Shameless Self-Promotion

On a completely different note, I'm pleased to announce the e-publication of my first novel: 


Zofia Smith left behind a promising career as a journalist when she realized her former employers meant it when they said, "You'll never work in this business again." Convinced by her best friend to move to New Orleans and start over, Zo opened a bookstore in the Crescent City's French Quarter.

For six years, life was peaceful, enjoyable. Bloody Murder made a profit with its focus on mystery books and its regular patrons enjoyed Zo's homemade muffins and fresh coffee.

Things changed one morning when Zofia walked downstairs from her apartment above the store and tripped over a corpse, landing in a heap of blood and muffins. The clues the police found included a knife with a Polish eagle and the corpse's criminal record that indicated he typically worked for a crime family, though not a local one.

Clues came from and pointed to different directions. A narrow miss with a gunshot, mysterious phone calls, and oddly enough to a man Zofia long thought dead.


While there are no recipes, food is almost a character. If you've ever been to New Orleans, you'll understand why. I hope you enjoy, and please, spread the word!

A lesson in humility

Cucumbers are right up there as a favorite vegetable, especially if I can find some that have a thin-to medium skin, some serious crunch, and ideally, no wax on them. It's a pain in the whatsis to get off.


I like them in a lot of ways, cut into spears and eaten with nothing but salt & pepper; with onions, yogurt and a touch of white vinegar, in a sandwich with Swiss cheese, in a salad, in a cold soup with dill, I could go on.


When I lived in Nashville, I visited some friends in Atlanta and they introduced me to a sushi place called RuSan's. This local chain (still expanding!) serves some of the tastiest and most creative sushi I've ever had. Before a meal at the sushi bar, they serve a small appetizer of cucumbers, sesame seeds, ponzu and some crab.


I didn't have any crab in the house, but I thought to myself, "Self, let's have something different for lunch. Ponzu is just citrus and soy sauce, right?"


Wrong.


I was on my lunch hour, so this impulse didn't leave me much time for research. I put into a bowl:


2 T soy sauce
2 T rice vinegar
1 T fresh lemon juice.


Then I sprinkled the whole things with sesame seeds. It did come out rather pretty.

The tea towel I'm using as a table runner was hand-stitched by my friend Opal. You can see more of her jewelry and art at The Hyper Monkey.


Back to my experiment. It did not come out tasting like ponzu. It wasn't awful, but it wasn't the combination I was looking for. I discussed it with my sweetie when he got home and he was very sensitive and didn't laugh. He also said that ponzu involves some citrus only available in Japan and the recipes I found a little later were something similar, but not, but his native definition, ponzu.


So, not my finest experiment and I will use the bottled ponzu when I'm next in the mood for the above dish. While RuSan's has spawned some restaurants in Nashville, they certainly haven't made it into Connecticut, so I'm on my own.


Questions? Comment? Let's hear them!


As a note, I used to sign off joking about Death Threats. I will not be doing that any longer. A friend pointed me to Ittybiz, and suddenly my jest didn't seem to be as funny anymore. I hope you'll show your support and spread the word.


Next time--something with pork and a lot of garlic, and cumin, if I'm not out of it. Thank you for reading!

This summer's top salad

I haven't gone to a lot of barbecues this summer. Austin the former landlord did find some lovely steaks a few weeks ago and marinated a few of them in a store-bought raspberry vinaigrette  which turned out delicious. My contribution to the party was a salad that was both easy and a little unusual. No pictures this week, it got eaten a little too quickly, so I would definitely call it a success.


Epicurious is a fantastic source for salads; I have several saved to be used at upcoming galleries. Fortunately, my friends don't mind being used as guinea pigs.


This week's recipe has only a few ingredients, but they all add a new level of flavor when blended together:


Romaine and Arugula Salad with Toasted Seeds

• 2 teaspoons sesame seeds
• 1 teaspoon whole coriander seeds
• 2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
• 1 teaspoon (packed) finely grated lemon peel
• 1/3 cup extra-virgin olive oil
• 1 large head romaine lettuce
• 4 cups baby arugula leaves

A couple of quibbles with the ingredients. I would have found it easier to have said, "Juice from half of a small lemon." Unless you have the hand-eye coordination of a superhero, it's a little hard to squeeze lemon juice into a tablespoon. 

And packing the lemon peel? Don't. Grate the zest off an entire small lemon--about the size of a couple of golf balls. If you can fit it whole into your coffee cup, that's about the right size. When you tightly pack lemon peel, it stays packed and can be a bit of a pain in the ass.

Back to our recipe:

Combine all seeds in heavy small skillet. Add large pinch of salt. Cook over low heat until white sesame seeds are pale golden, stirring occasionally, about 8 minutes. Using potato masher, press mixture in skillet until coriander seeds are coarsely crushed.

• There's an assumption here. Specifically, that one has a particular type of potato masher: 

• So, next time I do this, I'm toasting the coriander seeds first, then crushing them in my mortar and pestle. You don't want the sesame seeds smushed with this salad.

