My Mom is visiting and is a very accomplished cook(and house cleaner - hooray!) It has been a pleasure to have her visit. She is especially good at Germanic and Italian food. This is a picture of a sausage and potato skillet meal. It is a very simple dish. It includes onion, potato, sausage, chicken broth and salt and pepper. The onions cook down until they give the dish a nice sweetness which works well with the salty sausage. We paired this with green salad and a loaf of crusty bread.
Today we had a church event and so I cooked Sloppy Joes in the crockpot from an internet recipe. Since moving to the Midwest I have rediscovered this meal. I think the last time I had a Sloppy Joe(before moving to the Midwest) was when I was 8 years old. In fact, I have to admit the first time I had it here I privately chuckled, thinking, "Who eats Sloppy Joes in this day and age?" But this homey classic is alive and well in middle America. It is the meal of choice for church gatherings and events like moving to a new house. It also appears at the auctions we like to frequent. Another variation of this is the Maid Rite sandwich. This type of sandwich can also be called a "loose meat" sandwich, which also warranted a little chuckle from me. I laugh but I am more than willing to eat and make these because they just are good and, well, homey. To accompany the Sloppy Joes I made Three Bean Salad from a Joy of Cooking recipe. I will post the recipes for both of these but for right now I am tired from cooking and entertaining so another day...
While picking up my mother from the airport yesterday I noticed a Thai/Cambodian Restaurant and since my mother arrived right at dinner time I decided we should give it a try. Thai food is one of my favorite cuisines but in the Midwest it is amazingly hard to find. When we lived in Chicago our favorite restaurant was a small Thai place but we essentially haven't eaten it since we moved to the rural Midwest. I do cook a pretty good red curry and a passable Pad Thai but nothing like the real stuff. It has been 3+ years since I have eaten Thai.
This Thai place turned out to be excellent. We ordered the dinner special which was Thai Attiya(spicy chicken with sweet peppers and bamboo shoots), Hot and Sour soup, an egg roll and a couple of Crab Rangoon. In addition, we ordered a meatball noodle soup and Larb(spicy chicken salad).
My test for good Asian food is Hot and Sour soup. This soup can be either wonderful or terrible. What we ordered was really good with a nice homemade quality to it and fresh taste(and lots of black pepper). This was a good omen for the food to come. The appetizers were next and were good but what stands out is the sauce they came with. My husband likes standard sweet and sour sauce but I really don't. It is always too syrupy for me. But this time it was just slightly sweet with a nice complex flavor. It might be the first time I have liked this type of sauce. Next came the Larb salad. I can't get it out of my head because it was so good. It was so fragrant with lemon grass and kaffir lime leaves. And, wow, was it spicy, tangy and flavorful. The spicy chicken and peppers was also good. The noodle soup with meatballs was reminiscent of Pho and served with my favorite; fresh vegetables: sweet basil, sprouts and hot peppers. The meatballs were really chewy and dense and tasty.
Overall very good Thai food. I will be back soon. I just wish I remembered the name. But no matter I wont forget where it is.
There would be pictures but the camera is broken. Pray for a serendipitous replacement for future blogging. For now I will rely on words.
This is a picture of the Mock Cassoulet before it was baked and covered in breadcrumbs. My camera is I think at this point truly broken and so there is no picture of this dish after it was complete. Anyway, this recipe is adapted from a recipe in the cookbook, The Dinner Doctor. The premise of the book is to make nice food from simple and easy pre-prepared foods, i.e. canned, frozen and pre-cooked. There are several recipes in this book that are regulars at our house. This is my first time trying this one but I will definitely use it again. Serendipitously, I just acquired a jar of Herbes de Provence 2 days ago. I have always wanted to try cooking with it but I never have the right mix of spices. I have a lot of spices but the one I never have on hand that is typical of this mix is lavender. I ran across this spice mix while checking out a new eatery in town. I was absolutely thrilled to walk in this shop and see great herb mixes and pasta and best of all real Italian deli meats(for which I am constantly on the lookout). More on the new eatery later.
