like to look into before my next go at something like this.

Zucchini

Y is for YMCA Hunger Challenge

2010-09-13T23:08:00.001-07:00

(you know, while we're hanging out here at the end of the alphabet)

The local YMCA is doing a Hunger Challenge, which I wish I'd heard about sooner. A friend of mine is doing it and keeping track of her experiences. Perhaps I'll ask her if I can re-post.

Tangentially, this is one of my only sadnesses with FaceBook's taking over Blogs. FB is so lock-down-able, that it can be hard to link to cool things going on there.

Anyway.

The gist of it seems to be that you eat off of the same budget as someone living on food stamps - $28 per person per week, according to their calculations - in order to get a feeling for the challenges, etc of that.

I love this idea. I love anything that makes me think more about what I'm eating. Not necessarily in a Life Changing sort of way, because I'm realistic. But at the very least one would go back to one's normal eating habits with a renewed sense of appreciation. Or relief.

So, even though I've missed the official challenge, I may try this on my own later, just for the heck.

For the record, I would also be up for a Gluttony Challenge. You know, like, eat a Microsoft employee's paycheck worth of food in a single week? It'd be very Brewster's Millions, but I think I'm up for it. You know, in case anyone wanted to sponsor me.

Z is for Zucchini Chicken Parmigiana

2010-09-07T16:50:00.000-07:00

My first time trying this was a FAIL due mainly to 2 things:

1) Following the bad advice of an online recipe that suggested pan frying was not necessary. I blame my laziness for letting me succumb to this ridiculous notion.

2) Not having cheese in the house when I started making it. Grrrr! Couldn't interrupt cooking to run out for cheese so what I made was more Zucchini and Chicken Breaded and Baked in Red Sauce and rather dry.

I'm giving it another go this evening with cheese and frying pan firmly involved. I'll let you know.

Z is for Spinach Zucchini Balls

2010-09-06T22:54:00.000-07:00

This falls firmly into the category of Foods That Hide the Zucchini. (That sounds way naughtier than I intended, . . . but note that I do not delete it.)

My friend decided to hold a poker party in honor of her birthday. She asked me to bring some zucchini to grill and also a snack.

Enter the Spinach Balls, a time honored family recipe. First shared with us when my favorite aunt married in, it's my go-to when busting out a savory snack for large group sharing.

Spinach Balls + over abundant zucchini = sneaky deliciousness.

What I Did:

1.5 cups baby spinach, chopped (frozen spinach is also totally ok)
1.5 cups of zucchini, grated
1/2 tsp each of:
garlic salt, white pepper, celery salt, chicken bouillon powder, basil

1 stick of butter
3 shallots
1 clove of garlic

2 cups of Stove Top mix
2 large eggs
1/2 cup parmesan cheese, grated

0) Preheat oven to 350

1) Add spinach, zucchini and spices to a pot.

2) Add enough water to cover veggies.

3) Bring to a boil and then let cook as you proceed with the other steps, stirring occasionally.

4) Chop shallots and garlic and saute in the butter until they are transparent.

5) Turn off veggies and onion/butter pans and allow them to cool.

6) Combine stuffing mix, eggs and cheese in a bowl.

7) Strain water from veggies. Mix veggies into stuffing mix.

8) Mix butter/onion/garlic mixture into stuffing mix.

9) Shape the mix into large marble-sized balls and place on a baking sheet.

10) Bake for 15 minutes.

How Did It Go:
Awesomely. The balls were gone before anything else, several people at the party asked me for the recipe, and no one seemed aware that there was zucchini involved. Win, win and win. Thanks to Aunt Mary, as always, for this no-fail recipe of tastiness.

What Would I Do Differently:
Nothing to make it better, but I think it's fair to point out that this is a very flexible recipe. More/different onions, different cheese, different spices; I've done all these at various times and it's always worked out (and, as suggested, the zucchini is not an original part of this recipe), so feel free to play and substitute. The only thing you can't stint on is the butter. At least, I don't think you can. I've never tried it. If you do, let me know how it goes.

Z is for Zucchini Marinade for Grilling

2010-08-30T21:48:00.000-07:00

Since posting yesterday's picture to my FaceBook profile, I've received two requests for zucchini sharing and three recipes. I heart you internet!

***

For me, the easiest way to deal with zucchini is on the grill. It's low fuss and in summer I tend to be grilling a meat for dinner anyway. Grilling zucchini plain totally works, but sometimes I want a little something more to it, which is when I throw together this marinade. Bonus: it works for every other vegetable I've throw at it so far (asparagus, broccoli, green beans) plus also makes a darn good salad dressing.

What I Do:

extra virgin olive oil
balsamic vinegar
dried tarragon
white pepper (feel free to substitute black)
salt

(sorry there aren't real amounts here, but I tend to eyeball based on what I'm using it for)

- preheat your grill*

- mix approx equal parts of the oil and vinegar

- add salt and pepper in equal amounts and roughly twice as much of the tarragon. mix.

- halve the zucchini length-wise and add to the mix

- shake or stir to coat as needed, and let sit for 15 minutes

Grilling time varies. I find a medium sized zucchini (2x9 inches) times out pretty well with pork chops (1 inch or so thick), but you know your grill better than I do. Speaking of which:

*Yes, I use a propane grill. If it makes you feel better, I'm ready to admit the superiority of charcoal. Gas is just more practical on a night-to-night basis.

Z is for Oh my god, so much Zucchini

2010-08-30T00:58:00.000-07:00

And this isn't counting the bigger one I grilled for dinner. Or the two more already lurking out there in the garden.

Doomed. I am doomed.

D is for Detour

2010-08-29T23:15:00.000-07:00

Ok, . . . guys? It's the end of August and I'm drowning in zucchini. In the interest of actually blogging here again, I hope you'll be tolerant of my skipping ahead a bit and letting you know how I'm dealing with the squash overload. Because I'm looking at pickling and, frankly, I'm a little scared.

D is for Delayed Duck

2010-08-18T17:39:00.000-07:00

Remember that frozen duck? The one from five months ago? That one?

Yeah. What can I say? It's been a busy busy spring/early summer.

So let's jump in the wayback machine, and travel back to a more innocent time: Late March, when the duck finally thawed.

I did the google thang per usual, and read recipes from Food Network, Epicurious and Cooks dot com, besides consulting my perennial favorite for large poultry roasting, The Joy of Cooking.

The big concerns in duck roasting seem to be
a) getting rid of the fat, because there is apparently a lot of it, and
b) avoiding "off-flavors" (I'm assuming they mean "gaminess" here...?)

Some people also seem to really, really long for an extra crispy duck skin. However, since this was my first duck, I wasn't going to push myself too hard.

