Good thing dried is better for the environment too

An accomplished home cook of my acquaintance once chided me for using canned beans, commenting that the dried ones taste so much better. I duly got two books on the topic, The Bean Bible by Aliza Green and The Bean Harvest Book by Ashley Miller. I read the latter cover-to-cover before deciding to try making "Curried Chickpeas".

Soaking and cooking the chickpeas was mostly an issue of logistics - I had to plan for three stages of cooking. Miller said soaking more than 4 hours was a waste of time, Green said that chickpeas require at least 10 hours and sometimes as much as 24. d'oh! After 6 hours of soaking on my counter, I began to hear periodic pinging from the glass bowl; I suspect the chickpeas were splitting. I cooked them after 7 hours of soaking, and it took less than an hour.

As it was, it took me so long to get around to the food cooking stage, the stock had gelled. The recipe called for black mustard seeds and turmeric, onions garlic and ginger, potatoes and tomatoes, i.e. all the things I expect to put in Indian food. Unfortunately, the result is bland and there's so very much of it. It's also too watery, but with that much potato, I don't want to add more carbs.

Oh well, at least it's healthy? Read More......

*shakes a fist at the universe*

... and then, this morning, I burnt through the butter container and it melted all over the toaster oven while my English muffin burnt.

I'm thinking this is the universe's way of telling me to eat takeout for the next two weeks. Read More......

How I Burnt My Foot Cooking

Whenever I start thinking I'm getting the hang of this cooking thing, the universe laughs at me and sends these little accidents.

I'm still not very good at making omelettes. For a while, I'd make them in a little pan, so I could put them in the toaster oven halfway through, but I was very hungry this morning and didn't think all the ingredients I'd chopped would fit, so I used my new skillet. It took a little jiggling to get the omelette to release. I always flip the eggs over the floor, so that whatever spills can be cleaned up easily, instead of hitting the flames or something. (I'm talented see.) I flipped - and lost almost half the omelette to the floor. More importantly, a superhot piece of tomato hit my bare foot, so I was hopping around yelping. Fortunately, the rest of the omelette stayed in the pan and finished cooking quickly.

The omelette is delicious. Good thing I made extra. Read More......

Getting My Green On

I know I'm going to hell for this, but I'd never actually been to my local green market until today - and I only went today bc I passed it on my way to Bed, Bath & Beyond for a new nonstick pan.

It was awesome. There were two vendors selling baked goods, one selling turkey, one selling pork, and one selling cheese. I was tempted to buy an herb plant, but couldn't decide if I'd really use enough rosemary to make it worthwhile, or if the basil plant was big enough.

The cheesemonger had cheese-glazed croissants and a variety of rustic breads. I bought a "medieval alpine" cheese, a cranberry walnut loaf, and a croissant. Next time I'll try the whole wheat croissant.

I couldn't decide between the various fish, so I let the fishmonger pick. I broiled the sea bass in the oven with a little white wine, olive oil, and butter while I steamed asparagus on the stove. The fish with the slight olive oil flavor is so delicious, I almost ate it between the kitchen and the dining table. I'm vaguely tempted to go back right now and buy some more, but tomorrow I get to have the beet pasta with pork chops. Mmm... Read More......

Three hours to cheese understanding

It took me so long to grok wine that when I realized I knew even less about cheese, I felt despair. How little did I know? On a visit to the cheesemonger in Grand Central, I enjoyed a proferred cheese and asked, "So how is this different from pecorino?" The woman looked at me funny and said, "well, one's from a goat and one's from a sheep." oops. With so many bad uneducational wine tastings under my belt, I thought it would take many tries before I had any understanding. Instead, Murray's Cheese's 101 class taught me enough to feel confident.

We tasted 7 cheeses with a two wines and fruit and meat as accompaniments. The cheese were of very different types, but what made it so memorable (ergo, helpful) was that the instructor didn't get hung up on categorizing. She gave us flavors that were representative and used them to illustrate a common vocabulary that would allow us to order them again, but didn't get crazy about New World vs. Old World or goat vs. sheep vs. cow. Moreover, her enthusiasm was infectious and enabling.

Even with a sample of only seven, I came to see certain commonalities in what I liked. I adored both the sheep cheeses we tried, although that might be because they were the uncooked pressed cheeses. While I've eaten and enjoyed washed rind and blue cheeses in the past, the contrast made me realize I don't enjoy them quite as much as say a "bloomy" (creamy, Brie-like) cheese.

I can't wait to try my new cheese knowledge at Fairway - although I have to eat all the stuff I have in the fridge first! Read More......

Less Inauthentic Curry

I once bought some Trader Joe's curry-in-a-jar, thinking it would be a perfect solution for when my hunger didn't meet the local delivery minimums. It was awful: it didn't taste anything like actual Indian food and it was watery. I later made a second jar with less water, but it didn't save all that much energy - is it really that hard to chop an onion? - and still didn't taste particularly good.

I've heard many complaints about the inauthenticity of Cook's Illustrated recipes, but they're still better than curry-in-a-jar. Their lamb curry with figs and fenugreek isn't all that complicated - saute onions; add a large pile of the usual suspects at the same time as the lamb; cook until things start separating; add water, figs, and a jalapeno; simmer for 30-40mins and then eat. I know there's no such thing as "Indian curry" but it's the distilled essence of Indian food simplified for a busy cook. Ironically, it still turned out a bit more watery than I wanted, but the flavors are so much more intense. Since I already own all the spices, it's not that much more difficult than curry-in-a-jar. And it goes well with leftover matzah. Read More......

Finally Cooking the Greens

I love cooked greens at restaurants, but I've never made them at home before. I keep buying bunches of kale and being intimidated and then they turn yellow. oops. But tonight I plunged right in, riffing off the recipe in Cook's Illustrated.

I stemmed the kale as suggested, running the knife along the stem to get chunks of green off. The pile of greenery looked overly large by the time I was halfway through the bunch. I tossed the (cleaned!) kale in boiling water and left it there until it got to be dark and then a bit more, before tossing it back in the colander and rinsing with cold water.

I cut a slice of bacon to bits and waited for the fat to render. Meanwhile, I minced half a shallot and a clove of garlic. When the bacon was done, I picked out the bits and added the shallot and garlic. While they were frying, I dried and rough chopped the kale. Then I tossed it in the fat and shallot and garlic until fully coated and poured it into my bowl, mixing in the bacon bits.

My only complaint was that it was a little too oily. I think maybe if I'd added tossed in some cider vinegar as I was supposed to once it was off the heat, it might have cut the unctuousness. Either that, or only used half a slice of bacon. Good thing I have another half bunch of kale, hm? Read More......