The recipe I had for Mock Cassoulet was intended to cook on the stove top but I wanted to cook it in oven so I altered the recipe a bit. Also I wanted to add a bit more veggies and wine. So here is my version:
Mock Cassoulet (or Bean and Sausage Casserole)
1 lb kielbasa sausage cut on the diagonal into one inch slices 1 onion, chopped fine 3 cloves garlic, sliced 2 cans Great Northern Beans with their liquid 1 can petite diced tomatoes 1/2 of a green pepper, diced 1 rib of celery, diced Aprox. 1/4 cup wine(white or red), enough to deglaze the pan 1 rounded teaspoon Herbs de Provence or 1 tsp dried thyme 2 tblsp olive oil 1 1/2 cup coarse breadcrumbs
Brown sausage in a pan. Then add onion, pepper and celery and saute a couple of minutes. Deglaze the pan with the wine and then add herbs, beans, tomatoes, and garlic. Bring to a simmer and let simmer a few minutes. Mix together the 2 tablespoons of olive oil and the breadcrumbs and season with salt. Pour mixture into a casserole dish and bake in the oven at 350 degrees for 30 minutes. Top with breadcrumbs and put back in the oven for 15-20 minutes to brown crumbs. Serve with a green salad and french bread.
At the Asian Store I picked up a vegetable which I think is broccoli rabe. I checked some recipes and came up with the idea for this. This vegetable is kind of a cross between broccoli and greens. To prep it I cut an inch off the stalks and then peeled the top layer off the next inch of stalk with a veggie peeler. Then I chopped all of it and boiled it in a big pot of water until tender. After that I dressed it in the garlic sauce and served it with a slice of lemon. This is definitely a vegetable for vegetable lovers. The leaves have a strong and slightly bitter "greens" flavor. However, the stalks are sweeter and more delicate.
The garlic sauce consists of 3-5 cloves of garlic, aprox. 1/4 cup of olive oil, salt and crushed red pepper. You start by chopping the garlic, then you sprinkle it liberally with salt. Then continue to chop and smash the garlic and salt until it forms a paste. Let it sit for a couple minutes then add to olive oil and adjust salt. Add as much crushed red pepper as desired or you can leave it out or add it at the table. This will provide more sauce the needed for the broccoli rabe. This sauce goes well on practically anything: bread, meat, pasta and veggies.
This is a strongly flavored dish which would pair well with sausage or other meats. I served it with bratwurst and brown rice. We enjoyed it and would make it again.
"What is literature compared to cooking? The one is shadow, the other is substance." E.V. Lucas as quoted in Saveur Magazine.
Fridays are our day off and often involve a trip to the local thrift store. This last week there were loads of good food magazines. At 10 cents each I got as many as I wanted. I got 20 to be precise. For all of $2.00 I now have lots of good reading. There were Saveur magazines(my personal favorite - almost nothing comes even close), La Cucina Italiana(which is new to me) and a couple of Gourmets to round it out. I am a happy woman. Hopefully I will get plenty of inspiration and substance from them. As Jacques Pepin would say, "Happy cooking!"
Over the weekend I went to the closest Asian Store I can find, which is 70+ miles away. I venture there periodically to stock up on Asian food. We particularly like Wah King Chinese noodles and fresh rice noodles. Also this is where I get dried shitake mushrooms, soy sauce, bamboo shoots and other sauces. The prices are always so reasonable. In addition to our usual items we picked up a couple of noteworthy things. Our favorite new item was "Peanuts Coffee Flavor Coated." This was literally peanuts covered in a coffee flavored shell. The unique thing about it was that it was right in between a salty and a sweet snack. It leaned towards being a salty snack. This was my first experience with anything salty flavored with coffee. It was really quite good.
The other new thing I purchased was mock chicken in a can. Near where my parents live in Seattle there is a Chinese restaurant that is completely vegetarian. You can order chicken, beef or fish but it is all vegetarian and it is really tasty. So when I saw this at the store I had to get it. We have not tried it yet but I will post our thoughts on it when we do. I got mock chicken and duck. It is made of fried gluten. I think it is similar to seitan.
I also got a dark soy sauce which I had not used before. It is thicker and with a more meaty flavor than regular soy sauce.
So I completed the Tiramisu several days ago but have not had the time to put up the photos and the recipe. But finally here it is. And as I made this I came to realize that Tiramisu is not an exact science. The recipe is really a guide. As the title suggests the recipe is from my friends ex-boyfriend's mother. It got rave reviews from my husband. He kept saying "This is really good." So here is the recipe.