What I Did:

one duck, fresh or thawed
salt
pepper
shallot

0.5) Preheat oven to 450 degrees

1) Rinse duck and pat dry

2) Place duck, breast up, on a rack in a shallow baking pan

3) Score the duck:
- make a series of shallow, diagonal cuts along one side of the bird torso
- "shallow" in this case means you should cut through the skin, but not the fat
- cut along the duck on the other diagonal, creating a diamond pattern.
- repeat on the other side of the torso

4) Rub the duck inside and out with salt and pepper (you could go with herbs here as well, I imagine)

5) Put a shallot inside the duck cavity (the recipes inform me that citrus fruits, root veggies, etc, would work just as well for this)

6) Place pan and duck in the oven

7) Reduce the temperature immediately to 350

8) Cook 20 minutes per pound of bird

9) Remove from oven

10) Allow to rest for ten-ish minutes, discard shallot from cavity, carve and serve

How Did it Go?
Great! The duck was juicy but not greasy, the flavor was mild, and life was good. It is fair to note here that Mr. Husband found the taste a bit odder than I did, so duck is not likely to become a household staple.

What Would I Do Differently?
Blog about it in a more timely manner. :-p Sorry about that, y'all.

C is for Canned Pancake Batter

2010-03-31T07:37:00.000-07:00

Oh yes I did.

I was watching Unwrapped on the Food Network, an episode loosely themed around "unusual containers". The push up sushi triggered a light gag reflex, but Batter Blaster (organic!) excited me a whole lot. (Beware the theme song if you follow the link.)

It took me a few tries to locate Batter Blaster at my local supergrocery, mostly because I couldn't for the life of me figure out where in the store it was likely to be (cheesy dairy case, as it happened). Once found, however, it was everything I hoped it would be: Fast, easy to use and the pancakes taste normal, ie delicious. They were slightly less fluffy than scratch pancakes, but not by a lot.

The can informs me that I can also use this wonderful product for waffles (heart!). I'll try that next weekend and report back.

D is for Duck

2010-03-23T16:02:00.001-07:00

Duck achieved!

It turned out all I needed to do was ask someone in the meat department. Fancy that. They led me across the store to the freezer case and, et voila, I now have a duck.

Of course, I have no idea what I'm going to do with said duck yet, but, well, it's frozen solid, so I figure i have a couple days to make a plan.

C is for Lamb Shanks with Cranberries

2010-02-02T23:48:00.000-08:00

I wanted to come up with a savory cranberry recipe, errr, just because, so I started by thinking about what kinds of meat would be able to stand up to that. I decided lamb or duck might be good bets, since they have intense flavour, so I bopped over to the store.

Duck = Fail, so lamb won by default, which was not a bummer of any sort for me, since I love lamb. But I'd never cooked it before, so the adventurous-ness level of this undertaking cranked way up. Add on the experience of My First Reduction Sauce and I had a lot of fun with this one.

I consulted the recipe on the lamb package plus this one from AllRecipes.com before jumping in.

What I Did:

2 lamb shanks
salt
white pepper
2 Tablespoons olive oil
5 cloves of garlic
2 shallots, chopped
2 cups fresh cranberries
2 cups chopped carrots
2 cups chopped zucchini
approx. 1 cup each of
- beef broth
- chicken broth
- red wine
- white wine
1 Tblspn dry rosemary
1 Tblspn dry thyme
1 Tblspn dry mint
dash of cranberry juice

1) Heat oil in a skillet over medium high heat and sprinkle shanks with salt and pepper.

2) Cook lamb shanks until brown on all sides and remove to plate.

3) Add garlic, shallots, cranberries, carrots and zucchini to skillet and saute for 5-10 minutes.

4) Stir broth, wine, rosemary, thyme and mint into skillet.

5) Place lamb shanks in a crockpot and pour the skillet contents over them. The liquid should cover the shanks, so if it doesn't, add more both and/or wine until they are covered.

6) Leave everything in the crockpot on high for 3 hours.

7) Pour 2-4 ladles worth of the cooking liquid back into the sautéing skillet over low heat. It's ok if you catch some of the cranberries here as well.

7.5) Leave the lid off the crockpot, but the heat on.

8) Add cranberry juice to the skillet to taste.

9) Simmer until the liquid has reduced by half.

10) Split the veggies and shanks onto two plates and drizzle with the reduction sauce. Serve with starch of your choice if so inclined.

How Did it Go?
Great! Holy cow, lamb is as easy to cook as pot roast. Now, if it were only similar price-wise, I could all but give up beef. Well, not steak. Yum.

What would I do differently?
Um, for once, nothing. Made more shanks so I could've had leftovers?

D is for ?

2010-02-01T17:05:00.000-08:00

Hey there, food fans.

I'm working on hunt-and-pecking up my fourth and final recipe for C and am at a bit of a loss for what ingredient to play with for D.

May I ask for your suggestions?

C is for Cranberry-Blueberry Muffins

2010-01-26T21:58:00.000-08:00

I've made muffins from a mix before but never from scratch. My bag of dried cranberries (plus a bag of dried blueberries that I'm looking to use up because I find them too sweet) inspired me to give it a go.

The muffin base recipe is mostly from Joy of Cooking. I went my own way with the mix-ins treatment.

What I Did:

1/2 cup dried cranberries
1/2 cup dried blueberries
white wine (enough to cover fruit)

1 3/4 cups all purpose flour
3/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder

2 eggs
2 Tablespoons melted butter
3/4 cup milk

0) Preheat oven to 400

0.5) Soak the dried fruit in the wine for an hour or so. (This is also called macerating, if you want the five dollar word).

1) Sift together flour, salt, sugar and baking powder.

2) Drain the dried fruit.

3) Beat the eggs until mixed.

4) Mix melted butter and milk into the beaten eggs.

5) Mix the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients in as few strokes as possible. The batter will be lumpy.

6) When the dry ingredients are almost completely moist, add the fruit and finish mixing.

7) Either grease your muffin pans or line them with cupcake cups and fill them up approximately 2/3 full with batter. (I just use a big spoon for this.)

8) Bake for 20-25 minutes. Yields 20ish muffins.

How'd it Go?
Not bad. The texture was really good. And the flavor was good, except…they just weren't as sweet as I'm looking for in a breakfast muffin. If these had been muffins intended to go along with stew, they would've been perfect.

What Would I Change?
~ More sugar! (Inside and on the top.)

Cranberries Achieved!

2010-01-12T01:51:00.000-08:00

Found fresh cranberries at the Ballard Market. Hurray!

Tried one in its natural form. Unbelievably tart!

C is for Cranberries?

2010-01-09T16:58:00.000-08:00

I'm a little stalled out in C by being unable to find fresh cranberries in my usual grocery stores. Apparently those are only a Christmas food. I'll keep working on it, but in the meantime need to adjust plans to use Craisins and/or cranberry juice.

Stay tuned.....

C is for Cranberry Bread Pudding

2010-01-03T18:36:00.000-08:00

We host an Orphan's Thanksgiving every year, potluck-style, so each Black Friday finds me with some ingredients in my kitchen that wouldn't normally be there. I enjoy this, because it gives me a chance to play, but I was initially perplexed by this year's leftover Can of Gelled Cranberry Loaf. Fortunately the delicious loaf of day-old home baked bread inspired me:

(As usual, I researched a couple of recipes online before starting.)

