Hapless Cake Attempt #1

I feel compelled to bake a cake because I bought adorable little cake pans from Michael's. I also had an excess of blueberries in the house, so I thought I'd modify a "Berry Good Shortcake" recipe from the manufacturer and make a chunky blueberry syrup and call them Inaugural Cakes and bring them to work tomorrow.

It was a disaster from the beginning. My food processor couldn't accomodate all the ingredients, so I had to cut the butter by hand and my arm got tired long before the mixture resembled "coarse breadcrumbs." I over-Pam-ed the pans. I ran out of milk and used yogurt as a substitute. I still don't know which of the above caused the cakes to overflow - I would love it if my muffins rose that high out of the pan - and the butter? Pam? to ooze onto the floor of the oven, causing smoke to come billowing out of my oven and filling my apt.

Believe it or not, the cakes taste fine, or rather they taste as they should. It didn't dawn on me until I put the first bit in my mouth, that people make shortcake with biscuits. They're decent semi-sweet biscuits, but so not worth the calories. Or the mess. eek! Read More......

Cast Iron Seared Tuna

Happy belated New Year to all my loyal readers! I won't say my New Year's resolution is to update more often, but given that one of my resolutions does involve staying home and studying, it's inevitable there'll more cooking in there too.

I had an errand to run on the east side last evening and on my way home, I walked through 41st between Madison and Fifth. For those of you who don't know, there's a whole block of stores catering to Japanese expat office workers, including a sushi restaurant, a bookstore, a bakery, and a grocery. The last carries sushi-grade fish, labeled in Japanese and with the recent cold-snap, I wasn't particularly worried about it going bad before I got home.

I had a bag of snap peas from FreshDirect packaged so cooking is as simple as making popcorn - 2:30-3:00 in the microwave and voila! While that was nuking, I set my new cast iron skillet on the stove with a little olive oil. I rubbed the maguro (tuna) with a little olive oil and sprinkled some salt and pepper. I couldn't find my sesame seeds, so I'd have to do without. By then, the skillet was hot, so I added the fish, 1-2 mins on each side. I poured the snap peas in a bowl and added the tuna on top. I added some leftover aromatic white wine to the skillet to clean up the last bits of pepper and fish, reduced it slightly, and poured it over the lot. Breakfast! Read More......

Southern cornbread for Yankees

For years, my friends have been trying to get me to use cast iron, but I've always found it too heavy. Then Julie gave me extremely detailed instructions on how to cook with cast iron (including the intricacies of bacon drippings) and I found an adorable little 6-1/2" skillet by Lodge. I've been making frittatas for the past few months with a small pan that fits in my toaster oven, so I figured I'd try the same with my cast iron skillet, to boost the iron content of my breakfast. However, Cook's Illustrated says that it's best to cook a few things before trying eggs in Lodge's cast iron skillets.

I have a thing for Southern food, so when I saw that Cook's Illustrated provides recipes for "northern" and "southern" cornbread, I had to try making the latter, just to check what I've been eating all these years - I didn't think the cornbread at Dallas BBQ was that sweet.

The recipe calls for heating oil (or preferably bacon drippings) in the skillet while mixing the rest of the ingredients. I tried it in the toaster oven, but before I'd finished mixing even the dry ingredients, I noticed popping and hissing from the toaster. I frantically turned off the power, and ran around opening windows and exhausts - and moved the skillet to the oven. It went without a hitch there, although I was nervous that I'd overfilled the pan.

Turns out I have been eating northern cornbread all these years. The first bite tasted terrible, because I wasn't expecting a dry polenta. Once I got used to it though, I could see eating it with barbecue chicken or maybe as the crust of a chicken pot pie. Not having any of those in the house, I had it with a slice of smoked cheddar. I'll definitely be making more of this. Read More......