My Friend Vyd's Italian Ex-Boyfriend's Mother's Tiramisu
Yield is one 13 by 9 inch pan or plastic container:
3 eggs 1 cup sugar 2+ cups Mascarpone(or ricotta) 1 tsp vanilla Lady fingers or Biscotti 1+ cup strong coffee or espresso(if using a Mocha espresso maker do 3 Mochas worth) 1/2+ cup Liquor(Rum, Khalua or Amaretto) Unsweetened Cocoa powder(to generously dust on top)
The first step is to separate the eggs. Mix the yolks with the sugar, mascarpone and vanilla. Then beat the whites until stiff peaks form. Slowly fold whites into egg/cheese mixture.
In a separate dish mix the espresso and liquor together.
Spread a small bit of egg/cheese mixture on bottom of pan. Put biscotti in espresso to soak aprox. 15-30 seconds(turn to let it soak into both sides). Then layer biscotti in pan. Then top with egg mixture. You can do 1 or 2 layers of biscotti depending on how amounts are working(with this recipe I suggest 1 layer). If you do 2 layers, lay biscotti the opposite way the second time. End with egg mixture.
Top with a generous layer of cocoa powder and any other decorative food item i.e. chocolate shavings or chips(or coconut like I did). You can also stencil designs with cocoa powder and powdered sugar. Refrigerate 4 hours to one day. Enjoy!
A few notes about this recipe:
I put too thick of a layer of egg/cheese mixture on the bottom of the pan and I ran out of topping before my second layer of biscotti was completely covered so I had to make more egg/cheese topping to make up for it. So the first layer(of egg/cheese) needs to be thin or you should do only one layer of biscotti.
I used Amaretto because I happen to have some. I really liked how the flavor turned out(I do love Amaretto flavor, though). Also you could just use extra coffee if you wanted to skip the liquor.
I used biscotti because I couldn't find ladyfingers but I think that ladyfingers might work better.
If you are timid about raw eggs you could use some pasteurized egg substitute in the egg/cheese mixture(or leave egg out altogether) and then use whipped cream instead of whipped egg whites.
Also, in case you are wondering the sugar I used was called Demerara and it is an almost brown color. I tend to use this type of sugar rather than just white. Theoretically, it has a bit more nutrition and really great flavor.
I think that is all. Thanks, Vyd!
Here is a little poem about Italy to finish off this entry:
Italy
We had no idea that the Duomo stood resolutely behind us. We would have talked of much grander things, I am sure. I suppose if we had been listening we could have heard the Bell strike in its tower.
But we were children listening to the crackle of leaves as we kicked them out of the gutters into the air. We had no idea of such elevated things as High Renaissance Art and Ghiberti. We were too busy rolling lemon gelati around in our mouths and drinking out of fountains.
My friend Vyd has lived abroad several times including a stint in Italy. She is always great about sending little gifts from the places she visits. The Mocha(or Moka) was one of these gifts(although not the Mocha pictured - this is one I got at IKEA - I let someone borrow the original). The Mocha is a small personal espresso maker with 3 sections. The bottom section is filled with water. The middle section is packed with finely ground espresso and then you screw on the top and put it on the burner on Medium-Low. As the water heats up it passes through the espresso and into the top section. It is essentially a tiny percolator. You know it is done when it stops making noise. It makes about enough for one large espresso or Latte. You have to be a little careful not to put the heat too high or let it go too long or the espresso gets a burnt taste.
I used the Mocha to make espresso for my Tiramisu. And I have to be honest here. I just use finely ground regular coffee in my Mocha. It seems to work just fine. I used about 3 Mochas worth of espresso for this recipe.
I am making Tiramisu this week. I have been gathering ingredients which has proved more difficult than I first thought it would be. The recipe calls for mascarpone, but apparently Northeast Iowans are not big consumers because I couldn't find any. Now to me ricotta seems similar enough that I am willing, without too much angst about authenticity, to make this replacement. Next the recipe calls for either biscotti or ladyfingers. But for the life of me I cannot find ladyfingers in our town and the biscotti was too expensive to put into a dessert where it is going to get wet. So I came home with butter cookies. But I was not satisfied with this replacement. All this brings me to biscotti making.
So I pulled out Joy of Cooking and used their recipe for Plain Biscotti. It is very tasty, with a nice almond flavor. It is nice to have a good biscotti recipe to use. I think I will make this again just for eating with coffee. Next time I think that I will put toasted almonds in it or anise flavoring or both.
So step 1 of Tiramisu making is complete. Next up is making espresso in my Mocha(or Moka), which is an Italian personal espresso maker. More on that tomorrow.