Here's What I Did:

- Pudding -
1/2 can of cranberry gel stuff
1 box of non-instant Flan (4 servings)
2 cups of cold milk
1 loaf of dry bread

- Sauce -
1/2 can of cranberry gel stuff
vodka
confectioner's sugar

- Whipped Cream -
whipping cream
confectioner's sugar
(optional, because I will not judge you if you prefer Cool Whip or spray whip cream. I only made this because I had the cream handy)

0) Preheat over to 350 degrees

1) Put 1/2 of cranberry gel in a small saucepan and add the milk.

2) Over low heat, whisk together until mostly combined.

3) Whisk in flan powder until combined.

4) Turn the heat up to low medium and bring to a boil, stirring frequently.

5) While waiting for the pudding to boil, butter the sides of a small loaf pan.

6) Break down the loaf of bread into bite-size chunks and place in the loaf pan.

7) Once the pudding has reached a boil, pour it over the bread chunks.

8) Bake for 45-60 minutes.

9) Place the other half of the gel in another small saucepan.

10) Over low heat, add confectioners sugar and vodka to taste (I wound up using about a 1/4 cup of each), stirring constantly.

11) Bring it to a boil and boil for about a minute, stirring frantically.

Optional 12) Beat 1 cup of cream in a cold bowl.

Optional 12.5) As cream starts to stiffen, add confectioner's sugar to taste

13) Serve pudding in slices, liberally covered in sauce and cream.

How'd It Go?
Surprisingly well, considering I've never, ever made bread pudding before. I felt like the pudding absorption was kind of inconsistent, so the texture varied throughout the slice in a way I didn't love, but it was definitely tasty. And the sauce was deemed awesome by Mr. Husband.

What Would I Change?
- I think a vanilla pudding might have gone a little better with the cranberries than the flan.
- More of the pudding probably would've solved my texture issue, so next time I'll kick it up to the 6 serving sized box.

C is for Chairman

2010-01-02T18:37:00.000-08:00

Having quit my job almost a month ago (due to a lying, dishonorable boss plus an abusive co-worker), naturally I'm looking around for new employment.

A friend told me that one of the first questions she always asks an interviewee is "What is your dream job?"

"Easy," I replied. "I want to be The Chairman on Iron Chef."

You get to wear nice clothes, hang out with Alton Brown and eat really good interesting food. Your every move is foleyed (swoosh! whoop!) and you don't even have to judge.

All this plus a paycheck? Sign me up!

C is for Cranberry Champagne Cocktail

2010-01-01T10:28:00.000-08:00

One of the nicer duties of my former job involved specialing up Opening Night of each show with cocktails. This is the one I used for the Christmas show in 2008 (I _almost_ said last year there, yes):

What I Did:
1 part white champagne
1 part pink champagne
1 part cranberry juice
some fresh cranberries (2 or 3 per glass)

- combine and serve in a champagne glass (if you have them)

Simple yet tasty, festive, and popular with the people. Happy New Year, folks!

C is for Cranberry (that's good enough for me)

2009-12-31T14:10:00.000-08:00

Requested by loyal reader Patti, I'm embracing the (now-over) holiday season with cranberries, a fruit about which I know very little:

- Cranberry juice is apparently especially good for maintaining healthy lady-bits
- and is also quite tasty in a Cosmopolitan. Coincidence?
- The Cranberries (band) were a big part of the soundtrack for my late high school/early college years.
- Helping harvest cranberries seems to be a popular way to torment TV hosts.
- Many people have encountered the Canned Cranberry Gel Loaf as a part of holiday feasts. Some respond to this by hating it, others crave it. I'm one of the haters.

Now for some research:
- it's an evergreen
- native to North America
- called a "superfruit" (a marketing term that basically indicates a fruit with lots of antioxidants)
- seldom sold or eaten in its unprocessed form
- though it is harvested from flooded fields, it doesn't grow in water
- the research that indicates drinking cranberry juice can help prevent UTIs in women was in the British Medical Journal, vol 322, pp 1571-1573, (June 29) 2001, in case you're curious.

T is for Turkey

2009-12-19T16:52:00.000-08:00

A bit out of order here, I know, both temporally and alphabetically, but I wanted to share pics of my gorgeous Thanksgiving beastie:

This is mid-process and that thing covering half of Mr. Turkey is a lint free towel.
I soak it in melted butter and cover the turkey with it at the start of the cooking process. Basting takes place both over and under the towel every 15 minutes.

Yes, I know, I know, you can go the roaster bag or aluminum foil route but I got this method from the Joy of Cooking and
a) It has never, ever failed me. 7 years strong here, people.
b) My turkey is annually praised as one of the moistest anyone has encountered. (Somehow that sounds naughty. Hmm.)
c) What else exactly am I going to be doing on Thanksgiving anyway? Composing a symphony? Working on my juggling skills?

Pretty, no?

Happy Holidays to everyone! More from me soon.

B is for Bacon Beignets - Where Are They Now?

2009-12-07T18:09:00.000-08:00

I've thawed and fried 6 in the past couple of days and i have to say it has worked beautifully.

You just move a few frozen beignets into the fridge from the freezer the night before and you're good to go for breakfast. Or you can set them out on the counter to thaw at lunch (yes, yes, I know: Unsafe Food Practice! But, let's be honest, we all do it at home) and have them thawed by dinner time.

Then you set them in a warmed over to rise and fry them as you would when the dough is fresh.

Awesomeness!

(I am now non-employed, so there should be more updating as we move into C. Stay tuned!)

B is for Bacon Beignets

2009-11-22T12:01:00.000-08:00

I'm not from New Orleans. In fact, I've never even been there. The closest I've come to this tasty treat was at sleepovers with one of my friends in elementary school. In the mornings, her mom would let us make "doughnuts" out of Pillsbury biscuit dough, deep fried, then covered with cinnamon and sugar. (If you don't have time to do a real dough, I bet that would still taste pretty darn good.)

The biggest inspiration for this recipe (besides, as always, King Bacon) were the crawfish beignets at Alligator Soul in Everett, Washington. Recipe guidance came mostly from here and a little from here, with some frying oil advice here, since I don't fry stuff very often.

Here's What I Did:
1 Envelope Active Dry Yeast 
3/4 Cup Water (110 degrees F) 
1/4 Cup Granulated Sugar 
1/2 tsp Salt 1 Beaten Egg 
1/2 Cup Evaporated Milk
 3 1/2 – 3 3/4 Cups Flour
4-6 slices of bacon 
1/8 Cup Shortening
 Vegetable Oil for Frying 
Powdered Sugar

1) Fry the bacon until crispy. Drain and set aside.

2) Combine the Yeast, Water, and Sugar in a food processor,

3) Let this sit until frothy, about 5 minutes,

4) Add the Salt, Egg, and Evaporated Milk and mix on low speed,

5) Add half of the flour and mix until it starts to come together,

6) Add the shortening and bacon. Mix.

7) When the shortening and bacon are incorporated, start adding the remaining flour, a little at a time until most of it is incorporated.

8) Add just enough flour to make a non-sticky, smooth dough.