Back to the recipe:

Place lemon juice and peel in small bowl. Whisk in olive oil. Season dressing with salt and pepper. (Seeds and dressing can be made 8 hours ahead. Let stand at room temperature.)

Combine romaine and arugula in large bowl. Add dressing and half of seeds; toss to coat. Sprinkle with remaining seeds and serve.

This came out beautifully. The seeds add a nice, but different kind of crunch,and just loved the coriander. I never would have thought about putting it together with sesame seeds. If you're not used to shopping for sesame seeds, you can often find a large container of them in the Asian food section of your grocer. If they aren't there, yell at them. You may also find them on the spice rack.
Black sesame seeds are a little tougher to find. I got mine at an Asian grocer when we lived in Danbury. Our friends at Amazon have a variety of brands and prices if you don't have an Asian grocer handy.


I'll be making the salad again, and maybe one or two more new ones by the time the summer is over.


Next week: How not to make ponzu!


Questions? Comments? Death Threats? All are welcome!

Nachos that won't kill you (quickly)

I'm going to do something a little different today and actually use brand names. I have, generally speaking, taken a page from our friends at the Food Network, and not used any brand names. Partly because all things aren't available in all places (and I have no idea where half of you are) and partly because, well, nobody is paying me to do it. If they offered, and I liked the product, I'd consider it.

Anyway, I love nachos. Most people I know do. When we get them in Mexican restaurants, they're so damn heavy, though, afterwards I feel like I swallowed a bowling ball. And let's face it, half the reason they're so good is because they're so bad for you. Gooey cheese, sour cream, meat dripping with juice and fat. . .

A while back, I bought some chips from the nice people at Food Should Taste Good. They make a variety of chips and crackers and I've enjoyed several flavors. I saw the mulit-grain chip and I started thinking.

I usually have black beans in the house. Meat? Well, why not chicken for a change? I took the lazy way out and got a rotisserie bird from the supermarket. It was a lime & garlic flavor, I thought it would work. For cheese, I went with Cabot low-fat cheddar. I forget what salsa I had in the house, probably something chunky and organic (and no sugar!).

So, let's list this out:

One package multi-grain tortilla chips

one avocado, sliced

one jar salsa

one cup shredded low-fat cheese

two cans of black beans

two cups of shredded chicken (about two breasts and a drumstick off your rotisserie bird)

one medium onion (smaller than a baseball)

one jalapeno (optional)

Grate cheese

chop onion

Slice avocado. If you wait to do these things until you're ready, the chips will get soggy.

Arrange chips on a microwave-safe plate. Good stoneware will do. I did about a layer and a half. You should see no dish showing through.

Throw the beans, chicken, onion and a heaping spoonful of salsa in a pot. Heat on low until the chicken is heated all the way through.

Microwave your chips for about thirty seconds to get them extra crisp. Spoon chicken and bean mixture over the chips. Top with cheese. Microwave on high for thirty seconds until cheese is melted. Top with salsa and sliced avocados:

Dig in!

 

Questions? Comments? Death threats? Spokesmodel offers? Let's hear them!

Almost Perfect--Special guest post

This post has been a long time coming. Not because it wasn't delicious, just because there were so many other recipes I want to share (and I still need to get the parsley entry).

A while ago, a friend asked us to a BBQ, and would I please make a salad? Not a problem, I love making salads and they tend to get good reviews. Then I was asked to bring dessert and I said, "Oh *&^%$!" and promptly started looking for recipes. Seeing me in an utter panic, my sweetie gallantly said he would make dessert, and even make it a creme brulee,  a trend which I hope doesn't go away any time soon.

So without further ado . . 

The Almost-Perfect Creme Brulee

For this creme brulee recipe, I used Alton Brown's and Paula Deen's as the basis, but there are ingredients and steps that make it mine.

Ingredients:

1 Pint Heavy Cream

1 Vanilla Bean , cut lengthwise in half

3 Large Egg Yolks

1/4 Cup Sugar

4 Tbsp Cognac

1  tsp Xanthan Gum

2-3 Qt of water.

Preheat the oven to 325F. It's very important to use a good oven thermometer here. Custard is one of the least forgiving things I do.

Scrape seeds from the vanilla bean

Scraping seeds from the vanilla bean

In a small saucepan, bring the vanilla bean seeds, cream and half of the cognac to a simmer. As an aside, never, ever cook with booze you're not absolutely delighted with. I used Remy Martin's 1738. Let the mixture come to a simmer, but not to full boil. Remove from heat. 

Place the mixture in a blender. Carefully and slowly add the Xanthan gum while pulsing it. You really don't want this to clump, and it will if you let it. Blend for another 30 seconds or so to make sure it's smooth, and then let sit for about 10 minutes.

Take the 3 egg yolks and the half of the sugar, and whisk until slightly lightened in colour. <em>Slowly</em> add the cream mixture while whisking. 