"The fruit salad gives the hostess a wonderful chance to be decorative. That is why it makes such a fine choice for party refreshment." So says Marye Dahnke in her Salad Book circa 1954. This is just a ring of pineapple topped with a peach half and filled with whipped cream cheese. I had it for breakfast this morning and it was quite good. I am always looking for ways to increase our fruit and veggie consumption. And because it is April in Iowa, there is not a whole lot of good fresh fruit. This makes a nice winter(or spring) fruit salad. I really enjoyed the salty cream cheese with the sweet fruit. I did drizzle a tiny bit of honey over the top but I don't think it needed it. The author of the cookbook suggests a vinaigrette as the topping for this but it did not appeal to me. My mom says they used to top fruit with mayonnaise and that it was good but I don't know how I feel about that. I guess someday I will have to give it a try.
Recently I have been trying to sit down and have a substantial breakfast rather than just picking at food all morning. I have liked it and this salad made a nice addition to my eggs and toast and coffee.
I was invited by an Israeli friend to participate in a symbolic Seder dinner. The dinner commemorates God's deliverance of the Jewish people from slavery in Egypt. I had hoped to get several photos but I think our camera is broken so I was only able to get a couple. The picture above is of Matzo Ball Soup. The other picture is of kosher grape juice on the table. I had a lot of fun at this event. I got to help out in the kitchen a little. It has been so long since I have worked in a commercial kitchen(the dinner was held at our local coffee shop). I used to get to do this regularly. I have had several jobs that involved cooking or catering type work. I used to work for a Greek restaurant that catered Persian food(the owners were Persians). And for a summer I worked as a personal vegan chef for an English family, who ironically were beef cattle ranchers. And I have had several receptionist jobs that included catering projects. I really do enjoy working with food.
The Seder dinner began with the lighting of the festival lights. Then everyone drank a glass of juice(this happens 4 times during the dinner). Then the leader of the dinner did a ritual handwashing. On the plate in front of us was parsley, bitter herbs(horseradish), haroset(a mixture of nuts, apples and wine), and a roasted egg. On the table was a stack of unleavened bread(matzo) and salt water. There is no leavening in the entire meal. Leaven symbolizes sin which infiltrates all parts of life, like the leaven infiltrates the whole bread. So the meal is served without leaven.
The first thing we ate was the parsley which symbolized life and vitality but first we dipped it in salt water to symbolize the tears that were shed under slavery, and the tears that are part of our human experience. Then we ate the bitter herb as a reminder that life is sometimes very bitter. Next we ate the sweet apple mixture, which is a symbol of the mortar which the Israelites used to make bricks for Pharaoh. It is eaten with some of the bitter herb and matzoh to remind us that even the most bitter part of life is sweetened by hope in God.
Next came the roasted egg which is a symbol to the Jewish people of mourning, a reminder of the destruction of the second temple. After that there is a lamb bone to represent the paschal lamb that was sacrificed to spare the children of Israel from death. Then we ate the matzoh and talked about leavening and sin and God's provision of bread. Next the children participated by asking the older people questions about the ceremony. Then the story of Passover is told. After that we dropped ten droplets of wine on our plates to remember the ten plagues and those that suffered. Then we drank again and gave thanks. Then the real(non-symbolic) eating began.
The meal was really great. It started with matzoh ball soup. Then we had chicken marinated in wine, soy sauce and garlic(and maybe white pepper). There was also a beef stew with raisins and potatoes. Served with this was a beautiful rice dish with raisins and almonds. Then there were sides of peppers and onions and sweet carrots. Overall a really enjoyable and meaningful meal.
I had to leave before dessert was served but I got a bite on the way out the door. It was really delicious cake. I think I will have to get all these recipes from my friend. The only problem is that they will have to be translated from Hebrew:)
I will end with a poem about Israel:
The Spring at Tel Dan
the air is cool with the scent of fig trees cool and sweet next to me the sound of water the spring of dan i have sat here for three thousand years and died and been reborn here and yet spring perpetual, you endlessly pour forth your song even in years of drought you keep the fig trees sweet and green a shadow sweet and green over me i have felt the waters of dan tasted the manna in famine the water in drought and my mouth is full of honey my body clothed with the shadow of fig trees and my lungs filled with this sweet breath
I have been feeling uninspired the last few days in terms of the culinary arts. However, even when I feel uninspired we all still get hungry. So one of my main fall backs is Hummus. Here it is pictured with some spices: paprika, cumin and turmeric. To go with it I made Greek Stuffing for Pita out of La Leche League's Whole Foods for the Whole Family, which has also become a staple recipe for us. It has tons of oregano and mint. Yum!