9) Place the dough into a large oiled bowl, loosely cover and let rise
NOTE: The original recipe had the following statement "I made mine last night and let it rise overnight in the refrigerator." I did not have good luck with that method and had to do an emergency dough recovery. More on that below.

10) After the dough has doubled in bulk, (3-ish hours) punch it down and turn it onto a floured surface

11) Roll out to about 1/2″ thick.

12) Cut out with cookie cutters. (I used a ghost, an autumn leaf and a snowflake. Apparently diamonds, rectangles and circles are more traditional.)

13) Place the Beignets on a floured baking sheet to let rise about 40 minutes in a warm place (I put them in a barely warm oven. Preheat to 200 for 2 minutes, then turn the heat off and shove the dough in.) 

14) When the Beignets have risen, heat 2-3 inches of vegetable oil in a large saucepan to 350-360 degrees.

15) Place 2-4 Beignets into the hot oil at a time, being careful not to smash or deflate them.

16) When they are golden brown, flip them over until golden brown on the other side (This goes VERY quickly so start checking them right after they go into the oil).

17) Remove to paper towel lined plates to drain.

18) Serve hot topped with plenty of powdered sugar

The original recipe says this makes about 2 dozen. I got about that out of it, maybe a little more; I think I was making them smaller.

How'd it go?
Great. Fried dough is just a tasty tasty thing. The bacon fit in nicely, no big surprise there.

I made 7 yesterday which were fried and eaten and then another 20-25ish I pre cut and put into the freezer; supposedly I'll be able to thaw and fry them later in little batches. We'll see how that goes.

What would I change:

- Well, I don't think i'll ever try to get dough to rise in the refrigerator again. As I said yesterday, I awoke to non-risen dough. The save that worked was placing the dough in a barely warmed over for awhile (Preheat to 200 for 2 minutes, then turn the heat off and shove the dough in). Thank you, friendly bakers of the interweb!

- I would use more bacon. There's some in every pastry, but I would like more for even more bacony flavor.

B is for Bacon Beignet FAIL!

2009-11-21T11:47:00.000-08:00

or, D is for Dough D'oh!

I made the dough for the bacon beignets last night and, as of this morning, it hadn't risen.

I checked online and found two suggestions for saving dough that make sense to me:
- put it in a warmer place
- mix in a new batch of yeast water

I'll try them in order and see how it goes.

If that doesn't work, later we'll have Bacon Bread Pudding.

B is for Blog FAIL!

2009-11-20T20:59:00.000-08:00

Alas.

Yesterday I was finally so distracted by work and life and being diagnosed with strep that I forgot to post.

Ah well, it was a good try. Over half and all that, pip pip, chin up.

I can always finish out the run, and 29 out of 30 is perfectly respectable.

Stiil, though: DARN and DANG!

B is for Breakfast Souffle

2009-11-18T23:25:00.000-08:00

This is my family's traditional Christmas morning breakfast. It's not only tasty, but also practical; you make it the night before and on The Day you can just pop it in the oven and be good to go by the time you're done with the stockings.

1 1/2 to 2 lbs bulk sausage (may I suggest Bacon sausage?)
18 eggs, slightly beaten
2 cups milk
1/2 teaspoon dry mustard
1 teaspoon salt
3 slices white bread
1 to 1 1/2 cups grated cheddar cheese
mushrooms and/or onion – optional

1) Brown sausage and drain.
2) Remove crust from bread and cut into 1/4 in cubes
3) Mix eggs, milk, mustard, salt, bread cubes and cheese in large mixing bowl
4) Stir in sausage.
4.5) Also stir inmushrooms and onions at this point if you're going to.
5) Pour into greased 13x9x2 inch casserole
6) Cover and refrigerate overnight.
7) Bake uncovered in 350 degree oven for 1 hour.

Serves 12.

I share not because I cooked this today but because I was sent the recipe from my mom and sister today. Love love love.

B is for Block. Writer's Block

2009-11-17T23:46:00.000-08:00

I'm tired of talking about why I left the job, but I also haven't been cooking much this week, between rehearsals, meetings and puppet shows. I had a very nice japanese curry for dinner tonight. They seem to do curry more savory than spicy, which is right up my flavour profile. Also, there were pickles on it, which sounds wrong but tastes oh so right. And now I must post this before time runs out. See you tomorrow, when I hope to have remembered what i actually meant to write about today.

Q is for Quitting

2009-11-16T23:35:00.000-08:00

As in, I quit my job today. In this economy, without having a new job. The place I will not much longer have the misfortune of working is so massively toxic that I would rather be unemployed than employed there.

Sorry this has nothing to do with cooking or bacon.

Here's something about food: I had butternut squash duck soup for lunch. It was like eating a bowl of Thanksgiving gravy. In a good way.

B is for Bacon Burgers

2009-11-15T23:47:00.000-08:00

They were huge and delicious. (That's what she said.)

B is for I Can Bring Home the Bacon

2009-11-14T22:27:00.000-08:00

Maybe I'll get back to baking tomorrow. That would be nice.

L is for Longest Week Ever

2009-11-13T23:23:00.000-08:00

Really. This week has been too too much. So, I lamely will merely post one of my favourite You Tube videos ever to try and cheer us all up.

(Warning: Gangsta rap, n-word, verbal violence, lip syncing Muppets)

B is for Bacon Heaven

2009-11-12T23:25:00.000-08:00

Otherwise known as The Swinery:

(Sorry about the lazy posts. I'm still sick, plus there's a fair amount of emotional upheaval these days. Feh. More on that later.)

B is for Bacon Recipes

2009-11-11T23:44:00.000-08:00

From Mr. Interweb, shared with me by Patti. Enjoy.

B is for BBB Sandwich

2009-11-10T22:26:00.001-08:00

Still convalescing, but finally on the upswing, and finding myself with three different kinds of bacon in the house, I did what any self respecting bacon lover would do: I made a Bacon, Bacon and Bacon Sandwich for lunch.

On the left is your typical store-bought breakfast bacon, in the center is our new friend Danish Bacon, and on the right we have applewood smoked bacon from The Swinery.

As you can see, I did not insult my masterful creation with salad or condiments. Just six slices of bacon on twelve grain bread.

Nom!

B is for Brown, Babbling and Book signing

2009-11-09T22:56:00.000-08:00

I heart Alton Brown. Not in a personal knowing him way, mind you, just in a geek girl fan crush sorta way.

He won my heart during the first Feasting on Asphalt when he cooked stew on one of the crew’s motorcycle engines. And then ate it. I swooned. It was after that I noticed “Hey, isn’t he the commentator guy on that American version of Iron Chef that isn’t as good as the original?” I’ve been a loyal fan ever since.

So when I saw his book tour was coming to my city, naturally I wrote it into my day planner. And started including it as a rehearsal conflict on audition forms. That’s the closest this girl comes to dedication.

I had to work the day of the signing event, so I unfortunately got to Third Place Books somewhat after about 800 of the 900+ fans who were there that night.

The event part was great; not actually a reading, which was fine by me, since I
a) own the book
and b) know how to read.