Put the ramekins in a roasting pan or similar, and then pour the boiling water so it covers about half-3/4 of the way up. Then slowly pour the cream-egg mixture into the ramekins. This will come really, really high. Don't worry, it will shrink a bit.

Bake for about 15-20 mins. Turn it to cook it evenly, and bake for another 20 minutes or so. They should be jiggly but not bubbling. My first batch was bubbling. Oops.

Take them out of the oven, and let them sit, hot water and all, until the ramekins are cool to touch. Remove the top crust layer, and "discard". Then mix the custard until it's even and smooth. Put it in the refrigerator for minimum of 2 hours. 

In a small saucepan, mix the rest of the Cognac and the sugar, and warm it a little to get the alcohol to start evaporating, then turn off the heat. Make sure all loose clothing, hair, etc., are tied down. Torch the sugar several times to get most of the booze out. Let this mixture sit and cool for the rest of the 2 hours.

Before serving, warm the flambe'ed mixture a little, and then divide it evenly on top of the creme. Take the torch, and in quick, circular motions, melt the sugar. Being stingy with the sugar here will help it melt easier before it burns. 

Let sit for 5 mins or so, then bon appetit

Scarborough Fair Part Three--Thyme Potato Salad

When it comes to potato salad, I have some non-traditional preferences. I like skins on, for flavor, texture and yes, because peeling takes so much time. I prefer a vinegarette or olive oil-based dressing over mayo. No pickles, either. I love pickles by themselves, but I've never been one for including them in potato salads and keep them the heck away from my tuna.


The grocery had a sale on purple potatoes last week, and I'd never used them before. The package was just big enough to make a salad for two, so I didn't get any other potatoes to mix up the color a little bit. Check out the color:

I love it, it's practically the same color as the cutting board. 


Ingredients, not perfectly measured:


2 cups potatoes in bite-sized pieces
1 t salt divided
freshly ground black pepper
fresh lemon juice to taste
1/4-1/3 cup of olive oil
2 teaspoons fresh thyme.


Boil potatoes in water with 1 t salt for slighly less time than you would if you were cooking them for mashed. When you stick a fork in them, you should feel a little bit of resistance in the center. Otherwise, when you stir, they will fall apart. It'll still be tasty, but it won't earn you any points on presentation. Strain the potatoes and rinse with cold water. Allow to cool, about 20 minutes.


When it comes to mixing salad dressings, I like to use a medium-sized glass jar, such as one left over from salsa or jam. 


I start with the juice of one lemon, which yields about 1/4 cup. add olive oil, salt to taste and several grinds of black peper. Add the thyme, and mix well. This is where the jar comes in handy, you can just seal and shake.


Once the potatoes are cool, gently toss with the dressing. This goes very well with poultry. If I were to serve beef, I'd try it with fresh tarragon. With pork, probably rosemary.

Questions? Comments? Death threats? I'd love to hear from you!

Berry Season!

Strawberries are a beautiful things. Once, when I was waiting tables at a reception, they had strawberries on the buffet table. Nearby, I was operating the champagne fountain. A few glasses disappeared, to be placed under the table with strawberries in them. One of my co-workers caught me and before she could finish saying, "What the expletive are you doing?" I popped one in her mouth. Thus began my lifelong affair with strawberries and booze together.

Austin the former housemate has a patch in his garden that he diligently guards from the local wildlife. Sometimes the deer figure out ways around the netting. Sometimes he gets a nice crop. You can't do better than just-picked, you really can't. Even if it means fighting the deer and the bunnies.

The berries my sweetie and I ate last night were fresh, plump and juicy, though they were not from Austin's garden. While they're delicious just washed and munched on, I like to gild the lily a bit:

• 1 pint strawberries
• 1 teaspoon sugar (I used organic. Brown sugar also lovely here, especially with rum)
• 1.5 Tablespoons good dark rum (I used Plantation,which is made in Barbados. The best rums I've ever had have been in the Caribbean)

Hull the the strawberries and slice them into a medium-sized bowl. Sprinkle the sugar over the sliced berries and stir well with a rubber scraper. Add the rum and stir again. The rubber scraper will help pick up the liquid and spread the flavors around.

Let sit for a bit--I usually make this an hour or two ahead. Stir a few times every fifteen minutes or so. You'll notice liquid beginning to form in the bowl. Not quite syrup, not quite juice, just a luscious marriage of flavors.

Spoon into serving dishes. Add fresh cream if you wish or simply enjoy with a spoon.

I've been making this and variations thereof for at least fifteen years, using several different liqueurs--Chambord, Kahlua, Gran Mariner. The last adds a slightly earthy feel to it that I love. If you like a lighter flavor but still orangey, I recommend Cointreau. If I were to use champagne, I wouldn't add the sugar or cream. I just found a mini-bottle of Limoncello in my gaming bag, so that may be up next, if the berries are still fresh next week.

Questions? Comments? Death threats? I'd love to hear from you!