So one of my secrets for Hummus is to cook my own garbanzo beans but I don't love cooking beans on the stove. So I make them in the Crockpot. This is so easy. Just put beans and water (usually around a 1-3 ratio or 1-4) then cook on high for 3 1/2 - 4 hours. I have heard some say that beans are creamier if you cook them via the stove but really this is about 10 times easier and if there is a difference it is minimal. Also I never pre-soak beans. No matter what my mother says I really don't think they need it:) Though I disagree with my mom on pre-soaking, I learned a very valuable trick from her in regards to garlic. I like garlic but raw it has too much bite for me. So what my mother does is macerates the garlic with salt. In others words chop/smash it up with salt and then let it sit for a couple minutes. It takes away the harshness. When you do this you will notice that the garlic changes consistency a little bit it gets kind of(I hesitate to use this word but..) gelatinous.
I don't use a recipe for Hummus but when I make it these are the ingredients:
Garbanzo beans (canned or home cooked) Tahini (or sometimes I use toasted sesame seeds) Olive Oil and lots of it (you can even drizzle some on at the end) Garlic Lemon Juice Salt Spices: Cumin, Cayenne or Paprika or whatever strikes your fancy
Hummus is so versatile. I made some Chipotle Hummus this time. My friend Molly brought me over some her husband made with Kalamata Olives. You can use sun-dried tomatoes, cilantro, basil... the possibilities are endless.
Later this week I will post a blog featuring my friend Vyd's Italian Ex-Boyfriend's Mother's Tiramisu. Maybe I better get her permission in the meantime :)
Today we had a church event and so I cooked Sloppy Joes in the crockpot from an internet recipe. Since moving to the Midwest I have rediscovered this meal. I think the last time I had a Sloppy Joe(before moving to the Midwest) was when I was 8 years old. In fact, I have to admit the first time I had it here I privately chuckled, thinking, "Who eats Sloppy Joes in this day and age?" But this homey classic is alive and well in middle America. It is the meal of choice for church gatherings and events like moving to a new house. It also appears at the auctions we like to frequent. Another variation of this is the Maid Rite sandwich. This type of sandwich can also be called a "loose meat" sandwich, which also warranted a little chuckle from me. I laugh but I am more than willing to eat and make these because they just are good and, well, homey. To accompany the Sloppy Joes I made Three Bean Salad from a Joy of Cooking recipe. I will post the recipes for both of these but for right now I am tired from cooking and entertaining so another day...
This is a picture of the Mock Cassoulet before it was baked and covered in breadcrumbs. My camera is I think at this point truly broken and so there is no picture of this dish after it was complete. Anyway, this recipe is adapted from a recipe in the cookbook, The Dinner Doctor. The premise of the book is to make nice food from simple and easy pre-prepared foods, i.e. canned, frozen and pre-cooked. There are several recipes in this book that are regulars at our house. This is my first time trying this one but I will definitely use it again. Serendipitously, I just acquired a jar of Herbes de Provence 2 days ago. I have always wanted to try cooking with it but I never have the right mix of spices. I have a lot of spices but the one I never have on hand that is typical of this mix is lavender. I ran across this spice mix while checking out a new eatery in town. I was absolutely thrilled to walk in this shop and see great herb mixes and pasta and best of all real Italian deli meats(for which I am constantly on the lookout). More on the new eatery later.
Over the weekend I went to the closest Asian Store I can find, which is 70+ miles away. I venture there periodically to stock up on Asian food. We particularly like Wah King Chinese noodles and fresh rice noodles. Also this is where I get dried shitake mushrooms, soy sauce, bamboo shoots and other sauces. The prices are always so reasonable. In addition to our usual items we picked up a couple of noteworthy things. Our favorite new item was "Peanuts Coffee Flavor Coated." This was literally peanuts covered in a coffee flavored shell. The unique thing about it was that it was right in between a salty and a sweet snack. It leaned towards being a salty snack. This was my first experience with anything salty flavored with coffee. It was really quite good.
I have been feeling uninspired the last few days in terms of the culinary arts. However, even when I feel uninspired we all still get hungry. So one of my main fall backs is Hummus. Here it is pictured with some spices: paprika, cumin and turmeric. To go with it I made Greek Stuffing for Pita out of La Leche League's Whole Foods for the Whole Family, which has also become a staple recipe for us. It has tons of oregano and mint. Yum!