I’m sure the extended Q&A session we got instead was much more entertaining. Highlights:
- He bet a kid a dollar that his mom drove a minivan and then paid up when he was wrong.
- He said it was ok to mock vegans because they were too weak to pick up a pen to write in and complain.
- He gave a guy who’d been married 6 months what he called The Most Important Marital Advice Ever. It boiled down to: Don’t nitpick your spouse’s cooking, but the really cool part of the story is where Mrs. Brown went on kitchen strike for 8 months to prove a point. The mysterious Mrs. Brown, it appears, is a total bad ass. Good on her say I.

And then there was the signing. I was fortunate enough to have an “E” ticket, so I only had to wait about an hour. My friend Johnny had a “Q” ticket and was thus stuck there until 10:45. As an experience, it was very much like waiting to see Santa Claus: the long line, the giddy anticipation, the sprite-like helpers herding us into place, the first glimpse, the mounting excitement/terror, the encounter and the brain freeze.

Campers, I was sooo not cool. You _want_ to be cool on occasions like this, you think you can be, you’re all “Look, self, just treat it like any other conversation. He’s just a guy, right?” But even though that's true, it doesn’t work. Because as a social occasion, this is absurd. So I babbled about bacon and parsnips. And he thanked me for thanking him for the parsnip episode and bragged on his daughter’s acting. He did not hit me with any snark at all, he in fact had a very gentle tone of voice. My theory is that he was trying to calm me down, whether from pity or fear, who can say?

Embarrassment aside, the mission was accomplished. I met The Man, I got The Autograph (which will take its place of honor next to Tim Gunn, Joss Whedon and The Cowboy Junkies) and I grinned like a fool all the way home.

Thanks AB, for being gentlemanly to a star struck fan grrrl.

B is for Bleah

2009-11-08T22:56:00.000-08:00

Right. So I woke up feeling like crap this morning. Thus I did not get to make the BBB (Bacon Bacon Bacon) Sandwich and Bacon Beignets I had planned. And therefore I cannot really blog about them.

Instead I got to sleep on the couch and drink juice. Not tasty. Not fun. Not particularly blog worthy.

Bleah.

B is for Bacon Antidotes

2009-11-07T19:37:00.000-08:00

With all this bacon I have been/will be eating, I had a moment (brief, granted) of concern for my health. Maybe, I thought, just maybe I should look into foods that help fight cholesterol. So I went to Google.

Fortunately, the 4 most mentioned foods all involve things I already like to eat:

- almonds (yum. and you can even get Snickers made with these now)
- oatmeal (a favourite breakfast of mine in winter and also darn tasty when it gets made into bread)
- fish (I live in Seattle. Salmon is plentiful and fresh.)
- soy (ok, only in edamame, but that totally counts)

Maybe at the end of B I should make a meal incorporating all these elements. Twould be an interesting challenge at any rate.

The articles I liked best:
Mayo Clinic
Wellsphere

B is for Bacon Caramels

2009-11-06T21:26:00.000-08:00

Today I finally made it to The Swinery, where I got enough bacon based products to easily carry me through the rest of B "Week". I also, unexpectedly, encountered Bacon Caramels:

Me: "Wow. And I'm gonna have to add on two of the caramels, there, on principle alone."
The Clerk: "Oh yeah. We were giving them out free on Hallowe'en and so many people asked if we sold them that we decided we should."

At 50 cents a pop they are perhaps a tad pricey (though not skimpy by any means, size-wise), but totally worth it. The caramel is rich and buttery, the bacon is smokey and flavorful and the two blend together like Torvill and Dean.

They are so good, I have no pictures of them. Go get your own. :-p

B is for Bacon Berry Cheesecake, part 2

2009-11-05T17:33:00.000-08:00

Words! Recipe words which I will type with my hands and you will read with your eyeballs:

Here’s What I Did (with a respectful nod in the direction of the Classic Philadelphia Cream Cheese Cheesecake recipe)
~Crust~
1 ¾ Cups Granny’s Pie Crust Mix
4 Tablespoons Cold Milk

~Filling~
4 pkg. (8 oz. each) Cream Cheese, softened
1 cup sugar
1 tsp. vanilla
One cup sour cream
15 oz mixed berries (raspberry, blackberry and blueberry in this case)
4 eggs

~Topping~
3 slices of American bacon (you can use more or less to taste)
Sprinkle of brown sugar
1 stick of unsalted butter
½ cup sugar
¾ cup flour

0) Preheat oven to 325 degrees.

0.5) Set cream cheese and butter out to soften.

1) Roll out one pie crust and place in the pie pan.

2) Bake for ten minutes.

3) While the crust is pre-baking, mince up some bacon (or be lazy and do a “rustic” cut like I did)

4) Fry the bacon.

5) When the bacon seems almost halfway done (to your taste…as previously stated, I like mine very crispy), sprinkle it with a healthy dose of brown sugar and continue to fry until the sugar is melted.

6) Place the sugary bacon bits on a paper towel to drain and cool.

6.5) If ten minutes have passed, which is probably the case at this point, take the crust out of the oven and set aside to cool.

7) Mix cream cheese with 1 cup sugar and the vanilla.

8) Add sour cream and berries and mix again well blended.

9) Add eggs: one egg at a time, mixing between eggs until _just_ blended.

10) Pour into the crust.

NOTE: Depending on the size of your pie pan, you may have leftover filling. May I recommend some CheeseCake Cuppy Cakes?

11) Evenly top the filling with the sugary bacon.

12) Combine butter, ½ cup sugar and the flour.

13) Add this on top of the bacon.

14) Bake for 40ish minutes (until center is almost set)

15) Cool.

16) Place in refrigerator for AT LEAST 4 hours. Overnight is even better.

How’d It Go?
Great. A tasty treat with the full approval of both myself and Mr. Husband. My sister, mom and brother-in-law have all also enjoyed this recipe during Christmas Past.
I once entered this in a Dessert Dash, but I wasn’t able to find the table that won it to ask their opinions. Ah well.

What would I do differently?
- Give a proper mince to the bacon next time. Lazy me.
- Remember that I have a food processor. This would be easier than just using my trusty hand mixer for all mixing steps.

B is for Bacon Berry Cheesecake

2009-11-04T22:59:00.000-08:00

Pictures today, words tomorrow, for I am L'tired.

B is for Bulbs

2009-11-03T18:00:00.000-08:00

Bulbs of shallots and garlic, which I need to get into the ground pretty darn soon.

In fact, being November, it's a bit past optimal. Unfortunately bulb planting time and the kick-in of the uber rainy season here in Seattle sorta kinda coincide. However. today was sunny and tomorrow is supposed to be as well (fingers crossed and boy does that make it difficult to type) so I should be able to get the little suckers in the ground in the afternoon.

In any case it'll be better than this year. I planted in the spring and got some return, but twas measly compared to what it could be with the correct amount of run up time.

***
Meanwhile, in Televisionland, The Next Iron Chef has been watched and was double plus pleasing this week. The chef I most wanted to stay (Freitag) and the chef I most wanted to go (Appleman) both did those things. Yay!