The Problem with Lentils

When you're a hapless cook, cellphone coverage is very important. I had a recipe for sopa de lentejas that I wanted to try, and I duly noted that it required lentils, a carrot, and salt pork/slab bacon. Fairway has horrible cellphone coverage though, so I couldn't call my mother to ask whether it ought to be red lentils or French lentils. I still had red lentils at home from the last time I'd cooked with lentils, so clearly that must be what I'd use this time. WRONG! Apparently the difference is that last time, I made mujaddara, which requires the lentils to dissolve, which I don't think is the right texture for soup :(

Fortunately, I discovered this by flipping through America's Test Kitchen Family Cookbook: along with the bad news, it provided a recipe for "Indian-spiced red lentils". I know many bloggers complain their ethnic recipes are inauthentic, but sometimes that isn't the point. I had the requisite coconut milk and garam masala and substituted ground ginger for grated.

I wish it was still the pale red of red lentils - it's a brownish mush after 20mins of simmering - or that I'd had a nice tomato for garnish, instead of a weeks old thing from the back of my fridge. Nonetheless it tastes far better than it looks, a bit of warmth and filling for a cold winter's morning. Read More......

My New Favorite Snack

I've discovered the greatest snack ever. Padma Lakshmi, in her Easy Exotic, calls it "Chickpeas and Spinach Tapas." I call it healthy yum.

Nuke a 10oz package of chopped frozen spinach. While it's cooking, dice a red bell pepper and rinse a 19oz can of chickpeas. In a large bowl, mix all of the above with 1tbsp fresh chives, the juice of 1-2 lemons, 1/4c to 1/3c olive oil, and salt and pepper to taste. Food!

What I love best is that it's so healthy! Lots of vitamin A, a disproportionate amount of calcium and iron, fiber and protein. I could eat this all day long and not think twice about it and keeping the ingredients on hand is so easy.

I love that, with the exception of the fresh chives, it's a pantry dish. When I made it last week, I didn't have chives, so I substituted dill. The lemon juice and olive oil are essentially a salad dressing, but without any of that whisking nonsense. I used 1/4c of olive oil, but that turned out to be slightly too much of a good thing; I'll try freehanding it next time, now that I know it's a dressing. Read More......

So this is nesting, hm?

I'm skipping my run this morning to update. Well, and because the weatherpeople said it would be freezing when I left the house. I own the clothes to go running in those conditions, but not the mental strength. Not today anyway. I don't know why this change of seasons is bothering me so much more than usual; I've lived in the northeast all my life, it shouldn't be a shock.

Lately, I've been having the urge to cook, to make soup. I found myself flipping through cookbooks and being attracted to soup and stews. I have an undeniable craving for chhole. I find myself wanting to punt all my activities so I can come home and cook healthy, hearty meals. I'm even thinking of buying cast iron (even though every time I go to the store and lift a 8" skillet, I have to use two hands).

For now, I have banana and berry oatmeal. Read More......

Steak and Cakes

It's funny how the simplest foods can be elevated to cult status. Take the Philly cheesesteak: about three years ago, I noticed several storefronts open that sold only cheesesteaks. Despite my love of a good fast food burger, I'm not really a Philly cheesesteak fan. Not sure why - I grew up eating an unspeakable amount of Steak-Umm and even named a stuffed animal (a cow of course) Steak-Umm - but even at Jim's in Philly, it was just a sandwich.

I hadn't had a cheesesteak in seven years, but I was hungry and needed a little grease to go with my martinis last Thurs. I'd foolishly had falafel for lunch, so I couldn't go to Mamoun's, aka the best falafel you will ever have outside of Israel, but I passed BB Sandwich Bar on my way to the West 4th St. subway. It's a nice sandwich - they only make it one way, with beef on a kaiser roll with onions and relish and white American cheese - just the thing when you've been drinking.

And then there's the whole gourmet cupcake craze that Sex and the City started. The same storefront that houses BB Sandwich Bar sells Tonni's Minis. After ODing on Magnolia's a few years ago, I thought I didn't like cupcakes: they are too dry and the frosting is too sweet. I'm didn't like the ones from Buttercup Bakery either. The ones at Tonni's are making me reconsider. They come in a variety of flavors - my first was white cake with a red velvet layer, bc they were out of carrot - and the cake is moist like cake should be. I like the frosting very much: it tastes like it has cream cheese in it and at the very least, it has more fat than Magnolia's, which makes the sugar less jarring. Fortunately, they come in two sizes, the smaller of which is just the right size for a dose of yumminess. Judging by the way my co-workers gobbled them up the next day, they thought so too. Read More......