B is for Danish Bacon

2009-11-02T14:08:00.000-08:00

Half a year ago, this sign appeared at the deli three doors down from where I work:

From said sign you will perhaps be informed that this is not a "proper" deli, a "proper" deli apparently being a kosher place completely sans pork.....or so says Mr. Husband, at any rate.

Proper or no, Danish Bacon seemed a good thing to look into during My Increasingly Inaccurately Named Bacon "Week".
Friday I bought half a pound of this so-called Danish Bacon. Saturday morning I did a taste test with an N of 1. Me.

Danish Bacon is on the left, American Bacon on the right. We see the Danish Bacon is shorter and wider but otherwise "streaked" like we likes it.

I chatted the deli workers up a bit about the difference between Danish Bacon and American Bacon. Their answer? It comes from Denmark. Seriously. They did at least have the grace to seem a bit chagrinned at their lack of knowledge.

I found the Danish Bacon cooked up a lot quicker. Taste-wise, I will admit to not seeing much difference. However, as you can see in the photo, I take my bacon very crispy, which many Brits and spin offs consider overcooking it. So for a different (Aussie) opinon, go here.

Perhaps next weekend, when I'm not heavily engaged in finishing a puppet, I'll give different levels of done-ness a whirl. In the meantime, please don't mention the results of this week's The Next Iron Chef, as my power went out last night halfway through the episode. Thanks.

B is for Blogging. A lot. Part B

2009-11-01T23:18:00.000-08:00

Yep. That was for reals. I joined NaBloPoMo. Why? Because I don’t have time to do NaNoWriMo.

I tried that once, when I thought I did have time. And failed. So maybe I’m looking for a little redemption here. Just a dash. Plus a heaping cup of blogging discipline.

30 blogs. 30 days. Let’s go out and get it.

B is for Blogging. A lot.

2009-10-29T23:14:00.000-07:00

B is for BAKON (bacon flavoured vodka)

2009-10-21T14:38:00.000-07:00

Yes, really:

I'd heard about this Bacon Vodka a few months ago but did not encounter it in the store until last week. I decided that our chance meeting was Fate and immediately brought a bottle home...

...where I mixed it into three of my favourite vodka cocktails: Bloody Mary, Vodka Martini and Cosmopolitan, respectively.

But to be completely fair to Bakon, I decided I should also try it straight up against an unadorned vodka:

The verdict:
Bakon was great in the Bloody Mary, would've been ok in a dirty Vodka Martini and not really the thing in the Cosmo. I also would not recommend it straight unless you are generally in the habit of inhaling deeply from a vial of Bac-os after taking a shot of vodka.

B is for Warm Bacon Vinaigrette

2009-10-18T20:44:00.000-07:00

Let's begin gently, shall we? The first time I encountered a warm bacon salad dressing was having dinner with/meeting Mr. Husband's (Mr. Fiance at the time) parents. I'm usually just as happy to skip the salad and get straight to the entree, but I wasn't in charge of the flow of the meal. And I fully admit, I don't actually remember what we ate for the main course that night. What I remember is the magical combination of spinach and bacon. Mmmmm.

But I had never made it for myself at home. I consulted the interweb, particularly this recipe from Chow before starting, but (of course) jumped off a bit to adjust for personal taste and ingredients not at hand.

Here's what I did:
3 slices of bacon
1/2-ish of a small shallot, chopped
1/4 cup apple cider vinegar
1 Tblspoon balsamic vinegar
1 teaspoon brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon Dijon mustard
1/2 pound fresh spinach,
1/4 cup almonds, walnuts and macadamia nuts coarsely chopped
1 hard boiled egg

- I cut the bacon into small pieces (a rustic dice, if you want something to call it. aka, unskilled knifery)
- Then I put the bacon in a medium frying pan over medium heat and cooked, stirring once in awhile, until crispy.
- While the bacon was cooking, I washed the spinach, cut off the stems (snacked on those; they are tasty) and tore the spinach into bite-size pieces. I seperated that into two bowls.
- Added the nuts on top of the spinach.
- I also sliced a hard boiled egg and put it on my salad (Mr. Husband doesn't like hard boiled egg, so that leaves more for me)
- Spooned the finished bacon onto a paper towel-lined plate.
- Kept the pan with bacon fat over the heat, added the shallot, and cooked about 30 seconds.
- Then I whisked in the vinegar, brown sugar, and Dijon mustard
- IF YOU WANT YOUR SPINACH WILTED: Keep the vinaigrette on the heat and season with salt and freshly ground black pepper.
- And then pour it directly over the salad.
- IF YOU DO NOT WANT YOUR SPINACH WILTED: Remove from heat to season. (I did the second of these, following the recipe too far, but would rather have gone the Wilted route)
- And then I sprinkled 1/2 of the bacon over the top of each salad.

What I would change:
Very little. Just would've made sure it was still hot when it encountered the spinach. Next time.

B is for Bacon Bacon BACON!

2009-10-13T00:18:00.000-07:00

Still a bit safe as far as ingredients go, but I can’t resist; I love bacon. How much do I love it? This much:

What the heck is it? Bacon is cured meat from a pig. Now, since I’m American, my bacon of choice is cut from the pig belly (“streaky bacon” to those of you located elsewhere). In other lands, they tend to go for back and side cuts; less fat, but to me it always seems a bit more like ham.

A is for Pork-stuffed Apples...

2009-10-09T20:52:00.000-07:00

...and L is for Lazy Blogger. Sorry 'bout that.

This was my other attempt at a savory apple dish. Not entirely successful but, hey, not a kitchen meltdown either.

In the Prince Caspian book of The Chronicles of Narnia, the Pevensies eat bear meat roasted around apples while they're marching through the woods towards Caspian, and I’ve always thought that sounded oddly good. (The food, not the marching). So that’s where this started for me. Unfortunately I couldn’t find a source for bear meat.

The Joy of Cooking had a recipe for Sausage-stuffed Baked Apples, and that nudged me in a pork-ward direction (never a hard sell).

Here’s what I did:

- Lopped the tops off and dug out most of the insides of two apples.
- Seasoned two pork chops with sage, salt and white pepper. Cubed one and shoved it into the apples, sliced the other in half long ways and wrapped it around.

- Placed the apples on a bed of frozen hash browns (with a dash of milk).
- Baked that at 400 for 30 minutes

- I pulled it out to check the progress at that point and added some butter to the top of each apple. (I was worried about the pork being too dry.)
- I also added some zucchini to the dish and put the whole thing back in the oven for another 30.

How did it turn out:
It was ok, but the pork was a bit dry (darnit) and under seasoned (eep) and the side veggies didn’t really “go” with the main part (ok, probably something I wouldn't worry about if i didn't watch so many cooking shows). It was fine for home cooking. I mean, we ate it all and weren't hungry later or anything, but I wouldn't have wanted to serve it to guests.

What I’d change:
- The meat needed more moisture.
- I’d either try a fatter meat option next time,
- or marinate the stuff for a bit (which would've added more seasoning too. Hmm)
- or maybe try cooking the dish covered. I’m bad about that.

- The meat should’ve been smaller, to better fill up and get cozy with the apples. A nice mince or even a ground option would’ve been better, I suspect. Bad on me for being lazy in the meat breakdown.

- Still not really sure what sides would’ve suited better here. Way open to suggestions.

Randomized for your protection

2009-10-06T16:34:00.000-07:00

- Naturally I watched The Next Iron Chef Sunday night. I think this will be a very good season.

- Funniest thing said in my house in response to the show: "Looks like 'confit' has become the new 'ceviche'."

- I'm working on the last "A" entry, and then we can proceed to "B". At last.

- Oh hey, that thing I auditioned for week before last? Totally got the part. Huzzah!

A is for Apples in the Curry

2009-10-04T21:23:00.000-07:00

I was looking for something different apple-wise and some savory action besides. I was also facing the oh-so-typical modren dilemma of "I just washed a pound of chicken and I can't do a thing with it."

I don't think apples plus curry would've occurred to me without having seen this recipe.

What I did (not counting this as a recipe, because I played the whole thing by ear):

I got some olive oil heating in the bottom of my stew pot over a medium and then tossed in the chicken (purchased pre-cut for stir fry; lazy, I know). I threw some curry powder, garlic salt, ginger, cilantro and white pepper on it and gave it a stir, then minced a garlic clove and added it.

Next I threw in some hash browns (the cubed kind, not the toaster patties). Periodic stirring until the chicken cooked through, then added a bit of wine, butter and water (basically enough liquid to cover the mass of stuff). Cubed up some zucchini, and peeled and cubed a Gala apple and added those along with some frozen peas.

Once the peas looked cooked-ish, I stirred in a can of lentil soup and a bit more water. Then I let the whole thing simmer for awhile. Right before eating, I stirred in a bit of milk.

The verdict:
Tasty. The apples really worked and subbed in nicely for the dried cranberries I normally would've used.

Z is for Zucchini, My Other Inspiration

2009-10-01T18:52:00.000-07:00

I've babbled a bit about what possessed me to do this, but while I was blanching vegetables night before last I realized there was a little more to the story:

Ever since I can remember, I've both wanted to cook and wanted to garden. Kitchens being a little easier to come by than real estate, my first real go at a vegetable garden was last summer.

It was, weeell, mostly a learning year. My own fault; I jumped in without doing much research (I did read the back of the seed packets, but those are not as informative as one might hope), and the only things that did solidly well were the swiss chard and the purple string beans (hurray! for low maintenance plant relationships).

I spent the winter reading up a bit and now have an embarrassment of tasty green riches. I love zucchini, but had only really cooked it one way prior to this August: sauteed in chunks. A yummy enough preparation, but not something you want to do five days in a row. Having been forced into cohabitation with all this summer squash, I now know how to grill it, bake it, stuff it, hide it in cookies and freeze it for the winter. So I thought, "Hey! This method could work for other foods! Whee!"

So here we are. Trying to figure out one last thing to do with apples.

A is for the Agony of the Actor AND All About Grannie

2009-09-28T22:26:00.000-07:00

I was sitting around this evening, puttering, doing nothing much, basically waiting to be told the outcome of last week's audition, when I decided this was as good a time as any to explain about Grannie.

Grannie is not my grandmother. I've never met her. Given that she's my husband's ex-wife's grandma, it seems likely I never will. Nonetheless, I highly respect this woman and owe her a debt, because I have been gifted with her recipes.

Reading them is a delight. They're the work of a woman who's been cooking for a houseful forever and will graciously make room at the table for any family or friends who happen to be by when dinnertime comes. And working with them is fun because they contain the vague-eries of someone who really doesn't use a recipe but is making a stab at it as a favor for an eager grandson-in-law; so you have to curl up with them and read intently before you begin, and then you need to ready to do some in-process interpretation.

Here's her recipe for Pie Crust Mix:

(no need to refrigerate)
7 cups Flour
1 lb Crisco
1 Tablespoon Salt

Measure flour, add salt, then sift together into a large bowl.

Add about 1/2 the Crisco, and cut in until like coarse meal. Add remaining Crisco. Cut in, but not too fine.

Store in covered container.

=====

For a 2 crust pie - (Our size 10 1/2 to 11 inches)

3 1/2 Cups Mix
8 Tablespoons Cold Milk

Mix in a bowl, with a fork, until blended. Knead slightly until mixture forms together. Use 1/2 for each crust. Roll out on floured board or cloth.

Bake pies at 450 degrees for 10 minutes; Lower to 375 degrees until done.

A is for Dutch Apple Pie

2009-09-28T00:04:00.001-07:00

Back when I was working as a full time actor I spent a September/October as a pig race emcee at an apple orchard. I made friends with the ladies in the bakery, which was great, 'cause they would offer me a slice of something tasty every morning and an entire pie to take home most afternoons. The “Dutch” treatment emerged as my favourite.

Here’s what I did today:

- Crust -
3 ½ cups flour
½ TBLspns salt
½ lb Crisco
4 TBLspns cold milk

- Filling -
2 Granny Smith apples
2 Gala apples
1 Green Tomato
½ cup sugar
½ teaspn cinnamon
dash of lemon juice

- Topping -
1 stick of unsalted butter
½ cup sugar
¾ cup flour

0.5) Preheated oven to 425 degrees.

- Crust -
1) Mixed flour and salt together in the food processor

2) Cut Crisco into cubes and added to processor. Pulsed seven times to blend.

3) Left 1 ½ cups of the resulting mixture in the food processor and mixed together with the cold milk.
*** The remaining mixture I put in a covered container and set aside for future pie action. More on this later.

4) Shaped the resulting dough into a rough ball, placed on wax paper on a flat surface and flattened a bit. Placed a second sheet of waxed paper on top and rolled the dough out until it was big enough to place into my (new!) 9 inch pie dish.

*** Full disclosure: I tried rolling the crust out on a floured board first, but this led to much swearing. In this my time of need I turned to Mr. Interweb, and he gifted me with a full page of Pie Crust Troubleshooting advice.

- Filling -
5) Peeled, cored and sliced 4 apples. Sliced 1 green tomato. Placed all the slices on top of the bottom crust in the pie pan.

6) Sprinkled ½ cup sugar and ½ teaspn cinnamon evenly over the apples. Added a dash of lemon juice.

7) Chopped the stick of butter into chunks and added it and the sugar and flour to the food processor. Blended.

8) Sprinkled topping over the pie.

9) Baked the pie 10 minutes and then lowered the temperature to 400 degrees. Cooked for 35 more minutes.

How’d It Go?
I think it turned out very very well. Crispy where it should be, soft where it should be, tasty all the way through. I’ve been bellowing “Behold! I have made pie!” at random intervals throughout the remainder of the evening. This may have something to do with this being my first baked crust from scratch. Mr. Husband is tolerating this very well, probably because he agrees that the pie is replete with tasty goodness.

Sources:
I built this recipe with help from Grannie's Pie Crust Recipe (more on this in a later post), this Dutch Apple Pie Recipe at Cooks dot com and, drat, I'm forgetting where I first read about using green tomatoes in an apple pie; I'll get back to you on that bit.

SundAy, SundAy, SundAy

2009-09-27T14:04:00.000-07:00

- Last night was the first concert in our season tickets to the Seattle Symphony, so we ate at The Brooklyn. Best known for their oysters, but every darn thing there is so decadent that I always expect the mob of angry peasants to come carry me off while I'm eating. On my plate this time: Quail stuffed with sweetbreads and fuji apples.

- Woke up this morning to see an old high school friend had posted a link to lots of apple recipes on my FaceBook wall. Huzzah! If you know me, you know my attention was especially caught by the Apple Bacon Pancakes.

- And now off for a little field trip to secure tickets for the local Alton Brown book signing October 16th.

A is for Unexpected Apple

2009-09-26T12:42:00.000-07:00

There's a new QFC in the 'hood where I work. It's fun to go there for lunch right now because part of the Grand Opening Festivities is the Gauntlet of Free Samples (lunch appetizers, yum!).

Having gotten past the pineapple and sliced meats I reached my actual goal: the Soup Bar. It's getting Fall-ish here and I was jonesin' for some butternut squash soup. Curious, I checked out the ingredients, hoping for bacon, only to discover it was a vegan-safe, gluten free soup featuring a puree of apples? Wha-hunh?

I'm not a vegetarian of any sort, but went ahead and got the soup anyway. And it was good, not too sweet, which was my fear. I was guessing the apples were in there as a thickening agent, but poking around online, most butternut squash soup recipes out there don't seem to need that. So I guess they just like what it does to the taste.

Perhaps this calls for a side by side taste test when I get to S; apple vs. bacon. I'm betting on the bacon.

I Can Haz Pie Pan

2009-09-25T16:58:00.000-07:00

And there was much rejoicing. (Yay.)

A is also for Audition

2009-09-25T00:09:00.000-07:00

I didn't get home until after ten due to auditioning, so dinner was a simple affair: steak, tots and manhattans. I'm not proud: The George Foreman Grille got involved. No apples today. Fingers crossed.

A is for Baked Apples

2009-09-24T12:26:00.000-07:00

Full disclosure: I wanted to start with an apple pie but discovered the horrible fact that I do not own any pie pans. How in the name of god is this possible??!? Anyhoo, it threw me back on a simpler idea, which may've been for the best.

Baked Apples
The first time I had these was actually last October. My family and I were spending a week keeping the New Dungeness Lighthouse and my Aunt Cheri made us "Baked" Apples (microwaved, actually); they were wicked awesome.

Unfortunately she lives in the central time zone and I'm in pacific standard, so I didn't feel comfortable calling her for the recipe at 9:30pm my time. (Note to self: Cook earlier.) So I cobbled together a game plan from recipes at AllRecipes, Food Network and The Joy of Cooking.

Here's what I did:

3 apples
dash of bitters
dash of lemon juice
3 tsp white sugar
5 tblspns of unsalted butter
cinnamon
4 tsp brown sugar
shot of whiskey
2 shots of water

0.5) Preheated oven to 375 degrees

1) As mentioned in the previous post, I started with three different apples (Gala, Elstar and MacIntosh), which is a pretty solid baking no-no. I sliced the top 5th off of each and put them in a loaf pan.

***I ate the tops to get a feel for the apples at hand. My fave was the Gala, a nice balance between the other two; Elstar was sweeter, MacIn was tart-er.***

2) Dug out the core of each with a spoon. Basically worked down until just past the seeds.

3) Added a teaspoon of white sugar to the core of each apple.

4) Dashed lemon juice on the top of the Elstar, bitters on the other two.

5) Divided the butter into 3 equal-ish sized chunks and put this in the core of each apple.

6) Sprinkled enough cinnamon to somewhat cover the top of each apple.

7) Added whiskey and water to bottom of pan.
7.5) Accidentally got a little whiskey on the Elstar. Whoops.

8) Added a teaspoon and a pinch extra of brown sugar to the top of each apple.

9) Baked for thirty minutes. (Checked at twenty; not done.)

The Outcome:

I felt a bit like Goldilocks and the 3 Apples: The Elstar was too hard, the MacIn too soft (it kind of 'sploded...on the left there) and the Gala was just right. They all could've used a touch more sugar and cinnamon, but were tasty nonetheless.

What I would/will change next time:
- Use all the same apples, probably Galas. Baking is delicious but fascist; it likes uniformity.

- Make the middle holes a bit wider to a) aid in baking and b) hold more of the good stuff

And of course I was watching Top Chef,...

2009-09-24T00:28:00.001-07:00

...because it was Wednesday and I'm addicted.

After slogging through the early eps, I feel ready to make a top 3 prediction: Jen, Bearded Kevin, and Michael of the V(enture) Brothers.

I've never done better than one out of three calling it this early, but I'm feeling good abut this one.

A is for Apple

2009-09-24T00:00:00.000-07:00

Yeah, yeah, I know, kind of an obvious choice here. I'm feeling out the format and I promise to get weird later on, mmm'kay? Good.

What the Heck is it? It's a fruit (culinary definition here, i.e., sweet) that grows on a tree. Roundish. Matures in the autumn so it's (huzzah!) in season now.

left to right we have Gala, Elstar and MacIntosh apples. Organic, from my local Greenmarket. Closing in on them we have some "love apples," or tomatoes, from my garden. These are everywhere in my kitchen right now and if I thought I could've conned you and myself into thinking they were spelled "Atomato", we'd be playing with them right now.

Random free associating:
- The Forbidden Fruit in the Garden of Eden tends to be represented as an apple, pretty much everywhere in pop culture, except in the Bible where it's just called a fruit.

- Golden Apples are all over mythology. My fave is the story where Paris (Orlando Bloom in Troy, if you've seen it) giving one to Aphrodite leads to the Trojan War, which I like because those are pretty massive consequences for an after-school snack. (Paris would've done better to take Athena's bribe (wisdom), but if he'd been smart enough to do that, he probably, you know, wouldn't've needed to.)

- There's an episode of the GI Joe cartoon from the 80s where the Joes kill a giant all-consuming blob with the toxin in an orchard's worth of apple seeds. I still remember it after all these years and, hey, apple seeds do, in fact, contain cyanide. Knowing is half the battle!

- I like Fiona Apple's music but not her album titles. Not good cooking music necessarily, but good for driving or working out.

Wot's all this, then?

2009-09-23T18:55:00.000-07:00

Let's face it: Culinary school is not in the cards any time soon. Maybe not ever.

But why be down hearted? I have full access to a kitchen, several grocery chains and Mr. Interweb. Surely I can teach myself quite a bit homeschool-style. Maybe someday I can be Token Self-taught Cheftestant on a cooking reality show and get cut in the fourth or fifth round when I choke in the face of all that advanced training.

A girl can dream, can't she?

Here's the game: I'll work my way through the alphabet, picking an ingredient for each letter and playing with said ingredient for a "week". (Week being in quotes because I'm a theatrrr person, and coming up with seven days of consecutive free time is hard to do.) No other constraints. If, having made it to Zed, we're all not thoroughly sick of this, I'll start over at A with new ingredients.